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Displaying 51 - 100 of 2094. Show 10 | 20 | 50 | 100 results per page.
Project acronym AIDSRIGHTS
Project "Rights, Responsibilities, and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Global Impact on Moral and Political Subjectivity"
Summary "This project will undertake a transnational, multi-sited ethnographic study of moral and political subjectivity in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs from the perspective of socio-cultural anthropology. The main research question is: what kinds of politico-moral persons are constituted in institutional contexts that combine human rights and personal responsibility approaches to health, and how these kinds of subjectivities relate to local, national, and global forms of the politico-moral represented in health policies? In particular, this research will be carried out in Indonesia (Jakarta and Bali), South Africa (Western Cape), USA (New York City), and various locations throughout Eastern Europe in HIV/AIDS programs and institutions that increasingly combine human rights and personal responsibility approaches to treatment and prevention. This project is the first anthropological research on health governance done on a global scale. Until now most anthropological studies have focused on one health program in one location without simultaneously studying similar processes in comparable contexts in other parts of the world. In contrast, this project will take a global perspective on the relationship between health issues, morality, and governance by doing transnational multi-sited research. This project will significantly contribute to the current anthropological focus on bio-citizenship and push it in new directions, resulting in a new anthropological theory of global bio-political governance and global politico-moral subjectivities. This theory will describe and explain recent transnational processes of shaping particular kinds of politico-moral subjectivities through health initiatives. By doing research in comparable world areas this project will significantly contribute to the development of a theory of politico-moral governance with global reach."
"This project will undertake a transnational, multi-sited ethnographic study of moral and political subjectivity in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs from the perspective of socio-cultural anthropology. The main research question is: what kinds of politico-moral persons are constituted in institutional contexts that combine human rights and personal responsibility approaches to health, and how these kinds of subjectivities relate to local, national, and global forms of the politico-moral represented in health policies? In particular, this research will be carried out in Indonesia (Jakarta and Bali), South Africa (Western Cape), USA (New York City), and various locations throughout Eastern Europe in HIV/AIDS programs and institutions that increasingly combine human rights and personal responsibility approaches to treatment and prevention. This project is the first anthropological research on health governance done on a global scale. Until now most anthropological studies have focused on one health program in one location without simultaneously studying similar processes in comparable contexts in other parts of the world. In contrast, this project will take a global perspective on the relationship between health issues, morality, and governance by doing transnational multi-sited research. This project will significantly contribute to the current anthropological focus on bio-citizenship and push it in new directions, resulting in a new anthropological theory of global bio-political governance and global politico-moral subjectivities. This theory will describe and explain recent transnational processes of shaping particular kinds of politico-moral subjectivities through health initiatives. By doing research in comparable world areas this project will significantly contribute to the development of a theory of politico-moral governance with global reach."
Project acronym AIME
Project An Inquiry into Modes of Existence
Host Institution (HI) FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES
Summary "AIME is an inquiry to make more precise what is lumped together into the confusing word ""modernization"". The work done in the field of science studies (STS) on the progress and practice of science and technology has had the consequence of deeply modifying the definition of ""modernity"", resulting into the provocative idea that ""we (meaning the Europeans) have never been modern"". This is, however only a negative definition. To obtain a positive rendering of the European current situation, it is necessary to start an inquiry in the complex and conflicting set of values that have been invented. This inquiry is possible only if there is a clear and shareable way to judge the differences in the set of truth-conditions that make up those conflicting sets of values. AIME offers a grammar of those differences based on the key notion of modes of existence. Then it builds a procedure and an instrument to test this grammar into a selected set of situations where the definitions of the differing modes of existence is redefined and renegotiated. The result is a set of shareable definitions of what modernization has been in practice. This is important just at the moment when Europe has lost its privileged status and needs to be able to present itself in a new ways to the other cultures and civilizations which are making up the world of globalization with very different views on what it is to modernize themselves."
"AIME is an inquiry to make more precise what is lumped together into the confusing word ""modernization"". The work done in the field of science studies (STS) on the progress and practice of science and technology has had the consequence of deeply modifying the definition of ""modernity"", resulting into the provocative idea that ""we (meaning the Europeans) have never been modern"". This is, however only a negative definition. To obtain a positive rendering of the European current situation, it is necessary to start an inquiry in the complex and conflicting set of values that have been invented. This inquiry is possible only if there is a clear and shareable way to judge the differences in the set of truth-conditions that make up those conflicting sets of values. AIME offers a grammar of those differences based on the key notion of modes of existence. Then it builds a procedure and an instrument to test this grammar into a selected set of situations where the definitions of the differing modes of existence is redefined and renegotiated. The result is a set of shareable definitions of what modernization has been in practice. This is important just at the moment when Europe has lost its privileged status and needs to be able to present itself in a new ways to the other cultures and civilizations which are making up the world of globalization with very different views on what it is to modernize themselves."
Project acronym AIRSEA
Project Air-Sea Exchanges driven by Light
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Summary The scientific motivation of this project is the significant presence of organic compounds at the surface of the ocean. They form the link between ocean biogeochemistry through the physico-chemical processes near the water-air interface with primary and secondary aerosol formation and evolution in the air aloft and finally to the climate impact of marine boundary layer aerosols. However, their photochemistry and photosensitizer properties have only been suggested and discussed but never fully addressed because they were beyond reach. This project suggests going significantly beyond this matter of fact by a combination of innovative tools and the development of new ideas. This project is therefore devoted to new laboratory investigations of processes occurring at the air sea interface to predict emission, formation and evolution of halogenated radicals and aerosols from this vast interface between oceans and atmosphere. It progresses from fundamental laboratory measurements, marine science, surface chemistry, photochemistry … and is therefore interdisciplinary in nature. It will lead to the development of innovative techniques for characterising chemical processing at the air sea interface (e.g., a multiphase atmospheric simulation chamber, a time-resolved fluorescence technique for characterising chemical processing at the air-sea interface). It will allow the assessment of new emerging ideas such as a quantitative description of the importance of photosensitized reactions in the visible at the air/sea interface as a major source of halogenated radicals and aerosols in the marine environment. This new understanding will impact on our ability to describe atmospheric chemistry in the marine environment which has strong impact on the urban air quality of coastal regions (which by the way represent highly populated regions ) but also on climate change by providing new input for global climate models.
The scientific motivation of this project is the significant presence of organic compounds at the surface of the ocean. They form the link between ocean biogeochemistry through the physico-chemical processes near the water-air interface with primary and secondary aerosol formation and evolution in the air aloft and finally to the climate impact of marine boundary layer aerosols. However, their photochemistry and photosensitizer properties have only been suggested and discussed but never fully addressed because they were beyond reach. This project suggests going significantly beyond this matter of fact by a combination of innovative tools and the development of new ideas. This project is therefore devoted to new laboratory investigations of processes occurring at the air sea interface to predict emission, formation and evolution of halogenated radicals and aerosols from this vast interface between oceans and atmosphere. It progresses from fundamental laboratory measurements, marine science, surface chemistry, photochemistry … and is therefore interdisciplinary in nature. It will lead to the development of innovative techniques for characterising chemical processing at the air sea interface (e.g., a multiphase atmospheric simulation chamber, a time-resolved fluorescence technique for characterising chemical processing at the air-sea interface). It will allow the assessment of new emerging ideas such as a quantitative description of the importance of photosensitized reactions in the visible at the air/sea interface as a major source of halogenated radicals and aerosols in the marine environment. This new understanding will impact on our ability to describe atmospheric chemistry in the marine environment which has strong impact on the urban air quality of coastal regions (which by the way represent highly populated regions ) but also on climate change by providing new input for global climate models.
Project acronym AISMA
Project An anthropological investigation of muscular politics in South Asia
Summary Over the past decade, the media, international organisations, as well as policy-making bodies have voiced increasing concern about a growing overlap between the criminal and political spheres in South Asia. Many 'criminal politicians' are accused not simply of embezzlement, but of burglary, kidnapping and murder, so that the observed political landscape emerges not only as a 'corrupt', but also a highly violent sphere. This project is a collaborative and cross-national ethnographic study of the criminalisation of politics in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Bringing together local-level investigation, surveys and historical analysis, the project will produce comprehensive political ethnographies in sixteen sites across the subcontinent, providing empirical material and theoretical directives for further charting of the virtually unexplored terrain of extra-legal muscular politics in the region. Central to the proposed programme of research are the following interrelated objectives: 1) To further develop the method of collaborative political ethnography by designing, collecting and producing case studies which will allow us to write thematically across sites; 2) To generate policy relevant research in the fields of security, conflict, democracy and development; 3) To produce capability by forging an international network of scholars on issues related to democratisation, violence, crime and support the work and careers of the project's 4 Post-docs. The study capitalises on previous research and skills of the PI in the cross-cultural study of democracy and muscular politics in the global South. All members of the research team have expertise in ethnographic research in the difficult spheres of criminal politics, informal economies, and political violence and are hence well and sometimes uniquely equipped to pursue this challenging research thematic.
Over the past decade, the media, international organisations, as well as policy-making bodies have voiced increasing concern about a growing overlap between the criminal and political spheres in South Asia. Many 'criminal politicians' are accused not simply of embezzlement, but of burglary, kidnapping and murder, so that the observed political landscape emerges not only as a 'corrupt', but also a highly violent sphere. This project is a collaborative and cross-national ethnographic study of the criminalisation of politics in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Bringing together local-level investigation, surveys and historical analysis, the project will produce comprehensive political ethnographies in sixteen sites across the subcontinent, providing empirical material and theoretical directives for further charting of the virtually unexplored terrain of extra-legal muscular politics in the region. Central to the proposed programme of research are the following interrelated objectives: 1) To further develop the method of collaborative political ethnography by designing, collecting and producing case studies which will allow us to write thematically across sites; 2) To generate policy relevant research in the fields of security, conflict, democracy and development; 3) To produce capability by forging an international network of scholars on issues related to democratisation, violence, crime and support the work and careers of the project's 4 Post-docs. The study capitalises on previous research and skills of the PI in the cross-cultural study of democracy and muscular politics in the global South. All members of the research team have expertise in ethnographic research in the difficult spheres of criminal politics, informal economies, and political violence and are hence well and sometimes uniquely equipped to pursue this challenging research thematic.
Project acronym AlchemEast
Project Alchemy in the Making: From ancient Babylonia via Graeco-Roman Egypt into the Byzantine, Syriac and Arabic traditions (1500 BCE - 1000 AD)
Host Institution (HI) ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
Summary The AlchemEast project is devoted to the study of alchemical theory and practice as it appeared and developed in distinct, albeit contiguous (both chronologically and geographically) areas: Graeco-Roman Egypt, Byzantium, and the Near East, from Ancient Babylonian times to the early Islamic Period. This project combines innovative textual investigations with experimental replications of ancient alchemical procedures. It uses sets of historically and philologically informed laboratory replications in order to reconstruct the actual practice of ancient alchemists, and it studies the texts and literary forms in which this practice was conceptualized and transmitted. It proposes new models for textual criticism in order to capture the fluidity of the transmission of ancient alchemical writings. AlchemEast is designed to carry out a comparative investigation of cuneiform tablets as well as a vast corpus of Greek, Syriac and Arabic writings. It will overcome the old, pejorative paradigm that dismissed ancient alchemy as a "pseudo-science", by proposing a new theoretical framework for comprehending the entirety of ancient alchemical practices and theories. Alongside established forms of scholarly output, such as critical editions of key texts, AlchemEast will provide an integrative, longue durée perspective on the many different phases of ancient alchemy. It will thus offer a radically new vision of this discipline as a dynamic and diversified art that developed across different technical and scholastic traditions. This new representation will allow us to connect ancient alchemy with medieval and early modern alchemy and thus fully reintegrate ancient alchemy in the history of pre-modern alchemy as well as in the history of ancient science more broadly.
The AlchemEast project is devoted to the study of alchemical theory and practice as it appeared and developed in distinct, albeit contiguous (both chronologically and geographically) areas: Graeco-Roman Egypt, Byzantium, and the Near East, from Ancient Babylonian times to the early Islamic Period. This project combines innovative textual investigations with experimental replications of ancient alchemical procedures. It uses sets of historically and philologically informed laboratory replications in order to reconstruct the actual practice of ancient alchemists, and it studies the texts and literary forms in which this practice was conceptualized and transmitted. It proposes new models for textual criticism in order to capture the fluidity of the transmission of ancient alchemical writings. AlchemEast is designed to carry out a comparative investigation of cuneiform tablets as well as a vast corpus of Greek, Syriac and Arabic writings. It will overcome the old, pejorative paradigm that dismissed ancient alchemy as a "pseudo-science", by proposing a new theoretical framework for comprehending the entirety of ancient alchemical practices and theories. Alongside established forms of scholarly output, such as critical editions of key texts, AlchemEast will provide an integrative, longue durée perspective on the many different phases of ancient alchemy. It will thus offer a radically new vision of this discipline as a dynamic and diversified art that developed across different technical and scholastic traditions. This new representation will allow us to connect ancient alchemy with medieval and early modern alchemy and thus fully reintegrate ancient alchemy in the history of pre-modern alchemy as well as in the history of ancient science more broadly.
Project acronym ALERT
Project ALERT - The Apertif-LOFAR Exploration of the Radio Transient Sky
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING ASTRON, NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR RADIO ASTRONOMY
Summary "In our largely unchanging radio Universe, a highly dynamic component was recently discovered: flashes of bright radio emission that last only milliseconds but appear all over the sky. Some of these radio bursts can be traced to intermittently pulsating neutron stars. Other bursts however, apparently originate far outside our Galaxy. Due to great observational challenges, the evolution of the neutron stars is not understood, while more importantly, the nature of the extragalactic bursts remains an outright mystery. My overall aim is to understand the physics that drives both kinds of brief and luminous bursts. My primary goal is to identify the highly compact astrophysical explosions powering the extragalactic bursts. My previous surveys are the state of the art in fast-transient detection; I will now increase by a factor of 10 this exploration volume. In real-time I will provide arcsec positions, 10,000-fold more accurate than currently possible, to localize such extragalactic bursts for the first time and understand their origin. My secondary goal is to unravel the unexplained evolution of intermittently pulsating neutron stars (building on e.g., my recent papers in Science, 2013), by doubling their number and modeling their population. To achieve these goals, I will carry out a highly innovative survey: the Apertif-LOFAR Exploration of the Radio Transient Sky. ALERT is over an order of magnitude more sensitive than all current state-of-the art fast-transient surveys. Through its novel, extremely wide field-of-view, Westerbork/Apertif will detect many tens of extragalactic bursts. Through real-time triggers to LOFAR I will next provide the precise localisation that is essential for radio, optical and high-energy follow-up to, for the first time, shed light on the physics and objects driving these bursts – evaporating primordial black holes; explosions in host galaxies; or, the unknown?"
"In our largely unchanging radio Universe, a highly dynamic component was recently discovered: flashes of bright radio emission that last only milliseconds but appear all over the sky. Some of these radio bursts can be traced to intermittently pulsating neutron stars. Other bursts however, apparently originate far outside our Galaxy. Due to great observational challenges, the evolution of the neutron stars is not understood, while more importantly, the nature of the extragalactic bursts remains an outright mystery. My overall aim is to understand the physics that drives both kinds of brief and luminous bursts. My primary goal is to identify the highly compact astrophysical explosions powering the extragalactic bursts. My previous surveys are the state of the art in fast-transient detection; I will now increase by a factor of 10 this exploration volume. In real-time I will provide arcsec positions, 10,000-fold more accurate than currently possible, to localize such extragalactic bursts for the first time and understand their origin. My secondary goal is to unravel the unexplained evolution of intermittently pulsating neutron stars (building on e.g., my recent papers in Science, 2013), by doubling their number and modeling their population. To achieve these goals, I will carry out a highly innovative survey: the Apertif-LOFAR Exploration of the Radio Transient Sky. ALERT is over an order of magnitude more sensitive than all current state-of-the art fast-transient surveys. Through its novel, extremely wide field-of-view, Westerbork/Apertif will detect many tens of extragalactic bursts. Through real-time triggers to LOFAR I will next provide the precise localisation that is essential for radio, optical and high-energy follow-up to, for the first time, shed light on the physics and objects driving these bursts – evaporating primordial black holes; explosions in host galaxies; or, the unknown?"
Project acronym AlgTateGro
Project Constructing line bundles on algebraic varieties --around conjectures of Tate and Grothendieck
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE PARIS-SUD
Summary The goal of this project is to investigate two conjectures in arithmetic geometry pertaining to the geometry of projective varieties over finite and number fields. These two conjectures, formulated by Tate and Grothendieck in the 1960s, predict which cohomology classes are chern classes of line bundles. They both form an arithmetic counterpart of a theorem of Lefschetz, proved in the 1940s, which itself is the only known case of the Hodge conjecture. These two long-standing conjectures are one of the aspects of a more general web of questions regarding the topology of algebraic varieties which have been emphasized by Grothendieck and have since had a central role in modern arithmetic geometry. Special cases of these conjectures, appearing for instance in the work of Tate, Deligne, Faltings, Schneider-Lang, Masser-Wüstholz, have all had important consequences. My goal is to investigate different lines of attack towards these conjectures, building on recent work on myself and Jean-Benoît Bost on related problems. The two main directions of the proposal are as follows. Over finite fields, the Tate conjecture is related to finiteness results for certain cohomological objects. I want to understand how to relate these to hidden boundedness properties of algebraic varieties that have appeared in my recent geometric proof of the Tate conjecture for K3 surfaces. The existence and relevance of a theory of Donaldson invariants for moduli spaces of twisted sheaves over finite fields seems to be a promising and novel direction. Over number fields, I want to combine the geometric insight above with algebraization techniques developed by Bost. In a joint project, we want to investigate how these can be used to first understand geometrically major results in transcendence theory and then attack the Grothendieck period conjecture for divisors via a number-theoretic and complex-analytic understanding of universal vector extensions of abelian schemes over curves.
The goal of this project is to investigate two conjectures in arithmetic geometry pertaining to the geometry of projective varieties over finite and number fields. These two conjectures, formulated by Tate and Grothendieck in the 1960s, predict which cohomology classes are chern classes of line bundles. They both form an arithmetic counterpart of a theorem of Lefschetz, proved in the 1940s, which itself is the only known case of the Hodge conjecture. These two long-standing conjectures are one of the aspects of a more general web of questions regarding the topology of algebraic varieties which have been emphasized by Grothendieck and have since had a central role in modern arithmetic geometry. Special cases of these conjectures, appearing for instance in the work of Tate, Deligne, Faltings, Schneider-Lang, Masser-Wüstholz, have all had important consequences. My goal is to investigate different lines of attack towards these conjectures, building on recent work on myself and Jean-Benoît Bost on related problems. The two main directions of the proposal are as follows. Over finite fields, the Tate conjecture is related to finiteness results for certain cohomological objects. I want to understand how to relate these to hidden boundedness properties of algebraic varieties that have appeared in my recent geometric proof of the Tate conjecture for K3 surfaces. The existence and relevance of a theory of Donaldson invariants for moduli spaces of twisted sheaves over finite fields seems to be a promising and novel direction. Over number fields, I want to combine the geometric insight above with algebraization techniques developed by Bost. In a joint project, we want to investigate how these can be used to first understand geometrically major results in transcendence theory and then attack the Grothendieck period conjecture for divisors via a number-theoretic and complex-analytic understanding of universal vector extensions of abelian schemes over curves.
Project acronym ALICE
Project Strange Mirrors, Unsuspected Lessons: Leading Europe to a new way of sharing the world experiences
Host Institution (HI) CENTRO DE ESTUDOS SOCIAIS
Summary Europe sits uncomfortably on the idea that there are no political and cultural alternatives credible enough to respond to the current uneasiness or malaise caused by both a world that is more and more non-European and a Europe that increasingly questions what is European about itself. This project will develop a new grounded theoretical paradigm for contemporary Europe based on two key ideas: the understanding of the world by far exceeds the European understanding of the world; social, political and institutional transformation in Europe may benefit from innovations taking place in regions and countries with which Europe is increasingly interdependent. I will pursue this objective focusing on four main interconnected topics: democratizing democracy, intercultural constitutionalism, the other economy, human rights (right to health in particular). In a sense that the European challenges are unique but, in one way or another, are being experienced in different corners of the world. The novelty resides in bringing new ideas and experiences into the European conversation, show their relevance to our current uncertainties and aspirations and thereby contribute to face them with new intellectual and political resources. The usefulness and relevance of non-European conceptions and experiences un-thinking the conventional knowledge through two epistemological devices I have developed: the ecology of knowledges and intercultural translation. By resorting to them I will show that there are alternatives but they cannot be made credible and powerful if we go on relying on the modes of theoretical and political thinking that have dominated so far. In other words, the claim put forward by and worked through this project is that in Europe we don't need alternatives but rather an alternative thinking of alternatives.
Europe sits uncomfortably on the idea that there are no political and cultural alternatives credible enough to respond to the current uneasiness or malaise caused by both a world that is more and more non-European and a Europe that increasingly questions what is European about itself. This project will develop a new grounded theoretical paradigm for contemporary Europe based on two key ideas: the understanding of the world by far exceeds the European understanding of the world; social, political and institutional transformation in Europe may benefit from innovations taking place in regions and countries with which Europe is increasingly interdependent. I will pursue this objective focusing on four main interconnected topics: democratizing democracy, intercultural constitutionalism, the other economy, human rights (right to health in particular). In a sense that the European challenges are unique but, in one way or another, are being experienced in different corners of the world. The novelty resides in bringing new ideas and experiences into the European conversation, show their relevance to our current uncertainties and aspirations and thereby contribute to face them with new intellectual and political resources. The usefulness and relevance of non-European conceptions and experiences un-thinking the conventional knowledge through two epistemological devices I have developed: the ecology of knowledges and intercultural translation. By resorting to them I will show that there are alternatives but they cannot be made credible and powerful if we go on relying on the modes of theoretical and political thinking that have dominated so far. In other words, the claim put forward by and worked through this project is that in Europe we don't need alternatives but rather an alternative thinking of alternatives.
Project acronym ALKAGE
Project Algebraic and Kähler geometry
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE GRENOBLE ALPES
Summary The purpose of this project is to study basic questions in algebraic and Kähler geometry. It is well known that the structure of projective or Kähler manifolds is governed by positivity or negativity properties of the curvature tensor. However, many fundamental problems are still wide open. Since the mid 1980's, I have developed a large number of key concepts and results that have led to important progress in transcendental algebraic geometry. Let me mention the discovery of holomorphic Morse inequalities, systematic applications of L² estimates with singular hermitian metrics, and a much improved understanding of Monge-Ampère equations and of singularities of plurisuharmonic functions. My first goal will be to investigate the Green-Griffiths-Lang conjecture asserting that an entire curve drawn in a variety of general type is algebraically degenerate. The subject is intimately related to important questions concerning Diophantine equations, especially higher dimensional generalizations of Faltings' theorem - the so-called Vojta program. One can rely here on a breakthrough I made in 2010, showing that all such entire curves must satisfy algebraic differential equations. A second closely related area of research of this project is the analysis of the structure of projective or compact Kähler manifolds. It can be seen as a generalization of the classification theory of surfaces by Kodaira, and of the more recent results for dimension 3 (Kawamata, Kollár, Mori, Shokurov, ...) to other dimensions. My plan is to combine powerful recent results obtained on the duality of positive cohomology cones with an analysis of the instability of the tangent bundle, i.e. of the Harder-Narasimhan filtration. On these ground-breaking questions, I intend to go much further and to enhance my national and international collaborations. These subjects already attract many young researchers and postdocs throughout the world, and the grant could be used to create even stronger interactions.
The purpose of this project is to study basic questions in algebraic and Kähler geometry. It is well known that the structure of projective or Kähler manifolds is governed by positivity or negativity properties of the curvature tensor. However, many fundamental problems are still wide open. Since the mid 1980's, I have developed a large number of key concepts and results that have led to important progress in transcendental algebraic geometry. Let me mention the discovery of holomorphic Morse inequalities, systematic applications of L² estimates with singular hermitian metrics, and a much improved understanding of Monge-Ampère equations and of singularities of plurisuharmonic functions. My first goal will be to investigate the Green-Griffiths-Lang conjecture asserting that an entire curve drawn in a variety of general type is algebraically degenerate. The subject is intimately related to important questions concerning Diophantine equations, especially higher dimensional generalizations of Faltings' theorem - the so-called Vojta program. One can rely here on a breakthrough I made in 2010, showing that all such entire curves must satisfy algebraic differential equations. A second closely related area of research of this project is the analysis of the structure of projective or compact Kähler manifolds. It can be seen as a generalization of the classification theory of surfaces by Kodaira, and of the more recent results for dimension 3 (Kawamata, Kollár, Mori, Shokurov, ...) to other dimensions. My plan is to combine powerful recent results obtained on the duality of positive cohomology cones with an analysis of the instability of the tangent bundle, i.e. of the Harder-Narasimhan filtration. On these ground-breaking questions, I intend to go much further and to enhance my national and international collaborations. These subjects already attract many young researchers and postdocs throughout the world, and the grant could be used to create even stronger interactions.
Project acronym ALKENoNE
Project Algal Lipids: the Key to Earth Now and aNcient Earth
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
Summary Alkenones are algal lipids that have been used for decades to reconstruct quantitative past sea surface temperature. Although alkenones are being discovered in an increasing number of lake sites worldwide, only two terrestrial temperature records have been reconstructed so far. The development of this research field is limited by the lack of interdisciplinary research that combines modern biological and ecological algal research with the organic geochemical techniques needed to develop a quantitative biomarker (or molecular fossil) for past lake temperatures. More research is needed for alkenones to become a widely used tool for reconstructing past terrestrial temperature change. The early career Principal Investigator has discovered a new lake alkenone-producing species of haptophyte algae that produces alkenones in high abundances both in the environment and in laboratory cultures. This makes the new species an ideal organism for developing a culture-based temperature calibration and exploring other potential environmental controls. In this project, alkenone production will be manipulated, and monitored using state-of-the-art photobioreactors with real-time detectors for cell density, light, and temperature. The latest algal culture and isolation techniques that are used in microalgal biofuel development will be applied to developing the lake temperature proxy. The objectives will be achieved through the analysis of 90 new Canadian lakes to develop a core-top temperature calibration across a large latitudinal and temperature gradient (Δ latitude = 5°, Δ spring surface temperature = 9°C). The results will be used to assess how regional palaeo-temperature (Uk37), palaeo-moisture (δDwax) and palaeo-evaporation (δDalgal) respond during times of past global warmth (e.g., Medieval Warm Period, 900-1200 AD) to find an accurate analogue for assessing future drought risk in the interior of Canada.
Alkenones are algal lipids that have been used for decades to reconstruct quantitative past sea surface temperature. Although alkenones are being discovered in an increasing number of lake sites worldwide, only two terrestrial temperature records have been reconstructed so far. The development of this research field is limited by the lack of interdisciplinary research that combines modern biological and ecological algal research with the organic geochemical techniques needed to develop a quantitative biomarker (or molecular fossil) for past lake temperatures. More research is needed for alkenones to become a widely used tool for reconstructing past terrestrial temperature change. The early career Principal Investigator has discovered a new lake alkenone-producing species of haptophyte algae that produces alkenones in high abundances both in the environment and in laboratory cultures. This makes the new species an ideal organism for developing a culture-based temperature calibration and exploring other potential environmental controls. In this project, alkenone production will be manipulated, and monitored using state-of-the-art photobioreactors with real-time detectors for cell density, light, and temperature. The latest algal culture and isolation techniques that are used in microalgal biofuel development will be applied to developing the lake temperature proxy. The objectives will be achieved through the analysis of 90 new Canadian lakes to develop a core-top temperature calibration across a large latitudinal and temperature gradient (Δ latitude = 5°, Δ spring surface temperature = 9°C). The results will be used to assess how regional palaeo-temperature (Uk37), palaeo-moisture (δDwax) and palaeo-evaporation (δDalgal) respond during times of past global warmth (e.g., Medieval Warm Period, 900-1200 AD) to find an accurate analogue for assessing future drought risk in the interior of Canada.
Project acronym ALREG
Project Analysing Learning in Regulatory Governance
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Summary This four-year interdisciplinary project addresses the question what has been learned through the use of better regulation ? Better regulation is a flagship policy on the Lisbon agenda for growth and jobs. Its aims are to provide new governance architectures for law-making, to increase the competitiveness of the regulatory environment, and to secure wide social legitimacy for multi-level systems of rules. Whilst most of the research has looked at how better regulation is changing, this project will produce findings on what has changed because of better regulation. Theoretically, the project will use (and significantly improve on) theories of policy learning. Empirically, it will cover Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK and the EU including multi-level analysis and analysis by sector of regulation. Methodologically, the project will draw on comparative analysis of types of learning, experiments with regulatory policy-makers in six countries and the European Commission, large-n analysis of impact assessments, backward-mapping of legislation (to appraise the role played by better regulation in the formulation or laws in the UK and the EU), meta-analysis of case-studies and co-production of knowledge with better regulation officers. Dissemination will target both stakeholders (i.e., policy officers, civil society organizations, and business federations) and academic conferences in political science, law, and risk analysis, with a major research monograph to be completed in year 4 and a final interdisciplinary conference.
This four-year interdisciplinary project addresses the question what has been learned through the use of better regulation ? Better regulation is a flagship policy on the Lisbon agenda for growth and jobs. Its aims are to provide new governance architectures for law-making, to increase the competitiveness of the regulatory environment, and to secure wide social legitimacy for multi-level systems of rules. Whilst most of the research has looked at how better regulation is changing, this project will produce findings on what has changed because of better regulation. Theoretically, the project will use (and significantly improve on) theories of policy learning. Empirically, it will cover Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK and the EU including multi-level analysis and analysis by sector of regulation. Methodologically, the project will draw on comparative analysis of types of learning, experiments with regulatory policy-makers in six countries and the European Commission, large-n analysis of impact assessments, backward-mapping of legislation (to appraise the role played by better regulation in the formulation or laws in the UK and the EU), meta-analysis of case-studies and co-production of knowledge with better regulation officers. Dissemination will target both stakeholders (i.e., policy officers, civil society organizations, and business federations) and academic conferences in political science, law, and risk analysis, with a major research monograph to be completed in year 4 and a final interdisciplinary conference.
Project acronym altEJrepair
Project Characterisation of DNA Double-Strand Break Repair by Alternative End-Joining: Potential Targets for Cancer Therapy
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT CURIE
Summary DNA repair pathways evolved as an intricate network that senses DNA damage and resolves it in order to minimise genetic lesions and thus preventing tumour formation. Gaining in recognition the last few years, the alternative end-joining (alt-EJ) DNA repair pathway was recently shown to be up-regulated and required for cancer cell viability in the absence of homologous recombination-mediated repair (HR). Despite this integral role, the alt-EJ repair pathway remains poorly characterised in humans. As such, its molecular composition, regulation and crosstalk with HR and other repair pathways remain elusive. Additionally, the contribution of the alt-EJ pathway to tumour progression as well as the identification of a mutational signature associated with the use of alt-EJ has not yet been investigated. Moreover, the clinical relevance of developing small-molecule inhibitors targeting players in the alt-EJ pathway, such as the polymerase Pol Theta (Polθ), is of importance as current anticancer drug treatments have shown limited effectiveness in achieving cancer remission in patients with HR-deficient (HRD) tumours. Here, we propose a novel, multidisciplinary approach that aims to characterise the players and mechanisms of action involved in the utilisation of alt-EJ in cancer. This understanding will better elucidate the changing interplay between different DNA repair pathways, thus shedding light on whether and how the use of alt-EJ contributes to the pathogenic history and survival of HRD tumours, eventually paving the way for the development of novel anticancer therapeutics. For all the abovementioned reasons, we are convinced this project will have important implications in: 1) elucidating critical interconnections between DNA repair pathways, 2) improving the basic understanding of the composition, regulation and function of the alt-EJ pathway, and 3) facilitating the development of new synthetic lethality-based chemotherapeutics for the treatment of HRD tumours.
DNA repair pathways evolved as an intricate network that senses DNA damage and resolves it in order to minimise genetic lesions and thus preventing tumour formation. Gaining in recognition the last few years, the alternative end-joining (alt-EJ) DNA repair pathway was recently shown to be up-regulated and required for cancer cell viability in the absence of homologous recombination-mediated repair (HR). Despite this integral role, the alt-EJ repair pathway remains poorly characterised in humans. As such, its molecular composition, regulation and crosstalk with HR and other repair pathways remain elusive. Additionally, the contribution of the alt-EJ pathway to tumour progression as well as the identification of a mutational signature associated with the use of alt-EJ has not yet been investigated. Moreover, the clinical relevance of developing small-molecule inhibitors targeting players in the alt-EJ pathway, such as the polymerase Pol Theta (Polθ), is of importance as current anticancer drug treatments have shown limited effectiveness in achieving cancer remission in patients with HR-deficient (HRD) tumours. Here, we propose a novel, multidisciplinary approach that aims to characterise the players and mechanisms of action involved in the utilisation of alt-EJ in cancer. This understanding will better elucidate the changing interplay between different DNA repair pathways, thus shedding light on whether and how the use of alt-EJ contributes to the pathogenic history and survival of HRD tumours, eventually paving the way for the development of novel anticancer therapeutics. For all the abovementioned reasons, we are convinced this project will have important implications in: 1) elucidating critical interconnections between DNA repair pathways, 2) improving the basic understanding of the composition, regulation and function of the alt-EJ pathway, and 3) facilitating the development of new synthetic lethality-based chemotherapeutics for the treatment of HRD tumours.
