Bøger udgivet af Cuvillier

The world¿s energy consumption is predicted to increase significantly over the coming decades. Diminishing fossil energy resources and the target to reduce greenhouse gas emission make new technologies a necessity to meet future energy demands. Thus, the exploitation of renewable energy sources is of prime interest in chemical research today. In nature, photosynthesis uses solar energy to split water, generating protons and reducing equivalents for the production of organic material. The oxidative half-reaction of water splitting, that is, the generation of dioxygen, is a thermodynamically and kinetically demanding 4e-/4H+ process and is therefore considered to be the bottleneck of this approach. Developing rugged and highly efficient catalysts for this water oxidation reaction is a major challenge in this research field.The herein presented work introduces a number of new rationally designed pyrazolate-based diruthenium complexes as water oxidation catalysts, emphasizing the favourable preorganisation of two metal ions in one system for binding of two water molecules at a distance adequate for O-O bond formation. Thorough characterisation of the complexes using a wide range of analytical techniques and fundamental investigation of water oxidation catalysis ¿ both chemically and electrochemically ¿ allow deep insight into the water oxidation reaction and influences of different ligand designs on catalytic performances. The results described in this work contribute to a better understanding of the possibility to rationally design water oxidation catalysts on a molecular basis.

Long-term interest rates are essential for the valuation and hedging of various fixed income products and derivatives as well as for the pricing of payments in a distant future, such as long-term infrastructure projects or compensatory adjustments in the course of an accident or a divorce. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis the modeling of interest rate curves with a long time horizon became more and more important due to increased investments in long-term products. Therefore, the study of the asymptotic behavior of the term structure of interest rates has recently achieved new relevance.In this dissertation we investigate long-term interest rates, i.e. interest rates with maturity going to infinity, in the post-crisis interest rate market. Three different concepts of long-term interest rates are considered for this purpose: the long-term yield, the long-term simple rate, and the long-term swap rate. We analyze the properties as well as the interrelations of these long-term interest rates. In particular, we study the asymptotic behavior of the term structure of interest rates in some specific models. First, we compute the three long-term interest rates in the HJM framework with different stochastic drivers, namely Brownian motions, Lévy processes, and affine processes on the state space of positive semidefinite symmetric matrices. The HJM setting presents the advantage that the entire yield curve can be modeled directly. Furthermore, by considering increasingly more general classes of drivers, we were able to take into account the impact of different risk factors and their dependence structure on the long end of the yield curve. Finally, we study the long-term interest rates and especially the long-term swap rate in the Flesaker-Hughston model and the linear-rational methodology.

Relationships of speech tone and music have been intriguing me since my early studies in ethnomusicology and linguistics. Conducting fieldwork in Botswana in 1997 brought me in contact with a Bantu tone language of two tones, but in those days I had neither a matching methodology nor linguistic records that would have allowed me to focus on their relationship to singing and music ¿ a recurring situation that is mentioned, among others, in Catherine Ingram¿s contribution. The chance to participate in a DoBeS project in Upper Assam, India, documenting endangered Tai and Tibeto-Burman languages (isolating tone languages with contour tone) with project leader linguist Stephen Morey was a welcome challenge that taught me about the spectrum of possible relationships between speech tone and musics across different cultures. The ¿Workshop Relationships of Speech Tone and Music¿ in Vienna in 2012 developed out of the discourse between Stephen Morey and myself, and has become an important mile stone in what I see as an interdisciplinary basic research endeavour. Volumes dealing with this topic in a comparative way have previously been published, for example Thomas A. Sebeok & Donna Jean Umiker-Sebeok (1976) or Bonnie Wade (1993), but none of them targeted it as directly as the present one. The most valuable bibliography on the relation of speech tone and music is currently maintained online by Murray Schellenberg (2013); I had the pleasure of contributing a few items irregularly in the past.

Molecules are important tools to unveil the history, the structure and the evolution of the Universe. In this thesis I underline the importance of high resolution spectroscopy in the laboratory and in space, and the symbiotic bond between laboratory spectroscopy and radioastronomy. My work is divided in two parts. The first part concerns high resolution spectroscopy of unstable molecules in the laboratory. The second part deals with radioastronomical observations of deuterated molecules in dense cores.The rotational spectra of CO+, 13CO+ and C18O+ in the v = 0 and 1 vibrational states have been measured in the submillimeter-wave range. Furthermore, the first THz spectra of the main isotopic species have been measured. An isotopically invariant fit has been performed, and a set of independent molecular parameters has been derived. The measured and predicted high frequency transitions of CO+ will guide new astronomical observations. Furthermore, an experimental setup to produce and probe ions in the laboratory, based on a new cryogenic discharge cell, has been developed and tested. The new experiment is presented, and some possible implementations for the future are discussed.The doubly deuterated cyclopropenylidene, c-C3D2, has been detected for the first time in space toward the starless cores TMC-1C and L1544. The chemistry that leads to the formation of c-C3D2 has been studied and is discussed in this thesis. The observed abundances c-C3D2 can be explained solely by gas-phase processes, supporting the idea that c-C3H2 is an excellent probe of gas-phase deuteration. Furthermore, l-C3HD has been tentatively detected towards TMC-1C and L1544. l-C3HD is the monodeuterated isotopologue of the linear isomer of cyclopropenylidene, propadienylidene.

Conformal components are used nowadays at higher rate than ever before. They can be found in curved mobile phones, communication, navigation, and imaging systems in land, water, air, and space vehicles. The integration of those components within the external structure became of significant importance for aerodynamic, electromagnetic, aesthetic, orphysical reasons. As a result, many mathematical models were previously developed to analyze and optimize such conformed devices. In this thesis, we contributed to this field by developing various models for full wave analysis of spheroidal components.As a starting point, mathematical formulas for conforming antennas on oblate and prolate spheroids were obtained. Those conformation methods were validated by conforming many antennas on spheroidal surfaces. They were then used to formulate Method of Moments equations with spheroidally curved current functions for analyzing wire antennas of randomshape conformed to spheroids in the frequency domain. The complete model was applied to a conformal Archimedean spiral antenna on an oblate spheroid and showed that the conformed spiral has similar current distribution as its planar counterpart but produces an unsymmetrical radiation pattern. The obtained model was then extended to spheroidal multi-layer structures by integrating the spheroidal dyadic Green¿s Function within its mathematical derivation. However, due to a detected divergence in that function, the model couldn¿t be implemented.On the side of time based analysis methods, a Finite Difference Time Domain method was developed for closed oblate and prolate spheroidal structures. Alternative formulas for the structure¿s singularities and the condition of numerical stability were derived as well. The obtained model was then validated and used to characterize spheroidal cavities in the time and frequency domains. The method was extended later to unbounded spheroidal domain by deriving the Absorbing Boundary Conditions using the One Way Wave method. The whole model was then applied to characterize a patch antenna conformed to a prolate spheroid. Finally, an analytical solution for the transient fields in spherical multilayer media energized by spherical harmonics source and an algorithm for tracing back the path of all the reflected waves were obtained. The model was applied to different multilayer structures where the transient response was obtained and validated against a numerical solution.

Ultrashort laser pulses are capable of generating micro structures with high precision and challenging quality for electronics, optics, medical and automotive applications. However, the realization of microstructures with high aspect-ratio, especially microdrillings, is still a demanding task. Deep drillings show the formation of bulges, a bending of the hole and multiple capillaries. A direct investigation of the drilling process in opaque materials, especially metals, is not feasible and different explanations for the hole shape formation have been developed. The specific contribution of the possible influences on the shape formation are not fully understood yet.In this work, an in-situ observation of drilling in an opaque material is realized for the first time. Silicon is used as a model system for laser drilling in semiconductors and metals. The influence of the processing parameters on the hole shape evolution is studied in detail, in particular for the pulse energy, pulse duration, repetition rate as well as ambient pressure. The reasons for the special drilling behavior are examined with focus on the particle deposition, the plasma interaction and the light propagation inside the hole capillary.

Today Chile is the Latin-American country with the most stable economy and the highest GDP growth rates. In contrast to Asia, this growth has not been driven by emerging manufacturing industries but by the agricultural sector. Thus, in the past three decades, Chile¿s non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAE) have significantly increased and, as a result, have strongly transformed rural areas in Chile (Challies and Murray 2011; The World Bank 2011). The NTAE strategy which was implemented by the military government of Chile in the late 1970s turned out to be very effective (Challies 2010). For instance, after only two decades, Chile became a leading exporter of farmed salmon and fresh and processed fruits. In the year 2004, Chile established a new agricultural and trade policy with the aim of developing and enhancing the agricultural export sector and making Chile among the top 10 exporters of agricultural products world-wide by the year 2015. Due to increasing globalization, companies are increasingly incorporated into the networks of international agri-food value chains and have to meet consumer demands in countries of the global North such as Germany (Challies 2010; Rivera Aedo and Lakner 2011). Vertical coordination as well as private and public food safety standards play an increasing role in Europe and the rest of the world (Theuvsen et al. 2007; Gawron and Theuvsen 2009).

International travel that is both quick and economically viable defines our modern era. Due to long term demand for aeroplanes (particulary across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe), Commercial Aviation is one of the fastest growing markets for Titanium and Nickel-based alloys as these materials are commonly used for aircraft engine components and airframe structures (Boeing (2012)).

Innovations constitute one essential success factor for the development, progress, and success of companies. Thus, striving for the creation of innovation can be beneficial. One way to create innovations is to increase the innovation capability of companies in order to enhance the knowledge base in that company. In plenty of innovation-related research, it turned out that customers can be one important source of new knowledge. Thus, they can also be a driver for increasing innovation capability and hence ultimately help to foster the creation of innovations. Due to potential effects of customers on innovation capability, companies could strive to generally integrate customers into their innovation activities. However, companies should consider differences of customers in order to identify the most promising customers for their innovation activities. Therefore, the idea of competences of an individual is applied, since competences integrate abilities, skills, and knowledge and are thus a wide construct respecting different facets of a customer. With the concept of customer competences, companies might be enabled to identify the most beneficial customers for their innovation activities in order to increase their innovation capability. Accordingly, in order to explain interrelations between particular customer competences and the innovation capability of a company, this research delivers a well-founded basis by investigating the general existence of interrelations between customer competences and the innovation capability of companies.You can download the ¿Documentation Volume¿ for free here:https://cuvillier.de/uploads/cms_file/cms_file/351/Illigen_Documentation_Volume.pdf

Die Vision der konsequenten Vernetzung verschiedener eingebetter Geräte miteinander und dem bestehenden Internet, das ¿Internet der Dinge¿, steht zunehmend im wissenschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Interesse. Aktuelle Standarisierungsbemühungen erstreben eine Interoperabilität unterschiedlichster Geräteklassen bis hin zur Applikationsschicht. Die Darstellung von kommunizierten Informationen auf dieser Schicht allerdings ist üblicherweise in Formaten und Vokabeln kodiert, die spezifisch für eine bestimmte Wissensdomäne sind. Parallel beobachten wir die Entstehung des Semantischen Webs, einer Reihe von Standards, die Wissen im World Wide Web auf universelle und verteilte Weise darstellen.Diese Arbeit untersucht die Verbindung des Internets der Dinge mit dem Semantischen Web, mit dem Ziel einer universellen Wissensdarstellung, die ¿Dinge¿ miteinander und dem bestehenden Internet verbindet. Insbesondere diskutieren wir, inwieweit es möglich ist,semantisches Wissen im Sinne des Sematischen Webs auf verschiedenen ressourcenbeschränkten Systemen zu speichern, zu verarbeiten und abzufragen.

Focused ultrashort femtosecond (fs) laser pulses enable precise surgery in the bulk of transparent ocular tissue without the need of surgically opening the eyeball. Thus, various innovative treatment approaches aim at applying minimally invasive intraocular cuts into the crystalline lens or the vitreous body, e.g., to provide long-lasting therapies for age-related impairments such as presbyopia or retinal detachments. However, side effects such as unwanted tissue responses, reduced quality of vision or detrimental nonlinear pulse-tissue interactions might impair those intraocular fs-laser treatments and could hamper a clinical application.In this thesis, the side effects of intraocular fs-laser treatments are thoroughly examined and reduced for the first time. In order to rule out adverse tissue responses, the temporal evolution of fs-laser modifications applied to the crystalline lens is investigated initially in an adapted animal trial. Since intraocular fs-laser surgery commonly requires the application of extended modification distributions potentially inducing scattering and diffraction, their influence onto the objective and subjective quality of vision is studied by means of an artificial model eye and a clinical trial based on fs-laser treated contact lenses. Finally, simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing is investigated as a tool to decrease detrimental nonlinear pulse-tissue interactions and to enhance the surgical precision for safe and reliable future intraocular fs-laser treatments.

Ce livre estune contribution àla description dusenär (langue senufo parlée au Burkina Faso) et àl¿analyse des traits de l¿influence du jula véhiculaire (du Burkina Faso) sur le senar. L¿analyse descriptive du senär, objet de la première partie du livre, a été menée à travers ses principaux paliers que sont la phonologie, la morphologie et la syntaxe. Le chapitre sur la phonologie inclutnon seulement la phonologie de surface, maisaussi certains phénomènes morphophonologiquestels que les alternances consonantiques, la longueur vocalique, l¿harmonie vocalique, la formation des diphtongues, etc. Au titre de la morphologie, les points suivants ont été abordés: le système nominal, le système verbal et d¿autres catégories morphologiques comme les adverbes, les adpositions, les idéophones et les interjections. Quant à l¿étude syntaxique, elle a fait l¿objet de quatre grands points : la phrase simple, la phrase complexe,la construction sérielle et la construction consécutive. La deuxième partie du livre, consacrée à l¿analyse des discours des locuteurs du senär, est constituée de quatre chapitres. Le chapitre introductif de cette partie restitue les résultats d¿une enquête sociolinguistique préliminaire, menée à travers des fiches d¿enquêtes. Les trois autres chapitres ont porté sur l¿analyse des interviews, en vue de relever les traits réels de l¿influence du jula, tant sur les plans phonétique/phonologique, grammatical que lexico-sémantique.This book is divided into two major parts:The first part describes the Senar language in respect of its phonology and aspects of its grammar.The phonological aspect focuses on one hand on the phonology of surface. On the other hand, it examines some morphophonological phenomena as consonantal alternations, vocalic length, vocalic harmony, status of diphthongs, etc. The morphological analysis focuses on nouns, noun classes, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, numerals, interjections and modification. As for the syntactical analysis, it studies successively four major aspects: the simple sentence, the complex sentence, serial constructions and the consecutive constructions.The second part of the thesis consists of four chapters. The introductory chapter presents the results of the preliminary sociolinguistic survey, conducted with thirty Senar speakers through questionnaires. The three other chapters of this part bear on the analysis of the interviews by exploring the influences of Jula on Senar as concerns phonetic/phonological, grammatical and lexico-semantic aspects.

Poultry production is the most dynamic sector that signified the rapid growth of all meat sectors during the last decades (FAO, 2010). The global growth of poultry industry reflects an increase of world meat demand and consumption (de Haan et al., 2001; Delego, 2003; Delgado et al., 2008; Narrod et al., 2008; Trostle and Seeley, 2013; FAO 2014). Among the poultry species, chickens are the humankind¿s most common and widespread birds. Chicken meat represents 88% of poultry meat output (Global Poultry Trends, 2014). Although the demand of chicken products has increased tremendously due to not only the fast growth of world population but also the increase of per capita global consumption of meat, nearly one third of chicken breeds are reported to be at risk of extinction (Pym, 2010). This is alarming and thereby calls for an assessment of the existing genetic resources, because many of the varieties which are at risk may have traits that can be valuable in future environmental challenges and marketing demands. Genetic variability in chickens is the best insurance for the adaptation and sustainable production for the future unpredictable needs (Simianer and Meyer, 2003). One of the important elements concerning sustainable use of animal genetic resources is to ensure that locally adapted populations remain a functional part of production systems.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms exerted by complexed linear DNA vectors encoding Interleukin (IL-) 12 and IL-18 applied in vivo in horses. To enable this first suitable biomarkers for the acute immune response of horses were evaluated.Within these, 15 monoclonal antibodies for cytokines of different species were evaluated for reactivity with equine cytokines. To accurately employ the cytokines and further selected parameters as biomarkers for treatment effects, internal controls were included and evaluated for influencing physiological factors. The age, sex and type of the horses influenced leukocyte composition, cell morphology and cytokine release by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) ex vivo.Linear DNA vectors encoding equine IL-12/-18 complexed with transfection reagent (SAINT-18) or comparative substances (SAINT-18 only, complexed nonsense DNA, complexed nonsense DNA without CpG) were applied to 24 healthy horses. All groups receiving complexed linear DNA vectors showed a systemic and local inflammatory response. This appeared basically independent of expression and CpG content of the DNA applied. Moreover, expressions of IL-12 and IL-18 enhanced immunostimulation and induced Th1 downstream mediators. Grey horses showed significantly fewer effects of DNA-treatments and were classified non-responders to immunostimulatory effects of linear DNA complexed with SAINT-18.

The Sugarcane Industry in Brazil is responsible for generation of different types of organic wastes. Bagasse and small share of straw have already been used as solid fuel in cogeneration systems in general. Meanwhile, there are other kinds of by-products, as filter cake and vinasse, which have been completely unused from the energy point of view. The idea of converting such unused wastes into additional energy is gaining attention, especially driven by some Government commitments on increasing the renewable energy generation combined with the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.The anaerobic digestion process is able to contribute with additional renewable energy production, in the form of electricity from biogas or even biomethane, keeping meanwhile the current practice of recycling the nutrients contained in these wastes on the sugarcane fields. However, for a successful application in industrial scale, the anaerobic digestion process must be carefully evaluated in terms of selection of appropriate inoculum, process kinetics, and plant design, among other aspects.

Single-pass frequency doubling of near-infrared (NIR) diode lasers in nonlinear bulk crystals allows to realize compact lasers in the green spectral region, offering continuous-wave (CW) laser radiation characterized by a high spectral brightness. In order to increase the efficiency of such laser systems, the application of quasi phase-matched waveguide structures instead of bulk crystals is investigated theoretically and experimentally. In particular, a complemented study of second-harmonic generation (SHG) in periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (MgO:LN) ridge and planar waveguides is conducted. This study aims at identifying benefits and limitations for both geometries with respect to maximum conversion efficiency and accessible power.The application of waveguide structures presented in this thesis results in a distinct improvement of the opto-optical conversion efficiency ¿ from approximately 20¿% in a bulk crystal to almost 30¿% in a planar waveguide, and to around 40¿% in a ridge waveguide. A maximum second-harmonic power of nearly 0.4 W in a ridge waveguide and 1.2 W in planar waveguide is reached. The generated laser radiation in the green spectral range is characterized by a single-frequency spectrum and nearly diffrac-tion-limited beam quality and thus ideally suited for applications in bio-medicine, bio-technology, and spectroscopy.

In der E-Learning-Domäne bilden sowohl die Lernressourcen, Lehrende und Lernende als auch die stattfindenden Lernprozesse in ihrer Gesamtheit Lernökosysteme. Diese Dissertation untersucht die Modellierung von Lernökosystemen zur Unterstützung ihrer Aggregation und Wiederverwendung. Zur Erreichung dieses Ziels müssen Modelle von Lernökosystemen die Aggregierbarkeit, Austauschbarkeit, Interoperabilität und granulare Wiederverwendbarkeit ihrer Daten unterstützen. Auf Basis durchgeführter Nutzerstudien werden Konzepte digitaler Modelle von Lernökosystemen, sogenannte LOOCs (Linked Open Online Courses), entwickelt. Dabei werden insbesondere Technologien des Semantic Webs sowie Linked-Data-Konzepte betrachtet. Die entwickelten ontologischen Modelle bilden die Basis für mehrere E-Learning-Applikationen, welche die Tragfähigkeit der Konzepte sowie eine hohe Nutzerakzeptanz zeigen. Ferner wird ein formales Interpretermodell für CSCL (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning) Scripts zur Beschreibung von Lernprozessen, welches mit Hilfe von Abstract State Machines spezifiziert wurde, vorgestellt.In the e-learning domain, the learning resources, teachers and learners and the active learning processes in their entirety construct the learning ecosystems. This thesis examines the modelling of learning ecosystems to support their aggregation and reuse. To achieve this goal, learning ecosystem models must support aggregation, compatibility, interoperability and granular re-usability of their data. Through user studies, digital model concepts of learning ecosystems, i.e. so-called LOOCs (linked open online courses), were developed. In particular, Semantic Web technologies and Linked Data concepts are considered within the context. The developed ontological models form the basis for a number of e-learning applications that show the viability of the concepts as well as a high user acceptance. Further, a formal interpreter model for CSCL (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning) Scripts for the description of learning processes specified by using Abstract State Machines is presented.

Nitrogen oxides are a major threat to human health and largely released by Diesel engines. The present book describes the preparation and characterization of appropriate catalyst systems for low temperature removal (150 ¿ 400°C) and conversion of nitrogen oxides.The presented catalysts include commercially available activated carbon and zeolite supports, infiltrated with iron, copper, manganese and their oxides. The investigated catalysts adsorb and convert nitrogen dioxide almost completely and convert it quickly subsequently into the less toxic nitric oxide and nitrous oxide. Some eventually release nitrogen and oxygen, thus outperforming even the well-known Cu-ZSM-5 catalyst at low temperature.Stickoxide zählen zu den wichtigsten Umweltgiften und werden zu einem großen Anteil durch Dieselmotoren freigesetzt. Dieses Buch beschreibt die Herstellung und Charakterisierung von Katalysatorsysteme für die Niedertemperatur-Umsetzung (150 ¿ 400°C) von Stickoxiden. Zu den vorgestellten Katalysatoren gehören kommerziell verfügbare Aktivkohle und Zeolith-Materialien, welche mit Eisen, Kupfer, Mangan und deren Oxiden infiltriert wurden. Alle untersuchten Katalysatorsysteme absorbieren Stickoxide rasch und setzen diese anschließend fast vollständig in die weit weniger toxischen Gase Stickstoffmonoxid und Distickstoffmonoxid um.Einige der untersuchten Katalysatorsystemen setzen schließlich Sauerstoff und Stickstoff frei und zeigen bei niedrigen Temperaturen sogar eine bessere Performance als der bereits gut bekannte Cu-ZSM-5 Katalysator.