6,025 research outputs found
Cultural Factors in Complex Decision Making
Get PDFComplex decision-making is conceptualised as the process of problem solving in meaningful and important, but complex, dynamic and partially opaque situations. This process is open to a number of cultural influences, among them educational practices, environmental predictability, and power distance. Two empirical studies that explore into the cultural relativity of this type of decision making use interactive computer simulations of complex problems as research instruments. There are a number of behavioural differences between participants from India and Germany which can be explained within a culture-theoretical framework and give reason for the plea to include cultural factors in theories on human decision making
Genetic ablation of fibroblast activation protein alpha attenuates left ventricular dilation after myocardial infarction.
No full textIntroductionRegulating excessive activation of fibroblasts may be a promising target to optimize extracellular matrix deposition and myocardial stiffness. Fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP) is upregulated in activated fibroblasts after myocardial infarction (MI), and alters fibroblast migration in vitro. We hypothesized that FAP depletion may have a protective effect on left ventricular (LV) remodeling after MI.Materials and methodsWe used the model of chronic MI in homozygous FAP deficient mice (FAP-KO, n = 51) and wild type mice (WT, n = 55) to analyze wound healing by monocyte and myofibroblast infiltration. Heart function and remodeling was studied by echocardiography, morphometric analyses including capillary density and myocyte size, collagen content and in vivo cell-proliferation. In non-operated healthy mice up to 6 months of age, morphometric analyses and collagen content was assessed (WT n = 10, FAP-KO n = 19).ResultsHealthy FAP-deficient mice did not show changes in LV structure or differences in collagen content or cardiac morphology. Infarct size, survival and cardiac function were not different between FAP-KO and wildtype mice. FAP-KO animals showed less LV-dilation and a thicker scar, accompanied by a trend towards lower collagen content. Wound healing, assessed by infiltration with inflammatory cells and myofibroblasts were not different between groups.ConclusionWe show that genetic ablation of FAP does not impair cardiac wound healing, and attenuates LV dilation after MI in mice. FAP seems dispensable for normal cardiac function and homeostasis
Stefan Morawski’s Critique of Postmodernism
No full textThe matter under consideration is Stefan Morawski’s criticism of postmodernism. The author presents Morawski’s main arguments against postmodernism and analyzes their accuracy for the Richard Rorty’s and Francois Lyotard’s theories. In addition to this the author considers the impact of the art on the possibility of integration consumer society
Ep. #044 - Stefan Helmreich
No full textThis recording and transcript form part of a collection of podcasts conducted by the Cultures of Energy at Rice University. Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter.On this week’s podcast, Dominic and Cymene continue to process election aftermath and offer thoughts on how to escape the dungeon. Then (14:20) things get wavy when Stefan Helmreich from MIT—author of Alien Ocean (U California Press, 2009) and Sounding the Limits of Life (Princeton U Press, 2016)—joins the conversation and we talk about his recent work on waves and water. We start with the submarine trip that got him interested in the sound of fieldwork underwater and these strange entities known as “waves.” He then introduces us to the world of wave science and explains how it can be viewed as anthropology by other means given its constant attention to social concerns like coastal infrastructure, shipping, recreation, and insurance. Stefan discusses why the problem of the 21st century is the problem of the waterline—rising sea level, changing sea surface, and wavy dynamics that modulate sea level. He also explains that even though current models of wave action are based on northern ocean data, it looks increasingly likely that the future will belong to southern ocean dynamics. We visit the largest tsunami simulation basin in the world, learn what “rogue waves” are, and come to understand how, with the coming of wave energy, waves are being reimagined not as enemies but rather as allies whose labor can be harnessed in the struggle against climate change. Stefan offers some reflections on “blue humanities,” the shipwreckocene and Haraway’s Chthulucene. Finally, we turn toward his current research in the Netherlands with its long and complex relationship to water. And, yes, Cymene asks him about surfing and his answer is the best. Listen on
Macroeconomic imbalances and comparative advantages in the Euro Area
No full textThe emergence of macroeconomic imbalances among EU member states is often seen as a major underlying factor of the recent European debt crisis. In order to identify and tackle these imbalances, the European authorities established, in 2011, a new surveillance tool incorporating rules to prevent future imbalances and labelled the Excessive Imbalance Procedure (EIP).
Stefan Collignon argues that the premises of the Excessive Imbalance Procedure are in fact wrong, and its implementation therefore misguided, in that they take for granted the policy framework of the nation state whereas the Euro Area economy is, in reality, integrated into a single market with a single currency, such that so-called ‘foreign’ debt is, effectively, debt to other residents in the Euro Area.
The author demonstrates, furthermore, that strict adherence to the EIP could, in conjunction with other new economic governance instruments, entail devastating consequences for peripheral countries in the European Union.
Following his observation that current indicators used by the Commission fail to provide a correct or accurate assessment of imbalances in the Euro Area, the author devises a new ‘Competitive Index’, calculated as the difference between actual and equilibrium unit labour costs, which he recommends as an alternative and better indicator in the context of the Alert Mechanism Reports to be issued by the European Commission in the future
Grassland mowing events across Germany detected from combined Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 time series for the years 2017 - 2020
No full textGrasslands provide a wide range of important ecosystem services. Mapping and assessing the status and use intensity of grasslands is thus important for environmental monitoring. We here provide maps with detected mowing events, as a proxy for grassland use intensity, for grassland areas across Germany for the years 2017 to 2020.
The algorithm used to derive the maps is described in Schwieder, et al. (accepted) and is available as a user-defined function for the FORCE (Frantz, D., 2019) environment (https://github.com/davidfrantz/force-udf/tree/main/python/ts/mowingDetection). The here provided GeoTiffs contain a band with the number of detected mowing events per pixel for the repsective year. In the products, only stable grassland areas that were consistently classified as grassland within three years (2017 - 2019) were considered, based on crop maps provided by Blickensdörfer et al. (2021). Note that grassland uses (pasture, mowed, mixed) were not separated prior to analysis. The maps for 2018, 2019, and 2020 were validated in different regions of Germany, with accuracies - in terms of Mean Absolute Percentage Error - ranging from 35% to 40% (for more details see Schwieder et al. accepted). The maps may thus give an indication of extensively or intensively grassland use.
Please contact the authors, if you are interested in additional products e.g., regarding the estimated mowing dates.
All satellite data were downloaded, pre-processed and structured in an analysis-ready data (ARD) cube using the open-source software FORCE - Framework for Operational Radiometric Correction for Environmental monitoring (Frantz, D., 2019; https://force-eo.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ last accessed: 15. October 2021).
References:
Blickensdörfer, L., Schwieder, M., Pflugmacher, D., Nendel, C., Erasmi, S., & Hostert, P.. (2021). National-scale crop type maps for Germany from combined time series of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data (2017, 2018 and 2019) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5153047
Frantz, D. (2019). FORCE—Landsat + Sentinel-2 Analysis Ready Data and Beyond. Remote Sensing, 11, 1124.
Schwieder, M., Wesemeyer, M., Frantz, D., Pfoch, K., Erasmi, S., Pickert, J., Nendel, C., & Hostert, P. (2022). Mapping grassland mowing events across Germany based on combined Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 time series. Remote Sensing of Environment, 269, 112795.
Grassland mowing events across Germany © 2022 by Schwieder, Marcel; Wesemeyer, Maximilian; Frantz, David; Pfoch, Kira; Erasmi, Stefan; Pickert, Jürgen; Nendel, Claas; Hostert, Patrick is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Solution of vector Stefan problems with cross-diffusion
No full textA general model for the dissolution of particles in multi-component alloys is proposed and analyzed. The model is based on diffusion equations with cross-terms for the several species, combined with a Stefan condition as the equation of motion of the interface between the particle and diffusant phase. To facilitate the analysis we use a diagonalization argument or Jordan factorization for the diffusion matrix. Self-similar solutions with the Boltzmann transformation are derived to get insight into qualitative behavior of the solution and for comparison with numerical solutions. Several numerical schemes for the solution of the Stefan problem are proposed and compared. It turns out that diagonalization is usefull for numerical purposes too. However, for the case of position dependent diffusion coefficients or a non diagonalizable diffusion matrix, one has to use a different scheme. Here, we analyze stability and workload of several time integrations.Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
On Stefan Żółkiewski
No full textThe author writes about Professor Stefan Żółkiewski’s theoretical concepts and three decades of scholarship, beginning with the 1960s and including lectures at the University of Warsaw’s Department of Polish Philology, directing work in the Department of Social Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, initiating interdisciplinary studies of contemporary culture, editing journal ‘Kultura i Społeczeństwo’, and popularizing semiotics. The author writes about Professor Żółkiewski’s connection with the Institute of Literary Research, of which he was the founder and first director, and about the establishment of the Workshop on Research into Literary Culture and the creation of a new discipline—knowledge of literary culture. The author remembers Professor Żółkiewski as her mentor and friend
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