Stakeholder integration and public engagement of EU and national research projects in Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruhnau, Meike; Guo, Chenbo; Walter, Anastasia; Schneider, Nadine

2017-04-01

The talk addresses the feasibility and difficulties of research projects to reach out and to integrate a sufficient number of stakeholders (vgl. Carrada, 2006; Poulsen, 2007; Zikos et al. 2012; Lee & Belohlav, 2014). With "stakeholders" we understand end-users, policy makers, students for capacity building, administrators and interested general public. The design and later the implementation of stakeholder integration and public engagement strongly depend on the priority-setting and requirements of funding agencies (EU [1], DFG, BMBF and the regional ministries in Germany). They affect the size and constellation of consortia as well as the longevity and continuity of research community; on the other hand they also determine the weighting of communication, dissemination, outreach (and networking) activities within the project. For instance by public engagement of EU funded projects a share of 10% for communication and outreach activities was rated as best practices in 2014 [2]. On the national level there is no such appointment so far. In our talk we will quantify and compare activities among selected EU and nationally funded collaborative projects in Germany, address the hurdles, investigate the communication tools, examine the outreach channels and dissemination tactics, reflect the performances and the results achieved so far, with the objective to answer the following questions: - What tools/channels have been applied so far? Were they efficient and expedient? - What can be count as best practices? - Are such activities sustainable at all? The goal of this talk is to show the complexity of the stakeholder integration and public engagement in research projects, to critically assess our experiences gained in past and running projects, and to subsequently have an interactive exchange with other project professionals at EGU. [1] European Commission (2004, 2008, 2010, 2014). Communicating EU research and innovation guidance for project participants; [2] European Commission (2014) - Project COMET (best practice); European Commission (2016) - Project EUPORIAS (success story)

Social Networks and Workplace Risk: Classroom Scenarios from a U.S. and EU Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Binder, Perry; Mansfield, Nancy R.

2013-01-01

The explosion of social networks and the growing concern over privacy in the digital age--both in the United States and Europe--have provided an opportunity to introduce students to the legal risks of using social media in the workplace. This article builds on the authors' classroom experiences and provides social media scenarios and projects that…

Hands-on Universe - Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferlet, R.

2006-08-01

The EU-HOU project aims at re-awakening the interest for science through astronomy and new technologies, by challenging middle and high schools pupils. It relies on real observations acquired through an internet-based network of robotic optical and radio telescopes or with didactical tools such as Webcam. Pupils manipulate and measure images in the classroom environment, using the specifically designed software SalsaJ, within pedagogical trans-disciplinary resources constructed in close collaboration between researchers and teachers. Gathering eight European countries coordinated in France, EU-HOU is partly funded by the European Union. All its outputs are freely available on the Web, in English and the other languages involved. A European network of teachers is being developed through training sessions.

Hands-on Universe - Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferlet, R.

The EU-HOU project aims at re-awakening the interest for science through astronomy and new technologies, by challenging middle and high schools pupils. It relies on real observations acquired through an internet-based network of robotic optical and radio telescopes or with didactical tools such as Webcam. Pupils manipulate and measure images in the classroom environment, using the specifically designed software SalsaJ, within pedagogical trans-disciplinary resources constructed in close collaboration between researchers and teachers. Gathering eight European countries coordinated in France, EU-HOU is partly funded by the European Union. All its outputs are freely available on the Web, in English and the other languages involved. A European network of teachers is being developed through training sessions.

EU-Norsewind Using Envisat ASAR And Other Data For Offshore Wind Atlas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasager, Charlotte B.; Mouche, Alexis; Badger, Merete

2010-04-01

The EU project NORSEWIND - short for Northern Seas Wind Index Database - www.norsewind.eu has the aim to produce state-of-the-art wind atlas for the Baltic, Irish and North Seas using ground-based lidar, meteorological masts, satellite data and mesoscale modelling. So far CLS and Risø DTU have collected Envisat ASAR images for the area of interest and the first results: maps of wind statistics, Weibull scale and shape parameters, mean and energy density are presented. The results will be compared to a distributed network of high-quality in-situ observations and mesoscale model results during 2009-2011 as the in-situ data and model results become available. Wind energy is proportional with wind speed to the third power, thus even small improvements on wind speed mapping are important in this project. One challenge is to arrive at hub-height winds ~100 m above sea level.

IASON - Fostering sustainability and uptake of research results through Networking activities in Black Sea & Mediterranean areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patias, P.

2014-09-01

IASON Project has the ultimate goal to establish a permanent and sustainable Network of scientific and non-scientific institutions, stakeholders and private sector enterprises belonging in the EU and third countries located in two significant areas: The Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions. The main focal points of the project will be the usage and application of Earth Observation (EO) in the following topics: - climate change - resource efficiency - raw materials management IASON aims to build on the experiences gained by 5 FP7 funded projects, OBSERVE, enviroGRIDS, GEONETCab, EGIDA, and BalkanGEONet. All of the above projects focused on enhancing EO capacities, knowledge and technology in the EU and in neighborhood countries. During their execution time they managed to establish links with a critical mass of research institutions, organizations, public organizations, stakeholders, and policy makers in the Balkan region, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea Basin. IASON intends to create the proper conditions for enhancing knowledge transfer capacity building, and market opportunities in using EO applications and mechanisms in specific research fields that are addressing climate actions resource efficiency and raw materials management.

Basic and clinical proteomics from the EU Health Research perspective.

PubMed

Dyląg, Tomasz; Jehenson, Philippe; van de Loo, Jan-Willem; Sanne, Jean-Luc

2010-12-01

The European Union (EU) is one of the main public funders of research in Europe and its major instrument for funding is the Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7). The bulk of funding in FP7 goes to collaborative research, with the objective of establishing excellent research projects and networks. Understanding the functions of proteins is essential for the rational development of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, therefore the EU has largely invested in proteomics, in particular for technology development, data standardisation and sharing efforts, and the application of proteomics in the clinic. The scientific community, including both academia and industry, is encouraged to apply for FP7 funding so that the EU can even more efficiently support innovative health research and ultimately, bring better healthcare to patients.

A zero waste vision for industrial networks in Europe.

PubMed

Curran, T; Williams, I D

2012-03-15

'ZeroWIN' (Towards Zero Waste in Industrial Networks--www.zerowin.eu) is a five year project running 2009-2014, funded by the EC under the 7th Framework Programme. Project ZeroWIN envisions industrial networks that have eliminated the wasteful consumption of resources. Zero waste is a unifying concept for a range of measures aimed at eliminating waste and challenging old ways of thinking. Aiming for zero waste will mean viewing waste as a potential resource with value to be realised, rather than as a problem to be dealt with. The ZeroWIN project will investigate and demonstrate how existing approaches and tools can be improved and combined to best effect in an industrial network, and how innovative technologies can contribute to achieving the zero waste vision. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Need for Innovative Methods of Teaching and Learning Chemistry in Higher Education--Reflections from a Project of the European Chemistry Thematic Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilks, Ingo; Byers, Bill

2010-01-01

This paper summarizes the work and conclusions of a working group established by the European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN). The aim of the working group was to identify potential areas for innovative approaches to the teaching and learning of chemistry in Higher Education, and to survey good practice throughout the EU. The paper starts by…

SMART GROUND Project: SMART data collection and inteGRation platform to enhance availability and accessibility of data and infOrmation in the EU territory on SecoNDary Raw Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossetti, Piergiorgio; Antonella Dino, Giovanna; de la Feld, Marco; Pizza, Antonietta; Coulon, Frederic; Wagland, Stuart; Gomes, Diogo

2016-04-01

The issue of resource security has come to the forefront of the debate over recent years, partly due to considerable concern over the security of supply of the so called 'critical' materials, with rare earths attracting the greatest attention in the press. Their supply is fundamental to maintain and develop EU economy and its industries relied on a steady supply of Raw Materials. Thus considering the increasing scarcity and raising prices of both, energy raw materials and other raw materials, such as metals and minerals, the recycling and recovery of these materials from anthropogenic deposits such as landfills is of increasing relevance. Europe has somewhere between 150,000 and 500,000 landfill sites, with an estimated 90% of them being "non-sanitary" pre-dating the EU Landfill Directive of 1999. Thus historical background makes the numerous old waste dumps as possible sources of critical and secondary raw materials (SRM and CRM). However, to date there is no inventory available of SRM and CRM present in EU landfills, and best management practices to recover SRM from landfill activities are inefficient. In this context, the EU SMART GROUND (SG) project (Grant Agreement No 641988) intends to foster resource recovery in landfills by improving both the availability and the accessibility of data and information on SRM in the EU and creating synergies among the different stakeholders involved in the SRM value chain. To do so, the project aims to collect and integrate in a single EU databank (SMART GROUND Data Bank) all the data from existing databases and new information retrieved during project activities. Such data will be collected from the different waste streams including municipal, industrial and mining wastes across EU landfills. It will improve data gathering on SRM from different types of waste, by defining new and integrated data acquisition methods and standards. At last, but not least, the project will also improve the SRM economic and employment potential, by i) providing training on the assessment of landfill sites material recovery to targeting end-users, ii) establishing a dedicated network of academic, industrial, regulators and other stakeholders committed to cost-effective research, technology transfer and training. The present contribution will provide an overview of the SMART GROUND project and highlights the results obtained during the first six months of project activity.

Universe Awareness: a global educational programme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sankatsing Nava, Tibisay; Russo, Pedro

2015-08-01

Universe Awareness (UNAWE) is a global astronomy education programme that uses the beauty and grandeur of the Universe to encourage young children, particularly those from an underprivileged background, to have an interest in science and technology and foster their sense of global citizenship from an early age.UNAWE’s activities consist of four main components:- Coordinating an international network comprised of more than 1000 astronomers, teachers and educators in more than 60 countries- Developing and distributing educational resources such as the inflatable UNAWE Earthball, the Universe-in-a Box educational kit and Space Scoop, the astronomy news service for children.- Providing training activities for teachers and other educators of young children around the world- Providing resources for the evaluation of educational activitiesBetween 2011 and 2013, the European branch of UNAWE, EU-UNAWE, was funded by the European Commission to implement a project in 5 EU countries and South Africa. This project has been concluded successfully. The global project of Universe Awareness coordinated by Leiden University has continued to grow since, with an expanding international network, new educational resources and teacher trainings and an International Workshop in collaboration with ESA in October 2015, among other activities.

Universe Awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sankatsing Nava, Tibisay; Russo, Pedro

2015-08-01

Universe Awareness (UNAWE) is an educational programme coordinated by Leiden University that uses the beauty and grandeur of the Universe to encourage young children, particularly those from an underprivileged background, to have an interest in science and technology and foster their sense of global citizenship from the earliest age.UNAWE's twofold vision uses our Universe to inspire and motivate very young children: the excitement of the Universe provides an exciting introduction to science and technology, while the vastness and beauty of the Universe helps broaden the mind and stimulate a sense of global citizenship and tolerance. UNAWE's goals are accomplished through four main activities: the coordination of a global network of more than 1000 astronomers, teachers and educators from more than 60 countries, development of educational resources, teacher training activities and evaluation of educational activities.Between 2011 and 2013, EU-UNAWE, the European branch of UNAWE, was funded by the European Commission to implement a project in 5 EU countries and South Africa. This project has been concluded successfully. Since then, the global project Universe Awareness has continued to grow with an expanding international network, new educational resources and teacher trainings and a planned International Workshop in collaboration with ESA in October 2015, among other activities.

Transposition and implementation of EU rare disease policy in Eastern Europe.

PubMed

Pejcic, Ana V; Iskrov, Georgi; Raycheva, Ralitsa; Stefanov, Rumen; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo Michael

2017-12-01

А series of European Union (EU) political decisions have made rare diseases one of the cornerstones of the common European health policy. Adopted in 2009, Council Recommendation on an action in the field of rare diseases aimed to serve as a policy-making guideline. However, the implementation report, which followed it, neither performed detailed cross-country comparison, nor assessed the impact of the policies. Areas covered: A 10-indicator set was elaborated to structure the review and to describe rare disease activities in 14 Eastern European countries. Expert commentary: Taking into account all indicators, EU member states outperform candidate and potential candidate countries in terms of rare disease policy planning and implementation. Hungary is the top performer, followed by Bulgaria and Czech Republic. Non-EU countries form the bottom tier, with Serbia being the best ranked among them. While EU adhesion is a major facilitator for planning and adopting rare disease policies, local stakeholders are the triggering factor for their successful implementation. European reference networks are likely to be the future of rare disease activities in the EU. They need to synchronize and closely collaborate with all important EU projects in the field of rare diseases if they are to achieve their objectives.

EU-funded malaria research under the 6th and 7th Framework Programmes for research and technological development.

PubMed

Holtel, Andreas; Troye-Blomberg, Marita; Penas-Jimenez, Inmaculada

2011-01-14

While malaria research has traditionally been strong in Europe, targeted and sustained support for cooperative malaria research at EU level, namely through the EU's 6th and 7th Framework Programmes for research and technological development, FP6 (2002-2006) and FP7 (2007-2013), has boosted both impact and visibility of European malaria research. Most of the European malaria research community is now organized under a number of comprehensive and complementary research networks and projects, assembled around four key areas: (1) fundamental research on the malaria parasite and the disease, (2) development of new malaria drugs, (3) research and development of a malaria vaccine, and (4) research to control the malaria-transmitting mosquito vector. Considerable efforts were undertaken to ensure adequate participation of research groups from disease-endemic countries, in particular from Africa, with the long-term aim to strengthen cooperative links and research capacities in these countries. The concept of organizing European research through major strategic projects to form a "European Research Area" (ERA) was originally developed in the preparation of FP6, and ERA formation has now turned into a major EU policy objective explicitly inscribed into the Lisbon Treaty. EU-funded malaria research may serve as a showcase to demonstrate how ERA formation can successfully be implemented in a given area of science when several surrounding parameters converge to support implementation of this strategic concept: timely coincidence of political stimuli, responsive programming, a clearly defined--and well confined--area of research, and the readiness of the targeted research community who is well familiar with transnational cooperation at EU level. Major EU-funded malaria projects have evolved into thematic and organizational platforms that can collaborate with other global players. Europe may thus contribute more, and better, to addressing the global research agenda for malaria.

Atmospheric mercury concentrations observed at ground-based monitoring sites globally distributed in the framework of the GMOS network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sprovieri, Francesca; Pirrone, Nicola; Bencardino, Mariantonia; D'Amore, Francesco; Carbone, Francesco; Cinnirella, Sergio; Mannarino, Valentino; Landis, Matthew; Ebinghaus, Ralf; Weigelt, Andreas; Brunke, Ernst-Günther; Labuschagne, Casper; Martin, Lynwill; Munthe, John; Wängberg, Ingvar; Artaxo, Paulo; Morais, Fernando; Barbosa, Henrique de Melo Jorge; Brito, Joel; Cairns, Warren; Barbante, Carlo; Diéguez, María del Carmen; Garcia, Patricia Elizabeth; Dommergue, Aurélien; Angot, Helene; Magand, Olivier; Skov, Henrik; Horvat, Milena; Kotnik, Jože; Read, Katie Alana; Mendes Neves, Luis; Gawlik, Bernd Manfred; Sena, Fabrizio; Mashyanov, Nikolay; Obolkin, Vladimir; Wip, Dennis; Feng, Xin Bin; Zhang, Hui; Fu, Xuewu; Ramachandran, Ramesh; Cossa, Daniel; Knoery, Joël; Marusczak, Nicolas; Nerentorp, Michelle; Norstrom, Claus

2016-09-01

Long-term monitoring of data of ambient mercury (Hg) on a global scale to assess its emission, transport, atmospheric chemistry, and deposition processes is vital to understanding the impact of Hg pollution on the environment. The Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project was funded by the European Commission (http://www.gmos.eu) and started in November 2010 with the overall goal to develop a coordinated global observing system to monitor Hg on a global scale, including a large network of ground-based monitoring stations, ad hoc periodic oceanographic cruises and measurement flights in the lower and upper troposphere as well as in the lower stratosphere. To date, more than 40 ground-based monitoring sites constitute the global network covering many regions where little to no observational data were available before GMOS. This work presents atmospheric Hg concentrations recorded worldwide in the framework of the GMOS project (2010-2015), analyzing Hg measurement results in terms of temporal trends, seasonality and comparability within the network. Major findings highlighted in this paper include a clear gradient of Hg concentrations between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, confirming that the gradient observed is mostly driven by local and regional sources, which can be anthropogenic, natural or a combination of both.

The Budapest Meeting 2005 intensified networking on ethics of science: the case of reproductive cloning, germline gene therapy and human dignity.

PubMed

Van Steendam, Guido; Dinnyés, András; Mallet, Jacques; Meloni, Rolando; Casabona, Carlos Romeo; González, Jorge Guerra; Kure, Josef; Szathmáry, Eörs; Vorstenbosch, Jan; Molnár, Péter; Edbrooke, David; Sándor, Judit; Oberfrank, Ferenc; Cole-Turner, Ron; Hargittai, István; Littig, Beate; Ladikas, Miltos; Mordini, Emilio; Roosendaal, Hans E; Salvi, Maurizio; Gulyás, Balázs; Malpede, Diana

2006-10-01

This paper reports on the meeting of the Sounding Board of the EU Reprogenetics Project that was held in Budapest, Hungary, 6-9 November 2005. The Reprogenetics Project runs from 2004 until 2007 and has a brief to study the ethical aspects of human reproductive cloning and germline gene therapy. Discussions during The Budapest Meeting are reported in depth in this paper as well as the initiatives to involve the participating groups and others in ongoing collaborations with the goal of forming an integrated network of European resources in the fields of ethics of science.

The GLObal Robotic telescopes Intelligent Array for e-science (GLORIA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Sánchez Moreno, F. M.; Pérez del Pulgar, C.; Azócar, D.; Beskin, G.; Cabello, J.; Cedazo, R.; Cuesta, L.; Cunniffe, R.; González, E.; González-Rodríguez, A.; Gorosabel, J.; Hanlon, L.; Hudec, R.; Jakubek, M.; Janeček, P.; Jelínek, M.; Lara-Gil, O.; Linttot, C.; López-Casado, M. C.; Malaspina, M.; Mankiewicz, L.; Maureira, E.; Maza, J.; Muñoz-Martínez, V. F.; Nicastro, L.; O'Boyle, E.; Palazzi, E.; Páta, P.; Pio, M. A.; Prouza, M.; Serena, F.; Serra-Ricart, M.; Simpson, R.; Sprimont, P.; Strobl, J.; Topinka, M.; Vitek, S.; Zarnecki, A. F.

2015-05-01

GLORIA, funded under the auspices of the EU FP7 program in 2012--14, is a collaborative web--2.0 project based on a network of 18 robotic telescopes, which has become the first free-access network opened to the world for public outreach and specially for e-Science projects. On-line (solar and night) observations (experiments) as well as batch-mode (night) requests are possible. Educational material, applications (such as Personal Space) and complementary software have been also produced, besides the broadcast of several astronomical events during this period. GLORIA+ will exploit the full GLORIA potential in the years to come.

Teenagers and young adults with cancer in Europe: from national programmes to a European integrated coordinated project.

PubMed

Stark, D; Bielack, S; Brugieres, L; Dirksen, U; Duarte, X; Dunn, S; Erdelyi, D J; Grew, T; Hjorth, L; Jazbec, J; Kabickova, E; Konsoulova, A; Kowalczyk, J R; Lassaletta, A; Laurence, V; Lewis, I; Monrabal, A; Morgan, S; Mountzios, G; Olsen, P R; Renard, M; Saeter, G; van der Graaf, W T; Ferrari, A

2016-05-01

Over 14 000 patients aged 15-24 are estimated to be diagnosed with cancer in the European Union (EU) each year. Teenagers and young adults (TYA) often fall down gaps between children's and adults cancer services. The specific challenges of providing optimal care to them are described, but we present a summary of recent progress. Progress to overcome these challenges is happening at different rates across Europe. We summarise the European national projects in this field but more recently we have seen the beginnings of European coordination. Within the EU 7th Funding Programme (FP7) European Network for Cancer Research in Children and Adolescents programme (ENCCA), a specific European Network for Teenagers and Young Adults with Cancer has held a series of scientific meetings, including professionals, patients and caregivers. This group has proposed unanswered research questions and agreed key features of a high-quality service that can improve outcomes for TYA with cancer, including the primacy of collaboration between adult and paediatric services to eliminate the gap in the management of TYA with cancer. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Instrumentation and monitoring of the nextgen road infrastructure: Some results and perspectives from the R5G project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hautière, Nicolas; Bourquin, Frédéric

2017-04-01

Through the centuries, the roads - which today constitute in France a huge transport network of 1 millions kilometers length - have always been able to cope with society needs and challenges. As a consequence, the next generation road infrastructure will have to take into account at least three societal transitions: ecological, energetic and digital. The goal of the 5th generation road project (R5G©) [1], led by Ifsttar in France, aligned with the Forever Open program [2], is to design and build demonstrators of such future road infrastructures. The goal of this presentation is to present different results related to the greening of road materials [3], the design of energy-positive roads [4, 5], the test of roads that self-diagnose [6], the design of roads adapted for connected [7], autonomous [8] and electrified vehicles [9], etc. In terms of perspectives, we will demonstrate that the road infrastructures will soon become a complex system: On one side road users will benefit from new services, on the other side such massively connected and instrumented infrastructures will potentially become an opportune sensor for knowledge development in geoscience, such as air quality, visibility and fog monitoring. References: [1] R5G project. r5g.ifsttar.fr [2] Forever Open Road project. www.foreveropenroad.eu [3] Biorepavation project. www.infravation.net/projects/BIOREPAVATION [4] N. Le Touz, J. Dumoulin. Numerical study of the thermal behavior of a new deicing road structure design with energy harvesting capabilities. EGU General Assembly 2015, Apr 2015, Vienne, Austria. [5] S. Asfour, F. Bernardin, E. Toussaint, J.-M. Piau. Hydrothermal modeling of porous pavement for its surface de-freezing. Applied Thermal Engineering. Volume 107, 25 August 2016, Pages 493-500 [6] LGV BPL Instrumentation. http://railenium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/INSTRUMENTATION-BPL-FR.pdf [7] SCOOP@F project. https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-transport/projects-by-country/multi-country/2014-eu-ta-0669-s [8] J. Ehrlich, D. Gruyer, O. Orfila, N. Hautière. Autonomous vehicle : The concept of high quality of service highway. FISITA World congress, Busan, Korea, 2016. [9] FABRIC project. www.fabric-project.eu

[Scientific writing, scientific communication and open access: an international, multidisciplinary project--NECOBELAC].

PubMed

Pulido, Diony; Robledo, Rocío; Agudelo, Carlos A

2009-01-01

A collaboration network involving 6 countries in Europe, Latin-America and the Caribbean has embarked on a project (Network of Collaboration Between Europe and Latin American Caribbean Countries-NECOBELAC; www.necobelac.eu) aimed at improving scientific writing open access and scholarly communication to spread know-how regarding current and future issues and information related to health. The NECOBELAC project is sponsored by the European Community (7th Framework Programme) and will last for 3 years. The project recognises the challenge arising from socio-cultural differences between the participating countries and will deal with generating networks involving institutions working in close collaboration for carrying out training and know-how exchange programmes aimed at producing open access information and spreading it (including technical and ethical aspects). The NECOBELAC project currently involves the Istituto Superiore di Sanità - ISS from Italy (coordinating the project), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) from Spain, the University of Nottingham (SHERPA) from the United Kingdom, BIREME from Brazil, the Instituto de Salud Pública (ISP) from Colombia and the Universidade de Minho from Portugal.

Safety assessment, detection and traceability, and societal aspects of genetically modified foods. European Network on Safety Assessment of Genetically Modified Food Crops (ENTRANSFOOD). Concluding remarks.

PubMed

Kuiper, H A; König, A; Kleter, G A; Hammes, W P; Knudsen, I

2004-07-01

The most important results from the EU-sponsored ENTRANSFOOD Thematic Network project are reviewed, including the design of a detailed step-wise procedure for the risk assessment of foods derived from genetically modified crops based on the latest scientific developments, evaluation of topical risk assessment issues, and the formulation of proposals for improved risk management and public involvement in the risk analysis process. Copyright 2004 Elsevier Ltd.

Playing with Porn: Greek Children's Explorations in Pornography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsaliki, Liza

2011-01-01

This article draws on the research findings of the Greek Kids Go Online project and the EU Kids Online I network research on children and online technologies in Europe, funded by the European Commission Safer Internet Programme, 2006-2009. It explores the experiences of young people aged between 9 and 17 with pornographic texts online, and…

Contaminated Sites in Europe: Review of the Current Situation Based on Data Collected through a European Network

PubMed Central

Van Liedekerke, Marc; Yigini, Yusuf; Montanarella, Luca

2013-01-01

Under the European Union (EU) Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, the European Commission has identified soil contamination as a priority for the collection of policy-relevant soil data at European scale. In order to support EU soil management policies, soil-related indicators need to be developed which requires appropriate data collection and establishment of harmonized datasets for the EU Member States. In 2011-12, the European Soil Data Centre of the European Commission conducted a project to collect data on contaminated sites from national institutions in Europe using the European Environment Information and Observation Network for soil (EIONET-SOIL). This paper presents the results obtained from analysing the soil contaminated sites data submitted by participating countries. According to the received data, the number of estimated potential contaminated sites is more than 2.5 million and the identified contaminated sites around 342 thousand. Municipal and industrial wastes contribute most to soil contamination (38%), followed by the industrial/commercial sector (34%). Mineral oil and heavy metals are the main contaminants contributing around 60% to soil contamination. In terms of budget, the management of contaminated sites is estimated to cost around 6 billion Euros (€) annually. PMID:23843802

The EU-project United4Health: User-Centred Design and Evaluation of a Collaborative Information System for a Norwegian Telehealth Service.

PubMed

Smaradottir, Berglind; Gerdes, Martin; Martinez, Santiago; Fensli, Rune

2015-01-01

This study presents the user-centred design and evaluation process of a Collaborative Information System (CIS), developed for a new telehealth service for remote monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients after hospital discharge. The CIS was designed based on the information gathered in a workshop, where target end-users described the context of use, a telehealth workflow and their preferred ways of interaction with the solution. Evaluation of the iterative refinements were made through user tests, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. A field trial reported results on the ease of use and user satisfaction during the interaction with the fully developed system. The implemented CIS was successfully deployed within the secured Norwegian Health Network. The research was a result of cooperation between international partners within the EU FP7 project United4Health.

European Patient Summary Guideline: Focus on Greece.

PubMed

Berler, Alexander; Tagaris, Anastassios; Chronaki, Catherine

2016-01-01

The European Patient Summary (PS) guideline specifies a minimal dataset of essential and important information for unplanned or emergency care initially defined in the epSOS project with aim to improve patients' safety and quality of Care. The eHealth Network of European Union (EU) Member State (MS) representatives established under Article 14 of the EU directive 2011/24 on patient rights to cross-border healthcare adopted PS guideline in November 2013 and since then the guideline has been part of MS strategic eHealth implementation plans, standardization efforts, and concrete regional, national, European and international projects. This paper reviews implementation efforts for the implementation of an operational patient summary service in Greece drawing on challenges and lessons learned for sustainable standards-based large scale eHealth deployment in Europe and abroad, as well as the reuse of best practices from international standards and integration profiles.

Universe Awareness: Inspiring Every Child with our Wonderful Cosmos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrier, W.; Nijman, I.; Russo, P.

2013-04-01

Universe Awareness (UNAWE) is an international program that aims to reach 4- to 10-year old children from disadvantaged backgrounds and uses astronomy to teach them about science and technology and provide them with a sense of global citizenship and tolerance. The science of astronomy is especially suited for this goal, since the beauty of our Universe grasps the attention of children, and the Universe plays a significant role in the history of global cultures. UNAWE was funded by the European Union in 2011 to start an EU-UNAWE project of a duration of three years. EU-UNAWE has various national websites and is now an international platform for astronomers, teachers and educators to share resources and ideas. EU-UNAWE develops educational materials and organizes teacher training workshops, which are highly appreciated and used by primary school teachers around the world. The UNAWE network continues to broaden, reaching more and more children with astronomy each year.

An analysis of subject areas and country participation for all health-related projects in the EU's FP5 and FP6 programmes.

PubMed

Galsworthy, Michael J; Irwin, Rachel; Charlesworth, Kate; Ernst, Kelly; Hristovski, Dimitar; Wismar, Matthias; McKee, Martin

2014-06-01

Previous analyses concerning health components of European Union (EU)-funded research have shown low project participation levels of the 12 newest member states (EU-12). Additionally, there has been a lack of subject-area analysis. In the Health Research for Europe project, we screened all projects of the EU's Framework Programmes for research FP5 and FP6 (1998-2006) to identify health research projects and describe participation by country and subject area. FP5 and FP6 project databases were acquired and screened by coders to identify health-related projects, which were then categorized according to the 47 divisions of the EU Health Portal (N = 2728 projects) plus an extra group of 'basic/biotech' projects (N = 1743). Country participation and coordination rates for projects were also analyzed. Approximately 20% of the 26 946 projects (value €29.2bn) were health-related (N = 4756. Value €6.04bn). Within the health categories, the largest expenditures were cancer (11.9%), 'other' (i.e. not mental health or cardiovascular) non-communicable diseases (9.5%) and food safety (9.4%). One hundred thirty-two countries participated in these projects. Of the 27 EU countries (and five partner countries), north-western and Nordic states acquired more projects per capita. The UK led coordination with > 20% of projects. EU-12 countries were generally under-represented for participation and coordination. Combining our findings with the associated literature, we comment on drivers determining distribution of participation and funds across countries and subject areas. Additionally, we discuss changes needed in the core EU projects database to provide greater transparency, data exploitation and return on investment in health research. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Artificial Neural Networks: an overview and their use in the analysis of the AMPHORA-3 dataset.

PubMed

Buscema, Paolo Massimo; Massini, Giulia; Maurelli, Guido

2014-10-01

The Artificial Adaptive Systems (AAS) are theories with which generative algebras are able to create artificial models simulating natural phenomenon. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are the more diffused and best-known learning system models in the AAS. This article describes an overview of ANNs, noting its advantages and limitations for analyzing dynamic, complex, non-linear, multidimensional processes. An example of a specific ANN application to alcohol consumption in Spain, as part of the EU AMPHORA-3 project, during 1961-2006 is presented. Study's limitations are noted and future needed research using ANN methodologies are suggested.

Cooperation Among Nations: Understanding the Counter Nuclear Smuggling Network In Europe

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE June 2016 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Capstone project report 4. TITLE AND...fixed report date and subject to change with the dynamic international environment. The existence of the European Union (EU) complicates the...100 Bunn et al., “Preventing Nuclear Terrorism,” 4. 51 large quantities of radioisotopes .101 Officials speculate

Burnet Project

PubMed Central

Masellis, A.; Atiyeh, B.

2009-01-01

Summary The BurNet project, a pilot project of the Eumedis initiative, has become true. The Eumedis (EUro MEDiterranean Information Society) initiative is part of the MEDA programme of the EU to develop the Information Society in the Mediterranean area. In the health care sector, the objective of Eumedis is: the deployment of network-based solutions to interconnect - using userfriendly and affordable solutions - the actors at all levels of the "health care system" of the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Bur Net project interconnects 17 Burn Centres (BC) in the Mediterranean Area through an information network both to standardize courses of action in the field of prevention, treatment, and functional and psychological rehabilitation of burn patients and to coordinate interactions between BC and emergency rooms in peripheral hospitals using training/information activities and telemedicine to optimize first aid provided to burn patients before referral to a BC. Shared procedure protocols for prevention and the care and rehabilitation of patients, both at individual and mass level, will help to create an international specialized database and a Webbased teleconsultation system. PMID:21991176

Incorporating atmospheric uncertainties into estimates of the detection capability of the IMS infrasound network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Pichon, Alexis; Ceranna, Lars; Taillepied, Doriane

2015-04-01

To monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), a dedicated network is being deployed. Multi-year observations recorded by the International Monitoring System (IMS) infrasound network confirm that its detection capability is highly variable in space and time. Today, numerical modeling techniques provide a basis to better understand the role of different factors describing the source and the atmosphere that influence propagation predictions. Previous studies estimated the radiated source energy from remote observations using frequency dependent attenuation relation and state-of-the-art specifications of the stratospheric wind. In order to account for a realistic description of the dynamic structure of the atmosphere, model predictions are further enhanced by wind and temperature error distributions as measured in the framework of the ARISE project (http://arise-project.eu/). In the context of the future verification of the CTBT, these predictions quantify uncertainties in the spatial and temporal variability of the IMS infrasound network performance in higher resolution, and will be helpful for the design and prioritizing maintenance of any arbitrary infrasound monitoring network.

Incorporating atmospheric uncertainties into estimates of the detection capability of the IMS infrasound network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Pichon, Alexis; Blanc, Elisabeth; Rüfenacht, Rolf; Kämpfer, Niklaus; Keckhut, Philippe; Hauchecorne, Alain; Ceranna, Lars; Pilger, Christoph; Ross, Ole

2014-05-01

To monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), a dedicated network is being deployed. Multi-year observations recorded by the International Monitoring System (IMS) infrasound network confirm that its detection capability is highly variable in space and time. Today, numerical modeling techniques provide a basis to better understand the role of different factors describing the source and the atmosphere that influence propagation predictions. Previous studies estimated the radiated source energy from remote observations using frequency dependent attenuation relation and state-of-the-art specifications of the stratospheric wind. In order to account for a realistic description of the dynamic structure of the atmosphere, model predictions are further enhanced by wind and temperature error distributions as measured in the framework of the ARISE project (http://arise-project.eu/). In the context of the future verification of the CTBT, these predictions quantify uncertainties in the spatial and temporal variability of the IMS infrasound network performance in higher resolution, and will be helpful for the design and prioritizing maintenance of any arbitrary infrasound monitoring network.

Developing an online professional network for veterinary education: the NOVICE project.

PubMed

Baillie, Sarah; Kinnison, Tierney; Forrest, Neil; Dale, Vicki H M; Ehlers, Jan P; Koch, Michael; Mándoki, Mira; Ciobotaru, Emilia; de Groot, Esther; Boerboom, Tobias B B; van Beukelen, Peter

2011-01-01

An online professional network for veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary educationalists, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) educationalists is being developed under the EU (European Union) Lifelong Learning Programme. The network uses Web 2.0, a term used to describe the new, more interactive version of the Internet, and includes tools such as wikis, blogs, and discussion boards. Focus groups conducted with qualified and student veterinarians within the project's five founding countries (The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania) demonstrated that online professional communities can be valuable for accessing information and establishing contacts. Online networks have the potential to overcome common challenges to face-to-face communities-such as distance, cost, and timing-but they have their own drawbacks, such as security and professionalism issues. The Network Of Veterinary ICt in Education (NOVICE) was developed using Elgg, an open-source, free social networking platform, after several software options had been considered. NOVICE aims to promote the understanding of Web 2.0, confidence to use social software tools, and participation in an online community. Therefore, the Web site contains help sections, Frequently Asked Questions, and access to support from ICT experts. Five months after the network's launch (and just over one year into the project) 515 members from 28 countries had registered. Further research will include analysis of a core group's activities, which will inform ongoing support for and development of informal, lifelong learning in a veterinary context.

Engaging the broader community in biodiversity research: the concept of the COMBER pilot project for divers in ViBRANT

PubMed Central

Arvanitidis, Christos; Faulwetter, Sarah; Chatzigeorgiou, Georgios; Penev, Lyubomir; Bánki, Olaf; Dailianis, Thanos; Pafilis, Evangelos; Kouratoras, Michail; Chatzinikolaou, Eva; Fanini, Lucia; Vasileiadou, Aikaterini; Pavloudi, Christina; Vavilis, Panagiotis; Koulouri, Panayota; Dounas, Costas

2011-01-01

Abstract This paper discusses the design and implementation of a citizen science pilot project, COMBER (Citizens’ Network for the Observation of Marine BiodivERsity, http://www.comber.hcmr.gr), which has been initiated under the ViBRANT EU e-infrastructure. It is designed and implemented for divers and snorkelers who are interested in participating in marine biodiversity citizen science projects. It shows the necessity of engaging the broader community in the marine biodiversity monitoring and research projects, networks and initiatives. It analyses the stakeholders, the industry and the relevant markets involved in diving activities and their potential to sustain these activities. The principles, including data policy and rewards for the participating divers through their own data, upon which this project is based are thoroughly discussed. The results of the users analysis and lessons learned so far are presented. Future plans include promotion, links with citizen science web developments, data publishing tools, and development of new scientific hypotheses to be tested by the data collected so far. PMID:22207815

Spatial-spectral flexible optical networking: enabling switching solutions for a simplified and efficient SDM network platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomkos, I.; Zakynthinos, P.; Klonidis, D.; Marom, D.; Sygletos, S.; Ellis, A.; Salvadori, E.; Siracusa, D.; Angelou, M.; Papastergiou, G.; Psaila, N.; Ferran, J. F.; Ben-Ezra, S.; Jimenez, F.; Fernández-Palacios, J. P.

2013-12-01

The traffic carried by core optical networks grows at a steady but remarkable pace of 30-40% year-over-year. Optical transmissions and networking advancements continue to satisfy the traffic requirements by delivering the content over the network infrastructure in a cost and energy efficient manner. Such core optical networks serve the information traffic demands in a dynamic way, in response to requirements for shifting of traffics demands, both temporally (day/night) and spatially (business district/residential). However as we are approaching fundamental spectral efficiency limits of singlemode fibers, the scientific community is pursuing recently the development of an innovative, all-optical network architecture introducing the spatial degree of freedom when designing/operating future transport networks. Spacedivision- multiplexing through the use of bundled single mode fibers, and/or multi-core fibers and/or few-mode fibers can offer up to 100-fold capacity increase in future optical networks. The EU INSPACE project is working on the development of a complete spatial-spectral flexible optical networking solution, offering the network ultra-high capacity, flexibility and energy efficiency required to meet the challenges of delivering exponentially growing traffic demands in the internet over the next twenty years. In this paper we will present the motivation and main research activities of the INSPACE consortium towards the realization of the overall project solution.

Challenges and perspectives for improved management of HIV/Mycobacterium tuberculosis co-infection.

PubMed

Sester, M; Giehl, C; McNerney, R; Kampmann, B; Walzl, G; Cuchí, P; Wingfield, C; Lange, C; Migliori, G B; Kritski, A L; Meyerhans, A

2010-12-01

HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) are two widespread and highly successful microbes whose synergy in pathogenesis has created a significant threat for human health globally. In acknowledgement of this fact, the European Union (EU) has funded a multinational support action, the European Network for global cooperation in the field of AIDS and TB (EUCO-Net), that brings together experts from Europe and those regions that bear the highest burden of HIV/MTB co-infection. Here, we summarise the main outcome of the EUCO-Net project derived from an expert group meeting that took place in Stellenbosch (South Africa) (AIDS/TB Workshop on Research Challenges and Opportunities for Future Collaboration) and the subsequent discussions, and propose priority areas for research and concerted actions that will have impact on future EU calls.

Highlights from the CERN/ESO/NordForsk ''Gender in Physics Day''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Primas, F.; Guinot, G.; Strandberg, L.

2017-03-01

In their role as observers on the EU Gender Equality Network in the European Research Area (GENERA) project, funded under the Horizon 2020 framework, CERN, ESO and NordForsk joined forces and organised a Gender in Physics Day at the CERN Globe of Science and Innovation. The one-day conference aimed to examine innovative activities promoting gender equality, and to discuss gender-oriented policies and best practice in the European Research Area (with special emphasis on intergovernmental organisations), as well as the importance of building solid networks. The event was very well attended and was declared a success. The main highlights of the meeting are reported.

Towards Semantic Modelling of Business Processes for Networked Enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furdík, Karol; Mach, Marián; Sabol, Tomáš

The paper presents an approach to the semantic modelling and annotation of business processes and information resources, as it was designed within the FP7 ICT EU project SPIKE to support creation and maintenance of short-term business alliances and networked enterprises. A methodology for the development of the resource ontology, as a shareable knowledge model for semantic description of business processes, is proposed. Systematically collected user requirements, conceptual models implied by the selected implementation platform as well as available ontology resources and standards are employed in the ontology creation. The process of semantic annotation is described and illustrated using an example taken from a real application case.

Field_ac: a research project on ocean modelling in coastal areas. The experience in the Catalan Sea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grifoll, Manel; Pallarès, Elena; Tolosana-Delgado, Raimon; Fernandez, Juan; Lopez, Jaime; Mosso, Cesar; Hermosilla, Fernando; Espino, Manuel; Sanchez-Arcilla, Agustín

2013-04-01

The EU founded Field_ac project has investigated during the last three years methods and strategies for improving operational services in coastal areas. The objective has been to generate added value for shelf and regional scale predictions from GMES Marine Core Services. In this sense the experience in the Catalan Sea site has allowed to combine high-resolution numerical modeling tools nested into regional GMES services, data from intensive field campaigns or local observational networks and remote sensing products. Multi-scale coupled models have been implemented to evaluate different temporal and spatial scales of the dominant physical processes related with waves, currents, continental/river discharges or sediment transport. In this sense the experience of the Field_ac project in the Catalan Sea has permit to "connect" GMES marine core service results to the coastal (local) anthropogenic forcing (e.g. causes of morphodynamic evolution and ecosystem degradation) and will support a knowledge-based assessment of decisions in the coastal zone. This will contribute to the implementation of EU directives (e.g., the Water Framework Directive for water quality at beaches near harbour entrances or the Risk or Flood Directives for waves and sea-level at beach/river-mouth scales).

mEducator: A Best Practice Network for Repurposing and Sharing Medical Educational Multi-type Content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bamidis, Panagiotis D.; Kaldoudi, Eleni; Pattichis, Costas

Although there is an abundance of medical educational content available in individual EU academic institutions, this is not widely available or easy to discover and retrieve, due to lack of standardized content sharing mechanisms. The mEducator EU project will face this lack by implementing and experimenting between two different sharing mechanisms, namely, one based one mashup technologies, and one based on semantic web services. In addition, the mEducator best practice network will critically evaluate existing standards and reference models in the field of e-learning in order to enable specialized state-of-the-art medical educational content to be discovered, retrieved, shared, repurposed and re-used across European higher academic institutions. Educational content included in mEducator covers and represents the whole range of medical educational content, from traditional instructional teaching to active learning and experiential teaching/studying approaches. It spans the whole range of types, from text to exam sheets, algorithms, teaching files, computer programs (simulators or games) and interactive objects (like virtual patients and electronically traced anatomies), while it covers a variety of topics. In this paper, apart from introducing the relevant project concepts and strategies, emphasis is also placed on the notion of (dynamic) user-generated content, its advantages and peculiarities, as well as, gaps in current research and technology practice upon its embedding into existing standards.

EMSO: European multidisciplinary seafloor observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favali, Paolo; Beranzoli, Laura

2009-04-01

EMSO has been identified by the ESFRI Report 2006 as one of the Research Infrastructures that European members and associated states are asked to develop in the next decades. It will be based on a European-scale network of multidisciplinary seafloor observatories from the Arctic to the Black Sea with the aim of long-term real-time monitoring of processes related to geosphere/biosphere/hydrosphere interactions. EMSO will enhance our understanding of processes, providing long time series data for the different phenomenon scales which constitute the new frontier for study of Earth interior, deep-sea biology and chemistry, and ocean processes. The development of an underwater network is based on past EU projects and is supported by several EU initiatives, such as the on-going ESONET-NoE, aimed at strengthening the ocean observatories' scientific and technological community. The EMSO development relies on the synergy between the scientific community and industry to improve European competitiveness with respect to countries such as USA, Canada and Japan. Within the FP7 Programme launched in 2006, a call for Preparatory Phase (PP) was issued in order to support the foundation of the legal and organisational entity in charge of building up and managing the infrastructure, and coordinating the financial effort among the countries. The EMSO-PP project, coordinated by the Italian INGV with participation by 11 institutions from as many European countries, started in April 2008 and will last four years.

Metal Flux Growth, Structural Relations, and Physical Properties of EuCu2Ge2 and Eu3T2In9 (T = Cu and Ag).

PubMed

Subbarao, Udumula; Roy, Soumyabrata; Sarma, Saurav Ch; Sarkar, Sumanta; Mishra, Vidyanshu; Khulbe, Yatish; Peter, Sebastian C

2016-10-17

Single crystals (SCs) of the compounds Eu 3 Ag 2 In 9 and EuCu 2 Ge 2 were synthesized through the reactions run in liquid indium. Eu 3 Ag 2 In 9 crystallizes in the La 3 Al 11 structure type [orthorhombic space group (SG) Immm] with the lattice parameters: a = 4.8370(1) Å, b = 10.6078(3) Å, and c = 13.9195(4) Å. EuCu 2 Ge 2 crystallizes in the tetragonal ThCr 2 Si 2 structure type (SG I4/mmm) with the lattice parameters: a = b = 4.2218(1) Å, and c = 10.3394(5) Å. The crystal structure of Eu 3 Ag 2 In 9 is comprised of edge-shared hexagonal rings consisting of indium. The one-dimensional chains of In 6 rings are shared through the edges, which are further interconnected with other six-membered rings forming a three-dimensional (3D) stable crystal structure along the bc plane. The crystal structure of EuCu 2 Ge 2 can be explained as the complex [CuGe] (2+δ)- polyanionic network embedded with Eu ions. These polyanionic networks present in the crystal structure of EuCu 2 Ge 2 are shared through the edges of the 011 plane containing Cu and Ge atoms, resulting in a 3D network. The structural relationship between Eu 3 T 2 In 9 and EuCu 2 Ge 2 has been discussed in detail, and we conclude that Eu 3 T 2 In 9 is the metal deficient variant of EuCu 2 Ge 2 . The magnetic susceptibilities of Eu 3 T 2 In 9 (T = Cu and Ag) and EuCu 2 Ge 2 were measured between 2 and 300 K. In all cases, magnetic susceptibility data followed Curie-Weiss law above 150 K. Magnetic moment values obtained from the measurements indicate the probable mixed/intermediate valent behavior of the europium atoms, which was further confirmed by X-ray absorption studies and bond distances around the Eu atoms. Electrical resistivity measurements suggest that Eu 3 T 2 In 9 and EuCu 2 Ge 2 are metallic in nature.

SeaDataNet II - EMODNet - building a pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, Dick M. A.; Fichaut, Michele

2014-05-01

The second phase of the project SeaDataNet is well underway since October 2011 and is making good progress. The main objective is to improve operations and to progress towards an efficient data management infrastructure able to handle the diversity and large volume of data collected via research cruises and monitoring activities in European marine waters and global oceans. The SeaDataNet infrastructure comprises a network of interconnected data centres and a central SeaDataNet portal. The portal provides users a unified and transparent overview of the metadata and controlled access to the large collections of data sets, managed by the interconnected data centres, and the various SeaDataNet standards and tools,. Recently the 1st Innovation Cycle has been completed, including upgrading of the CDI Data Discovery and Access service to ISO 19139 and making it fully INSPIRE compliant. The extensive SeaDataNet Vocabularies have been upgraded too and implemented for all SeaDataNet European metadata directories. SeaDataNet is setting and governing marine data standards, and exploring and establishing interoperability solutions to connect to other e-infrastructures on the basis of standards of ISO (19115, 19139), OGC (WMS, WFS, CS-W and SWE), and OpenSearch. The population of directories has also increased considerably in cooperation and involvement in associated EU projects and initiatives. SeaDataNet now gives overview and access to more than 1.4 million data sets for physical oceanography, chemistry, geology, geophysics, bathymetry and biology from more than 90 connected data centres from 30 countries riparian to European seas. Access to marine data is also a key issue for the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The EU communication 'Marine Knowledge 2020' underpins the importance of data availability and harmonising access to marine data from different sources. SeaDataNet qualified itself for leading the data management component of the EMODNet (European Marine Observation and Data Network) that is promoted in the EU Communication. In the past 4 years EMODNet portals have been initiated for marine data themes: digital bathymetry, chemistry, physical oceanography, geology, biology, and seabed habitat mapping. These portals are now being expanded to all European seas in successor projects, which started mid 2013 from EU DG MARE. EMODNet encourages more data providers to come forward for data sharing and participating in the process of making complete overviews and homogeneous data products. The EMODNet Bathymetry project is very illustrative for the synergy with SeaDataNet and added value of generating public data products. The project develops and publishes Digital Terrain Models (DTM) for the European seas. These are produced from survey and aggregated data sets. The portal provides a versatile DTM viewing service with many relevant map layers and functions for retrieving. A further refinement is taking place in the new phase. The presentation will give information on present services of the SeaDataNet infrastructure and services, highlight key achievements in SeaDataNet II so far, and give further insights in the EMODNet Bathymetry progress.

Exploratory visualization of earth science data in a Semantic Web context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, X.; Fox, P. A.

2012-12-01

Earth science data are increasingly unlocked from their local 'safes' and shared online with the global science community as well as the average citizen. The European Union (EU)-funded project OneGeology-Europe (1G-E, www.onegeology-europe.eu) is a typical project that promotes works in that direction. The 1G-E web portal provides easy access to distributed geological data resources across participating EU member states. Similar projects can also be found in other countries or regions, such as the geoscience information network USGIN (www.usgin.org) in United States, the groundwater information network GIN-RIES (www.gw-info.net) in Canada and the earth science infrastructure AuScope (www.auscope.org.au) in Australia. While data are increasingly made available online, we currently face a shortage of tools and services that support information and knowledge discovery with such data. One reason is that earth science data are recorded in professional language and terms, and people without background knowledge cannot understand their meanings well. The Semantic Web provides a new context to help computers as well as users to better understand meanings of data and conduct applications. In this study we aim to chain up Semantic Web technologies (e.g., vocabularies/ontologies and reasoning), data visualization (e.g., an animation underpinned by an ontology) and online earth science data (e.g., available as Web Map Service) to develop functions for information and knowledge discovery. We carried out a case study with data of the 1G-E project. We set up an ontology of geological time scale using the encoding languages of SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System) and OWL (Web Ontology Language) from W3C (World Wide Web Consortium, www.w3.org). Then we developed a Flash animation of geological time scale by using the ActionScript language. The animation is underpinned by the ontology and the interrelationships between concepts of geological time scale are visualized in the animation. We linked the animation and the ontology to the online geological data of 1G-E project and developed interactive applications. The animation was used to show legends of rock age layers in geological maps dynamically. In turn, these legends were used as control panels to filter out and generalize geospatial features of certain rock ages on map layers. We tested the functions with maps of various EU member states. As a part of the initial results, legends for rock age layers of EU individual national maps were generated respectively, and the functions for filtering and generalization were examined with the map of United Kingdom. Though new challenges are rising in the tests, like those caused by synonyms (e.g., 'Lower Cambrian' and 'Terreneuvian'), the initial results achieved the designed goals of information and knowledge discovery by using the ontology-underpinned animation. This study shows that (1) visualization lowers the barrier of ontologies, (2) integrating ontologies and visualization adds value to online earth science data services, and (3) exploratory visualization supports the procedure of data processing as well as the display of results.

Best of enemies: Using social network analysis to explore a policy network in European smoke-free policy.

PubMed

Weishaar, Heide; Amos, Amanda; Collin, Jeff

2015-05-01

Networks and coalitions of stakeholders play a crucial role in the development and implementation of policies, with previous research highlighting that networks in tobacco control are characterised by an antagonism between supporters and opponents of comprehensive tobacco control policies. This UK-based study used quantitative and qualitative network analysis (drawing on 176 policy submissions and 32 interviews) to systematically map and analyse a network of actors involved in the development of European Union (EU) smoke-free policy. Policy debates were dominated by two coalitions of stakeholders with starkly opposing positions on the issue. One coalition, consisting primarily of health-related organisations, supported comprehensive EU smoke-free policy, whereas the other, led by tobacco manufacturers' organisations, opposed the policy initiative. The data suggest that, aided by strong political commitment of EU decision makers to develop smoke-free policy, advocates supporting comprehensive EU policy were able to frame policy debates in ways which challenged the tobacco industry's legitimacy. They then benefited from the stark polarisation between the two coalitions. The paper provides empirical evidence of the division between two distinct coalitions in tobacco policy debates and draws attention to the complex processes of consensus-seeking, alliance-building and strategic action which are integral to the development of EU policy. Highlighting network polarisation and industry isolation as factors which seemed to increase tobacco control success, the study demonstrates the potential significance and value of FCTC article 5.3 for tobacco control policy-making. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Highlight report: Launch of a large integrated European in vitro toxicology project: EU-ToxRisk.

PubMed

Daneshian, Mardas; Kamp, Hennicke; Hengstler, Jan; Leist, Marcel; van de Water, Bob

2016-05-01

The integrated European project, EU-ToxRisk, proudly sees itself as "flagship" exploring new alternative-to-animal approaches to chemical safety evaluation. It promotes mechanism-based toxicity testing and risk assessment according to the principles laid down for toxicology for the twenty-first century. The project was officially launched in January 2016 with a kickoff meeting in Egmond aan Zee, the Netherlands. Over 100 scientists representing academia and industry as well as regulatory authorities attended the inaugural meeting. The project will integrate advances in in vitro and in silico toxicology, read-across methods, and adverse outcome pathways. EU-ToxRisk will continue to make use of the case study strategy deployed in SEURAT-1, a FP7 initiative ended in December 2015. Even though the development of new non-animal methods is one target of EU-ToxRisk, the project puts special emphasis on their acceptance and implementation in regulatory contexts. This €30 million Horizon 2020 project involves 38 European partners and one from the USA. EU-ToxRisk aims at the "development of a new way of risk assessment."

High altitude environmental monitoring: the SHARE project and CEOP-HE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tartari, G.

2009-04-01

Mountain areas above 2,500 m a.s.l. constitute about 25% of the Earth's surface and play a fundamental role in the global water balance, while influencing global climate and atmospheric circulation systems. Several millions, including lowlanders, are directly affected by the impacts of climate change on glaciers and water resource distribution. Mountains and high altitude plateaus are subject to the highest rate of temperature increase (e.g., Tibetan Plateau) and are recognized as particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In spite of this, the number of permanent monitoring sites in the major environmental networks decreases with altitude. On a sample of two hundred high altitude automatic weather stations located above 2,500 m a.s.l., less than 20% are over 4,000 m, while there are only 24 stations in the world that could be considered "complete" high altitude observatories. Furthermore, entire mountain areas are left uncovered, creating significant data gaps which make reliable modelling and forecasting nearly impossible. In response to these problems, Ev-K2-CNR has developed the project SHARE (Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment) with the support of the Italian government and in collaboration with UNEP. This integrated environmental monitoring and research project aims to improve knowledge on the local, regional and global consequences of climate change in mountain regions and on the influence of high elevations on climate, atmospheric circulation and hydrology. SHARE today boasts a network of 13 permanent monitoring stations between 2,165 m and 8,000 m. Affiliated researchers have produced over 150 scientific publications in atmospheric sciences, meteorology and climate, glaciology, limnology and paleolimnology and geophysics. SHARE network data is also contributed to international programs (UNEP-ABC, WMO-GAW, WCRP-GEWEX-CEOP, NASA-AERONET, ILTER, EU-EUSAAR, EU-ACCENT). Within this context, the CEOP-High Elevations (CEOP-HE) element of regional focus was developed under the GEWEX CEOP programme to study multi-scale variability in water and energy cycles in high elevation areas, and to help improve observations, modelling and data management. Future plans include expansion of the SHARE network, addition of other key research areas including hydrology, and creation of mechanisms to favour exchange of data amongst high altitude networks. In coordination with other global research and monitoring projects (CliC, etc.), SHARE and CEOP-HE could provide a more organic and well-distributed interdisciplinary network, thus allowing governments and international agencies to better face impacts of climate change effects on energy and water budgets and elaborate appropriate adaptation strategies.

Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network-Based Message Forwarding for a River Pollution Monitoring Wireless Sensor Network Application.

PubMed

Velásquez-Villada, Carlos; Donoso, Yezid

2016-03-25

Communications from remote areas that may be of interest is still a problem. Many innovative projects applied to remote sites face communications difficulties. The GOLDFISH project was an EU-funded project for river pollution monitoring in developing countries. It had several sensor clusters, with floating WiFi antennas, deployed along a downstream river's course. Sensor clusters sent messages to a Gateway installed on the riverbank. This gateway sent the messages, through a backhaul technology, to an Internet server where data was aggregated over a map. The communication challenge in this scenario was produced by the antennas' movement and network backhaul availability. Since the antennas were floating on the river, communications could be disrupted at any time. Also, 2G/3G availability near the river was not constant. For non-real-time applications, we propose a Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN)-based solution where all nodes have persistent storage capabilities and DTN protocols to be able to wait minutes or hours to transmit. A mechanical backhaul will periodically visit the river bank where the gateway is installed and it will automatically collect sensor data to be carried to an Internet-covered spot. The proposed forwarding protocol delivers around 98% of the messages for this scenario, performing better than other well-known DTN routing protocols.

Scratchpads 2.0: a Virtual Research Environment supporting scholarly collaboration, communication and data publication in biodiversity science.

PubMed

Smith, Vincent S; Rycroft, Simon D; Brake, Irina; Scott, Ben; Baker, Edward; Livermore, Laurence; Blagoderov, Vladimir; Roberts, David

2011-01-01

The Scratchpad Virtual Research Environment (http://scratchpads.eu/) is a flexible system for people to create their own research networks supporting natural history science. Here we describe Version 2 of the system characterised by the move to Drupal 7 as the Scratchpad core development framework and timed to coincide with the fifth year of the project's operation in late January 2012. The development of Scratchpad 2 reflects a combination of technical enhancements that make the project more sustainable, combined with new features intended to make the system more functional and easier to use. A roadmap outlining strategic plans for development of the Scratchpad project over the next two years concludes this article.

Towards an integrated EU data system within AtlantOS project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pouliquen, Sylvie; Harscoat, Valerie; Waldmann, Christoph; Koop-Jakobsen, ketill

2017-04-01

The H2020 AtlantOS project started in June 2015 and aims to optimise and enhance the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing Systems (IAOOS). One goal is to ensure that data from different and diverse in-situ observing networks are readily accessible and useable to the wider community, international ocean science community and other stakeholders in this field. To achieve that, the strategy is to move towards an integrated data system within AtlantOS that harmonises work flows, data processing and distribution across the in-situ observing network systems, and integrates in-situ observations in existing European and international data infrastructures (Copernicus marine service, SeaDataNet NODCs, EMODnet, OBIS, GEOSS) so called Integrators. The targeted integrated system will deal with data management challenges for efficient and reliable data service to users: • Quality control commons for heterogeneous and nearly real time data • Standardisation of mandatory metadata for efficient data exchange • Interoperability of network and integrator data management systems Presently the situation is that the data acquired by the different in situ observing networks contributing to the AtlantOS project are processed and distributed using different methodologies and means. Depending on the network data management organization, the data are either processed following recommendations elaborated y the network teams and accessible through a unique portal (FTP or Web), or are processed by individual scientific researchers and made available through National Data Centres or directly at institution level. Some datasets are available through Integrators, such as Copernicus or EMODnet, but connected through ad-hoc links. To facilitate the access to the Atlantic observations and avoid "mixing pears with apples", it has been necessary to agree on (1) the EOVs list and definition across the Networks, (2) a minimum set of common vocabularies for metadata and data description to be used by all the Networks, and (3) a minimum level of Near Real Time Quality Control Procedures for selected EOVs. Then a data exchange backbone has been defined and is being setting up to facilitate discovery, viewing and downloading by the users. Some tools will be recommended to help Network plugging their data on this backbone and facilitate integration in the Integrators. Finally, existing services to the users for data discovery, viewing and downloading will be enhanced to ease access to existing observations. An initial working phase relying on existing international standards and protocols, involving data providers, both Networks and Integrators, and dealing with data harmonisation and integration objectives, has led to agreements and recommendations .The setup phase has started, both on Networks and Integrators sides, to adapt the existing systems in order to move toward this integrated EU data system within AtlantOS as well as collaboration with international partners arpound the ATlantic Ocean.

Multilingualism among Brussels-Based Civil Servants and Lobbyists: Perceptions and Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krizsán, Attila; Erkkilä, Tero

2014-01-01

This article explores the multilingual and multicultural aspects of community-building, networking and communication in the European Union's (EU) political and administrative system. We investigated the networking and communicative preferences of EU civil servants and lobbyists using survey data and thematic interviews. Our aim was to gain a…

The role of network bridging organisations in compensation payments for agri-environmental services under the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

PubMed

Dedeurwaerdere, Tom; Polard, Audrey; Melindi-Ghidi, Paolo

2015-11-01

Compensation payments to farmers for the provision of agri-environmental services are a well-established policy scheme under the EU Common Agricultural Policy. However, in spite of the success in most EU countries in the uptake of the programme by farmers, the impact of the scheme on the long term commitment of farmers to change their practices remains poorly documented. To explore this issue, this paper presents the results of structured field interviews and a quantitative survey in the Walloon Region of Belgium. The main finding of this study is that farmers who have periodic contacts with network bridging organisations that foster cooperation and social learning in the agri-environmental landscapes show a higher commitment to change. This effect is observed both for farmers with high and low concern for biodiversity depletion. Support for network bridging organisations is foreseen under the EU Leader programme and the EU regulation 1306/2013, which could open-up interesting opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness of the current payment scheme for agri-environmental services.

EU-Level Competence Development Projects in Agri-Food-Environment: The Involvement of Sectoral Social Partners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulder, Martin

2006-01-01

Purpose: The European Commission and social partner organisations at EU level encourage the lifelong development of qualifications and competence. This is reflected in many policy reports and reviews. This paper seeks to show the involvement of social partner organisations at the level of EU-funded competence development projects.…

A new BaB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8}:Eu{sup 2+}/Eu{sup 3+}, Tb{sup 3+} phosphor - Synthesis and photoluminescence properties

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Saradhi, M.P.; Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Yeddumailaram, Hyderabad - 502205; Laboratoire de Cristallographie et Sciences des Materiaux, ENSICAEN, Universite de Caen, CNRS, 6 Bd Marechal Juin, F-14050 Caen

2010-10-15

In the present work, we have synthesized maleevite mineral phase BaB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8} for the first time, which is isostructural with the pekovite mineral SrB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8}. In these europium doped host lattices, we observed the partial reduction of Eu{sup 3+} to Eu{sup 2+} at high temperature during the synthesis in air. Tb{sup 3+} co-doping in MB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8}:0.01(Eu{sup 3+}/Eu{sup 2+}) [M=Sr, Ba] improves the emission properties towards white light. The emission color varies from bluish white to greenish white under UV lamp excitation when the host cation changes from Sr to Ba. - Graphical abstract: Themore » figure shows structure refinement of both MB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8} [M=Sr, Ba]. The structure refinement of newly synthesized phase BaB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8} was carried out by taking SrB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8} as starting structure model. Inset in the figure shows the structure projection of BaB{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 8}. The Sr{sup 2+}/Ba{sup 2+} are embedded in polyanionic network formed by corner sharing BO{sub 4}{sup 5-} and SiO{sub 4}{sup 4-} tetrahedral that intern form interconnected layers of 4 and 8 membered rings perpendicular to b-axis.« less

XPS and 31P NMR inquiry of Eu3+-induced structural modification in SnO-containing phosphate glass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiménez, José A.; Fachini, Esteban Rosim; Zhao, Chunqing

2018-07-01

The influence of Eu3+ doping on the structural properties of SnO-containing phosphate glass has been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Oxygen 1s XPS data indicates that the Eu3+ doping results in a higher concentration of non-bridging oxygens in the glass matrix, whereas 31P NMR shows an increase in the terminal phosphate chain tetrahedral units, i.e. the amount of Q1 sites with only one bridging oxygen. Accordingly, both techniques agree with a depolymerization effect induced by the Eu3+ ions. Further, XPS reveals that together with the Eu3+ doping, the presence of Sn4+ is supported while the presence of Eu2+ is also indicated. The structural changes are then indicated to be a consequence of redox chemistry between Sn2+ and Eu3+ promoting a transition of tin from Sn2+ with a role as network former to Sn4+ acting as network modifier in the glass system.

Network Experiences from a Cross-Sector Biosafety Level-3 Laboratory Collaboration: A Swedish Forum for Biopreparedness Diagnostics.

PubMed

Thelaus, Johanna; Lindberg, Anna; Thisted Lambertz, Susanne; Byström, Mona; Forsman, Mats; Lindmark, Hans; Knutsson, Rickard; Båverud, Viveca; Bråve, Andreas; Jureen, Pontus; Lundin Zumpe, Annelie; Melefors, Öjar

The Swedish Forum for Biopreparedness Diagnostics (FBD) is a network that fosters collaboration among the 4 agencies with responsibility for the laboratory diagnostics of high-consequence pathogens, covering animal health and feed safety, food safety, public health and biodefense, and security. The aim of the network is to strengthen capabilities and capacities for diagnostics at the national biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) laboratories to improve Sweden's biopreparedness, in line with recommendations from the EU and WHO. Since forming in 2007, the FBD network has contributed to the harmonization of diagnostic methods, equipment, quality assurance protocols, and biosafety practices among the national BSL-3 laboratories. Lessons learned from the network include: (1) conducting joint projects with activities such as method development and validation, ring trials, exercises, and audits has helped to build trust and improve communication among participating agencies; (2) rotating the presidency of the network steering committee has fostered trust and commitment from all agencies involved; and (3) planning for the implementation of project outcomes is important to maintain gained competencies in the agencies over time. Contacts have now been established with national agencies of the other Nordic countries, with an aim to expanding the collaboration, broadening the network, finding synergies in new areas, strengthening the ability to share resources, and consolidating long-term financing in the context of harmonized European biopreparedness.

Network Experiences from a Cross-Sector Biosafety Level-3 Laboratory Collaboration: A Swedish Forum for Biopreparedness Diagnostics

PubMed Central

Lindberg, Anna; Thisted Lambertz, Susanne; Byström, Mona; Forsman, Mats; Lindmark, Hans; Knutsson, Rickard; Båverud, Viveca; Bråve, Andreas; Jureen, Pontus; Lundin Zumpe, Annelie; Melefors, Öjar

2017-01-01

The Swedish Forum for Biopreparedness Diagnostics (FBD) is a network that fosters collaboration among the 4 agencies with responsibility for the laboratory diagnostics of high-consequence pathogens, covering animal health and feed safety, food safety, public health and biodefense, and security. The aim of the network is to strengthen capabilities and capacities for diagnostics at the national biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) laboratories to improve Sweden's biopreparedness, in line with recommendations from the EU and WHO. Since forming in 2007, the FBD network has contributed to the harmonization of diagnostic methods, equipment, quality assurance protocols, and biosafety practices among the national BSL-3 laboratories. Lessons learned from the network include: (1) conducting joint projects with activities such as method development and validation, ring trials, exercises, and audits has helped to build trust and improve communication among participating agencies; (2) rotating the presidency of the network steering committee has fostered trust and commitment from all agencies involved; and (3) planning for the implementation of project outcomes is important to maintain gained competencies in the agencies over time. Contacts have now been established with national agencies of the other Nordic countries, with an aim to expanding the collaboration, broadening the network, finding synergies in new areas, strengthening the ability to share resources, and consolidating long-term financing in the context of harmonized European biopreparedness. PMID:28805472

ClimaDat: A long-term network to study at different scales climatic processes and interactions between climatic compartments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morgui, Josep Anton; Agueda, Alba; Batet, Oscar; Curcoll, Roger; Ealo, Marina; Grossi, Claudia; Occhipinti, Paola; Sánchez-García, Laura; Arias, Rosa; Rodó, Xavi

2013-04-01

ClimaDat (www.climadat.es) is a pioneer project of the Institut Català de Ciències del Clima (IC3) in collaboration with and funded by "la Caixa" Foundation. This project aims at studying the interactions between climate and ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales. The ClimaDat project consists of a network of eight long-term observatory stations distributed over Spain, installed at natural and remote areas, and covering different climatic domains (e.g. Mediterranean, Atlantic, subtropics) and natural systems (e.g. delta, karsts, high mountain areas). Data obtained in the ClimaDat network will help us to understand how ecosystems are influenced by and eventually might feedback different processes in the climate system. The point of focus of these studies will be taken into account regional-and-local conditions to understand climatic global scale eventsThe data gathered will be used to study the behavior of the global element cycles and associated greenhouse gas emissions. The network is expected to offer near real-time (NRT) data free for the scientific community. Instrumentation installed at these stations mainly consists of: CO2, CH4, H2O, CO, N2O, SF6 and 222Rn analyzers, isotopic CO2, CH4 and H2O analyzers, meteorological sensors, eddy covariance equipment, four-component radiometers, soil moisture and temperature sensors, and sap flow meters. Each station may have a more focused subset of all this equipment, depending on the specific characteristics of the site. Instrumentation selected for this network has been chosen to comply with standards established in international research infrastructure projects, such as ICOS (http://www.icos-infrastructure.eu/home) or InGOS (http://www.ingos-infrastructure.eu/). Preliminary data time-series of greenhouse gases concentrations and meteorological variables are presented in this study for three currently operational ClimaDat stations: the Natural Park of the Ebre Delta (lat 40.75° N - long 0.79° E), the Regional Park of the Sierra de Gredos (lat 40.22° N - long -5.14° E) and the Natural Park of Baixa Limia - Serra do Xurès (lat 41.99° N - long -8.01° E). The wind source influencing regions of the three stations are also presented in this work, according to the results obtained using the HYSPLIT trajectory model (http://ready.arl.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php).

Enhancing the actinide sciences in Europe through hot laboratories networking and pooling: from ACTINET to TALISMAN

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bourg, S.; Poinssot, C.

2013-07-01

Since 2004, Europe supports the strengthening of the European actinides sciences scientific community through the funding of dedicated networks: (i) from 2004 to 2008, the ACTINET6 network of excellence (6. Framework Programme) gathered major laboratories involved in nuclear research and a wide range of academic research organisations and universities with the specific aims of funding and implementing joint research projects to be performed within the network of pooled facilities; (ii) from 2009 to 2013, the ACTINET-I3 integrated infrastructure initiative (I3) supports the cost of access of any academics in the pooled EU hot laboratories. In this continuation, TALISMAN (Trans-national Accessmore » to Large Infrastructures for a Safe Management of Actinides) gathers now the main European hot laboratories in actinides sciences in order to promote their opening to academics and universities and strengthen the EU-skills in actinides sciences. Furthermore, a specific focus is set on the development of advanced cutting-edge experimental and spectroscopic capabilities, the combination of state-of-the art experimental with theoretical first-principle methods on a quantum mechanical level and to benefit from the synergy between the different scientific and technical communities. ACTINET-I3 and TALISMAN attach a great importance and promote the Education and Training of the young generation of actinides scientists in the Trans-national access but also by organizing Schools (general Summer Schools or Theoretical User Lab Schools) or by granting students to attend International Conference on actinide sciences. (authors)« less

Multilevel Complex Networks and Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caldarelli, Guido

2014-03-01

Network theory has been a powerful tool to model isolated complex systems. However, the classical approach does not take into account the interactions often present among different systems. Hence, the scientific community is nowadays concentrating the efforts on the foundations of new mathematical tools for understanding what happens when multiple networks interact. The case of economic and financial networks represents a paramount example of multilevel networks. In the case of trade, trade among countries the different levels can be described by the different granularity of the trading relations. Indeed, we have now data from the scale of consumers to that of the country level. In the case of financial institutions, we have a variety of levels at the same scale. For example one bank can appear in the interbank networks, ownership network and cds networks in which the same institution can take place. In both cases the systemically important vertices need to be determined by different procedures of centrality definition and community detection. In this talk I will present some specific cases of study related to these topics and present the regularities found. Acknowledged support from EU FET Project ``Multiplex'' 317532.

Veterinary Immunology Committee Toolkit Workshop 2010: progress and plans.

PubMed

Entrican, Gary; Lunney, Joan K

2012-07-15

The 3rd Veterinary Immunology Committee (VIC) Toolkit Workshop took place at the 9th International Veterinary Immunology Symposium (IVIS) in Tokyo, Japan on 18th August 2010. The Workshop built on previous Toolkit Workshops and covered various aspects of reagent development, commercialization and provision to the veterinary immunology research community. The emphasis was on open communication about current progress and future plans to avoid duplication of effort and to update priorities for reagent development. There were presentations on the major reagent development and networking projects such as the BBSRC/RERAD Immunological Toolbox (2004-2009), US Veterinary Immune Reagent Network (VIRN 2006-2010) that has just received renewal funding for 2010-2014, and EU Network for Animal Diseases Infectiology Research Facilities project (NADIR 2009-2013). There were also presentations and discussions on the use of reagents for assay development, particularly multiplexing, and how these new technologies will underpin basic research developments. Mechanisms for improved information exchange, especially though websites with VIC playing a central role, were identified. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gap analysis of the European Earth Observation Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Closa, Guillem; Serral, Ivette; Maso, Joan

2016-04-01

Earth Observations (EO) are fundamental to enhance the scientific understanding of the current status of the Earth. Nowadays, there are a lot of EO services that provide large volume of data, and the number of datasets available for different geosciences areas is increasing by the day. Despite this coverage, a glance of the European EO networks reveals that there are still some issues that are not being met; some gaps in specific themes or some thematic overlaps between different networks. This situation requires a clarification process of the actual status of the EO European networks in order to set priorities and propose future actions that will improve the European EO networks. The aim of this work is to detect the existing gaps and overlapping problems among the European EO networks. The analytical process has been done by studying the availability and the completeness of the Essential Variables (EV) data captured by the European EO networks. The concept of EVs considers that there are a number of parameters that are essential to characterize the state and trends of a system without losing significant information. This work generated a database of the existing gaps in the European EO network based on the initial GAIA-CLIM project data structure. For each theme the missing or incomplete data about each EV was indentified. Then, if incomplete, the gap was described by adding its type (geographical extent, vertical extent, temporal extent, spatial resolution, etc), the cost, the remedy, the feasibility, the impact and the priority, among others. Gaps in EO are identified following the ConnectinGEO methodology structured in 5 threads; identification of observation requirements, incorporation of international research programs material, consultation process within the current EO actors, GEOSS Discovery and Access Broker analysis, and industry-driven challenges implementation. Concretely, the presented work focuses on the second thread, which is based on International research programs screening, conclusions of research papers extraction, research in collective roadmaps that contain valuable information about problems due to lack of data, and EU research calls considering to move forward in known uncovered areas. This provides a set of results that will be later validated by an iterative process that will enhance the database content until an agreement in the community is reached and a list of priorities is ready to be delivered. This work is done thanks to the EU ConnectinGEO H2020 (Project Nr: 641538).

[Benefits of large healthcare databases for drug risk research].

PubMed

Garbe, Edeltraut; Pigeot, Iris

2015-08-01

Large electronic healthcare databases have become an important worldwide data resource for drug safety research after approval. Signal generation methods and drug safety studies based on these data facilitate the prospective monitoring of drug safety after approval, as has been recently required by EU law and the German Medicines Act. Despite its large size, a single healthcare database may include insufficient patients for the study of a very small number of drug-exposed patients or the investigation of very rare drug risks. For that reason, in the United States, efforts have been made to work on models that provide the linkage of data from different electronic healthcare databases for monitoring the safety of medicines after authorization in (i) the Sentinel Initiative and (ii) the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP). In July 2014, the pilot project Mini-Sentinel included a total of 178 million people from 18 different US databases. The merging of the data is based on a distributed data network with a common data model. In the European Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance (ENCEPP) there has been no comparable merging of data from different databases; however, first experiences have been gained in various EU drug safety projects. In Germany, the data of the statutory health insurance providers constitute the most important resource for establishing a large healthcare database. Their use for this purpose has so far been severely restricted by the Code of Social Law (Section 75, Book 10). Therefore, a reform of this section is absolutely necessary.

Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network-Based Message Forwarding for a River Pollution Monitoring Wireless Sensor Network Application

PubMed Central

Velásquez-Villada, Carlos; Donoso, Yezid

2016-01-01

Communications from remote areas that may be of interest is still a problem. Many innovative projects applied to remote sites face communications difficulties. The GOLDFISH project was an EU-funded project for river pollution monitoring in developing countries. It had several sensor clusters, with floating WiFi antennas, deployed along a downstream river’s course. Sensor clusters sent messages to a Gateway installed on the riverbank. This gateway sent the messages, through a backhaul technology, to an Internet server where data was aggregated over a map. The communication challenge in this scenario was produced by the antennas’ movement and network backhaul availability. Since the antennas were floating on the river, communications could be disrupted at any time. Also, 2G/3G availability near the river was not constant. For non-real-time applications, we propose a Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN)-based solution where all nodes have persistent storage capabilities and DTN protocols to be able to wait minutes or hours to transmit. A mechanical backhaul will periodically visit the river bank where the gateway is installed and it will automatically collect sensor data to be carried to an Internet-covered spot. The proposed forwarding protocol delivers around 98% of the messages for this scenario, performing better than other well-known DTN routing protocols. PMID:27023554

EMSO: European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favali, P.; Partnership, Emso

2009-04-01

EMSO, a Research Infrastructure listed within ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Roadmap), is the European-scale network of multidisciplinary seafloor observatories from the Arctic to the Black Sea with the scientific objective of long-term real-time monitoring of processes related to geosphere/biosphere/hydrosphere interactions. EMSO will enhance our understanding of processes through long time series appropriate to the scale of the phenomena, constituting the new frontier of studying Earth interior, deep-sea biology and chemistry and ocean processes. EMSO will reply also to the need expressed in the frame of GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) to develop a marine segment integrated in the in situ and satellite global monitoring system. The EMSO development relays upon the synergy between the scientific community and the industry to improve the European competitiveness with respect to countries like USA/Canada, NEPTUNE, VENUS and MARS projects, Taiwan, MACHO project, and Japan, DONET project. In Europe the development of an underwater network is based on previous EU-funded projects since early '90, and presently supported by EU initiatives. The EMSO infrastructure will constitute the extension to the sea of the land-based networks. Examples of data recorded by seafloor observatories will be presented. EMSO is presently at the stage of Preparatory Phase (PP), funded in the EC FP7 Capacities Programme. The project has started in April 2008 and will last 4 years with the participation of 12 Institutions representing 12 countries. EMSO potential will be significantly increased also with the interaction with other Research Infrastructures addressed to Earth Science. 2. IFREMER-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (France, ref. Roland Person); KDM-Konsortium Deutsche Meeresforschung e.V. (Germany, ref. Christoph Waldmann); IMI-Irish Marine Institute (Ireland, ref. Michael Gillooly); UTM-CSIC-Unidad de Tecnologia Marina - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Spain, ref. Juan Jose Danobeitia); UGOT-Goteborgs Universitet (Sweden, ref. Per Hall); HCMR-Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece, ref. Vasilios Likousis); NOCS-National Oceanography Centre Southampton (United Kingdom, ref. Henry A. Ruhl); UiT-University of Tromsø (Norway, ref. Jürgen Mienert); FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal, ref. Jorge Miguel Alberto de Miranda); ITU-Istanbul Teknik Universitesi (Turkey, ref. Namik Çagatay); NIOZ-Stichting Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Zeeonderzoek (The Netherlands, ref. Tjeerd C.E. van Weering).

Variation in adult vaccination policies across Europe: an overview from VENICE network on vaccine recommendations, funding and coverage.

PubMed

Kanitz, Elisabeth E; Wu, Lauren A; Giambi, Cristina; Strikas, Raymond A; Levy-Bruhl, Daniel; Stefanoff, Pawel; Mereckiene, Jolita; Appelgren, Eva; D'Ancona, Fortunato

2012-07-27

In 2010-2011, in the framework of the VENICE project, we surveyed European Union (EU) and Economic Area (EEA) countries to fill the gap of information regarding vaccination policies in adults. This project was carried out in collaboration with the United States National Vaccine Program Office, who conducted a similar survey in all developed countries. VENICE representatives of all 29 EU/EEA-countries received an online questionnaire including vaccination schedule, recommendations, funding and coverage in adults for 17 vaccine-preventable diseases. The response rate was 100%. The definition of age threshold for adulthood for the purpose of vaccination ranged from 15 to 19 years (median=18 years). EU/EEA-countries recommend between 4 and 16 vaccines for adults (median=11 vaccines). Tetanus and diphtheria vaccines are recommended to all adults in 22 and 21 countries respectively. The other vaccines are mostly recommended to specific risk groups; recommendations for seasonal influenza and hepatitis B exist in all surveyed countries. Six countries have a comprehensive summary document or schedule describing all vaccines which are recommended for adults. None of the surveyed countries was able to provide coverage estimates for all the recommended adult vaccines. Vaccination policies for adults are not consistent across Europe, including the meaning of "recommended vaccine" which is not comparable among countries. Coverage data for adults should be collected routinely like for children vaccination. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MEMO2 - MEthane goes MObile - MEasurements and Modelling - Part 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Röckmann, Thomas; Walter, Sylvia

2017-04-01

As mitigation of climate change is a key scientific and societal challenge, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) agreed to limit global warming "well below" 2˚ C and, if possible, below 1.5˚ C. Reaching this target requires massive reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and achieving significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a logical headline targets of the EU climate action and of the H2020 strategy. CH4 emissions are a major contributor to Europe's global warming impact and emissions are not well quantified yet. There are significant discrepancies between official inventories of emissions and estimates derived from direct atmospheric measurement. Effective emission reduction can only be achieved if sources are properly quantified, and mitigation efforts are verified. New advanced combinations of measurement and modelling are needed to archive such quantification. MEMO2 will contribute to the targets of the EU with a focus on methane (CH4). The project will bridge the gap between large-scale scientific estimates from in situ monitoring programs and the 'bottom-up' estimates of emissions from local sources that are used in the national reporting by I) developing new and advanced mobile methane (CH4) measurements tools and networks, II) isotopic source identification, and III) modelling at different scales. Within the project qualified scientists will be educated in the use and implementation of interdisciplinary knowledge and techniques that are essential to meet and verify emission reduction goals. MEMO2 will facilitate intensive collaboration between the largely academic greenhouse gas monitoring community and non-academic partners who are responsible for evaluating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions to policy makers. MEMO2 is a European Training Network with more than 20 collaborators from 7 countries. It is a 4-years project and we will present the project and its objectives to the scientific community to foster collaboration and scientific exchange from the beginning.

Land Recycling: from Science to Practice - A Sustainable Development of Urban Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romanowicz, A.

2015-12-01

Member States (MS) of the European Union have experience significant urban sprawl in the last 3 decades. The urban sprawl was driven mainly by internal (MS or EU) or external migration but also by EU policies (including funds and projects) and by changes in life style (e.g. moving away from cities; second homes). This presentation will aim at showing a number of EU wide analysis on: aging population, depopulation of some of the EU regions; agricultural production and scenarios projections of thereof. Various EU funded projects and programs have analyzed ways how future cities and how EU future land use could developed. Number of those solutions where further investigated with case studies/small scale implementations. However, in recent years the 2012 EU road map to resource efficiency and UN Sustainable Development Goals have called respectively for 'no net land take by 2050' and land neutrality. Thus, the process of implementing innovative solutions for land use has started and some of the cities and regions are well ahead in moving towards XXI century society. In order to streamline/share knowledge and steer EU wide discussion on this the European Commission in its road map to resource efficiency announced a Communication on land as a resource. This presentation will attempt to synthesize current discussion on the topic of 'land as a resource' and include examples of implemented innovative solutions for aging population, land recycling for urban developments and green spaces within the current EU policy context. Finally, some appreciation of the adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals regarding land and soil from the EU perspective will be given.

STENCIL: Science Teaching European Network for Creativity and Innovation in Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cattadori, M.; Magrefi, F.

2013-12-01

STENCIL is an european educational project funded with support of the European Commission within the framework of LLP7 (Lifelong Learning Programme) for a period of 3 years (2011 - 2013). STENCIL includes 21 members from 9 European countries (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, Turkey.) working together to contribute to the general objective of improving science teaching, by promoting innovative methodologies and creative solutions. Among the innovative methods adept a particolar interest is a joint partnership between a wide spectrum of type of institutions such as schools, school authorities, research centres, universities, science museums, and other organizations, representing differing perspectives on science education. STENCIL offers to practitioners in science education from all over Europe, a platform; the web portal - www.stencil-science.eu - that provides high visibility to schools and institutions involved in Comenius and other similar European funded projects in science education. STENCIL takes advantage of the positive results achieved by the former European projects STELLA - Science Teaching in a Lifelong Learning Approach (2007 - 2009) and GRID - Growing interest in the development of teaching science (2004-2006). The specific objectives of the project are : 1) to identify and promote innovative practices in science teaching through the publication of Annual Reports on Science Education; 2) to bring together science education practitioners to share different experiences and learn from each other through the organisation of periodical study visits and workshops; 3) to disseminate materials and outcomes coming from previous EU funded projects and from isolated science education initiatives through the STENCIL web portal, as well as through international conferences and national events. This contribution aims at explaining the main features of the project together with the achieved results during the project's 3 year lifetime-span.

Colorimetric assay for on-the-spot alcoholic strength sensing in spirit samples based on dual-responsive lanthanide coordination polymer particles with ratiometric fluorescence.

PubMed

Deng, Jingjing; Shi, Guoyue; Zhou, Tianshu

2016-10-26

This study demonstrates a new strategy for colorimetric detection of alcoholic strength (AS) in spirit samples based on dual-responsive lanthanide infinite coordination polymer (Ln-ICP) particles with ratiometric fluorescence. The ICP used in this study are composed of two components: one is the supramolecular Ln-ICP network formed by the coordination between the ligand 2,2'-thiodiacetic acid (TDA) and central metal ion Eu 3+ ; and the other is a fluorescent dye, i.e., coumarin 343 (C343), both as the cofactor ligand and as the sensitizer, doped into the Ln-ICP network through self-adaptive chemistry. Upon being excited at 300 nm, the red fluorescence of Ln-ICP network itself at 617 nm is highly enhanced due to the concomitant energy transfer from C343 to Eu 3+ , while the fluorescence of C343 at 495 nm is supressed. In pure ethanol solvent, the as-formed C343@Eu-TDA is well dispersed and quite stable. However, the addition of water into ethanolic dispersion of C343@Eu-TDA destructs Eu-TDA network structure, resulting in the release of C343 from ICP network into the solvent. Consequently, the fluorescence of Eu-TDA turns off and the fluorescence of C343 turns on, leading to the fluorescent color change of the dispersion from red to blue, which constitutes a new mechanism for colorimetric sensing of AS in commercial spirit samples. With the method developed here, we could clearly distinguish the AS of different spirit samples within a wide linear range from 10% vol to 100% vol directly by "naked eye" with the help of UV-lamp (365 nm). This study not only offers a new method for on-the-spot visible detection of AS, but also provides a strategy for dual-responsive sensing mode by rational designing the optical properties of the Ln-ICP network and the guest, respectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

WINDENG - a new network in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sempreviva, A. M.; Barthelmie, R.; Landberg, L.; Heinemann, D.; Strack, M.; Christensen, L.; Stefanatos, N.; Svenson, J.; Lavagnini, A.; Tammelin, B.

2003-04-01

A European training-through-research network is underway in which wind conditions relevant to wind turbine and wind farm design for the implementation of the wind energy in Europe are being studied. The network is based on:- - The success of a previous network within the EU Human Capital and Mobility programme in establishing links among European institutes through the co-operative effort of young scientists working in countries other than their own. - The need to foster the necessary exchange of experiences and personal contacts in order to produce a fruitful collaboration for the academic and research institutions and private companies involved. The aim of the network is to bring together young and experienced researchers to work jointly to define the basis for the design of wind turbines and wind fans in different environments. The goals are:- - To define reliable values for turbulence descriptors to be used in modelling the turbulent wind fields, spectra, coherence in homogeneous and complex terrain and offshore, to offer guidelines for wind turbine design. - To improve existing methods used for modelling wind climates under the different situations existing within Europe to offer reliable tools for wind farm designers in complex terrain and offshore. - To address all European climates from the cold Baltic and nearby North Sea to warmer Mediterranean regions. - To supply knowledge of use to EU energy policies, to local authorities or national and international energy agencies and authorities. Furthermore it will offer guidelines for the best turbine design and best sitting procedures for isolated generators or turbine parks. The project got underway in September 2002 and the first positions for young researchers are expected to begin in early 2003. This poster will present the first scientific and practical results.

Scratchpads 2.0: a Virtual Research Environment supporting scholarly collaboration, communication and data publication in biodiversity science

PubMed Central

Smith, Vincent S.; Rycroft, Simon D.; Brake, Irina; Scott, Ben; Baker, Edward; Livermore, Laurence; Blagoderov, Vladimir; Roberts, David

2011-01-01

Abstract The Scratchpad Virtual Research Environment (http://scratchpads.eu/) is a flexible system for people to create their own research networks supporting natural history science. Here we describe Version 2 of the system characterised by the move to Drupal 7 as the Scratchpad core development framework and timed to coincide with the fifth year of the project’s operation in late January 2012. The development of Scratchpad 2 reflects a combination of technical enhancements that make the project more sustainable, combined with new features intended to make the system more functional and easier to use. A roadmap outlining strategic plans for development of the Scratchpad project over the next two years concludes this article. PMID:22207806

Fbis report. Science and technology: Economic review, September 19, 1995

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1995-09-19

;Partial Contents: Germany: Braunschweig University Tests Organic Semiconductors; France: Ariane-5 Tests Suspended; First Tests in Euro-Russian RECORD Rocket Engine Program; France: Renault`s Multi-Model Assembly Line Presented; Germany: New High Speed Trains Under Development; France: Matra Test Drone, Missile Systems; France: Experimental Project for Automobile Recycling; Germany: Survey of Flexible Manufacturing Developments; Germany: Heinrich Hertz Institute Produces Polymer-Based Circuit; French Firms Introduce Computerized Control Room for Nuclear Plants; German Machine Tool Industry Calls for Information Technology Projects; Germany: R&D Achievements in Digital HDTV Reported; Hungary: Secondary Telecommunications Networks Described; EU: Mergers in Pharmaceutical Industry Reported; SGS-Thomson Business Performance Analyzed; Germany`s Siemensmore » Invest Heavily in UK Semiconductor Plant.« less

Automatic optimisation of gamma dose rate sensor networks: The DETECT Optimisation Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helle, K. B.; Müller, T. O.; Astrup, P.; Dyve, J. E.

2014-05-01

Fast delivery of comprehensive information on the radiological situation is essential for decision-making in nuclear emergencies. Most national radiological agencies in Europe employ gamma dose rate sensor networks to monitor radioactive pollution of the atmosphere. Sensor locations were often chosen using regular grids or according to administrative constraints. Nowadays, however, the choice can be based on more realistic risk assessment, as it is possible to simulate potential radioactive plumes. To support sensor planning, we developed the DETECT Optimisation Tool (DOT) within the scope of the EU FP 7 project DETECT. It evaluates the gamma dose rates that a proposed set of sensors might measure in an emergency and uses this information to optimise the sensor locations. The gamma dose rates are taken from a comprehensive library of simulations of atmospheric radioactive plumes from 64 source locations. These simulations cover the whole European Union, so the DOT allows evaluation and optimisation of sensor networks for all EU countries, as well as evaluation of fencing sensors around possible sources. Users can choose from seven cost functions to evaluate the capability of a given monitoring network for early detection of radioactive plumes or for the creation of dose maps. The DOT is implemented as a stand-alone easy-to-use JAVA-based application with a graphical user interface and an R backend. Users can run evaluations and optimisations, and display, store and download the results. The DOT runs on a server and can be accessed via common web browsers; it can also be installed locally.

SeaDataNet II - EMODNet Bathymetry - building a pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management and a digital high resolution bathymetry for European seas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, Dick M. A.; Fichaut, Michele

2015-04-01

The second phase of the project SeaDataNet is well underway since October 2011. The main objective is to improve operations and to progress towards an efficient data management infrastructure able to handle the diversity and large volume of data collected via research cruises and monitoring activities in European marine waters and global oceans. The SeaDataNet infrastructure comprises a network of interconnected data centres and a central SeaDataNet portal. The portal provides users a unified and transparent overview of the metadata and controlled access to the large collections of data sets, managed by the interconnected data centres, and the various SeaDataNet standards and tools,. SeaDataNet is also setting and governing marine data standards, and exploring and establishing interoperability solutions to connect to other e-infrastructures on the basis of standards of ISO (19115, 19139), OGC (WMS, WFS, CS-W and SWE), and OpenSearch. The population of directories has increased considerably in cooperation and involvement in associated EU projects and initiatives. SeaDataNet now gives overview and access to more than 1.6 million data sets for physical oceanography, chemistry, geology, geophysics, bathymetry and biology from more than 100 connected data centres from 34 countries riparian to European seas. Access to marine data is also a key issue for the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The EU communication 'Marine Knowledge 2020' underpins the importance of data availability and harmonising access to marine data from different sources. SeaDataNet qualified itself for an active role in the data management component of the EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data network) that is promoted in the EU Communication. Starting 2009 EMODnet pilot portals have been initiated for marine data themes: digital bathymetry, chemistry, physical oceanography, geology, biology, and seabed habitat mapping. These portals are being expanded to all European sea regions as part of EMODnet Phase 2, which started mid 2013. EMODnet encourages more data providers to come forward for data sharing and participating in the process of making complete overviews and homogeneous data products. The EMODnet Bathymetry project is very illustrative for the synergy between SeaDataNet and EMODnet and added value of generating public data products. The project develops and publishes Digital Terrain Models (DTM) for the European seas. These are produced from survey and aggregated data sets. The portal provides a versatile DTM viewing service with many relevant map layers and functions for retrieving. A further refinement is taking place as part of phase 2. The presentation will highlight key achievements in SeaDataNet II and give further details and views on the new EMODNet Digital Bathymetry for European seas as to be released early 2015.

Seabed substrates and sedimentation rates of the European Seas - EMODnet-Geology2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaskela, Anu; Kotilainen, Aarno; Alanen, Ulla; Stevenson, Alan; Partners, EMODnet Geology 2

2015-04-01

Seas and oceans are important for us. However, increased human activities in marine and coastal areas have altered marine ecosystems worldwide. To ensure sustainable use of marine resources and health of the seas, improved management is needed. The European Union's (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive targets to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of the EU's marine waters by 2020. However, it has been acknowledged that the poor access to data on the marine environment was a handicap to government decision-making, a barrier to scientific understanding and a break on the economy. The effective management of the broad marine areas requires spatial datasets covering all European marine areas. As a consequence the European Commission adopted the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) in 2009 to combine dispersed marine data into publicly available datasets covering broad areas. The second phase of the EMODnet -Geology project started in 2013 and it will run for 3 years. The partnership includes 36 marine organizations from 30 countries. The partners, mainly from the marine departments of the geological surveys of Europe (through the Association of European Geological Surveys - EuroGeoSurveys), aim to assemble marine geological information at a scale of 1:250,000 from all European sea areas (e.g. the White Sea, Baltic Sea, Barents Sea, the Iberian Coast, and the Mediterranean Sea within EU waters). In comparison to the urEMODnet project (2009-2012) the data will be more detailed and aim to cover much larger area. The project includes collecting and harmonizing the first seabed substrate map for the European Seas, as well as data/map showing sedimentation rates at the seabed. The data will be essential not only for geologists but also for others interested in marine sediments like marine managers and habitat mappers. A 1:250,000 GIS layer on seabed substrates will be delivered in the portal, in addition to the existing 1:1 million map layer from the previous phase that will be updated with data from the new sea areas. A confidence assessment will be applied to all areas to identify the information that underpins the geological interpretations. Further information about the EMODnet-Geology 2 project is available on the portal (http://www.emodnet-geology.eu/).

The 'O3E' Project : Raising awareness on natural hazards at school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berenguer, Jean-Luc

2010-05-01

Earthquakes may be traumatic events and as many other environmental emergencies, like storm or floods, may cause more damages than expected when who experiences the phenomena does not know how to behave in the fall. Provided that it is always not feasible to rely on prediction when dealing with earthquakes or extreme meteorological events, preparedness proves to be an efficient (and certainly the most recommendable and cheap) way to face emergencies. Education and training are thus two ingredients to help citizens to perceive the scientific information formerly confined in the laboratories, in particular in the domain of the environmental risk. The "O3E" innovative project (European Educational Observatory for Environment) is established after 12 years (1996-2008) of regional and national original programs for education ("Sismometers at School" in France and Swiss, "Edurisk" in Italy and "ClimAtscope" in Switzerland). The project is born to promote a responsible behaviour of citizens in front of the evolution of a society where scientific information is promptly available. The objective of this program is to create a school network in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas equipped with environmental sensors of an educational vocation. The data on the ground motion (seismometers), the temperatures and precipitations (weather stations), the flows of rivers (hydrogeology) recorded in the schools and processed by the students are collected on dedicated servers and then made available through Internet to the entire community. This network "O3E", once installed, is the starting point of activities. Indeed, various general objectives are pursued: - To promote the applied sciences and new technologies. - To put in network the actors of Education and formative teachning. - To develop the sense of the autonomy and the responsibility in the young people. - To reinforce and develop relationships with regional partners of the educational and university fields. - To support a rational awakening for the prevention of the natural risks that can make the difference during the event in terms of safety. With these premises, the "O3E" experience (http://O3E.geoazur.eu) sets up a permanent educational network of citizens in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas, building an exchange of knowledge on natural risks prevention. This collaborative work could illustrate the conjugated efforts of researchers and teachers for a better education and awareness of the risk culture especially in young populations. http://O3E.geoazur.eu

EU-China Environment Research: Enhancing collaboration through SPRING

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bray, Michaela; Han, Dawei

2013-04-01

There are huge challenges in both known and potential environmental problems in China and EU. Local geographical and climate conditions vary significantly across the two regions. For example the distribution of water resources is spatially and temporally uneven and often leads to water shortages in some areas, and flooding in others. In addition there is a sharp drop in mineral, oil and gas resources, as well as an increase in the living standard, which is a challenge for sustainable development. China's economy is still growing fast, placing an increased burden on the environment. The EU's economy is more developed with a rich experience in dealing with environmental problems in a fast growing economy. Therefore, it is mutually beneficial for the two sides to collaborate in environmental research. The FP7 funded SPRING project is intended to facilitate better EU-China environmental research cooperation and to create a long-term environment vision with clearly identifiable pathways for the two partners to work together. The project team is composed of five EU partners and five Chinese partners with expertise in water, soil, air, climate change and biodiversity. The project runs from March 2010-Feburary 2013. SPRING has taken a multi-level approach to achieving this, developing foresight and road-mapping studies to manage long term aims and facilitate increased cooperation and exchange for researchers, policy and decision makers and funding bodies. The outcomes of the project include detailed technology survey, success scenario analysis and EU-Horizon research road map with a focus on the research needs between EU and China in the next twenty years.

Renovation of HEPnet-J for near-future experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Soh Y.; Yuasa, Fukuko; Nakamura, Tomoaki; Hara, Takanori

2015-12-01

Originally HEPnet-J had only one instance that is connected to Internet as the network connectivity by campus network of institutes in Japan was very limited, so the main purpose of HEPnet-J was providing enough connectivity for interactive use on domestic and international links funded by KEK. In last 10 years, the domestic and international connectivity provided by NRENs have been dramatically improved and they are enough for manual transfer of typical skimmed data files. Therefore, HEPnet-J has many closed networks that connect domestic sites related to specific projects, in order to access them on computer farms in private networks in their home institutes. The rapid growth of data volume makes it unable to apply same model to new generation experiments. As the tier structure for LHC computing sites has proved that the distributed computing model over collaboration sites is really applicable to the huge scale experiment, the external connectivity for international collaboration sites should be faster and secure. For example, the Belle II experiment in KEK will have many repositories in U.S. and EU. The expected throughput from KEK to U.S. is about 20 Gbps, thus it need the bypass of slow security devices like a firewall. Now bypass lines for Belle II are prepared and under tasting. This article reports the brief history of HEPnet- J and recent changes for project-specific networks.

Knowledge transfer within EU-funded marine science research - a viewpoint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayliss-Brown, Georgia; Cheallachaín, Cliona Ní

2016-04-01

Knowledge transfer, in its most inherent form, can be tracked back to the earliest phase of the Neolithic Revolution, 10,000 years ago, at a time when innovators shared their thoughts on crop cultivation and livestock farming (Bellwood, 2004). Not to be mistaken for science transfer - the export of modern science to non-scientific audiences - it was in the 1960s, that modern knowledge transfer was initiated, when reporting research achievements shifted towards having institutional and political agendas (Lipphardt & Ludwig, 2011). Albeit that the economic contribution of scientific research has been scrutinised for decades; today, there is a pronounced need for the evaluation of its social, cultural and ecological impact. To have impact, it is essential that scientific knowledge is clear and accessible, as well as robust and credible, so that it can be successfully transferred and applied by those identifying solutions for today's societal and environmental challenges. This phenomenon is receiving growing academic interest, where publications including "knowledge transfer" in the title have increased near exponentially for 60 years. Furthermore, we are seeing a definite shift towards embedding a mission of knowledge transfer in Public Research Organisations. This new approach is rewarding researchers whom deliver on all three institutional missions: teaching, research and knowledge transfer. In addition, the European Commission (2008) recommends that "knowledge transfer between universities and industry is made a permanent political and operational priority" and that "sufficient resources and incentives [be] available to public research organisations and their staff to engage in knowledge transfer activities". It is also anticipated that funding agencies will soon make pathways-to-impact statements, also known as knowledge transfer plans, a mandatory requirement of all project proposals. AquaTT is a leader in scientific knowledge management, including knowledge transfer and dissemination. This Dublin-based SME has an ever-growing portfolio of FP7 and Horizon 2020 projects where they hold knowledge management responsibilities. In this session, we will present AquaTT's experiences in knowledge management for several European Union-funded marine research projects; including MarineTT (http://marinett.eu/) that was recognised as an exemplar project in the ex post evaluation of FP7 to the European Commission. These insights will be supplemented with an overview of the AquaTT-developed step-by-step knowledge transfer methodology, as used by the COLUMBUS project - the EU's flagship Blue Growth and Knowledge Transfer initiative (http://www.columbusproject.eu/). This session will provide a platform to launch AquaTT's European knowledge transfer network, established to support the research community in fostering a culture that recognises and rewards knowledge transfer between scientists and end-users (industry, policy, and wider society), thereby ensuring that research achieves its maximum potential impact. References Bellwood, P. (2004) The First Farmers: Origins of Agricultural Societies. Malden, MA. European Commission (2008) recommendation on the management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and code of practice for universities and other public research organisations http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/pdf/ip_recommendation_en.pdf Lipphardt, V. and D. Ludwig (2011) Knowledge transfer and science transfer. http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/theories-and-methods/knowledge-transfer/veronika-lipphardt-david-ludwig-knowledge-transfer-and-science-transfer

EMSO: European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favali, Paolo

2010-05-01

EMSO, a Research Infrastructure listed within ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Roadmap (Report 2006, http://cordis.europa.eu/esfri/roadmap.htm), is the European-scale network of multidisciplinary seafloor observatories from the Arctic to the Black Sea with the scientific objective of long-term real-time monitoring of processes related to geosphere/biosphere/hydrosphere interactions. EMSO will enhance our understanding of processes through long time series appropriate to the scale of the phenomena, constituting the new frontier of studying Earth interior, deep-sea biology and chemistry and ocean processes. The development of an underwater network is based on previous EU-funded projects since early '90 and is being supported by several EU initiatives, as the on-going ESONET-NoE, coordinated by IFREMER (2007-2011, http://www.esonet-emso.org/esonet-noe/), and aims at gathering together the Research Community of the Ocean Observatories. In 2006 the FP7 Capacities Programme launched a call for Preparatory Phase (PP) projects, that will provide the support to create the legal and organisational entities in charge of managing the infrastructures, and coordinating the financial effort among the countries. Under this call the EMSO-PP project was approved in 2007 with the coordination of INGV and the participation of other 11 Institutions of 11 countries. The project has started in April 2008 and will last 4 years. The EMSO is a key-infrastructure both for Ocean Sciences and for Solid Earth Sciences. In this respect it will enhance and complement profitably the capabilities of other European research infrastructures such as EPOS, ERICON-Aurora Borealis, and SIOS. The perspective of the synergy among EMSO and other ESFRI Research Infrastructures will be outlined. EMSO Partners: IFREMER-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (France, ref. Roland Person); KDM-Konsortium Deutsche Meeresforschung e.V. (Germany, ref. Christoph Waldmann); IMI-Irish Marine Institute (Ireland, ref. Michael Gillooly); UTM-CSIC-Unidad de Tecnologia Marina - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Spain, ref. Juan Jose Danobeitia); UGOT-Goteborgs Universitet (Sweden, ref. Per Hall); HCMR-Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece, ref. Vasilios Likousis); NOCS-National Oceanography Centre Southampton (United Kingdom, ref. Henry A. Ruhl); UiT-University of Tromsø (Norway, ref. Jürgen Mienert); FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal, ref. Jorge Miguel Alberto de Miranda); ITU-Istanbul Teknik Universitesi (Turkey, ref. Namik Çagatay); NIOZ-Stichting Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee (The Netherlands, ref. Jens Greinert).

Overview of acoustic measurements in South-East of France in 2012 during severe weather

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farges, Thomas; Blanc, Elisabeh; Le Pichon, Alexis; Defer, Eric; Fullekrug, Martin; Soula, Serge; van der Velde, Oscar

2013-04-01

CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives) installed two acoustic networks in South-East of France. The first one was located in Observatoire Haute Provence in the framework of the ARISE European design project (arise-project.eu). It was composed of 4 microbarometers set in an equilateral triangle. The other network was located close to Uzès in the frame of the HyMeX (www.hymex.org) Special Operational Period from August 27th to November 16th. It was composed of 4 microbarometers and 4 microphones. From August to November 2012, several thunderstorms occurred close to these stations. The global thunder spectrum from 0.01 Hz to 250 Hz is studied using the microbarometer and microphone recordings. A very large thunderstorm, in August 30th-31st, produced more than 100 sprites over the south-western part of the Mediterranean Sea. Ten of them were dancing sprites. This kind of sprites can produce infrasound. This experiment offers a unique to triangulate sprites with infrasound measurements. Lastly, a tornado occurred in October 14th. This event will be analyzed with the data of both networks.

A versatile sensor network for urban search and rescue operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Känsälä, Klaus; Korkalainen, Marko; Mäyrä, Aki

2011-11-01

The presentation is based in the research work carried out in EU funded project SGL for USaR (Second Generation Locator for Urban Search and Rescue Operations). The aim of this project is to develop wireless standalone communication system with embedded sensor network which can be globally used in rescue operations after accidents or terrorist attacks. The system should be able to operate without external support for several days: it should have autonomy with power supply and communication. The devices must be lightweight so that rescue team can easily carry them and finally they must be easy to install and use. The range of the wireless communication must cover an area of several square kilometers. The embedded sensor system must be able to detect sings of life but also detect hazards threatening the rescue operators thus preventing more accidents. It should also support positioning and digital mapping as well as the management of the search and rescue operation. This sensor network for urban search and rescue operations has been tested on a field conditions and it has proven to be robust and reliable and provides an energy efficient way of communication and positioning on harsh conditions.

European Training and Research in Peritoneal Dialysis--A Network to Deliver Scientific Peritoneal Dialysis Training to a New Generation of Researchers.

PubMed

Machowska, Anna; van Wier, Tanja; Aufricht, Christoph; Beelen, Rob; Rutherford, Peter

2015-01-01

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) utilization varies across countries, and of the factors that explain the variation, the scientific and clinical knowledge of health care professionals is potentially important. In this paper, we describe a European collaboration--between 8 academic PD research programs, a small-to-medium-sized enterprise, and a large PD product manufacturer--that received significant research funding from the EU commission to establish a training network. European Training and Research in Peritoneal Dialysis (EuTRiPD) is providing training to 12 PhD students who have moved within the European Union and are completing research training. The underlying structure and processes within EuTRiPD (http://www.eutripd. eu) are described, and the benefits of the collaborative approach are discussed. This model could be useful to other research groups and will assist in maintaining and growing scientific expertise in PD research.

Photofunctional Eu3+/Tb3+ hybrids through sulfoxide linkages: coordination bonds construction, characterization and luminescence.

PubMed

Guo, Lei; Yan, Bing; Liu, Jin-Liang

2011-05-14

New kinds of organic-inorganic hybrid materials consisting of rare earth (Eu(3+), Tb(3+)) complexes covalently bonded to a silica-based network have been obtained by a sol-gel approach. Three novel versatile molecular building blocks containing sulfoxide organic units have been synthesized by methylene modification reaction, which are used as the ligands of rare earth ions and also as siloxane network precursors. The obtained hybrids are characterized by chemical analysis and spectroscopic methods such as FTIR and UV; XRD and SEM. Photoluminescence measurements on the prepared hybrids were performed showing the intra-4f(n) emission in the visible (Eu(3+), Tb(3+)) region and in all the cases being sensitized by the sulfoxide ligands. The emission quantum efficiency and the Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters of Eu(3+) hybrid materials were also investigated in detail.

Fast Entanglement Establishment via Local Dynamics for Quantum Repeater Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gyongyosi, Laszlo; Imre, Sandor

Quantum entanglement is a necessity for future quantum communication networks, quantum internet, and long-distance quantum key distribution. The current approaches of entanglement distribution require high-delay entanglement transmission, entanglement swapping to extend the range of entanglement, high-cost entanglement purification, and long-lived quantum memories. We introduce a fundamental protocol for establishing entanglement in quantum communication networks. The proposed scheme does not require entanglement transmission between the nodes, high-cost entanglement swapping, entanglement purification, or long-lived quantum memories. The protocol reliably establishes a maximally entangled system between the remote nodes via dynamics generated by local Hamiltonians. The method eliminates the main drawbacks of current schemes allowing fast entanglement establishment with a minimized delay. Our solution provides a fundamental method for future long-distance quantum key distribution, quantum repeater networks, quantum internet, and quantum-networking protocols. This work was partially supported by the GOP-1.1.1-11-2012-0092 project sponsored by the EU and European Structural Fund, by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund - OTKA K-112125, and by the COST Action MP1006.

European Industrial Doctorates: Marie Curie Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

European Commission, 2012

2012-01-01

European industrial doctorates are joint doctoral training projects funded by the European Union (EU) and open to all research fields. The project brings together an academic participant (university, research institution, etc.) and a company. They have to be established in two different EU Member States or associated countries. Associated partners…

Conjunctive Cohesion in English Language EU Documents--A Corpus-Based Analysis and Its Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trebits, Anna

2009-01-01

This paper reports the findings of a study which forms part of a larger-scale research project investigating the use of English in the documents of the European Union (EU). The documents of the EU show various features of texts written for legal, business and other specific purposes. Moreover, the translation services of the EU institutions often…

The ocean sampling day consortium.

PubMed

Kopf, Anna; Bicak, Mesude; Kottmann, Renzo; Schnetzer, Julia; Kostadinov, Ivaylo; Lehmann, Katja; Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio; Jeanthon, Christian; Rahav, Eyal; Ullrich, Matthias; Wichels, Antje; Gerdts, Gunnar; Polymenakou, Paraskevi; Kotoulas, Giorgos; Siam, Rania; Abdallah, Rehab Z; Sonnenschein, Eva C; Cariou, Thierry; O'Gara, Fergal; Jackson, Stephen; Orlic, Sandi; Steinke, Michael; Busch, Julia; Duarte, Bernardo; Caçador, Isabel; Canning-Clode, João; Bobrova, Oleksandra; Marteinsson, Viggo; Reynisson, Eyjolfur; Loureiro, Clara Magalhães; Luna, Gian Marco; Quero, Grazia Marina; Löscher, Carolin R; Kremp, Anke; DeLorenzo, Marie E; Øvreås, Lise; Tolman, Jennifer; LaRoche, Julie; Penna, Antonella; Frischer, Marc; Davis, Timothy; Katherine, Barker; Meyer, Christopher P; Ramos, Sandra; Magalhães, Catarina; Jude-Lemeilleur, Florence; Aguirre-Macedo, Ma Leopoldina; Wang, Shiao; Poulton, Nicole; Jones, Scott; Collin, Rachel; Fuhrman, Jed A; Conan, Pascal; Alonso, Cecilia; Stambler, Noga; Goodwin, Kelly; Yakimov, Michael M; Baltar, Federico; Bodrossy, Levente; Van De Kamp, Jodie; Frampton, Dion Mf; Ostrowski, Martin; Van Ruth, Paul; Malthouse, Paul; Claus, Simon; Deneudt, Klaas; Mortelmans, Jonas; Pitois, Sophie; Wallom, David; Salter, Ian; Costa, Rodrigo; Schroeder, Declan C; Kandil, Mahrous M; Amaral, Valentina; Biancalana, Florencia; Santana, Rafael; Pedrotti, Maria Luiza; Yoshida, Takashi; Ogata, Hiroyuki; Ingleton, Tim; Munnik, Kate; Rodriguez-Ezpeleta, Naiara; Berteaux-Lecellier, Veronique; Wecker, Patricia; Cancio, Ibon; Vaulot, Daniel; Bienhold, Christina; Ghazal, Hassan; Chaouni, Bouchra; Essayeh, Soumya; Ettamimi, Sara; Zaid, El Houcine; Boukhatem, Noureddine; Bouali, Abderrahim; Chahboune, Rajaa; Barrijal, Said; Timinouni, Mohammed; El Otmani, Fatima; Bennani, Mohamed; Mea, Marianna; Todorova, Nadezhda; Karamfilov, Ventzislav; Ten Hoopen, Petra; Cochrane, Guy; L'Haridon, Stephane; Bizsel, Kemal Can; Vezzi, Alessandro; Lauro, Federico M; Martin, Patrick; Jensen, Rachelle M; Hinks, Jamie; Gebbels, Susan; Rosselli, Riccardo; De Pascale, Fabio; Schiavon, Riccardo; Dos Santos, Antonina; Villar, Emilie; Pesant, Stéphane; Cataletto, Bruno; Malfatti, Francesca; Edirisinghe, Ranjith; Silveira, Jorge A Herrera; Barbier, Michele; Turk, Valentina; Tinta, Tinkara; Fuller, Wayne J; Salihoglu, Ilkay; Serakinci, Nedime; Ergoren, Mahmut Cerkez; Bresnan, Eileen; Iriberri, Juan; Nyhus, Paul Anders Fronth; Bente, Edvardsen; Karlsen, Hans Erik; Golyshin, Peter N; Gasol, Josep M; Moncheva, Snejana; Dzhembekova, Nina; Johnson, Zackary; Sinigalliano, Christopher David; Gidley, Maribeth Louise; Zingone, Adriana; Danovaro, Roberto; Tsiamis, George; Clark, Melody S; Costa, Ana Cristina; El Bour, Monia; Martins, Ana M; Collins, R Eric; Ducluzeau, Anne-Lise; Martinez, Jonathan; Costello, Mark J; Amaral-Zettler, Linda A; Gilbert, Jack A; Davies, Neil; Field, Dawn; Glöckner, Frank Oliver

2015-01-01

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world's oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits.

First proficiency testing to evaluate the ability of European Union National Reference Laboratories to detect staphylococcal enterotoxins in milk products.

PubMed

Hennekinne, Jacques-Antoine; Gohier, Martine; Maire, Tiphaine; Lapeyre, Christiane; Lombard, Bertrand; Dragacci, Sylviane

2003-01-01

The European Commission has designed a network of European Union-National Reference Laboratories (EU-NRLs), coordinated by a Community Reference Laboratory (CRL), for control of hygiene of milk and milk products (Council Directive 92/46/ECC). As a common contaminant of milk and milk products such as cheese, staphylococcal enterotoxins are often involved in human outbreaks and should be monitored regularly. The main tasks of the EU-CRLs were to select and transfer to the EU-NRLs a reference method for detection of enterotoxins, and to set up proficiency testing to evaluate the competency of the European laboratory network. The first interlaboratory exercise was performed on samples of freeze-dried cheese inoculated with 2 levels of staphylococcal enterotoxins (0.1 and 0.25 ng/g) and on an uninoculated control. These levels were chosen considering the EU regulation for staphylococcal enterotoxins in milk and milk products and the limit of detection of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test recommended in the reference method. The trial was conducted according to the recommendations of ISO Guide 43. Results produced by laboratories were compiled and compared through statistical analysis. Except for data from 2 laboratories for the uninoculated control and cheese inoculated at 0.1 ng/g, all laboratories produced satisfactory results, showing the ability of the EU-NRL network to monitor the enterotoxin contaminant.

A project-based system for including farmers in the EU ETS.

PubMed

Brandt, Urs Steiner; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

2011-04-01

Farmers in the EU do not trade greenhouse gases under the Kyoto agreement. This is an empirical puzzle because agriculture is a significant contributor of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the EU and may harvest private net gains from trade. Furthermore, the US has strongly advocated land-use practices as 'the missing link' in past climate negotiations. We argue that farmers have relatively low marginal reduction costs and that consequences in terms of the effect on permit price and technology are overall positive in the EU Emission Trading System (ETS). Thus, we propose a project-based system for including the farming practices in the EU ETS that reduces the uncertainty from measuring emission reduction in this sector. The system encourages GHG reduction either by introducing a new and less polluting practice or by reducing the polluting activity. When doing so, farmers will receive GHG permits corresponding to the amount of reduction which can be stored for later use or sold in the EU ETS. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Coordination of Eu-Iminodiacetate to Control Fluorochromic Response of Polymer Hydrogels to Multistimuli.

PubMed

Weng, Gengsheng; Thanneeru, Srinivas; He, Jie

2018-03-01

New fluorochromic materials that reversibly change their emission properties in response to their environment are of interest for the development of sensors and light-emitting materials. A new design of Eu-containing polymer hydrogels showing fast self-healing and tunable fluorochromic properties in response to five different stimuli, including pH, temperature, metal ions, sonication, and force, is reported. The polymer hydrogels are fabricated using Eu-iminodiacetate (IDA) coordination in a hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) matrix. Dynamic metal-ligand coordination allows reversible formation and disruption of hydrogel networks under various stimuli which makes hydrogels self-healable and injectable. Such hydrogels show interesting switchable ON/OFF luminescence along with the sol-gel transition through the reversible formation and dissociation of Eu-IDA complexes upon various stimuli. It is demonstrated that Eu-containing hydrogels display fast and reversible mechanochromic response as well in hydrogels having interpenetrating polymer network. Those multistimuli responsive fluorochromic hydrogels illustrate a new pathway to make smart optical materials, particularly for biological sensors where multistimuli response is required. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Advanced Networks in Dental Rich Online MEDiA (ANDROMEDA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elson, Bruce; Reynolds, Patricia; Amini, Ardavan; Burke, Ezra; Chapman, Craig

There is growing demand for dental education and training not only in terms of knowledge but also skills. This demand is driven by continuing professional development requirements in the more developed economies, personnel shortages and skills differences across the European Union (EU) accession states and more generally in the developing world. There is an excellent opportunity for the EU to meet this demand by developing an innovative online flexible learning platform (FLP). Current clinical online systems are restricted to the delivery of general, knowledge-based training with no easy method of personalization or delivery of skill-based training. The PHANTOM project, headed by Kings College London is developing haptic-based virtual reality training systems for clinical dental training. ANDROMEDA seeks to build on this and establish a Flexible Learning Platform that can integrate the haptic and sensor based training with rich media knowledge transfer, whilst using sophisticated technologies such as including service-orientated architecture (SOA), Semantic Web technologies, knowledge-based engineering, business intelligence (BI) and virtual worlds for personalization.

Flood resilience and uncertainty in flood risk assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beven, K.; Leedal, D.; Neal, J.; Bates, P.; Hunter, N.; Lamb, R.; Keef, C.

2012-04-01

Flood risk assessments do not normally take account of the uncertainty in assessing flood risk. There is no requirement in the EU Floods Directive to do so. But given the generally short series (and potential non-stationarity) of flood discharges, the extrapolation to smaller exceedance potentials may be highly uncertain. This means that flood risk mapping may also be highly uncertainty, with additional uncertainties introduced by the representation of flood plain and channel geometry, conveyance and infrastructure. This suggests that decisions about flood plain management should be based on exceedance probability of risk rather than the deterministic hazard maps that are common in most EU countries. Some examples are given from 2 case studies in the UK where a framework for good practice in assessing uncertainty in flood risk mapping has been produced as part of the Flood Risk Management Research Consortium and Catchment Change Network Projects. This framework provides a structure for the communication and audit of assumptions about uncertainties.

Development of an online tool for public health: the European Public Health Law Network.

PubMed

Basak, P

2011-09-01

The European Public Health Law Network was established in 2007 as part of the European Union (EU) co-funded Public Health Law Flu project. The aims of the website consisted of designing an interactive network of specialist information and encouraging an exchange of expertise amongst members. The website sought to appeal to academics, public health professionals and lawyers. The Public Health Law Flu project team designed and managed the website. Registered network members were recruited through publicity, advertising and word of mouth. Details of the network were sent to health organizations and universities throughout Europe. Corresponding website links attracted many new visitors. Publications, news, events and a pandemic glossary became popular features on the site. Although the website initially focused only on pandemic diseases it has grown into a multidisciplinary website covering a range of public health law topics. The network contains over 700 publications divided into 28 public health law categories. News, events, front page content, legislation and the francophone section are updated on a regular basis. Since 2007 the website has received over 15,000 views from 156 countries. Newsletter subscribers have risen to 304. There are now 723 followers on the associated Twitter site. The European Public Health Law Network has been a successful and innovative site in the area of public health law. Interest in the site continues to grow. Future funding can contribute to a bigger site with interactive features and pages in a wider variety of languages to attract a wider global audience. Copyright © 2011 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using internet GIS technology for early warning, response and controlling the quality of the public health sector.

PubMed

Ptochos, Dimitrios; Panopoulos, Dimitrios; Metaxiotis, Kostas; Askounis, Dimitrios

2004-01-01

Recent EU and Greek Government legislation highlights the need for the modernisation of the public health management system and the improvement of the overall health of EU citizens. In addition, the effusion of epidemics even in developed countries makes the need for the enhancement of public health services imperative. In order to best confront the above-described challenges, the National Technical University of Athens, in cooperation with the Greek Ministry of Health and Welfare and the European Commission (EC), designed and developed an integrated public health information network, named GEPIMI (Integrated Geographical System for EPIdemiological and other Medical Information), in the framework of a three-year pilot project. This pilot project, funded by Greek Ministry of Health and Welfare and the EC supported the Programme INTERREG II to establish an advanced and integrated web-based information system that can process and move information in real time, allowing public health authorities to monitor events at hundreds or thousands of public health facilities at once. The system is established among hospitals, primary healthcare authorities and health agents in Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Fyrom, and Turkey. The project aims at demonstrating the best practices, prospects, applications and high potential of Telematics Healthcare Networks in Europe, with a view to promoting cooperation and interconnection between European communities in the field of Telematics Healthcare Applications. The GEPIMI System, implemented via an innovative web based system, constitutes a replication of a highly effective mechanism. It incorporates state-of-the-art technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S.), web based databases, GPS, and Smart Card Technology and supports a variety of health-related web applications including early warning and response of epidemics, remote management of medical records, seamless healthcare coverage, comprehensive statistical analysis of data, decision-making procedures, inter-communication between international scientific fora and other.

Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van de Giesen, N.; Andreini, M.; Selker, J.

2009-04-01

Our computing capacity to model hydrological processes is such that we can readily model every hectare of the globe's surface in real time. Satellites provide us with important state observations that allow us to calibrate our models and estimate model errors. Still, ground observations will remain necessary to obtain data that can not readily be observed from space. Hydro-Meteorological data availability is particularly scarce in Africa. This presentation launches a simple idea by which Africa can leapfrog into a new era of closely knit environmental observation networks. The basic idea is the design of a robust measurement station, based on the smart use of new sensors without moving parts. For example, instead of using a Eu 5000 long-wave pyrgeometer, a factory calibrated IR microwave oven sensor is used that costs less than Eu 10. In total, each station should cost Eu 200 or less. Every 30 km, one station will be installed, being equivalent to 20,000 stations for all of sub-Saharan Africa. The roll-out will follow the XO project ("100 computer") and focus on high schools. The stations will be accompanied by an educational package that allows high school children to learn about their environment, measurements, electronics, and mathematical modeling. Total program costs lie around MEu 18.

The FAIR-INNOVATION dissemination project.

PubMed

Gormley, R

2001-08-01

The goal of the FAIR-INNOVATION dissemination project (FLAIR-FLOW 3) (1997-2000) was to disseminate R&D results from the EU FAIR programme to small and medium-sized food enterprises (SMEs), health professionals (HPs) and consumer groups (CGs) in 19 European countries. The dissemination routes were: (i) one-page technical documents on research results; (ii) their reproduction on the internet; (iii) their reproduction in journals Europe-wide; (iv) workshops on results from EU-supported food research programmes; and (v) lectures and poster presentations by FLAIR-FLOW network personnel. Of the 135 one-pagers produced, 62% were targeted at SMEs, 18% at HPs and 5% at CGs. The remaining 15% were on food safety and were common to the three target groups. There were 1047 publications arising from one-pages in trade journals, and over 8000 requests (paper route) were received for follow-up information. These were in addition to 240 k downloads from the FLAIR-FLOW 3 web site (www.flair-flow.com). Initiatives for HPs included specially collated versions of the one-pagers for major conferences, 20 focused workshops, and interaction with the European Federation of Associations of Dieticians. Currently, dissemination is continuing through FLAIR-FLOW 4 (2001-2003) in 24 countries. FLAIR-FLOW 4 is co-ordinated by M. Jean François Quillien from INRA-CRIAA (FR) at criaa@rennes.inra.fr.

Extraction and Validation of Geomorphological Features from EU-DEM in The Vicinity of the Mygdonia Basin, Northern Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mouratidis, Antonios; Karadimou, Georgia; Ampatzidis, Dimitrios

2017-12-01

The European Union Digital Elevation Model (EU-DEM) is a relatively new, hybrid elevation product, principally based on SRTM DEM and ASTER GDEM data, but also on publically available Russian topographic maps for regions north of 60° N. More specifically, EU-DEM is a Digital Surface Model (DSM) over Europe from the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Reference Data Access (RDA) project - a realisation of the Copernicus (former GMES) programme, managed by the European Commission/DG Enterprise and Industry. Even if EU-DEM is indeed more reliable in terms of elevation accuracy than its constituents, it ought to be noted that it is not representative of the original elevation measurements, but is rather a secondary (mathematical) product. Therefore, for specific applications, such as those of geomorphological interest, artefacts may be induced. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of EU-DEM for geomorphological applications and compare it against other available datasets, i.e. topographic maps and (almost) global DEMs such as SRTM, ASTER-GDEM and WorldDEM™. This initial investigation is carried out in Central Macedonia, Northern Greece, in the vicinity of the Mygdonia basin, which corresponds to an area of particular interest for several geoscience applications. This area has also been serving as a test site for the systematic validation of DEMs for more than a decade. Consequently, extensive elevation datasets and experience have been accumulated over the years, rendering the evaluation of new elevation products a coherent and useful exercise on a local to regional scale. In this context, relief classification, drainage basin delineation, slope and slope aspect, as well as extraction and classification of drainage network are performed and validated among the aforementioned elevation sources. The achieved results focus on qualitative and quantitative aspects of automatic geomorphological feature extraction from EU-DEM at a water basin level, with the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

Towards socio-hydroinformatics: optimal design and integration of citizen-based information in water-system models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solomatine, Dimitri; Mazzoleni, Maurizio; Alfonso, Leonardo; Chacon Hurtado, Juan Carlos

2017-04-01

Traditionally, static physical sensors are used to calibrate, validate or update water-system models by water authorities to reduce predictive uncertainty. However, the main problem is scarcity of data in both spatial and temporal domains due to costly maintenance and personnel. On the other hand, the use of low-cost sensor to measure hydrological variables in a more distributed and crowdsourced way is currently expanding and creating a fertile ground to the spread of citizen observatories activities and citizen science projects. Among different citizen sciences projects, the EU-funded projects WeSenseIt (www.wesenseit.eu) and GroundTruth (www.gt20.eu) aim at developing technologies and tools supporting creation of citizen observatories. A drawback of using crowdsourced observations is related to their intrinsic uncertainty and variable life span. Current flood forecasting applications limit the use of crowdsourced observations. Although some efforts to validate model results against these observations have been made, these are mainly done in a post-event analysis. Socio-hydroinformatics aims to integrate hydroinformatics tools and citizen observatories to achieve a dynamic and bidirectional feedbacks between coupled human-water systems. On the one hand, the main technical motivation of socio-hydroinformatics is to fill the gap in hydrological applications regarding the optimal use of crowdsourced observations not only in post-event analyses but in also in real time by their optimal assimilation. On the other hand, the social motivation is to bring citizens closer to decision-making processes and to understand how their participation in the model development process could improve models. In this study, different methods were developed and implemented to optimally design networks of dynamic sensors and assimilate crowdsourced observations, with varying spatial and temporal coverage, into hydrological and hydraulic models. This very first study of socio-hydroinformatics can be a potential application demonstrates that citizens not only play an active role in information capturing, evaluation and communication, but also help to improve models and thus increase flood resilience.

Design of an Efficient CAC for a Broadband DVB-S/DVB-RCS Satellite Access Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inzerilli, Tiziano; Montozzi, Simone

2003-07-01

This paper deals with efficient utilization of network resources in an advanced broadband satellite access system. It proposes a technique for admission control of IP streams with guaranteed QoS which does not interfere with the particular BoD (Bandwidth on Demand) algorithm that handles access to uplink bandwidth, an essential part of a DVB- RCS architecture. This feature of the admission control greatly simplify its integration in the satellite network. The purpose of this admission control algorithm in particular is to suitably and dynamically configure the overall traffic control parameters, in the access terminal of the user and service segment, with a simple approach which does not introduces limitations and/or constraints to the BoD algorithm. Performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated thorugh Opnet simulations using an ad-hoc platform modeling DVB-based satellite access.The results presented in this paper were obtained within SATIP6 project, which is sponsored within the 5th EU Research Programme, IST. The aims of the project are to evaluate and demonstrate key issues of the integration of satellite-based access networks into the Internet in order to support multimedia services over wide areas. The satellite link layer is based on DVB-S on the forward link and DVB-RCS on the return link. Adaptation and optimization of the DVB-RCS access standard in order to support QoS provision are central issues of the project. They are handled through an integration of Connection Admission Control (CAC), Traffic Shaping and Policing techniques.

A Project for Developing an Original Methodology Intended for Determination of the River Basin/Sub-Basin Boundaries and Codes in Western Mediterranean Basin in Turkey with Perspective of European Union Directives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gökgöz, Türkay; Ozulu, Murat; Erdoǧan, Mustafa; Seyrek, Kemal

2016-04-01

From the view of integrated river basin management, basin/sub-basin boundaries should be determined and encoded systematically with sufficient accuracy and precision. Today basin/sub-basin boundaries are mostly derived from digital elevation models (DEM) in geographic information systems (GIS). The accuracy and precision of the basin/sub-basin boundaries depend primarily on the accuracy and resolution of the DEMs. In this regard, in Turkey, a survey was made for the first time within the scope of this project to identify current situation, problems and needs in General Directorates of State Hydraulic Works, Water Management, Forestry, Meteorology, Combating Desertification and Erosion, which are the major institutions with responsibility and authority. Another factor that determines the accuracy and precision of basin/sub-basin boundaries is the flow accumulation threshold value to be determined at a certain stage according to a specific methodology in deriving the basin/sub-basin boundaries from DEM. Generally, in Turkey, either the default value given by GIS tool is used directly without any geomorphological, hydrological and cartographic bases or it is determined by trial and error. Although there is a system of catchments and rivers network at 1:250,000 scale and a proper method has already been developed on systematic coding of the basin by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, it is stated that a new system of catchments, rivers network and coding at larger scale (i.e. 1:25,000) is needed. In short, the basin/sub-basin boundaries and codes are not available currently at the required accuracy and precision for the fulfilment of the obligations described in European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this case, it is clear that there is not yet any methodology to obtain such products. However, a series of projects should be completed such that the basin/sub-basin boundaries and codes are the fundamental data infrastructure. This task must be accomplished by the end of the negotiation process with the EU. For these reasons this subject is chosen as primary and important goal in this project issue and it is aimed to develop an original methodology for determining the boundaries and codes of the drainage basins/sub-basins at required accuracy and precision for the fulfilment of obligations described in the WFD. In Turkey, existing highest accuracy and reliable elevation and hydrography data will be used for the first time, in this project. Along with the widely known and used flow accumulation threshold approaches, the approach developed by Gökgöz et al. (2006) will be used as well. The practicability and suitability of the encoding method developed by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works and the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe will be verified respectively. The resulting drainage network, basin/sub-basin boundaries and codes will be compared to CCM2 (Catchment Characterisation and Modelling), ECRINS1.5 (European Catchments and Rivers Network System) and Catchments and Rivers Network System of General Directorates of State Hydraulic Works. This project is being supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, under the project number TUBITAK-115Y411.

Laser resonance ionization spectroscopy on lutetium for the MEDICIS project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gadelshin, V.; Cocolios, T.; Fedoseev, V.; Heinke, R.; Kieck, T.; Marsh, B.; Naubereit, P.; Rothe, S.; Stora, T.; Studer, D.; Van Duppen, P.; Wendt, K.

2017-11-01

The MEDICIS-PROMED Innovative Training Network under the Horizon 2020 EU program aims to establish a network of early stage researchers, involving scientific exchange and active cooperation between leading European research institutions, universities, hospitals, and industry. Primary scientific goal is the purpose of providing and testing novel radioisotopes for nuclear medical imaging and radionuclide therapy. Within a closely linked project at CERN, a dedicated electromagnetic mass separator system is presently under installation for production of innovative radiopharmaceutical isotopes at the new CERN-MEDICIS laboratory, directly adjacent to the existing CERN-ISOLDE radioactive ion beam facility. It is planned to implement a resonance ionization laser ion source (RILIS) to ensure high efficiency and unrivaled purity in the production of radioactive ions. To provide a highly efficient ionization process, identification and characterization of a specific multi-step laser ionization scheme for each individual element with isotopes of interest is required. The element lutetium is of primary relevance, and therefore was considered as first candidate. Three two-step excitation schemes for lutetium atoms are presented in this work, and spectroscopic results are compared with data of other authors.

Contingency planning for Phytophthora ramorum outbreaks: progress report work package 7, EU RAPRA project

Treesearch

M.H.C.G. Steeghs

2008-01-01

As part of the EU project ?Risk analysis for Phytophthora ramorum, a recently recognised pathogen threat to Europe and the cause of Sudden Oak Death in the USA? (acronym RAPRA) outbreak scenarios are defined and existing strategies for eradication and containment of Phytophthora ramorum evaluated. Based on the current knowledge...

Task Design for Intercultural Telecollaboration in Secondary Schools: Insights from the EU project TILA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffstaedter, Petra; Kohn, Kurt

2014-01-01

Our contribution focuses on synchronous oral telecollaboration in secondary schools. With reference to the EU project TILA, aspects of task design and implementation are discussed against the backdrop of issues of technological quality in connection with class organisation in computer labs. Case study evidence is provided in favour of the…

The NanoSustain and NanoValid project--two new EU FP7 research initiatives to assess the unique physical-chemical and toxicological properties of engineered nanomaterials.

PubMed

Reuther, Rudolf

2011-02-01

In 2010, the EU FP NanoSustain project (247989) has been successfully launched with the objective to develop innovative solutions for the sustainable use, recycling and final treatment of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). The same year, NanoValid (263147), a large-scale integrating EU FP7 project has been initiated and contract negotiations with the European Commission commenced, to develop new reference methods and materials applicable to the unique properties of ENMs. The paper presented will give an overview on the main objectives of these 2 new European research initiatives, on main tasks to achieve objectives, and on the impact on current standardization efforts and technical innovations.

Europlanet-RI IDIS - A Data Network in Support of Planetary Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Walter; Capria, Maria Teresa; Chanteur, Gérard

2010-05-01

The "Europlanet Research Infrastructure - Europlanet RI", supported by the European Commission's Framework Program 7, aims at integrating major parts of the distributed European Planetary Research infrastructure with as diverse components as space exploration, ground-based observations, laboratory experiments and numerical modeling teams. A central part of Europlanet RI is the "Integrated and Distributed Information Service" (IDIS), a network of data and information access facilities in Europe via which information relevant for planetary research can be easily found and retrieved. This covers the wide range from contact addresses of possible research partners, laboratories and test facilities to the access of data collected with space missions or during laboratory or simulation tests and to model software useful for their interpretation. During the following three years the capabilities of the network will be extended to allow the combination of many different data sources for comperative studies including the results of modeling calculations and simulations of instrument observations. Together with the access to complex databases for spectra of atmospheric molecules and planetary surface material IDIS will offer a versatile working environment for making the scientific exploitation of the resources put into planetary research in the past and future more effective. Many of the mentioned capabilities are already available now. List of contact web-sites: Technical node for support and management aspects: http://www.idis.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Surfaces and Interiors node: http://www.idis-interiors.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Plasma node: http://www.idis-plasma.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Atmospheres node: http://www.idis-atmos.europlanet-ri.eu/ Small Bodies and Dust node: http://www.idis-sbdn.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Dynamics and Extraterrestrial Matter node: http://www.idis-dyn.europlanet-ri.eu/

The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing - Europe (CAAT-EU): a transatlantic bridge for the paradigm shift in toxicology.

PubMed

Daneshian, Mardas; Leist, Marcel; Hartung, Thomas

2010-01-01

The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing - Europe (CAAT-EU) was founded based collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Konstanz. CAAT-EU, housed at the University of Konstanz, will coordinate transatlantic activities to promote humane science in research and education, and participate, as partner or coordinator, in publicly and privately funded European projects. Thomas Hartung will serve as program liaison representing Johns Hopkins University and Marcel Leist as the University of Konstanz liaison. CAAT-EU aims to: 1) Set up transatlantic consortia for international research projects on alternative methods. 2) Establish a CAAT Europe faculty and advisory board composed of sponsor representatives and prominent academics from Europe . 3) Participate in the Transatlantic Think Tank for Toxicology (t4) devoted to conceptual work for the paradigm shift in toxicology. 4) Coordinate a series of information days in Europe on relevant developments in the US, similar to the 2009 series CAAT held in the US on EU issues (one on the 7th Amendment to the EU Cosmetics Directive and one on EU and US chemical regulation). 5) Support ALTEX as the official journal of CAAT and CAAT-EU. 6) Develop strategic projects with sponsors to promote humane science and new toxicology, especially with CAAT faculty members. 7) Develop a joint education program between Johns Hopkins and the University of Konstanz, such as e-courses and the existing Humane Science Certificate program developed by CAAT, a student exchange program, and collaboration with the International Graduate School "Cell-based Characterization of De- and Regeneration" in Konstanz.

Astrobiology Road Mapping (AstRoMap) - A project within FP7 of the European Commission: First results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomez-Gomez, Felipe; Capria, Maria Teresa; Palomba, Ernesto; Walter, Nicolas; Rettberg, Petra; Muller, Christian; Horneck, Gerda

AstRoMap (Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration Road Mapping) is a funded project formulated in the 5th Call of the European Commission FP7 framework. The main objectives of the AstRoMap are: 1. Identify the main astrobiology issues to be addressed by Europe in the next decades in relation with space exploration 2. Identify potential mission concepts that would allow addressing these issues 3. Identify the technology developments required to enable these missions 4. Provide a prioritized roadmap integrating science and technology activities as well as ground-based approach 5. Map scientific knowledge related to astrobiology in Europe To reach those objectives, AstRoMap is executed within the following steps: 1. Community consultation. In order to map the European astrobiology landscape and to provide a collaborative networking platform for this community, the AstRoMap project hosts a database of scientists (European and beyond) interested in astrobiology and planetary exploration (see: http://www.astromap.eu/database.html). It reflects the demography and the research and teaching activities of the astrobiology community, as well as their professional profiles and involvement in astrobiology projects. Considering future aspects of astrobiology in Europe, the need for more astrobiology-dedicated funding programmes at the EU level, especially for cross-disciplinary groups, was stressed. This might eventually lead to the creation of a European laboratory of Astrobiology, or even of a European Astrobiology Institute. 2. Workshops organisation. On the basis of the feedbacks from the community consultation, the potential participants and interesting topics are being identified to take part in the following workshops: 1-. Origin of organic compounds, steps to life; 2. Physico-chemical boundary conditions for habitability 3. Biosignatures as facilitating life detection 4. Origin of the Solar system 3. Astrobiology road-mapping. Based on the results and major conclusions elaborated during the workshops, an astrobiology roadmap will be constructed tailored to the European needs and competences. 4. Education and public outreach. Parallel to the workshop and consultation activities, AstRoMap will provide a comprehensive education and outreach programme and disseminate the progress of AstRoMap through its web site (http://www.astromap.eu).

FBIS report. Science and technology: Europe/International, March 29, 1996

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1996-03-29

;Partial Contents: Advanced Materials (EU Project to Improve Production in Metal Matrix Compounds Noted, Germany: Extremely Hard Carbon Coating Development, Italy: Director of CNR Metallic Materials Institute Interviewed); Aerospace (ESA Considers Delays, Reductions as Result of Budget Cuts, Italy: Space Agency`s Director on Restructuring, Future Plans); Automotive, Transportation (EU: Clean Diesel Engine Technology Research Reviewed); Biotechnology (Germany`s Problems, Successes in Biotechnology Discussed); Computers (EU Europort Parallel Computing Project Concluded, Italy: PQE 2000 Project on Massively Parallel Systems Viewed); Defense R&D (France: Future Tasks of `Brevel` Military Intelligence Drone Noted); Energy, Environment (German Scientist Tests Elimination of Phosphates); Advanced Manufacturing (France:more » Advanced Rapid Prototyping System Presented); Lasers, Sensors, Optics (France: Strategy of Cilas Laser Company Detailed); Microelectronics (France: Simulation Company to Develop Microelectronic Manufacturing Application); Nuclear R&D (France: Megajoule Laser Plan, Cooperation with Livermore Lab Noted); S&T Policy (EU Efforts to Aid Small Companies` Research Viewed); Telecommunications (France Telecom`s Way to Internet).« less

The ConnectinGEO Observation Inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santoro, M.; Nativi, S.; Jirka, S.; McCallum, I.

2016-12-01

ConnectinGEO (Coordinating an Observation Network of Networks EnCompassing saTellite and IN-situ to fill the Gaps in European Observations) is an EU-funded project under the H2020 Framework Programme. The primary goal of the project is to link existing coordinated Earth Observation networks with science and technology (S&T) communities, the industry sector and the GEOSS and Copernicus stakeholders. An expected outcome of the project is a prioritized list of critical gaps within GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) in observations and models that translate observations into practice relevant knowledge. The project defines and utilizes a formalized methodology to create a set of observation requirements that will be related to information on available observations to identify key gaps. Gaps in the information provided by current observation systems as well as gaps in the systems themselves will be derived from five different threads. One of these threads consists in the analysis of the observations and measurements that are currently registered in GEO Discovery and Access Broker (DAB). To this aim, an Observation Inventory (OI) has been created and populated using the current metadata information harmonized by the DAB. This presentation describes the process defined to populate the ConnectinGEO OI and the resulting system architecture. In addition, it provides information on how to systematically access the OI for performing the gap analysis. Furthermore it demonstrates initial findings of the gap analysis, and shortcomings in the metadata that need attention. The research leading to these results benefited from funding by the European Union H2020 Framework Programme under grant agreement n. 641538 (ConnectinGEO).

ARISTOTLE (All Risk Integrated System TOward The hoListic Early-warning): a multi-hazard expert advice system for the EU disaster response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michelini, A.; Wotawa, G.; Arnold-Arias, D.

2017-12-01

ARISTOTLE (http://aristotle.ingv.it/) is a Pilot Project funded by the DG ECHO (EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection) that provides expert scientific advice on natural disasters around the world that may cause a country to seek international help to the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) and, consequently, to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism Participating States. The EU is committed to providing disaster response in a timely and efficient manner and to ensure European assistance meets the real needs in the population affected, whether in Europe or beyond. When a disaster strikes, every minute counts for saving lives and rapid, coordinated and pre-planned response is essential. The ARISTOTLE consortium includes 15 partner institutions (11 from EU Countries; 2 from non-EU countries and 2 European organizations) operating in the Meteorological and Geophysical domains. The project coordination is shared among INGV and ZAMG for the geophysical and meteorological communities, respectively. ARISTOTLE harnesses operational expertise from across Europe to form a multi-hazard perspective on natural disasters related to volcanoes, earthquake (and resulting tsunami), severe weather and flooding. Each Hazard Group brings together experts from the particular hazard domain to deliver a `collective analysis' which is then fed into the partnership multi-hazard discussions. Primary target of the pilot project has been the prototyping and the implementation of a scalable system (in terms of number of partners and hazards) capable of providing to ERCC the sought advice. To this end, the activities of the project have been focusing on the establishment of a "Multi-Hazard Operational Board" that is assigned the 24*7 operational duty regulated by a "Standard Operating Protocol" and the implementation of a dedicated IT platform to assembly the resulting reports. The project has reached the point where the routine and emergency advice services are being provided and will continue until the end of the project in January 2018. The presentation will illustrate the different modes of operation envisaged and the status and the solutions found by the project consortium to respond to the ERCC requirements.

Sharing and reusing cardiovascular anatomical models over the Web: a step towards the implementation of the virtual physiological human project.

PubMed

Gianni, Daniele; McKeever, Steve; Yu, Tommy; Britten, Randall; Delingette, Hervé; Frangi, Alejandro; Hunter, Peter; Smith, Nicolas

2010-06-28

Sharing and reusing anatomical models over the Web offers a significant opportunity to progress the investigation of cardiovascular diseases. However, the current sharing methodology suffers from the limitations of static model delivery (i.e. embedding static links to the models within Web pages) and of a disaggregated view of the model metadata produced by publications and cardiac simulations in isolation. In the context of euHeart--a research project targeting the description and representation of cardiovascular models for disease diagnosis and treatment purposes--we aim to overcome the above limitations with the introduction of euHeartDB, a Web-enabled database for anatomical models of the heart. The database implements a dynamic sharing methodology by managing data access and by tracing all applications. In addition to this, euHeartDB establishes a knowledge link with the physiome model repository by linking geometries to CellML models embedded in the simulation of cardiac behaviour. Furthermore, euHeartDB uses the exFormat--a preliminary version of the interoperable FieldML data format--to effectively promote reuse of anatomical models, and currently incorporates Continuum Mechanics, Image Analysis, Signal Processing and System Identification Graphical User Interface (CMGUI), a rendering engine, to provide three-dimensional graphical views of the models populating the database. Currently, euHeartDB stores 11 cardiac geometries developed within the euHeart project consortium.

Challenges for Wireless Mesh Networks to provide reliable carrier-grade services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Hugo, D.; Bayer, N.

2011-08-01

Provision of mobile and wireless services today within a competitive environment and driven by a huge amount of steadily emerging new services and applications is both challenge and chance for radio network operators. Deployment and operation of an infrastructure for mobile and wireless broadband connectivity generally requires planning effort and large investments. A promising approach to reduce expenses for radio access networking is offered by Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). Here traditional dedicated backhaul connections to each access point are replaced by wireless multi-hop links between neighbouring access nodes and few gateways to the backbone employing standard radio technology. Such a solution provides at the same time high flexibility in both deployment and the amount of offered capacity and shall reduce overall expenses. On the other hand currently available mesh solutions do not provide carrier grade service quality and reliability and often fail to cope with high traffic load. EU project CARMEN (CARrier grade MEsh Networks) was initiated to incorporate different heterogeneous technologies and new protocols to allow for reliable transmission over "best effort" radio channels, to support a reliable mobility and network management, self-configuration and dynamic resource usage, and thus to offer a permanent or temporary broadband access at high cost efficiency. The contribution provides an overview on preliminary project results with focus on main technical challenges from a research and implementation point of view. Especially impact of mesh topology on the overall system performance in terms of throughput and connection reliability and aspects of a dedicated hybrid mobility management solution will be discussed.

A 50-year precipitation analysis over Europe at 5.5km within the UERRA project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bazile, Eric; Abida, Rachid; Soci, Cornel; Verrelle, Antoine; Szczypta, Camille; Le Moigne, Patrick

2017-04-01

The UERRA project is a 4-year project (2014-2017) financed by the European Union under its 7th Framework Programme SPACE. One of its main objectives is to provide a 50-year reanalysis dataset of surface essential climate variables (ECV) at 5.5km grid at European scale, together with, as much as possible, uncertainty estimates. One of the ECV is the precipitation and this variable is of essential interest in weather forecasting, climate study and to "drive" hydrological model for water management, or agrometeorology. After a brief description of the method used for the precipitation analysis (Soci et al. 2016)during this project, the preliminary results will be presented. The estimation of uncertainties will be also discussed associated with the problem of the evolution of the observation density network and its impact on the long term series. Additional information about the UERRA project can be found at http://www.uerra.eu The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union, Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-SPACE-2013-1) under grant agreement no 607193.

EU-UNAWE Project: Inspiring every child with our wonderful cosmos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arisa, E.; Fabregat, J.; Ros, R. M.

2013-05-01

The Project UNAWE was born in 2005 with the intention that children, of every country and every economical and social condition, can be in touch with astronomy. This is the first large-scale attempt to use astronomy as a tool to inspire and educate very young children. Project resources are open to everyone, but are mainly tailored to boys and girls aged 4 to 10. The Project is implemented in countries from all over the world, supporting the activities that are performed there. The European project EU-UNAWE funded by the European Union, includes six countries: Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, South Africa and Spain. EU-UNAWE Spain bases its activity in conducting training courses for teachers: in Barcelona in November 2011, in Granada and Madrid in February 2012 and in Pamplona in May 2012. Just as in the publication of educational materials: practical activities, experiences, books made by teachers... available in the entire Spanish-speaking world. All this can be accessed through the website of the program (http://es.unawe.org).

[Telesurgery: standards--consultations--continuing education].

PubMed

Rückauer, K D; Nord, M; Marescaux, J; Farthmann, E H

1997-01-01

The aim of the TESUS project is to bring together several European university hospitals in a federation as well as a certain number of clinical centers in a network, the purpose of which is the online and offline transmission of surgical procedure imaging and advice. The innovation is threefold: It provides the surgeon with online information, diagnostic and therapeutic tools and expert advice, the need for which might come up before and during surgical procedures, as well as the same services in the context of teaching and training through regular staff. The developed services will be a major contribution to EU-wide standardisation of health care procedures and therapeutic approaches.

The Ocean Sampling Day Consortium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kopf, Anna; Bicak, Mesude; Kottmann, Renzo

In this study, Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and theirmore » embedded functional traits.« less

Development of a multi-ensemble Prediction Model for China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brasseur, G. P.; Bouarar, I.; Petersen, A. K.

2016-12-01

As part of the EU-sponsored Panda and MarcoPolo Projects, a multi-model prediction system including 7 models has been developed. Most regional models use global air quality predictions provided by the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service and downscale the forecast at relatively high spatial resolution in eastern China. The paper will describe the forecast system and show examples of forecasts produced for several Chinese urban areas and displayed on a web site developed by the Dutch Meteorological service. A discussion on the accuracy of the predictions based on a detailed validation process using surface measurements from the Chinese monitoring network will be presented.

The Ocean Sampling Day Consortium

DOE PAGES

Kopf, Anna; Bicak, Mesude; Kottmann, Renzo; ...

2015-06-19

In this study, Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and theirmore » embedded functional traits.« less

ESA SSA Space Radiation Expert Service Centre: the Importance of Community Feedback

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, Norma; Dierckxsens, Mark; Kruglanski, Michel; De Donder, Erwin; Calders, Stijn; Messios, Neophytos; Glover, Alexi

2017-04-01

End-users in a wide range of sectors both in space and on the ground are affected by space weather. In the frame of its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme (http://swe.ssa.esa.int/) the European Space Agency (ESA) is establishing a Space Weather (SWE) Service Network to support end-users in three ways: mitigate the effects of space weather on their systems, reduce costs, and improve reliability. Almost 40 expert groups from institutes and organisations across Europe contribute to this Network organised in five Expert Service Centres (ESCs) - Solar Weather, Heliospheric Weather, Space Radiation, Ionospheric Weather, Geomagnetic Conditions. To understand the end-user needs, the ESCs are supported by the SSCC (SSA Space Weather Coordination Centre) that offers first line support to the end-users. Here we present the mission of the Space Radiation ESC (R-ESC) (http://swe.ssa.esa.int/space-radiation) and the space domain services it supports. Furthermore, we describe how the R-ESC project complements past and ongoing projects both on national level as well as international (e.g. EU projects), emphasizing the importance of inter-disciplinary communication between different communities ranging from scientists, engineers to end-users. Such collaboration is needed if basic science is to be used most efficiently for the development of products and tools that provide end-users with what they actually need. Additionally, feedback from the various communities (projects) is also essential when defining future projects.

