The ARCADIA project will focus on building artificial photosynthetic devices (or photoelectrochemical cells), with the aim of producing alternative fuels exploiting renewable energy sources (namely sunlight). The key strategy will involve the development of photoelectrodes able to perform the water oxidation (at the anode) and the carbon dioxide reduction (at the cathode), and their further assembly in a standalone set-up (i.e. requiring no other energy source, but sunlight). Thus, ARCADIA will contribute to the abatement of the atmospheric anthropogenic emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2 by its exploitation as a renewable carbon feedstock to obtain clean fuels and value-added chemicals as the target products.

The debate over Neanderthal subsistence patterns and behavioural aspects is source of many discussions and scieThe debate over Neanderthal subsistence patterns and behavioural aspects is source of many discussions and scientific contributions. Research over the last ten years has produced new data on mobility, economic strategies and life-aspects of Neanderthals, that have changed and enriched the comprehension of the material record of these ancestors. The project entitled “Attesting Neanderthal Dwelling Space Use: effects of human occupations in the Middle Palaeolithic record of Fumane cave” (ANDSU) will address the identification of changes in Neanderthal subsistence patterns across the analysis of the late mousterian sequence of Fumane cave (44-47.6 ka cal BP) (Verona, Italy). ANDSU will overcome the traditional limits of scientific research through specific objectives: identify Neanderthal spatial patterns, site function, temporality (or not) of activity areas and hearths and lengths and number of occupation(s)/event(s). An integrated multidisciplinary research methodology that has never been proposed until today, will be useful to address the aforementioned objectives and enhance the state-of the-art. Based on bone refits, Spatial Archaeology, multivariate Statistic techniques and 3D modeling reconstruction the project emerge for its combined high-innovative methodologies. The experimentation of 3D scan of bones will provide an important step for the attempt to automatically, or semi-automatically refit of faunal assemblages. , would radically transform zooarchaeological research methods. On the base of these premises, ANDSU focuses on the crucial need to extend our knowledge about Middle Palaeolithic record and to understand the range of Neanderthal variability. Also, it is expected to open up new perspectives to know the life-ways of Fumane inhabitants and to understand their cultural relationships, compared with Neanderthal groups of other European regions.

The energy refurbishment of heritage, field of the HeLLo proposal, is a priority of the EU policies to reduce fuel consumption. Historic buildings constitute a great amount of the EU existing stock, whose richness, coupled with a social and cultural value, especially in the Italian context, justifies the fellowship location. However, the lack of specific tools for the intervention on this kind of buildings and the scarcity of data about their energy state-of-the-art, make them mostly excluded from core strategic plans of the Member States, losing a great chance towards a net zero-energy future. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL HeLLo aims at spreading awareness about the most common energy retrofit solutions and increase knowledge of their application in historic buildings, hoping to contribute in the EU refurbishments strategies issues related to the historic heritage. There are two specific objectives: to check the compatibility of technologies already certified and applied to new buildings on historic constructions and, to create a structured dissemination programme that opens the doors of laboratory life to the outside of the academic boundaries. HOW THE OBJECTIVE WILL BE ACHIEVED Results will be achieved through a twofold strategy:1) the creation of a true experimental laboratory in which to test such technologies and quantifying their real performance; 2) a project of ‘dissemination laboratories’ that offers an ‘experimental experience’ that makes known the world of investigation by the practice of the living lab. RELEVANCE TO THE WORK PROGRAMME The achievements of the research are directed to overcome the criticalities related to energy retrofit of historic buildings towards a deep enhancement of EU heritage performance, and to ensure that the EU reaches the objectives stated in the H2020 work programme. HeLLo is an important step in my career to fulfil the ambition to become an independent technology and energy expert and getting a tenure track position within EU.

Local sterile inflammation arise in many pathologic states, including several diseases of the nervous system as brain stroke, neurodegenerative diseases and epilepsy. The persistent and de-regulated inflammatory response sustains these neurological pathologies worsening their prognosis. Different molecular players, as NLRP3 and P2X7 have been shown to contribute to the progression of these illnesses triggering the release of IL-1β and recruiting cellular components of the immune response at the neurodegeneration site. Consistently, brain penetrant P2X7 antagonists are clinically used to treat epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases, while the pharmacological modulation of IL-1β is still unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the molecular mechanism underlying neuroinflammation and NLRP3 inflammasome assembly remains elusive. Here we propose that different neuroinflammatory diseases can be linked together in a common disease pathway, of which damaged function should be targeted for therapy. Specifically we propose a new mechanism acting on IL-1β regulation: we hypothesize the existence of a new activity of PML outside tumour environment, acting at the endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria interfaces (MAMs) as modulator of NLRP3 inflammasome. On these bases, I propose a project in which PML activity at MAMs can be the key link of different neuroinflammatory diseases. Our goals are as follow: 1) to demonstrate that PML post-transcriptionally controls NLRP3 activity at the ER/MAMs compartments and thus IL-1β release via P2X7; 2) to prove that IL-1β release have a strong influence on neuronal environment and survival, and might represent a prognostic factor; 3) to develop new drugs targeting PML/NLRP3/P2X7 axis to overcome the unexpected failure of anti-IL-1 therapies.

The main goal of passive tracking of people and things (PATH) is to define a new paradigm for physical behavior inference, where the dynamics of physical entities are tracked with minimal implementation cost, maximal privacy preservation, and intrinsically protected secrecy. PATH relies on the detection, tracking, and behavior analysis of targets without active devices, by integrating such capabilities in infrastructures for the Internet of things (IOT) that are already present in a monitored environment. This enables several applications including visitor counting and flow monitoring. The objectives of PATH are: (i) to develop a framework for system design and analysis, as well as to derive fundamental limits; (ii) to devise advanced techniques for detection and exploitation of networks of opportunity; (iii) to develop inference techniques based on wireless networks properties for intrinsically secure tracking; (iv) to recognize new patterns related to targets dynamics based on signal feature extraction; (v) to establish a proof-of-concept for an industrial-driven use case. PATH will enhance the potential of the experienced researcher (ER) by relying on: (i) the solid experience of the successful Ph.D. completed by the young ER, which included a year as a visiting student in the USA; (ii) a challenging, interdisciplinary, and multi-sectorial work program; (iii) a genuine mobility program with an outgoing phase at a top tier university, supervised by a world-renowned expert in the field, and with an incoming phase at a high ranked and growing research group; (iv) a secondment program at a leading industry in the field, which confirms the industrial interest and that is tailored to the ER, with an evident commitment in terms of supervision and infrastructures; (v) a rich, five-fold training program, not limited to training through research; (vi) an implementation plan agreed with an advisory board for an efficient achievement of the ambitious objectives.