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Geographic cluster based routing in ad-hoc wireless sensor networks is a current field of research. Various algorithms to route in wireless ad-hoc networks based on position information already exist. Among them algorithms that use the traditional beaconing approach as well as algorithms that work beaconless (no information about the environment is required besides the own position and the destination). Geographic cluster based routing with guaranteed message delivery can be carried out on overlay graphs as well. Until now the required planar overlay graphs are not being constructed reactively.
This thesis proposes a reactive algorithm, the Beaconless Cluster Based Planarization (BCBP) algorithm, which constructs a planar overlay graph and noticeably reduces the number of messages required for that. Based on an algorithm for cluster based planarization it beaconlessly constructs a planar overlay graph in an unit disk graph (UDG). An UDG is a model for a wireless network in which every participant has the same sending radius. Evaluation of the algorithm shows it to be more efficient than the non beaconless variant. Another result of this thesis is the Beaconless LLRAP (BLLRAP) algorithm, for which planarity but not continued connectivity could be proven.
Integration von CRM-Systemen mit Kollaborations-Systemen am Beispiel von DocHouse und Lotus Quickr
(2012)
Der vorliegende Arbeitsbericht "Integration von CRM-Systemen mit Kollaborations-Systemen am Beispiel von DocHouse/ BRM und IBM Lotus Quickr" ist Ergebnis einer studentischen Projektarbeit. Ziel des Projekts war es Integrationsszenarien zwischen einem CRM-System und einem Kollaborati-onssystem zu erarbeiten und eine prototypische Schnittstelle mit entsprechender Funktion zwischen den Systemen DocHouse/ BRM und IBM Lotus Quickr zu implementieren.
Ein besonderer Dank geht in diesem Zusammenhang an Herr Wolfgang Brugger (Geschäftsführer der DocHouse GmbH), der die Idee einer solchen Entwicklung hatte und die FG BAS mit deren Durchführung betraute. Die Erstellung des Konzepts und des Prototyps wurde vom Winter 2010 bis Sommer 2011 von den Studenten Björn Lilge, Ludwig Paulsen, Marco Wolf, Markus Aldenhövel, Martin Surrey und Mike Reuthers im Rahmen ihres Projektpraktikums durchgeführt. Das Projektteam wurde bei der Konzeption und Implementierung inhaltlich und organisatorisch von Dipl.-Wirt.-Inform. Roland Diehl betreut.
The measurement of the benefits of collaborative technologies is a challenge caused by sociological influences on these systems. In this work, the introduction of a collaborative system into an existing IT environment is examined, so that a value can be identified for the company. The analysis of frameworks has shown that the benefits can be reaped through better management and organization of in-company resources and optimization of the underlying process.
Die vorliegende Fallstudie entstand als Untersuchungsobjekt zu einer Bachelorarbeit und wurde nach der eXperience Fallstudienmethodik erstellt. Ziel der Bachelorarbeit war die Identifizierung von Nutzenaspekten in diesem konkreten Fall. Im Anwenderunternehmen DOCHOUSE wurde hier eine Schnittstelle zwischen dem internen CRM-System und einem kollaborativen System für den externen Zugriff eingeführt.
Ein besonderer Dank geht in diesem Zusammenhang an Herr Wolfgang Brugger (Geschäftsführer DOCHOUSE GmbH), der die Erstellung der Fallstudie motiviert hat und die FG BAS mit deren Durchführung betraute. Die Fallstudie wurde im Winter 2011 von dem Studenten Martin Surrey und Roland Diehl, wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter der Forschungsgruppe, erhoben.
In dieser Arbeit wurden insgesamt fünf verwandte, aber variante Definitionen der Hermite-Normalform vorgestellt, angefangen bei der ursprünglichen Version von Charles Hermite. Anschließend wurden vier Basisalgorithmen zur Berechnung der Hermite-Normalform ganzzahliger Matrizen im Detail und anhand von vollständigen Beispielen präsentiert. Hierbei wurde vor allem Wert darauf gelegt, linear-algebraische Grundlagen wie beispielsweise die Verwendung von Permutationsmatrizen für unimodulare Spaltenoperationen verständlich zu vermitteln.
Das allgemeine Erreichbarkeitsproblem in Stellen/Transitions-Netzen behandelt die Frage, ob eine bestimmte Zielmarkierung aus einer anderen Markierung erreichbar ist. Die lineare Algebra als Teilgebiet der Mathematik kann zur Beschreibung und Analyse von Petri-Netzen herangezogen werden. Jedoch stellen Kreise in Netzen bei der Erreichbarkeitsanalyse ein Problem für sie dar: ob für bestimmte Transitionen erforderliche Marken sofort, erst nach dem Durchlaufen bestimmter Kreise oder gar nicht zur Verfügung stehen, ist nicht erkennbar, hat jedoch unmittelbare Auswirkungen auf die Erreichbarkeit. Es gibt verschiedene Möglichkeiten, dieses Problem linear-algebraisch anzugehen. In dieser Arbeit werden vorhandene Verfahren sowie neue Lösungsansätze auf Basis der Reproduzierbarkeit der leeren Markierung diskutiert.
This master- thesis investigates the topic of intercultural web design. Two websites from different countries are exemplarily compared. On the basis of cultural dimensions, cultural differences are presented on each respective website. The analysis particularly focuses on how detailed the respective website-designer and -operator regards their users" cultural differences and the creation of a cross-cultural web design. The analysis illustrates which cultural - and particularly intercultural - aspects of countries were taken into consideration in the design of the web sites. The investigation led to the conclusion that their implementation was not consequently executed for all web sites. Hence, this thesis offers suggestions for the improvement of aspects which are most important in intercultural web design.
This bachelor thesis deals with the topic "user-friendly design of applications (apps)" on mobile devices, a subdomain of software-ergonomics. In the process, two applications are being analyzed with the aim of developing a solution on how support on a mobile device should be conducted. This study focuses primarily on appropriate gestures to coordinate the 'help function' on a mobile device. The study results show that the test persons request a customized help function, but reject an extensive help description, as this seems to be overwhelming for the user.
The aim of this work is to develop a simple concept for monitoring dogs that are alone at home for several hours. The prototypical implementation of such a "DogCam" can be considered as proof of concept. The basis for the prototype‘s implementation are the requirements identified within a conducted requirement analysis. Furthermore, the present work shows which improvements and extensions of the prototypical "DogCam" are possible and which similar projects already exist.
Statistical eco(-toxico)logy
(2017)
Freshwaters are of immense importance for human well-being.
Nevertheless, they are currently facing unprecedented levels of threat from habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, invasive species and
pollution.
To prevent risks to aquatic ecosystems, chemical substances, like agricultural pesticides, have to pass environmental risk assessment (ERA) before entering the market.
Concurrently, large-scale environmental monitoring is used for surveillance of biological and chemical conditions in freshwaters.
This thesis examines statistical methods currently used in ERA.
Moreover, it presents a national-scale compilation of chemical monitoring data, an analysis of drivers and dynamics of chemical pollution in streams and, provides a large-scale risk assessment by combination with results from ERA.
Additionally, software tools have been developed to integrate different datasets used in ERA.
The thesis starts with a brief introduction to ERA and environmental monitoring and gives an overview of the objectives of the thesis.
Chapter 2 addresses experimental setups and their statistical analyses using simulations.
The results show that current designs exhibit unacceptably low statistical power, that statistical methods chosen to fit the type of data provide higher power and that statistical practices in ERA need to be revised.
In chapter 3 we compiled all available pesticide monitoring data from Germany.
Hereby, we focused on small streams, similar to those considered in ERA and used threshold concentrations derived during ERA for a large-scale assessment of threats to freshwaters from pesticides.
This compilation resulted in the most comprehensive dataset on pesticide exposure currently available for Germany.
Using state-of-the-art statistical techniques, that explicitly take the limits of quantification into account, we demonstrate that 25% of small streams are at threat from pesticides.
In particular neonicotinoid pesticides are responsible for these threats.
These are associated with agricultural intensity and can be detected even at low levels of agricultural use.
Moreover, our results indicated that current monitoring underestimates pesticide risks, because of a sampling decoupled from precipitation events.
Additionally, we provide a first large-scale study of annual pesticide exposure dynamics.
Chapters 4 and 5 describe software solutions to simplify and accelerate the integration of data from ERA, environmental monitoring and ecotoxicology that is indispensable for the development of landscape-level risk assessment.
Overall, this thesis contributes to the emerging discipline of statistical ecotoxicology and shows that pesticides pose a large-scale threat to small streams.
Environmental monitoring can provide a post-authorisation feedback to ERA.
However, to protect freshwater ecosystems ERA and environmental monitoring need to be further refined and we provide software solutions to utilise existing data for this purpose.
Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der für Router und Kleingeräte entwickelten Linux-Distribution OpenWrt. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wird die Erstellung von Softwarepaketen für OpenWrt erläutert und eine Anzeige- und Konfigurationskomponente für die Dateien des Quagga RIP-Daemons für die Benutzeroberfläche LuCI erstellt. Im zweiten Teil wird der Aufbau eines Testnetzwerkes mit OpenWrt Routern dokumentiert, sowie die Anbindung an VNUML-virtualisierte Netzwerke.
The output of eye tracking Web usability studies can be visualized to the analysts as screenshots of the Web pages with their gaze data. However, the screenshot visualizations are found to be corrupted whenever there are recorded fixations on fixed Web page elements on different scroll positions. The gaze data are not gathered on their fixated fixed elements; rather they are scattered on their recorded scroll positions. This problem has raised our attention to find an approach to link gaze data to their intended fixed elements and gather them in one position on the screenshot. The approach builds upon the concept of creating the screenshot during the recording session, where images of the viewport are captured on visited scroll positions and lastly stitched into one Web page screenshot. Additionally, the fixed elements in the Web page are identified and linked to their fixations. For the evaluation, we compared the interpretation of our enhanced screenshot against the video visualization, which overcomes the problem. The results revealed that both visualizations equally deliver accurate interpretations. However, interpreting the visualizations of eye tracking Web usability studies using the enhanced screenshots outperforms the video visualizations in terms of speed and it requires less temporal demands from the interpreters.
