Understandings, Practices and Human-Environment Relationships - A Meta-Ethnographic Analysis of Local and Indigenous Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in Selected Pacific Island States

Local and Indigenous knowledge systems worldwide indicate adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change. Particularly in regions that are massively affected by climatic changes, such as the Pacific Island States, there is a need for increased and combined research on the role which these knowledge systems can play internationally. For this reason, this article provides a synthesis of empirical results and approaches to local and Indigenous climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in selected South Pacific Island States by using a meta-ethnographic approach. The reviewed literature is associated with the sub-disciplinary perspective of the Anthropology of Climate Change. The results of the meta-ethnographic analysis are discussed based on three thematic focal points: First, the empirical ground of local understandings of climate change and its theoretical conceptualization(s) are constituted. Second, the results of practices for adaptation to climate change are synthesized and presented in detail throughout one example. Third, the synthesis of climate change mitigation practices is outlined with a specific focus on human-environment relationships

Monte Carlo event generator validation and tuning for the LHC

We summarise the motivation for, and the status of, the tools developed by CEDAR/MCnet for validating and tuning Monte Carlo event generators for the LHC against data from previous colliders. We then present selected preliminary results from studies of event shapes and hadronisation observables from e+e- colliders, and of minimum bias and underlying event observables from the Tevatron, and comment on the approach needed with early LHC data to best exploit the potential for new physics discoveries at the LHC in the next few years.Comment: Prepared for Proceedings of XII Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in Physics Research, November 3-7 2008, Erice, Ital

Full Body Harness Design Modifications and Evaluation: A Senior Design Project

Full-body harness (FBH) is critical for the safe operation of industrial and recreational activities, from installing and maintaining infrastructure such as wind turbines to ziplining and mountaintop adventures. However, harness design remains in the proprietary information of companies with limited technical information available for improvements or readjustments to specialized applications. As the outcome of the Capstone project, the paper focuses on multiple technical aspects and the engineering processes for designing FBH for ziplining recreational users, from selecting and testing materials for operation in cold weather to improvements in design and manufacturing for user comfort. The project is guided by technical input from local industry Rushmore Tramway Adventures (RTA), a ziplining and Rope Course company in the state. The contribution comes from technological design improvements such as a 12% reduced weight and redesign of contact points for increased user comfort and first-of-its-kind design documentation for FBH design

Use of in vivo phage display to engineer novel adenoviruses for targeted delivery to the cardiac vasculature

We performed in vivo phage display in the stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rat, a cardiovascular disease model, and the normotensive Wistar Kyoto rat to identify cardiac targeting peptides, and then assessed each in the context of viral gene delivery. We identified both common and strain-selective peptides, potentially indicating ubiquitous markers and those found selectively in dysfunctional microvasculature of the heart. We show the utility of the peptide, DDTRHWG, for targeted gene delivery in human cells and rats in vivo when cloned into the fiber protein of subgroup D adenovirus 19p. This study therefore identifies cardiac targeting peptides by in vivo phage display and the potential of a candidate peptide for vector targeting strategies

Why context matters for educational policy - analysing interactive practice in the governance of Education for Sustainable Development in Germany

The implementation of global educational policies such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) entails different national strategies despite its international character. In Germany, the transfer of ESD is characterized by a multi-actor process including representatives from academia, administration, civil society organisations (CSOs), and educational practice – coordinated by the national state. On the basis of five focus group discussions, we examined how the individual actors coordinated their actions in this process. The results show that the communicative interactions of multi-actor processes mirror the specificity of the education sectors’ structures and dynamics. In our analysis, we thus conclude that ESD governance is more than a question of national and regional structures: we argue that an understanding of the structures and cultures of the involved educational areas can contribute to a differentiated knowledge for future ESD policies. (DIPF/Orig.)Die Umsetzung globaler bildungspolitischer Programme wie Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung (BNE) unterscheidet sich im Vergleich nationaler Strategien. In Deutschland ist der Transfer von BNE durch einen staatlich koordinierten Multiakteursprozess mit Beteiligung von Verwaltungsvertreter/-innen, zivilgesellschaftlichen und bildungspraktischen Akteur/-innen, Wissenschaftler/-innen etc. gekennzeichnet. Basierend auf fünf Fokusgruppendiskussionen wurde die Handlungskoordination dieser Akteur/-innen untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die interaktive Praxis der Akteur/-innen, die den Umsetzungsprozess von Policy Prozessen beeinflusst, stark durch bildungsbereichsspezifische Strukturen und Dynamiken geprägt ist. In unserer Analyse kommen wir so zu dem Schluss, dass BNE-Governance mehr ist als eine Frage nationaler oder regionaler Strukturen: Es ist vielmehr ein Verständnis der Strukturen und Kulturen der einzelnen Bildungsbereiche, die ein Wissen für zukünftige Policy-Strategien der BNE-Verankerung beisteuern kann. (DIPF/Orig.