EuCAP, a Eukaryotic Community Annotation Package, and its application to the rice genome

PubMed Central

Thibaud-Nissen, Françoise; Campbell, Matthew; Hamilton, John P; Zhu, Wei; Buell, C Robin

2007-01-01

Background Despite the improvements of tools for automated annotation of genome sequences, manual curation at the structural and functional level can provide an increased level of refinement to genome annotation. The Institute for Genomic Research Rice Genome Annotation (hereafter named the Osa1 Genome Annotation) is the product of an automated pipeline and, for this reason, will benefit from the input of biologists with expertise in rice and/or particular gene families. Leveraging knowledge from a dispersed community of scientists is a demonstrated way of improving a genome annotation. This requires tools that facilitate 1) the submission of gene annotation to an annotation project, 2) the review of the submitted models by project annotators, and 3) the incorporation of the submitted models in the ongoing annotation effort. Results We have developed the Eukaryotic Community Annotation Package (EuCAP), an annotation tool, and have applied it to the rice genome. The primary level of curation by community annotators (CA) has been the annotation of gene families. Annotation can be submitted by email or through the EuCAP Web Tool. The CA models are aligned to the rice pseudomolecules and the coordinates of these alignments, along with functional annotation, are stored in the MySQL EuCAP Gene Model database. Web pages displaying the alignments of the CA models to the Osa1 Genome models are automatically generated from the EuCAP Gene Model database. The alignments are reviewed by the project annotators (PAs) in the context of experimental evidence. Upon approval by the PAs, the CA models, along with the corresponding functional annotations, are integrated into the Osa1 Genome Annotation. The CA annotations, grouped by family, are displayed on the Community Annotation pages of the project website , as well as in the Community Annotation track of the Genome Browser. Conclusion We have applied EuCAP to rice. As of July 2007, the structural and/or functional annotation of 1,094 genes representing 57 families have been deposited and integrated into the current gene set. All of the EuCAP components are open-source, thereby allowing the implementation of EuCAP for the annotation of other genomes. EuCAP is available at . PMID:17961238

Tailored white light emission in Eu3+/Dy3+ doped tellurite glass phosphors containing Al3+ ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walas, Michalina; Piotrowski, Patryk; Lewandowski, Tomasz; Synak, Anna; Łapiński, Marcin; Sadowski, Wojciech; Kościelska, Barbara

2018-05-01

Tellurite glass systems modified by addition of aluminum fluoride AlF3 have been successfully synthesized as host matrices for optically active rare earth ions RE3+ (RE3+ = Eu3+, Dy3+). Samples with different Eu3+ to Dy3+ molar ratio have been studied in order to determine possibility of white light emission via UV excitation. Structural investigations confirmed amorphous character of materials whereas spectroscopic studies brought more insight into glass network's nature. FTIR results shown presence of two features related to tellurite glass matrix (in 490-935 cm-1 spectral region) and another one (940-1250 cm-1) due to aluminum addition. Especially, Al-O and Te-O-Al bonds of AlO4 tetrahedrons have been found. AlO4 units are considered as glass formers that improve network's strength and thermal resistivity against devitrification. Based on XPS studies of Al3+ photoelectron band the existence of Al-O and also Al-F bonds have been examined. Moreover, signals originating from Eu3+ and Dy3+ have been found confirming their valence state. Luminescence results revealed possibility of simultaneous UV excitation of Eu3+ and Dy3+ ions. Excitation with λexc = 390 and 393 nm resulted in white light generation starting from warm white to neutral and cool white depending on Eu3+ concentration and used excitation wavelength. Additionally, increase of decay lifetime of Eu3+ induced by Al3+ presence have been revealed based on luminescence decay analysis. Thus, tellurite glass systems modified by AlF3 and doped with Eu3+/Dy3+ may be considered as promising candidates for white light emitting sources.

Accelerator infrastructure in Europe: EuCARD 2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romaniuk, Ryszard S.

2011-10-01

The paper presents a digest of the research results in the domain of accelerator science and technology in Europe, shown during the annual meeting of the EuCARD - European Coordination of Accelerator Research and Development. The conference concerns building of the research infrastructure, including in this advanced photonic and electronic systems for servicing large high energy physics experiments. There are debated a few basic groups of such systems like: measurement - control networks of large geometrical extent, multichannel systems for large amounts of metrological data acquisition, precision photonic networks of reference time, frequency and phase distribution.

Local Wind Influence on Freshwater Plume Behavior: Application to the Catalan Shelf.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liste, Maria; Grifoll, Manel; Monbaliu, Jaak; Keupers, Ingrid; Komijani, Homayoon

2013-04-01

Introduction Freshwater fluxes are not always considered, and often their 3D character is neglected. The "distributed" continental run-off is seldom taken into consideration. The main aim of the EU-FP7 Field_Ac project (www.field_ac.eu), was to improve operational service for coastal areas and to generate added value for shelf and regional scale predictions including land discharge as a boundary condition. In this paper the dispersal of a fresh water plume in a small part of the Catalan Coast (NW Mediterranean Sea) caused by a flash flood event in March 2011 is presented in response to the local wind forcing. Observations and modeling results are shown for a short period but with a large impact on the receiving coastal waters. Methodology and aim For the coastal circulation model, version 3.0 of the Regional Ocean Modeling System [ROMS, Shchepetkin and McWilliams, 2005] has been chosen. ROMS solves the 3-D Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations in sigma coordinates. The code design is modular, so that different choices for advection and mixing, for example, may be applied by simply modifying preprocessor flags. Nested increasing-resolution models have been implemented in order to reproduce with sufficient spatial resolution the coastal circulation and the river plume evolution in a small portion of the Catalan coastal area. The boundary conditions for the largest domain model are obtained from the MyOcean products. River and urban run-off are estimated based on measured or predicted rainfall in the contributing catchments areas. Conceptual models based on a reservoir-type schematization of the river and sewer network have been set up to allow for fast prediction of the different point source boundary conditions [Keupers et al., 2011]. Model output data are compared to in situ data from dedicated campaigns during the Field_AC Project and to data from operational buoys in the Catalan coastal area. Results Wind forcing leads to freshwater spreading. As expected, wind speed and direction and the magnitude of the fresh water discharge affect substantially the plume behavior. This case study illustrates clearly the need to consider both the wind forcing and the fresh water discharge as part of a single system. References Field_AC project (www.field_ac.eu), EU- FP7-SPACE-2009-1-242284. Keupers, I., Willems, P., Fernandez Sainz, J., Bricheno, L., Wolf, J., Polton, J., Howarth, J., Carniel, S., Staneva, J. (2011). Methodology (including best practice guidelines) on how to identify and incorporate 'concentrated' and 'distributed' run-off in pre-operational forecasts, based on the input and requirements from our users. FIELD_AC project, D3.1, 90 pp. MyOcean products (http://www.myocean.eu/). Shchepetkin and McWilliams, 2005. The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS): A split-explicit, free-surface, topography-following coordinates ocean model. Ocean Modelling. Vol. 9 pp. 347-404.

Eu-Social Science: The Role of Internet Social Networks in the Collection of Bee Biodiversity Data

PubMed Central

Stafford, Richard; Hart, Adam G.; Collins, Laura; Kirkhope, Claire L.; Williams, Rachel L.; Rees, Samuel G.; Lloyd, Jane R.; Goodenough, Anne E.

2010-01-01

Background Monitoring change in species diversity, community composition and phenology is vital to assess the impacts of anthropogenic activity and natural change. However, monitoring by trained scientists is time consuming and expensive. Methodology/Principal Findings Using social networks, we assess whether it is possible to obtain accurate data on bee distribution across the UK from photographic records submitted by untrained members of the public, and if these data are in sufficient quantity for ecological studies. We used Flickr and Facebook as social networks and Flickr for the storage of photographs and associated data on date, time and location linked to them. Within six weeks, the number of pictures uploaded to the Flickr BeeID group exceeded 200. Geographic coverage was excellent; the distribution of photographs covered most of the British Isles, from the south coast of England to the Highlands of Scotland. However, only 59% of photographs were properly uploaded according to instructions, with vital information such as ‘tags’ or location information missing from the remainder. Nevertheless, this incorporation of information on location of photographs was much higher than general usage on Flickr (∼13%), indicating the need for dedicated projects to collect spatial ecological data. Furthermore, we found identification of bees is not possible from all photographs, especially those excluding lower abdomen detail. This suggests that giving details regarding specific anatomical features to include on photographs would be useful to maximise success. Conclusions/Significance The study demonstrates the power of social network sites to generate public interest in a project and details the advantages of using a group within an existing popular social network site over a traditional (specifically-designed) web-based or paper-based submission process. Some advantages include the ability to network with other individuals or groups with similar interests, and thus increasing the size of the dataset and participation in the project. PMID:21179423

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, Randy M

Thousands of shipments of radioisotopes developed in the United States (US) are transported domestically and internationally for medical and industrial applications, including to partner laboratories in European Union (EU) countries. Over the past five years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have worked with state regulatory compliance personnel, key private sector shippers and carriers, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking and monitoring of medical and industrial radioisotopes inmore » commerce. The EPA Radiological Source Tracking and Monitoring (RadSTraM) project tested, evaluated, and integrated RFID technologies in laboratory settings, and at multiple private-sector shipping and distribution facilities (Perkin Elmer and DHL) using common radioisotopes used in everyday commerce. The RFID tracking was also tested in association with other deployed technologies including radiation detection, chemical/explosives detection, advanced imaging, lasers, and infrared scanning. At the 2007 EU-US Summit, the leaders of the US Department of Commerce (DOC) and EU European Commission (EC) committed to pursue jointly directed Lighthouse Priority Projects. These projects are intended to 'foster cooperation' and 'reduce regulatory burdens' with respect to transatlantic commerce. The Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) Lighthouse Project on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been directed to 'develop a joint framework for cooperation on identification and development of best practices for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies.' The RFID Lighthouse Priority Project commits both sides to endeavor to align U.S. and EU regulatory and policy approaches on RFID technologies, including pilot projects in the public sector. The RadSTraM project was specifically cited as a candidate for a RFID Lighthouse Project by the EU/DOC collaboration in meeting their mutual goal of developing a 'joint framework for cooperation on identification and development of best practices for RFID technologies.' Concurrently, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) identified this project as a candidate for radioisotope packages shipped by the postal service between the United State Postal Service (USPS). and European Post Agencies.« less

EU Kids Online II Dataset: A Cross-National Study of Children's Use of the Internet and Its Associated Opportunities and Risks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Livingstone, Sonia; Cagiltay, Kursat; Ólafsson, Kjartan

2015-01-01

In the EU Kids Online II project, data were collected from children and parents via in-home face-to-face interviews in 25 European countries to examine children's Internet use, activities and skills, the risk of harm they encountered, parental awareness, and safety strategies regarding children's Internet use and risks. The project provides…

[The EU Portal: Implementation, importance, and features].

PubMed

von Aschen, Harald; Krafft, Hartmut

2017-08-01

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is developing a web-based EU portal with a database "at Union level as a single entry point for the submission of data and information relating to clinical trials in accordance with" the new EU regulation No. 536/2014. The specifications are mostly published, but some documents are still missing. Because the project is integrated and has dependencies on other projects, this could result in other specification upgrades. The IT solution is under ongoing development until project completion in quarter III of 2019. The EU Portal and the database will be audited. If the audit is successful, the new regulation will come into force in October 2018. The use of the EU Portal will then be mandatory with some transition rules. The software development of the portal is restricted to the regulation and the derived requirements. It is not possible to implement any national requirements. We describe in this paper the current key functionalities of the portal and try to derive requirements for a national IT system.On 16.06.2017 the EMA Management Board announced that the development of the new portal has been delayed and it is foreseen that the new regulation can come into effect in 2019 at the earliest. The press release can be found here: http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/news_and_events/news/2017/06/news_detail_002764.jsp%26mid=WC0b01ac058004d5c1 (accessed: 12.07.2017).

Collecting data from a sensor network in a single-board computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casciati, F.; Casciati, S.; Chen, Z.-C.; Faravelli, L.; Vece, M.

2015-07-01

The EU-FP7 project SPARTACUS, currently in progress, sees the international cooperation of several partners toward the design and implementation of a satellite based asset tracking for supporting emergency management in crisis operations. Due to the emergency environment, one has to rely on a low power consumption wireless communication. Therefore, the communication hardware and software must be designed to match requirements which can only be foreseen at the level of more or less likely scenarios. The latter aspect suggests a deep use of a simulator (instead of a real network of sensors) to cover extreme situations. The former power consumption remark suggests the use of a minimal computer (Raspberry Pi) as data collector. In this paper, the results of a broad simulation campaign are reported in order to investigate the accuracy of the received data and the global power consumption for each of the considered scenarios.

European Union Framework Programme 7 Building the Europe of Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akkaş, Nuri

In March 2000, the Lisbon European Council set the goal of becoming by 2010 "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion". This was called the Lisbon Strategy. The project of creating a European Research Area (ERA) was endorsed as a central element of the Lisbon Strategy to achieve this goal. However, EU still invests too little in R & D. In 2003, top 500 private R & D spenders in EU decreased their R & D investment by 2.0%. Top 500 private R & D spenders outside EU increased their R & D investment by 3.9%. Overall R &D investments are as follows: EU: 1.96%; US: 2.59%; S. Korea: 2.91%; Japan: 3.12%. ERA is implemented through so-called Framework Programmes (FP). FP7 is proposed on the basis of a doubling of funds and the duration is 7 years (2007-13). FP7 will fund R& D projects of immediate industrial relevance & needs of industry. Projects will include both public research institutions and private companies (PPP).

Mandatory and recommended vaccination in the EU, Iceland and Norway: results of the VENICE 2010 survey on the ways of implementing national vaccination programmes.

PubMed

Haverkate, M; D'Ancona, F; Giambi, C; Johansen, K; Lopalco, P L; Cozza, V; Appelgren, E

2012-05-31

This report provides an updated overview of recommended and mandatory vaccinations in the European Union (EU), Iceland and Norway, considering the differences in vaccine programme implementation between countries. In 2010, the Vaccine European New Integrated Collaboration Effort (VENICE) network, conducted a survey among the VENICE project gatekeepers to learn more about how national vaccination programmes are implemented, whether recommended or mandatory. Information was collected from all 27 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. In total 15 countries do not have any mandatory vaccinations; the remaining 14 have at least one mandatory vaccination included in their programme. Vaccination against polio is mandatory for both children and adults in 12 countries; diphtheria and tetanus vaccination in 11 countries and hepatitis B vaccination in 10 countries. For eight of the 15 vaccines considered, some countries have a mixed strategy of recommended and mandatory vaccinations. Mandatory vaccination may be considered as a way of improving compliance to vaccination programmes. However, compliance with many programmes in Europe is high, using only recommendations. More information about the diversity in vaccine offer at European level may help countries to adapt vaccination strategies based on the experience of other countries. However, any proposal on vaccine strategies should be developed taking into consideration the local context habits.

Developments in damage assessment by Marie Skłodowska-Curie TRUSS ITN project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González, A.

2017-05-01

The growth of cities, the impacts of climate change and the massive cost of providing new infrastructure provide the impetus for TRUSS (Training in Reducing Uncertainty in Structural Safety), a €3.7 million Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Innovative Training Network project funded by EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, which aims to maximize the potential of infrastructure that already exists (http://trussitn.eu). For that purpose, TRUSS brings together an international, inter-sectoral and multidisciplinary collaboration between five academic and eleven industry institutions from five European countries. The project covers rail and road infrastructure, buildings and energy and marine infrastructure. This paper reports progress in fields such as advanced sensor-based structural health monitoring solutions - unmanned aerial vehicles, optical backscatter reflectometry, monitoring sensors mounted on vehicles, … - and innovative algorithms for structural designs and short- and long-term assessments of buildings, bridges, pavements, ships, ship unloaders, nuclear components and wind turbine towers that will support infrastructure operators and owners in managing their assets.

VALUE: A trans-disciplinary research project - and some challenges in its implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huebener, Heike

2013-04-01

The EU-COST-action VALUE ("Validating and Integrating Downscaling Methods for Climate Change Research") is composed as a trans-disciplinary network activity, meaning that stakeholders and end-users not only from different scientific disciplines (i.e. inter-disciplinary research) but also from outside science are included in the design, planning and progress of the project. This gives the optimal chance to produce really workable project results for the intended end-users. However, some considerable challenges lie this way. These challenges start with identifying and motivating the target-stakeholders, they cover communication in different user-specific languages and reach as far as the question of the freedom of research when under the prompting of politics or economy. We will cover only some of the mentioned challenges; focusing on the identification of the target-stakeholders or end-users, their motivation to participate in the project and on some typical problems arising in this constellation. First experiences from the project will be presented. The aim of the presentation is to instigate discussion on developing workable project structures for trans-disciplinary research, as this will become more and more relevant in future research funding.

Project management - challenges in dealing with academic and non-academic partners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henkel, Daniela; Eisenhauer, Anton; Drossou-Berendes, Alexandra

2016-04-01

Modern research projects on national, European and international level are challenged by an increasing requirement of inter and trans-disciplinarily, societal relevance and educational outreach as well as market oriented applications. In particular, to be successful in European research in the frame of HORIZON 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, it is crucial that relatively large international research consortia involve academic and non-academic partners, NGOs, private and non-private institutions as well as industrial companies. For the management and organisation of such consortia coordinators have to deal with significant differences between multi-national and multi-sectorial administrations and research environments, in order to secure a successful implementation of the project. This often costs research and non-academic partners tremendous efforts, not to say excessive demands. Based on the experiences made in the frame of an Innovative Training Network (ITN) project within the HORIZON 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, this presentation identifies organisational pitfalls and major challenges of the project management for European funded research involving multi-national academic and non-academic research partners. Possible strategies are discussed to circumvent and avoid conflicts already at the beginning of the project.

Enhancement of environment and resources engineering studies through an international cooperation network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caporali, E.; Tuneski, A.

2012-12-01

Higher education plays a very important role in the modern societies development, enhancing social, cultural and economic development for a sustainable growth, environment respectful. In this framework, the European Commission promotes the TEMPUS-Trans European Mobility Programme for University Studies. Curricula harmonization and lifelong learning programme development in higher education are among the focused aspects of the TEMPUS programme. The DEREL-Development of Environment and Resources Engineering Learning, is a three years TEMPUS project coordinated by the University of Firenze, in cooperation with colleagues of the Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje financed and activated since October 2010. The DEREL Project Consortium consists of 4 EU Universities (from Italy, Greece, Germany and Austria), 7 Partner Countries (PC) Universities (from FYR of Macedonia, Serbia and Albania), and 1 PC Ministry, 4 PC National Agencies, 1 PC non governmental organization and 1 PC enterprise. In cooperation with the same 4 EU Universities and the same Macedonian Institutions, in the period 2005-2008 also a TEMPUS JEP entitled DEREC-Development of Environmental and Resources Engineering Curriculum, was also carried out by the University of Firenze in cooperation with colleagues of the Ss Cyril and Methodius University. Within DEREC a new three-years first cycle curriculum in Environmental and Resources Engineering was opened at the University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, and the necessary conditions for offering a Joint Degree Title, on the basis of an agreement between the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University and the University of Firenze, were fulfilled. The running DEREL project, as a continuation of DEREC, is aimed to introduce a new, up-to-date, postgraduate second cycle curriculum in Environment and Resources Engineering at the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, FYR of Macedonia, University of Novi Sad, Serbia and Polytechnic University of Tirana, Albania, following the criteria and conditions for setting up a Joint Postgraduate Degree. The new second cycle degree courses are going to be activated in the academic year 2012/2012. Both the first and second cycle curricula, developed through the co-operation, exchange of know-how and expertise between partners, are based on the European Credit Transfer System and are in accordance with the Bologna Process. In DEREL a second objective is to implement a sustainable regional network aimed to offer lifelong learning seminars for environment and resources engineering education and training of interested stakeholders and organize workshops focused on strengthening the links in the knowledge triangle: environment education-innovation-research, with participation of postgraduate students, public services, enterprises and NGO's. Also, the good collaborative environment created, since 2005, with the project partners can be surely mentioned as an additional valuable objective of the two TEMPUS projects, enabling implementation of a sustainable international network for environment and resources engineering studies enhancement and development.

Review and Analysis of the EU Teacher-Related Policies and Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stéger, Csilla

2014-01-01

This article aims at raising awareness of the key role the EU already plays in matters of teacher policy. It takes stock of European teacher policy related documents and activities, such as relevant strategies, presidency priorities, Council Conclusions, Commission working documents, the activities of thematic working groups, of networks, of data…

The European Union Joint Procurement Agreement for cross-border health threats: what is the potential for this new mechanism of health system collaboration?

PubMed

Azzopardi-Muscat, Natasha; Schroder-Bäck, Peter; Brand, Helmut

2017-01-01

The Joint Procurement Agreement (JPA) is an innovative instrument for multi-country procurement of medical countermeasures against cross-border health threats. This paper aims to assess its potential performance. A literature review was conducted to identify key features of successful joint procurement programmes. Documentary analysis and a key informants' interview were carried out to analyse the European Union (EU) JPA. Ownership, equity, transparency, stable central financing, standardisation, flexibility and gradual development were identified as important prerequisites for successful establishment of multi-country joint procurement programmes in the literature while security of supply, favourable prices, reduction of operational costs and administrative burden and creation of professional expert networks were identified as desirable outcomes. The EU JPA appears to fulfil the criteria of ownership, transparency, equity, flexibility and gradual development. Standardisation is only partly fulfilled and central EU level financing is not provided. Security of supply is an important outcome for all EU Member States (MS). Price savings, reduction in administrative burden and creation of professional networks may be particularly attractive for the smaller MS. The JPA has the potential to increase health system collaboration and efficiency at EU level provided that the incentives for sustained commitment of larger MS are sufficiently attractive.

The use of existing environmental networks for the post-market monitoring of GM crop cultivation in the EU.

PubMed

Smets, G; Alcalde, E; Andres, D; Carron, D; Delzenne, P; Heise, A; Legris, G; Martinez Parrilla, M; Verhaert, J; Wandelt, C; Ilegems, M; Rüdelsheim, P

2014-07-01

The European Union (EU) Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment requires that both Case-Specific Monitoring (CSM) and General Surveillance (GS) are considered as post-market implementing measures. Whereas CSM is directed to monitor potential adverse effects of GMOs or their use identified in the environmental risk assessment, GS aims to detect un-intended adverse effects of GMOs or their use on human and animal health or the environment. Guidance documents on the monitoring of genetically modified (GM) plants from the Commission and EFSA clarify that, as appropriate, GS can make use of established routine surveillance practices. Networks involved in routine surveillance offer recognised expertise in a particular domain and are designed to collect information on important environmental aspects over a large geographical area. However, as the suitability of existing monitoring networks to provide relevant data for monitoring impacts of GMOs is not known, plant biotechnology companies developed an approach to describe the processes and criteria that will be used for selecting and evaluating existing monitoring systems. In this paper, the availability of existing monitoring networks for this purpose is evaluated. By cataloguing the existing environmental monitoring networks in the EU, it can be concluded that they can only be used, in the context of GMO cultivation monitoring, as secondary tools to collect baseline information.

High Temperature Electronic and Thermal Transport Properties of EuGa2- x In x Sb2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chanakian, Sevan; Weber, Rochelle; Aydemir, Umut; Ormeci, Alim; Fleurial, Jean-Pierre; Bux, Sabah; Snyder, G. Jeffrey

2017-08-01

The Zintl phase EuGa2Sb2 was synthesized via ball milling followed by hot pressing. The crystal structure of EuGa2Sb2 is comprised of a 3-D network of polyanionic [Ga2Sb2]2- tunnels filled with Eu cations that provide charge balance (Eu2+[Ga2Sb2]2-). Here we report the temperature-dependent resistivity, Hall Effect, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity for EuGa2- x In x Sb2 ( x = 0, 0.05, 0.1) from 300 K to 775 K. Experimental results demonstrate that the material is a p-type semiconductor. However, a small band gap (˜0.1 eV) prevents EuGa2Sb2 from having high zT at higher temperatures. Isoelectronic substitution of In on the Ga site leads to point defect scattering of holes and phonons, thus reducing thermal conductivity and resulting in a slight improvement in zT.

Reprint of: Dream vs. reality: seven case-studies on the desirability and feasibility of cross-border hospital collaboration in Europe.

PubMed

Glinos, Irene A; Baeten, Rita

2015-01-01

Despite being a niche phenomenon, cross-border health care collaboration receives a lot of attention in the EU and figures visibly on the policy agenda, in particular since the policy process which eventually led to the adoption of Directive 2011/24/EU. One of the underlying assumptions is that cross-border collaboration is desirable, providing justification to both the European Commission and to border-region stakeholders for promoting it. The purpose of this paper is to question this assumption and to examine the role of actors in pushing (or not) for cross-border collaboration. The analysis takes place in two parts. First, the EU policies to promote cross-border collaboration and the tools employed are examined, namely (a) use of European funds to sponsor concrete border-region collaboration projects, (b) use of European funds to sponsor research which gives visibility to cross-border collaboration, and (c) use of the European Commission's newly acquired legal mandate to encourage "Member States to cooperate in cross-border health care provision in border-regions" (Art. 10) and support "Member States in the development of European reference networks between health care providers and centres of expertise" (Art. 12). Second, evidence gathered in 2011-2013 from seven European border-regions on hospital cross-border collaboration is systematically reviewed to assess the reality of cross-border collaboration - can it work and when, and why do actors engage in cross-border collaboration? The preliminary findings suggest that while the EU plays a prominent role in some border-region initiatives, cross-border collaboration needs such a specific set of circumstances to work that it is questionable whether it can effectively be promoted. Moreover, local actors make use of the EU (as a source of funding, legislation or legitimisation) to serve their needs. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Dream vs. reality: seven case-studies on the desirability and feasibility of cross-border hospital collaboration in Europe.

PubMed

Glinos, Irene A; Baeten, Rita

2014-09-01

Despite being a niche phenomenon, cross-border health care collaboration receives a lot of attention in the EU and figures visibly on the policy agenda, in particular since the policy process which eventually led to the adoption of Directive 2011/24/EU. One of the underlying assumptions is that cross-border collaboration is desirable, providing justification to both the European Commission and to border-region stakeholders for promoting it. The purpose of this paper is to question this assumption and to examine the role of actors in pushing (or not) for cross-border collaboration. The analysis takes place in two parts. First, the EU policies to promote cross-border collaboration and the tools employed are examined, namely (a) use of European funds to sponsor concrete border-region collaboration projects, (b) use of European funds to sponsor research which gives visibility to cross-border collaboration, and (c) use of the European Commission's newly acquired legal mandate to encourage "Member States to cooperate in cross-border health care provision in border-regions" (Art. 10) and support "Member States in the development of European reference networks between health care providers and centres of expertise" (Art. 12). Second, evidence gathered in 2011-2013 from seven European border-regions on hospital cross-border collaboration is systematically reviewed to assess the reality of cross-border collaboration - can it work and when, and why do actors engage in cross-border collaboration? The preliminary findings suggest that while the EU plays a prominent role in some border-region initiatives, cross-border collaboration needs such a specific set of circumstances to work that it is questionable whether it can effectively be promoted. Moreover, local actors make use of the EU (as a source of funding, legislation or legitimisation) to serve their needs. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The EGU Blogs: an online platform for science communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts Artal, Laura; Ferreira, Bárbara

2017-04-01

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) Blogs (http://blogs.egu.eu) host the official blog of the EGU, GeoLog, as well as a network of blogs in the Earth, planetary and space sciences aimed at fostering a diverse community of geoscientist bloggers. The site also hosts a selection of blogs from the EGU scientific divisions, which share division-specific news, events, and activities, as well as updates on the latest research in their field. The aim of this project is to offer blogging researchers an online platform to share their insights with other scientists and, importantly, to distil complex and often misunderstood concepts so they are easier to understand for the general public. After a brief introduction, the presentation will focus on how the EGU Blogs are used for the purposes of science communication and on the challenges faced when running a diverse blog network. The EGU Blogs have the support of the EGU Outreach Committee and are made possible thanks to the work of volunteer bloggers. We are grateful for the help of Sara Mynott, former EGU Communications Officer, and Robert Barsch, EGU System Administrator and Webmaster, in this project.

VERAM, for a sustainable and competitive future for EU Raw Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mobili, A.; Tittarelli, F.; Revel, G. M.; Wall, P.

2018-03-01

The project, VERAM “Vision and Roadmap for European Raw Materials”, aims to deliver a mapping of on-going initiatives on non-food, non-energy raw materials (including metals, industrial minerals, aggregates and wood) at European, Member State, and regional levels both from the Research and Innovation (R&I), industry, and policy perspectives. Moreover, based on a comprehensive gap analysis, VERAM will propose a common long term 2050 Vision and Roadmap in coordination and cooperation with all stakeholders across the value chain. For the first time, two European Technology Platforms (ETPs) together with their corresponding European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) are joining forces to develop a common roadmap.

Discovery Mechanisms for the Sensor Web

PubMed Central

Jirka, Simon; Bröring, Arne; Stasch, Christoph

2009-01-01

This paper addresses the discovery of sensors within the OGC Sensor Web Enablement framework. Whereas services like the OGC Web Map Service or Web Coverage Service are already well supported through catalogue services, the field of sensor networks and the according discovery mechanisms is still a challenge. The focus within this article will be on the use of existing OGC Sensor Web components for realizing a discovery solution. After discussing the requirements for a Sensor Web discovery mechanism, an approach will be presented that was developed within the EU funded project “OSIRIS”. This solution offers mechanisms to search for sensors, exploit basic semantic relationships, harvest sensor metadata and integrate sensor discovery into already existing catalogues. PMID:22574038

Modelling of the production of gaseous by-products in anaerobic digestion.

PubMed

Strik, D P; Domnanovich, A M; Pfeiffer, B; Karlovitz, M; Zani, L; Braun, R; Holubar, P

2003-01-01

Goal of the EU-Project AMONCO (Advanced Prediction, Monitoring and Controlling of Anaerobic Digestion Processes Behaviour towards Biogas Usage in Fuel Cells) is demonstration of the practical use of biogas in fuel cells. The right precondition is a biogas quality which fits into the fuel cells tolerances. Therefore the mission of the workgroup Environmental biotechnology is to control anaerobic digestion in a way that production of potential harmful by-products for fuel cells is reduced. A good understanding of the production of these by products is essential for an applicable decision support tool. This poster presents the modelling of hydrogen sulfide by means of hierarchical neural networks and a classical mathematical method.

An assessment of climate change impacts on micro-hydropower energy recovery in water supply networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brady, Jennifer; Patil, Sopan; McNabola, Aonghus; Gallagher, John; Coughlan, Paul; Harris, Ian; Packwood, Andrew; Williams, Prysor

2015-04-01

Continuity of service of a high quality water supply is vital in sustaining economic and social development. However, water supply and wastewater treatment are highly energy intensive processes and the overall cost of water provision is rising rapidly due to increased energy costs, higher capital investment requirements, and more stringent regulatory compliance in terms of both national and EU legislation. Under the EU Directive 2009/28/EC, both Ireland and the UK are required to have 16% and 15% respectively of their electricity generated by renewable sources by 2020. The projected impacts of climate change, population growth and urbanisation will place additional pressures on resources, further increasing future water demand which in turn will lead to higher energy consumption. Therefore, there is a need to achieve greater efficiencies across the water industry. The implementation of micro-hydropower turbines within the water supply network has shown considerable viability for energy recovery. This is achieved by harnessing energy at points of high flow or pressure along the network which can then be utilised on site or alternatively sold to the national grid. Micro-hydropower can provide greater energy security for utilities together with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. However, potential climate change impacts on water resources in the medium-to-long term currently act as a key barrier to industry confidence as changes in flow and pressure within the network can significantly alter the available energy for recovery. The present study aims to address these uncertainties and quantify the regional and local impacts of climate change on the viability of energy recovery across water infrastructure in Ireland and the UK. Specifically, the research focuses on assessing the potential future effects of climate change on flow rates at multiple pressure reducing valve sites along the water supply network and also in terms of flow at a number of wastewater treatment works. This analysis is achieved through development of an empirical model utilising historical climatic data in conjunction with low, medium and high emission IPCC climate scenarios using the HADCM3 global climate model across a baseline condition and two further time steps. Results highlight projected alterations in flow rates together with the potential for increases in the frequency and persistence of drought/flooding events and the resulting impacts on future energy recovery. Critical climate change limits are also identified indicating the tolerable ranges within which hydropower recovery is financially viable, thus allowing for more informed decision making across potential sites.

Multi-Array Back-Projections of The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake With Physics-Based Aftershock Calibrations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, L.; Zhang, A.; Yagi, Y.

2015-12-01

The 2015 Mw 7.8 Nepal-Gorkha earthquake with casualties of over 9,000 people is the most devastating disaster to strike Nepal since the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake. Its rupture process is well imaged by the teleseismic MUSIC back-projections (BP). Here, we perform independent back-projections of high-frequency recordings (0.5-2 Hz) from the Australian seismic network (AU), the North America network (NA) and the European seismic network (EU), located in complementary orientations. Our results of all three arrays show unilateral linear rupture path to the east of the hypocenter. But the propagating directions and the inferred rupture speeds differ significantly among different arrays. To understand the spatial uncertainties of the BP analysis, we image four moderate-size (M5~6) aftershocks based on the timing correction derived from the alignment of the initial P-wave of the mainshock. We find that the apparent source locations inferred from BP are systematically biased along the source-array orientation, which can be explained by the uncertainty of the 3D velocity structure deviated from the 1D reference model (e.g. IASP91). We introduced a slowness error term in travel time as a first-order calibration that successfully mitigates the source location discrepancies of different arrays. The calibrated BP results of three arrays are mutually consistent and reveal a unilateral rupture propagating eastward at a speed of 2.7 km/s along the down-dip edge of the locked Himalaya thrust zone over ~ 150 km, in agreement with a narrow slip distribution inferred from finite source inversions.

Detecting and assessing Saharan dust contribution to PM10 loads: A pilot study within the EU-Life+10 project DIAPASON

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gobbi, Gian Paolo; Barnaba, Francesca; Bolignano, Andrea; Costabile, Francesca; Di Liberto, Luca; Dionisi, Davide; Drewnick, Frank; Lucarelli, Franco; Manigrasso, Maurizio; Nava, Silvia; Sauvage, Laurent; Sozzi, Roberto; Struckmeier, Caroline; Wille, Holger

2015-04-01

The EC LIFE+2010 DIAPASON Project (Desert dust Impact on Air quality through model-Predictions and Advanced Sensors ObservatioNs, www.diapason-life.eu) intends to contribute new methodologies to assess the role of aerosol advections of Saharan dust to the local PM loads recorded in Europe. To this goal, automated Polarization Lidar-Ceilometers (PLCs) were prototyped within DIAPASON to certify the presence of Saharan dust plumes and support evaluating their mass loadings in the lowermost atmosphere. The whole process also involves operational dust forecasts, as well as satellite and in-situ observations. Demonstration of the Project is implemented in the pilot region of Rome (Central Italy) where three networked DIAPASON PLCs started, in October 2013 a year-round, 24h/day monitoring of the altitude-resolved aerosol backscatter and depolarization profiles. Two intensive observational periods (IOPs) involving chemical analysis and detailed physical characterization of aerosol samples have also been carried out in this year-long campaign, namely in Fall 2013 and Spring 2014. These allowed for an extensive interpretation of the PLC observations, highlighting important synergies between the PLC and the in situ data. The presentation will address capabilities of the employed PLCs, observations agreement with model forecasts of dust advections, retrievals of aerosol properties and methodologies developed to detect Saharan advections and to evaluate the relevant mass contribution to PM10. This latter task is intended to provide suggestions on possible improvements to the current EC Guidelines (2011) on this matter. In fact, specific Guidelines are delivered by the European Commission to provide the Member States a common method to asses the Saharan dust contribution to the currently legislated PM-related Air Quality metrics. The DIAPASON experience shows that improvements can be proposed to make the current EC Methodology more robust and flexible. The methodology DIAPASON recommends has been designed and validated taking advantage of the PLC observations and highlights the benefits of the operational use of such systems in routine Air Quality applications. Concurrently, PLC activities are contributing to the COST Action "TOPROF", an European effort aiming at the setup and operational use of Lidar-Ceilometers networks for meteorological and safety purposes.

EMODnet High Resolution Seabed Mapping - further developing a high resolution digital bathymetry for European seas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, D.; Schmitt, T.

2017-12-01

Access to marine data is a key issue for the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EU Marine Knowledge 2020 agenda and includes the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) initiative. EMODnet aims at assembling European marine data, data products and metadata from diverse sources in a uniform way. The EMODnet Bathymetry project has developed Digital Terrain Models (DTM) for the European seas. These have been produced from survey and aggregated data sets that are indexed with metadata by adopting the SeaDataNet Catalogue services. SeaDataNet is a network of major oceanographic data centres around the European seas that manage, operate and further develop a pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management. The latest EMODnet Bathymetry DTM release has a grid resolution of 1/8 arcminute and covers all European sea regions. Use has been made of circa 7800 gathered survey datasets and composite DTMs. Catalogues and the EMODnet DTM are published at the dedicated EMODnet Bathymetry portal including a versatile DTM viewing and downloading service. End December 2016 the Bathymetry project has been succeeded by EMODnet High Resolution Seabed Mapping (HRSM). This continues gathering of bathymetric in-situ data sets with extra efforts for near coastal waters and coastal zones. In addition Satellite Derived Bathymetry data are included to fill gaps in coverage of the coastal zones. The extra data and composite DTMs will increase the coverage of the European seas and its coastlines, and provide input for producing an EMODnet DTM with a common resolution of 1/16 arc minutes. The Bathymetry Viewing and Download service will be upgraded to provide a multi-resolution map and including 3D viewing. The higher resolution DTMs will also be used to determine best-estimates of the European coastline for a range of tidal levels (HAT, MHW, MSL, Chart Datum, LAT), thereby making use of a tidal model for Europe. Extra challenges will be `moving to the cloud' and setting up an EMODnet Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) for producing the EMODnet DTMs. The presentation will highlight key details of EMODnet Bathymetry results and the way how challenges of the new HRSM project are approached.

Tuned in to the Earth from the classroom with `O3E' european project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berenguer, J.; Courboulex, F.; Tocheport, A.; Eva, C.; Ferretti, G.; Solarino, S.; Giardini, D.; Sornette, A.; Ponzone, M.; Cremonini, R.; Virieux, J.

2010-12-01

In lines with diverse initiatives regarding scientific culture and education, the ‘O3E’ experience (http://O3E.geoazur.eu) has set up a permanent educational network of schools in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas, building an exchange of knowledge on natural risks prevention. The “O3E” innovative project (European Educational Observatory for Environment) is established after 12 years (1996-2008) of regional and national original programs for education (“Seismometers at School” in France and Swiss, “Edurisk” in Italy and “ClimAtscope” in Switzerland). The project is born to promote a responsible behavior of citizens in front of the evolution of a society where scientific information is promptly available. Since 2008, a school network in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas has been equipped with environmental sensors of an educational vocation. The data on the ground motion (seismometers), the temperatures and precipitations (weather stations), the flows of rivers (hydrogeology) recorded in the schools and processed by the students are collected on dedicated servers and then made available through internet to the entire community. This network “O3E”, once installed, is the starting point of activities for students. Indeed, various general objectives are pursued: - To promote the applied sciences and new technologies. - To put in network the actors of Education and formative teaching. - To develop the sense of the autonomy and the responsibility in the young people. - To reinforce and develop relationships with regional partners of the educational and university fields. - To support a rational awakening for the prevention of the natural risks Teachers from this network can share experiences and produce new didactic tools for the classroom. This collaborative work could illustrate the conjugated efforts of researchers and teachers for a better education and awareness of the risk culture especially in young populations. Some student’s and teacher’s productions will be shown to appreciate this essential effort.

ERA-MIN: The European network (ERA-NET) on non-energy raw materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

vidal, o.; christmann, p.; Bol, d.; Goffé, b.; Groth, m.; Kohler, e.; Persson Nelson, k.; Schumacher, k.

2012-04-01

Non-energy raw materials are vital for the EU's economy, and for the development of environmentally friendly technologies. The EU is the world's largest consumers of non-energy minerals, but it remains dependent on the importation of many metals, as its domestic production is limited to about 3% of world production. We will present the project ERA-MIN, which is an ERA-NET on the Industrial Handling of Raw Materials for European industries, financially supported by the European Commission. The main objectives of ERA-MIN are: 1) Mapping and Networking: interconnecting the members of the currently fragmented European mineral resources research area, to the aim of fostering convergence of public research programs, industry, research institutes, academia and the European Commission, 2) Coordinating: establishing a permanent mechanism for planning and coordination of the European non-energy mineral raw materials research community (ENERC). 3) Roadmapping: defining the most important scientific and technological challenges that should be supported by the EU and its state members, 4) Programming: designing a Joint European Research Programme model and implementating it into a call for proposals open to academic and industrial research. The topics of interest in ERA-MIN are the primary continental and marine resources, the secondary resources and their related technologies, substitution and material efficiency, along with transversal topics such as environmental impact, public policy support, mineral intelligence, and public education and teaching. Public scientific research is very central in the scope of the ERA-MIN activity, whose consortium is indeed lead by a public organisation of fundamental research. Thus, universities and public research organisations are warmly invited to play an active role in defining the scientific questions and challenges that shall determine the European Raw Materials Roadmap and should be addressed by joint programming at the European scale. The various levels of possible involvement in ERA-MIN for the interested stakeholders will be presented.

Italy in the Eu: Love Affair or Disillusionment? Italian Discontent with the European Integration Past and Present

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

in the formation of a European monetary union further contributing to the European countries’ political union . Among Italy’s reasons to participate...of abandoning participation in the EU project. 14. SUBJECT TERMS Italy, European Union , European institutions, Mussolini, Hitler, NATO...System EMU European Monetary Union EU European Union GDP gross domestic product Km kilometer IAI Istituto Affari Internazionali [Institute of

Characterization of the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator EU2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewandowski, Edward J.; Oriti, Salvatore M.; Schifer, Nicholas A.

2015-01-01

Significant progress was made developing the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG), a 140-watt radioisotope power system. While the ASRG flight development project has ended, the hardware that was designed and built under the project is continuing to be tested to support future Stirling-based power system development. NASA GRC recently completed the assembly of the ASRG Engineering Unit 2 (EU2). The ASRG EU2 consists of the first pair of Sunpower's ASC-E3 Stirling convertors mounted in an aluminum housing, and Lockheed Martin's Engineering Development Unit (EDU) 4 controller (a fourth generation controller). The ASC-E3 convertors and Generator Housing Assembly (GHA) closely match the intended ASRG Qualification Unit flight design. A series of tests were conducted to characterize the EU2, its controller, and the convertors in the flight-like GHA. The GHA contained an argon cover gas for these tests. The tests included: measurement of convertor, controller, and generator performance and efficiency, quantification of control authority of the controller, disturbance force measurement with varying piston phase and piston amplitude, and measurement of the effect of spacecraft DC bus voltage on EU2 performance. The results of these tests are discussed and summarized, providing a basic understanding of EU2 characteristics and the performance and capability of the EDU 4 controller.

Virtual Power Electronics: Novel Software Tools for Design, Modeling and Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamar, Janos; Nagy, István; Funato, Hirohito; Ogasawara, Satoshi; Dranga, Octavian; Nishida, Yasuyuki

The current paper is dedicated to present browser-based multimedia-rich software tools and e-learning curriculum to support the design and modeling process of power electronics circuits and to explain sometimes rather sophisticated phenomena. Two projects will be discussed. The so-called Inetele project is financed by the Leonardo da Vinci program of the European Union (EU). It is a collaborative project between numerous EU universities and institutes to develop state-of-the art curriculum in Electrical Engineering. Another cooperative project with participation of Japanese, European and Australian institutes focuses especially on developing e-learning curriculum, interactive design and modeling tools, furthermore on development of a virtual laboratory. Snapshots from these two projects will be presented.

Simulating water quality and ecological status of Lake Vansjø, Norway, under land-use and climate change by linking process-oriented models with a Bayesian network.

PubMed

Couture, Raoul-Marie; Moe, S Jannicke; Lin, Yan; Kaste, Øyvind; Haande, Sigrid; Lyche Solheim, Anne

2018-04-15

Excess nutrient inputs and climate change are two of multiple stressors affecting many lakes worldwide. Lake Vansjø in southern Norway is one such eutrophic lake impacted by blooms of toxic blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), and classified as moderate ecological status under the EU Water Framework Directive. Future climate change may exacerbate the situation. Here we use a set of chained models (global climate model, hydrological model, catchment phosphorus (P) model, lake model, Bayesian Network) to assess the possible future ecological status of the lake, given the set of climate scenarios and storylines common to the EU project MARS (Managing Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Resources under Multiple Stress). The model simulations indicate that climate change alone will increase precipitation and runoff, and give higher P fluxes to the lake, but cause little increase in phytoplankton biomass or changes in ecological status. For the storylines of future management and land-use, however, the model results indicate that both the phytoplankton biomass and the lake ecological status can be positively or negatively affected. Our results also show the value in predicting a biological indicator of lake ecological status, in this case, cyanobacteria biomass with a BN model. For all scenarios, cyanobacteria contribute to worsening the status assessed by phytoplankton, compared to using chlorophyll-a alone. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Green infrastructure development at European Union's eastern border: Effects of road infrastructure and forest habitat loss.

PubMed

Angelstam, Per; Khaulyak, Olha; Yamelynets, Taras; Mozgeris, Gintautas; Naumov, Vladimir; Chmielewski, Tadeusz J; Elbakidze, Marine; Manton, Michael; Prots, Bohdan; Valasiuk, Sviataslau

2017-05-15

The functionality of forest patches and networks as green infrastructure may be affected negatively both by expanding road networks and forestry intensification. We assessed the effects of (1) the current and planned road infrastructure, and (2) forest loss and gain, on the remaining large forest landscape massifs as green infrastructure at the EU's eastern border region in post-socialistic transition. First, habitat patch and network functionality in 1996-98 was assessed using habitat suitability index modelling. Second, we made expert interviews about road development with planners in 10 administrative regions in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. Third, forest loss and gain inside the forest massifs, and gain outside them during the period 2001-14 were measured. This EU cross-border region hosts four remaining forest massifs as regional green infrastructure hotspots. While Poland's road network is developing fast in terms of new freeways, city bypasses and upgrades of road quality, in Belarus and Ukraine the focus is on maintenance of existing roads, and no new corridors. We conclude that economic support from the EU, and thus rapid development of roads in Poland, is likely to reduce the permeability for wildlife of the urban and agricultural matrix around existing forest massifs. However, the four identified forest massifs themselves, forming the forest landscape green infrastructure at the EU's east border, were little affected by road development plans. In contrast, forest loss inside massifs was high, especially in Ukraine. Only in Poland forest loss was balanced by gain. Forest gain outside forest massifs was low. To conclude, pro-active and collaborative spatial planning across different sectors and countries is needed to secure functional forest green infrastructure as base for biodiversity conservation and human well-being. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Engineering Unit 2 (ASRG EU2) Final Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oriti, Salvatore M.

2015-01-01

NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has recently completed the assembly of a unique Stirling generator test article for laboratory experimentation. Under the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) flight development contract, NASA GRC initiated a task to design and fabricate a flight-like generator for in-house testing. This test article was given the name ASRG Engineering Unit 2 (EU2) as it was effectively the second engineering unit to be built within the ASRG project. The intent of the test article was to duplicate Lockheed Martin's qualification unit ASRG design as much as possible to enable system-level tests not previously possible at GRC. After the cancellation of the ASRG flight development project, the decision was made to continue the EU2 build, and make use of a portion of the hardware from the flight development project. GRC and Lockheed Martin engineers collaborated to develop assembly procedures, leveraging the valuable knowledge gathered by Lockheed Martin during the ASRG development contract. The ASRG EU2 was then assembled per these procedures at GRC with Lockheed Martin engineers on site. The assembly was completed in August 2014. This paper details the components that were used for the assembly, and the assembly process itself.

Current Efforts in European Projects to Facilitate the Sharing of Scientific Observation Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bredel, Henning; Rieke, Matthes; Maso, Joan; Jirka, Simon; Stasch, Christoph

2017-04-01

This presentation is intended to provide an overview of currently ongoing efforts in European projects to facilitate and promote the interoperable sharing of scientific observation data. This will be illustrated through two examples: a prototypical portal developed in the ConnectinGEO project for matching available (in-situ) data sources to the needs of users and a joint activity of several research projects to harmonise the usage of the OGC Sensor Web Enablement standards for providing access to marine observation data. ENEON is an activity initiated by the European ConnectinGEO project to coordinate in-situ Earth observation networks with the aim to harmonise the access to observations, improve discoverability, and identify/close gaps in European earth observation data resources. In this context, ENEON commons has been developed as a supporting Web portal for facilitating discovery, access, re-use and creation of knowledge about observations, networks, and related activities (e.g. projects). The portal is based on developments resulting from the European WaterInnEU project and has been extended to cover the requirements for handling knowledge about in-situ earth observation networks. A first prototype of the portal was completed in January 2017 which offers functionality for interactive discussion, information exchange and querying information about data delivered by different observation networks. Within this presentation, we will introduce the presented prototype and initiate a discussion about potential future work directions. The second example concerns the harmonisation of data exchange in the marine domain. There are many organisation who operate ocean observatories or data archives. In recent years, the application of the OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) technology has become more and more popular to increase the interoperability between marine observation networks. However, as the SWE standards were intentionally designed in a domain independent manner, there are still a significant degrees of freedom how the same information could be handled in the SWE framework. Thus, further domain-specific agreements are necessary to describe more precisely, how SWE standards shall be applied in specific contexts. Within this presentation we will report the current status of the marine SWE profiles initiative which has the aim to develop guidance and recommendations for the application of SWE standards for ocean observation data. This initiative which is supported by projects such as NeXOS, FixO3, ODIP 2, BRIDGES and SeaDataCloud has already lead to first results, which will be introduced in the proposed presentation. In summary we will introduce two different building blocks how earth observation networks can be coordinated to ensure better discoverability through intelligent portal solutions and to ensure a common, interoperable exchange of the collected data through dedicated domain profiles of Sensor Web standard.

European perspectives on pediatric formulations.

PubMed

Breitkreutz, Jörg

2008-11-01

The 2007 European Union (EU) regulation on medicinal products for pediatric use may change the present unsatisfying situation in the EU by stimulating research and development of medicines for use in children through rewards and incentives. This commentary reflects on the new EU regulations and guidelines, with special attention paid to the impact on pediatric formulation science. The focus of this article is on the EU perspective for pediatric formulations and highlights the differences compared with the pediatric drug formulation situation in the United States. Materials for this article were gathered during a literature search of MEDLINE and Chemical Abstracts (1970-October 2008) using the following terms: paediatric/pediatric drug formulations, age-appropriate dosage forms, child-appropriate medicines, and paediatric/pediatric regulation. Since the EU legislation on medicines for children came into force in 2007, a great emphasis has been placed on creating new organizations, scientific networks, and programs dealing with pediatric medicines and child-appropriate drug formulations. Although the US legislation was an appropriate model, the EU introduced some novel measures to improve the current situation, such as the Paediatric Investigation Plan and the Paediatric Use Marketing Authorisation. For globally operating pharmaceutical companies, the peculiarities of the European market have a strong impact on their product development strategies. Because the European approach demands early investigations into drug formulations for children, various issues must be resolved, including the following: choosing formulations for each age group, determining which excipients may be used in the formulation and which delivery device is appropriate, and predicting the taste sensation of an oral formulation. Numerous initiatives and networks are evolving in Europe. An important future task will be the coordination of these activities and the linking to other groups working on pediatric formulations outside the EU. Similar to the research in pediatric drug formulations that was stimulated by the US legislation and incentives of the last decade, the 2007 EU legislation promises improvements in the availability of child-appropriate drugs in Europe.

ENES the European Network for Earth System modelling and its infrastructure projects IS-ENES

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guglielmo, Francesca; Joussaume, Sylvie; Parinet, Marie

2016-04-01

The scientific community working on climate modelling is organized within the European Network for Earth System modelling (ENES). In the past decade, several European university departments, research centres, meteorological services, computer centres, and industrial partners engaged in the creation of ENES with the purpose of working together and cooperating towards the further development of the network, by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. As of 2015, the consortium counts 47 partners. The climate modelling community, and thus ENES, faces challenges which are both science-driven, i.e. analysing of the full complexity of the Earth System to improve our understanding and prediction of climate changes, and have multi-faceted societal implications, as a better representation of climate change on regional scales leads to improved understanding and prediction of impacts and to the development and provision of climate services. ENES, promoting and endorsing projects and initiatives, helps in developing and evaluating of state-of-the-art climate and Earth system models, facilitates model inter-comparison studies, encourages exchanges of software and model results, and fosters the use of high performance computing facilities dedicated to high-resolution multi-model experiments. ENES brings together public and private partners, integrates countries underrepresented in climate modelling studies, and reaches out to different user communities, thus enhancing European expertise and competitiveness. In this need of sophisticated models, world-class, high-performance computers, and state-of-the-art software solutions to make efficient use of models, data and hardware, a key role is played by the constitution and maintenance of a solid infrastructure, developing and providing services to the different user communities. ENES has investigated the infrastructural needs and has received funding from the EU FP7 program for the IS-ENES (InfraStructure for ENES) phase I and II projects. We present here the case study of an existing network of institutions brought together toward common goals by a non-binding agreement, ENES, and of its two IS-ENES projects. These latter will be discussed in their double role as a means to provide and/or maintain the actual infrastructure (hardware, software, skilled human resources, services) to achieve ENES scientific goals -fulfilling the aims set in a strategy document-, but also to inform and provide to the network a structured way of working and of interacting with the extended community. The genesis and evolution of the network and the interaction network/projects will also be analysed in terms of long-term sustainability.

Maintenance and Expansion: Modeling Material Stocks and Flows for Residential Buildings and Transportation Networks in the EU25.

PubMed

Wiedenhofer, Dominik; Steinberger, Julia K; Eisenmenger, Nina; Haas, Willi

2015-08-01

Material stocks are an important part of the social metabolism. Owing to long service lifetimes of stocks, they not only shape resource flows during construction, but also during use, maintenance, and at the end of their useful lifetime. This makes them an important topic for sustainable development. In this work, a model of stocks and flows for nonmetallic minerals in residential buildings, roads, and railways in the EU25, from 2004 to 2009 is presented. The changing material composition of the stock is modeled using a typology of 72 residential buildings, four road and two railway types, throughout the EU25. This allows for estimating the amounts of materials in in-use stocks of residential buildings and transportation networks, as well as input and output flows. We compare the magnitude of material demands for expansion versus those for maintenance of existing stock. Then, recycling potentials are quantitatively explored by comparing the magnitude of estimated input, waste, and recycling flows from 2004 to 2009 and in a business-as-usual scenario for 2020. Thereby, we assess the potential impacts of the European Waste Framework Directive, which strives for a significant increase in recycling. We find that in the EU25, consisting of highly industrialized countries, a large share of material inputs are directed at maintaining existing stocks. Proper management of existing transportation networks and residential buildings is therefore crucial for the future size of flows of nonmetallic minerals.

Maintenance and Expansion: Modeling Material Stocks and Flows for Residential Buildings and Transportation Networks in the EU25

PubMed Central

Steinberger, Julia K.; Eisenmenger, Nina; Haas, Willi

2015-01-01

Summary Material stocks are an important part of the social metabolism. Owing to long service lifetimes of stocks, they not only shape resource flows during construction, but also during use, maintenance, and at the end of their useful lifetime. This makes them an important topic for sustainable development. In this work, a model of stocks and flows for nonmetallic minerals in residential buildings, roads, and railways in the EU25, from 2004 to 2009 is presented. The changing material composition of the stock is modeled using a typology of 72 residential buildings, four road and two railway types, throughout the EU25. This allows for estimating the amounts of materials in in‐use stocks of residential buildings and transportation networks, as well as input and output flows. We compare the magnitude of material demands for expansion versus those for maintenance of existing stock. Then, recycling potentials are quantitatively explored by comparing the magnitude of estimated input, waste, and recycling flows from 2004 to 2009 and in a business‐as‐usual scenario for 2020. Thereby, we assess the potential impacts of the European Waste Framework Directive, which strives for a significant increase in recycling. We find that in the EU25, consisting of highly industrialized countries, a large share of material inputs are directed at maintaining existing stocks. Proper management of existing transportation networks and residential buildings is therefore crucial for the future size of flows of nonmetallic minerals. PMID:27524878

Ocean gliders as key component within the AORAC-SA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrera, C.; Hernandez Brito, J.; Castro, A.; Rueda, M. J.; Llinas, O.

2016-02-01

The Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Coordination and Support Action (AORAC-SA) is designed to provide scientific, technical and logistical support to the EU in developing and implementing transAtlantic Marine Research Cooperation between the European Union, the United States of America and Canada. The Coordination and Support Action (CSA) is carried out within the framework of the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance (AORA) as outlined in the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation (May 2013). The CSA will be responsible for the organization of expert and stakeholder meetings, workshops and conferences required by the AORA and related to identified research priorities support actions and other initiatives as they arise, taking into account related Horizon 2020 supported transAtlantic projects and on-going national and EU collaborative projects. The AORAC-SA support and governance structure comprises a Secretariat and Management Team, guided by a high-level Operational Board, representative of the major European Marine Research Programming and Funding Organizations as well as those of the USA and Canada. As example of this research cooperative framework, ocean gliders have become nowadays a common, innovative and sustainable ocean-observations tool for the Atlantic basin, linking research groups, govermental institutions and private companies from both sides in terms of technical developments, transatlantic missions in partnership, training forums, etc. aiming to develop common practices and protocols for a better ocean resources management and understanding. Within this context, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), as AORAC-SA partner, is working on specific actions like ocean glider observations programs (endurance line) by AtlantOS project (www.atlantos-h2020.eu), related new technical developments by NeXOS FP-7 project (www.nexosproject.eu) and a yearly International Glider School forum hosting (www.gliderschool.eu).

A European classification of services for long-term care—the EU-project eDESDE-LTC

PubMed Central

Weber, Germain; Brehmer, Barbara; Zeilinger, Elisabeth; Salvador-Carulla, Luis

2009-01-01

Purpose and theory The eDESDE-LTC project aims at developing an operational system for coding, mapping and comparing services for long-term care (LTC) across EU. The projects strategy is to improve EU listing and access to relevant sources of healthcare information via development of SEMANTIC INTER-OPERABILITY in eHEALTH (coding and listing of services for LTC); to increase access to relevant sources of information on LTC services, and to improve linkages between national and regional websites; to foster cooperation with international organizations (OECD). Methods This operational system will include a standard classification of main types of care for persons with LTC needs and an instrument for mapping and standard description of services. These instruments are based on previous classification systems for mental health services (ESMS), disabilities services (DESDE) and ageing services (DESDAE). A Delphi panel made by seven partners developed a DESDE-LTC beta version, which was translated into six languages. The feasibility of DESDE-LTC is tested in six countries using national focal groups. Then the final version will be developed by the Delphi panel, a webpage, training material and course will be carried out. Results and conclusions The eDESDE-LTC system will be piloted in two EU countries (Spain and Bulgaria). Evaluation will focus primarily on usability and impact analysis. Discussion The added value of this project is related to the right of “having access to high-quality healthcare when and where it is needed” by EU citizens. Due to semantic variability and service complexity, existing national listings of services do not provide an adequate framework for patient mobility.

Sharing Water-related Information to Tackle Changes in the Hydrosphere - for Operational Needs (SWITCH-ON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arheimer, Berit

2015-04-01

Recently, a collaborative EU project started called SWITCH-ON (EU FP7 project No 603587) coordinated by SMHI to support the INSPIRE directive and the Open Data Strategy. The overall goal of the project is to establish a "one-stop-shop" web portal for easy access to European water information. The project will use open data, provide infrastructure for sharing and collaboration, and add value to society and research by repurposing and refining data from various sources. The SWITCH-ON project http://www.water-switch-on.eu/ will establish new forms of water research and facilitate the development of new products and services based on principles of sharing and community building in the water society. The SWITCH-ON objectives are to use open data for implementing: 1) an innovative spatial information platform (SIP) to find, bind, transform and publish data, 2) entirely new forms of collaborative research organised in a Virtual Water-Science Laboratory, open for any research group, 3) fourteen new operational products for water management and awareness, 4) outreach facilities for new water business and knowledge in line with the Europe's smart growth and environmental objectives. This poster will describe the overall project goals and especially the recent progress on developing a Virtual Water-Science Laboratory. Contact: waterswitchon@gmail.com

Data Extraction and Management in Networks of Observational Health Care Databases for Scientific Research: A Comparison of EU-ADR, OMOP, Mini-Sentinel and MATRICE Strategies

PubMed Central

Gini, Rosa; Schuemie, Martijn; Brown, Jeffrey; Ryan, Patrick; Vacchi, Edoardo; Coppola, Massimo; Cazzola, Walter; Coloma, Preciosa; Berni, Roberto; Diallo, Gayo; Oliveira, José Luis; Avillach, Paul; Trifirò, Gianluca; Rijnbeek, Peter; Bellentani, Mariadonata; van Der Lei, Johan; Klazinga, Niek; Sturkenboom, Miriam

2016-01-01

Introduction: We see increased use of existing observational data in order to achieve fast and transparent production of empirical evidence in health care research. Multiple databases are often used to increase power, to assess rare exposures or outcomes, or to study diverse populations. For privacy and sociological reasons, original data on individual subjects can’t be shared, requiring a distributed network approach where data processing is performed prior to data sharing. Case Descriptions and Variation Among Sites: We created a conceptual framework distinguishing three steps in local data processing: (1) data reorganization into a data structure common across the network; (2) derivation of study variables not present in original data; and (3) application of study design to transform longitudinal data into aggregated data sets for statistical analysis. We applied this framework to four case studies to identify similarities and differences in the United States and Europe: Exploring and Understanding Adverse Drug Reactions by Integrative Mining of Clinical Records and Biomedical Knowledge (EU-ADR), Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP), the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Mini-Sentinel, and the Italian network—the Integration of Content Management Information on the Territory of Patients with Complex Diseases or with Chronic Conditions (MATRICE). Findings: National networks (OMOP, Mini-Sentinel, MATRICE) all adopted shared procedures for local data reorganization. The multinational EU-ADR network needed locally defined procedures to reorganize its heterogeneous data into a common structure. Derivation of new data elements was centrally defined in all networks but the procedure was not shared in EU-ADR. Application of study design was a common and shared procedure in all the case studies. Computer procedures were embodied in different programming languages, including SAS, R, SQL, Java, and C++. Conclusion: Using our conceptual framework we found several areas that would benefit from research to identify optimal standards for production of empirical knowledge from existing databases.an opportunity to advance evidence-based care management. In addition, formalized CM outcomes assessment methodologies will enable us to compare CM effectiveness across health delivery settings. PMID:27014709

Detection and Characterisation of Meteors as a Big Data Citizen Science project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gritsevich, M.

2017-12-01

Out of a total around 50,000 meteorites currently known to science, the atmospheric passage was recorded instrumentally in only 30 cases with the potential to derive their atmospheric trajectories and pre-impact heliocentric orbits. Similarly, while the observations of meteors, add thousands of new entries per month to existing databases, it is extremely rare they lead to meteorite recovery. Meteor studies thus represent an excellent example of the Big Data citizen science project, where progress in the field largely depends on the prompt identification and characterisation of meteor events as well as on extensive and valuable contributions by amateur observers. Over the last couple of decades technological advancements in observational techniques have yielded drastic improvements in the quality, quantity and diversity of meteor data, while even more ambitious instruments are about to become operational. This empowers meteor science to boost its experimental and theoretical horizons and seek more advanced scientific goals. We review some of the developments that push meteor science into the Big Data era that requires more complex methodological approaches through interdisciplinary collaborations with other branches of physics and computer science. We argue that meteor science should become an integral part of large surveys in astronomy, aeronomy and space physics, and tackle the complexity of micro-physics of meteor plasma and its interaction with the atmosphere. The recent increased interest in meteor science triggered by the Chelyabinsk fireball helps in building the case for technologically and logistically more ambitious meteor projects. This requires developing new methodological approaches in meteor research, with Big Data science and close collaboration between citizen science, geoscience and astronomy as critical elements. We discuss possibilities for improvements and promote an opportunity for collaboration in meteor science within the currently established EU COST BigSkyEarth http://bigskyearth.eu/ network.

On the use of harmonized HCHO and NO2 MAXDOAS measurements for the validation of GOME-2 and OMI satellite sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinardi, Gaia; Hendrick, François; Gielen, Clio; Van Roozendael, Michel; De Smedt, Isabelle; Lambert, Jean-Christopher; Granville, José; Compernolle, Steven; Richter, Andreas; Peters, Enno; Piters, Ankie; Wagner, Thomas; Wang, Yang; Drosoglou, Theano; Bais, Alkis; Wang, Shanshan; Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso

2017-04-01

During the last decade, the MAXDOAS technique has been increasingly recognized as a source of Fiducial Reference Measurements (FRM) suitable for the validation of satellite nadir observations of species relevant for climate and air quality like NO2 and HCHO. As part of the EU FP7 QA4ECV (Quality Assurance for Essential Climate Variables; see http://www.qa4ecv.eu/) project, efforts have been recently made to harmonize a network of a dozen of MAXDOAS spectrometers in view of their use to assess the quality of satellite climate data records generated within the same project. Harmonization tasks have addressed both retrieval steps involved in MAXDOAS retrievals, i.e. the DOAS spectral fit providing the differential slant column densities (DSCDs) and the conversion of the retrieved DSCDs into vertical profiles and/or vertical column densities (VCDs). In this work, we illustrate the successive harmonization steps and present the resulting QA4ECV MAXDOAS database v2. The approach adopted for the conversion of slant to vertical columns is based on a simplified look-up-table approach. The strength and limitation of this approach are discussed using reference data retrieved using an optimal estimation scheme. The QA4ECV MAXDOAS database is then used to validate satellite data sets of NO2 and HCHO columns derived from the Aura/OMI and MetOp/GOME-2 sensors. The methodology of comparison, which is also a subject of the QA4ECV project, is reviewed with respect to co-location criteria, impact of vertical and horizontal smoothing and representativeness of validation sites. We conclude by assessing the current strengths and limitations of the existing MAXDOAS datasets for NO2 and HCHO satellite validation.

Sonochemical coating of textile fabrics with antibacterial nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beddow, Jamie; Singh, Gagandeep; Blanes, María; Molla, Korina; Perelshtein, Ilana; Gedanken, Aharon; Joyce, Eadaoin; Mason, Timothy

2012-05-01

The high incidence of hospital-acquired infections places a huge financial burden on our healthcare systems. These infections are also responsible for many millions of deaths each year. Antibacterial fabrics for use in medical textiles, such as hospital uniforms, bedding and wound dressings, can provide a useful weapon in the on-going fight against these infections. The aim of this EU funded Framework 7 project is to develop a pilot line sonochemical coating machine for the production of antibacterial fabrics. The sonochemical coating technology under development is based on a lab scale process that was developed at Bar-Ilan University (BIU). It involves two processes that are driven by acoustic cavitation; the in situ generation of the metal oxide (MO) nanoparticles and the simultaneous high velocity propulsion of these nanoparticles onto a fabric leading to impregnation. Here we report on a comparison of 2 different MO nanoparticle coatings, ZnO and CuO, that were sonochemically applied on to a plain cotton fabric. Both of these coatings were prepared by BIU. In this work, the antibacterial efficacy of the coated fabrics was quantitatively assessed using the absorption method from BS EN ISO 20743:2007. Both types of metal oxide nanoparticle displayed antibacterial activity against all of the test bacteria with particularly high levels of bacterial reduction observed with the CuO coating. The results presented here are from an EU Framework 7 funded project (SONO, EU Project Number: 228730). The project is a collaboration between 17 partner organizations from 10 different European countries. Further details can be found on the project website at: www.fp7-sono.eu.

Interpreting participatory Fuzzy Cognitive Maps as complex networks in the social-ecological systems of the Amazonian forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varela, Consuelo; Tarquis, Ana M.; Blanco-Gutiérrez, Irene; Estebe, Paloma; Toledo, Marisol; Martorano, Lucieta

2015-04-01

Social-ecological systems are linked complex systems that represent interconnected human and biophysical processes evolving and adapting across temporal and spatial scales. In the real world, social-ecological systems pose substantial challenges for modeling. In this regard, Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) have proven to be a useful method for capturing the functioning of this type of systems. FCMs are a semi-quantitative type of cognitive map that represent a system composed of relevant factors and weighted links showing the strength and direction of cause-effects relationships among factors. Therefore, FCMs can be interpreted as complex system structures or complex networks. In this sense, recent research has applied complex network concepts for the analysis of FCMs that represent social-ecological systems. Key to FCM the tool is its potential to allow feedback loops and to include stakeholder knowledge in the construction of the tool. Also, previous research has demonstrated their potential to represent system dynamics and simulate the effects of changes in the system, such as policy interventions. For illustrating this analysis, we have developed a series of participatory FCM for the study of the ecological and human systems related to biodiversity conservation in two case studies of the Amazonian region, the Bolivia lowlands of Guarayos and the Brazil Tapajos National forest. The research is carried out in the context of the EU project ROBIN1 and it is based on the development of a series of stakeholder workshops to analyze the current state of the socio-ecological environment in the Amazonian forest, reflecting conflicts and challenges for biodiversity conservation and human development. Stakeholders included all relevant actors in the local case studies, namely farmers, environmental groups, producer organizations, local and provincial authorities and scientists. In both case studies we illustrate the use of complex networks concepts, such as the adjacency matrix and centrality properties (e.g.: centrality, page-rank, betweenness centrality). Different measures of network centrality evidence that deforestation and loss of biodiversity are the most relevant factors in the FCM of the two case studies analyzed. In both cases agricultural expansion emerges as a key driver of deforestation. The lack of policy coordination and a weak implementation and enforcement are also highly influential factors. The analysis of the system's dynamics suggest that in the case of Bolivia forest fires and deforestation are likely to continue in the immediate future as illegal activities are maintained and poverty increases. In the case of Brazil a decrease in available viable economic activities is driving further deforestation and ecosystem services loss. Overall, the research evidences how using FCMs together with complex network analysis can support policy development by identifying key elements and processes upon which policy makers and institutions can take action. Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the EU project ROBIN (The Role of Biodiversity in Climate Change Mitigation, from the EC FP7, no 283093) and the Spanish project AL14-PID-12 (Biodiversidad y cambio climático en la Amazonía: Perspectivas socio-económicas y ambientales) of the UPM Latin America Cooperation Program for funding this research.

Digital Dividend Aware Business Models for the Creative Industries: Challenges and Opportunities in EU Markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cossiavelou, Vassiliki

EU counties have a historically unique opportunity to enable their creative industries to promote the knowledge societies, applying new business models to their media content and networks markets, that are digital dividend (DD) aware. This new extra-media gatekeeping factor could shape new alliances and co operations among the member states and the global media markets, as well.

European Hands-on Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doran, Rosa; Ferlet, Roger; Gómez de Castro, Ana I.; Hill, Robert; Horellou, Cathy; Mankiewicz, Lech; Melchior, Anne-Laure; Metaxa, Margarita; Zanazzi, Alessandra

2007-08-01

Hands-on Universe is a project born at UC@Berkeley. A project devoted to enrich the teaching of Astronomy within the classroom environment with a different approach, more connected to the new technologies. Its main goals are not only to promote the use of such technologies but also to reawaken on students the taste for STEM (Science, technologies, engineering and math) related issues and also to increase their scientific culture. Eight countries in Europe decided to adopt the method and, funded by MINERVA, formed the European Hands-on Universe. Several resources were produced and a data reduction software developed http://www.euhou.net/.Other European countries are interested and should join this coordinated effort in the near future. At an international level there are 20 countries using this approach. There are plans to develop scientific cooperation among these countries. Pilot scientific research projects in schools are being tested in EU-HOU schools, Russia and USA. There is also a game being developed to be used as a new tool for teaching scientific content in the classroom environment. An effort to develop an international network of scientific / educational collaboration is the next step.

The GMOS cyber(e)-infrastructure: advanced services for supporting science and policy.

PubMed

Cinnirella, S; D'Amore, F; Bencardino, M; Sprovieri, F; Pirrone, N

2014-03-01

The need for coordinated, systematized and catalogued databases on mercury in the environment is of paramount importance as improved information can help the assessment of the effectiveness of measures established to phase out and ban mercury. Long-term monitoring sites have been established in a number of regions and countries for the measurement of mercury in ambient air and wet deposition. Long term measurements of mercury concentration in biota also produced a huge amount of information, but such initiatives are far from being within a global, systematic and interoperable approach. To address these weaknesses the on-going Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project ( www.gmos.eu ) established a coordinated global observation system for mercury as well it retrieved historical data ( www.gmos.eu/sdi ). To manage such large amount of information a technological infrastructure was planned. This high-performance back-end resource associated with sophisticated client applications enables data storage, computing services, telecommunications networks and all services necessary to support the activity. This paper reports the architecture definition of the GMOS Cyber(e)-Infrastructure and the services developed to support science and policy, including the United Nation Environmental Program. It finally describes new possibilities in data analysis and data management through client applications.

Downscaling of RCM outputs for representative catchments in the Mediterranean region, for the 1951-2100 time-frame

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deidda, Roberto; Marrocu, Marino; Pusceddu, Gabriella; Langousis, Andreas; Mascaro, Giuseppe; Caroletti, Giulio

2013-04-01

Within the activities of the EU FP7 CLIMB project (www.climb-fp7.eu), we developed downscaling procedures to reliably assess climate forcing at hydrologically relevant scales, and applied them to six representative hydrological basins located in the Mediterranean region: Riu Mannu and Noce in Italy, Chiba in Tunisia, Kocaeli in Turkey, Thau in France, and Gaza in Palestine. As a first step towards this aim, we used daily precipitation and temperature data from the gridded E-OBS project (www.ecad.eu/dailydata), as reference fields, to rank 14 Regional Climate Model (RCM) outputs from the ENSEMBLES project (http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com). The four best performing model outputs were selected, with the additional constraint of maintaining 2 outputs obtained from running different RCMs driven by the same GCM, and 2 runs from the same RCM driven by different GCMs. For these four RCM-GCM model combinations, a set of downscaling techniques were developed and applied, for the period 1951-2100, to variables used in hydrological modeling (i.e. precipitation; mean, maximum and minimum daily temperatures; direct solar radiation, relative humidity, magnitude and direction of surface winds). The quality of the final products is discussed, together with the results obtained after applying a bias reduction procedure to daily temperature and precipitation fields.

EuCARD 2010: European coordination of accelerator research and development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romaniuk, Ryszard S.

2010-09-01

Accelerators are basic tools of the experimental physics of elementary particles, nuclear physics, light sources of the fourth generation. They are also used in myriad other applications in research, industry and medicine. For example, there are intensely developed transmutation techniques for nuclear waste from nuclear power and atomic industries. The European Union invests in the development of accelerator infrastructures inside the framework programs to build the European Research Area. The aim is to build new accelerator research infrastructures, develop the existing ones, and generally make the infrastructures more available to competent users. The paper summarizes the first year of activities of the EU FP7 Project Capacities EuCARD -European Coordination of Accelerator R&D. EuCARD is a common venture of 37 European Accelerator Laboratories, Institutes, Universities and Industrial Partners involved in accelerator sciences and technologies. The project, initiated by ESGARD, is an Integrating Activity co-funded by the European Commission under Framework Program 7 - Capacities for a duration of four years, starting April 1st, 2009. Several teams from this country participate actively in this project. The contribution from Polish research teams concerns: photonic and electronic measurement - control systems, RF-gun co-design, thin-film superconducting technology, superconducting transport infrastructures, photon and particle beam measurements and control.

How to Improve Integrated Care for People with Chronic Conditions: Key Findings from EU FP-7 Project INTEGRATE and Beyond.

PubMed

Borgermans, Liesbeth; Marchal, Yannick; Busetto, Loraine; Kalseth, Jorid; Kasteng, Frida; Suija, Kadri; Oona, Marje; Tigova, Olena; Rösenmuller, Magda; Devroey, Dirk

2017-09-25

Political and public health leaders increasingly recognize the need to take urgent action to address the problem of chronic diseases and multi-morbidity. European countries are facing unprecedented demand to find new ways to deliver care to improve patient-centredness and personalization, and to avoid unnecessary time in hospitals. People-centred and integrated care has become a central part of policy initiatives to improve the access, quality, continuity, effectiveness and sustainability of healthcare systems and are thus preconditions for the economic sustainability of the EU health and social care systems. This study presents an overview of lessons learned and critical success factors to policy making on integrated care based on findings from the EU FP-7 Project Integrate, a literature review, other EU projects with relevance to this study, a number of best practices on integrated care and our own experiences with research and policy making in integrated care at the national and international level. Seven lessons learned and critical success factors to policy making on integrated care were identified. The lessons learned and critical success factors to policy making on integrated care show that a comprehensive systems perspective should guide the development of integrated care towards better health practices, education, research and policy.

