Abstract: Zusammenfassung Bisher hat sich die Forschung zu Politikfeldern eher auf ihre Struktur, Akteurs- bzw. Interessenkonstellationen und deren Wandel als auf die Entstehung und den Niedergang von Politikfeldern konzentriert. Zur Frage der Entstehung hat sie vor allem anekdotisches Wissen beizutragen. In unserem Artikel argumentieren wir, dass neue Politikfelder nur dann entstehen konnen, wenn zwei Prozesse zusammen kommen: Politisierung und Besonderung. Fehlt eine der beiden Dimensionen, dann kommt es nicht zur Entstehung neuer Politikfelder, sondern zu administrativ-technokratischer oder politischer Usurpation oder es findet eine Ausdifferenzierung bestehender Regelungen und Institutionen statt. Den eher seltenen Fall der Entstehung von Politikfeldern diskutieren wir am Beispiel der widerspruchlichen Tendenzen zur Herausbildung eines Politikfeldes „Netzpolitik“. Schlagworte: Politikfelder, Politisierung, Internet, Netzpolitik, Policy-Analyse ----- Emergence of Policy Fields – Conditions of an Anomaly Abstract Until now research on policy fields or domains has focused mainly on their structure, and the constellation of actors and interests and less on the emergence or decline of policy fields. So far there exists only anecdotal evidence about mechanisms that drive the emergence of policy fields. In this article we argue that new policy fields can only emerge if two processes interact: politicization and individuation. If one of these two dimensions is missing this leads to administrative-technocratic or political usurpation or to differentiation of existing regulations and institutions, but not to the emergence of a new policy field. We illustrate this rare case by analyzing the contradictory dynamics in relation to “Netzpolitik” (internet politics) in Germany over the last 20 years. Keywords: policy fields, policy domains, politicization, internet, policy analysis ----- Bibliographie: Haunss, Sebastian/Hofmann, Jeanette: Entstehung von Politikfeldern – Bedingungen einer Anomalie, dms, 1-2015, S. 29-49. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.19109

Abstract: One of the main challenges in teaching and learning activities is the assessment: it allows teachers and learners to improve the future activities on the basis of the previous ones. It allows a deep analysis and understanding of the whole learning process. This is particularly difficult in virtual learning environments where a general overview is not always available. In the latest years, Learning Analytics are becoming the most popular methods to analyze the data collected in the learning environments in order to support teachers and learners in the complex process of learning. If they are properly integrated in learning activities, indeed, they can supply useful information to adapt the activities on the basis of student's needs. In this context, the paper presents a solution for the digitally enhanced assessment. Two different Learning Dashboards have been designed in order to represent the most interesting Learning Analytics aiming at providing teachers and learners with easy understandable view of learning data in virtual learning environments.

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Die Energiepolitik erlebt zurzeit einen enormen institutionellen Wandel: Schon bei der Bedarfsplanung fur den Netzausbau wird die Offentlichkeit in Form von Konsultationen durch die Ubertragungsnetzbetreiber und die Bundesnetzagentur einbezogen. Der Artikel untersucht, was die Entscheidungstrager dazu bewegte, Konsultationsverfahren verpflichtend einzufuhren. Aus der Literatur zum Thema Offentlichkeitsbeteiligung lassen sich dabei funf mogliche Ziele ableiten: Eine demokratietheoretische Perspektive sieht Konsultationen als Mittel, um die Input-Legitimitat von Policies zu steigern. Eine tauschtheoretische Perspektive dagegen betont, dass durch Konsultationen Expertenwissen in den politischen Prozess einfliest und Output- Legitimitat erzeugt. Der soziologische Institutionalismus sieht Konsultationen als Resultat von institutionellem Isomorphismus an. Eine Prinzipal-Agenten- Perspektive sieht Konsultationen vor allem als Mittel, um Agenten zu kontrollieren, da die Prinzipale durch die Konsultationen mehr Informationen erhalten. In der politischen Praxis schlieslich wird vor allem die Hoffnung geausert, dass Konsultationen nicht nur Entscheidungen besser legitimieren, sondern letztlich auch mehr Akzeptanz fur Policies erzeugen. Im Lichte dieser Perspektiven untersucht der Artikel die Einfuhrung der Konsultationsverfahren und zeigt, dass die politischen Akteure sich vor allem die Steigerung der Inputlegitimitat und der Akzeptanz des Netzausbaus durch die Offentlichkeitsbeteiligung erhoffen. Allerdings finden sich auch viele Belege fur institutionellen Isomorphismus, also dafur, dass Beteiligungsverfahren eingefuhrt wurden, „weil man das so macht“. Dieses Faktum fuhrt zu pessimistischen Prognosen uber die Fahigkeit der Konsultationen, die erhoffte Wirkung auch zu erreichen. Schlagworte: Akzeptanz, Legitimitat, Netzausbau, Offentlichkeitsbeteiligung ----- Procedural Legitimation? What German legislators hoped for when introducing consultations in energy policy Abstract The German energy transformation (“Energiewende”) is a major political experiment. This experiment does not only comprise new policies, but also establishes new governance structures. The planning of electricity grids had once been a prerogative of the executive and state-owned enterprises. Now, this planning process involves extensive public participation, which marks a substantial procedural innovation for Germany. This article aims to discern the underlying motives and expectations legislators and stakeholders had when establishing these participation procedures. The academic discussion offers five perspectives on public participation: The first perspective stems from democratic theory and argues that consultation procedures improve the input legitimacy of policies. Second, the political exchange approach argues that consultation procedures enhance the output legitimacy of policies by adding technical expertise to the policy process. Third, for the principal- agent approach, consultations establish fire alarms that allow political principals to govern their administrative agents. Fourth, the most skeptical perspective stems from sociological institutionalism and sees consultations as symbolic actions, designed to conform to widely held notions of legitimacy. Fifth, in political practice a prevalent argument is that participation procedures induce high levels of acceptance for decisions. Applying these five perspectives, the article finds that decision-makers hoped to increase input legitimacy and acceptance by establishing participation procedures. In addition, mechanisms of institutional isomorphism were drivers, too.This result suggests a pessimistic prognosis regarding the effects of the procedure. Keywords: acceptance, legitimacy, network development, public participation ----- Bibliographie: Fink, Simon/Ruffing, Eva: Legitimation durch Verwaltungsverfahren? Was sich die Politik von Konsultationen beim Stromnetzausbau verspricht, dms, 2-2015, S. 253-271. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.21190

