Dragon09/odtu_chatbot huggingface dataset:
multivalent supramolecular nanosystems as dynamic virus blockers

background viral pandemics pose great risks to current and future human health and global trade newly emerging viruses can display a broad variety of shapes such as spherical or filamentous and spike proteins have different lengths and densities as seen in coronaviruses and influenza viruses viruses can mutate rapidly under evolutionary pressure resulting in changes to antigen epitopes and reduced efficacy of drugs and vaccines these variances between viruses and across mutations present challenges to broadbased antiinfection intervention and vaccination however the initial docking of viruses to cell surface receptors via heparan sulfate or polysialic acids are common for a number of viruses offering an attractive target for widereaching intervention aim the supravir project will provide a new concept for multivalent supramolecular assemblies as selfadaptive universal virus blockers this new type of virus inhibitor can adapt to different virus morphologies and mutations by dynamic selfassembly of its virus binding sites the inhibitor will use a combination of different receptors and bind a great majority of all known viruses by mimicking generic host cell surface receptorsmethodology my approach will use selfassembled surfaceactive supramolecules that mimic the host cell surface efficiently and dynamically with this method i will avoid a bulk phase that does not contribute to the activity thus reducing potential toxicity at the same time the amphiphilic building blocks can interfere with the viral envelope or capsid and permanently inactivate the virus impact supravir addresses the central question what might prevention of viral infections look like in 2030 i contend that there is a new option based on mimicking dynamic cell surface receptors with multivalent supramolecular nanosystems that can selfadapt to inactivate rapidly mutating viruses
infrafrica a comparative study of foreignfinanced and foreignbuilt infrastructure in africa perspective from ethiopia and angola

chinas increasing presence in africa through the belt and road initiative has raised concerns about the development governance and foreign policy implications of chinesefinanced chinesebuilt infrastructure projects at a time in which the european union is putting african infrastructure investments at the centre of its global gateway initiative my infrafrica project a comparative study of foreignfinanced and foreignbuilt infrastructure in africa perspective from ethiopia and angolaexpands current knowledge about foreign engagement in the african infrastructure sector by taking the infrastructure sectors of ethiopia and angola as case studies infrafrica aims to contribute to three interconnected debates first the project evaluates the impact of foreign construction firms operations on the host countries economies to do so infrafrica explores and compares the behaviours of chinese firms with other foreign infrastructure firms at the micro level through critically evaluating the formation of local economic linkages second infrafrica explores the modalities of foreign engagement in the two african countries by investigating ways in which african state and nonstate actors negotiate with accommodate and contest foreign actors involved in the financing and building of infrastructure projects third through exploring the political institutional economic and legal contexts of the two countries infrafrica identifies the barriers that shape the negotiation implementation and outcomes of foreignfinanced and foreignbuilt infrastructure projects in africa in carrying out my research i will be based at the robert schuman centre for advanced studies at the european university institute where i will work under the supervision of professor bernard hoekman
quantum glassbased photonic integrated circuits

qlass brings together experts from top research groups upandcoming smes and industry to achieve the ambitious goal of producing a quantum photonic integrated circuit qpic utilizing the extremely versatile technique of femtosecond laser writing flw to fabricate 3d waveguides within glass developed for optimum photonic performance to support an unprecedented 200 reconfigurable optical modes compared to other qpic techniques glass yields extremely small interface losses 5 ideal for modular scalable architectures connecting multiple chips with speed affordability and optimization for enduser goals incorporating highperformance singlephoton sources superconducting nanowire singlephoton detectors and electronics enabling reconfigurable state manipulation via control of an exceptionally large number of cryogenicdetector channels 200 and phase shifters 1000 we will create an endtoend quantum photonics platform we will implement variational quantum algorithms vqas leading candidates for nearterm advantage for which our platform is ideally suited we will develop software for end users to translate their vqas into flw circuits with error mitigation to enhance qpic performance our principal use case is solving problems in the design of lithiumion batteries to achieve improvements in capacity and efficiency crucial for attaining eu technological and sustainability goals qlass will attain substantial advancement both towards the specific qpic objectives as well as glass development with associated novel snspd processes benefitting the wider community and enabling new quantum devices with performance far exceeding other platforms our combination of worldclass experimentalists and theorists have the complementary expertise to successfully carry out the ambitious project objectives advancing practical qpics
immunomodulatory properties of l plantarum extracellular vesicles in airway allergy

the aim of the project is to conduct basic scientific research on the immunomodulatory properties of lactobacillus plantarum l plantarum extracellular vesicles in terms of their applicability in the treatmentprevention of airway allergies the project assumes a comprehensive characterization of vesicles starting from the description of their physicochemical properties through in vitro tests using respiratory epithelial cell lines to in vivo tests on mouse models of airway allergy the project combines two areas both the physicochemical characteristics of nanoparticles such as extracellular vesicles and advanced immunological research
lithium recovery and batterygrade materials production from european resources

licorne aims to establish the firstever li supply chain in europe the goal is to increase the european li processing and refining capacity for producing batterygrade chemicals from ores brines tailings and offspecification battery cathode materials this supply chain encompasses five large primary resource owners including one of the world leader in li production having resources of 78 mt lithium carbonate equivalent lce in which 27 mt lce are located in europe the european primary resources that are considered in licorne would be enough to supply 3000 gwh of batteries ie 10 years to the expected 300 gwhyear production capacity in europe by 2030 additionally the value chain includes a cathode manufacturer who will be able to reuse valuable li co and ni that will be recycled from waste cathode material and one producer and distributor of batterygrade lichemicals licorne will investigate 14 different groundbreaking technologies that have been selected for their potential to operate at low capex and opex low carbon footprint flexibility and industrial scalability those technologies are led by 8 top rd centers in europe to tackle the main bottlenecks in li processing and recovery during 25 years rd partners will investigate those technologies and bring their trl from 2 to 4 after this phase and guided by lca and lcca the most promising technologies will be selected for upscaling to trl5 during this phase a prototype system will be constructed and demonstrated at trl5 to produce 1 kg of batterygrade lichemicals ie liohh2o li2co3 or limetal from ores brines tailings and waste cathode material with the recycling of co and ni from the latter results will be communicated and disseminated to a wide range of stakeholders and a first business model for a full and optimized li supply chain in europe will be established based on the results of the project and cost of li produced
datadriven verification and learning under uncertainty

reinforcement learning rl agents learn to behave optimally via trial and error without the need to encode complicated behavior explicitly however rl generally lacks mechanisms to constantly ensure correct behavior regarding sophisticated task and safety specificationsformal verification fv and in particular model checking provides formal guarantees on a systems correctness based on rigorous methods and precise specifications despite active development by researchers from all over the world fundamental challenges obstruct the application of fv to rl so farwe identify three key challenges that frame the objectives of this proposal1 complex environments with large degrees of freedom induce large state and feature spaces this curse of dimensionality poses a longstanding problem for verification2 common approaches for the correctness of rl systems employ idealized discrete state spaceshowever realistic problems are often continuous 3 knowledge about realworld environments is inherently uncertain to ensure safety correctness guarantees need to be robust against such imprecise knowledge about the environmentthe main objective of the deuce project is to develop novel and datadriven verification methods that tightly integrate with rl to cope with the curse of dimensionality we devise learningbased abstraction schemes that distill the system parts that are relevant for the correctness we employ and define models whose expressiveness captures various types of uncertainty these models are the basis for formal and datadriven abstractions of continuous spaces we provide modelbased fv mechanisms that ensure safe and correct exploration for rl agents deuce will elevate the scalability and expressiveness of verification towards realworld deployment of reinforcement learning
bites evolution a biomechanical study of pleistocene humans in europe

we are what we eat changes in diet triggered the progressive simplification of the craniodental system from our ancestors until the ultimate adaption of our species compared to ours neanderthals possessed a complex dental morphology interpreted as an adaption for mechanical loads however how morphometric dental traits evolved to adapt to diet or cultural habits as well as the pace of these changes throughout human evolution are unknown bite represents the first attempt to investigate complementary dental proxies dental wear morphology and enamel thickness in a constricted phylogenetically related and chronologically consecutive european pleistocene sample including the populations from the unescosites of atapuerca h antecessor and sima de los huesos and neanderthals for a comparison with a modern human sample including modern huntergatherers medieval and contemporaneous groups bite goes beyond the state of the art as it proposes an innovative interdisciplinary and holistic approach employing biological data highresolution and 3d image and biomechanical tools combined with preexisting dietary information to provide unprecedented insight into how our ancestors adapted to dietary andor behavioral demands the applicant is an ideal candidate to conduct this multidisciplinary project as she has knowledge in dental anthropology palaeoanthropology palaeopathology and 3d medical imaging and she will receive trainingthroughresearch in biomechanical tools to expand her expertise this fellowship will position her as a dynamic and independent researcher being one of the few experts in biomechanics for the study of hominin evolution in europe bite also represents an opportunity to make visible to the society and scientific community the excellence of europes science as a world reference for human evolution studies and enhance the collaboration with the private sector eg dentistry for the design of more resistant artificial crowns
semicentralized platforms for steering online multilearner environments

in scenarios like online advertising markets and financial exchanges autonomous selfinterested learning agents engage in strategic interactions via a shared platform platforms typically opt for a passive role providing the shared infrastructure necessary for the operation of the multilearner environment while keeping learning procedures decentralized fully centralized systems can potentially yield superior outcomes by optimizing shared objectives like social welfare but they are seldom chosenthe goal of this project is to bridge the gap between these two extremes by establishing the theoretical foundations of semicentralized platforms scp scps aim to combine the best attributes of both centralized and decentralized systems enabling nextgeneration platforms to operate efficiently at scale with the flexibility of decentralized learning while also being able to steer learning agents towards desirable objectives using tools from online learning and computational game theory we will develop innovative techniques to determine when and how platforms should actively influence the actions of learning agents in this endeavor we will i develop a better understanding of the learning dynamics of traditional platforms ii explore methods to overcome wellknown computational challenges that hinder the convergence of multilearner systems towards shared objectives and iii extend fundamental gametheoretic models to realistic settingsthis research will pave the way for practical applications on realworld platforms and address pressing concerns related to fairness and accountability in their outcomes which are expected to become even more significant as machinelearning algorithms gain wider adoption
nonnative language processing and production evidence for an integrated grammar

the project responds to a vital need in the modern european society to put scientific research behind languagerelated policies and decisions that define the statuses of different languages in the european community it makes a scientific step towards a better understanding of multilingualism and language acquisition nnlpp is an integrated study of processing and production which compares the strategies multilingual speakers use across their languages the project will investigate adult nonbalanced multilinguals of 250300 participants speaking languages that belong to different linguistic families norwegian russian armenian and english i will carry out a series of studies that will measure processing time and eye movements and will record speech patterns nnlpp will provide a wellrounded description of psycholinguistic mechanisms of language processing and production used by a multilingual mind in sentences with codeswitching
comparative reconstruction of ape and hominin locomotor ontogeny

of all the traits that define humans bipedal locomotion likely evolved first how and why bipedalism evolved in the fossil human hominin lineage are fundamental questions in palaeoanthropology an underexplored dimension of how bipedalism evolved is its growth and development ontogeny humans locomotion develops much slower than those of other apes modern humans are also fully terrestrial while the other african apes transition from predominantly arboreal locomotion using their upper limbs as juveniles to predominantly terrestrial knucklewalking as adults the importance of arboreal locomotion throughout hominin evolution has remained debated since the 1980s however since all extant apes are most arboreal as juveniles the answers to this debate are most likely found in juvenile homininswe know little about hominin locomotor ontogeny and the behaviour of juveniles due to 1 a lack of fossils and 2 limited tools for behavioural reconstruction crahl applies recent methodological advances to both wellstudied and newly discovered fossils to overcome these limitations and will be the first to investigate the evolutionary pattern of hominin locomotor development bones can dynamically adapt to changes in loading direction magnitude and frequency by altering the structure of trabecular bone the 3d meshlike structure found underneath joint surfaces trabecular structure can therefore provide a functional record of developmental variation in loading conditions as animals learn to locomote by using stateoftheart methods for analysing agerelated changes in trabecular bone structure throughout the skeleton crahl will reconstruct how quickly hominins learned to locomote and the variety of postures they assumed including arboreal versus terrestrial locomotion by combining stateoftheart methods new fossil discoveries crahl sheds new light on the evolution of two defining human traits slow development and fully terrestrial bipedalism
bridging the games researchpractice gap through theory translation

how can theory inform design practice this question is among the grand challenges in both humancomputer interaction hci and games research despite numerous efforts to bridge the researchpractice gap the two poles seem irreconcilable instead of a robust and generalizable knowledge base to tackle foundational problems around technology use cumulative knowledge building is impeded by weak empirical studies and rampant theoretical misconceptions instead of providing practitioners with useful theorybased insights research results often remain too abstract and not sufficiently actionable to be adopted into design practicetheorycraft tackles this conundrum by means of theory translation demonstrating how theory needs to be transformed and specified to bridge research and design practice building on the pis excellent track record in theorybuilding games research we approach theory translation from four angles 1 we investigate how game design practitioners make use of theory to identify avenues for productive theory translation 2 we translate theoretical propositions from psychology to build explanatory theories of illunderstood games phenomena 3 we develop translational resources that convey theoretical propositions in a manner that is useful and actionable for game design 4 we evaluate the translated theories in terms of their utility to bridge research and design practice individually each angle will result in important advances in hci and games research collectively theorycraft will produce a breakthrough in transparent and systematic theory translation which will radically transform how knowledge is built represented and disseminated steering hci and games research towards greater scientific integrity practical relevance and impact
circular design and manufacturing techniques for nextgeneration highlyefficient integrated axial flux motor drives for electric vehicles

electric traction machines are at the heart of the transition towards a zero tailpipe emission road mobility landscape with their performance and cost directly impacting the attainable market penetration of electric vehicles to accelerate the transition nextgeneration electric motors need to push the existing boundaries in terms of efficiency power density manufacturability cost and environmental sustainability a reduced and more circular use of rare earth resources is critical to reinforce europes strategic autonomy and establish a more economically sustainable value chain recently developed axial flux motor technology based on a yokeless and segmented armature topology yields promising prospects in all these areas significantly reducing the required amount of rare earth magnet material by design and combining this with unmatched power density compared to stateoftheart radial flux machinesclimaflux will develop novel concepts eg in terms of excitation and cooling for more performant eg 35 energy loss decrease in driving cycles axial flux motors thus reducing the need for rare earth materials by 60 leveraging highfidelity multiphysics models eg electromagnetic thermal mechanical and at the system level and digital twins innovative designs and manufacturing processes will be proposed to i increase the power density to 23 kwl through novel materials and improved thermal behaviour ii enhance circularity over the lifetime including 70 recyclability at the end of life and iii ensure cost competitiveness 50 cost reduction at mass production level reaching 5kw the climaflux onboard motors are integrated with the power electronics and mechanical transmission systems the resulting electric drives will be managed by robust predictive controllers based on the climaflux digital twins including artificial intelligence ai prediction models which will also facilitate novel functionalities in vehicle subsystems hereby exploiting the full capability of the complete electrified drivetrain the individual motor with focus on approx 90 kw continuous power and integrated drive system will be benchmarked over a wider range of vehicles in terms of both performance and environmental impact on virtual xintheloop with digital twin and hardware test platforms up to trl7 ie on a research electric vehicle already available at the consortium participants to achieve these ambitious targets climaflux brings together the competences of 4 academic partners 1 industryoriented rto 3 smes and 1 le with dedicated rd and production facilities in the fields of motor and transmission development power electronics integration electrified vehicle systems automotive design and life cycle assessment and costing aspectsin summary climaflux will establish new knowledge and industrial leadership in key digital enabling and emerging technologies and therefore directly contribute to europes key strategic orientations c and a as well as actively support the transformation towards zero tailpipe emission road mobility 2zero
exploring the holobiont concept through a plant evolutionary experiment study

the evolutionary processes underlying interactions between hosts and their associated microbes is a black box on which biologists have long attempted to shed light a limiting factor has been knowledge of the precise molecular events which are now increasingly possible to elucidate with the advent of nextgeneration sequencing technologies the big data era have revolutionized evolutionary studies through sequencing of thousands of genomes allowing tracing genomic changes coupled to these technologies experimental evolution transformed evolution from a predictive to a functional science by opening a window on evolutionary changes in realtime the challenge that now awaits evolutionary science is in identifying the trajectories simultaneously driving evolution in hosts and microbes in this context holoe2plant will validate the holobiont concept by looking at the simultaneous evolution of the host and its microbiome this will be possible thanks to an experimental coevolution approach applied to fastcycling brassica rapa plants and synthetic microbial communities syncoms syncoms will be selected from bacterial and fungal collections previously established from wild b rapa populations this ambitious project is timely and feasible thanks to the combination of highthroughput sequencing cuttingedge modelling methods for microbial functional network reconstruction and a novel coevolutionary quantitative genetic approach that will be developed here experimental evolution will be carried out in presenceabsence of the fungal pathogen rhizoctonia solani and the genetic bases underlying microbialplant interactions and associated with disease resistance will be identified holoe2plant will contribute to validating the holobiont concept and will provide unique methods to identify rapid evolutionary changes in holobionts these theoretical advances will set the stage for future applied projects aiming at designing microbial consortia with biocontrol properties