Research*eu results magazine. N° 51, April 2016.
Date: 2016-04-07
Institutions: CORDIS, Publications Office of the European Union
Subjects: research, research and development, research project, serial publication

ISSN 1977-4028

research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

N°51
APRIL 2016

SPECIAL FEATURE

BLURRING THE LINES:  
MAN MEETS  
MACHINE

ENERGY AND TRANSPORT
CONSTRUCTING 
ENERGY-EFFICIENT 
SCHOOLS FOR  
THE FUTURE
 PAGE 26

SECURITY AND SAFETY
THE QUEST  
TO DETECT BOMBS 
BEFORE THEY  
ARE EVEN MADE
 PAGE 41

research eu
R E S U LT S   M AG A Z I N E

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ED ITOR IAL

by the editorial team

HUMAN MACHINE SYMBIOSIS: 
COULD THE SINGULARITY  
BE MORE THAN A FANCIFUL 
THEORY?

Raymond Kurzweil is probably one of the most inspiring computer scientists and futurists of his 
generation — with a career paved with head-turning innovations, prestigious awards for his 
inventions and a place in the US National Inventors Hall of Fame. However, his legacy will mostly 
be that of a curious prediction: Kurzweil believes that, in around 2045, machines will outsmart 
people to the point where they can actually improve themselves without any help from their 
human designers.

According to some theories, that event might actually mark the moment when humans and 
machines merge with each other. Humans would then be blessed with the likes of eternal life 
and intellectual and physical capacities beyond imagination. 

Some 30 years separate us from the potential realisation of this theory. So the question is, are 
we getting any closer to that point? Are scientific efforts to produce more human-like machines 
and blur the lines between virtual and ‘real’ reality proving to be fruitful? This edition of the 
research*eu results magazine is shedding some 
light on this issue by presenting some of the 
latest achievements of scientists thanks to EU 
funding.

‘We could be tempted 
to conclude that 
Kurzweil’s theory is all 
but far-fetched.’

Judging  by  the  discussions  we  had  with  the 
coordinators  of  the  11  most  recently  active 
projects in this field, we could be tempted to 
conclude that Kurzweil’s theory is all but far-
fetched. These projects can be split into three categories: efforts to bring human-machine 
interaction to the next level thanks to advanced brain-computer interfaces, research tapping 
into  brain  functioning  to  inspire  a  new  generation  of  machines  and  algorithms,  and  near-
science-fiction technologies that could eventually make virtual reality as real as anything we 
humans can experience in our daily life. 

This special feature is followed by the usual eight sections providing insights into biology and 
medicine,  social  sciences  and  humanities,  energy  and  transport,  the  environment,  IT  and 
telecommunications, industrial technologies, security and safety, and space, along with a list of 
upcoming events hosted by or involving EU-funded research projects.

We  look  forward  to  receiving  your  feedback.  You  can  send  questions  or  suggestions  to:  
editorial@cordis.europa.eu

Want more information on 
the contents of this issue?
For online versions or information 
about the contributors in this issue  
of research*eu results magazine:
CORDIS
•  http://cordis.europa.eu/projects
•  http://cordis.europa.eu/news

research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

NEXT
ISSUE

Focus on  
Fish or seafood: 
feeding humanity 
while maintaining 
nature's balance

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26

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SPECIAL FEATURE

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MAN MEETS MACHINE

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ISSN 1831-9947

research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

N°51
APRIL 2016

SPECIAL FEATURE

BLURRING THE LINES:  
MAN MEETS  
MACHINE

ENERGY AND TRANSPORT
CONSTRUCTING 
ENERGY-EFFICIENT 
SCHOOLS FOR  
THE FUTURE
 PAGE 26

SECURITY AND SAFETY
THE QUEST  
TO DETECT BOMBS 
BEFORE THEY  
ARE EVEN MADE
 PAGE 41

4 
Touch and feel over distance: the next trend in ICT?
6  New discoveries and enhanced visual experiences through  

gaze-contingent displays
Brain-inspired navigation in robots

7 
8  Myoelectric devices meet sensory-motor integration
9  Novel electrode systems unveil the mechanisms behind human 

movement

11  Using avatars and robots to treat social disorders
12  Real life meets sci-fi: the embodiment station
14  Big steps towards the creation of a fully functional robotic nose
15  Training Europe’s next generation of neural engineers
16  Mapping the brain’s cortical columns to develop innovative   

brain-computer interfaces

18  Major scientific breakthrough with the creation of the first 

biological supercomputer

19  BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
19  Epigenetic alterations key for detecting 

and preventing breast cancer

20  Sex determination genes of the mosquito
20  Pluripotency — Link to carcinogenesis
21  Innovative mattress aims to prevent cases of 

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

21  Haematopoietic stem cells and microRNAs
22  International virus library network

23   SOCIAL SCIENCES  
AND HUMANITIES

23  New recommendations for reducing 

poverty in Europe
24  Ancient textile terminology
25  Novel econometric models to manage 

financial crises

25  Early Scandinavian trade

26  ENERGY AND TRANSPORT
26  Constructing energy-efficient schools 

for the future

27  New toolbox to help boost and secure 

European electricity networks

28  Clean, green and innovative transport 

solutions for cities

28  Smart digital platform to boost energy 

efficiency in cities

29  New thinking about transport
30  Novel honeycomb design for better 

thermochemical energy storage capabilities

31  ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
31  Novel methods to extrapolate ancient 

climatological conditions

32  Caribbean environmental management
33  Air particles and their impact on climate 

change

33  Observation of global carbon cycle
34  Understanding forest litter for better climate 

models

35  IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
35  A new bandwidth variable transmitter to 

build future optical networks

36  Novel semantic tagging tool to benefit digital 

journalism

37  New tools developed to help SMEs efficiently 

scale up cloud services

37  Interactive tools to facilitate further 

cooperation on responsible research and 
innovation

38  New software tool supports advanced 
application development and modelling

39  INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES
39  Chemical bond formation  

simplified

40  New environmentally friendly fibre-reinforced 

cement

40  Sanitising wastewater with UV light

41  SECURITY AND SAFETY
41  The quest to detect bombs before  

they are even made

42  Next-generation cryptographic techniques  

to enhance privacy

42  Reliably e-boosting nuclear power safety
43  In-depth perspective of European citizens  
on surveillance, privacy and security

44  SPACE
44  New magnetic radiation shielding to 

protect astronauts during deep space 
missions

45  Swirling secrets in stars’ planet-forming  

discs

45  Pathway to the Square Kilometre  

Array

46  What regulates the growth of galaxies?

47 EVENTS

35

39

41

44

19

23

26

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research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016

SPECIAL FEATURE
BLURRING THE LINES: 
MAN MEETS MACHINE

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TOUCH AND FEEL OVER 
DISTANCE: THE NEXT  
TREND IN ICT?
Tactile  displays  may  have  changed  the  way  we  interact  with 
technology,  but  this  is  a  mere  evolution  compared  to  the  true 
revolution that is now underway. Soon, haptic feedback could allow 
technology enthusiasts to interact with a remote object or person, 
as if they were physically in its presence.

Haptic communication is often considered one of the next 

breakthrough technologies in human-computer interac-
tion,  and  also  allows  for  more  in-depth  interaction 
between users over distances. However, whilst the topic of 
haptic interaction via a ‘Human-machine interface’ (HMI) has 
been around for quite some time, there is still a lot of work to 
be done to find suitable methods and technologies for the 
efficient processing and communication of haptic signals.

Enter the EU-backed PROHAPTICS (Haptic Signal Processing 
and Communications) project. Over the past five years, Prof. 
Eckehard Steinbach from TU Munich and his team have been 
developing  a series of novel methods and technologies for 
haptic communication. In this exclusive interview with the 
research*eu results magazine, he discusses his expectations 
for the future of this relatively new field of research, some 
potential applications and his plans to further develop the 
technology now that the project has come to an end.

  How do you see haptic communication 
progressively taking over the ICT market?

Prof. Eckehard Steinbach: One of the main application 
scenarios considered is teleoperation with haptic feedback, 
where a user interacts with a remote environment through 
the HMI. In this context, the user remotely controls a robotic 

system typically equipped with sensors and actuators. The 
interaction forces/torques are captured when the teleopera-
tor  is  in  contact  with  the  remote  objects,  and  they  are 
reflected back as haptic feedback to the operator. 

This way, the user is able not only to see and hear what 
is going on in the remote space, but also to feel the inter-
action. Numerous studies have shown that haptic feedback 
improves task performance and the feeling of being pre-
sent. The long-term goal of this research is to make the tele- 
operation fully transparent, which means the user will no 
longer  be  able  to  tell  if  a  task  is  carried  out  locally  or 
remotely through the HMI. 

This research is complemented by investigations about 
tactile  displays  and  tactile  feedback,  which  for  instance 
allow a user to feel the roughness of an object surface via 
the HMI. Major steps have only recently been taken to also 
enable standard mobile devices such as smartphones to 
generate haptic feedback. It is already technically possible 
today to locally modulate the friction between the finger 
and the glass display of a mobile device in such a way that 
tactile patterns or textures can be displayed. This, in my 
opinion, bears tremendous potential for new types of appli-
cations which allow a user to explore objects over the inter-
net, not only visually but also haptically. 

SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
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PROF. ECKEHARD STEINBACH

  What can the concrete benefits of human-to-machine 
interaction based on haptic communication be?

In our daily life, we as humans rely heavily and con-
stantly on the haptic modality when interacting with our 
environment. Without manipulation capabilities and haptic 
sensing, this interaction would be extremely limited. So far, 
however, physical interaction happens only locally in our 
direct  vicinity.  With  appropriate  haptic  HMIs  and  haptic 
communication  approaches,  this  interaction  can  also  be 
enabled across barriers such as distance or scale. 

Haptic  interaction  and  communication  of  course  also 
comes with great potential for the visually impaired. A lot 
of useful information can be communicated through the 
haptic modality. 

  Can you give a few examples of applications that 
would be conceivable within the next few years?

The aforementioned teleoperation systems are already in 
use and support applications such as telesurgery, telemainte-
nance, etc. With new haptic interfaces emerging, in particular 
tactile displays, completely novel applications become possi-
ble. Just imagine a web store where the user can not only vis-
ually explore a product but also touch it before buying it. Or 
imagine that your spouse is in a furniture store and sends you 
a photo of a sofa he/she would like to buy. Wouldn’t your first 
question after seeing the photo be what the material feels 
like? Is it soft, warm, comfortable? 

With haptic communication, you could for instance slide 
your smartphone over the surface of the sofa, record the 
resulting  vibration  signal  using  the  built-in  acceleration 
sensors, compress and transmit the signals and eventually 
display them remotely. This way a remote haptic experi-
ence  becomes  possible.  If  you  don’t  like  this  particular 
material, you could then search in a database for other 
materials which are similar or which have a specific ‘feel’. 

Another application would be an improved video confer-
encing system where you can haptically interact with your 
children while being on a business trip. Through these sys-
tems you could comfort them and be more present than is 
possible with today’s solutions. 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016

5

  S P E C I A L   F E A T U R E

  How is PROHAPTICS an important step towards 
such applications?

PROHAPTICS  has  developed  a  series  of  algorithms, 
codecs and protocols which enable haptic communication 
across distances for both haptic modalities (kinesthetic and 
tactile). The solutions developed are human-centric in the 
sense that they consider and exploit the limitations of the 
human  haptic  perception  system.  This  way,  information 
that cannot be perceived does not have to be transmitted. 
The  resulting  haptic  communication  schemes  are  highly 
efficient  with  respect  to  the  communication  resources 
required and can be used for both remote interaction with 
a real environment and a virtual environment. We have also 
proposed solutions which allow multiple users to physically 
interact with the same object in a virtual environment in a 
coherent and natural manner. 

  What would you say are the main contributions 
of your research to the main issues currently faced 
in this field?

We have been among the first to address the topic of 
haptic communication from a technical / communication 
engineering point of view. Some of the approaches we have 
proposed are first-of-their-kind and I hope it is fair to say 
that we have significantly advanced the state-of-the-art in 
this emerging field. 

An example of this is the perceptual deadband coding 
approach that we have proposed for data reduction in hap-
tic communication. This coding approach works for haptic 
signals with multiple degrees of freedom. It has also been 
combined with passivity-based control architectures and 
hence can also be used in networked teleoperation scenar-
ios where the communication delay between the two sides 
jeopardises system stability.

  Can you tell us about the mathematical model 
you developed?

This model combines many of the known limitations of 
human haptic perception with some other limitations that we 
have initially described in a common framework, which can 
be used to decide if a haptic signal change is perceivable by 
a human or if it stays below the perception threshold. 

Based  on  this  model,  highly  efficient  data  reduction 
schemes can be designed. Another application of the model 
is the definition of objective quality metrics, which replace 
(at least partially) the need for costly and time-consuming 
user studies. Hopefully, these approaches will accelerate 
the progress in this field. 

  Now that the project is completed, do you have any 
further plans to exploit or build upon its results?

Yes, together with two of the PhD candidates involved in 
the PROHAPTICS project, we are currently investigating how 
to commercialise selected results and working towards a 
start-up company in this area. We are in the fortunate sit-
uation where our related ERC Proof of Concept application 
ROVI has been selected for funding. This will allow us to get 
a better idea about the market potential of our results over 
the next 18 months and to produce prototypes in close col-
laboration with potential customers.

PROHAPTICS

 Coordinated by TUM in Germany.
 Funded under FP7-IDEAS-ERC.
http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/97511

 
 
6

NEW DISCOVERIES AND ENHANCED VISUAL 
EXPERIENCES THROUGH GAZE-CONTINGENT 
DISPLAYS

The  EU-funded  DEEPVIEW  project  has  shown  that  innovative  displays  with  gaze-
tracking devices can enhance a viewer’s perception of depth, allowing greater exploration 
of an object of interest.

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Researchers are creating innovative 

displays that allow users to explore 
focus, depth, colour and new ways 
of  presenting  information,  simply  by 
tracking their gaze across the screen. 
The user’s gaze alone is enough to direct 
focus and also enhance depth percep-
tion and distinguish colours better — 
without the need to click on a cursor to 
call up data or focus on the object they 
are interested in.

Innovative GAZER software

GAZER is the first application to come 
out  of  the  DEEPVIEW  (Gazed-based 
Perceptual Augmentation) project car-
ried out by SACHI, the Computer Human 
Interaction  Research  Group  at  St 
Andrew’s  University  in  Scotland,  UK. 
The  software,  developed  following 
tests on over 50 different users, works 
in conjunction with eye tracking devices 
to allow photographers taking pictures 
with  light  field  cameras  to  explore 
images by automatically focusing on 
objects using just their eyes. 

‘We are exploring the potential uses of  
an exciting new area called gaze-based 
perceptual  augmentation,’  explained 
DEEPVIEW  coordinator  Dr  Miguel 
Nacenta.  ‘Instead  of  moving  a  cursor 
around  to  focus,  the  “Gaze-contingent 
display”  (GCD)  does  it  automatically 
through the position of the user’s gaze. 
This  creates  a  sensation  of  depth,  3D 

without the glasses if you like — a richer, 
more salient and natural way of seeing 
that is meant to enhance the viewer’s 
experience.’

The use of GCDs

A GCD works by modifying the infor-
mation gathered from the eye-tracker 
about the user’s gaze. This covers not 
just its location, but also other metrics 
such as blinks, fixations and saccades. 
The  aim  is  to  do  this  in  a  way  that 
does not allow the user to perceive the 
system reacting to his gaze. Instead, it 
creates a holistically changed impres-
sion of the display.

In the past, this technology has mostly 
been  proposed  for  performance  gain  
(i.e. improve computer rendering times) 
by selectively omitting details in unat-
tended parts of a display. DEEPVIEW’s 
goal, however, is to find perceptual modi-
fications that augment the information 
displayed and thus create an enhanced 
viewing experience for the user.

The project is investigating the use of 
GCDs  in  other  ways  too,  such  as 
enhancing  perception  of  colour  and 
contrast, and for multimedia applica-
tions.  Enhancing  colour,  so  the  user 
perceives a wider range than the mon-
itor is capable of displaying, could in 
future become a highly useful tool, for 
example, in big data analysis. 

In applying the technology to multi-
media, users reading an article might 
unconsciously call up all sorts of com-
plementary  information  offered  — 
graphs, photos, videos, supplementary 
text  —  as  they  scan  the  text  para-
graph by paragraph.

‘The key will be to do this so that the 
reading  experience  is  enriched,  not 
disrupted,’ Dr Nacenta pointed out. ‘In 
fact, using gaze perception technology 
promises  to  be  less  disruptive  than 
pointing and clicking on a cursor. You 
can  take  advantage  of  the  natural 
behaviour of people looking at things, 
rather  than  asking  them  to  interact 
explicitly with the system.’

Other possible uses for GCDs

The sky is literally the limit as far as 
gaze-based perceptual augmentation 
is  concerned,  as  DEEPVIEW  is  also 
looking towards astronomy. 

‘Astronomers sometimes need specific 
colour  and  depth  in  their  work,’  said 
Michael Mauderer, a doctoral student 
working on the project and the main 
developer  of  the  GAZER  application. 
‘They  look  at  these  very  complex 
images they get from telescopes which 
go from infrared to ultraviolet, exceed-
ing human vision bandwidths. We are 
working to help them view such data in 
a different way, which could eventually 
lead to new discoveries.’

The use of GCDs may eventually become 
widespread,  according  to  Dr  Nacenta, 
whether for enhancing cinematic experi-
ences, giving doctors a better interpreta-
tion of patterns in magnetic resonance 
images, or helping police solve crimes 
from sketchy CCTV images. 

DEEPVIEW, which began in June 2012 
and ends in May 2016, received a Marie 
Curie action grant of EUR 100 000 from 
the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme.

DEEPVIEW

  Coordinated by the University  

of St Andrews in the United Kingdom.

 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124881

SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
BRAIN-INSPIRED NAVIGATION IN ROBOTS

Could the human brain inspire a new generation of robots able to navigate in complex 
and unpredictable environments? The GRIDMAP project is trying to unravel its mysteries 
and translate them into a new generation of algorithms in order to find out.

7

specialists in order to develop models of how things could 
work. Those models are basically predictions, so we check 
if those predictions are right, and then, depending on the 
outcome, the models are adjusted,’ says Dr Moser.

From brain to machine 

This long research process, which was originally scheduled 
for completion in August 2016, will last for at least another 
year. Dr Moser and his team have recently been granted a 
one-year extension for GRIDMAP, which will provide them 
with the time needed to successfully conduct the technical 
implementation phase.

‘We are now trying to implement connectivity patterns, simi-
lar to the ones we observed in the brain, into computers and 
then  see  if,  somehow,  that  enables  robust  navigation  in 
robots. But there is still a long way to go if we want to under-
stand precisely how the brain works and how to implement 
these mechanisms into machines,’ Dr Moser says. 

‘What is needed is a technical implementation of a situation 
where a robot finds its way in an environment where many 
unexpected things happen, for example the need for taking an 
improvised shortcut to avoid an obstacle in an unknown envi-
ronment. We are looking at such situations in animals too, but 
still it is hard to figure out. Moreover, the progress in biologi-
cal research is much slower than perhaps what the robotics 
industry would expect. I think drawing inspiration from biologi-
cal processes is the right way to go, but it takes time.’

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Computers are undoubtedly a step ahead when it comes 

to processing enormous amounts of information with 
precisely-instructed algorithms and within short time-
frames. However, to this day they still lack the capacity to 
efficiently compute ambiguous and unpredictable data: the 
latter  requires  the  algorithm  to  be  updated  frequently, 
something that only the human brain — which is known for 
being about 30 times more powerful than the best com-
puter chip — is able to do efficiently.

One of the best examples of this computer limitation resides in 
navigation. Whilst our brain can easily help us navigate through 
dynamically changing environments, ‘Simultaneous localisation 
and mapping systems’ (SLAMs) will perform poorly, especially 
when taking into account the tremendous amount of computa-
tions and memory involved in the process. 

‘In traditional computers, much of this process is serial, in the 
sense that the computer will do one thing at a time,’ says Dr 
Edvard Moser, coordinator of the EU-backed GRIDMAP (Grid 
cells: From brains to technical implementation) project. ‘In 
the brain on the other hand, many processes take place at 
the same time and it’s all interactive: what takes place in one 
region of the brain takes into account what is going on at the 
same time in another region.’

This is where Dr Moser’s most documented discovery comes 
into play. In 2005, he and his team at the Centre for the 
Biology of Memory (CBM) in Norway discovered grid cells, a 
type of neuron in the brains of many animal species that 
allows them to understand their position in space. The main 
premise  of  GRIDMAP  is  that  this  process  can  be  studied, 
translated into algorithms and integrated into machines to 
enable brain-like navigation in complex environments.

‘We  wanted  to  know  more  about  how  the  brain  works,’  
Dr Moser recalls. ‘We started by studying the brain, think-
ing that its processes could also be used in computers, and 
especially robots. The idea was that if we could know more 
about the mechanisms behind brain navigation, what types 
of cells are involved and how they work together, this could 
then be used by engineers who produce artificial systems 
such as robots to advance the state-of-the-art.’

In its first phase, the team focused on studying how grid cells 
work together. ‘For example, if a rat is walking in a box 2 m2, 
its brain cells may be active in 10-12 different locations. 
From thereon in, there is a complex process taking place that 
involves a lot of physics, but the bottom line is that these 
active cells compete with each other and that the activity 
pattern emerges as a result of this competition. It emerges 
because it is the most stable pattern,’ Dr Moser explains.

Since the project began in March 2013, the team have been 
using a measurement tool to better understand this pro-
cess. They recorded the electrical activity of animal brain 
cells with electrons that capture ongoing electrical activity 
without damaging the cell, and then recorded this informa-
tion on a computer in order to determine how the cells work 
together to form a map of the environment surrounding the 
animal. ‘For that work, we collaborate with computation 

 SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
8

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016

S P E C I A L   F E A T U R E

Dr Moser and his team very recently started to implement 
some of the principles they found in brains into computers. 
While he says that the results already look promising, he 
admits that the point where GRIDMAP translates into com-
mercial products is far from being reached. The research 
will most likely continue after the end of the project, but he 
believes this will eventually prove worthwhile: navigation is 
one  of  the  properties  that  the  robotics  industry  is  most 

interested in, and GRIDMAP is presenting them with more 
potential than any alternative.

GRIDMAP

 Coordinated by NTNU in Norway.
 Funded under FP7-ICT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/106314 

I N T E R V I E W
MYOELECTRIC DEVICES MEET 
SENSORY-MOTOR INTEGRATION
One of the key features missing in current myoelectric prostheses is sensory feedback — the sense of 
touch so crucial to our interaction with everything that surrounds us. An EU-funded consortium has 
overcome this difficulty and is already bringing its devices to market.

The most difficult and crucial phase 

of any research and development 
process is undoubtedly the transi-
tion from academic research to prod-
ucts answering commercial needs. This 
can notably be observed in the market 
of myoelectric interfaces. While the lat-
ter  have  various  advantages  over 
body-powered prosthetics — including 
their use of suction technology and the 
use of electronic sensors to detect min-
ute muscle, nerve and 'electromyogra-
phy' (EMG)  activity and translate it into 
movements — commercially-available 
devices still lack the capacity to provide 
their user with sensory feedback. 

On the academic level, however, myoe-
lectric interfacing with sensory-motor 
integration  is  already  feasible.  All  it 
would take for this possibility to result 
in actual products is a two-way trans-
fer of the knowledge in basic neuro-
physiology research and signal analysis 
from  academia  to  industrial  sectors, 
and of the requirements of and testing 
for  clinical  and  commercial  viability 
from industry to academia.

This is where the MYOSENS (Myoelectric 
Interfacing  with  Sensory-Motor 
Integration)  project  comes  into  play. 
Helped by a consortium of internationally 
regarded European academic teams and 
industries,  Prof.  Dario  Farina  from  the 
University of Gottingen has spent the past 
four years working on solutions to imple-
ment sensory-motor integration into com-
mercially-viable myoelectric devices. 

The  project,  which  ended  in  March 
2016, is the first-ever research effort 
to focus on two aspects: training for 
the active control of prostheses, and 
rehabilitation  of  stroke  patients 
thanks  to  robotics.  These  two  areas 
require a similar technological ground 
for sensory-motor integration and for 
artificial induction of neural plasticity, 

necessary for (re)learning motor tasks, 
and  the  consortium’s  efforts  are  
already  translating 
into  novel,  
commercially-available products.

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  How do you explain the 
absence of sensory-motor 
integration on current 
interfaces?

Prof. Dario Farina: Sensory-motor 
integration is missing in commercial/
clinical  interfaces  because  the  sys-
tems developed in research laborato-
ries are not yet robust enough to be 
implemented  in  clinical  devices  for 
daily use. Moreover, it is not yet fully 
clear if sensory feedback in rehabilita-
tion devices is useful. 

For example, while it is obvious that 
providing  some  kind  of  feedback  to 
prosthetic  users  is  useful  when  all 
other sensory information is removed, 
it is much less certain that additional 
feedback  is  functionally  useful  when 
the  natural  feedback  that  amputees 
maintain (such as vision) is preserved.

  What were the main 
difficulties you faced during the 
project and how did you resolve 
them?

The project (IAPP type) consisted in 
translating concepts developed in aca-
demia to industry and vice versa. The 
main difficulty was designing experi-
mental paradigms to compare objec-
tively different solutions for providing 
artificial feedback to prosthetic users. 
Solutions  include  different  feed-
back modalities (e.g. electrical stimu-
lation,  vibration),  different  feedback 
locations (single or multi-site), differ-
ent  feedback  variables  (e.g.  force, 
speed), and so on. Understanding the 
best  combination  of  these  variables 
empirically is very challenging and can-
not easily be generalised. 

PROF. DARIO FARINA

Therefore, a theoretical model was 
developed that could predict the out-
come based on fitting parameters in a 
few experimental conditions. 

  You specifically chose  
myoelectric prosthetic control 
and motor function rehabilitation 
of stroke patients as 
applications. Why this choice?

These  are  two  important  areas  for 
clinically-viable rehabilitation technolo-
gies. Prostheses controlled by myoelec-
tric signals are already on the market 
(although without sensory feedback) and 
similarly robotic devices for rehabilitation 
are available to patients (although with-
out myoelectric control). 

The two technologies were missing 
complementary  aspects,  the  sensory 
feedback  and  the  motor  commands 

 
 
  S P E C I A L   F E A T U R E

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respectively, and therefore were repre-
sentative of the problems we outlined.

  Are you happy with the project 
results so far?

The project had extremely satisfy-
ing  results.  The  most  relevant  is  
probably  the  introduction  into  the 
market  by  Tyromotion,  one  of  the 
companies participating in MYOSENS, 
of one of their robotic devices with the 
inclusion of the myoelectric control we 
developed within the project. This can 
have a strong impact in translational 
research. 

Another  system  developed  during 
the project for the reduction of phantom 
limb  pain  in  amputees  with  sensory 
feedback is being patented. The project 
also  provided  important  insights  into  
the role of artificial sensory feedback  
in  prosthetics,  which  can  be  used  as 
guidelines to implement effective and 
practical feedback interfaces. 

In  addition  to  these  results  with 
direct impact in the market and for the 
patients, the project produced a large 
number  of  specialised  publications, 
organised five successful workshops, 
and  provided  training  to  11  fellows, 
three of whom will obtain their PhD 
degree within the year to come.

  Have you tested your two 
devices on patients yet?

Yes, the project was characterised by 
a  strong  clinical  validation.  For  this  
reason, a clinical partner, the Hospital San 
Camillo  of  Venice,  was  included  in  the 
consortium. Thanks to this partner, clini-
cal trials could be performed for all the 
systems developed during the project.

  What has been the feedback 
from potentially interested 
market players so far?

As already mentioned Tyromotion has 
recently commercialised a new robotic 
device equipped with myocontrol. Other 

than that, Otto Bock HealthCare, industry 
leader  in  neurotechnologies,  was  also 
part of the consortium and has expressed 
interest in common patents and in the 
product development of a new sensory 
feedback  system  based  on  MYOSENS 
results. 

  The project ended in March. 
Are you planning to keep building 
on its results?

The  final  goals  have  all  been 
reached but the consortium is unani-
mously strongly interested in extend-
ing the work within the framework of 
a second EU-funded project.

MYOSENS

  Coordinated by the University  

of Gottingen in Germany. 
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/project/

rcn/101648

Project website:  

http://myosens.bccn.uni-goettingen.de

I N T E R V I E W
NOVEL ELECTRODE SYSTEMS UNVEIL 
THE MECHANISMS BEHIND HUMAN MOVEMENT
For researchers in the fields of robotics and prosthetics, replicating the subtle combination of mechanisms 
underlying our movements is both an  exciting and a difficult challenge. Scientific efforts under the 
DEMOVE project have resulted in new electrode systems that are able to do just that.

As simple as it seems, the fact of moving our arm and hand 

to seize an object is the result of complex events taking 
place in our brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscles. These 
so-called discrete events include ion exchanges across mem-
branes, electrochemical mechanisms and active ion pumping 
through energy expenditure that together form spike trains — the 
language in which the external world is encoded into our brains.

Neural Code of Human Movements for a New Generation of 
Man-Machine  Interfaces)  project.  While  previous  scientific 
efforts were faced with the impossibility of detecting and pro-
cessing the activity of motor neurons and the neural code in 
intact  humans,  Prof.  Dario  Farina  and  his  team  from  the 
University of Gottingen developed novel electrode systems 
to fill this gap.

Recording and interpreting this ‘neural code’ of movements 
was at the heart of the EU-backed DEMOVE (Decoding the 

These  new  systems  provide  in  vivo  electrophysiological 
recordings from nerves and muscles in humans as well as 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
10

new  computational  methods  and  models  for  extracting 
functionally significant information on human movement. 
They help answer open questions in movement neurosci-
ence,  build  a  bridge  between  the  neural  and  functional 
understanding of movement, and are hoped to enable new 
forms of man-machine interaction.

  How do you explain the current lack of solutions 
to monitor movement-related neuronal activity in 
intact humans?

Prof.  Dario  Farina:  Accessing  neurons  in  the  central 
nervous system implies inserting electrodes into the human 
body and penetrating neural structures (e.g. the motor cor-
tex) with the risk of damage. The surgical procedures for 
these interventions are complex and risky. Moreover, non-
invasive techniques (e.g. MRI, MEG or EEG) lack the required 
selectivity to decode the complexity of the neural activity 
during movements.

  How do your electrode systems allow you to 
overcome these problems?

We record activity from muscles using muscle tissue as 
a biological amplifier of nerve activity. Indeed, when nerves 
connect to muscles, their neural activity is preserved and 
can be decoded from the electrical activity of the corre-
sponding muscle. This means that although we record from 
the periphery of the system (from muscles), we are able to 
identify the output from the spinal cord circuitries whose 
activity determines the movement.

  What can you tell us about the results of your 
project so far?

The project will finish at the end of June this year. It has 
produced outstanding results in all analysed disciplines. For 
example, the recording systems we developed allowed us 
to re-analyse critically the hypotheses made approximately 
80 years ago on motor neuron control during movement. 

The  new  recording  systems  provide  the  possibility  to 
decode the activity of large populations of motor neurons 
and separate the information of the central nervous system 
from the peripheral mechanisms. Results also advanced the 

field of neuro-mechanics by revealing the mechanical forces 
produced by neural structures, as well as the field of man-
machine interfacing by providing intuitive and robust meth-
ods to control myoelectric prostheses.

  What were the main difficulties you faced and 
how did you overcome them?

The project is high risk, high gain, and therefore we have 
faced  many  challenges.  Nonetheless,  all  of  these  chal-
lenges have been addressed with team spirit and none has 
resulted  in  major  hurdles.  Examples  of  such  challenges 
included the need to record activity from a large number of 
muscles simultaneously, the concurrent decoding of large 
motor neuron populations in vivo and the use of these tech-
niques to control myoelectric prostheses.

  The main potential outcome of your research lies 
in man-machine interaction. Could you provide 
examples?

We have proposed and proved the feasibility in this pro-
ject of upper limb prosthetics fully controlled by the activ-
ity of dozens of motor neurons, whose behaviour has been 
decoded from muscle recordings, also thanks to advanced 
surgical procedures.

  With only a few months to go before the end of 
the project, what do you still want to achieve 
before and after its end?

Promoting the motor neuron control in man-machine 
interfacing as a means of extremely accurate and clinically 
viable control will be our main focus.

DEMOVE

 Coordinated by the University of Gottingen in Germany.
 Funded under FP7-IDEAS-ERC.
http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/99544

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SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
11

USING AVATARS AND ROBOTS TO TREAT 
SOCIAL DISORDERS

EU researchers are demonstrating how avatars and robots can be used to help patients 
suffering from schizophrenia, autism and other social phobias.

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Schizophrenia,  autism  and  other 

social disorders cause much suf-
fering for both patients and their 
loved  ones.  To  address  this,  the 
EU-funded  ALTEREGO  (Enhancing 
Social  Interaction  with  an  AlterEgo 
Artificial Agent) project has developed 
a  new  clinical  method,  computer 
architecture  and  software  to  help 
patients  adapt  their  behaviour  by 
interacting with avatars and robots.

“The researchers are 
expanding the pool of 
schizophrenic patients to  
100 to monitor longer-term 
evolution in interacting with 
the avatars.”

The  ALTEREGO  project  has  brought 
together many different kinds of pro-
fessionals: doctors, psychologists, psy-
chiatrists,  computer  and  human 
movement specialists, as well as math-
ematicians and roboticists. It is rooted 

in the innovative rehabilitation of social 
disorders through the concept of simi-
larity, a new cross-disciplinary theory 
combining  movement  neuroscience 
and cognitive science. 

Avatar-led simulations

The similarity theory suggests that it is 
easier to interact socially with someone 
who looks like us. This resemblance can 
be morphological (the form of a person), 
behavioural (their actions) or kinematic 
(the way they move). In ALTEREGO, arti-
ficial agents such as avatars and robots 
have  been  used  to  manipulate  these 
three components in real-time interac-
tion situations with patients. 

The  researchers  worked  with  around 
40  patients  in  the  first  stage  of  this 
three-and-a-half-year project, record-
ing their movements with cameras and 
creating  their  avatars  in  computers 
using virtual reality techniques. Using a 
‘mirror’ game, involving the synchro-
nised handling of coloured balls, which 
is  known  to  increase  affiliation,  the 
patient took it in turns with the avatar 
to  lead,  as  different  variables  were 

introduced in both the game and the 
movement of the avatar. 

‘Everyone moves in a very personal way 
and, using variables, we work with this 
to transform similarity into difference, 
by  morphing  the  avatar  and  trying  in 
this way to change the behaviour of the 
patient over time,’ said project coordina-
tor Professor Benoît Bardy, Director of 
the  European  Centre  for  Research  on 
Human  Movement  (EuroMov)  at  the 
University of Montpellier, France. 

Working with iCub

The patients have also been working with 
iCub,  a  humanoid  robot  developed  as 
part of another EU project, ROBOTCUB. It 
has  53  motors  that  move  the  head, 
arms, hands, waist and legs, and it can 
see, hear and smile. ‘The robot is differ-
ent. It’s not like the patient, so we could 
also test for the interaction with some-
one completely different.’

ALTEREGO, which aims to open the door to 
a new generation of social artificial agents 
in  service  robotics,  includes  research  in 
fundamental and clinical neurosciences, 
interaction modelling, the development of 

 SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
12

new  computer-vision  techniques  and 
human-robot  interfaces,  as  well  as 
evaluation  of  the  scenarios  with 
patients before, during and after train-
ing sessions.

‘We appreciate that this is a very sen-
sitive project where the welfare of the 
patients comes first, so we are careful 
to continue to seek clearance for all 
our  activities  from  national  ethics 
bodies,’ said Professor Ludovic Marin, 
the project’s lead scientist.

Next steps

In the final six months of the project, the 
researchers are expanding the pool of 

schizophrenic patients to 100 to moni-
tor longer-term evolution in interact-
ing  with  the  avatars.  They  are  also 
developing  software  to  be  down-
loaded by other projects and hope, in 
future projects, to test the technology 
on  autism  and  other  social  phobia 
patients.

‘We  also  believe  it  is  possible  to 
develop applications that patients can 
use on screens in the home, perhaps 
in a TV or home entertainment sys-
tem, where they perform various exer-
cises with their avatar that can teach 
them social skills over a longer period 
of time,’ added Professor Bardy.

The  ALTEREGO  project  started  in 
February 2013 and runs until 31 July 
2016. It involves six partners in four 
European countries, and has received 
EUR 2.9 million in EU funding support.

ALTEREGO

  Coordinated by the University  

of Montpellier in France.

 Funded under FP7-ICT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124883

Project website:  

http://www.euromov.eu/alterego/
homepage

  http://bit.ly/1QSs7N3 

REAL LIFE MEETS SCI-FI:  
THE EMBODIMENT STATION

Remember the movies Avatar and Surrogates and their mind-blowing take on what could one day bridge the 
gap between ‘virtual reality’ (VR) and ‘real’ reality? An EU-funded project has moved towards this vision of the 
future by developing an ‘Embodiment Station’ through which people can be moved in a virtual or robotic body.

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“The team demonstrated 
that amputees can navigate 
an avatar even while using 
the amputated arm 
representation.”

PROF. MEL SLATER

VERE (Virtual Embodiment and Robotic Re-Embodiment) 

was initiated in 2010 to build upon the rubber hand 
illusion and, more specifically, what it taught scien-
tists 15 years ago regarding how the brain represents the 
body, and the plasticity of this representation. In this exper-
iment, psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania had 
discovered that they could convince people that a rubber 
hand was their own by putting it on a table in front of them 
while stroking it in the same way as their real hand.

robotic  body  that  behaves  in  correspondence  and  syn-
chrony with their own movements. 

‘In immersive virtual reality, a virtual body can substitute your 
real body. You see the virtual body when you look towards your-
self, and in a virtual mirror, it is life-sized and it moves with your 
movements. It is possible to organise it so that when you see 
something touch your virtual body, you also feel it on your real 
body,’ explains Prof. Mel Slater, ICREA Research Professor at the 
University of Barcelona and coordinator of VERE.

The VERE project took this finding to the next level by try-
ing to apply it to the whole body. Using novel sensory chan-
nels and incorporating both virtual reality and robotics, the 
team found that it is possible to provide people with an illu-
sion of ownership over a body in virtual reality or an actual 

This is precisely the level of immersion that Prof. Slater and 
his team managed to reach with their ‘Embodiment Station’ 
directly inspired by the one featured in Surrogates. The station 
reads electrical brain signals and other physiological signals 
from participants, but it also transmits the visual, auditory and 

SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
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tactile inputs from the surrogate body while providing the real 
body with corresponding muscle stimulation. 

The Embodiment Station features a seat integrating different 
modules that provide specific sensory feedback and decode 
the participant’s motor intentions at the brain level by decod-
ing EEG brain signals. It has already been proved to work even 
over large distances: for a participant in Israel who was suc-
cessfully embodied in a robot in France, and for spinal cord 
injury patients in Italy who were embodied in a robot in Japan.

Advancing state-of-the-art on all fronts

As seen in Avatar, the project team focused part of their work 
on patients with disabilities, and more specifically those suffer-
ing from spinal cord injury. Since these patients lack the multi-
sensory integration process, which is fundamental for bodily 
representation  due  to  a  massive  sensorimotor  deprivation 
below the lesion level, this research proved extremely useful in 
revealing the brain mechanisms of embodiment. Project results 
notably showed that even though these patients tend to have 
a reduced ability to embody an external object, boosting resid-
ual sensory information may still trigger embodiment. 

The latter is just one in many embodiment scenarios studied 
by the project partners, most of which are expected to lead 
to concrete advances in domains as varied as the rehabilita-
tion of offenders, robotic embodiment for disabled people 
and gender-based domestic violence. ‘There are several var-
iations of applications that enhance empathy, but much of 
this is now commercial-in-confidence,’ Prof. Slater reveals.

The most notable VERE contributions include findings on how 
multisensory signals may elicit optimal embodiment sensa-
tions for the remote control of virtual or robot surrogates, 
which have a profound impact on the future design of brain-
computer interface systems. The team also showed that ves-
tibular inputs can enhance bodily self-awareness, potentially 
providing a new lever for virtual reality and neuroprosthetics. 

The project results open the way to virtual reality manipula-
tions of body representation as a potential analgesic therapy. 
The consortium generated an ‘Atlas’ of the neuro-feedback 
sensitive  brain  areas,  established  the  importance  of  both 
agent-form and motion-kinematics in the implementation of 
virtual  scenes,  and  demonstrated  that  BOLD-fMRI  can  be 
effectively utilised in driving a robot and avatar in real time. 

The team demonstrated that amputees can navigate an ava-
tar even while using the amputated arm representation. They 
also showed that virtual embodiment in a body that was con-
sidered as ‘out-group’ could lead to a reduction in racial bias.

The ethics of VR technologies

Another very important contribution of the project resides in its 
article ‘Real Virtuality: A Code of Ethical Conduct.’ As novel VR 
technologies  such  as  Microsoft’s  Hololens  and  Facebook’s 
Oculus prepare to enter the market, the project team looked into 
some  of  the  risks  that  may  arise  with  the  commercial  and 
research use of VR. ‘We are introducing a whole new technology 
so we need to understand its implications,’ points out Dr Slater. 

The document provides a first set of ethical recommenda-
tions to be built upon and notes areas in which further eth-
ical deliberation will be needed. With regards to the risks 
posed to individuals and society, it extensively covers ques-
tions surrounding privacy, red lines for VR and the neglect 
of real bodies and environments. The effects of long-term 
immersion are also extensively covered in the paper. The 
other two parts are dedicated to ethical research aspects 
and questions related to plasticity in the human mind.

As the paper concludes, ‘what is historically new, and what 
creates not only novel psychological risks but also entirely 
new ethical and legal dimensions, is that one VR gets ever 
more  deeply  embedded  into  another  VR:  the  conscious 
mind of human beings, which has evolved under very spe-
cific conditions and over millions of years, now gets caus-
ally  coupled  and  informationally  woven  into  technical 
systems for representing possible realities.’

Until this world of a whole new kind emerges, the consortium 
intends to keep building on VERE results. ‘We are currently 
looking into the funding aspects of creating a spin-off,’ says 
Dr  Slater.  ‘However  there  are  some  commercial  aspects 
involved and we cannot talk about the products yet.’

VERE

 Coordinated by the University of Barcelona in Spain.
 Funded under FP7-ICT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/94730
Project website:  

http://www.vereproject.eu 

 SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
14

BIG STEPS TOWARDS THE CREATION 
OF A FULLY FUNCTIONAL ROBOTIC NOSE

An EU-funded project has developed odour recognition and classification systems 
that  open  the  door  to  the  development  of  many  innovative  new  applications, 
including the possibility of real robotic noses.

“The project’s method of 
enhancing the signal of gas 
sensors is inspired by the way 
neurons work.”

Instead,  the  team  discovered  that 
such rapid concentration changes can 
be resolved with cheap, off-the-shelf 
gas  sensors  and  appropriate  signal 
processing. ‘This was indeed a game 
changer that paves the way for some 
very  interesting  applications,’  com-
mented Dr Schmuker.

A bio-inspired solution for 
odour detection and 
classification

Armed  with  this  new  knowledge,  
Dr Schmuker and his colleagues have 
worked  towards  realising  a  bio-
inspired solution for fast and accurate 
odour detection and classification.

The project’s method of enhancing the 
signal of gas sensors is inspired by the 
way neurons work. Neurons respond 
most to rapid changes in their synap-
tic input, meaning they can adapt eas-
ily. ‘The signal processing method we 
devised operates pretty much like an 
adapting neuron,’ Dr Schmuker said. 

Neurons  exchange  their  information 
through short pulses of activity called 
‘spikes’, which is potentially a lot more 
efficient than continuously exchang-
ing numbers, as a conventional com-
puter would  do. The project is using 
specialised  neuromorphic  hardware 

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The  BIOMACHINELEARNING  (Bio-

inspired  Machine  Learning  for 
Chemical  Sensing)  project  has 
created  a  neuromorphic  network  for 
odour recognition, running on actual 
neuromorphic  hardware  that  will  be 
able to receive real-time input from 
electrical gas sensors. 

This is an important step towards the 
creation of a cost-effective, portable 
and fully functional robotic nose that 
could be utilised in a number of differ-
ent  sectors,  from  agriculture  (e.g. 
monitoring fruit ripeness) and medi-
cine (e.g. diagnosing various diseases) 
through to personal lifestyle (e.g. find-
ing out the name of a particular per-
fume  smelled  randomly  during  the 
morning commute). 

An unexpected discovery

One  of  the  key  challenges  in  being 
able to develop this technology is to 
improve  the  accuracy  and  speed  of 
odour detection and identification in 
electronic  nose  systems.  When 

investigating how to do this through 
an  analysis  of  data  from  electronic 
gas sensors, the project team made 
an  unexpected  discovery.  Using  bio-
inspired signal processing, they were 
able to enhance the signals from the 
sensors  to  a  level  high  enough  to 
resolve  variations  in  gas  concentra-
tions that are due to a phenomenon 
called ‘turbulence’.

‘Turbulence is a ubiquitous phenome-
non in gas sensing, and there’s actu-
ally quite a lot of information encoded 
in  turbulence-induced  variations  of 
gas concentration,’ explained principal 
researcher Dr Michael Schmuker. ‘For 
example,  if  we’re  close  to  a  gas 
source,  these  turbulence-induced 
changes  occur  on  very  rapid  time-
scales. Further away, the changes are 
less drastic and much slower. This is a 
well-established  fact  that  has  been 
known for decades, but it was com-
monly  assumed  that  sophisticated, 
fast  sensors  are  required  to  resolve 
these small differences.’ 

SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
 
(silicon chips that harbour hundreds or 
thousands  of  electronic  neurons)  to 
accelerate  spiking  computation  and 
model brain circuits in a very detailed 
fashion whilst maintaining computa-
tional efficiency.

The  odour  classification  network  is 
closely in line with how insect brains 
mediate the sense of smell. The input 
data (sensor readings) are encoded by 
‘virtual olfactory receptors’ and then 
processed by a network that is closely 
modelled  on  a  component  of  the 
insect olfactory system, the antennal 
lobe. This is crucial for obtaining good 
odour recognition performance.

Neuromorphic hardware 
systems

The  project  used  two  neuromorphic 
hardware systems that are fully oper-
ational.  Odour  recognition  networks 
have  been  successfully  deployed  on 
both platforms.

‘The efficiency of these systems lies in 
their massively parallel architecture,’ 
stated  Dr  Schmuker.  ‘With  the  right 
network,  these  systems  have  the 
potential to perform as well as con-
ventional computers in pattern recog-
nition, but at a fraction of the energy 
costs.’ He also pointed out that many 
major  global  tech  companies  are 
starting to adopt this technology, indi-
cating that neuromorphic computing 
is  becoming  an  integral  part  of  the 
industrial computing infrastructure.

Next steps

The  project  team  are  now  keen  to 
develop a physical implementation of 
an electronic nose coupled with neu-
romorphic  hardware,  performing 
odour  recognition  and/or  gas-based 
navigation  on  a  robot.  ‘I  think  such 
proof-of-concept  prototypes  are  the 
first step to attract potential industrial 
partners  who  may  be  interested  in 

15

integrating our results in their product 
line,’ commented Dr Schmuker.

Looking to the long-term, Dr Schmuker 
also outlined his overall vision for the 
technology: ‘My vision is that electronic 
noses will be as common as cameras 
and  microphones...  Electronic  nose 
technology that has low power require-
ments  and  good  recognition  perfor-
mance opens the way towards a whole 
new  understanding  of  our  chemical 
environment.’

BIOMACHINELEARNING

  Coordinated by the University  

of Sussex in the United Kingdom.

 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124865

TRAINING EUROPE’S NEXT GENERATION 
OF NEURAL ENGINEERS
An EU-funded project has provided young neural engineers with the skills to develop the next generation 
of brain inspired technologies, ranging from robotic aids to speech processing.

Neural engineering is a new discipline that combines 

engineering, mathematics, physics and neuroscience 
to develop brain-computer interfaces, cognitive com-
puters and neural prosthetics. As an emerging field, most 
scientists pursuing related topics have strengths in one or 
two areas, but have not received broad multidisciplinary 
training, as it is relatively hard to come by.

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“The implementation of a 
new neural mass model could 
have applications in the 
treatment of neurological 
disorders, and in particular 
epilepsy.”

The  central  aim  of  the  NETT  (Neural  Engineering 
Transformative Technologies) project has therefore been to 
expose early career 
researchers  to  dif-
ferent opportunities 
in  both  academia 
and industry, in part 
by  providing  input 
from  experienced 
visiting researchers 
and  corporate  re-
search  teams.  The 
research  fellows 
supported with NETT 
funding have successfully generated transformative tech-
nologies related to speech recognition, robots with cogni-
tive and social skills, and brain-computer interfaces. 

‘The advances achieved so far could lead to the develop-
ment of new healthcare technologies, new diagnostic tools 
and new software applications for neurological research-
ers,’ says project coordinator Stephen Coombes, Professor 
of Applied Mathematics at the University of Nottingham, 
UK.  ‘We  could  imagine  that  in  the  near  future,  this  
research could lead to the development of brain-controlled 

 SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
16

prosthetics, robotic assistants, thought-controlled comput-
ers and speech recognisers.’

For example, researchers have achieved a better under-
standing of the effect of transmission delays in the com-
munication between certain brain areas, which could have 
implications  in  the  treatment  of  neurological  diseases. 
Novel algorithms for multi-photon scanning of neural tis-
sue could also lead to better diagnostic tools.

‘The implementation of a new neural mass model could 
have applications in the treatment of neurological disor-
ders, and in particular epilepsy,’ says Coombes. ‘Advances 
have also been made in detecting the intention to walk in 
stroke patients; this could have implications for rehabilita-
tion therapies.’ 

Other breakthroughs include the development of a syn-
chronous  dual-arm  movement  planner  for  a  humanoid 
robot and the open source platform SPIKY, which will ena-
ble researchers to monitor synchronisation in the firing of 
neurons.  Many  of  these  and  other  innovations  have 
appeared in papers and peer-reviewed journals. 

employability of fellows working on this project via intern-
ships with industry partners, and through a dedicated train-
ing  programme  in  business,  academic  and  social  skills,’ 
explains Coombes. ‘We’ve also tried to demonstrate the 
interrelatedness of various project areas throughout the 
consortium, and tried to appeal to the wider scientific com-
munity and indeed the general public through regular study 
groups, workshops and public lectures.’

By combining the expertise and infrastructure of a multi-
disciplinary  training  network  in  neural  engineering,  the 
NETT project aims to foster a sustainable high level of inno-
vation, and consolidate Europe’s position as a leader in an 
emerging industrial field. The NETT project is due for com-
pletion in August 2016.

NETT

  Coordinated by the University of Nottingham  

Some  seven  full  partners  and  11  associated  partners, 
including large and small companies, joined forces to con-
duct the structured, industry-focused training and mentor-
ship  through  internships  and  secondments  addressing 
real-world  problems.  ‘We  have  sought  to  increase  the 

in the United Kingdom. 
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124879
Project website:  

http://www.neural-engineering.eu/

MAPPING THE BRAIN’S CORTICAL COLUMNS 
TO DEVELOP INNOVATIVE BRAIN-COMPUTER 
INTERFACES
The EU-funded COLUMNARCODECRACKING project has successfully used ultra-high fMRI scanners to map 
cortical columns, a process that opens the door to exciting new applications, such as brain-computer 
interfaces.

Cortical  columnar-level  fMRI  has 

already contributed and will fur-
ther  contribute  to  a  deeper 
understanding of how the brain and 
mind work by zooming into the fine-
grained functional organisation within 
specialised brain areas. 

“The project team is testing 
whether it is possible to build 
high-resolution BCIs at 7 
Tesla that allow subjects to 
write letters of the alphabet 
simply by imagining how the 
letters look.”

conventional macroscopic brain imaging 
that measures activity in brain areas and 
large-scale networks.

Measuring cortical columns

Cortical columns are a group of neu-
rons in the brain that run from the top 
to  the  bottom  of  the  cortex  and 
respond to the same stimulus prop-
erty. For example, primary visual cor-
tex columns extract small bars with a 
specific  orientation,  which  are  ele-
mentary  features  for  analysing  the 
shape of objects. 

A single cortical column contains thou-
sands or even tens of thousands of neu-
rons  corresponding  to  a  few  dozen 
micrometres and up to 1-2 millimetres for 
larger aggregated columnar structures.

By  focussing  on  this,  the  project  has 
stimulated a new research line of ‘meso-
scopic’  brain  imaging  that  is  gaining 
increasing  momentum  in  the  field  of 
human cognitive and computational neu-
roscience. This new field complements 

‘It has been extremely difficult though to 
reliably measure cortical columns with 
non-invasive functional brain imaging in 
humans, but COLUMNARCODECRACKING 
(Cracking  the  columnar-level  code  in  
the  visual  hierarchy:  Ultra  high-field 

functional MRI, neuro-cognitive model-
ling and high-resolution brain-computer 
interfaces)  has  made  substantial 
advances in this,’ Professor Dr Goebel 
explained. ‘We’ve pushed the limits of 
technology  and  have  developed  new 
paradigms, analysis methods and mod-
elling  tools...  We’ve  achieved  a  sub- 
millimetre  range  of  spatial  resolution 
that allows us to “see” larger columns 
but we still need to increase resolution 
further  to  capture  more  fine-grained 
columnar organisations.’ After using 7 
Tesla MRI, the project has started to do 
this with one of the few 9.4 Tesla scan-
ners in the world.

Powerful brain-computer 
interfaces

One  of  the  most  promising  applica-
tions that could result from the pro-
ject’s research is the creation of novel, 
powerful ‘Brain-computer interfaces’ 
(BCIs),  using  ‘Ultra-high  field’  (UHF) 
fMRI measurements. ‘On the one hand, 
this provides a challenging test bed for 

SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016our newly acquired knowledge about 
coding principles in brain areas. On the 
other hand this research could lead to 
novel applications for some patients, 
such as those suffering from locked-in 
syndrome, despite the limited availa-
bility of UHF scanners,’ said Professor 
Dr Goebel.

The  project  has  conducted  several  7 
Tesla fMRI studies to test whether it is 
possible  to  create  BCIs  that  exploit 
information regarding columnar-level 
features. ‘This is extremely challenging 
because  we  do  not  focus  on  brain 
activity  from  external  stimulation, 
instead  we  investigate  brain  activity 
patterns as a result of a participant’s 
imagination, i.e. from self-stimulated 
brain activity,’ explained Professor Dr 
Goebel. ‘We have asked participants to 
imagine a field of dots moving in dif-
ferent directions. With 7 Tesla fMRI, we 
could  then  indeed  decode  from  the 
generated brain activity in the visual 
cortex which direction of motion a sub-
ject has imagined without showing any 
external visual stimulus.’ 

This is exciting, as it indicates for the 
first time that feature-level information 
(in this example, different directions of 
imagined motion) can indeed be used to 
build  fMRI-based  UHF  BCIs.  However, 

Professor Dr Goebel acknowledges that 
some  improvements  are  required  in 
order to increase the decoding accuracy 
before  the  system  can  be  tested  on 
actual patients.

In one current study, the project team 
is  testing  whether  it  is  possible  to 
build high-resolution BCIs at 7 Tesla 
that allow subjects to write letters of 
the alphabet simply by imagining how 
the letters look. This is challenging, as 
it requires disentangling brain activity 
that largely overlaps in the same early 
visual  brain  areas.  The  first  results 
with four different letters are promis-
ing, but it is not yet clear whether this 
direct  letter  imagery  BCI  will  reach 
high levels of accuracy when using all 
letters of the alphabet.

Future research efforts

Whilst the project has produced excit-
ing  results,  Professor  Dr  Goebel 
emphasises  that  there  is  still  much 
research to be undertaken. And while 
the project has mapped the columnar 
organisation in a few specialised brain 
areas, there are at least 30 mid-level 
visual,  auditory,  somatosensory  and 
multisensory areas where the detailed 
columnar-level  feature  representa-
tions remain unknown. One example 

17

of this is the currently unknown fea-
tures  used  by  the  visual  word  form 
area,  a  region  that  is  active  during 
reading.

‘I  hope  that  my  current  and  future 
research will lead to a deeper under-
standing of how visual perception and 
cognition emerge from feature repre-
sentations and their interactions in the 
brain,’  Professor  Dr  Goebel  stated. 
Such  a  deeper  understanding  could 
indeed pave the way towards highly 
advanced  BCIs  that  could  not  only 
help treat neurological disorders but 
also  significantly  upgrade  human-
kind’s ability to integrate and connect 
organically  with  high-powered  com-
puter systems.

COLUMNARCODECRACKING

  Coordinated by Maastricht University  

in the Netherlands.

 Funded under FP7-IDEAS-ERC.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124885

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 SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
18

MAJOR SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH 
WITH THE CREATION OF THE FIRST  
BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER

Researchers from the EU-funded ABACUS project have created a model biological 
supercomputer that is both sustainable and highly energy efficient.

The ABACUS (Parallel computing based on designed net-

works  explored  by  self-propelled,  biological  agents) 
model  bio-supercomputer  is  powered  by  ‘adenosine 
triphosphate’ (ATP), the substance that provides energy to all 
of the cells in a human body. The model is able to process 
information extremely quickly and accurately using parallel 
networks, in the same fashion that electronic supercomputers 
are able to process information.

However,  the  bio-supercomputer  developed  by  the  project 
team is much smaller and more energy efficient than the cur-
rent generation of electronic supercomputers, being only the 
size of a standard-sized book.

The model bio-supercomputer was created with a combination 
of  geometrical  modelling  and  engineering  expertise  
on the nano-scale. Importantly, it is the first step in showing that 
a biological supercomputer could realistically work in practice. 

Small, portable and energy efficient

The circuit created by  the  researchers  is  around  1.5 cm 
square, and instead of electrons being propelled by an elec-
trical charge, as is the case with a traditional microchip, 
short strings of proteins (called ‘biological agents’ by the 
project team) travel around the circuit in a controlled way. 
These movements are powered by ATP, a biochemical that 
enables internal energy transfer among cells.

Traditional supercomputers use a large amount of electricity 
and therefore heat up to such high temperatures that they 
need to be physically cooled in order to function effectively. 
To do this, many supercomputers often require their own 
dedicated power plant. 

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“Instead of electrons being 
propelled by an electrical charge, 
as is the case with a traditional 
microchip, short strings of proteins 
travel around the circuit in a 
controlled way.”

In contrast, due to being run by biological agents, the bio-
supercomputer hardly heats up at all and is consequently 
much more sustainable and cost-effective. As the technology 
is  developed  further  over  the  coming  years  and  possible 
routes to larger-scale commercialisation are considered, this 
could become a major selling point. 

Calculating answers to major societal 
issues

Although the model bio-supercomputer has successfully and 
efficiently tackled a complex mathematical problem by using 
parallel computing in the same fashion as traditional super-
computers, the project team recognises that there is still a 
long way to go between the model and the development of 
a full-scale functional bio-supercomputer. 

It is hoped that an eventual shift to bio-supercomputers will 
provide solutions to the growing problem of traditional super-
computers  being  increasingly  unable  to  quickly  calculate 
answers to some of society’s most pressing issues, such as 
the development of new drugs and ensuring that engineering 
systems work as they are supposed to. For these problems, 
computers  have  to  simply  go  through  all  of  the  possible 
guesses before reaching the correct answer. This means that 
if the problem size increases even modestly, the computer can 
no longer solve it quickly enough to be useful. 

Next steps: From science fiction to science

The project team has already begun to explore other ave-
nues on how to push their research even further, and hopes 
that other scientists will also be encouraged to construct 
new models using alternative biological materials.

The ultimate goal would be to perfect the design for a new 
generation  of  smaller,  more  portable  and  more  energy- 
efficient bio-supercomputers that can fully replace tradi-
tional supercomputers. 

Although the research team believes that it will still take 
some time for this to become a reality, a potential mid-
term solution would be to produce a hybrid design, mixing 
traditional and biological technologies.

The ABACUS project, which received over EUR 1 725 000 of EU 
funding, is coordinated by Lund University in Sweden, but the 
research that led to the creation of the model was spearheaded 
by a team at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, one of the 
ABACUS consortium members.

ABACUS

  Coordinated by Lund University  

in Sweden.

 Funded under FP7-ICT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124861 
Project website:  

http://abacus4eu.com/

SPECIAL FEATUREresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
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19

B I O L O G Y   A N D   M E D I C I N E

EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS 
KEY FOR DETECTING AND 
PREVENTING BREAST CANCER

EU-funded researchers have uncovered how genetic changes can increase 
the risk of a woman contracting breast cancer, paving the way for the 
development of new screening techniques and preventative strategies.

The EPI-FEM-CARE (Epigenetics for Female Personalised 

Cancer  Care)  project  has  published  research  results 
showing  that  DNA  changes  are  already  present  in 

healthy tissue of women with breast cancer.

The  project  —  which  aims  to  develop  new  methods  for 
screening, diagnosing and personalising treatment of breast 
and ovarian cancer — undertook the research in order to 
decode  how  breast  cancer,  the  most  common  cancer  to 
afflict women, develops. 

Every year, 330 000 women in the EU are diagnosed with 
breast cancer and 90 000 will die from the illness.

Epigenetic changes and key risk factors

Previous research has shown how there are key risk factors 
associated with an increased risk of cancer development. 
These include family history, early menstruation and meno-
pause starting late.

These risk-mediating factors slightly alter the genetic pro-
gramme inherent in breast cells at the time of exposure to 
the risk. 

These alterations are memorised by the cells over several 
decades, a process involving the epigenome which controls 
the  accessibility  of  the  DNA  sequence  and  consequently 
influences the interpretation of the genome and the fate of 
the affected cell.

EPI-FEM-CARE researchers analysed a total of 668 breast 
tissue samples, including both breast cancer samples and 
samples from women who did not have cancer. This was car-
ried out through a unique statistical approach developed by 
the project.

The most striking discovery from this analysis was that nor-
mal tissue adjacent to breast cancer is characterised by tens 
of thousands of epigenetic alterations.

Importantly, a large component of the detected variable epi-
genetic signature was enriched in the corresponding breast 
cancer tissue, supporting the researchers’ hypothesis that 
this variable epigenetic signature marks susceptible precur-
sor cells crucially involved in breast cancer development.

Additionally, the results highlight that cases of breast cancer 
which were exhibiting epigenetic changes were associated 
with a significantly poorer prognosis and a decreased chance 
of survival from the disease.

Developing new interventions  
and prevention strategies

The project team argues that the application of these altered 
epigenetic signatures holds the key to designing new inter-
ventions  and  preventive  strategies  that  could  effectively 
‘deactivate’ this epigenetic defect.

Most important, the new data indicates how epigenetic alter-
ations, if detected early enough, could be used to screen and 
identify women at a higher risk of developing breast cancer 
before the illness has the chance to fully develop.

Overall, the results also highlight the importance of inter-  
disciplinary work and cooperation, with the project combin-
ing clinical, biological and statistical expertise in order to 
obtain its results.

EPI-FEM-CARE

  Coordinated by University College London  

in the United Kingdom.
 Funded under FP7-HEALTH.
 http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124781
 Project website:  

http://www.epifemcare.eu/default.htm

   http://bit.ly/1YvVPJb 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 
 
 
20

B I O L O G Y   A N D   M E D I C I N E

SEX DETERMINATION GENES OF THE MOSQUITO
Only the female mosquito is able to carry and transmit the malaria parasite as her diet requires blood 
for the nutritional requirements when producing young. The male however feeds on nectar, so research 
is looking at this diversity in mosquito sex development genes for clues to combat this disease.

The EU-funded VECTRAP (Sex deter-

mination  pathway  in  the  malaria 
vector Anopheles gambiae) project 
has looked at the genes activated in male 
and female A. gambiae mosquitoes dur-
ing development and sex differentiation. 
Using high-throughput sequencing, bioin-
formatics, molecular biology and mos-
quito genetic manipulation, the research 
team looked for genes that are differen-
tially transcribed in sex determination.

Overall  analysis  of  the  qualifying 
genes  revealed  that  female-biased 
genes evolve more rapidly than male 
ones.  Specially  designed  software 
analysis identified an important set of 
sex-specific  genes,  ‘Accessory  gland 
genes’ (ACPs). Silencing these genes in 
the male brought about much-reduced 
progeny numbers.

Further investigation into the possibly 
linked  ACPs  and  sex-related  traits 
made use of the 10 Anopheles species 
complex  to  study  the  evolution  of 

sex-specific  genes.  Results  showed 
that genes responsible for a male 
accessory  gland  protein  are 
clustered  on  one  chromo-
some arm in the A. gam-
biae group. However, this 
is  not  the  case  outside 
this species group.

thereby 

VECTRAP  research  has 
shown  that  genomic 
knowledge  and  manipu-
lation  can  change  mos-
fertility, 
quito 
reducing  the  population  size 
and  extent  of  the  malaria  vector. 
Furthermore, studies into the genetics 
of sexual differentiation could enable 
manipulation of the sex ratio and avoid 
production  of  the  female  vector. 
Generally,  insects  are  formidable 
agents  for  microbial  diseases  in 
humans  as  well  as  crops,  and  the 
VECTRAP  knowledge  base  could  be 
extended to control all insect vectors.

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VECTRAP

  Coordinated by the Imperial College  
of Science, Technology and Medicine  
in the United Kingdom.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175216

PLURIPOTENCY — LINK TO CARCINOGENESIS
A European study pursued an interesting approach for studying pluripotency and carcinogenesis. By 
investigating the developmental pathways of a novel model organism, researchers hoped to unveil the 
relationship between these two processes.

Pluripotent stem cells can differentiate into many cell types, 

“Botryllus schlosseri has 
proved an ideal model 
organism for uncovering 
evolutionarily conserved 
basic molecular mechanisms 
that regulate cell fate in a 
non-embryonic context.”

thereby comprising an attractive cell source for regenerative 
therapy. So far, transplantation of such cells in vivo has been 
characterised by tera-
toma  (encapsulated 
tumour)  formation 
and an inability to dif-
ferentiate to the tissue 
of interest. To under-
stand why teratomas 
form,  the  EU-funded 
(A 
PLURIPOTENCY 
new model for study 
relationship  between 
pluripotency and tum-
origenesis: Molecular insights from basal chordates) project stud-
ied the chordate Botryllus schlosseri.

Botryllus schlosseri was chosen as the model organism due 
to its unique capacity to regenerate its body from pluripo-
tent cells through a teratoma-like intermediate. During vas-
cular budding, abnormal developmental stages occur where 
pluripotent cells are maintained and eventually regain posi-
tional identity and differentiate ‘correctly’ into a functional 
body. This latter process is termed blastogenesis.

Project researchers were confident that by studying this 
chordate  they  could  extract  important  information  that 

could  be  extrapolated  to  human  pluripotent  stem  cells. 
They analysed gene expression during vascular budding 
and blastogenesis to identify candidate genes involved in 
the maintenance of pluripotency and cell differentiation. 
Researchers successfully provided a complete assembled 
transcriptome of Botryllus schlosseri and elucidated key 
processes such as vascular budding.

PLURIPOTENCY cloned 30 candidate genes implicated in 
‘stemness’,  differentiation  or  cell  fate  determination. 
Scientists also published a newly developed methodology 
for tracking phagocytic cells in vivo. This helped describe 
their role during regenerative processes.

Botryllus schlosseri has proved an ideal model organism for 
uncovering evolutionarily conserved basic molecular mech-
anisms that regulate cell fate in a non-embryonic context. 
Learning how pluripotent stem cells form a teratoma and 
differentiate into desired cell types instead of becoming 
carcinogenic should have several biomedical applications.

PLURIPOTENCY

 Coordinated by CNRS in France.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/91782

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
B I O L O G Y   A N D   M E D I C I N E

21

INNOVATIVE MATTRESS AIMS TO PREVENT 
CASES OF SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME
EU researchers have developed and are now in the process of patenting an intelligent monitoring system 
to prevent unexpected deaths in otherwise healthy infants.

The EU-funded project, BABYCARESLEEP (Development 

of a non-invasive baby sleep monitoring and intelligent 
control system for the prevention of unexpected death 
in previously healthy babies and early detection of risky sit-
uations),  has  developed  a  novel,  non-invasive  intelligent 
monitoring system which is able to detect risky situations at 
an early stage and will help to prevent ‘Sudden infant death 
syndrome’ (SIDS). A patent of the prototype system is now 
being prepared by project partner, Elastic Confort. 

Continuous baby monitoring

Integrated into the baby’s cot, the specially-designed mat-
tress uses biosensing textiles and matrices of sensors to 
detect  and  constantly  monitor  the  baby’s  most  relevant 
biological parameters, including its breathing rate, temper-
ature, pressure and pH levels. 

Sensors detect if the baby stops breathing and if CO2 levels 
inside the child increase in parallel to a falling oxygen level.

In  the  event  of  such  a  situation,  the  specially-designed 
mattress then vibrates gently, stimulating the baby’s brain 
and prompting it to breathe. This avoids hypoxia but is gen-
tle enough not to wake the baby from its sleep.

To be able to accurately detect a potentially dangerous sit-
uation with the infant, the system is equipped with a Risk 
Assessment and Actuation Algorithm that sets the rules 
and thresholds against which the baby’s biological param-
eters  are  measured.  The  algorithm  also  determines  the 
level  of  corrective  actions  to  take,  such  as  the  level  of 
vibration applied within the mattress.

In the event that a baby does not react to stimulation fol-
lowing the detection of a potential emergency situation, the 
BABYCARESLEEP system alerts the parents with alarms and 
online alerts via both smartphone and computers.

SIDS is the highest cause of death in the post-neonatal 
period — from the second to the sixth month of life. 

In Europe alone, 2 400 infants still die of SIDS annually. The con-
dition is most common in preterm newborns, around 385 000 
of which are born each year in Europe. It is an unexpected dis-
ease which occurs in infants where there is no evidence of acci-
dental asphyxia, inflicted injury or organic disease. 

Next steps for the project

With the patenting process now well underway, it is hoped 
that  full  commercialisation  will  be  achieved  within  
four  years,  achieving  cumulative  benefits  of  more  than  
EUR 10 million for the SMEs involved in the project. 

Project partners estimate that the BABYCARESLEEP system will 
reach approximately 31 000 families over the first four years of 
commercialisation and will lead to an increase in the quality of 
life for more than 5 million European infants and their families.

BABYCARESLEEP

 Coordinated by Colchones Delax in Spain.
 Funded under FP7-SME.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124817 
Project website:  

http://babycaresleep.com/

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HAEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELLS AND MICRORNAS
Somatic stem cells are present in most tissues and contribute to tissue homeostasis by replenishing short-
lived cells. Understanding how this occurs is key for regenerative medicine.

‘MicroRNAs’ (miRNAs) are non-

coding  RNA  molecules  that 
have emerged as key regula-
tors of gene expression. They bind to 
and inhibit translation of target mes-
senger RNAs. Their role is well estab-
lished  in  embryonic  stem  cells,  but 
little is known about how they regu-
late translation in adult stem cells.

Adult  stem  cells  must  balance 
between self-renewal and differentia-
tion to avoid exhaustion. As a result, 

identification of the molecular deter-
minants of this decision could be used 
to shift the balance for regenerative 
purposes.

The  EU-funded  HSC  SELF-RENEWAL 
(Global microRNA profiling of normal 
and  Pbx1-null  hematopoietic  stem 
cells and progenitors for the identifi-
cation of new regulators of the bal-
ance  between  self-renewal  and 
differentiation)  project  focused  on 
‘Haematopoietic  stem  cells’  (HSCs) 

“Scientists found 48 miRNAs 
differentially expressed 
between Pbx1-null and normal 
HSCs, as well as another  
70 whose expression altered 
during the transition from  
HSC to MPP.”

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
22

B I O L O G Y   A N D   M E D I C I N E

and the role of miRNAs in the mainte-
nance of self-renewal. Previous work 
had shown that HSCs with a deletion 
in  the  proto-oncogene  Pbx1  display 
reduced self-renewal, a high prolifera-
tion rate and a premature myeloid dif-
ferentiation profile.

In the present study, scientists used a 
Pbx1-conditional  knockout  mouse 
model to identify miRNAs involved in 
the maintenance of HSC self-renewal. 
For  this  purpose,  they  performed 
global miRNA profiling of HSCs and of 
their immediate downstream progeny 
called  ‘Multi-potent  progenitors’ 
(MPPs).  The  latter  lack  long-term 

self-renewal  capacity  and  represent 
the first maturation step in the hae-
matopoietic hierarchy.

Scientists  found  48  miRNAs  differen-
tially expressed between Pbx1-null and 
normal  HSCs,  as  well  as  another  70 
whose  expression  altered  during  the 
transition from HSC to MPP. Of particu-
lar  interest  was  one  miRNA  that  
displayed an HSC-specific pattern and 
was  deregulated  in  chronic  myeloid  
leukaemia.  The  results  from  in  vivo  
loss-of-function  or  gain-of-function 
experiments indicate that a tight regu-
lation of the miRNA studied is necessary 
to maintain HSC function.

Overall, the work carried out by HSC 
SELF-RENEWAL  provides  unprece-
dented evidence of the role of miRNA 
molecules in normal HSC self-renewal. 
The  finding  that  the  same  miRNAs 
may  also  be  involved  in  leukaemia 
opens  up  new  paths  for  anticancer 
targeting therapies.

HSC SELF-RENEWAL

  Coordinated by Humanitas Mirasole  

in Italy.

 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/92294

INTERNATIONAL VIRUS LIBRARY NETWORK
An unprecedented effort has been made to coordinate storage and access to virus collections on a global 
scale. As part of this, EU funding supported the development of a readily accessible virus archive with an 
extensive collection using global networking.

The fight against viral infections requires intricate knowl-

edge  of  viral  mechanisms  of  action,  so  researchers 
need access to specific strains. The EVA (European virus 
archive) project has successfully set up a large network of 
recognised  centres  to  store  viruses  safely.  An  expanding 
web-based catalogue should help advertise and distribute 
viruses in the collection as well as associated products.

EVA developed high-quality safety procedures for handling 
virus collections and ensured quality through best practice 
guidelines and audits. Their resources are being used to sup-
port virus amplification and sustainable long-term storage.

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EVA researchers estimate that more than 10 000 viruses 
are  distributed  globally  in  small  laboratory  collections. 
Many  of  these  could  be  lost  to  science  if  they  are  not 
brought together in a coordinated, high-quality collection.

The  EVA  web-based  catalogue  is  functional  and  user 
friendly, and provides access to database products that are 
increasing continuously as the number of contributing lab-
oratories  increases.  High-quality  control  standards  are 
maintained  when  shipping  viruses  and  their  derivative 
products, such as gene segments.

EVA initially aimed to develop its platform at the European 
level. However, the network has been extended to incorpo-
rate all major collections globally. Indeed, EVA has grown 
from nine initial members to 27 currently, with new part-
ners  joining  from  Europe  (Germany,  Italy  and  the 
Netherlands) and around the world (China, Russia, South 
Africa and Turkey).

EVA also integrated the World Health Organisation Global 
Outbreak Alert and Response Network for the control of viral 
disease in developing countries. They will supply access to 
highly pathogenic biosafety level-4 viruses for the European 
Research Infrastructure on Highly Pathogenic Agents. These 
include Ebola and Lassa fever viruses. EVA also established 
links with the World Organisation for Animal Health as sev-
eral veterinary institutions also joined this network.

The EVA network continues to spread with future collabo-
rations  foreseen  with  Australia  and  the  US.  The  project 
website highlights the latest news on viral outbreaks, par-
ticularly when a virus has emerged in a new geographical 
location.  Laboratories  in  developing  countries  can  now 
access high-calibre facilities and contribute to the expand-
ing pool of viruses and reagents. This should help us deal 
more effectively with the threat of viral infections.

EVA

 Coordinated by the IRD in France.
 Funded under FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/86385 
Project website:  

http://www.european-virus-archive.com/

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
S O C I A L   S C I E N C E S   A N D   H U M A N I T I E S

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016

23

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S O C I A L   S C I E N C E S   A N D   H U M A N I T I E S

NEW RECOMMENDATIONS 
FOR REDUCING POVERTY 
IN EUROPE
An EU-funded project has outlined its key policy recommendations 
on  how  European  governments  can  better  tackle  poverty  and 
improve social cohesion through evidence-based policymaking.

The IMPROVE (Poverty Reduction in 

Europe: Social policy and innovation) 
project focussed on policies under-
taken by European governments before, 
during and after the Great Recession of 
2008-2009 that have been specifically 
enacted as a means to reduce poverty 
and increase social cohesion. 

Its key findings were unveiled during the 
project’s  final  conference  in  Antwerp, 
Belgium, from 3-5 February 2016.

Demographic change and 
employment’s impact on 
poverty

The overall key message from the pro-
ject is that poverty is not a static phe-
nomenon and that the drivers between 
poverty  entry  and  exit  vary  between 
countries. 

One of the key drivers identified was that 
demographic  changes  are  relatively 
more important than other factors for 
tackling poverty, particularly for Northern 

Europe  countries.  The  rate  of  poverty 
entry  was  more  prolific  in  Southern 
European  economies  that  have  been  
facing a prolonged demographic crisis of 
a rapidly ageing population.

Another  finding  was  that  employment 
rises  did  not  strongly  reduce  poverty 
before the economic crisis, instead the 
employment  and  poverty  rates  often 
mirrored each other.

‘Overall, a 10 % employment rise will be 
associated with a 2.5 % drop in poverty 
rates, but allowing for country differences 
and varying patterns over time reduces 
the  effect  to  1.9-2.5 %,’  explained 
Professor  John  Hills  from  the  London 
School  of  Economics  (LSE).  ‘In  short, 
employment doesn’t solve everything.’

However, following the onset of the crisis, 
there  was  a  much  clearer  correlation 
between  dropping  employment  rates 
and rapidly rising poverty, especially in 
Central,  Eastern  and  Southern  Europe 
countries.

Effective policies to reduce 
poverty

In some of the countries worst hit dur-
ing the crisis, several austerity meas-
ures  were  fair  in  design,  the  project 
concludes.  Cuts  in  public  sector  pay 
had progressive effects, particularly in 
Greece, Portugal and the Baltic states.

Changes in direct taxation and social 
insurance policies were also generally 
positive. Pension reduction reforms and 
other social benefit changes had vary-
ing results across countries and closely 
depended on their structural design.

The  project  also  discovered  that 
increasing the minimum wage did not 
dramatically decrease poverty levels, 
as most individuals on the minimum 
wage were already above the official 
poverty line. 

However,  increasing  the  income  tax 
threshold  was  even  less  effective, 
with the UK and Belgium being used 
as examples.

 
 
24

S O C I A L   S C I E N C E S   A N D   H U M A N I T I E S

On  the  other  hand,  increasing  child 
benefit  allowance  was  found  to  be 
much more effective in reducing pov-
erty, with the project looking at case 
studies  in  Greece,  Estonia,  Italy  and 
Hungary. The project did note though 
that  this  is  also  a  very  expensive 
option and could be much more diffi-
cult for poorer EU countries to effec-
tively implement.

Lessons for 2020 and 
beyond

The project team strongly emphasised 
that  each  country  has  had  its  own 
unique experience of reducing poverty, 
depending on its economic strength and 
welfare system, as well as its record on 
effectively implementing public policy.

The  2000s  were  a  ‘lost  decade’  for 
poverty reduction in Europe, with gov-
ernments  often  making  changes  to 
social systems that had the opposite 
of the intended effect.

Commissioner  for  Employment,  Social 
Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, stated 
the importance of linking the EU’s policy 
agenda with the research agenda cham-
pioned by the IMPROVE project.

Overall, the project results argue that 
the  annual  monetary  adjustment  of 
social benefits and tax thresholds can 
have a larger impact on poverty reduc-
tion than deeper structural reforms. If 
these  thresholds  aren’t  regularly 
updated to take economic factors into 
account, such as the rate of inflation, 
then other policy instruments have to 
work much harder to have a noticeable 
impact on reducing poverty.

Speaking  at  the  end  of  the  confer-
ence,  Stefaan  Hermans,  the  Head  of  
Cabinet for Marianne Thyssen, European 

‘It is clear that when we want to make 
progress on poverty reduction in Europe, 
we need to have the methodologies, reli-
able data, a common discourse and a 
common understanding,’ he concluded.

IMPROVE

  Coordinated by the University  

of Antwerp in Belgium.
 Funded under FP7-SSH.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124804

Project website:  

http://improve-research.eu/ 

ANCIENT TEXTILE TERMINOLOGY

An interdisciplinary study on ancient textile terminology has shed light on the economy, society and culture 
of ancient Near Eastern civilisations. This work contributes to a better understanding of the role of textiles 
in shaping ancient and modern societies.

In ancient times, textiles played an important role in the 

development of economies and societies. Beyond that, 
they helped to shape a reality through aesthetic and ide-

ological conceptualisation.

ASTEX (Assyrian textiles: A study on the terminology and the 
material culture of the textiles in the Neo-Assyrian Empire) 
was an EU-funded project that researched the use of textile 
terminology in the first millennium BC. Until now, no studies 
have been devoted to textiles in the Neo-Assyrian period.

“The investigation led to a 
deeper awareness of textile 
production.”

An investigation into the entire terminology of textiles in writ-
ten documents from archives of the period was one of the 
main  research  goals. 
This involved an anal-
ysis of the vocabulary 
in  a  broad  linguistic 
context,  including  a 
comparison  with  Old 
and Middle Assyrian. An evaluation of the continuity of the lex-
icon was therefore possible.

Conference articles and book chapters have been published 
and a manuscript is in progress. Results disseminated via 
lectures and publications can contribute to continuing the 
research  into  the  terminology  of  textiles  of  the  ancient 
Near  East  in  the  first  millennium  BC.  Furthermore,  the 
importance  of  integrating  philological  and  historical 
research with material culture studies and ethnography has 
been exemplified.

ASTEX

 Coordinated by the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/175228

The investigation led to a deeper awareness of textile pro-
duction. Additionally, the importance of using material cul-
ture  in  uncovering  textual  data  about  textiles  became 
evident. A traditional lexicological approach was crossed 
with a new interdisciplinary perspective combining archae-
ology, history of technology, tool studies and iconography.

Mid-term results were presented at the second interna-
tional  conference  on  textile  terminology,  Textile 
Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and 
Europe 1000 BC – AD 1000. This increased the impact in 
the field of disciplinary research and provided a venue for 
sharing ideas on textile terms and techniques. The research 
was also presented at an outreach seminar aimed at dis-
seminating  results  to  the  public.  Non-specialists  were 
therefore able to learn about religious representations in 
Neo-Assyrian political discourse.

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research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
S O C I A L   S C I E N C E S   A N D   H U M A N I T I E S

25

NOVEL ECONOMETRIC MODELS TO MANAGE 
FINANCIAL CRISES
Europe’s  debt  crisis  highlighted  the  need  to  step  up  efforts  in  monitoring  economic  conditions  and 
forecasting market trends. An EU initiative has developed tools to aid in the identification, prediction and 
regulation of European financial markets and economies.

To forecast future developments in 

the  economy,  models  based  on 
methods such as ‘Multiscale spec-
tral analysis’ (MSA) offer much poten-
tial. With this in mind, the EU-funded 
ASPECT (Advanced spectral techniques 
in  econometric  modelling  of  macro-
financial  linkages  in  the  euro  area) 
project  developed  new  forecasting 
models to shed light on the euro area’s 
macroeconomic and financial issues.

Project  partners  exploited  several  cut-
ting-edge  econometric  techniques 
employed  in  identifying  multifaceted 
dynamics of global markets, especially 
the  euro  area.  Findings  were  used  to 
examine  the  effect  of  long  and  short-
term shocks to EU and global economies. 
They also looked into the probability of 
markets through MSA and ‘Dynamic sto-
chastic general equilibrium’ (DSGE) mod-
elling, another forecasting model.

The  team  measured  national  and 
global mutual reliance on fluctuations 
in economic activity that an economy 
experiences  between  periods  of 
growth or recession in the euro area. It 
also developed new DSGE and time-
varying  econometric  models  and 
assessed  the  predictability  of  DSGE 

models against established statistical 
tools in use until today.

To forecast economic and financial mar-
kets, ASPECT developed novel multiscale 
decomposition methods. It also created a 
spectral  timescale  non-linear  causality 
testing approach and studied the conta-
gion, decoupling and spillover effects of 
the American financial crisis on the euro 
area, Asia, Brazil, China, India, Russia and 
South Africa.

Researchers uncovered new findings 
concerning  asset  forecastability  and 
heterogeneous behaviour in financial 
markets. In an effort to explain ineffi-
ciency and market volatility, they inves-
tigated how information is disseminated 

in global markets. Partners also showed 
that market interdependencies could be 
key to optimal asset allocation and port-
folio diversification.

ASPECT exploited the field of economics 
to propose innovative modelling methods. 
By doing so, it will provide new directions 
for policymaking and crisis management 
in the post-financial crisis era.

ASPECT

  Coordinated by Athens University  
of Economics and Business — 
Research Center in Greece.
Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175168

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EARLY SCANDINAVIAN TRADE
A study on early modern Scandinavian clothing, fashion and textile trade offers a better understanding 
of how international trade shaped Scandinavian cultures during the Renaissance.

TRADE (Global encounters: Fashion, culture and foreign 

trade in Scandinavia, 1500-1630) was an EU-funded 
project that investigated this trade using an array of 
methods  from  various  disciplines.  This  included  art  and  
cultural history, archaeology, anthropology, economic and 
social  history,  and  fashion  theory.  In  addition  to  looking  
at these changes, it also explored how individuals’ lives 
were transformed as a result.

Visual sources and documents were discovered in histori-
cal archives in Finland and Sweden. These included ward-
robe  inventories,  commercial  letters,  trade  records  and 
account books. The research showed that Scandinavia was 
significantly less isolated than recent scholarship thought. 
Novelties and new fashion accessories were ordered and 
imported to Scandinavian towns from diverse geographical 
areas.  Scandinavians  were  also  able  to  acquire  non- 
European  goods  that  had  arrived  in  Europe  through  the 
international ports in Venice, Genoa, Lisbon and Spain.

Results have been disseminated via numerous publications, in 
academic papers presented at international conferences, and in 
major institutions in Europe and New York. One important result 
is the advancement of 
more  comprehensive 
questions  about  the 
interpretation  of  the 
value, origins and sty-
listic variations related 
to  dress  and  textiles.  This  led  to  investigating  differences 
between experimental and experience research. Additionally,  
the  project  created  a  research  blog  for  communication  and  
publishing purposes. This will continue to broaden the spectrum 
of knowledge for the general public.

“Scandinavia was significantly 
less isolated than recent 
scholarship thought.”

TRADE

 Coordinated by the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/175230

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
262626

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016

E N E R G Y   A N D   T R A N S P O R T

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E N E R G Y   A N D   T R A N S P O R T

CONSTRUCTING ENERGY-
EFFICIENT SCHOOLS 
FOR THE FUTURE
The  EU-funded  SCHOOL  OF  THE  FUTURE  project  has  devised 
innovative solutions and designs that will allow for the creation of 
a new generation of highly energy-efficient school buildings.

The project aimed to create, dem-

onstrate and publicise the oppor-
tunities  for  constructing  high 
energy performance schools. With four 
demonstration  retrofitted  schools 
throughout Europe located in different 
climates (Denmark, Germany, Italy and 
Norway),  the  project  highlights  how 
schools  can  be  exceptionally  energy 
efficient  and  provide  a  high-quality 
indoor environment, whilst being eco-
nomically feasible. 

Enhancing efficiency and 
cutting energy use

By renovating existing school buildings 
and their systems, integrating renewable 
energy solutions and creating advanced 
management systems, the project aimed 
to demonstrate that total energy use can 
be cut by a factor of three. 

Moreover, a 75 % cut in the energy used 
for  heating  can  be  achieved  with  an 
investment of less than EUR 100 per 
square metre, according to the project. 
They also create greater awareness of 
energy-efficient  school  concepts 
which will boost the uptake of innova-
tive retrofitting measures and improve 
the school experience for future gen-
erations of children. 

SCHOOL  OF  THE  FUTURE  (School  of 
the Future – Towards Zero Emission 
Indoor 
with  High  Performance 
Environment) also demonstrates how 
retrofitting can enhance the quality of 
the indoor environment by improving 
air,  daylight,  acoustics  and  thermal 
comfort for pupils and staff. 

The  successful  introduction  of  zero 
emission buildings is the goal of many 
energy efficiency policy roadmaps up 
to  2020  across  Europe.  This  project 
contributes to this ambition by dem-
onstrating  cost-efficient  measures 
and  showcasing  how  these  can  be 
replicated. 

Moreover,  the  project  expects  the 
large-scale  deployment  of  energy-
efficient school concepts before 2020, 
inspired  by  the  four  demonstration 
sites  and  the  guidelines  and  online 
resources available.

Disseminating the project 
results

The project also aims to create a mul-
tiplier effect via school pupils who will 
disseminate the energy-efficient fea-
tures of their school buildings to their 
families. 

Additionally, it aims to improve percep-
tions of innovative energy-saving ret-
rofit  concepts  amongst  personnel 
working for public building administra-
tions. It has also published four retrofit 
guidelines  on  indoor  environmental 
quality in schools and on solutions for 
existing zero emission or energy sur-
plus schools. 

The project has created an online build-
ing  diary  for  the  sites  in  Germany, 
Denmark,  Italy  and  Norway,  a  simple 
energy performance calculation tool for 
use in school lectures and three sets of 
training  material  for  pupils,  teachers 
and technical service personnel.

SCHOOL  OF  THE  FUTURE  is  also  a 
major contributor to the EU BUILD UP 
portal, the European information por-
tal for energy efficiency in buildings.

SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE
  Coordinated by Fraunhofer  

in Germany.

 Funded under FP7-ENERGY.
 http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124805

 Project website:  

http://www.school-of-the-future.eu/

  
 
 
E N E R G Y   A N D   T R A N S P O R T

27

NEW TOOLBOX TO HELP BOOST AND SECURE 
EUROPEAN ELECTRICITY NETWORKS

EU researchers have created an innovative toolbox to ensure the safety and continued 
security of European electricity networks, and to help facilitate a greater shift towards 
renewable energy sources.

The  EU-funded  UMBRELLA  (Toolbox  for  Common 

Forecasting,  Risk  assessment,  and  Operational 
Optimisation  in  Grid  Security  Cooperations  of 
Transmission System Operators (TSOs)) project unveiled its 
key successes and deliverables during a one-day workshop 
in Brussels on 26 January 2016. This included the creation 
of a toolbox prototype for ‘Transmission system operators’ 
(TSOs) to guarantee secure grid operations in future elec-
tricity  networks  with  a  high  penetration  of  intermittent 
‘Renewable energy sources’ (RES).

and gives the operator additional information about the 
range of uncertainty to be expected. 

‘This gives the operators and operational planners the nec-
essary time to prepare the actual implementation of the 
proposed  remedies,’  commented  project  coordinator 
Helmut Paeschke.

The UMBRELLA tools are useful for TSOs and offer users 
the flexibility of applying either individual modules or the 
complete set of functionalities.

Next steps

Further development of the toolbox and a parallel dry run 
are currently being prepared. The UMBRELLA toolbox will 
be embedded in established information systems, and con-
sequently the extension of data exchanges will be crucial. 
To make the rollout of the toolbox as smooth as possible, 
the project recommends a stepwise approach for its imple-
mentation by TSOs and other relevant stakeholders.

Finally, the project has provided a series of key recommen-
dations to regulators, policy makers and TSOs in fostering 
the necessary harmonisation of the legal, regulatory and 
operational framework to allow for full data exchange for 
the application of the new software tools.

UMBRELLA

 Coordinated by Tennet TSO in Germany.
 Funded under FP7-ENERGY.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124739
Project website:  

http://www.e-umbrella.eu/

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The toolbox enables TSOs to act in a coordinated European 
target system where regional strategies converge to ensure 
the best possible use 
of the European elec-
tricity infrastructure.

“Individual software tools 
have been extensively tested 
using IEEE test systems 
based on the historical 
datasets of nine TSOs’ 
target area through a 
decentralised approach.”

There  is  a  growing 
contribution  of  less 
predictable and more 
variable  RES,  which  
is taking place along-
the  gradual  
side 
integration of national 
markets 
into  one 
common  European 
electrical energy market. Market mechanisms are increas-
ingly  not  being  able  to  cover  certain  aspects  of  system 
security, leading to high deviations between scheduled and 
physical flows in terms of time, direction and volume.

As a consequence, meteorological forecasting errors may 
lead to unforeseen violations of operating limits and trig-
ger cascading outages in stressed-system situations. 

This results in the need for more complex operational plan-
ning and transmission operation, taking the network closer 
to its operational limits.

The UMBRELLA toolbox

The UMBRELLA toolbox includes a deterministic and proba-
bilistic  optimisation  framework  for  corrective  actions  to 
cope  with  simulated  risks  on  different  timescales  and 
increasing system complexity. The overall aim of this is to 
reduce the total cost of uncertainty whilst also increasing 
system security and transmission capacity.

Individual  software  tools  have  been  extensively  tested 
using IEEE test systems based on the historical datasets of 
nine TSOs’ target area through a decentralised approach. 
They were also applied to historical case studies, such as 
the  European  cold  snap  on  8  February  2012  and  the 
stressed-grid situation that arose on 22 August 2012.

The tests conducted showed that overall the UMBRELLA 
toolbox is able to calculate remedial actions to ensure the 
safe and reliable operation of the transmission network, 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016  
 
 
28

E N E R G Y   A N D   T R A N S P O R T

CLEAN, GREEN AND INNOVATIVE TRANSPORT 
SOLUTIONS FOR CITIES
A new breed of urban public transport could fill the gap between mass and private transit options. An EU 
initiative has introduced a novel urban transport system based on a new generation of vehicle.

The EU-funded CATS (City alterna-

tive  transport  system)  project 
represented  the  final  stages  of 
development of a new generation of 
city  transport  vehicles  known  as 
Cristal. The Cristal system consists of 
small mobility units (vehicles) that can 
serve two purposes.

“The NAVIA autonomous 
vehicle was chosen due to its 
similarities to the Cristal 
system in terms of capacity 
and operation principles.”

The  first  service  is  a  self-service 
option whereby users can rent a clean 
urban vehicle over a short term. The 
second is a flexible service with a pro-
fessional driver to shuttle users along 
a line at fixed time intervals.

Three  European  cities  (Strasbourg 
(France), Formello (Italy) and Ploiesti 

(Romania)) were studied to determine 
their  suitability  for  testing  the  vehi-
cles.  Project  partners  drew  on  the 
insights  of  transportation  system 
manufacturers,  researchers,  service 
providers and end users across Europe 
and Israel.

As Cristal vehicles could not be made 
available  in  time,  other  innovative 
vehicles  were  selected  to  be  tested 
during the second phase of the pro-
ject.  The  NAVIA  autonomous  vehicle 
was chosen due to its similarities to 
the Cristal system in terms of capac-
ity and operation principles. The lack 
of a driver brought a new challenge to 
the project.

Demonstrations were carried out over 
a six-month period in Strasbourg and 
later  in  Lausanne.  Following  testing, 
the team gathered data to assess sys-
tem performance and user acceptance 
of innovative technologies. They also 
studied the impact on mobility, accept-
ance, environment, transport patterns, 

accessibility and attitudes in respect 
of alternative transport systems.

Findings  showed  that  the  system 
would best serve people with reduced 
mobility, young passengers and tour-
ists. To reach a wider audience, out-
comes were presented at a showcase 
in Ploiesti to increase citizen aware-
ness of innovative transport systems.

CATS helped test and introduce clean 
and  innovative  urban  transport  sys-
tems  in  cities.  Ultimately,  it  will 
enhance urban mobility, accessibility 
and safety while reducing congestion, 
noise and carbon dioxide emissions.

CATS

  Coordinated by GEA Vallotton  

et Chanard Architectes-Urbanistes FSU  
in Switzerland.

 Funded under FP7-TRANSPORT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/90815

SMART DIGITAL PLATFORM TO BOOST ENERGY 
EFFICIENCY IN CITIES
An EU-backed project has developed a novel online platform to substantially improve energy efficiency 
in both buildings and wider urban areas.

The  platform,  designed  under  the  SUNSHINE  (Smart 

UrbaN Services for HIgher eNergy Efficiency) project 
for city planners, industry and energy stakeholders, 
assesses and maps buildings’ energy behaviour, and can 
also remotely control public street lighting. The platform 
has already succeeded in cutting energy use in several cit-
ies across Europe where it has been tested. 

In Ferrara, Italy, about EUR 2 million was saved in energy 
certification costs for 10 000 buildings. Overall, there were 
total savings equal to around EUR 450 per year in public 
buildings, such as schools.

In Rovereto, Italy, energy use was cut by 19-21 % in two 
pilot projects, whilst in Bassano, Italy, EUR 74 was saved 
per  street  light  per  year  —  a  cut  of  more  than  50 %  in 
energy consumption.

Meanwhile, in Zagreb, Croatia, the project achieved esti-
mated savings of 10-30 %, while in Trentino, Italy, the city’s 
annual electricity bill saw savings of around 7-10 %.

Mapping real energy needs

Cities use exceptionally large amounts of energy, giving 
them a leading role in the drive to reduce CO2 emissions. 

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research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
Buildings  account  for  around  40 %  of  the  total  EU  final 
energy consumption. 

However, the project team realised that many key stake-
holders, such as public administration officials, still lack the 
right knowledge about actions that could be taken to reduce 
energy consumption in cities and urban areas.

In order to address this, the project developed its platform 
to operate on three different scales: the city scale by map-
ping  the  entire  cityscape,  the  building  scale  by  creating 
awareness of a building’s overall energy behaviour, and the 
public street lighting scale that saw the smart automation 
of public street lighting networks. 

Using  data  based  on  available  public  services  (such  as 
planning information), the project created ‘ecomaps’ that 
outline the current energy consumption of an urban envi-
ronment,  before  using  them  to  assess  the  area’s  real 
energy  needs  and  pinpointing  where  savings  could  be 
made. The ecomaps also allow for the energy pre-certification 
of buildings on an urban-wide scale.

Additionally,  the  SUNSHINE  digital  platform  uses  localised 
weather data to plan for an efficient use of heating and cooling 
systems within buildings to further lower urban energy usage.

Moreover, the platform allows for the interoperable control of 
street lighting systems based on ‘Automatic meter reading’ 
(AMR) facilities. These are accessible remotely, via interoperable 
standards,  through  the  internet  and  through  a  customised 
smartphone/tablet App.

E N E R G Y   A N D   T R A N S P O R T

29

Additional project results and next steps

In addition to cutting energy usage, the SUNSHINE project 
platform has also shown that it is able to help improve 
municipal decision making, provide a platform for the crea-
tion of new businesses and start-ups, improve the quality 
of  life  for  citizens,  and  stimulate  further  investment  in 
energy efficiency. 

The project partners now aim in the short term to intensify 
their training programme for relevant stakeholders, par-
ticularly public officials and urban planners. 

In the longer term, they hope to engage in further research, 
potentially  through  a  follow-up  project  funded  under 
Horizon 2020, to further refine the SUNSHINE platform, 
and also to advise more cities across Europe on how the 
platform can be beneficially tailored to their needs.

Overall,  the  project  has  demonstrated  potential  for  the 
real-time  mapping  and  management  of  changes  with 
regards to energy consumption, creating a new, flexible and 
dynamic means of formulating urban policy.

SUNSHINE

 Coordinated by Fondazione GraphiTech in Italy.
 Funded under CIP.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124808
Project website:  

http://www.sunshineproject.eu/ 

NEW THINKING ABOUT TRANSPORT
An EU team has assessed and helped to foster innovation in European 
regional  transportation.  The  ‘Smart  specialisation  platform’  (S3P) 
approach yielded tailored roadmaps for each region, culminating in a 
set of strategic recommendations.

Europe has recognised the economic 

importance  of  innovation  and  the 
need  for  a  strategic  approach 
towards related goals. Transportation is 
one of six main sectors where such an 
approach should make a key difference 
in meeting the EU’s Horizon 2020 goals.

The EU-funded METRIC project (Mapping 
European  regional  transport  research 
and  innovation  capacities  (METRIC)) 
worked on mapping capacity for trans-
portation innovation in European regions. 
The study was also intended to identify 
respective regional competitive advan-
tages.  Based  on  the  comparison,  the 
team planned to prepare regional inno-
vation roadmaps, including support for 
weak regions. The ultimate goal was to 
build  regional  innovation  cultures  that 
minimise risks and maximise returns.

Work focused on three main areas: map-
ping regional activities in transportation 
innovation; assessing the performance of 
regional  frameworks;  and  typing  and 
analysing the main principles of regional 
innovation.

For each region, the project delivered a 
set of recommendations regarding inno-
vation roadmaps drawn from best prac-
tices.  The  roadmaps  utilised  the  S3P 
approach, and the project also planned an 
S3P strategy for the transportation sec-
tor. The strategy is expected to facilitate 
structural fund investments in research 
and innovation, and have an impact on 
the development of a cohesion policy.

Investigations showed the transportation 
sector to be heterogeneous, consisting of 
several sub-sectors. Transportation ser-
vice providers generally have different 
innovation systems. Research on regional 
innovation systems and environments is 
predominantly focused on the automo-
tive  sector,  followed  by  the  aerospace 
sector. Clusters in such sectors are organ-
ised around value chains.

Researchers concluded that Europe con-
ducts  considerable  transportation 
research, at both country and regional 
levels. The findings will be used by poli-
cymakers  to  optimise  the  innovation 
strategies to be used in each region. The 
project’s suggestions include criteria for 

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funding and benchmarking research and 
innovation strategies.

The METRIC project helped promote inno-
vation in the transportation sector, with 
implications  for  policy,  research  and 
Europe’s regional economies. The recom-
mendations should help bring about more 
innovative transportation technologies.

METRIC

  Coordinated by Coventry University 
Enterprises Limited in the United 
Kingdom.

 Funded under FP7-TRANSPORT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175225 
Project website:  

http://www.metricfp7.eu/

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
30

E N E R G Y   A N D   T R A N S P O R T

NOVEL HONEYCOMB DESIGN FOR BETTER 
THERMOCHEMICAL ENERGY STORAGE CAPABILITIES

EU-funded researchers have successfully designed and validated an innovative redox 
thermochemical  energy  storage  reactor/heat  exchanger  that  promises  to  make  a 
concrete contribution to the EU’s energy and climate change ambitions.

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The  RESTRUCTURE  (Redox  Materials-based  Structured 

Reactors/Heat  Exchangers  for  Thermo-Chemical  Heat 
Storage Systems in Concentrated Solar Power Plants) project, 
which officially ended in January 2016, conducted the validation 
on  a  semi-pilot  scale  system  of  about  74  kWh  capacity  con-
structed and operated at the Juelich Solar Tower (STJ), Germany. 

Although the storage capacity was relatively low, this was the first 
time that such a concept had been validated under near-realistic 
conditions for thermochemical heat storage applications.

Producing the redox honeycombs 

‘The novelty of the [RESTRUCTURE] reactor design relates to the 
use of a monolithic honeycomb ceramic structure as its building 
block, in which the active material can be incorporated via sev-
eral ways,’ explains project coordinator Dr George Karagiannakis. 
‘This structure is very similar to the ceramic “bricks” used in the 
catalyst converters in motor vehicles.’

Regarding the materials used, Dr Karagiannakis outlined that they 
are metal oxide-based (e.g. cobalt oxide and manganese oxide). 
Substantial development was required within the project frame-
work, in order to produce the full-scale redox honeycombs, and 
several challenges had to be confronted by the project team.

Prominent examples of such challenges included achieving a good 
compromise between structural stability under operating condi-
tions and redox performance, as well as the scaling-up of produc-
tion strategies initially developed at a laboratory scale. However, 
the project consortium had already anticipated most of these 
challenges and in several cases developed back-up options.

The advantages that monolithic honeycomb structures can 
provide are related to the simpler reactor design that they can 
offer and the inherent modularity of such a system.

‘Of crucial importance, issues such as special measures to  
prevent  high  temperature  drop  build-up  during  operation, 
material recirculation, and extra safety measures associated 
with efficient particle containment in the system must be con-
sidered when “conventional” powder/small particles in fixed  
or  moving  reactor  designs  are  targeted,’  elaborated  
Dr  Karagiannakis.  ‘This  may  increase  system  complexity  
considerably  and  consequently  decrease  overall  efficiency. 
However, none of these issues is of particular concern when 
honeycomb reactor designs are considered.’

Configuration of the reactor/heat exchanger system

Throughout  the  duration  of  the  project,  extensive  tests  were  
first performed at lab scale to identify and validate suitable 

formulations.  The  semi-pilot  system  developed  was  an 
assembly of honeycombs, which were essentially scaled-up 
structured bodies on the basis of the small-scale test results.

The redox schemes investigated in the RESTRUCTURE project 
require maximum temperatures of around 1 000 degrees to be 
able to operate, and such high temperatures are currently not 
available in existing commercial CSP plants.

With a storage power capacity of about 25 kW, the system was fed 
by a side-stream of the hot working fluid (i.e. hot air) produced by 
the solar receiver at the STJ test site.

During charging, and due to the fact that the maximum temper-
ature of hot air provided by the solar receiver was approximately 
700  degrees,  to  achieve  the  required  temperature  of  
1 000 degrees for the charging reaction, a burner was used to 
provide the additional heat needed. During discharge, colder 
air passed through the charged monolithic assembly, and 
heat produced was dissipated from this flow, thereby increas-
ing its temperature at the reactor/heat exchanger outlet. 

In this way, part of the energy contained in the air flow is 
stored in the honeycombs and the flow exits the system at a 
lower temperature, but still adequately high enough to drive a 
power cycle and produce electricity. When energy from the sun 
is not available, the air flow temperature drops substantially, 
but when forced to pass through the storage system a heat-
release reaction is triggered, thereby increasing the tempera-
ture of the air, which is again used to operate the power cycle.

Post-RESTRUCTURE and next steps

Dr Karagiannakis has emphasised that the approach taken in 
RESTRUCTURE is considered as ‘next generational’ and that the 
technology’s future commercialisation depends strongly on the 
successful industrial development of next generation/high tem-
perature/high efficiency CSP technologies. This is currently in 
progress but outside the formal scope of the project itself.

‘We are intensively seeking ways of continuing our research 
efforts and further developing the technology,’ Dr Karagiannakis 
confirms. ‘In particular, scaling-up and optimisation strategies 
are at the core of our targeted next steps.’

Overall, the project contributed towards achieving the first 
important step of proving the in-principle effectiveness of a 
new concept for thermochemical heat storage applications 
through the design and validation of its novel honeycomb 
reactor/heat exchanger.

It is now hoped that a follow-up project can be initiated to 
build further on the RESTRUCTURE results and advance the 
technology towards the pre-commercialisation phase.

RESTRUCTURE

 Coordinated by CERTH/ISFTA in Greece.
 Funded under FP7-ENERGY.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124820
Project website:  

http://www.restructure-project.org/ 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
31

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E N V I R O N M E N T   A N D   S O C I E T Y

NOVEL METHODS TO 
EXTRAPOLATE ANCIENT 
CLIMATOLOGICAL CONDITIONS
New techniques to establish the warmest and coldest periods in recent 
millennia are helping to update and modernise climatological data.

The Chilean Andes represent an eco-

logically precious region with diverse 
climate pressures. The region lacks 
key  climatological  data  that  can  help  
predict  long-term  weather  patterns,  a 
challenge  that  the  EU-funded  project 
CHILE1000  (Chilean  lake  sediments  as 
archives for climate variability during the 
past 1 000 years) helped to address.

Aiming  to  outline  quantitative  summer 
and winter temperature reconstructions 
for  the  Chilean  Andes  over  the  past  
1 000 years, the project sought to present 
this pivotal information in a wider spatial, 
temporal and climatological context. This 
is especially important since not enough 
studies have been conducted on the lakes 
in  the  region,  depriving  researchers  of 
valuable paleontological data.

Using  a  number  of  new  techniques,  the 
project team produced the first-ever high-
quality training set in South America for 
specific  lake  sediment  spores  known  as 
chrysophyte stomatocysts. This involved 
the use of sediment traps and thermistors 
to obtain water chemistry and tempera-
ture analyses, resulting in 47 ecologically 

relevant  environmental  parameters  for  
24 lakes.

Subsequently, the team cross-referenced 
the  chrysophyte  stomatocyst  assem-
blages  with  environmental  parameters 
using advanced statistical analyses, rep-
resenting  a  very  accurate  indicator  of 
past  winter  conditions.  It  then  extrapo-
lated past winter-spring conditions as far 
back as 160 AD for Laguna Escondida, a 
very isolated lake in the Andes.

Interestingly, the project team found that 
recent cold season warming in this region 
over the last 40 years is not unique within 
a 100- or 1 000-year context. Although 
clear  signs  of  warming  were  observed 
after 1980 (a trend that continues today), 
examples of such warming had already 
been seen in the last 100 years. This con-
trasts  with  records  from  the  northern 
hemisphere, emphasising the importance 
of reconstructions based on geographical 
and seasonal variables.

Project achievements also include a highly 
detailed summer temperature reconstruction 
for  Laguna  Chepical,  a  glacial  lake  in  the 

central Chilean Andes. The project’s research 
results  in  this  case  have  shown  that  the 
warmest period within the past 3 000 years 
occurred  quite  recently,  between  1950  
and 1970.

Overall, CHILE1000 helped refine techno-
logical innovations in the field and ascer-
tained the role of chrysophyte stomatocysts 
as a reliable, quantitative proxy. It provided 
a training set for scientists and students 
that employs cutting-edge field techniques 
and  statistical  analyses.  These  positive 
results were highlighted in several reports 
and journals, contributing to paleontological 
and climatological science on a global scale.

CHILE1000

  Coordinated by the University  

of Bern in Switzerland.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
 http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175218

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETYresearch*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
32

E N V I R O N M E N T   A N D   S O C I E T Y

CARIBBEAN ENVIRONMENTAL  
MANAGEMENT

An EU team has probed the complex interactions of human and ecological issues in 
the Caribbean. The study supplied stakeholders with information necessary to assess 
and modify the region’s environmental management.

Latin  American  and  Caribbean  (LAC)  countries  have 

become important to debates about global environ-
mental issues. Simultaneously, the region’s social and 
environmental problems have led to further debates about 
developmental models, democratic decision-making and 
human-nature relations.

The EU-funded project ENGOV (Environmental governance 
in  Latin  America  and  the  Caribbean:  Developing  frame-
works for sustainable and equitable natural resource use) 
examined factors affecting environmental governance in 
LAC countries. The study considered obstacles and possi-
bilities for sustainable production systems able to foster 
economic  development  while  also  reducing  poverty  and 
regional environmental degradation. The investigation cov-
ered nine main themes.

Researchers  analysed  recent  initiatives  and  explored 
options for institutional innovation on the subject of natu-
ral resource use and management. The team considered 
formal  and  informal  arrangements  for  natural  resource 
use, including social perception and implementation.

The project met its objectives of producing the scientific 
knowledge that regional stakeholders need to evaluate the 
environmental management situation and to implement 
alternatives. The studies outlined progress and problems 
related to the theme subject, including new discourses on 
nature-society  relations  and  local  community  actions. 
Other topics included new actions for environmental pro-
tection  and  redistributive  reforms  based  on  natural 
endowments.

ENGOV also addressed various topics of concern, including 
three particular challenges: promoting democracy, foster-
ing food and land security, and the need to protect ecologi-
cal integrity.

Results include numerous case studies and synthesising 
analyses,  including  around  100  peer-reviewed  papers. 
Other  publications  include  working  papers,  articles  and 
books.  The  project’s  main  output  was  a  book  on  Latin 
American environmental governance, published in English, 
Portuguese and Spanish.

Project results were widely disseminated among relevant 
stakeholders via public meetings, opinion articles, policy 
briefs, newsletters and online training courses. Other dis-
semination activities included the project website and a 
special collection on the project’s topic in an online library 
reading room.

The ENGOV project helped bring a new view of environmen-
tal management options to the LAC region. The work will 
help  affected  countries  work  together,  simultaneously 
addressing environmental and economic problems.

“The team considered formal and 
informal arrangements for natural 
resource use, including social 
perception and implementation.”

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ENGOV

  Coordinated by the University of Amsterdam  

in the Netherlands.
 Funded under FP7-SSH.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/90131
Project website:  

http://www.engov.eu/ 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
E N V I R O N M E N T   A N D   S O C I E T Y

33

AIR PARTICLES AND THEIR IMPACT 
ON CLIMATE CHANGE
A consortium of European scientists has increased our understanding of how aerosols and other airborne 
particles influence global climate change.

Many substances present in the 

atmosphere  due  to  human 
activities play a dual role as cli-
mate change agents and as air pollut-
ants.  However,  accurately  predicting 
how this complex system will respond to 
changes  in  anthropogenic  sources  is 
very difficult. This is because even alter-
ing a single component can result in dis-
proportionate effects elsewhere, having 
an enormous influence on the behaviour 
of the entire system.

“One of the consortium’s major 
achievements was the 
collection of the most 
comprehensive aerosol data  
set to date.”

To limit climate change and reduce air 
pollution, which claims 2 million lives 
each year, a better understanding of 
these interactions is needed. Therefore, 
the  PEGASOS  (Pan-European  gas- 
aerosol-climate interaction study) pro-
ject was set up to clarify these crucial 
issues and develop better estimates of 
air pollution in Europe and its impact 
on climate.

The PEGASOS consortium quantified the 
extent of both regional and global feed-
backs between atmospheric chemistry 
and  a  shifting  climate.  Furthermore, 
researchers identified mitigation strate-
gies and policies that will both improve 
air quality and limit the effects of aero-
sols on the climate.

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Scientists conducted a number of lab-
oratory studies to improve the param-
eters  used  in  atmospheric  pollution 
models. Most of these focused on the 
interactions  of  aerosols  with  other 
components of the atmosphere, and 
the formation of secondary aerosols.

For the first time, an airship was used 
to  conduct  field  studies,  observing 
radicals  and  aerosols  in  the  atmos-
pheric layers close to the ground over 
Europe. One of the consortium’s major 
achievements  was  the  collection  of 
the most comprehensive aerosol data 
set to date. This information was also 
used to improve atmospheric models.

Researchers created or improved upon 
several  models  of  atmospheric  pro-
cesses on a both regional and global 
scale. These were validated through 
hindcasting (predicting past conditions 
to  judge  how  accurate  a  model  is) 

before  being  used  for  short-term 
future forecasts.

PEGASOS outcomes will help to sup-
port  the  European  Commission’s 
Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and 
Air Quality regulation. They will also 
help to provide a more accurate quan-
tification of regional and global links 
between  air  pollution  and  climate 
change. These will be used to provide 
more accurate forecasts and predic-
tions, and underpin mitigation options 
and other policy initiatives.

PEGASOS

  Coordinated by the Foundation  

for Research and Technology Hellas  
in Greece.

 Funded under FP7-ENVIRONMENT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/90193

Project website:  

http://pegasos.iceht.forth.gr/

OBSERVATION OF GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE
Current global observational and modelling capabilities allow scientists to produce estimates of the 
carbon budget, but many uncertainties remain. An EU-funded initiative was therefore set up to provide 
more and better data on ‘carbon dioxide’ (CO₂) and ‘methane’ (CH₄) through a global carbon observation 
and analysis system.

The GEOCARBON (Operational global carbon observing 

system) project designed a coordinated global carbon 
observation and analysis system. Consortium members 
also provided a set of harmonised global carbon data and 
developed improved carbon cycle data assimilation systems.

Researchers systematically collected and organised bot-
tom-up estimates of land-atmosphere, coastal and ocean-
atmosphere  fluxes.  This  provided  a  comprehensive  and 
entirely data-driven update of the major stocks and fluxes 
in the global carbon cycle. Models quantifying the carbon 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
34

E N V I R O N M E N T   A N D   S O C I E T Y

fluxes and stocks as well as 
their abatement potential 
were also improved and 
coupled  with  inte-
grated  assessment 
models.  The  aim 
was to quantify the 
economic  value  of 
an enhanced global 
carbon  observation 
system.

global carbon cycle, such as CH4 (in addition to CO₂) and the 
role of tropical areas, two key elements not fully studied 
previously.

GEOCARBON provided an aggregated and harmonised set of 
data and information on carbon pools, sources and sinks, 
thereby improving understanding of the carbon cycle and its 
role in climate change. It also supports monitoring-based 
decision-making and related environmental treaty obliga-
tions, and contributes to achieving the GEOSS 2015 (Global 
Earth Observation System of Systems) climate target.

Results were based on 
the  combination  of  a 
range of data, algorithms, 
statistics  and  model  esti-
mates, and their interpretation. The 
project’s integrated approach helped to disentangle many 
different components of the global carbon cycle. It also 
addressed  in  more  detail  some  specific  aspects  of  the 

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GEOCARBON

  Coordinated by the Euro-Mediterranean Center  

for Climate Change in Italy.

 Funded under FP7-ENVIRONMENT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/92199 
Project website:  

http://www.geocarbon.net/

UNDERSTANDING FOREST LITTER FOR BETTER 
CLIMATE MODELS

Carbon that has been returned to the atmosphere through the breakdown of forest litter is a major 
component of the global carbon cycle. Therefore, an EU-funded study to understand the biotic and abiotic 
factors controlling decomposition has important implications for present and future global carbon budgets.

The DECOMFORECO (Litter decom-

position  in  forest  ecosystems: 
Assessing the functional role of cli-
mate, litter quality and soil organisms) 
project examined the link between bio-
diversity and decomposition along cli-
matic gradients in forest ecosystems. 
Unlike previous investigations, the work 
focused on the effects of functional bio-
diversity at the three trophic levels of 
producer, decomposers and detritivores, 
rather than on taxonomy. The aim was 
to link aboveground and belowground 
diversity with decomposition.

Scientists compared the effects of plant 
litter and decomposer diversity between 
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at 
the continental scale and for individual 
biomes. A biome is an area of the world 
that has a particular climate and con-
tains particular plants and animals.

Researchers also selected 10 sites at the 
regional  scale  in  southern  France  and 
examined the effect of climate change, 
biodiversity of litter and soil organisms 
on litter decomposition. At the local scale, 
they  determined  the  effects  of  soil 
microbes and litter quality on both leaf 
and root litter decomposition in response 
to an experimental drought.

Results  showed  that  micronutrients 
within the litter layer and environmental 
variation among biomes were the main 
drivers  of  litter  carbon  loss  in  both 
aquatic  and  terrestrial  ecosystems. 
These findings will be used to improve 

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coupled  terrestrial-aquatic  ecosystem 
carbon models.

At  the  regional  scale,  researchers 
found  that  the  level  of  phenols  and 
decomposer organisms in the leaf lit-
ter and decomposer organisms varied 
during  the  decomposition  process. 
They also found that although climate 
and  litter  quality  explained  most  of 
the variance in litter carbon, large ani-
mals also play an important role.

Experiments in the field and in the lab-
oratory  revealed  that  a  reduction  in 
microorganisms and rainfall promoted 
litter  (but  not  leaf)  decomposition  in 
the area of the lower, finer roots. This 
suggests that contrasting mechanisms 
are responsible for driving the indirect 
effects  of  drought  on  above-  and 
belowground  litter  decomposition. 
Understanding these mechanisms and 

measuring their effect in drought situ-
ations is critical for an accurate inte-
gration of litter decomposition in the 
role of carbon in Mediterranean eco-
systems experiencing climate change.

DECOMFORECO  therefore  provided 
experimental evidence for incorporating 
the factors responsible for litter decom-
position over time and across different 
ecosystems into predictions for climate 
change effects on the carbon cycle.

DECOMFORECO

 Coordinated by CNRS in France.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175220

Project website:  

https://www.sites.google.com/site/
pablogarciapalacios1/home/
Marie-Curie-Project 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
 
research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016

35

I T   A N D   T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

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I T   A N D   T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

A NEW BANDWIDTH VARIABLE 
TRANSMITTER TO BUILD 
FUTURE OPTICAL NETWORKS
Researchers working within the EU-funded IDEALIST project have 
developed a new ‘Bandwidth variable transmitter’ (BVT) that could 
become a vital element in enabling optical networks with seamless 
network optimisation and flexibility.

Traffic demand is seeing a continued 

growth of about 35 % due to the pro-
liferation of high bandwidth applica-
tions,  placing  greater  strain  on  optical 
networks. Moreover, traffic requirements 
are fluid, varying at different times of the 
day but also due to evolving consumer 
and business demands.

With  this  continued  growth  in  network 
demands  and  data  traffic,  there  is  an 
urgent need for the development of elas-
tic optical networks, flexible enough to 
handle a wide range of data types and 
transmission rates.

The BVT prototype will contribute to ful-
filling this need by being able to trans-
mit  data  in  optical  transmission 
networks with a bit rate change in a hit-
less  manner.  Assembled  by  IDEALIST 
(Industry-Driven  Elastic  and  Adaptive 
Lambda Infrastructure for Service and 
Transport  Networks)  project  partners 
Bell Labs in France, it converts electronic 
signals  to  optical  signals,  but  with  a 
bandwidth that changes depending on 
the level of demand. It works without 
service  interruptions,  an  advantage 
known as being ‘hitless.’ 

Changing the signal rate for 
hitless functioning

Most  conventional  BVTs  function  by 
changing the format of the optical signal, 

converting between digital and analogue 
formats. The new BVT created by Nokia 
Bell Labs changes the signal rate, which 
is also known as the Baud or modulation 
rate. This is the number of signal events 
transmitted per second, with a single sec-
ond event potentially encoding up to sev-
eral pieces of information.

The advantage of focusing on the signal 
rate is that it is easier to implement with 
electronics and is cost-effective.

This  approach  incorporates  smart  pro-
cessing and makes the transmitter hitless, 
allowing it to continue functioning regard-
less of interruption and data loss. This is a 
particularly  innovative  development,  as 
transmitters normally have to reconfigure 
themselves when interrupted, which can 
take  up  to  several  minutes  and  subse-
quently causes a halt in traffic.

The prototype is connected to a commer-
cially available optical transport network 
switch  that  aggregates  many  different 
signals,  such  as  video  and  audio,  and 
sends it through the transmitter. It works 
typically at a bit rate of between 10 and 
107 Gigabits per second.

For the next step, the BVT will be tested 
in the field with network operators, inte-
grating it with the management software 
and systems that control a network from 
end-to-end.

Building tomorrow’s optical 
network

Overall, the new device will be just one 
component  in  a  much  larger  and  more 
sophisticated flexible optical network being 
developed by the IDEALIST consortium.

Many of the devices needed to build such 
a network already exist, including BVTs, 
but the new prototype is paving the way 
to ensure that these existing solutions 
are also fully capable of adapting and 
innovating to meet the requirements of 
tomorrow’s optical networks.

The project is committed to researching 
in detail and providing solutions for the 
most  promising  technology  in  order  to 
meet the demands of the next genera-
tion  optical  transport  network,  and  to 
engineer a fully functioning elastic optical 
network architecture. 

This would provide much of the neces-
sary infrastructure for achieving the 
highly ambitious goals set by the EU’s 
Digital Market Strategy.

IDEALIST

  Coordinated by Telefonica Research 

and Development in Spain.

 Funded under FP7-ICT.
 http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124807

 Project website:  

http://www.ict-idealist.eu/

 
 
 
36

I T   A N D   T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

NOVEL SEMANTIC TAGGING TOOL TO BENEFIT 
DIGITAL JOURNALISM

Researchers from the EU-funded MICO project have published highly promising results. 
These will help independent news organisations in extending their publishing workflows 
with cross-media analysis and linked data querying tools.

The project primarily worked with two partners, Greenpeace 

Italy and Shoof (a start-up developing an Android app for 
user generated content). It focused on organising the 
news desk of small and medium editorial teams by creating a 
flexible network of metadata around both text and media. 

The MICO (Media in Context) project researchers learnt that 
placing  news  online  without  providing  adequate  context 
and analysis simply did not work, as the focus for digital 
news has shifted towards interactive engagement and fos-
tering a sense of community.

By  developing  their  semantic  editor,  called  WordLift  (a 
plugin  for  WordPress),  and  then  having  it  utilised  by 
Greenpeace Italy on their magazine website, the project 
team  saw  that  structuring  content  with  a  classification 
scheme would provide the context needed for news stories. 
News content is now 
indeed being repub-
lished  in  many  dif-
ferent forms and on 
many different plat-
forms and devices. 

“MICO researchers have 
learnt through this stage of 
the project that journalists 
need technology to assist 
their work but this technology 
should not require too much 
of their attention.”

This in turn allowed 
the  team  to  realise 
that  by  structuring 
content and creating 
multiple access points 
(in the form of web 
pages),  overall  con-
tent discoverability over social networks and search engines 
increased dramatically.

By using semantic tagging — in essence tagging informa-
tion with a specific term or resource — every content pub-
lisher begins curating a set of concepts that emerge from 

the content being produced and analysed. In WordLift, these 
concepts are compiled by applying an internal vocabulary.

During validation tests with Greenpeace Italy, it was shown that 
this internal vocabulary brought a new level of self-awareness 
to the organisation. The editorial team began studying more 
carefully the relationship between the organisation, the con-
cepts they used for tagging and their target audience. 

Seamless technology

Overall, this process has helped them to make strategic edi-
torial decisions by considering what connects to what and why.

The project team is still gathering the full data, but it is clear 
that classifying news content with a clear scheme is increasing 
both engagement and traffic.

Overall, MICO researchers have learnt through this stage of the 
project that journalists need technology to assist their work but 
this technology should not require too much of their attention. 

The primary aim for journalists is to concentrate on writing 
engaging  stories  and  creating  meaningful  relationships 
with their target audiences. 

However, tools such as WordLift have proven their ability to 
help provide them with the all-important content structure 
and context that is increasingly essential in the digital age 
for engaging, capturing and retaining target audiences.

MICO

 Coordinated by Salzburg Research in Austria.
 Funded under FP7-ICT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124742 
Project website:  

http://www.mico-project.eu/

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research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
37

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I T   A N D   T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

NEW TOOLS DEVELOPED TO HELP SMES 
EFFICIENTLY SCALE UP CLOUD SERVICES
An EU project has developed tools to build scalable cloud applications, 
which will help boost SME performance and benefit business as a whole.

The idea is to enable end users such 

as SMEs, big businesses and public 
institutions to exploit the flexibility of 
the Cloud by gradually building up their 
computing capacities. These new down-
loadable tools will also give online devel-
opers the opportunity to offer solutions 
that are better tailored to customers. 

The EU-funded CLOUDSCALE (Scalability 
management for Cloud Computing) pro-
ject will also directly help SMEs looking to 
expand their cloud-based services. If a 
successful  online  application  is  experi-
encing rapidly rising user numbers, for 
example,  this  can  lead  to  higher  and 
higher  costs  and  —  especially  during 
peak loads — slower response times. 

CLOUDSCALE’s tools would enable this 
SME to analyse the scalability problem in 
detail and to identify bottlenecks within 
the application. They can then find the 
best scalable architecture and restruc-
ture their application.

Cloud computing revolution

Cloud computing, which is about sharing 
computing resources rather than having 
local servers or personal devices handle 
each  individual  application,  is  a  highly 
efficient means of delivering services to 
an organisation’s computers and devices 
through the internet. It offers end users 
potentially unlimited resources for their 
applications on an on-demand basis. 

This  shared  IT  infrastructure  contains 
pools of systems that are linked together, 
with  specialised  connections  spreading 

data-processing chores across them. This 
means that high-performance computing 
power used to perform tens of trillions of 
computations per second can be tapped 
into for consumer-oriented applications 
such as financial transactions and data 
storage or to power immersive multi-user 
online computer games. 

Cloud business models and technologies 
however can be difficult to get scaled up 
efficiently, often requiring advanced soft-
ware engineering methods. Implementing 
systems  without  properly  taking  into 
account scalability can lead to either low 
performance (due to ‘under provisioning’, 
resulting in low throughput) or high costs 
(due to ‘over provisioning’, caused by low 
utilisation of resources).

CLOUDSCALE solutions

The  solutions  developed  through  the 
CLOUDSCALE  project  aim  to  address 
this  by  using  minimal  computational 
resources  to  accurately  assess  the 
scalability of certain cloud-based ser-
vices quickly and efficiently.

CLOUDSCALE Environment for example is 
a desktop application that integrates the 
different tools developed by the project, 
and can be installed and used on virtually 
any  personal  computer.  One  of  these 
tools is CLOUDSCALE’s Analyser, which 
allows  users  to  accurately  assess  the 
scalability,  elasticity  and  efficiency  of 
cloud computing applications. Another is 
the Extractor, a reverse engineering tool 
for automatic model extraction. 

Another newly developed tool is called 
DynamicSpotter. This tool can automati-
cally detect software performance prob-
lems in Java-based enterprise software 
systems. Static Spotter is another reverse 
engineering tool, which can automatically 
detect so-called search patterns that can 
influence scalability. 

All of these tools are available for down-
load  on  the  project’s  website.  Ensuring 
industry  relevance  has  been  central 
throughout  the  project,  as  a  greater 
uptake  of  CLOUDSCALE  tools  will  help 
ensure that scalability becomes less of a 
problem for businesses and institutions 
looking to put in place cost-effective, flex-
ible cloud-based systems. 

Following the recent successful completion 
of the project, end users are free to try 
CLOUDSCALE Environment and other tools, 
and can contact the project coordinator if 
they have any questions or suggestions.

CLOUDSCALE

 Coordinated by SINTEF in Norway.
 Funded under FP7-ICT.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124821

Project website:  

http://www.cloudscale-project.eu/

  http://bit.ly/1QGXfPe 

INTERACTIVE TOOLS TO FACILITATE FURTHER 
COOPERATION ON RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH 
AND INNOVATION
An EU project has developed two interactive online tools to assist in the dissemination of best practices 
for ‘Responsible research and innovation’ (RRI).

During the ‘RRI: Shaping New Horizons’ conference that was 

held  on  14  and  15  January  2016  in  Brussels,  the 
RESPONSIBILITY  (Global  Model  and  Observatory  for 
International Responsible Research and Innovation Coordination) 
project presented its key successes, including how it has created 
a virtual Observatory and Forum that facilitates the adoption and 
diffusion of a common understanding of RRI across the globe.

As a reference framework, the project partners began by 
asking  themselves  two  key  questions:  What  are  the 

benefits of an RRI community and, most crucial, how can 
an RRI community be built most effectively and with the 
most added value for stakeholders?

In order to begin answering these questions, the project 
started  in  its  early  phase  to  collect  and  disseminate 
best  practices,  amass  a  number  of  applicable  case 
studies, and begin building a network of scientists to 
strengthen collaboration on RRI issues in many interdis-
ciplinary fields.

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
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From here, the project was able to begin putting in motion 
the creation process for its two key aims: the construction 
of the Forum and Observatory.

The RESPONSIBILITY Forum

The  RESPONSIBILITY  Forum  is  an  online  tool  that  is  self- 
regulated,  transparent,  remote  and  open  to  all  interested 
stakeholders. The main objective of the Forum is to be an 
interface  between  many  different  actors  interested  in  RRI, 
including researchers, policy makers, civil society and industry 
representatives and CSOs. The Forum will also prepare RRI out-
comes that are relevant to both political actors and industry.

However, the Forum is designed to be not just a simple talking shop 
for RRI stakeholders. The project has also envisioned it will allow 
participants to actively advertise for new RRI projects, submit new 
calls for applications, post job vacancies, apply for new funding 
sources, and publicise calls for partnerships in new projects.

‘The aim of the project is to provide an incentive for users 
to visit the site, and subsequently raise its profile amongst 
RRI-interested  stakeholders,’  commented  project  team 
member, Mohamad Ajami.

Discussions that take place in the Forum, and their outcomes, 
are then supposed to provide the necessary content for the pro-
ject’s second tool, the Observatory.

The RESPONSIBILITY Observatory

The RESPONSIBILITY Observatory of Responsible Research 
and Innovation will be established as a permanent point of 
reference and actual forethought with regards to the current 
concept of, and developments in, the field of RRI.

With RRI evolving rapidly as a concept due to new technologies and 
changing attitudes, the Observatory is designed to be a single 
repository for RRI literature, projects and initiatives that already 
exist. The tool uses an in-built search engine that will allow users 
to obtain an overview of the most read and most linked docu-
ments. Entries into the database are also tagged and archived in 
a manner which meets the needs of particular RRI actors.

Like the Forum, the Observatory is also meant to have an inter-
active element, so it is designed to allow any interested stake-
holder  to  upload  and/or  engage  in  a  particular  RRI  topic  or 
discussion. The Observatory will also allow researchers to identify 
areas in need of more detailed research, and it will identify where 
public engagement on particular issues might be relevant.

‘What makes the tool so special is that it doesn’t just provide 
an  observatory  for  the  RRI  community,  but  it  also  takes 
advantage of the RRI community itself — it uses the “wis-
dom of the crowd” as a virtual place to clarify, develop, and 
discuss  the  concept  of  RRI,’  project  coordinator  Dr  Aki 
Zaharya Menevidis said.

The Forum and Observatory tools developed by RESPONSIBILITY 
will act as crucial lynchpins over the coming years in furthering 
the development and dissemination of RRI principles and prac-
tices across both the policy and scientific and research fields.

RESPONSIBILITY

 Coordinated by Fraunhofer in Germany.
 Funded under FP7-SIS.
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/124680 
Project website:  

http://responsibility-rri.eu/

NEW SOFTWARE TOOL SUPPORTS ADVANCED 
APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND MODELLING
Modern computer chips are requiring more advanced software, which needs to be thoroughly developed 
and tested before it is marketed. A novel software tool will help achieve this aim.

The advent of faster, more powerful 

computing chips is prompting devel-
opers  to  create  more  productive  
and efficient software, fuelled by huge 
investment in the sector. The EU-funded 
MADAME (Manycore application develop-
ment and modeling environment) project 
investigated  programme  development, 
optimisation and deployment of parallel 
applications for current and future many-
core and multicore architectures.

“The project team worked with 
an application programming 
interface that supports multi-
platform shared memory 
multiprocessing programming 
known as OpenMP.”

To  achieve  its  aims,  the  project  team 
worked  with  an  application  program-
ming  interface  that  supports  multi- 
platform shared memory multiprocess-
ing programming known as OpenMP. It 
strove to develop an efficient, versatile, 
user-friendly  and  portable  monitoring 
solution for programming paradigms of 
the multicore and manycore era.

Another main project objective was to 
develop  a  modelling  framework  to  
support developers in answering critical 
questions such as the potential benefits 
of exploiting accelerators. The resulting 
models  are  useful  during  application 
development  and  tuning,  as  well  
as during deployment and runtime in 
modern manycore operating systems.

for OpenMP applications. The software 
successfully creates a profiling report 
in  a  human-readable  ASCII  format, 
supporting the measurement of hard-
ware performance counters using PAPI. 
The  tool  also  supports  productivity  
features  such  as  overhead  analysis 
and detection of common inefficiency 
situations. It can be downloaded from 
the project website along with several 
publications on the topic.

MADAME

  Coordinated by LMU Munich  

in Germany.

 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175178

As  a  result  of  its  research,  MADAME 
developed ompP, a viable profiling tool 

Project website:  

http://ompp-tool.com/ 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
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I N D U S T R I A L   T E C H N O L O G I E S

39

“Chemists created new 
molecules that previously could 
not be achieved via metal 
catalysis.”

I N D U S T R I A L   T E C H N O L O G I E S

CHEMICAL BOND 
FORMATION SIMPLIFIED
Organic chemists may revolutionise the chemical and drug industries 
by  quickly  and  cheaply  converting  abundant  compounds  into 
valuable organic molecules.

Most organic compounds contain 

molecules  with  carbon  atoms 
bonded to hydrogen atoms. This 
so-called C-H bond is very unreactive and 
difficult  to  break,  making  it  tricky  for 
organic chemists to create new bonds 
when making organic compounds.

The EU-funded DASCA (Direct alkyla-
tion of saturated cyclic amines via cat-
alytic  C-H  functionalization)  project 
developed  a  way  to  directly  convert 
C-H  bonds  into  ‘carbon-carbon’  (C-C) 
bonds.  These  bonds  are  particularly 
important for producing useful chemi-
cals like pharmaceuticals and plastics.

Traditionally,  replacing  hydrogen  in  a 
C-H bond with another carbon (or any 
other atom) is a lengthy process requir-
ing multiple steps. DASCA instead used 
a  metal  to  activate  the  reaction  in  a 

procedure  known  as  catalysis.  The 
‘metal’ (M) atom is inserted into the C-H 
bond,  cleaving  it  and  creating  a  C-M 
intermediate that can be used to create 
new compounds.

To  demonstrate  this  new  technique, 
researchers used the metal ruthenium 
to  transform  bonds  in  a  nitrogen- 
containing  compound  to  create  new 
organic molecules. These may in turn 
be used to discover novel drugs.

Researchers  also  developed  reagents 
that are attached to either the nitrogen 
atom  in  the  organic  compound  or  the 
compound’s  carbon  skeleton.  These 
‘directing groups’ selectively guide the 
C-H  to  C-C  bond  formation  in  specific 
positions, depending on where the direct-
ing group is bound in the molecule.

Using these approaches, chemists cre-
ated  new  molecules  that  previously 
could not be achieved via metal catal-
ysis. This technology will be extremely 
useful for producing organic molecules 
more cheaply and easily, particularly in 
the field of drug discovery.

DASCA

  Coordinated by the University  

of Antwerp in Belgium.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
 http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175198

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
40

I N D U S T R I A L   T E C H N O L O G I E S

NEW ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY 
FIBRE-REINFORCED CEMENT
EU  researchers  have  developed  a 
new type of ‘Fibre-reinforced cement’ 
(FRC). It offers improved performance 
and reduced environmental impacts 
compared to traditional FRC-based 
products currently on the market.

silica fume, and the use of a low-energy 
extrusion manufacturing process.

The  material  developed,  known  as 
FIBCEM Plan B, offers better environmen-
tal results in all impact categories com-
pared to equivalent commercial products. 
It also shows similar acoustic properties, 
thermal properties and fire-proof capa-
bility to existing FRC-based products.

FRC  is  a  tough  and  damage- 

resistant  building  material  that 
plays a key role in the construction 
industry.  But,  for  every  tonne  of  FRC 
manufactured, nearly a tonne of 'carbon 
dioxide' (CO₂) waste is generated.

The EU-backed FIBCEM (Nanotechnology 
enhanced extruded fibre reinforced foam 
cement based environmentally friendly 
sandwich material for building applica-
tions) project addressed this problem by 
creating a more eco-friendly product.

Project partners developed an advanced 
low-density  composite  material  with  a 
lower CO₂ footprint. This was achieved by 
using a foam core to replace part of the 
cement with materials such as fly ash and 

Low density was achieved by incorporat-
ing air by means of ‘superabsorbent pol-
ymers’  (SAPs)  and  ‘chemical  foaming 
agents’ (CFAs). Researchers concluded 
that SAPs work well for controlled cell 
porosity  generation  and  that  adding 
SAPs promotes cement hydration.

The team developed and tested nanoclay 
particles for use in the cement skin and 
experimented  with  modifications  that 
would  enhance  various  properties  of  
the material. The surface-modified nano-
clays  were  made  compatible  with  FRC  
and cement foams by selected surfactant 
and  dispersant,  which  enabled  uniform 

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dispersions of nanoclays. Recommen- 
dations  on  the  ratio  of  the  agents  to 
organoclay were made to account for 
the adsorption of nanoclay particles.

The developed core and skin materials 
were  extruded  separately.  Following 
the extrusion process, a FIBCEM ‘sand-
wich’  material  was  experimentally 
made by combining the layers.

The product samples made under Plan 
B for the test were not extruded.

The  potential  of  the  product  made 
under Plan B has to be evaluated fur-
ther prior to deciding on future actions.

FIBCEM

  Coordinated by Cembrit Holding  

in Denmark.

 Funded under FP7-NMP.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/150408 
Project website:  

http://www.fibcem.com/ 

SANITISING WASTEWATER WITH UV LIGHT
Our water resources are increasingly contaminated by large volumes of wastewater from industrial 
processes; therefore, there is an urgent need for a water treatment system. This need to protect water 
resources is also reflected in legislation such as the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the 
Directive on integrated pollution prevention and control.

The EU-funded L4CW-DEMO (Demonstration of a novel 

system to breakdown hazardous substances in wastewa-
ter streams into harmless bio-friendly compounds using 
multi-chromatic UV light) project developed a cost-effective 
pilot system for safely treating toxic organic waste streams. 
The system uses an advanced oxidation process based on a 
multi-chromatic ‘ultraviolet’ (UV) source to break down haz-
ardous  substances  into  harmless  bio-friendly  compounds, 
without generating any toxic by-products.

Project partners developed the manufacturing process for the 
lamp system and the associated glass technology. Glass sub-
units were fabricated and tested for mechanical stability, UV 
emission and their ability to break down artificial wastewater. 
In addition, the consortium updated a database of wastewa-
ters that would benefit from the improved cost effectiveness 
of this form of treatment.

The production process involved a number of steps such as glass 
shaping, filling the quartz cavity with gas to the required pressure 
and ensuring safety during automated production. Data was also 
collected so that a product life-cycle analysis could be conducted.

The consortium successfully achieved automated production of 
UV reactors and optimised the treatment unit with regard to 
sensing and control. It also demonstrated the new UV waste-
water treatment technology over extended periods of time.

This enabled the collection of base data for product life-cycle 
analysis and for rates in relation to customer investment cal-
culations. Furthermore, use of the UV multi-chromatic light 
process to treat hazardous organic materials in wastewaters 
and turn them into bio-friendly compounds was tested and 
proven and is ready for commercialisation.

L4CW-DEMO’s technology will generate significant benefits 
for society by reducing organic pollution from industrial sites 
prior to discharge into sewage works. Discharge costs to the 
enterprises can be lowered, and in certain applications water 
reuse will be enabled. In addition, more economic and envi-
ronmental wastewater treatment technologies will also help 
water-scarce regions to attract new industrial activity with-
out having to invest in additional water sourcing and waste-
water treatment sites.

Testing protocols were carried out to ensure product quality was 
met and energy input into the UV reactor was optimised to increase 
power efficiency. The team redeveloped UV reactor parts to guar-
antee that they were suited to automated production. They also 
improved the process control and sensing system that was devel-
oped in an earlier initiative.

L4CW-DEMO

 Coordinated by SICO Technology in Austria.
 Funded under FP7-SME.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/92725 
Project website:  

http://www.l4cw.eu/

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
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S E C U R I T Y   A N D   S A F E T Y

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S E C U R I T Y   A N D   S A F E T Y

THE QUEST TO DETECT 
BOMBS BEFORE THEY ARE 
EVEN MADE
High-tech sensors placed in sewer systems across European cities 
could one day help detect and dismantle bombs before they explode. 
The technology is already available.

In a more volatile world that has seen an increase in terror-

ist attacks, detecting explosive devices is crucial to saving 
lives and disempowering terrorists. So far, detection has 
focused on the stage when an explosive charge is ready for 
use and on the way to the scene of the attack. With this in 
mind, experts are looking at ways to locate explosive mate-
rial at a very early stage, for example during preparation.

The EU-funded EMPHASIS (Explosive material production (hid-
den) agile search and intelligence system) project looked at 
detecting precursors used to make explosives, including by-
products from chemical synthesis that escape in the air or 
sewers during production. It worked on a system for detecting 
illicit  production  of  explosives  and  ‘improvised  explosive 
devices’ (IEDs) in urban areas using sophisticated infrared and 
Raman technologies.

The project team, led by the Swedish Defence Research 
Agency, tested a prototype system made of a series of sen-
sors placed in sewage systems to monitor traces or vapour 
from precursors or explosives. The information is processed 
in a command centre to detect elevated amounts, docu-
menting  date,  time  and  concentration  levels  as  well,  in 

order to help pinpoint the existence of a possible bomb-
making locale.

The final system demonstration, which gathered together 
94  participants  from  13  countries,  including  the  United 
States, and was conducted jointly with another EU project 
called BONAS, proved successful at reading sensor data 
and displaying it on a map. It validated the concept in spe-
cific scenarios, paving the way for more technical develop-
ment in the field. The technology may prove very useful in 
countering terrorism, bomb production, piracy, drug produc-
tion and drug smuggling, in addition to helping safeguard 
airports, pipelines and production plants.

EMPHASIS

  Coordinated by the Swedish Defence Research Agency  

in Sweden.

 Funded under FP7-SECURITY.
 http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/175221
 Project website:  

http://www.emphasis-fp7.eu/

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
42

S E C U R I T Y   A N D   S A F E T Y

NEXT-GENERATION CRYPTOGRAPHIC 
TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE PRIVACY
Although contemporary cryptographic techniques guard transactions from hackers, they often do not 
provide an adequate balance between the privacy and utility of stored data. In fact, data utility is often 
grafted on top of the cryptographic mechanisms through monolithic key management.

The EU-backed RECUP (Cryptographic 

techniques  for  reconciling  utility 
with privacy in computer systems) 
project  tackled  this  privacy-utility 
conundrum by finding ways of optimally 
protecting  the  user  and  provider  of  a 
service, without reducing the usability of 
the data.

RECUP developed security models and 
new encryption and authentication pro-
tocols that extend so-called fine-grain 
privacy controls. The focus was on cryp-
tographic techniques that can be used 
to provide more effective key manage-
ment procedures. The team also devel-
oped  new  models  and  protocols  for 
operations  such  as  encryption  and 
authentication.

Modelling  efforts  dealt  with  all  the 
basic cryptographic operations involved 
when a hacker tries to tamper with the 
internal state of the primitive.

Project partners studied and developed 
methods  to  utilise  distributed  systems 
that minimise vulnerability through spe-
cial algorithms. The algorithms exploit any 
given entity in the network only once for a 
particular abstract operation. They also 
studied  the  issue  of  privacy-preserving 
aggregation of distributed data.

To  enhance  data  security,  the  team 
invented a technique known as secure 
in-network  processing  of  exact  SUM 
queries,  which  is  highly  secure  yet 
bandwidth friendly.

“Project members are examining  
the possibility of integrating the protocol  
into related products and services.”

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A  new  distributed  password-based 
authenticated  key  exchange  protocol 
was developed. This will help provide 
very efficient password-protected ser-
vices for various highly mobile users 
who employ different devices. Project 
members are examining the possibility 
of integrating the protocol into related 
products and services.

RECUP introduced cryptographic tech-
nology so that computer systems and 
networks can carry sensitive data in a 
better manner. Government, industry 

and  the  general  public  will  benefit 
from  data  management  approaches 
that  minimise  risks  of  unintended 
exposure to sensitive information.

RECUP

  Coordinated by the National and 

Kapodistrian University of Athens  
in Greece.

 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/91872

Project website:  

http://crypto.di.uoa.gr/CRYPTO.SEC/
RECUP.html 

RELIABLY E-BOOSTING NUCLEAR POWER SAFETY
Joint efforts between China and the EU have helped to ensure that the nuclear power industry has state-
of-the-art methods and data for assessing safety-critical software.

Modern  nuclear  power  plants  require  digital 

“The researchers proposed 
a framework for software 
verification integrating  
rule-based, goal-based and 
risk-informed approaches.”

‘Instrumentation  and  control’  (I&C)  systems  that  
can  reliably  monitor  all  operational  aspects  
and dynamically make 
adjustments to ensure 
safety. Software in such 
systems  requires  an 
assessment  approach 
to  ensure  that  they  
are  as  fault-free  as  
possible.  Moreover,  
differences in licensing approaches adopted in each coun-
try hinder the establishment of best practices.

In  the  context  of  the  EU-funded  project  HARMONICS 
(Harmonised assessment of reliability of modern nuclear 
I&C software), five European countries collaborated with 
China to provide support to the nuclear power industry in 
evaluating the software of safety-critical systems.

HARMONICS  researchers  built  on  the  results  of  two  previous 
research projects, namely CEMSIS (Cost effective modernisation 
of systems important to safety) and BE-SECBS (Benchmark exer-
cise on safety evaluation of computer based systems). In addition, 
the end-users’ needs and experiences in China and the EU were 
reviewed.

Before the end of the project, the researchers proposed a 
framework for software verification integrating rule-based, 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
S E C U R I T Y   A N D   S A F E T Y

43

goal-based and risk-informed approaches. The goal-based 
approach requires a complete and coherent initial set of 
goals. The rule-based approach alone is insufficient as it 
cannot by itself demonstrate that a system is safe enough 
for a given application.

The applicability and acceptability of each approach were 
tested in a series of case studies of digital protection sys-
tems. The results were used to provide practical guidelines 
for integrating the three approaches to get a consistent 
process for verifying digital I&C systems. The HARMONICS 
project also investigated static source code analysis and 
formal verification.

HARMONICS activities have provided a sound basis for test-
ing digital I&C technologies used in nuclear power plants to 
ensure efficiency and safety. Licensing of digital I&C sys-
tems is expected to become more transparent while har-
monisation of I&C systems among European countries and 
beyond could facilitate the sharing of best practices.

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HARMONICS

 Coordinated by the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland.
 Funded under FP7-EURATOM-FISSION.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/90954
Project website:  

http://harmonics.vtt.fi/ 

IN-DEPTH PERSPECTIVE OF EUROPEAN 
CITIZENS ON SURVEILLANCE, PRIVACY 
AND SECURITY
Does more security invariably lead to less privacy? An EU initiative looked into the trade-off thinking 
between privacy and security in order to provide new insight into the links between surveillance, privacy 
and security.

European politicians and decision-

makers  assume  that  citizens 
automatically consent to security 
measures  that  involve  surveillance, 
and that they want and accept a very 
high degree of public and private sur-
veillance in daily life to feel safe and 
secure. However, surveillance technol-
ogies and practices do not necessarily 
reflect the views of citizens.

With this perceived trade-off in mind, 
the EU-funded SURPRISE (Surveillance, 
privacy and security: A large scale par-
ticipatory assessment of criteria and 
factors determining acceptability and 
acceptance of security technologies in 
Europe) project explored the views of 

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Europeans  to  spark  an  informed 
debate on security policies and their 
effect on privacy.

Project partners mapped key security 
challenges and related security policies 
and technologies. Criteria and factors 
that  affect  the  acceptance  and  
acceptability of ‘surveillance-oriented  
security  technologies’  (SOSTs)  were 
identified, assessed and tested. They 
identified and elaborated on options to 
influence security measures in order to 
conform  with  ethical  and  privacy 
requirements  from  a  technical,  legal 
and social standpoint. Based on these 
outcomes,  a  theoretical  model  of  
criteria and factors that impact accept-
ability  was  developed  and  tested 
empirically. It showed that the trade-
off approach is by far oversimplifying 
reality, therefore it is not suitable for 
informing policy-making adequately.

To gauge citizens’ attitudes towards 
the relationship between surveillance 
and security and towards specific sur-
veillance  technologies,  a  series  of 
large-scale  summits  and  smaller 
meetings  were  held  and  involved 
about  2 000  participants  in  nine 
European countries.

Results of the participatory events were 
analysed,  providing  a  better  under-
standing  of  SOSTs  assessment  by 
Europeans and reasons for accepting or 

rejecting specific measures and tech-
nologies. This led to 16 policy recom-
mendations. Results were also used to 
develop a decision-support system to 
facilitate the involvement of citizens in 
decision-making  concerning  security 
measures and technologies.

“Project partners mapped 
key security challenges and 
related security policies and 
technologies.”

Through  SURPRISE,  the  voice  of 
Europeans  on  surveillance,  privacy 
and  security  has  been  heard.  It  will 
ultimately contribute to the develop-
ment of security policies and meas-
ures that are consistent with human 
rights and European values.

SURPRISE

  Coordinated by the Austrian Academy 

of Sciences in Austria.

 Funded under FP7-SECURITY.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/175191

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
 
 
 
444444

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016

S P A C E

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S P A C E

NEW MAGNETIC RADIATION 
SHIELDING TO PROTECT 
ASTRONAUTS DURING DEEP 
SPACE MISSIONS
An EU-funded project has provided tangible technological solutions  
for protecting deep space astronauts from harmful radiation.

Following  the  end  of  the  SR2S 

(Space Radiation Superconductive 
Shield) project in December 2015, 
scientists  now  have  the  knowledge 
and  tools  required  to  develop  mag-
netic  shielding  structures  to  protect 
astronauts  from  radiation  exposure 
caused by Galactic Cosmic Rays. Long-
term  radiation  exposure  whilst  in 
space greatly increases an astronaut’s 
risk  of  developing  certain  types  of 
cancer.

To evaluate the feasibility of produc-
ing such a shield, the project focused 
on  superconductors,  materials  that 
have  no  electrical  resistance  at 
extremely low temperatures, to help 
them  overcome  one  of  the  biggest 
challenges faced by the team — the 
weight of the large magnet required. 
In deep space, the addition of an extra 
1 kg to the spacecraft would result in 
an additional cost of USD 15 000 to 
the whole mission. 

Currently, superconductors have only 
been found to work whilst in extremely 
cold  environments,  not  much  higher 
than absolute zero. The temperature 
of deep space offers one of the only nat-
ural environments where deploying this 
type of technology is not only possible 
but actually extremely useful as well.

The researchers have presented sev-
eral  shielding  structures  that  could 
overcome this challenge, particularly 
achievement of the so-called ‘pump-
kin structure’. This is an active shield 
configuration  that  crucially  is  light-
weight  and  thus  suitable  for  long 
duration  deep  space  missions.  The 
structure  works  by  reducing  the  
material crossed by incident particles, 
thereby  avoiding  the  generation  of 
secondary  particles  and  as  a  result 
generating a more efficient shield.

By adopting this design, the magnetic 
shield was 3 000 times stronger than 
the Earth’s and should be able to pro-
ject a 10-metre force field that would 
deflect  cosmic  rays  around  the  sur-
face of the spacecraft, protecting the 
astronauts inside.

In  particular,  ‘magnesium  diboride’ 
(MgB₂) could be the material of choice 
for  creating  the  force  field.  Italian 
company Columbus Superconductors, 
one of the partners in the SR2S pro-
ject, has used MgB₂ cables and wires 
in  a  variety  of  ways,  from  medical 
applications  to  magnetic  levitation 
systems for transportation. This has 
also highlighted the secondary finding 
that the technology could also be uti-
lised  on  Earth  in  a  number  of  other 

fields, including healthcare and power 
generation. 

It  could  still  be  many  years  before 
such technology is ready to be actively 
deployed for deep space manned mis-
sions,  but  further  tests  of  the  SR2S 
technology  will  continue  to  be  con-
ducted in the short to mid-term. 

The project itself has shown the clear 
potential  for  collaboration  between 
European researchers and industry in 
the  pursuit  of  a  common  European 
Space Policy. 

Consequently, the promising techno-
logical results from the project have 
brought the notion of preparing astro-
nauts  for  deep  space  missions  that 
are now not possible for humans that 
little bit closer to reality.

SR2S

 Coordinated by INFN in Italy.
 Funded under FP7-SPACE.
 http://cordis.europa.eu/news/

rcn/124662

 Project website:  

http://www.sr2s.eu/

   http://bit.ly/1LcVo4t 

 
 
45

S P A C E

SWIRLING SECRETS IN STARS’ 
PLANET-FORMING DISCS
Newborn stars are surrounded by protoplanetary disks, swirling plasmas that can constitute the core of 
a developing solar system. EU-funded scientists have studied the disordered movement of the constituent 
gases to get a grasp of how they make this transformation.

By better understanding the nature of gases, scientists 

hope to learn more about how particles interact with 
each other and coagulate to ultimately form planets. 
The challenge is to develop correct models for the structure 
of  the  discs,  describing  how  density  and  temperature 
change with distance from the star.

Assumptions must also be made as to the strength of the 
magnetic field that is present and the ionisation structure 
of the disc. Finding where the temperature might not be 
high enough to remove electrons from atoms and mole-
cules is of importance in determining where turbulence will 
be more vigorous.

The  challenge  addressed  within  the  EU-funded  project 
HALLDISCS (Hall dominated turbulence in protoplanetary 
discs) was related to a technical issue regarding ‘magneto-
hydrodynamics’ (MHD) simulations. The existing algorithms 
were not able to capture the nature of the Hall effect.

In plasmas composed of neutral molecules, ions and elec-
trons, the velocity difference between positively and nega-
tively  charged  species  gives  rise  to  the  Hall  effect.  In 
addition, Ohmic dissipation is caused by collisions between 
electrons and neutrals, and ambipolar diffusion by colli-
sions between ions and neutrals.

The  HALLDISCS  team  performed  3D  simulations  that 
included all three non-ideal MHD effects to investigate the 
role of the Hall effect on disc gas dynamics. The Hall effect 
revived ‘dead’ zones by producing a magnetic field together 
with a considerable stress throughout the disc mid-plane.

Specifically, the plasma flow in the mid-plane was found to 
be generally laminar, suggesting that the rate at which dust 
settles is high. These results call into question contempo-
rary models of layered accretion and demonstrate that the 
Hall effect must be considered to obtain even qualitatively 
correct results.

By comparing observations with the theoretical predictions, 
HALLDISCS scientists hope to be able to verify their under-
standing of how disc accretion works in the next few years.

HALLDISCS

 Coordinated by CNRS in France.
 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/175196

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PATHWAY TO THE SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA), with far superior sensitivity and observing speed than all current 
facilities, is the largest radio telescope ever designed. EU-funded scientists have carried out much of the 
policy work currently underway for its construction, which is expected to begin in 2018.

To  achieve  both  high  sensitivity 

and  high-resolution  images  of 
the radio sky, around 3 000 indi-
vidual radio dishes and other receivers 
will be arranged like a spiral galaxy. 
Most of the antennas will be concen-
trated  in  an  inner  core  and  the  rest 
positioned in groups along spiral arms. 
This  configuration  will  cover  several 
thousand kilometres in diameter.

When  fully  operational  and  running, 
the SKA will be 50 times more sensitive 
than  any  other  radio  telescope.  This 
power will be used to hunt for gravita-
tional waves, namely ripples in space-
time  predicted  by  Einstein’s  general 
theory  of  relativity.  It  will  probe  the 

magnetic  field  that  exists  between 
stars and explore the Universe’s most 
fundamental open questions.

The  technical  framework  assembling 
the best options for its construction was 
initially prepared in the project PREPSKA. 
This  project  GO-SKA  (GO-SKA:  A  
proposal for coordinating & support-
ing policy development of the global  
organisation of the Square Kilometre 
Array) followed up on the procurement 
processes.

GO-SKA was initiated by funding agen-
cies in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands 
and the United Kingdom. The four project 
partners  joined  their  efforts  to  help  
with establishment of a new legal entity. 

Specifically,  they  worked  together  
with  the  SKA’s  Strategy  and  Business 
Development Committee to establish the 
SKA organisation in December 2011.

“The SKA will be 50 times 
more sensitive than any other 
radio telescope.”

In addition, a roadmap was prepared 
with  major  decisions  needed  to  be 
made so that the SKA can progress to 
the  pre-construction  phase.  These 
decisions include approval of funding 
and, more important, selection of the 
site where it will be built. Containing a 

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
 
46

S P A C E

detailed timeline, the roadmap should 
serve as a guide to the next phase.

In May 2012, the participating nations 
divided  the  SKA  project  between  
Africa and Australia, where precursor  
telescopes  had  already  been  built  
and  could  be  integrated  into  the  
SKA  radio  telescope  itself.  Its  low- 
frequency component will be hosted 
in  western  Australia  and  the  mid-  
and  high-frequency  components  in 

southern  Africa,  where  it  will  be 
merged  with  Meer  KAT,  the  former 
Karoo Array Telescope.

stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, 
the  history  of  neutral  hydrogen  and 
the nature of gravity.

Project  partners  held  a  series  of 
events  to  raise  public  awareness  of 
the  socioeconomic  benefits  of  the 
SKA. When the SKA radio telescope is 
completed, both Africa and Australia 
will actively participate in a cutting-
edge  science  endeavour  to  gain 
insights into the formation of the first 

GO-SKA

  Coordinated by NWO  
in the Netherlands.

 Funded under FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/

rcn/150546

Project website:  

http://goska.skatelescope.org/ 

WHAT REGULATES THE GROWTH  
OF GALAXIES?
Galaxies, like anything else in our Universe, come in different sizes. With the support of EU funding, 
theorists  and  observers  joined  their  efforts  to  pin  down  how  the  surrounding  environment  affects  
their growth.

Popular theories suggest that galaxies grow in clusters 

—  large  collections  of  galaxies  bound  together  by 
gravity. Their interactions in this dense environment 
affect how each galaxy grows, forms stars and takes shape. 
In particular, collisions are key in triggering star formation 
and altering the morphology of the galaxies.

Each galaxy’s fate is also partially determined by how mas-
sive  it  was  to  begin  with  and  when  it  was  formed.  The 
EU-funded project PHIZ-EV (The growth of galaxies) was 
initiated to find out which of these factors dominated the 
galaxy’s subsequent evolution.

The PHIZ-EV astronomers used a massive data set of more 
than 250 000 distant galaxies from the ‘Cosmic assembly 
near-infrared deep extragalactic legacy survey’ (CANDELS). 
Combining optical and infrared imaging from the Hubble 
space telescope, this survey documents the evolution of 
galaxies at a redshift larger than 1.5.

CANDELS  includes  galaxies  from  when  our  Universe  
was about 3 billion years old. By seeing how the average 

stellar  mass  of  these  galaxies  changes  with  time,  the 
PHIZ-EV team could quantify how galaxies evolved as a 
function of their environment.

Having ascertained the galaxies’ composition by comparing 
the observations with hydrodynamic simulations, the sci-
entists built up a picture of galaxy evolution. Moreover, a 
new method was developed to identify signatures of recent 
mergers from images of distant galaxies and to link these 
with the timescales of star formation.

By improving on previous analyses, the PHIZ-EV project has 
opened entirely new windows on the physical processes 
responsible for galaxy growth. Altogether, the findings will 
help astronomers determine the role of galaxy mergers in 
forming the galaxies we see today.

PHIZ-EV

  Coordinated by the University Court of the University  

of St Andrews in the United Kingdom.

 Funded under FP7-PEOPLE.
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/175065

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“The PHIZ-EV astronomers used a massive data 
set of more than 250 000 distant galaxies from 
the ‘Cosmic assembly near-infrared deep 
extragalactic legacy survey’ (CANDELS).”

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
47

EVENTS

MAY
02▶04

MAY
10▶11

MAY 
25▶27

Granada, SPAIN

Barcelona, SPAIN

W O R K S H O P
MIND PROJECT WORKSHOP  
AND ANNUAL MEETING

The project will host an open-for-all workshop on  
2 May that will aim at providing a forum for discus-
sion of scientific and technical MIND project results, 
preparing for periodical reporting and planning for the 
future project programme. The project workshops 
contribute to integration within the project and com-
munication with a broader interested community.

Topics to be covered include:

-   molecular protocols, metagenomics and  

bio-informatic pipelines;

-  research design working with buffers and 

back-fill — incubation systems, densities and 
swelling properties, detection of microbial 
activity and diversity.

The  project’s  inaugural  annual  meeting  will  begin  
in the morning of 3 May and continue until lunchtime 
on 4 May.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.mind15.eu/okategoriserade/
project-annual-meeting/

W O R K S H O P
SPECS/PREFACE WORKSHOP

The  EU-funded  projects  SPECS  and  PREFACE 
will  jointly  host  a  workshop  on  'Initial  Shock, 
Drift, and Bias Adjustment in Climate Prediction' 
in Barcelona, Spain, from 10 to 11 May 2016.

The  aim  of  the  workshop  is  to  seek  common 
ground on current strategies in understanding 
the physical processes behind the initial shock 
and drift in dynamic climate prediction for all 
time scales, and to formulate recommendations 
that  will  guide  future  international  research 
activities. The question of bias adjustment will be 
considered as a necessary tool for engaging with 
the users of the resulting climate information.

The discussions will be based on the activities 
already taking place in the SPECS and PREFACE 
European  FP7  projects  and  contribute  to  the 
activities of the initial shock and drift project 
promoted by the Working Group on Seasonal-
to-Interannual Prediction (WGSIP) of the World 
Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

For further information, please visit:
http://www.bsc.es/earth-sciences/
specsprefacewcrp-workshop-initial-shock-
drift-and-bias-adjustment-climate-prediction

Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

C O N F E R E N C E
PASTEUR4OA FINAL CONFERENCE

The  EU-funded  PASTEUR4OA  project  will  be 
hosting its final conference in Amsterdam, the 
Netherlands, from 17 to 18 May 2016.

The PASTEUR4OA (Open Access Policy Alignment 
Strategies for European Union Research) project 
has been working to develop and reinforce 'open 
access' (OA) strategies across Europe, to engage 
policy  makers  and  to  establish  a  network 
(Knowledge Net) aimed at promoting OA align-
ment across multiple countries.

The conference will provide the perfect venue 
for discussing the overall OA landscape and the 
achievements of the project, along with experts, 
funders, research institutions and policy makers 
from across Europe.

Discussions held during the conference will be 
especially  timely  as  they  coincide  with  the 
Dutch  Presidency  of  the  European  Union.  OA 
has been named as a priority during the Dutch 
Presidency and this conference is an event offi-
cially associated with the Dutch Presidency.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.pasteur4oa.eu/final-conference

EVENTS

For more forthcoming events:  
http://cordis.europa.eu/events

MAY
25▶27

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TURKU, Finland

S E M I N A R
THE EU-FUNDED DOPAS PROJECT WILL HOLD ITS 2016 ANNUAL 
SEMINAR IN TURKU, FINLAND, FROM 25 TO 27 MAY 2016.
The international seminar DOPAS 2016 will focus on state-of-the-art plugs and seals. This will include 
discussion  of  the  lessons  learned  from  full-scale  demonstrations  undertaken  as  part  of  the  European 
Commission DOPAS Project between 2012 and 2016. The seminar will highlight the design basis of plugs and 
seals, reference designs including rock excavation and materials development, and strategies to demonstrate 
the compliance of the reference designs to the design basis and how full-scale experiments can support 
implementation. 

The seminar will seek to develop a broad overview of plugs and seals. To this end, the seminar encourages 
participation from anyone undertaking research and development on plugs and seals in all types of repository 
programmes, as well as regulators and other stakeholders. In addition, the seminar would welcome perspectives 
from other industries, such as mining, hazardous waste disposal, CO2 sequestration and underground storage 
where final closure is needed. 

For further information, please visit:  
http://www.posiva.fi/en/dopas/dopas_2016_seminar

research*eu results magazine N°51 / April 2016 
 
 
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