SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
Solar Spectral Irradiance and Climate

Spectrally resolved solar irradiance is recognized as being increasingly important to improving our understanding of the manner in which the Sun influences climate. There is strong empirical evidence linking total solar irradiance to surface temperature trends - even though the Sun has likely made only a small contribution to the last half-century's global temperature anomaly - but the amplitudes cannot be explained by direct solar heating alone. The wavelength and height dependence of solar radiation deposition, for example, ozone absorption in the stratosphere, absorption in the ocean mixed layer, and water vapor absorption in the lower troposphere, contribute to the top-down and bottom-up mechanisms that have been proposed as possible amplifiers of the solar signal. New observations and models of solar spectral irradiance are needed to study these processes and to quantify their impacts on climate. Some of the most recent observations of solar spectral variability from the mid-ultraviolet to the near-infrared have revealed some unexpected behavior that was not anticipated prior to their measurement, based on an understanding from model reconstructions. The atmospheric response to the observed spectral variability, as quantified in climate model simulations, have revealed similarly surprising and in some cases, conflicting results. This talk will provide an overview on the state of our understanding of the spectrally resolved solar irradiance, its variability over many time scales, potential climate impacts, and finally, a discussion on what is required for improving our understanding of Sun-climate connections, including a look forward to future observations.
Cytotoxic and immune-sensitizing properties of nitric oxide-modified saquinavir in iNOS-positive human melanoma cells

We have recently shown that covalent attachment of the NO moiety to the HIV protease inhibitor Saquinavir (Saq) produced a qualitatively new chemical entity, named Saquinavir-NO (Saq-NO), with enhanced anticancer properties and reduced toxicity. In this study we evaluated the impact of Saq-NO on the growth of A375 human melanoma cells, as a prototype of NO-dependent cancer model. The novel compound strongly affected the in vitro and in vivo progression of A375 melanoma cell growth. The mechanism of antimelanoma action comprised dual drug activity-induction of apoptotic cell death and acquisition of melanoma cell responsiveness to TRAIL. Saq-NO-triggered apoptosis was dependent on transient AKT up-regulation and reduced pERK and iNOS expression that were observed within the first 12 h of exposure to the drug. Thereafter, however, Saq-NO up-regulated both iNOS transcription and NO endogenous synthesis and sensitized A375 cells to TRAIL. Furthermore, reduced YY1 expression was observed after 24 h of Saq-NO exposure, which correlated with increased expression of DR5. The biological relevance of this complex and powerful action of Saq-NO was consistent with the marked drug-induced inhibition of the growth of A375 xenotransplants in nude mice.
EXTERNAL VIBRATOR HAVING A DISPLAY VISIBLE OUTSIDE THE VIBRATOR HOUSING

The invention relates to an external vibrator (1) wherein a plurality of the operating parameters thereof can be read at a distance from the housing (5) on a display device (4, 7 through 13, 16 through 18). The display device (4, 7 through 13, 16 through 18) has a number of light-emitting diodes (9) disposed at a distance from each other on the housing (5). A magnet (4; 13) coupled to a drive shaft (2) of the external vibrator (1) generates a rotating magnetic field inductively activating the light-emitting diodes (9) in sequence according to the rotational direction of the drive shaft (2). The power supply to the display device (4, 7 through 13, 16 through 18) is completely independent of the power supply to the vibrator motor, whereby the display device (4, 7 through 13, 16 through 18) can be added to any arbitrary external vibrator.
TREATMENT OF CANCER USING BENZOIC ACID DERIVATIVES

The present invention provides a method of treating cancer using benzoic acid derivatives, alone or in combination with standard treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Also provided are methods of screening for benzoic derivatives based on their ability to inhibit the enzyme tyrosinase or to bind to and activate PXR/SXR xenobiotic receptors.
Past terrestrial water storage (1980–2008) in the Amazon Basin reconstructed from GRACE and in situ river gauging data

Abstract. Terrestrial water storage (TWS) composed of surface waters, soil moisture, groundwater and snow where appropriate, is a key element of global and continental water cycle. Since 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) space gravimetry mission provides a new tool to measure large-scale TWS variations. However, for the past few decades, direct estimate of TWS variability is accessible from hydrological modeling only. Here we propose a novel approach that combines GRACE-based TWS spatial patterns with multi-decadal-long in situ river level records, to reconstruct past 2-D TWS over a river basin. Results are presented for the Amazon Basin for the period 1980–2008, focusing on the interannual time scale. Results are compared with past TWS estimated by the global hydrological model ISBA-TRIP. Correlations between reconstructed past interannual TWS variability and known climate forcing modes over the region (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation) are also estimated. This method offers new perspective for improving our knowledge of past interannual TWS in world river basins where natural climate variability (as opposed to direct anthropogenic forcing) drives TWS variations.
Ending Life, Morality, and Meaning

Opponents of voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide often maintain that the procedures ought not to be accepted because ending an innocent human life would both be morally wrong in itself and have unfortunate consequences. A gravely suffering patient can grant that ending his life would involve such harm but still insist that he would have reason to continue living only if there were something to him in his abstaining from ending his life. Though relatively rarely, the notion of meaning of life has figured in recent medical ethical debate on voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. And in current philosophical discussion on meaning of life outside the medical ethical debate on voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide several authors have argued that being moral and having a meaningful existence are connected to each other. In this article, I assess whether his intentionally refraining from causing the harm related to voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide would involve something to such a patient in the sense that it would promote the meaningfulness of his life.
Sewage chemical information mining – development of a novel concept for the assessment of human exposure to pollutants through wastewater analysis

Human populations worldwide are exposed to a large number of chemical pollutants from contaminated food, personal care products and the surrounding environment. Exposure to these compounds is generally assessed by human biomonitoring - the analysis of biomarkers (excreted parent compounds or metabolic products) in biological matrices from individuals, mostly urine. Due to the several limitations of this approach, a novel concept - sewage chemical information mining (SCIM), has been proposed. This approach is based on the analysis of specific human biomarkers in urban wastewater, but its potential in studying human exposure to pollutants has been scarcely investigated.
The SCHEME project aims to contribute to the practical development and broadening of the SCIM field by developing a comprehensive analytical methodology for the determination of biomarkers of exposure to a wide range of organic pollutants, including different classes of personal care products and industrial chemicals. The biomarkers will be selected using the pharmacokinetics data and Human Metabolome Database and analysed by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry. The developed methodology will be applied in four European cities as case studies. However, the results of this exploratory study could lead to implementation of this novel, relatively inexpensive and near real-time approach for the assessment of human exposure to pollutants. By monitoring temporal and spatial trends, communities with the highest exposure could be promptly identified. Therefore, the results of the SCHEME project will be highly valuable for obtaining relevant epidemiological information and will contribute to preventing human health problems related to pollutants exposure. The fellow’s expertise, gathered in top international research institutions, and the outstanding infrastructure and capabilities available at ICRA, makes an ideal conjunction for the successful completion of the project.
Current use of and attitudes to e-learning in otolaryngology: questionnaire survey of UK otolaryngology trainees

Abstract Introduction: The E-lefENT programme is a collaborative e-learning project developed by the Department of Health and ENTUK. Prior to its introduction, we aimed to assess current use of and attitudes towards e-learning amongst UK otolaryngology trainees. Method: A web-based questionnaire was distributed to UK otolaryngology trainees via regional programme directors. Results: A total of 117 responses was received (35 per cent response rate). Most trainees reported increasing exposure to e-learning throughout their training and rated their current computer literacy skills highly, although satisfaction with current e-learning resources was found to vary widely for a variety of reasons. Conclusion: Meeting the educational needs of otolaryngology trainees in the current era continues to be a challenge. Most trainees are already familiar with e-learning, although the quality and delivery of available websites is currently variable. The majority of trainees who responded seemed receptive to the implementation of a free, otolaryngology-specific e-learning resource.
Sites of Refuge: Refugees, Religiosity, and Public Schools in the United States

In this article the author examines public schools in the United States as sites where immigrants and refugees express their religious identities as part of their integration processes. In particular, the author examines the schools as “sites of refuge” for refugee students. Although public schools provide refugees with opportunity for study without regard to race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion (areas of potential persecution under the 1951 UN Convention Regarding the Status of Refugees), owing to their liberal and secular nature they necessarily put constraints on the degree to which students may exercise their particularistic cultural identities. Religion is an area in which such constraints are often most apparent. The article analyzes Will Kymlicka’s theory of polyethnic group rights as a possible framework for both understanding migrant ethnic cultures and integration processes generally, as well as a defense for providing accommodations for the religious identities and religious expressions of immigrant and refugee students. With conditions, the author believes that, by guaranteeing the right to refugee students’ societal culture, polyethnic rights comprise a viable framework for supporting immigrants and refugees in their integration into the United States. However, the framework works only to the degree that it is consistent with and advances liberal ends, including student autonomy and freedom.
Interrogating trees for isotopic archives of atmospheric sulphur deposition and comparison to speleothem records

Palaeorecords which depict changes in sulphur dynamics form an invaluable resource for recording atmospheric pollution. Tree rings constitute an archive that are ubiquitously available and can be absolutely dated, providing the potential to explore local- to regional-scale trends in sulphur availability. Rapid isotopic analysis by a novel "on-line" method using elemental analyser isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA-IRMS) is developed, achieving sample precision of <0.4‰ using sample sizes of 40 mg wood powder. Tree cores from NE Italy show trends in pollution, evidenced through increasing concentrations of sulphur towards the youngest growth, and inverse trends in sulphur isotopes differentiating modern growth with light sulphur isotopes (+0.7‰) from pre-industrial growth (+7.5‰) influenced by bedrock composition. Comparison with speleothem records from the same location demonstrate replication, albeit offset in isotopic value due to groundwater storage. Using EA-IRMS, tree ring archives form a valuable resource for understanding local- to regional-scale sulphur pollution dynamics.
Improving the smart control of air pollution in europe

The iSCAPE project aims to integrate and advance the control of air quality and carbon emissions in European cities in the context of climate change through the development of sustainable and passive air pollution remediation strategies, policy interventions and behavioural change initiatives. It will tackle the problem of reducing air pollution at target receptors with an innovative SME-led approach, focusing on the use of “Passive Control Systems” in urban spaces. Improvements in air quality, microclimate and behavioural aspects of urban dwellers will be achieved by applying real-world physical interventions on the urban tissue to alter ventilation rates and dispersion patterns in the selected cities assessed for future climate change scenarios and representative of different cultural&life styles in Europe. Through the approach of Living Labs the team will deploy a network of air quality and meteorological sensors (both stationary and mobile) and evaluate through analysis and a suite of up-to-date numerical modelling the benefits expected from the interventions on a neighbourhood and city-wide scale for several aspects ranging from quantification of pollutant concentration to exposure. iSCAPE encapsulates the concept of “smart cities” by promoting the use of low-cost sensors, engaging citizens in the use of alternative solution processes to environmental problems. iSCAPE will support sustainable urban development by promoting the sharing of results with policy-makers and planners using local test-cases, and providing scientific evidence ready-to-use solutions potentially leading to real-time operational interventions. This integrated approach will include the development and assessment of a framework aimed at changing the mobility behaviour of people by studying processes and dynamics that lead to more resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, by bringing together theory from urban planning, public policy, urban and environmental sociology and urban geography.
Crowd sensing and ride sharing for road sustainability

Road networks are the largest publicly owned assets and they play a fundamental role in socio-economic development and
competitiveness. At the same time, roads have huge environmental impacts and maintenance costs. Passenger cars
account for 73.7% of total intra-EU passenger transport, with an average car occupancy rate well below 2 passengers per car. The resulting traffic accounts for about 12% of CO2 emissions. Delayed maintenance impairs road safety and increases cost of intervention, vehicle operating costs, and emissions.
The CROWD4ROADS project combines trip sharing and crowd sensing initiatives to harness collective intelligence to contribute
to the solution of the sustainability issues of road passenger transport, by increasing the car occupancy rate and by
engaging drivers and passengers in road monitoring.
BlaBlaCar (http://blablacar.com/) is the largest trusted ride sharing community worldwide, with more than 10.000.000
members in 14 countries, while SmartRoadSense (http://smartroadsense.it/) is a crowd sensing system which makes use of
the accelerometers of car-mounted smartphones to estimate the roughness of the road surface.
The CROWD4ROADS platform establishes a synergistic relationship between BlaBlaCar and SmartRoadSense, exploiting the network effect which is inherent in both the initiatives, to provide a sizeable impact in terms of car occupancy rate, road
monitoring, and end-user engagement in road maintenance and transport sustainability.
Scalability issues will be addressed during the project both from a technical and from a social point of view. The approach
will be validated on representative large scale pilots, involving more than 1 million people and covering more than 1 million
km of roads. Impacts will be measures in terms of road coverage, car occupancy rates, and open data volume.
Introducing service innovation into product-based manufacturing companies

CE industries are still mainly focused on manufacturing of products. Despite the investments in innovation technologies, their competitiveness is seriously challenged due to the commoditization and low cost competition from non-EU countries. The strict division of products and services has been replaced by a service-product continuum and service innovation may constitute a factor impacting directly and positively regional economic growth and societal well-being, in particular in areas with below-average economic performances (ESIC, 2015).
CE SMEs are hindered by a lack of service innovation management and THINGS+ project aims to strengthen entrepreneurs’ skills on this issue. By enriching their portfolios with additional services, SMEs could increase the value delivered to their customers and improve their position on the market. Innovative business models underpinning product-service systems are needed and Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are increasingly viewed as vital in helping traditional industry staying competitive by training entrepreneurs and creating new business opportunities.
The main output of the project is a new methodology to improve entrepreneurs’ skills on introducing service innovation into manufacturing companies. By introducing servitization of products through an adequate human capital investment, the traditionally product-based firms will cope with changing market forces and shrinking markets, and may act as regional innovation motors with no need of high investments. The process of servitization of industries is a trend in the most developed EU regions and can be accelerated in the CE thanks to the capacity building actions foreseen by THINGS+. The transnational approach will help regions understanding the potential impact of service innovation as a driver for industrial transformation and competitiveness and tailoring regional service innovation-related policies to be integrated into mainstream innovation policies.
VHDL-AMS and PSPICE modeling of ultrasonic piezoelectric transducer for biological mediums application