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag untersucht mogliche Auswirkungen der breiten Offentlichkeitsbeteiligung im neuen Planungs- und Zulassungsverfahren fur Hoch- und Hochstspannungsnetze. Die Ausgangshypothese ist, dass die zahlreichen Beteiligungsmoglichkeiten nicht zur erhofften Legitimierung der Planungs- und Zulassungsverfahren beitragen, sondern im Gegenteil zu Enttauschung und Frustration bei den Teilnehmern fuhren, da Beteiligungserwartungen und -moglichkeiten auseinanderfallen. Ein solcher Zustand kann als Partizipationsverflechtungsfalle bezeichnet werden. Schlagworte: Partizipation, Legitimation, Energiewende, Netzausbau, NABEG ----- Legitimization or Civic Participation Trap: Which Consequences do the new Planning Procedures for the Electricity Transmission System have? Abstract The paper analyzes possible outcomes of the multilevel civic participation system in the new planning procedures for Germany’s electricity transmission system. The basic assumption is that the different participation opportunities do not improve the legitimacy of the planning procedures. Instead they lead to frustration and anger on the side of the citizens because there is a huge gap between their expectations on participation and the limitations of participation opportunities. This might lead to a scenario which can be described as a civic participation trap. Keywords: Participation, Legitimacy, Energy Transition, Electricity Grid Expansion ----- Bibliographie: Bauer, Christian: Stiftung von Legitimation oder Partizipationsverflechtungsfalle. Welche Folgen hat die Offentlichkeitsbeteiligung beim Stromnetzausbau?, dms, 2-2015, S. 273-293. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.21191

Abstract: The zhuyin phonetic script not only provides greater learning benefits compared to romanization systems for Chinese Mandarin language students with existing English fluency, but also allows students to take advantage of its use in Taiwan where it exists in both official and popular usage. However, while penenabled computing educational applications can assist traditional pedagogical approaches for accelerating mastery of the script, existing approaches are either constrained in providing writing assessment, catered to native language users, or are less flexible in recognizing more natural writing. We present BopoNoto, an intelligent sketch education application for language students to learn zhuyin. Our application provides a sketching interface for practicing the symbols, and a sketch recognition system for assessing the visual and technical correctness of their input. From our evaluations, BopoNoto successfully demonstrates strong results in understanding and assessing students’ written input. Keywords-sketch recognition; intelligent user interface; intelligent tutoring system; Chinese Mandarin; zhuyin; bopomofo

Abstract: In this paper, we present the experience we gained in a Mobile Application Development course for Computer Science students at the University of Salerno. The course foresaw a project work conducted by students organized in teams. The goal of the project work was to design and develop Android-based applications for smart devices. The learning approach was based on collaboration (intra-team) and competition (extra-team). Students cooperated using GitHub as ComputerSupported-Collaborative-Learning tool for the implicit and explicit communication among team members and distributed revision control and management of software artifacts (e.g., source code and requirements models). All the developed applications underwent a final public competition prized by IT managers of national and international companies. IT managers expressed a positive judgment both on the students’ competition and on the developed applications for smart devices. Also, the students provided very good feedback on the competition and on the GitHub support.

