SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
The dynamics underlying well-being; understanding the exposome-genome interplay

In light of major demographic trends, building and maintaining health and well-being amongst citizens is one of the most important societal challenges European countries face. People who feel well, function better, are less susceptible to mental illness, and thus are better able to retain competitive advantage and expand human capital. People who feel well also facilitate social capital by enjoying stronger and more-lasting relationships. Consequently, maintaining, facilitating, and building well-being (WB) would not only improve individual (health) outcomes, but also reduce economic and health care burdens. To sustainably facilitate and build WB, thorough understanding of its underlying dynamics, especially the interplay between an individual’s genetic makeup, epigenetic make-up, and (social) environmental exposure, is crucial. 
In this project, I will cross disciplinary boundaries to initiate the urgently needed integration of multiple layers of influence in the study of WB. The key objectives are to (1) identify, quantify, and integrate static and dynamic environmental and social exposures to build the well-being exposome, (2) understand the multi-layer interplay of the genome, the epigenome, and the exposome, and (3) integrate the empirical findings into a novel comprehensive framework of WB. I will employ an interdisciplinary approach, using association, real-life, and network methodology to assess the dynamics underling WB. To apply these state-of-the-art techniques, I will bring together longitudinal twin-family data, molecular genetic data, and big data from satellite positioning (GPS), bluetooth beacons, geographical information systems (GIS), ambulatory assessment, and social network linkage. This project will mark a shift in scientific approach and enables the development of interdisciplinary academic theories and health, social, and economic policies to maintain, facilitate, and build WB to withstand our demanding and rapidly changing world.
Aiding social protection: the political economy of externally financing social policy in developing countries

This research proposal explores the political economy of international development assistance (aid) directed towards social expenditures, examined through the lens of a particular financial quandary that has been ignored in the literature despite having important economic and political repercussions. The quandary is that aid cannot be directly spent on expenditures denominated in domestic currency. Instead, aid needs to be first converted into domestic currency whereas the foreign exchange provided is used for other purposes, resulting in a process prone to complex politics regarding domestic monetary policy and spending commitments.

The implications require a serious rethink of many of the accepted premises in the political economy of aid and related literatures. 
It is urgent to engage in this rethinking given tensions between two dynamics in the current global political economy: a tightening financial cycle facing developing countries versus an increasing emphasis in international development agendas of directing aid towards social expenditures. The financial quandary might exacerbate these tensions, restricting recipient government policy space despite donor commitments of respecting national ownership.

The proposed research examines these implications through the emerging social protection agenda among donors, which serves as an ideal policy case given that social protection expenditures are almost entirely based on domestic currency. This will be researched through a mixed-method comparative case study of six developing countries, combining quantitative analysis of balance of payments and financing constraints with qualitative process tracing based on elite interviews and documentary research. The objective is to re-orient our thinking on these issues for a deeper appreciation of the systemic political and economic challenges facing global redistribution towards poorer countries, particularly with respect to the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals.
EXTENDED STORAGE CAPACITY FOR A NETWORK FILE SERVER

A NAS switch provides extended storage capacity to a file server in a decentralized storage network such as a NAS (Network Attached Storage) storage network. The NAS switch sits in the data path of a client on the front end and a directory file server and shadow file servers on the back end. A segregation module in the NAS switch replicates data from the directory file server to a shadow file server, and then replaces the data in the directory file server with holey files. Holey files, which store a range of consecutive values such as zero with negligible storage space, retain the attributes of the data without retaining its storage consumption. Thus, the directory file server can server as a single directory hierarchy for several shadow file servers containing data beyond a capacity of the directory file server. When the NAS switch receives operations from the client, an association module forwards directory operations to the directory file server and data operations to the shadow file server. The NAS switch also provides services to several shadow file servers from a single directory file server.
Imaging the motion of magneto-excitons in new emerging materials

Recently discovered two-dimensional (2D)-honeycomb semiconductor materials have two inequivalent, degenerate valleys in their electronic band structure. This leads to a new “valley” degree of freedom known as pseudospin that, similar to real spin, has been proposed as an extra information carrier for new classes of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are an important type of 2D material, in which, due to the strong 2D confinement and a reduced dielectric screening of the Coulomb interactions, electron-hole (e-h) correlations are extremely strong. This results in creation of e-h pairs (excitons) that are so strongly bound that excitonic effects completely dominate the optical properties of TMDs even up to room temperature. The pronounced excitonic effects in single-layer TMDs, therefore, provide a unique opportunity to investigate strong light-matter interactions associated with valley effects exhibiting exotic behaviour. However, the key fundamental question regarding the exact excitonic band structure, the valley-exciton energy-momentum (dispersion) relationship, and the corresponding excitonic transport properties, remains open. 
This proposal is devoted to a fundamental understanding of the valley-exciton band structure. It consists of two main research objectives: (i) to determine the exciton dispersion and the corresponding transport using momentum- and real-space optical imaging, and (ii) to achieve an external control of the exciton dispersion via applied magnetic and electric fields, charge density and strain. The results will deepen the understanding of valley-exciton transport in single-layer TMDs and help the development of novel valley-based technologies.
Highly advanced modular integration of insulation, energising and storage systems for non-residential buildings

POWERSKIN+ will develop and scale-up eco-innovative, cost-effective and smart material solutions to renovate existing facade systems of both double skin and advanced integrated curtain walls. It will smart integrate unprecedented highly innovative insulations and renewable energy technologies, with breakthrough features based on nano-formulated VIP, PCM, flexible thin glass perovskite solar cells and multi-functional nano-enabled coatings. Comprehensive POWERSKIN+ portfolio comprising off-site prefabricated modular “ready-to-buy” and ‘easy-to-install’ glazing and opaque elements, sustainable eco-designed connecting framings and a dedicated large capacity electric building storage system will be processed up to the final commercializable end products. 
Powerskin+ system will be validated in non-residential buildings in three different environmental, economic, logistic and social scenarios, namely Portugal, Slovenia and Czech Republic, with environmental sustainability and benefits proving through LCA and LCCA approaches. The market uptake of POWERSKIN+ will be facilitated by optimal compatibility without additional structural modification. It will benefit from: lightweight transparent (TM) and opaque modules (OM) (< 30 Kg/m2 and 5Kg/m2 respectively); improved insulation (TM GIU Ug-value 35% better than standard double glazing and OM VIP thermal resistance value 33% better than a 25mW/mK PIR); and on-site energy generation and storage elements (Perovskite-PV power conversion efficiency >12% and >8% for OM and TM respectively; 15% improvement in energy storage capacity), aiming to be recognized as an affordable high standard retrofit solution (installation cost and time reduce 50% and 74% respectively).
Evaluating the performance of gamma-ray imaging instruments for detection applications

Abstract A method for evaluating and comparing the performance of gamma-ray imaging instruments is proposed and demonstrated using seven instrument design benchmarks found in the literature. This method makes simplifying assumptions that do impact the accuracy of performance estimation and the range of conditions under which performance estimation will be reliable. However, the method provides a valuable means for evaluating imager performance under many conditions of relevance for detection applications, and provides an upper bound for performance that is valid under all conditions. This performance estimation method provides, for the first time, a means for comparing imaging instruments against one another and for making rapid determinations of the potential viability of using specified imaging instruments for detection application scenarios. The insight provided by this model should also motivate future innovation in imager design.
Emotions in the foreign policy of turkey towards the european union

Within the last 20 years, Turkish Foreign Policy in relation to Europe has undergone two major transformations in almost opposite directions: first a rapid rapprochement (2002-2007) and then a steep deterioration (2008-2019). EMOFORTE aims to achieve a profound understanding of the political and social conditions which made these policy transformations possible by studying both the dominant and dissident foreign policy discourses of Turkish political elites (i.e. the politicians, parliamentarians, party officials, and bureaucrats) in terms of emotions materialised in identity discourses and in the narratives of Europe. EMOFORTE will compare the periods of rapprochement and deterioration by focusing on emotions as discursive elements significant for contesting and changing national identity constructions and narratives of Europe as the Other of Turkish national identity. It will include an ideological dimension to its comparative approach by studying similarities and differences in the rhetorical uses of emotions in the foreign policy discourses of the actors concerned from a wide ideological spectrum (far right to far left). With the help of this two-dimensional comparative method, it will also contribute to academic research on the current phenomenon of rising populism in Europe by working on the emotional component of populist discourses in Turkish politics. EMOFORTE will be conducted at University of Navarra (Spain), with secondments at Lund University (Sweden) and University of Essex (UK). Through trainings and close mentoring of the supervisors, it will equip the researcher with enhanced knowledge in emotion studies and with new skills in the new interdisciplinary methodological approaches and applications concerning the Big Data in social sciences, corpus linguistics, corpus-based discourse analysis and post-structural discourse analysis and, thereby, it will open up new career prospects in her subject-area of international relations.
Analysis and improvement of tactile comfort and low-stress mechanical properties of denim fabrics

