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DTU appoints new head of DTU Bioengineering
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Tips and hints for writing good research applications
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Collaboration is key to the solution
It’s all about maintaining a good dialogue
Six models for future oil recovery
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Flying expeditions supplements satellite images
Researchers in close dialogue with the contractor
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Continuous monitoring to prevent cancer complications
Cross Borders - News from DTU Partners
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New centre to link learning and technology
New prize for skilled lecturers
My opinion - Reality in teaching
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Working across boundaries improves DTU’s advice
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Gliding is actually a team sport
DTUavisen readers largely satisfied
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Memory lane - A Nobel laureate’s remedies
Changes While 2017 will see new faces on the Executive Board, DTU’s ambitions as an elite university remain the same.
There will be a number of vacant seats on the Executive Board at the end of this year. Some of them are the result of fully predictable development in that two of the limited tenures are set to expire, and one Senior Vice President is retiring. The fourth upcoming vacancy—that of executive vice president, provost—is something of a surprise, however. It is pleasing on both personal and professional levels to see that Henrik Wegener has been appointed the next rector of the University of Copenhagen.
So the search is now on to find people keen to fill these positions. We need to ensure that with its new members, the Executive Board matches a variety of portfolios. We will see new names on the doors in Building 101 in Lyngby, and a number of portfolios may well change hands. Nevertheless, this will not alter the course mapped out for DTU.
Our strategy, which has been approved by the Board of Governors and applies until 2019, naturally remains in effect, no matter what changes may be made to the Executive Board membership. In line with our strategy—and our convictions in general—we in the management team will continue to develop the area of life sciences at the University. As we see it, life sciences constitute an academic area with a key role to play in our work as a technical university.
For example, it requires DTU to continue working assiduously to create a new and modern framework for veterinary research and contingency response.
In partnership with the Board of Governors, the current Executive Board is likewise working hard to shape DTU’s action plan for 2017. We are pursuing initiatives and new focus areas that support DTU’s position as an internationally recognized elite technical university in all our core areas: research, education, innovation, and consultancy.
Five years ago, when I was the newly appointed president, I wrote in this column that changes had come to stay, because the world around us is constantly in motion. This naturally also applies to DTU’s management. Changes inevitably cause losses, but often open up new opportunities at the same time. And among the coming opportunities, I am looking forward in particular to seeing how DTU’s future partnership with the new rector of the University of Copenhagen sets new standards for a working relationship between knowledge institutions.Events of the month
5 DEC
Deadline for applying for SU (student grants) or SU loans
The deadline for submitting applications for or changes concerning SU for 2016 to MinSU is 11.59 p.m. on Monday, 5 December.
6 DEC
Conference on the DTU International Energy Report
DTU’s International Energy Report 2016 entitled The Energy-Water-Food Nexus will be presented at a conference to be held in Meeting Room 1 at Building 101A on Lyngby Campus, from 1–5.30 p.m. The conference will be held in English. To register, go to tilmeld.dk/energyconference2016
12 DEC
Welcome event for new international partners at DTU
On 12 December, there will be an introduction to the DTU Spouse Programme, which includes career development workshops, an introduction to Denmark and Danish culture, as well as a wide variety of other social and professional activities. The event is for international spouses and partners who have arrived in Denmark during the past three months. Registration via Portalen.
12 DEC
Raise the profile of your research
How can correct research registration, Open Access publication, tweets and blogs give your research results a little boost? The purpose of this one-hour presentation is to provide PhD students and new researchers with ideas and inspiration regarding what they can do—and where—to make sure their research and findings reach a broader audience. The course is in English and will be held in DTU Library. Registration via Portalen.
24 DEC
DTU closed for the holidays
DTU will be closed from 24 December 2016 through 2 January 2017. Happy Holidays!
2 JAN
Start of a new year
... and the first issue of DTUavisen 2017 will be on the shelves.
For other calendar events, see dtu.dk
Appointment Thomas Lars Andresen has been appointed Head of DTU Nanotech.
As of 1 December, DTU has appointed Professor Thomas Lars Andresen Head of Department at DTU Nanotech. In recent months, Thomas has served as acting head of the department, where he was previously deputy head.
Thomas has a degree in chemical engineering from DTU, and over the course of his career he has received several awards for his research, including one of the prestigious Sapere Aude DFF-Advanced Grants from the Danish Council for Independent Research. In 2012 he was appointed a full professor, and he is also cofounder of two companies: Nanovi and Torque Therapeutics.
“Thomas Andresen is a highly qualified academic and in his time at DTU, he has demonstrated considerable skill in building up new areas of research. He has great ambitions regarding the academic side of the department, and he brings plenty of management experience to the position. Thomas has a truly international outlook, he is strong on innovation and fully familiar with the department. I have great expectations in with regard to where he will take the department going forward,” says Anders Bjarklev.
DTU appoints new head of DTU Bioengineering
Appointed Bjarke Bak Christensen, MSc Eng, PhD, has been appointed the new head of DTU Bioengineering.
DTU has appointed Bjarke Bak Christensen, MSc Eng, PhD, the new head of DTU Bioengineering with effect from 1 December. He joins DTU from the University of Copenhagen, where he held the position of Head of the Department of Food Science at Faculty of Science.
“Bjarne Bak Christen is an experienced head of department who has successfully demonstrated his ability to run an organization like the one he will be in charge of here at DTU. He is a visionary and has strong drive—essential qualities in the position he is taking on, and I am most certainly looking forward to working with him," says DTU President, Anders Bjarklev.
Bjarke Bak Christensen was awarded a Master of Science in Engineering (MSc Eng) by DTU in 1990, and started a PhD at the Department of Microbiology four years later. After completing his postdoc in 1999, he initially worked as a senior researcher for the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration until 2004, when he took on the role of Head of Section for Denmark’s Food and Veterinary Research centre—which became DTU Food in 2007.
From 2008, he served as Research Manager in the Department of Microbiology and Risk Assessment, DTU Food, and was appointed Head of Department at the University of Copenhagen in 2011.Animation In keeping with tradition, everyone at DTU—employees and students alike—can send electronic Christmas greetings to partners, colleagues, friends and family throughout the month of December.
This year’s Christmas card features DTU’s wind-powered car. The printed version of the Christmas card has a picture of the car on the front, while in the electronic version the car is animated. Everyone at DTU can send the electronic version of the card, which can be accessed via Portalen. Simply use the shared login presented on Portalen—not your own personal login.
Time: December
Location: Portalen
Access: everyone at DTU
Gospel This year, Steve Cameron & The Gospel Calvary will be bringing Christmas cheer to DTU.
The annual Christmas concert at DTU will be held on Tuesday, 13 December, when Steve Cameron will be interpreting a string of traditional Christmas melodies accompanied by his choir, The Gospel Cavalry, with the DTU Choir appearing as guests on several numbers.
Steve Cameron, son of the famous gospel singer Etta Cameron, spent many years touring with his mother. He is now carrying on the gospel tradition in his own style, and this Christmas concert is sure to be filled with warmth and energy, where the audience will be more than welcome to sing along.
The concert will be held in the Oticon Hall on Lyngby Campus. All employees and students are welcome to book tickets, but if, after booking, you find you are unable to attend, please contact Christina Rochat at croc@dtu.dk, so that your seat(s) can be allocated to someone else.About the event
Date: 13 December 2016, 5–6 p.m.
Where: Oticon Hall
Admission: Free for everyone, but please book online at www.tilmeld.dk/dtujulekoncert2016
There are many wind tunnels in the world, but when the new National Wind Tunnel for Wind Energy is complete on the DTU Risø Campus it will be unique—not only in Denmark, but the world. Its size, the opportunity to combine measurement of aerodynamics and noise, and its high flow rates make it stand apart from other wind tunnels around the world. Construction is well under way, and the wind tunnel is on schedule for completion in summer 2017.
Vanilla or not?
Researchers at DTU Food can now demonstrate whether vanilla is natural or synthetically produced, using a new method that maps the chemical profile of the product in question. By using a mass spectrometer to examine the chemical profile of the product, researchers can determine whether the vanilla is authentic or synthetic. In addition, the method can reveal where in the world the crop was cultivated by looking at the type of precipitation that has rained down on the vanilla.
Cool robot performs service on oil pipes
When big companies drill for oil, they bore at an angle and even horizontally to tap into as much oil as possible. The equipment naturally has to be properly maintained, which is where wireline tractors—which transport devices from one place to another in the pipes—have a key role to play. The small, remotely controlled tractors have to perform under extreme conditions, where temperatures often exceed 200°C. Some of the more sensitive components cannot handle such demanding working conditions, which is why Stefano Soprani from DTU Energy has developed a method for keeping the electronic components cool. The method involves using thermo-electric coolers to reduce the temperature inside the tractor in precisely the area where the vulnerable electronics are located.
Nanomedicine to combat clumps of cholesterol
Needle-sharp clumps of cholesterol that cause blood clots are a contributory cause in up to 40 per cent of all deaths in Denmark. This is a problem the British researcher Nazila Kamaly, who is associated with DTU Nanotech, is committed to eliminating, and she believes that nanomedicine may hold the key. The Lundbeck Foundation agrees, and Nazila has recently been awarded DKK 10 million for researching how best to destroy clumps of cholesterol in the blood vessels. The idea is for nanoscale medicine to make its way to the affected area(s) and dissolve the crystallized cholesterol directly, simultaneously treating the inflammation or infection in the area.
