SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
A Review of the PPP Experience in Ireland: Lessons for Comparative Policy Analysis

AbstractThis paper examines the motivations for and performance of public–private partnerships in Ireland. PPPs were first used in the early 2000s in response to the urgent infrastructural needs of the rapidly growing Irish economy. Since the global financial crisis, the use of PPPs has been driven by the desire to deliver economic stimulus by means of off-balance-sheet financing. PPPs have made an appreciable contribution to public investment in Ireland. However, there is a scarcity of data on the performance of PPP in terms of delivering value for money (VFM). This paper questions the reliability of official data that generally indicates PPP has succeeded in delivering superior VFM compared to traditional procurement methods.
Agricultural management practices influence AMF diversity and community composition with cascading effects on plant productivity

Understanding the effects of different agricultural practices on the mycorrhizal symbiosis is important for agricultural production and the sustainable use of soil. We investigated the composition and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soils from fields under different agricultural practices (conventional and organic cereal fields, leys and permanent pastures) in southern Sweden. The diversity of AMF was found to be greatest in permanent pastures, corroborating evidence that agricultural practices such as tillage impair AMF diversity. Neither geographical location nor soil type nor any of the major soil characteristics we measured impacted AMF diversity or community composition. AMF community composition was significantly affected by the different agricultural practices, particularly conventional management, which reduced AMF diversity. Of the cereal fields sampled, those under organic management held the greatest AMF diversity, and in a glasshouse experiment this greater diversity was positively related to barley phosphorus uptake and grain biomass production. Our results demonstrate the impact of different agricultural practices on AMF communities. In particular, we demonstrate the ability of organic farming to sustain greater AMF diversity relative to conventional farming, and the potential importance of this increased diversity for sustainable cereal production.
Design and Operation Overview of 4-person 180-day Integrated Experiment in Controlled Ecological Life Support System

Objective To explore the key technologies of integrated bio-regenerative and physical-chemical regenerative life support system,and investigate the performance of the Controlled Ecological Life Support System( CELSS) with multiple crews in long-term experiment,and to meet the engineering demands of life support system application in extraterrestrial base. Methods A closed ecological-cycle experiment platform with environment control,material-circulation and life support application was established. Based on the CELSS platform,this study assessed the material-circulation and its dynamic balance regulation when the life support function changed from physical-chemical regeneration to bio-regeneration through 40 d simulated and 180 d manned experiments. Results The long-term results of total 220 d experiments indicated that the environment parameters were controlled under the safe level,and the effective and independent control of the environment for crew and plant survival was achieved. During the 180 d manned experiment,the material-circulation kept at a steady state and achieved high-effective regeneration rate,including 100% atmospheric and 100% water regeneration rate,55% food closure rate and 87. 7% solid waste recycle rate. Conclusion The long-term integrated experiment verified the entire process of CELSS integrated technologies,covering design,construction and operation. It accumulated valuable engineering experience for the future technology development and application.
Effects comparison of glass ionomer and light-cured composite resin in treatment of root caries of premolars in elderly patients

Objective To compare the clinical efficacy of Fuji Ⅸ glass ionomer and light-cured composite resin in treatment of root caries of premolars in elderly patients,and explore the better filling materials. Methods One hundred and sixty premolars with root caries were selected from 143 elderly patients,and were divided into 2 groups medially.Group A was treated with Fuji Ⅸ glass ionomer,and group B was treated with light-cured composite resin. All patients were followed up 12 months after treatment. Treatment effects was evaluated according to certain standards. The results of evaluation were analyzed using Chi-square test. Results In group A,75 teeth succeeded,5 teeth failed,and the success rate was 93. 75%. In group B,67 teeth succeeded,13 teeth failed,and the success rate was 83. 75%. The success rate of group A was higher than that of Group B,and the difference was statistically significant( χ2= 4. 006,P = 0. 045).Conclusion Fuji Ⅸ glass ionomer showed better clinical efficacy than light-cured composite resin treatment of root caries of premolars in aged patients,and was more preferable.
Vegetation trimmer blade

