Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Role of enzymatic activity in lichen tolerance under nitrogen excess (REAL TUNE)

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: Portugal
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2014-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 151426.8
EU funding (EUR): 151426.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Reactive forms of nitrogen (N) from anthropogenic sources led to a doubling of the available N pool worldwide, with harmful consequences for human health and the environment. The solution of the N problem can only comes from an integrated approach, both in relation to the assessment of the biogeochemical and ecological interactions, and in relations to emissions abatement strategies. In this challenge, Europe has a leadership position, as testified by the numerous scientific networks, working groups and activities on the topic. The project REAL TUNE aims at being part of this multidisciplinary approach to the complexity of the N problem. Lichens are among the most sensitive organisms to NH3 pollution at the ecosystem level. Several studies have investigated the relationships between lichens and N, but the current knowledge about the ecological variables influencing lichen physiology cannot explain lichen behaviour in nature completely. N tolerance resulted to be modulated by cation exchange capacity, interaction with the carbon metabolism and polyamines. Our working hypothesis is that enzymatic pathways of the primary and secondary metabolism are deeply involved in the processes that provide N tolerance. To check it, protein expression, enzymatic activity of GS/GOGAT and GDH, and the role of polyamines as a sink for ammonium will be examined in two lichen species with a markedly different N sensitivity. Moreover, physiological response to N and pH changes separately, the different role of the single bionts in N response, and the metabolic and physiological effects of long-term exposures to N in a Mediterranean environment will be analysed in order to answer some important questions on lichen symbiosis and ecology. Besides its scientific value, we think that REAL TUNE, linking physiological mechanisms and ecological impacts of increase availability of reactive N, can provide suitable tools for N management and environment protection.

Keywords: bioindication,detoxification system,physiology,environment protection,lichen symbiosis,long-term exposure,mediterranean ecosystem,integrated approach,nitrogen management,tolerance mechanism
Synchronic Entanglements and New Social Imaginaries: Anti-War Activism in Brazil and the United Kingdom in the Twenty-First Century (SENSIAWABUK)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2015-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 263208.9
EU funding (EUR): 263208.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project aims to investigate the practices and modes of association of anti-war activists in Brazil and in the UK, while formulating an interaction ritual theory that places emotions and synchronicity at the centre of social process. Building on interaction ritual chains theory (Randall Collins), I articulate a notion of synchronicity that emerges from a theorisation of the relationship between social suffering, creativity, and collective process. In short, I show how actors create novel social form while synchronically entangled with one another. While proposing an innovative multi-method approach for the study of social movements, which relies on biographic interviews, network analysis, and sequence analysis, I aim to illuminate: (1) the relationship between the biographic events of activists, and the events of the movements, thus setting the stage for an eventful sociology of social movements; (2) the structure and dynamics of networks of peace activists, understood as interaction ritual chains, and having as a result particular forms of solidarity; (3) the forms of actorness and political imaginaries of the social movements. This methodology grounds a novel way of construing the relation between micro-events and macro-events; and it allows to observe how the practices of anti-war activists in the past decade rework the boundaries between state and society. In particular, the project contributes to understanding how “war” and “peace” are construed as symbolic objects in contemporary political imaginaries. Anti-war movements are privileged sites of research for studying synchronic entanglements, especially in the aftermath of the 9/11 events, the US response to them, and the revival of pacifist mobilisation that followed. Brazil and the UK constitute two very different but equally telling cases of this revival, while also being part of a global space of anti-war mobilisations.

