Laser lithography was used to create novel patterns in thin diblock copolymer films. These patterns were characterized and an examination of their formation and growth was conducted. The patterns occurred only in diblock films, due to the interaction between thermal gradient induced Marangoni flow and the self assembly of the molecules. Growth of the patterns was found to be strongly dependent on absorbed power. The impact of film thickness on pattern growth was mainly due to the corresponding changes in sample reflectance, however a periodic patterning was observed suggesting that growth is also dependent on the amount of 'excess' material (over that required to form complete lamella) available. It was also shown that the pattern growth can occur independently of laser lithography and the Marangoni effect, though laser lithography was required to direct this growth. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This research aims to investigate how particles assemble together through thermodynamic and kinetic control. Particle assembly with thermodynamic control is achieved in part due to electrostatic attraction between particles. Electrostatic attraction between particles can be achieved by functionalizing polystyrene or SiO2 particles with different charges. Particles with different charges will come together in solution slowly and self-assemble to form ordered crystals with different patterns based on size and charge ratios of two oppositely charged particles. Kinetic control of particle assembly is achieved by pattern aided exponential amplification of nanoscale structures. Some of these nanoscale structures are difficult to build with other conventional synthetic methods. On the other hand, as for kinetically controlled particle replication, the patterns can be synthesized by one of two ways i) crystal products which are produced by thermodynamically controlled particle assembly or ii) single particle deposition. Specifically, kinetically controlled particle assembly focuses on constructing SiO2 particles. Exponential replication of SiO2 particles is achieved by growing a "bridge layer", between templates of SiO2 particles and next generation SiO2 replicas. By dissolving the bridge layer, two times the amount of the SiO2 particles with the shape of the original templates can be formed. In the next generation, all the particles serve as template particles. Thus, after n cycles of replication, 2n amount of products can be formed. If successful, particle assembly can be thermodynamic controlled and particle exponential replication can be kinetical controlled, which will enable new ways to build particles with well-defined shapes from readily available building blocks.

Die regionale altersstrukturelle Zusammensetzung in Europa und Deutschland ist sehr heterogen. In der Literatur werden viele Diskussionen darüber geführt, wie sich unter anderem Regionen in Zukunft entwickeln werden und ob es ggf. zu einer Entvölkerung einzelner Gebiete kommt. Allerdings sind bisher nur selten Untersuchungen vorgenommen worden, welche die Auswirkungen der altersstrukturellen Zusammensetzung auf die regionale Produktivität und das regionale Wachstum sind. Diese Lücke wird im Rahmen dieser Arbeit weiter vervollständigt. Zunächst wird ein neoklassisches Wachstumsmodell in Anlehnung an Mankiw, Romer und Weil (1992) angewandt und um öffentliche Investitionen erweitert. Das Untersuchungsfeld sind europäische und deutsche Regionen. Im Anschluss wird untersucht, inwiefern die regionale Altersstruktur Humankapitalexternalitäten generiert. Hierzu wird eine Produktionsfunktion in Anlehnung an Lucas (1988) geschätzt. Anschließend wird ein simultanes Gleichungssystem für eine Schätzgleichung motiviert, die der Arbeit von Baldwin (1999) folgt. Es zeigt sich, dass Unterschiede in der regionalen Produktivität und des Wachstums durch altersstrukturelle Variationen erklärt werden kann. / The composition of the regional age pattern of the population and labour force within Europe and Germany is quiet heterogenous. Within the existing literature there is a debate on regional development and the possibility of depopulation. However, there is only limited evidence on the effect of the composition of the age pattern on regional productivity and growth. The aim of this work is to fill this gap. To adress this issues an augmented neoclassical growth model of Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992) is applied. Additionally, public spendings are controlled for. The model is tested on European and German regions. The next section focuses on productivity, esp. whether the age structure of human capital effects human capital externalities. First, a production function in a Lucas (1988) fashion is estimated. Second, a simultaneous equation model based on the conceptual ideas of Baldwin (1999) is applied. One can conclude that differences in regional productivity and growth is due to variation of the age pattern of the labour force and population.

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This thesis explains business process mining and it's principles. A substantial part is devoted to the problems of process discovery. Further, based on the analysis of specific manufacturing process are proposed three methods that are trying to identify shortcomings in the process. First discovers the manufacturing process and renders it into a graph. The second method uses simulator of production history to obtain products that may caused delays in the process. Acquired data are used to mine frequent itemsets. The third method tries to predict processing time on the selected workplace using asociation rules. Last two mentioned methods employ an algorithm Frequent Pattern Growth. The knowledge obtained from this thesis improve efficiency of the manufacturing process and enables better production planning.