Dragon09/odtu_chatbot huggingface dataset:
illicit labour unveiling the dark sides of the global photovoltaic industry

illicitlabour pioneers a study of the linkages between climate change mitigation and illicit economies and the resulting implications for ecological governance this comparative and interdisciplinary project goes beyond the current stateoftheart research in three significant ways first by investigating global photovoltaic industry production networks it reveals the dark sides of the green energy sector in three geographical sites china ghana and india second it advances new theoretical perspectives on risk vulnerability and mitigation considering the interplay between the green energy sector and the illicit economy third it attempts a transformative breakthrough by developing a cultural political ecology framework that brings cultural economy and political ecology together pushing labour studies frontiers forwardthe research will focus on several core questions how do we explain the economic political and cultural processes linking illicit labour and ecological governance which illicit labour regimes in mining and manufacturing processes sustain solar panel production how do informal energy markets work what are the social and environmental challenges raised by endoflife photovoltaic modules how can we understand the illicitecology nexus in light of these processes and finally how can this analysis reveal new ways to provide clean and affordable energy for allclimate change mitigation and illicit labour are two major challenges of modern times whose interconnection poses growing concerns for society such as energy insecurity toxic waste production and labour exploitation yet this relationship has surprisingly received limited systemic attention in labour studies to date through an analysis of the global photovoltaic industry a major climate change mitigation sector illicitlabour casts light on those neglected actors practices and processes that operate in the shadow of sustainable development
mechanisms of kaposis sarcoma herpesvirus replication and maintenance during latency

oncogenic viruses are the third most common cause of cancer in humans kaposis sarcoma herpesvirus kshv is an oncogenic virus that establishes lifelong latent infection and can drive tumor development in immunocompromised individuals to date no definitive treatment against kshv has been developed and kshvderived cancers are uncurable despite the advances in understanding kshv biology many key aspects are still obscure and detailed mechanistic studies are needed for the development of rational targeted therapies during latency kshv exploits the host cells replication and segregation machineries to faithfully copy and transmit its genome during cell division which cellular proteins contribute to these processes and what mechanisms enable the virus to preserve its genome over time remain poorly dissected i will remodel the xenopus laevis egg extract in vitro system which has been successfully applied to study eukaryotic replication and chromosome segregation to incorporate the key components of kshv maintenance and generate a unique tool to dissect the mechanisms of kshv latency in a test tube with this innovative system in hand and strong of a previously developed powerful massspectrometry workflow for protein identification my group will overcome the limitations of the current methodologies to answer two main questions 1 what is the extent of the hosts proteome that contributes to kshv maintenance 2 what are the molecular mechanisms that drive faithful segregation of the viral genome corroborated by parallel experiments in kshv infected cells these groundbreaking findings will answer longstanding questions on the latency of kshv setting a solid base for the development of targeted therapies furthermore the newly developed latency system in xenopus egg extract will emerge as a powerful tool for solving puzzling aspects of the biology of other latently infecting viruses
theorydriven engineering of photocatalysts for microplastics degradation

plastics has become one of the most urgent environmental issue due to their resistance to natural degradation over time they break down into microplastics mps which at lengths less than 5 mm which bring a serious problem especially due to air and water pollution causing serious complications to the quality of human animal and plant life several emerging strategies are being explored to combat mps pollution with metal oxide semiconductors emerging as effective and sustainable photocatalysts for degrading mps offering promise in addressing this social and environmental challenge metal oxide semiconductors when energized externally act as photocatalysts by generating charge carriers which in the presence of water and oxygen lead to the formation of reactive oxygen species ros therefore indepth research on ros generation and how to improve the photodegradation efficiency of these materials is an essential factor in translating viable new technologies from the laboratory to the market regarding mps there is a lack of molecular models for ab initio calculations and knowledge about how ros function and their mechanisms in the photodegradation process which presents significant challenges therefore the trexmps project aims to investigate the photodegradation of mps using metal oxide semiconductors thought ros interaction this will be achieved applying theoretical and experimental approaches with a focus on studying the degradation of polystyrene mps using tio2 and ceo2 the results will contribute to the literature in this direction and will facilitate the remediation of mps in wastewater which can be used in water treatment systems more effectively at a scalable level and in an environmentally beneficial manner thus there is an urgent need of knowledge on how to deal with mps from their generation to their elimination following the criteria of green chemistry
the role of structural variation in adaptive radiation

long distance dispersal and adaptive radiation events have produced some of the most species rich ecosystems in the world while colonizing lineages can adapt to new environments the selective processes by which they do so is unclear given the paucity of genetic diversity in founder populations recent interest in the evolutionary role of transposable elements suggests they may contribute in generating genetic diversity through structural variation doing so faster than the rate of background mutation despite research to date evidence for exact mechanisms of transposable element mediated adaptive evolution is sparse to address this i propose to study a radiating clade of diospyros ebenaceae species on new caledonia a biodiversity hotspot following a long distance dispersal event ca 30 species form an adaptive radiation and have larger genome sizes than congeners that arrived independently on the archipelago previous work has suggested that the divergence within the radiating lineage was driven largely by edaphic specialisation occurring independently multiple times here i plan to investigate whether genes involved in adaptation to soil type are associated with structural variants and whether these variants are mediated by transposable element activity i will use three pairs of sister species each of which is adapted to either fertile volcanic or poor ultramafic soils enabling me to test for repeated patterns of adaptive evolution this action will shed light on the potentially crucial but poorly understood contribution of transposable elements to adaptation speciation and biodiversity moreover this work will provide understanding of the adaptive limits of different lineages in the face of ecological upheavals relevant in the present context of environmental challenges
gender equality plans for inclusivity engines of change

gender equality plans gep have fostered equality of opportunity for women in european research and innovation organisations rio nonetheless most gep to date bypass people who identify themselves as lesbian gay bisexual transgender nonbinary intersex andqueer lgbtiq often also failing to address the specificities of people combining several minoritygroup threads eg foreign women disabled women migrant women a phenomenon defined as intersectionality by crenshaw 1998 these groups are potentially vulnerable eg disabled women lgbtiq most rio do not collect statistics on gender identity of their employees researchers and students while intersectional gender groups are still heavily underrepresented in rio new inclusive gep tools need to be finely designed to encompass all gender groups in particular prevailing stereotypes and cultural norms may stigmatize lgbtiq people and intersectional gender groups and therefore new forms of awareness training need to be designed gepinc builds on existing gep tools and draws on partners earlier experience with horizon gep projects and beyond through the lens of a fully transdisciplinary approach embracing economics psychology anthropology geography demography health innovation research law and gender studies gepinc activities will be deployed in all branches of knowledge social sciences humanities law business science technology engineering and mathematics gepinc proposes to develop and finely tailor new cuttingedge interventions and activities which are engines of change aiming at durably promoting gender diversity and inclusion in r i increasing rio attractivity and productivity and stimulating diverse research gepinc more advanced partners will work handinhand with the lesser advanced ones to ensure the effective implementation of gepinc tools and activities and to durably install monitor and maintain a sustainable framework for gender inclusiveness
plastic waste valorization to clean h2 and decarbonized chemicals by catalytic deconstruction with novel ionic liquidbased catalytic systems

daily basis used plastics cause a huge amount of waste having an enormous impact on the environment and living species at the endoflife of plastics disposal in fact around 300 million tons of plastic are produced annually in the world and only small percentage less than 9 according to unep of this plastic is recycled 12 is incinerated and the 79 left generates big contamination problems there are already different ways not all of them economically viable to valorize plastic waste pw eg chemical recycling to feedstocks and energy the smart management and valorization of pw generated is a major challenge to be addressed by the scientific community furthermore the decarbonization of all sectors of activity becomes of paramount importance and hydrogen is set to play a key role in decarbonizing hardtoelectrify sectors as well as represent a zerocarbon feedstock for chemicals and fuel production but for h2 to play the desired role in the energy transition the scientific community must face the big challenge of decarbonizing h2 production at a competitive cost consequently waste2h2 is proposing a novel method where innovative ionic liquidbased catalytic systems are combined with microwave mw irradiation to selectively produce highly pure clean h2 and valuable decarbonized chemicals solid carbon from pw addressing simultaneously pw remediation and global climate change mitigationwaste2h2 add to novelty significant breakthroughs vs other routes for pw management and h2 production i plastic waste deconstruction by singlestep method powered by renewable electricity and working under mild conditions ii fast production of highly pure h2 iii valuable solid carbon production as sole decarbonized coproduct with easy recovery for its commercialization iv expected long lifespan of catalytic system easy recovery and reuse v reducing significantly the energy consumption due to mws and vi high potential to reduce h2 production cost
european identity theft observatory system

eithos will develop a novel identity theft observatory system empowering european citizens law enforcements agencies leas and policy makers to further contribute to the prevention detection and investigation of identity theft related crime it will provide a common gateway for identity theft information and intelligence in europe built on top of a modern technological back end based on two pillars 1 inform educate european citizens through the observatory itself and via innovative awareness campaigns regarding the safety of their personal data and identity 2 identify address the challenges that police authorities face against identity theft and develop a robust software toolset to support them and enhance their investigations the proposed system will provide easy access to information and intelligence about previous and current identity theft related trends such as the methods that fraudsters follow to steal information personal data protection or the ways that victims can be supported through its front end while offering a cuttingedge aibased technological toolkit via its back end additionally the project will analyse the societal impact of identity theft as well as the legal framework under which the utilisation of ai remote technologies and eevidence exchange can be achieved focusing on educating civil society and addressing the obstacles that hinder leas to efficiently fight identity theft eithos differentiates from previous projects and other market solutions which often concentrate on digital identity management and secure transactions
transcriptional engineering of hematopoietic stem cells using crispr

hematopoietic stem cells hscs reside in the bone marrow where they throughout life sustain continuous blood production through a controlled balance of differentiation and selfrenewal transplantation of hscs from a healthy person can replace a defective hematopoietic system of a patient thereby curing the patient for life hscs have found increasing therapeutic application eg in hematologic malignancies and hematopoietic genetic disorders this applies not only to the allogeneic transplantation setting but also to the autologous setting where advances in genetic engineering technologies have enabled autologous gene therapies however major challenges remain in both settings pertaining to the scarcity of hscs as well as the cells being partially refractory to precise gene correctionin this research proposal i will address these challenges by leveraging the unique power of repurposed crisprcas systems for precise transcriptional manipulation of hscs in these systems the normal dnacleaving ability of the cas9 enzyme is disabled dcas9 while transcriptional activators or inhibitors are fused to dcas9 by targeting the dcas9effector proteins to transcriptional start site regions by sgrna programming gene transcription can be activated crispra or inhibited crispri complex transcriptional engineering is readily achieved using multiple sgrnas and orthogonal crispr systems for simultaneous crispra and crisprii will apply these technologies to investigate and enhance therapeutically relevant hsc pathways namely homologous recombination for precise gene editing selfrenewal and bone marrow homing these biological phenomena have previously been studied with techniques that do not have the same elegant properties and therapeutic relevance as crisprai with this new stateoftheart method for precisely controlling gene expression i will study and manipulate genetic pathways to overcome longstanding challenges in hsc therapies
the role of domestic markets and public policy for sustainable food systems the case of brazil

existing literature on agricultural markets telecoupling and supply chain governance focuses on global value chains largely overlooking domestic markets though these are responsible for the majority of food 7488 agricultural land use 78 deforestation 6171 and global land use emissions 73 a key barrier to the study of domestic markets is the lack of data while countrylevel data are commonly used to track international trade the data necessary to map subnational trade flows within domestic markets are seldom collated in the proposed project we will bridge this knowledge gap by integrating novel datasets sourced from citizen science wholesale markets freight platforms and government procurement contracts our focus will be on mapping the flow of food products within brazil the worlds ninth largest economy a rapidly urbanizing emerging market with a booming agricultural sector and large domestic market we will employ life cycle assessment methods to these food flow data to compute the land use deforestation and carbon footprints of millions of individual supply chains and products this will provide an unprecedented analysis of how the environmental impact of consumption varies across different populations and cities and how it relates to urban context a key advance on previous product footprints will be our combination of supply chain data alongside information on land tenure agricultural suitability commodity prices and forest fires to differentiate how much deforestation is driven by agriculture rather than other contributing factors finally the project will analyse public policies affecting food production and consumption including a largescale assessment of the brazilian school meal program pnae to understand its nutritional and environmental impacts and an examination of how agricultural subsidies can be redirected to foster a sustainability transformation within the brazilian food system
optical fiber higher order mode technologies and their application within communication sensing and bio imaging

optical fibres supporting propagation of light in socalled higher order modes homs have gained major research interest in the last years however there are still quite a few obstacles to overcome before hom fibres can be used for major commercial applications in the homtech doctoral network seven leading european universities within the field of hom fibres and their applications join forces with one research institution and three european industrial partners and two world leading industrial research labs in the usa and japan with the aim to significantly progress the field of hom fibres and their applications five european countries are represented ten doctoral candidates dc will work in the network apart from the research and training at the host beneficiary each dcs will also have two research secondments both at least 3 months long at another beneficiary or an associated partner for dcs from academic partners at least one of the secondments will be to an industrial partner five training schools in five different countries will be organized for the dcs through a joint effort between all beneficiariesthe research is organized in three work packages wps wp1 on hom applications within communication both in optical fibres and in free space wp2 on properties of homs and wp3 on hom applications within sensing wp2 act both as support for wp1 and wp3 eg wp2 research essential nonlinear properties of hom fibres that is key in optical communication but also applications of hom for microscopy imaging in wp1 both classical communication as well as quantum communication will be researchedit is the ambition that homtech will build a strong and lasting network not only between the dcs but also between the beneficiaries and associated partners homtech aims at bringing european industry and academy in the forefront of hom fibres and their application
developing selfassembling cyclodextrins to tackle the cytopathic activity of respiratory pathogens

the covid19 pandemic has arisen awareness about the importance of developing tools to fight viral infection however there is still a lack of products to be used by the public as preventive systems against respiratory pathogens different systems have been developed to target sarscov2 using its affinity for different ligands however a multivalent presentation of these ligands is necessary to overcome their low affinity which often implies complex structures difficult to synthesise and characterise cdresvir aims to overcome those challenges our group has a wide experience in the exploitation of cyclodextrin cd conjugates to create selfassembling systems these can be functionalised with a ligand to target a pathogen leading to a multivalent supramolecular scaffold the great advantage of supramolecular assemblies over covalent strategies is their structural adaptability to the target ie the assembly will adopt the most stable state the one with maximal interactions it is also very simple to mix selfassembling components to optimise the effect in preliminary experiments we have obtained robust data proving that a sialic acidfunctionalised cd scaffold could offer protection to cells exposed to sarscov2 which has never been proved before with a supramolecular assembly here we propose to optimise the system and go beyond expanding the scope of respiratory infections that could be addressed targeting different respiratory viruses and bacteria the chemical biology processes behind this application will be studied from the atomic level interactions between cd and sarscov2 receptors to the microscopic level templating effect of a virus for the selfassembly of our cd system pursuing a groundbreaking preventive nasal spray against respiratory infections we have established a strategic partnership with an industrial collaborator this will facilitate the transition of our research findings from the laboratory to the industrial setting
innovative diagnostic tools to improve the medical care and the health of sickle cell patients preparing for launch and market access in europe

innovhem is a french startup that has been incorporated in october 2019 which develops new and relevant diagnostic tools to tackle sickle cell disease sickle cell disease is a very severe disease and is the most frequent genetic disease over the world affecting around 5 million people despite this disease has been discovered at the beginning of the 20th century there is still several unmet needs to tackle it in resourcepoor countries about 90 of children are estimated to die before the age of 5 in europe more than 60 000 people are affected their life expectency is shortened to around 45 years old and 80 of physicians say that they lack support tools for treatment decision in addition scd is associated to high clinical costs at innovhem we are developing a solution which is a combination of biomarkers specifically adapted to the physiopathology of the disease with articial intelligence this solution will help the physicians to propose a personalized medical care to the patients and it will also help the development of new effective treatments this will deeply improve health of sickle cell patients as an example of impacts one of the shortterm goals is to avoid 20 of emergency visits this sole effect will save 30 million year in europe during the first year of activity innovhem showed a high commercial traction that allows to sign contracts for a total amonut of 800k euros we also enter into several partnerships with leading clinical and university centers for sickle cell diseaseour mission is to improve clinical care of sickle cell patients and improve their lives a financial support will help us to build our access market strategy and our growth in europe