Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

The proposal is aimed at exploring the use of microbial technologies to reduce risk of contamination from decommissioning of nuclear sites and construction of repositories for nuclear waste. The objective is to reduce the potential for migration of radionuclides (radioactive contaminants) in soils and rocks using special properties of the bacteria that are present in them. The project will investigate two different bacterial properties: (1) How micro-organisms can be used to trap radionuclides within the soil/rock and consequently prevent their transport to the human environment. (2) How some bacteria can be encouraged to produce minerals (e.g. calcite) in soils and rocks that will block any pathways for fluid flow. We will study soils and rocks expected in decommissioning sites and repositories to gain a better understanding of these microbiological properties. The project includes extensive laboratory research (under controlled conditions) and investigations in the field. The processes of mineral deposition and radionuclide capture will be imaged over time and space in three dimensions using complex technologies such as Magnetic Resonance techniques. Computer models will be developed to simulate the basic biological and chemical processes take place. The main findings of the project will directly benefit the nuclear industry and the public; reducing risks from radionuclide migration, and contributing to economical clean-up strategies.

Global production of electronic waste (e-waste) is estimated to be both substantial and increasing significantly with time. Such e-waste is distinct both chemically and physically from other categories of municipal or industrial waste. While recycling e-waste is attractive because of its valuable base material and component content; it also contains high concentrations of environmental contaminants such as heavy metals and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Within the UK, the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Regulations (WEEE) came into force in July 2007. This requires collection of 65% of e-waste, and recovery of 85% of the collected material. This means that 35% of UK e-waste can still be disposed to landfill untreated, augmenting the already substantial quantity of e-waste residing in UK landfills. While studies exist demonstrating that BFRs (specifically polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A)) can leach to groundwater from landfilled e-waste, alongside evidence of elevated airborne concentrations of hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) in the vicinity of a UK e-waste treatment facility; studies of BFR emissions from such waste are few. BFRs are also present at percent levels in materials like furnishings (polyurethane foam and textiles), and building insulation foam. However, in contrast to e-waste, there is presently no legislation requiring special treatment of such materials during their disposal, and it is likely that most such items are landfilled in non-hazardous municipal and commercial waste facilities. The project will test the hypothesis that emissions to air and groundwater from waste materials in landfill constitute an important source of BFRs to the environment. Objective (1) of the project is to generate emission factors for the release of BFRs from landfilled waste, which will be combined with knowledge of the mass of such material to generate estimates of BFR emissions on a national scale. This is especially pertinent as the 2010 UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) report conducted by the CASE partner AEA, for Defra highlights knowledge of PBDE 'release from materials during and following disposal' as an area to be addressed if the current emissions estimate for PBDEs is to be improved. Objective (2) is to enhance understanding of the factors influencing emissions and of the potential for BFR degradation under landfill conditions. To test the project hypothesis and its objectives, we propose an experimental programme combining: (a) field measurements of the concentrations of BFRs in air and leachate samples at a number of UK landfill sites; with (b) controlled lab-based studies of BFR leaching from waste materials. In addition to training in transferable research skills, the student will receive specialist training in trace analysis of BFRs, coupled with lab-based methods for studying emissions from waste at Birmingham. At AEA, they will receive training in field sampling techniques, in emissions inventory compilation, and experience of a commercial research environment and of regulation policy support. Further training will be provided by the Free University of Amsterdam. Here, the student will benefit from immersion in an internationally-renowned academic research environment outside the UK with expertise and a strong track record of research into the environmental fate and behaviour of BFRs, and will receive training in in vitro methods for studying the degradation of BFRs under landfill conditions.

This proposal stems directly from the EPSRC Workshop held on 20 & 21 October 2010 "ICT Research - The Next Decade". It seeks to address the challenge of the navigation of time-based media collections and items throughout the content life-cycle, from creation to consumption. It will achieve this by establishing an open network of researchers from across academia and industry, who engage in workshops, sandpits and, most importantly, feasibility or path-finder mini-projects. These mini-projects have the aims not only of performing leading edge, early stage research that will lead on to larger proposals, but also of building a critical mass of researchers, whose expectation is to tackle significant challenges by collaborating. Other elements of this project are to create a Landscape document for the field, develop appropriate ontologies for capturing media semantics, present results through a diverse range of channels and summarise the findings of the project, including a Roadmap. The research agenda is based on five premises: 1. Content-related metadata is an effective and scalable approach exemplified in this domain and applicable to future large scale, automated and interactive information systems; 2. The point of creation is the best time and place to collect (and compute) metadata; 3. The best way to represent this metadata is one that is amenable to knowledge processing and management, linked data strategies and logical inference; 4. Significant challenges require a cross-disciplinary approach, ranging from fundamental theory to applied research set in the context of a real problem; and 5. The UK is supremely placed with the world-leading skills and experience to be a world-beating authority in an area of intellectual and societal/commercial benefit. This proposal deliberately does not address related problems of navigation through legacy content, nor of Rights Management, as these are already embedded in the research landscape. Instead, we concentrate on the production of future media items. The issues raised and investigated by this proposal are pertinent not only to EPSRC, but also to ESRC, AHRC, JISC and TSB, and with particular relevance to the Digital Economy. The applications of such ideas span all the different time-based media, including music, drama, documentary, film, texts and so on. In order to advance the field, this project will bring together acknowledged experts from across UK academia in a diverse range of disciplines, including Semantic Web experts, Signal Processing experts, Video experts, Performance experts and more. The project aims to form a network and a critical mass of expertise by a series of interventions that will also include industrial collaborators (assisted by the TSB Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network). Network activities include workshops and sandpits, as well as collaborative small scale research projects, each typically of 6 months duration with 2 or 3 participant universities. The outcomes of the project include: Research and Impact Roadmaps; a well-connected community of researchers engineers, creatives, content producers and funders; commercial and full-fledged research proposals; research publications; and specific impact activities at world leading Broadcast and Media conventions.