DTU helping to map the brain
DTU is to participate as the only Danish representative in the extensive European research flagship: the Human Brain Project, whose purpose is to map the human brain and make all the data freely available on a series of supercomputers. The long-term intention behind the Human Brain Project is for this new knowledge about the human brain to play a role in research targeted at curing illnesses such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. Henrik Hautorp Lund, Head of the Centre for Playware at DTU Electrical Engineering has an important role in the project. His assignment is to transfer some of the knowledge about the brain gathered in the other areas of the project from the computer models, and to see how this knowledge can best be used modularly in robots in the real world.
Tips and hints for writing good research applications
Fundraising In May 2016 Anke Hagen, Head of Section, received a grant of EUR 2.5 million to support the energy storage project ECo. Here, she shares her best tips for how to write a successful application.
Anke Hagen, Head of Section at DTU Energy, has spent many years working on the use and storage of surplus current. However, applying for funding for a new research project brought her a lot of new experience.
What was the biggest challenge in the context of project preparation?
“Putting together the right consortium. In this case DTU was in charge of the consortium, which made it a little easier to identify potential partners. Generally speaking, the challenge is greatest when you need to find partners outside your immediate network.
For this project, for example, we had to find a partner that produces CO2. We found a suitable partner in the cement industry, which emits large volumes of CO2 as a part of the production process. Carbon dioxide is one of the resources we need for the process of electrolysis. Unfortunately, you cannot always find a perfect partner who is keen to take part.
In my experience, there are a great many ‘islands’ or more-or-less established partnerships where universities, for example, have a history of working with specific partners from industry. They simply prefer to set up consortia with each other, so you have to find the right people and then negotiate.”
What was the most important thing you learned from the process?
“Much of our everyday time and energy is devoted to fundraising, so you can feel heavily disappointed the first time you’re turned down: because you didn’t get the funding, and because you’ve put so much work into the application. However, you have to remember that there’s a lot of competition for funding today. And in the same way as in sports competitions, someone has to end up with the silver medal—which isn’t enough to land the project.
It’s a matter of dusting yourself off, getting back up and doing even better next time. There may be many reasons why one of your applications was unsuccessful. There may have been political or societal considerations for example, or quite simply, the assessors might not have been overly keen on the idea. So ‘never give up’ is the way to go.
A dedicated team can provide a lot of help with the writing process, and in keeping your nerve. With a consortium made up of ten partners, perhaps, all kinds of unforeseen situations are sure to arise. People deliver their input late, change their budget, or may even pull out at the last minute. So when things don’t go according to plan, you have to try not to let it get to you.”
Where would you have liked more help from DTU?
“It would, of course, be wonderful if you could simply turn up with your application and your consortium and then have someone else take care of the whole application. But it’s probably most important to have help with the financial and legal aspects.
At DTU Energy, we have colleagues from the finance centre right nearby to help us with the financial matters. In addition to that, I needed help with the parts of the application that have to do with mediation and utilization, which carry a lot of weight in the evaluation. For example, what do you plan to do to spread awareness of your project through festivals, conferences and/or teaching? And what position will you take on utilization of the results?
This last aspect may involve a number of legal considerations to do with patents, for instance, so it can be quite a challenge to put down in writing. Finally, it’s always good to work with experts who can check through your application wearing their ‘evaluator glasses’.”
What is the best advice you can give to others applying for funding for EU projects?
“You must start by reading the notice carefully, and taking the time to determine precisely what they are looking for. It also helps if you have someone who can advise you on whether your profile matches the notice in question— if your CV is strong enough, etc.
You need to build up your consortium on the basis of the notice, and the partners must reflect the final goal. Use your personal network to find the right partners and/or ask your colleagues. Other than that, it’s important that you find help in those areas where you’re not an expert yourself.
Have someone ‘from the outside’ proofread the application before you submit it, and ask for help with the legal and financial aspects. Of course, you also need to prepare a good plan with the flexibility to allow for deviations and unexpected factors.”Learn more
Anke Hagen, Head of Section, DTU Energi anke@dtu.dk
Jan Andersen, Senior Executive Officer, Office for Research and Relations, jande@adm.dtu.dk
Collaboration is key to the solution
Innovation The university world and industry are working closely together to achieve the aim of increasing the potential for recovering oil in the North Sea, to the benefit of Denmark as a whole. Access to data and a close working relationship lay the foundations for an historic opportunity to make a difference.
“Industry wants to micro-manage, with detailed plans and contracts”. “Researchers can spend years on research without coming up with a single useful result.” There are all kinds of preconceptions to overcome when employees from two different cultures have to work together—and this also applies at the Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre—DTU (DHRTC). The new buzzword here is therefore ‘co-creation’ and the objective is to bring the two cultures together in a constructive environment.
Over the coming ten years, employees at the centre are tasked with demonstrating how to increase gas and oil recovery in the North Sea. It is an assignment that crosses boundaries between academic disciplines and involves close interaction between research and industry. The concept of working together was therefore high on the agenda at the first conference organized by the centre, which was held at Marienlyst Hotel in November.
“Interaction between the University and industry is simply crucial to our goal of identifying new solutions that are viable in practice,” explains Bo Cerup-Simonsen, Director of DHRTC.You cannot tackle the assignment alone
“We’re working with subterranean conditions and a production system that has been assessed and developed continuously for more than 40 years. At the same time, industry has invested hundreds of FTEs and an extremely high level of competence to bring it to the stage it’s at today. Moreover, a great deal of research has already been done into how to boost the level of recovery, so it is unrealistic to imagine that we can tackle the assignment on our own. The new opportunities are to be found in granting new constellations of people access to the actual problems. The very key to the solution is in the working relationship.”
Two years after the Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre—DTU was established, six models have been identified to demonstrate how a greater proportion of Denmark’s oil and gas can be drawn from the North Sea. The work is being carried out jointly with the DTU’s partner institutions: the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, Aalborg University, the Geological Survey of Greenland and Denmark (GEUS), overseas institutions, and a number of private companies.
Each demonstration model features representatives from industry and the universities. The singular feature of the working relationship is that industry has granted the researchers unprecedented access to key data and information about the oil fields. The data include, for example, technical reports, measurements, seismic data, reservoir models, underground data and information about how operators deal with corrosion. This provides DHRTC with an historic opportunity to make a difference.
“A closely knit working community involving researchers and industry is essential if we are to reach our goal. Both because time is short, and because we have to find new solutions to old problems and deal with complex issues,” explains Henrik Tirsgaad, Head of Corporate Technology and Innovation at Maersk Oil.
“The first step towards working together is to share our data, which we have a history of keeping to ourselves ... We are now opening our files and making our knowledge available to the researchers. This may well lead to an important breakthrough.”Learn more: Bo Cerup-Simonsen, Director of the Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre—DTU, bcsi@dtu.dk
“It’s all about maintaining a good dialogue.”
Partner pair from the oil centre identify challenges from the start and quickly get to the heart of the matter.
“Research certainly takes a long, long time ...” This is a sentence that Sidsel Marie Nielsen, Senior Researcher at the Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre – DTU has heard on more than one occasion. But there is no hint of this attitude in the partnership with Maersk Oil, where she is working with Niels Lindeloff, Reservoir Engineer, to identify improved recovery methods for use in the North Sea. Their recipe for a strong working relationship is as follows: cut right to the heart of the issue from the start, and agree on the problem you need to solve.
“Maersk Oil understands that things take time, and that research isn’t something you do just for the sake of doing it. So we set aside time to discuss the challenges we’re facing. We also talk about what’s important to Maersk Oil, and what’s important to us. We don’t sit around guessing what we think they want. It’s all about maintaining a good dialogue,” says Sidsel Marie Nielsen.
In Niels Lindeloff’s opinion, this approach to the work is different to that applied in classic research projects. It also means that the pair reaches the heart of the issue more quickly:
“Previously, we put a lot of money into research where the driving force was a researcher who came to us to ask if we could use the research he or she had been working on for the past three years. A little simplistically put, it was a question of someone knocking on our door and asking: ‘Here’s a solution—do you have a problem that matches it?’ In the oil centre, we’ve turned this around and now ask: ‘What are the problems—and who has a solution?’.”Learn more
Sidsel Marie Nielsen, Senior Researcher, Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre—DTU, sman@dtu.dk.
Six models for future oil recovery
The Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre is devoted to researching how to increase oil recovery from the Danish section of the North Sea. The centre has now identified six models which will demonstrate that it is possible to draw more oil from the microscopic pores in limestone reservoirs at depths of 2–2.5 kilometres.
1
Water injection into limestone layers
Today, sea water is injected into the limestone layers containing oil in order to force the oil from the bedrock. This demonstration model is devoted to researching how it might be possible to recover more oil from subterranean deposits by changing the composition of the salts in the sea water injected, for example. In addition, research is being conducted into the properties of the oil and into cracks and tensions in the limestone, and computer models are being developed that describe the link between the research topics and oil production. The research findings are being demonstrated at the Kraka oil field.
2
Deep-lying oil
The purpose is to research into technologies with the capacity to recover oil from geological strata that are not currently supplying oil. For example, work is being done on a technology known as ‘Radial Jet Drilling’, which involves drilling wells perpendicular to the main well. This technology has the potential to reach up to 100 metres from an existing well. Moreover, researchers are looking into computer modelling and tools with the capacity to reach down into the extremely long, horizontal wells. The research findings are being demonstrated at the Halfdan oil field.
3
Improved water injection in wells
The objective here is to increase the recovery of oil in Dan-A—the oldest section of the Dan field. The challenge is that the water injected moves extremely quickly through parts of the limestone layers and directly into the production wells. This means that there are oil-filled areas of the limestone layers from which the oil cannot be drained. Researchers are therefore investigating advanced monitoring technologies with the capacity to identify where the water is moving through the limestone layers. The research findings are being demonstrated at the Dan-A oil field.
4
Big data analyses to increase water injection
In order to maintain the appreciable increase in capacity achieved by optimizing water injection equipment at the Dan and Halfdan oil production facilities, researchers are working to develop models that describe the installations in detail. This involves applying big data computer methods that utilize data from past and present to help the operator run the equipment at an optimal level.
5
Restructuring operating and maintenance costs
Research is being conducted into identifying technologies to reduce sedimentation and rust in oil production wells, and to optimize maintenance planning. The goal is to be able to demonstrate reduced maintenance costs and production improvements at the Gorm field.
6
Extending the service life of the platforms
With a view to extending the period during which platforms can be used to produce oil and gas, researchers are examining aspects such as the impact of waves on the platform legs, and the forces exerted by extreme wave conditions. The objective is to demonstrate how the improved understanding of technical risk can make it possible to increase the service lives of existing platforms.
Improved 3D-printed components
3D printers have opened up a host of new production opportunities. Printing with metal in particular is highly interesting from an industrial perspective. When working with lightweight metal components, it is common to design parts of the component with a mesh-like microstructure rather than solid metal. However, this is often done without accurate knowledge of the structural implications.
Anders Clausen from DTU Mechanical Engineering has demonstrated how components of this kind can be designed intelligently on the basis of topology optimization—a method used for lightweight components for the aeronautical/aerospace industry, for example. He and his colleagues have developed a method for designing structures with a solid outer shell on top of a porous inner core. They are generally a little less rigid than completely solid structures and therefore tend to deform more easily.
On the other hand, they feature significantly better properties with regard to handling unforeseen loads and denting. He has also shown how it is possible to use 3D printing to design and make a porous microstructure that retains its properties even when strongly deformed.
How engineering companies become truly global
Most companies have become more global, which has made it increasingly common to outsource or offshore product development. Engineering companies therefore have to make strategic decisions about how to globalize their product development activities.
Erik Stefan Søndergaard from DTU Management Engineering has examined how decisions about global product development are made in these Danish engineering companies, and what information and methods are necessary to reach these decisions. He carried out his survey in close partnership with the companies themselves, backed by field studies in development departments in Denmark, China and Malaysia.
In his thesis, he suggests a structured process for making decisions about outsourcing and offshoring development assignments, helps deal with the lack of specific decision-making tools, develops decision-making theory in the context of outsourcing and offshoring, and contributes to understanding internationalization processes for product development. His thesis forms part of a research project supported by the Danish Industry Foundation and led by Professor Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen.
Need for standard assessments of nanomaterials
More and more products are appearing that contain nanomaterials: everything from foods and personal care products, to electronics and domestic appliances. This is because nanoscale materials (measuring 1–100 nm) possess remarkable physical and chemical properties, and are more reactive than larger-scale versions of the same materials. However, given that nanomaterials can potentially be released, exposing both consumers and the environment to risk, and due to insufficient data and uncertainty about what risks they actually pose, there are concerns about how safe these materials are.
Aiga Mackevica from DTU Environment has examined which nanoproducts are available on the European Market, and which ones have already been examined. In addition, she has experimentally investigated the release of nanomaterials from a range of products (and in most cases, the release was minimal): Finally, she examined a number of risk assessment models.
The findings in her thesis indicate a need for standardized data reporting, harmonized exposure assessment, and risk characterization of nanomaterials.
The plans for space, drones, and the Arctic are good news
Progress New strategies open up obvious opportunities for DTU.
Over the course of summer and autumn, the Danish government launched two new national strategies: a space strategy and a drone strategy. In addition, the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science has unveiled an Arctic strategy for research and education. It is pleasing to see that clear emphasis is being placed on the importance of these areas to Denmark—and they are really good news for DTU.
They are distinguished by being highly operational and, to a great extent, come across as tangible action plans featuring a wide variety of initiatives for DTU to seize upon and participate in. Thanks to DTU’s unparallelled competences, we can play a key role in issues to do with space, drones and the Arctic—and, of course, any combination of the three. We are also used to acting in the zone where companies, research institutions and authorities meet.
One aspect common to the three strategies is their focus on generating growth and jobs, reinforcing research and tackling societal challenges. On account of the sheer size of Greenland, there are evident challenges regarding basic infrastructure for communication, for example, and monitoring sea and air traffic.
The field of space and drones is currently undergoing something of a revolution, which is sure to lead to a further increase in everyday uses, and to open up new opportunities for technology and science. Technology developed at DTU technology is allowing small satellites and drones to fly in formation, which will benefit telecommunications in remote areas and environmental monitoring. If Denmark succeeds in making the most of these opportunities, the result is certain to be more jobs and improved welfare—for the benefit of society as a whole.
Another consistent trait is that the strategies are indicating great possibilities in a much broader context than ‘conventional’ environments for space, drones and the Arctic. For example, by combining images from drones and satellites with centimetre-accurate positioning from the new European Galileo satellites, farmers and forest administrators have the chance to target the cultivation and harvesting of fields and forests down to individual plant level.
Even though I would like to see a higher level of ambition and specific visions for Danish input, it is pleasing to note that even the political arena is beginning to focus on these areas, and that Innovation Fund Denmark has set aside fully DKK 25 million in its 2017 budget for space and drone technology. While it is true that ‘paper is patient’, the strategies are a good start. And we at DTU can make sure that words become actions!
Flying expeditions supplements satellite images
DATA Measurements taken from aircraft ensure improved monitoring of the changes in inland and sea ice. However, this method will soon be supplemented by the use of large drones with the capacity to deal with the tough conditions.
DTU Space has recently sent a team of researchers to Greenland, where they took on the challenging autumn weather to fly back and forth across the country, measuring the properties of the inland ice. It is the first time that such flights have been performed since 1998 and Henriette Skourup, Researcher, took part in 15 expeditions.
“It may seem strange, because we have access to a constant stream of satellite data. However, it is difficult to allow for how deeply the satellite radar signals penetrate the top layers of snow on the inland ice, especially given that the snow cover on the ice varies during the year. That’s why we collect supplementary information from the fly-overs,” relates Henriette Skourup, who was in charge of the autumn activities.
The aircraft is fitted with the same laser and radar instruments as the satellites, and by comparing data from the fly-overs and incorporating knowledge from samples bored from the ice itself, researchers can correct the satellite data and present a more accurate picture of the extent of climate change. This is knowledge that is sure to become increasingly relevant in the context of the rapid changes currently taking place in the Arctic.
“It’s the first time I’ve been to Greenland this late in the year. We arrived at the same time as winter, which meant that the days quickly became shorter, robbing us of hours of daylight. What is more, the weather conditions at this time of year can be so bad that we can’t fly at all, but fortunately, we were only grounded for two days,” says Henriette Skourup.
The collection of data by flying over the inland ice and the sea ice around Greenland takes place at such a low altitude that is is possible to see the differences in height of the ice and spot fissures in the ice floes, for example.
The data are subsequently analysed and compared with information gathered from flights in the spring—when the snow coverage after the winter months is deepest—to produce recommendations. These recommendations are used to correct satellite measurements of the ice on and around Greenland in relation to the different seasons and snow volumes. They are published on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) website together with data from the ESA satellite Cryosat, so they can be used by researchers and other organizations around the world to keep track of changes in how the inland ice is melting.
Henriette expects the number of flights to be cut in the future.
“DTU Space is working to develop large drones with the capacity to handle the tough climatic conditions on Greenland. The first of these should be ready for test flights as early as 2017, so monitoring from aircraft could be phased out completely in the long term.”Learn more
Henriette Skourup, Researcher, DTU Space, hsk@space.dtu.dk
Inauguration The official opening of Building 212, which now houses DTU’s new centre for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), will be held on 13 December.
It is just over two years since VILLUM FONDEN made available a grant of DKK 16 million for a new generation of NMR spectrometers at DTU Chemistry. The two new instruments, together with the existing unit that was previously donated by Carlsberg, have now been housed in a separate facility, and 13 December will see the official opening of Building 212: NMR Centre—DTU.
From the outside, the building is not overly impressive, standing wedged in between Buildings 207 and 208. However, signs on the beech hedge all around the property warn that there is a strong magnetic field here, and entry is prohibited for people with pacemakers. Moreover, if you want to access the instruments themselves, you have to remove all jewellery, watches, screwdrivers and other magnetic items. Cameras are not permitted either, so the pictures on this page were taken from the doorway.
NMR instruments are fitted with a powerful magnetic field, where molecular samples are placed and subjected to the influence of radio wave pulses. This generates a range of signals that can then be interpreted to provide understanding of which atoms make up the substance in question, and how they are positioned in relation to one another.
Understanding a given structure is quite a puzzle, however, and there are no ‘answer sheets’ to show the way. DTU Chemistry has spent years building up strong competences in this area. There are NMR spectrometers in other DTU departments, but the new centre will enable the University to consolidate NMR research in a central strategic infrastructure. The centre is both to communicate the opportunities in the technology, and work with all NRM users at the University.
