Dr. Mariana CRISTEA
e-mail: mcristea@icmpp.ro

Thermo-mechanical investigations (dynamic mechanical analysis - DMA) of polymer and processes have been preformed mainly on cellulose, high performance polymers (polyimides, polybismaleimides, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, elastomers based on silicones and urethanes, EPDM, polyesters or sol-gel and imidization processes.

The data sheet of a polymer is a list of technical characteristics expressed by numbers that are valid in certain conditions, very often not mentioned. A thermo-rheological representation provides the big picture of polymer properties. First, this means the determination of the effects of temperature and time on the polymeric structure, i.e. the effect of these factors on the storage modulus associated with the rigidity of the polymer. The determination of the glass transition range is equally important, because outside this interval the polymer undergoes changes that entail severe consequences in practice. Second, the method gives information about the processing conditions. The polymeric material should be moldable, under the conditions that the structure remains intact. Molecular weight changes are checked through mass spectrometry. It is noteworthy that the DMA method is able to forecast the evolution of the polymeric material in time, under certain circumstances.

Dr. Magdalena AFLORI
e-mail: maflori@icmpp.ro

• Morphological and compositional study of polymeric materials;
• Obtaining multifunctional polymeric materials used in biomedical engineering.

Dr. Mihaela OLARU
e-mail: olaruma@icmpp.ro

• Development of functional hierarchical nanostructured materials (antimicrobial coatings, electroluminescent components);
• Development of hybrid materials for drug delivery;
• Development of transparent and conductive thin layers through sequential laser ablation;
• Induction of micro/nanostructures at the surface level through excimer laser processing;
• Development of materials for the conservation/restoration of cultural heritage objects (monumental stone, ceramics, bone);
• Investigation of the molecular structure of the pigments and pictorial components used in the creation of old Romanian heritage paintings: the first use by a painter belonging to the Impressionist school (Nicolae Grigorescu) of the natural ultramarine pigment and the first mention of the use of indium oxide as a yellow pigment in a work of art (Stefan Luchian).

PN II, Capacities Capacities Programme: Project nr. 83/Cp/13.09.2007
Project coordinator: Olaru Mihaela
Duration: 2007 - 2009
Total project value: 2,000,000 RON

The main objective of „Laboratory for study of polymers photochemistry with excimer lasers” (acronym: LASERLAB) project consists in modernization and support of the research infrastructure from ICMPP at the standard of the most performance ones existing in Europe in all fields of science and technology. The present project aims at supplying one laboratory from ICMPP with two excimer lasers in order to study the polymers photochemistry. In accordance with project objectives and activities, the two high-performance excimer lasers, i.e., LPXPro and COMPexPro, purchased from Coherent firm (http://www.coherent.com/) were installed in a laboratory arranged/modernized accordingly with the European standards and optimal requirements of the equipments.

http://nippon-iasi.ro/projects.html

FP7-PEOPLE-2007-5-3-ERA-MORE, Contract no. 221897
Project coordinator: Olaru Mihaela
Duration: 2008 - 2011
Total project value: 176,520 Euro, "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry value: 38,399 Euro

The strategic objective of DISCOVER Europe project is to strenghten the ERA-MORE network by stimulating the cooperation between the European Mobility Centres. In order to attempt this ambitious goal two specific objectives have been consider:

1. To increase the expertise of the New Member state Mobility Centre (Romanian and Bulgarian) using the experience of other European Mobility Centres in order to reduce the disparities between the network members;
2. To set up a pilot action aimed to support the networking with other European Centres in order to increase the cooperation within the ERA-MORE network.

Through this ambitious goal the Discover Europe project will support the removing obstacles to mobility and enhancing the career perspectives of researchers in Europe either coming from or going to the two New Member Stats (Romania and Bulgaria).

http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/88071_en.html

POSDRU Contract 89/1.5/S/55216 
Project manager: Olaru Mihaela
Duration: 2010 – 2013
Total project value: 19,486,466 lei

The project aims to address an area of maximum interest for the socio-economic development of Romania, i.e., vocational training, by facilitating the access of young doctors of science to postdoctoral training programs in the field of biomaterials. In order to ensure that the objectives proposed in the project are met, the following set of activities, i.e.:

A1. Management activities;
A2. Development of the postdoctoral training program and the scientific curriculum;
A3. Postdoctoral selection;
A4. Tutoring activities;
A5. Research, development and innovation activities within the scientific projects of young researchers;
A6. Interdisciplinary specialization through national and international research internships (support for academic mobility);
A7. Two-way knowledge transfer;
A8. Organizing specific scientific and technical training sessions for postdoctoral students;
A9. Organizing special courses to promote entrepreneurial culture;
A10. Dissemination and promotion activities of the project are proposed.

http://postdoc.icmpp.ro/index.html

PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-2158
Director ICMPP partner: Olaru Mihaela
Duration: 2014 - 2017
Total project value: 1.029.387,00 lei, "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry value: 86.520,01 lei

The ”Innovative interactive artistic mediation system designed for the capitalzation of the art patrimony of Romanian museums” (SIMAP) project proposes a new approach regarding patrimonialization. SIMAP achieves a consortium through the collaboration between different research-development and innovation entities (”George Enescu” University of Arts in Iași,”Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Iași, ”Moldova” National Museum Complex - CMNM) and economic agents (Romsoft SRL), integrating researches in the field of physics, chemistry, art history, education pedagogy, cultural marketing and information technology which cannot be done by only one research institution. 

The general objective of the project is the development of an IT-based artistic mediation system applied in a first phase to the modern art patrimony of CMNM, as a demonstrative model that can be adapted to all art museums in Romania, offering RomSoft opportunities to develop on a new market segment.
 
The novelty of SIMAP consists in: 

1. the holistic character of the approach of the work of art and the interaction with the art public;
2. unlike the low adaptability of most international systems, SIMAP demonstrates an adaptive capacity specific to self-organized systems, according to the users’ feedback obtained by using social tagging procedures. 

The scientific challenges of the project are:

1. the extension of social tagging usage, so far applied only as an euristic instrument in mediation of art collections of virtual museums in the United States of America, to research regarding artistic education and mediation; 
2. validation with psycho-pedagogic means of a mediation model that communicates in accessible and attractive language the research results, allowing various categories of public to engage in educative actions in the cultural-artistic field.

http://www.arteiasi.ro/simap/

PN-III-P1-1.1-MC-2017-1170
Project coordinator: Oancea Andrei-Victor
Duration: 2018