Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Impulse Purchases and Overspending: The Role of Shopping Orientations and Consumer Information Processing (IPOROSOCIP)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Austria
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-08-01
End date: 2014-09-28
Duration (months): 33.0
Total project cost (EUR): 68750.0
EU funding (EUR): 68750.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The present project addresses the problem of uncontrolled purchasing and overspending from the perspective of consumer psychology. The project has two main research objectives: (1) advancing knowledge on the mechanisms that underlie impulse purchasing and (2) providing techniques and strategies to consumers to control their purchasing behaviour. The project addresses the interplay between motivational orientations and information processing. This will be achieved by integrating research on shopping orientations with research on mindsets. Step 1 will examine differences in attention and cognitive procedures between consumers with a hedonic shopping orientation and consumers with a utilitarian shopping orientation, and how these differences contribute to impulse purchasing. Step 2 examines whether features of the environment activate different mindsets. Furthermore, the step addresses how the interplay between activated mindsets and shopping orientations influence consumers’ evaluations of products and propensities to make impulse purchases. Step 3 will develop self-control strategies that are tailored to the differences in information processing between consumers with a hedonic and a utilitarian shopping orientations. This will be informed by the findings from Steps 1 and 2. Moreover, a workshop will be developed to teach these strategies to consumers. Thereby, the project aims to enhance consumers’ competencies to control their purchasing behaviour and thus to refrain from overspending. The research questions will be examined in a set of laboratory experiments that include eye tracking to measure attention. The strategies to control purchasing behaviour will also be tested in a field experiment. The research contributes to advancing sustainable consumption and consumer welfare in the EU. The project gives the applicant the opportunity to establish a research programme on consumers’ shopping behaviour and to strengthen his position in European consumer psychology.

Keywords: consumer psychology,shopping behaviour,impulse purchases,motivation,information processing,attention,social psychology,marketing,experimental research
Harnessing Oxygenic Photosynthesis for Sustainable Energy Production (HOPSEP)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Applied life sciences and biotechnology
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110310, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2487000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2487000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Oxygenic photosynthesis, that takes place in cyanobacteria algae and plants, provides most of the food and fuel on earth. The light stage of this process is driven by two photosystems. Photosystem II (PSII) that oxidizes water to O2 and 4 H+ and photosystem I (PSI) which in the light provides the most negative redox potential in nature that can drive numerous reactions including CO2 assimilation and hydrogen (H2) production. The structure of most of the complexes involved in oxygenic photosynthesis was solved in several laboratories including our own. Utilizing our plant PSI crystals we were able to generate a light dependent electric potential of up to 100 V. We will develop this system for designing biological based photoelectric devices. Recently, we discovered a marine phage that carries an operon encoding all PSI subunits. Generation, in synechocystis, of a phage-like PSI enabled the mutated complex to accept electrons from additional sources like respiratory cytochromes. This way a novel photorespiration, where PSI can substitute for cytochrome oxidase, is created. The wild type and mutant synechocystis PSI were crystallized and solved, confirming the suggested structural consequences. Moreover, several structural alterations in the mesophilic PSI were recorded. We designed a hydrogen producing bioreactor where the novel photorespiration will enable to utilize the organic material of the cell as an electron source for H2 production. We propose that in conjunction of engineering a Cyanobacterium strain with a temperature sensitive PSII, enhancing rates in its respiratory chain an efficient and sustainable hydrogen production can be achieved.

Keywords: biological electricity and hydrogen production
Studies of Early Hominid Adaptation and Dispersal into North Africa: Archaeological Investigations at the Plio-Pleistocene Site of Ain Hanech, Algeria (PALEONORTHAFRICA)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-12-01
End date: 2014-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The applicant requests the Marie Curie Integration Grant to undertake multidisciplinary investigations at the site of Ain Hanech, Algeria. Ain Hanech preserves the oldest archaeological occurrences in North Africa (ca. 1.8 Ma). Our multidisciplinary team comprised of international scientists will conduct fieldwork at Ain Hanech and laboratory analyses. Ain Hanech offers a unique opportunity to address critical issues pertaining to early hominid adaptation and dispersal into North Africa. The objectives are: 1) to document when the earliest hominids first inhabited North Africa and which early hominids were the inhabitants; 2) to investigate early hominid behavioral patterns and adaptation; and 3) to reconstruct the prevailing ecology of the region. To achieve these objectives the team will: excavate three Oldowan localities (ca. 2.3-1.8 Ma); study the geology and dating of the deposits; analyze the stone artifact assemblages; study the faunas and their paleoecological implications; and survey the unexplored area surrounding Ain Hanech. This research project provides an opportunity to investigate the evolution and dispersal of early hominid populations in North Africa and lead to a better understanding of their behavioral patterns and adaptation. The investigations will have direct implications for questions regarding major Plio-Pleistocene paleoenvironmental changes in North Africa. In addition, the project has the potential for discovering hominids to fill the gap in this part of the African continent. The research at Ain Hanech will greatly assist our understanding of the larger picture of early human migration in Africa. This is the first multidisciplinary scientific expedition to be launched in this area from a European based institution, involving international collaboration. The research project will contribute to foster European competitiveness in archaeological research in Africa and enhance international collaboration in the field of human evolution.

Keywords: social sciences,humanities,archaeology,prehistory,earth sciences,africa,algeria,ain hanech,oldowan,human evolution,early hominid dispersal,plio-pleistocene
Dissecting intracellular signalling of melanoma invasion towards microRNA-based therapy. (MICRORNA  & MELANOMA)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-10-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Melanoma, a melanocytic neoplasm, is a highly lethal and treatment-refractory cancer. While progress has been made in deciphering the molecular underpinnings of melanoma, successful treatment for metastatic melanoma remains frustratingly uncommon. Complex phenotypes such as changes in cell morphology, motility, and invasiveness are rarely regulated by a single gene. Because a single microRNA (miR) may target thousands of genes, it is possible that altered expression of a single miR can regulate complex phenotypes. To identify miRs that regulate melanoma invasiveness, we performed a miR library screen for melanoma invasion potential. The melanoma-specific miR, miR-211, was the first highest hit which significantly decreased melanoma invasiveness. Our finding is the first description of an intronic miR that assumes a tumor suppressive function previously ascribed to its host gene (Levy et al Mol Cell 2010). In this study, we will further decipher miR-211 affect on melanoma invasion process by using an in-vivo model, we will compared our results with human clinical information to establish clinical relevance, we will identify new miRs that affect melanoma progression and we will dissect the cellular pathways regulated by these miRs and we will look for novel therapeutic approaches towards miR-based treatment of melanoma. Interestingly, both genes, miR-211 and its host gene are targets of MITF, the melanocyte lineage master regulator. We will therefore decipher the epigenetic changes that affect the transcriptional activity of MITF. We will globally study the cross talk between genome alteration and gene expression, while using MITF role in melanoma as a model in order to determine MITF dependent-epigenetic pattern. Our preliminary data suggest that modulating miR-211 dramatically affect melanoma invasion in-vivo. Our over-arching suggested will pave the way towards new pharmacologics approaches of suppressing melanomagenesis.

