Day: November 14, 2022

Nanotronics Announces Opening of Munich Office

Investment in European Expansion to Support New Hires and Business Growth in Key Region

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nanotronics is pleased to announce the opening of an office in Munich, Germany, led by Managing Director, Marius Fischer, who will report to Global CEO and cofounder, Dr. Matthew Putman. The new office will serve as a central European location for Applications Engineers and Sales Associates to consolidate operations and ensure the highest quality of service and support to the growing customer base in the region.

“Marius’ extensive regional experience managing customers and teams along with his expertise in quality control, semiconductor frontend process automation, and overall tech, will enable him to serve as the ideal office lead who will continue to work closely with U.S. counterparts,” said Matthew Putman. “It is critical for us to have solid support on the ground to meet demanding customer needs across Europe and the Middle East,” he continued. “We have more plans in the region and beyond and Munich is a great start.”

Nanotronics Munich will be located at GmbH Lohstr 24, Technopark II, Haus B (3. OG), 85445 Oberding, Germany.

The company will be exhibiting their unique inspection and security solutions at Booth C1.233 during SEMICON Europa in Munich on November 15-18, 2022. SEMICON Europa is the premiere event for electronics manufacturing bringing together influential participants from all stages of the electronics production process to discuss issues such as supply chain disruption, sustainability, and the most effective ways to build a responsible manufacturing future.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the European Union approved the launch of the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) which will train Ukrainian soldiers on European Union Soil, during Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels.

According to a statement, Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides informed his counterparts that the country will contribute to the mission by offering expertise on demining.

The EU’s High Representative Josep Borrell said after the meeting that the Ministers of Defence will discuss the further details regarding EUMAM during the second day of the FAC.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 27 Foreign Ministers were briefed on the latest developments in Ukraine by the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, via teleconference.

The ministers’ agenda included issues related to the EU’s coordinated response to Russia and issues related to the food crisis.

In his remarks, Kasoulides noted that the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson sends the message that “the unity shown by the EU in its support to Ukraine, combined with the undeniable strength shown by the Ukrainian people, is bringing results and can lead to final victory.”

He also welcomed the approval of the launch of the EUMAM Ukraine mission, stressing the importance of the EU’s continued support to the country by all available means, and referred to the participation of Cyprus through the provision of expertise on demining.

Kasoulides also made a reference to Turkey’s responsibility for “circumventing and undermining the effectiveness of sanctions, due to its failure to comply with CFSP decisions in violation of its contractual obligations arising from its candidacy for EU membership.”

In an intervention during the debate on developments in the Western Balkans, ahead of the EU-Western Balkans Summit which will be held on 6 December in Tirana, Albania, Kasoulides noted that the situation remains fragile and that the EU must continue to support the region, in addition to the many measures taken so far, which are steps in the right direction.

He stressed that Cyprus welcomes the holding of the upcoming Summit and added that “accelerating the process of integrating the Western Balkans into the EU is the only way to ensure peace, security and prosperity in the region.”

According to the MFA statement, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs also exchanged views on the European Union’s approach to the Great Lakes region in Africa during a working lunch.

In the context of discussing current affairs, Borrell also referred to the situation in Lebanon, and developments in Iran and Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission launched a tender over Crypto-Asset Markets Data and Blockchain Analysis Platform Services, as applications by Crypto-assets service providers rise.

Speaking to CNA, Cysec President George Theocharides recalled that the Commission has been designated, under the AML/CFT Law, as the competent authority to supervise Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) in Cyprus.

So far, he said, Cysec has received 27 applications by CAPS to acquire Cysec license, of which Cysec has approved the applications of 5 firms, which have been published in the Commission’s CAPS registry, while an additional 5 firms licensed by other European Competent Authorities have been approved by Cysec.

According to the tender documents, the €120,000 two-year tender aims to grant Cysec with access to real-time data provided by blockchain data platforms that will assist the Commission to understand the risks arising from crypto-assets, including but not limited to transactions exposed to risky activities for example related to sanctions, child abuse material, terrorist financing, darknet markets, fraud, high-risk exchanges, high-risk jurisdictions, ransomware, scams and stolen funds, investigate the source and destination of cryptocurrency transactions and trace the flow of funds, evaluate risk profile of supervised entities and applicants (for due diligence purposes) and monitor the supervised entities’ compliance on an ongoing basis.

Theocharides pointed out that it is particularly important that investors should be aware of the lax protection, as for the time being crypto-assets and associate products and services are not covered by the rules of the EU on financial services.

He noted that Cysec took part in a joint campaign by the European Supervisory Authorities outlining warnings to consumers on the dangers associated with crypto-assets, while a campaign launched by Cysec aiming at investor awareness and protection is underway.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Medimaps Group Announces Partnership With OsteoSys to Bring Trabecular Bone Score to Korea’s Leading Bone Densitometry Platform

GENEVA–(BUSINESS WIRE)– MEDIMAPS GROUP (www.medimapsgroup.com), a Swiss/Global med-tech company specializing in image processing software for assessing bone health, today announced that its novel method for enhancing osteoporotic fracture risk assessment, Trabecular Bone Score (TBS iNsight™), a surrogate of bone microarchitecture boosted by AI, is now available on diagnostic platforms from OsteoSys Co., Ltd. OsteoSys is the leading Bone Mineral Densitometer brand in Korea and the third largest supplier of DXA scanning equipment worldwide.

TBS iNsight™ is available on OsteoSys’ Primus Whole Body DXA, their high-end DXA scanning product. The agreement expands worldwide access to Medimaps’ technology to clinicians in countries throughout southeast Asia, Europe, and South America. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Medimaps has obtained a CE 2797 mark for TBS iNsight™, an FDA 510(k) clearance in the US, and it is cleared in more than 60 countries worldwide, including Japan and South Korea. TBS is also now reimbursable in the US and some European countries and is working towards reimbursement in Japan and Korea. TBS is recommended for use by many local, national, and international medical societies such as in Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, as well as in the United States, China, and Japan.

“Bone structure is just as important as bone mineral density (BMD) when diagnosing and treating osteoporosis,” said Dr. Young-bok AHN, CEO and founder of OsteoSys. “Along with BMD, Medimaps TBS iNsight™ provides a more complete picture of patient fracture risk. We see TBS iNsight as a viable option integrated into our DXA scanners to address osteoporosis, a health concern that is growing rapidly as the worldwide population ages.”

“Our proprietary and patented technology is empowered by a deep learning multi-layer approach, which makes it applicable for a wide spectrum of image modalities and resolutions,” said Prof Didier Hans, CEO and co-founder of Medimaps Group. “TBS is demonstrating diagnostic accuracy improvement for primary and secondary osteoporosis and in both females and males, and it appears sensitive to changes over time that result from effective treatment (with TBS increasing) or continued bone loss in the absence of effective treatment (with TBS decreasing). Because it is seamlessly integrated into BMD assessment, TBS will be able to be applied in a number of clinical settings, ranging from opportunistic X-ray based screening, to patient risk profiling, and presurgical evaluations.”

Osteoporosis is a condition of primary concern among aging patient populations. Patients at risk for osteoporotic fractures often receive a BMD assessment, which only measures the quantity of bone but not the quality of bone. Medimaps Group’s TBS iNsight works alongside BMD and clinical risk factors to analyze bone micro-architecture as an assessment of bone quality. Within moments, the software application provides practitioners with an easy-to-interpret score to quickly identify and classify patients’ fracture risk and implement a course of intervention. Medimaps technology utilizes the same images acquired for BMD assessment (but also digital x-ray or projected CT images). Patients are not exposed to additional radiation, and TBS integrates seamlessly into a physician’s clinical workflow to provide a completed structured report.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Areas affected by forest fires were at a historic low in 2022, the Forestry Department has said in a press release based on the overall assessment of the year.

According to the data cited, the state forest area burned was the smallest since 1960, just 0.4 hectares, the forest area burned was the smallest in twenty years, just 30 hectares, the average area burned per forest fire was the smallest in 20 years, at just 0.5 hectares, the percentage of wildfires in total fires was the smallest in a decade at 31%, and the area of the largest fire of the year was the smallest in twenty years at just 3.6 hectares.

During 2022, in the area of responsibility of the Forestry Department, 179 fires broke out, with a total burned area of 143 hectares. Although the number of fires was 18% higher than the 2012-2021 average (152 fires), the burned area was 77% lower than average (611 hectares). The average burned area per fire for 2022 was 0.8 hectares, while the corresponding one for the decade amounts to 4 hectares, a reduction of 80%.

Of the 179 fires, only 57 were forest fires which burned a total area of 30 hectares, the lowest in twenty years while the average area burned per forest fire was 0.5 hectares which was again the lowest in twenty years.

Regarding the causes of forest fires for 2022, intentional fires rank first, amounting to 50% of all human-caused forest fires and 44% of all forest fires. For this reason, the Forestry Department points out, the technology systems that are installed will not only aim at early detection and better management of the fire incident, but also at identifying the perpetrators of intentional fires. A percentage of 12% of all forest fires is due to natural causes (lightning), while the remaining 44%, is due to human negligence.

“The results of this year’s fire season, in the area of responsibility of the Forestry Department, are considered to be exceptional. It is noteworthy that in 2022, in the Forest Department’s area of responsibility, the largest forest fire had an area of only 3.6 hectares,” the department said in its press release.

It added that “a particularly important element is the total area of the state forest that burned this year, which, as mentioned above, amounts to only 0.4 hectares. This area is the smallest annual burned area of state forest since the 1960, when data on forest fires were recorded,” says the announcement.

The main factors that contributed to the above results were, according to the department, the improvement of its operational capacity, due to the improvement of planning and organisation as well as the strengthening of the forest fire response system.

Source: Cyprus News Agency