The objective of this project is the realisation of a new generation of Terahertz (THz) waveguide and the fabrication of an elementary component, the resonator, in the prospect of improving the conception of more complex and integrated THz systems. THz refers to electromagnetic wave spectrum form 100 GHz to 10 THz lying between microwave and optical spectra. In this domain, research interest has been substantially increasing due to the wide prospects of applications in astrophysics, biology, medicine, communication and security fields. However, the expansion of the THz domain requires the extension of microwave and optical technologies to develop building block functions for more complex and integrated components working at THz frequencies. In particular, the lack of competitive THz waveguide is a strong limiting factor. In this context, the interest of this project is the conception of THz-fibres based on the Photonic Band-Gap (PBG) guidance mechanism. These guides are composed by an hollow core surrounded by a photonic crystal cladding. Since the core is filled with air, the material absorption issue is avoided. Moreover, even if the photonic crystal is made with absorbent materials, if the induced PBG effect is sufficiently strong, the resulting waveguide attenuation is several orders lower than the material attenuation. This phenomenon allows the use of materials that are too absorbent for wave guidance by total internal reflection mechanism. In a first time, we will use silica glass (that has an attenuation around 50 dB/m at 0.5 THz) to design and fabricate a prototype with an attenuation around or lower than 1 dB/m. The performances of the prototype will be analysed with the help of dedicated characterisation tools that will be set up. A time domain based bench will be used to characterised transmission properties of the fibre and to optimise its opto-geometrical parameters. Based on this study, further improvements might be investigated. In order to extend the transmission window of the fibre to higher THz frequencies, the insertion of metal inclusions in the photonic crystal will be studied. These inclusions might increase the PBG effect, and thus, compensate the dramatic increase of silica absorption at frequencies above 1 THz. Finally, the use of less rigid materials like polyethylene will open the possibility to fabricate flexible THz-fibre. In a second time, the fabricated THz-fibre will be used as a building block for the conception of advanced components. The transposition of elementary functions (filtering, routing, switching) from microwave or optical to THz domains will be studied. Moreover, the size of THz wavelength allows the use of fabrication processes issued from both domains. In this prospect, we will realise a resonator. The association of a resonator configuration from microwave studies with the Thz-fibre properties (low attenuation and strong field confinement in the core) may yield a significative increase of the Q factor. The realisation of this resonator would be a significant illustration of the rich potential of this project for the conception of more complex and integrated functions and it opens the door to the development of a new generation of components dedicated to THz frequencies.

The UREKAT proposal focuses on Foldamers and on the challenging issue in the field of connecting structure and function. By taking its original inspiration both from biological and artificial chemical systems, the project proposes to develop, evaluate and optimize synthetic helical molecules bearing intrinsic anion-binding and/or catalytic properties (evaluated in asymmetric reactions and Ring-Opening Polymerization (ROP)). The project will concentrate on enantiopure, aliphatic, helically folded urea-oligomers, a non-oligoamide class of foldamers whose structures have recently been characterized at atomic resolution (Fischer et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010). The motivation to set-up this project stems from (1) the importance of protein anion recognition processes in biology (anion channels / transporters, enzymatic reactions) and the role of H-bond mediated interactions in conferring selectivity, (2) the finding that approaches based on ureas and thioureas have become prevalent in the design of synthetic anion receptors and hydrogen-bonding organocatalysts, (3) the robustness of the intramolecular three-centred H-bonding scheme in oligoureas that stabilize the helical fold, and (4) the versatility of this class of foldamers which bear an isostructural relationship with helix forming gamma-peptides. Oligoureas have been shown to be very effective in terms of interaction with biomolecules and for possible biomedical applications. In particular, helices designed to mimic host-defense peptides disrupt bacterial cell membranes and display potent antimicrobial activities. In UREKAT, we propose to go beyond the current state of the art in the field of foldamer applications, by taking advantage of two unique features of the helical urea backbone, i.e. the presence of: (1) a preformed binding site consisting of two urea head groups presented in an intrinsically chiral environment at one end of the helix (2) a macrodipole moment along the helix axis with a positive pole close to the binding site which could contribute to cooperative ligand binding. Properties such as anion selectivity and affinity, ligand binding, catalytic efficiency will be modulated and tuned by variation in capping groups, nature of side chains, and helix length and by discrete substitution of thiourea for urea. Short-chain helices such as those delivered by the end of the project, suitable for binding anions and H-bond mediated catalysis may be seen as a first step towards the design of more complex folded architectures mimicking more closely the structure and function of proteins, and enzymes in particular. This fundamental research program will be performed at the Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB) in Bordeaux (France) which offers a very suitable environment in terms of facilities and complementary scientific expertises for the applicant.

RATIONALE Our program is about prisons, camps for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, and labour camps in different countries. There is a need to understand the procedures, the actors, and the effects of confinement. Asymmetrical power relationships between inmates and authorities, especially the state, lead to these places of confinement. We will analyse behaviours, representations, strategies and evolutions in the production of order and the exercise of power. We scrutinize the spatial dimension of confinement systems, considering the latter as key loci of political and social control. Have we to consider space as a simple frame and background of confinement, or does it contribute to enact power relations and social categories? Our main hypothesis is that these confinement systems have specific spatialities. Because of their agency and their social dimension, these spatialities fully participate in the logics of confinement. BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVE AND SCIENTIFIC ISSUES Scientific studies leave great space for further investigation. Our presentation of previous researches on confinement highlights how very few geographers have addressed this issue. In the meantime, sociologists, historians, and specialists in political science and law have all underscored the importance of space if one considers the origins of systems of confinement, their ways of functioning or their links to the outside world. Here is undoubtedly the key impact of our research: geography has not addressed this issue. Our approach adopts two original positions: 1.Gathering various geographical spaces All the studied spaces share two distinctive features: physical enclosure, whether complete or incomplete; imposition of confinement by authorities. We do not consider the spaces we study as equivalent. Their similarities and their differences underscore the spatialities of confinement. 2.Initiating a geographical approach of confinement We do not address confinement as a result, but as a process, which is born from the interactions between inmates and guards (i.e. the state apparatus). We focus on the outcome of the process of confinement, on its impacts on society and space. SCIENTIFIC AIMS AND METHODS Space plays a pivotal role in confinement on two levels, which complete one another. Spatial arrangements constitute the first issue to address, inasmuch as they constitute the material result of a policy of confinement. The second issue to be addressed is the spaces considered as lived, experienced, 'dwelled' places: their inhabitants make them real places, even if life is tough inside. Hence two scales are considered according to these two hypotheses. -At the scale of nation states, we will have to check if authorities spread out places of confinement as a way to fix certain parts of the population and to put them far away from the rest of the population (1st workpackage). Yet, in front of that, movements and routes are enacted by 'inmates': confined places are inserted into networks (2nd workpackage). These two entangled dynamics lead to new spatial configurations -At the scale of the places of confinement, we will address the way in which institutional power is exercised. We want to assess how power remove individual characteristics from inmates through spatial mechanisms and through a discipline of the bodies (3rd workpackage). In the same time, places of confinement are resisted, contested by inmates, who can continue to exist through these ways of resistance (4th workpackage). Our research project is based on heavy empirical fieldwork, in 11 countries, where we have already strong connections and where we have sometimes even launched some experimental inquiries. Comparing these various fields bring a strong added value to address the structural components of confinement. It brings about a full body of knowledge on the kind of spaces and on the places of fieldworks. Comparative approach is both a method and a question of position. Expected results and potential impact Knowledge -Construction of a theoretical framework to study confinement -Rearticulating the local and the global -Participating into the new developments of Francophone political geography Methods -Deepening the comparative approach in geography -Developing a methodological approach useful for other topics Institutions -Strengthening and developing collaboration with foreign scientists -Contributing to an interdisciplinary approach of social facts through spatial lenses -Building a local and international network studying confinement Social reception -Proposing new topics for teaching lectures -Developing scientific appraisal of the issues of confinement for various authorities -Bringing back the result to NGOs and civil society TEAM MEMBERS B. Michalon (85%), coordinator T. Bruslé (25%) O. Clochard (100%) M. Darley (50%) A.-F. Hoyaux (60%) M. Morelle (25%) O. Milhaud (50%) D. Zeneidi (35%) O. Pissoat (25%)

Intracellular accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques formed by the extracellular deposit of cerebral amyloid-ß (Aß) peptide oligomers are the classical pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and lead ultimately to neuronal cell death. However, it has become clear more recently that soluble Aß disrupt glutamatergic synaptic function, which in turn leads to the characteristic cognitive deficits already present at early stages of AD. In addition, soluble Aß is a potent activator of microglia and astrocytes leading to the production and the release of a whole array of inflammatory molecules which in turn affect synaptic transmission and plasticity. There are two main inter-connected objectives to the projectwith the final aim to provide a rationale for the test and discovery of new therapeutic strategies to alleviate cognitive deficits that precede neurodegeneration in AD. First we will provide a comprensive view of the structural and functional changes that occur at a central glutamatergic synapse during aging in two mouse models of AD. We will focus on synaptic transmission in pyramidal cells in the hippocampal CA3 area, a brain region critically involved in the encoding of novel information. Within this frame we shall ask the following fundamental questions : does chronic accumulation of Aß-peptides over the progressive development of the disease impair synaptic structure, function and plasticity in the CA3 region of the hippocampus, a region critically involved in the encoding of novel information? Second, we will study how neuroinflammatory processes participate in the progressive synaptic failure linking to cognitive deficits. Although it is well established that the neuroinflammation process participates both to the onset and the chronicity of AD, precise mechanisms linking neuroinflammation with glutamatergic synaptic disruption have not yet been explored. Is there a link between neuroinflammatory processes and synaptic dysfunction? This project is a basic research project that will shed light on the pathological aging process in a brain region implicated in the encoding of novel information. However, we also plan to set the experimental conditions for examining how currently used therapeutic approaches (such as anti-inflammatory drugs or memantine) prevent all or part of the synaptic symptomatology found in AD transgenic mice. We will test if it possible to restore normal synaptic structure and function by chronic treatments with currently used therapeutic approaches (such as memantine), or new antiinflammatory molecules? The "synaptic failure" hypothesis of AD has received much less attention in France than in countries like UK or the United States. This is likely changing now given the high potential of drugs which could alleviate synaptic deficits in the early phase of the cognitive decline in AD. Our group has no previous participation in the field of AD, but it endeavours to durably make the field benefit from our strong expertise in synaptic electrophysiology and cell biology.