High-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of a thermokarst depression in Siberian ice-rich permafrost deposits

This data set provides a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of a thermokarst depression (~7 km²) on ice-complex deposits in the Arctic Lena Delta, Siberia. The DEM based on a geodetic field survey and was used for quantitative land surface analyses and detailed description of the thermokarst depression morphology. Detailed morphometrical analyses, volume calculations, and solar radiation modeling were performed and statistically analyzed by Ulrich et al. (2010) to investigate the asymmetrical thermokarst depression development and directed lake migration previously proposed by Morgenstern et al. (2008). Furthermore, the high-resolution DEM in combination with satellite data allowed detailed analyses of spatial and temporal landscape changes due to thermokarst development (Günther, 2009).

The Lena River Delta - Land cover classification of tundra environments based on Landsat 7 ETM+ data and its application for upscaling of methane emissions

The Lena River Delta, situated in Northern Siberia (72.0 - 73.8° N, 122.0 - 129.5° E), is the largest Arctic delta and covers 29,000 km**2. Since natural deltas are characterised by complex geomorphological patterns and various types of ecosystems, high spatial resolution information on the distribution and extent of the delta environments is necessary for a spatial assessment and accurate quantification of biogeochemical processes as drivers for the emission of greenhouse gases from tundra soils. In this study, the first land cover classification for the entire Lena Delta based on Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) images was conducted and used for the quantification of methane emissions from the delta ecosystems on the regional scale. The applied supervised minimum distance classification was very effective with the few ancillary data that were available for training site selection. Nine land cover classes of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the wetland dominated (72%) Lena Delta could be defined by this classification approach. The mean daily methane emission of the entire Lena Delta was calculated with 10.35 mg CH4/m**2/d. Taking our multi-scale approach into account we find that the methane source strength of certain tundra wetland types is lower than calculated previously on coarser scales.

Implementation and Operation of Collaborative Manufacturing Networks

Part 6: Engineering and Implementation of Collaborative Networks

Der hinterhof: proposta "Kunstlerhaus" para quarteirão no Bairro de AuBere Neustadt em Dresden

INTRODUÇÂO: A presente dissertação decorre do trabalho elaborado no âmbito da disciplina de Projecto Avançado III desenvolvido durante o programa Erasmus na Technische Universitãt Dlesden, Alemanha em pareceria com a L’Université de Strasburg, França. O enunciado do exercício dado, intitulado Künstlerhaus\ tinha como premissa a elaboração de um projecto num proeminente quarteirão de esquina no bairro de AuBete Neustadt em Dresden. Pretendia-se a elaboração de uma estratégia que definisse o limite sudoeste do bairro através de um programa cultural, uma Kunstlemaus, residência de artistas, restaurante, zona de exposição, workshops e um auditório - relacionando o programa com a atmosfera artística e alternativa do bairro. A necessidade e entender as forças de estruturação desse bairro, com particularidades extremamente específicas do ponto de vista da interligação de espaços, leva ao estudo e análise de casos que, pela sua semelhança, possam ajudar a esclarecer e informar futuras decisões projectuais. Esta investigação, pelo interesse que foi acumulando, deixa de ser um simples suporte para o caso prático de Neustadt, mas antes uma base de interpretação desta realidade específica, útil e válida para qualquer caso prático em contexto similar. Contrariamente à estruturação inicial, esta investigação adquire maior relevância, no que diz respeito ao seu contributo, e apresenta-se como peça central deste trabalho. Assim, efectua-se uma divisão em dois capítulos: o primeiro denominado "Der Hinterhof- Investigação aplicável”; e o segundo "Caso prático: Aplicação em projecto". Este caso prático não tem a pretensão de ser paradigmático, mas antes uma possibilidade de utilização, ou forma de aplicação dos conceitos apreendidos na primeira instância - esclarecendo, por conseguinte, o sentido desta dissertação. Relativamente á escolha dos elementos a investigar, e de forma mais concreta, esta passou por identificar situações e operações que tivessem como base bairros com princípios urbanos similares dos de Neustadt, bem como características históricas e sociais também semelhantes. Nesse sentido, é analisado o caso da lnternationale Beuausstellung Berlin (IBA) de 1987, pelo tipo de abordagem, em rotura com a tida até então, no que diz respeito à recuperação de centros históricos; é ainda investigada a situação de Kreuzberg, Berlim, pelas suas semelhanças, ao nível do modelo, com AuBere Neustadt; e por fim, é analisado um caso prático - integrado nestes dois contextos (IBA e Kreuzberg)- realizado pelo Arquitecto Siza Vieira, com a intenção de entender a metodologia utilizada na aplicação dos principies pré-estabelecidos. "A cidade, tal como a realidade histórica, nunca é independente das etapas por que passou na sua evolução: é uma actualização dessas etapas e a sua projecção em direcção ao futuro" Berlim e Dresden, cidades do século XIX e XX, tiveram a sua (re)definição urbana na Revolução Industrial e Idade Contemporânea - ambas estas épocas cruciais para o desenvolvimento e reconstrução destas cidades, assim como para a formação de singularidades, nomeadamente a utilização especifica do espaço vazio do quarteirão na estrutura urbana destas cidades. Dresden procura, nos tempos actuais, reencontrar a sua identidade perdida após ter sido palco do maior massacre na II Guerra Mundial (1939-1945) e cobaia do regime da Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR). No entanto, uma pequena parcela da cidade manteve-se intacta desde a sua elementar constituição no século XVIII: Aubere Neustadt. Um bairro operário que, com o desenvolvimento histórico, social e político, viu os espaços vazios dos seus quarteirões, associados à rigidez do traçado urbano, serem transformados em concepções personalizadas pelos sobreviventes da guerra e por comunidades alternativas ligadas sobretudo ao mundo das artes. Esse fenómeno iniciou-se na Revolução Industrial com a ocupação fabril dos espaços ainda não construídos da cidade, nomeadamente dentro dos quarteirões, assistindo-se à sobreposição dos interesses económicos sobre o desenho urbano existente. Devido à ausência de um projecto base, essas estruturas foram sendo ocupadas e modificadas por comunidades distintas, compondo o espaço actual numa gramática complexa. Falar de identidade, é falar de apropriar um todo, e compreendê-lo como um acto de unificação. A conjuntura social alemã é a génese de vários factores históricos, alguns dos quais considerados dramáticos. Nos territórios de Dresden e Berlim, inscrevem-se algumas das cicatrizes mais profundas do século XX. Nesse sentido, não são cidades como acto violento contra a natureza, mas antes demonstrações da natureza violenta do homem. Sendo a cidade o reflexo mais imediato das relações humanas e organização em sociedade, as cicatrizes patentes dessa violência criaram um impacto nas estruturas urbanas, socais, históricas e políticas. Morfologicamente, o quarteirão é um elemento urbano que mistura, agrupa e, ao mesmo tempo, divide os espaços públicos dos privados - muitas vezes detentor de ambiguidades na separação destas duas atmosferas. Importa entender o motivo social que leva a que existam espaços semi-públicos e semi-privados. O Hinterhof (espaço urbano vazio do quarteirão) prima, normalmente, por um carácter mais privativo por se encontrar distante da rua. No entanto os seus acessos, nos casos particulares de Dresden e Berlim, são maioritariamente de livre passagem, dando lugar a pátios, jardins, espaços para congregar as pessoas (esplanadas de bares, parques de estacionamento, workshops, parques de crianças, lugar para estender a roupa, festas de bairro, convívio particular, ateliers, horta comunitária, organização de picnics ao fim de semana ...) Os seus papeis não se conseguem definir, tal a sua pluralidade. O pensamento de "partiha" alemão, ainda hoje presente, possibilitou a criação desses espaços plurais semi-privados e semi-públicos. Devido ao facto de terem sido, outrora, o espaço comum de habitação de inúmeros trabalhadores fabris, com um sentido comunitário fixado no pós-guerra, também reflexo das dificuldades e sentido de entre-ajuda social com a imposição do regime da DDR.

Compact arrays for mobile platforms : trade-off between size and performance for SDMA and MIMO applications

Smart antenna receiver and transmitter systems consist of multi-port arrays with an individual receiver channel (including ADC) and an individual transmitter channel (including DAC)at every of the M antenna ports, respectively. By means of digital beamforming, an unlimited number of simultaneous complex-valued vector radiation patterns with M-1 degrees of freedom can be formed. Applications of smart antennas in communication systems include space-division multiple access. If both stations of a communication link are equipped with smart antennas (multiple-input-multiple-output, MIMO). multiple independent channels can be formed in a "multi-path-rich" environment. In this article, it will be shown that under certain circumstances, the correlation between signals from adjacent ports of a dense array (M + ΔM elements) can be kept as low as the correlation between signals from adjacent ports of a conventional array (M elements and half-wavelength pacing). This attractive feature is attained by means of a novel approach which employs a RF decoupling network at the array ports in order to form new ports which are decoupled and associated with mutually orthogonal (de-correlated) radiation patterns.

High altitude stereo visual odometry

Stereo visual odometry has received little investigation in high altitude applications due to the generally poor performance of rigid stereo rigs at extremely small baseline-to-depth ratios. Without additional sensing, metric scale is considered lost and odometry is seen as effective only for monocular perspectives. This paper presents a novel modification to stereo based visual odometry that allows accurate, metric pose estimation from high altitudes, even in the presence of poor calibration and without additional sensor inputs. By relaxing the (typically fixed) stereo transform during bundle adjustment and reducing the dependence on the fixed geometry for triangulation, metrically scaled visual odometry can be obtained in situations where high altitude and structural deformation from vibration would cause traditional algorithms to fail. This is achieved through the use of a novel constrained bundle adjustment routine and accurately scaled pose initializer. We present visual odometry results demonstrating the technique on a short-baseline stereo pair inside a fixed-wing UAV flying at significant height (~30-100m).

Development of a computer based 1D-2D dynamic flood model. Case study of the Pagsangaan river basin in Leyte, the Philippines

Floods are among the most devastating events that affect primarily tropical, archipelagic countries such as the Philippines. With the current predictions of climate change set to include rising sea levels, intensification of typhoon strength and a general increase in the mean annual precipitation throughout the Philippines, it has become paramount to prepare for the future so that the increased risk of floods on the country does not translate into more economic and human loss. Field work and data gathering was done within the framework of an internship at the former German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in cooperation with the Local Government Unit of Ormoc City, Leyte, The Philippines, in order to develop a dynamic computer based flood model for the basin of the Pagsangaan River. To this end, different geo-spatial analysis tools such as PCRaster and ArcGIS, hydrological analysis packages and basic engineering techniques were assessed and implemented. The aim was to develop a dynamic flood model and use the development process to determine the required data, availability and impact on the results as case study for flood early warning systems in the Philippines. The hope is that such projects can help to reduce flood risk by including the results of worst case scenario analyses and current climate change predictions into city planning for municipal development, monitoring strategies and early warning systems. The project was developed using a 1D-2D coupled model in SOBEK (Deltares Hydrological modelling software package) and was also used as a case study to analyze and understand the influence of different factors such as land use, schematization, time step size and tidal variation on the flood characteristics. Several sources of relevant satellite data were compared, such as Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from ASTER and SRTM data, as well as satellite rainfall data from the GIOVANNI server (NASA) and field gauge data. Different methods were used in the attempt to partially calibrate and validate the model to finally simulate and study two Climate Change scenarios based on scenario A1B predictions. It was observed that large areas currently considered not prone to floods will become low flood risk (0.1-1 m water depth). Furthermore, larger sections of the floodplains upstream of the Lilo- an’s Bridge will become moderate flood risk areas (1 - 2 m water depth). The flood hazard maps created for the development of the present project will be presented to the LGU and the model will be used to create a larger set of possible flood prone areas related to rainfall intensity by GTZ’s Local Disaster Risk Management Department and to study possible improvements to the current early warning system and monitoring of the basin section belonging to Ormoc City; recommendations about further enhancement of the geo-hydro-meteorological data to improve the model’s accuracy mainly on areas of interest will also be presented at the LGU.

