Refine
Year of publication
- 2021 (162) (remove)
Document Type
- Article (50)
- Conference Proceeding (43)
- Part of a Book (16)
- Bachelor Thesis (11)
- Doctoral Thesis (10)
- Working Paper (10)
- Report (8)
- Master's Thesis (5)
- Journal (Complete Issue of a Journal) (3)
- Book (2)
Keywords
- (Strict) sign-regularity (1)
- Abtragsprinzip (1)
- Active Learning (1)
- Additive Fertigung (1)
- Agrarprodukt (1)
- Alpine area (1)
- Ambient assisted living (1)
- Analytische Berechnung (1)
- Analytische Berechnung und Simulation (1)
- Antidumping (1)
Institute
- Fakultät Architektur und Gestaltung (6)
- Fakultät Bauingenieurwesen (19)
- Fakultät Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik (6)
- Fakultät Informatik (13)
- Fakultät Maschinenbau (4)
- Fakultät Wirtschafts-, Kultur- und Rechtswissenschaften (14)
- Institut für Angewandte Forschung - IAF (18)
- Institut für Optische Systeme - IOS (2)
- Institut für Strategische Innovation und Technologiemanagement - IST (9)
- Institut für Systemdynamik - ISD (17)
Probabilistic Short-Term Low-Voltage Load Forecasting using Bernstein-Polynomial Normalizing Flows
(2021)
The transition to a fully renewable energy grid requires better forecasting of demand at the low-voltage level. However, high fluctuations and increasing electrification cause huge forecast errors with traditional point estimates. Probabilistic load forecasts take future uncertainties into account and thus enables various applications in low-carbon energy systems. We propose an approach for flexible conditional density forecasting of short-term load based on Bernstein-Polynomial Normalizing Flows where a neural network controls the parameters of the flow. In an empirical study with 363 smart meter customers, our density predictions compare favorably against Gaussian and Gaussian mixture densities and also outperform a non-parametric approach based on the pinball loss for 24h-ahead load forecasting for two different neural network architectures.
Sustainable technologies are being increasingly used in various areas of human life. While they have a multitude of benefits, they are especially useful in health monitoring, especially for certain groups of people, such as the elderly. However, there are still several issues that need to be addressed before its use becomes widespread. This work aims to clarify the aspects that are of great importance for increasing the acceptance of the use of this type of technology in the elderly. In addition, we aim to clarify whether the technologies that are already available are able to ensure acceptable accuracy and whether they could replace some of the manual approaches that are currently being used. A two-week study with people 65 years of age and over was conducted to address the questions posed here, and the results were evaluated. It was demonstrated that simplicity of use and automatic functioning play a crucial role. It was also concluded that technology cannot yet completely replace traditional methods such as questionnaires in some areas. Although the technologies that were tested were classified as being “easy to use”, the elderly population in the current study indicated that they were not sure that they would use these technologies regularly in the long term because the added value is not always clear, among other issues. Therefore, awareness-raising must take place in parallel with the development of technologies and services.
Generalized Concatenated Codes over Gaussian and Eisenstein Integers for Code-Based Cryptography
(2021)
The code-based McEliece and Niederreiter cryptosystems are promising candidates for post-quantum public-key encryption. Recently, q-ary concatenated codes over Gaussian integers were proposed for the McEliece cryptosystem together with the one-Mannheim error channel, where the error values are limited to Mannheim weight one. Due to the limited error values, the codes over Gaussian integers achieve a higher error correction capability than maximum distance separable (MDS) codes with bounded minimum distance decoding. This higher error correction capability improves the work factor regarding decoding attacks based on information-set decoding. The codes also enable a low complexity decoding algorithm for decoding beyond the guaranteed error correction capability. In this work, we extend this coding scheme to codes over Eisenstein integers. These codes have advantages for the Niederreiter system. Additionally, we propose an improved code construction based on generalized concatenated codes. These codes extent the rate region where the work factor is beneficial compared to MDS codes. Moreover, generalized concatenated codes are more robust against structural attacks than ordinary concatenated codes.
Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Konzeption eines untergeordneten Stadtbusnetzes der Stadt Konstanz. Dabei wurde auf einem bereits entwickelten Entwurf eines übergeordneten Netzes aufgesetzt. Durch die Kombination dieser beiden entstand ein Gesamtbusnetz.
Im ersten Schritt wurde eine breit gefächerte Bestandsanalyse durchgeführt, inbegriffen war dabei eine Analyse des übergeordneten Busnetzes. Die gebündelten Ergebnisse gaben den Rahmen für die Konzeption vor. Danach folgte der schrittweise Entwurf der einzelnen Linien des untergeordneten Netzes. Im letzten Schritt der Konzeption wurden die Linien an wichtigen Umsteigeknoten und Parkräumen aufeinander abgestimmt.
Aus der genannten Analyse resultierten diverse Anforderungen für die Konzeption eines neuen Busnetzes. Hierbei konnte die Anbindung an die Bahn und das neu entstehende Mobilitätszentrum besonders hervorgehoben werden. Das Ergebnis der Konzeption waren elf Buslinien, die dem untergeordneten Netz zugewiesen werden können. Gemeinsam mit den fünf Linien des übergeordneten Entwurfs bilden sie ein Gesamtstadtbusnetz. Dabei wurden die Streckenverläufe der Linien aufeinander abgestimmt, sodass ein breitgefächertes Netz an Direktverbindungen entstehen konnte. Mithilfe der Abstimmung an Umsteigeknoten konnten sinnvolle Umsteigerelationen geschaffen werden, wodurch die Direktverbindungen zu einer flächendeckenden Anbindung der Stadtteile an relevante Ziele im Stadtgebiet erweitert wurden.
Auf theoretischer Ebene wurde hier aufgezeigt, wie ein neues Buskonzept der Stadt Konstanz gestaltet sein kann. Das vorliegende Konzept sollte in einer separaten Arbeit auf eine tatsächliche Umsetzbarkeit geprüft werden.
Optimierungsansätze zur Verbesserung der Leistungsbeschreibungen bei öffentlichen Bauvorhaben
(2021)
Elbphilharmonie, BER, Bischofsresistenz Limburg, Stuttgart 21, Alter Elbtunnel Hamburg. Alles bekannte deutsche Bauprojekte der letzten 20 Jahre. Alle mit einer Gemeinsamkeit: Exorbitante Kostenexplosionen und Bauzeitenverzögerungen.
In dieser Arbeit wird aufgezeigt, weshalb solche Kostenexplosionen auch aufgrund von Unklarheiten bzw. Fehlern in Leistungsbeschreibungen entstehen und welches enorme Potential klare und erschöpfende Leistungsbeschreibungen haben, um bereits im Vorfeld eines Bauvorhabens die Weichen für einen reibungslosen und erfolgreichen Projektverlauf zu stellen.
Many countries offer state credit guarantees to support credit-constrained exporters. The policy instrument is commonly justified by governments as a means to mitigating adverse outcomes of financial market frictions for exporting firms. Accumulated returns to the German state credit guarantee scheme deriving from risk-compensating premia have outweighed accumulated losses over the past 60 years. Why do private financial agents not step in and provide insurance given that the state-run program yields positive returns? We argue that costs of risk diversification, liquidity management, and coordination among creditors limit the ability of private financial agents to offer comparable insurance products. Moreover, we suggest that the government’s greater effectiveness in recovering claims in foreign countries endows the state with a cost advantage in dealing with the risks involved in large export projects. We test these hypotheses using monthly firm-level data combined with official transaction-level data on covered exports of German firms and find suggestive evidence that positive effects on trade are due to mitigated financial constraints: State credit guarantees benefit firms that are dependent on external finance, if the value at risk which they seek to cover is large, and at times when refinancing conditions on the private financial market are tight.
Modular arithmetic over integers is required for many cryptography systems. Montgomeryreduction is an efficient algorithm for the modulo reduction after a multiplication. Typically, Mont-gomery reduction is used for rings of ordinary integers. In contrast, we investigate the modularreduction over rings of Gaussian integers. Gaussian integers are complex numbers where the real andimaginary parts are integers. Rings over Gaussian integers are isomorphic to ordinary integer rings.In this work, we show that Montgomery reduction can be applied to Gaussian integer rings. Twoalgorithms for the precision reduction are presented. We demonstrate that the proposed Montgomeryreduction enables an efficient Gaussian integer arithmetic that is suitable for elliptic curve cryptogra-phy. In particular, we consider the elliptic curve point multiplication according to the randomizedinitial point method which is protected against side-channel attacks. The implementation of thisprotected point multiplication is significantly faster than comparable algorithms over ordinary primefields.
Beim data-driven learning (DDL) werden Lernerinnen und Lerner angeleitet, sprachliche Muster mit Hilfe von Korpuswerkzeugen zu entdecken und eigene Korpusabfragen durchzuführen. Am Beispiel einer Unterrichtseinheit für den Wirtschaftsdeutsch-Unterricht wird der Einsatz von DDL erläutert. Es wird deutlich, welche Chancen korpuslinguistische Verfahren bieten, aber auch, welche Probleme beim DDL auftreten können. Vor allem für die Planung des Fachsprachenunter-richts können korpuslinguistische Analysen hilfreich sein: Zu nennen sind die Bedarfsermittlung, die Auswahl von Materialien, die Identifizierung von typischem Wortschatz und häufigen Mustern sowie die Erstellung von Übungsmaterialien. Das Praxisbeispiel, das auf andere Kontexte übertragen werden kann, illustriert, wie sich korpuslinguistische Verfahren und DDL auf die Unterrichtsplanung und -durchführung auswirken: Sprache wird als Datenmenge betrachtet; der Fokus liegt auf sprachlichen Mustern; Fragen nach der Korrektheit bzw. der Angemessenheit werden thematisiert.
The McEliece cryptosystem is a promising candidate for post-quantum public-key encryption. In this work, we propose q-ary codes over Gaussian integers for the McEliece system and a new channel model. With this one Mannheim error channel, errors are limited to weight one. We investigate the channel capacity of this channel and discuss its relation to the McEliece system. The proposed codes are based on a simple product code construction and have a low complexity decoding algorithm. For the one Mannheim error channel, these codes achieve a higher error correction capability than maximum distance separable codes with bounded minimum distance decoding. This improves the work factor regarding decoding attacks based on information-set decoding.
Zur Erfassung von Veränderungen der Produkteigenschaften während der Trocknung von Lebensmitteln werden zerstörungsfreie Qualitätsmesstechniken gefordert, mit denen Veränderungen im Inneren des Produkts bestimmt werden können. Gerade im industriellen Einsatz sind schnelle, präzise, und gleichzeitig robuste Verfahren besonders wichtig, um qualitativ hochwertige Produkte zu erhalten.
In dieser Arbeit wurde zur optischen Qualitätsmessung ein neuartiges multispektrales Kamerasystem eingesetzt, um von Veränderungen der spektralen Oberflächenreflexion bei der Mango- und Ananastrocknung mit Veränderungen der Produktfeuchte, sowie mechanischen und chemischen Eigenschaften zu verknüpfen. Diese Verknüpfung wurde mit maschinellem Lernen erreicht.
In einem ersten Schritt wurde ein neues Kameraprinzip, eine multispektrale Flächenkamera mit vier Objektiven und Vorsatzfiltern, entwickelt und speziell auf den Einsatz in der Obsttrocknung angepasst. Anschließend wurden die Änderungen der Spektren und der Qualitätskriterien während der Trocknung gemessen. Dazu wurden Mango- und Ananasscheiben in einem Einzelschichttrockner bei Lufttemperaturen zwischen 40 °C und 80 °C und relativen Luftfeuchtigkeiten von 5 % bis 30 % getrocknet. Während der gesamten Trocknungsdauer wurde die Produktfeuchte der Proben gemessen, und Bilder mit der multispektralen Flächenkamera aufgenommen. Zur Analysen von nur ausgewählten Bereichen von Interesse in den Bildern wurde ein Softwarefilter entwickelt. Aus Spektraldaten und Prozessdaten konnte mit Algorithmen des maschinellen Lernens die Produktfeuchte zu jedem Zeitpunkt sehr genau vorhergesagt werden (Bestimmtheitsmaß R² von 0,98 bis 0,99). Die Kombination aus dem Prinzip der multispektralen Flächenkamera und maschinellem Lernen wurde in einem anderen Trocknungsprozess und mit weiteren Qualitätskriterien getestet. Dafür wurden Mangoscheiben in einem Schranktrockner getrocknet und deren Produkteigenschaften anhand der Spektraldaten und der Prozessdaten vorhergesagt. Bei der Vorhersage der Farbwerte Δa*, Δb* und ΔE00 sowie des Gehalts an gesamtlöslichen Feststoffen im Rehydrierungswasser wurden Bestimmtheitsmaße R² zwischen 0,56 und 0,94 erzielt).
Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Kombination aus dem neu entwickelten Multispektralkamerasystem und maschinellem Lernen zur Vorhersage der Produktfeuchte und anderer Qualitätskriterien der Produkte eingesetzt werden kann. Auf diese Weise können Qualitätsänderungen während des Prozesses mit nur wenigen Messgeräten inline überwacht werden.
In diesem Beitrag wird zunächst ein einführender Überblick über die Thematik eines Marketing-Controlling spezifischen Rechtsrahmens gegeben. Da die Datenerhebung, -verarbeitung und -analyse stets die Hauptfunktionsmerkmale eines Marketing-Controllings sind, stehen nach diesem Überblick die Rechtsgrundlagen eines Datenschutzes im Mittelpunkt der folgenden Ausführungen.
Dieses Forschungsvorhaben zielt darauf ab, individuelle Entrepreneure hinsichtlich ihrer Veränderungstendenzen zur Nutzung der Entscheidungslogik Effectuation und Causation zu untersuchen – insbesondere während des Gründungsprozesses. Basierend auf einem qualitativen Fallstudiendesign zeigen sowohl fallinterne als auch fallübergreifende Analysen, wie Entrepreneure zunächst an der effektuativen Logik festhalten und im Gründungsverlauf zu hybriden Logikformen übergehen. Der Beitrag zur Weiterentwicklung der Forschung zielt in drei Richtungen: Erstens schließt die Arbeit Lücken in der Effectuation-Forschung, indem sie Entscheidungsfindung von Unternehmensgründern auf individueller Ebene spezifiziert. Zweitens ermöglicht die Fokussierung auf die einzelnen Gründungsphasen ein besseres Verständnis der Veränderungstendenzen einschließlich der Kausalzusammenhänge (wann, wie und warum). Insbesondere werden Erkenntnisse zur Auffälligkeit von Veränderungssprüngen von einer Phase zur anderen geliefert. Drittens kann durch die Beleuchtung der verschiedenen Subdimensionen von Effectuation und Causation ihre zunehmend hybride Verwendung im Zeitverlauf der Gründung das Verständnis für transformative Prozesse entwickeln.
This paper introduces the concept of Universal Memory Automata (UMA) and automated compilation of Verilog Hardware Description Language (HDL) code at Register Transfer Level (RTL) from UMA graphs for digital designs. The idea is based on the observation that Push Down Automata (PDA) are able to process the Dyk-Language - commonly known as the balanced bracket problem - with a finite set of states while Finite State Machines (FSM) require an infinite set of states. Since infinite sets of states are not applicable to real designs, PDAs appear promising for types of problems similar to the Dyk-Language. PDAs suffer from the problem that complex memory operations need to be emulated by a specific stack management. The presented UMA therefore extends the PDA by other types of memory, e.g. Queue, RAM or CAM. Memories that are eligible for UMAs are supposed to have at least one read and one write port and a one-cycle read/write latency. With their modified state-transfer- and output-function, UMAs are able to operate user-defined numbers, configurations and types of memories. Proof of concept is given by an implementation of a cache coherency protocol, i.e. a practical problem in microprocessor design.
Botswana is a country in southern Africa with rich mineral resources, which has built its economy on mining. Due to challenges in the upcoming years caused by climate and demographic change, it aims to move away from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy in the long term. In order to support the
process, the Maun Science Park, a centre for research and development is planned to be created in Maun, a town on the edge of the Okavango Delta. The project is initiated by the “International Resilience and Sustainability Partnership” (inRES), a non-governmental organization. The project is currently in the initiation phase.
The purpose of this thesis is to determine a cost framework with exemplary developer calculation and sensitivity analysis for the Maun Science Park Project in Botswana. Therefor, a source research was performed in a first step. Based on this, interviews were conducted with members of the inRES. Based on the data
obtained and further assumptions, a cost framework for the different project phases of the MSP project was established. Subsequently, a developer calculation
was exemplarily carried out on the basis of the project phase 2 and a sensitivity analysis was performed.
During the interviews, data was collected on the different project phases. It became clear that the interview partners had partly inconsistent perceptions
about different project phases. The calculation can be used as a basis for further calculation at the time of concretization of the planning data.
Urban car-free mobility
(2021)
Across the globe, urban areas experience the phenomena of rising road-congestion, air pollution and car accidents. These are just a few popular quantified effects that arise due to rapid, uncoordinated urbanization on a car-centric city layout. There is an urgent need to consider new concepts of urban mobility development to combat these negative effects. Car-free mobility is one notion adopted in diverse formats by numerous cities to create a more inclusive, just, healthy and sustainable urban life. The focus of this thesis is to ex- amine whether a car-free mobility concept is applicable to the Maun Science Park, Bot- swana. Therefore, the idea of car-free mobility, its positive aspects as well as its con- straints, are described first. This illustrates the complexity of urban transport planning as it is intertwined with urban land-use, political vision and people’s perceptions and behav- iors. Secondly, examples and strategies on how to change existing structures are pre- sented. Following this, the smart developments in the field of sustainable urban mobility are considered to provide an insight into their assets and drawbacks. Then the local mo- bility conditions are examined before the car-free concept is exemplarily applied to the Maun Science Park via scenario construction. These scenarios give a first vision of how a car-free concept can be applied to the MSP and additionally provide a starting point for future strategic planning as well as inspiration for other cities to follow along.
The present work proposes the use of modern ICT technologies such as smartphones, NFCs, internet, and web technologies, to help patients in carrying out their therapies. The implemented system provides a calendar with a reminder of the assumptions, ensures the drug identification through NFC, allows remote assistance from healthcare staff and family members to check and manage the therapy in real-time. The system also provides centralized information on the patient's therapeutic situation, helpful in choosing new compatible therapies.
A nonlinear mathematical model for the dynamics of permanent magnet synchronous machines with interior magnets is discussed. The model of the current dynamics captures saturation and dependency on the rotor angle. Based on the model, a flatness-based field-oriented closed-loop controller and a feed-forward compensation of torque ripples are derived. Effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithms are demonstrated by simulation results.
With the increasing challenges of the 21st century, such as a rapidly growing population, increasing hunger and the destruction of the environment, the demand for sustainable and future-oriented ways of living is growing. To meet this demand, a residential district named Maun Science Park is being built in Botswana to develop a resilient society. In addition to the application of modern technology to optimise the use of resources, the environmentally friendly construction of the buildings is another goal of the project. This thesis investigates the prefabrication of rammed earth in terms of implementation and profitability for the Maun Science Park.
For this purpose, the specific properties, handling, as well as the application of the building material in prefabrication are first discussed.
This is followed by an investigation of how the work processes of prefabrication can be implemented in the Maun Science Park. Based on this, a profitability test is carried out using a break-even and sensitivity analysis.
The analyses showed that the investment in prefabrication is not profitable within the assumed production volume, which is due to the high fixed costs. These are primarily generated by the two main cost drivers, consisting of the new construction of the production hall and the rental of heavy construction equipment.
Lastly, recommendations for action were formulated that provide for a cost reduction in both the two main cost drivers as well as for other decisive factors.
In Maun, Botswana, a self-sufficient, sustainable and future-oriented district will be created, the Maun Science Park. Within this project, several 5-8 storey smart homes shall be built in sustainable construction. The aim of this thesis is to develop a sustainable structural concept for those homes of the Maun Science Park. In a first step, the general basics for tall building structures and sustainable construction were established. Based on those fundamentals, criteria for the structural requirements, the ecological as well as the social sustainability of a structural design could be defined. Subsequently, four structural systems were drafted: a concrete core structure, a steel shear frame structure, a rammed earth shear wall structure and a wooden diagrid structure. In addition to the pre-dimensioning of the systems, a life cycle assessment was set up to evaluate the ecological sustainability of the designs. With the help of a utility value analysis, the wooden diagrid structure was determined as the preferred variant. The comparison of the designs also allows to draw general conclusions for the development of sustainable tall building structures. The results of the life cycle assessment show the advantage of wood as an ecological building material over industrially manufactured building materials, such as steel and concrete. Whereas rammed earth, a likewise ecological building material, is not convincing due to its low strength. In general, a balance is created in the life cycle assessment between ecological and industrially manufactured products in regard of strength and environmental impact. In terms of social sustainability, the design of the structure system can significantly influence the flexibility and use of local resources. However, due to the diversity of sustainable construction, the development of a structural system should be linked to an overarching sustainability concept that takes architecture and stakeholders into account.
Ballistocardiography (BCG) can be used to monitor heart rate activity. Besides, the accelerometer should have high sensitivity and minimal internal noise; a low-cost approach was taken into consideration. Several measurements have been executed to determine the optimal positioning of a sensor under the mattress to obtain a signal strong enough for further analysis. A prototype for an unobtrusive accelerometer-based measurement system has been developed and tested in a conventional bed without any specific extras. The influence of the human sleep position for the output accelerometer data was tested. The obtained results indicate the potential to capture BCG signals using accelerometers. The measurement system can detect heart rate in an unobtrusive form in the home environment.
We compared vulnerable and fixed versions of the source code of 50 different PHP open source projects based on CVE reports for SQL injection vulnerabilities. We scanned the source code with commercial and open source tools for static code analysis. Our results show that five current state-of-the-art tools have issues correctly marking vulnerable and safe code. We identify 25 code patterns that are not detected as a vulnerability by at least one of the tools and 6 code patterns that are mistakenly reported as a vulnerability that cannot be confirmed by manual code inspection. Knowledge of the patterns could help vendors of static code analysis tools, and software developers could be instructed to avoid patterns that confuse automated tools.
Einsatz von Bankettbeton bei schmalen und stark beanspruchten Ortsverbindungs- und Kreisstraßen
(2021)
The Global Sanctions Data Base (GSDB): an update that includes the years of the Trump presidency
(2021)
In der Nachhaltigkeits-Diskussion spielen anthropogene Treibhausgasemissionen durch den von ihnen hervorgerufenen Klimawandel eine entscheidende Rolle. Im Zuge dessen entscheidet sich die Hochschule Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung in Konstanz (HTWG), eine jährliche Treibhausgasbilanzierung zu erstellen. Durch die jährliche Erfassung der hochschulbezogenen Emissionen erfolgt das Monitoring (dt.: Überwachung).
Die Bilanzierung und Überwachung der durch die Hochschule und ihren Betrieb verursachten Treibhausgasemissionen (THG-Emissionen) dienen als Ausgangspunkt für lokalen Klima-schutz. Die wesentlichen Handlungsfelder werden durch das Identifizieren der Hauptursachen für Treibhausgasemissionen ermittelt und setzen den Startpunkt für die Planung, Auswahl und Umsetzung von Klimaschutzaktivitäten. Durch eine langfristige und regelmäßige Überwachung der Emissionen trägt die HTWG auch über ihre lokalen Systemgrenzen hinaus zum gesellschaftlichen Umweltbewusstsein bei.
Um das Erreichen dieses Ziels zu unterstützen, wird im Rahmen der vorliegenden Abschlussarbeit ein Pflichtenheft erstellt. Dieses enthält eine Ausarbeitung über die erforderlichen Organisations- und Arbeitsstrukturen für das Monitoring der THG-Emissionen. Des Weiteren erfolgt mit der Status-Quo-Abschätzung der THG-Emissionen des festgelegten Basisjahres 2019 die erste exemplarische Praxisanwendung des Pflichtenheftes. Das Monitoring wird mit der Zielsetzung einer maßnahmen- und umsetzungsorientierten Anwendung konzeptioniert, dessen jährliche Erhebung mit einem vertretbaren Aufwand zu realisieren ist.
