Project acronym SIREN
Project Stability Islands: Performance Revolution in Machining
Researcher (PI) Gábor Stépán
Host Institution (HI) BUDAPESTI MUSZAKI ES GAZDASAGTUDOMANYI EGYETEM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "Cutting went through a revolution in the 1990s when high-speed milling (HSM) was introduced: the sculpture-like workpieces produced with high precision and efficiency resulted in one order of magnitude less parts in cars/aircrafts, which kept this traditional technology competitive at the turn of the century. This has been followed by an incremental development when not just the cutting speeds, but depths of cut and feed rates are pushed to limits, too.
The limits are where harmful vibrations occur. Cutting is subject to a special one called chatter, which is originated in a time delay: the cutting edge interferes with its own past oscillation recorded on the wavy surface cut of the workpiece. In 1907, the 3rd president of ASME, Taylor wrote: “Chatter is the most obscure and delicate of all problems facing the machinist”.
In spite of the development of the theory of delay-differential equations and nonlinear dynamics, Taylor’s statement remained valid 100 years later when HSM appeared together with a new kind of chatter. The applicant has been among those leading researchers who predicted these phenomena; the experimental/numerical techniques developed in his group are widely used to find parameters, e.g. where milling tools with serrated edges and/or with varying helix angles are advantageous.
The SIREN project aims to find isolated parameter islands with 3-5 times increased cutting efficiency. The work-packages correspond to points of high risk: (1) validated, delay-based nonlinear modelling of the dynamic contact problem between chip and tool; (2) fixation of the tool that is compatible with a dynamically reliable mathematical model of the contact between tool and tool-holder; (3) up-to-date dynamic modelling of the spindle at varying speeds.
High risk originates in the attempt of using distributed delay models, but high gain is expected with robust use of parameter islands where technology reaches a breakthrough in cutting efficiency for the 21st century."
Summary
"Cutting went through a revolution in the 1990s when high-speed milling (HSM) was introduced: the sculpture-like workpieces produced with high precision and efficiency resulted in one order of magnitude less parts in cars/aircrafts, which kept this traditional technology competitive at the turn of the century. This has been followed by an incremental development when not just the cutting speeds, but depths of cut and feed rates are pushed to limits, too.
The limits are where harmful vibrations occur. Cutting is subject to a special one called chatter, which is originated in a time delay: the cutting edge interferes with its own past oscillation recorded on the wavy surface cut of the workpiece. In 1907, the 3rd president of ASME, Taylor wrote: “Chatter is the most obscure and delicate of all problems facing the machinist”.
In spite of the development of the theory of delay-differential equations and nonlinear dynamics, Taylor’s statement remained valid 100 years later when HSM appeared together with a new kind of chatter. The applicant has been among those leading researchers who predicted these phenomena; the experimental/numerical techniques developed in his group are widely used to find parameters, e.g. where milling tools with serrated edges and/or with varying helix angles are advantageous.
The SIREN project aims to find isolated parameter islands with 3-5 times increased cutting efficiency. The work-packages correspond to points of high risk: (1) validated, delay-based nonlinear modelling of the dynamic contact problem between chip and tool; (2) fixation of the tool that is compatible with a dynamically reliable mathematical model of the contact between tool and tool-holder; (3) up-to-date dynamic modelling of the spindle at varying speeds.
High risk originates in the attempt of using distributed delay models, but high gain is expected with robust use of parameter islands where technology reaches a breakthrough in cutting efficiency for the 21st century."
Max ERC Funding
2 573 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-03-01, End date: 2019-02-28
Project acronym StrucLim
Project Limits of discrete structures
Researcher (PI) Balazs Szegedy
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA RENYI ALFRED MATEMATIKAI KUTATOINTEZET
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE1, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary Built on decades of deep research in ergodic theory, Szemeredi's regularity theory and statistical physics, a new subject is emerging whose goal is to study convergence and limits of various structures.
The main idea is to regard very large structures in combinatorics and algebra as approximations of infinite analytic objects. This viewpoint brings new tools from analysis and topology into these subjects. The success of this branch of mathematics has already been demonstrated through numerous applications in computer science, extremal combinatorics, probability theory and group theory. The present research plan addresses a number of open problems in additive combinatorics, ergodic theory, higher order Fourier analysis, extremal combinatorics and random graph theory. These subjects are all interrelated through the limit approach.
Summary
Built on decades of deep research in ergodic theory, Szemeredi's regularity theory and statistical physics, a new subject is emerging whose goal is to study convergence and limits of various structures.
The main idea is to regard very large structures in combinatorics and algebra as approximations of infinite analytic objects. This viewpoint brings new tools from analysis and topology into these subjects. The success of this branch of mathematics has already been demonstrated through numerous applications in computer science, extremal combinatorics, probability theory and group theory. The present research plan addresses a number of open problems in additive combinatorics, ergodic theory, higher order Fourier analysis, extremal combinatorics and random graph theory. These subjects are all interrelated through the limit approach.
Max ERC Funding
1 175 200 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym SYLO
Project Spin dynamics and transport at the quantum edge in low dimensional nanomaterials
Researcher (PI) Ferenc Simon
Host Institution (HI) BUDAPESTI MUSZAKI ES GAZDASAGTUDOMANYI EGYETEM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE3, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary Sustainable development in information technology calls for an ever increasing information processing and storage capability. A promising route to maintain exponential growth capability, i.e. to keep on the Moore's roadmap, is to turn to the electron spins as information carriers rather than their charge. This field, spintronics, has enormous potential whose exploitation requires solid knowledge in the fundamentals of spin dynamics and spin transport. Herein, novel nanomaterials are suggested for spintronics purposes, such as graphene and single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). These, fundamental two- and one-dimensional carbon allotropes are promising candidates for such purposes, carbon being a light element with a low spin-orbit coupling which results in a long spin coherence. There are several fundamental open issues, e.g. the dominant spin orbit coupling mechanism in graphene, whether bulk electron spin resonance can be observed for this material, and the length of the spin diffusion length. For SWCNTs, the ground state of isolated metallic tubes is known to be the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL), which greatly limit the spin coherence, but it is at present open whether this state is destroyed when an ensemble of interacting metallic tubes is studied. The decay time and spin symmetry of optical excitations (excitons) in semiconducting SWCNTs is yet unknown.
Our goal is to pursue electron spin resonance in graphene and carbon nanotubes and to perform optically detected magnetic resonance in carbon nanotubes. We will commission a magnetoptical spectrometer with a substantial added value.
The expected results are characterization of spin transport capabilities of these materials and understanding of the spin decoherence mechanisms. The PI leads magnetic resonance studies of these materials, shown by his more than 300 citations to this field (the total being over 470) and his 15 Physical Review Letters papers in this field (of which for 9 he is main Author).
Summary
Sustainable development in information technology calls for an ever increasing information processing and storage capability. A promising route to maintain exponential growth capability, i.e. to keep on the Moore's roadmap, is to turn to the electron spins as information carriers rather than their charge. This field, spintronics, has enormous potential whose exploitation requires solid knowledge in the fundamentals of spin dynamics and spin transport. Herein, novel nanomaterials are suggested for spintronics purposes, such as graphene and single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). These, fundamental two- and one-dimensional carbon allotropes are promising candidates for such purposes, carbon being a light element with a low spin-orbit coupling which results in a long spin coherence. There are several fundamental open issues, e.g. the dominant spin orbit coupling mechanism in graphene, whether bulk electron spin resonance can be observed for this material, and the length of the spin diffusion length. For SWCNTs, the ground state of isolated metallic tubes is known to be the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL), which greatly limit the spin coherence, but it is at present open whether this state is destroyed when an ensemble of interacting metallic tubes is studied. The decay time and spin symmetry of optical excitations (excitons) in semiconducting SWCNTs is yet unknown.
Our goal is to pursue electron spin resonance in graphene and carbon nanotubes and to perform optically detected magnetic resonance in carbon nanotubes. We will commission a magnetoptical spectrometer with a substantial added value.
The expected results are characterization of spin transport capabilities of these materials and understanding of the spin decoherence mechanisms. The PI leads magnetic resonance studies of these materials, shown by his more than 300 citations to this field (the total being over 470) and his 15 Physical Review Letters papers in this field (of which for 9 he is main Author).
Max ERC Funding
1 230 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-11-01, End date: 2015-10-31
Project acronym SYSTEMATICGRAPH
Project Systematic mapping of the complexity landscape of hard algorithmic graph problems
Researcher (PI) Dániel MARX
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA SZAMITASTECHNIKAI ES AUTOMATIZALASI KUTATOINTEZET
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Graph-theoretical models are natural tools for the description of road networks, circuits, communication networks, and abstract relations between objects, hence algorithmic graph problems appear in a wide range of computer science applications. As most of these problems are computationally hard in their full generality, research in graph algorithms, approximability, and parameterized complexity usually aims at identifying restricted variants and special cases, which are at the same time sufficiently general to be of practical relevance and sufficiently restricted to admit efficient algorithmic solutions. The goal of the project is to put the search for tractable algorithmic graph problems into a systematic and methodological framework: instead of focusing on specific sporadic problems, we intend to obtain a unified algorithmic understanding by mapping the entire complexity landscape of a particular problem domain.
Completely classifying the complexity of each and every algorithmic problem appearing in a given formal framework would necessarily reveal every possible algorithmic insight relevant to the formal setting, with the potential of discovering novel algorithmic techniques of practical interest. This approach has been enormously successful in the complexity classifications of Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs), but comparatively very little work has been done in the context of graphs. The systematic investigation of hard algorithmic graph problems deserves the same level of attention as the dichotomy program of CSPs, and graph problems have similarly rich complexity landscapes and unification results waiting to be discovered. The project will demonstrate that such a complete classification is feasible for a wide range of graph problems coming from areas such as finding patterns, routing, and survivable network design, and novel algorithmic results and new levels of algorithmic understanding can be achieved even for classic and well-studied problems.
Summary
Graph-theoretical models are natural tools for the description of road networks, circuits, communication networks, and abstract relations between objects, hence algorithmic graph problems appear in a wide range of computer science applications. As most of these problems are computationally hard in their full generality, research in graph algorithms, approximability, and parameterized complexity usually aims at identifying restricted variants and special cases, which are at the same time sufficiently general to be of practical relevance and sufficiently restricted to admit efficient algorithmic solutions. The goal of the project is to put the search for tractable algorithmic graph problems into a systematic and methodological framework: instead of focusing on specific sporadic problems, we intend to obtain a unified algorithmic understanding by mapping the entire complexity landscape of a particular problem domain.
Completely classifying the complexity of each and every algorithmic problem appearing in a given formal framework would necessarily reveal every possible algorithmic insight relevant to the formal setting, with the potential of discovering novel algorithmic techniques of practical interest. This approach has been enormously successful in the complexity classifications of Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs), but comparatively very little work has been done in the context of graphs. The systematic investigation of hard algorithmic graph problems deserves the same level of attention as the dichotomy program of CSPs, and graph problems have similarly rich complexity landscapes and unification results waiting to be discovered. The project will demonstrate that such a complete classification is feasible for a wide range of graph problems coming from areas such as finding patterns, routing, and survivable network design, and novel algorithmic results and new levels of algorithmic understanding can be achieved even for classic and well-studied problems.
Max ERC Funding
1 532 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-07-01, End date: 2022-06-30
Project acronym Tamed Cancer
Project Personalized Cancer Therapy by Model-based Optimal Robust Control Algorithm
Researcher (PI) Levente Adalbert Kovács
Host Institution (HI) OBUDAI EGYETEM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE6, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Imagine if tumor growth would be reduced and then kept in a minimal and safe volume in an automated manner and in a personalized way, i.e. cancer drug would be injected using a continuous therapy improving the patient’s quality of life.
By control engineering approaches it is possible to create model-based strategies for health problems. Artificial pancreas is an adequate example for this, where by continuous glucose measurement device and insulin pump it is possible to improve diabetes treatment. Gaining expertise from this problem, the current proposal focuses on taming the cancer by developing an engineering-based medical therapy.
The interdisciplinary approach focuses on modern robust control algorithm development in order to stop the angiogenesis process (i.e. vascular system development) of the tumor; hence, to stop tumor growth, maintaining it in a minimal, “tamed” form. This breakthrough concept could revitalize cancer treatment. It is the right time to do it as some investigations regarding tumor growth modeling have been already done; now, it should be refined by model identification tools and validated on animal trials. The benefit of robust control was already demonstrated in artificial pancreas; hence, it could be adapted to cancer research. The result could end with a personalized healthcare approach for drug-delivery in cancer, improving quality of life, optimizing drug infusion and minimizing treatment costs. This interdisciplinary approach combines control engineering with mathematics, computer science and medical sciences.
As a result, the model-based robust control approach envisage refining the currently existing tumor growth modeling aspects, design an optimal control algorithm and extend it by robust control theory to guarantee its general applicability. Based on our research background, validation will be done first in a manually controlled way, but then in an automatic mode to propose it for further human investigations.
Summary
Imagine if tumor growth would be reduced and then kept in a minimal and safe volume in an automated manner and in a personalized way, i.e. cancer drug would be injected using a continuous therapy improving the patient’s quality of life.
By control engineering approaches it is possible to create model-based strategies for health problems. Artificial pancreas is an adequate example for this, where by continuous glucose measurement device and insulin pump it is possible to improve diabetes treatment. Gaining expertise from this problem, the current proposal focuses on taming the cancer by developing an engineering-based medical therapy.
The interdisciplinary approach focuses on modern robust control algorithm development in order to stop the angiogenesis process (i.e. vascular system development) of the tumor; hence, to stop tumor growth, maintaining it in a minimal, “tamed” form. This breakthrough concept could revitalize cancer treatment. It is the right time to do it as some investigations regarding tumor growth modeling have been already done; now, it should be refined by model identification tools and validated on animal trials. The benefit of robust control was already demonstrated in artificial pancreas; hence, it could be adapted to cancer research. The result could end with a personalized healthcare approach for drug-delivery in cancer, improving quality of life, optimizing drug infusion and minimizing treatment costs. This interdisciplinary approach combines control engineering with mathematics, computer science and medical sciences.
As a result, the model-based robust control approach envisage refining the currently existing tumor growth modeling aspects, design an optimal control algorithm and extend it by robust control theory to guarantee its general applicability. Based on our research background, validation will be done first in a manually controlled way, but then in an automatic mode to propose it for further human investigations.
Max ERC Funding
1 015 900 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-07-01, End date: 2021-06-30
Project acronym VISONby3DSTIM
Project Restoration of visual perception by artificial stimulation performed by 3D EAO microscopy
Researcher (PI) Jozsef Balázs Rózsa
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTE OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE - HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary The long-term aim of the investigation is to assess the feasibility of creating an “artificial sense” and, thereby, a possible sensory (visual) prosthetic. While working towards this goal, we will have to address the question of how neural assembly activity relates to subjective perceptions. Finding and understanding these functional assemblies will make it possible to reactivate them in a precise, biologically relevant manner to elicit similar cortical activation as visual stimulation. Recent publications suggest that cortical connectivity can be mapped by two-photon microscopy. Here we want, therefore, to develop a novel 3D Electro-Acousto-Optical microscope for high-throughput assembly mapping. The microscope will be capable of scanning neuronal activity with one order of magnitude higher speed (300-500 kHz/ROI) and simultaneously photoactivate neurons with three order of magnitude higher efficiency (2,500 – 25,000 neurons/ms) than existing 3D microscopes while preserving the subcellular resolution required to simultaneously measure the somatic, the dendritic and axonal computation units in the entire V1 region of the cortex. The microscope will be based on our current 3D AO technology; on novel ultra-fast scanning technologies; new, 10-fold faster AO deflectors; and novel (multi-ROI) scanning strategies. Using our microscope in combination with novel caged neurotransmitters and optogenetic tools, we want to map cell assemblies and to understand how they form larger clusters and how they are associated with visual features. Furthermore, as a proof-of-concept of this grant, we want to restore visual perception by recreating previously mapped assembly patterns with 3D artificial photositmulation in behaving mice and see if the animal responds to the artificial stimulus in the same way as to the visual stimulus. Moreover, we want to restore visual information based spatial navigation in head restrained animals orienting and moving in a virtual labyrinth for reward.
Summary
The long-term aim of the investigation is to assess the feasibility of creating an “artificial sense” and, thereby, a possible sensory (visual) prosthetic. While working towards this goal, we will have to address the question of how neural assembly activity relates to subjective perceptions. Finding and understanding these functional assemblies will make it possible to reactivate them in a precise, biologically relevant manner to elicit similar cortical activation as visual stimulation. Recent publications suggest that cortical connectivity can be mapped by two-photon microscopy. Here we want, therefore, to develop a novel 3D Electro-Acousto-Optical microscope for high-throughput assembly mapping. The microscope will be capable of scanning neuronal activity with one order of magnitude higher speed (300-500 kHz/ROI) and simultaneously photoactivate neurons with three order of magnitude higher efficiency (2,500 – 25,000 neurons/ms) than existing 3D microscopes while preserving the subcellular resolution required to simultaneously measure the somatic, the dendritic and axonal computation units in the entire V1 region of the cortex. The microscope will be based on our current 3D AO technology; on novel ultra-fast scanning technologies; new, 10-fold faster AO deflectors; and novel (multi-ROI) scanning strategies. Using our microscope in combination with novel caged neurotransmitters and optogenetic tools, we want to map cell assemblies and to understand how they form larger clusters and how they are associated with visual features. Furthermore, as a proof-of-concept of this grant, we want to restore visual perception by recreating previously mapped assembly patterns with 3D artificial photositmulation in behaving mice and see if the animal responds to the artificial stimulus in the same way as to the visual stimulus. Moreover, we want to restore visual information based spatial navigation in head restrained animals orienting and moving in a virtual labyrinth for reward.
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30
Project acronym X-CITED!
Project Electronic transitions and bistability: states, switches, transitions and dynamics studied with high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy
Researcher (PI) György Albert Vankó
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA WIGNER FIZIKAI KUTATOKOZPONT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE3, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary We propose to study transition metal compounds of uncommon transport properties and excitation characteristics applying emerging high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. The objective is to determine the microscopic origin of the unconventional behaviour of systems with strong electron correlation through systematic investigations, as well as to reveal bistability conditions and excitation characteristics of switchable molecular systems. The main techniques involved are synchrotron radiation (SR)-based spectroscopies, which can explore the fine details of the electronic structure. Besides using existing end stations of SR facilities, we plan to build a portable spectrometer that can be advantageously used both in a laboratory (e.g., with a radioactive source) and at specially dedicated beamlines of SR facilities, in order to benefit from their specializations in extreme conditions and advanced sample environments, in particular unconventional experiments. This spectrometer should also be able to work in a time-resolved mode so that it could address the dynamics of electronic excitations on the attosecond to nanosecond time scale. The suggested work is expected to push high-resolution X-ray spectroscopies toward maturity, which should open up new horizons in electronic structure and dynamics studies of condensed matter research.
Summary
We propose to study transition metal compounds of uncommon transport properties and excitation characteristics applying emerging high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. The objective is to determine the microscopic origin of the unconventional behaviour of systems with strong electron correlation through systematic investigations, as well as to reveal bistability conditions and excitation characteristics of switchable molecular systems. The main techniques involved are synchrotron radiation (SR)-based spectroscopies, which can explore the fine details of the electronic structure. Besides using existing end stations of SR facilities, we plan to build a portable spectrometer that can be advantageously used both in a laboratory (e.g., with a radioactive source) and at specially dedicated beamlines of SR facilities, in order to benefit from their specializations in extreme conditions and advanced sample environments, in particular unconventional experiments. This spectrometer should also be able to work in a time-resolved mode so that it could address the dynamics of electronic excitations on the attosecond to nanosecond time scale. The suggested work is expected to push high-resolution X-ray spectroscopies toward maturity, which should open up new horizons in electronic structure and dynamics studies of condensed matter research.
Max ERC Funding
1 125 960 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-12-01, End date: 2015-11-30
Project acronym ZARAH
Project Women’s labour activism in Eastern Europe and transnationally, from the age of empires to the late 20th century
Researcher (PI) Susan Carin Zimmermann
Host Institution (HI) KOZEP-EUROPAI EGYETEM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary ZARAH explores the history of women’s labour activism and organizing to improve labour conditions and life circumstances of lower and working class women and their communities—moving these women from the margins of labour, gender, and European history to the centre of historical study.
ZARAH’s research rationale is rooted in the interest in the interaction of gender, class, and other dimensions of difference (e.g. ethnicity and religion) as forces that shaped women’s activism. It addresses the gender bias in labour history, the class bias in gender history, and the regional bias in European history. ZARAH conceives of women’s labour activism as emerging from the confluence of local, nation-wide, border-crossing and international initiatives, interactions and networking. It studies this activism in the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, the post-imperial nation states, and during the Cold War and the years thereafter. Employing a long-term and trans-regional perspective, ZARAH highlights how a history of numerous social upheavals, and changing borders and political systems shaped the agency of the women studied, and examines their contribution to the struggle for socio-economic inclusion and the making of gender-, labour-, and social policies.
ZARAH comprises, in addition to the PI, an international group of nine post-doctoral and doctoral researchers at CEU, distinguished by their excellent command of the history and languages of the region. Research rationale, research questions, and methodological framework were developed through an intensive exploratory research phase (2016–2017). ZARAH is a pioneering project that consists of a web of component and collaborative studies, which include all relevant groups of activists and activisms, span the whole region, and cover the period between the 1880s and the 1990s. It will generate key research resources that are available to all students and scholars, and will set the stage for research for a long time to come.
Summary
ZARAH explores the history of women’s labour activism and organizing to improve labour conditions and life circumstances of lower and working class women and their communities—moving these women from the margins of labour, gender, and European history to the centre of historical study.
ZARAH’s research rationale is rooted in the interest in the interaction of gender, class, and other dimensions of difference (e.g. ethnicity and religion) as forces that shaped women’s activism. It addresses the gender bias in labour history, the class bias in gender history, and the regional bias in European history. ZARAH conceives of women’s labour activism as emerging from the confluence of local, nation-wide, border-crossing and international initiatives, interactions and networking. It studies this activism in the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, the post-imperial nation states, and during the Cold War and the years thereafter. Employing a long-term and trans-regional perspective, ZARAH highlights how a history of numerous social upheavals, and changing borders and political systems shaped the agency of the women studied, and examines their contribution to the struggle for socio-economic inclusion and the making of gender-, labour-, and social policies.
ZARAH comprises, in addition to the PI, an international group of nine post-doctoral and doctoral researchers at CEU, distinguished by their excellent command of the history and languages of the region. Research rationale, research questions, and methodological framework were developed through an intensive exploratory research phase (2016–2017). ZARAH is a pioneering project that consists of a web of component and collaborative studies, which include all relevant groups of activists and activisms, span the whole region, and cover the period between the 1880s and the 1990s. It will generate key research resources that are available to all students and scholars, and will set the stage for research for a long time to come.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 947 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-02-01, End date: 2025-01-31
