Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
The Swedish historical database project (HISTORICALDATABASE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Individuals, Institutions and Markets
Countries involved: Sweden
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2020-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1200000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1200000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The Swedish historical data base project will put together and make publicly available highly disaggregated data on roughly a yearly basis for about 2500 Swedish administrative districts over the period 1749-1952. The finished data set will consist of comprehensive and detailed information on economic activity, political characteristics, vital statistics, occupational structure, education, social and agriculture statistics and infrastructure investments (e.g., railway construction). The comprehensiveness and complete coverage of historical data at the local administrative level is what makes this project unique from an international perspective. Since Sweden has the longest continuous and reliable data series on population and vital statistics in the world,starting as early as 1749, makes it possible to construct a comprehensive panel data set over all 2,500 Swedish local administrative units covering a 200 year period. Consequently, the total number of observations for each variable can be as large as 0.5 million (N=2500×T=200). With this type of rich and disaggregated historical data it become possible to get a better understanding of economic growth, structural transformation and economic development. Also, within-country variation allows for more satisfying empirical identification strategies such as instrumental variables, regression discontinuities or difference-in-differences estimation. As a case in point, I have demonstrated the potential usefulness of the Swedish historical data by addressing the question of whether redistribution of resources towards the poor differs between types of democracy after democratization. The identification strategy is based on a regression-discontinuity design where the type of democracy partly is a function of population size. This paper is currently “revise and resubmit” 2nd round at Econometrica. After collecting the new data, we intend to studying a number of questions related to economic development and growth.
Responsible Intelligent Systems (REINS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer Science and Informatics
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1968057.0
EU funding (EUR): 1968057.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

I propose to develop a formal framework for automating responsibility, liability and risk checking for intelligent systems. The computational checking mechanisms have models of an intelligent system, an environment and a normative system (e.g., a system of law) as inputs; the outputs are answers to decision problems concerning responsibilities, liabilities and risks. The goal is to answer three central questions, corresponding to three sub-projects of the proposal: (1) What are suitable formal logical representation formalisms for knowledge of agentive responsibility in action, interaction and joint action? (2) How can we formally reason about the evaluation of grades of responsibility and risks relative to normative systems? (3) How can we perform computational checks of responsibilities in complex intelligent systems interacting with human agents? To answer the first two questions, we will design logical specification languages for collective responsibilities and for probability-based graded responsibilities, relative to normative systems. To answer the third question, we will design suitable translations to related logical formalisms, for which optimized model checkers and theorem provers exist. Success of the project will hinge on combining insights from three disciplines: philosophy, legal theory and computer science.

Keywords: deontic logic,agency,probability,formal verification
Topological Josephson devices as a novel platform for creating and controlling non-Abelian anyons (TOPOTRONICS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed Matter Physics
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999200.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999200.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Surprisingly, in two-dimensional systems quasi-particles may exist that are neither fermions nor bosons. When these particles are interchanged, their joint quantum mechanical wave function is predicted to pick up any phase in between 0 (as for bosons) and pi (as for fermions), hence the name anyons. Even more intriguing is the class of non-Abelian anyons where interchange of particles completely changes the ground state of the system. This phenomenon lays at the heart of a wealth of theoretical proposals for new types of quantum statistics and topological quantum computation that is robust against decoherence. While theory has well advanced, experimental realizations possess their own challenges and are seriously lacking behind. It is the objective of this proposal to experimentally realize a platform to detect and control non-Abelian anyons. We propose to combine the particle-hole symmetry of a superconductor with the spin-momentum locking at the surface of a topological insulator. Topological Josephson junctions are predicted to host Majorana type bound states at vortices. We propose to artificially create Josephson vortices at the junction of three phase-biased superconducting islands and to control and braid multiple Majorana states to prove their non-Abelian anyon character. In preliminary experiments we have shown, as one of the first groups in the world, to be able to induce superconductivity in a topological insulator by the proximity effect. This puts our group in a unique position to open up the field of topological Josephson physics. The great technological challenges of the present proposal lay in the development of topological insulator materials with higher surface mobility and their integration into Josephson electronic circuitry with multiple phase biased superconducting islands. For the phase biasing as well as the read-out of the Majorana states after braiding on-chip SQUID based current amplifiers will be developed.
Activation and Regulation of the NLRP3 Inflammasome (INFLAMMACT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Immunity and Infection
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2019-06-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1995906.0
EU funding (EUR): 1995906.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The innate immune system protects the host from infections, detects and repairs tissue damage and functions to maintain tissue homeostasis. Several families of signaling receptors can recognize microbial substances or altered host molecules and orchestrate a coordinated inflammatory response. Inflammasomes are signaling platforms that control proteolytic activation of highly proinflammatory cytokines of the IL-1β family and thus, are relevant for infection control and numerous inflammatory conditions. In addition to recognizing foreign signals, the NLRP3 inflammasome can sense sterile tissue damage and various endogenous danger signals that appear in many common chronic inflammatory conditions. NLRP3 can be triggered by material released from dying cells and aggregated or crystalline substances, and its activation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of prevalent diseases in Western societies, such as type 2 diabetes, COPD, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. The NLRP3 inflammasome can be activated by diverse signals however, the molecular mechanisms leading to its activation remain poorly understood. Using chemical biology screens and proteomics analysis, we identified that NLRP3 activity is regulated by phosphorylation and ubiquitination. This project aims to identify the enzymes and signaling mechanisms leading to NLRP3 activation. In an integrated, multidisciplinary approach, we will employ chemical biology screening to identify novel targets that act to regulate NLRP3, and will describe the NLRP3 interactome in response to various triggers. Data obtained by these approaches will be analyzed by bioinformatics, and signaling mechanisms identified will be confirmed by RNA interference and gain-of-function studies. Utilizing a range of biochemical, biophysical and immunological techniques, we will determine the mechanisms by which the identified molecules can activate the NLRP3 inflammasome and assess their physiological relevance in models of inflammation.

