Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Neural coding, specification, design and test of message passing neural machines (NEUCOD)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2017-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1880062.8
EU funding (EUR): 1880062.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The way information is represented, stored, recalled and processed in the neocortex is assuredly one of the most puzzling enigmas that science will have to solve during this century. Setting the basic principles of the Mental Information Theory is a high challenge potentially opening huge fields of research and progress in various domains. This research project is at the crossroads of neuroscience, computational intelligence and information theory, with a particular emphasis on the properties of distributed information processing architectures. Precisely, this project aims to identify clearly, deepen and exploit the strong analogies (distributed structure and message passing, storage capacity, discrimination ability, resilience, importance of cycles and correlation, etc.) that can be found between the structures and properties of the cerebral cortex and those of modern error correcting decoders studied in the communications science area. It is possible today to deduct from all the observations and discoveries made recently about cerebral biology a minimum material that can help information theory (communication, coding, graphs, etc.) contribute to the understanding and imitation of the neocortex functioning. In particular, the recently introduced biological concepts of neural clusters, neural cliques and sparse coding are exploited in order to devise original and efficient brain-inspired networks. We have already demonstrated that combining these concepts in a judicious approach opens the way to store and retrieve a number of messages proportional to the square of the number of neurons (to be compared for instance with the well-known sub-linear law of Hopfield networks). The objective of this project is twofold: 1) implementing electronic machines having the ability to learn a lot of information and to produce new one by association, fusion or crossbreeding within a 5-year period, 2) contributing to the understanding of the biological long and short term memories

Keywords: error correcting codes,message passing,sparsity,neural networks,neural cliques,clusters
The Science of Forecasting: Probabilistic Foundations, Statistical Methodology and Applications (SCIENCEFORE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: ERC Advanced Grant Interdisciplinary Panel
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 69.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1726793.89
EU funding (EUR): 1726793.89
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The future being uncertain, forecasts ought to be probabilistic in nature, taking the form of probability distributions over future quantities or events. Accordingly, a transdisciplinary transition from point forecasts to probabilistic forecasts is well under way. The ScienceFore project seeks to provide guidance and leadership in this transition, by developing the theoretical foundations of the science of forecasting, as well as cutting-edge statistical methodology, along with applications in meteorology and economics. Theoretically, we will focus on the study of aggregation methods for the combination of multiple probabilistic forecasts for the same quantity or event, and on the design and structure of performance measures that encourage truthful predictions, including but not limited to proper scoring rules. In applications, we will develop statistical postprocessing techniques for the THORPEX Interactive Grand Global Ensemble (TIGGE), which comprises the world's leading global numerical weather prediction models. The key challenge is to retain physically realistic and coherent joint dependence structures across meteorological variables, continents and oceans, and look-ahead times. Furthermore, we will investigate the use of statistical postprocessing techniques in macroeconomic surveys, and aim to resolve a long-standing puzzle in the evaluation of economic and financial forecasts. Theory and applications will intertwine closely, to result in a project that constitutes much more than the sum of its parts. For example, the study of the properties of aggregation methods will inform the development of postprocessing methods for ensemble weather forecasts, and decision theoretically principled approaches to the design of performance measures call for a change of paradigms in the practice of the generation and evaluation of point forecasts, to be demonstrated in case studies.

Keywords: forecasting
Frontiers in Plasmonics: Transformation Optics, Quantum and Non-linear phenomena (PLASMONANOQUANTA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1347600.0
EU funding (EUR): 1347600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The overall objective of this proposal is to work in depth along three ground-breaking lines of research that are at the cutting edge of the current research in Plasmonics. These three subjects have strong overlap and are: 1) Non-linear phenomena and Plasmonic lasing: the introduction of optical-gain media into plasmonic waveguides has proven to be a feasible way to overcome the inherent losses within the metal. In order to reveal the physics behind this phenomenon, we intend to develop a new ab-initio theoretical framework that should combine the resolution of classical Maxwell’s equations with a quantum-mechanical treatment of the molecules forming the optical-gain medium. Within this formalism we also aim to analyze in depth very recent proposals of plasmon-based nano-lasers, the design of active devices based on surface plasmons and the use of optical-gain media in metallic metamaterials. 2) Transformation Optics for Plasmonics: we plan to apply the idea of Transformation Optics in connection with the concept of Metamaterials to devise new strategies for molding the propagation of surface plasmons in nanostructured metal surfaces. Additionally, we will use the Transformation Optics formalism to treat quasi-analytically non-local effects in plasmonic structures. 3) Quantum Plasmonics: several aspects of this new line of research will be tackled. Among others, fundamental studies of the coherence of surface plasmons that propagate along different metal waveguides after being generated by quantum emitters. A very promising line of research to explore will be plasmon-mediated interaction between qubits, taking advantage of the quasi-one-dimensional character of plasmonic waveguides. Strong-coupling phenomena between molecules and surface plasmons and the design of practical scenarios in which entanglement of surface plasmons could take place will be also addressed. We also plan to study how to generate surface plasmons with orbital angular momentum.

Keywords: plasmonics
Hyperpolarized Singlet NMR (HYPERSINGLET)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2016-07-31
Duration (months): 54.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2877583.0
EU funding (EUR): 2877583.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is the most widely used spectroscopic tool in the physical sciences. Techniques are now available that provide experimental access to hyperpolarized molecules, in which NMR signals are enhanced by up to 5 orders of magnitude, with potentially revolutionary implications. However, the lifetime of the hyperpolarized state is usually limited by the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time, called T1, and which is typically in the range of a few seconds to about 1 minute. The range of applications accessible to hyperpolarized NMR is restricted by the need to use the hyperpolarized substance within this short timescale. In this proposal, we aim to extend the lifetime of hyperpolarized substances by exploiting a phenomenon first described in our laboratory - namely the exceptional lifetime of nuclear singlet states. These are quantum superposition states of nuclear spin pairs which are protected against many common relaxation mechanisms, with experimentally demonstrated lifetimes of up to 25 minutes. We will (i) identify, design and synthesize substances that support nuclear spin states with especially long lifetimes; (ii) design and demonstrate methodology for hyperpolarizing long-lived nuclear singlet states; (iii) perform test-of-principle experiments showing enhanced NMR imaging of flow and diffusion using hyperpolarized nuclear singlet states, in contexts emulating those found in clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); (iv) design and demonstrate experiments and molecular systems that allow the hyperpolarized singlet order to be transformed into magnetization of strongly magnetic nuclei such as protons, with benefits to the signal strength and to the spatial resolution. In summary we will bridge the gap between the high promise of long-lived nuclear singlet states and the world of real applications, with an emphasis on demonstrating the feasibility of real-world in vivo NMR and MRI applications.

Keywords: nuclear magnetic resonance long-lived quantum states hyperpolarization
Combustion of Sustainable Alternative Fuels for Engines used in aeronautics and automotives (2G-CSAFE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and process engineering
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2011-12-01
End date: 2016-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2498450.0
EU funding (EUR): 2498450.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims at promoting sustainable combustion technologies for transport via validation of advanced combustion kinetic models obtained using sophisticated new laboratory experiments, engines, and theoretical computations, breaking through the current frontier of knowledge. It will focus on the unexplored kinetics of ignition and combustion of 2nd generation (2G) biofuels and blends with conventional fuels, which should provide energy safety and sustainability to Europe. The motivation is that no accurate kinetic models are available for the ignition, oxidation and combustion of 2G-biofuels, and improved ignition control is needed for new compression ignition engines. Crucial information is missing: data from well characterised experiments on combustion-generated pollutants and data on key-intermediates for fuels ignition in new engines. To provide that knowledge new well-instrumented complementary experiments and kinetic modelling will be used. Measurements of key-intermediates, stables species, and pollutants will be performed. New ignition control strategies will be designed, opening new technological horizons. Kinetic modelling will be used for rationalising the results. Due to the complexity of 2G-biofuels and their unusual composition, innovative surrogates will be designed. Kinetic models for surrogate fuels will be generalised for extension to other compounds. The experimental results, together with ab-initio and detailed modelling, will serve to characterise the kinetics of ignition, combustion, and pollutants formation of fuels including 2G biofuels, and provide relevant data and models. This research is risky because this is (i) the 1st effort to measure radicals by reactor/CRDS coupling, (ii) the 1st effort to use a μ-channel reactor to build ignition databases for conventional and bio-fuels, (iii) the 1st effort to design and use controlled generation and injection of reactive species to control ignition/combustion in compression ignition engines

