Project acronym 2D–SYNETRA
Project Two-dimensional colloidal nanostructures - Synthesis and electrical transport
Researcher (PI) Christian Klinke
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET HAMBURG
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE4, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary We propose to develop truly two-dimensional continuous materials and two-dimensional monolayer films composed of individual nanocrystals by the comparatively fast, inexpensive, and scalable colloidal synthesis method. The materials’ properties will be studied in detail, especially regarding their (photo-) electrical transport. This will allow developing new types of device structures, such as Coulomb blockade and field enhancement based transistors.
Recently, we demonstrated the possibility to synthesize in a controlled manner truly two-dimensional colloidal nanostructures. We will investigate their formation mechanism, synthesize further materials as “nanosheets”, develop methodologies to tune their geometrical properties, and study their (photo-) electrical properties.
Furthermore, we will use the Langmuir-Blodgett method to deposit highly ordered monolayers of monodisperse nanoparticles. Such structures show interesting transport properties governed by Coulomb blockade effects known from individual nanoparticles. This leads to semiconductor-like behavior in metal nanoparticle films. The understanding of the electric transport in such “multi-tunnel devices” is still very limited. Thus, we will investigate this concept in detail and take it to its limits. Beside improvement of quality and exchange of material we will tune the nanoparticles’ size and shape in order to gain a deeper understanding of the electrical properties of supercrystallographic assemblies. Furthermore, we will develop device concepts for diode and transistor structures which take into account the novel properties of the low-dimensional assemblies.
Nanosheets and monolayers of nanoparticles truly follow the principle of building devices by the bottom-up approach and allow electric transport measurements in a 2D regime. Highly ordered nanomaterial systems possess easy and reliably to manipulate electronic properties what make them interesting for future (inexpensive) electronic devices.
Summary
We propose to develop truly two-dimensional continuous materials and two-dimensional monolayer films composed of individual nanocrystals by the comparatively fast, inexpensive, and scalable colloidal synthesis method. The materials’ properties will be studied in detail, especially regarding their (photo-) electrical transport. This will allow developing new types of device structures, such as Coulomb blockade and field enhancement based transistors.
Recently, we demonstrated the possibility to synthesize in a controlled manner truly two-dimensional colloidal nanostructures. We will investigate their formation mechanism, synthesize further materials as “nanosheets”, develop methodologies to tune their geometrical properties, and study their (photo-) electrical properties.
Furthermore, we will use the Langmuir-Blodgett method to deposit highly ordered monolayers of monodisperse nanoparticles. Such structures show interesting transport properties governed by Coulomb blockade effects known from individual nanoparticles. This leads to semiconductor-like behavior in metal nanoparticle films. The understanding of the electric transport in such “multi-tunnel devices” is still very limited. Thus, we will investigate this concept in detail and take it to its limits. Beside improvement of quality and exchange of material we will tune the nanoparticles’ size and shape in order to gain a deeper understanding of the electrical properties of supercrystallographic assemblies. Furthermore, we will develop device concepts for diode and transistor structures which take into account the novel properties of the low-dimensional assemblies.
Nanosheets and monolayers of nanoparticles truly follow the principle of building devices by the bottom-up approach and allow electric transport measurements in a 2D regime. Highly ordered nanomaterial systems possess easy and reliably to manipulate electronic properties what make them interesting for future (inexpensive) electronic devices.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 200 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym ACROSSBORDERS
Project Across ancient borders and cultures: An Egyptian microcosm in Sudan during the 2nd millennium BC
Researcher (PI) Julia Budka
Host Institution (HI) LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Pharaonic Egypt is commonly known for its pyramids and tomb treasures. The present knowledge of Egyptian everyday life and social structures derives mostly from mortuary records associated with the upper classes, whereas traces of ordinary life from domestic sites are generally disregarded. Settlement archaeology in Egypt and Nubia (Ancient North Sudan) is still in its infancy; it is timely to strenghten this field. Responsible for the pottery at three major settlement sites (Abydos and Elephantine in Egypt; Sai Island in Sudan), the PI is in a unique position to co-ordinate a research project on settlement patterns in Northeast Africa of the 2nd millennium BC based on the detailed analysis of material remains. The selected case studies situated across ancient and modern borders and of diverse environmental and cultural preconditions, show very similar archaeological remains. Up to now, no attempt has been made to explain this situation in detail.
The focus of the project is the well-preserved, only partially explored site of Sai Island, seemingly an Egyptian microcosm in New Kingdom Upper Nubia. Little time is left to conduct the requisite large-scale archaeology as Sai is endangered by the planned high dam of Dal. With the application of microarchaeology we will introduce an approach that is new in Egyptian settlement archaeology. Our interdisciplinary research will result in novel insights into (a) multifaceted lives on Sai at a micro-spatial level and (b) domestic life in 2nd millennium BC Egypt and Nubia from a macroscopic view. The present understanding of the political situation in Upper Nubia during the New Kingdom as based on written records will be significantly enlarged by the envisaged approach. Furthermore, in reconstructing Sai Island as “home away from home”, the project presents a showcase study of what we can learn about acculturation and adaptation from ancient cultures, in this case from the coexistence of Egyptians and Nubians
Summary
Pharaonic Egypt is commonly known for its pyramids and tomb treasures. The present knowledge of Egyptian everyday life and social structures derives mostly from mortuary records associated with the upper classes, whereas traces of ordinary life from domestic sites are generally disregarded. Settlement archaeology in Egypt and Nubia (Ancient North Sudan) is still in its infancy; it is timely to strenghten this field. Responsible for the pottery at three major settlement sites (Abydos and Elephantine in Egypt; Sai Island in Sudan), the PI is in a unique position to co-ordinate a research project on settlement patterns in Northeast Africa of the 2nd millennium BC based on the detailed analysis of material remains. The selected case studies situated across ancient and modern borders and of diverse environmental and cultural preconditions, show very similar archaeological remains. Up to now, no attempt has been made to explain this situation in detail.
The focus of the project is the well-preserved, only partially explored site of Sai Island, seemingly an Egyptian microcosm in New Kingdom Upper Nubia. Little time is left to conduct the requisite large-scale archaeology as Sai is endangered by the planned high dam of Dal. With the application of microarchaeology we will introduce an approach that is new in Egyptian settlement archaeology. Our interdisciplinary research will result in novel insights into (a) multifaceted lives on Sai at a micro-spatial level and (b) domestic life in 2nd millennium BC Egypt and Nubia from a macroscopic view. The present understanding of the political situation in Upper Nubia during the New Kingdom as based on written records will be significantly enlarged by the envisaged approach. Furthermore, in reconstructing Sai Island as “home away from home”, the project presents a showcase study of what we can learn about acculturation and adaptation from ancient cultures, in this case from the coexistence of Egyptians and Nubians
Max ERC Funding
1 497 460 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym ADAPT
Project The Adoption of New Technological Arrays in the Production of Broadcast Television
Researcher (PI) John Cyril Paget Ellis
Host Institution (HI) ROYAL HOLLOWAY AND BEDFORD NEW COLLEGE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary "Since 1960, the television industry has undergone successive waves of technological change. Both the methods of programme making and the programmes themselves have changed substantially. The current opening of TV’s vast archives to public and academic use has emphasised the need to explain old programming to new users. Why particular programmes are like they are is not obvious to the contemporary viewer: the prevailing technologies imposed limits and enabled forms that have fallen into disuse. The project will examine the processes of change which gave rise to the particular dominant configurations of technologies for sound and image capture and processing, and some idea of the national and regional variants that existed. It will emphasise the capabilities of the machines in use rather than the process of their invention. The project therefore studies how the technologies of film and tape were implemented; how both broadcasters and individual filmers coped with the conflicting demands of the different machines at their disposal; how new ‘standard ways of doing things’ gradually emerged; and how all of this enabled desired changes in the resultant programmes. The project will produce an overall written account of the principal changes in the technologies in use in broadcast TV since 1960 to the near present. It will offer a theory of technological innovation, and a major case study in the adoption of digital workflow management in production for broadcasting: the so-called ‘tapeless environment’ which is currently being implemented in major organisations. It will offer two historical case studies: a longditudinal study of the evolution of tape-based sound recording and one of the rapid change from 16mm film cutting to digital editing, a process that took less than five years. Reconstructions of the process of working with particular technological arrays will be filmed and will be made available as explanatory material for any online archive of TV material ."
Summary
"Since 1960, the television industry has undergone successive waves of technological change. Both the methods of programme making and the programmes themselves have changed substantially. The current opening of TV’s vast archives to public and academic use has emphasised the need to explain old programming to new users. Why particular programmes are like they are is not obvious to the contemporary viewer: the prevailing technologies imposed limits and enabled forms that have fallen into disuse. The project will examine the processes of change which gave rise to the particular dominant configurations of technologies for sound and image capture and processing, and some idea of the national and regional variants that existed. It will emphasise the capabilities of the machines in use rather than the process of their invention. The project therefore studies how the technologies of film and tape were implemented; how both broadcasters and individual filmers coped with the conflicting demands of the different machines at their disposal; how new ‘standard ways of doing things’ gradually emerged; and how all of this enabled desired changes in the resultant programmes. The project will produce an overall written account of the principal changes in the technologies in use in broadcast TV since 1960 to the near present. It will offer a theory of technological innovation, and a major case study in the adoption of digital workflow management in production for broadcasting: the so-called ‘tapeless environment’ which is currently being implemented in major organisations. It will offer two historical case studies: a longditudinal study of the evolution of tape-based sound recording and one of the rapid change from 16mm film cutting to digital editing, a process that took less than five years. Reconstructions of the process of working with particular technological arrays will be filmed and will be made available as explanatory material for any online archive of TV material ."
Max ERC Funding
1 680 121 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-08-01, End date: 2018-07-31
Project acronym AgricUrb
Project The Agricultural Origins of Urban Civilization
Researcher (PI) Amy Marie Bogaard
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary The establishment of farming is a pivotal moment in human history, setting the stage for the emergence of class-based society and urbanization. Monolithic views of the nature and development of early agriculture, however, have prevented clear understanding of how exactly farming fuelled, shaped and sustained the emergence of complex societies. A breakthrough in archaeological approach is needed to determine the actual roles of farming in the emergence of social complexity. The methodology required must push beyond conventional interpretation of the most direct farming evidence – archaeobotanical remains of crops and associated arable weeds – to reconstruct not only what crops were grown, but also how, where and why farming was practised. Addressing these related aspects, in contexts ranging from early agricultural villages to some of the world’s earliest cities, would provide the key to unraveling the contribution of farming to the development of lasting social inequalities. The research proposed here takes a new interdisciplinary approach combining archaeobotany, plant stable isotope chemistry and functional plant ecology, building on groundwork laid in previous research by the applicant. These approaches will be applied to two relatively well researched areas, western Asia and Europe, where a series of sites that chart multiple pathways to early complex societies offer rich plant and other bioarchaeological assemblages. The proposed project will set a wholly new standard of insight into early farming and its relationship with early civilization, facilitating similar approaches in other parts of the world and the construction of comparative perspectives on the global significance of early agriculture in social development.
Summary
The establishment of farming is a pivotal moment in human history, setting the stage for the emergence of class-based society and urbanization. Monolithic views of the nature and development of early agriculture, however, have prevented clear understanding of how exactly farming fuelled, shaped and sustained the emergence of complex societies. A breakthrough in archaeological approach is needed to determine the actual roles of farming in the emergence of social complexity. The methodology required must push beyond conventional interpretation of the most direct farming evidence – archaeobotanical remains of crops and associated arable weeds – to reconstruct not only what crops were grown, but also how, where and why farming was practised. Addressing these related aspects, in contexts ranging from early agricultural villages to some of the world’s earliest cities, would provide the key to unraveling the contribution of farming to the development of lasting social inequalities. The research proposed here takes a new interdisciplinary approach combining archaeobotany, plant stable isotope chemistry and functional plant ecology, building on groundwork laid in previous research by the applicant. These approaches will be applied to two relatively well researched areas, western Asia and Europe, where a series of sites that chart multiple pathways to early complex societies offer rich plant and other bioarchaeological assemblages. The proposed project will set a wholly new standard of insight into early farming and its relationship with early civilization, facilitating similar approaches in other parts of the world and the construction of comparative perspectives on the global significance of early agriculture in social development.
Max ERC Funding
1 199 647 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2017-01-31
Project acronym AncNar
Project Experience and Teleology in Ancient Narrative
Researcher (PI) Jonas Grethlein
Host Institution (HI) RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary The last two decades have seen fascinating attempts to establish new narratologies, basing narratology on cognitive science or coupling it with other approaches such as postcolonial studies. While appreciating that these attempts have raised questions beyond the limits of structuralist narratology, critics have noted that by doing so they tend to abandon narratology’s strength, that is its analytical tools. In many cases, narratology has become a label that is as empty as it is fashionable. The project as outlined here, on the other hand, develops a new approach that combines the analytical arsenal of structuralist narratology with a phenomenological take on time in order to provide new answers as to the question of narrative’s function. By exploring the tension between experience and teleology in ancient literature, it sets out to demonstrate how narrative serves as a mode of coming to grips with time. Besides offering a new narratology that cross-fertilizes the strengths of different disciplines and pioneering a new approach to ancient literature, the project will steer the current debate on experience and presence into a new direction across disciplines in the humanities.
Summary
The last two decades have seen fascinating attempts to establish new narratologies, basing narratology on cognitive science or coupling it with other approaches such as postcolonial studies. While appreciating that these attempts have raised questions beyond the limits of structuralist narratology, critics have noted that by doing so they tend to abandon narratology’s strength, that is its analytical tools. In many cases, narratology has become a label that is as empty as it is fashionable. The project as outlined here, on the other hand, develops a new approach that combines the analytical arsenal of structuralist narratology with a phenomenological take on time in order to provide new answers as to the question of narrative’s function. By exploring the tension between experience and teleology in ancient literature, it sets out to demonstrate how narrative serves as a mode of coming to grips with time. Besides offering a new narratology that cross-fertilizes the strengths of different disciplines and pioneering a new approach to ancient literature, the project will steer the current debate on experience and presence into a new direction across disciplines in the humanities.
Max ERC Funding
1 383 840 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym ANGLE
Project Accelerated design and discovery of novel molecular materials via global lattice energy minimisation
Researcher (PI) Graeme Matthew Day
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE4, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary The goal of crystal engineering is the design of functional crystalline materials in which the arrangement of basic structural building blocks imparts desired properties. The engineering of organic molecular crystals has, to date, relied largely on empirical rules governing the intermolecular association of functional groups in the solid state. However, many materials properties depend intricately on the complete crystal structure, i.e. the unit cell, space group and atomic positions, which cannot be predicted solely using such rules. Therefore, the development of computational methods for crystal structure prediction (CSP) from first principles has been a goal of computational chemistry that could significantly accelerate the design of new materials. It is only recently that the necessary advances in the modelling of intermolecular interactions and developments in algorithms for identifying all relevant crystal structures have come together to provide predictive methods that are becoming reliable and affordable on a timescale that could usefully complement an experimental research programme. The principle aim of the proposed work is to establish the use of state-of-the-art crystal structure prediction methods as a means of guiding the discovery and design of novel molecular materials.
This research proposal both continues the development of the computational methods for CSP and, by developing a computational framework for screening of potential molecules, develops the application of these methods for materials design. The areas on which we will focus are organic molecular semiconductors with high charge carrier mobilities and, building on our recently published results in Nature [1], the development of porous organic molecular materials. The project will both deliver novel materials, as well as improvements in the reliability of computational methods that will find widespread applications in materials chemistry.
[1] Nature 2011, 474, 367-371.
Summary
The goal of crystal engineering is the design of functional crystalline materials in which the arrangement of basic structural building blocks imparts desired properties. The engineering of organic molecular crystals has, to date, relied largely on empirical rules governing the intermolecular association of functional groups in the solid state. However, many materials properties depend intricately on the complete crystal structure, i.e. the unit cell, space group and atomic positions, which cannot be predicted solely using such rules. Therefore, the development of computational methods for crystal structure prediction (CSP) from first principles has been a goal of computational chemistry that could significantly accelerate the design of new materials. It is only recently that the necessary advances in the modelling of intermolecular interactions and developments in algorithms for identifying all relevant crystal structures have come together to provide predictive methods that are becoming reliable and affordable on a timescale that could usefully complement an experimental research programme. The principle aim of the proposed work is to establish the use of state-of-the-art crystal structure prediction methods as a means of guiding the discovery and design of novel molecular materials.
This research proposal both continues the development of the computational methods for CSP and, by developing a computational framework for screening of potential molecules, develops the application of these methods for materials design. The areas on which we will focus are organic molecular semiconductors with high charge carrier mobilities and, building on our recently published results in Nature [1], the development of porous organic molecular materials. The project will both deliver novel materials, as well as improvements in the reliability of computational methods that will find widespread applications in materials chemistry.
[1] Nature 2011, 474, 367-371.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 906 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2017-09-30
Project acronym APMPAL
Project Asset Prices and Macro Policy when Agents Learn
Researcher (PI) Albert Marcet Torrens
Host Institution (HI) FUNDACIÓ MARKETS, ORGANIZATIONS AND VOTES IN ECONOMICS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH1, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary "A conventional assumption in dynamic models is that agents form their expectations in a very sophisticated manner. In particular, that they have Rational Expectations (RE). We develop some tools to relax this assumption while retaining fully optimal behaviour by agents. We study implications for asset pricing and macro policy.
We assume that agents have a consistent set of beliefs that is close, but not equal, to RE. Agents are ""Internally Rational"", that is, they behave rationally given their system of beliefs. Thus, it is conceptually a small deviation from RE. It provides microfoundations for models of adaptive learning, since the learning algorithm is determined by agents’ optimal behaviour. In previous work we have shown that this framework can match stock price and housing price fluctuations, and that policy implications are quite different.
In this project we intend to: i) develop further the foundations of internally rational (IR) learning, ii) apply this to explain observed asset price price behavior, such as stock prices, bond prices, inflation, commodity derivatives, and exchange rates, iii) extend the IR framework to the case when agents entertain various models, iv) optimal policy under IR learning and under private information when some hidden shocks are not revealed ex-post. Along the way we will address policy issues such as: effects of creating derivative markets, sovereign spread as a signal of sovereign default risk, tests of fiscal sustainability, fiscal policy when agents learn, monetary policy (more specifically, QE measures and interest rate policy), and the role of credibility in macro policy."
Summary
"A conventional assumption in dynamic models is that agents form their expectations in a very sophisticated manner. In particular, that they have Rational Expectations (RE). We develop some tools to relax this assumption while retaining fully optimal behaviour by agents. We study implications for asset pricing and macro policy.
We assume that agents have a consistent set of beliefs that is close, but not equal, to RE. Agents are ""Internally Rational"", that is, they behave rationally given their system of beliefs. Thus, it is conceptually a small deviation from RE. It provides microfoundations for models of adaptive learning, since the learning algorithm is determined by agents’ optimal behaviour. In previous work we have shown that this framework can match stock price and housing price fluctuations, and that policy implications are quite different.
In this project we intend to: i) develop further the foundations of internally rational (IR) learning, ii) apply this to explain observed asset price price behavior, such as stock prices, bond prices, inflation, commodity derivatives, and exchange rates, iii) extend the IR framework to the case when agents entertain various models, iv) optimal policy under IR learning and under private information when some hidden shocks are not revealed ex-post. Along the way we will address policy issues such as: effects of creating derivative markets, sovereign spread as a signal of sovereign default risk, tests of fiscal sustainability, fiscal policy when agents learn, monetary policy (more specifically, QE measures and interest rate policy), and the role of credibility in macro policy."
Max ERC Funding
1 970 260 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-08-31
Project acronym ARCHOFCON
Project The Architecture of Consciousness
Researcher (PI) Timothy John Bayne
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary The nature of consciousness is one of the great unsolved mysteries of science. Although the global research effort dedicated to explaining how consciousness arises from neural and cognitive activity is now more than two decades old, as yet there is no widely accepted theory of consciousness. One reason for why no adequate theory of consciousness has yet been found is that there is a lack of clarity about what exactly a theory of consciousness needs to explain. What is needed is thus a model of the general features of consciousness — a model of the ‘architecture’ of consciousness — that will systematize the structural differences between conscious states, processes and creatures on the one hand and unconscious states, processes and creatures on the other. The aim of this project is to remove one of the central impediments to the progress of the science of consciousness by constructing such a model.
A great many of the data required for this task already exist, but these data concern different aspects of consciousness and are distributed across many disciplines. As a result, there have been few attempts to develop a truly comprehensive model of the architecture of consciousness. This project will overcome the limitations of previous work by drawing on research in philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive neuroscience to develop a model of the architecture of consciousness that is structured around five of its core features: its subjectivity, its temporality, its unity, its selectivity, and its dimensionality (that is, the relationship between the levels of consciousness and the contents of consciousness). By providing a comprehensive characterization of what a theory of consciousness needs to explain, this project will provide a crucial piece of the puzzle of consciousness, enabling future generations of researchers to bridge the gap between raw data on the one hand and a full-blown theory of consciousness on the other
Summary
The nature of consciousness is one of the great unsolved mysteries of science. Although the global research effort dedicated to explaining how consciousness arises from neural and cognitive activity is now more than two decades old, as yet there is no widely accepted theory of consciousness. One reason for why no adequate theory of consciousness has yet been found is that there is a lack of clarity about what exactly a theory of consciousness needs to explain. What is needed is thus a model of the general features of consciousness — a model of the ‘architecture’ of consciousness — that will systematize the structural differences between conscious states, processes and creatures on the one hand and unconscious states, processes and creatures on the other. The aim of this project is to remove one of the central impediments to the progress of the science of consciousness by constructing such a model.
A great many of the data required for this task already exist, but these data concern different aspects of consciousness and are distributed across many disciplines. As a result, there have been few attempts to develop a truly comprehensive model of the architecture of consciousness. This project will overcome the limitations of previous work by drawing on research in philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive neuroscience to develop a model of the architecture of consciousness that is structured around five of its core features: its subjectivity, its temporality, its unity, its selectivity, and its dimensionality (that is, the relationship between the levels of consciousness and the contents of consciousness). By providing a comprehensive characterization of what a theory of consciousness needs to explain, this project will provide a crucial piece of the puzzle of consciousness, enabling future generations of researchers to bridge the gap between raw data on the one hand and a full-blown theory of consciousness on the other
Max ERC Funding
1 477 483 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym ARSEM
Project LANGUAGE–PHILOLOGY–CULTURE: Arab Cultural Semantics in Transition
Researcher (PI) Kirill Dmitriev
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary This project aims to study:
• the semantic development of the vocabulary of the Arabic language,
• philological discourses on the semantic changes in the language in the classical Arabic philological tradition (8th-10th centuries A.D.), and
• the impact of Arabic philology in the wider historical and cultural context of the Judaeo-Arab neo-classical heritage (12th-13th centuries A.D.) and Christian-Arab intellectual history on the eve of modernity (19th century A.D.).
The project will explore the universal cultural significance and the pivotal role of language consciousness in the history of Arab culture. It will introduce a new dimension into the existing research on the Arabic language and Arabic philology, which until now have been studied without any comprehensive cultural and social contextualisation. The project will focus on the process of the transmission of Arabic poetry, which provides detailed evidence of the development of Arabic philological thought and its universal significance for the theological, philosophical, historical and linguistic discourses of Arab intellectual history. This project will document the transmission of early Arabic poetry and analyse its vocabulary in a systematic way for the first time. For this purpose it will create an Analytical Database of Arabic Poetry. This publicly accessible database will represent a ground-breaking contribution to European research on the Arabic language and the Arabic philological heritage, which so far lacks even such fundamental tools as an etymological dictionary of the Arabic language or a complete dictionary of Classical Arabic. The database will implement comprehensive analytical tools and will serve as a reference work for wider research on Arabic literature, history and culture. Thus, the project will create an integrative research platform for the history and semantics of the Arabic language—a subject indispensable for understanding the foundations of Arab culture past and present.
Summary
This project aims to study:
• the semantic development of the vocabulary of the Arabic language,
• philological discourses on the semantic changes in the language in the classical Arabic philological tradition (8th-10th centuries A.D.), and
• the impact of Arabic philology in the wider historical and cultural context of the Judaeo-Arab neo-classical heritage (12th-13th centuries A.D.) and Christian-Arab intellectual history on the eve of modernity (19th century A.D.).