Abstract: The recent growth of the World Wide Web at increasing rate and speed and the number of online available resources populating Internet represent a massive source of knowledge for various research and business interests. Such knowledge is, for the most part, embedded in the textual content of web pages and documents, which is largely represented as unstructured natural language formats. In order to automatically ingest and process such huge amounts of data, single-machine, non-distributed architectures are proving to be inefficient for tasks like Big Data mining and intensive text processing and analysis. Current Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems are growing in complexity, and computational power needs have been significantly increased, requiring solutions such as distributed frameworks and parallel computing programming paradigms. This paper presents a distributed framework for executing NLP related tasks in a parallel environment. This has been achieved by integrating the APIs of the widespread GATE open source NLP platform in a multi-node cluster, built upon the open source Apache Hadoop file system. The proposed framework has been evaluated against a real corpus of web pages and documents.

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag untersucht das Wechsel- und Zusammenspiel von offentlichem Verwaltungshandeln und Legitimitat. Ausgegangen wird davon, dass in den letzten Jahren sowohl die Input- als auch die Outputdimension staatlicher Legitimationsbeschaffung signifikante Veranderungen durchlaufen haben, die die offentliche Verwaltung intensiv beruhren. Mit Ruckgriff auf die anderen Beitrage des Schwerpunktheftes und unter Hinzuziehung weiterer Erkenntnisse wird uberblicksartig untersucht, ob sich die Legitimationsproduktion durch Verwaltungshandeln verandert hat und wenn ja, inwiefern. Im Ergebnis ergibt sich ein partieller Wandel hinsichtlich der Legitimationsquellen von Verwaltungshandeln. Sowohl im Input-Bereich (Transparenzgesetze, vorgezogene Burgerbeteiligung) als auch im Output-Bereich (z.B. Normenkontrollrat) gibt es neue bzw. einen starkeren Einsatz schon bekannter Instrumente (Expertenkommissionen). Ob dieser Wandel der Instrumente und der potenziellen Quellen von Legitimation allerdings tatsachlich die Legitimitat des Verwaltungshandelns verandert, also zu einer Legitimitatssteigerung fuhrt, wird teils skeptisch beurteilt und bedarf daher weiterer empirischer Untersuchung. ----- Abstract This article examines the interplay between administrative action and legitimacy. It is assumed that in recent years the ways of creating public legitimacy on both the input and the output dimension have undergone significant transformations, which also strongly concern the legitimacy claimed by public administrations. With recourse to other articles in this special issue and by referring to additional insights, this article gives an overview over whether the ways of producing legitimacy by administrative action have changed and, if so, how this takes place. The authors conclude that there is a partial change concerning the sources of legitimacy of administrative action. Regarding both the input (transparency laws, early citizen participation) and the output dimension (e.g. National Regulatory Control Council – Nationaler Normenkontrollrat), one can find the use of new instruments or a stronger use of already known instruments (expert committees). In how far this change on the instrumental level will transform the legitimacy of administrative action is partially viewed with skepticism by the authors and thus needs further empirical research. ----- Bibliographie: Bogumil, Jorg/Kuhlmann, Sabine: Legitimation von Verwaltungshandeln – Veranderungen und Konstanten, dms, 2-2015, S. 237-251. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.21189