Keywords: biofuels second generation,kinetics,pollution,engine ignition,diagnostics,plasma
Numerical Computation with Functions Instead of Numbers (FUNCOMP)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1668157.0
EU funding (EUR): 1668157.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Numerical analysis, scientific computing, and computational science are built on technologies of discretization such as splines, finite differences, and finite elements. Yet for most applications it is ultimately continuous functions that are of scientific interest, and the discretizations are a means to the end of working with them. This project will advance mathematics and algorithms to enable scientists and engineers to compute with functions rather than their discretizations. Such computations will be numerical as opposed to symbolic, for speed and wide applicability, yet will achieve some of the “feel” of symbolic computing. The goal is to do for computing with functions what floating-point arithmetic has done for computing with numbers: to hide away details of discretization from most users, most of the time.

Keywords: approximation theory,chebyshev,chebfun
Mob Data Sourcing (MODAS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2018-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1706400.0
EU funding (EUR): 1706400.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Crowd-based data sourcing is a new and powerful data procurement paradigm that engages Web users to collectively contribute data, analyze information and share opinions. This brings to light, out of the huge, inconsistent Web ocean, an important body of knowledge that would otherwise not be attainable. Crowd-based data sourcing democratizes data-collection, cutting companies and researchers reliance on stagnant, overused datasets, and has great potential for revolutionizing our information world. Yet, triumph has so far been limited to only a handful of successful projects such as Wikipedia or IMDb. This comes notably from the difficulty of managing huge volumes of data and users of questionable quality and reliability. Every single initiative had to battle, almost from scratch, the same non-trivial challenges. The ad hoc solutions, even when successful, are application specific and rarely sharable. In this project we propose to develop solid scientific foundations for Web-scale data sourcing. We believe that such a principled approach is essential to obtain knowledge of superior quality, to realize the task more effectively and automatically, be able to reuse solutions, and thereby to accelerate the pace of the absorption of this new technology that is revolutionizing our life. Our goal is very ambitious. We will develop the logical, algorithmic, and methodological foundations for the management of large scale crowd-sourced data and for the development of applications over such information. This encompasses a formal model capturing all the diverse facets of crowd-sourced data. This also means developing the necessary reasoning capabilities for managing data sourcing, cleaning, verification, integration, sharing, querying and updating, in a dynamic Web environment. This technological breakthrough will open the way for developing new and otherwise unattainable universe of knowledge in a wide range of applications, from scientific to social and economical ones.

Keywords: databases,crowdsourcing,data cleaning,query languages,probabilistic data,provenance,query optimization,update propagation
Topological Spin Solitons for Information Technology (TOPFIT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2200000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2200000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Present day limitations of information technology based on magnetic materials may be traced to the notion, that all magnetic materials known until recently exhibit conventional, i.e., topologically trivial, forms of magnetic order. Only two years ago the first example of an entirely new form of magnetic order has been discovered, which is composed of topologically stable spin solitons (so called skyrmions) caused by chiral spin interactions. These skyrmions display several exceptional properties, e.g., great stability against perturbations and spin torque effects at ultra-low current densities. Because the underlying chiral interactions exist, in principle, in a very wide range of different settings a comprehensive search for similar spin solitons in other bulk compounds, thin films and especially at interfaces promises major break-throughs for information technology. For instance, the spin transfer torques at ultra-low current densities open an unexpected, new route to high-speed data processing. Further, the topological stability of the solitons may be exploited in non-volatile high-density data storage devices. Finally, the topological Hall effect caused by spin solitons may be used to build a new class of field sensors. The objectives of this proposal are a systematic search for new forms of magnetic order composed of topologically protected (particle-like) spin solitons in bulk materials driven by chiral interactions. This will establish a new field of magnetic phenomena. We further propose the development of concepts how to exploit specifically the topological aspects of these spin solitons in information technology. The proposed research program comprises state-of-the art materials preparation, in-depth studies of the materials properties using bulk and microscopic probes and advanced theoretical modelling. While the proposed project represents a high-risk effort, it promises a fundamentally new approach to information technology

Keywords: topological solitons,spin transfer torque,neutron scattering,extreme conditions,quantum phase transitions
Manipulation of trapped quantum polariton fluids (POLARITRONICS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2017-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Despite their incredibly short lifetime, around a few picoseconds only, it has now been amply demonstrated that polaritons may undergo Bose Einstein condensation (BEC) and such quantum fluids have demonstrated very interesting properties such as superfluidity. This project aims at introducing a new paradigm in solid-state physics trough the manipulation of polaritons quantum fluids and condensates in properly designed traps : such fluids will bring a wide variety of novel properties. With my team, I have recently made major advances towards this by preparing high quality polariton traps and evidencing some of the aspects of the rich physics of polaritons fluids in traps. The whole field of polariton fluids is still in its infancy and I am convinced that major discoveries will be made during the coming years both for propagating polariton fluids and for confined geometries. I intend to stay at the forefront the field of confined polaritons and to provide high quality structures to other labs. My studies will be oriented along three major lines, each requesting a significant effort. - The study of polariton BECs and quantum fluids in planar microcavities, both in II-VIs and III-Vs, - The manipulation of coherent polariton fluids in geometry controlled environments, - The realization of BEC and quantum fluid based polaritronic devices. Each of these three parts represents a major challenge with great potentialities. First, these topics are a really novel contribution in solid-state physics. Second, the possible manipulation of polariton condensates opens up a vast domain, which covers both fundamental and applied physics and which limits we are absolutely unable to assess yet. I feel that the transition from atom condensates to polariton condensates may bring similar improvements for possible devices than it has been the case for the transition between the electronic tube and the transistor. I aim to keep my research group at the head of these very promising changes.

Keywords: bose einstein condensation superfluidity
Printed Electroceramics with Ultimate Compositions (ULTIMATE CERAMICS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and process engineering
Countries involved: Finland
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2017-10-31
Duration (months): 69.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1933200.0
EU funding (EUR): 1933200.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The ultimate goal of this research is to make extremely advanced leap enabling processing of wide variety of ceramic materials at ultra low temperatures denoted as ULTIMATE CERAMICS(200-500 oC). The project has its risks, but advantages like utilization of pure ceramic materials on challenging substrates like plastic and paper could offer novel scientific results as well as business opportunities to European industry. Key issues based on scientific laws of matters forming the basic research methodology to succeed are • intelligent selection and development of starting materials • utilization of nano technology • management of dense and uniform packaging of powder particles • minimization of required activation energy during sintering • management of type, level and rate of diffusion in sintering • microwave sintering There are several reasons why this kind of ULTIMATE CERAMICS can now be seriously research. The main issues are that ano particle silver pastes sinterable at ~ 200 oC have recently become commercially available, and ceramics with nano particle size have been widely on the market. However, taking the high risk, ground-breaking challenge, ultimate novel materials and processes are available. ULTIMATE CERAMICS offer significance novel business opportunities for European industry not available in any other way since ceramic materials are able to perform e.g. as semiconductors, dielectric, non-linear dielectrics, sensors, and electrically or magnetically tunable devices. In the industrial point of view, the main issue is to enable printable structures on paper compatible with nano particle silver electrodes and printed organic materials. It is also obvious that novel scientific results will be created especially when several techniques like e.g. microwave sintering – nano particles – sintering aids –silver electrodes - are combined.