Framework Of Research Program Research Articles

Horizon 2020: EU framework programme for research and innovation

Horizon 2020: EU framework programme for research and innovation

Dengue outlook for the World Cup in Brazil: an early warning model framework driven by real-time seasonal climate forecasts

With more than a million spectators expected to travel among 12 different cities in Brazil during the football World Cup, June 12-July 13, 2014, the risk of the mosquito-transmitted disease dengue fever is a concern. We addressed the potential for a dengue epidemic during the tournament, using a probabilistic forecast of dengue risk for the 553 microregions of Brazil, with risk level warnings for the 12 cities where matches will be played. We obtained real-time seasonal climate forecasts from several international sources (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts [ECMWF], Met Office, Meteo-France and Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos [CPTEC]) and the observed dengue epidemiological situation in Brazil at the forecast issue date as provided by the Ministry of Health. Using this information we devised a spatiotemporal hierarchical Bayesian modelling framework that enabled dengue warnings to be made 3 months ahead. By assessing the past performance of the forecasting system using observed dengue incidence rates for June, 2000-2013, we identified optimum trigger alert thresholds for scenarios of medium-risk and high-risk of dengue. Our forecasts for June, 2014, showed that dengue risk was likely to be low in the host cities Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, and São Paulo. The risk was medium in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, and Manaus. High-risk alerts were triggered for the northeastern cities of Recife (p(high)=19%), Fortaleza (p(high)=46%), and Natal (p(high)=48%). For these high-risk areas, particularly Natal, the forecasting system did well for previous years (in June, 2000-13). This timely dengue early warning permits the Ministry of Health and local authorities to implement appropriate, city-specific mitigation and control actions ahead of the World Cup. European Commission's Seventh Framework Research Programme projects DENFREE, EUPORIAS, and SPECS; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

Precipitation variability and trends in Ghana: An intercomparison of observational and reanalysis products

This study was supported by the EU project QWeCI (Quantifying Weather and Climate Impacts on health in developing countries), funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Research Programme under the grant agreement 243964.

FP7 EU funded CORES wave energy project: a coordinators' perspective on the Galway Bay sea trials

The present paper gives an overview of the lessons learnt from the project called Components for Ocean Renewable Energy Systems (CORES). In the context of this European funded 7th Framework Programme research project, new components and systems for ocean energy devices were developed and trialed. The present paper also details the work packages, major achievements, significant impacts, summary results and the outcomes of the sea trials. 1. Introduction Components for Ocean Renewable Energy Systems (CORES) was an EU funded FP7 Collaborative Research Project and was coordinated by the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre in University College Cork (UCC). The Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre is now integrated into UCC Beaufort Research since 2013. The CORES project was intended to further develop components and systems required by the wave energy sector such as grid interface technology, power generators, moorings, instrumentation, telemetry and power control systems. The project started in 2008 and spanned over 3.5 years. It culminated with a three-month sea trial of the systems integrated onto the quarter-scale OEBuoy Hull in Ireland's Galway Bay Wave Test Site. This test site, which is operated jointly by Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) and the Marine Institute (MI), was made available at no cost to the project. Thirteen partners from across seven European countries participated in the project. Although it concentrated on new concepts and components based on floating oscillating water column (OWC) systems, the majority of developments have relevance to most other wave device types. The project finished successfully on budget, but was extended by six months owing to issues concerning weather conditions and vessel availability. How this was achieved, the lessons learnt and what pitfalls need to be avoided are addressed in the present paper. Techniques and tools developed to reduce the risk involved in prototype sea trials and planning, as well as resourcing methods, are discussed. Finally, the present paper details the intellectual property (IP) generated from the project that will be available to the wider ocean energy community. The ultimate objective of the CORES project was to create a wave-to-wire modelling 'toolbox'. This toolbox would allow developers to evaluate the effect of changes in device components on the performance and economics of their devices. It was to consist of a number of numerical models or 'tools' developed within individual work packages and validated at bench scale and through laboratory scale testing at sea. Further information on these tools can be found in a number of detailed technical papers (CORES, 2011; Thiebaut, 2011) as well as on the CORES website (www.fp7-cores.eu).

