Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Medical Diagnostics based on Exhaled-air Analysis with Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (MEDIXHALE)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2015-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The objective of this project is to develop a sensor based on laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) for the medical diagnosis of one or more human diseases by measuring biomarkers in breath. Biomarkers are volatile compounds present in trace amounts in the exhaled air whose concentrations correlate with the presence or absence of a disease or metabolic condition. A well-known example is acetone in the breath of diabetes patients. The project will be carried out at the University of Oxford in the group of Dr. Grant Ritchie. The disease(s) will be selected in the first phase of the project taking into consideration the relevance of a non-invasive alternative diagnosis, the requirements in terms of sensitivity and selectivity of the LAS sensor, and the biomarkers that would have to be measured. Subsequently, a sensitive LAS experiment aimed at detecting the selected biomarkers will be designed and implemented. Techniques to preconcentrate the targeted biomarkers and to filter out compounds interfering with the measurements will be investigated and implemented. To test and benchmark the sensor, "artificial" breath with realistic concentrations of biomarkers will be produced and measured. Tests on real breath samples will be carried out if the sensor shows successful performance with the artificial samples. The project is significant in view of its potential applications in the field of fast and non-invasive medical diagnostics.

Keywords: p109 lasers and laser physics,p302 physical chemistry,p320 medical physics
Towards Sustainable Tourism Development Models in the Euro Mediterranean region: A case study of Malta and Sardinia (TOSTODEM)

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: Malta
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 190669.2
EU funding (EUR): 190669.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed research project deals with sustainable tourism development models in the Euro Mediterranean region. According to the European Union policy framework, such as the Lisbon Strategy, addressed to the implementation of sustainability and competitiveness in the European Union countries, the research is aimed to give an original contribution among innovative tourism strategies and practices for enhancing the tourist attractiveness of European destinations. Particularly emphasis is given to the Euro Mediterranean coastal areas such as Malta and Sardinia, in which tourism industry plays a significant role in terms of tourism arrivals, revenue, employment, skills, etc. The research questions are addressed to identify strengths and weaknesses in Malta and Sardinia tourism performances, in order to give recommendations to public and private stakeholders for improving the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism, and to the identification of innovative tourism good practices. The methodological framework is based on a qualitative approach, which adopts qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed methods), such as interviews with key informants and stakeholders, and survey. The proposed research project is expected to renew the knowledge about the topic of sustainable tourism, identify the strength and weaknesses of the tourism system in Malta and Sardinia, provide recommendations for improving sustainable tourism policy and practices in the two chosen areas, share the results among tourism stakeholders, both private and public organisations. Moreover, it is expected to identify innovative tourism good practices in the EU areas related, giving particular attention to socio cultural economic offers, for improving the competitiveness and sustainability of the EU tourism industry, to contribute at the European Research Area, and to disseminate the results through public meetings and/ or conferences with regional/European stakeholders and scholars.

Keywords: sustainable tourism development,tourism good practices in euro med region,tourism models for sustainability and competitiveness,tourism analysis in malta and sardinia,swot analysis survey
Breaking the Silence: Archaeological Discoveries and the Making of Public Slave Heritage in Rio de Janeiro (SLAVHERIT)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-06-01
End date: 2016-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 273826.2
EU funding (EUR): 273826.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

SLAVHERIT aims to understand how slave memory, after long institutional oblivion, is being publicly memorialised in Rio de Janeiro. This process of memorialisation is considered to be in line with recent multicultural trends in Brazil, by enhancing the visibility of Afro-descendants in national history. That said, no literature has explored this process critically within the existing context of Brazilian racial politics. In addition, no literature sees how this slave heritage is actually being built, what it represents for different social actors, and which power relations prevail in its establishment. SLAVHERIT addresses these questions in an original way, taking an interdisciplinary approach that combines the fields of history, anthropology and politics. In doing so, the project deals with slavery not as a fact locked in the past but as a process relevant for political uses of memory in the present. While focusing on Brazil, SLAVHERIT will lead to conceptual and methodological contributions that will also be interesting for other contexts. In Europe, in fact, multicultural inclusion is an ongoing and heated issue in policy making, while studies of memory are flourishing and the legacy of Atlantic slavery on persisting social exclusion in European societies is increasingly being considered. Through a range of competencies to be achieved in Brazil, SLAVHERIT will broaden the applicant’s expertise in the study of race relations and slave memory in Latin America, producing skills for his effective reintegration into the United Kingdom as a researcher, academic and consultant in the proposed field. SLAVHERIT will also encourage the circulation of knowledge between Brazil and Europe, contributing to European excellence in Latin American studies, and increasing Brazil’s presence in European research on slave memory across the Atlantic.

Keywords: race,ethnicity,citizenship,slavery,memory,museums,blackness,discrimination,affirmative action,education,social movements,governance,brazil,atlantic,multiculturalism
Designing Optimal Protocols for Resource Allocation Games (PROTOCOLDESIGN)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Resource allocation games play a fundamental role for many applications, including traffic networks, cloud computing, telecommunication networks and operations management. In a resource allocation game, the allocation of resources is determined by a finite number of independent players, each optimizing an individual objective function. Because selfish behavior of players usually leads to inefficient resource allocation with respect to predefined performance measures, the design of protocols as a way to improve the inefficiency of selfish resource allocation is of fundamental importance. While numerous resource allocation games and corresponding resource allocation protocols have been analyzed in the last decade with respect to various performance indicators, there has been only recently some efforts to design optimal protocols for these indicators (Chen et al.(2008), Harks and von Falkenhausen (2011)). This project intends to make progress in the design of optimal protocols.

Keywords: m104 algorithms and complexity,m116 mathematical aspects of computer science
Prokaryotic Evolution of CRISPR Targeting (PROTECT)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Bacteria and Archaea often experience invasions from selfish genetic elements, such as viruses. These parasitic elements abuse host cells for multiplying and spread. To defend themselves, prokaryotes developed a number of immune systems, such as Abortive Infection systems, Restriction/Modification systems and CRISPR/Cas. Although the biochemistry of these immune systems has been studied in molecular detail over the last decade(s), much of their biological significance under ecologically relevant conditions remains elusive. Using the human pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 and its viruses as a model system, we aim to identify the conditions where particular prokaryotic defense systems provide a selective advantage to the host by following real-time coevolution under varying conditions. Insight in this coevolutionary dynamics has direct implications for medicine (fighting antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria and applying phage therapy) and industry (protection of starter cultures for fermentation purposes in the dairy industry). The past 4 years, the applicant has been working on the biochemistry of the CRISPR/Cas defense system and will bring his expertise to the host group of Prof. Buckling, who is leading in the field of bacteria - phage coevolution. The topic of the proposed research is related to the work of the applicant's Ph.D., but approaches it from a different angle. At the Institute of Biosciences, the applicant will be in a stimulating environment between scientists that are leading in the field of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology. This, together with the proposed training programme, which focusses both on development of the applicant's scientific (evolutionary biology) and non-scientific skills (grant writing & leadership skills), will be an important contribution to the scientific career of the applicant. The applicant's mobility to the UK will allow for transfer of knowledge and lasting collaborations with his current lab in Holland.

Keywords: bacteria,phage,evolution,microbiology,immune,crispr,restriction-modification
Invasive Alien Species: towards Improved MOdeling tools through Virtual ecology (IASIMOV)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194046.6
EU funding (EUR): 194046.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In Europe and worldwide, many plant communities are increasingly becoming dominated by introduced species. Invasive alien species (IAS) have caused severe environmental changes globally by altering species composition and ecosystem function and are considered a major threat to biodiversity. Consequently the Action Plan for Biodiversity advocates a comprehensive strategy at EU level to reduce the impact of IAS. This proposal aims to merge perspectives from plant evolutionary, functional and community ecology with those from simulation modeling to reveal the processes underlying plant invasions and improve our statistical framework for studying and preventing them. There are 4 research objectives: the first two objectives rely on theoretical modeling while the third and fourth aim to apply the knowledge acquired from the theoretical modeling part to empirical data in the French Mediterranean and Alpine region. In particular, the project will 1) develop and validate a process-based simulation model to explore how environmental and biotic filters for local community assembly are reflected in invasion patterns using virtual data, focusing on the importance of the spatial scale and of different mechanisms of competition; 2) test the ability of current statistical methods to disentangle patterns resulting from overlaying filters and provide guidelines for improved method performance using simulated data; 3) apply the improved statistical methods on French Mediterranean and Alpine plant communities to explore shifts in dominant invasion processes across environmental gradients and invasion stages; 4) attempt to parametrise the developed process-based model through a novel Bayesian approach in order to quantify the relative importance of environmental and biotic filters for successful invasions. The outcome of the project will be of high relevance for both scientific knowledge-building in the field of invasion ecology and the support of decision makers in invasion management

Keywords: v305 ecology,v303 biogeography,v302 biodiversity - comparative biology,v304 conservation biology - ecology - genetics,invasion ecology,species coexistence,process-based modeling
The role of NKG2D in CD4+ T cell function and autoimmunity (NKG2D-IMMUNO)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2016-05-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168794.4
EU funding (EUR): 168794.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

More than 5 million people in Europe live with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Both diseases are characterized by chronic inflammation partially mediated by inappropriate T cell response. Effector T-cell responses can be modulated by competing positive or negative costimulatory signals, and dysregulated balance between these signals may lead to chronic autoimmune inflammation. In mice, within the CD4+ T cell population, the expression of NKG2D is primarily associated with pathological conditions and the administration of blocking anti-NKG2D antibodies ameliorated the disease in mouse models of arthritis and IBD. Therefore the aim of my project proposal is to clarify the role of NKG2D receptor signalling in CD4+ T cell biology and in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. My work will implement mouse models to study the specific impact of NKG2D expressed on CD4+ T cells in the priming, formation and maintainance of memory of CD4+ T cells and their cytokine profile during homeostasis as well as in preclinical models of IBD and RA. Moreover, by global analysis of human NKG2D+ CD4+ T cells from the sites of inflammation, we aim to better understand the possible role of NKG2D in driving inflammatory responses in IBD and RA patients. By combining these approaches, we intend to get further insights into the role of NKG2D in the regulation of autoimmune diseases and to identify strategies to possibly ameliorate tissue damage and dampen inflammation.

Keywords: nkg2d/ cd4+ t cells / memory formation / proinflammatory cytokines / autoimmunity
Apolipoprotein A-I and modulation of T cell functions (TCONTREGAPOAI)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-03
End date: 2015-05-02
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis involves inflammation and immune reactions. T cell responses contribute to local inflammation and growth of the atherosclerotic plaque. As intensified inflammatory activation may lead to local proteolysis, plaque rupture, and formation of a thrombus, studies of conventional and regulatory T cell functions during hypercholesterolemia are of outmost importance. Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are associated with inflammatory and immune disorders, including atherosclerosis. Although accumulating evidence suggests that HDL has anti-inflammatory properties, and functions as a part of the immune system, the mechanisms by which HDL inhibits atherosclerosis are not yet fully understood. Here, I propose to study the potential role of apoA-I in regulating the function of conventional and regulatory T cells. To this end, I will use hypercholesterolemic LDL receptor (LDLr) -/- and apoA-I-/- double knock-out (DKO) mice that develop severe atherosclerosis and display autoimmune phenotype, and, as a control, (LDLr) -/- single knock-out (SKO) mice fed atherogenic diet to study: 1) the role of apoA-I in regulating T cell motility, 2) the influence of apoAI on adhesion of T cells to antigen-presenting cells, 3) the effect of apoA-I on T-cell signaling molecules that regulate T cell motility and adhesion, 4) the relation between apoA-I and apoA-I-affected T-cell signaling molecules in vivo. These complementary approaches will allow me to investigate the role of apoA-I on regulating T cells functions, and will be indispensable to assess an impact of apoA-I-affected T-cell signaling molecules on atherosclerosis and autoimmune diseases. As conventional T cells critically modulate atherosclerosis by promoting inflammation, and regulatory T cells display atheroprotective properties, mechanistic insights into how apoA-I regulates T cell functions will advance our understanding of the immune processes involved in atherosclerosis.

Keywords: atherosclerosis,apolipoprotein a-i,regulatory t cells,conventional t cells,anitgen-presenting cells,t-cell motility,conjugate formation,lfa-1,icam-1,tcr-signaling
Accountability and Public Policy Audit in the European Union (APPLAUD)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 202405.8
EU funding (EUR): 202405.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There is growing crisis of confidence among EU citizens in the democratic accountability of the EU and its institutions. There is uncertainty among many political actors about the added vale of EU policies paid for via the EU budget. More than ever, the EU must demonstrate the chains and mechanisms of accountability vis-à-vis its member states and their general publics as to the correct and effective use of taxpayers’ money. The EU budget also remains a mystery to many Europeans, with ordinary citizens unclear about who is supposed to ‘give account’, for what and to whom. Reports in the media on audited expenditure often centres in a fixated way on a percentage error rate, ignoring the bigger picture of who should be made accountable and how. Ex-post budgetary discharge has itself become a ‘short cut’ for accountability. Audit is meant to be a shared governance arrangement with the member states but there is ambiguity over roles and a negative perception of the EU institutions’ ability to deliver policy effectively, in a way that represents value for money. APPLAUD (Accountability and Public Policy Audit in the European Union) will analyse the institutionalisation of audit. It will examine the structures through which the EU has come to ‘give account’ of its public policies, but also how institutions themselves have shaped what we understand by ‘accountability’ in the EU. The results will be an enhanced understanding of the link between accountability and institutionalisation, and the evolution of the Court’s role and practice. The project will contribute to key debates in public policy on government and accountability, and to the state-of-the-art by bringing new theoretical, methodological and empirical dimensions to the study of financial control in the EU since the 1950s. It adopts a mixed method approach of document analysis, elite interviews and questionnaires, and reconciles the literature on accountability with new institutionalism and political sociology.

Keywords: s109 political systems - legitimacy of governance,political science,court of auditors,eu budget,institutional change,audit,evaluation,efficiency,accountability,financial control,democracy