Open Access

This data paper presents a dataset, of 12,361 observations compiled from the Happiness Meanders project, which explores cultural variations in individual and family well-being, ideal and actual happiness, emotional experiences and expressions, and cultural models of selfhood across 48 countries. Participants were recruited through academic networks. Data were collected using standardised scales, including the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Interdependent Happiness Scale, the Cultural Models of Selfhood Scale, and the Emotional Experience and Expression inspired by Affect Valuation Index. The dataset underwent thorough technical validation, including checks for variable consistency, handling missing data, and identifying potential response biases. A filter for data quality was applied, with potentially unreliable data flagged for exclusion. This dataset offers a valuable resource for examining cultural influences on emotional dynamics (frequence of experience and expression), individual and family oriented evaluations of happiness, ideal and actual evaluation of happiness, cultural models of selfhood, and can support further research in cross-cultural psychology and related social sciences.

Cultured orchards, that remain for many years, are able to become a great value for insects and spiders, if the negative influences of cultivation will be minimized by specific measures. In our project we made on four integrated cultured orchards and one orchard meadow as reference an intensive recording of the insects and arachnids, based on individual numbers, distribution to large groups, number of species (beetles, bugs), their biodiversity (Shannon), Red Data Book species and their influencing factors. By an evaluation form, created in project, the effects of five clusters of factors: separate structures, orchard structures, shading, mowing and application of pesticides. The visual presentation of the influencing factors with star-plot shows restricting effects on biodiversity and offers possibilities to rise the biodiversity. The proposed measures are aimed at increasing the biodiversity and decrease the negative effects of cultivation in cultured orchards. The largest structural diversity, adapted to cultivation, increases the availability of nesting sites, food, and wintering quarters for insects and spiders significant and develop stable populations.

We introduce a novel method for the implementation of shape optimization for non-parameterized shapes in fluid dynamics applications, where we propose to use the shape derivative to determine deformation fields with the help of the p− Laplacian for p > 2 . This approach is closely related to the computation of steepest descent directions of the shape functional in the W1,∞ − topology and refers to the recent publication Deckelnick et al. (A novel W1,∞ approach to shape optimisation with Lipschitz domains, 2021), where this idea is proposed. Our approach is demonstrated for shape optimization related to drag-minimal free floating bodies. The method is validated against existing approaches with respect to convergence of the optimization algorithm, the obtained shape, and regarding the quality of the computational grid after large deformations. Our numerical results strongly indicate that shape optimization related to the W1,∞-topology—though numerically more demanding—seems to be superior over the classical approaches invoking Hilbert space methods, concerning the convergence, the obtained shapes and the mesh quality after large deformations, in particular when the optimal shape features sharp corners.

The loss and fragmentation of natural habitats due to the intensification of agricultural land use have detrimental impacts on the biodiversity of arthropods. The reduction of natural habitats results in a decreased availability of essential resources, which may select for rapid development and phenotypes enhancing dispersal ability. We here compared replicated populations of the butterfly Coenonympha pamphilus in field‐caught females and their laboratory‐reared offspring across two landscape types: highly fragmented and intensified “modern” and less fragmented “traditional” agricultural landscapes. We also examined the effects of food stress and landscape parameters representing compositional and configurational landscape heterogeneity on intraspecific trait variation at different spatial scales. The differences between the two landscape types in butterfly traits were nonsignificant throughout, but both field‐caught females and their offspring exhibited various responses to the measured landscape parameters. In particular, landscapes with (1) high heterogeneity of habitat patches (i.e., relatively smaller grassland patches with high boundary length), (2) higher proportion of non‐crop habitats (i.e., grassland, forests, and woodland), and (3) lower proportion of crop fields seemed to select for phenotypes enhancing dispersal ability. Flight propensity of male offspring was increased under food stress, indicating plastic responses to resource scarcity. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the compositional and configurational landscape heterogeneity, namely parameters indicative of agricultural intensification, select for enhanced dispersal in C. pamphilus . As higher investment in dispersal often comes at a cost to reproduction, such trait shifts may reduce population viability, which may have important implications for insect declines in agricultural landscapes.

We introduce an index based on the composition of amphibian communities that can be used to assess and monitor over time the biotic integrity of wetlands and to evaluate the priority of these sites for conservation. The Rwanda Anuran-based Biotic-Integrity Index (RABI) integrates three sub-indices, which reflect the conservation priority of species based on their distribution in Rwanda, their conservation status, and their susceptibility to habitat alteration. The functionality of the RABI was tested on 51 wetland sites distributed over the five ecozones of Rwanda. The wetland sites showed a wide range of RABI values, with marked differences between the different ecozones. The RABI reliably identified sites with a high number of threatened, range-restricted, and habitat-sensitive species and sites with high species richness. Although wetlands in agriculturally exploited areas often had high anuran-species numbers, their assemblages contained mostly widespread generalist species, resulting in lower RABI values compared to sites with lower species numbers but with threatened, specialized species. Wetlands within the four Rwandan national parks had particularly high RABI values, confirming that these areas require special protection. We identified five sites with high conservation value outside the national parks that should be considered for future protection.

The rapid advancement of large language models (LLMs) has introduced powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools into educational environments. While AI assistants offer potential benefits for learning, concerns about over-reliance, reduced critical thinking, and impaired skill development have emerged. This thesis investigates how the timing of AI support (Just-in-Time vs. Always-On) and reflective mandates (Rationale-Required vs. Rationale-Optional) influence creative performance, learner autonomy, and critical engagement in AI-assisted data-science problem framing. Through a controlled 2x2 within-subjects factorial experimental design with 66 postgraduate participants, the study examines expert-rated idea quality, semantic diversity, perceived agency, AI reliance, cognitive load, and reflective reasoning across four AI-assisted conditions. The results show that Just-in-Time support and required reflection are independently associated with higher idea quality, greater agency, lower AI dependence, and more selective engagement with AI suggestions. The study does not assess delayed or long-term learning transfer; future work with longitudinal designs is needed to determine whether the immediate benefits observed here translate into durable skill development.

The ongoing global biodiversity loss is a major challenge of our time. It affects all groups of organisms, but is particularly well documented in birds. The Citril Finch Carduelis citrinella , one of the few bird species endemic to Europe, is one example currently suffering from substantial population declines. We here set out to document its population development over the past 14 years (records in 2011 and 2025) in a part of the Bavarian Alps and to identify the environmental factors being crucial for the occurrence of the species. In our study area around Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Citril Finch has declined by about 48% between 2011 and 2025. Currently occupied territories, as compared to former territories or control sites, were characterised by a richer supply of flowers, particularly of the Asteraceae family, higher numbers of solitary trees, and a concentration on south-facing slopes. Moreover, areas with stable rather than declining populations showed a shorter distance to the nearest water source, a higher proportion of Mountain Pine, and a longer distance to forest edges. These findings indicate negative impacts of reduced grazing intensity and climate change (drought periods). Our results highlight that preserving the Citril Finch’s alpine habitats depends strongly on traditional, low-intensity farming and appropriate pasture care to maintain the necessary flower-rich, open to semi-open habitats with solitary trees. Providing supplementary water sources would help to counteract the increasing water shortage caused by climate change. Given the documented population decline, targeted conservation measures in the Bavarian Alps, the species’ stronghold in Germany, are urgently needed.

The recent surge in the field of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has the potential to bring about transformative changes across a range of sectors, including software engineering and education. As GenAI tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are increasingly utilised in software engineering, it becomes imperative to understand the impact of these technologies on the software product. This study employs a methodological approach, comprising web scraping and data mining from LeetCode, with the objective of comparing the software quality of Python programs produced by LeetCode users with that generated by GPT-4o. In order to gain insight into these matters, this study addresses the question whether GPT-4o produces software of superior quality to that produced by humans. The findings indicate that GPT-4o does not present a considerable impediment to code quality, understandability, or runtime when generating code on a limited scale. Indeed, the generated code even exhibits significantly better values across all the three code quality dimensions in comparison to the user-written code. However, no significantly superior values were observed for the generated code in terms of memory usage in comparison to the user code, which contravened the expectations. Furthermore, it will be demonstrated that GPT-4o encountered challenges in generalising to problems that were not included in the training data set. This contribution presents a first large-scale study comparing generated code with human-written code based on LeetCode platform based on multiple measures including code quality, code understandability, time behaviour and resource utilisation. All data is publicly available for further research.

The adaptive value of intraspecific phenotypic variability, as well as the extent to which this is balanced by selection and genetic drift, is still relatively poorly explored. An intriguing population of leopard ( Panthera pardus ) occurs in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa, where body mass is almost half that of leopards occurring in the savanna biome. In this study, we used whole-genome resequencing data of 43 leopards, including 10 from the Western Cape province (WCP). We explored spatial population structure and measured genome-wide diversity, including runs of homozygosity and genetic load. We compared their population demographic history to ‘savanna leopards’ in northern South Africa, and tested for signatures of selection that drive genomic and phenotypic differences. We found that WCP is distinct from other leopards in Africa, and that it diverged 20-24 thousand years ago from northern South Africa, which is in contrast to a lack of genome-wide differentiation found in previous studies. Because we found no obvious signs of genetic drift in WCP, the divergence is likely to have been caused by their population demographic history. We also found enriched genes that may relate to the local phenotype, possibly as an evolutionary response to food-scarce conditions. Leopards in the Cape Floristic Region utilize a unique landscape, which varies biologically in prey availability and vegetation structure, and anthropogenically with the province’s rapidly growing human population. Considering the local adaptation and divergence found in both mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, leopards in the Cape can be considered an evolutionary significant unit (ESU).

In the era of the energy transition, the development of sustainable, high-performance, and multifunctional catalysts that adapt to complex catalytic processes is essential. Here, we report shapeshifting bimetallic iron–nickel catalysts developed via an exsolution strategy for carbon dioxide–mediated ethane conversion. By controlling the reduction temperature of a perovskite host, either alloyed iron–nickel nanoparticles or oxide–alloy core–shell nanoparticles are selectively formed. Oxidative regeneration of the perovskite enables reversible interconversion between these distinct nanostructures within the same parent material. As a result, the catalyst exhibits switchable selectivity between ethane dry reforming and carbon dioxide–assisted oxidative dehydrogenation while maintaining high stability. Repeated redox cycling confirms that the structural transformation and catalytic performance are largely reversible. These results demonstrate that exsolution provides a robust platform for designing regenerable catalysts with deliberately tunable and switchable catalytic states.

Efficient Distributed Computing is still a major challenge, especially in networks composed of very-low-resource embedded systems, e.g., tiny microcontrollers deployed in sensor networks. This work will, firstly, address the design and implementation of event-driven and real-time capable low-resource Virtual Machines (VMs) tightly coupled to communication-centric systems, and secondly, address messaging and routing in mesh-grid networks. The distributed VM network herein forms one big virtual computer executing typically the same program on each node, but processing different data with different control states. The VM provides an integrated program code compiler and an optimized Bytecode processor. The programming language of the VM supports channel-based communication, multi-tasking, and event-based (asynchronous) data processing following the CSP model. The VM fits in microcontrollers with only a few kB of RAM and ROM. A major part of this work is dedicated to network messaging (supported by the VM, too) and routing in two-dimensional mesh-grid networks with a varying degree k of communication ports per node (connectivity degree k), and especially considering the odd but technical relevant case, k = 3, which introduces challenges in message routing that are solved herein. This study demonstrates the performance and suitability of our VM approach for distributed sensor networks performing distributed Machine Learning and clustering by using local sensor data only.

The present thesis investigates secondary students’ conceptions of computer science in the context of the interdisciplinary STEM project MINT-gedacht at the University of Koblenz. The study is based on project observations indicating that computer science is only rarely mentioned explicitly in students’ project descriptions, although from a disciplinary perspective informatics-related components are to be expected. The aim of the study is (1) to analyse the extent to which students’ conceptions of computer science influence their choice of topic and the design of their projects, and (2) to reconstruct how they assess the role of computer science within their projects. To this end, problem-centred group interviews were conducted with a total of ten upper secondary students and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results reveal three dominant domains of conception: a strongly technology- and programming-oriented view of computer science, an everyday perspective that merges computer science with digital media use, and a rather diffuse, uncertainty-laden understanding of the subject. Topic choice is shown to be shaped primarily by students’ advanced courses and favourite subjects, whereas their understanding of computer science plays only a subordinate role. At the same time, the role of computer science in the projects—particularly in two of the three groups—is initially clearly underestimated and only gradually expanded through engagement with educational standards and interview-based prompts.

The Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, harbours a highly diverse, species- and endemic-rich refugial area covered by montane rainforest. The park’s herpetological inventory remains incomplete, as evidenced by a steady stream of new discoveries. We provide an overview of the research history from the earliest expeditions to recent field work and make reference to the relevant literature. We present an updated annotated list of species recorded from the park. We report 34 species of amphibians and 50 species of reptiles from Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda. 59% of amphibian species and 34% reptile species are Albertine-Rift endemics, and three of the amphibian species are locally endemic to Nyungwe Forest. We characterize the three main altitudinal vegetation zones and allocate the amphibian and reptile species to their preferred altitudinal zone. A biogeographical assignment and the IUCN red list status of the species are given. We discuss the etymology of the forest names and other colloquial terms and describe traditional ideas about the forest and provide vernacular names.

Ordnung zur Änderung der Beitragsordnung des Studierendenwerks Koblenz Ordnung zur Aufhebung der Gemeinsamen Prüfungsordnung für Studierende des Bachelorstudiengangs und des Masterstudien-gangs „Kulturwissenschaft“ des Fachbereichs 2: Philologie / Kul-turwissenschaften an der Universität Koblenz

Abstract The component-specific quality of linings and prefabricated components made from refractory castables is largely determined by the processing properties during the placement of refractory castables. These are, in particular, the rheological properties, specifically the shear rate-de-pendent dynamic viscosity. Existing measurement methods for determining the shear rate-dependent dynamic viscosity of aggregate-containing suspensions such as refractory castables are prone to errors and inaccurate. From a scientific point of view, an exact determination of the shear rate-dependent dynamic viscosity as well as influencing variables on the rheological properties of refractory castables cannot be realized due to the lack of measurement methods. This leads to contradictory and unclassifiable statements on the influence of aggregate fractions on the rheological properties of refractory castables in the state of science and technology. From a technical point of view, this complicates the rheological optimization of refractory concretes. Within this work, a measuring method was developed with which the shear rate-dependent dynamic viscosity of aggregate-containing suspensions such as refractory castables can be determined precisely. The measurement method is based on a spherical viscometer for deter-mining the dynamic viscosity and the coupling with a CFD-FEM simulation to determine the actual prevailing shear rate. The determination of the dynamic viscosity is based on the determination of the pull-out speed at a defined pull-out force (force-controlled) according to Stokes' law. It was shown that the pull-out speed and the shear rate can be correlated linearly, which made it possible to redesign the measuring method in a shear rate-controlled manner. A check showed that the shear rate-dependent dynamic viscosity of aggregate-containing suspensions such as refractory castables could be determined just as accurately. The CFD-FEM simulation downstream of the test was no longer necessary. It was demonstrated that the shear rate-dependent dynamic viscosity of aggregate-containing suspensions increases with increasing mineral aggregate content. Furthermore, it was shown that the complex composition of refractory castables defines their rheological properties. Variations in the particle size distribution of the medium grain and the coarse grain can significantly influence the shear rate-dependent dynamic viscosity, but do not necessarily have to. This also depends on the particle size distribution of the slurry. Furthermore, the dynamic viscosity can be influenced to a different extent at different shear rates. An unpredictable influence of increasing shear rates on dynamic viscosity can therefore be observed. This complexity complicates the rheological optimization of refractory concretes. Nevertheless, it has been proven that a rheological optimization of refractory concretes, for example the suppression of dilatancy, can also be achieved by optimizing the particle size distribution of the mineral aggregates.

Abstract At the outset of this dissertation, the Bavarian–Czech border region appeared to be a rather unremarkable case in the European context. Unlike at other internal EU borders, renewed border controls had barely been introduced, and there were indications of increasing crossborder integration. Given the region’s complex and historically burdened background, however, it remained unclear how far this process had actually progressed and which factors continued to hinder it. The Bavarian spatial planning instrument of designating cross-border central places was of particular interest in this regard. It suggested close ties between neighboring municipalities along the border. This formed the starting point for two of the three empirical investigations presented here. First, a focus group with local mayors was conducted to discuss the state of cross-border relations and the role of the planning instrument in their cooperation. This was complemented by qualitative interviews with residents to place their everyday lives in relation to the planning postulations. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, partly obscured the initial assumptions. The Bavarian–Czech border region quickly became a pandemic hotspot, which required adjustments to the original research design. The role of cross-border commuters in the ongoing negotiation of the border regime was included as a third relevant topic. As all three approaches address similar localities, their results can be viewed as complementary empirical spotlights and analyzed as part of the social production of a cross-border space. To do so, the dissertation develops a heuristic framework that highlights both the interaction between bordering processes and cross-border integration, and the ways in which local dynamics are embedded in wider developments of European integration. The findings point to two broad modes in the social production of the Bavarian–Czech cross-border border space, each marked by its own ambivalences. They show that cross-border integration is not a linear process, but one that is open, multi-layered and at times contradictory. Localities situated directly at the border emerge as key sites where these tensions become visible. It is in these settings that current debates on overcoming border obstacles and strengthening the resilience of border regions intersect with the everyday lives of the population.

Affordable RGB-D cameras have gained broad research attention in computer vision. This imaging modality provides registered 3-D and RGB data of the perceived environment in the point cloud data format. RGB-D cameras and point clouds allow for a seamless integration of object recognition in mobile robotics applications. Not only do point clouds pose a potential for novel algorithms, the provided geometric information also facilitates estimating adequate positions for mobile manipulation – an action that often follows the recognition process in mobile robotics. Research on vision algorithms based on 3-D data is far less advanced than on 2-D images. Further, RGB-D cameras also pose some technical challenges. Due to their inner workings, they provide erroneous measurements, have a limited range and a much lower resolution than RGB cameras. In this thesis, I will focus on the object classification and detection parts of vision pipelines for mobile robotics. The main research question is whether point clouds from low-cost RGB-D cameras can be used to reliably solve these tasks. I decided to use a traditional algorithm for my investigations. Traditional algorithms usually demand less computational resources for training and require less data to build a model for inference. For these and other reasons some application scenarios might restrict or prohibit using methods based on deep neural networks (DNN). The presented point cloud processing pipeline is a non-parametric approach to object classification and detection. It is inspired by the local Naive-Bayes Nearest Neighbor (NBNN) and the Implicit Shape Model (ISM) algorithms originally introduced for 2-D images. Local feature descriptors are used to construct a spatial code-book during the training stage. In the test stage this codebook is used in a Hough voting scheme to generate object hypotheses. I will carefully adapt ideas from the above methods and extend several pipeline steps by novel contributions. At all times, I will target fast processing with limited computational resources in mind. In a first step, I will focus on isolated objects for classification to gain insights into using point clouds for vision. Subsequently, the presented pipeline will be extended to handle noisy data for object detection in cluttered environments. The contributions of this thesis include an efficient sampling method to find suitable locations for local descriptors and the creation of a descriptive codebook with ranked feature descriptors. The hypothesis generation is followed by an elaborate hypothesis verification step and an additional verification with global feature descriptors in an ensemble classifier. Further, I introduce modifications to two popular local descriptors and also extend them to the global scale. The developed approaches are evaluated on publicly available datasets with simulated and real sensor data. Further, the mobile service robot Lisa was used for evaluation during several competitions and achieved excellent results. The results of this work enable fast and reliable shape classification of isolated objects, as well as object detection in cluttered environments. The complete pipeline is open-source and is published online in a software repository under a permissive license.

Veranstaltungsverzeichnis - Koblenz - Sommersemester 2024

Die vorliegende Dissertation unternimmt eine grundlegende Neubewertung des Werkes von Stefan Andres (1906–1970), der nach seiner Zeit als Bestsellerautor der Nachkriegsjahre weitgehend aus dem literarischen Kanon verschwunden ist. Entgegen der herkömmlichen Rezeption, die Andres oft auf seinen als nicht mehr zeitgemäß erachteten christlichen Humanismus oder auf seinen Ruf als Heimatdichter reduziert, weist die Arbeit nach, dass sein Œuvre eine hohe Modernität besitzt und komplexe Identitätsdiskurse sowie Alteritätserfahrungen verhandelt, die für die globalisierte Gesellschaft des 21. Jahrhunderts von hoher Relevanz sind. Methodisches Rückgrat der Untersuchung ist die kontrapunktische Lektüre im Sinne Edward Saids, die durch das poststrukturalistisch geprägte Instrumentarium Homi K. Bhabhas erweitert wird. Im Zentrum stehen dabei Bhabhas Konzepte der Hybridität, des Dritten Raumes, der Mimikry und der Ambivalenz. Diese Theorien, die ursprünglich im Kontext kolonialer Machtverhältnisse entstanden sind, werden in dieser Arbeit erfolgreich auf die literarische Darstellung innereuropäischer und geschlechtsspezifischer Machtasymmetrien transferiert. Anhand der Romane „Die unsichtbare Mauer“ (1934) und „Die Reise nach Portiuncula“ (1954) wird aufgezeigt, wie Andres binäre Oppositionen – etwa zwischen urbanem Zentrum und ruraler Peripherie – sowohl inszeniert als auch subversiv unterlaufen werden. In der Analyse des Romans „Die unsichtbaren Mauer“ wird der Bau der Dhrontalsperre als eine koloniale Situation gedeutet, in der technokratisches Wissen zur epistemischen Gewalt gegenüber einer marginalisierten Landbevölkerung wird. Beim Roman „Die Reise nach Portiuncula“ wird die metaphorische Afrikanisierung des italienischen Schauplatzes demaskiert, die dazu dient, die Protagonistin Assunta als exotisierte „Andere“ zu konstruieren und patriarchale Herrschaftsansprüche zu legitimieren. Die Arbeit belegt, dass die weiblichen Figuren bei Andres sich starren Stereotypen entziehen und sich durch Formen der „schlauen Höflichkeit“ oder gewaltsamen Widerstand zu handlungsstarken Subjekten entwickeln. Abschließend zeigt die Dissertation, dass das Re-Reading von Stefan Andres durch die Brille der Postcolonial Studies nicht nur dessen Werk neu erschließt, sondern auch die Leistungsfähigkeit kulturtheoretischer Analysewerkzeuge für die Germanistik unter Beweis stellt. Damit leistet die Arbeit einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur aktuellen Debatte um die Erweiterung des literarischen Kanons und die Dekonstruktion eurozentrischer Wahrnehmungsmuster.

Veranstaltungsverzeichnis - Koblenz - Sommersemester 2023

Microplastics (MP) (1 μm to 5 mm) enter riverine environments in various ways. Point sources (e. g. industrial plants) can be differentiated from diffuse sources (e. g. erosion). Once MP has entered river systems, it underlies hydrodynamic processes and is finally transported towards the oceans. Due to fragmentation, MP particles decrease in size during transport. MP particles are highly heterogeneous considering density and shape, which makes spatially and temporally high resolved sampling difficult and thus hampers the quantification of annual loads in rivers. Within this thesis, we conducted a spatially and temporally high resolved monitoring in the River Rhine with the aim to quantify an annual MP load at our study site, Koblenz. With a literature review we exposed that most studies present their results by means of particle number instead of particle mass. Also, many studies did not consider spatial nor temporal aspects within their sampling design. For the first time, we presented a compilation of global annual load values within river systems, partly using innovative methodological approaches to convert MP items to MP mass. Hereby, a correlation between catchment area and annual MP load could be detected. Global loads showed a large range (< 1 kg/y – 1533 t/y). To estimate the annual MP load of the River Rhine at the study site Koblenz, we performed a temporally high resolved sampling using sedimentation boxes (SB, time-integrated samples over months) and a continuous flow centrifuge (CFC, discrete sampling). Via thermal degradation procedures, polymer concentration in mg/g was estimated for PP, PE, PS and PVC. Hereby, annual loads of 400 t (SB) and 60 t (CFC) were calculated. Deviation of both methods was more pronounced for polymers with lower density (PP and PE), whereas PVC loads were comparable. This led to further laboratory experiments, which showed that particle retention efficiency of the SB was varying with the particle’s properties. Thus, the SB sample might not be representative for the river’s conditions. Furthermore, the CFC had difficulties in retaining polymers with lower density (losses up to > 50 % were noticed). Nevertheless, the calculated MP loads do fit well into our compilation of global MP load values. An extensive quantification of retention efficiencies for several polymer types and particle sizes (SB) or an additional sampling step for the clearwater of the CFC for low-dense MP particles could lead to more robust MP concentration values in the future. Depth-distributed sampling campaigns with a filter cascade and filter nets revealed strong density-dependant vertical gradients within the water column. These gradients were even apparent within the smallest particle size classes and thus were larger than a theoretical determination based on the Rouse number would have suggested. Both, filter cascade and filter net showed a positive correlation between river discharge and MP concentration. This correlation allows for a first speculation on MP sources within the River Rhine: The main source of MP seems, in congruence with suspended sediments, to be a diffuse entry which rises with rising water level. In contrast, a constant entry from a point source would lead to lower concentrations during flood events due to dilution. Within this work we could point out that extensive research is needed considering the understanding of different sampling devices and their sampling efficiencies. First approaches for an improvement of these limitations have been shown. Still, a combination of sampling techniques is necessary to cover the portfolio of potential issues regarding MP research. For a more precise quantification of annual MP loads, standardisation of procedures on all working steps is urgently needed.

Veranstaltungsverzeichnis - Koblenz - Wintersemester 2021/22

Veranstaltungsverzeichnis - Koblenz - Sommersemester 2022

This study investigated the acquisition of skills by future maths teachers in Rhineland-Palatinate during their final internship phase before entering the so-called `Vorbereitungsdienst´, a kind of in-depth in- ternship/ practical training. In order to record the students' learning progress, a pre/post-test approach was chosen in which the participants each analysed five short teaching sequences in an online questionnaire and then answered questions on mathematical argumentation. So the test reflected a central content of the internship, the observation and reflection of maths lessons. All video sequences were focussed on aspects of mathematical argumentation in the classroom. Ma- thematical reasoning not only describes one of the general competences laid down in the educational standards and curricula for the subject of mathematics, but also goes beyond the other general com- petences in terms of its fundamental importance for mathematics lessons. In the test group, a total of 54 trainees was surveyed at the beginning and at the end of their in-depth internship in four internship periods in 2022 and 2023. The control group consisted of 28 student tea- chers of mathematics, who were also surveyed twice at 3-week intervals without completing a school placement in the meantime. The collected data sets, which essentially consist of free text responses, were analysed using the qua- litative content analysis method. In addition, the interpretative uncertainty that arises here was mini- mised through backward testing. In this way, the quantity and quality of the video analysis as well as the knowledge and understanding of mathematical argumentation could be determined and com- pared for each respondent in both tests. As a result, the study confirms previous findings regarding the perception of teaching by experts and novices and also the fundamental increase in knowledge through practical phases. In addition the study shows that both quantitative and qualitative response behaviour improved after the practical training and the test participants were able to identify aspects of argumentation in the lesson excerpts and justify their importance for good mathematics teaching. This was more successful in teaching si- tuations that are not very dynamic than in teaching situations that are very dynamic, such as those arising from conversational situations. In addition, a deeper understanding of the competence `ma- thematical argumentation´ could be demonstrated after the internship and it could be seen that the didactic knowledge and the ability to analyse videos correlate more strongly with each other in the post-test than in the pre-test. The effects described were only evident in the test group, but not in the control group without the work placement.

Seit mehr als 10 Jahren forscht und lehrt das Team des Centers for Enterprise Research (CEIR) an der Universität Koblenz im Bereich der digitalen Unterstützung kollaborativer Arbeit in Unternehmen (Enterprise Collaboration) und untersucht den Aufbau und die Nutzung von Kollaborationstechnologie für den Digitalen Arbeitsplatz. Der vorliegende CEIR Report mit dem Titel „Collaborative Actions on Documents Ontology (ColActDOnt)“ beschreibt die Entwicklung einer Ontologie für Benutzeraktionen an Content in Kollaborationssystemen (englisch: Enterprise Collaboration Systems). Die Arbeit an der Ontologie erfolgte im Rahmen eines DFG-Projekts mit dem Titel „Social Process Mining“. In diesem Projekt wurde eine Methode für das sogenannte „Cross-System Process Mining“ entwickelt. Cross-System Process Mining erlaubt die Analyse von Arbeitsprozessen, deren Ablauf von mehreren, heterogenen Kollaborationslösungen (z.B. HCL Connections, Alfresco, Skype) unterstützt werden. Aufgrund der Heterogenität der involvierten Systeme müssen die Logfiles der unterschiedlichen Softwaresysteme zunächst in einen gemeinsamen, harmonisierten Event-Log überführt werden. Die ColActDOnt stellt die notwendige Systematik für diese Harmonisierung zur Verfügung. Die Ontologie wurde entwickelt in einer Reihe von interaktiven Workshops mit den Projektbeteiligten (Prof. Dr. Petra Schubert, Dr. Florian Schwade, Julian Mosen) unter der Leitung von Martin Just, der die Ergebnisse anschließend im Rahmen seiner Masterarbeit dokumentierte. Anschließend wurden die wichtigsten Teile in gekürzter Form in dem vorliegenden CEIR-Report veröffentlicht. Mit den CEIR-Reports möchten wir ausgewählte wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einem breiteren Publikum zur Verfügung stellen. Die in dieser Arbeit dargestellten Informationen sind für Unternehmen interessant, die an einer gezielten (Weiter-)Entwicklung ihrer Enterprise Collaboration Platform interessiert sind.

Richtlinie zum Schutz vor Diskriminierung und sexualisierter Belästigung und Gewalt der Universität Koblenz

This thesis tackles a common bottleneck in data-science courses: students struggle to turn a broad interest into a focused, workable project idea. This thesis set out to design and evaluate a compact assistant—EduIDEAtor—that makes this first mile simpler and more intentional. The tool uses a text-first interface with plain inputs, a small set of clearly different directions, and quick, reversible edits so students can steer ideas without losing momentum. After building and iterating the web appli- cation, The thesis evaluated how students experienced it and how it compared with familiar, non-AI brainstorming. The findings are consistent: navigation and input clarity were strong; students felt more able to generate and shape ideas; overall sat- isfaction and willingness to continue using the tool were high. Two practical refine- ments emerged—make back navigation clearly visible and give users finer control over how broad or specific the suggestions are both achievable without changing the core design. The contribution is a concrete pattern for first-mile ideation and a set of actionable guidelines for course-level adoption.

The BECS project investigates the benefits arising from the adoption and use of Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS). ECS are large-scale collaboration technology infrastructures that provide the software functionality to enable workgroups to organise online team meetings, to create and share information, to coordinate workflows and to collaborate on joint projects, regardless of the location and timing of work activities. When ECS are introduced into organisations there are initial expectations about what can be gained from the system, e.g. improved collaboration, improved communication across silos, etc. Over time, as users gain experience using the system, ideas about what can be achieved change and the ECS become embedded into organisational work practices. However, identifying and understanding the expected benefits of ECS, how they evolve over time, and how they contribute to organisational performance is challenging due to a lack of suitable methods and tools to describe (profile), measure and monitor ECS benefits. The BECS project addresses this challenge; the primary focus is on identifying, measuring and monitoring the benefits that arise from ECS implementation and use over time. Through the development of in-depth longitudinal case studies of ECS adoption in leading organisations in the DACH region and empirical analyses of collaboration system use, the research: i) developed practical tools and methods for the measurement of ECS benefits and benefits profiling; ii) provides greater insights into how benefits management is experienced and constituted in practice; and iii) developed a novel and integrated framework that assists researchers and practitioners to coordinate their efforts in developing, implementing and evaluating ECS benefits. The project delivered both practical and theoretical outcomes. The methods and tools developed in the BECS project have been applied in organisations and delivered useful and useable results enabling organisations to understand and monitor the evolving benefits of their ECS. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, this work became of even greater importance as new uses of ECS emerged when organisations adopted large-scale support for hybrid and remote working initiatives. The research findings also provide key theoretical concepts and analytical methods, including the MoBeC framework, Social Collaboration Analytics and Benefits Scorecards. These provide the foundation for subse-quent research projects to examine transformation to digital work and the development of a new stream of research into trace analysis and collaboration analytics more broadly.

This thesis investigates the potential of LLMs to provide personalized and context aware feedback in data science education. Traditional automated feedback systems often face challenges related to adaptiveness, scalability, and pedagogical alignment. To address these limitations, an experimental study was conducted using a custom-built AI tutor based on GPT-4o, which guided students through six clustering assignments designed around k-means and DBSCAN concepts. Data were collected from pre- and post experiment questionnaires and 516 dialogue exchanges recorded across ten individual tutoring sessions. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Quantitative analysis compared pre and post-survey results to measure normalized learning gain (g = 0.375), effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.321), and statistical significance (t(9) = 0.811, p > 0.05). Qualitative analysis involved manual coding of AI responses for feedback type, adaptiveness, and student engagement. Results showed that students generally perceived the AI tutor positively, emphasizing its clear explanations, step-by-step guidance, and timely feedback. While moderate conceptual improvement was observed, statistical effects remained small, suggesting that perceived learning gains may exceed measured performance improvements. Conversational analysis revealed that adaptive responses and interactive questioning supported engagement, though occasional inconsistencies and reliance on predefined solutions limited deeper adaptiveness. The study contributes to educational technology research by providing empirical insight into both the capabilities and current constraints of LLM-based tutoring. Although student satisfaction was high, findings highlight the need for more sophisticated scaffolding, enhanced contextual adaptiveness, and hybrid human-AI feedback frameworks. Overall, this research demonstrates the promise of LLMs in delivering scalable, personalized support in data science education, while emphasizing the importance of continued evaluation to ensure pedagogical reliability and meaningful learning outcomes.

Improving patient care is an ongoing process, evolving from early evidence-based practices to modern AI-driven approaches. This thesis explores three key research directions aimed at improving clinical decisionmaking through AI. Adverse events, defined as negative and harmful outcomes that occur during medical care, present major challenges for hospitals. Most data-driven research using electronic health records relies on data from tertiary referral hospitals, but their patient population differs from those in hospitals of medium level of care. The first major contribution of this thesis is a data-driven Trigger Tool for predicting adverse events trained on data from a hospital of medium level of care. This tool uses a concise set of laboratory values measured within the first 24 hours of hospitalization. In addition to models using numerical features, we devised models using dichotomized features that indicate whether a laboratory value falls below or above a reference threshold. Our findings show that models using numerical features achieve high accuracy in predicting acute kidney injury and the COVID-19 associated adverse events in-hospital mortality and transfer to the ICU. Models using dichotomous features performonly slightly worse but offer better interpretability. The second major contribution is the online-updateable AI model OptAB for selecting optimal antibiotics in sepsis patients. OptAB aims to minimize the sepsis-related organ failure score (SOFA-Score) while accounting for nephrotoxic and hepatotoxic side effects. OptAB relies on a hybrid neural network differential equation algorithm tailored to the special properties of patient data, including irregular measurements, missing values, and time-dependent confounding. Time-dependent confounding describes a dependence between time-varying covariates and treatment decisionsmade by physicians, often leading to biased treatment effect estimates. OptAB generates disease course forecasts for (combinations of ) the antibiotics vancomycin, ceftriaxone, and piperacillin/tazobactam and learns realistic treatment effects on the SOFA-Score and side effect indicative laboratory values. Results indicate that OptAB’s recommendations achieve faster efficacy than the administered antibiotics while reducing side effects. The third major contribution is DoseAI, an online-updateable AI model that extends OptAB to optimize dosing regimens. DoseAI mitigates time-dependent confounding in dosage selection by minimizing the absolute spearman correlation between predicted and future treatment dosages. It forecasts disease progression under alternative dosing regimens and proposes optimal chemotherapy and radiotherapy dosing regimens for synthetic cancer patients. These regimens effectively reduce the tumor volume while adhering to varying maximum allowed weight loss constraints, used as a measure of toxicity.

In view of the requirement that students (e.g. in Rhineland-Palatinate) from grade 7 onwards have to work independently with dynamic geometry software (e.g. GeoGebra) and a spreadsheet program, teachers have a special role in the integration of digital mathematics toolsin mathematics lessons. For example this can be implemented, with regard to the guiding idea L4 (Functional connection), since the use of digital mathematics tools is recommended to promote functional thinking. Within the qualitive offensive for pre-service-teacher training, which has been established by the Ministry of Education, the project MoSAiK provided a Digital Research Workshop Multiple Representations in Mathematics Education using the topic of elementary functions on secondary school level. On the one hand this workshop examined tool skills of students in relation to the two softwares GeoGebra and spreadsheets that apply for secondary schools, high schools and vocational schools. On the other hand (technology-related) beliefs of the students were researched according to the function concept. For that reason a specific didactic workshop, which included on the one hand the fostering of operating skills for the tools GeoGebra and spreadsheet and on the other hand the subsequent planning and teaching of lessons had been conceived. Before and after attending the workshop the operating and selection skills in both tools have been measured in a sample of 55 students using a self-developed competency test. In addition, the sub-areas TK, TPK and TCK of the TPACK-framework, self-efficacy beliefs and technology-related beliefs regarding the advantages and disadvantages of using digital mathematics tools were collected using a student questionnaire. The workshop intervention achieved a significant effect on the development of the students' operating skills for both tools – GeoGebra and spreadsheet. The results of a qualitative content analysis with quantitative elements show that in particular the visualizing of functions and the checking of results were viewed as advantages of the digital tools when teaching functional thinking. The most frequently cited disadvantage was a danger to manual calculation methods. With regard to the time required, on the one hand, savings were expected when using digital tools, but on the other hand, there were fears of high expenditure if pupils do not have the necessary tool skills.

The integration of the different stakeholder needs and environmental constraints is the key goal of requirements engineering. This demands collaborations between involved parties, to reach “understandability of the system”, what is particularly challenging for collaborations over different organisations. High quality requirements engineering is the key factor to address these challenges. Requirements are input to all development steps and carry the knowledge to exchange—requirements engineering is an overall life-cycle spanning and in its essence a knowledge management task. The main goal of the T-Reqs framework presented in this thesis is to enable semantic interoperability and to sustain the knowledge by conceptualization of the requirements engineering process applied to European space projects. T-Reqs’ objective is to formally capture the information carried by the requirements to provide top-shelf inputs for the consecutive system and discipline-specific development tasks, in particular within model-based systems engineering. Emphasis is placed on the nature of relationships that exist among requirements and requirement documents. The T-Reqs formalism addresses the structuring of requirements as well as their potential reuse, e.g., in product line development or even between different projects. This implies an overall System Requirements Specification that is distributed in many specifications documents and involves requirements of different levels of abstractions from abstract goals to implementation details. This thesis especially focuses the specification and validation of such requirements documents. The T-Reqs traceability model provides a means to trace not only individual requirements, but also consider relations among views such as documents, taking into account the role they play for stakeholders, especially in reuse. It is shown, how formalization of dependencies, such as for tailoring of standards, enables automated quality checks to facilitate reviews and enhance completeness and consistency of the overall specification. Towards the structuring of requirements itself, different syntactic template systems aim to increase the quality of requirement documentation. Within this thesis a comparative evaluation of these notations is conducted, supporting that claim and differentiating the strength and weaknesses of different approaches. Special emphasis is not only laid on documentation quality, but also the usefulness of these semi-formal notations for integration with model-based development methods. This is achieved through the representation of concepts, which can be managed in special contextualised glossaries. Overall it can be shown that conceptualization of requirements engineering knowledge can support requirements engineering in different aspects and a holistic approach to integrate different tasks lays the foundation for semantic interoperability spanning organizations and life cycle phases.

Many factors predict adolescents' school grades, two of which may be character strengths and physical activity. We investigated 339 adolescents (130 boys, 185 girls, two diverse, 22 missing data) between 10 and 21 years old (M =14.92, SD =2.28). They filled out questionnaires regarding their character strengths, extracurricular physical activity, math, language, and sports grades. The 24 character strengths were summarized into the virtues of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Math grades were positively predicted by the virtues of courage and temperance and negatively by age and justice. Girls and younger pupils reported better language grades. Sports grades were predicted by extracurricular physical activity and courage. Better sports grades were found in pupils who were members of a sports club and practiced their sports longer. In particular, courage, which consists of bravery, perseverance, honesty, and zest, is an essential predictor of adolescents' math and sports grades.

Age-structure changes are an intrinsic feature of the demographic transition from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and fertility. Initially, the demographic transition increases the share of the working-age population, creating opportunities for economic boosts through demographic dividends. Particularly some Asian countries have benefited greatly from such demographic dividends in the past. Overtime, however, the demographic transition leads to population ageing, which brings various implications for economies and societies worldwide. In Asia, many countries are ageing rapidly, while others continue to maintain a relatively young age structure. These differences may also be related to migration. Migration is also often discussed as a possible policy response to counteract population ageing. This thesis identifies global patterns in changes in the share of working-age population and examines associated demographic factors. With a specific focus on Asian countries, it assesses the impact of migration on population ageing in the past and its potential impact in the future. All analyses in this thesis are based on data from the United Nations’ World Population Prospects 2022. First, past, present and projected age-structure changes are analyzed in the context of demographic dividends, covering 148 countries worldwide. Cluster analyses are conducted to identify patterns of age-structure changes between 1950 and 2100, while linear regression models are used to detect associations between these changes and relevant demographic factors. Second, the impact of migration on past age-structure changes is assessed for the period 1990-2020 in 51 Asian countries using decomposition analysis. An existing decomposition approach is extended to incorporate the concept of prospective age, which accounts for differences in life expectancy when assessing population ageing. Third, the potential impact of migration on population ageing between 2022 and 2050 is analyzed in eleven Asian countries by adopting the United Nations’ replacement migration concept. In this analysis, both chronological and prospective indicators of population ageing are applied. The results underline the heterogeneity of global age-structure changes in the course of the demographic transition. This underscores the need to take into account a country’s specific demographic development when assessing its potential for a demographic dividend. The experience of some Asian countries, where rapid fertility declines in the past have been followed by sharp increases in the share of the working-age population, is only one of several global patterns. Differences in age-structure changes are associated with differences in fertility, but also with migration and population momentum – two factors that have so far received relatively little attention in the discussion of demographic dividends. Focusing on Asian countries, this thesis reveals that differences in population ageing across countries are at least partly driven by migration. However, the volume of migration potentially required to offset population ageing over the next decades seems unrealistically high in most countries. The results emphasize that migration can play a role in age-structure changes, but population ageing can barely be halted by immigration alone. Thus, comprehensive policies seem to be a key factor in ensuring further development in ageing countries in Asia and beyond.

Satzung zur Festsetzung von Zulassungszahlen an der Universität Koblenz für das Studienjahr 2025/26 Satzung zur Festsetzung der Normwerte für den Ausbildungsauf- wand (Curricularnormwerte) der Universität Koblenz für das Stu- dienjahr 2025/2026

The master's thesis examines how university open spaces influence students’ sense of place and social networking. Using the Mikadoplatz at the University of Koblenz as a case study, a quantitative online survey of 234 students was conducted, focusing on usage patterns, satisfaction, and perception of the space. Regression analyses reveal that both satisfaction with the design and time spent in the open space are significantly associated with sense of place and social networking. Furthermore, social networking mediates the relationship between time of use and sense of place. The findings provide practical insights for the design of campus open spaces.

Das Poster fasst die Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Bedarfsanalyse zusammen, die das Ziel verfolgte, spezifische Voraussetzungen und Fortbildungsbedarfe von Sportlehrkräften hinsichtlich einer digitalisierungssensiblen Gesundheitsbildung im Sportunterricht zu identifizieren.

In der Dissertation Freiheit und Werte bei Jean-Paul Sartre wird das Verhältnis zwischen Freiheit und Werten in der Philosophie von Jean-Paul Sartre analysiert. Es wird untersucht, auf welche Weise die existenzielle Freiheit des Menschen mit seinen moralischen und außermoralischen Werten nach Sartre zusammenhängt. Ziel der Untersuchung ist es, einen Beitrag zum Verständnis von Sartres Wertlehre sowie seiner Ethik der Authentizität zu leisten. Grundlage für die Untersuchung bilden neben Sartres philosophischen Werken, seine literaturtheoretischen sowie politisch-gesellschaftlichen Schriften. Ausgehend von einer Analyse der existenziellen Freiheit bei Sartre wird der vielschichtige Zusammenhang zwischen Freiheit und Werten bei Sartre analysiert und in den Gesamtkontext seiner Philosophie gestellt. Die Dissertation zeigt, dass sich in Sartres Werk sowohl eine subjektivistische als auch eine objektivistische Wertlehre ausmachen lässt. Während Sartre in vielen Passagen seines Werkes die subjektivistische Position vertritt, dass alle moralischen und außermoralischen Werte auf das bewertende Subjekt zurückgehen, präsentiert er an anderen Stellen seines Werkes den moralischen Wert der Freiheit sowie den außermoralischen Wert des An-sich-für-sich. Abgesehen von jenem Spannungsverhältnis macht die Untersuchung deutlich, dass der moralische Wert der Freiheit für Sartre innerhalb seiner gesamten Philosophie von großer Bedeutung ist. Eine Verwirklichung jenes Wertes ist nach Sartre nicht nur zentraler Bestandteil einer engagierten Literatur, sondern auch für eine gerechte Gesellschaft wesentlich.

Water is the basis of all life, a biotope for a variety of organisms and an important component of the natural balance. For this reason, it is essential to protect water from contamination by anthropogenic organic micropollutants (MPs) and to develop various innovative strategies for the treatment and reuse of wastewater. Conventionally biologically treated municipal wastewater contains many organic MPs that pose a potential threat to aquatic ecosystems and drinking water resources. To date, the focus has been on physicochemical processes such as activated carbon treatment or ozonation to improve the removal of MPs in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), while knowledge of biological removal processes and ways to optimize the biological removal of organic MPs is comparatively limited. Especially in arid and semi-arid regions, treated wastewater is also an important resource for wastewater reuse for irrigation or drinking water treatment. In consequence of increasing droughts due to climate change, the reuse of treated wastewater is also increasingly being discussed in Germany. Often the water is reused after targeted groundwater recharge, while concepts for optimizing the removal of MPs during soil passages are still scare. In order to assess the potential and limitations of biological wastewater treatment as well as targeted groundwater recharge for the removal of organic MPs, a better knowledge of the biological biotransformation processes and the environmental conditions influencing them is required. Microbial communities and their enzyme pools play a key role in these processes. However, the influence of environmental conditions on the composition and functional characteristics of microbial communities, and how this in turn affects the biotransformation potential of MPs with different structural characteristics, has been little studied. In addition, knowledge about MP-biotransforming bacteria is often derived from enrichment or even pure culture studies, which are not directly transferable to the environment. Against this background, this dissertation focuses on the systematic investigation of the biotransformation of MPs in contact with activated sludge (simulation of biotransformation processes in biological treatment stages of WWTPs) and filter materials (simulation of processes in groundwater recharge systems) under defined laboratory conditions. The aim is to elucidate relationships between the composition and functional characteristics of microbial communities, microbiologically determined biotransformation processes and their optimal process conditions, as well as the chemical structure and primary enzymatically catalyzed biotransformation reactions of MPs. The first part of the work focuses on the composition of microbial communities and the biotransformation of MPs depending on defined process parameters in five differently operated wastewater reactors, divided into two reactor cascades at pilot scale and one full-scale WWTP. The first cascade consisted of three reactors, the first of which served as a reference reactor with conventional activated sludge (CAS) treatment. The following reactors operate under anoxic to anaerobic and strictly anaerobic conditions, respectively. The other cascade consists of two reactors, the first anaerobic and the second aerobic, followed by a simplified vessel to prevent nitrate output, as half of the effluent was recirculated to the first anaerobic reactor. All five reactors and the WWTP were analyzed for the biotransformation of 33 MPs and the composition of the microbial community by LC-MS/MS and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, respectively. The results showed a slight but significant improvement in the overall biotransformation of MPs in the reactor cascades (about 20%) compared to the WWTP. In particular, the biotransformation of compounds that are not or only slightly degradable (< 30%) in conventional wastewater treatment, such as diatrizoate, venlafaxine and diclofenac, was significantly improved (about 70%). Twelve of the 33 MPs showed an increase in biotransformation of at least 30% compared to the reference reactor and the WWTP. In detail, the reactor cascade consisting of the anaerobic pre-treatment showed three times more MPs than the reactor cascade with the anaerobic post- treatment. Although the environmental conditions (nutrient availability and redox conditions) differed considerably between the reactors, molecular analysis of the microbial community revealed a core community of 143 genera, with 54% of the taxa belonging to the phylum Proteobacteria, with the beta subdivision as the most dominant class. On the other hand, a specialized community consisting of 90 genera was identified that contributed most to the differences between the reactor communities. These genera were shown to reflect the prevailing nutrient, redox and operating conditions of each treatment. It was also found that the relative abundances of several genera of the specialized community correlated with the biotransformation of certain MPs as well as with process parameters (especially redox conditions). These genera may not necessarily be directly involved in the biotransformation of MPs, but could be promising biological indicators for the establishment and control of operating conditions favorable to the biotransformation of certain MPs. For the two reactor cascades analyzed, it was concluded that the redox conditions as well as the carbon supply were essential factors for the composition of the specialized community and the biotransformation of the MPs. In addition, the 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing proved to be a complementary tool to confirm process conditions by correlation. In conclusion, the efficiency of MP biotransformation in conventional WWTPs depends on key parameters such as redox conditions, biodiversity or the presence of several genera of specialized microbial communities identified as indicator organisms. Against the background of previous knowledge that biofilms from moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs), which have been used so far in a few WWTPs, are more efficient in biotransforming certain MPs, the second study used laboratory batch experiments to investigate the extent to which the biotransformation potential of carrier-attached biofilms and suspended sludge from hybrid MBBRs differ between three WWTPs, and whether these differences were also reflected in the composition of the bacterial communities. The 31 MPs investigated were grouped according to their biotransformation rates and examined for relationships between the biotransformation behavior and the known primary biotransformation reactions are discernible. In general, the study confirmed the potential of hybrid MBBRs for improved biotransformation of a variety of MPs. This could be attributed to an increased biotransformation potential of the carrier-attached biofilms, especially for oxidatively degradable substances such as trimethoprim, diclofenac and mecoprop. Correlation analyses showed statistically significant relationships between the occurrence of certain bacterial genera (e.g. Acidibacter, Nitrospira or Rhizomicrobium) and the biotransformation rates of certain MPs. Thus, some of the identified genera were also discussed as suitable indicators for the biotransformation potential of suspended sludge or carrier-attached biofilm. In the third part of the work, the biotransformation of up to 78 MPs was investigated under different redox and substrate conditions in a defined column system at laboratory scale as well as ex situ under uniform incubation conditions by incubating the column filter material in batch experiments. MPs were categorized based on their biotransformation behavior and how well these categories matched primary transformation reactions known from the literature or predicted using the Eawag pathway prediction system for modelling microbial biotransformation pathways. The column system investigated consisted of two large columns filled with technical sand, an intermediate aeration and four smaller columns, all connected in series. In the first column, characterized by a carbon-rich environment with high biomass and strong oxygen depletion, 23 MPs were efficiently removed (>80% removal), while 19 substances were better or exclusively removed under carbon-limited oligotrophic conditions in the columns after re-aeration. While the MPs removed predominantly in the first column were mostly attributed to biotransformation by comparatively ubiquitous and fast transformation reactions such as the oxidation of alcohols or amide hydrolysis, the biotransformation of MPs removed more efficiently under the oxic and oligotrophic conditions in the rear columns was characterized by slower transformation reactions such as N-dealkylation of primary and secondary amines or the hydroxylation of aromatic rings. In addition, several specific reactions described in the literature, such as the cleavage of C-Cl and C-O bonds, could only be identified under oligotrophic conditions. The results suggest that conditions of limited carbon availability may favor the development of alternative metabolic biotransformation pathways. Furthermore, the observed association between system-specific MP removal and the expected primary biotransformation reactions from the literature and prediction systems could serve as a basis for accurately identifying the relevant enzymes in future studies, using metagenomic or metatranscriptomic data. Based on these considerations, molecular biological investigations were carried out in the fourth part of this work by generating sequence-based data complementary to the biotransformation rate constants during the batch experiments carried out in the third study. A first aim was to identify a statistical relation between the microbial composition, the process conditions and the nutrient availability as well as the biotransformation potential of 42 MPs depending on the biomass in the columns of the system. Furthermore, the metabolic activities of the microbial communities of the first two columns of the system were analyzed and the identified active enzymes were assigned to known metabolic pathways and the activities were compared. In addition, the extent to which the biotransformation potential of the columns was also reflected in the activity of enzymes that have been proven to belong to biotransformation pathways of MPs was investigated. To this end, modern sequencing methods were used to generate data on the composition of the microbial community (16S rRNA gene sequencing) and its actual activity in the form of expressed genes (metatranscriptome sequencing). The biotransformation rates from the batch experiments of the third study were used by normalizing them with the gene copy numbers (kbio), which were representative of the biomass. For half of the MPs, the highest normalized kbio values were identified in the rear columns with increased carbon-limiting conditions. Furthermore, most of the MPs investigated, such as sulfathiazole, sulfamethoxazole or rufinamide, showed an improved biotransformation potential in these columns. The higher biotransformation potential under carbon-limiting conditions was also confirmed by metatranscriptomic analysis, where an increased metabolic capability and a higher functional activity to degrade MPs were observed in the carbon- limiting column compared to the first nutrient-rich column. Taxonomic analysis revealed a decreasing trend in biodiversity with a simultaneous increase in carbon-limiting conditions. Furthermore, the microbial community differed depending on the nutrient and process conditions of the column materials analyzed. However, within the carbon-limiting columns, the microbial community was similar and were dominated by the genus Pseudomonas. By relating the biotransformation of MPs to the relative abundance of taxa in the carbon-limiting columns, the genera of the phylum Acidobacteria and the classes Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria showed particularly high associations. In addition, four genera showed a statistically positive correlation with the two structurally similar MPs sulfamethoxazole and sulfathiazole. Overall, no general improvement in biotransformation could be found for all MPs under the conditions considered, with system- and condition-specific changes observed for individual compounds. However, the studies indicated favorable environmental conditions for groups of MPs that showed increased biotransformation linked with high abundant taxa, especially under carbon-limiting conditions and in carrier-attached biofilms.

Microplastics (MP), i.e., plastic particles < 5 mm, are perceived as a threatening envi- ronmental and human health issue. Growing public interest in this class of contaminants requires standardized and harmonized methods for their quantification. While an abun- dance of analytical methods (both particle-based and mass-based) for the detection of microplastics is available, existing studies on the quantity of MP in the environment lack comparability. Therefore, the aim of this work was to establish a fast, reliable screen- ing method for the quantification of the most common synthetic polymers in complex environmental samples. This was accomplished by a two-step pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) followed by analysis via pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py–GC– MS). In the first extraction step, a large part of the organic matrix was removed with methanol at 100 ∘C and 100 bar, followed by a second step with tetrahydrofuran at 185 ∘C and 100 bar to extract the polymers that were subsequently adsorbed to silica gel and measured with Py–GC–MS. With the developed method, limits of quantification in an environmentally relevant concentration range of 7–8 μg g−1 for the most common thermoplastic polymers polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were achieved. In order to improve the robustness of the method, poly(styrene-d5) (PSd5) was initially applied as internal standard. However, further analyses revealed a deuterium–hydrogen exchange during Py–GC–MS measurement, which was catalyzed by the inorganic ma- trix. This effect was thereupon systematically investigated and poly(4-fluorostyrene) was established as a new, stable internal standard. While the developed method enabled the quantification of PE, PP, and PS, several other polymers had to be excluded. In particular, the quantification of poly(ethylene tereph- thalate) (PET) proved challenging via Py–GC–MS. A variety of catalytic effects by the inorganic matrix was revealed and systematically investigated, e.g., changes in pyrolysis product distribution. Several different sample preparation approaches failed to resolve these issues. PLE led to a depolymerization of PET which was also catalyzed by the inorganic sample matrix. After further optimization and reduction of false positives, the developed method has the potential to be included in future standardized procedures for MP quantification. It provides a fast, robust analysis of MP in complex samples, while also considering widely overlooked matrix effects. Potential quantification approaches for other polymers that are not included in the developed method (e.g., tire wear particles, paint particles) are also discussed in this thesis.

In sowohl den Kulturwissenschaften als auch den Kognitionswissenschaften haben sich neuere Theorien etabliert, welche verstärkt die Verkörperung und Materialität unseres Denkens, Fühlens und Handelns betonen. Diese Dissertation untersucht aus der Perspektive der philosophischen Anthropologie, wie die ‚material culture studies‘ sowie die ‚embodied cognition‘-Forschungen zusammengedacht werden können. Im Fokus liegt hier der Phänomenbereich der Musik: Denn nicht nur spielen bei dieser eine Vielzahl von Gegenständen der materiellen Kultur eine zentrale Rolle (Instrumente, Tonträger, etc.), sondern auch der Körper des hörenden oder musizierenden Subjekts. Die philosophische Reflexion erfolgte vor allem aus der Perspektive des Enaktivismus, einer spezifischen Strömung der ‚embodied cognition‘, ergänzt durch Konzepte und Ansätze aus den Traditionen der Phänomenologie und des Pragmatismus. Diese wurden nicht nur herangezogen, um zusammen mit dem enaktivistischen Denken auf der Sachebene die verkörperte Natur der Musik darzustellen, sondern auch um die methodische Problemstellung zu behandeln: Der phänomenologische Gedanke des Doppelaspekts von Leib und Körper (Fuchs) und die pragmatistische Anthropologie der Artikulation (Jung) dienten eben dazu, das Zusammendenken von Kognitions- und Kulturwissenschaften in Bezug auf Musik zu ermöglichen. So ließen sich verschiedene Detailfragen zu den beiden größeren Themenkomplexen der Wahrnehmung von und des Umgangs mit Musik(-kultur) beantworten, inklusive solche bezüglich der Rolle des Affektiven und des Sozialen sowie nach der möglichen Ausdehnung von Kognition und Leib. Zusätzlich ergab sich so auch eine exemplarische Demonstration der methodologischen Gedanken, da diese Fragestellungen anhand der genannten Konzepte untersucht wurden und so deren Fruchtbarkeit für das Verbinden von natur- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschungen dargelegt werden konnte.

Schülerinnen und Schülern eine wirkungsvolle Begegnung mit Literatur zu ermöglichen, stellt hohe Anforderungen an die Unterrichtsvorbereitung: Material muss ausgewählt und gestaltet, Lernaufgaben müssen vorbereitet und eingesetzt und Unterrichtsgespräche müssen antizipiert und moderiert werden. Gerade von Referendarinnen und Referendaren können die damit verbundenen Anforderungen als sehr herausfordernd – auch als überfordernd – empfunden werden. Mit dem Ziel, den auszubildenden Lehrerinnen und Lehrern ein erstes handhabbares Instrumentarium zur Planung und Gestaltung des Literaturunterrichts an die Hand zu geben und ihnen dadurch zu frühen ‚Gelingenserfahrungen‘ zu verhelfen, wurde am Studienseminar für das Lehramt an Gymnasien in Koblenz ein Ausbildungsmodell entwickelt. Der Erörterung, wie die Implikationen dieses Modells auch auf den Literaturunterricht übertragen werden können, widmet sich die Dissertation. Auf die verschiedenen Faktoren zur Steuerung des Unterrichts – die Phasierung der Stunde, die Formulierung von Lernaufgaben, die Darbietung des Materials und die Moderation der Unterrichtsgespräche – blickend, werden unterschiedliche Handlungsoptionen vorgestellt und didaktisch ausdifferenziert. Stichprobenuntersuchungen aus zwei Unterrichtsstunden – zu Rilkes Gedicht ‚Natur ist glücklich‘ (Klasse 9) und zu Bettina Wegners Lied ‚Gebote‘ (Klasse 12) – veranschaulichen und konkretisieren die Positionen. Aus der Verbindung der didaktischen Überlegungen mit den empirischen Stichprobenuntersuchungen entsteht der Entwurf eines neu nuancierten Ausbildungsmodells für den hermeneutisch-diskursiven Literaturunterricht.

Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely used in telephony systems. It allows telephony systems to automate customer interactions without any human in- tervention. However, traditional approaches used across various tasks in telephony systems has some limitations. To address these limitations, this thesis investigates the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance AI-driven telephony systems by improving intent recognition, entity extraction, inquiry question gener- ation, and synthetic training data creation. We have conducted a comparative study to evaluate the performance of LLM- based methods and traditional methods across above mentioned tasks. This study is conducted on Telegra-KIT, an AI-based telephony platform. We have used real- world data of Telegra-KIT to assess the performance. The results show that LLMs outperformed traditional approaches by improving intent recognition accuracy from 18.42% to 39.71% and entity extraction accuracy from 52.69% to 82.21%. LLM-based approach was also able to create effective inquiry questions when a caller’s intent is uncertain. The results also demonstrated the ability of LLM to create high-quality synthetic training data to address data scarcity issues and enhance model general- ization. The findings of this thesis contribute to the advancement of AI telephony sys- tems by offering a more context-aware, adaptable approach for important tasks in telephony.

Feuerfestmaterialien nehmen in industriellen Prozessen, die hohe Temperaturen erfordern, eine maßgebliche Rolle ein. Eine vollständige Charakterisierung ihrer Eigenschaften ist erforderlich, um potentielle Defizite zu identifizieren und adäquate Struktur-Eigenschafts-Korrelationen prognostizieren zu können. Die vorliegende Arbeit evaluiert anhand von drei exemplarischen Anwendungsbeispielen die Eignung der Röntgen-Computertomographie (engl.: X-Ray Computertomography, XRT) als Analysemethode zur Untersuchung feuerfester Materialien. Der Schwerpunkt liegt hierbei auf Strategien zur Untersuchung des Gefüges hinsichtlich seiner Strukturen, Defekte sowie Porosität bzw. Porenverteilung und -morpho-logie und darüber hinaus auch auf der Analyse von Rissen. Die XRT ermöglicht die hochauflösende, zerstörungsfreie, dreidimensionale (3D) und reproduzierbare Untersuchung innerer und äußerer Strukturen des Körpers. Die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit durchgeführten Studien verdeutlichen, welches Potential sich insbesondere bei der Kombination der XRT mit konventionellen Methoden ergibt.

Companies can be affected by events that adversely impact their business operations. These events can originate from corporate environments or within companies themselves. The effects of these events may be quite diverse and can threaten the survival of companies in the worst case. To deal with events that can adversely impact business operations of companies, the concept of resilience can be used. The concept of resilience relates to the ability of companies to handle adverse circumstances. It encompasses different aspects from measuring to restoring and strengthening the resilience of companies. This dissertation deals with the concept of resilience within the corporate context. It considers the concept of resilience from a company and business process perspective and provides different research contributions for this contexts. From a company perspective, a concept and a model are presented that serve as the basis to analyse the resilience of companies. The concept shows essential elements that are important for considering the resilience of companies. The model outlines the range that can be used to analyse the resilience of companies. Furthermore, a corporate maturity model is introduced to assess the resilience of companies. It encompasses different attributes and resilience levels to determine and improve the resilience of compannies. From a business process perspective, a lifecycle and metrics for business process resilience are presented. The lifecycle shows different phases relating to resilience considerations of business processes. The metrics are used to measure the resilience of business processes.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Forschungsfrage Welche fachspezifischen Faktoren beeinflussen den Einsatz digitaler Medien in der sportlichen Lehre von rheinland-pfälzischen Sportlehrkräften und Lehrkräftebildner:innen? Grundlage der Untersuchung bildet das Will-Skill-Tool-Modell zur Technologieintegration von Knezek et al. (2003), das drei zentrale Einflussfaktoren differenziert: (1) Die individuellen Haltungen und Einstellungen der Lehrperson gegenüber digitalen Medien (Will), (2) die subjektiv wahrgenommenen digitalisierungsbezogenen Kompetenzen (Skill) und (3) der Zugang zu technischer Infrastruktur (Tool). Im Rahmen der Studie wurden 55 problemzentrierte leitfadengestützte Interviews mit rheinland-pfälzischen Sportlehramtsstudierenden, Lehramtsanwärter:innen, Lehrkräften, Seminarleiter:innen des Unterrichtsfaches Sport und Hochschuldozierenden, welche in der universitären Ausbildung von Sportlehrkräften involviert sind, durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Beteiligten digitale Medien maßvoll einsetzen, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf der Nutzung von Videos und der Entlastung der Lehrperson liegt. Die Befragten stehen dem Einsatz digitaler Medien in der sportlichen Lehre überwiegend positiv gegenüber, empfinden jedoch häufig ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Mediennutzung und einem potenziellen Verlust an Bewegungszeit. Die erforderlichen digitalisierungsbezogenen Kompetenzen sollen aus Sicht der Be-fragten das Lernen mit Medien als Unterrichtswerkzeuge unterstützen, während kritisch und reflexive Aspekte kaum thematisiert werden. Im Vergleich zu Schulen wird die technische Ausstattung von Sporthallen als verbesserungswürdig wahrgenommen, was den Medieneinsatz hemmt. Die COVID-19-Pandemie hatte laut den Befragten einen signifikanten Einfluss auf den Medieneinsatz, die persönlichen Einstellungen und die individuellen digitalisierungsbezogenen Kompetenzen. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass der Medieneinsatz nicht mehr ausschließlich als abhängige Variable betrachtet werden kann, sondern selbst Einfluss auf die Aspekte Will und Skill ausübt. Die spezifische Betrachtung der Modellkategorien legt nahe, dass dem Aspekt Tool für die sportliche Lehre eine besondere Bedeutung zukommt. Handlungsempfehlungen zur Förderung eines nachhaltigen und effektiven Einsatzes digitaler Medien in der sportlichen Lehre umfassen die verbindliche Integration digitaler Medien in Fachcurricula, die Gestaltung niederschwelliger Fortbildungen, die adäquate Ausstattung von Sporthallen und den Ausbau von Unterstützungsstrukturen.

Population genetics investigates genetic diversity and its changes within and between populations over space and time. Genetic diversity is important for fitness, adaptive capacity, and the survival of populations and is influenced by several factors, such as mutation, selection, genetic drift and gene flow. Copper butterflies (Lycaena) are suitable for analysing structures influencing population connectivity as they potentially form more or less closed populations. However, very little is known about their genetic diversity and what influences it. Therefore, this thesis (1) provides newly developed microsatellite markers and uses genetic markers (2) to investigate genetic diversity across four different Lycaena species in the European Alps and to determine (3) which geographic and species specific factors influence population structure, (4) which large- and small-scale structures impact the population structure, (5) how natural and anthropogenic structures influence the population structure within an Alpine valley, and (6) whether and how genetic diversity changes over time. It was shown that the postglacial relict species L. helle has a relatively high genetic diversity compared to the other three species investigated. This suggests that L. helle is still able to adapt to environmental changes. Low genetic diversity was found in L. tityrus subalpinus, although high gene flow was found within one population of this species. High mountain ridges and large river valleys can act as dispersal barriers for Copper butterflies and thus have an impact on population structures. Here, dispersal ability as a species-specific factor also plays an important role, as some barriers are less likely to affect the population structure in the more mobile species L. virgaureae. Furthermore, forests, ravines and roads, but not small rivers, represent dispersal barriers for L. tityrus subalpinus within an Alpine valley. Finally, over ten years, the genetic diversity of L. hippothoe eurydame has decreased, whereas that of L. helle has remained stable. Against the backdrop of increasing global changes, it is important to understand the genomic underpinning of population structure and adaptation as well as to investigate and monitor whether populations are able to adapt to changing environmental conditions.