Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Structural Assessment and Retrofitting of Ancient Masonry Buildings (SARAMB)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-01
End date: 2010-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170142.1
EU funding (EUR): 170142.1
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims at investigating the structural assessment and retrofitting of ancient masonry buildings (AMB), focussing on the computational modelling of existing masonry structures. The main goal of the proposed work is the development of novel numerical modelling tools. The training activity is therefore focused mainly towards this end. A multidisciplinary scientific training, combining structural modelling with advanced computing concepts, will dramatically enhance the applicant’s expertise in the field. The proposed numerical modelling of AMB is based on the use of both an effective constitutive model for the masonry, assumed as a composite material under monotonic and cyclic loads, and a suitable kinematic approach for discretizing complex geometrical configurations. A novel dynamic masonry element will be developed by considering a multi-scale approach, thanks to the inherent advantages of the method with respect to the micromodel and macromodel approaches which are currently the most used. By coupling macroscopic and microscopic models, the combined advantages of simplicity and efficiency of the macroscopic models as well as accuracy of the microscopic models can be exploited. Furthermore, the multi-scale approach allows the determination of the mechanical properties of masonry using only slightly invasive in-situ experimental tests, which is of paramount importance for buildings of historical value. The modelling of multi-leaf masonry walls will be addressed in this project, where normal masonry structures involving single-leaf walls can be considered as a particular case. The developed model will be implemented within a parallel processing computational environment, so as to maximise computational efficiency in modelling real AMB structures. Finally, the model will be used to investigate the effectiveness of a number of strengthening techniques for multi-leaf masonry walls as well as their contribution to structural behaviour of strengthened panels.

Keywords: structural engineering,ancient masonry buildings,multi-leaf masonry walls,fe numerical modelling,non-linear dynamic analysis,multi-scale approach,parallel processing,strengthening techniques
In vivo studies and screens for new factors that promote or suppress tumor metastasis (FINDMETASTASIS)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-05-01
End date: 2010-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 159166.6
EU funding (EUR): 159166.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Metastasis is the process whereby a primary tumor (usually highly malignant in nature) spreads to distant locations in the body. Understanding step-by-step how particular confined tumors acquire invasiveness and/or spreading potential is a scientific challenge that can help us to develop new strategies for metastatic cancer prevention or treatment. In mouse models and in humans, the inactivation of the E-cadherin gene and the activation of genes of the SNAIL family are markers of the initiation of metastasis from epithelial tumors – a process that is called epithelial-mesenchimal transition, and that is similar, albeit not identical, to what occurs during normal development. In vivo, however, neither the activation of E-cadherin nor the activation of SNAIL genes is sufficient to trigger malignant transformation, indicating that additional unknown factors are required for this process to take place. Our project has as its main objective to develop and explore genetically traceable animal models that recapitulate the initial steps in malignant transformation of tumorous growth in vivo. With these animal models we intend to understand the molecular mechanisms that activate (or inactivate) genes that trigger metastasis and that convert a stationary eptithelial cell into an invasive one (ie, one with the capacity to invade and degrade the basal lamina). We hope that these models will help to open new fields of investigation to isolate new potential targets for therapeutic intervention.

Keywords: natural sciences,animal growth,genetics,cell biology,tumour,metastasis,cell invasion,model organism
Investigations on the effect of reactive surfactants on latex film microstructure and properties via tracer diffusion. (LATEX FILM FORMATION)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-2-IIF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-06-04
End date: 2010-06-03
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 227969.9
EU funding (EUR): 227969.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Aqueous film forming polymer (latex) dispersions are widely used in the adhesive and coating industry. In recent years, significant research effort is devoted to the development of reactive surfactants for emulsion polymerization, with the aim of achieving better product performance in these water-based systems. They are devised to produce emulsions with better technical properties like emulsion stability, low water uptake of dry films, and better gloss. The reactive surfactant takes part in the polymerization and becomes a part of the polymer chain, and thus modifies the film formation process, the film microstructure as well as the film properties. So far, however, a clear molecular level understanding of how reactive surfactants influence the performance of coatings is missing. Thus, studies at molecular length scales performed on well-defined model systems, where the particle surfaces are modified with covalently attached surfactants, are important to understand the film formation process and tailoring film properties. In this project a systematic study on the influence of anionic reactive surfactants on latex film formation and film properties of Poly (butyl methacrylate) emulsions, employing a tracer diffusion technique (Forced Rayleigh scattering; FRS) is proposed. Reactive surfactants avoid surfactant migration to and aggregation at the polymer-substrate and the polymer-air interface and also modify the polymer interdiffusion between particles that is necessary to form a mechanically strong film. Both effects can be studied at molecular level with the FRS technique. The benefit of the proposed studies will be an improved understanding of the relationship between the nature of the interfacial membranes (depending upon the surfactant used) and the film formation process, helpful in the advancement of the control over film properties for better performing adhesives and coatings.

