University of Konstanz

Non-uniformly elliptic variational problems on BV

Abstract We establish $$\operatorname {W}^{1,1}$$ W 1 , 1 -regularity and higher gradient integrability for relaxed minimizers of convex integral functionals on $$\operatorname {BV}$$ BV . Unlike classical examples such as the minimal surface integrand, we only require linear gro...

Decoupling of emigration timing and skill acquisition in a saturated population of golden eagles

Abstract Many animals must gain independence from parental care by acquiring skills necessary for survival. Thus, the rate of skill acquisition can predict when parental care ends and animals emigrate. However, young animals sometimes acquire adult-like skills long before they em...

The Echo-Chamber Trap: Symbolic Self-Completion and the Stagnation of Digital Activism

Social movements increasingly rely on digital platforms to mobilize support, raise awareness, and coordinate collective action. At the same time, however, the rise of online activism has intensified concerns regarding “slacktivism”, namely forms of symbolic and low-effort engagem...

Bio-inspired decision making in robot swarms under biases

Abstract To operate autonomously, minimal robot swarms must make timely and reliable collective decisions despite noisy individual sensing and severe constraints on communication, computation, and memory. Achieving this capability could expand their use in applications such as he...

AI agents can coordinate via majority-following beyond human scale

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed in collaborative tasks forming “AI agent societies” where agents interact and influence one another. Whether such groups can spontaneously coordinate without external influence, a hallmark of self-organized regulation in huma...

Standardized lake fish community assessment using modified multi-mesh gillnets to minimize fish mortality

Systems for assessing the ecological status of lakes with respect to fish population are normally based on catches using conventional European Committee for Standardization (CEN) gill nets. A modified gillnet (MOD) design with less small-mesh and more large-mesh panel area , deve...

Emerging innovations in movement ecology to address planetary challenges

Abstract Movement ecology—the study of how and why animals move within their environments—stands to offer transformative insights into our rapidly changing world, with benefits for both nature and people. Here, we present the first global horizon scan for movement ecology, engagi...

Bulk degradation of P-, Sb- and As-doped Cz Si wafers and TOPCon cells due to light and elevated temperature

We assessed light- and elevated-temperature induced degradation (LeTID) in n -type Czochralski (Cz) Si wafers, and industrial tunnel oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) Si solar cells processed with and without the laser-enhanced contact optimization (LECO). A recovery pre-treatme...

Co-sedimentation is the key to the structural investigation of wild-type FAT10

Under inflammatory conditions, the ubiquitin-like modifier FAT10 serves as a tag for protein degradation by the 26S proteasome. FAT10 is degraded along with its substrates and this process is independent of the segregase VCP/p97, which, in the regular ubiquitin pathway of degrada...