The global problematic issue of the olive oil industry is in its generation of large amounts of olive mill wastewater (OMW). The direct discharge of OMW to the soil is very common which presents environmental problems for olive oil producing countries. Both, positive as well as negative effects on soil have been found in earlier studies. Therefore, the current study hypothesized that whether beneficial effects or negative effects dominate depends on the prevailing conditions before and after OMW discharge to soil. As such, a better understanding of the OMW-soil interaction mechanisms becomes essential for sustainable safe disposal of OMW on soil and sustainable soil quality.
A field experiment was carried out in an olive orchard in Palestine, over a period of 24 months, in which the OMW was applied to the soil as a single application of 14 L m-2 under four different environmental conditions: in winter (WI), spring (SP), and summer with and without irrigation (SUmoist and SUdry). The current study investigated the effects of seasonal conditions on the olive mill wastewater (OMW) soil interaction in the short-term and the long-term. The degree and persistence of soil salinization, acidification, accumulation of phenolic compounds and soil water repellency were investigated as a function of soil depth and time elapsed after the OMW application. Moreover, the OMW impacts on soil organic matter SOM quality and quantity, total organic carbon (SOC), water-extractable soil organic carbon (DOC), as well as specific ultraviolet absorbance analysis (SUVA254) were also investigated for each seasonal application in order to assess the degree of OMW-OM decomposition or accumulation in soil, and therefore, the persisting effects of OMW disposal to soil.
The results of the current study demonstrate that the degree and persistence of relevant effects due to OMW application on soil varied significantly between the different seasonal OMW applications both in the short-term and the long-term. The negative effects of the potentially hazardous OMW residuals in the soil were highly dependent on the dominant transport mechanisms and transformation mechanisms, triggered by the ambient soil moisture and temperature which either intensified or diminished negative effects of OMW in the soil during and after the application season. The negative effects of OMW disposal to the soil decreased by increasing the retention time of OMW in soil under conditions favoring biological activity. The moderate conditions of soil moisture and temperature allowed for a considerable amount of applied OMW to be biologically degraded, while the prolonged application time under dry conditions and high temperature resulted in a less degradable organic fraction of the OMW, causing the OMW constituents to accumulate and polymerize without being degraded. Further, the rainfall during winter season diminished negative effects of OMW in the soil; therefore, the risk of groundwater contamination by non-degraded constituents of OMW can be highly probable during the winter season.
The aim of this work was to present the accident and traffic modeling of Oman (Muskat City) under theoretical assumptions by means of agent-based simulation. TRASS should be taken as the basis for the simulation environment. In addition, possible counter-measures should be proposed with regard to the high accident rate, which result from different simulation variants.
It was not part of this work whether the theoretical assumptions by the simulation should actually be applied and implemented in reality.
It was also necessary to check whether three different simulation variants could be represented differently by TRASS. The three variants were divided into simulation sequence with traffic light control, without traffic light control and finally with traffic light control, which however should be ignored with a probability of 70%. All three variants could produce different results. It has been shown that all three variants have advantages and disadvantages with respect to traffic flow and accident rate.
Not to be neglected is the fact that this work is modeled, analyzed and evaluated exclusively with TRASS framework. All potentials and deficits thus flow into the overall framework of this work. Therefore, after critical observation, this statement was viewed from a single angle only: the theoretical assumptions of Oman and the modeling limits of TRASS. In order to be able to make a promising statement about the actual implementation of the proposals, further comprehensive analyzes and simulations are necessary in a much wider range of variants of transport for Oman.
This master thesis is about the possibilities of supporting local corporate sales with the help of current mobile applications. The internet already has served in order to make the trading market more dynamic. The conditions for long-term local corporate sales have become more challenging. Because of smaller cost structures online-retailer offer prizes on which local point of sales can hardly keep up with. Another point is that more customers decide to order online because the service in e-shops enhanced; therefore, the digital transactions become more attractive for consumers. Today smartphones and tablets have brought the digitalization to a whole new level. With the possibility of Mobile Web the effects that the internet already showed us in the past have been intensified. The question that proposes here is: In which way do the conditions of competitions for local corporate sales change? This paper follows the outline of putting together various mobile services, their functions, and their practical usage, as well as the process of integrating them successfully into marketing. With that one should be able to find out if Mobile Web can be seen as an advantage for local corporates sales.
Agricultural pesticides, especially insecticides, are an integral part of modern farming. However, these may often leave their target ecosystems and cause adverse effects in non- target, especially freshwater ecosystems, leading to their deterioration. In this thesis, the focus will be on Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs) that can in many ways cause disruption of the endocrine system of invertebrates. Freshwater invertebrates play important ecological, economic and medical roles, and disruption of their endocrine systems may be crucial, considering the important role hormones play in the developmental and reproductive processes in organisms. Although Endocrine Disruption Chemicals (EDCs) can affect moulting, behaviour, morphology, sexual maturity, time to first brood, egg development time, brood size (fecundity), and sex determination in invertebrates, there is currently no agreement upon how to characterize and assess endocrine disruption (ED). Current traditional ecotoxicity tests for Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) show limitations on generating data at the population level that may be relevant for the assessment of EDCs, which effects may be sublethal, latent and persist for several generations of species (transgenerational).
It is therefore the primary objective of this thesis to use a test method to investigate adverse effects of EDCs on endpoints concerning development and reproduction in freshwater invertebrates. The full life-cycle test over two generations that includes all sensitive life stages of C. riparius (a sexual reproductive organism) allows an assessment of its reproduction and should be suitable for the investigation of long-term toxicity of EDCs in freshwater invertebrates. C. riparius is appropriate for this purpose because of its short life cycle that enables the assessment of functional endpoints of the organism over several generations. Moreover, the chironomid life cycle consists of a complete metamorphosis controlled by a well-known endocrine mechanism and the endocrine system of insects has been most investigated in great detail among invertebrates. Hence, the full life-cycle test with C. riparius provides an approach to assess functional endpoints (e.g. reproduction, sex ratio) that are population-relevant as a useful amendment to the ERA of EDCs. In the laboratory, C. riparius was exposed to environmentally-relevant concentrations of the selected IGRs in either spiked water or spiked sediment scenario over two subsequent generations.
The results reported in this thesis revealed significant effects of the IGRs on the development and the reproduction of C. riparius with the second (F1) generation showing greater sensitivity. These findings indicated for the first time the suitability of multigenerational testing for various groups of EDCs and strongly suggested considering the full life-cycle of C. riparius as an appropriate test method for a better assessment of EDCs in the freshwater environment. In conclusion, this thesis helps to detect additional information that can be extrapolated at population level and, thus, might contribute to better protection of freshwater ecosystems against the risks of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs.) It may furthermore contribute to changes in the ERA process that are necessary for a real implementation of the new European chemical legislation, REACH (Registration, Evaluation Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals). Finally, significant interactions between temperature, chemical exposure and generation were reported for the first time and, may help predict impacts that may occur in the future, in the field, under predicted climate change scenarios.
Literaturanalyse und Darstellung aktueller Forschungsschwerpunkte zum Thema Entrepreneurial Strategy
(2019)
Entrepreneurial Strategy ist in der Literaturwelt weit verbreitet. Dieser Begriff fand schon im 20. Jahrhundert seine Anwendung und zieht sich bis ins heutige Zeitalter weiter. Diese Beständigkeit und Entwicklung des Entrepreneurs und dem Wunsch nach einem eigenen Unternehmen trieben die Diskussion dieses Themas voran. Die Wahl der passenden unternehmerischen Strategie ist eine der wichtigsten Entscheidungen, die ein Unternehmer treffen muss. Diese Problematik sorgte für eine Analyse und genaue Forschung der Entscheidungen und Einflussfaktoren. Resultate davon wurden festgehalten und interpretiert um die Branche der Entrepreneure zu fördern und somit die Wirtschaft anzutreiben. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird zunächst ein Grundverständnis für die wichtigsten Begrifflichkeiten ausgearbeitet. Grundlage dieser Bachelorarbeit ist jedoch, anhand einer Literaturanalyse nach Webster und Watson (2002) einen Einblick in die Forschung der Entwicklung von Entrepreneurial Strategy zu geben und den aktuellen Stand herauszuarbeiten. Anahnd dieser Literaturanalyse werden Referenzen, Konzepte und die Notwendigkeit von Strategien verdeutlicht und die Rolle in einem Start-Up erklärt. Aus der Analyse und dem Vergleich zu älteren Veröffentlichungen geht hervor, das der Prozess der Strategiefindung eine Differenzierung in zwei Teile aufweist. Es wird unter dem Strategiesuch- und dem Strategieauswahlprozess uinterschieden. Merkmale, die früher als Allgemeine Einflussfaktoren für die Wahl der Strategie angenommen wurden, werden in der heutigen Literatur den genauen Prozessen und Phasen zugeteilt. Das Resultiert, das Merkmale, wie die persönlichen Eigenschaften, die Umgebung und das Humankapital eines Unternehmers mehr Einfluss während dem Suchprozess haben als während der darauffolgenden Auswahl. Zudem wurden für die Auwahl Methoden und Richtlinien entwickelt, die dem Unternehmer helfen sollen seine Alternativen zu sortieren und daraus zu wählen.