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Neue politisch relevante Problemlagen fuhren zu neuen Feldern des politischen Handelns. Die bestehende Begrifflichkeit der Policy-Analyse ist jedoch auf ausdifferenzierte Politikfelder fixiert, so dass Prozesse der Politikfeldgenese schwer fassbar bleiben. Konfigurationen jenseits der Ausdifferenzierung erscheinen als theoretische Anomalie. Vor diesem Hintergrund schlage ich vor, als Konfigurationstypen neben dem ausdifferenzierten Handlungsfeld hybride und dezentrierte Handlungsfelder zu unterscheiden. Konstitutiv fur Handlungsfelder sind dabei neben Akteuren, Institutionen und Issues vor allem auch Deutungen, so dass von einer Konstruktion politischer Handlungsfelder auszugehen ist. Die konfigurativ orientierte Policy-Analyse wird als typologische Theorie verstanden. Deren Anwendung illustriere ich anhand von Entwicklungen in der Integrationspolitik. In dieser stehen sich mit Konzeptionen einer zielgruppenorientierten bzw. einer institutionenorientierten Politik zwei alternative Konfigurationsplane fur das entstehende Handlungsfeld gegenuber. Schlagworte: Politikfeldgenese, politische Handlungsfelder, Querschnittspolitik, typologische Theorie, Integrationspolitik ----- Boundaries and Configurations of Policy Fields. Towards a Typological Theory Abstract New problems become politically relevant, and sometimes new policy fields emerge. Yet as most approaches to policy analysis assume that policy fields have clarified boundaries, the formation of policy fields remains beyond their analytical scope. Fuzzy configurations with contested boundaries are not captured well so far. Against this background, I suggest a typology that distinguishes delimited, hybrid, and decentered policy fields. In this outline of a typological theory, fields are conceived of as institutionalized relations between actors, institutions, issues and framings. The importance ascribed to meaning-making processes implies that fields are constructed. To illustrate the application of the typological theory, I discuss developments in Germany’s immigrant integration policy. Target-oriented and institutionally- oriented conceptions of the field compete with each other and have served as alternative configurational plans for the emerging policy field. Keywords: Policy fields, cross-cutting policy, typological theory, immigrant integration policy ----- Bibliographie: Blatte, Andreas: Grenzen und Konfigurationen politischer Handlungsfelder. Skizze einer typologischen Theorie, dms, 1-2015, S. 91-112. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.19112

Abstract: The traditional approach of teaching Databases requires a great effort on the initial aspects of modeling and design that can negatively affect student’s motivation. This consideration led us to propose a method able to motivate students. The paper presents an innovative method of teaching a Database course, as well as the results of its experience in an Italian high school. This method is based on a blended approach of the Extreme Apprenticeship methodology, jointly with a specific organization of the course topics, which, compared to the traditional organization, has been strongly adapted to the paradigm of Learning by Doing. Good results in terms of students’ performance and in terms of level of learning perceived by the students have been achieved. The perceived level of learning achieved by the students has been measured through a questionnaire administered at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the course. Blended eXtreme Apprenticeship; DataBase Teaching; Learning by Doing

Abstract: Some countries have reduced the number of local units in a drastic way (e.g., Germany, United Kingdom, Denmark). In other countries, there have been no major territorial reforms (e.g. Switzerland, France). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the following main research question: What are the factors that influence a country’s merger activities? To answer this question, an analytical framework considering the institutional context, territorial structure, incentives for mergers, and so-called policy windows has been developed. 16 Western European countries have been selected for the analysis. Using Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA), this paper shows what configurations of factors are associated with a high merger activity: a) an open policy window when municipalities are small, b) an open policy window in municipalities with a low degree of local autonomy, or c) incentives given by higher-ranking state levels for amalgamations in small municipalities with a low degree of local autonomy. Keywords: Municipal merger, amalgamation, strategy, Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA) ----- Top-down versus Bottom-up: Ein Vergleich von Gemeindezusammenschlussstrategien in westeuropaischen Landern Zusammenfassung Wahrend einige Lander die Zahl der lokalen Gebietseinheiten drastisch reduziert haben (z.B. Deutschland, Vereinigtes Konigreich, Danemark), gab es in anderen Landern keine grosangelegten Territorialreformen (z.B. Schweiz, Frankreich). Mit diesem Artikel soll die folgende Forschungsfrage untersucht werden: Welche Faktoren beeinflussen die Fusionstatigkeit in diesen Landern? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage wurde ein analytischer Rahmen entwickelt, welcher den institutionellen Kontext, die Territorialstruktur, Anreize fur Gemeindezusammenschlusse sowie sogenannte ‚Politikfenster‘ berucksichtigt. Fur die Analyse wurden 16 westeuropaische Lander ausgewahlt. Mittels der Methode Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA) zeigt der Artikel die Kombinationen von Faktoren auf, welche mit einer hohen Fusionsaktivitat assoziiert sind: entweder a) ein offenes ‚Politikfenster’ bei kleinen Gemeinden, b) ein offenes ‚Politikfenster‘ in Gemeinden mit wenig Autonomie oder c) Anreize fur Zusammenschlusse in kleinen Gemeinden mit geringer Autonomie. Schlagworte: Gemeindezusammenschlusse, Gemeindefusionen, Strategie, Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA) ----- Bibliographie: Kaiser, Claire: Top-down versus Bottom-up: Comparing Strategies of Municipal Mergers in Western European Countries, dms, 1-2015, S. 113-127. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.19113

Abstract: An academic learning network consists of multiple knowledge organizations and knowledge workers. The intellectual relationships can be derived from the interactions among them. In this paper, we propose a formal model to describe the interactions in an academic learning network and further provide an evaluation process to quantify intellectual relationships. Our approach is also integrated with a realistic social network platform SMNET.

