Anomalies in surface temperatures, winds, and precipitation can significantly alter energy supply and demand, cause flooding, and cripple transportation networks. Better management of these impacts can be achieved by extending the duration of reliable predictions of the atmospheric circulation. Polar stratospheric variability can impact surface weather for well over a month, and this proposed research presents a novel approach towards understanding the fundamentals of how this coupling occurs. Specifically, we are interested in: 1) how predictable are anomalies in the stratospheric circulation? 2) why do only some stratospheric events modify surface weather? and 3) what is the mechanism whereby stratospheric anomalies reach the surface? While this last question may appear academic, several studies indicate that stratosphere-troposphere coupling drives the midlatitude tropospheric response to climate change; therefore, a clearer understanding of the mechanisms will aid in the interpretation of the upcoming changes in the surface climate. I propose a multi-pronged effort aimed at addressing these questions and improving monthly forecasting. First, carefully designed modelling experiments using a novel modelling framework will be used to clarify how, and under what conditions, stratospheric variability couples to tropospheric variability. Second, novel linkages between variability external to the stratospheric polar vortex and the stratospheric polar vortex will be pursued, thus improving our ability to forecast polar vortex variability itself. To these ends, my group will develop 1) an analytic model for Rossby wave propagation on the sphere, and 2) a simplified general circulation model, which captures the essential processes underlying stratosphere-troposphere coupling. By combining output from the new models, observational data, and output from comprehensive climate models, the connections between the stratosphere and surface climate will be elucidated.

Infectious disease is often the major selective agent in nature, and we cannot understand how populations evolve without understanding their pathogenic microbes. Beyond host immunity, an important factor determining the ability of pathogens to invade and proliferate in a host is the resident microbiota, but we are only beginning to glimpse its multifarious impacts. We know even less about interactions among pathogenic microbes themselves. Any effort to explain how pathogen communities, or pathobiota, develop within a host requires knowledge about the extent to which pathogens engage in competition, commensalism and cooperation, both with other pathogens and the rest of the microbiota. To date, studies of plant-pathogen interactions in the lab and descriptive work in the field have focused on pairwise interactions between one plant host and one pathogen, leaving a large gap in our understanding of how different types of interactions between microbes, and especially pathogens, determine the outcome of host-pathogen interactions in the real world. In PATHOCOM, we will implement a program that integrates large-scale field observations of microbes in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana with ultra-high-throughput experimental tests of host-dependent interactions among microbes, allowing experiment-informed modeling of pathogenic microbe-microbe interactions. These models, which will be improved through an iterative process of data collection with synthetic communities, will illuminate how interactions, from pairwise to higher-order, shape microbial community composition and structure. In the final step, the resulting models will be tested against and refined with field data. Together, these efforts will transform the study of plant pathogens by applying deep analyses of microbial interactions in an ecological context to explain patterns in nature. Ultimately, PATHOCOM will play an essential role in refashioning plant-pathogen-microbiome studies into a predictive science.

The European Space Agency's Gaia mission is the most successful European space mission as measured by the rate of publications appearing that use Gaia's data. The astrometric, photometric, and radial velocity catalogues provided through the second Gaia data release in April 2018 are the standard in fundamental astronomical data, with much more and much richer data appearing in future Gaia data releases. However the full transformative potential of the Gaia mission is currently not being realized because we lack a detailed description of the survey selection function: the probability that an astronomical object of certain properties enters the Gaia catalogue (or not). We illustrate that without the selection function it is impossible to obtain insights in fundamental physics and astrophysics from modeling the objects' population properties, based on a set of catalogue entries. It is the objective of this proposal to research, develop, and implement the Gaia survey selection function, as well selection functions for Gaia combined with other surveys. We will make available publicly the data products and open source computer applications needed by scientists to apply the selection functions to their analyses of the Gaia data. A well-characterized selection function is indispensable to tap the full transformational information content of this flagship European space mission, opening up qualitatively new ways of science analysis, offering more publications, and better reproducibility of the results. The Gaia survey data will set the standard in fundamental astronomical data for decades to come and the efforts proposed here will contribute to a much increased legacy value of this space mission.

DigiCare4You Consortium will jointly work with local stakeholders to deliver an intersectoral innovation involving digital tools for early screening, prevention and management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN). An implementation study will be conducted, targeting more than 10,000 families in two Middle Income Countries (Albania and Bulgaria) and two High Income Countries (Greece and Spain), considering vulnerable groups. Schools will be used as an entry point to the community and building on an existing procedure for children’s periodic growth assessment (conducted via school nurses or in collaboration with local community health centres), parents/ caregivers will be screened via a non-invasive self-reported digital screening tool. Those identified at high risk for T2D will be referred for glycaemia testing and blood pressure (BP) measurements at local community health centres. Parents/ caregivers confirmed to have pre-diabetes or diabetes (and possibly high BP) will be invited to join a mHealth self-management intervention coordinated by the community healthcare workforce. The goal of this intervention is not only to improve the health status of the users, but also empower the entire family in adopting a healthy lifestyle. To this end, schools and communities will also be actively engaged to promote health literacy, well-being and support lifestyle changes creating a more supportive social and physical environment for the entire community. Regular monitoring will be ongoing during the implementation to allow corrective actions and ensure effective adaptation and uptake. Based on the study outcomes, the in-depth health economic evaluation and budget impact analysis, and data deriving from a Scalability Assessment and Decision-Support tool, national and international stakeholders will be invited to evaluate, through a series of webinars and workshops, the scalability potential of the DigiCare4You solution in other regions or countries in Europe.

Key objectives of METIS-II are to develop the overall 5G radio access network design and to provide the technical enablers needed for an efficient integration and use of the various 5G technologies and components currently developed. The innovation pillars that will allow METIS-II to achieve this goal are • a holistic spectrum management architecture addressing the spectrum crunch, • an air interface harmonisation framework enabling an efficient integration of new and legacy air interfaces, • an agile Resource Management (RM) framework providing the dynamics required to efficiently adapt the integrated 5G air interfaces and radio concepts to the varying traffic demand and service requirements, • a cross-layer and cross-air-interface system access and mobility framework ensuring an ubiquitous access continuum, • and a common control and user plane framework providing the means for an efficient support of the broad versatility of services expected for 5G as well as a future-proof and cost-efficient implementation of the 5G integration. On the strategic level, METIS-II will provide the 5G collaboration framework within 5G-PPP for a common evaluation of 5G radio access network concepts and prepare concerted action towards regulatory and standardisation bodies. Based on its very strong and international consortium with partners from all regions with strong 5G R&D initiatives (EU, US, China, Japan, Korea) with most of the major international vendors, major operators, and key researchers, METIS-II will have the unique capability to drive consensus building globally, to consolidate a full picture of the needs of mobile as well as vertical industries, and to disseminate the results towards the relevant bodies, forums, and standardisation groups in all regions. The METIS-II proposal addresses the Strand “Radio network architecture and technologies” in the ICT14-2014 call in the H2020 program. METIS-II is committed to actively drive the collaboration with the 5G-PPP.