The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2003. An international safeguarding campaign is active for its preservation, including the remains of the Buddha figures destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Efforts are underway to set up an effective management system for the historical areas within a wider landscape approach balancing conflicting uses and demands. Based on detailed high-resolution satellite imagery and accompanying ground surveys, a comprehensive inventory of vernacular settlements, traditional water systems, and historic cultural remains was compiled. The Bamiyan Cultural Masterplan has been elaborated as a zoning proposal to support future planning processes in Bamiyan. A GIS System has been set up to manage planning and monitoring activities in the future. The current condition of the archaeological remains of Bamiyan has been documented with different remote sensing and high precision 3D documentation methods. Within cultural heritage management, Virtual Reality technologies are an innovative approach for documentation and presentation of complex architectural objects, especially in landscape settings. The project includes a digital reconstruction of the destroyed Small Buddha (38 m) Figure of Bamiyan integrated into the high-resolution 3D model of the niche and the cliff. The composite model of previous and actual conditions serves as a communication and planning tool for future consolidation for experts and the interested public.

The magnitude of destruction on cultural heritage worldwide creates unprecedented challenges for its rehabilitation since conservation activities must be integrated into the context of larger rehabilitation efforts. It is argued that an authentic remodelling of the Eastern 38 m Buddha establishing the previous spatial configuration of the figure has to integrate the original fragments, combining scientific analysis of the figure’s original physical remains with the careful interpretation of the existing documented sources. The authors propose a phased approach using a composite material matrix based on silt-clay close to the original cliff conglomerate embedding also the original fragments. The presented community-based rebuilding intervention executed by local artisans and artists conceptualizes on the evolution of the figurative meaning of the monument over time with the overall objective to use traditional building techniques to retain tangible and intangible values that maintain the authenticity and the specific significance and spirit of this place. The result has the potential to contribute to a necessary reconciliation process. It may serve as an exemplary case in World Heritage context able to bridge different cultural approaches to heritage among regional, national, and international bodies and stakeholders while respecting diverse values, meanings and the Buddha figure’s original physical remains alike.

Beyond the Buddha Cliff, the World Heritage property of Bamiyan consists of several archaeological areas embedded into an extraordinary cultural landscape not adequately defined at the time of the nomination. Therefore, the Cultural Master Plan was envisioned as guidance for the development of a rural environment under cultural preservation objectives. The plan introduces a zoning scheme defining land use regulations for the protection of cultural areas and proposing designated areas for urban development. Lack of adequate legal protection, too rigid enforcement of land use restrictions on the local level, and the aspirations of the people for a rapid change of their living conditions resulted in increasing uncertainties on the validity of the plan. It is argued that a monitoring steering group composed of international and national experts, and local stakeholders, are helpful to counterbalance uncoordinated international aid assistance and inefficient governmental supervision that resulted in development strategies overemphasizing urbanization approaches in conflict with the rural character of the valley. The authors propose to reconsider urbanization within the Bamiyan Valley and to reconcile the objectives of urban and rural development inspired by a sustainable development vision as proclaimed with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In March 2001, the world’s largest depictions of standing Buddha figures located in Bamiyan (Afghanistan) were destroyed during a campaign of the Taliban leadership against all non-Muslim heritage in the country. Bamiyan and its archaeological remains have been nominated a World Heritage also to commemorate the events of destruction the site has experienced over the centuries. More than fifteen years after the Giant Buddha figures turned into dust, the UNESCO Safeguarding campaign for the preservation of the Bamiyan World Heritage property has made considerable progress. Upon continued request by the local population and the national government, the international community is asked to contribute proposals for the future presentation of the physical remains including the options of reassembling the original fragments. The achievements and backlashes of the UNESCO campaign are discussed and a proposal is given, how virtual technology can contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding the future of the site. At a time when deliberate raids during military conflicts against heritage places have become commonplace, the Bamiyan case has become emblematic and is considered now a key turning point in the heritage community on the question, which roles reconstruction can have especially in the aftermath of conflict situations. It is argued that immersive virtual reality technologies offer the chance to investigate how values attributed to cultural heritage are produced and experienced among different stakeholder groups.

