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Objective: The decoupling of economic growth and the growth of transport represents a major objective within the European transport policy. The major contributor to transport growth has to be seen in the increased transport intensity of value creation. On the supply side, the non-optimal utilisation of transport capacities and modes contributes to the growth of transport, for example in the lack of acceptance of inter-modal transport. This has been a major issue for policy makers for many years. In order to get a better understanding of the interrelation between logistics decisions and transport demand, the EC supported a number of research projects, such as SULOGTRA, EUTRALOG and PROTRANS. As a result, substantial scientific evidence has been produced. However, to achieve the Commission objectives, these findings must be translated into the daily operations of shippers and logistics service providers.
Objective: The European PV market is developing rapidly, with new products and services, new actors and technologies emerging constantly while overall business grows by over 30Prozent a year. During such growth of market and industry it is of particular importance to lay a sound basis of understanding of the quality and performance of products and systems, harmonise procedures for their testing and labelling and disseminate this knowledge to all involved players. Customers, manufacturers and service providers today ask for increased transparency and increased confidence and planning reliability. And they will all benefit from a joint effort on pre-normative research on performance assessment of photovoltaics presented here. The PERFORMANCE project covers all pre-normative as pects from cell to system level and from instantaneous device characterisation and system measurement to their life-time performance prediction and assessment. The limitations of current indoor and outdoor calibration measurement technology will be investi gated and precision will be improved, covering current technologies as well as new and advanced cell and module concepts. Methods will be developed to connect from measurements of module power to module energy production. In a third pillar, methodologies f or the assessment of the life-time performance of PV modules will be developed. Based on all these work packages, a modelling and analysis programme will provide the analytical understanding of PV performance in the broad and systematic manner mentioned ab ove. Following this work programme, PERFORMANCE will produce a consistent set of measurement and modelling methodologies to create the transparency needed for the European market and industry. Next to this significant scientific effort, intense involvement of all European companies along the value chain will be organised systematically through feedback loops. Project results will be fed directly into standardisation processes on CENELEC and IEC level.
Objective: In a deregulated EU rail market monitoring of the vehicle and infrastructure interface is mandatory for enhanced availability of operation reducing costs. Especially when a rolling stock is crossing boundaries between independent infrastructure grids, cond ition monitoring becomes crucial. A monitoring tool on OCLs overhead contact lines - for infrastructure managers is needed for an separate measurement of contact force and surface condition of the vehicle current strip. The rolling stock operator needs a complementary device to measure not only the vertical contact force, but moreover the friction force, in order to analyse the vehicle and OCL interface condition. In SMITS a monitoring system for contact force on the interface current collector lt;- gt; c ontact wire has been developed. A sensor technology has been started to explore showing the potential for an extended range of rail monitoring tools. An innovative coherent sensor technology approach shall be investigated and two independent monitoring too ls for vehicle and infrastructure be developed. These shall be validated at new rail tracks specified for TSI interoperable cross boundary transportation: the Ltschberg Basis Tunnel, CH and the HSL Zuid high speed line, NL, both ready for operation in 2007 . Demonstration tests in operation will be performed along the Korridor X infrastructure passing through different countries rail networks. The outcome of the project will enable managers to specify driving conditions for the usage of their infrastructure to avoid excessive wear improving availability. Complementary rolling stock operators can monitor OCL condition giving them an informative argument in case of damage. Condition-dependent user fees as well as threat of penalty will force vehicle and infrast ructure managers to maintain the vehicle and infrastructure interface on a superior level of availability. The operational costs will be reduced and availability of transportation capacity enhanced.
Objective: eMOTION aims to specify a Europe-wide multi-modal traffic information service that offers real time information for road and public transport users by means of on-trip-devices like PDA/Smart Phones or in-car-systems. The project develops policies and scenarios for a Europe-wide information service integrating content providers, service operators/providers with different legal status, coming from public and commercial sectors all over Europe. Policies and scenarios cover legal/organisational aspects as well as implementation and data safety policies, and meet in an organisational and legal framework for the service architecture and finally in a proof-of-the-concept. A system architecture with web-based application services calculates the information request of the user. The data content is organised in distributed databases providing the information on request. To enable distributed data management data sets will use common data protocols and interfaces.
Objective: ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT aims to improve co-operation between the new member states, applicant countries as well as Russia, Ukraine and Turkey in the maritime fields. ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT has two general strategic objectives:- to support the integration of the new member states, applicant countries, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey into the European Maritime Research Area, thus supporting EU policies and the formation of ERA- to support the goals defined in the maritime part of the Sustainable Surface Priority of the 6 th Framework Programme. To support integration, ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT will help to jointly use R&D potentials and resources.ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT will promote a culture of innovation and fertilize participation of SMEs in European research. Technically, enhan ced exchange of information, technology transfer and research cooperation initiated by the project will help to meet demands of European transport policy and to the objectives of the sustainable surface transportpriority. Particular focus will be on:- S hipbuilding and -repair, including ship equipment manufacturers and maritime service providers,- Waterborne (long-haul, short sea and inland waters) transport in Europe.- Maritime Transport safety will especially focus on transport of dangerous goods to a void environmental- hazards in European waters, the Baltic and Mediterranean and Black Sea.- Efficient transport of marine natural resources is in the focus as well. The following activities will be undertaken:- Creation of a Network of Maritime R&D N ational Contact Points.- Inform about potentials and activities of European research in the new member states and neighbours of the EU by workshops in those countries. Inform research community and industry about the potential of countries not yet integra ted in European research.
Objective: Problems to be solved: There are still discrepancies between model prediction and observations of the year- round stratospheric ozone decline in mid and high latitudes. In summer, current models still severely overestimate ozone in the polar regions, and this appears as a major deficiency in our ability to model the complete ozone seasonal cycle. The springtime mid-latitude ozone depletion has not been satisfactorily modelled in a quantitative manner. This proposal hence aims at improving our understanding and modelling of ozone loss processes throughout spring and summer, in the northern mid and high latitudes. Scientific objectives and approach: The main scientific objective is to acquire a quantitative understanding of: (i) the mid-latitude ozone depletion accompanying the breakdown of the wintertime polar vortex, especially over Europe, and ii) the Arctic summer ozone deficit and its linkage to midlatitudes. The project relies on using an integrated approach combining ground-based and balloon-borne measurements, global satellite observations, as well as advanced chemical/dynamical modelling and data assimilation. Measurements of ozone, inert gases, or species actively involved in ozone chemistry, are made at three different stations in the Arctic throughout spring and summer. Observational techniques comprise ground-based lidar and infrared spectroscopic measurements, and light-weight balloon-borne instrumentation. Satellite observations complement these local, ground-based and in-situ measurements by allowing to characterise the global, evolving three-dimensional ozone distribution. The satellite data are globally integrated into a transport model through data assimilation. State-of-the-art numerical models are used to investigate the interaction of chemistry and mixing in the spring and summer stratosphere. These models are used to diagnose the ozone loss mechanisms and the overall transport of trace species in spring and summer. Correlative studies of the abundance of various trace species, either modelled or measured, allow to disentangle the effect of mixing from chemical sources and sinks. Expected impacts: The information to be provided by the field campaigns and model studies during SAMMOA will improve the quantification of ozone loss in the stratosphere, a key science priority in support of the Montreal protocol. This project will particularly impact on understanding of ozone depletion in spring and summer, when it is most harmful. It is indeed in the summertime, that human exposure to UV radiation is largest in middle latitudes. Modelling improvements shall result in better assessment and prediction of the ozone trend and recovery in support of regulatory protocols. Prime Contractor: Norwegian Institute for Air Research; Kjeller.
Under the 2003 EU Greek presidency, cooperation with Balkan countries on environmental issues was identified as a priority of the EU/Balkan Action Plan. Large-scale co-operation is essential for effective action in the vulnerable Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal zones. During the last 50 years both areas suffered major changes; as semi-enclosed basins, both Seas are ultra-sensitive to anthropogenic stress and to climate change. An EU Presidency Conference on Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean/Black Sea (May 2003), revealed major gaps in management structures, scientific strategies and identified a diversity of environmental issues to be resolved through priority-focused RTD cooperation. Yet, while pressure on the resources of the two seas increases and the potential impact of climate change on coastal and deep-sea resources remains unknown, the two seas have never been jointly studied as systems of interacting basins and ecosystems. The proposal outlines collaboration and clustering schemes involving environmental, economic and scientific organisations in Mediterranean, Black Sea and other EU nations, in order to create synergies in networking and exchanges at several levels, addressing for the first time the system of interconnected basins as one, based on the integration of, both horizontally and vertically, natural scientists and economists. These will: 1) Create an international, interdisciplinary platform coordinating the region's scientific potential in order to prepare RTD projects, based on a Science Plan for the region, securing sustainable development; 2) Focus on natural and anthropogenic pressures exerted upon the functioning of the ecosystem; 3) Reinforce RTD capacity by setting up an environment/resource monitoring network in the light of existing observation networks of different scopes. Prime Contractor: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Anavyssos, GR.
Objective/Problems to be solved: Considerable uncertainties still exist in the magnitude of some of the main forcing factors which causes climatic change. There is a need to better quantify these factors e.g. those due to greenhouse gases, aerosols, stratospheric ozone and to solar processes. Scientific objectives and approach: The project aims to estimate the magnitude of temporal changes/variations in external forcing of climate, and to compare both the timing and the magnitude of the detected forcing anomalies with known and hypothesised variations in external forcing. Two different techniques to obtain the forcing will be used and compared, namely temporal changes in 6 and 24 forecast errors, i.e. forecast increments, and temporal changes in initial tendency errors obtained by assimilating the slow atmospheric normal modes obtained from re-analysis into a state-of-the-art climate model. The re-analysis data sets, which will be used, are the ERA15, ERA40 and the GEO-1 and GEO-2 data. The climate model to be used is the ECHAM model. Using re-analysis data, model tendency errors will be analysed to establish real forcing fields and to quantify forcing from processes not included in the model, i. e. stratospheric ozone, volcanic aerosols and desert dust. As a second step an improved ECHAM model, including parametrization of the processes mentioned above, will be used to assimilate the re-analysis data and the results will be used to estimate the performance of the parametrization schemes and the upgraded model. It is intended also to use this technique in a reverse mode to estimate e.g. concentrations of aerosols from volcanic eruptions. With the estimates of real forcings due to the various processes as far back in time as over the last 40 years the aim is to establish improved (insofar the accuracy of the data permits) estimates of dust/aerosol concentrations during dust/aerosol events. Such estimates are of particular interest for the earlier part of the period, where satellite observations of dust and aerosol loads are not available. In the same way, on a longer time scale, it will be investigated whether effects related to the 11 year sunspot cycle and solar processes of shorter duration and of stratospheric ozone depletion over the period can be quantified. Based on the above the various forcing estimates will be used to isolate the global warming signal from the increase in greenhouse gases (including water vapor), and to quantify to what extent greenhouse forcing has been offset by other forcings or processes during the period. Expected impacts: The project contributes to detection and attribution of climate change and its causes and its results could have important policy implications and impacts. The data sets produced and the model development work will contribute to the development of better climate models and climate change scenarios. Prime Contractor: Danish Meteorological Institute, Climate Research Division; Kobenhavn/Denmark.
Objective: The objective of this investigation is to contribute to the knowledge on handling, shipping and preservation of male and female gametes and embryos in rainbow trout (Oncorhunchus mykiss). General Information: In order to have a steady supply of gametes available, fish will be subjected to either a 6 months compressed light programme or melatonin treatment. In order to study the effect of these treatments in depth and obtain physiological cues as to the times when vitellogenesis occurs and mature gametes are available, serum profiles of the relevant reproductive hormones and vitellogenin will be established. Housing and treatment of fish, collection of gametes and experiments involving handling, storage and preservation as well as fertilization trials will be conducted in Goettingen. Hormone and vitellogenesis determinations will be conducted in Sheffield. Unfertilized eggs and embryos at different stages of development will be stored at various temperatures from 4 C downwards. The suitability of extenders (e.g. sucrose) and cryoprotectants as well as different temperatures and cooling and warming rates will be investigated. Special attention will be given to a new freezing technique, called vitrification, which avoids formation of membrane damaging ice crystals. Recently this technique has been successfully applied in this laboratory for the freezing of mammalian embryos. Concerning cryopreservation of rainbow trout sperm, a series of trials will be conducted in order to improve the sucrose extender and its adaptation to the application under field conditions. It will also be attempted to freeze dry trout sperm after appropriate pretreatment (sucrose, vitrification medium). Achievements: Research has been carried out to increase knowledge on handling and preservation of male and female gametes and embryos in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Long term trials using melatonin implants have been conducted. Analyses for plasma melatonin, steroids, vitellogenin and spawning times are in progress. As a first step an enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) system was set up. Using this system, fully validated homologous ELISAs have been established for estradiol and testosterone. An ELISA for melatonin is near completion. Furthermore, a technique to introduce permanently indwelling catheters in trout has been established. The number of sperm required to fertilize an egg before and after cryopreservation has been determined. The results show that 2E6 frozen thawed spermatozoa per egg gave satisfactory fertilization rates. To be on the safe side, 3E6 is recommended. Since the number of fresh spermatozoa per egg required for optimal fertilization was between 2E5 and 3E5, 15 times more frozen spermatozoa are needed. Preliminary experiments, aimed at the freezing of eggs show that there are solution effects from the cryoprotectants on the survival of eggs and embryos...
General Information: Two systems will be built for the autonomous measurement of trace metal concentrations in the water column and at the water-sediment interface. They are based on voltammetric microelectrode arrays, so the development of the sensor and voltammeter will be similar. Voltammetric probe for the water column, usable in the water column down to 500m, and controlled either by an operator from a ship, or automatically when attached to a buoy. The system will determine concentration profiles between 0-500 m, routinely in function of time and depth for 1-2 week and will be able to transmit the data to a land station by radio, telephone or satellite link. Cu(II), Pb(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) will be measured with a sensitivity less than lOOpM. Extension to the analysis of Mn(II) and Fe(II) are foreseen. The probe will allow metal speciation: it determines specifically the 'truly dissolved' fraction of the trace metals (i.e. metal species smaller than ca 3 nm), directly in situ, without any sample handling thus minimizing methodological artefacts. Additional determination of the total metal concentration allows definition of the colloida)+ particulate metal fraction by difference. Emphasis will be put on the development of cheap and reliable microelectrode arrays, built using new microtechnology. Recent developments in combining mercury film Ir based microelectrodes, in a special antifouling gel, providing high the sediment-water interface, with submillimeter resolution. Microelectrode arrays with antifouling gel and with individually addressable electrodes will be used. The voltammetric probe and sensors will be placed on a lander already developed in the EUROMAR EU-408 BIMS project. Measurements down to 6000m will be stored or transmitted by cable (shallow depths) or by acoustic telemetry. The truly dissolved (i.e. the mobile) fraction of metals will be measured. A multipotentiostat and multiplexer will be combined to record the concentration profiles in 64 microelectrodes over a depth of 1 cm with a resolution of 100-200um without moving the electrode array in the sediment or a micromanipulator will be used to move the electrode array vertically. The two systems will be the first existing probe for the determination in situ of trace metal concentration in the water column and at the sediment-water interface.The techniques to be used are feasible thanks to the well-integrated complementary expertise of the four partners.
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