Information societies technology

C 7.6 UCO - University of Córdoba

Company profile - www.uco.es

Nowadays the University of Córdoba has twenty thousand students. It is noticeable for its convenient proportion between teachers and students and also for its great potential in research activities. The University is structured in three main areas:

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  Health Studies (The Faculty of Medicine, the Nursing School, and the University Medical Center Reina Sofía.).
  
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  Humanities (the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, the Faculty of Educational Sciences, and the Industrial Relations University College).
  
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  Science, Engineering Studies and Agriculture and Food Studies, Veterinary, Food Technology, Agronomy and Forestry Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry, Physics, Environmental Sciences, Industrial Engineering and Computer Science. This module is located in the university campus of Rabanales. It extends its location across 96.000 m2 of buildings, home to a range of research and education programs. It is surrounded by an experimental farm of 48 hectares, including a R+D Technological Park.
  

The University of Córdoba has 165 groups with a total of 1618 researchers that work in several areas of study. It reaches specially high standards in Agriculture, Biology, Veterinary, Chemistry, Biochemistry and Environmental Sciences. Its contribution to publications and research activities places it at the top of the Spanish University ranking, being one of the seven best universities in Spain and the first one in Andalusia.

Key persons

Dr. Carmen Galán is Lecturer on Plant Biology and the Head of the Department of Plant Biology. University Degree in Science, University of Córdoba, Spain in 1981. PhD studies in the University of Córdoba, 1987. She has been involved in research on Aerobiology since 1982. She is the Coordinator of the Spanish Aerobiology Network (REA) and, at a regional level, Coordinator of the Andalucian Aerobiology Network (RAA). She is a member of the General Council of the Spanish Aerobiology Association (AEA). She is member of the Regional Colectors of the International Association of Aerobiology (IAA). She has been involved in the Europena project ASTHMA, in which a semi-automatic system for pollen recognition has been developed.

Selected References

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  Boucher, A., Hidalgo, P.J., Thonnat, M., Belmonte, J., & Galán, C. (September 2000). 3D pollen image recognition based on palynological knowledge. Second European Symposium on Aerobiology. Vienna, AUSTRIA.
  
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  Hidalgo, P.J., Mangin, A., Galán, C., Hembise, O., Vazquez, L.M. & Sánchez, O. (September 2000). An automated system for surveying and forecasting Olea pollen dispersión. Second European Symposium on Aerobiology. Vienna, AUSTRIA.
  
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  P. Bonton, A. Boucher, M. Thonnat, Regis Tomczak, P.J. Hidalgo, J. Belmonte and C. Galan. 2001. Colour image in 2D and 3D microscopy for the automation of pollen rate measurement. Image Anal Stereol, 20:527-532.
  

European Financed Projects

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  "Advanced System of Teledetection for Healthcare Management of Asthma". European Commission DGXII-4th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development, and Demostration in the field of Environment and Climat. Theme 3. Space Techniques Applied to Environmental Monitoring and Research. Area 3.3.1.- Centre for Earth Observation- Application Support.1998/2001. Coordinator of Spain partners: E.Domínguez Vilches; Responsible of Córdoba Pilot Site: C. Galán Soldevilla
  
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  “System for Pollen Related Information Gathering” SPRING. European Comission TEN-Telecom Call Reference. Sector Environment & Emergency management Health. January 2001-April 2002. Main researcher: Carmen Galán Soldevilla.
  

Palynological team structure

UCO will co-ordinate a palynological group composed by six experts in aeropalynology. Two of them are palynologist with previous expertience in pollen recognition: Jordina Belmonte (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain) and Pablo J. Hidalgo (University of Huelva, Spain). The other palynologists are Aerobiologists from different places in Europe: Auli Rantio-Lehtimäki (University of Turku, Finland), Jean Emberlin (University College Worcester, UK), Siegfried Jaeger (University Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Austria) and Paolo Mandrioli (Institute of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences - National Research Council, Italy). The main goal is to assure that all the allergenic European pollen types are included in this study in order the system can be disseminated all over the Europe. For this reason Aerobiologists from different places in Europe will take part: Mediterranean , Central, Eastern and Northen part of Europe.

Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Barcelona, Spain. Key personnel: Jordina Belmonte. Professor of Botany and Director of the Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology. Responsible of the Aerobiological Network of Catalonia, integrated in the Aerobiological Spanish Network (REA) and collaborator of the Comité de Aerobiología of the Sociedad Española de Alergología e Inmunología Clínica (SEAIC). She has been involved in the Europena project ASTHMA, in which a semi-automatic system for pollen recognition has been developed.
University of Huelva (UHU). Huelva, Spain. Key personnel: Pablo J. Hidalgo. Professor of Botany in the Department of Environmental Biology and Public Health. He is member of the International Association of Aerobiology. He has been involved in the Europena project ASTHMA, in which a semi-automatic system for pollen recognition has been developed.
Institute of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences - National Research Council (ISAO). Bologna, Italy. Key personnel: Dr. Paolo Mandrioli. Presindent of the Italian Association of Aerobiology (AIA). Past-President of the International Association for Aerobiology (IAA). Responsible for the management of the Italian Aeroallergen Network (IAN) and co-convener of the European Pollen Information (EPI). Chief Editor of the International Journal "Aerobiologia".
National Pollen Research Unit (NPRU). University College Worcester, UK. Key personnel: Dr. Jean Emberlin. Director of the National Pollen Research Unit. President of the British Aerobiology Federation (BAF) and Co-directors of European Pollen Information. Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Aerobiologia.
University Department of Otorhinolaryngology. (HNO). Vienna, Austria. Key personnel: Dr. Siegfried Jaeger. Head of the Austrian Pollen Information Service. Director and administrator of the European Pollen Information (EPI). Initiator and Administrator of the European Pollen Data Base (EAN) since 1988. Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Aerobiologia.
University of Turku (UTU). Turku, Finland. Key personnel: Dr. Auli Rantio- Lehtimäki. Head of the Aerobiology Unit. Pollen Reports for Finland from 1976. Allergen reports from 1998. Member of editorial board of the international journal Grana. Member of editorial board of the Journal of Indian Aerobiology. Member of editorial board of the International Journal of Biometeorology.