Non wood fuels for small-scale furnaces have attracted increasing interest in several European countries. New technological approaches are on the way, but the verification of any such developments is difficult and there is a large uncertainty about testing procedures and equipment. While for wood combustion standardized European measuring regulations are available and broadly applied, the testing of cereal fuel combustion is generally not following a commonly accepted procedure. Consequently the results of such measurements are not fully comparable. This applies particularly for the international level, which is here of particular relevance due to the fact that a combustion technology development for a niche application can only be economically viable if a sufficiently large marketing area can be taken into focus. The overall objective of the proposal is therefore to contribute through research to the development of uniform and comparable European procedures for testing of small-scale boilers up to a power out of 300 kW for solid biomass from agriculture like straw pellets and energy grain. The driving forces and barriers will be worked out; existing legal regulation for the installation (approval by the local authorities) in the participating countries will be collected. The state of the art of the non wood biomass boiler technology will be identified; the need for standardized tests for type approval tests and the measures to establish a European Standard will be shown. Measurement methods with special emphasis on efficiency and emissions will be worked out and the requirements and specifications of test fuels will be proposed. Test runs will be carried out following preliminary test procedures based on existing European standards for wood boilers. Based on the results of these test runs a draft for a Europe-wide uniform test procedure will be proposed. Preparatory work for a European standardization process including a round robin test will be done.
In Fragebogen-Untersuchungen zur Lärmwirkung wurden bisher sehr unterschiedliche Operationalisierungen von Wirkungsvariablen (wie z.B. Belästigung, Störung von Aktivitäten) und außer-akustischen Faktoren (sog. Moderatoren wie z.B. Lärmempfindlichkeit, misfeasance) verwendet. Deshalb hat sich die Arbeitsgruppe community response der International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN, Team No. 6) als langfristiges Ziel die Entwicklung von Fragebogen-Guidelines und die Formulierung eines Muster-Fragebogens für die Lärmwirkungsforschung gesetzt. D.h. es soll ein Vorschlag erarbeitet werden, in welcher Form globale und spezifische Lärmwirkungen in Befragungen erhoben werden sollten. Um dieses Vorhaben zu unterstützen, hat der Arbeitskreis Ökologische Lärmforschung die Erstellung einer systematischen Übersicht über vorhandene Fragebögen aus Lärmwirkungsstudien auf internationaler Ebene in Angriff genommen. Diese Übersicht soll es u.a. ermöglichen, die Struktur von verschiedenen Fragebögen sowie die in ihnen verwendeten Operationalisierungen für Lärmwirkungs- und Moderatorvariablen (hinsichtlich Art der Frageformulierung sowie der Antwortformate) zu vergleichen. Für den/die einzelne/n Lärmforscher/in bietet diese Übersicht die Möglichkeit, sich auf sehr effiziente Art und Weise darüber zu informieren, wie bestimmte Konstrukte in bisherigen Untersuchungen operationalisiert worden sind bzw. welche Alternativen zu den bereits selbst angewandten Operationalisierungen bestehen. Nach einer systematischen Ermittlung von Namen und Adressen einschlägiger Lärmforscher/innen, wurden diese um die Zusendung von Fragebögen sowie ergänzender Materialien aus eigenen Lärmwirkungsstudien gebeten. Die zugesandten Fragebögen werden gegebenenfalls übersetzt und mit der Methode der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet. Hierbei werden die Fragebögen im Hinblick auf formelle Aspekte (z.B. Jahr der Erhebung, Sprache, Art der Befragungsmethode) wie auch im Hinblick auf strukturelle Aspekte (z.B. Umfang des Fragebogens, abgefragte Variablengruppen, Antwortformate) ausgewertet. Hauptgegenstand der Auswertung ist aber insbesondere die Auswertung der Lärmwirkungsvariablen (z.B. die Abfrage der globalen Lärmbelästigung, Aktivitätenstörungen, Kommunikationsstörungen) sowie der Moderatorvariablen (z.B. Lärmempfindlichkeit, Lärmbewältigungsvermögen, misfeasance). Parallel dazu wurde eine Datenbank entwickelt, in der die Ergebnisse der Analysen dargestellt und verwaltet werden. Diese Datenbank wird ab November 2001 im Internet unter http://www.eco.psy.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/nqd für jede/n interessierte/n Forscher/in zugänglich und nutzbar sein. Langfristig ist darüber hinaus geplant, ein Archiv mit den Original-Fragebögen aufzubauen, in dem einzelne Fragebögen auf Wunsch eingesehen werden können.
The European Community produces every year 200 million tonnes of biodegradable wastes, which have to be diverted from landfilling according to European laws. Biological digestion, either aerobic or anaerobic, is the most environmentally favourable option for the recycling of biowastes. Composts resulting from these processes are used as soil improvers which, among other benefits, exert plant disease supressiveness due to the presence of microorganisms that are antagonists to pathogens. However, improperly treated composts may spread pathogenic microorganisms, thus damaging the environment and posing risks to human health. This causes concern among the general public, especially after the food alerts during the last decade, and constitutes a priority issue within the European Research Area. Therefore, a tool that allows the quick analysis of compost microbiota is needed to safeguarde its agronomic value. DNA biochip technology offers the possibility to simultaneously detect an entire array of microorganisms. The host group has recently designed a microarray addressed towards compost microbiota. This proposal aims to design an oligonucleotide microarray to detect signature microorganisms in composts from anaerobic digestion. Microorganisms that will be isolated from compost will be targeted. Additional probes will be selected on basis of sequences determined from bands in DGGE gels run with compost DNA. Oligonucleotide probes will be designed using sequence differences in the 16S rDNA gene and printed onto the arrays. Fluorescently labelled DNA will be prepared and hybridised, and the arrays analysed by fluorescent screening. The validation of the microarray will be mainly conducted through spiking experiments and through their wide application to already characterised compost samples. If succesful, the microarray might permit assessing whether soil improvers meet hygiene demands, thus increasing their marketability and promoting confidence among European consumers.
The aim of this Specific Support Action (SSA) is to enhance the participation of research organizations and SMEs from new Members States and Candidate Countries in FP6 and 6.3. Thematic Priority. The proposed activities will: - actively promote the research competencies on environment in ACC (at least 200 research organisations from ACC will be promoted); - train research and SMEs representative on issues related to FP6 and 'Global Changes and Ecosystems' (11 training sessions organized and up to 240 researchers trained); - allow to promote FP6/Global Changes and Ecosystems to research community and SMEs (2,750 brochures, 5,000 leaflets, 2,750 CDs, one web page, monthly E- newsletters, one European Conference); - allow to support researchers/SMEs in proposals elaboration and submission (up to 20 proposals with ACC partners); - allow to establish partnerships between organizations from Member States and ACC (one big Brokerage Event will be organized in Romania). ERA-ENV mobilises the skills and competencies of relevant organisations from 7 European Countries, of which 2 are Member States (Austriaand Germany), 2 are new Member States (Hungary and Slovakia) and 3 are Candidates Countries (Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey). Prime Contractor: Fiman Development Services S.A.a; Bucurestii 2; Romania.
The proposal suggests the organisation of the 7th EC Conference on Cultural Heritage Research in Prague, in 2006. The scope of the project stems from the SSP priorities, and the conference aims at the consolidation and impact assessment of results achieved in EU research projects related to movable and immovable cultural heritage, with a special focus on exploitation and spin-off of cultural heritage research results and testing of the acceptability of new sustainability approaches and new technologies by the user community, SMEs, owners, managers and restorers or conservationists of the cultural heritage. The Prague conference has been designed to further define the role of Europes cultural heritage research within the international context and as part of international cooperation, to explore the possibilities for SMEs in contributing to competitiveness and job creation, to define the support of cultural heritage research to policy needs and to contribute to the 7th Framework Programme establishment through support of the European Construction Technology Platform concept and research infrastructure development. The wider public will be addressed by means of special accompanying events, too, in order to ensure feedback and response from non-professional stakeholders. The Conference will consist of sessions dealing with political exploitation and public dissemination of cultural heritage research, the international role of European cultural heritage research, poster displays and verbal presentations of policy impact assessment, research infrastructure achievements, innovative applications and new ideas, as well as coordination of national education and research into cultural heritage issues. Public and professional awareness shall be increased by special demonstration and post-conference activities, including publication of the Conference Proceedings. The results and continuing activities will be supported by IT tools and follow-up working groups, after the event.
Various layers exist in the summer mesosphere at middle and polar latitudes which owe their existence to water ice particles. These layers are called ‚noctilucent clouds' (NLC), ‚polar meso- sphere clouds' (PMC), and ‚polar mesosphere summer echoes' (PMSE) which reflects different observation geometry or entirely different physical processes involved. These layers are very sen- sitive to temperature (and to a lesser extent to H2O) and are therefore best suited to indicate long term and solar cycle changes. Indeed, variations on decadal time scales of different layer parameters (occurrence frequency, layer brightness etc.) have been reported from ground and satellite based observations. However, the physical and photo-chemical processes involved are not understood and some of the observations contradict expectations. In this proposal we want to study the long term (decadal scale) formation of layers in the polar summer mesopause region, in particular their sensitivity to variations of background conditions caused by solar forcing and anthropogenic increase of greenhouse gases. We investigate and complement the available observations on layers (NLC/PMC/PMSE) and trace gases (ground based microwave and satellite observations of H2O) and perform model calculations with the LIMA GCM model. In the third phase of the SPP we want to study in particular the feed back mechanisms of ice formation on the atmosphere (e. g., through freeze drying) and the coupling mechanisms to above and below.
Objective: Healthy housing and good indoor air quality are important goals of public health. However, biological indoor pollution due to dampness, moisture and mold is an emerging environmental health issue, as recognized in EU indoor air policy documents. Prevalence of dampness is remarkable, and may still increase due to demands of energy savings and extreme weather periods and floods associated with climate change. The exposure may lead to long-term impacts such as asthma. The documentation is strong on association between building mold and health, but the causative agents and disease mechanisms are largely unknown, which impedes recognition of a mold-affected patient in health care. Efficient control and regulation are hampered by the insufficient understanding of these causalities. Understanding of the links between building practices and health is lacking. There is an urgent need for European-wide knowledge to form a basis for establishing building-associated criteria for healthy indoor environments. The aim of this proposal is to clarify the health impacts of indoor exposures on children and adults by providing comprehensive exposure data on biological and chemical factors in European indoor environments.
Objective: It is estimated that around 20Prozent of the burden of disease in industrialized countries can be attributed to environmental factors, and the magnitude of the problem is perceived by the majority of Europeans. The assessment of health impacts is based mostly on scarce exposure data and limited information on the relationship between exposure and health. There is, therefore, a need to strengthen research in this area and to develop methods and tools which will improve the comparability of data. Member States have developed skills and expertise using different mechanisms to fund environment and health research. The scientific boundaries created by the remits of different funding organisations have frequently acted as a disincentive to collaborative working. Although aims are towards relevance and efficiency, the results remain dispersed and not of actual support for policy-making. Therefore, results of the studies in ERA-ENVHEALTH will lead to the proposal of a coherent set of proposed priorities, implementation of joint activities, and common calls. ERA-ENVHEALTH, by bringing together 16 participants from 10 countries, will contribute to establish collaboration among the different funding organisations of environmental and public health research communities.
In the scope of the planned project the diversity and ecology of microbial communities and their functions in nutrient turnover under the extreme conditions in Arctic and Antarctic periglacial environments will be studied. Polar regions are vast and unique natural laboratories, both because of their geographical isolation and the minor anthropogenic influences active there, for studying microbial life under extreme environmental conditions. For this purpose the diversity and abundance of the microflora in dependence of important site characteristics such as hydrological, thermal and weathering processes will be investigated in different habitats on Store Koldewey (East Greenland) and Livingstone Island (Antarctic). The main objectives are the genotypic and phenotypic characterization of the microbial community by cultivation-independent methods such as lipid profiling and rRNA-based analyses. Stable isotope probing will be used to identify the main microbial players in nutrient turnover in the different environments. The acquired data will give insights into the early stage of life on Earth, the development of extreme habitats and the functioning of microbes within the ecosystem. The planed study contributes to the research topics of the International Polar Year proposal entitled Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, Periglacial and Soil Environments (ANPAS, No. 627) leaded by Dr. Jan Boelhouwers.
Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) is one of the major challenges in numerical weather prediction (NWP). This is true for QPF ranging from synoptic-scale to small-scale convection. The main goal of this proposal is to improve the short-range QPF on scales of a few hundred km and a few hours. To achieve a significant improvement of QPF on these scales the atmospheric variables, which are representing the pre-convective conditions, need to be determined. Hence an innovative combination of data assimilation techniques and observations is proposed. Within this project, 4D water vapour, as well as wind and cloud data are considered. The focus is on advanced observing systems with high future potential such as GPS, lidar, passive remote sensing from geostationary satellites as well as novel in-situ sensors. Different state-of-the-art assimilation techniques will be compared to find the optimal approach to improve QPF. After the development of suitable observation operators, the optimal use of advanced remote sensing systems will be investigated using various Observing System Experiments (OSE's) and Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSE's). To quantify the success, model independent data sets inferred from MSG/radar, GPS, and an innovative sounding system will be used for validation.
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