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See detailSecond-principles methods for large-scale simulations of realistic functional oxides
Escorihuela Sayalero, Carlos UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

The application of Condensed Matter theory via simulation has been over the last decades a solid approach to research in Materials Science. In particular for the case of Perovskite materials the research ... [more ▼]

The application of Condensed Matter theory via simulation has been over the last decades a solid approach to research in Materials Science. In particular for the case of Perovskite materials the research has been extensive, and customarily (but not only) performed using Density Functional Theory. The collective effort to develop lighter simulation techniques and exploring different theoretical approaches to computationally study materials has provided the scientific community with the possibility to strengthen the interaction between experimental and theoretical research. However, the access to large-scale simulations is still nowadays limited due to the high computational cost of such simulations. In 2013 J. C. Wojdel et al. presented a theory of modelization of crystals known as second-principles models, and which are the central point of the development of my work. In this Thesis I develop in depth a novel methodology to produce second-principles models efficiently and in a quasi-automatic way from Density Functional Theory data. The scheme presented here identifies, given a set of reliable data to be fit, the most relevant atomic couplings of a system. The fitting process that I present is also analytical, which translates into a fast and accurate model production. I also explore the modelization of chemically inhomogeneous or nanostructured systems using second-principles models. Moreover, I present a heuristic procedure to produce models of the inhomogeneous material which is efficient and sound. Finally, I also show examples of complex problems that can be tackled thanks to the second-principles models, such as the character of 180º anti-phase domain walls in SrTiO3, thermodynamical studies of heat transport across 180º domain walls in PbTiO3 and the reproduction of experimentally-observed polarization vortices in (PbTiO3)n/(SrTiO3)n superlattices. [less ▲]

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See detailTrading Zones of Digital History
Kemman, Max UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

As long as there have been computers, there have been scholars pulling at historians, challenging them to use these computers for historical research. Yet what role computers can have in historical ... [more ▼]

As long as there have been computers, there have been scholars pulling at historians, challenging them to use these computers for historical research. Yet what role computers can have in historical research is a matter of continuous debate. Under the signifier of “digital history”, historians have experimented with tools, concepts, and methods from other disciplines, mostly computer science and computational linguistics, to benefit the historical discipline. The collaborations that emerge through these experiments can be characterised as a two-sided uncertainty: historians uncertain how they as historians should use digital methods, and computational experts uncertain how digital methods should work with historical data sets. The opportunity that arises from these uncertainties is that historians and computational experts need to negotiate the methods and concepts under development. In this thesis, I investigate these negotiations as trading zones, as local spaces of negotiation. These negotiations are characterised as a duality of boundary practices. First, boundary crossing, the crossing of boundaries of disciplines, discourses, and institutions to collaborate. Second, boundary construction, the establishment of boundaries of groups and communities to preserve disciplinary values and remain recognisable as part of a community of practice. How boundary crossing and construction are balanced, whether disciplinary boundaries are shifted, and to what extent historians’ practices are transformed by continued interaction with computational experts, are open questions demanding closer scrutiny. These considerations lead to the research question underlying this thesis: how are historians affected by interactions with computational experts in the context of digital history collaborations? I investigate this question through a mixed-methods, multi-sited ethnographic approach, consisting of an open online survey which received 173 responses, 4.5 years of observations at the University of Luxembourg, 37 interviews, and an LDA topic modelling analysis of 10,918 blog posts from 73 historians between 2008-2017. Through these approaches, I examine trading zones as configured by three different dimensions. First, connectedness, the extent to which collaborators connect with one another through physical proximity, communication, and the sharing of practices. Second, power asymmetry, the extent to which participants shape their own field of action as well as the fields of action of their collaborators. Third, cultural maintenance, the extent to which collaborators become more alike or stay apart by adopting new practices or displacing previous practices. On a macro level, referring to the global historical discipline, I conclude that methodological approaches developed in local trading zones have hardly diffused to macro solutions. Insofar digital infrastructures were appropriated in the macro community, these were aligned with traditional practices. Rather than transforming historical scholarship, the challenge was to provide infrastructures congruent with existing values and practices. On a meso level, referring to the historians engaged in digital history trading zones, I conclude that the effect of interactions was dependent on individual decisions and incentives. Some historians experimented with or adopted computational practices and concepts. Yet other historians detached their work from the shared objective of a collaboration in order to reduce risks, as well as to maintain disciplinary practices. The majority of participants in trading zones were scholars from the humanities, physically distant from collaborators, communicating more often with disciplinary peers than with cross-disciplinary collaborators. As such, even when participating in trading zones of digital history, a significant number of historians remained aligned with traditional practices. Changing practices were regularly not in the direction of computational practices, but to incentives of politics or funding. While historians that participated in digital history trading zones therefore did learn new practices, this did not entail a computational transformation of their scholarship. Finally, on a micro level, some historians chose to engage intensively with computational experts. I call these individuals digital history brokers, who exemplified significant shifts in practices. Brokers conducted project management; coordinated practices from archival and library domains such as data collection, transformation, and description; learned about the potential and limitations of computational technologies and where to apply these; employed inter-languages to translate between the different collaborating domains; and finally transformed historical questions into infrastructural problems. Digital history brokers thereby not only developed interactional expertise to collaborate with computational experts. They furthermore developed political proficiency to negotiate the socio- economic potential of digital history strategies with politics, university administrators, and funding agencies. I therefore describe the practices of brokers as infrastructuring, covering a duality of negotiations. First, cross-disciplinary socio-technical negotiations with computational experts how to support scholarly practices with digital technology. Second, intra-disciplinary socio-political negotiations how to diffuse those practices within the community of practice. Digital history brokers therefore transform their own practices, so that other historians do not have to on meso or macro levels, but can employ digitised sources and digital methodology through infrastructures in a fashion that naturally fits into their practices as historians. I thereby provide a critical view on digital history grounded in how it is conducted and negotiated. This thesis is therefore aimed mainly at scholars interested in digital history and its relation to the historical discipline and to digital humanities, as well as scholars interested in studying digital history as a specific case of cross-disciplinarity. [less ▲]

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See detailThe Effect of ATP INDUCED CALCIUM DYNAMICS ON EPITHELIAL TO MESENCHYMAL TRANSITIONS
Grzyb, Kamil UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Cells respond to a multitude of external triggers by a limited number of signaling pathways activated by receptors on plasma membrane, such as receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) or G protein-coupled ... [more ▼]

Cells respond to a multitude of external triggers by a limited number of signaling pathways activated by receptors on plasma membrane, such as receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) or G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These pathways do not simply convey the downstream signal, but instead the signal is very often processed by encoding and integrated with the current state of the cell. A traditional transcriptional analysis tends to provide an averaged output measured in a population, what often masks the behavior of individual cells. However, with recent single cell techniques developments, it is possible to investigate transcription in individual living cells. This contributed tremendously to the understanding of development and progression of many diseases including cancer. The more we understand about this high complexity of signaling mechanisms and multitude of cellular safety countermeasures, the more we see cancer as a microevolution state of “rebellious cells” (cells entering the fate opposite to the one intended) following a patch through a discreet system. This thesis specifically focused on the temporal aspect of signaling in the context of the epithelia-to-mensenchymal transition (EMT) by combining single cell experiments and bioinformatics analysis. We investigated cellular signaling changes in response to different dynamical profiles of the stimuli. In particular, we used the HMLER cell line, which is a metastatic breast cancer model for the epithelial to mesenchymal transition. By applying stochastic or oscillatory pulses of extracellular ATP-induced Ca2+ signals with different interspike intervals, we were investigating different transcription states from those evoked by constant ATP-induced Ca2+ dose responses. In order to precisely apply those stimulation profiles, we have developed and established a perfusion system. This device allows to treat population of cells simultaneously with the exact same dynamical profiles. Cells treated by these well controlled signals were subsequently processed by the single cell RNA-seq technique Drop-seq for transcriptional analysis. The resulting high dimensional digital gene expression matrices were analyzed by a developed high-throughput computational analysis pipeline. This analysis includes the identification of differentially expressed genes and cellular clusters (states) by dimensionality reduction methods (PCA, t-SNE) and pathway analysis. We evaluated changes and trends of genes from difference dynamical profiles by investigating their involvement in stress, stemness and regulation of motility. First, we confirmed that oscillatory stimulation with extracellular ATP (eATP) tends to lower the burden of cellular stress and apoptosis related pathways while maintaining its other effector functions compared to constant eATP stimulation. Interestingly, stochastic spiking of extracellular ATP in our setup led to a massive (~80%) increase in overall differential gene expression compared to deterministic oscillatory stimulation with the same period. Consequentially, stochastic signaling seems to activate a much wider range of biological pathways, which indicates the much higher complexity in information processing capability of producing rebellious cells during cancer progression and metastasis. On the other hand, our findings suggests that oscillatory eATP stimulation could contribute to EMT by lowering ID3 expression compared to stochastic stimulation where we observed a stronger upregulation of IRS2. Finally, we integrated the DEGs into biological processes involved in each conditions and put these new insights into the context of the eATP-induced Ca2+ induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Overall, this thesis has applied recent single cell technologies to characterize underlying principles of cellular heterogeneity induced by cell signaling and specifically investigated the complex mechanisms of cell fate in the context of EMT [less ▲]

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See detailModeling CLN3 and ATP13A2 deficiency in yeast and zebrafish and use of the ATP13A2 models for drug repurposing
Heins Marroquin, Ursula UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) are a heterogeneous group of inherited recessive neurodegenerative disorders that appear during childhood and result in premature death. Nowadays, mutations in 14 ... [more ▼]

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) are a heterogeneous group of inherited recessive neurodegenerative disorders that appear during childhood and result in premature death. Nowadays, mutations in 14 genes are known to cause NCL and this project focused on CLN3 and ATP13A2 (CLN12), two genes linked to a juvenile form of NCL (JNCL). Mutations in CLN12 are known to cause two additional rare neurodegenerative disorders called Kufor-Rakeb syndrome and spastic paraplegia- 78. Since the number of people affected with a rare disease is relatively small and the cost of the drug development process is high, the chance for a patient to get therapeutic treatment is very low. Therefore, the aim of this PhD project was to develop a new drug screening pipeline for the identification of drug candidates that could be used for the treatment of some of these rare diseases. In this work, we successfully developed a phenotypic high-throughput assay based on a decreased zinc resistance phenotype in an ATP13A2-deficient yeast model and we screened more than 2500 compounds, resulting in the identification of 11 hits. Subsequently, we created a stable ATP13A2 knockout line in zebrafish and developed a validation platform based on decreased manganese resistance in this line. Using this approach, N-acetylcysteine and furaltadone emerged as promising compounds for follow-up studies. A similar strategy could not be implemented for CLN3, due to failure, despite extensive efforts, to find a suitable phenotype in yeast for a drug screening. Nevertheless, we successfully created two stable cln3 mutant lines in zebrafish. No overt phenotype was initially observed, but behavioral tests suggested that cln3 mutants display subtle neurological dysfunction, making them more susceptible to treatment with picrotoxin, a pro-convulsive drug. Further investigation is needed, but our preliminary data indicate that cln3 mutant larvae may recapitulate certain aspects of JNCL pathology. On the whole, this work provides a time- and cost-efficient pipeline for the discovery of drugs against ATP13A2 deficiencies, which can be applied for the screening of larger compound libraries in the future. In addition, we generated a new CLN3 disease model in zebrafish that will be instrumental for the development of drug screens and also may help to elucidate the molecular disease mechanism of JNCL. [less ▲]

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See detailNumerical analysis of gait load distribution in the human pelvis and design of a biomechanical testing device: experimental assessment of two implants for anterior fragility fractures
Ricci, Pierre-Louis UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

The current project research was conducted at the University of Luxembourg in cooperation with orthopaedic surgeons from the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg and the Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes ... [more ▼]

The current project research was conducted at the University of Luxembourg in cooperation with orthopaedic surgeons from the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg and the Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes. The main objective was to investigate the gait load distribution in the human pelvis and the influence of the stiffness of the pubic symphysis and the sacroiliac joints on this force transmission in order to numerically and experimentally assess the stability provided by two reconstruction systems for anterior fragility fractures. To begin with, the global approach consisted in combining inverse dynamics and finite element methods to investigate physiological loadings applied to the pelvis during the gait cycle. Then, an experimental test bench was designed to reproduce those gait conditions on artificial pelvises for biomechanical assessment of different systems used for fragility fractures of the pelvis. At first, muscles forces and joint contact forces from the gait applied to the pelvis were calculated by inverse dynamics with an experimentally validated musculoskeletal model. Implementation in a finite element model including bones and joints of the pelvis highlighted that superior rami experience the highest stresses. Fracture of a superior ramus changed the initial load distribution by increasing the stresses at the inferior ramus and on the posterior structures. Combination of superior and inferior rami fractures on the same side redirected the forces backwards and showed high stresses on the sacral alae where compression fractures are commonly seen clinically. Reconstruction devices showed differences in stability at early stage of healing with benefits provided by the iliopubic subcutaneous plate. No noticeable differences compared to the Supra-Acetabular External Fixator were seen during later healing. Regarding the influence of the joint stiffness on the load distribution in a healthy pelvis, an increase of PS stiffness redirected loads to the anterior pelvis whereas an increase of PS laxity redirected loads to the posterior structures. A fusion of the sacroiliac joints did not show noticeable changes in the normal load distribution. Following the computational investigation, an experimental test bench was designed with numerical engineering tools. The biomechanical setup aimed at reproducing loadings observed during previously studied moments of the gait on artificial pelvises with fused joints. Static loadings and cyclic loadings were performed on artificial pelvises with and without reconstruction devices: first with a superior ramus fracture only and then with superior and inferior rami fractures. The Supra-Acetabular External Fixator and the iliopubic subcutaneous plate did not show any significant stability difference when a superior ramus fracture is considered. When including the inferior ramus fracture on the same side, the iliopubic subcutaneous plate significantly improved the stability of the reconstructed pelvis by reducing IV the displacement of the superior fracture, contrary to the Supra-Acetabular External Fixator that did not show any improvement. For both configurations, no fatigue phenomenon was observed during cyclic loadings simulating four days of walking for a patient (5 000 cycles). There is no conflict of interest related to this work. [less ▲]

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See detailDesign and Cryptanalysis of Symmetric-Key Algorithms in Black and White-box Models
Udovenko, Aleksei Nikolaevich UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Cryptography studies secure communications. In symmetric-key cryptography, the communicating parties have a shared secret key which allows both to encrypt and decrypt messages. The encryption schemes used ... [more ▼]

Cryptography studies secure communications. In symmetric-key cryptography, the communicating parties have a shared secret key which allows both to encrypt and decrypt messages. The encryption schemes used are very efficient but have no rigorous security proof. In order to design a symmetric-key primitive, one has to ensure that the primitive is secure at least against known attacks. During 4 years of my doctoral studies at the University of Luxembourg under the supervision of Prof. Alex Biryukov, I studied symmetric-key cryptography and contributed to several of its topics. Part I is about the structural and decomposition cryptanalysis. This type of cryptanalysis aims to exploit properties of the algorithmic structure of a cryptographic function. The first goal is to distinguish a function with a particular structure from random, structure-less functions. The second goal is to recover components of the structure in order to obtain a decomposition of the function. Decomposition attacks are also used to uncover secret structures of S-Boxes, cryptographic functions over small domains. In this part, I describe structural and decomposition cryptanalysis of the Feistel Network structure, decompositions of the S-Box used in the recent Russian cryptographic standard, and a decomposition of the only known APN permutation in even dimension. Part II is about the invariant-based cryptanalysis. This method became recently an active research topic. It happened mainly due to recent extreme cryptographic designs, which turned out to be vulnerable to this cryptanalysis method. In this part, I describe an invariant-based analysis of NORX, an authenticated cipher. Further, I show a theoretical study of linear layers that preserve low-degree invariants of a particular form used in the recent attacks on block ciphers. Part III is about the white-box cryptography. In the white-box model, an adversary has full access to the cryptographic implementation, which in particular may contain a secret key. The possibility of creating implementations of symmetric-key primitives secure in this model is a long-standing open question. Such implementations have many applications in industry; in particular, in mobile payment systems. In this part, I study the possibility of applying masking, a side-channel countermeasure, to protect white-box implementations. I describe several attacks on direct application of masking and provide a provably-secure countermeasure against a strong class of the attacks. Part IV is about the design of symmetric-key primitives. I contributed to design of the block cipher family SPARX and to the design of a suite of cryptographic algorithms, which includes the cryptographic permutation family SPARKLE, the cryptographic hash function family ESCH, and the authenticated encryption family SCHWAEMM. In this part, I describe the security analysis that I made for these designs. [less ▲]

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See detailLe Droit de la Coopération Décentralisée au Mali: Une Approche Juridique du Droit Administratif International
Diallo, Mory UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Le droit des collectivités territoriales autorise un grand nombre de types de coopération allant du jumelage à la forme contractuelle ou conventionnelle. Parmi ceux-ci, la coopération décentralisée occupe ... [more ▼]

Le droit des collectivités territoriales autorise un grand nombre de types de coopération allant du jumelage à la forme contractuelle ou conventionnelle. Parmi ceux-ci, la coopération décentralisée occupe une place déterminante. Elle concerne toutes les actions extérieures effectuées par les collectivités territoriales. Cependant, cette coopération décentralisée des collectivités territoriales maliennes demeure toujours subtile .Le concept manque encore de précision, ce qui provoque une confusion dans sa compréhension par les élus et les agents des collectivités territoriales à la recherche de solution aux multiples questionnements sur le régime juridique de ces conventions. Si le législateur a tenté de règlementer la compétence, il reste muet toujours sur le régime juridique. Ces accords de coopération décentralisée semblent n’appartenir à aucune catégorie juridique précise. Dans l’optique de la détermination d’un droit, nous avons tenté de prendre les considérations des exigences du droit interne et du droit international. Dans un premier temps, l’étude s’intéresse aux questions relatives à l’élaboration du régime de la coopération décentralisée. Elle fait ressortir les fondements légaux nationaux et internationaux ainsi que la qualification de ces accords. Dans un second temps, l’étude s’intéresse aux problèmes de la mise en œuvre des conventions de coopération décentralisée dont l’objectif est de démontrer le caractère exécutoire des conventions de coopération ainsi que les différentes alternatives de résolution du contentieux. Enfin, l’objet de cette thèse tente de préciser le régime juridique des conventions conclues entre les collectivités territoriales maliennes et leurs partenaires étrangers dans la perspective de privilégier le droit administratif local à caractère international [less ▲]

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See detailEntwicklung eines intelligenten, robotergestützten Assistenzsystems für die Demontage industrieller Produkte
Jungbluth, Jan UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Technical assistance systems are used in many aspects of our private environment to simplify our daily lives. Such assistance would also be desirable in our working environment, especially in physically ... [more ▼]

Technical assistance systems are used in many aspects of our private environment to simplify our daily lives. Such assistance would also be desirable in our working environment, especially in physically demanding activities such as dismantling products for maintenance, corrective maintenance, or remanufacturing. However, the use of robot-supported assistance systems is prevented by the imponderabilities in the dismantling process of different products due to the lack of autonomy of the technical systems. In the course of this dissertation, the development of intelligent, robot-supported assistance systems that can support people in such complex processes in a target-oriented manner are considered, and the following research question is posed: What are the technical requirements for such assistance systems and how can they be implemented? In the reviewed scientific literature, no holistic approach has been identified for the development of these systems, but many approaches to partial aspects of such a system have been collected across several research disciplines. In order to address the research question, this dissertation discusses the theoretical fields of technical assistance systems, human-robot systems, and the field of application in order to define technical requirements. A demonstrator for experimental validation is implemented in the form of a multi-agent system in which various technical systems are integrated and interconnected by software. The function of the developed robot-based assistance system could be verified in concrete dismantling processes in conjunction with suitable man-machine communication interfaces. Finally, this dissertation identifies further research questions that must be addressed before such systems can be introduced in the industrial environment. [less ▲]

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See detailLegal Design for the General Data Protection Regulation. A Methodology for the Visualization and Communication of Legal Concepts
Rossi, Arianna UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Privacy policies are known to be impenetrable, lengthy, tedious texts that are hardly read and poorly understood. Therefore, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduces provisions to enhance ... [more ▼]

Privacy policies are known to be impenetrable, lengthy, tedious texts that are hardly read and poorly understood. Therefore, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduces provisions to enhance the transparency of such documents and suggests icons as visual elements to provide “in an easily visible, intelligible and clearly legible manner a meaningful overview of the intended processing.” The present dissertation discusses how design, and in particular legal design, can support the concrete implementation of the GDPR’s transparency obligation. Notwithstanding the many benefits that visual communication demonstrably provides, graphical elements do not improve comprehension per se. Research on graphical symbols for legal concepts is still scarce, while both the creation and consequent evaluation of icons depicting abstract or unfamiliar concepts represent a challenge. More- over, precision of representation can support the individuals’ sense-making of the meaning of graphical symbols, but at the expense of simplicity and us- ability. Hence, this research proposed a methodology that combines semantic web technologies with principles of semiotics and ergonomics, and empirical methods drawn from the emerging discipline of legal design, that was used to create and evaluate DaPIS, the Data Protection Icon Set meant to support the data subjects’ navigation of privacy policies. The icon set is modeled on PrOnto, an ontological representation of the GDPR, and is organized around its core modules: personal data, roles and agents, processing operations, processing purposes, legal bases, and data subjects’ rights. In combination with the description of a privacy policy in the legal standard XML Akoma Ntoso, such an approach makes the icons machine-readable and semi-automatically retrievable. Icons can thus serve as information markers in lengthy privacy statements and support the navigation of the text by the data subject. [less ▲]

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See detailThe Phenomenon of Online Live-Streaming of Child Sexual Abuse: Challenges and Legal Responses
Dushi, Desara UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

In the recent years, the importance of Internet in the education of children all over the world has grown enormously. But as every other phenomenon, the easy access to the Internet creates a great number ... [more ▼]

In the recent years, the importance of Internet in the education of children all over the world has grown enormously. But as every other phenomenon, the easy access to the Internet creates a great number of concerns that should not be neglected. Over the past two decades, the internet has become a new medium through which child exploitation and sexual abuse happens. Technology is being used not only as a means of committing old forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of children, but also for creating new ones. This variety of crime types ranges from child pornography, sexting and sextortion to online grooming, and live- streaming of child abuse. This dissertation focuses on a very current, fast developing, and not very explored topic, the phenomenon of live-streaming of child abuse. The research includes a perspective of (public) international law, the situation in Europe due to the activities of the Council of Europe and the EU and also a “reality” test with two legal system approaches, Italy and England & Wales, on how to handle online child sexual abuse material and more specifically live-streaming of such abuses. On the basis of this observation, the main objective is to critically analyze the status quo of existing framework in the area of online child sexual abuse and exploitation in order to find out how flexible it is to be applied to this specific crime, if it can be applied, and how can it be improved in order to better respond to this new global reality. Based on all of this I draw conclusions over the insufficiency of existing framework to cover the crime of live-streaming of child abuse and plead for filling the legal lacunae by extending specific criminal provisions -ideally harmonized on an international level- specially made to tackle this crime. [less ▲]

