Microswimmers in Patterned Environments

We demonstrate with experiments and simulations how microscopic self-propelled particles navigate through environments presenting complex spatial features, which mimic the conditions inside cells, living organisms and future lab-on-a-chip devices. In particular, we show that, in the presence of periodic obstacles, microswimmers can steer even perpendicularly to an applied force. Since such behaviour is very sensitive to the details of their specific swimming style, it can be employed to develop advanced sorting, classification and dialysis techniques.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Spatial Patterns of European droughts under a moderate emission scenario

Meteorological drought is generally defined as a prolonged deficiency of precipitation and is considered one of the most relevant natural hazards as the related impacts can involve many different sectors. In this study, we investigated the spatial patterns of European droughts for the periods 1981-2010, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100, focusing on the projections under a moderate emissions scenario. To do that, we used the outputs of the KNMI-RACMO2 model, which belongs to the A1B family and whose spatial resolution is 0.25°x0.25°. By means of monthly precipitation and potential evapo-transpiration (PET), we computed the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at12-month accumulation scale. Thereafter, we separately obtained drought frequency, duration, severity, and intensity for the whole of Europe, excluding Iceland. According to both indicators, the spatial drought patterns are projected to follow what recently characterized Europe: Southern Europe, who experienced many severe drought events in the last decades, is likely to be involved by longer, more frequent, severe, and intense droughts in the near future (2041-2070) and even more in the far future (2071-2100). This tendency is more evident using the SPEI, which also depends on temperature and consequently reflects the expected warming that will be highest for the Mediterranean area in Europe. On the other side, less severe and fewer drought events are likely to occur in Northern Europe. This tendency is more evident using the SPI, because the precipitation increase is projected to outbalance the temperature (and PET) rise in particular in Scandinavia. Regarding the mid-latitudes, the SPEI-based analyses point at more frequent drought events, while the SPI-based ones point at less frequent events in these regions.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Improved Drought Monitoring in the Greater Horn of Africa by Combining Meteorological and Remote Sensing Based Indicators

Drought is a complex and insidious natural hazard. It is hence difficult to detect in its early stages and to monitor its spatial evolution. Defining drought is already a challenge and can be done differently by meteorologists, hydrologists or socio-economists. In each one of these research areas, various indicators were already set up to depict the development of drought. However they are usually considering only one aspect of the phenomenon. The development of integrated indicators could help to detect faster/better the onset of drought, to monitor more efficiently its evolution in time and space, and therefore to better trigger timely and appropriate actions on the field. In this study, meteorological and remote sensing based drought indicators were compared over the Greater Horn of Africa in order to better understand: (i) how they depict historical drought events ; (ii) if they could be combined into an integrated drought indicator. The meteorological indicator selected for our study is the well known Standardized Precipitation Index, SPI. This statistical indicator is evaluating the lack or surplus of precipitation during a given period of time as a function of the long-term average precipitation and its distribution. Two remote sensing based indicators were tested: the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) derived from SPOT-VEGETATION and the Global Vegetation Index (VGI) derived form MERIS. The first index is sensitive to change in leaf water content of vegetation canopies while the second is a proxy of the amount and vigour of vegetation. For both indexes, anomalies were estimated using available satellite archives. Cross-correlations between remote sensing based anomalies and SPI were analysed for five land covers (forest, shrubland, grassland, sparse grassland, cropland and bare soil) over different regions in the Greater Horn of Africa. The time window for the statistical analysis was set to the rainy season, as it is the most critical period for vegetation growth. Moreover the behaviour of those indicators was also investigated during major historical droughts reported in the Emergency Database (EM-DAT) of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED, Leuven Belgium). Results of both analyses will be discussed during the conference.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

Climate change impacts and adaptation in Europe, focusing on extremes and adaptation until the 2030s

This document reports the results of the analyses performed within the framework of the PESETA3 project regarding the Task 9 - Droughts. The main objective of this task is to provide robust scientific-based information to stakeholders and decision makers on the possible impacts of future climate scenarios on the occurrence of drought events. This report is focused on the analysis of the variations of soil moisture on the European continent, as well as of a soil moisture-based drought severity indicator (DSI), in order to evaluate the possible increase/decrease in future occurrence and severity of soil drought events and the related hazard and risk. Following the guideline of the project, five bias-corrected climatological datasets were used to force the LISFLOOD hydrological model that produces the daily soil moisture maps used in this analysis. These datasets were part of the EURO-CORDEX package and were used to characterize both the present reference period (1981-2010) and the future scenario at the date when a global 2 °C warming will occur according to the RCP8.5 scenario (different for each dataset and around the mid of the century). In the framework of this project, considering the specific purpose of the report, only the RCP8.5 scenario was selected in order to provide a clear indication on the possible future impacts of a strong climate change. The most relevant findings of the analysis depicted a scenario with differences that are statistically significant only on a limited fraction of the continental territories, with negative impacts limited to the Mediterranean and South-western Europe area for both soil moisture (reduction in water availability during both the dry and the wet season) and extreme drought events (increase in drought hazard). Particularly concerning is the increase of drought hazard over areas that are already drought prone and characterized by semi-arid climate, even if a limited impact on drought risk is expected due to the low present exposure and vulnerability of the same regions. Overall, it appears clear from this study that the EU goal to limit the global warming at 2 °C, as compared to the average temperature in pre-industrial times, will confine the variations in drought impacts to a minor fraction of the European continent in the near future, as shown by the obtained results.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Follicular Targeting–A Promising Tool in Selective Dermatotherapy

The penetration of topically applied compounds varies considerably in the different regions of the human body. The presence of hair follicles significantly contributes to this effect by an increase in surface area and a disruption of the epidermal barrier towards the lower parts of the hair follicle. The human hair follicle, hereby, serves not only as a reservoir, but also as a major entry point for topically applied compounds. Topical delivery of active compounds to specific targets within the skin may help reduce side-effects caused by unspecific reactions, and may help develop new strategies in the prevention and treatment of skin diseases. Various drug carrier and drug delivery systems are currently being investigated. The aim of these investigational efforts is to direct topically applied compounds to the different types of hair follicles and, ideally, to specific compartments and cell populations within the hair follicles. Follicular targeting offers opportunities for new developments, not only in hair therapy and in the treatment of hair follicle associated diseases but also in gene therapy and immunotherapy

JRC Experience on the Development of Drought Information Systems

From the definition of drought to its monitoring and assessment, this report summarizes the main steps towards an integrated drought information system. Europe, Africa and Latin America are examples, based on the experience of the JRC, that illustrate the challenges for establishing continental drought observatory initiatives. The document is structured in the following way: first an introduction explains what drought is and gives some examples of its impact in society; secondly the framework for establishing a drought monitoring system is described giving examples on the European Drought Observatory and on on-going activities in Africa and Latin America; thirdly the fundamental data and information for measuring drought is described; finally the setting up of an Integrated Drought Information System is discussed and two recent case studies, on Europe and on the Horn of Africa, are presented to illustrate the concept.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

2018 - Drought and Water Crisis in Southern Africa

The results presented in this short technical report are focused on the 2018 Water Crisis that affected the Western Cape Province in South Africa. In one side it includes an analysis carried out by the JRC´s "Disaster Risk Management" Unit and the Global Drought Observatory (GDO report), which periodically provides an overview of precipitation patterns and its anomalies, including also those related to vegetation greenness and soil moisture values respect to the long term average. In the other, it presents a complementary section carried out by the WEFE4DEV Work Package of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Project which contributes to the online African Atlas on WEFE Cooperation. The analysis is focused on the medium to long term spatio-temporal patterns and behaviour of precipitation and temperature patterns. Both help the community to better understand the exceptional character of these phonomena, their periodicity and the scale at which these events occur. The outcomes are helpful for policymakers to identify current and future issues that impact water management, food and energy security in Africa, as well as they providevaluable information to better define mitigation measures, resilience and adaptation policies.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource