Prevention of Terrorism

This report illustrates the output of the forth local seminar – the last one of a series being coordinated by the European Forum for Urban Security within the project “SecuCities – Cities against terrorism” – which was held in Tübingen from 27th to 28th November 2006. Organized by the Institute of Criminology of the University of Tübingen the conference with the topic “How to deal with Terrorist Threats? Major problems and Handling Opportunities for local Authorities”was thematically structured in three main topics: Firstly general information about terrorism was provided, which included historical and functional aspects of terrorism in order to get a topic-overview. Furthermore the problems and issues of the logistics, the acquisition of material, the financial structure as well as the techniques of recruitment of terrorist groups were worked out by means of the analysis of a certain terrorist group (PKK) and certain terrorist techniques. Having acquired the basic principles, the participants secondly turned to long-term strategies against terrorist threats. The main focuses of this part were the practical issues in the fight against terrorism, particularly the possibility and the capability of working on confident building measures in order to reach groups with a high potential of terrorist recruitment. Moreover it was amongst others stressed that a co-operation between different institutions – containing elements of psychology, sociology, criminology and Islam science – could become a solving factor in analyzing and preventing terrorism. Thirdly the plenum dealt with counter-terrorism measures from the cities´ perspective focusing on concrete measures of both urban terrorism prevention and crisis management in case of a terrorist attack. To name just a few points, safety and security measures at large events, the advantages and disadvantages of CCTV as well as possible reactions to bioterrorism were presented. Finally the plenary discussion provided the opportunity of an unresisted exchange of ideas. Within this discussion the participants agreed that – facing terrorism – an international as well as national and local co-operation of agencies and authorities are of prime importance

Monitoring of Tool and Component Wear for Self-Adaptive Digital Twins: A Multi-Stage Approach through Anomaly Detection and Wear Cycle Analysis

In today’s manufacturing landscape, Digital Twins play a pivotal role in optimising processes and deriving actionable insights that extend beyond on-site calculations. These dynamic representations of systems demand real-time data on the actual state of machinery, rather than static images depicting idealized configurations. This paper presents a novel approach for monitoring tool and component wear in CNC milling machines by segmenting and classifying individual machining cycles. The method assumes recurring sequences, even with a batch size of 1, and considers a progressive increase in tool wear between cycles. The algorithms effectively segment and classify cycles based on path length, spindle speed and cycle duration. The tool condition index for each cycle is determined by considering all axis signals, with upper and lower thresholds established for quantifying tool conditions. The same approach is adapted to predict component wear progression in machine tools, ensuring robust condition determination. A percentage-based component state description is achieved by comparing it to the corresponding Tool Condition Codes (TCC) range. This method provides a four-class estimation of the component state. The approach has demonstrated robustness in various validation cases

Very Late Stent Thrombosis 42 Months after Implantation of Sirolimus-Eluting Stent and Discontinuation of Antiplatelet Therapy

Although safety profiles of sirolimus-eluting stents do not seem to differ in short-to-medium term from those of bare-metal stents, late stent thrombosis after deployment of drug-eluting stents has emerged as a potential safety concern in the era of high-pressure stent implantation. Here, we describe the case of a patient with acute myocardial infarction due to stent thrombosis of a sirolimus-eluting stent 42 months after stent deployment and 5 weeks after discontinuation of aspirin treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the most delayed cases of sirolimus-eluting stent thrombosis described so far. The case emphasizes the potential risk that late stent thrombosis can unpredictably occur at any time point after drug-eluting stent deployment

INTEGRATE - Integrated 3D structural, thermal, gravity and rheological modeling of the Alps and their forelands

