The Role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Participatory Conservation of Heritage Areas
Hamid Salimi, Somayeh Fadaei Nezhad Bahramjerdi, Rana Tootoonchi
In contemporary heritage management, participatory approaches play a crucial role in identifying and safeguarding values for a diverse range of stakeholders. This inclusive methodology involves professionals, local communities, historians, conservationists, and policymakers in conservation efforts. Successfully addressing challenges in stakeholder engagement is crucial for promoting ownership and stewardship, thereby supporting sustainable conservation efforts. Various methods such as community workshops and collaborative mapping exercises have been adopted. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as a valuable tool in facilitating stakeholder participation. This research explores the potential of GIS in participatory heritage conservation. It aims to present principles and considerations to outline the practical application of GIS in engaging communities for heritage conservation. By bridging traditional heritage management practices with contemporary participatory methods, the research aims to enhance inclusive, informed, and sustainable conservation efforts. On this basis, qualitative methods and logical argumentation are used to analyze research content, drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from previous studies. A conceptual model is presented through a literature review, followed by an evaluation of five case studies from Iran, The USA, Finland, Egypt, and Spain that have utilized GIS in participatory planning processes. The research highlights GIS's capability to capture diverse social groups' perspectives on heritage values and priorities using participatory mapping. This integration of community insights empowers stakeholders in decision-making processes, enhancing inclusivity in heritage management and supporting community-driven initiatives for urban heritage preservation.
Highlights:
• This study explores the pivotal role of GIS in fostering participatory conservation efforts in heritage areas.
• The research offering a framework which outlines key principles for GIS-based participatory conservation.
• Through the evaluation of five diverse case studies, this research showcases the practical considerations of GIS in participatory conservation.
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
Conference report: Trends, new technologies and implications for dementia diagnostics, treatment and care in Switzerland
Julius Popp, Reto W. Kressig, Mélanie Bieler-Aeschlimann
et al.
Dementia diseases represent a major burden for the directly affected people, their relatives and modern society. Despite considerable efforts in recent years, early and accurate disease diagnosis and monitoring is still a challenge while no cure is available in most cases. New drugs, in particular disease-modifying therapies, and recent technological advancements offer promising perspectives. The integration of novel biomarkers, artificial intelligence and digital health tools has the potential to transform dementia care, making it more personalised, efficient and adapted to the living conditions and needs of older people. In November 2023, the 7th Dementia Summit convened a panel of experts from geriatrics, neurology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, ethics as well as general medicine to discuss interdisciplinary challenges, advancements and their implications for the future of dementia care in Switzerland. The conference underscored the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to successfully integrate new technologies in both clinical-translational research and dementia prevention, diagnosis and care. While recent innovations represent major steps forward, their implementation also comes with important challenges including questions on healthcare system preparedness and adaptation, ethical aspects, technology literacy, acceptance and appropriate use.
Abtreibende Mütter
Juliane Ostermoor
This article in literary studies analyses Daniela Dröscher’s Lügen über meine Mutter and Édouard Louis’ Combats et metamorphoses d’une femme and En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule with regard to the representation of abortions in relation to the categories of ‘class’ and ‘gender’. Feminist and comparative analyses are used to work out the extent to which the autosociobiographical “writing about” represents an “over-writing” of bodily experiences in relation to abortions. The consequence for the mother figures is a reduction to the birthing female body and the exclusion of their social scope of action.
History of Germany, History of France
PoliTok-DE: A Multimodal Dataset of Political TikToks and Deletions From Germany
Tomas Ruiz, Andreas Nanz, Ursula Kristin Schmid
et al.
We present PoliTok-DE, a large-scale multimodal dataset (video, audio, images, text) of TikTok posts related to the 2024 Saxony state election in Germany. The corpus contains over 195,000 posts published between 01.07.2024 and 30.11.2024, of which over 18,000 (17.3%) were subsequently deleted from the platform. Posts were identified via the TikTok research API and complemented with web scraping to retrieve full multimodal media and metadata. PoliTok-DE supports computational social science across substantive and methodological agendas: substantive work on intolerance and political communication; methodological work on platform policies around deleted content and qualitative-quantitative multimodal research. To illustrate one possible analysis, we report a case study on the co-occurrence of intolerance and entertainment using an annotated subset. The dataset of post IDs is publicly available on Hugging Face, and full content can be hydrated with our provided code. Access to the deleted content is restricted, and can be requested for research purposes.
Spatially Disaggregated Energy Consumption and Emissions in End-use Sectors for Germany and Spain
Shruthi Patil, Noah Pflugradt, Jann M. Weinand
et al.
