Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
A path to understanding: precision studies of the Higgs boson through Weak Boson Fusion (HIGGSWBF)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-07-01
End date: 2015-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Evidence for the production of the long sought after Higgs boson has recently been presented from the ATLAS and CMS multipurpose experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, at an invariant mass of approximately 125 GeV. While this represents a major achievement in and of itself, it represents only the beginning of a long programme of detailed study to investigate this new particle: its properties and their implications. The reason is two-fold: to confirm through precision study that the newly-observed particle exhibits the properties expected of a predicted Standard Model Higgs boson, and also to deepen our understanding of the phenomenon of electroweak symmetry breaking. I plan to undertake a programme of analysis into the physics of vector bosons produced in association with jets, and specifically to investigate vector boson fusion (VBF) processes at the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. This production mode of the Higgs is of particular interest as it offers unparalleled sensitivity for studying the nature of the Higgs boson at the invariant mass at which it has been observed. My research would begin with measurement of the as yet unobserved (but predicted by the Standard Model) production of W and Z bosons via these same vector boson fusion processes, then use this analysis both as validation of VBF theoretical calculations and as an opportunity to study and improve the phenomenological description of jets produced in association with vector bosons to begin to study the physics of rapidity gaps in vector boson plus jet events at the LHC with the ultimate aim of observing and measuring Higgs boson production in the VBF channel. Such observations would allow for measurement of both the Higgs boson couplings to the gauge-bosons and the tensor structure of the HVV vertex as a way to study the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking.

Keywords: p102 particle physics,higgs,standard model
Exploiting the MSP-AMPK pathway for amelioration of NASH (MANASH)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

BACKGROUND Non–alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the hepatic event of the metabolic syndrome and is characterized by steatosis and inflammation. Although our understanding of the disease mechanisms has progressed, the therapy options for treatment of NASH remain poor. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an important integrator of signals managing energy balance and acts as a protective response to energy stress during metabolic deregulations. Pharmacologic AMPK activation is a well-established treatment strategy against the metabolic syndrome and has been reported to ameliorate steatosis, but accumulating evidence suggests that global AMPK activation is undesirable, especially because of affecting appetite. Macrophage-stimulating protein (MSP) is a multifunctional serum factor secreted from liver cells and a ligand for Recepteur d'origine nantais (RON) receptor tyrosine kinase to initiate downstream signaling pathways in an autocrine fashion. MSP exhibits anti-inflammatory properties on macrophages. Interestingly, MSP-deficient mice on normal diet develop hepatic steatosis. However, the role of MSP in normal liver metabolism and metabolic syndrome remained underexplored. Previous studies by the applicant demonstrated MSP as a negative regulator of hepatic gluconeogenesis and of inflammatory responses, both via AMPK activation. HYPOTHESIS MSP-mediated activation of AMPK is an effective treatment option against NASH. OBJECTIVES 1) Investigate the molecular mechanism and metabolic/anti-inflammatory action of MSP-mediated AMPK activation in cultured hepatocytes and macrophages. 2) Stimulate the MSP/AMPK pathway in liver to assess the potential of ameliorating NASH in relevant mouse models. DELIVERABLES 1) Identification of novel upstream regulators of AMPK downstream of MSP/RON. 2) Appraisal of MSP for possible treatment of NASH in humans.

Keywords: macrophage stimulating protein,amp-activated protein kinase,insulin resistance,non-alcoholic steatohepatitis,ron receptor
Upload. Urban Politics of London Youngsters Analyzed Digitally (UPLOAD)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-02
End date: 2015-09-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main aim of the proposed study is to investigate the lived experience of cultural difference among young Londoners (between 12-18 years) of different cultural backgrounds. Internet applications such as the video sharing platform YouTube, the social-networking site Facebook and micro-blog Twitter are taken as entry points to study the juxtaposition of differences in urban, digital representations. I will theorize and produce new empirical knowledge about how digital practices become loci of intercultural encounters. Taking a comparative approach, I focus on the networked belonging of youths from lower-class (often more multicultural) and upper-class (often more homogeneous) London boroughs on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. As digital practices have become a significant part of their life, it is urgent to achieve greater insights in whether their use of Internet applications corroborates pan-European sentiments of failed multiculturalism and ethnic segregation or whether their experiences rather showcase conviviality, cross-cultural exchange and cultural hybridization. Thus far, the ways in which diverse ethnic/gender/religious identities digitally encounter, negotiate and appropriate one another across online/offline spaces have remained understudied. Innovatively bringing new media, gender and postcolonial studies into dialogue; the layered dynamics and user-generated cultural heterogeneity across Internet applications is scrutinized. The proposed study combines large-scale digital methods to study geographically tagged user-generated content, qualitative in-depth interviews with 90 youths and virtual ethnography with 30 young informants.

Keywords: s106 globalization - migration - interethnic relations,s113 communication networks - media - information society,s114 social studies of science and technology
Probing cosmic accelerators through atmospheric calibration and precision very-high-energy gamma-ray spectroscopy (PRECISIONGAMMA)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2014-02-15
End date: 2016-02-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194046.6
EU funding (EUR): 194046.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Very-high-energy (VHE; 50 GeV < E < 100 TeV) gamma-ray telescopes observe cosmic particle accelerators, probing fundamental acceleration processes at energies far beyond those achievable at terrestrial accelerators and in extreme environments such as supernova remnants, pulsars, pulsar winds, and the Galactic Center. The upgraded H.E.S.S.-II telescope array saw first light in July 2012 and represents the cutting edge of the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique that enables observations of VHE gamma rays from ground-based facilities. This project will take advantage of the new data from H.E.S.S.-II, now the largest such telescope, with an unprecedented sensitivity to gamma-rays, in particular at low energies (50 < E < 150 GeV) which were previously beyond reach. Access to this key energy range will allow us to search for pulsed VHE emission from energetic pulsars, such as that unexpectedly observed from the Crab pulsar in 2011. It will also permit us to investigate the very recent yet mounting evidence for gamma-ray spectral lines from the Galactic Center and unassociated sources seen by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Utilizing an inter-disciplinary approach, we will integrate a monitoring LIDAR system with H.E.S.S.-II to directly calibrate the telescope data using grid-produced Monte Carlo simulations based on real-time, measured atmospheric properties. The implementation of an atmospheric monitoring and calibration program for H.E.S.S.-II and the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array is expected to improve energy resolution, reduce spectral bias, and minimize systematic uncertainties. The improvements provided by this project aim not only to address our specific research questions but also to provide, for the first time, the precision VHE gamma-ray spectroscopy required to further elucidate the underlying mechanisms responsible for gamma-ray production in the cosmos.

Keywords: p301 astronomy - astrophysics and cosmology,cosmic particle accelerators,galactic center,pulsar wind nebulae,tev gamma-rays,atmospheric monitoring and calibration,cherenkov telescopes arrays
Mechanisms controlling transcription of the plastid genome (POLSPEC)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2019-12-18
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Nucleus-encoded phage-type RNA polymerases are indispensable for the transcription of the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes. They have fundamental roles in the biogenesis of the respiratory and photosynthetic compartments of plant cells. My previous research on mitochondrial transcription in the model plant Arabidopsis has led to the discovery of gene-specific transcriptional functions of the phage-type RNA polymerases RPOTm and RPOTmp in mitochondria and assigned individual roles to these enzymes in the biogenesis of the respiratory chain. RPOTmp is additionally found in plastids where its role and the role of a second phage-type enzyme, RPOTp, are largely unresolved. The proposed project aims to comprehensively define the functions of RPOTp and RPOTmp in plastids. It will employ i) a differential transcriptome sequencing (dRNA-seq) strategy and complementary molecular biology approaches to determine the gene specificities of these enzymes and generate a plastid genome-wide map of transcription start sites used by RPOTp or RPOTmp in plastids. ii) computational methods to identify potential cis-regulatory elements or parameters of plastid genes that direct the transcriptional activities of RPOTp and RPOTmp iii) in vitro transcription and interaction assays to validate the function of these elements and parameters in controlling transcription. The proposed research will generate fundamental knowledge on transcriptional processes in plants. It will clarify how plastid gene expression, and thus chloroplast biogenesis and photosynthesis, can be controlled via RPOTp and RPOTmp. My expertise in organellar transcription, the interdisciplinary strategy applied and new collaborations established during this project will contribute to excellent research outcomes and broaden research interests and competences of the host institute, which will strongly support me in obtaining a permanent senior position in research following my current junior professor appointment.

Keywords: plant biology,organelles,plastid genome transcription,phage-type rna polymerases,rna synthesis,reverse genetics,computational biology
Sustainable use of Biochar in Mediterranean Agriculture (BIOCHARISMA)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The application of biochar (charcoal or biomass-derived black carbon (BC)) to soil is proposed as a novel approach to establish a significant long-term sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide in terrestrial ecosystems. Apart from positive effects on both reducing emissions and increasing the sequestration of greenhouse gases, the production of biochar and its application to soil is expected to deliver immediate benefits through improved soil fertility and increased crop production. The fertilizing properties of charred plant residues were re-discovered and are nowadays divulged and encouraged within the concept of using biochars produced under controlled combustion conditions as soil amendment. However, the application of biochar as soil ameliorant still presents several major uncertainties. Particularly, the capacity of Mediterranean soils to store and sequester C due to biochar addition has not been well studied, thus this project will comprise for the first time the transport and stabilization of biochar produced from vegetation residues and urban wastes through the soil column. On the other hand, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), persistent organic pollutants formed during biochar production due to incomplete combustion process (pyrolysis step), will enter the environment when the biochar is applied as soil conditioner. However, an accurate assessment of the impact of biochar addition on the release of PAHs is still missing and will constitute the other main objective of this proposal.

Keywords: v101 environment and sustainability,v201 biogeochemistry - biogeochemical cycles - environmental chemistry,c sequestration,soil amendment,charcoal,black carbon,pyrolysis,pahs
Probing strongly coupled deconfined matter at the LHC (DECOLHC)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2016-10-31
Duration (months): 44.0
Total project cost (EUR): 91666.67
EU funding (EUR): 91666.67
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Since 2010, the LHC has produced high quality data on a variety of observables in heavy ion collisions which have already led to exciting new developments in the field, despite of the fact that the LHC has not yet reached to its full power. Complementary to the experimental program a big theoretical effort is needed in order to fully exploit the potential of these data to determine the properties of QCD matter at the highest energy ever achieved in an experiment. In this project we will address some of the most relevant new challenges posed by the theoretical description of ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions at the LHC. On the one hand we will exploit the gauge/gravity duality to understand the bulk properties of the matter porduced in these collisions, focusing on the characterization of its collective behavior. On the other hand, we will employ perturbative techniques to understand the dynamics of energetic probes propagating through the plasma, focusing in multi-partonic emissions and in the application of effective field theory methods to describe the jet-medium interactions. These theoretical calculations will be complemented with a number of phenomenological studies aimed at confronting them with experimental data.

Keywords: p102 particle physics heavy ion collision,ads/cft,jets,finite temperature qcd
Biochar Application in a Natural Ecosystem (BASE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 50000.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Wide scale biochar has been proposed as a method of increasing soil carbon storage and so mitigating climate change while concurrently providing biofuel and positively affecting soil quality. However, while the effects of biochar application in agricultural systems is being studied throughout the world, little or no work is being undertaken to investigate the effects of biochar application to soil in natural ecosystems. BASE aims to address this issue by undertaking an in-depth investigation of the effects of biochar application to soil in a natural ecosystem. Working in partnership with world leading experts at Wageningen University and the Netherland Centre for Ecology, BASE will utilise multi-disciplinary techniques from soil physics, chemistry and biology and will investigate across scales, from genes up to landscape to obtain a full understanding of the impacts of biochar application to soils. Results from the project will be published in high impact, multi-disciplinary and open source journals, as well as hosted on a BASE website to allow the results of the project to reach as large an audience as possible.

