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Institut
- Fachbereich 7 (6)
- Institut für Integrierte Naturwissenschaften, Abt. Chemie (5)
- Institut für Computervisualistik (4)
- Institut für Integrierte Naturwissenschaften, Abt. Biologie (4)
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- Institute for Web Science and Technologies (3)
- Mathematisches Institut (3)
- Fachbereich 6 (2)
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Echzeitbetriebssysteme für Systeme mit gemischten Kritikalitäten müssen unterschiedliche Arten von Software, wie z.B. Echtzeitanwendungen und Allzweckanwendungen, gleichzeitig unterstützen. Dabei müssen sie eine solide räumliche und zeitliche Isolation zwischen unabhängigen Softwarekomponenten bieten. Daher fokussieren sich aktuelle Echtzeitbetriebssysteme hauptsächlich auf Vorhersagbarkeit und ein berechenbares Worst-Case-Verhalten.
Allerdings bieten Allzweck-Betriebssysteme wie Linux häufig effizientere, aber weniger deterministische Mechanismen, welche die durchschnittliche Ausführungszeit signifikant erhöhen. Diese Thesis befasst sich mit der Kombination der beiden gegensätzlichen Anforderungen und zeigt Mechanismen zur Thread-Synchronisation mit einem effizienten Durchschnittsverhalten, ohne jedoch die Vorhersagbarkeit und das Worst-Case-Verhalten zu beeinträchtigen. Diese Thesis untersucht und bewertet den Entwurfsraum von Abkürzungen (engl. fast paths) bei der Umsetzung von typischen blockierenden Synchronisationsmechanismen wie Mutexen, Bedingungsvariablen, Zähl-Semaphoren, Barrieren oder Nachrichtenwarteschlangen. Der Ansatz ist dabei, unnötige Systemaufrufe zu vermeiden. Systemaufrufe haben im Vergleich zu anderen Prozessoroperationen, die im Benutzermodus verfügbar sind, wie z.B. atomaren Operationen, höhere Kosten. Insbesondere erforscht die Thesis Futexe, ein aktuelles Design für blockierende Synchronisationsmechanismen in Linux, welches den konkurrenzfreien Fall der Synchronisierung mithilfe atomarer Operationen im Benutzermodus löst und den Kern nur aufruft, um Threads zu suspendieren und aufzuwecken. Die Thesis untersucht auch nicht-unterbrechbare Monitore mit aktivem Warten. Dort wird ein effizienter Mechanismus mit Prioritätsschranken verwendet, um das sogenannte Lock-Holder-Preemption-Problem ohne Systemaufrufe zu vermeiden. Ebenfalls werden passende niedere Kernprimitive beschrieben, die effiziente Warte- und Benachrichtigungsoperationen ermöglichen. Die Evaluation zeigt, dass die vorgestellten Ansätze die durchschnittliche Leistung vergleichbar zu aktuellen Ansätzen in Linux verbessern. Gleichzeitig zeigt eine Analyse des Worst-Case Zeitverhaltens, dass die Ansätze nur konstante oder begrenzte zeitliche Mehraufwände auf der Ebene des Betriebssystemkerns benötigen. Die Nutzung dieser Abkürzungen ist ein lohnender Ansatz für den Entwurf von Systemen, die nicht nur Echtzeitanforderungen erfüllen, sondern auch Allzweckanwendungen gut unterstützen sollen.
Der Klimawandel stellt eine existenzielle Bedrohung für das menschliche Überleben, die soziale Organisation der Gesellschaft und die Stabilität der Ökosysteme dar. Er ist daher zutiefst beängstigend. Im Angesicht von Bedrohungen wollen sich Menschen häufig schützen, anstatt sich proaktiv zu verhalten. Wenn psychologische Ressourcen zur Bewältigung nicht ausreichen, reagieren Menschen oft mit verschiedenen Formen der Leugnung. Diese Dissertation leistet einen Beitrag zum Verständnis des vielschichtigen Phänomens der Klimawandelleugnung aus psychologischer Sicht.
Es gibt vier Forschungslücken in der Literatur zur Klimawandelleugnung: Erstens hat das Spektrum der Klimawandelleugnung als Selbst-schützende Reaktion auf die Klimakrise innerhalb der Psychologie bisher keine Beachtung gefunden. Zweitens wurde psychologische Grundbedürfnisbefriedigung, ein fundamentaler Indikator für menschliches Funktionieren und die Fähigkeit, mit Bedrohungen umzugehen, bisher nicht als Prädiktor für Klimawandelleugnung untersucht. Drittens sind Beziehungen des Spektrums der Klimawandelleugnung zu klimarelevanten Emotionen, insbesondere der Klimaangst, bisher nicht empirisch untersucht worden. Viertens wurde bisher nicht untersucht, wie sich das Spektrum der Klimawandelleugnung zu etablierten Prädiktoren der Klimawandelleugnung, d.h. rechtsideologischen Überzeugungen und männlichem Geschlecht, verhält. Um diese Lücken zu schließen, untersuche ich, wie sich das Spektrum der Klimawandelleugnung im deutschen Kontext manifestiert und wie es mit psychologischer Grundbedürfnisbefriedigung und -frustration, umweltfreundlichem Verhalten, Klimaangst, ideologischer Uberzeugung und Geschlecht zusammenhängt.
Fünf Manuskripte zeigen, dass Klimawandelleugnung im deutschen Kontext auf einem Spektrum existiert, das von der Verzerrung von Fakten (interpretative Leugnung, insbesondere Leugnung der persönlichen und globalen Folgenschwere) bis zur Leugnung von Implikationen reicht (implikatorische Leugnung, insbesondere Vermeidung, Leugnung von Schuld und Rationalisierung der eigenen Beteiligung). Über alle Analysen hinweg war niedrige psychologische Grundbedürfnisbefriedigung Prädiktor für das Spektrum der Klimawandelleugnung, das wiederum mit umweltfreundlichem Verhalten assoziiert war. Klimawandelleugnung stand generell in einem negativen Zusammenhang mit Klimaangst, mit Ausnahme einer positiven Assoziation von Vermeidung und Klimaangst. Rechtsideologische Überzeugung war der stärkste Prädiktor für Klimawandelleugnung über das gesamte Spektrum hinweg. Niedrige Bedürfnisbefriedigung und männliches Geschlecht waren weitere, aber schwächere Prädiktoren für implikatorische Leugnung.
Diese Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass das Spektrum der Klimawandelleugnung viele psychologische Funktionen erfüllt. Klimawandelleugnung ist möglicherweise sowohl eine Selbst-schützende Strategie, um Emotionen herunter zu regulieren, als auch um sich vor dem Verlust von Privilegien zu schützen. Kurz gesagt stellt Klimawandelleugnung eine Barriere für Klimaschutzmaßnahmen dar, die möglicherweise erst dann überwunden wird, wenn Menschen über ausreichende psychologische Ressourcen verfügen, um sich der Bedrohung durch den Klimawandel zu stellen und mit zugrundeliegenden Selbst-schützenden, emotionalen Reaktionen umzugehen.
Thousands of chemicals from daily use are being discharged from civilization into the water cycle via different pathways. Ingredients of personal care products, detergents, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals thus find their way into the aquatic ecosystems and may cause adverse impacts on the ecology. Pharmaceuticals for instance, represent a central group of anthropogenic chemicals, because of their designed potency to interfere with physiological functions in organisms. Ecotoxicological effects from pharmaceutical burden have been verified in the past. Therapeutic groups with pronounced endocrine disrupting potentials such as steroid hormones gain increasing focus in environmental research as it was reported that they cause endocrine disruption in aquatic organisms even when exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations. This thesis considers the comprehensive investigation of the occurrence of corticosteroids and progestogens in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents and surface waters as well as the elucidation of the fate and biodegradability of these steroid families during activated sludge treatment. For the first goal of the thesis, a robust and highly sensitive analytical method based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed in order to simultaneously determine the occurrence of around 60 mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids and progestogens in the aquatic environment. A special focus was set to the compound selection due to the diversity of marketed synthetic steroids. Some analytical challenges have been approved by individual approaches regarding sensitivity enhancement and compound stabilities. These results may be important for further research in environmental analysis of steroid hormones. Reliable and low quantification limits are the perquisite for the determination of corticosteroids and progestogens at relevant concentrations due to low consumption volumes and simultaneously low effect-based trigger values. Achieved quantification limits for all target analytes ranged between 0.02 ng/L and 0.5 ng/L in surface water and 0.05 ng/L to 5 ng/L in WWTP effluents. This sensitivity enabled the detection of three mineralocorticoids, 23 glucocorticoids and 10 progestogens within the sampling campaign around Germany. Many of them were detected for the first time in the environment, particularly in Germany and the EU. To the best of our knowledge, this in-depth steroid screening provided a good overview of single steroid burden and allowed for the identification of predominantly steroids of each steroid
type analyzed for the first time. The frequent detection of highly potent synthetic steroids (e.g. triamcinolone acetonide, clobetasol propionate, betamethasone valerate, dienogest, cyproterone acetate) highlighted insufficient removal during conventional Summary wastewater treatment and indicated the need for regulation to control their emission since the steroid concentrations were found to be above the reported effect-based trigger values for biota. Overall, the study revealed reliable environmental data of poorly or even not analyzed steroids. The results complement the existing knowledge in this field but also providednew information which can beused particularly for compound prioritization in ecotoxicological research and environmental analysis. Based on the data obtained from the monitoring campaign, incubation experiments were conducted to enable the comparison of the biodegradability and transformation processes in activated sludge treatment for structure-related steroids under aerobic and standardized experimental conditions. The compounds were accurately selected to cover manifold structural moieties of commonly used glucocorticoids, including non-halogenated and halogenated steroids, their mono- and diesters, and several acetonide-type steroids. This approach allowed for a structure-based interpretation of the results. The obtained biodegradation rate constants suggested large variations in the biodegradability (half-lifes ranged from < 0.5 h to > 14 d). An increasing stability was identified in the order from non-halogenated steroids (e.g. hydrocortisone), over 9α-halogenated steroids (e.g. betamethasone), to C17-monoesters (e.g. betamethasone 17-valerate, clobetasol propionate), and finally to acetonides (e.g. triamcinolone acetonide), thus suggesting a strong relationship of the biodegradability with the glucocorticoid structure. Some explanations for this behavior have been received by identifying the transformation products (TPs) and elucidating individual transformation pathways. The results revealed the identification of the likelihood of transformation reactions depending on the chemical steroid structure for the first time. Among the identified TPs, the carboxylates (e.g. TPs of fluticasone propionate, triamcinolone acetonide) have been shown persistency in the subsequent incubation experiments. The newly identified TPs furthermore were frequently detected in the effluents of full-scale wastewater treatment plants. These findings emphasized i) the transferability of the lab-scale degradation experiments to real world and that ii) insufficient removals may cause adverse effects in the aquatic environment due to the ability of the precursor steroids and TPs to interact with the endocrine system in biota. For the last goal, the conceptual study for glucocorticoids was applied to progestogens.
Here, two sub-types of the steroid family frequently used for hormonal contraception were selected (17α-hydroxyprogesterone and 19-norstestosterone type). The progestogens showed a fast and complete degradation within six hours, and thus empathizes pronounced biodegradability. However, cyproterone acetate and dienogest Summary have been found to be more recalcitrant in activated sludge treatment. This was consistent with their ubiquitously occurrence during the previous monitoring campaign. The elucidation of TPs again revealed some crucial information regarding the observed behavior and highlighted furthermore the formation of hazardous TPs. It was shown that 19-nortestosterone type steroids are able to undergo aromatization at ring A in contact with activated sludge, leading to the formation of estrogen-like TPs with a phenolic moiety at ring A. In the case of norethisterone the formation of 17α-ethinylestradiol was confirmed, which is a well-known potent synthetic estrogen with elevated ecotoxicological potency. Thus, the results indicated for the very first time an unknown source of estrogenic compounds, particularly for 17α-ethinylestradiol. In conclusion, some steroids were found to be very stable in activated sludge treatment, others degrade well, and others which do degrade but predominantly to active TPs depending on their chemical structure. Fluorinated acetal steroids such as triamcinolone acetonide and fluocinolone acetonide are poorly biodegradable, which is reflected in high concentrations detected ubiquitously in WWTP effluents. Endogenous steroids and their most related synthetic once such as hydrocortisone, prednisolone or 17α-hydroxyprogesterone are readily biodegradable. Regardless their high influent concentrations, they are almost completely removed in conventional WWTPs. Steroids between this range have been found to form elevated quantities of TPs which are partially still active, which particularly the case for betamethasone, fluticasone propionate, cyproterone acetate or dienogest. The thesis illustrates the need for an extensive evaluation of the environmental risks and carried out that corticosteroids and progestogens merit more attention in environmental regulatory and research than it is currently the case
Previous research concerned with early science education revealed that guided play can support young children’s knowledge acquisition. However, the questions whether guided play maintains other important prerequisites such as children’s science self-concept and how guided play should be implemented remain unanswered. The present dissertation encompasses three research articles that investigated 5- to 6-year-old children’s science knowledge, science theories, and science self-concept in the stability domain and their relation to interindividual prerequisites. Moreover, the articles examined whether children’s science knowledge, science theories, and science self-concept can be supported by different play forms, i.e., guided play with material and verbal scaffolds, guided play with material scaffolds, and free play. The general introduction of the present dissertation first highlights children’s cognitive development, their science self-concept, and interindividual prerequisites, i.e., fluid and crystallised intelligence, mental rotation ability, and interest in block play. These prerequisites are applied to possible ways of supporting children during play. The first article focused on the measurement of 5-to-6-year-old children’s stability knowledge and its relation to interindividual prerequisites. Results suggested that children’s stability knowledge could be measured reliably and validly, and was related to their fluid and crystallised intelligence. The second article was concerned with the development of children’s intuitive stability theories over three points of measurement and the effects of guided and free play, children’s prior theories as well as their intelligence on these intuitive theories. Results implied that guided play with material and verbal scaffolds supported children’s stability theories more than the other two play forms, i.e., guided play with material scaffolds and free play. Moreover, consistency of children’s prior theories, their fluid and crystallised intelligence were related to children’s theory adaptation after the intervention. The third article focused on the effect of the playful interventions on children’s stability knowledge and science self-concept over three points of measurement. Furthermore, the reciprocal effects between knowledge acquisition and science self-concept were investigated. Results implied that guided play supported knowledge acquisition and maintained children’s science self-concept. Free play did not support children’s stability knowledge and decreased children’s science self-concept. No evidence for reciprocal effects between children’s stability knowledge and their science self-concept was found. Last, in a general discussion, the findings of the three articles are combined and reflected amidst children’s cognitive development. Summarising, the present dissertation shows that children’s science knowledge, science theories, and science self-concept can be supported through guided play that considers children’s cognitive development.
The belief in a just world in face of injustice: victim, observer, and perpetrator perspectives
(2021)
Jeden Tag geschieht uns, unseren Nachbarn oder Menschen auf der ganzen Welt Ungerechtigkeit. Doch der Glaube an eine gerechte Welt (GGW) hilft uns, mit dieser Ungerechtigkeit umzugehen, und motiviert uns, uns gerecht zu verhalten. Studien haben gezeigt, dass diese Funktionen, die der GGW erfüllt, für die Aufrechterhaltung der psychischen Gesundheit bedeutend sind. Die Bedingungen, unter denen der GGW funktioniert und wann Menschen diesen Glauben aufgeben, sind jedoch nicht gut untersucht. In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird untersucht, wann der GGW erschüttert werden kann, welche Rolle die Außenwelt und andere interne Ressourcen angesichts von Ungerechtigkeit spielen und welche Rolle der GGW bei der Vorhersage korrupten Verhaltens spielt. Es wurden drei Studien durchgeführt, die jeweils einer Seite der Ungerechtigkeit entsprechen: einem Opfer, einem Beobachter und einem Täter.
Studie 1 untersuchte die Auswirkungen einer kriminellen Viktimisierung auf den GGW und die schützende Rolle der Gerechtigkeitsvorstellungen im Strafrechtsprozess. Diese Studie zeigte, dass Opfer sehr schwerer Straftaten, wie häusliche Gewalt und Menschenhandel, einen niedrigeren persönlichen GGW aufwiesen als Nicht-Opfer und Opfer weniger schwerer Straftaten, und dass eine höhere Wahrnehmung der informationelle Gerechtigkeit die Auswirkungen der Viktimisierung auf den persönlichen GGW verringerte. Studie 2 hatte zum Ziel die Veränderungen des GGW nach der Beobachtung schwerer Ungerechtigkeit zu untersuchen. Diese Studie zeigte, dass der GGW der jugendlichen Teilnehmer nach der Beobachtung von Amokläufen an anderen Schulen anstieg. Außerdem beeinflussten Lebenszufriedenheit und wahrgenommene soziale Unterstützung die Veränderung der GGW. Studie 3 untersuchte die Beziehungen zwischen GGW und korruptem Verhalten. Eine Querschnittsstudie zeigte, dass der persönliche GGW das Korruptionsverhalten vorhersagen kann.
Die Ergebnisse der drei Studien haben gezeigt, dass GGW nicht isoliert betrachtet werden kann. Eine externe Welt und interne Ressourcen können die Bedrohung durch Ungerechtigkeit auf dem GGW reduzieren. Der GGW spielt eine wichtige Rolle bei der Vorhersage von ungerechtem Verhalten, weshalb die Behörden bestrebt sein sollten, den GGW ihrer Bürger zu erhalten.
Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS) haben sich als zentrale Werkzeuge zur computergestützten Kommunikation und Kollaboration zwischen Mitarbeitenden in Unternehmen entwickelt. ECS vereinen Funktionalitäten aus social media und Groupware. Daher führen mehr und mehr Unternehmen ECS ein, um die Zusammenarbeit am digitalen Arbeitsplatz zu unterstützen. Dementsprechend bilden ECS den Kern des digitalen Arbeitsplatzes. Dies verleiht den Logs dieser Systeme einen besonderen Wert, da sich einzigartige Möglichkeiten bieten, um Kollaboration zwischen Mitarbeitern am digitalen Arbeitsplatz zu beobachten und zu analysieren.
Der aktuelle Stand der Forschung zeigt auf, dass es sowohl in der Forschung aus auch in der Praxis keine einheitliche Herangehensweise an die Analyse von ECS Logfiles gibt. Aufgrund des eingeschränkten Funktionsumfangs von ECS Analytics Software können Wissenschaftler und Praktiker das volle Potenzial der Logs nicht ausschöpfen. Da die Logfiles von ECS zur Untersuchung von Kollaboration am digitalen Arbeitsplatz von großem Wert sind, müssen neue Methoden und Kennzahlen für deren Analyse entwickelt werden. Um die bestehenden Limitationen zu adressieren, beantwortet diese Dissertation die folgenden Forschungsfragen:
1. Welches sind die aktuellen Herangehensweisen an die Messung von Kollaboration in Enterprise Collaboration Systems?
2. Wie kann Social Collaboration Analytics in der Praxis angewendet werden?
Diese Dissertation entwickelt SCA als Methode für die Messung und Analyse von Kollaboration in ECS. Durch die Beantwortung der Forschungsfragen, baut die Dissertation ein allgemeines, breites Verständnis dieses neuen Forschungsfeldes auf und entwickelt eine Herangehensweise für die Anwendung von SCA. Als Teil der ersten Forschungsfrage stellt die Dissertation den Status Quo von SCA in Forschung und Praxis fest. Im Zuge der Beantwortung der zweiten Forschungsfrage wird das Social Collaboration Analytics Framework (SCAF) entwickelt. Das Framework ist der Hauptbeitrag dieser Dissertation und wurde auf Basis einer Analyse von 86 SCA Studien, den Ergebnissen aus 6 Fokusgruppen und den Ergebnissen einer Befragung von 27 ECS Anwenderunternehmen entwickelt. Die Phasen von SCAF wurden aus einer Analyse von bestehenden Prozessmodellen für data mining und business intelligence abgeleitet. Die acht Phasen des Frameworks beinhalten detaillierte Beschreibungen, Arbeitsschritte und Leitfragen, die eine Schritt für Schritt Anwendung für die Anwendung von SCA bieten.
Diese Dissertation verfolgt einen qualitativ-dominanten mixed-methods Ansatz. Als Teil der Forschungsinitiative IndustryConnect besteht Zugang zu mehr als 30 führenden ECS-Anwenderunternehmen. Die Durchführung von aufeinander aufbauenden Fokusgruppen ermöglicht die Sammlung einzigartiger Daten über einen längeren Zeitraum hinweg. Basierend auf einer Tiefenfallstudie und ECS Logs eines Unternehmens, zeigt die Dissertation auf, wie das SCA Framework in der Praxis angewendet werden kann.
Viele chemische Verbindungen, einschließlich Spurenelemente aus natürlichen und anthropogenen Quellen, verbleiben temporär oder endgültig in den Sedimenten der Oberflächengewässer. Ob diese als Quelle oder Senke von Metallen und Metalloiden (Metall(oid)e) fungieren, hängt von der Dynamik der biogeochemischen Prozesse ab, die an der Wasser-Sediment-Grenzschicht (sediment water interface - SWI) ablaufen. Wichtige Informationen zu biogeochemischen Prozessen sowie zur Exposition, zum Verbleib und zum Transport von Schadstoffen an der SWI lassen sich durch die Ermittlung von Konzentrationsprofilen im Sedimentporenwasser gewinnen. Dabei besteht die Herausforderung zum einen darin eine räumliche Auflösung zu realisieren, die es erlaubt, bestehende Gradienten adäquat zu erfassen und zu gleich hinreichend viele Parameter aufzunehmen, um die komplexen Prozesse zu verstehen. Zum anderen gilt es die Bildung von Probenahme-Artefakten zu verhindern, die durch die labile Natur der SWI sowie die steilen biogeochemischen Gradienten verursacht werden.
Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit ein System zur automatisierten, minimal-invasiven Untersuchung der SWI entwickelt und erprobt. Das System ermöglicht die Beprobung des Sedimentporenwassers ungestörter oder manipulierter Sedimente bei gleichzeitiger Erfassung von Parametern wie Redoxpotential, Sauerstoffgehalt und pH-Wert. Im Rahmen eines Inkubationsexperimentes wurde der Einfluss von Versauerung und mechanischer Störung (Resuspension) auf die Mobilität von 13 Metall(oid)en untersucht, die mittels Tripel-Quadrupol induktiv gekoppelter Plasma-Massenspektrometrie (ICP-QQQ-MS) quantifiziert wurden. Während die meisten Metalle in Folge von Sulfid-Verwitterung freigesetzt wurden hatte die mechanische Störung einen großen Einfluss auf die Mobilität der oxidbildenden Elemente As, Mo, Sb, U und V. Zusätzlich wurde gezeigt, dass das Probenahme-System zudem Optionen zur Untersuchung der Größenfraktionierung von Metall(oid)en sowie der Speziierung von As(III/V) und Sb(III/V) bietet.
Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit wurde der Fokus - mit einem ähnlichen experimentellen Design - auf die Prozesse gelegt, die zur Freisetzung von Metall(oid)en führen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden zwei Inkubationsexperimente mit unterschiedlicher Sauerstoffversorgung parallel durchgeführt. Erstmals wurden mittels ICP-QQQ-MS die Nichtmetalle Kohlenstoff, Phosphor und Schwefel in einem Analyselauf gemeinsam mit 13 Metall(oid)en in Sedimentporenwasser quantifiziert. Die Größenfraktionierung der Metall(oid)e wurde über den gesamten Verlauf der Experimente überwacht. Es bestätigte sich, dass Sediment-Resuspension die Mobilität von Metalloiden wie As, Sb und V fördert, während die Freisetzung der meisten Metalle weitgehend auf die Verwitterung von Pyrit zurückzuführen war. Der kolloidale Beitrag (0,45 - 16 μm) zur Mobilisierung war nur für wenige Elemente relevant.
Schließlich wurde das Probenahmesystem im Rahmen eines neuen Ansatzes zur Sedimentbewertung eingesetzt. Dabei wurden ungestörte Sedimentkerne unterschiedlich kontaminierter Positionen im Trave-Ästuar untersucht und neben 16 Metall(oid)en, die Nichtmetalle C, P und S sowie die Ionen NH4+, PO43- und SO42- berücksichtigt. Durch den ersten umfangreichen Vergleich mit in-situ Dialyse-basierter Porenwasserbeprobung wurde die Eignung des entwickelten Ansatzes zur Erfassung der Feldbedingungen nachgewiesen. Die Porenwasseruntersuchungen zusammen mit ergänzenden Resuspensionsexperimenten in biogeochemischen Mikrokosmen und sequentieller Extraktion ergaben, dass das am geringsten „belastetste“ Sediment des Untersuchungsgebiets das größte Risiko für die Freisetzung von Metall(oid)en darstellt. Jedoch betrugen die potenziell freigesetzten Mengen je kg Sediment nur wenige Promille der durchschnittlichen täglichen Fracht der Trave.
Successful export sectors in manufacturing and agribusiness are important drivers of structural transformation in Sub-Sahara African countries. Backed by industrial policies and active state involvement, a small number of successful productive export sectors has emerged in Sub-Saharan Africa. This thesis asks the question: How do politics shape the promotion of export-driven industrialisation and firm-level upgrading in Sub-Saharan Africa? It exemplifies this question with an in-depth, qualitative study of the cashew processing industry in Mozambique in the period from 1991 until 2019. Mozambique used to be one of the world’s largest producers and processors of cashew nuts in the 1960s and 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, the cashew processing industry broke down completely but has re-emerged as one of the country’s few successful agro-processing exports.
The thesis draws on theoretical approaches from the fields of political science, notably the political settlements framework, global value chain analysis and the research on technological capabilities to explore why the Mozambican Government supported the cashew processing industry and how Mozambican cashew processors acquired the technological capabilities needed to access the global cashew value chain and to upgrade. It makes an important theoretical contribution by linking the political settlements framework and the literature on upgrading in global value chains to study how politics shaped productive sector promotion and upgrading in the Mozambican cashew processing industry. The findings of the thesis are based on extensive primary data, including 58 expert interviews and 10 firm surveys, that was collected in Mozambique in 2018 as well as a broad base of secondary literature.
The thesis argues that the Mozambican Government supported the cashew processing industry because it became important for the Government’s political survival. Promoting the cashew sector formed part of an electoral strategy for the ruling FRELIMO coalition and a means to keep FRELIMO factions united by offering economic opportunities to key constituencies. In 1999, it adopted a protectionist cashew law that created strong incentives for cashew processing in Mozambique. This not only facilitated the re-emergence of the cashew processing industry after its breakdown. The law and the active involvement of the National Cashew Institute (INCAJU) also affected the governance of the local cashew value chain, the creation of backward linkages, and the upgrading paths of cashew processors. The findings of the thesis suggest that the cashew law reduced the pressure on the cashew processing industry to upgrade. The law further created opportunities for formal and informal rent creation for members of the political elite and lower level FRELIMO officials that prevented a far-reaching reform of the law. The thesis shows that international buyers do not promote upgrading among Sub-Sahara African firms in global value chains with market-based or modular governance. Moreover, firms that operate in countries where industrial policies are not enforced effectively cannot draw on the support of government institutions to enhance their capabilities and to upgrade. Firms therefore mainly depended on costly learning channels at firm level, e.g. learning by doing or hiring skilled labour, and/or on technical assistance from donors to build the technological capabilities needed to access global value chains and to remain competitive.
The findings of the thesis suggest that researchers, governments, development practitioners and consultants need to rethink their understanding of upgrading in GVCs in four ways. First, they need to move away from understanding upgrading in terms of moving towards more complex, higher value-added activities in GVCs (functional upgrading). Instead, it is important to consider the potential of other, more realistic types of upgrading for firms in low-income countries, such reducing risks by diversifying suppliers and buyers or increasing rewards by making production processes more efficient. Second, they need to replace an overly positive view on upgrading that neglects possible side-effects at sector and/or country level. Third, GVC participation on its own does not promote upgrading among local supplier firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. The interests of lead firms and Sub-Sahara African supplier firms may not be aligned or even conflicting. Targeted industrial policies and the creation of institutions that effectively promote capability building among firms therefore become even more important. Finally, upgrading needs to be understood as a process that is not only shaped by interactions between firms, but also by local domestic politics.
The findings of the thesis are highly relevant for scholars from the fields of political science, development studies, and economics. Its practical implications and tools, e.g. a technological capabilities matrix for the cashew industry, are of interest for development practitioners, members of public institutions in Sub-Sahara African countries, local entrepreneurs, and representatives of local business associations that are involved in promoting export sectors and upgrading among local firms.
Als mehrsprachiges System stelltWikipedia viele Herausforderungen sowohl an Akademiker als auch an Ingenieure. Eine dieser Herausforderungen ist die kulturelle Kontextualisierung der Wikipedia-Inhalte und der Mangel an Ansätzen zu ihrer effektiven Quantifizierung. Außerdem scheint es an der Absicht zu fehlen, solide Berechnungspraktiken und Rahmenbedingungen für die Messung kultureller Variationen in dem Datenmaterial zu schaffen. Die derzeitigen Ansätze scheinen hauptsächlich von der Datenverfügbarkeit diktiert zu werden, was ihre Anwendung in anderen Kontexten erschwert. Ein weiterer häufiger Nachteil ist, dass sie aufgrund eines erheblichen qualitativen oder Übersetzungsaufwands selten skalieren. Um diesen Einschränkungen zu begegnen, werden in dieser Arbeit zwei modulare quantitative Ansätze entwickelt und getestet. Sie zielen darauf ab, kulturbezogene Phänomene in Systemen zu quantifizieren, die auf mehrsprachigem, nutzergeneriertem Inhalt beruhen. Insbesondere
ermöglichen sie es: (1) einen benutzerdefinierten Kulturbegriff in einem System zu operationalisieren; (2) kulturspezifische Inhalts- oder Abdeckungsverzerrungen in einem solchen System zu quantifizieren und zu vergleichen; und (3) eine großräumige Landschaft mit gemeinsamen kulturellen Interessen und Schwerpunkten abzubilden. Die empirische Validierung dieser Ansätze ist in zwei Teile gegliedert. Erstens wird ein Ansatz zur Kartierung von Wikipedia-Gemeinschaften mit gemeinsamen redaktionellen Interessen auf zwei großenWikipedia Datensätzen validiert, die multilaterale geopolitische und sprachliche Redakteursgemeinschaften umfassen. Beide Datensätze zeigen messbare Cluster von konsistenten Mitredaktionsinteressen und bestätigen rechnerisch, dass diese Cluster mit bestehenden kolonialen, religiösen, sozioökonomischen und geographischen Bindungen übereinstimmen.
Zweitens wird ein Ansatz zur Quantifizierung von Inhaltsunterschieden anhand eines mehrsprachigen Wikipedia-Datensatzes und eines Multiplattform-Datensatzes (Wikipedia und Encyclopedia Britannica) validiert. Beide sind auf einen ausgewählten Wissensbereich der Nationalgeschichte beschränkt. Diese Analyse ermöglicht es erstmals im großen Maßstab, die Verteilung der historischen Schwerpunkte in den Artikeln zur Nationalgeschichte zu quantifizieren und zu visualisieren. Alle Ergebnisse werden entweder von Fachexperten oder von externen Datensätzen kreuzvalidiert. Die wichtigsten Beiträge der Dissertation. Diese Dissertation: (1) stellt einen Versuch dar, den Prozess der Messung kultureller Variationen in nutzergeneriertem Datenmaterial zu formalisieren; (2) stellt zwei neue Ansätze zur Quantifizierung der kulturellen Kontextualisierung in mehrsprachigem Datenmaterial vor und testet sie; (3) schafft einen wertvollen Überblick über die Literatur zur Definition und Quantifizierung von Kultur; (4) liefert wichtige empirische Erkenntnisse über die Wirkung von Kultur auf den Inhalt und die Abdeckung von Wikipedia; zeigt, dass Wikipedia nicht kontextfrei ist, und dass diese Unterschiede nicht als Rauschen, sondern als ein wichtiges Merkmal des Datenmaterials behandelt werden sollten. (5) leistet einen praktischen Beitrag durch das Teilen von Datenmaterial und Visualisierungen.
The stands surveyed are among the last closed canopy forests in Rwanda. Their exploration began in the early twentieth century and is still ongoing. Previous studies were mainly concerned with plant sociological issues and presented references to environmental factors in anecdotal form, at best using indirect ordination methods. The present study undertakes a classification of the vegetation with numerical methods and establishes quantitative relationships of the species’ distributional structure to environmental parameters using spatially explicit procedures. For this purpose, 94 samples were taken in 100 m² hexagonal plots. Of these, 70 samples are from Nyungwe, 14 are from Gishwati, and 10 are from Cyamudongo. Given the homogeneity of the terrain and vegetation, all vegetation types encountered, all types of stands, and all vegetation strata were included. The beta diversity is expressed by an average Bray-Curtis dissimilarity of 0.92, and in JOST’S (2007) numbers equivalents, 37.90 equally likely samples would be needed to represent the diversity encountered. Within the survey, 1198 species in 127 families were collected. Among the specimens are 6 local endemics and 40 Albertine Rift endemics. Resulting from UPGMA and FCM-NC, 20 to 40 plant communities were established depending on the level of resolution. It can be inferred by means of a Mantel correlogram that the mean zone of influence of a single vegetation stand, as sampled by a 100 m² plot in Nyungwe Forest, ranges between 0.016 and 3.42 km. Of the communities compiled using FCM-NC and UPGMA, 50% consist of individual samples. Beyond undersampling, natural small-scale discontinuities are reflected by this result. Partial db-RDA resulted in an explained variation of 9.60% and 14.41% for environmental and soil factors, respectively. Utilising variation partitioning analyses based on CCA and tb-RDA, between 21.70% and 37.80% of the variation in vegetation data could be explained. The spatially structured fraction of these parameters accounts for between 30.50% and 49.80% of the explained variation (100%). The purely environmental parameters account for a share of 10.30% to 16.30%, whereby the lower limit originates from the unimodal approach and has lost its statistical significance. The soil variables, also after partial analysis, account for a share of 19.00% to 35.70%. While the residual impact of the climatic parameters is hardly significant, the effect of the soil properties is prevalent. In general, the spatially structured fraction of the parameters is predominant here. While on the broad-scale climatic factors, the altitude a.s.l. and the geology are determining factors, some soil parameters and matrix components also show their impacts here. In the mid-range of the scale, it is the forest matrix, the soil types, and the geology that determine species distribution. While in the fine range of the scale, some unrecorded parameters seem to have an effect, there are also neutral processes that determine species composition.
Water is used in a way as if it were available infinitely. Droughts, increased rainfall or flooding already lead to water shortages and, thus, deprive entire population groups of the basis of their livelihoods. There is a growing fear that conflicts over water will increase, especially in arid climate zones, because life without water - whether for humans, animals or plants - is not possible.
More than 60 % of the African population depend on land and water resources for their livelihoods through pastoralism, fishing and farming. The water levels of rivers and lakes are decreasing. Hence, the rural population which is dependent on land and water move towards water-rich and humid areas. This internal migration increases the pressure on available water resources. Driven by the desire to strengthen the economic development, African governments align their political agendas with the promotion of macro international and national economic projects.
This doctoral thesis examines the complex interrelationships between water shortages, governance, vulnerability, adaptive capacity and violent and non-violent conflicts at Lake Naivasha in Kenya and Lake Wamala in Uganda. In order to satisfy the overall complexity, this doctoral thesis combines various theoretical and empirical aspects in which a variety of methods are applied to different geographical regions, across disciplines, and cultural and political boundaries.
The investigation reveals that Lake Naivasha is more affected by violent conflicts than Lake Wamala. Reasons for this include population growth, historically grown ethnic conflicts, corruption and the preferential treatment of national and international economic actors. The most common conflict response tools are raiding and the blockage of water access. However, deathly encounters, destruction of property and cattle slaughtering are increasingly used to gain access to water and land.
The insufficient implementation of the political system and the governments’ prioritization to foster economic development results, on the one hand, in the commercialization of water resources and increases, on the other hand, non-violent conflict between national and sub-national political actors. While corruption, economic favours and patronage defuse this conflict, resource access becomes more difficult for the local population. Resulting thereof, a final hypothesis is developed which states that the localization of the political conflict aggravates the water situation for the local population and, thereby, favours violent conflicts over water access and water use in water-rich areas.
Despite the significant presence of neuroactive substances in the environment, bioassays that allow to detect diverse groups of neuroactive mechanisms of action are not well developed and not properly integrated into environmental monitoring and chemical regulation. Therefore, there is a need to develop testing methods which are amenable for fast and high-throughput neurotoxicity testing. The overall goal of this thesis work is to develop a test method for the toxicological characterization and screening of neuroactive substances and their mixtures which could be used for prospective and diagnostic hazard assessment.
In this thesis, the behavior of zebrafish embryos was explored as a promising tool to distinguish between different neuroactive mechanisms of action. Recently, new behavioral tests have been developed including photomotor response (PMR), locomotor response (LMR) and spontaneous tail coiling (STC) tests. However, the experimental parameters of these tests lack consistency in protocols such as exposure time, imaging time, age of exposure, endpoint parameter etc. To understand how experimental parameters may influence the toxicological interpretation of behavior tests, a systematic review of existing behavioral assays was conducted in Chapter 2. Results show that exposure concentration and exposure duration highly influenced the comparability between different test methods and the spontaneous tail coiling (STC) test was selected for further testing based on its relative higher sensitivity and capacity to detect neuroactive substances (Chapter 2).
STC is the first observable motor activity generated by the developing neural network of the embryo which is assumed to occur as a result of the innervation of the muscle by the primary motor neurons. Therefore, STC could be a useful endpoint to detect effect on the muscle innervation and also the on the whole nervous system. Consequently, important parameters of the STC test were optimized and an automated workflow to evaluate the STC with the open access software KNIME® was developed (Chapter 3).
To appropriately interpret the observed effect of a single chemical and especially mixture effects, requires the understanding of toxicokinetics and biotransformation. Most importantly, the biotransformation capacity of zebrafish embryos might be limited and this could be a challenge for assessment of chemicals such as organophosphates which require a bioactivation step to effectively inhibit the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme. Therefore, the influence of the potential limited biotransformation on the toxicity pathway of a typical organophosphate, chlorpyrifos, was investigated in Chapter 5. Chlorpyrifos could not inhibit AChE and this was attributed to possible lack of biotransformation in 24 hpf embryos (Chapter 5).
Since neuroactive substances occur in the environment as mixtures, it is therefore more realistic to assess their combined effect rather than individually. Therefore, mixture toxicity was predicted using the concentration addition and independent action models. Result shows that mixtures of neuroactive substances with different mechanisms of action but similar effects can be predicted with concentration addition and independent action (Chapter 4). Apart
from being able to predict the combined effect of neuroactive substances for prospective risk assessment, it is also important to assess in retrospect the combined neurotoxic effect of environmental samples since neuroactive substances are the largest group of chemicals occurring in the environment. In Chapter 6, the STC test was found to be capable of detecting neurotoxic effects of a wastewater effluent sample. Hence, the STC test is proposed as an effect based tool for monitoring environmental acute and neurotoxic effects.
Overall, this thesis shows the utility and versatility of zebrafish embryo behavior testing for screening neuroactive substances and this allows to propose its use for prospective and diagnostic hazard assessment. This will enhance the move away from expensive and demanding animal testing. The information contained in this thesis is of great potential to provide precautionary solutions, not only for the exposure of humans to neuroactive chemicals but for the environment at large.
The protected areas of Rwanda are facing various challenges resulting from the anthropogenic activities of the surrounding communities especially in the adjacent area to Cyamudongo isolated rain forest, which results in climate change, soil degradation, and loss of biodiversity. Therefore, this study aims to broaden current knowledge on the impact of sustainable Agroforestry (AF) on the Carbon (C) stock and Biodiversity conservation on the surroundings of Cyamudongo isolated rain forest and Ruhande Arboretum.
To understand this, the permanent sample plots (PSPs) were established mainly in the designed four transects of four km long originating on the boundary of the Cyamudongo isolated rain forest following the slope gradient ranging from 1286 to 2015 m asl. A total number of 73 PSPs were established in the Cyamudongo study area while 3 PSPs were established in the Ruhande AF plot. The Arc Map GIS 10.4 was used to design and map the sampling areas while GPS was used for localization of collected items. Statistical significance was analyzed through the R-software especially for wood and soil variables while for biodiversity indicator species, MVSP Software 3.0 was used to determine the Shannon Diversity indices and similarities among species.
In this study, I have obtained comprehensive results demonstrating that in all study areas, the various AF tree species contribute differently to C stock and C sequestration and the amount of C stored and removed from the atmosphere depends on different factors such as tree species, plantation density, growth stage, or the age of establishment, applied management practices, wood specific density (WSD), wood C concentration, and climatic conditions. The estimated quantity of sequestrated C for 2 years and 34 years AF species were 13.11 t C ha -1 yr-1 (equivalent to 48 t CO2 ha -1 yr-1) and 6.85 t ha-1 yr-1 (equivalent to 25.1 t CO2 ha -1 yr-1) in Cyamudongo and Ruhande respectively. The estimated quantity of C stored by the Ruhande AF plot is 232.94 t ha-1. In Cyamudongo, the overall C stored by the AF systems was 823 t ha-1 by both young tree species established by the Cyamudongo Project (35.84 t ha-1) and C stored by existed AF species before the existence of the Project (787.12 t ha-1). In all study areas, the Grevillea robusta was found to contribute more to overall stored C compared to other species under this study.
The tests revealed differences in terms of nutrient contents (C, N, C: N ratio, K, Na, Ca, and Mg) for various AF tree species of Cyamudongo and Ruhande study areas. The differences in terms of correlation for various variables of AF tree species in different study areas varied with tree species, age, stage of growth, and tree shape. By comparing the correlation coefficients for various tree variables for young and mature AF tree species, the results showed a high correlation variability for young species than mature or old species recorded in different environmental conditions of Cyamudongo and Ruhande study areas.
The recorded soil pH mean value across in Cyamudongo study area is 4.2, which is very strongly acidic. The tests revealed that the soil pH, C, C: N ratio, OM, NH4+, NO3-+NO2-, PO43-, and CEC were significantly (P < 0.05) different in various soil depths whereas the N was not statistically significant. The pH, N, C: N ratio, CEC, NH4+, PO43-, and Al3+ showed a significant difference across land uses whereas the C and NO3-+NO2- did not show any statistical difference. All tested chemical elements showed a statistical difference as far as altitude ranges are concerned. The only NH4+, PO43-, and CEC showed significant differences with time whereas all other remaining chemical elements did not show any statistical significance. The bulk density of soil was statistically different across land uses and altitude ranges. The soil pH was very strongly correlated with CEC, Mg, and Ca in cropland (CL) whereas it was strongly correlated in both AF and natural forest (NF) except for Mg, which was moderately correlated in AF. Furthermore, its correlation with K was strong in CL, moderate in AF while it was weak in NF. Finally, the pH correlation with Na was weak in both AF and CL whereas it was negligible in NF. The overall estimated soil C stock of the study area was 16848 t ha -1.
The sustainable AF practices changed significantly the frequency of reptiles, amphibians, and flowering plants while there was no statistical change observed on ferns with time. In terms of species richness, 16 flowering plants, 14 ferns, 5 amphibians, and 3 reptiles were recorded and monitored. These findings add to a growing body of literature on the impact of AF on the C stock, soil improvement, and Biodiversity. It is recommended that further researches should be undertaken for the contribution of other AF tree species to the C stock found in the agricultural landscape around all protected areas of Rwanda and the impact on them on the soil and biodiversity.
Human population pressure increased with the population growth around the NNP and Cyamudongo with disturbance impacts on the forests isolating populations into fragments and today, Cyamudongo natural forest is located a way at a distance of at least 8.5 km horizontal distance to Nyungwe main block with a surface area estimated at 300 ha. Under Cyamudongo project implementation, there was a need to understand how the flora diversity responded to human imposed challenges and to forest restoration initiatives. Three physiognomic landscapes forest were identified and considered for three phases of vegetation survey in Cyamudongo and related to the closest area of Nyungwe main block. In this study, 15 transects were laid in each physiognomic forest landscape and 10 and 5 plots were set respectively in Cyamudongo and Gasumo study area. In total, 315 phytosociological relevés were performed and the Braun-Blanquet methods used for three times vegetation surveys. Species life-forms and chorophyte were evaluated and tree species dbh and height have been measured. Data were subjected to different statistical analyses using different softwares such as PAST, R 3.5.2, and SPSS. The mapping was done using Arc GIS and the Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing used to find NDVI for the vegetation classification.
