FERI

In the study, the researchers proved that these innovative systems for capturing multichannel intramuscular EMG signals combined with computer algorithms developed at the Institute of Computer Science UM FERI, support monitoring of simultaneous activity of a relatively large number of motor neurons in the individual skeletal muscle. Up to 67 simultaneously active motor neurons were tracked with identification accuracy of 99% or above. These results significantly exceed the efficiency of the procedures known to date. The presented methodology enables the discovery of new mechanisms in the functioning of motor neurons, which could not be observed with the previously established measurement procedures. Among them, the study discusses the functional coupling of motor neurons at significantly higher frequencies than known until now (even at frequencies around 75 Hz) and measuring of the impact of the Renshaw cells inhibition on the motor neurons. The presented methodology and findings demonstrate the applicability of a new paradigm of human motor system analysis by means of large populations of concurrently active motor neurons. The contribution is available on the website https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abo5040?af=R

A guest lecture, "Is a Comparison of Metaheuristics on Whole Convergence Graphs More Helpful?", by Dr. Shih-Hsi Liu from California State University Fresno, will be held on Thursday, November 17, 2022, at 9.00 am, in lecture room G2-Beta, at the course Evolutionary Computation, 2nd-year R-IT MAG.

A guest lecture, "Surfing at the Interface between Theory and Practice in Evolutionary Computation", by Dr. Carola Doer from Sorbonne Université, France, will be held on Friday, November 18, 2022, at 9.00 am, in lecture room G2-Beta, at the course Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms, 3rd-year R-IT VS.

Two of our teams presented the best challenge in their category and won a cash prize. The team, The thinkers, consisting of Avguštin Erdelji, Jakob Smolič, Katja Frančič, Andrija Novaković, Goran Kirov, and Tomi Milošič, presented the best idea in the category Enabling green and sustainable investments. Their idea was focused on the use of satellite imagery to detect and monitor boats fishing illegally in protected areas without the support of IAS (Automatic Identification System) trackers.

The Port'o'lyzer team, consisting of Ana Plečko, Domen Leš, Rok Kukovec, and Uroš Zagoranski, presented the best solution in the category of Advancing global financial intelligence. Based on satellite location data and vessel draught data, they developed an artificial intelligence model to predict the traffic of a port. Their solution provides an independent real-time view of port traffic.

The team Urbano with members Blaž Vidovič, Anže Galun, Filip Kren, Filip Zdjelar, and Bard Grujič, also scored highly in the category of Enabling green and sustainable investments with their proposition. They developed a solution that uses satellite images and an artificial intelligence model to generate suggestions for the most appropriate choice of one or more crops at a particular location, addressing the problem of inefficient farming.

Congratulations to all participants for the quality of the solutions they prepared and presented!

The meeting took place in Turiba University (Riga, Latvia) and SUSTENTO, The Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Organisations. The University of Maribor participates in this project as a leading partner in activities, aimed at building a framework for the training of user testing providers, accessible to users with special needs.

Among the registered teams from Slovenia, the first place was achieved by the GitPull team (Mitko Nikov, Alen Granda, Aljaž Žel - all three students of Computer Science and Information Technologies study program), which also achieved an excellent result among the teams in the IEEE Region 8 (34th place out of 1762 teams) and ranked as "Top 100" in the world rankings of this competition, in 83rd place out of 6373 teams. This result is comparable to the last year's ranking of the BSD team, which ranked 25th in the region out of 1288 teams. Due to the significant increase in the number of teams this year, the result relative to the number of teams even improves the last year's national record according (83/6373 vs. 81/5561). The GitPull team placed 3rd in this year's competition among teams from all Central Europe.

Slovenian vice-champions became the CoffeeBreak team (Martin Domajnko, Jakob Kordez - students of Computer Science and Information Technologies study program), who ranked 160th in region 8 or to the 659th place in the world. The third place in Slovenia was taken by the NaN team (Jure Dolar, Tim Prapotnik - also students of students of Computer Science and Information Technologies study program), which ranked 202nd in IEEE Region 8 or 769th place in the world. When the CoffeeBreak team solved its 3rd task, it was even ranked 17th in the world for a while. For a while, all teams were below the 300th place. All three teams competed under the mentorship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aleš Zamuda. Jani Dugonik, who also heads the IEEE student branch of the University of Maribor, helped with promotion and organization of the event. The event was sponsored by IEEE Slovenia and IEEE CIS Slovenia, the Institute of Computer Science, and the Institute of Informatics at UM FERI.