How to Improve Integrated Care for People with Chronic Conditions: Key Findings from EU FP-7 Project INTEGRATE and Beyond

PubMed Central

Marchal, Yannick; Busetto, Loraine; Kalseth, Jorid; Kasteng, Frida; Suija, Kadri; Oona, Marje; Tigova, Olena; Rösenmuller, Magda; Devroey, Dirk

2017-01-01

Background: Political and public health leaders increasingly recognize the need to take urgent action to address the problem of chronic diseases and multi-morbidity. European countries are facing unprecedented demand to find new ways to deliver care to improve patient-centredness and personalization, and to avoid unnecessary time in hospitals. People-centred and integrated care has become a central part of policy initiatives to improve the access, quality, continuity, effectiveness and sustainability of healthcare systems and are thus preconditions for the economic sustainability of the EU health and social care systems. Purpose: This study presents an overview of lessons learned and critical success factors to policy making on integrated care based on findings from the EU FP-7 Project Integrate, a literature review, other EU projects with relevance to this study, a number of best practices on integrated care and our own experiences with research and policy making in integrated care at the national and international level. Results: Seven lessons learned and critical success factors to policy making on integrated care were identified. Conclusion: The lessons learned and critical success factors to policy making on integrated care show that a comprehensive systems perspective should guide the development of integrated care towards better health practices, education, research and policy. PMID:29588630

Results on 3D interconnection from AIDA WP3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moser, Hans-Günther; AIDA-WP3

2016-09-01

From 2010 to 2014 the EU funded AIDA project established in one of its work packages (WP3) a network of groups working collaboratively on advanced 3D integration of electronic circuits and semiconductor sensors for applications in particle physics. The main motivation came from the severe requirements on pixel detectors for tracking and vertexing at future Particle Physics experiments at LHC, super-B factories and linear colliders. To go beyond the state-of-the-art, the main issues were studying low mass, high bandwidth applications, with radiation hardness capabilities, with low power consumption, offering complex functionality, with small pixel size and without dead regions. The interfaces and interconnects of sensors to electronic readout integrated circuits are a key challenge for new detector applications.

Use of certain alternative fuels in road transport in Poland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gis, W.; Pielecha, J.; Waśkiewicz, J.; Gis, M.; Menes, M.

2016-09-01

The development of biomethane and hydrogen technology in the road transport in the EU countries is recommended, among the others, in the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 2014/94/EU of 22 October 2014. Under the provisions of the said Directive, it is recommended to EU countries to use biomethane and progressively ensure accessibility to hydrogen cars on their territories, and above all to ensure the possibility of driving hydrogen vehicles between the member States. The territorial accessibility for biomethane vehicles is determined by the availability of biomethane refuelling infrastructure in the first place in cities and then on the road network distances recommended in this directive. The territorial accessibility for hydrogen vehicles is determined by the availability of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, in the first place along the TEN-T network. The article presents the possibilities of using these alternative fuels in Poland, presenting some of the results of research and analysis in this area.

CITYZER - Services for effective decision making and environmental resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harri, Ari-Matti; Turtiainen, Heikki; Turpeinen, Jani; Viitala, Erkki; Janka, Kauko; Palonen, Henry; Rönkkö, Topi; Laiho, Tiina; Laitinen, Teija; Haukka, Harri; Schmidt, Walter; Nousiainen, Timo

2016-04-01

The CITYZER project develops new digital services and products to support decision making processes related to weather and air quality in cities. This includes, e.g., early warnings and forecasts (0-24 h), which allow for avoiding weather-related accidents, mitigate human distress and costs from weather-related damage and bad air quality, and generally improve the resilience and safety of the society. The project takes advantage of the latest scientific know-how and directly exploits the expertise obtained from, e.g., Tekes-funded (MMEA [1], RAVAKE) and EU-funded (HAREN, EDHIT [2]) projects. Central to the project is the Observation Network Manager NM10 [3] developed by Vaisala Oyj within the Tekes/MMEA project, on which CITYZER defines and builds new commercial services and connects new sensor networks (e.g., air quality). The target groups of the services and products (e.g., public sector, real estate and energy companies, and distributors) and related business models will be analyzed and developed in collaboration with local player (e.g., Asia, South America) taking advantage of the pre-existing contacts by the Haaga-Helia, Vaisala Oyj and CLIC Innovation. Service models are designed to account for and adapt to the special needs of different areas and customers. The developed services will be scalable (most common platforms) and responsive. CITYZER project partners include Vaisala Oyj (observation instrumentation, systems and products), Sasken Ltd (mobile products), Emtele Ltd (Portable IoT ICT Service Operation Center/Environment and remote intelligent cabinet for sensor network-GW and connections), HSY (urban services), Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (service business models including digital services), Finnish Meteorological Institute (implementation of and scientific research on meteorological & air quality products), and the Tampere University of Technology (definition of and scientific research on air quality products), Pegasor Ltd (support for air quality instrumentation and products), INNO-W Ltd (providing business services support), as well as the CLIC Innovation Ltd as a subcontractor for arranging cooperation with international partners and project information dissemination, as well as composing the consortium agreement and other legal issues. Additional project partners are welcomed to join the project and current consortium encourage all potential partners to contact project management for further details. The business impact of this project to existing markets is estimated to be substantial and it will also create totally new markets especially for weather information related services. The existing whole target market size at this point is estimated to be several billion USD and the size of the market is growing steadily. The key CITYZER outcomes are the piloted services and products with envisaged great commercial and export potential. Development of the services will be managed by Sasken, Emtele, Pegasor and Vaisala and supported by INNO-W. The user profiling and market assessment, including the most potential market area either from Asia or South America, will be led by Haaga-Helia and supported by industrial partners. FMI, Vaisala and Pegasor will use their expertise and current business relations to those foreign markets to speed up and guide the user and market evaluation. Essential potential players are local actors in e.g. Brazil, China and India that will be subcontracted to bring in local expertise in the user profiling and market assessment processes. This three year project is scheduled such that, overall, the first two years focus on implementing the technical basis as well as customer and market analyses. Throughout the course of the project a CityzerDemo test bed environment will be developed in the Helsinki metropolitan area, demonstrating the observational and modeling system and services built on them. In addition, the services and business models will be evaluated. Acknowledgements The project has received funding from TEKES, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation. References [1] http://mmea.fi/ [2] http://edhit.eu/ [3] http://www.vaisala.com/en/products/metdatamanagementsystems/Pages/NM10.aspx

Promoting innovation and excellence to face the rapid diffusion of novel psychoactive substances in the EU: the outcomes of the ReDNet project.

PubMed

Corazza, Ornella; Assi, Sulaf; Simonato, Pierluigi; Corkery, John; Bersani, Francesco Saverio; Demetrovics, Zsolt; Stair, Jacqueline; Fergus, Suzanne; Pezzolesi, Cinzia; Pasinetti, Manuela; Deluca, Paolo; Drummond, Colin; Davey, Zoe; Blaszko, Ursula; Moskalewicz, Jacek; Mervo, Barbara; Furia, Lucia Di; Farre, Maggi; Flesland, Liv; Pisarska, Agnieszka; Shapiro, Harry; Siemann, Holger; Skutle, Arvid; Sferrazza, Elias; Torrens, Marta; Sambola, F; van der Kreeft, Peer; Scherbaum, Norbert; Schifano, Fabrizio

2013-07-01

The recent emergence of new psychoactive compounds (novel psychoactive substances (NPS)) has raised prominent challenges in the fields of drug policy, substance use research, public health and service provision. The Recreational Drugs European Network project, funded by the European Commission, was implemented to improve the information stream to young people and professionals about effects/risks of NPS by identifying online products and disseminating relevant information through technological tools. Regular multilingual qualitative assessments of websites, drugs fora and other online resources were carried out using the Google search engine in eight languages from collaborating countries. These included the following: the UK, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Italy and Spain. Products were tested and prevention messages were developed and disseminated via technological tools such as interactive websites, SMS alert, social networking (Facebook, Twitter), Multimedia (You Tube), Smartphone applications (iPhone) and virtual learning environments (Second Life). The Recreational Drugs European Network project established itself as the first Europe-wide prevention programme designed for NPS based on the efficacy of novel information and communication technology-based forms of intervention. More than 650 NPS products and combinations were identified; relevant information was disseminated to target population and advice was given to both European Union/international agencies and national policy makers. Web-monitoring activities are essential for mapping the diffusion of NPS and the use of technological tools can be successfully incorporated in specific prevention programmes. Furthermore, the involvement of multi-disciplinary international partnerships was and continues to be fundamental for responding to such a prominent challenge. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PHENOALP: a new project on phenology in the Western Alps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremonese, E.

2009-04-01

PHENOALP is a new EU co-funded Interreg Project under the operational programme for cross-border cooperation "Italy-France (Alps-ALCOTRA)" 2007 - 2013, aiming to get a better understanding of phenological changes in the Alps. The major goals of the project are: 1- The implementation of an observation network in the involved territories (i.e. the Aosta Valley and the Savoies in the Western Alps); 2- The definition of a common observation strategy and common protocols; 3- The involvement of local community members (e.g. through schools) in the observation activities as a way to increase the awareness on the issue of the effects of climate change. Project leader is the Environmental Protection Agency of Aosta Valley (ARPA Valle d'Aosta - IT) and the partners are the Research Center on High Altitude Ecosystem (CREA - FR), Mont Avic Regional Parc (IT), Bauges Massif Regional Natural Parc (FR) and the Protected Area Service of Aosta Valley (IT). Project activities are: 1. Pheno-plantes: definition of common observation protocols (e.g. field observation and webcams) of different alpine species (trees and herbaceous) and implementation of the observation network; analysis of the relations between climate and phenological events; application and evaluation of phenological models. 2. Pheno-detection: remote sensing of European larch and high elevation pastures with MODIS data; multitemporal analysis (2000-2011) of phenological variations in the Western Alps. 3. Pheno-flux: analysis of the relation between the seasonal and interannual variability of plant phenology and productivity, assessed measuring CO2 fluxes (eddy-covariance technique), radiometric indexes and phenological events at specific (European larch stand and alpine pastures) monitoring site. 4. Pheno-zoo: definition of common observation protocols for the phenology of animal taxa (birds, mammals, amphibians and insects) along altitudinal gradients; implementation of the observation network. 5. Inter-pheno: integrated analysis of the relationships between plants and animals phenology and their relation with climatic and other environmental conditions. 6. Meteo-reseau: implementation of a monitoring network of temperature data in the sites where phenological observations are done. 7. Pheno-form: involvement of community members (e.g. schools, naturalistic guides, ...) in the observations and diffusion of results. During the conference, details on project structures, methodology and expected outcomes will be exposed and discussed.

Estimating future burned areas under changing climate in the EU-Mediterranean countries.

PubMed

Amatulli, Giuseppe; Camia, Andrea; San-Miguel-Ayanz, Jesús

2013-04-15

The impacts of climate change on forest fires have received increased attention in recent years at both continental and local scales. It is widely recognized that weather plays a key role in extreme fire situations. It is therefore of great interest to analyze projected changes in fire danger under climate change scenarios and to assess the consequent impacts of forest fires. In this study we estimated burned areas in the European Mediterranean (EU-Med) countries under past and future climate conditions. Historical (1985-2004) monthly burned areas in EU-Med countries were modeled by using the Canadian Fire Weather Index (CFWI). Monthly averages of the CFWI sub-indices were used as explanatory variables to estimate the monthly burned areas in each of the five most affected countries in Europe using three different modeling approaches (Multiple Linear Regression - MLR, Random Forest - RF, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines - MARS). MARS outperformed the other methods. Regression equations and significant coefficients of determination were obtained, although there were noticeable differences from country to country. Climatic conditions at the end of the 21st Century were simulated using results from the runs of the regional climate model HIRHAM in the European project PRUDENCE, considering two IPCC SRES scenarios (A2-B2). The MARS models were applied to both scenarios resulting in projected burned areas in each country and in the EU-Med region. Results showed that significant increases, 66% and 140% of the total burned area, can be expected in the EU-Med region under the A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

European Union investment and countries' involvement in mental health research between 2007 and 2013.

PubMed

Hazo, J-B; Gervaix, J; Gandré, C; Brunn, M; Leboyer, M; Chevreul, K

2016-08-01

This study aimed to estimate the commitment to mental health research by the European Union (EU) through the 7th framework (FP7) and the competitiveness and innovation (CIP) programmes during the 2007-2013 period. Research projects dedicated or partially related to mental health were identified using keywords in the CORDIS database that inventories all FP7 and CIP research projects. We then contacted projects' principal investigators to access the budget breakdown by country and performed an imputation of the distribution of funding between countries based on projects' and participants' characteristics where information was missing. Among the 25 783 research projects funded by the FP7 and the CIP, 215 (0.8%) were specifically dedicated to mental health and 170 (0.7%) were partially related to mental health. They received €607.1 million representing 1.4% of FP7 total funding. Within the FP7-Health subprogramme, the projects represented 5.2% of funding. Important variations appeared across EU countries both for raw funding, which varied between €0 and €77M, and for funding per 100 inhabitants, which varied between €0 and €293. EU funding of mental health research does not match the burden incurred by mental disorders and must be increased in the next framework programme. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Actions for prevention and control of health threats related to maritime transport in European Union.

PubMed

Hadjichristodoulou, Christos; Mouchtouri, Varvara A; Guglielmetti, Paolo; Lemos, Cinthia Menel; Nichols, Gordon; Paux, Thierry; Schlaich, Clara; Cornejo, Miguel Davila; Martinez, Carmen Varela; Dionisio, Mauro; Rehmet, Sybille; Jaremin, Bogdan; Kremastinou, Jenny

2013-01-01

Actions at European Union level for International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 implementation and maritime transport were focused on two European projects implemented between 2006 and 2011. Situation analysis and needs assessment were conducted, a Manual including European standards and best practice and training material was developed and training courses were delivered. Ship-to-port and port-to-port communication web-based network and database for recording IHR Ship Sanitation Certificates (SSC) were established. Fifty pilot inspections based on the Manual were conducted on passenger ships. A total of 393 corrective actions were implemented according to recommendations given to Captains during pilot inspections. The web-based communication network of competent authorities at ports in EU Member States was used to manage 13 events/outbreaks (dengue fever, Legionnaires' disease, gastroenteritis, meningitis, varicella and measles). The European information database system was used for producing and recording 1018 IHR SSC by 156 inspectors in 6 countries in accordance with the WHO Handbook for inspection of ships and issuance of SSC. Implementation of corrective actions after pilot inspections increased the level of compliance with the hygiene standards in passenger ships sailing within the EU waters and improved hygiene conditions. The communication tool contributed to improvement of outbreak identification and better management through rapid sharing of public health information, allowing a more timely and coordinated response. After the implementation of actions on passenger ships, the European Commission co-funded a Joint action that will expand the activities to all types of ships and chemical, biological and radio-nuclear threats (deliberate acts/accidental). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Where are we coming from versus who we will become: the effect of priming different contents of European identity on cooperation.

PubMed

La Barbera, Francesco; Ferrara, Pia Cariota; Boza, Mihaela

2014-12-01

In two experiments, we investigated how priming European identity as common project versus common heritage affects participants' cooperation in a social dilemma; an additional aim was to explore the mediators involved in the process. In the first experiment, 82 students played a public good dilemma with a European bogus partner and then completed self-report measures of identification with the European Union (EU), group-based trust and collective interest. Results showed that priming a common project-based but not a common heritage-based European social identity fostered cooperative behaviour; this effect was mediated by two sequential mediators: the common project prime increased participants' strength of identification with EU (mediator 1) which, in turn, positively affected group-based trust (mediator 2), fostering greater cooperation. Experiment 2 was conducted with a similar procedure on a sample of 124 students, using a different measure of trust and changing the order of mediators. Results supported those of previous experiment: Priming a project-based EU identity content (compared to heritage-based one) had significant direct and indirect effects on cooperation. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Demonstration of Next-Generation PEM CHP Systems for Global Markets Using PBI Membrane Technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vogel, John; Fritz Intwala, Katrina

Plug Power and BASF have conducted eight years of development work prior to this project, demonstrating the potential of PBI membranes to exceed many DOE technical targets. This project consisted of; 1.The development of a worldwide system architecture; 2.Stack and balance of plant module development; 3.Development of an improved, lower cost MEA electrode; 4.Receipt of an improved MEA from the EU consortium; 5.Integration of modules into a system; and 6.Delivery of system to EU consortium for additional integration of technologies and testing.

New/Future Approaches to Explosive/Chemicals Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valkovic, Vlado

2009-03-01

Although there has been some reported progress in many systems used for threat material detection and identification a promising one seems to be the use of tagged fast neutrons generated in d+t→α+n nuclear reaction. Among others, EU-FP6 project EURITRACK has been a successful demonstration of the use of tagged neutrons for ship container inspections. It has been shown that the deployment of the same technology under-water is a feasibility to be realized in the near future (i.e. EU-FP7 project UNCOSS).

European convergence towards higher standards in dental education: the DentEd Thematic Network Project.

PubMed

Shanley, Diarmuid B; Dowling, Paul A; Claffey, Noel; Nattestad, Anders

2002-02-01

This paper describes a Thematic Network Project (TNP) funded by the European Union's Directorate for Education and Culture. It focused on convergence towards higher standards in dental education in the European Union and included those 'Associate Countries' seeking membership of an expanding EU. The DentEd Project sought to use peer influence in promoting convergence towards higher standards in European dental education and training. There is evidence of serious differences in standards despite the European Union's Dental Directives and the series of guidelines and recommendations of their Advisory Committee on the Training of Dental Practitioners. The DentEd TNP sought to improve communication, better understanding of different systems and to pool intellectual resources. A central objective of the network was to promote outcome analysis and the implementation of evidence-based treatments. DentEd sought to identify and disseminate innovations and best practices in European dental schools and stomatological institutions. This was achieved by instigating 30 self-assessments of dental schools throughout Europe. Self-assessment was followed by a visit from a team of international peers. Each assessment comprised 19 sections and was placed on the DentEd web site (www.dented.org) after it was jointly approved by the visitors and host school. The 30 self-assessment reports together with the visitors comments and recommendations were then divided into their component sections and analysed. Responsibility for each section was allocated to one of 19 different international working groups of between 8 and 12 people. Preliminary analyses from these working groups were presented and debated on the DentEd interactive web site. They finalised their findings in the DentEd Report at a Plenary meeting in the Nobel Forum in the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The meeting was organised in such a way that each working group finalised their report. This was followed by the rotation of the working groups to listen and respond to the presentation of another group on the basis of a series interactive meetings. At the end of the meeting the original groups reassembled and revised their analysis on the basis of the additional input from the other 200 individuals involved and then finalised their group's report on the web site. These reports are available on the web site and were also published in hard copy.1 The three-year DentEd Project achieved its stated objectives. The DentEd Thematic Network Project employed a process of schools visits, plenary meetings and the use of an interactive web site to help reach consensus on innovations, best practices and significant divergence in standards in dental education in Europe. This process has proven an effective method of improving communication and of increasing the understanding of diversity in a wide range of educational methods. It also emphasised the importance of continuing quality improvement and outcome analysis of the clinical competence of graduates from European dental schools. It is important to emphasise that schools visited are likely to reflect those with an open and flexible attitude to educational reform and development and perhaps they were not representative of those schools that would benefit most from a self-assessment followed by peer review. On completion of the DentEd Thematic Network Project (TNP) the European Union's Directorate for Education and Culture approved a new three-year DentEdEvolves TNP and the consortium has recently submitted a major proposal in the EU's eLearning initiative on the basis of the success of this collaboration. This has extended to include 75% of dental schools from North America and plans for extension to South-east Asia will bring a major meeting to Singapore in April 2002.

Rapid earthquake hazard and loss assessment for Euro-Mediterranean region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erdik, Mustafa; Sesetyan, Karin; Demircioglu, Mine; Hancilar, Ufuk; Zulfikar, Can; Cakti, Eser; Kamer, Yaver; Yenidogan, Cem; Tuzun, Cuneyt; Cagnan, Zehra; Harmandar, Ebru

2010-10-01

The almost-real time estimation of ground shaking and losses after a major earthquake in the Euro-Mediterranean region was performed in the framework of the Joint Research Activity 3 (JRA-3) component of the EU FP6 Project entitled "Network of Research Infra-structures for European Seismology, NERIES". This project consists of finding the most likely location of the earthquake source by estimating the fault rupture parameters on the basis of rapid inversion of data from on-line regional broadband stations. It also includes an estimation of the spatial distribution of selected site-specific ground motion parameters at engineering bedrock through region-specific ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) or physical simulation of ground motion. By using the Earthquake Loss Estimation Routine (ELER) software, the multi-level methodology developed for real time estimation of losses is capable of incorporating regional variability and sources of uncertainty stemming from GMPEs, fault finiteness, site modifications, inventory of physical and social elements subjected to earthquake hazard and the associated vulnerability relationships.

Geosciences Information Network (GIN): A modular, distributed, interoperable data network for the geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, M.; Gundersen, L. C.; Richard, S. M.; Dickinson, T. L.

2008-12-01

A coalition of the state geological surveys (AASG), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and partners will receive NSF funding over 3 years under the INTEROP solicitation to start building the Geoscience Information Network (www.geoinformatics.info/gin) a distributed, interoperable data network. The GIN project will develop standardized services to link existing and in-progress components using a few standards and protocols, and work with data providers to implement these services. The key components of this network are 1) catalog system(s) for data discovery; 2) service definitions for interfaces for searching catalogs and accessing resources; 3) shared interchange formats to encode information for transmission (e.g. various XML markup languages); 4) data providers that publish information using standardized services defined by the network; and 5) client applications adapted to use information resources provided by the network. The GIN will integrate and use catalog resources that currently exist or are in development. We are working with the USGS National Geologic Map Database's existing map catalog, with the USGS National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program, which is developing a metadata catalog (National Digital Catalog) for geoscience information resource discovery, and with the GEON catalog. Existing interchange formats will be used, such as GeoSciML, ChemML, and Open Geospatial Consortium sensor, observation and measurement MLs. Client application development will be fostered by collaboration with industry and academic partners. The GIN project will focus on the remaining aspects of the system -- service definitions and assistance to data providers to implement the services and bring content online - and on system integration of the modules. Initial formal collaborators include the OneGeology-Europe consortium of 27 nations that is building a comparable network under the EU INSPIRE initiative, GEON, Earthchem, and GIS software company ESRI. OneGeology-Europe and GIN have agreed to integrate their networks, effectively adopting global standards among geological surveys that are available across the entire field. ESRI is creating a Geology Data Model for ArcGIS software to be compatible with GIN, and other companies are expressing interest in adapting their services, applications, and clients to take advantage of the large data resources planned to become available through GIN.

Responding to "Crisis": Education Policy Research in Europe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexiadou, Nafsika

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the significance of international and transnational developments for education policy research, with a focus on the European Union. The rise of policy projects at the EU level since 2000, has altered the relationships between the state, EU institutions and education policy, in terms of the definition of values, purposes, and…

Internationalisation and Standardisation of European Environmental Assessment. Relevance to India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gazzola, Paola; Jha-Thakur, Urmila

2009-01-01

This paper discusses the rationale underlying "PENTA", an EU funded Erasmus Mundus project. In doing so, it explores the challenges of internationalising and standardising European environmental assessment (EA) practice and education to a third country audience, looking at India as a case study. It is argued that the EU EA Directives are…

Between School and Work--Dilemmas in European Comparative Transition Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niemeyer, Beatrix

2007-01-01

On the basis of the author's experience in coordinating a number of EU research projects aimed at improving the transition from school to vocational training for disadvantaged young people, the following paper focuses on problems in comparing support measures in Europe and on the practical relevance of comparative EU research. The first section…

High-skilled labour mobility in Europe before and after the 2004 enlargement

PubMed Central

Puliga, Michelangelo

2017-01-01

The extent to which international high-skilled mobility channels are forming is a question of great importance in an increasingly global knowledge-based economy. One factor facilitating the growth of high-skilled labour markets is the standardization of certifiable degrees meriting international recognition. Within this context, we analysed an extensive high-skilled mobility database comprising roughly 382 000 individuals from five broad profession groups (Medical, Education, Technical, Science & Engineering and Business & Legal) over the period 1997–2014, using the 13-country expansion of the European Union (EU) to provide insight into labour market integration. We compare the periods before and after the 2004 enlargement, showing the emergence of a new east–west migration channel between the 13 mostly eastern EU entrants (E) and the rest of the western European countries (W). Indeed, we observe a net directional loss of human capital from E → W, representing 29% of the total mobility after 2004. Nevertheless, the counter-migration from W → E is 7% of the total mobility over the same period, signalling the emergence of brain circulation within the EU. Our analysis of the country–country mobility networks and the country–profession bipartite networks provides timely quantitative evidence for the convergent integration of the EU, and highlights the central role of the UK and Germany as high-skilled labour hubs. We conclude with two data-driven models to explore the structural dynamics of the mobility networks. First, we develop a reconfiguration model to explore the potential ramifications of Brexit and the degree to which redirection of high-skilled labourers away from the UK may impact the integration of the rest of the European mobility network. Second, we use a panel regression model to explain empirical high-skilled mobility rates in terms of various economic ‘push–pull’ factors, the results of which show that government expenditure on education, per capita wealth, geographical proximity and labour force size are significant attractive features of destination countries. PMID:28298610

High-skilled labour mobility in Europe before and after the 2004 enlargement.

PubMed

Petersen, Alexander M; Puliga, Michelangelo

2017-03-01

The extent to which international high-skilled mobility channels are forming is a question of great importance in an increasingly global knowledge-based economy. One factor facilitating the growth of high-skilled labour markets is the standardization of certifiable degrees meriting international recognition. Within this context, we analysed an extensive high-skilled mobility database comprising roughly 382 000 individuals from five broad profession groups (Medical, Education, Technical, Science & Engineering and Business & Legal) over the period 1997-2014, using the 13-country expansion of the European Union (EU) to provide insight into labour market integration. We compare the periods before and after the 2004 enlargement, showing the emergence of a new east-west migration channel between the 13 mostly eastern EU entrants (E) and the rest of the western European countries (W). Indeed, we observe a net directional loss of human capital from E → W, representing 29% of the total mobility after 2004. Nevertheless, the counter-migration from W → E is 7% of the total mobility over the same period, signalling the emergence of brain circulation within the EU. Our analysis of the country-country mobility networks and the country-profession bipartite networks provides timely quantitative evidence for the convergent integration of the EU, and highlights the central role of the UK and Germany as high-skilled labour hubs. We conclude with two data-driven models to explore the structural dynamics of the mobility networks. First, we develop a reconfiguration model to explore the potential ramifications of Brexit and the degree to which redirection of high-skilled labourers away from the UK may impact the integration of the rest of the European mobility network. Second, we use a panel regression model to explain empirical high-skilled mobility rates in terms of various economic 'push-pull' factors, the results of which show that government expenditure on education, per capita wealth, geographical proximity and labour force size are significant attractive features of destination countries. © 2017 The Author(s).

ACTRIS aerosol vertical profile data and observations: potentiality and first examples of integrated studies with models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mona, Lucia; Benedetti, Angela; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Myhre, Cathrine Lund; Schulz, Michael; Wandinger, Ulla; Laj, Paolo; Pappalardo, Gelsomina

2016-04-01

The ACTRIS-2 project, funded by Horizon 2020, addresses the scope of integrating state-of-the-art European ground-based stations for long term observations of aerosols, clouds and short lived gases, capitalizing on the work of FP7-ACTRIS. It aims at achieving the construction of a user-oriented RI, unique in the EU-RI landscape for providing 4-D integrated high-quality data from near-surface to high altitude (vertical profiles and total-column) which are relevant to climate and air-quality research. ACTRIS-2 develops and implements, in a large network of stations in Europe and beyond, observational protocols that permit the harmonization of collected data and their dissemination. ACTRIS secures provision and dissemination of a unique set of data and data-products that would not otherwise be available with the same level of quality and standardization. This results from a 10-year plus effort in constructing a research infrastructure capable of responding to community needs and requirements, and has been engaged since the start of the FP5 EU commission program. ACTRIS ensures compliance with reporting requirements (timing, format, traceability) defined by the major global observing networks. EARLINET (European Aerosol research Lidar NETwork), the aerosol vertical profiling component of ACTRIS, is providing since May 2000 vertical profiles of aerosol extinction and backscatter over Europe. A new structure of the EARLINET database has been designed in a more user oriented approach reporting new data products which are more effective for specific uses of different communities. In particular, a new era is starting with the Copernicus program during which the aerosol vertical profiling capability will be fundamental for assimilation and validation purposes. The new data products have been designed thanks to a strong link with EARLINET data users, first of all modeling and satellite communities, established since the beginning of EARLINET and re-enforced within ACTRIS2. The potentiality of the new EARLINET data products and first examples of integrated studies with models will be presented at the conference. Acknowledgments: ACTRIS2 Research Infrastructure Project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement n. 654169 and previously under FP7 grant agreement n. 262254.

Automated Structure Annotation and Curation for MassBank: Potential and Pitfalls

EPA Science Inventory

The European MassBank server (www.massbank.eu) was founded in 2012 by the NORMAN Network (www.norman-network.net) to provide open access to mass spectra of substances of environmental interest contributed by NORMAN members. The automated workflow RMassBank was developed as a part...

INTRAW, the EU Observatory for raw materials: fostering international cooperation and developing new opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Correia, Victor; Allington, Ruth; Keane, Christopher

2016-04-01

A secure supply of raw materials is a European priority that extends beyond country borders and national policies. Recent European initiatives have pioneered the development of an EU strategy on raw materials emphasizing the concept of the "added value chain", which continues to pursue the three pillar strategy to: (1) ensure the fair and sustainable supply of raw materials from international markets, promoting international cooperation with developed and developing countries; (2) foster sustainable supply of raw materials from European sources, and (3) reduce consumption of primary raw materials by increasing resource efficiency and promoting recycling. This contribution presents the Horizon 2020 funded project INTRAW, the objective of which is to establish the European Union's International Observatory for Raw Materials. The creation and maintenance of the European Union's International Observatory for Raw Materials is designed to have a strong impact in two dimensions: 1. To narrow the existing gap in aspects of the raw materials knowledge infrastructure in the EU by providing a link with the same knowledge infrastructure in technologically advanced reference countries. This should contribute to the harmonization of mineral policies all over the EU, by providing data that enables evidence-based policies and appropriate, cost-effective management, planning and adaptation decisions by the public sector. This will benefit businesses, industry and society. The Observatory will also provide to policy makers in the EU and its Member States the data they need to facilitate discussion in multilateral forums. 2. To enable a better alignment of the R&I activities among the individual EU members and international cooperation countries AND between the European Union and international cooperation countries by boosting synergies with international research and innovation programmes. This way the EU's role and scientific capabilities in the raw materials area will be reinforced in the mid-term, and the conditions for sustainable access and supply of raw materials in the EU will benefit from the international cooperation. The authors will describe the key stages of the INTRAW project and explain how it aims to establish (and promote the continuation of) international cooperation at every stage of the raw materials value chain and to build a repository of information and analysis to support the development and strengthening of EU raw materials strategies. Key elements of the value chain upon which the project focuses are: industry and trade; education and outreach; and research and innovation. The roles of geoscientists in delivering the aims and objectives of INTRAW will be emphasised.

Enhancing the effectiveness of diabetes self-management education: the diabetes literacy project.

PubMed

Van den Broucke, S; Van der Zanden, G; Chang, P; Doyle, G; Levin, D; Pelikan, J; Schillinger, D; Schwarz, P; Sørensen, K; Yardley, L; Riemenschneider, H

2014-12-01

Patient empowerment through self-management education is central to improving the quality of diabetes care and preventing Type 2 Diabetes. Although national programs exist, there is no EU-wide strategy for diabetes self-management education, and patients with limited literacy face barriers to effective self-management. The Diabetes Literacy project, initiated with the support of the European Commission, aims to fill this gap. The project investigates the effectiveness of diabetes self-management education, targeting people with or at risk of Type 2 Diabetes in the 28 EU Member States, as part of a comprehensive EU-wide diabetes strategy. National diabetes strategies in the EU, US, Taiwan, and Israel are compared, and diabetes self-management programs inventorized. The costs of the diabetes care pathway are assessed on a per person basis at national level. A comparison is made of the (cost)-effectiveness of different methods for diabetes self-management support, and the moderating role of health literacy, organization of the health services, and implementation fidelity of education programs are considered. Web-based materials are developed and evaluated by randomized trials to evaluate if interactive internet delivery can enhance self-management support for people with lower levels of health literacy. The 3-year project started in December 2012. Several literature reviews have been produced and protocol development and research design are in the final stages. Primary and secondary data collection and analysis take place in 2014. The results will inform policy decisions on improving the prevention, treatment, and care for persons with diabetes across literacy levels. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Accelerator science and technology in Europe 2008-2017

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romaniuk, Ryszard S.

2013-10-01

European Framework Research Projects have recently added a lot of meaning to the building process of the ERA - the European Research Area. Inside this, the accelerator technology plays an essential role. Accelerator technology includes large infrastructure and intelligent, modern instrumentation embracing mechatronics, electronics, photonics and ICT. During the realization of the European research and infrastructure project FP6 CARE 2004-2008 (Coordinated Accelerator Research in Europe), concerning the development of large accelerator infrastructure in Europe, it was decided that a scientific editorial series of peer-reviewed monographs from this research area will be published in close relation with the projects. It was a completely new and quite brave idea to combine a kind of a strictly research publisher with a transient project, lasting only four or five years. Till then nobody did something like that. The idea turned out to be a real success. The publications now known and valued in the accelerator world, as the (CERN-WUT) Editorial Series on Accelerator Science and Technology, is successfully continued in already the third European project EuCARD2 and has logistic guarantees, for the moment, till the 2017, when it will mature to its first decade. During the realization of the European projects EuCARD (European Coordination for Accelerator R&D 2009-2013 and TIARA (Test Infrastructure of Accelerator Research Area in Europe) there were published 18 volumes in this series. The ambitious plans for the nearest years is to publish, hopefully, a few tens of new volumes. Accelerator science and technology is one of a key enablers of the developments in the particle physic, photon physics and also applications in medicine and industry. The paper presents a digest of the research results in the domain of accelerator science and technology in Europe, published in the monographs of the European Framework Projects (FP) on accelerator technology. The succession of CARE, EuCARD and EuCARD Projects is evidently creating a new quality in the European Accelerator Research. It is consolidating the technical and research communities in a new way, completely different than the traditional ones, for example via the periodic topical conferences.

Recent progress in Open Data production and consumption - examples from a Governmental institute (SMHI) and a collaborative EU research project (SWITCH-ON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arheimer, Berit; Falkenroth, Esa

2014-05-01

The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) has a long tradition both in producing and consuming open data on a national, European and global scale. It is also promoting community building among water scientists in Europe by participating in and initiating collaborative projects. This presentation will exemplify the contemporary European movement imposed by the INSPIRE directive and the Open Data Strategy, by showing the progress in openness and shift in attitudes during the last decade when handling Research Data and Public Sector Information at a national European institute. Moreover, the presentation will inform about a recently started collaborative project (EU FP7 project No 603587) coordinated by SMHI and called SWITCH-ON http://water-switch-on.eu/. The project addresses water concerns and currently untapped potential of open data for improved water management across the EU. The overall goal of the project is to make use of open data, and add value to society by repurposing and refining data from various sources. SWITCH-ON will establish new forms of water research and facilitate the development of new products and services based on principles of sharing and community building in the water society. The SWITCH-ON objectives are to use open data for implementing: 1) an innovative spatial information platform with open data tailored for direct water assessments, 2) an entirely new form of collaborative research for water-related sciences, 3) fourteen new operational products and services dedicated to appointed end-users, 4) new business and knowledge to inform individual and collective decisions in line with the Europe's smart growth and environmental objectives. The presentation will discuss challenges, progress and opportunities with the open data strategy, based on the experiences from working both at a Governmental institute and being part of the global research community.

EU Climate-KIC Innovation Blue Green Dream Project: Creation of Educational Experience, Communication and Dissemination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tchiguirinskaia, Ioulia; Gires, Auguste; Vicari, Rosa; Schertzer, Daniel; Maksimovic, Cedo

2013-04-01

The combined effects of climate change and increasing urbanization call for a change of paradigm for planning, maintenance and management of new urban developments and retrofitting of existing ones to maximize ecosystem services and increase resilience to the adverse climate change effects. This presentation will discuss synergies of the EU Climate-KIC Innovation Blue Green Dream (BGD) Project in promoting the BGD demonstration and training sites established in participating European countries. The BGD demonstration and training sites show clear benefits when blue and green infrastructures are considered together. These sites present a unique opportunity for community learning and dissemination. Their development and running acts as a hub for engineers, architects, planners and modellers to come together in their design and implementation stage. This process, being captured in a variety of media, creates a corpus of knowledge, anchored in specific examples of different scales, types and dimensions. During the EU Climate-KIC Innovation Blue Green Dream Project, this corpus of knowledge will be used to develop dissemination and training materials whose content will be customised to fit urgent societal needs.

EuFishBioMed (COST Action BM0804): A European Network to Promote the Use of Small Fishes in Biomedical Research

PubMed Central

Bally-Cuif, Laure; Kelsh, Robert; Beis, Dimitris; Mione, Marina; Panula, Pertti; Figueras, Antonio; Gothilf, Yoav; Brösamle, Christian; Geisler, Robert; Knedlitschek, Gudrun

2012-01-01

Abstract Small fresh water fishes such as the zebrafish (Danio rerio) have become important model organisms for biomedical research. They currently represent the best vertebrate embryo models in which it is possible to derive quantitative data on gene expression, signaling events, and cell behavior in real time in the living animal. Relevant phenotypes in fish mutants are similar to those of other vertebrate models and human diseases. They can be analyzed in great detail and much faster than in mammals. In recent years, approximately 2500 genetically distinct fish lines have been generated by European research groups alone. Their potential, including their possible use by industry, is far from being exploited. To promote zebrafish research in Europe, EuFishBioMed was founded and won support by the EU COST programme (http://www.cost.esf.org/). The main objective of EuFishBioMed is to establish a platform of knowledge exchange for research on small fish models with a strong focus on widening its biomedical applications and an integration of European research efforts and resources. EuFishBioMed currently lists more than 300 member laboratories in Europe, offers funding for short-term laboratory visits, organizes and co-sponsors meetings and workshops, and has successfully lobbied for the establishment of a European Zebrafish Resource Centre. To maintain this network in the future, beyond the funding period of the COST Action, we are currently establishing the European Society for Fish Models in Biology and Medicine. PMID:22537014

Accelerator science and technology in Europe: EuCARD 2012

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romaniuk, Ryszard S.

2012-05-01

Accelerator science and technology is one of a key enablers of the developments in the particle physic, photon physics and also applications in medicine and industry. The paper presents a digest of the research results in the domain of accelerator science and technology in Europe, shown during the third annual meeting of the EuCARD - European Coordination of Accelerator Research and Development. The conference concerns building of the research infrastructure, including in this advanced photonic and electronic systems for servicing large high energy physics experiments. There are debated a few basic groups of such systems like: measurement - control networks of large geometrical extent, multichannel systems for large amounts of metrological data acquisition, precision photonic networks of reference time, frequency and phase distribution.

An Information System for Brownfield Regeneration: providing customised information according to stakeholders' characteristics and needs.

PubMed

Rizzo, Erika; Pizzol, Lisa; Zabeo, Alex; Giubilato, Elisa; Critto, Andrea; Cosmo, Luca; Marcomini, Antonio

2018-07-01

In the EU brownfield presence is still considered a widespread problem. Even though, in the last decades, many research projects and initiatives developed a wealth of methods, guidelines, tools and technologies aimed at supporting brownfield regeneration. However, this variety of products had and still has a limited practical impact on brownfield revitalisation success, because they are not used in their entire potential due to their scarce visibility. Also, another problem that stakeholders face is finding customised information. To overcome this non-visibility and not-sufficient customisation of information, the Information System for Brownfield Regeneration (ISBR) has been developed, based on Artificial Neural Networks, which allows understanding stakeholders' information needs by providing tailored information. The ISBR has been tested by stakeholders from the EU project TIMBRE case studies, located in the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Romania. Data gained during tests allowed to understand stakeholders' information needs. Overall, stakeholders showed to be concerned first on remediation aspects, then on benchmarking information, which are valuable to improve practices in the complex field of brownfield regeneration, and then on the relatively new issue of sustainability applied to brownfield regeneration and remediation. Mature markets confirmed their interest for remediation-related aspects, highlighting the central role that risk assessment plays in the process. Emerging markets showed to seek information and tools for strategic and planning issues, like brownfield inventories and georeferenced data sets. Results led to conclude that a new improved platform, combining the ISBR functionalities with geo-referenced ones, would be useful and could represent a further research application. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancing participatory approach in water resources management: development of a survey to evaluate stakeholders needs and priorities related to software capabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foglia, L.; Rossetto, R.; Borsi, I.; Josef, S.; Boukalova, Z.; Triana, F.; Ghetta, M.; Sabbatini, T.; Bonari, E.; Cannata, M.; De Filippis, G.

2016-12-01

The EU H2020 FREEWAT project (FREE and open source software tools for WATer resource management) aims at simplifying the application of EU-water related Directives, by developing an open source and public domain, GIS-integrated platform for planning and management of ground- and surface-water resources. The FREEWAT platform is conceived as a canvas, where several distributed and physically-based simulation codes are virtually integrated. The choice of such codes was supported by the result of a survey performed by means of questionnaires distributed to 14 case study FREEWAT project partners and several stakeholders. This was performed in the first phase of the project within the WP 6 (Enhanced science and participatory approach evidence-based decision making), Task 6.1 (Definition of a "needs/tools" evaluation grid). About 30% among all the invited entities and institutions from several EU and non-EU Countries expressed their interest in contributing to the survey. Most of them were research institutions, government and geoenvironmental companies and river basin authorities.The result of the questionnaire provided a spectrum of needs and priorities of partners/stakeholders, which were addressed during the development phase of the FREEWAT platform. The main needs identified were related to ground- and surface-water quality, sustainable water management, interaction between groundwater/surface-water bodies, and design and management of Managed Aquifer Recharge schemes. Needs and priorities were then connected to the specific EU Directives and Regulations to be addressed.One of the main goals of the questionnaires was to collect information and suggestions regarding the use of existing commercial/open-source software tools to address needs and priorities, and regarding the needs to address specific water-related processes/problems.

Inclusive Education in Progress: Policy Evolution in Four European Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smyth, Fiona; Shevlin, Michael; Buchner, Tobias; Biewer, Gottfried; Flynn, Paula; Latimier, Camille; Šiška, Jan; Toboso-Martín, Mario; Rodríguez Díaz, Susana; Ferreira, Miguel A. V.

2014-01-01

This paper seeks to compare the evolution of inclusive education policy in the four countries of an EU-funded research project (QualiTYDES) operating under the shared policy environment of the UN, EU and European Commission. A shared policy cannot of course be assumed to result in common legislative or provisional outcomes at national level. The…

Competence-Based Blended Learning in Building Automation: Towards a EU Curriculum in "Domotica"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sommaruga, L.; De Angelis, E.

2007-01-01

A competence-based approach was applied to a blended learning on line distance training in the Euroinno EU project aimed at vocational training in building automation. The current paper describes the experience gathered during the learning process and the definition of the curriculum. A number of issues emerged during the sessions concerning…

Crystal structure and properties of tetragonal EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} grown by metal flux technique

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Subbarao, Udumula; Sarkar, Sumanta; Peter, Sebastian C., E-mail: sebastiancp@jncasr.ac.in

The compound EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} has been obtained as single crystals in high yield from reactions run in liquid indium. X-ray diffraction on single crystals suggests that EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} crystallizes in the CeMn{sub 4}Al{sub 8} structure type, tetragonal space group I4/mmm with lattice constants a=b=9.7937(2) Å and c=5.7492(2) Å. Crystal structure of EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} is composed of pseudo Frank–Kasper cages occupied by one europium atom in each ring, which are shared through the corner along the ab plane resulting in a three dimensional network. The magnetic susceptibility of EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} was measured in the temperature range 2–300more » K, which obeyed Curie–Weiss law above 50 K. Magnetic moment value calculated from the fitting indicates the presence of divalent europium, which was confirmed by X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy. Electrical resistivity measurements suggest that EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} is metallic in nature with a probable Fermi liquid behavior at low temperature. - Graphical abstract: The tetragonal EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} has been grown as single crystals from reactions run in liquid indium. Magnetic and XANES measurements suggest divalent nature of Eu and resistivity measurements suggest metallic nature. - Highlights: • EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8} phase having tetragonal phase is grown by metal flux technique. • Magnetic and XANES measurements exhibit divalent nature of Eu in EuAg{sub 4}In{sub 8}. • Resistivity measurement suggests metallic nature and probable Fermi liquid behavior.« less

CITYZER - Services for effective decision making and environmental resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haukka, Harri; Turtiainen, Heikki; Janka, Kauko; Palonen, Henry; Turpeinen, Jani; Viitala, Erkki; Rönkkö, Topi; Laiho, Tiina; Laitinen, Teija; Harri, Ari-Matti; Schmidt, Walter; Nousiainen, Timo; Niemi, Jarkko

2017-04-01

The CITYZER project develops new digital services and products to support decision making processes related to weather and air quality in cities. This includes, e.g., early warnings and forecasts (0-24 h), which allow for avoiding weather-related accidents, mitigate human distress and costs from weather-related damage and bad air quality, and generally improve the resilience and safety of the society. The project takes advantage of the latest scientific know-how and directly exploits the expertise obtained from, e.g., Tekes-funded (MMEA [1], RAVAKE) and EU-funded (HAREN, EDHIT [2]) projects. Central to the project is the Observation Network Manager NM10 [3] developed by Vaisala within the Tekes/MMEA project, on which CITYZER defines and builds new commercial services and connects new sensor networks (e.g., air quality). The target groups of the services and products (e.g., public sector, real estate and energy companies, and distributors) and related business models will be analyzed and developed in collaboration with local players (e.g., India, South America, China) taking advantage of the pre-existing contacts by the Haaga-Helia, Vaisala Ltd and CLIC Innovation. Service models are designed to account for and adapt to the special needs of different areas and customers. The developed services will be scalable (most common platforms) and responsive. CITYZER project partners include Vaisala Ltd (weather observation instrumentation and products), Sasken Ltd (mobile products), Emtele Ltd (Portable IoT ICT Service Operation Center/Environment and remote intelligent cabinet for sensor network-GW and connections), HSY (urban services), Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (service business models including digital services), Finnish Meteorological Institute (implementation of and scientific research on meteorological & air quality products), and the Tampere University of Technology (definition of and scientific research on air quality products), Pegasor Ltd (support for air quality instrumentation and products), INNO-W Ltd (business services support), as well as the CLIC Innovation Ltd as a subcontractor for arranging cooperation with international partners and project information dissemination, as well as composing the consortium agreement and other legal issues. The business impact of this project to existing markets is estimated to be substantial and it will also create totally new markets especially for weather information related services. The existing whole target market size at this point is estimated to be several billion USD and the size of the market is growing steadily. The key CITYZER outcomes are the piloted services and products with envisaged great commercial and export potential. Development of the services will be managed by INNO-W supported by Sasken, Emtele, Pegasor and Vaisala. The user profiling and market assessment, including Asia and South America, will be led by Haaga-Helia supported by INNO-W and Sasken. FMI, Vaisala and Pegasor will use their expertise and current business relations to those foreign markets to speed up and guide the user and market evaluation. Essential potential players are local business school teams in Brazil and India that will be subcontracted to bring in local expertise in the user profiling and market assessment processes. This three year project is scheduled such that, overall, the first two years focus on implementing the technical basis as well as customer and market analyses. Throughout the course of the project a CityzerDemo environment will be developed in the Helsinki metropolitan area, demonstrating the observational and modeling system and services built on them. In addition, the services and business models will be evaluated. Acknowledgements The project has received funding from TEKES, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation. References [1] http://mmea.fi/ [2] http://edhit.eu/ [3] http://www.vaisala.com/en/products/metdatamanagementsystems/Pages/NM10.aspx

Displacement of squeezed propagating microwave states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedorov, Kirill G.; Zhong, Ling; Pogorzalek, Stefan; Eder, Peter; Fischer, Michael; Goetz, Jan; Wulschner, Friedrich; Xie, Edwar; Menzel, Edwin; Deppe, Frank; Marx, Achim; Gross, Rudolf

Displacement of propagating squeezed states is a fundamental operation for quantum communications. It can be applied to fundamental studies of macroscopic quantum coherence and has an important role in quantum teleportation protocols with propagating microwaves. We generate propagating squeezed states using a Josephson parametric amplifier and implement displacement using a cryogenic directional coupler. We study single- and two-mode displacement regimes. For the single-mode displacement we find that the squeezing level of the displaced squeezed state does not depend on the displacement amplitude. Also, we observe that quantum entanglement between two spatially separated channels stays constant across 4 orders of displacement power. We acknowledge support by the German Research Foundation through SFB 631 and FE 1564/1-1, the EU project PROMISCE, and Elite Network of Bavaria through the program ExQM.

Migration from new-accession countries and duration expectancy in the EU-15: 2002–2008

PubMed Central

DeWaard, Jack; Ha, Jasmine Trang; Raymer, James; Wiśniowski, Arkadiusz

2016-01-01

European Union (EU) enlargements in 2004 and 2007 were accompanied by increased migration from new-accession to established-member (EU-15) countries. The impacts of these flows depend, in part, on the amount of time that persons from the former countries live in the latter over the life course. In this paper, we develop period estimates of duration expectancy in EU-15 countries among persons from new-accession countries. Using a newly developed set of harmonised Bayesian estimates of migration flows each year from 2002 to 2008 from the Integrated Modelling of European Migration (IMEM) Project, we exploit period age patterns of country-to-country migration and mortality to summarize the average number of years that persons from new-accession countries could be expected to live in EU-15 countries over the life course. In general, the results show that the amount of time that persons from new-accession countries could be expected to live in the EU-15 nearly doubled after 2004. PMID:28286353

Optimization of Antibiotic Use in Hospitals – Antimicrobial Stewardship and the EU Project ABS International

PubMed Central

Allerberger, Franz; Lechner, Arno; Wechsler-Fördös, Agnes; Gareis, Roland

2008-01-01

Background The problem of antimicrobial resistance requires common strategies at the European level. Methods We report on an EU initiative fostering antibiotic (AB) stewardship (ABS) in hospitals. Results The project ‘ABS International: implementing antibiotic strategies for appropriate use of antibiotics in hospitals in member states of the EU’ started in September 2006 in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. A training program for national ABS trainers was prepared and standard templates for ABS tools (AB list, guidelines for AB treatment and surgical prophylaxis, and AB-related organization) and valid process measures as well as quality indicators for AB use were developed. Specific ABS tools are being implemented in up to five health care facilities per country. Conclusion ABS International is the first EU-funded initiative focusing on the implementation of structural measures in hospitals to promote the prudent use of ABs. PMID:18667815

Teachers' Perceptions of Principals' ICT Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petersen, Ann-Louise

2014-01-01

This article focuses on the leadership used by the principal in a collaborative ICT project. The case study chosen was a school project conducted within the NCCE project (Nordic Cross Country Education). The EU funded project ran for three years in grades 5-9 in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The goal of the project was to develop cross-border…

A Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC): Lessons Learned from EU Project INTEGRATE and Beyond

PubMed Central

Devroey, Dirk

2017-01-01

Efforts are underway in many European countries to channel efforts into creating improved integrated health and social care services. But most countries lack a strategic plan that is sustainable over time, and that reflects a comprehensive systems perspective. The Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC) as presented in this paper resulted from experiences with the EU Project INTEGRATE and our own work with healthcare reform for patients with chronic conditions at the national and international level. This project is one of the largest EU funded projects on Integrated Care, conducted over a four-year period (2012–2016) and included partners from nine European countries. Project Integrate aimed to gain insights into the leadership, management and delivery of integrated care to support European care systems to respond to the challenges of ageing populations and the rise of people living with long-term conditions. The objective of this paper is to describe the PGIC as both a tool and a reasoning flow that aims at supporting policy makers at the national and international level with the development and implementation of integrated care. Any Policy Guide on Integrated should build upon three building blocks, being a mission, vision and a strategy that aim at capturing the large amount of factors that directly or indirectly influence the successful development of integrated care. PMID:29588631

A Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC): Lessons Learned from EU Project INTEGRATE and Beyond.

PubMed

Borgermans, Liesbeth; Devroey, Dirk

2017-09-25

Efforts are underway in many European countries to channel efforts into creating improved integrated health and social care services. But most countries lack a strategic plan that is sustainable over time, and that reflects a comprehensive systems perspective. The Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC) as presented in this paper resulted from experiences with the EU Project INTEGRATE and our own work with healthcare reform for patients with chronic conditions at the national and international level. This project is one of the largest EU funded projects on Integrated Care, conducted over a four-year period (2012-2016) and included partners from nine European countries. Project Integrate aimed to gain insights into the leadership, management and delivery of integrated care to support European care systems to respond to the challenges of ageing populations and the rise of people living with long-term conditions. The objective of this paper is to describe the PGIC as both a tool and a reasoning flow that aims at supporting policy makers at the national and international level with the development and implementation of integrated care. Any Policy Guide on Integrated should build upon three building blocks, being a mission, vision and a strategy that aim at capturing the large amount of factors that directly or indirectly influence the successful development of integrated care.

SeaDataNet II - Second phase of developments for the pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, Dick M. A.; Fichaut, Michele

2013-04-01

The second phase of the project SeaDataNet started on October 2011 for another 4 years with the aim to upgrade the SeaDataNet infrastructure built during previous years. The numbers of the project are quite impressive: 59 institutions from 35 different countries are involved. In particular, 45 data centers are sharing human and financial resources in a common efforts to sustain an operationally robust and state-of-the-art Pan-European infrastructure for providing up-to-date and high quality access to ocean and marine metadata, data and data products. The main objective of SeaDataNet II is to improve operations and to progress towards an efficient data management infrastructure able to handle the diversity and large volume of data collected via the Pan-European oceanographic fleet and the new observation systems, both in real-time and delayed mode. The infrastructure is based on a semi-distributed system that incorporates and enhance the existing NODCs network. SeaDataNet aims at serving users from science, environmental management, policy making, and economical sectors. Better integrated data systems are vital for these users to achieve improved scientific research and results, to support marine environmental and integrated coastal zone management, to establish indicators of Good Environmental Status for sea basins, and to support offshore industry developments, shipping, fisheries, and other economic activities. The recent EU communication "MARINE KNOWLEDGE 2020 - marine data and observation for smart and sustainable growth" states that the creation of marine knowledge begins with observation of the seas and oceans. In addition, directives, policies, science programmes require reporting of the state of the seas and oceans in an integrated pan-European manner: of particular note are INSPIRE, MSFD, WISE-Marine and GMES Marine Core Service. These underpin the importance of a well functioning marine and ocean data management infrastructure. SeaDataNet is now one of the major players in informatics in oceanography and collaborative relationships have been created with other EU and non EU projects. In particular SeaDataNet has recognised roles in the continuous serving of common vocabularies, the provision of tools for data management, as well as giving access to metadata, data sets and data products of importance for society. The SeaDataNet infrastructure comprises a network of interconnected data centres and a central SeaDataNet portal. The portal provides users not only background information about SeaDataNet and the various SeaDataNet standards and tools, but also a unified and transparent overview of the metadata and controlled access to the large collections of data sets, managed by the interconnected data centres. The presentation will give information on present services of the SeaDataNet infrastructure and services, and highlight a number of key achievements in SeaDataNet II so far.

COOP+ project: Promoting the cooperation among international Research Infrastructures to address global environmental challenges.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonet-García, Francisco; Materia, Paola; Kutsch, Werner; de Lucas, Jesús Marco; Tjulin, Anders

2016-04-01

During the Anthropocene, mankind will face several global environmental challenges. One of the first and more successful responses provided by Science to these challenges is the collecting of long-term series of biophysical variables in order to improve our knowledge of natural systems. The huge amount of information gathered during the last decades by Research Infrastructures (RIs) has helped to understand the structure and functioning of natural systems at local and regional scales. But how can we address the global cross-scale and cross-disciplinary challenges posed by the global environment change? We believe that it will be necessary to observe, model better and understand the whole biosphere using long term data generated by international RIs. RIs play a key role on many of the last advances and discoveries in science, from the observation of the Higgs Boson at CERN to the exploration of the Universe by the telescopes of the European Southern Observatory in Chile. The scale of complexity, instrumentation, computing resources, technological advances, and also of the investments, and the size of research collaborations, do not have precedents in Science. RIs in environmental field are developing fast, but the corresponding communities need yet to further reflect the need for a wider global collaboration because the challenges to tackle are in essence of global nature. This contribution describes how COOP+ project (EU Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action) will promote the cooperation among RIs at a global scale to address global environmental challenges. Our project evolves from the experience of the sucessful FP7 COOPEUS project (see http://www.coopeus.eu), which explored the use and access to data from RIs in environmental research in Europe and USA. The general goal of COOP+ is to strengthen the links and coordination of the ESFRI RIs related to Marine Science (EMSO), Arctic and Atmospheric Research (EISCAT), Carbon Observation (ICOS) and Biodiversity (LifeWatch) with international counterparts (NEON, TERN, AMISR/SRI, CGSM, OOI, INPA/LBA, IMOS, OCN, AMERIFLUX, etc.) and to leverage international scientific cooperation and data exchange with non-EU countries. During the time span of COOP+ (March 2016 to July 2018), we will address several important questions regarding RIs: What could be the contribution of international RIs to address cross-disciplinary global challenges like modelling and understanding the carbon cycle? Is it feasible to join the knowledge gathered in Arctic research with marine science outputs into comprehensive global models? What collaboration approaches could be implemented to foster the cooperation among RIs? What is the role of local observatories (bottom-up) in this cooperation framework? This contribution will describe COOP+ project using the concept of global challenge. We will describe several possible case study that could be addressed by a network of international RIs.

The Multiplex Network of EU Lobby Organizations.

PubMed

Zeng, An; Battiston, Stefano

2016-01-01

The practice of lobbying in the interest of economic or social groups plays an important role in the policy making process of most economies. While no data is available at this stage to examine the success of lobbies in exerting influence on specific policy issues, we perform a first systematic multi-layer network analysis of a large lobby registry. Here we focus on the domains of finance and climate and we combine information on affiliation and client relations from the EU transparency register with information about shareholding and interlocking directorates of firms. We find that the network centrality of lobby organizations has no simple relation with their lobbying budget. Moreover, different layers of the multiplex network provide complementary information to characterize organizations' potential influence. At the aggregate level, it appears that while the domains of finance and climate are separated on the layer of affiliation relations, they become intertwined when economic relations are considered. Because groups of interest differ not only in their budget and network centrality but also in terms of their internal cohesiveness, drawing a map of both connections across and within groups is a precondition to better understand the dynamics of influence on policy making and the forces at play.

The Multiplex Network of EU Lobby Organizations

PubMed Central

Zeng, An; Battiston, Stefano

2016-01-01

The practice of lobbying in the interest of economic or social groups plays an important role in the policy making process of most economies. While no data is available at this stage to examine the success of lobbies in exerting influence on specific policy issues, we perform a first systematic multi-layer network analysis of a large lobby registry. Here we focus on the domains of finance and climate and we combine information on affiliation and client relations from the EU transparency register with information about shareholding and interlocking directorates of firms. We find that the network centrality of lobby organizations has no simple relation with their lobbying budget. Moreover, different layers of the multiplex network provide complementary information to characterize organizations’ potential influence. At the aggregate level, it appears that while the domains of finance and climate are separated on the layer of affiliation relations, they become intertwined when economic relations are considered. Because groups of interest differ not only in their budget and network centrality but also in terms of their internal cohesiveness, drawing a map of both connections across and within groups is a precondition to better understand the dynamics of influence on policy making and the forces at play. PMID:27792734

Characterization of the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Engineering Unit 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewandowski, Edward J.; Oriti, Salvatore M.; Schifer, Niholas A.

2016-01-01

Significant progress was made developing the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) 140-W radioisotope power system. While the ASRG flight development project has ended, the hardware that was designed and built under the project is continuing to be tested to support future Stirling-based power system development. NASA Glenn Research Center recently completed the assembly of the ASRG Engineering Unit 2 (EU2). The ASRG EU2 consists of the first pair of Sunpower's Advanced Stirling Convertor E3 (ASC-E3) Stirling convertors mounted in an aluminum housing, and Lockheed Martin's Engineering Development Unit (EDU) 4 controller (a fourth-generation controller). The ASC-E3 convertors and Generator Housing Assembly (GHA) closely match the intended ASRG Qualification Unit flight design. A series of tests were conducted to characterize the EU2, its controller, and the convertors in the flight-like GHA. The GHA contained an argon cover gas for these tests. The tests included measurement of convertor, controller, and generator performance and efficiency; quantification of control authority of the controller; disturbance force measurement with varying piston phase and piston amplitude; and measurement of the effect of spacecraft direct current (DC) bus voltage on EU2 performance. The results of these tests are discussed and summarized, providing a basic understanding of EU2 characteristics and the performance and capability of the EDU 4 controller.

A versatile and interoperable network sensors for water resources monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ortolani, Alberto; Brandini, Carlo; Costantini, Roberto; Costanza, Letizia; Innocenti, Lucia; Sabatini, Francesco; Gozzini, Bernardo

2010-05-01

Monitoring systems to assess water resources quantity and quality require extensive use of in-situ measurements, that have great limitations like difficulties to access and share data, and to customise and easy reconfigure sensors network to fulfil end-users needs during monitoring or crisis phases. In order to address such limitations Sensor Web Enablement technologies for sensors management have been developed and applied to different environmental context under the EU-funded OSIRIS project (Open architecture for Smart and Interoperable networks in Risk management based on In-situ Sensors, www.osiris-fp6.eu). The main objective of OSIRIS was to create a monitoring system to manage different environmental crisis situations, through an efficient data processing chain where in-situ sensors are connected via an intelligent and versatile network infrastructure (based on web technologies) that enables end-users to remotely access multi-domain sensors information. Among the project application, one was focused on underground fresh-water monitoring and management. With this aim a monitoring system to continuously and automatically check water quality and quantity has been designed and built in a pilot test, identified as a portion of the Amiata aquifer feeding the Santa Fiora springs (Grosseto, Italy). This aquifer present some characteristics that make it greatly vulnerable under some conditions. It is a volcanic aquifer with a fractured structure. The volcanic nature in Santa Fiora causes levels of arsenic concentrations that normally are very close to the threshold stated by law, but that sometimes overpass such threshold for reasons still not fully understood. The presence of fractures makes the infiltration rate very inhomogeneous from place to place and very high in correspondence of big fractures. In case of liquid-pollutant spills (typically hydrocarbons spills from tanker accidents or leakage from house tanks containing fuel for heating), these fractures can act as shortcuts to the heart of the aquifer, causing water contamination much faster than what inferable from average infiltration rates. A new system has been set up, upgrading a legacy sensor network with new sensors to address the monitoring and emergency phase management. Where necessary sensors have been modified in order to manage the whole sensor network through SWE services. The network manage sensors for water parameters (physical and chemical) and for atmospheric ones (for supporting the management of accidental crises). A main property of the developed architecture is that it can be easily reconfigured to pass from the monitoring to the alert phase, by changing sampling frequencies of interesting parameters, or deploying specific additional sensors on identified optimal positions (as in case of the hydrocarbon spill). A hydrogeological model, coupled through a hydrological interface to the atmospheric forcing, has been implemented for the area. Model products (accessed through the same web interface than sensors) give a fundamental added value to the upgraded sensors network (e.g. for data merging procedures). Together with the available measurements, it is shown how the model improves the knowledge of the local hydrogeological system, gives a fundamental support to eventually reconfigure the system (e.g. support on transportable sensors position). The network, basically conceived for real-time monitoring, allow to accumulate an unprecedent amount of information for the aquifer. The availability of such a large set of data (in terms of continuously measured water levels, fluxes, precipitation, concentrations, etc.) from the system, gives a unique opportunity for studying the influences of hydrogeological and geopedological parameters on arsenic and concentrations of other chemicals that are naturally present in water.

AtlantOS - Optimizing and Enhancing the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reitz, Anja; Visbeck, Martin; AtlantOS Consortium, the

2016-04-01

Atlantic Ocean observation is currently undertaken through loosely-coordinated, in-situ observing networks, satellite observations and data management arrangements of heterogeneous international, national and regional design to support science and a wide range of information products. Thus there is tremendous opportunity to develop the systems towards a fully integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System consistent with the recently developed 'Framework of Ocean Observing'. The vision of AtlantOS is to improve and innovate Atlantic observing by using the Framework of Ocean Observing to obtain an international, more sustainable, more efficient, more integrated, and fit-for-purpose system. Hence, the AtlantOS initiative will have a long-lasting and sustainable contribution to the societal, economic and scientific benefit arising from this integrated approach. This will be delivered by improving the value for money, extent, completeness, quality and ease of access to Atlantic Ocean data required by industries, product supplying agencies, scientist and citizens. The overarching target of the AtlantOS initiative is to deliver an advanced framework for the development of an integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System that goes beyond the state-of -the-art, and leaves a legacy of sustainability after the life of the project. The legacy will derive from the following aims: i) to improve international collaboration in the design, implementation and benefit sharing of ocean observing, ii) to promote engagement and innovation in all aspects of ocean observing, iii) to facilitate free and open access to ocean data and information, iv) to enable and disseminate methods of achieving quality and authority of ocean information, v) to strengthen the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and to sustain observing systems that are critical for the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service and its applications and vi) to contribute to the aims of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. The EU Horizon 2020 AtlantOS project pools the efforts of 57 European and 5 non-European partners (research institutes, universities, marine service providers, multi-institutional organisations, and the private sector) from 18 countries to collaborate on optimizing and enhancing Atlantic Ocean observing. The project has a budget of € 21M for 4 years (April 2015 - June 2019) and is coordinated by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany (Prof. Dr. Martin Visbeck). The project is organized along work packages on: i) observing system requirements and design studies, ii) enhancement of ship-based and autonomous observing networks, iii) interfaces with coastal ocean observing systems, iv) integration of regional observing systems, v) cross-cutting issues and emerging networks, vi) data flow and data integration, vii) societal benefits from observing /information systems, viii) system evaluation and resource sustainability. Engagement with wider stakeholders including end-users of Atlantic Ocean observation products and services will also be key throughout the project. The AtlantOS initiative contributes to achieving the aims of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation that was signed in 2013 by the EU, Canada and the US, launching a Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance to enhance collaboration to better understand the Atlantic Ocean and sustainably manage and use its resources.

Effect of lead fluoride incorporation on the structure and luminescence properties of tungsten sodium phosphate glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nardi, Rachel Prado Russo Delorenzo; Braz, Celso Eduardo; de Camargo, Andrea S. S.; Ribeiro, Sidney J. L.; Rocha, Lucas A.; Cassanjes, Fábia Castro; Poirier, Gael

2015-11-01

Tungsten phosphate glasses are known to be promising materials for several applications in optics such as non linear optical properties, lower phonon energy or photochromic effects related with tungsten oxide incorporation inside the phosphate network. In this study, lead fluoride has been incorporated in a 60NaPO3-40WO3 glass composition according to the ternary molar compositions (100 - x)[0.6NaPO3-0.4WO3]-xPbF2 with x varying from 0 to 60 mol%. The structural changes as a function of composition were investigated by thermal analysis, UV-visible absorption, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction of the crystallized samples, and Eu3+ emission in the visible. While DSC analyzes points out a strong decrease in the glass network connectivity and higher crystallization tendency with increasing PbF2 contents, Raman spectra clearly identify a progressive incorporation of PbF2 in the phosphate network with the formation of terminal Psbnd F and Wsbnd F bonds. These results are also in agreement with the crystallization of β-PbF2 observed for the most lead fluoride concentrated samples. Investigation of Eu3+ emission data in the visible showed longer 5D0 excited state lifetime values and higher quantum efficiencies. These results are discussed in terms of the assumption of higher local symmetry around Eu3+ with increasing PbF2 contents.

Geosphere-biosphere interactions in European Protected Areas: a view from the H2020 ECOPOTENTIAL Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Provenzale, Antonello; Beierkuhnlein, Carl; Karnieli, Arnon; Marangi, Carmela; Giamberini, Mariasilvia; Imperio, Simona

2017-04-01

The large H2020 project ECOPOTENTIAL (2015-2019, 47 partners, contributing to GEO and GEOSS - http://www.ecopotential-project.eu/) is devoted to making best use of remote sensing and in situ data to improve future ecosystem benefits, adopting the view of ecosystems as one physical system with their environment, focusing on geosphere-biosphere interactions, Earth Critical Zone dynamics, Macrosystem Ecology and cross-scale interactions, the effect of extreme events and using Essential (Climate, Biodiversity and Ocean) Variables as descriptors of change. In ECOPOTENTIAL, remote sensing and in situ data are collected, processed and used for a better understanding of the ecosystem dynamics, analysing and modelling the effects of global changes on ecosystem functions and services, over an array of different ecosystem types, including mountain, marine, coastal, arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The project focuses on a network of Protected Areas of international relevance, that is representative of the range of environmental and biogeographical conditions characterizing Europe. Some of the activities of the project are devoted to detect and quantify the changes taking place in the Protected Areas, through the analysis of remote sensing observations, in-situ data and gridded climatic datasets. Likewise, the project aims at providing estimates of the future ecosystem conditions in different climate and environmental change scenarios. In all such endeavours, one is faced with cross-scale issues: downscaling of climate information to drive ecosystem response, and upscaling of local ecosystem changes to larger scales. So far, the analysis has been conducted mainly by using traditional methods, but there is wide room for improvement by using more refined approaches. In particular, a crucial question is how to upscale the information gained at single-site scale to larger, regional or continental scale, an issue that could benefit from using, for example, complex network analysis.

Views and considerations on ICT-AT competences development within the ENTELIS project: The Case of Cyprus.

PubMed

Mavrou, Katerina; Meletiou-Mavrotheris, Maria

2015-01-01

This submission presents part of the EU funded project ENTELIS (European Network for Technology Enhanced Learning in an Inclusive Society), which aims to address issues of digital divide and digital equity for people with disabilities of all ages, and to increase participation and social inclusion. This paper presents the main activities and outcomes of the research work package of the project (WP3), from one of the partner countries, Cyprus. The aim of the conducted research was to identify the conceptions and beliefs of end-users, trainers, and service/technology providers and professionals, on the multifaceted relation between ICT/ICT-AT (Information Communication Technology - Assistive Technology) and learning of technology. Data collection involved the development and administration of three semi-structured interview protocols, one for each group of participants, in five different European countries. Results have been compiled to develop a State-of-Art Report on ICT and ICT-AT education and learning, highlighting the main trends, as well the main present barriers, emergent and future needs in terms of analysis, acquisition and reinforcing of digital competences bridging the worlds of education and work.

Methodology of Projecting Pedagogical Education Oriented toward Quality and Trends in Its Development in the EU Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desiatov, Tymofii

2017-01-01

The main directions of evolution and trends in pedagogical education development in European countries have been analyzed. It has been found that modernization of pedagogical education in Ukraine is practically impossible without analyzing the development of pedagogical education in the EU countries. It has been proved that in order to study…

Mixed valence and metamagnetism in a metal flux grown compound Eu{sub 2}Pt{sub 3}Si{sub 5}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sarkar, Sumanta; Subbarao, Udumula; Joseph, Boby

A new compound Eu{sub 2}Pt{sub 3}Si{sub 5} with plate shaped morphology has been grown from excess In flux. The compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic U{sub 2}Co{sub 3}Si{sub 5} structure type, Ibam space group and the lattice parameters are a=10.007(2) Å, b=11.666(2) Å and c=6.0011(12) Å. The crystal structure of this compound can be conceived as inter-twinned chains of [Pt{sub 2}Si{sub 2}] and [PtSi{sub 3}] tetrahedra connected along [100] direction to give rise to a complex three dimensional [Pt{sub 3}Si{sub 5}] network. Temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility data suggests that Eu{sub 2}Pt{sub 3}Si{sub 5} undergoes a strong antiferromagnetic ordering (T{sub N}=19 K)more » followed by a weak ferromagnetic transition (T{sub C}=5.5 K). The effective magnetic moment/Eu obtained from susceptibility data is 6.78 μ{sub B} accounts mixed valent Eu with almost 85% divalent Eu, which is supported by X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy. The compound undergoes a metamagnetic transition under applied magnetic field through a probable spin flop mechanism. - Graphical abstract: Eu{sub 2}Pt{sub 3}Si{sub 5}, a new member in the U{sub 2}Co{sub 3}Si{sub 5} (Ibam) family undergoes metamagnetic transition at high magnetic field and Eu is in mixed valence state. - Highlights: • A new compound Eu{sub 2}Pt{sub 3}Si{sub 5} has been synthesized using indium as an inactive metal flux. • The compound undergoes metamagnetic transition at higher field. • Eu in this compound resides in a mixed valence state.« less

Europeanisation of health systems: a qualitative study of domestic actors in a small state.

PubMed

Azzopardi-Muscat, Natasha; Sorensen, Kristine; Aluttis, Christoph; Pace, Roderick; Brand, Helmut

2016-04-14

Health systems are not considered to be significantly influenced by European Union (EU) policies given the subsidiarity principle. Yet, recent developments including the patients' rights and cross-border directive (2011/24 EU), as well as measures taken following the financial crisis, appear to be increasing the EU's influence on health systems. The aim of this study is to explore how health system Europeanisation is perceived by domestic stakeholders within a small state. A qualitative study was conducted in the Maltese health system using 33 semi-structured interviews. Inductive analysis was carried out with codes and themes being generated from the data. EU membership brought significant public health reforms, transformation in the regulation of medicines and development of specialised training for doctors. Health services financing and delivery were primarily unaffected. Stakeholders positively perceived improvements to the policy-making process, networking opportunities and capacity building as important benefits. However, the administrative burden and the EU's tendency to adopt a 'one size fits all' approach posed considerable challenges. The lack of power and visibility for health policy at the EU level is a major disappointment. A strong desire exists for the EU to exercise a more effective role in ensuring access to affordable medicines and preventing non-communicable diseases. However, the EU's interference with core health system values is strongly resisted. Overall domestic stakeholders have a positive outlook regarding their health system Europeanisation experience. Whilst welcoming further policy developments at the EU level, they believe that improved consideration must be given to the specificities of small health systems.

ENVRI PLUS project: Developing an ethical framework for Environmental and Earth System Research Infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peppoloni, Silvia; Di Capua, Giuseppe; Haslinger, Florian

2016-04-01

ENVRI PLUS is a Horizon 2020 project bringing together Environmental and Earth System Research Infrastructures (RIs), projects and networks with technical specialist partners to create a more coherent, interdisciplinary and interoperable cluster of Environmental Research Infrastructures across Europe (http://www.envriplus.eu/). One theme of the project deals with the societal relevance and understanding, and within that theme an entire work-package (WP) aims at developing an ethical framework for RIs. Objectives of this WP are: • increase the awareness of both the scientists and the public on the importance of ethical aspects in Earth sciences; • establish a shared ethical framework of reference, to be adopted by RIs governing bodies; • increase the awareness of RIs management and operational levels and of the individual involved scientists on their social role in conducting research activities and research work environment; • assess the ethical and social aspects related to the results achieved and deliverables released within the project. The ongoing activities include: • reviewing the state of art on ethical issues useful for the goals of the project (collection and analysis of materials already existing within scientific organizations, institutions all over the world); • the creation of a questionnaire, through which to investigate how each RI participating in ENVRI PLUS faces ethical issues in relation to its activities, and so to understand the level of perception that researchers and technicians involved in the project have on the ethical implications of their scientific activities; • the definition of ethics guidelines to be used by partners for building their policies and their own codes of conduct; • the elaboration of an ethical label template to characterize each product of the project, that partners will be able to use in order to give essential information about the ethical and social implications of their products; • the dissemination of all the results of the previous activities on websites and social networks, so that they are suitable for the public. ENVRI PLUS is the first European project in which ethics applied to geosciences find space as a fundamental issue, at the base of scientific activities.

21st Century Climate Change in the European Alps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gobiet, Andreas; Kotlarski, Sven; Stoffel, Markus; Heinrich, Georg; Rajczak, Jan; Beniston, Martin

2014-05-01

The Alps are particularly sensitive to global warming and warmed twice as much as the global average in the recent past. In addition, the Alps and its surroundings are a densly populated areas where society is affected by climate change in many ways, which calls for reliable estimates of future climate change. However, the complex Alpine region poses considerable challenges to climate models, which translate to uncertainties in future climate projections. Against this background, the present study reviews the state-of-knowledge about 21st century climate change in the Alps based on existing literature and additional analyses. It will be demonstrated that considerable and accelerating changes are not only to be expected with regard to temperature, but also precipitation, global radiation, relative humidity, and closely related impacts like floods, droughts, snow cover, and natural hazards will be effected by global warming. Under the A1B emission scenario, about 0.25 °C warming per decade until the mid of the 21st century and accelerated 0.36 °C warming per decade in the second half of the century is expected. Warming will most probably be associated with changes in the seasonality of precipitation, global radiation, and relative humidity. More intense precipitation extremes and flooding potential are particularly expected in the colder part of the year. The conditions of currently record breaking warm or hot winter or summer seasons, respectively, may become normal at the end of the 21st century, and there is indication for droughts to become more severe in the future. Snow cover is expected to drastically decrease below 1500 - 2000 m and natural hazards related to glacier and permafrost retreat are expected to become more frequent. Such changes in climatic variables and related quantities will have considerable impact on ecosystems and society and will challenge their adaptive capabilities. Acknowledgements: This study has been initiated and is partly funded by the EU FP6 project ACQWA (www.acqwa.ch). Additional funding has been provided by the project ARNICA (http://www.lgp.cnrs-bellevue.fr/arnica/), funded under the EU CIRCLE-2 mountain call, by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the Sinergia project TEMPS, and the Austrian Climate Research Program (ACRP) through the projects reclip:century and DEUCALION. We acknowledge the RCM data sets from the EU- FP6 project ENSEMBLES (http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com). In particular, we thank Sebastian R. Scher (University of Graz) for the preparation of several figures in this study.This study has been supported by the EU project ACQWA (FP7 no. 212250) and the ACRP project reclip:century 2 (No. A963768).

HCHO and NO2 MAXDOAS retrieval strategies harmonization: Recent results from the EU FP7 project QA4ECV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinardi, Gaia; Peters, Enno; Hendrick, François; Gielen, Clio; Van Roozendael, Michel; Richter, Andreas; Piters, Ankie; Wagner, Thomas; Wang, Yang; Drosoglou, Theano; Bais, Alkis; Wang, Shanshan; Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso

2016-04-01

During the last decade, it has been extensively demonstrated that MAXDOAS is a useful and reliable technique to retrieve integrated column amounts of tropospheric trace gases and aerosols, as well as information on their vertical distributions. Since it is based on optical remote-sensing in the UV-visible region like nadir backscatter space-borne sensors, MAXDOAS is also increasingly recognized as a reference technique for validating satellite nadir observations of air quality species like NO2 and HCHO. However, building up an harmonized network of MAXDOAS spectrometers requires significant efforts in terms of common retrieval strategies and best-practices definitions. Within the EU FP7 project QA4ECV (Quality Assurance for Essential Climate Variables; see http://www.qa4ecv.eu/), harmonization activities have been initiated focusing on the two main steps of the MAXDOAS retrieval, i.e. the DOAS spectral fit providing the so-called differential slant column densities (DSCDs) and the conversion of the retrieved DSCDs to vertical profiles and/or vertical column densities (VCDs). Regarding the first step, the DOAS settings for HCHO and NO2 are optimized through an intercomparison exercise of slant column retrievals involving 15 groups of the MAXDOAS community including the QA4ECV partners, and based on the radiance spectra acquired during the MAD-CAT campaign held in Mainz (Germany) in June-July 2013 (see http://joseba.mpch-mainz.mpg.de/mad_cat.htm). The harmonization of the second step is done through the application of an AMF (aim mass factor) look-up table (LUT) approach on the optimized NO2 and HCHO DSCDs. The AMF LUTs depend on entry parameters like SZA, elevation and relative azimuth angles, wavelength, boundary layer height, AOD, and surface albedo. The advantages and drawbacks of the LUT approach are illustrated at several stations through comparison of the derived VCDs with those retrieved using the more sophisticated Optimal-Estimation-based profiling method. Recommendations for both MAXDOAS retrieval steps will be given in conclusion.

An integrated and sustainable EU health information system: national public health institutes' needs and possible benefits.

PubMed

Bogaert, Petronille; Van Oyen, Herman

2017-01-01

Although sound data and health information are at the basis of evidence-based policy-making and research, still no single, integrated and sustainable EU-wide public health monitoring system or health information system exists. BRIDGE Health is working towards an EU health information and data generation network covering major EU health policy areas. A stakeholder consultation with national public health institutes was organised to identify the needs to strengthen the current EU health information system and to identify its possible benefits. Five key issues for improvement were identified: (1) coherence, coordination and sustainability; (2) data harmonization, collection, processing and reporting; (3) comparison and benchmarking; (4) knowledge sharing and capacity building; and (5) transferability of health information into evidence-based policy making. The vision of an improved EU health information system was formulated and the possible benefits in relation to six target groups. Through this consultation, BRIDGE Health has identified the continuous need to strengthen the EU health information system. A better system is about sustainability, better coordination, governance and collaboration among national health information systems and stakeholders to jointly improve, harmonise, standardise and analyse health information. More and better sharing of this comparable health data allows for more and better comparative health research, international benchmarking, national and EU-wide public health monitoring. This should be developed with the view to provide the tools to fight both common and individual challenges faced by the Members States and their politicians.

Decentralized diagnostics based on a distributed micro-genetic algorithm for transducer networks monitoring large experimental systems.

PubMed

Arpaia, P; Cimmino, P; Girone, M; La Commara, G; Maisto, D; Manna, C; Pezzetti, M

2014-09-01

Evolutionary approach to centralized multiple-faults diagnostics is extended to distributed transducer networks monitoring large experimental systems. Given a set of anomalies detected by the transducers, each instance of the multiple-fault problem is formulated as several parallel communicating sub-tasks running on different transducers, and thus solved one-by-one on spatially separated parallel processes. A micro-genetic algorithm merges evaluation time efficiency, arising from a small-size population distributed on parallel-synchronized processors, with the effectiveness of centralized evolutionary techniques due to optimal mix of exploitation and exploration. In this way, holistic view and effectiveness advantages of evolutionary global diagnostics are combined with reliability and efficiency benefits of distributed parallel architectures. The proposed approach was validated both (i) by simulation at CERN, on a case study of a cold box for enhancing the cryogeny diagnostics of the Large Hadron Collider, and (ii) by experiments, under the framework of the industrial research project MONDIEVOB (Building Remote Monitoring and Evolutionary Diagnostics), co-funded by EU and the company Del Bo srl, Napoli, Italy.

Building thiol and metal-thiolate functions into coordination nets: Clues from a simple molecule

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Jun; Yang, Chen; Xu, Zhengtao; Zeller, Matthias; Hunter, Allen D.; Lin, Jianhua

2009-07-01

The simple and easy-to-prepare bifunctional molecule 2,5-dimercapto-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (H 4DMBD) interacts with the increasingly harder metal ions of Cu +, Pb 2+ and Eu 3+ to form the coordination networks of Cu 6(DMBD) 3(en) 4(Hen) 6 ( 1), Pb 2(DMBD)(en) 2 ( 2) and Eu 2(H 2DMBD) 3(DEF) 4 ( 3), where the carboxyl and thiol groups bind with distinct preference to the hard and soft metal ions, respectively. Notably, 1 features uncoordinated carboxylate groups and Cu 3 cluster units integrated via the thiolate groups into an extended network with significant interaction between the metal centers and the organic molecules; 2 features a 2D coordination net based on the mercapto and carboxylic groups all bonded to the Pb 2+ ions; 3 features free-standing thiol groups inside the channels of a metal-carboxylate-based network. This study illustrates the rich solid state structural features and potential functions offered by the carboxyl-thiol combination.

Composition dependent structural and optical properties of PbF₂-TeO₂-B₂O₃-Eu₂O₃ glasses.

PubMed

Wagh, Akshatha; Raviprakash, Y; Upadhyaya, Vyasa; Kamath, Sudha D

2015-12-05

Boric oxide based quaternary glasses in the system PbF2-TeO2-B2O3-Eu2O3 have been prepared by melt quenching technique. Density, molar volume, FTIR, UV-Vis techniques were used to probe the structural modifications with incorporation of europium ions in the glass network. An increase in glass density & decrease in molar volume (Vm) values proved the structural changes occurring in coordination of boron atom [conversion of BO3 units to BO4]. This resulted in the increase of the compaction of the prepared glasses with increase in Eu2O3 contents. The amorphous natures of the samples were ascertained by XRD and metallization criterion (M) studies. XPS study showed the values of core-level binding energy [O1s, Eu3d, Eu4d, Te3d, Te4d, Pd4f, Pb5d, O1s, and F1s] of (PbF2-TeO2-B2O3-Eu2O3) the glass matrix. The frequency and temperature dependence of dielectric properties of present glasses were investigated in the frequency range of 1 Hz-10 MHz and temperature range of 313-773K. The study of dielectric measurements proved good insulating and thermal stability of the prepared glasses. At room temperature, dielectric loss [tanδ] values were negligibly small for prepared glasses and increased with increase in temperature. FTIR spectroscopy results were in good agreement with optical band energy gap, density, molar volume and hardness values revealing network modifications caused by europium ions in the glass structure. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pharmacovigilance of drug allergy and hypersensitivity using the ENDA-DAHD database and the GALEN platform. The Galenda project.

PubMed

Bousquet, P-J; Demoly, P; Romano, A; Aberer, W; Bircher, A; Blanca, M; Brockow, K; Pichler, W; Torres, M J; Terreehorst, I; Arnoux, B; Atanaskovic-Markovic, M; Barbaud, A; Bijl, A; Bonadonna, P; Burney, P G; Caimmi, S; Canonica, G W; Cernadas, J; Dahlen, B; Daures, J-P; Fernandez, J; Gomes, E; Gueant, J-L; Kowalski, M L; Kvedariene, V; Mertes, P-M; Martins, P; Nizankowska-Mogilnicka, E; Papadopoulos, N; Ponvert, C; Pirmohamed, M; Ring, J; Salapatas, M; Sanz, M L; Szczeklik, A; Van Ganse, E; De Weck, A L; Zuberbier, T; Merk, H F; Sachs, B; Sidoroff, A

2009-02-01

Nonallergic hypersensitivity and allergic reactions are part of the many different types of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Databases exist for the collection of ADRs. Spontaneous reporting makes up the core data-generating system of pharmacovigilance, but there is a large under-estimation of allergy/hypersensitivity drug reactions. A specific database is therefore required for drug allergy and hypersensitivity using standard operating procedures (SOPs), as the diagnosis of drug allergy/hypersensitivity is difficult and current pharmacovigilance algorithms are insufficient. Although difficult, the diagnosis of drug allergy/hypersensitivity has been standardized by the European Network for Drug Allergy (ENDA) under the aegis of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology and SOPs have been published. Based on ENDA and Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA(2)LEN, EU Framework Programme 6) SOPs, a Drug Allergy and Hypersensitivity Database (DAHD((R))) has been established under FileMaker((R)) Pro 9. It is already available online in many different languages and can be accessed using a personal login. GA(2)LEN is a European network of 27 partners (16 countries) and 59 collaborating centres (26 countries), which can coordinate and implement the DAHD across Europe. The GA(2)LEN-ENDA-DAHD platform interacting with a pharmacovigilance network appears to be of great interest for the reporting of allergy/hypersensitivity ADRs in conjunction with other pharmacovigilance instruments.

Analysis and Simulation of Traffic Control for Resource Management in DVB-Based Broadband Satellite Access Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Impemba, Ernesto; Inzerilli, Tiziano

2003-07-01

Integration of satellite access networks with the Internet is seen as a strategic goal to achieve in order to provide ubiquitous broadband access to Internet services in Next Generation Networks (NGNs). One of the main interworking aspects which has been most studied is an efficient management of satellite resources, i.e. bandwidth and buffer space, in order to satisfy most demanding application requirements as to delay control and bandwidth assurance. In this context, resource management in DVB-S/DVB-RCS satellite technologies, emerging technologies for broadband satellite access and transport of IP applications, is a research issue largely investigated as a means to provide efficient bi-directional communications across satellites. This is in particular one of the principal goals of the SATIP6 project, sponsored within the 5th EU Research Programme Framework, i.e. IST. In this paper we present a possible approach to efficiently exploit bandwidth, the most critical resource in a broadband satellite access network, while pursuing satisfaction of delay and bandwidth requirements for applications with guaranteed QoS through a traffic control architecture to be implemented in ground terminals. Performance of this approach is assessed in terms of efficient exploitation of the uplink bandwidth and differentiation and minimization of queuing delays for most demanding applications over a time-varying capacity. Opnet simulations is used as analysis tool.

Evaluation of Authentic Science Projects on Climate Change in Secondary Schools: A Focus on Gender Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dijkstra, Elma; Goedhart, Martin

2011-01-01

Background and purpose: This study examines secondary-school students' opinions on participating in authentic science projects which are part of an international EU project on climate change research in seven countries. Partnerships between schools and research institutes result in student projects, in which students work with and learn from…

Hands-on-Universe, Europe Bringing frontline interactive astronomy to the classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferlet, R.

Hands-on-Universe, Europe (EU-HOU) aims at re-awakening the interest for science in the young generations through astronomy and new technologies. It relies on real observations acquired through a worldwide internet-based network of automatic telescopes or with didactical tools (webcam, radiotelescope). Pupils manipulate images in the classroom environment, using specific software within pedagogical resources constructed in close collaboration between researchers and teachers. EU-HOU is freely available on the web, and trains european teachers.

DAGAL: Detailed Anatomy of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knapen, Johan H.

2017-03-01

The current IAU Symposium is closely connected to the EU-funded network DAGAL (Detailed Anatomy of Galaxies), with the final annual network meeting of DAGAL being at the core of this international symposium. In this short paper, we give an overview of DAGAL, its training activities, and some of the scientific advances that have been made under its umbrella.

EU Funded Research Activities on NPPS Operational Safety

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Manolatos, P.; Van Goethem, G.

2002-07-01

The 5. framework programme (FP-5), the pluri-annual research programme of the European Union (EU), covers the period 1998-2002. Research on nuclear energy, fusion and fission, is covered by the EURATOM part of the FP-5. An overview of the Euratom's research on Nuclear Reactor Safety, managed by the DG-RTD of the European Commission (EC), is presented. This concerns 70 multi-partner projects of approximately euro 82.5 million total contract value that have been selected and co-financed during the period 1999-2001. They form the three clusters of projects dealing with the 'Operational Safety of Existing Installations'. 'Plant Life Extension and Management' (PLEM), 'Severemore » Accident Management' (SAM) and 'Evolutionary concepts' (EVOL). Emphasis is given here to the projects of the PLEM cluster. (authors)« less

Vulnerability of networks of interacting Markov chains.

PubMed

Kocarev, L; Zlatanov, N; Trajanov, D

2010-05-13

The concept of vulnerability is introduced for a model of random, dynamical interactions on networks. In this model, known as the influence model, the nodes are arranged in an arbitrary network, while the evolution of the status at a node is according to an internal Markov chain, but with transition probabilities that depend not only on the current status of that node but also on the statuses of the neighbouring nodes. Vulnerability is treated analytically and numerically for several networks with different topological structures, as well as for two real networks--the network of infrastructures and the EU power grid--identifying the most vulnerable nodes of these networks.

High Performance MG-System Alloys For Weight Saving Applications: First Year Results From The Green Metallurgy EU Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Errico, Fabrizio; Plaza, Gerardo Garces; Hofer, Markus; Kim, Shae K.

The GREEN METALLURGY Project, a LIFE+ project co-financed by the EU Commission, has just concluded its first year. The Project seeks to set manufacturing processes at a pre-industrial scale for nanostructured-based high-performance Mg-Zn(Y) magnesium alloys. The Project's goal is the reduction of specific energy consumed and the overall carbon-footprint produced in the cradle-to-exit gate phases. Preliminary results addressed potentialities of the upstream manufacturing process pathway. Two Mg-Zn(Y) system alloys with rapid solidifying powders have been produced and directly extruded for 100% densification. Examination of the mechanical properties showed that such materials exhibit strength and elongation comparable to several high performing aluminum alloys; 390 MPa and 440 MPa for the average UTS for two different system alloys, and 10% and 15% elongations for two system alloys. These results, together with the low-environmental impact targeted, make these novel Mg alloys competitive as lightweight high-performance materials for automotive components.

The Road to the European Union: Macroeconomic Policy Challenges for Hungary and Poland. Fulbright-Hayes Summer Seminars Abroad Program, 2002 (Hungary and Poland).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramirez, Teresita R.

Prospects for the enlargement of the European Union (EU) became imminent when the EU Commission agreed in 1997 to open formal negotiations with five of the Central and Eastern European countries: (1) the Czech Republic; (2) Hungary; (3) Poland; (4) Slovenia; and (5) Estonia. This research project discusses macroeconomic policy challenges that…

Space and the complexity of European rules and policies: The common projects Galileo and GMES—precedence for a new European legal approach?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Froehlich, Annette

2010-04-01

The two European flagship space projects, Galileo and GMES, clearly show that the current existing legal rules of the two organisations involved (European Union and European Space Agency) are not compatible. Moreover, it is quite impossible to implement a common project if every single organisation insists on the application of its own rules strictu sensu. Nevertheless, due to the political desire to advance these projects rapidly and to make them a success, legal obstacles were to be overcome. Consequently, recently concluded agreements between ESA and the EU-Commission concerning the financial and governmental matters of the Galileo and GMES implementation feature a new approach to cooperation between these two organisations. However, the question remains if they can be taken as precedence for a future institutionalised cooperation? It follows that the agreements have to be analysed in order to understand how a mutually acceptable agreement was reached despite the disparity in the rules of both organisations. In this regard, especially the financial decision agreement concerning Galileo in December 2007 shows a very interesting and unique way in applying EU-competition law. In the same way, the GMES-Delegation Agreement of spring 2008 is a good example of how two different legal systems can be applied to make a project success. Additionally, the reasons and arguments of both organisations have to be considered, especially once the Treaty of Lisbon will be in force. As these two main projects of the European Space Policy are characterized by the desire for a successful European cooperation, they can be regarded as an important step forward for a new legal approach. A new system emerges which could be taken into consideration for further common projects undertaken by ESA and the EU.

Patient participation in ERS guidelines and research projects: the EMBARC experience

PubMed Central

Timothy, Alan; Polverino, Eva; Almagro, Marta; Ruddy, Thomas; Powell, Pippa; Boyd, Jeanette

2017-01-01

The European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration (EMBARC) is a European Respiratory Society (ERS) Clinical Research Collaboration dedicated to improving research and clinical care for people with bronchiectasis. EMBARC has created a European Bronchiectasis Registry, funded by the ERS and by the European Union (EU) Innovative Medicines Initiative Programme. From the outset, EMBARC had the ambition to be a patient-focussed project. In contrast to many respiratory diseases, however, there are no specific patient charities or European patient organisations for patients with bronchiectasis and no existing infrastructure for patient engagement. This article describes the experience of EMBARC and the European Lung Foundation in establishing a patient advisory group and then engaging this group in European guidelines, an international registry and a series of research studies. Patient involvement in research, clinical guidelines and educational activities is increasingly advocated and increasingly important. Genuine patient engagement can achieve a number of goals that are critical to the success of an EU project, including focussing activities on patient priorities, allowing patients to direct the clinical and research agenda, and dissemination of guidelines and research findings to patients and the general public. Here, we review lessons learned and provide guidance for future ERS task forces, EU-funded projects or clinical research collaborations that are considering patient involvement. Educational aims To understand the different ways in which patients can contribute to clinical guidelines, research projects and educational activities. To understand the barriers and potential solutions to these barriers from a physician’s perspective, in order to ensure meaningful patient involvement in clinical projects. To understand the barriers and potential solutions from a patient’s perspective, in order to meaningfully involve patients in clinical projects. PMID:28894480

Patient participation in ERS guidelines and research projects: the EMBARC experience.

PubMed

Chalmers, James D; Timothy, Alan; Polverino, Eva; Almagro, Marta; Ruddy, Thomas; Powell, Pippa; Boyd, Jeanette

2017-09-01

The European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration (EMBARC) is a European Respiratory Society (ERS) Clinical Research Collaboration dedicated to improving research and clinical care for people with bronchiectasis. EMBARC has created a European Bronchiectasis Registry, funded by the ERS and by the European Union (EU) Innovative Medicines Initiative Programme. From the outset, EMBARC had the ambition to be a patient-focussed project. In contrast to many respiratory diseases, however, there are no specific patient charities or European patient organisations for patients with bronchiectasis and no existing infrastructure for patient engagement. This article describes the experience of EMBARC and the European Lung Foundation in establishing a patient advisory group and then engaging this group in European guidelines, an international registry and a series of research studies. Patient involvement in research, clinical guidelines and educational activities is increasingly advocated and increasingly important. Genuine patient engagement can achieve a number of goals that are critical to the success of an EU project, including focussing activities on patient priorities, allowing patients to direct the clinical and research agenda, and dissemination of guidelines and research findings to patients and the general public. Here, we review lessons learned and provide guidance for future ERS task forces, EU-funded projects or clinical research collaborations that are considering patient involvement. To understand the different ways in which patients can contribute to clinical guidelines, research projects and educational activities.To understand the barriers and potential solutions to these barriers from a physician's perspective, in order to ensure meaningful patient involvement in clinical projects.To understand the barriers and potential solutions from a patient's perspective, in order to meaningfully involve patients in clinical projects.

Comparative study on Climate Change Policies in the EU and China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bray, M.; Han, D.

2012-04-01

Both the EU and China are among the largest CO2 emitters in the world; their climate actions and policies have profound impacts on global climate change and may influence the activities in other countries. Evidence of climate change has been observed across Europe and China. Despite the many differences between the two regions, the European Commission and Chinese government support climate change actions. The EU has three priority areas in climate change: 1) understanding, monitoring and predicting climate change and its impact; 2) providing tools to analyse the effectiveness, cost and benefits of different policy options for mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts; 3) improving, demonstrating and deploying existing climate friendly technologies and developing the technologies of the future. China is very vulnerable to climate change, because of its vast population, fast economic development, and fragile ecological environment. The priority policies in China are: 1) Carbon Trading Policy; 2) Financing Loan Policy (Special Funds for Renewable Energy Development); 3) Energy Efficiency Labelling Policy; 4) Subsidy Policy. In addition, China has formulated the "Energy Conservation Law", "Renewable Energy Law", "Cleaner Production Promotion Law" and "Circular Economy Promotion Law". Under the present EU Framework Programme FP7 there is a large number of funded research activities linked to climate change research. Current climate change research projects concentrate on the carbon cycle, water quality and availability, climate change predictors, predicting future climate and understanding past climates. Climate change-related scientific and technological projects in China are mostly carried out through national scientific and technological research programs. Areas under investigation include projections and impact of global climate change, the future trends of living environment change in China, countermeasures and supporting technologies of global environment change, formation mechanism and prediction theory of major climate and weather disasters in China, technologies of efficient use of clean energy, energy conservation and improvement of energy efficiency, development and utilisation technology of renewable energy and new energy. The EU recognises that developing countries, such as China and India, need to strengthen their economies through industrialisation. However this needs to be achieved at the same time as protecting the environment and sustainable use of energy. The EU has committed itself to assisting developing countries to achieve their goals in four priority areas: 1) raising the policy profile of climate change; 2) support for adaption to climate change; 3) support for mitigation of climate change; and 4) capacity development. This comparative study is part of the EU funded SPRING project which seeks to understand and assess Chinese and European competencies, with the aim of facilitating greater cooperation in future climate and environment research.

Synthesis, characterization, and luminescent properties of Eu3+ dipyridophenazine functionalized complexes for potential bioimaging applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beasley, Jeremy

Luminescent properties of lanthanide complexes possess unique characteristics that make them good candidates for possible bioimaging agents and have inspired research initiatives to further explore these materials. However, the toxicity of these metals limits their applications as in-vivo bioimaging agents. One solution that eliminates the toxic effects is to encase these lanthanide complexes in silica. This project was designed to probe the variation in the fluorescence properties of a highly luminescent europium (III) complex, utilizing a fluorinated â-diketonate ligand (thenoyltrifluoroacetone (tta)), upon the substitution of the solvent molecules by various functionalized dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine (DPPZ) ligands. A method for covalently attaching, or occluding complexes in silica nanoparticles were also included in the project design. The structure and properties of the functionalized DPPZ ligands and their respective complexes were determined by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, UV-Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. UV excitation of the complexes resulted in red luminescence (~ 614 nm) characteristic of trivalent europium ions. The differences in luminescence properties of the complexes are rationalized in terms of the electronic features of the different functionalized DPPZ ligands. The higher overall quantum yield of the un-functionalized DPPZ complex, Eu(tta)3DPPZ (Q.Y.= 7.68 +/- 0.06 %), and the low overall quantum yield observed for Eu(tta)3DPPZ-COOEt (Q.Y.= 1.08 +/- 0.05%), Eu(tta) 3DPPZ-Si (Q.Y.= 0.65+/- 0.04%), Eu(tta)3DPPZ-COOH (Q.Y.= 0.61+/- 0.07 %), Eu(tta)3DPPZ-CH3 (Q.Y.= 0.59+/-0.02 %) are rationalized in terms of how electron donating or withdrawing groups affect their respective ligand-to-metal energy transfer efficiencies. Eu(tta) 3DPPZ was the only complex to show enhanced luminescent properties capable of potential applications in biomedical imaging.

Spectral characteristics of the Hellenic vertical network - Validation over Central and Northern Greece using GOCE/GRACE global geopotential models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andritsanos, Vassilios D.; Vergos, George S.; Grigoriadis, Vassilios N.; Pagounis, Vassilios; Tziavos, Ilias N.

2014-05-01

The Elevation project, funded by the action "Archimedes III - Funding of research groups in T.E.I.", co-financed by the E.U. (European Social Fund) and national funds under the Operational Program "Education and Lifelong Learning 2007-2013" aims mainly to the validation of the Hellenic vertical datum. This validation is carried out over two areas under study, one in Central and another in Northern Greece. During the first stage of the validation process, satellite-only as well as combined satellite-terrestrial models of the Earth's geopotential are used. GOCE and GRACE satellite information is compared against recently measured GPS/Levelling observations at specific benchmarks of the vertical network in Attiki (Central Greece) and Thessaloniki (Northern Greece). A spectral enhancement approach is followed where, given the GOCE/GRACE GGM truncation degree, EGM2008 is used to fill-in the medium and high-frequency content along with RTM effects for the high and ultra high part. The second stage is based on the localization of possible blunders of the vertical network using the spectral information derived previously. The undoubted accuracy of the contemporary global models at the low frequency band leads to some initial conclusions about the consistency of the Hellenic vertical datum.

CHRODIS criteria applied to the MASK (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK) Good Practice in allergic rhinitis: a SUNFRAIL report.

PubMed

Bousquet, J; Onorato, G L; Bachert, C; Barbolini, M; Bedbrook, A; Bjermer, L; de Sousa, J Correia; Chavannes, N H; Cruz, A A; De Manuel Keenoy, E; Devillier, P; Fonseca, J; Hun, S; Kostka, T; Hellings, P W; Illario, M; Ivancevich, J C; Larenas-Linnemann, D; Millot-Keurinck, J; Ryan, D; Samolinski, B; Sheikh, A; Yorgancioglu, A; Agache, I; Arnavielhe, S; Bewick, M; Annesi-Maesano, I; Anto, J M; Bergmann, K C; Bindslev-Jensen, C; Bosnic-Anticevich, S; Bouchard, J; Caimmi, D P; Camargos, P; Canonica, G W; Cardona, V; Carriazo, A M; Cingi, C; Colgan, E; Custovic, A; Dahl, R; Demoly, P; De Vries, G; Fokkens, W J; Fontaine, J F; Gemicioğlu, B; Guldemond, N; Gutter, Z; Haahtela, T; Hellqvist-Dahl, B; Jares, E; Joos, G; Just, J; Khaltaev, N; Keil, T; Klimek, L; Kowalski, M L; Kull, I; Kuna, P; Kvedariene, V; Laune, D; Louis, R; Magnan, A; Malva, J; Mathieu-Dupas, E; Melén, E; Menditto, E; Morais-Almeida, M; Mösges, R; Mullol, J; Murray, R; Neffen, H; O'Hehir, R; Palkonen, S; Papadopoulos, N G; Passalacqua, G; Pépin, J L; Portejoie, F; Price, D; Pugin, B; Raciborski, F; Simons, F E R; Sova, M; Spranger, O; Stellato, C; Todo Bom, A; Tomazic, P V; Triggiani, M; Valero, A; Valovirta, E; VandenPlas, O; Valiulis, A; van Eerd, M; Ventura, M T; Wickman, M; Young, I; Zuberbier, T; Zurkuhlen, A; Senn, A

2017-01-01

A Good Practice is a practice that works well, produces good results, and is recommended as a model. MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel Network (MASK), the new Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative, is an example of a Good Practice focusing on the implementation of multi-sectoral care pathways using emerging technologies with real life data in rhinitis and asthma multi-morbidity. The European Union Joint Action on Chronic Diseases and Promoting Healthy Ageing across the Life Cycle (JA-CHRODIS) has developed a checklist of 28 items for the evaluation of Good Practices. SUNFRAIL (Reference Sites Network for Prevention and Care of Frailty and Chronic Conditions in community dwelling persons of EU Countries), a European Union project, assessed whether MASK is in line with the 28 items of JA-CHRODIS. A short summary was proposed for each item and 18 experts, all members of ARIA and SUNFRAIL from 12 countries, assessed the 28 items using a Survey Monkey-based questionnaire. A visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0 (strongly disagree) to 100 (strongly agree) was used. Agreement equal or over 75% was observed for 14 items (50%). MASK is following the JA-CHRODIS recommendations for the evaluation of Good Practices.

A review on existing OSSEs and their implications on European marine observation requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

She, Jun

2017-04-01

Marine observations are essential for understanding marine processes and improving the forecast quality, they are also expensive. It has always been an important issue to optimize sampling schemes of marine observational networks so that the value of marine observations can be maximized and the cost can be lowered. Ocean System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is an efficient tool in assessing impacts of proposed future sampling schemes on reconstructing and forecasting the ocean and ecosystem conditions. In this study existing OSSE research results from EU projects (such as JERICO, OPEC, SANGOMA, E-AIMS and AtlantOS), institutional studies and review papers are collected and analyzed, according to regions (Arctic, Baltic, N. Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea) and instruments/variables. The preliminary results show that significant gaps for OSSEs in regions and instruments. Among the existing OSSEs, Argo (Bio-Argo and Deep See Argo), gliders and ferrybox are the most often investigated instruments. Although many of the OSSEs are dedicated for very specific monitoring strategies and not sufficiently comprehensive for making solid recommendations for optimizing the existing networks, the detailed findings for future marine observation requirements from the OSSEs will be summarized in the presentation. Recommendations for systematic OSSEs for optimizing European marine observation networks are also given.

Global Sources and Pathways of Mercury in the Context of Human Health.

PubMed

Sundseth, Kyrre; Pacyna, Jozef M; Pacyna, Elisabeth G; Pirrone, Nicola; Thorne, Rebecca J

2017-01-22

This paper reviews information from the existing literature and the EU GMOS (Global Mercury Observation System) project to assess the current scientific knowledge on global mercury releases into the atmosphere, on global atmospheric transport and deposition, and on the linkage between environmental contamination and potential impacts on human health. The review concludes that assessment of global sources and pathways of mercury in the context of human health is important for being able to monitor the effects from implementation of the Minamata Convention targets, although new research is needed on the improvement of emission inventory data, the chemical and physical behaviour of mercury in the atmosphere, the improvement of monitoring network data, predictions of future emissions and speciation, and on the subsequent effects on the environment, human health, as well as the economic costs and benefits of reducing these aspects.

Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP): developing a common framework for marine data management on a global scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, D.

2015-12-01

Europe, the USA, and Australia are making significant progress in facilitating the discovery, access and long term stewardship of ocean and marine data through the development, implementation, population and operation of national, regional or international distributed ocean and marine observing and data management infrastructures such as SeaDataNet, EMODnet, IOOS, R2R, and IMOS. All of these developments are resulting in the development of standards and services implemented and used by their regional communities. The Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP) project is supported by the EU FP7 Research Infrastructures programme, National Science Foundation (USA) and Australian government and has been initiated 1st October 2012. Recently the project has been continued as ODIP 2 for another 3 years with EU HORIZON 2020 funding. ODIP includes all the major organisations engaged in ocean data management in EU, US, and Australia. ODIP is also supported by the IOC-IODE, closely linking this activity with its Ocean Data Portal (ODP) and Ocean Data Standards Best Practices (ODSBP) projects. The ODIP platform aims to ease interoperability between the regional marine data management infrastructures. Therefore it facilitates an organised dialogue between the key infrastructure representatives by means of publishing best practice, organising a series of international workshops and fostering the development of common standards and interoperability solutions. These are evaluated and tested by means of prototype projects. The presentation will give further background on the ODIP projects and the latest information on the progress of three prototype projects addressing: establishing interoperability between the regional EU, USA and Australia data discovery and access services (SeaDataNet CDI, US NODC, and IMOS MCP) and contributing to the global GEOSS and IODE-ODP portals; establishing interoperability between cruise summary reporting systems in Europe, the USA and Australia for routine harvesting of cruise data for delivery via the Partnership for Observation of Global Oceans (POGO) global portal; establishing common standards for a Sensor Observation Service (SOS) for selected sensors installed on vessels and in real-time monitoring systems using sensor web enablement (SWE)

Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP): developing a common framework for marine data management on a global scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, Dick M. A.; Glaves, Helen

2016-04-01

Europe, the USA, and Australia are making significant progress in facilitating the discovery, access and long term stewardship of ocean and marine data through the development, implementation, population and operation of national, regional or international distributed ocean and marine observing and data management infrastructures such as SeaDataNet, EMODnet, IOOS, R2R, and IMOS. All of these developments are resulting in the development of standards and services implemented and used by their regional communities. The Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP) project is supported by the EU FP7 Research Infrastructures programme, National Science Foundation (USA) and Australian government and has been initiated 1st October 2012. Recently the project has been continued as ODIP II for another 3 years with EU HORIZON 2020 funding. ODIP includes all the major organisations engaged in ocean data management in EU, US, and Australia. ODIP is also supported by the IOC-IODE, closely linking this activity with its Ocean Data Portal (ODP) and Ocean Data Standards Best Practices (ODSBP) projects. The ODIP platform aims to ease interoperability between the regional marine data management infrastructures. Therefore it facilitates an organised dialogue between the key infrastructure representatives by means of publishing best practice, organising a series of international workshops and fostering the development of common standards and interoperability solutions. These are evaluated and tested by means of prototype projects. The presentation will give further background on the ODIP projects and the latest information on the progress of three prototype projects addressing: 1. establishing interoperability between the regional EU, USA and Australia data discovery and access services (SeaDataNet CDI, US NODC, and IMOS MCP) and contributing to the global GEOSS and IODE-ODP portals; 2. establishing interoperability between cruise summary reporting systems in Europe, the USA and Australia for routine harvesting of cruise data for delivery via the Partnership for Observation of Global Oceans (POGO) global portal; 3. the establishment of common standards for a Sensor Observation Service (SOS) for selected sensors installed on vessels and in real-time monitoring systems using sensor web enablement (SWE)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, Randy M.; Kopsick, Deborah A.; Gorman, Bryan L.

Background Thousands of shipments of radioisotopes developed in the United States (U.S.) are transported domestically and internationally for medical and industrial applications, including to partner laboratories in European Union (EU) countries. Over the past five years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)1 have worked with state first responder personnel, key private sector supply chain stakeholders, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking and monitoring of medical, research and industrialmore » radioisotopes in commerce. ORNL was the pioneer of the international radioisotope shipping and production business. Most radioisotopes made and used today were either made or discovered at ORNL. While most of the radioisotopes used in the commercial sector are now produced and sold by the private market, ORNL still leads the world in the production of exotic, high-value and/or sensitive industrial, medical and research isotopes. The ORNL-EPA-DOE Radiological Source Tracking and Monitoring (RadSTraM) project tested, evaluated, and integrated RFID technologies in laboratory settings and at multiple private-sector shipping and distribution facilities (Perkin Elmer and DHL) to track and monitor common radioisotopes used in everyday commerce. The RFID tracking capability was also tested in association with other deployed technologies including radiation detection, chemical/explosives detection, advanced imaging, lasers, and infrared scanning. At the 2007 EU-U.S. Summit, the leaders of the US Department of Commerce (DOC) and EU European Commission (EC) committed to pursue jointly directed Lighthouse Priority Projects. These projects are intended to foster cooperation and reduce regulatory burdens with respect to transatlantic commerce. The Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) Lighthouse Project on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been directed to develop a joint framework for cooperation on identification and development of best practices for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies The RFID Lighthouse Priority Project commits both sides to endeavor to align U.S. and EU regulatory and policy approaches on RFID technologies, including pilot projects in the public sector.« less

Structural investigations of sol-gel derived silicate gels using Eu 3+ ion-probe luminescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Secu, C. E.; Predoi, D.; Secu, M.; Cernea, M.; Aldica, G.

2009-09-01

Undoped and Eu 3+-doped CaF 2-SiO 2 gels were prepared by the sol-gel method and their optical properties have been studied. The UV-VIS-NIR absorption and photoluminescence spectra have shown the bands typical for the Eu 3+ ions transitions. When the Eu-doped gel is annealed at temperatures up to 800 °C (i.e. above the CaF 2 crystallisation peak at ˜460 °C) the photoluminescence spectra intensity increase, the 590 nm (5D→7F) and 620 nm (5D→7F) luminescence bands become comparable and a structuring of the 620 nm band is observed. The phonon sidebands peaks associated with the 5F→7D transition of the Eu 3+ ion were observed at around 1000 and 620 cm -1 and have been assigned to the Si-O and Ca-O bonds, respectively. A phonon sideband signal in the range of 300-400 cm -1 was attributed to Ca-F bonds in the precipitated CaF 2 phase. From the optical absorption, photoluminescence and phonon sidebands spectra we have concluded that in the gels annealed at 800 °C, the Eu 3+ ions are incorporated into the silica network and in the precipitated CaF 2 phase.

Synthesis, Structure, White-Light Emission, and Temperature Recognition Properties of Eu/Tb Mixed Coordination Polymers.

PubMed

An, Ran; Zhao, Hui; Hu, Huai-Ming; Wang, Xiaofang; Yang, Meng-Lin; Xue, Ganglin

2016-01-19

Two series of Eu(III)/Tb(III) coordination polymers, [LnL(glu)]n·2nH2O (Ln = Eu (1), Tb (2)) and [LnL(glu)(H2O)]n (Ln = Eu (3), Tb (4)) [HL = (2-(2-sulfophenyl)imidazo(4,5-f)(1,10)-phenanthroline, H2glu = glutaric acid] have been hydrothermally synthesized by controlling the pH values and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectra, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Isomorphic compounds 1 and 2 exhibit 6-connected 3D network with the pcu topological net, containing left- and right-handed helical chains. Isomorphic compounds 3 and 4 show 3,4-connected 2D new topology with the point symbol of (4(2)·6(3)·8)(4(2)·6). Multicolor luminescence can be tailored from red to green regions by singly varying the mixing molar ratio of Eu(III)/Tb(III) cations. The mixing component of 1Eu/2Tb = 4:6 not only achieves white-light emission with the CIE coordinate of (0.323, 0.339) upon excitation at 405 nm but also presents a temperature recognition property with the significantly high sensitivity of 0.68% per K in the 50-225 K temperature range upon excitation at 370 nm.

The challenge of social networking in the field of environment and health.

PubMed

van den Hazel, Peter; Keune, Hans; Randall, Scott; Yang, Aileen; Ludlow, David; Bartonova, Alena

2012-06-28

The fields of environment and health are both interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary, and until recently had little engagement in social networking designed to cross disciplinary boundaries. The EU FP6 project HENVINET aimed to establish integrated social network and networking facilities for multiple stakeholders in environment and health. The underlying assumption is that increased social networking across disciplines and sectors will enhance the quality of both problem knowledge and problem solving, by facilitating interactions. Inter- and trans-disciplinary networks are considered useful for this purpose. This does not mean that such networks are easily organized, as openness to such cooperation and exchange is often difficult to ascertain. Different methods may enhance network building. Using a mixed method approach, a diversity of actions were used in order to investigate the main research question: which kind of social networking activities and structures can best support the objective of enhanced inter- and trans-disciplinary cooperation and exchange in the fields of environment and health. HENVINET applied interviews, a role playing session, a personal response system, a stakeholder workshop and a social networking portal as part of the process of building an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network. The interviews provided support for the specification of requirements for an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network. The role playing session, the personal response system and the stakeholder workshop were assessed as useful tools in forming such network, by increasing the awareness by different disciplines of other's positions. The social networking portal was particularly useful in delivering knowledge, but the role of the scientist in social networking is not yet clear. The main challenge in the field of environment and health is not so much a lack of scientific problem knowledge, but rather the ability to effectively communicate, share and use available knowledge for policy making. Structured social network facilities can be useful by policy makers to engage with the research community. It is beneficial for scientists to be able to integrate the perspective of policy makers in the research agenda, and to assist in co-production of policy-relevant information. A diversity of methods need to be applied for network building: according to the fit-for-purpose-principle. It is useful to know which combination of methods and in which time frame produces the best results.Networking projects such as HENVINET are created not only for the benefit of the network itself, but also because the applying of the different methods is a learning tool for future network building. Finally, it is clear that the importance of specialized professionals in enabling effective communication between different groups should not be underestimated.

The challenge of social networking in the field of environment and health

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The fields of environment and health are both interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary, and until recently had little engagement in social networking designed to cross disciplinary boundaries. The EU FP6 project HENVINET aimed to establish integrated social network and networking facilities for multiple stakeholders in environment and health. The underlying assumption is that increased social networking across disciplines and sectors will enhance the quality of both problem knowledge and problem solving, by facilitating interactions. Inter- and trans-disciplinary networks are considered useful for this purpose. This does not mean that such networks are easily organized, as openness to such cooperation and exchange is often difficult to ascertain. Methods Different methods may enhance network building. Using a mixed method approach, a diversity of actions were used in order to investigate the main research question: which kind of social networking activities and structures can best support the objective of enhanced inter- and trans-disciplinary cooperation and exchange in the fields of environment and health. HENVINET applied interviews, a role playing session, a personal response system, a stakeholder workshop and a social networking portal as part of the process of building an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network. Results The interviews provided support for the specification of requirements for an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network. The role playing session, the personal response system and the stakeholder workshop were assessed as useful tools in forming such network, by increasing the awareness by different disciplines of other’s positions. The social networking portal was particularly useful in delivering knowledge, but the role of the scientist in social networking is not yet clear. Conclusions The main challenge in the field of environment and health is not so much a lack of scientific problem knowledge, but rather the ability to effectively communicate, share and use available knowledge for policy making. Structured social network facilities can be useful by policy makers to engage with the research community. It is beneficial for scientists to be able to integrate the perspective of policy makers in the research agenda, and to assist in co-production of policy-relevant information. A diversity of methods need to be applied for network building: according to the fit-for-purpose-principle. It is useful to know which combination of methods and in which time frame produces the best results. Networking projects such as HENVINET are created not only for the benefit of the network itself, but also because the applying of the different methods is a learning tool for future network building. Finally, it is clear that the importance of specialized professionals in enabling effective communication between different groups should not be underestimated. PMID:22759497

My school voyages with PERSEUS - PERSEUS@SCHOOL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fermeli, Georgia; Papathanassiou, Evangelos; Papatheodorou, George; Streftaris, Nikos; Ioakeimidis, Christos

2014-05-01

PERSEUS@SCHOOL is an international environmental education thematic school network which is inspired and supported by the European research project PERSEUS (Policy Oriented Marine Environmental Research in Southern European Seas_http://www.perseus-net.eu) which is funded by EU FP7 Theme "Ocean of Tomorrow" and it is coordinating by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). The overall scientific objectives of PERSEUS (FP7) research project are to identify the interacting patterns of natural and human-derived pressures on the Mediterranean and Black Seas, assess their impact on marine ecosystems and, using the objectives and principles of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive as a vehicle, to design an effective and innovative research governance framework based on solid scientific knowledge. This research governance framework will engage scientists, policy-makers and the public, thereby reaching a shared understanding and informed decision-making based on sound scientific knowledge. PERSEUS@SCHOOL network is coordinated by the Department of Environmental Education of the 1st Directorate of Secondary Education of Athens and aims to help and enhance environmental education, focusing on clean seas stewardship in schools. Educators along with marine scientists have a role in supporting and inspiring children to acquire the knowledge, skills and inspire their awareness to live and work as responsible and concerned citizens. For this purpose, the network has designed specific pedagogical activities for primary and secondary education - based on PERSEUS key thematic areas i.e. Marine biodiversity, Overfishing, Chemical Marine Pollution - Bioaccumulation - Health, Eutrophication in Marine Waters and Marine Litter. Complementary, two web-monitoring tools will be used by the network; the Jellyfish Spotting campaign and the Marine LitterWatch (MLW) app (Developed by EEA). A special emphasis is given to MLW app, as school students for first time will use it in order to test this new tool and to monitor beach marine litter in selected areas in Greece. The pedagogical activities of the network will give students an opportunity to explore similarities and differences between schools and nationalities, while simultaneously creating awareness of other young people's reality in a captivating way. PERSEUS@SCHOOL will allow students to use their imagination and knowledge provided by PERSEUS scientists, in order to think and act about the marine environment and its protection in an interactive, appealing and imaginative way. Finally, students will participate in a "true" expedition in the Aegean Sea, on the R/V AEGAEO of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). The aim of this expedition is to involve students in marine scientific research and guide them to recognize the 'value' of the Mediterranean Sea and the threats and challenges it faces in the modern world. During this expedition, students will collaborate with marine scientists creating a powerful interactive learning experience, participate in experiments, interpret research findings, draw conclusions and voice their opinion for the "Oceans of tomorrow".

South Africa calls Italy: effective exchange activity through costless (Skype like) connections in the framework of the EU UNAWE project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zanazzi, A.; Albanese, L.; Naidoo, T.

2014-10-01

In summer 2012 the Italian EU-UNAWE team joined with the South African team in Cape Town, working with the township schools organizing activities at school and also a teachers' training event at the SAAO Observatory. In order to involve in the exchange not only the project's experts but also to the teachers and the children, we organized Skype connections between the Cape town teachers participating in the project and the teachers in Sicily (South Italy) that also participated in one of the Italian training sessions and later between the children of the Italian school and those in Zanemfundo School (Cape Town). Thanks to this chance of seeing each other and talking directly, children have - with huge interest and participation - shared and learned methods, experiences, curiosities. They shared their prepared actual science researches, in order to understand why an equal gnomon cast different shadows at the same time in the two countries. The teachers confronted on curricula, didactic methodologies such as working with a background story during the whole school year, interdisciplinary uses of astronomy, languages etc. The EU-UNAWE project and International or Regional conferences such as LARIM are perfect chances to create exchanges between countries all around the World, and this simple communication model between children and teachers appears like an enormous resource yet to be fully exploited.

Neutron Capture Experiments on Unstable Nuclei

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schwantes, Jon M.; Sudowe, Ralf; Folden, Charles M., III

2005-01-15

The overall objective of this project is the measurement of neutron capture cross sections of importance to stewardship science and astrophysical modeling of nucleosynthesis, while at the same time helping to train the next generation of scientists with expertise relevant to U.S. national nuclear security missions and to stewardship science. A primary objective of this project is to study neutron capture cross sections for various stable and unstable isotopes that will contribute to the Science Based Stockpile Stewardship (SBSS) program by providing improved data for modeling and interpretation of nuclear device performance. Much of the information obtained will also bemore » important in astrophysical modeling of nucleosynthesis. Measurements of these neutron capture cross sections are being conducted in collaboration with researchers at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) facility using the unique Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE). In our early discussions with the DANCE group, decisions were made on the first cross sections to be measured and how our expertise in target preparation, radiochemical separations chemistry, and data analysis could best be applied. The initial emphasis of the project was on preparing suitable targets of both natural and separated stable europium isotopes in preparation for the ultimate goal of preparing a sufficiently large target of radioactive 155Eu (t1/2 = 4.7 years) and other radioactive and stable species for neutron cross-section measurements at DANCE. Our Annual Report, ''Neutron Capture Experiments on Unstable Nuclei'' by J. M. Schwantes, R. Sudowe, C. M. Folden III, H. Nitsche, and D. C. Hoffman, submitted to NNSA in December 2003, gives details about the initial considerations and scope of the project. During the current reporting period, electroplated targets of natural Eu together with valuable, stable, and isotopically pure 151Eu and 153Eu, and isotopically separated 154Sm were measured for the first time at the DANCE facility in early 2004. The Eu targets, suitable blanks, Be backing foils, and standards had been sent to the DANCE group in early fall 2003. Some preliminary data analysis was performed and more sophisticated analysis has begun. We developed plans for a suitable computer system for data analysis within our group at Berkeley and had meetings with counterparts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and LANL concerning analysis of these data. Our major emphasis in 2004 has been to develop the separations and processes ultimately required to prepare radioactive targets of 4.7-year 155Eu. Efforts continued to devise an optimum multiprocess procedure suitable for use in separating radioactive 155Eu already produced by irradiation of stable 154Sm in a high neutron flux reactor at the Institut Laue-Langevin in France and shipped to LANL (the 22-min 155Sm neutron-capture product decays to 155Eu). This separation is extremely demanding because the highly radioactive 155Eu must be isolated from about 20 times as much mass of samarium before a target can be prepared for DANCE measurements. After all the procedures have been fully tested the radioactive 155Eu will be separated. The same electroplating methods already used successfully to prepare stable Eu isotope targets will be used to prepare the 155Eu target for DANCE. Discussions were held with LANL radiochemists in the Chemistry (C) Division about appropriate facilities at LANL for conducting the full-scale separation and purification of the radioactive targets. Three more multiprocess separations were developed that generated less chemical and radioactive waste, but they must still be adapted for processing hundred-milligram quantities. Until these separations can be successfully implemented at this scale, standard HPLC procedures will be used for separating and preparing radioactive 155Eu, 2.6-year 147Pm, and 1.9-year 171Tm target materials. Future directions beyond the preparation of radioactive lanthanide targets include closer collaboration with both LLNL and LANL to prepare actinide targets such as plutonium, americium, and curium. Also, the applicability of established and novel techniques will be evaluated for rapid separations of Am and Cm required in the irradiation of 241Am. Lastly, we will conduct a series of experiments aimed at enhancing current methods used to electrodeposit lanthanide and actinide targets on thin Ti and Be backings.« less

Empowering European communities to improve natural resource management for human well-being: the OPPLA web portal & communities of practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metzger, M.; Brown, C.; Pérez-Soba, M.; Rounsevell, M.; Verweij, P.; Delbaere, B.; Cojocaru, G.; Saarikoski, H.; Harrison, P.; Zellmer, K.

2014-12-01

The ecosystem services concept is seen by many as a useful paradigm to support decision-making at the complex interface between science, policy and practice. However, to be successful, it requires a strong willingness for collaboration and joint understanding. In support of this aspiration, OPPLA is being developed as a web portal to enable European communities to better manage ecosystems for human well-being and livelihoods. OPPLA will provide access to a variety of online resources such as tools, case studies, lessons learned, videos, manuals and training and educational materials. It will also provide expert forums and spaces for discussions between researchers, practitioners and decision makers. Hence a critical aspect of the success of OPPLA is the co-evolution of communities of practice. An example of a community of practice is the recently launched Ecosystem Services Community - Scotland (ESCom-Scotland; escomscotland.wordpress.com). ESCom-Scotland aims to support better management of Scotland's natural resources by helping to establish a community of practice between individuals and groups involved in the science, policy and practice behind sustainable ecosystem management. It aspires to encourage the sharing of ideas, increase collaboration and to initiate a support network for those engaging with the ecosystem services concept and it will use the OPPLA resources to support these activities. OPPLA is currently at the developmental stage and was instigated by two large European Commission funded research projects: OPERAs (www.operas-project.eu) and OpenNESS (www.openness-project.eu), with a combined budget of ca. €24m. These projects aim to improve understanding of how ecosystem services contribute to human well-being in different social-ecological systems. Research will establish whether, how and under what conditions the ecosystem services concept can move beyond the academic domain towards practical implementation in support of sustainable ecosystem management. New insights, and improved or novel tools and instruments, will be tested in practice in case studies that cover a range of socio-ecological systems across locales, sectors, scales and time. This presentation will discuss the development of OPPLA and the communities of practice that are emerging around it.

Cergop-2, A Multipurpose and Interdisciplinary Sensor Array For Environmental Research In Central Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pesec, P.

The project CERGOP-2 (second phase of the Central Europe Regional Geodynamics Project)was initiated 1998, as a successor of CERGOP 1993/1998. During the follow- ing 3 years a new concept was worked out which finally was submitted for EU-support under the Sub-Programme Environment and Sustainable Development (5. FP) Octo- ber 2001. In the meanwhile the proposal received a "go" which implies a ranking in the final set of proposals forseen for eventual financial support. 14 contractors out of 13 countries contributed to the formulation of the proposal, the planned actions comprize the consolidation of the GPS-network,which covers about 15 % of the European territory, the final aim being the establishment of a velocity field which allows for the derivation of strain-fields and the monitoring of energy transfer for geodynamic studies and hazard mitigation. This paper will give an overview of the required actions and the expected results, paying special attention to near real-time information and regional geodynamic inves- tigations of seismic active regions.

The Scatterometer Instrument Competence Centre (SCIRoCCo): Project's Activities and First Achievements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crapolicchio, R.; Bigazzi, A.; De Chiara, G.; Neyt, X.; Stoffelen, A.; Belmonte, M.; Wagner, W.; Reimer, C.

2016-08-01

The Scatterometer Instrument Competence Centre (SCIRoCCo, http://scirocco.sp.serco.eu) is a project established by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2014 as an interdisciplinary cooperation of international scatterometry experts aimed at promoting the continuing exploitation of ESA's unique 20 years' worth of ERS Scatterometer data (ESCAT) at medium (25Km, 50 Km) spatial resolution, and improving the quality of available and future scatterometry data.SCIRoCCo aims at consolidating current methodologies for Scatterometer data processing and calibration. SCIRoCCo provides ERS-1/ERS-2 sensors inter- calibration, sensor characterization and data validation. Data analysis and processing software, academic and technical publications in support of calibration and many diverse applications and research in Land (e.g. Soil Moisture), Oceanography (Ocean Winds, Sea, Ice), Climatology are also provided through the web portal, which also serves as the entry point to SCIRoCCo's educational network, funded through Grants and aimed at fostering the next-generation scatterometry experts. SCIRoCCo thus targets the needs of meteorological agencies, meteorological operations centers and the broader Researchers' and Users' communities for consistent and high quality Scatterometer data processing.

A GIS based watershed information system for water resources management and planning in semi-arid areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tzabiras, John; Spiliotopoulos, Marios; Kokkinos, Kostantinos; Fafoutis, Chrysostomos; Sidiropoulos, Pantelis; Vasiliades, Lampros; Papaioannou, George; Loukas, Athanasios; Mylopoulos, Nikitas

2015-04-01

The overall objective of this work is the development of an Information System which could be used by stakeholders for the purposes of water management as well as for planning and strategic decision-making in semi-arid areas. An integrated modeling system has been developed and applied to evaluate the sustainability of water resources management strategies in Lake Karla watershed, Greece. The modeling system, developed in the framework of "HYDROMENTOR" research project, is based on a GIS modelling approach which uses remote sensing data and includes coupled models for the simulation of surface water and groundwater resources, the operation of hydrotechnical projects (reservoir operation and irrigation works) and the estimation of water demands at several spatial scales. Lake Karla basin was the region where the system was tested but the methodology may be the basis for future analysis elsewhere. Τwo (2) base and three (3) management scenarios were investigated. In total, eight (8) water management scenarios were evaluated: i) Base scenario without operation of the reservoir and the designed Lake Karla district irrigation network (actual situation) • Reduction of channel losses • Alteration of irrigation methods • Introduction of greenhouse cultivation ii) Base scenario including the operation of the reservoir and the Lake Karla district irrigation network • Reduction of channel losses • Alteration of irrigation methods • Introduction of greenhouse cultivation The results show that, under the existing water resources management, the water deficit of Lake Karla watershed is very large. However, the operation of the reservoir and the cooperative Lake Karla district irrigation network coupled with water demand management measures, like reduction of water distribution system losses and alteration of irrigation methods, could alleviate the problem and lead to sustainable and ecological use of water resources in the study area. Acknowledgements: This study has been supported by the research project "Hydromentor" funded by the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology in the framework of the E.U. co-funded National Action "Cooperation"

Projected range contractions of European protected oceanic montane plant communities: focus on climate change impacts is essential for their future conservation.

PubMed

Hodd, Rory L; Bourke, David; Skeffington, Micheline Sheehy

2014-01-01

Global climate is rapidly changing and while many studies have investigated the potential impacts of this on the distribution of montane plant species and communities, few have focused on those with oceanic montane affinities. In Europe, highly sensitive bryophyte species reach their optimum occurrence, highest diversity and abundance in the north-west hyperoceanic regions, while a number of montane vascular plant species occur here at the edge of their range. This study evaluates the potential impact of climate change on the distribution of these species and assesses the implications for EU Habitats Directive-protected oceanic montane plant communities. We applied an ensemble of species distribution modelling techniques, using atlas data of 30 vascular plant and bryophyte species, to calculate range changes under projected future climate change. The future effectiveness of the protected area network to conserve these species was evaluated using gap analysis. We found that the majority of these montane species are projected to lose suitable climate space, primarily at lower altitudes, or that areas of suitable climate will principally shift northwards. In particular, rare oceanic montane bryophytes have poor dispersal capacity and are likely to be especially vulnerable to contractions in their current climate space. Significantly different projected range change responses were found between 1) oceanic montane bryophytes and vascular plants; 2) species belonging to different montane plant communities; 3) species categorised according to different biomes and eastern limit classifications. The inclusion of topographical variables in addition to climate, significantly improved the statistical and spatial performance of models. The current protected area network is projected to become less effective, especially for specialised arctic-montane species, posing a challenge to conserving oceanic montane plant communities. Conservation management plans need significantly greater focus on potential climate change impacts, including models with higher-resolution species distribution and environmental data, to aid these communities' long-term survival.

Projected Range Contractions of European Protected Oceanic Montane Plant Communities: Focus on Climate Change Impacts Is Essential for Their Future Conservation

PubMed Central

Skeffington, Micheline Sheehy

2014-01-01

Global climate is rapidly changing and while many studies have investigated the potential impacts of this on the distribution of montane plant species and communities, few have focused on those with oceanic montane affinities. In Europe, highly sensitive bryophyte species reach their optimum occurrence, highest diversity and abundance in the north-west hyperoceanic regions, while a number of montane vascular plant species occur here at the edge of their range. This study evaluates the potential impact of climate change on the distribution of these species and assesses the implications for EU Habitats Directive-protected oceanic montane plant communities. We applied an ensemble of species distribution modelling techniques, using atlas data of 30 vascular plant and bryophyte species, to calculate range changes under projected future climate change. The future effectiveness of the protected area network to conserve these species was evaluated using gap analysis. We found that the majority of these montane species are projected to lose suitable climate space, primarily at lower altitudes, or that areas of suitable climate will principally shift northwards. In particular, rare oceanic montane bryophytes have poor dispersal capacity and are likely to be especially vulnerable to contractions in their current climate space. Significantly different projected range change responses were found between 1) oceanic montane bryophytes and vascular plants; 2) species belonging to different montane plant communities; 3) species categorised according to different biomes and eastern limit classifications. The inclusion of topographical variables in addition to climate, significantly improved the statistical and spatial performance of models. The current protected area network is projected to become less effective, especially for specialised arctic-montane species, posing a challenge to conserving oceanic montane plant communities. Conservation management plans need significantly greater focus on potential climate change impacts, including models with higher-resolution species distribution and environmental data, to aid these communities' long-term survival. PMID:24752011

Hyporheic network (Hyporheisches Netzwerk)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewandowski, J.; Fleckenstein, J.; Hoehn, E.; Nützmann, G.; Radke, M.; Saenger, N.; Schmidt, C.

2009-04-01

The transition zone between surface waters like streams and rivers and the adjacent aquifers is a zone of paramount ecological importance. Due to the complexity of exchange processes, their temporal variability, and the spatial heterogeneity of the ecotone, the understanding and ability to modell the hydrodynamic, hydrochemical, and (micro-)biological processes is still limited. Therefore, a network of scientists and practitioners involved in research and management of hyporheic zones in German-speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) is propsed in analogy to the hyporheic network (www.hyporheic.net) in the UK. The initiators of the network anticipate that an intense scientific exchange of knowledge and methods will improve our understanding of hyporheic processes and in turn our ability to manage them. The network will facilitate the formation of research groups to identify and understand key processes and their interactions. Research will be focused at a few major study sites, to bring together different expertise to allow more detailed, interdisciplinary investigations. Those sites can serve as crystallisation points for new research projects. Exchange within the network will be organized via an internet platform (www.hyporheisches-netzwerk.de), regular workshops, and several working groups dealing with different topics. A fast knowledge transfer is a further aim of the collaboration in order to shorten the time-lag between scientific findings and their implementation into management practice. Water resources management authorities should also be involved in the network to address urgent problems and direct some capacities to answer those questions. For instance, changes in geomorphology, water and temperature regimes as well as other anthropogenic impacts might increase the need for cold water refugia and altered flow regimes to maintain biodiversity. Additional qualitative improvements are required by the EU water framework directive.

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator EU2 Anomaly Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewandowski, Edward J.; Dobbs, Michael W.; Oriti, Salvatore M.

2016-01-01

The Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) Engineering Unit 2 (EU2) is the highest fidelity electrically-heated Stirling radioisotope generator built to date. NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) completed the assembly of the ASRG EU2 in September, 2014 using hardware from the now cancelled ASRG flight development project. The ASRG EU2 integrated the first pair of Sunpower's ASC-E3 Stirling convertors (ASC-E3 #1 and #2) in an aluminum generator housing with Lockheed Martin's Engineering Development Unit (EDU) 4 controller. After just 179 hours of EU2 generator operation, the first power fluctuation occurred on ASC-E3 #1. The first power fluctuation occurred 175 hours later on ASC-E3 #2. Over time, the power fluctuations became more frequent on both convertors and larger in magnitude. Eventually the EU2 was shut down in January, 2015. An anomaly investigation was chartered to determine root cause of the power fluctuations and other anomalous observations. A team with members from GRC, Sunpower, and Lockheed Martin conducted a thorough investigation of the EU2 anomalies. Findings from the EU2 disassembly identified proximate causes of the anomalous observations. Discussion of the team's assessment of the primary possible failure theories, root cause, and conclusions is provided. Recommendations are made for future Stirling generator development to address the findings from the anomaly investigation. Additional findings from the investigation are also discussed.

The Evolution of European Security: From Confrontation to Cooperation

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

leading U.S. companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin , just to name a few.77 But more robust cooperation is still limited by the member states...Common Security and Defense Policy: Intersecting Trajectories”, 4. 63 Gustav Lindstrom , Enter the EU Battlegroups, (Paris: Institute for Security...Battlegroups, Strategy Research Project (Carlisle Barracks, PA: U.S. Army War College, January 22, 2009), 4. 67 Lindstrom , Enter the EU Battlegroups

A catalogue of the small transients observed in STEREO HI-A and their associated in-situ measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanchez-Diaz, Eduardo; Rouillard, Alexis P.; Davies, Jackie A.; Kilpua, Emilia; Plotnikov, Illya

2017-04-01

The systematic monitoring of the solar wind in high-cadence and high-resolution heliospheric images taken by the Solar-Terrestrial Relation Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft permits the study of the spatial and temporal evolution of variable solar wind flows from the Sun out to 1 AU, and beyond. As part of the EU Framework 7 (FP7) Heliospheric Cataloguing, Analysis and Techniques Service (HELCATS) project, Plotnikov et al. (2016) created a catalogue of 190 Stream Interaction Regions (SIRs) well-observed in images taken by the Heliospheric Imager (HI) instruments onboard STEREO-A (ST-A). This catalogue has been made available on line on the official HELCATS website (https://www.helcats-fp7.eu/catalogues/wp5_cat.html) and included in the propagation tool (http://propagationtool.cdpp.eu). Several transients, known as blobs, are observed entrained in each SIR. We complete this catalogue with the trajectory of individual blobs and with the latitudinal extent of the SIR. For every SIR we report whether the trajectory of any of the entrained blob impacts a spacecraft in the Heliosphere. For the cases where a blob is predicted to impact one or more spacecraft, we include in the catalogue the predicted arrival time and the date and time of the visually recognized blob which is the closest to the predicted arrival time. This new catalogue was also made available on line on the HELCATS project website. This work was made with the funding from the HELCATS project under the FP7 EU contract number 606692.

Open data for water-related operational services, the SWITCH-ON approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzoli, Paolo; Bagli, Stefano; Valerio, Luzzi; Broccoli, Davide; Piccinini, Francesca

2017-04-01

Recently, a collaborative project started called SWITCH-ON (EU FP7 project No 603587) coordinated by SMHI (http://water-switch-on.eu/) as part of the contemporary European movement imposed by the INSPIRE directive and the Open Data Strategy. Among It's R&D activities GECOsistema develops and expands inside SWITCH-ON a set of online services to tackle major water related issues, from reservoir and irrigation supply, to hydrological change adaptation and hydropower potential mapping. Here we present major releases of APRIL, HyCAW and High-resolution European HydroPower Atlas; all of which make intense use of open data. APRIL is a tool for seasonal run-off forecasts, that takes advantage of open datasets or low-cost data and performs forecasts through calibrated machine learning algorithms. HyCAW is a wizard that supports the assessment of adaptation options to cope with change in the temporal distribution of water availability as well as in the total water quantity. EU HPA provides all relevant information necessary to appraise the feasibility of a micro-hydropower plant at a specific site, taking into account hydrological as well as technical and economic factors. All the tools share a common vision of the project to address water concerns and currently untapped potential of open data for improved water management across the EU. Users are guided through a Web GIS interface, created using open source Web Mapping Applications, Open-Layers and Map Server, to explore available hydrological information in the area of interest, plot available data, perform analysis, and get reports and statistics.

Comparative development of knowledge-based bioeconomy in the European Union and Turkey.

PubMed

Celikkanat Ozan, Didem; Baran, Yusuf

2014-09-01

Biotechnology, defined as the technological application that uses biological systems and living organisms, or their derivatives, to create or modify diverse products or processes, is widely used for healthcare, agricultural and environmental applications. The continuity in industrial applications of biotechnology enables the rise and development of the bioeconomy concept. Bioeconomy, including all applications of biotechnology, is defined as translation of knowledge received from life sciences into new, sustainable, environment friendly and competitive products. With the advanced research and eco-efficient processes in the scope of bioeconomy, more healthy and sustainable life is promised. Knowledge-based bioeconomy with its economic, social and environmental potential has already been brought to the research agendas of European Union (EU) countries. The aim of this study is to summarize the development of knowledge-based bioeconomy in EU countries and to evaluate Turkey's current situation compared to them. EU-funded biotechnology research projects under FP6 and FP7 and nationally-funded biotechnology projects under The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Academic Research Funding Program Directorate (ARDEB) and Technology and Innovation Funding Programs Directorate (TEYDEB) were examined. In the context of this study, the main research areas and subfields which have been funded, the budget spent and the number of projects funded since 2003 both nationally and EU-wide and the gaps and overlapping topics were analyzed. In consideration of the results, detailed suggestions for Turkey have been proposed. The research results are expected to be used as a roadmap for coordinating the stakeholders of bioeconomy and integrating Turkish Research Areas into European Research Areas.

Integrating Near Fault Observatories (NFO) for EPOS Implementation Phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiaraluce, Lauro

2015-04-01

Following the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) project vision aimed at creating a pan-European infrastructure for Earth sciences to support science for a more sustainable society, we are working on the integration of Near-Fault Observatories (NFOs). NFOs are state of the art research infrastructures consisting of advanced networks of multi-parametric sensors continuously monitoring the chemical and physical processes related to the common underlying earth instabilities governing active faults evolution and the genesis of earthquakes. Such a methodological approach, currently applicable only at the local scale (areas of tens to few hundreds of kilometres), is based on extremely dense networks and less common instruments deserving an extraordinary work on data quality control and multi-parameter data description. These networks in fact usually complement regional seismic and geodetic networks (typically with station spacing of 50-100km) with high-density distributions of seismic, geodetic, geochemical and geophysical sensors located typically within 10-20 km of active faults where large earthquakes are expected in the future. In the initial phase of EPOS-IP, seven NFO nodes will be linked: the Alto Tiberina and Irpinia Observatories in Italy, the Corinth Observatory in Greece, the South-Iceland Seismic Zone, the Valais Observatory in Switzerland, Marmara Sea GEO Supersite in Turkey (EU MARSite) and the Vrancea Observatory in Romania. Our work is aimed at establishing standards and integration within this first core group of NFOs while other NFOs are expected to be installed in the next years adopting the standards established and developed within the EPOS Thematic Core Services (TCS). The goal of our group is to build upon the initial development supported by these few key national observatories coordinated under previous EU projects (NERA and REAKT), inclusive and harmonised TCS supporting the installation over the next decade of tens of near-fault observatories monitoring active faults in different tectonic environments in Europe. We will assist these new NFOs in their design, installation and inclusion in EPOS. These infrastructures will substantially enable advancements in our fundamental understanding of earthquakes generation processes and associated ground shaking due to their high quality near source multidisciplinary data retrieval. While guaranteeing the continuous acquisition and storage of long time-series of such data, we will allow also an easy and direct data discovery and access to the whole community. This implies to strengthen the collaborations with other related EU and global initiatives devoted to the multidisciplinary monitoring and study of active fault zones (such as the GEO Geohazards Supersites initiative). Another key goal is the establishment of a legal governance for such a young community to ensure the long-term sustainability of the services and data access to databases to be used for scientific investigations and accessible via the Integrated Services that will be implemented within the EPOS IP project. The availability of real-time data retrieved by dense and multi-parametric networks located at close distance from the fault provides the unique opportunity of observing all phase of preparation, nucleation and propagation of the earthquake rupture. It is thus of crucial importance to develop methodologies that follow in real-time the evolution of the event. Hence the NFO is the unique and ideal infrastructure for hosting testing centers where a variety of scientific algorithms for real-time monitoring can be operated side-by-side and their performance independently evaluated. Besides the high interest for fundamental science, such developments have obvious societal impact, as they allow precise and timely release of alerts as the seismic event develops, and can attract new stakeholders such as industry partners who are interested in adopting and investing in early warning technologies and evolutionary ground shaking maps. Finally, we will describe how we intend to implement novel tools for visualization and analysis of multidisciplinary data and products to describe the anatomy of active faults and the physical processes governing earthquake generation and faulting. A sort of virtual laboratory aimed at promoting and disseminating Earth sciences at different levels.

Stakeholders' expectations on connectivity research for water and land management addressed by a survey in the collaborative EU-COST Connecteur network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smetanova, Anna; Paton, Eva N.; Keesstra, Saskia

2016-04-01

Transfer of knowledge across the science-society interface is essential for both, ethical and economic reasons, and inevitable for successful climate change adaptation and integrated management of sustainable, resilient landscapes. The transdisciplinary research of connectivity (which is the degree to which a system facilitates the movement of matter and energy through itself. It is an emergent property of the system state, Connecteur web resources,2015) has the potential to supply monitoring, modelling and management tools to land and water managers in order to reach these goals. The research of water and sediment connectivity has received significant and increasing scientific attention across the entire realm of the environmental disciplines, and the COST Action ES 1306 Connecteur facilitates the multi-sectorial collaboration in connectivity research at EU level. In order to appropriately address the transfer of the cutting edge research developments of the Connecteur network, the collaborative research project on stakeholders' perception of connectivity was conducted by the Working Group 5 "Transition of connectivity research towards sustainable land and water management". The questionnaire survey on stakeholder perception was conducted by volunteering scientist involved in the Connecteur network together from 19 European countries. Together 84 stakeholders from all mayor sectors in water and land management were asked about the main challenges of their work, their understanding of connectivity, the desired areas of cooperation with connectivity science, and the best tools for transferring knowledge. The results showed differences between different stakeholders groups in the way they percept and work with connectivity, as well as their requirement of knowledge transfers. While farmers, and (in lower extend) the agricultural administration officers articulated no, or little need for connectivity management, the majority of stakeholders involved in land and water management found it important. The need of scientist involvement in educational activities (targeting farmers), provision of training in newly developed easily usable tools (models or maps) based on existing data and training in this tools (for land and water management) were, together with freely available data, the most frequently expressed desired way of communication. The results of the study help to improve the research pathways of all working groups of COST Action ES 1306 Connecteur, and to identify the important way of transfer of the connectivity science to all relevant stakeholders. The project was supported by COST-STSM-ES1306-011215-063624. Connecteur web resources (2015) http://connecteur.info/wiki/connectivity-wiki/, 07.01.2016

Undergraduate and graduate education in Volcanology at University of Bristol, UK

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ernst, G.; Mader, H.; Phillips, J.; Lejeune, A.; Sparks, S.

2002-05-01

Volcanology education at Bristol is unique for several reasons. The Bristol group operates within a University Research Centre in Environmental and Geophysical Flows (CEGF), involving over 30 staff-to-PhD-level researchers, centered around close collaboration between 4 depts including Earth Sciences and Applied Maths. The uniquely-multidisciplinary setting supports training in volcanology with strong emphasis on combining field-based physical volcanology, theoretical modelling and simple analogue lab experiments. PhD students gain expertise in at least 2 of these 3 aspects during the PhD. Our dept itself is one of the most multidisciplinary in Earth Sciences and is ranked among the 3 leading ES Depts for its research quality. At dept level, there is a strong focus on understanding physical and chemical processes of magmatic/volcanic systems. Teaching/training of students is thus supported by excellent research, and aims at providing profound insights and practical experience into research. At undergraduate level, key experiences of students include 1.) a week-long field class to textbook-quality field sections on one of the most studied active volcanoes (Santorini, Greece), 2.) an independent project where the aim is to learn about all aspects of research as part of a well-focused study including gaining the experience of producing one potentially-publishable paper, 3.) a hands-on research project centered on using the latest analytical methods to solve a problem - this is most successful for 2 reasons: a.) Bristol hosts the EU Geochemical Facility and coordinates an EU Marie Curie Training Centre and b.) the students operate the instruments themselves (ie. they are not run for them); 4.) fourth-year students are especially challenged on the quantitative front (computer programming, statistical data analyses and hypothesis testing -we have excellent computer labs support for teaching), advanced field work and several independent projects. Students are helped into gaining volcanology summer experience immediately prior to dissertation work and those involved tend to progress much quicker as young researchers. At all levels, providing insights into the research process is through giving much freedom to develop as independent scientists as well as much contact time to discuss research results. Steve Sparks has also recently developed two educational video films: one for 12-16 year olds and another as support for undergraduate teaching - both providing insights into active volcanoes, volcanic processes and hazards, research and monitoring. Volcanology training is also through a Bristol-coordinated EU Training Network where EU PhD/postdocs spend 6-15 months in a EU leading volcanology group, one of which is Bristol, and 3 months in a Volcano Observatory. Factors that enhance the quality of the learning/training experience in volcanology are multiple. A pre-requisite to effective learning at any level isthe development of a strong connection between student and mentor/teacher -this is achieved best through field work, supervision/tutorial contact time, practical classes and our general approach to teaching. Approach to teaching includes extraordinary enthusiasm for volcanology, teaching by-example (eg. in the field), fostering critical thinking and questioning in students (Socratic approach), fostering class interactions, challenging students into producing highest-quality of work and trusting that they can achieve it, and providing as much hands-on experience as possible.

The QWeCI Project: seamlessly linking climate science to society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morse, A. P.; Caminade, C.; Jones, A. E.; MacLeod, D.; Heath, A. E.

2012-04-01

The EU FP7 QWeCI project Quantifying Weather and Climate Impacts on health in developing countries (www.liv.ac.uk/qweci) has 13 partners with 7 of these in Africa. The geographical focus of the project is in Senegal, Ghana and Malawi. In all three countries the project has a strong scientific dissemination outlook as well as having field based surveillance programmes in Ghana and Senegal to understand more about the local parameters controlling the transmission of malaria and in Senegal of Rift Valley fever. The project has a strong and active climate science activity in using hindcasts of the new System 4 seasonal forecasting system at ECMWF; to further develop the use of monthly to seasonal forecasts from ensemble prediction systems; within project downscaling development; the assessment of decadal ensemble prediction systems; and the development and testing of vector borne disease models for malaria and Rift Valley fever. In parallel with the science programme the project has a large outreach activity involving regular communication and bi-lateral exchanges, science and decision maker focused workshops. In Malawi a long range WiFi network has been established for the dissemination of data. In Senegal where they is a concentration of partners and stakeholders the project is gaining a role as a catalyst for wider health and climate related activity within government departments and national research bodies along with the support and involvement of local communities. Within these wider community discussions we have interactive inputs from African and European scientists who are partners in the project. This paper will show highlights of the work completed so far and give an outline to future development and to encourage a wider user interaction from outside of the current project team and their direct collaborators.

European Universe Awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russo, P.; Miley, G.; Westra van Holthe, F.; Schrier, W.; Reed, S.

2011-10-01

The European Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE) programme uses the beauty and grandeur of the cosmos to encourage young children, particularly those from underprivileged backgrounds, to develop an interest in science and technology and to foster a sense of global citizenship. EU-UNAWE is already active in 40 countries and comprises a global network of almost 500 astronomers, teachers and other educators. The programme was recently awarded a grant of 1.9 million euros by the European Union so that it can be further developed in five European countries and South Africa. The grant will be used to organise teacher training workshops and to develop educational materials, such as an astronomy news service for children and games. During this presentation we will outline some of the biggest achievements of EU-UNAWE to date and discuss future plans for the programme.

SEEMLA: 'Filling the gap' - The Future of bioenergy in the EU and the role of biomass from marginal lands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumgarten, Wibke; Kerckow, Birger

2017-04-01

The main objective of the H2020 funded EU project SEEMLA is the establishment of suitable innovative land-use strategies for a sustainable production of plant-based energy on marginal lands while improving general ecosystem services. In the context of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG, Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz) and the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) a concept should be developed with SEEMLA for a sustainable use of domestic biomass in order to be able to 'fill the gap' of the future demand in renewable resources as an energy source till 2050. The project partner countries are Italy, the Ukraine and Greece besides Germany.

Non-verbal Full Body Emotional and Social Interaction: A Case Study on Multimedia Systems for Active Music Listening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camurri, Antonio

Research on HCI and multimedia systems for art and entertainment based on non-verbal, full-body, emotional and social interaction is the main topic of this paper. A short review of previous research projects in this area at our centre are presented, to introduce the main issues discussed in the paper. In particular, a case study based on novel paradigms of social active music listening is presented. Active music listening experience enables users to dynamically mould expressive performance of music and of audiovisual content. This research is partially supported by the 7FP EU-ICT Project SAME (Sound and Music for Everyone, Everyday, Everywhere, Every Way, www.sameproject.eu).

Building and evaluating sensor-based Citizens' Observatories for improving quality of life in cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castell, Nuria; Lahoz, William; Schneider, Philipp; Høiskar, Britt Ann; Grossberndt, Sonja; Naderer, Clemens; Robinson, Johanna; Kocman, David; Horvat, Milena; Bartonova, Alena

2014-05-01

Urban air quality, the environmental quality of public spaces and indoor areas such as schools, are areas of great concern to citizens and policymakers. However, access to information addressing these areas is not always available in a user-friendly manner. In particular, the quality and quantity of this information is not consistent across these areas, and does not reflect differences in needs among users. The EU-funded CITI-SENSE project will build on the concept of the Citizens' Observatories to empower citizens to contribute to and participate in environmental governance, and enable them to support and influence decision making by policymakers. To achieve this goal, CITI-SENSE will develop, test, demonstrate and validate a community-based environmental monitoring and information system using low-cost sensors and Earth Observation applications. Key to achieving this goal is the chain "sensors-platforms-products-users" linking providers of technology to users: (i) technologies for distributed monitoring (sensors); (ii) information and communication technologies (platform); (iii) information products and services (products); (iv) and citizen involvement in both monitoring and societal decisions (users). The CITI-SENSE observatories cover three empowerment initiatives: urban air quality; public spaces; and school indoor quality. The empowerment initiatives are being performed at nine locations across Europe. Each location has adapted the generic case study to their local circumstances and has contacted the urban stakeholders needed to run the study. The empowerment initiatives are divided into two phases: a first phase (Pilot Study), and a second phase (Full Implementation). The main goal of the Pilot Study is to test and evaluate the chain "sensors-platform-products-users". To assess the results of the empowerment initiatives, key performance indicators (KPIs) are being developed; these include questionnaires for users. The KPIs will be used to design the full implementation phase of the project. First results from the Pilot Study will be presented for three participating cities: Ljubljana (Slovenia), Vienna (Austria) and Oslo (Norway), which differ in size, environmental conditions and social perception on local air quality. Ljubljana and Oslo empowerment initiatives include urban air quality, and school indoor air quality, while Vienna only includes urban air quality. For the area of urban air quality, the three cities will deploy a wireless network of five static sensor nodes and distribute five personal sensors among people to be carried while performing daily activities in the pilot study. The data will be accessible to users through mobile phones, web services and other devices. For the full implementation phase the sensor network will comprise a total of 20 to 40 static nodes, depending on the size of the city, and 20 personal nodes. For the school indoor air quality three sensors will be allocated inside the school and one outside. The data will be visible provided in school classrooms giving the students a unique and innovative approach to learn about air quality by being involved. Acknowledgements: CITI-SENSE is a Collaborative Project partly funded by the EU FP7-ENV-2012 under grant agreement no 308524. www.citi-sense.eu.

Research and Grant Management: The Role of the Project Management Office (PMO) in a European Research Consortium Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wedekind, Gerben Kristian; Philbin, Simon Patrick

2018-01-01

This paper illustrates how a university-based project management office (PMO) can provide focused support across the entire grant project lifecycle within a European research context. In recent years, EU (European Union) research and innovation grant programs have increasingly shifted to support multidisciplinary consortia composed of industry,…

Mobilizing and Managing Social Capital: On Roles and Responsibilities of Local Facilitators in Territorial Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schermer, Markus; Kirchengast, Christoph; Petit, Sandrine; Magnani, Natalia; Mieville-Ott, Valerie

2010-01-01

The paper explores the difficulties and challenges in mobilizing and managing social capital in concrete local and territorial directed rural development project activities. The main focus is put on the roles of local facilitators working with farmers and other local stakeholders during project implementation. The EU 5th framework project IMALP…

Earth Science community support in the EGI-Inspire Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwichtenberg, H.

2012-04-01

The Earth Science Grid community is following its strategy of propagating Grid technology to the ES disciplines, setting up interactive collaboration among the members of the community and stimulating the interest of stakeholders on the political level since ten years already. This strategy was described in a roadmap published in an Earth Science Informatics journal. It was applied through different European Grid projects and led to a large Grid Earth Science VRC that covers a variety of ES disciplines; in the end, all of them were facing the same kind of ICT problems. .. The penetration of Grid in the ES community is indicated by the variety of applications, the number of countries in which ES applications are ported, the number of papers in international journals and the number of related PhDs. Among the six virtual organisations belonging to ES, one, ESR, is generic. Three others -env.see-grid-sci.eu, meteo.see-grid-sci.eu and seismo.see-grid-sci.eu- are thematic and regional (South Eastern Europe) for environment, meteorology and seismology. The sixth VO, EGEODE, is for the users of the Geocluster software. There are also ES users in national VOs or VOs related to projects. The services for the ES task in EGI-Inspire concerns the data that are a key part of any ES application. The ES community requires several interfaces to access data and metadata outside of the EGI infrastructure, e.g. by using grid-enabled database interfaces. The data centres have also developed service tools for basic research activities such as searching, browsing and downloading these datasets, but these are not accessible from applications executed on the Grid. The ES task in EGI-Inspire aims to make these tools accessible from the Grid. In collaboration with GENESI-DR (Ground European Network for Earth Science Interoperations - Digital Repositories) this task is maintaining and evolving an interface in response to new requirements that will allow data in the GENESI-DR infrastructure to be accessed from EGI resources to enable future research activities by this HUC. The international climate community for IPCC has created the Earth System Grid (ESG) to store and share climate data. There is a need to interface ESG with EGI for climate studies - parametric, regional and impact aspects. Critical points concern the interoperability of security mechanism between both "organisations", data protection policy, data transfer, data storage and data caching. Presenter: Horst Schwichtenberg Co-Authors: Monique Petitdidier (IPSL), Andre Gemünd (SCAI), Wim Som de Cerff (KNMI), Michael Schnell (SCAI)

Evaluation of Real-Time and Off-Line Performance of the Virtual Seismologist Earthquake Early Warning Algorithm in Switzerland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behr, Yannik; Clinton, John; Cua, Georgia; Cauzzi, Carlo; Heimers, Stefan; Kästli, Philipp; Becker, Jan; Heaton, Thomas

2013-04-01

The Virtual Seismologist (VS) method is a Bayesian approach to regional network-based earthquake early warning (EEW) originally formulated by Cua and Heaton (2007). Implementation of VS into real-time EEW codes has been an on-going effort of the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zürich since 2006, with support from ETH Zürich, various European projects, and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). VS is one of three EEW algorithms that form the basis of the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) ShakeAlert system, a USGS-funded prototype end-to-end EEW system that could potentially be implemented in California. In Europe, VS is currently operating as a real-time test system in Switzerland. As part of the on-going EU project REAKT (Strategies and Tools for Real-Time Earthquake Risk Reduction), VS installations in southern Italy, western Greece, Istanbul, Romania, and Iceland are planned or underway. In Switzerland, VS has been running in real-time on stations monitored by the Swiss Seismological Service (including stations from Austria, France, Germany, and Italy) since 2010. While originally based on the Earthworm system it has recently been ported to the SeisComp3 system. Besides taking advantage of SeisComp3's picking and phase association capabilities it greatly simplifies the potential installation of VS at networks in particular those already running SeisComp3. We present the architecture of the new SeisComp3 based version and compare its results from off-line tests with the real-time performance of VS in Switzerland over the past two years. We further show that the empirical relationships used by VS to estimate magnitudes and ground motion, originally derived from southern California data, perform well in Switzerland.

Is there enough research output of EU projects available to assess and improve health system performance? An attempt to understand and categorise the output of EU projects conducted between 2002 and 2012.

PubMed

Zander, Britta; Busse, Reinhard

2017-02-22

Adequate performance assessment benefits from the use of disaggregated data to allow a proper evaluation of health systems. Since routinely collected data are usually not disaggregated enough to allow stratified analyses of healthcare needs, utilisation, cost and quality across different sectors, international research projects could fill this gap by exploring means to data collection or even providing individual-level data. The aim of this paper is therefore to (1) study the availability and accessibility of relevant European-funded health projects, and (2) to analyse their contents and methodologies. The European Commission Public Health Projects Database and CORDIS were searched for eligible projects, which were then analysed by information openly available online. Overall, only a few of the 39 identified projects produced data useful for proper performance assessment, due to, for example, lacking available or accessible data, or poor linkage of health status to costs and patient experiences. Other problems were insufficient databases to identify projects and poor communication of project contents and results. A new approach is necessary to improve accessibility to and coverage of data on outcomes, quality and costs of health systems enabling decision-makers and health professionals to properly assess performance.

Relationship between Eu{sup 3+} reduction and glass polymeric structure in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}-modified borate glasses under air atmosphere

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiao, Qing; Yu, Xue; Xu, Xuhui

2013-06-15

The reduction of Eu{sup 3+} to Eu{sup 2+} is realized efficiently in Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3}-doped borate glasses prepared under air condition by melting-quenching method. Luminescent spectra show an increasing tendency of Eu{sup 2+} emission with increasing Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} concentration in B{sub 2}O{sub 3}–Na{sub 2}O glasses. It is interesting that significant enhancement appeared of Eu{sup 2+} luminescence in the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}-rich sample comparing to the samples of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} less than 6 mol%. FTIR and Raman scattering measurements indicated that some new vibration modes assigned to the low-polymerized structure groups decomposed from the slight Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} dopantmore » samples. These results demonstrated that the polymerization of the glass structure decreased with increasing incorporation of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} into the borate glasses, linking to the efficiency of Eu{sup 3+} self-reduction in air at high temperature. - graphical abstract: A novel europium valence reduction phenomenon occurred in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} modified borate glasses, FTIR and Raman measurements revealed that high polymeric groups were destroyed to low polymery structures with Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} addition. - Highlights: • The efficient reduction of Eu{sup 3+} to Eu{sup 2+} is observed in the B{sub 2}O{sub 3}–Na{sub 2}O glasses. • Eu{sup 2+} luminescence is significant enhanced in the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}-rich glasses. • The introduction of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} changed the network structure of the borate glasses. • High polymeric borate groups in the glass matrix may be destroyed to the lower ones.« less

NEOShield-2 project: Phase effects in NEA visible spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barucci, M. A.; Perna, D.; Belskaya, I.; Popescu, M.; Fornasier, S.; Doressoundiram, A.; Lantz, C.; Merlin, F.; Fulchignoni, M.

2017-09-01

One of the main objectives of the NEOShield-2 project, funded by European Commission (2015-2017) in the framework of the EU H2020 program, is to provide physical and compositional characterization of a large number of NEOs in the hundred-meter size range.

Nesting doctoral students in collaborative North-South partnerships for health systems research.

PubMed

Loukanova, Svetla; Prytherch, Helen; Blank, Antje; Duysburgh, Els; Tomson, Göran; Gustafsson, Lars L; Sié, Ali; Williams, John; Leshabari, Melkizedeck; Haefeli, Walter E; Sauerborn, Rainer; Fonn, Sharon

2014-01-01

The European Union (EU) supports North-South Partnerships and collaborative research projects through its Framework Programmes and Horizon 2020. There is limited research on how such projects can be harnessed to provide a structured platform for doctoral level studies as a way of strengthening health system research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The aim of this study was to explore the challenges of, and facilitating factors for, 'nesting' doctoral students in North-South collaborative research projects. The term nesting refers to the embedding of the processes of recruiting, supervising, and coordinating doctoral students in the overall research plan and processes. This cross-sectional qualitative study was undertaken by the EU-funded QUALMAT Project. A questionnaire was implemented with doctoral students, supervisors, and country principal investigators (PIs), and content analysis was undertaken. Completed questionnaires were received from nine doctoral students, six supervisors, and three country PIs (86% responses rate). The doctoral students from SSA described high expectations about the input they would receive (administrative support, equipment, training, supervision). This contrasted with the expectations of the supervisors for proactivity and self-management on the part of the students. The rationale for candidate selection, and understandings of the purpose of the doctoral students in the project were areas of considerable divergence. There were some challenges associated with the use of the country PIs as co-supervisors. Doctoral student progress was at times impeded by delays in the release of funding instalments from the EU. The paper provides a checklist of essential requirements and a set of recommendations for effective nesting of doctoral students in joint North-South projects. There are considerable challenges to the effective nesting of doctoral students within major collaborative research projects. However, ways can be found to overcome them. The nesting process ultimately helped the institutions involved in this example to take better advantage of the opportunities that collaborative projects offer to foster North-South partnerships as a contribution to the strengthening of local research capacity.

A model for quantifying construction waste in projects according to the European waste list.

PubMed

Llatas, C

2011-06-01

The new EU challenge is to recover 70% by weight of C&D waste in 2020. Literature reveals that one major barrier is the lack of data. Therefore, this paper presents a model which allows technicians to estimate C&D waste during the design stage in order to promote prevention and recovery. The types and quantities of CW are estimated and managed according to EU guidelines, by building elements and specifically for each project. The model would allow detection of the source of the waste and to adopt other alternative procedures which delete hazardous waste and reduce CW. Likewise, it develops a systematic structure of the construction process, a waste classification system and some analytical expressions which are based on factors. These factors depend on technology and represent a standard on site. It would allow to develop a database of waste anywhere. A Spanish case study is covered. Factors were obtained by studying over 20 dwellings. The source and types of packaging waste, remains, soil and hazardous waste were estimated in detail and were compared with other studies. Results reveal that the model can be implemented in projects and the chances of reducing and recovery C&D waste could be increased, well above the EU challenge. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Food safety management and risk assessment in the fresh produce supply chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacxsens, L.; Uyttendaele, M.; Luning, P.; Allende, A.

2017-04-01

This paper is the output of several years of scientific research coordinated by Laboratory of Food Preservation and Food Microbiology at UGent, within the EU FP7 Research project Veg-i-trade (www.vegitrade.org), in collaboration with among other partners, Wageningen University and Cebas-CSIC. Fresh produce and derived products are globally traded and subjected to an inherent sensitive towards enteric pathogens as Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli due to their cultivation practices. As fruits and vegetables are increasingly being consumed raw, a potential health risk towards consumers is present. In the Veg-i-Trade project the extend of presence of pathogens in leafy greens and strawberry fruit and their cultivation environment (as water, soil, manured soil, etc.) was analysed. Insight in the food safety management system enlighted the need for further fostering and guidance towards farmers in good practices in order to reduce the potential pressure of the presence of the pathogens both in EU and non EU countries. Exposure assessment calculations demonstrated the usefulness of mathematic modelling to gain more insight in fragmented microbiological analysis and information of cultivation practices, as such the impact of contamination of irrigation water and the impact of a flooding event. Veg-i-Trade was a challenging project both in scientific and management perspective as 23 partners collaborated.

A healthy turn in urban climate change policies; European city workshop proposes health indicators as policy integrators.

PubMed

Keune, Hans; Ludlow, David; van den Hazel, Peter; Randall, Scott; Bartonova, Alena

2012-06-28

The EU FP6 HENVINET project reviewed the potential relevance of a focus on climate change related health effects for climate change policies at the city region level. This was undertaken by means of a workshop with both scientists, city representatives from several EU-countries, representatives of EU city networks and EU-experts. In this paper we introduce some important health related climate change issues, and discuss the current city policies of the participating cities. The workshop used a backcasting format to analyse the future relevance of a health perspective, and the main benefits and challenges this would bring to urban policy making. It was concluded that health issues have an important function as indicators of success for urban climate change policies, given the extent to which climate change policies contribute to public health and as such to quality of life. Simultaneously the health perspective may function as a policy integrator in that it can combine several related policy objectives, such as environmental policies, health policies, urban planning and economic development policies, in one framework for action. Furthermore, the participants to the workshop considered public health to be of strategic importance in organizing public support for climate change policies. One important conclusion of the workshop was the view that the connection of science and policy at the city level is inadequate, and that the integration of scientific knowledge on climate change related health effects and local policy practice is in need of more attention. In conclusion, the workshop was viewed as a constructive advance in the process of integration which hopefully will lead to ongoing cooperation. The workshop had the ambition to bring together a diversity of actor perspectives for exchange of knowledge and experiences, and joint understanding as a basis for future cooperation. Next to the complementarities in experience and knowledge, the mutual critical reflection was a bonus, as ideas had the opportunity to be scrutinized by others, leading to more robustness and common ground. The structured backcasting approach was helpful in integrating all of this with one common focus, embracing diversity and complexity, and stimulating reflection and new ideas.

A healthy turn in urban climate change policies; European city workshop proposes health indicators as policy integrators

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The EU FP6 HENVINET project reviewed the potential relevance of a focus on climate change related health effects for climate change policies at the city region level. This was undertaken by means of a workshop with both scientists, city representatives from several EU-countries, representatives of EU city networks and EU-experts. In this paper we introduce some important health related climate change issues, and discuss the current city policies of the participating cities. Methods The workshop used a backcasting format to analyse the future relevance of a health perspective, and the main benefits and challenges this would bring to urban policy making. Results It was concluded that health issues have an important function as indicators of success for urban climate change policies, given the extent to which climate change policies contribute to public health and as such to quality of life. Simultaneously the health perspective may function as a policy integrator in that it can combine several related policy objectives, such as environmental policies, health policies, urban planning and economic development policies, in one framework for action. Furthermore, the participants to the workshop considered public health to be of strategic importance in organizing public support for climate change policies. One important conclusion of the workshop was the view that the connection of science and policy at the city level is inadequate, and that the integration of scientific knowledge on climate change related health effects and local policy practice is in need of more attention. In conclusion, the workshop was viewed as a constructive advance in the process of integration which hopefully will lead to ongoing cooperation. Conclusions The workshop had the ambition to bring together a diversity of actor perspectives for exchange of knowledge and experiences, and joint understanding as a basis for future cooperation. Next to the complementarities in experience and knowledge, the mutual critical reflection was a bonus, as ideas had the opportunity to be scrutinized by others, leading to more robustness and common ground. The structured backcasting approach was helpful in integrating all of this with one common focus, embracing diversity and complexity, and stimulating reflection and new ideas. PMID:22759496

New insights on short-term solar irradiance forecast for space weather applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vieira, L. A.; Dudok de Wit, T.; Balmaceda, L. A.; Dal Lago, A.; Da Silva, L. A.; Gonzalez, W. D.

2013-12-01

The conditions of the thermosphere, the ionosphere, the neutral atmosphere, and the oceans on time scales from days to millennia are highly dependent on the solar electromagnetic output, the solar irradiance. The development of physics-based solar irradiance models during the last decade improved significantly our understanding of the solar forcing on Earth's climate. These models are based on the assumption that most of the solar irradiance variability is related to the magnetic field structure of the Sun. Recently, these models were extended to allow short-term forecast (1 to 15 days) of the total and spectral solar irradiance. The extension of the irradiance models is based on solar surface magnetic flux models and/or artificial neural network models. Here, we discuss in details the irradiance forecast models based on observations of the solar surface magnetic field realized by the HMI instrument on board of SDO spacecraft. We constrained and validated the models by comparing the output of the models and observations of the solar irradiance made by instruments onboard The SORCE spacecraft. This study received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013, FP7-SPACE-2010-1) under the grant agreement nrs. 218816 (SOTERIA project, www.soteria-space.eu) and 261948 (ATMOP,www.atmop.eu), and by the CNPq/Brazil under the grant number 312488/2012-2. We also gratefully thank the instrument teams for making their data available.

Methodology for quantification of waste generated in Spanish railway construction works.

PubMed

de Guzmán Báez, Ana; Villoria Sáez, Paola; del Río Merino, Mercedes; García Navarro, Justo

2012-05-01

In the last years, the European Union (EU) has been focused on the reduction of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Specifically, in 2006, Spain generated roughly 47million tons of C&D waste, of which only 13.6% was recycled. This situation has lead to the drawing up of many regulations on C&D waste during the past years forcing EU countries to include new measures for waste prevention and recycling. Among these measures, the mandatory obligation to quantify the C&D waste expected to be originated during a construction project is mandated. However, limited data is available on civil engineering projects. Therefore, the aim of this research study is to improve C&D waste management in railway projects, by developing a model for C&D waste quantification. For this purpose, we develop two equations which estimate in advance the amount, both in weight and volume, of the C&D waste likely to be generated in railway construction projects, including the category of C&D waste generated for the entire project. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Euros vs. Yuan: Comparing European and Chinese Fishing Access in West Africa

PubMed Central

Belhabib, Dyhia; Sumaila, U. Rashid; Lam, Vicky W. Y.; Zeller, Dirk; Le Billon, Philippe; Abou Kane, Elimane; Pauly, Daniel

2015-01-01

We compare the performance of European Union (EU) and Chinese fisheries access agreements with West African countries in terms of illegal and unreported fishing, economic equity, and patterns of exploitation. Bottom-up re-estimations of catch reveal that the EU (1.6 million t•year-1) and China (2.3 million t•year-1) report only 29% and 8%, respectively, of their estimated total catches (including estimated discards whenever possible) from West African countries between 2000 and 2010. EU catches are declining, while Chinese catches are increasing and are yet to reach the historic maximum level of EU catches (3 million t•year-1 on average in the 1970s-1980s). The monetary value of EU fishing agreements, correlated in theory with reported catches, is straightforward to access, in contrast to Chinese agreements. However, once quantified, the value of Chinese agreements is readily traceable within the African economy through the different projects they directly cover, in contrast to the funds disbursed [to host governments] by the EU. Overall, China provides resources equivalent to about 4% of the ex-vessel value [value at landing] of the catch taken by Chinese distant-water fleets from West African waters, while the EU pays 8%. We address the difficulties of separating fees directly related to fishing from other economic or political motivations for Chinese fees, which could introduce a bias to the present findings as this operation is not performed for EU access fees officially related to fishing. Our study reveals that the EU and China perform similarly in terms of illegal fishing, patterns of exploitation and sustainability of resource use, while under-reporting by the EU increases and that by China decreases. The EU agreements provide, in theory, room for improving scientific research, monitoring and surveillance, suggesting a better performance than for Chinese agreements, but the end-use of the EU funds are more difficult, and sometime impossible to ascertain. PMID:25793775

EMODnet High Resolution Seabed Mapping - further developing a high resolution digital bathymetry for European seas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, Dick M. A.; Schmitt, Thierry

2017-04-01

Access to marine data is a key issue for the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EU Marine Knowledge 2020 agenda and includes the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) initiative. EMODnet aims at assembling European marine data, data products and metadata from diverse sources in a uniform way. The EMODnet data infrastructure is developed through a stepwise approach in three major phases. Currently EMODnet is entering its 3rd phase with operational portals providing access to marine data for bathymetry, geology, physics, chemistry, biology, seabed habitats and human activities, complemented by checkpoint projects, analysing the fitness for purpose of data provision. The EMODnet Bathymetry project has developed Digital Terrain Models (DTM) for the European seas. These have been produced from survey and aggregated data sets that are indexed with metadata by adopting the SeaDataNet Catalogue services. SeaDataNet is a network of major oceanographic data centres around the European seas that manage, operate and further develop a pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management. The latest EMODnet Bathymetry DTM release has a resolution of 1/8 arcminute * 1/8 arcminute and covers all European sea regions. Use has been made of circa 7800 gathered survey datasets and composite DTMs from 27 European data providers from 15 countries. For areas without coverage use has been made of the latest GEBCO DTM. The catalogue services and the generated EMODnet DTM have been published at the dedicated EMODnet Bathymetry portal which includes a versatile DTM viewing service that also supports downloading in various formats. End December 2016 the Bathymetry project has been succeeded by EMODnet High Resolution Seabed Mapping (HRSM) as part of the third phase of EMODnet. This new project will continue gathering of bathymetric in-situ data sets with extra efforts for near coastal waters and coastal zones. In addition Satellite Derived Bathymetry data will be included and in particular to fill gaps in coverage of the coastal zones. The data and composite DTMs will increase the coverage of the European seas and its coastlines, and provide input for producing an EMODnet DTM with a common resolution of 3 arc seconds versus 1/8 arc minutes at present. Moreover local DTMs with even higher resolutions will be produced, where data and data providers permit. The Bathymetry Viewing and Download service will be upgraded to provide a multi-resolution map and including 3D viewing. The higher resolution DTMs will also be used to determine best-estimates of the European coastline for a range of tidal levels (HAT, MHW, MSL, Chart Datum, LAT), thereby making use of a tidal model for Europe. Extra challenges will be 'moving to the cloud' and setting up an EMODnet Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) for producing the EMODnet DTMs. The presentation will highlight key details of EMODnet Bathymetry results and the way how challenges of the new HRSM project are approached.

European Network of Bipolar Research Expert Centre (ENBREC): a network to foster research and promote innovative care.

PubMed

Henry, Chantal; Andreassen, Ole A; Barbato, Angelo; Demotes-Mainard, Jacques; Goodwin, Guy; Leboyer, Marion; Vieta, Eduard; Nolen, Willem A; Kessing, Lars Vedel; Scott, Jan; Bauer, Michael

2013-01-01

Bipolar disorders rank as one of the most disabling illnesses in working age adults worldwide. Despite this, the quality of care offered to patients with this disorder is suboptimal, largely due to limitations in our understanding of the pathology. Improving this scenario requires the development of a critical mass of expertise and multicentre collaborative projects. Within the framework of the European FP7 programme, we developed a European Network of Bipolar Research Expert Centres (ENBREC) designed specifically to facilitate EU-wide studies. ENBREC provides an integrated support structure facilitating research on disease mechanisms and clinical outcomes across six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and the UK). The centres are adopting a standardised clinical assessment that explores multiple aspects of bipolar disorder through a structured evaluation designed to inform clinical decision-making as well as being applicable to research. Reliable, established measures have been prioritised, and instruments have been translated and validated when necessary. An electronic healthcare record and monitoring system (e-ENBREC©) has been developed to collate the data. Protocols to conduct multicentre clinical observational studies and joint studies on cognitive function, biomarkers, genetics, and neuroimaging are in progress; a pilot study has been completed on strategies for routine implementation of psycho-education. The network demonstrates 'proof of principle' that expert centres across Europe can collaborate on a wide range of basic science and clinical programmes using shared protocols. This paper is to describe the network and how it aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of research in a neglected priority area.

The greenGain project - Biomass from landscape conservation and maintenance work for renewable energy production in the EU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clalüna, Aline; Baumgarten, Wibke; García Galindo, Daniel; Lenz, Klaus; Doležal, Jan; De Filippi, Federico; Lorenzo, Joaquín; Montagnoli, Louis

2017-04-01

The project greenGain is looking for solutions to increase the energy production with regional and local biomass from landscape conservation and maintenance work, which is performed in the public interest. The relevant resources analysed in the greenGain model regions are, among others, biomass residues from clearing invasive vegetation in marginal agricultural lands in Spain, and residues from abandoned vineyards and olive groves in landscape protected areas in Italy. The main target groups are regional and local players who are responsible for maintenance and conservation work and for the biomass residue management in their regions. Moreover, the focus will be on service providers - including farmers and forest owners, their associations, NGOs, energy providers and consumers. Local companies, municipalities and public authorities are collaborating to identify the still underutilised non-food biomass resources and to discuss the way to integrate them into the local and regional biomass markets. Since the start of the three year project in January 2015, the partners from Italy, Spain, Czech Republic and Germany analysed, among other, the biomass feedstock potential coming from landscape maintenance work, and assessed various technological options to utilise this type of biomass. Further, political, legal and environmental aspects as well as awareness raising and public acceptance actions regarding the energetic use of biomass from public areas were assessed. greenGain also facilitates the exchange between model regions and other similar relevant players in the EU and shares examples of good practice. General guidelines will be prepared to guarantee a wide dissemination to other regions in the EU. Thus, the project shows how to build-up reliable knowledge on local availability of this feedstock and provides know-how concerning planning, harvesting, pre-treatment, storage and sustainable conversion pathways to a wide range of stakeholders in the EU.

A telemedicine support for diabetes management: the T-IDDM project.

PubMed

Bellazzi, R; Larizza, C; Montani, S; Riva, A; Stefanelli, M; d'Annunzio, G; Lorini, R; Gomez, E J; Hernando, E; Brugues, E; Cermeno, J; Corcoy, R; de Leiva, A; Cobelli, C; Nucci, G; Del Prato, S; Maran, A; Kilkki, E; Tuominen, J

2002-08-01

In the context of the EU funded Telematic Management of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (T-IDDM) project, we have designed, developed and evaluated a telemedicine system for insulin dependent diabetic patients management. The system relies on the integration of two modules, a Patient Unit (PU) and a Medical Unit (MU), able to communicate over the Internet and the Public Switched Telephone Network. Using the PU, patients are allowed to automatically download their monitoring data from the blood glucose monitoring device, and to send them to the hospital data-base; moreover, they are supported in their every day self monitoring activity. The MU provides physicians with a set of tools for data visualization, data analysis and decision support, and allows them to send messages and/or therapeutic advice to the patients. The T-IDDM service has been evaluated through the application of a formal methodology, and has been used by European patients and physicians for about 18 months. The results obtained during the project demonstration, even if obtained on a pilot study of 12 subjects, show the feasibility of the T-IDDM telemedicine service, and seem to substantiate the hypothesis that the use of the system could present an advantage in the management of insulin dependent diabetic patients, by improving communications and, potentially, clinical outcomes.

Resonant tunnelling diode terahertz sources for broadband wireless communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wasige, Edward; Alharbi, Khalid H.; Al-Khalidi, Abdullah; Wang, Jue; Khalid, Ata; Rodrigues, Gil C.; Figueiredo, José

2017-02-01

This paper will discuss resonant tunnelling diode (RTD) sources being developed on a European project iBROW (ibrow.project.eu) to enable short-range multi-gigabit wireless links and microwave-photonic interfaces for seamless links to the optical fibre backbone network. The practically relevant output powers are at least 10 mW at 90 GHz, 5 mW at 160 GHz and 1 mW at 300 GHz and simulation and some experimental results show that these are feasible in RTD technology. To date, 75 - 315 GHz indium phosphide (InP) based RTD oscillators with relatively high output powers in the 0.5 - 1.1 mW range have been demonstrated on the project. They are realised in various circuit topologies including those that use a single RTD device, 2 RTD devices and up to 4 RTD devices for increasingly higher output power. The oscillators are realised using only photolithography by taking advantage of the large micron-sized but broadband RTD devices. The paper will also describe properties of RTD devices as photo-detectors which makes this a unified technology that can be integrated into both ends of a wireless link, namely consumer portable devices and fibre-optic supported base-stations (since integration with laser diodes is also possible).

EU-US standards harmonization task group report : on GeoNetworking.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-03-01

TRAVTEK WAS AN OPERATIONAL FIELD TEST OF AN ADVANCED TRAVELER INFORMATION SYSTEMS (ATIS) AND ADVANCED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (ATMS) TECHNOLOGIES. THIS PAPER SUMMARIZESS THE FINDINGS FROM THE SERIES OF STUDIES THAT CONSTITUTED THE TRAVTEK EVALUATI...

Course fees and academic ranking: insights from the IMI EMTRAIN on-course® database.

PubMed

Payton, Antony; Dallakian, Pavel; Fitton, Alexander; Payton, Anna; Hardman, Mike; Yuille, Martin

2014-07-01

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded project on-course® (http://www.on-course.eu/) lists postgraduate biomedical courses in Europe and is comprehensive for all taught and research master's courses. Using on-course®, new insights into education and training in Europe can be delivered; and here we investigate the relationship between master's course fees and university ranking. We hypothesise that higher master's course fees would be associated with higher university ranking. This was indeed the case for research master's courses and for taught master's courses for non-EU students. However, we observed no correlation between taught master's course fees for EU students and university ranking, meaning EU students are paying on average as much for courses at lower ranked universities as they are for courses at higher ranked universities. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality Management, Certification and Rating of Health Information on the Net with MedCERTAIN: Using a medPICS/RDF/XML metadata structure for implementing eHealth ethics and creating trust globally

PubMed Central

Eysenbach, Gunther; Yihune, Gabriel; Lampe, Kristian; Cross, Phil; Brickley, Dan

2000-01-01

MedCERTAIN (MedPICS Certification and Rating of Trustworthy Health Information on the Net, http://www.medcertain.org/) is a recently launched international project funded under the European Union's (EU) "Action Plan for safer use of the Internet". It provides a technical infrastructure and a conceptual basis for an international system of "quality seals", ratings and self-labelling of Internet health information, with the final aim to establish a global "trustmark" for networked health information. Digital "quality seals" are evaluative metadata (using standards such as PICS=Platform for Internet Content Selection, now being replaced by RDF/XML) assigned by trusted third-party raters. The project also enables and encourages self-labelling with descriptive metainformation by web authors. Together these measures will help consumers as well as professionals to identify high-quality information on the Internet. MedCERTAIN establishes a fully functional demonstrator for a self- and third-party rating system enabling consumers and professionals to filter harmful health information and to positively identify and select high quality information. We aim to provide a trustmark system which allows citizens to place greater confidence in networked information, to encourage health information providers to follow best practices guidelines such as the Washington eHealth Code of Ethics, to provide effective feedback and law enforcement channels to handle user complaints, and to stimulate medical societies to develop standard for patient information. The project further proposes and identifies standards for interoperability of rating and description services (such as libraries or national health portals) and fosters a worldwide collaboration to guide consumers to high-quality information on the web.

Environmental Protection Tools in Agricultural Management Works

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glowacka, Agnieszka; Taszakowski, Jaroslaw; Janus, Jaroslaw; Bozek, Piotr

2016-10-01

Land consolidation is a fundamental instrument for agricultural management. It facilitates comprehensive changes in the agricultural, social, and ecological domains. Consolidation and post-consolidation development-related investments are an opportunity to improve living conditions in rural areas, and simultaneously ensure its positive impact on the environment. One of the primary goals of consolidation, directly specified in the Act on land consolidation, is to improve farming conditions. In Poland, consolidation is possible due to EU funds: RDP 2007-2013 and RDP 2014-2020. In order for individual villages to be granted EU funds for consolidation and post-consolidation development under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, their consolidation has to implement actions with positive impact on the environment and the landscape. The goal of this paper is to analyse documentation in the form of assumptions for a land consolidation project enclosed to an RDP 2014-2020 grant application and project information sheets as the basis for environmental impact assessment in the context of detailed presentation of environmental protection solutions that ensure a positive impact of the project on the environment and landscape. The detailed study involved 9 villages in the Malopolskie Voivodeship, which applied for EU grants for land consolidation in the current financial perspective. The paper specifies the existing state of the analysed villages as regards the natural environment, lists agricultural management instruments that have a positive impact on the environment, and demonstrates that planning of actions aimed at environmental protection is a necessary element of assumptions for land consolidation projects.

Analysis of uses and competitions of water resources or an original dissemination strategy of hydrological modelling results of an EU project ?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

La Jeunesse, Isabelle; Fustec, Klervi; Larrue, Corinne; Trottier, Julie

2010-05-01

We propose to address the question of security threats through an analysis of water uses and competitions in the current situation, on one hand, and in conditions of climate change, on the other hand, in order to have an operational dissemination of hydrological modelling results. This will be carried out for each case study of the EU project CLIMB (7th EU FP). In this particular case, climate change impacts are to be considered in relation with water uses and rivalries. Taking them into account while involving stakeholders should allow us to have a deep impact on water uses regulation under conditions of climate change. The originality of this methodology, the first objective of which within the project is to disseminate project results and interact with stakeholders, is to use the dissemination phase as a means of involving stakeholder knowledge concerning water uses and competitions. The idea is to let the stakeholders identify themselves, in each case study, by means of interactive methods, the impact of the change of hydrological regime on their own water uses and competitions. We propose to use a real "bottom-up" strategy to assess the potential water uses and rivalries in the context of water scarcity (or flood) due to climate change. Such an approach will allow us to evaluate the risk of an increase in water rivalries and threats to security following climate change impacts scenarios at the river basin scale.

Gonorrhoea and gonococcal antimicrobial resistance surveillance networks in the WHO European Region, including the independent countries of the former Soviet Union.

PubMed

Unemo, Magnus; Ison, Catherine A; Cole, Michelle; Spiteri, Gianfranco; van de Laar, Marita; Khotenashvili, Lali

2013-12-01

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae has emerged for essentially all antimicrobials following their introduction into clinical practice. During the latest decade, susceptibility to the last remaining options for antimicrobial monotherapy, the extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESC), has markedly decreased internationally and treatment failures with these ESCs have been verified. In response to this developing situation, WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have published global and region-specific response plans, respectively. One main component of these action/response plans is to enhance the surveillance of AMR and treatment failures. This paper describes the perspectives from the diverse WHO European Region (53 countries), including the independent countries of the former Soviet Union, regarding gonococcal AMR surveillance networks. The WHO European Region has a high prevalence of resistance to all previously recommended antimicrobials, and most of the first strictly verified treatment failures with cefixime and ceftriaxone were also reported from Europe. In the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA), the European gonococcal antimicrobial surveillance programme (Euro-GASP) funded by the ECDC is running. In 2011, the Euro-GASP included 21/31 (68%) EU/EEA countries, and the programme is further strengthened annually. However, in the non-EU/EEA countries, internationally reported and quality assured gonococcal AMR data are lacking in 87% of the countries and, worryingly, appropriate support for establishment of a GASP is still lacking. Accordingly, national and international support, including political and financial commitment, for gonococcal AMR surveillance in the non-EU/EEA countries of the WHO European Region is essential.

Crisis Communication in the Area of Risk Management: The CriCoRM Project.

PubMed

Scarcella, Carmelo; Antonelli, Laura; Orizio, Grazia; Rossmann, Costanze; Ziegler, Lena; Meyer, Lisa; Garcia-Jimenez, Leonarda; Losada, Jose Carlos; Correia, Joao; Soares, Joana; Covolo, Loredana; Lirangi, Enrico; Gelatti, Umberto

2013-09-02

During the last H1N1 pandemic has emerged the importance of crisis communication as an essential part of health crisis management. The Project aims specifically to improve the understanding of crisis communication dynamics and effective tools and to allow public health institutions to communicate better with the public during health emergencies. THE PROJECT WILL PERFORM DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES: i) state of the art review; ii) identification of key stakeholders; iii) communicational analysis performed using data collected on stakeholder communication activities and their outcomes considering the lessons learnt from the analysis of the reasons for differing public reactions during pandemics; iv) improvement of the existing guidelines; v) development of Web 2.0 tools as web-platform and feed service and implementation of impact assessment algorithms; vi) organization of exercises and training on this issues. In the context of health security policies at an EU level, the project aims to find a common and innovative approach to health crisis communication that was displayed by differing reactions to the H1N1 pandemic policies. The focus on new social media tools aims to enhance the role of e-health, and the project aims to use these tools in the specific field of health institutions and citizens. The development of Web 2.0 tools for health crisis communication will allow an effective two-way exchange of information between public health institutions and citizens. An effective communication strategy will increase population compliance with public health recommendations. Significance for public healthThe specific aim of the project is to develop a European strategy approach on how to communicate with the population and with different stakeholders groups involved in the crisis management process, based on an analysis of the communication process during the H1N1 pandemic (content analysis of press releases, press coverage and forum discussions) and on interviews with key stakeholders in health crisis communication. The development of web 2.0 tools, providing rapid responses will allow real-time verification of awareness of social trends and citizens' response. Furthermore, the project would like to offer these resources to the EU Public Health Institutions and EU citizens to improve their interaction, and hence reinforce citizens' right to patient-centred health care. The project proposal has been designed in accordance with the general principles of ethics and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights with regard to human rights, values, freedom, solidarity, and better protection of European citizens.

Crisis Communication in the Area of Risk Management: The CriCoRM Project

PubMed Central

Scarcella, Carmelo; Antonelli, Laura; Orizio, Grazia; Rossmann, Costanze; Ziegler, Lena; Meyer, Lisa; Garcia-Jimenez, Leonarda; Losada, Jose Carlos; Correia, Joao; Soares, Joana; Covolo, Loredana; Lirangi, Enrico; Gelatti, Umberto

2013-01-01

Background During the last H1N1 pandemic has emerged the importance of crisis communication as an essential part of health crisis management. The Project aims specifically to improve the understanding of crisis communication dynamics and effective tools and to allow public health institutions to communicate better with the public during health emergencies. Design and methods The Project will perform different activities: i) state of the art review; ii) identification of key stakeholders; iii) communicational analysis performed using data collected on stakeholder communication activities and their outcomes considering the lessons learnt from the analysis of the reasons for differing public reactions during pandemics; iv) improvement of the existing guidelines; v) development of Web 2.0 tools as web-platform and feed service and implementation of impact assessment algorithms; vi) organization of exercises and training on this issues. Expected impact of the study for public health In the context of health security policies at an EU level, the project aims to find a common and innovative approach to health crisis communication that was displayed by differing reactions to the H1N1 pandemic policies. The focus on new social media tools aims to enhance the role of e-health, and the project aims to use these tools in the specific field of health institutions and citizens. The development of Web 2.0 tools for health crisis communication will allow an effective two-way exchange of information between public health institutions and citizens. An effective communication strategy will increase population compliance with public health recommendations. Significance for public health The specific aim of the project is to develop a European strategy approach on how to communicate with the population and with different stakeholders groups involved in the crisis management process, based on an analysis of the communication process during the H1N1 pandemic (content analysis of press releases, press coverage and forum discussions) and on interviews with key stakeholders in health crisis communication. The development of web 2.0 tools, providing rapid responses will allow real-time verification of awareness of social trends and citizens’ response. Furthermore, the project would like to offer these resources to the EU Public Health Institutions and EU citizens to improve their interaction, and hence reinforce citizens’ right to patient-centred health care. The project proposal has been designed in accordance with the general principles of ethics and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights with regard to human rights, values, freedom, solidarity, and better protection of European citizens. PMID:25170491

Forensic DNA databases in Western Balkan region: retrospectives, perspectives, and initiatives

PubMed Central

Marjanović, Damir; Konjhodžić, Rijad; Butorac, Sara Sanela; Drobnič, Katja; Merkaš, Siniša; Lauc, Gordan; Primorac, Damir; Anđelinović, Šimun; Milosavljević, Mladen; Karan, Željko; Vidović, Stojko; Stojković, Oliver; Panić, Bojana; Vučetić Dragović, Anđelka; Kovačević, Sandra; Jakovski, Zlatko; Asplen, Chris; Primorac, Dragan

2011-01-01

The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) recommended the establishment of forensic DNA databases and specific implementation and management legislations for all EU/ENFSI members. Therefore, forensic institutions from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia launched a wide set of activities to support these recommendations. To assess the current state, a regional expert team completed detailed screening and investigation of the existing forensic DNA data repositories and associated legislation in these countries. The scope also included relevant concurrent projects and a wide spectrum of different activities in relation to forensics DNA use. The state of forensic DNA analysis was also determined in the neighboring Slovenia and Croatia, which already have functional national DNA databases. There is a need for a ‘regional supplement’ to the current documentation and standards pertaining to forensic application of DNA databases, which should include regional-specific preliminary aims and recommendations. PMID:21674821

Power Electronics Design of a Solar Powered In-car Wireless Tag for Asset Tracking and Parking Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, D.; Henaut, J.; Beeby, S. P.

2014-11-01

This paper reports the design and testing of a power conditioning circuit for a solar powered in-car wireless tag for asset tracking and parking application. Existing long range asset tracking is based on the GSM/GPRS network, which requires expensive subscriptions. The EU FP7 project CEWITT aims at developing a credit card sized autonomous wireless tag with GNSS geo-positioning capabilities to ensure the integrity and cost effectiveness for parking applications. It was found in previous research that solar cells are the most suitable energy sources for this application. This study focused on the power electronics design for the wireless tag. A suitable solar cell was chosen for its high power density. Charging circuit, hysteresis control circuit and LDO were designed and integrated to meet the system requirement. Test results showed that charging efficiency of 80 % had been achieved.

Data Assimilation Results from PLASMON

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jorgensen, A. M.; Lichtenberger, J.; Duffy, J.; Friedel, R. H.; Clilverd, M.; Heilig, B.; Vellante, M.; Manninen, J. K.; Raita, T.; Rodger, C. J.; Collier, A.; Reda, J.; Holzworth, R. H.; Ober, D. M.; Boudouridis, A.; Zesta, E.; Chi, P. J.

2013-12-01

VLF and magnetometer observations can be used to remotely sense the plasmasphere. VLF whistler waves can be used to measure the electron density and magnetic Field Line Resonance (FLR) measurements can be used to measure the mass density. In principle it is then possible to remotely map the plasmasphere with a network of ground-based stations which are also less expensive and more permanent than satellites. The PLASMON project, funded by the EU FP-7 program, is in the process of doing just this. A large number of ground-based observations will be input into a data assimilative framework which models the plasmasphere structure and dynamics. The data assimilation framework combines the Ensemble Kalman Filter with the Dynamic Global Core Plasma Model. In this presentation we will describe the plasmasphere model, the data assimilation approach that we have taken, PLASMON data and data assimilation results for specific events.

The PHAR-QA Project: Competency Framework for Pharmacy Practice—First Steps, the Results of the European Network Delphi Round 1

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Jeffrey; De Paepe, Kristien; Sánchez Pozo, Antonio; Rekkas, Dimitrios; Volmer, Daisy; Hirvonen, Jouni; Bozic, Borut; Skowron, Agnieska; Mircioiu, Constantin; Marcincal, Annie; Koster, Andries; Wilson, Keith; van Schravendijk, Chris

2015-01-01

PHAR-QA, funded by the European Commission, is producing a framework of competences for pharmacy practice. The framework is in line with the EU directive on sectoral professions and takes into account the diversity of the pharmacy profession and the on-going changes in healthcare systems (with an increasingly important role for pharmacists), and in the pharmaceutical industry. PHAR-QA is asking academia, students and practicing pharmacists to rank competences required for practice. The results show that competences in the areas of “drug interactions”, “need for drug treatment” and “provision of information and service” were ranked highest whereas those in the areas of “ability to design and conduct research” and “development and production of medicines” were ranked lower. For the latter two categories, industrial pharmacists ranked them higher than did the other five groups. PMID:28975918

Global Sources and Pathways of Mercury in the Context of Human Health

PubMed Central

Sundseth, Kyrre; Pacyna, Jozef M.; Pacyna, Elisabeth G.; Pirrone, Nicola; Thorne, Rebecca J.

2017-01-01

This paper reviews information from the existing literature and the EU GMOS (Global Mercury Observation System) project to assess the current scientific knowledge on global mercury releases into the atmosphere, on global atmospheric transport and deposition, and on the linkage between environmental contamination and potential impacts on human health. The review concludes that assessment of global sources and pathways of mercury in the context of human health is important for being able to monitor the effects from implementation of the Minamata Convention targets, although new research is needed on the improvement of emission inventory data, the chemical and physical behaviour of mercury in the atmosphere, the improvement of monitoring network data, predictions of future emissions and speciation, and on the subsequent effects on the environment, human health, as well as the economic costs and benefits of reducing these aspects. PMID:28117743

Forensic DNA databases in Western Balkan region: retrospectives, perspectives, and initiatives.

PubMed

Marjanović, Damir; Konjhodzić, Rijad; Butorac, Sara Sanela; Drobnic, Katja; Merkas, Sinisa; Lauc, Gordan; Primorac, Damir; Andjelinović, Simun; Milosavljević, Mladen; Karan, Zeljko; Vidović, Stojko; Stojković, Oliver; Panić, Bojana; Vucetić Dragović, Andjelka; Kovacević, Sandra; Jakovski, Zlatko; Asplen, Chris; Primorac, Dragan

2011-06-01

The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) recommended the establishment of forensic DNA databases and specific implementation and management legislations for all EU/ENFSI members. Therefore, forensic institutions from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia launched a wide set of activities to support these recommendations. To assess the current state, a regional expert team completed detailed screening and investigation of the existing forensic DNA data repositories and associated legislation in these countries. The scope also included relevant concurrent projects and a wide spectrum of different activities in relation to forensics DNA use. The state of forensic DNA analysis was also determined in the neighboring Slovenia and Croatia, which already have functional national DNA databases. There is a need for a 'regional supplement' to the current documentation and standards pertaining to forensic application of DNA databases, which should include regional-specific preliminary aims and recommendations.

Erasmus+: Capacity Building in Higher Education. EU Support to Higher Education Institutions around the World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jongsma, Ard

2016-01-01

The aim of this brochure is to introduce those who are new to working with European Union funding, to the philosophy of Erasmus+ "capacity-building in higher education" projects. European Union experience of working on these types of projects will be shared. Examples of existing projects are scattered throughout the text to inspire you…

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Schools in Europe: A Toolkit for Policy Development and Its Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simovska, Venka; Dadaczynski, Kevin; Woynarowska, Barbara

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the HEPS project ("H"ealthy "E"ating and "P"hysical Activity in "S"chools) and discuss initial steps of the project implementation within EU countries. On the basis of the Health Promoting School approach as a conceptual foundation for the project, HEPS…

Geography, Economic Education and Global Education: European and Austrian Aspects of the "Fifobi--Developing Business Competencies in School" Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwarz, Ingrid

2012-01-01

Purpose: The EU-funded research project "Fifobi--Fit for Business--developing business competencies in school" (2009-2012) focused on the implementation of economic education in seven European countries. The purpose of the project and this paper is to investigate the current programmes that exist within the final two years of compulsory…

Citizen Observatories: A Standards Based Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simonis, Ingo

2015-04-01

A number of large-scale research projects are currently under way exploring the various components of citizen observatories, e.g. CITI-SENSE (http://www.citi-sense.eu), Citclops (http://citclops.eu), COBWEB (http://cobwebproject.eu), OMNISCIENTIS (http://www.omniscientis.eu), and WeSenseIt (http://www.wesenseit.eu). Common to all projects is the motivation to develop a platform enabling effective participation by citizens in environmental projects, while considering important aspects such as security, privacy, long-term storage and availability, accessibility of raw and processed data and its proper integration into catalogues and international exchange and collaboration systems such as GEOSS or INSPIRE. This paper describes the software architecture implemented for setting up crowdsourcing campaigns using standardized components, interfaces, security features, and distribution capabilities. It illustrates the Citizen Observatory Toolkit, a software suite that allows defining crowdsourcing campaigns, to invite registered and unregistered participants to participate in crowdsourcing campaigns, and to analyze, process, and visualize raw and quality enhanced crowd sourcing data and derived products. The Citizen Observatory Toolkit is not a single software product. Instead, it is a framework of components that are built using internationally adopted standards wherever possible (e.g. OGC standards from Sensor Web Enablement, GeoPackage, and Web Mapping and Processing Services, as well as security and metadata/cataloguing standards), defines profiles of those standards where necessary (e.g. SWE O&M profile, SensorML profile), and implements design decisions based on the motivation to maximize interoperability and reusability of all components. The toolkit contains tools to set up, manage and maintain crowdsourcing campaigns, allows building on-demand apps optimized for the specific sampling focus, supports offline and online sampling modes using modern cell phones with built-in sensing technologies, automates the upload of the raw data, and handles conflation services to match quality requirements and analysis challenges. The strict implementation of all components using internationally adopted standards ensures maximal interoperability and reusability of all components. The Citizen Observatory Toolkit is currently developed as part of the COBWEB research project. COBWEB is partially funded by the European Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° 308513; part of the topic ENV.2012.6.5-1 "Developing community based environmental monitoring and information systems using innovative and novel earth observation applications.

Laboratory preparedness for detection and monitoring of Shiga toxin 2-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 in Europe and response to the 2011 outbreak.

PubMed

Rosin, P; Niskanen, T; Palm, D; Struelens, M; Takkinen, J

2013-06-20

A hybrid strain of enteroaggregative and Shiga toxin 2-producing Escherichia coli (EAEC-STEC) serotype O104:H4 strain caused a large outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome and bloody diarrhoea in 2011 in Europe. Two surveys were performed in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries to assess their laboratory capabilities to detect and characterise this previously uncommon STEC strain. Prior to the outbreak, 11 of the 32 countries in this survey had capacity at national reference laboratory (NRL) level for epidemic case confirmation according to the EU definition. During the outbreak, at primary diagnostic level, nine countries reported that clinical microbiology laboratories routinely used Shiga toxin detection assays suitable for diagnosis of infections with EAEC-STEC O104:H4, while 14 countries had NRL capacity to confirm epidemic cases. Six months after the outbreak, 22 countries reported NRL capacity to confirm such cases following initiatives taken by NRLs and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Food- and Waterborne Disease and Zoonoses laboratory network. These data highlight the challenge of detection and confirmation of epidemic infections caused by atypical STEC strains and the benefits of coordinated EU laboratory networks to strengthen capabilities in response to a major outbreak.

[European Union Network for Patient Safety and Quality of Care (PASQ). Development and preliminary results in Europe and in the Spanish National Health System].

PubMed

Agra-Varela, Y; Fernández-Maíllo, M; Rivera-Ariza, S; Sáiz-Martínez-Acitorez, I; Casal-Gómez, J; Palanca-Sánchez, I; Bacou, J

2015-01-01

The joint action, European Union Network for Patient Safety and Quality of Care: PaSQ, aims to promote patient safety (PS) in the European Union (EU) and to facilitate the exchange of experiences among Member States (MS) and stakeholders on issues related to quality of care, PS, and patient involvement. The development and preliminary results are presented here, especially as regards the Spanish National Health System (SNHS). PaSQ is developed through 7 work packages, primarily aimed at sharing good practices (GP), which were identified using specific questionnaires and selected by means of explicit criteria, as well as to implement safe clinical practices (SCP) of proven effectiveness and agreed among MS. A total of 482 GP (39% provided by Spanish professionals) were identified. The 34 events organised in the EU, 11 including Spanish participation, facilitate sharing these practices. A total of 194 Health Care centres (49% in Spain) are implementing SCP (hand hygiene, safe surgery, medication reconciliation, and paediatric early warning scores) ACHIEVEMENTS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES: PaSQ is making it possible to strengthen collaboration between organizations and professionals at EU and SNHS level regarding PS and quality of care. Copyright © 2015 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Copernicus Earth observation programme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Žlebir, Silvo

European Earth observation program Copernicus is an EU-wide programme that integrates satellite data, in-situ data and modeling to provide user-focused information services to support policymakers, researchers, businesses and citizens. Land monitoring service and Emergency service are fully operational already, Atmosphere monitoring service and Marine environment monitoring service are preoperational and will become fully operational in the following year, while Climate change service and Security service are in an earlier development phase. New series of a number of dedicated satellite missions will be launched in the following years, operated by the European Space Agency and EUMETSAT, starting with Sentinel 1A satellite early this year. Ground based, air-borne and sea-borne in-situ data are provided by different international networks and organizations, EU member states networks etc. European Union is devoting a particular attention to secure a sustainable long-term operational provision of the services. Copernicus is also stated as a European Union’s most important contribution to Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The status and the recent development of the Copernicus programme will be presented, together with its future perspective. As Copernicus services have already demonstrated their usability and effectiveness, some interesting cases of their deployment will be presented. Copernicus free and open data policy, supported by a recently adopted EU legislative act, will also be presented.

Destination bioeconomy - The path towards a smarter, more sustainable future.

PubMed

Dupont-Inglis, Joanna; Borg, Agnes

2018-01-25

Five years following the publication of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, this article discusses the state of play of the bioeconomy in Europe. Placing specific focus on Industrial Biotech, it outlines ten pragmatic recommendations from BIO-TIC [BIO-TIC, A roadmap to a thriving industrial biotechnology sector in Europe, 2015], an EU FP7 funded project completed in 2015 and coordinated by EuropaBio, comprehensively examining the hurdles to the development of a bioeconomy in Europe, enabled by industrial biotech. These include improving opportunities for feedstock producers within the bioeconomy; investigating the scope for using novel biomass; developing a workforce which can maintain Europe's competitiveness in industrial biotechnology; introducing a long-term, stable and transparent policy and incentive framework to promote the bioeconomy; improving public perception and awareness of industrial biotechnology and bio-based products; identifying, leveraging and building upon EU capabilities for pilot and demonstration facilities; promoting the use of co-products from processing; improving the bioconversion and downstream processing steps; improving access to financing for large-scale biorefinery projects; developing stronger relationships between conventional and non-conventional players. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A project on groundwater research inventory and classification to make groundwater visible

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cseko, Adrienn; Petitta, Marco; van der Keur, Peter; Fernandez, Isabel; Garcia Alibrandi, Clint; Hinsby, Klaus; Hartai, Eva; Garcia Padilla, Mercedes; Szucs, Peter; Mikita, Viktoria; Bisevac, Vanja; Bodo, Balazs

2017-04-01

Hydrogeology related research activities cover a wide spectrum of research areas at EU and national levels. The European knowledge base on this important topic is widespread and fragmented into broader programs generally related to waterresources, environment or ecology. In order to achieve a comprehensive understanding on the groundwater theme, the KINDRA project (Knowledge Inventory for Hydrogeology Research - www.kindraproject.eu) seeks to carry out an accurate assessment of the state of the art in hydrogeology research and to create a critical mass for scientific knowledge exchange of hydrogeology research, to ensure wide accessibility and applicability of research results, including support of innovation and development, and to reduce unnecessary duplication of efforts. The first two years of the project have focused its efforts in developing the concept of a Harmonized Terminology and Methodology for Classification and Reporting Hydrogeology related Research in Europe (HRCSYS) as well as its implementation in the European Inventory of Groundwater Research (EIGR). For developing the common terminology, keywords characterizing research on groundwater have been identified from two main sources: the most important EU directives and policy documents and from groundwater related scientific literature. To assess the importance and pertinence of the keywords, these have been ranked by performing searches via the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar search engines. The complete merged list of keywords consisting of more than 200 terms has been organized in a tree hierarchy, identifying three main categories: Societal Challenges (SC), Operational Actions (OA) and Research Topics (RT). The relationships among these main categories expressed by a 3D approach, identifying single intersections among 5 main overarching groups for each category. The EIGR itself contains metadata (about 1800 records at the moment) of research efforts and topic related knowledge deliverables (scientific reports, articles, projects, etc.) illustrating and providing links to research efforts carried out through Europe since 2000, indicating where data can be retrieved, and following their classification according to the proposed methodology. Both the HRC-SYS classification approach and the EIGR tool, are fundamental to achieve the main aim of the KINDRA project: to create an overview of the scientific knowledge covering European countries by means of an accurate assessment of hydrogeology research in various geographical and geo-environmental settings, and to allow for a direct comparison and exploit existing synergies. The scope of the project also includes identification of future trends, critical challenges and research gaps, to improve management and policy development for groundwater resources on a EU level coherently with the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Groundwater Directive (GWD). As part of the work to be carried out in 2017, the identified research gaps will be converted into specific recommendations for the further development of EU level policies and research programmes. The project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 642047.

Registry data for cross-country comparisons of migrants' healthcare utilization in the EU: a survey study of availability and content

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Cross-national comparable data on migrants' use of healthcare services are important to address problems in access to healthcare; to identify high risk groups for prevention efforts; and to evaluate healthcare systems comparatively. Some of the main obstacles limiting analyses of health care utilization are lack of sufficient coverage and availability of reliable and valid healthcare data which includes information allowing for identification of migrants. The objective of this paper was to reveal which registry data on healthcare utilization were available in the EU countries in which migrants can be identified; and to determine to what extent data were comparable between the EU countries. Methods A questionnaire survey on availability of healthcare utilization registries in which migrants can be identified was carried out among all national statistic agencies and other relevant national health authorities in the 27 EU countries in 2008-9 as part of the Migrant and Ethnic Minority Health Observatory-project (MEHO). The information received was compared with information from a general survey on availability of survey and registry data on migrants conducted by Agency of Public Health, Lazio Region, Italy within the MEHO-project; thus, the information on registries was double-checked to assure accuracy and verification. Results Available registry data on healthcare utilization which allow for identification on migrants on a national/regional basis were only reported in 11 EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden. Data on hospital care, including surgical procedures, were most frequently available whereas only few countries had data on care outside the hospital. Regarding identification of migrants, five countries reported having information on both citizenship and country of birth, one reported availability of information on country of birth, and five countries reported availability of information on citizenship. Conclusion Lack of registry data in 16 EU countries, shortage of data on healthcare utilization, and the diversity in the definition of migrant status hampers cross-national comparisons and calls for an urgent establishment of registries, expansion of the existing registry information, and adoption of a common, generally acceptable definition and identification method of migrants across the EU. PMID:19922657

Public health research support through the European structural funds in central and eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

PubMed

McCarthy, Mark

2012-04-05

Public health research provides evidence for practice across fields including health care, health promotion and health surveillance. Levels of public health research vary markedly across European Union (EU) countries, and are lowest in the EU's new member states (in Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean). However, these countries now receive most of the EU's Structural Funds, some of which are allocated to research. STEPS, an EU-funded study, sought to assess support for public health research at national and European levels. To identify support through the Structural funds, STEPS drew information from country respondents and internet searches for all twelve EU new member states. The EU allocates annually around €7 billion through the Structural Funds for member states' own use on research. These funds can cover infrastructure, academic employment, and direct research grants. The programmes emphasise links to business. Support for health research includes major projects in biosciences, but direct support for public health research was found in only three countries - Cyprus, Latvia and Lithuania. Public health research is not prioritised in the EU's Structural Funds programme in comparison with biomedicine. For the research dimension of the new European programme for Structural Funds 2014-2002, ministries of health should propose public health research to strengthen the evidence-base for European public health policy and practice.

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Engineering Unit 2 Anomaly Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewandowski, Edward J.; Dobbs, Michael W.; Oriti, Salvatore M.

2018-01-01

The Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) Engineering Unit 2 (EU2) is the highest fidelity electrically heated Stirling radioisotope generator built to date. NASA Glenn Research Center completed the assembly of the ASRG EU2 in September 2014 using hardware from the now cancelled ASRG flight development project. The ASRG EU2 integrated the first pair of Sunpower's Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASC-E3 #1 and #2) in an aluminum generator housing with Lockheed Martin's (LM's) Engineering Development Unit (EDU) 4 controller. After just 179 hr of EU2 generator operation, the first power fluctuation occurred on ASC-E3 #1. The first power fluctuation occurred 175 hr later on ASC-E3 #2. Over time, the power fluctuations became more frequent on both convertors and larger in magnitude. Eventually the EU2 was shut down in January 2015. An anomaly investigation was chartered to determine root cause of the power fluctuations and other anomalous observations. A team with members from Glenn, Sunpower, and LM conducted a thorough investigation of the EU2 anomalies. Findings from the EU2 disassembly identified proximate causes of the anomalous observations. Discussion of the team's assessment of the primary possible failure theories, root cause, and conclusions is provided. Recommendations are made for future Stirling generator development to address the findings from the anomaly investigation. Additional findings from the investigation are also discussed.

Understanding first-year students’ curiosity and interest about physics—lessons learned from the HOPE project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levrini, Olivia; De Ambrosis, Anna; Hemmer, Sabine; Laherto, Antti; Malgieri, Massimiliano; Pantano, Ornella; Tasquier, Giulia

2017-03-01

This paper focuses on results of an interview based survey of first-year university physics students, carried out within the EU Horizons in Physics Education (HOPE) project (http://hopenetwork.eu/). 94 interviews conducted in 13 universities have been analyzed to investigate the factors that inspire young people to study physics. In particular, the main motivational factor, which was proven to consist of personal interest and curiosity, was unfolded into different categories and detailed interest profiles were produced. The results are arguably useful to help academic curriculum developers and teaching personnel in physics departments to provide guidance to students in developing and focusing their interest towards specific sub-fields and/or to design targeted recruitment and outreach initiatives.

Nightlights along the Eastern Alpine river network in Austria and Italy as a proxy of human presence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceola, Serena; Montanari, Alberto; Parajka, Juraj; Viglione, Alberto; Bloeschl, Guenter

2016-04-01

Understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of human settlements and economic activities in relation to the geographical location of streams and rivers is of fundamental concern for several hydrologic issues such as flood risk and drought management, water pollution and exploitation, as well as stream ecological purposes. Indeed, the human presence close to streams and rivers is known to have consistently increased worldwide, therefore introducing dramatic anthropogenic and environmental changes. This research study analyses the spatial and temporal evolution of human settlements and associated economic activity, derived from nighttime lights, in the Eastern Alpine region. Nightlights, available at a 1 km spatial resolution and for a 22-year period, constitute an excellent data base, which allows to explore in details human signatures. In this experiment, nightlights are associated to five distinct distance-from-river classes, by using the CCM river network data base. From the temporal perspective, nightlights in correspondence of each distance-from-river class within each study region show an overall increasing trend, whereas the spatial trends differs among the study regions. More information about the analysis and project are available at: http://www.water-switch-on.eu/.

EWork in EU Candidate Countries. IES Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mako, Csaba.; Keszi, Roland.

Using data of an 18-country employer survey and facts of company case studies of the EMERGENCE project, a project illustrated diffusion of eWork in 3 these Central European countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland. Mainstream views of the transforming economies and various practices of generic business services were studied. Establishments…

Reducing Stress within the Rehabilitative Work Setting - A Report on the ROSE Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wells, John S. G.; Denny, Margaret

Reducing Occupational Stress in Employment (ROSE) is an EU funded project which aims to develop a combined person and work directed stress management programme in order to improve the long-term retention of staff in the vocational rehabilitation sector for mental health and intellectual disabilities.

Research Project Evaluation-Learnings from the PATHWAYS Project Experience.

PubMed

Galas, Aleksander; Pilat, Aleksandra; Leonardi, Matilde; Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Beata

2018-05-25

Every research project faces challenges regarding how to achieve its goals in a timely and effective manner. The purpose of this paper is to present a project evaluation methodology gathered during the implementation of the Participation to Healthy Workplaces and Inclusive Strategies in the Work Sector (the EU PATHWAYS Project). The PATHWAYS project involved multiple countries and multi-cultural aspects of re/integrating chronically ill patients into labor markets in different countries. This paper describes key project's evaluation issues including: (1) purposes, (2) advisability, (3) tools, (4) implementation, and (5) possible benefits and presents the advantages of a continuous monitoring. Project evaluation tool to assess structure and resources, process, management and communication, achievements, and outcomes. The project used a mixed evaluation approach and included Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), and Threats (SWOT) analysis. A methodology for longitudinal EU projects' evaluation is described. The evaluation process allowed to highlight strengths and weaknesses and highlighted good coordination and communication between project partners as well as some key issues such as: the need for a shared glossary covering areas investigated by the project, problematic issues related to the involvement of stakeholders from outside the project, and issues with timing. Numerical SWOT analysis showed improvement in project performance over time. The proportion of participating project partners in the evaluation varied from 100% to 83.3%. There is a need for the implementation of a structured evaluation process in multidisciplinary projects involving different stakeholders in diverse socio-environmental and political conditions. Based on the PATHWAYS experience, a clear monitoring methodology is suggested as essential in every multidisciplinary research projects.

The system of Regional Contact Offices for promoting GMES services and the use of Space Technologies in European Regions.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carrara, Paola; Antoninetti, Massimo; Bacai, Hina; Basoni, Anna; Bosc, Christelle; Clave, Magali; Cornacchia, Carmela; L'Astorina, Alba; Monbet, Philippe; Mueller, Bastian; Nicolau, Sonia; Pergola, Nicola; Rampini, Anna; Tramutoli, Valerio; Schumacher, Volker; Wells, Alan; Zepeda Juarez, Jesus; Zolotikova, Svetlana

2013-04-01

In 2005, the EU made the strategic choice of developing a space-based programme, called Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). GMES is an independent Earth monitoring initiative led by the European Union and carried out in partnership with the Member States and the European Space Agency (ESA). Its primary objective is to provide information services that give access to accurate data and information in the field of the environment and security and are tailored to the needs of users. However, at the regional level, stakeholders are often not aware about the potential benefits of services Europe's GMES initiative can provide; yet Europe's ca. 350 regions represent a large reservoir of potential GMES users where GMES services can add value to existing services. Refining data, products and services from global GMES services in the various domains (i.e. land, marine, atmosphere, emergency response, security and climate change), GMES downstream services may be customised to individual user needs, many of which are to be found a the regional level. Within a number of regions, links between the different types of stakeholders have grown over the years. Often, individual actors have developed inter-regional links but their linkage is in most cases not formalised. When looking at the European scale, that overall awareness of GMES downstream opportunities is still very low with respect to the potential benefits regions could draw from a wider participation. However, being aware of the potential of GMES, of the important role they can play and of the need for exchanging experiences, pioneering Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) intending to retrieve benefit from space technologies, including GMES, have now started to collaborate within structured networks, NEREUS being the most advanced example. The logically next step is that LRAs engage in a dialogue with service-industry and European decision-makers to maximize the benefits from these innovative tools which have significant impact on the economy, environment and the quality of life of the citizens To this aim since 2011 the system of Regional Contact Offices (RCOs) was promoted by the EU FP7 DORIS_Net (Downsteam Observatory organized by Regions Active in Space - Network, http://www.doris-net.eu/) project as the regional link to the services provided by the European GMES programme. Since then a first nucleus of 12 pilot European Regions were working together establishing 6 first RCOs around Europe. This paper will present RCOs network goals, achievements and perspectives as well as its planned actions devoted to improve quality of Space Technology products from one side, to promote awareness and use of them by potential end-users (and particularly LRAs), from the other side.

Erratum to: The visual amplification of goal-oriented movements counteracts acquired non-use in hemiparetic stroke patients.

PubMed

Rubio Ballester, Belén; Nirme, Jens; Duarte, Esther; Cuxart, Ampar; Rodriguez, Susana; Verschure, Paul; Duff, Armin

2015-11-27

Unfortunately, in the original version of this article [1] the sentence "This project was supported through ERC project cDAC (FP7-IDEAS-ERC 341196), EC H2020 project socSMCs (H2020-EU.1.2.2. 641321) and MINECO project SANAR (Gobierno de España)" was missing from the acknowledgements.The acknowledgements have been correctly included in full in this erratum.

Distance Education in European Higher Education--The Offer. Report 1 (of 3) of the IDEAL (Impact of Distance Education on Adult Learning) Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneller, Chripa; Holmberg, Carl

2014-01-01

This report is the first in a series published by the IDEAL (Impact of Distance Education on Adult Learning) project. The IDEAL project ran from October 2013 to September 2015 with financial support from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. The project aims to: (1) offer insights on the needs of adult learners to both policymakers and distance…

Distance Education in European Higher Education--The Potential. Report 3 (of 3) of the IDEAL (Impact of Distance Education on Adult Learning Project. Extended Version

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owusu-Boampong, Angela; Holmberg, Carl

2015-01-01

This report is the third in a series published by the IDEAL (Impact of Distance Education on Adult Learning) project. The IDEAL project ran from October 2013 to September 2015 with financial support from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. The project aims to: (1) offer insights on the needs of adult learners to both policymakers and distance…

Novel sol-gel precursors for thin mesoporous eu(3+)-doped silica coatings as efficient luminescent materials.

PubMed

Feinle, Andrea; Lavoie-Cardinal, Flavie; Akbarzadeh, Johanna; Peterlik, Herwig; Adlung, Matthias; Wickleder, Claudia; Hüsing, Nicola

2012-10-09

Europium(III) ions containing mesoporous silica coatings have been prepared via a solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) approach of different single-source precursors (SSPs) in the presence of Pluronic P123 as a structure-directing agent, using the spin-coating process. A deliberate tailoring of the chemical composition of the porous coatings with various Si:Eu ratios was achieved by processing mixtures of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and Eu(3+)-coordinated SSPs. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses demonstrate that the thin metal oxide-doped silica coatings consist of a porous network with a short-range order of the pore structure, even at high europium(III) loadings. Furthermore, luminescence properties were investigated at different temperatures and different degrees of Eu(3+) contents. The photoluminescence spectra clearly show characteristic emission peaks corresponding to the (5)D0 → (7)FJ (J = 0-5) transitions resulting in a red luminescence visible by the eyes, although the films have a very low thickness (150-200 nm).

Thermoluminescence (TL) of europium-doped ZrO2 obtained by sol-gel method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivera, T.; Furetta, C.; Azorín, J.; Barrera, M.; Soto, A. M.

This article reports the preparation and characterization of europium-doped zirconium oxide (ZrO2:Eu3+) formed by homogeneous precipitation from propoxyde of zirconium [Zr(OC3H7)4]. The alkoxide sol gel process is an efficient method to prepare the zirconium oxide matrix by the hydrolysis of alkoxide precursors followed by condensation to yield a polymeric oxo-bridged ZrO2 network. All compounds were characterized by thermal analysis and the X-ray diffractometry method. The thermoluminescence (TL) emission properties of ZrO2:Eu3+ under beta radiation effects are studied. The europium-doped sintered zirconia powder presents a TL glow curve with two peaks (Tmax) centered at around 204 and around 292 °C, respectively. TL response of ZrO2:Eu3+ as a function of beta-absorbed dose was linear from 2 Gy up to 90 Gy. The europium ion (Eu3+)-doped ZrO2 was found to be more sensitive to beta radiation than undoped ZrO2 obtained by the same method and presented a little fading of the TL signal compared with undoped zirconium oxide.

GMES and Down-stream Services Following User Requirements: Examples on Regional And Coastal Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noehren, I.; Breitbach, G.; Schroeder, F.

2012-04-01

MyOcean as part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) services provides information on the state of the oceans on a regular basis. The products are delivered on a global as well as on a regional scale like EU, covering the physical state of the ocean and primary ecosystem parameters. For local or coastal scales these Core Services very often do not meet the requirements of the potential end-user who needs information on e. g. marine safety, oil spills, marine resources and coastal management. For these local information needs Downstream Services derived from GMES Core Services, e.g. MyOcean products, but also directly from observation infrastructure are necessary. With Cosyna (Coastal Observation System for Northern and Arctic Seas) a national project between MyOcean and downstream services is established. The core of the project is an integrated pre-operational observation system which combines in-situ observations and remote sensing procedures with numerical models to obtain synoptic data sets of the southern North Sea and make basic infrastructure and continuous data available to the scientific community. The network provides intermediate products in terms of quality-assured time series and maps with high temporal and spatial resolution; end-users might produce their own end products. Integrated products cover processed information based on a combination of different observations and models, accompanied by instructions of use and optionally by interpretations. To enhance operational services in coastal areas improved forecasts with coupled models and data assimilation are developed in the EC funded FIELD_AC project (Fluxes, Interactions and Environment at the Land-Ocean Boundary. Downscaling, Assimilation and Coupling). The application area of the German partner is the German Bight. By means of a strong interaction with the Cosyna observational network main emphasis is laid on the user needs (e.g. of national agencies, coastal and harbour authorities, maritime service providers, marine consulting companies, etc) which are and will be addressed in different project user workshops.

Volcanic Supersites as cross-disciplinary laboratories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Provenzale, Antonello; Beierkuhnlein, Carl; Giamberini, Mariasilvia; Pennisi, Maddalena; Puglisi, Giuseppe

2017-04-01

Volcanic Supersites, defined in the frame of the GEO-GSNL Initiative, are usually considered mainly for their geohazard and geological characteristics. However, volcanoes are extremely challenging areas from many other points of view, including environmental and climatic properties, ecosystems, hydrology, soil properties and biogeochemical cycling. Possibly, volcanoes are closer to early Earth conditions than most other types of environment. During FP7, EC effectively fostered the implementation of the European volcano Supersites (Mt. Etna, Campi Flegrei/Vesuvius and Iceland) through the MED-SUV and FUTUREVOLC projects. Currently, the large H2020 project ECOPOTENTIAL (2015-2019, 47 partners, http://www.ecopotential-project.eu/) contributes to GEO/GEOSS and to the GEO ECO Initiative, and it is devoted to making best use of remote sensing and in situ data to improve future ecosystem benefits, focusing on a network of Protected Areas of international relevance. In ECOPOTENTIAL, remote sensing and in situ data are collected, processed and used for a better understanding of the ecosystem dynamics, analysing and modelling the effects of global changes on ecosystem functions and services, over an array of different ecosystem types, including mountain, marine, coastal, arid and semi-arid ecosystems, and also areas of volcanic origin such as the Canary and La Reunion Islands. Here, we propose to extend the network of the ECOPOTENTIAL project to include active Volcanic Supersites, such as Mount Etna and other volcanic Protected Areas, and we discuss how they can be included in the framework of the ECOPOTENTIAL workflow. A coordinated and cross-disciplinary set of studies at these sites should include geological, biological, ecological, biogeochemical, climatic and biogeographical aspects, as well as their relationship with the antropogenic impact on the environment, and aim at the global analysis of the volcanic Earth Critical Zone - namely, the upper layer of the Earth surface between the top of the vegetation and the rock matrix in active volcanic areas and Volcanic Supersites.

Validation of The Scenarios Designed For The Eu Registration of Pesticides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piñeros Garcet, J. D.; de Nie, D.; Vanclooster, M.; Tiktak, A.; Klein, M.

As part of recent efforts to harmonise registration procedures for pesticides within the EU, a set of uniform principles were developed, setting out the detailed evaluation and decision making criteria for pesticide registration. The EU directive 91/414/EEC places great importance on the use of validated models to calculate Predicted Envi- ronmental Concentrations (PECs), as a basis for assessing the environmental risks and health effects. To be used in a harmonised registration process, the quality of PEC modelling needs to be assured. Quality assurance of mathematical modelling implies, amongst others, the validation of the environmental modelling scenarios. The FOrum for the CO-ordination of pesticide fate models and their USe (FOCUS), is the cur- rent platform where common modelling methodologies are designed and subjected for approval to the European authorities. In 2000, the FOCUS groundwater scenarios working group defined the procedures for realising tier 1 PEC groundwater calcula- tions for the active substances of plant protection products at the pan-european level. The procedures and guidelines were approved by the Standing Committee on Plant Health, and are now recommended for tier 1 PEC groundwater calculations in the reg-istration dossier. Yet, the working group also identified a range of uncertainties related to the validity of the present leaching scenarios. To mitigate some of these problems,the EU R&D project APECOP was designed and approved for support in the frame-work of the EU-FP5-Quality of Life Programme. One of the objectives of the project is to evaluate the appropriateness of the current Tier 1 groundwater scenarios. In this paper, we summarise the methodology and results of the scenarios validation.

Validation of The Scenarios Designed For The Eu Registration of Pesticides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piñeros Garcet, J. D.; de Nie, D.; Vanclooster, M.; Tiktak, A.; Klein, M.; Jones, A.

As part of recent efforts to harmonise registration procedures for pesticides within the EU, a set of uniform principles were developed, setting out the detailed evaluation and decision making criteria for pesticide registration. The EU directive 91/414/EEC places great importance on the use of validated models to calculate Predicted Envi- ronmental Concentrations (PECs), as a basis for assessing the environmental risks and health effects. To be used in a harmonised registration process, the quality of PEC modelling needs to be assured. Quality assurance of mathematical modelling implies, amongst others, the validation of the environmental modelling scenarios. The FOrum for the CO-ordination of pesticide fate models and their USe (FOCUS), is the cur- rent platform where common modelling methodologies are designed and subjected for approval to the European authorities. In 2000, the FOCUS groundwater scenarios working group defined the procedures for realising tier 1 PEC groundwater calcula- tions for the active substances of plant protection products at the pan-european level. The procedures and guidelines were approved by the Standing Committee on Plant Health, and are now recommended for tier 1 PEC groundwater calculations in the reg- istration dossier. Yet, the working group also identified a range of uncertainties related to the validity of the present leaching scenarios. To mitigate some of these problems, the EU R&D project APECOP was designed and approved for support in the frame- work of the EU-FP5-Quality of Life Programme. One of the objectives of the project is to evaluate the appropriateness of the current Tier 1 groundwater scenarios. In this paper, we summarise the methodology and results of the scenarios validation.

EMODNet Bathymetry - building and providing a high resolution digital bathymetry for European seas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, D.

2016-12-01

Access to marine data is a key issue for the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EU Marine Knowledge 2020 agenda and includes the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) initiative. The EMODnet Bathymetry project develops and publishes Digital Terrain Models (DTM) for the European seas. These are produced from survey and aggregated data sets that are indexed with metadata by adopting from SeaDataNet the Common Data Index (CDI) data discovery and access service and the Sextant data products catalogue service. SeaDataNet is a network of major oceanographic data centres around the European seas that manage, operate and further develop a pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management. SeaDataNet is also setting and governing marine data standards, and exploring and establishing interoperability solutions to connect to other e-infrastructures on the basis of standards such as ISO and OGC. The SeaDataNet portal provides users a number of interrelated meta directories, an extensive range of controlled vocabularies, and the various SeaDataNet standards and tools. SeaDataNet at present gives overview and access to more than 1.8 million data sets for physical oceanography, chemistry, geology, geophysics, bathymetry and biology from more than 100 connected data centres from 34 countries riparian to European seas. The latest EMODnet Bathymetry DTM has a resolution of 1/8 arcminute * 1/8 arcminute and covers all European sea regions. Use is made of available and gathered surveys and already more than 13.000 surveys have been indexed by 27 European data providers from 15 countries. Also use is made of composite DTMs as generated and maintained by several data providers for their areas of interest. Already 44 composite DTMs are included in the Sextant data products catalogue. For areas without coverage use is made of the latest global DTM of GEBCO who is partner in the EMODnet Bathymetry project. In return GEBCO integrates the EMODnet DTM to achieve an enriched and better result. The catalogue services and the generated EMODnet can be queried and browsed at the dedicated EMODnet Bathymetry portal which also provides a versatile DTM viewing service with many relevant map layers and functions for retrieving. The EMODnet DTM is publicly available for downloading in various formats.

Raising Student Awareness of the Use of English for Specific Business Purposes in the European Context: A Staff-Student Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nickerson, C.; Gerritsen, M.; Meurs, F.v.

2005-01-01

This Research Note reports on a large-scale staff-student project focussing on the use of English for Specific Business Purposes in a number of promotional genres (TV commercials, annual reports, corporate web-sites, print advertising) within several of the EU member states: Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain. The project as a…

Network-Based Mitigation of Illegal Immigration in Aegean Sea (Greece)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

From Google- Images ) ...........................................1 Figure 2. The perilous trip (From Google- Images ...2 Figure 3. EU countries (From Google- Images ).................................................................3 Figure 4...Eastern Aegen Sea and territorial water line (From Google- Images )................4 Figure 5. Cross-border zone

Evaluating the Connectivity of a Protected Areas' Network under the Prism of Global Change: The Efficiency of the European Natura 2000 Network for Four Birds of Prey

PubMed Central

Mazaris, Antonios D.; Papanikolaou, Alexandra D.; Barbet-Massin, Morgane; Kallimanis, Athanasios S.; Jiguet, Frédéric; Schmeller, Dirk S.; Pantis, John D.

2013-01-01

Climate and land use changes are major threats to biodiversity. To preserve biodiversity, networks of protected areas have been established worldwide, like the Natura 2000 network across the European Union (EU). Currently, this reserve network consists of more than 26000 sites covering more than 17% of EU terrestrial territory. Its efficiency to mitigate the detrimental effects of land use and climate change remains an open research question. Here, we examined the potential current and future geographical ranges of four birds of prey under scenarios of both land use and climate changes. By using graph theory, we examined how the current Natura 2000 network will perform in regard to the conservation of these species. This approach determines the importance of a site in regard to the total network and its connectivity. We found that sites becoming unsuitable due to climate change are not a random sample of the network, but are less connected and contribute less to the overall connectivity than the average site and thus their loss does not disrupt the full network. Hence, the connectivity of the remaining network changed only slightly from present day conditions. Our findings highlight the need to establish species-specific management plans with flexible conservation strategies ensuring protection under potential future range expansions. Aquila pomarina is predicted to disappear from the southern part of its range and to become restricted to northeastern Europe. Gyps fulvus, Aquila chrysaetos, and Neophron percnopterus are predicted to locally lose some suitable sites; hence, some isolated small populations may become extinct. However, their geographical range and metapopulation structure will remain relatively unaffected throughout Europe. These species would benefit more from an improved habitat quality and management of the existing network of protected areas than from increased connectivity or assisted migration. PMID:23527237

The PHARMINE study on the impact of the European Union directive on sectoral professions and of the Bologna declaration on pharmacy education in Europe

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Jeffrey; Rombaut, Bart

The Bologna declaration and the European Union (EU) directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications influence the mobility of pharmacy students and pharmacy professionals, respectively. In addition the Bologna declaration aims at tuning higher education degrees including pharmacy throughout the EU in order to prepare for a harmonised European Higher Education Area. The directive outlines the knowledge, skills and qualifications required for the pursuit of the professional activity of a pharmacy in the EU. The PHARMINE project (Pharmacy Education in Europe, www.pharmine.org) looked at how the Bologna declaration and the directive influence modern-day pharmacy education and training in Europe. PMID:24198855

Twentieth anniversary of the European Union health mandate: taking stock of perceived achievements, failures and missed opportunities - a qualitative study.

PubMed

Rosenkötter, Nicole; Clemens, Timo; Sørensen, Kristine; Brand, Helmut

2013-11-14

The European Union (EU) health mandate was initially defined in the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The twentieth anniversary of the Treaty offers a unique opportunity to take stock of EU health actions by giving an overview of influential public health related EU-level policy outputs and a summary of policy outputs or actions perceived as an achievement, a failure or a missed opportunity. Semi-structured expert interviews (N = 20) were conducted focusing on EU-level actions that were relevant for health. Respondents were asked to name EU policies or actions that they perceived as an achievement, a failure or a missed opportunity. A directed content analysis approach was used to identify expert perceptions on achievements, failures and missed opportunities in the interviews. Additionally, a nominal group technique was applied to identify influential and public health relevant EU-level policy outputs. The ranking of influential policy outputs resulted in top positions of adjudications and legislations, agencies, European Commission (EC) programmes and strategies, official networks, cooperative structures and exchange efforts, the work on health determinants and uptake of scientific knowledge. The assessment of EU health policies as being an achievement, a failure or a missed opportunity was often characterized by diverging respondent views. Recurring topics that emerged were the Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO), EU agencies, life style factors, internal market provisions as well as the EU Directive on patients' rights in cross-border healthcare. Among these recurring topics, expert perceptions on the establishment of DG SANCO, EU public health agencies, and successes in tobacco control were dominated by aspects of achievements. The implementation status of the Health in All Policy approach was perceived as a missed opportunity. When comparing the emerging themes from the interviews conducted with the responsibilities defined in the EU health mandate, one can identify that these responsibilities were only partly fulfilled or acknowledged by the respondents. In general, the EU is a recognized public health player in Europe which over the past two decades, has begun to develop competencies in supporting, coordinating and supplementing member state health actions. However, the assurance of health protection in other European policies seems to require further development.

Twentieth anniversary of the European Union health mandate: taking stock of perceived achievements, failures and missed opportunities – a qualitative study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The European Union (EU) health mandate was initially defined in the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The twentieth anniversary of the Treaty offers a unique opportunity to take stock of EU health actions by giving an overview of influential public health related EU-level policy outputs and a summary of policy outputs or actions perceived as an achievement, a failure or a missed opportunity. Methods Semi-structured expert interviews (N = 20) were conducted focusing on EU-level actions that were relevant for health. Respondents were asked to name EU policies or actions that they perceived as an achievement, a failure or a missed opportunity. A directed content analysis approach was used to identify expert perceptions on achievements, failures and missed opportunities in the interviews. Additionally, a nominal group technique was applied to identify influential and public health relevant EU-level policy outputs. Results The ranking of influential policy outputs resulted in top positions of adjudications and legislations, agencies, European Commission (EC) programmes and strategies, official networks, cooperative structures and exchange efforts, the work on health determinants and uptake of scientific knowledge. The assessment of EU health policies as being an achievement, a failure or a missed opportunity was often characterized by diverging respondent views. Recurring topics that emerged were the Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO), EU agencies, life style factors, internal market provisions as well as the EU Directive on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. Among these recurring topics, expert perceptions on the establishment of DG SANCO, EU public health agencies, and successes in tobacco control were dominated by aspects of achievements. The implementation status of the Health in All Policy approach was perceived as a missed opportunity. Conclusions When comparing the emerging themes from the interviews conducted with the responsibilities defined in the EU health mandate, one can identify that these responsibilities were only partly fulfilled or acknowledged by the respondents. In general, the EU is a recognized public health player in Europe which over the past two decades, has begun to develop competencies in supporting, coordinating and supplementing member state health actions. However, the assurance of health protection in other European policies seems to require further development. PMID:24225055

Automated science target selection for future Mars rovers: A machine vision approach for the future ESA ExoMars 2018 rover mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Yu; Muller, Jan-Peter

2013-04-01

The ESA ExoMars 2018 rover is planned to perform autonomous science target selection (ASTS) using the approaches described in [1]. However, the approaches shown to date have focused on coarse features rather than the identification of specific geomorphological units. These higher-level "geoobjects" can later be employed to perform intelligent reasoning or machine learning. In this work, we show the next stage in the ASTS through examples displaying the identification of bedding planes (not just linear features in rock-face images) and the identification and discrimination of rocks in a rock-strewn landscape (not just rocks). We initially detect the layers and rocks in 2D processing via morphological gradient detection [1] and graph cuts based segmentation [2] respectively. To take this further requires the retrieval of 3D point clouds and the combined processing of point clouds and images for reasoning about the scene. An example is the differentiation of rocks in rover images. This will depend on knowledge of range and range-order of features. We show demonstrations of these "geo-objects" using MER and MSL (released through the PDS) as well as data collected within the EU-PRoViScout project (http://proviscout.eu). An initial assessment will be performed of the automated "geo-objects" using the OpenSource StereoViewer developed within the EU-PRoViSG project (http://provisg.eu) which is released in sourceforge. In future, additional 3D measurement tools will be developed within the EU-FP7 PRoViDE2 project, which started on 1.1.13. References: [1] M. Woods, A. Shaw, D. Barnes, D. Price, D. Long, D. Pullan, (2009) "Autonomous Science for an ExoMars Rover-Like Mission", Journal of Field Robotics Special Issue: Special Issue on Space Robotics, Part II, Volume 26, Issue 4, pages 358-390. [2] J. Shi, J. Malik, (2000) "Normalized Cuts and Image Segmentation", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Volume 22. [3] D. Shin, and J.-P. Muller (2009), Stereo workstation for Mars rover image analysis, in EPSC (Europlanets), Potsdam, Germany, EPSC2009-390

Harmonising and semantically linking key variables from in-situ observing networks of an Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System, AtlantOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darroch, Louise; Buck, Justin

2017-04-01

Atlantic Ocean observation is currently undertaken through loosely-coordinated, in-situ observing networks, satellite observations and data management arrangements at regional, national and international scales. The EU Horizon 2020 AtlantOS project aims to deliver an advanced framework for the development of an Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System that strengthens the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and contributes to the aims of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. One goal is to ensure that data from different and diverse in-situ observing networks are readily accessible and useable to a wider community, including the international ocean science community and other stakeholders in this field. To help achieve this goal, the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) produced a parameter matrix to harmonise data exchange, data flow and data integration for the key variables acquired by multiple in-situ AtlantOS observing networks such as ARGO, Seafloor Mapping and OceanSITES. Our solution used semantic linking of controlled vocabularies and metadata for parameters that were "mappable" to existing EU and international standard vocabularies. An AtlantOS Essential Variables list of terms (aggregated level) based on Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Essential Climate Variables (ECV), GOOS Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) and other key network variables was defined and published on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Vocabulary Server (version 2.0) as collection A05 (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/A05/current/). This new vocabulary was semantically linked to standardised metadata for observed properties and units that had been validated by the AtlantOS community: SeaDataNet parameters (P01), Climate and Forecast (CF) Standard Names (P07) and SeaDataNet units (P06). Observed properties were mapped to biological entities from the internationally assured AphiaID from the WOrld Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=webservice. The AtlantOS parameter matrix offers a way to harmonise the globally important variables (such as ECVs and EOVs) from in-situ observing networks that use different flavours of exchange formats based on SeaDataNet and CF parameter metadata. It also offers a way to standardise data in the wider Integrated Ocean Observing System. It uses sustainable and trusted standardised vocabularies that are governed by internationally renowned and long-standing organisations and is interoperable through the use of persistent resource identifiers, such as URNs and PURLs. It is the first step to integrating and serving data in a variety of international exchange formats using Application programming interfaces (API) improving both data discoverability and utility for users.

Exploring overweight, obesity and their behavioural correlates among children and adolescents: results from the Health-promotion through Obesity Prevention across Europe project.

PubMed

Brug, Johannes; Lien, Nanna; Klepp, Knut-Inge; van Lenthe, Frank J

2010-10-01

The Health-promotion through Obesity Prevention across Europe (HOPE) project aims to bring the European scientific knowledge on overweight, obesity and their determinants together and use the expertise of researchers across Europe to contribute to tackling the obesity epidemic. This special issue of Public Health Nutrition presents important results from one of the work packages of the HOPE project that aims at gaining and integrating knowledge on the determinants of nutrition, physical activity and obesity among schoolchildren and adolescents (aged 10-18 years) in different European regions. It includes contributions from Northern Europe (Norway), Central and Eastern Europe (Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic), Southern Europe (Greece) and Western Europe (Belgium and The Netherlands), as well as an overview of the availability of good-quality data on prevalence rates and trends in overweight (including obesity) among adolescents in European Union (EU) countries. The studies that are included report prevalence differences, data on relevant nutrition and physical activity behaviours, as well as potential physical and environmental behavioural determinants. These papers provide further evidence on differences in obesity and overweight prevalence among different EU regions and countries, and contribute to the further exploration of risk factors that may or should be addressed in obesity prevention efforts for school-aged children and adolescents in EU countries.

Health impact assessment of Roma housing policies in Central and Eastern Europe: A comparative analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Molnar, Agnes, E-mail: molnar.agnes@sph.unideb.hu; Adam, Balazs, E-mail: adam.balazs@sph.unideb.hu; Antova, Temenujka, E-mail: t.antova@ncphp.government.bg

2012-02-15

Marginalised Roma communities in European countries live in substandard housing conditions the improvement of which has been one of the major issues of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, the ongoing intergovernmental European Roma programme. The paper presents EU-funded health impact assessments of national Roma housing policies and programmes in 3 Central and Eastern European countries in light of the evaluation of a completed local project in a fourth CEE country so as to compare predicted effects to observed ones. Housing was predicted to have beneficial health effects by improving indoor and outdoor conditions, access to services, and socioeconomic conditions. Negativemore » impacts were predicted only in terms of maintenance expenses and housing tenure. However, observed impacts of the completed local project did not fully support predictions especially in terms of social networks, satisfaction with housing and neighbourhood, and inhabitant safety. In order to improve the predictive value of HIA, more evidence should be produced by the careful evaluation of locally implemented housing projects. In addition, current evidence is in favour of planning Roma housing projects at the local rather than at the national level in alignment with the principle of subsidiarity. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Predictive validity of HIA of national Roma housing policies - in light of current evidence - is low. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Implemented housing projects should be comprehensively evaluated to improve reliability of HIA. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Roma housing projects should be planned at the local rather than at the national level. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer HIA should be used to plan Roma housing projects at the local level.« less

Novel organic–inorganic amorphous photoactive hybrid films with rare earth (Eu{sup 3+}, Tb{sup 3+}) covalently embedded into silicon–oxygen network via sol–gel process

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Qiang; Sheng, Ye; Zheng, Keyan

2015-10-15

Highlights: • The hybrids are prepared through the hydrolysis and condensation process. • The hybrids are amorphous and heat stabilized. • The hybrids containing Eu{sup 3+} and Tb{sup 3+} show the typical red and green emissions. - Abstract: Novel organic–inorganic hybrid amorphous thin films were synthesized by linking lanthanide (Tb{sup 3+}, Eu{sup 3+}) complexes through 3,4-bis(3-(triethoxysilyl)propylcarbamoyloxy)benzoic acid using sol–gel method. These inorganic–organic hybrids were characterized in detail by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, wide angle X-ray diffraction, themogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscope, and fluorescence spectra. The above research results indicate that the hybrids possess high thermal-stability, amorphous structure features and especiallymore » favorable luminescent performances, such as long luminescent decay lifetime, high quantum yield etc.« less

LIFE CLIMATREE project: A novel approach for accounting and monitoring carbon sequestration of tree crops and their potential as carbon sink areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stergiou, John; Tagaris, Efthimios; -Eleni Sotiropoulou, Rafaella

2016-04-01

Climate Change Mitigation is one of the most important objectives of the Kyoto Convention, and is mostly oriented towards reducing GHG emissions. However, carbon sink is retained only in the calculation of the forests capacity since agricultural land and farmers practices for securing carbon stored in soils have not been recognized in GHG accounting, possibly resulting in incorrect estimations of the carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere. The agricultural sector, which is a key sector in the EU, presents a consistent strategic framework since 1954, in the form of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In its latest reform of 2013 (reg. (EU) 1305/13) CAP recognized the significance of Agriculture as a key player in Climate Change policy. In order to fill this gap the "LIFE ClimaTree" project has recently founded by the European Commission aiming to provide a novel method for including tree crop cultivations in the LULUCF's accounting rules for GHG emissions and removal. In the framework of "LIFE ClimaTree" project estimation of carbon sink within EU through the inclusion of the calculated tree crop capacity will be assessed for both current and future climatic conditions by 2050s using the GISS-WRF modeling system in a very fine scale (i.e., 9km x 9km) using RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 climate scenarios. Acknowledgement: LIFE CLIMATREE project "A novel approach for accounting and monitoring carbon sequestration of tree crops and their potential as carbon sink areas" (LIFE14 CCM/GR/000635).

Wide disparity of clinical genetics services and EU rare disease research funding across Europe.

PubMed

Lynch, Sally Ann; Borg, Isabella

2016-04-01

The origins of clinical genetics services vary throughout Europe with some emerging from paediatric medicine and others from an academic laboratory setting. In 2011, the cross-border patients' rights directive recommended the creation of European Research Networks (ERNs) to improve patient care throughout EU. In 2013, the EU recommendation on the care for rare diseases came into place. The process of designating EU centres of expertise in rare diseases is being implemented to allow centres to enter ERNs. Hence, this is an opportune time to reflect on the current status of genetic services and research funding throughout Europe as 80 % of rare diseases have a genetic origin. Our aims were to determine (a) whether EU countries are prepared in terms of appropriate clinical genetic staffing to fulfil the European Union Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases (EUCERD) criteria that will allow national centres to be designated as centres of expertise, (b) which EU countries are successful in grant submissions to EU rare disease research funding and (c) country of origin of researchers from the EU presenting their research work as a spoken presentation at the European Society of Human Genetics annual conference. Our results show there is wide disparity of staffing levels per head of population in clinical genetics units throughout Europe. EU rare disease research funding is not being distributed equitably and the opportunity to present research is skewed with many countries not achieving spoken presentations despite abstract submissions. Inequity in the care of patients with rare diseases exists in Europe. Many countries will struggle to designate centres of expertise as their staffing mix and levels will not meet the EUCERD criteria which may prevent them from entering ERNs. The establishment of a small number of centres of expertise centrally, which is welcome, should not occur at the expense of an overall improvement in EU rare disease patient care. Caution should be observed to ensure that the inequity gap that already exists does not widen with the development of ERNs.

Learning Languages in 3D Worlds with Machinima

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Christel

2016-01-01

This paper, based on the findings of the EU funded CAMELOT project (2013-2015), explores the added value of Machinima (videos produced in 3D virtual environments) in language learning. The project research evaluated all stages, from developing to field testing Machinima. To achieve the best outcome, mixed methods were used for the research,…

Assisting Bulgarian Special Educators with Competency Development Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Rob; Herrington, Jan; Konza, Deslea; Tzvetkova-Arsova, Mira; Stefanov, Krassen

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss an expansion of the Special Education Bulgaria (SEB) internet community that is required to pilot software created by the European Union's (EU's) Sixth Framework integrated project, TENCompetence. Design/methodology/approach: SEB is the product of a two-year research project designed to create a…

Aiming at Narrowing Social Gaps in Israel through a Special Program of Everyman's University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guri, Sarah

The philosophy and implementation of the Community Leaders Project at Everyman's University (EU), the Open University of Israel, are discussed. The project is designed to narrow social gaps in Israel by upgrading the educational level of disadvantaged populations and by developing indigeneous leadership for decision-making in the most…

Science Fiction in Education: Case Studies from Classroom Implementations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vrasidas, Charalambos; Avraamidou, Lucy; Theodoridou, Katerina; Themistokleous, Sotiris; Panaou, Petros

2015-01-01

This manuscript reports on findings from the implementation of the EU project "Science Fiction in Education" (Sci-Fi-Ed). The project provides teachers with tools, training, and guidance that will assist them in enhancing their teaching, making science more attractive to students, connecting it with real-life issues such as the…

Patterns in Authoring of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia: A Taxonomy of Learning Styles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Elizabeth; Cristea, Alexandra; Stewart, Craig; Brailsford, Tim

2005-01-01

This paper describes the use of adaptation patterns in the task of formulating standards for adaptive educational hypermedia (AEH) systems that is currently under investigation by the EU ADAPT project. Within this project, design dimensions for high granularity patterns have been established. In this paper we focus on detailing lower granularity…

Intercultural Education in Practice: Two Pedagogical Experiences with Mobile Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borghetti, Claudia

2016-01-01

This pedagogical paper describes and discusses a teaching activity of intercultural education for mobile students developed within the European IEREST project (http://ierest-project.eu/). The activity "24 h Erasmus Life" aims at making students reflect on four interrelated areas of their sojourn: the emotional impact of living abroad,…

A Modular Training Project for Vocational Education and Improvement in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arslan, Ridvan; Tekin, Yucel; Yazici, Murat; Kus, Abdil; Kaynak, Z. Gokay

2009-01-01

Various vocational training methods, most of which overlap with lifelong learning programmes, are being used to address the problem of unemployment--an issue of vital importance, especially for developing countries. This article examines the introduction of a modular certification project in Turkey supported by EU training funds. The objective of…

Incorporation of public hospitals: a "silver bullet" against overcapacity, managerial bottlenecks and resource constraints? Case studies from Austria and Estonia.

PubMed

Fidler, Armin H; Haslinger, Reinhard R; Hofmarcher, Maria M; Jesse, Maris; Palu, Toomas

2007-05-01

This paper presents a new approach for incorporating public hospitals by contrasting the experience from an "old" EU country (Austria) with a new EU member state (Estonia). In the EU (including the new member states) hospital overcapacity is a serious problem, from a technical, fiscal and political perspective. Few countries have succeeded in establishing an appropriate framework for resource management and for guaranteeing long-term financial viability of their hospital network. Many countries are in search of effective policies for improved hospital management and more cost-effective resource use in the health sector. Over the past decade, experiences in Austria and Estonia have emerged as innovative examples which may provide lessons for other EU countries and beyond. This paper describes the evolution of public hospitals from public budgetary units and public management to incorporated autonomous organizations under private corporate law, resulting in a contractual relationship between (public) owners and private hospital management. Outdated and inefficient public sector structures were replaced by more agile corporate management. The arrangement allows for investments, operating costs and budgeting according to strategic business goals as opposed to political "fiat". Shielding hospitals from local political influence is an important aspect of this concept. Horizontal integration through networking of public hospitals and introducing private management helps create a new corporate culture, allowing for more flexibility to achieve efficiencies through downsizing and economies of scale. Based on contracts the new balance between ownership and managerial functions create strong incentives for a more business-like, results-oriented and consumer-friendly management. This was achieved both in Austria and Estonia in a politically sensitive way, adopting a long-term vision and by protecting the interests of hospital owners and staff.

The COMESEP Alert System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, Norma; Veronig, Astrid; Rodriguez, Luciano; Vrsnak, Bojan; Vennerstrom, Susanne; Malandraki, Olga; Dalla, Silvia; Srivastava, Nandita; Hesse, Michael; Odstrcil, Dusan; Robbrecht, Eva

2014-05-01

Tools for forecasting geomagnetic storms and solar energetic particle (SEP) radiation storms have been developed under the three-year EU FP7 COMESEP (COronal Mass Ejections and Solar Energetic Particles) collaborative project. To enhance our understanding of the 3D kinematics and interplanetary propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the structure, propagation and evolution of CMEs have been investigated. In parallel, the sources and propagation of SEPs have been examined and modeled. During the third year of the COMESEP project the produced tools have been validated and implemented into an operational space weather alert system. The COMESEP Alert System provides notifications for the space weather community. To achieve this the system relies on both models and data, the latter including near real-time data as well as historical data. Geomagnetic and SEP radiation storm alerts are based on the COMESEP definition of risk. The COMESEP Alert System has recently been launched. Receiving COMESEP alerts are free of charge, but registration is required. For more information see the project website (http://www.comesep.eu/). This work has received funding from the European Commission FP7 Project COMESEP (263252).

Novel and Improved Nanomaterials, Chemistries and Apparatus for Nanobiotechnology: the NACBO project.

PubMed

Bruce, Ian James

2011-02-01

This article outlines the nature and activities of the recently completed EU Framework Programme 6 Integrated Project, Novel and Improved Nanomaterials, Chemistries and Apparatus for Nanobiotechnology (NACBO). This project was designed to yield new nanomaterials, surface activation and synthetic nucleic acid chemistries, procedures and hardware for applications in forensics and diagnostics. It provides details on the project's structure and partnership along with its principal objectives and successes in terms of publications and commercial exploitation.

VALUE - Validating and Integrating Downscaling Methods for Climate Change Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maraun, Douglas; Widmann, Martin; Benestad, Rasmus; Kotlarski, Sven; Huth, Radan; Hertig, Elke; Wibig, Joanna; Gutierrez, Jose

2013-04-01

Our understanding of global climate change is mainly based on General Circulation Models (GCMs) with a relatively coarse resolution. Since climate change impacts are mainly experienced on regional scales, high-resolution climate change scenarios need to be derived from GCM simulations by downscaling. Several projects have been carried out over the last years to validate the performance of statistical and dynamical downscaling, yet several aspects have not been systematically addressed: variability on sub-daily, decadal and longer time-scales, extreme events, spatial variability and inter-variable relationships. Different downscaling approaches such as dynamical downscaling, statistical downscaling and bias correction approaches have not been systematically compared. Furthermore, collaboration between different communities, in particular regional climate modellers, statistical downscalers and statisticians has been limited. To address these gaps, the EU Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) action VALUE (www.value-cost.eu) has been brought into life. VALUE is a research network with participants from currently 23 European countries running from 2012 to 2015. Its main aim is to systematically validate and develop downscaling methods for climate change research in order to improve regional climate change scenarios for use in climate impact studies. Inspired by the co-design idea of the international research initiative "future earth", stakeholders of climate change information have been involved in the definition of research questions to be addressed and are actively participating in the network. The key idea of VALUE is to identify the relevant weather and climate characteristics required as input for a wide range of impact models and to define an open framework to systematically validate these characteristics. Based on a range of benchmark data sets, in principle every downscaling method can be validated and compared with competing methods. The results of this exercise will directly provide end users with important information about the uncertainty of regional climate scenarios, and will furthermore provide the basis for further developing downscaling methods. This presentation will provide background information on VALUE and discuss the identified characteristics and the validation framework.

Simulation of Sentinel-2A Red Edge Bands with RPAS Based Multispectral Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davids, Corine; Storvold, Rune; Haarpaintner, Jorg; Arnason, Kolbeinn

2016-08-01

Very high spatial and spectral resolution multispectral data was collected over the Hallormstađur test site in eastern Iceland using a fixed wing remotely piloted aerial system as part of the EU FP7 project North State (www.northstatefp7.eu). The North State project uses forest variable estimates derived from optical and radar satellite data as either input or validation for carbon flux models. The RPAS data from the Hallormsstađur forest test site in Iceland is here used to simulate Landsat and Sentinel-2A data and to explore the advantages of the new Sentinel-2A red edge bands for forest vegetation mapping. Simple supervised classification shows that the inclusion of the red edge bands improves the tree species classification considerably.

Integration of new biological and physical retrospective dosimetry methods into EU emergency response plans - joint RENEB and EURADOS inter-laboratory comparisons.

PubMed

Ainsbury, Elizabeth; Badie, Christophe; Barnard, Stephen; Manning, Grainne; Moquet, Jayne; Abend, Michael; Antunes, Ana Catarina; Barrios, Lleonard; Bassinet, Celine; Beinke, Christina; Bortolin, Emanuela; Bossin, Lily; Bricknell, Clare; Brzoska, Kamil; Buraczewska, Iwona; Castaño, Carlos Huertas; Čemusová, Zina; Christiansson, Maria; Cordero, Santiago Mateos; Cosler, Guillaume; Monaca, Sara Della; Desangles, François; Discher, Michael; Dominguez, Inmaculada; Doucha-Senf, Sven; Eakins, Jon; Fattibene, Paola; Filippi, Silvia; Frenzel, Monika; Georgieva, Dimka; Gregoire, Eric; Guogyte, Kamile; Hadjidekova, Valeria; Hadjiiska, Ljubomira; Hristova, Rositsa; Karakosta, Maria; Kis, Enikő; Kriehuber, Ralf; Lee, Jungil; Lloyd, David; Lumniczky, Katalin; Lyng, Fiona; Macaeva, Ellina; Majewski, Matthaeus; Vanda Martins, S; McKeever, Stephen W S; Meade, Aidan; Medipally, Dinesh; Meschini, Roberta; M'kacher, Radhia; Gil, Octávia Monteiro; Montero, Alegria; Moreno, Mercedes; Noditi, Mihaela; Oestreicher, Ursula; Oskamp, Dominik; Palitti, Fabrizio; Palma, Valentina; Pantelias, Gabriel; Pateux, Jerome; Patrono, Clarice; Pepe, Gaetano; Port, Matthias; Prieto, María Jesús; Quattrini, Maria Cristina; Quintens, Roel; Ricoul, Michelle; Roy, Laurence; Sabatier, Laure; Sebastià, Natividad; Sholom, Sergey; Sommer, Sylwester; Staynova, Albena; Strunz, Sonja; Terzoudi, Georgia; Testa, Antonella; Trompier, Francois; Valente, Marco; Hoey, Olivier Van; Veronese, Ivan; Wojcik, Andrzej; Woda, Clemens

2017-01-01

RENEB, 'Realising the European Network of Biodosimetry and Physical Retrospective Dosimetry,' is a network for research and emergency response mutual assistance in biodosimetry within the EU. Within this extremely active network, a number of new dosimetry methods have recently been proposed or developed. There is a requirement to test and/or validate these candidate techniques and inter-comparison exercises are a well-established method for such validation. The authors present details of inter-comparisons of four such new methods: dicentric chromosome analysis including telomere and centromere staining; the gene expression assay carried out in whole blood; Raman spectroscopy on blood lymphocytes, and detection of radiation-induced thermoluminescent signals in glass screens taken from mobile phones. In general the results show good agreement between the laboratories and methods within the expected levels of uncertainty, and thus demonstrate that there is a lot of potential for each of the candidate techniques. Further work is required before the new methods can be included within the suite of reliable dosimetry methods for use by RENEB partners and others in routine and emergency response scenarios.

AMISS - Active and passive MIcrowaves for Security and Subsurface imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soldovieri, Francesco; Slob, Evert; Turk, Ahmet Serdar; Crocco, Lorenzo; Catapano, Ilaria; Di Matteo, Francesca

2013-04-01

The FP7-IRSES project AMISS - Active and passive MIcrowaves for Security and Subsurface imaging is based on a well-combined network among research institutions of EU, Associate and Third Countries (National Research Council of Italy - Italy, Technische Universiteit Delft - The Netherlands, Yildiz Technical University - Turkey, Bauman Moscow State Technical University - Russia, Usikov Institute for Radio-physics and Electronics and State Research Centre of Superconductive Radioelectronics "Iceberg" - Ukraine and University of Sao Paulo - Brazil) with the aims of achieving scientific advances in the framework of microwave and millimeter imaging systems and techniques for security and safety social issues. In particular, the involved partners are leaders in the scientific areas of passive and active imaging and are sharing their complementary knowledge to address two main research lines. The first one regards the design, characterization and performance evaluation of new passive and active microwave devices, sensors and measurement set-ups able to mitigate clutter and increase information content. The second line faces the requirements to make State-of-the-Art processing tools compliant with the instrumentations developed in the first line, suitable to work in electromagnetically complex scenarios and able to exploit the unexplored possibilities offered by new instrumentations. The main goals of the project are: 1) Development/improvement and characterization of new sensors and systems for active and passive microwave imaging; 2) Set up, analysis and validation of state of art/novel data processing approach for GPR in critical infrastructure and subsurface imaging; 3) Integration of state of art and novel imaging hardware and characterization approaches to tackle realistic situations in security, safety and subsurface prospecting applications; 4) Development and feasibility study of bio-radar technology (system and data processing) for vital signs detection and detection/characterization of human beings in complex scenarios. These goals are planned to be reached following a plan of research activities and researchers secondments which cover a period of three years. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research has been performed in the framework of the "Active and Passive Microwaves for Security and Subsurface imaging (AMISS)" EU 7th Framework Marie Curie Actions IRSES project (PIRSES-GA-2010-269157).

FREEWAT: an HORIZON 2020 project to build open source tools for water management.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossetto, Rudy; Borsi, Iacopo; Foglia, Laura

2015-04-01

FREEWAT is an HORIZON 2020 project financed by the EU Commission under the call WATER INNOVATION: BOOSTING ITS VALUE FOR EUROPE. FREEWAT main result will be an open source and public domain GIS integrated modelling environment for the simulation of water quantity and quality in surface water and groundwater with an integrated water management and planning module. FREEWAT aims at promoting water resource management by simplifying the application of the Water Framework Directive and other EU water related Directives. Specific objectives of the FREEWAT project are: to coordinate previous EU and national funded research to integrate existing software modules for water management in a single environment into the GIS based FREEWAT and to support the FREEWAT application in an innovative participatory approach gathering technical staff and relevant stakeholders (in primis policy and decision makers) in designing scenarios for the proper application of water policies. The open source characteristics of the platform allow to consider this an initiative "ad includendum" (looking for inclusion of other entities), as further research institutions, private developers etc. may contribute to the platform development. The core of the FREEWAT platform will be the SID&GRID framework in its version ported to the QGIS desktop. SID&GRID (GIS integrated physically-based distributed numerical hydrological model based on a modified version of MODFLOW 2005; Rossetto et al. 2013) is an open source and public domain modelling platform firstly developed within the EU-POR FSE 2007-2013 Regione Toscana - Italy and then ported to the QGIS desktop through a dedicated fund by Regione Toscana. SID&GRID will be complemented by June 2015 with solute transport (also density dependent) capabilities in aquifers within the MARSOL (2014) EU FPVII project. Activities will be mainly carried out on two branches: (i) integration of modules, so that the software will fit the end-users requirements, including tools for better producing feasibility and management plans; (ii) a set of activities devoted to fix bugs and to provide a well-integrated interface for the different tools implemented. Further capabilities to be integrated are: - a dedicated module for water management and planning that will help to manage and aggregate all the distributed data coming from the simulation scenarios; - a whole module for calibration, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis; - a module for solute transport in the unsaturated zone; - a module for crop growth and water requirements in agriculture; - tools for dealing with groundwater quality issues; - tools for the analysis, interpretation and visualization of hydrogeological data. Through creating a common environment among water research/professionals, policy makers and implementers, FREEWAT main impact will be on enhancing science- and participatory approach and evidence-based decision making in water resource management, hence producing relevant and appropriate outcomes for policy implementation. The Consortium is constituted by partners from various water sectors from 10 EU countries, plus Turkey and Ukraine. Synergies with the UNESCO HOPE initiative on free and open source software in water management greatly boost the value of the project. Large stakeholders involvement is thought to guarantee results dissemination and exploitation. Acknowledgements This paper is presented within the framework of the project FREEWAT, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement n. 642224. References MARSOL (2014). Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution to Water Scarcity and Drought www.marsol.eu [accessed 4 January 2015] Rossetto, R., Borsi, I., Schifani, C., Bonari, E., Mogorovich P. & Primicerio M. (2013) - SID&GRID: integrating hydrological modeling in GIS environment hydroinformatics system for the management of the water resource. Rendiconti Online Societa Geologica Italiana Volume 24, 282-283

Data-driven discovery of energy materials: efficient BaM2Si3O10 : Eu2+ (M = Sc, Lu) phosphors for application in solid state white lighting.

PubMed

Brgoch, Jakoah; Hasz, Kathryn; Denault, Kristin A; Borg, Christopher K H; Mikhailovsky, Alexander A; Seshadri, Ram

2014-01-01

In developing phosphors for application in solid state lighting, it is advantageous to target structures from databases with highly condensed polyhedral networks that produce rigid host compounds. Rigidity limits channels for non-radiative decay that will decrease the luminescence quantum yield. BaM(2)Si(3)O(10) (M = Sc, Lu) follows this design criterion and is studied here as an efficient Eu(2+)-based phosphor. M = Sc(3+) and Lu(3+) compounds with Eu(2+) substitution were prepared and characterized using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Substitution with Eu(2+) according to Ba(1-x)Eu(x)Sc(2)Si(3)O(10) and Ba(1-x)Eu(x)Lu(2)Si(3)O(10) results in UV-to-blue and UV-to-blue-green phosphors, respectively. Interestingly, substitution with Eu(2+) in the Lu(3+) containing material produces two emission peaks at low temperature and with 365 nm excitation, as allowed by the two substitution sites. The photoluminescence of the Sc(3+) compound is robust at high temperature, decreasing by only 25% of its room temperature intensity at 503 K, while the Lu-analogue suffers a large drop (75%) from its room temperature intensity. The decrease in emission intensity is explained as stemming from charge transfer quenching due to the short distances separating the luminescent centers on the Lu(3+) substitution site. The correlation between structure and optical response in these two compounds indicates that even though the structures are three-dimensionally connected, high symmetry is required to prevent structural distortions that could impact photoluminescence.

Combined exposure to simulated microgravity and acute or chronic radiation reduces neuronal network integrity and cell survival

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benotmane, Rafi

During orbital or interplanetary space flights, astronauts are exposed to cosmic radiations and microgravity. This study aimed at assessing the effect of these combined conditions on neuronal network density, cell morphology and survival, using well-connected mouse cortical neuron cultures. To this end, neurons were exposed to acute low and high doses of low LET (X-rays) radiation or to chronic low dose-rate of high LET neutron irradiation (Californium-252), under the simulated microgravity generated by the Random Positioning Machine (RPM, Dutch space). High content image analysis of cortical neurons positive for the neuronal marker βIII-tubulin unveiled a reduced neuronal network integrity and connectivity, and an altered cell morphology after exposure to acute/chronic radiation or to simulated microgravity. Additionally, in both conditions, a defect in DNA-repair efficiency was revealed by an increased number of γH2AX-positive foci, as well as an increased number of Annexin V-positive apoptotic neurons. Of interest, when combining both simulated space conditions, we noted a synergistic effect on neuronal network density, neuronal morphology, cell survival and DNA repair. Furthermore, these observations are in agreement with preliminary gene expression data, revealing modulations in cytoskeletal and apoptosis-related genes after exposure to simulated microgravity. In conclusion, the observed in vitro changes in neuronal network integrity and cell survival induced by space simulated conditions provide us with mechanistic understanding to evaluate health risks and the development of countermeasures to prevent neurological disorders in astronauts over long-term space travels. Acknowledgements: This work is supported partly by the EU-FP7 projects CEREBRAD (n° 295552)

E-Science and Grids in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hey, Tony

2002-08-01

After defining what is meant by the term 'e-Science', this talk will survey the activity on e-Science and Grids in Europe. The two largest initiatives in Europe are the European Commission's portfolio of Grid projects and the UK e-Science program. The EU under its R Framework Program are funding nearly twenty Grid projects in a wide variety of application areas. These projects are in varying stages of maturity and this talk will focus on a subset that have most significant progress. These include the EU DataGrid project led by CERN and two projects - EuroGrid and Grip - that evolved from the German national Unicore project. A summary of the other EU Grid projects will be included. The UK e-Science initiative is a 180M program entirely focused on e-Science applications requiring resource sharing, a virtual organization and a Grid infrastructure. The UK program is unique for three reasons: (1) the program covers all areas of science and engineering; (2) all of the funding is devoted to Grid application and middleware development and not to funding major hardware platforms; and (3) there is an explicit connection with industry to produce robust and secure industrial-strength versions of Grid middleware that could be used in business-critical applications. A part of the funding, around 50M, but requiring an additional 'matching' $30M from industry in collaborative projects, forms the UK e-Science 'Core Program'. It is the responsibility of the Core Program to identify and support a set of generic middleware requirements that have emerged from a requirements analysis of the e-Science application projects. This has led to a much more data-centric vision for 'the Grid' in the UK in which access to HPC facilities forms only one element. More important for the UK projects are issues such as enabling access and federation of scientific data held in files, relational databases and other archives. Automatic annotation of data generated by high throughput experiments with XML-based metadata is seen as a key step towards developing higher-level Grid services for information retrieval and knowledge discovery. The talk will conclude with a survey of other Grid initiatives across Europe and look at possible future European projects.

Use of Simulation in Nursing Education: Initial Experiences on a European Union Lifelong Learning Programme--Leonardo Da Vinci Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terzioglu, Fusun; Tuna, Zahide; Duygulu, Sergul; Boztepe, Handan; Kapucu, Sevgisun; Ozdemir, Leyla; Akdemir, Nuran; Kocoglu, Deniz; Alinier, Guillaume; Festini, Filippo

2013-01-01

Aim: The aim of this paper is to share the initial experiences on a European Union (EU) Lifelong Learning Programme Leonardo Da Vinci Transfer of Innovation Project related to the use of simulation-based learning with nursing students from Turkey. The project started at the end of the 2010 involving 7 partners from 3 different countries including…

ARISTOTLE (All Risk Integrated System TOwards The hoListic Early-warning)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michelini, Alberto; Wotawa, Gerhard; Arnold-Arias, Delia

2017-04-01

The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) is the EU coordination office for humanitarian aid and civil protection operations of DG ECHO (EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection). ERCC needs rapidly authoritative multi-hazard scientific expertise and analysis on 24*7 basis since, when a disaster strikes, every minute counts for saving lives and immediate, coordinated and pre-planned response is essential. The EU is committed to providing disaster response in a timely and efficient manner and to ensure European assistance meets the real needs in the population affected, whether in Europe or beyond. The ARISTOTLE consortium was awarded the European Commission's DG ECHO "Pilot project in the area of Early Warning System for natural disasters" (OJ 2015 S/154-283349). The tender articulates the needs and expectations of DG ECHO in respect of the provision of multi-hazard advice to the Emergency Response & Coordination Centre in Brussels. Specifically, the tender aims to fill the gap in knowledge that exists in the: • first 3 hours immediately after an event that has the potential to require a country to call on international help • provision of longer term advice following an emergency • provision of advice when a potential hazardous event is starting to form; this will usually be restricted to severe weather and flooding events and when possible to volcanic events. The ARISTOTLE Consortium was awarded the tender and the project effectively started on February 1st, 2016, for a duration of 2 years. ARISTOTLE (aristotle.ingv.it) is a multi-hazard partnership created by combining expertise from of total of 5 hazard groups [4 main hazard groups plus a sub-hazard - Severe Weather, Floods, Volcanos (only for ashes and gases hazard deriving from eruptions), Earthquakes and the related Tsunamis as a sub-hazard given its peculiarities and potential huge impact]. Each Hazard Group brings together experts from the particular hazard domain to deliver a 'collective analysis' which is then fed into the partnership multi-hazard discussions. The hazards are very different and have very diverse timelines for phenomenological occurrence (Figure 1). The ARISTOTLE consortium includes 15 partner institutions (11 from EU Countries; 2 from non-EU countries and 2 European organizations) operating in the Meteorological and Geophysical domains. The project coordination is shared among INGV and ZAMG for the geophysical and meteorological communities, respectively. Primary target of the tender project is the prototyping and the implementation of a scalable system (in terms of number of partners and hazards) capable of providing to ERCC the "desiderata" above. To this end, the activities of the project have been focusing on the establishment of a multi-hazard operational board (MHOB) that is assigned the 24*7 operational duty regulated by a "Standard Operating Protocol". The presentation will illustrate the different modes of operation envisaged and the status and the solutions found by the project consortium to respond to the ERCC requirements.

Nesting doctoral students in collaborative North–South partnerships for health systems research

PubMed Central

Loukanova, Svetla; Prytherch, Helen; Blank, Antje; Duysburgh, Els; Tomson, Göran; Gustafsson, Lars L.; Sié, Ali; Williams, John; Leshabari, Melkizedeck; Haefeli, Walter E.; Sauerborn, Rainer; Fonn, Sharon

2014-01-01

Background The European Union (EU) supports North–South Partnerships and collaborative research projects through its Framework Programmes and Horizon 2020. There is limited research on how such projects can be harnessed to provide a structured platform for doctoral level studies as a way of strengthening health system research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Objective The aim of this study was to explore the challenges of, and facilitating factors for, ‘nesting’ doctoral students in North–South collaborative research projects. The term nesting refers to the embedding of the processes of recruiting, supervising, and coordinating doctoral students in the overall research plan and processes. Design This cross-sectional qualitative study was undertaken by the EU-funded QUALMAT Project. A questionnaire was implemented with doctoral students, supervisors, and country principal investigators (PIs), and content analysis was undertaken. Results Completed questionnaires were received from nine doctoral students, six supervisors, and three country PIs (86% responses rate). The doctoral students from SSA described high expectations about the input they would receive (administrative support, equipment, training, supervision). This contrasted with the expectations of the supervisors for proactivity and self-management on the part of the students. The rationale for candidate selection, and understandings of the purpose of the doctoral students in the project were areas of considerable divergence. There were some challenges associated with the use of the country PIs as co-supervisors. Doctoral student progress was at times impeded by delays in the release of funding instalments from the EU. The paper provides a checklist of essential requirements and a set of recommendations for effective nesting of doctoral students in joint North–South projects. Conclusion There are considerable challenges to the effective nesting of doctoral students within major collaborative research projects. However, ways can be found to overcome them. The nesting process ultimately helped the institutions involved in this example to take better advantage of the opportunities that collaborative projects offer to foster North–South partnerships as a contribution to the strengthening of local research capacity. PMID:25030216

Implementation of inquiry-based science education in different countries: some reflections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rundgren, Carl-Johan

2017-03-01

In this forum article, I reflect on issues related to the implementation of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in different countries. Regarding education within the European Union (EU), the Bologna system has in later years provided extended coordination and comparability at an organizational level. However, the possibility of the EU to influence the member countries regarding the actual teaching and learning in the classrooms is more limited. In later years, several EU-projects focusing on IBSE have been funded in order to make science education in Europe better, and more motivating for students. Highlighting what Heinz and her colleagues call the policy of `soft governance' of the EU regarding how to improve science education in Europe, I discuss the focus on IBSE in the seventh framework projects, and how it is possible to maintain more long-lasting results in schools through well-designed teacher professional development programs. Another aspect highlighted by Heinz and her colleagues is how global pressures on convergence in education interact with educational structures and traditions in the individual countries. The rise of science and science education as a global culture, encompassing contributions from all around the world, is a phenomenon of great potential and value to humankind. However, it is important to bear in mind that if science and science education is going to become a truly global culture, local variation and differences regarding foci and applications of science in different cultures must be acknowledged.

The “O3E” Project : Raising awareness on natural hazards at school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berenguer, J.; Courboulex, F.; Baroux, E.; Cremonini, R.; Ferretti, G.; Eva, C.; Giardini, D.; Haslinger, F.; Leputh, J.; Ponzone, M.; Solarino, S.; Sornette, A.

2009-12-01

Earthquakes may be traumatic events and as many other environmental emergencies, like storm or floods, may cause more damages than expected when who experiences the phenomena does not know how to behave in the fall. Provided that it is always not feasible to rely on prediction when dealing with earthquakes or extreme meteorological events, preparedness proves to be an efficient (and certainly the most recommendable and cheap) way to face emergencies. Education and training are thus two ingredients to help citizens to perceive the scientific information formerly confined in the laboratories, in particular in the domain of the environmental risk. The “O3E” innovative project (European Educational Observatory for Environment) is established after 12 years (1996-2008) of regional and national original programs for education (“Sismometers at School” in France and Switzerland, “Edurisk” in Italy and “ClimAtscope” in Switzerland). The project is born to promote a responsible behaviour of citizens in front of the evolution of a society where scientific information is promptly available. The objective of this program is to create a school network in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas equipped with environmental sensors of an educational vocation. The data on the ground motion (seismometers), the temperatures and precipitations (weather stations), the flows of rivers (hydrogeology) recorded in the schools and processed by the students are collected on dedicated servers and then made available through Internet to the entire community. This network “O3E”, once installed, is the starting point of activities. Indeed, various general objectives are pursued: - To promote the applied sciences and new technologies. - To put in network the actors of Education and formative teachning. - To develop the sense of the autonomy and the responsibility in the young people. - To reinforce and develop relationships with regional partners of the educational and university fields. - To support a rational awakening for the prevention of the natural risks that can make the difference during the event in terms of safety. With these premises, the “O3E” experience (http://O3E.geoazur.eu) sets up a permanent educational network of citizens in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas, building an exchange of knowledge on natural risks prevention. This collaborative work could illustrate the conjugated efforts of researchers and teachers for a better education and awareness of the risk culture especially in young populations.

Social networks and health policy: the case of misoprostol and the WHO model essential medicine list.

PubMed

Millard, Colin; Brhlikova, Petra; Pollock, Allyson

2015-05-01

The WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) was established to help countries prioritise medicines according to their health care needs. Selection for the List is based on rigorous scrutiny of public health relevance, evidence on efficacy and safety, and comparative cost effectiveness. The WHO ideal is that a medicine and its efficacy are based on science, but in reality a medicine has a social life and the acceptance of a pharmaceutical intervention involves the interaction of a wide array of governmental and civil society organisations, and industry. Misoprostol is a medicine widely used for both abortion and prevention of postpartum haemorrhage in low income countries. Although the evidence for the latter is highly contested it was nevertheless added to the WHO EML in 2011. We use social network analysis to examine the social, political and economic field surrounding the WHO EML applications and health policy. We describe a chronology of the drug's use and of the applications to the WHO EML and carry out a social network analysis of the organisations and individuals involved in the applications, research and dissemination. The research identified a network of 238 organisations and individuals involved in the promotion of misoprostol for postpartum haemorrhage and present at the time of the WHO EML applications. There is a strong interdependency between the funding bodies, civil society organisations, researchers and clinician organisations. The research was part of an EU FP7 funded project on Accessing Medicines in Africa and South Asia (2010-2013). Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PEP725 Pan European Phenological Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koch, E.; Lipa, W.; Ungersböck, M.; Zach-Hermann, S.

2012-04-01

PEP725 is a 5 years project with the main object to promote and facilitate phenological research by delivering a pan European phenological database with an open, unrestricted data access for science, research and education. PEP725 is funded by EUMETNET (the network of European meteorological services), ZAMG and the Austrian ministry for science & research bm:w_f. So far 16 European national meteorological services and 7 partners from different nati-onal phenological network operators have joined PEP725. The data access is very easy via web-access from the homepage www.pep725.eu. Ha-ving accepted the PEP725 data policy and registry the data download can be done by different criteria as for instance the selection of a specific plant or all data from one country. At present more than 300 000 new records are available in the PEP725 data-base coming from 31 European countries and from 8150 stations. For some more sta-tions (154) META data (location and data holder) are provided. Links to the network operators and data owners are also on the webpage in case you have more sophisticated questions about the data. Another objective of PEP725 is to bring together network-operators and scientists by organizing workshops. In April 2012 the second of these workshops will take place on the premises of ZAMG. Invited speakers will give presentations spanning the whole study area of phenology starting from observations to modelling. Quality checking is also a big issue. At the moment we study the literature to find ap-propriate methods.

How to handle multidisciplinary, multi-national and multi-sectoral projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reitz, Anja; Wallmann, Klaus; Visbeck, Martin

2016-04-01

Collaborative research projects funded by the European Commission are by nature multi-national. Often they bring together different scientific communities as the questions raised in EU project calls can typically only be addressed through the convergence of these previously separated disciplines in one research consortium. Some work programmes even necessitate to team up as different disciplines as natural sciences, social science, legal science and economic science. Examples for such multi- national, -disciplinary and - sectoral projects are the EU projects ECO2 (FP7, concluded) and AtlantOS (H2020). Project managers of such projects need to develop skills beyond the common technical and management skills namely go into the domain of partners and stakeholders psychology and be able to maintain different perspectives on communication and interaction needs regarding cultural-, discipline- and sectoral background. Accordingly, the project manager has besides his technical role as manager at least three further roles: that of a communicator, that of a mediator and that of a person convincing partners of the necessary and selling the project products to the stakeholders. As the typical project manager has not too much power and authority by his position he has to use the power of smart communication and persuasion to overcome potential dissension between disciplines, national reservation or potential conflicts regarding different sectoral views. Accordingly, the project manager of such a complex project would try to arrange the ideal working environment by considering cultural feel, the cooperation of disciplines, information and the control of resources. The way he develops such ideal working environment is by reflection of past, present and future experiences/needs.

An assessment of the barriers to the consumers' uptake of genetically modified foods: a neural network analysis.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Entrena, Macario; Salazar-Ordóñez, Melania; Becerra-Alonso, David

2016-03-30

This paper studies which of the attitudinal, cognitive and socio-economic factors determine the willingness to purchase genetically modified (GM) food, enabling the forecasting of consumers' behaviour in Andalusia, southern Spain. This classification has been made by a standard multilayer perceptron neural network trained with extreme learning machine. Later, an ordered logistic regression was applied to determine whether the neural network can outperform this traditional econometric approach. The results show that the highest relative contributions lie in the variables related to perceived risks of GM food, while the perceived benefits have a lower influence. In addition, an innovative attitude towards food presents a strong link, as does the perception of food safety. The variables with the least relative contribution are subjective knowledge about GM food and the consumers' age. The neural network approach outperforms the correct classification percentage from the ordered logistic regression. The perceived risks must be considered as a critical factor. A strategy to improve the GM food acceptance is to develop a transparent and balanced information framework that makes the potential risk understandable by society, and make them aware of the risk assessments for GM food in the EU. For its success, it is essential to improve the trust in EU institutions and scientific regulatory authorities. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Expressing Identity: The Role of Dialogue in Teaching Citizenship through Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Fiona M.; Ogier, Susan

2013-01-01

"Images and Identity" (2008-2010, http://www.image-identity.eu/) was a Comenius funded project in which six European Union countries explored the cross-curricular links between Citizenship and Art Education with both primary and secondary age pupils. The aim of the project was to enhance and develop a sense of the pupils' identity as…

The Global Geek: Language Training for IT Students' Study Abroad in Austria and Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cliver, Gwyneth E.; Khazanchi, Deepak

2011-01-01

Recognizing the global role of information technology, this article describes a USDOE-funded transatlantic mobility program in the area of IT project management. The project enhances intercultural as well as German language skills and promotes a mutual understanding of EU and US cultures. The relationship between IT and German-language programs…

Analysis of the Emission Inventories and Model-Ready Emission Datasets of Europe and North America for Phase 2 of the AQMEII Project

EPA Science Inventory

This paper highlights the development of the emission inventories and emission processing for Europe (EU) and North America (NA) in the second phase of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) project. The main purpose of the second phase of the AQMEII...

When Work Takes Flight: Research Results from the EMERGENCE Project. IES Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huws, U., Ed.

The EMERGENCE project reviewed literature on eWork characterization, extent, and distribution and dynamics of its development in 15 European Union (EU) countries and 3 newly associated states (NAS). It identified 12 factors that influenced international diffusion of eWork. Employer survey results showed individual forms of eWork were outweighed in…

Creative Little Scientists: Exploring Pedagogical Synergies between Inquiry-Based and Creative Approaches in Early Years Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cremin, Teresa; Glauert, Esme; Craft, Anna; Compton, Ashley; Stylianidou, Fani

2015-01-01

In the light of the European Union's interest in creativity and innovation, this paper, drawing on data from the EU project Creative Little Scientists (2011-2014), explores the teaching and learning of science and creativity in Early Years education. The project's conceptual framework, developed from detailed analysis of relevant literatures,…

MuseumScouts: Exploring How Schools, Museums and Interactive Technologies Can Work Together to Support Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wishart, Jocelyn; Triggs, Pat

2010-01-01

In this paper we report on the successes and challenges of a creative project involving museums, schools and interactive technologies. The MuseumScouts project is EU Comenius 2.1 funded and involves teachers, teacher educators, museum staff, students and researchers from five European countries: Germany (Berlin and Munich), Lithuania (Vilnius),…

New Training Approaches for Drivers--A Practical Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Catenazzi, Nadia; Sommaruga, Lorenzo; De Angelis, Kylene; Gabbianelli, Giulio

2018-01-01

In the context of the road transport there is the need to provide new training opportunities for million of truck and bus drivers who are often on the road. The C95-Challenge EU Erasmus+ project aims to meet this need by introducing new training methodologies and solutions that support compulsory periodic courses. The main project result is the…

Explaining the Mathematical Creativity of a Young Boy: An Interdisciplinary Venture between Mathematics Education and Psychoanalysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krummheuer, Götz; Leuzinger-Bohleber, Marianne; Müller-Kirchof, Marion; Münz, Melanie; Vogel, Rose

2013-01-01

First results of the project "Mathematical Creativity of Children at Risk" (MaKreKi) will be presented. The project is conducted in the interdisciplinary research center "Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk" (IDeA [http://www.idea-frankfurt.eu; accessed 7 June 2013]). Combining a…

Learning Needs Analysis of Collaborative E-Classes in Semi-Formal Settings: The REVIT Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mavroudi, Anna; Hadzilacos, Thanasis

2013-01-01

Analysis, the first phase of the typical instructional design process, is often downplayed. This paper focuses on the analysis concerning a series of e-courses for collaborative adult education in semi-formal settings by reporting and generalizing results from the REVIT project. REVIT, an EU-funded research project, offered custom e-courses to…

Actionable knowledge and strategic decision making for bio- and agroterrorism threats: building a collaborative early warning culture.

PubMed

Mårtensson, Per-Åke; Hedström, Lars; Sundelius, Bengt; Skiby, Jeffrey E; Elbers, Armin; Knutsson, Rickard

2013-09-01

Current trends in biosecurity and cybersecurity include (1) the wide availability of technology and specialized knowledge that previously were available only to governments; (2) the global economic recession, which may increase the spread of radical non-state actors; and (3) recent US and EU commission reports that reflect concerns about non-state actors in asymmetric threats. The intersectoral and international nature of bioterrorism and agroterrorism threats requires collaboration across several sectors including intelligence, police, forensics, customs, and other law enforcement organizations who must work together with public and animal health organizations as well as environmental and social science organizations. This requires coordinated decision making among these organizations, based on actionable knowledge and information sharing. The risk of not sharing information among organizations compared to the benefit of sharing information can be considered in an "information sharing risk-benefit analysis" to prevent a terrorism incident from occurring and to build a rapid response capability. In the EU project AniBioThreat, early warning is the main topic in work package 3 (WP 3). A strategy has been generated based on an iterative approach to bring law enforcement agencies and human and animal health institutes together. Workshops and exercises have taken place during the first half of the project, and spin-off activities include new preparedness plans for institutes and the formation of a legal adviser network for decision making. In addition, a seminar on actionable knowledge was held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2012, which identified the need to bring various agency cultures together to work on developing a resilient capability to identify early signs of bio- and agroterrorism threats. The seminar concluded that there are a number of challenges in building a collaborative culture, including developing an education program that supports collaboration and shared situational awareness.

When politics meets science: What impact might Brexit have on organ donation and transplantation in the United Kingdom?

PubMed

Shapey, Iestyn M; Summers, Angela M; Simkin, Iain J; Augustine, Titus; van Dellen, David

2018-06-21

Brexit may lead to major political, societal, and financial changes-this has significant implications for a tax revenue funded healthcare system such as the United Kingdom's (UK) National Health Service. The complex relationship between European Union (EU) legislation and clinical practice of organ donation and transplantation is poorly understood. However, it is unclear what impact Brexit may have on organ donation and transplantation in the UK and EU. This work aims to describe the current legislative interactions affecting organ donation and transplantation regulation and governance within the UK and EU. We consider the potential impact of Brexit on the practical aspects of transplantation such organ-sharing networks, logistics, and the provision of health care for transplant patients when traveling to the EU from the UK and vice versa, as well as personnel, and research. Successful organ donation and transplantation practices rely on close collaboration and co-operation across Europe and throughout the United Kingdom. The continuation of such relationships, despite the proposed legislative change, will remain a vital and necessary component for the ongoing success of transplantation programs. © 2018 The Authors. Clinical Transplantation Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Information and material flows in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helbing, Dirk; Armbruster, Dieter; Mikhailov, Alexander S.; Lefeber, Erjen

2006-04-01

In this special issue, an overview of the Thematic Institute (TI) on Information and Material Flows in Complex Systems is given. The TI was carried out within EXYSTENCE, the first EU Network of Excellence in the area of complex systems. Its motivation, research approach and subjects are presented here. Among the various methods used are many-particle and statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics, as well as complex systems, network and control theory. The contributions are relevant for complex systems as diverse as vehicle and data traffic in networks, logistics, production, and material flows in biological systems. The key disciplines involved are socio-, econo-, traffic- and bio-physics, and a new research area that could be called “biologistics”.

Public-private partnership models in France and in Europe.

PubMed

Demotes-Mainard, Jacques; Canet, Emmanuel; Segard, Lionel

2006-01-01

The workshop entitled "Public-Private partnerships models in Europe-- comparison between France and European countries" brought together representatives of academia and industry, of national or European health research programs, of regional or national public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives, and of biotechnology with the following objectives: sharing a common vision on the needs, expectations and challenges of public-private partnership, based on the analysis of actual and original cases, and of new initiatives on public-private partnership, drawing conclusions and identifying key success factors, identifying trails for progress and drawing recommendations. The major event in this field is a European public-private partnership initiative between pharmaceutical industry (European Federation of Pharmaceultical Industry and Associations, EFPIA) and the European Commission (DG Research--health priority) resulting in the European Technology Platform project "Innovative Medicines Initiative" (IMI). Its architecture is based on the identification of the main bottlenecks to the development of innovative treatments (predictive pharmacology and toxicology, identification and validation of biomarkers, patients' recruitment, risk evaluation, and cooperation with the regulatory authorities). Simultaneously, initiatives both at the national and regional levels also foster PPP in the therapeutic field. Regional competitivity clusters acting in the biomedical sector, and national PPP calls such as the ANR (National Research Agency) RIB (Research and Innovation in Biotechnology) call are incentives for PPP projects. These regional and national PPP levels help public and private partners to further build consortia able to compete for EU-level calls, thus acting as incubators for EU PPP projects. In spite of incentives and of the regional and national structuring of PPP, weaknesses in the French system are linked to its fragmentation--multiple transfer agencies, multiple research organisations (operator or funding agency)--making contracts more difficult. This requires a simplified organisation, with a single referent per area (health, technology...). Improvement may also result from adaptation in the carreer, recruitment and mobility, from support to scientists in the management of projects, and from consistent support (without maintaining them artificially alive) to emerging companies from concept through clinical development. Pathways have been proposed to improve the efficiency of clinical research in France and Europe, involving the public hospital sector, and this requires the connection of disease-oriented networks and integrated infrastructures in Europe. As stated in the IMI strategic research agenda on efficacy, the quality of public infrastructures in Europe will be a key factor for its competitiveness and attractiveness for both academic and industry projects.

[Mobility of physicians in Europe: health policies and health care provision].

PubMed

Jourdain, Alain; Pham, Tam

2017-03-06

Objective: To define the place of geographical mobility of physicians in medical demography policies in EU countries. Methods: Review of international migration assumptions in national projection models of numbers of physicians by broad categories of social protection systems in the EU. Results: Some countries fail to achieve medium-term projections of the number of physicians and those that do adopt the assumption of net migration, assume that they converge to zero. Migration is not considered to be a solution to the expected shortage of physicians, but rather a problem to be solved. Discussion: Three approaches to labour mobility are discussed: liberal, normative and ethical. The last approach appears to be the most popular by combining preservation of national interests with the World Health Organisation Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.

The Need for Information on Standards on eAccessibility&eInclusion - Based on the Experience of the EU-Project IN LIFE.

PubMed

Galinski, Christian; Giraldo Perez, Blanca Stella

2017-01-01

Recent investigations in several EU-projects, incl. IN LIFE revealed that experts in the field of eAccessibility & eInclusion (eAcc&eIncl) - but also general ICT developers, decision makers in industry and administration - are quite unaware of the importance of standards for interoperability and sustainability of ICT solutions. Especially, if persons with disabilities (PwD) are concerned, system development and the design of services can become unnecessarily costly. For accessibility in general and eAcc&eIncl in particular, knowing about pertinent standards is becoming an asset of personal competencies of experts and decision makers, and particularly benefit small enterprises. Given the complex world of standardization and the multitude of standards developing organizations (SDOs) easy access to information on standards is critical.

EuPaGDT: a web tool tailored to design CRISPR guide RNAs for eukaryotic pathogens.

PubMed

Peng, Duo; Tarleton, Rick

2015-10-01

Recent development of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing has enabled highly efficient and versatile manipulation of a variety of organisms and adaptation of the CRISPR-Cas9 system to eukaryotic pathogens has opened new avenues for studying these otherwise hard to manipulate organisms. Here we describe a webtool, Eukaryotic Pathogen gRNA Design Tool (EuPaGDT; available at http://grna.ctegd.uga.edu), which identifies guide RNA (gRNA) in input gene(s) to guide users in arriving at well-informed and appropriate gRNA design for many eukaryotic pathogens. Flexibility in gRNA design, accommodating unique eukaryotic pathogen (gene and genome) attributes and high-throughput gRNA design are the main features that distinguish EuPaGDT from other gRNA design tools. In addition to employing an array of known principles to score and rank gRNAs, EuPaGDT implements an effective on-target search algorithm to identify gRNA targeting multi-gene families, which are highly represented in these pathogens and play important roles in host-pathogen interactions. EuPaGDT also identifies and scores microhomology sequences flanking each gRNA targeted cut-site; these sites are often essential for the microhomology-mediated end joining process used for double-stranded break repair in these organisms. EuPaGDT also assists users in designing single-stranded oligonucleotides for homology directed repair. In batch processing mode, EuPaGDT is able to process genome-scale sequences, enabling preparation of gRNA libraries for large-scale screening projects.

A Conceptual Framework to Enhance the Interoperability of Observatories among Countries, Continents and the World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loescher, H.; Fundamental Instrument Unit

2013-05-01

Ecological research addresses challenges relating to the dynamics of the planet, such as changes in climate, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and services, carbon and energy cycles, natural and human-induced hazards, and adaptation and mitigation strategies that involve many science and engineering disciplines and cross national boundaries. Because of the global nature of these challenges, greater international collaboration is required for knowledge sharing and technology deployment to advance earth science investigations and enhance societal benefits. For example, the Working Group on Biodiversity Preservation and Ecosystem Services (PCAST 2011) noted the scale and complexity of the physical and human resources needed to address these challenges. Many of the most pressing ecological research questions require global-scale data and global scale solutions (Suresh 2012), e.g., interdisciplinary data access from data centers managing ecological resources and hazards, drought, heat islands, carbon cycle, or data used to forecast the rate of spread of invasive species or zoonotic diseases. Variability and change at one location or in one region may well result from the superposition of global processes coupled together with regional and local modes of variability. For example, we know the El Niño-Southern Oscillation large-scale modes of variability in the coupled terrestrial-aquatic-atmospheric systems' correlation with variability in regional rainfall and ecosystem functions. It is therefore a high priority of government and non-government organizations to develop the necessary large scale, world-class research infrastructures for environmental research—and the framework by which these data can be shared, discovered, and utilized by a broad user community of scientists and policymakers, alike. Given that there are many, albeit nascent, efforts to build new environmental observatories/networks globally (e.g., EU-ICOS, EU-Lifewatch, AU-TERN, China-CERN, GEOSS, GEO-BON, NutNet, etc.) and domestically, (e.g., NSF-CZO, USDA-LTAR, DOE-NGEE, Soil Carbon Network, etc.), there is a strong and mutual desire to assure interoperability of data. Developing interoperability is the degree by which each of the following is mapped between observatories (entities), defined by linking i) science requirements with science questions, ii) traceability of measurements to nationally and internationally accepted standards, iii) how data product are derived, i.e., algorithms, procedures, and methods, and iv) the bioinformatics which broadly include data formats, metadata, controlled vocabularies, and semantics. Here, we explore the rationale and focus areas for interoperability, the governance and work structures, example projects (NSF-NEON, EU-ICOS, and AU-TERN), and the emergent roles of scientists in these endeavors.

Preface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stręk, Wiesław; Zych, Eugeniusz; Hreniak, Dariusz

2017-12-01

We are pleased and proud to present this Special Issue of the Optical Materials with papers presented at the Sixth Excited States of Transition Elements Conference - ESTE2016 organized by Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research Polish Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Chemistry University of Wrocław, and Intech Transfer Technology Centre. The conference was held under the honorary auspices of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of Republic of Poland, dr. Jarosław Gowin. The event had also patronage of Polish Academy of Sciences and Patent Office of Republic of Poland. ESTE2016 was held in Hotel Polanica Resort & Spa in Polanica - Zdrój, Poland in August 21-26, 2016. About 130 scientists from Europe, Asia and both Americas participated in the conference. As usually, in ESTE both experienced, world-wide recognized scientists and young researchers presented their new groundbreaking research achievements which were discussed during the lectures, poster sessions and evening informal discussions. A part of the ESTE2016 conference was devoted to presentations of the participants of LUMINET project - European Network on Luminescent Materials supported by Marie Curie Actions - Initial Training Networks. The scientific level of these presentations proved that through a rigorous, well-executed trainings, and a multidisciplinary research programme, LUMINET strategically positioned the EU with respect to new and improved possibilities and young scientists educated for that purpose.

The implementation of the Open Access paradigm to the EC-FP7 MED-SUV (Mediterranean Supersite Volcanoes) project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puglisi, Giuseppe; Brito, Fabrice; Caumont, Hervé; D'Auria, Luca; Fernandez, José; Mazzetti, Paolo; Mathieu, Pierre Philippe; Nativi, Stefano; Papeschi, Fabrizio; Pepe, Antonio; Reitano, Danilo; Sangianantoni, Agata; Scarpato, Giovanni; Spampinato, Letizia

2016-04-01

The overall goal of the EC-FP7 Mediterranean Supersite Volcanoes (MED-SUV) project is to apply the rationale of the Supersites GEO initiative to Campi Flegrei/Vesuvius and Mt. Etna to reduce the volcanic risk, by improving the understanding of the underlying geophysical processes, through the integration and sharing of the in-situ and Earth Observation (EO) data sets and the implementation of new instruments and monitoring systems. The project involves 24 EU and no-EU partners, including research and academic institutions, space agencies and SMEs. In this framework, the application of the Open Access paradigm has offered the opportunity to study and apply practical solutions concerning the data management (i.e. data polices, foreground exploitation and sustainability), intellectual property rights (i.e., ownership, licences, agreements) and technical issues (i.e., design and implementation of an interoperability e-infrastructure, access systems, etc.). This contribution presents pro and cons encountered in the project, as well as the main outcomes of the implementation of the Open Access to the Italian Supersites. This experience will be exploited in the building of international research infrastructures, such as EPOS, and the outcomes of the project will contribute to foster the Open Access to the research data in a wide context, as the GEO-GEOSS framework.

Helping Teachers to Help Children Living with a Mentally Ill Parent: Teachers' Perceptions on Identification and Policy Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bibou-Nakou, I.

2004-01-01

The material presented here is based on a pilot European project (Daphne Project, 2000/EU funding, collaboration of Greece and England) regarding parental mental illness and children's welfare and needs (1).The presentation focuses upon the responses of a group of teachers working in primary education in relation to identification issues and…

The Move-Me Project: Reflecting on xMOOC and cMOOC Structure and Pedagogical Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLoughlin, Laura; Magnoni, Francesca

2017-01-01

This paper discusses the rationale and structure of two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) created as part of the EU-funded Move-Me project, which aims to develop two MOOCs and open educational resources for university learners participating in mobility programmes in Europe. The MOOCs are designed to help learners develop the skills necessary to…

The PERFORM project: using performing arts to increase engagement and understanding of science.

PubMed

James, Jon

2017-04-01

This commentary describes some of the current challenges for science education in the UK and how an EU educational project (PERFORM) is seeking to use performing arts to engage young people with science, its values and the processes of research. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Gaiaverse: the Gaia's outreach portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masana, E.

2017-03-01

Gaiaverse (http://gaiaverse.eu) is a dissemination portal on the ESA Gaia's mission developed within the GENIUS project, an European project funded by the European Commission to boost the impact of the next European breakthrough in astrophysics, the Gaia astrometric mission. The portal was opened in July 2015. Gaiaverse is administrated by the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and the Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya (CSUC).

A Descriptive Review of Mainline E-Learning Projects in the European Union: E-Learning Action Plan and E-Learning Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uzunboylu, Huseyin

2006-01-01

This study's purpose was to survey the literature on European Union (EU) e-learning strategies specifically related to two mainline e-learning projects: the learning Action Plan and the E-Learning Program. Results of the evaluation and interpretation of the literature show that the European Commission has positively impacted European Union…

NEETs versus EETs: An Observational Study in Italy on the Framework of the HEALTH25 European Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nardi, Bernardo; Lucarelli, Chiara; Talamonti, Marta; Arimatea, Emidio; Fiori, Valentina; Moltedo-Perfetti, Andrès

2015-01-01

An observational study of young Italian NEETs (not in education, employment or training) and their EET peers (in education, employment or training) was conducted in the framework of a European Union (EU) project. Main characteristics and behaviours were compared to gain insights into the NEET condition in Italy. The sample included 111 NEETs…

The Adoption of Mobile Learning in a Traditional Training Environment: The C95-Challenge Project Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Catenazzi, Nadia; Sommaruga, Lorenzo; De Angelis, Kylene; Gabbianelli, Giulio

2016-01-01

Within the C95-Challenge Erasmus+ project, mobile learning technologies are adopted and tested for bus and truck drivers training according to the EU 2003/59/EC Directive. Different kinds of training contents are developed in the form of interactive slides, hyper-videos, interactive quizzes and delivered on mobile devices. Existing apps and games…

Effect of Aptitude on the Performance of Army Communications Operators

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-01-01

equipment is usually concentrated at the highest echelons of command. 9 SLOWER 1 RT-773GRC-103(V) DA-437 GRC- 103M ~ (SYSTEM 1) ANGRC.153(V (SYSTEM 2) OA...Sg EU. ’-44 rh Ca- REFERENCES Campbell, John P. (ed.), "Project A: The U.S. Army Selection and Classification Project," Personnel Psychology, Vol. 43(2

Analysing Conflicting Approaches to Dyslexia on a European Project: Moving to a More Strategic, Participatory, Strength-Based and Integrated Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, J. M.; Deponio, P.

2014-01-01

This paper draws from our experiences of an EU Life Long Learning Programme Project: GATE Understanding Dyslexia Phenomena Between Pre-Primary And Primary (2009-2011) to discuss different conceptual positions concerning dyslexia. It compares medical notions of dyslexia with perspectives from childhood and disability studies to question the ways in…

Collaborative dissemination and exploitation of research infrastructures and their products within COOP+

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Järvi, L.; Asmi, A.; Bonet-García, F.; Suárez-Muñoz, M.

2016-12-01

COOP+ is a recently started European level project (EU Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action) that promotes cooperation between European research infrastructures (RIs) and their global counterparts to address global environmental challenges with emphasis on marine science, arctic research and biodiversity (see www.coop-plus.eu). As part of the project, the purpose is to understand and position the relevant ESFRI RIs (EMSO, EISCAT, ICOS and LifeWatch jointly with other European RIs) as a clear reference to the main stakeholders, and examine the best practices in how different RI products could be best exploited by different actors varying from research communities to stakeholders and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). A relevant question is that what collaboration approaches could be implemented to foster the cooperation among RIs and to disseminate their products and services to researchers, policy makers, SMEs and citizens? Within the project, a valued map describing the different global and local actors and their connections with optimal approaches will be developed and updated along the project span (March 2016 - September 2018). The map includes both cooperation of global RIs and their connections to researchers, industry and stakeholders.

Lessons learned from IDeAl - 33 recommendations from the IDeAl-net about design and analysis of small population clinical trials.

PubMed

Hilgers, Ralf-Dieter; Bogdan, Malgorzata; Burman, Carl-Fredrik; Dette, Holger; Karlsson, Mats; König, Franz; Male, Christoph; Mentré, France; Molenberghs, Geert; Senn, Stephen

2018-05-11

IDeAl (Integrated designs and analysis of small population clinical trials) is an EU funded project developing new statistical design and analysis methodologies for clinical trials in small population groups. Here we provide an overview of IDeAl findings and give recommendations to applied researchers. The description of the findings is broken down by the nine scientific IDeAl work packages and summarizes results from the project's more than 60 publications to date in peer reviewed journals. In addition, we applied text mining to evaluate the publications and the IDeAl work packages' output in relation to the design and analysis terms derived from in the IRDiRC task force report on small population clinical trials. The results are summarized, describing the developments from an applied viewpoint. The main result presented here are 33 practical recommendations drawn from the work, giving researchers a comprehensive guidance to the improved methodology. In particular, the findings will help design and analyse efficient clinical trials in rare diseases with limited number of patients available. We developed a network representation relating the hot topics developed by the IRDiRC task force on small population clinical trials to IDeAl's work as well as relating important methodologies by IDeAl's definition necessary to consider in design and analysis of small-population clinical trials. These network representation establish a new perspective on design and analysis of small-population clinical trials. IDeAl has provided a huge number of options to refine the statistical methodology for small-population clinical trials from various perspectives. A total of 33 recommendations developed and related to the work packages help the researcher to design small population clinical trial. The route to improvements is displayed in IDeAl-network representing important statistical methodological skills necessary to design and analysis of small-population clinical trials. The methods are ready for use.

International SUSMIN-project aims at sustainable gold mining in EU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Backnäs, Soile; Neitola, Raisa; Turunen, Kaisa; Lima, Alexandre; Fiúza, António; Szlachta, Malgorzata; Wójtowicz, Patryk; Maftei, Raluca; Munteanu, Marian; Alakangas, Lena; Baciu, Calin; Fernández, Dámaris

2015-04-01

Although the gold demand has been constantly increasing in past years, the commodity findings have been decreasing and the extraction of gold has complicated due to increasing complexity and decreasing grade of the ores. Additionally, even gold mining could increase economical development, it has also challenges in eco-efficiency and extraction methods (e.g. cyanide). Thus, the novel energy and resource-efficient methods and technologies for mineral processing should be developed to concentrate selectively different gold bearing minerals. Furthermore, technologies for efficient treatment of mine waters, sustainable management of wastes, and methods to diminish environmental and social impacts of mining are needed. These problems will be addressed by the three year long project SUSMIN. The SUSMIN-project identifies and evaluates environmental impacts and economical challenges of gold mining within EU. The objective of the project is to increase the transnational cooperation and to support environmentally, socially and economically sustainable viable gold production. The focus is to develop and test geophysical techniques for gold exploration, eco-efficient ore beneficiation methods and alternatives for cyanide leaching. Additionally, the research will improve treatment methods for mine waters by the development and testing of advanced adsorbents. The research on socio-economic issues pursues to develop tools for enhancing the mechanisms of the corporate social responsibility as well as community engagement and management of the relations with the stakeholders. Moreover, with the environmental risk assessment and better knowledge of the geochemistry and long-term transformation of the contaminants in mining wastes and mine waters, the mining companies are able to predict and prevent the impacts to the surrounding environment, resulting in an improved environmental management solution. The SUSMIN consortium led by Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) includes seven research partners from six EU member states Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Romania, Poland and Ireland. Additionally eight globally on mining industry working industry partners will contribute in the SUSMIN consortium, so implementation of results from the project will translate into direct and significant economic benefits.

Geostatistical enhancement of european hydrological predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pugliese, Alessio; Castellarin, Attilio; Parajka, Juraj; Arheimer, Berit; Bagli, Stefano; Mazzoli, Paolo; Montanari, Alberto; Blöschl, Günter

2016-04-01

Geostatistical Enhancement of European Hydrological Prediction (GEEHP) is a research experiment developed within the EU funded SWITCH-ON project, which proposes to conduct comparative experiments in a virtual laboratory in order to share water-related information and tackle changes in the hydrosphere for operational needs (http://www.water-switch-on.eu). The main objective of GEEHP deals with the prediction of streamflow indices and signatures in ungauged basins at different spatial scales. In particular, among several possible hydrological signatures we focus in our experiment on the prediction of flow-duration curves (FDCs) along the stream-network, which has attracted an increasing scientific attention in the last decades due to the large number of practical and technical applications of the curves (e.g. hydropower potential estimation, riverine habitat suitability and ecological assessments, etc.). We apply a geostatistical procedure based on Top-kriging, which has been recently shown to be particularly reliable and easy-to-use regionalization approach, employing two different type of streamflow data: pan-European E-HYPE simulations (http://hypeweb.smhi.se/europehype) and observed daily streamflow series collected in two pilot study regions, i.e. Tyrol (merging data from Austrian and Italian stream gauging networks) and Sweden. The merger of the two study regions results in a rather large area (~450000 km2) and might be considered as a proxy for a pan-European application of the approach. In a first phase, we implement a bidirectional validation, i.e. E-HYPE catchments are set as training sites to predict FDCs at the same sites where observed data are available, and vice-versa. Such a validation procedure reveals (1) the usability of the proposed approach for predicting the FDCs over the entire river network of interest using alternatively observed data and E-HYPE simulations and (2) the accuracy of E-HYPE-based predictions of FDCs in ungauged sites. In a second phase, we develop a module, to be added to the flow-duration curve prediction framework, capable of enhancing E-HYPE-based predictions of FDCs by modelling the residuals obtained from the first phase. Among all possible methods, we apply geostatistical modelling of residuals and, alternatively, regional regression, so that residuals between empirical and E-HYPE-base predicted FDCs are described in terms of geomorphological and climatic catchment descriptors.

BIOTEX--biosensing textiles for personalised healthcare management.

PubMed

Coyle, Shirley; Lau, King-Tong; Moyna, Niall; O'Gorman, Donal; Diamond, Dermot; Di Francesco, Fabio; Costanzo, Daniele; Salvo, Pietro; Trivella, Maria Giovanna; De Rossi, Danilo Emilio; Taccini, Nicola; Paradiso, Rita; Porchet, Jacque-André; Ridolfi, Andrea; Luprano, Jean; Chuzel, Cyril; Lanier, Thierry; Revol-Cavalier, Frdéric; Schoumacker, Sébastien; Mourier, Véronique; Chartier, Isabelle; Convert, Reynald; De-Moncuit, Henri; Bini, Christina

2010-03-01

Textile-based sensors offer an unobtrusive method of continually monitoring physiological parameters during daily activities. Chemical analysis of body fluids, noninvasively, is a novel and exciting area of personalized wearable healthcare systems. BIOTEX was an EU-funded project that aimed to develop textile sensors to measure physiological parameters and the chemical composition of body fluids, with a particular interest in sweat. A wearable sensing system has been developed that integrates a textile-based fluid handling system for sample collection and transport with a number of sensors including sodium, conductivity, and pH sensors. Sensors for sweat rate, ECG, respiration, and blood oxygenation were also developed. For the first time, it has been possible to monitor a number of physiological parameters together with sweat composition in real time. This has been carried out via a network of wearable sensors distributed around the body of a subject user. This has huge implications for the field of sports and human performance and opens a whole new field of research in the clinical setting.

Low-energy antikaon nucleon and nucleus interaction studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marton, Johann; Leannis Collaboration

2011-04-01

The antikaon (K-) interaction on nucleons and nuclei at low energy is neither simple nor well understood. Kaonic hydrogen is a very interesting case where the strong interaction of K- with the proton leads to an energy shift and a broadening of the 1s ground state. These two observables can be precisely studied with x-ray spectroscopy. The behavior at threshold is influenced strongly by the elusive Lambda(1405) resonance. In Europe the DAFNE electron-positron collider at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) provides an unique source of monoenergetic kaons emitted in the Phi meson decay. Recently the experiment SIDDHARTA on kaonic hydrogen and helium isotopes was successfully performed at LNF. A European network LEANNIS with an outreach to J-PARC in Japan was set up which is promoting the research on the antikaon interactions with nucleons and nuclei. This talk will give an overview of LEANNIS research tasks, the present status and an outlook to future perspectives. Financial support by the EU project HadronPhysics2 is gratefully acknowledged.

Multibiodose radiation emergency triage categorization software.

PubMed

Ainsbury, Elizabeth A; Barnard, Stephen; Barrios, Lleonard; Fattibene, Paola; de Gelder, Virginie; Gregoire, Eric; Lindholm, Carita; Lloyd, David; Nergaard, Inger; Rothkamm, Kai; Romm, Horst; Scherthan, Harry; Thierens, Hubert; Vandevoorde, Charlot; Woda, Clemens; Wojcik, Andrzej

2014-07-01

In this note, the authors describe the MULTIBIODOSE software, which has been created as part of the MULTIBIODOSE project. The software enables doses estimated by networks of laboratories, using up to five retrospective (biological and physical) assays, to be combined to give a single estimate of triage category for each individual potentially exposed to ionizing radiation in a large scale radiation accident or incident. The MULTIBIODOSE software has been created in Java. The usage of the software is based on the MULTIBIODOSE Guidance: the program creates a link to a single SQLite database for each incident, and the database is administered by the lead laboratory. The software has been tested with Java runtime environment 6 and 7 on a number of different Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, using data from a recent intercomparison exercise. The Java program MULTIBIODOSE_1.0.jar is freely available to download from http://www.multibiodose.eu/software or by contacting the software administrator: MULTIBIODOSE-software@gmx.com.

High prevalence but limited evidence in complementary and alternative medicine: guidelines for future research

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The use of complementary and alternative Medicine (CAM) has increased over the past two decades in Europe. Nonetheless, research investigating the evidence to support its use remains limited. The CAMbrella project funded by the European Commission aimed to develop a strategic research agenda starting by systematically evaluating the state of CAM in the EU. CAMbrella involved 9 work packages covering issues such as the definition of CAM; its legal status, provision and use in the EU; and a synthesis of international research perspectives. Based on the work package reports, we developed a strategic and methodologically robust research roadmap based on expert workshops, a systematic Delphi-based process and a final consensus conference. The CAMbrella project suggests six core areas for research to examine the potential contribution of CAM to the health care challenges faced by the EU. These areas include evaluating the prevalence of CAM use in Europe; the EU cititzens’ needs and attitudes regarding CAM; the safety of CAM; the comparative effectiveness of CAM; the effects of meaning and context on CAM outcomes; and different models for integrating CAM into existing health care systems. CAM research should use methods generally accepted in the evaluation of health services, including comparative effectiveness studies and mixed-methods designs. A research strategy is urgently needed, ideally led by a European CAM coordinating research office dedicated to fostering systematic communication between EU governments, the public, charitable and industry funders, researchers and other stakeholders. A European Centre for CAM should also be established to monitor and further a coordinated research strategy with sufficient funds to commission and promote high quality, independent research focusing on the public’s health needs and pan-European collaboration. There is a disparity between highly prevalent use of CAM in Europe and solid knowledge about it. A strategic approach on CAM research should be established to investigate the identified gaps of knowledge and to address upcoming health care challenges. PMID:24499316

European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2014.

PubMed

Malvezzi, M; Bertuccio, P; Levi, F; La Vecchia, C; Negri, E

2014-08-01

From most recent available data, we projected cancer mortality statistics for 2014, for the European Union (EU) and its six more populous countries. Specific attention was given to pancreatic cancer, the only major neoplasm showing unfavorable trends in both sexes. Population and death certification data from stomach, colorectum, pancreas, lung, breast, uterus, prostate, leukemias and total cancers were obtained from the World Health Organisation database and Eurostat. Figures were derived for the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK. Projected 2014 numbers of deaths by age group were obtained by linear regression on estimated numbers of deaths over the most recent time period identified by a joinpoint regression model. In the EU in 2014, 1,323,600 deaths from cancer are predicted (742,500 men and 581,100 women), corresponding to standardized death rates of 138.1/100,000 men and 84.7/100,000 women, falling by 7% and 5%, respectively, since 2009. In men, predicted rates for the three major cancers (lung, colorectum and prostate cancer) are lower than in 2009, falling by 8%, 4% and 10%, respectively. In women, breast and colorectal cancers had favorable trends (-9% and -7%), but female lung cancer rates are predicted to rise 8%. Pancreatic cancer is the only neoplasm with a negative outlook in both sexes. Only in the young (25-49 years), EU trends become more favorable in men, while women keep registering slight predicted rises. Cancer mortality predictions for 2014 confirm the overall favorable cancer mortality trend in the EU, translating to an overall 26% fall in men since its peak in 1988, and 20% in women, and the avoidance of over 250,000 deaths in 2014 compared with the peak rate. Notable exceptions are female lung cancer and pancreatic cancer in both sexes. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The impact of the EU general data protection regulation on scientific research.

PubMed

Chassang, Gauthier

2017-01-01

The use of personal data is critical to ensure quality and reliability in scientific research. The new Regulation [European Union (EU)] 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data [general data protection regulation (GDPR)], repealing Directive 95/46/EC, strengthens and harmonises the rules for protecting individuals' privacy rights and freedoms within and, under certain conditions, outside the EU territory. This new and historic legal milestone both prolongs and updates the EU acquis of the previous Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. The GDPR fixes both general rules applying to any kind of personal data processing and specific rules applying to the processing of special categories of personal data such as health data taking place in the context of scientific research, this including clinical and translational research areas. This article aims to provide an overview of the new rules to consider where scientific projects include the processing of personal health data, genetic data or biometric data and other kinds of sensitive information whose use is strictly regulated by the GDPR in order to give the main key facts to researchers to adapt their practices and ensure compliance to the EU law to be enforced in May 2018.

The impact of the EU general data protection regulation on scientific research

PubMed Central

Chassang, Gauthier

2017-01-01

The use of personal data is critical to ensure quality and reliability in scientific research. The new Regulation [European Union (EU)] 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data [general data protection regulation (GDPR)], repealing Directive 95/46/EC, strengthens and harmonises the rules for protecting individuals’ privacy rights and freedoms within and, under certain conditions, outside the EU territory. This new and historic legal milestone both prolongs and updates the EU acquis of the previous Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. The GDPR fixes both general rules applying to any kind of personal data processing and specific rules applying to the processing of special categories of personal data such as health data taking place in the context of scientific research, this including clinical and translational research areas. This article aims to provide an overview of the new rules to consider where scientific projects include the processing of personal health data, genetic data or biometric data and other kinds of sensitive information whose use is strictly regulated by the GDPR in order to give the main key facts to researchers to adapt their practices and ensure compliance to the EU law to be enforced in May 2018. PMID:28144283

Implementing SDG 15.3 on Land Degradation Neutrality in the EU and EU Member States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wunder, Stephanie; Starke, Sue Martina; Frelih-Larsen, Ana; Kaphengst, Timo

2017-04-01

The continuing degradation of land and soils is a severe threat to the provision of ecosystem services and economic development. Sustainable use of land and soils are therefore an integral part of the "Agenda 2030" with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets adopted by the UNGeneral Assembly in September 2015. The SDGs provide new opportunities for an ambitious and integrated environmental policy worldwide and in the EU. Among the many relevant targets that directly or indirectly address soils (such as goals on zero hunger, well being, clean energy, climate change, water and sustainable cities), target 15.3 that aims to achieve "a land degradation-neutral world" by 2030 is the most relevant. The concept of "Land Degradation Neutrality" (LDN) is not only about halting the loss of healthy and fertile land, but also actively reversing degradation by restoring land in order to counterbal-ance losses that cannot be avoided. It is a very ambitious target but due to a lack of balancing mechanisms for degradation and restoration in most countries also a new concept. Land Degra-dation Neutrality therefore both needs a scientific conceptual framework as well as a political debate about its implementation and development of instruments. In the EU and its Member States, this debate can also serve as a catalyst to revive the discussion on a common soil policy in Europe after the withdrawal of the proposal for a soil framework directive in 2014. To analyze options for the implementation of target 15.3 in Germany and Europe the research project "Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals on Soils in Germany" (http://ecologic.eu/12876) is currently carried out by the Ecologic Institute on behalf of the Ger-man Environment Agency (UBA) and the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMUB). The project will run until spring 2017 and the session "European Environmental Policies and Sustainability" at the EGU will be an ideal opportunity to present the final outcomes of the project and give participants an overview of this very dynamic political process and its science policy interface. Specifically, the presentation can provide an overview about two key results of the project: A) Steps and guiding questions to implement LDN on a national level for policy makers (including a reflection about key definitions and concept) B) Appropriate indicators for LDN (with a special focus on Land Use Change) The results are based on a literature review, more than 50 international expert interviews and discussions within two German workshops and one international workshop (that brought together 15 EU Member State representatives, EEA, UNCCD and the European Commission) to discuss the political options to implement LDN. The results also build on the extensive work that the UNCCD and the global Target Setting Programme have conducted to further develop and define the concept of land degradation neutrality. The continuing degradation of land and soils is a severe threat to the provision of ecosystem services and economic development. Sustainable use of land and soils are therefore an integral part of the "Agenda 2030" with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets adopted by the UNGeneral Assembly in September 2015. The SDGs provide new opportunities for an ambitious and integrated environmental policy worldwide and in the EU. Among the many relevant targets that directly or indirectly address soils (such as goals on zero hunger, well being, clean energy, climate change, water and sustainable cities), target 15.3 that aims to achieve "a land degradation-neutral world" by 2030 is the most relevant. The concept of "Land Degradation Neutrality" (LDN) is not only about halting the loss of healthy and fertile land, but also actively reversing degradation by restoring land in order to counterbal-ance losses that cannot be avoided. It is a very ambitious target but due to a lack of balancing mechanisms for degradation and restoration in most countries also a new concept. Land Degra-dation Neutrality therefore both needs a scientific conceptual framework as well as a political debate about its implementation and development of instruments. In the EU and its Member States, this debate can also serve as a catalyst to revive the discussion on a common soil policy in Europe after the withdrawal of the proposal for a soil framework directive in 2014. To analyze options for the implementation of target 15.3 in Germany and Europe the research project "Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals on Soils in Germany" (http://ecologic.eu/12876) is currently carried out by the Ecologic Institute on behalf of the Ger-man Environment Agency (UBA) and the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMUB). The project runs until spring 2017 and the session "European Environmental Policies and Sustainability" at the EGU is an ideal opportunity to present the final outcomes of the project and give participants an overview of this very dynamic political process and its science policy interface. Specifically, the presentation can provide an overview about two key results of the project: A) Steps and guiding questions to implement LDN on a national level for policy makers (including a reflection about key definitions and concept) B) Appropriate indicators for LDN (with a special focus on Land Use Change) The results are based on a literature review, more than 50 international expert interviews and discussions within two German workshops and one international workshop (that brought together 15 EU Member State representatives, EEA, UNCCD and the European Commission) to discuss the political options to implement LDN. The results also build on the extensive work that the UNCCD and the global Target Setting Programme have conducted to further develop and define the concept of land degradation neutrality.

Prevention and control of childhood asthma and allergy in the EU from the public health point of view: Polish Presidency of the European Union

PubMed Central

Samoliński, B; Fronczak, A; Kuna, P; Akdis, C A; Anto, J M; Bialoszewski, A Z; Burney, P G; Bush, A; Czupryniak, A; Dahl, R; Flood, B; Galea, G; Jutel, M; Kowalski, M L; Palkonen, S; Papadopoulos, N; Raciborski, F; Sienkiewicz, D; Tomaszewska, A; Mutius, E; Willman, D; Włodarczyk, A; Yusuf, O; Zuberbier, T; Bousquet, J; Niggemann, Bodo

2012-01-01

The leading priority for the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union was to reduce health inequalities across European societies, and, within its framework, prevention and control of respiratory diseases in children. This very important paper contain proposal of international cooperation on the prevention, early detection and monitoring of asthma and allergic diseases in childhood which will be undertaken by the EU member countries as a result of EU conclusion developed during the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This will result in collaboration in the field of chronic diseases, particularly respiratory diseases, together with the activity of the network of national institutions and NGOs in this area. Paper also contains extensive analysis of the socio-economic, political, epidemiological, technological and medical factors affecting the prevention and control of childhood asthma and allergy presented during Experts presidential conference organized in Warsaw-Ossa 21–22 September 2011. PMID:22540290

Phonon Instability and Broken Long-Ranged p Bond in Ge-Sb-Te Phase-Change Materials from First Principles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Young-Sun; Kim, Jeongwoo; Jhi, Seung-Hoon

2018-05-01

Ge-Sb-Te (GST) compounds exhibit substantial electrical and optical contrast between the amorphous and crystalline phases. Despite extensive studies of GST compounds, the underlying mechanism for fast transitions between the amorphous and crystalline phases is yet to be revealed. In this paper, we study the properties of phonons and a long-ranged p -orbital network of hexagonal GST compounds using first-principles calculations. By investigating volume-dependent phonon dispersions, we observe the structural instability at elevated temperature due to the spontaneous softening of a specific in-plane vibrational mode (Eu ). We find that the atomic distortion by the Eu mode is associated with weakening of delocalized p bonding inducing large structural and electrical changes. We also discuss how to manipulate the Eu mode to control the device performance. Our finding helps deepen the understanding of the phase-change mechanism and improve the device performance, especially the switching power and operating temperature.

A European Flagship Programme on Extreme Computing and Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmer, Tim

2017-04-01

In 2016, an outline proposal co-authored by a number of leading climate modelling scientists from around Europe for a (c. 1 billion euro) flagship project on exascale computing and high-resolution global climate modelling was sent to the EU via its Future and Emerging Flagship Technologies Programme. The project is formally entitled "A Flagship European Programme on Extreme Computing and Climate (EPECC)"? In this talk I will outline the reasons why I believe such a project is needed and describe the current status of the project. I will leave time for some discussion.

Quality of Project Management Education and Training Programmes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bodea, Constanta-Nicoleta; Dascalu, Maria; Coman, Melania

The paper refers to the factors which influence the quality of training and education on project management. A survey was made and the main results are presented. 81 % of the responses came from China. The rest were professionals of different EU nationalities. The percentage of Project Managers who answered the questions is rather low - 8%. In the "Others" category, we have software developers, financial managers and professors, who are involved in both training on project management, but also as team members or team managers in projects, thus ensuring a balanced overview of both theory and practical issues.

Towards a single seismological service infrastructure in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spinuso, A.; Trani, L.; Frobert, L.; Van Eck, T.

2012-04-01

In the last five year services and data providers, within the seismological community in Europe, focused their efforts in migrating the way of opening their archives towards a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). This process tries to follow pragmatically the technological trends and available solutions aiming at effectively improving all the data stewardship activities. These advancements are possible thanks to the cooperation and the follow-ups of several EC infrastructural projects that, by looking at general purpose techniques, combine their developments envisioning a multidisciplinary platform for the earth observation as the final common objective (EPOS, Earth Plate Observation System) One of the first results of this effort is the Earthquake Data Portal (http://www.seismicportal.eu), which provides a collection of tools to discover, visualize and access a variety of seismological data sets like seismic waveform, accelerometric data, earthquake catalogs and parameters. The Portal offers a cohesive distributed search environment, linking data search and access across multiple data providers through interactive web-services, map-based tools and diverse command-line clients. Our work continues under other EU FP7 projects. Here we will address initiatives in two of those projects. The NERA, (Network of European Research Infrastructures for Earthquake Risk Assessment and Mitigation) project will implement a Common Services Architecture based on OGC services APIs, in order to provide Resource-Oriented common interfaces across the data access and processing services. This will improve interoperability between tools and across projects, enabling the development of higher-level applications that can uniformly access the data and processing services of all participants. This effort will be conducted jointly with the VERCE project (Virtual Earthquake and Seismology Research Community for Europe). VERCE aims to enable seismologists to exploit the wealth of seismic data within a data-intensive computation framework, which will be tailored to the specific needs of the community. It will provide a new interoperable infrastructure, as the computational backbone laying behind the publicly available interfaces. VERCE will have to face the challenges of implementing a service oriented architecture providing an efficient layer between the Data and the Grid infrastructures, coupling HPC data analysis and HPC data modeling applications through the execution of workflows and data sharing mechanism. Online registries of interoperable worklflow components, storage of intermediate results and data provenance are those aspects that are currently under investigations to make the VERCE facilities usable from a large scale of users, data and service providers. For such purposes the adoption of a Digital Object Architecture, to create online catalogs referencing and describing semantically all these distributed resources, such as datasets, computational processes and derivative products, is seen as one of the viable solution to monitor and steer the usage of the infrastructure, increasing its efficiency and the cooperation among the community.

EMSODEV and EPOS-IP: key findings for effective management of EU research infrastructure projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Materia, Paola; Bozzoli, Sabrina; Beranzoli, Laura; Cocco, Massimo; Favali, Paolo; Freda, Carmela; Sangianantoni, Agata

2017-04-01

EMSO (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory, http://www.emso-eu.org) and EPOS (European Plate Observing System, https://www.epos-ip.org) are pan-European Research Infrastructures (RIs) in the ESFRI 2016 Roadmap. EMSO has recently become an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium), whilst EPOS application is in progress. Both ERICs will be hosted in Italy and the "Representing Entity" is INGV. EMSO consists of oceanic environment observation systems spanning from the Arctic through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, to the Black Sea for long-term, high-resolution, real-time monitoring of natural and man-induced processes such as hazards, climate, and marine ecosystems changes to study their evolution and interconnections. EPOS aims at creating a pan-European infrastructure for solid Earth science to support a safe and sustainable society. EPOS will enable innovative multidisciplinary research for a better understanding of Earth's physical and chemical processes controlling earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, ground instability, tsunami, and all those processes driving tectonics and Earth's surface dynamics. Following the conclusion of their Preparatory Phases the two RIs are now in their Implementation Phase still supported by the EC through the EMSODEV and EPOS-IP projects, both run by dedicated Project Management Offices at INGV with sound experience in EU projects. EMSODEV (H2020 project, 2015-2018) involves 11 partners and 9 associate partners and aims at improving the harmonization among the EMSO ERIC observation systems through the realization of EMSO Generic Instrument Modules (EGIMs), and a Data Management Platform (DMP) to implement interoperability and standardization. The DMP will provide access to data from all EMSO nodes, providing a unified, homogeneous, infrastructure-scale and user-oriented platform integrated with the increased measurement capabilities and functions provided by the EGIMs. EPOS IP (H2020 project, 2015-2019) is a project of 47 partners, 6 associate partners and several international organizations for a total of 25 countries involved. EPOS IP is a key step in EPOS' mission of a pan-European Earth science integrated platform. It will deliver not only a suite of domain-specific and multidisciplinary data and services in one platform, but also the legal, governance and financial frameworks to ensure the infrastructure future operation and sustainability (EPOS ERIC). INGV experience over the years indicates that effective management of EU RIs projects should contain 5 basic elements: 1.Defined life cycle and milestones: Map of phases, deliverables, key milestones and sufficiency criteria for each group involved in the project using project management tools and software. 2.Shared organization, systems, roles: Defined roles for team members and responsibilities for functional managers are crucial. Similarly, a system of communication and team involvement is essential to success. Leadership and interpersonal/organizational skills are also important. 3.Quality assurance: Quality dimension should be aligned to the project objectives and specific criteria should be identified for each phase of the project. 4.Tracking and variance analysis: Regular reports and periodic meetings of the teams are crucial to identify when things are off target. Schedule slips, cost overruns, open issues, new risks and problems must be dealt with as early as possible. 5.Impact assessment by monitoring the achievement of results and socio-economic impact.

Challenges and opportunities of multi-disciplinary, multi-national and multi-sectoral projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reitz, Anja; Hamann, Kristin

2017-04-01

Collaborative research projects e.g. funded or supported by the European Commission are by nature multi-national. Often EU calls bring together different scientific communities to jointly tackle challenges that can only be addressed through the convergence of previously separated disciplines in one research consortium. Some work programmes even necessitate to team up as different disciplines as natural sciences, social science, legal science and economic science. Examples for such multi- national, -disciplinary and - sectoral projects are the EU projects ECO2 (FP7, concluded), AtlantOS (H2020) and MiningImpact (JPI Oceans). Project managers of such projects need to develop skills beyond the common technical and management skills namely go into the domain of partners and stakeholders psychology and be able to maintain different perspectives on communication and interaction needs regarding cultural-, discipline- and sectoral background. Accordingly, the project manager has besides his or her technical role as manager at least three further roles: that of a communicator, that of a mediator and that of a person convincing partners of the necessary and selling the project products to the stakeholders. As the typical project manager has not too much power and authority by his or her position he or she has to use the power of smart communication and persuasion to overcome potential dissension between disciplines, national reservation or potential conflicts regarding different sectoral views. Accordingly, the project manager of such complex projects would try to arrange the ideal working environment by considering cultural feel, the cooperation of disciplines, information and the control of resources. The way he or she develops such ideal working environment is by reflection of past, present and future experiences/needs.

The integrated project AquaTerra of the EU sixth framework lays foundations for better understanding of river-sediment-soil-groundwater systems.

PubMed

Gerzabek, M H; Barceló, D; Bellin, A; Rijnaarts, H H M; Slob, A; Darmendrail, D; Fowler, H J; Négrel, Ph; Frank, E; Grathwohl, P; Kuntz, D; Barth, J A C

2007-07-01

The integrated project "AquaTerra" with the full title "integrated modeling of the river-sediment-soil-groundwater system; advanced tools for the management of catchment areas and river basins in the context of global change" is among the first environmental projects within the sixth Framework Program of the European Union. Commencing in June 2004, it brought together a multidisciplinary team of 45 partner organizations from 12 EU countries, Romania, Switzerland, Serbia and Montenegro. AquaTerra is an ambitious project with the primary objective of laying the foundations for a better understanding of the behavior of environmental pollutants and their fluxes in the soil-sediment-water system with respect to climate and land use changes. The project performs research as well as modeling on river-sediment-soil-groundwater systems through quantification of deposition, sorption and turnover rates and the development of numerical models to reveal fluxes and trends in soil and sediment functioning. Scales ranging from the laboratory to river basins are addressed with the potential to provide improved river basin management, enhanced soil and groundwater monitoring as well as the early identification and forecasting of impacts on water quantity and quality. Study areas are the catchments of the Ebro, Meuse, Elbe and Danube Rivers and the Brévilles Spring. Here we outline the general structure of the project and the activities conducted within eleven existing sub-projects of AquaTerra.

Materials Data on EuKPSe4 (SG:11) by Materials Project

DOE Data Explorer

Kristin Persson

2015-03-08

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

EU-US standards harmonization task group report : status of ITS security standards.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-07-01

This document assembles best practices and presents practical advice on how to acquire the software components of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The intended audience is the customers--project leaders, technical contract managers, de...

Materials Data on EuKPdO3 (SG:12) by Materials Project

DOE Data Explorer

Kristin Persson

2014-07-09

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on EuSi2Ni (SG:63) by Materials Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kristin Persson

2017-05-05

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on EuZnGe (SG:51) by Materials Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kristin Persson

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on EuFeO3 (SG:74) by Materials Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kristin Persson

2016-10-03

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on Eu(POs)2 (SG:139) by Materials Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kristin Persson

2014-07-09

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on EuCuTeF (SG:129) by Materials Project

DOE Data Explorer

Kristin Persson

2014-11-02

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on EuZnGe (SG:47) by Materials Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kristin Persson

2017-04-09

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on Eu(ZnSn)2 (SG:129) by Materials Project

DOE Data Explorer

Kristin Persson

2015-01-27

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on Eu(ZnSn)2 (SG:11) by Materials Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kristin Persson

2016-04-23

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on EuCuSn2 (SG:63) by Materials Project

DOE Data Explorer

Kristin Persson

2014-11-02

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

Materials Data on EuSn2Ir (SG:63) by Materials Project

DOE Data Explorer

Kristin Persson

2014-11-02

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations

EU demonstration project for separate discharge and treatment of urine, faeces and greywater--part II: cost comparison of different sanitation systems.

PubMed

Oldenburg, M; Peter-Fröhlich, A; Dlabacs, C; Pawlowski, L; Bonhomme, A

2007-01-01

The experience from the EU demonstration project was used for a cost analysis of different sanitation systems with regard to nutrient recycling. The analysis was made for an existing residential area, for which the different sanitation systems have been applied. The cost calculations were made for a lifetime of 50 years. The multiple sewer systems cause higher investment costs, mainly for the installation of the additional facilities; the investment costs for the treatment are lower. The cost analysis did not prove lower costs for the new sanitation concepts in this special case in comparison with the conventional system. Economic benefits are demonstrated for the operation costs. The result will be reinforced by the consideration of an increase of the energy costs. The revenues for the nutrient related products have only a very small impact on the result.

Trustworthy information sharing for biosecurity incident management - The AU2EU project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zic, John

2013-10-01

Managing sensitive information between partners collaborating to address an exotic disease outbreak is crucial in preserving the medical, economic and social well-being of the affected population (whether it is human, animal or plant). Further, the ability to respond quickly to the outbreak by providing real-time, interactive access to shared (collaborative) information will minimise the impact of an outbreak. The sharing of information must be done carefully, with agreement between the partners and enforced by specific protocols. This paper presents an overview of a new joint project between EU partners and AU partners, total value of around €8.64 million, which is examining the issue of authentication and authorisation required to ensure that collaborative information in such situations is kept within the control of the collaborating partners and that accidental (or deliberate) release to unauthorised partners can be mitigated.

Design of the monitoring system at the Sant'Alessio induced riverbank filtration plant (Lucca, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossetto, Rudy; Barbagli, Alessio; Borsi, Iacopo; Mazzanti, Giorgio; Picciaia, Daniele; Vienken, Thomas; Bonari, Enrico

2015-04-01

In Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) schemes the monitoring system, for both water quality and quantity issues, plays a key role in assuring that a groundwater recharge plant is really managed. Considering induced Riverbank Filtration (RBF) schemes, while the effect of the augmented filtration consists in an improvement of the quality and quantity of the water infiltrating the aquifer, there is in turn the risk for groundwater contamination, as surface water bodies are highly susceptible to contamination. Within the framework of the MARSOL (2014) EU FPVII-ENV-2013 project, an experimental monitoring system has been designed and will be set in place at the Sant'Alessio RBF well field (Lucca, Italy) to demonstrate the sustainability and the benefits of managing induced RBF versus the unmanaged option. The RBF scheme in Sant'Alessio (Borsi et al. 2014) allows abstraction of an overall amount of about 0,5 m3/s groundwater providing drinking water for about 300000 people of the coastal Tuscany. Water is derived by ten vertical wells set along the Serchio River embankments inducing river water filtration into a high yield (10-2m2/s transmissivity) sand and gravel aquifer. Prior to the monitoring system design, a detailed site characterization has been completed taking advantage of previous and new investigations, the latter performed by means of MOSAIC on-site investigation platform (UFZ). A monitoring network has been set in place in the well field area using existing wells. There groundwater head and the main physico-chemical parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and redox potential) are routinely monitored. Major geochemical compounds along with a large set of emerging pollutants are analysed (in cooperation with IWW Zentrum Wasser, Germany) both in surface-water and ground-water. The experimental monitoring system (including sensors in surface- and ground-water) has been designed focusing on managing abstraction efficiency and safety at one of the ten productive wells. The groundwater monitoring system consists of a set of six piezometer clusters drilled around a reference well along the main groundwater flowpaths. At each cluster, three piezometers (screened in the penultimate meter) are set at different depths to allow multilevel monitoring and sampling. At six selected piezometers, depending on ongoing hydrogeochemical investigations, six sensors for continuous monitoring of groundwater head, temperature and electrical conductivity will be set in operation. Within the Serchio River, two monitoring stations will be set in operation in order to monitor river head, water temperature and electrical conductivity upstream and downstream the experimental plot. A multi/parameter probe for the detection of selected analytes such nitrates, and selected organics to be defined will also be set in the Serchio River water. Each sensor will constitute a node of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The WSN is based on several data loggers «client» connected via radio to one server point (Gateway), transmitting to a server via GSM-GPRS. This set up, while maintaining the high quality of data transmission, will allow to reduce installation and operational costs. The main characteristic of the conceived monitoring system is that sensors have been selected so to transmit data in an open format. The sensor network prototype will allow to get a substantial sensor cost reduction compared to available commercial solutions. The ultimate goal of this complex monitoring setting will be that of defining the minimum monitoring set up to guarantee efficiency and safety of groundwater withdrawals. Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge GEAL spa for technical support and granting access to the well field. The activities described in this paper are co-financed within the framework of the EU FP7-ENV-2013-WATER-INNO-DEMO MARSOL (Grant Agreement n. 619120). References Borsi, I., Mazzanti, G., Barbagli, A., Rossetto, R., 2014. The riverbank filtration plant in S. Alessio (Lucca): monitoring and modeling activity within EU the FP7 MARSOL project. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, Vol. 3, n. 3/137 MARSOL (2014). Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution to Water Scarcity and Drought www.marsol.eu [accessed 4 January 2015

VERAM - Vision and Roadmap for European Raw Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumgarten, Wibke; Vashev, Boris

2017-04-01

The overall objective of VERAM project is to produce a Vision and Roadmap for European Raw Materials in 2050 based on raw materials research and innovation (R&I) coordination. Two leading European Technology Platforms (ETPs): ETP SMR (Sustainable Minerals Resources) and FTP (Forest Technology Platform) are joining forces to develop a common vison and roadmap with the support of ECTP (European Construction Technology Platform), represented by UNIVPM, SusChem (ETP for Sustainable Chemistry), represented by Cefic, EuMaT (Advanced Materials ETP), represented by VITO, ERAMIN 2, represented by Research Centre JUELICH and WoodWisdom Network Plus represented by the Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR). This partnership provides VERAM with expertise from downstream applications and additional knowledge on non-biotic and biotic raw materials. The project encourages capacity building as well as transfer of knowledge. It expects to provide an innovation reference point for the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Raw Materials (formerly the KIC Raw MatTERS), to coordinate the network involved in the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials Commitments and relevant proposals funded under Horizon 2020. It provides a platform for identifying gaps and complementarities and enables their bridging. VERAM will be able to advise the European Commission and Member States on future research needs and policies to stimulate innovation and assist in overcoming fragmentation in the implementing the EIP Raw Materials Strategic Implementation Plan. VERAM looks for mutually beneficial information exchange, encourages cross-fertilization between actions undertaken by different raw material industries, and expects to accelerate exploitation of breakthrough innovations. One of the main outcomes of the project is the presentation of a common long term 2050 Vision and Roadmap for relevant raw materials including metals, industrial minerals and aggregates and wood. The Vision and Roadmap have the objective of highlighting the path to achieving the European Commission's ambitious target of 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.

The ENCCA-WP7/EuroSarc/EEC/PROVABES/EURAMOS 3rd European Bone Sarcoma Networking Meeting/Joint Workshop of EU Bone Sarcoma Translational Research Networks; Vienna, Austria, September 24-25, 2015. Workshop Report.

PubMed

Kager, Leo; Whelan, Jeremy; Dirksen, Uta; Hassan, Bass; Anninga, Jakob; Bennister, Lindsey; Bovée, Judith V M G; Brennan, Bernadette; Broto, Javier M; Brugières, Laurence; Cleton-Jansen, Anne-Marie; Copland, Christopher; Dutour, Aurélie; Fagioli, Franca; Ferrari, Stefano; Fiocco, Marta; Fleuren, Emmy; Gaspar, Nathalie; Gelderblom, Hans; Gerrand, Craig; Gerß, Joachim; Gonzato, Ornella; van der Graaf, Winette; Hecker-Nolting, Stefanie; Herrero-Martín, David; Klco-Brosius, Stephanie; Kovar, Heinrich; Ladenstein, Ruth; Lancia, Carlo; LeDeley, Marie-Cecile; McCabe, Martin G; Metzler, Markus; Myklebost, Ola; Nathrath, Michaela; Picci, Piero; Potratz, Jenny; Redini, Françoise; Richter, Günther H S; Reinke, Denise; Rutkowski, Piotr; Scotlandi, Katia; Strauss, Sandra; Thomas, David; Tirado, Oscar M; Tirode, Franck; Vassal, Gilles; Bielack, Stefan S

2016-01-01

This report summarizes the results of the 3rd Joint ENCCA-WP7, EuroSarc, EEC, PROVABES, and EURAMOS European Bone Sarcoma Network Meeting, which was held at the Children's Cancer Research Institute in Vienna, Austria on September 24-25, 2015. The joint bone sarcoma network meetings bring together European bone sarcoma researchers to present and discuss current knowledge on bone sarcoma biology, genetics, immunology, as well as results from preclinical investigations and clinical trials, to generate novel hypotheses for collaborative biological and clinical investigations. The ultimate goal is to further improve therapy and outcome in patients with bone sarcomas.

The European Marine Observing Network and the development of an Integrated European Ocean Observing System. An EuroGOOS perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez, Vicente; Gorringe, Patrick; Nolan, Glenn

2016-04-01

The ocean benefits many sectors of society, being the biggest reservoir of heat, water, carbon and oxygen and playing a fundamental role regulating the earth's climate. We rely on the oceans for food, transport, energy and recreation. Therefore, a sustained marine observation network is crucial to further our understanding of the oceanic environment and to supply scientific data to meet society's need. Marine data and observations in Europe, collected primarily by state governmental agencies, is offered via five Regional Operational Oceanographic Systems (ROOS) within the context of EuroGOOS (http://www.eurogos.eu), an International Non-Profit Association of national governmental agencies and research organizations (40 members from 19 member states) committed to European-scale operational oceanography within the context of the Intergovernmental Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Strong cooperation within these regions, enabling the involvement of additional partners and countries, forms the basis of EuroGOOS work. Ocean data collected from different type of sensors (e.g. moored buoys, tide gauges, Ferrybox systems, High Frequency radars, gliders and profiling floats) is accessible to scientist and other end users through data portals and initiatives such as the European Marine Observations and Data Network (EMODnet) (www.emodnet.eu) and the Copernicus Marine Service Copernicus (www.copernicus.eu). Although a relatively mature European ocean observing capability already exists and its well-coordinated at European level, some gaps have been identified, for example the demand for ecosystem products and services, or the case that biogeochemical observations are still relatively sparse particularly in coastal and shelf seas. Assessing gaps based on the capacity of the observing system to answer key societal challenges e.g. site suitability for aquaculture and ocean energy, oil spill response and contextual oceanographic products for fisheries and ecosystems is still required. In this respect, an important effort is being carried out at European level aiming to stablish and consolidate an Integrated and sustained European Ocean Observing System (EOOS). In this paper we present the emerging vision for EOOS with a review of the existing observing networks on which it will be based.

New advances in the integrated management of food processing by-products in Europe: sustainable exploitation of fruit and cereal processing by-products with the production of new food products (NAMASTE EU).

PubMed

Fava, Fabio; Zanaroli, Giulio; Vannini, Lucia; Guerzoni, Elisabetta; Bordoni, Alessandra; Viaggi, Davide; Robertson, Jim; Waldron, Keith; Bald, Carlos; Esturo, Aintzane; Talens, Clara; Tueros, Itziar; Cebrián, Marta; Sebők, András; Kuti, Tunde; Broeze, Jan; Macias, Marta; Brendle, Hans-Georg

2013-09-25

By-products generated every year by the European fruit and cereal processing industry currently exceed several million tons. They are disposed of mainly through landfills and thus are largely unexploited sources of several valuable biobased compounds potentially profitable in the formulation of novel food products. The opportunity to design novel strategies to turn them into added value products and food ingredients via novel and sustainable processes is the main target of recently EC-funded FP7 project NAMASTE-EU. NAMASTE-EU aims at developing new laboratory-scale protocols and processes for the exploitation of citrus processing by-products and wheat bran surpluses via the production of ingredients useful for the formulation of new beverage and food products. Among the main results achieved in the first two years of the project, there are the development and assessment of procedures for the selection, stabilization and the physical/biological treatment of citrus and wheat processing by-products, the obtainment and recovery of some bioactive molecules and ingredients and the development of procedures for assessing the quality of the obtained ingredients and for their exploitation in the preparation of new food products. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Qalibra: a general model for food risk-benefit assessment that quantifies variability and uncertainty.

PubMed

Hart, Andy; Hoekstra, Jeljer; Owen, Helen; Kennedy, Marc; Zeilmaker, Marco J; de Jong, Nynke; Gunnlaugsdottir, Helga

2013-04-01

The EU project BRAFO proposed a framework for risk-benefit assessment of foods, or changes in diet, that present both potential risks and potential benefits to consumers (Hoekstra et al., 2012a). In higher tiers of the BRAFO framework, risks and benefits are integrated quantitatively to estimate net health impact measured in DALYs or QALYs (disability- or quality-adjusted life years). This paper describes a general model that was developed by a second EU project, Qalibra, to assist users in conducting these assessments. Its flexible design makes it applicable to a wide range of dietary questions involving different nutrients, contaminants and health effects. Account can be taken of variation between consumers in their diets and also other characteristics relevant to the estimation of risk and benefit, such as body weight, gender and age. Uncertainty in any input parameter may be quantified probabilistically, using probability distributions, or deterministically by repeating the assessment with alternative assumptions. Uncertainties that are not quantified should be evaluated qualitatively. Outputs produced by the model are illustrated using results from a simple assessment of fish consumption. More detailed case studies on oily fish and phytosterols are presented in companion papers. The model can be accessed as web-based software at www.qalibra.eu. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Mycotox Charter: Increasing Awareness of, and Concerted Action for, Minimizing Mycotoxin Exposure Worldwide.

PubMed

Logrieco, Antonio F; Miller, J David; Eskola, Mari; Krska, Rudolf; Ayalew, Amare; Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit; Battilani, Paola; Bhatnagar, Deepak; Chulze, Sofia; De Saeger, Sarah; Li, Peiwu; Perrone, Giancarlo; Poapolathep, Amnart; Rahayu, Endang S; Shephard, Gordon S; Stepman, François; Zhang, Hao; Leslie, John F

2018-04-04

Mycotoxins are major food contaminants affecting global food security, especially in low and middle-income countries. The European Union (EU) funded project, MycoKey, focuses on “Integrated and innovative key actions for mycotoxin management in the food and feed chains” and the right to safe food through mycotoxin management strategies and regulation, which are fundamental to minimizing the unequal access to safe and sufficient food worldwide. As part of the MycoKey project, a Mycotoxin Charter (charter.mycokey.eu) was launched to share the need for global harmonization of mycotoxin legislation and policies and to minimize human and animal exposure worldwide, with particular attention to less developed countries that lack effective legislation. This document is in response to a demand that has built through previous European Framework Projects—MycoGlobe and MycoRed—in the previous decade to control and reduce mycotoxin contamination worldwide. All suppliers, participants and beneficiaries of the food supply chain, for example, farmers, consumers, stakeholders, researchers, members of civil society and government and so forth, are invited to sign this charter and to support this initiative.

A European multi-language initiative to make the general population aware of independent clinical research: the European Communication on Research Awareness Need project.

PubMed

Mosconi, Paola; Antes, Gerd; Barbareschi, Giorgio; Burls, Amanda; Demotes-Mainard, Jacques; Chalmers, Iain; Colombo, Cinzia; Garattini, Silvio; Gluud, Christian; Gyte, Gill; Mcllwain, Catherine; Penfold, Matt; Post, Nils; Satolli, Roberto; Valetto, Maria Rosa; West, Brian; Wolff, Stephanie

2016-01-12

The ECRAN (European Communication on Research Awareness Needs) project was initiated in 2012, with support from the European Commission, to improve public knowledge about the importance of independent, multinational, clinical trials in Europe. Participants in the ECRAN consortium included clinicians and methodologists directly involved in clinical trials; researchers working in partnership with the public and patients; representatives of patients; and experts in science communication. We searched for, and evaluated, relevant existing materials and developed additional materials and tools, making them freely available under a Creative Commons licence. The principal communication materials developed were: 1. A website ( http://ecranproject.eu ) in six languages, including a Media centre section to help journalists to disseminate information about the ECRAN project 2. An animated film about clinical trials, dubbed in the 23 official languages of the European Community, and an interactive tutorial 3. An inventory of resources, available in 23 languages, searchable by topic, author, and media type 4. Two educational games for young people, developed in six languages 5. Testing Treatments interactive in a dozen languages, including five official European Community languages 6. An interactive tutorial slide presentation testing viewers' knowledge about clinical trials Over a 2-year project, our multidisciplinary and multinational consortium was able to produce, and make freely available in many languages, new materials to promote public knowledge about the importance of independent and international clinical trials. Sustained funding for the ECRAN information platform could help to promote successful recruitment to independent clinical trials supported through the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network.

Norwegian Ocean Observatory Network (NOON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferré, Bénédicte; Mienert, Jürgen; Winther, Svein; Hageberg, Anne; Rune Godoe, Olav; Partners, Noon

2010-05-01

The Norwegian Ocean Observatory Network (NOON) is led by the University of Tromsø and collaborates with the Universities of Oslo and Bergen, UniResearch, Institute of Marine Research, Christian Michelsen Research and SINTEF. It is supported by the Research Council of Norway and oil and gas (O&G) industries like Statoil to develop science, technology and new educational programs. Main topics relate to ocean climate and environment as well as marine resources offshore Norway from the northern North Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean. NOON's vision is to bring Norway to the international forefront in using cable based ocean observatory technology for marine science and management, by establishing an infrastructure that enables real-time and long term monitoring of processes and interactions between hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere. This activity is in concert with the EU funded European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap and European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observation (EMSO) project to attract international leading research developments. NOON envisions developing towards a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). Beside, the research community in Norway already possesses a considerable marine infrastructure that can expand towards an international focus for real-time multidisciplinary observations in times of rapid climate change. PIC The presently established cable-based fjord observatory, followed by the establishment of a cable-based ocean observatory network towards the Arctic from an O&G installation, will provide invaluable knowledge and experience necessary to make a successful larger cable-based observatory network at the Norwegian and Arctic margin (figure 1). Access to large quantities of real-time observation from the deep sea, including high definition video, could be used to provide the public and future recruits to science a fascinating insight into an almost unexplored part of the Earth beyond the Arctic Circle. More information about NOON is available at NOON's web site www.oceanobservatory.com. PIC

On the Creation, Utility and Sustaining of Rare Diseases Research Networks: Lessons learned from the Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium, the Japanese Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium and the European Registry and Network for Intoxication Type Metabolic Diseases.

PubMed

Summar, Marshall L; Endo, Fumio; Kölker, Stefan

2014-01-01

The past two decades has seen a rapid expansion in the scientific and public interest in rare diseases and their treatment. One consequence of this has been the formation of registries/longitudinal natural history studies for these disorders. Given the expense and effort needed to develop and maintain such programs, we describe our experience with three linked registries on the same disease group, urea cycle disorders. The Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium (UCDC) was formed in the U.S. in 2003 in response to a request for application from the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the European Registry and Network for Intoxication Type Metabolic Diseases (E-IMD) was formed in 2011 in response to a request for applications from the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) of the EU; and the Japanese Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium (JUCDC) was founded in 2012 as a sister organization to the UCDC and E-IMD. The functions of these groups are to collect natural history data, educate the professional and lay population, develop and test new treatments, and establish networks of excellence for the care for these disorders. The UCDC and JUCDC focus exclusively on urea cycle disorders while the E-IMD includes patients with urea cycle disorders and organic acidurias. More than 1400 patients have been enrolled in the three consortia, and numerous projects have been developed and joint meetings held including an international UCDC/E-IMD/JUCDC Urea Cycle meeting in Barcelona in 2013. This article summarizes some of the experiences from the three groups regarding formation, funding, and models for sustainability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On the Creation, Utility and Sustaining of Rare Diseases Research Networks: Lessons learned from the Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium, the Japanese Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium and the European Registry and Network for Intoxication Type Metabolic Diseases

PubMed Central

Summar, Marshall L.; Endo, Fumio; Kölker, Stefan

2016-01-01

The past two decades has seen a rapid expansion in the scientific and public interest in rare diseases and their treatment. One consequence of this has been the formation of registries/longitudinal natural history studies for these disorders. Given the expense and effort needed to develop and maintain such programs, we describe our experience with three linked registries on the same disease group, urea cycle disorders. The Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium (UCDC) was formed in the U.S. in 2003 in response to a request for application from the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the European Registry and Network for Intoxication Type Metabolic Diseases (E-IMD) was formed in 2011 in response to a request for applications from the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) of the EU; and the Japanese Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium (JUCDC) was founded in 2012 as a sister organization to the UCDC and E-IMD. The functions of these groups are to collect natural history data, educate the professional and lay population, develop and test new treatments, and establish networks of excellence for the care for these disorders. The UCDC and JUCDC focus exclusively on urea cycle disorders while the E-IMD includes patients with urea cycle disorders and organic acidurias. More than 1400 patients have been enrolled in the three consortia, and numerous projects have been developed and joint meetings held including an international UCDC/E-IMD/JUCDC Urea Cycle meeting in Barcelona in 2013. This article summarizes some of the experiences from the three groups regarding formation, funding, and models for sustainability. PMID:25261246

ICT Inexperienced Elderlies: What Would Attract Elderlies to Use Items of Technology?

PubMed

Koscher, Andrea; Dittenberger, Sandra; Stainer-Hochgatterer, Andreas

2017-01-01

This paper presents the findings of the first end-user research study with seniors who are not familiar with operating ICT devices, executed as part of the EU-Active and Assisted Living research project Kith & Kin. This project aims at developing an ICT device for these seniors by building on their needs and real capabilities, encouraging communication and fostering social inclusion.

Creativity and Technology in Mathematics: From Story Telling to Algorithmic with Op'Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercat, Christian; Filho, Pedro Lealdino; El-Demerdash, Mohamed

2017-01-01

This article describes some of the results of the European project mcSquared (http://mc2-project.eu/) regarding the use of Op'Art and optical illusion pieces as a tool to foster modeling and creative mathematical thinking in students. We present briefly the c-book technology and some results we got experimenting it. The Op'Art movement, with…

Managed Aquifer Recharge in Italy: present and prospects.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossetto, Rudy

2015-04-01

On October the 3rd 2014, a one-day Workshop on Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) experiences in Italy took place at the GEOFLUID fair in Piacenza. It was organized within the framework of the EIP AG 128 - MAR Solutions - Managed Aquifer Recharge Strategies and Actions and the EU FPVII MARSOL. The event aimed at showcasing present experiences on MAR in Italy while at the same time starting a network among all the Institutions involved. In this contribution, we discuss the state of MAR application in Italy and summarize the outcomes of that event. In Italy aquifer recharge is traditionally applied unintentionally, by increasing riverbank filtration or because of excess irrigation. A certain interest for artificial recharge of aquifers arose at the end of the '70s and the beginning of the '80s and tests have been carried out in Tuscany, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. During the last years some projects on aquifer recharge were co-financed by the European Commission mainly through the LIFE program. Nearly all of them use the terminology of artificial recharge instead of MAR. They are: - TRUST (Tool for regional - scale assessment of groundwater storage improvement in adaptation to climate change, LIFE07 ENV/IT/000475; Marsala 2014); - AQUOR (Implementation of a water saving and artificial recharging participated strategy for the quantitative groundwater layer rebalance of the upper Vicenza's plain - LIFE 2010 ENV/IT/380; Mezzalira et al. 2014); - WARBO (Water re-born - artificial recharge: innovative technologies for the sustainable management of water resources, LIFE10 ENV/IT/000394; 2014). While the TRUST project dealt in general with aquifer recharge, AQUOR and WARBO focused essentially on small scale demonstration plants. Within the EU FPVII-ENV-2013 MARSOL project (Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution to Water Scarcity and Drought; 2014), a dedicated monitoring and decision support system is under development to manage recharge at a large scale riverbank filtration plant, worth 15 Mm3/year in Lucca (Tuscany; Borsi et al. 2014). In 2014, the Regional Authority of Emilia Romagna started a pilot on the Marecchia River fan using a recharge basin to alleviate water scarcity in the Rimini area as results of drought periods (Severi et al. 2014). To apply MAR techniques on a large scale is of particular interest the possibility to allow farmer's associations or drainage consortiums to play an important role in storing excess rainfall water in aquifers. Few hectares of land in rural areas may be dedicated to MAR plants, transforming a traditionally water consumer sector in one preserving it - opportunities are then linked to the provision of water related ecosystem services. Aquifer recharge is allowed in Italy only since September 2013, but still a regulatory framework is missing. Hopefully, this regulatory scheme will benefit from previous and on-going experiences. Dissemination of MAR scientific findings and technical know-how among governing authorities and the general public is crucial for the application of MAR techniques. Fundings for setting up new MAR plants may be available at national level. At the same time, lack of knowledge at intermediate governing bodies level is preventing the application of these techniques (i.e. building of small dams is favored although less convenient by several points of view in respect of MAR plants). Finally, it is of outmost importance to define which are the financial instruments to sustain these water infrastructures, so to guarantee not only their set up, but also routinely operations, opening as such a new market in the water sector. Acknowledgments This paper is co-financed within the framework of the EU FP7-ENV-2013-WATER-INNO-DEMO MARSOL (Grant Agreement n. 619120). References Borsi, I., Mazzanti, G., Barbagli, A., Rossetto, R., 2014. The riverbank filtration plant in S. Alessio (Lucca): monitoring and modeling activity within EU the FP7 MARSOL project. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, Vol. 3, n. 3/137 Marsala, V. (2014). LIFE+ TRUST project: tool to assist the implementation of the Framework Directive 2000/60/CE, methodology and results. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, Vol. 3, n. 3/137 MARSOL (2014). Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution to Water Scarcity and Drought www.marsol.eu [accessed 4 January 2015] Mezzalira, G., Niceforo, U., Gusmaroli, G. (2014). Forested infiltration areas (FIA); principles, experiences, perspectives. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, Vol. 3, n. 3/137 Severi, P., Bonzi, L., Ferrari, V., Pellegrino, I. (2014). Managed aquifer recharge in the Marecchia alluvial fan (Rimini - Italy), start of the test and first results. Acque Sotterranee - Italian Journal of Groundwater, Vol. 3, n. 3/137 WARBO, 2014. WATER RE-BORN - Artificial Recharge. Innovative Technologies for the Sustainable Management of Water Resources. http://www.warbo-life.eu/ [accessed 8 August 2014

Major risk from rapid, large-volume landslides in Europe (EU Project RUNOUT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kilburn, Christopher R. J.; Pasuto, Alessandro

2003-08-01

Project RUNOUT has investigated methods for reducing the risk from large-volume landslides in Europe, especially those involving rapid rates of emplacement. Using field data from five test sites (Bad Goisern and Köfels in Austria, Tessina and Vajont in Italy, and the Barranco de Tirajana in Gran Canaria, Spain), the studies have developed (1) techniques for applying geomorphological investigations and optical remote sensing to map landslides and their evolution; (2) analytical, numerical, and cellular automata models for the emplacement of sturzstroms and debris flows; (3) a brittle-failure model for forecasting catastrophic slope failure; (4) new strategies for integrating large-area Global Positioning System (GPS) arrays with local geodetic monitoring networks; (5) methods for raising public awareness of landslide hazards; and (6) Geographic Information System (GIS)-based databases for the test areas. The results highlight the importance of multidisciplinary studies of landslide hazards, combining subjects as diverse as geology and geomorphology, remote sensing, geodesy, fluid dynamics, and social profiling. They have also identified key goals for an improved understanding of the physical processes that govern landslide collapse and runout, as well as for designing strategies for raising public awareness of landslide hazards and for implementing appropriate land management policies for reducing landslide risk.

Meteor Observations as Big Data Citizen Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gritsevich, M.; Vinkovic, D.; Schwarz, G.; Nina, A.; Koschny, D.; Lyytinen, E.

2016-12-01

Meteor science represents an excellent example of the citizen science project, where progress in the field has been largely determined by amateur observations. Over the last couple of decades technological advancements in observational techniques have yielded drastic improvements in the quality, quantity and diversity of meteor data, while even more ambitious instruments are about to become operational. This empowers meteor science to boost its experimental and theoretical horizons and seek more advanced scientific goals. We review some of the developments that push meteor science into the Big Data era that requires more complex methodological approaches through interdisciplinary collaborations with other branches of physics and computer science. We argue that meteor science should become an integral part of large surveys in astronomy, aeronomy and space physics, and tackle the complexity of micro-physics of meteor plasma and its interaction with the atmosphere. The recent increased interest in meteor science triggered by the Chelyabinsk fireball helps in building the case for technologically and logistically more ambitious meteor projects. This requires developing new methodological approaches in meteor research, with Big Data science and close collaboration between citizen science, geoscience and astronomy as critical elements. We discuss possibilities for improvements and promote an opportunity for collaboration in meteor science within the currently established BigSkyEarth http://bigskyearth.eu/ network.

EU Framework 6 Project: Predictive Toxicology (PredTox)-overview and outcome

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Suter, Laura, E-mail: Laura.suter-dick@roche.com; Schroeder, Susanne; Meyer, Kirstin

2011-04-15

In this publication, we report the outcome of the integrated EU Framework 6 Project: Predictive Toxicology (PredTox), including methodological aspects and overall conclusions. Specific details including data analysis and interpretation are reported in separate articles in this issue. The project, partly funded by the EU, was carried out by a consortium of 15 pharmaceutical companies, 2 SMEs, and 3 universities. The effects of 16 test compounds were characterized using conventional toxicological parameters and 'omics' technologies. The three major observed toxicities, liver hypertrophy, bile duct necrosis and/or cholestasis, and kidney proximal tubular damage were analyzed in detail. The combined approach ofmore » 'omics' and conventional toxicology proved a useful tool for mechanistic investigations and the identification of putative biomarkers. In our hands and in combination with histopathological assessment, target organ transcriptomics was the most prolific approach for the generation of mechanistic hypotheses. Proteomics approaches were relatively time-consuming and required careful standardization. NMR-based metabolomics detected metabolite changes accompanying histopathological findings, providing limited additional mechanistic information. Conversely, targeted metabolite profiling with LC/GC-MS was very useful for the investigation of bile duct necrosis/cholestasis. In general, both proteomics and metabolomics were supportive of other findings. Thus, the outcome of this program indicates that 'omics' technologies can help toxicologists to make better informed decisions during exploratory toxicological studies. The data support that hypothesis on mode of action and discovery of putative biomarkers are tangible outcomes of integrated 'omics' analysis. Qualification of biomarkers remains challenging, in particular in terms of identification, mechanistic anchoring, appropriate specificity, and sensitivity.« less

Solving employment problems in the European Union: The role of energy efficiency

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wiltshire, V.

1998-07-01

This paper is based on a project funded under the European Commission's SAVE (Specific Actions for Vigorous Energy Efficiency) program. The project is looking at the employment implications of energy efficiency programs, using a large number of case studies throughout the nine European Union (EU) countries participating in the project. Various modeling techniques are being used to investigate policy scenarios. The EU is particularly interested in looking at employment potential of energy efficiency at the present time. Traditionally, jobs in the environmental sector have only been seen as occurring in end-of-pipe type industries, such as pollution control; but a largemore » potential for employment opportunities has now been recognized in the energy efficiency sector. Included in the study will be a detailed discussion of the quality, as well as the quantity, of jobs created, i.e. what skill levels will be required and the types of people who would wish to undertake the work. The qualitative aspect of jobs will be looked at for their suitability for solving EU and country specific problems, such as long term unemployment of unskilled workers. This paper will present some initial results from the study and discuss the issues raised by it and by other recent work in this area. Such issues include not only the types and numbers of jobs directly created through the programs, but also indirect effects on the local, national and international economies. The negative effects, such as the reduced energy usage effect on the supply industry will also be examined.« less

School on Cloud: Towards a Paradigm Shift

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koutsopoulos, Kostis C.; Kotsanis, Yannis C.

2014-01-01

This paper presents the basic concept of the EU Network School on Cloud: Namely, that present conditions require a new teaching and learning paradigm based on the integrated dimension of education, when considering the use of cloud computing. In other words, it is suggested that there is a need for an integrated approach which is simultaneously…

Competence Management System Design in International Multicultural Environment: Registration, Transfer, Recognition and Transparency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starcic, Andreja Istenic

2012-01-01

A competence management system (CMS) was devised to assist the registration of competencies in the textile and clothing sector, starting in the four EU countries of Portugal, Slovenia, the UK and Denmark, further leading to the European network. This paper presents the design and development framework assisting international multicultural…

Education on Online Safety in Schools in Europe. Summary Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, European Commission, 2010

2010-01-01

To support European Commission activities, the Eurydice network carried out a study regarding the Education on Online Safety in schools. The data collection was coordinated by the Eurydice Unit of the EU Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) with the collaboration of the National Eurydice Units. Participation in this study by…

Discrimination and Good Practice Activities in Education: Trends and Developments in the 27 EU Member States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollak, Alexander

2008-01-01

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights collects, through its network of observation points, information on discrimination and good practice in the areas of legislation, employment, housing, racist violence, and education. Data on education includes information on: access to education for vulnerable groups, discriminatory practices,…

Protonation of carboxyl groups in EuDOTA-tetraamide complexes results in catalytic prototropic exchange and quenching of the CEST signal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lei; Evbuomwan, Osasere M.; Tieu, Michael; Zhao, Piyu; Martins, Andre F.; Sherry, A. Dean

2017-10-01

The CEST properties of EuDOTA-tetraamide complexes bearing pendant carboxylate and carboxyl ethyl esters were measured as a function of pH. The CEST signal from the Eu3+-bound water molecule decreased in intensity between pH 8.5 and 4.5 while the proton exchange rates (kex) increased over this same pH range. In comparison, the CEST signal in the corresponding carboxyl ester derivatives was nearly constant. Both observations are consistent with stepwise protonation of the four carboxylic acid groups over this same pH range. This indicates that negative charges on the carboxyl groups above pH 6 facilitate the formation of a strong hydrogen-bonding network in the coordination second sphere above the single Eu3+-bound water molecule, thereby decreasing prototropic exchange of protons on the bound water molecule with bulk water protons. The percentage of square antiprismatic versus twisted square antiprism coordination isomers also decreased as the appended carboxylic acid groups were positioned further away from the amide. The net effect of lowering the pH was an overall increase in kex and a quenching of the CEST signal. This article is part of the themed issue 'Challenges for chemistry in molecular imaging'.

The emerging mental health strategy of the European Union: a multi-level work-in-progress.

PubMed

Kelly, Brendan D

2008-01-01

Policy-making in the European Union (EU) is a complex process that can appear impenetrable and opaque. This paper examines the ongoing process of mental health policy-making in the EU. In 2005, the Health and Consumer Protectorate Director-General of the European Commission published a Green Paper and launched a consultation process aimed at mental health service-users, advocates, providers, business, social services and governments. While there were varying levels of participation between member states, a range of trans-national, national and infra-national actors made contributions. Based on these consultations, a 'Consultative Platform' was created and made 10 recommendations centered on the principles of partnership; establishing policy competencies; integrating mental health into national policies; involving stakeholders; and protecting human rights. This ongoing process illustrates many features of EU policy-making: (a) the European Commission generates an initiative; (b) policy focuses on EU standardization, with member states remaining central actors in service-delivery; (c) policy focuses on social inclusion; (d) the European Commission coordinates diverse networks of actors; and (e) there is 'multi-level' involvement, with direct interaction between trans-national, national and infra-national actors. An enhanced focus on epidemiological data and 'evidence-based policy' would increase rigor and focus further attention on this relatively neglected policy area.

Structural, morphological and optical investigations on electron-beam irradiated PbF2-TeO2-B2O3-Eu2O3 glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagh, Akshatha; Petwal, Vikash; Dwivedi, Jishnu; Upadhyaya, V.; Raviprakash, Y.; Kamath, Sudha D.

2016-09-01

Combined structural, optical and morphological studies were carried out on Eu2O3 doped PbF2-TeO2-B2O3 glass samples, before and after being subjected to electron beam of energy 7.5 MeV. XRD confirmed the amorphous nature of the glasses even after 150 kGy electron beam irradiation. Densities of the irradiated samples showed slightly greater values when compared to their respective values before irradiation, which proved the increase in the compaction of the network. The intensities of the three prominent bands; B-O-B linkages, BO4 units and BO3 units of FT-IR spectra, of the titled glasses, showed slight decrease after electron beam irradiation. The decrement in the values of energy band gap and shift in cut-off wavelength towards red edge, proved the formation of color centers in the glass network after irradiation. The change in Hunter L values, through color measurement was a proof for the Farbe/color/absorption centers created in the glass sites after irradiation.

Assumptions in the European Union biofuels policy: frictions with experiences in Germany, Brazil and Mozambique.

PubMed

Franco, Jennifer; Levidow, Les; Fig, David; Goldfarb, Lucia; Hönicke, Mireille; Mendonça, Maria Luisa

2010-01-01

The biofuel project is an agro-industrial development and politically contested policy process where governments increasingly become global actors. European Union (EU) biofuels policy rests upon arguments about societal benefits of three main kinds - namely, environmental protection (especially greenhouse gas savings), energy security and rural development, especially in the global South. Each argument involves optimistic assumptions about what the putative benefits mean and how they can be fulfilled. After examining those assumptions, we compare them with experiences in three countries - Germany, Brazil and Mozambique - which have various links to each other and to the EU through biofuels. In those case studies, there are fundamental contradictions between EU policy assumptions and practices in the real world, involving frictional encounters among biofuel promoters as well as with people adversely affected. Such contradictions may intensify with the future rise of biofuels and so warrant systematic attention.

The 2011 PHARMINE report on pharmacy and pharmacy education in the European Union

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Jeffrey; Rombaut, Bart

The PHARMINE consortium consists of 50 universities from European Union member states or other European countries that are members of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP). EU partner associations representing community (PGEU), hospital (EAHP) and industrial pharmacy (EIPG), together with the European Pharmacy Students’ Association (EPSA) are also part of the consortium. The consortium surveyed pharmacies and pharmacists in different settings: community, hospital, industry and other sectors. The consortium also looked at how European Union higher education institutions and courses are organised. The PHARMINE survey of pharmacy and pharmacy education in Europe produced country profiles with extensive information for EU member states and several other European countries. These data are available at: http://www.pharmine.org/losse_paginas/Country_Profiles/. This 2011 PHARMINE report presents the project and data, and some preliminary analysis on the basic question of how pharmacy education is adapted to pharmacy practice in the EU. PMID:24198854

EU-US standards harmonization task group report : testing for ITS communications.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-01-01

The Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority's (CCRTA) Advanced Public Transportation System (APTS) project is an application of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to fixed-route and paratransit operations in a rural transit setting. The purpose of ...

Materials Data on EuK4(PS4)2 (SG:12) by Materials Project

DOE Data Explorer

Kristin Persson

2016-05-02

Computed materials data using density functional theory calculations. These calculations determine the electronic structure of bulk materials by solving approximations to the Schrodinger equation. For more information, see https://materialsproject.org/docs/calculations