Project Management as a B2B Service in the automotive development process

The German automotive industry currently not only faces the effects of COVID-19 on the supply chain but also a disruption by new technologies and new competitors. In order to rise to these challenges, project management must be improved and partners along the supply chain must be integrated more tightly. One part in accomplishing this, is to provide an interorganizational project management service between all involved partners. In order to improve, we first have to understand the current implementation of project management services between the OEM and suppliers and examine what the different actors expect from these services. This working paper addresses this issue by conducting a literature review as well as interviews with project management experts in the automotive industry

deSpeckNet: Generalizing Deep Learning Based SAR Image Despeckling

Deep learning (DL) has proven to be a suitable approach for despeckling synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. So far, most DL models are trained to reduce speckle that follows a particular distribution, either using simulated noise or a specific set of real SAR images, limiting the applicability of these methods for real SAR images with unknown noise statistics. In this paper, we present a DL method, deSpeckNet1, that estimates the speckle noise distribution and the despeckled image simultaneously. Since it does not depend on a specific noise model, deSpeckNet generalizes well across SAR acquisitions in a variety of landcover conditions. We evaluated the performance of deSpeckNet on single polarized Sentinel-1 images acquired in Indonesia, The Democratic Republic of Congo and The Netherlands, a single polarized ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 image acquired in Japan and an Iceye X2 image acquired in Germany. In all cases, deSpeckNet was able to effectively reduce speckle and restor

Characterizing Tropical Forest Cover Loss Using Dense Sentinel-1 Data and Active Fire Alerts

Fire use for land management is widespread in natural tropical and plantation forests, causing major environmental and economic damage. Recent studies combining active fire alerts with annual forest-cover loss information identified fire-related forest-cover loss areas well, but do not provide detailed understanding on how fires and forest-cover loss are temporally related. Here, we combine Sentinel-1-based, near real-time forest cover information with Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active fire alerts, and for the first time, characterize the temporal relationship between fires and tropical forest-cover loss at high temporal detail and medium spatial scale. We quantify fire-related forest-cover loss and separate fires that predate, coincide with, and postdate forest-cover loss. For the Province of Riau, Indonesia, dense Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar data with guaranteed observations of at least every 12 days allowed for confident and timely forest-cover-loss detection in natural and plantation forest with user’s and producer’s accuracy above 95%. Forest-cover loss was detected and confirmed within 22 days in natural forest and within 15 days in plantation forest. This difference can primarily be related to different change processes and dynamics in natural and plantation forest. For the period between 1 January 2016 and 30 June 2017, fire-related forest-cover loss accounted for about one third of the natural forest-cover loss, while in plantation forest, less than ten percent of the forest-cover loss was fire-related. We found clear spatial patterns of fires predating, coinciding with, or postdating forest-cover loss. Only the minority of fires in natural and plantation forest temporally coincided with forest-cover loss (13% and 16%) and can thus be confidently attributed as direct cause of forest-cover loss. The majority of the fires predated (64% and 58%) or postdated forest-cover loss (23% and 26%), and should be attributed to other key land management practices. Detailed and timely information on how fires and forest cover loss are temporally related can support tropical forest management, policy development, and law enforcement to reduce unsustainable and illegal fire use in the tropics

Monoclonal antibodies specific for the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein define neutralizing epitopes specific for Newcastle disease virus genotype 2.VII from Egypt

Background Newcastle disease is a devastating disease in poultry caused by virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV), a paramyxovirus endemic in many regions of the world despite intensive vaccination. Phylogenetic analyses reveal ongoing evolution of the predominant circulating genotype 2.VII, and the relevance of potential antigenic drift is under discussion. To investigate variation within neutralization-sensitive epitopes within the protein responsible for receptor binding, i.e. the Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase (HN) spike protein, we were interested in establishing genotype-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Methods An HN-enriched fraction of a gradient-purified NDV genotype 2.VII was prepared and successfully employed to induce antibodies in BalbC mice that recognize conformationally intact sites reactive by haemagglutination inhibition (HI). For subsequent screening of mouse hybridoma cultures, an NDV-ELISA was established that utilizes Concanavalin A (ConA-ELISA) coupled glycoproteins proven to present conformation-dependent epitopes. Results Six out of nine selected MAbs were able to block receptor binding as demonstrated by HI activity. One MAb recognized an epitope only present in the homologue virus, while four other MAbs showed weak reactivity to selected other genotypes. On the other hand, one broadly cross-reacting MAb reacted with all genotypes tested and resembled the reactivity profile of genotype-specific polyclonal antibody preparations that point to minor antigenic differences between tested NDV genotpyes. Conclusions These results point to the concurrent presence of variable and conserved epitopes within the HN molecule of NDV. The described protocol should help to generate MAbs against a variety of NDV strains and to enable in depth analysis of the antigenic profiles of different genotypes

Playin’ the city : artistic and scientific approaches to playful urban arts

An Theorien und Diskussionen über die Stadt mangelt es nicht, denn Städte dienen uns u.a. als Projektionsfläche zur Auseinandersetzung mit unserer Vergangenheit, der Gegenwart und unserer Zukunft. Diese Ausgabe 1 (2016) der Navigationen untersucht spielerische Formen dieser Auseinandersetzung in und mit der Stadt durch die sogenannten playful urban arts.The city has been discussed and theorized widely, and it continues to serve as a space in which our sense of the present, past, and future is constantly negotiated. This issue 1 (2016) of Navigationen examines new ways of engaging with cities through what are called the playful urban arts. Playful engagements with the urban environment frequently strive to create new ways of imagining and experiencing the city. In and through play, city spaces can become playgrounds that have the potential to transform people’s sense of themselves as human actors in an urban network of spatially bound and socio-economically grounded actions. Emerging from the playin’siegen urban games festival 2015, the essays and panel discussions assembled in this issue provide an interdisciplinary account of the contemporary playful urban arts. Wiht contributions by Miguel Sicart, Andreas Rauscher, Daniel Stein, Judith Ackermann and Martin Reiche, Michael Straeubig and Sebastian Quack, Marianne Halblaub Miranda and Martin Knöll, and Anne Lena Hartman

Breadboard model of the LISA phasemeter

An elegant breadboard model of the LISA phasemeter is currently under development by a Danish-German consortium. The breadboard is build in the frame of an ESA technology development activity to demonstrate the feasibility and readiness of the LISA metrology baseline architecture. This article gives an overview about the breadboard design and its components, including the distribution of key functionalities.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published in ASP Conference Series, Vol. 467, 9th LISA Symposium (2012), pp 271-27

Readout for intersatellite laser interferometry: Measuring low frequency phase fluctuations of HF signals with microradian precision

Precision phase readout of optical beat note signals is one of the core techniques required for intersatellite laser interferometry. Future space based gravitational wave detectors like eLISA require such a readout over a wide range of MHz frequencies, due to orbit induced Doppler shifts, with a precision in the order of $\mu \textrm{rad}/\sqrt{\textrm{Hz}}$ at frequencies between $0.1\,\textrm{mHz}$ and $1\,\textrm{Hz}$. In this paper, we present phase readout systems, so-called phasemeters, that are able to achieve such precisions and we discuss various means that have been employed to reduce noise in the analogue circuit domain and during digitisation. We also discuss the influence of some non-linear noise sources in the analogue domain of such phasemeters. And finally, we present the performance that was achieved during testing of the elegant breadboard model of the LISA phasemeter, that was developed in the scope of an ESA technology development activity.Comment: submitted to Review of Scientific Instruments on April 30th 201