In the recent years more and more people have begun to edit video files, as technologies are becoming more sophisticated and affordable. Web 2.0 has raised tagging functionality to a growing number of websites such as Flickr and YouTube. However, these services only provide basic video annotation support. In comparison to those well-known services there are many research efforts towards video semantization tools. These tools provide highly precise annotation functionality based on metadata standards such as MPEG-7, but tend to exhibit very complex user interfaces. In this paper we present the design, implementation and evaluation of SeViAnno, an MPEG-7 based interactive semantic video annotation Web platform with the main objective to find a well-balanced trade-off between a simple user interface and video semantization complexity.

Fiber-optic sensing markets are rapidly expanding. Over the last few years, extensive activity has concentrated on development and commercialization of seismic and acoustic sensing arrays for defense (intrusion detection, perimeter protection, submarine identification, hydrophones), landand underwater-based industrial applications (oil and gas exploration, pipeline surveillance, geophysical monitoring), and civil-infrastructure monitoring (roads, bridges, water-supply systems, and power lines). Fiber-optic arrays typically consist of long (up to 10km) strings of individual sensors that can detect land vibrations or underwater acoustic signals. In typical applications, the number of sensing nodes per string can range from a few sensors for in-well down-hole acoustic devices (or several hundred for down-hole seismic sensors) to thousands of elements for ocean-bottom seismic cables and subsea streamers.1 Since each fiber sensor needs to be individually interrogated and spectrally distinguished, a large number of narrow-linewidth laser sources are needed to excite and interact with the sensor array. New laser sources are required to improve performance and enable realization of lower-cost sensing systems. Externalcavity-laser (ECL) technology is emerging as a high-performance alternative to semiconductor distributed-feedback (DFB) and fiber-laser-based solutions. In addition to improved stability to temperature variations or external vibration, these light sources have desirable characteristics including narrow linewidths and low phase noise. They currently cover the C band (1528–1568nm) but can easily be extended into the L band (1569–1610nm). They operate over a wide temperature range and comply with the stringent long-term optical-power and wavelength-stability demands of optical-sensing applications. Figure 1. Planar-lightwave-circuit (PLC) fabrication and externalcavity-laser (ECL) integration: (a) Silicon wafer with etched PLCs, (b) diced PLCs, (c) integrated ECL, and (d) ECL packaged in 14-pin butterfly package.

: Smart devices, application mobility, portability, service reliability and data interoperability raise much attention of the international cultural heritage community recently. Web 2.0 and social software turn users into prosumers which results in a great amount of multimedia content and metadata for the community on the one hand. On the other hand, it asks for new concepts to develop better mobile applications for cultural heritage data management. We designed and realized a cross media and cross community framework called Virtual Campfire within the German excellence research cluster UMIC (Ultra High Speed Mobile Information and Communication) . It consists of a set of services providing diverse mobile communities MPEG-7 based multimedia content processing services to use heterogeneous data sources. The services include real-time multimedia creation and processing, collaborative semantic enrichment of multimedia content and collaborative storytelling on different mobile devices. Based on such a service oriented architecture Virtual Campfire enables the flexible realization of community information systems with diverse and complex multimedia content such as videos, images and 3D data. The Virtual Campfire prototype realized on the iPhone and Nokia smart phones is able to support documentation activities on-site in cultural heritage fieldwork.

Advances in mobile communication technologies lead to a coalescence of location-based, multimedia services for user communities. However, easy development and maintenance of device-independent mobile services are still challenging. We have developed a service-oriented framework for mobile multimedia processing based on international standards like MPEG-7. Quality of mobile service experience is constantly monitored in framework. The scenario “Virtual Campfire” is used in the German excellence cluster UMIC (Ultra High-Speed Information and Communication) to demonstrate future mobile social software with real-time multimedia processing, semantic enrichment of multimedia materials by user communities and complex collaboration over the mobile we like storytelling on different mobile devices. Adaptive Web access, service calls and service monitoring are to be demonstrated as the prototype, which offers approaches to meeting the aforementioned challenges.

