In Search of Legitimacy in Times of Crisis

At first sight, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) seems to be a least likely candidate for a regional organization (RO) prescribing and promoting (good) governance in its member states: It consists of authoritarian monarchies and is a strong proponent of the principles of national sovereignty and non- interference. This paper, however, shows that the GCC does engage in governance transfer. Reacting to a crisis of legitimacy, the rulers of the GCC states have resorted to governance transfer as a strategy of legit-imation. In certain policy fields they prescribe and promote good governance standards to suggest to their respective citizenry as well as to external investors that they are actively trying to tackle their governance problems in these fields. Governance transfer by the GCC can be conceptualized as an institutional choice by the rulers of the GCC states which is supposed to ensure their regimes’ survival in times of a crisis of legiti-macy

Die politische Rolle des ägyptischen Verfassungsgerichts nach der ägyptischen Revolution 2011

Verfassungsgerichte werden oft als bedeutende Akteure in Transformationsprozessen angesehen. Von diesen im Zuge einer Demokratisierung neu eingerichteten Verfassungsgerichten unterscheidet sich das ägyptische Verfassungsgericht (Supreme Constitutional Court, SCC) dadurch, dass es bereits mit der Verfassung von 1971 gegründet wurde; im autoritären System Ägyptens hat es mitunter eine äußerst wichtige, aber auch ambivalente Rolle gespielt. Nach dem Sturz Mubaraks ist das Gericht – trotz der Suspendierung der Verfassung durch den Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) – nicht aufgelöst worden und hat mit seinen Entscheidungen großen Einfluss auf die politischen Entwicklungen in Ägypten genommen. Das Working Paper geht anhand des ägyptischen Falls der Frage nach, welche Rolle etablierte Verfassungsgerichte in Transformationsprozessen spielen. Dabei stehen zwei zentrale Entscheidungen des Gerichts vom Juni 2012 im Mittelpunkt der Analyse. Das Paper zeigt auf, dass die frühere Rechtsprechung, das institutionelle Selbstverständnis des Gerichts und das Amtsverständnis der RichterInnen zentral sind, um die Rolle des Gerichts in der Umbruchsituation verstehen zu können

"Transforming to Where? The Cases of Egypt and Tunisia": 16th DGAP International Summer School; Berlin, August 26-September 7, 2012

Die 16. Sommerschule der DGAP (26. August bis 7. September 2012) konzentrierte sich auf die Umwandlungen in Ägypten und Tunesien und untersuchte neue Demokratiekonzepte, -theorien und -modelle. Knapp 30 vielversprechende Berufsanfänger aus Ägypten, Tunesien, der Türkei und Europa nahmen am Programm teil, welches Vorlesungen, Gesprächsrunden, Debatten und Workshops beinhaltete. Zu den Referenten gehörten Paul Nolte, Tariq Ramadan, Volker Perthes, Mustafa Kamel Al-Sayyid und Hamad Abdel Samad

Temperature effects on the molecular Raman backscatter cross-sections due to narrow-band interference filters

When electromagnetic radiation interacts with molecules, elastic and inelastic scattering processes occur. In contrast to elastic scattering, the wavelength and the state of polarization of scattered photons may change when they are scattered inelastically. In this abstract we will focus on the inelastic scattering processes, the so-called Raman scattering. In particular, we investigate the effect of atmospheric temperature on the molecular rotational-vibrational (ro-vibrational) Raman backscatter cross-section which may occur after transmission of the backscattered radiation through narrow-band interference filters (IF). To analyze the consequence of the changing temperature we apply the equations published by M. Adam [1] to calculate the temperature dependent ro-vibrational Raman backscatter cross-section for the N2 molecule at 387 nm (laser wavelength of 355 nm). These equations have been implemented and evaluated as part of the Algorithm for Rayleigh and Raman calculations (ARC) that has been developed within ACTRIS [5]. Here, we show how the central wavelength and bandwidth of the IF affects the molecular Raman backscattering cross-section of N2 for different temperature conditions

Dynamics Simulation and Optimal Control of a Multiple-input and Multiple-output Balancing Cube

This thesis document outlines the development of a multibody dynamics simulation of an actively stabilized multiple-input, multiple-output, coupled, balancing cube and the process of verifying the results by implementing the control algorithm in hardware. A non-linear simulation of the system was created in Simscape and used to develop a Linear Quadratic Gaussian control algorithm. To implement this algorithm in actual hardware, the system was first designed, manufactured, and assembled. The structure of the cube and the reaction wheels were milled from aluminum. DC brushless motors were installed into the mechanical system. In terms of electronics, a processor, orientation sensor, motor drivers, analog to digital converters, and a pulse width modulation board were assembled into the cube. Upon completion, the software to control the cube was developed using Simulink and run on a Raspberry Pi computer within the mechanism

