Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Ionospheric threats and suitable Countermeasures Applicable to satellite Radio systems Under next Solar maximum (ICARUS)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2012-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231927.2
EU funding (EUR): 231927.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The fellow is Assistant Professor in Physics at the the Centre for Atmospheric Research, University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia. He specialises in physics of the upper ionised atmosphere, radio wave propagation and remote sensing of the atmosphere. The scientific training focuses on the study of the upper ionised atmosphere (ionosphere) and its effects on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GPS and the new European Galileo, during next solar maximum. This will also benefit the reliable operation of the European Space Situational Awareness service. The fellowship will provide specific training in Geodesy, GNSS techniques and services, not available in Slovenia but inherent to the expertise of the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) at the University of Nottingham. The candidate’s background is entirely disparate and complementary to the existing expertise at the IESSG, making this a truly interdisciplinary and collaborative venture. The fellowship will advance the scientific and academic career of the fellow once he is back at UNG, enhancing his ability to train future students and scientists in GNSS related sciences and ultimately his career prospects. He aims to establish an international centre of excellence in Slovenia. The training is by nature interdisciplinary and achieving its scientific goals will depend on a solid understanding of fields that are mastered either by the fellow or the host institution. Very importantly, the advancement of the candidate’s career will be also underpinned by additional training in areas such as management of large projects, interaction with high calibre scientists and with industry, and international cooperation, The fellowship will possibly lead to patents and technological solutions to make European systems and services more robust and efficient, bringing economic advantages for companies in Europe involved in the design and commercialisation/provision of related GNSS receivers/services.

Keywords: global navigation satellite systems,ionosphere,solar activity,earth observation and remote sensing
Quantum Control Applied to Quantum Information (QOC4QIP)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-02-15
End date: 2013-02-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 154961.0
EU funding (EUR): 154961.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There are two main goals that must be achieved in any physical implementation of Quantum Information. The first one is the ability to perform a desired unitary operation on a selected quantum system with very high fidelity, the second is to preserve system coherence while performing the operation. The aim of the proposed project is to investigate how to accomplish both tasks by means of Optimal Control Theory. Indeed this is a relatively new tool to be exploited within the Quantum Information perspective. Our goal is to derive a general theoretical framework for the application of Optimal Control to open quantum systems used in Quantum Information. The Surrogate Hamiltonian method developed within the context of chemical physics by C. Koch (Freie Universitity, Berlin) allows to investigate decoherence resorting neither to weak coupling, nor to the Markovian approximation, and to take into account a microscopic description of the bath. We will use this approach to study how decoherence affects Quantum Information processes, such as single and two-qubit gates, for different strength and type of system-bath coupling. The environment will be described in terms of a spin bath, as it allows for a more general and accurate description of decoherence processes than a bath of harmonic oscillators. After having formulated a general model of spin-bath decoherence for a quantum register, we will investigate control strategies allowing to perform a selected quantum operation while balancing decoherence effects, for different dynamical regimes. The understandings of control achieved in the abstract treatment will be applied to trapped ions, one of the most promising realisations of Quantum Information. Extensions to further approaches that are formally related to the trapped ion Hamiltonian such as the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian will be explored.

Keywords: physical sciences,quantum information,quantum optimal control,decoherence,quantum systems
The role of diffusion in volcanic metal emissions (DEGASSING METALS)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2012-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 173240.8
EU funding (EUR): 173240.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project sets out to quantify the degassing behaviour of semi-volatile metals from magma. Metals are naturally present in trace quantities in magma and devolatilisation of magma is the main process of concentrating them into ore deposits and releasing them to the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Thus it presents the starting point of dispersion of sometimes highly toxic, but also economically no longer dispensable, metals into our environment. Magmatic volatiles (H2O, CO2, S, Cl, F), including metals will largely be lost from the magma upon eruption. However due to the relative timing of degassing and quenching by eruption trace amounts of volatiles remain frozen in time within the melt. For this project I suggest an inverse method to study magma degassing, whereby the variations in volatile concentrations within the melt will be studied. Such a method has the advantage that it can also be applied to study the output of unobserved or prehistoric eruptions, whereby the volcanic gas has long dissipated. A combined modeling, experimental and observational approach will be used. Metal emissions, particularly in dynamic systems, depend not only on the relative equilibrium partition coefficient of a metal between gas and melt phase, but also on the availability of metal and complexing agents. Thus diffusion of metal towards a gas bubble as it grows and ascends may become an important, limiting factor in the effective emission. In this project we will model the relative contributions of diffusion and equilibrium partitioning to volcanic emissions. Model results will be tested by experimentally decompressing a rhyolitic melt. The different diffusivities of various metals and their different behaviour during degassing provide an as yet little explored toolbox to study volcanic eruptions, in past, present and future.