The project will explore the universal cultural significance and the pivotal role of language consciousness in the history of Arab culture. It will introduce a new dimension into the existing research on the Arabic language and Arabic philology, which until now have been studied without any comprehensive cultural and social contextualisation. The project will focus on the process of the transmission of Arabic poetry, which provides detailed evidence of the development of Arabic philological thought and its universal significance for the theological, philosophical, historical and linguistic discourses of Arab intellectual history. This project will document the transmission of early Arabic poetry and analyse its vocabulary in a systematic way for the first time. For this purpose it will create an Analytical Database of Arabic Poetry. This publicly accessible database will represent a ground-breaking contribution to European research on the Arabic language and the Arabic philological heritage, which so far lacks even such fundamental tools as an etymological dictionary of the Arabic language or a complete dictionary of Classical Arabic. The database will implement comprehensive analytical tools and will serve as a reference work for wider research on Arabic literature, history and culture. Thus, the project will create an integrative research platform for the history and semantics of the Arabic language—a subject indispensable for understanding the foundations of Arab culture past and present.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 507 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym ASES
Project "Advancing computational chemistry with new accurate, robust and scalable electronic structure methods"
Researcher (PI) Hans-Joachim Werner
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE4, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "The objective of this proposal is to tackle two of the greatest challenges in quantum chemistry: (i) extending the applicability of highly accurate wave function methods to large molecular systems, and (ii) developing accurate and robust multi-reference methods that can be used for studying important but very difficult problems in transition metal chemistry, catalysis, and photochemistry. Solutions to these problems have now come within reach due to three advances we recently reported: first, the steep scaling of the computational cost with molecular size can be reduced to linear by exploiting the short-range character of electron correlation (local correlation methods). Second, the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of these local correlation methods can be strongly improved by new tensor decomposition approaches and the inclusion of terms depending explicitly on the inter-electronic distances (F12 methods). Third, the development of highly complex electronic structure theories can be greatly facilitated and accelerated by new automated tensor network evaluation techniques. We are certain that by combining and generalizing these advances the long-standing problems (i) and (ii) can be solved. We will focus especially on highly scalable algorithms in order to use massively parallel computer systems efficiently. For linear-scaling methods this means that the size of the molecules that can be treated in a fixed time will grow linearly with the number of available processors. We will furthermore explore new multi-reference ansätze and implement analytical energy gradients and response properties for local methods. Hybrid and embedding methods to account for solvent and environment effects will also be investigated. It is our priority to make our new methods as easy to use, robust, and widely applicable as possible. We believe that they will open entirely new horizons for innumerable applications in chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science."
Summary
"The objective of this proposal is to tackle two of the greatest challenges in quantum chemistry: (i) extending the applicability of highly accurate wave function methods to large molecular systems, and (ii) developing accurate and robust multi-reference methods that can be used for studying important but very difficult problems in transition metal chemistry, catalysis, and photochemistry. Solutions to these problems have now come within reach due to three advances we recently reported: first, the steep scaling of the computational cost with molecular size can be reduced to linear by exploiting the short-range character of electron correlation (local correlation methods). Second, the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of these local correlation methods can be strongly improved by new tensor decomposition approaches and the inclusion of terms depending explicitly on the inter-electronic distances (F12 methods). Third, the development of highly complex electronic structure theories can be greatly facilitated and accelerated by new automated tensor network evaluation techniques. We are certain that by combining and generalizing these advances the long-standing problems (i) and (ii) can be solved. We will focus especially on highly scalable algorithms in order to use massively parallel computer systems efficiently. For linear-scaling methods this means that the size of the molecules that can be treated in a fixed time will grow linearly with the number of available processors. We will furthermore explore new multi-reference ansätze and implement analytical energy gradients and response properties for local methods. Hybrid and embedding methods to account for solvent and environment effects will also be investigated. It is our priority to make our new methods as easy to use, robust, and widely applicable as possible. We believe that they will open entirely new horizons for innumerable applications in chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science."
Max ERC Funding
2 454 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