Keywords: holographic grating relaxation,tracer diffusion,latex film formation,emulsion polymerization,reactive surfactants,ionomers,microstructure,and thermomechanical properties.
Cytosolic iron metabolism in unicellular eukaryotic pathogens (PATHO IRON)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-08-04
End date: 2010-02-03
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 133662.02
EU funding (EUR): 133662.02
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Iron is an essential nutrient for virtually all living organisms and host iron availability plays a critical role in the host–pathogen relationship. Without effective mechanisms for acquisition, transport and utilization of iron, no organism especially parasites with high iron requirements, can survive. However, our knowledge about intracellular iron metabolism in eukaryotic pathogenic microorganisms is poor; it is not known, how iron is stored in the cell or how it is utilized. In the proposed project, we will investigate cytosolic iron metabolism in three unicellular eukaryotic pathogens: Candida albicans, Trichomonas vaginalis and Giardia intestinalis. We will use two different proteomic methods to identify proteins involved in iron metabolism: 1) 2D gel electrophoresis of cytosolic fractions from cells grown under iron-rich and iron-restricted conditions and 2) separation of 55Fe radiolabeled cytosolic iron complexes by liquid chromatography followed by native electrophoresis. Obtained proteins/protein complexes will be identified by Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We will test the cellular localization and the effect of the identified proteins on iron metabolism by overexpression in pathogens and yeast. The project has great potential to discover new mechanisms of iron metabolism as well as identify new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of human pathogens. This multidisciplinary project investigating different pathogenic organisms and using a broad range of state-of-the-art techniques and approaches will allow a young researcher with outstanding track record and potential to return to Europe, integrate into European scientific community, consolidate his research maturity and provide him with a strong background for establishing his own laboratory in later stages of his career.

Keywords: human parasitology,proteomics,protozoology,metabolism
African Travellers: Exploring Transcultural Lives in the Atlantic World (AFRICAN TRAVELLERS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-07-11
End date: 2010-07-10
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170142.1
EU funding (EUR): 170142.1
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This is a project about the transcultural life trajectories of West African travellers in the Atlantic world, i.e. the world that emerged out of the movements of people, goods and ideas along the seaways of the Atlantic. The aim of the project is to offer a comprehensive explanation of the identity formation of West Africans in the Atlantic world in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The hypothesis governing the project is that the lives of West African travellers were tied to structural changes in the Atlantic world, where notions of race gained strength at the expense of ideas about status. The project will aim at forwarding the argument that it was primarily ideas about status that formed the experiences of Africans in North-West Europe and on the Gold Coast in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, however, race had become a category with such strong meanings that it overshadowed competing ideas about status in Europe and seriously challenged them in West Africa. The project’s most significant and innovative contribution will be the establishment of a relation between the life-stories of individual West Africans and the broader developments of structural constraints in the Atlantic world. Thereby it will be possible to demonstrate that West Africans in Europe were not peculiar exceptions to a world of slavery in the Americas, but figures whose historical presence makes sense in terms of the structural developments of the Atlantic world The study focuses on West Africans who travelled between the Gold Coast in West Africa, in particular the town of Osu near the Danish trading station Christiansborg, and North-West Europe, in particular Copenhagen in Denmark. The empirical basis of the project is, among other things, provided by a unique and rich corpus of sources left by the three West Africans Christian Protten, Frederik Pedersen Svane and Frederick Noi Dowunnah.

Keywords: atlantic history,african history,african studies,cultural studies,cultural encounters,transcultural identity,slavery,race,african christianity and religion,globalisation,migration
Adapting Robot Behavior based on Interaction (ARBI)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-08-01
End date: 2010-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161942.68
EU funding (EUR): 161942.68
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Having robots that are able to understand, communicate and coordinate with humans executing daily tasks is one of the dreams of society. Moreover, when people interact with robots, they expect the robots to behave in a certain manner, and tend to apply them social models, similarly as how they behave when meeting a new person. Therefore, besides typical perception, reasoning and motion abilities (which have been largely studied so far), the robots also need to have certain abilities to enhance their social behavior when interacting with people. Such abilities are: (i) being proactive, i.e. capability to propose tasks when detecting relevant context, instead of waiting for the human to explicitly ask for something, (ii) perform understandable actions, i.e. show intentions so the human can easily understand and be aware of the robot's actions, (iii) achieve social acceptance, i.e. take into account human preferences so the human feels comfortable with the robot's task execution, (iv) learn, i.e. not only to improve the current knowledge of the robot, but to increase it and to adapt its behavior to the different contexts it may encounter. The main goal of this project is to provide the robot with a reasoning approach to select the most appropriate task execution based on the humans’ preferences and social facts and to improve the robot's behavior as the experience with humans increases. To this end, we propose to design a decisional framework that includes a user modeling approach (stereotype based) and a machine learning technique (case-based reasoning). To evaluate the approach, experiments in simulation and using real robots will be performed.

Keywords: computer engineering,artificial intelligence,human-robot interaction,social robots
Mathematical theory of phase transitions: modeling, analysis and simulations (PHATRAMAS)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-15
End date: 2011-04-14
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 154254.02
EU funding (EUR): 154254.02
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main topic of this proposal is the study of mathematical models for systems which exhibit phase transitions. We focus on microscopic, many particle systems with complex interactions. Such systems arise in numerous applications such as micromagnetic materials, epitaxial growth, polymers and bio-molecules, to name a few. The goal is two-fold. The first is to consider prototype models which can give a qualitative picture of the complex behavior of these systems, such as domain pattern formation, metastable phenomena and derive rigorous mathematical results. The second is from a modeling and computational perspective and intends to develop systematic mathematical strategies for the speed up of microscopic simulations. We consider this linking of theory and numerics important since numerical experiments serve as an important guide for the theoretical analysis in situations where rigorous results are out of reach, while at the same time theoretical results provide invaluable &quot;benchmarking&quot; for the numerics. Furthermore, the phenomena under investigation take place in several temporal and spatial scales and the analysis of such models requires the use of techniques from several mathematical sub-disciplines and in particular probability theory (Large deviations, Gibbs measures) and analysis (calculus of variations, nonlinear partial differential equations).

Keywords: probability theory,differential equations,statistical physics,numerical analysis
SNPs of high utility within European commercial pig breeds (PIGSNP)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-12-01
End date: 2010-08-31
Duration (months): 21.0
Total project cost (EUR): 169965.2
EU funding (EUR): 169965.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Within the PigSNP project SNPs will be identified that are known to be segregating within commercial European pig breeds. Using the Solexa sequencing technique a representation of the genome is directly sequenced to high redundancy. This is achieved by digesting the DNA with a restriction enzyme and sequencing fragments within a specific size range (i.e. 250 bp). The strategy used is based on sequencing a mixture of the DNA from 5 individuals of a single commercial breed to 20 X depth. Furthermore, the use of 5 individuals per breed (10 haplotypes) will ensure the identification of SNPs with high minor allele frequencies. This approach ensures that SNPs identified will be informative within the commercial line and therefore will be useful not only in experimental QTL crosses but also for genomic selection in current commercial breeding lines. The combination of new generation sequence technology (Solexa) combined with WITHIN breed SNP identification of major SNPs is particular innovative and timely. The SNPs identified will be available to be included in high density SNP panels (within existing international ongoing collaborations) that will be used to genotype available commercial pig breeds. This will aid in the further fine mapping of previously identified QTL within these commercial crosses. Within the project we will use the identified SNPs for fine mapping 2-3 previously identified QTL on chromosomes 2 and 4 identified within an experimental MeishanxEuropean white cross and within a commercial finisher population respectively. Both populations have been used extensively for the identification of several QTL for fatness, carcass and meat quality traits. Within the project it is aimed to identify between 10 and 20 thousand SNPs each for 4 different commercial breeds. QTL fine mapping will be done using the Illumina Golden Gate assay.

Keywords: animal breeding,agricultural sciences,genetics,genomics
Conditional Measurements in Quantum Optics for Application in Quantum Information (QUANTMANIP)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-06-01
End date: 2010-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 163076.7
EU funding (EUR): 163076.7
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project points to the experimental realization of suitably designed optical states for quantum communications uses. The quantum state will be conveniently manipulated by its projection on another one of predictable properties. The process will be realized by means of a conditional measurement performing a post-selection of the beam by monitoring a suitable observable on a fraction of it. The novel aspect of the proposed research relies on the application of this methods to multimode radiation, with the aim of providing tools to efficiently transmit information along more parallel quantum channels. Multimode quantum light will be produced by means of an optical parametric oscillator, operated in synchronously pumped configuration; this system has a huge potential for obtaining new quantum effects, and up to now, it has been very rarely used. The research will combine a theoretical description of the problem with its experimental realization. This project will complete and enlarge the range of the applicant’s competences. To this aim, it will benefit from the high level scientific quality of the host institution.

Keywords: quantum mechanics,quantum optics,applied optics,multimode radiation,conditional measurement,quantum communication
A biomimetic synthesis of Haouamine A and analogues (ABSHA)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-11-01
End date: 2010-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 169390.93
EU funding (EUR): 169390.93
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Haouamines A and B were isolated in 2003 by Zubia and co-workers from the Ascidian Aplidium haouarianum, collected off the coast of southern Spain. Haouamine A was found to exhibit selective cytotoxicity against a human colon cancer cell line (HT-29, IC50 = 0.1 µgml-1, 200nM). From a structural standpoint, these novel polycyclic alkaloid metabolites exhibit several fascinating features: both alkaloids feature an indeno tetrahydropyrimidine moiety that contains a diaryl quaternary center and anti-Bredt double bond. The tetrahydropyridine ring is fused to a highly strained 11-membered cyclophane ring system. In addition, NMR studies have shown that they exist in solution as a dynamic 2:1 interconverting mixture of stereoisomers generated either by nitrogen inversion or by atropisomerism of the biaryl unit. Of even greater import, the uniquely strained nature of the 3-aza-[7]-paracyclophane unit has been clearly revealed by X-Ray crystallography and the non-planar south-eastern aromatic ring is in fact so deformed that it exists in a boatlike conformation. The combination of interesting biological activity and novel chemical structure makes the haouamines attractive targets for synthesis.

Keywords: natural sciences,biomimetic synthesis,natural products,haouamine,total synthesis