Project acronym ALTERUMMA
Project Creating an Alternative umma: Clerical Authority and Religio-political Mobilisation in Transnational Shii Islam
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Summary This interdisciplinary project investigates the transformation of Shii Islam in the Middle East and Europe since the 1950s. The project examines the formation of modern Shii communal identities and the role Shii clerical authorities and their transnational networks have played in their religio-political mobilisation. The volatile situation post-Arab Spring, the rise of militant movements such as ISIS and the sectarianisation of geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East have intensified efforts to forge distinct Shii communal identities and to conceive Shii Muslims as part of an alternative umma (Islamic community). The project focusses on Iran, Iraq and significant but unexplored diasporic links to Syria, Kuwait and Britain. In response to the rise of modern nation-states in the Middle East, Shii clerical authorities resorted to a wide range of activities: (a) articulating intellectual responses to the ideologies underpinning modern Middle Eastern nation-states, (b) forming political parties and other platforms of socio-political activism and (c) using various forms of cultural production by systematising and promoting Shii ritual practices and utilising visual art, poetry and new media. The project yields a perspectival shift on the factors that led to Shii communal mobilisation by: - Analysing unacknowledged intellectual responses of Shii clerical authorities to the secular or sectarian ideologies of post-colonial nation-states and to the current sectarianisation of geopolitics in the Middle East. - Emphasising the central role of diasporic networks in the Middle East and Europe in mobilising Shii communities and in influencing discourses and agendas of clerical authorities based in Iraq and Iran. - Exploring new modes of cultural production in the form of a modern Shii aesthetics articulated in ritual practices, visual art, poetry and new media and thus creating a more holistic narrative on Shii religio-political mobilisation.
This interdisciplinary project investigates the transformation of Shii Islam in the Middle East and Europe since the 1950s. The project examines the formation of modern Shii communal identities and the role Shii clerical authorities and their transnational networks have played in their religio-political mobilisation. The volatile situation post-Arab Spring, the rise of militant movements such as ISIS and the sectarianisation of geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East have intensified efforts to forge distinct Shii communal identities and to conceive Shii Muslims as part of an alternative umma (Islamic community). The project focusses on Iran, Iraq and significant but unexplored diasporic links to Syria, Kuwait and Britain. In response to the rise of modern nation-states in the Middle East, Shii clerical authorities resorted to a wide range of activities: (a) articulating intellectual responses to the ideologies underpinning modern Middle Eastern nation-states, (b) forming political parties and other platforms of socio-political activism and (c) using various forms of cultural production by systematising and promoting Shii ritual practices and utilising visual art, poetry and new media. The project yields a perspectival shift on the factors that led to Shii communal mobilisation by: - Analysing unacknowledged intellectual responses of Shii clerical authorities to the secular or sectarian ideologies of post-colonial nation-states and to the current sectarianisation of geopolitics in the Middle East. - Emphasising the central role of diasporic networks in the Middle East and Europe in mobilising Shii communities and in influencing discourses and agendas of clerical authorities based in Iraq and Iran. - Exploring new modes of cultural production in the form of a modern Shii aesthetics articulated in ritual practices, visual art, poetry and new media and thus creating a more holistic narrative on Shii religio-political mobilisation.
Project acronym AMAREC
Project Amenability, Approximation and Reconstruction
Host Institution (HI) WESTFAELISCHE WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAET MUENSTER
Summary Algebras of operators on Hilbert spaces were originally introduced as the right framework for the mathematical description of quantum mechanics. In modern mathematics the scope has much broadened due to the highly versatile nature of operator algebras. They are particularly useful in the analysis of groups and their actions. Amenability is a finiteness property which occurs in many different contexts and which can be characterised in many different ways. We will analyse amenability in terms of approximation properties, in the frameworks of abstract C*-algebras, of topological dynamical systems, and of discrete groups. Such approximation properties will serve as bridging devices between these setups, and they will be used to systematically recover geometric information about the underlying structures. When passing from groups, and more generally from dynamical systems, to operator algebras, one loses information, but one gains new tools to isolate and analyse pertinent properties of the underlying structure. We will mostly be interested in the topological setting, and in the associated C*-algebras. Amenability of groups or of dynamical systems then translates into the completely positive approximation property. Systems of completely positive approximations store all the essential data about a C*-algebra, and sometimes one can arrange the systems so that one can directly read of such information. For transformation group C*-algebras, one can achieve this by using approximation properties of the underlying dynamics. To some extent one can even go back, and extract dynamical approximation properties from completely positive approximations of the C*-algebra. This interplay between approximation properties in topological dynamics and in noncommutative topology carries a surprisingly rich structure. It connects directly to the heart of the classification problem for nuclear C*-algebras on the one hand, and to central open questions on amenable dynamics on the other.
Algebras of operators on Hilbert spaces were originally introduced as the right framework for the mathematical description of quantum mechanics. In modern mathematics the scope has much broadened due to the highly versatile nature of operator algebras. They are particularly useful in the analysis of groups and their actions. Amenability is a finiteness property which occurs in many different contexts and which can be characterised in many different ways. We will analyse amenability in terms of approximation properties, in the frameworks of abstract C*-algebras, of topological dynamical systems, and of discrete groups. Such approximation properties will serve as bridging devices between these setups, and they will be used to systematically recover geometric information about the underlying structures. When passing from groups, and more generally from dynamical systems, to operator algebras, one loses information, but one gains new tools to isolate and analyse pertinent properties of the underlying structure. We will mostly be interested in the topological setting, and in the associated C*-algebras. Amenability of groups or of dynamical systems then translates into the completely positive approximation property. Systems of completely positive approximations store all the essential data about a C*-algebra, and sometimes one can arrange the systems so that one can directly read of such information. For transformation group C*-algebras, one can achieve this by using approximation properties of the underlying dynamics. To some extent one can even go back, and extract dynamical approximation properties from completely positive approximations of the C*-algebra. This interplay between approximation properties in topological dynamics and in noncommutative topology carries a surprisingly rich structure. It connects directly to the heart of the classification problem for nuclear C*-algebras on the one hand, and to central open questions on amenable dynamics on the other.
Project acronym AMBH
Project Ancient Music Beyond Hellenisation
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory. The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula. On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous 'Arabic' music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the 'Classical world', potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic 'heartlands' may provide evidence of 'foreign' tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory. The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula. On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous 'Arabic' music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the 'Classical world', potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic 'heartlands' may provide evidence of 'foreign' tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
Project acronym AMOPROX
Project Quantifying Aerobic Methane Oxidation in the Ocean: Calibration and palaeo application of a novel proxy
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Summary Methane, a key greenhouse gas, is cycled by microorganisms via two pathways, aerobically and anaerobically. Research on the marine methane cycle has mainly concentrated on anaerobic processes. Recent biomarker work has provided compelling evidence that aerobic methane oxidation (AMO) can play a more significant role in cycling methane emitted from sediments than previously considered. AMO, however, is not well studied requiring novel proxies that can be applied to the sedimentary record. A group of complex lipids biosynthesised by aerobic methanotrophs known as aminobacteriohopanepolyols represent an ideal target for developing such poxies. Recently BHPs have been identified in a wide range of modern and recent environments including a continuous record from the Congo deep sea fan spanning the last 1.2 million years. In this integrated study, the regulation and expression of BHP will be investigated and calibrated against environmental variables including temperature, pH, salinity and, most importantly, methane concentrations. The work program has three complementary strands. (1) Pure culture and sedimentary microcosm experiments providing an approximation to natural conditions. (2) Calibration of BHP signatures in natural marine settings (e.g. cold seeps, mud volcanoes, pockmarks) against measured methane gradients. (3) Application of this novel approach to the marine sedimentary record to approximate methane fluxes in the past, explore the age and bathymetric limits of this novel molecular proxy, and identify and potentially 14C date palaeo-pockmarks structures. Crucial to the success is also the refinement of the analytical protocols to improve both accuracy and sensitivity, using a more sensitive analytical instrument (triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer).
Methane, a key greenhouse gas, is cycled by microorganisms via two pathways, aerobically and anaerobically. Research on the marine methane cycle has mainly concentrated on anaerobic processes. Recent biomarker work has provided compelling evidence that aerobic methane oxidation (AMO) can play a more significant role in cycling methane emitted from sediments than previously considered. AMO, however, is not well studied requiring novel proxies that can be applied to the sedimentary record. A group of complex lipids biosynthesised by aerobic methanotrophs known as aminobacteriohopanepolyols represent an ideal target for developing such poxies. Recently BHPs have been identified in a wide range of modern and recent environments including a continuous record from the Congo deep sea fan spanning the last 1.2 million years. In this integrated study, the regulation and expression of BHP will be investigated and calibrated against environmental variables including temperature, pH, salinity and, most importantly, methane concentrations. The work program has three complementary strands. (1) Pure culture and sedimentary microcosm experiments providing an approximation to natural conditions. (2) Calibration of BHP signatures in natural marine settings (e.g. cold seeps, mud volcanoes, pockmarks) against measured methane gradients. (3) Application of this novel approach to the marine sedimentary record to approximate methane fluxes in the past, explore the age and bathymetric limits of this novel molecular proxy, and identify and potentially 14C date palaeo-pockmarks structures. Crucial to the success is also the refinement of the analytical protocols to improve both accuracy and sensitivity, using a more sensitive analytical instrument (triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer).
Project acronym AMSTAT
Project Problems at the Applied Mathematics-Statistics Interface
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Summary Applied mathematics is concerned with developing models with predictive capability, and with probing those models to obtain qualitative and quantitative insight into the phenomena being modelled. Statistics is data-driven and is aimed at the development of methodologies to optimize the information derived from data. The increasing complexity of phenomena that scientists and engineers wish to model, together with our increased ability to gather, store and interrogate data, mean that the subjects of applied mathematics and statistics are increasingly required to work in conjunction. This research proposal is concerned with a research program at the interface between these two disciplines, aimed at problems in differential equations where profusion of data and the sophisticated model combine to produce the mathematical problem of obtaining information from a probability measure on function space. Applications are far-reaching and include the atmospheric sciences, geophysics, chemistry, econometrics and signal processing. The objectives of the research are: (i) to create the systematic foundations for a range of problems at the applied mathematics and statistics interface which share the common mathematical structure underpinning the range of applications described above; (ii) to exploit this common mathematical structure to design effecient algorithms to sample probability measures on function space; (iii) to apply these algorithms to attack a range of significant problems arising in molecular dynamics and in the atmospheric sciences.
Applied mathematics is concerned with developing models with predictive capability, and with probing those models to obtain qualitative and quantitative insight into the phenomena being modelled. Statistics is data-driven and is aimed at the development of methodologies to optimize the information derived from data. The increasing complexity of phenomena that scientists and engineers wish to model, together with our increased ability to gather, store and interrogate data, mean that the subjects of applied mathematics and statistics are increasingly required to work in conjunction. This research proposal is concerned with a research program at the interface between these two disciplines, aimed at problems in differential equations where profusion of data and the sophisticated model combine to produce the mathematical problem of obtaining information from a probability measure on function space. Applications are far-reaching and include the atmospheric sciences, geophysics, chemistry, econometrics and signal processing. The objectives of the research are: (i) to create the systematic foundations for a range of problems at the applied mathematics and statistics interface which share the common mathematical structure underpinning the range of applications described above; (ii) to exploit this common mathematical structure to design effecient algorithms to sample probability measures on function space; (iii) to apply these algorithms to attack a range of significant problems arising in molecular dynamics and in the atmospheric sciences.
Project acronym AMYTOX
Project Amyloid fibril cytotoxicity: new insights from novel approaches
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
Summary Despite the discovery of amyloidosis more than a century ago, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of these devastating human disorders remain obscure. In addition to their involvement in disease, amyloid fibrils perform physiological functions, whilst others have potentials as biomaterials. To realise their use in nanotechnology and to enable the development of amyloid therapies, there is an urgent need to understand the molecular pathways of amyloid assembly and to determine how amyloid fibrils interact with cells and cellular components. The challenges lie in the transient nature and low population of aggregating species and the panoply of amyloid fibril structures. This molecular complexity renders identification of the culprits of amyloid disease impossible to achieve using traditional methods. Here I propose a series of exciting experiments that aim to cast new light on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of amyloidosis by exploiting approaches capable of imaging individual protein molecules or single protein fibrils in vitro and in living cells. The proposal builds on new data from our laboratory that have shown that amyloid fibrils (disease-associated, functional and created from de novo designed sequences) kill cells by a mechanism that depends on fibril length and on cellular uptake. Specifically, I will (i) use single molecule fluorescence and non-covalent mass spectrometry and to determine why short fibril samples disrupt biological membranes more than their longer counterparts and electron tomography to determine, for the first time, the structural properties of cytotoxic fibril ends; (ii) develop single molecule force spectroscopy to probe the interactions between amyloid precursors, fibrils and cellular membranes; and (iii) develop cell biological assays to discover the biological mechanism(s) of amyloid-induced cell death and high resolution imaging and electron tomography to visualise amyloid fibrils in the act of killing living cells.
Despite the discovery of amyloidosis more than a century ago, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of these devastating human disorders remain obscure. In addition to their involvement in disease, amyloid fibrils perform physiological functions, whilst others have potentials as biomaterials. To realise their use in nanotechnology and to enable the development of amyloid therapies, there is an urgent need to understand the molecular pathways of amyloid assembly and to determine how amyloid fibrils interact with cells and cellular components. The challenges lie in the transient nature and low population of aggregating species and the panoply of amyloid fibril structures. This molecular complexity renders identification of the culprits of amyloid disease impossible to achieve using traditional methods. Here I propose a series of exciting experiments that aim to cast new light on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of amyloidosis by exploiting approaches capable of imaging individual protein molecules or single protein fibrils in vitro and in living cells. The proposal builds on new data from our laboratory that have shown that amyloid fibrils (disease-associated, functional and created from de novo designed sequences) kill cells by a mechanism that depends on fibril length and on cellular uptake. Specifically, I will (i) use single molecule fluorescence and non-covalent mass spectrometry and to determine why short fibril samples disrupt biological membranes more than their longer counterparts and electron tomography to determine, for the first time, the structural properties of cytotoxic fibril ends; (ii) develop single molecule force spectroscopy to probe the interactions between amyloid precursors, fibrils and cellular membranes; and (iii) develop cell biological assays to discover the biological mechanism(s) of amyloid-induced cell death and high resolution imaging and electron tomography to visualise amyloid fibrils in the act of killing living cells.
Project acronym AN-ICON
Project An-Iconology: History, Theory, and Practices of Environmental Images
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO
Summary "Recent developments in image-making techniques have resulted in a drastic blurring of the threshold between the world of the image and the real world. Immersive and interactive virtual environments have enabled the production of pictures that elicit in the perceiver a strong feeling of being incorporated in a quasi-real world. In doing so such pictures conceal their mediateness (their being based on a material support), their referentiality (their pointing to an extra-iconic dimension), and their separateness (normally assured by framing devices), paradoxically challenging their status as images, as icons: they are veritable "an-icons". This kind of pictures undermines the mainstream paradigm of Western image theories, shared by major models such as the doctrine of mimesis, the phenomenological account of image-consciousness, the analytic theories of depiction, the semiotic and iconological methods. These approaches miss the key counter-properties regarding an-icons as ""environmental"" images: their immediateness, unframedness, and presentness. Subjects relating to an-icons are no longer visual observers of images; they are experiencers living in a quasi-real environment that allows multisensory affordances and embodied agencies. AN-ICON aims to develop "an-iconology" as a new methodological approach able to address this challenging iconoscape. Such an approach needs to be articulated in a transdisciplinary and transmedial way: 1) HISTORY – a media-archaeological reconstruction will provide a taxonomy of the manifold an-iconic strategies (e.g. illusionistic painting, pre-cinematic dispositifs, 3D films, video games, head mounted displays); 2) THEORY – an experiential account (drawing on phenomenology, visual culture and media studies) will identify the an-iconic key concepts; 3) PRACTICES – a socio-cultural section will explore the multifaceted impact of an-iconic images, environments and technologies on contemporary professional domains as well as on everyday life. "
"Recent developments in image-making techniques have resulted in a drastic blurring of the threshold between the world of the image and the real world. Immersive and interactive virtual environments have enabled the production of pictures that elicit in the perceiver a strong feeling of being incorporated in a quasi-real world. In doing so such pictures conceal their mediateness (their being based on a material support), their referentiality (their pointing to an extra-iconic dimension), and their separateness (normally assured by framing devices), paradoxically challenging their status as images, as icons: they are veritable "an-icons". This kind of pictures undermines the mainstream paradigm of Western image theories, shared by major models such as the doctrine of mimesis, the phenomenological account of image-consciousness, the analytic theories of depiction, the semiotic and iconological methods. These approaches miss the key counter-properties regarding an-icons as ""environmental"" images: their immediateness, unframedness, and presentness. Subjects relating to an-icons are no longer visual observers of images; they are experiencers living in a quasi-real environment that allows multisensory affordances and embodied agencies. AN-ICON aims to develop "an-iconology" as a new methodological approach able to address this challenging iconoscape. Such an approach needs to be articulated in a transdisciplinary and transmedial way: 1) HISTORY – a media-archaeological reconstruction will provide a taxonomy of the manifold an-iconic strategies (e.g. illusionistic painting, pre-cinematic dispositifs, 3D films, video games, head mounted displays); 2) THEORY – an experiential account (drawing on phenomenology, visual culture and media studies) will identify the an-iconic key concepts; 3) PRACTICES – a socio-cultural section will explore the multifaceted impact of an-iconic images, environments and technologies on contemporary professional domains as well as on everyday life. "
Project acronym ANADEL
Project Analysis of Geometrical Effects on Dispersive Equations
Summary We are concerned with localization properties of solutions to hyperbolic PDEs, especially problems with a geometric component: how do boundaries and heterogeneous media influence spreading and concentration of solutions. While our first focus is on wave and Schrödinger equations on manifolds with boundary, strong connections exist with phase space localization for (clusters of) eigenfunctions, which are of independent interest. Motivations come from nonlinear dispersive models (in physically relevant settings), properties of eigenfunctions in quantum chaos (related to both physics of optic fiber design as well as number theoretic questions), or harmonic analysis on manifolds. Waves propagation in real life physics occur in media which are neither homogeneous or spatially infinity. The birth of radar/sonar technologies (and the raise of computed tomography) greatly motivated numerous developments in microlocal analysis and the linear theory. Only recently toy nonlinear models have been studied on a curved background, sometimes compact or rough. Understanding how to extend such tools, dealing with wave dispersion or focusing, will allow us to significantly progress in our mathematical understanding of physically relevant models. There, boundaries appear naturally and most earlier developments related to propagation of singularities in this context have limited scope with respect to crucial dispersive effects. Despite great progress over the last decade, driven by the study of quasilinear equations, our knowledge is still very limited. Going beyond this recent activity requires new tools whose development is at the heart of this proposal, including good approximate solutions (parametrices) going over arbitrarily large numbers of caustics, sharp pointwise bounds on Green functions, development of efficient wave packets methods, quantitative refinements of propagation of singularities (with direct applications in control theory), only to name a few important ones.
We are concerned with localization properties of solutions to hyperbolic PDEs, especially problems with a geometric component: how do boundaries and heterogeneous media influence spreading and concentration of solutions. While our first focus is on wave and Schrödinger equations on manifolds with boundary, strong connections exist with phase space localization for (clusters of) eigenfunctions, which are of independent interest. Motivations come from nonlinear dispersive models (in physically relevant settings), properties of eigenfunctions in quantum chaos (related to both physics of optic fiber design as well as number theoretic questions), or harmonic analysis on manifolds. Waves propagation in real life physics occur in media which are neither homogeneous or spatially infinity. The birth of radar/sonar technologies (and the raise of computed tomography) greatly motivated numerous developments in microlocal analysis and the linear theory. Only recently toy nonlinear models have been studied on a curved background, sometimes compact or rough. Understanding how to extend such tools, dealing with wave dispersion or focusing, will allow us to significantly progress in our mathematical understanding of physically relevant models. There, boundaries appear naturally and most earlier developments related to propagation of singularities in this context have limited scope with respect to crucial dispersive effects. Despite great progress over the last decade, driven by the study of quasilinear equations, our knowledge is still very limited. Going beyond this recent activity requires new tools whose development is at the heart of this proposal, including good approximate solutions (parametrices) going over arbitrarily large numbers of caustics, sharp pointwise bounds on Green functions, development of efficient wave packets methods, quantitative refinements of propagation of singularities (with direct applications in control theory), only to name a few important ones.
Project acronym analysisdirac
Project The analysis of the Dirac operator: the hypoelliptic Laplacian and its applications
Summary This proposal is devoted to the applications of a new hypoelliptic Dirac operator, whose analytic properties have been studied by Lebeau and myself. Its construction connects classical Hodge theory with the geodesic flow, and more generally any geometrically defined Hodge Laplacian with a dynamical system on the cotangent bundle. The proper description of this object can be given in analytic, index theoretic and probabilistic terms, which explains both its potential many applications, and also its complexity.
This proposal is devoted to the applications of a new hypoelliptic Dirac operator, whose analytic properties have been studied by Lebeau and myself. Its construction connects classical Hodge theory with the geodesic flow, and more generally any geometrically defined Hodge Laplacian with a dynamical system on the cotangent bundle. The proper description of this object can be given in analytic, index theoretic and probabilistic terms, which explains both its potential many applications, and also its complexity.
Project acronym ANALYTIC
Project ANALYTIC PROPERTIES OF INFINITE GROUPS: limits, curvature, and randomness
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Summary The overall goal of this project is to develop new concepts and techniques in geometric and asymptotic group theory for a systematic study of the analytic properties of discrete groups. These are properties depending on the unitary representation theory of the group. The fundamental examples are amenability, discovered by von Neumann in 1929, and property (T), introduced by Kazhdan in 1967. My main objective is to establish the precise relations between groups recently appeared in K-theory and topology such as C*-exact groups and groups coarsely embeddable into a Hilbert space, versus those discovered in ergodic theory and operator algebra, for example, sofic and hyperlinear groups. This is a first ever attempt to confront the analytic behavior of so different nature. I plan to work on crucial open questions: Is every coarsely embeddable group C*-exact? Is every group sofic? Is every hyperlinear group sofic? My motivation is two-fold: - Many outstanding conjectures were recently solved for these groups, e.g. the Novikov conjecture (1965) for coarsely embeddable groups by Yu in 2000 and the Gottschalk surjunctivity conjecture (1973) for sofic groups by Gromov in 1999. However, their group-theoretical structure remains mysterious. - In recent years, geometric group theory has undergone significant changes, mainly due to the growing impact of this theory on other branches of mathematics. However, the interplay between geometric, asymptotic, and analytic group properties has not yet been fully understood. The main innovative contribution of this proposal lies in the interaction between 3 axes: (i) limits of groups, in the space of marked groups or metric ultralimits; (ii) analytic properties of groups with curvature, of lacunary or relatively hyperbolic groups; (iii) random groups, in a topological or statistical meaning. As a result, I will describe the above apparently unrelated classes of groups in a unified way and will detail their algebraic behavior.
The overall goal of this project is to develop new concepts and techniques in geometric and asymptotic group theory for a systematic study of the analytic properties of discrete groups. These are properties depending on the unitary representation theory of the group. The fundamental examples are amenability, discovered by von Neumann in 1929, and property (T), introduced by Kazhdan in 1967. My main objective is to establish the precise relations between groups recently appeared in K-theory and topology such as C*-exact groups and groups coarsely embeddable into a Hilbert space, versus those discovered in ergodic theory and operator algebra, for example, sofic and hyperlinear groups. This is a first ever attempt to confront the analytic behavior of so different nature. I plan to work on crucial open questions: Is every coarsely embeddable group C*-exact? Is every group sofic? Is every hyperlinear group sofic? My motivation is two-fold: - Many outstanding conjectures were recently solved for these groups, e.g. the Novikov conjecture (1965) for coarsely embeddable groups by Yu in 2000 and the Gottschalk surjunctivity conjecture (1973) for sofic groups by Gromov in 1999. However, their group-theoretical structure remains mysterious. - In recent years, geometric group theory has undergone significant changes, mainly due to the growing impact of this theory on other branches of mathematics. However, the interplay between geometric, asymptotic, and analytic group properties has not yet been fully understood. The main innovative contribution of this proposal lies in the interaction between 3 axes: (i) limits of groups, in the space of marked groups or metric ultralimits; (ii) analytic properties of groups with curvature, of lacunary or relatively hyperbolic groups; (iii) random groups, in a topological or statistical meaning. As a result, I will describe the above apparently unrelated classes of groups in a unified way and will detail their algebraic behavior.
Project acronym ANAMULTISCALE
Project Analysis of Multiscale Systems Driven by Functionals
Host Institution (HI) FORSCHUNGSVERBUND BERLIN EV
Summary Many complex phenomena in the sciences are described by nonlinear partial differential equations, the solutions of which exhibit oscillations and concentration effects on multiple temporal or spatial scales. Our aim is to use methods from applied analysis to contribute to the understanding of the interplay of effects on different scales. The central question is to determine those quantities on the microscale which are needed to for the correct description of the macroscopic evolution. We aim to develop a mathematical framework for analyzing and modeling coupled systems with multiple scales. This will include Hamiltonian dynamics as well as different types of dissipation like gradient flows or rate-independent dynamics. The choice of models will be guided by specific applications in material modeling (e.g., thermoplasticity, pattern formation, porous media) and optoelectronics (pulse interaction, Maxwell-Bloch systems, semiconductors, quantum mechanics). The research will address mathematically fundamental issues like existence and stability of solutions but will mainly be devoted to the modeling of multiscale phenomena in evolution systems. We will focus on systems with geometric structures, where the dynamics is driven by functionals. Thus, we can go much beyond the classical theory of homogenization and singular perturbations. The novel features of our approach are - the combination of different dynamical effects in one framework, - the use of geometric and metric structures for coupled partial differential equations, - the exploitation of Gamma-convergence for evolution systems driven by functionals.
Many complex phenomena in the sciences are described by nonlinear partial differential equations, the solutions of which exhibit oscillations and concentration effects on multiple temporal or spatial scales. Our aim is to use methods from applied analysis to contribute to the understanding of the interplay of effects on different scales. The central question is to determine those quantities on the microscale which are needed to for the correct description of the macroscopic evolution. We aim to develop a mathematical framework for analyzing and modeling coupled systems with multiple scales. This will include Hamiltonian dynamics as well as different types of dissipation like gradient flows or rate-independent dynamics. The choice of models will be guided by specific applications in material modeling (e.g., thermoplasticity, pattern formation, porous media) and optoelectronics (pulse interaction, Maxwell-Bloch systems, semiconductors, quantum mechanics). The research will address mathematically fundamental issues like existence and stability of solutions but will mainly be devoted to the modeling of multiscale phenomena in evolution systems. We will focus on systems with geometric structures, where the dynamics is driven by functionals. Thus, we can go much beyond the classical theory of homogenization and singular perturbations. The novel features of our approach are - the combination of different dynamical effects in one framework, - the use of geometric and metric structures for coupled partial differential equations, - the exploitation of Gamma-convergence for evolution systems driven by functionals.
Project acronym AncNar
Project Experience and Teleology in Ancient Narrative
Host Institution (HI) RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG
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.
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.
Project acronym AnCon
Project A Comparative Anthropology of Conscience, Ethics and Human Rights
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Summary This project is a comparative anthropology of conscience, ethics and human rights. Numerous international human rights documents formally declare their commitment to protect freedom of conscience. But, what is conscience and how do we know it when we see it? How do we distinguish it from self-interest or fanaticism? And what happens when the concept, often associated with a distinct Christian or liberal history, travels across cultural boundaries? The project will examine the cultural conditions under which claims to conscience are made possible, and the types of claims that are most persuasive when doing so. The project addresses these issues through the comparative analysis of three case studies: British pacifists, Sri Lankan activists, and Soviet dissidents. These case studies have been carefully chosen to provide globally significant, but contrasting examples of contests over the implications of claims to conscience. If claims of conscience are often associated with a specifically liberal and Christian tradition, mid-twentieth century Britain can be said to stand at the centre of that tradition. Sri Lanka represents a particularly fraught post-colonial South Asian counterpoint, wracked by nationalist violence, and influenced by ethical traditions associated with forms of Hinduism and Buddhism. Soviet Russia represents a further contrast, a totalitarian regime, where atheism was the dominant ethical language. Finally, the project will return specifically to international human rights institutions, examining the history of the category of conscience in the UN human rights system. This project will be ground breaking, employing novel methods and analytical insights, in order to producing the first comparative analysis of the cultural and political salience of claims of conscience. In doing so, the research aims to transform our understandings of the limits and potentials of attempts to protect freedom of conscience.
This project is a comparative anthropology of conscience, ethics and human rights. Numerous international human rights documents formally declare their commitment to protect freedom of conscience. But, what is conscience and how do we know it when we see it? How do we distinguish it from self-interest or fanaticism? And what happens when the concept, often associated with a distinct Christian or liberal history, travels across cultural boundaries? The project will examine the cultural conditions under which claims to conscience are made possible, and the types of claims that are most persuasive when doing so. The project addresses these issues through the comparative analysis of three case studies: British pacifists, Sri Lankan activists, and Soviet dissidents. These case studies have been carefully chosen to provide globally significant, but contrasting examples of contests over the implications of claims to conscience. If claims of conscience are often associated with a specifically liberal and Christian tradition, mid-twentieth century Britain can be said to stand at the centre of that tradition. Sri Lanka represents a particularly fraught post-colonial South Asian counterpoint, wracked by nationalist violence, and influenced by ethical traditions associated with forms of Hinduism and Buddhism. Soviet Russia represents a further contrast, a totalitarian regime, where atheism was the dominant ethical language. Finally, the project will return specifically to international human rights institutions, examining the history of the category of conscience in the UN human rights system. This project will be ground breaking, employing novel methods and analytical insights, in order to producing the first comparative analysis of the cultural and political salience of claims of conscience. In doing so, the research aims to transform our understandings of the limits and potentials of attempts to protect freedom of conscience.
Project acronym ANGEOM
Project Geometric analysis in the Euclidean space
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA
Summary "We propose to study different questions in the area of the so called geometric analysis. Most of the topics we are interested in deal with the connection between the behavior of singular integrals and the geometry of sets and measures. The study of this connection has been shown to be extremely helpful in the solution of certain long standing problems in the last years, such as the solution of the Painlev\'e problem or the obtaining of the optimal distortion bounds for quasiconformal mappings by Astala. More specifically, we would like to study the relationship between the L^2 boundedness of singular integrals associated with Riesz and other related kernels, and rectifiability and other geometric notions. The so called David-Semmes problem is probably the main open problem in this area. Up to now, the techniques used to deal with this problem come from multiscale analysis and involve ideas from Littlewood-Paley theory and quantitative techniques of rectifiability. We propose to apply new ideas that combine variational arguments with other techniques which have connections with mass transportation. Further, we think that it is worth to explore in more detail the connection among mass transportation, singular integrals, and uniform rectifiability. We are also interested in the field of quasiconformal mappings. We plan to study a problem regarding the quasiconformal distortion of quasicircles. This problem consists in proving that the bounds obtained recently by S. Smirnov on the dimension of K-quasicircles are optimal. We want to apply techniques from quantitative geometric measure theory to deal with this question. Another question that we intend to explore lies in the interplay of harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory and partial differential equations. This concerns an old problem on the unique continuation of harmonic functions at the boundary open C^1 or Lipschitz domain. All the results known by now deal with smoother Dini domains."
"We propose to study different questions in the area of the so called geometric analysis. Most of the topics we are interested in deal with the connection between the behavior of singular integrals and the geometry of sets and measures. The study of this connection has been shown to be extremely helpful in the solution of certain long standing problems in the last years, such as the solution of the Painlev\'e problem or the obtaining of the optimal distortion bounds for quasiconformal mappings by Astala. More specifically, we would like to study the relationship between the L^2 boundedness of singular integrals associated with Riesz and other related kernels, and rectifiability and other geometric notions. The so called David-Semmes problem is probably the main open problem in this area. Up to now, the techniques used to deal with this problem come from multiscale analysis and involve ideas from Littlewood-Paley theory and quantitative techniques of rectifiability. We propose to apply new ideas that combine variational arguments with other techniques which have connections with mass transportation. Further, we think that it is worth to explore in more detail the connection among mass transportation, singular integrals, and uniform rectifiability. We are also interested in the field of quasiconformal mappings. We plan to study a problem regarding the quasiconformal distortion of quasicircles. This problem consists in proving that the bounds obtained recently by S. Smirnov on the dimension of K-quasicircles are optimal. We want to apply techniques from quantitative geometric measure theory to deal with this question. Another question that we intend to explore lies in the interplay of harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory and partial differential equations. This concerns an old problem on the unique continuation of harmonic functions at the boundary open C^1 or Lipschitz domain. All the results known by now deal with smoother Dini domains."
