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Point pattern analysis (PPA) has gained momentum in archaeological research that models large-scale distributions of sites and explanatory covariates. As such, there has been increased interest in the bias of archaeological distributions, which mostly have an impact due to modern land-use change. These interactions, however, have not yet been fully explored. In order to better understand archaeological point patterns as functions of explanatory covariates, we offer three different approaches: (i) environmental preference modelling of archaeological records in different chronological phases; (ii) a custom bias surface that represents the variability of the regional landscape; (iii) an R-package (rbias) allowing the generation of a fuzzified bias surface based on Open Street Map (OSM) data.

The Levant is a climatically sensitive region that suffers from prolonged heat waves contributing to societal crisis and massive population displacements1–3. At least since 2010 and the so-called Arab Spring, the region has experienced recurring socio-political turmoil and the Syrian civil war, which amplified the economic and ecologic pressure on the neighbouring countries4. Particularly in Jordan, the strong population growth in addition to the immigration of hundreds of thousands Syrian refugees has led to massive changes in land-use and built-up infrastructure, resulting in an over-exploitation of the landscape through irrigated crop plantations and unregulated construction activities5. Climate change and water shortages are now threatening food and water security6. A multicomponent trend analysis from climate variables, satellite imagery, and landcover datasets shows the strong increase in building activity over the past decades and emphasizes the interconnection of climate change prediction models and current socio-political development in the Levant. Groundwater exploitation for crop production in arid regions will further enhance the pressure on the local ecological functionalities and risks severe and irreversible land degradation.

Europe witnessed a strong increase in climate variability and enhanced climate-induced extreme events, such as hot drought periods, mega heat waves, and persistent flooding and flash floods. Intensified land degradation, land use, and landcover changes further amplified the pressure on the environmental system functionalities and fuelled climate change feedbacks. On the other hand, global satellite observations detected a positive spectral greening trend—most likely as a response to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global warming. But which are the engines behind such shifts in surface reflectance patterns, vegetation response to global climate changes, or anomalies in the environmental control mechanisms? This article compares long-term environmental variables (1948–2021) to recent vegetation index data (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), 2001–2021) and presents regional trends in climate variability and vegetation response across Europe. Results show that positive trends in vegetation response, temperature, rainfall, and soil moisture are accompanied by a strong increase in climate anomalies over large parts of Europe. Vegetation dynamics are strongly coupled to increased temperature and enhanced soil moisture during winter and the early growing season in the northern latitudes. Simultaneously, temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture anomalies are strongly increasing. Such a strong amplification in climate variability across Europe further enhances the vulnerability of vegetation cover during extreme events.

Europe witnessed a strong increase in climate variability and extremes over the past decades that caused degradation of ecological and societal resilience. Cascading feedbacks like the 2003 and 2010 heat waves were considered environmental response to anthropogenically reinforced climate anomalies. Land-use intensification, landcover change, and forest degradation further increased the pressure on the ecosystem’s functionalities. Conversely, recent satellite observations emphasized positive vegetation and landcover reflectance trends as a response to rising atmospheric CO₂ input and global warming, particularly in the northern latitudes. However, these global trends obfuscate the intensified regional divergence of climate variability and extremes and risk underestimating future climate induced feedbacks. Consequently, long-term climate trends and variability must be analysed together with annual and interannual anomalies to understand regional feedback mechanisms and surface cover changes. This article presents long-term NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) monthly time series analyses compared to multicomponent environmental background variability to highlight European-scale greening trends over the period 2001–2020. Significant warming and persistent hot droughts affect regional vegetation trends in central Europe compared to prolonged phenological phases and reduced snow-cover in north-eastern Europe.

Heterobilayers consisting of MoSe$_2$ and WSe$_2$ monolayers can host optically bright interlayer excitons with intriguing properties such as ultralong lifetimes and pronounced circular polarization of their photoluminescence due to valley polarization, which can be induced by circularly polarized excitation or applied magnetic fields. Here, we report on the observation of an intrinsic valley-magnetophonon resonance for localized interlayer excitons promoted by invervalley hole scattering. It leads to a resonant increase of the photoluminescence polarization degree at the same field of 24.2 Tesla for H-type and R-type stacking configurations despite their vastly different excitonic energy splittings. As a microscopic mechanism of the hole intervalley scattering we identify the scattering with chiral TA phonons of MoSe$_2$ between excitonic states mixed by the long-range electron hole exchange interaction., Comment: 7+5 pages, 2+0 figures

