The program of the seminar is here.

All files are pdf-files and locked with the proper password (except program).

News surveillance is a technology designed to provide automated understanding of plain text in natural human language, such as news [...]]]> On Wednesday May 19 at 5.30 pm, Dr. Antoine Doucet, University of Caen, and Dr. Roman Yangarber, University of Helsinki, will introduce the collaboration in the PULS-Project on the application of news surveillance to epidemic surveillance.

News surveillance is a technology designed to provide automated understanding of plain text in natural human language, such as news streams, and to extract specific items of information from the text. For example, in epidemiological surveillance, this means not only finding articles on the Web about outbreaks of epidemics, but also analysing specifically who was affected, with what condition/disease, where, when, with what consequences. Epidemic surveillance has become a crucial tool with recent fast-spreading crises such as SARS, avian flu, and H1N1. Users include health authorities at national and supranational levels (ECDC, WHO).

PULS is a project at the University of Helsinki which develops text-understanding technology. For epidemic surveillance, PULS collaborates with the Medical Information System, MedISys, built at the European Joint Research Centre in Italy. Until recently, PULS focused only on English-language news, which limited the coverage of the system. The collaboration with the French ISLand team of the GREYC laboratory aims to extend the coverage to French. The French-Finnish collaboration, initiated in 2009, resulted in an extension of PULS, and is showing good promise for other languages such as Russian, Spanish and Chinese.

Dr. Antoine Doucet

Dr. Roman Yangarber

This Café will be the last of the season, we’ll meet again in September!

You can receive regular information on the Café Scientifique lecture series by sending an email to cafescientifique(at)france.fi.

Is REACH an issue for industrial companies only? Or do researchers also have to take it seriously when they develop new chemical routes? Is the general call for “Green Chemistry” and “Benign by Design ‐products” going to change our way of doing chemistry? Come and discuss these questions (and many more) with [...]]]> 7.-8.6.2010
Sokos Hotel Presidentti, Helsinki

Is REACH an issue for industrial companies only? Or do researchers also have to take it seriously when they develop new chemical routes? Is the general call for “Green Chemistry” and “Benign by Design ‐products” going to change our way of doing chemistry? Come and discuss these questions (and many more) with prominent French and Finnish experts!

The seminar will gather researchers from both countries, from academic as well as industrial R&D world. A focus will be made on higher education issues, and particular effort will be put on inviting young researchers and postdoctoral students.

Download program (pdf).

Participation to the seminar is free of charge but requires registration by May 7 (limited number of participants):
kirsi.campello(at)france.fi, +358 9 2510 2124

Photo: Astigma, www.imagepark.biz

1900-luvun vaihteessa tiedemaailmassa kuhistiin uusista alkuaineista, jotka hohtivat! Ilmiötä alettiin kutsua radioaktiivisuudeksi. Seuraavina vuosikymmeninä sitä opittiin soveltamaan tavalla, jota ei voitu edes kuvitella.

Säteilyn lumo esittelee röntgen-säteiden, radioaktiivisuuden ja radiumia hyödyntävän teollisuuden sekä ydinvoiman kehittymisen historiaa, säteiden hyödyntämistä lääketieteessä, Hiroshiman ja Nagasakin atomipommitukset sekä kylmän sodan aikaiset ydinkokeet ja Tsernobylin ydinvoimalaonnettomuuden.

Ranskalaisen tiedekeskuksen tuottama näyttely [...]]]> 28.4.2010–9.1.2011
Tekniikan museo

1900-luvun vaihteessa tiedemaailmassa kuhistiin uusista alkuaineista, jotka hohtivat! Ilmiötä alettiin kutsua radioaktiivisuudeksi. Seuraavina vuosikymmeninä sitä opittiin soveltamaan tavalla, jota ei voitu edes kuvitella.

Säteilyn lumo esittelee röntgen-säteiden, radioaktiivisuuden ja radiumia hyödyntävän teollisuuden sekä ydinvoiman kehittymisen historiaa, säteiden hyödyntämistä lääketieteessä, Hiroshiman ja Nagasakin atomipommitukset sekä kylmän sodan aikaiset ydinkokeet ja Tsernobylin ydinvoimalaonnettomuuden.

Ranskalaisen tiedekeskuksen tuottama näyttely on tuotu Suomeen Tekniikan museon ja Säteilyturvakeskus STUK:n yhteistyönä.

Uudet, hohtavat alkuaineet olivat kuin taideteoksia, ja ne antoivat osansa vuosisadan vaihteen tieteelliseen huvielämään. Kun säteilyn aiheuttamat haittavaikutukset jouduttiin tunnustamaan, huolettomuus ja usko tieteeseen vaihtuivat pelkoon ja pettymykseen.

Näyttely koostuu nykytaideteoksista, runoista ja dokumenttifilmeistä, jotka yhdessä kertovat säteilyn satavuotisen historian. Peter Keenen ja Piet.sO:n teoksissa tekniikasta ja tieteestä tutut esineet ja prosessit yhdistyvät taiteeksi.

Helsingin Vanhassakaupungissa sijaitseva Tekniikan museo on tekniikan alan erikoismuseo. Näyttelyt kertovat tarinaa siitä, miten teknologian muutos on vaikuttanut ihmisten arkeen, ympäristöön ja yhteiskuntaan. Museo tallentaa teollista ja teknistä kulttuuriperintöä.

Tekniikan museo, Viikintie 1, 00560 Helsinki
www.tekniikanmuseo.fi

Kuva: Tekniikan museo

Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are an ancient group of photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms that are an [...]]]> On Wednesday April 21 at 5.30 pm, Dr. David Fewer (Food and Evironmental Sciences, Division of Microbiology University of Helsinki), will address a typical Finnish concern, namely blue-green algae blooms in the Baltic Sea.
The title of his talk is: ”Toxic Cyanobacteria”.

Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are an ancient group of photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms that are an important part of many terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In fresh and brackish water bodies cyanobacterial cells often multiply and form blooms.

Cyanobacterial blooms are aesthetically unpleasant and can have serious environmental impacts. In addition some cyanobacteria species can produce potent natural toxins. Such toxic cyanobacterial blooms have been reported from fresh and brackish water bodies for over 100 years. These toxins are a threat to humans and animals if consumed from drinking water. Toxic cyanobacterial blooms are an annual phenomenon in Finnish lakes and the Baltic Sea.

Here David Fewer will present an overview of toxic cyanobacterial blooms as well as research carried out at the University of Helsinki on how cyanobacteria produce these toxins. Recent advances in genome biology provide new and unique opportunity to investigate how cyanobacteria produce toxins at a molecular level as well as the discovery of new bioactive compounds from cyanobacteria.

 David Fewer

 Come and discover how these unpleasant algae produce toxins and endanger our environment!

Venue: Centre Culturel Français, Cable factory, Tallberginkatu 1 (C2) Metro Ruoholahti
Bus 20, 21V, 65, 66

Mark the date! The following Café will be held on Wednesday May 19 at 5.30 pm at the French Cultural Center.

Photo Algae: Rajavartiolaitos/Vartiolentolaivue

The title of his talk is: ”Observations at drifting ice station « Tara » – insight to changing Arctic [...]]]> On Wednesday March 24 at 5.30 pm, Dr. Jari Haapala, senior researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute will tell us of his adventure on the Tara ship that drifted on the Arctic Ocean for almost two years in 2007-2008.

The title of his talk is: ”Observations at drifting ice station « Tara » – insight to changing Arctic Ocean”.

The Arctic is undergoing significant environmental changes. The most evident signal of the climate warming is the shrinking and thinning of the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean. If the warming continues, as the global climate models predict, the Arctic Ocean will change from a perennially ice‐covered body to a seasonally ice‐free ocean. When this will happen is an open question, estimates vary from 2030’s to the end of the century. One reason for this huge uncertainty is the lack of systematic observation describing the state, variability and change of the Arctic Ocean.

During the International Polar Year, the French polar schooner « Tara » drifted within the Arctic pack ice for 500 days. During her transpolar voyage she served as a base for the Damocles scientific observation programme. Jari Haapala will present a broad overview of the « Tara » measurements campaign and explain how these measurements have increased our understanding of the processes behind the observed changes in the Arctic Ocean.

Jari Haapala

Come and discover why the experiments carried out there are so important to improve climate models and participate in the discussion.

Venue: Centre Culturel Français, Cable factory, Tallberginkatu 1 (C2) Metro Ruoholahti
Bus 20, 21V, 65, 66