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Dynamiken der Gremienlandschaft auf Bundesebene von 1966 bis 2013 und deren Konsequenzen fur die Legitimation von Verwaltungshandeln. In theoretischer Hinsicht werden eine pfadabhangige und eine strukturpolitische Erklarungsperspektive kontrastiert, um die Neugrundungen und Abschaffungen bzw. daraus resultierende Laufzeit der Beratungsgremien zu erklaren. Der Beitrag basiert auf einer Auswertung verschiedener offentlicher Quellen und berucksichtigt insgesamt 137 permanente Beirate und Sachverstandigenrate. In der empirischen Analyse zeigen sich die Relevanz sektoraler und machtpolitischer Erklarungsfaktoren, die Uberlebensanalyse verweist insbesondere auf die Erklarungskraft strukturpolitischer Determinanten. Daraus ergibt sich ein gemischtes Bild fur die legitimationsstiftende Rolle von Beratungsgremien, denn sie werden nicht nur zur kontinuierlichen Sicherstellung der Reprasentation gesellschaftlicher Interessen und der gemeinwohlorientierten Einbindung wissenschaftlicher Expertise genutzt, sondern dienen auch als Ausdruck parteipolitischer Erwagungen. Schlagworte: Beratungsgremien, Ministerialverwaltung, Legitimation, Pfadabhangigkeit, Politikberatung ----- Organized expertise and the legitimacy of bureaucracy: Sectoral and structural choice dynamics of advisory councils at federal level Abstract This paper examines the dynamics of advisory councils at the federal level from 1966 to 2013 as well as their implications for the legitimacy of government decisions. Theoretically, it contrasts a path-dependent and a structural choice perspective in order to explain the creations and abolitions as well as duration of advisory councils. This article is based on an analysis of various public sources and covers a total of 137 permanent advisory boards and expert councils. In the empirical analysis, the relevance of sectoral and party-political features becomes evident; the survival analysis draws particular attention to the explanatory power of structural choice. This provides a mixed picture for the legitimizing role of advisory councils because they are used for representing organized interests and involving scientific expertise in executive decision-making but also for expressing party-political motives. Keywords: advisory councils, ministerial bureaucracy, legitimacy, path dependency, policy advice ----- Bibliographie: Fleischer, Julia: Organisierte Expertise und die Legitimation der Verwaltung: Sektorale und strukturpolitische. Dynamiken der Gremienlandschaft auf Bundesebene, dms, 2-2015, S. 315-335. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.21193

Abstract: With the growth of multimedia data, the prob- lem of cross-media (or cross-modal) retrieval has attracted considerable interest in the cross-media retrieval community. One of the solutions is to learn a common representation for multimedia data. In this paper, we propose a simple but effective deep learning method to address the cross-media retrieval problem between images and text documents for samples either with single or multiple labels. Specifically, two independent deep networks are learned to project the input feature vectors of images and text into an common (isomorphic) semantic space with high level abstraction (semantics). With the same dimensional feature representation in the learned common semantic space, the similarity between images and text documents can be directly measured. The correlation between two modalities is built according to their shared ground truth probability vector. To better bridge the gap between the images and the corresponding semantic concepts, an open-source CNN implementation called Deep Convolutional Activation Feature (DeCAF) is employed to extract input visual features for the proposed deep network. Extensive experiments on two publicly available multi-label datasets, NUS-WIDE and PASCAL VOC 2007, show that the proposed method achieves better results in cross-media retrieval compared with other state of the art methods.

Abstract: As multimedia becomes the dominant form of entertainment through an ever increasing range of digital formats, there has been a growing interest in obtaining information from entertainment media. Speech is one of the core resources in multimedia, providing a foundation for the extraction of semantic information. Thus, detecting speech is a critical first step for speech-based information retrieval systems. This work focuses on speech detection in one of the dominant forms of entertainment media: feature films. A novel approach for voice activity detection (VAD) in film audio is proposed. The approach uses correlation to analyze associations of Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) pairs in speech and non-speech data. This information then drives feature selection for the creation of MFCC cross-covariance feature vectors (MFCC-CCs) which are used to train a random forest classifier to solve a binary speech/non-speech classification problem on audio data from entertainment media. The classifier performance is evaluated on a number of test sets and achieves a classification accuracy of up to 94%. The approach is also compared with state of the art and contemporary VAD algorithms, and demonstrates competitive results.