Keywords: social theory,interactionist sociology,psychosocial studies,social movements,anti-war activism,synchronicity,emotions,sociology of the state,social change,social imaginary
Micro-realities of surrogacy in India (SURROG-INDIA)

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: 2013-01-01
End date: 2016-04-21
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 274380.4
EU funding (EUR): 274380.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Surrogacy is a (new) way to conceive children, which is currently becoming a medical, political, and social issue in a context of growing globalization and reproductive medicalization. India has become an international leader for surrogacy and one of the main destinations for cross-border fertility care for Europeans. Surrogacy sheds light on new social, economic, demographic and medical issues at the national and international levels. It raises many questions in epidemiology and public health (why do Europeans use surrogacy instead of adoption for example? why and how do they use surrogacy in India?), demography (who are the intended parents and where do they come from? who are the Indian surrogate mothers?), sociology (what are the life-histories of intended parents and surrogate mothers? what leads them to surrogacy? what sense do they give to this practice?) and gender studies (what is its impact on women’s conditions, on gender construction and on gender relationships? In a context of poverty, what justifies for Indian women to “rent their wombs”?). Through a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis, the project will study micro-realities of surrogacy in Mumbai among surrogate protagonists and will produce new empirical data. Based on training-through-research, the Marie Curie grant will assert my skills in three identified areas: generating knowledge on a new cultural background, strengthening my competencies in the field of survey methodology and enhancing my coverage of reproductive health issues by tackling the specific question of surrogacy. While surrogacy is becoming in Europe a burning issue for public health policies, few studies have addressed this new phenomenon, especially in developing countries. Understanding this practice both in terms of the offer side and of the demand side is timely in order to throw light on current debates.

Keywords: social sciences,surrogacy,india,reproductive rights,cross-border fertility care,gender,interdisciplinary approach,qualitative and quantitative methods
Organic Electronic Artificial Neurons (OEAN)

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: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2014-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 174016.8
EU funding (EUR): 174016.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Disorders of the nervous system effect hundreds of millions of people worldwide and the costs of these afflictions, both in terms of life lost and healthcare expenditure, are a heavy burden on us all. We propose to employ the delivery property of the ion pump, coupled with a sensing electrochemical transistors to build an organic electronic artificial neuron for intervention into the malfunctioning signaling pathways implicated in specific neurological disorders. Of particular importance is the ion pump’s ability to precisely deliver the neurotransmitters glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid, the primary excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters of the central nervous system, respectively. By regulating delivery of these and other molecules, the practitioner could selectively raise and lower the relative neural excitability within a small, well-defined region of the brain, such as one generating seizures, using a device easily integrated into standard surgical procedures developed for electrode implants. Moreover, autoregulation is made possibe by incorporating a sensing transistor to monitor variation in neurotransmitters concentration that will trigger release with the ion pump. The organic electronic nature of the ion pump and the electrochemical sensing transistor technologies makes them optimal for interfacing both biological systems and traditional electronics. Furthermore, the use of polymers and other bio-compatible soft materials, make them well suited for implant into the body. Using the body’s endogenous signaling system as the cue, self-regulated artificial neurons will enable new therapies whereby patients’ health can be restored by supplementing their malfunctioning signaling pathways, rather than invading them with substances and signals alien to the body. The artificial neuron can therefore provide therapy for a wide range of previously untreatable neurological disorders and help patients with these afflictions return to health.

Keywords: organic electronics,neuroscience,drug delivery,biosensors,in vitro,electrochemistry,transistors
Advanced spatial phase shifting techniques and applications to non-destructive testing of large engineering components on-site (PHASEMASTER)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-22
End date: 2014-10-21
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209033.4
EU funding (EUR): 209033.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

With the rapid expansion in wind energy sector world wide, there is an increasing need to develop a technique that can be used to inspect wind turbine blades (WTB) on-site, so that the reliability and integrity of the structure and components can be maintained. However, most of the existing NDT techniques are difficult to use for WTB inspection on-site because of the complex working conditions and restrictions. Shearography technique has shown great potential in this aspect, and has been used in laboratory within a huge vacuum chamber to inspect large components. This proposal aims to develop advanced optical NDT techniques that can be used to inspect WTB and other large engineering components/structures on-site. The main objectives are: • Develop an advanced spatially phase shifted digital shearography (SPS-DS) • Develop robust algorithms to extract phase from single specklegram and from multiple specklegrams • Extend the working range of the system by rigid body motion compensation • Demonstrate the prototype system for wind turbine blade inspection on-site The host organisation, TWI, has been working closely with industrial partners across Europe to develop new NDT techniques for two decades. Projects have successfully involved the whole supply chain including SMEs, RTDs and LE end users. TWI’s 3500 membership base will ensure that the fellow will be exposed to a wide range of potential contributors and end users. This project will benefit end-users across a range of industries by developing novel optical techniques, improving reliability and integrity of engineering components.

Keywords: spatial phase shift,interferometry,measurement,non-destructive testing,shearography,speckle,on-site inspection
Banking on new antimicrobials: translational fidelity impairment. (BONAFIDE)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 192622.2
EU funding (EUR): 192622.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Infectious diseases represent an incessant threat for the human population worldwide. The rapid evolution and flexible metabolism of bacterial pathogens have caused a staggering global rise in antibiotic resistance. Our project aims to contribute to the pressing need for discovery of new antibacterial targets. The project will combine the applicant`s expertise in molecular biology and biochemistry, together with the competence of the host lab in infection biology, bioinformatics and high-through-put methods, to evaluate potential targets for new antimicrobials development. Protein biosynthesis accuracy is an integral part of the living cell health. Errors during translation of genetic information into proteins may lead to nonfunctional and toxic product formation. We propose to evaluate frameshifting, the most severe type of translational inaccuracy, in a systematic and quantitative fashion as means to defeat bacterial pathogens. Our preliminary data show that it is possible to invoke avirulence by targeting frameshifting control in the pathogen Salmonella. To reach our objective, we have developed a fluorescence-based tool to monitor translational mistakes in vitro and in vivo using flow cytometry. We will collaborate with core facilities to use proteomics and gene expression profiling to decipher downstream effects of mistranslation. The results will be validated in the murine model of typhoid fever. These data will be used to create an in silico model for Salmonella that, fed by genomic information of other bacterial pathogens, could predict potential broad-spectrum drug targets. The academic benefit of the project involves promotion of an interdisciplinary approach and mutual exchange of state-of-the-art methodology between the host lab and the researcher. The researcher will enhance her individual competences as an independent investigator, master cutting-edge techniques, and strengthen her tutor skills within proposed out-reach activities.

Keywords: natural sciences,medical microbiology,infection biology,salmonella,virulence,protein biosynthesis accuracy,frameshifting,trna modification,flow cytometry,fluorescent proteins
Studying the Development of Young Students’ Conceptual Understanding in Statistics through Mediation by Technological Tools and Talk (STATSTALK)

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

As people make decisions under the conditions of uncertainty, the knowledge of probability and statistics becomes of critical importance for ordinary citizens to make judgments and predictions on the basis of numerical information in their lives. Given the emphasis on promoting essential competences for the knowledge-based economy and society by the Europe 2020 Strategy vision, statistics is a key subject matter to help young people become scientifically literate citizens and consumers of data-based information, and thus is increasingly becoming an important part of the school mathematics curricula. Acknowledging the importance of statistical knowledge and thinking skills in this context, the proposed project aims at (1) developing young students’ conceptual understanding of statistical and probabilistic ideas within informal statistical inference, which seems to be neglected in the early grades of schooling, (2) investigating mediating roles of technological tools and children’s talk, and (3) making recommendations for practical educational contexts. By conducting classroom teaching experiments, we will examine the relationship between students’ talk together, their use of ICT tools and their development of conceptual understanding of key statistical and probabilistic ideas. The study draws from the research emerging from ICT in education, including the integration of ICT tools in mathematics education and promoting effective talk among students, to foster children’s conceptual understandings in statistics. This collaborative research will bring together academics with expertise in learning theories in education in relation to ICT, mathematics education, and statistics education. The study will significantly advance our understanding of how the interaction between tasks, students’ talk, and technological tools work in helping students grasp key statistical ideas. Dissemination of the research will contribute to enhancing the quality of education in Europe.

Keywords: mathematics instruction,technology integration,primary school students,grade 6,computer supported learning,dialogic theory,conceptual development,informal statistical inference
How words and semantic are stored in the brain? (WORD-SEM STORE)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-02-03
End date: 2015-02-02
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168896.4
EU funding (EUR): 168896.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Reading consists in establishing a correspondence between the physical form of the printed word and a semantic interpretation stored in the permanent memory. This project will investigate in greater detail how this orthographic form information, called lexical representation, is mapped onto word concepts, called semantic representations. In other words, how these two qualitatively different codes are stored and interconnected in the brain. This will be carried out considering readers that have more than one lexical representation for each concept, bilinguals for instance (i.e., table in English, mesa in Spanish). That is, the present proposal poses itself as a bridge linking two main research areas in visual word recognition: monolinguals’ versus bilinguals’ processing. In this project, characteristics of words, such as number of orthographic neighbors (e.g., lift - list), which tap directly into lexical representations level, and number of associates (e.g., table - chair), which tap directly into semantic representations level, will be manipulated. Contrary to monolinguals for who one specific orthographic form is mapped onto one specific semantic representation, bilinguals have two different orthographic codes that can be mapped onto a single semantic representation. Combining behavioral measures from cognitive psychology with neuro-imaging methodologies (EEG and MEG) will provide new insights into time-course of brain region activation as monolinguals and bilinguals process language. For each study, three different populations (monolinguals, unbalanced bilinguals and balanced bilinguals) will be compared in order to investigate the impact of level of knowledge in the second language during the processing of word recognition. This multi-methodological and multi-population based approach is one of the keys of the present research and will provide the foundation for a general framework of skilled reading.

Keywords: cognitive science,experimental psychology
STIMULATION OF ENERGY EXPENDITURE AND BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE IN HUMANS (SEE BAT)

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: 2012-03-15
End date: 2014-03-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209033.4
EU funding (EUR): 209033.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Obesity is the result of a mismatch between energy intake and energy expenditure. Part if excess calories will end up as fatty acids. The excess lipid will interfere with normal glucose homeostasis resulting in diabetes and other complications. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a tissue with high rates of lipid oxidation, making it an ideal organ burn excess fuel to control body weight. Recently it has been shown that BAT exists in humans being predominantly present in lean, young healthy humans opposed to humans that are obese. Typically BAT is activated in cold exposure to increase body temperature. This signal is mediated via activation of transient receptor potential channels (i.e. extreme-cold receptor transient receptor potential channel member A1(TRPA1)) in nerve endings. The cold signal then reaches the hypothalamus via afferent neuronal pathways. Via activation of certain cerebral nuclei, a sympathetic response is produced that reaches end organs such as BAT. TRPA1 can also be activated by allyl-isothiocyanate (AITC, present in mustard). AITC in animal studies induces energy expenditure. The end transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member (1 TRPV1), is an other receptor that activates energy expenditure via the natural compound capsaicin. We suggest that the activation of BAT is a promising target to increase energy expenditure in humans. The aim of this fellowship is to investigate the activation of energy expenditure via various protocols such as cold and the administration of AITC and capsaicin in healthy humans and obese subjects. Included subjects will undergo test protocols under two temperature conditions (thermoneutrality and cold), AITC and capsaicin administration. In these protocols we will also assess the role of the sympathetic nervous system (beta-blockade), glucose and lipid metabolism (stable isotope studies) and imaging by infrared thermography and fluorodeoxy glucose positron-emission tomography.

Keywords: health sciences,obesity,fatty acids,metabolism,thermogenesis,brown adipose tissue,lipid targeting,lipid oxidation,energy balance,energy expenditure,human