Normalisation holomorphe de structures de Poisson

We show that a Poisson structure whose linear part vanishes can be holomorphically normalized in a neighbourhood of its singular point $0\in \Bbb C^n$ if, on the one hand, a Diophantine condition on a Lie algebra associated to the quadratic part is satisfied and, on the other hand, the normal form satisfies some formal condition

Business Process Quality Management

During the past 25 years, research in the field of business process management as well as the practical adoption of corresponding methods and tools have made substantial progress. In particular, this development was driven by the insight that well-managed business processes enable organizations to better serve their stakeholders, save costs and, ultimately, realize competitive advantage. It is therefore not surprising that improving business processes ranks high on the list of priorities of organizations. In practice, this challenge is currently being addressed through approaches such as benchmarking, industry-specific best practice reference models or process reengineering heuristics. However, no systematic and generic proposition towards managing business process quality has achieved broad acceptance yet. To address this gap, this thesis contributes to the field of business process quality management with the results lined out in the following. First, it defines a concise notion of business process quality based on organizational targets, and applies it to a sample real-world case. This definition is not specific to any particular application field, and thus constitutes a vital first step towards systematic and generic business process quality management. On that basis, an approach is developed to model business objectives in the sense of the requirements that shall be fulfilled by the results of a business process. In turn, this approach enables appraising if a business process achieves its business objective as one of the core criteria relevant to business process quality. Further, this thesis proposes extensions to common business process meta-models which enable quality-aware business process modeling, and demonstrates how fundamental quality characteristics can be derived from corresponding models. At this stage, the results achieved have enabled an advanced understanding of business process quality. By means of these insights, a model of business process quality attributes with corresponding quality criteria is developed. This model complements and exceeds preceding approaches since, for the first time, it systematically derives relevant quality attributes from a business process management perspective instead of adopting these from related fields. It enables appraising business process quality independently of a particular field of application, and deriving recommendations to improve the processes assessed. To enable practical adoption of the concepts developed, the integration of procedures and functionality relevant to quality in business process management lifecycles and system landscapes is discussed next. To establish the contribution of this thesis beyond the previous state of the art, the proposed quality model is then compared to existing business process reengineering practices as well as propositions in the area of business process quality. Further, quality attributes are employed to improve a substantial real-world business process. This experience report demonstrates how quality management practices can be applied even if quality-aware system landscapes are not in place yet. It thus contributes to bridging the gap between the research results proposed in this thesis and the conditions present in practice today. Finally, remaining limitations with regard to the research objectives pursued are discussed, and challenges for future research are lined out. Addressing the latter will enable further leveraging the potentials of business process quality management

Autonomous engines driven by active matter: Energetics and design principles

Because of its nonequilibrium character, active matter in a steady state can drive engines that autonomously deliver work against a constant mechanical force or torque. As a generic model for such an engine, we consider systems that contain one or several active components and a single passive one that is asymmetric in its geometrical shape or its interactions. Generally, one expects that such an asymmetry leads to a persistent, directed current in the passive component, which can be used for the extraction of work. We validate this expectation for a minimal model consisting of an active and a passive particle on a one-dimensional lattice. It leads us to identify thermodynamically consistent measures for the efficiency of the conversion of isotropic activity to directed work. For systems with continuous degrees of freedom, work cannot be extracted using a one-dimensional geometry under quite general conditions. In contrast, we put forward two-dimensional shapes of a movable passive obstacle that are best suited for the extraction of work, which we compare with analytical results for an idealised work-extraction mechanism. For a setting with many noninteracting active particles, we use a mean-field approach to calculate the power and the efficiency, which we validate by simulations. Surprisingly, this approach reveals that the interaction with the passive obstacle can mediate cooperativity between otherwise noninteracting active particles, which enhances the extracted power per active particle significantly.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

The Role of Adjectival Inflection in Scandinavian

ABSTRACT. Adjectives in definite Scandinavian DPs trigger an additional lexical determiner (double definiteness). In many cases, one of the determiners is obsolete, and in some of these cases, different readings are obtained. The presence or absence of weak adjectival inflection can also yield different readings, i.e. inflection interacts with interpretation. For Scandinavian DPs, I propose that the notion of definiteness is made up of three aspects: inclusiveness, reference, and identity and that these components are expressed by the preadjectival article, the suffixed article, and the adjectival inflection respectively. 1 Basic data (double) definiteness Standard Swedish, Norwegian, and Faroese very much pattern alike with regard to double definiteness: (1) a. bil-en car-the ‘the car’ b. den ny-a bil-e

Wild Collaboration: Ecological Restoration, Religion, and the Reformation of the Human/Nature Relationship

ABSTRACT Lohrmann, Adam, M.S., May 2011 Environmental Studies Wild Collaboration: Ecological Restoration, Religion, and the Reformation of the Human/Nature Relationship Chairperson: Dr. Daniel Spencer In recent years, the field of ecological restoration has gained momentum as an academic discipline, a scientific profession, and as a community-based form of environmental activism and land stewardship. At the same time, the number, scope, complexity, and diversity of restoration projects has expanded, and restoration is now being practiced in every corner of the globe. Witnessing this surge of activity and interest, many restorationists now believe that the practice of restoration can serve as a catalyst for transforming the human/earth connection from a relationship of coercion and exploitation to one of collaboration and mutual enrichment. However, restoration also raises many problematic questions with regard to the human/nature relationship. The work of restoration often involves a high degree of intervention and tampering in ecological communities. Restoration entails disturbing the ecological trajectories of existing ecosystems, reconfiguring landscape features, and the killing or removal of plant and animal life. Accordingly, some critics suggest that restoration actually represents an extension of the dominant, destructive cultural paradigms by which human beings feel justified to intrude upon and manipulate natural landscapes however they see fit. These concerns regarding the practice of restoration reflect deeper, more fundamental tensions embedded within the human/nature relationship, and relationship in general. These tensions are rooted in the existential challenge of otherness, and in the pervasive ecological realities of limitation, volatility, suffering, and loss. If restorationists hope to reform the relationship between humankind and the earth, then they must confront and negotiate these core relational concerns and tensions. I contend that a serious exploration of our religious and spiritual traditions can assist restorationists in navigating these intractable issues, inasmuch as religion constitutes a primary cultural response to the mystery of relationality. In this essay, I present an experimental reading of the meaning and practice of ecological restoration through the lens of one particular religious tradition—the Christian faith. In so doing, I seek to demonstrate that the religious technologies of sacred narrative, theology, and ritual can help us to conceive and conduct restoration as a collaborative endeavor, and to foster mutually enlivening relationships between human beings and the beyond human world