Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Technocracy and Democracy: convergence, conflicts and negotiations. A comparative and global analysis of expert knowledge and political power (18th to 21th century) (TECHDEM)

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-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-15
End date: 2016-11-07
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 50000.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The relationship between knowledge and power represents a widely discussed issue in several social sciences and humanities. The TECHDEM research project at the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain) explores the origins of technocracy, examining the ways in which special or expert knowledge has become a source of legitimacy in public debate and in political decision-making. It is an interdisciplinary research that combines approaches stemming from history, history of science and technology, philosophy and sociology of professions. Using the case of experts (mainly engineers and physicians) who have carried out their activity in the northern Mediterranean in the period from the eighteenth century until nowadays, the project pays attention to issues such as the emergence and transformations of the definition of expert knowledge and the ways in which expertise has been acquired and certified. The project also explores how expert arguments and controversies have been inscribed in public debate as well as the ways in which the notion of objective and useful knowledge interacts with key notions of a given period such as “common good”, “public will” or “legitimate search for private interest”. The project does not remain at the level of a discourse analysis, as it also focuses on institutionalisation of expert practices within the government, in the private sector and in the so-called civil society, including the study of the experts’ capacity to mobilise financial resources. In general, the aim is to trace the roots of the raison technique and explore its different forms and transformations in order to set a basis for a well-informed public debate about the relationship between technocracy and democracy, between expert and public opinion, in the society today.
Structural investigations of Bacterial Secretion by Solid-State NMR (SECSYSNMR)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Many cellular processes rely on multi-functional molecular nanomachines, such as the ribosome (protein synthesis), bacterial pili and needles (host-pathogen interaction) or flagella (cell motion). These machines are built by the assembly of multiple copies of protein subunits into large macromolecular structures, also called supramolecular assemblies. Understanding assembly, structure and functions of these machines is hampered by the challenging structural characterization task. Indeed, these insoluble and non-crystalline objects are not amenable to high-resolution X-ray crystallography or solution NMR. Solid-state NMR (SSNMR) can provide atomic details about structure and dynamics of biological assemblies. Notably, the first atomic models of a prion in its fibrillar form (the prion domain of HET-s, see Wasmer et al., Science 2008) and a bacterial filament (the Type III Secretion System needle, see Loquet et al., Nature 2012) were established on the basis of SSNMR restraints. The Type II Secretion System (T2SS) is a complex machinery found in Gram-negative bacteria, designed to transport effector proteins from the bacterial periplasm to the extracellular space. T2SSs contain a periplasmic filament, called the pseudopilus, that organizes the secretion of the T2SS exoenzyme through the outer membrane. The pseudopilus is built by multiple copies of a single polypeptide subunit, forming an insoluble and non-crystalline macromolecular assembly. In this project, I propose to use SSNMR to solve the structure of the T2SS pseudopilus in its relevant assembled state, as well as to shed light on the specific interactions with its exoenzyme.

Keywords: bacterial secretion systems,pilus,type 2 secretion system,supramolecular assemblies,macromolecular assemblies,protein secretion,nanomachines,nmr,protein structure determination
Precision tools for high-energy QCD scattering at the LHC and Auger (QCDENSE)

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-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2018-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main goal of this project is to develop theoretical and phenomenological tools in the framework of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at high gluon densities oriented to the understanding on data from the Heavy Ion program at the LHC and from the Pierre Auger Observatory on cosmic rays. One main goal of this proposal is to provide a precise characterization of the initial state of heavy ion collisions in order to allow a precise extraction of the transport parameters of the produced medium, presumably a Quark Gluon Plasma. This implies achieving a precise description of the full phase space and collision geometry dependence of the initial quark and gluon distributions and their correlations. The theoretical work of this project focuses in the calculation of higher order corrections to the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) effective theory for QCD high-energy scattering, both at the level of the non-linear evolution equations and of production processes. The theoretical results shall be used to build a Monte Carlo simulation tool for the characterisation of the initial stages of proton and nuclear collisions. The small Bjorken-x component of the nuclear wave function, a key ingredient for the calculation of any production processes studied in this project, shall be constructed under the Gaussian approximation and empirically constrained through global fits to data from several collision systems (e+p, p+p, p+A and A+A). Other objective of this project is to translate the advances in our understanding of high-energy QCD scattering gained by the detailed study of LHC data into the simulation tools used in the analyses of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays. This will allow for theoretically well constrained extrapolations over more than two orders of magnitude in the collision energy of several of the hadronic observables of great relevance for the development of the air-showers and, hence, for the interpretation of the experimental results.

