ethicalabs/Research-Intent-Collab huggingface dataset:
Accretion disc atmospheres and winds in low-mass X-ray binaries

In the last decade, X-ray spectroscopy has enabled a wealth of discoveries of photoionised absorbers in X-ray binaries. Studies of such accretion disc atmospheres and winds are of fundamental importance to understand accretion processes and possible feedback mechanisms to the environment. In this work, we review the current observational state and theoretical understanding of accretion disc atmospheres and winds in low-mass X-ray binaries, focusing on the wind launching mechanisms and on the dependence on accretion state. We conclude with issues that deserve particular attention.
Corruption and COVID-19 pandemic in Africa: Transparency and accountability during COVID-19 crisis in Ghana

This paper explores contextual realities that were central to transparency, accountability, and corruption risks in the management of COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. The study was conducted using the lens of rational choice theory. Data were collected from 25 officials who were purposively selected for an in-depth interviews and content analysis was also carried out. The officials were selected from business leaders, officials of civil society, and anti-corruption institutions. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data gathered from the interviews. At the end, it was observed that because there was urgent need to curtail the spread of the virus, prevent death, and reconstruct livelihoods, there was persistent violations of procurement laws with respect to major contracts awarded during the pandemic. The single sourced companies were not published on the Public Procurement Authority’s website as required by the law. This heightened corruption risks associated with the government’s response to COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, in most cases the real faces behind the contracts, the exact number of the beneficiaries of stimulus packages, and the unit cost were not disclosed, leading to misinterpretations. It was therefore concluded that the absence of resilient national institutions towards an effective and accountable governance during the global pandemics made it easy for the politicians to engage in corrupt practices The study recommended that there is an urgent need not only for the strengthening of national institutions but also for the government to constitute an independent body to conduct forensic audit into all COVID-19 related expenditure, the report should be made public and those found culpable be punished accordingly.
Wireless sensor networks in the future internet of things: density, mobility, heterogeneity and integration

Las redes de sensores inalámbricos están destinadas a revolucionar nuestra manera de vivir, trabajar y relacionarnos con el entorno. Aunque este tipo de redes ha estado en el foco de la investigación científica durante la última década, su rendimiento en implementaciones prácticas está todavía muy por detrás de los resultados teóricos. Esto es en gran parte debido a los problemas prácticos que aparecen en entornos reales. Como resultado, su uso está generalmente limitado a aplicaciones simples de monitorización del entorno. El objetivo de esta tesis es reducir el margen entre el potencial teórico y real de las redes de sensores inalámbricos y de esta manera incrementar su integración dentro de la sociedad. En concreto, la tesis se centra en los siguientes cuatro obstáculos: alta densidad de nodos, movilidad de nodos, tráfico heterogéneo e integración en el internet de las cosas. Primero, el objetivo es el de reducir las interferencias en despliegues de alta densidad de nodos. Para ello se propone un esquema práctico para realizar el enrutado, el control de potencia y la selección de canal, basado en el protocolo RPL (Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks). Esta solución permite reducir las colisiones entre paquetes y además mejorar el consumo energético de este tipo de redes. Segundo, se pretende mejorar la baja fiabilidad y robustez de las redes de sensores inalámbricos con nodos móviles. Con este objetivo se presenta un método que combina RPL con un sistema de enrutado que considera la posición de los nodos basado en el filtro de Kalman. Éste combina la eficiencia y fiabilidad de RPL permitiendo además manejar nodos móviles. Tercero, se estudian maneras de proporcionar la calidad de servicio necesaria a las redes de sensores con tráfico heterogéneo. Para ello se propone una estrategia multi árbol basada en la construcción de múltiples instancias RPL. Ésta construye diferentes topologías virtuales para cada función objetivo, y de esta manera es posible atender los requisitos de cada flujo de tráfico de manera independiente. Finalmente, se estudia la manera de integrar las redes de sensores inalámbricos dentro de la nube y el internet de las cosas. Con este objetivo se propone una formulación para coordinar la utilización de los recursos de la red de manera conjunta usando estrategias de virtualización y computación móvil en la nube. Esto permite reducir el consumo energético de la red, teniendo en cuenta las capacidades y limitaciones de cada nodo, satisfaciendo tanto los requisitos de los diferentes servicios como los de los usuarios.
The Estimation of a Signal Generated by a Dynamical System Modeled by McKean–Vlasov Stochastic Differential Equations Under Sampled Measurements

