TY - THES A1 - Geurts, Nick T1 - Photodecompostion of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Using a UV/H2O2 Reactor with Ultraviolet-C Light Emitting Diodes N2 - Anionic surfactants are used in many common household products, such as dishwashing detergents or soaps. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is one of the most prominent surfactants and can cause substantial damage to the environment. Removal from wastewater is therefore a significant problem. This thesis investigates the photochemical decomposition of SDS using ultraviolet-c light emitting diodes (UV-C LEDs) and hydrogen peroxide. The experiments were performed with a surfactant concentration of 10 mg L which is actually found in wastewater after hand washing. Direct exposure to UV radiation to destroy organic compounds is generally seen as inefficient and consumes a large amount of energy. Adding hydrogen peroxide significantly increased the destruction rate due to the UV-induced formation of hydroxyl radicals. It was also investigated how the effectiveness of the reactor can be further increased. The use of a photocatalyst (titanium dioxide) improved the removal efficiency of SDS substantially. The data generated in this work indicates that using UV-C LEDs in a UV/H2O2 reactor works, and the process was significantly more efficient than only UV radiation. The ease of handling the diodes and implementing them into the reactor offers a significant advantage over other light sources. The standard SDS determination method is known to be very time-consuming. Therefore, a new approach was developed. This technique works faster than the commonly used one and has a low standard deviation. Photodecomposition of the investigated impurity is possible. In the future, development will concentrate on the realisation and system integration of UV/H2O2 reactors, as a common technology in the product family of OPHARDT Hygiene AG. KW - Advanced oxidation processes KW - Hydrogen peroxide KW - Sodium dodecyl sulfate KW - Titanium dixoide KW - UV-C LEDs Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Hawas, Takwa T1 - Chancen und Risiken der CAR-T-Zellen in der onkologischen Immuntherapie N2 - Bei der CAR-T-Zell-Therapie erhalten Patient*innen nach einer Leukapherese autologer T-Lymphozyten ihre eigenen T-Zellen zurück, die vor der Behandlung mittels viraler Vektoren die chimären Antigenrezeptoren, engl. Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR), transduziert bekommen. Bereits Stunden nach der Zellinfusion und in den folgenden Wochen expandieren die CAR-T-Zellen und sind in der Lage, das Antigen spezifisch zu binden und die Tumorzellen zu zerstören. CAR-T-Zellen haben sich in Therapien gegen hämatologische Tumore als spektakulär wirksam erwiesen. Doch die vielversprechende Behandlung hat ihre Grenzen und ihren Preis. Drei große Herausforderungen begrenzen derzeit ihren Erfolg im Bereich solider Tumore: Antigenerkennung, Migration und Überleben in der Tumormikroumgebung. CAR-T-Zell-Therapien zählen auch mit Kosten von etwa 300 Tausend Euro immer noch zu den teuersten Verfahren in der Medizin. Eine intensivere Forschung im Bereich der Dysfunktion des Immunsystems in der Tumormikroumgebung stellt ein notwendiger Schritt zur Überwindung von Hürden bei der Behandlung von soliden Tumoren mit CAR-T-Zellen dar. Angemessene finanzielle sowie gesetzliche Anreize und die Einführung optimierter Herstellungsprozesse, multidisziplinärer und prädiktiver Ansätze und zeitgemäßer Tools der Biotechnologie und Bioinformatik in den klinischen Alltag zur prädiktiven Krebsmodellierung sind ebenso wichtige Grundvoraussetzungen für eine wirtschaftliche Ausweitung des Einsatzes von CAR-T-Zellen. Anderenfalls würden Gesundheitssysteme die Kosten sowie die Komplexität nicht mehr stemmen können und diese lebensrettende CAR-T-Zell-Therapien würden außerhalb der Reichweite der Patienten bleiben, die es wirklich brauchen. KW - CART KW - CAR-T-Zellen KW - CAR-T-cells KW - Immuntherapien KW - CAR-T Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-16513 ER - TY - THES A1 - Hartmann, Tabea T1 - Die Erforschung von potenziellen Zusammenhängen zwischen sozialer Neugier und der Größe der sozialen Netzwerke von Studierenden zu Beginn des Studiums N2 - Aufbau und Erhalt von sozialen Beziehungen finden über das gesamte Leben hinweg statt. In manchen Lebensphasen werden vermehrt soziale Kontakte geknüpft. Ein solcher Abschnitt ist oft der Beginn eines Studiums. Hier vergrößert sich in der Regel das soziale Netzwerk. Wie viele neue Beziehungen aufgenommen werden, wird unter anderem von der Persönlichkeit der jeweiligen Person bestimmt. Um den Einfluss von sozialer Neugier auf die Größe von sozialen Netzwerken zu überprüfen, wurden die Daten der Network Evaluation for Academic Retention - Studie ausgewertet. Die Studie erhebt unter anderem Daten zur Persönlichkeit und über egozentrierte Netzwerke von Erstsemesterstudierenden. Die Befragung erfolgt über einen Zeitraum von sechs Monaten zu drei konkreten Messzeitpunkten. Der Einfluss von sozialer Neugier auf die Größe des gesamten sozialen Netzwerks und des nicht-familiären Netzwerks wurde mithilfe von multiplen Regressionsanalysen untersucht (N = 93). Es konnte kein signifikanter Zusammenhang gefunden werden. Auch die Analyse des Effekts der sozialen Neugier auf die Veränderung der Netzwerkgröße über sechs Monate ergab keine signifikanten Ergebnisse (n = 55). Bei den Analysen wurden auch andere Persönlichkeitsvariablen betrachtet, die in der Forschung bereits signifikante Zusammenhänge mit der Größe von sozialen Netzwerken aufgewiesen haben. In der verwendeten Stichprobe konnten diese Zusammenhänge nicht verifiziert werden. Die Gründe für diesen Unterschied werden diskutiert. Die Untersuchung bietet einen ersten Einblick in den Zusammenhang von sozialer Neugier und der Größe von sozialen Netzwerken, welcher in der Zukunft weiter erforscht werden sollte. N2 - The building and preservation of relationships takes place throughout one’s whole life. During some life stages socialization happens more frequently than in others. One of those times is the start of academic studies, where the size of the social network usually increases. Among other things the personality of the respective person has influence on the number of relationships that are newly integrated. To examine the influence of social curiosity on the size of social networks, data from the study “Network Evaluation for Academic Retention“ has been used. It includes amongst others the data of personality traits and egocentric networks of first-year students and resulted from three surveys over a period of six months. The impact of social curiosity on the size of the entire and of the non-familial social network has been examined by means of multiple regression analysis (N = 93). No significant connection could be found. The same applies for the impact of social curiosity on the change of network size after six months (n = 55). There was also no significant result. The analysis includes other variables regarding the personality, as well, which have been proven to have an impact on the size of social networks by applied research already. Those known connections could not be found in the used sample. Reasons for that discrepancy will be discussed. This study offers a first impression of the correlation between social curiosity and the size of social networks and this topic should be examined further in future. KW - Soziale Neugier KW - Social curiosity KW - Egozentriertes Netzwerk KW - Egocentric networks KW - Veränderung sozialer Netzwerke KW - Social network development KW - Multiple lineare Regression KW - Multiple regression analysis Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Barbosa Silva, Maria Eduarda T1 - Motivation and Quality Management towards ISO 9001:2015 N2 - This bachelor thesis simulates a self-created schematic representation of the elements of a single process in ISO 9001:2015 (officially named as DIN EN ISO 9001:2015), incrementing problem-based aspects regarding employee management and motivation. Methodically, this paper provides a qualitative analysis, demonstrating theoretical and empirical findings in motivational methodologies and quality management. Motivation is a term that reduces itself into a diversifiable definition but is mostly associated to an individual’s behavior to achieve goals. Work motivation theories follow different theories to explain the individual’s behavior. These theories generate ideas to increase company performance, create goal-achievement, and can be achieved by managers mostly with extrinsic facets. On the other hand, within the DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 quality management system, work quality is divided into four focus areas: process orientation, management with motivational aspects, employee-, and customer satisfaction. Including, DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 is model oriented on a personal management basis. On behalf of the increasing employee-focus in DIN EN ISO 9001:2015, the German Society for Quality (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Qualität) proposes a New-Work model that emphasizes intrinsic motivation in the updated quality management process of DIN EN ISO 9001:2015. As a result of these theoretical findings, this thesis creates its own self-developed problem-based schematic representation of the elements of a single process in DIN EN ISO 9001:2015. Hereby, the current issues of quality management and motivation such as lack of quality awareness or limited motivation impulses in companies using DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 are emphasized and improved in the problem- based model. Quality management and motivation are progressively englobed as one factor in the current and future managerial models, which reinforces the importance of finding a problem-oriented solution. KW - ISO 9001 Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-16453 ER - TY - THES A1 - Oesterwind, Ferdinand Clemens T1 - Study on the Potential of Mob Grazing on Animal and Pasture Performance exemplified by an Organic Holstein Dairy Herd N2 - Increasing adverse effects of climate change challenge Central European farmers. Severe precipitation deficits reduce fodder crop yields in livestock production and make grazing difficult. Understanding the effects of climate change and the impact grazing systems have on the environment is vital to economically utilize grassland. Mob grazing is a strategy that could provide an opportunity to ensure stable grassland yields during drought periods. Commonly used grazing systems, impact of climate change on pasture management and possible benefits of mob grazing are reviewed in this thesis. In addition, the effects of mob grazing on animal and pasture performance exemplified by an organic Holstein dairy herd are assessed in a field trial carried out at the Agricultural Chamber of North-Rhine Westphalia. The potential on animal performance is evaluated by milk yield and body condition. Pasture performance is determined by yield, sward height, pasture residues, and yield shares. Computation of milk yield from pasture allows for an interpretation of the potential of mob grazing in an interdisciplinary scope of pasture and animal performance. The research showed that mob grazing has the potential to achieve promising yields, regarding milk yield, pasture forage yield and milk production from pasture in comparison to conventional grazing systems. Mob grazing can provide resilience against potential consequences of climate change. It has the potential to be further adapted by farmers due to its economic and ecological advantages. To emphasize this, future research must focus on the effects of mob grazing on soil fertility, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. KW - Mob grazing KW - Holistic planned grazing KW - Regenerative agriculture KW - Climate-adapted farming KW - Climate change Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Birkenbach, Gesa T1 - Quantitative real-time PCR Detection of Yersinia ruckeri for Application in Aquaculture N2 - To detect pathogen infections in aquaculture early and reduce their impact, a photonic biosensing chip is being developed in the PHOTO-SENS project, to enable fast and easy routine testing in aquaculture facilities. One target bacterial pathogen is Yersinia ruckeri, the causative agent of enteric redmouth disease. Detection is based on short DNA sequences (probes), that are complementary to the DNA of their target pathogen. In this work, a Yersinia ruckeri-specific probe was designed together with a set of qPCR primers. The probe and primers were tested in qPCR experiments, including quantifi- cation of extracted DNA, specificity and sensitivity testing, and detection of bacterial DNA from highly diluted samples to mimic the detection of environmental DNA. Three different standard series were created for the quantification of unknown samples. The influence of fish tissue on detection was tested, and the efficiency of Chelex-DNA ex- tractions were compared to peqGOLD Tissue DNA Mini Kit extractions. During quantification experiments with a first standard series (Y1P), the quantification output of most samples was 12–175 times higher than expected. The lower limit of detection was at 100 copies based on that standard, with an efficiency of 88%. The discrepancy was reduced with a gBlocks standard (limit of detection: 5 copies; effi- ciency: 92%). A CFU standard provided quantification results in reasonable agreement with expected CFU starting quantities (limit of detection: 1 CFU; efficiency: 106%). De- tection of diluted samples after filtration was possible. Chelex DNA extractions yielded higher amounts of detectable DNA compared to a DNA extraction kit. Less bacterial DNA was extracted in bacterial culture samples containing fish tissue than in samples that did not contain fish tissue. Higher-than-expected quantification outputs were attributed to flaws in the creation of a first standard series as well as detectable DNA from dead cells or clusters that were not accounted for in the expected starting quantities. The gBlocks standard was as- sumed to be most reliable for quantification of exact copy numbers, while the CFU standard produced results that could be accounted for in CFU counts. As these chal- lenges concerned the standard series’ and not the probe itself, it was concluded that the probe was suitable for application in the PHOTO-SENS project for detection of Yersinia ruckeri. KW - Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) KW - Yersinia ruckeri KW - DNA quantification KW - Hydrolysis probe KW - Aquaculture Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-16361 ER - TY - THES A1 - Kanwal, Hafsa T1 - Detection of the Fish Pathogen Vagococcus salmoninarum via Quantitative real-time PCR for Aquaculture N2 - PHOTO-SENS is a project that aims to develop photonic biosensing chips as a means of allowing onset detection of pathogenic infections in aquaculture. These chips are meant to be a way for quick and simple routine testing that would enable aquaculture facilities to recognize potential outbreaks and minimize their effects. The chips detect target bacteria using short DNA sequences known as probes which are complementary to target DNA. One of the fish pathogens under consideration for the course of this project is Vagococcus salmoninarum, that is a causative agent of Vagococcosis. For this work, a primer and probe set specific to V. salmoninarum was designed. These primers and probes were then tested via qPCR for their selectivity and sensitivity and most importantly, quantification of DNA in samples using two different standard dilution series. Due to V. salmoninarum being a Gram-positive bacteria, three methods of DNA extraction were used and compared for maximum efficiency. Moreover, experiments were also conducted to mimic capture of eDNA (environmental DNA) from highly diluted water samples. Upon comparing the three DNA extraction methods, the improved 5% Chelex protocol that included rapid agitation via glass beads, yielded the highest amount of DNA that was closest to expected SQ. The detection of all samples, including very low copy number, was possible via qPCR. The first standard series which was the gBlocks standard series had the lowest detection limit of 1 copy with an efficiency of 105.8% and the second standard series that is the CFU standard series had a detection limit of 10 copies and had an efficiency of 104.2%. The filtration experiment also showed detection in diluted, filtered samples. Since detection using the designed probe was successful, the probes are therefore considered suitable for detection of Vagococcus salmoninarum in the PHOTO-SENS project. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-16222 ER - TY - THES A1 - Karssli, Mahmoud T1 - CRISPR technology in human medicine: advantages and disadvantages over traditional treatments N2 - Genome editing tools hold tremendous potential in fighting various diseases via editing specific sites within the target gene of interest of distinct cell types. Among these tools, CRISPR has shown several advantages over alternative nucleases, such as ease of design, high efficiency, and low cost. In this work, a comprehensive review of the existing research on the application of CRISPR technology to the treatment of human diseases is presented. These diseases include monogenic and infectious diseases, as well as conditions for which immunotherapies are typically applied, such as cancer and autoimmune disorders. Following this review is an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of CRISPR-based strategies compared to traditional treatments in a selection of diseases; this aims to demonstrate the overall potential of CRISPR therapeutic applications in humans and the need for further investigation and development. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-16080 ER - TY - THES A1 - Özkök, Gül T1 - Molekularbiologische Untersuchungen von Vibrio spp. auf das Vorhandensein von mobilen mcr-Genen und deren Klassifizierung N2 - Vibrio spp. sind gramnegative Bakterien, die überwiegend in aquatischen und marinen Lebensräumen vorkommen. Sie umfassen >139 Spezies, von denen 12 Spezies als humanpathogen gelten. Diese unterschiedlichen pathogenen Spezies verursachen verschiedene Erkrankungen und sind vom Tier auf den Menschen übertragbar. Durch den Einsatz von Antibiotika steigt die Anzahl resistenter Bakterien rasant an. Im Jahr 2015 wurde erstmals ein Colistin-Resistenz-vermittelndes mcr-1 Gen in einem E. coli identifiziert. Seither wurden rückblickend viele Isolate ermittelt, die mcr-Gene tragen (mcr-1 bis mcr-10). Seit 2016 gilt Colistin als „Critically Important Antimicrobial“ und dient als „Last Resort Antibiotica“, daher ist die Bewertung von mcr-Genen sehr bedeutsam. Ziel dieser Untersuchung war es, 67 Vibrio-Isolate auf das Vorhandensein von mcr-Genen zu untersuchen. Zu Beginn erfolgte eine Speziesidentifikation der Isolate mit Hilfe der MALDI-TOF MS und eine MHK-Analyse, um die MHK-Werte gegenüber Colistin zu ermitteln. Anschließend wurden die Isolate für die MiSeq-Sequenzierung vorbereitet. Dazu zählten die Verfahren der DNA-Extraktion und der Library Preparation, wobei in mehreren Schritten die Konzentrationen der DNA mittels Qubit und die DNA-Längen mit dem LabChip gemessen wurden. Nach der Sequenzierung folgte die bioinformatische Auswertung, durch die unter anderem die Sequenzauswertung, die Speziesidentifikation und die Auswertung von Resistenzgenen erfolgte. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit konnte ein Vibrio-Isolat mit einem mcr-Gen identifiziert werden; dieses trug zusätzlich die Resistenzgene almG, eptA, lpxN und gspIEF. Es handelt sich um ein mcr-4 Gen in einem Plasmid, welches bisher nicht beschrieben ist. Das Plasmid trägt katalytische Domänen von Mobilitäts-Genen, die weder durch die NCBI-Datenbank noch durch andere Tools detektiert werden konnten. Folglich kann keine Risikoabschätzung bezüglich der Transferabilität des Plasmids erfolgen. Zusätzlich zu diesem Ergebnis konnten putative neue chromosomale Resistenzgene ermittelt werden, die eine hohe Ähnlichkeit zu den bisher bekannten mcr-Genen aufweisen. Eine weiterführende Analyse hinsichtlich des unbekannten Plasmids und der möglichen neuen Resistenzgene erfolgt. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-16148 ER - TY - THES A1 - Takafakare, Chiyedza T1 - A critical assessment of the impact of an organization’s affiliationtosocial movements on brand equity: A study of the Black Lives Matter Movement N2 - Brands and advertising agencies have successfully tapped into the cultural momentum of social and political issues to attract new customers and promote their products. Numerous studies have examined the link between marketing and social and political movements, but advertising firms have largely ignored them. This study was titled “Acritical assessment of the impact of an organization’s affiliation to social movements on brand equity: A study of the Black Lives Matter Movement”. The study was guided by the objectives which were to identify the benefits of organizational allegiance to social movements on brand equity, determine the factors affecting social allegiance to social movements on brand equity, and recommend strategies that enhance brand equity. The study adopted a mixed methods approach whereby using a sample size of 65, online surveys were administered. Data was analyzed using descriptive means and SPSS was the main analysis tool. Findings illustrated that organizational allegiance to social movement has an impact on brandequity, profitability, and brand recognition. Brands are increasingly using social movements to promote their products, and much recent research has been done to understand what constitutes a socio-political activist brand, to explore consumers' attitudes, and determine if the perception of a brand as being socio-politically engaged has animpacton consumers' product use. When companies adopt a socio-political stance, they give consumers a far better opportunity to identify with them, while also allowing them to differentiate themselves from competitors by using secondary sources of meaning. Nonetheless, there are still untapped resources to be discovered, particularly in connection to the relationship between organizational allegiance and social movement participation. KW - Brand Equity KW - Black Lives Matter KW - Social Movements KW - Brand Activism Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Wagner, Katja T1 - Einfluss der Versorgung von Coronapatienten auf die Prävalenz und Übertragungsrate von multiresistenten Erregern N2 - Einleitung: Das neuartige SARS-CoV-19 Virus hat weltweit zu einer Bedrohung der öffentlichen Gesundheit geführt. Nun stellen nicht nur die MRE in den Krankenhäusern ein Problem dar. Methoden: Es wurden die positiv getesteten SARS-CoV-2 Proben und die positiv getesteten MRE Proben retrospektiv vom 01.01.2018 bis zum 31.05.2022 ausgewertet. Mittels den Belegungszahlen wurden die Prävalenzen der MRE berechnet. Die Übertragungsrate wurde anhand der nosokomialen Fälle berechnet. Die Jahre 2018 und 2019 stellen die Prävalenz von MRE vor der COVID-19 Pandemie dar. Die Jahre 2020,2021 und 2022 (bis Mai) demonstrieren die Prävalenz von MRE während der COVID-19 Pandemie. Ergebnisse: Die durchschnittliche MRSA Prävalenz vor der COVID-19 Pandemie lag bei 0,66%, während der Pandemie lag sie bei 0,52%. Die durchschnittliche Übertragungsrate von MRSA lag vor der Pandemie bei 4,55%, während der Pandemie lag sie bei 5,64%. Die Prävalenz von VRE lag im Schnitt vor der Pandemie bei 0,48%, während der Pandemie lag sie bei 0,56%. Die Übertragungsrate von VRE lag im Schnitt vor der Pandemie bei 57,98%, während der Pandemie bei 52,79%. Im Durchschnitt lag die 4MRGN Prävalenz vor der Pandemie bei 0,04% und während der Pandemie lag sie bei 0,06%. Die Übertragungsrate von 4MRGN lag im Durchschnitt vor der Pandemie bei 43,47% und während der Pandemie bei 17,29%. Fazit: Die Prävalenz von MRSA ist insgesamt gesunken, jedoch ist die Übertragungsrate von MRSA während der Pandemie gestiegen. Die Prävalenz und Übertragungsrate von VRE verhält sich asynchron. Beim VRE ist die Prävalenz gestiegen und die Übertragungsrate gesunken. Die Prävalenz von 4MRGN hat während der Pandemie leicht zugenommen, während die Übertragungsrate stark zurückgegangen ist. Nach dieser Studie hat die Versorgung von Coronapatienten einen Einfluss auf die Prävalenz und Übertragungsrate von MRE. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-16029 ER - TY - THES A1 - Viyof Ful, Flavian T1 - The effects of P53 stabilitization in SMARCB1-deficent, deficent TP53- wildtype epitheliod sarcoma cells N2 - Epithelioid sarcomas (ES) which are a rare form of soft tissue sarcomas are known to afflict both males and females with a slight bias for males. They are characterised by a defective SMARCB1 gene as well as a TP53 wildtype. Owing to this distinctive trait, it was hypothesised that reactivating p53 protein could hold therapeutic advantage in these type of tumours since p53 is a transcription factor at the crossroads between cell survival or death. P53 downstream target genes regulate the cell cycle or promote apoptosis. Since p53 is inactivated by its natural inhibitor, MDM2, in these types of tumours (Claudia Schaffner et al. 1999), using an MDM2 inhibitor to disrupt the P53-MDM2 interaction and stabilise p53 offered a sensible rationale to explore. It is often the case that cancer cells develop a resistance to a particular chemotherapy over time. Therefore, using a combination of two different inhibitors with completely different mechanisms of action to antagonise the tumour cells and prevent a possible recurrence was also considered. Two epithelioid sarcoma cell lines, VAESBJ and EPI544, were used for these experiments. HDM201, which is an MDM2 inhibitor, and doxorubicin, the current standard in threating epithelioid sarcomas, were both employed to be used as single agent treatments and in combination. Firstly, it had to be established that both cells are sensitive to the inhibitors in a dose dependent fashion. This was done using the MTS assay which quantifies cell viability based on the metabolism of tetrazolium salts and its eventual conversion to a purple soluble formazan residue by viable cells. Next, to further investigate the downstream effects of reactivated p53 in the cell populations, indirect immunofluorescence (IF) was performed to demonstrate that both inhibitors were capable of individually stabilising p53 in both cell lines. To further support the results from the indirect IF, western blot analysis was done to prove that p53 accumulates within the cell. Furthermore, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was also performed to explore the extent to which p53’s stabilisation influences the fate of the treated cells. The results obtained from the MTS assay experiments showed that the cell lines used were indeed sensitive to both inhibitors as single agent treatments (EPI544 cells IC50 (HDM)= 0.212nM, IC50 (Dox)= 259.9nM) and VAESBJ IC50 (HDM)= 1.52µM, IC50 (Dox)= 17.5nM). At their respective IC50 values in combination, both drugs acted synergistically to halt cell viability in VAESBJ cell line whereas they were antagonistic against EPI544 cell line. However, these discrepancies were due to the dose response of the cells to the drugs. Moreover, from the IF analysis, p53 was clearly stabilised and as a result affected cell viability in all cell lines for both drugs. There was a considerable amount of p53 accumulation in treated cells when analysed by western blot. Lastly, the qPCR data showed that upon stabilisation, p53 upregulated the cell cycle checkpoint protein p21 as well as its natural regulator MDM2 because of a negative feedback loop meant to regulate the amount of p53 in normal cells. BCL2 which encodes an anti-apoptotic protein is also downregulated in all treated cells. Pro-apoptotic TP53I3 gene is significantly upregulated in the cell populations treated with the combination. In a nutshell, the results support the rationale that targeting MDM2 in ES tumours holds therapeutic value. They also highlight the usefulness of combination therapies as a better approach at targeting cancer cells. Although p53 is stabilised, its accumulation and downstream effects are largely dependent on whether it was achieved through posttranslational modifications or not. These results necessitate future research to characterise the effects of a combination of HDM201 and Doxorubicin on ES tumours in vivo. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Ponten, Marvin T1 - Visualisierung von Kulturgütern am Beispiel der römischen Kaiserthermen in Trier als 3D Modell. N2 - This paper is a summary of the “Kaiserthermen Project'' for the “Landesmuseum Trier” and shows in detail how to convert a 3Ds Max 3D model for usage into an open source program like Blender. It tries to explain the basics of 3D modelling and compares it to the 3D modelling of cultural heritages. It should work as a form of manual to further convert different models into the FBX file format. It also aims to explain the high value of cultural heritage as a 3D model and compares it to the 3D model of the “Trier Kaiserthermen”. It furthermore gives examples and reasons for the usage of 3D models in different fields. It also presents the final 3D renderings and shows how they were created. At the end it explains how the perfect model for scientific research should be and how this project and paper improved this for the “Kaiserthermen”. KW - 3D Model KW - Cultural Heritage KW - Converting to FBX KW - 3D Render Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15889 ER - TY - THES A1 - Izzuddin, Kamal T1 - Experimental and Simulative Study on the Performance of PEM Fuel Cell under Different Operating Conditions N2 - The aim of the thesis is to study the influence of operating conditions on the performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) such as temperature, cathode stoichiometry and cathode relative humidity. The experiment is conducted at temperature points of 60°C, 70°C and 80°C, where at each temperature point cathode stoichiometry of 2 and 5 are set. Within each stoichiometry, the cell is operated at cathode relative humidity of 50%, 75% and 100%. The fuel cell performance is analyzed using two methods, current-voltage measurement, and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, where the polarization curves, power output density and high-frequency resistance (HFR) are recorded. A numerical analysis is then conducted on a 3-dimensional straight single channel fuel cell and is fitted with the data measured experimentally. Increasing the temperature has a different degree of improvement on the fuel cell’s performance based on its cathode stoichiometry and relative humidity settings. The HFR measurements provide an insight into the voltage loss that is exerted by the fuel cell on each test condition. The numerical analysis shows that the impact of operating conditions does not exhibit any significant differences on the fuel cell model. KW - Proton exchange membrane fuel cell KW - Current and voltage measurement KW - Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy KW - High-frequency resistance KW - CFD KW - Numerical analysis Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15909 ER - TY - THES A1 - Theiler, Jason T1 - Implementierung und iterative Entwicklung eines Konzepts für eine Wissensduell-Applikation im Kontext von Serious Games N2 - This bachelor thesis accompanies and documents the implementation and first step in the iterative development of a concept for a knowledge duel application. The application’s goal is to exploit a player’s playfulness and competitiveness, in order to learn new information and reinforce previously acquired knowledge. The concept was developed in cooperation with the Bäumer, Afonso, Meissner GmbH. Because of its goal, the concept and its implementation are analyzed in the context of serious games. To achieve this, the thesis first examines the meaning of the serious games term and what their most significant attributes are. It also explores some state of the art systems and concepts of all the implementation’s related fields. After extensive documentation of the concept and its implementation in the form of the web application called sw¨up, a formative evaluation using the results of several semi-structured interviews takes place. Following that, the thesis further explores possible improvements and new features for later iterations of the application. The evaluation shows that sw¨up happens to be a very intuitive, performant and both optically and structurally well designed application. Additionally several problem fixes and improvements were found while evaluating the interviews’ results. While it is shown that sw¨up shares many similarities with a serious game, it can not be proven with the acquired results that sw¨up can effectively cause a learning effect and thus be considered a serious game. This remains to be determined by further, more in-depth tests and evaluations. KW - Serious games KW - Iterative development KW - Formative evaluation KW - Web applications KW - Multiplayer games Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15988 ER - TY - THES A1 - Sternberg, Daniel T1 - Cannabislegalisierung in Deutschland: Auswirkungen auf den Jugend- und Gesundheitsschutz N2 - Das Thema der Cannabislegalisierung in Deutschland ist mit dem Beschluss im Koalitionsvertrag der neuen Koalition von 2021 so aktuell wie nie zuvor. In der vorliegenden Arbeit soll herausgearbeitet werden, ob die Cannabislegalisierung in Deutschland den Jugend- und Gesundheitsschutz fördern kann. Nach Beantwortung dieser Frage soll darüber hinaus analysiert werden, welche Maßnahmen bzw. Rahmenbedingungen der Legalisierung den Jugend- und Gesundheitsschutz am effektivsten fördern können. Zur Beantwortung dieser Forschungsfragen wurde eine umfassende Literaturrecherche durchgeführt. Dass Cannabis in Deutschland trotz Verbot konsumiert wird, zeigt die Lebenszeitprävalenz von über 28 %. Es wurde herausgestellt, dass Cannabis insbesondere für Jugendliche gesundheitliche Gefahren mit sich bringt. Auf Grund der Illegalität wird das Cannabis unkontrolliert auf dem Schwarzmarkt verkauft, weshalb es oftmals zu minderwertiger Qualität oder sogar Streckmitteln und Verunreinigungen kommt, die zusätzliche Gesundheitsrisiken bergen. Ebenfalls wird der Kontakt zu anderen illegalen Drogen gefördert. Staaten, die Cannabis bereits legalisiert haben, zeigen, dass der Konsum kaum anstieg und bei Jugendlichen sogar rückläufig war. Bezüglich cannabisinduzierter Krankheiten konnte ein Anstieg festgestellt werden, der allerdings auf die steigende gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz von Cannabis zurückzuführen ist. Erstere Forschungsfrage lässt sich demnach damit beantworten, dass mit dem Wegfallen versteckter Gefahren des Schwarzmarktes der Jugend- und Gesundheitsschutz gefördert werden kann, da das alleinige Verbot nicht vom Konsum abhält. Mit gewissen Rahmenbedingungen, wie z.B. dem Preis, Verkaufsstellen, Höchstabgabemengen, Produktion und THC-Obergrenzen kann die Gesundheit der Konsumenten geschützt sowie auch die Häufigkeit und Intensität des Konsums eingeschränkt werden. Somit schützt die Legalisierung von Cannabis unter den richtigen Rahmenbedingungen effektiv die Gesundheit von Jugendlichen sowie allen Cannabiskonsumenten, während darüber hinaus finanzielle Vorteile entstehen. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15970 ER - TY - THES A1 - Brender, Nadja T1 - Effects of Simulated Drought on Microbial Activity in Biologically and Conventionally managed Soils N2 - Increasing droughts and intensified agricultural management cause stress and disturbance on agricultural soil, but their effects on soil microbial activity are not fully known yet. This thesis studied the effects of induced short-term drought in two contrasting agricultural management systems, namely biodynamic (BioDyn) and conventional (ConMin), on microbial activity. The soil samples taken from the DOK long-term trial were analysed using MicroResp™, fluorometric enzyme assays and disease suppression bioassays. Soil basal- and multiple substrate-induced respiration (MSIR), microbial functional diversity, extracellular enzymatic activity (EEA) and soil suppressiveness against Pythium ultimum (Pu) were evaluated as indicators for microbial activity. Drought increased basal respiration but had no effects on other parameters. Conventional farming decreased EEA involved in carbon (C)- and nitrogen (N)-cycling, while it increased phosphorus (P)-cycling. No significant effects on the interaction between farming system and drought were found. The results indicate that organic farming has, to some extent, positive effects on microbial activity while drought does not decrease activity but induces stress in microorganisms. KW - Drought KW - Agricultural management KW - Disease suppression KW - Microbial activity Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Siamudaala, Nathan T1 - Enhancing the Resilience of the Zambian Maize and Aquaculture Value Chains N2 - Many Zambian people depend on Maize for their livelihoods and much of their nutrition. With the increase in the number of disruptions globally, much of the Zambian population is at risk of suffering from malnutrition. Also, the Maize bias has not assisted poverty reduction, especially in rural areas. In response, the Zambian government has urged farmers to diversify and invest in other agricultural sectors. One industry that has been of interest to the state is the aquaculture sector. This thesis aims to understand the resilience of Maize and aquaculture value chains to offer policy recommendations to decision-makers. To that end, this study utilizes a metric called the Farmers Adaptive Ratio, which looks at a loss in a food systems resilience after a disturbance occurs and a value chain resilience assessment questionnaire in order to understand reasons for or the lack of resilience. Results show that the Zambian Maize value chain is not resilient to the Fall Army Worm and Droughts. However, the disruptions do not affect all actors in the same way. For example, the study discovered that small-scale farmers are the most vulnerable to shocks. The aquaculture value chain displayed much higher resilience than the Maize value chain. The most significant disturbance is the volatile feed prices. The resilience of both value chains can be enhanced by employing long-term irrigation policies and investing in research and development to find local solutions to some of the disturbances. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Kouis, Zacharias T1 - Photovoltaic power potential in Cyprus and how the synergies observed in an Agrivoltaic system affect the efficiency of food and energy production N2 - Cyprus plans to drastically increase its share of RES grid penetration from 16.7% in 2020 to 22.9% in 2030 by taking advantage of the sun’s energy abundance in the region and the favorable climatic conditions available. In this study, the solar potential of Cyprus through PV technology will be assessed and quantified with the use of PVGIS tool on three different levels: theoretical, practical and economical, while spatial representation of the region’s potential will allow for better comprehension of the concept. Land use constraints being a major limitation for the implementations of such concepts can be avoided with the dual use of land in a scheme known as Agrivoltaics. The coexistence of crop and energy production can give rise to synergies that affect the efficiency of such schemes. This paper using a qualitative approach will investigate and analyse these possible synergies and will identify barriers that might arouse. Results demonstrate yearly GHI and DNI values of 1963.62 kWh/m2 and 2201.61 kWh/m2 respectively, while yearly PVOUT accounts for 1828.75 kWh/kWp with a seasonality index of 1.4 and LCOE value of €0.053/kWh, evidencing undoubtedly the resource’s potential in the region. Within an agrivoltaic system nine categories of synergies where identified indicating an overall positive effect in the efficiency of food-energy nexus. The limpid representation of the PV energy resource potential in Cyprus and the comprehensive description of the arousing synergies can propel further exploitation of the agrivoltaic concept within the region. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15707 ER - TY - THES A1 - Islam, Md Ariful T1 - Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on plant growth, yield, and plant-parasitic nematode control in organic tomato production: A field study and a systematic review N2 - The symbiotic relationship between plants and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is widely known. However, the effect of AMF on plant growth and overall yield, together with plant physiology and soil metabolism under inappropriate field conditions, shows ambiguous conclusions. Moreover, AMF in organic farming systems may be less effective because organic farming excludes most biocides and water-soluble fertilizers and generally have more diversified rotations. AMF can be used as a natural tool to reduce the effect of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) as well. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of AMF on plant growth, yield, and PPN in organic tomato production. The study consists of a field study and a systematic review. A renowned tomato variety and a mixture of AMF inoculum were used in an organic greenhouse with a controlled irrigation system for the field experiment. In addition, a Systematic Literature Review using the PRISMA framework was conducted to investigate the effect of AMF on the PPN population. For the simplicity of this review, PPN Pratylenchus spp. (PS) was only included, as AMF inoculated plants exhibit better tolerance under PS pressure. Results showed no significant increase in overall tomato production in response to AMF application. However, a positive correlation was found between AMF and PS population densities, as most studies indicated no effect or decrease in the PS population. Different AMF and PS interaction results indicate the involvement of different cultivars, soil characteristics, temperature, and various AMF and crop species. The mechanisms involved in these interactions are reviewed and could be an object for further study. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Mizane, Amal T1 - Implementation of organic agriculture and sustainability thinking in higher agricultural education in Uganda N2 - Several significant reforms have been implemented by the Ugandan government in the last few years aimed at converting conventional agriculture into organic agriculture. To analyze the impact of organic agriculture policies on the education system in Uganda, in this study, it has been assessed the number of courses, training institutions, and University programs available during the past years. The researcher also examined from the students' perspective the limitations and possible improvements of the organic agriculture courses to identify possible gaps and develop better strategies. Furthermore, the researcher interviewed students from Uganda Martyrs University, a leading African University in Agro-ecological solutions, with top-rated courses in Organic Agriculture and Agroecology. The research revealed there are several courses available in Uganda based on the policies found. Most programs are dealing with Agroecology and Organic agriculture. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Cheung, Ho Yu T1 - Comparison of wheel and rubber track drives for tractors regarding masses, mass inertias, energy demands and tractor mechanics N2 - Soil compaction is a major concern in agriculture. As farming machinery develops to be larger and heavier, the risk of soil compaction increases. Tractors with rubber tracks have been developed to increase the contact area with soil in order to reduce the risk of soil compaction as well as to increase tractive performance. However, tractors with rubber tracks have increased mass due to the track components. Therefore, the combined effect of rubber tracks was investigated. Comparison of tyres and rubber tracks for tractors on mass, mass inertia, tractor mechanics, energy demand, and soil compaction were investigated. Configurations of tractors consisting of combinations of tyres and interchangeable rubber tracks are evaluated in calculations and in simulation tool Terranimo. Simplified rubber track models were built in order to investigate effect of inertia from the rotational components on energy demand. A theoretical scenario was constructed to calculate the energy demand for the predefined workload. Experimental data in past research showed that the superior tractive performance of rubber track is more apparent in looser soil. In the energy demand calculation part of the thesis the tracked configurations resulted in a higher energy demand. The tracked configurations also showed effect on reducing risk of soil compaction in the same defined scenario. However, the increased energy demand, hence higher fuel consumption and energy efficiency is a downside of the tracked configurations, and the selection between tyre and rubber track should depend on the situation. KW - Rubber tracks KW - Soil compaction KW - Tractor KW - Energy demand KW - Agriculture Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Ruiz, Yudit T1 - Investigation of Self-Healing in Fruit Epidermis with Atomic Force Microscopy N2 - Different advanced microscopy techniques, mainly atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy are used to inspect damage healing on fruit epidermis using squash – Cucurbita pepo L. – as prime specimen. The approach and methods used followed instructions reported by comparable projects studying epicuticular wax regeneration with SEM and AFM. However, novel detailed and instructive information was collected and reported on how to perform tasks involving certain degrees of technical difficulty, such as using AFM to find a particular location on a sample that is, by definition, thousands of times larger than the target focal zone. A non-reported system was used to trace and cut out the damages on the fruit surface. The manipulation and lithography mode of the AFM JPK software is known to work to trace micro-scale designs on hard surfaces such as CDs but we prove it can also be used on soft and very irregular surfaces such as that of C. pepo – to a certain extent. A total of 19 scratches and one round-shaped damage were cut and optical information was collected through time with AFM. All relevant parameters were measured with the JPKs built-in measuring tool and information was collected and later plotted on excel spreadsheets. Damage sealing was found to happen for all cases and for almost all different parameters -length, depth, width. The characteristics of all cases reported are unique – follow up times vary from minutes to hours and other features such as initial damage size and the force applied for its creation are different. However, damage sealing did not seem to correlate with any of these. Samples cut from specimens several days after purchase or simply from specimens with a rough, dry surface seemed to progress much more slowly than those coming from fresh-looking samples. The focus of the study was the fruit cuticle (stiff polymeric film covering the outer surface of all higher plants). To make sure that the processes of healing observed actually correspond to this part a) wax was removed in all of the samples and b) the cuticle of our model fruit was measured with light microscopy, showing that its thickness is much higher than the deepest of our AFM scratches. This way we aimed to prove that the regeneration observed represents actual cellulose regrowth and cellular activity healing the cutin layer. Progress is observed in all cases, which is a good sign. However, wax is known to regenerate immediately after removal in experiments with leaves. The fact that some of our damages seal within the first 10 minutes of observation may be an indication that wax is filling the scratch instead of other biological activity. Further research is needed to clarify the nature of this process. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Nosseir, Dominic T1 - Prototypisches Design einer barrierefreien E-Commerce- Website - gemäß der Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 N2 - This work focuses on accessibility on the internet, in this context a research for a prototype was developed and afterwards evaluated, to show the usability difference between an accessible and an inaccessible website. Both sites were evaluated with respectively three test subjects for every site, to find out which site is more user- friendly. For this purpose The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were explained. Afterwards ten E-Commerce-Sites that sell Dog Food were analyzed on their conformity to the WCAG, to find the most common WCAG-violations, in order to prevent these in the later implementation of the prototype. This prototype was developed in three stages, the first one was a paper-prototype to concept the structure. The second was modeled through the software „Figma“ to specify the styling. At the end the final prototype was implemented in HTML with the „Angular“ framework. Thereafter, the prototype was examined through user-tests to check if there were usability-errors or inaccessible elements, that need to be fixed in order to accomplish an accessible prototype. After the result were evaluated and the found accessibility- errors were fixed. The prototype went again through a usability-test execution, to ensure that the prototype is accessible. The result show, that the accessible site is more user-friendly and WCAG compliant than the inaccessible site. So the statement can be made that the WCAG-conformity increases the usability of a website. KW - Barrierefreiheit KW - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines KW - Prototyping KW - User Testing KW - Evaluation Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Skrzypietz, Timo T1 - Analyse und Handlungsempfehlungen zur Zufriedenheit von Mitarbeitenden einer Privatärztlichen Verrechnungsstelle unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der COVID-19-Pandemie N2 - In dieser Bachelorarbeit wird eine Mitarbeiterbefragung in Form einer Befragung konzipiert und in einer Privatärztlichen Verrechnungsstelle, der PVS-Gruppe, durchgeführt. Dabei wird zunächst mit Hilfe von vier verschiedenen Modulen zur Arbeitsplatzausstattung, allgemeinen Mitarbeiter- zufriedenheit, Arbeitsbelastung und der Gesundheit am Arbeitsplatz die Zufriedenheit der Mitar- beiter, sowie ihre Stärken und Schwächen identifiziert. Die Identifizierung dieser wird mit Hilfe von acht Forschungsfragen vorgenommen. Der Aufbau des Fragebogens wird mit Hilfe von offe- nen und geschlossenen Fragetypen durchgeführt. Die geschlossenen Fragen zeichnen sich durch gleichförmige Skalen und Antworten aus und sind in Form von Single-Choice- und Multiple- Choice-Aufgabe gestellt. Offene Fragen werden eingesetzt, um individuelle Meinungen und Ideen der Mitarbeiter zu erfassen. Die Umfrage erfolgt online mit der Befragungssoftware des Anbieters „Survio“ über einen Befragungszeitraum von zwei Wochen. Hierbei werden alle 750 Mitarbeiter der elf bundesweit verteilten Standorte erreicht. Die Ergebnisse der Mitarbeiterbefragung wurden einem Qualitätscheck zur Validierung unterzogen und anhand der Forschungsfragen in Bezug zum jeweiligen Modul ausgewertet. Anhand dieser Auswertung wurde eine SWOT-Analyse durchge- führt, welche die Stärken, Schwächen, Chancen und Risiken des Unternehmens aufzeigen soll. Außerdem werden darauf basierend Handlungsleitlinien entwickelt, die zu einer kontinuierlichen Verbesserung der Zufriedenheit der Mitarbeiter führen sollen und somit das Ziel, die Steigerung der Zufriedenheit der Mitarbeiter, zu unterstützen. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Zhu, Fangyue T1 - Physiologically structured population model of Dikerogammarus villosus in River Rhine: Analysis of sensitivity and uncertainty N2 - In this research, we coupled all biological processes of individual level i.e., growth, mortality,and reproduction to establish a Physiologically structured population model (PSPM) and simulate physiologically structured population dynamics of Dikerogammarus villosus (killer shrimp) in River Rhine. In order to study the influence of the changes of model parameters on the model results, we divided the physiological population model of killer shrimp into four levels,first level: Function-Level, second Level: Individual-level, third Level: Cohort-level and fourth Level: Population-level. And studied the effect of each level by slightly changing the values (±10%) of the parameters. And the sensitivity index of each parameter is obtained by calculating the different final results of the model. In this study, the parameters with the most important effects on the three important physiological processes of growth, death and reproduction were successfully identified, and the parameters with the highest sensitivity were also identified. Finding high-sensitivity parameters can help researchers effectively improve model accuracy and reduce uncertainty. It can also simplify the model, allowing researchers to focus on highly sensitive parameters. Key words: Dikerogammarus villosus, Physiologically structured population model, PSPM,Sensitivity Analysis. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Lavasanifar, Parsa T1 - Comparative analysis of guide RNA design tools N2 - Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR), has rapidly come to the forefront of genome engineering and has revolutionized the field. Today, CRISPR-Cas is regarded to be the most effective and efficient tool in genome editing. It is considered to have many applications in medicine, agriculture and biotechnology. The Cas protein and gRNA are two of the most crucial components of the CRISPR-Cas system. Currently, there are barriers that prevent the full potential of CRISPR-Cas systems in clinical applications, including, ethical concerns, off-target effects, immune system response, method of delivery. Off-target prevention relies heavily on gRNA analysis. With the help of technology and algorithms developed based on researches, there have been many bioinformatical tools focused on the off-target activity inhibition and increasing efficiency. In order to achieve practical use of CRISPR systems, there needs to be more predictive bioinformatical tools to minimize the off-target activity. This thesis aims to review some of these tools and discusses the criteria for future bioinformatical tools’ development by addressing the current limitations and challenges. This thesis is written theoretically by using various reputable resources such as PubMed in English. Because many of the tools covered in this thesis had no prior reviews, the author had to learn how to use them, therefore this thesis does not cover all of their features for professional users. In the result section, the author has provided figures from the interface of the tools along with description of the functionality of the algorithms in use. All of the mentioned tools are then examined in the discussion part. There, features such as speed, ease of use for beginners, price, being open-source, being web or local based, flexibility in working with other tools and batch analysis are reviewed and compared. There short conclusive results are also depicted in a table for effective comparison. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15307 ER - TY - THES A1 - Wu, Ziang T1 - Significance of gut microbiota in prognosis of cancer therapy-induced rectal mucositis and treatment outcome N2 - Colorectal cancer is a common type of cancer. Chemotherapy is an important method to treat cancer. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a commonly used drug in chemotherapy regimens. 5-FU not only inhibited cancer cell division but also accelerated the apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells. lead to colorectal mucositis. Some patients will develop severe mucositis, making subsequent treatment difficult and even life-threatening. The role of gut microbiota in the process of 5-FU-induced colorectal mucositis, and the regulation of gut microbiota through dietary regimens to reduce the possibility of colorectal mucositis deterioration are the research directions of this thesis. This thesis uses PubMed, NCBI and textbooks as the main reference sources, and some information comes from trusted websites. Through review and integration of research, it was concluded that gut microbiota played a non-negligible role in 5-FU-induced colorectal mucositis. Probiotics help maintain the stability of the intestinal mucosal barrier. The main cause of colorectal mucositis is that 5-FU suppresses the immune system and disrupts the immune system. Under the influence of 5-FU, intestinal flora dysbiosis occurs, and the intestinal mucosal barrier function is negatively affected. This leads to the worsening of colorectal mucositis. It can be inferred from research that a reasonable dietary regimen can reduce the possibility of exacerbation of colorectal mucositis. Furthermore, the digestive tract should be viewed as a whole. The role of the stomach and small intestine in the process of 5-FU-induced colorectal mucositis still needs further study. The research of gut microbes in this thesis focuses on Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. Pathogenic/opportunistic pathogens and other probiotics are understudied. More in-depth studies are still needed on the role of gut microbes in the process of 5-FU-induced colorectal mucositis KW - Colorectal mucositis KW - Micobiota Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15323 ER - TY - THES A1 - Kim, Wooyong T1 - 3D bioprinting of cartilage tissue: Current advances and challenges in tissue engineering N2 - As industrial technologies develop, some techniques were adopted and applied in medical fields for treatment improvement. Among them, 3D bioprinting is regarded as a rising and trending technology in the tissue engineering area. This is because not only does it offer patients customized organs or tissues, but also it can lower animal test dependency on drug testing. This paper is mainly focused on the use of 3D printing as a cartilage tissue fabrication for transplantation. In the beginning, general information and background knowledge concerning cartilage and bioprinting approaches were addressed. Subsequently, current research results from eight research teams related to cartilage tissue printing and grafting were introduced. Then the reports were classified and sorted into several groups to analyze and evaluate various methods' properties, advantages, and disadvantages. After that, some classic and traditional ways to produce artificial tissues without 3D bioprinting techniques were described to prove the strength of the novel tissue engineering technology. In the end, several side points, such as limitations, 3D bioprinting usages in fields other than tissue transplantation, market value, and outlook of bioprinting, were discussed. Information and sources were retrieved using Google and PubMed database search engines under specific inclusion and exclusion criteria through a PCC concept. Although the 3D bioprinting technique is still in development processes, it has a high potential to be a game-changing approach in the medical and pharmaceutical fields after commercialization in the future. KW - 3D bioprinting KW - Cartilage KW - Tissue transplantation Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15373 ER - TY - THES A1 - Mitchell de Morais Pereira, Amanda T1 - NATION BRANDING THROUGH CULTURE EXPORT SYSTEM MODEL. The implicit relationship of the South Korean Government Nation Branding and the Creative Industry: 1990-2021 N2 - This thesis contributed to the fields of Policy Science and Nation Branding by creating a systematic analysis of actors’ behavior, and analyzing in-depth the dynamics of South Korea’s government-related actors who are involved with culture-related strategies. South Korea was used as the base for the modeling, considering its observed success in integrated strategies to promote the countries’ image through culture. The Nation Branding model proposed, has culture as its main driver, focusing on content creation and culture-related collaborations as the main tactic to disseminate culture and information, seeking to leave positive impressions on the foreign public, increasing the country-affinity factor in decision-making. The model's main characteristic is task-focused structuring and flexible boundaries. Defined boundaries and action limitations would preclude collabotrations and similar efforts by different actors. Overlapping efforts in this model are not a waste of energy, as all actors use the same tool: culture; the more positive value each actor can produce regarding culture will be added as a resource to the other actors. The model proposed in this paper is based on only one known strategy, yet, it provides enough information for a starting point; further research of other systems and comparative studies are necessary to develop and test the model. KW - Nation branding KW - Culture policy KW - Public diplomacy KW - Economic KW - Social development Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Salobir, Randy T1 - Dark Patterns in Videospielen – Unterschiede zwischen Casual-, Core- und Hardcore-Gamern N2 - Gaming has become a huge industry. In an attempt to generate more revenue, manipulative design decisions, aimed towards making the consumer act in certain ways or perform certain actions, which are beneficial to the developers of the game, have become a common sight. Those design decisions have become known under the umbrella term “Dark Patterns”. While individual Dark Patterns have already been researched on their impact on gamers as a whole, it stands to reason that groups with widely different gaming behaviors would exhibit differences in their exposure and vulnerability towards these patterns. This bachelor’s thesis aims to use a quantitative approach in the form of an online survey (n=465), to research this. For that, the survey asked questions about the participants gaming behavior and interactions with a wide array of Dark Patterns. The participants will then be grouped into casual-, core- and hardcore gamers based on their answers about their gaming behavior, after which the groups will then be directly compared in terms of their exposure and vulnerability towards Dark Patterns, in order to find any significant differences. Finally, these results will be discussed and suggestions for further research will be offered. KW - Videospiele KW - Videogames KW - Dark Pattern KW - Gamer Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-14911 ER - TY - THES A1 - Pöytäniemi, Pinja T1 - Communication for development: The case of promoting organic farming in northern Ghana N2 - This case study uses a participatory approach to evaluate challenges in communication for development in an agricultural market-based project located in Northern Ghana, “Organic Markets for Development,” The project engages rural communities around Ghana's largest National Park Mole. The four research questions were 1) How do the communication methods used in the OM4D project influence the adoption process of organic farming among small- scale farmers? 2) What is the communication structure and flow of information within the OM4D project social network? 3) What are the challenges in communication that are hindering the adoption process? and 4) Which recommendations can be made to tackle the challenges faced, improve communication, and build organizational communication capacity based on the learnings of this research? The findings indicate that such interventions have high levels of conflict that are essential to moderate by using effective communication methods. The formal third-party organic certification system forces the OM4D project to use the top-down approach. Also, attitudes originating from a top-down approach were observed, where low adoption is accounted for on farmer characteristics rather than limiting socio-economic factors. Overall, the project succeeded in disseminating information and awareness-raising, but the communication methods were insufficient to facilitate the adoption process and establish a shared understanding and practical problem-solving. The recommendation is to include participatory methods in the project to promote effective community capacity building and engagement. KW - Communication for development Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Angenendt, Denis T1 - Erstellung einer Risiko- und Gefahrenanalyse zur Bewertung von allergenen, biologischen, chemischen, bio-chemischen und physikalischen Kontaminanten für die praktische Anwendung in der Lebensmittelindustrie N2 - This bachelor thesis deals with contaminants in the food industry and presents them in a hazard analysis and risk assessment according to the specifications of Sauels Frische Wurst GmbH Fleischwaren & Co. KG. Allergenic, microbiological, chemical, bio-chemical and physical contaminants were considered. The allergenic contaminants include gluten, crustaceans and molluscs, fish, eggs, soy, milk, nuts, peanuts and celery. The microbiological ones are the apathogenic microorganisms yeasts and molds and the pathogenic microorganisms are Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfingens, Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes, Toxoplasma gondii and Staphylococus areus. Hard plastic and metal were evaluated as possible foreign bodies. In the chemistry section, intentional radiation, acrylamide, mercury, bisphenol A, and ethylene oxide were addressed. The bio-chemical contaminant considered was aflatoxin. The following contaminants were evaluated as highly critical. Whilst all allergens pose a risk due to their harmful potential, it is the incorrect labeling which constitutes the risk from the producers perspective. Among microbiological contaminants, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli are the microorganisms with the highest risk. This is based on the fact that these are typical recontamination bacteria. The physical contaminants described all recieved the same rating in the hazard analysis and risk assessment. The actual nature of a foreign body determines the hazard in each individual case in the assessment. Ethylene oxide has been evaluated as the most critical in the analysis among the chemical contaminants, because of its high probability of occurrence, which is based on the calculated recall rate and its carcinogenicity. The highest risk of the bio-chemical contaminants comes from aflatoxins, as this is the only mycotoxin that is pathogenic. The application of hazard analysis and risk assessment must take into account company-specific factors. New scientific findings, detection methods and other relevant contaminants must be continuously incorporated into the analysis. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Künneke, Felix T1 - The influence of tire wear particles (microplastic) on food security With a focus on agriculturally relevant plant species (Avena sativa L., Brassica napus L. & Zea mays L.) and soil organisms (Aporrectodea caliginosa & Eisenia andrei) N2 - Development and implementation of environmental assessment concepts must gain stronger positions in policy making. This thesis focuses on the influences of currently, widely unregulated microplastic tire wear particle emissions on food security. An overview of global differences in microplastic waste treatments is given. Changes in behavior, law-making and technical innovations are argued to be equally needed to stop the ongoing pollution to prevent negative impacts on ecosystem services as the foundations for food security. In an experimental set-up, three particle size ranges (<125,125-250, 250-500 μm) in three treatment concentrations (0.01, 0.1, 1 %) with a negative control were applied to determine the influence of microplastic tire wear on three arable crop species and two earthworm species. Evenly, for all administrations, no significant effects could be observed on the organisms’ height, biomass, RSR, or body tissue. Nevertheless, the results should not be interpreted as an all-clear signal, as the experiments observed only a few of the vast amounts of microplastic sinks. More data is needed as the EU Commission's recent “call to action” emphasizes. Determination of species resilience factors and traits shall be foci of future investigations to find cofactors for solution strategies. A more precise definition of microplastic and its additives classifications will certainly aid the consensus on priorities in research and consumers' clarity about biodegradability. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Roehrich, Anne-Victoria T1 - Contribution of relocated biology technologies and mobile health for the estimation of cardiovascular risks. N2 - Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the first mortality causes in the world (Khan 2021) and one of the main causes of death in Belgium. It is gauged that 17.9 million lives are taken every year worldwide. They are the causes of multiple issues, such as premature death or disabilities. They are as well causing a consequent impact on socio-economic aspects. One of the cardiovascular risks, which is one of the main thematic of this thesis is Atrial Fibrillation (AF). AF is not a new pathology, it was already described in 1827 by Robert Adams, and then in the 20th century, William Einthoven, by inventing electrocardiography, enabled the first record of it (Staerk, Sherer, Ko et al. ,year 2017). AF is a type of cardiac arrhythmia, and the most sustained one. In Belgium it is estimated that 150 000 persons are affected by it. Being an important factor in the prevention of Heart Failures (HF) and Cardiovascular risks, the management, and the screening of it are a predominant matter taking in consideration the risks brought by it. Different protocols are established in hospitals, however it is a bit more limited in general practitioner’s offices (GP practices). The introduction to digital health devices can as well be delicate, as many benefits they can offer, a few disadvantages have to be taken into account in order to include them to a proper protocol. Establishing a protocol including different factors such as relocated biology technologies and mobile health, while being external to the GP practices, can prove itself to be a challenge. KW - Cardiology KW - Biotechnologies Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15232 ER - TY - THES A1 - Hinz, Nikola T1 - Brand Equity’s Impact on Firm Performance and the Supporting Role of Social Media N2 - The 21st-century has brought about a range of new, digital media which have experienced an exponential growth in popularity. This has been further supported by the emergence of social media, which provides users a platform for social networking and brands and firms an opportunity to reach consumers in a new manner. The integration of social media into marketing communications of a firm offers numerous benefits, including the strengthening of branding activities and the creation of heightened levels of brand equity, which ultimately translate into increased levels of financial performance as a result of increased sales and augmented pricing strategies and overall firm performance. Due to the tremendous impact of social media platforms, it is necessary for firms to strategically assess this topic and to consider numerous aspects to be able to fully grasp the benefits social media inherits. Therefore, a practical model was developed, which provides firms with a strategic approach towards integrating social media into their marketing practices and provides means for monitoring and controlling the new marketing channel. By utilizing social media, firms and brands can augment their overall performance as well as brand equity levels, which provides them with a competitive advantage and positioning in the market against the multitude of competitors. However, due to the dynamic nature of the sphere of social media, new developments and changes must be closely observed and adapted to, which requires an agile management and marketing of firms, as well as the allocation of adequate resources. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15258 ER - TY - THES A1 - Salobir, Jan T1 - Relaunch eines Kommunalen Webauftritts beim KRZN N2 - In der Arbeit wird der Prozess des Relaunches eines kommunalen Webauftritts Schritt für Schritt analysiert und besonders darauf geachtet, wie die gesetzlichen Anforderungen für so einen Webauftritt umgesetzt werden. KW - E-Government KW - Onlinezugangsgesetz KW - Webauftritt KW - Verwaltungsinformatik KW - Verwaltungsdigitalisierung Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15214 ER - TY - THES A1 - Okos, Martin T1 - Ethische und rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen des Maschinellen Lernens - eine systematische Analyse zur Konzeptualisierung und Regulation innerhalb der EU N2 - Die Entwicklungen des maschinellen Lernens und damit einhergehend auch der künstlichen Intelligenz umfassen immer mehr Anwendungsfälle im täglichen Leben. Je komplexer und autonomer diese Systeme werden, desto schwieriger lässt sich ihr Verhalten prognostizieren und es ist nicht auszuschließen, dass Situationen entstehen, die ethische und rechtliche Fragen aufwerfen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Untersuchung der erforderlichen Rahmenbedingungen für den Umgang mit diesen Technologien. Neben der Erklärung wesentlicher Begriffe aus dem Bereich der KI und Ethik werden durch die Recherche geeigneter Literatur über Pflegeroboter und dem autonomen Fahren zwei Anwendungsbereiche vorgestellt, die einen Bedarf an moralischen Maschinen aufweisen. Maßnahmen zur Regulierung innerhalb der Europäischen Union erfolgen durch das Anwenden bestehender und Erlassen neuer Gesetze sowie über die Definition ethischer Leitlinien, die ebenfalls als Teil der vorliegenden Arbeit behandelt werden. N2 - Developments in machine learning along with artificial intelligence are encompassing increasingly more use cases in everyday life. The more complex and autonomous these systems become, the harder it is to predict their behaviour, and it cannot be ruled out that situations emerge where ethical and legal questions arise. This thesis aims to investigate the necessary framework conditions for dealing with these technologies. In addition to explaining essential terminology from the domain of AI and ethics, two application areas that show a need for moral machines are presented by referencing contemporary literature on care robots and autonomous driving. The European Union provides regulatory measures by applying existing laws and enacting new ones, as well as by defining ethical guidelines, which are also addressed as part of this thesis. KW - Maschinelles Lernen KW - Künstliche Intelligenz KW - Ethik KW - Pflegeroboter KW - Autonomes Fahren Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15170 ER - TY - THES A1 - Lippmann, Viola T1 - Wie erleben Studierende ihr aktuelles Wohlbefinden während der Online-Lehre? Welche Meinungen vertreten sie zur digitalen Kommunikation seitens ihrer Hochschule? N2 - Mentales Wohlbefinden ist ein Teil der Gesundheit (WHO, 1946). Seit Beginn der Pandemie ist dieses bei den meisten, insbesondere bei jungen Menschen, zurückgegangen (Cox et al., 2020). Aufgrund der Isolation muss die Lehre online stattfinden, was mit vielen negativen Aspekten, wie weniger Spaß am Lernen, weniger Motivation, Stress und geringeren Leistungen einhergeht (Prowse et al., 2021). Es werden nur wenig positive Aspekte genannt, z. B. der Wegfall des Fahrweges und das individuelle Zeitmanagement (Traus et al., 2020). Ziel der Studie ist es, den aktuellen mentalen Wohlbefindenszustand (MWZ) der Studierenden und ihre Ansichten zur digitalen Kommunikation an ihrer Hochschule (HS) zu analysieren. Das Messinstrument ist das qualitative teilstrukturierte Interview, da das Ziel die Erfassung individueller Meinungen ist und das Thema noch recht neu ist. Die Fallauswahl beschränkt sich auf acht junge Studierende aus verschiedenen Teilen Deutschlands, die in unterschiedlichen Studiengängen eingeschrieben sind. Die Auswertungsmethode ist die qualitative Inhaltsanalyse nach Mayring. Das Wohlbefinden der Studierenden hat sich verschlechtert, vor allem aufgrund des mangelnden sozialen Miteinanders. Die Studierenden möchten wieder ins normale Studierendenleben zurückkehren. Bei der digitalen Kommunikation wird bspw. die Organisation des Prüfungsmanagements kritisiert, dass die Informationen sehr spät bekannt gemacht werden und die große Anzahl an verschiedenen Lehrportalen. Die schnelle Möglichkeit, Fragen über Frageforen zu stellen, wird gelobt. Studierende wünschen sich, ein paar offene Uni Räume, für praktische Tätigkeiten, nutzen zu können. Nach Maslows stellen die sozialen Bedürfnisse eine bedeutsame Ebene dar. Dadurch kann die hohe Bedeutung des sozialen Aspekts der Teilnehmenden begründet werden. Zukünftige Forschungsarbeiten könnten die Risikofaktoren genauer betrachten und ebenfalls wären Längsschnittstudien interessant. N2 - Mental well-being is a part of health (WHO, 1946). Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has declined for most people, especially young people (Cox et al., 2020). Because of isolation, teaching has to take place online, which is associated with many negative aspects, such as less fun learning, less motivation, stress and lower performance (Prowse et al., 2021). Only a few positive aspects are mentioned, e. g. the elimination of the lane and individual time management (Traus et al., 2020). The aim of the study is to analyse the current state of mental well-being of students and their views on digital communication at their university. The measuring instrument is the qualitative semi-structured interview, since the aim is to collect individual opinions and the topic is still quite new. The case selection is limited to eight young students from different parts of Germany who are enrolled in different study programmes. The evaluation method is the qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. The well-being of students has deteriorated, mainly due to the lack of social interaction. Students want to return to normal student life. In digital communication, e. g. the organisation of the examination management criticises the fact that the information is published very late and the large number of different teaching portals. The quick opportunity to ask questions via question forums is praised. Students would like to use a few open university rooms for practical activities. According to Maslows, social needs are an important level. This explains the importance of the social aspect of the participants. Future research could take a closer look at risk factors and longitudinal studies would also be interesting. KW - Wohlbefinden KW - Corona KW - Gesundheit KW - Kommunikation KW - Online-Lehre KW - Well-being KW - Covid-19 KW - Well being KW - Health KW - Communication KW - Online-learning Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Stublla, Arlind T1 - Nitrogen fixation of Lathyrus odoratus (sweet pea), Vicia sativa (common vetch) and Phaseolus vulgaris (common beans) N2 - Current agricultural practices depend heavily on inorganic and organic fertilizer use. These fertilizers not only can cost a lot of money, but also impose major environmental and health risks for the farmers that apply it. A solution to this problem, is the use of legume`s BNF (biological nitrogen fixation) to ecologically and inexpensively increase the amount of nitrogen (N) in the soil and the crops grown by the farmers. The aim of this study is to investigate this ability in three plants: Lathyrus odoratus (sweet peas), Vicia sativa (common vetch) and Phaseolus vulgaris (common beans) with a greater focus on Lathyrus ssp. The plants were grown in the Rhine-Waal University`s greenhouse, where two treatments were applied: one treatment with no additional N added to the soil and the other treatment with 20 kg/ha N. The soil was a mixture of agricultural soil and quartz sand. To detect the BNF (%NDFA and mg NDFA), the 15N isotope dilution method was used. This method requires the application of 15N enriched fertilizer on both nitrogen fixer crop and a control crop (Secale cereale). As such for each plant species five pots with 4 plants (later thinned out to 3) and one pot for the control crop per treatment were planted. The plants were supported with sticks and ropes to properly allow them to grow. Phaseolus vulgaris was harvested with flowers and beans present, while Lathyrus odoratus and Vicia sativa showed no signs of flowers buds. All plant species had a good amount of %NDFA (nitrogen derived from atmosphere) with Phaseolus vulgaris achieving the highest amount of 71.31% for the 0N treatment and Lathyrus odoratus, 35.01% for the 20N treatment. The most amount of mg N derived from atmosphere (mg NDFA) was collected from Phaseolus vulgaris (33.464 and 27.858 mg NDFA for 0N and 20N treatment respectively). When investigated for correlation between several factors affecting BNF, length and nodule size had a positive significant relationship with BNF with a Spearman`s rho value of 0.69 and 0.39 respectively for the 0N treatment. Although Lathyrus odoratus had the lowest performance from all plant species, it has been suggested that this may be due the plant being in the initial stages of growth. Lathyrus odoratus will require field experiments to properly quantify the amount of BNF (kg/ha) and to assess the adaptability of the crop in field environments Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Ashour, Ahmed T1 - Self-Calibration of lateration-based localization systems N2 - Localization systems play an essential role in many applications nowadays; they are implemented in industrial, commercial, and even personal applications; it is always essential for some applications to pinpoint the location of a person or an object in space. In this thesis, I focus on lateration-based localization systems consisting of several stationary nodes or stations and several mobile stations or devices. Lateration techniques are used to find the relative distances between the static nodes and the mobile devices, such as time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDoA), and round-trip time (RTT). The location of the static nodes needs to be known to find the mobile device's location; thus, the system needs to be calibrated by entering the exact location of the static component to find the location of the mobile devices. In this thesis, I discuss the possibility of self-calibrating a lateration-based localization system by taking the relative measurements of a mobile device to the static nodes at random times without initially knowing either the mobile device's location or the locations of the static nodes. After modeling the system mathematically, I show that it is possible to detect the positions of the static nodes by deriving a nonlinear model of the geometric configuration that can be solved after making several assumptions by using numerical and optimization approaches, such as the trial-and-error or the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, it is possible to detect the positions of the static nodes; however, there are some limitations to this method as it requires a certain number of static nodes and a minimum number of recorded measurements to be able to find a unique solution to the system; these constraints differ depending on the nature of the system and the lateration technique used to record the measurements. KW - Self-Calibration KW - Localization systems KW - Lateration techniques Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15148 ER - TY - THES A1 - Njoki, Regina T1 - Relocation willingness in the EU N2 - The purpose of this thesis was to provide insights into the relocation willingness of potential candidates within the European Union, based on a real-life case study of recruitment in Germany. The thesis was split into two parts one being the theoretical framework that set the basis for this research and the other part being the case study. The case-study was carried out through the active sourcing approach of recruitment. Candidates fitting the profile needed to fill the job position of were contacted on LinkedIn and offered a job opportunity that required relocation to Germany, the responses that declined the messages were analyzed to find out why candidates were unwilling to relocate. Most of the responses that declined the job opportunity that required relocation were found to be from Romania and the main reason for declining was found to be `no interest in new job opportunities ́ which was the closely followed by a lack of desire to relocate. KW - HRM KW - Recruiting KW - Active sourcing KW - LinkedIn Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-15023 ER - TY - THES A1 - Vazquez Hernandez, Marcos T1 - Implementation, execution, and analysis of efficiency measurements to be used in the calculation of CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty vehicles as per Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400 N2 - Quick and reliable transport of goods within the European Union is possible, in part, due to the use of heavy-duty vehicles. Whether long-haul routes, or local and urban deliveries, heavy-duty vehicles are crucial for a large part of EU’s economic activity and the number of these vehicles on the road increases every year. However, they also are main contributors to the total greenhouse gas emissions of the road transport sector and play an important role in the total emissions of the European Union. Therefore, it is of great economic and environmental importance to closely monitor emissions and fuel efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles currently on the road and market, forcing manufacturers to reduce emissions from their vehicles and develop more energy-efficient technologies. For this purpose, the European Commission developed the VECTO simulation tool, reducing costs and time necessary for the approval process and monitoring of new vehicles in the EU. While generic values related to the CO₂ emissions and fuel efficiency characteristics of most components of heavy-duty vehicles are provided by the European Commission to use in VECTO simulations, accurate results require actual component testing. With no VECTO specific testing offered by vehicle testing specialists, this thesis aims to conduct an analysis of Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400, guideline for the use of VECTO, to identify requirements, develop and implement testing procedures in experimental tests, and validate results to ensure that the requirements of the regulation are met. KW - Drivetrain testing Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-14958 ER - TY - THES A1 - Kreitzen, Nora T1 - Comparative Study on Greenwashing in the Cosmetis Industry: A Content Analysis N2 - As climate change and the pollution of the planet become an increasing problem, consumers are becoming more environmentally aware and demand sustainable business practices from companies and sustainable ingredients to be used in cosmetic products. But not all companies operating in the cosmetics industry are able to hold true to the promise of sustainable actions and deceive consumers by misleading and false statements and behaviour, thus utilise “Greenwashing”. Nowadays, greenwashing is a well-know practice reducing trust in a brand and diminish its reputation. Therefore, the question arises what advantages companies generate by using greenwashing schemes. This study is based on the content analysis according to Kuckartz and detects misleading claims in sustainability reports and other non-financial reports. Therein, companies focus on presenting themselves as environmentally friendly and aim at improving their actions by highlight partnerships with NGOs to appear more sustainable. Thus, the reports are used as a marketing tool to attract stakeholders. But there are several lawsuits and articles against companies in the cosmetics industry implying otherwise and proving false and misleading statements regarding cosmetics, the ingredients, and the packaging. Meaning, companies attract more customers by seemingly meeting their demand for natural cosmetics and sustainable packaging, and therefore generate a larger consumer base implying higher profit. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-14481 ER - TY - THES A1 - Leng, Jiale T1 - Analysis of the Blueberry Project for Chinese agricultural SMEs: A Case Study on RBGEA’s Blueberry Project N2 - First of all, my sincere thanks to my thesis supervisor, Prof. Dr. Dietrich Darr, for his endless patience and attentiveness. For over a year from the start of my internship, he took time out of his busy teaching schedule to review, revise my thesis, point out problems and give me sound advice. It was very encouraging and uplifting to complete my project with his help and to gain so much useful experience. I am also very grateful to my other supervisor, Mr. Md Sofiullah, for his constant guidance and help with the structure, theoretical content of my thesis. Inspired by our exchanges, I have successfully completed the whole work of my thesis. In addition to this, I would like to thank the management and staff of RBGEA for their help in writing this paper, Xuna Dai and Hongyan Zhang for providing various specific data and graphs, Hua Li and the entire management team for their support in substantive discussions and team work, and the six anonymous seasonal employees who provided information. Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Tran Bui, Minh Anh T1 - Initial Exchange Offerings and the Presence of Underpricing N2 - Cryptocurrency and blockchain entail various disruptive aspects, especially in finance. One of them is the formation of new financing mechanisms through the offer of tokens. Although they have opened new avenues for investors and allowed a vast number of entrepreneurs to raise a substantial amount of capital, the knowledge about their economic purposes and performance remains fragmented and heterogeneous. While initial coin offering (ICO) has been a more prominent focus in past studies, few to none encompass initial exchange offering (IEO). This paper is leveraged to address this gap and to provide a better understanding of IEO by primarily analysing the shift from crowdfunding, then, it considers the underlying technology and the wide variety of tokens. Subsequently, the main rationales are underlined, dividing into the incentives for both entrepreneurs and investors as well as challenges around the concept. Followed by an empirical examination and theoretical explanations for the findings of underpricing in this novel mechanism, in certain cases, results are connected to earlier ICO and IPO studies. For this research, a sample of 105 IEOs was manually collected and statistical descriptive tools, as well as a robust regression model, were conducted. It is discovered that the presence of underpricing is significant and IEOs are subject to heavy underpricing. Moreover, a set of variables that could influence the magnitude of underpricing was presented, suggesting for instance that greater issue size has significant effects whereas an optimistic market would likely increase underpricing. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-14682 ER - TY - THES A1 - Brandt, Moritz Lasse T1 - The fungal endophyte Metarhizium brunneum: Possible multifunctional plant promoter in sustainable agriculture N2 - The overuse of mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides in the world's agricultural sectors continues to be exorbitant, and is associated with a number of serious consequences for the entire complex environment. The reasons for this include the steadily growing world population and the accompanying degradation of the soil. As an alternative to chemical agents, biological plant protection/strengthening stimulants based on effective microorganisms have become established in the last decades. Research in recent years has focused on entomopathogenic fungal endophytes. The fungal endophyte Metarhizium brunneum, has long been proving its value as a mycoinsecticide in crop protection and there are indications of various plant-strengthening properties. The aim of this thesis is therefore to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge about the endophyte M. brunneum and at the same time, based on the literature, to discuss its potential as an alternative multifunctional plant promoter for sustainable agriculture. A literature research method was used to conduct a quantitative analysis of the existing knowledge on M. brunneum. The information and data collected as a result were systematically categorized and presented. The analysis has shown that the generalist M. brunneum covers a wide host range, has the ability to transfer nutrients in exchange, activates or produces plant hormones, compensates for stressors, and has many possibilities for detection and commercialization. The discussion of these results has led to the evidence that the endophyte can indeed be used as a plant growth promoter. The work also points to gaps in knowledge in several areas and emphasizes that further studies are needed. KW - Fungal endophyte KW - Metarhizium brunneum KW - Plant growth promoter KW - Metarhizium KW - Entomopathogenic fungi Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-14648 ER - TY - THES A1 - Fischer, Luca Cedric T1 - An Empirical Investigation on the Transparency of Capital Costs in the Annual Report among the DAX40 Companies N2 - This study identifies the transparency levels of the DAX40 companies regarding their disclosure of capital costs. With reference to a theoretical foundation, capital cost theory and its origins are outlined, while the respective financial reporting standards according to IFRS and HGB are discussed. In the matter of preliminary step before examining the annual reports of the mentioned German companies, transparency in financial reporting is critically assessed in an in-depth literature review. The topics of efficiency of transparency, motives for transparency variations and consequences of transparency for companies are included. As a result, five hypotheses were derived that build the basis for the subsequent empirical case study. Thus, H1 expects most of the companies within the DAX to not transparently publish their capital costs within their annual reports. H2 expects that none of the DAX companies are transparent about their calculation scheme and application regarding the beta coefficient. H3 assumes that most companies listed in the DAX are inconsistent with their capital costs used for the Impairment Only Approach compared to the capital costs communicated in the management report. H4 predicts that most DAX companies are not publishing separate WACC’s and derivation of capital cost parameters along their business units. Finally, H5 expects the ten new joiners within the DAX to be more transparent and consistent regarding their publication of capital costs and calculation schemes than their 30 peers. Ultimately, H1, H3, and H5 were rejected, while H2 and H4 were confirmed Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-13679 ER - TY - THES A1 - Hermannsdörfer, Frederic T1 - Mechanical Preparation of External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems N2 - The building industry relies heavily on energy conservation, energy efficiency, and resource efficiency. Thermal insulation composite systems (TICS) have been used to insulate building facades since the 1970s, resulting in significant energy savings. Additionally, as a result of EnEV 2002 implementation, energy consumption for building facades has gradually increased. The initial systems have reached the end of their useful life due to the durability of these composites, and an increasing amount of TICS waste has been generated in recent years. TICS are currently processed solely in waste incineration plants; no other method of recycling these devices exists. Due to technical constraints and the high calorific value of TICS, thermal disposal alone is not feasible. Additionally, because TICS systems are comprised of numerous components, significant resources will be wasted if they are not recycled properly. This study examines actual TICS waste that is technologically processed in order to recycle it based on its composition. KW - WDVS KW - ETICS KW - Mechanical preparation Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Hoang, Le Duy T1 - A look into the importance of social capital in agriculture extension of developing countries: A case study of the black carp project value chain extension in Hoa Binh, Vietnam N2 - Agriculture extension is an important tool for development, especially in many developing countries where a large part of their economy and population depends on the agriculture industries. As such, many studies have been conducted on how to best utilize an organization available resource to trigger developments with extension activities, but often overlook other available resources that are less tangible, such as social capital – the social relationship value of an individual or organization. This thesis presented how social capital such as linkage and connection from influential actors in society can be utilized by extension projects to trigger development in less well-off communities, via a case study of a value chain extension project in Hoa Binh, Vietnam. The study examines the economic results of the project to identify aspects of the chain that are able to deliver value, and expand upon it with interviews of involving actors to investigate the reasoning for their cooperation. The result strongly suggests that the participants of the project were able to enjoy economic benefit due to the project ability to utilize existing social capital of local businesses to facilitate the cooperation of the value chain, which are capable of generating higher profit than regular channels for the participant involved. Keywords: agriculture extension, aquaculture, social capital, value chain, Vietnam, Hoa Binh. Y1 - 2022 ER -