SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
Sustainable recycling of residues from the food waste (FW) composting plant via pyrolysis: Thermal characterization and kinetic studies

Abstract Residues from the food waste (FW) composting factories are an important component of solid waste and commonly treated by landfill and incineration approaches, posing serious environmental and social challenges. In this work, pyrolysis was proposed as a potential alternative method to sustainably recycle FW composting residues as value-added byproducts (bio-char, bio-oil and syngas). To obtain reliable operating and designing parameters for the pyrolytic reactor, the characteristics of the composting residues, the thermal behaviors and kinetic parameters were investigated. The results show that the composting residues mainly consisted of lignin (69%), bone (18%) and plastic (12%), with the lower heat value of around 15.72 MJ/kg. The final pyrolysis temperature of over 500 °C was needed for the complete decomposition of the lignin, bone, and plastic components. According to the comparison between the experimental and calculated thermogravimetric/derivative thermogravimetric curves, only slight interactions were observed in the decomposition of the lignin, bone, and plastic components. The byproducts from lignin/bone pyrolysis might deposit on the plastic material and slightly slow down the mass loss rate. However, the catalytic role of the byproducts were also observed which prompted further investigations. The thermal behavior of the FW composting residues could be successfully modelled by first and third-order chemical reactions respectively in the temperature ranges of 200–360 and 360–510 °C, with activation energy ranging from 25.68 to 41.89 kJ/mol. The results from this study have not only proved the feasibility of the proposed pyrolysis technique for diverting FW composting residues away from landfilling and incineration for enhancing resource recovery from FW, but also provided basic information for further pyrolysis reactor design and operation.
Networking for excellence in electric mobility operations

NEEMO aims steadily set in the Electric Mobility research, related integration of technologies, modes and operations within the MCAST Energy research Theme in Transportation from terrestrial to marine mobility and from heavy-duty vehicles to micro-mobility solutions. The issue of mobility and energy is more pregnant in geographic islands due to strong energy dependence on fossil fuel. Therefore, a Network for Excellence is created with two world-leading research institutions AIT (Austria) and CEA (France) and like Malta as a widening country with distinctive island, characteristics included Cyprus through the Nicosia Development Agency (ANEL) for social policy aspects and exchange of wider experiences.
The activities are mainly knowledge transfer and networking through a series of workshops, winter/summer schools, training programmes, internships, exchanges, meetings, mentoring, conferences and joint publications as well as research outputs, mostly targeted to early stage or aspiring researchers.
MCAST Energy is experiencing a self-funding growth within its breadth of energy research theme that leads on campus. In addition, the MCAST main campus infrastructure together with laboratories will be the first ‘living laboratories’ on the island, used for real-life applications while delivery training and research as well.
This TWINNING proposal will provide a stimulus of required knowledge to become more efficient and competitive to an international level of excellence. NEEMO is designed for all partners to benefit in a way that goes sustainably beyond the three-year funding period. This eventually will result in enhanced skills sets and profile of MCAST Energy which in turn reflect the positive development of Malta knowledge economy including its ambition as a regional energy hub, solar country, AI state and maritime hub.
High-Density cortical implants for cognitive neuroscience and rehabilitation of speech using brain-computer interfaces.

The goal of BrainCom is to develop a new generation of neuroprosthetic devices for large-scale and high density recording and stimulation of the human cortex, suitable to explore and repair high-level cognitive functions. Since one of the most invalidating neurospychological conditions is arguably the impossibility to communicate with others, BrainCom primarily focuses on the restoration of speech and communication in aphasic patients suffering from upper spinal cord, brainstem or brain damage. To target broadly distributed neural systems as the language network, BrainCom proposes to use novel electronic technologies based on nanomaterials to design ultra-flexible cortical and intracortical implants adapted to large-scale high-density recording and stimulation. The main challenge of the project is to achieve flexible contact of broad cortical areas for stimulation and neural activity decoding with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. Critically, the development of such novel neuroprosthetic devices will permit significant advances to the basic understanding of the dynamics and neural information processing in cortical speech networks and the development of speech rehabilitation solutions using innovative brain-computer interfaces. Beyond this application, BrainCom innovations will enable the study and repair of other high-level cognitive functions such as learning and memory as well as other clinical applications such as epilepsy monitoring using closed-loop paradigms. BrainCom will be carried out by a consortium assembled to foster the emergence of a new community in Europe acting towards the development of neural speech prostheses. Thanks to its high interdisciplinarity involving technology, engineering, biology, clinical sciences, and ethics, BrainCom will contribute advances to all levels of the value chain: from technology and engineering to basic and language neuroscience, and from preclinical research in animals to clinical studies in humans.
Fuel and time minimization in a CVT wheel loader application