The aim of this project was to obtain a better understanding of the crust and the uppermost mantle beneath the Alpine orogen and its forelands and to test different hypotheses on the configuration of the subduction system as well as on the distribution of deformation and seismicity. Therefore, we have integrated the geoscientific observations publicly available so far on properties of the sediments and the crystalline crust (geometry, seismic velocities, and densities) with seismologically derived heterogeneities in the sub-crustal mantle into a consistent data-based 3D structural model that resolves the first-order contrasts in physical properties of the units composing the orogen and the forelands. The derived structural model was additionally constrained by 3D gravity modelling and used as input to derive a lithospheric temperature field based on petrological assumptions on the composition of the crust and mantle. This is done to study the effects of regional heat-flow into the Alps and their foreland basins. Starting from these 3D density thermal and lithology models, the integrated strength was derived and discussed in the context of stress and deformation fields. The project led to the successful completion of a dissertation by Cameron Spooner who obtained the highest possible grade (“summa cum laude”) from the University of Potsdam and published 4 high-level papers. Also, a Master thesis was successfully completed by Max Lowe at CAU Kiel that also led to a publication (Lowe et al. 2021). As members of the AAAGRG, the partners of CAU Kiel were significantly involved in the compilation of the new gravity maps for the Alps and their forelands (Zahorek 2021). The project contributed to “Theme 3: deformation of the crust and mantle during mountain building”, in providing the configuration of the different crustal units and of the lithospheric mantle. The project also contributed to “Theme 4: motion patterns and seismicity” in that it supported identifying spatial patterns of faulting and seismicity in relation to the rheological configuration. In response to its regional character, the project links with the different activity fields of the SPP and a continuous exchange of observations and modelling results with many working groups in the SPP and supported data processing and interpretation

DEFORM – Deformation patterns in relation to the deep configuration of the lithosphere of the Alps and their forelands

Present-day surface deformation in the Alps in terms of uplift and crustal seismicity has been attributed to surface (i.e., climatic) and tectonic processes (i.e., subduction, slab detachment/break-off, mantle flow). Quantifying the relative contribution of these forces and their interplay is fundamental to understand their role in mountain building. The present-day 3D configuration of the lithosphere and upper-mantle is a prerequisite to assess the contribution of tectonic processes. In the first phase of 4D-MB, INTEGRATE project produced a multidisciplinary data-integrated crustal model of the Alps and its forelands (Spooner et al., 2019, 2020, 2022). In the follow-up project DEFORM, we use these results to quantify how the active forces originating from the internal heterogeneity in the lithosphere and upper-mantle (i.e., lithospheric thickness and slabs in the asthenosphere) can provide some insights into the present-day mechanical set-up of the study area. To objectively interpret the upper-mantle configuration, we convert the results of regional shear-wave tomography models to temperature using an in-house developed tool (Kumar, 2022) based on Gibbs-free energy minimization algorithm (Connolly, 2005). Our results showcase a shallow/attached slab in the Northern Apennines as a common feature in the different tomography models, as also consistent with recent AlpArray seismic data-derived tomography models. They also highlight some differences among the different tomography models beneath the Alps. We quantitatively address these differences by statistically clustering tomography models into three end-members corresponding to the mean and 67% confidence intervals. These end-member models represent scenarios ranging from shallow/attached slabs to almost no slabs in the northern Apennines and Alps. End-member scenarios of the mantle configuration are tested with the new pan-Alpine gravity anomaly by 3D density modelling (IGMAS+, Götze et al., 2023), surface uplift from GNSS, AlpArray seismicity catalogue, mantle flow inferred from the shear-wave splitting measurements of the AlpArray seismic experiment, and resulting topography. As a first step, we model topography and deformation velocities as resulting from buoyancy-forces driven by a quasi-instantaneous flow resulting from the first-order rheological structure of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system using the open-source geodynamic simulator LaMEM (Kaus et al., 2016). We found that detached slab beneath the Alps, but attached beneath the Northern Apennines captures first-order patterns in topography, vertical surface velocities, and mantle flow (Kumar et al., 2022). The presence of an attached slab beneath the northern Apennines can also explain the observed sub-crustal seismicity compared to the upper-crustal seismicity in the Alps. Data-derived scenario-based modelling approach allowed us to capture the first-order characteristics of the lithosphere and upper-mantle configuration in the Alps and corresponding forelands. Although we have been able to explain first-order observations with respect to the end member variations in viscosity and density contrasts, we additionally carried out a global sensitivity analysis to quantify associated uncertainties as well as the degree of parameter correlation within a solid density-effective viscosity phase space. This was done using physics-preserving surrogate models (model order reduction via reduced basis, Degen et al., 2022) to effectively run ensemble models of the dynamic state of the system (Denise et al., 2023). Using surrogate models, we explore deformation velocities and stresses, guiding boundary conditions to reconstruct the loading/unloading history of the last glacial cycle

