EBSLG Annual General Conference, 18. - 21.05.2010, Cologne. Selected papers

Am 18.-21. Mai 2010 fand in der Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek (USB) Köln die „Annual General Conference“ der European Business Schools Librarians Group (EBSLG) statt. Die EBSLG ist eine relativ kleine, aber exklusive Gruppe von Bibliotheksdirektorinnen und –direktoren bzw. Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekaren in Leitungspositionen aus den Bibliotheken führender Business Schools. Im Mittelpunkt der Tagung standen zwei Themenschwerpunkte: Der erste Themenkreis beschäftigte sich mit Bibliotheksportalen und bibliothekarischen Suchmaschinen. Der zweite Themenschwerpunkt Fragen der Bibliotheksorganisation wie die Aufbauorganisation einer Bibliothek, Outsourcing und Relationship Management. Der vorliegende Tagungsband enthält ausgewählte Tagungsbeiträge

User-centred design of flexible hypermedia for a mobile guide: Reflections on the hyperaudio experience

A user-centred design approach involves end-users from the very beginning. Considering users at the early stages compels designers to think in terms of utility and usability and helps develop the system on what is actually needed. This paper discusses the case of HyperAudio, a context-sensitive adaptive and mobile guide to museums developed in the late 90s. User requirements were collected via a survey to understand visitors’ profiles and visit styles in Natural Science museums. The knowledge acquired supported the specification of system requirements, helping defining user model, data structure and adaptive behaviour of the system. User requirements guided the design decisions on what could be implemented by using simple adaptable triggers and what instead needed more sophisticated adaptive techniques, a fundamental choice when all the computation must be done on a PDA. Graphical and interactive environments for developing and testing complex adaptive systems are discussed as a further step towards an iterative design that considers the user interaction a central point. The paper discusses how such an environment allows designers and developers to experiment with different system’s behaviours and to widely test it under realistic conditions by simulation of the actual context evolving over time. The understanding gained in HyperAudio is then considered in the perspective of the developments that followed that first experience: our findings seem still valid despite the passed time

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationToday, we are implanting electrodes into many different parts of the peripheral and central nervous systems for the purpose of restoring function to people with nerve injury or disease. As technology and manufacturing continue to become more advanced, ne

Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Workshop on Automating Software Design. Theme: Domain Specific Software Design

The goal of this workshop is to identify different architectural approaches to building domain-specific software design systems and to explore issues unique to domain-specific (vs. general-purpose) software design. Some general issues that cut across the particular software design domain include: (1) knowledge representation, acquisition, and maintenance; (2) specialized software design techniques; and (3) user interaction and user interface

Successful Collaboration in Global Production Networks - fair, secured, connected

In today\u27s world, manufacturing companies face many challenges due to the uncertainty and complexity of environmental influences as well as increasing competitive pressures. The pandemic has clearly illustrated how volatile and fragile our supply chains have become. One way to overcome these chal-lenges together is to collaborate with other companies in the value network. Collaborations, i.e. successful cooperation with strategic partners and customers to achieve common goals, will continue to gain in importance. Instead of individual companies, entire value chains and networks will therefore compete with each other in the future. This will require a shift toward fast and seamless data exchange between the players in the value network. Advancing digitization and thus a generally increasingly networked world are increasingly supporting such collaborations, as the sharing and collaborative use of data is becom-ing much simpler. At the same time, the right handling of data will be decisive for competition. Digitization is moving from being a driver of change to an enabler of change. Innovative business models and the exploita-tion of the potential hidden in data will make it possible to realize reliable, flexible and, at the same time, resource-conserving value creation. The number of existing cloud-based collaboration platforms is growing steadily. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular have to serve many different customer platforms at the same time, while they them-selves are still struggling with internal digitization challenges. Standardization initiatives for secure data rooms in the industry, such as GAIA-X, therefore hold great potential. In addition to these fundamental infrastructural issues, there are further challenges with regard to collaboration projects. Particular importance is attached to the competent handling of data protection and data security. There are often reservations that the disclosure of data and information will result in the loss of hard-earned expertise and com-petitive advantages that have been built up over time. At the same time, however, users from an engineering environment are only able to assess the risks of digital collaboration to a limited extent. In order to secure one\u27s own competitive position in the long term, digital competencies must therefore be built up and barriers to collaboration overcome. Success stories and clear recommendations for action can provide an important impetus for the implementation of successful collaboration projects, showing how collaborations can be approached in practice and what added value they generate. That is why we would like to provide manufacturing compa-nies with such guidance in the form of this action guide. The collaboration projects explained below and the best practices derived from them are intended to help companies find their own strategies on the path to more collaboration. We hope you enjoy reading this guide and are always available for questions and discussions

Mechanical Properties of Microstructural Components of Inorganic Materials

Disertační práce se zabývá studiem strukturních a mechanických vlastností anorganických materiálů. Cílem je nalezení jednotlivých fází ve zkoumaném materiálu a hlavně lokalizace (mechanicky) nejslabšího místa, jeho ovlivnění a následně výroba materiálu o lepších mechanických vlastnostech. Z důvodu velkého množství použitých metod je základní teorie vložena vždy na začátku příslušné kapitoly. Taktéž z důvodu značného množství výsledků jsou na konci kapitol uvedeny dílčí závěry. Práce je rozdělena na tři části, kdy první se zabývá seznámením s možnostmi modelování mikro-mechanických vlastností a provedením experimentů umožňujících posouzení rozsahu platnosti některého modelu. V druhé části je provedeno shrnutí současných možností indentačních zkoušek pro měření mechanických vlastností strukturních složek betonu a praktické zvládnutí metodiky vhodné k užití pro výzkum materiálů zkoumaných domovským pracovištěm. V třetí části je navržena metoda identifikace nejslabších článků struktury anorganických pojiv a její ověření na konkrétním materiálu zkoumaném na domovském pracovišti. V této dizertační práci jsou použity tyto metody: kalorimetrie, ultrazvukové testování, jednoosá pevnost v tlaku, nanoindentace, korelativní mikroskopie a rastrovací elektronová mikroskopie s energiově disperzním spektrometrem. Dílčími výsledky jsou kompletní charakterizace cementových materiálů, upřesnění stávajících poznatků a nalezení optimálního postupu pro charakterizaci. Hlavním výsledkem je inovativní přístup vedoucí k pozitivnímu ovlivnění materiálu.The doctoral thesis deals with study of structural and mechanical properties of inorganic materials. Goal is to find the weakest (mechanically) phases and interfaces of material. By affecting these structures it should be possible consequently produce a material with better mechanical properties. Due to the large amount of used methods the basic theory is discussed always in the beginning of relevant chapter. Similarly, due to the considerable amount of results every chapter includes partial conclusions. The work is divided in three parts. The first deals with the introduction of the possibilities of modeling micro-mechanical properties and performing of experiments that allow assessment of the scope of some model. In second part itis performed an overview of current possibilities of indentation tests for measuring mechanical properties of structural components of concrete and the practical managing of methods suitable for use for materials research examined at our faculty. In third part the method of identifying the weakest points in structure of inorganic binders is proposed and validation on the particular material examined at our faculty is performed. The methods used in this doctoral thesis are: calorimetry, ultrasonic testing, uniaxial compression, nanoindentation, correlative microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometer. Partial results are a complete characterization of cementitious materials, specification of existing knowledge and finding the optimal procedure for characterization. The main result is an innovative approach that leads to a positive effect on the material.