High-resolution energy consumption and emissions datasets are essential for localized policy-making, resource optimization, and climate action planning. They enable municipalities to monitor mitigation strategies and foster engagement among governments, businesses, and communities. However, smaller municipalities often face data limitations that hinder tailored climate strategies. This study generates detailed final energy consumption and emissions data at the local administrative level for Germany and Spain. Using national datasets, we apply spatial disaggregation techniques with open data sources. A key innovation is the application of XGBoost for imputing missing data, combined with a stepwise spatial disaggregation process incorporating district- and province-level statistics. Prioritizing reproducibility, our open-data approach provides a scalable framework for municipalities to develop actionable climate plans. To ensure transparency, we assess the reliability of imputed values and assign confidence ratings to the disaggregated data.
Complex European invasion history of Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky): new insights in its population genomic differentiation using genotype-by-sequencing
Iris Haeussermann, Martin Hasselmann
Abstract Anthropogenic activities like trade facilitate increasing rates of biological invasions. Asian long-horned beetle (ALB), which is naturally distributed in eastern Asia (China, Korean peninsula), was introduced via wood packing materials (WPM) used in trade to North America (1996) and Europe (2001). We used 7810 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) derived by a genotype-by-sequencing (GBS) approach to decipher the introduction patterns into Europe. This is applied for the first time on European ALB outbreaks from Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, both from still active and already eradicated infestations. The genome-wide SNPs detected signs of small and highly structured populations within Europe, showing clear founder effects. The very high population differentiation is presumably derived from multiple independent introductions to Europe, which are spatially restricted in mating. By admixture and phylogenetic analyses, some cases of secondary dispersal were observed. Furthermore, some populations suggest admixture, which might have been originated by either multiple introductions from different sources into the new sites or recurrent introductions from an admixed source population. Our results confirmed a complex invasion history of the ALB into Europe and the usability of GBS obtained SNPs in invasion science even without source populations.
25 years of publishing "Knygotyra"
Vanda Stonienė
The first volume of "Knygotyra" ("Book Science") was published in 1961 under the title "Bibliotekininkystės ir bibliografijos klausimai" ("Aspects of Librarianship and Bibliography"). From 1970 onwards (beginning with volume 8), it adopted the new title "Knygotyra," along with a new double numbering system—1(8). Starting from volume 8(15), the publication was divided into two separate thematic editions: the first focused on historical subjects, and the latter on modern problems of bibliology, librarianship, bibliography, and informatics.
During its 25 years of publication history, "Knygotyra" has published 256 research articles, 35 archival documents, and 25 book reviews. Most contributors to the edition come from the scientific and teaching staff of Vilnius State University and the main libraries of Lithuania. Additionally, contributors include individuals from Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, East Germany (GDR), Moscow, and Leningrad (the contributors are listed in Tables No. 1 and 2, with the subject index in Table No. 3).
The greatest attention in the publication has been given to the history of the Lithuanian book. Future editions should focus more on the problems of book functioning in society, analysis of the external appearance of books, statistics, etc.
In Lithuania, "Knygotyra" was a pioneer in publishing articles on informatics and information activities. Not only librarians and book science researchers, but also historians and literary critics, have shown repeated interest in the archival documents published in "Knygotyra." The publication of archival documents should be expanded, as should book reviewing.
"Knygotyra" is available in any Lithuanian library. Additionally, the Department of Exchange at the Vilnius University Library distributes it to 87 libraries across the Soviet Union and foreign countries. It is regularly sent to 34 libraries in socialist countries and 12 other foreign countries (including 10 libraries in the USA).
Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
Turbine location-aware multi-decadal wind power predictions for Germany using CMIP6
Nina Effenberger, Nicole Ludwig
Climate change will impact wind and therefore wind power generation with largely unknown effect and magnitude. Climate models can provide insights and should be used for long-term power planning. In this work we use Gaussian processes to predict power output given wind speeds from a global climate model and compare the aggregated predictions to actual power generation. Analyzing past climate model data supports the use of CMIP6 climate model data for multi-decadal wind power predictions and highlights the importance of being location-aware. Our predictions up to 2050 reveal only minor changes in yearly wind power generation. We find that wind power projections of the two in-between climate scenarios SSP2-4.5 and SSP3-7.0 closely align with actual wind power generation between 2015 and 2023. Our analysis also reveals larger uncertainty associated with Germany's coastal areas in the North as compared to Germany's South, motivating wind power expansion in regions where future wind is likely more reliable. Overall, our results indicate that wind energy will likely remain a reliable energy source in the future.
History-Independent Concurrent Objects
Hagit Attiya, Michael A. Bender, Martin Farach-Colton
et al.
A data structure is called history independent if its internal memory representation does not reveal the history of operations applied to it, only its current state. In this paper we study history independence for concurrent data structures, and establish foundational possibility and impossibility results. We show that a large class of concurrent objects cannot be implemented from smaller base objects in a manner that is both wait-free and history independent; but if we settle for either lock-freedom instead of wait-freedom or for a weak notion of history independence, then at least one object in the class, multi-valued single-reader single-writer registers, can be implemented from smaller base objects, binary registers. On the other hand, using large base objects, we give a strong possibility result in the form of a universal construction: an object with $s$ possible states can be implemented in a wait-free, history-independent manner from compare-and-swap base objects that each have $O(s + 2^n)$ possible memory states, where $n$ is the number of processes in the system.
„Ich bin aus Deutschland geflohen“
Hannes Höfer
Au cours des dernières années de plus en plus de romans de jeunes autrices et auteurs sont parus dans lesquels l'Allemagne n'apparaît plus comme le pays d'accueil des réfugiés, mais aussi comme le point de départ d'une fuite. À travers des histoires d'exil ou de remigration, ces romans critiquent d'une part l'hypocrisie des débats sur la migration et l'intégration au sein d’une société allemande se croyant ouverte et tolérante. D'autre part, ces romans montrent que le concept d'un espace hybride où se rencontrent différentes cultures n’est plus seulement une avancée positive, mais également un révélateur d’effets discriminatoires. Cette opposition se manifeste dans des textes qui vont parfois jusqu’à réclamer une nouvelle univocité. Ainsi, ces autrices et auteurs mettent en avant leurs positions littéraires et se présentent comme une seule et unique génération.
History of Germany, History of France
Estimating the severity of COVID-19 Omicron Variant in USA, India, Brazil, France, Germany and UK
Tulio Eduardo Rodrigues, Otaviano Helene
This work evaluates the severity of COVID-19 Omicron variant in terms of the case-fatality-rates (CFR) with respective uncertainty intervals via a simultaneous fitting of confirmed cases and deaths in the USA, India, Brazil, France, Germany and United Kingdom. The CFRs were calculated combining Monte Carlo simulations and analytical methods based on Gompertz functions under the framework of the Least Square Method and assuming that the deaths can be described by a convolution of the confirmed cases with a common gamma function to describe the case to death period. Linear backgrounds both for cases and deaths were included in the fitting to account for the contributions from other strains within the Omicron peaks. The fitting included 125 and 113 epidemiological weeks, for cases and deaths, respectively, and 64 parameters, resulting in a chi^2 of 176.5 for 174 degrees of freedom (p = 0.434). The CFRs with 95% confidence intervals for USA, India, Brazil, France, Germany and United Kingdom were 0.295 (0.154-0.436)%, 0.232 (0.134-0.331)%, 0.49 (0.27-0.71)%, 0.056 (0.028-0.084)%, 0.129 (0.074-0.184)% and 0.168 (0.107-0.229)%, respectively. The case to death period was satisfactorily described by a common gamma function with mean of 15.71 +/- 0.55 days and coefficient of variation of 0.354 +/- 0.070. The proposed calculations provided accurate and reliable information about the respective CFRs and the case to death period, the latter being consistent with previous estimates for the symptom onset to death made in the early stages of the pandemic. The CFRs thus obtained are considerably lower than previous measurements available in the literature, suggesting that the latter may have been overestimated, as the probability of deaths from other strains of the virus under the generally prominent Omicron peak, here accounted for in terms of linear backgrounds, was not considered.
en
stat.AP, physics.soc-ph
Easy-to-Read in Germany: A Survey on its Current State and Available Resources
Margot Madina, Itziar Gonzalez-Dios, Melanie Siegel
Easy-to-Read Language (E2R) is a controlled language variant that makes any written text more accessible through the use of clear, direct and simple language. It is mainly aimed at people with cognitive or intellectual disabilities, among other target users. Plain Language (PL), on the other hand, is a variant of a given language, which aims to promote the use of simple language to communicate information. German counts with Leichte Sprache (LS), its version of E2R, and Einfache Sprache (ES), its version of PL. In recent years, important developments have been conducted in the field of LS. This paper offers an updated overview of the existing Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and resources for LS. Besides, it also aims to set out the situation with regard to LS and ES in Germany.