High-voltage composite insulators are specially designed to withstand different environmental conditions to ensure a reliable and efficient electric power distribution and transmission. Especially, outdoor insulators are exposed to rain, snow or ice, which might significantly affect the performance of the insulators. The interaction of sessile water droplets and electric fields is investigated under various boundary conditions. Besides the general behavior of sessile droplets, namely the deformation and oscillation, the inception field strength for partial discharges is examined depending on the droplet volume, strength and frequency of the electric field and the electric charge. Particularly, the electric charge is identified to significantly affect the droplet behavior as well as the partial discharge inception field strength. In addition to ambient conditions, the impact of electric fields on ice nucleation is investigated under well-defined conditions with respect to the temperature and electric field strength. High electric field strengths are identified to significantly promote ice nucleation, especially in case of alternating and transient electric fields. Different influencing factors like the strengths, frequencies and time constants of the electric fields are investigated. Consequently, the performed experiments enhance the knowledge of the behavior of water droplets under the impact of electric fields under various conditions.

In van der Waals heterostructures (HS) consisting of stacked MoSe$_2$ and WSe$_2$ monolayers, optically bright interlayer excitons (ILE) can be observed when the constituent layers are crystallographically aligned. The symmetry of the monolayers allows for two different types of alignment, in which the momentum-direct interlayer transitions are either valley-conserving (R-type alignment) or changing the valley index (H-type anti-alignment). Here, we study the valley polarization dynamics of ILE in magnetic fields up to 30~Tesla by time-resolved photoluminescence (PL). For all ILE types, we find a finite initial PL circular degree of polarization ($DoP$) after unpolarized excitation in applied magnetic fields. For ILE in H-type HS, we observe a systematic increase of the PL $DoP$ with time in applied magnetic fields, which saturates at values close to unity for the largest fields. By contrast, for ILE in R-type HS, the PL $DoP$ shows a decrease and a zero crossing before saturating with opposite polarization. This unintuitive behavior can be explained by a model considering the different ILE states in H- and R-type HS and their selection rules coupling PL helicity and valley polarization.

We report about the investigation of twisted MoSe2 homo- and MoSe2–WSe2 heterobilayers by means of low-frequency Raman spectroscopy (LFRS) and low-temperature micro photoluminescence (µPL). In room-temperature LFRS experiments on both, twisted MoSe2 homobilayers and twisted MoSe2–WSe2 heterobilayers, we observe moiré phonons, i.e. folded acoustic phonon modes due to the moiré superlattice. In the heterobilayers, we can identify moiré phonons of both materials, MoSe2 and WSe2. While the twist angles for the homobilayers are relatively precisely known from the applied tear-and-stack preparation method, the twist angles of the heterobilayers have to be determined via second-harmonic-generation microscopy on monolayer regions of the samples, which has significant uncertainties. We show that by the moiré phonons of the heterobilayers, the relative twist angles can be determined on a local scale with much higher precision. We apply our technique for the investigation of a large area H-type (twist angle θ = 60∘ + δ) MoSe2–WSe2 heterobilayer. These investigations show that spatial regions, which can be identified to be atomically reconstructed (i.e. δ = 0∘) by the observation of an interlayer shear mode in LFRS experiments, exhibit a strong, momentum-allowed interlayer-exciton signal in low-temperature µPL. On the contrary, regions, where moiré phonons are observed, i.e. which can be identified to be rigidly twisted by a misalignment angle in the range of 5 ° ≲ | δ | ≲ 6 ° , exhibit no significant interlayer-exciton signals.

Landscape reconstructions are subject to multiple filters. Nevertheless, they are the basis for scientific interpretations of the archaeological record. The resulting distribution maps in turn serve to create archaeological maps for the prediction of areas with a high archaeological vulnerability potential. This predictive modelling also leads to the classification of archaeological-free areas. However, the fact that this spatial classification was created on the basis of an archaeological database, which in turn is strongly biased by find densities in modern agglomerations, leads to the potential destruction of archaeological monuments that are located in the invulnerable periphery. Such potential maps can only be sharpened by integrating a large number of different methodical concepts. This article presents the comprehensive combination of satellite remote sensing data, GIS-based landscape analyses and environmental data sets for the construction of a potentially holistic landscape scenario. Only with the highest possible information density of a large-scale study area can interactions in the geographical control factors be identified and conclusions be drawn on archaeological land-use and settlement concepts.

