Project acronym CHESS
Project Challenges in Extraction and Separation of Sources
Researcher (PI) Christian Patrice Jutten
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE GRENOBLE ALPES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary Separation/extraction of sources are wide concepts in information sciences, since sensors provide information mixing and an essential step consists in separating or extracting useful information from unuseful one, called noise. In this project, we consider three challenges.
The first one is the multimodality. Indeed, with the multiplication of kinds of sensors, in many areas like biomedical signal processing, hyperspectral imaging, etc. there are many ways for recording the same physical phenomenon leading thus to multimodal data. Multimodality has been studied in the framework of human-computer interface or in data fusion, but never at the signal level. The objective is to provide a general framework for modeling classical multimodal properties, like complementarity, redundancy, equivalence, etc. as of function of source signals.
The second challenge is nonlinearity. Indeed, there exist a few cases where the mixtures are essentially nonlinear, e.g. with chemical sensors. The main objective is to enlarge results on identifiability conditions for new classes of nonlinearities and priors on sources.
The third challenge is the data size. For high-dimension data (e.g. EEG or MRI in brain imaging), separating all the sources is neither tractable nor relevant, since one would like to only extract the useful sources. Conversely, for a small number of sensors, especially smaller than the number of sources, it is again necessary to only focus on the useful signals. The main objective is to develop generic approaches able to only extract useful signals, based on simple reference signal, modeling weak properties of the useful signal.
Finally, validation and relevant modeling must be based on actual signals and problems. In this project, theoretical results and algorithms will be developed in interaction with applications in biomedical engineering (brain-computer interface, EEG, fMRI), chemical engineering, audio-visual scene analysis and hyperspectral imaging.
Summary
Separation/extraction of sources are wide concepts in information sciences, since sensors provide information mixing and an essential step consists in separating or extracting useful information from unuseful one, called noise. In this project, we consider three challenges.
The first one is the multimodality. Indeed, with the multiplication of kinds of sensors, in many areas like biomedical signal processing, hyperspectral imaging, etc. there are many ways for recording the same physical phenomenon leading thus to multimodal data. Multimodality has been studied in the framework of human-computer interface or in data fusion, but never at the signal level. The objective is to provide a general framework for modeling classical multimodal properties, like complementarity, redundancy, equivalence, etc. as of function of source signals.
The second challenge is nonlinearity. Indeed, there exist a few cases where the mixtures are essentially nonlinear, e.g. with chemical sensors. The main objective is to enlarge results on identifiability conditions for new classes of nonlinearities and priors on sources.
The third challenge is the data size. For high-dimension data (e.g. EEG or MRI in brain imaging), separating all the sources is neither tractable nor relevant, since one would like to only extract the useful sources. Conversely, for a small number of sensors, especially smaller than the number of sources, it is again necessary to only focus on the useful signals. The main objective is to develop generic approaches able to only extract useful signals, based on simple reference signal, modeling weak properties of the useful signal.
Finally, validation and relevant modeling must be based on actual signals and problems. In this project, theoretical results and algorithms will be developed in interaction with applications in biomedical engineering (brain-computer interface, EEG, fMRI), chemical engineering, audio-visual scene analysis and hyperspectral imaging.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 390 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym COGNITION
Project Cognition and Decision-Making: Laws, Norms and Contracts
Researcher (PI) Jean Tirole
Host Institution (HI) FONDATION JEAN-JACQUES LAFFONT,TOULOUSE SCIENCES ECONOMIQUES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH1, ERC-2009-AdG
Summary The application's unifying theme is cognition. Any decision reflects the information that comes to the decision-maker's awareness at the moment of making the decision. In turn, this information is the stochastic outcome of a sequence of more or less conscious choices and of awareness manipulation by third parties. The three parts of this application all are concerned with two factors of limited awareness (cognitive costs and motivated beliefs) and with the application of imperfect cognition to economics. The various projects can be subsumed into three themes, each with different subprojects: 1. Self-serving beliefs, laws, norms and taboos (expressive function of the law, taboos, dignity and contracts). 2. Cognition, markets, and contracts (mechanism design under costly cognition, directing attention in markets and politics). 3. Cognition and individual decision-making (foundations of some non-standard preferences). The methodology for this research will be that of formal economic modeling and welfare analysis, enriched with important insights from psychology and sociology. It will also include experimental (laboratory) investigations. The output will first take the form of a series of articles in economics journals, as well as, for the research described in Part 1, a book to disseminate the research to broader, multidisciplinary and non-specialized audiences.
Summary
The application's unifying theme is cognition. Any decision reflects the information that comes to the decision-maker's awareness at the moment of making the decision. In turn, this information is the stochastic outcome of a sequence of more or less conscious choices and of awareness manipulation by third parties. The three parts of this application all are concerned with two factors of limited awareness (cognitive costs and motivated beliefs) and with the application of imperfect cognition to economics. The various projects can be subsumed into three themes, each with different subprojects: 1. Self-serving beliefs, laws, norms and taboos (expressive function of the law, taboos, dignity and contracts). 2. Cognition, markets, and contracts (mechanism design under costly cognition, directing attention in markets and politics). 3. Cognition and individual decision-making (foundations of some non-standard preferences). The methodology for this research will be that of formal economic modeling and welfare analysis, enriched with important insights from psychology and sociology. It will also include experimental (laboratory) investigations. The output will first take the form of a series of articles in economics journals, as well as, for the research described in Part 1, a book to disseminate the research to broader, multidisciplinary and non-specialized audiences.
Max ERC Funding
1 910 400 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
Project acronym DECODA
Project Tensor Decomposition for Data Analysis with Applications to Health and Environment
Researcher (PI) Pierre Comon
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "Multi-Way factor Analysis (MWA) is attracting growing interest in many disciplines of engineering, as described in this proposal. Because the applications are much more numerous than those that serve as focus for this project, the tools developed in the framework of the project will have major impact. MWA is probably the simplest extension of the well-known (linear) Factor Analysis. However, despite its extremely wide panel of applications and its apparently simple expression, it still, surprisingly, lacks theoretical background. The reason is that this identification problem disguises challenges of unexpected magnitude. In fact, several tensor problems still remain open for several decades, and the difficulties should not be overlooked. Yet, the lack of identifiability results (existence, uniqueness) prevents the design of efficient numerical algorithms.
The first objective is to address these theoretical problems and develop appropriate identification algorithms. Multilinear models underlying MWA are shown to be closely related to tensor algebra and multivariate polynomials, so that tools can be borrowed from Algebraic Geometry, with the goal of developing theoretical solutions and numerical algorithms. The second objective is to apply these solutions to practical problems in various realms of application. In particular, it centers on creating modified models, better matched to analysis of health (e.g., EEG) or environmental data (e.g., water resources, microbial ecosystems), to analyzing their identifiability, and to developing corresponding identification algorithms. The final goal is to design a device able to detect and track suspect or toxic molecules in river or tap waters.
This very challenging research proposal is positioned in close collaboration with specialists in the above-mentioned application fields, and is at the core of European population health."
Summary
"Multi-Way factor Analysis (MWA) is attracting growing interest in many disciplines of engineering, as described in this proposal. Because the applications are much more numerous than those that serve as focus for this project, the tools developed in the framework of the project will have major impact. MWA is probably the simplest extension of the well-known (linear) Factor Analysis. However, despite its extremely wide panel of applications and its apparently simple expression, it still, surprisingly, lacks theoretical background. The reason is that this identification problem disguises challenges of unexpected magnitude. In fact, several tensor problems still remain open for several decades, and the difficulties should not be overlooked. Yet, the lack of identifiability results (existence, uniqueness) prevents the design of efficient numerical algorithms.
The first objective is to address these theoretical problems and develop appropriate identification algorithms. Multilinear models underlying MWA are shown to be closely related to tensor algebra and multivariate polynomials, so that tools can be borrowed from Algebraic Geometry, with the goal of developing theoretical solutions and numerical algorithms. The second objective is to apply these solutions to practical problems in various realms of application. In particular, it centers on creating modified models, better matched to analysis of health (e.g., EEG) or environmental data (e.g., water resources, microbial ecosystems), to analyzing their identifiability, and to developing corresponding identification algorithms. The final goal is to design a device able to detect and track suspect or toxic molecules in river or tap waters.
This very challenging research proposal is positioned in close collaboration with specialists in the above-mentioned application fields, and is at the core of European population health."
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-09-01, End date: 2018-08-31
Project acronym DELPHINS
Project DESIGN AND ELABORATION OFMULTI-PHYSICS INTEGRATED NANOSYSTEMS
Researcher (PI) Thomas Ernst
Host Institution (HI) COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The innovation of DELPHINS application will consist in building a generic multi-sensor design platform for embedded multi-gas-analysis-on-chip, based on a global modelling from the individual NEMS sensors to a global multiphysics NEMS-CMOS VLSI (Very large Scale Integration) system. The latter constitute a new research field with many potential applications such as in medicine (specific diseases recognition) but also in security (toxic and complex air pollutions), in industry (perfumes, agribusiness) and environment control. As an example, several studies in the last 10 years have demonstrated that some specific combination of biomarkers in breath above a given threshold could indicate early stage of diseases. More generally, patterns of breathing gas could constitute a virtual fingerprint of specific pathologies. NEMS (Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems) based sensor is one of the most promising technologies to get the required resolutions and sensitivities for few molecules detection. We will focus on the analytical module of the system (sensing part + embedded electronics processing) that will include ultra-dense (more than thousands) NEMS arrays with state-of the art CMOS transistors. We will obtain integrated nano-oscillators individually addressed within an innovative architecture inspired from memory and imaging technologies. Few molecules sensitivity will be achieved thanks to suspended resonant nanowires co-integrated locally with their closed-loop and reading electronics. This would make possible the analysis of complex gases within an integrated portable system, which does not exist yet.
Summary
The innovation of DELPHINS application will consist in building a generic multi-sensor design platform for embedded multi-gas-analysis-on-chip, based on a global modelling from the individual NEMS sensors to a global multiphysics NEMS-CMOS VLSI (Very large Scale Integration) system. The latter constitute a new research field with many potential applications such as in medicine (specific diseases recognition) but also in security (toxic and complex air pollutions), in industry (perfumes, agribusiness) and environment control. As an example, several studies in the last 10 years have demonstrated that some specific combination of biomarkers in breath above a given threshold could indicate early stage of diseases. More generally, patterns of breathing gas could constitute a virtual fingerprint of specific pathologies. NEMS (Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems) based sensor is one of the most promising technologies to get the required resolutions and sensitivities for few molecules detection. We will focus on the analytical module of the system (sensing part + embedded electronics processing) that will include ultra-dense (more than thousands) NEMS arrays with state-of the art CMOS transistors. We will obtain integrated nano-oscillators individually addressed within an innovative architecture inspired from memory and imaging technologies. Few molecules sensitivity will be achieved thanks to suspended resonant nanowires co-integrated locally with their closed-loop and reading electronics. This would make possible the analysis of complex gases within an integrated portable system, which does not exist yet.
Max ERC Funding
1 723 206 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-11-01, End date: 2014-10-31
Project acronym ECOMATCH
Project Economics of Matching Markets: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations
Researcher (PI) Alfred Galichon
Host Institution (HI) FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary This project offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of matching markets. Matching is, broadly speaking, the study of complementarities, which explains the formation of coalitions. Matching models are found in many applied fields within Economics: Labour Economics, Family Economics, Consumer theory of differentiated goods (hedonic models), Trade, etc. Desirable properties of these coalitions, such as stability, lead to testable implications of the surplus that individuals generate in a match, allowing for structural estimation of matching models.
The goal of this proposal is to expand the frontiers of the theory of matching to design a very general and highly flexible model of matching that will lend itself to estimation and thus lead to empirical findings in various fields of Economics. Based on promising work initiated by the PI, this proposal seeks to bridge the gap between the theory and the empirics of matching markets that was traditionally observed in this literature.
Particular focus will be given to situations where stable outcomes may not exist (such as unipartite, or one-to-many matching models), frictions, taxes. In these cases, a thorough investigation is carried on what solution concept should be used, and what are the testable implications.
Applications will be given to various empirical issues or policy relevant questions such as:
- The nature of the complementarities between senior and junior employees within teams,
- The role played by the marriage market in the problem of rural depletion in China,
- The impact of CEO risk aversion on assignment to firms, and on the CEO compensation package,
- The pricing of attributes of French wines.
Summary
This project offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of matching markets. Matching is, broadly speaking, the study of complementarities, which explains the formation of coalitions. Matching models are found in many applied fields within Economics: Labour Economics, Family Economics, Consumer theory of differentiated goods (hedonic models), Trade, etc. Desirable properties of these coalitions, such as stability, lead to testable implications of the surplus that individuals generate in a match, allowing for structural estimation of matching models.
The goal of this proposal is to expand the frontiers of the theory of matching to design a very general and highly flexible model of matching that will lend itself to estimation and thus lead to empirical findings in various fields of Economics. Based on promising work initiated by the PI, this proposal seeks to bridge the gap between the theory and the empirics of matching markets that was traditionally observed in this literature.
Particular focus will be given to situations where stable outcomes may not exist (such as unipartite, or one-to-many matching models), frictions, taxes. In these cases, a thorough investigation is carried on what solution concept should be used, and what are the testable implications.
Applications will be given to various empirical issues or policy relevant questions such as:
- The nature of the complementarities between senior and junior employees within teams,
- The role played by the marriage market in the problem of rural depletion in China,
- The impact of CEO risk aversion on assignment to firms, and on the CEO compensation package,
- The pricing of attributes of French wines.
Max ERC Funding
1 119 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2018-09-30
Project acronym eps
Project Epistemic protocol synthesis
Researcher (PI) Hans Pieter Van Ditmarsch
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Given my current state of knowledge, and a desirable state of knowledge, how do I get from one to the other? It is possible in principle to reach the desirable state of knowledge, i.e., does it make sense at all to start trying to obtain the desirable state? If I know it is impossible to obtain, there is no use trying. But even if I know that it is possible in principle, is there a way to approach the desirable state in steps or phases, i.e., can I iteratively construct an epistemic protocol to achieve the desirable state? And can this be done with some or with full assurance that I am getting closer to the goal? Such problems become more complex if they involve more agents. The knowledge states of agents may be in terms of knowledge properties of other agents. Such assumed knowledge properties may be incorrect, or the agents may act at unpredictable or unknown moments, or with delayed or faulty communication channels, as typically in asynchronous systems.
The focus of much research in dynamic epistemic logic, and more generally in epistemic and temporal modal logics, is analysis: given a well-specified input epistemic state, and some well-specified dynamic process, compute the output epistemic state. In this proposal we focus on synthesis: given a well-specified input epistemic state, and desirable output (typically less well specified), find the process transforming the input into the output. The process found is the epistemic protocol. We will be aided by recent advances in logics for propositional quantification. Areas of specific interest are protocols for secure communication, protocol languages, and agency.
Our project goal is epistemic protocol synthesis for synchronous and asynchronous multi-agent systems, by way of using and developing dynamic epistemic logics.
Summary
Given my current state of knowledge, and a desirable state of knowledge, how do I get from one to the other? It is possible in principle to reach the desirable state of knowledge, i.e., does it make sense at all to start trying to obtain the desirable state? If I know it is impossible to obtain, there is no use trying. But even if I know that it is possible in principle, is there a way to approach the desirable state in steps or phases, i.e., can I iteratively construct an epistemic protocol to achieve the desirable state? And can this be done with some or with full assurance that I am getting closer to the goal? Such problems become more complex if they involve more agents. The knowledge states of agents may be in terms of knowledge properties of other agents. Such assumed knowledge properties may be incorrect, or the agents may act at unpredictable or unknown moments, or with delayed or faulty communication channels, as typically in asynchronous systems.
The focus of much research in dynamic epistemic logic, and more generally in epistemic and temporal modal logics, is analysis: given a well-specified input epistemic state, and some well-specified dynamic process, compute the output epistemic state. In this proposal we focus on synthesis: given a well-specified input epistemic state, and desirable output (typically less well specified), find the process transforming the input into the output. The process found is the epistemic protocol. We will be aided by recent advances in logics for propositional quantification. Areas of specific interest are protocols for secure communication, protocol languages, and agency.
Our project goal is epistemic protocol synthesis for synchronous and asynchronous multi-agent systems, by way of using and developing dynamic epistemic logics.
Max ERC Funding
951 400 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym FEEL
Project "A new approach to understanding consciousness: how ""feel"" arises in humans and (possibly) robots."
Researcher (PI) John Kevin O'regan
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE PARIS DESCARTES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary "Philosophers divide the problem of consciousness into two parts: An “easy” part, which involves explaining how one can become aware of something in the sense of being able to make use of it in one's rational behavior. And a “hard” part, which involves explaining why certain types of brain activity should actually give rise to feels: for example the feel of ""red"" or of ""onion flavor"". The ""hard"" part is considered hard because there seems logically no way physical mechanisms in the brain could generate such experiences.
The sensorimotor theory (O’Regan, 2011) has an answer to the ""hard"" problem. The idea is that feel is a way of interacting with the environment. The laws describing such interactions, called sensorimotor contingencies, determine the quality of how a feel is experienced. For example, they determine whether someone experiences a feel as being real or imagined, as being visual or tactile, and how a feel compares to other feels. The sensorimotor theory provides a unifying framework for an understanding of consciousness, but it needs a firmer conceptual and mathematical basis and additional scientific testing.
To do this, a first, theoretical goal of the FEEL project is to provide a mathematical basis for the concept of sensorimotor contingency, and to clarify and consolidate its conceptual foundations.
A second goal is to empirically test scientific implications of the theory in specific, promising areas: namely, color psychophysics, sensory substitution, child development and developmental robotics.
The expected outcome is a fully-fledged theory of feel, from elementary feels like ""red"" to more abstract feels like the feel of sensory modalities, the notions of body and object. Applications are anticipated in color science, the design of sensory prostheses, improving the ""presence"" of virtual reality and gaming, and in understanding how infants and possibly robots come to have sensory experiences."
Summary
"Philosophers divide the problem of consciousness into two parts: An “easy” part, which involves explaining how one can become aware of something in the sense of being able to make use of it in one's rational behavior. And a “hard” part, which involves explaining why certain types of brain activity should actually give rise to feels: for example the feel of ""red"" or of ""onion flavor"". The ""hard"" part is considered hard because there seems logically no way physical mechanisms in the brain could generate such experiences.
The sensorimotor theory (O’Regan, 2011) has an answer to the ""hard"" problem. The idea is that feel is a way of interacting with the environment. The laws describing such interactions, called sensorimotor contingencies, determine the quality of how a feel is experienced. For example, they determine whether someone experiences a feel as being real or imagined, as being visual or tactile, and how a feel compares to other feels. The sensorimotor theory provides a unifying framework for an understanding of consciousness, but it needs a firmer conceptual and mathematical basis and additional scientific testing.
To do this, a first, theoretical goal of the FEEL project is to provide a mathematical basis for the concept of sensorimotor contingency, and to clarify and consolidate its conceptual foundations.
A second goal is to empirically test scientific implications of the theory in specific, promising areas: namely, color psychophysics, sensory substitution, child development and developmental robotics.
The expected outcome is a fully-fledged theory of feel, from elementary feels like ""red"" to more abstract feels like the feel of sensory modalities, the notions of body and object. Applications are anticipated in color science, the design of sensory prostheses, improving the ""presence"" of virtual reality and gaming, and in understanding how infants and possibly robots come to have sensory experiences."
Max ERC Funding
2 498 340 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym FOUNDLAW
Project Reinventing the Foundations
of European Legal Culture 1934-1964
Researcher (PI) Kaius Tapani Tuori
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary It is often claimed in the rights and culture debate that certain rights are a reflection of a European culture and tradition and thus not universal. What this study demonstrates is that even in Europe the rights tradition is a conscious construction by a group of legal scholars reacting to contemporary events.
This study is about a group of innovators who are forced to reinvent themselves and their science abroad after being exiled by Nazi Germany. This reinvention meant that they had to first rethink all that they had previously done and then to address a new audience in a new language, simultaneously trying to make sense of the catastrophe. In response, they created a theory a common European legal culture, founded on ideals of the rule of law. A reaction to the nationalistic totalitarian regimes, they sought to show a great tradition based on liberty and justice.
What this study offers is a twist, in that the reinvention had a second, even more influential life after the war. What the anti-totalitarian narrative formed by the exiles offered to the academic community was an explanation and a new self-understanding of law and legal science as a bulwark against dictatorship, enabling them to respond to the challenge of socialism.
Combining archival research, bibliometrical studies and social analysis, the project will study the creation of the rights theory through the intellectual histories of five key figures. Studying correspondence, lecture notes, and published materials on how the idea of a common European legal past was formulated, discussed and disseminated, the project contests the claims of current research that the rights tradition was an accepted historical fact. The starting point of the study, 1934, is the first response to the Nazi takeover and the expelling of civil servants of Jewish ancestry, while the end point, 1964, includes the reaction to the Berlin Wall and the consolidation of the hostilities between East and West in Europe.
Summary
It is often claimed in the rights and culture debate that certain rights are a reflection of a European culture and tradition and thus not universal. What this study demonstrates is that even in Europe the rights tradition is a conscious construction by a group of legal scholars reacting to contemporary events.
This study is about a group of innovators who are forced to reinvent themselves and their science abroad after being exiled by Nazi Germany. This reinvention meant that they had to first rethink all that they had previously done and then to address a new audience in a new language, simultaneously trying to make sense of the catastrophe. In response, they created a theory a common European legal culture, founded on ideals of the rule of law. A reaction to the nationalistic totalitarian regimes, they sought to show a great tradition based on liberty and justice.
What this study offers is a twist, in that the reinvention had a second, even more influential life after the war. What the anti-totalitarian narrative formed by the exiles offered to the academic community was an explanation and a new self-understanding of law and legal science as a bulwark against dictatorship, enabling them to respond to the challenge of socialism.
Combining archival research, bibliometrical studies and social analysis, the project will study the creation of the rights theory through the intellectual histories of five key figures. Studying correspondence, lecture notes, and published materials on how the idea of a common European legal past was formulated, discussed and disseminated, the project contests the claims of current research that the rights tradition was an accepted historical fact. The starting point of the study, 1934, is the first response to the Nazi takeover and the expelling of civil servants of Jewish ancestry, while the end point, 1964, includes the reaction to the Berlin Wall and the consolidation of the hostilities between East and West in Europe.
Max ERC Funding
1 476 429 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym FRONTSEM
Project New Frontiers of Formal Semantics
Researcher (PI) Philippe David Schlenker
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary "Despite considerable successes in the last 40 years, formal semantics has not quite established itself as a field of great relevance to the broader enterprise of cognitive and social science. Besides the unavoidable technicality of formal semantic theories, there might be two substantive reasons. First, the lingua franca of cognitive science is the issue of the modular decomposition of the mind – but formal semantics has partly moved away from it: the sophisticated logical models of meaning in current use typically lump together all aspects of meaning in a big 'semantics-cum-pragmatics'. Second, formal semantics has remained somewhat parochial: it almost never crosses the frontiers of spoken language - despite the fact that questions of obvious interest arise in sign language; and it rarely addresses the relation between linguistic meaning and other cognitive systems, be it in humans or in related species. While strictly adhering to the formal methodology of contemporary semantics, we will seek to expand the frontiers of the field, with one leading question: what is the modular organization of meaning?
(i) First, we will help establish a new subfield of sign language formal semantics, with an initial focus on anaphora; we will ask whether the interaction between an abstract anaphoric module and the special geometric properties of sign language can account for the similarities and differences between sign and spoken language pronouns.
(ii) Second, we will revisit issues of modular decomposition between semantics and pragmatics by trying to disentangle modules that have been lumped together in recent semantic theorizing, in particular in the domains of presupposition, anaphora and conventional implicatures.
(iii) Third, we will ask whether some semantic modules might have analogues in other cognitive systems by investigating (a) possible precursors of semantics in primate vocalizations, and (b) possible applications of focus in music."
Summary
"Despite considerable successes in the last 40 years, formal semantics has not quite established itself as a field of great relevance to the broader enterprise of cognitive and social science. Besides the unavoidable technicality of formal semantic theories, there might be two substantive reasons. First, the lingua franca of cognitive science is the issue of the modular decomposition of the mind – but formal semantics has partly moved away from it: the sophisticated logical models of meaning in current use typically lump together all aspects of meaning in a big 'semantics-cum-pragmatics'. Second, formal semantics has remained somewhat parochial: it almost never crosses the frontiers of spoken language - despite the fact that questions of obvious interest arise in sign language; and it rarely addresses the relation between linguistic meaning and other cognitive systems, be it in humans or in related species. While strictly adhering to the formal methodology of contemporary semantics, we will seek to expand the frontiers of the field, with one leading question: what is the modular organization of meaning?
(i) First, we will help establish a new subfield of sign language formal semantics, with an initial focus on anaphora; we will ask whether the interaction between an abstract anaphoric module and the special geometric properties of sign language can account for the similarities and differences between sign and spoken language pronouns.
(ii) Second, we will revisit issues of modular decomposition between semantics and pragmatics by trying to disentangle modules that have been lumped together in recent semantic theorizing, in particular in the domains of presupposition, anaphora and conventional implicatures.
(iii) Third, we will ask whether some semantic modules might have analogues in other cognitive systems by investigating (a) possible precursors of semantics in primate vocalizations, and (b) possible applications of focus in music."
Max ERC Funding
2 490 488 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
Project acronym GEM
Project Gain-endowed metallic meta-structures and devices:
towards a unification of photonics and electronics
Researcher (PI) Raffaele Colombelli
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary This research project aims at building a common framework for photonic and meta-material /electronic devices. As specific examples, we will focus on making key advances for THz and mid-infrared emitters and detectors. Our goal is to demonstrate device functionalities which cannot be achieved within the current scientific/technological framework.
We will implement these concepts on quantum cascade lasers, a family of devices whose potential has seen an explosion in the last few years. They cover the THz (1-10THz) and mid-infrared (10-100THz) ranges of the spectrum, of great importance for medical and environmental applications, and security screening. Their spectral location - between near-infrared and microwaves - makes them ideal candidates to profit from both worlds.
We will first address a fundamental physical issue, then we’ll turn to device applications. While optical resonators are constrained to a minimum dimension set by the wavelength, a peculiar signature of an electronic oscillator is its independence from it. Our first goal is the demonstration of an optical oscillator/laser with the functionalities of an electronic oscillator, i.e. with fundamentally no lower size limit in the three dimensions of space. It will behave as a point-source of radiation.
We will then focus on ground-breaking demonstrations in the THz and mid-infrared ranges of the spectrum: THz lasers which are frequency tuneable acting on a disentangled (electronic) section; electronically beam-steerable devices; antenna-coupled THz quantum detectors. The integration with MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) is also developed in the proposal. This project will also open up horizons and research opportunities on longer-term topics. We will develop strategies to compensate the ohmic losses of mid-IR meta-materials, in order to extend the developed concepts to mid-IR devices.
Summary
This research project aims at building a common framework for photonic and meta-material /electronic devices. As specific examples, we will focus on making key advances for THz and mid-infrared emitters and detectors. Our goal is to demonstrate device functionalities which cannot be achieved within the current scientific/technological framework.
We will implement these concepts on quantum cascade lasers, a family of devices whose potential has seen an explosion in the last few years. They cover the THz (1-10THz) and mid-infrared (10-100THz) ranges of the spectrum, of great importance for medical and environmental applications, and security screening. Their spectral location - between near-infrared and microwaves - makes them ideal candidates to profit from both worlds.
We will first address a fundamental physical issue, then we’ll turn to device applications. While optical resonators are constrained to a minimum dimension set by the wavelength, a peculiar signature of an electronic oscillator is its independence from it. Our first goal is the demonstration of an optical oscillator/laser with the functionalities of an electronic oscillator, i.e. with fundamentally no lower size limit in the three dimensions of space. It will behave as a point-source of radiation.
We will then focus on ground-breaking demonstrations in the THz and mid-infrared ranges of the spectrum: THz lasers which are frequency tuneable acting on a disentangled (electronic) section; electronically beam-steerable devices; antenna-coupled THz quantum detectors. The integration with MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) is also developed in the proposal. This project will also open up horizons and research opportunities on longer-term topics. We will develop strategies to compensate the ohmic losses of mid-IR meta-materials, in order to extend the developed concepts to mid-IR devices.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 248 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2018-06-30
