TESLA newsletter no 3

NEWSLETTER No.3, April 2022

Inside this issue

ERASMUS+ & eTwinning project 2019-1-HR01-KA229-060810

3rd LTT Linz 2022 People fixing the world Sight-seeing Linz Private re-forestation project TESLA in Made for Europe contest

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Third learning – teaching – training event, Linz, February – March 2022 The welcoming ceremony took place at the Kolping Hotel conference room, with the participation of 2 teachers and 6 students from each partner school.

After the welcoming ceremony, we sang or listened the European anthem in German and English. Then all participants got a bag made from organic cotton, produced by a company we then visited on the 3rd of March in the course of our excursion to the start-up centre Tabakfabrik.

Then we saw a power point presentation about the sights of Linz we would see in the afternoon, followed by 12 presentations of students, based on videos of the BBC series People fixing the world. The presentations addressed Sustainable Development Goals SDG 3 Health, SDG 7 Energy, SDG 11 Responsible cities, SDG 12 Responsible consumption, SDG 14 Life below water.

At the end of the final session, the Croatian student Emanuel Grbac made an inquiry via Menti about Erasmusplus projects as part of a thesis he is writing. He also sent a questionnaire about the topic to all the teachers involved in the project.

People fixing the world The device that spots fake drugs Fake medicines are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year. But inventors around the world are coming up with ways to spot the fakes. Adebayo Alonge from Nigeria nearly died when he was given fake medicine as a child. He's determined to make sure that his experience doesn't happen to anyone else and has invented a simple device which spots fake drugs. "In Africa specifically it's very acute - in some countries between 30-50 per cent of the medicine supply chain is actually counterfeit," says Adebayo Alonge. He hopes that across Africa more and more hospitals, pharmacies and wholesalers will be able to authenticate the quality of their medicines so that only the highest quality medicines eventually end up in the hands of patients. His invention RxScanner was very useful invention and has helped many people and probably saved many lives. This video was produced by Hannah Gelbart.

Tauri, Kevin, Estonian team

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Is Noise Pollution Killing Whales and Dolphins?

We chose this topic to educate people about the consequences of loud noises in the water. Hearing is very important to dolphins. They need it for quite everything. Whether it is for finding food, for talking, for sensing danger or for navigation – it is vital for them.

Sounds are defined as a noise pollution when they become too loud or last too long.

This kind of pollution is invisible, but it is still harmful. It causes health problems in people and animals. There´s virtually no place in the world´s ocean where human sounds aren´t detectable.

What causes noise pollution?

Military sonar, Oil exploration, Industrial shipping, Gas industry, Shipping traffic, The use of air guns, Weather, Earthquakes, Wind farm development What are the consequences?

Mass whale/ dolphin strandings. Animals may panic and surface too fast which causes nitrogen bubbles to form in the blood – they become sick. The results are often death. Dead animals end up sinking to the seabed or getting beached on the coast. Other physical consequences of ocean noise pollution include disruption of the schooling structure of fish or impaired growth of shrimp. Even cell changes have been detected. Noise means stress and impairs the animals´ immune system which makes them more susceptible to illness in general.

At this picture you can see different kind of noises.

There´s the weather, earthquakes, ship noises, echosounders and wind farm development. The ones who are green come from nature. The orange ones were produced by humans. And obviously these are way worse than earthquakes or the weather.

In our YouTube video, we were introduced to Dr. Maria Morell. She works at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. Maria is sent ears from beached dolphins and whales so she can work out if they had hearing damage when they died. By working these ears out Maria found damaged cells in the ears. She can also recognize the trigger that causes this damage.

Anna, Emujin, Austrian team

Other presentation prepared by Austrian students were Riding the solar railway, The bus delivering healthy food around Johannesburg, Solar iron cart and Energy production in Kenya.

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Fighting depression from door to door The video that we have chosen is called “Fighting depression, from door to door”.

Mental health is and has always been a very serious topic and a key factor in each individual’s life, hence why we decided on this subject. The association presented in the video is called StrongMinds, a group of women who struggled with depression in the past and now, having managed to overcome it, chose to help others in need.

Depression is defined as a mental illness inducing a severe feeling of sadness. Despite the fact that it is more active in women, it is still one of the most common mental disorders in the world, affecting anybody regardless of race, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

It is estimated that around 280 million people suffer from depression and, although there are known, effective treatments for mental disorders, more than 75% of people in low- and middleincome countries receive no treatment. Depression heavily influences emotions and one’s outlook on life and more than often ends up changing a person’s life in a major way.

So, how does the service presented in the video work? Someone suffering from a mental illness will reach out to StrongMinds and during a period of 12 weeks will go through a transformation “from patient to healer”. After that they go from door to door asking people about their mental stability, encouraging them to join their group sessions.

We believe that implementing this concept in our country would be beneficial, as going to a therapist is viewed by many people as a shameful thing to do. Therefore, having someone come to you and encourage you to talk about your problems in the comfort of your home would be the perfect solution for those who feel embarrassed to reach out.

Taking everything into consideration, the concept of people who were once helped to deal with depression becoming, in turn, therapists for their community could solve a relevant problem in today’s generation.

Miruna, Radu, Romanian team

Finland’s new generation of climate heroes Ii is one of the greenest towns in Europe. That’s because there’s only 10,000 inhabitants and there’s a sense of community, and they want to save the world one step at a time. They are considered as green trailblazer. Ii is the first zero waste town in the world, they consume local food and have a recycling facility and they say no to fossil fuels.

Their homes are powered by wind. Finland's local businessmen are also interested in wind power but locals are against building new wind turbines, that's because of pollution. Ii has cut their carbon emission over the last 12 years by 80%. Their waste drop is 25% and in energy use it’s 50%.

Maarja, Kermo-Raiki, Estonian team

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From earings to tiles Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues, as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them. But the developed world, especially in countries with low recycling rates, also has trouble properly collecting discarded plastics.

In the video we have chosen, From earrings to tiles – what you can do with plastic waste, we meet a group called Precious Plastic that shares its designs for recycling machines online so anyone can use them free of charge. We meet DIY recyclers from around the world, for example, in Stockport, Mexico and Malaysia. They are creating high quality and attractive products such as wallets and lunch bags. The teams host a workshop called Plastic Shed where they introduce the concept of recycling and various ways of reusing plastic.

They hope that more and more people will use these products and the make sure that people will remark the things made from reusable materials and to inspire more people to reuse plastic.

Alice, Medeea, Romanian team Gaming for good Stall catchers is an online game for researching Alzheimer’s disease. Pietro Michelucci leads this project. He had participated in another kind of project called Stardust@home. Online gamers are very helpful for faster analysis. In game you watch close-up clips of vessels of capillaries in brains of living mice and vote if the vessel is flowing or blocked. In game blocked means stalled. If it is stalled you click exactly where it is. If it is voted right, you get points. And that is how it works. Game images are created by installed transparent plates that are in the skulls of mice. It doesn't hurt them and they can live with these. Using laser techniques moving images are collected.

Foldit is an online game for different kind of protein structures that may cure or prevent a disease. Seth Cooper is the founder. Proteins are a blob with an enzyme in it because they can't be straight. Players create new blobs of proteins with different kinds of shapes. Then they are analysed and search up if there is a possibility that it might be cure to a present or undiscovered disease. One of the players created protein was synthesized and put into use. They also have weekly competitions. Some times after the release of the game in a competition they used a retroviral protein as a puzzle. Hundreds of players tried to figure it out. 3 people gave a correct answer as a team effort.

Imre Gabriel, Melani-Marite, Estonian team

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Can we save coral?

Corals are invertebrate animals belonging to a large group of colorful animals called Cnidaria. There are two types of coral, and they are hard and soft coral. Each individual coral animal is called a polyp, and most live in groups of hundreds to thousands of genetically identical polyps that form a ‘colony’. The colony is formed by a process called budding, which is where the original polyp literally grows copies of itself. Corals create coral reefs by connecting. Corals create coral reefs by connecting. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate.