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See detailStress - modulated bulk photovoltaic effect in polar oxide crystals
Nadupalli, Shankari UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Light-induced phenomena in ferroelectric materials have been exploited for decades for optoelectronic applications. Homogeneous illumination of a non-centrosymmetric ferroelectric material creates ... [more ▼]

Light-induced phenomena in ferroelectric materials have been exploited for decades for optoelectronic applications. Homogeneous illumination of a non-centrosymmetric ferroelectric material creates anomalously high voltages exceeding a value which is usually limited by its band gap. This phenomenon is called the bulk-photovoltaic effect (BPVE). Lithium niobate is a prototypical material for BPVE. The only limiting factor in lithium niobate is its low photo-current values, which can be improved by doping the crystal with donor metals. This study focuses primarily on light induced processes in mono-domain lithium niobate single crystals doped with transition metal ions, particularly the influence of stress on the BPVE. The effect of stress on BPVE is termed the piezo-photovoltaic effect (PPVE). This thesis report is framed to systemically introduce topics which cause, influence and aid in understanding the PPVE. Topics such as the symmetry in crystals, their physical properties, the intrinsic bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE) are introduced and the structure, defects, light-induced charge transport in donor doped lithium niobate and the reason behind the appearance of BPVE are discussed in this report. The techniques and experimental arrangements used in this work are detailed in this thesis. A direct evidence of BPVE and the influence of stress is shown in the results. Transition metal doped lithium niobate crystals are oriented via x-ray diffraction (XRD) and a basic chemical characterization is undertaken using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to identify dopant elements. Absorption spectroscopy in the UV/VIS/NIR range revealed windows in the spectra indicating photo-excitation of the donor doped ions. The absorption lines show that a shift in the fundamental band-edge occurs in lithium niobate for different dopant elements. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometry is performed on the samples to confirm the location of the dopant ion in the crystal matrix by indicating its symmetry. The difference in the dopant concentration and the change in the oxidation state of the dopant ion under light illumination is obtained from EPR study. Direct measurements to obtain bulk photovoltaic current density in iron doped- lithium niobate single crystals are performed at increasing intensities at different wavelengths to determine the BPV coefficients. This study provides a quantitative analysis of different components of the BPV tensor values. The highest BPV component measured along the polar axis with extraordinary light polarisation is observed when iron doped lithium niobate is illuminated with light wavelength 450 nm. Obtained BPV tensor components are corroborated by the influence of the structural environment and the dipole interactions on charge transport mechanism of BPVE. The charge transport mechanism and the obtained values of the BPV tensor components are justified and discussed on the basis of the polaronic charge transport phenomena existing in the literature. The influence of stress on BPVE is measured using a custom-designed set-up. The PPV components in lithium niobate are experimentally investigated for stress levels in the 1MPa - 10MPa range. A detailed discussion on the experimental observations are given in this report. The prime discovery of this thesis is the intrinsic character of the piezo-photovoltaic effect (PPVE), where increase in the light induced current is observed when the crystal is subjected to uniaxial compressive stress. The Young's modulus of lithium niobate is 202 GPa. Applying 10 MPa compressive stress translates to strain levels of just 50 ppm. 10 MPa of compressive stress along the polar axis of the crystal increased the short-circuit photo-current by 73%. When stress is applied perpendicular to the polar axis, about 370% increase in short-circuit photocurrent was observed with just 50 ppm of strain, which is a drastic for such moderate amounts of stress levels. This study proves the vitality of strain tuning to increase the PV properties in crystalline solar cells. Extrapolating the observed effect, PPVE is envisioned as a phenomenon which could be exploited in other polar oxide ceramics and thin-films where large photovoltaic energy generation can be made possible beating the existing limits. [less ▲]

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See detailTiming-aware Model Based Design with Application to Automotive Embedded Systems
Sundharam, Sakthivel Manikandan UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Cyber-Physical System (CPS) are systems piloting physical processes which have become an integral part of our daily life. We use them for many purposes: transportation (cars, planes, trains), space ... [more ▼]

Cyber-Physical System (CPS) are systems piloting physical processes which have become an integral part of our daily life. We use them for many purposes: transportation (cars, planes, trains), space (satellite, spacecrafts), medical application, robotics, energy management, home appliance, manufacturing, and so many other applications. Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is widely applied in the industry to develop new software functions and integrate them into the existing run-time environment of a Cyber-Physical System (CPS), for instance, the control software for automotive engines, which are deployed on modern multi-core hardware architectures. Such an engine control system consists of different sub-systems, ranging from an air system to the exhaust system. Each of these sub-systems, again, consists of software functions which are necessary to read from the sensors and write to the actuators. In this setting, MBD provides indispensable means to model and implement the desired functionality, and to validate the functional, the non-functional, and in particular the real-time behavior against the requirements. Current industrial practice in model-based development completely relies on generative MBD, i.e., on code generation to bridge the gap between model and implementation. An alternative approach, although not yet used in the automotive domain is model interpretation. In this thesis, in the place of code generation, we investigate the applicability of model interpretation to automotive software development with a help of a control function design. We present the benefits compared to the existing code-generation practice. The control laws of these software functions typically assume deterministic sampling rates and constant delays from input to output. However, on the target processors, the execution times of the software will depend on many factors such as the amount of interferences from other tasks, resulting in varying delays from sensing to actuating. The literature approaches support the simulation of control algorithms, but not their actual implementation. Further in the thesis, we present the CPAL model interpretation engine running in a co-simulation environment to study control performances while taking the run-time delays into account. The main advantage is that the model developed for simulation can be re-used on the target processors. Additionally, the simulations performed at design phase can be made realistic in the timing dimension through the use of timing annotations inserted in the models to capture the delays on the actual hardware. Introspection features natively available facilitate the implementation of self-adaptive and fault-tolerance strategies to mitigate and compensate the run-time latencies. Experiments on controller tasks with injected delays show that our approach is on-par with the existing techniques with respect to simulation. We then discuss the main benefits of our development approach which are the support for rapid-prototyping and the re-use of the simulation model at run-time, resulting in productivity and quality gains. As the processing power is increasingly available with today's hardware, other concerns than execution performance such as simplicity and predictability become important factors towards functional safety objective. The motivation towards predictable execution behavior, we revisited FIFO scheduling with o set and strictly periodic task activations. The execution order in this case is uniquely and statically determined. This means that whatever the execution platform and the task execution times, be it in simulation mode in a design environment or at run-time on the actual target, the task execution order will remain identical. Beyond the task execution order, the reading and writing events that can be observed outside the tasks occur in the same order. This property, leveraged by our MBD environment CPAL design flow provides a form of timing equivalent behavior between development phase and run-time phase which eases the implementation of the application and the verification of its timing correctness. Thus, the proposed development environment facilitates where also the non-experts are able to quickly model and deploy complex embedded systems without having to master real-time scheduling and resource-sharing protocols. In practice, the design of a software component involves designers from various viewpoints such as control theory, software engineering, safety, etc. In practice, while a designer from one discipline focuses on the core aspects of the field, he / she neglects or considers less importantly the other engineering aspects (for instance, real-time software engineering or energy efficiency). This may cause some of the functional and non-functional requirements not to be met satisfactorily. In the thesis, we present a model-driven co-design framework based on the timing tolerance contract to address such design gaps between control and real-time software engineering. The framework consists of three steps: controller design, verified by jitter margin analysis along with co-simulation, software design veri fied by a novel schedulability analysis, and the run-time verification by monitoring the execution of the models on target. This framework builds on earlier mentioned CPAL design environment, which enforces a timing-realistic behavior in simulation through timing and scheduling annotations. Through various case studies, we show that our tool enables not only to automate the analysis process at design time but also to enhance the design process by systematically combining models and analyses. [less ▲]

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See detailThe cause of interface recombination in Cu-rich CIS thin film solar cells
Elanzeery, Hossam UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells are considered one of the most promising thin film technologies reaching efficiencies beyond 22 %. The record efficiencies for CIGS thin film solar cells are ... [more ▼]

