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Im März 196 v. Chr. erließ eine in Memphis versammelte Synode von Priestern aus den Tempeln Ägyptens ein Ehrendekret in drei verschiedenen Sprachen für den amtierenden Herrscher Ptolemaios V. Epiphanes: Der klassischen Sprache des pharaonischen Ägypten, geschrieben in altägyptischen Hieroglyphen, dem Demotischen, der damals gesprochenen Sprachstufe des Altägyptischen und dem hellenistischen Griechisch des 2 Jh.. Von dieser Textsorte sind bisher insgesamt nur vier relativ vollständig erhaltene Beispiele auf uns gekommen. Diese folgen sämtlich in ihrem Formular in hohem Maße der im griechischen Bereich ubiquitären Psephismata und setzen alle im jeweiligen Beschlussteil Ehrungen fest, die die Rolle des ptolemäisch-hellenistischen Herrschers im Kontext der altägyptischen Kulte betreffen. Die vorliegende Arbeit will zum einen in ihrem Kommentarteil eine Grundlage für die weitere Beschäftigung mit allen drei Sprachfassungen des Dekrets von Memphis durch die ptolemaistisch-althistorische Forschung leisten. Zum anderen möchte sie auf Grundlage des Textes die Rolle des Herrschers aus Sicht der beschließenden Priesterschaft beleuchten. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass das Dekret - anders als bisher angenommen - nicht zur eigentlichen Thronbesteigung, sondern anlässlich eines späteren Thronjubiläums erlassen wurde und gleichwohl die Fiktion eines innenpolitischen Neuanfangs (vermutlich im Sinne des Hofes) angesichts erster, bescheidener Erfolge gegen innere Aufstände der indigenen Bevölkerung in Unter- und Oberägypten inszeniert. Die kultische Herrscherverehrung hellenischer Provenienz erscheint in diesem Text ggü. den früheren Dekreten von Kanobos und Raphia relativ vollständig in den altägyptischen religiösen Kontext übersetzt, sodass hier durchaus von einem "ägyptischen Herrscherkult" gesprochen werden kann. Dabei wird der sehr junge fünfte Ptolemäerkönig sehr auffällig mit Kindformen des Gottes Horus (Harendotes, Harsiese) gleichgesetzt, was zum einen die legitime Machtübernahme durch den Sohn des verstorbenen Herrschers von einer im ägyptischen Kontext religiös definierten Sieghaftigkeit gegen die "Götterfeinde" abhängig erscheinen lässt, zum anderen den König in den Kontext der spätzeitlichen Verehrung von Kindgottheiten und Götterttriaden setzt. Alles in allem scheint die ägyptische Priesterschaft mittels einer für die eigenen Bedürfnisse flexibel adaptierten ursprünglich griechischen Textform den eigenen Anspruch auf Definition religiös legitimierter Königsmacht erhoben und im Diskurs um Privilegien und Unterstützung im ptolemäischen Ägypten kommuniziert zu haben.
Gegenstand der Dissertation ist das von einem anonymen Autor stammende Bellum Africum, das als Teil des Corpus Caesarianum Caesars Feldzug in Afrika (Dezember 47 bis Juli 46 v.Chr.) umfasst. Hauptteil ist ein Zeilenkommentar der Kapitel 1 bis 47 (S.80-323), in dem der Text sowohl historisch als auch philologisch erfasst und bearbeitet wird. Daraus ergeben sich eine Reihe neuer Erkenntnisse verschiedenster Art in Detailfragen. Daneben treten eine Übersetzung der entsprechenden Kapitel ins Deutsche (S.55-78) sowie weitere Untersuchungen, in denen Einzelprobleme, die sich aus der Arbeit am Kommentar ergaben, bearbeitet werden. Thema dieser Untersuchungen sind in der Einleitung (S.33-54) Sprache und Stil (S.33-39), die Verfasserfrage (S.39-46) und die Chronologie der ersten Tage des Feldzuges (S.47-54). Zwei weitere Untersuchungen im Anschluss an den Kommentar befassen sich mit Caesars Legionen im Afrikanischen Krieg (S.324-342) und der Darstellung von Caesarianern und Pompeianern im Bellum Africum (S.343-382). Eine Prosopographie zum Bellum Africum (S.390-407), ein Index zu den benutzten antiken Quellen (S.408-421) und ein Literaturverzeichnis (S.10-32) vervollständigen die Arbeit.
Kompetenzeinbußen und Abhängigkeit im Alter können durch die soziale Umwelt mitbedingt werden. Altersstereotypbasierte Negativerwartungen bezüglich mangelnder Kompetenzen alter Menschen beeinflussen das Kommunikationsverhalten jüngerer gegenüber älteren Personen (z.B. Ryan, Giles, Bartolucci & Henwood, 1986) sowie das Interaktionsverhalten im Pflegekontext (Baltes, M. M., 1996). Margret Baltes (1996) zeigte in Beobachtungsstudien, dass die Interaktionen zwischen alten Menschen und ihren Pflegepersonen durch ein spezifisches Muster gekennzeichnet sind: Unselbständiges Verhalten der alten Menschen wird durch vermehrte Hilfe unterstützt, selbständiges Verhalten ignoriert. Die vorliegende Arbeit geht der Frage nach, ob es sich bei diesem Abhängigkeitsunterstützungsskript im Pflegesetting um einen Effekt mit universellem Geltungsbereich handelt, oder ob es situative und personale Moderatoren gibt, welche die Reaktionen der Pflegepersonen auf selbständiges bzw. unselbständiges Verhalten der von ihnen betreuten Menschen beeinflussen. Mithilfe einer experimentellen Methode - unter Verwendung von Text-Vignetten - wurde an einer Stichprobe von Studierenden (Studie 1; N=172) sowie professionellen Pflegekräften aus Altenheimen bzw. einem Krankenhaus (Studie 2; N=214) die Hypothese überprüft, dass Pflegekräfte vor allem in solchen Situationen skriptkonform handeln, in denen sie unter Zeitdruck stehen. Des Weiteren wurde untersucht, ob es sich um einen spezifischen Effekt im Umgang mit alten Menschen handelt, oder ob der Befund vielmehr auf bestimmte Rollenerwartungen im Pflegesetting (Altenheim bzw. Krankenhaus) unabhängig vom Alter der gepflegten Person zurückzuführen ist. Als Persönlichkeitsvariablen wurden Geduld, Direktivität und die individuelle Ausprägung des Altersstereotyps erhoben. Die Ergebnisse sprechen für ein relativ hohes Maß an aktivierenden, die Selbständigkeit fördernden Pflegeabsichten. Diese sind vermindert bei hohem Zeitdruck und mangelnder Geduld der Pflegeperson. Die Hypothese, das Abhängigkeitsunterstützungsskript zeige sich vor allem in der Interaktion mit alten Menschen bzw. werde durch ein individuell stark ausgeprägtes negatives Altersstereotyp verstärkt, fand keine eindeutige Bestätigung. Es zeigten sich aber Unterschiede zwischen den Pflegesettings: Im Altenheim wurden mehr selbständigkeitsunterstützende Pflegeabsichten geäußert als bei alten Patienten im Krankenhaus.
Surveys play a major role in studying social and behavioral phenomena that are difficult to
observe. Survey data provide insights into the determinants and consequences of human
behavior and social interactions. Many domains rely on high quality survey data for decision
making and policy implementation including politics, health, business, and the social
sciences. Given a certain research question in a specific context, finding the most appropriate
survey design to ensure data quality and keep fieldwork costs low at the same time is a
difficult task. The aim of examining survey research methodology is to provide the best
evidence to estimate the costs and errors of different survey design options. The goal of this
thesis is to support and optimize the accumulation and sustainable use of evidence in survey
methodology in four steps:
(1) Identifying the gaps in meta-analytic evidence in survey methodology by a systematic
review of the existing evidence along the dimensions of a central framework in the
field
(2) Filling in these gaps with two meta-analyses in the field of survey methodology, one
on response rates in psychological online surveys, the other on panel conditioning
effects for sensitive items
(3) Assessing the robustness and sufficiency of the results of the two meta-analyses
(4) Proposing a publication format for the accumulation and dissemination of metaanalytic
evidence
The glucocorticoid (GC) cortisol, main mediator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, has many implications in metabolism, stress response and the immune system. GC function is mediated mainly via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) which binds as a transcription factor to glucocorticoid response elements (GREs). GCs are strong immunosuppressants and used to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Long-term usage can lead to several irreversible side effects which make improved understanding indispensable and warrant the adaptation of current drugs. Several large scale gene expression studies have been performed to gain insight into GC signalling. Nevertheless, studies at the proteomic level have not yet been made. The effects of cortisol on monocytes and macrophages were studied in the THP-1 cell line using 2D fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) combined with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. More than 50 cortisol-modulated proteins were identified which belonged to five functional groups: cytoskeleton, chaperones, immune response, metabolism, and transcription/translation. Multiple GREs were found in the promoters of their corresponding genes (+10 kb/-0.2 kb promoter regions including all alternative promoters available within the Database for Transcription Start Sites (DBTSS)). High quality GREs were observed mainly in cortisol modulated genes, corroborating the proteomics results. Differential regulation of selected immune response related proteins were confirmed by qPCR and immuno-blotting. All immune response related proteins (MX1, IFIT3, SYWC, STAT3, PMSE2, PRS7) which were induced by LPS were suppressed by cortisol and belong mainly to classical interferon target genes. Mx1 has been selected for detailed expression analysis since new isoforms have been identified by proteomics. FKBP51, known to be induced by cortisol, was identified as the strongest differentially expressed protein and contained the highest number of strict GREs. Genomic analysis of five alternative FKBP5 promoter regions suggested GC inducibility of all transcripts. 2D DIGE combined with 2D immunoblotting revealed the existence of several previously unknown FKBP51 isoforms, possibly resulting from these transcripts. Additionally multiple post-translational modifications were found, which could lead to different subcellular localization in monocytes and macrophages as seen by confocal microscopy. Similar results were obtained for the different cellular subsets of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). FKBP51 was found to be constitutively phosphorylated with up to 8 phosphosites in CD19+ B lymphocytes. Differential Co-immunoprecipitation for cytoplasm and nucleus allowed us to identify new potential interaction partners. Nuclear FKBP51 was found to interact with myosin 9, whereas cytosolic FKBP51 with TRIM21 (synonym: Ro52, Sjögren`s syndrome antigen). The GR has been found to interact with THOC4 and YB1, two proteins implicated in mRNA processing and transcriptional regulation. We also applied proteomics to study rapid non-genomic effects of acute stress in a rat model. The nuclear proteome of the thymus was investigated after 15 min restraint stress and compared to the non-stressed control. Most of the identified proteins were transcriptional regulators found to be enriched in the nucleus probably to assist gene expression in an appropriate manner. The proteomic approach allowed us to further understand the cortisol mediated response in monocytes/macrophages. We identified several new target proteins, but we also found new protein variants and post-translational modifications which need further investigation. Detailed study of FKBP51 and GR indicated a complex regulation network which opened a new field of research. We identified new variants of the anti-viral response protein MX1, displaying differential expression and phosphorylation in the cellular compartments. Further, proteomics allowed us to follow the very early effects of acute stress, which happen prior to gene expression. The nuclear thymocyte proteome of restraint stressed rats revealed an active preparation for subsequent gene expression. Proteomics was successfully applied to study differential protein expression, to identify new protein variants and phosphorylation events as well as to follow translocation. New aspects for future research in the field of cortisol-mediated immune modulation have been added.
Die Dissertation mit dem Thema "Cross-Border-Leasing als Instrument der Kommunalfinanzierung " Eine finanzwirtschaftliche Analyse unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Risiken - befasst sich am Beispiel des primär steuerinduzierten, grenzüberschreitenden Cross-Border-Leasings (CBL) mit einem innovativen, strukturierten Finanzierungsinstrument, das sich im Spannungsfeld von Rechtsstaatlichkeit und privatwirtschaftlichem Management öffentlicher Akteure befindet. Dazu werden bereits finanzierte und sich im Betrieb befindliche Assets in Variationen von langfristigen Leasingverträge eingebracht. Durch die geschickte Ausnutzung steuerlicher Zurechnungskriterien werden unter Einbindung mehrerer Jurisdiktionen Gewinnverschiebungsmöglichkeiten und Steueroptimierungspotenziale geschaffen, wobei die generierten Zusatzerträge unter den Akteuren aufgeteilt werden. Die Untersuchung orientiert sich an einem umfassenden forschungsleitenden Fragenkatalog, der sehr vielschichtig und zudem interdisziplinär die komplexen Aspekte des CBLs theoretisch sowie praktisch an einem Fallbeispiel untersucht. Zunächst erfolgt die Einbettung des CBLs in den kommunalen Hintergrund. Daran schliesst sich eine Darstellung des Untersuchungsgegenstands im Hinblick auf seine elementare Grundstruktur, Zahlungsströme, Vertragsparteien und deren bilateralen Verpflechtungen an. Daneben erfolgt eine Analyse der öffentlich-rechtlichen Implikationen des CBLs sowie der regulatorischen kommunalaufsichtsrechtlichen Anforderungen. Im zentralen empirischen Teil der Dissertation wird eine idealtypische CBL-Transaktion einer bundesdeutschen Metropole als Fallstudie analysiert: im Rahmen einer erstmaligen wissenschaftlichen Analyse einer Orginaldokumentation werden zunächst die strukturellen Rahmenparameter untersucht, um dann den Finanzierungsvorteil der Transaktion zu ermitteln. Eine Klassifikation erfolgt dabei in diejenigen Risken, die sich unmittelbar im Einflussbereich der Kommune befinden und somit direkt, d.h. durch aktives eigenes Handeln, minimiert oder vermieden werden können und in solche, die aus ihrer Sicht extern sind. Abgerundet wird die Risikoanalyse durch eine Abschätzung der maximalen Risikoposition in Form der Schadensersatzzahlungen, die die Kommune in vertraglich vereinbarten Fällen leisten muss. Dabei ermittelt die Verfasserin den Break-Even der Transaktion und setzt Szenarien sowie mathematische Modelle ein, um die inhärenten Risiken aufgrund ihrer Kostenfolgen sorgfältig gegenüber dem vereinnahmten kurzfristigen Vorteil abzuwägen. Die Untersuchung bedient sich dem anerkannten mathematisch-statistischen Value-at-Risk-Verfahren (VaR), das unter Verwendung von Ansätzen der Wahrscheinlichkeitsverteilung das Marktpreisrisiko zu quantifizieren vermag. Um zu validen Ergebnissen zu gelangen, werden zur Ermittlung des VaRs die beiden bekanntesten (nicht-parametrischen) Tools des VaR-Ansatzes angewendet, um die potenziellen Performanceschwankungen des Depotwertes unter Zugrundelegung bestimmter Wahrscheinlichkeiten abschätzen zu können. Dies ist das Verfahren der Historischen Simulation sowie die als mathematisch sehr anspruchsvoll eingestufte Monte-Carlo-Simulation. Als Weiterentwicklung des VaR-Modells wird zudem der Conditional VaR berechnet, der Aussagen über das Ausmaß der erwarteten Verluste zulässt. Anhand dieser Ergebnisse wird die maximale finanzielle Risikoposition der Kommune, bezogen auf das Kapitaldepot, abgeleitet. Darüber hinaus wird das CBL im Rahmen eines mathematischen Modells insgesamt beurteilt, indem eine Gegenüberstellung von vereinnahmtem Finanzierungsvorteil und den mit Eintrittswahrscheinlichkeiten gewichteten Ausfallrisiken, unter Berücksichtigung des jeweiligen Eintrittszeitpunktes, durchgeführt wird. Diese Vorgehensweise führt zu einer Symbiose aus Finanzierungsvorteil und den Risikomaßzahlen VaR, Expected Shortfall und Expected Loss. Die ermittelten finanzwirtschaftlichen Risikomaßzahlen führen zu überraschenden Ergebnissen, die die propagierte Risikolosigkeit und das vermeintlich attraktive Renditepotenzial derartiger Transaktionen eindeutig verneinen. Aus den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen leitet die Verfasserin praktische Handlungsempfehlungen und Absicherungsmöglichkeiten für kommunale Entscheidungsträger ab. Die sich aufgrund der US-Steuerrechtsänderung vom Februar 2005 ergebenden Auswirkungen auf bestehende Transaktionen wie auch auf Neugeschäfte werden im Ausblick dargelegt.
There is considerable evidence for an association between chronic dysregulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, atrophy of the hippocampus (HC) and cognitive and mood changes in clinical populations and in aging. The present thesis investigated this relationship in young healthy male subjects. Special emphasis was put on measures of HC volume and function derived from structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Higher cortisol levels after awakening were observed in subjects with higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Larger HC volume was associated with higher cortisol levels after awakening and in response to acute stress, whereas cognitive performance was impaired in subjects with larger HC volumes. Hippocampal activation during picture encoding was reduced after stress induction, and positive associations between activation and cognitive performance before stress were not present anymore afterwards. The present findings underscore the importance of structural and functional brain imaging for psychoneuroendocrinological research. The investigation of the association between cortisol levels and hippocampal integrity in young healthy subjects elicited unexpected results and adds to the understanding of HPA dysfunction and HC atrophy in clinical and aged populations.
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.
Many real-life phenomena, such as computer systems, communication networks, manufacturing systems, supermarket checkout lines as well as structural military systems can be represented by means of queueing models. Looking at queueing models, a controller may considerably improve the system's performance by reducing queue lengths, or increasing the throughput, or diminishing the overhead, whereas in the absence of a controller the system behavior may get quite erratic, exhibiting periods of high load and long queues followed by periods, during which the servers remain idle. The theoretical foundations of controlled queueing systems are led in the theory of Markov, semi-Markov and semi-regenerative decision processes. In this thesis, the essential work consists in designing controlled queueing models and investigation of their optimal control properties for the application in the area of the modern telecommunication systems, which should satisfy the growing demands for quality of service (QoS). For two types of optimization criterion (the model without penalties and with set-up costs), a class of controlled queueing systems is defined. The general case of the queue that forms this class is characterized by a Markov Additive Arrival Process and heterogeneous Phase-Type service time distributions. We show that for these queueing systems the structural properties of optimal control policies, e.g. monotonicity properties and threshold structure, are preserved. Moreover, we show that these systems possess specific properties, e.g. the dependence of optimal policies on the arrival and service statistics. In order to practically use controlled stochastic models, it is necessary to obtain a quick and an effective method to find optimal policies. We present the iteration algorithm which can be successfully used to find an optimal solution in case of a large state space.
In this thesis, we investigate the quantization problem of Gaussian measures on Banach spaces by means of constructive methods. That is, for a random variable X and a natural number N, we are searching for those N elements in the underlying Banach space which give the best approximation to X in the average sense. We particularly focus on centered Gaussians on the space of continuous functions on [0,1] equipped with the supremum-norm, since in that case all known methods failed to achieve the optimal quantization rate for important Gauss-processes. In fact, by means of Spline-approximations and a scheme based on the Best-Approximations in the sense of the Kolmogorov n-width we were able to attain the optimal rate of convergence to zero for these quantization problems. Moreover, we established a new upper bound for the quantization error, which is based on a very simple criterion, the modulus of smoothness of the covariance function. Finally, we explicitly constructed those quantizers numerically.
This dissertation deals with consistent estimates in household surveys. Household surveys are often drawn via cluster sampling, with households sampled at the first stage and persons selected at the second stage. The collected data provide information for estimation at both the person and the household level. However, consistent estimates are desirable in the sense that the estimated household-level totals should coincide with the estimated totals obtained at the person-level. Current practice in statistical offices is to use integrated weighting. In this approach consistent estimates are guaranteed by equal weights for all persons within a household and the household itself. However, due to the forced equality of weights, the individual patterns of persons are lost and the heterogeneity within households is not taken into account. In order to avoid the negative consequences of integrated weighting, we propose alternative weighting methods in the first part of this dissertation that ensure both consistent estimates and individual person weights within a household. The underlying idea is to limit the consistency conditions to variables that emerge in both the personal and household data sets. These common variables are included in the person- and household-level estimator as additional auxiliary variables. This achieves consistency more directly and only for the relevant variables, rather than indirectly by forcing equal weights on all persons within a household. Further decisive advantages of the proposed alternative weighting methods are that original individual rather than the constructed aggregated auxiliaries are utilized and that the variable selection process is more flexible because different auxiliary variables can be incorporated in the person-level estimator than in the household-level estimator.
In the second part of this dissertation, the variances of a person-level GREG estimator and an integrated estimator are compared in order to quantify the effects of the consistency requirements in the integrated weighting approach. One of the challenges is that the estimators to be compared are of different dimensions. The proposed solution is to decompose the variance of the integrated estimator into the variance of a reduced GREG estimator, whose underlying model is of the same dimensions as the person-level GREG estimator, and add a constructed term that captures the effects disregarded by the reduced model. Subsequently, further fields of application for the derived decomposition are proposed such as the variable selection process in the field of econometrics or survey statistics.
This thesis is concerned with two classes of optimization problems which stem
mainly from statistics: clustering problems and cardinality-constrained optimization problems. We are particularly interested in the development of computational techniques to exactly or heuristically solve instances of these two classes
of optimization problems.
The minimum sum-of-squares clustering (MSSC) problem is widely used
to find clusters within a set of data points. The problem is also known as
the $k$-means problem, since the most prominent heuristic to compute a feasible
point of this optimization problem is the $k$-means method. In many modern
applications, however, the clustering suffers from uncertain input data due to,
e.g., unstructured measurement errors. The reason for this is that the clustering
result then represents a clustering of the erroneous measurements instead of
retrieving the true underlying clustering structure. We address this issue by
applying robust optimization techniques: we derive the strictly and $\Gamma$-robust
counterparts of the MSSC problem, which are as challenging to solve as the
original model. Moreover, we develop alternating direction methods to quickly
compute feasible points of good quality. Our experiments reveal that the more
conservative strictly robust model consistently provides better clustering solutions
than the nominal and the less conservative $\Gamma$-robust models.
In the context of clustering problems, however, using only a heuristic solution
comes with severe disadvantages regarding the interpretation of the clustering.
This motivates us to study globally optimal algorithms for the MSSC problem.
We note that although some algorithms have already been proposed for this
problem, it is still far from being “practically solved”. Therefore, we propose
mixed-integer programming techniques, which are mainly based on geometric
ideas and which can be incorporated in a
branch-and-cut based algorithm tailored
to the MSSC problem. Our numerical experiments show that these techniques
significantly improve the solution process of a
state-of-the-art MINLP solver
when applied to the problem.
We then turn to the study of cardinality-constrained optimization problems.
We consider two famous problem instances of this class: sparse portfolio optimization and sparse regression problems. In many modern applications, it is common
to consider problems with thousands of variables. Therefore, globally optimal
algorithms are not always computationally viable and the study of sophisticated
heuristics is very desirable. Since these problems have a discrete-continuous
structure, decomposition methods are particularly well suited. We then apply a
penalty alternating direction method that explores this structure and provides
very good feasible points in a reasonable amount of time. Our computational
study shows that our methods are competitive to
state-of-the-art solvers and heuristics.
In this thesis we focus on the development and investigation of methods for the computation of confluent hypergeometric functions. We point out the relations between these functions and parabolic boundary value problems and demonstrate applications to models of heat transfer and fluid dynamics. For the computation of confluent hypergeometric functions on compact (real or complex) intervals we consider a series expansion based on the Hadamard product of power series. It turnes out that the partial sums of this expansion are easily computable and provide a better rate of convergence in comparison to the partial sums of the Taylor series. Regarding the computational accuracy the problem of cancellation errors is reduced considerably. Another important tool for the computation of confluent hypergeometric functions are recurrence formulae. Although easy to implement, such recurrence relations are numerically unstable e.g. due to rounding errors. In order to circumvent these problems a method for computing recurrence relations in backward direction is applied. Furthermore, asymptotic expansions for large arguments in modulus are considered. From the numerical point of view the determination of the number of terms used for the approximation is a crucial point. As an application we consider initial-boundary value problems with partial differential equations of parabolic type, where we use the method of eigenfunction expansion in order to determine an explicit form of the solution. In this case the arising eigenfunctions depend directly on the geometry of the considered domain. For certain domains with some special geometry the eigenfunctions are of confluent hypergeometric type. Both a conductive heat transfer model and an application in fluid dynamics is considered. Finally, the application of several heat transfer models to certain sterilization processes in food industry is discussed.
One of the main tasks in mathematics is to answer the question whether an equation possesses a solution or not. In the 1940- Thom and Glaeser studied a new type of equations that are given by the composition of functions. They raised the following question: For which functions Ψ does the equation F(Ψ)=f always have a solution. Of course this question only makes sense if the right hand side f satisfies some a priori conditions like being contained in the closure of the space of all compositions with Ψ and is easy to answer if F and f are continuous functions. Considering further restrictions to these functions, especially to F, extremely complicates the search for an adequate solution. For smooth functions one can already find deep results by Bierstone and Milman which answer the question in the case of a real-analytic function Ψ. This work contains further results for a different class of functions, namely those Ψ that are smooth and injective. In the case of a function Ψ of a single real variable, the question can be fully answered and we give three conditions that are both sufficient and necessary in order for the composition equation to always have a solution. Furthermore one can unify these three conditions to show that they are equivalent to the fact that Ψ has a locally Hölder-continuous inverse. For injective functions Ψ of several real variables we give necessary conditions for the composition equation to be solvable. For instance Ψ should satisfy some form of local distance estimate for the partial derivatives. Under the additional assumption of the Whitney-regularity of the image of Ψ, we can give sufficient conditions for flat functions f on the critical set of Ψ to possess a solution F(Ψ)=f.
Competitive analysis is a well known method for analyzing online algorithms.
Two online optimization problems, the scheduling problems and the list accessing problems, are considered in the thesis of Yida Zhu in the respect of this method.
For both problems, several existing online and offline algorithms are studied. Their performances are compared with the performances of corresponding offline optimal algorithms.
In particular, the list accessing algorithm BIT is carefully reviewed.
The classical proof of its worst case performance get simplified by adapting the knowledge about the optimal offline algorithm.
With regard to average case analysis, a new closed formula is developed to determine the performance of BIT on specific class of instances.
All algorithm considered in this thesis are also implemented in Julia.
Their empirical performances are studied and compared with each other directly.
Educational researchers have intensively investigated students" academic self-concept (ASC) and self-efficacy (SE). Both constructs are part of the competence-related self-perceptions of students and are considered to support students" academic success and their career development in a positive manner (e.g., Abele-Brehm & Stief, 2004; Richardson, Abraham, & Bond, 2012; Schneider & Preckel, 2017). However, there is a lack of basic research on ASC and SE in higher education in general, and in undergraduate psychology courses in particular. Therefore, according to the within-network and between-network approaches of construct validation (Byrne, 1984), the present dissertation comprises three empirical studies examining the structure (research question 1), measurement (research question 2), correlates (research question 3), and differentiation (research question 4) of ASC and SE in a total sample of N = 1243 psychology students. Concerning research question 1, results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFAs) implied that students" ASC and SE are domain-specific in the sense of multidimensionality, but they are also hierarchically structured, with a general factor at the apex according to the nested Marsh/Shavelson model (NMS model, Brunner et al., 2010). Additionally, psychology students" SE to master specific psychological tasks in different areas of psychological application could be described by a 2-dimensional model with six factors according to the Multitrait-Multimethod (MTMM)-approach (Campbell & Fiske, 1959). With regard to research question 2, results revealed that the internal structure of ASC and SE could be validly assessed. However, the assessment of psychology students" SE should follow a task-specific measurement strategy. Results of research question 3 further showed that both constructs of psychology students" competence-related self-perceptions were positively correlated to achievement in undergraduate psychology courses if predictor (ASC, SE) corresponded to measurement specificity of the criterion (achievement). Overall, ASC provided substantially stronger relations to achievement compared to SE. Moreover, there was evidence for negative paths (contrast effects) from achievement in one psychological domain on ASC of another psychological domain as postulated by the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model (Marsh, 1986). Finally, building on research questions 1 to 3 (structure, measurement, and correlates of ASC and SE), psychology students" ASC and SE were be differentiated on an empirical level (research question 4). Implications for future research practices are discussed. Furthermore, practical implications for enhancing ASC and SE in higher education are proposed to support academic achievement and the career development of psychology students.
Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) generally aims to reduce the amount of solid waste and emissions in landfills and enhance the recoveries. MBT technology has been studied in various countries in Europe and Asia. Techniques of solid waste treatment are distinctly different in the study areas. A better understanding of MBT waste characteristics can lead to an optimization of the MBT technology. For a sustainable waste management, it is essential to determine the characteristics of the final MBT waste, the effectiveness of the treatment system as well as the potential application of the final material regarding future utilization. This study aims to define and compare the characteristics of the final MBT materials in the following countries: Luxembourg (using a high degree technology), Fridhaff in Diekirch/Erpeldange, Germany (using a well regulated technology), Singhofen in Rhein-Lahn district, Thailand (using a low cost technology): Phitsanulok in Phitsanulok province. The three countries were chosen for this comparative study due to their unique performance in the MBT implementation. The samples were taken from the composting heaps of the final treatment process prior to sending them to landfills, using a random sampling standard strategy from August 2008 onwards. The size of the sample was reduced to manageable sizes before characterization. The size reduction was achieved by the quartering method. The samples were first analyzed for the size fraction on the day of collection. They were screened into three fractions by the method of dry sieving: small size with a diameter of <10 mm, medium size with a diameter of 10-40 mm and large size with a diameter of >40 mm. These fractions were further analyzed for their physical and chemical parameters such as particle size distribution (total into 12 size fractions), particle shape, porosity, composition, water content, water retention capacity and respiratory activity. The extracted eluate was analyzed for pH-value, heavy metals (lead, cadmium and arsenic), chemical oxygen demand, ammonium, sulfate and chloride. In order to describe and evaluate the potential application of the small size material as a final cover of landfills, the fraction of small size samples were tested for the geotechnical properties as well. The geotechnical parameters were the compaction test, permeability test and shear strength test. The detailed description of the treatment facilities and methods of the study areas were included in the results. The samples from the three countries are visibly smaller than waste without pretreatment. Maximum particle size is found to be less than 100 mm. The samples are found to consist of dust to coarse fractions. The small size with a diameter of <10 mm was highest in the sample from Germany (average 60% by weight), secondly in the sample from Luxembourg (average 43% by weight) and lowest in the sample from Thailand (average 15% by weight). The content of biodegradable material generally increased with decreasing particle sizes. Primary components are organic, plastics, fibrous materials and inert materials (glass and ceramics). The percentage of each components greatly depends on the MBT process of each country. Other important characteristics are significantly reduced water content, reduced total organic carbon and reduced potential heavy metals. The geotechnical results show that the small fraction is highly compact, has a low permeability and lot of water adsorbed material. The utilization of MBT material in this study shows a good trend as it proved to be a safe material which contained very low amounts of loadings and concentrations of chemical oxygen demand, ammonium, and heavy metals. The organic part can be developed to be a soil conditioner. It is also suitably utilized as a bio-filter layer in the final cover of landfill or as a temporary cover during the MBT process. This study showed how to identify the most appropriate technology for municipal solid waste disposal through the study of waste characterization.
Comparing the results of the phylogeographies of the four species included in this thesis, some accordances have been found, even though certain patterns are only represented in one or two species. In all cases, the findings of the studied species strongly support the existence of forests or forest-like ecosystems beyond the classic forest refugia in the Mediterranean areas (Iberian, Apennine and Balkan peninsulas) during glacial times. However, evidence of glacial refugial areas in Southeastern Europe, especially the Balkans, have been found in this study as well. The analysed populations of Aposeris foetida, Melampyrum sylvaticum and Erebia euryale showed high genetic diversity values and mostly higher private fragments in this area, which is a strong indicator for centres of glacial survival during Würm and, regarding the results of M. sylvaticum, even during the Riss ice age. Three of the analysed species (A. foetida, M. sylvaticum and Colias palaeno) supported a second main glacial refuge area located along the Northern Alps. Again, high genetic diversity values and the uniqueness of the populations living in this region today prove the importance of this area as a glacial centre of survival. Those results confirm several recently published studies on forest species and strongly indicate the persistence of forest-like structures or even forests during the ice ages along the foothills of the Northern Alps. Additionally, the persistence of C. palaeno in this area furthermore supports the existence of peatlands north of the Alps, at least during the last glacial. The results of M. sylvaticum and E. euryale further indicate the vicinity of the Tatra Mountains as core areas for glacial survival. However, the genetic patterns found for E. euryale are ambiguous. Due to an intermediate position of two genetic lineages (originating in the Eastern Alps and Southeastern Europe), the Tatras could also reflect a postglacial mixture zone of those lineages. Moreover, the glacial and postglacial importance of this area for woodland species was accentuated, supporting other phylogeographic studies published. Besides the congruities among the results of the study species, some unique patterns and therefore further potential glacial refugia have also been illuminated in this thesis. For instance, the calcicole species, A. foetida, most probably had further survival area at both sides of the Dinaric Alps, supported by high genetic diversity values and a high number of private fragments found in Croatian populations. Furthermore, the surroundings of the German Uplands and the margin of the Southern Alps provided suitable conditions for glacial survival for M. sylvaticum, while the Eastern and Southeastern Alpine region most probably sheltered the Large Ringlet E. euryale during ice ages. Additionally, this butterfly species survived at least the glaciation along the foothills of the Massif Central, whose present populations showed a unique genetic lineage and their genetic diversity values have been measurably higher than in other populations for this species. Finally, a large and continuous Würm distribution is highly likely south of the Fennoscandian glaciers in Central Europe for C. palaeno, which might indicate extended peatland areas during Würm glacial. With all the patterns found in this study, the understanding of glacial persistence of forest, respectively forest-like structures and peatlands during Würm or even Riss glacial in Europe could be advanced. The congruencies among the analysed woodland and bog species illustrate the importance and location of extra-Mediterranean refugia for European mountain forests and the glacial presence of Central European peatlands. Thus, already postulated theories could be supported and further pieces of the overall puzzle could be added. The varieties of the different survival centres once more clarified that further phylogeographic studies on mountain forest of different habitat requirements and especially peatland species have to be implemented to get a clearer picture of the glacial history of these habitats.
Magnet Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Electroencephalography (EEG) are tools used to investigate the functioning of the working brain in both humans and animal studies. Both methods are increasingly combined in separate or simultaneous measurements under the assumption to benefit from their individual strength while compensating their particular weaknesses. However, little attention has been paid to how statistical analyses strategies can influence the information that can be retrieved from a combined EEG fMRI study. Two independent studies in healthy student volunteers were conducted in the context of emotion research to demonstrate two approaches of combining MRI and EEG data of the same participants. The first study (N = 20) applied a visual search paradigm and found that in both measurements the assumed effects were absent by not statistically combining their results. The second study (N = 12) applied a novelty P300 paradigm and found that only the statistical combination of MRI and EEG measurements was able to disentangle the functional effects of brain areas involved in emotion processing. In conclusion, the observed results demonstrate that there are added benefits of statistically combining EEG-fMRI data acquisitions by assessing both the inferential statistical structure and the intra-individual correlations of the EEG and fMRI signal.
Climate change and habitat fragmentation modify the natural habitat of many wetland biota and lead to new compositions of biodiversity in these ecosystems. While the direct effects of climate are often well known, indirect effects due to biotic interactions remain poorly understood. The water meadow grasshopper, Chorthippus montanus, is a univoltine habitat specialist, which is adapted to permanently moist habitats. Land use change and drainage led to highly fragmented populations of this generally flightless species. In large parts of the Palaearctic Ch. montanus occurs sympatrically with its widespread congener, the meadow grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus. Due to their close relationship and their similar songs, hybridization is likely to occur in syntopic populations. Such a species pair of a habitat specialist and a habitat generalist represents an ideal model system to examine the role of ongoing climate change and an accumulation of extreme climatic events on the life history strategies, population dynamics and inter-specific interactions. In Chapter I a laboratory experiment was conducted to identify the impact of environmental factors on intra-specific life-history traits of Ch. montanus. Like other Orthoptera species, Ch. montanus follows a converse temperature size rule. In line with the dimorphic niche hypothesis, which states that sexual size dimorphism evolved in response to the different sexual reproductive roles, both sexes showed different responses to increasing density at lower temperatures. Males attained smaller body sizes at high densities, whereas females had a prolonged development time. This is the first evidence for a sex-specific phenotypic plasticity in Ch. montanus. Females benefit from the prolonged development as their reproductive success depends on the size and number of egg clutches they may produce. By contrast, the reproductive success of males depends on the chance to fertilize virgin females, which increases with faster development. This may become a disadvantage for Ch. montanus as an intraspecific phenology shift may increase hybridization risk with the sibling species. Despite the widespread assumption that hybridization between two sympatric species is rare due to complete reproductive barriers, the genetic analyses of 16 populations (Chapter II) provided evidence for wide prevalence of hybridization between both species in the wild. As no complete admixture was found in the examined population, it is assumed that hybridization only occurs in ecotones between wetlands and drier parts. Reproductive barriers (habitat isolation, behavior, phenology) seem to prevent the genetic swamping of Ch. montanus populations. Although a behavioral experiment showed that mate choice presents an important reproductive barrier between both species, the experiment also revealed that reproductive barriers could be altered by environmental change (e.g. increasing heterospecific frequency). Chapter III analyzes the impact of extreme climatic events on population dynamics and interspecific hybridization. A mark-recapture analysis combined with weather records over five years provides evidence that the embryonic development in Ch. montanus is vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Strong population declines in Ch. montanus lead to a disequilibrium between Ch. montanus and Ch. parallelus populations and increases the risk of hybridization. The highest hybridization risk was found in the first weeks of a season, when both species had an overlapping phenology. Furthermore, hybrids were generally localized at the edge of the Ch. montanus distribution with higher heterospecific encounter probabilities. The hybridization rate reached up to 19.6%. The genetic analyses in Chapter II and III show that hybridization differentially affects specialists and generalists. While generalists may benefit from hybridization by an increasing genetic diversity, such a positive correlation was not found for Ch. montanus. The results underline the importance of reproductive barriers for the co-existence of these sympatric species. However, climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances alter reproductive barriers and promote hybridization, which may threaten small populations by genetic displacement. As anthropogenic hybridization is recognized as a major threat to biodiversity, it should be considered in environmental law and policy. In Chapter IV the role of hybrids and hybridization in three levels of law and the historical backgrounds of hybrids becoming a part of legal instruments is analyzed. Due to legal uncertainties and the complexity of this topic a legal assessment of hybrids is challenging and argues for species-specific approaches. Nonetheless, existing legal norms provide a suitable basis, but need to be specified. Finally, this chapter discusses different opportunities for the management of hybrids and hybridization in a conservation perspective and their necessity.
