The presence of emerging contaminants (ECs) in the atmospheric environment is a growing and potential significant issue in environmental sciences. Environmental studies are mostly focused on the occurrence and fate of ECs in aqueous environments. In contrast, less attention is paid to the atmospheric compartment, which plays a significant role in the global cycling pollutants. It is now accepted that bioaerosols and particulate matter can be emitted to the air from common activated sludge processes (aeration tank) and during biosolid land spreading events. ECs may be adsorbed or trapped on airborne particles emitted from these sources and thus be transferred to the atmosphere. Hence, waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) could be an active source of ECs in the atmosphere through volatilization or aerosolization processes. WECARE main goals are (i) to provide valuable data on the occurrence of ECs in the atmosphere (ii) a better understanding of the impact of WWTPs and biosolid land spreading on the emissions of aerosols and ECs in the atmosphere (transfer processes) (ii) to also provide valuable data on key atmospheric parameters (gas-particle partitioning, particle size distribution of aerosols emitted, mass fluxes, …) which affect the deposition, chemical reactions, long-range transport and impact on human and ecosystem health of pollutants.

Ice phases incorporating a non-negligible amount of salt have been recently experimentally demonstrated. In particular, both high- and low-pressure phases have been reported, showing interest respectively in models for planetary interior compositions, and solid aqueous electrolytes for battery devices. Investigating these phases in greater detail and potentially identifying new ones is therefore interesting both for fundamental and applied research perspectives. Since high-pressure characterization experiments are challenging, atomic-scale numerical simulations such as molecular dynamics can help providing valuable insights in the formation and stability of materials. Four challenges prevent reaching a quantitative description of salty ice phases through atom scale modeling: the computational cost of ab initio approaches, the subtle balance of interactions in water, the low accuracy and transferability of empirical potentials, and the selection of an appropriate collective variable to follow transformations between phases. The SIMODAS project aims at solving all four challenges, by combining two data-driven approaches: one to derive optimal collective variables, and one to extract accurate and transferable interaction potentials. With this methodology in hand, the formation processes and stability field of a range of salty ices will be investigated. In particular, several halides will be considered, to extract knowledge regarding the necessary conditions for the favorable formation of crystallines phases. In addition, work will be devoted to characterize the ion transport properties of these phases to provide valuable information for planetary models and materials design for electrolytes. Finally, several methodological improvements related to the committor probability will be investigated, ranging from accelerating its estimation from molecular dynamics simulations, to investigating local approximations enabling significant dimensionality reduction in optimizing collective variables.

The question of sea-level upraise in relationship to East Antarctica Ice Sheet (EAIS) dynamics is a major question in the context of climate change. The presumed stability of the EAIS and thus of little impact from this zone for the Sea Level Rise (SLR) actually stands on little data on the coast, and on under-constrained numerical models. For now, these models, for the coming centuries, take little account of the long-term evolution of the ice sheet in the coastal domain, since the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum, 20 ka). These models are mainly based on satellital and on distal glacial (EPICA), or marine, data. However, the critical scale of processes acting on the ice sheet evolution (like the evolution of the grounding line or the isostatic rebound) stand on much longer temporal scales (from multi-centennial to multi-millennial scales), and are essentially acting along the coast. In this project, we propose to document the post-LGM deglaciation dynamics of Terre Adélie (TA), with both data from Solid Earth and marine compartments to bring stronger constraints and validations into numerical models of the EAIS on the last 20 ka. The validated models will be used in a forward mode to investigate the future behaviour of the the EAIS until 2300. -In the 'Solid Earth' investigation, we will apply a multi-geochronological investigation of moraine records (based on Cosmogenic Radionuclide dating of Be, Al, C and OSL (Optically Simulated Luminescence) of moraine boulders along the Terre Adélie coast to document the EAIS retreat following the LGM. OSL dating of marine sediments will allow to date former grounding lines that have been uplifted, which will allow quantify the (still undefined) isostatic rebound. - The new marine data will comprise the acquisition of new geochemical data on available sediment cores off the TA coast, at high resolution until 11.5 ka. These data will allow to recalculate the paleo-temperatures both at the sea surface and around -500 m (that is at the level of the grounding line of the EAIS in TA). These data will notably allow for the first time to document the MWP-1B warming phase, which will be used as a proxi of current climate change. - These Solid Earth and marine data will be combined with the other, more distal, ice sheet and marine records to provide a precise frame for glacial fluctuations and IAES thickness since 20 ka. These data will be used to further constrain and validate interactive 3D numerical modellings of the EAIS in TA to evaluate the regression of the glaciers in relation to the various forcings on a 20 ka scale. The best-fit models will be used in forward mode for evaluating the future response of EAIS until 2300.

Estimation of survival is used in many medical studies that aimed to estimate the prognostic of patient, the impact of some variables on the disease under study. More generally, estimation of survival is a valuable indicator of progress in disease control. For chronic diseases, more especially for cancer, the creation of registries has permitted to increase the knowledge in the epidemiology of the diseases under study. Over the past decade, population-based cancer registry data have been used increasingly worldwide to evaluate and improve the quality of cancer care. In this context, analyses are generally performed using methods of estimation of excess mortality that aimed at estimating and modelling the excess mortality to which a studied group of patient’s cancer is subjected and at estimating their net survival (i.e. the survival corrected for all the other causes of death). In this context, the objective of the modelling is to estimate the impact of prognostic factors on the excess mortality risk and to assess the cure rate in different subgroups of patients. Estimation of the survival of cancer’s patients, obtained from population-based data collected by cancer registries, are analysed regularly and published by the different European countries. Comparisons between countries are justified only if the methods used for that have taken into account bias relative of observational studies and if they are the result of a thought and a strategy adopted by all the partners. The development and the homogenisation of such methodology are totally justified in this context. The overall aim of this project is to improve the current methods for estimating net survival and to broaden their field of application in order to obtain i) tools to model complex data, and ii) more accurate estimates that enable to have information on survival for a studied disease and on its public health impact. More precisely, there are three main research axes devoted to: (1) propose new methodological developments to answer questions that are the result of our works during our previous project (MESURE); (2) extend and assess new statistical methods; (3) transfer net survival methods used in cancer to some other specific applications. These themes correspond to some of the actual challenges in the estimation of net survival. Following our previous project, CENSUR project is more ambitious, considering the scope of the methods investigated and the new development that are envisaged. While the focus is on methodological aspects, the network implies also members that have skills in epidemiology and in population-based data analyzes with the objective to produce survival statistics useful in Public Health. This project will allow to reinforce a network including 5 French team, 3 European and 1 Canadian, having complementarities, internationally known, and having experience in the framework of excess mortality and the development of statistical methods. At the end of this project, in order to optimize the use of methods to estimate net survival, we will organize a course. Furthermore, free-licensed statistical programs derived from our work will be available for the scientific community. If the project goes on well, it will allow to propose an adapted methodology in order to obtain correct estimates of the excess mortality for a disease under study and to its determinants. This methodological approach is a preliminary condition for a rational management of disease, on its medical and socio-economic aspects, that will be obtained from registries data, clinical data, or enterprise data.

Gene flow has long been considered to take place within species only but we now realize that it often occurs between species as well. We still don’t know, however, how much gene flow effectively affects the genome of hybridizing species in the late stage of speciation. Such hybridization may be a source of adaptive genetic variation via the transfer of adaptations from the genome of one species to another, a phenomenon called “adaptive introgression”. While there are a few known prominent examples, its overall importance for adaptation is still largely unknown. In this project, we address the following main questions: i) how much of the genome is affected by introgression and ii) what proportion of introgression is adaptive? We have selected the Iberian wall lizard species complex because they have accumulated substantial genomic divergence; in spite of strong barriers to gene flow, nuclear and mitochondrial introgression still occurs; a transcriptome from our model and a reference genome from a close relative are available and we know their distribution, ecology and climatic niches. Last, we already have over 1000 tissue samples so sampling will be limited to additional locations specifically targeted for this project. To achieve this, we will use whole-genome sequencing to quantify the proportion of the genome affected by admixture. We will then quantify which proportion of introgressed genome is better explained by positive selection. To do so, instead of trying to pinpoint which genes have been experienced adaptive introgression, we will develop a theoretical study using simulations to establish the neutral variance in admixture rates among loci then estimate which proportion of admixture events cannot be explained by neutral processes (see Task 4). To overcome some of the limits of purely genomic approaches, we also propose an ecological test of the adaptation hypothesis based on candidate genes for climatic adaptation (mitochondrial DNA and the nuclear genes of the OXPHOS chain) in populations living in contrasted climatic conditions (Task 5). We will sample several pairs of populations within each species, each pair being composed of one population located in highly suitable climatic areas and the other in areas where climatic conditions resemble the climatic niche of a hybridizing (donor) species. Finding more loci that have been subjected to introgression in areas that resemble more the climatic conditions of the “donor” species would support the role of adaptive introgression. Tasks 1 & 2 We will model the current realized climatic niche in all lineages. We will then sample populations in locations (2 per species) of high climatic suitability for the focal species and in the heart of their distribution and in locations (2 per species) where climatic suitability is higher for the other species that hybridizes with the focal species. Task 3 We will obtain WGS data from 3 individuals in each sampled population (6 per species, 6 species). Task 4 We will establish by simulation the neutral variance in introgression levels between nuclear loci in the absence of selection. This should give us the limits of the variation that can be reached between loci in terms of introgression level in absence of selection and allow developing methodological tools to identify loci that have been subject to adaptive introgression. Task 5 We will identify introgressed genomic regions using already published methods then apply results from task 4 to test our idea that the proportion of loci affected by adaptive introgression (the proportion of high-frequency introgressed alleles that cannot be explained by neutral processes) is higher in areas where climatic conditions are closer to the climatic niche of the species which “gave” its genes through introgression, both for the whole genome data and for the OXPHOS genes and mtDNA.