Humanities & Social Sciences

Die Südosteuropa-Studien werden von der in München ansässigen Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, der wichtigsten Wissenschaftsorganisation der Südosteuropa-Forschung im deutschsprachigen Raum, herausgegeben. Sie dienen der vertieften und interdisziplinären wissenschaftlichen Darstellung wichtiger Themen aus der Südosteuropa-Forschung. Auch Fragen zur aktuellen politischen und sozio-ökonomischen Entwicklung in der Region Südosteuropa werden aufgegriffen. Herausgeber der Einzelbände sind renommierte Repräsentanten der deutschen und internationalen Südosteuropa-Forschung.

First published in 2005, Biomedical Signal and Image Processing received wide and welcome reception from universities and industry research institutions alike, offering detailed, yet accessible information at the reference, upper undergraduate, and first year graduate level. Retaining all of the quality and precision of the first edition, Biomedical Signal and Image Processing, Second Edition offers a number of revisions and improvements to provide the most up-to-date reference available on the fundamental signal and image processing techniques that are used to process biomedical information. Addressing the application of standard and novel processing techniques to some of today’s principle biomedical signals and images over three sections, the book begins with an introduction to digital signal and image processing, including Fourier transform, image filtering, edge detection, and wavelet transform. The second section investigates specifically biomedical signals, such as ECG, EEG, and EMG, while the third focuses on imaging using CT, X-Ray, MRI, ultrasound, positron, and other biomedical imaging techniques. Updated and expanded, Biomedical Signal and Image Processing, Second Edition offers numerous additional, predominantly MATLAB, examples to all chapters to illustrate the concepts described in the text and ensure a complete understanding of the material. The author takes great care to clarify ambiguities in some mathematical equations and to further explain and justify the more complex signal and image processing concepts to offer a complete and understandable approach to complicated concepts.

The debate on universals has been stimulated by advances in cultural studies and the humanities in general. Considering literature as a universal feature that can be found in any culture, the question is: a) what are the characteristics of literature as an anthropological constant? b) which specific occurrences of literature can be found in different times, cultures and languages – and how is it possible to compare them? c) How has literature been able to mediate over time between different cultures and their often opposing concepts? The wide field of literature transgressing and bridging borders comes into play here, e.g. translations, multilingual and “intercultural” literatures, travel journals and ethnographic interpretations. The main part of the anthology highlights the interplay of cultural impregnation and a universal motivation to express oneself by means of literature – by theoretical approaches as well as by studies with a view on German literature from the outside and/or a focus on the representation of the world in German literary texts. The closing chapter, “intercultural text workshop” enables the reader to gain insight into an ever more important feature of present-day literature: texts from authors who deliberately opted for German as their literary language - Marica Bodrožić, Tzveta Sofronieva, Yoko Tawada, José F.A. Oliver and Ilija Trojanow

Alongside analysing the oldest records of Roman inscriptions of Austria, this work particularly emphasizes the antiquarian-epigraphic collecting activity which can be noted in the area of Austria as a consequence of the spreading humanistic attitude. It focuses on the question, whether Augustinus Prygl Tyfernus is actually to be identified as the so-called „Antiquus Austriacus” as has been pleaded repeatedly. The examination of a number of relevant known and hitherto extensively unknown copies shows that the “Antiquus-Austriacus-Collection“ is not a homogeneous compilation by a single “auctor antiquissimus” but rather an anthology derived from different copies of varying quality, collected by Johannes Fuchsmagen.

This paper, basing its analysis on England’s national customs accounts between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, briefly examines England’s ports as commercial nodes (of which London was the busiest, with Hull, Southampton and Bristol becoming the main regional hubs by the fifteenth century), its shipping (which provided both liner and tramping services and sailed all year round), and its exports (which shifted from wool to woollen cloth over the period). It then focuses on the range of markets with which English merchants and ships had direct maritime contacts.

Es gibt Mythen des Entscheidens, die immer wieder erzählt werden, wie beispielsweise die Entscheidung von Adam und Eva im Paradies, vom Baum der Erkenntnis zu essen, das Urteil des Paris, Herakles am Scheideweg oder Buridans Esel, der sich zwischen zwei Heuhaufen nicht entscheiden kann und deshalb zugrunde geht. Der aus dem Münsteraner Sonderforschungsbereich 1150 »Kulturen des Entscheidens« hervorgegangene interdisziplinäre Tagungsband untersucht das Verhältnis von Mythos, Narration und Entscheiden. Er setzt in Mythos und Literatur erzählte Entscheidensszenarien in Bezug zu modernen Theorien des Entscheidens und fragt nach ihrer Funktion sowie den Veränderungen in unterschiedlichen historischen und kulturellen Kontexten. Analysiert werden einerseits Entscheidenssituationen, die in Mythen dargestellt werden; andererseits wird auch deutlich, in welcher Weise Mythen selbst Entscheidensdispositive darstellen. Die Beiträge des Bandes zeigen, wie Entscheidensmythen und -narrative der Kontingenzbewältigung dienen und betonen den sozialen Handlungscharakter des Entscheidens.

Das bisherige institutionell arrangierte Verhältnis von Sicherheit und Risiko ist angesichts der massiven Veränderungen der inneren, der sozialen und der äußeren Sicherheit in der Krise. Moderne Gesellschaften stehen vor der Frage, wie und in welchen Formen dieses Verhältnis neu bestimmt und auf soziale, rechtliche und politische Weise neu arrangiert werden kann. Der Fokus dieses Bandes zielt auf die Evaluierung politischer, sozialer und technischer Umgangsweisen mit Risiko sowie auf die Analyse der gesellschaftlichen Imaginationen, die mit diesen unweigerlich verknüpft sind.

"Religion" ist seit dem 17. Jahrhundert einer der zentralen Begriffe der deutschsprachigen protestantischen Theologie. Ab dem 19. Jahrhundert gewann der Begriff im Zusammenhang der religiösen Transformationsprozesse und Weltdeutungskämpfe der modernen Gesellschaft zunehmend auch Verbreitung außerhalb der Theologie. Protestantische Theologen setzten sich auf vielfältige und innovative Weise mit dieser Tatsache auseinander und prägten dadurch wesentlich die moderne Begriffsgeschichte von "Religion" mit. Die in diesem Band versammelten Einzelstudien bilden einen Beitrag zur Erschließung des vielfältigen - zum Teil auch dezidiert ablehnenden - Umgangs mit Begriff und Thematik der "Religion" in den unterschiedlichen Schulrichtungen der deutschsprachigen protestantischen Theologie des 19. Jahrhunderts. Dieses Buch lässt sich damit als Nachschlagewerk nutzen wie auch als thematisch fokussierte Theologiegeschichte lesen.

Who Are My People? explores the complex relationship between identity, violence, and Christianity in Africa.In Who Are My People?, Emmanuel Katongole examines what it means to be both an African and a Christian in a continent that is often riddled with violence. The driving assumption behind the investigation is that the recurring forms of violence in Africa reflect an ongoing crisis of belonging. Katongole traces the crisis through three key markers of identity: ethnicity, religion, and land. He highlights the unique modernity of the crisis of belonging and reveals that its manifestations of ethnic, religious, and ecological violence are not three separate forms of violence but rather modalities of the same crisis. This investigation shows that Christianity can generate and nurture alternative forms of community, nonviolent agency, and ecological possibilities.The book is divided into two parts. Part One deals with the philosophical and theological issues related to the question of African identity. Part Two includes three chapters, each of which engages a form of violence, locating it within the broader story of modern sub-Saharan Africa. Each chapter includes stories of Christian individuals and communities who not only resist violence but are determined to heal its wounds and the burden of history shaped by Africa’s unique modernity. In doing so, they invent new forms of identity, new communities, and a new relationship with the land. This engaging, interdisciplinary study, combining philosophical analysis and theological exploration, along with theoretical argument and practical resources, will interest scholars and students of theology, peace studies, and African studies.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) process was designed in 1996 to bring Asia and Europe closer together. This important collection brings together the discussions from the eighth ASEM Summit held in October 2010 in Brussels. It presents a multifaceted perspective of Asia-Europe convergences and disparities, shedding new light on the interregional political dialogue. Renowned academics and seasoned observers of Asia-Europe relations provide essential insights into the advantages and limitations of ASEM affairs, their most pertinent issues, and the role of ASEM as a constituent of the developing global governance architecture. In addition, the book offers a unique insider’s perspective of the preparations and negotiations of the Brussels events. In addition, the annex of the book includes ASEM-related primary sources not available in any publicly accessible records to date.

The monography includes ten studies, starting from the 3rd century B.C. and finishing in the 20th century.

This work proposes nonlinear controllers for achieving decentralised stabilisation and distributed coordination in networked multi-energy systems comprising gas and power networks. Asymptotic stability is ensured in each case using equilibrium-independent passivity theory. This approach yields nonlinear system stability results that depend only on the properties of the components, while being topology independent and allowing arbitrary network sizes and combinations.

The present chapter is about the Flash and Splash project, which is dedicated to the study of bubble dynamics in microgravity. The story of this project started in 2004 with a simple curiosity on how a cavitation bubble may behave within a water drop and evolved into an outstanding, internationally renowned science project as well as a wonderful human adventure. So far, we have participated in nine European Space Agency (ESA) parabolic flight campaigns (PFC) and made a significant progress in understanding the cavitation phenomenon. First, we investigated the dynamics of a cavitation bubble within a water drop and learned how the collapse may lead to the formation of a double jet. We discovered the formation of secondary cavitation due to the confinement of shockwaves within the drop. We used this result to propose a new path for erosion due to a high-speed impact of water drops on a solid surface. Then, we addressed the effect of gravity on bubble dynamics and came up with a unified framework to explain and predict key phenomena, such as microjets, shockwaves and luminescence. Parabolic flights gave us the unique opportunity to modulate the gravity-induced pressure gradient, which is crucial for the fate of a collapsing bubble.

In German literature, the doctrine of objective attribution has long since established itself as the prevailing opinion. In Switzerland, it has found its way into the literature and has already been included in the case law of the Federal Supreme Court on negligence offences. However, critical voices point out that the current status of the discussion is characterized by a large number of different approaches, some of which differ only marginally. A look at the literature actually shows that many essential questions, such as the raison d'être of individual aspects of attribution, are still disputed today. In this dissertation, Nicolas Leu therefore subjects objective attribution to a comprehensive and critical review that also takes into account the criminal offense system in which objective attribution is embedded.

How do urban structures change in the post-pandemic city? And what does a global pandemic mean for the city and its people? Until 2020, hardly anyone has probably asked themselves this question. But the sudden changes in public life, with standoff rules and restrictions on movement, have changed the way urban spaces are used. What demands will be placed on urban spaces and structures after the pandemic? To what extent do new forms of organization of everyday life affect urban processes? Findings from university teaching and a national winter school open a critical discussion on urban planning during and after the pandemic. Aspiring planners, architects and designers have expressed their ideas and demands for a mixed-use and climate-friendly city.