Abstract: In many cases, virtual restoration is the only way to have an idea of the original appearance of an artwork. In particular, in the archeological field, it is useful to both assist and guide the operator in physical reconstruction, and to provide to the final visitor a complete vision of the artwork even though the original is damaged or lacks some parts. In this work, we propose a set of tools useful in two different restoration steps. The first one helps the expert to carry out reconstruction of fragmented artifacts in an easier and more effective way. The second provides a view of the artifact after virtually eliminating a craquelure.

Abstract: We present a data-driven exploratory study to investigate whether trained object detectors generalize well to test images from a different modality. We focus on the domain of planar kinematic mechanisms, which can be viewed as a set of rigid bodies connected by joints, and use textbook graphics and images of hand-drawn sketches as input modalities. The goal of our algorithm is to automatically recognize the underlying mechanical structure shown in an input image by leveraging well-known computer vision methods for object recognition with the optimizing power of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms. Taking a raw image as input, we detect pin joints using local feature descriptors in a support vector machine framework. Improving upon previous work, detection confidence depends on multiple context-based classifiers of varying image patch size and greedy foreground extraction. The likelihood of rigid body connections is approximated using normalized geodesic time, and NSGA-II is used to evolve optimal mechanisms using this data. The present work is motivated by the observation that textbook diagrams and hand-drawn sketches of mechanisms exhibit similar object structure, yet have different visual characteristics. We apply our method using various combinations of images for training and testing, and the results demonstrate a trade-off between solvability and accuracy. We describe a system that automatically recognizes mechanical structures from images.Contextual features and foreground extraction enhance previous detection results.We extend the recognition pipeline to include hand-drawn sketches as input.Trained object detectors can perform well on images from a different modality.

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Die Klimapolitik in Deutschland – und auch international – war lange Zeit primar auf die Vermeidung des Klimawandels ausgerichtet. Eine Anpassung an die Folgen der klimatischen Veranderungen galt in der breiten Offentlichkeit und der Politik als „Tabuthema“, oder wurde in den Anfangen der Klimapolitik sogar als Politikversagen wahrgenommen. Dieser Artikel untersucht den Prozess von der Vernachlassigung der Klimaanpassungspolitik hin zur Entwicklung als eigenstandiges Politikfeld. Um diese Entwicklung nachzuzeichnen wird zunachst einer in der Politikfeldanalyse bislang vernachlassigten Frage nachgegangen: Wie entstehen neue Politikfelder? Welche Faktoren bedingen die Entstehung eines neuen Politikfeldes und wie lasst sich die Entstehung analysieren? Hierzu wird der Ansatz eigendynamischer politischer Prozesse (Bocher/ Toller) mit der Theorie strategischer Handlungsfelder (Fligstein/McAdam) kombiniert, um sowohl auf theoretischer Ebene die Entstehung von Politikfeldern erklaren als auch empirisch das Feld der Anpassungspolitik analysieren zu konnen. Schlagworte: Politikfeldentstehung, Klimapolitik, Klimaanpassungspolitik, Theorie strategischer Handlungsfelder ----- The emergence of climate adaptation policy as a new policy field in Germany Abstract Climate policy in Germany and international haslong been dominated by mitigation policies. Adaptation to the impacts of climate change was a taboo issue, in public as well as in politics. This article investigates how adaptation policy started as a strategy associated as a failure in climate policy and is now acknowledged as an own policy field. But firstly the article starts with a neglected issue in policy analysis, the question how policy fields emerge. Which factor induce the emergence of a new policy field and how can the emergence be analysed? To answer this research question, the article combines the framework of dynamic policy process (“Ansatz eigendynamischer politischer Prozesse”) by Bocher/Toller with the theory of strategic actionfields by Fligstein/McAdam. The combination allows to explain the emergence of policy fields on a theoretical level as well as to analyse empirically the field of adaptation policy in Germany. Keywords: emergence of policy fields, climate policy, adaptation policy, theory of strategic action fields ----- Bibliographie: Stecker, Rebecca: Zur Entstehung des neuen Politikfeldes Klimawandelanpassungspolitik in Deutschland, dms, 1-2015, S. 71-89. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.19111

