Combustion instabilities constitute a severe challenge in the development of efficient low-emission combustion systems, such as gas turbines for aeronautical and power generation applications. Previous work has shown the principle capability of nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) plasma discharges to mitigate this undesirable unsteady combustion phenomenon in academic configurations; however, essential physical effects associated with the application of this technology in real gas turbine engines for aircraft propulsion and power generation have not been considered yet. These effects are related to 1.) liquid-fueled spray flames, 2.) elevated operating pressure, and 3.) high-frequency non-planar modes. The GECCO project will tackle these three aspects with dedicated experiments and high fidelity simulations. A common swirl-burner platform will be used for all three aspects to maximize synergy effects between the individual work packages. The AVBP code, well established for turbulent combustion simulations of academic and industrial configurations, will be combined to a plasma code to account for the effects of NRP plasma discharges on turbulent flames, taking into account ultrafast heating as well as slower thermal and chemical effects. Once validated on the basis of experimental data, this numerical tool will be essential in achieving a comprehensive understanding of the plasma-flame-acoustic interaction related to the 3 effects mentioned above. The effect of NRP discharges on the dynamics of spray flames will be assessed in detailed measurements (phase-Doppler anemometry, light-sheet tomography, particle image velocimetry), investigating the influence on the cold spray, the flame shape, and the dynamic response to acoustic perturbations (flame transfer function, FTF). To assess and demonstrate the potential of NRP discharges in the mitigation of high-frequency azimuthal instabilities, the swirl burner will be equipped with circumferentially distributed plasma actuation. The response of the flame to this type of forcing will be experimentally assessed using azimuthally resolved measurements (pressure, chemiluminescence). Plasma-flame-acoustic interaction at elevated pressures will be investigated in a high-pressure facility. The effect of NRP on the FTF and the response of the flame to low-frequency modulated harmonic plasma forcing will be measured up to 10 bar. All experimental tasks are accompanied by corresponding simulations that will provide a more detailed understanding of the interaction mechanisms than accessible by measurements only. In the final part of the project, NRP discharge forcing will be utilized to control acoustically coupled combustion oscillations in the three experimental facilities (spray flames, high-frequency modes, elevated pressure). GECCO may, thus, increase the fundamental understanding of dynamic plasma flame interaction and, on the other hand, bring this technology significantly closer to real applications.

COAST (Coastal OceAn SusTainability in Changing Climate) project focuses on the sustainability of the coastal ocean under the impacts of ongoing and projected climate variability and change. The project will address impacts of climate change and increased human activity on coastal zones by integrating the natural and social domains of the coastal ocean and tracking how changes will affect the use and the infrastructure of today and in different scenarios for the future. We will assess the impact on human communities in view of their ability to adjust to long-term change in terms of policy-making, legislation, and business development and survival rates. With the project motto "think globally - act regionally" COAST will consider shelf areas of the polar Kara Sea and of the Black Sea, the tropical coastal Atlantic Ocean off South America (estuary of Parana and Uruguay Rivers) and the coastal areas of the arid Red Sea. All these regions are characterized by medium to high human impact on marine ecosystems, different tendencies in sea level, increasing impacts of waves and surges on coastal erosion and intensified coastal hydrological cycles. Project methodologies include data analysis, ocean circulation and wave models forced by high resolution atmospheric model, process-oriented models for river plumes, pollutant transports and ecosystems. The further use of regional climate models will ensure for developing improved regional projections under different climate change scenarios. Physical model results will be incorporated into regional configurations of socio-economic model for the translation of regional physical and biochemical variables into a suite of impact metrics. The project will be carried out by international and multidisciplinary team of natural scientists (IORAS, FURG, IGE, and KAUST), social scientists (GWU and IEPRAS), NGO and in-kind partners and stakeholders from different industries representing Russia, Brazil, France, Saudi Arabia and USA. This ensures the development of society-relevant recommendations and environmentally friendly business solutions for ocean coastal areas.

