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Academic achievement is a central outcome in educational research, both in and outside higher education, has direct effects on individual’s professional and financial prospects and a high individual and public return on investment. Theories comprise cognitive as well as non-cognitive influences on achievement. Two examples frequently investigated in empirical research are knowledge (as a cognitive determinant) and stress (as a non-cognitive determinant) of achievement. However, knowledge and stress are not stable, what raises questions as to how temporal dynamics in knowledge on the one hand and stress on the other contribute to achievement. To study these contributions in the present doctoral dissertation, I used meta-analysis, latent profile transition analysis, and latent state-trait analysis. The results support the idea of knowledge acquisition as a cumulative and long-term process that forms the basis for academic achievement and conceptual change as an important mechanism for the acquisition of knowledge in higher education. Moreover, the findings suggest that students’ stress experiences in higher education are subject to stable, trait-like influences, as well as situational and/or interactional, state-like influences which are differentially related to achievement and health. The results imply that investigating the causal networks between knowledge, stress, and academic achievement is a promising strategy for better understanding academic achievement in higher education. For this purpose, future studies should use longitudinal designs, randomized controlled trials, and meta-analytical techniques. Potential practical applications include taking account of students’ prior knowledge in higher education teaching and decreasing stress among higher education students.
With the advent of highthroughput sequencing (HTS), profiling immunoglobulin (IG) repertoires has become an essential part of immunological research. The dissection of IG repertoires promises to transform our understanding of the adaptive immune system dynamics. Advances in sequencing technology now also allow the use of the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) to cover the full length of IG mRNA transcripts. The applications of this benchtop scale HTS platform range from identification of new therapeutic antibodies to the deconvolution of malignant B cell tumors. In the context of this thesis, the usability of the PGM is assessed to investigate the IG heavy chain (IGH) repertoires of animal models. First, an innovate bioinformatics approach is presented to identify antigendriven IGH sequences from bulk sequenced bone marrow samples of transgenic humanized rats, expressing a human IG repertoire (OmniRatTM). We show, that these rats mount a convergent IGH CDR3 response towards measles virus hemagglutinin protein and tetanus toxoid, with high similarity to human counterparts. In the future, databases could contain all IGH CDR3 sequences with known specificity to mine IG repertoire datasets for past antigen exposures, ultimately reconstructing the immunological history of an individual. Second, a unique molecular identifier (UID) based HTS approach and network property analysis is used to characterize the CLLlike CD5+ B cell expansion of A20BKO mice overexpressing a natural short splice variant of the CYLD gene (A20BKOsCYLDBOE). We could determine, that in these mice, overexpression of sCYLD leads to unmutated subvariant of CLL (UCLL). Furthermore, we found that this short splice variant is also seen in human CLL patients highlighting it as important target for future investigations. Third, the UID based HTS approach is improved by adapting it to the PGM sequencing technology and applying a custommade data processing pipeline including the ImMunoGeneTics (IMGT) database error detection. Like this, we were able to obtain correct IGH sequences with over 99.5% confidence and correct CDR3 sequences with over 99.9% confidence. Taken together, the results, protocols and sample processing strategies described in this thesis will improve the usability of animal models and the Ion Torrent PGM HTS platform in the field if IG repertoire research.
External capital plays an important role in financing entrepreneurial ventures, due to limited internal capital sources. An important external capital provider for entrepreneurial ventures are venture capitalists (VCs). VCs worldwide are often confronted with thousands of proposals of entrepreneurial ventures per year and must choose among all of these companies in which to invest. Not only do VCs finance companies at their early stages, but they also finance entrepreneurial companies in their later stages, when companies have secured their first market success. That is why this dissertation focuses on the decision-making behavior of VCs when investing in later-stage ventures. This dissertation uses both qualitative as well as quantitative research methods in order to provide answer to how the decision-making behavior of VCs that invest in later-stage ventures can be described.
Based on qualitative interviews with 19 investment professionals, the first insight gained is that for different stages of venture development, different decision criteria are applied. This is attributed to different risks and goals of ventures at different stages, as well as the different types of information available. These decision criteria in the context of later-stage ventures contrast with results from studies that focus on early-stage ventures. Later-stage ventures possess meaningful information on financials (revenue growth and profitability), the established business model, and existing external investors that is not available for early-stage ventures and therefore constitute new decision criteria for this specific context.
Following this identification of the most relevant decision criteria for investors in the context of later-stage ventures, a conjoint study with 749 participants was carried out to understand the relative importance of decision criteria. The results showed that investors attribute the highest importance to 1) revenue growth, (2) value-added of products/services for customers, and (3) management team track record, demonstrating differences when compared to decision-making studies in the context of early-stage ventures.
Not only do the characteristics of a venture influence the decision to invest, additional indirect factors, such as individual characteristics or characteristics of the investment firm, can influence individual decisions. Relying on cognitive theory, this study investigated the influence of various individual characteristics on screening decisions and found that both investment experience and entrepreneurial experience have an influence on individual decision-making behavior. This study also examined whether goals, incentive structures, resources, and governance of the investment firm influence decision making in the context of later-stage ventures. This study particularly investigated two distinct types of investment firms, family offices and corporate venture capital funds (CVC), which have unique structures, goals, and incentive systems. Additional quantitative analysis showed that family offices put less focus on high-growth firms and whether reputable investors are present. They tend to focus more on the profitability of a later-stage venture in the initial screening. The analysis showed that CVCs place greater importance on product and business model characteristics than other investors. CVCs also favor later-stage ventures with lower revenue growth rates, indicating a preference for less risky investments. The results provide various insights for theory and practice.
Many combinatorial optimization problems on finite graphs can be formulated as conic convex programs, e.g. the stable set problem, the maximum clique problem or the maximum cut problem. Especially NP-hard problems can be written as copositive programs. In this case the complexity is moved entirely into the copositivity constraint.
Copositive programming is a quite new topic in optimization. It deals with optimization over the so-called copositive cone, a superset of the positive semidefinite cone, where the quadratic form x^T Ax has to be nonnegative for only the nonnegative vectors x. Its dual cone is the cone of completely positive matrices, which includes all matrices that can be decomposed as a sum of nonnegative symmetric vector-vector-products.
The related optimization problems are linear programs with matrix variables and cone constraints.
However, some optimization problems can be formulated as combinatorial problems on infinite graphs. For example, the kissing number problem can be formulated as a stable set problem on a circle.
In this thesis we will discuss how the theory of copositive optimization can be lifted up to infinite dimension. For some special cases we will give applications in combinatorial optimization.
Die Dissertation untersucht vergleichend deutsch-japanische fotografische Kriegspropaganda des Zweiten Weltkrieges anhand der zu jener Zeit auflagenstärksten illustrierten Zeitschriften "Illustrierter Beobachter" auf deutscher und "Shashin Shūhō" (Fotografische Wochenzeitung) auf japanischer Seite. Unter Rückgriff auf die ikonographisch-ikonologische Methode des Kunsthistorikers Erwin Panofsky bei gleichzeitiger Bezugnahme auf das Bildverständnis Charles Sanders Peirces werden Muster der bildlichen Darstellung von Kindern und Jugendlichen analysiert, um hierdurch Rückschlüsse zu ziehen auf Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede in der Ausgestaltung der Bildpropaganda beider Länder unmittelbar vor und im Zweiten Weltkrieg (1939-1945), auf allgemeine Tendenzen in der Gestaltung von Propaganda im selben Zeitraum, auf die Organisation und Funktion von Propaganda in radikalnationalistischen Staaten. Gleichzeitig wird durch Einbeziehung der Rezipientensicht die Frage nach Mehrdeutigkeit und, hiermit einhergehend, Wirkungsweise und Wirkungsgrad der Propaganda gestellt. Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung bilden sämtliche publizierten Ausgaben der zweiten Jahreshälften 1938 und 1943.
This doctoral thesis examines intergenerational knowledge, its antecedents as well as how participation in intergenerational knowledge transfer is related to the performance evaluation of employees. To answer these questions, this doctoral thesis builds on a literature review and quantitative research methods. A systematic literature study shows that empirical evidence on intergenerational knowledge transfer is limited. Building on prior literature, effects of various antecedents at the interpersonal and organizational level regarding their effects on intergenerational and intragenerational knowledge transfer are postulated. By questioning 444 trainees and trainers, this doctoral thesis also demonstrates that interpersonal antecedents impact how trainees participate in intergenerational knowledge transfer with their trainers. Thereby, the results of this study provide support that interpersonal antecedents are relevant for intergenerational knowledge transfer, yet, also emphasize the implications attached to the assigned roles in knowledge transfer (i.e., whether one is a trainee or trainer). Moreover, the results of an experimental vignette study reveal that participation in intergenerational knowledge transfer is linked to the performance evaluation of employees, yet, is susceptible to whether the employee is sharing or seeking knowledge. Overall, this doctoral thesis provides insights into this topic by covering a multitude of antecedents of intergenerational knowledge transfer, as well as how participation in intergenerational knowledge transfer may be associated with the performance evaluation of employees.
Die räumliche Entwicklung von Städten und Regionen wird durch Trends wie Klimawandel, demographische Veränderungen und Strukturwandel beeinflusst, welche nicht an Verwaltungsgrenzen aufhören, sondern die Entwicklung großflächiger Gebiete bestimmen. Außerdem weisen Grenzräume häufig funktionale und thematische Verflechtungen auf, die über die nationalen Grenzen hinweg bestehen. Damit verbunden sind ein regelmäßiger Austausch und Abhängigkeiten zwischen Grenzräumen und deren Bewohnern. Daher ist die Koordination der grenzüberschreitenden Raumentwicklung entscheidend für eine zukunftsorientierte und nachhaltige räumliche Entwicklung. Aufgrund seiner hohen Bedeutung wird dieses Thema von europäischen Wissenschaftlern in der ersten Ausgabe der Themenhefte Borders in Perspective aus verschiedenen Perspektiven beleuchtet.
Ziel der hier bereitgestellten Anforderungskataloge ist es, einen Überblick über die Anforderungen zu geben, welche an FDM-Services in den Geisteswissenschaften und in der Psychologie gestellt werden. Dies soll Hochschulen und außeruniversitären Forschungseinrichtungen die Möglichkeit geben, ihre eigenen Servicekataloge um FDM-Services zu erweitern, welche auf die spezifischen Bedarfe der Forschenden in diesen Disziplinen abgestimmt sind. Zudem sollen diese Anforderungskataloge als Vorlage für die Entwicklung weiterer Anforderungskataloge dienen, welche die fachspezifischen FDM-Services in anderen Fachdisziplinen spezifizieren.
Forschungsprozessspezifische Kompetenzmatrix für die Einführung des Forschungsdatenmanagements (FDM)
(2019)
Die forschungsprozessspezifische Kompetenzmatrix stellt einen Baustein im Rahmen des durch das BMBF geförderten Forschungsprojektes „Prozessorientierte Entwicklung von Managementinstrumenten für Forschungsdaten im Lebenszyklus“ (PODMAN) dar. Im Rahmen des PODMAN-Projektes soll ein Referenzmodell und ein zugehöriges prozessorientiertes Benchmarking-Verfahren zur Implementierung des Forschungsdatenmanagements an Hochschulen und außeruniversitären Forschungseinrichtungen entwickelt werden. Darüber soll den Hochschulen und außeruniversitären Forschungseinrichtungen ein Orientierungsrahmen bereitgestellt werden, den sie flexibel zur Umsetzung eigener Datenmanagementstrategien nutzen können. In diesem Zusammenhang sollen Instrumente entwickelt werden, welche eine erfolgreiche Organisation der Zusammenarbeit und Kommunikation sowie der Qualifizierung aller am Forschungsdatenmanagementprozess beteiligten Akteure erlauben. Die forschungsprozessspezifische Kompetenzmatrix hat als eines dieser Instrumente zwei Funktionen: Erstens definiert sie die zur Implementierung eines umfassenden institutionellen FDM-Konzeptes notwendigen Aufgaben und zweitens die damit verbundenen Kompetenzen der ausführenden Akteure.
Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) influences the perception of taste and texture, features both relevant in acquiring food liking and, with time, food preference. However, no studies have yet investigated the relationship between basal activity levels of sAA and food preference. We collected saliva from 57 volunteers (63% women) who we assessed in terms of their preference for different food items. These items were grouped into four categories according to their nutritional properties: high in starch, high in sugar, high glycaemic index, and high glycaemic load. Anthropometric markers of cardiovascular risk were also calculated. Our findings suggest that sAA influences food
preference and body composition in women. Regression analysis showed that basal sAA activity is inversely associated with subjective but not self-reported behavioural preference for foods high in sugar. Additionally, sAA and subjective preference are associated with anthropometric markers of cardiovascular risk. We believe that this pilot study points to this enzyme as an interesting candidate to consider among the physiological factors that modulate eating behaviour.
The trophic niche is a life trait that identifies the consumer’s position in a local food web. Several factors, such as ontogeny, competitive ability and resource availability contribute in shaping species trophic niches. To date, information on the diet of European Hydromantes salamanders are only available for a limited number of species, no dietary studies have involved more than one species of the genus at a time, and there are limited evidences on how multiple factors interact in determining diet variation. In this study we examined the diet of multiple populations of six out of the eight European cave salamanders, providing the first data on the diet for five of them. In addition, we assessed whether these closely related generalist species show similar diet and, for each species, we tested whether season, age class or sex influence the number and the type of prey consumed. Stomach condition (empty/full) and the number of prey consumed were strongly related to seasonality and to the activity level of individuals. Empty stomachs were more frequent in autumn, in individuals far from cave entrance and in juveniles. Diet composition was significantly different among species. Hydromantes imperialis and H. supramontis were the most generalist species; H. flavus and H. sarrabusensis fed mostly on Hymenoptera and Coleoptera Staphylinidae, while H. genei and H. ambrosii mostly consumed Arachnida and Endopterygota larvae. Furthermore, we detected seasonal shifts of diet in the majority of the species examined. Conversely, within each species, we did not find diet differences between females, males and juveniles. Although being assumed to have very similar dietary habits, here Hydromantes species were shown to be characterized by a high divergence in diet composition and in the stomach condition of individuals.
Sample surveys are a widely used and cost effective tool to gain information about a population under consideration. Nowadays, there is an increasing demand not only for information on the population level but also on the level of subpopulations. For some of these subpopulations of interest, however, very small subsample sizes might occur such that the application of traditional estimation methods is not expedient. In order to provide reliable information also for those so called small areas, small area estimation (SAE) methods combine auxiliary information and the sample data via a statistical model.
The present thesis deals, among other aspects, with the development of highly flexible and close to reality small area models. For this purpose, the penalized spline method is adequately modified which allows to determine the model parameters via the solution of an unconstrained optimization problem. Due to this optimization framework, the incorporation of shape constraints into the modeling process is achieved in terms of additional linear inequality constraints on the optimization problem. This results in small area estimators that allow for both the utilization of the penalized spline method as a highly flexible modeling technique and the incorporation of arbitrary shape constraints on the underlying P-spline function.
In order to incorporate multiple covariates, a tensor product approach is employed to extend the penalized spline method to multiple input variables. This leads to high-dimensional optimization problems for which naive solution algorithms yield an unjustifiable complexity in terms of runtime and in terms of memory requirements. By exploiting the underlying tensor nature, the present thesis provides adequate computationally efficient solution algorithms for the considered optimization problems and the related memory efficient, i.e. matrix-free, implementations. The crucial point thereby is the (repetitive) application of a matrix-free conjugated gradient method, whose runtime is drastically reduced by a matrx-free multigrid preconditioner.
Développer l’école – sans ordre du jour fixe, sans tribune ni interventions programmées. Tous les membres de la communauté scolaire peuvent décider librement ce qu’ils veulent faire et quand ils veulent le faire. Leurs idées et leurs souhaits sont écoutés. Tout cela vous semble à la fois intéressant et un peu fou ? Grâce à la méthode du forum ouvert, outil de développement scolaire démocratique, c’est possible.
Comment les élèves vivent-ils les possibilités actuelles de participation démocratique dans l’enseignement ? La communauté scolaire est-elle prête à porter le processus de développement ? Quelles résistances faut-il prendre en compte et où se trouvent les potentiels et les idées inexploités pour innover dans l’école et dans l’enseignement ?
Possibilités et opportunités d’une organisation démocratique du système scolaire luxembourgeois
(2018)
« Aujourd’hui, le socialisme et la démocratie ne sont plus de simples questions réservées aux partis politiques, ce sont des questions vitales. L’école et les enseignants devront s’en saisir (...) et donner au peuple de demain, par un enseignement solide, mais surtout par une éducation formatrice, les moyens de remplir sa mission principale : régner ensemble. » – ein luxemburger Schulfreund, 1920
« Lorsque l’on réfléchit aux perspectives du développement scolaire, notre action doit être guidée par la vision d’une école démocratique, d’une école vivante dans un État démocratique ainsi que par la conception de l’être humain à laquelle elle est associée. Dans ses processus de conception et dans sa vie quotidienne, l’école de demain doit elle-même être une mise en pratique de la démocratie. » (Hartmut Wenzel)
Les carnets paraissent biannuellement et offrent aux dirigeant(e)s des écoles ainsi qu’au personnel des fondements théoriques et du matériel pratique pour la mise en oeuvre d’un développement scolaire démocratique. Chaque publication traite d’une méthode de l’éducation à la démocratie ou d’une question stratégique du développement scolaire. Les carnets en langue allemande sont mis à disposition des écoles luxembourgeoises en version imprimée. Tous le matériel ainsi que la version en langue française sont disponibles en ligne.
« Ce serait vraiment cool si les élèves avaient leur propre chaîne de télévision, non ? », s’extasie Sophie. « Peut-être plutôt une web TV, pour qu’on puisse voir nos reportages de partout dans le monde », s’exclame Max. « En tout cas, il faut que ça parle de sujets qui sont importants pour les élèves » : sur ce point, les deux collégiens sont d’accord. Ensemble, ils se creusent les méninges : pour commencer, est-ce possible juridiquement ? Qui peut nous aider ?
This study examines to what extent a banking crisis and the ensuing potential liquidity shortage affect corporate cash holdings. Specifically, how do firms adjust their liquidity management prior to and during a banking crisis when they are restricted in their financing options? These restrictions might not result from firm-specific characteristics but also incorporate the effects of certain regulatory requirements. I analyse the real effects of indicators of a potential crisis and the occurrence of a crisis event on corporate cash holdings for both unregulated and regulated firms from 31 different countries. In contrast to existing studies, I perform this analysis on the basis of a long observation period (1997 to 2014 respectively 2003 to 2014) using multiple crisis indicators (early warning signals) and multiple crisis events. For regulated firms, this study makes use of a unique sample of country-specific regulatory information, which is collected by hand for 15 countries and converted into an ordinal scale based on the severity of the regulation. Regulated firms are selected from a single industry: Real Estate Investment Trusts. These firms invest in real estate properties and let these properties to third parties. Real Estate Investment Trusts that comply with the aforementioned regulations are exempt from income taxation and are punished for a breach, which makes this industry particularly interesting for the analysis of capital structure decisions.
The results for regulated and unregulated firms are mostly inconclusive. I find no convincing evidence that the degree of regulation affects the level of cash holdings for regulated firms before and during a banking crisis. For unregulated firms, I find strong evidence that financially constrained firms have higher cash holdings than unconstrained firms. Further, there is no real evidence that either financially constrained firms or unconstrained firms increase their cash holdings when observing an early warning signal. In case of a banking crisis, the results differ for univariate tests and in panel regressions. In the univariate setting, I find evidence that both types of firms hold higher levels of cash during a banking crisis. In panel regressions, the effect is only evident for financially unconstrained firms from the US, and when controlling for financial stress, it is also apparent for financially constrained US firms. For firms from Europe, the results are predominantly inconclusive. For banking crises that are preceded by an early warning signal, there is only evidence for an increase in cash holdings for unconstrained US firms when controlling for financial stress.
Mittels Querschnittserhebungen ist es möglich Populationsparameter zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt zu schätzen. Jedoch ist meist die Veränderung von Populationsparametern von besonderem Interesse. So ist es zur Evaluation von politischen Zielvorgaben erforderlich die Veränderung von Indikatoren, wie Armutsmaßen, über die Zeit zu verfolgen. Um zu testen ob eine gemessene Veränderung sich signifikant von Null unterscheidet bedarf es einer Varianzschätzung für Veränderungen von Querschnitten. In diesem Zusammenhang ergeben sich oft zwei Probleme; Zum einen sind die relevanten Statistiken meist nicht-linear und zum anderen basieren die untersuchten Querschnittserhebungen auf Stichproben die nicht unabhängig voneinander gezogen wurden. Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation ist es einen theoretischen Rahmen zur Herleitung und Schätzung der Varianz einer geschätzten Veränderung von nicht-linearen Statistiken zu geben. Hierzu werden die Eigenschaften von Stichprobendesigns erarbeitetet, die zur Koordination von Stichprobenziehungen in einer zeitlichen Abfolge verwendet werden. Insbesondere werden Ziehungsalgorithmen zur Koordination von Stichproben vorgestellt, erarbeitet und deren Eigenschaften beschrieben. Die Problematik der Varianzschätzung im Querschnitt für nicht-lineare Schätzer bei komplexen Stichprobendesigns wird ebenfalls behandelt. Schließlich wird ein allgemeiner Ansatz zur Schätzung von Veränderungen aufgezeigt und es werden Varianzschätzer für die Veränderung von Querschnittschätzern basierend auf koordinierten Querschnittstichproben untersucht. Insbesondere dem Fall einer sich über die Zeit verändernden Population wird eine besondere Bedeutung im Rahmen der Arbeit beigemessen, da diese im Anwendungsfall die Regel darstellen.