A method is developed for the minimization of time and fuel required for performing a short loading cycle with a CVT wheel loader. A factor β is used for weighing time to fuel in the optimization. Dynamic programming is used as optimization algorithm, and the developed method is based on the change of independent variable, from time to distance driven. It is shown that a change of states from speeds to kinetic energies in the internal simulations is essential. A driving cycle, derived from measurements, representing a short loading cycle is introduced. Optimization is performed against this cycle according to the method presented, using two different values on the time to fuel weighing parameter. It is shown that this parameter can be used to find optimal solutions directed toward short time or low fuel consumption.
Communication and Co-operation for Traffic Systems

In this paper a new traffic management approach towards co-operative intersection management systems based on wireless exchange of traffic flow information and analysis shall be proposed. This proposal uses in-vehicle equipment combined with an innovative traffic control system. This main communication concept is placed into a modular unit in order to make the Floating Car Data of the vehicles directly available to the traffic management units by using the automotive communication technology IEEE 802.11p. This enables the availability of current information for the local and global traffic management and furthermore traffic light information for the individual traffic. Together the usage of this data offers advanced and cooperative applications for traffic management scenarios.
An instantaneous kinematic wave theory of diverging traffic

► The kinematic wave model of non-cooperative diverging traffic is decoupled into nonlinear resonant systems instantaneously. ► A new partial demand function is defined for the Cell Transmission Model. ► Numerical results demonstrate that the model converges and the First-In-First-Out principle is satisfied after a long time. ► It is demonstrated that non-cooperative diverging behaviors lead to reduced network capacities. Diverging junctions are an important type of bottlenecks, which can reduce capacities and initiate and propagate traffic congestion in a road network. In this paper, we propose a kinematic wave theory for modeling dynamics of non-cooperative diverging traffic, in which traffic dynamics of vehicles to one direction are assumed to be independent of those to other directions instantaneously. During a short time interval, the kinematic wave model of diverging traffic is decoupled into a number of nonlinear resonant systems. From analytical solutions to the Riemann problem of a decoupled system, a new definition of partial traffic demand is introduced, so that diverging flows can be easily computed with the supply–demand method. Then a Cell Transmission Model is proposed to solve the kinematic wave model of diverging traffic by taking into account of the interactions among different traffic streams. Simulation results demonstrate that vehicles follow the First-In-First-Out principle in the long run, and the model converges when we decrease the cell and time-step sizes. In addition, it is shown that traffic streams to different directions segregate in a selfish manner, and the total throughput of a diverging junction is not maximized as in existing diverge models. In the future, more theoretical and empirical studies are needed for a better understanding of this and other diverge models.
Study on an interleaved buck power factor corrector with gallium nitride field effect transistor and integrated inductor

In this study, a buck power factor corrector (PFC) with gallium nitride field effect transistor (GaN FET) and integrated inductor is studied. An interleaved constant-frequency clamped-current control method is adopted to achieve high power factor, low input and output current ripples as well as high efficiency. Two inductors in the studied interleaved buck PFC are integrated to reduce the core loss. A 300 W/80 V laboratory prototype with 300 kHz switching frequency was built and tested under universal input voltage conditions. Experimental results are shown to verify the performance of the studied converter. According to the experimental verifications, the efficiency can reach higher than 95% from 10 to 100% load variations at 115 V input. The measured input current harmonic can meet with the IEC 61000-3-2 Class D standard.
Chemical bonding and elastic properties of Ti3AC2 phases (A=Si, Ge, and Sn): A first-principle study

Abstract The chemical bonding and elastic properties as well as the effect of atomic radii for A element in the Ti 3 A C 2 phases ( A  = Si, Ge, and Sn) were studied by ab initio total energy calculations using plane-wave pseudopotential method based on DFT. The atomic radii of A element has a weak effect on the electronic structure. However, the bond stiffness was quantitatively examined, which shows that the bond stiffness is affected by the atomic radii of A element. The calculated results including lattice constants, internal coordinate, elastic modulus, sound velocity, and Debye temperature agree with experimental values very well. With the increase of atomic radii of A element from Si, Ge to Sn, the cohesive energy and elastic moduli as well as Debye temperature decrease, but the elastic anisotropy increases. This is related to the change of bond stiffness. It can be predicted that the fracture toughness of Ti 3 SnC 2 would be comparable with that of Ti 3 SiC 2 and Ti 3 GeC 2 .
Access to urgent health care

In the context of this article, access to urgent health care is defined by the patient and carer's needs whenever required and thus includes needs for urgent help both within ‘routine’ hours and outside of normal hours.

The current systems to deliver urgent or emergency care have evolved over time and are often complex for patients, carers and healthcare providers, with poor knowledge of the available services by all parties. These historic developments combined with some recent well-intentioned service changes have, to date, not delivered the intended benefits. Indeed, the demand for urgent and emergency care is largely predictable for both primary care and secondary care,1 2 and much of the variation relates directly to the healthcare systems we have designed.

‘Reforming emergency care’3outlined a blueprint of care that promoted the further development of services including NHS walk-in centres and telephone advice services such as NHSDirect/24. To some extent these have added to the complexity of the system by altering patient flow and access without always capturing local systems and knowledge. Local services have also developed in an ad hoc way rather than follow an integrated plan, partly because of the tension between policies intended to promote integration and those designed to increase patient choice. We have in essence maintained or created multiple access points when the intention was to simplify.

Our current system also controls access to some services and not others, and access can vary by time of day and day of the week. Emergency departments effectively and uniquely provide open access to advice, diagnosis and treatment 24h a day, 7 days …
Urban agriculture and sanitation services in Accra, Ghana: the overlooked contribution

While urban agriculture has long been valued for providing food security and nutrition within cities, it contributes to many other urban services that are seldom cited as rationales for protecting or even expanding urban food production. Articulating the actual and possible contributions of urban agriculture to municipal sanitation and health services is critical for sustaining these urban farms and their functions into the future. In the context of the low coverage and performance of wastewater treatment plants in Accra, Ghana, health risk reduction measures implemented on and off farm can substitute to a large extent for this absence of conventional wastewater treatment. We estimate that Accra generates approximately 80,000,000L of wastewater per day, of which urban vegetable farms alone use up to 11,250,000L. By mitigating the health risks for farmers and consumers associated with widespread wastewater irrigation, these urban farms have the potential to significantly contribute to the city's sanitation...
Alpine Mobility Check

AlpCheck objective is to create an informative system able to manage data coming from the existing monitoring systems in the Alpine area. It should be global but it will have to adapt itself to the characteristics of each user
The system has to adapt itself to multiple requirements and various contexts and different typologies of travel
Tasks integrated with the system and develop through pilot projects are:
• To investigate with innovative technologies local, tourist and freight flows
• To analyze the consequences of the traffic in environmental critical points
• Taking into account the strategic importance of logistic platforms as preferred sites where freights could be analyzed and intermodality may be optimized
• To underline in the whole mobility network the routes of “empty trucks” in order to define a freight flow re-allocation
Open access virtual testing protocols for enhanced road users safety

The objective of VIRTUAL is to improve the safety of road users by providing procedures and open access tools to assess the benefit of novel safety systems. The goal is to establish a European based global hub for Open Source Virtual Testing (OpenVT) and to demonstrate its success in traffic safety. Open Source Human Body Models of both men and women will be made available in a format that is scalable to represent different ages and sizes of car occupants, vulnerable road users, and users of public transport.
VIRTUAL will develop computationally efficient, robust crash simulation tools and standardised protocols for impact scenarios not yet considered in regulations or consumer testing. It will cover enhanced integrated safety for pedestrians, cyclists, occupants of (automated) vehicles and public transport. An OpenVT platform will be established to provide stakeholders with all models, tools and protocols for virtual testing (VT); the platform will continue to be available after this project has ended. These new resources will allow the European automotive sector and transport providers to produce better performing safety systems that will reduce road casualties.
VIRTUAL will demonstrate how current road safety assessments can be complemented and improved by VT giving full credit to vehicle manufacturers and transport providers for their efforts in providing best real-world vehicle safety. VIRTUAL will close the gap between VT and standardised vehicle safety assessments by providing models of the humans (validated for safety assessment) and the protocols and criteria needed to identify the foremost road user protection beyond the scope of physical testing and provide a method for cost-benefit analysis of novel systems. VT will reduce the number of physical tests needed while addressing a greater variety of accident scenarios and road users, actively promoting safety innovations reducing the number of injuries and fatalities providing safer road transport in Europe.
Revision of the Career Maturity Inventory

Initially administered in 1961, the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) was the first paper-and-pencil measure of vocational development. The present research revised the CMI to reestablish its usefulness as a succinct, reliable, and valid measure of career choice readiness, with a few theoretically relevant and practically useful content scales for diagnostic work with school populations up to and including Grade 12. The new Form C was produced by combining rational organization of item content with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the end, CMI Form C provides a total score for career choice readiness, three scale scores reflecting career adaptability dimensions of concern, curiosity, and confidence, and a score reflecting relational style in forming occupational choices. Initial evidence supports the face, construct, and concurrent validity of the CMI scores as indicators of career choice readiness.
Effects of Work-Related Stress on Work Ability Index among Iranian Workers

Work Ability Index (WAI) is a well-known and valid self-report tool that has been widely used in various studies to identify and avoid early retirement and work-related disability. Nevertheless, very few studies have been carried out to evaluate work ability in Iran. We aimed to investigate the WAI and the effect of work-related stress on it among Iranian workers.A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytic study was carried out among 449 workers from five working sectors in three big cities of Iran. Work ability and work-related stress were measured using the Persian version of WAI and the Persian version of Health and Safety Executive Stress Indicator Tool.More than a third of the workers surveyed (34.70%) did not have an appropriate level of work ability (WAI < 37). There was a significant correlation between subscales of work-related stress and the mean score of WAI. Furthermore, the variables of body mass index, sleep quality, exercise activity, job tenure, and three subscales of work-related stress including demands, supervisor support, and role were significant predictors of WAI.According to the results of this study, the interventional programs must be focused on improving supervisors support, eliminating ambiguity and conflicts in the role of workers in their job and organization, reducing job demands, improving sleep quality, and increasing exercise activity.
OPENABLE SUNSCREEN DEVICE WITH ADJUSTABLE SLATS

An openable sunscreen device with adjustable slats comprises a plurality of slat elements (3) moved by at least one distance adjustment member (21) between opened (O) and closed (C) conditions. Each of the slat elements (3) has a respective longitudinal axle (9) whose ends (11) longitudinally slide along respective first site for sliding (15) of side guide element (17). Each slat element (3) has at least one respective inclined arm element (23) provided with a slider element (25). Said device (1) comprises at least one rotation member (27) for the rotation, in the closed condition (C), of each slat element (3), around its own axle (9). Such rotation member (27) comprises a longitudinal track element (31) parallel to said first lateral site for sliding (15) and, for each slat element (3), a corresponding transversal track element (33). The transversal track elements (33) are mutually parallel and inclined with respect to the longitudinal track elements (31) and placed at mutual distances equal to the maximum distance value in the closed condition (C) between said axes (9). Each transversal track element (33) intersects the longitudinal track element (31) at a respective switch element (35) provided with a corresponding swivelling track element (37) rotatable between a rotating condition in which it (37) is aligned with the respective transversal track element (33) and a sliding condition in which it (37) is aligned with the longitudinal track element (31). The device further comprises translation actuator members (41) of the rotation member (27) for moving it parallel to the longitudinal track element (31) and swivel actuator members (43) to rotate the swivelling track elements (37) in synchrony between the rotating and sliding conditions.
A flexible modelling environment for integrated urban water harvesting and re-use

The steady increase of urban population and the possible effects of climate change that may adversely affect the amount of water available in current water supply systems, makes the study of stormwater and rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling a high priority. The basic proposition is that any system of water supply that can reduce the amount of water drawn from main reservoirs will be of benefit to the whole supply region especially in terms of drought security. This paper describes a versatile modelling framework which can simulate a wide variety of combinations of centralised and decentralised Integrated Urban Water Management schemes from the allotment to the whole suburb scale. The framework combines two modelling approaches. The first, called urbanCycle, simulates water supply and demand, stormwater and wastewater using allotments as the basic building block. Although urbanCycle can simulate processes in great detail, it assumes that the network forms a directed acyclic graph. This simplifies the connectivity logic but precludes investigation of systems with decentralised storage, feedbacks and multiple supply paths. To overcome this, a second model, called urbanNet, based on network linear programming, is embedded in the urbanCycle framework to enable the modelling of recycling and harvesting options, as well as on-the-fly supply and demand decision making, based on objectives rather than pre-set operating rules.