The focus of this book is on the cultural division of modern Western societies. This division is deep and affects many societal areas. The cultural division was not produced by the Internet, it is simply made visible by the Internet. While the mass of non-voters was of little interest in the past, it is now becoming a problem. Political elites have mixed up lack of participation with lack of interest. The negotiating state, which conducts expert discussions in backrooms, is overtaxed with this situation. The progressive-liberal society is only conceivable as a democracy, and democracy can only be protected from the demagogy of the permanent campaigners when the state creates new institutions to this end and rethinks its role. The answer can only be: more democracy, more participation and less exclusion through expert knowledge. Above all, the liberal elites must throw their truth ideology overboard and seriously devote themselves to the social inclusion of the population.

Künstliche Intelligenz gilt als das große „Buzzword“ unserer Tage. Insbesondere im Marketing wird der Technologie ein enormes Potenzial zugeschrieben. Dabei besteht eigentlich bis heute kein Konsens darüber, was nun genau unter KI zu verstehen ist. Eine einheitliche Definition existiert nicht. Allerdings gibt es beim Verständnis von KI so etwas wie einen „gemeinsamen Nenner“. Der Aspekt, bei dem sich alle einig darüber sind, dass es sich hierbei um etwas „künstlich Intelligentes“ handeln muss, ist der, wenn wir von der Lernfähigkeit eines Systems sprechen.

Tool design for multi-axis forming presses is a particular challenge. In this forming process, the material flow can be controlled with the help of the tool motion path. The multi-axis forming tools used for this purpose differ from linear pressing tools, which are narrowly defined by the workpiece geometry. These multi-axial tools also differ from incremental sheet forming tools, which have a universal tool and form the workpiece geometry by a complex tool motion path. The design of tools for multi-axial forming presses has to take both, the workpiece geometry and the tool motion path, into account. The investigated tool designs base on ‘point-‘, ‘line-‘ and ‘area-wise’ approaches to generate the shape of the mold from the workpiece geometry. In ‘point-wise’ approach, the surface of the workpiece is tessellated and transformed to the tool surface by using base layers depending on the tool motion path. In ‘line-wise’ approach, intersecting lines between workpiece and datum planes perpendicular to toolpath are transformed to a tool base geometry generating a mold’s surface. In ‘area-wise’ approach, the geometry is generated by moving the workpiece along an inverted tool path and shaping the surface of a generic tool with Boolean operations. By benchmarking all approaches to a known ideal tool geometry, the effort and the quality of the resulting tool surface can be evaluated. For unknown tool geometries the approaches were applied in two steps. In the first step a tool geometry can be generated with a nominal workpiece and in a second step a virtual workpiece with the tool. The virtual workpieces of all approach combinations were compared to the nominal workpiece. Finally, the tool design approaches, the results of the deviation between the virtual and the nominal workpiece geometry as well as the evaluation method are discussed.

Der Gegenstand dieses Buches ist eine fachspezifische betriebswirtschaftliche Diskussion zu den Konzepten und Paradigmen des Zeitmanagements. Bezogen auf die Zeit lautet das Paradigma, dass die »Beschleunigung« die einzige Richtung ist, die dem Zeitmanagement zugrunde liegt. Es scheint eine Art Einbahnstraße zu sein. D.h., immer schneller bedeutet immer erfolgreicher. Es werden in diesem Buch drei spezielle Kategorien des Zeitmanagements und ihrer jeweiligen Paradigmen erörtert, d.h. den operativen, den strategischen und den gesellschaftlichen Wert der Verkürzung der Zeit.

Thermal gasification of biomass is known for its capabilities in flexible and decentral power station applications for cogeneration. However, the product gas contains tar compounds adversely for a stable operation. Integrated tar adsorption in a subsequent cooled section is therefore an option to reduce the tar pollution. The char coal, used here as adsorption agent, is formed by biomass pyrolysis in the gasifier. A kinetic model is proposed, considering the kinetics of all main reactions as well as heat and mass transport phenomena. Results are presented for axial temperature profiles, gas compositions, and the gas purity at different air-to-fuel ratios. The resulting output mass flows could indicate a requirement on the adsorption capacity of at least 0.3 g g−1 for the activated char coal.

Ceramic fibers are just as glass and basalt member of the group of inorganic fibers. Like most types of inorganic fibers ceramic fibers have a high tear resistance but a limited flexibility. [1] Ceramic fibers are characterized by their extraordinary high temperature and chemical resistance. These properties make them interesting for different high technical applications, as they occur in aerospace, chemical-and energy technology. In this field, they are applied especially as a reinforcement component in composite materials. Not only the partially high material price, but although the typical brittleness of ceramic fibers bring huge problems during the textile production chain, which limits the availability of complex textile preforms in the market. Often, a radical revision of the machine and processing concept is necessary to enable an economical production process. The Application Center for Textile Fiber Ceramics TFK at Fraunhofer-Center for High Temperature Materials and Design HTL develops and modifies textile production processes to make them suitable for the special requirements of ceramic fibers. One and multilayer woven fabrics, braids and tape structures for the winding process have already been successfully implemented. A further development complex is the intensive investigation of three-dimensional textile reinforcement structures. Regarding the high material costs, these research activities are very important. If the textile reinforcement is placed only where needed, the amount of used fiber material can be reduced significantly.

Die Verunsicherung durch die Digitale Transformation ist im Mittelstand sowohl auf der Arbeitgeber- als auch der Arbeitnehmerseite groß, denn jeder weiß, dass sich unser Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftssystem aufgrund der unzähligen Fortschritte in den Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) aktuell einem tiefgreifenden Wandel unterzieht.

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are universally understood as transforming the manufacturing and services sectors. Service-Dominant (S-D) logic focuses on a dynamic, ongoing way to co-create value through resource integration and service exchange. Our paper addresses the following question: In the light of the IoT, does the second axiom of S-D logic—value is co-created by multiple actors, always including the beneficiary—still hold true for Business-to-Business relationships in the digital age? What does “co-creation of value” mean in the context of digital services? We discuss a background of disruption management, imbalanced relationships and the three roles S-D logic proposes in the context of digital service exchange: ideator, designer, and intermediary. Finally, we identify contexts where the existing theory-based assumption of S-D logic—co-creation of value—does not hold or is not applicable and propose theory enhancement.

In der Digitalisierung sind Geschäftsmodelle in der Regel Daten getrieben. Der Erfolg der vielzitierten „Plattformökonomie“ beruht zu einem erheblichen Anteil auf der Sammlung und Auswertung von Informationen. Der Bedarf an Datenvielzahl und Datenvielfalt von Zukunftstechnologien wie Künstlicher Intelligenz, Blockchain und Virtual Reality ist ebenfalls enorm. Aber wie kann diese Masse an Daten und Informationen bereitgestellt und verarbeitet werden? Vielleicht ist ein Umdenken in den Unternehmen notwendig: Tradierte Verhaltensmuster und Strategien gehören auf den Prüfstand.