In the context of the ongoing search to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sulfoaluminate cements, which production emits 30% less of carbon dioxide than that of Portland cement, constitutes an interesting development way. To broaden the field of application of this material, it is however necessary to incorporate organic adjuvants, at least one setting retarder and one superplasticizer, in order to control both its reactivity and its rheological properties. Recent studies carried out by the academic partners of the consortium show that competitive interactions between adjuvants exist and that these can compromise the rheological properties of the formulation obtained. The Sulfocim project, which brings together two industrial partners, a cement manufacturer (VICAT) and an adjuvant manufacturer (MAPEI) and two academic partners, the Georges Friedel Laboratory of the Ecole des Mines de Saint-Etienne and the Laboratory of Materials and Civil Engineering at IMT Mines Alès, aims to understand the interactions between adjuvants in these formulations and to study the impact of the parameters relating to these adjuvants on their interactions. The control of these interactions will make possible the development of materials containing both Portland cement and sulfoaluminate cement possessing rheological and mechanical properties suitable for new applications allowing thus the use of sulfoaluminate cement to be increased as a replacement for part of Portland cement. This work will be carried out as a doctoral thesis focused on the understanding and modeling of phenomena and followed by an 18-month post-doctoral work focused on the development of new formulations.

The overall objective of the project is to carry out research and development activities with the aim of identifying innovative strategies and business models to increase the resilience of small-scale farms in the Mediterranean area, to adequately face disruptive events. The five specific objectives (SOs) of the proposal are explained below: SO-1 – Increasing saleability and perceived value of smallholder products, to be resilient and address any supply chain disruption in the event of a crisis The project partners aim to achieve this goal through the design, development and implementation of a multi-sided platform, called SMALLDERS, capable of simultaneously hosting multiple types of actors: smallholder, citizen, critical stakeholder (i.e., large -scale retail trade operator, large-scale food producer), freight transport company, policymaker. This objective is relevant for the topic of the call because the platform enables an e-commerce channel that allows smallholders to sell directly to citizens and critical stakeholders, thus effectively coping with any unexpected closure of traditional distribution channels. Additionally, the implementation of an ad hoc Artificial Intelligence based Knowledge Navigator improves the shopping experiences done by citizens accessing the SMALLDERS platform. SO-2 - Increasing smallholder products traceability, quality, safety and perceived value The implementation of an ad hoc blockchain as part of the SMALLDERS platform improves the traceability, quality and safety of products, therefore also the price that buyers are willing to pay (perceived value). An ad-hoc blockchain will trace for example the origin of the ingredients/raw materials used to produce a certain food product in order to validate its overall composition, or it could be used for monitoring the water consumption during the agricultural product cultivation. These aspects are crucial, especially during a pandemic period. SO-3 - Helping smallholders to cope with the shortage of workforce due to the COVID-like crisis The third specific objective is to help smallholders to cope with the shortage of workforce, due to the COVID-like crisis and to increase the farm production efficiency. The goal of better managing the workforce is realistic as it is based on the use of the SMALLDERS multi-sided platform. Every smallholder can share job offers and/or requests with other smallholders or citizens, who are looking for job opportunities. SO-4 - Helping smallholders to increase the farm production efficiency The fourth specific objective is the increase of the farm production efficiency. The SMALLDERS platform will cope the correct planning of the farm activities in order to make the smallholders aware of the production status in order to point out any inefficiency or delay in agriculture production. The platform will manage in particular the water usage during the agricultural phases, in order to create a time series of the water consumption and show, during some agricultural phases, possible deviation from the average consumption. SO-5 - Increasing the Multi-Capital Sustainability of Smallholders processes The last specific objective focuses on the increase of the Smallholders sustainability by adopting a multi-capital approach. Multi-capital sustainability indicators will be defined and evaluated under multiple scenarios through the use of simulation models, in order to ensure the measurability of this objective under different what-if scenarios. Considering the importance of the environment (natural capital) for the agri-food sector, seven environmental indicators will be also reported in order to understand the improvement achieved by the SMALLDERS platform use. The achievement of all objectives will be measured through real-world case studies.

The temporality of information is crucial to our understanding of the world. Synchronization between different events guides our perception and our actions in many tasks. For example, speech understanding is improved by lip-reading in a context of synchronization between visual and sound perception. In the field of artificial intelligence, spike neural networks offer a paradigm inspired by the functioning of the human brain, which is based on the synchronization between neuronal impulses. These neural networks are likely to be more efficient than the classical neural networks used in the field of machine learning, and less costly in terms of hardware. They also offer new possibilities for processing temporal data and analyzing synchronizations. The MODPULS project aims at studying the possibilities and the limits of the use of spike neural networks for the analysis of temporal data related to synchronization, rhythm, and human movement. We propose to create a set of temporal and rhythmic data of different natures and complexities, combining audio, video and human motion data. The implementation of synchronization analysis tasks using spike neural networks will offer opportunities for innovative scientific contributions in the field of artificial intelligence. The fine analysis of temporal data also opens the field to numerous applications, notably in the human sciences, for example through the analysis of musical rhythms, but also in the medical field through the therapeutic analysis of social synchronizations.

The overall project idea is on contribution to European culture and creativity through developing technological readiness of the breakthrough engineering solution for indoor air safeguard via inter-sectoral European and international cooperation, knowledge sharing, broad skills development and mobility of researchers and innovation staff. Under NANOGUARD2AR it is expected to build new and enhance existing network of international and inter-sectoral cooperation in the form of joint research and innovation activities between the project Partners with multidisciplinary skills and complementary competences in nanomaterials, physics, civil engineering, chemical engineering, green chemistry, microbiology, environmental protection, indoor air quality control and safety. It will significantly strengthen the interaction between academic and non-academic sectors within MS/AC Countries France, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine and Third Country the Republic of Belarus in the field of the innovative nanomaterials engineering application for the environmental protection. The main objectives of the NANOGUARD2AR project are to develop and design, test, validate and demonstrate an innovative nanomaterials-based “microbial free” engineering solutions and responsive system [NANOGUARD2AR system] for the indoor air safeguard to support concept of green buildings. To achieve this goal the NANOGUARD2AR project will explore the use of nanomaterials (NMs) as photosensitizers coupled with advanced air-curtains technology and innovative interactive dark operating oxidizing composite materials being able to generate adsorbed hydroxyl radicals without any external energetic excitation. The emphasis of the project activities is on the proof of the concept of the innovative nanomaterials-enhanced air-barrier engineering solution towards efficient and sustainable protection of the indoor environment from microbial contaminations (fungus, fungal propagules, bacteria, their spores and germination).