SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
Assessing the environmental impact of energy production from hydrochar generated via hydrothermal carbonization of food wastes

Although there are numerous studies suggesting hydrothermal carbonization is an environmentally advantageous process for transformation of wastes to value-added products, a systems level evaluation of the environmental impacts associated with hydrothermal carbonization and subsequent hydrochar combustion has not been conducted. The specific objectives of this work are to use a life cycle assessment approach to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the HTC of food wastes and the subsequent combustion of the generated solid product (hydrochar) for energy production, and to understand how parameters and/or components associated with food waste carbonization and subsequent hydrochar combustion influence system environmental impact. Results from this analysis indicate that HTC process water emissions and hydrochar combustion most significantly influence system environmental impact, with a net negative GWP impact resulting for all evaluated substituted energy-sources except biomass. These results illustrate the importance of electricity production from hydrochar particularly when it is used to offset coal-based energy sources. HTC process water emissions result in a net impact to the environment, indicating a need for developing appropriate management strategies. Results from this analysis also highlight a need for additional exploration of liquid and gas-phase composition, a better understanding of how changes in carbonization conditions (e.g., reaction time and temperature) influence metal and nutrient fate, and the exploration of liquid-phase treatment.
Political and business networks

I explore the role of networks involving firms---networks between firms and politicians, and networks between firms and firms--for economic outcomes. I focus on two broad questions. (1) What are the determinants and implications of political favor networks? Although political favoritism affects allocations in many countries, its mechanisms are not well understood. I develop a new model based on the idea of trust embedded in favor networks, and test in Hungarian data the model's implications about how political centralization shapes favoritism. I also quantify the welfare cost of misallocation created by favoritism. My results help understand how political institutions shape economic outcomes. (2) What is the impact of supply chain networks on firm performance? Inputs from suppliers account for the majority of firm sales, yet we know little about the contribution of suppliers to firm performance. I use a field experiment in China to measure the causal effect of suppliers and the underlying mechanisms. I then use observational data from Hungary to quantify the contribution of differences in suppliers to differences in firm performance. The results help understand how supply chains and their misallocation shape firm and aggregate productivity. My approach to both of these questions emphasizes the role of trust embedded in firm networks and how these trust-based networks create misallocation of resources. A key component of this research is the development of original datasets. Beyond documenting and explaining facts, I also hope to obtain policy implications on reducing favoritism and improving firm performance in developing countries.
Next-Generation water testing for the european market (ng-wtem)

WaterScope is Cambridge University spin-out developing a rapid, simple to use water testing system for the developing world. The system has been trialled in one of the largest refugee camps in the modern world, and the organisation has won the University of Cambridge, Vice Chancellor’s Overall Impact Award. WaterScope has raised over £200,000 of non-dilutive funding from grants and competitions. The technology is currently at TRL 5/6.  The proposed project is to investigate the use of the technology in the European market. 

The majority of testing done in European labs use conventional bacteria culturing methods, which are slow (>24 hours), and labour intensive requiring manual sample processing and quantification. WaterScope’s automated testing system allows for a much faster test, with results obtained in less than 6 hours - quicker than anything on the market at the moment - with results automatically quantified. In addition to this WaterScope’s novel cartridge makes sample preparation simple, significantly reducing human error and sample preparation times. 

The water testing market is a global market with the U.S.A. being the largest consumer market segment, representing over 40% of the market, followed by Europe (~25%) and Asia Pacific.  However, the European market is the leading global manufacturer and exporter of water testing instruments. The European E. coli environmental testing market was valued at 46.06 million USD in 2015 and estimated to reach 60.67 million USD by 2020. 

The proposed project will investigate feasibility of WaterScope’s current system in the European market, in particular for the regulatory and contractual water testing market. The objectives are:

1.	Identify and quantify the most appropriate market segment and resulting product requirements. 
2.	Build and formalise partnerships between WaterScope and developers, manufacturers, and distributors.
3.	Refine WaterScope’s IP strategy to allow correct utilisation of developed markets.
Does quantitative SUV-based analysis improve reproducibility of interpretation of posttherapy PET-CT scans in Hodgkin's and aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma?

