Pioneer Project Research Articles

Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Vocational and Adult Education: A Supplement to the DigCompEdu Framework

The AI Pioneers project, funded by the European Union, represents a significant initiative aimed at integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the landscape of adult education and Vocational Education and Training (VET). Through a comprehensive methodology comprising of literature reviews, surveys, and interviews conducted with a wide range of educators and stakeholders, the project has identified key AI competencies that are essential for educators. These competencies align with the six areas of the DigCompEdu framework, including Professional Engagement, Digital Resources, Teaching and Learning, Assessment, Empowering Learners, and Facilitating Learners’ Digital Competence. The AI Pioneers project’s main findings highlight the need for educators to develop skills in data literacy, computational thinking, ethical considerations of AI use, and the integration of AI tools into educational practices. By supplementing the DigCompEdu framework with AI-specific competencies, the project contributes to the continuing professional development of teachers and trainers, ensuring they are well-prepared for the the challenges and opportunities presented by AI in education. This initiative not only enhances educators' digital competencies but also plays a crucial role in preparing students for a future where AI is ubiquitous, thereby shaping the future of educational practices and outcomes.

Research protocol for an observational health data analysis to assess the applicability of randomized controlled trials focusing on newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer using real-world data: PIONEER IMI’s “big data for better outcomes” program

Background: Metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) constitutes ~5% of all new PCa diagnoses in Western countries. For most cases, primary consideration should be given to systemic therapies as the first-line approach based on evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Despite the importance of RCTs as the pinnacle of evidence in modern medicine, concerns have been raised about their applicability to real-life scenarios. These trials often feature participants who are younger with better performance statuses and prognoses compared to their real-world counterparts. The PIONEER project falls under the Innovative Medicine Initiative’s (IMI) “Big Data for Better Outcomes” initiative, aimed at revolutionizing PCa care in Europe. The central focus lies in improving cancer-related outcomes, enhancing health system efficiency, and elevating the quality of health and social care. This study endeavours to evaluate the generalizability of RCT findings concerning newly diagnosed metastatic PCa. Methods: A systematic review of the literature will be conducted to compile patient characteristics from RCTs addressing this subject within the past decade. To create a real-world benchmark, patients with recently diagnosed metastatic PCa from a network of population-based databases will serve as a comparison group. The objective is to assess the applicability of RCT results in two ways. First, a comparison will be made between the characteristics of patients with newly diagnosed metastatic PCa enroled in RCTs and those with the same condition included in our databases which might represent the real-world setting. Second, an evaluation will be undertaken to determine the proportion of real-world patients with newly diagnosed metastatic PCa who meet the criteria for RCT enrolment. This study will rely on extensive observational data, primarily sourced from population-based registries, electronic health records, and insurance claims data. The study cohort is established upon routinely gathered healthcare data, meticulously mapped to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model.

Systematic SARS-CoV-2 S-gene sequencing in wastewater samples enables early lineage detection and uncovers rare mutations in Portugal

As the COVID-19 pandemic reached its peak, many countries implemented genomic surveillance systems to track the evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Transition from the pandemic to the endemic phase prioritized alternative testing strategies to maintain effective epidemic surveillance at the population level, with less intensive sequencing efforts. One such promising approach was Wastewater-Based Surveillance (WBS), which offers non-invasive, cost-effective means for analysing virus trends at the sewershed level. From 2020 onwards, wastewater has been recognized as an instrumental source of information for public health, with national and international authorities exploring options to implement national wastewater surveillance systems and increasingly relying on WBS as early warning of potential pathogen outbreaks. In Portugal, several pioneer projects joined the academia, water utilities and Public Administration around WBS.To validate WBS as an effective genomic surveillance strategy, it is crucial to collect long term performance data. In this work, we present one year of systematic SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance in Portugal, representing 35 % of the mainland population. We employed two complementary methods for lineage determination - allelic discrimination by RT-PCR and S-gene sequencing. This combination allowed us to monitor variant evolution in near-real-time and identify low-frequency mutations.Over the course of this year-long study, spanning from May 2022 to April 2023, we successfully tracked the dominant Omicron sub-lineages, their progression and evolution, which aligned with concurrent clinical surveillance data. Our results underscore the effectiveness of WBS as a tracking system for virus variants, with the ability to unveil mutations undetected via massive sequencing of clinical samples from Portugal, demonstrating the ability of WBS to uncover new mutations and detect rare genetic variants.Our findings emphasize that knowledge of the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 at the population level can be extended far beyond via the combination of routine clinical genomic surveillance with wastewater sequencing and genotyping.