Keywords: v101 environment and sustainability,v201 terrestrial ecology - land cover change,v305 ecology,v201 - soil science
Chromatin modifiers in reprogramming (CMR)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Transcription factor-based reprogramming has enabled the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). IPSCs can be used in disease modelling and derivation of rejection-free mature cell types for cell-replacement therapies. Proof-of-principle studies show that a number of genetic, complex, and malignant diseases can benefit from such cell-based therapies. Despite their immense potential, technical obstacles remain in the generation of iPSCs. This project is aimed at generating tools to overcome these obstacles by elucidating the molecular mechanisms of reprogramming. The fundamental mechanisms by which somatic cell identity gets replaced by pluripotent cell identity during reprogramming are poorly defined. Cellular identity is largely controlled by chromatin-based epigenetic mechanisms and while there is increasing knowledge about the distinct epigenetic states before and after reprogramming, the role of key chromatin modifier genes in reprogramming remains largely unexplored. Previous research has indicated that it is possible to identify key chromatin-based modulators of reprogramming and use this knowledge to increase reprogramming efficiency and replace exogenous factors with chemical compounds (Onder et al. 2012). To extend these studies further, identify novel chromatin-based regulators of reprogramming, and understand the molecular mechanisms of these regulators, this project will: (1) elucidate the mechanism by which inhibition of histone methyl-transferases Suv39H1 and Setd2 enhances reprogramming, and (2) identify histone demethylases that act as positive or negative regulators of reprogramming. This project will not only contribute to our understanding of the molecular basis of reprogramming, but also proposes to use that knowledge to facilitate efficient generation of iPSCs which will have significant clinical uses in the near future.

Keywords: l208 epigenetics and gene regulation,l312 stem cell biology,l206 molecular genetics - reverse genetics and rnai
Statistical Inference and Malliavin Calculus (STATINF)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2017-07-21
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Eulalia Nualart (the researcher, hereafter) broadly works in the field of Stochastic Calculus of Variations (Malliavin Calculus), and its applications to stochastic differential equations (SDEs) and stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs). In the last years, she has become interested in two new applications of the Malliavin calculus, which are Statistical Inference for SDEs and applications to Mathematical Finance. The aim of this proposal is to consider two different types of SDES: (i) SDEs driven by the sum of a Brownian motion and a Poisson random measure; (ii) SDEs driven by fractional Brownian motion. The coefficients of both SDEs are assumed to depend on some parameter that needs to be estimated in the following cases: (a) when the trajectory of the SDE is observed continuously during a fixed time interval; (b) when the trajectory is observed discretely at n fixed times. Both cases will be studied, but the proposal concentrates in case (b), as is a more challenging and realistic problem. The proposal is divided into three research projects whose goals are: (1) Obtain upper and lower bounds for the density of the solution to the two types of SPDEs (i) and (ii), by means of the Malliavin Calculus; (2) Use these bounds in order to prove the local asymptotic normality (LAN) for the models (i) and (ii), and then apply Hajek-Lecam's theorem to obtain asymptotically efficient estimators for the parameter of the equations; (3) Study Monte Carlo methods and exact simulation of the SDE model with jumps (i), and apply these computational methods to the following financial problems: jump volatility models and numerical computations of greeks. In addition to the three research projects, the proposal aims to develop a research network on Stochastic Analysis and applications, by organizing weekly seminars and two international conferences at the University Pompeu Fabra, where the researcher has been offered a permanent associate professor position.

Keywords: m114 probability and statistics,stochastic differential equations,malliavin calculus,statistical inference,jump processes,fractional brownian motion,financial mathematics