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Regulation of gene expression is a complex phenomenon involving a large number of cellular factors to control RNA polymerase II activity. This multi-protein transcriptionally active complex is remodeled in both its composition and architecture during the different phases of transcription (initiation
Post translational modifications play key roles in controlling protein activity and hence cell function. Modification by ubiquitin is unusual in that the modifier itself is a polypeptide. A number of ubiquitin-like modifications have been described and, among these, the modification by SUMO (Small U
Un public standard: la mesure d'audience télévisée comme norme culturelle globale – AudiTVmonde
This project will contribute to the development of international and comparative forms of media research. It is located at the intersection of two domains: first the history and sociology of representations of the television audience, second cultural globalization. The aim of the project is to expla
1-Scientific background and rationale Immune responses to infectious agents have different out-comes that can lead either to protection from re-infection or may be inefficient in disease control. The factors controlling these different out-comes are in part yet unknown. Protection against infection
Pulmonary embolism is a common pathology, which could be fatal (about 10 000 death/year in France). It mainly originates from a deep vein thrombosis. In order to reduce mortality, prevention of new or recurrent PE is a major therapeutic aim. Only one randomised trial (PREPIC) assessed the interest o
Cell migration is a fundamental process during development and in the adult where is allows delivery of immune cells to infection sites, wound healing or else dissemination of tumour cells during metastasis. Establishment, orientation and regulation of cell polarity play a key role in the initiation
The mechanism of translation in eukaryotes is very complex, particularly at the stage of initiation, which requires as many as 9 initiation factors, which can be a target for regulation of gene expression. During initiation, the 40S ribosomal subunit with initiation factors (eIF) 1, 1A, 2 and 3 atta
L'ampleur des discriminations en France: logement, crédit et ségrégation urbaine – DISCRI-SEGRE
We wish to quantify discrimination mechanisms in France, in focussing our research to local and urban aspects. We first measure discrimination in access to housing with testing methods. We then want to test mechanisms leading to the exclusion of economically deprived persons to the periphery of citi
ANTHROPOLOGIE D'UNE INSTITUTION TRANSNATIONALE : L'ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE – Anthropol.OMC
Much research has been devoted to the issue of globalisation. However stimulating they may be, these different points of view fail to address an essential question: how, in concrete terms, the institutions and organisations that manage globalisation actually function. In the field of economics, for
Core formation represents the major chemical differentiation event on the terrestrial planets, involving the separation of a metallic liquid from the silicate matrix that subsequently evolves into the current silicate crust and mantle. The generation of the Earth's magnetic field is ultimately tied
Archaeal DNA repair – ARCREP
DNA repair is critical for the maintenance of genome integrity and replication fidelity in all cells. Archaea, and hyperthermophiles in particular, are well suited for studying DNA repair mechanisms given that DNA exposed to high temperature is subject to ongoing damage during normal growth under ex
1- Scientific background and objectives The direct access to site-specific natural isotope fractionation provided by high resolution NMR (the SNIF-NMR method) is recognized, not only as a source of selective information in a context of basic research, but also as a powerful technique for controlling
Molecules for spin electronics – MOSE
This research combines molecular electronics and spin electronics by studying electric transport properties of molecule(s) connecting two magnetic electrodes. The planned experiments intend to: - fabricate magnetic electrodes separated by 1-2 nm, with optimized mechanical stability properties. The m
The aim of the QSWITCH project is the realization of a quantum switch for single photons. This device is an ultimate version of a light switch where a single photon fixes the on or off state. The fabrication of this switch is based on a system in the strong coupling regime where a single quantum dot
Long bones and woods are biological and natural growth-medium with similarities related to their structure. These mediums are anisotropic, and are generally modelled as transverse isotropic for human bones and/or orthotropic for animal bones and wood. These mediums are adapting itself in to the envi
– MITOPULSE
The mitochondria and chloroplast are the power-houses of eukaryotic cells. They are both in charge of the efficient provision of energy by feeding metabolism with its major substrate: ATP. The oxidative-phosphorylation system, described by Mitchell, relies on the generation, by an electron/proton tr
– BONUS-GOODHOPE
In the framework of the International Polar Year (IPY), BONUS-GOODHOPE aims to understand the interactions between the contemporary dynamic, circulation, biogeochemistry and geochemistry in the Southern Ocean in its atlantic sector and its exchanges with the Indo-Atlantic connection on the wake of t
Density functional theory (DFT) is by now the most popular method for electronic structure calculations in quantum chemistry and condensed matter physics, because of its unique combination of low computational cost and reasonable accuracy. There are, however, a few but important cases where even the
The main ambition of the proposed project is to produce 'colloidal molecules' made of robust aggregates of spherical particles of different chemical nature. Each constitutive particle type would identify itself with a specific atom type. It consists of new and versatile colloids with controlled and
This project focuses on the understanding and the tailoring of the structure property relationship at surfaces of complex metallic alloys. In the last few years, we have contributed significantly to crystallographic and electronic surface structure determination of some typical quasicrystalline pha
After the limited success of the combinatorial approach in drug discovery over the last fifteen years, the pharmaceutical industry is turning back to the natural products kingdom to find new lead molecules. To get these active substances on a large scale, the pharmaceutical industry thus relies on o
Micro total analytical systems (micro-TAS) meet many needs in separation sciences, among them in diagnosis. These miniaturized systems offer the possibility to provide high throughput analysis, with a low sample and reagent consumption (such as enzymes, receptors, antibodies), allowing the setup of
1- Scientific context Catalytic processes are more and more demanding in terms of conversion and selectivity, due especially to environmental issues. Therefore, a deep understanding for perfect control of the properties of catalytic sites is required, particularly in heterogeneous supported catalysi
Originally described in bacteria, drug transporters (or efflux pumps) are now recognized as major determinants in the modulation of the accumulation and efflux of antibacterials in virtually all cell types, from prokaryotes to superior eukaryotes. Based on sequence similarities with known transporte
Middle Infrared detection is developed for the applications of night vision or thermal imaging in general. Applications include fire fighting, medical or military applications. Figure 1 is a picture of a thermal image obtained with an infrared focal plane array. We can see a glas with hot liquid in
The major objectives of this project are the following: - Design a new stochastic model that will allow for an accurate prediction of the performance of workflow applications on grid computing platforms, - Design new and robust scheduling algorithms for executing such applications, and analytically
The word « stationarity » is ubiquitous in signal processing and data analysis but, often used in a loose sense, it may correspond to different qualities that are not necessarily captured by what is referred to as « stationarity » in textbooks. Classically, « stationarity » refers to stochastic proc
"The application field of membrane processes is growing to fluids of increasing complexity, containing both mineral and organic compounds sometimes at high concentrations. This is specially the case in the food industry for organic acids, dairy products, sugars,..., as well as for environmental appl
1. Laboratory and astrophysical plasmas are frequently affected by hydrodynamic turbulence, i.e. fluctuations of the velocity, density and temperature fields. The deleterious effect of these fluctuations on the confinement of magnetic fusion plasmas is now well known. Successful operation of the ITE
Clearly, atomistic simulations are most useful to characterize the structure of grain boundaries and unit processes of dislocation emission, ledge formation, absorption and transmission. But, the large length and time scales of polycrystalline responses preclude application of atomistics alone and n
In recent years, the design of biomimetic materials and systems has been the focus of increased attention. The properties, functions, and structures encountered in nature are increasingly appealing for non-biological applications: control of the structure at different levels, adaptation to the envir
LIght Structure And Composite – LISTRAC
Cellular materials are used in a large number of applications like core material in sandwich structures or impact energy absorber in passive security systems for goods or persons. The first objective of the LISTRAC (LIght STRuctures And Composites) project is to explore new investigation ways for th
IPAPI, Improving the Properties of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Partners : 1=LPMG, EMSE ; 2=LAPEP, Univ. Lyon 1 ; 3= ETH, Zurich ; 4=Univ. Sheffield. In order to produce Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) with specified properties, the advanced control of industrial crystallizers has been
In recent decades, air pollution has become one of the most important problems of megacities. Therefore tackling the issue of the air pollution is not new but it is also not solved! Open issues are linked to the transformation, induced by radicals, of a large panel of volatile organic compounds (so
MAgnetic Protostars and Planets – MAPP
Whereas the understanding of most phases of stellar evolution made considerable progress throughout the whole of the twentieth century, stellar formation remained rather enigmatic and poorly constrained by observations, until about two decades ago with the advent of the most powerful ground-based an
Circumstellar disks are modern day alchemists. They transform dust - into astronomical gold: planets. Just how exactly remains a mystery - and the immediate science goals of this proposal aim at answering a - few of the critical questions astronomers are facing today: what is - the structure of prot
Regulation of plant ethylene responses by EBF1/2-dependent turnover of EIN3 protein – EIN3-REG
The gas ethylene is one of the earliest characterised plant hormones. In particular the response of germinating seedlings towards ethylene, has facilitated the isolation and characterisation of many of its components using forward mutagenesis. Based on the identified mutants a detailed model of the
The objective of our project is to study the structure, the reactivity and the variability of the polymeric extracellular matrix, which fills up the intercellular space between bacterial cells composing a biofilm. Biofilms, which consist of an organised population of micro-organisms (e.g. bacteria,
Due to the critical importance of light for photosynthesis, plants have adapted their photosynthetic machinery and their development to use this energy source optimally, as well as to protect themselves from photodamage. They have therefore evolved complex mechanisms to respond to light signals and
Crossovers (COs) lead to the reciprocal exchange of large fragments of genetic material between homologous chromosomes occurring during meiosis. Data from various model organisms show that the distribution of COs is not random along chromosomes. The current view is that the final distribution of COs
Innate immunity is the first line of defence against pathogens in vertebrates and in invertebrates. Understanding the functional basis and the characteristics of immune processes is a major challenge in agronomical, ecological and evolutionary biology as well as in Public health. The classical view
The aim of the project is to study the behaviour of micrometric particles trapped on fluid fluid interfaces by combining engineering of the systems at the microscopic level with physical understanding of the macroscopic behaviour. - The first step of the project concerns one single particle at an in
Superconductors at Radio Frequencies – SURF
The aim of this project is to elucidate a number of outstanding fundamental problems in superconductivity involving the application and development of microwave technology based on High Temperature Superconductors (HTSC). These include: the origin of losses and nonlinearities in radiofrequency devic
Scientific background: Our goal is to characterize iron at conditions corresponding to the earth inner and outer core using the LULI high power lasers. With current technology, diamond cell experiments (static), do not allow to obtain meaningful data at temperatures of several thousands of K once th
The aim of this project is to tackle mathematical issues that are relevant for problems at the core of international interest in physics, and for which several Nobel prizes have been awarded: the Quantum Hall effect in Bose Einstein condensates. For that purpose, - our group is made up of two teams,
In order to comply with the growing needs of ultra fast, low consumption and high functionality operation, it is no secret information that microelectronics industry produces highly miniaturized devices with very small characteristic length scales. In such devices, quantum effects such as interferen
Optimal transport is a mathematical subject connecting the fields of optimization, partial differential equations, and dynamical systems in both finite and infinite dimensions. The basic problem of optimal transport is to find a transport plan that connects two given distributions of mass and minimi
Our current understanding of galaxy evolution is primarily derived from many wide field optically selected surveys (SDSS, 2dF, CFHT-LS, VVDS, COSMOS). Because visible light (for z> 1.4) and ultraviolet light (for z> 7) of distant galaxies is redshifted into the near-IR bands, to make significant pro
1 – Scientific background and objectives Our project is attached to the seismic part of the spatial mission COROT (COnvection, Rotation and planetary Transits). The launch of COROT in December 2006 has been a complete success. The duration of the mission will be a minimum of 2.5 years, including at
We propose to quantitatively model the interactions between four plant transcription factors (TFs) and their direct target genes, and to use the model generated to better understand existing plant biodiversity and to attempt the rational modification of plant characteristics. Networks of transcripti
Viruses are extremely numerous, ubiquitous at all depths in oceans, harbour about 200Mt of carbon, and encode a huge reservoir of largely uncharacterised genetic diversity. Eukaryotic picophytoplankton, primordial in the global food chain, are also ubiquitous, very diverse, and their population dens
Mitochondrion contains its own genetic information, the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA), which codes for proteins essential for the assembly of the respiratory complexes and which is transmitted maternally in most higher eukaryote. Defects in mtDNA or in the machinery of its maintenance and expression
The trade-off between water loss by transpiration and assimilation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is a critical factor for plant productivity. For this reason, leaf stomata which mediate the exchange of water and CO2 between the plant and the atmosphere have been extensively studied. Parallel f
This project aims at improving our understanding of the molecular basis of the properties of S.cerevisiae industrial wine yeasts. These strains exhibit specific capacity to ferment under stressful conditions and metabolic properties quite different from their laboratory counterpart, on which have be
Amyloid beta and oxidative stress- and inflammation- mediated retina degeneration – Amyloid B & AMD
The retina is composed of the neural retina and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The RPE phagocytes photoreceptor outer segments, supports survival of photoreceptors, regenerates the phototransduction component and participates in the choroidal blood-retina barrier. Age-related macular degenera
The project SphingopolaR will focus on the involvement of sphingolipids in the establishment and maintenance of cell polarity and its impact on plant development. Sphingolipids are structural molecules required for membrane microdomains but also are signaling molecules regulating cell proliferation
This project focuses on how individual behavioural processes build up to population-scale processes. In that context we will particularly consider the impact of social foraging on the ability of obligate scavengers such as vultures to respond to resource spatio-temporal availability and thus on
1-Scientific background and objectives :The Laboratoire d'Imagerie Paramétrique (LIP), the Laboratoire UltraSons Signaux et Instrumentation (LUSSI) and the Laboratoire de BioMécanique (LBM) are collaborated to propose a NonLinear (NL) UltraSound (US) study coupled with biomechanical experiments for
"Surface-engineered structures for the prevention of biofilm: introduction of plasma processes - Bacterial and fungal biofilms have the potential to act as a chronic source of microbial contamination which may compromise the food quality and safety. In the biomedical field, infections related to med
Non-dilute particle suspensions are widely met in nature (biological fluids, clays,...) as well as in industry (cosmetics, food industry, coatings, paints,...). When the particle overall length-scale is of the order of a micron, these suspensions are often referred to as colloids. This length-scale
The dynamic response of a structure or a mechanical system has a great influence upon comfort (vibration, noise), lifespan (durability) and safety (damaging). A protection against dynamic excitation and an isolation of systems like bridges, slim buildings, vehicles and their passengers, rotating mac
Astrophysical observations at different scales show that most of the matter in the Universe would be of a different nature than the standard one (baryonic), still unknown, called non baryonic. The direct detection of these particles is a major challenge of physics and astrophysics. In order to detec
Hard x-ray PhotoElectron Spectroscopy : Ultrafast dynamics and Electron correlation – HAXPES
1- Scientific background and objective This project aims at acquiring a state-of-the-art high-resolution high-energy electron analyzer working in the hard x-ray region (2 – 12 keV).The analyzer is to be installed on the GALAXIES (inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) and electron spectroscopy) beamline a
Tools for Dark Matter and the New Physics at the Colliders and in Astrophysics – ToolsDmColl
Tools for Dark Matter and the New Physics at the Colliders and in Astrophysics The long awaited LHC will be launched in a few months. The LHC research program has traditionally centred around the discovery of the Higgs. However, the standard model description of this particle calls for New Physics.
Scientific Context In 2008, the physics programme of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, will start with its first collisions at the nominal energy of 14 TeV. In the first three years of its operation the experiment CMS will accumulate a total of 1 fb-1 in 2008 increasing to about 10 fb
When molecular oxygen is exposed to electron-transferring chemical reactions, it can be converted to various highly reactive chemical forms, collectively designated 'Reactive Oxygen Species' (ROS). This results in the sequential reduction to superoxide anion (O2-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hydro
Anti-cancer therapies aim at targeting tumour specific processes to eliminate tumour cells. Recent years have seen an increase in the efforts of trying to develop therapies that are tumour-specific and non-genotoxic. One approach to develop novel therapies is to exploit the fact that the immune syst
The precise influence of mechanical surface states on localized corrosion properties (pitting and crevice corrosion) is not clearly identified up to day. Interactions between mechanics and electrochemistry form the so-called mechano-chemistry growing thematic. Among many other ones, the main questio
Species flocks have physical features as isolation, age, depth. The Antarctic shelf has been described as exhibiting those physical parameters. However, this hypothesis remains to be tested biologically. How many phylogenetically independent benthic taxa exhibit species flocks? Species flocks have b
Fundamental biological processes are controlled by the coordination of genetic expression. Modification of this coordination may lead to severe dysfunction. Pathogenic bacteria coordinate very strictly expression of the genes required to infect and invade their host. Thus, understanding of the basic
The properties and evolution of large and cold dust particles between the stars – Cold Dust
A major and long-standing puzzle in astrophysics is the exact nature of the large interstellar grains that contain the bulk of the dust mass. From the interstellar medium (ISM) in nearby star forming regions to the ISM in distant galaxies it is the observed Far-IR to mm wavelength (FIR-mm) thermal e
The goal of our project is to bring together the French mathematicians who work in areas related to the Hamilton-Jacobi Equation: Dynamical Systems, PDE, and Optimal Control in order to enhance further progress in this subject which has known dramatic development in the last ten years. The area now
1 – Scientific background and rationale Autism is a developmental disorder that affects social interaction, communication and behavior. Recent findings on Autism and its evolution confirm the interest in an early diagnosis enabling the immediate implementation of a stimulation that might partially c
Science de LISA – LISAScience
Gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein, have never been detected directly. However, the observation of binary pulsars gives a strong evidence of their existence. These last years, a worldwide array of interferometric detectors has started to operate in a frequency band from 10 Hz to 104 Hz. The
Many transport and search processes can be analyzed in term of a succession of two types of exploring steps. This intermittency is a general feature for numerous physical, chemical, biological and industrial systems. At the microscopic scale, we can mention the diffusive motion of species in confine
Croissance, magnétisme et propriétés de transport de nanobatonnets de cobalt organisés – BATMAG
Abstract: The aim of our project is to develop a magnetic media of very high density and the adapted read/write technique for such media. The media will be grown by an original approach from 3D Co islands organised deposited on a substrate that will act as nucleation centres for further growth of Co
Flots et opérateurs géométriques – FOG
The technique of the Ricci flow was introduced in 1982 by R. Hamilton in a famous article. The aim of the method is to construct a deformation of a Riemannian metric on a compact manifold such that the evolution leads to a beautiful metric in the sense that it has nice properties such as being Einst
The goal of our research group is to address problems related to non-equilibrium systems by means of hydrodynamic limit theory. The main focus will be on deriving limit theorems and studying the scaling behaviors when the number of particles diverges. The questions which can be tackled depend on the
Wide Band Gap semiconductors, such as GaN and related alloys ( GaAlN, InAlN, InGaN), exhibit many attractive properties far beyond the capabilities of Si and GaAs : the unique combination of the wide band gap, the high breakdown field the high saturation velocity and the ability to form high quality
Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are inner mitochondrial membrane transporters that dissipate the proton gradient generated throughout the respiratory chain into heat. UCPs are then important potential determinants of metabolic efficiency and may play critical roles in body weight maintenance and thermore
Objectives of the project Two phases can be identified during the erythroid differentiation process: one first step encompassing a strong cell proliferation with a low degree of progenitor maturation and a second phase of differentiation where the erythroid precursors become red blood cells with a r
Analysis of the role of the ribosomal mRNA docking site during translation initiation – STIR
The determination of the three-dimensional structure of the prokaryotic ribosome at high resolution has provided vast amounts of information that allows a better understanding of the function of the ribosome. It is now possible to dissect the different functional states of the ribosome and obtain a
Maintenance of genome integrity is crucial for cell survival during somatic growth. Homologous recombination is an important player in this process. It is essential for programmed double-strand break repair that is triggered in meiosis or during yeast mating-type interconversion. Homologous recombin
Up to 50% of disease-associated mutations in humans affect the pre-mRNA splicing and maturation processes, by inactivating splicing signals, creating cryptic ones or modifying binding sites for splicing regulators. They result in exon skipping, inclusion of cryptic exons or intron retention, and in
1. Scientific context and project objectives : From the Bronze Age to the Archaic Period perfume played just as decisive a role as wine did when it came to developing long distance trading and to the emergence of the elite. The sources that allow one to tackle the economic and cultural roles of perf
Art markets in Europe 1300 – 1800 Emergence, development, networks Over the past 20 years, the history of art markets has been substantially developed thanks to the collaboration of researchers from different fields (historians, art historians and economists). The study of the economic and social co
Nonstoichiometric nanocrystalline apatites constitute biomimetic nanomaterials analogous to bone mineral. Their high reactivity (strong capability to uptake ions and adsorb organic molecules of biological interest) is due to the presence of a structured hydrated layer on nanocrystals surface. Howeve
Micromagnétometrie à sonde Hall – DREP
Our conceptual perception of the functioning of aquatic pelagic ecosystems has significantly increased during the past decennia, with continuous technical and analytical advances. In particular, molecular approaches have allowed discovery of unknown biological entities or organisms in the three main
This research project is based on a collaboration involving mathematicians, biologists and specialists of of ecology and population dynamics. Mathematicians envolved in the project are specialists of bifurcation theory, periodic and almost periodic solutions of ODEs, slow-fast systems, stability the
The discovery of new classes of materials such as high temperature superconductors, integration of magnetically stored information on ever smaller scales, and new fabrication possibilities for nanometre-scale objects, have faced the experimentalist with an enormous challenge: How can the magnetic be
Asymmetric intramolecular olefin hydroamination allows an atom economic synthesis of chiral nitrogen heterocycles that are building blocks for numerous natural products. Recently several lanthanide complexes have been reported as enantioselective catalysts of a test cyclisation/hydroamination, but t
Archaeal DNA Repair – CoCoGen
Today, 506 genome sequences are available, among which 80% are bacterial, and another 2400 are ongoing genome projects. Comparative genomics is a major challenge in post-genomic biology. Identifying common genomic structures, as well as differences between genomes is a prerequisite to understand gen
Mycobacteriumm and Corynebacterium are Gram-positive bacteria characterized by the presence of mycolic acids in their cell wall. These long hydroxylated fatty acids form a hydrophobic barrier (the mycomembrane) functionnally similar to the LPS-outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. This structure
Available empirical studies of grade repetitions are rather naive as far as statistical modelling is concerned. They make very little use of the recent statistical literature on treatment effects. Our objective is to fill this gap. A further objective is to study grade repetition, and other policy v
Plants synthesize a vast array of diverse organic compounds, referred to as secondary metabolites or natural products that serve important adaptive functions in protection against pests, as structural components, allelochemicals and signalling molecules. Such plant natural products are also a major
Devices made with wide bandgap semiconductors are able to work at elevated temperature and aggressive environments. Among the wide band gap semiconductors family, the III-V family provides interesting candidates as GaN, AlN and c-BN. Gallium nitride has extensive applications in large sphere of life
PRINCIPAL GOAL: The development of a complete microwave imaging system, with a frequency bandwidth of 1.87 GHz, ranging from 130 MHz to 2 GHz.using time-domain and frequency domain finite volume discretizations of the Maxwell equations which drive a generalized least-squares inversion engine, whose
The Iliade project aims at demonstrating a telemetry measurement method with very high accuracy, for application to formation flight space missions like earth gravimetry or synthetic aperture telescopes. The requirements for the Darwin mission are that the distance (a few hundred metres) between spa
The aim of this project is to develop a new general method for controlling large cryogenic refrigerators. This method should be operational over the entire working range of these complex machines, covering the initial start-up at a temperature of 300K down to 4.2K or 1.8K as well as nominal working
Coherent Amplification Network – CAN
We are proposing to study a new amplifying laser concept based on Coherent Amplification Network (CAN). The final objective is to produce pulses with intensity in the relativistic regime at very high repetition rates key to real world applications for relativistic optics. This implies to produce sim
This project concerns the determination of heat source fields arising in connection with material deformation processes. Such sources, to be inferred from surface temperature fields measured by means of infrared (IR) techniques, reflect the dissipative character of deformation processes and indicate
In the field of osseous and/or vascular substitution it is necessary to develop innovative techniques to satisfy the request for substitutes and to find solutions combining availability, perenniality and biosecurity of the implants. One of the main strategies in this area of research is to make the
Nanostructured polymers as drug carriers for cartilage repair and engineering – PARTICART
This project which associates polymer chemists/physico-chemists, biologists and manufacturers concerns design and synthesis of new nanoparticulate polymeric carriers, injectable in a cartilage defect and allowing a targeted drug delivery in chondrocytes or synoviocytes, for treatment of articular di
The main objective of this program is the study and the optimization of direct ultrashort laser machining of dielectric materials. In addition to the development of a versatile tool for the realization of two and three-dimensional structures of the reduced size, this project will permit: - a better
Metal oxides play an important role in many areas of chemistry, physics and materials science. One of the most studied oxides in this respect is titanium dioxide because of several applications of functionalized or doped materials. The developed organic-inorganic hybrid materials are of special impo
1 Background Magnetic nanoparticles are currently used in a wide variety of material science and biomedical applications. In biomedicine, they are primarily utilized as contrast agents in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Their specific accumulation in cells or tissues permits, through the modification of
Highly Organized Porous Electrodes – HOPE
In the general context of miniaturization there is an urgent need for many electrochemical applications, ranging from sensors to energy storage and conversion devices, to use electrodes with a very high active surface area in order to keep the current or power output at a sufficiently high level acc
The sequencing of the human genome and the progresses in proteomics raised a strong demand for the characterization and quantification of protein/protein and protein/nucleic acid interactions in order to understand the molecular basis of various diseases and establish assays for high throughput scre
The evolution of Magnetic Resonance Imaging into one of the most prominent clinical diagnostic modalities has been largely assisted by the use of paramagnetic contrast agents. Nowadays, imaging of molecular events at the cellular level starts to become accessible. Molecular Imaging requires probes t
In terms of morbidity and mortality, Dengue Fever (DF)1 and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever/Dengue Shock Syndrome (DHF/DSS) are considered as the most important arthropod-borne viral diseases of humans. It is estimated that at least 50 million individuals are infected annually in the Americas, South-east A
One of the technological problems that face society today is the environmentally friendly and economically favourable separation and recovery of fluids (gases, liquids or vapours). Several examples are currently of interest : the separation of alkane/alcenes, the selective recovery of solvents, the
RAMan sous IRradiation In-Situ – RAMIRIS
The main objective of this project is the development of an in-situ novel experimental approach in order to follow the transformations of solids under irradiation in the vicinity of their surface by using Raman spectroscopy. Most of the present investigations of irradiation-induced effects in solids
Pi-Conjugated oligomers and polymers based on a planar backbone of sp2-bonded carbon atoms have attracted increasing interest in recent years owing to their potential application for electronic devices. For example, light-emitting diodes (OLED)s for display based on polymer technology are commercial
The association between electron transfer and proton transfer (PCET) occurs in many electron transfer reactions, in radical chemistry and is important in enzymatic catalysis. Until recently, proton transfer and electron transfer have been viewed essentially as separate individual steps. This concept
1-Scientific background and objectives Physiological roles of saliva are largely related to the salivary proline rich proteins (PRP). PRP contain repeated amino acid sequences and belong to the intrinsically unstructured protein (IUP) family. Among them, basic PRP are involved in precipitation of ta
Light-responsive polymers to permeabilising mammalian cells and liposomes. – photo-channels
1-Scientific background and objectives : Control and understanding of the ubiquitous functions of lipid membranes forming domains is among the more fundamental and practical challenge in membrane biophysics. Assemblies and lateral heterogeneities provide remarkable functions, including the regulatio
Nexus States for Molecular Spintronics : a joint theoretical and experimental study. – NEXUS
Spintronic devices, up to now unique to the field of semi-conductor technology, are intended to manipulate the spin of the electron rather than its charge. The basic working principle of 'classical' spintronics resides in the injection of polarized spin carriers into the conduction band of properly
This project is devoted to the preparation and the study of new multi-component magnetic coordination nanoparticles. We propose to achieve the synthesis of such objects by the epitaxial growth of several shells of magnetic networks onto a given magnetic core: MultiShell Magnetic Coordination Nanopar
The storage and retrieval of a quantum state of light is expected to play a fundamental role in long distance quantum communication networks. The project is placed in this prospect. The core of the project is the investigation of storage architectures in atomic ensembles at the few-photon signal lev
Lattice Reduction Algorithms: Dynamics, Probabilities, Experiments, Applications. – LAREDA
Lattice reduction algorithms (denoted by LaRedA) (notably the LLL algorithm, created by Lenstra, Lenstra and Lovasz in 1982) aim at finding a ''reduced'' basis of a Euclidean lattice, formed with vectors that are almost orthogonal and short enough. These algorithms play a primary rôle in many areas
There is an increasing need for three-dimensional (3D) ``content'' in entertainment, engineering, and scientific applications. We propose core computer vision research that will enable the development of advanced image-based modeling and analysis software, transform consumer-grade cameras into flexi
We propose to study algorithmic and complexity questions of answers enumeration, the task of generating all solutions of a given problem. Answer enumeration requires innovative efficient algorithms that can quickly serve large numbers of answers on demand. Precomputing the set of all answers is unfe
The aim of this project is to 1) develop, 2) validate experimentally and 3) diffuse a software enabling a fast prototyping of software sensors for dynamic processes. A software sensor is an algorithm that enables the estimation of internal non measured variables. This is done using the only availabl
New advances in networking and computing technologies, such as Grids, P2P systems and complex embedded systems, have produced an explosive growth in networked applications and information services. These applications are more and more complex, heterogeneous and dynamic by essence. This combination o
Algorithm Design and Analysis for Implicitly and Incompletely Defined Interaction Networks – ALADDIN
This project deals with the fundamental aspects of interaction networks, including communication networks, social networks, biological networks, etc. The project is mostly oriented towards the design and analysis of algorithms dedicated to these (logical) networks, by taking into account properties
We propose to study, develop, fabricate and characterize a novel device able to amplify and generate electromagnetic radiation at THz frequencies made of a field-effect heterostructure transistor (gated or ungated) placed inside a resonator constituted by two mirrors parallel to the channel. The emi
This project concerns the development of a two-frequency optically pumped semiconductor laser source at 852 nm for an experiment of high performance compact caesium clock based on Coherent Population Trapping (CPT). The Vertical Extended Cavity Surface Emitting Semiconductor Laser (VECSEL) studied i
Use of hydrogen as a primary energy vector is recognised as providing the best long term solution for achieving a clean and sustainable energy economy. This project aims at mimicking hydrogenase enzymes to provide new synthetic catalysts for hydrogen production and/or uptake, thus allowing the repla
1) Scientific Background and objectives. Hydrogenases are the enzymes that catalyse the biological conversion between hydrogen and protons, a reaction that is of interest both from a biological and chemical viewpoint. They may be used as catalysts at the anode of bio-fuel cells, or for hydrogen prod
Liquid/liquid extraction is a separation process with multiple applications: in chemistry laboratories; in chemical industry, for the production of fine organic chemicals; for cleaning up techniques; in hydrometallurgy (processing of ores or reprocessing of nuclear wastes). The complexity of these t
Understanding the right association between the reactive species during a synthetic process, and more particularly during an enantioselective transformation, is fundamental when undertaking a rational design of effective and easy-to-handle synthetic tools. Such complexations have rarely been proved
Asymmetric Amino Acid Photolysis – AAAP
We propose to trace back the origin of biomolecular asymmetry to interstellar asymmetric processes. Therefore, we concretely envisage the measurement of circular dichroism spectra of amino acids in the solid state applying circularly polarized radiation at the ISA (Århus) and enantioselective photol
Scientific background During the past decades, asymmetric organocatalysis and organometallic catalysis made a breakthrough and became methodologies of choice for the synthesis of chiral substances on laboratory as well as on industrial scale. The most popular and best performing chiral organophospho
Lasers UV organiques – LUVORGAN
1. Scientific context and objective Many applications (data storage, sensing) demand laser sources emitting in the blue and near UV part of the spectrum, which are compact, easy to use and low-cost. In this context, organic materials are good candidates for the realization of this kind of sources, t
New challenges in triangulations – Triangles
-- Context and motivation. Geometric problems are central in many areas of science and engineering. Computational geometry, the study of combinatorial and algorithmic problems in a geometric setting, has practical applications in areas such as computer graphics, computer vision and imaging, scienti
The field of Terahertz Science and Technology is gaining international interest due to its numerous applications ranging from ultra high speed optical transmission systems to medicine, to industrial quality control, environmental monitoring and to security-screening. In view of this, the project is
In order to manage some of the huge data sets that are now available, and more particularly to classify, recognize or search through these sets, one needs a representation system which is rich enough to describe the data while allowing an efficient and mathematically well understood exploitation. Th
The innovative approach of the temperature measurement is based on non-contact sensor like infrared cameras due to the heated zone access limitation and the weak disturbance in heat transfer. The technology provide measurements of a thermal field at high speed (few ms.) and giving a high thermal (10
This project deals with the realization of normally-off high voltage Gallium Nitride switching MOSFETs dedicated to power electronics applications. High-voltage power switching devices are key components in power electronics. The reduction of the device specific on-resistance is one of the most impo
Monolithic INtegration of functional Oxides on Silicon for novel micro-system devices – MINOS
The objective of this project is to integrate high quality functional (piezoelectric and ferromagnetic) oxide heterostructures on Si using SrTiO3/Si(001) templates, in order to develop a novel generic demonstrator device which is expected to validate the ability of reversible electrical modulation i
The targeting of telomeres by small molecules is nowadays one the most promising strategies for the discovery of new antitumoarl drugs. These new drugs would show a mechanism of action totally different from the current antitumoral drugs and would thus allow avoiding the appearance of resistance phe
The main objective of the proposal is to design and produce porous membranes having non-fluoro super-hydrophobic surface. To achieve this goal we propose a strategy bio-inspired from the lotus leaf effect. The surface of lotus leaves displays a hierarchical morphology based on the combination of nan
The understanding of the complex transport mechanisms in single crystal MTJs represents the key parameter towards the improvement and the better control of the tunnel magneto-resistive (TMR) effects in MTJ devices such as sensors, read-heads or magnetic non-volatile memories (MRAM). Within this proj
The utilisation of catalytic sub-units for the top down realization of nano or micro motors is a very recent field. A few groups have created miniature 'machines' converting stored chemical energy into controlled motion. The one proposed by Mano et al. (partner 2) is very unique. It is the only one
Computational neurosciences gathers a set of scientific domains which try to identify the computational mechanisms that accompany the functioning of the nervous system. The main idea that federates the "MAPS" project is the notion of spatial computation. Indeed, our project is aimed at re-examining
In the present project, we propose to develop a dedicated route towards the fabrication of well-controlled in diameter and position Mn-doped Ge nanowires (NWs). Nanowires appear indeed as the most promising form of dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) for optimizing their magnetic properties and for
This project is a three year project which puts together people who used to respectively work on Discrete Mathematics, Combinatorial Optimization, Mathematical Programming, and embedded systems. Those people are located in three laboratories: - LIP6 Laboratory in PARIS VI, team animated by Philippe
Modeles Graphiques et Applications – MGA
SCIENTIFIC CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES Probabilistic graphical models provide a flexible and powerful framework for capturing statistical dependencies in complex, multivariate data. They enable the building of large global models for complex phenomena out of smaller and more tractable local models. Thro
The aim of this project is to bring new information concerning the diversity and the evolution of the mechanisms responsible for host manipulation by parasites. From biological models more or less phylogenetically related (from the host and/or the parasite point of view), and which constitute well i
Scientific background and objectives: The presence in the environment of pharmaceutical substances is a public health problem. These biologically active, hydrophilic and persistent substances are introduced in the water cycle by wastewater and are discharged in the environment, if the barrier const
Heterogeneous catalysis possesses numerous advantages over homogeneous in the current context of 'Green Chemistry'. The objective of the present project is to use microcellular interconnected porous materials known under the name of polyHIPEs, derived from High Internal Phase Emulsion, as stabilisat
The description of particle transport by turbulent flows offers many challenges, both experimentally and theoretically. Rapid progress has been made concerning the modelling and thenumerical simulations of these flows, thanks to the eulerian and lagrangian approaches. These in turn have allowed to d
RMN non-linéaire dans les liquides polarisés - Non-linear NMR in polarised liquids – DIPOL
The development of high field NMR and the continual search for optimised sensitivity have been accompanied by the observation of various new phenomena, related to the non-linear evolution of nuclear magnetisation in liquid samples. In most cases, unusual behaviours result from the intricate combinat
The present project is proposed by two teams. The Quantum chaos group of the Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules (PhLAM), at the Université des Sciences et Technlogies de Lille, has been working on experimental and theoretical studies of quantum dynamics of laser-cooled atoms for
Apoptosis, the main type of programmed cell death, is involved in controlling embryonic and fetal development, in tissue renewal, and in establishing and regulating the immune system. Apoptosis is a basic mechanism for controlling cellular activation and plays a critical role in maintaining cellular
The main objective of this program is to study what is at stake in carework, by examining crisis situations and evolution of norms in the context of family life, in order to investigate – and thereby to reformulate – the very idea of care. The program shall focus on conflicts arising about norms of
This project aims at developing a multidisciplinary research on the seizure and transformation of a significant portion of Egyptian soil (the Suez Canal region), through the action of a foreign capital company (the Compagnie universelle du Canal de Suez), that worked under a specific legal framework
The present project is a in line with continuous effort of the partners to provide better insights into the roles and mechanisms of action of CXCL4/CXCL4L1 chemokines and to develop novel tools for the pharmacological inhibition of angiogenesis. The interaction of the Bikfalvi (partner 1) and the Wu
This project seeks to provide food for thought concerning the place of packaging and food conditioning in contemporary French society. Filling a need for long-term studies on the history of social behaviour, techniques and industry, its ambition is to build up a scientific store of knowledge, based
1. Scientific background and objectives In our increasingly mobile Western societies, where the motivations and destinations of population movements are numerous and varied, new mobility behaviours, as yet not well known or understood, are spreading across Europe. This research concerns internationa
The purpose of this project is a double one: i) to contribute to understanding the causes – the actions developed by marketing in the first place – which make childhood obesity a public health problem in economically developed countries; ii) to see how marketin may – alone or through interactions wi
Micro-analyses et datations de l'art préhistorique dans son contexte archéologique – MADACPA
For a long time, knowledge of the art of caves and prehistoric objects was founded on the descriptive analysis of the representations and their disposals, disconnected from any archaeological context. Since about fifteen years, it improved with direct dating, physical, chemical and biological micro-
The goal of this project in philosophy of science is to bring a new answer to a traditional question: what is logic and what are its relationships to the other sciences? The most recent developments of logic modify its relation to the rest of science and justify a research on this fundamental issue,
LAMA is situated (1) in the general context of climatic variations, environmental changes and human cultural evolution during the Holocene in the Mediterranean area, and (2) in the perspective of present-day global warming and its possible major implications for southern Europe. In fact, situated be
ENDOGENOUS VIOLENCE AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF ECOLOGICAL DISASTERS: INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL BODIES AFTER KATRINA - - - This project aims to analyse the reach of forms of social violence that are inherent to ecological catastrophes. Its empirical object is Katrina, the catastrophe (hurricane, flooding, exp
The understanding of superconductivity in copper oxides (cuprates) is one of the most important open questions in condensed matter physics. It is a striking example of the failure of the standard theory of metals from the 1950s in which superconductivity arises from a conventional well-established F
x x x x This project explores linguistic variability between Mandarin and French. The project proposes to approach this issue by modelling these languages' lexical networks with the help of recent advances in graph theory. The results of the model predictions combined with results from psycholinguis
This program is based on two sets of theoretical and experimental findings: - On the one hand, experimental economics has confirmed that economic agents react to incentives and competition, and agency theory shows that it is possible to design contracts that lead these agents to behave as efficientl
l'évolution de la criminalité et ses combinaisons avec le sentiment d'insécurité – CRIMINSEC
The aim of this project is to subject those victimisation and insecurity surveys that have been carried out in France at various levels – national, regional and local – to secondary analyses, so as to give evidence-based response to two questions: • What are the crime trends over the long term? • Ho
There is no need to define the feeling of control. Anybody has experienced the pleasure to feel in control or on the other hand the distress of having no grip on a situation. This pervasive psychological feature has also important economic consequences. The aim of this project, that gather researche
Subjective confidence in the correctness of a proposition and other cognate noetic feelings are kinds of metacognitive judgements. Subjective confidence has also much in common with certain forms of affective responses and may be thought to represent a blend between affective and cognitive processes
In cognitive domains as varied as attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, decision making, skill learning, psychologists found negative effects of age on human cognition. Research in cognitive aging enables to understand issues as crucial as: which cognitive skills decline with age
Based on the MTM model of reading (Ans, Carbonnel & Valdois, 1998), the concept of visual attention (VA) span was introduced by our team as the amount of distinct visual elements that can be processed in parallel in a multi element array (Bosse, Tainturier & Valdois, in press). We previously demonst
The geographical framework of the Research project proposed is localised in the Mediterranean part of France, Languedoc and Provence, and centered on the Rhone delta. The whole of the research undertaken since nearly 30 years suggest indeed, that during Tardiglacial, this space can be regarded as a
De la phonologie aux formes lexicales: liaison et cognition en français contemporain – PHONLEX
It is well known that the concept of word, which lies at the heart of most classical morphological and syntactic descriptions, cannot be identified in any direct way from acoustic signals. The problem is particularly acute in French where various phenomena such as liaison, enchaînement (forward syll
Several transcription factors of the homeoprotein family have the unexpected property of intercellular transfer between cells. The homeodomain, a DNA-binding motif that defines the homeoprotein family, is necessary and sufficient for the transfer. Intercellular transfer could thus represent a conser
In bilaterian animals, Hox genes play important roles in conveying anteroposterior patterning information to the embryo. On the chromosome, Hox genes are usually linked in clusters and their order in these clusters correlates with their expression during embryogenesis. This so-called collinear expre
Background: The innate immune response confers all multicellular organisms broad protection against pathogens. Drosophila has become a major model organism to study hematopoiesis and cellular aspects of the innate immune response. As in vertebrates, Drosophila hematopoiesis occurs in two phases. A f
The COGIT laboratory of the French National Mapping Agency made research on generalisation to automate map making from geo data base. The solving method is based on Multi-agent paradigm and owns a large set of spatial analytical tools. These results should allow to characterise urban space at differ
Problem - While European cities look currently less energy intensive and less greedy as regard distances travelled and travel time than North-American ones some worrying developments can be observed. These developments yield serious concern regarding the sustainability of these cities. This proposal
Most societies now recognize that environmental policies, and natural resources management, have a major impact on their welfare. The public debates about such issues are both ubiquitous and controversial. By contrast, economists rely on a well-known corpus (the Pigovian approach to externalities, a
"Since 10 years the research activity of our lab is focused on the transcriptional control of the mammalian cell cycle and survival machineries in normal and physio-pathological situations. Notably, our exploration of the protein networks involved in these processes led us to develop increasing inte
Role and mechanism of the Xist A-repeat element in X-chromosome inactivation – Xist A-repeat
X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) ensures the dosage compensation of X-linked genes between the female (XX) and male (XY) mammals by a process of transcriptional inactivation which leads to the silencing of the thousand or so X-linked genes in the mouse. - The Xist gene which encodes a 17 Kb spliced n
Endocytosis and endocytic trafficking control the function of many proteins, comprising receptors and transporters, by regulating their spatial/temporal localization between the interior of the cell and the plasma membrane. It is consequently involved in the control of a plethora of cell functions.
