38796 research outputs found
Sort by
Influence of surface characteristics on the in vitro stability and cell uptake of nanoliposomes for brain delivery
No full textIn contemporary research, there is a clear emphasis on the physicochemical characteristics and effectiveness of nanoliposomal (NLs) formulations. However, there has been minimal focus on elucidating nano–bio interactions and understanding the behavior of these formulations at organ and cellular levels. Specifically, it is widely recognized that when exposed to biological fluids, nanodelivery systems, including NLs, rapidly interact with various biomolecules which have a significant impact on the functionality and fate of the nanosystems but also influence cellular biological functions. Hence, the primary objective of this study was to elucidate the evolution of physicochemical characteristics and surface properties of NLs in biorelevant media. Additionally, in order to point out the influence of specific characteristics on the brain targeting potential of these formulations, we investigated interactions between NLs and blood–brain barrier (BBB, hCMEC/D3) and neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) under different conditions. The results obtained from comparative in vitro cell uptake studies on both cell culture lines after treatment with three different concentrations of fluorescently labelled NLs (5, 10, and 100 μg/mL) over a period of 1, 2, and 4 h showed a time- and concentration-dependent internalization pattern, with high impact of the surface characteristics of the different formulations. In addition, transport studies on hCMEC/D3/SH-SY5Y co-cultures confirmed the successful transport of NLs across the BBB cells and their subsequent uptake by neurons (ranging from 25.17% to 27.54%). Fluorescence and confocal microscopy micrographs revealed that, once internalized, NLs were concentrated in the perinuclear cell regions.JRC.F.2 - Technologies for Healt
Early-stage technologies in the field of Clean Energy
Full text linkWithin the context of the Clean Energy Technology Observatory, 151 emerging signals in science and innovation related to Energy have been detected using a combination of text mining techniques and large language models on a corpus of scientific publications and patents. The report provides a meta-analysis for each of the CETO categories, distinguishing emerging technologies from more mature ones and giving some insights to understand the relative performance of major economies (including EU, US, CN, KR, JP) in these developments.JRC.T.5 - Text and Data Minin
Financing climate change mitigation actions in cities: insights from the Covenant of Mayors initiative
No full textFinancial capacity is critical to implementing local climate actions, including renewable energy deployment, energy efficiency improvements, and transport decarbonisation. This study examines how 203 European cities from 21 EU countries and covering 46 million inhabitants have financed their climate change mitigation efforts in the context of the Covenant of Mayors for climate and energy (CoM) initiative. It uses data submitted by participating cities in their Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs), and it analyses three key dimensions: (i) total budget allocation, (ii) funding sources, and (iii) financial instruments. The selected SECAPs, include more than 8500 mitigation actions and an estimated total investment exceeding €100 billion.
The results reveal a strong dependence on public funding, primarily on municipal budgets and grants, while innovative instruments such as green bonds, public–private partnerships (PPPs), third-party financing, and pay-for-performance schemes remain underutilised. Statistical analysis shows that population size and energy demand (measured through heating and cooling degree days) are the strongest predictors of planned investment, while GDP per capita is negatively correlated with investment levels. Climate targets’ ambition does not significantly influence budget allocation.
