Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Vegetation dynamics and ecosystem services provision in a fragmented landscape in response to global change (DYVERSE)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-06-01
End date: 2014-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 203333.2
EU funding (EUR): 203333.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Anthropogenic land use change, caused by increasing needs for energy and resources, is driving dramatic changes in biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and consequently ecosystem services, such as water quality or crop pollination. New quantitative tools are needed to refine our understanding and projections of these processes into the coming century. Such tools are needed to develop policies and management strategies (e.g. ecological networks) required to mitigate the effects of climate change and land-use change. We will develop such a tool by adapting and coupling BIOMOVE, an existing landscape modelling shell, to existing ecosystem services models, in order to simulate vegetation dynamics in the Monteregie (a case study region in south west Quebec), a biodiversity-rich area with a highly fragmented landscape. The model will be combined with projections from regional climate models and planned land use changes in the Monteregie to simulate future changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services. We will then analyse the effects of changing landscape connectivity by establishing ecological networks linking forest fragments with corridors within the region. The model will help search for synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity and ecosystem services. The model will also uncover potential critical connectivity thresholds for key elements of regional biodiversity and associated services (e.g. plant-pollinator interactions). Finally, we will test the robustness of various ecological network designs to projected natural and anthropogenic disturbances, and in so doing rank the importance of the different habitat nodes and corridors to connectivity and landscape resilience.

Keywords: ecosystem services,connectivity,biodiversity,climate and land-use changes,ecosystem functioning,vegetation modelling,network,ecological services
Enhancing motor learning and neural plasticity in robotic gait training (EMLNPRGT)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187028.8
EU funding (EUR): 187028.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Robotic haptic guidance is a motor-training strategy in which a machine physically interacts with the participant’s limbs during movement training. This strategy is commonly used to reduce performance errors while training dangerous tasks as relearning to walk after a neurologic injury. There is currently little evidence that robotic guidance is beneficial for human motor learning. In fact, a long-standing hypothesis states that physically guiding a movement impairs motor learning. However, recent studies have suggested that haptic guidance seems to be particularly helpful in less skilled participants, in the demonstration of optimal timing rather than movement magnitude. We propose a 2-year project that aims to identify which form of guidance -and for which patients' specific motor deficits -will optimize motor learning using the gait robotic rehabilitator Lokomat. We will identify the effect of different forms of guidance and resistance training on motor recovery of a timing task as walking. We will engineer a technique to quantify the individual disability level in order to provide each individual with the amount of guidance that would optimize learning, enhancing the beneficial use of the Lokomat robot for training less disable patients by means of more sophisticate control strategies, such as error amplification. The goal of robotic therapy is the development of robotic devices to perform exercises which provoke motor plasticity. However, it is still an open question how different rehabilitation strategies contribute to brain restorative processes. The results from studying the particular brain regions involved in learning might help tailoring motor training conditions to the anatomical location of a focal brain insult. To achieve this goal, we will evaluate the brain regions involved in learning when training with different forms of guidance, performing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while training with an fMRI compatible walking robotic device.

Keywords: neurology,electromechanical engineering,biomedical engineering,robotics
Regulation of endocytosis of the aquaporin-2 water channel: an interplay of phosphorylation and ubiquitination (AQUASHUTTLE)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 176685.6
EU funding (EUR): 176685.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A proper water balance is essential for life on land and is, besides drinking water, depending on water reabsorption in the kidney. Renal water uptake depends on the expression of the aquaporin-2 (AQP2) water channel in the urinary membrane of collecting duct cells, which is critically determined by a balance of shuttling of AQP2 to (exocytosis) and from (endocytosis) this membrane. Humans with insufficient AQP2 levels suffer from Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI), a disorder in which the kidney cannot concentrate urine resulting in polyuria, while humans with increased plasma membrane abundance of AQP2 excessively reabsorb water. The shuttling of AQP2 is under hormonal regulation. Recent data showed that vasopressin (AVP) induces AQP2 exocytosis by increasing its phosphorylation at serine 256 (pS256), S264 and S269, whereas pS261 was decreased. AVP-counteracting hormones, such as dopamine and ATP, induce AQP2 endocytosis involving its temporary ubiquitination at lysine 270 (K270). The effect on changes in pS256/261/264/269, and the identity of the E3 ubiquitin ligase and deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) are unknown. Using an ideal polarized cell model and state of the art tools and techniques, the applicant will (1) determine the relationship and order in changes in pS256/261/264/269 and ubiquitination with dopamine/ATP-induced endocytosis of AQP2, (2) investigate whether the plasma membrane expression of constitutively-phosphorylated S269 is due to decreased K270 ubiquitination, (3) search for and identify the E3 ubiquitin ligase and DUB regulating AQP2 endocytosis, and (4) investigate in what sense a mutation causing NDI (AQP2-P262L) is changed in its phosphorylation compared to wt-AQP2 and whether it explains its missorting. The anticipated data will increase the insight into the dynamic regulation of renal water reabsorption and plasma membrane expression of AQP2 in health and disease, and may reveal new targets for treatment of water balance disorders.

Keywords: aquaporin-2,phosphorylation,ubiquitination,endocytosis,water homeostasis,nephrogenic diabetes insipidus
Killer Whales (KWAF10)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-04-01
End date: 2013-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 220090.4
EU funding (EUR): 220090.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Ecology is the major force behind divergent selection and therefore has a key role in driving evolution and speciation1. Investigating the interaction between ecology, genes and phenotype has typically been limited to a few model species for which classic ecological techniques can be applied, e.g. reciprocal transplant experiments. This leaves us with little or no understanding of the processes or mechanisms involved in speciation in non-model organisms. The advent of high-throughput DNA sequencing allows for genome-wide scans of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), which when combined with recently developed statistical approaches can be used to detect genes under selection and map these to linked phenotypic traits. When combined with multi-disciplinary analysis of field data, e.g. stable isotopes, morphometrics and behavioural observations, these can be used to investigate the genetic basis in phenotype divergence and elucidate the mechanisms and processes behind evolutionary divergence and ultimately speciation in non-model organisms. Killer whales are polytypic; ecologically, morphologically and genetically disparate ecotypes are found in the Atlantic, Antarctic and Pacific. They are therefore an ideal candidate for the application of novel and in-development techniques to investigate the genetic basis of phenotype divergence and the role of divergent ecological selection.

Keywords: biodiversity inventory: systematics phylogeny taxonomy,applied biology,genetics,ecological genetics,environmental genomics
Chiral Metallopolymers: Synthesis, Self-Assembly and Applications (CMSSA)

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-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-08-08
End date: 2013-08-07
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 201049.6
EU funding (EUR): 201049.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The creation of chiral molecules and materials is of major current interest and of key importance to pharmacy, biochemistry, and materials science. Recently, metal-containing polymers (metallopolymers) have emerged as highly promising advanced materials due to their potential uses in various fields. However, the chiral characteristics of metallopolymers are virtually unexplored. We propose to create chiral metallopolymers and chiral self-assembled materials with interesting and important properties. Briefly, the work includes the synthesis of chiral polymeric structures, the induction of helical conformations, and fabrication of chiral self-assembled materials. A variety of novel methods, for instance, using chiral coordinative ligands, grafting with chiral polymeric blocks, templated by DNAs and inorganic chiral materials, and uniform deposition of polymeric helices, will be applied to create chiral metallopolymers with chirality on both/either molecular and/or supramolecular level(s). Applications in asymmetric catalysis, chiral recognition and chromatography, and displays are possible. To achieve these exciting objectives, we propose to send an exceptionally talented student, Huibin Qiu, with key expertise in chiral materials from his Ph.D. work in a top group in China (that of Shunai Che), to the research group of Ian Manners at the University of Bristol, a top group in the field of metallopolymers.

Keywords: chiral,metallopolymer,helical polymer,self-assembly,chiral induction,phase separation
Coupled fluid-solid numerical modelling for deep-water and far-offshore floating wind turbines using an adaptive finite element method (ICFLOAT)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-10-01
End date: 2013-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 199549.6
EU funding (EUR): 199549.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed research aims to numerically simulate the impact of far-offshore wind turbines placed in deep waters. Importantly, such turbines offer several advantages over existing wind farms, for example stronger and steadier winds, and reduced visual and noise impact. Therefore, placing wind turbines far offshore will be essential for increasing the share of renewable energy production in the next decade. In current offshore wind farms, the platforms are typically fixed to the seabed and as a result, cost becomes prohibitive in waters deeper than 50 metres. This limitation is a bottleneck for the further exploitation of wind energy in Europe. Far offshore, floating designs minimise the lateral wave loads acting on the turbine and are cheaper than fixed platforms reaching the same depth. In the present study, the hull of the wind turbine consists of a floating steel cylinder attached to the seabed through moorings, while the turbine is modelled as an actuator disc. Numerical tools capable of calculating the complete response of a floating wind turbine with fully coupled hull, moorings and wind turbine are currently at an early stage of development. An efficient strategy to minimise the computational cost is also lacking. To fill this knowledge gap, cutting-edge ocean/fluids and solids computational methods will be employed. Key components are: (a) a numerical wave deep basin that uses unstructured meshing, coupled to (b) a discrete element method for the dynamics of solids with (c) finite element modelling of stresses and (d) mesh adaptivity. The overall deliverable is an open-source code to model the two-way coupling between fluids and floating solids. The proposed tool will be capable of: (1) determining the limits of stability and resistance of the floating system to different weather conditions, (2) assessing the effect of deep-ocean currents on the hull and moorings, (3) estimating the effect of the turbine movement on the power extracted.

Keywords: mesh-adaptive finite element method,fluid-structure interaction,dual-mesh approach,subgrid modelling,spar-buoy floating wind turbine,correlated loads
Imaging the Plasmonic Activity of Magnetic Nanostructures (IPMAGNA)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-05-01
End date: 2013-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 167065.6
EU funding (EUR): 167065.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed project concerns the study of magnetoplasmonic systems, that is nanostructures exhibiting both magneto-optic (MO) properties and surface plasmon resonances (SPRs). Particularly, localized SPRs appearing in magnetic nanostructures will be studied using local probe microscopy techniques. The typical magnetoplasmonic nanostructure is a Noble-Metal/Ferromagnetic-Metal/Noble-Metal trilayer. They can be fabricated either as continuous thin films that are subsequently patterned using lithography and etching, or by lithography, evaporation and lift-off. Nanostructure arrays will be fabricated in various compositions, shapes, separations and symmetries (in particular, colloidal lithography will be used to obtain disordered arrays, whereas e-beam lithography will be used to prepare ordered ones). First, their collective optical and MO behavior will be characterized using far-field measurements. Afterwards, the local electromagnetic near-field distribution at single objects will be imaged using Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM). The local measurements will be correlated to the optical and MO collective measurements. Both optical-fiber SNOM and apertureles SNOM (aSNOM) measurements will be performed. Metal-coated Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) tips will be used for aSNOM. The interest is in performing aSNOM using ferromagnetic-metal-coated AFM tips, thus allowing for Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) measurements to be performed simultaneously with SNOM. The illuminated light will excite surface plasmons, and the magnetic component of their electromagnetic field distribution will be imaged using MFM. Magnetoplasmonics research has been pioneered at the host group, and the proposed project is a natural continuation of the so far host activity. Magnetoplasmonics allow for the development of active plasmonic devices (their properties can be tuned with a magnetic field), with applications in photonic nanocircuits and advanced biosensors.

Keywords: surface plasmons ? (magneto)plasmonics ? magneto-optical materials ? nanophotonics ? scanning near-field optical microscopy ? magnetic force microscopy
Controlled Environment Laboratory for Life Sciences (CELLS)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 273095.0
EU funding (EUR): 273095.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

CELLS (Controlled Environment Laboratory for Life Sciences) aims to support the relocation and development of a research programme by Dr. Gary Stutte and establish a European centre of excellence for Controlled Environment Research at the host organisation Limerick Institute of Technology (Ireland). Dr. Stutte is an expert in hydroponic based controlled environments and space agriculture / horticulture engaged in contract research for NASA at the Dynamac Corporation based at the Space Life Science Laboratory, Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, U.S.A. CELLS will directly address the growing demand for safer, healthier, higher quality food in response to specific dietary needs of consumers using ‘forced evolution’ as a non-GMO technique for the enrichment of target functional molecules within food crops. The strategic and research objectives are to (1) Enable the transfer of knowledge in controlled environment horticulture from the Dynamac Corporation at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, U.S.A. in Florida to a new research centre at Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) Ireland. (2) Advance the research capabilities of LIT’s “Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre (Shannon ABC)” (www.shannonabc.com) with the ultimate goal of establishing LIT as a recognised centre of excellence for controlled environment production of plants. (3) Develop the facilities to determine the physiological capacity for production of bioactive constituents in functional foods from such sources as agricultural plants, algae, bryophytes and lichen. (4) Develop the facilities for biochemical and biological analysis of plants (5) Establish a facility for the non-destructive assessment and monitoring of bioactive quality during the growth process using spectral characterisation, biochemical profiling of volatiles and assessment of biometric growth parameters. (6) Transfer the knowledge and expertise of the incoming research Fellow to the research team at LIT.

Keywords: biochemical characterisation,light emitting diodes,controlled environment,plants,phytochemicals,nutraceuticals.
Placebo effects of marketing actions. How prior experience modulates the effect of price on expectations about product efficacy. (PLACEBO)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-04-01
End date: 2013-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184040.8
EU funding (EUR): 184040.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In this research project, the critical role of price in shaping expectancies about product efficacy (i.e., placebo effect of marketing actions) is investigated. While it has been demonstrated that a high versus low price may considerably affect subjective experiences (such as e.g., taste), it has only recently been demonstrated that price can affect actual product efficacy. As individuals may learn about product quality through prior experience, they may update price-quality beliefs accordingly. Hence, the question arises to what extent prior product experience affects placebo effects of marketing actions. In this research proposal, four competing theoretical accounts will be empirically tested to investigate how prior experience with a product may modulate the extent to which price affects product efficacy. The theoretical and practical implications of this research project for marketing scholars and practitioners, the medical field and public policy makers are discussed.

Keywords: marketing,behavioural sciences,psychology,applied economics
Evaluation of a Best Practice Model for Personalized Health Care within Public Health Genomics (P4-MEDICINE@EU)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-05-01
End date: 2014-02-11
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 178340.8
EU funding (EUR): 178340.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The research area of the applicant is on personalized health care in complex diseases, their underlying genomic basis and its interaction with other contributing factors including life style. The personal career goal of the applicant is to become a leading researcher in Europe by developing an innovative, effective and interdisciplinary model to prevent diseases and improve health status of European citizens. Within this goal, the researcher developed a personalized health care model at GENAR Institute for Public Health and Genomics Research, Ankara, Turkey. It is based on the use of public health genomics (PHG) tools and concepts to stratify individuals according to risk groups, prevent diseases and detect them early. It has been piloted as a health service to 500 individuals since 2008. The European challenges of the project are twofold: There is a need for policy research to analyze how to adapt the model for the implementation in European health systems. There is also the need to prepare policymaking in Europe for the implementation of personalized interventions. The GENAR model, which had been identified as a best practice model in this field in Europe, will be used as an example to develop the methodologies needed to close these gaps in Europe in a timely manner. By contributing to the valorisation in PHG for the benefit of population health, this interdisciplinary project is of high European added value and will increase European competiveness. Research and training will be carried out at the European Center for Public Health Genomics(ECPHG) at Maastricht University, which is a European Centre of Excellence in PHG. It provides hands-on training for the researcher to develop unique knowledge and skills on the evaluation of a practice model in personalized health care and policy research methodologies in PHG. This will complement her current skill set on R&D in complex diseases and enable her to reach professional maturity as a competent scientist in Europe.

Keywords: public health genomics,personalized medicine,personalized health care,nutrigenomics,health care policies,health policy research