Dragon09/odtu_chatbot huggingface dataset:
novel nanosized gdnf mimetics for the treatment of parkinsons disease focus onto nondopaminergic features

pd is the most common agerelated neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by four pathognomonic hallmarks 1 motor and nonmotor deficits 2 progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons 3 pathological aggregates of the synuclein syn protein 4 neuroinflammation and oxidative stress there is no single treatment currently available or being tested that can affect mechanisms of the disease promote regeneration or at least protection of dopamine and other affected neurons and alleviate both motor and nonmotor symptoms importantly nonmotor symptoms severely alter the quality of life of the patients since they are even more debilitating than the motor ones and do not respond to dopaminergicbased therapies one of the therapeutically potent approaches to combat pd is neurotrophic factors ntfsbased therapies particularly the glial cell linederived neurotrophic factor gdnf gdnf demonstrated encouraging survivalpromoting effects on dopamine neurons in diverse pd animal models and held a great hope as a neuroprotective treatment also gdnf has positive impact in a number of other neurons such as sensory enteric olfactory etc which degeneration or dysfunction is associated with the appearance of nonmotor symptoms despite of the promising results gdnf due to poor tissue distribution and inability to pass through the blood brain barrier should be delivered to the brain through a risky surgery to overcome the delivery problems and finally utilize the potential of gdnf in pd management proposed project combines neurobiology translational biology and experimental pharmacology to develop nanosized gdnf mimeticbased drug candidate that will 1 positively impact the disease progression through mitigation of the pathogenesis associated with syn aggregations and neuroinflammation 2 support the survival of human dopamine neurons in vitro and 3 alleviate motor and nonmotor symptoms of pd in vivo
advanced alkaline electrolysis technology for pressurised h2 production with potential for nearzero energy loss

driven by the need to reduce the lcoh by avoiding energy and cost intensive downstream mechanical compression processes highly pressurised low temperature water electrolysers are required hypraels goal is to develop and validate the next generation of ael for highly pressurised h2 production at least 80bar and preferable 100bar additionally an immense increase in energy efficiency will be possible by raising the temperature to at least 120c this results in transforming classic electrolysers into innovative devices for next generation hyprael will achieve these goals and move beyond the soa by performing research from the design and the advanced assessment of electrocatalysts and polymers to the engineering and process intensification of an innovative cell design in 4 phases 1 materials development for pressurized electrolysis with elevated temperature 2 screening of materials for applicability in pressurized electrolysers both phases will be performed at lab scalesingle cell 10cm2 130bar 80120c 3 upscaling of the most promising developed materials in phase 1 and 2 4 upscaling of developed materials and integration into an advanced stack the validation of the components scaled up in phase 3 will be performed in the existing test bench of fha designed in the frame of elyntegration at 60bar 120c 615kw pilot scale whereas the demonstration at the target pressure above 80bar at a temperature of minimum 120c and in a cell stack of at least 50kw capacity will be develop by ghs in a new test bench in addition the hyprael concept strong focus on developing an energy efficiency highpressure electrolyser while addressing the circularity principle of the objectives of the eu for a carbon neutral economy we believe 2 eu reference research centers in the hydrogen field such as fha and fhg and 4 benchmark industrial partners ghs agfa veco and solvay that hyprael will bring the next generation of ael for highly pressurised h2 production
data and processes in seismic hazard

the aim of tread is to train a new generation of seismic hazard scientists to tackle the challenges of earthquake forecasting in complex tectonic contexts such as the europe and mediterranean regions a change of paradigm in seismic hazard is necessary to be able to fully account for the specifics properties of earthquake source and seismic modes in those areas for example to calculate the probability of having multiple earthquake ruptures the interaction between active faults across various spacetime scales needs to be accounted for as well as the effects of stress transfer and faultfluid interaction in earthquake triggering tread objectives are 1 developing a novel integrative approach to seismic hazard analysis in europe and the mediterranean by bridging the gap from smallscale laboratory experiments to largescale observations 2 establishing physicsbased earthquake modelling by linking computational modelling of earthquakes from millions of years to fractions of a second 3 transferring earthquake geology and computational modelling to hazard and risk assessment adapted to the need of government industry and scientific stakeholders to reach those objectives we gathered the tread consortium that comprised 14 academic institutions and 8 private partners of the highest scientific level from 7 european countries covering frontiers knowledge and practices in observational experimental and modelling fields tread will 1 include a unique largescale training component to create the ground for a new generation of experts in the field of seismic hazard and risk assessment 2will promote interactions between seismic hazard and geomechanics practitioners and risk and decisionmaking activities producing an interdisciplinary and holistic training program 3will address factors not integrated in the actual models but essential to better anticipate seismic hazard in europe and the mediterranean regions
taskrelevant cognitive maps and their role in spatial decisionmaking