“Our current focus is on small to medium-sized molecules, and we have the facilities to analyse proteins. The spectrometers can also be used to analyse solid substances, but this requires a new probe. There is plenty of interest in analyses of this kind, so we hope to find the funds to make new investments. The building also gives us the chance to expand our instrument fleet,” says Associate Professor Charlotte H. Gotfredsen, one of the driving forces behind the process to establish the new NMR Centre.
NMR-spectrometers in Building 212
Building 212 currently houses a total of three NMR-spectrometers. Two of them operate with a magnetic field of 18.8 T (800 MHz), while the third operates at a field of 14.1 T (600 MHz). The magnets are the heavy component in the NMR-instruments, with the heaviest weighing around 4,000 kg. The ‘small’ magnet weighs almost 1,000 kg. On account of the heavy weight they have to support, the foundations consist of a 40-cm-thick concrete deck resting on 16 concrete columns, each measuring 7 metres in length.
See the website: nmrcenter.kemi.dtu.dk
Researchers in close dialogue with the contractor
Involvement NMR researchers at DTU Chemistry have followed the rise of Building 212 from the day ground was broken, shaping the construction with their knowledge about the instruments the building is to contain.
All kinds of requirements apply to a building that is to house NMR instruments that weigh several tonnes and generate powerful magnetic fields and electromagnetic radio waves. That is precisely why researchers were keen to be involved every step of the way, from initial project planning to offical opening, so as to ensure the best possible conditions for NMR research.
“The opportunity arose in 2015 when construction was put out to tender as a turnkey contract. We were allowed to participate in all construction meetings, based on an agreement that the construction manager could ask us to leave if we were interfering too much. In practice, however, the arrangement meant that we could answer questions from the various contractors straight away, and I think they’ve been really attentive. It was an intense and effective process, which ended up with us taking over the building on schedule, just one year after the start of construction,” relates Charlotte H. Gotfredsen.
The NMR instruments cannot withstand much vibration, so the building stands on extra thick foundations, as far back on the plot as possible to avoid interference from the heavy goods vehicles delivering chemicals to Building 209, for example. In contrast, the concrete contains less rebar, because iron is attracted by the giant magnets, which—with a total weight of 9,000 kg—are already placing a considerable strain on the floor.
The NMR instruments are extremely sensitive to electrical fields and vibrations, for instance. The surroundings and external influences have therefore had to be considered down to the smallest detail, and a host of decisions have had to be taken concerning the furnishing, materials, etc. used in the new building. And the NMR group was involved in most of the deliberations.
“We’ve attended pretty much all the construction meetings, so it’s been an extremely busy but exciting time. We’re now looking forward to starting to use the building together with our colleagues from DTU Chemistry, several other DTU departments and industrial players. NMR can be used in a wide variety of research areas, it’s not the exclusive preserve of chemists,” concludes Charlotte.
New head of business development at OIS
Peter Sylvest Nielsen is to take over responsibility for the support function for the commercialization of DTU’s patent portfolio, ans well as for a number of initiatives in the field of innovation. Peter is an experienced manager with a solid background from industry, having held positions at NNE, Pharmaplan, Coloplast, NKT and De Danske Sukkerfabriker, where he worked with areas including research, product development and marketing. He will be joining the OIS management team, reporting to Director Jakob Fritz Hansen. Peter is 54 years old, and his qualifications include a degree in chemical engineering from DTU and a diploma in International Business. He will be taking up his new duties on 5 December 2016.
New funding and networking opportunities for DTU
Good news for DTU researchers interested in areas such as process technology, new materials, the circular economy in the broadest sense of the term, the Arctic and space. DTU has recently been recognized as a core partner in EIT Rawmaterials, a new European innovation partnership (KIC) with the emphasis on metallic and mineral resources. Membership opens the door to research funds, entrepreneurial activities and education partnerships with leading European universities and companies. An information meeting will be held in January, so keep an eye on Portalen. For additional information, see www.eitrawmaterials.eu.
Grant of almost DKK 100 million for Danish neutron research instrument
The large new pan-European neutron research facility European Spallation Source (ESS) has recently granted DKK 100 million in funding to the BIFROST instrument for whose development DTU is primarily responsible. BIFROST is what is known as a neutron spectrometer—an instrument that is particularly suitable for studying dynamics in solids (crystal lattice oscillations and magnetic oscillations, for example) on an atomic scale. The intention is to use the instrument to focus on magnetism in materials relevant to the energy and IT sectors.
119—the number of patent ideas that DTU has submitted between the start of the year and 18 November 2016. A total of 115 patent ideas were submitted during the same period last year.
Continuous monitoring to prevent cancer complications
Algorithm A new clinical support system that monitors post-surgery cancer patients 24/7 may make it possible to prevent life-threatening complications.
New technology is allowing the constant measurement and collection of a wide range of values, such as pulse, blood pressure and blood flow in newly operated patients. Helge Bjarup Dissing Sørensen, a researcher at DTU Electrical Engineering is now looking to use these measurements to develop a clinical support system featuring an algorithm that enables medical staff to step in at an early stage and prevent complications such as cardiac arrest following an operation.
The project, which has been awarded DKK 3.2 million from sources including the Danish Cancer Society’s ‘Beat Cancer’ (Knæk Cancer) campaign, is taking as its starting point patients with peritoneal cancer, because of the extremely high risk associated with operations to treat this kind of illness. A third of patients subsequently experience serious complications, often with a fatal outcome.
“Over the coming four years, we will be working to develop the new method on the basis of data from 400 patients who have been operated for cancer. We will be analysing the measurements and comparing them with the serious complications—including pneumonia or blood clots—that occur in some patients after surgery,” relates Helge Bjarup Dissing Sørensen.Algorithm raises the alarm
“We expect the analysis to highlight patterns in what happens in the various physiological parameters in the period immediately preceding the formation of a blood clot, for example. We will then use these patterns to develop a computer algorithm with the potential to alert healthcare staff while a problem is still in the early stages of development. In this way, it will be possible to tak action in time and prevent serious complications from developing,” he explains.
It is current practice to measure some of the values every 12 hours, but the new technology makes it possible to monitor all vital functions all the time. With the right biomedical computer algorithm, it should be possible to detect changes to these functions at an early stage and alert hospital staff who can then take steps to eliminate the complication.Reduces the risk
“The mathematical models we prepare will take as their starting point the measurements doctors already use to monitor patients. However, we are also keen to go further and establish whether there are any significant physiological factors that are not monitored today, but which may reveal that a complication is imminent,” explains Helge Bjarup Dissing Sørensen.
The research is being conducted in partnership with Senior House Officer Christian Meyhoff and Eske Aasvang, MD, from Bispebjerg Hospital and Rigshospialet, respectively. The project is being monitored by two of the leading cancer surgery professors in Denmark, namely Lars Nannestad Jørgensen and Lars Bo Svendsen.
It is hoped that the project will result in a significant reduction in the risks linked to peritoneal cancer surgery.
“In the long term, I can certainly envisage applying the new method to other types of patients who undergo complicated operations,” concludes Helge Bjarup Dissing Sørensen.Learn more
Helge Bjarup Dissing Sørensen, Associate Professor, PhD, DTU Electrical Engineering, hbs@elektro.dtu.dk
Cross Borders - News from DTU Partners
Analyse every single pass
Is artificial intelligence on the point of revolutionizing the world of sport? Second Spectrum, a start-up from Ecole Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), seems to think so. The company has developed a multi-camera system with the capacity to store and analyse every single movement sportsmen and -women make during a game. The objective is to determine aspects such as how players make the best passes, and to evaluate the quality of their kicks, throws, and so on. The system is so promising that the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States will be implementing it in 2017. See more at kortlink.dk/nxtv.
Algorithms calculate social contexts
To date, mathematical modelling of social contexts has belonged firmly in the realm of science fiction. However, researchers at Technische Universität München (TUM) in Germany are now working to develop tools that make it possible to calculate—and thus influence—how people behave in social situations.“People in crowds can be compared to particles in a gas or a liquid. In the same way as with the attractive force exerted between gas molecules, we can explain general patterns as a result of interacting social forces,” says Professor Massimo Fonrasier. See more at kortlink.dk/nxu6.
Xbox sensor replaces scientific equipment
Kinect, the Microsoft motion sensor used in the Xbox 360 games console, has many more potential uses than just fun and games. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the United States, have used Kinect instead of more costly sensors in their geotechnical centrifuge, which they use to examine how dikes break down when flooded by huge volumes of water. Since the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, researchers have been studying small-scale versions of the protective installations around New Orleans. The Kinect sensors have been used to trace the development of soil erosion around the dikes. See more at kortlink.dk/nxu8.
EuroTech enters into PhD agreement
On 7 November, DTU President Anders Bjarklev signed an agreement with the partners in EuroTech that will allow PhD students at DTU access to a co-supervisor from Technische Universität München (TUM), Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TuE) or École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). As a part of their studies, students will have to spend at least six months at the university where their co-supervisor is based.
Students predict summer beer sales
For this autumn’s Open Innovation X final, six companies had challenged more than 160 students to solve a broad selection of problems. A group of DTU students took first prize with a data-powered model with the potential to optimize future beer sales for the company Royal Unibrew—using what is known as a ‘Beer Forecast model’ that includes data on aspects such as the weather, production and sales of beer. The Beer Forecaster team: Jakob Okkels, Emilie Hvashøj, Valentin Lievin, and Kristian Nielsen.