Bi-branes: Target Space Geometry for World Sheet topological Defects

We establish that the relevant geometric data for the target space description of world sheet topological defects are submanifolds - which we call bi-branes - in the product M1 x M2 of the two target spaces involved. Very much like branes, they are equipped with a vector bundle, which in backgrounds with non-trivial B-field is actually a twisted vector bundle. We explain how to define Wess-Zumino terms in the presence of bi-branes and discuss the fusion of bi-branes. In the case of WZW theories, symmetry preserving bi-branes are shown to be biconjugacy classes. The algebra of functions on a biconjugacy class is shown to be related, in the limit of large level, to the partition function for defect fields. We finally indicate how the Verlinde algebra arises in the fusion of WZW bi-branes.Comment: 29 page

Complex networks for climate model evaluation with application to statistical versus dynamical modeling of South American climate

Acknowledgments: This paper was developed within the scope of the IRTG 1740/TRP 2011/50151-0, funded by the DFG/FAPESP. Furthermore, this work has been financially supported by the Leibniz Society (project ECONS), and the Stordalen Foundation (JFD). For certain calculations, the software packages pyunicorn (Donges et al. 2013a) and igraph (Csa´rdi and Nepusz 2006) were used. The authors would like to thank Manoel F. Cardoso, Niklas Boers, and the reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Peer reviewedPostprin

The Single Euro Payments Area: New Alliances Required to Tip the Market. ECRI Research Report No. 10, 7 July 2009

When it was originally proposed, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) was hailed for its potential to contribute significantly to making Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy by 2010. All national payments standards were supposed to disappear and be replaced by new SEPA standards, which would allow additional economies of scale and scope. After six years of intensive work on developing SEPA, however, and roughly 18 months before SEPA was due to have been completed (end of 2010), this ECRI Research Report finds that the SEPA process is in a crisis. The banks and their customers are reluctant to migrate to the new SEPA standards and some banks and banking associations are not persuaded that the benefits attributed by the European Commission to SEPA will materialise. The author, Professor Dr Jürgen Bott of the University of Applied Sciences of Kaiserslautern, argues that incentives are necessary to motivate service providers and users to change their current behaviour and to migrate to new service standards

Risk Culture and the Role Model of the Honorable Merchant

The current discussion about a “risk culture” in financial services was triggered by the recent series of financial crises. The last decade saw a long list of hubris, misconduct and criminal activities by human beings on a single or even a collective basis in banks, in the industry or in the whole economy. As a counter-reaction, financial authorities called for a guidance by a “new” risk culture in financial institutions based on a set of abstract, formal, and normative governance processes. While traditional risk research in economics and in banking was focused on the statistical aspects of risk as the probability of loss multiplied by the amount of loss, culture is a paraphrase for the behavior in collectives and dynamics of organization found in human societies. Therefore, a “risk culture” should link the normative concepts of risk with the positive “real-world” decision-making in financial services. This paper will describe a novel view on “risk culture” from the perspective of human beings interacting in dynamical and intertemporal commercial relations. In this context “risk” is perceived by economic agents ex−ante as the consequence of the time lag between the present and the uncertain future development (compared to a probability distribution calculated by observers ex−post). For all those individual decisions—to be made under uncertainty—future “risk” includes the so-called “normal accidents”, i.e., failures that will happen at some uncertain point in time but are inevitable, and the only questions are when failure will happen and how to maintain function in the first line of defense. Finally, the shift from an abstract definition of “risk” as a probability distribution to a role model of “honorable merchants” as a benchmark for significant individual decision-making with individual responsibilities for the uncertain future outcome provides a new framework to discuss the responsibilities in the financial industry