one of the hallmarks of our cognition is the ability to decide by thinking several steps ahead using an internal cognitive map in the wild mapbased decisions can enable animals to select a target location based on the amount of food available and the cost of reaching there but how are such decisions made for example how does the brain evaluate a nearby location with a small amount of food versus a distal location with more food what if the route to the distal location is steep such spatial decisions are unique because evaluating a location depends not only on the learned properties of the location but also on inferred properties like distance that are estimated from an internal map however where or how in the brain are these maps stored and how they enable spatial decisionmaking remains unknown here we will address this question through three specific aims first we will test how animals choose among reward sites located at various distances each dispensing different reward amounts next we will investigate how animals deduce the costs and benefits associated with different trajectories in an environment to make an informed decision finally we will decipher how these internal cognitive maps are formed these questions will be studied using novel behavior paradigms with rats as the animal model as rats perform these tasks simultaneous activity of hundreds of neurons will be recorded from multiple brain regions using novel custombuilt devices to study the internal map formation and the mechanism of mapbased decisionmaking the neural activity will be analyzed using stateoftheart machine learning techniques finally the causal role of the corresponding brain regions in spatial decisionmaking will be tested using optogenetic perturbation experiments this multidisciplinary approach will uncover how the brain makes mapbased spatial decisions a phenomenon that remains unexplored but yet of great importance across species
integrated blue light phased arrays enabling underwater optical wireless networks towards a new era of internet of underwater things iout

the internet of underwater things iout is defined as a worldwide network of smart interconnected underwater objects poised to revolutionize a number of related technologies including ocean monitoring observatories underwater exploration and resource exploitation disaster prediction and prevention aquaculture and defensesecurity the establishment of the iout requires sensing localization and data transmission functionalities which are mostly achieved through the use of underwater wireless sensor networks consisting of small intelligent and batterypowered sensors a crucial point is to enable transmission of the collected data over relatively large distances with high speed low power consumption and low environmental impact underwater optical wireless communication uowc represents a promising technology with the potential of addressing these requirements however the current uowc technology suffers from several drawbacks mainly related to the beam misalignment and low localization accuracy underwater making it unviable to reach the requirements of establishing the iout bluearray will explore breakthrough technologies for the next generation of uowc systems with the ambition of making unprecedented underwater data connectivity with requirements in terms of range energy efficiency node mobility as well as low environmental impact to face the numerous related challenges bluearray will undertake a radically new approach by enabling efficient and highspeed optical beam steering featuring low loss narrow beam and large fieldofview this is accomplished through advancing blue vcsels blue optical phased arrays opas largescale array of digitaltoanalog converters and coherent receiver technologies with a complexity going well beyond the stateoftheart by developing such an integrated blue opabased uowc technology bluearray will enable costeffective robust and scalable uowc systems allowing the deployment of largescale iout
novel algorithmic frameworks for functional neuroimaging using hybrid high density speckle contrast optical tomography and high density diffuse optical tomography

functional neuroimaging is important for understanding brain health assessing pathologies and guiding therapeutic interventions fundamental to neuroimaging is the neurovascular unit nvu which relates delivery and consumption of oxygen to neuronal activity dysfunction of nvu is associated with pathologies like stroke as well as dyspraxia estimating the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen cmro2 that describes nvu activity requires estimates of oxygen saturation in cerebral blood as well as cerebral blood flow cbf functional magnetic resonance imaging fmri the current gold standard for functional neuroimaging is expensive lacks portability and provides only surrogate estimates of cbf recent advancements in diffuse optics and functional nearinfrared imaging paved the way for noninvasive neuroimaging using diffuse optical techniques development of highdensity diffuse optical tomography hddot for imaging oxygen saturation and highdensity speckle contrast optical tomography hdscot for measuring cbf have enabled imaging at spatial resolutions comparable to fmri however combining independently obtained cbf and oxygenation values to compute cmro2 leads to artifacts and systematic errors a hybrid imaging modality providing more accurate cmro2 quantification via codependent estimates of oxygen saturation and cbf is needed to tap into potential of optical neuroimaging to paradigms like continuous cerebral monitoring in clinical and naturalistic settings in this project we propose development of algorithmic frameworks for such a modality ie hybrid hdscotdot for concurrent estimation of blood flow and oxygenation through i development of an inversion algorithm for hybrid imaging ii development of frameworks for selection of optimal acquisition configuration and iii numerical and experimental validation of the developed frameworks this research will closely follow ongoing hardware and system development in the medical optics group at icfo
ultracapacitor logic gates

