Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Transcending Reality Activating Virtual Environment Responses through Sensory Enrichment (TRAVERSE)

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: Spain
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2009-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2409768.0
EU funding (EUR): 2409768.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The goal of this project is to provide the means for transcending reality : to use virtual reality to transcend the self, whereby participants in an immersive virtual reality (IVR) may have the strong illusion of transforming their bodies, and therefore have experiences in VR that are not possible in physical reality. The goal is to use IVR for something that is genuinely new and uniquely possible within such systems, beyond the normal representational approach to VR which attempts mainly to faithfully simulate reality. The research is based on three fundamental ideas: (a) that our body image is highly malleable, and that virtual reality can be used to transform it; (b) that the brain has sufficient plasticity to remap tactile sensations, so that a sensation felt on one part of the body can be associated with an event on another part of the body and that therefore this can be used in VR in order to endow virtual experiences with physicality; (c) that the brain can be fooled into inferring that something perceived in VR is really happening (even though the person knows for sure that it is not) and that there are techniques that can be employed in VR to enhance the probability that this occurs. Hence the research is interdisciplinary, a novel combination of neuroscience and computer science, with the likelihood of benefits to both. The work is organised into three major Streams corresponding to (a)-(c), where specific hypotheses are derived from the general idea and tested empirically. Each set of experiments requires an engineering solution. A fourth Stream of work will be for integration creating scenarios for the testing of the general hypotheses implied by (a)-(c). The main application will be in social virtual environments, where a human participant interacts with virtual characters, or a mixture of virtual characters and other online people represented in the VR. Applications would be in the fields of therapy, physical rehabilitation and entertainment.

Keywords: virtual reality,neuroscience,body representation,presence,computer graphics,human-computer interaction
Gaps between primes and almost primes. Patterns in primes and almost primes. Approximations to the twin prime and Goldbach conjectures. (PRIMEGAPS)

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: Hungary
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2008-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1376400.0
EU funding (EUR): 1376400.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The twin prime conjecture, that n and n+2 are infinitely often primes simultaneously, is probably the oldest unsolved problem in mathematics. De Polignac (1849) conjectured that for every even value of h, n and n+h are infinitely often primes simultaneously. These are the most basic problems on gaps and patterns in primes. Another one is the conjecture of Waring (1770), stating that there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions (AP) of primes. For the newest developments we cite Granville (Bull. AMS 43 (2006), p.93): ): Despite much research of excellent quality, there have been few breakthroughs on the most natural questions about the distribution of prime numbers in the last few decades. That situation has recently changed dramatically with two extraordinary breakthroughs, each on questions that the experts had held out little hope for in the foreseeable future. Green and Tao proved that there are infinitely many k-term arithmetic progressions of primes using methods that are mostly far removed from mainstream analytic number theory. Indeed, their work centers around a brilliant development of recent results in ergodic theory and harmonic analysis. Their proof is finished, in a natural way, by an adaptation of the proof of the other fantastic new result in this area, Goldston, Pintz and Yildirim s proof that there are small gaps between primes. The proposal's aim is to study these types of patterns in primes with possible combination of the two theories. We quote 3 of the main problems, the first one being the most important. 1) Bounded Gap Conjecture. Are there infinitely many bounded gaps between primes? 2) Suppose that primes have a level of distribution larger than 1/2. Does a fixed h exists such that for every k there is a k-term AP of generalised twin prime pairs (p, p+h)? 3) Erdôs' conjecture for k=3. Suppose A is a sequence of natural numbers, such that the sum of their reciprocals is unbounded. Does A contain infinitely many 3-term AP's?

Keywords: primes,distribution of primes,gaps between primes,twin prime conjecture,goldbach conjecture,patterns in primes
Nonlinear Micro- and Nano-Photonics: nonlinear optics at the micrometer scale and below (NMNP)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2008-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We will investigate, experimentally and theoretically, the dynamics of nonlinear optical waves at mesoscopic scales, ranging from several wavelengths (~10 microns) down to the sub-wavelength regime (~0.2 microns). Our studies will cover a variety of optical settings: from various kinds of periodic systems (photonic lattices) with and without disorder, to bulk materials and nano-suspensions. Under proper conditions, light propagating nonlinearly in these systems can display complex nonlinear dynamics, giving rise to a variety of fascinating phenomena. Perhaps the most intriguing are associated with the suspensions containing dielectric nano-spheres, upon which light acts, by virtue of the gradient force, to modify the local density of spheres, thereby varying the effective refractive index. We will use light to alter the properties of the fluid (e.g., surface-tension, viscosity), which, in turn, will affect the pattern of optical wave in space and time. We will study nonlinear optics coupled directly to nonlinear fluid dynamics. Our preliminary results demonstrate optically-induced convection and optically-driven waves in the fluid. In the same system, we will explore sub-wavelength optical spatial solitons. Our preliminary experimental results clearly show very narrow solitons, narrower than imaging optics can resolve. In another effort, we will explore arrays of sub-wavelength waveguides with a sharp index contrast, and will study a variety of nonlinear phenomena unique to such structures. Other efforts include linear and nonlinear wave phenomena in photonic lattices, such as Anderson localization of lightt, the optical realization of the famous Hofstadter butterfly, waves in honeycomb lattices exhibiting unique features arising from symmetry (diabolic points, Berry phase effects, backscattering, etc.), Anderson localization in quasi-crystals and in honeycomb structures, transport of solitons in random potentials, and more.

Keywords: optical solitons,spatial solitons,nonlinear dynamics in optics
Phase transitions in random evolutions of large-scale structures (PTRELSS)

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: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2009-01-01
End date: 2012-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1248067.0
EU funding (EUR): 1248067.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Large scale structures typically consist of a large number of mutually interacting components and the collective behavior of this huge number of degrees of freedom leads to a host of intriguing phenomena: anomalous fluctuations, phase transitions, complex time evolutions and metastable behavior. By phase transition, a key concept for the proposal, we mean here an abrupt, qualitative change in the properties of the model when its parameters are changed. Mathematically, phase transitions are signaled by the appearance of different probability measures describing the possible states of the system but they are also signaled by a dramatic change in the convergence time of certain Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms that are used to sample from the probability distribution of the sample. Systems of this type are well known and studied in statistical physics, but in the last decade their importance has been recognized in other frontier areas of scientific research, such as biology, genetics or theoretical computer science. At the same time it is widely recognized that a deep mathematical understanding of the behavior of these systems is essential. The latter requires the development and use of powerful probabilistic ideas and techniques. Probability is, in fact, the basis of a common language, that allows the sharing, adaptation and combination of key notions and techniques from the different areas involved. Around these topics and guided by the PI a small group of young and brilliant researchers formed in the last years and later developed into a somewhat larger team whose members are all very active and tightly collaborating, with already several important results which opened new directions and perspectives. I propose to build up on these advances by gathering around the host institution the team and guide it to further research on the interplay between equilibrium and dynamical aspects of phase transitions in large-scale structures.

Keywords: monte carlo markov chains,glauber dynamics,phase transitions,spin systems,metastability,randomized algorithms
Mechanics of Energy Dissipation in Dense Granular Materials (MEDIGRA)

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: Greece
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2008-11-01
End date: 2011-10-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 981600.0
EU funding (EUR): 981600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Granular materials are of interest to different fields of the physical sciences and engineering. To model their behaviour, either a solid- or fluid mechanics approach is used. Rather than deforming uniformly, granular fluids develop thin shear-bands, which mark areas of flow, material failure and energy dissipation. The MEDIGRA project proposes a thorough experimental, theoretical and numerical study of the Mechanics of Energy DIssipation in dense GRAnular materials. The fundamental challenge faced by the project is to quantify the various energy dissipation mechanisms in dense granular materials using innovative thermo-poromechanical experiments. The measured characteristics are expected to lead to the formulation of appropriate analytical and numerical tools aimed to describe the mechanical behaviour of granular materials from the rigorous angle of energetics. In particular, the project proposes to: 1) Design, develop, install and exploit a novel Thermographic High Speed Cylinder Shear Apparatus (THSCSA) to study the properties of the mechanical and thermal boundary layer that is forming at the inner rotating-drum material interface, as well as determining the required thermographic properties of granular materials. 2) Convincingly quantify the way the total energy dissipation is split into heat production, grain breakage and other mechanisms, using the project-developed THSCSA apparatus and other advanced experimental apparatuses. 3) Develop physical models and robust numerical tools capable of incorporating the experimentally obtained dissipation characteristics. 4) Test the knowledge acquired within the project in two applications (shear segregation and landslide modelling). The project aims to advance our knowledge on the basic physics behind long-standing open problems such as the “heat-flow paradox” in earthquake mechanics, the lifetime prediction of imminent catastrophic landslides and the applicability of continuum approximations to segregation phenomena.

Keywords: granular media,energy dissipation,grain breakage
INNOVATIONS IN STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS AND APPLICATIONS with emphasis on STOCHASTIC CONTROL AND INFORMATION (INNOSTOCH)

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: Norway
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2009-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1864800.0
EU funding (EUR): 1864800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

For almost all kinds of dynamic systems modeling real processes in nature or society, most of the mathematical models we can formulate are - at best - inaccurate, and subject to random fluctuations and other types of "noise". Therefore it is important to be able to deal with such noisy models in a mathematically rigorous way. This rigorous theory is stochastic analysis. Theoretical progress in stochastic analysis will lead to new and improved applications in a wide range of fields. The main purpose of this proposal is to establish a research environment which enhances the creation of new ideas and methods in the research of stochastic analysis and its applications. The emphasis is more on innovation, new models and challenges in the research frontiers, rather than small variations and minor improvements of already established theories and results. We will concentrate on applications in finance and biology, but the theoretical results may as well apply to several other areas. Utilizing recent results and achievements by PI and a large group of distinguished coworkers, the natural extensions from the present knowledge is to concentrate on the mathematical theory of the interplay between stochastic analysis, stochastic control and information. More precisely, we have ambitions to make fundamental progress in the general theory of stochastic control of random systems and applications in finance and biology, and the explicit relation between the optimal performance and the amount of information available to the controller. Explicit examples of special interest include optimal control under partial or delayed information, and optimal control under inside or advanced information. A success of the present proposal will represent a substantial breakthrough, and in turn bring us a significant step forward in our attempts to understand various aspects of the world better, and it will help us to find optimal, sustainable ways to influence it.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (STACHEM)

Framework: FP7 — Capacities
Programme: Research Infrastructures
Destination: Support to policy development and Programme implementation
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Cyprus,France,Greece,Italy,Israel,United States
Call:  (FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2008-1, 2008)
Start date: 2008-11-01
End date: 2010-04-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 533342.81
EU funding (EUR): 470000.0
Participants: 8
Project status: CLOSED

The Eastern Mediterranean is one of the world’s richest areas in terms of archaeological remains, and cultural heritage in general; it has yielded an extraordinary variety of finds spanning all aspects of human activity. However, due to the scarcity of scientific and technological resources in the region, the analysis of these finds has occurred largely in research institutions far removed from the region. Therefore, there is a pressing need to make adequate resources available in the immediate proximity of the excavations and remains themselves, and also to properly document the cultural heritage of this key region. The partners of this proposal wish to initiate a coordinated effort for the build-up of the relevant research infrastructures, and the pooling and coordination of the associated resources, in order to contribute to a regional strategic plan for the Eastern Mediterranean archaeological sciences and digital heritage community. This will be achieved in parallel with the design and planning process of the Cyprus Institute’s newly created Science and Technology for Archaeology Research Center, which is planning major investments in infrastructures for archaeometry, underwater archaeology and digital cultural heritage. The project will ensure that the development of this new Center is embedded in a strategy closely adapted to the regional needs and integrated in the Euro-Mediterranean environment of archaeological sciences and digital heritage. In addition to a coherent strategic plan, the outcomes of the project will include suggestions for joint trans-national activities, a user-led assessment of needs, guidelines for good practices and directions for further infrastructure development. It will contribute to the incubation of a regional research cluster in the field of archaeology and cultural heritage, and to the build-up of the associated community of researchers, with periodic workshops for continuous monitoring and update.

Keywords: cultural heritage,archaeology,archaeological sciences,archaeometry,provenance,dating,digital heritage,digitization,visualization,data storage,data processing,underwater archaeology,eastern
Advanced Amorphous Multicomponent Oxides for Transparent Electronics (INVISIBLE)

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: Portugal
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2009-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2250000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2250000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Imagine having a fully transparent and flexible, foldable, low cost, displays or at the glass window of your home/office, a transparent electronic circuit, do you believe on that? Maybe you are asking me if I am writing science fiction. No I am not. In fact this is a very ambitious objective but is tangible in the framework of this project due to the already acquired experience in the development of transparent thin film transistors using novel multifunctional and multicomponent oxides that can behave as active or passive semiconductor materials. This is an interdisciplinary research project aiming to develop a new class of transparent electronic components, based on multicomponent passive and active oxide semiconductors (n and p-types), to fabricate the novel generation of full transparent electronic devices and circuits, either using rigid or flexible substrates. The emphasis will be put on developing thin film transistors (n and p-TFTs) and integrated circuits for a broad range of applications (from inverters, C-MOS like devices, ring oscillators, CCDs backplanes for active matrices, biossensor arrays for DNA/RNA/proteins detection), boosting to its maximum their electronic performances for next generation of invisible circuits. By doing so, we are contributing for generating a free real state electronics that is able to add new electronic functionalities onto surfaces, which currently are not used in this manner and that silicon cannot contribute. The multicomponent metal oxide materials to be developed will exhibit (mainly) an amorphous or a nanocomposite structure and will be processed by PVD techniques like rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature, compatible with the use of low cost and flexible substrates (polymers, cellulose paper, among others). These will facilitate a migration away from tradition silicon like fab based batch processing to large area, roll to roll manufacturing technology which will offer significant advantages

Keywords: amorphous oxide semiconductors,dielectrics,nanocomposites,thin film transistors,transparent electronics
Physics Beyond the Standard Model at the LHC and with Atom Interferometers. (BSMOXFORD)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Switzerland,United Kingdom,United States
Call:  (ERC-2008-AdG, 2008)
Start date: 2009-05-01
End date: 2014-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2200000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2200000.0
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

Elementary particle physics is entering a spectacular new era in which experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will soon start probing some of the deepest questions in physics, such as: Why is gravity so weak? Do elementary particles have substructure? What is the origin of mass? Are there new dimensions? Can we produce black holes in the lab? Could there be other universes with different physical laws? While the LHC pushes the energy frontier, the unprecedented precision of Atom Interferometry, has pointed me to a new tool for fundamental physics. These experiments based on the quantum interference of atoms can test General Relativity on the surface of the Earth, detect gravity waves, and test short-distance gravity, charge quantization, and quantum mechanics with unprecedented precision in the next decade. This ERC Advanced grant proposal is aimed at setting up a world-leading European center for development of a deeper theory of fundamental physics. The next 10 years is the optimal time for such studies to benefit from the wealth of new data that will emerge from the LHC, astrophysical observations and atom interferometry. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for making ground-breaking progress, and will open up many new research horizons.

Keywords: beyond the standard model unification lhc supersymmetry particle cosmology string compactification new particle searches atom interferometry extra dimensions collider phenomenology