Too Big to Function? Rezension zu "Die Größe der Demokratie: Über die räumliche Dimension von Herrschaft und Partizipation" von Dirk Jörke

Dirk Jörke: Die Größe der Demokratie - Über die räumliche Dimension von Herrschaft und Partizipation. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2019. 978-3-518-12739-

Tree Felling with a Drill Cone

Motor-manual timber felling is one of the most dangerous operations in the forest and cannot be completely replaced by fully mechanized timber harvesting by a harvester when dealing with large and deciduous trees. Shifting the center of gravity of tree ready to be felled beyond its tipping line using conventional felling wedges is dangerous because the forest worker is directly behind the stem and under the tree crown until just before the tree falls. The worker can be hit by the trunk itself, but also by falling parts of the crown. In a preliminary study for the development of a new type of felling head, felling with a drill cone that can open the felling cut with the help of an applied torque was investigated. A drill cone does not require any special cutting technique, no counter forces to the tree, works without impulses, it is self-retaining and can be unscrewed again. In order to determine the torque required for felling the tree as a function of the tree parameters, the mathematical equation framework was established and practical experiments were used to determine the friction parameters and verify the calculations. The torque of the drill cone is used to bend the intact fibers of the hinge, shift the center of gravity of the tree in the direction of fall, and to overcome the friction of the drill cone on the felling cut. The effects of forward or backward leaning trees on the required torque can also be quantified. It has been shown that the efficiency of a drill cone is low, but this is compensated for by the high internal torque to lift ratio. The maximum measured input torque for felling trees with a felling diameter up to 55 centimeter was 100 Nm

Nitrogen infusion R&D at DESY a case study on cavity cut-outs

A first series of nitrogen infusion runs of 1.3 GHz single-cell cavities at DESY resulted in an unexpected and severe deterioration observed during the vertical cold test. To investigate the origin of the deterioration, one of the cavities underwent extensive radio-frequency measurements and a temperature- and magnetic field-mapping was performed in collaboration with the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. After combining all results, regions of interests were identified and cut-out of the cavity. Subsequent surface analysis techniques (EBSD, PALS, PIXE, SEM/EDX, SIMS, XPS) were applied in order to identify the microscopic origin of the deterioration and especially the differences between hot and cold spots as well as quench spots. An excess of niobium carbides, reducing the thermal conductivity, was identified as the probable cause for the deterioration, and the size- and density-distributions were observed to be crucial for the resulting performance reduction. The origin for the local differences in the niobium carbide formation between hot and cold spots is an effect of preexisting variations of the crystal structure.BMBF, 05H18GURB1, Verbundprojekt 05H2018 - R&D BESCHLEUNIGER (STenCiL): Optimierung der Hochfrequenzeigenschaften supraleitender Resonatoren durch Oberflächenbehandlun

Citizen science’s transformative impact on science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes

Citizen science (CS) can foster transformative impact for science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes. To unleash this impact, a clearer understanding of its current status and challenges for its development is needed. Using quantitative indicators developed in a collaborative stakeholder process, our study provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of CS in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our online survey with 340 responses focused on CS impact through (1) scientific practices, (2) participant learning and empowerment, and (3) socio-political processes. With regard to scientific impact, we found that data quality control is an established component of CS practice, while publication of CS data and results has not yet been achieved by all project coordinators (55%). Key benefits for citizen scientists were the experience of collective impact (“making a difference together with others”) as well as gaining new knowledge. For the citizen scientists’ learning outcomes, different forms of social learning, such as systematic feedback or personal mentoring, were essential. While the majority of respondents attributed an important value to CS for decision-making, only few were confident that CS data were indeed utilized as evidence by decision-makers. Based on these results, we recommend (1) that project coordinators and researchers strengthen scientific impact by fostering data management and publications, (2) that project coordinators and citizen scientists enhance participant impact by promoting social learning opportunities and (3) that project initiators and CS networks foster socio-political impact through early engagement with decision-makers and alignment with ongoing policy processes. In this way, CS can evolve its transformative impact

The biased interpretation of the unknown. The non-knowledge regime of pandemic policy advice and the exclusion of the social sciences

Knobloch J. Die voreingenommene Deutung des Unbekannten. Das Nichtwissensregime der Pandemieberatung und der Ausschluss der Sozialwissenschaften. Berliner Journal für Soziologie . 2023;33(4):387-421.The article discusses scientific policy advice during the early phase of the COVID-19 crisis in Germany. Faced with an unknown virological threat, non-knowledge was reevaluated, and the relationship, or interaction, between politics and science was reorganized. However, upon closer examination of scientific policy advice, it becomes evident that only a few disciplines were involved, and that the social sciences were largely ignored. To explain this one-sidedness, the article develops the thesis that the intention to control non-knowledge in both politics and science was primarily responsible for the widespread neglect of social science expertise. Initially, the article introduces the context of knowledge and non-knowledge and presents various strategies for dealing with non-knowledge in politics and science. Subsequently, the dynamics of the interaction in scientific policy advice during the early waves of the pandemic are reconstructed. This includes describing the formation and structuring of advice and showing how non-knowledge was (or was not) adressed within it. The results of this reconstruction are then systematised with regard to the creation of a non-knowledge regime, which was responsible for the unequal treatment of various scientific disciplines and continues to be so. The conclusion suggests that for future scenarios, it is advisable to turn to contextualizing non-knowledge concepts from the social sciences, especially when considering secondary effects that go far beyond the short-term interest in infection containment.Der Beitrag setzt sich mit der wissenschaftlichen Politikberatung während der Anfangsphase der Coronakrise in Deutschland auseinander. Angesichts einer unbekannten virologischen Gefahr wurde Nichtwissen neu bewertet und das Verhältnis von resp. die Interaktion zwischen Politik und Wissenschaft neu organisiert. Jedoch zeigt sich bei der näheren Betrachtung der wissenschaftlichen Politikberatung, dass nur wenige Disziplinen eingebunden und die Sozialwissenschaften sogar weitgehend ignoriert wurden. Zur Erklärung dieser Einseitigkeit entwickelt der Beitrag die These, dass vor allem die Absicht zur Kontrolle des Nichtwissens in der Politik und der Wissenschaft für die weitgehende Ignoranz sozialwissenschaftlicher Expertise verantwortlich war. Dazu wird zunächst in den Zusammenhang von Wissen und Nichtwissen eingeführt und werden die verschiedenen Nichtwissensstrategien in Politik und Wissenschaft vorgestellt. Daraufhin wird die Dynamik der Interaktion wissenschaftlicher Politikberatung in den ersten Wellen der Pandemie rekonstruiert. Dabei wird erstens die Entstehung und Strukturierung der Beratung beschrieben und zweitens gezeigt, wie darin Nichtwissen (nicht) bearbeitet wurde. Die Ergebnisse der Rekonstruktion werden schließlich systematisiert im Hinblick auf die Entstehung eines Nichtwissensregimes, das für die Ungleichbehandlung verschiedener Wissenschaftsdisziplinen verantwortlich war und ist. Für zukünftige Konstellationen, so das Resümee, ist der Rückgriff auf kontextualisierende Nichtwissenskonzepte der Sozialwissenschaften zu empfehlen, zumal mit Blick auf Sekundärfolgen, die weit über das kurzfristige Interesse an der Infektionseindämmung hinausweisen

A Self-Assessment of European Citizen Science Projects on Their Contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In theoretical frameworks, it is often assumed that citizen science projects contribute to the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) because of their participatory character and the potential for social transformation. To bring a practical perspective into the dialogue, we designed a survey to obtain direct assessments of the contribution of citizen science to the SDGs by European project participants. We launched the survey across European science networks in 2020 and evaluated 125 questionnaires. Participants reported contributing most to three of the SDGs: ‘Good health and well-being’, ‘Quality education’, and Life on Land’. Additionally, our results provide evidence that, with ongoing advocacy, citizen science projects in Europe could support all SDGs in the future. Seventy-two percent of participants indicated that their projects are involved in data acquisition and 30% stated to report data, but 19% do not pass on data at all. Our findings indicate further that European citizen science projects lack infrastructures and institutional support to facilitate data sharing. We recommend a focus on the promotion or creation of interfaces, for example, between projects and UN databases. Finally, we advise that citizen science projects, some of which operate with little funding, should not be overburdened with inflated expectations as a means of implementing the SDGs

Percutaneous collagen induction therapy: an alternative treatment for burn scars

This study aims to evaluate percutaneous collagen induction (PCI) in post-burn scarring