Keywords: inflammasome,inflammation,macrophages,screening,il-1beta cytokine,atherosclerosis,alzheimer's disease
Mechanisms of Developmental and Injury-related Axon Branch Loss (DIABLO)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and Neural Disorders
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2020-02-29
Duration (months): 69.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1995000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1995000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

My aim is to explore the subcellular (i.e. cell biological and molecular) mechanisms of axon loss in the developing and diseased mammalian nervous system. Axon loss not only sculpts neuronal networks in development, but also occurs early in numerous neurological diseases. Indeed, the life-time risk for diseases with an “axonopathic” component approaches 50%. Pathological axon loss likely involves aberrant activation of developmental programs – just as cell death in disease often takes the form of apoptosis, another prominent regressive event in neural development. Over the past few years, the first molecular pathways have emerged for one form of axon loss, Wallerian degeneration, which removes entire axon arbors after severing. However, Wallerian degeneration is of limited clinical significance – because the axon is cut and hence incapacitated before it is lost – and appears to play only minor roles in development. In contrast, “non-Wallerian” forms of axon loss that selectively remove individual “aberrant” branches dominate during development (“axon branch loss”). Due to the technical challenge of studying axon loss in the complex environment of the developing mammalian nervous system, the subcellular events that precede such non-Wallerian forms of axon branch loss are poorly understood, even though this phenomenon – when pathologically reactivated – likely contributes to axonal pathology in many neurological disorders. Over the past years, in parallel work on axon development and disease, my laboratory has devised functional imaging techniques that allow studying axon loss in vivo in the mammalian peripheral (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) with subcellular resolution and molecular read-outs. Using these unique tools, I will address the following aims: 1 - Axon-intrinsic mechanisms of motor axon branch loss. 2 - Axon-glial mechanisms of motor axon branch loss. 3 - Axon branch loss during CNS development. 4 - Axon branch loss after CNS injury.

Keywords: axon loss,neurodegeneration,neuromuscular junction,spinal cord,glial cells,mitochondria,synapse development,axon plasticity
3D Euler, Vortex Dynamics and PDE (VORT3DEULER)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2019-12-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1182858.0
EU funding (EUR): 1182858.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal deals with a collection of problems in PDE arising from fluid mechanics.The primary motivation is the understanding of the evolution of isolated vortex lines for 3D Euler. The importance of the evolution of vorticity in incompressible fluid mechanics is very well known. To date, only nonrigorous approaches are known to try to obtain an evolution equation for isolated vortex lines. Two desingularization procedures are carried out (including a time renormalization) to obtain an evolution equation (the binormal equation). While an isolated vortex line does not fit any known concept of solution (given the singularity of the velocity), and there has been significant recent activity on the nonuniqueness of solutions of Euler (De Lellis & Szekelyhidi, and recently Isett) it is expected that the geometric assumptions made about the solution will still make it possible to find a suitable concept of solution. In the proposal I describe an approach that should help to rigorously understand vortex lines. It is motivated by a programme developed for the Surface Quasi-Geostrophic (SQG) equation with C. Fefferman and for some related desingularized models with my student Zoe Atkins (Nov 2012 PhD). SQG has been of great interest in the PDE community due to the striking similarities it exhibits with 3D Euler. In particular, the evolution of sharp fronts for SQG corresponds to the evolution of vortex lines. In recent years I have developed an approach that overcomes the divergences known to exist for the velocity field (as in 3D Euler). The positive results obtained for SQG motivate the methodology and tools described in the proposal, including the construction of solutions with very large gradients and simple geometry and the use of a measure-theoretic approach to identify fundamental curves within these objects. Surprising connections with other equations motivate some other directions and linked projects, for example with Prandtl and boundary layer ther theory.

Keywords: pde and incompressible fluid mechanics. 3d euler vortex dynamcis
Invariant visual object representations in the early postnatal and adult cortex: bridging theory, model and neurobiology (LEARN2SEE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and Neural Disorders
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2020-04-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Our visual system can effortlessly recognize hundreds of thousands of objects in spite of tremendous variation in their appearance, resulting, for instance, from changes in object position and pose. Achieving such an invariant representation of the visual world is an extremely challenging computational problem that even the most advanced artificial vision systems are not fully able to solve. This is why understanding the neuronal mechanisms underlying object vision is one of the major challenges of systems neuroscience and a crucial step towards developing artificial vision systems and visual prostheses. Little is known yet about how the brain develops and maintains invariant object representations. The leading theory is that visual neurons exploit the spatiotemporal continuity of visual experience (i.e., the natural tendency of different object views to occur nearby in time) to learn to produce similar responses for temporally contiguous stimuli, so as to factorize object identity from other variables (such as position, size, etc.). This Unsupervised Temporal Learning (UTL) strategy has been instantiated in a number of computational frameworks, but its empirical investigation has received little attention. My proposal will use the visual system of the rat to address key questions about the nature of UTL and other learning theories, such as their impact on recognition behavior and object representations at both single-neuron and population level, and their role during early postnatal development. This will be achieved through a highly multidisciplinary approach, including high-throughput behavioral testing, in vivo neuronal recordings, immediate-early gene labeling, controlled-rearing in virtual visual environments, and computational modeling. This will lead to ground-breaking insights into the learning principles that sculpt the cortical representations of visual objects through unsupervised exposure to the spatiotemporal statistics of visual experience.

Keywords: object recognition,object vision,shape processing,unsupervised learning,rodent,visual cortex,visual representation
Large Deviations and Non Equilibrium Phase Transitions for Turbulent Flows, Climate, and the Solar System (TRANSITION)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed Matter Physics
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1178760.0
EU funding (EUR): 1178760.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this project is to predict and compute extremely rare but essential trajectories in complex physical systems. We will compute rare transitions trajectories, first between two different turbulent attractors in models of planetary jet dynamics, and second between two configurations of ocean currents for a model of the thermohaline circulation. We will compute the dynamics and the probability for collisions between two planets in the solar system, on time scales of order of billions of years. We will evaluate rare events that lead to extremely large drags or torques on objects embedded in turbulent flows, directly from the dynamics. Because of the huge range of time scales, all those trajectories are not accessible through direct numerical simulations. The project's unity stems from the methodology based on large-deviations theory. Large deviation rate functions generalize the concept of entropy or free energy in non-equilibrium extended systems: they provide a global characterization of their most probable state, their large fluctuations and their phase transitions. Impressive explicit computations of large deviation rate functions have been recently performed in simple non-equilibrium systems. The main aim of this project is to bridge the gap between those extremely interesting new concepts and algorithms, and complex dynamical systems such as turbulent flows, semi-realistic models of fluids related to climate dynamics, or the long time behavior of the solar system. In order to achieve this goal, we will use macroscopic fluctuation theory, instanton theory, and other analytical methods in order to compute explicitly large deviation rate functions for essential macroscopic quantities (the velocity or density fields). We will also develop and use algorithms specifically dedicated at computing the statistics of extremely rare trajectories, based on the generalization of importance sampling implemented through cloning or multilevel splitting methods.

Keywords: computation of rare events in turbulence,turbulence related to climate dynamics,and dynamics of the solar system,using modern tools from non-equilibrium statistical physics (large deviation theory)
Biophysical networks underlying the robustness of neuronal excitability (CANALOHMICS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and Neural Disorders
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2013-CoG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2019-12-31
Duration (months): 68.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1972796.6
EU funding (EUR): 1972796.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The mammalian nervous system is in some respect surprisingly robust to perturbations, as suggested by the virtually complete recovery of brain function after strokes or the pre-clinical asymptomatic phase of Parkinson’s disease. Ultimately though, cognitive and behavioral robustness relies on the ability of single neurons to cope with perturbations, and in particular to maintain a constant and reliable transfer of information. So far, the main facet of robustness that has been studied at the neuronal level is homeostatic plasticity of electrical activity, which refers to the ability of neurons to stabilize their activity level in response to external perturbations. But neurons are also able to maintain their function when one of the major ion channels underlying their activity is deleted or mutated: the number of ion channel subtypes expressed by most excitable cells by far exceeds the minimal number of components necessary to achieve function, offering great potential for compensation when one of the channel’s function is altered. How ion channels are dynamically co-regulated to maintain the appropriate pattern of activity has yet to be determined. In the current project, we will develop a systems-level approach to robustness of neuronal activity based on the combination of electrophysiology, microfluidic single-cell qPCR and computational modeling. We propose to i) characterize the electrical phenotype of dopaminergic neurons following different types of perturbations (ion channel KO, chronic pharmacological treatment), ii) measure the quantitatives changes in ion channel transcriptome (40 voltage-dependent ion channels) associated with these perturbations and iii) determine the mathematical relationships between quantitative changes in ion channel expression and electrical phenotype. Although focused on dopaminergic neurons, this project will provide a general framework that could be applied to any type of excitable cell to decipher its code of robustness.

Keywords: ion channels,robustness,homeostasis of excitability,substantia nigra pars compacta,pacemaking,electrophysiology,microfluidic single-cell qpcr array,computational modeling