SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
The geomorphology – sediment distribution – soil formation nexus on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: Implications for landscape evolution

Abstract The interactions between geomorphology, sediment distribution and soil development in alpine regions are poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed the spatial variations of different sediment types and corresponding soils in 15 pedosedimentary profiles across three major geomorphic units in an alpine ridge-valley basin of the Qilian Mountains, northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Particle size distribution was used to trace the sediment types. Inorganic and organic carbon concentrations were included as metrics of soil processes. Aeolian silts from both distant and proximal sources cover floodplains, hillslopes and some positions on alluvial fans, while the distribution of fluvial sediments and periglacial slope deposits are much more limited due to the coverage of loess. The soils vary in response to sediment types and climatic conditions under the influence of their geomorphic settings. The vertical distribution patterns of carbonates in soil profiles show considerable differences among different geomorphic units, reflecting their contrasting water balance and migration pathways. Soil organic carbon accumulates most extensively in aeolian silts with sufficient water supply. A special pedogenic soil horizon – the mattic epipedon is formed primarily in loessial sediments in Kobresia ecosystems. The complex entanglement of fine earths and massive grassroots make the mattic epipedon extremely resilient, which helps to preserve the soils and to shape the landscapes. By integrating geomorphology, sedimentology, ecology and pedology, the outcomes of this study promote the understanding of the evolution of typical landscapes and ecosystems of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and many other periglacial settings.
Plain language for financial content: assessing the impact of training on students' revisions and readers' comprehension

With the responsibility for financial decisions shifting from institutions to individuals, the ability to understand financial information (known as ‘financial literacy’) is paramount. Having reduced financial literacy results in higher risk of over-indebtedness, and in reduced ability to manage one’s wealth. Text simplification, involving the use of plain language, is one of the strategies adopted to meet the needs of low-literacy readers. The comprehensibility of financial texts has received attention at the European level. An action plan developed as part of the EU policy on consumer financial services lists opaque terms and conditions among the concerns raised by customers when conducting cross-border shopping. Despite plain language efforts, the comprehensibility of financial content has not been increasing consistently. Scholars have therefore emphasised the need to train business (communication) students in text simplification and provided resources to that end. There is, however, lack of empirical evidence on the benefits (or lack thereof) of plain language training. This project aims to address this research gap by investigating the impact of plain language training on: (i) how financial texts are simplified by business students; and (ii) the resulting comprehensibility of simplified financial texts among lay readers with different levels of financial literacy. To do so, I will conduct two experimental studies. For the first study, focusing on the simplification process, I will use keystroke logging, retrospective interviews, and screen recording. For the second study, dealing with the comprehensibility of financial content, I will use multiple-choice questions. This project can identify simplification-oriented revisions that are implemented by business students and that are beneficial for comprehension of financial content. Ultimately, these findings can guide financial institutions in their efforts to meet the needs of readers with low financial literacy.
Beyond seasonal suffering: effects of pollen on cardiorespiratory health and allergies

As climate change increases the duration and intensity of the pollen season, allergies to airborne pollen are increasingly common in Europe. Yet, it is not well recognized that high pollen concentrations may increase respiratory and cardiovascular events, leading to mortality and excess hospitalizations. I aim to investigate how short-term exposure to pollen is related to mortality, hospitalization and allergic symptoms, both on its own and synergistically with air pollution and weather.
I will develop spatiotemporal exposure models of pollen for the years 2003-2022 based on a network of 14 pollen measurements stations in Switzerland. Taking advantage of large, real-world datasets without selection bias (Swiss National Cohort) and the efficient case-crossover study design, I will investigate the population effects of pollen on daily respiratory and cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization, also accounting for variation in air pollution and weather conditions. To explore individual sensitivity, I will conduct repeated measurements of lung function and airway inflammation in a dedicated panel of 400 allergic patients complemented with opportunistic repeated accounts of self-reported symptoms from the “e-symptoms” app by Swiss Allergy Centre. To provide personalized prevention recommendations and enhance quality of life for the allergic population, I will derive exposure-response relationships based on prevalent pollen, air pollution and weather triggers and individual symptom reports, allowing me to ultimately forecast symptom severity using machine learning techniques.
This highly innovative project utilizes available nationwide health datasets and systematic novel data collection methods (in the in-depth panel study), to better understand the role of pollen in respiratory and cardiovascular diseases at both personalized and population levels. The project will prevent and reduce health effects due to pollen, which constitute a large burden on health and economy.
Gaming Religionworlds: Why Religious Studies Should Pay Attention to Religion in Gaming

This roundtable article discusses the intersection between digital gaming, new media, and Religious Studies in order to provide an agenda for this growing conversation. We argue that religion plays a prominent role in gaming culture with significant impact on popular collective imaginations; therefore, studying religion in gaming should be central to religious scholars’ work in trying to understand perceptions of religion in popular culture. This collaborative conversation demonstrates how careful attention to religious narratives, rituals, and behaviors within game studies and environments can open up a space for critical reflection on how popular understandings of religion are manifest within contemporary media and society. Overall, it demonstrates what Religious Studies can and should contribute to the study of games by considering several critical questions about the study of religion within digital gaming and speculating where this field should be heading.
MICROSTRUCTURE ARRAYS AND METHODS FOR THE FABRICATION THEREOF

A method is provided for fabricating smoothly-curved microstructures (12, 14, 16) such as microlenses on a substrate (18) and certain unique microstructures (12, 14, 16) and microstructure arrays (10) obtained through use of such techniques are also provided. The substrate (18) may be smoothly-curved and the bases of the microstructures (12, 14, 16) may have a variety of shapes. The method takes advantage of the surface tension of a liquid to form droplets having a desired shape over high surface energy portions or area of the substrate, which substrate has been previously patterned to have areas with surface energies which are above and below, respectively, the surface tension of a liquid deposited to form the droplets. The formed droplets may then be cured to create the desired microstructures.
Cost-Efficient, solid-state refrigeration technology for cold storage

Vapour compression (VC) technology, used in the vast majority of space cooling and food refrigeration applications, currently relies on synthetic refrigerants which are either ozone depleting substances or mixtures with global warming potential. For this reason, their use is being downsized by EUs F-gas legislation. There is an urgent need to either retrofit existing VC systems and replace banned refrigerants with natural fluids such as ammonia, carbon dioxide (CO2) or hydrocarbons (which are toxic, flammable or costly), or adopt new technologies. On top of that, not all natural refrigerants are suitable for cold storage applications in the range of 1-10kW, where an accurate temperature (T) control and reduced food weight loss is crucial for quality food preservation. CO2 vapour compression (CO2VC) is currently the best option even though it is not safe (CO2 leaks), not so precise in T control and food weight loss is noticeable. An alternative cooling technology that could replace CO2VC for this particular application could be state of the art solid-state technology if low power and high cost did not impede this technology to go mainstream.
Integrate is a belgian start-up that has managed to avoid the use of refrigerant gases and overcome current technology (CO2VC and state of the art solid-state technology) limitations in cold storage applications by developing SolidCool. SolidCool is a solid-state solution that can be used for high-power applications with the benefits of presenting a high accurate T control, a minimum food weight loss, 50% less total cost of ownership, 40% lower price than CO2VC, and can function on solar energy. Given the need to phase out the use of pollutant refrigerant fluids, Integrate is capitalizing on an immediate, global opportunity for industries to adopt new technologies such as SolidCool and expects to make €19 million in cumulative profits and hire 60 new employees in 5 years from completion of the project.
Sequence specific elimination of shiga-toxin e. coli

SPELITEC is the first treatment for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infections, which affects primary young children and can be fatal in 1-5% of the cases. Currently there is no validated safe treatment: hospitalized patients receive only symptomatic treatments consisting of rehydration coupled with transfusions and dialysis for haemolytic uremic complications. The SPELITEC program is designed to finalise preclinical and initiate clinical studies for elimination of STEC bacteria (Shiga-toxin producing E. coli) in paediatric populations with a dedicated product: EB003. EB003 selectively eliminates STEC bacteria early in the disease progression; it is not expected to exert any toxicity in humans or animals; it is a multivalent mix of different capsid variants allows to target the whole spectrum of clinically relevant strains and pre-empts the acquisition of resistance through mutation of bacterial receptors; it is administered orally by a liquid/gel which is patient-friendly and adapted to young children and it represents a cost-effective alternative to antibodies against Shiga toxins. Our technology is the only one allowing the specific elimination of STECs without toxin release and without disrupting microbiota and inducing antibiotic resistance. Eligo will complete early drug development, which should ensure market authorization given the orphan and unmet medical need nature of the indication, and plans to out-license the compound to an established pharma company that will launch the product on the market.
The management team of Eligo has solid business and technical management experience in multinational companies and a very strong drug development background. During the Phase 2 project we will validate this new individualised therapeutic approach and mechanism of action by conducting the validation of the pharmacological model, the production of a clinical batch and the safety tests in healthy animals.
LEVERATTO ANDREA