Keywords: high-energy qcd scattering,heavy ion collisions,lhc,quark gluon plasma,cosmic rays
Fluctuation-Induced Interactions at the Interface between Photons, Atoms and Solids (INPHAS)

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-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Fluctuation-induced interactions are typically forces arising from classical and quantum fluctuations. Paradigmatic examples are the Casimir effect and the van der Waals force. They are connected with a panoply of phenomena of great importance in different areas of physics. The exact knowledge of these interactions is rapidly becoming very important not only for fundamental purposes but also for the opportunities and challenges that they offer to nanotechnology and their impact on future devices. Recent theoretical and experimental investigations have shown that such interactions are tunable in strength and sign, opening new perspectives to investigate aspects of quantum field theory, atomic and condensed-matter physics, and leading to promising and amazing nanoscopic devices. This research targets an intensive theoretical and computational study of equilibrium and non-equilibrium fluctuation- induced interactions. It aims to acquire and enhance the competences in order to affront topics and problematics that are at the root of the future scientific development in all disciplines that deal with nanotechnologies. The methodology adopted will allow to put into evidence special and otherwise hidden features. The increased understanding will also facilitate the genesis of new ideas and the transportability of the results to other frameworks. This project is based on a multidisciplinary approach, combining concepts from different fields of physics, such as equilibrium and non-equilibrium physics, plasmonics, near field radiative heat transfer, diffusive electrodynamics, atomic physics and engineered materials. All these topics are intimately related within the framework of fluctuation-induced interactions, allowing for a complete perspective and physical understanding of these phenomena.

Keywords: equilibrium and non-equilibrium processes,plasmonics,near field radiative heat transfer,diffusive electrodynamics,atom-surface interactions,geometry,dynamical effects
Observing Carbon Dioxide Emissions at Regional Scales (OCDERS)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing substantial changes to Earth’s climate and ecosystems. As governments take action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, the effectiveness of these actions must be validated by atmospheric measurements to independently confirm reported emissions. This proposal will study the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel combustion in two regions that have enacted progressive policies to reduce emissions: California and the UK. It will integrate the applicant, Dr. Heather Graven, into the European community as a lecturer at Imperial College London in the UK from her current post as a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US. Critical contributions of the CIG funding will be its support for travel to maintain and expand her collaborative network in the US, Europe and abroad, and its support for her initial investments to establish an innovative research program in Europe. The project involves cooperation across sectors, bringing together universities, government agencies and private firms, and it makes strong international connections between complementary research being conducted in the US and across Europe, in particular with the European Integrated Carbon Observing System (ICOS) and the American Carbon Monitoring System (CMS). The quality and leadership of the applicant, demonstrated by publications in high impact journals, outreach in the news media and the award of a significant grant to support part of her research programme over the integration period, will contribute to the excellence and impact of European research.

Keywords: carbon dioxide,co2,greenhouse gases,emissions,monitoring,validation,radiocarbon
Evolution of sociality in invasive fire ant populations (SOCIAL INVASIONS)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Evolutionary theory struggled to explain animal societies for many decades. Ultimate explanations were found but little is known about proximate explanations: how do social traits evolve at the molecular level? Dramatic advances in genome sequencing technologies now allow such questions to be addressed. Ants are a classical study system for social evolutionary research. Their impressive ecological success is attributed to sophisticated cooperation and division of labor. This advantage led some ants such as the fire ants Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri to become high-impact invasive species. They are also a unique study system where a derived social form evolved higher cooperation, and this polymorphism is a Mendelian trait with a known genetic basis. Here I propose to use native and introduced, S. invicta and S. richteri populations to study adaptation in social traits at the molecular level. A population genomics approach will be used to identify specific genes under selection. Probabilistic modeling and Bayesian estimation will be used to reconstruct the recent evolution and population structure, and to infer selective pressures in native compared to introduced populations. The selection survey will focus on two key aspects of adaptation in social invasive species: (i) genetic factors underlying changes in social behavior and social structure and (ii) immune pathways that bear the pathogenic load, a major selection pressure on social colonies. Thereby, the underlying genetic mechanisms involved in the evolution of social invasive species may be revealed.

Keywords: social evolution molecular evolution genomics social insects invasive species fire ants
Identification and targeting of metabolic pathways in dendritic cells that regulate their immune polarizing function (DENDRITIC CELLS)

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-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2015-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key regulators of both immunity and tolerance by controlling activation and polarization of effector T helper cells (Th) and regulatory T cell responses (Treg). Therefore, there is a major focus on developing approaches to manipulate DC function for immunotherapy. It is well known that changes in cellular activation are coupled to changes in cellular metabolism. However, only recently, based on studies with T cells and macrophages, the picture is emerging that manipulation of cellular metabolism can be used to shape immune responses. This field of immunometabolism is rapidly evolving as one of the new frontiers in science. Nonetheless, little is known about the metabolic processes that support DC activation or about the metabolic requirements for DCs to drive Th1, Th2 or Treg responses. My proposal aims to fill this gap and focuses on the novel concept that cellular metabolism regulates the immune-polarizing properties of DCs. Based on my recently published work and preliminary data, I hypothesize (1) that DCs priming Th1 responses are metabolically characterized by a switch to glycolytic metabolism, whereas Th2- or Treg-polarizing DCs, have a catabolic kind of metabolism that is dependent on mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and oxidative phosphorylation and (2) that these states of metabolism are required for their immune-polarizing capacity. To address this, my project aims (a) to characterize and compare the metabolic profiles of Th1-, Th2- and Treg-polarizing DCs and (b) to determine whether their metabolic programs underpin their T cell-polarizing capacity. (c) Based on these findings I aim to determine whether deliberate modulation of glycolytic or mitochondrial metabolism can alter the immune-polarizing capacity of DCs in such a way that they become either more immunogenic or tolerogenic in vivo. These studies can readily contribute to the development of novel metabolism-based strategies for improving DC-based immunotherapy.

Keywords: dendritic cell,t cell polarization,cellular metabolism,tolerance,immunity,glycolysis,fatty acid oxidation,vaccination
Graphene Based Ultrafast Lasers (GRABFAST)

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: Finland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Manipulating structure and composition in the nanoscale allows the creation of novel materials with superior performance for new products and devices. The introduction of a wide range of new low-cost nanomaterials is expected to have a disruptive impact on a variety of conventional inorganic semiconductor devices, not only because of performance/cost advantages, but also because they can be manufactured in more flexible ways, suitable for a growing range of applications. Graphene, a single layer of carbon allotrope, exhibits extraordinary optical and optoelectronic properties for ultrafast broadband photonics, including ultrafast response, high mobility, broadband absorption, and gate-variable optical conductivity, in addition to flexibility, robustness and environmental stability. My proposal aims to use graphene to create a new range of ultrafast lasers, such as ultrafast fiber, solid-state, and waveguide lasers. These lasers will break the spectrum and speed bottleneck of existing devices, and thus can provide cost-effective, energy-saving and robust tools with unprecedented speed and bandwidth, ideally fitting a large range of growing and emerging applications, such as high-speed telecommunication, industrial material processing, metrology, medicine and sensing applications. This is an ambitious frontier research program, with a strong interdisciplinary nature, across Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Matter sciences.

Keywords: ultrafast lasers,photonics,optics,graphene,saturable absorbers,fiber lasers,solid-state lasers,waveguide lasers
LAr RD for neutrino physics (NULARD)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The field of neutrino physics has produced a lot of excitement in the recent years and the next generation of neutrino experiments is extremely promising to probe CP-violation for the first time (this phenomenon may hold the answer to the long lasting puzzle of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe). The worldwide agreement to use Liquid Argon (LAr) technologies for the future generation of detectors will offer unprecedented sensitivity to neutrino detection and excellent background rejection, but more R&D is required to fully understand these state-of-the-art detectors and to demonstrate the scalability to very large scales. I propose to build and develop a strong LAr programme at University of Oxford by taking leadership roles in current and future neutrino experiments, as well as building the first LAr test stand to perform R&D work and essential measurements for neutrino and dark matter experiments. I will drive some of the most important physics analyses for the MicroBooNE experiment, currently constructing a 170 tons LAr detector. MicroBooNE is a vital milestone in the worldwide LAr development programme and the results will have significant scientific impact in the community and will pave the way to the next generation of experiments, such as the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE). I also propose to lead the Oxford group to take on significant responsibilities in the future LBNE experiment, such as developing the Data Acquisition system of the detector. LBNE will produce groundbreaking results and this research will offer the European community to make great impacts. Finally, I plan to build the first LAr R&D test stand at Oxford to perform greatly needed optical property measurements and to develop a new ambitious readout system for LAr detectors that could improve them considerably and could lay the ground for new medical imaging techniques.

Keywords: liquid argon detectors,neutrinos,dark matter
Coherent control and molecular dynamics in the era of terahertz (COSMODET)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Intense electromagnetic fields in the Terahertz (THz, 10^-12 Hz) frequency range have recently become tabletop available. In this proposal I offer to advance this unique range of frequencies into the world of gas phase coherent control and molecular dynamics. THz fields interact with molecules via their permanent electric dipoles, and induce molecular orientation, thus providing a new molecular handle (in addition to the commonly used visible/near-IR optical frequencies), for inducing and studying the rotational and molecular dynamics in the gas phase. I will utilize both THz and optical fields as two distinct molecular handles to induce unique molecular rotational responses that are inaccessible otherwise, and are invaluable for various spectroscopic techniques in the realm of molecular dynamics (such as high harmonic generation, molecular frame Photo-electron and Photo-ion angular distributions and ultrafast X-ray diffraction). THz induced inversion-asymmetry (orientation) enables nonlinear optical interrogation techniques that are forbidden in isotropic gas samples (such as second harmonic generation). Combining the polarizability-selective and dipole-selective interactions of optical and THz fields respectively, will enable far improved control of 3D molecular angular distributions – a long standing goal in chemistry and physics. The efficient THz-dipole interaction require field intensities that are orders of magnitude lower than those required by optical fields, and will be implemented for studying fragile samples such as bio-molecules. The dipole-selectivity of the THz field will be used for probing dynamic processes involving changes in the molecular dipole (such as trans<-->cis isomerization in azobenzene). The broadband resonant interaction of THz with the multilevel rotational system reveals collective light-matter phenomena that are fundamental to spectroscopy and will be further studied.

Keywords: molecular alignment and orientation,terahertz spectroscopy,terahertz coherent control,molecular dynamics,molecular rotation,ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy.