SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
Security and privacy accountable technology innovations, algorithms, and machine learning

The SPATIAL (Security and Privacy Accountable Technology Innovations, Algorithms, and machine Learning) project seeks to address the challenges of black-box AI and data management in cybersecurity by designing and developing resilient accountable metrics, privacy-preserving methods, verification tools and system framework that will serve as critical building blocks to achieve trustworthy AI in security solutions. The main objectives include: 1) To develop systematic verification and validation software/hardware mechanisms that ensure AI transparency and explainability in security solution development; 2) To develop system solutions, platforms, and standards that enhance resilience in the training and deployment of AI in decentralized, uncontrolled environments; 3) To define effective and practical adoption and adaptation guidelines to ensure streamlined implementation of trustworthy AI solutions; 4) To create an educational modules that provide technical skills, ethical and socio-legal awareness to current and future AI engineers/developers to ensure the accountable development of security solutions; 5) To develop a communication framework that enables accountable and transparent understanding of AI applications for users, software developers and security service providers. Besides technical measures, SPATIAL project aims to facilitate generating appropriate skills and education for AI security to strike a balance among technological complexity, societal complexity and value conflicts in AI deployment. The project covers data privacy, resilience engineering, and legal-ethical accountability that are in line with EU top agenda to achieve trustworthy AI. In addition, the work carried out in SPATIAL on both social and technical aspects will serve as a stepping stone to establish an appropriate governance and regulatory framework for AI-driven security in Europe.
Real-Time reaction, autonomous and energy-efficient snowmelt technology for lightly and heavily trafficked pavement surfaces.

Winter conditions on roads cause traffic delays that cost 1% of EU GDP and 1,000 causalities annually. Similarly, snow fall causes air traffic disturbance that can cost €57.3M per storm. For pedestrians it a major health issue as an increase of 25% increase in hospitalization and 33% rise in cases of hip fractures is observed during winter season. Current solutions suffer from many shortcomings. The most popular, plowing and salting, is manual, has low response times, damages traffic surfaces, vehicle corrosion and environment pollution. To answer this need we have developed SNOWLESS, a snow melting solution comprising of our proprietary amorphous alloy heating ribbons that are embedded in pavements and completely automatic control unit with real-time dynamic response. Our prioritization scheme for segmented heating zones ensures real-time response (15 minutes from automatic snow/ice detection), low annual operational costs of €1.2/m2, almost no maintenance, 30-60% reduction power consumption. Our solution is environmentally friendly, prevents asphalt cracking by reducing the temperature amplitude and promotes self-healing in the asphalt itself. Our commercialization targets Scandinavia, Central Europe and North America, a market worth €1.75B for shopping malls, roads, pedestrian walkways and airports driven by demand for sustainable snow removal alternative. SNOWLESS has already been implemented in parking lots, successfully reducing operational costs, with the installations generating €1.5M in sales over the last 3 years. We intend commercialize SNOWLESS 3 years after development, ideally by 2021 in 2 phases, with initial introduction to shopping mall parkings which have less stringent requirements and then progress to difficult applications such airports and road infrastructure. We anticipate a revenue and profit of €50M and €15M respectively coming from sales over 5 years, creating 21 employment opportunities in the process.
New Approach to Fuelization of Herbaceous Lignocelluloses through Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation Followed by Photocatalytic Reforming

Bio-fuelization of herbaceous lignocelluloses through a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process (SSF) and photocatalytic reforming (photo-Reform) was examined. The SSF of the alkali-pretreated bamboo, rice straw, and silvergrass was performed in an acetate buffer (pH 5.0) using cellulase, xylanase, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 34 °C. Ethanol was produced in 63%-85% yields, while xylose was produced in 74%-97% yields without being fermented because xylose cannot be fermented by S. cerevisiae. After the removal of ethanol from the aqueous SSF solution, the SSF solution was subjected to a photo-Reform step where xylose was transformed into hydrogen by a photocatalytic reaction using Pt-loaded TiO2 (2 wt % of Pt content) under irradiation by a high pressure mercury lamp. The photo-Reform process produced hydrogen in nearly a yield of ten theoretical equivalents to xylose. Total energy was recovered as ethanol and hydrogen whose combustion energy was 73.4%-91.1% of that of the alkali-pretreated lignocelluloses (holocellulose).
Dynamic dialogue modelling

With the prevalence of information technology in our daily lives, our ability to interact with machines in increasingly simplified and more human-like ways has become paramount.  Information is becoming ever more abundant but our access to it is limited not least by technological restraints.  Spoken dialogue systems address this issue by providing an intelligent speech interface that facilitates swift, human-like acquisition of information.

The advantages of speech interfaces are already evident from the rise of personal assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana or Amazon Alexa. In these systems, however, the user is limited to a simple query, and the systems attempt to provide an answer within one or two turns of dialogue. To date, significant parts of these systems are rule-based  and do not readily scale to changes in the domain of operation. Furthermore, rule-based systems can be brittle when speech recognition errors occur.

The vision of this project is to develop novel dialogue models that provide natural human-computer interaction beyond simple information-seeking dialogues and that continuously evolve as they are being used by exploiting both dialogue and non-dialogue data. Building such robust and intelligent spoken dialogue systems poses serious challenges in artificial intelligence and machine learning.  The project will tackle four bottleneck areas that require fundamental research: automated knowledge acquisition, optimisation of complex behaviour, realistic user models and sentiment awareness.  Taken together, the proposed solutions have the potential to transform the way we access information in areas as diverse as e-commerce, government, healthcare and education.
Failure of Reach-Scale Restoration to Improve Biotic Integrity in a Mid-Atlantic Stream

Reach-scale restoration to re-establish habitat integrity is practiced throughout the US. These techniques, while yielding aesthetic enhancement, may not result in ecological improvement. Using a before-after, control-impacted (BACI) sampling design, we evaluated the benthic macroinvertebrate community in two branches of the Codorus Creek, Southeastern PA throughout the course of restoration projects. Reach-scale restoration activities at several sites along both branches have been conducted since 2002. There was no significant change in the benthic macroinvertebrate community associated with reach-scale restoration. Even after the restoration projects were completed, downstream-impacted sites on both branches reflected severe stress with reduced numbers of organisms, low diversity, and impoverished pollution sensitive species. Thus, our results indicate that there were no significant short-term benefits resulting from reach-scale restoration. We recommend that the actions of individuals and organizations concerned with streams focus on watershed-scale conservation and restoration activities.
Hôtel Oliveira

Dans le contexte actuel de Pandemia Covid-19, ce projet devient central afin que l’Hôtel da Oliveira puisse continuer à fournir ses services en toute sécurité et hygiénisme à ses clients et employés.
Design of Tokamak ELM Coil Support in High Nuclear Heat Environment

In Tokomak, the support of the ELM coil, which is close to the plasma and subject to high radiation level, high temperature and high magnetic field, is used to transport and bear the thermal load due to thermal expansion and the alternating electromagnetic force generated by high magnetic field and AC current in the coil. According to the feature of ITER ELM coil, the mechanical performance of rigid and flexible supports under different high nuclear heat levels is studied. Results show that flexible supports have more excellent performance in high nuclear heat condition than rigid supports. Concerning thermal and electromagnetic (EM) loads, optimized results further prove that flexible supports have better mechanical performance than rigid ones. Through these studies, reasonable support design can be provided for the ELM coils or similar coils in Tokamak based on the nuclear heat level.
The role of the welfare state in the integration of immigrants:  comparative analysis of latino communities in spain, the united kingdom and the united states

The purpose of this project is to determine the role of the Welfare State in the integration of immigrants. The project seeks to understand (1) how immigrants obtain information about, and access to, local and national social assistance programs, (2) how their experiences vary across Welfare States and (3) how these experiences shapes their identity formation, which, in turn, can either help or hinder their integration into the host society. This research is based on an original approach based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with Latino immigrants in three countries. This project focuses on Latino immigrants because they are a large immigrant group in each of the sites, enabling a comparison of Welfare States. This research offers an innovative perspective on the relations between social services (and social service providers) and recipients of these services. Contrary to most studies in healthcare policy, which focus on the experiences of social workers while minimizing those of immigrants, this project focuses on the experiences of immigrants. The uniqueness of this research also lies in the fact that it comparatively examines the experiences with policies put in place by countries offering different social benefits and categorized as different types of Welfare States. It addresses larger sociological, political and legal issues related to identity formation, immigrant integration and the role of public policies in shaping these processes. The project’s ambition is to create models of integration through social services, which would apply to broader contexts and therefore allow for the applicability of the findings in different contexts. The transferability of the results will offer a stepping stone to improve our understanding of the complexities of immigrant integration into the host society across different countries, thereby advancing knowledge and informing policy on Migration Studies at the European and International levels.
Good or bad bugs, friend or foes: unraveling differences between mutualism and pathogenicity in burkholderia species

""What better microbial challenge to unite agricultural and medical microbiologists than a microoorganism that reduces an onion to a macerated pulp, protects crops from diseases, devastates the health and social life of cystic fibrosis patients, and not only is resistant to the most famous antibiotic, penicillin, but can use it as a nutrient!"". The genus Burkholderia accommodates around 120 species that colonize a wide range of ecological niches and interact with hosts in different ways such as mutualism, commensalism or pathogenicity. Opportunistic pathogens like B. cenocepacia cause severe infections in cystic fibrosis and immunocompromised patients, and mutualists such as B. phytofirmans are beneficial to plants. Although very promising for agriculture, the use of the latter is severely  restrained due to the potential threat that a few opportunistic pathogenic strains pose to human health. In the last years, a lot of effort has been invested into discriminating between the beneficial and the pathogenic strains. However, these studies have been unsuccessful so far and novel approaches are needed to better understand the potential risks/benefits associated to Burkholderia species before these can keep being used in agriculture.

Friends or foes? The GOOD OR BAD BUGS project aims to unravel the dissimilarities between the beneficial (the good) and the pathogenic (the bad) Burkholderia species. We hypothesize that differences in the genomes of the  Burkholderia species allow them to colonize and interact with their host differently, leading to mutualism, commensalism or pathogenicity. In this project we will employ a cutting-edge high-throughput genetic screening method known as transposon-sequencing to study host colonization by members of the genus Burkholderia. This promising methodology will help to identify genes that provide a fitness in a particular environment. The outcome of the project will be of interest both at the agriculture and the medicine levels.
Changes in the chemical characteristics of water-extracted organic matter from vermicomposting of sewage sludge and cow dung

► Vermicomposting causes an increase in the aromaticity of WEOM from the substrates. ► Vermicomposting homogenizes the molecular weight of WEOM from the substrates. ► The WEOM from the vermicompost is characterized by high O-containing groups. ► The WEOM from the vermicompost includes small aliphatic and protein-like groups. ► The WEOM test is a good way to evaluate the biological maturity of vermicompost. The chemical changes of water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) from five different substrates of sewage sludge enriched with different proportions of cow dung after vermicomposting with Eisenia fetida were investigated using various analytical approaches. Results showed that dissolved organic carbon, chemical oxygen demand, and C/N ratio of the substrates decreased significantly after vermicomposting process. The aromaticity of WEOM from the substrates enhanced considerably, and the amount of volatile fatty acids declined markedly, especially for the cow dung substrate. Gel filtration chromatography analysis showed that the molecular weight fraction between 10 3 and 10 6 Da became the main part of WEOM in the final product. 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra revealed that the proportion of H moieties in the area of 0.00–3.00 ppm decreased, while increasing at 3.00–4.25 ppm after vermicomposting. Fluorescence spectra indicated that vermicomposting caused the degradation of protein-like groups, and the formation of fulvic and humic acid-like compounds in the WEOM of the substrates. Overall results indicate clearly that vermicomposting promoted the degradation and transformation of liable WEOM into biological stable substances in sewage sludge and cow dung alone, as well as in mixtures of both materials, and testing the WEOM might be an effective way to evaluate the biological maturity and chemical stability of vermicompost.
Peers to blockchain

P2B is based on an initiative from the Technology Park of Andalucía and the International Association of Science Parks and Area, who have recently created a Blockchain Subnetwork of members actives in this field. The main objective of the project is indeed to provide SMEs with opportunities for international collaboration and to share professional expertise at European and international level.

Blockchain is a peer-to-peer system, as it is a network of interconnected computers that communicate with each other, which confirms the relevance for presenting this proposal to the current call.

According to Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society from the European Commission, “in the future, all public services will use blockchain technology. Blockchain is a great opportunity for Europe and Member States to rethink their information systems, to promote user trust and the protection of personal data, to help create new business opportunities and to establish new areas of leadership, benefiting citizens, public services and companies”.

With partners from Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and with associate partners initially from Bulgaria, China, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungria, Italy, Palestine and Rusia, the specific objectives of the P2B project will be to analyse the current state of art of this new technology, including pilot projects and good practices in the participating regions, to propose a series of methodologies and strategies to enhance the SME innovation with the support and implementation of Blockchain and to promote the development of an effective ecosystem of innovation support to SMEs in Europe related to blockchain technologies. In addition, we will play a great emphasis on transferring the good practices and the results obtained within the regional ecosystem of each partner.
Synergistic interactions between Labiatae species and antibiotics on gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains

Objective and methods: This study was aimed to evaluate antibacterial activity; type of interaction between chloroform leaves extract of Mentha piperita, Mentha longifolia and Ocimum basilicum together and with antibiotics by agar well diffusion method on isolated bacterial strain and to determine active constituents responsible on antibacterial activity by agar overlay bioautographic method. Results: Mentha piperita exhibited more pronounced inhibition zone (20mm) against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus auricularis , Streptococcus mitis and Escherichia coli followed by Mentha longifolia highest inhibition zone (15mm) against Staphylococcus auricularis and Streptococcus mitis , then Ocimum basilicum exhibited highest inhibition zone (14mm) only against Staphylococcus auricularis . As a result of combination chloroform leaves extract with each other the strongest synergistic activity exhibited during combination of Mentha longifolia with Ocimum basilicum (14 to 25mm) against Escherichia coli , while during combination of leaves extract with antibiotics the greatest synergistic activity resulted from combination of Mentha piperita with azithromycin and ampicillin separately (14 to 30mm) and (10 to 23mm) against Escherichia coli and Streptococcus mitis respectively. Escherichia coli revealed susceptibility to all leaves extract and antibiotics alone and pronounced increase in susceptibility to combination of leave extract with each other and with antibiotics. Bioautography assay showed presence number active constituents with antibacterial activity in leaves extract in which three of them identified as caffeic acid, luteolin and rosmarinic acid. Conclusion: From the result concluded that Mentha piperita showed strongest activity followed by Mentha longifolia then Ocimum basilicum alone and there activity increased in combination form.
Deciphering the cellular origin and evolution of malignant rhabdoid tumors

Introduction How tumors adapt to changing environmental conditions and treatment is a major unsolved problem frustrating effective therapy. Rhabdoid tumors are highly aggressive pediatric tumors with a low survival rate. They occur in multiple tissues, including brain and kidney, and likely originate as a consequence of aberrant differentiation during development. Understanding the origin of rhabdoid tumors and the relationship with normal development is crucial for investigating new treatment options. The almost certain appearance of therapy resistance, low mutation burden, and recent epigenetic profiling suggest the existence of epigenetic heterogeneity within rhabdoid tumors. We hypothesize that epigenetic heterogeneity within rhabdoid tumors underlies their aggressive behavior.   Goal I previously exploited organoid models and CRISPR technology to study colorectal cancer progression. My lab now developed a protocol to, for the first time, efficiently grow rhabdoid tumor organoids from patient tissue. We are in the unique position to identify the cellular origin of rhabdoid tumors and the key molecular mechanisms driving disease progression and therapy resistance.  Approach We will I) apply single-cell epigenomic and transcriptomic analyses on tumor tissue for in-depth characterization of the cellular identity and heterogeneity within rhabdoid tumors II) combine our unique rhabdoid tumor organoids with genetic lineage tracing technology to reveal clonal dynamics in rhabdoid tumor progression and therapy resistance III) perform retrospective lineage tracing using somatic mutations to track down the cell-of-origin of rhabdoid tumors.  Innovation Our integrative use of state-of-the-art technologies on unique patient-derived tissue and tumor organoids will provide comprehensive insights into the origin, heterogeneity and progression of rhabdoid tumors. This will also establish novel approaches for other cancer research as well as new concepts for improving therapy.
A trip in the nonlinear optical properties of iridium complexes

Abstract Molecules with second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties have received a lot of attention in the last twenty years due to their potential use in photonic devices. In order to have a large second-order NLO response, a compound should not be centrosymmetric, it should have low energy charge-transfer transitions and there should be a large difference between the excited state and ground state dipole moments. Organic compounds with an electron-donor group and an electron-acceptor group connected via a π-conjugated polarizable spacer can reach a good NLO response. Metal complexes have also shown promise due to their accessible low-energy and high-intensity ligand-to-metal, metal-to-ligand, ligand-to-ligand, and intraligand charge transfer (LMCT, MLCT, LLCT, and ILCT) excited states. The energy of these charge transfer states can be readily tuned as a function of the nature and the oxidation state of the metal centre and by the ligands that surround it. Among them, iridium complexes are particularly fascinating, not only for their attractive second-order NLO properties but also for their remarkable two-photon absorption (TPA) properties, a third-order NLO process which is of interest for a number of photonic and optoelectronic applications. The goal of this review is to show the potential of iridium compounds as molecular materials with NLO-activity. First, the principles of second-order nonlinear optics will be briefly introduced, then the review will illustrate the main families of second-order NLO iridium complexes, producing examples of iridium(I) complexes with monodentate nitrogen donor ligands (substituted pyridines and stilbazoles, azaphenanthrene and azachrysene), iridium(III) complexes with terpyridines, bis-cyclometalated phenylpyridine iridium(III) compounds with β-diketonate ligands, tris-cyclometalated phenylpyridine iridium(III) compounds, bis-cyclometalated phenylpyridine iridium(III) complexes with diimines or aryl isocyanides. Through this survey of NLO-phores we show how it is possible to tune the second-order NLO response by a suitable choice of the substituents about the ligands. The emphasis is on second-order NLO properties determined in solution at the molecular level, but examples of nanoorganization of some NLO-active iridium complexes in polymeric matrices to give second-order NLO-active thin films are presented as well. Further, some iridium complexes have shown potential as versatile NLO redox-switching materials and these are described in this review. Finally, a few examples of iridium complexes with TPA properties are given in the last section of the review. The coverage is not comprehensive but provides a suitable introduction to NLO-active iridium complexes and a framework for understanding their potential.