Incidence of post-COVID syndrome and associated symptoms in outpatient care in Bavaria, Germany: a retrospective cohort study using routinely collected claims data
Objectives To estimate the treatment incidence of post-COVID syndrome (postinfectious sequelae present at least 12 weeks following infection) in the context of ambulatory care in Bavaria, Germany, and to establish whether related diagnoses occur more frequently than in patients with no known history of COVID-19.Design Retrospective cohort analysis of routinely collected claims data.Setting Ambulatory care in Bavaria, Germany, observed from January 2020 to March 2022 (data accessed May 2022).Participants 391 990 patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, 62 659 patients with other respiratory infection and a control group of 659 579 patients with no confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcome is diagnosis of post-COVID syndrome documented in ambulatory care. Secondary outcomes are: chronic fatigue syndrome, psychological disorder, fatigue, mild cognitive impairment, disturbances of taste and smell, dyspnoea, pulmonary embolism and myalgia.Results Among all patients with confirmed COVID-19, 14.2% (95% CI 14.0% to 14.5%) received a diagnosis of a post-COVID syndrome, and 6.7% (95% CI 6.5% to 6.9%) received the diagnosis in at least two quarterly periods during a 2-year follow-up. Compared with patients with other respiratory infections and with controls, patients with COVID-19 more frequently received a variety of diagnoses including chronic fatigue syndrome (1.6% vs 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively), fatigue (13.3% vs 9.2% and 6.0%), dyspnoea (9.9% vs 5.1% and 3.2%) and disturbances of taste and smell (3.2% vs 1.2% and 0.5%). The treatment incidence of post-COVID syndrome was highest among adults aged 40–59 (19.0%) and lowest among children aged below 12 years (2.6%).Conclusions Our results demonstrate a moderately high incidence of post-COVID syndrome 2 years after COVID-19 diagnosis. There is an urgent need to find efficient and effective solutions to help patients with dyspnoea, fatigue, cognitive impairment and loss of smell. Guidelines and treatment algorithms, including referral criteria, and occupational and physical therapy, require prompt and coherent implementation.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN GERMANY
Oleksandr Bondarenko
Abstract. Entrepreneurship is an important component of the formation of the society and the economy. Today the question arises, what should be the strategy of its development given the past experience. This article discusses the strategy of entrepreneurship development in Germany.
The purpose of this article is to investigate the basis for further strategies for entrepreneurial activity development based on the data from previous years, cultural and social heritage of society as well as to identify the most relevant and possible areas of development, its trajectories and the main problems.
I found that entrepreneurship in modern Germany had been influenced by the events of the 20th century, when the country had been divided into two parts. However, the transition period had its positive consequences, such as the exchange of knowledge and approaches in solving certain problems and issues. I determined that the reform of entrepreneurship in Germany had entered a new wave of development, taking into account not only its own history, but also general global trends and needs of the internal market. State programs to support start-up entrepreneurs to facilitate the establishment of their own business and the first steps for its development and scaling were considered. I found that the issues of women’s, institutional and social entrepreneurship were becoming relevant. It is related to the change of base conceptions of personality of woman in society as a main educator of child, to the growing problem of explanation of central role of separate agency in institutional changes and to the desires of people and government to do an enterprise more inclusive through development of social enterprises that play a role of preachers of the alternative going near the decision of social problems.
The development of entrepreneurship in Germany has a clear strategy in all its areas. The government, the federal government, and private entrepreneurs are making significant efforts to integrate entrepreneurship into society and spread its ideas among the larger masses and categories of citizens. However, there are still obstacles and some of the necessary concepts of communication between different institutions are missing and need to be refined.
Scandinavian Studies in Germany
Roland Scheel
Scandinavian Studies in Germany are usually conceived of as comparative literary and cultural studies, encompassing the historical and current spaces where Northern Germanic languages were or are spoken. The article focuses on the current situation of Medieval Scandinavian Studies—one of the three branches of the discipline—in the German-speaking area, explaining their comparatively strong institutional position as a result of the long and peculiar history of the research and its entanglements with political ideology. Against this background, an overview is presented of the present research projects, and current structural and political problems, as well as challenges for the future are discussed.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
How to Teach a Teacher: Challenges and Opportunities in Physics Teacher Education in Germany and the USA
Ben Van Dusen, Christoph Vogelsang, Joseph Taylor
et al.
Preparing future physics teachers for the demanding nature of their profession is an important and complex endeavor. Teacher education systems must provide a structure for the coherent professional development of prospective teachers. Worldwide, physics teacher education is organized in different ways, but have to face similar challenges, like the relation between academic studies and practical preparation. To meet these challenges, it is worth taking look at different teacher education systems. In this chapter, we compare physics teacher education in two countries, representing two different educational traditions: Germany and the USA. Comparing different aspects of physics teacher education (standards, organization and institutionalization, content of teacher education, quality assurance), we describe both systems in their current state and why they are organized in the way they are. In doing so, we identify surprising commonalities but also different opportunities for both systems to learn from each other.
