Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Measuring ecosystem services of High Nature Value farmland through landscape and biodiversity indicators (AGRI-ECO SERVICES)

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: Norway
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 290244.8
EU funding (EUR): 290244.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Among the ecosystem services provided by European agriculture, the conservation of biodiversity and agricultural landscapes are predominant. High Nature Value (HNV) farmland located in less favoured areas play a central role in the conservation of habitats and species. However, biodiversity continues to be lost at an unprecedented rate, with trends projected to become worse. Current processes of abandonment of marginal farmland and intensification are pointed as the major threats for the conservation of biodiversity and cultural landscapes in Europe. Agricultural Policy plays a very important role in achieving environmental objectives and there is a shift towards promoting the supply of environmental goods (green payments). But the incorporation of environmental indicators into policy design requires the valuation of externalities that do not have market value and are difficult to measure, as different temporal and spatial scales operate. The main objectives of the research project are: i) to obtain agri-environmental indicators to assess the ecosystem services provided by HNV agriculture; ii) to design an indicator-based framework to evaluate the environmental impacts and sustainability of agricultural practice; iii) to analyse trade-offs and synergies between food production and environmental services; and iv) to define recommendations for policy design. This project covers 3 HNV mountain agro-ecosystems located in Norway and Spain, representing different ecological and socio-economic contexts in Europe. The work will be structured around 2 broad activities: a) measuring the interactions between HNV agriculture and landscape/ biodiversity attributes to obtain relevant agri-environmental indicators, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative (choice modelling) methods; b) designing a definite framework for quantitative evaluation of ecosystem services and sustainability analysis of HNV farmland in order to support policy making.

Keywords: agricultural sciences,high nature value farmland,grasslands,livestock,ecosystem services,landscape,biodiversity,agri-environmental indicators,sustainability analysis,trade-offs,policy design
Trends in City Expansion and Transport: the Non-Sustainability of Exurbia (TENSE)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-07-07
End date: 2014-07-06
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 278807.4
EU funding (EUR): 278807.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cities are expanding outwards in an unsustainable fashion. Urban sprawl is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly evident at the fringes of cities of the developed world. The transportation required to support such low-density extra-urban habitation requires vast energy consumption and produces very high level of greenhouse gas emissions. This level of transport consumption both for personal mobility and for freight movements (including urban deliveries) runs contrary to global and European policies regarding emissions and energy reduction. The level of increase in overall transport movement in the exurbia of cities remains unknown. This project aims to fill in that gap and address policies that could mitigate its uncontrolled expansion. Although there is a recognition of the growing pace and level of exurbanisation, there is dearth of information and hard data on the level of exurbanisation and the associated transport movement. This project aims to fill that gap by not only providing up-to-date data on transport movements in the periphery of large cities but also demographic and transport trend data for four of the world’s major metropolises, London, New York, Paris and Tokyo. This data will be compared to available regional demographic and transport data in Europe. Furthermore using innovative techniques of backcasting that have been largely pioneered (extended and modified) for transportation at the Transport Studies Unit of Oxford University, it will be possible to relate this both to transport and regional planning policies. An objective will be not only to publish innovative academic research but also involve the cities and regions in the understanding and promotion of more environmentally sustainable human urban habitats. Overall, the project will aim to reach out and involve city regions in the debate of sustainability and urban sprawl, providing both hard data and policy proposals.

Keywords: cities,transport,exurbia,sustainability,emisions,london,paris,new york,tokyo
Evolution of symbiosis between ciliates and nitrogen-fixing prokaryotes (SYMNIF)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 228082.2
EU funding (EUR): 228082.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

During the history of the planet Earth, acquisition of symbiont-encoded metabolic pathways has allowed hosts to exploit new ecological niches. A mechanistic understanding of the interactions between host and symbionts as well as knowledge about the role of symbionts in the functional diversification and species formation in hosts is, however, currently lacking. It is well known that aquatic ciliates may harbor phototrophic algae or methanogenic Archaea as symbionts. Moreover, I recently found nitrogen-fixing (diazotrophic) symbionts in ciliates (Protozoa) and recent studies report diazotrophic symbionts in marine dinoflagellates and zooplankton. Accordingly, I will in this project examine symbioses in model systems consisting of diazotrophic prokaryotes and aquatic ciliates to address the importance of symbionts for the diversification of hosts. The study implicates usage of cutting-edge microbiological, molecular and marine ecological methodologies. Various symbioses in marine and freshwater ciliates will be examined when exposed to different levels of nitrogen availability. The project will provide new insights into the formation, maintenance and specificity of symbioses between aquatic ciliates and their prokaryotic symbionts in relation to environmental conditions. These results have implications for our understanding of the importance of symbiosis in the formation of new species. Moreover, the study will provide first estimates of the nitrogen fixation of diazotrophic prokaryotes associated with ciliates. This is of relevance to the global cycling and availability of nitrogen in aquatic environments and thereby intimately linked to marine carbon budgets.

Keywords: natural sciences,ecology and evolution,marine sciences,microbiology,biodiversity,symbiosis
Glassy Quantum Dynamics in Strongly Interacting Ultracold Atomic Gases (GLASSQD)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-04-02
End date: 2015-04-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200371.8
EU funding (EUR): 200371.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project brings together two international researchers, Dr. Cenap Ates from Germany and a dedicated, enthusiastic Scientist-in-Charge Dr. Igor Lesanovsky at the University of Nottingham, UK, to carry out internationally competitive research. The project will work on understanding, probing and exploiting equilibrium and non-equilibrium phenomena in structured gases of highly excited atoms, with particular focus on quantum glasses. This research will benefit Dr. Cenap Ates career development by becoming an expert of atomic and condensed matter physics and raising his profile in an international level. The host institution and the scientist in charge will benefit from this project and Cenap Ates presence by enriching the research areas and international collaborations. The European Research Area will benefit from the project because the results will provide insights into the understanding of quantum matter out of equilibrium. In the long term this will promote practical applications such as the development of new materials with exotic properties and thus enhance the competitive edge. The research will emphasize the leadership of Europe in this field and create an ever widening gap between European Research Area and other regions.

Keywords: physical sciences,non-equilibrium systems,ultracold gases,rydberg atoms
Re-offending over the Life Course: A Study on Homicide Offender Recidivism (RELEASED)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2015-01-24
Duration (months): 28.0
Total project cost (EUR): 220018.51
EU funding (EUR): 220018.51
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the most intriguing questions in life course criminology is why some offenders reoffend after imprisonment, and others do not. This specifically accounts for homicide offenders. In spite of the societal impact, it remains unknown how homicide offenders fare before the offense, after imprisonment and upon return to the community, and how future (violent and nonviolent) crime among this group might be prevented. This project assesses the influence of criminal past, length of imprisonment, and key life events on recidivism patterns of homicide offenders in the United States and the Netherlands. We envision that the proposed research leads to a new model through which future offending can be understood. The data derived will likely present targets for the prevention of reoffending. Moreover, this project will catalyze collaboration between the Department of Criminology and Penology at Leiden University and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Keywords: social sciences,criminology
Chaotic Cellular Neural/Nonlinear Networks for Solving Constraint Satisfaction (CHAOPT)

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: Romania
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2014-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 128555.4
EU funding (EUR): 128555.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Constraint satisfaction problems (such as Boolean satisfiability) constitute one of the hardest classes of optimization problems with many applications in technology and industry. In a recent paper the Fellow revealed a novel connection between these problems and chaotic dynamical systems. The paper provided an exact mapping of Boolean satisfiability (k-SAT) into a deterministic continuous-time dynamical system with a unique correspondence between its set of attractors and the k-SAT solutions. It was shown that optimization hardness is fundamentally equivalent to the phenomenon of chaos and turbulence: after a critical constraint density is reached, the trajectories become transiently chaotic before finding the solutions, signaling the appearance of optimization hardness. Numerical results have also shown that the presented dynamical system is very efficient in solving SAT problems. The system presented has the simplest possible form designed for fulfilling the mathematical requirements and is not yet suitable for direct implementation. However, the system is not necessarily unique. Using the same principles the goal of this project is to develop a deterministic continuous-time Cellular Neural/Nonlinear Network (CNN) model for solving constraint satisfaction. CNN models were already implemented in analog computers so this could result in a possible physical implementation of the model in the future, leading to numerous applications. The project will follow three major steps: 1) developing the CNN model and analyzing its mathematical properties. 2) Studying the efficiency of the CNN solver and properties of the transient chaotic behavior in hard problems. 3) Testing the robustness of the model to noise effects.

