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Summary:

EcoLanes was a three year FP6 project funded under the priority thematic area of Sustainable Surface Transport, FP6-2005-Transport-4 call 3B. The key area and activity code associated with EcoLanes was SUSTDEV 2.6: design and manufacture of new construction concepts for road, rail, waterborne and inter-modal infrastructures. The project main aims were to develop infrastructure for surface transport using slip forming and roller compaction techniques based on existing asphalt laying equipment and steel fibre reinforced concrete. The benefits of the new construction concept will be manifold, such as to reduce construction costs by 10-20%, reduce construction time by 15%, reduce the energy consumption in road construction by 40%, minimise maintenance, use waste materials in road construction and make tyre recycling more economically attractive.To achieve its objectives, the project drew expertise from six countries and had to overcome serious scientific and technological barriers in fibre processing, concrete manufacture and road design. The project delivered new processes, design guidelines and full-scale demonstration projects in four diverse European climates and economies.

Consortium:

  • THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD (COORDINATORS)
  • UNIVERSITY OF AKDENIZ
  • TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF IASI
  • EUROPEAN TYRE RECYCLING ASSOCIATION
  • AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES UK LTD
  • ANTALYA MUNICIPALITY
  • COMPANIA NATIONALA DE DRUMURI NATIONALE DIN ROMANIA
  • ADRIATICA RICICLAGGIO E AMBIENTE S.R.L.
  • PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Partner, PI: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • SCOTT WILSON GROUP PLC

Summary:

This research project aims to support the efforts of local authorities and relevant state agencies to create a comprehensive system for the management, monitoring and measurement of air pollution in Cyprus with the combined use of satellite remote sensing and ground sensors. The main objective is to apply the methods available for determining the atmospheric effects on satellite images and to study their effectiveness for the calculation of air pollution by using satellite remote sensing techniques. The use of satellite images is an essential tool for easy and rapid identification of air pollution. The satellite images used for this application in this study were obtained from the Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM + with a resolution of 30x30m, the MODIS Terra with a resolution 1x1km and ASTER with a resolution of 30x30m. These sensors cover a very large percentage of the area of Cyprus.

Consortium:

  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Coordinator: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • SIGNALGENERIX LTD

Summary:

Remote sensing techniques have a sound role now days in the field of agriculture, and more specifically in hydrology. Estimating evapotranspiration through satellites has been a trend the last years. Spectral signatures profiles of different crops are necessary for post-processing of satellite imagery such as ‘classification’ in order to verify the crop type and therefore estimate evapotranspiration. Moreover ground “truth” data collected during satellite overpass can verify the at-satellite results. Indeed, for this project study spectral signatures were collected during the whole phenological cycle of some agricultural crops in Cyprus using the GER-1500 field spectroradiometer with a spectral range from 350nm to 1050 nm. Furthermore an Entity – Relationship Database was design and developed in order to manage, search and store thousands of spectral signatures in a systematic way. The database was build in the Microsoft Access environment while the geo-location of each measurement is recorded based on coordinates. The database may be connected to a Geographical Information System. The primary entities of the database were set as the “spectral signature” and “crop type”. As the results have shown of daily ETc over specific crops in Mandria village (Paphos District), SW Cyprus, using remote sensing data was much closed compared to FAO 56 method. According to results, spectro-radiometric measurements are of vital importance when estimating ETc. The use of such tools in research regarding irrigation demand help in validating the research results and have increased accuracy. Monthly water demands of different crops were estimated and therefore future irrigation scheduling can be performed for similar crops.

Consortium:

  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Coordinator: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • NAGREF
  • CYPRUS METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE

Summary:

The Vineflygis Project aims to increase agricultural production by helping the farmers control the use of pesticides at the right time with the right amount. These are achieved by means of advanced technological systems. The main aim of this project is to collect statistical data by capturing specific types of pests by number of traps which contain pheromones that attract the type of pests in investigation and send the count by wireless technology to a database where all these records are stored and compared. Based on these data, a graphical chart is generated showing this information. This whole process works fully automated and does not need constant interaction by humans. The locations are carefully examined and selected by satellite images. Each location will include number of traps, called DELTA Traps (image on the right) with a central main unit.

Consortium:

  • NOVATEX SOLUTIONS LTD
  • CNE TECHNOLOGY CENTRE
  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Partner, Contact Person: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE


Website: vineflygis.com

Summary:

The need for an efficient irrigation water management is of vital importance in Cyprus. Estimating crop evapotranspiration (ETc) from remotely sensed data could be a very helpful tool for Policy makers. The project aims to estimate ETc using remotely sensed data and in situ field data, such as field spectroradiometric data, Leaf Area Index (LAI) and crop height (CH). Remotely sensed data were correlated to field data in order to avoid direct measurements of crop canopy factors, in the future. These empirical equations have been used to provide the final ETc maps using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) methodology. Finally an economic assessment of the irrigation costs using old and the new data regarding irrigation was made to test if remote sensing can play an important role in the irrigation management.

Consortium:

  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Coordinator: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
  • NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION


Website: www.cut.ac.cy/evapotranspiration

Summary:

This project aims to study the urban heat island effect in Cyprus based on both multi‐temporal satellite and meteorological data. The necessary heat waves and the analysis of the synoptic conditions favouring the development of heat waves have been studied and analyzed. The development of a Neural Network for the correlation of satellite derived land surface temperature (LST) with ground based air surface temperature is also examined. The analysis of satellite derived LST for studying the temporal evolution of LST and the deviation of LST (anomaly) from the mean values during a heat wave event has been evaluated while the calculation of the mean monthly magnitude of urban heat island (UHI) for the period 2002‐2008 and for other selected heat wave events has been also considered.

Consortium:

  • CYPRUS METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE
  • NATIONAL OBSERVATORY OF ATHENS
  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Partner, PI: D.G.Hadjimitsis)


Website: www.redscaletrap.com

Summary:

The aim of the “RedScale ID” research program is to develop an automated, energy-independent trap for continuous monitoring / identification of the RedScale population and in addition to record other relevant parameters related to the population. Such kind of parameter is temperature which is related to day-degrees growth calculation for estimating RedScale population. For this purpose satellite image data were used in order to estimate LST and then to correlate with air temperature. The use of satellite data has many advantages against traditional techniques such as local meteorological stations places in agricultural areas, since they can provide a synoptic coverage on a systematic daily basis.

Consortium:

  • CYPROFRESH
  • CNE TECHNOLOGY CENTER
  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Partner, Contact Person: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE


Website: www.redscaletrap.com

Summary:

While trimming production costs already may be reasonably supported by methods and tools (such as integrated design & production systems, industrial production, lean thinking etc.) and is not hampered by current contract forms, life cycle to product / service provision (to performance based specifications) still lacks sufficient tool support (e.g. service configuration and performance monitoring) and is not likely to become major business model under contractual frameworks that do not provide incentive for (or even prevent) continuous improvement and innovation. Currently, there exists no tool, nor any holistic model or method for the evaluation of different value propositions considering all aspects of life cycle costs and values (economic, ecological, social, cultural, etc.). Creating additional value is still a rather new concept in the building industry and as such it is not yet driving business models or being enabled by contract forms. As a result, value driven processes and supporting models, methods and tools are not implemented in practice even if they exist.. This proposal brings together leading research institutions and key industry partners, creating a framework for interdisciplinary research to tackle the problem described above; a novel solution that can boost economic and social growth in the value-added direction.

Consortium:

  • VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND
  • CENTRE SCIENTIFIQUE ET TECHNIQUE DU BÂTIMENT
  • CNE TECHNOLOGY LTD
  • COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL
  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Partner, Contact Person: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY
  • SINTEF BUILDING AND INFRASTRUCTURE
  • RAMBØLL
  • CATENDA
  • IOSIS


Website: valpro.eu

Summary:

The Competent Authorities have and are undertaking significant dust monitoring and management efforts as well as several projects to support air quality management and data collection. Due to the large spatial and temporal variability of measured PM10 concentrations, as well as potentially significant PM inputs from trans-boundary movements, however, added efforts as well as innovative data collection and modeling tools are required in order to facilitate the preparation of effective and efficient dust management plans. The project’s overall objective is to support the Competent Authorities in preparing cost effective and efficient particulate matter management. For this purpose, state of the art now casting, forecasting and scenario analysis software will be applied. New and innovative data collection and processing methods as well as a robust stakeholder participation process will be introduced in order to support the application of the models. The present data collection activities will be supported through the project by remote sensing techniques. These will be developed, calibrated and applied and will provide data for a potentially much denser grid than possible with ground stations. Further, this method can produce data at various elevations thus greatly enhancing source apportionment and air quality modeling.

Consortium:

  • DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR INSPECTION, MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL INSURANCE
  • ATLANTIS CONSULTING CYPRUS LTD
  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Partner, PI: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • ARISTOTELEIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS


Website: life-airquality.eu

Summary:

WEBAIR-2 will follow-up on E!3266 WEBAIR for urban and industrial air quality management, by extending the application scope and IT technologies employed to: (1) Particulates (PM10/2.5) emission modelling and public health, with emphasis on the political controversial concepts of local traffic reductions by various regulatory and economic instruments; (2) CO2/GHG emissions, energy efficiency and the co-benefits between Kyoto targets (and the emerging follow-up commitments from Copenhagen) and “classical” air pollution, as regulated, for example, in 2008/50/EC, based on a distributed, bottom-up approach to emission control using the directly measurable air pollutants as a direct validation instrument, and (3) Use of 3G mobile phone technology for personalized health related information, warnings and exposure reports e.g., for Asthma patients.A key objective of the proposal is to add elements of sustainable development and explicit environmental criteria to the overall objectives of the Lisbon Strategy.

Consortium:

  • CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (Coordinator: D.G.Hadjimitsis)
  • ATLANTIS CONSULTING CYPRUS LTD
  • ENVIRONMENTAL SOFTWARE & SERVICES GMBH
  • OIKON LTD. – INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED ECOLOGY


Website: webair2.com