ultracapacitors also referred to as supercapacitors or electricultracapacitors also referred to as supercapacitors or electric double layer capacitors edlcs stand out as high power devices for ultrafast energy storage a new paradigm is to use ion electroadsorption devices for logic information processing in living organisms ions and chemical transmitters are involved in signaling managing logic operations and memory evolutionary optimized in terms of energyefficiency my group recently reported the first switchable and directional ultracapacitor devices emulating discrete electronic circuit elements diode transistor as basic building blocks for the realization of logic operations an important step towards ultracapacitorbased ion information signaling and processing ionologic targets the conceptual design and realization of capacitive logic gates and or nand etc based on ion electroadsorption in nanoporous carbons by integrating multiple switchable edlc elements into monolithic microdevices the deliberate deployment of nanoporous carbons and membranes with defined pore size and surface functionality selective ionsieving mechanisms electrolyte depletion and charge transport in nanopores will lead to intrinsic ionologic gates nanoimprint lithography and piezoprinting of nanoporous carbon electrodes offers an emerging enabling technology for monolithic integration of complex electrode structures to finally interconnect multiple gates on a chip a highly interlaced team architecture conceptualizes switchable ultracapacitors and ioncircuits designs nanoporeelectrolyte pairs develops new precursor and processing concepts for on chipdeposition of nanoporous materials and finally realizes prototypical monolithic logic gates ionologic constitutes the basis for novel ionbased computing technologies to reduce energy dissipation in computing architectures and enable onchip power management in autonomous microelectronic devices in future
networking for advancing excellence and capacity in lightweight castings for foundry 40 in poland netcastpl40

netcastpl40 aims to enhance excellence and innovation capacity at agh in the field of sustainable lightweight castings and to engage the country in paneuropean collaborative efforts on this topic twinning with the consiglio nazionale delle ricerche italy and aalto university finland this will be achieved through an elaborate work plan and a comprehensive set of activities including knowledge transfer exchange of best practices the sharing of their research infrastructure activation of stronger international mobility in research to counteract brain drain from poland the outreach to foundries of green castings solutions the knowledge transfer will be achieved through in person training staffphd student exchanges webinars thematic workshops and scientific schools to demonstrate the value of the twinning exercise an exploratory research project will also take place to fabricate green lightweight castings components with enhanced mechanical performance and reduced co2 footprint in addition the project will strengthen the research management and administrative skills of agh staff in order to improve and make more sustainable its research ecosystem through the involvement of foundries and relevant lightweight castings industry netcastpl40 is also expected to help link innovative research with real foundries and industrial needs and therefore lead to the creation of new business opportunities the knowledge and technology capacity gained through the networking activities in the rds will be the driving force for create the assets to go beyond the end of the 3year twinning establishing the networking pole for lightweight castings sustainability to foster the development and uptake of green lightweight castings products and processes innovation in poland increase the production and exploitation of intellectual property grow the opportunities for collaborations with the foundry and industry
access to crop diversity and small farms resilience to climate variability in african drylands the role of seed and information networks

crop diversity is a key resource for smallholder farmers in drylands as it plays a major role in their resilience by stabilizing crop production in the face of climate variability although access to crop diversity is pivotal for these farmers the processes driving access are not fully understood previous research indicates that access to crop diversity may rely on the social networks through which crop seeds and information are diffused these networks display a wide diversity of patterns including differences in the composition of the actors involved and in the structure of the pathways through which seeds and information diffuse understanding the consequences of these different network patterns for crop diversity and their implication for farm resilience is a crucial and timely challenge in this project i will address this challenge by combining theory and methods from agroecology and social network research to tackle three objectives 1 identify the most critical network patterns to maintain high crop diversity on farms over time or to change crops 2 assess the relation between network patterns and temporal stability of crop production at the farm level and 3 assess how farmers socioeconomic characteristics affect their access to seed and information to reach these objectives i will i design a standardized protocol to collect longitudinal and panel data across three dryland areas in africa which could serve as a reference for future studies ii build an innovative simulation model combining agentbased and network approaches and iii develop new statistical methods for network analysis this project will enable a major advance in our understanding of the processes driving farmers access to crop diversity and their resilience by doing so it will contribute to improve decisionmaking for smallholder farmers adaptation to increased climate variability in drylands
sexuality in crisis the black death and social control in fourteenthcentury england

