Our Work

In its pursuit of a leadership role in climate service (CS) development and uptake, the European Union (EU) has invested in numerous innovation initiatives that have significantly advanced the field. …

In its pursuit of a leadership role in climate service (CS) development and uptake, the European Union (EU) has invested in numerous innovation initiatives that have significantly advanced the field. Still, efforts to promote broader uptake are fragmented, which underscores the need for a more systematic approach to stimulate upscaling. Upscaling CSs—the process of transferring, replicating, extending and/or institutionalising CSs in new contexts, thereby increasing the value of services by enhancing impact and adaptation outcomes— presents both theoretical and practical challenges. This perspective article explores the challenge of upscaling CSs and the benefits of a nuanced understanding of contexts in which such services may be expanded. Collaboration between diverse actors—including developers, intermediaries, and users—is recommended within the upscaling process. Against this backdrop, we propose a framework to orient (1) horizontal upscaling (replication to new audiences), (2) vertical upscaling (institutional changes) and (3) functional upscaling (adding functions and/or content). This framework is structured around four guiding questions: ‘why’—to uncover the rationale for upscaling CS, the specific benefits and opportunities; ‘what’—to consider specific components valued and/or demanded to be upscaled; ‘who’ − to consider those involved in the process; and ‘how’—to explore practices and opportunities. We substantiate the suggested framework with a select few real-life CS examples, as well as illustrating hypothetical examples. We propose that adopting an upscaling framework informed by the viewpoints outlined here can help EU‑sponsored initiatives enhance the strategic impact of climate‑service investments and, in turn, improve long‑term climate resilience and adaptation. This article results from a cross-project Thematic Working Group promoted by the EU Mission on Climate Adaptation, fostering the exchange and discussion between 39 different EU projects involving CSs.

Sound Event Classification (SEC) has attracted considerable attention in recent times, with applications in a variety of fields, including environmental acoustics. In particular, there has been a nota…

Sound Event Classification (SEC) has attracted considerable attention in recent times, with applications in a variety of fields, including environmental acoustics. In particular, there has been a notable increase in the level of interest in outdoor measurements, with a view to distinguishing the contributions of a particular source from the background noise. The utilisation of machine learning tools is contingent upon the availability of substantial datasets for the purposes of training or validation. DataSEC is an open-access dataset specifically designed for Sound Event Classification of environmental noise that can be listened in outdoor environments.The collection consists of 18 hours and 26 minutes of authentic, non-synthesized audio recordings, which have been meticulously gathered from two distinct sources: sound level measurements and online repositories. The authors have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the sound samples, encompassing a diverse range of environments, from urban to rural settings.DataSEC comprises a total of 4,292 mono-channel .wav audio samples, with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. Each sample represents a single event that has been classified into one of the following 22 defined sound classes and 28 subclasses. The utilisation of the symbol "/" serves to denote the subclasses. The identified classes and subclasses are: Bells; Birds; Cat fights and moans; Chicken coop; Cicadas and crickets \Cicadas \Crickets; Crows seagulls and magpies \Crows \Seagulls \Magpies; Dog barkings and howlings; Glass breaking; Horn; Jet aircrafts; Lawn mower brush cutter and olive shaker \lawn mower \Brush cutter \Olive shaker; Music; Propeller aircrafts \Airplanes, \Helicopters; Sirens and alarms \Sirens \Alarms; Thunder fireworks and gunshot \Thunder \Fireworks \Gunshot; Train; Vacuum cleaner fan and hairdryer \Vacuum cleaner \Fan \Hairdryer; Vehicle idling \Car-truck idling, \Motorbike idling; Vehicle pass-by \Car pass-by, \Motorbike pass-by, \Truck pass-by; Voices; Wind turbine; Workshop \Air compressor, \Drill, Grinder, \Jackhammer, \Saw.The minimum number of entries required for each class has been set at 50, with a minimum of 20 entries stipulated for each sub-class. A thorough examination of all samples has been conducted by the authors, with all files being meticulously preprocessed to eliminate silences and superfluous parts. This preprocessing involved the removal of irrelevant background activity and overlapping sounds.The authors expect that the dataset will contribute to future research in real-world sound event analysis and automated acoustic evaluation by means of machine learning.   V.4 fixes a bug in the uploaded file, where the number of Music files was not correct respect to what described in the text. This is for class balancing.

This repository provides the complete computational workflow for AlloyGCN-based prediction, surrogate modeling, and explainable analysis of Cantor alloys with additional alloying elements. The pipelin…

This repository provides the complete computational workflow for AlloyGCN-based prediction, surrogate modeling, and explainable analysis of Cantor alloys with additional alloying elements. The pipeline includes: Graph neural network (AlloyGCN) training and evaluation for process-dependent mechanical property prediction Generation of fixed-composition surrogate datasets for Cantor+A alloys Training of XGBoost surrogate models Computation of SHAP main effects and interaction effects Visualization of feature importance and interaction heatmaps Target properties include yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and elongation (EL). The workflow enables rapid exploration and interpretation of composition–process–property relationships in high-entropy alloy design. The repository contains all scripts required to reproduce the published results, including data preprocessing, model training, surrogate dataset generation, explainability analysis, and visualization.

The thesis examines the constitutional impact and limitations of strategic litigation involving the state in South Africa, with particular emphasis on its role in holding organs of state accountable a…

The thesis examines the constitutional impact and limitations of strategic litigation involving the state in South Africa, with particular emphasis on its role in holding organs of state accountable and preventing abuses of public power. It analyses strategic litigation within the framework of constitutional supremacy, the separation of powers, judicial review, judicial independence and the positive constitutional duties imposed on organs of state when they engage in litigation. The study demonstrates that procedural practices, judicial approaches and the failure of state litigants to comply with constitutional obligations can impose significant practical limitations on effective strategic litigation. It ultimately proposes introducing a model litigant obligation to ensure that organs of state and their legal representatives act fairly, ethically, transparently, and consistently with their constitutional responsibilities when conducting litigation.

The Transcription+ project has the aim of improving documentation and tool support for the ISO standard “ISO 24624:2016 Language resource management — Transcription of spoken language&rdqu…

The Transcription+ project has the aim of improving documentation and tool support for the ISO standard “ISO 24624:2016 Language resource management — Transcription of spoken language”. The poster introduces the project and the standard and provides details on the project’s main results: a primer with detailed instructions on how to use the standard, a set of XML schemas, a multilingual demo corpus, a library of XSLT stylesheets, a set of RESTful web services, and an implementation of the CLARIN Federated Content Search for the ZuMult corpus platform. 

Species vouchers and GenBank accession numbers

This data set includes notes and transcripts of 4 focus groups (3 with CSOs dealing with irregular migrants and 1 with public authorities), 2 semi-structured interviews with public authorities and 1 w…

This data set includes notes and transcripts of 4 focus groups (3 with CSOs dealing with irregular migrants and 1 with public authorities), 2 semi-structured interviews with public authorities and 1 written interview with a public authority conducted within task 6.1 on alternative to return policies. 

Occurrences

Pipeline demonstration data