This paper addresses the problem of optimal H2-filtering for a class of continuous-time linear McKean–Vlasov stochastic differential equations under sampled measurements. The main tool used to solve the filtering problem is a forward jump matrix linear differential equation with a Riccati-type jumping operator. More specifically, the stabilizing solution of such a jump Riccati-type equation plays a key role.
Advancing Fourier: space–time concepts in ultrafast optics, imaging, and photonic neural networks

The concepts of Fourier optics were established in France in the 1940s by Pierre-Michel Duffieux, and laid the foundations of an extensive series of activities in the French research community that have touched on nearly every aspect of contemporary optics and photonics. In this paper, we review a selection of results where applications of the Fourier transform and transfer functions in optics have been applied to yield significant advances in unexpected areas of optics, including the spatial shaping of complex laser beams in amplitude and in phase, real-time ultrafast measurements, novel ghost imaging techniques, and the development of parallel processing methodologies for photonic artificial intelligence.
Change Management, Leadership Competence, Organizational Culture and Its Implications for the Work Behavior of Tanggulangin District Employees

Changes are made with the aim of increasing the company's capabilities or correcting company deficiencies. Leaders must have competencies in accordance with the place of work. Organizational culture reflects how the agency is. Work behavior is an action and attitude shown by employees, work behavior can reflect how the actions of individuals when working. The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of change management, leadership competence and organizational culture on the work behavior of Tanggulangin sub-district office employees.  The location of the research conducted by the author to test the hypothesis is at the Tangguin District office. The number of respondents was 100 people. The results of this study indicate that Change Management has no significant effect on the work behavior of Tanggulangin sub-district employees. Leadership Competence and Organizational Culture have a significant effect on the work behavior of Tanggulangin sub-district employees.
AI-Designed Molecules in Drug Discovery, Structural Novelty Evaluation, and Implications

Achieving structural novelty in drug discovery remains a critical challenge. Artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated remarkable potential in deciphering the complex relationships between molecular structures and activities from vast amounts of chemical and biological information. However, its ability to explore novel chemical spaces is underexplored. This study evaluates the structural novelty of AI-designed active compounds across 71 cases published in recent years. Ligand-based models often yield molecules with relatively low novelty (Tcmax > 0.4 in 58.1% of cases), whereas structure-based approaches exhibit better performance (17.9% with Tcmax > 0.4). Screening workflows significantly influence the novelty, with underexplored targets benefiting from structure-based methods. However, fingerprint-based similarity metrics may fail to detect scaffold-level similarities. Systematic novelty assessment and manual verification are essential to avoid structural homogenization. This Review provides insights for optimizing AI-driven drug discovery and underscores the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to balance novelty and activity. Specifically, we recommend the use of diverse training data sets, scaffold-hopping aware similarity metrics, and careful consideration of similarity filters in AI-driven drug discovery workflows.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of DNA: Force Field Evaluation and Backbone Substate Dynamics in Free and Protein-Bound DNA