"The discovery of microtubule dynamic instability, a process in which individual microtubules go stochastically through successive phases of growth and of catastrophic shrinkage, has promoted a "darwinist" view of microtubule organization and of cell morphogenesis. In this view, microtubules explore
Deciphering the genetic program controlled by the male sex determining factor Sox9 – TESTISDEV
The genetic network that underlies the first steps of sex determination and gonad differentiation has been elucitated over the 15 past years. During the last few years, we have contributed to major advances in our understanding of genes driving testicular differentiation in mammals and largely contr
The TATA-binding protein (TBP) is one of the central factors in transcription initiation. TBP has a bipartite structure with a highly conserved C-terminal core domain that folds as a molecular saddle responsible for binding DNA via the concave underside and interaction with general transcription fac
The emergence process of moving dislocations is characterised by the appearance of steps at the free surface of crystalline materials, with an elementary height equal to the component of the activated dislocation Burgers vector projected on the surface normal, i.e. only few tens of nanometre. Recent
Perceptual bases of early lexical acquisition: an integrated developmental program – PBELA
The acquisition of a lexicon requires several abilities that can be schematically grouped into three different sets: ability to represent the sound pattern of a given word; ability to build the concept corresponding to that given word; and ability to link a sound pattern to its appropriate concept (
The project SmGKnhibit is aimed to the conception of novel and selective inhibitors of a specific ATP-dependent guanidino kinase of Schistosoma sp. (SmGK) a mammal parasite causing bilharzia diseases. - - The inhibitors will be designed to be selective against the parasite, by studying comparativ
The Case-IPY project is a French contribution to the 2007-2009 International Polar Year (IPY) in seismology. The aim of IPY is to favour an intensive burst of internationally coordinated, interdisciplinary, scientific research and observations focused on the Earth's polar regions. Our project is par
Background: International project for a Cenozoic-Mesozoic Astronomically-Tuned Time Scale Due to planetary perturbations, the orbit of the Earth is slowly changing in time, as is the orientation of its spin axis. These changes induce variations of the insolation on Earth (Milankovitch, 1941) that af
Evolution faunique, floristique et paléoclimatique des AMBRes crétaCEs de France – AMBRACE
At the worldwide scale, France is one of the 7 richest countries in Cretaceous fossiliferous ambers with Spain, Lebanon, Myanmar, USA, Russia and Canada. The numerous amber deposits found in France during the last 10 years by the palaeontologists of Rennes and Paris give access to ambers, an consequ
The Mw=9.3 Sumatra-Andaman event has pointed out the importance of correctly assessing the seismic hazard in subduction zones and the need to improve our understanding on the processes that lead to the occurrence of giant earthquakes. Indeed, the mechanisms whereby strain and stress are being accumu
Spin injection for magnetic spectroscopy and spin transport in single objects – SPIN MASTER
If the remarkable downscaling of data-storage bits were to continue, dimensions will soon reach the size of a molecule. At this level, both the writing and reading processes become extremely challenging and the combination between nanomagnetism, and the emerging field of spintronics will play a cent
With the fast development of micro- and nano-size devices, heat transfer at a submicron scale has become a central problem in nanosciences and nanotechnology, fostering a fast emergence of this new field. Actually, heat transfer at a nanoscale raises many fundamental questions on the nature of the i
Local manipulation of collective quantum processes in correlated electronic states – LoMaCoQuP
The project focuses on fundamental aspects of creation, manipulation and study of fabricated or spontaneous nano-scale low-dimensional electronic structures. The major idea is to explore local transformations of various degenerate ground states, which are formed due to a spontaneous breaking of the
Scientific background and objectives Ice cores drilled in polar regions give access to climate and environmental-relevant data as well as to the atmospheric greenhouse gas mixing ratios. They allow one to evaluate the climate model sensitivity to a change of greenhouse gas concentrations, and the mo
Scientific background and objectives : Starch consists of an elaborate semi-crystalline form of glucose storage found selectively in plants. Starch differs from bacterial or eukaryotic glycogen by its aggregation into large insoluble and partly crystalline granules. We have proposed that the crystal
Computer modelling of systems in space and time is common practice in many scientific disciplines. It allows for instance the verification of the knowledge we have of a system, and helps to better understand how the system works while aiming at predicting its evolution according to different scenari
The maternal-to-zygotic transition is the first developmental switch of an organism's life cycle. It occurs following fertilization and corresponds to the establishment of an embryo-specific transcriptional program. In animals, there is a delay between fertilization and the maternal-to-zygotic trans
Genetics, epigenetics and physiological/morphological responses to environmental changes are - in general studied in isolation from each other. The fundamental goal of this project is to investigate the - question of phenotypic plasticity and its basis in genetics, epigenetics, population and enviro
Micro-organisms constitute the largest reservoir of genetic diversity available on our planet, but it is generally recognized that most of them are not accessible because it is impossible to isolate and purify them in vitro. In addition, phylogenetic inventories do not suffice to understand how ecos
1 - Scientific background and objectives Nitric oxide (NO) is a diffusible free radical gas. In animals, NO acts as a signalling molecule in numerous physiological processes. Notably, its biological effects are mediated by modification of cysteine residues. This mechanism, referred as S-nitrosation
Photosynthesis within the euphotic layer is the process by which biogenic carbon is produced from dissolved inorganic carbon, thus favoring the penetration of atmospheric carbon (CO2) into the oceans. The export of primary production from the surface layer is responsible for maintaining a vertical g
This proposal aims at elaborating and studying the electronic properties of redox-active molecular junctions (cluster/organic bridge/semiconductor) obtained by the attachment of octahedral metal cluster on semiconducting surfaces (Si, C) through organic bridges. The electronic, optical and magnetic
"The alternate deposition of polyanions and polycations on solid surfaces leads to the formation of thin films called polyelectrolyte multilayers. The driving force of this layer-by-layer film buildup is the charge overcompensation that takes place during each polyelectrolyte deposition step. The co
The main objective of the project is to develop novel efficient heterogeneously catalysed synthesis of complex organic molecules using environmentally friendly "one-pot" multi-steps reactions in order to reduce energy consumption and the production of wastes, with the long term application to the sy
Unsteady Flames – UFLAM
The purpose of this project is to investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, the problem of unsteady flames, focusing on the one dimensional response to pressure fluctuations at frequencies of the order or higher than the inverse of the transit time, τ. This response provides information on
Particle transport in a granular medium presents specific characteristics due to the possible evolution of this medium by addition or pulling out of particles. Phenomena linked to the transport of solid particles can be found in many engineering fields. Such examples include civil and environmental
1-Scientific background and objectives Ligaments and tendons play a crucial role in joint movement and stability. Some of them have bad or no healing capacity (e.g. the anterior cruciate ligament). Four options have been utilized for the repair or replacement of damaged ligaments or tendons : autogr
The project proposes to develop a new gas-phase electron diffraction technique using state-of-the-art femtosecond laser technology. In principle, the method allows to analyze structures of transient molecular species with a resolution approaching a few femtoseconds. Nowadays the spectacular progress
Instabilités Magnéto-Inertielles – IMAGINE
Inertial instabilities are found in industrial applications, related in particular to aeronautics (elliptic instabilities of the vortices of airplanes, precessional instabilities of the rotating fluid tanks of rockets...). However, such inertial instabilities can also be present in many natural syst
In many industrial processes as well as in the natural environment, a liquid flows over an erodible bed of particles. We propose a study of the particle transport which results from the shearing of the bed, in the particular case of closed pipes or channels. The two partners have already an expertis
This project aims to obtain a better knowledge about porous media generated by support filtration thanks to an in-situ evaluation of their properties at local scale. This will be done by specific methods which are to be developed in the frame of the project. The porous media studied in this project
Free radicals are nowadays of paramount importance in organic chemistry and many synthesis of complex natural products have been achieved recently by incorporating one or several steps involving such reactive species. Free-radical reactions using Bu3SnH or (Bu3Sn)2 respectively in reduction processe
Since the beginning of the 90s, the field of "molecular machines" has experienced a spectacular development. Books have even been devoted to this new area of research.[1] From the early days, to nowadays, spectacular developments can be noticed, related to the fabrication of real photomechanical dev
objectives Today the lithium batteries offer a density of energy four times higher than the lead batteries. The secondary, rechargeable Li-ion batteries (the basic concept being the rocking chair effect: the lithium ions go from one electrode to the other during the battery charge and inversely duri
The project acronym is DIAMS for Desorption/Ionisation on Self-Assembled Monolayer Surfaces. It refers to the surface modification by Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAM) in order to use their specific properties through mass spectrometry analysis under Laser Desorption/Ionization (LDI). - - The main obj
Our project is concerned with the molecular characterisation of the enzymatic biosynthesis of metal high affinity ligands involved in the homeostasis of essential and non-essential metals in plant. Since the overaccumulation of phytochelatins has been shown to increase the tolerance to a range of di
Heme (Fe-protoporphyrin IX) is an essential cofactor for many fundamental biological processes. It is a hydrophobic and cytotoxic macrocycle, which therefore requires specific pathways to be safely delivered to its subcellular destinations. Prominent among the heme-binding proteins are cytochrome bc
Theoretical models that simulate evolutionary processes in animal communication show how sexual selection may influence the exaggeration of male signal traits and female evaluation of those signals: Specific preferences originate in a population due to genetic drift or because they are favored by na
Morphological innovations in Angiosperms : evolution of floral symmetry in basal eudicots – FLOSYM
Shifts in floral symmetry have occurred several times independently during Angiosperm evolution. It appears that bilateral symmetry (or zygomorphy) is most probably an adaptive character that co-evolved with specialized pollinators. It is remarkable that this floral trait characterises some of the m
ER-to-Golgi transport in plants – ERGO
The COPII complex mediates the anterograde transport of cargo secretory molecules from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi in eukaryotes. COPII transport carriers (vesicles or tubules) assembly occurs at specialized ER membrane domains named ER Export Sites (ERES). Beside the multiple compon
Mécanismes moléculaires de la compartimentation des métaux chez les cellules végétales – DISTRIMET
Background Transition metals are essential for many functions in living cells. They are required for electron transfer reactions during respiration and photosynthesis which take place in specific intracellular organelles: mitochondria and chloroplasts. On the other hand, due to their physico-chemica
The social and political demand for estimations of carbon fluxes and stocks is very high at the international level (GICC). Because trees and forest soils represent large carbon pools that interact with the atmosphere, estimates for forest ecosystems are of a major importance. Models are used to pre
Continental margins are domains of interaction between oceans and continents, as well as between surface and deep processes. Thus, they represent key areas for understanding Earth dynamics and deformation mechanisms. Most of them are however too old to decipher all the complex mechanisms of their fo
Galactic Archaeology: A Radial Velocity Experiment to Unveil the History of the Milky Way – RAVE
RAVE (RAdial Velocity Experiment) is an ongoing and ambitious program to measure precise radial velocities and chemical abundances of a million nearby stars, using the UK Schmidt Telescope and the 6dF multi-object fibre spectrometer at Siding Spring Observatory (Australia). RAVE will be a giant leap
Pygmalion : Paleohydrology and Human-climate-Environment Interactions in the Alps – Pygmalion
Pygmalion is an interdisciplinar project, crossing earth sciences and human sciences in the aim to describe the evolution of interactions between climate, humans and environment. It is focused on a constrained time-period: the Holocene and a somehow limited territory: the catchment of the French Upp
The stable isotope composition of cellulose laid down in the annual growth rings of trees is known to reflect the interactions of several micrometeorological variables, soil water availability but also importantly, a plant's physiological response to these changes, manifested through the dynamic reg
