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.

Within the field of Business Process Management, business rules are commonly used to model company decision logic and govern allowed company behavior. An exemplary business rule in the financial sector could be for example: ”A customer with a mental condition is not creditworthy”. Business rules are usually created and maintained collaboratively and over time. In this setting, modelling errors can occur frequently. A challenging problem in this context is that of inconsistency, i.e., contradictory rules which cannot hold at the same time. For instance, regarding the exemplary rule above, an inconsistency would arise if a (second) modeller entered an additional rule: ”A customer with a mental condition is always creditworthy”, as the two rules cannot hold at the same time. In this thesis, we investigate how to handle such inconsistencies in business rule bases. In particular, we develop methods and techniques for the detection, analysis and resolution of inconsistencies in business rule bases

As a consequence of the world population increase and the resulting water scarcity, water quality is the object of growing attention. In that context, organic anthropogenic molecules — often defined as micropollutants— represent a threat for water resources. Among them, pharmaceuticals are the object of particular concerns due to their permanent discharge, their increasing consumption and their effect-based structures. Pharmaceuticals are mainly introduced in the environment via wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), along with their metabolites and the on-site formed transformation products (TPs). Once in the aquatic environment, they partition between the different environmental compartments in particular the aqueous phase, suspended particulate matter(SPM) and biota. In the last decades, pharmaceuticals have been widely investigated in the water phase. However, extreme polar pharmaceuticals have rarely been monitored due to the lack of robust analytical methods. Moreover, metabolites and TPs have seldom been included in routine analysis methods although their environmental relevance is proven. Furthermore, pharmaceuticals have been only sporadically investigated in SPM and biota and adequate multi-residue methods are lacking to obtain comprehensive results about their occurrence in these matrices. This thesis endeavors to cover these gaps of knowledge by the development of generic multi-residue methods for pharmaceuticals determination in the water phase, SPM and biota and to evaluate the occurrence and partition of pharmaceuticals into these compartments. For a complete overview, a particular focus was laid on extreme polar pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical metabolites and TPs. In total, three innovative multi-residue methods were developed, they include analytes covering a broad range of physico-chemical properties. First, a reliable multi-residue method was developed for the analysis of extreme polar pharmaceuticals, metabolites and TPs dissolved in water. The selected analytes covered a significant range of elevated polarity and the method would be easily expendable to further analytes. This versatility could be achieved by the utilization of freeze-drying as sample preparation and zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) in gradient elution mode. The suitability of HILIC chromatography to simultaneously quantify a large range of micropollutants in aqueous environmental samples was thoroughly studied. Several limitations were pointed out: a very complex and time-consuming method development, a very high sensitivity with regards to modification of the acetonitrile to water ratio in the eluent or the diluent and high positive matrix effects for certain analytes. However, these limitations can be overcome by the utilization of a precise protocol and appropriate labeled internal standards. They are overmatched by the benefits of HILIC which permits the chromatographic separation of extreme polar micropollutants. Investigation of environmental samples showed elevated concentrations of the analytes in the water phase. In particular, gabapentin, metformin, guanylurea and oxypurinol were measured at concentrations in the µg/L range in surface water. Subsequently, a reliable multi-residue method was established for the determination of 57 pharmaceuticals, 47 metabolites and TPs sorbed to SPM down to the low ng/g range. This method was conceived to cover a large range of polarity in particular with the inclusion of extreme polar pharmaceuticals. The extraction procedure was based on pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) followed by a clean-up via solvent exchange and detection via direct injection-reversed-phase LC-MS/MS and freeze-drying HILIC-MS/MS. Pharmaceutical sorption was examined using laboratory experiments. Derived distribution coefficients Kd varied by five orders of magnitude among the analytes and confirmed a high sorption potential for positively charged and nonpolar pharmaceuticals. The occurrence of pharmaceuticals in German rivers SPM was evaluated by the investigation of annual composite SPM samples taken at four sites at the river Rhine and one site at the river Saar between the years 2005 and 2015. It revealed the ubiquitous presence of pharmaceuticals sorbed to SPM in these rivers. In particular, positively charged analytes, even very polar and nonpolar pharmaceuticals showed appreciable concentrations. For many pharmaceuticals, a distinct correlation was observed between the annual quantities consumed in Germany and the concentrations measured in SPM. Studies of composite SPM spatial distribution permitted to get hints about specific industrial discharge by comparing the pollution pattern along the river. For the first time, these results showed the potential of SPM for the monitoring of positively charged and nonpolar pharmaceuticals in surface water. Finally, a reliable and generic multi residue method was developed to investigate 35 pharmaceuticals and 28 metabolites and TPs in fish plasma, fish liver and fish fillet. For this matrix, it was very challenging to develop an adequate clean-up allowing for the sufficient separation of the matrix disturbances from the analytes. In the final method, fish tissue extraction was performed by cell disruption followed by a non-discriminating clean-up based on silica gel solid-phase extraction(SPE) and restrictive access media (RAM) chromatography. Application of the developed method to the measurement of bream and carp tissues from German rivers revealed that even polar micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals are ubiquitously present in fish tissues. In total, 17 analytes were detected for the first time in fish tissues, including 10 metabolites/TPs. The importance of monitoring metabolites and TPs in fish tissues was confirmed with their detection at similar concentrations as their parents. Liver and fillet were shown to be appropriate for the monitoring of pharmaceuticals in fish, whereas plasma is more inconvenient due to very low concentrations and collection difficulties. Elevated concentrations of certain metabolites suggest possible formation of human metabolites in fish. Measured concentrations indicate a low bioaccumulation potential for pharmaceuticals in fish tissues.

Although most plastic pollution originates on land, current research largely remains focused on aquatic ecosystems. Studies pioneering terrestrial microplastic research have adapted analytical methods from aquatic research without acknowledging the complex nature of soil. Meanwhile, novel methods have been developed and further refined. However, methodical inconsistencies still challenge a comprehensive understanding of microplastic occurrence and fate in and on soil. This review aims to disentangle the variety of state-of-the-art sample preparation techniques for heterogeneous solid matrices to identify and discuss best-practice methods for soil-focused microplastic analyses. We show that soil sampling, homogenization, and aggregate dispersion are often neglected or incompletely documented. Microplastic preconcentration is typically performed by separating inorganic soil constituents with high-density salt solutions. Not yet standardized but currently most used separation setups involve overflowing beakers to retrieve supernatant plastics, although closed-design separation funnels probably reduce the risk of contamination. Fenton reagent may be particularly useful to digest soil organic matter if suspected to interfere with subsequent microplastic quantification. A promising new approach is extraction of target polymers with organic solvents. However, insufficiently characterized soils still impede an informed decision on optimal sample preparation. Further research and method development thus requires thorough validation and quality control with well-characterized matrices to enable robust routine analyses for terrestrial microplastics.

Internationale Bildungsstudien (TIMSS und PISA) offenbarten, dass es deutschen Schülern nur begrenzt gelingt, ihr erworbenes Wissen im Physikunterricht zur Problemlösung in neuen Kontexten zu nutzen. Als Grund nennen die Studien die gering ausgeprägte Kompetenz-erwartung in Bezug zum Fach Physik. Die Folge ist eine geringe Motivation der Lernenden, physikalische Aufgaben zu lösen. Studien zeigen aber auch, dass die Motivation beim Lernen durch den Einsatz digitaler Lernmedien gesteigert werden konnte. Aus diesem Grund wird in dieser Arbeit untersucht, ob das Vertrauen in die eigenen Fähigkeiten durch das Lernen in einer integrierten Lernumgebung gefördert werden kann. Im Rahmen eines Design-Based-Research-Forschungsansatzes (DBR) wurde eine integrierte Lernumgebung „Wärmelehre“ mit digitalen Lernmedien für den Physikunterricht gestaltet, die dann in zwei Schulformen (IGS und Gymnasium) innerhalb einer quasi-experimentellen Feldstudie erprobt wurde. Im 1. Zyklus des DBR wurden die Wirkungen des selbstständigen Lernens mit digitalen/analogen Medien in Einzelarbeit untersucht. Die Ergebnisse der Wissenstests zeigen einen höheren Lernerfolg bei den Lernenden der Experimentalgruppen, der sich aber nicht signifikant von den Lernenden der Kontrollgruppen (analoge Medien) unterscheidet. Die Lernenden konnten sich in der integrierten Lernumgebung mit Unterstützung beider Medienformate selbstständig Fachwissen aneignen und problembasierte Textaufgaben lösen. Die Ergebnisse der Befragungen der Lernenden zeigen, dass sich die Lerngruppen signifikant in ihrem erlebten Grad der Selbststeuerung unterscheiden. Die Lernenden beider Experimentalgruppen bewerten ihren Handlungsspielraum besser als die Lernenden der beiden Kontrollgruppen. Ebenfalls konnte festgestellt werden, dass sich die individuellen Lernvoraussetzungen, der Lernstiltyp, das Kompetenzerleben und die Aspekte der Medien-gestaltung wechselseitig beeinflussen und auf den Lernerfolg wirken. Die Ergebnisse der Lernstilanalyse zeigen, dass sich selbst kleine Lerngruppen heterogen zusammensetzen. Demnach scheint es für einen guten Lernerfolg notwendig zu sein, dass die Lehrenden, die Lernumgebung an die individuellen Lernpräferenzen der Lernenden der Lerngruppe anpassen. Aus den Ergebnissen lässt sich als Konsequenz für den Physikunterricht ableiten, dass Selbstlernphasen mit digitalen Lernmedien regelmäßig in den Unterricht integriert werden sollten, um die Problemlöse- und die Selbststeuerungskompetenz zu fördern. Es ist von Vorteil, wenn die Lehrenden für die Gestaltung einer Lernumgebung, das Vorwissen, die individuellen Lernvoraussetzungen und die Zusammensetzung der Lerngruppe (Lernstiltyp) als Qualitätsdimensionen erfassen. Im Re-Design werden Vorschläge unterbreitet, wie die integrierte Lernumgebung lernstilgerecht weiterentwickelt werden kann. Im 2. Zyklus soll dann erforscht werden, ob sich Unterschiede im Lernerfolg und in den untersuchten Aspekten zeigen, wenn die Lernenden in Einzelarbeit, in Partnerarbeit oder in ihrer Lernstilgruppe selbstgesteuert lernen, um die Lernumgebung zyklisch weiterzuentwickeln.