text:
\section{Introduction}

\begin{figure*}[t]
    \centering

    \begin{overpic}[trim=400 265 500 100, clip, width=1.0\linewidth]{figures/crgeo_highlevel_final2.pdf}
    \caption{Our package serves as a bridge from CommonRoad to PyTorch-Geometric.
    \hl{The abbreviated graph labels refer to the heterogeneous node and edge entities of our unified traffic graph structure covered in}~\cref{section:graph-representation}.
    }
 \put (70, 23) {\textsc{v2l}}
 \put (87.5, 20) {\textsc{v2v}}
 \put (87.5, 23) {\textsc{l2l}}

 \put (76.5, 28) {\textsc{v}}
 \put (92.7,14.9) {\textsc{l}}

 \label{fig:crgeo_highlevel}
   \end{overpic}
\end{figure*}

\hl{Machine learning agents require an accurate understanding of the surrounding traffic context to make safe and effective decisions}~\cite{Lefevre2014}.
This calls for a descriptive representation not only of the various entities within the traffic environment, but also
the complex spatial and temporal relationships between them. When restricted to a fixed-size feature space\hll{ --- a prerequisite for classical neural networks} --- this is a particularly challenging prospect given the inherent complexity and variability in road geometries and traffic situations.

An alternative approach is to model the environment state in the form of a heterogeneous graph, encompassing both the road network topology and the traffic participants present in the traffic scene. \hl{This structured representation} \hll{allows us to capture} \hl{a wide range of road networks and traffic scenarios with a variable number of discrete elements. Additionally, it enables the explicit modeling of pairwise relationships or interactions between entities through edge connections.} \hll{Graph neural networks (GNNs) have recently emerged as the principal deep learning framework for processing graph data}~\cite{bronstein_2017, chami_machine_2021, hetero_gnn_wang_2019, battaglia_2018}\hll{. By using GNNs, the graph topology can be exploited as a relational inductive  bias}~\cite{battaglia_2018}\hll{ during training, aiding generalization.}

\subsection{Related work}

\hll{Graph-structured} representations of traffic \hll{proposed in existing works} differ based on the objectives of the \hl{learning task}. In~\cite{jepsen_2019}, the authors let nodes represent individual road segments with edges forming the overarching road network topology \hl{for driving speed estimation and road network classification.} Alternatively,~\cite{diehl_2019} and~\cite{jeon2020_scalenet}
present graph-based traffic forecasting approaches in which nodes are used to model traffic participants and edges are used to capture vehicle interactions. Similarly, \autocite{huegle_dynamic_2019} and~\cite{hart_graph_2020} adopt vehicle-to-vehicle GNNs as policy networks for reinforcement learning agents.  \hl{Additionally considering the temporal dimension,} \autocite{liGRIPGraphbasedInteractionaware2019} employs a spatiotemporal vehicle graph for capturing time-dependent features. \hl{Finally, recent works} \cite{liang_lane_graph_2020, zeng_lanercnn_2021, zhao2020tnt, kim_lapred_2021, zhang2021trajectory, janjo2021starnet, ngiam2021scene, gilles2021gohome, mo_2022_edge_enhanced} \hl{incorporate both vehicle and map nodes by modelling} the environment as a heterogeneous graph, including both inter-vehicle as well as vehicle-road interaction \hl{effects}.
\subsection{Motivation and contributions}

Despite the vast research interest, there is no software framework that offers an interface for extracting custom graph datasets from traffic scenarios. \hl{Although there are plenty of autonomous driving datasets}, e.g. ~\cite{krajewskiHighDDatasetDrone2018, interactiondataset, caesar_nuplan_2022}\hl{, researchers have to write considerable amounts of ad-hoc, error-prone conversion code to use them as inputs for GNN models.} As evident by the success in other application domains such as bioinformatics and social networks~\cite{morris_2020_tudataset, leskovec_2024_snapsets}, standardized graph datasets would enable autonomous driving researchers to streamline their experiments and ensure comparability and repeatability of their results.

To fill this gap, we propose \textit{CommonRoad-Geometric} ({\textit{cr-geo}}): a Python library designed to facilitate the extraction of graph data from \hl{recorded or simulated} traffic scenarios. \hll{Our framework extends the} \textit{CommonRoad}~\cite{commonroad_paper} \hll{software platform,} accessing its standardized interface for a high-level representation of the input scenarios.
\hll{As illustrated by}~\cref{fig:crgeo_highlevel}, our framework unifies \hl{the traffic scene} into a single graph entity, encompassing both the traffic participants and the underlying road map. The extracted graph representations are based on the \texttt{HeteroData} class offered by \code{PyTorch-Geometric}~\cite{pygeo}, a popular \code{PyTorch}~\cite{pytorch} \hl{extension} for deep learning on graph-structured data.

Our paper offers the following contributions:
\begin{itemize}
    \item \hll{we introduce a heterogeneous graph structure for map-aware traffic representations tailored to GNN applications;}
    \item \hll{we present and outline the software architecture of} \code{CommonRoad-Geometric} ({\textit{cr-geo}})\hll{, which offers a bridge from the well-established CommonRoad scenario format to} \code{PyTorch-Geometric} (\textit{PyG});
    \item as a concrete example of the wide range of GNN-based applications facilitated by {\textit{cr-geo}}, we train a \hll{spatiotemporal trajectory prediction model on a real-world graph dataset extracted from NuPlan}~\cite{caesar_nuplan_2022}.
\end{itemize}

\footnotetext[1]{Our source code is available at {\footnotesize\url{https://github.com/CommonRoad/crgeo}}, and is provided under the BSD-3-Clause license, allowing free use and distribution.}

\section{Background}

We first provide some background on heterogeneous graphs and the description of scenarios in CommonRoad.

\subsubsection{Heterogeneous graphs}
A directed heterogeneous graph ${\mathcal{G} = (\mathcal{V}, \mathcal{E}, \mathcal{A}, \mathcal{R}, \mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{V}}, \mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{E}})}$ is defined as a tuple of a set of nodes $\mathcal{V}$, edges $\mathcal{E}$, node types $\mathcal{A}$, edge types $\mathcal{R}$, and corresponding node and edge features $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{V}}$ and $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{E}}$~\cite{jizhou_2013_heterograph}. Edges are defined as a 3-tuple ${\mathcal{E} \subset \mathcal{V} \times \mathcal{R} \times \mathcal{V}}$. Further, each node ${v \in \mathcal{V}}$ is assigned a node type via the mapping ${\tau_V(v): \mathcal{V} \rightarrow \mathcal{A}}$. Analogously, edges ${e \in \mathcal{E}}$ are associated with an edge type ${\tau_\mathcal{E}(e): \mathcal{E} \rightarrow \mathcal{R}}$. Finally, $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{V}}$ and $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{E}}$ contain the attribute vectors, which we denote as ${\vect{x}_v \in \mathbb{R}^{D_\mathcal{V}}}$ for node attributes and ${\vect{x}_e \in \mathbb{R}^{D_\mathcal{E}}}$ for edge attributes.

\begin{figure}[htp]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{figures/gnn_message_passing.pdf}
    \caption{Illustration of a simple graph structure. Edge types are represented as different colors. Colored squares represent attribute vectors for nodes (e.g., vehicle speed),  and edges (e.g., distance between vehicles).}
    \label{fig:lanelet_graph_conv}
\end{figure}

\subsubsection{CommonRoad}

A CommonRoad \textit{scenario} contains a set $\mathcal{V}^{cr}$ of \textit{dynamic obstacles}. \hl{For a  vehicle $V \in \mathcal{V}^{cr}$ of rectangular shape $(l_V, w_V)$, we represent its time-dependent state by its x-y center position $\vect{p}_{V}$, its orientation $\theta_{V}$, as well as their time derivatives in the scenario coordinate frame.}

Further, the map-related information of a scenario is described by its \code{lanelet network}, containing a set $\mathcal{L}^{cr}$ of atomic \code{lanelets} and their \hllll{longitudinal and lateral}\hl{ adjacency relations~\cite{bender_lanelets}.}
Lanelets are geometrically defined by their boundary polylines. For a lanelet $L \in \mathcal{L}^{cr}$, we denote its left and right boundary polylines as $S_{L, l}$ and $S_{L, r}$, respectively. Further, we denote the center polyline as $S_{L, c}$. Each polyline is made up of a sequence of $N_{L}$ waypoints in the \hll{scenario} coordinate frame, i.e., ${S_{L, l} = \langle \vec{s}_{l, i} \rangle_{i \in 1, ..., N_{L}}}$, ${S_{L, r} = \langle \vec{s}_{r, i} \rangle_{i \in 1, ..., N_{L}}}$, and ${S_{L, c} = \langle \vec{s}_{c, i} \rangle_{i \in 1, ..., N_{L}}}$.

We define the lanelet length as
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\lVert L \rVert_2 &= \sum_{i=1}^{N_L - 1} \sqrt{\lVert \vec{s}_{c,i+1} - \vec{s}_{c,i} \rVert_2},
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
\hl{with $\lVert \rVert_2$ denoting the L2-norm.}

\section{Overview}\label{sec:overview}

\hl{In the following subsections}, we define the structure of our traffic graph and outline the software architecture of our framework.

\subsection{Traffic graph structure}\label{section:graph-representation}

Extending \textit{PyG}'s \texttt{HeteroData}\footnote{\heterodataurl}, {\textit{cr-geo}}'s \ccode{CommonRoadData} class represents a heterogeneous traffic graph encapsulating nodes of both the vehicle ($\text{\fauxsc{v}}$) and lanelet ($\text{\fauxsc{l}}$) node type, as well as the structural metadata for the specific graph instance.
Formally, we have that ${\mathcal{A} = \{\text{\fauxsc{v}}, \text{\fauxsc{l}}\}}$ and ${\mathcal{R} = \{\text{\fauxsc{l2l}}, \text{\fauxsc{v2v}}, \text{\fauxsc{v2l}}, \text{\fauxsc{l2v}}\}}$.

\hll{In order to capture temporal vehicle interactions with GNN-based message-passing schemes}, we further extend the \ccode{CommonRoadData} class \hl{by} the time dimension with \ccode{CommonRoadTemporalData}, where $\mathcal{R}$ is augmented by \hl{the temporal} \text{\fauxsc{vtv}} \hl{edge type}. The resulting \textit{temporal graph}~\cite{jain_2016_spatio_temporal_rnn}, \hll{as shown in} \cref{fig:vtv_edges}, \hl{intrinsically encodes the temporal dimension by unrolling the traffic graph over time. Vehicle nodes are repeated to capture vehicle states} \hll{at past timesteps}\hl{, and temporal edges encode the time difference between them.}

\begin{figure*}[h]
    \centering
    \begin{overpic}[trim=250 100 200 200, clip, width=1.0\linewidth,tics=10]

   {figures/temporal_edges_23.pdf}
    \caption{Visualization of Voronoi-based \textsc{v2v} and causal \textsc{vtv} edges for a highway \hl{scenario}.
    Opaque colors denote the most recent edges while more transparent shades represent older ones.}
 \put (41,10.5) {\footnotesize$t-4$}

 \put(46.2, 11.4){\rotatebox{9}{\ldots}}

 \put (51.2,11.9) {\footnotesize$t$}
 \put (1.8,8.5) {\footnotesize$t$}
 \put (52.7,1.0) {\rotatebox{9}{Direction of traffic}}
 \put (1.8,15.0) {\footnotesize$t-1$}
 \put (1.8,22.0) {\footnotesize$t-2$}
 \put (38,23.0) {\color{britishracinggreen}\textsc{v2v}}
 \put (29.0,25.0) {\rotatebox{-45}{\color{blue}\textsc{vtv}}}
 \put(0.5, 7.5){\color{black}\vector(0, 1){31}}

 \put (1.8,29.0) {\footnotesize$t-3$}
 \put (1.8,35.5) {\footnotesize$t-4$}\label{fig:vtv_edges}
   \end{overpic}
\end{figure*}

The \hll{heterogeneous} structure of our graphical data representation is summarized in \cref{tab:commonroad-data-temporal-overview} and outlined in the following:

\subsubsection{Lanelet nodes $(\mathcal{V}_L)$}\label{section:lanelet-nodes}
\hl{Lanelet nodes map to the lanelets in} $\mathcal{L}^{cr}$\hl{, with each lanelet} $L$ \hl{being represented as a graph node.}
\hl{The corresponding node attributes encode the geometric properties of the respective lanelets.}
Using the general notation $^{L}\square$, we denote the lanelet-local transformed polyline coordinates as ${}^{L}S_{L, l}$, ${}^{L}S_{L, c}$, and ${}^{L}S_{L, r}$. Here, the vertex coordinates are transformed to the lanelet-local coordinate frame according to its origin position ${\vect{p}_L = \vec{s}_{c,1}}$ and its orientation ${\theta_L = \atantwo{\left( \nicefrac{\vec{s}_{c,2}}{\vec{s}_{c,1}} \right)}}$.
In the following, we also let the function interpretations $S_{L, \square}(\cdot)$ and $\theta_L(\cdot)$ be defined via orthogonal projections onto the linearly interpolated polylines.

\subsubsection{Lanelet-to-lanelet edges $(\mathcal{E}_{\textsc{l2l}})$}
Lanelet-to-lanelet edges characterize the lanelet network topology and encode the spatial relationship between adjacent lanelets.
As illustrated by \cref{fig:lanelet_graph_conv},
we explicitly differentiate between the heterogeneous $\textsc{l2l}$ adjacency types $\mathcal{R}_{\textsc{l2l}}$ \hl{listed in} \cref{tab:l2lrelations} via the categorical edge attribute $\tau_{\mathcal{E}}$.
For an edge from $L$ to $L^{'}$, we also include their centerline arclength distance at the point of intersection as edge attributes, which we denote by $s_{L}$ and $s_{L^{'}}$. \hll{This is} \hl{especially relevant for conflicting} \hl{lanelets,} \hll{as it} \hl{encodes the geometric connectivity between a pair of connected lanelets:} \hllll{Referring to the conflicting lanelets in}~\cref{fig:l2l_intersection}, $s_{L}$ and $s_{L^{'}}$ \hllll{would represent the arclength positions of the conflict point relative to each lanelet.}

\begin{figure}[h]
    \begin{subfigure}{1.0\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[trim=62.6 135 50.5 135, clip, width=\textwidth]{figures/l2l_conversion_7-eps-converted-to.pdf}
        \caption{Highway scenario containing five parallel lanelets.\vspace{0.05cm}}
        \label{fig:subfig1}
    \end{subfigure}
    \begin{subfigure}{1.0\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[trim=62.6 80 50.5 80, clip, width=\textwidth]{figures/l2l_conversion_9-eps-converted-to.pdf}
        \caption{Intersection scenario highlighting merging and diverging lanelets.\vspace{0.05cm}}
        \label{fig:subfig2}
    \end{subfigure}
    \subfloat[Same scenario as in (b), but highlighting the conflicting lanelets.\label{fig:l2l_intersection}]{%
        \centering
      \begin{overpic}[trim=62.8 100 50.2 100, clip, width=\textwidth]{figures/l2l_conversion_6-eps-converted-to.pdf}

 \put(54,30.3){\tikz \draw[dashed,->] (0,0)--(-2.1,0);}
 \put (79.6,29.6) {\footnotesize{conflict point}}
      \end{overpic}
    }
    \caption{Lanelet graphs highlighting $\textsc{l2l}$ adjacency types.}
    \label{fig:lanelet_graph_conv}
\end{figure}

\begin{table}[t]
\footnotesize
\centering
\caption{\textsc{l2l} adjacency types for edges $L \rightarrow L^{\prime}$. \hl{The considered adjacency types can be individually} \hll{selected} \hl{at the user's preference.}\vspace{-0.5cm}}
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{cc}
    \multicolumn{2}{c}{} \\
    \toprule
    \textbf{Type} & \textbf{Interpretation}\\
    \midrule
		predecessor & $L$ continues the driving corridor of $L^{\prime}$ \\
		successor & $L^{\prime}$ continues the driving corridor of $L$ \\
		adjacent left & $L$ is left-adjacent to $L^{\prime}$ \\
		adjacent right & $L$ is right-adjacent to $L^{\prime}$ \\
		merging & $L$ and $L^{\prime}$ share a common successor (symmetric) \\
		diverging & $L$ and $L^{\prime}$ share a common predecessor (symmetric) \\
		conflicting & $L$ and $L^{\prime}$ cross each other (symmetric) \\
    \bottomrule
\end{tabularx}

    \label{tab:l2lrelations}
\end{table}
\subsubsection{Vehicle nodes $(\mathcal{V}_V)$}
Vehicle nodes are inserted according to the states of the currently present vehicles and identified by their CommonRoad IDs. \hlll{As shown in} \cref{fig:vtv_edges}, \ccode{CommonRoadTemporalData} additionally includes past vehicle states in the graph representation\hl{: here, a vehicle's state history is captured by time-attributed (but otherwise identical) vehicles nodes inserted at each timestep}.

\subsubsection{Vehicle-to-vehicle edges $(\mathcal{E}_{\textsc{v2v}})$}\label{section:vehicle-to-vehicle-edges}

Vehicle-to-vehicle \hlll{edges} capture the interactive effects between vehicles at each timestep. \hl{The relative pose of connected vehicles is encoded as edge attributes according to the vehicle-local coordinate frame originating at the center of the source vehicle.}
\hl{As an abstraction rather than a physical manifestation, $\textsc{v2v}$ edges are devoid of an unambiguous definition of the adjacency matrix.}
Hence, users \hl{can} provide a specific implementation of our \text{\fauxsc{v2v}} \textit{edge drawer} protocol \hl{to encode which }\text{\fauxsc{v2v}} \hl{relations are relevant for their} \hll{task.}
Our framework offers \hllll{developers} a set of standard edge drawer implementations, two of which are depicted in \Cref{fig:edge_drawers_demo}.

\begin{figure}[h]
    \begin{subfigure}{1.0\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[trim=0 530 0 530, clip, width=\textwidth]{figures/v2v_edges_plot_20_VoronoiEdgeDrawer.png}
        \caption{\code{VoronoiEdgeDrawer} inserts edges according to a Delaunay triangulation.}
        \label{fig:edge_drawers_demo_voro}
    \end{subfigure}
    \begin{subfigure}{1.0\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[trim=0 530 0 550, clip, width=\textwidth]{figures/v2v_edges_plot_20_KNearestEdgeDrawer.png}
        \caption{\code{KNearestEdgeDrawer} connects the $k$ closest vehicles (here with $k=3$).}
        \label{fig:subfig2}
    \end{subfigure}
    \caption{$\textsc{v2v}$ edges drawn by two different implementations.}
    \label{fig:edge_drawers_demo}
\end{figure}

\begin{table}[t]
\footnotesize
\centering
\caption{Overview of node ($\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{V}}$) and edge ($\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{E}}$) attributes.\vspace{-0.2cm}}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.275}
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{crllc}
\toprule
\textbf{Type}                   & \textbf{Attribute}         & \textbf{Notation}                                 & \textbf{Unit}  & \textbf{Size} \\ \midrule

\multirow{6}{*}{$\underset{\underset{(L)}{}}{\textsc{l}}$}   & Position           & $\vect{p}_L$                                        & \SI{}{\meter} & 2 \\
                                & Length             & $\lVert L \rVert_2$                                   & \SI{}{\meter} & $1$  \\
                                & Orientation        & $\theta_L$                                          & \SI{}{rad} & $1$  \\
                                & Left vertices              & ${}^L V_l$                                          & \SI{}{\meter} & $2 \cdot N_{L}$ \\
                                & Right vertices             & ${}^L V_r$                                          & \SI{}{\meter} & $2 \cdot N_{L}$  \\
                                & Custom feature vector      & $\vect{x}_v^{(\textsc{l})}$                          &  &            \\ \midrule

\multirow{8}{*}{$\underset{\underset{(V)}{}}{\textsc{v}}$}   & Position                   & $\vect{p}_V$                                        & \SI{}{\meter} & 2 \\
                                & Orientation                & $\theta_V$                                          & \SI{}{rad}  & $1$   \\
                                & Yaw-rate                & $\dot{\theta}_V$                                          & \SI{}{rad/\second} & $1$ \\
                                & Velocity                   & $\dot{\vect{p}}_V$                                        & \SI{}{\meter/\second} & $2$ \\
                                & Acceleration                   & $\vect{\ddot{p}}_V$     & \SI{}{\meter/\second^2} & $2$ \\
                                & Vehicle width                   & $w_V$ & \SI{}{\meter} & $1$ \\
                                & Vehicle length                   & $l_V$ & \SI{}{\meter} & $1$ \\

                                & Custom feature vector      & $\vect{x}_v^{(\textsc{v})}$                          & &         \\ \midrule

\multirow{7}{*}{$\underset{\underset{(L \rightarrow L^{'})}{}}{\textsc{l2l}}$}
                                & Distance\textsuperscript{a}  & $\lVert \vect{p}_{L^{'}} - \vect{p}_L \rVert_2$                                          & \SI{}{\meter} & 1  \\
                                & Relative position\textsuperscript{a}                   & $^{L}\vect{p}_{L^{'}}$  & \SI{}{\meter} & $2$  \\
                                & Relative orientation\textsuperscript{a}                   & $\theta_{L^{'}} - \theta_L$  & \SI{}{rad} & $1$  \\

                                & Intersection (source) & $s_{L}$                                          & \SI{}{\meter} & $1$  \\
                                & Intersection (target) & $s_{L^{'}}$                                          & \SI{}{\meter} & $1$ \\
                                & Adjacency type                  & $\tau_{\mathcal{E}}$ & --- & $1$               \\
                                & Custom feature vector      & $\vect{x}_e^{(\textsc{l2l})}$                       &   &              \\ \midrule

\multirow{6}{*}{$\underset{\underset{(V \rightarrow V^{'})}{}}{\textsc{v2v}}$}
& Distance                   & $\lVert \vect{p}_{V^{'}} - \vect{p}_{V} \rVert_2$                                         & \SI{}{\meter} & 1 \\
 & Relative position      & $^{V}\vect{p}_{V^{'}}$  & \SI{}{\meter} & 2 \\

                                & Relative orientation                   & $\theta_{V^{'}} - \theta_{V}$                                        & \SI{}{rad} & 1 \\
                                & Relative velocity                   & $^{V}\dot{\vect{p}}_{V^{'}} - ^{V}\!\dot{\vect{p}}_{V}$                                         & \SI{}{\meter/\second} & $2$  \\
                                & Relative acceleration                   & $^{V}\ddot{\vect{p}}_{V^{'}} - ^{V}\!\ddot{\vect{p}}_{V}$                                         & \SI{}{\meter/\second^2} & $2$ \\
                           & Custom feature vector      & $\vect{x}_e^{(\textsc{v2v})}$ & & \\ \midrule

\multirow{3}{*}{$\textsc{vtv}$\textsuperscript{b}}
& \textit{\fauxsc{v2v} attributes} & \ditto & \ditto & \ditto \\
& Time delta               & $\Delta t_{e}$                                      & \SI{}{\second} & $1$ \\
                                 & Custom feature vector      & $\vect{x}_e^{(\textsc{vtv})}$                        &   &         \\ \midrule

\multirow{7}{*}{$\underset{\underset{(V \rightarrow L)}{}}{\textsc{v2l}}$}
& Left distance      & $d_{V, l}^{L}$  & \SI{}{\meter} & 1  \\
& Right distance      & $d_{V, r}^{L}$  & \SI{}{\meter} & 1  \\
& Lateral offset      & $d_{V, e}^{L}$  & \SI{}{\meter} & 1  \\

                                 & Heading error                   & $\theta_{V, e}^{L}$                                         & \SI{}{rad} & $1$ \\
                                & Projected arclength                   & $s_{V}^{L}$                                         & \SI{}{\meter} & $1$  \\
                                & Normalized arclength                   & $\nicefrac{s_{V}^{L}}{\lVert L \rVert_2}$                                         & --- & $1$  \\
                                & Custom feature vector      & $\vect{x}_e^{(\textsc{v2l})}$                        &  &  \\ \midrule

\multirow{1}{*}{$\textsc{l2v}$}
& \textit{Inverted} \fauxsc{v2l} \textit{edges} & \ditto & \ditto & \ditto \\ \bottomrule

\end{tabularx} \par
\bigskip\vspace{-0.25cm}
\hspace{-1.42cm}\textsuperscript{a}\hl{measured between the respective lanelet coordinate frames.}\\
\hspace{-2.835cm}\textsuperscript{b}only relevant for \textit{CommonRoadTemporalData}.\vspace{-6pt}
\label{tab:commonroad-data-temporal-overview}
\end{table}

\subsubsection{Vehicle-to-lanelet edges $(\mathcal{E}_{\textsc{v2l}})$}

Bidirectional vehicle-to-lanelet edges relate vehicles to the underlying road infrastructure. Our framework offers two assignment strategies for drawing the edges:

\begin{enumerate}
    \item \textbf{Center}: Each vehicle is connected to all lanelets that contain the vehicle center point.
    \item \textbf{Shape}: Each vehicle is connected to all lanelets that \hl{intersect with the} vehicle shape. \hl{This constitutes a superset of the edges drawn by the abovementioned \textit{Center} strategy.}
\end{enumerate}

The associated edge attributes characterize the vehicle's geometric alignment with the curvilinear lanelet coordinate frame~\cite{hery_2017_curvilinear}.
For a given edge from vehicle $V$ to lanelet $L$, we denote the orthogonal distance from the lanelet's left and right boundaries to the vehicle center as
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
d_{V, l}^{L} &= \lVert S_{L, l}(\vect{p}_{V}) - \vect{p}_{V} \rVert_2, \\
d_{V, r}^{L} &= \lVert S_{L, r}(\vect{p}_{V}) - \vect{p}_{V} \rVert_2.
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
Further, we define the signed offset from the centerline as
\begin{equation}
    d_{V, e}^{L} = \frac{d_{V, l}^{L} - d_{V, r}^{L}}{2}
\end{equation}
\hl{and} let $s_{V}^{L} \in [0, \lVert L \rVert_2]$ denote the centerline arclength from the lanelet origin $\vect{p}_{L}$ to $S_{L, c}(\vect{p}_{V})$.
\hl{Finally}, the orientation difference
is \hlll{given} by

\begin{equation}
    \theta_{V, e}^{L} = \theta_L(\vect{p}_{V}) - \theta_V.
\end{equation}

\subsubsection{Vehicle-temporal-vehicle edges $(\mathcal{E}_{\textsc{vtv}})$}

\ccode{CommonRoadTemporalData} additionally contains temporal vehicle edges for encoding temporal dependencies in the traffic graph:
\hl{Letting $v_t$ and $v_{t^{'}}$ denote two time-separated vehicle nodes emerging from one vehicle instance, a temporal edge ${e\in \mathcal{E}_{\textsc{vtv}}}$ encodes the elapsed time ${\Delta t_e = t - t^{'}}$.} As illustrated by \cref{fig:vtv_edges}, $\textsc{vtv}$ edges can be viewed as orthogonal to the ordinary $\textsc{v2v}$ edges, connecting vehicles to themselves at different timesteps.
\hl{As for $\textsc{v2v}$}, {\textit{cr-geo}}~lets users specify a \hl{custom} \code{temporal edge drawer} for defining the exact \text{\fauxsc{vtv}} graph structure.
The default \ccode{CausalEdgeDrawer} inserts directed temporal edges between a historic vehicle node and $T_{max}^{\textsc{vtv}}$ of its future instances.
This constrains the flow of the \text{\fauxsc{vtv}} edges to be forward in time.

\subsection{Software architecture}

Next, we outline the principal components of our software architecture in a bottom-up approach, by detailing the \hl{pipeline for} collecting graph datasets from CommonRoad scenarios. An architecture overview is given by~\cref{fig:high-level}.

\subsubsection{Design principles}\label{sec:design-principles}

\begin{figure*}[t]
    \centering

    \begin{overpic}[width=1.0\linewidth]{figures/architecture_left_to_right_v7.pdf}

   \caption{High-level software architecture for {\textit{cr-geo}}~shown as a UML 2 component diagram~\cite{Booch04_uml}.}

 \label{fig:high-level}
   \end{overpic}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}[H]
    \centering
\includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{figures/architecture_left_to_right_v7.pdf}
    \caption{High-level software architecture for {\textit{cr-geo}}~shown as a UML 2 component diagram~\cite{Booch04_uml}.}
    \label{fig:high-level}
\end{figure*}

Conforming to the \textit{single responsibility principle}~\cite{Martin17_clean_software}, {\textit{cr-geo}}~is composed of distinct modules with clearly-defined roles. To encapsulate volatile processing routines that may require frequent modifications, the \textit{strategy pattern}~\cite{gamma1994design} is employed. This allows specific behaviors to be realized through composition, allowing the framework to be extended to satisfy different requirements and use cases. Users can introduce or substitute implementations without interfering with the rest of the framework, avoiding unintended side effects and minimizing debugging, testing, maintenance, and refactoring efforts.

Next, we introduce the core functionalities of our framework on the basis of these design principles. \cref{tab:extendable_components} \hl{summarizes the options available to customize graph extraction:}

\begin{table}[H]
    \footnotesize
    \begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{ llcc }
    \multicolumn{4}{c}{} \\
    \toprule
    \textbf{Component} & \textbf{Target} & \textbf{Count} & \textbf{Default}\\
    \midrule
		\textit{Preprocessors} & input scenario  & \textit{many} & $\emptyset$  \\
		\textit{Filters} & input scenario & \textit{many} & $\emptyset$    \\
		\textsc{v2v} \textit{edge drawer} & $\mathcal{E}_{\fauxsc{v2v}}$ & \textit{one} & \footnotesize{\texttt{VoronoiEdgeDrawer}}  \\
		\textsc{vtv} \textit{edge drawer} &  $\mathcal{E}_{\fauxsc{vtv}}$ & \textit{one} & \footnotesize{\texttt{CausalEdgeDrawer}}   \\
		\textit{Feature extractors} & $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{V}}$,  $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{E}}$ & \textit{many}  & $\emptyset$   \\
		\textit{Postprocessors} & $\mathcal{G}$ & \textit{many} & $\emptyset$   \\
    \bottomrule
    \end{tabularx}
    \caption{\hl{Summary of} {\textit{cr-geo}}\hl{'s base protocols facilitating user-specified behavior listed in the order of execution.}\vspace{-0.5cm}}
    \label{tab:extendable_components}

\end{table}

\subsubsection{Scenario preprocessing and filtering}
Our framework supports arbitrary preprocessing and filtering of the input scenarios to ensure that they satisfy the user requirements.
As an example, \ccode{TrafficFilter(min=10)} lets users exclude scenarios with less than $10$ vehicles from the collected graph dataset. Further, suppose that we want a higher-fidelity view of the lanelet network, where no lanelet exceeds $20$ meters in length: this can be achieved by using {\textit{cr-geo}}'s built-in \ccode{SegmentLanelets} \textit{preprocessor}, which results in a higher lanelet node density. Using our composition syntax that realizes arbitrary chaining and grouping of preprocessing and filtering operations, these behaviors can be effortlessly combined via \\ \ccode{TrafficFilter(min=10) >> SegmentLanelets(size=20)}.

\subsubsection{Feature extraction}
The extraction of the graph features, i.e., $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{V}}$ and $\mathcal{X}_{\mathcal{E}}$,
is carried out through \code{feature extractors} operating on the scenario objects. The feature extractors receive a \textit{simulation} object, \hll{which provides access} to inherent and derived state information of the scenario at the current timestep. \hl{As potentially stateful entities,} \hll{feature extractors} \hl{also support time-dependent features.}

In our framework, we distinguish between node- and edge-level feature extractors, with the latter operating on pairs of entities according to $\mathcal{E}$. Further, {\textit{cr-geo}}~designates various sub-protocols to accommodate the semantically different call signatures implied by $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{R}$.
\hll{In accordance with} {\textit{cr-geo}}\hl{'s guiding design principles, users can devise their own implementation to augment the extracted graphs by arbitrary custom features without modifying the} {\textit{cr-geo}}~\hl{source code.}
To reduce the initial setup time for new \hll{users}, {\textit{cr-geo}}~\hl{also} offers users a selection of pre-configured feature extractor implementations designed to meet the most common needs and requirements.
\subsubsection{Postprocessors}
In contrast to the aforementioned node- and edge-level feature extractors, \code{postprocessors} operate directly on the graph instances in a deferred manner.
As such, they \hll{are intended to supplement the flexibility we concede in the otherwise rigorous graph extraction procedure. User-devised} \hl{postprocessing procedures} can serve numerous practical purposes, \hll{e.g.,}
\begin{itemize}
    \item to complement the functionality of feature extractors by facilitating the computation of \hl{graph-global} features, e.g., an indicator for whether the current traffic scene corresponds to a traffic jam or not;
    \item to modify the graph structure, e.g., by the removal or insertion of nodes and edges.
\end{itemize}

\hl{The postprocessors are executed after the initial graph extraction, but prior to dataset generation. Furthermore, they can also be applied while loading an existing dataset.}

\subsubsection{Traffic graph extraction}
The execution of edge drawing, feature extraction and postprocessing is orchestrated by a \code{traffic extractor},
\hl{which} manages the creation of a \ccode{CommonRoadData} instance at a single timestep $t$.
Besides its outsourced responsibilities, it handles the declaration of metadata attributes such as node IDs.

The traffic extractor class is complemented by the \code{temporal traffic extractor} for the purpose of extracting temporal graph representations. Internally relying on a \hll{regular} traffic extractor, it maintains a cache of the $n$ preceding \hll{ordinary} \ccode{CommonRoadData} instances at all times. When called upon, it returns the current-timestep \ccode{CommonRoadTemporalData} by merging the cached graph sequence into a single entity.
\hl{The} temporal extractor delegates the \hll{temporal edge} construction to the provided \code{temporal edge drawer} and the computation of custom temporal features to the \text{\fauxsc{vtv}} feature extractors provided by the user. The regular and temporal extraction procedures are summarized by~\cref{alg:data-creation} and~\cref{alg:temp-data-creation}, respectively.

\begin{algorithm}
\captionsetup{font=footnotesize}
\begin{minipage}{\dimexpr\linewidth-\SmallMargin\relax}
  \caption{Extraction of \code{CommonRoadData} by \code{TrafficExtractor}.}\label{alg:data-creation}
\footnotesize
  \begin{algorithmic}[1]
\Configuration
    \State Scenario \code{scenario}
    \State Edge drawer $D^{\fauxsc{v2v}}$
    \State Set of feature extractors $\mathcal{F}$
    \State Sequence of postprocessors $\mathcal{P}_{post}$
\Initialization
    \State \code{simulation} $\leftarrow$ \code{Simulation}$ ($\code{scenario}$)$
\Require
    \State Timestep $t$
\Ensure
    \State \code{CommonRoadData}
\Proc \textsc{Extract}
    \State \code{state} $\leftarrow$ \code{simulation}$(t)$ \Comment{Current traffic state}
    \State \code{v2v\_edges} $\leftarrow$ $D^{\fauxsc{v2v}}$$($\code{state}$)$
    \State \code{features} $\leftarrow$ $\emptyset$ \Comment{Container for \fauxsc{v2v}, \fauxsc{l2l}, \fauxsc{v2l}, and \fauxsc{l2v} features}
    \For{\textbf{each} $f \in \mathcal{F}$} \hspace*{7.7em}\tikzmark{right} \tikzmark{top}
        \State \code{feature} $\leftarrow$ $f($\code{state}, \code{v2v\_edges}$)
        \State \code{features} $\leftarrow$ \code{features} $\cup \; \{\code{feature}\!\}$
    \EndFor \tikzmark{bottom}
    \State \code{data} $\leftarrow$ \code{CommonRoadData}$($\code{state}, \code{v2v\_edges}, \code{features}$)$
    \For{\textbf{each} $p \in$ $\mathcal{P}_{post}$}  \hspace*{1em}\tikzmark{rightp} \tikzmark{topp}
        \State \code{data} $\leftarrow$ $p($\code{data}$)$
    \EndFor \tikzmark{bottomp}
    \Return \code{data}
    \vspace{-0.25cm}
\end{algorithmic}%
\AddNote{top}{bottom}{right}{Feature extraction}
\AddNote{topp}{bottomp}{rightp}{Postprocessing}
\end{minipage}%
\end{algorithm}

\begin{algorithm}
\captionsetup{font=footnotesize}
 \caption{Extraction of \code{CommonRoadTemporalData}.}
 \label{alg:temp-data-creation}
\footnotesize
  \begin{algorithmic}[1]

\Configuration
    \State Data cache size $n$
    \State Single timestep traffic extractor $E_{regular}$\Comment{Ref.~\cref{alg:data-creation}}
    \State Temporal edge drawer $D^{\fauxsc{vtv}}$
    \State Set of temporal feature extractors $\mathcal{F}^{\fauxsc{vtv}}$
    \State Sequence of temporal data postprocessors $\mathcal{P}_{post}^{\fauxsc{vtv}}$
\Initialization
    \State Empty data sample cache $\mathcal{C} \leftarrow$ \textsc{List}$($\code{max\_size=n}$)$
\Require
\State Timestep $t$
\Ensure
    \State \code{CommonRoadTemporalData}
\Proc \textsc{Extract}
    \State \code{data} $\leftarrow$ $E_{regular}$$(t)$
    \State $\mathcal{C}$.\code{put}$($\code{data}$)$
    \State \code{vtv\_edges} $\leftarrow$ $D^{\fauxsc{vtv}}$$(\mathcal{C})$
    \State \code{vtv\_features} $\leftarrow$ $\emptyset$ \Comment{Container for \fauxsc{vtv} features}
    \For{\textbf{each} $ f \in $ $\mathcal{F}^{\fauxsc{vtv}}$} \hspace*{9em}\tikzmark{right} \tikzmark{top}
        \State \code{feature} $\leftarrow$ $f(\mathcal{C}$, \code{vtv\_edges}$)
         \State \code{vtv\_features} $\leftarrow$ \code{vtv\_features} $\cup \; \{\code{feature}\!\}$
    \EndFor \tikzmark{bottom}
    \State \code{t\_data} $\leftarrow$ \code{CommonRoadTemporalData}$(\mathcal{C}$, \code{vtv\_edges},  \code{vtv\_features}$)$
    \For{\textbf{each} $p \in$ $\mathcal{P}_{post}^{\fauxsc{vtv}}$}  \hspace*{1em}\tikzmark{rightp} \tikzmark{topp}
        \State \code{t\_data} $\leftarrow$ $p($\code{t\_data}$)$
    \EndFor \tikzmark{bottomp}
    \Return \code{t\_data}\textsuperscript{t}
    \vspace{-0.2cm}
  \end{algorithmic}
\AddNote{top}{bottom}{right}{Feature extraction}
\AddNote{topp}{bottomp}{rightp}{Postprocessing}
\end{algorithm}

\subsubsection{Dataset creation}
Based on the provided \hlll{traffic graph} extractor, the \code{dataset collector} offers an interface for generating a chronological sequence of graph instances from a specified scenario.
The collector iterates over consecutive timesteps until it reaches the end of the scenario lifetime, dynamically yielding the extracted graph \hlll{objects} in the process.

Whereas the static simulation mode corresponds to a replay of the recorded vehicle trajectories contained within the CommonRoad scenario, the interactive mode leverages an interactive traffic simulator for on-the-fly generation of realistic vehicle behavior. One such implementation is provided by the traffic simulation tool SUMO~\cite{lopez_microscopic_2018}, which we access via our CommonRoad interface~\cite{crsumo}.

Finally, the creation and accessing of a persistent graph dataset collected from a set of input scenarios is facilitated by the \ccode{CommonRoadDataset}, a full-fledged extension of the powerful \texttt{Dataset}\footnote{\footnotesize{\url{https://pytorch-geometric.readthedocs.io/en/latest/generated/torch_geometric.data.Dataset.html}}} class natively offered by \textit{PyG}. As such, our dataset class allows users to easily perform common data operations such as batching, sampling, and parallelization \hl{on the collected dataset} during \hl{model} training.
As the individual graph instances inherit from the base data representation used by \textit{PyG}, {\textit{cr-geo}}~practitioners can \hlll{effortlessly} adopt their wide selection\footnote{\footnotesize{\url{https://pytorch-geometric.readthedocs.io/en/latest/modules/}}} of state-of-the-art GNN architectures.
The dataset creation procedure is summarized by~\cref{alg:dataset-creation}.
\algnewcommand{\algorithmicgoto}{\textbf{go to}}%
\algnewcommand{\Goto}[1]{\algorithmicgoto~\ref{#1}}%

\begin{algorithm}[H]
\captionsetup{font=footnotesize}
\caption{Creation of \code{CommonRoadDataset} of \code{CommonRoadData}.}\label{alg:dataset-creation}
\footnotesize
\begin{algorithmic}
\Configuration
    \State Composed preprocessor $P_{pre}$ \Comment{Chain of \code{preprocessors} and \code{filters}}
    \State Edge drawers $\mathcal{D}$ \Comment{Contains $D^{\fauxsc{v2v}}$ and (for temporal datasets) $D^{\fauxsc{vtv}}$}
    \State Set of feature extractors $\mathcal{F}$
    \State Sequence of postprocessors $\mathcal{P}_{post}$
\Require
    \State Set of scenarios $\mathcal{S}$ \Comment{CommonRoad scenario directory}
    \State Timesteps $T$ per scenario
\Ensure
    \State \code{CommonRoadDataset}
\Proc \textsc{Create}
    \State \code{dataset} $\leftarrow$ \code{CommonRoadDataset}$()$

    \For{\textbf{each} \code{scenario} $\in$ \code{ScenarioIterator}$(\mathcal{S}, P_{pre})$}

        \State \code{simulation} $\leftarrow$ \code{Simulation}$ ($\code{scenario}$)$ \hspace*{2em} \tikzmark{top}

        \State $E$ $\leftarrow$ \code{Extractor}$($\code{simulation}, $\mathcal{D}$, $\mathcal{F}$, $\mathcal{P}_{post}$$)$ \tikzmark{right}
        \State \code{samples} $\leftarrow$ $\emptyset$
        \For{\code{t} $\leftarrow$ $1,2,\ldots,T$}
            \State \code{data} $\leftarrow$ $E$$($\code{t}$)$
            \State \code{samples} $\leftarrow$ \code{samples} $\cup \; \{\code{data}\}$

        \EndFor \hspace*{2em}\tikzmark{bottom}
        \State \code{dataset} $\leftarrow$ \code{dataset} $\cup \; \{\code{samples}\}$
    \EndFor
    \Return \code{dataset}
\end{algorithmic}
\AddNote{top}{bottom}{right}{Delegated to \code{DatasetCollector}}
\end{algorithm}
\subsection{Experiment}

As an example use case of our framework, we briefly\footnote{The full implementation is hosted at \footnotesize{\url{https://github.com/CommonRoad/crgeo-learning/tree/master/projects/geometric_models/trajectory_prediction}.}} introduce a spatiotemporal \hl{GNN} model \hll{for vehicle trajectory prediction based on our} \ccode{CommonRoadTemporalData} \hlll{environment} \hll{representation}.
We use an end-to-end trainable encoder-decoder architecture implemented by using \hl{the message passing framework offered by} \textit{PyG}:

\subsubsection{Encoder component}
The GNN encoder, for which we use an adapted version of the Heterogeneous Graph Transformer (HGT) architecture proposed in~\cite{hu_2020_hgt}, computes an embedding vector for each vehicle.
In order to exploit all properties of the graphical data, \hll{including relational features encoded as edge attributes}, we implement an edge-enhanced HGT architecture that computes attention weights and messages based on both node and edge features. To accelerate learning, we further carry out three (trainable) \hl{encoding} steps that are applied before the graph convolution layers:
\begin{itemize}
    \item For encoding the delta-time attribute $\Delta t_e$ of the \textsc{vtv} edges, we adopt Time2Vec~\cite{diniz_2022_time2vec}, a learnable vector representation of time that lets us capture periodic and non-periodic time series patterns.
    \item To get fixed-sized node representations for the lanelet geometries, we use a Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU)~\cite{cho2014properties} \hll{which} encodes the variable-length waypoint sequences ${}^L V_l$ and ${}^L V_r$.
    \item Finally, we adopt a learnable vector embedding to encode the categorical \textsc{l2l} adjacency type $\tau_{\mathcal{E}}$.
\end{itemize}

\subsubsection{Decoder component}
Based on the encoded vehicle representations, a GRU decoder network generates a fixed-length sequence of local position and orientation deltas for each vehicle, which is aggregated to obtain a sequence of predicted vehicles states. The model is trained to minimize the mean squared error between the predicted and ground-truth vehicle trajectories. An example of the resulting predictions with a prediction horizon of $1.0$~\SI{}{\second} and a time interval of $0.2$~\SI{}{\second} is shown in \Cref{fig:predicted_trajectories}, whereas the quantitative results are summarized in~\Cref{tab:results}.

\begin{table}[h]
    \footnotesize
    \begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{ lccc }
    \multicolumn{4}{c}{} \\
    \toprule
    \textbf{Dataset split} & \textbf{Number of scenarios} & \textbf{ADE} [m] & \textbf{FDE} [m] \\
    \midrule
		\textit{Singapore} & 2372 & 0.106 & 0.227 \\
		\textit{Boston} & 938 & 0.138 & 0.316 \\
            \textit{Pittsburgh} & 1560 & 0.215 & 0.454 \\

    \bottomrule
    \end{tabularx}
    \caption{Experimental results from the cities included in the Nuplan dataset. Each experiment is trained and validated on the datasets collected in the same city. We use average displacement error (ADE) and final displacement error (FDE) as evaluation metrics.\vspace{-0.5cm}}
\label{tab:results}
\end{table}
\vspace*{-0.5cm}
\begin{figure}[h]
    \centering
    \fbox{\includegraphics[trim=1600 1400 1400 2400, clip, width=0.95\linewidth]{figures/nuplan_singapore.png} }
    \caption{Predicted trajectories from NuPlan's Singapore dataset.}
    \label{fig:predicted_trajectories}
\end{figure}
\section{Dataset and Experiment}

To demonstrate the usage of our framework, we published\footnote{ \footnotesize\url{https://commonroad.in.tum.de/datasets}} a graph-converted dataset with a diverse set of real-world road geometries. With the help of the dataset converter\footnote{{\footnotesize\url{https://commonroad.in.tum.de/tools/dataset-converters}}}, we use the NuPlan~\cite{caesar_nuplan_2022} dataset as our data source, \hll{due to the diversity in the incorporated locations and environments}. The extracted graph dataset contains {\textit{cr-geo}}'s \hll{default} graph features as previously listed in~\cref{tab:commonroad-data-temporal-overview}.

\section{Conclusion}\label{sec:conclusion}

This paper presents {\textit{cr-geo}}, an open-source Python package offering a standardized interface for map-aware graph extraction from traffic scenarios.
\hl{As a pioneering effort, it serves as a flexible framework that lets users collect custom graphical PyTorch datasets tailored to their research needs. Exemplified by our trajectory prediction implementation, it minimizes the time spent by researchers on writing boilerplate code for dataset collection.}
With ease of use and extension being our core design goals, our flexible interface is achieved by delegating and encapsulating all steps of the traffic graph creation.
{\textit{cr-geo}}~\hl{complements the CommonRoad software platform} and is under active development with support for traffic lights and other non-road infrastructure elements expected to be added soon. We invite researchers to contribute to {\textit{cr-geo}}~to further enhance its capabilities.

\section*{Acknowledgements}
This research was funded by the German Research Foundation grant AL 1185/7-1 and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport through the project KoSi.

\interfootnotelinepenalty=10000
\AtNextBibliography{\footnotesize}
\balance
\printbibliography

\end{document}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
UN chief Guterres urges political solution to end Syria conflict
George Bush Sr.: End of a generation and a political culture
By Eyad Abu Shakra Friday, 7 December 2018
When I told an Iraqi friend that I was thinking about writing my weekly opinion column about President George Bush Sr., his reply was a short silence tacitly reflecting disappointment.
Realizing his true feeling, his short but polite silence allowed me enough time to explain what I wished to say. In truth, I am neither a political "glorifier" nor a pro or against activist; but rather a serious analyst who observes political phenomena, studies them and concludes the outcome, especially, when the affect our lives and the fate out nations.
Thus, a serious reading of the career of a leader of a great nation must never be touched by a subjective emotional stance, but link relevant data, and study causes and repercussions on both the present and the future.
In the Arab world, Bush Sr.'s name is directly connected with the Liberation of Kuwait in 1991. While, on the global stage, during the Cold War era, his legacy was his quiet diplomatic approach which was less severe than the "ideological" approaches of both his predecessor President Ronald Reagan, and later on his son Pres George Bush Jr.
ALSO READ: The Relationship with Europe: A Permanent British Obsession
However, what interests me most about this man, after his passing, is what has become of his political "trend", and whether common denominators exist between his "school of thought" and what we see around us on the global stage.
Does the passing of Bush Sr. mark the end of American and international politics we knew between the end of WWI and the end of the Cold War? Moreover, does it point to the end of the American Republican Party of which he, and perhaps, the late Senator John McCain were the last representatives.
I recall that, as an inquisitive young man who was deeply interested in US politics, I followed the career of the then Congressman George H. W. Bush of Texas. I remember his Senate campaign in 1970 when he was defeated by his Democratic opponent Lloyd Bentsen.
Bush Sr. represented a different kind of "Republican party" which is estimated is living its final days in the states of New England, its former bastion, and home to America's Anglo-Saxon early-immigrants
Eyad Abu Shakra
New England family
Sure enough, that defeat did not spell the end of the political rise of the scion of a prominent New England family. Indeed, thanks both to Bush's personal qualities, and being a son of the political and financial "establishment" that fuels the Republican party, that defeat was just a hiccup, after which he continued his impressive rise.
Bentsen, too, did not end his career in the Senate, Democratic Party's once powerful "machine" was steadily weakening and its power base shrinking. The old senator was appointed Secretary of Treasury under President Bill Clinton, after being a presidential running mate to the Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988. It was actually ironic that the 1988 resulted in George Bush Sr.'s victory, which not also a belated electoral revenge for Bush against former old foe Bentsen!
Bush Sr. represented a different kind of "Republican party" which is estimated is living its final days in the states of New England, its former bastion, and home to America's Anglo-Saxon early-immigrants. In fact, if Senator Susan Collins loses her seat in Maine come next elections after two years, there would be no Republican in the US Senate from New England's six states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine).
ALSO READ: Brazil: A dangerous adventure after a disappointing experience
In the past, Boston, America's most venerable city and its cultural and educational "Athens", and the city where George Bush Sr. was born, was like its state Massachusetts, a Republican stronghold. Its rich Republican "Brahmin" families were busy founding companies, leading schools and great universities.
Those days, the Republican Party – nicknamed the Grand Old Party – was the natural environment for Bush and those like him. His father, Prescott Bush, the son of a rich industrialist, served as a US Senator from Connecticut; and before his Presidents son and grandson, he graduated from the prestigious Yale University. The Bush family, would later spend summer vacations in Maine, although its business and political interests took it across America to Texas and Florida.
Today, however, the GOP is a different party from the one Bush Sr. built his political career in. Moreover, the "America" known to generations of the Bush family, from the grandfather Prescott through George Sr. to the grandchildren George Jr. and "Jeb" – a former Governor of Florida – is also totally different!
Comparable generation
In a certain way, the generation of George Bush Sr. is similar to a comparable generation represented within the UK Conservative Party, by the moderate "One Nation Tories" wing, which was ruthlessly fought and almost destroyed by Margaret Thatcher.
When Bush Sr. initially entered the Presidential Election campaign, he was actually running against the "Reaganite" phenomenon, before calls to unify the party led to bringing together in one electoral ticket the "hardliner" Ronald Reagan and "moderate" George Bush.
This was achieved, and thanks to the strategy of a "balanced ticket" the Republicans managed to win three consecutive Presidential Elections between 1981 and 1993. Indeed, when Bush became the Party's presidential choice, the "hardliner" Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana was chosen as his vice presidential running mate.
ALSO READ: How is it possible not to 'politicize' the Syrian crisis?
Despite his distinguished military service during WWII, and his intelligence service peaking as head of the CIA between 1976 and 1977, George Bush Sr. always believe in politics through dialogue; and despite his patrician background and personal wealth he was a flexible statesman who would open doors and talk even with political opposites, which is why he was appointed as "Chief of the US Liaison Office" (i.e. ambassador) in China, thus putting the final touches of opening up to the Communist giant which began under another GOP President … Richard Nixon.
The rules of the game have now changed, the GOP has changed too, as have both America and the whole world.
Politicians now regard mutual understanding as a burden, which is why they shun and seek exclusion and blaming others. The World is not large enough to accommodate even conditional coexistence.
The "freedom" of the "free economy" is checked, and while "racism" is not an accusation to be ashamed of anymore, even in advanced societies which colonized the globe under the pretexts of spreading liberty, enlightenment, tolerance and … human rights!
This article was first published in Asharq Al-Awsat.
Eyad Abu Shakra (also written as Ayad Abou-Chakra) began his media career in 1973 with Annahar newspaper in Lebanon. He joined Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper in the UK in 1979, occupying several positions including: Senior Editor, Managing Editor, and Head of Research Unit, as well as being a regular columnist. He has several published works, including books, chapters in edited books, and specialized articles, in addition to frequent regular TV and radio appearances. Eyad tweets @eyad1949.
Last Update: Friday, 7 December 2018 KSA 08:34 - GMT 05:34
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Al Arabiya English's point-of-view.
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Participating in research projects is becoming an increasingly important means to integrate research results into the existing standards landscape and to establish new areas of standards activity, which in turn fosters the development of new business for European companies. The results of research projects can be invaluable to you as a standardizer; and so standardization needs to be able to incorporate the findings gained in research in order to integrate the latest knowledge into standards.
These webpages provide tools and information for CEN and CENELEC members on how to integrate research within your standardization activities. The advice document 'How to Link Standardization with EU Research Projects - Advice for CEN and CENELEC members' contains useful material on the links between research, standardization and innovation.
Getting organized – explains what to be taken into account to ensure a well-organized approach to activities related to research projects.
Engaging your stakeholders – focuses on how to define and engage with stakeholders in the research community.
Participating in research projects – gives information on your potential role in research projects, how to find a relevant project and how to participate.