New developments in event generator tuning techniques

Data analyses in hadron collider physics depend on background simulations performed by Monte Carlo (MC) event generators. However, calculational limitations and non-perturbative effects require approximate models with adjustable parameters. In fact, we need to simultaneously tune many phenomenological parameters in a high-dimensional parameter-space in order to make the MC generator predictions fit the data. It is desirable to achieve this goal without spending too much time or computing resources iterating parameter settings and comparing the same set of plots over and over again. We present extensions and improvements to the MC tuning system, Professor, which addresses the aforementioned problems by constructing a fast analytic model of a MC generator which can then be easily fitted to data. Using this procedure it is for the first time possible to get a robust estimate of the uncertainty of generator tunings. Furthermore, we can use these uncertainty estimates to study the effect of new (pseudo-) data on the quality of tunings and therefore decide if a measurement is worthwhile in the prospect of generator tuning. The potential of the Professor method outside the MC tuning area is presented as well.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in Physics Research, ACAT2010, Jaipur, India, February 22-27, 201

Durability of Electrolytes Applied to Printed Field-Effect Transistors

Field effect transistors (FETs) are indispensable for our modern digital society, needed as basic building blocks for logical gates in all digital circuits. FETs are found in sample and hold circuits with high storage capacities and high write and read speeds and in driver circuits for active matrix displays such as large area TVs. An entire new application perspective is currently emerging in the area of printed electronics, where flexible plastic foils, papers and textiles become inexpensive substrates for novel devices. To realize circuits on such substrates, dielectrics, semiconductors and conductors with suitable morphologies as well as innovative device architectures have to be developed. Prominent among others, printed liquid electrolytes with high gate capacities in combination with printed oxide semiconductors have yielded good device performance and remarkable drain currents at low gate voltages. To be usable in everyday applications basic requirements have to be fulfilled, such as functional stability during environmental temperature changes, sufficient current output to drive more advanced electronic circuits, high switching speed and miniaturized size to allow for large packing densities. Miniaturized high current transistors with good temperature stability can open the path to many new applications for printed electronics, e.g., wearable electronics or lighting solutions, where higher currents are necessary. In this thesis in-plane indium oxide based FETs have been fabricated utilizing composite solid polymer electrolytes (CSPEs) for gating. Different CSPEs have been investigated to determine the most suitable candidate for high performance FETs concerning chemical, physical and electrical behavior. The CSPE, containing LiClO4, PVA, PC and DMSO, has been selected and printed onto an in-plane electrolyte-gated FET (EG-FET). Special attention has been drawn to the key parameters of the EG-FET like mobility, on-current, on/off-current ratio and threshold voltage tested over a wide temperature range. Especially the temperature independence of the on-current and the threshold voltage as well as the absence of hysteresis turn out to be beneficial with respect to future applicability of printed EG-FETs in electrical circuits. In order to downsize the in-plane EG-FETs and to obtain large drain currents at the same time, a vertical arrangement of the FET (v-FET) has been realized. In order to achieve this goal, SnO2 has been stacked in between two platinum electrodes to achieve the vertical source/semiconductor/drain structure, in plane with the platinum gate. The gating is realized by ink-jet printing a CSPE film covering the semiconductor channel and the gate. The CSPE, infiltrated into the porous semiconductor network, addresses the entire inner surface of the semiconductor. A channel of 45 nm is achieved by utilizing the thickness of the printed semiconductor film. A device using such geometry yields nearly ideal transistor characteristics with a clear current saturation with increasing drain voltage and a quadratic increase of the output curves with increasing gate voltage. The large drain current densities exceeding 0.1 MA/cm2 can be explained by the large channel area or channel width, which can be modeled by a large number of independent pillars forming conducting pathways between source to drain electrode. Finally, the problem of limited switching speeds of an in-plane EG-FET has been addressed. The limiting factor for such devices is clearly the large gate-to-channel distance, which limits the time to form the FET conducting channel. The characteristic time constant is determined by the ionic conductivity of the CSPE and double layer capacitance of the CSPE/semiconductor interface. In order to reduce the gate-to-channel distance, i. e., the total resistance, a back-gated EG-FET has been designed using a porous AlOx spacer with a thickness of about 300 nm and a SnO2 layer as the channel material. Due to the reduction of the gate-to-channel distance by more than two orders of magnitude a potential reduction of the the switching frequency can be shown

The self in the mirror: fostering researchers’ reflexivity in transdisciplinary and transformative studies at the science-policy interface

Reflexivity is a key expectation that researchers in transdisciplinary and transformative research for sustainable development need to meet. Its aim is to enable researchers to deal with normativity, to contribute to identifying and balancing different actors’ interests in processes of knowledge production, and to strengthen a pluralistic view of implicit assumptions. When designing and realizing transdisciplinary and transformative studies, researchers face a central question: How can we develop reflexive practices and live up to the demands of such work? Considering the important role that reflexivity plays in transdisciplinary approaches, it is surprising that only few approaches have explored the specific characteristics of reflexive practices empirically and analyzed how these practices are cultivated when doing transdisciplinary and transformative research. In this article we address this research gap by presenting and discussing a case in which researchers attempted to professionalize their reflexive practices at the science-policy interface (SPI). As part of the national Monitoring of Education for Sustainable Development in Germany, we used the method of collaborative autoethnography to systematically reflect on our own thinking and actions as researchers at the SPI over a period of 11 months. Based on an analysis of 66 situations in which we took field notes, we synthesized core topics of reflection and challenges encountered throughout the process (roles, relationship patterns, and normativity) in six collaborative interpretation sessions and analyzed them to understand our own practices of engagement within the field. Grounded in this analysis of our own selves as researchers looking in the mirror, we develop hypotheses about how our specific methodological approach helped us on a practical level to foster different kinds of reflexivity. With this two-fold approach, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of possible topics, challenges, and pathways of (increased) reflexivity among researchers working at the SPI

Der Landsknecht im Spiegel der Renaissancegraphik um 1500 - 1540

Der Landsknecht wurde in der Kunst, vor allem in der Graphik der Renaissance zu einem beliebten Darstellungsobjekt. Er, wie auch sein „Söldnerkollege“, der Schweizer Reisläufer, wurde erstmals als Repräsentant des militärischen Fußvolkes für wert erachtet, als Einzelperson festgehalten zu werden. Zuvor trat der einzelne Kämpfer in Belagerungs- oder Kampfszenen hinter der Masse des Fußvolkes zurück. Einzeldarstellungen waren Angehörigen der höheren Kriegerstände, wie den Rittern vorbehalten. Die Graphiken, insbesondere die Druckgraphiken stehen im Mittelpunkt dieser Dissertation. Sie setzten sich intensiver und häufiger als andere Kunstträger mit den Landsknechten auseinander. Zugleich boten sie den Künstlern eine besondere Freiheit in der Wahl und Ausgestaltung der Themen, da sie kaum an thematische Vorgaben eines Auftraggebers gebunden waren. Die Graphiken geben Zeitstimmungen und Modeerscheinungen deutlich wieder. Gerade die Söldnergraphiken scheinen den Publikumsgeschmack genau getroffen zu haben. Sie wurden häufig als Serie geschaffen oder wurden zu einer solchen aus Verkaufsgründen zusammengestellt