DTU in 125th place on Best Global Universities Ranking
The American media company U.S. News & World Report, which is well-known for drawing up ranking lists of American High Schools, Colleges, Grad Schools and the like has recently published its annual rankings. On the new list, DTU has taken a major leap upward: from number 171 in 2016 to 125 this year. DTU placed 181st on the 2015 ranking list. The ranking is based on ten categories including international reputation, scientific publications, quotes, and international collaboration.
PhD reception with bubbly and bouquets
The DTU sports hall on Lyngby Campus was filled to bursting with former PhD fellows, proud family members and joyful friends when this year’s PhD fellows were duly celebrated on Friday, 28 October. The event was accompanied by full finery in every respect: the red carpet had been rolled out, there was Champagne for all the formally dressed guests, and an ice sculpture had been commissioned especially for the event. To watch (or rewatch) videos from the day, visit http://kortlink.dk/dtu/nzfk.
New centre to link learning and technology
Centre Helle Rootzén is head of LearnT, the latest centre to be established at DTU. The centre is open to everyone who works with learning and technology with the capacity to support it.
Centre for Digital Learning Technology. That is the long form of the name of DTU’s latest centre. The short version is ‘LearnT’, and this is not the only version of the centre that does not take up much room; the centre itself is only small—for now. It will actually kick off with a staff of just three people led by Professor Helle Rootzén from DTU Compute. At the moment, the only premises LearnT commands are the three employees’ own offices.
But wouldn’t it make more sense to position a centre devoted to learning at one of the pedagogical teaching institutes?
“It most certainly would, but we’ve noted an increasing trend to apply technology to learning, and many of the small companies and universities working with learning technology actually have engineers on their payroll. That’s why it’s so important to put someone in the middle to tie all the threads together. I view this as a key assignment for the new centre,” explains Helle Rootzén.
The recently appointed head of centre is quick to emphasize that the new centre is, in principle, open to everyone who works with learning and any technology with the capacity to support better learning.
“We want to be a meeting point for DTU’s own researchers and students, primary and secondary schools, other universities and companies working to develop teaching tools for the education sector. I hope that we will be able to set up a partnership with the humanist groups at the other universities, and with didactic and pedagogical specialists so that we achieve a level of diversity that promotes mutual benefit,” she adds.
Helle Rootzén relates that a working relationship has already been established between the centre, DTU’s own Learning Lab and the University of Copenhagen. The two other employees at the centre are Associate Professor Hanne Jarmer and Education Coordinator Karsten Schmidt.Inexpensive technology
“Up to now, learning technology has centred on replicating things that took place in the real world, i.e. copying a book or an assignment and uploading it to the computer. There’s nothing wrong with that, but things only really start to get interesting when you can do something with the technology that you can’t do in the physical world, thereby blending real life with technology,” says Helle Rootzén.
“It is only now that the technology has become sufficiently mature and relatively inexpensive that things are really starting to move,” she adds, mentioning as one example the new virtual reality goggles that no longer cost an arm and a leg.
“It’s great for small companies in particular to enter this market, because there are so many opportunities at the moment. New needs for are sure to arise for developing learning technologies and for comparing and testing them ... completing evidentiary examinations—areas without long and firmly established traditions, for obvious reasons. So the development and testing of new technology is something of a focus area at the new centre.”The key concept is ‘adaptive learning’
According to Hell Rootzén, the key concept in the field of learning technology right now is ‘adaptive learning’, i.e. having the computer adapt to the person who is to learn something. The use of adaptive learning has encouraging perspectives in relation to how universities recruit students, for example.
“Up until now, universities have particularly attracted those people who benefit most from conventional teaching methods, but this new learning technology should allow us to broaden our palette and tailor the teaching to the individual. This means, for example, that students may be presented with questions based on the answers they have given previously. As such, the brightest students will be constantly challenged, while others will avoid setbacks even if they fail to answer correctly the first time,” she says.
“LearnT is to help us build up a reputation as experts in learing technology. We are already doing some of these things, but we need to bring everything together and add all kinds of new initiatives to highlight the fact that this is the place to go if you want to work with learning technology.”
Helle Rootzén expects LearnT to operate with a turnover of approximately DKK 20 million once it has been fully phased in. It is hoped that funding will come from sources including Innovation Fund Denmark, private foundations, EU research funding and private companies.Learn more
Helle Rootzén, Professor Head of Centre, DTU Compute, hero@dtu.dk
New prize for skilled lecturers
Prize Every year, the Executive Board of DTU will be presenting a prize to those lecturers who have gone the extra mile —with Associate Professor Günther H. J. Peters as the first recipient.
For the first time, DTU has presented a new prize for the development of teaching and learning. This year’s award was presented to Günther H. J. Peters, Associate Professor at DTU Chemistry, who has worked assiduously to develop the notoriously tough-to-access basic course entitled ‘Physical chemistry for life sciences’. The prize comes with a DKK 25,000 travel grant, as well as one year’s custody of a three-metre-tall sculpture.
Introduced by the Executive Board of DTU, the purpose of the prize is to recognize an individual lecturer or team of lecturers for “remarkable and systematic input in the development of learning, teaching and education at DTU”. The prize was presented for the first time in autumn 2016, and from now on it will be awarded annually at a DTU Teaching Seminar.
“The purpose of the new prize is to reward the magnificent work done behind the scenes, where our lecturers work hard to develop new learning methods. It can be difficult to find time for this amid a busy daily schedule, yet our committed lecturing staff still make time. These are the passionate people we want to reward,” says Martin Vigild, Senior Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs.
He notes that the new prize should in no way be viewed as a competitor to the ‘Lecturer of the Year’ title that students award every year on Commemoration Day. The new prize rewards a process, while the ‘Lecturer of the Year’ award refers to performance in the lecture halls. So the two are not comparable.
“We are keen to encourage DTU lecturers to investigate continually and systematically how best to support their students’ learning through various teaching methods, and contribute to the ongoing improvement of the quality of our tuition and study programmes,” says Martin Vigild.
In the words of the judging panel, this year’s winner, Günther H. J. Peters, has “worked systematically and persistently over a long period to develop the ‘Physical chemistry for life sciences’ foundation subject, which has been traditionally viewed as difficult by students”.
He has developed the course from having an intensely traditional focus on theoretical communication to being a course with emphasis on student learning and difficulties understanding the theoretical content. Lectures in the course have now largely been replaced with project days and student presentations of the theoretical content. This has been supplemented by online video material reviewing the theory, and online quizzes that support student learning.
“The fundamental idea of having one-to-one contact with students, meeting them on their own terms and learning to listen to their needs and input, has proven to be a highly efficient learning method—so a big thank you to the students as well,” says Associate Professor Günther H. J. Peters.Learn more
Günther H.J. Peters, Associate Professor, DTU Chemistry, ghp@kemi.dtu.dk
Martin Etchells Vigild, Senior Vice president and Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs, bachelordekan@adm.dtu.dkAbout the prize
As well as the prize itself, the winner receives a travel grant of DKK 25,000 for activities to support the further development of his/her teaching skills.
In addition, a sculpture is given into the custody of the department for one year, until the next prize-giving ceremony. The three-metre-high sculpture is the work of Maja Fjord Fjord.
My opinion - Reality in teaching
Method The Innovation Pilot process makes new demands on students.
30 November saw the end of the first mandatory course for BEng students—Innovation Pilot. Innovation Pilot involves students being divided up into interdisciplinary groups of 5–6, with each member bringing his or her academic competency into play to create an innovative solution to a challenge posed by a company.
The students are very much in command here, with the role of the lecturer having been transformed from that of ‘omniscient oracle at the blackboard’ to that of a facilitator, whose task it is to assist with the process and to suggest where students can seek out the knowledge and assistance they need.
The method is inspired by approaches used at educational institutions abroad, where the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, for example, has positive experience with balancing the focus on process and product rather than on results alone.
In the business community, engineers are not given assignments where the process is ‘writ large in stone’—they have to chart the course themselves. This is something leading universities outside Denmark have realized, so it is only natural for DTU to follow suit.
DTU students are exceptionally highly skilled from an academic perspective, but our employer panel has made the point that some of them need to become better at handling an interdisciplinary approach, relating to the business and bringing their robust academic competency into play in a broader context. It is precisely these aspects the Innovation Pilot process is designed to stimulate, which is why it has now been introduced as a mandatory 10-point course.
The new way of working marks a clear change for all parties, and both lecturers and students have certainly been obliged to abandon their customary roles and move out of their comfort zones.
In addition to the students having to take responsibility for their own learning and working in interdisciplinary groups, one of the challenging aspects of the course is the requirement to work innovatively—i.e. to step outside ‘solution mode’ in certain phases so as to come up with all kinds of possible solutions, which are then discussed and tested.
Ultimately, the optimal solution is not something you can write neatly in a box and then check against an answer list. It is a choice that students have to justify, illustrate and pitch to the companies.
In and of itself, this constitutes quite a challenge for the students, the lecturers and the department itself—but the world is changing, so we simply have to change with it. Otherwise we can forget all about remaining one of the most highly respected technical universities.
Have we found the ‘Philosopher’s stone’, such that the course is running in the best possible way? Of course not; but all parties are working to evaluate and optimize the process on an ongoing basis, to ensure that we keep on improving all the time.
New centre focusing on security
Security DTU is a new, interdisciplinary knowledge and consultancy centre tasked with making it easier for authorities and companies to tap into DTU’s expertise in the fields of security and defence. The centre is to consolidate the University’s knowledge in the areas of, for example, cyber security defence technology, military and civilian monitoring in the Arctic region, rescue operations, environmental contingency plans and security in the event of natural disasters, and some of the other departments already involved are DTU Compute, DTU Mechanical Engineering, DTU Electrical Engineering, DTU Fotonik, and DTU Space.
Improved monitoring of illness in pigs
Researchers at DTU Vet have developed a new method for identifying illnesses in herds of pigs—what is known as a multiplex analysis that can test for up to 80 different pathogenic microorganisms in a single process. This will make it both cheaper and easier to monitor and prevent illness in pig farming operations, to the benefit of both pork exports and consumer confidence. To find out more about the multiplex analysis method, see l.dtu.dk/gcc7
First residents moving into EnergyLab Nordhavn
The first residents will soon be moving into the three top floors of Frihavnstårnet, the old DLG grain silo that is now part of the EnergyLab Nordhavn project. Here, they will be living in homes fitted with intelligent control of lights, electricity and heat, sensors measuring CO2 levels, and access to a host of other smart home functions. In return, they will be contributing data about their energy consumption and habits to the living urban laboratory—EnergyLab Nordhavn—where DTU is one of the project partners. Read more at kortlink.dk/nxr3
Lights still flashing in Østerild
The powerful flashing lights used to warn air traffic of the presence of the tall turbines in the DTU test centre for large wind turbines in Østerild won’t be going out any time soon. A radar installation has been developed with the capacity to register any flying objects and switch on the lights as required, but the Danish Armed Forces are concerned whether the system works properly, and want to have it supplemented with dimmed red lighting on the turbines. However, DTU is keen to accede to the wishes of the local residents and is therefore continuing negotiations. The people in and around Østerild will have to live with the flashing lights in the night for a while yet.
Researchers teaching fishermen
Researchers from DTU Aqua are now passing on their knowledge directly to students at the Fishery College in Thyborøn. They are teaching courses in fish biology, population assessment, consultancy and administration, thus preparing the students to enter the dialogue about how best to administer the existing resources. Søren Hyllen, head of the college, expects great things of the partnership and says: “In the teaching we provide, we mainly focus on what you are actually allowed to fish, but the researchers are turning the spotlight on the background for the quotas, and how they are set up.” The researchers’ presence at the Fishery College is part of the Fisherman-Researcher-Network organized by the Danmarks Fiskeriforening Producent Organisation (DFPO), Danmarks Pelagiske Producentorganisation (DPPO) and DTU Aqua.
Security Emil Gurevitch is on his way to Silicon Valley, having helped improve IT security at SEAS-NVE and many other electricity grid companies.
When, as a part of his Master’s project at DTU, Emil Gurevitch agreed to attempt to break into the SEAS-NVE IT system, he had no idea that he would make it so far into the system—and so far out into the world.
“The report I wrote is still confidential,” relates Emil Gurevitch, Information Security Engineer, by phone from Gdansk in Poland, where the American company Networked Energy Services (NES) has its head office, and where Emil is currently waiting for the visa to the United States that is his ticket (back) to Silicon Valley.
But let us start at the beginning with Bo Danielsen, Head of Department for Meters and Installations at the Zealand-based electricity company SEAS-NVE, at his office in Haslev, just south of Køge.
“We were one of the first grid companies to install remotely read meters, and we now have an active network featuring almost 400,000 potential attack points,” he says.
Several years ago, SEAS-NVE purchased its digital meters from Echelon, which has since become the afore-mentioned NES. The meters communicate with SEAS-NVE’s system via the electricity grid, which ought to be a safe way to collect data. However, other electricity companies had already come under attack by hackers, so SEAS-NVE contacted Associate Professor Christian Damsgaard Jensen at DTU Compute to learn more about the issue.
Their dialogue revealed that there are not actually many researchers in the world with knowledge of both IT security and remotely read meter systems used by electricity grid companies. The solution proved to be to ask one of the Computer Science and Engineering students—Emil Gurevitch—to have a crack at SEAS-NVE’s system.
“We had a number of good conversations about the setup and laid down some ground rules. We wanted it to be as realistic as possible,” recalls Emil Gurevitch.Took the meter apart
SEAS-NVE provided him with a meter and a connection so that he could take on the role of a normal customer, and then attempt to hack into the system from the comfort of his own living room. Emil Gurevitch started by taking the meter apart and examining the network. And he ended up forcing his way much farther into the system than Bo Danielsen had imagined would be possible.
“There are different levels of security. It is possible to hack a single meter? Can you then reach another meter in the same sub-grid? And can you then reach other meters in other sub-grids? We found ourselves in a classic hacker scenario,” says Bo Danielsen, adding that Emil Gurevitch scored top marks for his Master’s project, graduating as an MSc in information technology specializing in security.Employed in California
Emil Gurevitch demonstrated that it was possible to access the digital meters, so SEAS-NVE entered into discussions with the supplier in the United States. The senior executives at NES were extremely attentive, and the dialogue soon transformed into a formalized partnership between NES, DTU Compute an SEAS-NVE.
Emil Gurevitch accepted a position with SEAS-NVE and took up an overseas posting at NES in California. This led to improved algorithms, as well as software and network updates that have now been implemented in the meters and networks used by SEAS-NVE and a string of other electricity grid companies that utilize the same technology.
“They’ve received security improvements they didn’t even know the needed,” states Bo Danielsen, who stresses that access to the electricity grid via the meters could have resulted in damage, but that malevolent hackers could not have used this route to disrupt power plants, for example. The meters ‘only’ deliver packages of information (hour values once a day) to Energinet.dk.Dream job
Hackers are always finding new ways in, so SEAS-NVE is continuing its working relationship with NES and other suppliers.
“We’ve now built up close and direct ties with an extremely important supplier. Emil’s skills can best be applied at the cutting edge of new software development. This means a win-win situation for us,” emphasizes Bo Danielsen.
Emil is still pinching himself.
“My story illustrates how valuable it is to draw students out of their ‘security bubble’ at their universities,” he says.
Working across boundaries improves DTU’s advice
Status We spoke with Niels Axel Nielsen, Director for Private and Public Sectors Services, Senior Vice President, who will be stepping down at the start of the new year.
When you took up your duties, former president Lars Pallesen stated that you would be filling a strategically important position with the emphasis on developing the area of scientific advice at DTU. How did it go?
“We did really well. We’ve built advice up as one of the four legs of the DTU lion: research, education, innovation, and scientific advice. Customers are pleased with our services, and we have developed the content and the activities to cover the vast majority of DTU departments.”
“Knowledge that is not used has no benefit value, and with DTU’s scientific advice, the University has has a new tool since 2007 to help ensure that our knowledge generates real benefit in society. We are now advising decision-makers in ministries, international organizations, regional and municipal authorities in areas that cover everything from health, welfare and foods, to transport and mobility, financial growth and energy supplies.”
“Specifically, we are making recommendations for how to invest correctly in transport infrastructure, how to ensure healthy foods and a good environment, and how to deal with new livestock illnesses.”
One important element in your work has been to bring the full breadth of DTU’s research to bear on scientific advice. How did you do this?
“An interdisciplinary approach is the key. We’ve set up partnerships and networks between several departments to ensure that knowledge and competences in various parts of DTU can be brought together to find solutions to the often complex assignments in the field of scientific advice. In this way, we obtain much stronger and better solutions for our customers who are often facing challenges that cross borders between several professional environments. With more than 20 departments, each focusing on its own specific field, we have set up interdisciplinary coordination centres such as RailTech DTU, Water DTU, DTU Maritime Center and Security DTU.”
Which sectors will be strategically important in future?
“The health sector is a large and rapidly developing area where DTU is working closely with regional and municipal authorities. We are well on the way to making DTU a partner that is just as necessary and closely involved as departments of health at other universities. However, supply areas such as energy, water and mobility also feature comprehensive partnerships between DTU and public authorities with view to developing and implementing more sustainable solutions.”
What is the purpose of the sector development reports you have introduced at DTU?
“The purpose is not only to map the challenges in the sector in question— along with the bottlenecks affecting development and competitiveness in the area—but also to highlight specific areas where DTU can contribute to creating solutions. Seven reports will soon have been prepared on topics including big data in the food industry, space technology, healthcare technology and the wind turbine industry. All reports have resulted in tangible projects and development programmes. In addition, they inevitably create networks and partnerships between DTU researchers and companies active in the sector.”
Where do you see scientific advice heading in the future?
“One notable trend is that decision-makers have become increasingly aware that you cannot look at a single sector in isolation. When considering solutions to specific problems within a given sector, you also have to take into account how each individual solution option affects adjoining sectors. For example, it is not sufficient simply to do something with the transport infrastructure, you also need to know how it interacts with environmental pollution, town planning and the economy.”
“On our internal lines, our interdisciplinary approach to advice and professional environments has laid solid foundations for supporting the rising need for holistic advice.”
New professors
Morten Nielsen, Immunoinformatics and Machine-Learning, DTU Bioinformatics
Peter Bauer-Gottwein, Hydrology and Water Resources Management, DTU Environment
Henri V. Jansen, Semiconductor Fabrication Technology, DTU Danchip
Thomas Ostenfeld Larsen, Microbial Natural Product Chemistry, DTU Bioengineering
New members of DTU’s Board of Governors as of 1 January 2017
Susanne Juhl, CEO, HMN Naturgas I/S
Hanne Søndergaard, Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President, Arla Foods Amba
Tobias Holck Colding, Professor of Mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, United States.
Anniversaries
Jørgen Rasmussen, Assistant Engineer, DTU Electrical Engineering, 50 years on 2 December
Birgit Holm, Office Assistant, DTU Mechanical Engineering, 25 years on 9 December
Jørgen Fischer Nilsson, Professor, DTU Compute, 40 years on 15 December
Hello
In his capacity of recruitment expert at ‘Work in Denmark’ under the Danish Ministry of Employment, Dawid Sebastian Andersen has spent years working with Corporate HR, getting to know DTU as a “wonderful workplace with an excellent mix of university enviroment and business-driven company.” So when a corresponding position opened up at the University’s HR Department, he was quick to apply. Dawid is to continue to sell both DTU and Denmark to highly qualified specialists, which, in his opinion, won’t be hard to do. “When you start talking about the great conditions here, both the progressive research environment and life in Denmark in general, you can see people’s eyes light up ...” he says. Dawid came to Denmark from Poland 25 years ago, and alongside his position at DTU, he works as an interpreter for the Danish Ministry of Justice and the police. He is also a passionate fan of FC Barcelona—and a member of the club.
Goodbye
For the past seven years, Marianne Tranberg Pii has been heavily involved in the comprehensive work to arrange Commemoration Day at DTU, as well as a wide variety of conferences. She was also responsible for the constantly expanding catalogue of DTU merchandise.“I’ve spent seven years at the OIS stakeholder office, so I’ve been there and done my best,” says Marianne, who seized the opportunity when she was encouraged to apply for a position as event manager at Borreby Gods (Manor) in Skælskør. Here, she will be working to set up a completely new business area dealing with conferences and events at the estate, which can trace its roots back to 1556.
Gliding is actually a team sport
Thermals On summer days in the wilds of west Zealand, the air is filled with the scent of newly mown grass, dancing midges—and engineers. Kaldred Airstrip is home to the Polyteknisk Flyvegruppe gliding club.
An unremarkable yellow brick building stands at the end of a gravel track. A small sign bearing the text Polyteknisk Flyvegruppe (Polytechnic Flying Group) reveals that the humble domicile is ‘home’ to a group of passionate engineers who spend every weekend of the summer months watching weather forecasts, assembling aircraft, gliding around above West Zealand and eating meals prepared on the king-size barbecue in the courtyard.
It is just past 9.16 a.m. when your intrepid DTUavisen reporter rolls up at the anonymous rural property. The morning briefing on this Saturday in the middle of September has assembled about ten people, who are busily engaged in studying weather maps. They are all graduate engineers.
“It won’t be great weather for flying today, but we may get some sun this afternoon,” one of them opines.
Without sun, they won’t be taking to the skies. The sun warms the Earth, creating thermals—and without thermals, there is no reason to head over to the hangar and trundle out the handful of gliders that were otherwise scheduled to take flight today.
“You can’t just nip out for a couple of hours’ flying. Can’t do it. You need people to take care of this, that and the other on the ground, because you cannot launch a glider without help.”
So says Morten Bennick, today’s flight commander. Having logged appreciably more than 2,000 hours behind the joystick, and with a total of three decades as a gliding enthusiast, he is an experienced glider. In the same way as many of the other club members, he has had an unswerving interest in gliding since he first felt the rush of flying through the air in a motor-less aircraft.
“For everyone who is bitten by this sport, it’s a lifetime passion. Stig Øye—who’s here today, of course—has been World Champion, and he joined Polyteknisk Flyvegruppe back in 1968. He still turns up every chance he gets,” adds Morten.It becomes an obsession
The newest member of the club present today is Jon Steensen, who has been a member for eight years. Like many others, he joined while he was studying at DTU, and has kept on coming back. As he sees it, being a member is not just about the flying, it also has to do with the extraordinary team spirit that reigns in the clubhouse in Kladred.
“I love the flying, but the camaraderie in the club is the reason why I enjoy spending whole weekends here. I was unemployed for a while, and it meant a great deal to me that I could come up here and spend some time with a group of like-minded friends,” he says.
Many people feel the same way. Polyteknisk Flyvegruppe is more than ‘just’ a sports club, it’s a way of life. On the long summer days, the members often fly until late in the evening, and it has almost become a ritual to round off the days with steaks or other food from the barbecue, washed down with a single glass of wine.All the way to Jutland and back
I take part in the first flight of the day, piloted by Morten Bennick.
Launching a 450 kg glider into the air demands a really hard pull on a rope or wire. It’s actually sort of the same principle as when you’re flying a kite—but in this case the kite has been replaced by a carbon fibre aircraft, and your arm by an old engine from an American muscle car that generates three-figure horsepower.
The wire pulls taut and the little aircraft races from zero to 100 km/h in about three seconds. This causes a butterfly or two in the tummy, and if you love high speeds and crazy roller-coasters, gliding may be the sport for you. Morten is a skilled pilot, and we soon climb to an altitude of 800 metres. Kaldred is located on the coast at Saltbæk Vig (cove), with a view of Kalundborg, and the scenery is truly magnificent this sunny autumn day.
After about an hour in the air, we start to manoeuvre gently down towards the landing strip in Kaldred once more, where Morten settles the aircraft on the ground with great precision. My day at the club is drawing to a close, but there are still a few fibreglass birds circling the sky above Kaldred. On a good day, a skilled pilot can make it all the way to Jutland and back again—without landing.
I get back in my car. I have a 90-minute drive to Copenhagen. The Polyteknik pilots will hang out at their country hideaway until Sunday evening, as they so often do. It’s not just about flying; it has as much to do with the fellowship among the 70 members of Polyteknisk Flyvegruppe.
Facts
Do you end up with bruises?
Only if you are extraordinarily unlucky. There has not been an accident at the club since 1982.Do you need to be physically fit?
Not especially. However, you will have to do a fair bit of walking as the landing strip is a good distance from the clubhouse.Will you meet people of the opposite sex?
There are a handful of women among the club’s 70 or so members, so this isn’t the best place to come if you’re looking for a date.What’s the average age?
Difficult to say. More than half the club members are DTU alumni, so it’s not exactly a youth club. On the other hand, this does mean there’s always decent wine and tasty steaks for the barbecue—for members on student grants, too.Does it require special equipment?
Not to start with. The most dedicated members have their own gliders, and it can soon turn expensive—but you don’t need your own aircraft to start with. A sunhat, practical clothes and sunglasses, and you’re good to go.
Where does it hurt the next day?
Your legs might be a little sore, because you do a lot of walking. You might notice it in your bum, too, because the seats in a glider aren’t overly spacious.Three new terms I learned
Slope lift: If the wind is blowing towards a slope, hill or mountainside, it is forced upwards and a skilled glider pilot can use this to reach higher altitudes by flying alongside the cliff.
Winch start: A winch is used to launch a glider into the air. It’s a real rush!
Cow party: an annual tradition at Polyteknisk Flyvegruppe, where the members roast half a cow and hold a party.Learn more
You can find all the latest news and videos from Polyteknisk Flyvegruppe at pfg.dk, or on Facebook or YouTube.
Watch the video at "kortlink.dk/nxe5.
DTUavisen readers largely satisfied
Reader survey Nine out of ten readers of DTUavisen are satisfied, but many of them think that the paper should focus on more controversial topics.
More than a third of all DTU employees and students never even open DTUavisen. In contrast, those who do really enjoy it. These are some of the findings from the month-long reader survey that the DTUavisen editors carried out as from 12 September. Reader surveys have now been held in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
All students and employees received an email asking them to rate DTUavisen, and 2,256 of them accepted the invitation. Fully 1,859 readers completed the entire survey.
38 per cent stated that they never read the paper. This means that 62 per cent read it at least occasionally. 12 per cent said they read something in every issue.
The readers’ attitude to the paper is more positive than in 2014.Fully 91 per cent of the people who read the paper stated that they were generally satisfied or very satisfied—up from 89 per cent in 2014. However, 61 per cent generally or strongly agree that the paper should focus on more controversial topics.
The survey also reveals that readers’ attitudes to the role of the paper in the life of the University are becoming increasingly positive in several areas.
As such, the share of readers who generally or strongly agree that the paper plays a positive role in the community has risen to 67 per cent, i.e. up 21 percentage points on the figure for 2014.In addition, 73 per cent generally or strongly agree that the paper provides them with important information.
Food A new eatery has opened in Building 220 for employees and students in the second quadrant.
On 1 October, the doors to a new canteen at DTU opened in the newly constructed Building 220. Johnny Larsen, Kitchen Manager in the canteen, explains that he and the other staff have noted a steadily increasing flow of guests since they lit the stoves for the first time.
“It always takes a bit of time to start up a new place, but it’s been a really positive process. A lot of people come back again, and we’ve received a great response to our daily selection,” he says.
The canteen kitchen is open, so guests can see what is going on ‘behind the scenes’, and Johnny Larsen explains that this helps form a strong bond between the kitchen staff and the guests, which contributes to transparency.
According to Johnny Larsen, two of the keys to running a canteen are simplicity and using fresh ingredients, with the emphasis on seasonal organic produce.
“One of the things our guests appreciate is that we keep our menus simple,” he says, pointing to the day’s menu list that features classical dishes such as pasta Bolognese and vegetable soup with chicken stock.