These findings underscore persistent barriers to financial diversification, especially among small and medium-sized municipalities. By combining quantitative analyses with qualitative insights, this study provides policy-relevant evidence on local climate finance practices and supports efforts to enhance financial capacity for climate neutrality across the EU.JRC.C.2 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Increasing frequency and intensity of single, multiple and concurrent meteorological hazards in Europe from a high-resolution dataset (1961–2020)
No full textBy means of a very high (1.5 km) resolution dataset for Europe, we investigate the change between past (1961–1990) and present (1991–2020) periods in the frequency and intensity of meteorological hazards, namely hot (H) and cold (C) waves, droughts (dry (D)), extreme precipitation (wet (W)) and fire weather (F). We analyse not only the changes in hazards taken separately but also the combination of multiple (i.e. two or more hazards happening in the same month but not necessarily in the same year) and concurrent (i.e. happening in the same month and year) events. Europe has become prone to more frequent and intense multiple hazards; in particular, most (>75%) of the land has been subject to increased frequency and intensity of at least two hazards for most of the year, especially H D, H W and H D W combinations. Around 10% of land was subject to an increase in both frequency and intensity of four hazards (H C D W), especially in spring and autumn. Concurrent events have also become more frequent; in particular, the number of concurrent H D events has increased over most of Europe throughout the year, while the number of H F and H D F events has increased over the Mediterranean. Concurrent H W conditions have become more frequent, especially over northeastern Europe and the United Kingdom for most of the year. This led to the population cumulatively exposed to concurrent H D events in 1991–2020 being around 2.7 times larger than in 1961–1990 in November and 4.7 times larger in August, while that exposed to H W conditions in May in 1991–2020 was 7.3 times larger than in 1961–1990. These results highlight the increasing risk of multiple and concurrent extreme events, and advocate for preparedness and adequate adaptation strategies.JRC.C.6 - Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transpor
Automated and continuous estimation of FAPAR from distributed wireless PAR sensor networks
No full textAccurate estimation of the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) is crucial for understanding plant productivity and ecosystem dynamics. A number of indirect measurement techniques are used for estimating FAPAR with hand-held instruments, but researchers have identified discrepancies among different techniques when using them to validate satellite land products. Many researchers have also utilised photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) sensors to obtain quantitative measurements of PAR, but these lack robust measurement frameworks and protocols. Only very limited research has started on automated wireless PAR network systems to measure at finer temporal scales as well as to reduce human error and logistical costs. This study evaluates the performance of two flux (2f) and four flux (4f) FAPAR measurement systems and digital hemispherical photography (DHP) across multiple vegetation types (e.g., vineyard, broadleaf deciduous forest, savanna woodland) and different temporal scales (instantaneous and daily integrated). Results reveal strong agreement (R2 > 0.99, RMSE ≤ 0.04) between 2f- and 4f-FAPAR for all three study sites, with minimal overestimation (bias ≤ 0.04) by the 2f systems, suggesting that it can substitute, over similar environments, the more complex and costly 4f setup without substantially compromising accuracy. Daily integrated FAPAR exhibited greater stability and lower uncertainty compared to instantaneous FAPAR, underscoring its importance for long-term ecosystem monitoring. However, instantaneous FAPAR remains essential for satellite product validation due to its alignment with satellite overpass times. Additionally, 2f-FAPAR showed a good relationship with DHP-derived FAPAR. The findings highlight the potential of the 2f wireless PAR network as an automated, cost-effective, and reliable tool for canopy light absorption studies, offering substantial advantages for both ground-based ecosystem monitoring and remote sensing applications.JRC.D.6 - Nature Conservation and Observation
Economy-wide impacts from different speeds of deployment of automated vehicles on European Union roads
No full textThis study analyses the socio-economic effects (gross domestic product, employment, and output) of automated cars and trucks deployment scenarios in the EU using the macro-economic general equilibrium model JRC-GEM-E3. Our analysis focuses on the major potential impacts referred to in the literature, namely, the expected cost of deployment at scale of all levels of automation for cars and trucks, the potential impact on professional drivers' jobs, the additional maintenance and repair cost of high-level (Level 4 and 5) automated vehicles, and the effects on vehicle energy efficiency, congestion and road traffic collisions. Since the last three impacts can vary depending on travel behaviour, six stylised responses are considered, ranging from a reduction in demand for road transport to a rebound effect, with and without sharing of high-level AVs. Overall, our results highlight, when sharing high-level AVs, that a fast and medium deployment are beneficial for the EU economy, independently of the behavioural response. When high-level AVs are deployed without ride sharing, non-environmentally friendly responses (i.e. those promoting an increase in energy consumption, congestion costs and road traffic collisions) can turn GDP effects negative. Sectorally, automation can change demand for workers in the economy, with the electronic and services sectors requiring more workers to build the additional components needed by autonomous vehicles, and the land transport sector suffering the biggest loss in employment due to fewer professional drivers needed at higher levels of automation.JRC.C.6 - Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transpor
Revisiting the occupational impact of AI in the generative AI era