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells are considered one of the most promising thin film technologies reaching efficiencies beyond 22 %. The record efficiencies for CIGS thin film solar cells are based on CIGS absorbers grown under Cu-deficiency conditions. CIGS absorbers grown under Cu-excess (Cu-rich) show larger grains and better transport properties compared to CIGS absorbers grown under Cu-deficiency (Cu-poor) conditions. However, solar cells based on Cu-rich CIGS absorbers suffer from significantly lower efficiencies compared to Cu-poor CIGS solar cells. The lower efficiency of Cu-rich CIGS solar cells compared to Cu-poor CIGS cells is attributed to lower open circuit voltage (VOC) in Cu-rich CIGS cells compared to Cu-poor CIGS cells. The reason behind the lower VOC values was investigated and was attributed to recombination losses at the absorber/buffer interface and higher doping of Cu-rich CIGS cells compared to Cu-poor CIGS cells but the complete picture behind the origin of these interface recombination losses and high doping in Cu-rich CIGS cells was not fully understood. The work of this thesis explains why Cu-rich CIGS cells suffer from interface recombination losses, higher doping and lower efficiencies. This explanation is divided into three parts: The first part characterizes Cu-rich and Cu-poor solar cells of the ternary CIS and the quaternary CIGS. This part confirms that Cu-rich CI(G)S solar cells suffer from lower efficiencies, lower VOC, interface recombination losses and higher doping compared to Cu-poor CI(G)S solar cells. Moreover, a 200±20 meV defect was observed for Cu-rich CIS cells. The second part introduces different post-deposition treatments (PDTs) to Cu-rich CI(G)S cells. An ex-situ KF, in-situ KF and a Se-only PDT were introduced to Cu-rich CIS cells. All the three treatments succeeded in improving the VOC, improving the interface recombination losses, decreasing the doping and passivating the 200±20 meV defect that has been identified as a Se-related defect in Cu-rich CIS solar cells. A Ga-Se PDT was introduced to Cu-rich CIGS solar cells and successfully improved the VOC, improved the interface recombination losses and decreased the doping of Cu-rich CIGS solar cells. The third part analyses the changes observed on Cu-rich CI(G)S cells before and after the PDTs. Based on these observations, it was concluded that the origin behind both the interface recombination losses and the high doping of Cu-rich CI(G)S cells is a Se-related acceptor defect (detected by admittance measurements for Cu-rich CIS and speculated for Cu-rich CIGS). The passivation of this defect reduces the recombination losses at the absorber/buffer interface, decreases the doping, improves the VOC and consequently leads to an increase in the efficiency of Cu-rich CI(G)S solar cells. Moreover, this part shows that the Se-related defect is formed as a result of the strong etching step that is mandatory for Cu-rich CI(G)S absorbers to remove conductive copper selenide secondary phases. Applying the same strong etching conditions to Cu-poor CIS absorbers leads to the formation of the Se-related defect. After understanding that the Se-related defect is formed as a result of the strong etching conditions and that the Se-related defect can be passivated with PDTs that are rich in Se, an alternative mean of passivating this defect without PDTs was proposed. The Se-related defect was shown to be passivated using buffer layers of high enough thiourea (source of Sulphur) and without any PDTs leading to the reduction of interface recombination losses, decrease of the doping, increase of the VOC and increase of the efficiency of Cu-rich CIS cells. To conclude, the reason behind the interface recombination losses and high doping in Cu-rich CI(G)S solar cells is a Se-related acceptor defect originating after etching the absorbers with strong etching conditions. This defect can be passivated with high enough chalcogen either with PDTs (high enough Selenium) or buffer layers (high enough Sulphur). [less ▲]

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See detailPOST-PROCESS AND IN-PROCESS ANALYSIS METHODS FOR LASER WELDING OF ALUMINUM-COPPER
Schmalen, Pascal Guy UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Copper is well-known for excellent conductivity and corrosion resistance, whereas aluminium is known for low density and great formability. The laser joining of Al and Cu combines those properties, e.g ... [more ▼]

Copper is well-known for excellent conductivity and corrosion resistance, whereas aluminium is known for low density and great formability. The laser joining of Al and Cu combines those properties, e.g. in manufacturing of solar absorbers and wiring harnesses. Furthermore, the joining of Al and Cu is an enabler of new products, e.g. the manufacturing of battery modules, where a reliable joining process for numerous Al-Cu connections, the tabs of the Li-ion batteries, is needed. The joining of Al and Cu is considered as complex due to the formation of intermetallic compounds inside the joint, which are causing a brittle joint with increased resistance. The focus of this work is the improvement and extension of the laser welding process of Al and Cu. It was found that the determination of suitable process parameters is one of the major restrictions in the application of the process. Hence, this work deals with the analysis of methods to determine process parameters, which was performed in three main parts: o The comprehensive process understanding is one essential part to improve the joint quality. The formation of the intermetallics inside the joint is a process, which takes place in a short time frame of a few μs and a scale of few hundreds of μm. Metallographic studies were performed to gain insights into the local formation of specific intermetallic compounds. Furthermore, intensive research on etchants was combined with the information gained from a micro-XRD analysis in order to identify and localize the most critical phases. o The post–process quality measurements are the essential part to quantify and evaluate the properties of the joint and thus to adapt process parameters. Yet, the quality measurements are varying in recent literature. In this work, the mechanical, electrical and optical methods were combined with hardness measurements and metallographic studies. The methods were enhanced and it was found that especially electrical methods have a great potential to assist the determination of process parameters. o In-process analysis methods were studied to identify the potential of process monitoring of Al-Cu weld seams. It was found that the optical analysis of the vapour plume, which is formed during the keyhole welding, can be used to estimate the joint quality. