Armut ist kein statisches, isoliertes oder nur materielles Phänomen, sondern reproduziert sich strukturell und mit verstärkter Ausprägung in den nächsten Generationen. Ihre Ursache ist nicht rein wirtschaftlich, sondern die Konsequenz eines langen historischen Prozesses der Negierung und Ausbeutung, auch rassiell und geschlechtsspezifisch bedingt. Daher muss man das Problem der Indianer in Bolivien als Ergebnis der historischen und sozialen Verachtung und Annullierung von Seiten der Elite und Oligarchie verstehen, die ihre politische und ökonomische Teilnahme begrenzt haben. Leider hat dabei sogar die Bildung als Instrument gedient, um das dominante System zu rechtfertigen und die indianische Bevölkerung abzuwerten. Als Konsequenz dieser rassiellen Diskriminierung und Marginalisierung in Verbindung mit der wachsenden Armut ist ein sehr komplexes Phänomen entstanden, das man strukturelle Gewalt nennt. Unter der Betrachtung solcher Bedingungen im bolivianischen Kontext wird mit dieser Arbeit der Versuch unternommen, neue Bildungspolitiken vorzuschlagen, die als Fundament für eine bessere und gleichmäßige Verteilung der Möglichkeiten zur menschlichen Entwicklung und für die Konstruktion einer demokratischen Gesellschaft (Nation Building Prozess) dienen könnten. Dafür wird die Philosophie des Ordens der Salesianer als Referenz für neue Ansätze gewählt, bei denen die Bildung ein gemeinsames Konzept des Landes formuliert, das Vorurteile, Stereotypen und innere Grenzen, die sich von Generation zu Generation übertragen, ausräumt. Die Bedeutung der Bildung soll mit anderen Worten in deren Nutzung als Werkzeug für die Errichtung einer Friedenskultur liegen, die auf Toleranz, Solidarität und den Menschenrechten basiert, wobei die zwischeninstitutionelle Annäherung, Kooperation und der gegenseitige Austausch von Informationen und Erfahrungen in der Bildungsgemeinschaft (z.B. zwischen Don Bosco, Unicef oder Unesco) eine wichtige Rolle spielen.

Das litorale Makrozoobenthos ist eine bedeutende biotische Komponente in Seen und trägt substantiell zur Biodiversität und Funktion von Seeökosystemen bei. Allerdings unterliegt das Litoral zunehmenden anthropogenen Nutzungen, deren ökologische Auswirkungen jedoch kaum quantifiziert wurden. In dieser Doktorarbeit wurde untersucht, welche Bedeutung maßgebliche Umweltfaktoren auf die Zusammensetzung des litoralen Makrozoobenthos haben, und wie sich anthropogene Nutzungen auf die Zusammensetzung und Funktion des Makrozoobenthos auswirken. Die Zusammensetzung des Makrozoobenthos wurde durch die Uferstruktur, Trophie und das hydrodynamische Regime bestimmt. Die faunistische Ähnlichkeit zwischen Habitaten war jedoch signifikant geringer als zwischen Trophiestufen, so dass die Uferstruktur, und nicht die Trophie, einen größeren Einfluss auf das Makrozoobenthos hat. Strukturelle Degradation führte zu einer Reduktion der Habitatheterogenität, was eine signifikante Verringerung der Diversität und eine signifikant veränderte Artenzusammensetzung verursachte. Infolgedessen war die Komplexität der Makrozoobenthos-Nahrungsnetze an degradierten Ufern signifikant geringer als an natürlichen Ufern. Erhöhte Wasserstandsschwankungen führten zum Ausfall von Wurzelhabitaten und der damit assoziierten Makrozoobenthos-Gemeinschaft. Schiffsinduzierter Wellenschlag führte zur Verdriftung des Makrozoobenthos von ihren Habitaten bereits bei geringen Sohlschubspannungen. Die Effekte von Wasserstandsschwankungen und schiffsinduziertem Wellenschlag wurden jedoch durch Habitate mit hoher struktureller Komplexität verringert. Mit dieser Doktorarbeit konnte ich ein mechanistisches Verständnis darüber erarbeiten, wie anthropogene Nutzungen die Wirkungsbeziehungen zwischen Umweltfaktoren und Artengemeinschaften verändern und welche ökologischen Auswirkungen dies hat. Diese Kenntnisse können als wissenschaftliche Basis zur Bewertung von anthropogenen Beeinträchtigungen des Litorals dienen. / Littoral macroinvertebrates are an important biotic component of lakes by contributing substantially to the biodiversity and functioning of lake ecosystems. Humans alter the littoral and riparian areas for various purposes, but the resulting ecological impacts on littoral macroinvertebrates have not been quantified. In this thesis, I investigated the significance of key environmental factors for littoral macroinvertebrate communities and how human alterations of these environmental factors impact the structure and function of macroinvertebrate communities. Macroinvertebrate community composition was significantly related to littoral structure, trophic state and the hydrodynamic regime. The significantly higher compositional dissimilarities among habitats than among trophic state suggested that littoral structure was the more important driver of community composition. Structural degradation caused a significant reduction of habitat heterogeneity and resulted in a significant reduction of species diversity and a significant altered community composition. This caused a significant reduction of macroinvertebrate food web complexity and substantial alterations of the trophic base of the food webs. Climate-change induced water level fluctuations resulted in the loss of root habitats and the specific community associated with this habitat. Ship-induced waves had substantial direct effects, since macroinvertebrates were detached from their habitats by waves even at moderate shear stress levels. However, the impacts of water level fluctuations and ship-induced waves were mitigated by the presence of habitats with high structural complexities. This thesis provided a mechanistic understanding of how human activities alter relationships between environmental factors and biotic communities. This knowledge can be used to develop scientifically sound approaches to assess the persistent human impacts on lake ecosystems.