Centralized and decentral approaches to succeed the 100% energiewende in Germany in the European context: A model-based analysis of generation, network, and storage investments
Mario Kendziorski, Leonard Göke, Christian von Hirschhausen
et al.
In this paper, we explore centralized and more decentral approaches to succeed the energiewende in Germany, in the European context. We use the AnyMOD framework to model a future renewable-based European energy system, based on a techno-economic optimization, i.e. cost minimization with given demand, including both investment and the subsequent dispatch of capacity. The model includes 29 regions for European countries, and 38 NUTS-2 regions in Germany. First the entire energy system on the European level is optimized. Based on these results, the electricity system for the German regions is optimized to achieve great regional detail to analyse spatial effects. The model allows a comparison between a stylized central scenario with high amounts of wind offshore deployed, and a decentral scenario using mainly the existing grid, and thus relying more on local capacities. The results reveal that the cost for the second optimization of these two scenarios are about the same: The central scenario is characterized by network expansion in order to transport the electricity from the wind offshore sites, whereas the decentral scenario leads to more photovoltaic and battery deployment closer to the areas with a high demand for energy. A scenarios with higher energy efficiency and lower demand projections lead to a significant reduction of investment requirements, and to different localizations thereof.
Intrathecal pain management with ziconotide: Time for consensus?
Georgios Matis, Pasquale De Negri, Denis Dupoiron
et al.
Abstract This article summarizes recommendations made by six pain specialists who discussed the rationale for ziconotide intrathecal analgesia (ITA) and the requirement for evidence‐based guidance on its use, from a European perspective. Riemser Pharma GmbH (Greifswald, Germany), which holds the European marketing authorization for ziconotide, hosted the meeting. The group agreed that ITA is under‐used in Europe, adding that ziconotide ITA has potential to be a first‐line alternative to morphine; both are already first‐line options in the USA. Ziconotide ITA (initiated using a low‐dose, slow‐titration approach) is suitable for many patients with noncancer‐ or cancer‐related chronic refractory pain and no history of psychosis. Adopting ziconotide as first‐line ITA could reduce opioid usage in these patient populations. The group advocated a risk‐reduction strategy for all candidate patients, including compulsory prescreening for neuropsychosis, and requested US–European alignment of the licensed starting dose for ziconotide: the low‐and‐slow approach practiced in the USA has a better tolerability profile than the fixed high starting dose licensed in Europe. Of note, an update to the European Summary of Product Characteristics is anticipated in early 2021. The group acknowledged that the Polyanalgesic Consensus Conference (PACC) treatment algorithms for ziconotide ITA provide useful guidance, but recommendations tailored specifically for European settings are required. Before a consensus process can formally begin, the group called for additional European prospective studies to investigate ziconotide in low‐and‐slow dosing strategies, in different patient settings. Such data would enable European guidance to have the most appropriate evidence at its core.
Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
The European Stag Beetle (<i>Lucanus cervus</i>) Monitoring Network: International Citizen Science Cooperation Reveals Regional Differences in Phenology and Temperature Response
Arno Thomaes, Sylvie Barbalat, Marco Bardiani
et al.
To address the decline in biodiversity, international cooperation in monitoring of threatened species is needed. Citizen science can play a crucial role in achieving this challenging goal, but most citizen science projects have been established at national or regional scales. Here we report on the establishment and initial findings of the European Stag Beetle Monitoring Network (ESBMN), an international network of stag beetle (<i>Lucanus cervus</i>) monitoring schemes using the same protocol. The network, started in 2016, currently includes 14 countries (see results) but with a strong variation in output regarding the number of transects (148 successful transects in total) and transect walks (1735). We found differences across European regions in the number of stag beetles recorded, related to phenology and temperature, but not for time of transect start. Furthermore, the initial experiences of the ESBMN regarding international cooperation, citizen science approach, and drop-out of volunteers is discussed. An international standardised protocol that allows some local variation is essential for international collaboration and data management, and analysis is best performed at the international level, whereas recruiting, training, and maintaining volunteers is best organised locally. In conclusion, we appeal for more joint international citizen science-based monitoring initiatives assisting international red-listing and conservation actions.
Communauté et révolution chez Gustav Landauer
Anatole Lucet
History of Germany, History of France