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Um den Diskurs uber die demokratischen Potentialen der informationstechnischen Innovationen zu strukturieren, fuhrte Hubertus Buchstein 1996 die Idealtypen Netzoptimismus, Netzpessimismus und Netzneutralismus ein. Alle Positionen weisen sowohl Elemente auf, die heute noch tragfahig sind, als auch Komponenten, deren Relevanz inzwischen fragwurdig erscheint. Hervorzuheben ist, dass die digitale Informationsgesellschaft wie von netzpessimistischer Seite unterstellt tatsachlich in vielerlei Hinsicht zu einer Welt der schlechten Alternativen geworden ist, in der es immer schwerer fallt, fur sich legitime, aber dennoch widerstreitende Interessen auf einen gemeinsamen Nenner zu bringen. Besonders deutlich kommt dies im zunehmend brisanten Spannungsverhaltnis zwischen dem burgerschaftlichen Anspruch auf individuellen Freiraum und dem staatlichen Ordnungsanspruch zum Ausdruck. Fragt man danach, wie sich die aktuelle Situation und die Perspektiven der demokratischen Willensbildung im Lichte der von Buchstein entwickelten Idealtypen darstellen, wird deutlich, dass sich in diesem Bereich umfassende und tiefgreifende Veranderungen abzeichnen, die Konturen einer zukunftigen Demokratie sind aber noch nicht erkennbar. Schlagworte: Demokratische Willensbildung, Electronic Government, Elektronische Demokratie, Informationsgesellschaft, Informationstechnologie ----- Democracy and digitization Abstract An examination of selected aspects of democratic decision-making in the information society over the span of two decades In order to structure the debate on the democratic potentials of digital information technology Hubertus Buchstein in 1996 created three ideal types, net optimism, net pessimism and net neutrality. All positions, however, contain both elements that are still viable today as well as components whose relevance now appears questionable. It should be emphasized that the digital information society, such as the net pessimistic side assumed, in fact has become in many ways a world of bad alternatives, in which it is increasingly difficult to bring, considered in isolation, legitimate yet conflicting interests to a common denominator. Particular clear this becomes in the increasing tension between the civic right to individual freedom and the state claim on interventions to safeguard social order. If one asks for how the current situation and the prospects for democratic decision making present themselves in the light of Buchstein’s pure types, it will be recognizable that comprehensive and profound changes are in the making, but the contours of a future democracy are not yet discernible. Keywords: Democratic process, Electronic government, Electronic democracy, Information society, Information technologies ----- Bibliographie: Winkel, Olaf: Demokratie und Digitalisierung, dms, 2-2015, S. 409-434. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.21197

Abstract: The education in e-health play an important role in particular in context of chronic diseases. The empowerment process aims at enhancing the patient knowledge and skills in order to allow them to be aware of their health status. The paper presents a serious game that is addressed to young children with type I diabetes and uses the coaching strategy. The coach has been designed and developed as an Intelligent Agent using a knowledge base about the diabetes intervenes to suggest the best action to do or to correct wrong behaviours. A first pilot test was conducted to measure the learning effectiveness and usability of the game. The results were promising. Virtual game; Intelligent game; Serious game; Coaching strategy.

Abstract: One of the emerging requirements for learning in the enterprise is finding new ways to keep the learner engaged. The use of advanced learning technologies that exploit a gameful design should increase engagement and encourage students to make connections between the simulated environment and the real world. This article presents game design guidelines for the development of an Educational Adventure Game and how they have been applied during the development of SIRET Security Game, a game that teaches workers the importance of following computer security policies.

Abstract: Depth Image Based Rendering (DIBR), as a free- viewpoint synthesis technique, enables interactive selection of the view for watching. However, many rendering methods based on DIBR usually bring contour, crack and disocclusion artifacts. To address these problems, we propose effective methods to remove these artifacts. Firstly, before warping, the reference depth maps and color images are analyzed to find the regions causing contour artifacts. A combination of depth map edge detection and color consistency correction is applied to the analysis. By omitting warping the found regions, the synthesized views contain no contour artifacts and edges of foreground objects are well preserved. Secondly, cracks are filled using surrounding non- crack pixels rather than filtering for local consistency and smoothness. Thirdly, we apply a method based on texture extrapolation with depth information to inpaint the disocclusions. For two well-known sequences, 'Ballet' and Breakdancers', we obtain large Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) gains in comparison to state-of-the-art techniques. In addition, the proposed method also obtains good results in Structural Similarity Index Measurement (SSIM) and visual quality.

