Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Parasite-driven and immunogenetic diversification in Lake Tanganyika cichlid fishes (CICHLIDWORMS)

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: 2012-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 248451.4
EU funding (EUR): 248451.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

How organisms adapt to different environments and form new species is a central question in evolutionary biology. Cichlid fish of the East-African Great Lakes are the most diverse species assemblage of vertebrates on our planet. Even though they have become a model for speciation research, how and why they reached this enormous diversity remains difficult to explain based on current insights. One theory is that cichlids evolved through habitat diversification (e.g. adaptation to a substrate type), trophic diversification (evolution of different feeding strategies and adaptation to a specific diet) and communication diversification (e.g. evolution of different social interactions including colour- and odour-based mate recognition). However, different habitats, diets and social interactions might also lead to exposure to different parasite communities. Parasites challenge their host’s immune system, and represent strong agents of natural selection. Moreover, parasites might also contribute to sexual selection through immunity-based mate choice (which in cichlids is reflected in brightness and coloration). The combined effect of natural and sexual selection on a trait (in this case the immune system) has the potential to accelerate speciation. Therefore cichlid diversification might essentially be parasite-driven, but this hypothesis has received little attention. Here we address this hypothesis in the Tropheini, an endemic cichlid tribe of Lake Tanganyika, and in its genus Tropheus, which radiated into more than hundred color morphs. Based on state-of-the-art training in genomics and data integration, we aim to obtain an unprecedented view on the potential of parasites to accelerate adaptive radiations at the macro-evolutionary level (Tropheini) and at the micro-evolutionary level (Tropheus). This project will greatly contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying biological diversity, and benefit the societal appreciation of biodiversity.

Keywords: cichlids,ecological genomics,ecological speciation,evolution,population genetics
Multiple-Discontinuity Induced Bifurcations in Theory and Applications (MUDIBI)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2014-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 257874.8
EU funding (EUR): 257874.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The theory or nonlinear dynamical systems was initially developed mainly for models with smooth system function. Since mid of 1900th non-smooth models became a focus or research interest as they provide an adequate description for many systems both in the nature and in engineering sciences. In the last twenty years it was shown that these systems possess many phenomena which can not occur in smooth systems. These phenomena are caused by the presence of so-called switching manifolds in the state space and their interactions with several invariant sets. However, until now mainly systems with one switching manifold were investigated. This represents an important intermediate step but is often not sufficient for explanation of the behaviour of many systems of practical interest. To understand possible behaviours of these systems and to achieve a desired behaviour via a suitable system design, it is necessary to understand the bifurcation structures occurring in multi-dimensional parameter spaces. For the bifurcation structures caused by interactions of invariant sets with one switching manifold, many valuable results were obtained in the last time. The proposed project addresses the following question: What are the basic principles organizing the bifurcation structures in low-dimensional maps with more than one switching manifold? The goal of the proposed project is to explain some generic bifurcation structures characteristic for these systems using a suitable extension of some novel investigation techniques developed for maps with one switching manifold with the concept of organizing centres in multi-dimensional parameter spaces. The practical relevance of the obtained results will be demonstrated by applications not only from the Engineering Science but mainly from the fields of Economics, Financial Modeling and Social Sciences.

Keywords: applied mathematics,nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory,1d and 2d piecewise smooth maps,discontinuous maps,border collision bifurcations,crisis bifurcations,financial and economic modelling
Number Conserving Approaches to Bose-Einstein Condensates (NUM2BEC)

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: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200371.8
EU funding (EUR): 200371.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Bose-Einstein condensation is the coalescence of a macroscopic number of boson atoms into the same quantum state. As such they are manifestations of a quantum effect on a macroscopic scale possessing many interesting and intriguing properties. Recent advances in experimental techniques have meant that many fundamental quantum phenomena can be explored through a Bose-Einstein condensate. When these systems are out-of-equilibrium they exhibit non-trivial dynamics that are highly dependent on quantum fluctuations around the condensed ground state. This project will use a number conserving approach to understand aspects of quantum fluctuations in out-of-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensates in two cases that are theoretically and experimentally important: the effect of a non-zero temperature field and the dynamics at the interface in a mixture of condensates. It will then utilise these two cases to investigate the fundamental limit of metrology, using the Bose-Einstein condensate as the ‘test-bed’.

Keywords: quantum field theory,thermodynamics,atomic physics
Spatial population dynamics of invasive non-native species (re)invasions at low density (DEPENSATION)

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

The invasion of invasive non-native species (INNS) has severe deleterious impacts on biological diversity, ecosystems services, economics and human health. As these impacts become apparent, increasing resources are being expanded to push back the tide of invasive species. Understanding of key ecological concepts such as the scope of compensatory processes (those causing an improvement in fitness of individuals at low density due to e.g. when the amount of resources per capita is greater), depensatory processes (those causing a decrease in fitness of individuals at low density due e.g. to difficulty in locating a mate), dispersal (the movement of individuals from site of birth to site of reproduction) and multi-species interactions should guide these management efforts. Where such management efforts take place over very large scales, there is also the potential to improve ecological understanding of these processes through a judicious partnership between science and management. DEPENSATION will deliver improved management and understanding of INNS colonisation. It is integral to a cooperative conservation project involving a coalition of practitioners, ecologists and policy makers that has removed invasive American mink from 10,000km2 centred on the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. It is the largest successful invasive removal project worldwide as well as unique ecological experiment yielding data on large scale demographic processes in INNS. DEPENSATION will use unique data from the initial eradication and ongoing consolidation and expansion stages of the project to rigorously evaluate the contributions of depensation, compensation and patterns of dispersal by recolonising mink. It will feedback into the conservation project through an active adaptive management approach and close interaction with the volunteers involved in the project. It will formulate Bayesian state space models to evaluate hypothesis and optimise management in Scotland and elsewhere.

Keywords: invasion,(re)colonization,compensation,depensation,state space models,conservation,adaptive management.
Labour Skills from Occupations: Quantifying Human Capital before and during the Industrial Revolution (QHC)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-03-18
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 255069.4
EU funding (EUR): 255069.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Most economic growth theorists see human capital input as a key factor in long-term economic development. Little is known, however, about the role of human capital in the historical process of industrialization of Western Europe. Recent empirical attempts to identify human capital in the past face the problem that human capital is difficult to quantify, particularly before public schools become widespread. Existing measures of human capital in preindustrial Europe (notably literacy rates, numeracy rates and number of apprenticeships) suffer from the drawbacks that they either identify only very basic skills (as in the case of numeracy and literacy) or that they cover only a modest and biased fraction of the population (as in the case of apprenticeships). More importantly, all of them are subject to the criticism that not all the skills acquired by workers were necessarily used in their productive activities. The present study offers a new approach to measuring human capital used in productive activities based on historical occupational titles. The methodology relies on a well-established classification of historical occupations known as the HISCO system. The HISCO system categorizes tens of thousands of occupational titles from countries and languages all around the world from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. In combination with the HISCLASS system, which maps occupational titles into skill-levels used in order to conduct the work described by the occupational title, it is possible to subdivide occupations according to four degrees of working competences depending on the level of ability required to perform the work, namely higher-skilled, medium-skilled, lower-skilled and unskilled occupations. By assigning a score to each of the four skill-levels, it is then possible to compute and study the evolution of the labour force’s skills used in productive activities across time, space and social groups in England and the rest of Western Europe before and during

Keywords: social sciences,humanities,economic history,human capital,economic growth,industrial revolution,occupational records
Molecular Mechanisms of Natural Killer cell Cytotoxicity (MOLMECHSNKTOX)

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: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2015-11-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181418.4
EU funding (EUR): 181418.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The study of immunodeficiency syndromes such as familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) and Griscelli Syndrome type 2 (GS2) has revealed a crucial role for Munc13-4, Stx11, Munc18-2 and Rab27a – members of protein families that regulate vesicle trafficking and membrane fusion – in cytotoxic granule exocytosis. Loss-of-function mutations in these proteins result in loss of target cell killing by NK cells and CD8+ T cells, resulting in a life-threatening sepsis-like condition. The precise molecular role of these proteins in granule release remains, however, incompletely understood. The objective of this project is to elucidate presynaptic signaling cascades leading to NK cell exocytosis, and thus obtain a detailed map of the sub-cellular events leading to granule release. The project is divided into three specific aims. Post-translational modifications of the known regulators of exocytosis will be studied. In a second line of investigation, other, as yet unknown, proteins that might be involved in this process, like priming factors, and scaffold and adaptor proteins will be explored. This work will be facilitated by insights from the fields of neuroscience and hormone release; the mechanisms of which also share an exocytic pathway, and for which molecules important for this process have already been discovered. Additionally, to obtain a complete picture of the signaling pathways involved, spatiotemporal patterns of second messenger dynamics during granule release will be assessed. Importantly, primary, human NK cells will be employed throughout this study. In conclusion, this project aims to increase the understanding of the complex molecular mechanisms involved in NK cell cytotoxicity, thus broadening the spectrum of immunodeficiency syndromes and improving the clinical diagnosis and treatment of FHL patients.

Keywords: medical sciences,immunology,biological sciences,cell biology,nk cell cytotxicity,fhl,immunodeficiency,exocytosis,presynaptic signal transduction
Regulation of Argonaute-2 and miRNA-dependent mRNA decay in response to oxidative stress and DNA damage. (MIRNAAGODDR)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-07
End date: 2014-03-06
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 167390.4
EU funding (EUR): 167390.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cells respond to extracellular stress by inducing specific intracellular programs through the activation of stress kinase signalling pathways. Stress responses are associated with the phosphorylation of particular substrates implicated in restoring homeostasis and cell integrity. Oncogene activation has also been shown to generate replicative DNA damage, activate the DNA Damage Response (DDR) and thereby limit the expansion of precancerous cells. At the molecular level, the DDR is a functional network of different proteins that cooperate in arresting the cell cycle and repairing DNA damage, or inducing cell death if the damage exceeds repair capacities. Recently, micro (mi)RNAs were shown to regulate the expression of several DDR proteins. However, it is not known whether the activity of miRNAs is affected by the stress response. miRNAs are a class of small regulatory RNAs that repress translation and induce degradation of their target mRNAs. Argonaute (Ago) proteins are essential for miRNA activity by forming the central component of the RNA-induced silencing complex. Preliminary data from the Stoecklin lab show that Ago-2 and miRNA-dependent mRNA decay are inhibited in response to oxidative stress, one of the major causes for DNA damage. We propose to investigate the mechanisms of Ago-2 regulation in response to oxidative stress and other DNA damage agents, with the aim to identify possible phosphorylation sites in Ago-2, elucidate the signalling pathways involved, and examine the physiological consequences of Ago-2 inhibition on the cell cycle, the apoptotic response and cell transformation. We will further address specific interactions that Ago-2 undergoes under conditions of oxidative stress with the phosphatase PP6c, the proteasome and the SMN complex. Taken together, the proposed work will elucidate mechanisms that control Ago-2 function and miRNA activity, which will have significant impact on our understanding of RNA interference.

Keywords: dna damage,oxidative stress,mirna regulation,tumorigenesis,argonaute-2
HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP TELEPRESENCE CONTROL FOR ROBOT-ASSISTED SURGERY (TELEPRESENCE SURGERY)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-08-01
End date: 2015-07-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 273074.4
EU funding (EUR): 273074.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In teleoperated robot-assisted surgery, a surgeon operates master manipulators to control the motion of remote robotic manipulators. The manipulators at the remote side enter the patient's body through very small incisions. The patient benefits from the advantages of minimally invasive surgery, while the surgeon's performance is improved by high dexterity and precision inside the patient's body. However, the effectiveness of current clinical systems is limited by the lack of force feedback to the operator. Some surgical procedures, such as exploratory palpation, cannot be performed via MIS. For others, the addition of force information will improve the safety and quality of operation. Robotic teleoperation systems in critical environments must be stable and transparent. In the classical approaches to analysis and control of teleoperators, there is an inherent trade-off between these two design goals. However, these approaches do not take into account models of the human operator. In previous studies, we explored transparency and the human operator. Here, we intend to explore the human operator influence on stability, and develop new control methods for teleoperated surgery that consider biomechanical and neurological models of the operator. In particular, we will push the boundary of the stability-transparency tradeoff, and maintain stable system performance with useful force feedback. To achieve this, we will collaborate with surgeons to identify performance measures and perception goals. We will develop human-in-the-loop stability analysis and use recent results in human motor control to develop the control methods. These will be applied on a custom research version of a clinical robotic surgery system in realistic surgical tasks. This study is expected to enable effective and practical force feedback for teleoperated robotic surgery, and open new capabilities for surgery and other telerobotic applications.

Keywords: biomedical engineering,robotics,surgery,neurosciences,robot assited surgery,haptics,human computer interaction,force feedback
Characterisation of Fuel Additives Effect on Fuel Injector Design (FAEFID)

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: 2013-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 271943.7
EU funding (EUR): 271943.7
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Substantial use of alternative fuels with Diesel and gasoline engines will be in effect in the foreseen regulations both in the US and European markets. Moreover, Diesel engines are under continuous development targeting emissions reduction and increased efficiency. Technological advances applied on internal combustion engines include increased fuel injection pressures, multiple fuel injections strategy and exhaust gas recirculation. However, undesirable effects such as coking, corrosion and fouling of the fuel system are enhanced with increased injection pressures, multiple injections and the use of blends of Diesel/gasoline and alternative fuels. Therefore, quality of Diesel fuel has been brought into debate and, subsequently, increased the demand for fuel additive packages. Diesel fuel additives play a valuable role in reducing potential adverse effects in fuel of lower natural quality or fuel blends. Additionally, it constitutes a method for overcoming the aforementioned difficulties without redesigning of the complete fuel system. At the same time claims for improved combustion efficiency and emissions reduction have been made. The present proposal aims to characterise in a systematic way the effects of selected marketed additives on the operation of Diesel and gasoline engines. Using a combination of experiments and simulations, we propose to identify the following: a. The effect of fuel additive on the internal nozzle flow (characterisation of cavitation), nozzle discharge coefficient and nozzle thermal behaviour due to excess fuel pressurisation b. The effect of fuel additive on spray development c. The effect on engine combustion and exhaust emissions d. The effect on overall thermodynamic efficiency of the engine

Keywords: technological sciences,internal combustion engine,fuel additives,internal nozzle flow,spray characterisation,combustion efficiency,exhaust emissions