Digitisation and system integration in the public sector - Consequences for teaching

The digitisation of public sector ICT is driven by a number of factors, which are not altogether dissimilar from the private industries: Increased self-service via the Internet, the Internet of Things (IoT), real-time business intelligence and the advent of integrated information systems as the “backbone” of organisational ICT. This fundamentally changes the landscape of public sector ICT. Particularly the smart cities concept has become a main driver of this evolution, whereby the smart cities concept heavily relies on an intelligent infrastructure that is the large-scale application of IoT. However, how does this translate into public sector-oriented education? This paper presents a university level teaching programme that covers the topics of integrated information systems for the environment described above. The paper deals with the research question how to embed such a programme in a conventional public sector-oriented university course programme. It details the didactic specificities and analyses the feedback from the roll out. It also analyses the prior knowledge required from students and the changes in other elements of a public administration course programme necessitated by a digitisation orientation

Transforming Design Science Research into Practical Application: Experiences from Two ECM Teaching Cases

Research – not only in the discipline of Information Systems (IS) – must address the tasks faced by practitio-ners. The goal must always be to transform the ideas and findings into real-life business solutions. In IS re-search, this entitlement is particularly acknowledged by the design science research paradigm. Whereas the goal of behavioural science is truth, design science generally aims at developing an “IT artefact” highly use-ful for practitioners. Utility is commonly evaluated on the basis of case studies or simulations, for example. We argue that these evaluation methods must not necessarily be applied by the researchers themselves: Teaching cases represent a suitable alternative by also providing new potentials for refining the artefact. As an example of application, we refer to a newly emerging field in IS research, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). We present the results and experiences from two ECM project seminars that have been set up on the basis of work-shops and interviews with a large-scale international enterprise. The teaching cases are based on firsthand accounts from our research in the field of ECM – a framework for content analyses. Accordingly, both courses focussed on analysing the company’s content situation. The company highly valued the results gained in the seminars and has since applied our framework within additional application areas

UPLC TOF MS for sensitive quantification of naturally occurring pyrrolizidine alkaloids in Petasites hybridus extract (Ze 339)

AbstractDue to increasing regulatory awareness of their hepatotoxic, genotoxic and possibly carcinogenic potential, pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) content has to be thoroughly monitored in herbal medicinal preparations. Recently, new very low PA regulatory threshold concentrations have been requested by the authorities. Therefore, a highly sensitive and reproducible UPLC TOF MS method for the quantification of the PAs senkirkine, senecionine, seneciphylline, senecionine-N-oxide and seneciphylline-N-oxide in a CO2-extract of Petasites hybridus leaves (Ze 339) has been developed.The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 2ppb for all PAs. Recovery at the LOQ was between 88.9 and 141.9%, the repeatability precision between 3.5 and 13.6%. Linearity of the five PAs showed correlation coefficients between 0.9995 and 0.9998 and coefficients of variation between 7.44 and 8.56%. A working range between 2 ppb and 200 ppb could be fixed. In the tested batches of the P. hybridus extract Ze 339, the absence of PAs could be demonstrated. In conclusion, this assay allows to determine trace PA concentrations in P. hybridus extract Ze 339, making it suitable for analytical PA monitoring in accordance with regulatory requirements

Permanent monitoring of the reference point at the 20m radio telescope Wettzell

To achieve the aims of the VLBI2010 agenda and of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) an automated monitoring of the reference points of different geodetic space techniques, such as Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), is desirable. The resulting permanent monitoring of the local-tie vectors at co-location stations are essential to obtain the sub-millimeter level in the combinations. For this reason a monitoring system was installed by the Geodetic institute of the University of Karlsruhe (GIK) to observe the 20m radio telescope for VLBI at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell from May to August. A specially developed software from the Geodetic Institute of the university collected data from automated total station measurements, meteorological sensors, and sensors in the telescope monument (e.g., Invar cable data). A real-time visualization directly offered a live view of the measurements during the regular observation operations. Additional scintillometer measurements allowed refraction corrections during the post-processing. This project is one of the first feasibility studies aimed at determining significant deformations of the VLBI antenna due to, for instance, changes in temperature

Permanent Monitoring of the Reference Point of the 20m Radio Telescope Wettzell

To achieve the goals of the VLBI2010 project and the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS), an automated monitoring of the reference points of the various geodetic space techniques, including Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), is desirable. The resulting permanent monitoring of the local-tie vectors at co-location stations is essential to obtain the sub-millimeter level in the combinations. For this reason a monitoring system was installed at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell by the Geodetic Institute of the University of Karlsruhe (GIK) to observe the 20m VLBI radio telescope from May to August 2009. A specially developed software from GIK collected data from automated total station measurements, meteorological sensors, and sensors in the telescope monument (e.g., Invar cable data). A real-time visualization directly offered a live view of the measurements during the regular observation operations. Additional scintillometer measurements allowed refraction corrections during the post-processing. This project is one of the first feasibility studies aimed at determining significant deformations of the VLBI antenna due to, for instance, changes in temperature

An ABC transporter is involved in the silicon-induced formation of casparian bands in the exodermis of rice

Silicon (Si) promotes the formation of Casparian bands (CB) in rice and reduces radial oxygen loss (ROL). Further transcriptomic approaches revealed several candidate genes involved in the Si-induced formation of CB such as ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, Class III peroxidases, ligases and transferases. Investigation of these genes by means of overexpression (OE) and knockout (KO) mutants revealed the contribution of the ABC transporter (OsABCG25) to CB formation in the exodermis, which was also reflected in the expression of other OsABCG25 in the Si-promoted formation of CB genes related to the phenylpropanoid pathway, such as phenylalanine-ammonia-lyase, diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase and 4-coumarate-CoA ligase. Differential CB development in mutants and Si supply also affected the barrier function of the exodermis. OE of the ABC transporter and Si supply reduced the ROL from roots and Fe uptake. No effect on ROL and Fe uptake could be observed for the KO mutant. The presented research confirms the impact of the OsABCG25 in the Si-promoted formation of CB and its barrier functions. © 2017 Hinrichs, Fleck, Biedermann, Ngo, Schreiber and Schenk

Silicon Promotes Exodermal Casparian Band Formation in Si-Accumulating and Si-Excluding Species by Forming Phenol Complexes

We studied the effect of Silicon (Si) on Casparian band (CB) development, chemical composition of the exodermal CB and Si deposition across the root in the Si accumulators rice and maize and the Si non-accumulator onion. Plants were cultivated in nutrient solution with and without Si supply. The CB development was determined in stained root cross-sections. The outer part of the roots containing the exodermis was isolated after enzymatic treatment. The exodermal suberin was transesterified with MeOH/BF3 and the chemical composition was measured using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) was used to determine the Si deposition across root cross sections. Si promoted CB formation in the roots of Si-accumulator and Si non-accumulator species. The exodermal suberin was decreased in rice and maize due to decreased amounts of aromatic suberin fractions. Si did not affect the concentration of lignin and lignin-like polymers in the outer part of rice, maize and onion roots. The highest Si depositions were found in the tissues containing CB. These data along with literature were used to suggest a mechanism how Si promotes the CB development by forming complexes with phenols.DFG/SCHR 506/12-

Dynamical Tides in Eccentric Binaries and Tidally-Excited Stellar Pulsations in KEPLER KOI-54

Recent observation of the tidally-excited stellar oscillations in the main-sequence binary KOI-54 by the KEPLER satellite provides a unique opportunity for studying dynamical tides in eccentric binary systems. We develop a general theory of tidal excitation of oscillation modes of rotating binary stars, and apply our theory to tidally excited gravity modes (g-modes) in KOI-54. The strongest observed oscillations, which occur at 90 and 91 times the orbital frequency, are likely due to prograde m=2 modes (relative to the stellar spin axis) locked in resonance with the orbit. The remaining flux oscillations with frequencies that are integer multiples of the orbital frequency are likely due to nearly resonant m=0 g-modes; such axisymmetric modes generate larger flux variations compared to the m=2 modes, assuming that the spin inclination angle of the star is comparable to the orbital inclination angle. We examine the process of resonance mode locking under the combined effects of dynamical tides on the stellar spin and orbit and the intrinsic stellar spindown. We show that KOI-54 can naturally evolve into a state in which at least one m=2 mode is locked in resonance with the orbital frequency. Our analysis provides an explanation for the fact that only oscillations with frequencies less than 90-100 times the orbital frequency are observed. We have also found evidence from the published KEPLER result that three-mode nonlinear coupling occurs in the KOI-54 system. We suggest that such nonlinear mode coupling may explain the observed oscillations that are not harmonics of the orbital frequency.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted by MNRA

Permanentüberwachung des 20m VLBI-Radioteleskops an der Fundamentalstation in Wettzell = Permanent monitoring of the 20 m VLBI-radio telescope at a major station in Wettzell

Permanente und automatische Überwachungsmessungen der Verbindungsvektoren zwischen den Referenzpunkten verschiedener Raumverfahren wie beispielsweise Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) oder dem Globalen Navigationssatellitensystem (GNSS) sind maßgeblichen Forderungen im Rahmen des Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) und der Agenda VLBI2010, um die angestrebte Submillimetergenauigkeit zu erreichen. Am Geodätischen Observatorium in Wettzell wurde aus diesem Grund ein Monitoringsystem eingerichtet, welches das 20m VLBI-Radioteleskop überwacht. Im Rahmen dieser Machbarkeitsstudie sollte geprüft werden, ob sich signifikante Deformationen, hervorgerufen beispielsweise durch Temperaturänderungen, feststellen lassen und welche Größenordnungen sie besitzen. In the agenda VLBI2010 and the framework of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS), an automated monitoring of the reference points of different geodetic space techniques like Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and therefore of the local-tie vectors at co-location stations are desirable to obtain the submillimeter level. For this reason a monitoring system was installed to observe the 20m VLBI radio telescope at the geodetic observatory Wettzell. This project is one of the first feasibility studies aimed at determining significant deformations caused by the VLBI antenna due to e.g. changes in temperature