1597 Objectives International Harmonization Project (IHP)-based interpretation of post-therapy (post-Rx) lymphoma PET/CT is now widely used but there is little data regarding its reproducibility. We determined interobserver variability in interpretation of post-Rx PET/CTs performed at 90 minutes post FDG injection in pts with lymphoma. These interpretation criteria were compared with 3 quantitative approaches to determine whether these improve reproducibility and accuracy of scan interpretation. Methods 3 expert nuclear medicine MDs blinded to pt outcome independently visually interpreted post-therapy PET/CTs based on the IHP-criteria. 3 quantitative approaches were used: RM SUVmax, RM SUVmax to mediastinal blood pool SUVmean (RMmx:MBPmn) ratio and RM SUVmax to liver SUVmean ratio RMmx:Liver mn). Positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy for prediction of residual disease/progression were compared between the two approaches. Results Of the 50 patients studied, 30 pts had 60 RMs seen. When interpreted visually by the 3 readers, scan agreement (positive/negative) was noted in 82% the 60 RMs. PPV, NPV, and accuracy of RM interpretation for the 3 readers were 67%, 79% and 81%; 100%, 100%, and 100%; 82%, 90%, 92%, respectively. In contrast, cut-off RM SUVmax and RMmx:MBP mn ratio of 2.5 and 1.75, respectively in PPV, NPV and accuracy of 92%, 100% and 97% with areas under the ROC curve of 0.993, 0.999, and 1.0 for the RMmx, RMmx/MBP mn and RMmx/Liver mn. PET/CTs of the 20 patients without RMs were called negative by all 3 readers. Conclusions Visual IHP-criteria provide fairly reproducible interpretations among nuclear medicine MDs but with only moderate PPV and accuracy. Quantitative approaches provide substantial improvement in PPV and accuracy upon the IHP criteria. As these approaches are potentially more reproducible, they should be considered for more consistent interpretation
Knowledge for pesticides control

KKNOWPEC, Knowledge for pesticides control, aims to create a transnational research network between Europe and Latin America focused on the challenge of unwanted pesticides in the environment.  KNOWPEC wants to identify the occurrence and fate of banned and toxic pesticides in drinking and natural waters in agricultural areas of Latin America where knowledge on occurrence and risk is scarce. KNOWPEC wants to assess the environmental and potential human risks of the pesticides detected, and to provide solutions for both reducing pollution at source, and remediating contaminated water. Together, KNOWPEC will promote the sharing of knowledge at each step from pesticide analysis, toxicity and risk assessment to advanced treatment technologies that jointly enables the design of sustainable solutions to each pesticide pollution problem. Moreover, we want to create the tools of information and networking for a source of collaboration between European and Latin America institutions under the framework of the environmental and human protection from pesticides. 

KNOWPEC will make important contributions increasing the knowledge of pesticide pollution in potable and natural waters in selected Latin America locations providing typical (or exemplary) cases of widespread agricultural practices and ecological regions.  This, together with the application of knowledge from a network of experts in chemical analysis, environmental toxicity and risk assessment, and innovative water treatment technologies in training future specialists, will contribute to safeguarding drinking water supplies and providing solutions for sustainable food production, and a sustainable environment.
Method and system for loop closure detection

Methods for loop closure detection performed by a processor of a robotic device may include maneuvering the robotic device through a plurality of locations, determining a location of the robotic device at each of the plurality of locations using a round trip time (RTT) measurement of a signal sent to an access point, determining whether a location of the robotic device is within a threshold distance of a previously-visited one of the plurality of locations, and performing visual loop closure detection in response to determining that the location of the robotic device is within the threshold distance of the previously-visited one of the plurality of locations.
Diseño de un sistema online personalizado, y su influencia en la optimización de los procesos que acompañan el desarrollo académico del nivel secundario de la I.E.P. "San Andrés", Cajamarca, 2018

Abstract
The purpose of this thesis research is to let the reader know how the good use of technology will
allow us to know what are the benefits of determining if the design of a personalized online system
influences the optimization of the processes that accompany academic development of the
secondary level of the I.E.P. San Andres, Cajamarca, 2018, develops this investigation of
application, correlational and quantitative type, having as variables the online system and the
processes that accompany the academic development; it shows the results of how the
organization is in 2018 and how it would improve significantly, the cost benefit of the design of
the proposal is viable, given that the benefits are high with respect to the costs that must be made
with its implementation, Among the most outstanding and main benefits are: the reduction of costs
and times. But not only these are the benefits, but also allows to raise the value of the company,
in addition to the prestige it gains, the speed of attention and the quality of the service provided.
Nowadays, companies are betting on generating greater profits by using fewer resources and
investing less, that is, their objective is based on the optimization of their resources and therefore
of their processes; this will have a greater number of satisfied customers, apart from the fact that
this study points to an online system which will allow creating value to an educational institution
and even more to maintain a continuous communication with its users.
Hybrid, organic-inorganic chalcogenide optoelectronics