Estuaries are characterized by a longitudinal salinity gradient. This gradient is one of the main environmental factors responsible for the distribution of organisms. Distinguishing salinity zones is of crucial importance, e.g., for the development of tools for the assessment of ecological quality. The methods most often applied for classifying water according to salinity are the Venice System and the method of Bulger et al. (1993), both of which determine zone boundaries using species occurrences relative to mean salinity. However, although these methods were developed for homoiohaline waters, they have also been routinely applied to poikilohaline systems. I tested the applicability of both methods using salinity and macroinvertebrate data for the poikilohaline Elbe Estuary (Germany). My results showed that the mid-estuary distribution of macro-invertebrates is determined by variation in salinity rather than by mean salinity. Consequently, neither of the two methods is applicable for defining salinity zones in the Elbe Estuary. Cluster analysis combined with a significance test, by contrast, was a better tool for identifying the boundaries of salinity zones in poikilohaline systems.
In many estuaries, such as the Elbe Estuary, a maximum turbidity zone (MTZ) develops, where suspended matter accumulates owing to circulation processes. It is assumed that the MTZ is a stressful environment with an excess of organic matter, high deposition rates, large variations in salinity, and dredging activities. Under such harsh conditions, populations might remain below the carrying capacity, and it is assumed that competition is of little importance, as predicted by the stress gradient hypothesis. I tested whether competition for food is important in the MTZ of the Elbe Estuary using stable isotope analysis of the macroinvertebrate community. The isotopic niches of no two taxa within a feeding group overlapped, which indicated different resource use and the absence of competition. The main reasons for the lack of overlap of isotopic niches were differences in habitat, feeding behavior, and migration behavior.
The Elbe Estuary is nowadays highly industrialized and has long been subjected to a plethora of human-caused alterations. However, it is largely unknown what changes occurred in benthic communities in the last century. Hence, I considered taxonomic and functional aspects of macrobenthic invertebrates of the Elbe Estuary given in data from 1889 (most natural state), 1985 and 1986 (highly polluted state), and 2006 (recent state) to assess benthic community shifts. Beta-diversity analysis showed that taxonomic differences between the sampling dates were mainly due to species turnover, whereas functional differences were predominantly a result of functional nestedness. Species number (S), functional richness (FRic), and functional redundancy reached minimum values in 1985 and 1986 and were highest and rather similar in 1889 and 2006. The decline in FRic from 1889 to 1985/1986 was non-random, consistent with habitat filtering. FRic, functional beta diversity, and S data suggested that the state of the estuary from 1889 was almost re-established in 2006. However, the community in 1889 significantly differed from that in 2006 owing to species replacement. My results indicate that FRic and FR in 1889 could have promoted ecosystem resilience and stability.
Die Ukraine sieht seit dem Euromaidan im Jahr 2014 ihre Zukunft in einer stabilen Veran-kerung im westlichen Wertesystem. Für die EU ist die Ukraine ein priority partner und damit von besonderem Gewicht. Deshalb lag es folgerichtig im Interesse der EU, die Ukra-ine nach Kräften auf diesem Weg zu unterstützen.
Die wissenschaftliche Forschung zur EU-Demokratieförderung konzentrierte sich bis-her im Wesentlichen auf Staaten mit konkreter EU-Beitrittsperspektive. Sie kam zu dem Ergebnis, dass der Erfolg der Demokratieförderung maßgeblich von der Konditionierung eines EU-Beitritts getragen war. Damit konnte dieser Erfolg der EU als dominanter Träger der Demokratieförderung zugeordnet werden.
Mit dem Fokus auf Staaten ohne EU-Beitrittsperspektive entfällt diese Konditionie-rung. Auch weitere Akteure traten bei der Demokratieförderung hinzu, und die Wirksam-keit der Demokratieförderung kann nicht mehr der EU direkt zugeordnet werden. Es ent-stand also eine Forschungslücke, in welcher Weise jetzt die Wirksamkeit der EU-Demokratieförderung analysiert werden kann. Die vorliegende Studie greift diese For-schungslücke auf.
Zunächst wird analysiert, welcher Demokratiestatus der Ukraine und welche Defizite sich für den Untersuchungszeitraum ermitteln lassen. Im Anschluss erfolgt die Analyse der EU-Demokratieförderung auf der Grundlage einer eigens dafür entworfenen Definition von kohärenter Strategie, die eine statische und eine dynamische Dimension abbildet.
Die statische Dimension geht der Frage nach, ob die Zielsetzungen und Vorhaben der EU-Demokratieförderung auf die Demokratiedefizite zugeschnitten waren. Die dynami-sche Dimension des Transformationsprozesses beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob das jewei-lige Vorgehen den Prinzipien aus sozialkonstruktivistischer Perspektive folgte. Mit dieser sozialkonstruktivistischen Perspektive wird ein Weg aufgezeigt, wie man ohne eine EU-Beitritts-Konditionierung die Transformation demokratischer Werte und Normen erfolg-reich ausgestalten kann.
Das Ergebnis ist, dass die EU-Strategie der Demokratieförderung zwar mit ihren Ziel-setzungen und Vorhaben auf die Demokratiedefizite der Ukraine ausgerichtet war, aber auch, dass das Vorgehen in einem Fall nicht den Prinzipien aus sozialkonstruktivistischer Perspektive entsprach. Diesem Vorgehen lag keine kohärente EU-Strategie zugrunde.
Die Analyse auf der Ebene der Strategie lässt der EU-Demokratieförderung keine di-rekte Wirkung zuweisen, da auch andere Akteure eine Wirkung entfalten. Auf der Ebene eines konkreten Reformprojekts konnte dann der Nachweis geführt werden, dass die De-zen-tralisierungsreform direkt der EU zugeordnet werden kann, das Vorgehen den Prinzi-pien aus sozialkonstruktivistischer Perspektive folgt und eine positive Wirkung entfaltet.
Begünstigt wurde dieser Erfolg, da er sich auf demokratische Werte und Normen ab-stützen konnte, die in überdurchschnittlicher Ausprägung bereits vorhanden waren. Dar-über hinaus wurde aufgezeigt, dass dieses Projekt eine breit gefächerte potenzielle Wirkung auf den Reformprozess in Richtung Demokratie entfaltet.
Die Dissertation wurde am 14. Dezember 2021 abgeschlossen und an der Universität Koblenz-Landau eingereicht. Im Nachgang bietet ein „Postskript“ mit Datum September 2022 unter Berücksichtigung aktueller Entwicklungen eine Perspektive für weiterführende Forschungsfragen.
Coat color and pattern are a distinguished feature in mammalian carnivores, shaped by climatic cycles and habitat type. It can be expressed in various ways, such as gradients, polymorphisms, and rare color variants. Although natural selection explains much of the phenotypic variation found in the wild, genetic drift and heterozygote deficiency, as prominent in small and fragmented populations, may also affect phenotypic variability through the fixation of recessive alleles. The aim of this study was to test whether rare color variants in the wild could relate to a deficiency of heterozygotes, resulting from habitat fragmentation and small population size. We present an overview of all rare color variants in the order Carnivora, and compiled demographic and genetic data of the populations where they did and did not occur, to test for significant correlations. We also tested how phylogeny and body weight influenced the presence of color variants with phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models (PGLMMs). We found 40 color-variable species and 59 rare color variants. In 17 variable phenotypic populations for which genetic diversity was available, the average AR was 4.18, HO = 0.59, and HE= 0.66, and FIS= 0.086. We found that variable populations displayed a significant reduction in heterozygosity and allelic richness compared to non-variable populations across species. We also found a significant negative correlation between population size and inbreeding coefficients. Therefore, it is possible that small effective size had phenotypic consequences on the extant populations. The high frequency of the rare color variants (averaging 20%) also implies that genetic drift is locally overruling natural selection in small effective populations. As such, rare color variants could be added to the list of phenotypic consequences of inbreeding in the wild.
Maßnahmen der Führungskräfteentwicklung verfolgen das Ziel den Führungsnachwuchs des Unternehmens zu bilden und für einen reibungslosen Einstieg in die Füh-rungsaufgabe zu sorgen. In der Literatur gibt es zahlreiche Theorien und Modelle zu Führung und deren Entwicklung, doch offen bleibt meist, wie es um den praktischen Einsatz und die Effektivität steht. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Identifikation wesentlicher Bestandteile der Führungskräfteentwicklung, die effektiv Einfluss auf (Nachwuchs-)Führungskräfte nehmen. Drei Studien beschäftigen sich jeweils mit unter-schiedlichen Schwerpunkten mit der Gestaltung und Wirksamkeit von modularen Programmen der Führungskräfteentwicklung. Zur Beschreibung der Gestaltung wurde eine Expertenbefragung unter Verantwortlichen für Führungskräfteentwicklung in 4 Großunternehmen durchgeführt. Zur Prüfung der Wirksamkeit wurden zwei Prädiktoren erfolgreichen Führens, die praktische Führungsintelligenz und die Führungswirksamkeitserwartung (FWE), in zwei repräsentativen modularen Programmen gemessen. Dafür wurden zwei quasiexperimentelle Designs mit Prätest-Posttest durchgeführt: ein Design mit zusätzlicher Kontrollgruppe (Nexp = 14, Nkontr = 12), ein Design mit zusätzlicher Fremdeinschätzung (N = 11 bis N =57 je nach Messzeitpunkt und beteiligten Variablen). Die praktische Führungsintelligenz wurde anhand eines für die Untersuchung entwickelten Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs) gemessen. Neben der FWE (in Anlehnung an die Skala zur Erfassung der beruflichen Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, BSW-Skala) wurden weitere Konstrukte wie Selbstregulation (Locomotion-Assessment-Fragebogen, L-A-F), Optimismus (Skala Optimismus-Pessimismus-2, SOP2) Selbstmanagement (Fragebogens zur Erfassung von Ressourcen und Selbstmanagementfähigkeiten, FERUS) erfasst, sowie explorativ entwicklungsförderliche Merkmale erhoben. Entsprechend der Annahme verdichten sich die Ergebnisse auf drei Merkmale wirksamer Trainingsgestaltung: Erfahrungssammlung, Feedback, Selbstreflexion. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass Programme mit hohem erfahrungsorientiertem Trainingsanteil, die Erfolgserlebnisse und Modelllernen fördern sowie persönliche Gespräche und Feedback beinhalten, die FWE (ŋ2 = .24, ŋ2 = .50) und die praktische Führungsintelligenz (ŋ2 = .54). signifikant (p<.05) steigern. Deutlich wurde auch der enge Zusammenhang zwischen Merkmalen der Person (wie Ausprägung der FWE oder Selbstregulationsfähigkeiten) und der Wirksamkeit der Programme. Aus den Ergebnissen werden Empfehlungen zur praktischen Umsetzung in der Führungskräfteentwicklung abgeleitet und Anregungen für zukünftige Forschung diskutiert.
Community-Plattformen im Internet verwenden codebasierte Governance, um ihre hohe Anzahl an Nutzerbeiträgen zu verwalten. Dazu gehören alle Arten von Funktionalitäten, mit denen die Community Nutzerbeiträge in irgendeiner Form direkt oder indirekt beurteilen kann. Diese Arbeit erklärt zunächst die Bedeutung codebasierter Governance und der verschiedenen dafür nutzbaren Funktionalitäten. Anschließend werden die erfolgreichsten 50 Community-Plattformen auf codebasierte Governance untersucht. Das Ergebnis zeigt die Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Aufbau einer Plattform, der Beschaσffenheit der Nutzerbeiträge und der darauf ausübbaren codebasierten Governance auf.
Current political issues are often reflected in social media discussions, gathering politicians and voters on common platforms. As these can affect the public perception of politics, the inner dynamics and backgrounds of such debates are of great scientific interest. This thesis takes user generated messages from an up-to-date dataset of considerable relevance as Time Series, and applies a topic-based analysis of inspiration and agenda setting to it. The Institute for Web Science and Technologies of the University Koblenz-Landau has collected Twitter data generated beforehand by candidates of the European Parliament Election 2019. This work processes and analyzes the dataset for various properties, while focusing on the influence of politicians and media on online debates. An algorithm to cluster tweets into topical threads is introduced. Subsequently, Sequential Association Rules are mined, yielding wide array of potential influence relations between both actors and topics. The elaborated methodology can be configured with different parameters and is extensible in functionality and scope of application.
Globale Beleuchtung im Bildraum unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Sichtbarkeitsbestimmung
(2009)
Die Simulation einer globalen Beleuchtung im dreidimensionalen Objektraum ist sehr rechenintensiv und hängt von der Komplexität der Szene ab. Dabei ist besonders die Berechnung der Sichtbarkeit aufwändig, also der Test, ob sich zwei Punkte in der Szene gegenseitig sehen können. Verfahren, die die globale Beleuchtung vom Objektraum in den Bildraum verlagern (Screen-Space, Image-Space), umgehen das Problem der Szenenkomplexität und haben somit einen wesentlichen Geschwindigkeitsvorteil. Auf diese Weise erzeugte Effekte sind zwar naturgemäß nicht physikalisch korrekt, da die aus Sicht der Kamera verdeckte Geometrie ignoriert wird, dennoch können sie für die menschliche Wahrnehmung überzeugend sein und realistisch wirken. Schlagworte hierfür sind "Fake-"Global-Illumination oder auch "Quasi-"Global-Illumination. Ein bekanntes Beispiel für ein bildraum-basiertes Verfahren zur Annäherung einer globalen Beleuchtung mithilfe weicher Schatten ist Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO). In dieser Studienarbeit wird untersucht, inwieweit sich die Sichtbarkeitsbestimmung im Bildraum nicht nur für nah gelegene Geometrie wie beim Ambient Occlusion, sondern in Bezug auf die gesamte Szene realisieren lässt. Aktuelle Ansätze werden dahingehend untersucht und das geeignetste Verfahrend wird als Grundlage für die Implementierung eines Testszenarios für Screen-Space Global Illumination genutzt. Das umgesetzte Verfahren wird anhand verschiedener Testszenen bewertet.
Für die realistische Betrachtung einer virtuellen Szene spielt neben der direkten Beleuchtung auch die Ausbreitung des indirekten Lichtes eine wichtige Rolle. Die Berechnung der indirekten Beleuchtung benötigt grundsätzlich Informationen über die gesamte Szene, nicht nur über den für die Kamera sichtbaren Ausschnitt, der in bildraumbasierten Techniken zum Einsatz kommt. Mittels Voxelisierung kann die Szene in eine dreidimensionale, diskrete und GPU-freundliche Repräsentation überführt werden. In dieser Arbeit werden Voxelrepräsentationen hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung für den globalen Lichtaustausch in dynamischen und großen Szenen untersucht. Nach einer Einführung und einem Literaturüberblick über existierende Voxelisierungs- und Beleuchtungsverfahren, die Voxel als Grundlage nutzen, wird ein Voxelisierungsverfahren entwickelt, das sich für Szenen mit dynamischen Objekten eignet. Auf der Grundlage des Strahlenschnitt-Tests mit binärer Voxelhierarchie werden dann zwei Beleuchtungsalgorithmen umgesetzt, implementiert und evaluiert: Monte-Carlo-Integration der Hemisphäre eines Szenenpunktes und Beleuchtung der Szenenpunkte mit virtuellen Punktlichtquellen.
In Silico simulation of biological systems is an important sub area of computational biology (system biology), and becomes more and more an inherent part for research. Therefore, different kinds of software tools are required. At present, a multitude of tools for several areas exists, but the problem is that most of the tools are essentially application specific and cannot be combined. For instance, a software tool for the simulation of biochemical processes is not able to interact with tools for the morphology simulation and vice versa. In order to obtain realistic results with computer-aided simulations it is important to regard the biological system in its entirety. The objective is to develop a software framework, which provides an interface structure to combine existing simulation tools, and to offer an interaction between all affiliated systems. Consequently, it is possible to re-use existing models and simulation programs. Additionally, dependencies between those can be defined. The system is designed to interoperate as an extendable architecture for various tools. The thesis shows the usability and applicability of the software and discusses potential improvements.
Unterschiedliche Quellen (Print-Medien, Fernsehberichte u. Ä.) berichten immer wieder davon, dass es mit der Datenschutzkompetenz bei Kindern und Jugendlichen schlecht bestellt ist. Daher ist dem Thema Datenschutz im Informatikunterricht eine besondere Bedeutung zuzuschreiben.
Im Rahmen der Dissertation von Herrn Hug wird ein Datenschutzkompetenzmodell [Quelle INFOS17] entwickelt, anhand dessen die Datenschutzkompetenz von Schülerinnen und Schülern im Altern von 10 bis 13 Jahren gemessen werden kann.
Im Rahmen dieser Masterarbeit werden existierende Unterrichtsmaterialien zum Thema Datenschutz gesammelt und dazu eine Unterrichtsreihe entwickelt. Hierbei werden auch eigene Zugänge aufzeigt, um ein kohärentes und abgeschlossenes Projekt zu entwerfen, bei dem aktuelle Gefahren für Schülerinnen und Schüler aufgezeigt werden. Ziel ist es, dass die Schülerinnen und Schüler dazu befähigt werden, ihr Verhalten bezüglich Datenschutz besser einzuschätzen und verantwortungsvoller mit ihren persönlichen Daten umzugehen. Im Rahmen eines Feldversuches in einer 6. Klasse eines Gymnasiums wurde die Unterrichtsreihe erprobt.
Population genetic structure in European Hyalodaphnia species: Monopolization versus gene flow
(2012)
Cyclic parthenogens displays an alternation of asexual and sexual reproduction which has consequences for the genetic structure of these organisms. The clonal diversity of cyclic parthenogenetic zooplankton populations is influenced by the size of the dormant egg bank, i.e., the amount of sexually produced dormant eggs that assembled in the sediment, as these dormant eggs contribute new genetic variants to the populations. Further, the clonal diversity is impacted by clonal erosion over time, which reduces the number of different clones through stochastic and selective processes. Although freshwater invertebrates are good dispersers through their dormant stages, the influence of gene flow is assumed to be negligible, as the local population successfully monopolizes the available resources. As these populations reach carrying capacity fast due to the asexual reproduction, the first colonizing individuals are able to successfully establish in the habitat, resulting in a priority effect which hinders the invasion of new genotypes. Due to clonal selection and sexual reproduction a population will locally adapt over time and will establish a dormant egg bank which facilitates the fast re-colonization after a hostile period. This thesis evaluates the processes altering the population genetic structure of cyclic parthenogenetic zooplankton with a special focus on the concepts of monopolization as well as the counteracting effects of gene flow, using large-lake Daphnia species. Thirty-two variable microsatellite DNA markers were developed and a subset of twelve markers was evaluated regarding their suitability for species assignment and hybrid class detection. With this marker set and an additional mitochondrial DNA marker forty-four natural European populations of the species D. cucullata, D. galeata and D. longispina were studied. In D. galeata, most populations were characterized by low clonal diversities which suggest high influence from clonal erosion over the growing season and a low contribution from the dormant egg bank. Further, recent expansions as well as gene flow were detected, probably caused by the anthropogenic alteration of freshwater habitats, in particular eutrophication of many European lakes. D. longispina and D. cucullata revealed a different genetic structure compared to D. galeata, with high genetic differentiation among populations. This indicates low levels of effective gene flow which is in line with the predictions of monopolization. Further, high clonal diversities were found in populations of the two taxa, suggesting a high contribution from the dormant egg bank while clonal erosion was often not detectable. In D. longispina, mitochondrial data revealed an ancient expansion which was probably initiated by the formation of glacial lakes after the last ice age.
In addition, in D. longispina not only clonal diversity but also genetic diversity was high, indicating that during the build-up of the studied populations the influence from gene flow was probably high. To better understand the processes that act on early populations the population build-up in regard to the temporal advantage of clones during invasion succession was experimentally studied and revealed that priority effects shape population structure of Daphnia species. However, in certain cases the highly superior clones resulted in the extinction of inferior clones independent of the temporal advantage the single clones had.
This clearly shows that not only the time of succession is important but also the competitive strength. rnIn conclusion, the results obtained show that the population genetic structure in cyclic parthenogenetic zooplankton species is impacted by various processes. In addition to earlier studies, which mainly focus on local adaptation, clonal erosion and the size of the dormant egg bank to understand population genetic structure, this thesis could show that gene flow may be effective as well. During population build-up the advantage of early arriving individuals does not necessarily predict the outcome of population assembly, as additional genotypes may contribute to the population. Finally, the genetic structure of established populations may be severely impacted by effective gene flow, if severe environmental changes alter the habitat of the locally adapted population.
Die Analyse ortsbezogener Strukturdaten und Merkmale ist eine der wesentlichen Voraussetzungen für die Bewertung von Standorten und Räumen. Durch die Erfassung der lokalen Ausprägung ausgewählter Standortfaktoren und unter Zuhilfenahme eines Geographischen Informationssystems werden in der vorliegenden Dissertation die Städte und Gemeinden des hessischen Rheingau-Taunus-Kreises kategorisiert und miteinander verglichen. Hierbei erfolgt eine besondere Fokussierung auf die lokal bestehende technische und soziale Infrastruktur, um vorrangig das vorhandene Gewerbe- und Wohnumfeld sowie die darüber hinaus existierenden räumlichen Disparitäten eingehend veranschaulichen und beurteilen zu können.
Particle swarm optimization is an optimization technique based on simulation of the social behavior of swarms.
The goal of this thesis is to solve 6DOF local pose estimation using a modified particle swarm technique introduced by Khan et al. in 2010. Local pose estimation is achieved by using continuous depth and color data from a RGB-D sensor. Datasets are aquired from different camera poses and registered into a common model. Accuracy and computation time of the implementation is compared to state of the art algorithms and evaluated in different configurations.
Augmented reality is being present for many years. Through progress in technology smaller augmented reality glasses became possible. These new technologies allow many new ways of interaction and usage of augmented reality.
This thesis is about the Microsoft HoloLens and its possiblities for consumers and industry. In the context of this thesis a new interactive and augmented application to measure the possiblities and limitations of the Microsoft HoloLens has been developed. The scene is an assembly szenario with a step by step instruction of building with Lego bricks. The evaluation showed that the HoloLens can already be used to assist in assembling scenarios and offers some advantages over other methods, although the glasses still have some flaws.
This habilitation thesis collects works addressing several challenges on handling uncertainty and inconsistency in knowledge representation. In particular, this thesis contains works which introduce quantitative uncertainty based on probability theory into abstract argumentation frameworks. The formal semantics of this extension is investigated and its application for strategic argumentation in agent dialogues is discussed. Moreover, both the computational as well as the meaningfulness of approaches to analyze inconsistencies, both in classical logics as well as logics for uncertain reasoning is investigated. Finally, this thesis addresses the implementation challenges for various kinds of knowledge representation formalisms employing any notion of inconsistency tolerance or uncertainty.
This thesis connects the endeavors of the winemaker’s intention in perfect and profitable wine making with an innovative technological application to use Internet of Things. Thereby the winemaker’s work may be supported and enriched – and enables until recent years still unthinkable optimization of managing and planning of his business, including close state control of different areas of his vineyard, and more than that, not ending up with the single grapevine. It is exemplarily shown in this thesis how to measure, transmit, store and make data available, exemplarily demonstrated with “live” temperature, air and soil humidity values from the vineyard. A modular architecture was designed for the system presented, which allows the use of current sensors, and similar low-voltage sensors, which will be developed in the future.
By using IoT devices in the vineyard, the winemaker advances to a new quality of precision of forecasted data, starting from live data of his vineyard. Of more and more importance, the winemaker can start immediate action, when unforeseen heavy weather conditions occur. Immediate use of current data enabled by a Cloud Infrastructure. For this system, an open service infrastructure is employed. In contrast to other published commercial approaches, the described solution is based on open source.
As an alone-standing part of this work, a physical prototype for measuring relevant parameters in the vineyard was de-novo designed and developed until fulfilling the set of specifications. The outlined features and requirements for a functioning data collection and autonomously transmitting device was developed, described, and the fulfilment by the prototype device were demonstrated. Through literature research and supportive orientationally live interviews of winemakers, the theory and the practical application were synchronized and qualified.
For the development of the prototype the general principles of development of an electronic device were followed, in particular the Design Science Research development rules, and principles of Quality Function Deployment. As a characteristic of the prototype, some principles like re-use of approved construction and material price of the building blocks of the device were taken into consideration as well (e.g. housing; Arduino; PCB). Parts reduction principles, decomplexation and simplified assembly, testing and field service were integrated to the development process by the modular design of the functional vineyard device components, e.g. with partial reference to innovative electrical cabinet construction system Modular-3.
The software architectural concept is based on a three-layer architecture inclusive the TTN infrastructure. The front end is realized as a rich web client, using a WordPress plugin. WordPress was chosen due to the wide adoption through the whole internet, enabling fast and easy user familiarization. Relevant quality issues have been tested and discussed in the view of exemplary functionality, extensibility, requirements fulfilment, as usability and durability of the device and the software.
The prototype was characterized and tested with success in the laboratory and in field exposition under different conditions, in order to allow a measurement and analysis of the fulfilment of all requirements by the selected and realized electronic construction and layout.
The solution presented may serve as a basis for future development and application in this special showcase and within similar technologies. A prognosis of future work and applications concludes this work.
This bachelor thesis’s objective is to offer the reader insight into the discrete Fourier transform, the discrete cosine transform and the discrete Hadamard-Walsh transform in the context of image processing, and also to compare these transformations under various aspects. For this purpose the term of transformation, originated in linear algebra, will be explained and applied to image processing. Subsequently, the understanding of the Fourier transform will successively be built up and connected to the two remaining transforms. Finally, the transformations will be compared and their usefulness in relation to image processing will be explained.
Although most plastic pollution originates on land, current research largely remains focused on aquatic ecosystems. Studies pioneering terrestrial microplastic research have adapted analytical methods from aquatic research without acknowledging the complex nature of soil. Meanwhile, novel methods have been developed and further refined. However, methodical inconsistencies still challenge a comprehensive understanding of microplastic occurrence and fate in and on soil. This review aims to disentangle the variety of state-of-the-art sample preparation techniques for heterogeneous solid matrices to identify and discuss best-practice methods for soil-focused microplastic analyses. We show that soil sampling, homogenization, and aggregate dispersion are often neglected or incompletely documented. Microplastic preconcentration is typically performed by separating inorganic soil constituents with high-density salt solutions. Not yet standardized but currently most used separation setups involve overflowing beakers to retrieve supernatant plastics, although closed-design separation funnels probably reduce the risk of contamination. Fenton reagent may be particularly useful to digest soil organic matter if suspected to interfere with subsequent microplastic quantification. A promising new approach is extraction of target polymers with organic solvents. However, insufficiently characterized soils still impede an informed decision on optimal sample preparation. Further research and method development thus requires thorough validation and quality control with well-characterized matrices to enable robust routine analyses for terrestrial microplastics.
In an attempt to put pronunciation training back in the limelight and to engage in a fruitful discussion on pronunciation- equal importance with other language skills, the current research project focuses on pronunciation. Specifically, one area that causes problems for L1-German speakers is concentrated on, namely the central approximant. German learners should not despair too much as even many native-English children stumble with /r/. For some, acquiring this sound takes a long time and even some professional help (see Secord 2007: 7-8). One problem that these children have is the substitution of /r/ with /w/. "Children with developmental speech substitution," write Raphael et al., "often produce the more easily articulated (…) /w/ for /r/" (2011: 119). Most native-English children require a long time to acquire this sound. According to Bleile, /r/ belongs to the last stage (i.e. stage 4) of a child- language development (see Bleile 2004: 106). This final stage can range from five years of age to adolescence. One of the greatest difficulties, for instance, occurs with postvocalic /r/ (or "[r] colored schwa") and consonant clusters with /r/ (see Bleile 2004: 106).
It is important at this juncture to direct attention to the organization of the current research project and how it addresses the /r/-problem. At the start of the current study, an appropriate and concise definition of the /r/-sound is proposed. While it can be easily stated that the letter <r> is the 18th letter in the English alphabet, it is much more arduous to define what is meant by the /r/-sound. In chapter 2, a number of definitions of /r/ are explored. Section 2.1 presents an articulatory description and section 2.2 offers an acoustic description. A theoretical definition is provided in section 2.3. By exploring the distinguishing features of the /r/-sound, it can be distinguished from other sounds. From these three perspectives, a more encompassing view of the complicated English /r/-sound can be obtained.
In chapter 3, three hypotheses are presented. The first two are the main hypotheses for the current study. There is also a third (minor) hypothesis and it is an offshoot from some of the research findings from the first hypothesis. In section 3.1.1, hypothesis 1 (H1) investigates the frequency of the problem that L1-German speakers have when speaking the American English /r/-sound aloud when it is postvocalic and in a weakened syllable. Hypothesis 2 (H2) is put forward in section 3.1.2. It explores the frequency of /w/-substitution for /r/ when the latter sound is prevocalic in a stressed syllable. For the final and third hypothesis (H3), one specific occassion where L1 interference occurs (i.e. /ɐ/ for /ə/) is researched in section 3.1.3.
Some organizational details concerning the study are also included in the third chapter. The general set-up of the study is provided in section 3.2.1. Information pertaining to both the disqualified participants of the study as well as the 50 test subjects who were selected for the study is available in section 3.2.1.2. Details on technical equipment and software programs are disclosed in sections 3.2.1.1 and 3.2.1.3. The prescribed reading texts that the test subjects needed to read aloud are presented in the subsections of section 3.2.2.
For a better understanding of the acoustic properties of the prevocalic /r/-sound, five expressions from the reading text are selected. In section 3.3, the expressions are also articulated by the author (a native speaker of a variety of English from North America) in four different scenarios. The scenarios try to illustrate a limited number of possible articulatory variations. The author utters the expressions in four different ways: 1.) with lip spreading, 2.) in isolation, 3.) in connected speech and 4.) with /w/-substitution for /r/. These articulations serve as a template for understanding how the acoustic features of /r/ changes. Some of these changes are noticeable in the articulations of the test subjects (presented in chapter 4).
In chapter 4, the data collected for the three hypotheses are presented. For H1, section 4.1 and its subsections document the formant readings of a number of English expressions which contain the postvocalic /r/. In this analysis, it is important to detect where the central approximant is elided. In cases of elision, the samples have their schwa-like sounds plotted in a vowel quadrilateral, so that their locations can be detected. In section 4.2 and its subsections, data observations for H2 are discussed. From these data, the extent of /w/-substitution for /r/ when it is prevocalic in a stressed syllable can be observed. In section 4.3, an analysis of the /ɐ/-sound from three German expressions as they are spoken by the 50 test subjects is presented for H3. Together with pertinent data (i.e. formant readings) from H1, a comparison is made between the locations of /ə/ and /ɐ/. This section concludes with a plotting of all samples of these two vowels in a vowel chart.
In the final chapter of the current study, the main findings of the three hypotheses are summarized. Chapter 5 also provides some insights into a few of the gaps or limitations in the present research. Future research endeavors are proposed in order to suggest possible avenues to advance the findings reported on in the fourth chapter. In addition, several teaching suggestions and pronunciation exercises for implementing the /r/-sound in class are presented.
Lastly, there is an appendix section that consists of 14 smaller appendices (i.e Volume 2). The spectrograms and formant readings for each expression spoken by each of the 50 test subjects are documented in Appendix A to M. In Appendix N, some charts, tables, diagrams, etc. that are discussed throughout the following chapters are made available. Copies of the original questionnaire that were filled out by the test subjects are also in Appendix N.
Gefährdete Weltmacht USA
(2017)
Aims and findings of the dissertation
The completed research uses holistic, politological and historical approaches to present how, during the studied period of the administrations of Clinton to Obama, the liberal, rule-based world order system is gradually supplemented and replaced by a system of realist imposition of vital interests that have short-term effects, preferring military means combined with continuous military optimisation. This also explains a continuity between the leading-power policy of administrations in this study (1993-2017) and the subsequent period of the “transactional leadership of Trump”(1), with its recognizable, far-reaching effects of aiming to reduce idealistic Grand Strategy elements and measures of a benevolent order by passing on costs to and reducing the benefits of European NATO allies. The results of this dissertation, such as the increasingly evident dissolution of a multilateral fundamental order, therefore indicate that Trump’s foreign and security policy to date should be regarded as a clearly noticeable crisis symptom, rather than the cause of a decline in the world order established after 1945. This decline is synonymous with the erosion of the transatlantically initiated bipolar “American system”. Its implementation was the result of the “lesson of two world wars”, based on modern concepts of order introduced by the Enlightenment and the founding criteria of the United States: thus its dissolution is also an indicator of the failure of contemporary criteria of order that thrive in the “American way of life”.
The cause of the described development is shown to be a constantly exacerbating overall threat, from Clinton to Obama, which is connected to the consistent erosion of US supremacy. Among other aspects, this is based on climate change effects postulated in 1979, which multiply the threat while coinciding with American peak production of fossil fuels and increased demand on resources in the context of dwindling raw material resources. Furthermore, during the period of this study, the “US conservative revolution”, which began in the 1980s, increasingly affected foreign and security policy, combining with a consolidation in the influence of corporations and lobby groups in fields such as policy implementation and new underlying conditions. They include the onset of digitisation, entailing a high consumption of resources, and a growing world population faced with specific demographic indicators. Additionally, the maintenance of the armaments sector, originally a result of bipolar development, as the economic basis of military supremacy and the slow decline of the Dollar hegemony since around 1973, should also be taken into account. Complex interaction between Grand Strategy implementation according to the premise of expanding US-American dominance under neoconservative and Christian Right-wing influences, as well as asymmetrical and reactivated conventional security threats and threat multipliers clearly indicate the linear development of the overall threat in the period between 1993 and 2017: in the context of Grand Strategy statements, above all the understanding of defence against this threat, of the latter’s multiplying factors and the market economy explains the following with respect to the US far-right in a complex interaction with the growth of transnational corporations, lobby groups, individuals(2), informal networks and state actors with respect to objects of threat and threat multipliers(3) in connection with the post-bipolar, global anchoring of US economic and consumer patterns: US adaptation of its reaction to this threat – while consolidating imperial presidency(4) and weakening the system of checks and balances – including its implications of a bipolar liberal order. In this way, the necessary continued leadership within NATO through the US-proposed NATO reform can be seen as an appropriate implementation of transformed threat-reaction measures and the legitimisation of systemic adaptation. It equally becomes clear that the established threat reaction measures only provide a short-term defence: instead, they enhance the asymmetric and conventional threat, as well as threat multipliers – by introducing arms races and breaking down arms control – thereby heightening the overall threat. The consequence is the consistently growing likelihood of a conflict of hitherto unimaginable proportions. At the same time, the urgent need to mobilise transatlantic cooperation with respect to supporting global cooperation between state and non-government actors is illustrated with respect to the roots of the threat and its deteriorating underlying conditions: each increase in the overall threat, the adapted US security policy and its continuation in NATO is connected to an erosion of rule-based underlying criteria during the studied period. This continuously and consistently undermines the basis of the above-stated, ever-increasingly important cooperation, to prevent or at least limit the successive erosion of the bipolar “American system” under future dystopias. The research results completely overturn the state of research to date, since for instance it is possible to show that, by means of NATO transformation findings, no transatlantic sharing of burdens on an equal footing and no NATO reform in accordance with its founding principles can be achieved. The same also applies to European opposition to the actual anchoring of NATO transformation positions(5), which is based on the erosion of the bipolar liberal order system and the maintenance of US advantages as well as the consolidation of particular interests they facilitate. Furthermore, it is apparent that a line of continuity in the threat-reaction measures from Clinton to Obama exists with varying external effects, along with an underlying pattern of “Battleship America” – as opposed to a multilaterally orientated foreign and security policy under Clinton, which merged into a unilateral, radical swing under G. W. Bush 43 following 9/11, but was reverted by the Obama administration. A comprehensive wealth of literature was used of the doctoral thesis, as reflected by the extensive bibliography: they firstly include diverse American and European publications, monographs and relevant secondary literature, including biographies, publications of various kinds of important political planning and implementation, as well as collected volumes and research articles from specialist journals on all fields of research and politological methodology and theory. The same applies to publications by leading European and American institutions, research centres and think tanks. Furthermore, this author used publications and documents by governments, foreign ministries, defence ministries, other government bodies and Nato.
Dissertation structure
This dissertation is divided into two volumes and one Appendix: Volume 1 discusses Focus 1, namely a process-tracing in the context of offensive neorealist positioning. Volume 2 presents Focus 2, which is based on the preceding focus in making a structured, focussed comparison in the context of defensive neorealist positioning. The Appendix volume contains further discussion of Chapter 1, Volume 1 with respect to the state of research, literature and sources, theoretical positioning and the choice of the region of study and selected European NATO partners. Furthermore, a historical chapter provides underlying information for process-tracing in Chapter 2, Volume 1, an index of images and abbreviations, and a bibliography.
The entire dissertation uses qualitative methods to focus on these two mutually supporting, building on each other, themes to investigate the following from a US-perspective: firstly the overriding US security-policy reaction to a new overall threat and secondly, its continuation combined with the opportunity of for enabling and legitimising it within and through NATO during the studied period from Clinton to Obama.
Based on the first part of this hypothesis, Focus 1 (Volume 1) establishes a connection between, on the one hand, maintaining the bipolar Grand Strategy target of consolidating the USA as a leading, regulating power, bipolar foreign-policy Grand Strategy indicators and a new overall threat that is developing in a complex way, and, on the other, the necessity of its continued leadership within NATO and the required NATO transformation according to US-proposed NATO transformation positions.
Focus 2 (Volume 2) is based on the second part of the hypothesis, investigating the transatlantic negotiation process to establish these US-proposed NATO transformation positions: in this context, Volume 2 investigates whether the attempt to actually secure and consolidate such US supremacy was unsuccessful in the face of resistance from selected European NATO partners, namely France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The overall result shows that due to a complex, developing, linear increase in the overall threat, the chance for the USA to consolidate its status as a leading power is steadily diminishing. This must be compensated by adapting US security policy. The resulting American security-policy realignment based on the initiated “revolution in military affairs” in turn modifies the indicators of bipolar collective security guarantees. Everything is enabled and legitimised by means of actually securing US NATO-transformation positions. The actual implementation of such NATO transformation – representing the consistent adaptation of US security policy – enables a mission-orientated, rapid response, flexible, global security projection. It also creates conditions for “alliances of choice” within NATO. Furthermore, the modification of a “bipolar NATO” exacerbates the erosion of key achievements of civilisation as a result of adapted US security policy, as well as undermining the tasks of bipolar collective security guarantees through diminished benefits to European NATO partners.
The actual anchoring of NATO transformation positions is achieved by reactivating the conventional threat in the context of the Ukraine crisis of 2014 and the extension of NATO partnership rings on a global level, without providing them with NATO membership status, thus avoiding globalisation in a mutual defence case. The German and French resistance is particularly intensive through the involvement of European founder states, while the formation of a European leadership triumvirate consisting of France, Germany and the United Kingdom does not take place.
Moreover, a relevant investigation of causes particularly shows that despite constant mutually supporting US security reaction measures with varying international effects and actual continued leadership within NATO, the overall threat is not receding: this leads to a constant increase in the overall threat, a loss of influence of state actors, the diffusion and concentration of power and the increased probability of reactive conventional, nuclear, cyber and ecological destruction scenarios. On this basis, the consequence is an increasingly comprehensive and rapidly responding precision defence combined with growing securitization to compensate for the ongoing containment of US supremacy. This developing process steadily diminishes the reach and power of a liberal, rule-based, bipolar “American system” and the establishment of “idealistic, liberal” elements of US-Grand Strategy. This entails a further reduction in benefits for European NATO allies and increasing US cost-cutting demands – based on the successive NATO transformation positions that build on each other and Obama’s “smart power”(6) during the period studied in this dissertation. Thus the chance is receding of developing the post-bipolar, globally adopted American way of life with individual national character, which is regarded as “non-negotiable”: for instance its articulation is expressed through increasing right-wing populism, the election of outsider-candidates, the dissolution of traditional party systems, isolationist tendencies combined with burgeoning ethnic, regional movements, the rejection of supranationalism, and religious fundamentalism. At the same time, the ongoing erosion of global public goods is apparent.
This all paves the way to limiting the benevolent American regulating power and state actors’ leverage – and therefore to a return to classic power politics in the context of a resulting diffusion and concentration of power. In view of the urgency of a long-term containment of asymmetrical or conventional threats to security, or aspects that exacerbate such threats or clusters thereof, as well as underlying global conditions, this undermines the ability to achieve the following: to achieve transatlantic cooperation by broadening the range of levels and actors in the spirit of proactive and expanded, networked security to achieve according global cooperation with respect to containing the root causes of threats.
Overall, this research work reveals how and why the anticipated “peace dividend” and the notion of an “age of hope”, as postulated by President Clinton, were hardly perceptible during the period of study between 1993 and 2017.
Notes
(1) Cf. Braml, Josef (2018), Trumps transaktionaler Transatlantizismus, in: Jäger, Thomas (Hrsg.), Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik, Oktober 2018, Volume 11, Ausgabe 4, S. 439-448, Wiesbaden.
(2) Cf. National Intelligence Council (Ed.) (2012), Global Trends 2013: Alternative Worlds (NIC 2012-001), https://publicintelligence.net/global-trends-2030/, last accessed: 12.04.19. See also the “international financial leadership, self-selected at Davos” cit. McCoy, Alfred W. (2017), In the Shadows of the American Century. The Rise and Decline of US Global Power, Chicago.
(3) In 1990, the threat-enhancing nature of climate change was already postulated with respect to asymmetric objects of threat as well as conventional and complex clusters: “Over the next half century, the global average temperature may increase by approximately 4 degrees C. (…) All nations will be affected. (…) How much time will there be to confirm the amount of change and then to act? (…) However, many believe that we will have waited too long to avoid major dislocation, hardship and conflict – on a scale not as yet seen by man“. Cf. Kelley, Terry P. (1990), Global Climate Change. Implications For The United States Navy (The United States Naval War College, Newport, RI), http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/weather/climatechange/globalclimatechange-navy.pdf, last accessed: 30.03.19. Cf. Mazo, Jeffrey (2010), Climate Conflict. How global warming threatens security and what to do about it, London, Abingdon.
This supports the thesis of a developing, constant overall threat during the period between 1993 and 2017.
(4) Cf. Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. (1973), The Imperial Presidency, Boston.
(5) In this dissertation, the proposed US positions on NATO adaptation, the NATO Response Force and the Global Partnership Initiative are described as “NATO transformation positions”: Their actual establishment was connected to a NATO transformation with the consistent continuation of adapted US security policy.
(6) Cf. Nossel, Suzanne (2004), Smart Power. Reclaiming Liberal Internationalism, http://www.democracyarsenal.org/SmartPowerFA.pdf, last accessed: 26.08.17, Nye, Joseph S. Jr. (2011), The Future of Power, New York, Nye, Joseph S. Jr. (2011), Macht im 21sten Jahrhundert. Politische Strategien für ein neues Zeitalter, München, Rodham Clinton, Hillary (2010), Leading Through Civilan Power. Redefining American Diplomacy and Development, in: Foreign Affairs, November/December 2010, Vol. 89, No.6, S. 13-24.
Today you can find smartphones everywhere. This situation created a hype for Augmented Reality and AR Apps. The big question is: Do these applications provide a real added value? To make AR pratically it is important to add the computational power of a computer to the advantages of AR. An easy and fast way of interaction is essential.
A Poker-Assistance-Software is an ideal test area for an AR Application with real added value. The estimation of the winning probability and a fast automated tracking of the playing cards is the perfect field of investigation.
In this discussion it is interesting to evaluate the added value of AR Applications in common.
Betriebswirtschaftliche Trends wie der Wandel auf Käufermärkten, verkürzte Produktlebens- und Innovationszyklen, steigende Kundenanforderungen und immer leistungsfähiger werdende Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien stellen für Unternehmen anspruchsvolle Herausforderungen dar. "Bis Anfang der 90er Jahre dominierten lokale Optimierungsbemühungen im Rahmen einer auf funktionale Spezialisierung ausgerichteten Aufbauorganisation entsprechend den Überlegungen zu Arbeitsteilung von beispielsweise Smith, Taylor und Ford. Aufgrund der vielfältigen Probleme dieses Ansatzes - insbesondere Schnittstellenbildung, demotivierte Mitarbeiter, mangelnde Kundenorientierung und erhöhter Aufwand zur Steuerung und Koordination der funktionalen Einheiten - vollzieht sich seit Beginn der 90er Jahre in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften und der unternehmerischen Praxis ein Paradigmenwechsel weg von der Funktions- hin zur Prozessorientierung." Die anspruchsvollen Probleme können aufgrund ihrer Kompliziertheit nicht mehr durch einfache, lokal anwendbare Maßnahmen gelöst werden. In Zeiten hoher Komplexität und Dynamik werden strategische Planungsaufgaben immer wichtiger für ein langfristig erfolgreiches Management. Entscheidungen mit großer Tragweite müssen im Vorfeld vollständig auf ihre kurz-und langfristigen Auswirkungen innerhalb und außerhalb des Unternehmens überprüft werden. Dabei sind die zeitverzögerten Rückkopplungen besonders wichtig. Es kann vorkommen, dass sich eine kurzfristig erfolgreiche Maßnahme zur Ergebnisverbesserung möglicherweise langfristig extrem negativ auf das Ergebnis auswirkt. System Dynamics, eine Methode zur Untersuchung komplexer, dynamischer Systeme, bietet die Möglichkeit, aus einer Analyse der Systemstruktur und des von ihr verursachten Verhaltens langfristig wirksame Entscheidungsregeln abzuleiten. Dabei werden Unternehmen als offene, äußerst vernetzte soziotechnische Systeme verstanden. System Dynamics, ursprünglich "Industrial Dynamics" genannt, wurde in den 50ern am MasMassachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, entwickelt. Die Methode nimmt die Komplexität, Nichtlinearität und Rückkopplungsstrukturen, die sozialen und physikalischen Systemen enthalten, als Grundlage. Sie wird inzwischen an einer zunehmenden Zahl von Universitäten gelehrt. Unternehmen und Regierungen nutzen System Dynamics zur Simulation von Management- bzw. Politikentscheidungen. Mit der Hilfe der Methode wird es möglich, komplexe Systeme zu durchschauen, was für Entscheidungsträger eine zunehmende Herausforderung darstellt. Die "System Dynamics Society" ist bemüht, systematisches Denken einer breiten Masse von Anwendern zugänglich zu machen. Die Methode könnte die Menschen dabei unterstützen, die aktuellen Probleme und die langfristigen Auswirkungen des aktuellen Handelns zu verstehen. Die Intention dieser Arbeit ist es nun, zwei betriebswirtschaftliche Anwendungsgebiete der System Dynamics Modellierung mit jeweils einem konkreten Fallbeispiel vorzustellen. Dazu werden zunächst in Kapitel 2 die Grundlagen der Systemtheorie dargestellt. Dabei wird auf die Sichtweise von Forrester fokussiert. Darauf aufbauend wird in Kapitel 3 die die Methode detailliert vorgestellt. Nachdem die historische Entwicklung von System Dynamics aufgezeigt wird, werden die Anwendungsgebiete, die Grundlagen und die Grundsäulen der Modellierung und der Modellierungsprozess dargelegt. Im vierten Kapitel wird das erste Anwendungsgebiet untersucht, in der die System Dynamics Modellierung eingesetzt wird, die Balanced Scorecard, ein populäres Konzept für die Performancemessung in Unternehmen. Nachdem das Konzept vorgestellt wird, werden dessen Grenzen aufgezeigt, die mit der Verknüpfung des System Dynamics Ansatz überwunden werden können. Daraufhin werden die Möglichkeiten der System Dynamics Modellierung erläutert, womit die Schwächen der Balanced Scorecard reduziert werden, bevor anhand eines konkreten Fallbeispiels die Verknüpfung des System Dynamics Modellierung mit dem Balanced Scorecard Konzept vorgestellt wird. Eine abschließende Bewertung über die Anwendung wird dieses Kapitel abschließen. Im nächsten Kapitel wird die Anwendung der System Dynmaics Modellierung im Supply Chain Management untersucht. Zunächst werden die Grundlagen über das Supply Chain Management und Probleme, die damit verbunden sind, erläutert. Anhand des "Beer Game" werden die typischen Koordinationsprobleme mehrstufiger Lieferketten, der Bullwhip Effekt, verdeutlicht. Im nächsten Schritt wird die Anwendung der System Dynamics Modellierung im Supply Chain Management diskutiert, bevor die Umsetzung in einem konkreten Fallbeispiel aufgezeigt wird. Dieses Kapitel schließt mit einer Bewertung über die Anwendung von System Dynamics im Supply Chain Management ab. Mit dem abschließenden Kapitel Fazit wird die Arbeit abgerundet.
Initial goal of the current dissertation was the determination of image-based biomarkers sensitive for neurodegenerative processes in the human brain. One such process is the demyelination of neural cells characteristic for Multiple sclerosis (MS) - the most common neurological disease in young adults for which there is no cure yet. Conventional MRI techniques are very effective in localizing areas of brain tissue damage and are thus a reliable tool for the initial MS diagnosis. However, a mismatch between the clinical fndings and the visualized areas of damage is observed, which renders the use of the standard MRI diffcult for the objective disease monitoring and therapy evaluation. To address this problem, a novel algorithm for the fast mapping of myelin water content using standard multiecho gradient echo acquisitions of the human brain is developed in the current work. The method extents a previously published approach for the simultaneous measurement of brain T1, T∗ 2 and total water content. Employing the multiexponential T∗ 2 decay signal of myelinated tissue, myelin water content is measured based on the quantifcation of two water pools (myelin water and rest) with different relaxation times. Whole brain in vivo myelin water content maps are acquired in 10 healthy controls and one subject with MS. The in vivo results obtained are consistent with previous reports. The acquired quantitative data have a high potential in the context of MS. However, the parameters estimated in a multiparametric acquisition are correlated and constitute therefore an ill-posed, nontrivial data analysis problem. Motivated by this specific problem, a new data clustering approach is developed called Nuclear Potential Clustering, NPC. It is suitable for the explorative analysis of arbitrary dimensional and possibly correlated data without a priori assumptions about its structure. The developed algorithm is based on a concept adapted from nuclear physics. To partition the data, the dynamic behavior of electrically even charged nucleons interacting in a d-dimensional feature space is modeled. An adaptive nuclear potential, comprised of a short-range attractive (Strong interaction) and a long-range repulsive term (Coulomb potential), is assigned to each data point. Thus, nucleons that are densely distributed in space fuse to build nuclei (clusters), whereas single point clusters are repelled (noise). The algorithm is optimized and tested in an extensive study with a series of synthetic datasets as well as the Iris data. The results show that it can robustly identify clusters even when complex configurations and noise are present. Finally, to address the initial goal, quantitative MRI data of 42 patients are analyzed employing NPC. A series of experiments with different sets of image-based features show a consistent grouping tendency: younger patients with low disease grade are recognized as cohesive clusters, while those of higher age and impairment are recognized as outliers. This allows for the definition of a reference region in a feature space associated with phenotypic data. Tracking of the individual's positions therein can disclose patients at risk and be employed for therapy evaluation.
Für die Entwicklung sicherer Softwaresysteme erweitert UMLsec die UML durch die Definition von Sicherheitsanforderungen, die erfüllt sein müssen. In Klassendiagrammen können Attribute und Methoden von Klassen Sicherheitseigenschaften wie secrecy oder integrity haben, auf die nicht authorisierte Klassen keinen Zugriff haben sollten. Vererbungen zwischen Klassen erzeugen eine Komplexität und werfen die Frage auf, wie man mit der Vererbung von Sicherheitseigenschaften umgehen sollte. Neben der Option in sicherheitskritischen Fällen auf Vererbungen zu verzichten, gibt es im Gebiet der objektorientierten Datenbanken bereits viele allgemeine Recherchen über die Auswirkungen von Vererbung auf die Sicherheit. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, Ähnlichkeiten und Unterschiede von der Datenbankseite und den Klassendiagrammen zu identifizieren und diese Lösungsansätze zu übertragen und zu formalisieren. Eine Implementierung des Modells evaluiert, ob die Lösungen in der Praxis anwendbar sind.
Social entrepreneurship is a form of entrepreneurship that marries a social mission to a competitive value proposition. Notably, social entrepreneurship fosters a more equitable society by addressing social issues and trying to achieve an ongoing sustainable impact through a social mission rather than purely profit maximization. The topic of social entrepreneurship has appealed considerably to many different streams of research. The focus on understanding how and why entrepreneurs think and act is a significant justification for future research. Nevertheless, the theoretical examination of this phenomenon is in its infancy. Social entrepreneurship research is still largely phenomenon-driven. Specifically, Social Entrepreneurial Intention is in an early stage and lacks quantitative research. Therefore, this thesis proposes to address this need. The thesis’ objectives are twofold: (1) develop a formation model for Social Entrepreneurial Intentions in general and (2) test the model by conducting an empirical study. Based on these objectives, the two research questions guiding the thesis are (1) what factors influence the intention of a person to become a social entrepreneur and (2) what relationships exist among these factors.
In order to answer these two research questions, this thesis uses purposeful research design, which is a combination of literature review and empirical study. The literature review is based on a comprehensive range of books, articles, and research papers published in leading academic journals and conference proceedings in different disciplines such as entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, management, social psychology, and social economics. The empirical study is conducted via a survey of 600 last-year students from four universities in three regions in Vietnam: Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh. The data are analyzed with SPSS-AMOS version 24, using screening data, scale development, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmation factor analysis. The thesis ascertains that Entrepreneurship Experience/Extra-curricular Activity, Role Model, Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, and Social Entrepreneurial Outcome Expectation directly and positively affect the intention of the Vietnamese students to be social entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship Education also influences the Social Entrepreneurial Intention, but not directly, otherwise indirectly via Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Social Entrepreneurial Outcome Expectation. Similarly, Perceived Support has no direct relationship to Social Entrepreneurial Intention; however, it shows an indirect link via the mediator ‘Social Entrepreneurial Outcome Expectation’. Furthermore, the dissertation brings new insights to the social entrepreneurship literature and provides important implications for practice. Limitations and future directions are also provided in the thesis.
Ziel dieser Forschungsarbeit ist die Auswahl und Evaluierung von Open-Source ERPSystemen auf effiziente Anwendbarkeit in Unternehmen zum Zwecke des Aufbaus eines "ERP-Future-Labs", in welchem mittelständische Handelsunternehmen das/die installierte(n) System(e) testen können. Den Projektabschluss bildet hierbei die Installation eines lauffähigen Systems, auf welchem die vom Auftraggeber vorgegebenen Geschäftsprozesse abgewickelt werden können. Ferner sollen die Auftraggeber auf dem System geschult, eine Dokumentation der Software (Installation/Bedienung) und des Projekts erstellt werden.
From September 4 to 11, 1992, a fiirst meeting between Ukrainian and German scientists interested in mathematical and computer modeling of social processes was held at Vorzel' near Kiev. The meeting had been planned for nearly three years by Igor V. Chernenko and Mikhail V. Kuz'min, then members of the research group on mathematical modeling in sociology at the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Science of the Ukrainian Republic, and had to be postponed twice due to the political development in the former Soviet Union, but thanks to the organizers' perseverance (and in spite of a strike of the airport personell at Kiev Borispol Airport on the eve of the conference) the conference could at last be realized.rnThe main purpose of the conference was to discuss a synergetic interpretation of large-scale destructive social processes as catastrophic phenomena in self-organized systems.
This paper originates from the FP6 project "Emergence in the Loop (EMIL)" which explores the emergence of norms in artificial societies. Part of work package 3 of this project is a simulator that allows for simulation experiments in different scenarios, one of which is collaborative writing. The agents in this still prototypical implementation are able to perform certain actions, such as writing short texts, submitting them to a central collection of texts (the "encyclopaedia") or adding their texts to texts formerly prepared by other agents. At the same time they are able to comment upon others' texts, for instance checking for correct spelling, for double entries in the encyclopaedia or for plagiarisms. Findings of this kind lead to reproaching the original authors of blamable texts. Under certain conditions blamable activities are no longer performed after some time.
The natural and the artificial environment of mankind is of enormous complexity, and our means of understanding this complex environment are restricted unless we make use of simplified (but not oversimplified) dynamical models with the help of which we can explicate and communicate what we have understood in order to discuss among ourselves how to re-shape reality according to what our simulation models make us believe to be possible. Being both a science and an art, modelling and simulation isrnstill one of the core tools of extended thought experiments, and its use is still spreading into new application areas, particularly as the increasing availability of massive computational resources allows for simulating more and more complex target systems.
In the early summer of 2012, the 26th European Conference on Modelling andrnSimulation (ECMS) once again brings together the best experts and scientists in the field to present their ideas and research, and to discuss new challenges and directions for the field.
The 2012 edition of ECMS includes three new tracks, namely Simulation-BasedrnBusiness Research, Policy Modelling and Social Dynamics and Collective Behaviour, and extended the classical Finance and Economics track with Social Science. It attracted more than 110 papers, 125 participants from 21 countries and backgrounds ranging from electrical engineering to sociology.
This book was inspired by the event, and it was prepared to compile the most recent concepts, advances, challenges and ideas associated with modelling and computer simulation. It contains all papers carefully selected from the large number of submissions by the programme committee for presentation during the conference and is organised according to the still growing number tracks which shaped the event. The book is complemented by two invited pieces from other experts that discussed an emerging approach to modelling and a specialised application. rnrnWe hope these proceedings will serve as a reference to researchers and practitioners in the ever growing field as well as an inspiration to newcomers to the area of modelling and computer simulation. The editors are honoured and proud to present you with this carefully compiled selection of topics and publications in the field.