The project aims at achieving a better understanding of the processes that drive or limit the response of grassland systems in a world of increasing atmospheric pCO2. We will test the hypothesis that the previously shown increase in below-ground allocation of C under elevated pCO2 provides the necessary energy excess and will stimulate free-living N2 fixers in a low N grassland environment. The project thus aims at assessing the occurrence and importance of free-living N2 fixers under elevated pCO2 and identify the associated microbial communities involved in order to better understand ecosystems response and sustainability of grassland systems. This project had the last opportunity to obtain soil samples from a grassland ecosystem adapted to long-term (10 year) elevated atmospheric pCO2 as the Swiss FACE experiment. The project aims to identify the relevant components of free-living diazotrophs of the microbial community using 15N stable isotope - DNA probing.
The working documents on revision of the Sewage Sludge Directive (86/278/EEC) on Biowaste and the Soil Protection Communication call for standards on sampling and analysis of sludge, treated biowastes and soils. The European Directives are intended to prevent unacceptable release of contaminants, impairment of soil function, or exposure to pathogens, and to protect crops, human and animal health, the quality of water and the wider environment when sludges and treated biowastes are used on land. The EU animal by-product regulations are fixing microbiological threshold values, for which microbiological methods of analysis are needed. The European Commission wishes to cite European (CEN) standards in order that there is harmonised application of the directives and that reports from Member States (MS) can be compared. This project to develop standards for hygienic parameters in sludge, soil and biowaste, presented under the name 'HORIZONTAL-HYG', will be carried out under the umbrella of the main project HORIZONTAL 'Development of horizontal standards for soil, sludge and biowaste'. This ensures full integration in the CEN system through BT Task Force 151 specially set up in support of this project as well as direct supervision by DG ENV and MS, which form the Steering Committee of HORIZONTAL. Preparation of HORIZONTAL-HYG was taken in a full agreement with the DG ENV, DG JRC and the MS already contributing to HORIZONTAL. HORIZONTAL-HYG's objective is to produce standardised methods for sampling and hygienic microbiological parameters, as Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, Ascaris ova in sludges, treated biowastes and soils written in CEN format. Validation of the methods is an essential part of the development as it quantifies performance in terms of repeatability and reproducibility. The consortium is well connected in CEN and ISO and thus provides an excellent basis for implementation of the deliverables. Prime Contractor: Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland; Petten, Netherlands.
Background: It has been hypothesized, that children could be more vulnerable to radio frequency electromagnetic field exposures from mobile telephones than adults, but no epidemiological studies of the relationship have been performed so far. The lack of knowledge causes conflicting recommendations from decision-makers, leading to anxiety and insecurity in the population. WHO has put a case-control study on childhood brain tumours as high priority on their 2006 research agenda on radio frequency electromagnetic fields. Objectives: The main goal of the study is to investigate whether use of mobile telephones increases the risk of developing brain tumours for children or adolescents. In addition, our study will provide a comprehensive dataset to investigate other potential risk factors for childhood brain tumour. Study design: The questions under study will be investigated by means of a case-control study in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Cases will be identified through a combination of registry data and information from the wards treating the patients (e.g. Swiss Paediatric Oncology Group: SPOG). All incident cases of brain tumour in the age group 7-19 years between May 2004 and April 2008 will be invited to participate. In total, the study is expected to include 550 cases of brain tumours in the participating countries, thereof 100 originating from Switzerland. For each case, two control persons will be randomly selected from the general population, matched on age, sex and geographic regions. Exposure assessment: Information on the extent of exposure to radio frequency fields from mobile phones and on other known and suspected risk factors for childhood brain tumours will be obtained by means of computer assisted personal interviews conducted by an interviewer trained for this purpose. The interviews will take place either at the hospital or at the study participant's home. Objective information on the frequency and duration of mobile phone use will be obtained from mobile phone operators and from the information stored in the telephone that is in current use. Data analyses: The data will be analyzed using established statistical methods for case-control studies, primarily via logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounding factors. In order to investigate potential gene-environment interactions, DNA from saliva samples will be extracted and analysed. Polymorphisms in genes that affect oxidative metabolism, detoxification of carcinogens, DNA stability and repair, or immune response, are candidates that might confer genetic susceptibility to brain tumors.
