"Che tempo, che tempo": geology and environment in Max Frisch´s Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän

Critical readings of Frisch’s Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän [Man in the Holo-cene] have tended to read its heterogeneous and inter-medial form as a code for the mental disintegration of its protagonist. This paper argues instead that this feature can be seen as a poetological engagement with geological and climatic timescales. Due to its hybrid form, the incorporation of a multiplicity of textual fragments and pictorial representations, the text undermines both conventional definitions of narra-tive and representations of nature. Holozän’s non-linear structure establishes an aes-thetic of slowness that ushers in an awareness of the utterly different time schemes of geological and climatic processes. Furthermore, the importance of the material features, such as an interplay between text and image and the disconnected, paratac-tical arrangement of sentences mirrors the novel’s focus on natural phenomena. Frisch’s narrative establishes a poetics that tries to reach beyond the confinements of an anthropocentric perspective and thereby subverts the borders between culture and environment

Space and social capital : The degree of locality in entrepreneurs' contacts and its consequences for firm success

Social capital is valuable for entrepreneurs starting a business. Although many small businesses are located at the entrepreneurs’ dwelling, little is known about entrepreneurs’ local ties and their relevance for firm success. Distinguishing between local and non-local social capital, this contribution looks at the following: (1) The availability of local social capital (2) The relation between social capital and local social capital, and characteristics of firms and entrepreneurs (3) The relation between social capital and local social capital and firm performance. Analysing data from the Survey of the Social Networks of Entrepreneurs, which contains information on entrepreneurs and their networks in 141 Dutch neighbourhoods, this study finds a positive relation between social capital and firm performance.

Efficient Algorithms for Distributed Detection of Holes and Boundaries in Wireless Networks

We propose two novel algorithms for distributed and location-free boundary recognition in wireless sensor networks. Both approaches enable a node to decide autonomously whether it is a boundary node, based solely on connectivity information of a small neighborhood. This makes our algorithms highly applicable for dynamic networks where nodes can move or become inoperative. We compare our algorithms qualitatively and quantitatively with several previous approaches. In extensive simulations, we consider various models and scenarios. Although our algorithms use less information than most other approaches, they produce significantly better results. They are very robust against variations in node degree and do not rely on simplified assumptions of the communication model. Moreover, they are much easier to implement on real sensor nodes than most existing approaches.Comment: extended version of accepted submission to SEA 201

Estimating Oceanic Export Production based on 3D coupled physical-biogeochemical modelling

The study addresses various aspects of model-based estimating the oceanic primary production. In particular, we consider existent interpretations of the export fluxes; influence of implied conversions between modelled chlorophyll and biomass, expressed in nitrogen and/or carbon units, and, therefore, impact of decoupling the biogeochemical (N, C) cycles and chlorophyll. The export production is estimated by simulating global ocean biolgeochemical dynamics with the CN regulated model (REcoM) developed by Schartau et al. (2007) and coupled with the MITgcm. The model describes carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fluxes between components of the ocean ecosystem. The nitrogen and carbon cycles as well as phytoplankton chlorophyll (Chl) dynamics are decoupled in accordance with the dynamic regulatory phytoplanktonic acclimation model sugested by Geider et al. (1998). Sensitivity of the primary production estimates to biological model parameters is also discussed

Drawing Binary Tanglegrams: An Experimental Evaluation

A binary tanglegram is a pair of binary trees whose leaf sets are in one-to-one correspondence; matching leaves are connected by inter-tree edges. For applications, for example in phylogenetics or software engineering, it is required that the individual trees are drawn crossing-free. A natural optimization problem, denoted tanglegram layout problem, is thus to minimize the number of crossings between inter-tree edges. The tanglegram layout problem is NP-hard and is currently considered both in application domains and theory. In this paper we present an experimental comparison of a recursive algorithm of Buchin et al., our variant of their algorithm, the algorithm hierarchy sort of Holten and van Wijk, and an integer quadratic program that yields optimal solutions.Comment: see http://www.siam.org/proceedings/alenex/2009/alx09_011_nollenburgm.pd

The dynamical balance, transport and circulation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

The physical ingredients of the ACC circulation are reviewed. A picture of thecirculation is sketched by means of recent observations of the WOCE decade. Wepresent and discuss the role of forcing functions (wind stress, surfacebuoyancy flux) in the balance of the (quasi)-zonal flow, the meridionalcirculation and their relation to the ACC transport. Emphasis will be on theinterrelation of the zonal momentum balance and the meridional circulation, theimportance of diapycnal mixing and eddy processes. Finally, new model conceptsare described: a model of the ACC transport dependence on wind stress andbuoyancy flux, based on linear wave theory; and a model of the meridionaloverturning of the Southern Ocean, based on zonally averaged dynamics with eddyparameterization

Quantitative modeling of laser speckle imaging

We have analyzed the image formation and dynamic properties in laser speckle imaging (LSI) both experimentally and with Monte-Carlo simulation. We show for the case of a liquid inclusion that the spatial resolution and the signal itself are both significantly affected by scattering from the turbid environment. Multiple scattering leads to blurring of the dynamic inhomogeneity as detected by LSI. The presence of a non-fluctuating component of scattered light results in the significant increase in the measured image contrast and complicates the estimation of the relaxation time. We present a refined processing scheme that allows a correct estimation of the relaxation time from LSI data.Comment: submitted to Optics Letter

CSM-344 - Two Semantic Embeddings of Z Schemas in Isabelle/HOL

This report investigates two semantic embeddings of Z schemas in Isabelle/HOL. The first represents Z values as elements of a type class with polymorphic type constructors and overloaded operators. In contrast, the second embedding uses a Z universe: all Z values are represented as elements of a single monomorphic HOL type