Polymer fan Anne Ladegaard Skov, Associate Professor at DTU Chemical Engineering, has made a name for herself at a relatively young age as one of the world’s leading researchers into dielectric elastomers. However, it was far from certain that she would even graduate from high school.
Spread out in front of Anne Ladegaard Skov are numerous small pieces of film that look remarkably like Vita Wrap. The slim film, and the metal sprayed thinly over it, contain her entire professional life, but the unremarkable surface is deceptive: the dielectric elastomers—as they are called—hold a dizzying wealth of opportunities and huge financial potential. Only a few hundred people worldwide are researching these elastomers, and Anne Ladegaard Skov is one of the best.
It was far from given that she would end up as associate professor in chemical engineering and an elite global researcher—quite the reverse, in fact.
“I don’t come from a family of academics; my father’s a ship’s officer and my mother’s a designer, and I didn’t have much idea of what an engineer actually does until I started at DTU. In fact, I’m still not quite sure why I decided to take an engineering degree in the first place. All through high school I wanted to be a doctor, because you sort of know what a doctor does,” she explains, while fiddling with the pieces of polymer film on the table in front of her.
However, something happened during her high school years in her home town of Fredericia on Jutland: one of her teachers and one event made all the difference, charting a course for Anne Ladegaard Skov’s life that she has followed more-or-less religiously ever since.
“I was good at physics and chemistry in high school. So good, in fact, that I took part in the ‘Chemolympics’, where students compete in chemistry, and something or other must have happened there,” she says.
The impetus for it all came from her chemistry teacher, Ove Kjær Poulsen, who managed to make his subject so interesting that Anne was hooked.
“He taught chemistry as something that was really cool ... and comprehensible! You felt comfortable with the subject,” she explains, before adding:
“And he was really good at getting things to explode. We set fire to all kinds of things in his classes.”
Before she knew where she was, Anne Ladegaard Skov had been accepted at DTU, where she continued along her inquisitive and slightly uncertain path for quite a while.We treat each other with respect
“While following the programme, I often found myself wondering why on earth I had to take so many different courses. It was actually by chance that I ended up working on a PhD project to do with polymers. It was one of the other students who said I should come along, even though I barely knew what a polymer was. And when I finally finished my PhD, I promised myself I’d never touch that shit again as long as I lived. But here I am, back again ... Mainly because if we can crack this puzzle, the opportunities are immense. So it’s actually hugely exciting,” she says.
Today, she does not consider it a weakness that her path was not arrow-straight and brightly lit from the start; quite the opposite, in fact.
“The people I know who’ve been dedicated to one area from the very beginning naturally had a head start because I spent large parts of my education doing all kinds of other things—but I now know so much about so much. And I use pretty much all of it in one way or another today.”
There is much to suggest that Anne Ladegaard Skov came away from her chemistry lessons back home in Fredericia with much more than ‘just’ a passion for the subject. In any case, she was crowned 2016 PhD Supervisor of the Year at DTU, due to—in her own words—a specific recipe that resonates of her teacher Ove’s chemistry lessons:
“We have fun, and we treat each other with respect. There are plenty of examples of people smacking each other down in these environments, but that’s something I simply won’t tolerate. When we’re busy, we give it all we’ve got—but otherwise the students are welcome to pursue their own ideas; I’m not big on micromanaging ...”Can be used for everything
‘Micro’ is otherwise a key concept when working with materials that are only a few micrometres thick. One of the properties of the dielectric elastomers is that they can convert kinetic energy into electric energy—and vice versa. This is a property that, in Anne Ladegaard Skov’s words, “can be used for almost everything”.
In fact, the list of areas of use is already so long that with a little poetic licence, it can be said that from her office in Building 227 at DTU, Anne leads an almost godlike life, helping the lame walk (exoskeletons), making the blind see (blink mechanisms surgically implanted in the eye), and even adding the crowning glory of creating life to her CV. This last refers to the fact that the American military have used dielectric elastomers to create small, artificial, controllable insects—an invention that can bring a flush to the cheeks of any true afficionado of espionage.
However, the big project right now is on a different, much larger scale. A Dutch company has taken great strides in the development of what are known as polymer ‘anacondas’ with the capacity to exploit wave energy and that therefore have the potential to assure access to serious volumes of renewable energy.
The company will soon be running a test involving ten of these ‘polymer sausages’, each measuring 500 metres in length. Even in a conservative set-up, they are expected to produce energy equivalent to around a tenth of that generated by the entire Averdøreværket plant in Denmark.It bloody well has to work!
“Right now, we’re focusing heavily on the ‘wave harvesters’. It’s a hugely exciting area, and we know that some of these huge applications simply have to succeed soon. There is immense international enthusiasm at the moment, but if we don’t deliver, it will won’t belong before interest starts to decline. Success will of course have a major financial impact, in that I’ll have no problem finding financing for my work, but the biggest motivation is that of professional pride. It bloody well has to work!” emphasizes Anne Ladegaard Skov.
And when the wave harvesters seriously prove their worth, she already knows who will be entitled to a large portion of the credit: an elderly high school teacher in Fredericia.
“In recent years I’ve been thinking more and more that I’d like to pay him a visit simply to thank him for triggering my interest. I think he’s earned that,” she says, with a broad smile.
Because even though no-one could have predicted that she would end up where she is now, one thing is for certain: she’s ended up in the right place.
As to the question of whether she intends to carry on working with polymers for the rest of her career, she answers almost before the question is asked:
“Yes!”LEARN MORE
Anne Ladegaard Skov, Associate Professor, DTU Chemical Engineering, al@kt.dtu.dk
DTU’s Snapchat channel picked up a lot of new followers after President Anders Bjarklev’s editorial from the November issue was shared on Facebook. In the article, he encouraged readers to take a look at the channel every Tuesday, when exchange students from DTU present scenes from their everyday lives in all parts of the globe. In November, the Snap channel visited countries including Norway, Switzerland and the United States.
November was very much ‘video month’ on Facebook. The film about the University’s vessel Dana, which was heading off on a voyage to the Baltic Sea, is one of the most viewed this year. The video attracted more than 8,100 unique views, and the post was shared 50 times. A video featuring Maja Fjord Fjord was also made especially for Facebook; in it, the artist explains why the new prize for the development of teaching and learning takes the form of a copy of a section of scaffolding in bronze and steel.There was also a live stream from HRH Prince Joachim’s arrival at DTU on Thursday, 17 November, when he visited the University for the official opening of Building 220, Biosustain’s new home.
Johan Rosenkilde, who spends his working days at DTU Compute where he is an assistant professor, devotes his free time in November and December to weaving artistic Christmas decorations. As told to Andreas Johansen.
“Well I started weaving julehjerter (heart-shaped Christmas decorations) when I was just nine years old. I think they’re cool, and there is something so cosy and intrinsically Danish about a woven paper heart. As I grew older, I wanted to make them more and more complicated, and as an engineer I love a challenge—so my paper creations have actually become seriously complex over the years. Most recently I’ve started a blog, julehjertedesign.dk, where you can find all kinds of fun designs. For example, the one shown here, where I’ve made a heart with the DTU logo in the centre.”
“Of course we’re happy about our minister of science – I love you!”
Said by a lecturer. Quote collected by PF.
Memory lane - A Nobel laureate’s remedies
This stamp and inkpad belonged to Professor Henrik Dam (1895–1976), who was employed at Danmarks Tekniske Højskole (now called DTU) in the Department for Biochemistry and Nutrition, where his office was in the building on Østervoldgade in Copenhagen.
Henrik Dam received the Nobel prize together with the American researcher Edward Adelbert Doisy for their discovery of vitamin K. Otherwise, he focused his research in particular on fat and cholesterol, which resulted in his being named head of the newly established Danish Fat Research Institute (DFI) in 1956. As the name suggests, the objective of this institute was to promote research into the nutritional content of fats.
Henrik Dam retired in 1965, and his armchair is still a part of the historical collection at DTU today. Find out more at www.historie.dtu.dk.
The best-selling academic books at the Polyteknisk Boghandel bookstore.
1 Flow food
By Susana Mei Silverhøj; Varius, 2016.
2 365 forsøg
By Minna Lacey, Lisa Jane Gillespie, Lucy Bowman, et al.; Flachs, 2015.
3 Stålkonstruktioner efter DS/EN 1993
By Bent Bonnerup, Bjarne Chr. Jensen & Carsten Munk Plum; Praxis – Nyt Teknisk Forlag, 2015.
4 Varme ståbi
By Aage Birkkjær Lauritsen et al.; Praxis – Nyt Teknisk Forlag, 2015.
5 At tænke – hurtigt og langsomt
By Daniel Kahneman; Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2014.The list primarily features books on topics with which staff and students at DTU are currently working. Does not include textbooks as sales of these remain relatively constant and simply reflect the size of the courses.
The list refers to the period 7 October–November 7 2016.
The four clues below lead to four different words. But what do these words have in common?
1. What something is worth in money or some other form of payment.
2. Bowl usually made of porcelain, featuring flushing water and a drain.
3. Sweet dessert made of frozen cream or fruit juice, and with different tastes.
4. Printed material published regularly and intended for a wide audience.(Hint: The words can all be used as the prefix to a common five-letter word).
Value, toilet, ice-cream, newspaper. All words which, in Danish, can be added to the word ‘papir’ (paper). Værdipapir, toiletpapir, ispapir, avispapir.
