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River Information Services (RIS) are harmonized digital services that support safety, transport and traffic management in the inland navigation. RIS refer mainly to four key technologies such as Vessel Tracking and Tracing (VTT) with onboard Inland Automatic Identification System transponders (Inland AIS), Electronic Reporting International (ERI), Notices to Skipper (NtS) and Inland Electronic Chart Display and Information System (Inland ECDIS). These key technologies were developed during the nineties and received in Europe a regulatory framework through the Directive EC/2005/44 (the RIS-Directive). In 2009, most EU Member States had implemented the Directive. One of the claimed benefits of the implementation of RIS relates to a growing performance of inland navigation. In this paper, the impact of RIS on the performance of inland navigation is analyzed via a structural break cointegration approach, followed by an Error Correction Model (ECM) estimation. The empirical analysis shows that the performance of the dry bulk market is highly dynamic, while the liquid bulk market is moderately responsive to shocks. The structural break analysis could not capture any effect of the Directive on the performance of both markets, which can be attributed to several factors, such as the difficulty to isolate the policy impact, other drivers of variation, interferences of other policies and changes at the demand side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chronological synopsis of the history of the technology used in experimental and testing work relating to artillery pieces is presented. The period covered is from the mid-seventeenth century up to the Cold War era of the mid-twentieth century. Although the focus is on the development of ballistics measurement in Britain, there are important links to related work in continental Europe. The locus for much of what is described is the Royal Artillery proof and experimental range at Shoeburyness and the key individuals and groups of men and women who worked there. There are longitudinal connections between the very earliest technologies of mechanical chronometry, with paper screens and paper-based calculations, and the later technology where timings, screens and calculations had all become electronic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although COVID-19 dashboards may be widely accessible, their effective use to modify the course of the pandemic through the translation of data to information, information to opinions, and opinions to decision-making is determined by their actionability. To be actionable, the information should be both fit for purpose-meeting a specific information need-and fit for use-placing the right information into the right hands at the right time and in a manner that can be understood. Recognizing the sustained importance of COVID-19 dashboards as a tool for pandemic reporting, studies to describe this landscape and take stock of experiences are of critical importance for better preparedness in future public health crises. Since early 2020, the international network of healthcare performance intelligence researchers-HealthPros-in collaboration with partners including the WHO Regional Office for Europe, have worked to systematically study the actionability of COVID-19 dashboards by comparatively studying their composition, changes over time and development process. In this presentation, results from this series of research will be summarized. Topics to be covered include: 1. A summary of seven key features constituting actionable dashboards resulting from a descriptive assessment and scoring of 158 dashboards from more than 53 countries worldwide. 2. Insights into changes to dashboards over the course of 2020-21 from country-specific studies in Canada, the Netherlands and Italy. 3. Lessons learned from the perspective of COVID-19 national, governmental dashboard developers in the WHO European Region, including key enablers and barriers to the development, maintenance and evolution of dashboards over the course of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the status of high definition television (HDTV) in Europe in the production and consumer environment. It cites the factors that have driven Europe to regard HDTV with caution in the 1990s. The consequences of the availability of HDTV flat panel display (FPD) in households, the technical parameters of production compression systems which are of concern for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and the notion of genre-dependent HDTV formats are also discussed.

This paper considers the potential for an HDTV delivery format with 1920 x 1080 pixels progressive scanning and 50 frames per second in broadcast applications. The paper discusses the difficulties in characterizing the display to be assumed for reception. It elaborates on the required bit rate of the 1080p/50 format when critical content is coded in MPEG-4 H.264 AVC Part 10 and subjectively viewed on a large, flat panel display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. The paper describes the initial subjective quality evaluations that have been made in these conditions. The results of these initial tests suggest that the required bit-rate for a 1080p/50 HDTV signal in emission could be kept equal or lower than that of 2nd generation HDTV formats, to achieve equal or better image quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a project called Project Touch-Hapsys which aims to develop high-fidelity haptic display technologies and is part of proactive initiative called Presence Research Activities of the research program Future and Emerging Technologies in Europe. Goal of the initiative; Examination of the psychophysical basis of human haptic perception; Technological objectives of the project; Application oriented benchmark demonstrators that will be developed.