Generaldirektor des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 1994 bis 2011: Lorenz Mikoletzky beantwortet 10 Fragen von Bruno Bauer

Lorenz Mikoletzky beantwortet Fragen über seinen Weg von der Berufsausbildung bis zur Bestellung als Generaldirektor des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, das er 17 Jahre lang geleitet hat. Thematisiert werden auch die Digitalisierung von Archivgut, das geplante „Haus der Geschichte“ sowie Aufgabe und Bedeutung der Historikerkommission, deren stellvertretender Vorsitzender er gewesen ist. Mikoletzky spricht auch sein freundschaftliches Verhältnis zur Vereinigung Österreichischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare an sowie sein Bemühen um eine Kooperation von Bibliotheken, Archiven und Museen in der Zusammenarbeitsplattform BAM Austria

Insulin-like Growth Factor I—Releasing Alginate-Tricalciumphosphate Composites for Bone Regeneration

Purpose: Development and characterization of an in situ-forming, osteoconductive, and growth factor-releasing bone implant. Methods: Injectable in situ-forming scaffolds were prepared from a 2% (m/v) alginate solution, tricalciumphosphate (TCP) granules, and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres (MS), loaded with the osteoinductive growth factor insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Scaffolds were prepared by mixing the components followed by hydrogel formation through calcium carbonate-induced physical cross-linking of the alginate at slightly acidic pH. Physical-chemical properties and cell biocompatibility using osteoblast-like cells (MG-63 and Saos-2) of these scaffolds were investigated. Results: The addition of TCP to the alginate resulted in reduced swelling and gelation time and an increase in stiffness. Osteoblast-like cells (MG-63 and Saos-2) did not show toxic reactions and adhered circumferentially to the TCP granules surface. The addition of the IGF-I MS resulted in an up to sevenfold increased proliferation rate of MG-63 cells as compared to scaffold preparations without IGF-I MS. The alkaline phosphate (ALP) activity—a parameter for osteblastic activity—increased with increasing amounts of TCP in Saos-2 loaded composite scaffolds. Conclusions: A prototype in situ-hardening composite system for conformal filling of bone defects supporting osteoblastic activity for further clinical testing in relevant fracture models was developed and characterize

A inteligência artificial e o novo papel do designer na sociedade em rede

Digital transformation is affecting all work areas, including professions related to creativity. If at the beginning of profession’s computerization artificial intelligence only assists design activity, through Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs or remote cooperative work, it is gaining relevance in creative processes. These professional changes inspire reflections on designer’s role and design process. Is artificial intelligence a threat or could it offer new career opportunities? This article discusses how the entry of artificial intelligence into creative processes transforms the profession and affects designer’s role. It is concluded that the designer’s role changes in the design dynamics, when he is no longer an executor, but rather a facilitator of processes, so that non-designers free themselves and can project their own reality, facilitating, thus, the emergence of collective intelligence.A transformação digital está afetando todos os âmbitos do trabalho, inclusive as profissões ligadas à criatividade. Se no começo da informatização da profissão a inteligência artificial apenas auxilia a atividade de design, através de programas de Design Assistido Por Computador (CAD) ou para o trabalho cooperativo remoto, hoje está ganhando relevância nos processos criativos. Estas mudanças profissionais inspiram reflexões sobre o papel do designer e o processo projetual. A Inteligência artificial representa uma ameaça ou pode ofertar novas oportunidades profissionais? Este artigo pretende discutir como a entrada da inteligência artificial nos processos criativos transforma a profissão e afeta o papel do designer. Conclui-se que o papel do designer se altera nas dinâmicas projetuais, quando ele passa não mais a ser um executor, mas, sim, um agente facilitador de processos, para que não designers libertem-se e possam projetar sua própria realidade, facilitando, assim, a emergência da inteligência coletiva

Design como prática crítica e filosófica

Usually understood as a practice that meets the needs of the consumer industry, design has been discussed in recent decades in addition to competencies related to ergonomic or aesthetically pleasing product constructions. This article discusses critical practice, one of those new conceptions that considers provocation, rhetoric and debate as methods in the development of artifacts. In the first section, we present historically and conceptually such a paradigm. Next, we discuss the link between critical practice and contemporary art, clarifying some misconceptions related to the interpretation of design authors about art. Finally, we reflect on the latent relationship between critical practice and philosophy. We suggest that both propose to understand the reality in which they are inserted, to read the world from this identification, to seek knowledge to solve problems and to criticize the current reality, open to dialogue and criticism in the different spheres of social, economic, political, aiming to cause an existential impact on those involved.Habitualmente entendido como uma prática que atende às necessidades da indústria de consumo, o design vem, nas últimas décadas, sendo discutido para além de competências relacionadas a construções de produtos ergonômicos ou esteticamente agradáveis. O presente artigo discute a prática crítica, uma dessas novas concepções que considera a provocação, a retórica e o debate como métodos no desenvolvimento de artefatos. Na primeira sessão, apresentamos historicamente e conceitualmente tal paradigma. Em seguida, discutimos a ligação entre a prática crítica e a arte contemporânea, esclarecendo alguns equívocos relacionados à interpretação de autores do design sobre a arte. Por fim, refletimos sobre a relação latente entre a prática crítica e a filosofia. Sugerimos que ambos se propõem a compreender a realidade na qual estão inseridas, ler o mundo a partir dessa identificação, buscar conhecimento para resolver problemas e criticar a realidade atual, abrir-se ao diálogo e à crítica nos diferentes âmbitos do social, econômico, político, com vistas a causar um impacto existencial nos envolvidos