A string holder for a rotary cutting head comprises a circular disk; a plurality of slots evenly spaced about a perimeter of the disk; and a mounting hole located at the circular disk's axis of rotation and a circle of string having a plurality of radial cutting lines, the circle interwoven in the slots.
New source models to represent the irradiation process in panoramic gamma irradiator

The use of gamma irradiation technologies generates a number of complex scientific and technical problems; for example, the target is manually loaded onto turntables and is rotated during the entire irradiation process and the MCNPX three-dimensional geometry simulation is kept static. For this, it is necessary to introduce additional approaches. In this paper, two new methodologies are proposed for the simulation of irradiation process in panoramic gamma irradiator. The study was performed at the gamma irradiation facility at the Nuclear Technology Development Center of the National Nuclear Energy Commission, Brazil. The source can be reproduced with a homogenized geometry. Validation of MCNPX calculations of gamma doses were performed by thorough comparison with the experimental measurements. The contribution of this proposed source models has opened new lines of research. The results of this study showed that the proposed source models effectively represent the irradiation process.
Community dental clinics in British Columbia, Canada: examining the potential as health equity interventions

Community dental clinics (CDCs) have emerged to provide oral healthcare for those with low incomes. In British Columbia, the establishment of community clinics has been quite rapid in recent years. However, the expansion has occurred with very little assessment of their impact or effectiveness. While oral health inequities are well recognised, there is limited documentation on healthcare interventions to reduce oral health inequities. This study examines CDCs as health equity interventions from the perspectives of individuals establishing and operating the clinics. The study included interviews with 17 participants--4 dentists, 6 dental hygienists and 7 clinic managers--from 10 clinics operating in British Columbia, Canada in 2008-2009. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts, explored through a health equity framework, found many ways in which the CDCs exemplify health equity interventions. Although their design and mandates are varied, they potentially enable access to dental treatment, but without necessarily ensuring sustainable outcomes. Moreover, the scalability of CDCs is questionable because frequently they are limited to emergency care and are less responsive to the gradients of needs for populations facing multiple barriers to care. Many of them operate on a charitable base with input from volunteer dentists; however, this foundation probably eases the pressure on dentists and dental hygienists rather than offering a safety net to underserved populations.
Modernisation, authoritarianism, and the environment: the politics of China’s South–North Water Transfer Project

China presents a paradox for scholars of environmental politics. Environmental politics and policymaking in China now includes elements critical to environmental protection in the West, including non-governmental participation and stringent environmental legislation. Yet the country’s authoritarian system constrains popular participation, and environmental outcomes are generally poor. China’s South–North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) embodies this puzzle: despite the pluralisation and development of environmental politics and policymaking, the SNWTP is a technocratic mega-project that imposes high social, economic, and environmental costs. What explains this puzzle, and what are the implications for understanding environmental politics in other authoritarian developing countries? I evaluate two current theories – Ecological Modernisation and Authoritarian Environmentalism – against the SNWTP case, and argue that it illustrates the ability of governments to co-opt environmental politics to pursue other st...
Ist-Africa (2016 - 2018)

IST-Africa (2016 - 2018) has 4 complimentary objectives focused on strengthening ICT-related research and innovation cooperation between Europe and Africa: 1) Foster greater coordination of research and innovation activities; 2) Strengthen research and innovation linkages, increase awareness of research and innovation capacity and cooperation opportunities, and support mutually beneficial collaboration; 3) Monitor research and innovation activities in 17 IST-Africa Partner Countries to identify and provide input on common R&D priorities and future cooperation opportunities; and 4) Promote participation in ICT-39-2017 and other relevant Horizon 2020 calls, disseminate results from ICT-39-2015 and other relevant calls. 

IST-Africa (2016 - 2018) leverages results and achievements from previous phases of IST-Africa to realise its objectives. Coordination will be undertaken through national Horizon 2020 Train-the-Trainer Workshops and stakeholder meetings. Help Desk activities, international conferences and engagement with African and European stakeholders will assist in strengthening research and innovation linkages. Surveys will be undertaken across the 17 participating African Member States to monitor ICT-related research and innovation activities, map research and innovation capacity, priorities and bilateral cooperation initiatives to support future planning. Relevant calls will be promoted and results disseminated through national and international dissemination channels, physical meetings and conference presentations. 

All activities are well aligned with the work programme priorities through the organisation of research and innovation events and conferences with policy dimensions, monitoring of research and innovation activities, identification of common R&D priorities, strengthening linkages, raising awareness of collaboration opportunities, dissemination of results and building on the achievements of an ongoing Support Action for Africa.
A local and territorial approach to the operation of the culture economy in medium and small cities: case study of the Spanish cities of Mérida and Cuenca

Una aproximación territorial y local al funcionamiento de la economía de la cultura en ciudades medias y pequeñas: estudio de caso de las ciudades españolas de Mérida y Cuenca El principal objetivo de la investigación es analizar el peso que algunos factores del territorio y la sociedad urbana, como la cercanía, el patrimonio, la imagen o las infraestructuras, tienen en el desarrollo y funcionamiento de los clusters culturales en las ciudades medias y pequeñas. A este fin se ha realizado una aproximación territorial a escala local con una combinación de métodos cuantitativos y cualitativos que se han aplicado a las ciudades españolas de Mérida y Cuenca, elegidas como estudio de caso. Los resultados demuestran que muchos de los parámetros frecuentemente considerados en la bibliografía internacional, y que forman parte de la idiosincrasia de las ciudades medias y pequeñas (cercanía, posibilidad de establecer contactos cara a cara, calidad de vida, bajos costes de producción), son considerados por los entrevistados como indispensables para entender el funcionamiento de sus organizaciones, así como del conjunto de cluster económico cultural urbano. De manera general, estos parámetros aparecen en la bibliografía internacional como coadyuvantes al desarrollo de la economía de la cultural, pero su importancia en las ciudades medias y pequeñas había sido testada en muy pocas ocasiones.
The neurocognition of liveness

What makes live experiences special? Liveness is not just central to the performing arts, but to political rallies, sporting events, virtual reality and distance learning in higher education. NEUROLIVE is an inherently interdisciplinary research project, that combines theoretical concepts from theatre and performance studies, artistic research in performance making, psychological experimentation and mobile neuroimaging to understand how liveness is generated and experienced. NEUROLIVE proposes that the live experience can be conceptualized and quantified as a form of sustained entrainment, in which the minds, brains and bodies of performers and spectators are linked. Across three research streams we will combine artistic research (I) and cognitive neuroscience (II) to delineate the contextual, experiential and neurocognitive components of liveness, resulting in four live performance experiments (III). These live performances will be co-developed by performing artists and cognitive scientists with a view to establish an empirically testable, ecologically valid, multidimensional measure of liveness. NEUROLIVE combines dynamic experience sampling with psychophysiology, and mobile EEG. Advanced modelling techniques from machine learning will be used to integrate information from the different experiential, physiological and neural signals. This new measure will be grounded in the aesthetic principles of contemporary live performance, yet should be applicable across artistic and non-artistic performance situations, and to digital liveness in augmented and mixed realities. In this way, NEUROLIVE implements a conceptually and methodologically novel approach to understanding what makes live experiences special.
Recording apparatus

A recording apparatus includes a recording unit configured to perform printing on a printing medium, a supporting unit configured to support the printing medium, a movable unit configured to move the supporting unit with respect to the recording unit between a set position where the recording medium is set on the supporting unit and a recording position where the recording is executed on the recording medium supported on the supporting unit by using the recording unit in a first direction, and an operating unit configured to operate the recording unit and the movable unit. An end portion of the operating unit on the set position side in the first direction is located on the recording unit side with respect to an end portion of the supporting unit on the recording unit side in the first direction in a state in which the supporting unit is located at the set position. The operating unit overlaps at least partly with the movable unit in the second direction intersecting the first direction.
EJECTOR FOR A MOBILE FURNITURE PART

The invention relates to an ejector for ejecting a mobile furniture part from a closed final position in or on a furniture base. Said ejector comprises a first ejector lever, which can be driven by an electric drive unit, especially an electric motor, an additional ejector lever (3), being interspaced from the first ejector lever (2) and being mechanically coupled thereto in such a manner that when the first ejector lever (2) is driven by the drive unit, the additional ejector lever (3) is displaced, too.
Performance assessment of heat pumps using HFC125/HCs mixtures

SUMMARY

The analysis of heat pump cycles with and without an internal heat exchanger (IHE) is carried out in the paper, in which HFC125/HCs binary mixtures are used as the alternative refrigerants. And the cycle performance under different operation conditions is also compared. The results show that when the mass fraction of HFC125 ranges from 10 to 20%, the coefficient of performance (COP) for HFC125/HC290 (M1) mixtures is 0.92 and 1.01% lower than that of HCFC22 and HFC134a, respectively. For HFC125/HC600 (M2) and HFC125/HC600a (M3) mixtures, the COPs are higher than those of HCFC22 at the mass fraction of HFC125 between 0 and 74.1%, 0 and 66.5% in the mixtures, respectively, and compared with HFC134a, the COPs and volumetric heating capacities are higher when the mass fraction of HFC125 is between 38.6 and 73.3%, and 30.8 and 66%, respectively. For HFC125/HC1270 (M4) mixtures, the COPs are always lower than those of HCFC22 and HFC134a. It is also found that the IHE has a slight effect on the COPs with varying the mass fraction of HFC125 in the binary mixtures. The results obtained can provide some useful guidelines for the choice of alternative refrigerants. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Approach to distribution and accumulation of dibutyl phthalate in rats by immunoassay

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is mainly taken up by the general population from food intake. To estimate intake of phthalates, determining distribution and accumulation of DBP in biological materials was a critical need. In this work, we set up two novel approaches with a monoclonal antibody specific to DBP to determine the distribution and accumulation of DBP in vivo. The contents of DBP in liver, kidney, stomach and testes were detected by immunofluorescence assays and indirect competitive ELISA. This data give directly evidence that indicates the distribution and accumulation of DBP in vivo. Double-label immunofluorescence assay provides with a visual approach to determination of the distribution and accumulation of DBP. It indicated that DBP accumulated in subcutaneous tissue such as sweat gland, hair follicle. Both of immunofluorescence assay and ELISA can be used to detect the content of DBP in biological materials. Our assays showed that DBP accumulated in viscera being rich in fat, such as liver, kidney and could overcome physiological barriers to penetrate testes. The date suggested that the accumulations of DBP exposed through dermal route were less than that of oral route and most of DBP was metabolized in 2 or 3 days.
The Investigation of Oxidative Damage to Nucleic Acids during Ageing and Motor Neuron Disease

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disorder, characterised by the degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. Multiple mechanisms have been associated with ALS pathology, however the precise molecular events leading to selective motor neuron degeneration have yet to be understood. Prominent neuronal RNA oxidation has been reported during ageing and presymptomatic stage of ALS, with specific transcripts selectively modified during disease, which may contribute towards selective cellular degeneration.

Gene expression changes using microarray technology has been widely used to
investigate pathways underlying ageing and neurodegenerative disease. The aim of our study was to investigate the gene expression profile of an oxidised fraction of RNA extracted from the anterior spinal cord of normal mice aged six, twelve, and eighteen months. In data presented here, we identify specific classes of genes to be enriched within the oxidised fraction at each age. Furthermore, genes previously linked to the pathogenesis of ALS and normal ageing, such as those involved in RNA processing and transcriptional regulation, are identified as being differentially oxidised in the anterior spinal cord.

The presence and distribution of oxidative damage to nucleic acids within an in vivo model of familial ALS and age-matched controls is demonstrated. The predominance of cytoplasmic 8-hydroxyguanosine reactivity within motor neurons supports previous data of RNA susceptibility to oxidative modification in neurodegenerative disease. Investigation of RNA oxidation in an in vitro model of fALS harbouring G93A and H48Q human SOD1 mutations identified prominent levels of RNA oxidation in comparison to controls, which correlated with a reduction in human SOD1 protein expression within these cells. Subsequent work demonstrated the G93A mutation to be the most susceptible to oxidative stress related cellular decline, in terms of mitochondrial
bioenergetics, mitochondrial morphology, and cell viability. The heterogeneity of various SOD1 mutations on cellular function is demonstrated.
Genome-Based Bacterial Vaccines: Current State and Future Outlook

Genome-based reverse vaccinology (RV) is a multi-step experimental strategy which starts from in silico analysis of whole genome sequences, from which vaccine candidates can be selected by using bioinformatic algorithms to identify putative protective antigens. In this review, we examine the current state of genome-based RV-engineered vaccines and future applications. The first product of genome-based RV is Bexsero(®), a vaccine developed for preventing Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B infection, and the strategy is currently being used for the development of new vaccines for other obdurate and emerging bacterial diseases. Improved sequencing technologies and the ongoing whole-genome sequence analyses of helminths, protozoa, and ectoparasites also currently serve as a basis for an RV strategy to produce new potential vaccines against eukaryotic pathogens. We also highlight an emerging approach-structure-based vaccinology-that exploits the information derived from the determined three-dimensional structures of vaccine candidates. Regardless, genome-based RV and other vaccine discovery platforms still depend on empirical experimental science to glean, from the hundreds of identified antigens from any one pathogen, those that should be combined to produce an effective vaccine.
Light stabilizer–conjugated–stearylate chitosan nanoparticles: A bio-based additive for free radical stabilization of healthcare plastics under irradiation

Abstract A novel strategy to conjugate a light stabilizer onto stearylate chitosan (SMA-CS) nanoparticles was employed for possible use as a nano-additive to scavenge free radicals in radiation-sterilized healthcare plastics. Stearyl methacrylate (SMA) was firstly grafted onto chitosan (CS) via radiation-induced graft copolymerization to improve the compatibility between CS and poly(lactic acid) (PLA). A model hindered amine light stabilizer, i.e. piperidine (PPD), was then chemically conjugated onto SMA-CS to obtain SMA-CS-PPD nanoparticles. The results from FT-IR and XRD confirmed the successful modification of CS with SMA and PPD. The SMA-CS-PPD formed circle-like shapes with an average particle size in the range of 50–100 nm, as measured by TEM. Pre-irradiation of CS with a γ-ray dose of 40 kGy increased the grafting efficacy, reduced the particle size and increased the free radical scavenging ability of the resultant SMA-CS-PPD. SMA-CS-PPD nanoparticles showed compatible blending with PLA, as observed by FE-SEM. EPR observation showed that SMA-CS-PPD efficiently scavenged the free radicals produced upon irradiation with a dose of 10 kGy. The free radicals in PLA containing SMA-CS-PPD nanoparticles were completely stabilized after 24 h post-irradiation, while 20% of the free radicals still remained in the neat PLA. Conjugating PPD onto CS successfully reduced the migration of low-molecular-weight free PPD. With their radical scavenging and migration reduction properties, SMA-CS-PPD nanoparticles could be a novel bio-based additive with beneficial applications for radiation-sterilized healthcare plastics.