Computer simulations of biomolecules can provide insight into biological structure and dynamics at the atomic level. For simulations to be accurate and reliable, the underlying force eld that describes that system has to tested and assessed against experimental values. Evaluating the latest AMBER nucleic acids force elds at microsecond time scales is important for determining how updated force eld parameter sets compare to earlier models and updated, competing models. The latest two improvements to the AMBER nucleic acid force eld were compared to each other and previous, widely used versions. Both of the latest versions, bsc1 and OL15, showed improvement over earlier versions and reproduced many structural properties in agreement with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray crystallography experiments. Having a force eld that accurately models duplex DNA is important, but it is also necessary to validate protein-nucleic acid simulations. To examine this, the E2-DNA system was chosen for simulations to see if DNA backbone substates observed in the X-ray structure were reproducible in simulations. In particular, the BI/BII substates were scrutinized. The BI substate is dominant in duplex DNA but and dihedrals populate both trans/gauche- (t/g-) and gauche-/trans (g-/t) conformations, the latter being the BII state. It was determined that dinucleotide steps crystallized in the BII were correspondingly highly-populated in simulations. Additionally, and dihedrals were manipulated to decoy states and found to converge to native distributions on the microsecond time scale in E2-bound DNA, and in less time for free DNA. During the investigation of BII substates in E2-DNA, the surprising observation was made that BI/BII transitions are dominant modes of motion in E2-bound DNA. This inspired research into whether these modes are sequence-dependent or completely induced by the E2 protein, and if the dynamics are conserved across E2 types. Simulations of E2-DNA found that the BII state is determined by a combination of DNA sequence and E2 binding partner.
Decolonization and the Ambivalence of Self-Determination

Abstract                Chapter 6 discusses the third element of modern racial ideology, the deracialization of the sovereign’s right of imperium. At the same time, the chapter also explores the development of a right of self-determination that pushes against the racist manifestation of dominium introduced in Chapter 5. It does so through a discussion of the Universal Races Congress (URC), the Pan-African Congresses, the Bandung Conference, and the postcolonial turn in the United Nations General Assembly.
Use of Genetic Testing by Employers

OVER THE NEXT 15 YEARS, under the auspices of the federal government's "human genome project," scientists will try to map in detail each of the human cell's estimated 100 000 genes.1The knowledge derived from the project will enable physicians to detect an increasing number of diseases and predispositions for disease. It is expected that researchers will identify genes that contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease, alcoholism, coronary artery disease, the different forms of cancer, and virtually every other illness.2In addition to enhancing the ability of physicians to diagnose disease, the knowledge from the genome project is expected to result in better preventive and therapeutic measures.  For editorial comment see p 1835.  Potential applications of information gained from the human genome project extend well beyond the setting of medical care. Employers, insurers, and law enforcement agencies all will have uses for genetic-testing techniques. In many cases,
The Oort Cloud and long‐period comets

AbstractThis review starts with a brief historical overview of the subject, after which some recent papers attempting to improve the understanding of comet injection from the Oort Cloud and the origin of new comets are discussed. Special attention is paid to the importance of nongravitational effects in comet orbit determination, the synergy between stellar encounters and the galactic tides for the injection dynamics, and the role of planetary perturbations. The field is thus shown to be advancing rapidly, and brief comments on possible implications for studying the origin of the cloud are made.
Vulnerability to climate change in three hot spots in Africa and Asia: key issues for policy-relevant adaptation and resilience-building research

إن تقديم أدلة سليمة لتوجيه عملية صنع القرار التي تراعي احتياجات الفئات الأكثر عرضة لتغير المناخ سيساعد جهود التكيف والتنمية على حد سواء. هذه الأدلة مهمة بشكل خاص في "النقاط الساخنة" لتغير المناخ، حيث توجد إشارة مناخية قوية وتركيزات عالية من الأشخاص المعرضين للخطر. وتشمل هذه المناطق الساخنة المناطق شبه القاحلة والدلتا في أفريقيا وآسيا، وأحواض الأنهار التي تعتمد على الأنهار الجليدية والثلوج في جنوب آسيا. قبل بذل جهد بحثي كبير يركز على هذه النقاط الساخنة الثلاث، تم التكليف بإجراء دراسات لتحديد وتوصيف الوضع الحالي للمعرفة في كل منها حول التأثيرات الفيزيائية الحيوية، والضعف الاجتماعي، وسياسات وممارسات التكيف. تم جمع الأوراق السبع الناتجة في هذه الطبعة الخاصة، مع هذه المقدمة الافتتاحية التي تقدم خلفية عن هذه النقاط الساخنة، والبرنامج الذي تم من خلاله تكليف الدراسات، ونظرة عامة على الأوراق التالية.
Stability of supermartingale optimal transport problems

We investigate stability properties of weak supermartingale optimal transport (WSOT) problems on $\mathbb{R}$. For probability measures $μ,ν\in\mathcal{P}_r$ satisfying $μ\leq_{cd} ν$ (equivalently, $Π_S(μ,ν)\neq\emptyset$), we consider supermartingale couplings $π=μ(d x)π_x(d y)$ and the weak transport functional \[ V_S^C(μ,ν) := \inf_{π\inΠ_S(μ,ν)} \int_\mathbb{R} C(x,π_x)\,μ(d x), \] for some appropriate cost function $C:\mathbb{R}\times\mathcal{P}_r\to\mathbb{R}$. Our first main contribution is an approximation result in adapted Wasserstein distance: under $W_r$-convergence of marginals $(μ^k,ν^k)\to(μ,ν)$ with $μ^k\leq_{cd} ν^k$, any $π\inΠ_S(μ,ν)$ can be approximated by $π^k\inΠ_S(μ^k,ν^k)$ such that $A\mathcal{W}_r(π^k,π)\to0$. As a consequence, we obtain the continuity of the functional $(μ,ν) \mapsto V_S^C(μ,ν)$, and the monotonicity principle for WSOT.
Interface Design for Crowdsourcing Hierarchical Multi-Label Text Annotations

To appear in CHI-2023
TOWARDS THE EMERGENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS? A discussion of the relevance of the right to a safe and healthy environment

This dissertation focuses on the link between human rights and the environment and the emergence of environmental human rights in the form of an individual, substantive, third generation right to a safe and healthy environment. It aims at formulating a working definition of the right to a safe and healthy environment (RSHE). To do so, I first discuss the theoretical relationship between human rights and environmental concerns and the key issues arising from diverse sources (such as academic debates, international law and human rights documents, etc.) when discussing the nature and content of the right to a safe and healthy environment. Then, I analyze the feasibility and the relevance of its legal recognition in the European context, thanks to a case-study aiming at assessing to what extent environmental protection is embedded in the European Court of Human Rights' jurisprudence. The analytical discussion is based on a general content analysis and I build the case-study on Yin's methodology. My main material are theories and the review of literature, as well as legal cases with an environmental component submitted to the European Court of Human Rights. This study concludes that the nature and content of the RSHE are highly debated, even among its defenders, and that it is rather a principle of interpretation of existing fundamental rights by the Court, than a new human right recognized as such. Believing that the European Convention on Human Rights is a “living instrument” and that the growing interactions between human rights and environmental concerns are moving towards the recognition of environmental human rights, I present my own contribution to the general development of human rights by suggesting a working definition of the right to a safe and healthy environment and practical guidelines on how to implement it in the European context.
Advancements, Challenges, and Future Perspectives of Soybean-Integrated Pest Management, Emphasizing the Adoption of Biological Control by the Major Global Producers

Soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill, is usually grown on a large scale, with pest control based on chemical insecticides. However, the overuse of chemicals has led to several adverse effects requiring more sustainable approaches to pest control. Results from Integrated Pest Management (IPM) employed on Brazilian soybean farms indicate that adopters of the technology have reduced insecticide use by approximately 50% relative to non-adopters, with yields comparable to or slightly higher than those of non-adopters. This reduction can be explained not only by the widespread use of Bt soybean cultivars across the country but also by the adoption of economic thresholds (ETs) in a whole Soybean-IPM package, which has reduced insecticide use. However, low refuge compliance has led to the first cases of pest resistance to Cry1Ac, thereby leading to the return of overreliance on chemical control and posing additional challenges for IPM practitioners. The recent global agenda for decarbonized agriculture might help to support the adoption of IPM since less chemical insecticides sprayed over the crops reduces CO2-equivalent emissions from its application. In addition, consumers’ demand for less pesticide use in food production has favored the increased use of bio-inputs in agriculture, helping mitigate overdependence of agriculture on chemical inputs to preserve yields. Despite the challenges of adopting IPM discussed in this review, the best way to protect soybean yield and preserve the environment remains as IPM, integrating plant resistance (including Bt cultivars), ETs, scouting procedures, selective insecticides, biological control, and other sustainable tools, which help sustain environmental quality in an ecological and economical manner. Soon, those tools will include RNAi, CRISPR-based control strategies, among other sustainable alternatives intensively researched around the world.
Isotope and Trace Element Geochemistry of Augustine Volcano, Alaska: Implications for Magmatic Evolution

Abstract                   Augustine Volcano, a Quaternary volcanic centre of the eastern Aleutian Arc, produces predominantly andesites and dacites of low- to medium-K calc-alkaline composition. Mineralogical and major element characteristics of representative lavas suggest that magmatic evolution has been influenced by both crystal fractionation and magma-mixing processes. However, incompatible trace element variations (e.g. K/Rb) indicate that these evolved lavas have been contaminated by the mafic arc crust of the underlying Talkeetna accreted terrane. The limited range of isotope compositions also supports the assimilation of non-radiogenic mafic crust (e.g. 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7032−0.7034; 143Nd/144 Nd = 0.51301−0.5130). In addition, Pb-isotope compositions parallel the North Pacific mean oceanic trend (206Pb/204 Pb = 18.3−18.8; 207Pb/204Pb = 15.5−15.6; 208Pb/204Pb = 38.2−38.3) and do not require a subducted sediment component in the source. Relatively high (Ba/La) N (0.79−18.10) and B/Be (14.5) ratios do, however, suggest a metasomatic fluid component derived from the dehydration of the subducting plate.                   The thickened continental crust (∼35 km) of the eastern Aleutian Arc prevents the ascent of basaltic melts, which fractionate and assimilate at various depths to produce andesitic magmas. These andesites evolve towards more silicic compositions by fractional crystallization. The absence of evidence for a large high-level crustal magma chamber implies that the magmatic system beneath the volcano is young and at an immature stage of evolution.
Bulk Quantum Computation with Pulsed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance: Simulations of Single-Qubit Error Correction Schemes

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.We investigate the possibility to restore transient nutations of electron spin centers embedded in the solid using specific composite pulse sequences developed previously for the application in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We treat two types of systematic errors simultaneously: (i) rotation angle errors related to the spatial distribution of microwave field amplitude in the sample volume, and (ii) off-resonance errors related to the spectral distribution of Larmor precession frequencies of the electron spin centers. Our direct simulations of the transient signal in erbium- and chromium-doped CaWO4 crystal samples with and without error corrections show that the application of the selected composite pulse sequences can substantially increase the lifetime of Rabi oscillations. Finally, we discuss the applicability limitations of the studied pulse sequences for the use in solid-state electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.
The South African Experience on Legal, Institutional and Operational Aspects of the Rights to Water and Sanitation

This article describes the policy and legislative developments that have made the rights to water and sanitation a reality in South Africa since apartheid ended in 1994. A household survey as part of the formal national census in 2011 indicated that a remarkable 91.2 per cent of households already had the benefit of piped water in the house or yard. The key success factors over the last 20 years include a strong political will and commitment, sufficient funding, sound and practical policies, good planning and monitoring of progress. The progressive principle is applied to not only provide access but also to continuously improve the quality of service, such as water closer to homes or safe water at the tap. A number of challenges remain such as poor operation and maintenance, limited capacity in some municipalities, poor payment of water over and above the basic free volume and inadequate regulation to enforce the service standards.