Rising Waters, Rooted Memories: Cultural Heritage as a resource for climate adaptation in Sinking Cities

Coastal communities around the world are on the frontline of dealing with climate change impacts, such as sea level rise. The research project “Sinking Cities: Cultural Heritage as a transformational resource” at the City Science Lab in Hamburg focuses on how cultural heritage can play a pivotal role in building resilient coastal communities. The aim of this pioneer project is to better understand the role of cultural heritage in social transformation processes and propose paths of action for socially integrated and fair climate adaptation. We argue that climate narratives are a continuum in cultural heritage and therefore should be considered more comprehensively by embracing historical sources as well as present cultural practices, like staging, arranging and performing as a form of knowledge production to broaden the view on climate narratives and tap into the transformative knowledge they offer.

Current Actuality of Sustainable Architecture: Prospects, Obstacles and Practical Implementation Strategies

Conventional architecture requires a lot of energy and emits a considerable amount of carbon dioxide, not only during its construction but also in the use process. According to the report released by the China Association of Energy Building Efficiency in 2020, the overall energy consumption of architecture takes up 46.5% of the final energy consumption in China. As environmental issues become one of the most important affairs worldwide, conventional architecture should explore a new path to address the long-existed excessive energy consumption and pollution problem. At the same time, the concept of sustainable architecture is put forward as a solution to the issue. In the past few years, innovations and breakthroughs have taken place in the construction industry and relevant strategies have been adopted by many projects. However, in order that the future of architecture will be rooted in nature and benefit the human well-being, the concept of sustainable architecture should be popularized extensively instead of serving as pioneer projects. This present article aims to assess the current actuality of sustainable architecture, including its prospects and obstacles. Also, it will propose several strategies with respect to developing eco-friendly building materials, adopting energy-efficient building design, and promoting vertical green facades along with one or two real-life cases.

Can Paper Waste Be Utilised as an Insulation Material in Response to the Current Crisis

Recently, the climate and landfill crises have raised concerns in the UK as the country is struggling to meet the sustainability goal it set to achieve. One of the major reasons is due to the inadequate recycling rate of waste paper. Therefore, as an alternative solution to the issue, the aim of our research was to exploit the potential of waste paper as an insulating material to see whether it can be feasible to improve the recycling rate of waste paper in the country. Waste paper has already been in the construction industry for a while, and the use of cellulose insulation is a standard in the Passivhaus construction approach. The study examines cellulose’s performance as an insulation material and its potential to combat the climate crisis by creating four separate comparisons and calculations using Life-Cycle Assessment and Standard Assessment Procedures. The study will investigate the benefits and limitations of the material as well as a case study to justify the use of it. A pioneer project in the field is a retrofit and new-built building project—54–58 Akerman Road in London. It utilises cellulose fibre insulation as the main material for the new-built part. The study will use this project as a context to compare whether cellulose fibre insulation is the best solution for the project. Also, the study will compare cellulose insulation with other conventional insulation materials in a more general setting as well as with the traditional paper recycling approach, by providing an indication of the carbon footprint of the insulation, the energy resources involved and the amount of raw material. By conducting the study, we can know whether recycling waste paper into cellulose insulation is the best solution to the crisis we face. This research can guide the UK’s recycling and use of waste paper, reduce paper waste and energy consumption and improve the sustainability of building insulation materials.

