Abstract
EMSO ERIC is a unique European distributed marine Research Infrastructure dedicated to the observation and study of the deep ocean in the long term in fixed regional areas. It provides different services of which access to its infrastructure by external users -engineers, scientists and researchers-, working both in the public and private sectors. The aim of this service, called physical access, is to facilitate access to instrumented platforms deployed at different sites across the European seas, from the seabed to the surface, in order to perform experiments in geosciences and engineering in real ocean conditions. Depending on the logistics and availability of each site, users may deploy their own platforms, instruments, systems or technologies to be tested by the existing equipment that, in this case, can provide reference measurements. Users may also deploy their own systems on the existing EMSO platforms, either in standalone mode or connected to them, receiving power and, in some cases, being able to transmit data by satellite or by cable, depending on the site. Projects requiring the use of several EMSO sites are also accepted. The host EMSO Regional Facility provides logistics and technical support in order to deploy and recover the systems, access the data and it may also offer training and co-development. EMSO ERIC launches the physical access call on a yearly basis and evaluates the received project proposals every two months. Access is free of charge and funding is available for travel, consumables, shipping, operations and hardware adaptations needed to run the project. Since 2022, when the first call was launched, ten projects with varied topics have been funded and are in different phases of execution.

Abstract
Clinical diagnosis of syndromes benefits strongly from objective facial phenotyping. This study introduces a novel approach to enhance clinical diagnosis through the development and exploration of a low-dimensional metric space referred to as the clinical face phenotypic space (CFPS). As a facial matching tool for clinical genetics, such CFPS can enhance clinical diagnosis. It helps to interpret facial dysmorphisms of a subject by placing them within the space of known dysmorphisms. In this paper, a triplet loss-based autoencoder developed by geometric deep learning (GDL) is trained using multi-task learning, which combines supervised and unsupervised learning approaches. Experiments are designed to illustrate the following properties of CFPSs that can aid clinicians in narrowing down their search space: a CFPS can 1) classify syndromes accurately, 2) generalize to novel syndromes, and 3) preserve the relatedness of genetic diseases, meaning that clusters of phenotypically similar disorders reflect functional relationships between genes. The proposed model consists of three main components: an encoder based on GDL optimizing distances between groups of individuals in the CFPS, a decoder enhancing classification by reconstructing faces, and a singular value decomposition layer maintaining orthogonality and optimal variance distribution across dimensions. This allows for the selection of an optimal number of CFPS dimensions as well as improving the classification capacity of the CFPS, which outperforms the linear metric learning baseline in both syndrome classification and generalization to novel syndromes. We further proved the usefulness of each component of the proposed framework, highlighting their individual impact. From a clinical perspective, the unique combination of these properties in a single CFPS results in a powerful tool that can be incorporated into current clinical practices to assess facial dysmorphism.

Abstract
Heritage preservation requires innovative sensing technologies to analyze their chemical composition while minimizing damage. This study introduces a Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) system featuring a fiber laser source and optical fiber-based collection system for the analysis of heritage ceramics. Comparative experiments with a conventional Nd:YAG laser LIBS system highlight the advantages and trade-offs of the fiber laser system in terms of ablation capability, spectral mapping, and depth profiling. Results were validated against X-ray Fluorescence (XRF). Experiments demonstrate minimal surface alteration and high-quality spectral data for elements such as Pb, Fe, Zn, Sb, Mn, Ti Na, Ba and Ca. The compact design and good results position this system as a transformative tool for heritage conservation.

Abstract
Purpose: Our aim was to test the capability of the NeuroKinect 3D-method, as a movement visualization technique and quantitative analysis to differentiate ictal movements such as hyperkinetic and focal seizures with manual automatisms. The dataset is extracted from the NeuroKinect dataset, which is a RGB-D-IR dataset of epileptic seizures. The dataset is recorded with Kinect v2 and consists of RGB, Infrared (IR) and depth streams. Quantitative 3D-movement analysis of 20 motor seizures was performed. Velocity, acceleration, jerk, covered distance, displacement and movement extent of Regions of Interests (= ROI: head, right hand, left hand and trunk) were captured. Results: Among the analyzed seizures were 10 hyperkinetic (n = 7: 4 male, 3 female; mean age 39.6 years (SD f 9.7)) and 10 focal seizures with manual automatisms (n = 10: 2 male, 8 female; mean age 39.2 years (SD f 17.6)). Hyperkinetic seizures exhibited higher mean velocity in all ROIs (e.g. head = 0.62 f 0.28 (m/s) vs. 0.12 f 0.07 (m/s)) as well as higher mean acceleration and mean jerk in most ROIs; these differences were statistically significant. Mean movement extent, covered distance, and displacement for all ROIs were larger for hyperkinetic seizures, however not significantly. The duration of ictal movements (80 s f 38 s versus 26 s f 14 s; p = 0.001) was significantly longer in focal seizures with manual automatisms. Conclusions: This new visualization technique allows to reconstruct tracked movement via 3D viewer and supports a 3D movement quantification which is capable to differentiate seizures characterized by movements, which may help to localize the epileptogenic zone.

Abstract
This study explores the context of blood donation in Portugal, specifically aiming to understand how communication strategies can effectively recruit young blood donors aged 18 to 24. The research addresses the following question: What is the impact of communication efforts on the recruitment of young blood donors in Portugal? To answer this question, four specific objectives were set: (1) To evaluate the level of awareness among young individuals in this age group regarding blood donation; (2) to analyze and assess the communication strategies employed by the Portuguese Institute of Blood and Transplantation (IPST) to promote blood donation; (3) to investigate the motivations and barriers related to blood donation; and (4) to identify effective communication strategies for encouraging blood donation. To achieve the first objective, which is the primary focus of this article, a content analysis of 14 blood donation campaigns was conducted. For the second objective, an exploratory interview was held with a specialist from the IPST. The third objective is being addressed through a survey involving 390 young individuals, which has already been administered and revealed that over half of the respondents are not blood donors. The findings suggest that future campaigns should adopt more targeted segmentation strategies based on behavioral criteria and make greater use of integrated marketing communication to enhance effectiveness. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.

Abstract
The deep ocean is vast and challenging to observe; however, it is key to knowledge of the sea and its impact on global climate. Fixed sea observing points (such as the EMSO observing nodes) provide a limited view and are complemented by expensive oceanographic campaigns with systems demanding high logistical requirements such as deep-sea ROVs.  These costs not only limit our capability for key ocean data collection in the deep but also introduce their own environmental costs.Emerging challenges in knowledge and pressure on the exploration of the deep ocean demand new technological solutions for monitoring and safeguarding the marine ecosystem.Innovative robotic technologies such as the TURTLE robotic deep-sea landers can combine long-term permanence at the seabed with mobility and dynamic reconfigurability in spatial and temporal deep-sea observation.Robotic systems of a heterogeneous nature (from conventional gliders, AUVs, or robotic landers) can be combined with standard and new sensing systems, such as bottom-deployed sensor nodes, moored systems, and cabled points when feasible.These systems can provide underwater localization services for the different assets, energy supply and high bandwidth data transfer with robotic docking stations for other mobile elements. An example of the synergy obtained with these new systems is the possibility of using robotic landers as carriers of EGIM (EMSO Generic Instrument Module) sensor payloads, providing power and data storage and flexibility in the deployment and recovery process.This approach, partly taken in the EU-funded Trident project to develop technical solutions for cost-effective and efficient observation of environmental impacts on deep seabed environments, allows for a substantial reduction in the operational and logistic requirements for deep-sea observation, greatly reducing the need for costly oceanographic campaigns or the use of expensive (economic and logistical) deep sea ROV systems.In this work, we present some of the new developments and discuss the transition from existing technological solutions to new ones integrating these recent developments.