Ultrasound systems are widely used. Modeling and simulation of ultrasonic transducers systems is a challenging task due to the presence of multi-physics effects such as electrical and mechanical effects and their interaction. Different approaches were proposed to predict the piezoelectric transducer behavior such as a numerical resolution of piezoelectric equations. Another approach is based on the equivalent electrical circuit simulation using an electric simulator like SPICE or high-level hardware description languages like VHDL-AMS. The simulation results obtained using SPICE and VHDL-AMS are discussed. The piezoelectric element proposed is the ceramic material disc vibrating in thickness mode at a frequency of 2.25MHz. The simulations approaches presented in this work are based on the electrical Redwood model and its parameters are deduced from the transducer acoustical characteristics and for different biological mediums.
Advanced tools and research strategies for parasite control in european farmed fish

European aquaculture production provides direct employment to 80,000 people and a 3-billion € annual turnover. Parasites cause severe disease outbreaks and high economic losses in finfish aquaculture. The overarching goal of ParaFishControl is to increase the sustainability and competitiveness of European Aquaculture by improving understanding of fish-parasite interactions and by developing innovative solutions and tools for the prevention, control and mitigation of the major parasites affecting Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, common carp, European sea bass, gilthead sea bream and turbot. To achieve these objectives, ParaFishControl brings together a multidisciplinary consortium comprising 28 partners possessing world-leading, complementary, cross-cutting expertise and drawn from public and private research organisations, and the aquaculture industry. The consortium has access to excellent research facilities, diverse biological resources including host-parasite models, and state-of-the-art vaccinology, genomic, proteomic and transcriptomic technologies. The project will: 1) generate new scientific knowledge on key fish parasites, including genomics, life-cycle, invasion strategy and host-parasite interaction data, with special emphasis on host immunity, pathogen virulence and immunomodulation, providing a scientific basis for improved prophylaxis; 2) determine the transfer of parasites between farmed and wild host populations; 3) develop a wide range of novel prophylactic measures, including vaccines and functional feeds; 4) provide a range of advanced or alternative treatments for parasitic diseases; 5) develop cost-effective, specific and sensitive diagnostic tools for key parasitic diseases; 6) assess the risk factors involved in the emergence, transmission and pathogenesis of parasitic diseases; 7) map the zoonotic risks due to fish helminths and; 8) provide a catalogue of good husbandry practices to obtain safe and high-quality fish products.
New recovery processes to produce rare earth -magnesium alloys of high performance and low cost

REMAGHIC is focused on contributing to Europe’s rare earth recovery and magnesium recycling technologies, improving the efficiencies of these processes and advancing the technology readiness levels for a new generation of industrial processes that will produce new low cost competitive alloys for a wide variety of sectors across Europe’s manufacturing value chain. 

The project motivation lies on the fact that magnesium alloys can offer a significant weight reduction when compared to aluminium alloys. weight reduction is a cross sectorial key design driver, if a superior energy absorption and vibratory behaviour is added, magnesium is promising candidate for future application if some of its drawbacks are overcome, such as its cost, manufacturability problems, corrosion and creep behaviour and low allowable service temperature. Addition of Rare Earth Elements (REE) improves the performance of Mg alloys significantly, though a price increase has to be taken into account. REMAGHIC believes that by investing in recovery and recycling technologies, a new alloying process can be developed to yield low cost Mg+REE alloys. In order to do this, REE that are usually stockpiled (Ce, La) in favour of the most demanded ones (Nd, Dy) will be considered as attractive candidates to lower the price. This list of REE will be completed by other promising candidates found in the literature (Y, Gd, Sa). The project will contribute to reducing the dependency of the supply of critical elements (REE and Mg) on sources exterior to the EU and to solving the REE Balance Problem. 

REMAGHIC will contribute to the penetration of magnesium alloys in important sectors for the European industry (Transport, Energy, Biomedicine); it will foster the work done by Tier1s, and promote the interest of different OEMs on future generations of light structural components of competitive performance (that of primary Mg+REE alloys), low cost (that of primary Mg) and weight reduction (30%).