Despite the fact that the tactile comfort of a garment is an important criterion that determines consumers' preferences and has been investigated for almost a century by many researchers, the number of studies regarding tactile comfort of denim fabrics is limited. The aim of this study is to propose suggestions to enhance the tactile comfort of denim fabrics and investigate their efficiency in terms of low-stress mechanical properties and sensory evaluation results. For this purpose, the compressibility, extension ability, bending rigidity and shear rigidity of 51 denim fabrics were experimentally determined. Meanwhile, stiffness–softness, roughness–smoothness and tactile comfort scores were evaluated by consumers and specialists via sensory tests. The effects of the raw material, blend ratio, weaving parameters and washing processes were statistically investigated. Low-stress mechanical properties, particularly biaxial and multiaxial ones, were found to be highly related to the perceived tactile comfort. Statistical investigations highlighted that stone washing is the most effective method to improve the tactile comfort. Nonetheless, the effect of enzyme washing was relatively small. It was observed that the suggested weaving parameters provide a significant improvement in fabric properties. Increasing the ratio of viscose content in polyester/viscose blend weft yarns was quite effective as well.
Fog-Aided wireless networks for communication, caching and computing: theoretical and algorithmic foundations

The FOGHORN project aims at developing the theoretical and algorithmic foundations of fog-aided wireless networks. This is an emerging class of wireless systems that leverages the synergy and complementarity of cloudification and edge processing, two key technologies in the evolution towards 5G systems and beyond. Fog-aided wireless networks can reap the bene 
fits of centralization via cloud processing, in terms of capital and operating cost reductions, greening, and
enhanced spectral e fficiency, while, at the same time, being able to cater to low-latency applications, such as the ""tactile"" internet, by means of localized intelligence at the network edge. The operation of fog-aided wireless networks poses novel fundamental research problems pertaining to the optimal management of the communication, caching and computing resources at the
cloud and at the edge, as well as to the transmission on the fronthaul network connecting cloud and edge. The solution of these problems challenges the theoretical principles and engineering insights which have underpinned the design of existing networks. The initial research activity on the topic, of which the EU is at the forefront, focuses, by and large, on ad hoc solutions and technologies. In contrast, the goal of this project is to develop fundamental theoretical insights
and algorithmic principles with the main aim of guiding engineering choices, unlocking new academic opportunities and disclosing new technologies. The theoretical framework is grounded in network information theory, which enables the distillation of design principles, along with signal processing, (non-convex) optimization, queuing and distributed computing to develop and analyse algorithmic solutions.
Stash in a Flash

Encryption is a useful tool to protect data confidentiality. Yet it is still challenging to hide the very presence of encrypted, secret data from a powerful adversary. This paper presents a new technique to hide data in flash by manipulating the voltage level of pseudo-randomlyselected flash cells to encode two bits (rather than one) in the cell. In this model, we have one “public” bit interpreted using an SLC-style encoding, and extract a private bit using an MLC-style encoding. The locations of cells that encode hidden data is based on a secret key known only to the hiding user.

Intuitively, this technique requires that the voltage level in a cell encoding data must be (1) not statistically distinguishable from a cell only storing public data, and (2) the user must be able to reliably read the hidden data from this cell. Our key insight is that there is a wide enough variation in the range of voltage levels in a typical flash device to obscure the presence of fine-grained changes to a small fraction of the cells, and that the variation is wide enough to support reliably re-reading hidden data. We demonstrate that our hidden data and underlying voltage manipulations go undetected by support vector machine based supervised learning which performs similarly to a random guess. The error rates of our scheme are low enough that the data is recoverable months after being stored. Compared to prior work, our technique provides 24x and 50x higher encoding and decoding throughput and doubles the capacity, while being 37x more power efficient.
HIGH STRENGTH LEVER HANDLE LOCK MECHANISM

