@phdthesis{Wendlinger2026, author = {Wendlinger, Lorenz}, title = {Structure-aware Deep Learning}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-19892}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {XX, 176 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {Graph structures permeate the digital landscape in explicit and implicit forms. They connect or construct artifacts by combining semantic and structural information. We also observe them in the systems designed to process this data, in their learning algorithms and the very nature of the tasks they solve. At the same time, machine learning methods are extremely data-hungry, requiring petabytes of data for training. Due to their complexity, graphs remain an under-utilized resource in this regard. Many approaches cannot incorporate them due to being fully structurally unaware or not suited to the specific flavour of graphs encountered in some domains. This disconnect is sub-optimal from an effectiveness and efficiency perspective. We present methods that extend the scope of structure-aware deep learning through structural knowledge integration and enrichment, structural performance prediction, and synergistic transfer learning. Knowledge graphs organize information and make it directly available for querying. They provide a structured inference interface for manual and automated inspection, though they can suffer from data quality issues and require careful schema design. We rephrase the reconciliation of knowledge in knowledge graphs as a link prediction task, making it tractable with adapted graph neural networks, while also benefiting conventional link prediction tasks. We further combine textual semantics and structural expression for legal reference prediction via adapted heterogeneous graph neural networks operating on complex meta-information enriched graphs. Additionally, we explore methods for the integration of intermediary expressions in strongly typed heterogeneous graphs, improving prediction via meta-path-based processing. We also develop methods for automated machine learning workflow analysis and performance prediction. This includes the learning of salient representations for management as well as improvement of workflows through automatic suggestion and refinement of components. These are then extended to the prediction of Neural Architecture Search performance prediction, including adaptation to operation-on-edge spaces. Finally, we investigate the transfer capability of pre-trained attention structures for text-based prediction tasks and find it to be both inferior to directly optimized attention masks as well as highly dependent on inherent domain knowledge. We also show that the exploitation of hierarchical task formulation can improve prediction performance through joint learning in diverse learning domains, including link prediction, performance prediction, and specialized and general argumentation mining. The dissertation contains previously published or submitted texts: Wendlinger, L., H{\"u}bscher, G., Ekelhart, A., Granitzer, M. (2022). Reconciliation of Mental Concepts with Graph Neural Networks. In: Strauss, C., Cuzzocrea, A., Kotsis, G., Tjoa, A.M., Khalil, I. (eds): Database and Expert Systems Applications. DEXA 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13427, p 133-146. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12426-6_11; Wendlinger, L., Granitzer M. (2024). Informed Heterogeneous Attention Networks for Metapath Based Learning. In: SAC '24: Proceedings of the 39th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing, p 458-465, ACM, New York. https://doi.org/10.1145/3605098.3635890; Wendlinger, L., Nonn, S.A., Al Zubaer, A., Granitzer, M. (2026). The Missing Link: Joint Legal Citation Prediction Using Heterogeneous Graph Enrichment. In: Wrembel, R., Kotsis, G., Tjoa, A.M., Khalil, I. (eds) Database and Expert Systems Applications. DEXA 2025. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 16047, p 197-211. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02088-8_14; Wendlinger, L., Stier, J., Granitzer, M. (2021). Evofficient: Reproducing a Cartesian Genetic Programming Method. In: Hu, T., Louren{\c{c}}o, N., Medvet, E. (eds) Genetic Programming. EuroGP 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12691, p 162-178. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72812-0_11; Wendlinger, L., Berndl, E., Granitzer, M. (2021). Methods for Automatic Machine-Learning Workflow Analysis. In: Dong, Y., Kourtellis, N., Hammer, B., Lozano, J.A. (eds) Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery in Databases. Applied Data Science Track. ECML PKDD 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12979, p 52-67. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86517-7_4; Wendlinger, L., Granitzer, M., Fellicious, C. (2023). Pooling Graph Convolutional Networks for Structural Performance Prediction. In: Nicosia, G., et al. (eds) Machine Learning, Optimization, and Data Science. LOD 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13811, p 1-16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25891-6_1; Wendlinger, L., Braun, C., Zubaer, A., Nonn, S., Großkopf, S., Fellicious, C., Granitzer, M.: On the Suitability of pre-trained foundational LLMs for Analysis in German Legal Education, submitted to the proceedings of the International Conference on Machine Learning, Optimization, and Data Science 2025, preprint published: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2412.15902; Wendlinger, L., Kuhn, R., Mitrovic, J., Granitzer, M. (2025). Joint Learning for Efficient German Argument Mining. In: 2025 IEEE 37th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI), Athens, Greece, 2025, p 770-777. IEEE, Los Alamitos. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICTAI66417.2025.00111.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Neuwirth2026, author = {Neuwirth, Daniel}, title = {Einbettung und Charakterisierung von aligned bar 1-visibility Graphen und outer fan free Graphen}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-19930}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {VII, 247 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {In dieser Arbeit werden drei verschiedene Klassen von Graphen untersucht. Die Klassen sind die bar (1;1)-visibilty Graphen, die aligned bar 1-visibility Graphen und die outer fan free Graphen. Die Klassen werden durch ihre m{\"o}glichen Einbettungen charakterisiert. Die Repr{\"a}sentation der bar (1; j)-visibility Graphen ist, dass jeder Knoten als horizontaler Strich und jede Kante als vertikaler Strich gezeichnet wird. Eine Kante kann einen Knoten genau einmal schneiden und ein Knoten kann j-mal geschnitten werden. Wir erweitern die Ergebnisse von Dean et. al. und geben Beispiele mit einer maximalen Dichte an f{\"u}r bar (1; 2)-visibility, bar (1; 3)-visibility und bar (1; 4)-visibility Graphen und geben einen maximal d{\"u}nnen Graphen f{\"u}r die Klasse der bar (1;1) visibility Graphen an. Wir zeigen, dass die Klassen der bar (1; j)-visibility Graphen f{\"u}r 1 < j < 1eine unendliche Hierarchie bilden. Abschließend beweisen wir, dass das Erkennungsproblem ob ein Graph eine bar (1;1)-visibility Repr{\"a}sentation hat, NP-vollst{\"a}ndig ist. Die Klasse der aligned bar 1-visibility Graphen (AB1V ) erh{\"a}lt man, indem man die bar (1;1)-visibility Repr{\"a}sentation um 90 Grad dreht und alle Knoten verl{\"a}ngert, so dass diese alle mit der y-Koordinate 0 starten. Die relative Position bzgl. der x-Koordinate wird mit der t-Ordnung beschrieben und mit der r-Ordnung die relative Position bzgl. der y-Koordinate. Wir erweitern die Erkenntnisse von Felsner und Massow f{\"u}r die Klasse der AB1V Graphen bzgl. ihrer maximalen Dichte, der minimale Grad eines Knotens. Wir f{\"u}hren die Methode Pfadaddition ein, um anhand deren Abschlusseigenschaften zu unterscheiden, ob ein Graph in einer Klasse liegt oder nicht. Diese Methode nutzen wir, um die Beziehung der Klasse der AB1V Graphen mit anderen Klassen zu untersuchen. F{\"u}r die Klasse der maximalen Graphen geben wir einen d{\"u}nnen Graphen und eine untere Schranke bzgl. der Dichte an. Wir geben einen Algorithmus an, welcher eine Bucheinbettung aus einer AB1V Einbettung berechnet. F{\"u}r die Klassen der optimalen AB1V Graphen geben wir einen Einbettungsalgorithmus an. Wir verbessern den Erkennungsalgorithmus von Felsner und Massow, ob ein Graph mit einer gegebenen t-Ordnung eine AB1V Einbettung besitzt. F{\"u}r die Klasse der distinkt strong AB1V Graphen, Graphen in der jeder Knoten ein unterschiedliche r-Ordnung hat und maximal f{\"u}r die r-Ordnung ist, geben wir einen Algorithmus an, der in O(n6) eine m{\"o}gliche Einbettung berechnet. Zum Schluss zeigen wir f{\"u}r diese Klasse, dass es exponentiell viele verschiedene Einbettungen gibt. Ein Graph hat eine outer fan free Einbettung, wenn alle Knoten inzident zu einer Fl{\"a}che sind und keine Kante von zwei Kanten geschnitten wird, die adjazent zu einem Knoten sind. Wir untersuchen diese Klasse zuerst auf die Dichte. Weiter erforschen wir die Beziehung zwischen den Klassen der AB1V , RAC und k-planaren Graphen. Abschließend geben wir eine Reduktion von NAE-3-SAT auf das Erkennungsproblem von outer fan free Graphen an.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Gruener2026, author = {Gr{\"u}ner, Alina}, title = {Stranger Danger? Three Essays on Consumer Trust and Data Disclosure in Multi-Actor Environments}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-19957}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {XVI, 201 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {Technological advancements and digitalization in recent decades have led an increasing number of firms to recognize the value of multi-actor business models. Integrating third parties into business processes provides firms with several benefits, including access to additional resources, skills, and information. However, from the consumer's perspective, the involvement of third parties, often unknown to the consumer, is frequently associated with uncertainty, privacy concerns, and, thus, a reluctance to engage with multi-actor business models. Such concerns are not unfounded: In many multi-actor environments, privacy-related misbehavior is common, whether caused by third-party firms, network users, or other actors. Incidents range from unauthorized data sharing to illegal surveillance, identity theft, and financial fraud. Consumers' skepticism poses challenges for firms, requiring strategic measures that not only foster consumer engagement with the network but also help build trust in the presence of third-party involvement and manage the consequences of trust erosion following negative third-party experiences. While privacy research recognizes consumer concerns in multi-actor environments, the literature does not offer specific business strategies to encourage data disclosure in the context of third-party involvement. Instead, research on multi-actor business models has largely focused on the benefits of shared value creation, while the broader impact of negative third-party privacy-related incidents on the overall actor-network remains underexplored. This dissertation addresses this research gap through three independent essays, aiming to identify business strategies that enhance consumer trust and willingness to disclose data in multi-actor environments and counteract the negative effects of (potential) third-party misbehavior on the actor-network. It focuses on preventive measures that address consumers' concerns before interacting with the actor-network, as well as reactive strategies that are designed to maintain consumers' engagement with an actor-network after a negative experience with one of the actors. As a first step toward identifying effective business strategies in multi-actor environments, Essay 1 examines two mechanisms: transparency and control, commonly used to foster consumers' willingness to disclose data. While not explicitly framed as a multi-actor study, Essay 1 investigates how firms' implementation of transparency and control features regarding data practices influences consumers' willingness to disclose data. Two online scenario experiments compare a proactive approach, where consumers receive all relevant information and control options upfront, with an upon-request approach, where they access details by clicking for more information. The results show that the proactive approach increases cognitive effort and reduces data disclosure, while perceptions of procedural fairness do not significantly differ between the approaches. This pattern also holds in high-sensitivity conditions involving third-party data sharing, suggesting that the upon-request approach is effective across both single-actor and multi-actor environments. Building on these findings, Essay 2 analyzes how the representation of actor-networks influences consumers' willingness to disclose data. Drawing on social psychology research on perceived entitativity, three online scenario experiments show that consumers trust firm networks more when they perceive them as highly entitative - as cohesive and integrated entities - rather than as low entitative, meaning a loose collection of independent firms. This greater trust, in turn, enhances their willingness to disclose personal data. Moreover, the analyses reveal that consumers process information about highly entitative firm networks more fluently and experience lower uncertainty than when engaging with low-entitativity networks. This essay also holds substantial practical significance by identifying concrete design recommendations to enhance perceived entitativity. In Essay 3, a platform is conceptualized as a multi-actor environment that enables peer-to-peer interactions. This essay investigates how consumers' negative experiences with other users in multi-actor environments affect trust in the platform as a whole. Two studies were conducted in the home-sharing context, where consumers grant deep access to their privacy by allowing others into their homes or by sharing images of their private living spaces, addresses, and payment details. This openness entails inherent risks when interacting with other users and may facilitate misbehavior. The findings reveal a negative bottom-up trust transfer, whereby a negative experience with another user leads to diminished trust in the misbehaving user and, subsequently, in the platform. Although the platform does not directly control user behavior, consumers attribute part of the responsibility for negative incidents to the platform, which in turn reduces loyalty. This effect is stronger for negative outcome-related incidents, which pertain to the core service itself, than for negative process-related incidents, which relate to the service delivery process. To effectively mitigate this erosion of loyalty, Essay 3 identifies high prior relationship satisfaction between the consumer and the platform as a key buffering mechanism in which firms should actively invest. The insights from my dissertation extend privacy research by examining multi-actor environments and analyzing how firms can encourage consumers to disclose personal data, which psychological mechanisms guide their decision-making, and how trust is established and transferred within the network. Furthermore, this dissertation raises corporate awareness of the risks associated with the involvement of third parties in multi-actor settings. It provides practical strategies to mitigate these risks, fostering consumer acceptance and ensuring the long-term success of such business models.}, subject = {Verbraucherverhalten}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hackl2026, author = {Hackl, Veronika}, title = {The Literate Human in the Loop: AI Feedback in Higher Education}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-19982}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {iii, 22, 8, 11 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {This cumulative dissertation, titled "The Literate Human in the Loop: AI Feedback in Higher Education," investigates the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) feedback systems within academic settings and the critical role of user competence.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Kochendoerfer2026, author = {Kochend{\"o}rfer, Laura}, title = {Rethinking systems use in information systems research - theories on individuals' use of multiple information systems}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-20164}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {vi, 99 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {While individuals use multiple information systems (IS) every day, research on IS use predominantly investigates use with respect to only one information system at a time. In light of this "single-IS paradigm" (Gerlach \& Cenfetelli, 2022), theoretical and empirical insights into the nature and behavioral manifestations of multiple IS use remain limited. To advance the discipline's understanding of the multiple IS use reality, this dissertation theorizes mechanisms that are idiosyncratic to the context of individuals' multiple IS use. Based on grounded theory methodology and interview data from individuals using multiple IS, this dissertation contributes two theories on multiple IS use in two essays. The first essay introduces an analytical theory of eight different interdependencies-in-use as core mechanisms that emerge as users engage with multiple IS. The second essay builds on these interdependencies-in-use and examines how one type of interdependency manifests in behavior. The resulting process theory explains a behavioral phenomenon resulting from multiple IS use: users transferring usage behaviors from one IS to another. This dissertation contributes a theoretical framework for conceptualizing multiple IS use with its underlying mechanisms that enable future research to systematically investigate multiple IS use and related phenomena. It further enriches insights on usage behavior by a multiple IS perspective, indicating that multiple IS use contexts give rise to unique behavioral dynamics. With that, the current conversation in IS use research that focuses on single IS use is extended with new theoretical insights on the use of multiple IS. The dissertation offers additional recommendations for practitioners to consider the interdependent way individuals use multiple IS.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Frank2026, author = {Frank, Florian}, title = {Integrating physical unclonable functions from novel nanomaterials, circuit elements, and memory technologies into future hardware architectures}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-20104}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {XVI, 190 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {Cryptographic keys are fundamental components for ensuring security in digital systems. To ensure reliable key generation and management, various technical concepts have been developed, primarily based on dedicated hardware components such as Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs). However, many modern systems, especially small resource-constrained devices, typically lack hardware support for secure key generation and management. To address these limitations, Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) have proven to be an effective solution for key generation, device authentication, and identification tasks. PUFs leverage inherent variations in hardware components to produce unique, device-specific keys. For a well-designed PUF, these keys can be reproduced reliably on the same device but are practically impossible to clone. Various types of PUFs exist, including those that exploit slight delay differences in circuits with symmetric paths. Others rely on physical characteristics of components already present in the computing system, such as SRAM or DRAM. However, many of these constructions rely on technologies that could be replaced by emerging ones in the future. Such a replacement may involve a transition from traditional memory technologies, such as SRAM, DRAM, and flash memory, to emerging Non-Volatile Memories (NVMs), including Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), and Resistive RAM (ReRAM). These new technologies, in turn, necessitate innovative hardware security solutions for generating intrinsic hardware fingerprints, ensuring security for next-generation embedded devices. Furthermore, the integration of nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, into processor architectures and the adoption of reconfigurable hardware platforms like Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) require the development of specifically tailored cybersecurity solutions. This dissertation aims to develop hardware-based security mechanisms for these types of devices by designing new PUF constructions and demonstrating their practical applications. One focus lies on PUFs extracted from nanomaterials and emerging circuit elements, particularly memristive devices and Carbon NanoTube Field-Effect Transistors (CNT-FETs). For memristive devices, which form the basis of ReRAM memory, this work analyzes methods ranging from simple binary quantization to advanced techniques exploiting device-specific response patterns. In the case of CNT-FETs, custom-fabricated wafers are developed to construct PUFs with optimal properties, such as high robustness, uniformity, and entropy, even under varying environmental conditions. These conditions include fluctuations in ambient temperature. Based on an analysis of fundamental system components, this work evaluates the feasibility of deriving PUFs from fully integrated circuits. A specific focus is placed on emerging non-volatile memory technologies, assessing their potential for PUF applications. To achieve PUF behavior in these memory devices, techniques such as intentional timing manipulation, induced bit flips through row hammering, and variations in supply voltage are examined. These resulting bit flips can be exploited as PUF responses. Additionally, transforming raw PUF responses into cryptographically usable keys and integrating specific PUFs into practical applications are core components of this work. The demonstrated practical applications include an innovative architecture for encrypting and binding data to non-volatile memory modules, implemented on Multiprocessor System-on-Chips (MPSoCs) incorporating FPGAs. This architecture enables the storage of confidential data on non-volatile memory while simultaneously using the same module as a PUF, without requiring separate memory partitions solely for the PUF functionality. Finally, practical applications of hardware fingerprints in the automotive sector are demonstrated, including an FPGA-based implementation to maintain security while preserving the temporal determinism of time-critical messages. These goals are met through the use of hardware-implemented cryptographic algorithms coupled with an FPGA-based ring oscillator PUF. To summarize, this work presents new types of PUF implementations, starting with nanomaterials and emerging circuit elements, extending to PUFs derived from integrated circuits, and demonstrates innovative solutions for their integration into MPSoC-based architectures.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ryzhova2026, author = {Ryzhova, Anna}, title = {The Transnational News Diets of Russian Speakers in Germany: what news they use and trust}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-19867}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {187 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {The present cumulative dissertation consists of four articles, and is based on more than 70 semi-structured interviews with the Russian speakers in Germany. Forty two interviews were conducted before of the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the other twenty nine right after its beginning (out of which I used only twenty five for the final analysis, as I focused only on the Russian speakers, associated with agressor or neutral countries in Russia's war in Ukraine). The dissertation addresses a variety of issues, related to the media use of the Russian speakers in Germany, which was previously understudied both in general and from political communication perspective (Panagiotidis, 2023). In the strand of migrants and media research, scholars point the following gaps: the lack of political element in studies of how migrants use media (Leurs and Smets, 2018), the lack of studies how homeland and host society media are used simultaneously, not in isolation from each other, and the lack of studies on the influence of homeland media on migrants as such (Ramasubramanian et al., 2017), and finally, communication scholars not using migration studies frameworks in their research on migrants, which leads to fields existing in parallel (Leurs \& Smets 2018). This dissertation addresses all these gaps. Being the first study to apply the concepts of "news repertoires" and the latest theorization of "news literacy" for studying the migrant populations, as well as looking in-depth in the mechanisms of trust, I analyze the media diets of Russian speakers in Germany in their entirety, considering the contexts and roles, attributed to the German quality, Russian opposition, Russian state sponsored and other types of media, i.e. not analying them in isolation, and also looking at the motivations to use different media for different domains of their lives. Besides, for analysing the transformations of media diets of the Russian speakers in the aftermath of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I use the concept of "sense of belonging" to Russia to examine the deep, underlying reasons for why news repertoires of these audiences changed, or did not change in the light of Russia's war crimes. As for the contribution to the German-language and Germany-focused literature on the Russian speakers, this is the first comprehensive study to scrutinize the media diets of Russian speakers in-depth with a special emphasis on their motivations, political affiliations and differentiating between the media these audiences "use" and the media they "trust", as previous research on Russian speakers in Germany and their media use was largely focused on integration, largely ignoring the political aspect and Russia's repetitive attempts to influence Russian speakers abroad (e.g.Hepp et al., 2011) or lacked nuance in their results (e.g. Boris Nemtsov Foundation Survey, which posed questions about "Russian media" without defining what it is, i.e. is that opposition media, Kremlin-sponsored media, etc. Finally, this thesis provides a comprehensive case study of audiences from an authoritarian context (or a former authoritarian context, for those, who migrated from Ukraine, but were socialized in the Soviet Union) who migrated to democracy and their media use, and also sheds light on the spectrum of motivations of audiences abroad to continue consuming media from an authoritarian homeland (in our case, Kremlin-sponsored media), which can provide important foundation for future research on other migrant groups from authoritarian contexts in democracies, such as Chinese migrants in Europe. Among the results of the present dissertation is an article on three types of news repertoires that these audiences have, and how political beliefs underpin them; an article on how they view the "truth" in media and why it is a concept of crucial importance for their news trust patterns; an article on news literacy and how migrant audiences need transnational news literacy knowledge in order to navigate complex media landscapes, in which authoritarian states actively try to reach them with their narratives; and finally, how a major crisis event, such as war in Ukraine, changed (or did not change) the news repertoires of the Russian speaking audiences in Germany and why the "sense of belonging" is at the core of these changes.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{WallenbornWeiss2026, author = {Wallenborn-Weiß, Benjamin}, title = {Quo vadis Spruchverfahren? - Eine Evaluation der Reform durch das UmRUG sowie des verbleibenden Reformbedarfs des Spruchverfahrensgesetzes}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-20099}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {XIII, 400 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {Die Arbeit besch{\"a}ftigt sich mit einem Thema an der Schnittstelle zwischen dem Unternehmensrecht und dem Zivilverfahrensrecht, dem Spruchverfahrensgesetz (SpruchG). Hierbei wird der Status Quo de lege lata nach dem Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Umwandlungsrichtlinie und zur {\"A}nderung weiterer Gesetze (UmRUG) dargestellt. Anschließend nimmt der Autor eine Analyse der Ursachen f{\"u}r die lange Verfahrensdauer von Spruchverfahren vor, wobei er die Ergebnisse seiner eigens konzipierten Umfrage einfließen l{\"a}sst. Nach einem Rechtsvergleich nach {\"O}sterreich und die Schweiz werden Reformvorschl{\"a}ge und eigene Konzeptionierungen de lege lata und de lege ferenda diskutiert.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Min2026, author = {Min, Yufei}, title = {Informationelle Rechtspositionen von Unternehmenstr{\"a}gern in Deutschland und China - unter besonderer Ber{\"u}cksichtigung der registergest{\"u}tzten Informationsversorgung}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-20081}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {XVIII, 255 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {Im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung und der Leistungssteigerung von Registern zur weiteren Wertsch{\"o}pfung gewinnt die rechtliche Gestaltung der Informationslage {\"u}ber Unternehmenstr{\"a}ger eine wichtige Bedeutung. Die Arbeit konzentriert sich prim{\"a}r auf staatliche Register sowie auf rein private Auskunfteien. Dabei wird die Rechtslage in Bezug auf die informationellen Rechtspositionen von Unternehmen als Registersubjekten in Deutschland und China untersucht. Auf dieser Grundlage wird ein Rechtsvergleich vorgenommen und abschließend ein internationales Registerrecht skizziert.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Hosseini2026, author = {Hosseini, Amir}, title = {Integrated Scheduling and Material Handling: Theory and Applications in Manufacturing Systems}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-20249}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xv, 127 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {Scheduling concerns the allocation of limited resources to competing tasks over time and is central to manufacturing systems. In practice, production scheduling is tightly linked to material handling, as jobs must be transported between machines, buffers, and storage locations. However, transportation decisions have often been simplified or decoupled from classical scheduling models. This dissertation investigates the problem of Integrated Scheduling and Material Handling (ISMH), where processing and transportation decisions are jointly optimized to improve overall system performance. The thesis develops this objective in three steps. First, it provides a structured and unified classification of scheduling problems with transportation elements, organizing a fragmented body of literature and clarifying methodological foundations. Second, it studies scheduling in AGV-based material handling systems under battery constraints, proposing a novel mixed-integer programming formulation and an exact solution approach based on logic-based Benders decomposition. Third, it extends integrated models to a buffer-constrained flow shop setting with mobile buffering, introducing a decomposition-based algorithm that significantly improves scalability. Together, these contributions advance conceptual understanding, modeling frameworks, and exact solution methods for integrated production and internal logistics planning in modern manufacturing systems.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{Wehner2026, author = {Wehner, Stefanie}, title = {Regional and gendered aspects of migration: Data-exploration from a multi-local field survey in Ghana (Northern, Eastern and Greater Accra Region)}, doi = {10.15475/mitrawa.upa7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-20299}, pages = {25 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {This study assesses the perception of migrants and migrant households on drivers and structures of translocal mobility and their consequences for livelihoods in Ghana. A bi-local survey was conducted to collect data on households and migrants in the area of origin (AoO) and individuals in the area of destination (AoD). The survey at the AoO was conducted in two research areas (Gushiegu Municipal District in the Northern Region and Fanteakwa District in the Eastern Region). Thesample then covered 75\% migrant households and 25\% non-migrant households, both randomly selected. The collected data provides information on almost 1,000 migrants and 2,000 non-migrants. Since Greater Accra Region was identified as one major destination, this region was selected as an Area of Destination. In Accra, 50 migrants from Eastern and Northern Region each were randomly selected from the previous survey database. The perception of migrant households and migrants themselves on migration was assessed using descriptive statistics. Over 95\% said migration is essential to secure their livelihood and that migration improves the standard of living of the households. The study elucidates the challenges encountered by rural households in agriculture and the strategies implemented to address these issues. The predominant challenges confronting farmers include the escalating costs of agricultural inputs, the prevalence of pests and diseases, and fluctuations in environmental conditions. Moreover, the research highlights robust translocal networks that extend beyond mere financial remittances, encompassing an intangible web of communication, emotions, and aspirations. By traversing spatial and gender dimensions, the study unveils the extensive diversity of migration aspects, demonstrating that migration exerts markedly different impacts on women compared to men and has varying implications for households in the Northern Region versus the Eastern Region. It is evident that female migrants from Northern Ghana constitute the most vulnerable group, grappling with severe food insecurity. In contrast, translocal networks in the Eastern Region facilitate families in leveraging remittances for diversification of their economic base, thereby enhancing their capacity for future development, while those in the Northern region are essential for addressing the existential needs of families.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Rolvering2026, author = {Rolvering, Geske}, title = {Empirical Essays in Public Economics}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-20186}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {x, 159 Seiten}, year = {2026}, abstract = {This dissertation exploits quasi-experimental methods and rich microdata to identify causal effects of public interventions that speak directly to the goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Specifically, the first chapter analyzes the effect of public child care provision on mothers' career trajectories, focusing on the timing of labor market re-entry and the quality of occupational outcomes. It thereby contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals of "Gender Equality", "Reducing Inequalities", and "Decent Work and Economic Growth". The second chapter investigates the impact of all-day school programs on juvenile property, violent, and drug-related crime. By providing evidence on how school schedules can be structured to promote safe learning environments, it contributes in particular to the goal of "Quality Education". In addition, it also contributes to broader objectives related to "Good Health and Well-Being" as well as "Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions". The third chapter examines public attitudes toward climate change and carbon pricing in Germany and analyzes whether different types of information shift people's policy views. By exploring measures to reduce resistance to effective but politically unpopular environmental policies, this chapter contributes to the goal of "Climate Action".}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Prakash2025, author = {Prakash, Jyoti}, title = {Static Analyses of Interlanguage Interoperations}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15736}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {ix, 126 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Software Developers are moving towards a multilingual development where they combine two languages in a single application to harness the strengths of each language. For example, performance-critical components of a Java application can be implemented in C language. It provides flexibility, at the same time, it becomes difficult to statically analyze these applications. The amalgamation of two languages in a single application may introduce bugs ranging from type-mismatch to security vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is necessary to develop static analysis techniques to aid developers in multilingual development. In this thesis, we develop techniques to study and analyze these applications. In the first part of the thesis, we study the prevalence of security and privacy vulnerabilities in hybrid apps. Hybrid apps are Android apps that combine both Java and Javascript components, where the Android part is secured (on the device), while the JavaScript part is exposed to web. Additionally, some of the Java functions are available to JavaScript component through an interface called as bridge interface. In the pursuit of the goal, we adopt a static backtracking of data dependencies to determine the flow of information from the android component to the web component. Our study revealed the potential sources of unsoundness in the existing static analyses. Static backtracing also induces imprecision in the analysis, i.e., there might be some flows that are not possible during runtime albeit are reported by the analysis. These were mitigated through a manual verification. This work reveals that the android-web hybridization can lead to (potential) vulnerabilities that might impact the confidentiality as well as the integrity properties of these apps. From the communication patterns occurring in Android WebView, we noticed that its is feasible for an attacker to jeopardize the integrity of apps by corrupting some value, say an input on the web through bridge interfaces. Motivated by this, we define a information flow analysis of the bridge interfaces and the associated data flows in hybrid apps. In the first step, we propose a novel threat model where we model the attacker as someone who wants to influence the behavior of android app as an integrity violation. Based on this threat model, we then propose a demand-driven analysis technique to detect confidentiality and integrity violations. Our analysis leverages, a demand-driven technique, where it only analyzes the relevant part of app for the information flow analysis with the help of function summaries --- escaping the need of a whole-program analysis. In the second part of the thesis, we generalize the approach to static analysis of multilingual applications. To this end, we investigate into the question of combining existing single language analyses to analyze multilingual programs. To provide an affirmative answer, we define an analysis to leverage single language analyses for call-graph and pointer analysis of multilingual programs. Our analysis takes two existing unilingual analyses and analyzes the complete multilingual program. It uses a novel summary specialization technique that resolves the information flows at the bridge interfaces by utilizing independent pre-analyses (modulo foreign function interfaces) of each language component. We apply this technique to analyze Android-NDK and GraalVM Java-Python multilingual applications for generating call-graphs. In summary, we have developed novel techniques for information flow and call-graph analysis for multilingual programs. With this, we motivate the need of static analyses for multilingual applications and its applications which includes, vulnerability detection, program understanding, amongst others.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Poliakoff2025, author = {Poliakoff, Serge}, title = {From Faking Online Content to Orchestrating Its Creation by Public Workers: Examining Russian Disinformation Production Organisations through Curriculum Vitae Analysis (2013-2024)}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-16100}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {259 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This dissertation examines the evolution of Russian digital authoritarianism, focusing on its organisations that produce disinformation, the transition from the Internet Research Agency to the Patriot Media Group and the emergence of ANO Dialog. It shows how the Internet Research Agency operated as a sophisticated "troll farm" during the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian war, with activities similar to those of a PR firm. The Patriot Media Group absorbed these activities, blurring the lines between media and disinformation and prioritising metrics-driven propaganda over journalistic professionalism. This dissertation identifies the organisation ANO Dialog as a new model, heavily integrated with state structures, combining digital surveillance, repression, and Soviet-style agitation adapted to the digital age. Using a novel methodology of career profile collection and analysis, my research illustrates the institutionalisation and regional expansion of disinformation tactics in Russian digital authoritarianism, highlighting its operational adaptability and evolving infrastructure.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Gruber2025, author = {Gruber, Martin}, title = {Tackling Test Flakiness: Understanding the Problem and Providing Practical Mitigations}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15549}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {127 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {"Software is eating the world". With this phrase from his 2011 Wall Street Journal interview, Marc Andreessen predicted a decade of disruptive software-based innovations affecting various industries. Today, over ten years later, many of his predictions have come true: six of the seven most valuable companies worldwide are computer technology firms, and more than half of the world's population has access to the internet and owns a smartphone, with numbers still growing rapidly. The increasing importance of software has also changed software development. To ensure product quality despite high complexity and fast product cycles, software developers started to adopt continuous integration and regression testing practices: each change to an existing system is automatically tested and reverted in case it breaks any existing functionality. As a result, large software projects are conducting millions of test executions each day. One obstacle to such extensive testing are non-deterministic tests that can pass and fail without any changes to the underlying system or the test itself. These tests are commonly referred to as flaky tests. Flaky tests break regression testing, as they cause test failures that are unrelated to the changes that are being tested. Developers are forced to investigate these intermittent failures, wasting their time and decreasing their trust in testing. This thesis presents our research that aims at understanding and mitigating test flakiness. To comprehend the nature of flaky tests, we conducted both code-based studies on open-source projects, as well as a developer survey. All our investigations confirmed that flakiness is a frequently occurring and severe issue. The causes of flakiness, however, depend on the domain of the project and the source of the test: while asynchronous waiting and concurrency are overall the most prevalent causes aside from test order dependencies, Python projects tend to experience more flakiness caused by networking and randomness. Flaky tests that were not written by developers but generated automatically tend to be more often caused by randomness or unspecified behavior. To avoid test flakiness in generated tests, developers can use existing flakiness suppression mechanisms of test generation frameworks, which we found to be effective. In general, however, most developers currently address the issue of test flakiness by rerunning failing tests. Nevertheless, they would like more support when dealing with test flakiness, namely better visualizations, automated detection and debugging techniques, and education on the topic. In response to this feedback, we developed and evaluated a generic flakiness prediction approach, as well as an automated flakiness debugging technique. Our flakiness prediction method is easy to use and widely applicable. In contrast to previous techniques, it avoids any form of static or dynamic analysis. Instead, it relies solely on a test's execution result history and version control information, two commonly available artifacts. Additionally, it aims to classify real-world failures as either caused by flakiness or a regression. Previous techniques mainly focused on identifying potential flaky test cases in test suites, a related but less actionable question. An evaluation on a large-scale automotive software project yielded positive results. Our approach showed a strong predictive performance (95.5\% F1-score), outperforming the previously used heuristic. We also introduced Spectrum-based Flaky Fault Localization (SFFL), an automated debugging technique that aims to pinpoint the specific lines in the source code that cause a flaky test's non-deterministic behavior. SFFL extends traditional Spectrum-based Fault Localization (SFL) by considering multiple coverage behaviors of the same test case, a highly common phenomenon among flaky tests. Our evaluation on 101 flaky Python tests showed that SFFL outperforms traditional SFL and was able to narrow down the flaky fault's location to 3.5\% of a project's code base on average.}, subject = {Softwareentwicklung}, language = {en} } @misc{OPUS4-1594, title = {Popul{\"a}re Artikulationen - Artikulationen des Popul{\"a}ren}, volume = {2025}, number = {11}, editor = {Rottgeri, Andr{\´e} and Koch, G{\"u}nter}, doi = {10.15475/skms.2025.1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15940}, pages = {322 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Zuerst erschienen auf: https://www.kultursemiotik.com/forschung/publikationen/schriftenreihe-online/ Inhalt Vorwort: Popul{\"a}res und Artikulationen - ein {\"U}berblick 11. Jahrestagung der AG Popul{\"a}rkultur und Medien in der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Medienwissenschaft (GfM) Andr{\´e} Rottgeri, G{\"u}nter Koch I. Popul{\"a}re Artikulationen - Artikulationen des Popul{\"a}ren Kulturwissenschaftliche Anmerkungen aus der Perspektive der Popul{\"a}ren Kultur Barbara Hornberger Popul{\"a}re Artikulationen - Artikulationen des Popul{\"a}ren Sprachwissenschaftliche Perspektiven R{\"u}diger Harnisch II. Musikalische Artikulationen - Popular Music Studies Popul{\"a}re Musik \& Artikulationen Entwurf einer Typologie am Beispiel von Joe Satriani Andr{\´e} Rottgeri Between Salvador and the Rec{\^o}ncavo baiano Value disputes stemming from the rock bands Cascadura and Escola P{\´u}blica Jorge Cardoso Filho Emphatische Dehnungen und sprechende Pausen {\"U}ber rhythmische Artikulationsmuster deutschsprachiger Songtexte am Beispiel der Wise Guys Johannes Odendahl Von der Berliner Mauer nach Moskau und Lateinamerika Wind of Change von den Scorpions auf Russisch und Spanisch Christina Richter-Ib{\´a}{\~n}ez III. Text- und Bild-Artikulationen - Literaturwissenschaft und Mediensemiotik Wertevermittlung in Online-Storytelling-Werbespots der Firma Edeka Dennis Gr{\"a}f Dekonstruktion eines historischen Mythos in Sofia Coppolas MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006) Oliver Seidel Zwischen Pille \& Minirock Feminismus und Sexismus als popul{\"a}re Konzepte der Zeitschrift konkret der 1960er Jahre Alix Michell Artikulation als Verrat? Rotwelsch und die Verweigerung der {\"U}bersetzbarkeit in Zeena Parkins' Mouth=Maul=Betrayer Benedikt Wolf In Likes We Trust oder die unm{\"o}gliche M{\"o}glichkeit vom Like als Gabe zu sprechen Christian Schulz Papst und Populus im Hochmittelalter Papsturkunden als Artikulationen des p{\"a}pstlichen Universalprimats Daniel Berger/Andr{\´e} Rottgeri IV. Sprachliche Artikulationen - Sprachwissenschaft Verh{\"o}rer in der Popmusik Franz Josef Bauer WER WIRD MILLION{\"A}R? Das Sprachspiel als popul{\"a}rer Einstieg in den Wissenswettbewerb G{\"u}nter Koch Die Autorinnen und Autoren}, language = {mul} } @phdthesis{Rutter2025, author = {Rutter, Eva}, title = {Berufswahlmotivation Lehramt: Ein weltweit {\"a}hnliches Ph{\"a}nomen? Eine international vergleichende Studie}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-18464}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xi, 268 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Im Angesicht eines weltweiten Lehrkr{\"a}ftemangels (OECD, 2018b; UNESCO, 2023) wird in der empirischen Forschung der Berufswahlmotivation Lehramtsstudierender ein großer Stellenwert beigemessen (Butler, 2017). Es handelt sich beim Lehrkr{\"a}ftemangel aktuell um ein weltweites Ph{\"a}nomen, das weder nur Deutschland oder nur westliche L{\"a}nder betrifft (UNESCO, 2023). In den letzten zwanzig Jahren haben sich einige theoretische Modelle zur Berufswahlmotivation spezifisch f{\"u}r das Lehramt etabliert, dazu z{\"a}hlen das FIT-Choice-Projekt (Richardson und Watt, 2007), Femola (Retelsdorf und M{\"o}ller, 2012) und STeaM (Weiß und Kiel, 2013). In dieser Arbeit wird das FIT-Choice-Modell (Richardson und Watt, 2007) verwendet, um die Berufswahlmotive eines internationalen Samples Lehramtsstudierender zu zwei Zeitpunkten zu betrachten. Das Modell stellt mit seinen Bezugstheorien (Eccles und Wigfield, 2002; Ryan und Deci, 2000) sowohl die theoretische als auch die empirische Fundierung dieser Arbeit dar. Neben diesem werden Professionalisierungstheorien (vor allem der kompetenztheoretische Ansatz nach Baumert und Kunter, 2011a) und die Habitustheorie (Bourdieu, 1982) zur Interpretation der Ergebnisse herangezogen. Strukturmerkmale der einzelnen L{\"a}nder erm{\"o}glichen ein kultursensitives Vorgehen. Zu zwei Zeitpunkten (Studienbeginn und Studienende) wurden an 5 Universit{\"a}ten in Deutschland, {\"O}sterreich, der Schweiz, S{\"u}dafrika und Israel mit einem Skalenfragebogen insgesamt n= 1157 Studierende (Studienbeginn n= 835, Studienende n= 322) zu ihren Berufswahlmotiven und Einstellungen befragt. Diese wurden in Zusammenhang gebracht mit der L{\"a}nderzugeh{\"o}rigkeit, ihrer sozialen Herkunft sowie ihren p{\"a}dagogischen Vorerfahrungen. Zudem wurden im deutschen Sample zum Ende des Studiums offene Fragen erg{\"a}nzt, um Begr{\"u}ndungslinien f{\"u}r die Berufswahl in Erfahrung zu bringen. Mit dem spezifischen Sample wurde das Desiderat der L{\"a}ndererweiterung um nicht- westliche L{\"a}nder (Watt, Richardson und Smith, 2017) bearbeitet, ebenso mit den offenen Fragen das Desiderat nach der Verbindung von quantitativen und qualitativen Ans{\"a}tzen (Watt und Richardson, 2015). Mit der Arbeit k{\"o}nnen die Hauptergebnisse der Forschung mit den FIT-Choice-Skalen best{\"a}tigt werden. Die Betrachtung von Subgruppen innerhalb der L{\"a}nder gab einen Einblick zu Berufswahlmotiven marginalisierter Gruppen und den Grenzen von global anzuwen-denden (westlichen) Erhebungsinstrumenten. Die Arbeit leistet außerdem einen Beitrag zum Diskurs um den Einfluss von p{\"a}dagogischen Vorerfahrungen in der Berufswahlmotivationsforschung, zudem werden Erg{\"a}nzungen f{\"u}r den FIT-Choice-Fragebogen f{\"u}r die „Gen Z" vorgeschlagen.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Dietrich2025, author = {Dietrich, Philip}, title = {Moralische Entscheidung in virtuellen Handlungswelten. Verantwortliche Vermittlung gesellschaftlich relevanter Themen im Videospiel}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-18481}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {86 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die verantwortliche Vermittlung gesellschaftlich relevanter Themen im Medium des digitalen Spiels. Als generationen{\"u}bergreifendes und interaktives Medium er{\"o}ffnen digitale Spiele durch die Verkn{\"u}pfung von Narration und Interaktion die M{\"o}glichkeit, alternative Perspektiven einzunehmen und neue Rollen zu erproben. Auf Basis von vier Teilstudien wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie gesellschaftlich bedeutsame Inhalte in digitalen Spielen verantwortungsvoll gestaltet und vermittelt werden k{\"o}nnen. Die erste Teilstudie identifiziert zentrale Nutzungsmotive und weist Spielende als potenzielle moralische Handlungstr{\"a}ger (Moral Agents) aus. Sie zeigt auf, dass moralische Dilemmata, die innerhalb virtueller Spielwelten erfahren werden, Relevanz f{\"u}r moralische Urteilsbildungsprozesse in der realen Welt entfalten k{\"o}nnen. Die zweite Teilstudie kn{\"u}pft an diese Erkenntnisse an und untersucht anhand von Expert:inneninterviews das Potenzial digitaler Spiele f{\"u}r eine digitale Erinnerungskultur. Die dritte Teilstudie entwickelt ein Modell f{\"u}r die gelingende Vermittlung gesellschaftlich relevanter Themen im digitalen Spiel. Hierbei wird insbesondere die integrative Funktion von Narration und Interaktion als zentrales Gestaltungsprinzip herausgestellt. Die vierte Teilstudie erweitert dieses Modell um die Dimension der {\"A}sthetik, die als konstitutives Element der Wirklichkeitswahrnehmung und Sinnkonstitution innerhalb virtueller Spielr{\"a}ume fungiert. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass f{\"u}r eine verantwortungsvolle Vermittlung gesellschaftlich relevanter Inhalte im digitalen Spiel eine digitale Moral Agency erforderlich ist. Diese bef{\"a}higt Spielende dazu, moralisch zu handeln und das eigene Handeln kritisch zu reflektieren. Die Verbindung von Narration und Interaktion erweist sich dabei als zentrales Mittel zur Initiierung von Perspektivwechseln, zur {\"U}bernahme fremder Rollen und zur F{\"o}rderung reflexiver Prozesse. {\"A}sthetisierungsprozesse innerhalb der Spielwelten tragen wesentlich dazu bei, diese kognitiven und affektiven Auseinandersetzungen anzustoßen und zu vertiefen.}, subject = {Spielwissenschaft}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Luick2025, author = {Luick, Karen}, title = {Reisebegegnungen in Marokko}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-16024}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {v, 371 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Die Arbeit beleuchtet Marokko als Reiseziel f{\"u}r Individualreisende aus landeskundlicher und tourismusgeographischer Perspektive. Darauf aufbauend erfolgt eine Analyse der touristischen Praxis anhand von Begegnungsrepr{\"a}sentationen in verschiedenen medialen Formaten von Reiseberichten, mit Fokus auf interkulturelle Begegnungen. Diese zeigen sich in ihrer Darstellung als vielf{\"a}ltig und differenziert. Durch eine multiperspektivische Betrachtung des Ph{\"a}nomens werden komplexe Spielarten interkultureller Begegnung in Bezug auf Darstellung, Pragmatik und Funktionalit{\"a}t herausgearbeitet.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Jakob2025, author = {Jakob, Dietmar Friedrich}, title = {Teilhabegerechtigkeit bei der digitalen Inklusion {\"a}lterer Erwachsener: Eine Potenzialanalyse von Sprachassistenten}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15849}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xiii, 224 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This cumulative dissertation delves into the complexities and opportunities surrounding older adults' adoption and use of Voice Assistants (VAs), focusing on digital participation equity from theologic-ethical and social perspectives. Through an extensive series of methodologically diverse studies—including systematic literature reviews, laboratory experiments, surveys, and field studies—the research aims to uncover how older adults perceive, interact with, and are impacted by technologies, such as the particular model "Amazon Echo Show 10, 3rd generation with integrated voice interface ALEXA". The investigation also seeks to pinpoint the obstacles that impede the adoption of these technologies among this demographic. The research initially demonstrates that older adults can recognize the utility of VAs in various applications, including information retrieval, entertainment, and health management. The findings underscore the importance of these devices in enhancing the quality of life by providing easier access to essential services and facilitating social interaction, even among those who may be physically isolated. However, the dissertation identifies significant concerns among older adults regarding privacy and data security, influencing their willingness to embrace VAs. The devices' complexity and occasional interaction difficulties—such as command formulation and speech recognition issues—further challenge their usability for this group. A notable and unique aspect of the study is the anthropomorphization of devices by some older adults. This behavior, where users attribute human-like characteristics or emotional connections to VAs, suggests deeper psychological and social dimensions in the user-technology relationship. This phenomenon is examined to understand its implications for technology acceptance and the potential for these devices to mitigate feelings of loneliness and social isolation. In summary, this dissertation provides practical recommendations for enhancing the design, communication, and functionality of VAs to better cater to the needs and preferences of older adults. It underscores the importance of technology development that respects the dignity and autonomy of older individuals, ensuring their digital participation and equity. The work advocates for a comprehensive approach that integrates ethical considerations into technology design and dissemination, thereby promoting a framework that supports the full inclusion of older adults in the digital world.}, language = {mul} } @phdthesis{Weishaeupl2025, author = {Weish{\"a}upl, Andreas}, title = {Zur Bedeutung der maximalen Laktatbildungsrate in Diagnostik und Training am Beispiel Skilanglauf und Radsport}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15801}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {XVII, 257 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Die Arbeit beleuchtet die Bedeutung der maximalen Laktatbildungsrate (V̇Lamax) f{\"u}r die Leistungsdiagnostik und die Trainingspraxis. F{\"u}r die Sportart Skilanglauf wurde ein neuer Sprinttest zur Bestimmung der V̇Lamax am Skiergometer entwickelt, der sich als reliabel und valide erwiesen hat. Dabei wurden verschiedene Ans{\"a}tze zur Bestimmung der alaktaziden Zeit genauer betrachtet. Außerdem wurde der Sprinttest am Skiergometer mit dem etablierten Sprinttest am Radergometer verglichen, wobei festgestellt werden konnte, dass die V̇Lamax sportart- und extremit{\"a}tsspezifisch getestet werden sollte. Zudem wurde die Auswirkung von Intervalltraining unterschiedlicher Intensit{\"a}t im Radsport untersucht. Hochintensives Ausdauertraining scheint dabei die V̇Lamax zu steigern, wohingegen submaximales Sweetspot-Training die V̇Lamax zu senken scheint.}, subject = {Leistungsdiagnostik}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Patil2025, author = {Patil, Amit Dilip}, title = {Towards Resilient Protection of Interconnected ICT and Power Systems}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-16088}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xxii, 173 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Due to the increasing number of distributed renewable energy sources, the distribution grid faces new operational challenges. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems can resolve these challenges through grid services that use automation, monitoring, and real-time decision-making, helping maintain an acceptable operational state of the distribution grid. However, the reliance of the power system on the ICT system and vice versa in the so-called smart grid creates interdependencies between the systems, which present new pathways for failure propagation. Therefore, these interdependencies require special attention to ensure stable system operation in the face of these challenges. However, these interdependencies have not been studied extensively in the literature. This thesis investigates approaches to model, quantify and improve the performance and resilience of the smart grid infrastructure. The interdependencies are formalised as interconnectors, entities that exist in all the connected systems. These interconnectors consist of components from both systems, where the components are modelled as state variables. These state variables determine the interconnector state and the service delivered. Failures represented by a change in state variables may impact the state. These state variables are deployed in a discrete event simulation framework to determine the system performance over time. The simulation result is represented on a two-dimensional state-space diagram depicting the operational state and service delivered. This allows for the resilience analysis of a system under various scenarios. The interdependencies are further investigated by exploring the role of ICT-based grid services in power grids, whose state is defined based on ICT properties, such as latency. These properties are formalised using property graphs. The ICT properties obtained from these graphs are used to parameterise a finite state automaton model of a grid service states, which are then used to determine the state of the entire smart grid. Case studies of state estimation and adaptive protection highlight the application of this approach. The use of ICT in state estimation allows the distinction of a global and perceived view of the power grid, which influences decision-making in the face of challenges. This thesis further investigates the protection system in detail. The overcurrent protection system is adversely impacted by distributed generation, resulting in undesired phenomena such as protection blinding. This thesis characterises this phenomenon by proposing two indices that capture the protection trip time under the influence of distributed generation. These indices consider the electrical distance between faults, protection and distributed generation. These indices and simulation results identify the worst-impacted locations in the power grid in terms of protection trip time. They also identify fault locations under given assumptions that do not cause protection blinding. ICT can resolve protection blinding by adapting the sensitivity of protection relays. However, since faults must be cleared in a short timeframe, communication delays may adversely impact the fault-clearing time. A discrete event simulation model is proposed to study protection performance in distribution grids. Investigation of time distribution assumptions reveals that the lognormal distribution accurately captures the circuit breaker trip time. The impact of the distributed generation and communication delay on the protection system is determined by measuring fault-clearing times using discrete event simulation. Results show that for the system studied, protection blinding is critical for low impedance faults in grids with high fault levels, while high impedance faults are critical in grids with low fault levels. Moreover, sympathetic tripping is seen at increased distribution grid fault levels and fault impedance. Furthermore, while communication systems reduce fault clearing times, increased delays harm protection systems. Finally, communication system components like sensors can fail, preventing fault detection. This thesis proposes a genetic algorithm-based approach to optimally place redundant sensors, minimising protection blinding under communication uncertainty within a redundancy budget. Results demonstrate the algorithm's effectiveness in optimising redundant sensor locations, reducing system costs, and improving fault tolerance. For the system and scenarios investigated, an average of 60\% redundant sensors are relocated, reducing the average protection trip time by 36.65\% compared to a baseline approach that does not consider communication uncertainty. This encourages incorporating communication component failure considerations in power system planning.}, language = {en} } @misc{KottSchusterGrossetal.2025, author = {Kott, Annette and Schuster, Jennifer and Groß, Rainer and Bauer, Christoph}, title = {Maßnahmenkatalog Green IT an bayerischen Hochschulen}, organization = {Digitalverbund Bayern}, doi = {10.15475/DVB-GIT.2025}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15327}, pages = {VII, 43 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {"Der vorliegende Maßnahmenkatalog bietet abgestimmte Empfehlungen, um Nachhaltigkeit f{\"u}r bayerische Hochschulen im Bereich Green IT zu f{\"o}rdern. Ziel ist es, energieeffizientes Verhalten zu unterst{\"u}tzen und die IT-Landschaft nachhaltiger zu gestalten. Die Maßnahmen zielen nicht nur auf die F{\"o}rderung eines verantwortungsvollen Handelns ab, sondern bieten auch das Potenzial, langfristig Kosteneinsparungen durch einen energieeffizienten Betrieb zu erzielen. Gleichzeitig wird nachhaltiges Handeln durch gesetzliche Vorgaben wie dem Energieeffizienzgesetz zunehmend verbindlicher, da auch Hochschulen diesen Anforderungen unterliegen. Der Maßnahmenkatalog unterst{\"u}tzt dabei, diese regulatorischen Anforderungen zu erf{\"u}llen und gleichzeitig einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Ressourcenschonung sowie zur Reduzierung von Treibhausgasemissionen zu leisten." (Zielsetzung, Seite III)}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{KravetsMeinke2025, author = {Kravets-Meinke, Daria}, title = {Search Engines and Foreign Influence: How Google and Yandex Mediate Russia's Propaganda Abroad}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15953}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {146 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This cumulative dissertation examined how the US-based Google and Russia-based Yandex mediate the propaganda efforts of Russia's ruling elites abroad on a case study of Belarus. The findings presented here contribute to a nuanced understanding of how algorithmic gatekeepers, particularly search engines, can be strategically appropriated or manipulated to reinforce and export state narratives beyond national borders. The main conclusion of this dissertation is that both Yandex and Google, albeit through different mechanisms and to varying extents, can serve as mediators of Russia's propaganda efforts abroad.}, language = {en} } @article{BlancAnnekatrin2025, author = {Blanc, Julia and Annekatrin, Meißner}, title = {Towards a holistic approach to sustainable development : inner development as a missing link for sustainability transformation}, series = {Religions (Special issue "Sustainable development : the normative contribution of theology")}, volume = {2025}, journal = {Religions (Special issue "Sustainable development : the normative contribution of theology")}, number = {16(1)}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, doi = {10.3390/rel16010076}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15816}, pages = {20 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The discourse on understanding and implementing sustainable development has so far focused primarily on the external aspects, neglecting the internal dimension of people. The main purpose of our paper is to contribute to addressing this research gap. Therefore, we intend to (1) substantiate existing aspects of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), (2) complement them, and (3) link the concept of the IDGs to normative discourses in Christian Social Ethics and Social Philosophy. Our results show that the dimensions of Being, Relating, and Collaborating in the IDG Framework can be substantiated by the normative discourse on spirituality and by reference to the social principle of personality in Christian Social Ethics, as well as by the Indian Social Philosophical Perspective of Vimala Thakar which focuses on a value-based approach. This paper suggests that the concept of the IDGs will be strengthened by adding the dimension of Caring—understood as the concern and responsibility for the wholeness in the combining of the inner and outer dimensions. By linking the concept of the Inner Development Goals to the existing normative discourses in Christian Social Ethics and Social Philosophy, our research contributes to making the concept connectable and deepens the discussions on a practical and theoretical level.}, language = {en} } @article{Hidalgo2025, author = {Hidalgo, Oliver Fernando}, title = {The antinomian framework of Western and non-Western democracies — from theory to application}, series = {Frontiers in Political Science}, volume = {2024}, journal = {Frontiers in Political Science}, number = {6}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne}, doi = {10.3389/fpos.2024.1420252}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15821}, pages = {12 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This article argues in favour of broadening the classical paradigm of democracy that historically emerged in the West. Without disregarding the undiminished significance of the idea of liberal democracy and its deep commitment to universal human rights, the necessity of a new accentuation of the concept of democracy is accepted in view of the observable democratic processes in non-Western societies. This should help to avoid both the blind spots of Eurocentrism and the misperception of countries as democracies that are merely masking their authoritarian or despotic character. The result is a theory of popular sovereignty that seeks to grasp and combine Western and non-Western conceptions of democracy in a balanced way and is based on a genealogical and comparative perspective of the history of political ideas in the global North and South. In a second step, the theory is then tested using a few selected examples (Confucian democracy, Islamic democracy, African democracy).}, language = {en} } @unpublished{CompaoreDabireSanglietal.2025, author = {Compaore, Georges and Dabire, Bonayi Hubert and Sangli, Gabriel and Azianu, Komi Ameko and Minoungou, Abdoul Kader and Zoma, Vincent}, title = {Analysis of the practices, structures and processes of translocal mobility systems in Burkina Faso}, number = {6}, doi = {10.15475/mitrawa.upa6}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15862}, pages = {23 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This report presents the results of the project "Migration and Translocality in West Africa (MiTra|WA)" with reference to translocal practices in Burkina Faso. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the study ran from 2022 to 2024. The general objective of the project is to analyse the multiple links between the rural areas of departure and urban reception of migrants as well as the impacts on the development of these localities. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative component consisted of two types of surveys. First, a household survey in the migrants' area of origin (AoO) to identify the migrants' belonging to these households. In the second phase, a telephone survey was conducted among migrants in the destination areas (AoD). Then, the focus was on socio-economic data as well as translocal interactions and network relationships. The qualitative component consisted of in-depth interviews with key actors in the different areas of departure and destination of migrants. These include migrants, local administrative officials, leaders of NGOs, associations, community and religious leaders. The results show that migration is a phenomenon experienced by many households in rural areas. There are as many internal migrants as there are international migrants. Of the 537 households surveyed, 405 (75.4\%) have at least one migrant. The age structure of migrants shows a predominantly young structure of migrants (82\% who are under 40 years old). According to gender, migration is strongly male-dominated (82\%). Men are more inclined to international migration (56\%). Female migration is precocious. A large proportion of migrants (41\%) have no level of education and are mostly single (50\%). Translocality, conceptualized in this study as the multifaceted links between the places of departure, transit and residence of migrants, is apprehended through telephone contacts between migrants and their place of origin, in addition to the different forms of mobility: mobility of people, financial resources (remittances), material resources (transfers in kind), intangible resources (ideas, practices, etc.). Exchanges are often bidirectional. Telephone contacts represent 86\% of migrants. Migrants visit the household in the area of origin more frequently (41.8\%) than they receive household members at their destination (33.9\%). More than 66.6\% of migrants transfer remittances to their households in rural areas. With regard to the 4-level translocality intensity indicator (Wehner 2022), it can be concluded that over 50\% of migrants are located at the two highest levels. Hence, translocality is an important feature of rural-urban migration in Burkina Faso.}, language = {en} } @techreport{JaeckelHaberger2025, author = {J{\"a}ckel, Franziska and Haberger, Mathias}, title = {The stone-made myth of return : translocality and housing in Amedzofe, Ghana}, number = {4}, doi = {10.15475/mitrawa.upa4}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15301}, pages = {11 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This paper delves into how migration and the resulting emergence of translocal networks, shaped by migrants' spatial and social trajectories, influence housing investment decisions in the area of origin. During our field stay in Amedzofe, a settlement in south-eastern Ghana, we gathered qualitative data in a transect walk with a local key informant and, building upon this, ten semi-structured interviews, alongside quantitative data collected through a questionnaire involving 94 households as part of the broader data collection within the MiTra|WA research project. By applying a simple propensity score matching approach, the study demonstrates that households with at least one migrant are 18 percentage points more likely to invest in housing for Amedzofe family members than non-migrant housholds. Notably, investments in aesthetically appealing housing are particularly significant. Our qualitative findings substantiate these observations, highlighting a strong inclination to showcase translocal interconnectedness and a lasting sense of belonging to Amedzofe. Housing investments also encapsulate the ingrained notion of migrants' eventual return to Amedzofe, especially for retirement, namely the "stone-made myth of return." Our study emphasizes the need for expanded research focus on translocal networks and the symbolic importance of housing in the Ghanaian context. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for addressing the implications of growing demands for living space, which may impact land distribution and require further investigation.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Wild2025, author = {Wild, Matthias}, title = {A statistical perspective on machine learning: three essays on improvement, application and interpretation of predictive algorithms}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15311}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {III, 113 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {In this thesis we address a series of topics at the interface between statistics and machine learning. This includes the improvement of predictive algorithms using statistical concepts, potential and challenges in the application of predictive algorithms in areas traditionally covered by statistical theory, and the interpretation of black-box algorithms by means of statistical hypothesis testing.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Springer2025, author = {Springer, Simone Maria}, title = {Lehramtsstudierende auf ihrem Weg der Professionalisierung}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-16120}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {420 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Die vorliegende Studie untersucht subjektive Vorstellungen von Professionalisierung aus Sicht Studierender des Lehramts Grundschule an der Universit{\"a}t Passau im Rahmen unterschiedlicher Praktikumsformen: P{\"a}dagogisch-didaktisches Praktikum (PDP), Exercitium Paedagogicum (ExPaed) und Modellcurriculum (MC). Aus der Theorie heraus wurden zwei Hauptkategorien der Studie abgeleitet: Kategorie I - Inwiefern unterscheiden sich die subjektiven Sichtweisen Studierender unterschiedlicher Praktika (PDP, ExPead, MC) auf Professionalisierung? Und Kategorie II - Inwiefern unterscheidet sich die systematische Reflexion der individuellen Professionalisierung von Studierenden unterschiedlicher Praktika (PDP, ExPaed, MC)? Durch diese drei Gruppierungen ist es m{\"o}glich, verschiedene Perspektiven zu ber{\"u}cksichtigen und Unterschiede herauszuarbeiten. Die leitfaden-gest{\"u}tzten ExpertInneninterviews (n = 27: 8 PDP, 10 ExPaed, 9 MC) wurden mit dem Programm f4 transkribiert und mit Hilfe der Datenanalyse-Software MAXQDA (2020/2022) inhaltsanalytisch nach Mayring (2015) ausgewertet. Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen Abweichungen der einzelnen Studierendengruppen bez{\"u}glich biografischer Ausgangslagen f{\"u}r Professionalisierung. StudentInnen der einzelnen Gruppierungen nehmen Professionalisierung im systemisch-strukturellen Rahmen in Form von Praktika anders war, zeigen Unterschiede im professionellen Selbstverst{\"a}ndnis und in den subjektiven Einflussfaktoren f{\"u}r Professionalisierung. Auch in der systematischen Reflexion der eigenen Professionalisierung k{\"o}nnen Diskrepanzen eruiert werden.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Wolff2025, author = {Wolff, Monika-Sybille}, title = {F{\"o}rderung situativer, aufgabenbezogener Emotionen von Studierenden durch eine Value-Intervention}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15521}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {336 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Emotionen spielen eine wesentliche Rolle f{\"u}r Motivation, Leistung und erfolgreiches Lernen (vgl. z.B. Pekrun et al., 2002; Pekrun \& Perry, 2014). Forschungsergebnisse zeigen jedoch, dass positive Emotionen wie Lernfreude im Bildungsverlauf tendenziell abnehmen, w{\"a}hrend negative Emotionen wie Angst oder Langeweile zunehmend auftreten (Vierhaus et al., 2016). Trotz verschiedener theoretischer Ans{\"a}tze zur Emotionsregulation und Emotionsintervention steckt die empirische Forschung in diesem Bereich noch in den Anf{\"a}ngen. Bestehende Interventionen konzentrieren sich haupts{\"a}chlich auf Pr{\"u}fungsangst und stehen h{\"a}ufig vor Herausforderungen hinsichtlich ihrer nachhaltigen Wirksamkeit (z.B. Hagenauer, Klaß \& Gl{\"a}ser-Zikuda, 2016) sowie ihrer praktischen Implementierbarkeit (z.B. Brandenberger, Hagenauer \& Hascher, 2018). Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Effekte einer Utility-Value-Intervention auf das situative, aufgabenbezogene emotionale Erleben von Studierenden. Da Value-Interventionen (z.B. Harackiewicz et al., 2014) auf eine Verbesserung der subjektiven Kontroll- und Wert-Einsch{\"a}tzungen von Leistungsaktivit{\"a}ten durch wertinduktive Prompts abzielen, wurde auf Grundlage der Kontroll-Wert-Theorie (Pekrun, 2000, 2006) angenommen, dass sich diese Intervention {\"u}ber die Modulation von Kontroll- und Wert-Appraisals positiv auf die Entstehung von Leistungsemotionen auswirkt. Im Rahmen eines experimentellen Within-Subjects-Designs erhielten 312 Lehramtsstudierende aus zwei Online-Seminaren („Leistungsemotionen" und „Klassenf{\"u}hrung") {\"u}ber den Verlauf eines Semesters jeweils drei Utility-Value-Treatments. Die Intervention umfasste sowohl direkte als auch indirekte Prompts: Erstere stellten mittels Advance Organizers die Relevanz der in der Lernaufgabe gef{\"o}rderten Kompetenzen explizit heraus, w{\"a}hrend Letztere in relevanzinduzierende Aufgaben eingebettet waren. In diesen Aufgaben entwickelten die Studierenden durch die Evaluation von Zitaten eigenst{\"a}ndige Relevanzargumente (vgl. Gaspard et al., 2017). Zur Erfassung situativer Emotionen sowie von Valenz- und Kontrollkognitionen wurden Frageb{\"o}gen sowohl zu Treatment- als auch zu Non-Treatment-Messzeitpunkten eingesetzt. Die Ergebnisse einer Conditional Process Analysis mit Mehrebenendaten (Hayes, 2018) offenbarten zeitabh{\"a}ngige Effekte: In der Substichprobe „Klassenf{\"u}hrung" wirkte sich das Treatment zu Beginn des Semesters zun{\"a}chst negativ auf das emotionale Erleben aus, w{\"a}hrend es gegen Semesterende eine positive Wirkung entfaltete. In der Substichprobe „Leistungsemotionen" zeigte sich hingegen ein gegens{\"a}tzliches Muster. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus variierte der Mediationsprozess: W{\"a}hrend in der Substichprobe „Klassenf{\"u}hrung" prim{\"a}r Valenzkognitionen zur Vermittlung der Effekte beitrugen, wurde in der Substichprobe „Leistungsemotionen" eine Mediation {\"u}ber Kontrollkognitionen beobachtet. Die Befunde verdeutlichen die Relevanz kontextueller Faktoren f{\"u}r die Wirksamkeit einer Utility-Value-Intervention zur F{\"o}rderung des situativen emotionalen Erlebens und liefern wertvolle Impulse f{\"u}r die Weiterentwicklung zielgerichteter Interventionsstrategien.}, subject = {Emotion}, language = {de} } @book{OPUS4-1606, title = {La litt{\´e}rature migratoire au f{\´e}minin {\`a} l'interface entre l'«Orient» et l'«Occident»}, volume = {2025}, editor = {Hertrampf, Marina Ortrud M. and Xie, Xiaomeng}, publisher = {Akademische Verlagsgemeinschaft M{\"u}nchen}, address = {M{\"u}nchen}, isbn = {978-3-96091-646-8}, doi = {10.23780/9783960916468}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-2502181236153.867738041428}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {307 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Ce volume collectif se questionne comment les contacts et les conflits entre l'« Orient » et l'« Occident » se refl{\`e}tent dans les textes narratifs des femmes {\´e}crivains. Les contributrices examinent dans quelle mesure le fait d'{\^e}tre une femme donne lieu {\`a} diff{\´e}rentes perceptions de soi et de l'autre, et dans quelle mesure les formes internes et externes d'orientalisme jouent un r{\^o}le {\`a} cet {\´e}gard. Elles explorent dans quelle mesure les images de soi et de l'autre, les images orientales et occidentales des femmes et des r{\^o}les st{\´e}r{\´e}otyp{\´e}s du genre entrent en contact ou en conflit dans ces textes, et quelles cons{\´e}quences cela a sur l'identit{\´e} des femmes dans l'entre-deux entre la culture d'origine et la culture d'accueil. Dans un post-orientalisme, si les probl{\´e}matiques culturelles, linguistiques, religieuses et id{\´e}ologiques sont au centre de nos pr{\´e}occupations, les autrices accordent {\´e}galement une attention particuli{\`e}re {\`a} la mani{\`e}re dont les femmes {\´e}crivains {\´e}tudi{\´e}es, elles-m{\^e}mes voyageuses et migrantes, transcendent la critique du colonialisme traditionnel, r{\´e}cr{\´e}ent et font comprendre un Orient dont l'image et la signification se renouvelle et se rafra{\^i}chit constamment.}, subject = {Migrationsliteratur}, language = {fr} } @phdthesis{GhoshDastidar2025, author = {Ghosh Dastidar, Kanishka}, title = {Using Context for Credit Card Fraud Detection}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15561}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {147 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Online payment fraud is one of the biggest challenges accompanying the ubiquitous adoption of digital payment methods. The academic literature shows that providing data-driven models with additional context of a transaction results in significant improvements in fraud detection performance. However, the methods used to generate suitable context representations often rely on human expert knowledge, which is expensive and suffers from several limitations. In this thesis, we propose different methods to automate this process by learning these context representations end-to-end on the fraud detection objective. Each of these methods is evaluated on millions of real-world transactions from Worldline, our industrial partner. Central to this thesis is our proposal of the Neural Aggregate Generator (NAG), a neural network that learns context representations automatically. The architecture of the NAG is designed to resemble the structure of expert feature aggregates, while also addressing their limitations. Our evaluation of the NAG reveals that it outperforms both approaches that use expert aggregates and other end-to-end methods across several months of testing. A thorough evaluation shows that the NAG improves over other approaches on several key factors including model size and robustness to shorter sequences. We propose several extensions to the NAG with the dual motive of improved alignment with expert aggregates and improved expressiveness. Our evaluation of these extensions shows comparable performance to the NAG with ancillary benefits in terms of prospective interpretability and model size. We also introduce the novel paradigm of using \lq future' transactions as context. Our analysis of real-world data from Worldline shows that verification of transactions are often delayed by several days and that within this delay there are often several transactions booked on the card which can be used as additional context. We show that this future context improves the performance of sequence models. Moreover, we also show that a balance between past and future context yields the best results and that using future context allows the use of shorter sequences overall. Beyond context-based fraud detection, we also provide an initial proposal of generating synthetic credit card data using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), showing that a Wasserstein GAN can be used to generated synthetic data similar to a popular publicly available credit card fraud dataset. We also describe several possible directions for future work including the incorporation of a adapted self-attention mechanism to the NAG and the use of transformers for synthetic data generation.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Sleziona2025, author = {Sleziona, Philipp}, title = {Transparency and Control about Privacy in Data-Driven Online Services: An Investigation of Design Choices and Users' Data Disclosure Decision-Making}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15501}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {iv, 154 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {As modern online services are increasingly data-driven, users' data disclosure is becoming a decisive factor for the success of companies' business models. Extensive disclosure of personal data raises concerns for users' privacy that managers of online services and regulators need to address. Implementing transparency and control about an online service's data practices has become the dominant approach to address these concerns. However, the effects of transparency and control on users' data disclosure behavior have been found to be ambivalent. While some studies in the field of privacy research confirm that implementing transparency and control features can be an effective means to raise users' willingness to disclose data, other studies have found only minuscule, and sometimes even opposing effects of transparency and control on users' disclosure behavior. Such heterogeneous effects not only hinder estimating the consequences of regulatory and managerial efforts aimed at creating transparency and control but also impede generating clear guidelines on how to provide transparency and control in the most effective manner. A closer examination of individuals' underlying decision-making mechanisms in response to provisions of transparency and control in disclosure decision scenarios may help to improve our understanding of the causes of diverging disclosure behavior. A better understanding of these underlying decisionmaking mechanisms will further help to assess specific designs of transparency and control features and their impact on the business models of online services as well as users' privacy. Therefore, this thesis explores users' decision-making mechanisms and behavioral reactions to the provision of transparency and control in data disclosure situations. The thesis consists of four essays that employ different research methods, including systematic literature reviews and quantitative studies. The findings of the essays contribute to a better understanding of the effects of transparency and control on user decision-making in the privacy domain by (1) offering conceptualizations that provide a lens for studying users' decision-making processes and their disclosure behavior in reaction to transparency and control features (2) examining how different implementations of transparency and control features affect users' decision-making processes and effort in decision-making which causes differences in users' disclosure behavior, and (3) by investigating the effects of transparently communicated content and relevant pieces of information in so far underexplored data disclosure scenarios between users and a data-sharing firm network.}, subject = {Transparenz}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Soller2025, author = {Soller, Sebastian}, title = {Anomaly Detection and Forecasting Techniques and their Applications Scenarios, Challenges and Limits in Industrial Production Settings}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15659}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {vi, 136 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {What needs to be done to get machine learning and artificial intelligence from the lab to the shop floor? This work and its affiliated publications focus on challenges and solutions to apply machine learning applications inside industrial setups and what steps are needed to improve those setups. In industrial setups it is easy to run into a "hen and egg" problem. To gather data, the information which data to gather is ideally given beforehand and these information are not available when studying new setups and machines. In this work setups and concepts are created to dynamically connect to a network and start gathering data from available endpoints inside a manufacturing setup. The data streams of these endpoints are further analyzed to give an initial analysis of the data and advise further processing. To further analyze these data streams with the current advances in the machine learning field and AI, plug and play solutions are presented by manufacturers and scientific research. Limits are determined for this plug and play capability and solutions are provided to further improve upon the base solutions. The capability to apply commonly applied methods was analyzed and initially provided non-sufficient results. In the sub-fields of anomaly detection, regression analysis, forecasting and classification the addition of context information, such as production specific information and time dependent analysis were used to improve the results. Context information, especially periodic information, were further conceptualized and integrated into the initial data analysis. Difficulties with correct labeling of ground truth due to differing biases of participants were encountered, and counter measurements were proposed. Results of the classification, regression, forecast and context information extraction were investigated for their influence on the human operator. A significant change could be measured in multiple cases, just by providing information about underlying problems and errors. The Aforementioned machine learning methods further improved the performance of machine and operator.}, subject = {Anomalieerkennung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Fruehwirth2025, author = {Fr{\"u}hwirth, Lorenz}, title = {The Asymptotic Behavior of Birkhoff- and Lacunary Sums}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15677}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {109 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This doctoral thesis consists of three independently published research articles on the asymptoic behaviour of Lacunary- and Birkhoff sums. The former are sums formed by periodic functions and exponentially growing sequences of natural numbers. The corresponding summands often exhibit behavior typical of independent and identically distributed random variables. The methods used are of an analytical and probabilistic nature. The Birkhoff sums considered in this work are generated by the Kronecker sequence and by discontinuous functions. The methods employed are from the field of metric number theory, specifically classical results from continued fraction theory are utilized.}, language = {en} } @misc{MexisLillDolehetal.2025, author = {Mexis, Nico and Lill, Bjarne and Doleh, Yousef and Katzenbeisser, Stefan}, title = {Supplementary Material for the Work "Exposing the Gaps: The State of Supply Chain Coverage in Current Security Standards"}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15633}, pages = {29 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This document contains the supplementary material for our work "Exposing the Gaps: The State of Supply Chain Coverage in Current Security Standards", which should be consulted for further information and details. While this supplement has not been peer-reviewed, the above article has. The reviewers also had access to all the data presented in this document during the review phase. The article is available from 26 July 2025 as part of the "IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology", volume 742: 10.1007/978-3-031-94924-1_14}, subject = {Supply Chain Management}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Raich2025, author = {Raich, Krispin}, title = {Multimodal Data Space for Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15496}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xv, 111 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Modern Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITSs) are comprehensive applications that must cope with a multitude of challenges while meeting strict service and security standards. One of these challenges is a fast, secure, reliable, and universal way to store and exchange data in such a traffic system. Furthermore, multimodal scenarios where different types of vehicles (e.g., cars and Unmanned Aerial System) interact with each other, are increasingly emerging. To overcome these challenges, this thesis presents a set of key innovations to establish a multimodal capable data space for transport application. Therefore, a multimodal optimized geographic model is presented, called SpatialJSON, that is capable of depicting two- and three-dimensional geometries. To accomplish this feat, SpatialJSON extends the popular GeoJSON format with two new data types: area and corridor. Exchanging, managing, and storing data is handled in a novel data-centric middleware, called Large Scale Multimodal Data Processing Middleware for Intelligent Transport Systems (LDPM). This LDPM uses cryptographic- and trust-based schemas to allow secure data exchange and provide data quality assessment. Furthermore, a service architecture is introduced, that fulfils modern service requirements. Trust management is also another essential part of a C-ITS. Hence, a novel scheme to describe traffic related evidence in a multimodal environment is introduced. This schema allows assessing arbitrary traffic related data. This information is then processed in a specialized and modified Bayesian Inference (BI) function. Subsequently, a comprehensive data centric trust management method is introduced. Finally, a use case is presented that relies on the aforementioned technologies to collect data in a hazardous environmental. This data is then distributed and managed via the LDPM, and finally visualized.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Still2025, author = {Still, Enid}, title = {Affective Roots: Memory, emotions and viscerality within organic agri-food networks in Tamil Nadu, India}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15838}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {272 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {For activists I met in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu in India, organic food and farming was a 'way of life'. Stemming from my curiosity about this statement and what it meant for different actors in the regional organic agri-food networks, this research explores the interconnected lives and livelihoods of organic farmers and activists in Tamil Nadu. To engage with the social dynamics of these agri-food networks, the research focuses in on the role of the affective, feeling body. The emphasis on affect emerged in the form of memories, emotions and visceral experience, from empirical data collected between 2020 and 2022. And as the thesis demonstrates, affective dimensions, or what moves people, are important because, unlike economic, statistical or structural perspectives, they make visible the ways different actors feel socio-ecological change. Adopting the lens of Feminist Political Ecology and drawing on the fields of historical anthropology and feminist ethics, this thesis highlights: (1) the enduring nature of epistemic injustice within agri-food relations, (2) how social boundaries are built, maintained and remade through affective encounters, circumscribing what I call the 'affective roots' of socio-ecological change and (3) how ambiguous affective relations co-constitute organic agri-food networks, shaping anxious environmental subjectivities, that stem from socially mediated encounters with agro-chemicals, the market, the landscape and the other. Deepening our understanding of socio-ecological and agrarian change through empirical inquiry into how people feel matters, I argue, because it sheds light on injustices that are often concealed beneath the clouds of crisis.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Julka2025, author = {Julka, Sahib}, title = {Towards Data Efficiency and Controllable Representations for Deep Learning in Resource-Constrained Domains}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-16030}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {20 ungez{\"a}hlte Seiten, 131 Seiten, 17 ungez{\"a}hlte Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in specialised domains such as planetary science and healthcare, as well as in low-resource NLP settings, faces two fundamental challenges: label scarcity and data scarcity. Label scarcity stems from the high cost of expert annotation, the scarcity of domain experts, and the infeasibility of crowdsourcing, particularly in complex tasks requiring specialised knowledge. In parallel, data scarcity stems from the inherent difficulty of acquiring sufficient raw data, whether due to limited observational opportunities, environmental and technical barriers, or stringent privacy constraints. Together, these limitations impede the broader adoption of AI in these fields. Many existing approaches to label efficiency, such as active learning, rely on problem-specific heuristics and often, as a design choice, employ naive uncertainty estimations—typically at the instance level. However, such methods can lead to redundant or suboptimal sample selection by ignoring structural data properties and failing to account for representational diversity. In practice, they often perform no better than random sampling. For data synthesis, generative models face their own set of challenges. Despite their promise for synthetic data generation, these models frequently lack mechanisms to disentangle generative factors at the representation level, limiting their controllability. Additionally, standardised evaluation metrics to assess the quality of disentanglement remain underdeveloped, limiting their practical utility. These limitations highlight the need for advancements in data-efficient machine learning and controllable generative modelling, focusing on domain-specific validity and rigorous evaluation. This thesis contributes to addressing these challenges by proposing tailored solutions in two key directions. First, for data-efficient learning, a deep active learning (DAL) framework is introduced to enhance label efficiency by prioritising the most informative samples for annotation. Unlike traditional per-sample approaches, this framework aggregates uncertainty across larger data segments—such as orbital intervals in planetary science—allowing it to capture contextual variations. This method reduces labelled data requirements by up to 90\% in the case of boundary crossing detection at Mercury's magnetosphere. To further improve sampling diversity, a GAN-based concept drift detection method is integrated into the DAL framework, leveraging uncertainty and diversity together to offer a sampling method that outperforms random sampling. Additionally, foundation models such as the Segment Anything Model (SAM) are employed for zero-shot annotation to generate high-quality pseudo-labels, which are subsequently used to train a domain-specific model via knowledge distillation. This approach significantly enhances data efficiency, reducing the need for annotated samples several times over in the tested scenario of image segmentation for geological mapping. Furthermore, large language models (LLMs) are explored as active annotators for linguistic tasks in low-resource languages, achieving near-baseline performance while reducing annotation costs by up to 40x. Second, the thesis investigates methods to induce controllability in generative models, enabling the production of high-fidelity, controllable synthetic data. Conditional generative adversarial networks (CGANs) and disentangled representation learning techniques (DRL) are explored, particularly in the context of pedestrian trajectory prediction in the mobility domain, where controlled synthesis of diverse motion patterns is critical. Additionally, the work examines existing metrics for evaluating disentanglement and identifies critical limitations in them. A novel metric, the Exclusivity Disentanglement Index (EDI), is proposed as an improved standardised measure. Based on the principle of exclusivity in factor-code relationships, this metric offers advantages over existing alternatives in terms of efficiency and robustness. By advancing data-efficient learning and controllable generation strategies, this thesis aims to bridge the gap between AI's vast potential and its practical adoption in resource-constrained environments. These contributions pave the way for transformative applications in planetary science, healthcare, and beyond, where label and data scarcity have long been barriers to progress.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Wilhelm2025, author = {Wilhelm, Sebastian}, title = {Emergency Detection in Private Households Utilizing Existing Data Sources for Human Activity Event Recognition}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15992}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xvii, 156 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {In an aging society, the need for efficient emergency detection systems in smart homes is becoming increasingly important. Over 30\% of those aged 65 and older experience at least one fall per year, often resulting in the inability to rise without assistance, leading to 'long lies' lasting hours or even days. Systems for detecting such emergency events usually rely on wearable sensors or specific installations of ambient sensors, which can be intrusive and complex, hindering acceptance. This thesis proposes a novel approach that utilizes existing digital data sources within the residential infrastructure to detect human activities and identify potential emergencies. A survey identifies 44 potential data sources in private households for recognizing human activity. However, extracting activity information often requires complex preprocessing. In this thesis, methodologies are developed for three of these data sources to highlight practical applications: Smart Power Meters, Smart Water Meters, and Home Weather Stations. It is shown that detecting human activities using these sources is feasible in a practical environment, although accuracy and reliability vary. Notably, Smart Water Meters demonstrate high reliability, with a precision of 0.86 and a recall of 1.00, making them particularly suitable for emergency detection. Existing emergency detection methods are not designed to handle uncertain activity data. This thesis introduces a novel approach based on probabilistic activity information, employing an Inactivity Score that provides a probabilistic weighting of inactivity periods based on the reliability of sensor measurements. By analyzing historical Inactivity Scores, anomalies that potentially represent an emergency can be identified. Evaluations across seven datasets show this approach outperforms existing methods, achieving a mean time to detect emergencies of approximately 05:23:28 hours and producing 0.09 false positives per day under noise-free conditions. Moreover, unlike related approaches, the proposed method remains effective with noisy data. This thesis demonstrates that emergencies in private households can be detected using existing data sources from the home infrastructure, offering a cost-effective and non-intrusive solution to enhance the safety and autonomy of the elderly at home.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Stoffels2025, author = {Stoffels, Dominik}, title = {Advancing Pattern Detection, Theory Development and Decision Making with Explainable AI}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15975}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {ii, 145 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The application of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods in data-driven decision-making and computationally intensive theory development (CTD) is a subject of ongoing debate, particularly concerning how and whether these methods can be effectively employed, and how the reliability of their explanations can be ensured. This dissertation addresses these issues by systematically analyzing the usability of XAI for pattern detection, CTD, and decision-making, drawing on various real-world and synthetic datasets and employing different empirical methods and perspectives. The dissertation consists of four studies, each addressing distinct issues in the field of XAI application.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hasenpflug2025, author = {Hasenpflug, Mareike}, title = {Slice sampling on Riemannian manifolds}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15903}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {iii, 118 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This thesis is concerned with hybrid slice samplers for approximate sampling of distributions on Riemannian manifolds. First for distributions on the Euclidean unit sphere, and then for distributions on general Riemannian manifolds we introduce a geodesic-based hybrid slice sampler, called geodesic slice sampler. Under mild regularity assumptions, we establish reversibility with respect to the target distribution for this sampler and positive semi-definiteness of the corresponding operator. Moreover, on compact Riemannian manifolds we show uniform ergodicity with explicit constants for the geodesic slice sampler if the target distribution has a bounded density with respect to the Riemannian measure. As an important building block of this sampler, we provide an explicit expression for the shrinkage procedure proposed in (Neal, 2003) in terms of a Markov kernel. We establish that this kernel is reversible with respect to the uniform distribution on the target set and that its corresponding operator is positive semi-definite. Beyond the geodesic slice sampler, we apply these results also to elliptical slice sampling (Murray, Adams, MacKay, 2010) to obtain a proof for its reversibility with respect to the target distribution and positive semi-definiteness of the corresponding operator.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Baak2025, author = {Baak, Werner}, title = {Advanced Ordered Weighted Averaging Methods in Robust Optimization}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15879}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {viii, 88 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {In decision-making under uncertainty, robust optimization is a critical tool across various fields, providing solutions that perform effectively across a range of scenarios where precise probabilities are unavailable or unreliable. Traditional approaches, such as min-max and min-max regret, focus on minimizing the worst-case outcomes and worst-case regret, respectively, often resulting in highly conservative solutions. To address this limitation, this dissertation investigates the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) operator, which offers a flexible framework for aggregating outcomes according to varying risk preferences, from risk-averse to risk-neutral, encompassing traditional robust approaches as special cases. This work is organized around three primary contributions that expand the application and understanding of OWA in robust optimization. The first contribution develops a preference elicitation framework for OWA weights, enabling decision-makers to derive weighting schemes based on observed historical decisions, thereby aligning aggregation strategies with specific risk attitudes. The second contribution introduces a novel variant of OWA for robust optimization, integrating OWA into a regret minimization framework to generalize both robust min-max and min-max regret approaches. This model is complemented by new complexity results, including insights into the inapproximability and approximability of OWA regret, providing stronger approximation bounds that asymptotically improve on previously established results for classic OWA models. These advancements position the OWA regret model as a powerful alternative to min-max regret, offering a more adaptable approach to risk-sensitive decision-making. The third contribution addresses interval uncertainty, extending the OWA framework to scenarios where outcomes are represented as bounded intervals instead of discrete points. This interval-based OWA model accommodates real-world decision-making needs, where scenario data are uncertain or costly to specify. By using Value-at-Risk (VaR) in our definition, we provide a natural way to handle continuous ranges of uncertainty while maintaining computational tractability for large-scale problems. Together, these contributions advance both the theoretical and practical applications of OWA in decision making, establishing OWA-based methods as versatile tools for addressing complex uncertainties across a variety of decision-making environments.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hering2025, author = {Hering, Robin}, title = {Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: Safe Areas and the Silencing of Mass Atrocities}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15765}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {200 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {This publication-based thesis approaches the topic of the protection of civilians in armed conflict by 'zooming in' on two specific sub-topics: safe areas as well as the silencing of mass atrocities. The thesis consists of five publications (four of them published in double-blind peer reviewed journals) and of an introductory chapter that presents the overall argument and contextualises the publications. Two publications argue that mass atrocities are silenced, or at least not politicised, in the discourses and debates of Germany as an exemplary UN member state. It is argued that 'silencing' is a structural feature of an 'identity-mismatch' with the domestic ideational structure that inhibits debates and freezes the possibility space for foreign policy. Empirically, the first publication assesses the rhetoric of the German chancellor, foreign ministers and parliamentary group leaders vis-{\`a}-vis the mass atrocities committed in Yemen, Myanmar and South Sudan. The second publication widens the scope and looks at German political, media and societal debates in twelve cases of mass atrocities between 1992 and 2019. The remaining three publications focus on the topic of safe areas. The first publication systematically collects and assesses the existing conceptual literature on safe areas. The second publication presents a comprehensive definition, a four-fold typology based on a distinction by size and the logic of protection as well as an extensive empirical dataset of safe areas. By analysing case studies from Iraq and South Sudan, the third publication argues that safe areas have a very limited potential to provide an alternative to flight, especially from the perspective of the protection-seeking civilians themselves.}, subject = {Zivilbev{\"o}lkerung}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Lorenz2025, author = {Lorenz, Catherine}, title = {Studies on optimization problems with dynamically arriving information}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15649}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xv, 184 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {In today's fast-paced world, transportation planning, e-commerce, smart manufacturing, emergency services, and financial markets operate in real-time environments where dynamically arriving information must be integrated on-the-fly into decision-making. Research produced online algorithms ranging from myopic reoptimization (Reopt) to learning-based anticipation methods. However, given the complexity of real-world problems, optimal decision policies remain unknown, and effectiveness is often assessed through simulations against simple benchmarks, leaving improvement potential and robustness uncertain. This dissertation proposes effective online policies using classical and innovative analytical and computational evaluation methods, establishing performance bounds and comparisons to optimal solutions. It designs algorithmic frameworks for two dynamic optimization problems: the Online Order Batching, Sequencing, and picker Routing Problem (OOBSRP) in warehousing and the Traveling Salesman Problem with a Truck and a Drone under Incomplete Information (TSP-DI), for disaster relief. Given the importance of automation in real-time environments, a strong emphasis is placed on robotic solutions. For the OOBSRP with manual and robotic carts, we prove that Reopt is asymptotically optimal with probability one under broad stochastic conditions. From a worst-case perspective, no policy can improve Reopt by more than 50\%, as it is shown to be asymptotically two-competitive. A computational study confirms that Reopt's gaps to the complete-information optimum are small, e.g. averaging less than 5\% for a cost-minimization objective. A pattern analysis of Complete-Information Optimal Solutions (CIOSs), generated with dynamic programming algorithms, identifies simple algorithmic enhancements - like eliminating waiting, intervention, or strategic relocation - that further reduce costs and delivery times. These findings suggest limited benefits of anticipatory (including AI-based) algorithms in OOBSRP. Conversely, for TSP-DI, where road blockages reveal dynamically, Reopt performs poorly in the worst case, as we reveal its exponentially growing competitive ratio. We show that policies delaying deliveries for drone surveillance are significantly superior in competitive ratio. A proposed hybrid policy achieves best average and worst-case results in experiments. Using battery-limited drones introduces a challenging static subproblem within these policies, classified as Drone Routing Problems with Energy Replenishment (DRP-E). We develop a Very Large-Scale Neighborhood Search (VLNS) and an exact method for generic DRP-Es. VLNS searches an exponential-sized neighborhood of a promising solution entirely in polynomial runtime, making it ideal for real-time policies or intensification in metaheuristics. This dissertation underscores the importance of analytical guarantees and comparisons to the optimum in online algorithm design, as policy effectiveness often diverges from intuition and varies significantly across problems.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schwind2025, author = {Schwind, Mara}, title = {„Insgesamt sah ich wirklich die Wellen an mir vorbeirauschen, mich darin befindend" - Die Folgen negativer Reaktionen gegen Wissenschaftler*innen in den sozialen Medien}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15627}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {236 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Wissenschaftler*innen werden immer h{\"a}ufiger zum Ziel von Kritik, Anfeindungen und {\"A}hnlichem in den sozialen Medien. Die Studie nimmt die reziproken Effekte dieser negativen Reaktionen in den Blick. Konkret wird untersucht, mit welchen Arten negativer Reaktionen Wissenschaftler*innen konfrontiert werden, welche mentalen Verarbeitungs- und Bewertungsprozesse in diesem Kontext relevant sind und wie die Betroffenen mit den negativen Reaktionen anschließend umgehen, um die entstandene Belastungssituation zu bew{\"a}ltigen. Neben der theoretischen Aufarbeitung der Thematik wird daf{\"u}r auf qualitative Leitfadeninterviews mit betroffenen Wissenschaftler*innen zur{\"u}ckgegriffen. Die Erkenntnisse der Studie werden in einem „Modell der Konfrontation mit negativen Reaktionen in den sozialen Medien" zusammengef{\"u}hrt. Das Modell erm{\"o}glicht zum einen die strukturierte Beschreibung entsprechender Vorf{\"a}lle und kann zum anderen als theoretisch-konzeptionelle Grundlage f{\"u}r weitere empirische Untersuchungen dienen.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Sawhney2025, author = {Sawhney, Udit}, title = {Incentivizing Sustainable Agriculture in Indonesia: Empirical Essays on the Role of Social Norms and Information Provision}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-16095}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {xvi, 157 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The Green Revolution (GR) was one of the most transformative events in modern agricultural history. It was characterized by the widespread adoption of high-yield crop varieties, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and advanced irrigation systems. By significantly increasing agricultural productivity, the GR responded to global food shortages and hence played a crucial role in educing hunger, particularly in developing economies. However, while the GR alleviated food insecurity and stimulated economic development, it also brought about several unintended consequences like environmental degradation, as well as, widening socio-economic inequalities. Farmers, particularly in South and Southeast Asia, indulged heavily in fertilizer overapplication, which led to declining soil health and long-term sustainability concerns. Recognizing these challenges, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) placed significant emphasis on sustainable agriculture, particularly through SDG - 2, which seeks to end hunger and promote sustainable food production. In line with these efforts, there has been a growing movement by several countries and international organizations towards promoting sustainable agricultural practices that balances agricultural productivity with environmental conservation. This dissertation contributes to this discourse on sustainable agriculture by examining key socio-economic factors that influence the adoption of sustainable farming practices among smallholder farmers in Indonesia. Indonesia's agricultural landscape, particularly its rice farming sector, has been shaped by decades of Green Revolution policies, with Java serving as a focal point for agricultural intensification. While these policies led to impressive yield increases and national self-sufficiency in rice production by the mid-1980s, they also resulted in several environmental and economic challenges, including excessive use of chemical fertilizers, soil nutrient imbalances, and long-term land degradation. In response, the Indonesian government introduced several sustainability-focused policies, including Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Farmer Field Schools (FFS), and the "Go Organic 2010" initiative. Despite these efforts, adoption of sustainable farming practices remains limited, raising critical questions about the barriers that prevent smallholder farmers from transitioning away from intensive chemical input use. The dissertation focuses on three interrelated research questions that explore the role of social networks, information provision, and economic incentives in shaping farmers' decisions regarding sustainable agriculture. These questions are addressed through a combination of mixed-methods research and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in Java, specifically in the regions of Yogyakarta and Tasikmalaya. The first research question investigates whether and how social networks and peer effects influence farmers' input decisions, particularly regarding fertilizer application. This study builds on existing literature on social networks in agriculture and examines the extent to which perceptions of farming norms - the visible greenness levels of rice plants - affect farmers' willingness to adopt more sustainable practices. Using a mixed-methods approach, including survey experiments and social network analysis, the study finds that personal opinions about the importance of plant greenness significantly influence farmers' input decisions. However, second-order perceptions - farmers' beliefs about how others in their farming network think about their farming choices - do not play a decisive role in shaping actual adoption behaviour. This finding contrasts with previous studies that emphasize the role of social pressure in agricultural decision-making, suggesting that while social learning plays an important role, it does not always operate through peer-effect mechanisms. The results highlight the complexity of social influences in agricultural adoption decisions and the need for more nuanced approaches to integrating behavioural insights into policy interventions. The second research question investigates the role of information provision, particularly about site-specific nutrition, in promoting sustainable soil management practices among smallholder farmers. A large-scale RCT was conducted in 69 villages to assess whether targeted agricultural extension trainings, along with soil testing services, can drive farmers' adoption of sustainable soil management practices. Villages were randomly assigned to - a treatment group (T1) that received one-day training on soil health management, a second treatment group that received both training and soil tests (T2), and a control group. The study reveals that while training sessions increased awareness and adoption of simple sustainable practices - such as the use of the Leaf Colour Chart (LCC) - there was limited impact on broader behavioural changes, such as the adoption of organic fertilizers or precision fertilizer application. However, the additional provision of soil testing led to measurable reductions in nitrogen fertilizer use while simultaneously increasing yields, demonstrating the potential for personalized, site-specific soil nutrient recommendations to improve both economic and environmental outcomes. A cost-benefit analysis reveals that additional day of soil testing training resulted in an average economic gain of USD 15.71 per farmer and also reduced CO2 emissions by approximately 2 kg per farmer. These findings highlight the potential for scalable, information-based interventions as well as the need for sustained follow-up support to reinforce behavioural changes among farmers. The third research question explores farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for soil testing services and compares two different market-dissemination models - a private service model (where farmers purchase individual soil tests) and a collective (club good) model (where farmer groups collectively purchase a soil testing kit). Using an incentive-compatible auction based on the Becker- eGroot-Marschak (BDM) method, the study finds that farmers are willing to pay approximately 43\% of the actual cost of soil tests, indicating strong demand for personalized soil fertility information. Furthermore, there is no significant difference in WTP between the private and club good models, suggesting minimal free-riding behaviour within farmer groups. The qualitative data further suggests that group-based models foster a sense of joint responsibility and knowledge-sharing, making them a viable alternative to individual service provision. A deeper analysis reveals that while private service models are more effective in low-subsidy environments, club good models become preferable when subsidies are higher, offering valuable insights into cost-sharing mechanisms for agricultural policy design. Taken together, the findings of this dissertation have important implications for policymakers seeking to promote sustainable agricultural practices in developing economies. First, the dissertation highlights the nuanced role of social networks in shaping farmers' adoption decisions, suggesting that interventions targeting social learning should account for the complexity of social networks and peer influence mechanisms. Second, the dissertation underscores the importance of integrating soil testing and personalized information into agricultural extension programs, as site-specific soil nutrient recommendations can enhance both farming productivity as well as environmental sustainability. Third, the study provides empirical evidence on cost-effective ways to scale up soil testing services, demonstrating that well- esigned market-dissemination strategies can increase farmers' access to sustainability-enhancing technologies while maintaining financial viability. Beyond its immediate policy relevance, this dissertation also contributes to broader theoretical debates in development economics, agricultural economics, and environmental sustainability. By integrating experimental research methods, the dissertation advances understanding of how farmers make technology adoption decisions under conditions of uncertainty and social influence. Additionally, the study provides a methodological contribution by demonstrating the effectiveness of combining RCTs with qualitative approaches to capture the complexities of real-world decision-making. Despite its contributions, the dissertation also identifies several avenues for future research. One key limitation is that the analysis focuses primarily on short - to medium-term impacts, leaving open questions about the long-term sustainability of behaviour change. Future studies should explore whether farmers continue to adopt sustainable practices once external support is removed. Additionally, further research is needed to examine the role of digital agricultural advisory services, mobile-based soil testing platforms, and remote sensing technologies in complementing traditional extension services. Finally, more work is needed to explore the broader policy ecosystem surrounding agricultural sustainability, including the role of subsidies, market linkages, and certification schemes in incentivizing long-term adoption. In conclusion, this dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of the social, informational, and economic factors that drive sustainable agricultural transitions in Indonesia. By offering evidence-based insights into the design of more effective extension programs, market dissemination strategies, and cost- haring mechanisms, it contributes to ongoing efforts to create more resilient and environmentally sustainable food systems. The findings are not only relevant for Indonesia but also offer valuable lessons for other developing economies that are facing the challenge of balancing agricultural productivity with sustainability.}, language = {en} } @techreport{EjibaOlajide2025, author = {Ejiba, Ikenna V. and Olajide, Adeola O.}, title = {Does translocality influence climate change adaption of rural farming households? : evidence from Arochukwu, southeast Nigeria}, number = {5}, editor = {Ungruhe, Christian and Wehner, Stefanie}, doi = {10.15475/mitrawa.upa5}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-15773}, pages = {10 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Impacts of climate change are a burden for many rural communities in the global south, and particularly affect vulnerable farming households, that depend on agriculture for their sustenance. Understanding how vulnerable rural migrant households respond to this, from a translocal perspective can help to build households' resilience to climate change. While studies in Nigeria have assessed the impact of migration as a means of adaptation, studies assessing the influence of vulnerable households, using this approach is limited. This study therefore assessed how translocality influence adaptation to climate change, for vulnerable rural households in Arochukwu, southeast Nigeria. To achieve this objective, a multistage purposive random sampling technique was used to collect data from rural farm households. Primary data were collected from the households in the Area of Origin (AoO) and Area of Destination (AoD) using survey and interviews, and analysed using mixed methods analysis. Results indicate that rainfall variability and high temperature are the most risks encountered, resulting in crop losses. As a means of adaptation, migrant and non-migrant households engage in off-season migration to urban and rural areas, with more migrant households engaging in off-season rural-urban and rural-rural migration. Among migrant households, flow of resources occur, with the type of item determining the medium of exchange; while households in the AoO pay less attention to agricultural investment. Migrant and non-migrant households also differ significantly in terms of the number of adaptation measures employed. Findings from the empirical analysis on the influence of translocality on adaptation indicate that, perception of climate change, household size, and the transfer of ideas, knowledge, and innovation by migrants to their households in the AoO significantly influence adaptation of rural farming households. The research makes a case for consideration of translocality in national adaptation plans, aimed at building resilience of rural households in Southeast Nigeria.}, language = {en} } @book{Rottgeri2025, author = {Rottgeri, Andr{\´e}}, title = {Interpretationen \& Konflikte in der Popul{\"a}ren Musik - Heino, Gainsbourg, Hendrix und die Sele{\c{c}}{\~a}o : eine interdisziplin{\"a}re Untersuchung mit Blick auf die Namenkunde}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-18648}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, pages = {208 Seiten}, year = {2025}, abstract = {-}, subject = {Popul{\"a}re Musik}, language = {de} }