The new generation of optoelectronics seeks for emerging semiconductors which combine high performance with low cost. Lead halide organic-inorganic perovskites manifest as excellent optoelectronic materials for this purpose, but at the expense of robustness and environmental compatibility. This presents a major challenge which this research addresses directly. Viable alternatives have to be identified. To tackle this challenge, MIX2FIX proposes to develop a new class of solution-processable optoelectronic devices based on air-stable, non-toxic metal chalcogenides endowed with an organic part, which will facilitate solution-processing and potentially enrich the compounds with the spectacular properties of halide perovskites. To achieve this, the CoG project has set the following objectives: (i) designing and developing optoelectronically-active, organic-inorganic chalcogenide thin films that have never been explored before, by mimicking strategies from established perovskite technology, (ii) devising means to improve their optoelectronic quality so as to be comparable with the best single-crystal semiconductors and (iii) implementing optimized materials into boundary-pushing PV and LED devices. Addressing these objectives will enable the development of novel functional hybrids at the boundaries of perovskite and chalcogenide thin films. With this, optoelectronics with efficiency and stability, comparable or higher than those of lead halide perovskite or chalcopyrite devices, will be demonstrated. This project will therefore permit the transition for emerging optoelectronic materials from toxic lead halide perovskites to green hybrid chalcogenides. Consolidating this unproven but disruptive technology will secure sustainable future for other areas of interest beyond photovoltaics, displays and lighting such as in X-Rays detectors and phototransistors or even beyond optoelectronics, in systems such as batteries and supercapacitors.
Massive gravity and cosmology

The ambition of this research program is to challenge the nature of gravity, provide an alternative to dark energy, and pave the way towards a potential resolution of one the most tantalizing problems of physics today: The Old Cosmological Constant Problem.

As General Relativity celebrates its centennial, its predictive successes and its status as our most elegant theory of gravity are incontrovertible. Nevertheless, while the recent discovery of the late-time acceleration of the Universe is in perfect agreement with observations, the 120 orders of magnitude discrepancy between expectations and observations is one of today's most challenging puzzles and may be the sign of new physics to uncover. This conundrum has driven the development of dark energy models as alternative sources for acceleration, but many of them suffer from a similar discrepancy and require an unnatural tuning of their parameters. Despite decades of attempts, the Old Cosmological Constant Problem remains yet unsolved.

This program proposes a distinct direction to address this problem and to explain the acceleration of the Universe where the graviton, the particle carrier of gravity, has a mass, or is effectively massive. Not only will this open a new panorama for cosmology, it will also answer the fundamental question of the nature of the graviton. Signatures and constraints will be derived through astrophysical and cosmological probes.

While striving to address these fundamental challenges, the program will also elucidate new aspects of massive gravity by establishing its theoretical viability and embedding as an effective field theory.  These developments will feed into new breakthroughs that have recently emerged from massive gravity.

As major missions and experiments are underway to probe dark energy and to detect gravitational waves, there is no better time to question gravity at the fundamental level, to provide alternatives to dark energy and to determine their unique signatures.
Musical identities, knowledge, and exchange in the archaic greek mediterranean (700-480 bce)

This project is the first extended analysis of musical regionalism and exchange in the Archaic Greek Mediterranean (700-480 BCE). It employs interdisciplinary methodologies and evidence (literary analysis, epigraphy, iconography, archaeology, organology, and music cognition ).  This project is possible because I approach a key body of evidence, Archaic Greek figural pottery, with new methodologies. Critiqued through the lens of new materialism and object centred analyses, this pottery depicts a wealth of music iconography across a range of regional compositions and styles. Further, with appropriate methodological considerations, the trade distribution of this pottery can be used as a proxy for routes of musical exchange. Music was one of many invisible commodities in ancient Greece. This evidence will be enhanced by an in-depth analysis of surviving musical instruments, using methodologies such as adapted object biographies to  look at instruments as evidence for the social lives of those who made, played, and listened to them, and the ways that individual instruments held different meanings in different regions. In this way, I build on and move away from the ‘archaeology of contexts’ developed by recent music archaeology, and develop a system for focusing on the materialism of musical objects. These corpora are supplemented by epigraphic and literary evidence to reconstruct the extent to which the musical regionalisms recorded by poets resemble those suggested by the material evidence, or if they function more as literary devices. This body of evidence will be used for an open visual database of material relating to ancient Greek music.

Dr. Hagel’s expertise in ancient music theory and instruments and his work in creating digital tools to assist with the study of ancient music, is of vital importance for this project. In turn, I would bring expertise in Archaic Greek society, art and material culture and new methodological perspectives.
Desarrollo e implementación de tecnología automatizada y robótica de alto rendimiento para la producción de bolsas de basura moleadas ecológicas a partir de láminas de tres capas extruidas mediante soplado libre.

