Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Investigating Visual Perception with Neurofeedback (NEUROFEEDBACK)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2009-01-01
End date: 2010-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 177740.04
EU funding (EUR): 177740.04
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A major unresolved challenge for neuroscience is to understand how any physical process, such as neural activity, can give rise to a subjective phenomenon, such as a conscious experience. This question has been empirically addressed by seeking to characterize patterns of neural activity that specifically correlate with conscious experience using neuroimaging. Such conventional imaging experiments are purely observational and cannot establish a causal role for any brain areas whose activity correlates with consciousness. Approaches that disrupt brain activity either temporarily (TMS) or permanently (stroke) have been used to address causality. Here I propose using a new approach to investigate causal links between brain activity and perception. I will use real-time fMRI with neurofeedback to teach participants to voluntarily regulate either the level of brain activity or of the functional coupling of areas within early visual cortex. I will then test how self-regulating activity (or coupling) at different pre-specified levels can influence processing of a visual stimulus presented near threshold. I hypothesise that the level of activity within early visual cortex, or the coupling between areas within the visual cortex, will directly influence objective detection thresholds. By identifying neural mechanisms that lead to perception of visual stimuli, this work seeks to explore the neural basis of visual awareness with a conceptually and methodologically new approach. The proposed research marks a potentially important methodological innovation, will illuminate processes fundamental to conscious experience, and will lead to important medical applications.

Keywords: neurobiology,neuropsychology,visual awareness,visual processing,mental imagery,brain activity,brain connectivity,real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri),neurofeedback
FAMILY RISKS AND CHILDREN’S HEALTH: IMPACT OF EARLY INTERVENTIONS (CHILD_HEALTH)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-2-IIF, 2007)
Start date: 2009-01-01
End date: 2010-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 241029.28
EU funding (EUR): 241029.28
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The early family environment can have a profound impact on children’s long-term health and educational success. Research shows that family risks (e.g. poverty, health life style, psychopathology, low education) are the most important determinants of children’s health and social outcomes. The risks begin with parental characteristics before conception, continue during pregnancy, and accumulate during the early years of life. Early intervention programs can break the intergenerational transmission of risks and thereby reduce the heavy social and financial costs associated with health and educational problems. Such interventions include social and medical support to vulnerable mothers during and after pregnancy, as well as high quality child-care services. A common assumption of prevention science is that the earlier the intervention, the greater the potential for positive impacts and the benefits of the investment. But evidence to support this claim, comparing the effects of services initiated at different points during children’s development, is almost non-existent. The objectives of this research program are to examine a) to what extent early childhood services (ECS) offered to high-risk families can reduce the risk for health and educational problems, and b) to what extent the magnitude of the impact depends on the timing of the intervention (e.g. prenatal vs. post-natal). The program contains 2 research axes and relies on two distinct methodological approaches. In the first, we examine the protective role of ECS initiated at different ages using large-scale longitudinal data sets from Europe (Ireland, UK, France) and North America (Canada, USA). In the second, we assess the impact of an Irish randomized control trial targeting high-risk families. This IFF will allow the applicant’s venue in Ireland in order to complement the expertise of the host institution and develop new collaborations between the host and other EU countries.

Keywords: child health,prevention,health services,public health,child care,randomized control trials,mental health,education,prenatal intervention
Nanomechanics of defects in solids: applications to nanolayers, nanoparticles, nanocrystals and biomaterials (MATERIALS NANOMECH)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-2-IIF, 2007)
Start date: 2009-07-01
End date: 2011-11-30
Duration (months): 29.0
Total project cost (EUR): 203052.29
EU funding (EUR): 203052.29
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The central aim of the proposed project is to develop a general nanomechanics of defects framework for the understanding and prediction of structure-properties relationships of nanoscale materials, components, and devices. This framework will be suitable for metal nanoparticles and nanorods, nanolayered films and core/shell nanowires, ultrafine grained bulk nanostructures, as well as carbon nanotubes and protein membrane nanotubes. While standard continuum mechanics and dislocation theory have been useful tools for addressing scientific and technological problems at macro and meso scales, their direct use is not suitable for nanoscale problems. Molecular dynamics simulations and their variants is a commonly used approach but also prohibitively expensive for realistic applications due to current computational limitations. The proposed project serves as a compromising alternative by developing a new methodology for understanding the evolution and stability of structural defects at nanosized volumes and advancing new continuum nanoelasticity and nanoplasticity models for capturing the deformation and fracture behavior of nanosized objects, devices and components. The results will be applicable to a variety of nanoscience and nanotechnology areas, including micro/nano opto-electronics, micro/nano electromechanical systems, bulk nanostructured metal processing and forming, as well as the structural stability of proteins in nanomembrane and nanotubular configurations. These results will be part of a book already in progress, and they will also be compiled as Lecture Notes in an existing Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies Curriculum in the host institution. The various workpackages of the project will also be among the topics of two planned international conferences-summer schools.

Keywords: materials engineering,mechanical and thermal properties,nanomaterials,dislocations and disclinations
Molecular mechanism of separase dependent PP2ACdc55 downregulation (CHROMOSOME STABILITY)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-06-01
End date: 2010-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 169390.93
EU funding (EUR): 169390.93
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Activation of the protease separase at anaphase onset leads to cleavage of cohesin, thereby triggering chromosome segragation. At the same time, an essential protease-independent function of separase promotes cell cycle progression out of mitosis. In the host laboratory it has been recently shown that separase interacts with the Cdc55 isoform of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2ACdc55) at anaphase onset, downregulating it (Queralt et al. 2006). However, the molecular nature of this non-proteolytic activity of separase and how it mediates PP2ACdc55 downregulation is still unknown. In this research project we propose to address the molecular mechanism by which separase downregulates PP2ACdc55 at anaphase onset.

Keywords: cell biology,molecular biology,molecular genetics
Cross-talk between NK, APC and regulatory T cells (NK-APC-TREG X-TALK)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-1-IOF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-08-01
End date: 2011-02-28
Duration (months): 31.0
Total project cost (EUR): 251385.61
EU funding (EUR): 251385.61
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Contact hypersensitivity (CHS) response is clinically known as allergic contact dermatitis, which affects about 5% of men and 11% of women in industrialized countries and is one of the leading causes of occupational diseases. CHS is a classical example of an adaptive immune response, in which T cells and B-1 B cells have been shown to play a role. Natural Killer (NK) cells had been generally believed to mediate only innate immune responses. However, the von Andrian laboratory reported new observations indicating that NK cells can also mediate CHS as an antigen (Ag)-specific, long lasting adaptive response in mice independent of B and T cells. Adoptive transfer experiments showed that only hepatic NK cells are capable of causing this CHS response. In this project, we propose to investigate the trafficking of hepatic NK cells and their education by antigen presenting cells (APC). Specifically, we plan to understand where and how NK cells learn to recognize hapten-based Ag to induce a specific CHS response. Moreover, we will examine whether regulatory T (Treg) cells can modulate the activity of NK cells during the NK-mediated CHS response. Some evidence in the literature indicates that Treg cells do play a role during αβ T cell-mediated CHS by mechanisms that are still unclear. Whether Treg cells also play a role during NK cell-mediated CHS is unknown. The von Andrian laboratory has established state-of-the-art multiphoton microscopy technology and extensive expertise in intravital imaging, which will allow us to study cell trafficking in anesthetized animals. Using transgenic mice and adoptive transfer of fluorescently labeled leukocyte subsets, we will study in vivo the cross talk between APC and NK cells and between Treg and NK cells during the priming and effector phase of CHS. This project will contribute to our understanding of how adaptive and innate immunity is coordinated, thereby potentially allowing the development of novel approaches to immunotherapy.

Keywords: immunolgy,cell bilogy
Quantisation approaches and the emergence of geometry in three-dimensional gravity (3DQUANTGRAV)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-01
End date: 2009-03-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 164061.03
EU funding (EUR): 164061.03
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Gravity is the only one of the four fundamental interactions for which a quantum theory could not be constructed yet, and its quantisation remains one of the most challenging and difficult problems of modern mathematical physics. As it combines mathematical difficulties with deep conceptual questions about the nature of space and time, a full quantum theory of gravity in four dimensions currently does not seem within reach. In three dimensions, the theory simplifies dramatically while presenting the same conceptual challenges as in higher dimensions. 3d-gravity thus serves as a toy model which allows one to investigate these challenges in a mathematically simpler theory amenable to quantisation. However, despite considerable progress, many fundamental questions in 3d-quantum gravity remain open and need to be addressed to achieve a satisfactory quantisation of the theory. Among the most important ones are the relation between different quantisation approaches, the question how geometry emerges in the classical limit and the quantisation of 3d-gravity with Lorentzian signature. The research project aims to address these questions by investigating them in concrete and feasible examples. The first part of the project aims to clarify the relation between the spin foam model for Euclidean 3d-gravity with vanishing cosmological constant (Ponzano-Regge model) and the Hamiltonian quantisation formalism derived from the Chern-Simons formulation of the theory. Its second part is concerned with the classical limit of the theory in both quantisation formalisms and the question of how this limit gives rise to classical geometry. The third part of the project aims to construct a full quantum theory for Lorentzian 3d-gravity with vanishing cosmological constant and to use this theory to address concrete physics questions such as the role of time in the quantised theory and the quantisation of lengths and areas variables.