Task adaption by biologically inspired stochastic comodulation

Brain representations must strike a balance between generalizability and adaptability. Neural codes capture general statistical regularities in the world, while dynamically adjusting to reflect current goals. One aspect of this adaptation is stochastically co-modulating neurons' gains based on their task relevance. These fluctuations then propagate downstream to guide decision-making. Here, we test the computational viability of such a scheme in the context of multi-task learning. We show that fine-tuning convolutional networks by stochastic gain modulation improves on deterministic gain modulation, achieving state-of-the-art results on the CelebA dataset. To better understand the mechanisms supporting this improvement, we explore how fine-tuning performance is affected by architecture using Cifar-100. Overall, our results suggest that stochastic comodulation can enhance learning efficiency and performance in multi-task learning, without additional learnable parameters. This offers a promising new direction for developing more flexible and robust intelligent systems

Reactivity of Tetrahedral E4 Molecules (E4 = P4, As4, AsP3) and En Ligand Complexes

The dissertation with the title “Reactivity of Tetrahedral E4 Molecules (E4 = P4, As4, AsP3) and En Ligand Complexes" deals on the one hand with the reactivity of white phosphorus, yellow arsenic and the interpnictogen compound AsP3 towards low valent transition metal and main group metal compounds stabilized by β-diiminato (nacnac) ligands and cyclic alkyl amino carbenes (CAACs). On the other hand, it is about the reactivity of M(I) (M = Cu, Ga) nacnac compounds towards En (E = P, As) ligand complexes. In the first part, a Cu(I) nacnac compound was reacted with complexes containing aromatic cyclo-En ligands yielding molecular heterometallic complexes. In the next chapters, the reactivity of E4 towards transition metal (Ni, Cu) and main group metal (Al, Ga) complexes stabilized by β-diiminato ligands was investigated. Thereby, a broad variety of different En-structural motifs formed. Moreover, the reactivity of gallium complexes towards unsaturated transition metal units or polypnictogen ligand complexes were investigated, the resulting complexes unite different ligand systems and also different metal types (main group and transition metals). The last chapter is about the reactivity of yellow arsenic towards CAACs. Therefore, different CAACs were reacted with yellow arsenic yielding compounds with Asn units in dependence of the substituents. Moreover, the different reaction outcome and structural difference of the reactions with white phosphorus, yellow arsenic and the interpnictogen compound AsP3 was investigated

quality and comparability of clinical trials investigating the efficacy of prostaglandin F2α for the treatment of bovine endometritis

The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality and comparability of published literature, and to summarize the effect of prostaglandin F(2α) (PGF(2α)) for the treatment of endometritis. It has been postulated that there is a dearth of high-level evidence-based research results in veterinary medicine. Also, there is a marked variation in the quality of studies in veterinary and animal science. Post-partum uterine infections occur commonly in dairy cattle and are reported to have a negative impact on reproductive performance. A comprehensive literature search was conducted utilizing online databases revealing a total of 2723 references. After applying specific exclusion criteria, a total of 68 trials were eligible for further analysis. These articles were evaluated utilizing specific parameters listed in an evaluation form such as randomization and the involvement of control groups. The analysis revealed that more than half of the trials (51·5%) were at least 20 years old. Furthermore, we found that about one third (36·8%) of all trials were controlled and randomized, while 3 of those (4·4%) were also blinded. Of those trials which calculated a calving-to-conception interval (n=30), 50% of the authors claimed an improvement, which was statistically significant in 23·3% of the cases. We conclude that there is a wide discrepancy between research results investigating the efficacy of PGF(2α)

Managing Organizational Identity Challenges Caused By AI Implementation: The Role Of AI Principles

Alongside growing external pressure for implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, multi-stakeholder demands for responsible conduct have led to an increasing number of organizational AI principles. As previous research on AI principles has mainly focused on their content, restrictions, and external functions, little is known about their relevance for organization-internal stakeholders. Concurrently, while organizational identity was shown to play a central role in technology implementation’s success or failure, with respect to AI implementation, the concept has remained unexplored. Building on 25 expert interviews as part of an ongoing research that involves a qualitative, cross-industry multiple-case study with 13 organizations, we reveal AI principles’ capacities for managing organizational identity towards AI implementation by: (1) redefining organizational identity, and (2) aligning organizational identity’s facets. Our findings accentuate the relevance of organizational identity for AI implementation, and indicate AI principles’ role as a tool to manage this transformative change in an identity-conforming way

IR-thermography for Quality Prediction in Selective Laser Deburring

AbstractSelective Laser Deburring (SLD) is an innovative edge-refinement process being developed at the Laser Zentrum Nord (LZN) in Hamburg. It offers a wear-free processing of defined radii and bevels at the edges as well as the possibility to deburr several materials with the same laser source.Sheet metal parts of various applications need to be post-processed to remove sharp edges and burrs remaining from the initial production process. Thus, SLD will provide an extended degree of automation for the next generation of manufacturing facilities.This paper investigates the dependence between the deburring result and the temperature field in- and post-process. In order to achieve this, the surface temperature near to the deburred edge is monitored with IR-thermography. Different strategies are discussed for the approach using the IR-information as a quality assurance. Additional experiments are performed to rate the accuracy of the quality prediction method in different deburring applications