The circular economy and digitalisation - strategies for a digital-ecological industry transformation : a study commmissioned by Huawei Technologies Germany GmbH

Within the Shaping Digitalisation project, we aim to highlight and discuss the opportunities that digitalisation can bring to Germany. In particular, we are discussing three stand-out areas where action is most needed to achieve ecological transformation: mobility, the circular economy, and agriculture and food. This report addresses the second area in need of action. Up until now, discussions on the circular economy have been limited to recycling and the re-use of materials. We must expand the scope of these discussions to include new, resource-efficient business models and the comprehensive transformation of value chains and industrial structures. Our analysis has found that digitalisation is indispensable for this transformation if used properly. We hope this report will provide the impetus needed to kick-start a climate- and resource-friendly industrial transformation in Germany. Here, we have incorporated the findings of our interdisciplinary workshop on "Shaping the Digital-Ecological Industrial Transformation - Business Models and Political Framework Conditions for Climate and Resource Protection" that was attended by experts from international research institutes, civil organizations, public authorities, and private companies

Data ecosystems for the sustainability transformation : a study commissioned by Huawei Technologies Deutschland GmbH

In the coming years, we must set a course that will allow as to protect our climate, reduce resource consumption, and preserve biodiversity. A profound ecological system change is on the horizon in all central areas of action of the economy and society, or transformation arenas. Digitalisation is a prerequisite for the success in this change and will impact these arenas at multiple levels: Digital technologies and applications will make it possible to improve current procedures, processes, and structures (Improve) and help us take the first steps towards new business models and frameworks (Convert). Despite this, digitalisation itself must be effective enough to facilitate a complete ecological restructuring of our society and lives to achieve more far-reaching economic transformation and value creation (Transform). The ability to obtain, link, and use data is a basic prerequisite for tapping into the potential of digitisation for sustainability transformation. However, data is not a homogeneous raw material. Data only gains value when we know the context in which it was collected and when we can use it for a specific purpose. The discussion on what structures and prerequisites are necessary for the system-changing use of data has only just begun. This study was conducted to serve as a starting point for this discussion as it describes the opportunities and prerequisites for a data-based sustainability transformation. This study focuses on environmental data, data from plants, machines, infrastructure, and IoT products. Our task will be to increase the use this data for systemic solutions (system innovation) within transformation arenas where different stakeholders are working together to initiate infrastructure, value chain, and business model transformation

Does quantized charge transport in disordered Floquet topological insulators require Anderson localization?

We perform a numerical study of Floquet topological insulators with temporal disorder to investigate the existence of quantized charge transport without Anderson localization. We first argue that in setups with temporal imperfections Anderson localization can not be expected but bulk transport is diffusive in the long-time limit. In a second step we compute the corrections to the cumulative averaged pumped charge due to the temporal disorder and show that transport is characterized by two regimes: the transient regime, represented by a plateau for uncorrelated disorder, and the long-time behavior with a common scaling law for both uncorrelated and correlated disorder. Most notably, our numerical results indicate that the dynamic corrections vanish in the long-time limit such that quantized charge transport and diffusive bulk motion can coexist in temporally disordered Floquet topological insulators.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Signatuur kui kommunikatiivne märk Eesti Raadio signatuuride näitel

The paper titled „Signature Tune As a Communicative Sign: Analysis of Estonian Radio Signature Tunes” presents an hypothesis that radio signature tunes can reflect society and culture. I analyzed six radio signature tunes of the following broadcasts: „Päevakaja” (1958), „Reporteritund” (1957), „Päevakaja” (1960s), „Päevakaja” (1998), „Reporteritund” 2007 and a news signature tune of Radio 2 (2005). I used semiotics as a method to describe the elements of the radio signature tunes as meaning potentials. As a theoretical foundation I used a book “Speech, Music, Sound” by a Dutch linguist Theo van Leeuweni who has presented an original approach to apply the linguistic and semiotic concepts to deconstruct and analyze mass media music. Also, I conducted eight semi-structured interviews with experts (including musicologists, composers and music editors) to support and complement the semiotic analysis. It was my aim to find out if the results of the semiotic analysis are compatible with results of the interviews. The study shows that the results coincide, which makes it possible to claim that the research proves my hypothesis. Hence, the radio signature tunes consist of elements that carry meaning potentials which, in turn, reflect the society and social and cultural changes. The reflections, as evident in the radio signature tunes, are as follows: 1. The radio signature tunes from 1950s and 1960s reflect the soviet ideology and media’s role as a propaganda channel. 2. During the past 50 years, the appreciation of time has changed in the media and society. 3. The role of melody and harmony in music has decreased which may represent the increasing skepticism toward the grand narratives. 4. Mass media have lost some its authority and have become an entertainer. 5. Technology has become a vital part of our everyday life.http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2116787~S1*es

Chemical probing spectroscopy of H3+ above the barrier to linearity

We have performed chemical probing spectroscopy of H3+ ions trapped in a cryogenic 22-pole ion trap. The ions were buffer-gas cooled to 55K by collisions with helium and argon. Excitation to states above the barrier to linearity was achieved by a Ti:Sa laser operated between 11300 and 13300 cm-1. Subsequent collisions of the excited H3+ ions with argon lead to the formation of ArH+ ions that were detected by a quadrupole mass spectrometer with high sensitivity. We report the observation of 17 previously unobserved transitions to states above the barrier to linearity. Comparison to theoretical calculations suggests that the transition strengths of some of these lines are more than five orders of magnitude smaller than those of the fundamental band, which renders them - to the best of our knowledge - the weakest H3+ transitions observed to date.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, submitted to JC

Stickstoffmanagement im ökologisch wirtschaftenden Betrieb: Minderung von Stickstoffverlusten

Einleitung: Stickstoff stellt in der landwirtschaftlichen Flächennutzung das zentrale Element für die Ertrags- und Qualitätsbildung dar, ist aber auch der Nährstoff mit den größten Umweltwirkungen. Ziel des ökologisch wirtschaftenden Betriebs muss daher sein, die Stickstoffzufuhr über Zwischenfrucht- und Hauptfruchtleguminosen zu optimieren und gleichzeitig die Stickstoffverluste zu minimieren. Hinsichtlich der Stickstoffzufuhr wurden im Leitbetriebe-Projekt die Fragen der Düngung mit stickstoffhaltigen Zukaufdüngern im Vergleich zu selbst erzeugtem Körnerleguminosenschrot, die Stickstoffnachlieferung von Futterleguminosen-Gemengen sowie von Winterzwischenfrüchten untersucht. Die Ergebnisse werden in den jeweiligen Kapiteln Feldgemüse, Kartoffeln und Futterbau abgehandelt. Schwerpunkt der folgenden Darstellung ist die Minimierung von Stickstoffverlusten. Fazit: Die auf Leitbetrieben durchgeführten Untersuchungen zur Minderung von Stickstoffverluste dienten dazu, die Ergebnisse wissenschaftlicher Primärarbeiten (s. Literatur) im Sinne des Wissenstransfers auf Praxisbetrieben zu erproben und zu demonstrieren. Die gezeigten Ergebnisse stehen weitgehend im Einklang mit diesen Primärarbeiten. Es zeigte sich, dass unmittelbar ertrags- oder qualitätssteigernde Maßnahmen wie der Frühjahrsumbruch von Kleegras auf Stickstoffmanagement leichten Böden oder die Gülleausbringung mit Schleppschläuchen einfacher in die Praxis umzusetzen sind als Maßnahmen, bei denen eine Verringerung von Stickstoffverlusten erst längerfristig zu einer Steigerung der Produktivität führt. Vielfach erschweren Zielkonflikte wie der zwischen dem Anbau von Zwischenfrüchten zur Stickstoffkonservierung und der zeitgerechten Bestellung der Nachfrucht oder wiederholter Stoppelbearbeitung zur Unkrautkontrolle zusätzlich die Umsetzung dieser Maßnahmen. Da die ökologische Bewirtschaftung – wie die Untersuchungen auf Praxisschlägen ergaben - nicht per se verlustarm ist, erscheint es notwendig, auch weiterhin Strategien zur Verlustminderung an den Einzelbetrieb anzupassen und die Beratung gezielt darauf abzustimmen

Hardness and flow behaviour of glass in the nanometre range - An Interpretation of the load dependence of the hardness

The flow behaviour of glass was investigated by Vickers hardness indentation technique with Variation of the deformation rate by six Orders of magnitude. The hardness tests were carried out on commercial sheet glass with three different loading regimes. Α general flow equation in form of a power law was used to describe the deformation behaviour of the materials. The influences of loading mode and deformation rate on the parameters of this law were investigated. An essential result of this work is that the load and Penetration depth dependence of the hardness, respectively, the so-called indentation size effect, is an inevitability of the special methodology of the indentation technique during deformation of strain rate-sensitive materials

Facilitated diffusion of DNA-binding proteins: Simulation of large systems

The recently introduced method of excess collisions (MEC) is modified to estimate diffusion-controlled reaction times inside systems of arbitrary size. The resulting MEC-E equations contain a set of empirical parameters, which have to be calibrated in numerical simulations inside a test system of moderate size. Once this is done, reaction times of systems of arbitrary dimensions are derived by extrapolation, with an accuracy of 10 to 15 percent. The achieved speed up, when compared to explicit simulations of the reaction process, is increasing proportional to the extrapolated volume of the cell.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy

Getreidebau

Einleitung: Der Getreidebau war in der ersten Phase ein Schwerpunkt im Leitbetriebe-Projekt. Nicht zuletzt aufgrund sinkender Getreidepreise wurden in der Folge verstärkt Kulturen mit höherer Wertschöpfung als Getreide wie bspw. Feldgemüse oder Kartoffeln wissenschaftlich bearbeitet. Auf allen Leitbetrieben wird Getreide in unterschiedlich starkem Ausmaß angebaut. Bis heute werden Untersuchungen zur Sortenwahl bei Winterroggen, Winter- und Sommerweizen sowie Dinkel durchgeführt. Die auf Leitbetrieben durchgeführten Sortenversuche fließen in eine die Bundesländer übergreifende Auswertung ein, um auf Basis eines abgestimmten Grundsortiments fundierte Sortenempfehlungen erstellen zu können. Als zentrales Thema des Getreidebaus wurde die Frage der Backqualität von Weizen bearbeitet, d.h. welche Qualitäten für den Markt erforderlich sind und wie diese unter den Bedingungen des Ökologischen Landbaus zu erzeugen sind. Die Unkrautregulierung in Getreide wird in der Praxis in der Regel beherrscht. Probleme bereiten meist nur einzelne Unkrautarten, von denen in Nordrhein-Westfalen nach einer Umfrage aus dem Jahre 1995 vor allem die Rauhhaarige Wicke Vicia hirsuta in Getreide Probleme bereitet. 1 Backqualität von Weizen: Qualitätsansprüche 2 Unkrautregulierung: Problemunkraut Rauhhaarige Wick