Cellular-Automata-Based Simulation of the Settlement Development in Vienna

The motivation to deal with the topic simulation of the settlement development in a city in the past 120 years has been to acquire general methods for the analysis and simulation of settlement development processes on the one hand and to verify these methods on the example of the real development of the city of Vienna on the other hand. We follow the assumption that the underlying processes of the urban development can be reduced to various pronounced but always the same hidden driving forces. The objective is to validate the simulation model by the real settlement development and to provide a solid base for the simulation of possible development scenarios of the city of Vienna. The basis for the validation are digital cellular processed and statistical analysed data of the development of the technical infrastructure, the public transportation systems and the population density in Vienna between 1888 and 2001. The simulation method is based on the technique of Cellular Automata (CA) that permits the simulation of the interaction between a potential field and the development of individual areas. This modelling technique is well known as “reaction diffusion” or “dialectic breakdown”. The CA serves as representation of the examined space and divides this space into individual cells. Each of these cells can save certain information (population density, infrastructure facility, development quality) and exchange them locally with the neighbouring cells. The used model parameters permit the simulation of different spread patterns und spread speeds of a settlement structure. From the results methodological, structural, spatial and temporal regularities of urban development processes are derived

Stronger bounds on the cost of computing Groebner bases for HFE systems

We give upper bounds for the solving degree and the last fall degree of the polynomial system associated to the HFE (Hidden Field Equations) cryptosystem. Our bounds improve the known bounds for this type of systems. We also present new results on the connection between the solving degree and the last fall degree and prove that, in some cases, the solving degree is independent of coordinate changes.Comment: 15 page

Expression of Sympathetic Nervous System Genes in Lamprey Suggests Their Recruitment for Specification of a New Vertebrate Feature

The sea lamprey is a basal, jawless vertebrate that possesses many neural crest derivatives, but lacks jaws and sympathetic ganglia. This raises the possibility that the factors involved in sympathetic neuron differentiation were either a gnathostome innovation or already present in lamprey, but serving different purposes. To distinguish between these possibilities, we isolated lamprey homologues of transcription factors associated with peripheral ganglion formation and examined their deployment in lamprey embryos. We further performed DiI labeling of the neural tube combined with neuronal markers to test if neural crest-derived cells migrate to and differentiate in sites colonized by sympathetic ganglia in jawed vertebrates. Consistent with previous anatomical data in adults, our results in lamprey embryos reveal that neural crest cells fail to migrate ventrally to form sympathetic ganglia, though they do form dorsal root ganglia adjacent to the neural tube. Interestingly, however, paralogs of the battery of transcription factors that mediate sympathetic neuron differentiation (dHand, Ascl1 and Phox2b) are present in the lamprey genome and expressed in various sites in the embryo, but fail to overlap in any ganglionic structures. This raises the intriguing possibility that they may have been recruited during gnathostome evolution to a new function in a neural crest derivative

Where should bulking agents for female urodynamic stress incontinence be injected?

For bulking agents used for female stress urinary incontinence, the recommendation for the anatomical placement varies as some injectables are to be placed close to the bladder neck and others midurethrally. Aim of the study was to determine if there are differences concerning the outcome after transurethral collagen injections depending on the anatomical placement midurethrally or at the bladder neck. We randomly assigned 30 elderly female patients with urodynamic stress incontinence to either transurethral collagen injection midurethrally or to the bladder neck. Prior to injection and at ten month follow-up, maximum urethral closure pressure (MUCP), functional urethral length (FUL), maximum flow rate and cough test were performed and the patient was asked to estimate her bladder condition using a visual analogue scale. Postoperative contentness was 8 (median, 95% confidence interval 5-9) in the midurethral group and 8 (median, 95% confidence interval 7-10) in the bladder neck group with a p value of 0.012, 95% confidence interval -2.464 to -0.2859, in favour to midurethral injections. MUCP and FUL increased significantly in both groups and flow rate decreased in both groups. Continence was 66.6% in the midurethral group and 60% for the bladder neck group respectively. Both midurethral and bladder neck collagen injections improve patients' satisfaction almost equally with a small advantage for midurethral injection

Self-Services - Do Not Leave Your Customers Alone with the Technology

New arising technologies change the modes of interaction between companies and their customers. So-called self-service technologies (SSTs) allow integrating customers as active participants into companies\u27 business processes and thereby are expected to generate not only more efficient processes but also positive effects on customer satisfaction. As some customers do not consider their integration as an improvement and others are not able to use the SSTs, companies have to pro-vide personal support offering direct response, assurance and social interaction. As for many companies the corresponding economic effects remain unclear, the aim of this paper is to develop a quantitative decision model that allows to decide on the integration of customers in business processes while considering of the necessary customer support on an economically well-grounded basis. To demon-strate the applicability of the model and its practical utility, we conduct a case study