Lamp-based projection sources for use in large venues such as convention halls, theaters, and museums are not easily scalable. These projectors typically combine up to four 200W ultra-highpower lamps in order to provide sufficient projection. As an alternative, xenon lamps of 6000–7000W have been employed in digital cinema projectors. However, the large étendue (the spread of the light in area and angle) of the lamps makes for inefficient light collection and projection. Moreover, the cost of ownership for such equipment is considerable due to the high electrical consumption associated with operating and cooling the projectors and the high cost of lamp replacements. There is a need in the industry for projection systems with longer lifetimes, low étendue, and wider color gamuts. New laser-based light sources suitable for large venues are highly desired as they will produce a wide range of colors and are extremely stable. They permit constant power operation over a narrow wavelength emission with no wasted IR or UV spectral content, minimizing the need for color rebalancing. In addition, they allow for faster warm-up times and exhibit low noise compared to lamps. The overall system efficiency and improved thermal performance offer a significant enhancement over lampbased projectors. Lasers would also enable 3D movies since they offer as much as a 60% power advantage over lamp-based systems. Insight Media estimated approximately $7800 in energy savings per year from using laser sources instead of lamps in digital cinema projectors.1 The green and blue range of visible wavelengths necessary for RGB (red, green, blue) displays have been especially difficult to obtain.2, 3 To address this, Novalux developed frequency-doubled vertical extended-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs, also referred to as Necsels: Novalux extendedcavity surface-emitting lasers).4–6 These lasers emit circular Gaussian beams with 8–10% power conversion efficiencies Figure 1. Components of a large venue fiber-coupled laser projector. (a) The projector. (b) The rack housing the laser sources, power supplies, and a chiller that controls the operating temperature of the lasers. The fiber-coupled lasers are joined in a 10m-long bundle and terminated with a custom connector. (c) The custom connector. The fibers in the connector are set in a 9×16mm format. (d) The connector is inserted in front of the light tunnel housed in the projector seen in (a), in place of the lamp and lamp housing, which were removed. Thus, the laser light source is remote from the projector, which offers great servicing flexibility and may lead to new projector designs.

UNESCO world heritage sites’ list is getting longer and longer. Many sites among them have attracted countless tourists each year. However, the lack of efficient systematic surveillance and monitoring methods let the evi-table and inevitable impacts of tourism development happen unperceived. Our research focuses on an e-tourism system with heritage sites monitoring to ex-plore the possibilities for a long-lasting sustainable development and conserva-tion of World Heritage Sites. On the basis of the status quo and trends of in-formation systems for cultural e-tourism, we have implemented a community hosting service and proposed a generic theme model to compare spatiotemporal thematic maps to support heritage preservation work for sustainable develop-ment of tourism. A case study and prototyping are done on the UNESCO World Heritage Site Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan. The concepts and solu-tions are the result of an interdisciplinary cooperation with architects for monuments preservation and cartographers.

Cultural heritage management is an excellent application domain for geographical hypermedia information systems. Many people with different tasks and levels of profession like fieldworkers, researchers, project and campaign officers, cultural bureaucrats etc. collaboratively producing and consuming different media like photographs, video, drawings, books, etc. must deal with exact geographic information about moveable or unmovable objects of interest. Implemented information systems must obey all standards in the different domains to overcome classical failures of isolated solutions which do not scale beyond the scope of a single project. We present a conceptual approach which integrates geographic information, multimedia information, cultural heritage information and collaborative aspects in a single information model. This conceptual approach was used to design and implement a web-based information system on top of a single commercial database covering all mentioned aspects. This information system was deployed for a project in the conservation of cultural heritage in Afghanistan to prove the validity of the concepts.

Purposes of standardization in information system are interoperability, interpretability, exchangeability, and sustainability of information. Standards in geographic and hypermedia information systems are the results of complex and tedious negotiation processes on an international scale. This chapter gives an overview of the existing standards in the both fields and tries to bridge the gap between the fields. These standards include OGC OpenGIS specifications for geographic information, as well as Dublin Core, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 for hypermedia. Meanwhile MIDAS, CIDOC and Object ID for cultural heritage will be discussed, because cultural heritage standards work with geographic hypermedia standards closely. By combining the key concepts of these technologies in an open and generic metadata framework, comprehensive geographic hypermedia systems can be deployed in various areas of applications such as cultural heritage management, e-tourism, e-government, and e-learning.

Intergenerational learning is based on processing experiences from one generation to another. However, this process is up to now mostly based on face to face communication neglecting the capabilities of computer supported learning communities. In this paper we describe ACIS (Afghan Community IS), a system that has been designed to support intergenerational learning communities by geographical hypermedia information systems in the area of cultural heritage. ACIS is designed to bring together generations of scientists in cultural heritage management which has been disrupted by the civil war and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. ACIS has been deployed for a project in the conservation of cultural heritage in Afghanistan to prove the validity of the concepts.

Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, a salt-tolerant yeast isolated from the soy sauce process, produces fusel alcohols (isoamyl alcohol, active amyl alcohol and isobutyl alcohol) from branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine, respectively) via the Ehrlich pathway. Using a high-throughput screening approach in microtiter plates, we have studied the effects of pH, temperature and salt concentration on growth of Z. rouxii and formation of fusel alcohols from branched-chain amino acids. Application of minor variations in pH (range 3-7) and NaCl concentrations (range 0-20%) per microtiter plate well allowed a rapid and detailed evaluation of fermentation conditions for optimal growth and metabolite production. Conditions yielding the highest cell densities were not optimal for fusel alcohol production. Maximal fusel alcohol production occurred at low pH (3.0-4.0) and low NaCl concentrations (0-4%) at 25 degrees C. At pH 4.0-6.0 and 0-18% NaCl, considerable amounts of alpha-keto acids, the deaminated products from the branched-chain amino acids, accumulated extracellularly. The highest cell densities were obtained in plates incubated at 30 degrees C. The results obtained under various incubation conditions with (deep-well) microtiter plates were validated in Erlenmeyer shake-flask cultures.

ABSTRACT The demethylation of the algal osmolyte dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) to methylthiopropionate (MTPA) by (homo)acetogenic bacteria was studied. Five Eubacterium limosum strains (including the type strain), Sporomusa ovata DSM 2662T, Sporomusa sphaeroidesDSM 2875T, and Acetobacterium woodii DSM 1030T were shown to demethylate DMSP stoichiometrically to MTPA. The (homo)acetogenic fermentation based on this demethylation did not result in any significant increase in biomass. The analogous demethylation of glycine betaine to dimethylglycine does support growth of acetogens. In batch cultures of E. limosum PM31 DMSP and glycine betaine were demethylated simultaneously. In mixed substrates experiments with fructose-DMSP or methanol-DMSP, DMSP was used rapidly but only after exhaustion of the fructose or the methanol. In steady-state fructose-limited chemostat cultures (at a dilution rate of 0.03 h−1) with DMSP as a second reservoir substrate, DMSP was biotransformed to MTPA but this did not result in higher biomass values than in cultures without DMSP; cells from such cultures demethylated DMSP at rates of approximately 50 nmol min−1 mg of protein−1, both after growth in the presence of DMSP and after growth in its absence. In cell extracts of glycine betaine-grown strain PM31, DMSP demethylation activities of 21 to 24 nmol min−1 mg of protein−1 were detected with tetrahydrofolate as a methyl acceptor; the activities seen with glycine betaine were approximately 10-fold lower. A speculative explanation for the demethylation of DMSP without an obvious benefit for the organism is that the DMSP-demethylating activity is catalyzed by the glycine betaine-demethylating enzyme and that a transport-related factor, in particular a higher energy demand for DMSP transport across the cytoplasmic membrane than for glycine betaine transport, may reduce the overall ATP yield of the fermentation to virtually zero.