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International audience; For the production of spliced veneers the veneers are coated with thin cellulose fleece or special paper layers, and thereby thin composites are generated. This article describes the mechanical properties of such a composite material consisting of 0.35 mm beech ( L.) veneer and a 0.12 mm cellulose fleece bonded with a PVAc adhesive.

International audience; Many computer vision problems such as recognition, image retrieval, and tracking require matching two images. Currently, ones try to find as reliable as possible matching techniques with a very little constraint of computational time. In this paper, we are interested in applying image matching technique into robotic problems such as Augmented Reality, Visual Servoing in which the computational time is a critical element. We propose in this paper a real time keypoint based matching method. The novelties of this method include a fast corner detector, a compact corner descriptor based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique and an efficient matching with help of Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) technique. We show that the method gives a very satisfying result on accuracy as well as the computational time. The matching algorithm is applied to command a robot in a visual servoing application. It works at 10-14Hz and is well robust to variations in 3D viewpoint and illumination.

This paper treats Characteristic Mode Analyses of three-dimensional test objects in the context of EMC. Based on computed Characteristic Modes and mode-specific physical quantities, series expansions for HIRF- and DCI-induced surface currents are deduced. The contribution of single Characteristic Modes to surface currents at different test frequencies is analyzed. HIRF- and DCI-excitations are compared with regard to their surface current distributions in their resonance region determined by Characteristic Mode Analysis.

espanolEl articulo analiza desde una perspectiva critica las tentativas de interpretar a Nietzsche como un precursor del transhumanismo. Tras una breve contextualizacion del fecundo debate en torno a Nietzsche y el transhumanismo, se evalua el caracter fraccional o parcial del alegato de Stefan Sorgner en favor de un “transhumanismo nietzscheano”. Despues, se investiga la tension entre humanidad, la superacion del ser humano y su cria en los escritos de Nietzsche. Una vez ejecutado este analisis, y sin animo de caer en el anacronismo, se sostiene que Nietzsche anticipa ciertamente un germen de la idea de post-humanidad, en su critica de la cultura humanista y en su invitacion a transformar el ser humano y superar el nihilismo, pero no asimilable a la vertiente tecnologica del transhumanismo. Para concluir, se sugiere una prospectiva de analisis del transhumanismo desde una perspectiva nietzscheana, tomando como ejemplo la imagen de las “sombras de Dios”. EnglishThe article analyzes from a critical perspective the attempts to interpret Nietzsche as a precursor to transhumanism. After a brief contextualization of the fruitful debate concerning Nietzsche and transhumanism, the paper evaluates the partial or fractional character of Stefan Sorgner’s plea for a “Nietzschean transhumanism”. Then, it considers the tension between humanity, the overcoming of the human being and their breeding in Nietzsche’s writings. Once this analysis is carried out, and without the intention of falling into anachronism, it is argued that Nietzsche certainly anticipates a seed of “post-humanity”, with his critique of humanistic culture and his invitation to both transform the human being and to overcome nihilism, but this idea of post-humanity should not be assimilated to the technological ideal of transhumanism. As a way of conclusion, a prospective analysis of transhumanism from a Nietzschean perspective is suggested, using as a way of example the image of the “shadows of God”.

Resorting to the example of the Jagiellonian University (UJ), the Author discusses the topic of the bodies that are guardians of academic heritage within the structure of public tertiary education. In the first part of the paper the distinction between a museum and a collection is introduced, and the brief profiles of selected units of the Jagiellonian University are provided. In the next section definite examples are given of conducting scientific processes in museums and collections. In the context of the new Law on Higher Education and Science amendments that appear in reference to university museums and collections are discussed. The collections of museum units curating the academic heritage stem from the fundamental activity of the Jagiellonian University consisting in education and conducting research. These units operate within the University structure, this confirmed in the Charter which the Constitution for Science has made the major document regulating the university internal system. The Charter of the Jagiellonian University as a university running 13 museum units has been analysed. The search for the concepts related to identity, academic heritage, and museums in the content of the Charter, resulted in the identification of a new category: units running ancillary activity of museum-like character.

This article deals with one of the most controversial topics in urban studies related to mobile capital and mobile people. At first glance this seems to be contradictory since numbers of short-term rentals have decreased dramatically due to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. However, this paper is not about numbers and statistics. Instead it discusses structural issues regarding governance and power relations which remain important topics (especially) in times of crisis. It provides insights regarding the following issues: firstly, it deconstructs different “myths” that still surround short-term rentals and Airbnb and secondly, it delineates the structural power of Airbnb as a new urban institution. This helps us to understand some of the conflicts over Airbnb and the pitfalls with current forms of regulation on the one side as well as showing the complexity and agency of short-term rentals on the other.

Countries of the Western Balkans (WB) – former federal units of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Albania have undergone a lengthy and complex process of democratisation from late 1980s. Free and fair elections are among the cornerstones of democratic consolidation. Even though the institutional setting for electoral management differs greatly across the globe, during the Europeanisation process it was widely recommended to transitional societies to set up independent electoral management bodies in other to guarantee fair electoral conditions, with standards mostly promoted by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (VC) and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). Based on this influence, all the countries of the WB have established electoral commissions that are to great extent formally independent from the executive, with the intention of being less prone to electoral meddling. This is enhanced by regular election monitoring in the region by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the process being followed and evaluated by both the European Union institutions and member states as part of fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria to join the EU. This paper gives an overview of the institutional setting of electoral management in the WB that was created following the model of independent bodies and outlines main features of their design.

Koncept pametnog grada često se obrađuje, ali još nije postignuta konzistentna definicija. Ipak, svaki je opis gotovo uvijek usmjeren na njegovu tehnološku komponentu, politike održivog razvoja i omogućavanje visokih kapaciteta za učenje i inovacije. Osim toga, pametni grad ima za cilj povezivanje ljudi, informacija i drugih gradskih elemenata koristeći najsuvremenije tehnologije. Kao rezultat, stvara se održivi, zeleniji grad, potiče konkurentna i inovativna trgovina i povećava opća kvaliteta života.Integriranim prikazom pametnog grada ističe se da ne djeluje izolirano, te stoga, svaki podsustav grada treba razvijati svoju pametnu komponentu. Širok raspon rangiranja koristi se za određivanje pametnosti gradova mapiranjem prednosti i nedostataka svakog analiziranog grada. Kao način integriranja različitih pokazatelja u jednu vrijednost koja će predstavljati rang, najčešće se koristi složeni indeksni pristup.Ipak, složeni indeksi najčešće se formiraju primjenom pristupa jednakih pondera, što se u trenutnoj literaturi žestoko kritizira. U ovom radu pokušavamo pružiti dodanu vrijednost indeksu Smart City primjenom statističkog post-hoc I-distance pristupa. Postupak nam omogućuje osvjetljavanje pitanja osjetljivosti ranga gradova. Primjena post-hoc I-distance definira pokazatelje koji su najvažniji za postupak rangiranja što gradskim donositeljima odluka omogućava da poboljšaju svoje poslovanje, s naglaskom na upravo te pokazatelje., The smart city represents a frequently elaborated concept which however comes short in delivering a consistent definition. Nevertheless, almost every description has always been oriented to its technological component, sustainable development policies, and enabling high capacities for learning and innovation. Moreover, the smart city aims at connecting people, information and other city elements using state-of-the-art technologies. As a result, it creates a sustainable, greener city, pushes forward competitive and innovative commerce, and increases overall life quality. The integrated view of a smart city underlines it does not operate in isolation, which is why every subsystem of a city needs to develop its smart component. A wide range of rankings is used to determine the smartness of cities by mapping out the pros and cons of each analysed city. As the way to integrate various indicators into one value which will represent the rank, a composite index approach is most frequently used. Still, composite indexes are usually formed using the equal weight approach, which is heavily criticised in current literature. In this paper, we try to provide added value to the Smart City Index by implementing the statistical post hoc I-distance approach. The procedure enables us to shed some additional light on the issue of sensitivity of cities’ rank. The application of post hoc I-distance defines indicators which are most significant for the ranking process. It consequently empowers city decision-makers to improve their performance, with a focus on those particular indicators.

The paper presents the case of post-industrial space of the New Weaving Mill in Kilińskiego Street in Łódź, which was a part of Karol Scheibler’s empire. We use it to illustrate the tensions between actors of the city life and the related right to the city including the right to heritage. At the same time, we indicate the significance of involving different actors in the process of creating narratives (also those contributing to the extension of the research field) of it. In our discussion, we mostly perceive this space as everyday space – space of work that was marked with an unusual event: the visit of John Paul II in 1987. Thus, we consider the practices and strategies for commemorating/forgetting in the context of urban practices connected with the construction of heritage and the right to it. W artykule przybliżamy przypadek przestrzeni postindustrialnej Nowej Tkalni przy ul. Kilińskiego w Łodzi, będącej częścią dawnego imperium Karola Scheiblera, który posłuży nam do zaprezentowania napięć pomiędzy aktorami życia miejskiego i związanego z tym prawa do miasta, w tym także dziedzictwa. Jednocześnie wskażemy na istotności włączania różnorodnych aktorów w proces kształtowania narracji (również tych wpływających na rozszerzanie pola badawczego) o nim. W swoich rozważaniach wykorzystałyśmy przede wszystkim perspektywę spojrzenia na tę przestrzeń jako na przestrzeń codzienności – pracy, która została naznaczona wydarzeniem niecodziennym – wizytą Jana Pawła II w 1987 r. Zastanawiamy się więc nad praktykami i strategiami upamiętniającymi/zapominającymi w kontekście praktyk miejskich związanych z konstruowaniem dziedzictwa oraz prawa do niego.

Many critics of Donald Trump argue that Donald Trump’s Grand Strategy is an absence of Grand Strategy or that his foreign and security policy is driven by impulses and tactical approach. However, such policy leaves us with practical consequences which mean that we have to follow this sort of a Donald Trump approach to foreign affairs and politics in general. The best guide in that sense would be the 2017 U. S. National Security Strategy idea of principled realism which is the most important written strategic statement of the Trump administration up to this date. If Trump’s approach “is guided by outcomes not ideology” and if “prosperity depend on strong, sovereign nations that respect their citizens at home and cooperate to advance peace abroad”, then the U. S. policy to Western Balkans has to be considered in that context. The Prespa agreement between Greece and North Macedonia is one form of that approach put in practice. Having in mind Belgrade–Pristina negotiations and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s future as well, the main thesis of this paper is that we may expect some kind of unusual approach from the United States to this region, different from the framework that was set up in the 1990s. That will have consequences both for the region and for the outside great powers, especially the European Union.

This paper analyses the resilience of the French territories of Saint-Martin by considering the issue of drinking and sanitary water supply system recovery in the aftermath of hurricane Irma. We understand resilience as a post-disaster recovery process (Reghezza & Rufat 2019). We address responses and coping strategies deployed by the institutions (local and national authorities, network operators, NGOs) as well as by the local communities and individuals. The fieldwork we carried out in Saint-Martin highlights the fact that the combination of institutional and inhabitants’ responses prevented a humanitarian disaster. On one hand, institutional stakeholders were able to implement effective and efficient coping strategies. On the other hand, inhabitants’ vulnerability to freshwater shortage risks was greatly reduced by an individual adaptation, built well upstream of Irma in response to local context. Our study confirms that networks are socio-technical systems embedded in a set of production and consumption practices. In this sense, drinking and sanitary water systems criticality is territorialized and individual resilience is rooted in “ordinary vulnerability”.

Conventional CMOS image sensors with a linear transfer characteristic only have a limited dynamic range (DR) of about 60–70 dB. To extend the dynamic range considerably, the already successfully demonstrated concept of a linear self-reset pixel was employed in this work. With the self-reset concept the limit of the maximum analyzable photo generated charge (Qmax⁡) during the exposure time is extended to a multiple of the saturation charge of the photo diode (Qsat) by asynchronous self-resets of the photo diode. Additionally, the remaining charge at the end of the exposure time is evaluated to increase the resolution of the opto-electronic conversion. Thus we achieved pixels with a DR of more than 120 dB combined with an improved low light sensitivity using a pinned photodiode. This paper focuses on two topics: One is the realization and opto-electronic characterization of further self-reset pixel cells for an experimental optimization of the functionality with respect to linearity and high signal-to-noise ratio. The second one is the assembly and digital readout of a cluster structure composed of 16 × 16 pixel matrix on a CMOS test chip. One constraint for later usage of the pixel cells in a high resolution (> VGA) image sensor is the required layout area of the individual circuit blocks. For the cluster structure a size of 20 × 20 µm2 for the analog part of the pixel containing the photo diode and the other analog circuit blocks, the comparator and the signal shaping, was desired. The circuit design and layout work included several variants of the pinned photo diode with floating diffusion (FD) readout node, which is also used for analog voltage storage, and different control transistors. Further for the comparator a telescopic differential amplifier with high gain was implemented as well as peripheral 10 bit counter/shift register as static and dynamic versions. Test chips have been fabricated in an advanced 0.18 µm CMOS technology for optical sensors with low leakage currents. The sensor chips have been evaluated with a specifically developed test setup which gives the flexibility to arbitrarily generate the digital and analog control signals in terms of timing and voltage levels. Based on this, the number of asynchronous self-resets could be read out from the counters of the pixel cells as coarse values. The remaining charge at the end of the integration time was digitized using a ramp analog to digital conversion and could be read out as fine values. An opto-electronic characterization with adjustable illumination from 0 lx to 13 klx was done to measure and analyze the opto-electronic conversion function (OECF) and the noise of six different self-reset pixel cells having the high-gain differential amplifier as comparator. Finally the coarse values of two implemented 16 × 16 pixel clusters could be read out as a mini camera using a lens for optical image formation.

With increasing radar activities in the automotive, industrial and private sector, there is a need to test radar sensors in their environment. A radar target simulator can help testing radar systems repeatably. In this paper, the authors present a concept of low-cost hardware for radar target simulation. The theoretical foundations are derived and analyzed. An implementation of a demonstrator operating in the 24 GHz ISM band is shown for which the dynamical range simulation was implemented in a FPGA with fast sampling ADCs and DACs. By using a FIR filtering approach a fine discretization of the range could be reached which will furthermore allow an inherent and automatic Doppler simulation by moving the target.

Modern and energy-optimized buildings often lack an intelligent and advanced control strategy. Instead, conventional rule-based control (RBC) strategies are still mainly used today, which do not exploit the full performance potential of these buildings. Model predictive control (MPC) has proven in simulation studies and pilot cases to be a promising approach to reduce the energy consumption of buildings, while improving occupants’ comfort. However, there is still a lack of implementing MPC in real, large-scale and fully occupied buildings, to further prove this potential in real building operations. This paper describes the implementation and operation of MPC in a large-sized, low-energy office building. The MPC controller was implemented in a section of the building during a three-month test period from February to April 2020, controlling the supply temperature of heating circuits for thermally activated building systems (TABS). Its performance was compared to the default rule-based control which is active in the other building sections. This allows for a detailed evaluation of MPC versus RBC under identical environmental and operational conditions. The MPC controlled building section used 30 % less heating energy than RBC controlled building sections, while the existing high level of thermal comfort could be maintained. Especially in transition periods (i. e. interseasonal periods like late winter/early spring) , the MPC is superior to the conventional heating-curve based control strategy, with heating energy savings of 75 %.

Aux États-Unis comme au Canada, le développement urbain engagé par les acteurs publics prend régulièrement la forme de projets d’échelle et de durée intermédiaires. Certains sont issus de pratiques assimilables à des traductions "locales" du concept d’aménagement urbain public ; tandis que d’autres répondent à des logiques alternatives – notamment d’aménagement urbain négocié. La mise en perspective des projets urbains évoqués dans la littérature existante (Bonneville, 1986 ; Dablanc, 1996 ; Baffico, 2014a, 2014b ; Poiret, 2014 ; Courcier, 2008 ; Viel et al., 2012 ; Dushina et al., 2015), enrichie d’un travail de terrain recueillant les témoignages des acteurs du secteur, montre comment l’aménagement urbain public nord-américain s’organise en fonction du maître d’ouvrage et du territoire de projet. Malgré l’immensité du continent, les logiques politico-légales qui y conditionnent l’aménagement urbain public local permettent d’identifier des traits communs aux pratiques nord-américaines. Certains acteurs publics locaux (échelons fédérés mais également municipalités) s’avèrent capables d’engager des projets répondant à la définition de l’aménagement urbain public. Cependant, l’étude conclut qu’aucun de ces acteurs n’a structuré sa pratique au sein d’une filière institutionnalisée - comme c’est le cas en France. In the United States and in Canada, the urban development initiated by public actors often takes the form of projects of intermediate scale and length. Some of these developments reflect the local practice of a public urban development influenced by the North American politico-legal frameworks; while others follow alternative logics, such as the practice of a negotiated urban development. This work is based on a cross-section analysis of the North American urban projects documented in scholar literature (Bonneville, 1986 ; Dablanc, 1996 ; Baffico, 2014a, 2014b ; Poiret, 2014 ; Courcier, 2008 ; Viel et al., 2012 ; Dushina et al., 2015), enriched by interviews with actors of the local urban development industry. This approach shows how the public urban development practice is organized in North America. Despite the vastness of the North American continent, the politico-legal logics which influence the local translations of the urban development concept allows for a way to identify some common features in local practices. The paper shows that some North American public actors (especially States and municipalities) are able to initiate urban development projects which address the characteristics of public urban development. However, the work concludes that none of these public actors has structured their practice of public urban development in a specific framework - as is the case in France. Tanto en Estados Unidos como Canadá el desarrollo urbano propuesto por los actores públicos se desarrolla generalmente bajo una forma de proyectos de escala y duración intermedia. Algunas de estas prácticas son el resultado y reflejo de iniciativas “locales” que emanan del concepto de planificación urbana desde lo público, mientras que otras responden a lógicas alternativas vinculadas a una planificación negociada. Este artículo se desarrolla y sostiene bajo un análisis transversal de la literatura académica en la materia (Bonneville, 1986; Dablanc, 1996; Baffico, 2014a, 2014b; Poiret, 2014; Courcier, 2008; Viel et al., 2012; Dushina et al., 2015) junto con un trabajo de campo vinculado a la realización de entrevistas a actores locales del sector. Los resultados expresan como la planificación urbana pública norteamericana se organiza según el cliente y proyecto de territorio. Además, a pesar de la envergadura del continente, las lógicas político-legales que condicionan la planificación del urbanismo público local permiten identificar rasgos comunes en las prácticas efectuadas. Si bien ciertos actores públicos locales (escala federal o municipios) son capaces de iniciar proyectos que cumplen con la definición de planificación urbana pública, tales prácticas no se estructuran bajo un canal institucionalizado, como es el caso francés.

Im Zuge des europ��ischen Integrationsprozesses sind zahlreiche europ��ische soziale Felder und Organisationen entstanden, in denen Akteur*innen aus den unterschiedlichen EU-Mitgliedstaaten regelm����ig miteinander interagieren und kooperieren. Aktuelle Debatten werfen jedoch erneut die im Kontext der EU-Osterweiterung diskutierte Frage auf, ob diese zu einer Erschwerung der Zusammenarbeit innerhalb der europ��ischen Institutionen sowie zu einer Abnahme der Koh��sion der EU gef��hrt hat. Dieser Beitrag widmet sich den Folgen der Osterweiterung f��r die Europ��ische Kommission und untersucht die Aushandlung symbolischer Grenzziehungen zwischen Beamt*innen aus den ���alten/westlichen��� und ���neuen/��stlichen��� EU-Mitgliedstaaten. Auf der Grundlage von Leitfadeninterviews wird gezeigt, dass die regionale Herkunft kein explizites Grenzziehungskriterium darstellt. Dennoch werden wahrgenommene Unterschiede in Bezug auf Karrierechancen, Organisationskulturen, sprachliche Pr��ferenzen und Berufsethiken durch R��ckgriff auf die regionale Herkunft interpretiert., European integration has led to the emergence of European social fields and organizations in which people from all EU member states cooperate with each other. Current debates raise the question already discussed during the EU���s Eastern Enlargement, namely whether it would complicate cooperation within the European institutions and lead to a decline in the EU���s internal cohesion. This paper deals with the impact of the Eastern Enlargement on the European Commission and analyzes the negotiation of symbolic boundaries between civil servants from the ���old/Western��� and ���new/Eastern��� member states. Based on in-depth interviews, it shows that regional origin is not an explicit boundary marker. Nevertheless, officials perceive differences with regard to career opportunities, organizational cultures, language preferences, and professional values, all of which they interpret by drawing on regional background.

The present study focuses on serially occurring narrations of ‘everyday’ life, more specifically on birthing as narrated by mothers on online forums; the underlying idea being that these narrations happen against the background of cultural narratives.The present paper uses word embedding models to detect typical topics and actors in these narrations. The calculation of word embeddings automatically constructs semantic spaces, where semantic relations (synonymy in particular) can be modeled. This method offers a way to think of synonymy as ‘functional equivalence in discourse’.The present study relies on previous work with n-grams (Bubenhofer, 2018). N-grams are sequences of words that often appear together; their sequential order in different narrations gives insight in narrative patterns. A further step in the analysis is the construction of ‘narrative topoi’, which is achieved through clustering neighboring vectors. The emerging clusters can in turn be grouped into five narrative elements of ‘telling a birth story’: 1) disruption of daily life, 2) personnel, 3) body, 4) fear, 5) joy. While it seems obvious that certain themes ‘belong’ into the narration of a delivery, it is less obvious with what vocabulary these themes are expressed.The presented method of clustering word-embedding-profiles adds tremendously to the modelling of a narrative. Its advantages lie in its potential to show lexical variation, as it also includes rare, non-conformative orthographical variants. Furthermore, it allows for a discourse-specific (and usage-based) view on semantic relations. The same applies to relations between semantic clusters. Seen from a discourse linguistics or cultural analysis perspective, word embeddings renew our understanding of semantics. This shows particularly fruitful if used to analyze (discourse dependent) derivations between semantic spaces.

The dynamics of software – and thus also of its development – is an inherent part of the story of how mobilities are made and work. Building on this argument, this ethnographic study explains how navigation software development is caught in a constant culture of acceleration through commercial competition and shifting transport conditions, on the one hand, and a logic of routing and navigation based on creating the fastest route possible for its users, on the other hand. Behind this overall process of technological acceleration lies a multiplicity of forces – sometimes accelerating, but at other times slowing down, stuttering, moving in reverse, or completely coming to a halt in breakdown, shifting the pace of such technological progress. Bringing software development practice into the picture of how mobility systems work (or don’t work) allows us to understand the multiple temporal orders of speeding up and slowing down that push and pull at the fabric of our mobile infrastructures. Doing so will help us counter the popular discourse that our networked, seamless digital technologies are invincible. Based on an ethnography at ‘BerlinTech’, a large commercial navigation software company, this paper provides a multilayered understanding about the temporal forces fuelling our software driven mobility infrastructures.

This paper investigates the performance effects of business angel portfolio industry diversification. Using a unique bi-annual panel dataset of 142 members of a professional angel investment platform and their portfolio returns between 2013 and 2017, we consider the costs and benefits of diversifying investments into various industries. Drawing upon theoretical arguments about distant search, we theorize and find a nonlinear (S-shaped) relationship between portfolio industry diversification and performance. Further, we pay specific attention to a proposed overdiversification effect that takes place at high levels of portfolio industry diversification and show that this effect is moderated by individuals' access to industry knowledge through their co-investment networks. For business angels who have a central position within a diverse network of industry specialists, the overdiversification effect is less pronounced.

Les villes d’Afrique subsaharienne sont marquées par une diversification des coopérations urbaines avec l’intervention de multiples bailleurs étrangers et une forte croissance des marchés de l’expertise urbaine. Entre 2018 et 2019, 148 millions de dollars venant de l’étranger ont été investis dans le développement urbain de la capitale kényane, Nairobi. À travers l'étude de cas de la Ville du rail à Nairobi, cet article questionne les processus de négociation et de décision des grands projets dans les villes d’Afrique subsaharienne, dans le contexte d’une dépendance aux financements externes. Nous entrons dans les mécanismes institutionnels, les registres discursifs, et les jeux d’évitement par lesquels les acteurs nationaux et internationaux légitiment leur action dans la phase d’instruction d’un grand projet. Nous montrons que ces coopérations représentent des ressources pour l’action locale, mais attisent également des concurrences et peuvent avoir des effets disruptifs pour la gouvernance urbaine. Sub-Saharan African cities are characterized by a diversification of international urban cooperation with the intervention of multiple foreign donors, and a significant increase of the markets for urban expertise. Between 2018 and 2019, $148 million was invested in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi. Through the case study of the Railway City in Nairobi, this article questions the negotiation and decision-making processes of megaprojects in sub-Saharan African cities, in the context of a high dependency on external funding. We take a dive into the institutional mechanisms, discursive registers, and avoidance plays through which national and international actors legitimize their actions in the instruction phase of a megaproject. This paper shows that these international cooperations represent resources for local action, but also stir up competition and can have disruptive effects for urban governance. Las ciudades del África subsahariana están marcadas por una diversificación de cooperación urbana producto de la intervención de múltiples donantes extranjeros y un fuerte crecimiento en los mercados de experiencia urbana. Entre 2018 y 2019, se invirtieron 148 millones de dólares desde el extranjero para el desarrollo urbano de Nairobi, capital de Kenia, A partir del estudio de caso de esta ciudad ferroviaria, este artículo reflexiona en torno a los procesos de negociación y decisión de grandes proyectos en las ciudades del África subsahariana, en el contexto de la dependencia de fondos externos. Indagamos los mecanismos institucionales, registros discursivos y las estrategias y complejidades por la cual los actores nacionales e internacionales legitiman su acción en la fase de evaluación de un gran proyecto. Mostramos que, si bien estas cooperaciones representan recursos para la acción local, también alimentan la competencia y pueden generar efectos perjudiciales para la gobernanza urbana.

The paper presents a new type of urban delimitation for Russian cities called Large Urban Region which facilitates showing the level of integration of cities into globalization through the presence of multinational firms, and enables urban comparative research on the global scale. An important objective of the new delimitation is to encompass the area likely to be home to multinational companies, which are by basic presumption the most dependent on location near a national or international airport. Previous studies on urban delineations in Russia have focused, almost exclusively, on morphological aspects or on functional urban areas, which have substantial limitations and are not always adequate for global urban comparisons. In this article we propose to apply a more suitable combination of criteria to delineate cities as large urban regions. We illustrate the relevance of these criteria for the polycentric urban structure such as Samara, and for the monocentric city such as St. Petersburg. Then, we apply this delimitation for all Russian cities which results in 120 Russian LURs. We demonstrate the usefulness of this new LUR delineation for the largest Russian cities showing how much it changes their sizes in terms of population and number of companies, and argue that these sizes are more realistic to state their rank in globalization than previous methods. L'article présente un nouveau type de délimitation urbaine pour les villes russes appelé Grande Région Urbaine permettant, d'une part, de démontrer l'intégration des villes dans la mondialisation par la présence de firmes multinationales et, d'autre part, de faire des recherches comparatives urbaines à l'échelle mondiale. Un objectif important de la nouvelle délimitation est d'englober la zone susceptible d'abriter des entreprises multinationales, qui sont, par présomption de base, les plus dépendantes de leur localisation à proximité d'un aéroport national ou international. Les études précédentes sur les délimitations urbaines en Russie se sont concentrées, presque exclusivement, sur les aspects morphologiques ou sur les zones urbaines fonctionnelles, qui présentent des limites importantes et ne sont pas toujours adaptées aux comparaisons urbaines à l'échelle mondiale. Dans cet article, nous proposons d'appliquer une combinaison de critères plus appropriée pour délimiter les villes en tant que grandes régions urbaines. Nous illustrons la pertinence de ces critères pour la structure urbaine polycentrique comme Samara, et pour la ville monocentrique comme Saint-Pétersbourg. Ensuite, nous appliquons cette délimitation pour toutes les villes russes, ce qui donne 120 LUR russes. Nous démontrons l'utilité de cette nouvelle délimitation des LUR pour les plus grandes villes russes en montrant à quel point elle modifie leur taille en termes de population et de nombre d'entreprises, et nous soutenons que ces tailles sont plus réalistes pour indiquer leur rang dans la mondialisation que les méthodes précédentes. El artículo presenta un nuevo tipo de delimitación urbana para las ciudades rusas llamada Gran Región Urbana, permitiendo visibilizar la integración de las ciudades en la globalización dada la presencia de empresas multinacionales y realizar investigación urbana comparativa a escala mundial. Un importante objetivo de la delimitación propuesta es abarcar el área que probablemente albergará a empresas multinacionales, que, por presunción, son dependientes de su localización próxima a un aeropuerto nacional o internacional. En Rusia, estudios previos referentes a límites urbanos se han centrado casi exclusivamente en aspectos morfológicos o en áreas urbanas funcionales, los cuales presentan sustanciales limitaciones al no ser siempre adecuados para las comparaciones urbanas a escala global. En este artículo, proponemos la aplicación de una combinación de criterios más apropiada para delimitar ciudades como grandes regiones urbanas. Ilustramos la relevancia de estos criterios para la estructura urbana policéntrica de Samara y monocéntrica en el caso de la ciudad de San Petersburgo. Posteriormente, delimitamos con tal método todas las ciudades generando 120 LUR rusos. Demostramos la utilidad de esta nueva delimitación de LUR para las ciudades rusas de mayor talla al mostrar a que punto varía su tamaño en términos de población y número de empresas. Argumentamos que estas dimensiones son más realistas para indicar su rango en la globalización que los otros métodos tradicionales.

The financialization of commodity markets over the last decade has changed the behavior of commodity prices in fundamental ways. In this paper, we uncover the gradual transformation of commodities from a physical to a financial asset. Although economic demand and supply factors continue to play an important role, recent indicators associated with financialization have emerged since 2008. We show that financial variables have become the main driving factors explaining the variation in commodity returns and volatility today. Our findings have important implications for portfolio analysis and for the effectiveness of hedging in commodity markets.

Crowdfunding is now established as a valid alternative to conventional methods of financing for startups. Unfortunately, to date, research has not investigated how backers can be encouraged to support entrepreneurs beyond funding. The aim of this study is to design and evaluate certain design elements for reward-based crowdfunding platforms that can engage backers in co-creational activities for product development. The study uses a design science research (DSR) approach and the theoretical concept of psychological ownership to inform a new design and then experimentally test that design. The results suggest that the derived artifacts positively influence co-creational activities in crowdfunding and that feelings of psychological ownership play an important mediating role. The contribution of this research is threefold. First, this paper extends crowdfunding’s application potential from merely a method of financing to a method of value creation with customers for product development. Second, the study advances DSR by applying a new DSR approach that shows whether a design performs as hypothesized by theory. Third, this research allows the exploration of backers’ individual behavior as opposed to their collective behavior.

Die Offshore-Windenergie mit Schwerpunkt auf der Nordseeregion und ihren dominierenden Ländern entwickelt sich zuungunsten Deutschlands. Zudem gewinnt Asien in diesem Bereich erhebliche Marktanteile. Offshore-Windenergieanlagen erfordern eine langfristige Planung, wobei die Stilllegung miteinbezogen werden muss. Im nächsten Jahrzehnt ergeben sich zwei große Stilllegungszyklen. Der Stand der Vorbereitungen in den jeweiligen Ländern wird kritisch diskutiert. Offene Fragen zur Anpassung an die Herausforderungen, die sich aus der Stilllegung ergeben, werden hervorgehoben und mögliche Antworten vorgestellt. The paper at hand presents the development of offshore wind energy with a focus on the North Sea Region (NSR) and its dominant countries. The article analyses not only the shift to Asia in terms of offshore energy but also a structural shift inside the NSR that is disadvantageous to Germany. As an example of longterm planning within the market, the article quantitately examines the new challenge of decommissioning offshore wind installations embedded in two major cycles arising in the next decade. Moreover, the level of preparation in the respective countries is critically discussed. Open questions about adapting to the challenges arising from decommissioning are highlighted and potential answers are presented.

Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden Messungen und Berechnungen vorgestellt, die die Temperaturentwicklung in Betonzylindern aufgrund zyklischer Beanspruchung genau beschreiben. Die Messungen wurden in einem Versuchsstand, die Berechnungen im FEM-Programm ANSYS durchgeführt. Mit Hilfe der Temperaturmessungen konnten die Simulationen für die Temperaturentwicklung der Betonzylinder mit der verwendeten Betonrezeptur validiert werden. Die Untersuchungen lassen den Schluss zu, dass bei zyklischer Probekörperbelastung und der einhergehenden Probekörperdehnung Energie dissipiert wird und diese maßgeblich für die Erwärmung der Probe verantwortlich ist., This paper presents measurements and simulations that describe the temperature development in concrete cylinders due to cyclic loading. The measurements were carried out in a test stand, the simulations in the FEM program ANSYS. The simulations of the temperature development in the concrete cylinders with the used concrete recipe were validated using the temperature measurements. The investigations lead to the conclusion that energy is dissipated during cyclic test specimen loading and the accompanying test specimen elongation and that this is mainly responsible for the heating of the specimen.

Spatial planning intends to limit urban sprawl by constraining settlement areas. But the question remains: which planning efforts achieve higher urban densities? By using geostatistical data, this paper analyses urban density and transport patterns for the case of Switzerland. Based on this analysis an instrument is developed that allows to evaluate the impact of spatial planning policies on land consumption. This instrument further develops the understanding of how spatial planning influences land use patterns. Based on the results, the applicability of this instrument for decision-making in spatial planning is discussed., disP - The Planning Review, 56 (1), ISSN:0251-3625, ISSN:2166-8604

Ausgehend vom Stellenwert digitaler Medien und sozialer Netzwerke im Alltag junger Menschen werden in diesem Beitrag fachwissenschaftliche Zugänge aus den Citizenship Studies mit lerntheoretischen Überlegungen zum Bürgerbewusstsein verbunden. Hervorgehoben wird dabei das Verhältnis von digitaler Erfahrungs- und analoger Reflexionswelt für die Entwicklung des individuellen Bürgerbewusstseins. Abschließend werden daraus Konsequenzen für politische Lernprozesse in der digitalisierten Welt abgeleitet. (DIPF/Orig.), Based on the importance of digital media and social networks in the everyday life of young people, this paper combines approaches from citizenship studies with learning theory approaches on citizen awareness. The relationship between digital experiences and its analogue reflections for the development of individual citizenship awareness is emphasized. Finally, consequences for political learning processes in the digitized world are deduced. (DIPF/Orig.)

Short range inductive data transfer has become very popular in the last years with the increased interest in technologies like RFID and NFC. Additionally, wireless power transfer has been a field of intensive research and product development. In industrial applications, a combination of both is often needed to replace mechanical contacts, mainly for safety and reliability reasons, especially regarding spark prevention and maintenance reduction. In this paper, we present a compact inductive structure that can be implemented in an existing wireless energy transfer system. The structure is developed by field considerations, leading to a single structure comprising two signal ports that are decoupled from each other, but can be used to transfer a signal to a second structure of that kind with very small interference. An optimisation to achieve comparable channel characteristics is conducted by using 3-D field simulations. Subsequent measurements are conducted to verify the achieved performance.

Territorial reform is the most radical and contested reorganisation of local government. A sound evaluation of the outcome of such reforms is hence an important step to ensure the legitimation of any decision on the subject. However, in our view the discourse on the subject appears to be one sided, focusing primarily on overall fiscal effects scrutinised by economists. The contribution of this paper is hence threefold: Firstly, we provide an overview off territorial reforms in Europe, with a special focus on Eastern Germany as a promising case for cross-country comparisons. Secondly, we provide an overview of the analytical classifications of these reforms and context factors to be considered in their evaluation. And thirdly, we analyse the literature on qualitative performance effects of these reforms. The results show that territorial reforms have a significant positive impact on functional performance, while the effects on participation and integration are indeed ambivalent. In doing so, we provide substantial arguments for a broader, more inclusive discussion on the success of territorial reforms.

The Brandenburg Medical School “Theodor Fontane” (MHB) was founded in 2014 by municipal and non-profit institutions in Bernau, Brandenburg an der Havel and Neuruppin to train more physicians for the non-metropolitan region of Brandenburg. Since the 2015 summer term, 48 medical students have been enrolled each year, accepted through the university’s own selection process in which the score on the German school-leaving exam (Abitur) and time spent on the waiting list play subordinate roles. Tuition fees can be partially financed through scholarship agreements with regional hospitals if the applicants commit themselves to medical specialist training (Facharztweiterbildung) at a particular hospital. The main places of study are Neuruppin and Brandenburg an der Havel; there is a decentralized study phase from the eighth to tenth semester of study. The Brandenburg Reformed Medical Curriculum (BMM) complies with the model clause contained in the German regulations governing the licensing of medical doctors (ÄAppO). The curriculum is based on problem-based learning (PBL) and focused on competencies and consists of integrated interdisciplinary modules that combine, from the very beginning, basic sciences with clinical and theoretical medical subjects. The focus on general practice is visible in the regularly held “Practical Days” (Praxistag) during which second-year students and above have the opportunity to observe at participating medical practices and familiarize themselves with primary care in Brandenburg. A special focus of BMM is on the acquisition and development of communication and interpersonal skills. These are imparted through a longitudinal curriculum referred to as “Teamwork, Reflection, Interaction, Communication” (TRIK). High value is placed on critical thinking and scientific scholarship and this is reflected in an eight-week academic placement in which the students independently write a research paper. Several different teaching formats ensure that, along with learning specific subjects, sustained personal development can also take place. BMM’s decentralized study phase starting in the eighth semester represents a special part of the curriculum in which students complete their clinical training in small groups at selected cooperating hospitals in Brandenburg. This phase encompasses not only hospital placements and other local patient-centered courses, but also centralized instruction via video conferencing to assure that basic sciences and clinical theory continue to be covered. Knowledge- and performance-based semester assessments, in particular OSCEs, reinforce the practical aspects of the training. These replace the M1 state medical examination in the first study phase. The first medical students are now in their ninth semester as of April 2019, making it still too early for final evaluations. The curriculum, successfully implemented to date, already satisfies core requirements of the Master Plan 2020 for undergraduate medical education (Masterplan Medizinstudium 2020) with the curriculum's organization and structure, curricular content, assessment formats and student admission process. With its decentralized structure, BMM specifically addresses the social and health policy challenges facing rural regions of Brandenburg. This is the first curriculum that has taken on the improvement of healthcare in rural regions as its central aim., Die Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane (MHB) wurde 2014 von kommunalen und gemeinnützigen Trägern in Bernau, Brandenburg an der Havel und Neuruppin gegründet, um mehr Ärztinnen und Ärzte für die Non-Metropolen-Region Brandenburg auszubilden. Seit dem Sommersemester 2015 werden jährlich 48 Medizinstudierende aufgenommen, die über ein eigenes Auswahlverfahren ausgewählt werden, in dem Abiturnote und Wartezeit eine nachrangige Rolle spielen. Studiengebühren können durch Stipendienverträge mit regionalen Kliniken teilfinanziert werden, wenn sich die Bewerber/innen zur Weiterbildung in der Klinik verpflichten. Das Studium findet überwiegend an den Standorten Neuruppin und Brandenburg an der Havel statt, im 8. bis 10. Semester folgt ein dezentraler Studienabschnitt. Der Brandenburger Modellstudiengang Medizin (BMM) folgt der Modellklausel der ÄAppO. Das Curriculum ist POL-basiert und Kompetenz-orientiert und besteht aus integrierten interdisziplinären Modulen, die von Anfang an Grundlagen-, klinisch-theoretische und klinische Fächer zusammenbringen. Der Fokus auf Allgemeinmedizin schlägt sich unter anderem im regelmäßigen „Praxistag“ nieder, an dem die Studierenden ab dem 2. Semester bei niedergelassenen Lehrärztinnen und -ärzten hospitieren und über eine Integration in den Praxis-Alltag die ambulante Versorgung im Land Brandenburg kennen lernen. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt des BMM liegt auf Erwerb und Förderung kommunikativer und sozialer Kompetenzen. Diese werden durch ein Längsschnittcurriculum „Teamarbeit, Reflexion, Interaktion, Kommunikation“ (TRIK) vermittelt. Dem wissenschaftlichen Denken und Arbeiten wird ein hoher Stellenwert beigemessen, der sich unter anderem in einem achtwöchigen Wissenschaftspraktikum niederschlägt, in dem die Studierenden eine eigenständige Forschungsarbeit erstellen. Mehrere Lehrformate stellen sicher, dass neben dem „Fach“-Unterricht eine nachhaltige Persönlichkeitsentwicklung stattfinden kann. Eine Besonderheit des BMM stellt das dezentrale Studium ab dem 8. Semester dar, in dem die Studierenden in Kleingruppen an ausgewählten kooperierenden Kliniken in Brandenburg ihre klinische Ausbildung absolvieren. Dieser Abschnitt umfasst neben Stationspraktika und weiteren lokalen Patienten-nahen Lehrangeboten auch zentralen Unterricht, der über ein Videokonferenznetzwerk realisiert wird und die weitere Beteiligung der Grundlagen- und klinisch-theoretischen Fächer sicherstellt. Wissens- und Performanz-basierte Semesterabschlussprüfungen unterstützen, insbesondere durch OSCEs, die Praxis-Orientierung der Ausbildung. Sie ersetzen im ersten Studienabschnitt die M1-Staatsprüfung. Die ersten Medizinstudierenden sind ab April 2019 im 9. Fachsemester, so dass es für abschließende Beurteilungen noch zu früh ist. Das bisher erfolgreich etablierte Curriculum erfüllt bereits heute in Bezug auf Aufbau des Studiengangs, Ausbildungsinhalte, Prüfungsformate und Studierendenauswahl zentrale Forderungen des „Masterplans Medizinstudium 2020“. Mit seiner dezentralen Struktur adressiert der BMM spezifisch die gesellschaftlichen und gesundheitspolitischen Herausforderungen der Non-Metropolen-Region Brandenburg. Er ist der erste Studiengang, der es sich zentral zur Aufgabe macht, die ärztliche Versorgung in ländlichen Regionen zu verbessern., GMS Journal for Medical Education; 36(5):Doc49

This paper aims to analyse the intermodal practices of mobility in the bus-metro network of Rennes metropole. Intermodality being strongly linked to the use of urban public transport networks, the Rennes Metropole bus and metro network data provided by Keolis-Rennes provides a very significant part of daily intermodality. To compensate for the lack of information on destinations and correspondances in the ticketing data a reconstruction of trips was made on the basis of hypotheses provided by the literature. The research carried out in the "Mobilletic" project considerably deepened the understanding of the temporal and spatial dimensions of intermodal mobility within Rennes Metropole’s urban public transport network.daily mobility, public transport, data science, data analysis, intermodal transportation

In this paper, we study ∗-g-frames in tensor products of Hilbert C∗-modules. We show that a tensor product of two ∗-g-frames is a ∗-g-frame, and we get some result.

DOI: 10.17336/igusbd.324178, International organisations are among the key external actors promoting democratisation process of nation states. The tools international organisations utilise to externally impact on political transformations at the domestic level are centred on their democratic norms, rules and values. In that respect, the European Union (EU) has been acknowledged as primary democracy promoter within its region, attributable to its effective influence mechanisms based on democratic conditionality. This paper aims to analyse the formation of the characteristics of the EU as a democracy promoter and intends to unveil its contributions to the spread of democracy within its regional sphere, and democratisation processes particularly in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe., Uluslararası örgütler, devletlerin demokratikleşme süreçlerine etki eden aktörlerin başında yer almaktadır. Uluslararası örgütlerin ulusal düzeyde oluşan siyasi dönüşüm süreçlerine dışarıdan etki etmelerine olanak sağlayan araçları ise bu örgütlerin demokratik norm, kural ve değerleri ile bağlantılıdır. Bu bağlamda Avrupa Birliği (AB), demokratik koşulluluk ilkesine bağlı ve etkin olarak nitelendirilebilecek etki mekanizmaları sebebiyle, kendi bölgesindeki başlıca demokrasi destekçisi olarak tanınmaktadır. Bu çalışma temel olarak AB’nin demokrasi destekçisi olarak tanımlanmasına imkân sağlayan niteliklerinin oluşum sürecini analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu bağlamda ayrıca, AB’nin kendi bölgesinde demokrasi yayılımınave özellikle Güney, Merkez ve Doğu Avrupa’da görülen demokratikleşme süreçlerine olan katkısı da incelenmektedir.

In this paper the equivalent circuit modeling of a nonlinearly loaded loop antenna and its transient responses to HPEM field excitations are investigated. For the circuit modeling the general strategy to characterize the nonlinearly loaded antenna by a linear and a nonlinear circuit part is pursued. The linear circuit part can be determined by standard methods of antenna theory and numerical field computation. The modeling of the nonlinear circuit part requires realistic circuit models of the nonlinear loads that are given by Schottky diodes. Combining both parts, appropriate circuit models are obtained and analyzed by means of a standard SPICE circuit simulator. It is the main result that in this way full-wave simulation results can be reproduced. Furthermore it is clearly seen that the equivalent circuit modeling offers considerable advantages with respect to computation speed and also leads to improved physical insights regarding the coupling between HPEM field excitation and nonlinearly loaded loop antenna.

The global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) resulting from the TanDEM-X mission provides information about the world topography with outstanding precision. In fact, performance analysis carried out with the already available data have shown that the global product is well within the requirements of 10 m absolute vertical accuracy and 2 m relative vertical accuracy for flat to moderate terrain. The mission's science phase took place from October 2014 to December 2015. During this phase, bistatic acquisitions with across-track separation between the two satellites up to 3.6 km at the equator were commanded. Since the relative vertical accuracy of InSAR derived elevation models is, in principle, inversely proportional to the system baseline, the TanDEM-X science phase opened the doors for the generation of elevation models with improved quality with respect to the standard product. However, the interferometric processing of the large-baseline data is troublesome due to the increased volume decorrelation and very high frequency of the phase variations. Hence, in order to fully profit from the increased baseline, sophisticated algorithms for the interferometric processing, and, in particular, for the phase unwrapping have to be considered. This paper proposes a novel dual-baseline region-growing framework for the phase unwrapping of the large-baseline interferograms. Results from two experiments with data from the TanDEM-X science phase are discussed, corroborating the expected increased level of detail of the large-baseline DEMs.

Requirements Engineering (RE) has been aiding software-intensive development projects for quite some time now. However, today’s projects growingly demand for agile and human-centered approaches to discover and meet the often fuzzy needs of the various stakeholders involved. In that regard, Design Thinking (DT) has become one of the most promising methods to address complex problems and define innovative solutions. We see potential to combine both, the strongly human-oriented working mode of DT with the more formal, technology-driven world of RE, to develop human-centered solutions more effectively. Yet, little is known how such an integration could be realized and which concrete benefits and challenges to expect. To better understand this endeavor, we conduct a longitudinal case study to identify how DT and RE can work together in an agile development setting from the very beginning of idea conceptualization to market-ready implementation. In this paper, we summarize our research protocol and present first findings how Design Thinking can complement current RE practices through meeting known challenges encountered by the RE community of practitioners. We provide a better understanding of the multi-faceted potential of DT for RE for both, scholars and practitioners, and describe open issues and planned future steps in our study.

Character animation tools are based on a keyframing metaphor where artists pose characters at selected keyframes and the software automatically interpolates the frames inbetween. Although the quality of the interpolation is critical for achieving a fluid and engaging animation, the tools available to adjust the result of the automatic inbetweening are rudimentary and typically require manual editing of spline parameters. As a result, artists spend a tremendous amount of time posing and setting more keyframes. In this pose-centric workflow, animators use combinations of forward and inverse kinematics. While forward kinematics leads to intuitive interpolations, it does not naturally support positional constraints such as fixed contact points. Inverse kinematics can be used to fix certain points in space at keyframes, but can lead to inferior interpolations, is slow to compute, and does not allow for positional contraints at non-keyframe frames. In this paper, we address these problems by formulating the control of interpolations with positional constraints over time as a space-time optimization problem in the tangent space of the animation curves driving the controls. Our method has the key properties that it (1) allows the manipulation of positions and orientations over time, extending inverse kinematics, (2) does not add new keyframes that might conflict with an artist's preferred keyframe style, and (3) works in the space of artist editable animation curves and hence integrates seamlessly with current pipelines. We demonstrate the utility of the technique in practice via various examples and use cases.

The fusion of complementary information from co-registered multi-modal image data enables a more detailed and more robust understanding of an image scene or specific objects, and is important for several applications in the field of remote sensing. In this paper, the benefits of combining RGB, near infrared (NIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) aerial images for the task of semantic vehicle segmentation through deep neural networks are investigated. Therefore, RGB, NIR and TIR image triplets acquired by the Modular Aerial Camera System (MACS) are precisely co-registered through the application of a virtual camera system and subsequently used for the training of different neural network architectures. Various experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of the different sensor characteristics and an early or late fusion within the network on the quality of the segmentation results.

The automatic matching of corresponding regions in remote sensing imagery acquired by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical sensors is a crucial pre-requesite for many data fusion endeavours such as target recognition, image registration, or 3D-reconstruction by stereogrammetry. Driven by the success of deep learning in conventional optical image matching, we have carried out extensive research with regard to deep matching for SAR-optical multi-sensor image pairs in the recent past. In this paper, we summarize the achieved findings, including different concepts based on (pseudo-)siamese convolutional neural network architectures, hard negative mining, alternative formulations of the underlying loss function, and creation of artificial images by generative adversarial networks. Based on data from state-of-the-art remote sensing missions such as TerraSAR-X, Prism, Worldview-2, and Sentinel-1/2, we show what is already possible today, while highlighting challenges to be tackled by future research endeavors.

The paper focuses on medieval wooden sculptures in the 12th and early 13th century in Norway, with preserved original polychromy. The presentation of materials used in the construction, the painting and gilding are based on material analyses. Their application is discussed and compared to those produced in the period that immediately follows. Conclusions reached about the characteristics of this period allow future research to be suggested. It is clear from the evidence gained that both the making and the perception of Catholic church art in medieval Norway was firmly rooted in an established culture consistent with Christian paradigms found in the rest of medieval Europe. The analytical results from the examination of sculpture preserved in Norway are therefore relevant to a wider European context. To what extent medieval sculpture was imported or produced in Norway and by whom is an ongoing discussion. A better knowledge of the sculptural traditions of a wider geographical area will provide the context required to improve our understanding of the cultural exchanges of the medieval period. O artigo foca-se em esculturas medievais de madeira dos séculos XII e XIII na Noruega, com policromia original preservada. A apresentação de materiais usados na construção, na pintura e na douradura baseiam-se na análise de materiais. A sua aplicação é discutida e comparada com casos do período imediatamente a seguir. As conclusões alcançadas relativamente às características deste período permitem a sugestão de investigação futura. Fica claro, a partir das evidências obtidas, que tanto a forma de fazer como a forma de percepcionar a arte da Igreja Católica na Noruega medieval estava firmemente enraizada numa cultura estabelecida que era consistente com os paradigmas cristãos encontrados no resto da Europa medieval. Os resultados analíticos do exame da escultura preservada na Noruega são, portanto, relevantes para um contexto europeu mais vasto. Até que ponto a escultura medieval foi importada para ou produzida na Noruega e por quem é uma discussão em aberto. Conhecer melhor as tradições escultóricas de uma área geográfica mais abrangente providenciará o contexto necessário para aperfeiçoarmos o entendimento que temos das trocas culturais do período medieval.

This paper addresses the mobilization in the global South of the notion of the right to the city, reflecting the debates on the “southern turn”. It analyzes the complexities surrounding the incorporation of certain elements of the debate in the post-colonial context, posed on the one hand by the neo-Marxist authors of the North who have reactivated the notion since the early 2000s, and on the other hand in developmental approaches. It thus returns to the contribution of so-called southern cities, and particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, to the debate on the right to the city and the place that these cities occupy in it. The aim is to shed light on the way in which contemporary discussion on the right to the city has been elaborated in order to question the limits of the North/South analytical nexus, whether the latter aims to denounce the theoretical domination of the North over the South or whether it reinforces the specificity of the South and the need for theorization by the South.The right to the city, urban, Sub-Saharan Africa, critical geography, informal

Building semantic segmentation is a crucial task for building information modeling (BIM). Current research generally exploits terrestrial image data, which provides only limited view of a building. By contrast, oblique imagery acquired by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can provide richer information of both the building and its surroundings at a larger scale. In this paper, we present a novel pipeline for building semantic segmentation from oblique UAV images using a fully convolutional neural network (FCN). To cope with the lack of UAV image annotations at facade level, we leverage existing ground-view facades databases to simulate various aerial-view images based on estimated homography, yielding abundant synthetic aerial image annotations as training data. The FCN is trained end-to-end and tested on full-tile UAV images. Experiments demonstrate that the incorporation of simulated views can significantly boost the prediction accuracy of the network on UAV images and achieve reasonable segmentation performance.

In situ measurements of cloud droplet number concentration N are limited by the sampled cloud volume. Satellite retrievals of N suffer from inherent uncertainties, spatial averaging, and retrieval problems arising from the commonly assumed strictly adiabatic vertical profiles of cloud properties. To improve retrievals of N it is suggested in this paper to use a synergetic combination of passive and active airborne remote sensing measurement, to reduce the uncertainty of N retrievals, and to bridge the gap between in situ cloud sampling and global averaging. For this purpose, spectral solar radiation measurements above shallow trade wind cumulus were combined with passive microwave and active radar and lidar observations carried out during the second Next Generation Remote Sensing for Validation Studies (NARVAL-II) campaign with the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) in August 2016. The common technique to retrieve N is refined by including combined measurements and retrievals of cloud optical thickness τ, liquid water path (LWP), cloud droplet effective radius reff, and cloud base and top altitude. Three approaches are tested and applied to synthetic measurements and two cloud scenarios observed during NARVAL-II. Using the new combined retrieval technique, errors in N due to the adiabatic assumption have been reduced significantly.

Collaboration Engineering (CE) is an approach for the design and deployment of repeatable collaborative work practices that can be executed by practitioners themselves without the ongoing support of external collaboration professionals. A key design activity in CE concerns modeling current and future collaborative work practices. CE researchers and practitioners have used the Facilitation Process Model (FPM) technique. However, this modeling technique suffers from a number of shortcomings to model contemporary collaborative work practices. We use a design science approach to identify the main challenges with the original FPM technique, derive requirements and design a revised modeling technique that is based on the current technique enriched by BPMN 2.0 elements. This paper contributes to the CE literature by offering a revised FPM technique that assists CE-designers to capture new forms of collaborative work practices.

In this paper, we analyze internal crowd work as Neo-STS from an employee’s perspective. Based on qualitative interviews, we describe in our model how employees perceive empowerment through participation in internal crowd work. As our main contribution, we detail and extend existing research regarding internal crowd work, Neo-STS as well as empowerment by identifying structural antecedents that affect psychological empowerment of internal crowd workers.

The digital age has yielded systems that increasingly reduce the complexity of our everyday lives. As such, smart personal assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri combine the comfort of intuitive natural language interaction with the utility of personalized and situation-dependent information and service provision. However, research on SPAs is becoming increasingly complex and opaque. To reduce complexity, this paper introduces a classification system for SPAs. Based on a systematic literature review, a cluster analysis reveals five SPA archetypes: Adaptive Voice (Vision) Assistants, Chatbot Assistants, Embodied Virtual Assistants, Passive Pervasive Assistants, and Natural Conversation Assistants.

Low complexity decoding algorithms are necessary to meet data rate requirements in excess of 1 Tbps. In this paper, we study one and two bit message passing algorithms for belief propagation decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and analyze them by density evolution. The variable nodes (VNs) exploit soft information from the channel output. To decrease the data flow, the messages exchanged between check nodes (CNs) and VNs are represented by one or two bits. The newly proposed quaternary message passing (QMP) algorithm is compared asymptotically and in finite length simulations to binary message passing (BMP) and ternary message passing (TMP) for spectrally efficient communication with higher-order modulation and probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS). To showcase the potential for high throughput forward error correction, spatially coupled LDPC codes and a target spectral efficiency (SE) of 3 bits/QAM symbol are considered. Gains of about 0.7 dB and 0.1 dB are observed compared to BMP and TMP, respectively. The gap to unquantized belief propagation (BP) decoding is reduced to about 0.75 dB. For smaller code rates, the gain of QMP compared to TMP is more pronounced and amounts to 0.24 dB in the considered example., Accepted for IEEE/OSA Journal on Lightwave Technology

Zusammenfassung Die Einfuhrung von Industrie-4.0-Anwendungen ist aufgrund ihrer (potenziellen) Reichweite fur die betrieblichen Akteurinnen und Akteure von grundlegenden Unsicherheiten in technischer, arbeitsorganisatorischer und beschaftigungspolitischer Hinsicht gekennzeichnet. Der Beitrag exploriert auf der Grundlage empirischer Fallstudien zur Einfuhrung von digitaler Produktionstechnik in Industriebetrieben die dortigen Handlungs- und Entscheidungsbedingungen. Im Zentrum steht die Frage, wie nach Betriebsverfassungsgesetz mitbestimmungspflichtige Implementierungen von Industrie-4.0- Komponenten prozessiert werden und wie betriebliche Mitbestimmung in diesem Kontext praktiziert wird. Fokussiert werden insbesondere die betriebsinterne Relation von Management und Betriebsraten und die Handlungsmoglichkeiten der betrieblichen Interessenvertretung hinsichtlich konkreter, bereits vollzogener oder aber noch laufender Einfuhrungsprozesse der Industrie 4.0. Schlagworter: Industrie 4.0, Digitalisierung, Industrielle Beziehungen, betriebliche Mitbestimmung ----- Concerted uncertainty in the face of industry 4.0 – challenges for codetermination and industrial relations Abstract The introduction of industry 4.0 applications implies considerable changes in terms of technology, work organization and employment politics in the perspective of the actors of industrial relations on the company level. The paper explores the conditions for decision-making and action of both management and works councils, based on empirical case studies on the implementation of digital production technology in in German manufacturing companies. The central question is how co-determination is being practiced under the condition that a basic consent for the implementation of industry 4.0 components by the works council is required by regulations of the Works Council Constitution Act. Special attention is given to the relationship of management and works council on the plant level,and the scope of action for works council representatives with regard to ongoing implementation processes of industry 4.0. Keywords: industry 4.0, digitization, industrial relations, co-determination. JEL: O32, O33 ----- Bibliographie: Matuschek, Ingo/Kleemann, Frank: Konzertierte Verunsicherung angesichts Industrie 4.0 – Herausforderungen fur die betriebliche Sozialpartnerschaft, Industrielle Beziehungen. Zeitschrift fur Arbeit, Organisation und Management, 2-2019, S. 189-206. https://doi.org/10.3224/indbez.v26i2.05

This paper presents a system calibration method for a trifocal sensor, which is sensitive to different spectral bands. The trifocal camera system consists of a stereo camera, operating in the visual (VIS) spectrum and a thermal imaging camera, operating in the Long-Wave- Infrared (LWIR) spectrum. Intrinsic parameters and spatial alignment are determined simultaneously. As calibration target a passive aluminium chessboard is used. Corner detection and subsequent bundle adjustment is done on all synchronized image triplets. The remaining reprojection errors are in the sub-pixel range and enable the system to generate metric point clouds, colored with thermal intensities in real-time.

The housing question is a topic of increasing concern in a number of European cities. Rising housing costs burden many households. Since the outbreak of the global economic crisis in 2008, housing has increasingly come under spotlight of investors. Institutional and private actors invest in real estate not only in metropolitan areas but also in middle and small-sized towns. Tourism-induced demand increases the pressure on housing markets particularly in tourist-dominated cities. The manifestation of these processes varies on a small scale and is influenced by regional-local planning and politics. Based on the example of the city of Salzburg, the article shows that the housing question manifests itself strongly aside metropolises as well. Financial investments by private and institutional actors in real estate and different forms of tourism demand exacerbate the housing shortage. By linking the discussions about the effects of (mass-)tourism and financial investments on regional housing markets, this paper provides additional insights. The additional demand for (residential) space by tourism is used to increase or secure the return on investments in real estate. Financial investments in housing offer additional (problematic) potential for tourist use, such as short-term rentals. Owners benefit from both processes. Due to the prevalent power relations, planning and politics have little to counter the current challenges. © 2019 Copernicus. All rights reserved.