Our maps should be photographs—or at least this is how Theodor Scheimpflug, a former captain in the Austro-Hungarian army, used to explain his idea of cartography. Until his early death in 1911, he worked on methods to transform aerial photographs into precise maps. If photography were applied to cartographic rectification, he believed, the map would in essence draw itself, and map production thus be automated. Extensive areas could then be mapped rapidly. The essay discusses the techniques on which Scheimpflug’s various types of photomap relied. In contrast to Scheimpflug’s rhetoric regarding the inherent naturalness of the photomap, it emphasizes the hybrid character of his images: for not only was every “Photokarte” composed of several aerial photographs but also the map sheet itself had to be heavily processed to meet cartographic standards. On closer examination, Scheimpflug’s concept of a photomap therefore exceeded the idea of mimesis. On the one hand, his “Photokarte” could give a photographic impression of terrain, as in the case of his hot-air balloon panoramas; on the other, his later maps betrayed barely a hint of their origins in the photographic medium. Yet superimposing the basic photographic map sheet with images and data from other sources generated new topographical knowledge. Scheimpflug’s hybrid images, which fall between index, icon, and diagram, can accordingly be regarded as prototypes of the layered information we find in geographic information systems (GIS) today.

Fighting land degradation of semi-arid and climate-sensitive grasslands are among the most urgent tasks of current eco-political agenda. Northern China and Mongolia are particularly prone to surface transformations caused by heavily increased livestock numbers during the 20th century. Extensive overgrazing and resource exploitation amplify regional climate change effects and trigger intensified surface transformation, which forces policy-driven interventions to prevent desertification. In the past, the region has been subject to major shifts in environmental and socio-cultural parameters, what makes it difficult to measure the extent of the regional anthropogenic impact and global climate change. This article analyses historical written sources, palaeoenvironmental data, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) temporal series from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to compare landcover change during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and the reference period 2000–2018. Results show that decreasing precipitation and temperature records led to increased land degradation during the late 17th century. However, modern landcover data shows enhanced expansion of bare lands contrasting an increase in precipitation (Ptotal) and maximum temperature (Tmax). Vegetation response during the early growing season (March–May) and the late grazing season (September) does not relate to Ptotal and Tmax and generally low NDVI values indicate no major grassland recovery over the past 20 years.

The product development process of a company working in the automotive industry is to be reinvented. The Three-Pillar Model provides the key questions: the sustainable purpose that is crucial for aligning and energizing the company and its project, the connectivity of key actors and capabilities for a true co-creation, and building a flexible process to support the traveling organization. The micro-project format supports the structural and cultural shift: cooperative, creative, fast, and result oriented.

The authors examine the relevance of the Three-Pillar Model regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. They found that the model even works in a global context; it demands a sustainable purpose that takes the global community on a journey that is more turbulent than ever, connecting all available resources. At the same time, we experience the crisis as a pacemaker and trigger for rapid learning, communicating online, organizing ourselves, and questioning the social purpose of organizations. Two practical approaches are presented, which are based on the Three-Pillar Model and can be used in a process that helps understand the complexity of what is happening and draws conclusions for the further development of the “travelling organization.” They support teams in creating an overview which individual, group-related, organizational, and social aspects are relevant and how they can be better connected and what this means in the different phases of a crisis and finally in the “next mode.” All of this requires considerable learning and development work. How can this be done? Are we ready and able to develop? The article offers questions to test this by looking back at the 2008/2009 financial crisis and the discussion about resilience at the time.

Based on the articles of their first book on Three Pillars of Organization and Leadership in Disruptive Times: Navigating Your Company Successfully Through the 21st Century Business World (Wollmann et al., Three pillars of organization and leadership in disruptive times—Navigating your company successfully through the 21st century business world. Berlin: Springer, 2020) and on the numerous experiences, concepts, and findings described in this second book, the editors have developed a questionnaire to support organizational developers and consultants in applying the 3-P-Model. Working on this latest book, two additional main aspects have emerged: “Navigate the journey” and “Develop a hybrid environment.” In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought additional experience. At the beginning of the chapter, a detailed recapitulation of the 3-P-Model is documented, which introduces readers to the core ideas of the three pillars and encourages them to make initial reflections and discoveries about their own organization.

The editors explain that the structure of the book is strongly based on the defined categories for detailed cases on the three-pillar model (abbreviated in the following as “3-P-Model”) application as a further development of the approaches and experiences previously published in Three Pillars for Organization and Leadership in Disruptive Times: Navigating Your Company Successfully Through the 21st Century Business World (Wollmann et al. 2020), i.e., on the one hand, extending the scope to the public sector, for example, and, on the other hand, focusing more strongly on concretization and practical application in various industries.

The editors explain the purpose and trigger for the book as a further development of the approaches and experiences previously published in the Three Pillars of Organization and Leadership in Disruptive Times: Navigating Your Company Successfully Through the 21st Century Business World (Wollmann et al., Three pillars of organization and leadership in disruptive times – Navigating Your company successfully through the 21st century business world. Berlin, Springer, 2020), i.e., on the one hand, extending the scope to the public sector, for example, and, on the other hand, focusing more strongly on concretization and practical application in various different industries.

In this chapter, the editors consider the key outcomes of the articles in the book and analyze which fundamental results are common in the articles, which exciting and surprising additions or new facets to complete the Three-Pillar Model (abbreviated: 3-P-Model) or make it better applicable were developed, and which new 3-P-perspectives are worthy of further more detailed consideration in the future. The chapter contains both a cross-chapter section with general and fundamental results at a higher level and a part containing the most striking results per chapter.

We present a two-color Kerr microscopy system based on two electronically synchronized erbium-fiber laser oscillators with independently tunable emission energies spanning most of the visible spectrum. Combining a spatial resolution below 2 $\mu$m and sub-ps time resolution with high sensitivity and cryogenic sample temperatures, it is ideally suited for studying spin and valley dynamics in a wide range of two-dimensional materials. We illustrate its capabilities by studying a monolayer of the common semiconducting transition metal disulfide MoS$_2$.

Extreme weather events and severe flash floods during July 2021 caused numerous deaths and massive ecological disasters across Europe. The regionally overstrained environmental and socio-cultural resilience triggered an intensive discussion about cause and effect, responsibilities and public denouncement, and the financial consequences of climate-induced extreme events. In this article we analyze the flood event by four methodological approaches: (1) hermeneutics, with an analog interpretation of printed newspapers and sources; (2) text mining and natural language processing of digital newspaper articles available online; (3) precipitation and discharge models based on instrumental data; and (4) how the findings can be linked to the historical extreme floods of 1804 and 1910, based on documentary source analysis. These four approaches are used to compare and evaluate their consistency by tracking the course, consequences, and aftermaths of the flood disaster. The study shows a high consistency between the analog, digital, and instrumental data analysis. A combination of multidisciplinary methods and their application to historical events enables the evaluation of modern events. It enables to answer the question of return periods and intensities, which are indispensable for today’s risk assessments and their social contextualization, a desideratum in historical and modern climatology.

To understand the connectivity in human–landscape ecosystems, a multidirectional concept of landscape transformation, sociocultural development, and human response cycles needs to be considered. In this context, societal decision-making is controlled by the ecosystem’s functionality; the human perception, experience, memory, and tradition; and the individual configuration of landscape components: a conceptual framework that is herein referred to as landscape affordances. In contrast to defining environmental components as passive resources, the concept of landscape affordances entails dynamic and processual feedbacks of an individual and the environment in the moment of mutual interaction—thus actively integrating human ingenuity in the production of landscapes, biological processes, and sociocultural patterns. This article contextualizes the concepts of landscape affordances and functional ecosystem connectivity to evaluate human behavioural patterning and the production of landscapes in a methodological landscape archaeological approach.

We investigate WSe$_2$-MoSe$_2$ heterobilayers with different twist angles $\theta \pm \delta$ between the two layers, by low-frequency Raman scattering. In sufficiently aligned samples with $\theta=0^\circ$, or $\theta=60^\circ$, and $\delta \lesssim 3^\circ$, we observe an interlayer shear mode (ISM), which is a clear sign of a commensurate bilayer structure, i.e., the layers must undergo an atomic reconstruction to form R-type or H-type stacking orders. We find slightly different ISM energies of about 18~cm$^{-1}$ and 17~cm$^{-1}$ for H-type and R-type reconstructions, respectively, independent of the exact value of $\theta\pm \delta$. Our findings are corroborated by the fact that the ISM is not observed in samples with twist angles, which deviate by $\delta > 3^\circ$ from $0^\circ$ or $60^\circ$. This is expected, since in such incommensurate structures, with the possibility of Moir$\acute{\text{e}}$-lattice formation, there is no restoring force for an ISM. Furthermore, we observe the ISM even in sufficiently aligned heterobilayers, which are encapsulated in hexagonal Boron nitride. This is particularly relevant for the characterization of high-quality heterostructure devices., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures