Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
REcovery of Motor functions After stroKE: exploiting and enhancing residual abilities of the upper body beyond compensatory strategies (REMAKE)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-07-01
End date: 2017-11-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project aims at developing adaptive/smart tools, based on Body-Machine Interfaces (BMI) and robotic technologies, which may help stroke survivors to recover functions of the upper body by exploiting/enhancing their residual capabilities, while avoiding the “easy shortcut” of being content with stereotypical compensatory strategies. Stroke survivors face the dual problem of regaining independence in everyday tasks and recovering motor abilities. BMI’s address the former problem and compliant robots the latter. Our rationale is to integrate them (a real novelty in the field) with the ultimate goal of breaking stereotypical compensatory strategies in favor of a gradual and continuous functional reorganization of upper body movements, obtained by continuously adapting the interface to the subject’s status and physiological/psychological changes, such as aging, recovery, and progress of the illness. The work is organized in three general objectives: (i) TO TRANSLATE BODY-DERIVED SIGNALS onto BMI commands, encoding subjects’ state, impairment and residual abilities. (ii) TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT ADAPTIVE BMIs for rehabilitation devices, based on the individual characteristic of each subject. (iii) TO ENCODE INFORMATION of the subject’s state of motion and interaction with the environment INTO APPROPRIATE SENSORY FEEDBACK. If successful, the proposed research will generate the knowledge necessary for developing a new class of interfaces aimed at “learning” the subjects’ evolving abilities and adapting to their needs. These interfaces will provide their users with both assistance and rehabilitation under a unified framework. It is also expected that this approach, if successful with stroke survivors, may be extended to a larger family of devices and a broader range of pathologies.

Keywords: motor leaning,robots,redundancy,residual abilities,human-machine interfaces,recovery,rehabilitation,stroke survivors,assistive devices
Real-time study of pattern formation dynamics in nonvariant eutectic solidification microstructures (NEUSOL)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2017-08-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The present proposal concerns a multidisciplinary experimental research program in the field of solidification science with various impacts in nonlinear physics, metallurgy, materials science, and engineering. The problem studied is the formation dynamics of multiphase microstructures in eutectics, which are naturally grown composites that are generally solidification-processed. These microstructures basically consist of nearly periodic arrangements of different crystal phases on the micrometer scale. Because of their low and constant melting temperatures, and the remarkable mechanical, optical, and electrical properties that they owe to their fine microstructures, eutectics are extensively used in metallurgical industries including casting and soldering. However, a substantial challenge for eutectic materials is to control the variability of the microstructure on a scale larger than a few tens of a micrometer. If the microstructures were perfectly periodic on a macroscopic scale, the solid would present extraordinary properties. However, for as yet unknown reasons, eutectic microstructures always exhibit a large density of “defects”, which destroy the long-range periodicity and reduce the quality of the material. This proposal addresses this problem using real-time experiments and numerical simulations to examine the formation dynamics of Nonvariant EUtectic SOLidification (NEUSOL) microstructures with an emphasis on dynamics of three-phased eutectic patterns and anisotropy effects.Control of the microstructure is essential to obtain a homogeneous structure, which is needed to yield consistent properties and reproducible materials. This project will provide a clear improvement of our fundamental understanding of solidification pattern formation in ternary eutectics and have strong impact on the international community by opening the way to the control, and hence to the optimization of the properties of solidification-processed composite materials.

Keywords: solidification,eutectic solidification,crystal growth,directional solidification,bridgman technique,p218 phase transitions - phase equilibria,p114 non-linear physics,g311 materials engineering
One-Dimensional Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor Nanostructures: Analysis and Applications (NANOWIRES)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Research and development in nanotechnology has seen an astonishing progress during the past decade, and has now provided clearer indication of its potential. There is great potential to incorporate nanotechnology-enabled products and services into almost all industrial sectors and medical fields by 2020. Resulting benefits will include increased productivity, more sustainable development, and new jobs. To advance our scientific knowledge, and to bring competitive advantage to the EU research and development in nanotechnology, PI proposes to investigate silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum nitride (AlN) wide-bandgap semiconductor nanostructures and develop new applications of these nanostructures for energy generation, optoelectronics, and sensing. The proposed project is aimed not only to address the fundamental technical and scientific issues of 1D nanostructures, but also develop original products utilizing these materials. 1D-AlN nanostructures are extremely important for many applications in several fields including power transistors, optoelectronics, heat sinks, resonators, sensors, and nanogenerators. Similarly, due to its inherent superior properties, SiC is an excellent material for applications in many areas including microelectronics (high temperature, high power, and high frequency), thermoelectrics, optoelectronics, and biomedical. The specific research objectives are: 1) Full spectrum characterization of AlN nanostructures; 2) Development of AlN nanostructure based electricity generators (nanogenerators); 3) Full spectrum characterization of SiC nanowires; 4) Fabrication of SiC-nanowire devices for studying electrical, photoconductivity, and thermoelectric properties of the SiC nanowires. The proposed project will significantly contribute to Europe’s competitiveness in nanotechnology, since the project greatly overlaps with the EU-Horizon -2020’s specific objective and broad lines of activities for nanotechnology research, development, and education.

Keywords: nanowires,energy generation,piezoelectric nanogenerators,photoconductivity,optoelectronics,sensing,nanotechnology education,product development
Reconfigurable non-von-Neumann Accelerators (EXAFLOW)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2017-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Computer architects are facing two critical challenges when designing parallel architectures - making them both dramatically more power efficient and far more easy to program. These challenges, often referred to as the power and programmability walls, already bring forth two orthogonal paradigm shifts in parallel programming and computer architecture. On the one hand, the parallel programming world is turning towards task-based parallel programming models, which direct programmers to decompose their program into computational tasks that can execute in an asynchronous manner. On the other hand, power limitations and inefficiencies inherent to von-Neumann architectures motivate the exploration of novel programmable accelerators. In this research, whose focus stems from the culmination of the above trends, we will focus on the exploration and design of high-performance, power-efficient compute fabric that is tuned to efficient execution of encapsulated computational tasks. To achieve high-performance as well as power efficiency, the fabric will be based the dataflow computing model, which potentially offers great power and performance potential over traditional von-Neumann architectures. The research will focus on the development of a novel single-graph multiple-flows (SGMF) reconfigurable accelerator model that combines task-level parallelism with power-efficient data graph execution. The SGMF model identifies multiple instances of a computational task type and maps their shared data graph representation onto a grid of simple functional units. The grid then concurrently streams multiple data graph instances thus executes tasks in parallel. SGMF therefore offers a general-purpose, power-efficient dataflow alternative for the increasingly popular single-instruction multiple-thread (SIMT) model.

Keywords: g101 computer architecture,g113 parallel and distributed computing,g115 systems and software,dataflow processors,task-based programming,exascale computing,hardware accelerators
Vascular and Aymloid Predictors of Neurodegeneration and Cognitive Decline in Nondemented Subjects. (VASCAMY)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of dementia that affects one in 14 persons over the age 65 years and one in six persons over the age of 80 years. Increased deposition of the protein beta-amyloid (Aß) is a core brain pathology of AD that occurs years before the onset of clinical symptoms of dementia. Together with Aß, cerebrovascular disease, visible as on a MR image as white matter abnormalities, frequently co-occurs. A major question is whether Aß and cerebrovascular disease independently from each other predict disease progression and cognitive decline. The overall goal of the combined amyloid PET and MRI study is to assess how Aß pathology and vascular white matter damage contribute to cognitive decline through particular neuronal networks at an early stage of the disease. To this end, we will assess in a prospective 4-year longitudinal neuroimaging study 80 subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) of episodic memory or executive function and 50 elderly cognitively healthy subjects (HC). Brain changes in association with Aß (florbetaben PET) and white matter degeneration (MRI, DTI) will be assessed in two major networks 1) temporo-parietal network that is typically associated with episodic memory, and 2) a subcortical-prefrontal network that is typically associated with executive function. Specifically, florbetaben PET binding and volumes of WMH and lacunes at baseline will be tested as predictors of fiber tract degeneration (DTI) and grey matter atrophy of those networks and cognitive decline during annual follow-up assessments. We expect that the results of this study will provide us with a clear understanding of the joint effects of the Aß and vascular white matter pathology on brain degeneration to predict cognitive decline during an early disease stage. This will help to identify subjects at risk of developing eventually dementia and will provide endpoints for clinical trials of disease modifying drugs to prevent dementia.

Keywords: beta-aymloid,florbetaben,pet,mri,dti,fiber tracts,grey matter,atrophy,episodic memory,executive function,longitudinal,decline,preclinical,mild cognitive impairment,cognitively normal
Social Adaptation: When Software Gives Users a Voice (SOCIAD)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-10-16
End date: 2017-10-15
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Adaptation is a desirable feature of software systems to respond autonomously to changes so that human’s time and effort are minimized. The ultimate goal is that users get their dynamic requirements met correctly and efficiently. Adaptation is triggered and guided by certain drivers such as context changes and quality assessment of its execution. Traditional adaptive systems engineering assumes a system ability to monitor adaptation triggers autonomously. This assumption, however, is not always possible due to limitation of technology and also to the lack of infrastructure needed to do that in certain uses of the system. Example: imagine a disaster management system which needs data about a flash flood to decide upon what rescue strategy to adopt. There could be no fully-automated way to monitor these data and, moreover, it could be impossible to monitor if an execution of a strategy was successful, i.e., impossible to monitor quality. The system will have to try a strategy assuming that it is correct, all that under a high degree of uncertainty. SOCIAD suggests that people are powerful monitors who can provide data which are essential for adaptation and unmonitorable by relying on solely automated means. This proposal will develop requirements engineering framework (theoretical principles, models, automated analysis mechanisms, CASE tools, and case studies) for modelling, gathering and using users’ feedback in order to guide software adaptation. Raian published SOCIAD idea as a New Ideas Track paper in FSE’11, a top software engineering conference, and a full paper in ENASE’12 conference winning the Best Paper Award. Raian moved to BU in Feb 2012 . He is still in the probation period with a high teaching and adminstrative load. This grant will enable Raian to remain active in research and advance EU excellence in the very timely area of SOCIAD. BU has indicated that once this grant is given, it will further support SOCIAD to cover its full costs. .

Keywords: software engineering,requirements engineering,adaptive systems engineering
Evolution of Business Organizations in the European Periphery: Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic, 1850-1950, (EVOBUSORG)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project examines how business organizations evolved in the European periphery by focusing on the organizational form and economic performance of enterprises formed in Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic during 1850-1950. The objective is to explore the relationship between organizational law, entrepreneurial choice, and economic performance in a case study where the dominance of foreign capital and legal borrowing is evident. The researcher will create a database including the number and types of firms by using hitherto unexamined archival resources in the Prime Ministry's archives in Istanbul and the Republican Archives in Ankara. This database will be used to explore the relationship between business law and economic change through statistical analysis and a historical survey of commercial law, in particular incorporation laws. First, the evolution of business enterprises and how they performed in the Turkish/Ottoman context will be evaluated with a view to other cases that have been more extensively examined such as France and Spain. This comparative analysis will be used to assess competing theories about the origins and implications of different forms of business organization. Second, historical evidence on the choice of business form will be examined against the background of changes in social, political, and legal institutions. This will help us reconsider dominant views about historical roots of the region’s economic backwardness, i.e. the theories about the heritage of the authoritarian rule or the Islamic legal system. Through both channels, the project will provide insights for the current challenges posed by global processes which require recognition of institutional dissonance and seek tools for harmonization and economic integration.

Keywords: s410 social - economic - cultural and political history,e117 economic history - development,s405 modern and contemporary history,s111 private - public and social law
The rules of connectivity of genetically-defined long-range projections (LONG_RANGE_CC)

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: Portugal
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Given the complexity of the neocortex, the need for establishing simplifying principles of connectivity is paramount. Local cortical circuits form stereotyped connections across the neocortex. Within a cortical column, connections show laminar specificity and target preferentially particular cell-types while avoiding others. In addition, subnetworks of highly interconnected neurons are embedded in the local circuit. These subnetworks receive common local input and have similar functional properties in vivo, suggesting the might work as functional units. In contrast to our knowledge of the local circuits, the connectivity of long-range cortical circuits remains largely unknown. Here we propose studying the organization of long-range cortical connections using a combination of optogenetic and electrophysiological methods. By mapping the connections made by genetically-defined neuronal types in local and distant cortical areas we aim at unraveling whether long-range and local connections have the same target specificity. Using channelrhodopsin-2 assisted circuit mapping we will probe the connectivity and subcellular distribution of V1 cortico-cortical projections from Layer(L)2/3 and L5 within V1 and in distant target visual cortical areas. Similarly we want to establish how subnetworks of interconnected neurons connect with inputs from outside their local circuits. We will develop a new optogenetic circuit-mapping method that will allow us assessing whether the interconnected neurons constituting cortical subnetworks receive common long-range connections. Taken as a whole, this proposal will shed light on the connectivity of long-range connections while potentially establishing some simplifying organizational principles underlying cortical connectivity. In addition, the research plan outlined will bring to the Iberian Peninsula and the EU a new set of skills and approaches for studying neural circuits that I developed after extensive training in the USA.

Keywords: neuroscience,circuits,cerebral cortex,optogenetics,circuit mapping,paired recordings,visual cortex,mouse,channelrhodopsin,cortico-cortical,thalamocortical,subnetworks
Effects of emotion and stress on different memory phases (EMOTIONAL MEMORY)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2018-02-04
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Where were you when you heard about the terrorist attack on the world trade center? Can you remember receiving your high school diploma, your first kiss? Very likely you are able to remember these emotional events. Emotions have a profound impact on what we learn and keep in mind and thus influence who we are. In particular, emotions affect various stages of memory, i.e. encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and reconsolidation. Stress hormones, i.e. glucocorticoids as well as catecholamines released upon an emotionally arousing experience influence emotion’s effects on all stages of memory formation. The major aim of my research is to characterize the behavioural and neurobiological processes that underlie the effects of emotion and stress on different memory stages. To study this topic, I use human experimentation combining behavioural studies, pharmacological manipulations and neuroimaging techniques. Using these various approaches, I am creating a research framework that integrates the cognitive and affective level with the underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Keywords: emotion,stress,memory,fmri,cortisol