Project acronym ANISOTROPIC UNIVERSE
Project The anisotropic universe -- a reality or fluke?
Summary "During the last decade, a strikingly successful cosmological concordance model has been established. With only six free parameters, nearly all observables, comprising millions of data points, may be fitted with outstanding precision. However, in this beautiful picture a few ""blemishes"" have turned up, apparently not consistent with the standard model: While the model predicts that the universe is isotropic (i.e., looks the same in all directions) and homogeneous (i.e., the statistical properties are the same everywhere), subtle hints of the contrary are now seen. For instance, peculiar preferred directions and correlations are observed in the cosmic microwave background; some studies considering nearby galaxies suggest the existence of anomalous large-scale cosmic flows; a study of distant quasars hints towards unexpected large-scale correlations. All of these reports are individually highly intriguing, and together they hint toward a more complicated and interesting universe than previously imagined -- but none of the reports can be considered decisive. One major obstacle in many cases has been the relatively poor data quality. This is currently about to change, as the next generation of new and far more powerful experiments are coming online. Of special interest to me are Planck, an ESA-funded CMB satellite currently taking data; QUIET, a ground-based CMB polarization experiment located in Chile; and various large-scale structure (LSS) data sets, such as the SDSS and 2dF surveys, and in the future Euclid, a proposed galaxy survey satellite also funded by ESA. By combining the world s best data from both CMB and LSS measurements, I will in the proposed project attempt to settle this question: Is our universe really anisotropic? Or are these recent claims only the results of systematic errors or statistical flukes? If the claims turn out to hold against this tide of new and high-quality data, then cosmology as a whole may need to be re-written."
"During the last decade, a strikingly successful cosmological concordance model has been established. With only six free parameters, nearly all observables, comprising millions of data points, may be fitted with outstanding precision. However, in this beautiful picture a few ""blemishes"" have turned up, apparently not consistent with the standard model: While the model predicts that the universe is isotropic (i.e., looks the same in all directions) and homogeneous (i.e., the statistical properties are the same everywhere), subtle hints of the contrary are now seen. For instance, peculiar preferred directions and correlations are observed in the cosmic microwave background; some studies considering nearby galaxies suggest the existence of anomalous large-scale cosmic flows; a study of distant quasars hints towards unexpected large-scale correlations. All of these reports are individually highly intriguing, and together they hint toward a more complicated and interesting universe than previously imagined -- but none of the reports can be considered decisive. One major obstacle in many cases has been the relatively poor data quality. This is currently about to change, as the next generation of new and far more powerful experiments are coming online. Of special interest to me are Planck, an ESA-funded CMB satellite currently taking data; QUIET, a ground-based CMB polarization experiment located in Chile; and various large-scale structure (LSS) data sets, such as the SDSS and 2dF surveys, and in the future Euclid, a proposed galaxy survey satellite also funded by ESA. By combining the world s best data from both CMB and LSS measurements, I will in the proposed project attempt to settle this question: Is our universe really anisotropic? Or are these recent claims only the results of systematic errors or statistical flukes? If the claims turn out to hold against this tide of new and high-quality data, then cosmology as a whole may need to be re-written."
Project acronym ANOBEST
Project Structure function and pharmacology of calcium-activated chloride channels: Anoctamins and Bestrophins
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Summary Calcium-activated chloride channels (CaCCs) play key roles in a range of physiological processes such as the control of membrane excitability, photoreception and epithelial secretion. Although the importance of these channels has been recognized for more than 30 years their molecular identity remained obscure. The recent discovery of two protein families encoding for CaCCs, Anoctamins and Bestrophins, was a scientific breakthrough that has provided first insight into two novel ion channel architectures. Within this proposal we aim to determine the first high resolution structures of members of both families and study their functional behavior by an interdisciplinary approach combining biochemistry, X-ray crystallography and electrophysiology. The structural investigation of eukaryotic membrane proteins is extremely challenging and will require us to investigate large numbers of candidates to single out family members with superior biochemical properties. During the last year we have made large progress in this direction. By screening numerous eukaryotic Anoctamins and prokaryotic Bestrophins we have identified well-behaved proteins for both families, which were successfully scaled-up and purified. Additional family members will be identified within the course of the project. For these stable proteins we plan to grow crystals diffracting to high resolution and to proceed with structure determination. With first structural information in hand we will perform detailed functional studies using electrophysiology and complementary biophysical techniques to gain mechanistic insight into ion permeation and gating. As the pharmacology of both families is still in its infancy we will in later stages also engage in the identification and characterization of inhibitors and activators of Anoctamins and Bestrophins to open up a field that may ultimately lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies targeting calcium-activated chloride channels.
Calcium-activated chloride channels (CaCCs) play key roles in a range of physiological processes such as the control of membrane excitability, photoreception and epithelial secretion. Although the importance of these channels has been recognized for more than 30 years their molecular identity remained obscure. The recent discovery of two protein families encoding for CaCCs, Anoctamins and Bestrophins, was a scientific breakthrough that has provided first insight into two novel ion channel architectures. Within this proposal we aim to determine the first high resolution structures of members of both families and study their functional behavior by an interdisciplinary approach combining biochemistry, X-ray crystallography and electrophysiology. The structural investigation of eukaryotic membrane proteins is extremely challenging and will require us to investigate large numbers of candidates to single out family members with superior biochemical properties. During the last year we have made large progress in this direction. By screening numerous eukaryotic Anoctamins and prokaryotic Bestrophins we have identified well-behaved proteins for both families, which were successfully scaled-up and purified. Additional family members will be identified within the course of the project. For these stable proteins we plan to grow crystals diffracting to high resolution and to proceed with structure determination. With first structural information in hand we will perform detailed functional studies using electrophysiology and complementary biophysical techniques to gain mechanistic insight into ion permeation and gating. As the pharmacology of both families is still in its infancy we will in later stages also engage in the identification and characterization of inhibitors and activators of Anoctamins and Bestrophins to open up a field that may ultimately lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies targeting calcium-activated chloride channels.
Project acronym AnonymClassic
Project The Arabic Anonymous in a World Classic
Host Institution (HI) FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN
Summary AnonymClassic is the first ever comprehensive study of Kalila and Dimna (a book of wisdom in fable form), a text of premodern world literature. Its spread is comparable to that of the Bible, except that it passed from Hinduism and Buddhism via Islam to Christianity. Its Arabic version, produced in the 8th century, when this was the lingua franca of the Near East, became the source of all further translations up to the 19th century. The work's multilingual history involving circa forty languages has never been systematically studied. The absence of available research has made world literature ignore it, while scholars of Arabic avoided it because of its widely diverging manuscripts, so that the actual shape of the Arabic key version is still in need of investigation. AnonymClassic tests a number of 'high-risk' propositions, including three key hypotheses: 1) The anonymous Arabic copyists of Kalila and Dimna are de facto co-authors, 2) their agency is comparable to that of the named medieval translators, and 3) the fluctuation of the Arabic versions is conditioned by the work's fictional status. AnonymClassic's methodology relies on a cross-lingual narratological analysis of the Arabic versions and all medieval translations (supported by a synoptic digital edition), which takes precisely the interventions at each stage of transmission (redaction, translation) as its subject. Considering the work's paths of dissemination from India to Europe, AnonymClassic will challenge the prevalent Western theoretical lens on world literature conceived 'from above' with the view 'from below,' based on the attested cross-cultural network constituted by its versions. AnonymClassic will introduce a new paradigm of an East-Western literary continuum with Arabic as a cultural bridge. Against the current background of Europe's diversifying and multicultural society, AnonymClassic purposes to integrate pre-modern Near Eastern literature and culture into our understanding of Global Culture.
AnonymClassic is the first ever comprehensive study of Kalila and Dimna (a book of wisdom in fable form), a text of premodern world literature. Its spread is comparable to that of the Bible, except that it passed from Hinduism and Buddhism via Islam to Christianity. Its Arabic version, produced in the 8th century, when this was the lingua franca of the Near East, became the source of all further translations up to the 19th century. The work's multilingual history involving circa forty languages has never been systematically studied. The absence of available research has made world literature ignore it, while scholars of Arabic avoided it because of its widely diverging manuscripts, so that the actual shape of the Arabic key version is still in need of investigation. AnonymClassic tests a number of 'high-risk' propositions, including three key hypotheses: 1) The anonymous Arabic copyists of Kalila and Dimna are de facto co-authors, 2) their agency is comparable to that of the named medieval translators, and 3) the fluctuation of the Arabic versions is conditioned by the work's fictional status. AnonymClassic's methodology relies on a cross-lingual narratological analysis of the Arabic versions and all medieval translations (supported by a synoptic digital edition), which takes precisely the interventions at each stage of transmission (redaction, translation) as its subject. Considering the work's paths of dissemination from India to Europe, AnonymClassic will challenge the prevalent Western theoretical lens on world literature conceived 'from above' with the view 'from below,' based on the attested cross-cultural network constituted by its versions. AnonymClassic will introduce a new paradigm of an East-Western literary continuum with Arabic as a cultural bridge. Against the current background of Europe's diversifying and multicultural society, AnonymClassic purposes to integrate pre-modern Near Eastern literature and culture into our understanding of Global Culture.
Project acronym ANOPTSETCON
Project Analysis of optimal sets and optimal constants: old questions and new results
Host Institution (HI) FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN NUERNBERG
Summary The analysis of geometric and functional inequalities naturally leads to consider the extremal cases, thus looking for optimal sets, or optimal functions, or optimal constants. The most classical examples are the (different versions of the) isoperimetric inequality and the Sobolev-like inequalities. Much is known about equality cases and best constants, but there are still many questions which seem quite natural but yet have no answer. For instance, it is not known, even in the 2-dimensional space, the answer of a question by Brezis: which set, among those with a given volume, has the biggest Sobolev-Poincaré constant for p=1? This is a very natural problem, and it appears reasonable that the optimal set should be the ball, but this has never been proved. The interest in problems like this relies not only in the extreme simplicity of the questions and in their classical flavour, but also in the new ideas and techniques which are needed to provide the answers. The main techniques that we aim to use are fine arguments of symmetrization, geometric constructions and tools from mass transportation (which is well known to be deeply connected with functional inequalities). These are the basic tools that we already used to reach, in last years, many results in a specific direction, namely the search of sharp quantitative inequalities. Our first result, together with Fusco and Maggi, showed what follows. Everybody knows that the set which minimizes the perimeter with given volume is the ball. But is it true that a set which almost minimizes the perimeter must be close to a ball? The question had been posed in the 1920's and many partial result appeared in the years. In our paper (Ann. of Math., 2007) we proved the sharp result. Many other results of this kind were obtained in last two years.
The analysis of geometric and functional inequalities naturally leads to consider the extremal cases, thus looking for optimal sets, or optimal functions, or optimal constants. The most classical examples are the (different versions of the) isoperimetric inequality and the Sobolev-like inequalities. Much is known about equality cases and best constants, but there are still many questions which seem quite natural but yet have no answer. For instance, it is not known, even in the 2-dimensional space, the answer of a question by Brezis: which set, among those with a given volume, has the biggest Sobolev-Poincaré constant for p=1? This is a very natural problem, and it appears reasonable that the optimal set should be the ball, but this has never been proved. The interest in problems like this relies not only in the extreme simplicity of the questions and in their classical flavour, but also in the new ideas and techniques which are needed to provide the answers. The main techniques that we aim to use are fine arguments of symmetrization, geometric constructions and tools from mass transportation (which is well known to be deeply connected with functional inequalities). These are the basic tools that we already used to reach, in last years, many results in a specific direction, namely the search of sharp quantitative inequalities. Our first result, together with Fusco and Maggi, showed what follows. Everybody knows that the set which minimizes the perimeter with given volume is the ball. But is it true that a set which almost minimizes the perimeter must be close to a ball? The question had been posed in the 1920's and many partial result appeared in the years. In our paper (Ann. of Math., 2007) we proved the sharp result. Many other results of this kind were obtained in last two years.
Project acronym ANPROB
Project Analytic-probabilistic methods for borderline singular integrals
Summary The proposal consists of an extensive research program to advance the understanding of singular integral operators of Harmonic Analysis in various situations on the borderline of the existing theory. This is to be achieved by a creative combination of techniques from Analysis and Probability. On top of the standard arsenal of modern Harmonic Analysis, the main probabilistic tools are the martingale transform inequalities of Burkholder, and random geometric constructions in the spirit of the random dyadic cubes introduced to Nonhomogeneous Analysis by Nazarov, Treil and Volberg. The problems to be addressed fall under the following subtitles, with many interconnections and overlap: (i) sharp weighted inequalities; (ii) nonhomogeneous singular integrals on metric spaces; (iii) local Tb theorems with borderline assumptions; (iv) functional calculus of rough differential operators; and (v) vector-valued singular integrals. Topic (i) is a part of Classical Analysis, where new methods have led to substantial recent progress, culminating in my solution in July 2010 of a celebrated problem on the linear dependence of the weighted operator norm on the Muckenhoupt norm of the weight. The proof should be extendible to several related questions, and the aim is to also address some outstanding open problems in the area. Topics (ii) and (v) deal with extensions of the theory of singular integrals to functions with more general domain and range spaces, allowing them to be abstract metric and Banach spaces, respectively. In case (ii), I have recently been able to relax the requirements on the space compared to the established theories, opening a new research direction here. Topics (iii) and (iv) are concerned with weakening the assumptions on singular integrals in the usual Euclidean space, to allow certain applications in the theory of Partial Differential Equations. The goal is to maintain a close contact and exchange of ideas between such abstract and concrete questions.
The proposal consists of an extensive research program to advance the understanding of singular integral operators of Harmonic Analysis in various situations on the borderline of the existing theory. This is to be achieved by a creative combination of techniques from Analysis and Probability. On top of the standard arsenal of modern Harmonic Analysis, the main probabilistic tools are the martingale transform inequalities of Burkholder, and random geometric constructions in the spirit of the random dyadic cubes introduced to Nonhomogeneous Analysis by Nazarov, Treil and Volberg. The problems to be addressed fall under the following subtitles, with many interconnections and overlap: (i) sharp weighted inequalities; (ii) nonhomogeneous singular integrals on metric spaces; (iii) local Tb theorems with borderline assumptions; (iv) functional calculus of rough differential operators; and (v) vector-valued singular integrals. Topic (i) is a part of Classical Analysis, where new methods have led to substantial recent progress, culminating in my solution in July 2010 of a celebrated problem on the linear dependence of the weighted operator norm on the Muckenhoupt norm of the weight. The proof should be extendible to several related questions, and the aim is to also address some outstanding open problems in the area. Topics (ii) and (v) deal with extensions of the theory of singular integrals to functions with more general domain and range spaces, allowing them to be abstract metric and Banach spaces, respectively. In case (ii), I have recently been able to relax the requirements on the space compared to the established theories, opening a new research direction here. Topics (iii) and (iv) are concerned with weakening the assumptions on singular integrals in the usual Euclidean space, to allow certain applications in the theory of Partial Differential Equations. The goal is to maintain a close contact and exchange of ideas between such abstract and concrete questions.
Project acronym ANT
Project Automata in Number Theory
Summary Finite automata are fundamental objects in Computer Science, of great importance on one hand for theoretical aspects (formal language theory, decidability, complexity) and on the other for practical applications (parsing). In number theory, finite automata are mainly used as simple devices for generating sequences of symbols over a finite set (e.g., digital representations of real numbers), and for recognizing some sets of integers or more generally of finitely generated abelian groups or monoids. One of the main features of these automatic structures comes from the fact that they are highly ordered without necessarily being trivial (i.e., periodic). With their rich fractal nature, they lie somewhere between order and chaos, even if, in most respects, their rigidity prevails. Over the last few years, several ground-breaking results have lead to a great renewed interest in the study of automatic structures in arithmetics. A primary objective of the ANT project is to exploit this opportunity by developing new directions and interactions between automata and number theory. In this proposal, we outline three lines of research concerning fundamental number theoretical problems that have baffled mathematicians for decades. They include the study of integer base expansions of classical constants, of arithmetical linear differential equations and their link with enumerative combinatorics, and of arithmetics in positive characteristic. At first glance, these topics may seem unrelated, but, surprisingly enough, the theory of finite automata will serve as a natural guideline. We stress that this new point of view on classical questions is a key part of our methodology: we aim at creating a powerful synergy between the different approaches we propose to develop, placing automata theory and related methods at the heart of the subject. This project provides a unique opportunity to create the first international team focusing on these different problems as a whole.
Finite automata are fundamental objects in Computer Science, of great importance on one hand for theoretical aspects (formal language theory, decidability, complexity) and on the other for practical applications (parsing). In number theory, finite automata are mainly used as simple devices for generating sequences of symbols over a finite set (e.g., digital representations of real numbers), and for recognizing some sets of integers or more generally of finitely generated abelian groups or monoids. One of the main features of these automatic structures comes from the fact that they are highly ordered without necessarily being trivial (i.e., periodic). With their rich fractal nature, they lie somewhere between order and chaos, even if, in most respects, their rigidity prevails. Over the last few years, several ground-breaking results have lead to a great renewed interest in the study of automatic structures in arithmetics. A primary objective of the ANT project is to exploit this opportunity by developing new directions and interactions between automata and number theory. In this proposal, we outline three lines of research concerning fundamental number theoretical problems that have baffled mathematicians for decades. They include the study of integer base expansions of classical constants, of arithmetical linear differential equations and their link with enumerative combinatorics, and of arithmetics in positive characteristic. At first glance, these topics may seem unrelated, but, surprisingly enough, the theory of finite automata will serve as a natural guideline. We stress that this new point of view on classical questions is a key part of our methodology: we aim at creating a powerful synergy between the different approaches we propose to develop, placing automata theory and related methods at the heart of the subject. This project provides a unique opportunity to create the first international team focusing on these different problems as a whole.
Project acronym ANTEGEFI
Project Analytic Techniques for Geometric and Functional Inequalities
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II
Summary Isoperimetric and Sobolev inequalities are the best known examples of geometric-functional inequalities. In recent years the PI and collaborators have obtained new and sharp quantitative versions of these and other important related inequalities. These results have been obtained by the combined use of classical symmetrization methods, new tools coming from mass transportation theory, deep geometric measure tools and ad hoc symmetrizations. The objective of this project is to further develop thes techniques in order to get: sharp quantitative versions of Faber-Krahn inequality, Gaussian isoperimetric inequality, Brunn-Minkowski inequality, Poincaré and Sobolev logarithm inequalities; sharp decay rates for the quantitative Sobolev inequalities and Polya-Szegö inequality.
Isoperimetric and Sobolev inequalities are the best known examples of geometric-functional inequalities. In recent years the PI and collaborators have obtained new and sharp quantitative versions of these and other important related inequalities. These results have been obtained by the combined use of classical symmetrization methods, new tools coming from mass transportation theory, deep geometric measure tools and ad hoc symmetrizations. The objective of this project is to further develop thes techniques in order to get: sharp quantitative versions of Faber-Krahn inequality, Gaussian isoperimetric inequality, Brunn-Minkowski inequality, Poincaré and Sobolev logarithm inequalities; sharp decay rates for the quantitative Sobolev inequalities and Polya-Szegö inequality.
Project acronym ANTHOS
Project Analytic Number Theory: Higher Order Structures
Host Institution (HI) GEORG-AUGUST-UNIVERSITAT GOTTINGENSTIFTUNG OFFENTLICHEN RECHTS
Summary This is a proposal for research at the interface of analytic number theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry. Motivated by fundamental conjectures in number theory, classical problems will be investigated in higher order situations: general number fields, automorphic forms on higher rank groups, the arithmetic of algebraic varieties of higher degree. In particular, I want to focus on - computation of moments of L-function of degree 3 and higher with applications to subconvexity and/or non-vanishing, as well as subconvexity for multiple L-functions; - bounds for sup-norms of cusp forms on various spaces and equidistribution of Hecke correspondences; - automorphic forms on higher rank groups and general number fields, in particular new bounds towards the Ramanujan conjecture; - a proof of Manin's conjecture for a certain class of singular algebraic varieties. The underlying methods are closely related; for example, rational points on algebraic varieties will be counted by a multiple L-series technique.
This is a proposal for research at the interface of analytic number theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry. Motivated by fundamental conjectures in number theory, classical problems will be investigated in higher order situations: general number fields, automorphic forms on higher rank groups, the arithmetic of algebraic varieties of higher degree. In particular, I want to focus on - computation of moments of L-function of degree 3 and higher with applications to subconvexity and/or non-vanishing, as well as subconvexity for multiple L-functions; - bounds for sup-norms of cusp forms on various spaces and equidistribution of Hecke correspondences; - automorphic forms on higher rank groups and general number fields, in particular new bounds towards the Ramanujan conjecture; - a proof of Manin's conjecture for a certain class of singular algebraic varieties. The underlying methods are closely related; for example, rational points on algebraic varieties will be counted by a multiple L-series technique.
Project acronym ANTIVIRNA
Project Structural and mechanistic studies of RNA-guided and RNA-targeting antiviral defense pathways
Summary The evolutionary pressures exerted by viruses on their host cells constitute a major force that drives the evolution of cellular antiviral mechanisms. The proposed research is motivated by our interest in the roles of protein-RNA interactions in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic antiviral pathways and will proceed in two directions. The first project stems from our current work on the CRISPR pathway, a recently discovered RNA-guided adaptive defense mechanism in bacteria and archaea that silences mobile genetic elements such as viruses (bacteriophages) and plasmids. CRISPR systems rely on short RNAs (crRNAs) that associate with CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins and function as sequence-specific guides in the detection and destruction of invading nucleic acids. To obtain molecular insights into the mechanisms of crRNA-guided interference, we will pursue structural and functional studies of DNA-targeting ribonuceoprotein complexes from type II and III CRISPR systems. Our work will shed light on the function of these systems in microbial pathogenesis and provide a framework for the informed engineering of RNA-guided gene targeting technologies. The second proposed research direction centres on RNA-targeting antiviral strategies employed by the human innate immune system. Here, our work will focus on structural studies of major interferon-induced effector proteins, initially examining the allosteric activation mechanism of RNase L and subsequently focusing on other antiviral nucleases and RNA helicases, as well as mechanisms by which RNA viruses evade the innate immune response of the host. In our investigations, we plan to approach these questions using an integrated strategy combining structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics with cell-based functional studies. Together, our studies will provide fundamental molecular insights into RNA-centred antiviral mechanisms and their impact on human health and disease.
The evolutionary pressures exerted by viruses on their host cells constitute a major force that drives the evolution of cellular antiviral mechanisms. The proposed research is motivated by our interest in the roles of protein-RNA interactions in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic antiviral pathways and will proceed in two directions. The first project stems from our current work on the CRISPR pathway, a recently discovered RNA-guided adaptive defense mechanism in bacteria and archaea that silences mobile genetic elements such as viruses (bacteriophages) and plasmids. CRISPR systems rely on short RNAs (crRNAs) that associate with CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins and function as sequence-specific guides in the detection and destruction of invading nucleic acids. To obtain molecular insights into the mechanisms of crRNA-guided interference, we will pursue structural and functional studies of DNA-targeting ribonuceoprotein complexes from type II and III CRISPR systems. Our work will shed light on the function of these systems in microbial pathogenesis and provide a framework for the informed engineering of RNA-guided gene targeting technologies. The second proposed research direction centres on RNA-targeting antiviral strategies employed by the human innate immune system. Here, our work will focus on structural studies of major interferon-induced effector proteins, initially examining the allosteric activation mechanism of RNase L and subsequently focusing on other antiviral nucleases and RNA helicases, as well as mechanisms by which RNA viruses evade the innate immune response of the host. In our investigations, we plan to approach these questions using an integrated strategy combining structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics with cell-based functional studies. Together, our studies will provide fundamental molecular insights into RNA-centred antiviral mechanisms and their impact on human health and disease.
Project acronym APARTHEID-STOPS
Project Apartheid -- The Global Itinerary: South African Cultural Formations in Transnational Circulation, 1948-1990
Host Institution (HI) THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Summary This proposal proceeds from an anomaly. Apartheid routinely breached the separation that it names. Whereas the South African regime was deeply isolationist in international terms, new research links it to the Cold War and decolonization. Yet this trend does not consider sufficiently that the global contest over the meaning of apartheid and resistance to it occurs on the terrain of culture. My project argues that studying the global circulation of South African cultural formations in the apartheid era provides novel historiographic leverage over Western liberalism during the Cold War. It recasts apartheid as an apparatus of transnational cultural production, turning existing historiography inside out. This study seeks: • To provide the first systematic account of the deterritorialization of "apartheid"—as political signifier and as apparatus generating circuits of transnational cultural production. • To analyze these itinerant cultural formations across media and national borders, articulating new intersections. • To map the itineraries of major South African exiles, where exile is taken to be a system of interlinked circuits of affiliation and cultural production. • To revise the historiography of states other than South Africa through the lens of deterritorialized apartheid-era formations at their respective destinations. • To show how apartheid reveals contradictions within Western liberalism during the Cold War, with special reference to racial inequality. Methodologically, I introduce the model of thick convergence to analyze three periods: 1. Kliptown & Bandung: Novel possibilities, 1948-1960. 2. Sharpeville & Memphis: Drumming up resistance, 1960-1976. 3. From Soweto to Berlin: Spectacle at the barricades, 1976-1990. Each explores a cultural dominant in the form of texts, soundscapes or photographs. My work stands at the frontier of transnational research, furnishing powerful new insights into why South Africa matters on the stage of global history.
This proposal proceeds from an anomaly. Apartheid routinely breached the separation that it names. Whereas the South African regime was deeply isolationist in international terms, new research links it to the Cold War and decolonization. Yet this trend does not consider sufficiently that the global contest over the meaning of apartheid and resistance to it occurs on the terrain of culture. My project argues that studying the global circulation of South African cultural formations in the apartheid era provides novel historiographic leverage over Western liberalism during the Cold War. It recasts apartheid as an apparatus of transnational cultural production, turning existing historiography inside out. This study seeks: • To provide the first systematic account of the deterritorialization of "apartheid"—as political signifier and as apparatus generating circuits of transnational cultural production. • To analyze these itinerant cultural formations across media and national borders, articulating new intersections. • To map the itineraries of major South African exiles, where exile is taken to be a system of interlinked circuits of affiliation and cultural production. • To revise the historiography of states other than South Africa through the lens of deterritorialized apartheid-era formations at their respective destinations. • To show how apartheid reveals contradictions within Western liberalism during the Cold War, with special reference to racial inequality. Methodologically, I introduce the model of thick convergence to analyze three periods: 1. Kliptown & Bandung: Novel possibilities, 1948-1960. 2. Sharpeville & Memphis: Drumming up resistance, 1960-1976. 3. From Soweto to Berlin: Spectacle at the barricades, 1976-1990. Each explores a cultural dominant in the form of texts, soundscapes or photographs. My work stands at the frontier of transnational research, furnishing powerful new insights into why South Africa matters on the stage of global history.
Project acronym APCG
Project Arabic Poetry in the Cairo Genizah
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Summary Poetry enjoys a special place in Arabic culture and literature. For centuries, Arabs of all faiths have considered poetry a key source for knowledge, intellectuality and wisdom. In the pre-Islamic era, poetry was considered as 'the Arab knowledge' and 'the Arab cultural archive', in which the social and cultural history, language, arts, music, religious and Arab's human experience were stored and preserved. Being a part of Arabic culture, Jews of Arab lands equally enjoyed writing and reading poetry. APCG will investigate for the first time a hitherto neglected collection of Arabic poetry fragments written in Hebrew script (in Judaeo-Arabic), which has been preserved in arguably the most important Jewish treasure trove: the Cairo Genizah. The fragments, numbered in the hundreds, constitute a unique source for understanding medieval and Early Modern Egypt from three main perspectives: Arabic studies, Jewish social and cultural studies, and anthropological studies. The core aims of the project are: • to make the entirety of Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the Cairo Genizah accessible to both academic scholars and to the public in a comprehensive database and in critical editions; • to reveal, through the study of poetry, hitherto hidden aspects of social and cultural history of the Jews in the Middle East with regard to literacy, education and intercommunal relations; • to explore hierarchies, interpersonal relationships and the social function of poetry in medieval and early modern Egypt through the study of Genizah poetry. To achieve the planned main objectives, APCG carries out a thorough interdisciplinary study of Genizah's Arabic poetry. This approach involves research from philological, linguistic, literary, historical and anthropological perspectives.
Poetry enjoys a special place in Arabic culture and literature. For centuries, Arabs of all faiths have considered poetry a key source for knowledge, intellectuality and wisdom. In the pre-Islamic era, poetry was considered as 'the Arab knowledge' and 'the Arab cultural archive', in which the social and cultural history, language, arts, music, religious and Arab's human experience were stored and preserved. Being a part of Arabic culture, Jews of Arab lands equally enjoyed writing and reading poetry. APCG will investigate for the first time a hitherto neglected collection of Arabic poetry fragments written in Hebrew script (in Judaeo-Arabic), which has been preserved in arguably the most important Jewish treasure trove: the Cairo Genizah. The fragments, numbered in the hundreds, constitute a unique source for understanding medieval and Early Modern Egypt from three main perspectives: Arabic studies, Jewish social and cultural studies, and anthropological studies. The core aims of the project are: • to make the entirety of Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the Cairo Genizah accessible to both academic scholars and to the public in a comprehensive database and in critical editions; • to reveal, through the study of poetry, hitherto hidden aspects of social and cultural history of the Jews in the Middle East with regard to literacy, education and intercommunal relations; • to explore hierarchies, interpersonal relationships and the social function of poetry in medieval and early modern Egypt through the study of Genizah poetry. To achieve the planned main objectives, APCG carries out a thorough interdisciplinary study of Genizah's Arabic poetry. This approach involves research from philological, linguistic, literary, historical and anthropological perspectives.
Project acronym APGRAPH
Project Asymptotic Graph Properties
Summary Many parts of Graph Theory have witnessed a huge growth over the last years, partly because of their relation to Theoretical Computer Science and Statistical Physics. These connections arise because graphs can be used to model many diverse structures. The focus of this proposal is on asymptotic results, i.e. the graphs under consideration are large. This often unveils patterns and connections which remain obscure when considering only small graphs. It also allows for the use of powerful techniques such as probabilistic arguments, which have led to spectacular new developments. In particular, my aim is to make decisive progress on central problems in the following 4 areas: (1) Factorizations: Factorizations of graphs can be viewed as partitions of the edges of a graph into simple regular structures. They have a rich history and arise in many different settings, such as edge-colouring problems, decomposition problems and in information theory. They also have applications to finding good tours for the famous Travelling salesman problem. (2) Hamilton cycles: A Hamilton cycle is a cycle which contains all the vertices of the graph. One of the most fundamental problems in Graph Theory/Theoretical Computer Science is to find conditions which guarantee the existence of a Hamilton cycle in a graph. (3) Embeddings of graphs: This is a natural (but difficult) continuation of the previous question where the aim is to embed more general structures than Hamilton cycles - there has been exciting progress here in recent years which has opened up new avenues. (4) Resilience of graphs: In many cases, it is important to know whether a graph `strongly' possesses some property, i.e. one cannot destroy the property by changing a few edges. The systematic study of this notion is a new and rapidly growing area. I have developed new methods for deep and long-standing problems in these areas which will certainly lead to further applications elsewhere.
Many parts of Graph Theory have witnessed a huge growth over the last years, partly because of their relation to Theoretical Computer Science and Statistical Physics. These connections arise because graphs can be used to model many diverse structures. The focus of this proposal is on asymptotic results, i.e. the graphs under consideration are large. This often unveils patterns and connections which remain obscure when considering only small graphs. It also allows for the use of powerful techniques such as probabilistic arguments, which have led to spectacular new developments. In particular, my aim is to make decisive progress on central problems in the following 4 areas: (1) Factorizations: Factorizations of graphs can be viewed as partitions of the edges of a graph into simple regular structures. They have a rich history and arise in many different settings, such as edge-colouring problems, decomposition problems and in information theory. They also have applications to finding good tours for the famous Travelling salesman problem. (2) Hamilton cycles: A Hamilton cycle is a cycle which contains all the vertices of the graph. One of the most fundamental problems in Graph Theory/Theoretical Computer Science is to find conditions which guarantee the existence of a Hamilton cycle in a graph. (3) Embeddings of graphs: This is a natural (but difficult) continuation of the previous question where the aim is to embed more general structures than Hamilton cycles - there has been exciting progress here in recent years which has opened up new avenues. (4) Resilience of graphs: In many cases, it is important to know whether a graph `strongly' possesses some property, i.e. one cannot destroy the property by changing a few edges. The systematic study of this notion is a new and rapidly growing area. I have developed new methods for deep and long-standing problems in these areas which will certainly lead to further applications elsewhere.
Project acronym APOLOGY
Project Political Apologies across Cultures
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT BRABANT
Summary In the past decades, there has been a considerable rise in the number of apologies offered by states for injustices and human rights violations. Among transitional justice scholars, there is significant debate about how useful such apologies are. Whereas some have applauded these gestures as an important step in peacemaking processes, others have argued that they may not fit in all cultures and may even be a risky tool for peacemaking. Unfortunately, theorizing and research in the field of transitional justice is still in its infancy and has not systematically addressed questions of cross-cultural variability yet. So, at present, we do not know whether political apologies are a universally viable way to restore justice and harmony. My project addresses this challenge. Using an innovative, interdisciplinary, and multi-method approach with in-depth interviews, (experimental) surveys, and content analyses of apologies, I analyze whether there are universals in how political apologies are valued, expressed, and interpreted or whether this varies as a function of cross-cultural differences in key values (collectivism and individualism) and norms (face and honor). Based on these findings, I build a theoretical framework that will fundamentally advance our understanding of the potential value and role of apologies in transitional justice processes. This project breaks new ground because it is the first to take the difficult step to collect cross-cultural data to examine whether key assumptions regarding political apologies hold across cultures. It is also the first in this area to use a multi-method approach, which makes it possible to take into account the complex reality of political apologies. Combining insights from transitional justice, cross-cultural psychology and anthropology, this project places theorizing on transitional justice on a much firmer footing and paves the way to more cross-culturally valid models to restore justice and promote reconciliation.
In the past decades, there has been a considerable rise in the number of apologies offered by states for injustices and human rights violations. Among transitional justice scholars, there is significant debate about how useful such apologies are. Whereas some have applauded these gestures as an important step in peacemaking processes, others have argued that they may not fit in all cultures and may even be a risky tool for peacemaking. Unfortunately, theorizing and research in the field of transitional justice is still in its infancy and has not systematically addressed questions of cross-cultural variability yet. So, at present, we do not know whether political apologies are a universally viable way to restore justice and harmony. My project addresses this challenge. Using an innovative, interdisciplinary, and multi-method approach with in-depth interviews, (experimental) surveys, and content analyses of apologies, I analyze whether there are universals in how political apologies are valued, expressed, and interpreted or whether this varies as a function of cross-cultural differences in key values (collectivism and individualism) and norms (face and honor). Based on these findings, I build a theoretical framework that will fundamentally advance our understanding of the potential value and role of apologies in transitional justice processes. This project breaks new ground because it is the first to take the difficult step to collect cross-cultural data to examine whether key assumptions regarding political apologies hold across cultures. It is also the first in this area to use a multi-method approach, which makes it possible to take into account the complex reality of political apologies. Combining insights from transitional justice, cross-cultural psychology and anthropology, this project places theorizing on transitional justice on a much firmer footing and paves the way to more cross-culturally valid models to restore justice and promote reconciliation.
Project acronym APPARENT
Project Transition to parenthood: International and national studies of norms and gender division of work at the life course transition to parenthood
Host Institution (HI) JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE-UNIVERSITATFRANKFURT AM MAIN
Summary The project is the first comprehensive study to assess contemporary parenting norms and practices and their diffusion. The project develops a comparative framework to study prevalent motherhood and fatherhood norms, images, identities and behaviour in current societies. The project will focus on how parenting roles are constructed by professionals, welfare states, and popular media, and will assess how cultural and institutional norms and images are perceived and realized by expecting and new parents. In 4 subprojects this study investigates 1) How standards of 'good' mothering and fathering are perceived, shaped and disseminated by professionals (gynaecologists, midwives, family councils); 2) How welfare states, labour markets and family policies target at mothers and fathers roles as earners and care givers, and how this has changed in recent decades; 3) How images of mothers and fathers roles have been portrayed in print media from 1980 until 2010; 4) How (expecting) mothers and fathers perceive, embody and represent parenting norms and images in their own work and family roles; 5) How new parents divide paid and unpaid work and how these divisions shape career patterns over the life course; 6) How these patterns differ cross-nationally. The international collaboration includes Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Poland. The aim of this project is to develop a contemporary sociology of adult sex roles and parenting norms: A theory of the social creation of parenting norms and a comprehensive framework to study empirically the change of men's and women's roles, identities and practices as earners and care givers in the early phase of family formation. By combining expert interviews, policy analysis and content analysis of print media with analyses of qualitative and quantitative data on (nascent) parents, the project will address the diverse layers associated with changing gender roles and parenting norms over the adult life course.
The project is the first comprehensive study to assess contemporary parenting norms and practices and their diffusion. The project develops a comparative framework to study prevalent motherhood and fatherhood norms, images, identities and behaviour in current societies. The project will focus on how parenting roles are constructed by professionals, welfare states, and popular media, and will assess how cultural and institutional norms and images are perceived and realized by expecting and new parents. In 4 subprojects this study investigates 1) How standards of 'good' mothering and fathering are perceived, shaped and disseminated by professionals (gynaecologists, midwives, family councils); 2) How welfare states, labour markets and family policies target at mothers and fathers roles as earners and care givers, and how this has changed in recent decades; 3) How images of mothers and fathers roles have been portrayed in print media from 1980 until 2010; 4) How (expecting) mothers and fathers perceive, embody and represent parenting norms and images in their own work and family roles; 5) How new parents divide paid and unpaid work and how these divisions shape career patterns over the life course; 6) How these patterns differ cross-nationally. The international collaboration includes Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Poland. The aim of this project is to develop a contemporary sociology of adult sex roles and parenting norms: A theory of the social creation of parenting norms and a comprehensive framework to study empirically the change of men's and women's roles, identities and practices as earners and care givers in the early phase of family formation. By combining expert interviews, policy analysis and content analysis of print media with analyses of qualitative and quantitative data on (nascent) parents, the project will address the diverse layers associated with changing gender roles and parenting norms over the adult life course.
Project acronym APPELS
Project A Probe of the Periodic Elements for Life in the Sea
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Summary "Chemical elements are the building blocks of life. The major elements, C, H. O, N, P, S are easily recognised as essential nutrients, but their use by life relies on metalloproteins. The identity of the metal centres of these metalloproteins and even the broader palette of trace elements fundamental to life are remarkably poorly known. Whole genomes remain opaque to decoding of this bioinorganic dimension, and optimal trace element concentrations for physiological function. Defining the elemental requirements for maximum growth rate of photosynthesising phytoplankton in the ocean, is critical to understanding Earth's climate. Although microscopic in stature, phytoplankton exert a gigantic influence on the biological pumping of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. Yet their metal requirements are poorly constrained, being inferred from cellular quotas and "nutrient-like" ocean metal distributions, susceptible to ambiguity between mistaken cellular uptake and use. APPELS will undertake a two-pronged approach to define the modern marine metallome/metalloproteome. I will explore the expanse of the periodic table for novel required elements by growing phytoplankton, representative of the broadest chemotypes, in manipulated media, to delineate optimal conditions for growth whereby any limitation at lowered concentrations implies use. The second prong uses cutting-edge techniques that unite methods from proteomics with geochemical mass-spectrometry to allow both metals and their associated proteins to be examined comprehensively. APPELS will transform our understanding of the essential elements in the ocean and how the biological pump of carbon is geared to ocean chemistry in an evolving world. More broadly, APPELS will provide a step change in documented protein-metal binding centres, with implications for discovery of novel biochemical pathways, and optimal nutrition."
"Chemical elements are the building blocks of life. The major elements, C, H. O, N, P, S are easily recognised as essential nutrients, but their use by life relies on metalloproteins. The identity of the metal centres of these metalloproteins and even the broader palette of trace elements fundamental to life are remarkably poorly known. Whole genomes remain opaque to decoding of this bioinorganic dimension, and optimal trace element concentrations for physiological function. Defining the elemental requirements for maximum growth rate of photosynthesising phytoplankton in the ocean, is critical to understanding Earth's climate. Although microscopic in stature, phytoplankton exert a gigantic influence on the biological pumping of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. Yet their metal requirements are poorly constrained, being inferred from cellular quotas and "nutrient-like" ocean metal distributions, susceptible to ambiguity between mistaken cellular uptake and use. APPELS will undertake a two-pronged approach to define the modern marine metallome/metalloproteome. I will explore the expanse of the periodic table for novel required elements by growing phytoplankton, representative of the broadest chemotypes, in manipulated media, to delineate optimal conditions for growth whereby any limitation at lowered concentrations implies use. The second prong uses cutting-edge techniques that unite methods from proteomics with geochemical mass-spectrometry to allow both metals and their associated proteins to be examined comprehensively. APPELS will transform our understanding of the essential elements in the ocean and how the biological pump of carbon is geared to ocean chemistry in an evolving world. More broadly, APPELS will provide a step change in documented protein-metal binding centres, with implications for discovery of novel biochemical pathways, and optimal nutrition."
Project acronym AQSER
Project Automorphic q-series and their application
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET ZU KOELN
Summary This proposal aims to unravel mysteries at the frontier of number theory and other areas of mathematics and physics. The main focus will be to understand and exploit "modularity" of q-hypergeometric series. "Modular forms are functions on the complex plane that are inordinately symmetric." (Mazur) The motivation comes from the wide-reaching applications of modularity in combinatorics, percolation, Lie theory, and physics (black holes). The interplay between automorphic forms, q-series, and other areas of mathematics and physics is often two-sided. On the one hand, the other areas provide interesting examples of automorphic objects and predict their behavior. Sometimes these even motivate new classes of automorphic objects which have not been previously studied. On the other hand, knowing that certain generating functions are modular gives one access to deep theoretical tools to prove results in other areas. "Mathematics is a language, and we need that language to understand the physics of our universe."(Ooguri) Understanding this interplay has attracted attention of researchers from a variety of areas. However, proofs of modularity of q-hypergeometric series currently fall far short of a comprehensive theory to describe the interplay between them and automorphic forms. A recent conjecture of W. Nahm relates the modularity of such series to K-theory. In this proposal I aim to fill this gap and provide a better understanding of this interplay by building a general structural framework enveloping these q-series. For this I will employ new kinds of automorphic objects and embed the functions of interest into bigger families A successful outcome of the proposed research will open further horizons and also answer open questions, even those in other areas which were not addressed in this proposal; for example the new theory could be applied to better understand Donaldson invariants.
This proposal aims to unravel mysteries at the frontier of number theory and other areas of mathematics and physics. The main focus will be to understand and exploit "modularity" of q-hypergeometric series. "Modular forms are functions on the complex plane that are inordinately symmetric." (Mazur) The motivation comes from the wide-reaching applications of modularity in combinatorics, percolation, Lie theory, and physics (black holes). The interplay between automorphic forms, q-series, and other areas of mathematics and physics is often two-sided. On the one hand, the other areas provide interesting examples of automorphic objects and predict their behavior. Sometimes these even motivate new classes of automorphic objects which have not been previously studied. On the other hand, knowing that certain generating functions are modular gives one access to deep theoretical tools to prove results in other areas. "Mathematics is a language, and we need that language to understand the physics of our universe."(Ooguri) Understanding this interplay has attracted attention of researchers from a variety of areas. However, proofs of modularity of q-hypergeometric series currently fall far short of a comprehensive theory to describe the interplay between them and automorphic forms. A recent conjecture of W. Nahm relates the modularity of such series to K-theory. In this proposal I aim to fill this gap and provide a better understanding of this interplay by building a general structural framework enveloping these q-series. For this I will employ new kinds of automorphic objects and embed the functions of interest into bigger families A successful outcome of the proposed research will open further horizons and also answer open questions, even those in other areas which were not addressed in this proposal; for example the new theory could be applied to better understand Donaldson invariants.
Project acronym AQUAMS
Project Analysis of quantum many-body systems
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYAUSTRIA
Summary The main focus of this project is the mathematical analysis of many-body quantum systems, in particular, interacting quantum gases at low temperature. The recent experimental advances in studying ultra-cold atomic gases have led to renewed interest in these systems. They display a rich variety of quantum phenomena, including, e.g., Bose–Einstein condensation and superfluidity, which makes them interesting both from a physical and a mathematical point of view. The goal of this project is the development of new mathematical tools for dealing with complex problems in many-body quantum systems. New mathematical methods lead to different points of view and thus increase our understanding of physical systems. From the point of view of mathematical physics, there has been significant progress in the last few years in understanding the interesting phenomena occurring in quantum gases, and the goal of this project is to investigate some of the key issues that remain unsolved. Due to the complex nature of the problems, new mathematical ideas and methods will have to be developed for this purpose. One of the main question addressed in this proposal is the validity of the Bogoliubov approximation for the excitation spectrum of many-body quantum systems. While its accuracy has been successfully shown for the ground state energy of various models, its predictions concerning the excitation spectrum have so far only been verified in the Hartree limit, an extreme form of a mean-field limit where the interaction among the particles is very weak and ranges over the whole system. The central part of this project is concerned with the extension of these results to the case of short-range interactions. Apart from being mathematically much more challenging, the short-range case is the one most relevant for the description of actual physical systems. Hence progress along these lines can be expected to yield valuable insight into the complex behavior of these many-body quantum systems.
The main focus of this project is the mathematical analysis of many-body quantum systems, in particular, interacting quantum gases at low temperature. The recent experimental advances in studying ultra-cold atomic gases have led to renewed interest in these systems. They display a rich variety of quantum phenomena, including, e.g., Bose–Einstein condensation and superfluidity, which makes them interesting both from a physical and a mathematical point of view. The goal of this project is the development of new mathematical tools for dealing with complex problems in many-body quantum systems. New mathematical methods lead to different points of view and thus increase our understanding of physical systems. From the point of view of mathematical physics, there has been significant progress in the last few years in understanding the interesting phenomena occurring in quantum gases, and the goal of this project is to investigate some of the key issues that remain unsolved. Due to the complex nature of the problems, new mathematical ideas and methods will have to be developed for this purpose. One of the main question addressed in this proposal is the validity of the Bogoliubov approximation for the excitation spectrum of many-body quantum systems. While its accuracy has been successfully shown for the ground state energy of various models, its predictions concerning the excitation spectrum have so far only been verified in the Hartree limit, an extreme form of a mean-field limit where the interaction among the particles is very weak and ranges over the whole system. The central part of this project is concerned with the extension of these results to the case of short-range interactions. Apart from being mathematically much more challenging, the short-range case is the one most relevant for the description of actual physical systems. Hence progress along these lines can be expected to yield valuable insight into the complex behavior of these many-body quantum systems.
Project acronym ARCHEIS
Project Understanding the onset and impact of Aquatic Resource Consumption in Human Evolution using novel Isotopic tracerS
Summary The onset of the systematic consumption of marine resources is thought to mark a turning point for the hominin lineage. To date, this onset cannot be traced, since classic isotope markers are not preserved beyond 50 - 100 ky. Aquatic food products are essential in human nutrition as the main source of polyunsaturated fatty acids in hunter-gatherer diets. The exploitation of marine resources is also thought to have reduced human mobility and enhanced social and technological complexification. Systematic aquatic food consumption could well have been a distinctive feature of Homo sapiens species among his fellow hominins, and has been linked to the astonishing leap in human intelligence and conscience. Yet, this hypothesis is challenged by the existence of mollusk and marine mammal bone remains at Neanderthal archeological sites. Recent work demonstrated the sensitivity of Zn isotope composition in bioapatite, the mineral part of bones and teeth, to dietary Zn. By combining classic (C and C/N isotope analyses) and innovative techniques (compound specific C/N and bulk Zn isotope analyses), I will develop a suite of sensitive tracers for shellfish, fish and marine mammal consumption. Shellfish consumption will be investigated by comparing various South American and European prehistoric populations from the Atlantic coast associated to shell-midden and fish-mounds. Marine mammal consumption will be traced using an Inuit population of Arctic Canada and the Wairau Bar population of New Zealand. C/N/Zn isotope compositions of various aquatic products will also be assessed, as well as isotope fractionation during intestinal absorption. I will then use the fully calibrated isotope tools to detect and characterize the onset of marine food exploitation in human history, which will answer the question of its specificity to our species. Neanderthal, early modern humans and possibly other hominin remains from coastal and inland sites will be compared in that purpose.
The onset of the systematic consumption of marine resources is thought to mark a turning point for the hominin lineage. To date, this onset cannot be traced, since classic isotope markers are not preserved beyond 50 - 100 ky. Aquatic food products are essential in human nutrition as the main source of polyunsaturated fatty acids in hunter-gatherer diets. The exploitation of marine resources is also thought to have reduced human mobility and enhanced social and technological complexification. Systematic aquatic food consumption could well have been a distinctive feature of Homo sapiens species among his fellow hominins, and has been linked to the astonishing leap in human intelligence and conscience. Yet, this hypothesis is challenged by the existence of mollusk and marine mammal bone remains at Neanderthal archeological sites. Recent work demonstrated the sensitivity of Zn isotope composition in bioapatite, the mineral part of bones and teeth, to dietary Zn. By combining classic (C and C/N isotope analyses) and innovative techniques (compound specific C/N and bulk Zn isotope analyses), I will develop a suite of sensitive tracers for shellfish, fish and marine mammal consumption. Shellfish consumption will be investigated by comparing various South American and European prehistoric populations from the Atlantic coast associated to shell-midden and fish-mounds. Marine mammal consumption will be traced using an Inuit population of Arctic Canada and the Wairau Bar population of New Zealand. C/N/Zn isotope compositions of various aquatic products will also be assessed, as well as isotope fractionation during intestinal absorption. I will then use the fully calibrated isotope tools to detect and characterize the onset of marine food exploitation in human history, which will answer the question of its specificity to our species. Neanderthal, early modern humans and possibly other hominin remains from coastal and inland sites will be compared in that purpose.
Project acronym ArcheoDyn
Project Globular clusters as living fossils of the past of galaxies
Summary Globular clusters (GCs) are enigmatic objects that hide a wealth of information. They are the living fossils of the history of their native galaxies and the record keepers of the violent events that made them change their domicile. This proposal aims to mine GCs as living fossils of galaxy evolution to address fundamental questions in astrophysics: (1) Do satellite galaxies merge as predicted by the hierarchical build-up of galaxies? (2) Which are the seeds of supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies? (3) How did star formation originate in the earliest phases of galaxy formation? To answer these questions, novel population-dependent dynamical modelling techniques are required, whose development the PI has led over the past years. This uniquely positions him to take full advantage of the emerging wealth of chemical and kinematical data on GCs. Following the tidal disruption of satellite galaxies, their dense GCs, and maybe even their nuclei, are left as the most visible remnants in the main galaxy. The hierarchical build-up of their new host galaxy can thus be unearthed by recovering the GCs' orbits. However, currently it is unclear which of the GCs are accretion survivors. Actually, the existence of a central intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) or of multiple stellar populations in GCs might tell which ones are accreted. At the same time, detection of IMBHs is important as they are predicted seeds for supermassive black holes in galaxies; while the multiple stellar populations in GCs are vital witnesses to the extreme modes of star formation in the early Universe. However, for every putative dynamical IMBH detection so far there is a corresponding non-detection; also the origin of multiple stellar populations in GCs still lacks any uncontrived explanation. The synergy of novel techniques and exquisite data proposed here promises a breakthrough in this emerging field of dynamical archeology with GCs as living fossils of the past of galaxies.
Globular clusters (GCs) are enigmatic objects that hide a wealth of information. They are the living fossils of the history of their native galaxies and the record keepers of the violent events that made them change their domicile. This proposal aims to mine GCs as living fossils of galaxy evolution to address fundamental questions in astrophysics: (1) Do satellite galaxies merge as predicted by the hierarchical build-up of galaxies? (2) Which are the seeds of supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies? (3) How did star formation originate in the earliest phases of galaxy formation? To answer these questions, novel population-dependent dynamical modelling techniques are required, whose development the PI has led over the past years. This uniquely positions him to take full advantage of the emerging wealth of chemical and kinematical data on GCs. Following the tidal disruption of satellite galaxies, their dense GCs, and maybe even their nuclei, are left as the most visible remnants in the main galaxy. The hierarchical build-up of their new host galaxy can thus be unearthed by recovering the GCs' orbits. However, currently it is unclear which of the GCs are accretion survivors. Actually, the existence of a central intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) or of multiple stellar populations in GCs might tell which ones are accreted. At the same time, detection of IMBHs is important as they are predicted seeds for supermassive black holes in galaxies; while the multiple stellar populations in GCs are vital witnesses to the extreme modes of star formation in the early Universe. However, for every putative dynamical IMBH detection so far there is a corresponding non-detection; also the origin of multiple stellar populations in GCs still lacks any uncontrived explanation. The synergy of novel techniques and exquisite data proposed here promises a breakthrough in this emerging field of dynamical archeology with GCs as living fossils of the past of galaxies.
Project acronym ARCID
Project The Role of Arl Proteins in Retinal and other Ciliary Diseases
Host Institution (HI) MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Summary Arl (Arf-like) proteins, GTP-binding proteins of the Ras superfamily, are molecular switches that cycle between a GDP-bound inactive and GTP-bound active state. There are 16 members of the Arl subfamily in the human genome whose basic mechanistic function is unknown. The interactome of Arl2/3 includes proteins involved in retinopathies and other ciliary diseases such as Leber¿s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) and kidney diseases such as nephronophthisis. Arl6 has been found mutated in Bardet Biedl Syndrome, another pleiotropic ciliary disease. In the proposed interdisciplinary project I want to explore the function of the protein network of Arl2/3 and Arl6 by a combination of biochemical, biophysical and structural methods and use the knowledge obtained to probe their function in live cells. As with other subfamily proteins of the Ras superfamily which have been found to mediate similar biological functions I want to derive a basic understanding of the function of Arl proteins and how it relates to the development and function of the ciliary organelle and how they contribute to ciliary diseases. The molecules in the focus of the project are: the GTP-binding proteins Arl2, 3, 6; RP2, an Arl3GAP mutated in Retinitis pigmentosa; Regulators of Arl2 and 3; PDE¿ and HRG4, effectors of Arl2/3, which bind lipidated proteins; RPGR, mutated in Retinitis pigmentosa, an interactor of PDE¿; RPGRIP and RPGRIPL, interactors of RPGR mutated in LCA and other ciliopathies; Nephrocystin, mutated in nephronophthisis, an interactor of RPGRIP and Arl6, mutated in Bardet Biedl Syndrome, and the BBS complex. The working hypothesis is that Arl protein network(s) mediate ciliary transport processes and that the GTP switch cycle of Arl proteins is an important element of regulation of these processes.
Arl (Arf-like) proteins, GTP-binding proteins of the Ras superfamily, are molecular switches that cycle between a GDP-bound inactive and GTP-bound active state. There are 16 members of the Arl subfamily in the human genome whose basic mechanistic function is unknown. The interactome of Arl2/3 includes proteins involved in retinopathies and other ciliary diseases such as Leber¿s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) and kidney diseases such as nephronophthisis. Arl6 has been found mutated in Bardet Biedl Syndrome, another pleiotropic ciliary disease. In the proposed interdisciplinary project I want to explore the function of the protein network of Arl2/3 and Arl6 by a combination of biochemical, biophysical and structural methods and use the knowledge obtained to probe their function in live cells. As with other subfamily proteins of the Ras superfamily which have been found to mediate similar biological functions I want to derive a basic understanding of the function of Arl proteins and how it relates to the development and function of the ciliary organelle and how they contribute to ciliary diseases. The molecules in the focus of the project are: the GTP-binding proteins Arl2, 3, 6; RP2, an Arl3GAP mutated in Retinitis pigmentosa; Regulators of Arl2 and 3; PDE¿ and HRG4, effectors of Arl2/3, which bind lipidated proteins; RPGR, mutated in Retinitis pigmentosa, an interactor of PDE¿; RPGRIP and RPGRIPL, interactors of RPGR mutated in LCA and other ciliopathies; Nephrocystin, mutated in nephronophthisis, an interactor of RPGRIP and Arl6, mutated in Bardet Biedl Syndrome, and the BBS complex. The working hypothesis is that Arl protein network(s) mediate ciliary transport processes and that the GTP switch cycle of Arl proteins is an important element of regulation of these processes.
Project acronym ARCTIC CULT
Project ARCTIC CULTURES: SITES OF COLLECTION IN THE FORMATION OF THE EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN NORTHLANDS
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARSOF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Summary The Arctic has risen to global attention in recent years, as it has been reconfigured through debates about global environmental change, resource extraction and disputes over sovereign rights. Within these discourses, little attention has been paid to the cultures of the Arctic. Indeed, it often seems as if the Circumpolar Arctic in global public understanding remains framed as a 'natural region' - that is, a place where the environment dominates the creation of culture. This framing has consequences for the region, because through this the Arctic becomes constructed as a space where people are absent. This proposal aims to discover how and why this might be so. The proposal argues that this construction of the Arctic emerged from the exploration of the region by Europeans and North Americans and their contacts with indigenous people from the middle of the eighteenth century. Particular texts, cartographic representations and objects were collected and returned to sites like London, Copenhagen, Berlin and Philadelphia. The construction of the Arctic thereby became entwined within the growth of colonial museum cultures and, indeed, western modernity. This project aims to delineate the networks and collecting cultures involved in this creation of Arctic Cultures. It will bring repositories in colonial metropoles into dialogue with sites of collection in the Arctic by tracing the contexts of discovery and memorialisation. In doing so, it aspires to a new understanding of the consequences of certain forms of colonial representation for debates about the Circumpolar Arctic today. The project involves research by the Principal Investigator and four Post Doctoral Researchers at museums, archives, libraries and repositories across Europe and North America, as well as in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. A Project Assistant based in Oxford will help facilitate the completion of the research.
The Arctic has risen to global attention in recent years, as it has been reconfigured through debates about global environmental change, resource extraction and disputes over sovereign rights. Within these discourses, little attention has been paid to the cultures of the Arctic. Indeed, it often seems as if the Circumpolar Arctic in global public understanding remains framed as a 'natural region' - that is, a place where the environment dominates the creation of culture. This framing has consequences for the region, because through this the Arctic becomes constructed as a space where people are absent. This proposal aims to discover how and why this might be so. The proposal argues that this construction of the Arctic emerged from the exploration of the region by Europeans and North Americans and their contacts with indigenous people from the middle of the eighteenth century. Particular texts, cartographic representations and objects were collected and returned to sites like London, Copenhagen, Berlin and Philadelphia. The construction of the Arctic thereby became entwined within the growth of colonial museum cultures and, indeed, western modernity. This project aims to delineate the networks and collecting cultures involved in this creation of Arctic Cultures. It will bring repositories in colonial metropoles into dialogue with sites of collection in the Arctic by tracing the contexts of discovery and memorialisation. In doing so, it aspires to a new understanding of the consequences of certain forms of colonial representation for debates about the Circumpolar Arctic today. The project involves research by the Principal Investigator and four Post Doctoral Researchers at museums, archives, libraries and repositories across Europe and North America, as well as in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. A Project Assistant based in Oxford will help facilitate the completion of the research.
Project acronym Arctic Domus
Project Arctic Domestication: Emplacing Human-Animal Relationships in the Circumpolar North
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
Summary This 6-year project aims to co-ordinate field research in each of these fields to elaborate a new model of emplaced human-animal relations evoking recent theoretical concerns of the definition of the person, the attribution of agency, and renewed attention to 'built environments'. The project will work inductively from empirical observations in seven field sites across the circumpolar Arctic from the Russian Federation, to Fennoscandia, to Canada. The circumpolar Arctic originally provided many of the primary thought experiments for classic models of cultural evolution. It has now again become the focus of powerful debates over the balance between the protection of cultural heritage and the development of natural resources to fuel a future for industrial economies. The human-non-human relationships chosen for study cover the full range of theoretical and political discourse within the sciences today from primary encounters in domination to contemporary bio-technical innovations in farming. The team will transcend typical 'existential' models of domination between people and animals by describing complex social settings where more than one species interact with the cultural landscape. The team will also challenge existing definitions between wild and tame by instead examining what links these behaviour types together. Further, the team members will examine how domestication was never a sudden, fleeting intuition but rather a process wherein people and domesticates are sometimes closer and sometimes farther from each other. Finally, the research team, working within the above mentioned literatures, will develop a renewed model – a new way of describing – these relationships which does not necessarily rely upon metaphors of domination, competition, individual struggle, origins, or hybridity. The strength of the team, and the principle investigator, is their demonstrated ability to carry out fieldwork in this often difficult to access region.
This 6-year project aims to co-ordinate field research in each of these fields to elaborate a new model of emplaced human-animal relations evoking recent theoretical concerns of the definition of the person, the attribution of agency, and renewed attention to 'built environments'. The project will work inductively from empirical observations in seven field sites across the circumpolar Arctic from the Russian Federation, to Fennoscandia, to Canada. The circumpolar Arctic originally provided many of the primary thought experiments for classic models of cultural evolution. It has now again become the focus of powerful debates over the balance between the protection of cultural heritage and the development of natural resources to fuel a future for industrial economies. The human-non-human relationships chosen for study cover the full range of theoretical and political discourse within the sciences today from primary encounters in domination to contemporary bio-technical innovations in farming. The team will transcend typical 'existential' models of domination between people and animals by describing complex social settings where more than one species interact with the cultural landscape. The team will also challenge existing definitions between wild and tame by instead examining what links these behaviour types together. Further, the team members will examine how domestication was never a sudden, fleeting intuition but rather a process wherein people and domesticates are sometimes closer and sometimes farther from each other. Finally, the research team, working within the above mentioned literatures, will develop a renewed model – a new way of describing – these relationships which does not necessarily rely upon metaphors of domination, competition, individual struggle, origins, or hybridity. The strength of the team, and the principle investigator, is their demonstrated ability to carry out fieldwork in this often difficult to access region.
Project acronym ARGO
Project The Quest of the Argonautes - from Myth to Reality
Host Institution (HI) WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Summary Argonaute nucleases are key players of the eukaryotic RNA interference (RNAi) system. Using small RNA guides, these Argonaute (Ago) proteins specifically target complementary RNA molecules, resulting in regulation of a wide range of crucial processes, including chromosome organization, gene expression and anti-virus defence. Since 2010, my research team has studied closely-related prokaryotic Argonaute (pAgo) variants. This has revealed spectacular mechanistic variations: several thermophilic pAgos catalyse DNA-guided cleavage of double stranded DNA, but only at elevated temperatures. Interestingly, a recently discovered mesophilic Argonaute (CbAgo) can generate double strand DNA breaks at moderate temperatures, providing an excellent basis for this ARGO project. In addition, genome analysis has revealed many distantly-related Argonaute variants, often with unique domain architectures. Hence, the currently known Argonaute homologs are just the tip of the iceberg, and the stage is set for making a big leap in the exploration of the Argonaute family. Initially we will dissect the molecular basis of functional and mechanistic features of uncharacterized natural Argonaute variants, both in eukaryotes (the presence of an Ago-like subunit in the Mediator complex, strongly suggests a regulatory role of an elusive non-coding RNA ligand) and in prokaryotes (selected Ago variants possess distinct domains indicating novel functionalities). After their thorough biochemical characterization, I aim at engineering the functionality of the aforementioned CbAgo through an integrated rational & random approach, i.e. by tinkering of domains, and by an unprecedented in vitro laboratory evolution approach. Eventually, natural & synthetic Argonautes will be selected for their exploitation, and used for developing original genome editing applications (from silencing to base editing). Embarking on this ambitious ARGO expedition will lead us to many exciting discoveries.
Argonaute nucleases are key players of the eukaryotic RNA interference (RNAi) system. Using small RNA guides, these Argonaute (Ago) proteins specifically target complementary RNA molecules, resulting in regulation of a wide range of crucial processes, including chromosome organization, gene expression and anti-virus defence. Since 2010, my research team has studied closely-related prokaryotic Argonaute (pAgo) variants. This has revealed spectacular mechanistic variations: several thermophilic pAgos catalyse DNA-guided cleavage of double stranded DNA, but only at elevated temperatures. Interestingly, a recently discovered mesophilic Argonaute (CbAgo) can generate double strand DNA breaks at moderate temperatures, providing an excellent basis for this ARGO project. In addition, genome analysis has revealed many distantly-related Argonaute variants, often with unique domain architectures. Hence, the currently known Argonaute homologs are just the tip of the iceberg, and the stage is set for making a big leap in the exploration of the Argonaute family. Initially we will dissect the molecular basis of functional and mechanistic features of uncharacterized natural Argonaute variants, both in eukaryotes (the presence of an Ago-like subunit in the Mediator complex, strongly suggests a regulatory role of an elusive non-coding RNA ligand) and in prokaryotes (selected Ago variants possess distinct domains indicating novel functionalities). After their thorough biochemical characterization, I aim at engineering the functionality of the aforementioned CbAgo through an integrated rational & random approach, i.e. by tinkering of domains, and by an unprecedented in vitro laboratory evolution approach. Eventually, natural & synthetic Argonautes will be selected for their exploitation, and used for developing original genome editing applications (from silencing to base editing). Embarking on this ambitious ARGO expedition will lead us to many exciting discoveries.