No full textGenerative AI is reshaping what artificial intelligence can do in the workplace, calling into question pre-GenAI assessments of which workers and tasks are most exposed. In this paper we trace the evolution of AI exposure in the European labour market from 2008 to 2024 by linking 352 AI benchmarks to 14 cognitive abilities, 108 work tasks and 127 ISCO-3 occupations, weighting benchmarks by their research intensity in the AI literature and thus deriving AI exposure by cognitive ability. Bundling work tasks into occupations based on intensity indicators, we explore occupational exposure to AI. We find that the cognitive abilities most exposed to the recent surge of AI research are ideas-related, such as attention and search, comprehension and expression and logical reasoning. Because the associated information processing and problem-solving tasks are the most transversal across occupations, we find an exponential increase in AI exposure across all occupational categories of workers, even though comparatively high-skilled occupations are more exposed than elementary occupations. This points at a substantial and transversal labour market impact of AI.JRC.B.6 - Industrial strategy, skills and technology transfe
Appendix III: JRC Statistical Audit of the 2025 Network Readiness Index
No full textThis document contains the Statistical Audit of the 2025 Network Readiness Index (NRI) conducted by the European Commission’s Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The NRI was first published in 2002 by the World Economic Forum as part of the Global Information Technology Report, and the present Statistical Audit is the fifth conducted by the JRC-COIN. The audit focuses on the statistical soundness of the multi-level structure of the index as well as on the impact of key modelling assumptions on the results. The findings confirm that the NRI 2025 is a reliable tool with a statistically coherent framework, which manages to adequately capture the multifaceted phenomenon of ICT deployment.JRC.S.3 - Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluatio
Quality assessment of evaluation plans and reports in the area of State aid (EVALSA III): the 2025 activity report
No full textThis report presents the main results of the EVALSA III project conducted between October 2024 and September 2025. The collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) was initiated in 2018, with the past year being the eighth consecutive year of scientific and methodological support in assessing evaluation plans and reports (both interim and final) for State aid schemes submitted by Member States. All evaluated reports from 2018 to 2025 are accessible online through the JRC online repository, which was developed in 2020. The JRC also conducted additional support activities for DG COMP in the area of State aid. First, it performed compliance checks in alignment with the State aid transparency requirements set by DG COMP. This involved verifying the completeness and accuracy of information published by Member States in the Transparency Award Module (TAM) or their national transparency registers. Second, DG COMP and the JRC jointly committed to enhancing the evaluative process as a "learning exercise" through two primary avenues: (i) creating supportive materials to assist Member States in their evaluation processes, and (ii) providing training sessions on evaluation. Third, the JRC was responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of Temporary Framework measures in aiding firms during the pandemic and for assessing how the quality of Member States’ evaluation reports has evolved over time.JRC.S.3 - Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluatio
New insights into technical challenges and barriers for implementing circular strategies within the built environment
No full textAchieving Net Zero targets will require a fundamental transformation of the building sector. Circular economy (CE) is seen as a key enabler of sustainability, offering benefits such as resource efficiency, waste minimization, and carbon footprint reduction. Despite growing interest, CE adoption in the building sector remains limited, reflecting persistent technical and organisational implementation challenges. This study thus examines technical challenges and barriers to implementing circular strategies by offering stakeholder perspectives in the building sector across multiple regions. Specifically, this study investigate which technical barriers most constrain circular practice across the building lifecycle and how their perceived importance varies by sector, region, and experience. Our study draws on (i) a structured narrative review literature review of key documents such as academic articles, standards, policy reports, strategic roadmaps, and white papers, and (ii) a multi-region survey(n = 270) of stakeholders in the building sector and adjacent supply chains. Meanwhile, this study analyse barrier categories, interoperability of tools/data, documentation and traceability, and capability gaps with map them to lifecycle stages, and compare priorities across respondent groups using descriptive contrasts. Through a detailed examination of stakeholders’ priorities, spanning materials, products and components, constructed building stocks, and urban living environments, this study identifies where technical barriers most constrain circular practice along planning/design, construction, operation, and end-of-life. The findings highlight immediate technical priorities, interoperability of tools/data, documentation and traceability, and practitioner capabilities with practical implications for planners, engineers, and public agencies. Consistent with this focus, interoperability and documentation/traceability outrank policy instruments as near-term constraints across roles and regions; capability gaps are more salient among early-career respondents, while public agencies emphasise indicators/monitoring and industry prioritises feasibility and transaction costs. They provide a bounded, practice-oriented map of technical constraints and inform staged actions to advance circular practice. For scope clarity, coverage is multi-region rather than global, and sectoral statistics on emissions, energy use, and waste are discussed in the Introduction with sources.JRC.E.3 - Built Environmen