New England Peer Review (NEPR) administers the AICPA Peer Review Program for accounting and/or auditing firms in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont in accordance with the AICPA Peer Review Standards. The goal of this non-profit is to attain the highest level of quality and integrity in work product for accounting and auditing firms in the region. Run by a volunteer Executive Committee comprised of accounting industry leaders in all four states, who hire an Executive Director to lead this organization on their behalf. Firms in need of a peer review engage Reviewers to provide these services, who coordinate with NEPR to schedule and complete peer reviews.
The process of Peer Review is a detailed one that includes the detailed study of many documents for each firm examined. While New England Peer Review had developed a rigorous and structured manner to ensure the efficiency of this process, it was one that required the printing and archiving of many documents in order to ensure standards were met. The leadership of NEPR sought to take their workflow process online and move to a near-paperless process for all Peer Reviews.
Having developed their public website in Drupal 6, they were familiar with all that the CMS platform offered and were encouraged to take their workflow online to move the organization into a more efficient and green process.
New England Peer Review's main goal for the development of the Peer Review Operations (PRO) System was the movement of the entire Peer Review workflow process from a paper and email-based system to one that kept all documents in a cloud-based repository online. As part of this process, many security protocols needed to be enabled to ensure that only authorized personnel could see the documents, discussions and comments related to the Review at ONLY the moments through the process that they are authorized to see those items. This meant that security was based not only on user role, but also on the stage of the workflow process for the Review.
To enable the necessary checks and balances, a role-based system was created that regulated initial permissions, and that was coordinated with the use of the Workflow module which controlled during what state in the workflow and in what areas of the site those permissions were enacted.
What has resulted is a revolutionary system for the organization and the industry that has streamlined the workflow process for Peer Review, while simultaneously providing a secure, confidential method for the organization to conduct Reviews and share Review information with the necessary parties to ensure compliance.
Drupal is the primary platform we use for web development, especially for sites that need to manage vast amounts of content. With hundreds of Peer Reviews processed each quarter, each of which uses more than a dozen qualifying documents to be managed, the NEPR PRO System was a perfect candidate for Drupal's ability to manage vast data as well as Drupal 6 was chosen because of the client's familiarity with the platform version (their public website had been built in D6 the year before) and because at the time of development the status of the Workflow module was most stable in that version. To date, no security vulnerabilities have been experienced that would require upgrade to Drupal 7.
Do you need a high impact online presence? Whether you are a brand new company looking for a dynamic new design or an existing business launching into the online world for the first time, 108 degrees will develop just the right website solution to achieve your business goals. Our sites are developed using best-of-breed web technology, including PHP, AJAX and the most current CMS systems, including Drupal. Drupal is the premiere open-source CMS platform, a cutting-edge web development solution that supports the latest technologies and is used by many of the best websites today. Our development process ensures that your website is not limited by dated technology or hindered by limitations of software, but performs to the most current standards in all systems. Our website development and design services include standard websites; mobile optimized sites; e-commerce enabled online stores/shopping carts; database-driven content sites; and User Interface design solutions for online services/software developers. In addition, we will work with you to set up the hosting and email plans you need to give your business a professional image online.


JCHC's Historic Preservation Committee advises JCHC on preservation-related concerns, works with individuals and communities, and organizes an annual county-wide Historic Preservation Symposium. In 2011, our Symposium, held on May 14th at the Westminster City Park Recreation Center, addressed public relations and social media and working with these tools to promote Historic Preservation. Please contact ddempsey@jeffco.us for more information.
In conjunction with Jefferson County Planning and Zoning staff, the HP Committee oversees historic resources in unincorporated Jefferson County and promotes community awareness on the importance of recording and preserving these resources.
The committee also maintains an inventory of historic resources and continues to locate and raise awareness on historically significant sites in unincorporated Jefferson County.
In 2010, JCHC launched a new annual Historic Preservation Award, which recognizes extraordinary efforts to protect and restore the historic resources of Jefferson County.


highlights, as it featured the projects of three graduating seniors: Christiana Ho SC '15, Annie Whitford PZ '15 and Michelle Nagler SC '15.
her last. Abrams will retire next year.
The choreographers have been hard at work for some time now, and a few began planning the event in fall 2014. As each dance centered around individual work, the themes explored in each choreographer's piece varied.
elements necessary for their performance.
the performance to collaborate with choreographers on special effects and clarify aesthetic concerns and ideas.
Scripps, performed an initiation dance called Sorsonet, which is from the Baga culture in Guinea, West Africa.
Such freedom of interpretation and creation is one of the benefits of the Scripps Dance Department's choreography track.
movement with other aspects of life. To participants, the show represents that opportunity.
am so incredibly thankful to have been a part of this year's show," Ho said.


There are many questions that I answer in asp.net forum. Here is/are some of them.
In such case, you compel your members to view the private page. There are several other options but it is one of the basica. Best of luck.
Require https to safeguard Windows Authentication credentials?
It is strongly recommended that the loginUrl should be an SSL URL (https://) to keep secure credentials secure from prying eyes.
But all these things are applicable when it is only Forms authentication, The Windows operating system has a role system built into it. This Windows security group system is an ideal system to use when you are working with intranet-based applications where you might have all users already in defined roles. This, of course, works best if you have anonymous authentication turned off for your ASP.NET application, and you have configured your application to use Windows Authentication.
Again I come back with an old issue : Forms authentication.
Now in a Matthew MacDonald and Mario Szpuszta book I found a very nice diagram which beautifully explains how forms authentication is activated.
• You have full control over the authentication code.
• You have full control over the appearance of the login form.
• It works with any browser.
• It allows you to decide how to store user information.
1. Configure forms authentication in the web.config file.
restrict anonymous access to the web application.
interacts with the forms authentication infrastructure for creating the ticket.
This is the most basic part. After this step, you can create your own provider class in web.config, you can add profile to keep tracks of the users etc. But that is entirely other aspects.
Actually, last day I spent some time over it and after some experimenting with my website, I'm going to write what I found.
all the details of authentication and security.
On the contrary The default authentication mode for ASP.NET applications is Windows, which is fine if you're working in an intranet environment where every user probably has a Windows login for use in the corporate network anyway. Using Windows authentication, Windows itself handles all the security and authentication, and you can use the myriad of Windows utilities and functions such as Active Directory, to manage your users.
The mechanism is, to use forms authentication and the SqlMembershipProvider, we need to create a database to authenticate against. This database will hold our user information, as well as membership information, so we can both authenticate the user and provide access based on membership in specific roles.
What I've done, I created the database using aspnet_regsql.exe and later added it to my website's App_Data folder. So that later it became easier to add other tables and establish a relationship between them.
In fact going this way, I can reduce the volume of App_Data folder drastically. If one goes using Windows authentication, the App_Data folder takes more than 10 mb space.
Instead if one uses Forms authentication, and in web.config uses membership provider then the whole scene changes quite interstingly.
Obviously the connectionstrings will be changed accordingly.
Using this we can take aspnetdb.mdf to App_Data folder and moreover add other tables accordingly.
It is neccessary as there are some hosting companies who do not allow more than one database.
I'm trying to understand Forms authentication, membership classes….