Coral bleaching is the biggest problem that happens to corals and it happens when corals are under stress due to changing environmental conditions. They react by expelling the symbiotic algae that live in their tissues and then turn completely white. The symbiotic algae, called zooxanthellae, are photosynthetic and provide their host coral with food in return for protection.

Corals are important for us and should be saved because they play a vital role in medical research - scientists have developed treatments for cardiovascular diseases, ulcers, leukemia, lymphoma, and skin cancer all from chemicals in reef plants and animals; more than 500 million people worldwide depend on reefs for food, jobs and coastal defense; they provide over $375 billion per year in goods and services; coral reefs contain 25% of the world’s marine fish species; thousands of species can be found living on one reef; more than half of all new cancer drug research focuses on marine organisms, many of which are found on coral reefs; corals absorb nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide generated from burning fossil fuels and they also generate half of Earth's oxygen.

We can contribute in saving the corals by choosing a Reef-friendly Sunscreen, by buying eco-friendly products, by leaving no trash behind, fighting against pollution, fighting global warming, spreading the message (which we are doing right now), start recycling, save water and educate ourselves.

There are corals in the Adriatic Sea, but there are also problems related to them. The largest coral reef is located in the Great Lake of the Mljet National Park, and it is also the largest coral reef of its kind in the Mediterranean Sea. 116 species of coral were found on the Croatian side of the Adriatic Sea. There are problems with corals from the Adriatic Sea, because red corals are taken out of the sea to be turned into jewelry even though they are an endangered species (a change in the law is needed), a lot of coral was destroyed during the Homeland War, some fishermen destroy the seabed, climate changes in the whole world and mass tourism lends to pollution.

Emanuel and Nikolina, Croatian team

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Can computer games improve mental health?

Games can improve mental health because they focus us on other things so we don’t think about our problem or our health issues.

They are also good for training our brain to recognize small details and to have better reactions.

Filip and Luka, Croatian team

Stunning Maldives islands saved from developers Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an archipelagic country in the Indian subcontinent of Asia, situated in the Indian Ocean.

The Maldives has one of the most delicate environments anywhere on the planet. Coral reefs are the foundation of the islands. They offer protection to the tiny islands as its natural defense system, and the country’s economy depends heavily on the health of its reefs and ecosystems.

Several conservation efforts are underway to protect the valuable marine environment of Maldives. While several marine species and birds are protected by law, protected areas have been designated to ensure the conservation of specific ecosystems and the rich biodiversity of the country. This includes designated nature reserves in islands of various atolls to protect wetlands and mangroves and the protection of marine areas and the designation of biosphere reserves that covers coral reefs, islands, sea grass beds and mangroves.

The Maldives have a range of different habitats including deep sea, shallow coast, and reef ecosystems, fringing mangroves, wetlands and dry land. There are 187 species of coral forming the coral reefs. This area of the Indian Ocean, alone, houses 1,100 species of fish, 5 species of sea turtle, 21 species of whale and dolphin, 400 species of mollusk, and 83 species of echinoderms. The area is also populated by a number of crustacean species: 120 copepods, 15 amphipods, as well as more than 145 crab and 48 shrimp species.

These coral reefs are home to a variety of marine ecosystems that vary from planktonic organisms to whale sharks. Sponges have gained importance as five species have displayed anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.

The development of tourism fostered the overall growth of the country's economy. It created direct and indirect employment and income generation opportunities in other related industries. The first tourist resorts were opened in 1972 with Bandos Island Resort and Kurumba Village (the current name is Kurumba Maldives), which transformed the Maldives economy.

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According to the Ministry of Tourism, the emergence of tourism in 1972 transformed the economy, moving rapidly from dependence on fisheries to tourism. In just three and a half decades, the industry became the main source of income. Tourism was also the country's biggest foreign currency earner The modern era, the era of technological advancements and scientific successes has had a tremendous impact on our way of life and the evolution of the environment. Due to the constantly increasing pollution in the recent years we should shift our focus on saving the planet and providing a safe habitat for the wildlife, therefore our choice of topic for this presentation aligns closely with this great predicament.

The Maldives are well-known for its picturesque and exotic landscapes, as well as for the impressive and luxurious vacation resorts that seem to draw a growing number of visitors every year. Tourism reflects the main economical factor of the region, hence the massive investments in enlarging the accommodation area. The locals, however, value the gift mother nature has granted them with more than the considerable amount of money provided by tourism, thus they have taken the initiative to stop developers from destroying more natural resources. Just as depicted in the video, the protection of the rare and unique Maldives corals and their wildlife prevails to expanding the resort area.

Preserving the natural world must be prioritized regardless of the region and significant measures ought to be taken in this matter. The initiative of the Maldives locals illustrates an example that should inspire us all to act, to put aside the economic factors that influence our life and concentrate on what truly matters: saving the planet Andreea, Theodora, Romanian team

A clever way to provide lifesaving oxygen in Uganda This presentation is about providing lifesaving oxygen. Of course, it’s not only about Uganda we can provide lifesaving oxygen anywhere with modified oxygen concentrator. Because of that this presentation is mostly how modified oxygen concentrator works.

Adam and Vedran, Croatian team

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Sightseeing Linz Donaupark is located between the Nibelungen bridge and the VOEST-bridge on the southern bank of the Danube. The beautiful area along the Danube is used by visitors and residents alike to relax and meet friends but also for sporting activities.

It’s also a cultural space and includes the Lentos art museum and the Bruckner Haus.

Klangwolke: The Linzer Klangwolke (Linz cloud of sounds) is an open-air multimedia musical event held each year since 1979 in early September in the Linz Danube Park. The Cloud of Sounds consists of three concerts of modern music, which is staged with lasers, video projections, fireworks, ships and balloons. It is the opening concert of the Bruckner fest.

The Lentos Art Museum is a museum of modern art in Linz, Austria. The museum building was designed by the Zurich architects Weber and Hofer. It is 130 meters long and has approximately 8000 m2 of floor space and its transparent glass façade is illuminated at night. It is located directly on the Danube between the Nibelungen bridge and Bruckner Haus.

The Bruckner Haus is a festival and concert hall in Linz named after the Austrian composer Anton Brucker. The building was designed by Finnish architects Heikki and Kaija Siren. It opened in 1974.

Bruckner house has three main halls Miriam, Elina, Lukas, Miruna, Maarja, Adam

The governor´s palace was built between 1568 and 1658. It has many stages and it is located in Upper Austria, in the city of Linz. Since 1861 this building has been used for the seat of the Upper Austria state parliament.

The governor´s palace is a renaissance building. The lower floors of the tower were built in 1568. In front of the south portal is the excavation of the historic stone arch bridge.

Today it is fully preserved again and has been restored.

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The new Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Linz, Austria. The neo-gothic church is the largest, though not the tallest church in Austria.

The length of the cathedral is 130 meters and the height is 135 meters.

Particularly noteworthy are the cathedrals stained glass windows. The most famous is the “Linz Window”, which depicts the history of Linz. During the Second World War some windows, particularly in the southern part of the cathedral, were damaged. Instead of restoring the original window, they have been replaced with windows displaying modern art Group Luna, Thomas, Emanuel, Alice, Kevin Linz Castle (Schlossmuseum Linz) It is located at Schlossberg Linz near the Donube river.

The Museum opened in 1963. The museum is the biggest universal museum in Austria. From the castle you got a beautiful view of the river and the beautiful landscape of Linz. It´s a once in a Life time experience and you will not regret visiting it.

Relief Linz 1800 In the panoramic breakthrough next to the entrance to the Castle Museum, a bronze relief shows the city of Linz before the great fire of 1800. What is special: In Linz we have one of the largest town squares in Europe.

St. Martin´s Church (Martinskirche) The church of St. Martin, one of the oldest churches in Austria is certainly worth a visit. Inside, you will find exposed Roman inscriptions and a Roman kiln. There is also a famous copy of the ,,Volto Santo“ painting, the original of which is in Lucca (Italy) .

Erna, Petra, Karlo, Luka, Theodora

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Friedensplatz The first sight we looked at was the fountain of peace (Friedensbrunnen). Friedensplatz was named in 1990 to markt the opening of the Fountain of Human Rights and to show Linz as a City of Peace (1986).

Martin Luther Church The Martin Luther Church is an evangelical lutheran church in Linz.

Emperor Joseph II’s Edict of Tolerance (1781) allowed the protestant faith to be practised again in Upper Austria. But it was not until 20th October 1844 that the first prayer house in Linz was formally dedicated. Due to the catholic building rules that applied at the time the protestant Martin Luther Church had to be set back 50m from the street so as not to dominate the street scene. Today, this distance to Landstraße allows it to be seen better.

Musictheater Linz Musictheater at the Volksgarten in Linz is one of the most modern opera houses in Europe. Built according to plans by the London architect Terry Pawson, its opening ceremony was on April 11th, 2013 and it has been one of the cultural highlights of Linz as an UNESCO City of Media Arts by the Danube. The Musictheater, is located at the end of Landstraße, it offers a wonderful ambience for operas, operettas, ballet and musicals.

Vedran, Meedea, Sandra, Elmedina, Amina

Tuesday, in line with the Tesla (Together in Environmental Solutions Learning Activities) project, 3AHK took part in two workshops on sustainable clothing and healthy food together with students from Estonia, Croatia and Romania. The workshops were given by a Südwind organization volunteer.

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On March 2, 2022, we visited the largest Austrian company Voestalpine. Voestalpine is the world's leading steel and technology group with combined materials and processing expertise. It is one of the leading partners of the automotive and household appliance industry. We did a bus tour of Voest with a presentation about metal production processes. In the business year 2022/2021, Voestalpine AG employs 50,000 people. The hydrogen production plant was particularly interesting.

Later we did a small hike on the Pöstlingberg.

Thursday, 3 March 2022, in the course of our Training event we also visited Tabakfabrik . At the beginning of our visit, we got and overview of the development of Tabakfabrik, which sustainable measures are taken, which are planned, like more photovoltaic panels and greening of the premises.

Furthermore, a big new building is ion the process of being erected that should open in a few years catering to work, life, entertainment, shopping all under one roof. We could see the enormous building site in one corner of the premises. The area is also close to the technical IT centre in the Linz Harbour Area.

Shortly, a brewery will start operating, reviving the brand “Linzer Bier”.

Tabakfabrik is the site of a former state-owned tobacco company where cigarettes were produced. A few years after the factory was sold to a foreign company, this company closed down the factory making 300 people redundant.

This was the point where the premises were turned into a location for start-up companies. The project is supported by the city council of Linz, and the old factory building is gradually being filled with life again. At the moment Tabakfabrik provides work for 3,000 people, though not all full-time. Whoever has a business idea, can go there and start work at fairly good conditions, with a view to grow later on into bigger companies.

We visited 4 institutions: B7 bicycle shop This started out in the 1980s as an initiative by the Roman Catholic church to employ unemployed people and was located at Bischofstrasse 7, hence the name B7. First only a workshop to collect old bikes, repair them and resell them, this has turned into a high-quality shop for any bikes – from sports bikes to city bikes to e-bikes and is now a well-established company with a stable customer base and good financial standing.

Vresh This company manufactures clothes made from organic cotton. The material comes from a family-run company in Portugal and produces jeans, among other products. Our Austrian students know about this company from an audio file in their English book, where the founder of the company explains the development of his company from a shop in Eferding, where he worked when he still attended Commercial college, to the founding of the company

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and a crowdfunding action for producing jeans. He reversed the market by asking customers what size, cut and colour they would like for their jeans, and then these garments were produced according to customers´ wishes. This was a very successful action.

Asked about new crowdfunding initiatives, he said that this was not necessary at the moment because as an established company, he could get money from the bank and was no longer reliant on crowdfunding initiatives.

Vresh also produced the bags that were given to participants at the beginning of the week. Origioanlly, they were produced for Zukunftsakademie, an Upper Austrian government institution for environmental affairs. Zukunftsakademie ran a competition about students ideas about environmental aspects of the future. BHAK Linz International Business School took part with 3 classes – although no first prize was gained, all students got a bag as a gift.

Strada del Startup In this institution it is possible to get one of the private offices for start-ups for just €700,00 a month including furniture, coffee, cleaning, wifi and 4 workstations, including innovative neighbours that might contribute something to the progress of the start-up.

Aölongside start-ups, there are also well established companies represented, because they can profit from new ideas from outside, and can give valuable input to other companies.

Grand Garage This was the last company we visited. Originally founded by a technician from the Technical University of Vienna, this provides the opportunity for technical support and input for various projects. Also the aerodynamics group of TU Vienna makes use of Grand Garage.

Due to the amount of technical appliances that ran there, the air was not that good, so we cut the visit short.

After the visit we congregated for a group picture in front of the main building.

On Friday we visited AEC Ars Electronica Center in Linz and experienced how new technologies, especially artificial intelligence, are changing our lives. Here you can find a lot of information about this museum of the future: Ars Electronica Center – Museum of the Future

Austrian team

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Private re-forestation project One of the most important actions to fight climate change is the planting of trees because they supply oxygen and suck up C02. Unfortunately, due to the dryness in recent years many Austrian forests have been destroyed by bark beetles that ruin whole areas of forest. This is also due to monocultures of spruce trees, that grow quickly, but are attacked by bark beetles easily, and, if you don´t take out the dead trees, spread very rapidly.

This has happened to my brother-in-law as well, and so he had to clear a big area on a slope. The next step after getting out roots and trunks was to flatten the area mechanically and to wait some time before reforestationAt the beginning of the Easter holidays this area was re-forested in the following way. With a drill, holes were made in the soil at a certain distance. Then seedlings of larches were put into these holes and the soil was then put around the roots and pressed down, so that the soil would be solid. The precondition for this action was that it had rained the week before, so that the soil was moist and would give the roots the chance to grow.

I took part in this project with all members of my family and together with my brother-in-law we planted as many as 1,100 larches within three days. For me it was an interesting experience and the possibility to gain some handson practice in contrast to just teaching about environmental aspects. On top of it, planting trees was a contrast to plucking out acacia trees in Portugal some weeks ago in the course of another Erasmusplus training event. These trees in a protected area have become so widespread that seedlings are plucked out in order to give the local plants a better chance to grow. Together with an international group of students we cleared a small area near the Portuguese town of Barreiro.

Ecosia At that point I also want to turn your attention to the search engine Ecosia. This is a search engine based in Berlin, Germany. It donates 80% of its profits to nonprofit organizations that focus on reforestation. It considers itself a social business, is CO2negative and claims to support full financial transparency and protect the privacy of its users.

Ecosia is B Lab-certified, meeting its standards of accountability, sustainability, and performance. As of April 2022, the company claims to have planted more than 147 million trees since its inception.

You can make use of Ecosia on www.ecosia.org and by using this search engine you can plant trees without getting your hands dirty.

Prof. Michael Huber-Kirchberger Austrian team

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TESLA project – winning Made for Europe competition Made for Europe is a Romanian national competition for final products of European funded projects that aims to promote and value positive experiences gained in the implementation process. It is also a very good opportunity to disseminate the project results to other schools, teachers and students and to local community through mass media participating in the final phases of the competition.

Although our project is still running, we decided to present the twinspace of the project, that contains a lot of materials and is accessible to other teachers and students on the eTwinning portal. We also had an exhibition with photos and items created or achieved during the three years that we are implementing this project.

Medeea is the student that we have chosen to represent us and she did a great job speaking freely and being convincing enough to gain the first prize at county level and to qualify for the national competition.

We know we have a winning project and Medeea made us proud in the national contest as well! This is how our students improve not only their knowledge, but also their communication skills and have the chance to disseminate their work and achievements, but also learn from others’ presentations in our big Erasmus+ family.

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Lucia Boldea, Adriana Mariș, Romanian team

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ERASMUS+ & eTwinning project 2019-1-HR01-KA229-060810

We’re on the web:

https://www.teslaerasmus.eu/ https://twinspace.etwinning.net/97317/home

Partners:

Tehnička škola, Požega, Croatia Bundeshandelsakademie und Bundeshandelsschule Linz, Austria Kanepi Gümnaasium, Estonia Liceul Teoretic ”Coriolan Brediceanu” Lugoj, Romania

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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