A lock mechanism for use with lever handles (36, 74) includes a lock core (10) and a latch mechanism (18) that is rigidly connected to the lock core (10). Stops and a spring return mechanism (130, 132) are entirely located within the lock core (10), allowing the rose (50) to be thin. The lock core (10) defines the rest position for the lever handles (36, 74) at an angle slightly above horizontal. The lock core (10) is made substantially symmetrical about a vertical plane, instead of a horizontal plane, and the inner and outer sides of the lock mechanism can be interchanged. A heavy-duty locking piece (86), including a pair of locking lugs (82, 84) that directly engage the lock core (10) near its inner perimeter, allow the lock to withstand abusive forces applied through the lever handle (36). Endplay is nearly completely eliminated through the use of collars (48, 70) that connect the interchangeable inner and outer sides of the lock to the lock core (10).
Applying metabolomics to unveil follow-up treatment biomarkers and identify novel therapeutic targets in glioblastoma

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and devastating form of malignant brain tumour, containing self-renewing, tumorigenic cancer stem cells (CSCs) that contribute to tumour initiation and therapeutic resistance. The survival of such patients has not improved so much in the last 60 years, and we are still far to get any cure. Therefore, new methods for prognosis and diagnosis are needed, and it could come from better understanding of glioma biology. 
The link between cancer and altered metabolism is not new. Many observations were made during the early period of cancer biology research, identifying metabolic changes as a common feature of cancerous tissues to adapt to the necessities of the tumour. GBM comprises several phenotypic subtypes, each with distinguishing hallmark mutations, copy number alterations, epigenetic alterations, and clinical features, generating a different treatment efficacy. We believe that GBM subtypes will produce different patterns in the metabolite fingerprint and moreover the use of treatments will change them.
In the present project we will use a metabolomic approach on a model of human CSCs isolated from fresh surgical tissue, to characterize two of the most extreme phenotypes; proneural and mesenchymal. We will map the tumour metabolite profile and the translation of this knowledge may lead to more personalized therapies. Besides that, we are interested in studying
the metabolite profile of the extracellular vesicles (EV) released by those subtypes. This research effort is not only necessary to map the metabolome of EVs from different origins, but also to elucidate whether or not the metabolites are directly packaged into specific EVs, their possible function in surrounding cells, as the possibility of finding different metabolite profiles characteristic of tumour subtypes and moreover with a differential response to drugs that could be use as biomarkers.
Bartolomé Sureda: Mechanic, Inventor and Artist. A Character of Enlightened Knowledge

The main objective of this work is to present the figure of Bartolomé Sureda y Miserol (1769–1851), a mechanic, inventor and illustrated artist, in relation to his contribution to scientific progress. The next goal is to demonstrate the extent to which graphic representation techniques were decisive during the aforementioned process, techniques that the enlightened scientists of Spain, the so-called “experimental natural philosophers” among whom was Sureda, used masterfully to develop their plans and drawings of machines. The scientists of Las Luces constituted a circle of technology professionals whose training came from various fields: artistic, analytical and technical. In the absence of specific educational centres, academies were created during the 18th century that were conceived to promote knowledge and were born from private gatherings. Bartolomé Sureda was trained in these centres and took an interest in both technique and art, and although he applied great geometric rigour in the representation of machines, his artistic will was never absent.
Research and development in support of the gemini initiative

GEMINI+ project proposal will be submitted to the European Commission addressing the 2016 Euratom call for proposals (deadline October 5th, 2016).
GEMINI+ project will provide a conceptual design for a high temperature nuclear cogeneration system for supply of process steam to industry, a framework for the licensing of such system and a business plan for a full scale demonstration .
It will rely on modular High Temperature Gas cooled Reactor (HTGR) technology, which is a mature technology with several industrial prototypes that have been constructed and operated in the world. Therefore the time scale for the industrial deployment of such nuclear cogeneration systems is the decade. With available materials and technology, such a system can provide steam to industrial steam distribution networks presently operating on industrial sites up to 550˚C, simply substituting to fossil fuel fired cogeneration plants, without any need for adaptation of the steam distribution infrastructure or of the industrial applications. In the longer term, HTGR technology can be further developed to provide higher temperature process heat.
Based on its huge thermal inertia, its refractory fuel and core structural materials, on the use of helium, which is chemically inert, as coolant, and of a specific design limited to a few hundred Megawatts, modular HTGRs have a unique intrinsic safety concept preventing in any circumstances significant degradation of the nuclear fuel and consecutive radioactive releases, with no need of any human intervention. 
Beyond industrial cogeneration, the flexibility, robustness and simple design of modular HTGR will allow extending application of the system developed by GEMINI+ to small isolated electric grids, to electric grids with increasing proportion of intermittent renewables, to new nuclear countries, etc.