this project explores the impact of the plague on attitudes towards sexuality in late medieval england the fourteenthcentury plague commonly known as the black death killed up to half of the population of england in this period and had farreaching social cultural economic and political consequences for english society however to date its impact on the exercise of institutional power and control over sexual behaviour has not been addressed this is a significant omission given the substantial body of historical and sociological research on the role of sexual moralisation in societal responses to pandemics in the modern era as well as historical scholarship assessing the broader societal impacts of the fourteenthcentury plague this project addresses this knowledge gap through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the records of the church courts which exercised jurisdiction over sexual offences in this period this involves creating a database of cases heard in the courts of four english dioceses with extant fourteenthcentury judicial records york canterbury rochester and salisbury subjecting the dataset to statistical analysis and close reading techniques and contextualising these records with relevant narrative sources chronicles letters sermon collections it seeks to test the hypothesis that litigation of sexual offences will intensify in the immediate aftermath of major plague outbreaks this is important and timely research given the welldocumented links between social unrest and worsening economic conditions caused by the covid19 pandemic and the growth of political and popular attacks on lgbtq rights in the 2020s the project will provide an impactful case study concerning changing patterns in cultural attitudes towards sexuality which can aid policymakers and advocacy groups to make protections for sexual and gender minorities today more resilient in the face of future pandemic threats
identification and tracking of cancerprone cells in kidney tubules

understanding what makes our cells prone to develop cancer is key for identifying effective strategies of tumor prevention by analyzing the genome of normal human cells i obtained compelling evidence that the pattern of somatic mutations can be used to identify the celloforigin of kidney cancer although every cell accumulates somatic mutations during a lifetime some are exposed to a specific mutational process that leave a detectable mark in their genome kidney cancers and their celloforigin show the same genetic mark consisting of excess somatic point mutations with unique characteristics and unknown origin we plan to use this mutational signature to track cancerprone cells in human kidneys and a follow their population dynamics b study their genome and transcriptome at a single cell level c understand the underlying causes of excessive mutation having already established a noninvasive assay to detect cancerprone cells in urine samples we can now analyse numerous donors longitudinally and without biopsies our preliminary analyses point to adaptation to lowoxygen conditions hypoxia as the likely cause of excessive mutation in kidney cells and suggest defects in specific dna repair pathways as a mechanism we will test whether overactivation of hypoxia signalling caused by either a genetic syndrome or exposure to renal ischemia induces the kidneyspecific mutational signature in humans we will then dissect the molecular mechanism by functional experiments in vitro and in mouse models finally we will test whether and how the diet contributes to the expansion of the mutationprone cell subset in mouse kidneys overall this study will provide unprecedented resolution of early events leading to kidney cancer initiation and will determine whether hypoxic stress is mutagenic and cancerpromoting further this project will pursue the novel idea that cells can be tracked and possibly arrested before cancer initiation
evolution in the gut in health and disease

the mammalian gut is an exquisite system to study ecology and evolution of microbes and these processes are key for hostmicrobiome homeostasis how microbiome diversity is maintained or lost is a critical question underlying the proper balance of this duet yet our knowledge of the ecoevolutionary mechanisms structuring microbiomes is still in its infancy here we seek to identify dominant modes of natural selection and host factors that modulate the evolution of their microbes by leveraging knowledge on gene functions in specific strains and the power of mouse genetics and husbandry we will unravel how natural selection operates to shape diversity in the bacteria that inhabit the guts of healthy and sick hostsmicrobiome evolution will be studied in several mouse models of disease with a focus on escherichia coli as a pathobiont model for which a deeper understanding of molecular mechanisms in health vs disease can be reached using longterm experimental evolution in vivo highthroughput sequencing and theoretical modelling we will quantify the relative roles of directional diversifying and fluctuating selection in gut evolution we posit that resource competition drives the dominant selection mode in the healthy gut and that strong fluctuations in the environment due to phagebacteria coevolution andor due to hostmicrobe interactions drive the selection mode in the gut of diseased hostswe will further test the hypothesis that fluctuating selection leads to an anna karenina effect whereby the microbiomes of unhealthy individuals are much more distinct between one another than those of heathy ones evoinhi seeks to find the first empirical evidence that the predictability of evolution is higher in health than in disease which will have a profound impact on understanding bacteria diversity and rates of specialization and how these can be used to modulate host health