Knowledge and innovation communities, new potential for biomedical research in Europe

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) was based in 2008 in Budapest as a body of the European Union and its mission is “to Increase European sustainable growth and competitiveness by reinforcing the innovation capacity of the EU”. The aim is to enhance Europe’s ability to innovate, which translates into adapting quickly to the fast pace of development, being one step ahead in providing solutions to rapidly emerging societal problems and developing products that meet the demands and desires of consumers. The EIT is the first EU initiative to fully integrate all three sides of the Knowledge Triangle (higher education, research and business) by way of so-called Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). The integration of all three sides and the effective transmission and sharing of knowledge, information and skills for joint exploitation is crucial to delivering the jobs and growth opportunities that Europe is seeking, as excellent researchers, students and entrepreneurs working in isolation are much less efficient in delivering the results needed and wanted by the market and consumers. EIT has been given an important role as a part of Horizon 2020, the framework programme for research and innovation for the period 2014 – 2020 with the objectives of addressing societal challenges e.g. health, demographic change, ageing population. In the EIT’s Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA), the European Commission has presented a proposal that defines the framework for the EIT's operations for the period of 2014 to 2020: A proposed budget of EUR 3.18 billion within the envelope of EUR 80 billion of Horizon 2020, the EU's future Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (around 3.5 % of the total Horizon 2020 budget). Creation of six new KICs is launched in two waves. Proposed themes (outlined in more detailed in the proposal for the EIT’s Strategic Innovation Agenda) and indicative timeline below: Figure 1 The proposed KIC “Innovation for healthy living and active ageing” for 2014 offers new and challenging opportunity for all actors in the “Health” area to take part in and to contribute to foster and enhance research and development in this field, and to be a member of a big excellent research family in Europe.

Horizon 2020: European perspectives in healthcare sciences and implementation

The potential benefits that preventive, predictive and personalised medicine approaches can bring to healthcare are discussed with much interest throughout the EU. This novel approach is based on a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of health and disease and it has now begun to show results. There is, however, a long way to go before the area is fully exploited. Although the specific focus on personalised medicine is relatively new, the European Union has already committed significant funding to research in enabling technologies relevant to the field, as well as to specific disease areas for their application. More than € 1 billion has been committed to this research through the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7, 2007-2013). A stocktaking exercise which started in 2010 has helped identify immediate and future challenges in personalised medicine research which will also inform the new EU research funding programme Horizon 2020 (2014-2020). The Commission's proposal for Horizon 2020 has a focus on societal challenges that should allow a higher degree of integration of different fields of research. This approach will cover activities from research to the market in an effort to bridge the current gap between the two. In this respect, the Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing Challenge fits well the need for a multidisciplinary approach to the field of personalised medicine which is essential to move the area forward.

Acute myocardial infarction: a comparison of short-term survival in national outcome registries in Sweden and the UK

SummaryBackgroundInternational research for acute myocardial infarction lacks comparisons of whole health systems. We assessed time trends for care and outcomes in Sweden and the UK.MethodsWe used data from national registries on consecutive patients registered between 2004 and 2010 in all hospitals providing care for acute coronary syndrome in Sweden and the UK. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality 30 days after admission. We compared effectiveness of treatment by indirect casemix standardisation. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01359033.FindingsWe assessed data for 119 786 patients in Sweden and 391 077 in the UK. 30-day mortality was 7·6% (95% CI 7·4–7·7) in Sweden and 10·5% (10·4–10·6) in the UK. Mortality was higher in the UK in clinically relevant subgroups defined by troponin concentration, ST-segment elevation, age, sex, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus status, and smoking status. In Sweden, compared with the UK, there was earlier and more extensive uptake of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (59% vs 22%) and more frequent use of β blockers at discharge (89% vs 78%). After casemix standardisation the 30-day mortality ratio for UK versus Sweden was 1·37 (95% CI 1·30–1·45), which corresponds to 11 263 (95% CI 9620–12 827) excess deaths, but did decline over time (from 1·47, 95% CI 1·38–1·58 in 2004 to 1·20, 1·12–1·29 in 2010; p=0·01).InterpretationWe found clinically important differences between countries in acute myocardial infarction care and outcomes. International comparisons research might help to improve health systems and prevent deaths.FundingSeventh Framework Programme for Research, National Institute for Health Research, Wellcome Trust (UK), Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation.

Pemikiran Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) tentang Metodologi Program Riset dan Signifikansinya dalam Kajian Keislaman

Apart from Kuhn and Popper, Lakatos has become an important figure in the<br />field of Philosophy of Science for his scientific theories, which he calls research<br />programmes. For Lakatos, Popper’s theoretical falsification can be immensely dangerous<br />when applied to the already established theories. On the other hand, in contrast to Kuhn<br />who assumed that a paradigm is by its nature immeasurable, Lakatos maintains that the<br />competing scientific discoveries may in fact be compared between one another. To him,<br />the main issues with regard to the logic of discovery cannot be dealt with satisfactorily<br />unless we do so within the framework of research programmes. The practical<br />implementation of this would be that the hard core of this framework cannot be subjected<br />to modification -let alone- rejection. This hard core must in other words be protected<br />from what he terms falsification. Lakatos also maintains that what can be said as scientific<br />is a series of theory, and not a single theory. This model of research programmes can in<br />fact be used in Islamic Studies in order to develop new theoretical principles that may<br />play a role of convincing protective-belt on the one hand, and to find new premises<br />whose discoveries can be used universally on the other

Evolution of national and European policies in the field of rare diseases and their impact over the past five years

The 2009 Council Recommendation on an Action in the Field of Rare Diseases (2009/C 151/02) [1] encouraged Member States to elaborate a national plan or strategy for rare diseases before the end of 2013. One of the principal tasks of the European Union Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases (EUCERD) [2], through its Scientific Secretariat, was to analyse the results of the actions cited in the Recommendation, notably through the production of the annual report on the ‘State of the Art of Rare Disease Activities in Europe’ [3]. The 2014 edition of the report considers the impact of European policy and national plans/strategies (Figure ​(Figure1)1) on the organisation of health care and services for patients with rare diseases, including access to diagnosis and treatment, as well as considering progress in the field of registries, rare disease research initiatives, the genetic testing offer, access to information on rare diseases, patient organisations, and specialised social services. In terms of national plans and strategies for rare diseases, by end 2013, the deadline to elaborate national plans/strategies for rare diseases fixed by the Council Recommendation, most EU Member States had submitted a plan/strategy to their national authorities and sixteen countries have adopted a plan/strategy (Figure ​(Figure2).2). France and Spain have implemented and assessed their first plan. As their number one priority, most countries plan to identify and design centres of expertise for rare diseases. Many of these plans/strategies, however, have no dedicated budget for their actions, a result of the unfavourable economic context which may hinder the implementation of defined measures. The next challenge for EU Member States will be to effectively implement and assess these plans, which the new Commission Expert Group on Rare Diseases [4] will follow closely. Research in the field of rare diseases has been boosted in recent years due to European and international initiatives, such as European research projects funded via the DG Research and Innovation framework programmes and the E-Rare ERA-NET [5] as well as the creation of the International Rare Disease Research Consortium (IRDIRC) [6]. The Orphanet database [7] continues to expand and provides data collected in 37 European and surrounding countries with partner teams in Canada and Australia and negotiations ongoing in other world regions. Nearly all countries now have a national alliance for rare diseases ensuring that the voice of rare diseases, carried by Eurordis [8] at the European level, is heard. Figure 1 Emergence of concepts and initiatives surrounding rare diseases in Europe (December 2013) Figure 2 Stages of development of national plans or strategies for rare diseases in EU MS in December 2013

RARE-Bestpractices: a platform for sharing best practices for the management of rare diseases

Over the last decade the European Union has been coordinating actions addressing various aspects of rare diseases and has funded several cross-border research projects. Recently has initiated the biggest rare disease international collaborative effort by launching the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC). RARE-Bestpractices is one of the more than 100 collaborative research projects on rare diseases funded under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7; 2007-2013) (1). As a wide, open and inclusive network, RARE-Bestpractices will build on the knowledge of the experts in rare disease research area and experts in guideline development and health technology assessment area, brought together, for the first time, from academic institutions, agencies, organizations, patient advocacy groups, governmental bodies. The project aims at building a platform to collect and exchange information on best practices for the management of rare diseases; to identify relevant research needs; to promote the development of high quality guidelines; and to contribute in making patients, health professionals and policy makers “informed guideline users”. Besides, RARE-Bestpractices will intend to define the extent to which conclusions from cost-effectiveness analyses for pharmaceuticals are accounted for and implemented in guidelines across a range of countries.

The IMPACTS Project: The Impact of the Quality of CO2 on Transport and Storage Behaviour

The project The impact of the quality of CO2 on transport and storage behaviour, IMPACTS, was kicked off in January 2013. IMPACTS is a collaborative project under the 7th Framework Programme for research of the EU and is addressing the impact of impurities in captured CO2 from power plants and other CO2-intensive industries, on CO2 transport and storage. This encompasses fluid properties, phase behaviour and chemical reactions in the infrastructure complex and at the storage sites. These issues are paramount for ensuring safe and efficient transport and storage solutions for CCS, since capture of CO2 without safe and efficient transport and storage offers no merit. IMPACTS has 12 research performing partners and 5 funding partners, and a total budget of 5.6 million Euros over three years. This paper outlines the concept, objectives, research approach and organisation of IMPACTS.

Web-based workflow planning platform supporting the design and execution of complex multiscale cancer models.

Significant Virtual Physiological Human efforts and projects have been concerned with cancer modeling, especially in the European Commission Seventh Framework research program, with the ambitious goal to approach personalized cancer simulation based on patient-specific data and thereby optimize therapy decisions in the clinical setting. However, building realistic in silico predictive models targeting the clinical practice requires interactive, synergetic approaches to integrate the currently fragmented efforts emanating from the systems biology and computational oncology communities all around the globe. To further this goal, we propose an intelligent graphical workflow planning system that exploits the multiscale and modular nature of cancer and allows building complex cancer models by intuitively linking/interchanging highly specialized models. The system adopts and extends current standardization efforts, key tools, and infrastructure in view of building a pool of reliable and reproducible models capable of improving current therapies and demonstrating the potential for clinical translation of these technologies.

Hidden societal implications of materials. Updating the awareness on what is at stake

Hidden societal implications of materials. Updating the awareness on what is at stake

Measuring quality, equity, outcomes and efficiency in pharmaceutical care as a part of managed care

The abstract presents results of the “InterQuality Project – International Research Project on Financing Quality in Healthcare” funded by the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Technological Development of the European Union. Grant Agreement No: HEALTH-F3-2010-261369 Objectives: To identify, classify and assess indicators reflecting outcomes, efficiency, quality and equity of pharmaceutical care services from the perspective of three stakeholders: healthcare professionals, patients and payers as well as to describe them in accordance with Donabedian’s [1] and ECHO [2] models. Theory: Providing guidance for authorities seeking scientifically validated knowledge in the area of pharmaceutical care as a part of managed care is needed. Methods: A systematic review restricted to the last 10 years was conducted in Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library. A non-systematic review was added. Results: 87 articles were identified during the systematic review and 10 publications were manually added. Indicators were assigned according to topic (efficiency, outcomes, quality and 13 th international Conference on Integrated Care, Berlin, Germany, April 11-12, 2013 2 International Journal of Integrated Care – Volume 13, 23 October – URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-114662– http://www.ijic.org/ equity), according to Donabedian’s model [1] as structure, process and outcomes indicators and according to ECHO model [2] as clinical intermediary, clinical outcomes, humanistic intermediary, humanistic and economic outcomes. Discussion: The indicators that are probably most useful for population-wide decision making are generic ones, as they allow comparisons between interventions. However, specific indicators are also sensible as they are more responsive to changes caused by interventions, and thus allow those changes to be measured. Conclusions: Our work provides a comprehensive overview and new classification of indicators ready to use for decision makers to help identify areas of outstanding quality in the area of pharmaceutical care.

Technological innovation, human capital and social change for sustainability. Lessons learnt from the Industrial Technologies Theme of the EU's Research Framework Programme

Europe is facing a twofold challenge. It must maintain or even increase its competitiveness, a basic requirement in a globalised economy and under the current demographic threat. It needs also to tackle the so-called “grand challenges”, especially environmental issues, through a sustainable model of production and consumption. Such challenges should lead to new business and industrial models, based on more sustainable production and consumption chains, from design to end of life. This implies a need for new industrial materials and processes, new skills and, indeed, new values and life-styles. Sustainability and innovation are key elements of EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programmes, particularly in the field of industrial technologies (nanotechnologies, materials and industrial technologies), which objective is to “improve the competitiveness of the European industry and generate knowledge to ensure its transformation from a resource intensive to a knowledge intensive industry”. Sustainability and innovation are interrelated challenges for R&D. Research can develop technical solutions to tackle environmental or societal challenges, but such technologies need to be successfully commercialised to have a real environmental impact. Several socio-economic studies carried-out by the European Commission show not only the emerging technological and industrial trends, but they also emphasise the need for linking sustainable technologies with social change. Human capital and new social behaviours are critical factors to combine economic competitiveness and sustainability: technology alone is no longer able to solve global challenges. But what kind of human capital (skills, behaviours, and values) are we referring to? How to encourage the shift towards a greener society through human capital? Which reforms are needed in education systems to move towards a sustainable economy? Are there examples of social innovation to be extrapolated and/or generalised?

My epilepsy story: An interview with Gay Mitchell

My epilepsy story: An interview with Gay Mitchell

Ethical Review of Projects Involving Non-human Primates Funded under the European Union's 7th Research Framework Programme

Internet searches were performed on projects involving non-human primates ('primates') funded under the European Union (EU) 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7), to determine how project proposals are assessed from an ethical point of view. Due to the incompleteness of the information publicly available, the types and severity of the experiments could not be determined with certainty, although in some projects the level of harm was considered to be 'severe'. Information was scarce regarding the numbers of primates, their sourcing, housing, care and fate, or the application of the Three Rs within projects. Project grant holders and the relevant Commission officer were consulted about their experiences with the FP7 ethics review process. Overall, it was seen as meaningful and beneficial, but some concerns were also noted. Ethical follow-up during project performance and upon completion was recognised as a valuable tool in ensuring that animal welfare requirements were adequately addressed. Based upon the outcome of the survey, recommendations are presented on how to strengthen the ethical review process under the upcoming Framework Programme 'Horizon 2020', while adequately taking into account the specific requirements of Directive 2010/63/EU, with the aim of limiting the harms inflicted on the animals and the numbers used, and ultimately, replacing the use of primates altogether.