NDVI trends showed that there has been fluctuations in vegetation classifications of the studied area. In this study, 494 vascular plant species from 106 families were harbored in the study area and distributed differently among forest landscapes and study phases. Although, 43.54% were common to Cyamudongo and Gasumo landscapes while 48.54 % of species diversity were hold only by Cyamudongo and 7.92% confined to Gasumo and 12 in total were found new records for Rwanda while several others suspected require detailed research for identification showing how the flora diversity of Cyamudongo is of special interest and extremely important for discoveries.
The finding of the study on diversity indices, the PCA, CA and the Cluster analysis, all statistical analyses (MANOVA, ANOVA) and life form spectra unanimously showed that the anthropogenic disturbance shaped the vegetation cover, the floristic composition, the species diversity, the forest landscapes community structure, the life form spectrum and the phytoclimate of Cyamudongo and Gasumo forest landscapes. Although, the vegetation analysis couldn’t clearly identify communities and sub-communities at the initial and final vegetation surveys and cluster groups were heterogeneous as well as overlapping and species associations not clearly defined due to the high level of similarities in species composition among forest landscapes and vegetation surveys. The species diversity was found high in secondary forest and Gasumo landscape forest and low in the primary forest and the buffer zone of Cyamudongo and the disturbance with gaps openings was found to be associated to the species diversity with a seasonal variation. The patterns of dbh for the buffer zone and of the size classes of all landscapes with an inverted ‘J’ indicated a healthy regeneration in the forest landscapes and tree species explained a good regeneration and recruitment capacity. Different shapes in the pattern of dbh with respectively an inverted ‘J’, ‘J ‘and ‘U’ for the buffer zone, primary and together the secondary and Gasumo forest landscapes indicated differences in the landscapes health and degree of regeneration and recruitment capacity.
Findings from differents measuements showed at which extend human activities have shaped the flora diversity and structure of forest landcapes studied. For instance, disturbances due human activities were daily oberved and trees were logged by neighboring communities such as Batwa populations at Cyamudongo and local populations at Gasumo. Some species were evenly observed targeted for their barks such as Ocotea usambarensis, Parinari excelsa for medicines and many others for their wood quality, fire wood collection and for agricultural purposes.
In the period of Cyamudongo project implementation, important achievements included the increase of forest biomass and therefore the photosynthetic capacity and the evapotranspiration potential that influence the rainfall regime; the regulation of weather conditions and then species diversity; supporting local communities and limiting human activities; raising awareness on conservation and protection of biodiversity and improving of living conditions of neighboring populations by providing paid employment and so to restore to the Cyamudongo forest ecosystem functions. Moreover, Cyamudongo forest remains vulnerable as surrounded by local communities with a high population pressure relying on forest resources for its survival. Cyamudongo harbors a high level of endemism and is a small hotspot for biodiversity conservation. It is therefore recommended to strengthen conservation and protection measures and continue the support of local communities.
Enterprise collaboration platforms are increasingly gaining importance in organisations. Integrating groupware functionality and enterprise social software (ESS), they have substantially been transforming everyday work in organisations. While traditional collaboration systems have been studied in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) for many years, the large-scale, infrastructural and heterogeneous nature of enterprise collaboration platforms remains uncharted. Enterprise collaboration platforms are embedded into organisations’ digital workplace and come with a high degree of complexity, ambiguity, and generativity. When introduced, they are empty shells with no pre-determined purposes of use. They afford interpretive flexibility, and thus are shaping and being shaped by and in their social context. Outcomes and benefits emerge and evolve over time in an open-ended process and as the digital platform is designed through use. In order to make the most of the platform and associated continuous digital transformation, organisations have to develop the necessary competencies and capabilities.
Extant literature on enterprise collaboration platforms has proliferated and provide valuable insights on diverse topics, such as implementation strategies, adoption hurdles, or collaboration use cases, however, they tend to disregard their evolvability and related multiple time frames and settings. Thus, this research aims to identify, investigate, and theorise the ways that enterprise collaboration platforms are changing over time and space and the ways that organisations build digital transformation capabilities. To address this research aim two different case study types are conducted: i) in-depth longitudinal qualitative case study, where case narratives and visualisations capturing hard-to-summarise complexities in the enterprise collaboration platform evolution are developed and ii) multiple-case studies to capture, investigate, and compare cross-case elements that contribute to the shaping of enterprise collaboration platforms in different medium-sized and large organisations from a range of industries. Empirical data is captured and investigated through a multi-method research design (incl. focus groups, surveys, in-depth interviews, literature reviews, qualitative content analysis, descriptive statistics) with shifting units of analysis. The findings reveal unique change routes with unanticipated outcomes and transformations, context-specific change strategies to deal with multiple challenges (e.g. GDPR, works council, developments in the technological field, competing systems, integration of blue-collar workers), co-existing platform uses, and various interacting actors from the immediate setting and broader context. The interpretation draws on information infrastructure (II) as a theoretical lens and related sociotechnical concepts and perspectives (incl. inscriptions, social worlds, biography of artefacts). Iteratively, a conceptual model of the building of digital transformation capabilities is developed, integrating the insights gained from the study of enterprise collaboration platform change and developed monitoring change tools (e.g. MoBeC framework). It assists researchers and practitioners in understanding the building of digital transformation capabilities from a theoretical and practical viewpoint and organisations implement the depicted knowledge in their unique digital transformation processes.
Das Web ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der Transformation unserer Gesellschaft in das digitale Zeitalter. Wir nutzen es zur Kommunikation, zum Einkaufen und für unsere berufliche Tätigkeit. Der größte Teil der Benutzerinteraktion im Web erfolgt über Webseiten. Daher sind die Benutzbarkeit und Zugänglichkeit von Webseiten relevante Forschungsbereiche, um das Web nützlicher zu machen. Eyetracking ist ein Werkzeug, das in beiden Bereichen hilfreich sein kann. Zum einen um Usability-Tests durchzuführen, zum anderen um die Zugänglichkeit zu verbessern. Es kann verwendet werden, um die Aufmerksamkeit der Benutzer auf Webseiten zu verstehen und Usability-Experten in ihrem Entscheidungsprozess zu unterstützen. Darüber hinaus kann Eyetracking als Eingabemethode zur Steuerung einer Webseite verwendet werden. Dies ist besonders nützlich für Menschen mit motorischen Beeinträchtigungen, die herkömmliche Eingabegeräte wie Maus und Tastatur nicht benutzen können. Allerdings werden Webseiten aufgrund von Dynamiken, d. h. wechselnden Inhalten wie animierte Menüs und Bilderkarussells, immer komplexer. Wir brauchen allgemeine Ansätze zum Verständnis der Dynamik auf Webseiten, die eine effiziente Usability-Analyse und eine angenehme Interaktion mit Eyetracking ermöglichen. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit berichten wir über unsere Forschung zur Verbesserung der blickbasierten Analyse von dynamischen Webseiten. Eyetracking kann verwendet werden, um die Blicke von Nutzern auf Webseiten zu erfassen. Die Blicke zeigen einem Usability-Experten, welche Teile auf der Webseite gelesen, überflogen oder übersprungen worden sind. Die Aggregation von Blicken ermöglicht einem Usability-Experten allgemeine Eindrücke über die Aufmerksamkeit der Nutzer, bevor sie sich mit dem individuellen Verhalten befasst. Dafür müssen alle Blicke entsprechend des von den Nutzern erlebten Inhalten verstanden werden. Die Benutzererfahrung wird jedoch stark von wechselnden Inhalten beeinflusst, da diese einen wesentlichen Teil des angezeigten Bildes ausmachen können. Wir grenzen unterschiedliche Zustände von Webseiten inklusive wechselnder Inhalte ab, so dass Blicke von mehreren Nutzern korrekt aggregiert werden können. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit berichten wir über unsere Forschung zur Verbesserung der blickbasierten Interaktion mit dynamischen Webseiten. Eyetracking kann verwendet werden, um den Blick während der Nutzung zu erheben. Der Blick kann als Eingabe zur Steuerung einer Webseite interpretiert werden. Heutzutage wird die Blicksteuerung meist zur Emulation einer Maus oder Tastatur verwendet, was eine komfortable Bedienung erschwert. Es gibt wenige Webbrowser-Prototypen, die Blicke direkt zur Interaktion mit Webseiten nutzen. Diese funktionieren außerdem nicht auf dynamischen Webseiten. Wir haben eine Methode entwickelt, um Interaktionselemente wie Hyperlinks und Texteingaben effizient auf Webseiten mit wechselnden Inhalten zu extrahieren. Wir passen die Interaktion mit diesen Elementen für Eyetracking an, so dass ein Nutzer bequem und freihändig im Web surfen kann. Beide Teile dieser Arbeit schließen mit nutzerzentrierten Evaluationen unserer Methoden ab, wobei jeweils die Verbesserungen der Nutzererfahrung für Usability-Experten bzw. für Menschen mit motorischen Beeinträchtigungen untersucht werden.
Rivers play an important role in the global water cycle, support biodiversity and ecological integrity. However, river flow and thermal regimes are heavily altered in dammed rivers. These impacts are being exacerbated and become more apparent in rivers fragmented by multiple dams. Recent studies mainly focused on evaluating the cumulative impact of cascade reservoirs on flow or thermal regimes, but the role of upstream reservoirs in shaping the hydrology and hydrodynamics of downstream reservoirs remains poorly understood. To improve the understanding of the hydrodynamics in cascade reservoirs, long-term observational data are used in combination with numerical modeling to investigate the changes in flow and thermal regime in three cascade reservoirs at the upper reach of the Yangtze River. The three studied reservoirs are Xiluodu (XLD), Xiangjiaba (XJB) and Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR). In addition, the effects of single reservoir operation (at seasonal/daily time scale) on hydrodynamics are examined in a large tributary of TGR. The results show that the inflow of TGR has been substantially altered by the two upstream reservoirs with a higher discharge in spring and winter and a reduced peak flow in summer. XJB had no obvious contribution to the variations in inflow of TGR. The seasonal water temperature of TGR was also widely affected by the upstream two reservoirs, i.e., an increase in winter and decrease in spring, associated with a delay in water temperature rise and fall. These effects will probably be intensified in the coming years due to the construction of new reservoirs. The study also underlines the importance of reservoir operation in shaping the hydrodynamics of TGR. The seasonal dynamics of density currents in a tributary bay of TGR are closely related to seasonal reservoir operations. In addition, high-frequency water level fluctuations and flow velocity variations were observed in response to periodic tributary bay oscillations, which are driven by the diurnal discharge variations caused by the operation of TGR. As another consequence of operation of cascade reservoirs, the changes in TGR inflow weakened spring thermal stratification and caused warming in spring, autumn and winter. In response to this change, the intrusions from TGR occurred more frequently as overflow and earlier in spring, which caused a sharp reduction in biomass and frequency of phytoplankton blooms in tributary bays of TGR. This study suggests that high-frequency bay oscillations can potentially be used as an efficient management strategy for controlling algal blooms, which can be included in future multi-objective ecological conservation strategies.
Virtual Reality ist ein ein Bereich wachsenden Interesses, da es eine besonders intuitive Art der Benutzerinteraktion darstellt. Noch immer wird nach Lösungen zu technischen Problemstellungen gesucht, wie etwa der Latenz zwischen der Nutzereingabe und der Reaktion der Darstellung oder dem Kompromiss zwischen der visuellen Qualität und der erreichten Framerate. Dies gilt insbesondere für visuelle Effekte auf spekularen und halbtransparenten Oberflächen und in Volumen. Eine Lösung stellt das in dieser Arbeit vorgestellte verteilte Rendersystem dar, in dem die Bildsynthese in einen präzisen, aber kostenaufwändigen physikbasierten Renderthread mit niedriger Bildwiederholrate und einen schnellen Reprojektionsthread mit hoher Bildwiederholrate aufgeteilt wird, wodurch die Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit und Interaktivität erhalten bleiben. In diesem Zusammenhang werden zwei neue Reprojektionsverfahren vorgestellt, die einerseits Reflexionen und Refraktionen auf geraytracten Oberflächen und andererseits volumetrische Lichtausbreitung beim Raymarching abdecken. Das vorgestellte Setup kann in verschiedenen Gebieten zum Einsatz kommen um das VR Erlebnis zu verbessern. Im Zuge dieser Arbeit wurden drei innovative Trainingsanwendungen umgesetzt, um den Mehrwert von Virtual Reality im Bezug auf drei Stufen des Lernens zu untersuchen: Beobachtung, Interaktion und Zusammenarbeit. Für jede Stufe wurde ein interdisziplinäres Curriculum, das bislang mit traditionellen Medien unterrichtet wurde, in eine VR Umgebung übertragen, um zu untersuchen, wie gut sich virtuelle Realität als eine natürliche, flexible und effiziente Lernmethode eignet.
Graph-based data formats are flexible in representing data. In particular semantic data models, where the schema is part of the data, gained traction and commercial success in recent years. Semantic data models are also the basis for the Semantic Web - a Web of data governed by open standards in which computer programs can freely access the provided data. This thesis is concerned with the correctness of programs that access semantic data. While the flexibility of semantic data models is one of their biggest strengths, it can easily lead to programmers accidentally not accounting for unintuitive edge cases. Often, such exceptions surface during program execution as run-time errors or unintended side-effects. Depending on the exact condition, a program may run for a long time before the error occurs and the program crashes.
This thesis defines type systems that can detect and avoid such run-time errors based on schema languages available for the Semantic Web. In particular, this thesis uses the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and its theoretic underpinnings, i.e., description logics, as well as the Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) to define type systems that provide type-safe data access to semantic data graphs. Providing a safe type system is an established methodology for proving the absence of run-time errors in programs without requiring execution. Both schema languages are based on possible world semantics but differ in the treatment of incomplete knowledge. While OWL allows for modelling incomplete knowledge through an open-world semantics, SHACL relies on a fixed domain and closed-world semantics. We provide the formal underpinnings for type systems based on each of the two schema languages. In particular, we base our notion of types on sets of values which allows us to specify a subtype relation based on subset semantics. In case of description logics, subsumption is a routine problem. For
the type system based on SHACL, we are able to translate it into a description
logic subsumption problem.
Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit den reduzierten Basismethoden für parametrisierte quasilineare elliptische und parabolische partielle Differentialgleichungen mit stark monotonem Differentialoperator. Es werden alle Bestandteile der Methode mit reduzierter Basis vorgestellt: Basisgenerierung für reduzierte Approximation, Zertifizierung des Approximationsfehlers durch geeignete a-posteriori Fehlerkontrolle und Offine-Online-Zerlegung. Die Methodik wird ferner auf die magnetostatischen und magnetoquasistatischen Näherungen der Maxwellschen Gleichungen angewendet und ihre Gültigkeit wird durch numerische Beispiele bestätigt.