El proyecto original del Solicitante, definido en forma de un proceso de investigación, consiste en el desarrollo, optimización, validación e implementación de una tecnología automatizada y robótica de alto rendimiento innovadora, al menos europea, para la producción de bolsas de basura de tres capas premium. La tecnología implementada que permite la producción de 3 capas de película de forma independiente permitirá la aplicación en el medio, apoyando parte del regranulado hasta un 70 % fortaleciendo significativamente el producto, reduciendo el impacto adverso de los plásticos en el medio ambiente y aumentando los parámetros de resistencia del producto. La innovación líder en el proyecto será la innovación de productos (fabricación de productos de calidad y rendimiento que actualmente no se ofrecen en Europa). Igualmente importante desde el punto de vista de la tecnología será la innovación de procesos incluyendo automatización y robotización de la producción hacia la implementación en Polipak Sp. z o.o. de elementos del concepto de Industria 4.0. Actualmente, las bolsas de basura se producen a partir de película de una sola capa, lo que prácticamente impide la producción de un producto fuerte, estético, fragante, funcional y barato al mismo tiempo. Cada una de las características y funciones especificadas es el resultado del uso de una materia prima diferente en el proceso de producción. Su integración desde un punto de vista tecnológico solo es posible en un producto que consta de varias capas. El efecto cualitativo se ve reforzado por el uso del sistema de perforación del producto, que engrosa ópticamente el producto, lo hace más resistente a la rotura, el arrastre, la punción y otros daños. Gracias a esto, el resultado del proyecto es una respuesta a la demanda del mercado desde el lado del precio, la funcionalidad, la usabilidad y los valores ecológicos.Numer_reference_help_programme: SA.41471(2015/X) Objetivo de la ayuda pública: Artículo 25 del Reglamento (CE) n.º 651/2014, de 17 de junio de 2014, por el que se declaran determinadas categorías de ayudas compatibles con el mercado interior en la aplicación de los artículos 107 y 108 del Tratado Eso es todo. EU L 187/1 de 26.6.2014).
Quantitative brain network biomarkers for patient-specific diagnostics in idiopathic generalized epilepsy

Epilepsies are common and highly disabling diseases characterised by recurrent seizures. They constitute a relevant health problem: ~2 million adults suffer from active epilepsy in Europe, leading to significant direct and indirect costs (estimated to be ~14 billion euro (2010)). The scientific objective of this fellowship, to be carried out at the Division of Neuroscience at King's College London and the Centre of Predictive Modelling in Health Care of the University of Exeter, is to develop a novel type of diagnostic biomarker for idiopathic generalised epilepsies (IGE), an important group of syndromes that affects 25-30% of patients, particularly young adults. This will be achieved by conducting a cross-sectional case-control study that will use advanced quantitative neuroimaging techniques to measure alterations of brain network connections in IGE patients and healthy controls, and machine-learning algorithms to (1) classify patients with different seizure types according to these alterations, (2) predict their seizure risk, as assessed with long-term electroencephalography (EEG), and (3) model the effect of network disruption on brain dynamics, using computational modelling. The educational objective is to equip the fellow with the skills needed to become an independent clinical scientist in epileptology. This will be achieved through a comprehensive clinical and scientific teaching programme that will include: (1) part-time participation in clinical rounds and clinical long-term EEG monitoring of complex epilepsy, (2) training in the neuroanatomy and quantitative measurement of white matter connections of the human brain,(3) training in computational neuroscience, and (4) courses in scientific writing and project management. This programme is expected to broaden and diversify the fellow's skills, strengthen the ties between the cooperating research centers and yield novel insights that might help improve clinical management of a highly relevant disease group.
Reciprocal interactions between hypogonadism and epigenetic modifications: a path for the development of personalized treatments for depression

Major depressive disorder afflicts ~16% of the population and is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Classical antidepressants take weeks-to-months for clinical efficacy and only a sub-population of patients responds to treatment, highlighting the need for the development of novel rapid-acting and effective pharmacotherapies. Hypogonadism, the decrease in the production of gonadal hormones occurring due to ageing or several other medical conditions, has been associated with an increased risk for development of mood disorders, including depression. Accumulating evidence suggests that epigenetic changes induced by stress or other environmental factors might also contribute to the development of depression; however, the reciprocal interactions between hypogonadism, stress, epigenetic modifications and depression has received limited attention. During this project, my in-depth knowledge in studying the role of gonadal hormones in the pathophysiology of mood disorders will be combined with expertise of the Host lab in assessing epigenetic mechanisms of disease, to identify novel associations between hypogonadism and epigenetic modifications underpinning and/or predicting susceptibility for depression development. In particular, EstroGen proposes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the combinatorial effect of hypogonadism/stress on epigenome and their role in depression, using preclinical models. In addition, this project aims to identify hypogonadism-related epigenetic biomarkers to predict subsequent development of depression. Importantly, this fellowship will propel my academic career and help me become a scientific leader at the interface of epigenetics, gonadal hormones and mood disorders, by acting as a stepping stone towards securing future research funding and acquiring a tenure track position in Europe.