Academic literature on the topic 'SiGe HBT model'

While computational models of human music making are a hot research topic, the human side of computer-based music making has been largely neglected. What are our cognitive processes like when we create musical algorithms, and when we compose and perform with them? Musical human–algorithm interaction involves embodied action, perception and interaction, and some kind of internalization of the algorithms in the performer’s mind. How does the cognitive relate to the physical here? Departing from the age-old mind–body problem, this chapter tries to answer these questions and review relevant research, drawing from a number of related fields, such as musical cognition, cognition and psychology of programming, embodied performance, and neurological research, as well as from the author’s personal experience as an artist working in the field.

Hounds Of Loveinvites you to not only listen, but to cross the boundaries of sensory experience into realms of imagination and possibility. Side A spawned four Top 40 hit singles in the UK, ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)’, ‘Cloudbusting’, ‘Hounds of Love’ and ‘The Big Sky’, some of the best-loved and most enduring compositions in Bush’s catalogue. On side B, a hallucinatory seven-part song cycle calledThe Ninth Wavebroke away from the pop conventions of the era by using strange and vivid production techniques that plunge the listener into the psychological centre of a near-death experience. Poised and accessible, yet still experimental and complex, withHounds Of LoveBush mastered the art of her studio-based songcraft, finally achieving full control of her creative process. When it came out in 1985, she was only 27 years old. This book charts the emergence of Kate Bush in the early-to-mid-1980s as a courageous experimentalist, a singularly expressive recording artist and a visionary music producer. Track-by-track commentaries focus on the experience of the album from the listener’s point of view, drawing attention to the art and craft of Bush’s songwriting, production and sound design. It considers the vast impact and influence thatHounds Of Lovehas had on music cultures and creative practices through the years, underlining the artist’s importance as a barrier-smashing, template-defying, business-smart, record-breaking, never-compromising role model for artists everywhere.

In this study, several aspects of Saxion spin-offs have been analysed, the numbers, workplaces, location, migration, gender issues, different economic sectors and survival rates. The main question underlying all these analyses was what the impact of Saxion as university of applied sciences is on the regional economy of the two regions in which it is located. From the literature, the concept of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, as explanatory factor for the observations that in certain regions more graduates or staff members start their own business and that such an ecosystem helps small fledgling businesses to survive and grow is an interesting concept. Unfortunately, the theoretical foundations are still not fully crystallized, therefore measuring the actual influence of such entrepreneurial ecosystems is still a difficult exercise. In this study, Saxion spin-offs from two regions, Twente and the Cleantech Region, have been analysed, and several differences in terms of number of spin-offs, employment, migration patterns and survival rates have been identified. Since the spin-offs are from the same university of applied sciences, with the same policy regarding support of entrepreneurship and both regions are located outside of the economic core regions of the country, it appears as if the strength of the regional context, the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and the business opportunities it provides is a factor in explaining why there are more spin-offs in Twente (even when controlling for the larger size of the Saxion campus in this region). If one assumes that the strength of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is stronger in Twente (among others because of existing business networks, the availability of a world class research university, the University of Twente and a business support organization like Novel-T), it would explain why spin-offs located in this region on average offer more workplaces, and have a higher survival rate than in the Cleantech Region. Gender differences related to entrepreneurship are present in Saxion spin-offs, female graduates and staff members are much less likely to start a spin-off company than their male counterparts. When females do start, their spin-offs are on average much smaller in terms of workplaces offered. Their businesses have on average an equal survival rate than those started by a male entrepreneur. Findings from the literature on the subject and the numbers found in this study suggest that there is a need for specific programs in Saxion targeting females, to at least think about starting their own business. Also, specific mentoring programs for spin-offs with female entrepreneurs may help to let these businesses grow and increase their regional economic impact. Saxion spin-offs can be found in many different sectors, something understandable given the broad spectrum of study programs in Saxion. Even though most spin-offs remain micro sized businesses, certain economic sectors seem to offer better scalable business models, especially in sectors such as industry, information and communication technology businesses and business support services. The number as well as employment in the more innovative and internationally competitive topsectors is much higher in the region Twente than in the Cleantech Region, possibly another consequence of the – apparently – stronger regional entrepreneurial ecosystem in Twente. An often-stated argument for regional economic development is that investing in spin-off companies will help to create workplaces in the region, since companies are not very likely to move. In this study, the data on migration of spin-offs have been compared with the migration of graduates, based on the HBO-monitor survey. It is not possible to one-on-one compare the two datasets, as the migration of spin-offs is calculated for the first five years of their existence and the HBO-monitor is held around one and a half year after graduation. Still, w

Nationalism: Past as Prologue began as a single volume being compiled by Ad Akande, a scholar from South Africa, who proposed it to me as co-author about two years ago. The original idea was to examine how the damaging roots of nationalism have been corroding political systems around the world, and creating dangerous obstacles for necessary international cooperation. Since I (Bruce E. Johansen) has written profusely about climate change (global warming, a.k.a. infrared forcing), I suggested a concerted effort in that direction. This is a worldwide existential threat that affects every living thing on Earth. It often compounds upon itself, so delays in reducing emissions of fossil fuels are shortening the amount of time remaining to eliminate the use of fossil fuels to preserve a livable planet. Nationalism often impedes solutions to this problem (among many others), as nations place their singular needs above the common good. Our initial proposal got around, and abstracts on many subjects arrived. Within a few weeks, we had enough good material for a 100,000-word book. The book then fattened to two moderate volumes and then to four two very hefty tomes. We tried several different titles as good submissions swelled. We also discovered that our best contributors were experts in their fields, which ranged the world. We settled on three stand-alone books:” 1/ nationalism and racial justice. Our first volume grew as the growth of Black Lives Matter following the brutal killing of George Floyd ignited protests over police brutality and other issues during 2020, following the police assassination of Floyd in Minneapolis. It is estimated that more people took part in protests of police brutality during the summer of 2020 than any other series of marches in United States history. This includes upheavals during the 1960s over racial issues and against the war in Southeast Asia (notably Vietnam). We choose a volume on racism because it is one of nationalism’s main motive forces. This volume provides a worldwide array of work on nationalism’s growth in various countries, usually by authors residing in them, or in the United States with ethnic ties to the nation being examined, often recent immigrants to the United States from them. Our roster of contributors comprises a small United Nations of insightful, well-written research and commentary from Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, China, India, South Africa, France, Portugal, Estonia, Hungary, Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the United States. Volume 2 (this one) describes and analyzes nationalism, by country, around the world, except for the United States; and 3/material directly related to President Donald Trump, and the United States. The first volume is under consideration at the Texas A & M University Press. The other two are under contract to Nova Science Publishers (which includes social sciences). These three volumes may be used individually or as a set. Environmental material is taken up in appropriate places in each of the three books. * * * * * What became the United States of America has been strongly nationalist since the English of present-day Massachusetts and Jamestown first hit North America’s eastern shores. The country propelled itself across North America with the self-serving ideology of “manifest destiny” for four centuries before Donald Trump came along. Anyone who believes that a Trumpian affection for deportation of “illegals” is a new thing ought to take a look at immigration and deportation statistics in Adam Goodman’s The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Deporting Immigrants (Princeton University Press, 2020). Between 1920 and 2018, the United States deported 56.3 million people, compared with 51.7 million who were granted legal immigration status during the same dates. Nearly nine of ten deportees were Mexican (Nolan, 2020, 83). This kind of nationalism, has become an assassin of democracy as well as an impediment to solving global problems. Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times (2019:A-25): that “In their 2018 book, How Democracies Die, the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt documented how this process has played out in many countries, from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, to Recep Erdogan’s Turkey, to Viktor Orban’s Hungary. Add to these India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, and the United States’ Donald Trump, among others. Bit by bit, the guardrails of democracy have been torn down, as institutions meant to serve the public became tools of ruling parties and self-serving ideologies, weaponized to punish and intimidate opposition parties’ opponents. On paper, these countries are still democracies; in practice, they have become one-party regimes….And it’s happening here [the United States] as we speak. If you are not worried about the future of American democracy, you aren’t paying attention” (Krugmam, 2019, A-25). We are reminded continuously that the late Carl Sagan, one of our most insightful scientific public intellectuals, had an interesting theory about highly developed civilizations. Given the number of stars and planets that must exist in the vast reaches of the universe, he said, there must be other highly developed and organized forms of life. Distance may keep us from making physical contact, but Sagan said that another reason we may never be on speaking terms with another intelligent race is (judging from our own example) could be their penchant for destroying themselves in relatively short order after reaching technological complexity. This book’s chapters, introduction, and conclusion examine the worldwide rise of partisan nationalism and the damage it has wrought on the worldwide pursuit of solutions for issues requiring worldwide scope, such scientific co-operation public health and others, mixing analysis of both. We use both historical description and analysis. This analysis concludes with a description of why we must avoid the isolating nature of nationalism that isolates people and encourages separation if we are to deal with issues of world-wide concern, and to maintain a sustainable, survivable Earth, placing the dominant political movement of our time against the Earth’s existential crises. Our contributors, all experts in their fields, each have assumed responsibility for a country, or two if they are related. This work entwines themes of worldwide concern with the political growth of nationalism because leaders with such a worldview are disinclined to co-operate internationally at a time when nations must find ways to solve common problems, such as the climate crisis. Inability to cooperate at this stage may doom everyone, eventually, to an overheated, stormy future plagued by droughts and deluges portending shortages of food and other essential commodities, meanwhile destroying large coastal urban areas because of rising sea levels. Future historians may look back at our time and wonder why as well as how our world succumbed to isolating nationalism at a time when time was so short for cooperative intervention which is crucial for survival of a sustainable earth. Pride in language and culture is salubrious to individuals’ sense of history and identity. Excess nationalism that prevents international co-operation on harmful worldwide maladies is quite another. As Pope Francis has pointed out: For all of our connectivity due to expansion of social media, ability to communicate can breed contempt as well as mutual trust. “For all our hyper-connectivity,” said Francis, “We witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all” (Horowitz, 2020, A-12). The pope’s encyclical, titled “Brothers All,” also said: “The forces of myopic, extremist, resentful, and aggressive nationalism are on the rise.” The pope’s document also advocates support for migrants, as well as resistance to nationalist and tribal populism. Francis broadened his critique to the role of market capitalism, as well as nationalism has failed the peoples of the world when they need co-operation and solidarity in the face of the world-wide corona virus pandemic. Humankind needs to unite into “a new sense of the human family [Fratelli Tutti, “Brothers All”], that rejects war at all costs” (Pope, 2020, 6-A). Our journey takes us first to Russia, with the able eye and honed expertise of Richard D. Anderson, Jr. who teaches as UCLA and publishes on the subject of his chapter: “Putin, Russian identity, and Russia’s conduct at home and abroad.” Readers should find Dr. Anderson’s analysis fascinating because Vladimir Putin, the singular leader of Russian foreign and domestic policy these days (and perhaps for the rest of his life, given how malleable Russia’s Constitution has become) may be a short man physically, but has high ambitions. One of these involves restoring the old Russian (and Soviet) empire, which would involve re-subjugating a number of nations that broke off as the old order dissolved about 30 years ago. President (shall we say czar?) Putin also has international ambitions, notably by destabilizing the United States, where election meddling has become a specialty. The sight of Putin and U.S. president Donald Trump, two very rich men (Putin $70-$200 billion; Trump $2.5 billion), nuzzling in friendship would probably set Thomas Jefferson and Vladimir Lenin spinning in their graves. The road of history can take some unanticipated twists and turns. Consider Poland, from which we have an expert native analysis in chapter 2, Bartosz Hlebowicz, who is a Polish anthropologist and journalist. His piece is titled “Lawless and Unjust: How to Quickly Make Your Own Country a Puppet State Run by a Group of Hoodlums – the Hopeless Case of Poland (2015–2020).” When I visited Poland to teach and lecture twice between 2006 and 2008, most people seemed to be walking on air induced by freedom to conduct their own affairs to an unusual degree for a state usually squeezed between nationalists in Germany and Russia. What did the Poles then do in a couple of decades? Read Hlebowicz’ chapter and decide. It certainly isn’t soft-bellied liberalism. In Chapter 3, with Bruce E. Johansen, we visit China’s western provinces, the lands of Tibet as well as the Uighurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang region, who would most assuredly resent being characterized as being possessed by the Chinese of the Han to the east. As a student of Native American history, I had never before thought of the Tibetans and Uighurs as Native peoples struggling against the Independence-minded peoples of a land that is called an adjunct of China on most of our maps. The random act of sitting next to a young woman on an Air India flight out of Hyderabad, bound for New Delhi taught me that the Tibetans had something to share with the Lakota, the Iroquois, and hundreds of other Native American states and nations in North America. Active resistance to Chinese rule lasted into the mid-nineteenth century, and continues today in a subversive manner, even in song, as I learned in 2018 when I acted as a foreign adjudicator on a Ph.D. dissertation by a Tibetan student at the University of Madras (in what is now in a city called Chennai), in southwestern India on resistance in song during Tibet’s recent history. Tibet is one of very few places on Earth where a young dissident can get shot to death for singing a song that troubles China’s Quest for Lebensraum. The situation in Xinjiang region, where close to a million Muslims have been interned in “reeducation” camps surrounded with brick walls and barbed wire. They sing, too. Come with us and hear the music. Back to Europe now, in Chapter 4, to Portugal and Spain, we find a break in the general pattern of nationalism. Portugal has been more progressive governmentally than most. Spain varies from a liberal majority to military coups, a pattern which has been exported to Latin America. A situation such as this can make use of the term “populism” problematic, because general usage in our time usually ties the word into a right-wing connotative straightjacket. “Populism” can be used to describe progressive (left-wing) insurgencies as well. José Pinto, who is native to Portugal and also researches and writes in Spanish as well as English, in “Populism in Portugal and Spain: a Real Neighbourhood?” provides insight into these historical paradoxes. Hungary shares some historical inclinations with Poland (above). Both emerged from Soviet dominance in an air of developing freedom and multicultural diversity after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. Then, gradually at first, right wing-forces began to tighten up, stripping structures supporting popular freedom, from the courts, mass media, and other institutions. In Chapter 5, Bernard Tamas, in “From Youth Movement to Right-Liberal Wing Authoritarianism: The Rise of Fidesz and the Decline of Hungarian Democracy” puts the renewed growth of political and social repression into a context of worldwide nationalism. Tamas, an associate professor of political science at Valdosta State University, has been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a Fulbright scholar at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. His books include From Dissident to Party Politics: The Struggle for Democracy in Post-Communist Hungary (2007). Bear in mind that not everyone shares Orbán’s vision of what will make this nation great, again. On graffiti-covered walls in Budapest, Runes (traditional Hungarian script) has been found that read “Orbán is a motherfucker” (Mikanowski, 2019, 58). Also in Europe, in Chapter 6, Professor Ronan Le Coadic, of the University of Rennes, Rennes, France, in “Is There a Revival of French Nationalism?” Stating this title in the form of a question is quite appropriate because France’s nationalistic shift has built and ebbed several times during the last few decades. For a time after 2000, it came close to assuming the role of a substantial minority, only to ebb after that. In 2017, the candidate of the National Front reached the second round of the French presidential election. This was the second time this nationalist party reached the second round of the presidential election in the history of the Fifth Republic. In 2002, however, Jean-Marie Le Pen had only obtained 17.79% of the votes, while fifteen years later his daughter, Marine Le Pen, almost doubled her father's record, reaching 33.90% of the votes cast. Moreover, in the 2019 European elections, re-named Rassemblement National obtained the largest number of votes of all French political formations and can therefore boast of being "the leading party in France.” The brutality of oppressive nationalism may be expressed in personal relationships, such as child abuse. While Indonesia and Aotearoa [the Maoris’ name for New Zealand] hold very different ranks in the United Nations Human Development Programme assessments, where Indonesia is classified as a medium development country and Aotearoa New Zealand as a very high development country. In Chapter 7, “Domestic Violence Against Women in Indonesia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Making Sense of Differences and Similarities” co-authors, in Chapter 8, Mandy Morgan and Dr. Elli N. Hayati, from New Zealand and Indonesia respectively, found that despite their socio-economic differences, one in three women in each country experience physical or sexual intimate partner violence over their lifetime. In this chapter ther authors aim to deepen understandings of domestic violence through discussion of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of theit countries to address domestic violence alongside studies of women’s attitudes to gender norms and experiences of intimate partner violence. One of the most surprising and upsetting scholarly journeys that a North American student may take involves Adolf Hitler’s comments on oppression of American Indians and Blacks as he imagined the construction of the Nazi state, a genesis of nationalism that is all but unknown in the United States of America, traced in this volume (Chapter 8) by co-editor Johansen. Beginning in Mein Kampf, during the 1920s, Hitler explicitly used the westward expansion of the United States across North America as a model and justification for Nazi conquest and anticipated colonization by Germans of what the Nazis called the “wild East” – the Slavic nations of Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Russia, most of which were under control of the Soviet Union. The Volga River (in Russia) was styled by Hitler as the Germans’ Mississippi, and covered wagons were readied for the German “manifest destiny” of imprisoning, eradicating, and replacing peoples the Nazis deemed inferior, all with direct references to events in North America during the previous century. At the same time, with no sense of contradiction, the Nazis partook of a long-standing German romanticism of Native Americans. One of Goebbels’ less propitious schemes was to confer honorary Aryan status on Native American tribes, in the hope that they would rise up against their oppressors. U.S. racial attitudes were “evidence [to the Nazis] that America was evolving in the right direction, despite its specious rhetoric about equality.” Ming Xie, originally from Beijing, in the People’s Republic of China, in Chapter 9, “News Coverage and Public Perceptions of the Social Credit System in China,” writes that The State Council of China in 2014 announced “that a nationwide social credit system would be established” in China. “Under this system, individuals, private companies, social organizations, and governmental agencies are assigned a score which will be calculated based on their trustworthiness and daily actions such as transaction history, professional conduct, obedience to law, corruption, tax evasion, and academic plagiarism.” The “nationalism” in this case is that of the state over the individual. China has 1.4 billion people; this system takes their measure for the purpose of state control. Once fully operational, control will be more subtle. People who are subject to it, through modern technology (most often smart phones) will prompt many people to self-censor. Orwell, modernized, might write: “Your smart phone is watching you.” Ming Xie holds two Ph.Ds, one in Public Administration from University of Nebraska at Omaha and another in Cultural Anthropology from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, where she also worked for more than 10 years at a national think tank in the same institution. While there she summarized news from non-Chinese sources for senior members of the Chinese Communist Party. Ming is presently an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, West Texas A&M University. In Chapter 10, analyzing native peoples and nationhood, Barbara Alice Mann, Professor of Honours at the University of Toledo, in “Divide, et Impera: The Self-Genocide Game” details ways in which European-American invaders deprive the conquered of their sense of nationhood as part of a subjugation system that amounts to genocide, rubbing out their languages and cultures -- and ultimately forcing the native peoples to assimilate on their own, for survival in a culture that is foreign to them. Mann is one of Native American Studies’ most acute critics of conquests’ contradictions, and an author who retrieves Native history with a powerful sense of voice and purpose, having authored roughly a dozen books and numerous book chapters, among many other works, who has traveled around the world lecturing and publishing on many subjects. Nalanda Roy and S. Mae Pedron in Chapter 11, “Understanding the Face of Humanity: The Rohingya Genocide.” describe one of the largest forced migrations in the history of the human race, the removal of 700,000 to 800,000 Muslims from Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh, which itself is already one of the most crowded and impoverished nations on Earth. With about 150 million people packed into an area the size of Nebraska and Iowa (population less than a tenth that of Bangladesh, a country that is losing land steadily to rising sea levels and erosion of the Ganges river delta. The Rohingyas’ refugee camp has been squeezed onto a gigantic, eroding, muddy slope that contains nearly no vegetation. However, Bangladesh is majority Muslim, so while the Rohingya may starve, they won’t be shot to death by marauding armies. Both authors of this exquisite (and excruciating) account teach at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia, Roy as an associate professor of International Studies and Asian politics, and Pedron as a graduate student; Roy originally hails from very eastern India, close to both Myanmar and Bangladesh, so he has special insight into the context of one of the most brutal genocides of our time, or any other. This is our case describing the problems that nationalism has and will pose for the sustainability of the Earth as our little blue-and-green orb becomes more crowded over time. The old ways, in which national arguments often end in devastating wars, are obsolete, given that the Earth and all the people, plants, and other animals that it sustains are faced with the existential threat of a climate crisis that within two centuries, more or less, will flood large parts of coastal cities, and endanger many species of plants and animals. To survive, we must listen to the Earth, and observe her travails, because they are increasingly our own.

Dawid Kasprowicz widmet sich in diesem Artikel wissenschafts- und medienhistorisch dem Model des Reinforcement Learning (RL), das bei der Modellierung autonomer Autos einen zentralen Stellenwert hat. Dabei wird dargelegt, dass die Verbreitung und Anwendung des bestärkenden Lernens nicht nur eine Folge des verbesserten Lernverhaltens durch das Trainieren Neuronaler Netzwerke in Spielsituationen darstellt. Es wird argumentiert, dass das RL eine deartige Relevanz für das Testen autonomer Autos hat, weil es die Steuerung von Kontingenz in Experimenten und Simulationen ermöglicht. Es ist diese Steuerung von Kontingenz, die für die Simulationen autonomer Autos unabdingbar wird. Sie eröffnet zugleich die Frage, was der Übergang aus Verhaltensexperimenten in Verkehrssimulationen über das RL-Modell und die Modellierung autonomer Autos aussagt.

Abstract Predictive process monitoring (PPM) methods provide users with real-time predictions about ongoing process instances. Machine learning models used for such tasks do not account for data variability, such as the occurrence of previously unseen categorical feature values. Concept drift adaptation solutions are suggested in such scenarios. However, adapting to new feature values requires time and a sample size large enough to train a well-generalizing model. Still, users expect seamless communication during the timeframe between the first occurrence of a new value and the availability of an updated model. Dedicated solutions are needed since encoding techniques like one hot encoding cannot handle previously unseen values by default. In this work, we first introduce and discuss possible solutions from a business perspective, ranging from temporary shutdowns to dedicated manual and technical solutions for an uninterrupted continuation of predictive services. Next, we present five variants for one hot encoding to handle previously unseen categorical values. This is followed by a case study using six real-world event logs and two machine learning models, XGBoost and LSTM, to identify the variants that produce the most reliable remaining time predictions. The study also includes the evaluation of two baseline models as an alternative to the machine learning models. The results show that previously unseen categorical values can be handled on a technical level without severely affecting the remaining time prediction quality. However, future research is required to provide more practical recommendations.

Johannes Christof untersucht in seinem Beitrag die Auflösung hergebrachter Ordnungen in Texten Gertrude Steins und Heiner Müllers. Während Müller mit seinem Bild von der Verwandlung des Menschen in Landschaft das neuzeitliche Menschenbild in Frage stellt, denkt Stein über Strukturanalogien von modernen Theatertexten und Landschaft nach. Für sie hat die Auflösung dramatischer Strukturen grundlegende Veränderungen der Wahrnehmung nicht nur im Theater zur Folge. Beide Landschaftsmodelle stehen nicht nur für Auflösung, sondern ebenso für die Genese von Neuem. Denkt man den Tod in Müllers Texten als Verwandlung des anthropozentrischen Selbstverständnisses, wird in der Landschaft ein utopisches Moment erkennbar.

Abstract Advanced electrolysis hydrogen technology has demonstrated utility in providing hydrogen for brazing, annealing, MIM, P/M, flame spray and other thermal treatment techniques, in both continuous and batch modes. Advantages include low flammable inventory, elimination of pressure hazards, eliminating of the need to move cylinders and elimination of deliveries. By combining on-site hydrogen generation with a small amount of in-process hydrogen surge storage, on-site hydrogen generation can be used to meet the needs of batch process such as batch furnaces. By carefully choosing generation pressure and surge storage vessel volume, the process can provide maximum flexibility while minimizing the amount of hydrogen actually stored. As compared with dissociated ammonia, advanced electrolysis hydrogen generation provides drier gas, and the ability to vary furnace atmosphere from no hydrogen to 100% hydrogen, enhancing processing flexibility. Additionally, advanced electrolysis can be turned off when not in use saving power as compared with ammonia retorts.

Background An estimated 292 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection globally, including 223,000 people in Australia. HBV diagnosis and linkage of people living with HBV to clinical care is suboptimal in Australia, with 27% of people living with HBV undiagnosed and 77% not receiving regular HBV clinical care. This systematic review aimed to characterize population-level interventions implemented to enhance all components of HBV care cascade and analyse the effectiveness of interventions. Review questions Question 1: What population-level interventions, programs or policy approaches have been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence of hepatitis B; and that may not yet be fully rolled out or evaluated in Australia demonstrate early effectiveness, or promise, in reducing the incidence of hepatitis B? Question 2: What population-level interventions and/or programs are effective at reducing disease burden for people in the community with hepatitis B? Methods Four bibliographic databases and 21 grey literature sources were searched. Studies were eligible for inclusion if the study population included people with or at risk of chronic HBV, and the study conducted a population-level interventions to decrease HBV incidence or disease burden or to enhance any components of HBV care cascade (i.e., diagnosis, linkage to care, treatment initiation, adherence to clinical care), or HBV vaccination coverage. Studies published in the past 10 years (since January 2012), with or without comparison groups were eligible for inclusion. Studies conducting an HBV screening intervention were eligible if they reported proportion of people participating in screening, proportion of newly diagnosed HBV (participant was unaware of their HBV status), proportion of people received HBV vaccination following screening, or proportion of participants diagnosed with chronic HBV infection who were linked to HBV clinical care. Studies were excluded if study population was less than 20 participants, intervention included a pharmaceutical intervention or a hospital-based intervention, or study was implemented in limited clinical services. The records were initially screened by title and abstract. The full texts of potentially eligible records were reviewed, and eligible studies were selected for inclusion. For each study included in analysis, the study outcome and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were calculated. For studies including a comparison group, odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95%CIs were calculated. Random effect meta-analysis models were used to calculate the pooled study outcome estimates. Stratified analyses were conducted by study setting, study population, and intervention-specific characteristics. Key findings A total of 61 studies were included in the analysis. A large majority of studies (study n=48, 79%) included single-arm studies with no concurrent control, with seven (12%) randomised controlled trials, and six (10%) non-randomised controlled studies. A total of 109 interventions were evaluated in 61 included studies. On-site or outreach HBV screening and linkage to HBV clinical care coordination were the most frequent interventions, conducted in 27 and 26 studies, respectively. Question 1 We found no studies reporting HBV incidence as the study outcome. One study conducted in remote area demonstrated that an intervention including education of pregnant women and training village health volunteers enhanced coverage of HBV birth dose vaccination (93% post-intervention, vs. 81% pre-intervention), but no data of HBV incidence among infants were reported. Question 2 Study outcomes most relevant to the HBV burden for people in the community with HBV included, HBV diagnosis, linkage to HBV care, and HBV vaccination coverage. Among randomised controlled trials aimed at enhancing HBV screening, a meta-analysis was conducted including three studies which implemented an intervention including community face-to-face education focused on HBV and/or liver cancer among migrants from high HBV prevalence areas. This analysis demonstrated a significantly higher HBV testing uptake in intervention groups with the likelihood of HBV testing 3.6 times higher among those participating in education programs compared to the control groups (OR: 3.62, 95% CI 2.72, 4.88). In another analysis, including 25 studies evaluating an intervention to enhance HBV screening, a pooled estimate of 66% of participants received HBV testing following the study intervention (95%CI: 58-75%), with high heterogeneity across studies (range: 17-98%; I-square: 99.9%). A stratified analysis by HBV screening strategy demonstrated that in the studies providing participants with on-site HBV testing, the proportion receiving HBV testing (80%, 95%CI: 72-87%) was significantly higher compared to the studies referring participants to an external site for HBV testing (54%, 95%CI: 37-71%). In the studies implementing an intervention to enhance linkage of people diagnosed with HBV infection to clinical care, the interventions included different components and varied across studies. The most common component was post-test counselling followed by assistance with scheduling clinical appointments, conducted in 52% and 38% of the studies, respectively. In meta-analysis, a pooled estimate of 73% of people with HBV infection were linked to HBV clinical care (95%CI: 64-81%), with high heterogeneity across studies (range: 28-100%; I-square: 99.2%). A stratified analysis by study population demonstrated that in the studies among general population in high prevalence countries, 94% of people (95%CI: 88-100%) who received the study intervention were linked to care, significantly higher than 72% (95%CI: 61-83%) in studies among migrants from high prevalence area living in a country with low prevalence. In 19 studies, HBV vaccination uptake was assessed after an intervention, among which one study assessed birth dose vaccination among infants, one study assessed vaccination in elementary school children and 17 studies assessed vaccination in adults. Among studies assessing adult vaccination, a pooled estimate of 38% (95%CI: 21-56%) of people initiated vaccination, with high heterogeneity across studies (range: 0.5-93%; I square: 99.9%). A stratified analysis by HBV vaccination strategy demonstrated that in the studies providing on-site vaccination, the uptake was 78% (95%CI: 62-94%), significantly higher compared to 27% (95%CI: 13-42%) in studies referring participants to an external site for vaccination. Conclusion This systematic review identified a wide variety of interventions, mostly multi-component interventions, to enhance HBV screening, linkage to HBV clinical care, and HBV vaccination coverage. High heterogeneity was observed in effectiveness of interventions in all three domains of screening, linkage to care, and vaccination. Strategies identified to boost the effectiveness of interventions included providing on-site HBV testing and vaccination (versus referral for testing and vaccination) and including community education focussed on HBV or liver cancer in an HBV screening program. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of more novel interventions (e.g., point of care testing) and interventions specifically including Indigenous populations, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and people incarcerated.

The objectives of this project were to predict the performance of naturally and fan-ventilated greenhouses as a function of climate, type of crop, evaporative cooling and greenhouse size, and to estimate the effects of the two cooling systems on yield, quality and disease development in the different crops under study. Background In the competitive field of greenhouse cultivation, growers and designers in both the US and Israel are repeatedly forced to choose between naturally ventilated (NV) and fan ventilated (FV) cooling systems as they expand their ranges in an effort to remain profitable. The known advantages and disadvantages of each system do not presently allow a clear decision. Whether essentially zero operating costs can offset the less dependable cooling of natural ventilation systems is question this report hopes to answer. Major Conclusions US It was concluded very early on that FV greenhouses without evaporative pad cooling are not competitive with NV greenhouses during hot weather. During the first year, the US team found that average air temperatures were always higher in the FV houses, compared to the NV houses, when evaporative pad cooling was not used, regardless of ventilation rate in the FV houses or the vent configuration in the NV houses. Canopy temperatures were also higher in the FV ventilated houses when three vents were used in the NV houses. A second major conclusion was that the US team found that low pressure fogging (4 atm) in NV houses does not completely offset the advantage of evaporative pad cooling in FV houses. High pressure fog (65 atm) is more effective, but considerably more expensive. Israel Experiments were done with roses in the years 2003-2005 and with tomatoes in 2005. Three modes of natural ventilation (roof, side and side + roof openings) were compared with a fan-ventilated (with evaporative cooling) house. It was shown that under common practice of fan ventilation, during summer, the ventilation rate is usually lower with NV than with FV. The microclimate under both NV and FV was not homogeneous. In both treatments there were strong gradients in temperature and humidity in the vertical direction. In addition, there were gradients that developed in horizontal planes in a direction parallel to the direction of the prevailing air velocity within the greenhouse. The gradients in the horizontal direction appear to be larger with FV than with NV. The ratio between sensible and latent heat fluxes (Bowen ratio) was found to be dependent considerably on whether NV or FV is applied. This ratio was generally negative in the naturally ventilated house (about -0.14) and positive in the fan ventilated one (about 0.19). Theoretical models based on Penman-Monteith equation were used to predict the interior air and crop temperatures and the transpiration rate with NV. Good agreement between the model and experimental results was obtained with regard to the air temperature and transpiration with side and side + roof ventilation. However, the agreement was poor with only roof ventilation. The yield (number of rose stems longer than 40 cm) was higher with FV

This study reviews the Illinois Department of Transportation’s full-depth asphalt, limiting strain criterion, and asphalt over rubblized concrete design procedures, considering technological advancements in hot-mix asphalt—namely, the increased use of recycled materials and modified asphalt binders. The researchers evaluated the current |E*| algorithm by conducting laboratory tests with four mix designs and seven asphalt binders of different Superpave performance grades. They compared predictive models, including the current Illinois modulus algorithm as well as the Witczak, Hirsch, and newly developed Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) Bayesian neural network (BNN) models. The ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) nondestructive test for modulus and field modulus measurements was evaluated as well. Subsequent tasks involved reviewing current fatigue endurance limit (FEL) criteria from an adapted protocol for the four-point bending beam fatigue test. This study found that typical hot-mix asphalt modulus values in Illinois are underestimated compared to modern mixes, suggesting potential savings by allowing an increased modulus value to be used, reducing layer thickness design. Low-temperature performance grades significantly influenced modulus, and the developed ICT BNN predictive model outperformed traditional ones. While UPV was promising for modulus screening, challenges related to material properties assumptions were identified. The current stage of research on assessing modern mixes’ FEL reveals the complexity of observing FEL using simplified methods. To advance this objective, a concept of acceptable stiffness ratio (SR) is introduced. In these cases, exceptionally long fatigue life would be obtained for mixes that demonstrate an acceptable drop in SR within 10,000 cycles, with no apparent evolution of the damage state. The most conservative estimation of strain level that would result in acceptable SR aligned with IDOT’s current 70 microstrain FEL criteria. On the less conservative side, allowing a 10% drop in SR within 10,000 loading cycles could increase the acceptable SR < 1 strain level as high as approximately 180 microstrain, with caution needed regarding evolving mobility trends and environmental stressors including the changing climate.

This paper investigates the exchange rate pass through considering the source of the shocks that hit the economy. With a Bayesian Global VAR model, the exchange rate pass-through is analyzed for 5 Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The model is estimated with Bayesian techniques and is identified by sign and zero restrictions. The BGVAR estimation enable us to allow spillover between countries mimicking the real conditions when the shocks hit the economies. Four domestic shocks for each Latin American countries are considered: an exchange rate shock, a risk premium shock, a monetary policy shock and a demand shock. The demand shock has the highest exchange rate pass-through for all the countries and the exchange rate shock has the lowest one. Additionally, two regional shocks are considered: a regional monetary policy shock, an event that all the region rises its interest rate and a regional risk premium shock, where the risk premium rises at the same time. For almost of the countries, the exchange rate pass-through coming from those regional shocks are lower than its domestic counterpart shock. Finally, we investigate two global shocks, an uncertainty shock and a global commodities/demand shock. The uncertainty shock decreases the economic activity and depreciates the exchange rate with a negative exchange rate pass-through in the middle term. The commodities/demand shock increases the economic activity and appreciates the exchange rate passthrough, having a negative or neutral exchange rate pass-through over the time.

This report examines recent past changes in mean temperature and precipitation and future climate projections in four areas where the UPM-Kymmene company operates: Finland, Germany, Uruguay and China. Observational changes over 1961–2023 are derived from the ERA5 reanalysis and future projections from CMIP6 global climate models. Three greenhouse gas scenarios are considered: the SSP1-2.6 scenario represents low, SSP2-4.5 medium and SSP5-8.5 very high future emissions. All projections are presented with respect to the period 1981--2010, and main focus is placed on the changes projected for the period 2040–2069 under SSP2-4.5. In addition, we discuss changes in indices representing extreme heat, excessive precipitation events and the occurrence of drought. Observational seasonal temperatures have already shown a statistically significant increase. For precipitation, interannual variability is large, and no statistically significant trends were found, apart from Finland in winter. In the future, mean temperatures are projected to increase in all four regions, even though inter-model differences in the magnitude of change are substantial. In conjunction with the general warming, hot extremes will become increasingly frequent. For variables other than temperature, there is at least some degree of model disagreement on the sign of the change. However, it is likely that precipitation will increase in Finland in winter and decrease in Germany in summer. Extreme precipitation evidently intensifies in all four regions. In Germany, the risk of drought is expected to increase especially in late summer. Solar radiation is projected to increase in Finland and Germany (especially in summer) and in China (in all seasons). An important factor behind this phenomenon is the decrease of aerosol load in the air. For relative humidity, a substantial decrease is projected for Germany in summer. In the second half of the 21st century, the magnitude of climate change depends strongly on the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, if emissions were effectively reduced, the changes would probably be weaker than those simulated under the SSP2-4.5 scenario.

A research study investigated longitudinal cracking developing along an experimental unbonded concrete overlay (UBOL) on I-72 near Riverton, Illinois. The project evaluated existing literature on UBOL (design, construction, and performance), UBOL case studies, and mechanistic-empirical design procedures for defining the mechanisms that are contributing to the observed distresses. Detailed distress surveys and coring were conducted to assess the extent of the longitudinal cracking and faulting along the longitudinal lane-shoulder joint. Coring over the transverse contraction joints in the driving lane showed stripping and erosion of the dense-graded hot-mix asphalt (HMA) interlayer was the primary mechanism initiating the longitudinal cracks. Cores from the lane-shoulder joint confirmed stripping and erosion was also occurring there and leading to the elevation difference between the driving lane and shoulder. Field sections by surrounding state departments of transportation (DOTs), such as Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, with similar UBOL design features to the I-72 section were examined. Site visits were performed in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, while other sections were reviewed via state DOT contacts as well as Google Earth and Maps. Evidence from other DOTs suggested that HMA interlayers, whether dense graded or drainable, could experience stripping, erosion, and instability under certain conditions. An existing performance test for interlayers, i.e., Hamburg wheel-tracking device, and current models reviewed were not able to predict the distresses on I-72 eastbound. Adapting a dynamic cylinder test is a next step to screen HMA interlayers (or other stabilized layers) for stripping and erosion potential. To slow down the cracking and faulting on I-72 eastbound, sealing of the longitudinal lane-shoulder joint and driving lane transverse joints is suggested. To maximize UBOL service life, an HMA overlay will minimize water infiltration into the interlayer system and significantly slow down the HMA stripping and erosion mechanism that has led to longitudinal cracking and lane-shoulder faulting.

Das Stadt der Zukunft (SdZ) Programm des Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie (BMK) hat sich aus dem Haus der Zukunft Programm weiterentwickelt und bedient daher eine breitere Stakeholderlandschaft als früher. Zudem gibt es Dezentralisierungstendenzen in der Energieversorgungsbranche sowie das Entstehen neuer AkteurInnen durch neue Innovationen, weshalb sich die Stakeholderdiversität ebenfalls erhöht und das Potenzial haben, Kommunikationsaufgaben komplexer zu machen. Zudem versteht sich das SdZ-Programm als einer der österreichischen Vorreiter der missionsorientierten Innovationsförderung und möchte sich in dieser Tradition weiter in ihrer Abwicklung und Kommunikation Richtung Missionsorientierung entwickeln. Diese Studie stellt sich daher die Frage, wie Programmmanagement und Wissenskommunikation in der missionsorientierten, angewandten Forschung konzipiert und effektiv umgesetzt werden können. Es wurden mittels Literatur- und Dokumentenanalyse, Stakeholderanalyse, zweier internationaler Fallstudien, Interviews mit insgesamt 15 ExpertInnen und AkteurInnen aus den verschiedenen Stakeholdergruppen, zweier Fokusgruppen sowie einem Co-Creationworkshop Rückschlüsse auf die aktuelle Wirkung der Kommunikationsdimensionen des SdZ-Programmes gezogen und Überlegungen hinsichtlich der Weiterentwicklungsmöglichkeiten zu Missionsorientierung nach OECD-Definition angestellt. Das resultierende Modell wurde in einem finalen Reflexionsworkshop mit dem Auftraggeber diskutiert. Der analytische Zugang unterteilt Missionsorientierung für die „Stadt der Zukunft“ in drei Ebenen, wovon die erste die Kommunikation auf Programmebene betrachtet, die zweite Ebene eine programmübergreifende Koordination im Sinne gemeinsamer Missionen überlegt und Ebene 3, auf welcher eine klar definierte „Mission Stadt der Zukunft“ angenommen wird und eine Stakeholderkommunikation als Kooperation in einem komplexen System verstanden wird. Dieses Verständnis wird bei der Entwicklung der Lösungsvorschläge berücksichtigt und einerseits Weiterentwicklungsvorschläge für jeden einzelnen Programmschritt gemacht, um die Kommunikation auf Ebene 1 und 2 nach den drei Hauptfunktionen receive, transmit und collaborate zu verbessern. Eine Kommunikation für Ebene 3, so wird geschlussfolgert, kann am effektivsten über eine offene Kommunikationsarchitektur gelingen, die als Kooperationsplattform orchestriert wird, um möglichst vielen Individuen aller denkbaren Stakeholdergruppen problembasiert dynamische Interaktion und Kollaboration zu ermöglichen. Als Ergebnis liefert diese Studie einen Vorschlag für eine Vorgehensweise, die es ProrammeignerInnen ermöglichen soll, Kommunikation und Programmmanagement für missionsorientierte Innovationsförderung in diesem Kontext zu planen. Folgende drei Schritte werden empfohlen: 1. Die Mission definieren: Typus und Rahmenbedingungen der Mission berücksichtigen. 2. Die Handlungsebene verstehen: Das „Ebenen-Modell“ gibt Empfehlungen, auf welche Kommunikationsaktivitäten auf welcher Ebene besonderer Fokus zu legen ist. 3. Den besten Weg zur Stakeholdereinbindung finden: Je nachdem, auf welcher Ebene die Mission stattfinden soll, werden unterschiedliche Funktionen des Public Engagement Triangle wichtiger. Anhand von zwei konkreten Beispielen für im Rahmen des SdZ-Programmes möglichen hypothetischer (Sub-)Missionen werden nun diese drei Schritte exemplarisch angewendet und gezielt Vorschläge für Management und Kommunikations-Maßnahmen gemacht: 1. Beispiel 1: Mission zur Etablierung von Plus-Energie-Quartieren in Österreich 2. Beispiel 2: Mission zur Realisierung klimaneutraler Städte in Österreich Die in dieser Studie erarbeiteten Modelle und Zugangsweisen sind so konzipiert, dass sie für die Gestaltung beliebiger Missions- und Zielsetzungen nützliche Orientierung geben können.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe hard, and measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 have resulted in a deep recession in 2020. To fight this recession, national governments have mobilised considerable funds to support the economy and prepare for a rebound in the following years. In addition to national efforts, the European Commission has initiated NextGenerationEU, a 750 bn EUR package to support Europe’s recovery, and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) as its biggest component. The aim of this package is to make Europe’s economies more resilient to future challenges while supporting them in the green and digital transitions. Immediate support for the economy is important to stabilize employment and prevent vicious cycles that appeared during the Great Depression of the 1930s. However, these measures may also hamper change for good when they only aim at restoring the status quo before the crisis. Times of crisis are always times of transformation and innovation – this may also be true for the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 and 2021.The crisis may provide a good environment to push for transformative innovation. The rapid development of vaccines against COVID-19 is a strong sign for the adaptability of national innovation systems to new challenges, and the sense of urgency for change is high. However, one may also ask if national funding and the EU recovery packages are agile enough to support new ideas, new firms and new business models, as potential triggers of transformation. Against this background, the project will analyse Austria’s response to the economic effects of the crisis from an innovation and transformation perspective. In particular, the project will look at the recovery packages from the perspective of the ‘protect-prepare-transform’ framework proposed by the EU Expert group on the Societal and Economic Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR, 2020): the need to protect the overall wellbeing of individuals during the crisis, the need to prepare for future pandemics and crises and the need to transform the European economy and society towards more resilience against future crises. The analysis will include national funds as well as Austria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), i.e. its proposal to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) of the European Commission. This multi-level nature of the recovery measures is further complicated by regional initiatives to mobilise further resources such as EU Structural Funds to fight the COVID-19 crisis.

A major goal in Israeli and U.S. agroecosystems is to maximize nitrogen availability to crops while minimizing nitrogen losses to air and water resources. This goal has presented a significant challenge to global agronomists and scientists because crops require large inputs of nitrogen (N) fertilizer to maximize yield, but N fertilizers are easily lost to surrounding ecosystems where they contribute to water pollution and greenhouse gas concentrations. Determination of the optimum N fertilizer input is complex because the amount of N produced from soil organic matter varies with time, space and management. Indicators of soil N availability may help to guide requirements for N fertilizer inputs and are increasingly viewed as indicators of soil health To address these challenges and improve N availability indicators, project 4550 “Improving nitrogen availability indicators by emphasizing correlations between gross nitrogen mineralization and the quality and quantity of labile organic matter fractions” addressed the following objectives: Link the quantity and quality of labile soil organic matter fractions to indicators of soil fertility and environmental quality including: i) laboratory potential net N mineralization ii) in situ gross N mineralization iii) in situ N accumulation on ion exchange resins iv) crop uptake of N from mineralized soil organic matter sources (non-fertilizer N), and v) soil nitrate pool size. Evaluate and compare the potential for hot water extractable organic matter (HWEOM) and particulate organic matter quantity and quality to characterize soil N dynamics in biophysically variable Israeli and U.S. agroecosystems that are managed with different N fertility sources. Ultimately, we sought to determine if nitrogen availability indicators are the same for i) gross vs. potential net N mineralization processes, ii) diverse agroecosystems (Israel vs. US) and, iii) management strategies (organic vs. inorganic N fertility sources). Nitrogen availability indicators significantly differed for gross vs. potential N mineralization processes. These results highlight that different mechanisms control each process. Although most research on N availability indicators focuses on potential net N mineralization, new research highlights that gross N mineralization may better reflect plant N availability. Results from this project identify the use of ion exchange resin (IERs) beads as a potential technical advance to improve N mineralization assays and predictors of N availability. The IERs mimic the rhizosphere by protecting mineralized N from loss and immobilization. As a result, the IERs may save time and money by providing a measurement of N mineralization that is more similar to the costly and time consuming measurement of gross N mineralization. In further search of more accurate and cost-effective predictors of N dynamics, Excitation- Emission Matrix (EEM) spectroscopy analysis of HWEOM solution has the potential to provide reliable indicators for changes in HWEOM over time. These results demonstrated that conventional methods of labile soil organic matter quantity (HWEOM) coupled with new analyses (EEM) may be used to obtain more detailed information about N dynamics. Across Israeli and US soils with organic and inorganic based N fertility sources, multiple linear regression models were developed to predict gross and potential N mineralization. The use of N availability indicators is increasing as they are incorporated into soil health assessments and agroecosystem models that guide N inputs. Results from this project suggest that some soil variables can universally predict these important ecosystem process across diverse soils, climate and agronomic management. BARD Report - Project4550 Page 2 of 249