Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Nanocomposite magnetocaloric materials (NANOMAGMA)

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): 172240.8
EU funding (EUR): 172240.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Worldwide a large part of produced electrical energy is used in inefficient vapour-compression cooling systems. Magnetic refrigeration near room-temperature has great potential to establish itself as a 21st century cooling technology and become an energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, cost-saving approach to replace the conventional technology. For successful operation of the magnetic refrigerator, the magnitude of the entropy change associated with the change of magnetic state of the active magnetic coolant is crucial and some materials including La(Fe,Si)13 are very attractive. Previous work has focused on optimising materials to enhance the magnetic properties of the parent compound, but it is clear that the operating field and the ability to create suitable thermal pathways are critical factors limiting industrial use. In this project we propose to use simple low-cost, scalable processing routes to develop novel nano-architectures to tackle thermal management and low operating fields. The magnetocaloric material La(Fe,Si)13 will be integrated into a percolating network of high thermal conductivity material e.g. Cu, alumina or carbon nanotubes. A number of approaches will be explored: solution, vapour phase and conventional powder processing. We will examine 1D, 2D and 3D nanocomposite structures to probe key issues such as effects of grain and particle size, strain, orientation and volume fraction of active material. Exploring intergrain exchange coupling of the La(Fe,Si)13 with a soft magnetic material of high moment such as -Fe will address the issue of lowering the operating field. The project will provide ample training opportunities for the IEF fellow in a range of complementary areas. We will establish structure-property relationships and develop fundamental physical models for single-phase and composite devices. This will allow rational design of magnetic refrigerant systems and be a major step towards industrial application of this technology.

Keywords: magnetocaloric,nanocomposites
PROSODY EXPERIENCE ENHANCEMENT WITH MUSICAL EDUCATION (PRE-MUS)

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: 2011-02-08
End date: 2012-02-07
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 92051.6
EU funding (EUR): 92051.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed PROSODY EXPERIENCE ENHANCEMENT WITH MUSICAL EDUCATION (PRE-MUS) will bring Dr. Mualem, a professional musician and music teacher from Israel to Hull, for a postdoctoral fellowship in the cognitive psychology laboratory of Dr. Lavidor. This is an ambitious, multi-disciplinary project that has exceptional potential clinical and educational applications. The main objectives of PRE-MUS project are: 1. Characterize perceptual prosodic abilities, performance on various levels of perceptual auditory linguistic and non-linguistic related tasks, and examine the associations between them. 2. Characterize musical education (MUS) level and examine the interrelations between them and prosodic abilities. 3. Pilot intervention training in musical education and auditory skills to enhance emotional prosody comprehension. We view objective (3) as particularly important in developing methods of rehabilitation of prosody deficits found in Autism and Schizophrenia. The PRE-MUS will provide an exceptional environment for the advanced research training of the researcher (Dr. Mualem) in state-of-the-art theories and methods of cognitive psychology. The main training objective of PRE-MUS is to maximize the chances of Dr. Mualem to get an academic position in her homeland and the training program details how we aim to do so. The PRE-MUS will also provide positive role models for young female researchers in the community, as the two partners (Lavidor and Mualem) are both mothers who combine a career in Science with family life. Dr. Lavidor has already benefited from European funding under FP5, FP6 and FP7, including an ERC start-up award and a Marie Curie excellence award. Her extensive experience with EC schemes will guarantee the smooth running of the PRE-MUS project.

Keywords: prosody,musical education,auditory skills,perception,cognition
Molecular and ecological approaches to study soil food webs for enhancing biological control of insect pests and monitoring disturbances (ECOLOGY-EPN-FOOD WEB)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-10-01
End date: 2013-09-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 241761.1
EU funding (EUR): 241761.1
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Soil is a largely non-renewable resource with high socio-economic and natural value. Soil ecosystems sustain high biodiversity involved in complex food webs that interact with abiotic factors. Understanding these complex interactions could provide a model for monitoring soil disturbances as well as optimizing ecological scenarios to favour biological control. The aim of this post-doctoral research project is to develop and use molecular tools based on quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to study food webs comprised of nematodes, fungi and bacteria. The new molecular tools will improve our ability to detect and quantify these organisms in soil. We intend to study the relative roles of physical and biotic components of various habits in regulating the spatial patterns of the entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN). These nematodes offer a promising non-chemical alternative for managing insect pests in a number of crops worldwide. Whereas these nematodes are generally applied to soil repeatedly as needed (augmentation biological control), we seek new information to modify the habitat (conservation biological control) in ways that will increase the efficacy of both augmented and endemic EPNs. Furthermore, these molecular tools will provide a means of monitoring human activities that cause a significant perturbation to the soil ecosystem, by monitoring changes in the occurrence and population density of organisms related to the state of soil conservation

Keywords: soil ecology,crop protection,animal ecology,population biology,environmental monitoring
Magnetic Coordination Cluster Polymers (POLYMAG)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-11-01
End date: 2012-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 222982.0
EU funding (EUR): 222982.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Coordination polymers exhibiting magnetic properties can be considered as strategic and revolutionary materials due to their great potential in the development of ‘intelligent’ multifunctional materials including magnetic sensors and molecular spintronics precursors. The main goal of the proposed project “Magnetic Coordination Cluster Polymers” is the development on novel generation of functional materials via controlled assembly of coordination polymers based on polynuclear coordination clusters and multitopic linker groups, including organic radicals and redox-active polyoxoanions. In order to obtain coordination polymers a range of procedures and ligands will be explored. These synthesis procedures extend beyond those traditionally used and will include high-temperature reactions in the solid state and in high-boiling solvents, as well as novel solvothermal synthesis conditions offered by ultrasonic and microwave irradiation. The resulting coordination networks based on 1/2/3D linking modes will be characterized and investigated by modern physico-chemical methods in order to elucidate the relationship of their geometric and electronic/magnetic properties. The expected results will provide understanding of the role of gradually introduced inter-cluster coupling when moving from isolated molecules to multi-dimensional systems. The deliberate construction of extended magnetic networks is key to fundamental charge transport experiments in molecular spintronics and thus addresses scientific and societal needs regarding future low-energy information technologies and thus is of cross-disciplinary interest to groups in inorganic chemistry, condensed matter physics, and microelectronics.

Keywords: chemistry,inorganic chemistry,molecular chemistry,electronic,magnetic and superconductive properties,cristallography,structural chemistry
Flow Interaction Between the Ocean Surface and the Interior (FIBOSI)

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: 2010-11-01
End date: 2012-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165040.8
EU funding (EUR): 165040.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

he Earth's oceans are carpeted by a highly-energetic turbulent sea of vortices and currents, together with many similar subsurface structures. These structures are particularly numerous at horizontal scales between 1 and 100 km, the `oceanic mesoscale´. They arise from basic fluid dynamical instabilities, together with thermal and wind forcing at the sea surface. They contribute strongly to heat, chemical and biological transport, and hence play a major role in the Earth&apos;s climate. Presently, global computational models cannot accurately represent these small-scale structures. To do this, a global model would have to span a vast range of scales, from 1 km to 10,000 km. (The best global model can faithfully represent scale of motion down to 20 km, without excessive numerical dissipation. Closing the gap to 1 km using present computational methods would require computers 10,000 times faster than presently available.) As a result, we have little hope in reliably estimating the impact of mesoscale oceanic turbulence on climate. This project argues for an alternative, complementary approach capable of accurately modelling, and better understanding, the essential features of this turbulent motion. Instead of modelling the entire ocean, we propose to model a representative portion of it, where oceanic turbulence is particularly active. We will focus on characteristic aspects of this turbulence, in particular nonlinear interactions between vortices and between a vortex and a current. We will account for the effects of bottom topography on the sea floor, as well as thermal and wind forcing at the sea surface. Our objective is to comprehensively map out and quantify these interactions, with the practical aim to help better assess their impact on climate.

Keywords: physical oceanography,surface quasi geostrophic/interior quasi geostrophic coupled model,casl (contour advective semi-lagrangian algorithm)
Toward microphysics of the AdS/CFT correspondence (TMPADSCFT)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-08-12
End date: 2012-08-11
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 233282.4
EU funding (EUR): 233282.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the most surprising predictions of string theory is the AdS/CFT correspondence, which states that string theory in a certain spacetime is dual and equivalent to a quantum field theory. The power of this correspondence lies in the fact that it is a strong-weak duality, relating strongly coupled field theory and weakly coupled string theory, and vice versa. This correspondence is well understood at the level of macrophysics, i.e., thermodynamics and hydrodynamics. One example is the case where the field theory is (a cousin of) QCD; the macrophysics of quark-gluon plasma has been successfully analyzed using the string theory dual. However, macrophysics is merely an effective, coarse-grained description of the underlying microphysics. The goal of the proposed research is to advance the understanding of AdS/CFT to non-equilibrium microscopic aspects, making use of phenomena linking macro- and microphysics. Such research will provide a foundation on which the known macrophysics of strongly coupled systems can be based, and further allows us to explore quantum physics of gravity. Strongly coupled systems are ubiquitous in nature and quantum gravity effects are important e.g. for the early universe. Therefore, studies of microphysics via AdS/CFT are of major significance. One phenomenon linking macro- and microphysics is Brownian motion. On the field theory side, a quark immersed in plasma undergoes Brownian motion. One goal is, by studying the string dual of this Brownian particle, to reveal the microphysics of the plasma constituents. Conversely, we can learn about quantum gravity using Brownian motion in field theory. Another link is the Boltzmann equation describing the time evolution of one-particle distribution. On the field theory side this provides a way to study non-equilibrium processes in strongly coupled plasma, while on the gravity side it allows us to study black hole formation systematically.

Keywords: quantum field theory,nuclear physics,string theory,ads/cft correspondence,heavy ion physics
Innovative organic/inorganic hybrid materials for multifunctional catalysis (HYMUCAT)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2012-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212054.0
EU funding (EUR): 212054.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Organic-inorganic hybrids are of great interest because they combine the advantage of inorganic solids (high mechanical, thermal and structural stability) and organic molecules (flexibility and functionality). The heterogeneous catalysts are limited in the nature of the active sites and thus the scope of reactions that they can accomplish, whilst the organic molecules can catalyse a larger variety of reactions but suffer from their inability to be recycled. The goal is to use the organic moiety as the active sites and the inorganic solid to provide a way to recover and to recycle the organic sites. The aim of the HYMUCAT project is the synthesis and the characterisation of innovative hybrid porous silicas to produce a multifunctional catalysts having both basic and acid sites. These active sites can act in cascade reactions to provide catalytic activity and selectivity superior to what can be obtained from monofunctional or homogeneous catalysts. Particular attention will be given to the effect of the spatial arrangement of the organic functionalities on the inner surface of porous silica and to the modulation of the strength of the acid and basic sites. Conventional and non-conventional sol-gel processes carried out by a co-condensation will be used to create organic-inorganic hybrids that contain the organic moiety as part of the silica network. Diamines with neighboring atoms and aromatic frames, such as naphthalene, referred as proton sponges, will be used as organic part, they exhibit unusually high basicity constants. Moreover, the weakly acidic silanols, belonging to the silica network, can preactivate the reagents by interaction of the carbonyl groups. This enables the proton sponge in the hybrid to abstract protons with a higher pKa than that of the plain proton sponge. The hybrids will be tested in Knoevenagel condensations and, after the introduction of strong acid sites will be tested in acid/base cascade reactions for the synthesis of fine chemicals.

Keywords: hybrids,organic-inorganic,synthesis,characterisation,multifunctional catalysis,cascade reactions
Novel concepts for molecular interface engineering and unravelling of structure/property relationships at electrified interfaces (MULTISCAD)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2013-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 238099.9
EU funding (EUR): 238099.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Manipulation of single molecules, in particular measuring the mechanochemistry of single molecules and probing their adhesive interactions have become state-of-the-art in interface science. However, a fundamental understanding and rationalization of the scaling of interactions, starting from single molecule up to multiple molecule interactions at solid/liquid interfaces remains an unexplored topic. This fundamental understanding of scaling of molecular interactions is a key-knowledge for prediction and prevention of degradation processes at composite materials interfaces, such as wet de-adhesion or electrochemically driven corrosive de-adhesion of polymers. In particular, considering the economic impact of these processes and the relevance of composite materials for key-technologies. In this context, the project strategy will follow an innovative experimental methodology promoting a groundbreaking understanding of the cooperative outcome of interactions of single molecules at solid/liquid interfaces. We will combine single molecule atomic force microscopy and macro-scale surface force apparatus (SFA) measurements for studying surface and interface forces as triggered by the presence of exactly engineered, gradually changing polymer molecules. Further, the project proposes the simultaneous in-situ implementation of infrared spectroscopy and electrochemical potential control within the SFA. This setup will allow for the first time measuring steric forces and effects of the molecular structure of confined soft matter at an electrified interface with Ångström resolution. This singular setup will not only extend the level of understanding of electrochemically driven delamination processes. It will also prove useful for studying interface phenomena beyond state-of-the-art in other fields. The methodical and instrumental advances implied by this project will facilitate the direct extrapolation of single molecular interaction forces to technologically relevant situations.

Keywords: surface chemistry,single molecules,adhesion,surface forces,molecular interactions,sfa,afm,structure-property relations,potential control,electrochemistry
PRotein cOatings to prevent Bacterial Infections (PROBI)

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: 2011-09-12
End date: 2012-09-11
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 117213.6
EU funding (EUR): 117213.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Biomaterials are revolutionising many aspects of preventive and therapeutic healthcare. They are already playing an important role in the development of new medical devices, prostheses, tissue repair and replacement technologies. This proposal addresses two of the most critical issues in biomaterials research: lack of knowledge of the fundamentals processes underlying interfacial interactions and bacterial infection. We will focus our research on materials used for ophthalmological implants and in particular on the ones used in the manufacturing of intra-ocular lenses for cataract surgery. We will study the interaction of Staphilococcus epidermidis with biomaterial surfaces with nanoscience techniques. Staphilococcus epidermidis ranks first among the causative agents of nosocomial infections. In particular, S. epidermidis represents the most common source of infections on indwelling medical devices. Based on the knowledge accumulated in recent years about the characteristics that make a successful biocompatible interface we propose to research on the properties of amphipatic fungal proteins Hydrophobins as a plausible candidate to modulate the biomaterial interface. In particular, we will investigate class I hydrophobin extracted from the basidiomycete fungus Pleurotus ostreatus, whose properties are only partially investigated. Several studies have shown that class I hydrophobins do not seem to be toxic or cytotoxic or immunogenic, thus they are susceptible to be used in various medical and technical applications. We propose to coat model surfaces with thin layers of native hydrophobin. The adhesion properties of the layer to the substrate as well as the wetting properties of the biofilm surfaces, will be fully investigated. Subsequently interaction of bacteria with hydrophobin coated surfaces will be investigated. The goal is to obtain information about the factors that may reduce the incidence of infections due to bacterial colonization on biomaterials.

Keywords: experimental physics,medical physics,biomechanics,soft matter and polymer physics,ophthalmology,infections