The ARCHAIA project aims at implementing two training seminars on cultural heritage based on an innovative integrated perspective deriving both from the human and the natural sciences. The seminars address 90 post-graduate students, scholars and professionals of different backgrounds. Starting from the need of disseminating the results of 9 funded EU research projects and COST actions, we aim at presenting these within an innovative framework, i.e. a global approach towards planning and management of archaeological parks starting from the very first steps of field research and going through the characterisation of the materials retrieved and topographical studies in order to mould every bit of historical information within a coherent project, properly displayed for the public. Through an innovative didactic methodology, innovative scientific contents will be disseminated. Dealing with the initial program of archaeological research in the field, integrated with techniques of archeobiological and geoarchaeological investigation, our final goal is to supply the participants with the guidelines for moulding research strategies and managing archaeological sites, in order to be able to publicly display the historical content derived from research results and effectively proceed to the protection of the cultural heritage. One training seminar will be in Copenhagen and another one in Bologna. Five key topics have been selected: Topic 1 concerns Topography, surveying and landscape archaeology, Topic 2 Archaeological research and restoration of monuments, Topic 3 Material culture characterization, Topic 4 Anthropology and environment and Topic 5 Data processing and public presentation. The dissemination of the lectures presented through a monograph and multimedia products will also supply guidelines for integrated protocols on the management of archaeological sites, set in their landscape, within a global perspective.
The main objective of the project is to investigate, assess and enhance the potentiality of promising technological options (i.e., technologies, processes and concepts) for the treatment of industrial wastewater with the specific aim to provide tailor-mad e solutions to end-users for a wide range of wastewaters. Such solutions will be essentially based on the optimised integration of the investigated options and on technological improvements with respect to treatment system components, operation and control. Referring to the investigated options and the envisaged technological solutions, the project's goals are: -Investigating and enhancing the performances of promising wastewater treatment options such as aerobic granulation, integrated advanced oxidation processes (AOP) and membrane-based hybrid processes -Achieving fundamental and technological knowledge advancements necessary for advanced wastewater treatment application in different industrial sectors -Assessing the economic and environmental sustainability of promising wastewater treatment options -Developing integrated tailor-made solutions for end-users in different industrial sectors -Transferring the developed know-how to potential end-users inside and outside the project -Favouring their actual implementation for enhancing the EU Water Industry competitiveness. In order to achieve such goals, coordinated research activities will be carried out on selected options treating different wastewater. The experiences from such activities will be merged to define tailor-made solutions for end-users in different industrial sectors. A major goal will be the definition of treatment needs and framework conditions for a wide range of wastewaters based on the specific features of the options investigate d (i.e., aerobic granulation, AOP combined processes, membrane contactors, membrane chemical reactors). Prime Contractor: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Department of Bari, Water Research Institute, Roma, Italien.
Over land, observations of rain rates are more or less operational. To obtain information about precipitation at the coastal zones, weather radars are used. However, over the oceans, especially away from the main shipping routes, no direct precipitation measurements are performed. In these regions, satellite data can provide information about precipitation events. Satellites deploying passive and active microwave sensors can operate independently of cloud cover and time of day. Passive microwave sensors give crude estimates of rain rates over large areas but cannot resolve small-scale rain events of short duration as are often observed in the tropics, for example. Active microwave sensors with high resolutions, such as synthetic aperture radars can provide more reliable information. Though the effect of rain on the atmosphere is a very topical area of research, the radar backscattering mechanisms at the water surface during rain events combined with wind are still not well understood. The purpose of this project is to investigate the radar backscattering from the water surface in the presence of rain and wind in order to interpret satellite radar data produced by active microwave sensors. Furthermore, the results should be embedded into models of the radar backscattering from the water surface to allow for estimating rain rates by using satellite data. Research topics: Rain impinging on a water surfaces generates splash products including crowns, cavities, stalks and secondary drops, which do not propagate, and ring waves and subsurface turbulence. We are investigating this phenomena at the wind-wave tank of the University of Hamburg. The tank is fitted with an artificial rain simulator of 2.3 m2 area mounted 4.5 m over the water surface. Rain drops of 2.1 and 2.9 mm in diameter with rain rates up to 100 mm/h have been produced. Wind with speeds 10 m/s and monomolecular slicks act on the water surface. The influence of the rain on the water surface is measured with a resistance type wire gauge, a two dimensional laser slope gauge and an coherent 9.8 GHz (x band) continuous wave scatterometer operating at VV-, HH- and HV-polarization. The influence of rain below the water surface is measured with colored raindrops which are observed with a video camera to investigate the turbulent motion and the depth of the mixed layer. At the North Sea Port of Buesum in Germany, a scatterometer operating at all polarizations and five frequencies will be mounted during summer of this year. The radar backscatter of the sea surface during rain events will be measured in combination with meteorological observations. With help of these measurements, existing radar backscatter models of the water surface will be improved for the presence of rain events. To validate the improved models, ERS-2 SAR-images will be compared with weather radar data.
Waterborne sewage system has proven to be inappropriate to solve sanitation needs in developing countries. Approximately 90 percentt of city sewage in developing countries today is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas (Winblad, 1997). With increasing population density and the resultant groundwater pollution, conventional decentralized disposal systems such as latrines and seepage pits are not viable alternatives either. Many cities are short of water and subject to critical environmental degradation (Niemczynowicz, 1996). Conventional sanitation technologies based on flush toilets, sewers, treatment and discharge cannot solve the problems in urban areas anymore. A sustainable sanitation and wastewater management system is urgently needed in order to address these issues. Ecological sanitation (Ecosan) is proposed as an alternative system to solve the following problems: lack of sanitation and water body contamination by pathogens from human waste. Ecosan does not only provide sanitation facilities for the people, but also seeks to protect public health, prevents water pollution and at the same time returns valuable nutrients to the soil so that it also helps to ensure food security and contributes to the objectives of sustainable development. The objective of this research is to search for a sustainable sanitation and human waste management system that is appropriate to be applied in poor income people living in densely populated urban areas in Indonesia. As Ecological Sanitation has not been applied in Indonesia before, this dissertation also aims to investigate its effectiveness and community acceptance in Indonesia. Two other existing systems are also studied as the comparison, which are the conventional septic tank system and the decentralized wastewater system (Dewats). All of these sanitation systems are assessed based on three sustainability criteria: economical, environmental and social.
*The Water Framework Directive (WFD) provides a European policy basis at the river basin scale. The river basin management and planning process prescribed in the WFD focuses on integrated management, involving all physical domains in water management, sectors of water use, socio-economics and stakeholder participation. As such, the WFD poses new challenges to water resources managers. In practise, the preparation of WFD river basin management plans is influenced by uncertainties in the underlying data and modelling results. The preparation of integrated water management plans for the WFD will require making a large number of decisions by operational agencies in Europe. A decision maker has to make decisions based on available information. In most cases this information is deficient, incomplete and uncertain. How should this affect the decision making. Therefore, there is a clear and urgent need for developing new methodologies and tools that can be used to assist in implementing the WFD. In order to support such research and development, it is necessary to have a network of representative river basins with datasets suitable for this purpose. This implies that the datasets, in addition to covering the diversity in terms of ecological regimes and socio-economic conditions found across Europe, must have built-in information on the uncertainties in the data. HarmoniRiB is a research and technological development (RTD) project funded by the European Commission (contract number EVK1-CT-2002-00109) that was initiated in October 2002 and will be completed in March 2006. The overall goal of HarmoniRiB is to develop methodologies for quantifying uncertainty and its propagation from the raw data to concise management information. Thus, the HarmoniRiB project aims to support the WFD implementation, by addressing issues of uncertainty in data and modelling, and by developing a 'virtual laboratory for modelling studies'. This virtual laboratory will comprise of a set of river basins, of which data relevant to modelling and the WFD implementation are readily available for the scientific community. The data can be used for comparison and demonstration of methodologies and models relevant to the WFD. HarmoniRiB is implemented by a Consortium of ten partners from eight European countries. It consists of three universities (UVA, TUC, UCLM), five public research institutes (GEUS, RIZA, CNR-IRSA, UFZ, CEH) one private sector research and consulting company (DHI) and one river basin authority (PM). The British partner of the Consortium is the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). CEH role in the project is to develop a database design for data required to support river basin management,to populate the database with a dataset from the Kennet river basin, and to conduct a demonstratition case study on that basin.
In contrast to their advances in other areas, weather forecast models have not been successful in improving the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast during the last 16 years. One reason for this stagnation is the lack of comprehensive, high-quality data sets usable for model validation as well as for data assimilation, thus leading to improved initial fields in numerical models. Theoretical analyses have identified the requirements measured data have to meet in order to close the gaps in process understanding. In field campaigns, it has been shown that the newest generation of remote sensing systems has the potential to yield data sets of the required quality. It is therefore time to combine the most powerful remote sensing instruments with proven ground-based and airborne measurement techniques in an Intensive Observations Period (IOP). Its goal is to serve as a backbone for the SPP 1167 by producing the demanded data sets of unachieved accuracy and resolution. This requires a sophisticated scientific preparation and a careful coordination between the efforts of the institutions involved. For the first time, the pre-convective environment, the formation of clouds and the onset and development of precipitation as well as its intensity will be observed in four dimensions simultaneously in a region of sufficient size. This shall be achieved by combining the IOP with international programs and by collaboration between leading scientists in Europe, US and other countries. Thus, the IOP is a unique opportunity to make Germany the setting of an international field campaign featuring the newest generation of measurement systems such as scanning radar and lidar and leading to outstanding advances in atmospheric sciences.
Aquifers are the main source of water in most semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean basin. As a result of over-exploitation hydrologic deficits of varying acuity prevail in these areas. Seawater intrusion and pollution have been identified as the primary factors for quality degradation. Further deterioration can be expected based on trends in the precipitation regime attributed to climate change. The objective of this project is to identify alternative sources of water and to investigate the feasibility, both environmental and economic of their utilization. Alternative water sources to be artificially recharged comprise: surface water runoff, treated effluent, and imported water. Furthermore, brackish water bodies, present in many aquifers could be utilised after desalination. The project structured into eight work-packages comprehensively addresses all issues related to the problem: expected precipitation rates, recharge and water budgets, identification of potential alternative water sources and technologies for their utilization, development of tools for the management of groundwater resources under artificial recharge conditions, aquifer vulnerability assessment, characterization of the unsaturated zone, and mixing effects. Four test sites have been selected for practical application of the approach. Substantial field testing, integration of technologies and findings to ensure optimal implementations of aquifer recharge alternatives, quantification of socio-economic impacts and development of dissemination platform are planned. Finally a carefully designed project management shall drive and accompany the project execution in order to ascertain consistency and efficiency.
| Organisation | Count |
|---|---|
| Bund | 84 |
| Global | 1 |
| Wissenschaft | 40 |
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Förderprogramm | 84 |
| License | Count |
|---|---|
| Offen | 84 |
| Language | Count |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | 14 |
| Englisch | 79 |
| Resource type | Count |
|---|---|
| Keine | 53 |
| Webseite | 31 |
| Topic | Count |
|---|---|
| Boden | 78 |
| Lebewesen und Lebensräume | 83 |
| Luft | 69 |
| Mensch und Umwelt | 84 |
| Wasser | 70 |
| Weitere | 84 |