High-resolution projections of the future climate are required to assess climate change realistically at a regional scale. This is in particular important for climate change impact studies since global projections are much too coarse to represent local conditions adequately. A major concern is thereby the change of extreme values in a warming climate due to their severe impact on the natural environment, socio-economical systems and the human health. Regional climate models (RCMs) are, however, able to reproduce much of those local features. Current horizontal resolutions are about 18-25km, which is still too coarse to directly resolve small-scale processes such as deep-convection. For this reason, projections of a possible future climate were simulated in this study with the regional climate model COSMO-CLM at horizontal resolutions of 4.5km and 1.3km for the region of Saarland-Lorraine-Luxemburg and Rhineland-Palatinate for the first time. At a horizontal scale of about 1km deep-convection is treated explicitly, which is expected to improve particularly the simulation of convective summer precipitation and a better resolved orography is expected to improve near surface fields such as 2m temperature. These simulations were performed as 10-year long time-slice experiments for the present climate (1991"2000), the near future (2041"2050) and the end of the century (2091"2100). The climate change signals of the annual and seasonal means and the change of extremes are analysed with respect to precipitation and 2m temperature and a possible added value due to the increased resolution is investigated. To assess changes in extremes, extreme indices have been applied and 10- and 20-year return levels were estimated by "peak-over-threshold" models. Since it is generally known that model output of RCMs should not directly be used for climate change impact studies, the precipitation and temperature fields were bias-corrected with several quantile-matching methods. Among them is a new developed parametric method which includes an extension for extreme values and is hence expected to improve the correction. In addition, the impact of the bias-correction on the climate change signals and on the extreme value statistics was investigated. The results reveal a significant warming of the annual mean by about +1.7 -°C until 2041"2050 and +3.7 -°C until 2091"2100, but considerably stronger signals of up to +5 -°C in summer in the Rhine Valley. Furthermore, the daily variability increases by about +0.8 -°C in summer but decreases by about -0.8 -°C in winter. Consequently, hot extremes increase moderately until the mid of the century but strongly thereafter, in particular in the Rhine Valley. Cold extremes warm continuously in the complete domain in the next 100 years but strongest in mountainous areas. The change signals with regard to annual precipitation are of the order -±10% but not significant. Significant, however, are a predicted increase of +32% of the seasonal precipitation in autumn until 2041"2050 and a decrease of -28% in summer until 2091-2100. No significant changes were found for days with intensities > 20 mm/day, but the results indicate that extremes with return periods ≤2 years increase as well as the frequency and duration of dry periods. The bias-corrections amplified positive signals but dampened negative signals and considerably reduced the power of detection. Moreover, absolute values and frequencies of extremes were altered by the correction but change signals remained approximately constant. The new method outperformed other parametric methods, in particular with regard to extreme value correction and related extreme indices and return levels. Although the bias correction removed systematic errors, it should be treated as an additional layer of uncertainty in climate change studies. Finally, the increased resolution of 1.3km improved predominantly the representation of temperature fields and extremes in terms of spatial heterogeneity. The benefits for summer precipitation were not as clear due to a severe dry-bias in summer, but it could be shown that in principle the onset and intensity of convection improves. This work demonstrates that climate change will have severe impacts in this investigation area and that in particular extremes may change considerably. An increased resolution provides thereby an added value to the results. These findings encourage further investigations, for other variables as for example near-surface wind, which will be more feasible with growing computing resources. These analyses should, however, be repeated with longer time series, different RCMs and anthropogenic scenarios to determine the robustness and uncertainty of these results more extensively.
Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht die Frage nach der Darstellung Chinas in ausgewählten Geographieschulbüchern (Lehrbücher, Zusatzmaterialien und Schulatlanten) der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik und der Republik Österreich. Ziel dieser Schulbuchanalyse ist es, die Chinadarstellungen zu erfassen und auf ihre inhaltliche Qualität und Gegenwartsbezogenheit zu überprüfen. Alle Schulbücher werden auf ihre sachliche Richtigkeit, Vollständigkeit und Angemessenheit, sowie nach Vorurteilen und Stereotypen untersucht. Dabei werden bestimmte Vorurteilsstrukturen (Pittoresken, Exotismen) und stereotype Deutungs- und Darstellungsmuster aufgedeckt, nationale Sichtweisen hervorgehoben und im Hinblick auf das Postulat der Völkerverständigung interpretiert. Der Hauptteil der Arbeit besteht aus einer zweistufigen Schulbuchanalyse, die sich in eine differenzierte quantitative und qualitative Inhaltsanalyse gliedert. Ein detailliertes Kategoriensystem bildet die Grundlage der Analyse. Anhand der thematischen Kategorien erhält der Leser die Möglichkeit, bestimmte Aussagen und Ergebnisse der Analyse nachzuprüfen und nachzuvollziehen und sich zudem wissenschaftlich fundierte Erkenntnisse über die einzelnen Themengebiete zu erschließen. Die Vernachlässigung bestimmter Themen zeigt sich in mehreren Schulbüchern, wobei insbesondere ein qualitativer Wandel in der Behandlung physisch- und anthropogeographischer Themen zu beobachten ist.
Chemical communication in the reproductive behaviour of Neotropical poison frogs (Dendrobatidae)
(2013)
Chemical communication is the evolutionary oldest communication system in the animal kingdom that triggers intra- and interspecific interactions. It is initiated by the emitter releasing either a signal or a cue that causes a reaction of the receiving individual. Compared to other animals there are relatively few studies regarding chemical communication in anurans. In this thesis the impact of chemical communication on the behaviour of the poison frog Ranitomeya variabilis (Dendrobatidae) and its parental care performance was investigated. This species uses phytotelmata (small water bodies in plants) for both clutch and tadpole depositions. Since tadpoles are cannibalistic, adult frogs do not only avoid conspecifics when depositing their eggs but also transport their tadpoles individually into separated phytotelmata. The recognition of already occupied phytotelmata was shown to be due to chemical substances released by the conspecific tadpoles. In order to gain a deeper comprehension about the ability of adult R. variabilis to generally recognize and avoid tadpoles, in-situ pool choice experiments were conducted, offering chemical substances of tadpole of different species to the frogs (Chapter I). It turned out that they were able to recognize all species and avoid their chemical substances for clutch depositions. However, for tadpole depositions only dendrobatid tadpoles occurring in phytotelmata were avoided, while those species living in rivers were not. Additionally, the chemical substances of a treefrog tadpole (Hylidae) were recognized by R. variabilis. Yet, they were not avoided but preferred for tadpole depositions; thus these tadpoles might be recognized as a potential prey for the predatory poison frog larvae. One of the poison frog species which was avoided for both tadpole and clutch depositions, was the phytotelmata breeding Hyloxalus azureiventris. The chemical substances released by its tadpoles were analysed together with those of the R. variabilis tadpoles (Chapter II). After finding a suitable solid-phase extraction sorbent (DSC-18), the active chemical compounds from the water of both tadpole species were extracted and fractionated. In order to determine which fractions triggered the avoidance behaviour of the frogs, in-situ bioassays were conducted. It was found that the biologically active compounds differed between both species. Since the avoidance of the conspecific tadpoles is not advantageous to the releaser tadpoles (losing a potential food resource) the chemicals released by them might be defined as chemical cues. However, as it turned out that the avoidance of the heterospecific tadpoles was not triggered by a mere byproduct based on the close evolutionary relationship between the two species, the chemical compounds released by H. azureiventris tadpoles might be defined as chemical signals (being advantageous to the releasing tadpoles) or, more specifically as synomones, interspecificly acting chemicals that are advantageous for both emitter and receiver (since R. variabilis avoids a competition situation for its offspring, too). Another interspecific communication system investigated in this thesis was the avoidance of predator kairomones (Chapter III). Using chemical substances from damselfly larvae, it could be shown that R. variabilis was unable to recognize and avoid kairomones of these tadpole predators. However, when physically present, damselfly larvae were avoided by the frogs. For the recognition of conspecific tadpoles in contrast, chemical substances were necessary, since purely visible artificial tadpole models were not avoided. If R. variabilis is also capable to chemically communicate with adult conspecifics was investigated by presenting chemical cues/signals of same-sex or opposite-sex conspecifics to the frogs (Chapter IV). It was suggested that males would be attracted to chemical substances of females and repelled by those of conspecific males. But instead all individuals showed avoidance behaviour towards the conspecific chemicals. This was suggested to be an artefact due to confinement stress of the releaser animals, emitting disturbance cues that triggered avoidance behaviour in their conspecifics. The knowledge gained about chemical communication in parental care thus far, was used to further investigate a possible provisioning behaviour in R. variabilis. In-situ pool-choice experiments with chemical cues of conspecific tadpoles were carried out throughout the change from rainy to dry season (Chapter V). With a changepoint analysis, the exact seasonal change was defined and differences between frogs" choices were analysed. It turned out that R. variabilis does not avoid but prefer conspecific cues during the dry season for tadpole depositions, what might be interpreted as a way to provide their tadpoles with food (i.e. younger tadpoles) in order to accelerate their development when facing desiccation risk. That tadpoles were also occasionally fed with fertilized eggs could be shown in a comparative study, where phytotelmata that contained a tadpole deposited by the frogs themselves received more clutch depositions than freshly erected artificial phytotelmata containing unfamiliar tadpoles (i.e. their chemical cues; Chapter VI). Conducting home range calculations with ArcGIS, it turned out that R. variabilis males showed unexpectedly strong site fidelity, leading to the suggestion that they recognize their offspring by phytotelmata location. However, in order to test if R. variabilis is furthermore able to perform chemical offspring recognition, frogs were confronted in in-situ pool-choice experiments with chemical cues of single tadpoles that were found in their home ranges (Chapter VII). Genetic kinship analyses were conducted between those tadpoles emitting the chemical cues and those deposited together with or next to them. The results, however, indicated that frogs did not choose to deposit their offspring with or without another tadpole due to relatedness, i.e. kin recognition by chemical cues could not be confirmed in R. variabilis.
Der Planungsorientierten Stadtklimatologie und der Stadtökologie stehen eine Vielzahl von Einzelmethoden zur Erfassung und Bewertung der Belastungsfaktoren Klima, Luft oder Lärm zur Verfügung. Es fehlen derzeit Möglichkeiten zur Gesamtbeurteilung des aktuellen Umweltzustandes oder von bestimmten Planungsvarianten. Um die Strukturen der Gesamtbelastung städtischer Gebiete durch Klima, Luft und Lärm zu bewerten, wird der Ansatz über die Indexbildung untersucht. Dabei werden die Einzelbelastungen durch die städtische Überwärmung, die Belastung mit Kfz-bedingten Luftschadstoffen und die Verkehrslärmbelastung zu einer einzigen Bewertungsgröße integrierend zusammengefasst. Das "Indikatorensystem Klima - Luft - Lärm" kurz: "K-L-L-Index" knüpft im weiteren Sinne an die Nachhaltigkeitsindikatoren an. Die Ermittlung des K-L-L-Indexes erfolgt schrittweise, wobei die berechneten oder gemesse-nen Einzelgrößen zunächst einer vereinheitlichten Klassifizierung unterzogen werden. Mit dieser Vorgehensweise werden die Einzelgrößenbelastungen entsprechend ihrer Ausprägung bzw. Intensität eingestuft und erhalten jeweils einen Indikatorenwert. Die eigentliche Berechnung des K-L-L-Indexes erfolgt über die Verknüpfung der einzelnen Indikatorenwerte zu einem ge-meinsamen Indikatorensystem. Die Einstufung des K-L-L-Indexes wird entsprechend einer definierten Bewertungsskala durch arithmetische Mittelwertbildung der Indikatorwerte zwi-schen den Stufen 0 "kaum belastet" bis Stufe 4 "extrem belastet" ermittelt. Die kumulative Wirkung der drei Größen auf die menschliche Gesundheit wird insoweit berücksichtigt, dass die Fälle von drei gleich stark belasteten Einzelgrößen in der Gesamtbelastung der nächst höhe-ren Belastungsstufe zugeordnet werden. Die Berechnung und Darstellung des K-L-L-Indexes wird unter Verwendung digitaler Informa-tionen in einem Geographischen Informationssystem (GIS) durchgeführt. Hier können die zahl-reichen räumlichen Informationen entsprechend den Vorgaben miteinander verarbeitet werden und die Ergebnisse für die Untersuchungsgebiete direkt flächenhaft dargestellt werden. Da-durch weist der K-L-L-Index hinsichtlich des räumlichen Bezugs deutliche Vorteile gegenüber anderen Nachhaltigkeitsindikatoren auf. Die Anwendbarkeit und Flexibilität des vorgestellten K-L-L-Indexes wird anhand von zwei ausgewählten Untersuchungsgebieten in Trier und Lud-wigshafen überprüft. Der K-L-L-Index bietet zahlreiche Einsatzmöglichkeiten in der Straßen- und Verkehrsplanung (Verkehrsszenarien, Trassenvarianten), Stadtentwicklungsplanung und Bauleitplanung (Ausweisung von Flächen, Baugenehmigungen, Rahmenpläne) oder in der Lärmminderungsplanung. Neben der Erfassung der Ist-Belastungssituation kann der K-L-L-Index insbesondere in Bezug auf geplante Nutzungsänderungen oder Planungsalternativen Detailinformationen hin-sichtlich der Umweltbelastungen liefern und somit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur vorsorgenden Umweltplanung leisten. Als weiteren Forschungsbedarf wird die Anpassung des K-L-L-Indexes an aktuelle Entwicklungen im Bereich des Immissionsschutzes (Einbeziehung von PM10 und des LDEN) und der Einsatz im Zuge von Aktionsplänen nach -§ 47 Bundesimmissionsschutzgesetz zur Vermeidung von Grenzwertüberschreitungen nach der 22. BImSchV angesehen. Der K-L-L- Index ist somit als ein erster Schritt zur Gesamtbewertung hin zu sehen, weitere Schritte müssen folgen.
α2-adrenerge Rezeptoren sind entscheidende Strukturen für den Ablauf einer physiologischen Stressreaktion. Verschiedene Ursachen sind bekannt, welche die Funktionalität/Effektivität der vorwiegend inhibitorischen α2-adrenergen Wirkung einschränken. Darunter fallen frühe und lebenszeitliche Stressbelastung, genetische Faktoren sowie pharmakologische Einflüsse. Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation war die Identifikation und Charakterisierung von kognitiven und zentralnervös gesteuerten kardiovaskulären Parametern, welche durch α2-adrenerge Rezeptoren in besonderem Maße beeinflusst werden. Weiterhin sollte anhand pharmakologischer Modelle eine Methode entwickelt werden, um diese Beeinflussbarkeit quantitativ zu beschreiben. In einem komplexen pharmakologischen Versuchsplan wurde die Aktivität der α2-adrenergen Rezeptoren durch jeweils fünf Dosisstufen Dexmedetomidin (α2-adrenerger Agonist) und Yohimbin (α2-adrenerger Antagonist) manipuliert. In einem placebokontrollierten einfach-blinden Design wurde die Konzentrations-Wirkungs-Beziehung bzw. die Dosis-Wirkungs-Beziehung zwischen der Medikation und kognitiven sowie zentralnervös gesteuerten kardiovaskulären Parametern ermittelt. Zudem wurden die Effekte von α2-adrenergem Agonismus und Antagonismus auf die akustische Startlereaktion sowie auf die Plasmakonzentration von Noradrenalin (NA) und DHPG erfasst. Mittels linearer pharmakodynamischer Modellierung sollte anschließend die maximale Spannweite der α2-adrenerg vermittelten Effekte vorhergesagt werden, um so Aussagen über die pharmakologische Beeinflussbarkeit der Rezeptoren treffen zu können. Es zeigten sich deutliche Effekte von α2-adrenergem Agonismus und Antagonismus auf einfache Reaktionszeiten und kardiovaskuläre Parameter. Insbesondere sympathisch vermittelte Funktionen waren durch die pharmakologische Manipulation beeinflusst, ebenso wie die Magnitude der Blinzelreaktion auf einen akustischen Schreckreiz. Die Substanzen hatten zudem deutliche Einflüsse auf die Plasmakonzentration von NA und DHPG. Der besondere Erfolg dieser Arbeit liegt in der systematischen Quantifizierung der pharmakologischen Beeinflussung zentralnervöser Parameter durch α2-adrenergen Agonismus und Antagonismus. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die pharmakodynamische Modellierbarkeit zentralnervöser Parameter Aufschluss über potenzielle Gruppen-unterschiede in der Funktionalität/Effektivität α2-adrenerger Mechanismen geben kann.
Die Beobachtung und Bewertung von Wäldern ist eins der zentralen Themen der Fernerkundung. Wälder sind auf der Erde die größten Speicher von Biomasse und damit, neben den Ozeanen, die größte Senke für Kohlendioxid. Eine genaue Kenntnis über Zusammensetzung, Zustand und Entwicklung der Wälder ist wegen ihrer vielfältigen Funktionen und ihres großen Anteils an der Landesfläche von großem wissenschaftlichem und gesellschaftlichem Wert. Eine flächen-deckende detaillierte Beobachtung ist nur mit fernerkundlichen Mitteln möglich. Eine vielversprechende moderne Technik für hochauflösende Waldfernerkundung ist luftgestütztes Laser-¬scanning. Für die Arbeit stand ein Laserscanner-Datensatz aus dem Idarwald bei Morbach in Einzelpunkten und als Wellenformdatensatz zur Verfügung, der zur Ableitung von strukturellen Waldparametern genutzt wurde. Als wichtigster Bestandsstrukturparameter wurde die Baumhöhe sowohl aus Einzelpunktdaten als auch aus gerasterten Bilddaten flächendeckend mit hoher Genauigkeit abgeleitet. Die Kronenuntergrenzen konnten anhand der Wellenformdaten identifiziert werden und stimmten ebenfalls in hoher Genauigkeit mit Geländemessungen überein. Aus Baumhöhen und Höhe der Kronenuntergrenzen konnte die jeweilige Kronenlänge bestimmt werden. Eine größere Herausforderung ist die Bestimmung der Anzahl der Bäume pro Hektar. Während die einzelnen Kronen älterer Nadelbäume gut erkennbar sind, lassen sich Laubbäume und jüngere Nadelbäume nur schwer identifizieren. Trotzdem konnte mit Hilfe eines adaptiven Moving-Window-Ansatzes eine hohe Übereinstimmung mit im Gelände bestimmten Stammzahlen erzielt werden. Aus dem Anteil der Laserstrahlen, die im Bestand den Boden erreichen, können der Kronenschlussgrad und der Blattflächenindex bestimmt werden. Beide Größen sind für den Strahlungstransfer im Bestand und für ökologische Fragestellungen von Bedeutung und konnten ebenfalls flächendeckend und mit hoher Genauigkeit gemessen werden. Eng verknüpft mit dem Blattflächenindex sind die Biomasse und der Holzvorrat. Der Holzvorrat kann zwar nicht direkt aus den Laser-¬scannerdaten abgeleitet werden, da aber enge Beziehungen zu Baumhöhe und Stammzahl bestehen, kann er aus diesen statistisch abgeleitet werden. Auch die Biomasse wurde indirekt bestimmt: aus den Baumhöhen und dem Bedeckungsgrad. Die detaillierteste Charakterisierung von Waldbeständen kann durch Kombination unterschiedlicher Datensätze erreicht werden. Neben dem Laserscanningdatensatz stand auch ein hyperspektrales Bild des Untersuchungsgebiets zur Verfügung. Um diese zu kombinieren, wurde aus den Wellenformen die jeweils über der Fläche eines Hyperspektralpixels zurückgestreute Laserenergie in Höhenschritten von 0.5 m berechnet. Diese Höhenprofile zeigen die Position und Dichte der Baumkronen. Der kombinierte Datensatz wurde für eine Klassifikation zwischen Fichten und Douglasien in jeweils mehreren Altersstufen verwendet und konnte gegenüber dem Hyperspektralbild alleine eine deutliche Verbesserung der Klassifikationsgenauigkeit erzielen. Als weitere Methode, die Vorteile von hyperspektraler Fernerkundung mit denen von Laser-scanning zu verbinden, wurden Methoden zur Verwendung von Laserscanning für die Invertierung von zwei Reflexionsmodellen entwickelt und getestet. Da mit Laserscanning Größen bestimmt werden können, die aus einem Reflexionsspektrum nicht eindeutig ableitbar sind, können die Daten verwendet werden, um den Parameterraum bei der Invertierung zu verkleinern und damit die Invertierung zuverlässiger zu machen.
Die polare Kryosphäre stellt einen Schlüsselfaktor für die Erforschung des Klimawandels dar. Insbesondere das Meereis und seine Schneebedeckung, die sich durch eine äußerst hohe und Zeitskalen-übergreifende Sensitivität gegenüber atmosphärischen Einflüssen auszeichnen, können als diagnostische Parameter für die Abschätzung von Veränderungen im Klimasystem herangezogen werden. Die komplexen Rückkopplungsmechanismen, durch die das Meereis mit der globalen Zirkulation der Atmosphäre und des Ozeans in Wechselwirkung steht, werden durch eine zusätzliche Schneeauflage deutlich verstärkt. Insofern tragen die saisonalen Veränderungen der physikalischen Eigenschaften des Schnees, und insbesondere der Beginn der Schneeschmelze, massgeblich zur lokalen und regionalen Energiebilanz sowie zur Meereismassenbilanz bei. In dieser Arbeit wird nun erstmals auf der Basis langjähriger Daten der satellitengestützten Mikrowellenfernerkundung, in Kombination mit Feldmessungen aus dem Weddellmeer während des Sommers 2004/2005, die Charakteristik der sommerlichen Schmelzperiode auf antarktischem Meereis untersucht. Die sommertypischen Prozesse zeichnen sich hier durch deutliche Unterschiede im Vergleich zu arktischem Meereis aus. Wie die Messungen vor Ort zeigen, kommt es während des antarktischen Sommers nicht zu einem kompletten Abschmelzen des Schnees. Vielmehr dominieren ausgeprägte Schmelz-Gefrier-Zyklen im Tagesgang, die eine Abrundung und Vergrösserung der Schneekristalle sowie die Bildung interner Eisschichten verursachen. Dies führt radiometrisch zu Mikrowellensignalen, deren Erfassung im Vergleich zu bestehenden Schmelzerkennungs-Methoden neue Ansätze erfordert. Durch den Vergleich von zeitlich hoch aufgelösten in-situ Messungen der physikalischen Schneeeigenschaften mit parallel dazu erfassten Satellitendaten, sowie durch eine Modellierung der mikrowellenradiometrischen Eigenschaften der Schneeauflage, konnte ein neuer Indikator entwickelt werden, über den das Einsetzen der typischen sommerlichen Schmelzperiode auf antarktischem Meereis identifiziert werden kann. Der DTBA-Indikator beschreibt die Tagesschwankung der radiometrischen Eigenschaften des Schnees und zeichnet sich durch ein Werteverhalten aus, das eine eindeutige Hervorhebung der Sommerphase innerhalb eines saisonalen Zyklus erkennen lässt. Der Indikator wurde verwendet, um mittels des neu entwickelten Schwellwertalgorithmus MeDeA das Einsetzen der sommerlichen Schmelzperiode für das gesamte antarktische Meereisgebiet zu bestimmen. Durch die Anwendung der neuen Methode auf die langjährigen Reihen der Satellitenmessungen konnte ein umfassender Datensatz erstellt werden, der für den Zeitraum von 1988 bis 2006 die räumliche und zeitliche Variabilität des Einsetzens der sommerlichen Schmelzperiode auf antarktischem Meereis beinhaltet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass im Untersuchungszeitraum keine signifikanten Trends im Beginn des Schmelzens der Schneeauflage festzustellen sind, und dass das Schmelzen im Vergleich zur Arktis deutlich schwächer ausgeprägt ist. Eine Untersuchung der atmosphärischen Antriebe durch die Auswertung meteorologischer Reanalysen zeigt den grundlegenden Einfluss der zirkumpolaren Strömungsmuster auf die interannualen Schwankungen des Einsetzens und der Stärke der sommerlichen Schneeschmelze.
N-acetylation by N-acetyltransferase 1 (NAT1) is an important biotransformation pathway of the human skin and it is involved in the deactivation of the arylamine and well-known contact allergen para-phenylenediamine (PPD). Here, NAT1 expression and activity were analyzed in antigen presenting cells (monocyte-derived dendritic cells, MoDCs, a model for epidermal Langerhans cells) and human keratinocytes. The latter were used to study exogenous and endogenous NAT1 activity modulations. Within this thesis, MoDCs were found to express metabolically active NAT1. Activities were between 23.4 and 26.6 nmol/mg/min and thus comparable to peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These data suggest that epidermal Langerhans cells contribute to the cutaneous N-acetylation capacity. Keratinocytes, which are known for their efficient N-acetylation, were analyzed in a comparative study using primary keratinocytes (NHEK) and different shipments of the immortalized keratinocyte cell line HaCaT, in order to investigate the ability of the cell line to model epidermal biotransformation. N-acetylation of the substrate para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) was 3.4-fold higher in HaCaT compared to NHEK and varied between the HaCaT shipments (range 12.0"44.5 nmol/mg/min). Since B[a]P induced cytochrome p450 1 (CYP1) activities were also higher in HaCaT compared to NHEK, the cell line can be considered as an in vitro tool to qualitatively model epidermal metabolism, regarding NAT1 and CYP1. The HaCaT shipment with the highest NAT1 activity showed only minimal reduction of cell viability after treatment with PPD and was subsequently used to study interactions between NAT1 and PPD in keratinocytes. Treatment with PPD induced expression of cyclooxygenases (COX) in HaCaT, but in parallel, PPD N-acetylation was found to saturate with increasing PPD concentration. This saturation explains the presence of the PPD induced COX induction despite the high N-acetylation capacities. A detailed analysis of the effect of PPD on NAT1 revealed that the saturation of PPD N-acetylation was caused by a PPD-induced decrease of NAT1 activity. This inhibition was found in HaCaT as well as in primary keratinocytes after treatment with PPD and PABA. Regarding the mechanism, reduced NAT1 protein level and unaffected NAT1 mRNA expression after PPD treatment adduced clear evidences for substrate-dependent NAT1 downregulation. These results expand the existing knowledge about substrate-dependent NAT1 downregulation to human epithelial skin cells and demonstrate that NAT1 activity in keratinocytes can be modulated by exogenous factors. Further analysis of HaCaT cells from different shipments revealed an accelerated progression through the cell cycle in HaCaT cells with high NAT1 activities. These findings suggest an association between NAT1 and proliferation in keratinocytes as it has been proposed earlier for tumor cells. In conclusion, N-acetylation capacity of MoDCs as well as keratinocytes contribute to the overall N-acetylation capacity of human skin. NAT1 activity of keratinocytes and consequently the detoxification capacities of human skin can be modulated by the presence of exogenous NAT1 substrates and endogenous by the cell proliferation status of keratinocytes.
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.
Objective: Only 20-25% of the variance for the two to four-fold increased risk of developing breast cancer among women with family histories of the disease can be explained by known gene mutations. Other factors must exist. Here, a familial breast cancer model is proposed in which overestimation of risk, general distress, and cancer-specific distress constitute the type of background stress sufficient to increase unrelated acute stress reactivity in women at familial risk for breast cancer. Furthermore, these stress reactions are thought to be associated with central adiposity, an independent well-established risk factor for breast cancer. Hence, stress through its hormonal correlates and possible associations with central adiposity may play a crucial role in the etiology of breast cancer in women at familial risk for the disease. Methods: Participants were 215 healthy working women with first-degree relatives diagnosed before (high familial risk) or after age 50 (low familial risk), or without breast cancer in first-degree relatives (no familial risk). Participants completed self-report measures of perceived lifetime breast cancer risk, intrusive thoughts and avoidance about breast cancer (Impact of Event Scale), negative affect (Profile of Mood States), and general distress (Brief Symptom Inventory). Anthropometric measurements were taken. Urine samples during work, home, and sleep were collected for assessment of cortisol responses in the naturalistic setting where work was conceptualized as the stressful time of the day. Results: A series of analyses indicated a gradient increase of cortisol levels in response to the work environment from no, low, to high familial risk of breast cancer. When adding breast cancer intrusions to the model with familial risk status predicting work cortisol levels, significant intrusion effects emerged rendering the familial risk group non-significant. However, due to a lack of association between intrusions and cortisol in the low and high familial risk group separately, as well as a significant difference between low and high familial risk on intrusions, but not on work cortisol levels, full mediation of familial risk group effects on work cortisol by intrusions could not be established. A separate analysis indicated increased levels of central but not general adiposity in women at high familial risk of breast cancer compared to the low and no risk groups. There were no significant associations between central adiposity and cortisol excretion. Conclusion: A hyperactive hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis with a more pronounced excretion of its end product cortisol, as well as elevated levels of central but not overall adiposity in women at high familial risk for breast cancer may indicate an increased health risk which expands beyond that of increased breast cancer risk for these women.
Cognitive performance is contingent upon multiple factors. Beyond the impact of en-vironmental circumstances, the bodily state may hinder or promote cognitive processing. Af-ferent transmission from the viscera, for instance, is crucial not only for the genesis of affect and emotion, but further exerts significant influences on memory and attention. In particular, afferent cardiovascular feedback from baroreceptors demonstrated subcortical and cortical inhibition. Consequences for human cognition and behavior are the impairment of simple perception and sensorimotor functioning. Four studies are presented that investigate the mod-ulatory impact of baro-afferent feedback on selective attention. The first study demonstrates that the modulation of sensory processing by baroreceptor activity applies to the processing of complex stimulus configurations. By the use of a visual masking task in which a target had to be selected against a visual mask, perceptual interference was reduced when target and mask were presented during the ventricular systole compared to the diastole. In study two, selection efficiency was systematically manipulated in a visual selection task in which a target letter was flanked by distracting stimuli. By comparing participants" performance under homogene-ous and heterogeneous stimulus conditions, selection efficiency was assessed as a function of the cardiac cycle phase in which the targets and distractors were presented. The susceptibility of selection performance to the stimulus condition at hand was less pronounced during the ventricular systole compared to the diastole. Study one and two therefore indicate that inter-ference from irrelevant sensory input, resulting from temporally overlapping processing traces or from the simultaneous presentation of distractor stimuli, is reduced during phases of in-creased baro-afferent feedback. Study three experimentally manipulated baroreceptor activity by systematically varying the participant- body position while a sequential distractor priming task was completed. In this study, negative priming and distractor-response binding effects were obtained as indices of controlled and automatic distractor processing, respectively. It was found that only controlled distractor processing was affected by tonic increases in baro-receptor activity. In line with study one and two these results indicate that controlled selection processes are more efficient during enhanced baro-afferent feedback, observable in dimin-ished aftereffects of controlled distractor processing. Due to previous findings that indicated baro-afferent transmission to affect central, rather than response-related processing stages, study four measured lateralized-readiness potentials (LRPs) and reaction times (RTs), while participants, again, had to selectively respond to target stimuli that were surrounded by dis-tractors. The impact of distractor inhibition on stimulus-related, but not on response-related LRPs suggests that in a sequential distractor priming task, the sensory representations of dis-tractors, rather than motor responses are targeted by inhibition. Together with the results from studies one through three and the finding of baroreceptor-mediated behavioral inhibition tar-geting central processing stages, study four corroborates the presumption of baro-afferent signal transmission to modulate controlled processes involved in selective attention. In sum, the work presented shows that visual selective attention benefits from in-creased baro-afferent feedback as its effects are not confined to simple perception, but may facilitate the active suppression of neural activity related to sensory input from distractors. Hence, due to noise reduction, baroreceptor-mediated inhibition may promote effective selec-tion in vision.
We consider a linear regression model for which we assume that some of the observed variables are irrelevant for the prediction. Including the wrong variables in the statistical model can either lead to the problem of having too little information to properly estimate the statistic of interest, or having too much information and consequently describing fictitious connections. This thesis considers discrete optimization to conduct a variable selection. In light of this, the subset selection regression method is analyzed. The approach gained a lot of interest in recent years due to its promising predictive performance. A major challenge associated with the subset selection regression is the computational difficulty. In this thesis, we propose several improvements for the efficiency of the method. Novel bounds on the coefficients of the subset selection regression are developed, which help to tighten the relaxation of the associated mixed-integer program, which relies on a Big-M formulation. Moreover, a novel mixed-integer linear formulation for the subset selection regression based on a bilevel optimization reformulation is proposed. Finally, it is shown that the perspective formulation of the subset selection regression is equivalent to a state-of-the-art binary formulation. We use this insight to develop novel bounds for the subset selection regression problem, which show to be highly effective in combination with the proposed linear formulation.
In the second part of this thesis, we examine the statistical conception of the subset selection regression and conclude that it is misaligned with its intention. The subset selection regression uses the training error to decide on which variables to select. The approach conducts the validation on the training data, which oftentimes is not a good estimate of the prediction error. Hence, it requires a predetermined cardinality bound. Instead, we propose to select variables with respect to the cross-validation value. The process is formulated as a mixed-integer program with the sparsity becoming subject of the optimization. Usually, a cross-validation is used to select the best model out of a few options. With the proposed program the best model out of all possible models is selected. Since the cross-validation is a much better estimate of the prediction error, the model can select the best sparsity itself.
The thesis is concluded with an extensive simulation study which provides evidence that discrete optimization can be used to produce highly valuable predictive models with the cross-validation subset selection regression almost always producing the best results.
Interoception - the perception of bodily processes - plays a crucial role in the subjective experience of emotion, consciousness and symptom genesis. As an alternative to interoceptive paradigms that depend on the participants" active cooperation, five studies are presented to show that startle methodology may be employed to study visceral afferent processing. Study 1 (38 volunteers) showed that startle responses to acoustic stimuli of 105 dB(A) intensity were smaller when elicited during the cardiac systole (R-wave +230 ms) as compared to the diastole (R +530 ms). In Study 2, 31 diabetic patients were divided into two groups with normal or diminished (< 6 ms/mmHg) baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) of heart rate control. Patients with normal BRS showed a startle inhibition during the cardiac systole as was found for healthy volunteers. Diabetic patients with diminished BRS did not show this pattern. Because diminished BRS is an indicator of impaired baro-afferent signal transmission, we concluded that cardiac modulation of startle is associated with intact arterial baro-afferent feedback. Thus, pre-attentive startle methodology is feasible to study visceral afferent processing. rnVisceral- and baro-afferent information has been found to be mainly processed in the right hemisphere. To explore whether cardiac modulation of startle eye blink is lateralized as well, in Study 3, 37 healthy volunteers received 160 unilateral acoustic startle stimuli presented to both ears, one at a time (R +0, 100, 230, 530 ms). Startle response magnitude was only diminished at R +230 ms and for left-ear presentation. This lateralization effect in the cardiac modulation of startle eye blink may reflect the previously described advantages of right-hemispheric brain structures in relaying viscero- and baro-afferent signal transmission. rnThis lateralization effect implies that higher cognitive processes may also play a role in the cardiac modulation of startle. To address this question, in Study 4, 25 volunteers responded first by 'fast as possible' button pushes (reaction time, RT), and second, rated perceived intensity of 60 acoustic startle stimuli (85, 95, or 105 dB; R +230, 530 ms). RT was divided into evaluation and motor response time. Increasing stimulus intensity enhanced startle eye blink, intensity ratings, and RT components. Eye blinks and intensity judgments were lower when startle was elicited at a latency of R +230 ms, but RT components were differentially affected. It is concluded that the cardiac cycle affects the attentive processing of acoustic startle stimuli. rnBeside the arterial baroreceptors, the cardiopulmonary baroreceptors represent another important system of cardiovascular perception that may have similar effects on startle responsiveness. To clarify this issue, in Study 5, Lower Body Negative Pressure at gradients of 0, -10, -20, and -30 mmHg was applied to unload cardiopulmonary baroreceptors in 12 healthy males, while acoustic startle stimuli were presented (R +230, 530 ms). Unloading of cardiopulmonary baroreceptors increased startle eye blink responsiveness. Furthermore, the effect of relative loading/unloading of arterial baroreceptors on startle eye blink responsiveness was replicated. These results demonstrate that the loading status of cardiopulmonary baroreceptors also has an impact on brainstem-based CNS processes. rnThus, the cardiac modulation of acoustic startle is feasible to reflect baro-afferent signal transmission of multiple neural sources, it represents a pre-attentive method that is independent of active cooperation, but its modulatory effects also reach higher cognitive, attentive processes.rn
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden die Einsatzmöglichkeiten von Carbon Footprints in Großküchen untersucht. Dabei wurden sowohl methodische Aspekte und Herausforderungen ihrer Erhebung untersucht als auch mögliche Kennzeichnungsformate (Label) evaluiert.
Zunächst wurde am Beispiel Hochschulgastronomie eine vollständige Carbon Footprint Studie nach DIN 14067 für sechs exemplarische Gerichte (PCF) sowie angelehnt an DIN 14064 für den Mensabetrieb (CCF) durchgeführt. Es zeigte sich, dass die gewichteten durchschnittlichen Emissionen pro Teller, unter Einbezug der verwendeten Rohstoffe und des Energiebedarfs, 1,8 kg CO2eq pro Teller betragen (Mgew=1,78 kg CO2eq; [0,22-3,36]). Zur Vereinfachung des Erhebungsprozesses wurden anknüpfend an diese Ergebnisse Pauschalisierungsansätze zur vereinfachten Emissionsallokation im Gastrosektor evaluiert und in Form eines appgestützten Berechnungstools umgesetzt. Es konnte verifiziert werden, dass der Energiebedarf und die daraus resultierenden Emissionen unabhängig von der Beschaffenheit der Gerichte auf die Anzahl produzierter Gerichte alloziert werden können und die Ausgabewerte dennoch hinreichend belastbar sind (Abweichung <10 %).
In dieser Studie konnte gezeigt werden, dass am untersuchten Standort Skaleneffekte hinsichtlich der Anzahl produzierter Gerichte und Strombedarf pro Gericht auftreten. Beide Faktoren korrelieren stark negativ miteinander (r=-.78; p<.05). Zur Verifikation der Ergebnisse wurde eine Datenabfrage unter allen deutschen Studierendenwerken (N=57) hinsichtlich des Energiebedarfs und der Produktionsmengen in Hochschulmensen durchgeführt. Aus den Daten von 42 Standorten konnten für das Jahr 2018 prognostizierte Gesamtemissionen in Höhe von 174.275 Tonnen CO2eq, verursacht durch etwa 98 Millionen verkaufte Gerichte, ermittelt werden. Im Gegensatz zur durchgeführten Standort-Studie konnten die Skaleneffekte, d.h. sinkender Strombedarf pro Teller bei steigender Produktionszahl, bei der deutschlandweiten Datenerhebung statistisch nicht nachgewiesen werden
(r=-.29; p=.074).
Im Anschluss wurden mögliche Label-Formate für Carbon Footprints evaluiert, indem vier vorbereitete Label unterschiedlicher Beschaffenheit (absolute Zahlen, einordnend, vergleichend und wertend) in sechs Fokusgruppen mit insgesamt 17 Teilnehmer:innen im Alter zwischen 20 und 31 Jahren (M=25,12; SD=3,31) diskutiert wurden. Im Ergebnis zeigte sich, dass bei den Teilnehmer:innen ein breiter Wunsch nach der Ausweisung absoluter Zahlen bestand. Zur besseren Einordnung sollte ein Label zudem einordnende Elemente enthalten. Wertende Label in Form von Ampelsymbolen oder Smileys mit unterschiedlichen Emotionen wurden überwiegend abgelehnt. Ableitend aus den Erkenntnissen konnten zwei synthetisierende Label-Vorschläge entwickelt werden.
Caenorhabditis elegans Modelsysteme für Freiland und Labor Caenorhabditis elegans ist eines der am intensivsten untersuchten Tiermodelle, dabei weisen die nur unzureichenden Informationen über sein ursprüngliches Habitat eine Vielzahl offener Fragen auf. Deshalb beschäftigt sich der erste Teil vorliegender Arbeit mit einer Überprüfung der Freilandökologie und Biogeographie des Taxons. Nach den Untersuchungen spricht vieles dafür, dass die Ursprungsart der C. elegans Gruppe ein Begleiter von Gastropoden war, welche auch für ihre Ausbreitung häufig verantwortlich sind. Als Folge der Verschleppung durch Wirtstiere (u.a. die Weinbergschnecke Helix aspersa) erreichte sie ihr heutiges Areal, in allen Kontinenten. Ein nicht weniger wichtiges Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Etablierung von C. elegans als Biotest-System für die Indikation von Chemikalien-Wirkungen. In dieser Arbeit wurden ein ökotoxikologisches Testsystem entwickelt mit den C. elegans als Modellorganismus, das durch Messung von umweltbedingten intrazellulär gebildeten ROS im Gesamtorganismus eine Einschätzung der biologischen Aktivität von Chemikalien und Umweltmedien ermöglichen sollte. Als grundlegender biochemischer Parameter ist eine, die Kapazität der antioxidativen Schutzmechanismen übersteigende, ROS-Bildung ursächlich für oxidative Schädigungen der Zelle verantwortlich und damit Basis für zahlreiche pathologische Effekte. Aus den Resultaten als Bewertungsgrundlage lässt sich folgern, dass sich das erarbeitete Biotestsystem als adäquates Verfahren zur Messung von oxidativem Stress, als Folge exogener Belastung, einsetzen lässt. Damit leistet es einen Beitrag zur Beurteilung des Toxizitätspotentials von Chemikalien und Umweltproben. Zur Eignung des Einsatzes von C. elegans für Toxizitätstest wurden weitere Untersuchungen mit verschiedenen Chemikalien durchgeführt. Dabei ergibt sich bezogen auf molare Einheiten eine immer gleich bleibende Reihenfolge der Sensitivitäten gegenüber BaP > Cu2+ > AcL, ein Ergebnis welches mit Testergebnissen von anderen Versuchsorganismen zu vergleichen war. Die Wirkung von Atrazin auf die Entwicklung von C. elegans wurde auch untersucht. Es wurde festgestellt, dass Atrazin auf Wachstum und Reproduktion von C. elegans konzentrationsabhängig toxisch wirkt. Die bisherigen Ergebnisse zeigen jedoch, dass das Testsystem C. elegans hervorragend geeignet ist, um Chemikalienwirkungen frühzeitig sichtbar zu machen.
Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit dem Denkmalkult in der aufstrebenden deutschen Indsutrieregion des Kaiserreichs (1871 - 1918). Denkmalprojekte dienten als Plattform für die Bezeugung und Selbstvergewisserung von Werten wie nationale Gesinnung und Bürgerlichkeit unter Nutzung nationaler, indstrieller und lokaler Symbole. Der zweite Teil enthält ein Verzeichnis der zwischen 1871 und 1918 errichteten kommunalen Denkmäler im Ruhrgebiet.
Bürgerfernsehen
(2003)
Die vorliegende Studie befaßt sich zunächst mit der theoretischen Reflexion von Aufgaben und Potentialen Offener Kanäle. Dabei wird gezielt auf ihre Funktion für eine demokratische politische Kultur abgestellt. Die anschließende Betrachtung der deutschen Fernsehordnung als Rahmen für den Betrieb Offener Kanäle verdeutlicht zum einen die Differenzen in der immanenten Logik ihrer beiden Teilsysteme. Zum anderen wird die zunehmende Regionalisierung der Fernsehangebote beschrieben und ihr Einfluß auf die Entwicklung Offener Kanäle aufgezeigt. Die empirische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Bürgerfernsehen selbst beginnt mit einer kurzen Aufarbeitung seiner Geschichte im In- und Ausland, an die sich Überlegungen zur Gestaltbarkeit von Offenen Kanälen und zu ihrer politischen Steuerbarkeit anschließen. Nach einer Bestandsaufnahme des gegenwärtigen wissenschaftlichen Kenntnisstandes über die Bürgersender wird auf der Grundlage einer Typologie ihrer möglichen Ausprägungen das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen den Zielen des Zuschauerbezugs und des freien und gleichberechtigten Zugangs zu den Sendeplätzen thesenartig formuliert. Diese "Verhärtungsthese" bildet den Hintergrund für die beschreibende Analyse der Offenen Kanäle in Rheimland-Pfalz, die auf den Ebenen der Produzenten, der Inhalte und der Zuschauer erfolgt. Dabei wird insbesondere auf den Zielkonflikt von gleichberechtigtem Zugang und zuschauergerechter Programmgestaltung eingegangen und der Einfluß kommerzieller Interessen auf den Offenen Kanal untersucht.
Building Fortress Europe Economic realism, China, and Europe’s investment screening mechanisms
(2023)
This thesis deals with the construction of investment screening mechanisms across the major economic powers in Europe and at the supranational level during the post-2015 period. The core puzzle at the heart of this research is how, in a traditional bastion of economic liberalism such as Europe, could a protectionist tool such as investment screening be erected in such a rapid manner. Within a few years, Europe went from a position of being highly welcoming towards foreign investment to increasingly implementing controls on it, with the focus on China. How are we to understand this shift in Europe? I posit that Europe’s increasingly protectionist shift on inward investment can be fruitfully understood using an economic realist approach, where the introduction of investment screening can be seen as part of a process of ‘balancing’ China’s economic rise and reasserting European competitiveness. China has moved from being the ‘workshop of the world’ to becoming an innovation-driven economy at the global technological frontier. As China has become more competitive, Europe, still a global economic leader, broadly situated at the technological frontier, has begun to sense a threat to its position, especially in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. A ‘balancing’ process has been set in motion, in which Europe seeks to halt and even reverse the narrowing competitiveness gap between it and China. The introduction of investment screening measures is part of this process.
In the first part of this work we generalize a method of building optimal confidence bounds provided in Buehler (1957) by specializing an exhaustive class of confidence regions inspired by Sterne (1954). The resulting confidence regions, also called Buehlerizations, are valid in general models and depend on a designated statistic'' that can be chosen according to some desired monotonicity behaviour of the confidence region. For a fixed designated statistic, the thus obtained family of confidence regions indexed by their confidence level is nested. Buehlerizations have furthermore the optimality property of being the smallest (w.r.t. set inclusion) confidence regions that are increasing in their designated statistic. The theory is eventually applied to normal, binomial, and exponential samples. The second part deals with the statistical comparison of pairs of diagnostic tests and establishes relations 1. between the sets of lower confidence bounds, 2. between the sets of pairs of comparable lower confidence bounds, and 3. between the sets of admissible lower confidence bounds in various models for diverse parameters of interest.
Investigation of soil water budget in the unsaturated soil zone is commonly performed for determination of the complex relationships between the different components of the water budget. A main focus of this work was on acquisition and evaluation of percolation water and soil moisture dynamics depending on the site properties (climate, soils, land use). A network consisting of 14 lysimeter and soil moisture measuring stations was established in the region of the Trier-Bitburger-Mulde (SW-Eifel, Germany). During a period of four hydrological years precipitation, infiltration, percolation water and soil moisture were collected weakly on the stations comprising the different regional characteristics of soil textures and land use patterns. The analysis of the weekly data sets enabled to point out seasonal variations of percolation water and soil water dynamics (as time-depth function). Comparison of simultaneously collected data sets of percolation water, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration shows significant fluctuations, which result from the complex relationships between the site properties. Hereby, the soil properties and in particular the secondary macropores (root channels, shrinkage- /frost cracks) have a striking influence on the variability of the water flows in the unsaturated soil zone. The results of the GIS-based regionalisation of the annual amount of percolation water prove the influence of topography (relief conditions, especially slope and aspect) on percolation and soil water dynamics in low mountain ranges.
Die endemischen Arganbestände in Südmarokko sind die Quelle des wertvollen Arganöls, sind aber durch bspw. Überweidung oder illegale Feuerholzgewinnung stark übernutzt. Aufforstungsmaßnahmen sind vorhanden, sind aber aufgrund von zu kurz angelegten Bewässerungs- und Schutzverträgen häufig nicht erfolgreich. Das Aufkommen von Neuwuchs ist durch das beinahe restlose Sammeln von Kernen kaum möglich, durch Fällen oder Absterben von Bäumen verringert sich die kronenüberdeckte Fläche und unbedeckte Flächen zwischen den Bäumen nehmen zu.
Die Entwicklung der Arganbestände wurde über den Zeitraum von 1972 und 2018 mit historischen und aktuellen Satellitenbildern untersucht, ein Großteil der Bäume hat sich in dieser Zeit kaum verändert. Zustandsaufnahmen von 2018 zeigten, dass viele dieser Bäume durch Überweidung und Abholzung nur als Sträucher wachsen und so in degradiertem Zustand stabil sind.
Trotz der Degradierung einiger Bäume zeigt sich, dass der Boden unter den Bäumen die höchsten Gehalte an organischer Bodensubstanz und Nährstoffen auf den Flächen aufweist, zwischen zwei Bäumen sind die Gehalte am niedrigsten. Der Einfluss des Baumes auf den Boden geht über die Krone hinaus in Richtung Norden durch Beschattung in der Mittagssonne, Osten durch Windverwehung von Streu und Bodenpartikeln und hangabwärts durch Verspülung von Material.
Über experimentelle Methoden unter und zwischen den Arganbäumen wurden Erkenntnisse zur Bodenerosion gewonnen. Die hydraulische Leitfähigkeit unter Bäumen ist um den Faktor 1,2-1,5 höher als zwischen den Bäumen, Oberflächenabflüsse und Bodenabträge sind unter den Bäumen etwas niedriger, bei degradierten Bäumen ähnlich den Bereichen zwischen den Bäumen. Die unterschiedlichen Flächenbeschaffenheiten wurden mit einem Windkanal untersucht und zeigten, dass gerade frisch gepflügte Flächen hohe Windemissionen verursachen, während Flächen mit hoher Steinbedeckung kaum von Winderosion betroffen sind.
Die Oberflächenabflüsse von den unterschiedlichen Flächentypen werden in die Vorfluter abgeleitet. Die Sedimentdynamik in diesen Wadis wird hauptsächlich von Niederschlag zwischen den Messungen, Einzugsgebiet und Wadilänge und kaum von den verschiedenen Landnutzungen beeinflusst.
Das Landschaftssystem Argan konnte über diesen Multi-Methodenansatz auf verschiedenen Ebenen analysiert werden.
Besides well-known positive aspects of conservation tillage combined with mulching, a drawback may be the survival of phytopathogenic fungi like Fusarium species on plant residues. This may endanger the health of the following crop by increasing the infection risk for specific plant diseases. In infected plant organs, these pathogens are able to produce mycotoxins like deoxynivalenol (DON). Mycotoxins like DON persist during storage, are heat resistant and of major concern for human and animal health after consumption of contaminated food and feed, respectively. Among fungivorous soil organisms, there are representatives of the soil fauna which are obviously antagonistic to a Fusarium infection and the contamination with mycotoxins. Earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris), collembolans (Folsomia candida) and nematodes (Aphelenchoides saprophilus) provide a wide range of ecosystem services including the stimulation of decomposition processes which may result in the regulation of plant pathogens and the degradation of environmental contaminants. Several investigations under laboratory conditions and in the field were conducted to test the following hypotheses: (1) Fusarium-infected and DON-contaminated wheat straw provides a more attractive food substrate than non-infected control straw (2) the introduced soil fauna reduce the biomass of F. culmorum and the content of DON in infected wheat straw under laboratory and field conditions (3) the species interaction of the introduced soil fauna enhances the degradation of Fusarium biomass and DON concentration in wheat straw; (4) the degradation efficiency of soil fauna is affected by soil texture. The results of the present thesis pointed out that the degradation performance of the introduced soil fauna must be considered as an important contribution to the biological control of plant diseases and environmental pollutants. As in particular L. terrestris revealed to be the driver of the degradation process, earthworms contribute to a sustainable control of fungal pathogens like Fusarium and its mycotoxins in wheat straw, thus reducing the risk of plant diseases and environmental pollution as ecosystem services.
This study investigates the endemic centres of Indonesian animals and the biodiversity across geographical gradients. At the same time, it also evaluated different lines suggested for separating the Oriental and Australian faunal region in the Indonesian region. The analyses have mainly used the present-day distribution of terrestrial vertebrates, especially the smallest ranges of species and subspecies. The results show that faunal migration of Oriental and Australian lineages to the Indonesian Archipelago may have been happening since the Palaeocene period and more importantly, island drifts might have facilitated such migration. These events caused major reorganisation of island positions and island forms, which in turn resulted in faunal extinction around the mid-Pliocene. Some islands, especially in the Wallacea region, emerged very late and as a result nowadays they are lacking endemic forms. There are currently at least seven endemic centres, which can be recognised, i.e. Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, North Moluccas, New Guinea and the Lesser Sundas/Banda Arcs. The affinities between these endemic centres revealed that there are two clusters of islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. These different clusters suggest in turn the shifts of biogeographical lines in the Indonesian Archipelago. Furthermore, oscillation in climate, eustatic sea level changes and fluctuations in vegetation in the Quaternary period had much affected the distribution pattern of animals. There was a phase of expansion for montane oak forests, grasslands and woodlands during the period 18,000-14,000 years ago in East Indonesia and 16,500-12,000 years ago in West Indonesia. Such an expansion led to the increased isolation of rainforests and of the faunas adapted to them. These periods are also indicated by the lowering of the tree line which facilitated montane fauna to disperse across lower elevations. At 8,000-9,000 years ago, the climate became warmer and slightly wetter. The mid- to upper montane forests expanded to their full altitudinal range, while montane oak forest, grassland, and woodland areas had contracted. The oscillation in climate, eustatic sea level changes and fluctuations in vegetation in turn determines much the formation of numerous sub endemic centres, which today can be found within the mainland. Recently, there are 14 sub endemic centres on Borneo, 8 on Java, 16 on Sumatra, 14 on Sulawesi and 14 on New Guinea. From the conservation management point of view, the identification of such sub endemic centres would generate valuable information for the protection effort.
Until today the effects of many chlorinated hydrocarbons (e.g. DDT, PCBs) against the specific organisms are still a subject of controversial discussions. It was also the case for potential endocrine effects to influence the spermatogenesis correlated with possible changes of the population's vitality. To clear this situation, three questions could be at the centre of attention: 1) Do the chemicals cause a special harmful effect on the male reproductive tract? 2) Could some particular chemical mixtures act to bind and activate the human estrogen receptor (hER)? 3) Are the life stages of an organism specially sensitive to the effects of chemicals and therefore be established as Screening-Test-System? the connected effects of DDT and Arochlor 1254 as single substance and in 1:1 mixture according to their estrogenic effectiveness on zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio) were therefore investigated. the concentrations of the pesticides and their mixture ranged between 0.05-µg/l and 500-µg/l and separated by a factor of 10. It was turned out that the test concentrations of 500-µg/l were too toxic to zebrafish in all the cases. The experiment was followed up with four concentrations of DDT, A54 as well as their 1:1 mixture anew each separated by a factor of 10 and ranging between 0.05-µg/l and 50-µg/l. The bioaccumulation test within 8 days showed that the zebrafish accumulated the chemicals, but no equilibrum was reached and the concentration 0.05-µg/l was established as No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC). Putting up on these analyses, the investigation of the life cycle (LC) starting with fertilized eggs demonstrated a reduction in the rate of hatchability, reproduction and length of fish emerged. These reductions involved the duration of the life cycle stages (LCS) which consequently lasted longer than expected. Exposure time and level of the tested chemicals accelerated the occurrence of these effects which were more significant when the chemical mixtures were used too. To establish whether the parameter assessed were correlated to the male reproductive tract, the quality, quantity and life span of sperm were assessed using the methods of Leong (1988) and Shapiro et al (1994). The sperm degeneration observed, led us to investigate the spermatogenesis and the ultrastructure of the testes. This last experiment showed a significant reduction of the late stage of spermatogenesis and the heterophagic vacuoles which play an important role in the spermatid maturation. It could therefore be concluded that, DDT and A54 could act synergically and cause disorders of the male reproductive tract of male zebrafish and influence also their growth.
Heterogenität ist Teil des (Schul-)Alltags, was sich in den Lerngruppen widerspiegelt, die Lehrkräfte in der Schule vorfinden. Unterschiedlichen Bedürfnissen auf Seiten der Schüler/-innenschaft soll – und das ist in zahlreichen der Öffentlichkeit zugänglichen Dokumenten, wie Schulgesetzen, Schulordnungen und Standards für die Lehrerbildung festgeschrieben – in Form von Differenzierung begegnet werden. Innerhalb dieser Dissertation wird untersucht, wie Binnendifferenzierung auf Mikroebene in der Schulpraxis implementiert wird. Dabei werden die Einsatzhäufigkeit binnendifferenzierender Maßnahmen und Kontextvariablen von Binnendifferenzierung untersucht. Anhand einer Stichprobe von N = 295 Lehrkräften verschiedener Schulformen, die die Fächer Deutsch und/oder Englisch unterrichten, wurde u.a. gezeigt, dass Binnendifferenzierung allgemein nicht (sehr) häufig eingesetzt wird, dass manche Maßnahmen häufiger Einsatz finden als andere, dass an Gymnasien Binnendifferenzierung nicht so häufig eingesetzt wird, wie an anderen Schulformen und dass die Einsatzhäufigkeit bedingende Kontextfaktoren bspw. kollegiale Zusammenarbeit bei der Unterrichtsplanung und -durchführung, die wahrgenommene Qualität der Lehramtsausbildung hinsichtlich des Umgangs mit Heterogenität und die Bereitschaft zur Implementation von Binnendifferenzierung sind und auch Einstellungen zu Binnendifferenzierung und (Lehrer/-innen)Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen in Zusammenhang mit dem Maßnahmeneinsatz stehen. Die durchgeführte Post-hoc Analyse zeigte bzgl. Einsatzhäufigkeit weiterhin Zusammenhänge zwischen der Persönlichkeit der Lehrkräfte und der Schulform, an der diese unterrichten. Die Ergebnisse entstammen der Schulpraxis und liefern deshalb praktische Implikationen, wie bspw. Hinweise zur Steigerung der Qualität der Lehramtsausbildung, die neben zukünftigen Forschungsansätzen im Rahmen dieser Arbeit expliziert werden.
The distractor-response binding effect (Frings & Rothermund, 2011; Frings, Rothermund, & Wentura, 2007; Rothermund, Wentura, & De Houwer, 2005) is based on the idea that irrelevant information will be integrated with the response to the relevant stimuli in an episodic memory trace. The immediate re-encounter of any aspect of this saved episode " be it relevant or irrelevant " can lead to retrieval of the whole episode. As a consequence, the previously executed and now retrieved response may influencing the response to the current relevant stimulus. That is, the current response may either be facilitated or be impaired by the retrieved response, depending on whether it is compatible or incompatible to the currently demanded response. Previous research on this kind of episodic retrieval focused on the influence on action control. I examined if distractor response binding also plays a role in decision making in addition to action control. To this end I adapted the distractor-to-distractor priming paradigm (Frings et al., 2007) and conducted nine experiments in which participants had to decide as fast as possible which disease a fictional patient suffered from. To infer the correct diagnosis, two cues were presented; one did not give any hint for a disease (the irrelevant cue), whereas the other did (the relevant cue). Experiments 1a to 1c showed that the distractor-response binding effect is present in deterministic decision situations. Further, experiments 2a and 2b indicate that distractor-response binding also influences decisions under uncertainty. Finally, experiments 3a to 3d were conducted to test some constraints and underlying mechanisms of the distractor-response binding effect in decision making under uncertainty. In sum, these nine experiments provide strong evidence that distractor-response binding influences decision making.
Es wird zunächst auf einer systemwettbewertbstheortischen Basis untersucht, inwiefern die Harmonisierung von Hochschulabschlüssen im Zuge des Bologna-Prozesses als effizient charakterisiert werden kann. Es zeigt sich, dass der Bologna-Prozess kein Instrument ist, um einen Unterbeitungswettlauf in der EU zu verhindern, sondern eher einen produktiven "race to the top"-Prozess begrenzt. Im nächsten Schritt wird überprüft, ob die Vereinheitlichung von Bildungsabschlüssen die Rekrutierung am internationalen Arbeitsmarkt wirklich erleichtern kann. Dazu wurde eine Befragung im hoch internationalen Luxemburger Finanzdienstleistungssektor durchgeführt. Es zeigt sich, dass das anglo-amerikanische Bachelor-Master-System nicht uneingeschränkt bevorzugt wird und dass die befragten Unternehmen keine deutliche Vereinfachung ihrer Personalbeschaffung durch die Vereinheitlichung von Bildungsabschlüssen erwarten.
Die Aufgabe der vorliegenden Arbeit lag darin, anhand der Quelle von Luthers Tischreden zu zeigen, welche Art von Kunstwerken Martin Luther erwähnt und welche Funktion diese in den Colloquia hatten. Sie untersucht das Corpus der über 7000 Tischreden systematisch auf Äußerungen, die im Zusammenhang mit Kunstwerken im weitesten Sinne stehen. Es erfolgte eine textkritische Bearbeitung der Tischreden. Der Anspruch der Arbeit war, diese Bildwerke zu identifizieren und in ihren historischen bzw. kunsthistorischen Kontext zu stellen. Da viele Parallelstellen gefunden und herangezogen werden konnten, ließen sich zahlreiche Irrtümer aufdecken und Fehldeutungen korrigieren. Der Fokus lag dabei nach der Auswertung und der anschließenden Beschäftigung mit den Stellen auf Luthers geradezu leitmotivisch auftretendem Thema der Superbia. Diesem Themenbereich der Todsünden wurde in der Lutherforschung bisher nur wenig Beachtung geschenkt, denn die sie galt für die Reformation als unwesentlich. Es konnte aber in dieser Arbeit dargelegt werden, wie wichtig die Todsünden und vor allem die Superbia in Luthers Tischreden und in seinem Gesamtwerk sind. Darüber hinaus hat sich die Arbeit mit der Performanz der Bilder in Luthers Werk beschäftigt. Sie leistet zudem einen Beitrag zu der Fragestellung, mit welcher Intention Luther seine eigenen Porträts in Auftrag gegeben hat. So wird dargelegt, wie Luther seine Bildstrategien verfolgt. Die Arbeit hat ferner gezeigt, wie wichtig für die effektive, interdisziplinär nutzbare Auswertung der Tischreden als Quelle eine digitale Ausgabe wäre, die mit Metadaten versehen ist und dadurch nach semantischen Kriterien durchsucht werden kann.
Kunst wird in erster Linie mittels ihrer Reproduktionen rezipiert " auch und gerade von der Kunstgeschichte. Dennoch würdigt die Wissenschaft sie nur selten einiger Aufmerksamkeit " und wenn doch, werden die Reproduktionen gegenüber den Originalen zumeist abgewertet. Die Dissertation setzt sich mit diesem eigentümlichen Verhältnis in dreifacher Hinsicht auseinander: Sie versteht sich als Skizze einer noch ungeschriebenen Geschichte der Kunstreproduktion, untersucht, wie die Industrialisierung der Bildproduktion um 1800 zur Konstitution der universitären Disziplin Kunstgeschichte beitrug und diskutiert schliesslich exemplarisch, dass die geringe Aufmerksamkeit der Kunstgeschichte für ihr Material kein unglücklicher Zufall, sondern grundlegend für die Disziplin ist.
Ausgehend davon, daß die nachweislich prominente Berichterstattung über bezahltes Dating sich nicht auf einen hohen Nachrichtenwert zurückführen läßt, sondern auf verkaufstechnische Faktoren und vor allem auf das "kulturelle Potential" des Themas Jugend, untersucht die folgende Arbeit, welche Normen und Werte in der Darstellung des Phänomens propagiert wurden, und ob sich in der Darstellung Muster erkennen lassen.