Keywords: computational physics,cellular neural/nonlinear networks,nonlinear dynamical systems,constraint satisfaction problems,transient chaos,optimization
Investigating the role of food structure and processing in lipid digestion for production of healthier food (FOODPRO FORHEALTH)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200371.8
EU funding (EUR): 200371.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

FoodPro ForHealth will develop rational strategies to formulate and process foods to control lipid digestion, and combines the Fellow’s food science skills with expertise and techniques at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) in the colloids, interfacial, model gut and health areas. Obesity is a major health problem in Europe/developed countries and a risk factor for chronic diseases (diabetes and cardiovascular disease, CVD) leading to anti-obesity campaigns promoting healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. Lipids are the most energy dense of macronutrients and excess consumption has been linked to obesity. Most people find it difficult to change their diets to eat healthily. Changes in food manufacturing are needed to develop healthier products and ingredients. Lipids are water insoluble and their breakdown in the digestive tract occurs at the fat/water interface so the composition at the fat interface can affect lipid digestion in vitro. If lipid digestion is controlled, energy release during digestion is prolonged and hyperlipidaemia, a CVD risk factor, reduced. Slowly-digested lipids can also increase satiety, control energy intake and help manage weight loss. State-of-the-art physicochemical techniques will be used to study how common food structures in emulsified foods influence the breakdown/digestion of lipids in vitro. The interaction of these structures with digestive enzymes, surfactants and lipids will be studied in the gastric and duodenal environment. Better understanding the factors affecting the nature/extent of lipid breakdown in model systems and real food models will allow science-based strategies to modify food products or develop new products to optimise fat digestion. The project will assist the Fellow to develop new research projects on her return to Spain and to transfer knowledge to industry. Complementary skills (e.g communication, resource management, IP and awareness of the needs of industry and society) will be transferred to the Fellow

Keywords: nutritional sciences,food products,surface chemistry,surface physics,biochemistry
Geosemantics for Cultural Heritage Documentation – Domain specific ontological modelling and implementation of a Cultural Geosemantic Information System based on ISO specifications (CULTURALGEOSEMANTICS)

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: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-01-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 167847.6
EU funding (EUR): 167847.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The goal of this project is the integration of semantic Cultural Heritage applications with professional Geoinformation. Based on recent developments in both disciplines it will now be possible to create the conceptual basis and to implement systems that have the advantages of the two worlds and are in their combination more powerfull than just the simply addition of the two. The result will be a Cultural Geosemantic Information System, based on ISO standards for both disciplines. The implementation of this new approach will provide institutions and scientific projects of this domain with a methodology and a tool to present the history of cultural digital objects in their geographic context with state of the art geoinformation technologies. State of the art semantic tools will be available to perform spatial queries and integrate the data in the Linked Open Data Cloud to become part of the Semantic Web. Results can be applied to portals like ‘Europeana’, the European initiative with the goal to make Europe's cultural and scientific heritage accessible to the public or to Research Infrastructures for interdisciplinary reseach in the humanities, just to name two. The domain of Cultural Heritage Ducumentation is extremly interdisciplinary and therefore a system like this will bridge the gaps between various discipline specific conceptualisations. Methodological and conceptual base for the project is the ISO certified ontology of the CIDOC CRM (Conceptual Reference Model) for Cultural Heritage Documentation which was developped at the Institute of Computer Science of the Foundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH-ICS). For Geographic Information exists the extensive ISO 19100 Series as standard. The implementation research will be executed at the FORTH-ICS laboratory with its unique semantic infrastructure for Cultural Informatics. Part of it was just realized last year in the course of the EU funded 3D-COFORM project related to 3D collection formation.

Keywords: information science,data management,standardisation of technologies,geosemantics,ontology,knowledge engineering,artificial intelligence,geomatics,cultural heritage documentation
Mucin binding to bioactive molecules: physiological role and new biomaterials (BIOMUC)

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-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 280017.6
EU funding (EUR): 280017.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Mucins are high molecular weight glycoproteins, responsible for most of the extraordinary properties of the mucosal layer, which covers around 300 m2 of our body’s surface. Mucins have mostly been studied in the context of their physiological role: for their ability to protect the epithelial layer from viral and bacterial infection, oxidative degradation, dehydration and mechanical stresses. They are also of major importance in cancer biology, where altered mucin secretions are recognized as cancer markers. A few studies have focused on the interactions of “objects” expected to diffuse from the exterior to the interior of the body through mucin gels, such as nutrients, antibodies, viruses and bacteria. This proposal describes how we will study the ability of mucin to sequester bioactive molecules secreted by cells surrounded by mucin. The goal is to investigate whether mucin gels can be a reservoir for bioactive molecules in a similar fashion to what the extracellular matrix is now recognized to be. The proposal describes a three-phase approach, which will both advance our knowledge on the physiological role of mucin gels and will lead to the development of innovative mucin-based biomaterials for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. The first phase will focus on using 2D mucin coatings to study mucin interactions with relevant bioactive molecules. Also, structure/function will be investigated by modifying mucin chemistry. During the second phase, we will build multilayer thin films of hundreds of nanometer thick using lectin proteins as cross-linker between the mucin layers. The films will be characterized and their ability to act as a reservoir for drugs and other bioactive molecules will be assessed. Finally, in the return phase, we will combine the return host’s expertise on natural based polysaccharide gels, and the knowledge accumulated on mucins. In particular, 3D hydrogels comprising mucin will be developed as a new biomaterials.

Keywords: mucin,mucus,glycosilation,biomaterials,surface modification,multilayer film,drug delivery,cell adhesion,implants,hydrogels,binding,release
Nuclear envelope proteins of Trypanosoma brucei (TRYPNUP)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2014-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200371.8
EU funding (EUR): 200371.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The research objectives of this proposal are to functionally describe nuclear skeleton proteins of the important human parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Recent data, many of which come from the proposed host laboratory, have revealed two novel protein components of the nuclear envelope (NE) that seem to have similar function as lamins in metazoans. The applicant will attempt to explore the exact role of these proteins in epigenetic regulation of developmentally controlled genes (such as those encoding the coat antigens), nuclear architecture and chromatin organization. For this purpose, specific interactions of these proteins with chromatin, their phosphorylation status and its control as well as their 3D structure will be investigated. Parallel to this line of work, the applicant will also use various computational tools to search the available NE proteome for functional homologues of other nuclear skeleton components known in metazoans. The research is expected to yield important clues in the understanding of eukaryotic evolution and importantly also in the fight with trypanosomes and other closely related parasites such as Leishmania. The training objectives of this project are to further develop the candidate's already extensive knowledge of laboratory techniques and bioinformatics. Work on this project will especially enhance the applicant's computational biology, proteomics, imaging, and protein functional characterization skills. The multidisciplinary and highly collaborative nature of this project promises to greatly enhance the competences of the candidate going forward. The host laboratory and collaborators can provide all the facilities required and a strong training in molecular and cell biology. The newly acquired skills and experience will help the applicant to develop a role as a leading expert on molecular evolution and molecular/cell biology of important human parasites and will make a significant contribution to his future career prospects.

Keywords: human parasitology,molecular evolution,trypanosomatida,nuclear envelope,epigenetic regulation,lamina,chromatin organization,antigenic variation,eukaryotic evolution