Im Mittelpunkt unserer Untersuchungen steht das mehrkriterielle Optimierungsproblem, in einer beliebigen nichtleeren Menge eines halbgeordneten endlich dimensionalen Raumes. Zu dessen Lösung betrachten wir ein Dialogverfahren, in dem der Entscheidungsträger in jedem Schritt seine Wünsche äußert. Bei der Bestimmung einer Lösung, die den Entscheidungsträger zufriedenstellt, müssen wir ein im Allgemeinen nichtkonvexes und nicht triviales skalares Optimierungsproblem lösen. Zur Lösung dieses Problems haben wir zwei Klassen einparametrischer Optimierungsprobleme (Einbettungen) konstruiert. Mit Hilfe der Projektion auf den konvexen Ordungskegel haben wir gezeigt, dass diese Einbettungen wohldefiniert sind. Im Gegensatz zu der in der Literatur untersuchten Standardeinbettung, sind die in dieser Arbeit betrachteten Einbettungen durch die Skalarisierungen der Vektoroptimierungsprobleme mittels streng monotoner skalarisierender Funktionen motiviert. Diese Untersuchung wird unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Theorie der einparametrischen Optimierungsprobleme für den Fall eines beliebigen spitzen polyedrischen Ordnungskegels durchgeführt. Sie umfasst z.B. Fragestellungen nach der Art der Singularitäten, die für die verschiedenen Einbettungen auftreten können, nach den Bedingungen, unter denen eine Zusammenhangskomponente in der Menge stationärer oder verallgemeinerter kritischer Punkte mit Hilfe von Kurvenverfolgungsmethoden numerisch beschrieben werden kann und nach den hinreichenden Bedingungen für die Existenz einer Lösungskurve. Anschließend haben wir das von Guddat und Jongen eingeführte Konzept der strukturellen Stabilität eines skalaren Optimierungsproblems in der Vektoroptimierung verallgemeinert und einen Zusammenhang zur strukturellen Stabilität eines Minimaxproblems erstellt. Dieses Minimaxproblem steht in starker Beziehung zur Skalarisierungsmethode der Vektoroptimierungsprobleme. / In this work we consider the multiobjective optimization in a subset of a partially orded finite dimensional space. In order to solve this problem we use a dialogue procedure in which the decision maker has to determine in each step the aspiration and reservation level expressing his wishes (goals). This leads to an optimization problem which is not easy to solve in the nonconvex case. We solve it proposing two classes of one-parametric optimization problems (embeddings). Using the projection in the ordering cone, we show that these embeddings are well defined, i.e. the corresponding constraint sets depending on real-valued parameters are not empty. Contrary to the very known standard embedding the proposed embeddings are motivated by the use of strongly monotonically increasing functions, which play an important role by the scalarization of multiobjective optimization problems. The two classes of embeddings are investigated from the point of view of parametric optimization considering a pointed polyhedral cone. This investigation includes the determination of the kind of singularities which can appear, the conditions under which a connected component in the set of stationary or generalized critical point can be numerically described using pathfollowing methods and a solution curve may exist. Finally, we extend the concept of structural stability by Guddat and Jongen to the multiobjective optimization problems and establish a connection to the problem of Minimax type, which is related to the scalarization of multiobjective optimization problems.

In dieser Dissertation wurde die Beziehung zwischen den strukturellen, optischen und Ladungstransporteigenschaften von dotierten ZnO- und Zn1-xMgxO-Schichten eingehend untersucht. Das Ziel war es, die oben genannten Zusammenhänge weiter aufzuklären, wodurch sich anschließend Ansätze für eine zielgerichtete Verbesserung der Schichteigenschaften ableiten lassen. Zunächst konzentriert sich die Arbeit auf das Wachstum der ZnO-Schichten, um wichtige strukturelle Parameter, wie zum Beispiel Korngrößen und Defektdichten, mittels Röntgendiffraktometrie und Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie zu bestimmen. Diese strukturellen Parameter wurden dann als Modellparameter für die theoretische Modellierung des Transports der freien Ladungsträger verwendet. Temperaturabhängige Hall-, Leitfähigkeits- und Seebeck-Koeffizient-Messungen zeigten, dass der elektrische Transport hauptsächlich durch die Streuung der Ladungsträger an ionisierten Störstellen und Korngrenzen limitiert wird. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde die theoretische Beschreibung der Streuung an Korngrenzen auf entartet dotierte Halbleiter erweitert. Diese Ergebnisse wurden dann genutzt, um ein qualitatives Modell zu formulieren, welches den Zusammenhang zwischen dem Magnetron-Sputter-Abscheidungsprozess und den strukturellen und elektrischen Eigenschaften der Schichten herstellt. Gemäß diesem Modell sind die Schichteigenschaften bei niedrigen Abscheidungstemperaturen hauptsächlich durch die Bildung akzeptoratiger Sauerstoffzwischengitterdefekte bestimmt, die einen Teil der extrinsischen Dotanden kompensieren. Diese Defekte werden durch ein Bombardement der wachsenden Schicht mit hochenergetischen negativen Sauerstoffionen verursacht. Bei höheren Abscheidungstemperaturen dominiert die Bildung von sekundären Phasen oder Defektkomplexen, in denen der Dotant elektrisch inaktiv ist. / In this thesis, the relation between the structural, optical, and charge carrier transport properties of magnetron sputtered doped ZnO and Zn1-xMgxO films has been investigated in detail. The objective was to clarify the above mentioned relations, which allows to derive solutions for a deliberate improvement of the layer properties. The work first focusses on the growth of the ZnO layers to determine important structural properties like grain sizes and defect densities via X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy investigations. These structural properties were then used as model parameters for the theoretical modelling of the charge carrier transport. The temperature dependent Hall, conductivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements show that the transport is mainly limited by grain boundary scattering and ionized impurity scattering. The theoretical description of the grain boundary scattering has been extended in this work to also include degenerate semiconductors. Based on the results on the structural and electronic properties, in a next step a qualitative model was developed which explains the correlation between the magnetron sputtering deposition process and the structural and electronic properties of the films. According to this model, the properties of the films are mainly influenced by the formation of electrically active acceptor-like oxygen interstitial defects at low deposition temperatures, which lead to a partial compensation of the extrinsic donors. These defects are caused by a bombardment of the growing film by high-energetic negative oxygen ions. At higher deposition temperatures, the formation of secondary phases or defect complexes, in which the dopant is electrically inactive, prevails.

The vast and growing volume of 3D protein structural data stored in the PDB contains abundant information about macromolecular complexes, and hence, data about protein interfaces. Non-covalent contacts between amino acids are the basis of protein interactions, and they are responsible for binding afinity and specificity in biological processes. In addition, water networks in protein interfaces can also complement direct interactions contributing significantly to molecular recognition, although their exact role is still not well understood. It is estimated that protein complexes in the PDB are substantially underrepresented due to their crystallization dificulties. Methods for automatic classifification and description of the protein complexes are essential to study protein interfaces, and to propose putative binding regions. Due to this strong need, several protein-protein interaction databases have been developed. However, most of them do not take into account either protein-peptide complexes, solvent information or a proper classification of the binding regions, which are fundamental components to provide an accurate description of protein interfaces. In the firest stage of my thesis, I developed the SCOWLP platform, a database and web application that structurally classifies protein binding regions at family level and defines accurately protein interfaces at atomic detail. The analysis of the results showed that protein-peptide complexes are substantially represented in the PDB, and are the only source of interacting information for several families. By clustering the family binding regions, I could identify 9,334 binding regions and 79,803 protein interfaces in the PDB. Interestingly, I observed that 65% of protein families interact to other molecules through more than one region and in 22% of the cases the same region recognizes different protein families. The database and web application are open to the research community (www.scowlp.org) and can tremendously facilitate high-throughput comparative analysis of protein binding regions, as well as, individual analysis of protein interfaces. SCOWLP and the other databases collect and classify the protein binding regions at family level, where sequence and structure homology exist. Interestingly, it has been observed that many protein families also present structural resemblances within each other, mostly across folds. Likewise, structurally similar interacting motifs (binding regions) have been identified among proteins with different folds and functions. For these reasons, I decided to explore the possibility to infer protein binding regions independently of their fold classification. Thus, I performed the firest systematic analysis of binding region conservation within all protein families that are structurally similar, calculated using non-sequential structural alignment methods. My results indicate there is a substantial molecular recognition information that could be potentially inferred among proteins beyond family level. I obtained a 6 to 8 fold enrichment of binding regions, and identified putative binding regions for 728 protein families that lack binding information. Within the results, I found out protein complexes from different folds that present similar interfaces, confirming the predictive usage of the methodology. The data obtained with my approach may complement the SCOWLP family binding regions suggesting alternative binding regions, and can be used to assist protein-protein docking experiments and facilitate rational ligand design. In the last part of my thesis, I used the interacting information contained in the SCOWLP database to help understand the role that water plays in protein interactions in terms of affinity and specificity. I carried out one of the firest high-throughput analysis of solvent in protein interfaces for a curated dataset of transient and obligate protein complexes. Surprisingly, the results highlight the abundance of water-bridged residues in protein interfaces (40.1% of the interfacial residues) that reinforces the importance of including solvent in protein interaction studies (14.5% extra residues interacting only water- mediated). Interestingly, I also observed that obligate and transient interfaces present a comparable amount of solvent, which contrasts the old thoughts saying that obligate protein complexes are expected to exhibit similarities to protein cores having a dry and hydrophobic interfaces. I characterized novel features of water-bridged residues in terms of secondary structure, temperature factors, residue composition, and pairing preferences that differed from direct residue-residue interactions. The results also showed relevant aspects in the mobility and energetics of water-bridged interfacial residues. Collectively, my doctoral thesis work can be summarized in the following points: 1. I developed SCOWLP, an improved framework that identiffies protein interfaces and classifies protein binding regions at family level. 2. I developed a novel methodology to predict alternative binding regions among structurally similar protein families independently of the fold they belong to. 3. I performed a high-throughput analysis of water-bridged interactions contained in SCOWLP to study the role of solvent in protein interfaces. These three components of my thesis represent novel methods for exploiting existing structural information to gain insights into protein- protein interactions, key mechanisms to understand biological processes.

No description available.

No description available.

The vast and growing volume of 3D protein structural data stored in the PDB contains abundant information about macromolecular complexes, and hence, data about protein interfaces. Non-covalent contacts between amino acids are the basis of protein interactions, and they are responsible for binding afinity and specificity in biological processes. In addition, water networks in protein interfaces can also complement direct interactions contributing significantly to molecular recognition, although their exact role is still not well understood. It is estimated that protein complexes in the PDB are substantially underrepresented due to their crystallization dificulties. Methods for automatic classifification and description of the protein complexes are essential to study protein interfaces, and to propose putative binding regions. Due to this strong need, several protein-protein interaction databases have been developed. However, most of them do not take into account either protein-peptide complexes, solvent information or a proper classification of the binding regions, which are fundamental components to provide an accurate description of protein interfaces. In the firest stage of my thesis, I developed the SCOWLP platform, a database and web application that structurally classifies protein binding regions at family level and defines accurately protein interfaces at atomic detail. The analysis of the results showed that protein-peptide complexes are substantially represented in the PDB, and are the only source of interacting information for several families. By clustering the family binding regions, I could identify 9,334 binding regions and 79,803 protein interfaces in the PDB. Interestingly, I observed that 65% of protein families interact to other molecules through more than one region and in 22% of the cases the same region recognizes different protein families. The database and web application are open to the research community (www.scowlp.org) and can tremendously facilitate high-throughput comparative analysis of protein binding regions, as well as, individual analysis of protein interfaces. SCOWLP and the other databases collect and classify the protein binding regions at family level, where sequence and structure homology exist. Interestingly, it has been observed that many protein families also present structural resemblances within each other, mostly across folds. Likewise, structurally similar interacting motifs (binding regions) have been identified among proteins with different folds and functions. For these reasons, I decided to explore the possibility to infer protein binding regions independently of their fold classification. Thus, I performed the firest systematic analysis of binding region conservation within all protein families that are structurally similar, calculated using non-sequential structural alignment methods. My results indicate there is a substantial molecular recognition information that could be potentially inferred among proteins beyond family level. I obtained a 6 to 8 fold enrichment of binding regions, and identified putative binding regions for 728 protein families that lack binding information. Within the results, I found out protein complexes from different folds that present similar interfaces, confirming the predictive usage of the methodology. The data obtained with my approach may complement the SCOWLP family binding regions suggesting alternative binding regions, and can be used to assist protein-protein docking experiments and facilitate rational ligand design. In the last part of my thesis, I used the interacting information contained in the SCOWLP database to help understand the role that water plays in protein interactions in terms of affinity and specificity. I carried out one of the firest high-throughput analysis of solvent in protein interfaces for a curated dataset of transient and obligate protein complexes. Surprisingly, the results highlight the abundance of water-bridged residues in protein interfaces (40.1% of the interfacial residues) that reinforces the importance of including solvent in protein interaction studies (14.5% extra residues interacting only water- mediated). Interestingly, I also observed that obligate and transient interfaces present a comparable amount of solvent, which contrasts the old thoughts saying that obligate protein complexes are expected to exhibit similarities to protein cores having a dry and hydrophobic interfaces. I characterized novel features of water-bridged residues in terms of secondary structure, temperature factors, residue composition, and pairing preferences that differed from direct residue-residue interactions. The results also showed relevant aspects in the mobility and energetics of water-bridged interfacial residues. Collectively, my doctoral thesis work can be summarized in the following points: 1. I developed SCOWLP, an improved framework that identiffies protein interfaces and classifies protein binding regions at family level. 2. I developed a novel methodology to predict alternative binding regions among structurally similar protein families independently of the fold they belong to. 3. I performed a high-throughput analysis of water-bridged interactions contained in SCOWLP to study the role of solvent in protein interfaces. These three components of my thesis represent novel methods for exploiting existing structural information to gain insights into protein- protein interactions, key mechanisms to understand biological processes.

Fiber-reinforced plastics for industrial applications face constantly increasing demands regarding efficiency, reliability, and economy. Furthermore, it was shown that fiber-reinforced plastics with tailored reinforcements are superior to metallic or monolithic materials. However, a trustworthy description of the load-specific failure behavior and damage evolution of composite structures can hardly be given, because these processes are very complex and are still not entirely understood. Among other things, several research groups have shown that material damages like fiber fracture, delamination, matrix cracking, or flaws can be discovered by analyzing the electrical properties of conductive composites, for example, carbon fiber–reinforced plastics. Furthermore, it was shown that this method could be used for structural health monitoring or nondestructive evaluation. Within this study, magnetic induction tomography, which is a new imaging approach, is introduced in the topic of nondestructive evaluation of carbon fiber–reinforced plastics. This non-contacting imaging method gains the inner spatial distribution of conductivity of a specimen and depicts material inhomogeneity, like damages, not only in two-dimensional images but also in three-dimensional images. Numerical and experimental investigations are presented, which give a first impression of the performance of this technique. It is demonstrated that magnetic induction tomography is a promising approach for nondestructive evaluation. Potentially, it can be used for fabrication quality control of conductive fiber–reinforced plastics and as a structural health monitoring system using an integrated or superficially applied magnetic induction tomography setup.

Simple counting quantifiers that can be used to compare the number of role successors of an individual or the cardinality of a concept with a fixed natural number have been employed in Description Logics (DLs) for more than two decades under the respective names of number restrictions and cardinality restrictions on concepts. Recently, we have considerably extended the expressivity of such quantifiers by allowing to impose set and cardinality constraints formulated in the quantifier-free fragment of Boolean Algebra with Presburger Arithmetic (QFBAPA) on sets of role successors and concepts, respectively. We were able to prove that this extension does not increase the complexity of reasoning. In the present paper, we investigate the expressive power of the DLs obtained in this way, using appropriate bisimulation characterizations and 0–1 laws as tools to differentiate between the expressiveness of different logics. In particular, we show that, in contrast to most classical DLs, these logics are no longer expressible in first-order predicate logic (FOL), and we characterize their first-order fragments. In most of our previous work on DLs with QFBAPA-based set and cardinality constraints we have employed finiteness restrictions on interpretations to ensure that the obtained sets are finite, as required by the standard semantics for QFBAPA. Here we dispense with these restrictions to ease the comparison with classical DLs, where one usually considers arbitrary models rather than finite ones, easier. It turns out that doing so does not change the complexity of reasoning.