European Dimensions of Residential Tenancy LawThis contribution presents the cooperative project ‘Tenancy Law and Housing Policy in the EU’ (www.tenlaw.uni-bremen.de) under the EU’s Seventh Research Framework Programme, which is coordinated by the Centre of European Law and Politics (ZERP) at Bremen University. The consortium is further composed of the Universities Southampton, Pisa, Tarragona, Lund, Katowice, Tartu, Celje, Delft and the

Abstract Although one third of European citizens depend on rental housing, its legal regulation in residential tenancy law constitutes a nearly blank space in comparative and European Union law. This is due to its national character, its perceived political nature and its embeddedness in widely diverging national housing policies. At the same time, however, EU law and policies from other fields do affect tenancy law significantly, albeit indirectly and with little visibility. The present contribution tries in a first step to take stock of these influences, which range from social policy, competition law, consumer and contract law, conflict of laws, anti-discrimination and environmental law to the European Convention of Human Rights. On this basis, the potential for a European contribution to the field is examined in a second step. As regards European instruments, this contribution advises against legal harmonisation but recommends the extension of the existing open method of coordination mechanism in social policy to tenancy law. At the substantive level, a legal principle of ‘socio-economic balance’ is sketched out. This means that national legislators, regulators and judges should design viable compromise solutions taking into account party interests as well as macroeconomic and social criteria.

IS 1. The electric field in the brain during tDCS

Transcranial brain stimulation involves the interaction between an applied electric field and cells in the brain. In transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), this field is created by passing a weak current between two or more electrodes, at least one of which is placed on the scalp. The spatial distribution of the electric field and its orientation relative to the brain cells are two important factors that influence the outcome of stimulation. To describe how the shape and the electrical properties of tissues affect the electric field distribution and to show to what extent this distribution can be altered by using multiple electrodes. We developed a realistic head model based on anatomical MR images to compute the electric field using the finite element method. The values for the conductivity of the tissues were obtained from the literature. The electrode montage typically used to stimulate M1 was chosen. The calculations show that the low conductivity of the skull and the high conductivity of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have a strong impact on the electric field. As expected, the effect of the skull is to decrease the electric field intensity and to broaden its spatial variation in the brain. On the other hand, the presence of the CSF leads to very distinct distributions of the normal and tangential components of the electric field on the cortical surface. The normal component is strongest near the bottom of the sulci under the electrodes whereas the tangential component is strongest in the crowns of the gyri between electrodes. Whereas the high values of the normal component are confined to the bottom or walls of the sulci, the high values of the tangential component spread out over the crowns. One of the shortcomings of the traditional montages that employ two identical electrodes is that the electric field has practically the same magnitude (and opposite polarity) under the two electrodes. Using our model we show that one way to overcome this limitation efficiently is to use one “active” electrode and multiple return electrodes to reduce the magnitude of the electric field under the return electrodes relative to that under the “active” electrode. This work provides novel insights into the electric field distribution in the brain during tDCS. The most pressing issue for the future is the physiological validation of its predictions. Also, the accuracy of the calculations can be improved by incorporating the anisotropy of skull and white matter in the model. Likely future developments include the rapid generation of subject specific head models or the optimization of electric field delivery using multiple electrodes. This work was supported in part by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal and by project HIVE. The project HIVE acknowledges the financial support of the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme within the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Commission, FET-Open grant 222079.

Who are the PDCO?

In January 2007, the Paediatric Regulation entered into force and established the Paediatric Committee (PDCO) within the European Medicines Agency. The goal of the PDCO is to improve the health of the children of Europe by increasing high-quality research for medicinal products and promoting the development and authorization of such medicines at the EU level. A major function of the PDCO is to formulate and authorize Paediatric Investigation Plans and Paediatric Use Marketing Authorisations. The EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research has facilitated the establishment of consortia whose ultimate goal is to answer important clinical questions involving medicines commonly used "off-label", in children. The benefits of these consortia include enhanced collaboration amongst paediatricians, scientists and small to medium enterprises whose ultimate goal is to obtain an authorization for a new indication or formulation for use in the paediatric population. It will be interesting in a number of years time to measure the success of this very important European initiative.