Wrist injuries can lead to an unstable wrist joint, which untreated can lead to joint arthritis. Unfortunately, an unstable wrist joint is often missed on radiographs because the instability is visible on a moving wrist. A new technique is four-dimensional CT imaging (4DCT). In 4DCT, a series of 3D images of both moving wrists are obtained in just a few seconds. With this project, we aim to introduce 4DCT into the clinic to replace wrist arthroscopy, improving diagnosis and treatment and reducing patient collateral damage and healthcare costs.

Spintronics, which aims to use the spin state of the electrons to process information, is a promising technology to supplement conventional electronics based on the control of the electrical charge of the electrons. The field is rapidly evolving into molecular spintronics where transport takes place through individual molecules advancing in miniaturization and spin-state preservation. Magnetic molecules possess intrinsic spin and therefore a spin polarized current plays a more complex role. But, under what conditions this molecular spin-state can be read, controlled or written with a spin-polarized current? The viability of molecular spintronics rest in the ability to discern and control the spin state of this magnetic molecule. I propose to investigate quantum transport through single magnetic molecules in three-terminal devices (spin transistors) made of a source and drain to bias the molecule and a gate to access different redox states. Charging the molecule combined with other external stimuli like magnetic field are expected to induce changes in the magnetic structure of the molecule that could be exploited to read and write information. Single-molecule magnets are proposed as candidate molecules. The combination of spin-polarized currents with magnetic molecules is expected to open a new route to address and switch the molecular spin. The fabrication of such spin transistor is now hindered by technological difficulties such as the oxidation of ferrometallic contacts. I propose to implement graphene electrodes to avoid such problem. The versatility of graphene allows for combination with ferromagnetic materials enabling to address the molecular spin with spin-polarized electrons. Moreover, the stability of these electrodes at room temperature paves the way to study magnetic molecules with spin-polarized currents at ambient conditions, which is crucial for future implementation. This research will allow for the first time to control the spin state of a single molecule with a spin-polarized current.

Resection of primary prostate cancer is unsuccessful in 11-38% of men because surgeons cannot easily distinguish between cancerous and non-cancerous tissue during the operation. The results for the patients can be profound, and may include more extensive treatments or early disease recurrence. Cerenkov Luminescence Imaging (CLI) has the potential to assist the surgeon during tumour removal. Cerenkov luminescence is a faint light emitted from a radioactive compound. These radioactive compounds, such as Gallium-68, are already used in oncology diagnostics to visualize tumours with large scanners. The aim of this study is to implement a novel small CLI-device that supports the surgeon during prostate surgery. The first phase will include optimization and technical performance assessment of the novel CLI technology. The second phase is a clinical feasibility study in prostate cancer patients, in which the value of CLI with the prostate cancer targeting compound Gallium-68-PSMA will be assessed during surgery.

Classical gravity can be formulated in terms of a theory, called Shape Dynamics (SD), of dynamic locally scale-invariant geometry. SD, discovered by myself and two other collaborators, can be proven to be equivalent to General Relativity (GR), despite having a different fundamental symmetry, because local foliation invariance is traded for local scale (or conformal) invariance. Broadly, the purpose of my proposed research is to try to understand the structure and implications, both classical and quantum, of SD. Towards this end, I have identified three distinct, but related, research directions. The first is an attempt to formulate SD, in the presence of a cosmological constant, in terms of conformally invariant connection variables. The hope is to generalize work done in 2+1 dimension to the physical case, which presents important new difficulties. Discovering such a formulation would: i) help to understand the mechanism behind the symmetry trading, and ii) allow for Loop Quantum Gravity-like methods of quantization to be utilized. The second direction would be to explore the effect of the unimodular condition (i.e., the condition that sets the local volume to a fixed density) on the quantization of SD. The unimodular condition is known not to modify the classical theory; but, because it excludes degenerate spacetime metrics that would otherwise be integrated over, the quantum theory could be very different. The last project is to understand the Hamiltonian of SD from knowledge only of conformal spatial geometry. Currently, the Hamiltonian is chosen uniquely to reproduce GR evolution. However, Machs principles suggest that physics should only depend upon scale-invariant information. Thus, we propose to search for a holographic definition of SD where Hamiltonian evolution is reproduced by the Renormalization Group flow in a Conformal Field Theory in one less dimension.

Deploying an active lifestyle is considered important in order to be able to live their lives independently and to be more self-supporting, especially for elderly. Gaming technologies are believed to offer opportunities to increase the motivation of elderly for physical activity without additional burden on both formal and informal health care. Despite the fact that the elderly population is an important, large, growing and power purchasing target population for games, very few of the available games today specifically target the elderly population and/or fail to achieve a long-term behavioral change in activity patterns during daily life. In the MAGGY project ambulant sensing of physical activities anytime and anywhere will be integrated with ambulant game environments enabling elderly to play throughout the day in the real world setting and no longer confining them to a single location to play. In order to achieve a long term behavioral change, the objective of the current project is to investigate the preferred motivation strategies and effective gamification feedback strategies in elderly by means of a combining a user-centered design approach with experimental work based on theoretical models related to player motivation strategies and behavioral change. Partners in this project are the University of Twente, Roessingh Research and Development, GameShip BV, TriviumMeulenbeltZorg and Paramedisch Instituut Rembrandt. The project starts 1st of May 2013 and will run for two years.