Privacy enhanced electronic cheque system

With the introduction of Check 21 law and the development of FSTC's echeck system, there has been an increasing usage of e-cheque conversions and acceptance among retailers, banks, and consumers. However, the current e-cheque system does not address issues concerning privacy, confidentiality, and traceability. We highlight the issues concerning the current electronic cheque system and provide a solution to overcome those drawbacks.

She'll be right mate : inclusivity experiences of men and women working in projects

Occupational segregation is a major source of labour market rigidity and economic inefficiency due to a waste of human resources. Organisations are repeatedly recognised as gendered constructs exhibiting sustained work segregation, income and status inequality, as well as cultural and individual images of gender, and these are perpetuated through their processes, practices and pressures (Acker, 1990). A large percentage of Australia’s workforce is now employed in project-based or project-oriented organisations, leading to the claim that Australia is a project-based economy. For a continued strong performance in this economy, organisations that employ project personnel will need to consider how they address inclusivity and equality in diversity in project based temporary organisations to ensure the supply of high quality project professionals into the future. This paper investigates the inclusion processes experienced and exercised by men and women working in temporary organisations in project situations through a review of reports on the inclusion processes experienced by 60 project managers and project workers in three project based industries in Australia. Results indicate that temporary organisations are not implementing equality and diversity management strategies at the macro level and project workers are accepting this lack of recognition. However inclusivity and equality at the micro level of the team is seen as vital.

No worries – we’ll take care of it!! An examination into managing equality and inclusivity in multicultural Australia

This paper explores the various paths to equality and inclusivity developed in the past 40 years within the Australian workplace with a view to critically examining their capability of addressing diversity and equality within the cultural needs of a unique society. A society which struggles to overcome the tyranny of distance and a colonial past as it takes its place in the world as a global 1st world economy country in what is often considered ‘the global north’ despite its geographical location. Findings indicate that despite various legislative and non-legislative approaches including anti-discrimination; affirmative action; equal opportunity; managing diversity and more recently gender equality, the individual members of the many diverse groups in the Australian workplace still experience inferior work conditions and work opportunities.

An Algebraic Preservation Theorem for Aleph-Zero Categorical Quantified Constraint Satisfaction

23 p. -- An extended abstract of this work appears in the proceedings of the 2012 ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science

Beyond Q-Resolution and Prenex Form: a Proof System for Quantified Constraint Satisfaction

We consider the quanti fied constraint satisfaction problem (QCSP) which is to decide, given a structure and a first-order sentence (not assumed here to be in prenex form) built from conjunction and quanti fication, whether or not the sentence is true on the structure. We present a proof system for certifying the falsity of QCSP instances and develop its basic theory; for instance, we provide an algorithmic interpretation of its behavior. Our proof system places the established Q-resolution proof system in a broader context, and also allows us to derive QCSP tractability results.

„…und das bin ich…“. Identitätsförderung und Ausprägung des Körperbewusstseins im Kontext von tänzerischer Bewegungsgestaltung und pädagogischen Bewegungstechniken

Um persönlichkeitsbildende Prozesse zu unterstützen und hierbei den Körper nutzbar zu machen, eignen sich Erfahrungen aus der tänzerischen Bewegungsgestaltung, insbesondere durch die explorative Verhaltensweise sowie der Selbst– und Fremdreflektion von Bewegungen, auf besondere Weise. Der Körper ist Instrument, bewegliche Skulptur, internes und externes Kommunikationsvehikel sowie Forschungsobjekt zugleich. Hierbei bieten Tanz und kinästhetische Bewegungslehren als pädagogisches Medium Förderungsbereiche, die auf körperlicher, emotionaler und kognitiver Ebene liegen und in Bezug zum lebendigen Lernen stehen. Tanz als Teilbereich kultureller Bildung steht hierbei in Bezug als ergänzender Curricularer Gegenstand zu fungieren. (DIPF/Autor)

Autonomous COLREGs Compliant Ship Navigation, Using BridgeSimulators and an Unmanned Vessel

This paper presents an approach to COLREGs compliant ship navigation. A system architecture is proposed, which will be implemented and tested on two platforms: networked bridge simulators and at sea trials using an autonomous unmanned surface vessel. Attention is paid to collision avoidance software and its risk mitigation.