Ερευνητικά Αποτελέσματα Ξένων Ερευνητών - Europedirect

An EU-funded initiative has developed a novel treatment system for capturing and revalorising ammonia from the atmosphere.

Most ammonia emissions come from agriculture, in the form of a gas produced by slurry or other rotting farm waste and fertiliser, or biogas plant residue. It can combine with other pollutants in the atmosphere to create very small particles, known as PM 2.5 which can be highly harmful to the lungs when inhaled. Ammonia in water bodies is toxic to aquatic organisms.

Risk and uncertainty in climate policy making is currently an under researched area. These factors need to be fully considered if unintended consequences are to be avoided.

Models concerning the evolution of the future climate and its impacts contain a high degree of uncertainty, as do models for assessing the costs and benefits associated with different mitigation pathways.

The way multimedia content is created, shared, used and reused has changed, producing significant amounts of user-generated multimedia resources mostly shared under open licences. Needing to reduce production costs to remain competitive, there’s an opportunity for the creative industries to incorporate such content in their productions, but they lack the technology to do so.

Key global actors involved in biodiversity management and policy development continue to search for the most effective conservation measures. An EU initiative has tackled the challenges posed by equitable conservation, considered one of the main solutions for protecting biodiversity.

An Italian archeologist used modern techniques to analyse the ancient port city of Ugarit in today’s Syria. Her research under the EU project, COMPUS, overthrows colonial assumptions that citizens in the Late Bronze Age were just hapless victims of despotic kings.

A recent study of dust deposition in the western Southern Atlantic Ocean (wSAO) will help create new atmospheric and climate models for the region.

The EU-funded SOUTHERNCHANGE project has improved scientific understanding of the atmospheric cycling of dust and trace elements in the wSAO. The work was in collaboration with Imperial College, the University of Nottingham, the Natural History Museum of London and the South Atlantic Research Institute and was supported by the Marie Curie Programme.

School children on the streets are demanding we move faster to reduce our use of fossil fuels and do whatever we can to save biodiversity. But energy is the key. Marine energy is a clean, efficient source of renewable energy and one EU-supported project is investing in innovative technologies to harness this resource.

Security organisations can’t keep up with the sheer volume of surveillance footage available today. The machine-learning based SURVANT system sifts through the data to find patterns of crimes and even predicts their evolution.

An EU-funded research initiative has developed a new test for identifying semen stains to use as evidence in cases of sexual assault.

Crime scene investigation (CSI) technology must provide, fast, accurate, non-destructive detection of a wide range of evidence, including invisible stains caused by bodily fluids. Particularly important is the ability to identify semen stains for evidence from sexual assault cases, as it is likely to contain samples of the assailant’s DNA.

Data security is the goal of cryptography and more diverse solutions are required as the power to break many present-day encryption schemes draws nearer thanks to advances in quantum computation.

Quantum computing is on the horizon and while it will usher in a new generation of computer applications, it will also threaten current methods of encryption. The EU-supported SAFEcrypto project is identifying next generation post-quantum cryptography to deal with the impact of quantum computation.

Corporations control the internet for private profit, but at great social cost. There’s another way.

Today’s internet bears little resemblance to its original concept, which was to foster free exchange of information. Now, corporate interests oppose that purpose.

Imagine the possibility of cognitively aware, sensorial interfaces based on nanotechnology. The future starts now thanks to work by EU-funded scientists.

Integration of multiple disciplines and varied fields of expertise has historically spurred tremendous growth and advances that would not be otherwise possible. The NANOARCHITECTRONICS project is at the forefront of the next great fusion.

Patients suffering painful rheumatoid arthritis could get better treatment in the future, thanks to a test developed on EU project RABIOPRED by a French SME.

Between 0.1 % and 5 % of the world’s population suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis, a chronic autoimmune disease that causes swelling in joints. Many patients waste up to six months taking treatments that don’t help ease their pain, says French company TcLand Expression.

Space robots explore celestial bodies and help keep man-made satellites orbiting the Earth in tip-top shape. EU-funded scientists have significantly enhanced their data-processing capabilities to help them do their jobs even better.

Intelligent eyewear could benefit many people, whether their eyesight is poor or not. The I-SEE smart eyewear detects posture, screen-time use and even UV exposure – while keeping style at the forefront.

An EU project has developed cutting-edge eyewear for the ‘internet of things’ era, that could improve both the health and well-being of wearers – whether they have poor eye-sight or not. The glasses track viewing and living experiences and can connect to other smart devices such as smartphones, in-car telematics and those used by opticians.

Skin cells can alert our immune systems when they detect a virus or DNA damage, discovered researchers on EU project IFNDNA. The findings may help to improve treatments for autoimmune conditions and diseases like cancer in the future.

Researchers at the British universities Lancaster and Dundee have learnt how skin cells alert the immune system when they detect a virus or when their DNA is damaged by sunburn, pollution or chemotherapy drugs.

As a major livestock producer, the EU must boost sustainable food production to mitigate a growing global population and climate change impacts. GplusE developed new phenotypes and genomic tools benefiting efficiency, the environment, alongside animal fertility and welfare.

In the coming years, state fragility is one of the key hurdles European foreign policy will face. What can be done to tackle it? An EU-funded project leads the way.

War and fragility in the Middle East, exacerbated by geopolitical competitions, allowed the proliferation of violent non-state actors such as the Islamic State. It further triggered the greatest refugee crisis since World War II.

The work ahead

Monitoring pet health is not easy and usually entails the use of medical devices initially designed for humans. To aid the veterinary clinical practice, a European project developed wearable technology that provides pet medical information in real time wirelessly.

The pet and veterinary markets demonstrated significant growth over the past five years. However, technological limitations remain in terms of pet health monitoring with the majority of veterinarians using traditional equipment in their clinics.

An innovative approach for monitoring pet health

EU-funded research finds Chinese workers have a limited understanding of their rights. The impacts of this labour situation extend beyond its borders.

The plight of Chinese workers is not strictly a domestic problem, it affects Europe and the rest of the world. Western people should be concerned, as China’s low wages and repressive conditions partly explain job losses in their countries. At the same time, Western businesses have a financial interest in maintaining the status quo.