Der Inhalt dieser Arbeit befasst sich mit der Verwendung von regionalen Ressourcen in Form von Erde. Diese soll als Baumaterial unter Anwendung der Stampflehmbauweise für
ökologischeres Bauen dienen. Damit der Baustoff den Ansprüchen heutiger Bauaufgaben gerecht wird, wird untersucht, mit welchen nachhaltigen Methoden die Erde stabilisiert werden kann. Darüber hinaus wird nach einem zukunftsweisenden Fertigungsverfahren
für den Stampflehmbau gesucht. Die Nutzung und Kombination dieser Aspekte bezeichnen wir als Erdbau 4.0, welcher unter anderem für das Maun Sciene Park Projekt in Botswana infrage kommen könnte.
The last decades have shown that the volume of tourism, in general, is constantly increasing (with some justified exceptions). To offer a possibility of travel for all groups of people, it is necessary to pay attention to accessibility. One of the possibilities for increasing accessibility is digital technologies, which could assist in planning and the implementation and completion of trips. To make a selection of technologies, first, a study of barriers was conducted, which was then analyzed, and finally, some technologies were made available in a test setup. A focus on two technologies was made: 360°-Tours and mobile app with the travel information. The two technologies were implemented and presented to the test subjects.
The evaluation results showed that both technologies could increase accessibility if some essential aspects (such as usability, completeness, relevance, etc.) are considered during the implementation.
The development of home health systems can provide continuous and user-friendly monitoring of key health parameters. This project aims to create a concept for such a system, implement it on a test basis, and evaluate it. Three health areas were selected for this purpose:
Sleep, Stress, and Rehabilitation. Appropriate devices were installed in the homes of test subjects and used by them for two weeks. Besides, relevant questionnaires were completed to obtain a complete picture. Finally, the implemented system was evaluated, and the results of the conducted study showed that home health systems have great potential. However, it is necessary to consider some points to increase the usability of the system and the motivation of the users. Among others, ease of use of the equipment is of extreme importance.
Health monitoring in a home environment can have broader use since it may provide continuous control of health parameters with relatively minor intrusiveness into regular life. This work aims to verify if it is possible to replace the typical in some sleep medicine areas subjective questioning by an objective measurement using electronic devices. For this purpose, a study was conducted with ten subjects, in which objective and subjective measurement of relevant sleep parameters took place. The results of both measurement methods were evaluated and analyzed. The results showed that while for some measures, such as Total Time in Bed, there is a high agreement between objective and subjective measurements, for others, such as sleep quality, there are significant differences. For this reason, currently, a combination of both measurement methods may be beneficial and provide the most detailed results, while a partial replacement can already reduce the number of questions at the subjective measurement by measurement through electronic devices.
Twenty-first century infrastructure needs to respond to changing demographics, becoming climate neutral, resilient, and economically affordable, while remaining a driver for development and shared prosperity. However, the infrastructure sector remains one of the least innovative and digitalized, plagued by delays, cost overruns, and benefit shortfalls. The authors assessed trends and barriers in the planning and delivery of infrastructure based on secondary research, qualitative
interviews with internationally leading experts, and expert workshops. The analysis concludes that the root-cause of the industry’s problems is the prevailing fragmentation of the infrastructure value chain and a lacking long-term vision for infrastructure. To help overcome these challenges, an integration of the value chain is needed. The authors propose that this could be achieved through a use-case-based, as well as vision and governance-driven creation of federated digital platforms applied to infrastructure projects and outline a concept. Digital platforms enable full-lifecycle participation and responsible governance guided by a shared infrastructure vision. This paper has contributed as policy recommendation to the Group of Twenty (G20) in 2021.
Introduction. Despite its high accuracy, polysomnography (PSG) has several drawbacks for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Consequently, multiple portable monitors (PMs) have been proposed. Objective. This systematic review aims to investigate the current literature to analyze the sets of physiological parameters captured by a PM to select the minimum number of such physiological signals while maintaining accurate results in OSA detection. Methods. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the selection of publications were established prior to the search. The evaluation of the publications was made based on one central question and several specific questions. Results. The abilities to detect hypopneas, sleep time, or awakenings were some of the features studied to investigate the full functionality of the PMs to select the most relevant set of physiological signals. Based on the physiological parameters collected (one to six), the PMs were classified into sets according to the level of evidence. The advantages and the disadvantages of each possible set of signals were explained by answering the research questions proposed in the methods. Conclusions. The minimum number of physiological signals detected by PMs for the detection of OSA depends mainly on the purpose and context of the sleep study. The set of three physiological signals showed the best results in the detection of OSA.
Identifikation von Schlaf- und Wachzuständen durch die Auswertung von Atem- und Bewegungssignalen
(2021)
In this paper, a novel measurement model based on spherical double Fourier series (DFS) for estimating the 3D shape of a target concurrently with its kinematic state is introduced. Here, the shape is represented as a star-convex radial function, decomposed as spherical DFS. In comparison to ordinary DFS, spherical DFS do not suffer from ambiguities at the poles. Details will be given in the paper. The shape representation is integrated into a Bayesian state estimator framework via a measurement equation. As range sensors only generate measurements from the target side facing the sensor, the shape representation is modified to enable application of shape symmetries during the estimation process. The model is analyzed in simulations and compared to a shape estimation procedure using spherical harmonics. Finally, shape estimation using spherical and ordinary DFS is compared to analyze the effect of the pole problem in extended object tracking (EOT) scenarios.
SyNumSeS is a Python package for numerical simulation of semiconductor devices. It uses the Scharfetter-Gummel discretization for solving the one dimensional Van Roosbroeck system which describes the free electron and hole transport by the drift-diffusion model. As boundary conditions voltages can be applied to Ohmic contacts. It is suited for the simulation of pn-diodes, MOS-diodes, LEDs (hetero junction), solar cells, and (hetero) bipolar transistors.
This paper describes the rationale and the development of a structured digital approach for measuring corporate environmental sustainability using performance metrics.
It is impossible to imagine today's age without the preservation of our environment, not even in the corporate environment. Currently, sustainability is mostly only rudimentarily considered in companies, mostly only with written down phrases on the website. This will no longer be sufficient in the future, which is why companies should record sustainability on a numerical basis. Based on the development of a workable concept for companies, a small empirical study was carried out, which can be used to numerically measure the sustainability performance of companies. Two utility analyses were completed.
One of them was supplemented by expert interviews. Well-known practitioners from the business world were interviewed and asked for their assessment of ecological performance indicators. The result of the research is an indicator-based concept that can be applied in corporate practice to determine ecological sustainability performance.
Im Zuge zunehmender Effizienzbestrebungen in produzierenden Unternehmen spielt auch die Optimierung von indirekten Wertschöpfungsprozessen eine immer größere Rolle. Neben einer ansteigenden Aufgabenvielfalt stellt ein parallel wachsender Kostendruck eine doppelte Herausforderung dar. Dies gilt insbesondere für Einkaufsbereiche entsprechender Organisationen, welche an der Schnittstelle zwischen der unternehmensinternen und -externen Wertschöpfungskette operieren und an dieser einen essenziellen Beitrag auch im Sinne des Informationsflusses zur Unterstützung eines integrierten Supply Chain Managements darstellen. Um diesen zu begegnen, ist es notwendig, die relevanten Kernprozesse der Einkaufsbereiche stetig im Blick zu halten und Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten zu identifizieren und umzusetzen. Dieser Beitrag will zu einem Überblick für die Prozessoptimierung mithilfe des Einsatzes digitaler Technologien speziell in Einkaufsbereichen beitragen. Es werden die Spezifika des Einkaufs vorgestellt, relevante Kernaufgaben beschrieben und exemplarisch technologische Ansätze zur Prozessoptimierung anhand von Process Mining, Robotic Process Automation und künstlicher Intelligenz aufgezeigt.
Das produzierende Gewerbe in Deutschland erlebt aufgrund von Technologiewandel im Automobilbau, der Anpassung von Lieferketten und der digitalen Transformation grundlegende Veränderungen. Diese als Chance für künftiges Wachstum zu begreifen ist essenziell und eine zwingende Voraussetzung für den Wirtschaftsstandort Deutschland. Anhand eines konkreten Unternehmensbeispiels werden hierfür zentrale Aspekte für Transformation eines mittelständischen produzierenden Blechbearbeitungsunternehmens hin zu einem netzwerkbasierten Geschäftsmodell betrachtet. Auf Basis der Analyse von Referenzbeispielen webbasierter Vertriebsplattformen in der Blechbearbeitung werden erfolgsrelevante Aspekte für die Ausgestaltung und die Umsetzung für ein Onlineplattformmodell beschrieben. Hierbei wird exemplarisch dargelegt, wie mittels digitaler Vertriebsplattformen in Verbindung mit digitalen Auftragsmanagementprozessen neue Wege für Wachstum ermöglicht werden können.
InnoCrowd, a Product Classification System for Design Decision in a Crowdsourced Product Innovation
(2021)
System engineering focuses on how to design and manage complex systems. Meanwhile, in the era of Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT), systems are getting more complex. Contributors to higher complexity include the usage of modern components (e.g. mechatronics), new manufacturing technologies (e.g. 3D Print) and new engineering product development processes, e.g. open innovation. Open innovation is enabled by IoT, where people and devices are easily connected, and it supports development of more innovative products through ideas gained from predecessors and collaborators world wide. Some researchers suggest this approach is up to three times faster and five times cheaper than conventional approaches [Gassmann, 2012], [Howe, 2008], [Kusumah, 2018]. Because open innovation is relatively new, many managers do not know how to employ it effectively in some phases of product development [Schenk, 2009], [Afuah, 2017], including requirements definition, design and engineering processes (task assignment) through quality assurance. Also, they have trouble estimating and controlling development time and cost [Nevo, 2020], [Thanh, 2015]. As a consequence, the acceptance of this new approach in the industry is limited. Research activities addressing this new approach mainly address high-level and qualitive issues. Few effective methods are available to estimate project risk and to decide whether to initiate a project.
We propose InnoCrowd, a decision support system that uses an improved method to support these tasks and make decisions about crowdsourced engineering product development.
InnoCrowd uses natural language processing and machine learning to build a knowledgebase of crowdsourced product developments. InnoCrowd presents a manager with results of similar projects to show which practices led to good results. A manager of a new project can use this guidance to employ best practices for product requirements definition, project schedule, and other aspects, thereby reducing risk and increasing chances for success.
Background:
One of the most promising health care development areas is introducing telemedicine services and creating solutions based on blockchain technology. The study of systems combining both these domains indicates the ongoing expansion of digital technologies in this market segment.
Objective:
This paper aims to review the feasibility of blockchain technology for telemedicine.
Methods:
The authors identified relevant studies via systematic searches of databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and Google Scholar. The suitability of each for inclusion in this review was assessed independently. Owing to the lack of publications, available blockchain-based tokens were discovered via conventional web search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Yandex).
Results:
Of the 40 discovered projects, only 18 met the selection criteria. The 5 most prevalent features of the available solutions (N=18) were medical data access (14/18, 78%), medical service processing (14/18, 78%), diagnostic support (10/18, 56%), payment transactions (10/18, 56%), and fundraising for telemedical instrument development (5/18, 28%).
Conclusions:
These different features (eg, medical data access, medical service processing, epidemiology reporting, diagnostic support, and treatment support) allow us to discuss the possibilities for integration of blockchain technology into telemedicine and health care on different levels. In this area, a wide range of tasks can be identified that could be accomplished based on digital technologies using blockchains.
Die fortschreitende Urbanisierung sowie die voranschreitende digitale Transformation stellen viele Städte vor großen Herausforderungen. Um den wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Veränderungsprozessen gerecht zu werden, braucht es innovative Lösungen. Die Nutzung digitaler Technologien und Daten eröffnen Städten neue Möglichkeiten, um sich zukunftsfähig zu gestalten. So wird die Stadt der Zukunft eine Stadt der Daten sein. Sie ist smart, vernetzt und entwickelt intelligente, digitale Lösungen für sich und ihre Bürger. Digitale, offene föderierte Plattformen bilden hierbei das Herzstück. Als zentraler Zugangspunkt zu Daten schaffen sie eine grenzenlose Vernetzung und generieren einen Mehrwert für Stadt, Bürger und Wirtschaft. Sie vereinen smarte Dienste und Services, verbessern die digitale Teilhabe und erhöhen die Lebensqualität in einer Stadt.
Das Ziel in der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Entwicklung von Anwendungsfällen aus dem Bereich der Bauwirtschaft für offene, föderierte digitale Plattformen. Der Fokus liegt hierbei auf der Online-Plattform für sogenannte digitale Zwillinge, die ein virtuelles Abbild der Realität erschaffen. Der virtuelle Stadtzwilling bildet das Fundament zahlreicher Smart City-Konzepte. Er ist ein Smart City-Werkzeug, das aufgrund seiner vielfältigen Einsatzfähigkeit für Städte großes Potenzial bietet.
Der Stadt Konstanz eröffnen sich mit der Etablierung eines digitalen Stadtzwillings neue Möglichkeiten für eine resiliente und umweltschonende Gestaltung ihres urbanen Raums. Der digitale Zwilling findet in den unterschiedlichsten Feldern Anwendung. So kann er beispielsweise für die Entwicklung klimaoptimierter Bebauungsszenarien eingesetzt oder für intelligent vorausschauende Verkehrsleitsysteme genutzt werden. Darüber hinaus ermöglicht er neue Formen mit der Öffentlichkeit zu interagieren, indem er geplante Bauvorhaben und deren Auswirkungen realitätsgetreu abbildet. Dennoch stellt die Etablierung und die vollumfängliche Nutzung des digitalen Zwillings die Stadt Konstanz vor großen Herausforderungen. So setzt die Anwendung smarter städtischer Lösungen einen ausreichenden Datenschutz voraus. Darüber hinaus ist die digitale Transformation ein zeitintensiver und kostenaufwendiger Prozess, für den entsprechende Ressourcen benötigt werden. Zudem bedarf es einen gesellschaftsübergreifenden Paradigmenwechsel, der bislang nur langsam voranschreitet. Dennoch ist es unerlässlich, dass die Stadt Konstanz die Herausforderungen annimmt und die Chancen ergreift, um zu einer zukunftsfähigen und digitalen Stadt zu werden. Denn der digitale Zwilling bildet einen zentralen Baustein auf dem Weg zu einer Smart City.
Specific climate adaptation and resilience measures can be efficiently designed and implemented at regional and local levels. Climate and environmental databases are critical for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and for efficiently planning and implementing appropriate adaptation measures. Available federated and distributed databases can serve as necessary starting points for municipalities to identify needs, prioritize resources, and allocate investments, taking into account often tight budget constraints. High-quality geospatial, climate, and environmental data are now broadly available and remote sensing data, e.g., Copernicus services, will be critical. There are forward-looking approaches to use these datasets to derive forecasts for optimizing urban planning processes for local governments. On the municipal level, however, the existing data have only been used to a limited extent. There are no adequate tools for urban planning with which remote sensing data can be merged and meaningfully combined with local data and further processed and applied in municipal planning and decision-making. Therefore, our project CoKLIMAx aims at the development of new digital products, advanced urban services, and procedures, such as the development of practical technical tools that capture different remote sensing and in-situ data sets for validation and further processing. CoKLIMAx will be used to develop a scalable toolbox for urban planning to increase climate resilience. Focus areas of the project will be water (e.g., soil sealing, stormwater drainage, retention, and flood protection), urban (micro)climate (e.g., heat islands and air flows), and vegetation (e.g., greening strategy, vegetation monitoring/vitality). To this end, new digital process structures will be embedded in local government to enable better policy decisions for the future.
Twenty-first century infrastructure needs to respond to changing demographics, becoming climate neutral, resilient and economically affordable, while remaining a driver for development and shared prosperity. However, the infrastructure sector remains one of the least innovative and digitalised, plagued by delays, cost overruns and benefit shortfalls (Cantarelli et al. 2008; Flyvbjerg, 2007; Flyvbjerg et al., 2003; Flyvbjerg et al., 2004). The root cause is the prevailing fragmentation of the infrastructure sector (Fellows and Liu, 2012). To help overcome these challenges, integration of the value chain is needed. This could be achieved through a use-case-based creation of federated ecosystems connecting open and trusted data spaces and advanced services applied to infrastructure projects. Such digital platforms enable full-lifecycle participation and responsible governance guided by a shared infrastructure vision. Digital federation enables secure and sovereign data exchange and thus collaboration across the silos within the infrastructure sector and between industries as well as within and between countries. Such an approach to infrastructure technology policy would not rely on technological solutionism but proposes the development of open and trusted data alliances. Federated data spaces provide access to the emerging data economy, especially for SMEs, and can foster the innovation of new digital services. Such responsible digital governance can help make the infrastructure sector more resilient, efficient and aligned with the realisation of ambitious decarbonisation and environmental protection targets. The European Union and the United States have already developed architectures for sovereign and secure data exchange.
Preliminary results of homomorphic deconvolution application to surface EMG signals during walking
(2021)
Homomorphic deconvolution is applied to sEMG signals recorded during walking. Gastrocnemius lateralis and tibialis anterior signals were acquired according to SENIAM recommendation. MUAP parameters like amplitude and scale were estimated, whilst the MUAP shape parameter was fixed. This features a useful time-frequency representation of sEMG signal. Estimation of scale MUAP parameter was verified extracting the mean frequency of filtered EMG signal, extracted from the scale parameter estimated with two different MUAP shape values.
Normal breathing during sleep is essential for people’s health and well-being. Therefore, it is crucial to diagnose apnoea events at an early stage and apply appropriate therapy. Detection of sleep apnoea is a central goal of the system design described in this article. To develop a correctly functioning system, it is first necessary to define the requirements outlined in this manuscript clearly. Furthermore, the selection of appropriate technology for the measurement of respiration is of great importance. Therefore, after performing initial literature research, we have analysed in detail three different methods and made a selection of a proper one according to determined requirements. After considering all the advantages and disadvantages of the three approaches, we decided to use the impedance measurement-based one. As a next step, an initial conceptual design of the algorithm for detecting apnoea events was created. As a result, we developed an activity diagram on which the main system components and data flows are visually represented.
Respiratory diseases are leading causes of death and disability in the world. The recent COVID-19 pandemic is also affecting the respiratory system. Detecting and diagnosing respiratory diseases requires both medical professionals and the clinical environment. Most of the techniques used up to date were also invasive or expensive.
Some research groups are developing hardware devices and techniques to make possible a non-invasive or even remote respiratory sound acquisition. These sounds are then processed and analysed for clinical, scientific, or educational purposes.
We present the literature review of non-invasive sound acquisition devices and techniques.
The results are about a huge number of digital tools, like microphones, wearables, or Internet of Thing devices, that can be used in this scope.
Some interesting applications have been found. Some devices make easier the sound acquisition in a clinic environment, but others make possible daily monitoring outside that ambient. We aim to use some of these devices and include the non-invasive recorded respiratory sounds in a Digital Twin system for personalized health.
Ferromagnetism is of increasing importance in the growing field of electromobility and data storage. In stable austenitic steels, the occurrence of ferromagnetism is not expected and would also interfere with many applications. However, ferromagnetism in austenitic stainless steels after low-temperature nitriding has already been shown in the past. Herein, the presence of ferromagnetism in austenitic steels is discovered after low-temperature carburization (Kolsterizing), which represents a novel and unique finding. A zone of expanded austenite is established on various austenitic stainless steels by low-temperature carburization and the respective ferromagnetism is investigated in relation to the alloy composition. The ferromagnetism occurring is determined by means of a commercial magnetoinductive sensor (Feritscope). Ferromagnetic domains are visualized by magnetic force microscopy and a ferrofluid. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate a clear difference in the lattice expansion of the different alloys. Furthermore, a different appearance of the magnetizable microstructure regions (magnetic domain structure) is detected depending on the grain orientation determined by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Strongly pronounced magnetic domains show no linear lattice defects, whereas in small magnetizable areas linear lattice defects are detected by electron channeling contrast imaging and EBSD.
Innovation Labs
(2021)
Today's increasing pace of change and intense competition places demands on organizations to use a different approach to innovation, going beyond the incremental innovation that is typically developed within the core of the organization. As an option to escape the existing beliefs of the core organization, innovation labs are used to develop more discontinuous innovation. Despite the abundance of these so-called innovation labs in practice, researchers have devoted little effort to scrutinizing the concept and to provide managers with a framework for exploiting this form of innovation. In this paper, we aim to perform an empirical investigation and to create a consensus around the concept of innovation labs. To do so, we conducted a multiple case study in large international organizations with a total of 31 interviews of an average length of 70 minutes. We offer a framework by identifying four innovation lab types and consider when each is most appropriate. Furthermore, we highlight the importance for managers and their organizations to align the strategic intent with the innovation lab type as well as the interface between the innovation lab and the core business.
Text produced by entrepreneurs represents a data source in entrepreneurship research on venture performance and fund-raising success. Manual text coding of single variables is increasingly assisted or replaced by computer-aided text analysis. Yet, for the development of prediction models with several variables, such dictionary-based text analysis methods are less suitable. Natural language processing techniques are an alternative; however, the implementation is more complex and requires substantial programming skills. More work is required to understand how text analytics can advance entrepreneurship research. This study hence experiments with different artificial intelligence methods rooted in Natural Language Processing and deep learning. It uses 766 business plans to train a model for the automated measurement of transaction relations, a construct which is an indicator for new technology-based firm survival. Empirical findings show that the accuracy of construct measurement can be significantly increased with automated methods and improves with larger amounts of training data. Language complexity sets limits to the precision of automated construct measurement though. We therefore recommend a hybrid approach: making use of the inherent advantages of combining automated with human coding until the amount of training data is sufficiently large to substitute the human coding completely. The study provides insights into the applicability of different text analytics methods in entrepreneurship research and points at future research potential.
Die Entwicklung der Elektromobilität, als alternative Fortbewegungsform ist seit geraumer Zeit eine nicht nur regional, sondern weltweit und unter den verschiedensten Aspekten (Technik, Umwelt, Wirtschaft, Energiewende etc.) intensiv betrachtete und untersuchte Thematik. Hierbei spielt der mögliche positive Effekt auf die Umwelt und die Energiewende hin zu nicht fossilen Energieträgern eine zentrale Rolle für Politik und Forschung bei der Förderung dieser Technologie. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Elektromobilität im Bodenseetourismus. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, die Potenziale für die Integration der Elektromobilität im Bodenseetourismus darzustellen. Hierfür wird die Elektromobilität im Bodenseetourismus als innovative Mobilitätsform postuliert, verstanden und untersucht. Die Betrachtung der Diffusion der Innovation wird vor dem Hintergrund heterogener Akteursgruppen im Dreiländereck D-A-CH untersucht.
Cultural Mapping 4.0
(2021)
Die Bodenseeregion gehört zu einer der ältesten Kulturlandschaften Europas. Ihre regionale kulturelle Identität trägt zum Image sowie Identifikation seitens der Bevölkerung mit der Bodenseeregion bei. Dennoch mangelt es an einer ganzheitlichen, die gesamte Bodenseeregion umfassende Betrachtung der Frage, was die kulturelle Identität der Bodenseeregion ausmacht. Das Forschungsprojekt «CultMap4.0» hat daher zum Ziel, aus einer räumlichen Perspektive die Wechselwirkung zwischen regionaler Identität, Kultur und Mobilität zu untersuchen. Neben der Leitfrage, was kulturelle Identität in einer grenzüberschreitenden und diversen Region wie dem Bodensee zu sein und leisten vermag, werden im Rahmen von vier Themenschwerpunkten folgende Forschungsfragen untersucht: Wie nehmen einheimische Bevölkerung, Unternehmen und TouristInnen die regionale kulturelle Identität (Eigenbild) und das Image (Fremdbild) der Bodenseeregion wahr? Wie kann der Ansatz des “Cultural Mappings” durch partizipative Kartierung digital transformiert werden, und wie können kulturelle Identität und Mobilität mit digitalem Storytelling in Storymaps visualisiert werden? Welchen Beitrag kann “Cultural Mapping 4.0” als partizipatives Werkzeug zur Regionalplanung und zur Kommunikation mit Stakeholdern in der Bodenseeregion und anderenorts leisten? Die dabei entstehenden Storymaps – interaktive Webinhalte aus Texten, Karten und weiteren Medien – zur kulturellen Identität der Bodenseeregion sollen auf der Plattform “Cultural Mapping” Project Lake Constance” veröffentlicht werden, um so von den Stakeholdern als Planungs- und Entscheidungstool sowie fürs Standortmarketing genutzt werden zu können.
Interpretability and uncertainty modeling are important key factors for medical applications. Moreover, data in medicine are often available as a combination of unstructured data like images and structured predictors like patient’s metadata. While deep learning models are state-of-the-art for image classification, the models are often referred to as ’black-box’, caused by the lack of interpretability. Moreover, DL models are often yielding point predictions and are too confident about the parameter estimation and outcome predictions.
On the other side with statistical regression models, it is possible to obtain interpretable predictor effects and capture parameter and model uncertainty based on the Bayesian approach. In this thesis, a publicly available melanoma dataset, consisting of skin lesions and patient’s age, is used to predict the melanoma types by using a semi-structured model, while interpretable components and model uncertainty is quantified. For Bayesian models, transformation model-based variational inference (TM-VI) method is used to determine the posterior distribution of the parameter. Several model constellations consisting of patient’s age and/or skin lesion were implemented and evaluated. Predictive performance was shown to be best by using a combined model of image and patient’s age, while providing the interpretable posterior distribution of the regression coefficient is possible. In addition, integrating uncertainty in image and tabular parts results in larger variability of the outputs corresponding to high uncertainty of the single model components.
The performance and reliability of non-volatile NAND flash memories deteriorate as the number of program/erase cycles grows. The reliability also suffers from cell to cell interference, long data retention time, and read disturb. These processes effect the read threshold voltages. The aging of the cells causes voltage shifts which lead to high bit error rates (BER) with fixed pre-defined read thresholds. This work proposes two methods that aim on minimizing the BER by adjusting the read thresholds. Both methods utilize the number of errors detected in the codeword of an error correction code. It is demonstrated that the observed number of errors is a good measure for the voltage shifts and is utilized for the initial calibration of the read thresholds. The second approach is a gradual channel estimation method that utilizes the asymmetrical error probabilities for the one-to-zero and zero-to-one errors that are caused by threshold calibration errors. Both methods are investigated utilizing the mutual information between the optimal read voltage and the measured error values.
Numerical results obtained from flash measurements show that these methods reduce the BER of NAND flash memories significantly.
Four-Dimensional Hurwitz Signal Constellations, Set Partitioning, Detection, and Multilevel Coding
(2021)
The Hurwitz lattice provides the densest four-dimensional packing. This fact has motivated research on four-dimensional Hurwitz signal constellations for optical and wireless communications. This work presents a new algebraic construction of finite sets of Hurwitz integers that is inherently accompanied by a respective modulo operation. These signal constellations are investigated for transmission over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. It is shown that these signal constellations have a better constellation figure of merit and hence a better asymptotic performance over an AWGN channel when compared with conventional signal constellations with algebraic structure, e.g., two-dimensional Gaussian-integer constellations or four-dimensional Lipschitz-integer constellations. We introduce two concepts for set partitioning of the Hurwitz integers. The first method is useful to reduce the computational complexity of the symbol detection. This suboptimum detection approach achieves near-maximum-likelihood performance. In the second case, the partitioning exploits the algebraic structure of the Hurwitz signal constellations. We partition the Hurwitz integers into additive subgroups in a manner that the minimum Euclidean distance of each subgroup is larger than in the original set. This enables multilevel code constructions for the new signal constellations.
Error correction coding for optical communication and storage requires high rate codes that enable high data throughput and low residual errors. Recently, different concatenated coding schemes were proposed that are based on binary BCH codes with low error correcting capabilities. In this work, low-complexity hard- and soft-input decoding methods for such codes are investigated. We propose three concepts to reduce the complexity of the decoder. For the algebraic decoding we demonstrate that Peterson's algorithm can be more efficient than the Berlekamp-Massey algorithm for single, double, and triple error correcting BCH codes. We propose an inversion-less version of Peterson's algorithm and a corresponding decoding architecture. Furthermore, we propose a decoding approach that combines algebraic hard-input decoding with soft-input bit-flipping decoding. An acceptance criterion is utilized to determine the reliability of the estimated codewords. For many received codewords the stopping criterion indicates that the hard-decoding result is sufficiently reliable, and the costly soft-input decoding can be omitted. To reduce the memory size for the soft-values, we propose a bit-flipping decoder that stores only the positions and soft-values of a small number of code symbols. This method significantly reduces the memory requirements and has little adverse effect on the decoding performance.
Algorithms and Architectures for Cryptography and Source Coding in Non-Volatile Flash Memories
(2021)
In this work, algorithms and architectures for cryptography and source coding are developed, which are suitable for many resource-constrained embedded systems such as non-volatile flash memories. A new concept for elliptic curve cryptography is presented, which uses an arithmetic over Gaussian integers. Gaussian integers are a subset of the complex numbers with integers as real and imaginary parts. Ordinary modular arithmetic over Gaussian integers is computational expensive. To reduce the complexity, a new arithmetic based on the Montgomery reduction is presented. For the elliptic curve point multiplication, this arithmetic over Gaussian integers improves the computational efficiency, the resistance against side channel attacks, and reduces the memory requirements. Furthermore, an efficient variant of the Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) algorithm for universal lossless data compression is investigated. Instead of one LZW dictionary, this algorithm applies several dictionaries to speed up the encoding process. Two dictionary partitioning techniques are introduced that improve the compression rate and reduce the memory size of this parallel dictionary LZW algorithm.
Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) plays a crucial role in speech communication devices to enable full-duplex communication. AEC algorithms have been studied extensively in the literature. However, device specific details like microphone or loudspeaker configurations are often neglected, despite their impact on the echo attenuation or near-end speech quality. In this work, we propose a method to investigate different loudspeaker-microphone configurations with respect to their contribution to the overall AEC performance. A generic AEC system consisting of an adaptive filter and a Wiener post filter is used for a fair comparison between different setups. We propose the near-end-to-residual-echo ratio (NRER) and the attenuation-of-near-end (AON) as quality measures for the full-duplex AEC performance.
Der Inhalt dieser Arbeit befasst sich mit der Erläuterung von Technologien der Industrie 4.0. Diese Technologie soll in Verbindung mit einem Stampfprozess die altbewährte Stampflehmbauweise wieder mehr ins Leben rufen. Dabei soll in dieser Arbeit über die technischen Funktionalitäten, die relevanten Parameter sowie über den Stand der Technik aufgeklärt werden. Darüber hinaus wird in einer Markabschätzung das Potential des Stampflehms als nachhaltige Baumethode und Ersatz für anderweitige Baumethoden untersucht. Hierbei werden die Vor- und Nachteile nochmals aufgezeigt, um eine bessere Beurteilung möglich zu machen. Die Meinungen und Erfahrungen von Experten sind in dieser Arbeit aufbauend miteingeflossen.
Electricity generation from renewable energies often fluctuates due to weather and other natural effects. The instrument of control energy (balancing energy) can compensate for these fluctuations and thus guarantee the system and supply security of the electricity grid. Luxury hotels on tourist islands could react to fluctuations in electricity generation and provide balancing energy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the electricity consumption of luxury hotels to assess their potential as a source for providing control energy.
Kritische Analyse des Geschäftsmodells von Amazon mit einem Fokus auf wettbewerbsrechtliche Aspekte
(2021)
Despite the increased attention dedicated to research on the antecedents and determinants of new venture survival in entrepreneurship, defining and capturing survival as an outcome represents a challenge in quantitative studies. This paper creates awareness for ventures being inactive while still classified as surviving based on the data available. We describe this as the ‘living dead’ phenomenon, arguing that it yields potential effects on the empirical results of survival studies. Based on a systematic literature review, we find that this issue of inactivity has not been sufficiently considered in previous new venture survival studies. Based on a sample of 501 New Technology-Based Firms, we empirically illustrate that the classification of living dead ventures into either survived or failed can impact the factors determining survival. On this basis, we contribute to an understanding of the issue by defining the ‘living dead’ phenomenon and by proposing recommendations for research practice to solve this issue in survival studies, taking the data source, the period under investigation and the sample size into account.
Female Entrepreneurship has gained interest over the last 20 years. Therefore, this paper analyses 7,320 articles of the research field ‘women in entrepreneurial context’ published in 885 journals. The sample is analyzed by using a machine learning and text mining based methodological approach. Aiming to provide a broad overview over the research literature, 41 clusters and 11 superordinate topics were identified. Major developments of research attention are outlined by analyzing bibliometric data of the period from 2000 to 2020. Overall growth in terms of research attention measured by the development of yearly citations per article is best noticeable in clusters ‘corporate social responsibility’, ‘brand’, and ‘corporate (-governance)’, and in superordinate topics ‘performance’, ‘education’, and ‘corporate (board/ management)’. There are also indicators for an overall increase of research attention and cluster variety. The synthesis provides an insight into most trending superordinate topics. Therefore, this literature review gives a comprehensive and descriptive overview as well as an insight into thematic trend developments of the research field.
The encoding of antenna patterns with generalized spatial modulation as well as other index modulation techniques require w-out-of-n encoding where all binary vectors of length n have the same weight w. This constant-weight property cannot be obtained by conventional linear coding schemes. In this work, we propose a new class of constant-weight codes that result from the concatenation of convolutional codes with constant-weight block codes. These constant-weight convolutional codes are nonlinear binary trellis codes that can be decoded with the Viterbi algorithm. Some constructed constant-weight convolutional codes are optimum free distance codes. Simulation results demonstrate that the decoding performance with Viterbi decoding is close to the performance of the best-known linear codes. Similarly, simulation results for spatial modulation with a simple on-off keying show a significant coding gain with the proposed coded index modulation scheme.
List decoding for concatenated codes based on the Plotkin construction with BCH component codes
(2021)
Reed-Muller codes are a popular code family based on the Plotkin construction. Recently, these codes have regained some interest due to their close relation to polar codes and their low-complexity decoding. We consider a similar code family, i.e., the Plotkin concatenation with binary BCH component codes. This construction is more flexible regarding the attainable code parameters. In this work, we consider a list-based decoding algorithm for the Plotkin concatenation with BCH component codes. The proposed list decoding leads to a significant coding gain with only a small increase in computational complexity. Simulation results demonstrate that the Plotkin concatenation with the proposed decoding achieves near maximum likelihood decoding performance. This coding scheme can outperform polar codes for moderate code lengths.
Die Fähigkeit zur Erzeugung einer nur wenige Nanometer dicken Passivschicht gelingt nichtrostenden Edelstählen aufgrund deren chemischer Zusammensetzung. Die erzielte Korrosionsbeständigkeit wird allerdings darüber hinaus als Systemeigenschaft von einer Vielzahl von weiteren Faktoren beeinflusst. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich fokussiert mit dem Einfluss der schleiftechnischen Oberflächenbearbeitung von zwei ausgesuchten metastabilen austenitischen Legierungen auf deren Korrosionsverhalten.
Obwohl beide Legierungen eine vergleichbare Beständigkeit gemäß der chemischen Zusammensetzung besitzen, kann gezeigt werden, dass infolge von unterschiedlicher Oberflächenbearbeitung und unterschiedlichem Umformgrad eine starke Variation des Korrosionsverhaltens möglich ist. Es kann ebenfalls nachgewiesen werden, dass die Ausprägung und Anzahl von lokalen Oberflächendefekten hierfür verantwortlich ist. Dem eingesetzten Schleifkornwerkstoff kommt hierbei eine besondere Bedeutung zu.
Im modernen Automobilbau spielen Fussgängerschutzsysteme eine immer stärker werdende Rolle, um Verletzungen und Todesfälle bei Verkehrsunfällen mit Fussgängerbeteiligung zu reduzieren. Eines dieser Sicherheitssysteme ist die aktive Motorhaube. Durch die Verwendung von Formgedächtnislegierungen (FGL) als Aktoren können die bestehenden Systeme vereinfacht werden, wobei die gleiche Funktion durch neue Mechanismen bei reduzierter Grösse und Gewicht sowie verringerten Kosten ausgeführt werden kann. In diesem Beitrag werden nach einer Einleitung zu existierenden Systemen zur Motorhauben-Anhebung FG-Aktoren und deren potenzielle Einsatzmöglichkeiten in Automobilbau kurz vorgestellt.
This paper presents the current state of development and selected technological challenges in the application of ecologically and economically sustainable nets for aquaculture based on ongoing development projects. These aim at the development of a new material system of high-strength stainless steel wires as net material with environmentally compatible antifouling properties for nearshore and offshore aquacultures. Current plastic netting materials will be replaced with high-strength stainless steel to provide a more environmentally friendly system that can withstand more severe mechanical stresses (waves, storms, tides and predators). A new antifouling strategy is expected to solve current challenges, such as ecological damage (e.g., due to pollution from copper-containing antifouling substances or microplastics), high maintenance costs (e.g., cleaning and repairs), and shorter service life. Approaches for the next development steps are presented based on previous experience as well as calculation models based on this experience.
Diese Bachelorarbeit befasst sich mit einem Kooperationsprojekt in Botswana, welches durch Lehrende und Studierende der Hochschule für Technik Wirtschaft und Gestaltung in Konstanz und einigen Experten aus aller Welt umgesetzt werden soll. Außerdem geht sie der Frage nach, was der Unterschied vom klassischen zum hybriden Projektmanagement, welches hier angewendet wird ist und wie es möglich ist eine Supply-Chain für dieses Projekt zu erstellen.
This paper examines how varying antidumping methodologies applied within the World Trade Organization differ in the extent to which they reduce targeted exports. We show that antidumping duties, on average, hit Chinese exporters harder than those of other targeted countries. This difference can be traced back in part to China's non-market economy status, which affects the way antidumping duties are calculated. Furthermore, we show that the type of imposed duty matters, as ad-valorem duties affect exports differently compared to specific duties or duties conditional on the export price. Overall, however, antidumping duties remain effective in reducing imports independent of market economy status.
Jahresbericht 2021
(2021)
Nowadays, the inexpensive memory space promotes an accelerating growth of stored image data. To exploit the data using supervised Machine or Deep Learning, it needs to be labeled. Manually labeling the vast amount of data is time-consuming and expensive, especially if human experts with specific domain knowledge are indispensable. Active learning addresses this shortcoming by querying the user the labels of the most informative images first. One way to obtain the ‘informativeness’ is by using uncertainty sampling as a query strategy, where the system queries those images it is most uncertain about how to classify. In this paper, we present a web-based active learning framework that helps to accelerate the labeling process. After manually labeling some images, the user gets recommendations of further candidates that could potentially be labeled equally (bulk image folder shift). We aim to explore the most efficient ‘uncertainty’ measure to improve the quality of the recommendations such that all images are sorted with a minimum number of user interactions (clicks). We conducted experiments using a manually labeled reference dataset to evaluate different combinations of classifiers and uncertainty measures. The results clearly show the effectiveness of an uncertainty sampling with bulk image shift recommendations (our novel method), which can reduce the number of required clicks to only around 20% compared to manual labeling.
Summary of the 9th workshop on metallization and interconnection for crystalline silicon solar cells
(2021)
The 9th edition of the Workshop on Metallization and Interconnection for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells was held as an online event but nevertheless reached the workshop goals of knowledge sharing and networking. The technology of screen-printed contacts of high temperature pastes continues its fast progress enabled by better understanding of the phenomena taking place during printing and firing, and progress in materials. Great improvements were also achieved in low temperature paste printing and plated metallization. In the field of interconnection, progress was reported on multiwire approaches, electrically conductive adhesives and on foil-based approaches. Common to many contributions at the workshop was the use of advanced laser processes to improve performance or throughput.
Die Hochschule Konstanz Technik Wirtschaft und Gestaltung (HTWG) leistet sich einen technologischen Think-Tank: Das Open Innovation Lab. Es ist ein Labor, welches über Hierarchien und Fakultätsgrenzen hinweg für die Hochschulangehörigen geöffnet ist. Es leistet seinen Beitrag zu Lehre, Forschung und Transfer. Bezogen auf das Lernen ermöglicht das Labor, für den allgegenwärtigen Prozess der Digitalisierung soziale Verantwortung zu übernehmen und Kreativität im Umfeld technologischer Möglichkeiten zu entwickeln. Drei Ebenen wirken hier zusammen: das Individuum, das Miteinander und die übergreifende Organisationsstruktur.