Coral reefs are important biodiversity hotspots and major ecological reserves. They are also critically important to the many countries living nearby. With global warming, extreme thermal events called Marine Heat Waves (MHWs), have devastating effects on coral reefs, inducing massive bleaching (i.e. symbiosis disruption between corals and their Symbiodiniaceae algae, depriving the coral of its main food source). Bleaching can lead to coral death if the stress persists, unless corals can rely on their heterotrophic nutrient acquisition, by consuming organic matter or planktonic preys. There is evidence that some coral communities, living in mesotrophic reefs (rich in plankton and nutrients) are less sensitive to bleaching. In laboratory, corals supplied with plankton are more resistant to heat stress but fewer studies have been conducted in the field. While MHWs are becoming more frequent and intense, areas rich in plankton and organic matter (hereafter called mesotrophic reefs) can be key to coral survival by allowing corals to obtain external energy sources. They can serve as coral refuge in the face of climate change. BOOST gathers four UMRs (ENTROPIE, LEMAR, MIO, LOMIC) and three international partners, the CSM, Duke University and KAUST on a highly multidisciplinary project merging ecophysiology, biogeochemistry, oceanography and remote sensing. Laboratory and in situ approaches are applied in BOOST to: (1) (a)Determine whether mesotrophic reefs show higher metabolic performances, and (b) whether corals from oligotrophic reefs can adapt to mesotrophic conditions, by measuring in particular their productivity and calcification with innovative equipment using high-frequency sampling, and by transplanting corals from oligo- to mesotrophic reefs and assess their physiological parameters; (2) Confirm, under in situ conditions, that corals from mesotrophic reefs are more resistant to bleaching by performing short-term acute heat stress on corals collected either in meso- or oligotrophic reefs and transplanted from an oligotrophic reef; (3) Assess that coral tissue properties reflect the seawater nutrient properties and enable the determination of coral heterotrophic levels in situ by measuring new heterotrophic markers (bulk isotopic d13C and d15N values, some d15N-compound-specific amino acid values and a fatty acid biomarker (cis-gondoic acid)) calibrated in corals cultivated in laboratory conditions, under different diets; (4) Localize other mesotrophic reefs, where corals may be more resistant to future MHWs, by analyzing satellite images of surface chlorophyll-a around New Caledonia. BOOST will provide new tools to help policymakers and environmental managers decide where to focus their efforts to preserve areas more resilient to climate change, and thus essential for reef protection and restoration. BOOST results can be combined with other “Nature Based Solution” to improve reef restoration strategies and may even make it possible to consider seeding some coral reef portions with plankton or organic matter.

The focus of the project is to enable added-value services to be provided thanks to SDN, on top of Internet Exchange Points and other network interconnnection fabrics. The services would relate not only to the flexibility of the interconnection fabric, but most importantly to enable the content and data centre ecosystem that is present at the interconnection fabric to collaborate. The ultimate goal is to create a service marketplace on top of the ecosystem composed of Cloud/data centers, networked applications, and the interconnection fabric.

Transparent photovoltaics (TPV) possesses a huge untapped potential in the harvesting of solar energy where it readily can be embedded in buildings applications worldwide to significant reduce CO2 emissions, and support the needed development of nearly zero-energy buildings. TPV will increase the utilization of renewable energy directly where it is needed, and play a crucial role for the sustainable transformation of the energy sector in large cities. Using conventional photovoltaics, however, it is not possible to fabricate TPV elements without severe losses in efficiency and/or visual light transmittance. In the CITYSOLAR project, a new breakthrough concept for TPV will be developed by exploiting the combined use of emerging technologies, namely multi-junction solar modules developed from near-ultraviolet perovskite and near-infrared organic solar cells. Using advanced concepts within light management such as photonic crystals, nanophotonics and photon recycling and advanced module integration schemes, CITYSOLAR will radically change performance limits for TPV by significantly reducing losses related to light absorption and scale-up from individual solar cells to multi-junction modules. CITYSOLAR brings together world-leading European academic and industrial players, some with key intellectual property, together with two non-EU partners belonging to Mission Innovation countries specialized in the synthesis of advanced materials for hybrid and organic solar cells. The consortium will develop highly efficient and transparent solar cells and modules to increase the performance of available TPV technologies by 50%, and via innovative integration schemes present a route for its use in building integrated PV (BIPV) applications. This represents a strategic sector for Europe and an opportunity to accelerate and reduce the cost of the next generation of sustainable renewable energy technologies.