Boundaries and transborder relations, or the hole in the prison wall: On the necessity of superfluous limits and boundaries

Boundaries can be seen as barriers or as places of contact. It has been suggested that we are "prisoners of borders”, of all kinds of borders (political, religious, social, cultural, linguistic etc.). While this statement appears to be somewhat exaggerated, it holds some truth. Boundaries are elements in spatial organization, and they influence daily life in many ways (not only for people living right along them). The paper addresses the question if we must call ourselves "prisoners” or if we simply have to live with all kinds of borders. Departing from theoretical observations, the paper discusses the various aspects boundaries assume in the European context before looking at a few concrete Swiss examples. They reveal that even regions at a certain distance of the state border will feel its effects (the case of Zurich airport), but the most important benefit can been drawn by people living in the border area itself (through price differences between the two countries, as exemplified by the Swiss-Italian border). There may be asymmetry on state borders, but this asymmetry can also swing around: the advantages often lie on both sides. The paper concludes by pointing to the persistence of the boundary concept. They are a necessity for the organization of space and society, but they are not absolute. There are always holes in these prison walls, and the examples where boundaries were impermeable are probably rar

Harry Stack Sullian's self-system

The following article includes Harry Stack Sullivan’s interpersonal theory and more specifically, his use of the “self-system.” This theory is mainly built out of the social context of human experiences, however congenital factors are not denied. The social element of human growth starts with a central state of interpersonal affiliation in infancy and endures throughout adulthood. Interpersonal connections are the significant requirements for standard human progression. Furthermore, destructive exhibitions can be explained by deviance, psychopathology, and immaturity

A Hardware Implementation of Artificial Neural Network Using Field Programmable Gate Arrays

An artificial neural network algorithm is implemented using a field programmable gate array hardware. One hidden layer is used in the feed-forward neural network structure in order to discriminate one class of patterns from the other class in real time. With five 8-bit input patterns, six hidden nodes, and one 8-bit output, the implemented hardware neural network makes decision on a set of input patterns in 11 clocks and the result is identical to what to expect from off-line computation. This implementation may be used in level 1 hardware triggers in high energy physics experimentsComment: 13 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth.

Do wildflower strips enhance pest control in organic cabbage?

Within this project we assess whether wildflower strips and companion plants increase the control of cabbage pests Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), Mamestra brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Pieris rapae L. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) by (1) naturally occurring parasitoids and predators and (2) mass‐releasedn Trichogramma brassciae (Bezdenko) (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) parasitoids. Two organic cabbage fields were used for this study: adjacent to each field a wildflower strip was sown and companion plants (Centaurea cyanus L. (Asteraceae)) intermixed within the crop. Within each field ~15,000 M. brassicae eggs were placed out to determine the parasitism rates by mass‐released T. brassicae and to assess the levels of egg predation. Over 1,000 lepidopteran larvae were collected and screened for hymenopteran and tachinid parasitoid DNA using a multiplex PCR assay. Invertebrate generalist predators (n=1,063) were collected for DNA‐based gut content analysis. The wildflower strip had a significant positive effect on M. brassicae egg parasitism rates as rates increased 5‐fold in the vicinity to the strip. Moreover, companion plants enhanced invertebrate predation on M. brassicae eggs. Both, the release of T. brassicae and the use of companion plants, however, did not significantly increase egg parasitism rates. The infestation of plants by caterpillars increased with distance to the wildflower strip and there was a trend of decreasing larval parasitism rates with distance to the strip. Currently the invertebrate predators are being molecularly analysed to assess predation on unparasitized and parasitized lepidopteran pests

Stadt.Geschichte.Basel: Gesamtkonzept für eine neue Basler Stadtgeschichte

Die neue, fundierte Gesamtdarstellung ist ein Kompass für alle, die Basel tagtäglich beleben und mitgestalten – als Einwohnerin und Pendler, als Arbeitnehmer und Unternehmerin, als Fasnächtler, Durchreisende oder Rheinschwimmerin. Die Stadt.Geschichte.Basel schliesst eine Lücke für die vielen Geschichtsinteressierten und Mitglieder der historischen Vereinigungen, für Lehrerinnen, Kulturschaffende und Politiker. Und sie ist ein unentbehrliches Arbeitsinstrument für alle, die sich genauer mit der Stadt und ihrer Vergangenheit befassen und ihr Wissen weitergeben wollen: für Frauen und Männer in Archiven, Museen, Bibliotheken und Universitäten