Information Technologies for water resources management and modelling in semi-arid areas

Keywords:
Integrated system, world-wide web, GIS, DBMS, numerical modelling, water resources, eutrophication, watersheds, semi-arid areas

Abstract:
The main objective of ESIMEAU is to build the infrastructure of an integrated system to be used as a single decision support system for the management of water related issues. Such an open work platform will embody numerical models and simulators operating on spatial geographic databases, as well as data acquisition and data management tools. The direct beneficiaries are spatial planners and decision makers who will find through such a system, efficient operational facilities in the preparation and the installation of planning and/or emergency measures directly related to water - both as a resource and as a natural hazard in general, and specifically for semi-arid areas. The infrastructure of the integrated system that will be developed in this project could be seen as the first important step of a global process for management modelling and simulation of water resource systems. Since water is one of the important factors in the socio-economic development of any country, ESIMEAU is designed as a generic platform to assist: (i) scientific research team involved in water resources oriented projects (GIS, DBMS, Numerical Modelling), and (ii) spatial planners and decision makers for optimal planning and decision measures related to water (natural as well as sustainable resources, hazards, etc).

Partners:
INRIA (France), FORTH (Greece), Institut de Recherche pour le Development (France), Research Institute for Knowledge Systems (The Netherlands), Ecole Nationale Polytechnique (Lebanon), Ecole Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Beyrouth (Lebanon), Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs (Morocco), Office National d'eau potable (Morocco), Centre International des Technologies de l'Environnement de Tunis (Tunisia), ERCIM

Duration:
1. December 1997 - 30 November 2000

ERCIM's role:
Project co-ordinator

Total budget:
1 030 000 Euro

Funding Agencies:
European Commission, INCO DC Programme: 700 000 Euro

Data Fusion for Flood Analysis and Decision Support

Keywords:
decision support, flood prevention and protection, data processing

Abstract:
The objective of the ANFAS project is to develop a Decision Support System for flood prevention and protection, integrating the most advanced techniques in data processing and management. When a flood is going to happen, decision makers have to decide what are the most appropriate reactions : evacuation of the population, reinforcement of dikes, etc. The ANFAS project will develop a tool to help decision makers in taking  decisions that will limit the flood damage.

Partners:
INRIA, Matra Systems (France), Bureau des Recherches Géologiques et Minières (France), Reading University (United Kingdom), FORTH, Slovak Academy of Sciences, CLRC, Chinese Acedemy of Sciences: Institutes of (i) Automation (ii) Remote Sensing Applications (iii) Atmospheric Physics, ERCIM

Duration:
1 January 2000 - 31 December 2002

ERCIM's role:
Project co-ordinator

Total budget:
3 800 000 Euro

Funding Agencies:
European Commission, IST Programme: 1 600 000 Euro
Chinese Ministry of Research: 800 000 Euros

Multimedia Understanding through Semantics, Computation and Learning

Keywords:
Multimedia understanding, semantic web, machine learning, data mining

Abstract:

• MUSCLE aims at creating and supporting a pan-European Network of Excellence to foster close collaboration between research groups in multimedia datamining on the one hand and machine learning on the other in order to make breakthrough progress towards the following objectives:
• Harnessing the full potential of machine learning and cross-modal interaction for the (semi-) aut omatic generation of metadata with high semantic content for multimedia documents;
• Applying machine learning for the creation of expressive, context-aware, self-learning, and human-centered interfaces that will be able to effectively assist users in the exploration of complex and rich multimedia content;
• Improving interoperability and exchangeability of heterogeneous and distributed (meta)data by enabling data descriptions of high semantic content (e.g. ontologies, MPEG7 and XML schemata) and inference schemes that can reason about these at the appropriate levels.
  
• Through dissemination, training and industrial liaison, contribute to the distribution and uptake of the technology by relevant end-users such as industry, education, and the service sector. In particular, close interactions with other IP's and NOE's in this and related activity fields are planned.
• Through accomplishing the above, MUSCLE will facilitate the broad and democratic access to information and knowledge for all European citizens (e.g. e-Education, enriched cultural heritage).

Partners:
ERCIM, CWI, Advanced Computer Vision, Austria, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Seibersdorf Research, ARMINES, Bilkent University, Cambridge University UK, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institute of Information Theory and Automation, Czech Republic), Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Telecommunications, France, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Electronique et de ses Applications, France, FORTH, France Telecom R&D, Institut fur Bildverarbeitung und angewandte Informatik e.V, Germany, INRIA-Ariana, INRIA-Imedia, INRIA-PAROLE, INRIA-Texmex, INRIA-Vista, CNR-ISTI, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden), LTU Technologie, National Technical University of Athens, Greece, MTA-SZTAKI (Computer and Automation Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), TAU-Speech (Tel Aviv University, Israel), TAU-Visual (Tel Aviv University, Israel), Trinity College Dublin. Ireland), Technion-ML (Israel Institute of Technology, Israel), Technion-MM (Israel Institute of Technology, Israel), Technical University of Crete, Greece, Graz University of Technology), TU Vienna-IFS (Vienna University of Technology, Austria), TU Vienna-PRIP (Vienna University of Technology, Austria), University College London, UK), University of Surrey, UK), UPC (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya), University of Ulster, UK), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, VTT.

Duration:
48 months. 1 March 2004 - 29 February 2008

ERCIM's role:
Project co-ordinator

Total budget:
6 900 000 Euro

Funding Agencies:
European Commission FP6
Unit E2 : Knowledge Management and Content Creation

Links:
MUSCLE home page: http://muscle.ercim.eu/

Advanced Grid Research Workshops through European and Asian Co-operation

Keywords:
GRID, Asia, international relations

Abstract:
The Grid@Asia project is designed to foster collaboration in Grid research and technologies between the European Union and Asian countries with a particular focus on China and South Korea.

Partners:
GEIE ERCIM
Beihang University
Shanghaï Jioa Tong University
Kisti

Duration:
April 1, 2005 to September 30, 2006

ERCIM's role:
Project co-ordinator

Total budget:
339 600 €

Funding Agencies:
European Commission, Unit F2 Grid technologies
EC funding: 300 000 €

Links:
Project home page: http://gridatasia.ercim.eu/