Keywords: geochemistry,volcanic eruption,diffusion,magma degassing,volcanic emission,metal mobility
Electronic Structure Methodology Reveals New Materials for Solar Cells (SOLAR CELL MATERIALS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2013-10-01
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 239739.1
EU funding (EUR): 239739.1
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

State-of-the-art electronic structure methods will be studied and implemented for characterizing new materials. We will explore novel materials that may be used for solar energy conversion to electricity, seeking potential materials that utilize solar energy. Quantum mechanical approaches will be used to understand the energy band structure of the materials, such as density functional theory and Green&apos;s function techniques. The efficiency of the solar cell will be evaluated by calculating the electron transfer rate in realistic systems. We expect significant contributions to the search of new energy resources.

Keywords: quantum mechanics,theoretical chemistry,electronic structure,electron transfer,solar energy
Microsphere Based Cellular Manipulation – From Protein Delivery to Intracellular Palladium Catalysis (MIPC)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2012-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181103.2
EU funding (EUR): 181103.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The broad aims of this research project are the application, exploitation and development of a generic microsphere cellular delivery system that will allow the delivery of a broad range of cargos into cells. This microspehere based technology will enable the efficient deliver of benign, large nano-small micron-sized particles and their associated cargos into cells. Controlled release from these carriers of their associated cargos, into mammalian cells will allows a variety of cellular processes to be modulated and followed in real time, while providing a means of tagging and tracking cells in an in vivo environment. These microspheres have, quite remarkably, been demonstrated to allow the delivery of specific chemical reagents into cells. I will exploit the delivery of palladium based catalysts into cells to carryout a range of quite unique cell based transformations!

Keywords: physical sciences
Community disassembly rules and the erosion of ecosystem functions in fragmented landscapes (COMDREEF)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-11-21
End date: 2013-11-20
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 166040.8
EU funding (EUR): 166040.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This Project aims to provide a better understanding of the causes and consequences of species responses to habitat loss and fragmentation. To address this goal, this Project will use an extensive dataset of more than 10,000 birds and small mammals captured in 65 forest patches of different sizes and connectivity located in six landscapes of the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo, Brazil (three continuous landscapes with over 90% forest cover and three fragmented landscapes with 10, 30 and 50% forest cover respectively). This dataset will be analysed to determine: (i) which assembly rules are structuring communities, and do these rules change with habitat loss and fragmentation or among taxa; (ii) how community disassembly caused by habitat loss and fragmentation affects functional diversity; (iii) which species are more important for ecosystem functioning; (iv) the existence of extinction and functional diversity thresholds; and finally, (v) to determine the minimum area requirements necessary to sustain a viable and functional tropical forest ecosystem. These questions will be tested with the use of analytical frameworks developed in several areas within biology, drawing together advances in phylogenetics, population biology, community ecology, landscape ecology, and multivariate statistics. Therefore, this Project aims to advance the scientific understanding of the processes that govern community dynamics in fragmented landscapes and the consequences of landscape alteration for maintaining a functional ecosystem, and will generate solid predictions that can be used for building objective and accurate conservation strategies in this imperilled ecosystem.

Keywords: animal ecology,anthropogenic impact on ecosystems,land cover and degradation,causes and mechanisms of loss
Optimal Control of Eye Movements (OPTIMEYES)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-05-01
End date: 2012-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 180603.2
EU funding (EUR): 180603.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Optimal performance in a noisy and ambiguous environment requires that the human brain performs computations that are adapted to these conditions. Cognitive neuroscience has seen a major progress by applying Bayesian decision theory to explain human behaviour when humans were confronted with tasks where perception or behavioural outcomes were uncertain. In addition to these advancements, machine learning methods were successfully developed for handling noisy and incomplete datasets. In this research proposal we take an interdisciplinary approach, in which we design human motor control experiments and evaluate optimality of human performance by using machine learning techniques. Specifically, we will use eye-tracking experiments to explain how learning about visual stimuli supports the design of optimal eye movement strategies. Humans explore the visual environment by actively sampling the stimuli through performing a sequence of saccades. Limited time and resources require efficient eye movement planning and an optimal strategy necessitates the adaptation of the eye movement strategy both to the statistics of the stimuli and to the task performed. We develop a framework in which the contribution of top-down (task specific) and bottom-up information (low-level) to eye movement planning can be controlled and assessed. During the course of this proposal we intend to address three problems. First, we will explore how learning novel stimuli in the perceptual domain contributes to eye movement planning. Second, we will develop an optimal learner that relies on the same information that human participants have and assess whether human eye movements optimally exploit available information. Third, we will explore how bottom-up and top-down information is integrated and will use a probabilistic framework to analyze whether the optimal integration is compatible with human performance. This proposal strongly builds on a close collaboration between Prof. Wolpert and mysel

Keywords: health sciences,neuropsychology,neurobiology
Emerging Materials and Methods for 3rd generation solar cells (EMM3)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 250392.0
EU funding (EUR): 250392.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Third generation solar cells represent alternatives to traditional bulk and thin film devices. They constitute a novel way to improve the ratio between photovoltaic efficiency and total cost, by including new physical principles and materials. This proposal combines two complementary aspects of third generation solar cells: new materials and new materials combinations and new physical mechanisms for photovoltaic conversion. The initial phase of the proposed research is mainly material characterization oriented: (i) Study of the combination of materials –such as InGaN, InN superlattices- which can lead to the formation of intermediate bands through the implementatuion of nanofrabrication technologies (ii) combination of optical spectroscopy and electronic transport techniques for the study of physical phenomena such as up/down conversion and intermediate band formation. In a second phase, the initial results and methodologies will be combined with the know-how within the host institutions through close collaborations, and the research will evolve towards the realization of photovoltaic devices based on nanostructured material.

Keywords: materials engineering,pv materials,nanoelectronics
Detection of membrane-interacting cytotoxic amyloid intermediates with novel fluorescent probes (DETECTAMYLOID)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-07-01
End date: 2012-09-05
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 162161.0
EU funding (EUR): 162161.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Formation and deposition of fibrillar protein aggregates (amyloids) is a fundamental feature of neurodegenerative diseases. It has been suggested that neurotoxicity in Parkinson’s disease originates from the binding of α-synuclein (AS) oligomers to cellular membranes, resulting in bilayer disruption and leakage. Membrane binding is also presumed to be involved in the (as yet unknown) physiological function(s) of AS. Thus, it is essential to assess: (i) the diverse conformational states of AS bound to membranes; and (ii) whether in-situ (on-membrane) formation and/or binding of the “toxic” (pre)amyloid-AS leads to specific membrane damage and ultimate neuronal death. Studies addressing these issues have been hampered by the lack of probes able to monitor conformational states, the binding of different protein forms to membranes, and the early stages of aggregation. The aim is to identify and characterize aggregation intermediates of AS having the highest membrane-disruptive ability potentially responsible for toxicity. The focus will be on the binding of monomeric and pre-aggregated forms of AS labeled with a newly developed class of ratiometric Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT) probes. These dyes, 3 hydroxychromones, exhibit a dual emission exquisitely sensitive to the molecular microenvironment and will thus discriminate changes in lipid environment and protein states (conformation, association) as a function of (different) lipid composition and conditions. The host lab has already shown that ESIPT probes are very effective in solution studies of AS aggregation. In the project, I intend to monitor AS interactions with synthetic and cellular membranes by expression probes based on ESIPT and other environment sensitive dyes, which I will develop, optimize, and employ for multiparametric fluorescence microscopy and rapid kinetics. The effort should lead to efficient methods for screening compounds antagonizing AS toxicity.

Keywords: spectrochemistry,reaction mechanisms and dynamics,structural biology
Characterization of the trace metals transport and interaction mechanisms in zebrafish Danio rerio using molecular and stable isotope approaches (METALTRANSP)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-06-20
End date: 2015-02-10
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 179603.2
EU funding (EUR): 179603.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Due to anthropogenic activities, concentrations of both essential and non-essential elements in surface waters are often far above the natural levels imposing a threat to the health of aquatic organisms. At present, Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) is the most widely used computational concept used for setting water quality criteria. It predicts the effects of water chemistry on metal bioavailability and toxicity by linking metal speciation in solution with the amount of accumulated metal and relating that to the toxicity. However, the links between metal accumulation and toxicity are complex. Therefore, to create a model which would effectively correlate laboratory-based predictions and field observations, bioaccumulation processes must be understood and quantified. This requires consideration of not only the total metal accumulated in tissues, but also determination of internal metal reactions, and quantification of uptake, detoxification (metal partitioning) and elimination processes in the organisms. The objectives of the current proposal are to identify the metal transporting proteins in zebrafish Danio rerio that are responsible for essential (Cu, Fe, Zn) and non-essential (Cd and Pb) trace metal transport during multimetal exposure and to assess the influence of multimetal interactions on compartmentalization of individual metals in tissues. To address these tasks, gene expression patterns will be correlated to metal uptake in vivo. Then, the identified candidate transporters will be over expressed in a Xenopus oocyte expression system and metal uptake affinities (Cu, Fe, Zn, Cd and Pb) will be determined. Metal uptake and elimination studies, as well as investigation of the effects from multimetal exposure on distribution of individual metals in the body, will be performed using a novel stable isotope approach, which enables accurate determination of amounts of metal accumulated at low, environmentally relevant exposure concentrations.

Keywords: zebrafish,metal transport,metal interactions,stable isotopes,environmental genomics,ecotoxicology,water quality monitoring,environmental biology,modelling (environmental risks)