SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
FAST FORWARD EUROPE

Strengthening the European economic fabric requires that their SMEs are competitive. On the path to their sustainable growth, EU SMEs still meet too many obstacles to get full access to venture capital and business opportunities. Some of FFWD EUROPE project partners have their own business acceleration scheme that proves efficient locally, although most of the partners perceive a lack of support from their regional authorities on the design and funding of measures related to facilitate the access to capital for SMEs.

The common challenge of FFWD EUROPE is to improve partners' policy instruments, and to enable SMEs to participate in public-supported accelerator models in order to significantly enhance their competitiveness through access to private funding and equity; international markets opportunities and new business contacts all over Europe.  
Therefore, FFWD EUROPE will contribute to improve  the national and regional Programmes for Investing for Growth and Jobs, through a better use of ERDF for the development and/or improvement of regional policies dedicated to SME competitiveness  in the EU countries and regions of the partners and their stakeholders. This goal will be accomplished through various exchanges of good practices that will contribute to impact with strength all  policy instruments and make them enhance new elements for business accelerators. 

The main outputs will be the elaboration of one Action Plan per region, based on the interregional exchanges, that will ensure the appropriate implementation during the phase 2 of the project. Partners will get knowledge and experience to design, create and consolidate the settlement of their Accelerator Programs, supported by their regional policies as a result of the implementation. Communication and stakeholders engagement will also be crucial points. In fine, all European partners with their stakeholders, as well as the SMEs they support, will benefit from the support of the Interreg Europe Programme.
Insecticide resistance in disease vectors from Mayotte: an opportunity for integrated vector management

Mayotte, a small island in the Indian Ocean, has been affected for many years by vector-borne diseases. Malaria, Bancroftian filariasis, dengue, chikungunya and Rift Valley fever have circulated or still circulate on the island. They are all transmitted by Culicidae mosquitoes. To limit the impact of these diseases on human health, vector control has been implemented for more than 60 years on Mayotte. In this study, we assessed the resistance levels of four major vector species (Anopheles gambiae, Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) to two types of insecticides: i) the locally currently-used insecticides (organophosphates, pyrethroids) and ii) alternative molecules that are promising for vector control and come from different insecticide families (bacterial toxins or insect growth regulators). When some resistance was found to one of these insecticides, we characterized the mechanisms involved.Larval and adult bioassays were used to evaluate the level of resistance. When resistance was found, we tested for the presence of metabolic resistance through detoxifying enzyme activity assays, or for target-site mutations through molecular identification of known resistance alleles.Resistance to currently-used insecticides varied greatly between the four vector species. While no resistance to any insecticides was found in the two Aedes species, bioassays confirmed multiple resistance in Cx. p. quinquefasciatus (temephos: ~ 20 fold and deltamethrin: only 10% mortality after 24 hours). In An. gambiae, resistance was scarce: only a moderate resistance to temephos was found (~5 fold). This resistance appears to be due only to carboxyl-esterase overexpression and not to target modification. Finally, and comfortingly, none of the four species showed resistance to any of the new insecticides.The low resistance observed in Mayotte's main disease vectors is particularly interesting, because it leaves a range of tools useable by vector control services. Together with the relative isolation of the island (thus limited immigration of mosquitoes), it provides us with a unique place to implement an integrated vector management plan, including all the good practices learned from previous experiences.
IN-SILICO METHOD TO IDENTIFY COMBINATORIAL PROTEINS AS IMMUNE-STIMULATORS AGAINST LEISHMANIASIS

The present invention discloses a combination of proteins influencing the survival of the Leishmania species inside the human cell and a process for regulating the expression the combination of proteins. Further, the present invention relates to the regulation of the combination of proteins to serve as immuno-stimulators to treat leishmaniasis.
ISOTOPE SEPARATION BY MULTISTAGE METHODS

Publisher Summary Isotopes of an element can be separated either by single-stage or multistage processes. This chapter describes the multistage methods for isotope separation. The single-stage method of importance is the electro-magnetic method. The electromagnetic method enables large enrichments to be achieved in a single stage and it is versatile because the same machine can be used to separate the isotopes of any element. The other methods of separation depend on the fact that there are slight differences in the properties of isotopic substances, as a result of which slight separations of isotopes occur in a variety of simple chemical and physical processes such as distillation or diffusion. The important multistage methods of separation are electrolysis, fractional distillation, chemical exchange methods, and gaseous and thermal diffusion, though many other methods have been used to produce partial separation of isotopes.
How Do Joint Supervisors Examine Financial Institutions? The Case of Banks

This paper studies what determines whether federal and state supervisors examine state banks independently or together. The results suggest that supervisors coordinate examinations in order to support states with lower budgets and capabilities and more banks to supervise. I find that states with larger budgets examine more banks independently, that they accommodate changes in the number of banks mostly through the number of examinations with a federal supervisor and that, when examining banks together, state banking departments that have earned quality accreditation are more likely to write conclusion reports separately from federal supervisors. The results also indicate that regulation impacts supervision by changing the characteristics of banks. Independent examinations decrease with branch deregulation, which is consistent with the facts that this reform consolidated banks within fewer independent firms and that state and federal supervisors are more likely to examine large and complex institutions together.
Exigencias jurídicas del manual de conducta y acta de compromiso para los clérigos de la Arquidiócesis de Bogotá decreto No. 604,25 noviembre 2013 : Canon 1395 s 2

El abuso a niños, niñas y adolescentes en los ambientes eclesiales, por parte de los clérigos y religiosos, se cree que son encubiertos por los Obispos y Superiores, dando a pensar a la opinión pública que existe un alto grado de impunidad frente a estos delitos. Por consiguiente, las víctimas y sus familiares han tenido que recurrir a las instancias civiles y los medios de comunicación para denunciar estos atropellos, lo cual ha ocasionado vergonzosos escándalos para la Iglesia Católica. El propósito de esta investigación es identificar las líneas guía para tratar estos casos de arbitrariedad, ceñidos de forma general por el Derecho Canónico, documentos pontificios y los emitidos por las respectivas Conferencias Episcopales. Por ejemplo, la Arquidiócesis de Bogotá está regida por el Decreto 604 del 25 de noviembre del 2013 que establece el manual de conducta y el acta de compromiso donde se especifican las implicaciones jurídicas y las responsabilidades asumidas por los clérigos y religiosos que desempeñen algún cargo pastoral. Además, es importante considerar las obligaciones y derechos de los clérigos presentes en el CIC específicamente en el canon 13955 2. De esta manera, se hace más fácil identificar los ordenamientos adecuados para asistir a las víctimas y a sus familiares con respecto al manejo de tales arbitrariedades, así como, prevenir estos desmanes en los espacios eclesiales apuntando al objetivo propuesto por el Papa Francisco de Tolerancia cero con el abuso sexual.
Removal of tetrachloroethylene from homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media: Combined effects of surfactant solubilization and oxidant degradation

Abstract High efficiency and cost-effective remediation technologies are needed to remove tetrachloroethylene (PCE) from the source zones in soil and groundwater systems. This work evaluated the ability of a biodegradable surfactant (Tween 80) coupled with an effective oxidant (Fe 2+ (activation agent)–citrate (chelating agent) activated persulfate (PS, oxidant)) to remove PCE from porous media. Batch experiments were used to optimize the oxidant by testing the effects of PS, citrate, and Fe 2+ concentrations on the PCE degradation. The optimal molar ratio of PS/citrate/Fe 2+ /PCE was 15:15:5:1 for PCE degradation in presence of the surfactant. Four sandbox experiments were performed to compare the effectiveness of the surfactant and the combination of the surfactant with the optimized oxidant in the removal of PCE from homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media. PCE saturation distributions in the sandboxes were quantified using a light transmission system. In addition, the PCE, PS, and Cl − concentrations in the effluents were also monitored during the experiments. While the Tween 80 solution removed about 52% and 67% of PCE from the homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media; the combination solution was more effective with removal rates of 80% and 84%, respectively. The enhanced PCE removal was due to the combined effects of the surfactant solubilization and PS oxidation: (1) Tween 80-enhanced solubilization resulted in an enlarged effective contact and reaction between PCE and PS; and (2) PS degraded the PCE from the soluble phase and thus facilitated its dissolution from the source zone, resulting in more efficient use of Tween 80. Findings from this work indicate that the combination of surfactant and oxidant can provide an effective way for the remediation of PCE in soils and groundwater.
Generation of Internal Solitary Waves by Lateral Circulation in a Stratified Estuary