Keywords: three-dimensional gravity,chern-simons theory,quantum gravity,spin foam models,ponzano-regge model,quantum groups and their representations,three-dimensional geometry,mathematical physics
New approaches for understanding oceanic carbon uptake (CARBON EXPORT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-2-IIF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-01
End date: 2009-09-30
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 79866.8
EU funding (EUR): 79866.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The oceans play a crucial role in the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), a man-made greenhouse gas that strongly influences global climate. Certain marine organisms are hypothesized to greatly enhance CO2 removal during growth. A percentage of these cells subsequently sink, transporting the C to depth where it remains for millennia. Research has shown that one such group of organisms, di-nitrogen (N2) fixers or diazatrophs, are much more globally prevalent than previously thought and may even be further enhanced near zones of intense subsurface denitrification. As such, we propose to examine how the interactions between denitrification and N2 fixation contribute to particle export in one such area, the Gulf of California and adjacent waters of the eastern tropical North Pacific. Measuring what controls the magnitude, timing, and depth of particle export in marine systems is difficult. Here, we will use the short-lived radioisotope pairs 234Th:238U and 210Po:210Pb to measure diazatroph mediated particle formation, export, and remineralization in samples to be collected during a funded cruise (U.S. NSF) in the N. Pacific in August 2008. Preliminary studies suggest that when used in tandem, these radionuclide pairs provide unique temporal and spatial insight into the mechanisms that modulate marine biotic and abiotic particle formation and sinking throughout the water column. This proposal combines the expertise of two renowned radiochemists and will allow for an international exchange of cutting edge analytical techniques. Results will include much needed improvements in radiochemical export models that can be applied in a range of ecosystems. Understanding what controls particle formation and export in marine systems will provide insight into what may control regional and global climate as well as the transport and fate of other particle reactive pollutants such as heavy metals and organic contaminants.

Keywords: carbon export,radioisotopes,nitrogen fixation,chemical oceanography,thorium,polonium
Physical Observables in Quantum Gravity (OBSERVABLES IN QG)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-09-01
End date: 2009-03-31
Duration (months): 7.0
Total project cost (EUR): 153537.32
EU funding (EUR): 153537.32
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In recent years a very good understanding of the kinematical structures provided by candidate theories of quantum gravity, such as Loop Quantum Gravity, Spin Foam Models and Causal Dynamical Triangulations, has been obtained. The next key step is to approach the dynamics of these theories, which is encoded in the physical, that is diffeomorphism invariant, observables of the theory. However, the construction of these quantities is extremely complicated, due to the non-linear structure of the theory. This project aims at developing computational and perturbative techniques in order to construct physical observables in quantum gravity theories, to investigate their properties, and to consider implications in particular for cosmology. Perturbative methods for the computation of gauge invariant observables have become available recently. These methods have to be improved and further developed. This will be achieved by considering and comparing non-perturbative and perturbative approaches to quantum gravity. If successful the project will have an impact on our understanding of classical and quantum dynamics in general relativity. This project will enable the applicant to return to Europe, to build up a network of collaborators, and to work at one of the leading European centres for research in quantum gravity.

Keywords: quantum gravity,loop quantum gravity,cosmology,quantum field theory,gauge systems,mathematical physics
Advancing dynamic vegetation modeling for mountain systems vulnerable to climate and land-use change (MTVEGMOD)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-2-IIF, 2007)
Start date: 2009-07-01
End date: 2011-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 180628.62
EU funding (EUR): 180628.62
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Significant uncertainties on the response of ecosystems to climate change remain to be addressed to advance the progress of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We propose to investigate several of these uncertainties by improving regional-scale dynamic vegetation modeling for montane systems vulnerable to climate and land-use change. Our approach will modify a state-of-the-art dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-DGVM) to include a new disturbance module for grazing, a key driver of alpine treeline dynamics. High-spatial resolution data for soils and climate (20th century and climate projections), essential for regional modeling, will be available from the Host institute and international collaborators based in the United States and China. The direct effects of grazing on seedling mortality and on light and water competition with grasses will be incorporated to the framework of LPJ. Model output, including net ecosystem exchange and species biogeography, will be evaluated for the Swiss Alps against databases from Swiss FluxNet, phenology observations from MeteoSwiss, and net primary productivity modeled from tree rings. Physiological parameters for plant functional types found in mountain habitat will be evaluated and adjusted following this assessment. The modified dynamic vegetation model, LPJ ‘Grazing’, will be applied with various climate scenarios to a biodiversity hotspot in the Hengduan Mountains in the Yunnan Province of China where little field-data exist and where the vulnerability to climate and land-use change is highly uncertain. The proposed research combines expertise and datasets of researchers from three continents to reduce uncertainties related to regional-scale climate attribution, impacts, and vulnerability. Our modifications to the LPJ-DGVM will have a significant impact globally for mountain biogeography and biogeochemical modeling because the model provides the basis for vegetation dynamics in many coupled global climate models.

Keywords: mountain ecosystems,dynamic global vegetation modeling,biogeochemistry,biogeography,climate change,land-use,grazing,yunnan,china,alps,switzerland
Emergent Spacetimes (EMERGENT-2007-SW)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-1-IOF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-09-01
End date: 2011-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 216436.91
EU funding (EUR): 216436.91
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In this application we investigate the possiblity that spacetime geometry may be an emergent phenomenon. This ideas have been motivated by the Analogue Gravity programme. An "effective gravitational field" dominates the kinematics of small perturbations in an Analogue Model. In these models there is no obvious connection between the "gravitational" field tensor and the Einstein equations, as the emergent spacetime geometry arises as a consequence of linearising around some classical field. We present several projects that contribute to the field, and address issues of value for condensed matter physics, quantum field theory and general relativity.

Keywords: cosmology,relativity,quantum field theory,quantum gravity