More about this event at UM FERI is written in the IEEE report.

Congratulations!

• Who : Master and PhD students from Erasmus+ Higher Education Institutions. There is a maximum of 30 participants.
• When : The week of physical mobility will be from January 9th to 13th 2023. The virtual week will occur later on in the semester.
• Where : Most activities will take place on the university campus (OSUC faculty) and some will be at different facilities (Hôtel Dupanloup, city center) and on site.
• More : Intercultural activities will be held in the city of Orléans and in our beautiful region. You will be able to enjoy the Loire Valley, culinary experiences and other gala activities.
• ECTS : Participants will obtain 3 ECTS after completion of the program. The one-week on-site training in Orléans will be followed by on-line collaborative group project activities.

More information and application link can be found at this web page.

This year's champion of the University of Maribor is the "git pull" team, consisting of Alen Granda, Mitko Nikov and Aljaž Žel. The second place was won by the "Coffee Break" team, consisting of Martin Domanjko and Jakob Kordež. The third place was taken by the "20 five" team, consisting of Rene Klement and Luka Lonec. At the national level, the "git pull" team achieved a high 4th place, and the "Coffee Break" team was also successful, achieving 8th place.

The best teams from individual universities will have the opportunity to represent their universities at the Central European competition (CERC), which will take place between November 25 and 27 in Ljubljana, where the teams will face strong competition from universities from Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

We sincerely congratulate all participants on their achievements and hope to see you again next year at the final in Maribor!

Check out and follow also:

• UM Student Hub website,
• news at my.UM,
• upcoming events and workshops for students,
• The University of Maribor social media: Facebook UM, LinkedIn UM, Instagram UM.

For participating in educational workshops, students also receive certificates (in a portfolio), which you can attach to your CV.

More useful links regarding Professor Michael Graetzel can be found below:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=B0h47WAAAAAJ...

https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lpi/graetzel/

To receive the link to Professor Graetzel's talk, you need to be registered here: https://forms.gle/MYoYcjbvwUprYDGT9

To follow the ATHENA European University Colloquial Talks program, please check here: https://sites.google.com/view/athenaunicolloquialtalks/home

In recent years, we have witnessed exponential development and progress in the field of artificial intelligence all over the world. Where does Slovenia fit into this story? How is the development of such technologies in our country? Can we compete with the greatest with our knowledge? Can a Slovenian company compete on the international market with its solutions? These are just some of the topics that were talked about at the round table.

Three experts from industry and science field participated at the round table: Dr. Janez Perš, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Dr. Damjan Strnad, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics, University of Maribor, and Dr. Tadej Justin, Medius d.o.o.

A student competition of the IEEE Slovenian Section is also held at the conference every year. Student Maja Glušič (left on the photo), under the mentorship of Assoc. prof. dr. Aleš Hace, presented an article titled "Intuitivno učenje kolaborativne robotske roke s pomočjo mešane resničnosti" and achieved an excellent 1st place in the student paper competition. 3rd place was shared by student Matic Markovič (middle on the photo), who, under the mentorship of Dr. Primož Sukič and Sr. Instr. M. Sc. Andrej Orgulan, presented an article titled "Merilni sistem za določanje kvalitete LED svetlobnih virov za gospodinjstva", and student Jaka Rober (right on the photo), who, under the mentorship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Martin Petrun, presented an article titled "Vpliv impedance omrežja na vodenje trifaznega aktivnega pretvornika v orientaciji omrežne napetosti". The best student papers from the University of Maribor and the University of Ljubljana qualify for the next regional competition, the IEEE Student Paper Contest Region 8, which covers the entire area of Europe, most of Asia and Africa.

Congratulations!