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Seit mehreren Jahren befindet sich das deutsche Kommunalhaushaltsrecht im Umbruch. Im Grosteil der deutschen Kommunen wird die Kameralistik durch ein den Ressourcenverbrauch berucksichtigendes, neues offentliches Haushalts- und Rechnungswesen ersetzt. Der Beitrag untersucht auf Basis eines Strukturgleichungsmodells die Determinanten des Nutzens der Doppik-Einfuhrung aus Sicht der kommunalen Haushaltspolitik. Als Replikationsstudie konzipiert, orientieren sich die Autoren im Forschungsdesign an einer zuvor durchgefuhrten Studie bei kommunalen Kammerern und vergleichen die Ergebnisse dieser beiden Gruppen von Entscheidungstragern. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass aus Sicht der Haushaltspolitik die verbesserte Effektivitat den wichtigsten direkten, und die gesteigerten Steuerungsmoglichkeiten den wichtigsten indirekten, Nutzentreiber der Doppik darstellt. Die Steuerungsmoglichkeiten in der Doppik werden ihrerseits masgeblich durch die erhohte Entscheidungsrelevanz doppischer Informationen determiniert. Schlagworte: Doppik, Kommunen, Haushaltspolitik, Reform, Strukturgleichungsmodell, PLS ----- Determinants of the benefits of the municipalities' new accrual accounting system from a political perspective Abstract The municipal budgeting and accounting system in Germany has been in state of fundamental upheaval for several years: Most municipalities replace their traditional cash-based system by an accrual-based system. Our paper analyses the determinants of the benefits of accrual budgeting and accounting from a political perspective using a structural equation model. As a replication study, the research design is based on an earlier study covering the perspective of public financial managers on accrual budgeting and accounting. Results show that improved effectiveness is the most important direct determinant of benefits. Improved management capabilities represent the most important indirect determinant of benefits. The management capabilities in an accrual system are primarily determined by the enhanced decision relevancy of accrual-based information. Keywords: accrual accounting, municipalities, fiscal policy, reform, structural equation model, PLS ----- Bibliographie: Hilgers, Dennis/Burth, Andreas: Nutzen-Determinanten der kommunalen Doppik aus Sicht der Haushaltspolitiker, dms, 1-2015, S. 173-200. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.19116

Abstract: Bibliographie: Haunss, Sebastian: Einleitung: Entstehung und Wandel von Politikfeldern, dms, 1-2015, S. 3-6. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v8i1.19107

Abstract: In this paper we present a project for applying a framework for accessibility to educational activities in flipped classrooms by exploiting semantic video annotation. The framework exploits semantic and adaptive technologies and is aimed to support accessibility to physical real-world things.

Abstract: It is a common problem, radial distortion of off-theshelf cameras, especially those low-cost ones and wide-angle ones. And the most direct method to judge whether radial distortion occurs in an image is the straightness of those lines in the image, for the straight line in the image should be straight in the ideal image under the pin-hole camera model. In this paper, we present a new line-based approach to eliminate the radial distortion which makes the line distorted in the image. It is based on the fact the straight lines in the real world project to circular arcs under the single parameter division model. Compared with those former line-based methods, the method in this paper work well and be easy to find the good circular arcs, which is valid to eliminate the interference of other curves. Experiments are provided for both synthetic and real images and the results show that our method can remove the radial distortion from images validly and robustly. Keywords-radial distortion; division model; circle fitting; good circular arcs;

Abstract: In this paper we recall a previous research on the future development of the current model of higher education, which highlighted that the labor market is looking for people with competences and skills reflecting a T-shape model. As a consequence, universities should include a wider mix of disciplines in the curricula of their courses. Hence, to overcome existing criticisms and to provide some suggestions on how to enhance universities’ performances, we thought of education as a process with inputs, outputs, and relevant dependencies. We based our research on a smart-city-like model due to the fact that next generation networks and relevant services are going to be more and more integrated with existing infrastructure and information management systems. Thus, it is mandatory that smart solutions are the most prominent assets of modern university environments, to improve the effectiveness of higher education. We called such a university a “smarter university” in which knowledge is a common heritage of teachers and students. In this paper, we report experimental results from a specific case study of collaboration between industry and university, which could be used as a reference for the definition of patterns to be applied in the redesign of the current education systems, even tough it is referred to a technological application scenario. Keywords-cloud computing; smart applications; collaborative systems; technology enhanced learning.

Abstract: Powerful digital image editing tools make it very easy to produce a perfect image forgery. The feather operation is necessary when tampering an image by copy-paste operation because it can help the boundary of pasted object to blend smoothly and unobtrusively with its surroundings. We propose a blind technique capable of detecting traces of feather operation to expose image forgeries. We model the feather operation, and the pixels of feather region will present similarity in their gradient phase angle and feather radius. An effectual scheme is designed to estimate each feather region pixel's gradient phase angle and feather radius, and the pixel's similarity to its neighbor pixels is defined and used to distinguish the feathered pixels from un-feathered pixels. The degree of image credibility is defined, and it is more acceptable to evaluate the reality of one image than just using a decision of YES or NO. Results of experiments on several forgeries demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique. A blind technique of detecting traces of feather operation image forgeries.Modeling influence of feather operation by gradient phase angle and radius.An approach to expose image forgeries region by traces of feather operation.The degree of credibility is defined to evaluate the reality of one image.