Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
Sprache
- Englisch (518) (entfernen)
Volltext vorhanden
- ja (518) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- Stress (27)
- Modellierung (19)
- Fernerkundung (18)
- Optimierung (18)
- Deutschland (16)
- Hydrocortison (13)
- Satellitenfernerkundung (13)
- Cortisol (9)
- Europäische Union (9)
- Finanzierung (9)
Institut
- Raum- und Umweltwissenschaften (99)
- Psychologie (94)
- Fachbereich 4 (54)
- Mathematik (47)
- Fachbereich 6 (38)
- Wirtschaftswissenschaften (29)
- Fachbereich 1 (24)
- Informatik (19)
- Anglistik (14)
- Rechtswissenschaft (14)
The German Mittelstand is closely linked to the success of the German economy. Mittelstand firms, thereof numerous Hidden Champions, significantly contribute to Germany’s economic performance, innovation, and export strength. However, the advancing digitalization poses complex challenges for Mittelstand firms. To benefit from the manifold opportunities offered by digital technologies and to defend or even expand existing market positions, Mittelstand firms must transform themselves and their business models. This dissertation uses quantitative methods and contributes to a deeper understanding of the distinct needs and influencing factors of the digital transformation of Mittelstand firms. The results of the empirical analyses of a unique database of 525 mid-sized German manufacturing firms, comprising both firm-related information and survey data, show that organizational capabilities and characteristics significantly influence the digital transformation of Mittelstand firms. The results support the assumption that dynamic capabilities promote the digital transformation of such firms and underline the important role of ownership structure, especially regarding family influence, for the digital transformation of the business model and the pursuit of growth goals with digitalization. In addition to the digital transformation of German Mittelstand firms, this dissertation examines the economic success and regional impact of Hidden Champions and hence, contributes to a better understanding of the Hidden Champion phenomenon. Using quantitative methods, it can be empirically proven that Hidden Champions outperform other mid-sized firms in financial terms and promote regional development. Consequently, the results of this dissertation provide valuable research contributions and offer various practical implications for firm managers and owners as well as policy makers.
Every action we perform, no matter how simple or complex, has a cognitive representation. It is commonly assumed that these are organized hierarchically. Thus, the representation of a complex action consists of multiple simpler actions. The representation of a simple action, in turn, consists of stimulus, response, and effect features. These are integrated into one representation upon the execution of an action and can be retrieved if a feature is repeated. Depending on whether retrieved features match or only partially match the current action episode, this might benefit or impair the execution of a subsequent action. This pattern of costs and benefits results in binding effects that indicate the strength of common representation between features. Binding effects occur also in more complex actions: Multiple simple actions seem to form representations on a higher level through the integration and retrieval of sequentially given responses, resulting in so-called response-response binding effects. This dissertation aimed to investigate what factors determine whether simple actions form more complex representations. The first line of research (Articles 1-3) focused on dissecting the internal structure of simple actions. Specifically, I investigated whether the spatial relation of stimuli, responses, or effects, that are part of two different simple actions, influenced whether these simple actions are represented as one more complex action. The second line of research (Articles 2, 4, and 5) investigated the role of context on the formation and strength of more complex action representations. Results suggest that spatial separation of responses as well as context might affect the strength of more complex action representations. In sum, findings help to specify assumptions on the structure of complex action representations. However, it may be important to distinguish factors that influence the strength and structure of action representations from factors that terminate action representations.
This thesis comprises of four research papers on the economics of education and industrial relations, which contribute to the field of empirical economic research. All of the corresponding papers focus on analysing how much time individuals spend on specific activities. The allocation of available time resources is a decision that individuals make throughout their lifetime. In this thesis, we consider individuals at different stages of their lives - students at school, university students, and dependent employees at the workplace.
Part I includes two research studies on student's behaviour in secondary and tertiary education.
Chapter 2 explores whether students who are relatively younger or older within the school year exhibit differential time allocation. Building on previous findings showing that relatively younger students perform worse in school, the study shows that relatively younger students are aware of their poor performance in school and feel more strain as a result. Nevertheless, there are no clear differences to be found in terms of time spent on homework, while relatively younger students spend more time watching television and less time on sports activities. Thus, the results suggest that the lower learning outcomes are not associated with different time allocations between school-related activities and non-school-related activities.