Abstract Internal solitary waves are commonly observed in the coastal ocean where they are known to contribute to mass transport and turbulent mixing. While these waves are often generated by cross-isobath barotropic tidal currents, novel observations are presented suggesting that internal solitary waves result from along-isobath tidal flows over channel-shoal bathymetry. Mooring and ship-based velocity, temperature, and salinity data were collected over a cross-channel section in a stratified estuary. The data show that Ekman forcing on along-channel tidal currents drives lateral circulation, which interacts with the stratified water over the deep channel to generate a supercritical mode-2 internal lee wave. This lee wave propagates onto the shallow shoal and evolves into a group of internal solitary waves of elevation due to nonlinear steepening. These observations highlight the potential importance of three-dimensionality on the conversion of tidal flow to internal waves in the rotating ocean.
Improving hearing device fitting with virtual reality

Hearing impairment is a common disease with a large impact on social interaction and psychosocial well-being. Partial rehabilitation is possible by providing hearing devices. The settings of hearing aids and cochlear implants have to be adjusted to fit individual needs. This fitting process normally takes place in the relatively quiet clinic or acoustician’s store, whereas hearing devices are most needed in noisy and reverberant situations in daily life. This mismatch may lead to inefficiency and suboptimal settings. Mainly because the current fitting process is based on trial-and-error: adjustments made in the clinic have to be evaluated in daily life, after which further adjustment (fine-tuning) is needed. Recent advances in virtual reality would allow for an accurate simulation of daily life situations in virtual environments (VEs) in the clinic. Using such VEs, adjustments could be tested immediately. It is hypothesized that using VEs makes the fitting process more efficient, allows for better counselling of the patient, and will lead to better final settings and a higher patient satisfaction. The proposed project aims to investigate these hypotheses. The work plan of the proposed project entails designing VEs for hearing device fine-tuning (thanks to the collaboration with University of Oldenburg, previously developed VEs can be used as a basis) and establishing the new fine-tuning procedure, in close collaboration with clinicians and patients to maximize the usability. Furthermore, an experiment is planned that compares the standard and new fine-tuning procedures between groups of hearing aid users and cochlear implant users. The project is unique by introducing VEs in a clinical setting to improve the outcome of the hearing rehabilitation process. It is also one of the few studies of the fitting process in both hearing-aid users and cochlear implant users, which is possible thanks to the unique patient population in the host institution, Erasmus MC.
Cladistic analysis of Abracrini genera (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Ommatolampinae)

A cladistic analysis using 50 characters and 21 genera of the Neotropical tribe Abracrini was performed in order to test the monophyly of the tribe and to reconstruct a phylogenetic hypothesis. Abracrini is supported by three synapomorphies: penultimate article of maxillary palps unflattened; second segment of hind tarsi short and internal apophysis of cerci vestigial. The analysis demonstrates that Abracrini is a monophyletic tribe, as well as a relationship among its genera was (Psiloscirtus splendidus (((Parasitalces sexnotata + Sitalces volxemi) (Arimacris trinitatis (Caruaruacris bivittatus + Salvadoracris nigritus))) (((Eusitalces vittatus + Liebermannacris dorsualis) (Monneacris fascipes (Robustusacris balzapambae (Xiphiola borellii (Eujivarus fusiformis + Roppacris griseipes))))) (((Omalotettix obliquus + Orthoscapheus coryaceus) (Abracris dilecta + Jodacris ferruginea)) (Teinophaus saussurei (Rhachicreagra nothra (Agesander ruficornis + Ixalotettix compactus))))))). Further data on biogeography and a distribution map are provided.
A METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A VIBRATING PRILLING BUCKET IN A UREA PRILLING PROCESS

A method for controlling a prilling bucket in the prilling of a a urea melt (UM) including: feeding the urea melt to a prilling bucket (1) which vibrates under the action of a magnetostrictive device (2), wherein the vibration of the bucket is controlled, as a function of the amount of urea melt to be prilled, by the following steps: acquisition of a time-varying input signal (3) which represents the flow rate of urea melt fed to the prilling bucket; generation of a first signal (5) and of a second signal (6), independently from each other, as a function of said input signal (3); generation of a third signal (10) having a frequency which is modulated by said first signal and an magnitude which is modulated by said second signal, and use of said third signal to drive said magnetostrictive device (2).
Valorisation of innovative bio-economical potentials along bio-based food & botanical extract value chains in the Alpine Space

Bioeconomy has an enormous potential for Green Growth and professional development, and thus is considered as a key discipline of the 21st century. EUs bioeconomy strategy addresses the production of renewable biological resources & their conversion into vital products. Expanding bioeconomy, particularly in rural areas, represents a major development potential. In the Alpine regions, this potential can however only be harnessed if the actors and municipalities cooperate closely and pursue shared objectives. The overall objective of AlpBioEco is to foster the sustainability of the local economy in the Alpine Space by the valorisation of innovative bioeconomical potentials along bio-based food and botanical extract value chains (VCs). It contributes to the framework conditions for innovation, resulting in eco-innovative business ideas & concepts for SMEs. By implementing & stimulating eco-innovations in practice, exemplarily 3 VCs are analysed, while a cross-sectoral multi-level stakeholder approach is applied. SMEs, clusters and initiatives, administration and politics as well as academia work together. A communication strategy on the basis of the quadruple helix approach strengthens the awareness of bioeconomy in Alpine regions. Within a validation report the approach of eco-innovation along bio-based food production VCs in Alpine regions is provided. Thus, AlpBioEco increases capacities of SMEs to jointly develop bio-based products. Through concepts of `Open Innovation´, it intensifies transnational cooperation for eco-innovations in the bio-based economy. In sum, AlpBioEco contributes to a better cohesion and integrated territorial development since rural regions become connected in new bio-based VCs. Thereby high value jobs will be induced in the agricultural sector. On a macro-regional level, AlpBioEco contributes to a lower disparity of the Alpine Space.
Impact aware manipulation by dexterous robot control and learning in dynamic semi-structured logistic environments

Europe is leading the market of torque-controlled robots. These robots can withstand physical interaction with the environment, including impacts, while providing accurate sensing and actuation capabilities. I.AM leverages this technology and strengthens European leadership by endowing robots to exploit intentional impacts for manipulation. I.AM focuses on impact aware manipulation in logistics, a new area of application for robotics which will grow exponentially in the coming years, due to socio-economical drivers such as booming of e-commerce and scarcity of labor.
I.AM relies on four scientific and technological research lines that will lead to breakthroughs in modeling, sensing, learning and control of fast impacts: 1) I.Model offers experimentally validated accurate impact models, embedded in a highly realistic simulator to predict post-impact robot states based on pre-impact conditions; 2) I.Learn provides advances in planning and learning for generating desired control parameters based on models of uncertainties inherent to impacts; 3) I.Sense develops an impact-aware sensing technology to robustly assess velocity, force, and robot contact state in close proximity of impact times, allowing to distinguish between expected and unexpected events; 4) I.Control generates a framework that, in conjunction with the realistic models, advanced planning, and sensing components, allows for robust execution of dynamic manipulation tasks.
This integrated paradigm, I.AM, brings robots to an unprecedented level of manipulation abilities. By incorporating this new technology in existing robots, I.AM enables shorter cycle time (10%) for applications requiring dynamic manipulation in logistics. I.AM will speed up the take-up and deployment in this domain by validating its progress in three realistic scenarios: a bin-to-belt application demonstrating object tossing, a bin-to-bin application object fast boxing, and a case depalletizing scenario demonstrating object grabbing.
Quantum annealing for the number-partitioning problem using a tunable spin glass of ions