A pan-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus is recovered from a left ankle wound on 1/28; the same organism is recovered from the same site on 1/31.
An E. coli with a typical susceptibility pattern is recovered from a right knee incision on 2/3; the same organism is recovered from the right ankle on the same date.
Referring sensitivities can streamline processes; thereby saving time and money (for the lab as well as the patient). According to the CLSI guideline M100-S23 (January 2013), Enterobacter, Citrobacter, and Serratia may develop resistance within three to four days of treatment with third-generation cephalosporin; Staphylococcus spp. may develop resistance to during prolonged therapy with quinolones. Since resistance can develop over the course of the same disease occurrence, it's advisable to retest the susceptibility after three days so therapy can be adjusted if needed.
As for referring one site to another—such a left ankle to a left knee—I couldn't find any source that advocated this practice. However, I am aware of facilities that have implemented such policies. What policies does your microbiology department follow when referring one sensitivity result to another?
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1-10 of 101 matches. Page 1 of 11
Terrence K. Martin
Accident & Injury, Divorce & Family Law, Criminal, Estate, Real Estate
I am attorney Terrence K. martin of the Law Office of Terry Martin and Associates. I know that my clients come to me in times of real need, and I am c... (more)
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I strongly believe that if you are accused of a DUI/DWI, you deserve the best representation possible. This includes having an attorney who knows ever... (more)
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Jeffrey Cantwell Martin
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Mr. Martin received his undergraduate degree from Towson University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a host of scholarships and awards. While ... (more)
Rocco Philip Thomas Columbus
DUI-DWI, Traffic, Criminal
Rocco Columbus is a practicing lawyer in the state of Virginia who focuses on criminal cases. He has tried cases in the areas of assault, disorderly c... (more)
440 Monticello Ave, Norfolk, VA 23510
Richard Joseph Davis
Accident & Injury, Criminal, Divorce & Family Law, Traffic, DUI-DWI
Mr. Davis was born and raised in Portsmouth. He served on the staff of U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb then attended Nova Southeastern University Law Sch... (more)
355 Crawford Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704
Daniel Jason Miller
Social Security -- Disability, Family Law, Child Support, DUI-DWI, Car Accident
Dan Miller was raised in Chesapeake, Virginia. He graduated from Norfolk Collegiate School in 1985, and graduated from Oxford College in 1987 with an ... (more)
757-892-5600, 757-490-1340, 757-626-0240, 757-483-3380, 757-989-0800
4768 Euclid Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Rachel S. Gunther
Estate, Accident & Injury, Divorce & Family Law, Real Estate, Criminal
Rachel Gunther P.C. has locations in Virginia Beach, VA and Hertford, NC. We take pride in representing clients throughout Hampton Roads, Virginia an... (more)
4646 Princess Anne Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23454
Paul Everette Thomas
Divorce & Family Law, Traffic, DUI-DWI, Car Accident, Personal Injury
Determined, Experienced, and Effective.
Paul Thomas is an experienced lawyer proudly serving Virginia Beach, Virginia and the neighboring communities. He practices law in the following area... (more)
4176 South Plaza Trail, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
Monte E. Kuligowski
Accident & Injury, Personal Injury, Criminal, DUI-DWI, Traffic
Concentrating in DWI / DUI, traffic, criminal defense and Personal Injuries. Established in 1997.
Monte Kuligowski has been practicing law since 1997 and is the founder of the Legal Defense Center of the Law Office of Monte E. Kuligowski, P.C. in V... (more)
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Brian Dunnigan
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Brian Dunnigan advises on all aspects of Traffic Law and Criminal Law across multiple Hampton Roads, Virginia jurisdictions, including the cities of C... (more)
1125 N. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake, VA 23320
Lawyer.com can help you easily and quickly find Hampton Criminal Lawyers and Hampton Criminal Law Firms. Refine your search by specific Criminal practice areas such as DUI-DWI, Felony, Misdemeanor, RICO Act, White Collar Crime and Traffic matters.
SELF-INCRIMINATION
The making of statements that might expose you to criminal prosecution, either now or in the future. The 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the go... (more...)
The making of statements that might expose you to criminal prosecution, either now or in the future. The 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from forcing you to provide evidence (as in answering questions) that would or might lead to your prosecution for a crime.
A serious crime (contrasted with misdemeanors and infractions, less serious crimes), usually punishable by a prison term of more than one year or, in some cases... (more...)
A serious crime (contrasted with misdemeanors and infractions, less serious crimes), usually punishable by a prison term of more than one year or, in some cases, by death. For example, murder, extortion and kidnapping are felonies; a minor fist fight is usually charged as a misdemeanor, and a speeding ticket is generally an infraction.
An exception to the general rule that a police officer needs an arrest warrant before he can enter a home to make an arrest. If a felony has just occurred and a... (more...)
An exception to the general rule that a police officer needs an arrest warrant before he can enter a home to make an arrest. If a felony has just occurred and an officer has chased a suspect to a private house, the officer can forcefully enter the house in order to prevent the suspect from escaping or hiding or destroying evidence.
A document issued by a judge or magistrate that authorizes the police to arrest someone. Warrants are issued when law enforcement personnel present evidence to ... (more...)
A document issued by a judge or magistrate that authorizes the police to arrest someone. Warrants are issued when law enforcement personnel present evidence to the judge or magistrate that convinces her that it is reasonably likely that a crime has taken place and that the person to be named in the warrant is criminally responsible for that crime.
An order signed by a judge that directs owners of private property to allow the police to enter and search for items named in the warrant. The judge won't issue... (more...)
An order signed by a judge that directs owners of private property to allow the police to enter and search for items named in the warrant. The judge won't issue the warrant unless she has been convinced that there is probable cause for the search -- that reliable evidence shows that it's more likely than not that a crime has occurred and that the items sought by the police are connected with it and will be found at the location named in the warrant. In limited situations the police may search without a warrant, but they cannot use what they find at trial if the defense can show that there was no probable cause for the search.
A type of behavior that is has been defined by the state, as deserving of punishment which usually includes imprisonment. Crimes and their punishments are defin... (more...)
A type of behavior that is has been defined by the state, as deserving of punishment which usually includes imprisonment. Crimes and their punishments are defined by Congress and state legislatures.
Intentionally restraining another person without having the legal right to do so. It's not necessary that physical force be used; threats or a show of apparent ... (more...)
Intentionally restraining another person without having the legal right to do so. It's not necessary that physical force be used; threats or a show of apparent authority are sufficient. False imprisonment is a misdemeanor and a tort (a civil wrong). If the perpetrator confines the victim for a substantial period of time (or moves him a significant distance) in order to commit a felony, the false imprisonment may become a kidnapping. People who are arrested and get the charges dropped, or are later acquitted, often think that they can sue the arresting officer for false imprisonment (also known as false arrest). These lawsuits rarely succeed: As long as the officer had probable cause to arrest the person, the officer will not be liable for a false arrest, even if it turns out later that the information the officer relied upon was incorrect.
A seldom-used test for criminal insanity that labels the person insane if he could not control his actions when committing the crime, even though he knew his ac... (more...)
A seldom-used test for criminal insanity that labels the person insane if he could not control his actions when committing the crime, even though he knew his actions were wrong.
A jury unable to come to a final decision, resulting in a mistrial. Judges do their best to avoid hung juries, typically sending juries back into deliberations ... (more...)
A jury unable to come to a final decision, resulting in a mistrial. Judges do their best to avoid hung juries, typically sending juries back into deliberations with an assurance (sometimes known as a 'dynamite charge') that they will be able to reach a decision if they try harder. If a mistrial is declared, the case is tried again unless the parties settle the case (in a civil case) or the prosecution dismisses the charges or offers a plea bargain (in a criminal case).
Magruder v. Com.
... Because the procedure provided in Code § 19.2-187.1 adequately protects a criminal defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause and because the defendants in these appeals failed to utilize that procedure, we conclude that they waived the challenges under the ...
McCain v. Com.
... 335, 340, 288 SE2d 475, 478 (1982). Under well-settled principles of law, police officers may stop a person for the purpose of investigating possible criminal behavior even though no probable cause exists for an arrest. Terry, 392 US at 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868. ...
McMorris v. Com.
... This was all contemporaneous. Therefore[,] the robbery statute applies." In refusing McMorris' petition for appeal, the Court of Appeals concluded that the evidence established that McMorris shared the criminal intent of those who did steal Ottey's telephone and other items. ...
-DUI-DWI
-Felony
-Misdemeanor
-RICO Act
-White Collar Crime
-Traffic


Discussion in 'iPhone Accessories' started by Boosh71, Sep 1, 2016.
Anyone else notice the number of iPhone 7 cases already listed on case manufacturers' websites? Are they just going off of mockups or could they be legit?
They'd just be going off rumours, every year people link to Spigen cases but they have no more information from Apple than we do. Just educated guessing.
We're days away from putting up our iPhone 8 cases.
SHUMURI has already released the SLIM EXTRA, The Black one, looks pretty nice!!! Can't wait to try it!
I see some case makers are more equal than others now.


Happy Mother's Day! Today, i have 2 new accessories from Riviere Accessories. This is not the first time i'm working with them. I'm really excited to share with you my picks for this advertorial!!
I'm wearing WHITE ENCHANTRESS which matches my tweed jacket so well. Completely obsessed with necklaces like this.
I decided to carry this VICTORIA FUR POUCHETTE to my friend's wedding for a edgy glamour look. They just look so luxe together!
If you have yet to buy something for your mom, do check out their new arrival section.
Quote my name "REIEE20" for 20% off!
Follow the on Facebook and Instagram for latest updates.


Oh – and if you would like to know more about the adventures of our pigeon family read my diary the Pigeon Tales.
I know it has been a long time since I posted on this blog and I am really sorry if I have caused any frustration for my readers. But daily life does not always allow us to only do what we love to do – there are tasks which have to be fulfilled, more important things which call for attention.
As you know I love pigeons. They have been a joy to watch for me and so it happened that they became models for my painting. But when you love something you also have to take care because you cannot just take and give nothing for it. And so it came that we had suddenly several very sick feral pigeons to care for – all of them with PMV infection and normally doomed to death if you go the regular way. But there is always hope if you invest a lot of time and intensive care for a potential recovery. As I love these birds which have given me more pleasure and deep joy than humans do in general besides very few persons I can say now that all 5 birds which we had hospitalized have fully recovered and are flying free again, enjoying their lives as pigeons do.
This is an amazing result and I know without my partner's continuous and loving help and with optimism and a helping hand from all good spirits I would not have been able to accomplish this task. I am grateful beyond any words and have my joy each day to see these birds fly free and become more motifs for my painting series. But this has to stay aside for a little while longer.
As my energies for complicated and demanding paintings is quite low at the moment I thought about some possibilities how I could foster my creative juices and re-mount the work flow of an active artist with projects which are quicker to complete i.e. demand not as much attention as others. So why not paint for more decorative intentions?
Aaaarrrgh – the word has been spoken – DECORATIVE. What a come-down! I already see people wrinkle their noses… But honestly – what's sooooo bad about this? Isn't art often a mere decorative object that people buy to match the colours of their interior? What does it help if you paint the heart out of your body with demanding themes and starve yourself to death? Nonsense. People who have the luxury to spend their time at their leisure often do not even appreciate what they have. Or even worse, they have all the financial resources which could buy them heaven but they are sick. So what would they do with all those things they have gathered? Money cannot buy you true happiness. But watching a bird fly free after 9 months of near death is something that can make you happy especially when it was your care that helped to accomplish this. That's what life and true happiness is about.
You remember my love for textiles? Well, I have created quite a few painted and hand stitched art quilts, I have done silk paintings where stitching was added to achieve additional textures and shadows. Now theses textures lead me to patterns, regular and irregular patterns as you can find on handprinted cloth. So here we are – painting and printing. No – not what you might think now – I am not going to create prints at the moment because I don't have the space for a good press nor the experience with various techniques. I want to access something that I have right now: a wonderful collection of old Indian wooden stamps for block printing which contain intriguing and very delicate handcarved patterns. These have been partially collected by my mother and by myself. Using these in any way would be a wonderful contribution to my dear mother's remembrance who died last year. Isn't this reason enough?
But using these stamps on a plain piece of paper wasn't just enough. I wanted to include some more patterns and structures such as those which you can find on polished marble. I have always been fascinated by all kinds of minerals, stones and fossils. To re-create these patterns on paper or cloth is so inspiring because you can do everything with it, in all colours you like whether you want it to look real or not. Some time ago I started a series about "Minerals and Fossils".
The material I used here was heavy watercolour paper with grain torchon that added a great texture. I started with painting a first background layer for the faux marble pattern with acrylic paint. Then I added the prints, afterwards layering the various marble patterns – between the various layers I heavily glazed the surface with a glossy acrylic lacquer. Finally I added some highlights with metallic pigment.
Nautili are living fossils. And they are beautiful. A creature, that will hardly be ever seen alive by someone, unless the one is diving in the area of Palau in the pacific ocean and is extremely lucky. Another chance to see such a wonderful creature alive is the Waikiki aquarium on Oahu on the Hawaiian archipelago.
The habitat of the pearlboat – which is another name for the Nautilus – are the steeps of the pacific coral reefs in greater depths, at about 300-400 m during the day. During the night he ascends into shallow waters for feeding. You can find him in the sea of the Andamans in the western hemisphere to the Fiji islands in the East, from the south of Japan to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and the archipelago of Palau.
Pearlboats belong to the head-feet (cephalopoda) and therefore are part of the family of the octopus, squid and cuttlefish. Different from the octopus the nautilus has a wonderful shell, which protects his body, but is his curse at the same time. Collectors on the entire world are crazy for his polished mother-of-pearl shells which unfortunately can be used as a single decoration or are worked into jewellery or other decorative and precious objects.
Researchers of the University of Hawaii have found out that the nautili mate and lay eggs in slightly warmer waters. Assumption is made that nautili enter shallower depths to lay their eggs on hard surfaces like rocks or coral. In 1990 the Waikiki Aquarium successfully hatched its first young nautilus in captivity. For the above reasons it is extremely difficult to observe the nautlius in its natural environment so that hardly anything is known about its habits. Therefore it is important to protect this beautiful animal before we lose the opportunity to get to know it.Therefore it is also imperative that their shells are not marketed and sold.
To my dismay I have found that these shells are even offered on the Internet which is an abomination. PLEASE DO NOT BUY THE SHELLS OF A NAUTILUS!
The shell of the Nautilus is not only the protection for his body but also his means for navigation. While most cephalopods float i.e. are neutrally buoyant the Nautilus allows gas to diffuse into the gap between the mantle and the shell. This way he can descend or ascend but he is not a very good swimmer.
Nautili reproduce by laying eggs. The females attach the fertilized eggs to rocks in shallow waters, whereupon the eggs take eight to twelve months to develop until the 30 millimetres (1.2 in) juveniles hatch. Females spawn only once per year and regenerate their gonads (after Wikipedia). The reproduction cycle is therefore quite long – another reason for the Nautilus being an endangered species.
What is extremely astonishing is that the lifespan of nautili is long and may exceed 20 years! A very long lifespan for a member of the cephalopoda.
Altogether we still know not enough about this creature and how it can be protected other than through a general ban on catching and the use of the shells.
Will this be the last Dance of the Sepia?
My little series of Magial Creatures will certainly not save the world nor initiate any change but nonetheless I am not going to stop talking about the crimes mankind is doing to its environment and ALL living beings in it.
Imagine a world without living beings, without birds, without the pets we love, without all those fascinating and beautiful creatures we may never see in reality but in documentations and pictures. Do we really want them to become just that? Documentations? Memories? What a sad world that would be!
Many wonderful adventures have become retrospections for me at the moment but they are an inexhaustable well of inspiration. So are the creatures of the sea. Most people will not be able to see what I have seen – therefore I think it is the most important to show what might escape our conscience. Therefore sealife centers and aquaria are important although I do not like to see animals in captivity but sometimes there is no other possibility to educate people and specifically children because they are the only hope for changes before they are brainwashed to become part of a senseless society.
Therefore I am painting momentos from memory and imagination. These images are close enough to reality and thus hopefully leading to further interest and observation of the "real" living being and finally to an increased awareness towards the environment.
To the fascinating sea creatures belongs the family of the cephalopods which are octopus, squid, cuttlefish (sepia) and nautili.
"Cephalopods are social creatures; when isolated from their own kind, they will take to shoaling with fish".
Their camouflage abilities are breathtaking. Not only can they change the colours of their body within less than a second but also the outline of their bodies, creating warts and excrescences which let them merge completely with their environment. Especially their colour changes fascinated me most about them – so this silk painting came into existence.
Cuttlefish specifically are reminiscent of dancers of a ballet in their tutus for me but also their breathtaking colour patterns remind me of the costumes of an opera.
But for how long will these beauties still exist when the oceans are polluted, the surface of the water covered with spilled oil as it currently happens in Lousiana? Is this really the future of this planet? We probably won't know in our lifetime. But what about the following generations? What do you want for your children?
The real cost of oil.
Nothing can stop the human and environmental tragedy that we're witnessing in the Gulf and on the coast of Louisiana. But we CAN stop the next disaster – we're taking action right now and we urgently need your help.
Dolphins, turtles, pelicans and the residents of Louisiana are just some of the victims paying a horrible price as millions of gallons of oil pour into the ocean and onto the beaches of the Gulf. We were on-the-ground with our boat days after the spill providing scientists, oil spill experts and the media first-hand access to ensure that the full truth is known about this tragedy.
Please donate today to end offshore drilling and save the Arctic Ocean from a similar fate.
As BP fails to contain the damage they've caused in the Gulf, oil giant Shell are seeking a decision from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to allow them to drill off the Arctic coast this summer. Any disaster in this harsh and remote region would be catastrophic for the region's polar bear, walrus, and bowhead whale populations.
Yesterday our activists took action using actual oil from the spill to paint "Arctic Next?" on the bridge of a drill supply ship contracted by Shell and due to head to Alaska for their Arctic drilling. Seven activists were arrested and are now being charged with felonies, for standing up to protect our oceans. Meanwhile, BP has to be criminally charged with anything!
Please make a generous donation today so we can hold companies like BP accountable and stop their plans for new offshore drilling.
I look forward to your support as we expose the truth and defend those who don't have a voice to express their outrage.
P.S. We must ban offshore drilling. Please help Greenpeace today with your most generous contribution so we can continue our work in the Gulf and in Washington, D.C., making sure that the ban on offshore drilling is instated and that we pass legislation to promote clean and sustainable energy solutions.


Last week the Ulstein Bridge Concept (UBC) was presented at the Relating Systems Thinking & Design 2013 symposium at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). The symposium attracted 200 participants from all around the world, and offered 32 presentations by scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of systems thinking and design, including well-known thinkers like Fred Collopy, Harold Nelson, Carlo Vezzoli and Peter Jones.
The presentation of the Ulstein Bridge Concept (UBC) project was given by Sigrun Lurås and Kjetil Nordby from the Ocean Industries Concept Lab at AHO. In their presentation they addressed how the bridge concept designed by the UBC project has affected Ulstein and AHO internally, as well as the offshore ship industry externally. Sigrun started the presentation by discussing the challenges of designing for this industry and the systems involved, before she described three interventions carried with the aim of changing these systems.
Interesting discussions following the presentation.
The first intervention was conducted in 2010 during the pre-study of UBC, the Ulstein Bridge Visions project. This intervention was internal and had the objectives of creating interest in the use of design within Ulstein and interest in the maritime industries at AHO, as well as to create a common goal and get commitment from the involved parties. High-end 3d visualisations were used to convey the concept and show the potential in using design when designing for such a complex domain. The results were that both parties committed and the work was taken further in the 3-year design research project UBC funded by the Research Council of Norway and the Ulstein Group.
In August 2012, one year after UBC was initiated, the second intervention took place at the ONS trade fair and on the Internet. Up until this date the industry was unaware of the project and the objectives of this intervention were to create interest for the project in the industry, to communicate the project's ambitions, to position Ulstein as an innovative company and to attract partners for further development of the concept. The strategy was to communicate the UBC bridge design to a broader audience through a professionally produced film. The film was first presented at ONS by the Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Trond Giske, and head of marketing and innovation in ULSTEIN, Tore Ulstein.
Immediately following the launch at ONS, the film was published online. "This intervention got a lot of attention, even more than we expected ", Sigrun explained in the presentation. The project got positive attention in national and international media and a number of potential partners from all around the world made contact. The intervention also resulted in project winning two innovation prices: DNB's regional innovation prize for West Norway and DNB's national prize for the best Norwegian innovation idea of 2012.
All this positive feedback made Ulstein commit to carrying out a third intervention. The intervention also made AHO even more committed to design for the ocean industries, and AHO established one new full-time position with the task of setting up a research group dedicated design for these industries. This research group, called the Ocean Industries Concept Lab, is now up and running and have already carried out new projects.
The last innovation took place in June this year at Nor-Shipping, a major trade fair for the maritime industry that takes place every second year. The second intervention had resulted in a lot of expectations from regulatory authorities, competitors, users and other stakeholders, and the objectives of this third intervention was to create trust in that the vision is achievable. This was done through presenting an interactive demonstrator which allowed the audience to test themselves a lot of the novel designs shown in the film of the second intervention. The demonstrator gained a lot of positive attention from a wide range of stakeholders, including end-users, representatives from shipping companies and regulatory authorities.
The presentation was concluded by the following claim: "A user-centred approach alone is not enough when designing for such complex systems. In our opinion, to innovate the bridge environment, we must activate the full range of stakeholders." The UBC team has experienced that clear and trustworthy communication of the concepts is necessary in order to impact these diverse stakeholders. By using designers' abilities to visualise and communicate possible future visions, the end-users know that a different bridge than the current is possible, the regulators have seen that their goals can be achieved by different means than what is used today, Ulstein has experienced the potential they have and Ulstein's competitors know that they need to focus on design to avoid being left behind.
The full presentation and a working paper version of the presentation will be published at the symposium website.