Chapter 3 analyses how individual ability and labour market prospects affect study behaviour. The theoretical modelling predicts that both determinants increase study effort. The empirical investigation is based on cross-sectional data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) and includes thousands of students in Germany. The analyses show that more gifted students exhibit lower subjective effort levels and invest less time in self-study. In contrast, very good labour market prospects lead to more effort exerted by the student, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The potential endogeneity problem is taken into account by using regional unemployment data as an instrumental variable.
Part II includes two labour economic studies on determinants of overtime. Both studies belong to the field of industrial relations, as they focus on union membership on the one hand and the interplay of works councils and collective bargaining coverage on the other.
Chapter 4 shows that union members work less overtime than non-members do. The econometric approach takes the problem of unobserved heterogeneity into account; but provides no evidence that this issue affects the results. Different channels that could lead to this relationship are analysed by examining relevant subgroups separately. For example, this effect of union membership can also be observed in establishments with works councils and for workers who are very likely to be covered by collective bargaining agreements. The study concludes that the observed effect is due to the fact that union membership can protect workers from corresponding increased working time demands by employers.
Chapter 5 builds on previous studies showing a negative effect of works councils on overtime. In addition to co-determination by works councils at the firm level, collective bargaining coverage is an important factor in the German industrial relations system. Corresponding data was not available in the SOEP for quite some time. Therefore, the study uses recent SOEP data, which also contains information on collective bargaining coverage. A cross-sectional analysis is conducted to examine the effects of works councils in establishments with and without collective bargaining coverage. Similar to studies analysing other outcome variables, the results show that the effect of works councils exists only for employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Computer simulation has become established in a two-fold way: As a tool for planning, analyzing, and optimizing complex systems but also as a method for the scientific instigation of theories and thus for the generation of knowledge. Generated results often serve as a basis for investment decisions, e.g., road construction and factory planning, or provide evidence for scientific theory-building processes. To ensure the generation of credible and reproducible results, it is indispensable to conduct systematic and methodologically sound simulation studies. A variety of procedure models exist that structure and predetermine the process of a study. As a result, experimenters are often required to repetitively but thoroughly carry out a large number of experiments. Moreover, the process is not sufficiently specified and many important design decisions still have to be made by the experimenter, which might result in an unintentional bias of the results.
To facilitate the conducting of simulation studies and to improve both replicability and reproducibility of the generated results, this thesis proposes a procedure model for carrying out Hypothesis-Driven Simulation Studies, an approach that assists the experimenter during the design, execution, and analysis of simulation experiments. In contrast to existing approaches, a formally specified hypothesis becomes the key element of the study so that each step of the study can be adapted and executed to directly contribute to the verification of the hypothesis. To this end, the FITS language is presented, which enables the specification of hypotheses as assumptions regarding the influence specific input values have on the observable behavior of the model. The proposed procedure model systematically designs relevant simulation experiments, runs, and iterations that must be executed to provide evidence for the verification of the hypothesis. Generated outputs are then aggregated for each defined performance measure to allow for the application of statistical hypothesis testing approaches. Hence, the proposed assistance only requires the experimenter to provide an executable simulation model and a corresponding hypothesis to conduct a sound simulation study. With respect to the implementation of the proposed assistance system, this thesis presents an abstract architecture and provides formal specifications of all required services.
To evaluate the concept of Hypothesis-Driven Simulation Studies, two case studies are presented from the manufacturing domain. The introduced approach is applied to a NetLogo simulation model of a four-tiered supply chain. Two scenarios as well as corresponding assumptions about the model behavior are presented to investigate conditions for the occurrence of the bullwhip effect. Starting from the formal specification of the hypothesis, each step of a Hypothesis-Driven Simulation Study is presented in detail, with specific design decisions outlined, and generated inter- mediate data as well as final results illustrated. With respect to the comparability of the results, a conventional simulation study is conducted which serves as reference data. The approach that is proposed in this thesis is beneficial for both practitioners and scientists. The presented assistance system allows for a more effortless and simplified execution of simulation experiments while the efficient generation of credible results is ensured.