Melt inclusions messages – MIME
A two-day workshop to take stock of the state of current research and chart avenues for future work in the area of melt inclusions in minerals, was held at CRPG Nancy on November 30th and December 01st, 2006. The main issues discussed during these two days defined and outlined the MIME (Melt Inclusi
The main goal of DUNE is to estimate the impact of atmospheric inputs on an oligotrophic ecosystem submitted to strong atmospheric inputs. Atmospheric deposition is currently recognized as a significant source of macro- and micro-nutrients for the surface ocean, but the quantification of its role on
The objective of the research project is the development of novel mixed quantum/classical propagation methods and their application to study ultrafast molecular dynamics and decoherence processes, both on the basis of model systems as well as in direct contact with femtosecond pulse experiments. T
1- Scientific background and objectives The control of molecular processes in contact with an environment, such as the trapping and handling of molecules inside nanocages, opens important prospects. Among many intended applications we can highlight the design of nanomachines, miniaturized classical
The proposed project aims at providing the scientific community with a quite systematic way to exploit the richness of x-rays and neutrons scattering experiments so that a more reliable and deeper understanding of electronic behaviour in molecular solids can be reached. - The project will be two fo
XUV optical components (spectral range 3-60 nm) are of great interest for the scientific community, due to the development of new high brilliance sources (X ray laser, high harmonic generation sources, free electron laser), and of new applications (EUV lithography, dense plasma diagnostic, attosecon
Understanding C-C agostic interactions – a joint experimental / theoretical challenge – THEOEXP07
1- Scientific background and objectives. The activation of strong and inert bonds such as CH and CC bonds is a current scientific, economical and environmental challenge. The catalytic activation of CH bonds has made significant progress but CC bond activation is even more challenging due in part to
Graphene (a single atomic plane of graphite) shows appealing transport properties: high carrier mobility, high current density, long mean free path and phase coherence length. Recently, quantum hall effect has been observed in this material (up to room temperature!). Therefore, graphene is an exciti
Fast atom diffraction applied to real-time analysis of Molecular Beam Epitaxial growth – GIFAD
Discovering a new technique and having the chance to use it for 'observing a set of phenomena with brand new glasses' does not occur very often. The present project follows from the recent discovery by the LCAM (Laboratoire des Collisions Atomiques et Moléculaires) group of the diffraction of fast a
Dynamique et instabilités de la ligne de contact mobile: théorie et expérience – DYNINSTAMOBI
" For simple cases, the physics of the moving contact line is well-understood from the physico-chemical and thermodynamical points of view: we know how to take into account the disjoining pressure to eliminate the viscous dissipation divergence which occurs at the macroscopic scale for quasi-equilib
Many materials of industrial importance are glasses, from window glasses and plastic bottles, to emulsions, foams, dense assemblies of grains, etc. Understanding the formation of these amorphous solids, the so-called glass and jamming transitions, is a challenge which resisted a large research effor
Patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) suffer from lifelong severe skin and mucosal blistering, complicated by frequent fusion of the digits and toes and aggressive squamous cell carcinomas. RDEB is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the collagen VII gene (COL7A1) encod
The activation of the estrogen receptor (ER) and p53 signaling pathways alters different key cellular programs by modulating the expression of numerous genes. In breast cancer cell lines, while the activation of ER by estradiol favours cell proliferation, the activation of p53 by a genotoxic stress
In collaboration with team 2, we showed that Th2 cells responsible for allergic diseases selectively expressed dihydropyridine (DHP) receptors that were implicated in calcium influx upon T-cell receptor (TCR) stimulation. Calcium signaling is essential for type 2-cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, IL-13) produc
Sulfur-containing molecules are present in all living organisms where they play essential metabolic roles. They can be divided into inorganic complexes, including iron-sulfur clusters ([Fe-S]), and sulfurated organic compounds such as biotin or lipoic acid. Biosynthesis of sulfur-containing molecule
In eukaryotes, the ribosome cannot assemble spontaneously from isolated components. Ribosome biogenesis takes place in the nucleolus, a specialized nuclear compartment, and requires the coordinated action of over 200 non ribosomal proteins. The function of these non ribosomal factors is generally in
The organization of DNA around nucleosomes profoundly affects its accessibility to enzymes involved in gene expression, DNA replication, DNA repair, and DNA recombination, and defects in chromatin organization or modification can cause disease by affecting genome expression and stability. Nucleosome
In fish, photoperiod and temperature interact to control the daily and annual rhythm of melatonin production. The former controls the duration of the rhythm and the latter its amplitude. Accordingly, the nocturnal melatonin surge is of short duration and high amplitude in summer and of long duration
Among the mechanisms of evolution, lateral transfer of genetic information (LGT for Lateral Gene Transfer) is the most efficient way to generate genetic variability among bacterial populations on a short evolutionary timescale. LGT provides a constant gene flux allowing the acquisition of highly val
Determinants of hematopoietic stem cell / niche interactions in lineage commitment – HSC-FATE
The identification of the mechanisms that control stem cell self renewal and cell fate decisions are questions of critical importance for basic biology and therapeutic applications. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are probably the best defined class of multi-potent adult stem cells. The defining char
This project aims at exploring the molecular nature of holocentric nature (dispersed centromere) of insect chromosomes. This original biological situation is found in an unexplained dispersed way among some plants and animals, which raises both an evolution and a genome functional organization quest
Species perpetuation relies on a precise timing of reproduction which involves genetic, environmental and metabolic factors. In the 70's, the pivotal role of pulsatile GnRH release from hypothalamic neurons for the production of LH/FSH by the pituitary was demonstrated, making possible the developme
Aim of the project Our aim is to uncover the mechanisms of brain regionalisation, and their links with those involved in neurogenesis and neuronal specification. In the present project, we will study the function of the Iroquois gene irx7 in these processes, in the developing zebrafish hindbrain. Sc
The goal of our project is the definition of a complete set of the evolutionary histories (cascade of phylogenetic events) for the human proteome and their genome-scale analysis. The genetic information encoded in the genome sequence contains the blueprint for the potential development and activity
One of the most dramatic chromatin remodelling and genome reorganization ever observed takes place during the post-meiotic maturation of male germ cells. Indeed, after meiosis, early male haploid cells, or spermatids, inherit a somatic-like chromatin-based genome organization. During the following s
Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism of gene regulation that restrains the expression of ~80 eutherian and metatherian mammalian genes to one parental allele. Presently, imprinting is understood as a mechanism aimed at controlling the amount of maternal resources allocated to the offspring
The aim of the project is to investigate preparatory attention (PA), an important component of attention, from childhood to old age, and explore its dysfunctions in various pathologies, known to alter executive function and attentional processing. PA is an aspect of prolonged attention (in oppositio
The Central Asia, generally, is the crossroads of a multitude of human migrations which followed one another the course the history of humanity. Each one of these migrations could, at the time of its passage, to leave a genetic trace in this area. With time thus accumulated multi-layer of genetic si
Analysis of the activity and the regulation of the DNA checkpoint proteins Rad53 and Chk2 Scientific background and objectives The DNA checkpoints are signal transduction pathways that sense DNA damage and replication stalling and coordinate various responses such as cell cycle arrests, DNA repair o
Role of the purinergic receptor P2X7 in the shedding of transmembrane molecules in diseases – P2X7R
The release of ATP at inflammatory sites by dying cells and degranulating platelets trigger various purinergic receptors among which the P2X7 receptor (P2X7R). This receptor upon ATP binding stimulates: 1) proteolytic cleavage of transmembrane glycoproteins such as L-selectin (CD62L) and CD23 by met
DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are highly toxic lesions that can generate genome rearrangements. Such rearrangement can account for genetic diversity or in contrast for genetic instability. Thus a highly precise regulation is required to control the balance stability/variability of the genome. Two
MyD88 is an adaptor molecule that links most Toll-like receptors (TLR) to the cell signaling machinery. We asked whether MyD88-coupled receptors play a role in tumor immunosurveillance. To that end, we subjected wild-type (wt) and mice deficient in TLR2, TLR4, TLR9, or MyD88, to a DMBA/TPA two-stage
MOLECULAR SYSTEM BIOENERGETICS – MOLSYBEN
1-Scientific background and objectives : Besides a prominent role in energy metabolism, mitochondria are central in several major cell functions including control of cell death. Studies on isolated mitochondria are insufficient to understand their regulation in living cells. The intracellular medium
In the cytosol, giant, hollow proteolytical complexes are essential to maintain the cells in good shapes by specifically eliminating any deficient proteins. These proteases complexes are therefore highly engaged in stress response, ageing processes as well as in a large number of degenerative diseas
Bacteria, in common with other cells, are separated from their environment by a selectively permeable membrane. Through this membrane must pass all the material and information that travels between the cell and the environment including information about the possibility of colonisation, food for the
1-Scientific background and objectives The control of the pH and metal homeostasis are two key factors in the survival of the human pathogen Helicobacter pylori in the gastric mucosa. The discovery of the link between this bacterium and gastric pathologies was awarded by the Nobel prize to B. Marsha
The ordinary fate of a cell is differentiation with concomitant loss of potency, and later in the cell life, ageing with the biological stigma of senescence. Differentiation and senescence are both associated with profound modifications in chromatin organization and replication timing. Somatic cell
Cell polarity is fundamental to many aspects of cell and developmental biology and it is implicated in differentiation, proliferation and morphogenesis in both unicellular and multicellular organisms. - We are studying the mechanisms that regulate cell polarity during both asymmetric cell division a
Apoptosis (self-killing) is the mechanism through which superfluous, aged, damaged, and mutated cells are removed from the organism. Excessive apoptosis participates in acute pathological cell loss (e.g. in stroke, infarction, intoxication, septic shock) or chronic progressive diseases (including AI
Mechanisms and physiopathology of receptor- and ß-arrestin-controlled chemotaxis – arrest&chemotax
Chemotaxis is an important physiological property of many cell types, consisting of the ability to move in the direction of gradients of external signaling molecules. This process regulates the coordinated cell movements that produce morphogenesis during development, participates in tissue wound hea
Hedgehog (Hh) familly protein are secreted molecules that function as organisers in animal development (Ingham and McMahon, 2001). Moreover, Hh signaling appears to regulate stem cell homeostasis in adult tissues, while persistent Hh pathway activity has pathological consequences in a number of canc
A human body is composed of about 10tothe13 to 10tothe14 cells, and major biological processes such as cellular differentiation, immune response, offspring identity, or cancer emergence arise from single or very few cells. It is therefore essential to investigate the probabilistic rules of such rare
Do Plasmodium and human translational machineries fully interact? The aim of this proposal is to study enzymes and RNAs from the translation machinery in Plasmodium falciparum with the objective to gain fundamental knowledge on protein synthesis in the pathogen and to search for novel anti-malarial
Roles of recombination and DNA repair in telomere maintenance and chromosome stability. – teloplante
We propose to study the roles of DNA recombination and repair proteins in telomere maintenance and chromosomal stability in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Telomeres are the specialised nucleoprotein structures evolved to avoid progressive replicative shortening and recombinational instability of ch
In eukaryotes, the nuclear envelope (NE) separates nuclear and cytoplasmic cellular activities. During interphase, transport of macromolecules between these two compartments occurs through the nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) that are composed of multiple copies of ~30 different proteins termed nucleop
Besides the well known role of the nucleolus in ribosome biogenesis, nucleoli play important roles in the regulation of many fundamental cellular processes, including cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, telomerase production, RNA processing and therefore it is not surprising that many nucleolar protei