DAS STUDIUM VON DR. ANDREA LEVERATTO, BUCHHALTER, IN CHIAVARI, BEGRÜSST SIE IN SEINEM STUDIUM, SEIT JAHREN VERSUCHEN WIR, UNSERE KUNDEN AM BESTEN ZU VERWALTEN, INDEM WIR BEI ALLEN STELLENANGEBOTEN BERATEN UND IHNEN EINEN KOMPLETTEN SERVICE FÜR IHRE UNTERNEHMEN GARANTIEREN.
Catalyst control over x-fold stereogenicity

Catalytic, stereoselective methodologies to study the control over the configuration of stereogenic elements with three- four-, five- and six-fold stereoisomerism are proposed. Previous catalyst-stereocontrolled methods allowed the differentiation of a twofold number of stereoisomers for any given stereogenic element. It is thus anticipated that expanding the stereogenicity in stereoselective catalysis represents a significant advance for the field. The reunification of conformational analysis and stereoisomerism in organic synthesis is expected to provide an improved conceptual framework. Traditionally, stereogenic elements are considered to generate a doubled number of possible stereoisomers, which are assigned with standard stereochemical descriptors such as R and S. The overall number of possible stereoisomers in a molecule with a set of stereogenic elements (n) is thus commonly predicted as 2^n. This binary stereochemical understanding of stereoisomerism represents a current basis for organic synthesis and a wide range of bioactive compounds critical for our health care are skillfully prepared by controlling the configuration of desired stereoisomers. Control over stereogenic elements that generate more than a twofold number of possible stereoisomers thus dramatically extents the scope of current stereoselective catalysis and organic synthesis. 1: The underpinnings of conformational analysis and the catalyst-stereocontrolled synthesis will be conceptually unequivocally reunited. 2: The uncharted setting of catalyst control over three-, four-, five- and six-fold stereogenicity will be established by the development of versatile synthetic methodologies. 3: Novel molecular architectures featuring unique chemical topologies will be assessible, representing unexplored chemical designs for a broad range of applications.  4: A divergent catalysis approach will be explored, utilizing common substrates for several stereoisomeric products with extended stereogenicity.
The Biopolitics of Transnational Adoption in South Korea

This article examines several key aspects of maternity homes for ‘unwed mothers’ in order to understand the overwhelming phenomenon of single mothers giving up their babies for adoption in South Korea and its naturalization as a common practice. Drawing upon Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, this article recasts maternity homes as an institution of biopolitical welfare and highlights two features of social governance that the maternity home extends over the population of single mothers and their children. First, I argue that this unique, non-governmental social service agency functions as a hub of biopolitical technologies, where multiple social, legal, economic, and political forces work in concert to curb single motherhood through the promotion of adoption via (1) containment, (2) classification, and (3) circulation. Second, attending to the intricate dynamics of maternity home practices, this article observes the ways in which a single mother relinquishes her motherhood via adoption and, in so doing, becomes a birthmother, a self-regulating and self-governable subject.
Aeolian sorting processes in the Ejina desert basin (China) and their response to depositional environment

Granulometric analysis of Aeolian and fluvial sediments in a middle-latitude desert basin (Ejina) was conducted. Sediments were collected from four main geomorphological units (Gobi/foredune, interdune, dune crest and riverbed) which represent the typical surficial conditions. Dunes studied are relatively coarser and lie towards the worse-sorted end of the range in comparison with other deserts. Both the M-z values of aeolian and fluvial sediments tend to decrease as the distance increase toward the Langxin-shan but in different variational patterns for sorting parameters between them, indicating a regular change of grain size but different sorting processes in the regional scale between Aeolian and fluvial sediments. Dune sands become finer and better sorted and less positively skewed from dune crest to interdune and foredune. This sorting pattern in dune unit appears to follow those described from the Libya and Namib deserts. While, the Ejina dunefield is located close to its sand sources, which for the most part are believed in this study to be distal palaeo-alluvial fan deposits (Gobi sediments) rather than modern fluvial sediments. The Ejina dunes therefore contain significant amounts of coarse grains with weak sorting degree. This is unlike so-called mature sand seas (e.g., central Namib Sand Sea), which lie at some distance in time and space from the original sources of sediment, indicating that the availability of particle sizes in source area exerts a strong influence on the spatial patterns of particle size and sorting in the Ejina dunes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
An analysis of asymmetric consumer price responses and asymmetric cost pass-through in the French coffee market

We analyze empirically a possible channel for the existence of asymmetric price-cost pass-through, that is, of prices responding differently to negative and positive upstream cost shocks. While asymmetric price-cost pass-through has been documented in many markets, possible causes for such a phenomenon have not empirically investigated. Using consumer panel data in the coffee retail sector in France, we estimate a demand model structurally allowing for asymmetric consumer responses to positive and negative retail price changes. According to the demand estimates, we indeed Þnd signiÞcant evidence that consumers react differentially to positive and negative price movements, in that demand is less sensitive (elastic) to price increases than to price decreases. Then using counterfactual simulations within an equilibrium model of demand and supply side behavior we empirically investigate to what extent the existence of the estimated demand asymmetries contributes to asymmetric responses of equilibrium prices of imperfectly competing Þrms given upstream negative and positive cost shocks. We do so by simulating positive and negative costs shocks, given the estimated demand model with asymmetric demand responses. We compare the changes in prices to changes in prices resulting from the same magnitude of cost shocks in an alternative demand structure without demand asymmetries. Our Þndings suggest that not allowing for asymmetries in demand imply similar magnitudes of simulated price-cost pass-through rates. However, when allowing there to be demand asymmetries, a positive cost shock is passed through to a larger degree to retail prices than a negative cost shock of the same magnitude. Our Þndings imply that the shape of the demand explains observed asymmetric price transmission of cost shocks in the context of imperfectly competitive markets
DETERMINING THE POSSIBILITY OF ADVERSE EFFECTS ARISING FROM A CODE CHANGE

Some of the set of classes within a computer program are important in the sense that the most useful information about the software can be derived from these classes alone. The important classes within the software are identified, as well as any dependent classes. Test cases are defined and associated with all classes. A code change for a class invokes the relevant test case or cases being run. The corresponding test case or cases for any dependent class are also run. If they run successfully (in the sense that the expected results arise), then it is highly likely that the changes introduced in the first class are not affecting the correct execution of the dependent classes.
Using the Stated Preference Technique for Eliciting Valuations: The Role of the Payment Vehicle

At the core of the stated preference method is choice of payment vehicle. Since payment vehicle is an intrinsic characteristic of a good, the choice of payment vehicle will naturally impact on the valuation of the good. Typical payment vehicles applied in the context of health are income tax levies, out-of-pocket payments at the point of consumption or private health insurance premiums. Where out-of-pocket payments will elicit use value only, private health insurance premiums will also disclose option value, i.e. the utility of knowing that one has access to a healthcare service should one need it. Income tax levies will disclose what in this paper is referred to as citizen's preferences, i.e. individual preferences that include use value, option value as well as (caring) externalities. This paper advocates that researchers design stated preference studies that encompass all relevant dimensions of value, and that serious thought is given to choice of payment vehicle. However, it is important to acknowledge that choice of payment vehicle has other potential implications for valuations. Payment vehicle and provider of services may be strongly linked in people's minds. If respondents implicitly associate a specific type of provider with a certain type of payment vehicle, it is important that any misperception is corrected by way of a precise description of the good being valued. Further, a pertinent issue is the extent to which respondents 'protest' to the stated preference question and how we should deal with these 'protesters'. No agreement currently exists about the procedure used to separate genuine zero values from protest values, nor about the treatment of protest responses in subsequent analyses. Beliefs are strongly associated with protesting, and exclusion of protest bids may therefore exclude individuals who have strong preferences for a payment vehicle. If it is acknowledged that payment vehicle is an intrinsic component of a good, exclusion of respondents who exhibit specific viewpoints may result in biased welfare estimates. Yet another issue is the presence of self-consciousness amongst respondents. If people derive utility from saying they are willing to pay for a public good (social desirability bias or warm glow), this potentially drives a wedge between people's stated value for a good in a survey and people's value for a good provided to them from the government. Tax payments are more binding than out-of-pocket payments. Payment towards public health programs via income tax may therefore generate lower consumer surplus than if the intervention was financed out-of-pocket with the option of opting out both in terms of participation as well as financially. Finally, only a few studies have looked at the impact of frequency of payments. The effect of temporal framing is clearly potentially important and at the same time an unavoidable component of the payment vehicle, yet it remains at present unexplored.
Using the Discipline of Agricultural Engineering to Integrate Math and Science

An outcome of a 1998 forum sponsored by the National Research Council was a recognition that topics related to food production and agriculture are excellent mechanisms for integrating science topics taught in the K-12 education system and for providing many avenues for inquiry based and project based learning. The engineering design process is also an excellent mechanism that can engage and integrate both math and science topics. From this perspective, faculty from the University of Georgia in collaboration with Jackson County School District in the State of Georgia developed workshop where the goals was to use a problem-based learning theme that is often engaged by agricultural engineers and to use this theme to integrate math and science horizontally and vertically throughout the middle school and high school curricula. Overall, the entire collaborative project has helped to improve significantly middle school CRCT scores and high school End-of-Course grades in math and physical science.