The following dissertation contains three studies examining academic boredom development in five high-track German secondary schools (AVG-project data; Study 1: N = 1,432; Study 2: N = 1,861; Study 3: N = 1,428). The investigation period spanned 3.5 years, with four waves of measurement from grades 5 to 8 (T1: 5th grade, after transition to secondary school; T2: 5th grade, after mid-term evaluations; T3: 6th grade, after mid-term evaluations; T4: 8th grade, after mid-term evaluations). All three studies featured cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, separating, and comparing the subject domains of mathematics and German.
Study 1 provided an investigation of academic boredom’s factorial structure alongside correlational and reciprocal relations of different forms of boredom and academic self-concept. Analyses included reciprocal effects models and latent correlation analyses. Results indicated separability of boredom intensity, boredom due to underchallenge and boredom due to overchallenge, as separate, correlated factors. Evidence for reciprocal relations between boredom and academic self-concept was limited.
Study 2 examined the effectiveness and efficacy of full-time ability grouping for as a boredom intervention directed at the intellectually gifted. Analyses included propensity score matching, and latent growth curve modelling. Results pointed to limited effectiveness and efficacy for full-time ability grouping regarding boredom reduction.
Study 3 explored gender differences in academic boredom development, mediated by academic interest, academic self-concept, and previous academic achievement. Analyses included measurement invariance testing, and multiple-indicator-multi-cause-models. Results showed one-sided gender differences, with boys reporting less favorable boredom development compared to girls, even beyond the inclusion of relevant mediators.
Findings from all three studies were embedded into the theoretical framework of control-value theory (Pekrun, 2006; 2019; Pekrun et al., 2023). Limitations, directions for future research, and practical implications were acknowledged and discussed.
Overall, this dissertation yielded important insights into boredom’s conceptual complexity. This concerned factorial structure, developmental trajectories, interrelations to other learning variables, individual differences, and domain specificities.
Keywords: Academic boredom, boredom intensity, boredom due to underchallenge, boredom due to overchallenge, ability grouping, gender differences, longitudinal data analysis, control-value theory
Startups are essential agents for the evolution of economies and the creative destruction of established market conditions for the benefit of a more effective and efficient economy. Their significance is manifested in their drive for innovation and technological advancements, their creation of new jobs, their contribution to economic growth, and their impact on increased competition and increased market efficiency. By reason of their attributes of newness and smallness, startups often experience a limitation in accessing external financial resources. Extant research on entrepreneurial finance examines the capital structure of startups, various funding tools, financing environments in certain regions, and investor selection criteria among other topics. My dissertation contributes to this research area by examining the becoming increasingly important funding instrument of venture debt. Prior research on venture debt only investigated the business model of venture debt, the concept of venture debt, the selection criteria of venture debt providers, and the role of patents in the venture debt provider’s selection process. Based on qualitative and quantitative methods, the dissertation outlines the emergence of venture debt in Europe as well as the impact of venture debt on startups to open up a better understanding of venture debt.
The results of the qualitative studies indicate that venture debt was formed based on a ‘Kirznerian’ entrepreneurial opportunity and venture debt impacts startups positive and negative in their development via different impact mechanisms.
Based on these results, the dissertation analyzes the empirical impact of venture debt on a startup’s ability to acquire additional financial resources as well as the role of the reputation of venture debt providers. The results suggest that venture debt increases the likelihood of acquiring additional financial resources via subsequent funding rounds and trade sales. In addition, a higher venture debt provider reputation increases the likelihood of acquiring additional financial resources via IPOs.
This cumulative thesis encompass three studies focusing on the Weddell Sea region in the Antarctic. The first study produces and evaluates a high quality data set of wind measurements for this region. The second study produces and evaluates a 15 year regional climate simulation for the Weddell Sea region. And the third study produces and evaluates a climatology of low level jets (LLJs) from the simulation data set. The evaluations were done in the attached three publications and the produced data sets are published online.
In 2015/2016, the RV Polarstern undertook an Antarctic expedition in the Weddell Sea. We operated a Doppler wind lidar on board during that time running different scan patterns. The resulting data was evaluated, corrected, processed and we derived horizontal wind speed and directions for vertical profiles with up to 2 km height. The measurements cover 38 days with a temporal resolution of 10-15 minutes. A comparisons with other radio sounding data showed only minor differences.
The resulting data set was used alongside other measurements to evaluate temperature and wind of simulation data. The simulation data was produced with the regional climate model CCLM for the period of 2002 to 2016 for the Weddell Sea region. Only smaller biases were found except for a strong warm bias during winter near the surface of the Antarctic Plateau. Thus we adapted the model setup and were able to remove the bias in a second simulation.
This new simulation data was then used to derive a climatology of low level jets (LLJs). Statistics of occurrence frequency, height and wind speed of LLJs for the Weddell Sea region are presented along other parameters. Another evaluation with measurements was also performed in the last study.
Do Personality Traits, Trust and Fairness Shape the Stock-Investing Decisions of an Individual?
(2023)
This thesis is comprised of three projects, all of which are fundamentally connected to the choices that individuals make about stock investments. Differences in stock market participation (SMP) across countries are large and difficult to explain. The second chapter focuses on differences between Germany (low SMP) and East Asian countries (mostly high SMP). The study hypothesis is that cultural differences regarding social preferences and attitudes towards inequality lead to different attitudes towards stock markets and subsequently to different SMPs. Using a large-scale survey, it is found that these factors can, indeed, explain a substantial amount of the country differences that other known factors (financial literacy, risk preferences, etc.) could not. This suggests that social preferences should be given a more central role in programs that aim to enhance SMP in countries like Germany. The third chapter documented the importance of trust as well as herding for stock ownership decisions. The findings show that trust as a general concept has no significant contribution to stock investment intention. A thorough examination of general trust elements reveals that in group and out-group trust have an impact on individual stock market investment. Higher out group trust directly influences a person's decision to invest in stocks, whereas higher in-group trust increases herding attitudes in stock investment decisions and thus can potentially increase the likelihood of stock investments as well. The last chapter investigates the significance of personality traits in stock investing and home bias in portfolio selection. Findings show that personality traits do indeed have a significant impact on stock investment and portfolio allocation decisions. Despite the fact that the magnitude and significance of characteristics differ between two groups of investors, inexperienced and experienced, conscientiousness and neuroticism play an important role in stock investments and preferences. Moreover, high conscientiousness scores increase stock investment desire and portfolio allocation to risky assets like stocks, discouraging home bias in asset allocation. Regarding neuroticism, a higher-level increases home bias in portfolio selection and decreases willingness to stock investment and portfolio share. Finally, when an investor has no prior experience with portfolio selection, patriotism generates home bias. For experienced investors, having a low neuroticism score and a high conscientiousness and openness score seemed to be a constant factor in deciding to invest in a well-diversified international portfolio
Even though proper research on Cauchy transforms has been done, there are still a lot of open questions. For example, in the case of representation theorems, i.e. the question when a function can be represented as a Cauchy transform, there is 'still no completely satisfactory answer' ([9], p. 84). There are characterizations for measures on the circle as presented in the monograph [7] and for general compactly supported measures on the complex plane as presented in [27]. However, there seems to exist no systematic treatise of the Cauchy transform as an operator on $L_p$ spaces and weighted $L_p$ spaces on the real axis.
This is the point where this thesis draws on and we are interested in developing several characterizations for the representability of a function by Cauchy transforms of $L_p$ functions. Moreover, we will attack the issue of integrability of Cauchy transforms of functions and measures, a topic which is only partly explored (see [43]). We will develop different approaches involving Fourier transforms and potential theory and investigate into sufficient conditions and characterizations.
For our purposes, we shall need some notation and the concept of Hardy spaces which will be part of the preliminary Chapter 1. Moreover, we introduce Fourier transforms and their complex analogue, namely Fourier-Laplace transforms. This will be of extraordinary usage due to the close connection of Cauchy and Fourier(-Laplace) transforms.
In the second chapter we shall begin our research with a discussion of the Cauchy transformation on the classical (unweighted) $L_p$ spaces. Therefore, we start with the boundary behavior of Cauchy transforms including an adapted version of the Sokhotski-Plemelj formula. This result will turn out helpful for the determination of the image of the Cauchy transformation under $L_p(\R)$ for $p\in(1,\infty).$ The cases $p=1$ and $p=\infty$ are playing special roles here which justifies a treatise in separate sections. For $p=1$ we will involve the real Hardy space $H_{1}(\R)$ whereas the case $p=\infty$ shall be attacked by an approach incorporating intersections of Hardy spaces and certain subspaces of $L_{\infty}(\R).$
The third chapter prepares ourselves for the study of the Cauchy transformation on subspaces of $L_{p}(\R).$ We shall give a short overview of the basic facts about Cauchy transforms of measures and then proceed to Cauchy transforms of functions with support in a closed set $X\subset\R.$ Our goal is to build up the main theory on which we can fall back in the subsequent chapters.
The fourth chapter deals with Cauchy transforms of functions and measures supported by an unbounded interval which is not the entire real axis. For convenience we restrict ourselves to the interval $[0,\infty).$ Bringing once again the Fourier-Laplace transform into play, we deduce complex characterizations for the Cauchy transforms of functions in $L_{2}(0,\infty).$ Moreover, we analyze the behavior of Cauchy transform on several half-planes and shall use these results for a fairly general geometric characterization. In the second section of this chapter, we focus on Cauchy transforms of measures with support in $[0,\infty).$ In this context, we shall derive a reconstruction formula for these Cauchy transforms holding under pretty general conditions as well as results on the behaviur on the left half-plane. We close this chapter by rather technical real-type conditions and characterizations for Cauchy transforms of functions in $L_p(0,\infty)$ basing on an approach in [82].
The most common case of Cauchy transforms, those of compactly supported functions or measures, is the subject of Chapter 5. After complex and geometric characterizations originating from similar ideas as in the fourth chapter, we adapt a functional-analytic approach in [27] to special measures, namely those with densities to a given complex measure $\mu.$ The chapter is closed with a study of the Cauchy transformation on weighted $L_p$ spaces. Here, we choose an ansatz through the finite Hilbert transform on $(-1,1).$
The sixth chapter is devoted to the issue of integrability of Cauchy transforms. Since this topic has no comprehensive treatise in literature yet, we start with an introduction of weighted Bergman spaces and general results on the interaction of the Cauchy transformation in these spaces. Afterwards, we combine the theory of Zen spaces with Cauchy transforms by using once again their connection with Fourier transforms. Here, we shall encounter general Paley-Wiener theorems of the recent past. Lastly, we attack the issue of integrability of Cauchy transforms by means of potential theory. Therefore, we derive a Fourier integral formula for the logarithmic energy in one and multiple dimensions and give applications to Fourier and hence Cauchy transforms.
Two appendices are annexed to this thesis. The first one covers important definitions and results from measure theory with a special focus on complex measures. The second appendix contains Cauchy transforms of frequently used measures and functions with detailed calculations.
Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit einer neuartigen Art von Branch-and-Bound Algorithmen, deren Unterschied zu klassischen Branch-and-Bound Algorithmen darin besteht, dass
das Branching durch die Addition von nicht-negativen Straftermen zur Zielfunktion erfolgt
anstatt durch das Hinzufügen weiterer Nebenbedingungen. Die Arbeit zeigt die theoretische Korrektheit des Algorithmusprinzips für verschiedene allgemeine Klassen von Problemen und evaluiert die Methode für verschiedene konkrete Problemklassen. Für diese Problemklassen, genauer Monotone und Nicht-Monotone Gemischtganzzahlige Lineare Komplementaritätsprobleme und Gemischtganzzahlige Lineare Probleme, präsentiert die Arbeit
verschiedene problemspezifische Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten und evaluiert diese numerisch.
Weiterhin vergleicht die Arbeit die neue Methode mit verschiedenen Benchmark-Methoden
mit größtenteils guten Ergebnissen und gibt einen Ausblick auf weitere Anwendungsgebiete
und zu beantwortende Forschungsfragen.
Allocating scarce resources efficiently is a major task in mechanism design. One of the most fundamental problems in mechanism design theory is the problem of selling a single indivisible item to bidders with private valuations for the item. In this setting, the classic Vickrey auction of~\citet{vickrey1961} describes a simple mechanism to implement a social welfare maximizing allocation.
The Vickrey auction for a single item asks every buyer to report its valuation and allocates the item to the highest bidder for a price of the second highest bid. This auction features some desirable properties, e.g., buyers cannot benefit from misreporting their true value for the item (incentive compatibility) and the auction can be executed in polynomial time.
However, when there is more than one item for sale and buyers' valuations for sets of items are not additive or the set of feasible allocations is constrained, then constructing mechanisms that implement efficient allocations and have polynomial runtime might be very challenging. Consider a single seller selling $n\in \N$ heterogeneous indivisible items to several bidders. The Vickrey-Clarke-Groves auction generalizes the idea of the Vickrey auction to this multi-item setting. Naturally, every bidder has an intrinsic value for every subset of items. As in in the Vickrey auction, bidders report their valuations (Now, for every subset of items!). Then, the auctioneer computes a social welfare maximizing allocation according to the submitted bids and charges buyers the social cost of their winning that is incurred by the rest of the buyers. (This is the analogue to charging the second highest bid to the winning bidder in the single item Vickrey auction.) It turns out that the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves auction is also incentive compatible but it poses some problems: In fact, say for $n=40$, bidders would have to submit $2^{40}-1$ values (one value for each nonempty subset of the ground set) in total. Thus, asking every bidder for its valuation might be impossible due to time complexity issues. Therefore, even though the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves auction implements a social welfare maximizing allocation in this multi-item setting it might be impractical and there is need for alternative approaches to implement social welfare maximizing allocations.
This dissertation represents the results of three independent research papers all of them tackling the problem of implementing efficient allocations in different combinatorial settings.
Formulations of macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics such as moxidectin are regularly administered to sheep to combat parasites. A disadvantage of these pharmaceuticals are their side effects on non-target organisms when entering the environment. Little is known about anthelmintic effects on plant reproduction and whether the effects depend on environmental factors. For ecological and methodological reasons, we aimed at testing whether temperature affects the efficacy of a common moxidectin-based formulation on seed germination. We carried out a germination experiment including three typical species of temperate European grasslands (Centaurea jacea, Galium mollugo, Plantago lanceolata). We applied three temperature regimes (15/5, 20/10, 30/20°C), and a four-level dilution series (1:100–1:800) of formulated moxidectin (i.e., Cydectin oral drench). These solutions represent seed-anthelmintic contacts in the digestive tract of sheep shortly after deworming. In addition, a control was carried out with purified water only. We regularly counted emerging seedlings and calculated final germination percentage, mean germination time and synchrony of germination. Formulated moxidectin significantly reduced percentage, speed and synchrony of germination. A 1:100 dilution of the formulation reduced germination percentage by a quarter and increased mean germination time by six days compared to the control. Temperature moderated effects of the anthelmintic drug on germination in all response variables and all species, but in different patterns and magnitudes (significant anthelmintic x temperature x species interactions). In all response variables, the two more extreme temperature regimes (15/5, 30/20°C) led to the strongest effects of formulated moxidectin. With respect to germination percentage, G. mollugo was more sensitive to formulated moxidectin at the warmest temperature regime, whereas P. lanceolata showed the highest sensitivity at the coldest regime. This study shows that it is important to consider temperature dependencies of the effects of pharmaceuticals on seed germination when conducting standardised germination experiments.
The argan woodlands of South Morocco represent an open-canopy dryland forest with traditional silvopastoral usage that includes browsing by goats, sheep and camels, oil production as well as agricultural use. In the past, these forests have undergone extensive clearing, but are now protected by the state. However, the remaining argan woodlands are still under pressure from intensive grazing and illegal firewood collection. Although the argan-forest area seems to be overall decreasing due to large forest clearings for intensive agriculture, little quantitative data is available on the dynamics and overall state of the remaining argan forest. To determine how the argan woodlands in the High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas had changed in tree-crown cover from 1972 to 2018 we used historical black and white HEXAGON satellite images as well as recent WorldView satellite images (see Part A of our study). Because tree shadows can oftentimes not be separated from the tree crown on panchromatic satellite images, individual trees were mapped in three size categories to determine if trees were unchanged, had decreased/increased in crown size or had disappeared or newly grown. The current state of the argan trees was evaluated by mapping tree architectures in the field. Tree-cover changes varied highly between the test sites. Trees that remained unchanged between 1972 and 2018 were in the majority, while tree mortality and tree establishment were nearly even. Small unchanged trees made up 48.4% of all remaining trees, of these 51% showed degraded tree architectures. 40% of small (re-) grown trees were so overbrowsed that they only appeared as bushes, while medium (3–7 m crown diameter) and large trees (>7 m) showed less degraded trees regardless if they had changed or not. Approaches like grazing exclusion or cereal cultivation lead to a positive influence on tree architecture and less tree-cover decrease. Although the woodland was found to be mostly unchanged 1972–2018, the analysis of tree architecture reveals that a lot of (mostly small) trees remained stable but in a degraded state. This stability might be the result of the small trees’ high degradation status and shows the heavy pressure on the argan forest.
With the start of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the global education system has a faced immense challenges and disruptions resulting in and the necessity for an immediate redesign of teaching and learning in the school context. Face-to-face classroom instruction had to be replaced by ‘emergency remote teaching’, requiring teacher to adapt their daily routines to a new and unprecedented educational reality. Researchers and policymakers worldwide have agreed that, despite the fact that efforts were made to immediately adapt to emergency remote teaching, disadvantaged and vulnerable students may be especially at risk in emergency remote teaching. Given the differences in schooling organization across countries during the COVID-19 pandemic it can be expected that teachers performed inclusive instructional practices significantly different. Against the unpredictable situation, cross-country research has been urgently required to provide data that could inform education policy. Thus, this study explored teachers’ perceptions of supporting at risk students during the first COVID-19 school closures, as well as examining teachers’ inclusive teaching practices in three countries: Germany, Austria and Portugal. ANOVA results revealed important country differences. In general, it appears that teachers in Germany and Austria reported to have implemented less practices to address vulnerable and at-risk students compared to Portuguese teachers. Implications of the results, as well as further lines of research are outlined.
Objective: Attunement is a novel measure of nonverbal synchrony reflecting the duration of the present moment shared by two interaction partners. This study examined its association with early change in outpatient psychotherapy.
Methods: Automated video analysis based on motion energy analysis (MEA) and cross-correlation of the movement time-series of patient and therapist was conducted to calculate movement synchrony for N = 161 outpatients. Movement-based attunement was defined as the range of connected time lags with significant synchrony. Latent change classes in the HSCL-11 were identified with growth mixture modeling (GMM) and predicted by pre-treatment covariates and attunement using multilevel multinomial regression.
Results: GMM identified four latent classes: high impairment, no change (Class 1); high impairment, early response (Class 2); moderate impairment (Class 3); and low impairment (Class 4). Class 2 showed the strongest attunement, the largest early response, and the best outcome. Stronger attunement was associated with a higher likelihood of membership in Class 2 (b = 0.313, p = .007), Class 3 (b = 0.251, p = .033), and Class 4 (b = 0.275, p = .043) compared to Class 1. For highly impaired patients, the probability of no early change (Class 1) decreased and the probability of early response (Class 2) increased as a function of attunement.
Conclusions: Among patients with high impairment, stronger patient-therapist attunement was associated with early response, which predicted a better treatment outcome. Video-based assessment of attunement might provide new information for therapists not available from self-report questionnaires and support therapists in their clinical decision-making.
Background: Hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating, OMIM %114110) is a complex disorder with multifactorial causes. Emotional strains and social stress increase symptoms and lead to a vicious circle. Previously, we showed significantly higher depression scores, and normal cortisol awakening responses in patients with primary focal hyperhidrosis (PFH). Stress reactivity in response to a (virtual) Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-VR) has not been studied so far. Therefore, we measured sweat secretion, salivary cortisol and alpha amylase (sAA) concentrations, and subjective stress ratings in affected and non-affected subjects in response to a TSST-VR.
Method: In this pilot study, we conducted TSST-VRs and performed general linear models with repeated measurements for salivary cortisol and sAA levels, heart rate, axillary sweat and subjective stress ratings for two groups (diagnosed PFH (n = 11), healthy controls (n = 16)).
Results: PFH patients showed significantly heightened sweat secretion over time compared to controls (p = 0.006), with highest quantities during the TSST-VR. In both groups, sweating (p < 0.001), maximum cortisol levels (p = 0.002), feelings of stress (p < 0.001), and heart rate (p < 0.001) but not sAA (p = 0.068) increased significantly in response to the TSST-VR. However, no differences were detected in subjective ratings, cortisol concentrations and heart rate between PFH patients and controls (pall > 0.131).
Conclusion: Patients with diagnosed PFH showed stress-induced higher sweat secretion compared to healthy controls but did not differ in the stress reactivity with regard to endocrine or subjective markers. This pilot study is in need of replication to elucidate the role of the sympathetic nervous system as a potential pathway involved in the stress-induced emotional sweating of PFH patients.
Influence of Ozone and Drought on Tree Growth under Field Conditions in a 22 Year Time Series
(2022)
Studying the effect of surface ozone (O3) and water stress on tree growth is important for planning sustainable forest management and forest ecology. In the present study, a 22-year long time series (1998–2019) on basal area increment (BAI) and fructification severity of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H.Karst.) at five forest sites in Western Germany (Rhineland Palatinate) was investigated to evaluate how it correlates with drought and stomatal O3 fluxes (PODY) with an hourly threshold of uptake (Y) to represent the detoxification capacity of trees (POD1, with Y = 1 nmol O3 m−2 s−1). Between 1998 and 2019, POD1 declined over time by on average 0.31 mmol m−2 year−1. The BAI showed no significant trend at all sites, except in Leisel where a slight decline was observed over time (−0.37 cm2 per year, p < 0.05). A random forest analysis showed that the soil water content and daytime O3 mean concentration were the best predictors of BAI at all sites. The highest mean score of fructification was observed during the dry years, while low level or no fructification was observed in most humid years. Combined effects of drought and O3 pollution mostly influence tree growth decline for European beech and Norway spruce.
Reconstructing invisible deviating events: A conformance checking approach for recurring events
(2022)
Conformance checking enables organizations to determine whether their executed processes are compliant with the intended process. However, if the processes contain recurring activities, state-of-the-art approaches unfortunately have difficulties calculating the conformance. The occurrence of complex temporal rules can further increase the complexity of the problem. Identifying this limitation, this paper presents a novel approach towards dealing with recurring activities in conformance checking. The core idea of the approach is to reconstruct the missing events in the event log using defined rules while incorporating specified temporal event characteristics. This approach then enables the use of native conformance checking algorithms. The paper illustrates the algorithmic approach and defines the required temporal event characteristics. Furthermore, the approach is applied and evaluated in a case study on an event log for melanoma surveillance.
List-method directed forgetting (LMDF) is the demonstration that people can intentionally forget previously studied information when they are asked to forget what they have previously learned and remember new information instead. In addition, recent research demonstrated that people can selectively forget when cued to forget only a subset of the previously studied information. Both forms of forgetting are typically observed in recall tests, in which the to-be-forgotten and to-be-remembered information is tested independent of original cuing. Thereby, both LMDF and selective directed forgetting (SDF) have been studied mostly with unrelated item materials (e.g., word lists). The present study examined whether LMDF and SDF generalize to prose material. Participants learned three prose passages, which they were cued to remember or forget after the study of each passage. At the time of testing, participants were asked to recall the three prose passages regardless of original cuing. The results showed no significant differences in recall of the three lists as a function of cuing condition. The findings suggest that LMDF and SDF do not occur with prose material. Future research is needed to replicate and extend these findings with (other) complex and meaningful materials before drawing firm conclusions. If the null effect proves to be robust, this would have implications regarding the ecological validity and generalizability of current LMDF and SDF findings.
The global spread of the coronavirus pandemic has particularly dramatic consequences for the lives of migrants and refugees living in already marginalised and restricted conditions, whose ongoing crisis is at risk of being overlooked. But refugees are not only extremely vulnerable and at risk of infection, as several reports show, quickly develop their own protection measures like the production of hygienic products, the publication of their situation and calls for action and help. Therefore, this paper aims to research the effects of the coronavirus crisis on refugees in camp settings with a special ethnographic focus on how refugees actively deal with this crisis and if they, through already developed resilience, are capable of adapting to the restrictions as well as inventing strategies to cope with the difficult situation. To account for the variety of refugee camps as well as the different living conditions due to their locality, history and national asylum politics, we will look at three different locations, namely refugee asylum homes in Germany, hotspots on the Greek islands as well as one refugee camp in Kenya. The main questions will be how, under structurally and institutionally framed conditions of power and victimisation in refugee camps, forms of agency are established, made possible or limited. The goal is to show which strategies refugees apply to cope with the enhanced restrictions and exclusion, how they act to protect themselves and others from the virus and how they present and reflect their situation during the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, this discussion offers a new perspective to consider refugees not only as vulnerable victims, but also as actively engaged individuals.