A scaling law for aeolian dunes on Mars, Venus, Earth, and for subaqueous ripples

The linear stability analysis of the equations governing the evolution of a flat sand bed submitted to a turbulent shear flow predicts that the wavelength $\lambda$ at which the bed destabilises to form dunes should scale with the drag length $L_{\rm drag} = \frac{\rho_s}{\rho_f} d$. This scaling law is tested using existing and new measurements performed in water (subaqueous ripples), in air (aeolian dunes and fresh snow dunes), in a high pressure CO$_2$ wind tunnel reproducing conditions close to the Venus atmosphere and in the low pressure CO$_2$ martian atmosphere (martian dunes). A difficulty is to determine the diameter of saltating grains on Mars. A first estimate comes from photographs of aeolian ripples taken by the rovers Opportunity and Spirit, showing grains whose diameters are smaller than on Earth dunes. In addition we calculate the effect of cohesion and viscosity on the dynamic and static transport thresholds. It confirms that the small grains visualised by the rovers should be grains experiencing saltation. Finally, we show that, within error bars, the scaling of $\lambda$ with $L_{\rm drag}$ holds over almost five decades. We conclude with a discussion on the time scales and velocities at which these bed instabilities develop and propagate on Mars.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, resubmitted to `Earth and Planetary Science Letters' with addition data and enlarged discussio

BAM Austria: Arbeitskreis Bibliotheken, Archive, Museen Österreichs – Aktivitäten 2017

BAM Austria: Working Committee Libraries, Archives, Museums Austria came to the public in 2017 with two activities. On May 11, 2017, a seminar on "Open Access and Linked Open Data" (LOD) took place in Vienna, to which 25 representatives of libraries, archives and museums were invited. On September 13, 2017, a panel on "Digitalisation in libraries, archives and museums" was organized in the framework of the 33rd Austrian Library Day in Linz, in which about 90 people took part

Effect of Eu-implantation and annealing on the GaN quantum dots excitonic recombination

Undoped self-assembled GaN quantum dots (QD) stacked in superlattices (SL) with AlN spacer layers were submitted to thermal annealing treatments. Changes in the balance between the quantum confinement, strain state of the stacked heterostructures and quantum confined Stark effect lead to the observation of GaN QD excitonic recombination above and below the bulk GaN bandgap. In Eu-implanted SL structures, the GaN QD recombination was found to be dependent on the implantation fluence. For samples implanted with high fluence, a broad emission band at 2.7 eV was tentatively assigned to the emission of large blurred GaN QD present in the damage region of the implanted SL. This emission band is absent in the SL structures implanted with lower fluence and hence lower defect level. In both cases, high energy emission bands at approx. 3.9 eV suggest the presence of smaller dots for which the photoluminescence intensity was seen to be constant with increasing temperatures. Despite the fact that different deexcitation processes occur in undoped and Eu-implanted SL structures, the excitation population mechanisms were seen to be sample-independent. Two main absorption bands with maxima at approx. 4.1 and 4.7 to 4.9 eV are responsible for the population of the optically active centres in the SL samples

The Holocene lake-evaporation history of the afro-alpine Lake Garba Guracha in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia, based on δ18O records of sugar biomarker and diatoms

In eastern Africa, there are few long, high-quality records of environmental change at high altitudes, inhibiting a broader understanding of regional climate change. We investigated a Holocene lacustrine sediment archive from Lake Garba Guracha, Bale Mountains, Ethiopia, (3,950 m a.s.l.), and reconstructed high-altitude lake evaporation history using δ18O records derived from the analysis of compound-specific sugar biomarkers and diatoms. The δ18Odiatom and δ18Ofuc records are clearly correlated and reveal similar ranges (7.9‰ and 7.1‰, respectively). The lowest δ18O values occurred between 10 and 7 cal ka BP and were followed by a continuous shift towards more positive δ18O values. Due to the aquatic origin of the sugar biomarker and the similar trends of δ18Odiatom, we suggest that our lacustrine δ18Ofuc record reflects δ18Olake water. Therefore, without completely excluding the influence of the ‘amount-effect’ and the ‘source-effect‘, we interpret our record to reflect primarily the precipitation-to-evaporation ratio (P/E). We conclude that precipitation increased at the beginning of the Holocene, leading to an overflowing lake between ~10 and ~8 cal ka BP, indicated by low δ18Olake water values interpreted as reduced evaporative enrichment. This is followed by a continuous trend towards drier conditions, indicating at least a seasonally closed lake system