The nuclear envelope is the site of poorly understood interactions with chromatin and chromosomal regions. Defects in the organization of the nuclear envelope cause complex perturbations in gene regulation in so-called laminopathies. Likewise, during development, the precise regulation of transcript
Muscle tissue repair is a most complex biological process that prominently involves activation of myogenic stem cell/progenitors, called satellite cells (SCs), that reside beneath the basal lamina of muscle fibersWe established that, in muscle, quiescent sub-laminal SCs are stably located close to m
Our project aims for understanding the control of two crucial periods of the cell cycle, M- and S-phases. This project is based on a physiological model system, the meiotic divisions of Xenopus oocyte, broadly used to study cell division. The first objective is to unravel the molecular mechanisms th
The Tol system located in the bacterial envelope is conserved in Gram negative bacteria. This system is composed of three inner membrane interacting proteins, TolA-TolQ-TolR, one periplasmic TolB protein and an outer membrane anchored Pal lipoprotein. This system maintaining outer membrane integrity
Type I interferons (IFNalpha/beta) participate to the development of protective (anti-viral) and abnormal (auto) immune responses. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototypic systemic autoimmune disease associated with high titers of auto-antibodies specific for nuclear antigens (e.g. anti-ds
Phosphoinositides (PIs) are quantitatively minor membrane glycerophospholipids which metabolism is highly regulated by a set of specific kinases and phosphatases. It has been shown that some PIs such as phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5 trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P3) and PtdIns(4,5)P2 play a critical role
Deciphering the complex evolution of genes involved in human adaptation to diet – NUTGENEVOL
One of the greatest challenges in human evolutionary genetics is to elucidate the evolution of biological multigenic traits. The nutritional transitions that occurred during human evolution represent major changes in our environment. One of these major transitions is the emergence of agriculture in
Motility is one of the hallmarks of all living organisms. Directed movement of cellular components is achieved either by regulation of cytoskeleton dynamics or by conversion of chemical energy into mechanical energy by specialized molecular motors. Myosins are motor proteins that use cellular ATP to
The balance between repressive and activating chromatin is maintained by the dynamic activity of specific proteins which mediate histone variant incorporation, histone modifications, nucleosome remodeling and DNA methylation. The heritability of the epigenetic profiles established by these proteins
Angiogenesis is a complex morphogenetic process that requires coordinated migration, proliferation and differentiation of endothelial cells. Numerous studies carried out during the past decade have established that developmental and pathological angiogenesis are driven by the vascular endothelial gr
The goal of our project is to try to understand the integrated role of a polarity complex in epithelial cells as a model of a morphogenetic protein complex in Cell Biology. We have decided to focus on the role of the Crumbs 3 (CRB3) complex in mammalian epithelial cells since we have developed exper
The control of growth at the level of a whole organism involves a series of intricate humoral regulations allowing the coordination of growth programs in all tissues. One key feature of this global control is to integrate extrinsic influences, like nutrition, as well as intrinsic mechanisms linked t
1. Scientific background Viruses are designed to protect their genome and to deliver it at high efficiency to a target cell. More than 95 % of the bacterial viruses (bacteriophages or phages) have a double-stranded DNA genome and a tail attached to the portal vertex of the capsid. The tail is respon
Small non-coding RNAs have emerged as one of the most important classes of regulatory molecules in all living organisms. In bacteria, small RNAs (sRNA) exert their regulatory function by base-pairing with sequences near the translation initiation codon of target messenger RNAs. Most often, formation
Regulation of gene expression is a complex process that is essential to allow cells to adapt to changing conditions. Degradation of messenger RNAs plays an important role in the control of gene expression, but the mechanisms involved remains poorly understood. A specific problem associated with anal
In spite of their key physiological roles, an understanding of the molecular basis for the function and dysfunction of membrane proteins (MPs) is rarely available. A main obstacle to establishing the atomic structure of MPs is their low natural abundance and the absence of established methods to ove
I. Background and Significance. - A. Genetic predisposition to infectious diseases. In addition to viral, behavioural and environmental factors, it is not farfetched to consider that host genetics may play a considerable role in the natural history of HCV infection. Indeed several key checkpoints in
1-Scientific background and objectives: Since the cloning of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) in 1992, fluorescent proteins (FPs) have revolutionized life sciences as biological markers. Fluorescent proteins can be fused to many target molecules of interest, allowing their localization in live ce
Deinococcus radiodurans and Deinococcus deserti (the latter recently isolated from desert sand) belong to a family of bacteria characterized by an exceptional capacity to cope with the lethal effects of DNA-damaging agents, including ionizing radiation, UV light and desiccation. The radioresistance
Molecular DYNAmics of Soil Organic carbon (DYNAMOS). The main issue of DYNAMOS is the build-up of a new generation of soil carbon model. The modelisation will describe together soil organic geochemistry and soil carbon dynamics in a generalized, quantitative representation. The carbon dynamics time
Sea turtles are submitted to the strong constraint of regularly coming on land for nesting far from their usual feeding sites. They feed on marine resources but they have to starve during the nesting season and during their migration from/to the nesting/feeding sites. Hence their fitness (in terms o
One of the most important paradigm in population biology is the metapopulation concept. Dispersal together with extinction are the central parameters. Exchanges among populations or colonization of new habitats are most of the time thought to be random processes where the source population (if we ex
A number of gregarious vertebrate species live and move in groups, often reaching a large size, though keeping a remarkable social and spatial cohesion. The mechanisms involved in the initiation of movements, decision to follow and coordination of individual movements are poorly understood. In group
1. Scientific background and objectives The viral molecular determinants involved in vector-transmission of plant viruses have been extensively studied over the last decades. However, the counterpart of such studies (plant and vector determinants) has been largely overlooked. It is surprising indeed
1 - Applied and scientific backgrounds, project objectives Overland flow on agricultural soils induces problems of environmental resources preservation (decrease of soil thickness by erosion, nutrients losses, decrease in water quality). Overland flow events are also responsible for flooding, gener
Different models of non-Markovian random walks were recently suggested by the physicists in order to describe the dynamical properties of disordered medias. These models lead to very challenging problems and form a very active field of mathematics. Among these models one finds random walks in random
The aim of this project is to contribute to the classification of quantum groups by studying two subproblems arising in representation theory: the classification of Hopf-Galois extensions for a Hopf algebra and the search of explicit formulae for the Haar measure. The project brings together researc
The aim of this project is to develop models predicting the evolution of texture (crystal-preferred orientations) during high-temperature deformation, recrystallization, and phase transformations. Texturing of crystalline materials, like rocks, metals, and ceramics, creates anisotropic physical prop
Subglacial lakes are focus of scientific curiosity which captured the interest of a wide public. Their exploration rise scientific and technological challenges promoted by SCAR as one of its Scientific Program for the coming decade, the International Polar Year representing a start point and framewo
The scientific community has recently been challenged by the discovery of magnetic materials of a fundamentally new nature. This intrinsic ¨d0¨¨ ferromagnetism differs from usual ferromagnetism which includes magnetic ions. Even though they have no magnetic ions, these materials have magnetic phases
This ambitious project proposes an alternate solution to the pure spin current generation. This question raised recently in the scientific community. One key feature of such current is that they could be dissipation-less while being able to carry information. Our approach is to take advantage of the
The central topic in our project is the study of the properties of solutions to nonlinear dispersive equations. This category represents a large number of PDE of hyperbolic type. Most known examples are wave, Schrodinger, Korteweg-De-Vries, Benjamin-Ono equations. All these equations have the partic
Dynamique des opérateurs – DYNOP
The main goal of this projet is to gather efforts of three groups of analysts from the three universities Aix-Marseille 1, Bordeaux 1 and Lille 1 around various problems in dynamic of operators. Two topics are mainly considered. The first topic deals with cyclicity and hypercyclicity of vectors and
The major goal of CORCOSIL is to shed light on the mechanisms of slow crack propagation in glasses at the nanoscale. In several cases, phenomenological equations such as Wiederhorn's can explain the dependence of crack velocity on stress and on environmental parameters. Yet the stress-corrosion mech
Micro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are used in very active research fields both in applied and fundamental physics. Recent advances in micro-electronics and micro-engineering has allowed the design of MEMS with sub-micron sizes intended for the measurement of the Casimir force. Another fundamental appl
Piezoelectric materials are widely used in technologic applications. Although the piezoelectric effect is well-described as a macroscopic phenomenon, scientific insight about the effect on an atomic length scale is limited. The aim of this project is therefore to acquire a deeper understanding of th
The aim of the NExEN project is to make major progress in the knowledge of the energy density functional governing the physics of nuclear systems. It requires an understanding of nuclei and nuclear matter under extreme conditions such as a strong neutron excess or at densities far from the saturatio
Algorithmique des fonctions L – ALGOL
This project centers around the so-called L-functions in number theory, from an algorithmic and experimental point of view. L-functions encode delicate arithmetic information, and many crucial conjectures in number theory revolve around them: Riemann Hypotheses, the Birch and Swinnerton Dyer conject
The endeavour of this project is to develop some methodology for modelling and solving inverse problems of a certain type using tools from harmonic and complex analysis. These problems pertain to deconvolution issues, identification of fractal dimension for Gaussian fields, and free boundary problem
Wave turbulence concerns the dynamical and statistical properties of an ensemble of weakly interacting nonlinear waves. This concept has been applied to a great variety of both classical and quantum systems at very different scales: surface or internal waves of the ocean, Alfven waves in the solar w
Objectives : We propose to study supersolidity, that is the possible superfluidity of a solid. For this, we propose to combine acoustic and hydrodynamic methods with neutron and X-ray scattering. In 2004, Kim and Chan (Penn State Univ.) have suggested supersolidity as an explanation for their measur
Oxyde de Phosphine Secondaires OPS: Preligands en Catalyse et Catalyse Asymétrique – SPOs Preligands
Secondary Phosphine Oxides 'SPOs' exhibit a phosphine oxide RR'P(O)H, [P(45]-phosphinous acid RR'P-O-H, [P(33] tautomerism (R, R' = alkyl, aryl, NR1R2). In solution, this equilibrium is almost completely shifted toward the oxide form and can be displaced in favor of the phosphinous acid form by
The current limitations of the 'top-down' technological processes impose new approaches, which must be controlled for the integration of physical, chemical or biochemical functions on scales lower than 100 nm. In the same way, the 'bottom-up' realization based on the elaboration of functional struct
The LHC project which is expected to start late this year may be soon proving the existence of the so long awaited Higgs particle. It may also indicate the presence of additional particles whose existence is predicated by the Grand Unification Theories. However, the hadronic nature of the LHC beams
We have very recently developed an entirely new and versatile tool for mesoscopic physics. This instrument combines Atomic Force and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (AFM-STM) operating at very low temperature and enables us to perform high resolution local electronic tunneling spectroscopy at any poin
The use of Bayesian statistics in complex models has grown dramatically due to the development of efficient implementation procedures such as the MCMC algorithms, which allow us to simulate the posterior distribution for almost any kind of models. This is particularly true for the use of Bayesian no
Approche d'oracle en statistique mathématique / Oracle approach in mathematical statistics – ORACLE
The proposed research project is related to the following domains of mathematical statistics: estimation theory and tests theory. We study statistical properties of non parametric procedures or, in other words, we are interested in statistical models which can be described only by infinite dimension
Unlike ordinary liquids and elastic solids, complex fluids exhibit several puzzling behaviors that critically depend on the underlying structures that compose the fluids. Indeed, many complex fluids are made of microscopic entities (such as rigid or soft particles, biological cells, macromolecules e