Online Focus Group Discussions to Engage Stigmatized Populations in Qualitative Health Research: Lessons Learned

Community participation in research involving stigmatized populations has been sub-optimal, and digital tools could potentially increase participation in qualitative research. This study aims to describe the implementation of an online chat-based FGD (Focus Group Discussion) with men who have sex with men (MSM) in China as part of formative research for the PIONEER project, determine the advantages and limitations associated with the approach, and assess the feasibility of deepening community participation in STI research. Participants were involved in four days of asynchronous FGDs on sexually transmitted diseases and answered questions about the online FGD method. Online FGDs allowed us to deepen participant engagement through bidirectional communication channels. Data from online FGDs directly informed recruitment strategies and community participation for a clinical trial. Overall, 63% (29/46) of men who had never participated in offline LGBTQ + activities joined online FGDs. Many participants (89%, 41/46) noted that online FGDs were more convenient, less socially awkward, and more anonymous than in-person qualitative research. We highlighted potential risks as well as mitigation strategies when using online FGDs. Online FGDs were feasible among this group of sexual minorities and may be particularly useful in many cities where stigma limits in-person research participation.

Controlled Synthesis of MOF-Derived Nano-Microstructure toward Lightweight and Wideband Microwave Absorption.

Correlating metal-organic framework (MOF) synthesis processes and microwave absorption (MA) enhancement mechanisms is a pioneer project. Nevertheless, the correlation process still relies mainly on empirical doctrine, which hardly corresponds to the specific mechanism of the effect on the dielectric properties. Hereby, after the strategy of modulation of protonation engineering and solvothermal temperature in the synthesis route, the obtained sheet-like self-assembled nanoflowerswereconstructed.Porous structures with multiple heterointerfaces, abundant defects, and vacancies are obtained by controlled design of the synthesis procedure. The rearrangement of charges and enhanced polarization can be promoted. The designed electromagnetic properties and special nano-microstructures of functional materials have significant impact on their electromagnetic wave energy conversion effects. As a consequence, the MA performance of the samples has been enhanced toward broadband absorption (6.07GHz), low thickness (2.0mm), low filling (20%), and efficient loss (-25dB), as well as being suitable for practical environmental applications. This work establishes the connection between the MOF-derived materials synthesis process and the MA enhancement mechanism, which provides insight into various microscopic microwave loss mechanisms.

Postgraduate dental resident education: A pilot in age-friendly "mentation" training.

Postdoctoral dental education in caring for older adults lacks didactic and clinical training in mentation topics, one of the core elements of the Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) framework. Our primary goal was to launch a pilot project in clinical geriatrics focusing on older adults' mentation concerns, with a secondary goal to improve dental residents' confidence and competence in dental care and oral health. Age-friendly care elements are not routinely incorporated into the dental education of residents caring for older adults with cognitive impairment or dementia. Therefore, we implemented a pilot educational project, providing the missing educational opportunity for residents in geriatric training covering cognitive impairment and focusing on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. We designed educational sessions through a needs assessment, focus group discussions, and expert validation. We developed three e-Learning modules covering mentation concerns and dementia screening. We tested the modules in a pilot study of 15 dental postdoctoral residents as an essential part of their clinical practice. The dementia dental learning module increased the residents' satisfaction with didactic preparedness (4.45 0.97) and knowledge acquisition (4.36 0.84). Residents strongly believed that learning about the AFHS-mentation topic would improve patient care. Our pilot study is a pioneer project in support of a new AFHS-themed dental curriculum for clinical education. Further expansion of the age-friendly principles to include mobility, medications, and what matters to older adults will establish a model framework of redesigned geriatric dental education for academic centers.

Pioneers project: Looking inside planetary interiors

Pioneers project: Looking inside planetary interiors PIONEERS European project develops the next generation of instruments that will reveal planetary interiors, explains Professor Raphael F. Garcia from ISAE-SUPAERO. After decades of exploration of planetary surfaces, our knowledge of planetary interiors and internal structures remains very limited. However, the structure of a planetary body tells us a lot about how it formed and evolved during the last 4.5 billion years. It is critical to understand our solar system to know better the thousands of planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Are these planets water-rich? for how long? Can these sustain life? Even at the scale of our solar system these questions are not fully solved because the clues to their answers are hidden deep inside our nearby planets, their moons, and asteroid bodies. Even if all these objects formed from the same materials that formed our Sun, the hazard of accretion generated very different objects evolving differently.

A Pioneer Project of a School Psychotechnic Center (1920)

A Pioneer Project of a School Psychotechnic Center (1920)

Structuring multi‐stakeholder participation to increase the impact of dementia research

AbstractBackgroundEffective translation of knowledge from research into practice requires effective communication, collaboration, and meaningful engagement across diverse stakeholders. Developing this expertise is a multi‐faceted process that takes time and effort; requiring a range of techniques to engage a wide variety of stakeholders extending from people living with dementia all the way to government policy makers. Here, we select key methods used in pioneer projects to help build capacity in structuring and implementing effective multi‐stakeholder participation.MethodWe reviewed 3 projects focusing on policy or system change that used multi‐stakeholder participation in key areas: engagement, consultation, and implementation. We explored methods employed to achieve effective participation, by reviewing both peer review and project‐related grey literature. We then cross‐compared the methods to establish effectiveness, ease of replication, and impact.ResultAll identified methods used a Knowledge Exchange (KE) framework. Specific methods fostering multi‐stakeholder participation included: Engagement to help set project priorities: Stakeholder mapping, theory of change workshops, awareness raising campaigns Consultation to seek views, sense‐check, validate findings: focus groups, situational analysis process (stakeholder interviews, vignettes) Implementation to increase research impact: advocacy, policy change Cross comparisons of the methods used in each project showed that these methods cover non‐overlapping and equally important aspects of stakeholder engagement.ConclusionAlthough there is still a long way to go, when methods of multi‐stakeholder participation are used independently or collectively, they help move research into policy impact. More research is needed as translational studies often remain academic and lack translation into impactful policy change. A key process to do this is through effective multi‐stakeholder participation. Systematic collection of different methods serving the same aim, hierarchical and flow chart definition of the use of such methods and related tools, indicators comparing effectiveness, guidelines for selection and to build capacity among translational research may be a roadmap for future development.

BRI and Geopolitical, Geoeconomic, and Maritime Security Dynamics of South Asia: Significance of Gwadar Port

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the pioneer project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the development of Gwadar port is part of it. This research explains the geoeconomic and geopolitical significance of Gwadar port for China and Pakistan. It discusses the role of Gwadar port in the successful implementation of BRI and its economic security outcomes for Pakistan and China, and other partners in BRI. A qualitative research approach is used to examine the geoeconomic effects of Gwadar port on the economic and political relations of China and Pakistan. The official reports and government documents are used for data analysis. The findings show that Gwadar port could be a solution to the economic security targets of China and Pakistan. China will also gain energy security by finding an alternate, more secure route for the supply of oil and export of goods and better access to markets of Central Asia, Europe, and the USA. Moreover, Pakistan is expected to observe a significant rise in maritime trade capacity to support the dwindling economy. Furthermore, naval security will improve by reducing reliance on existing ports in Karachi, close to the Indian border.

Project SELfit: training socio-emotional skills in a school environment in Porto

Abstract Issue/Problem Mental disorders are the main cause of years lived with disability (YLD) in 5-14-year-old people around the world, in Western Europe, and particularly in Portugal. Young people who experience anxiety during childhood have a 3,5-fold likelihood of suffering from depression or anxiety during adulthood. COVID-19 has aggravated this situation, namely regarding socio-emotional competencies. Description of the problem SELfit, a project based on the Socio-emotional learning (SEL) methodology, aims promoting mental health, by training teachers and community nurses to develop socio-emotional skills in students from primary schools. The project includes a theoretical and a practical/training session, and monthly supervision sessions by a team that includes a psychologist, a public health doctor and public health nurses. The period of implementation is between February to July 2022. Results A total of 8 community nurses and 13 teachers from 3 primary schools in Porto enrolled in this project, which corresponds to a total around 272 students from 5 to 8-year-old. Knowledge of nurses and teachers regarding mental health literacy, and social emotional learning was assessed, before and after the theoretical session. The mean percentage of correct answers before was 49% (54% regarding nurses and 45% teachers) compared to 84% (92% regarding nurses and 78% teachers) after. Concerning socio-emotional skills of the primary school students, possible improvement will be evaluated at the end of the project (July 2022). Lessons Mental health literacy and social emotional learning knowledge increased 35%, which highlights the importance of these theoretical sessions promoting mental health literacy. By the end of this project, it is expected to exist an improvement on socio-emotional skills of the primary school students. This is a very important project, expected to be implement and replicated in other schools in Porto and in Portugal. Key messages • Mental disorders are the main cause of years lost due to disability (YLD) in primary school students in Portugal; hence, it was chosen for this mental health promotion project. • This is a pioneer project in Porto, involving both community nurses and primary teachers, in which all are involved in training and promoting social-emotional learning in a school context.

Three Years of Vestibular Infant Screening in Infants With Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Although vestibular deficits are more prevalent in hearing-impaired children and can affect their development on many levels, a pediatric vestibular assessment is still uncommon in clinical practice. Since early detection may allow for timely intervention, this pioneer project has implemented a basic vestibular screening test for each six-month-old hearing-impaired infant in Flanders, Belgium. This study aims to report the vestibular screening results over a period of three years and to define the most important risk factors for abnormal vestibular screening results. Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials with bone-conduction were used as a vestibular screening tool in all reference centers affiliated to the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program in Flanders. From June 2018 until June 2021, 254 infants (mean age: 7.4 months, standard deviation: 2.4 months) with sensorineural hearing loss were included. Overall, abnormal vestibular screening results were found in 13.8% (35 of 254) of the infants. The most important group at risk for abnormal vestibular screening results were infants with unilateral or bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss (20.8%, 32 of 154) (P < .001, odds ratio = 9.16). Moreover, abnormal vestibular screening results were more prevalent in infants with hearing loss caused by meningitis (66.7%, 2 of 3), syndromes (28.6%, 8 of 28), congenital cytomegalovirus infection (20.0%, 8 of 40), and cochleovestibular anomalies (19.2%, 5 of 26). The vestibular screening results in infants with sensorineural hearing loss indicate the highest risk for vestibular deficits in severe to profound hearing loss, and certain underlying etiologies of hearing loss, such as meningitis, syndromes, congenital cytomegalovirus, and cochleovestibular anomalies.

Secondary Treatment for Men with Localized Prostate Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of PRIAS and ERSPC-Rotterdam Data within the PIONEER Data Platform.

Introduction: Treatment choice for localized prostate cancer is complicated, as each treatment option comes with various pros and cons. It is well established that active surveillance (AS), may be ended with a change to curative treatment at the time of disease progression, but it is less clear whether secondary treatment after initial curative treatment is required. As part of the PIONEER project, we quantified the probabilities of treatment change. Methods: A cohort study based on PRIAS and ERSPC-Rotterdam data was conducted. Patients were followed up for 10 years or until the 31st of December 2017. The primary outcome was the incidence of treatment change following initial treatment (i.e., a change to curative treatment following AS or secondary treatment after initial RP/RT). Results: Over a period of 1 to 5 years after initial treatment, the cumulative incidence of treatment change ranged from 3.8% to 42.8% for AS, from 7.6% to 12.1% for radical prostatectomy (RP) and from no change to 5.3% for radiation therapy (RT). While the possibility of treatment change in AS is known, the numbers within a five-year period were substantial. For RP and RT, the rate of change to secondary treatment was lower, but still non-neglectable, with 5 (10)-year incidences up to 12% (20%) and 5% (16%), respectively. Conclusion: This is one of the first studies comparing the incidence of guideline-recommended treatment changes in men receiving different primary treatments (i.e., AS, RT, or RP) for localized prostate cancer (PCa).

Solid Waste Management Approach at the University through Living Labs and Communication Strategies: Case Studies in Italy and Portugal

Universities are today seen as living labs for the creation of knowledge with the aim of transferring it to society. The integration of sustainability is a critical point in this context, as solutions for problems experienced in society can be experimented with regarding physical aspects, such as Solid Waste Management (SWM), and efficiency in energy and water use, but also social aspects such as accessibility, equality, and inclusion. This paper explores the implementation of similar SWM projects in two European universities, Milan-Bicocca University and Instituto Superior Técnico from Lisbon University. Milan-Bicocca was the pioneer project that followed an ambitious model that demanded the removal of all isolated waste bins from inside the offices and rooms, replacing them with waste collection islands in the public spaces. This meant a very coordinated procedure and communication plan, and inspired the pilot project in Instituto Superior Técnico, currently in the expansion phase. This paper describes the implementation of each model and their specificities, and a roadmap is proposed that resulted from the interactions, meetings, and discussions between the two teams, Italian and Portuguese.

Projects which push the limits of efficient performance concepts of high-pressure grinding rollers

The ore pretreatment process evolution is briefly addressed, with some milestones and pioneer projects described. Two advanced projects of concentration mills based on the technology of the pioneer-level high-pressure roll milling are discussed. The operating Canadian Copper Mountain Mill is interesting for using the technology which eliminates bottlenecks of the classical semi autogenous milling circuit, with the resultant increase in the mill capacity more than two times as against the initial project value. This result has been achieved for the first time in the world owing to total rejection of the ore pretreatment circuit and thanks to complete transition to press roller milling. Design and engineering of high-pressure roll mill HRC3000, as well as auxiliary milling and flotation equipment is in progress. The high-capacity Iron Bridge Magnetite Mill under construction in Australia can be assumed as the breakthrough project owing to the world&rsquo;s first time trial of Enduron high-pressure grinding rolls by Weir Minerals in milling of magnetite quartzite and in dry production of fine products suitable for further processing without ball milling. The power saving in dry milling using high-pressure rolls will make 30 % at the least as compared with the present-day ore pretreatment by wet milling. Ball mills are withdrawn from the processing circuit, water consumption drops, carbon emissions are decreased, and the tailing storage becomes simpler and safer. In dry tailing storage, the capital investment is cut down as the operation of thickening of wet tailings is rejected, dam construction for tailings ponds is eliminated, and the environmental impact related with contamination of surface and ground water bodies, which is intrinsic to operation of conventional tailings storage facilities, is mitigated.

Business analysis of implementation of UCG technology in Indonesia

There is a deep-seated coal potency with a depth more than 100 meters below surface in Indonesia that has not been exploited yet. Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is an unconventional technology that can become the solution to exploit the deep-seated coal potential by extracting coal into in-situ gas that can be converted to electricity or chemicals. Based on business analysis, this paper aims to analyze the implementation of UCG technology in Indonesia, whether it is potential or not. Data are collected from literature and analyzed using Porter Five Forces and PESTLE Analysis. The Porter Five Forces analysis shows that the implementation of UCG in Indonesia is still potential as an industry because the only threat will come from substitute products. PESTLE analysis shows that almost all the factors, except for technology, are very supportive of implementing UCG commercial plants in Indonesia. Based on both studies, it can be concluded that the UCG project is very potential to be developed in Indonesia. However, it needs full support and control from the government because it will become a pioneer project with financial and environmental risk still has not quantified ideally.

Dealing with the Intangible: Using the Analytical Lens of Hidden Curricula for a Transformative Paradigm of Sustainable Higher Education

There is a broad consensus that universities have the potential to act as drivers of education for sustainable development (ESD) and constitute fundamental vehicles to explore, test, develop and communicate conditions for necessary socio-ecological transformations. This goes hand in hand with stronger acknowledgment of the societal role of universities and the related need for a new transformative paradigm of sustainable higher education. Before such a paradigm can be established, before higher education can be transformative, universities themselves must be transformed. Despite various pioneer projects and frontrunners of sustainable universities, real transformations are still rare though.