Keywords: microrna,melanoma,cancer invasion,translational research
Oxysterols and IL-27-induced Type 1 regulatory T cells in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (OXYSTEROLS AND TR1)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Accumulating evidence indicates that cholesterol metabolism plays a major role during acquired immune response. Cholesterol metabolites oxysterols have recently been proposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), considered to be the first cause of neurologic disability among young adults in occidental countries. MS is characterized by demyelination throughout the central nervous system associated with inflammatory infiltrates of lymphocytic and mononuclear cell. The balance between pathogenicity of effector T cells and negative regulation imposed by regulatory T cells plays a major role in its development. Two important classes of regulatory T cells within the CD4+ subset are the Foxp3+ T-cells (Tregs) and IL-10-producing type 1 regulatory T cells (Tr1). Interest in Tr1 cells was revived with the discovery that they could be differentiated with the cytokine IL-27. This provided impetus to evaluate the potential of IL-27-induced Tr1 cells in autoimmune diseases. Here we propose to study the role oxysterol during Tr1 cell differentiation. We recently performed a screening for different oxysterols converting enzymes during T cell differentiation and found that IL-27 specifically induced the membrane-associated enzyme CH25H. Based on these results, we first propose to study how modulation of CH25H and its product, 25-hydroxycholesterol, influences Tr1 cell biology in vitro and in vivo using the murine model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. We further aim to dissect the molecular pathways by which oxysterols modulates Tr1 cells in order to define new putative pharmaceutical targets to enhance Tr1 cell number and function. Indeed, this project will help unravel the role of cholesterol metabolites during CD4+ T cells differentiation and will assess their importance in the control of Tr1 cells during autoimmune diseases.

Keywords: neurology,neurobiology,cell biology,immunology,neuroimmunology.
Hyperbolic random graphs (HYPERBOLIC GRAPHS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The theme of this project is the development of the theory of random geometric graphs on spaces of constant negative curvature. These are the hyperbolic random graphs. The aim is twofold. Firstly, this theory is a natural next step on the theory of random geometric graphs, which has been developed during the last 15 years and has mainly focused on geometric graphs on Euclidean spaces. The second and perhaps most timely aim is to exploit hyperbolic random graphs as a model for real-world networks. The rapid development of the Internet over the last 15 years and its vast impact on a globalised world has brought the search for a model of real-world networks into the forefront of Science. Recent work has shown that hyperbolic random graphs exhibit properties that are observed in real-world networks. This work is based on heuristics and computer-aided simulations. The main task of this project will be to verify rigorously these observations and explore further the role of spaces of negative curvature as natural host spaces, which can accommodate structures that represent social relations and hierarchies.

Keywords: discrete mathematics,probability theory,combinatorial analysis,algorithms
Synaptic Mechanisms of Cortical Sensorimotor Integration (SENSORIMOTOR)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110310, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2340000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2340000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Animals actively acquire sensory information. Incoming sensory signals must therefore be processed in the context of self-generated motor commands in order to generate useful sensory percepts. Equally, sensory information is an essential guide during movement. The neuronal circuits and synaptic mechanisms underlying sensorimotor integration in the mammalian brain are currently poorly understood. The mouse whisker sensorimotor system is developing into a useful model for studying active sensory perception offering the possibility for causal and mechanistic insight into the molecular, synaptic, cellular and network functions underlying simple sensorimotor behaviors. Utilizing cutting edge technology, here I propose a concerted experimental research program, which will provide data on fundamental aspects of cortical function during active whisker sensory perception: 1. Functional mapping of the mouse sensorimotor cortex through combination of optogenetics to control cortical activity and optical imaging to measure the spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical activity in awake mice during execution of object localisation and texture discrimination tasks. 2. Two-photon targeted whole-cell recordings and optogenetic manipulation will be used to explore the role of specific classes of excitatory neocortical neurons with identified long-range axonal projections during execution of object localisation and texture discrimination tasks. 3. The roles of genetically-defined classes of neocortical GABAergic neurons during these whisker-dependent tasks will be explored through combination of optogenetics and two-photon targeted whole-cell recordings. Together these investigations will define key organising principles for the functional operation of cortical circuits involved in active whisker sensory perception. Such a causal and mechanistic description of simple mammalian sensorimotor behaviors will form an essential step towards investigating mouse models of human brain diseases.

Keywords: primary somatosensory barrel cortex,primary whisker motor cortex,secondary somatosensory cortex,whiskers,mice,whole-cell recording,voltage-sensitive dye imaging,two-photon imaging,optogenetics
Role of Biotransformation on the Dynamics of Antimicrobial Resistance (ROBODAR)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are a group of antimicrobials extensively used in homes, hospitals, industrial and agricultural facilities for disinfection and sanitization purposes since 1930s. Many studies have shown that exposure to QACs leads to the selection of intrinsically resistant bacteria in a microbial community or results in the development or acquisition of resistance mechanisms. In addition, connection of antibiotic resistance, which is becoming one of the most pressing problems for human and environmental health, to the unconstrained use of antimicrobials such as QACs is, recently, under serious criticism. QACs are lytic biocides, capable of killing over 99% of microorganisms at typical application concentrations. However, certain microorganisms that are resistant and capable of QAC degradation are present. Relatively recently, a study revealed that not only QACs but also many other antimicrobials and antibiotics are degraded by native microorganism which are potentially pathogenic in the environments critical for human and environmental health. This discovery elicits several questions: “Is biotransformation an antimicrobial resistance mechanism?” and “What is the role of biotransformation in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in the environment?”. The answers may have important implications on the human health, but these answers have not been given yet. Biotransformation, whether acting as a resistance mechanism or not, plays a significant role in the fate of antimicrobial agents, and therefore, affects the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in the environment. The overall objective of the proposed research is to systematically assess: (a) the role of QAC biotransformation on the QAC resistance of a microorganism; and (b) the dynamics of the survival of microorganisms and development of QAC resistance during QAC exposure in a community having microorganisms with different tolerance and biotransformation capacity for QACs.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance,biotransformation,human health,quaternary ammonium compounds
Identification and Structural Inference of Dynamic Causal Effects: Theory and Applications (ISIDCE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2015-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Identification of causal effects from non-experimental data is a difficult task because of the scarcity of plausible exogenous variation in the data. Typically, variation in the ‘treatment’ variable, such as a policy intervention, is not independent from relevant but unobserved characteristics of the underlying causal relationship. Causal inference often relies on the availability of valid instruments. A serious threat to the internal and external validity of econometric inference arises when the instruments are weak. This problem is well documented and is pervasive across most areas of economics. The proposed research will make a number of methodological and applied contributions to the current state of the art. First, it will provide improved methods of inference that are robust to the problem of weak instruments. Second, it will propose new approaches to the identification of dynamic causal effects that is particularly relevant for the analysis of macroeconomic policy. Third, it will apply state of the art econometric methods to the study of unemployment and business cycle fluctuations, with particular emphasis on European data.

Keywords: social science,econometrics,time series,instrumental variables,macroeconomics
Ultra-trace element fingerprinting of geological and environmental archives (CHEMICAL FINGERPRINT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-11-01
End date: 2015-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Natural and anthropogenic processes leave behind tell-tale chemical signatures - fingerprints - that inform researchers about a wide variety of interesting and topical issues. The research proposed here aims at refining our ability to read the chemical fingerprints both in geological and environmental archives. The research will have a strong technological component and a number of applied projects in which chemical fingerprinting will be used and with which students will be trained. In a first stage, an ultra trace element facility will be established at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. This will consist of ultra-clean space, ultra-clean sample preparation facilities and a mass spectrometer. It will also include fabrication of customised sample introduction systems to lower the limits of detection. Once established, after a period of 1.5 years, phase 2 of the programme will use chemical fingerprinting to i) detect ancient volcanic ash deposition events in British and Alpine peat bogs; ii) attempt to shed light on the evolution of the first multi-cellular life forms preserved in c. 700 million year old sedimentary rocks, and iii) help to reconstruct climate change signals from dust deposited in polar ice cores. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Australian researchers started the science of chemical fingerprinting. The applicant was part of this development and has since further refined the techniques in Canada. This proposal aims to help establishing a world-leading research group in the E.U. by means of supplementing investment into equipment, consumables, support of graduate students and field work. The research is in an area of designated growth and strength at the host institution.

Keywords: biogeochemistry,petrochemistry,soil erosion (climate change),atmospheric pollution (climate change),paleontology