The project deals with the modelling and numerical simulation of solidification of binary metallic alloys, to get a better understanding of the structure formation and of the macro-segregations. in the final product. The project aims at proposing reference numerical solutions and experimental data f
The 'SimUlation of Heterogeneous Systems and Interfaces' project (SUSHI) concerns the study of structural and thermodynamic properties of fluids and solids using Monte Carlo simulations. During the last few years, molecular simulations have been successfully applied to the understanding and predicti
In cosmology, the growth of gravitational instability in a dark matter fluid is not fully understood yet. However, with the advent of a new generation of observational cosmology projects - let us mention ground-based or space large-scale cosmic shear surveys or the Square-Kilometer-Array - it is nec
1 Scientific background and objectives More than 120 molecules have been observed to date in the interstellar medium (ISM)). Three fundamental questions for the knowledge of the ISM and its evolution are still unanswered: (i) the abundance of H in its molecular form, (ii) the origin of the variety o
The goal of this project is a comparison between models and multi-disciplinary data (surface and space gravity, geodesy, hydrology, and meteorology) of seasonal changes in water storage in Africa from the desert zone in the Sahara (null test zone) to the equatorial monsoon region with strong changes
Today, as space missions exploring planetary atmospheres are highly successful, with scientific teams now collecting a large amount of data, the study of the detailed aspects of all the mechanisms controling these complex atmospheric systems becomes possible. However, the interpretation of Cassini-H
The main objective is to build an original interdisciplinary project to study the complex chemistry of planetary atmospheres. Two physical chemists, the project leader, Roland Thissen and Odile Dutuit left the Laboratoire Chimie Physique in Orsay to join the Laboratoire de Planétologie de Grenoble i
Turbulence in fusion plasmas is among the issues of first principle physics that are questioned by the ITER project. Turbulence is not only a major challenge to theoretical physics, it is the main performance limitation of the confinement capability of the device. Specific physics of fusion plasmas
This project is concerned with the unsteady aerodynamics and associated sound production mechanisms which result from flows around bluff bodies. Such systems comprise regions of fully separated turbulent flow and strong fluid-structure interaction. From an applied perspective, the motivation for stu
Context. Predicting within reasonable accuracy the durability of high value metallic materials (such as stainless steels in power plants) remains a challenge to material scientists and engineers. For instance, the major obstacle to correctly predicting the corrosion resistance of metallic alloys is
Scientific background and objectives Description of project, methodology Expected results The project deals with new gold catalysts supported on reducible and non-reducible oxides (discovery in 1987). They are catalytically active in CO oxidation when the gold particle size is smaller than 5 nm. The
The majority of flows, which have significant interests for academic research and are representative of industrial situations, reveals the presence of unsteady three-dimensional flow structures. Even if numerical modelling has done substantial progress in fluid mechanic during the last two decades,
The EMCal project concerns a large electromagnetic calorimeter for the ALICE experiment at the LHC collider. The scientific goal is to provide for ALICE the best conditions for characterizing the photon and jet production at high transverse momentum and hence, upstream, for the physics of hard proce
The Groupe de Recherches sur l'Aval du Cycle (GRACE) of IPHC aims at measuring cross sections of given reactions especially relevant in next generation nuclear reactors. The method used is the prompt spectroscopy, which allows identifying nuclei produced in very short-lived excited states. This me
Arakelov geometry and the Voevodsky-style theory of algebraic homology or homotopy (variants of which were discovered and studied by Suslin, Rost, Levine, Morel, Hanamura and Voevodsky, to quote just a few) provide entirely new methods of investigation for problems that have resisted the efforts of
Théorie géométrique des groupes – groupes
The goal of our project is to join several researchers working in geometric group theory and related areas. This project would allow us to work together, organize meetings, and have regular contacts with foreign mathematicians. We hope that our scientific cooperation will bring new interesting and
This project covers different geometrical and dynamical aspects of cosmological models: - geometry (riemannian or conformal) of spatial slices in space-times with constant curvature and their asymptotic behavior near the initial singularity, - Cosmic censorship conjecture in the constant curvature
For the states, the sustainable management of marine and coastal ecosystems constitute a relevant strategy of their environmental and development public policies. The coastal areas represents only 4% of the planet lands, but they concentrate more than one-third of the world population, and they suff
The recent development of field archaeology, especially in France, Italy, Belgium, England and Finland, combined with the use of biological sciences by archaeologists dealing historical periods, the re-interpretation of ancient documents and the new interest in unused evidence (iconography, culinary
Mammalian genomic imprinting is an epigenetic marking mechanism that conveys allele-specific expression to a subset of mammalian genes which depends on the parental origin of the allele. So far, some eighty imprinted genes have been identified in mice and humans. Many of these imprinted genes play k
Deciphering the regulatory pathways of RNA polymerase III transcription in response to stress or during differentiation How do cells adjust their growth rate to physiological changes or environmental variations, especially under stress conditions? What are the processes in control of their prolifera
The technological objective is innovative : it proposes a new generation of thermal and (nano)calorimetric (micro)sensors, over a wide temperature range (4K – 400K), constituted by synthetic carbon-based films (doped or allloyed Diamond-Like Carbon and doped microcrystalline Diamond films) deposited
The proposed interdisciplinary project is concerned with evaluation, choice and decision making in the use of urban and peri-urban spaces, and (more specifically) in practices and trends in residential and everyday mobility. Changes in everyday mobility are linked to the phenomenon of urbanisation a
Scientific background Putting in contact two miscible fluids of different densities in an unstable configuration results in spontaneous convective motions leading to fluid mixing. These processes have been extensively studied in the unconfined case of wide interfaces on which multiple interacting in
Contacts de langues et changements linguistiques : cas du chinois et des langues altaïques – CLCL
Chinese, all through its history, has been in contact with Altaic languages in the north, and with those of the Tai and Austroasiatic taxa in the south. It is not surprising that Mongolian and Manchurian-Tungus languages of the Altaic family have played an important role in the history of China. The
The aim of this project is the study of radiation emitted by the hot gases produced around vehicles during their entry in planetary atmospheres. A shock wave is created in the front region which heats the gas to very high temperatures and induces reactive processes such as dissociation and ionizatio
Damage due to microcracks growth is an essential mechanism of inelastic behaviour and failure in a great number of geomaterials like concrete and rocks. The evolution of damage is inherently related to the microstructure of material and in particular to the presence of aggregates. In the process of
Cyclic amino acids, and particularly aminocyclopropanecarboxylic (ACC) acids are important synthetic intermediates or target molecules in medicinal chemistry. They are also used in designing constrained peptidomimetics for structure-activity relationship studies. Racemic ACC analogues and nitrogen h
Animal fibres are amongst the most sophisticated materials which exist, possessing remarkable mechanical and chemical properties due to their nanostructures. Although having to compete against synthetic fibres over the last several decades, natural fibres offer the possibility of a sustained and dur
Géometrie, Algorithmes, Preuves – GALAPAGOS
In this project we wish to apply computerized theorem proving tools to two aspects of geometry. The first aspect concerns computational geometry, the second aspect concerns verifying geometric reasoning steps in usual constructions, such as constructions with ruler and compass. We mainly want to use
The choice of measures naturally consistent to estimate and exploit the proximity of objects has been at the core of mathematics for thousand years. The information society has seen during the last decade a considerable – and still growing – amount of works around distortion measures that are partic
The wavelength range spanning from 2 to 4 µm is of particular interest for spectroscopy. Many molecules of industrial interest exhibit in that spectral region intense absorption lines, and lasers and detectors to mesure them work cw at room temperature, thus enabling industrial applications. However
Curry-Howard pour la concurrence – CHOCO
The Curry-Howard correspondence, which relates mathematical proofs to computer programs, is a very powerful paradigm which, for the time being, is retricted to purely "sequential" programming languages. We plan to extend this paradigm to the concurrent languages described by process algebras such as
Objective: The control of light by small structures promises to play a major role for the next generation of optical information processes, future quantum computing devices and scalable data storage. Key to this control is to design new photonic structures with advanced or novel functionalities. Thi
The Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is a recently proposed technique [Huang 1998] based on a local analysis of a time series which is decomposed into waveforms modulated in amplitude and frequency. EMD is restricted (by construction) to monovariate signals. However, in biological experiments, mu
Surfaces minimales, applications harmoniques et cmc-surfaces dans les variétés homogènes – MINIMALES
1. Scientific context The study of minimal surfaces has a long history in mathematics. A new line of research opens today with the study of submanifolds in the nine homogeneous manifolds of the Thurston classification. This field was pioneered in 2002 by H. Rosenberg, team member, and has
In France, only a few studies have addressed the returns-to-education question. Moreover, no systematic econometric study has been conducted to analyse the returns-to-education in the French higher-education system, and, a fortiori, neither in its fundamental dimension of individual choice of discip
L'enfant et la mort dans l'Antiquité: des pratiques funéraires à l'identité sociale – EMA
The methodological advances in the field of funerary archaeology (archaeo-anthropology, social history) and the constant increase in the amount of data have not yet ceded place to important syntheses. Centering the research on burials of children (up to 12-14 years of age) and with the support of an
This project deals with the fabrication of new types of aqueous foams, from which new materials will be developed ; being either able to respond macroscopically and reversibly to external stimuli, and providing us with some model systems for studying some biomechanics-related issues. The direction w
This project proposal is based on the collaboration of 4 french scientific institutions in order to develop a consistent research program on the Generalized Parton Distributions, which is a recent and promising theoretical concept in order to study the structure of the nucleon. The project articulat
The goal of this project, "Random Generation: Models, Methods and Algorithms", is to develop a set of fundamental methods and algorithms for the random generation of complex combinatorial structures. Such objects appear in a variety of applications, especially in computer science. Random generation
In many circumstances, interaction of radiations with matter leads to radical formation by excitation or ionisation of the molecules that constitutes the material. Such a radiolysis phenomenon is of critical importance for liquid water, which is widely used along the nuclear fuel cycle. Its sensitiv
Objectives : Nearly half the world population lives within 200 km of the coast, and this proportion is expected to reach 75% by 2025 (source: UNESCO). The littorals are also more intensively used by the shipping industry, growing with the globalization of world trade, mass tourism, and energy indust
1. Scientific context and aims of the project. The historian and the archaeologist must respond to the queries of their contemporaries on the past. If the strictly political history is nowadays in part relinquished to the profit of that of long movements, it is that our era is confronted with techni
Les Français face à l'État : les pétitions adressées aux Assemblées de 1815 à 1940 – PETITIONS
The current interrogations on citizen relationship toward politics - high rate of abstentions, volatility of the electoral behaviors, distrust with regard to the politicians and of the traditional parties - caused reflexions of sociologists and political economists but also from specialists on the h
This project would like to assess the relationships between the construction of images in previously depressed cities, and their instrumental contribution in the evolution of urban identities. We will focus on two urban areas engaged in a process of renovation : the Region of Saint-Etienne and the m
This project aims to coordinate experimental and theoretical research on the subject of the so-called parametric instabilities which could be a major obstacle for the realization of the laser fusion scheme within the Inertial Confinement thermonuclear Fusion (ICF) concept if they are not controlled.