Exploiting quantum properties to outperform classical ways of information-processing is an outstanding goal of modern physics. A promising route is quantum simulation, which aims at implementing relevant and computationally hard problems in controllable quantum systems. Here we demonstrate that in a trapped ion setup, with present day technology, it is possible to realize a spin model of the Mattis type that exhibits spin glass phases. Remarkably, our method produces the glassy behavior without the need for any disorder potential, just by controlling the detuning of the spin-phonon coupling. Applying a transverse field, the system can be used to benchmark quantum annealing strategies which aim at reaching the ground state of the spin glass starting from the paramagnetic phase. In the vicinity of a phonon resonance, the problem maps onto number partitioning, and instances which are difficult to address classically can be implemented.
MAPK-Erk1/2 Pathway Activation and Survival Of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Cells Is Induced By In Vitro Modeling Of The Tumor Microenvironment and Can Be Effectively Inhibited Using The MEK1 Inhibitor MEK162

Infiltration of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells into the lymph node and bone marrow microenvironments promotes leukemic cell survival, proliferation and ultimately drives disease progression. Successful treatment of CLL relies on targeting the cells within these niches.

Activity of the MAPK-Erk1/2 pathway is considered to be crucial for the survival of a diverse range of cancer cell types, including CLL cells. However, to date pre-clinical studies of inhibitors of MEK1/2, a key component in this pathway, have demonstrated little efficacy against CLL cells.

We have recently shown that MAPK-Erk1/2 pathway activity is attenuated during ex vivo cell processing and subsequent culture of primary CLL cells; an observation which suggests that factors exist in vivo that maintain Erk1/2 activity and promote cell survival.

Here we present data that show that in vitro modeling of the effects of the microenvironment on primary CLL cells, using recombinant stroma-derived factor CXCL12 or media conditioned by the HS5 stromal cell line (HS5-CM), results in a significant increase in MAPK-Erk1/2 pathway activity. Treatment with the MEK1/2 inhibitor MEK162 (Novartis) blocked the effects of CXCL12 and HS5-CM on Erk1/2 activation in CLL cells. In the presence of CXCL12 or HS5-CM, MEK162 induced apoptosis in a significantly ( P < 0.05) greater proportion of cells compared to treatment of cells cultured in media alone (media: 30.14 ± 5.74%, CXCL12: 78.34 ± 9.06%, HS5 CM: 65.79 ± 12.88%). Furthermore, MEK162 completely abrogated the survival advantage conferred by the presence of HS5-CM and reduced cell migration through a permeable support towards HS5-CM by an average of 35.64 +/- 8.48%.

In conclusion, our work suggests that MAPK-Erk1/2 signaling is abrogated in CLL cells during ex vivo processing and subsequent culture. This observation provides a rational explanation for the current lack of in vitro data concerning any efficacy of MEK inhibitors against CLL cells. Our data show that by introducing purified stroma-derived factor (SDF-1a/CXCL12) or media conditioned by the HS5 stromal cell line it is possible to recapitulate the activity of Erk1/2 and increase CLL-cell sensitivity to the MEK1/2 inhibitor MEK162. These observations highlight the importance of modeling the influence of the microenvironment in all pre-clinical drug-efficacy studies in CLL and suggest that inhibition of MEK1/2 may represent a novel treatment strategy for CLL.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.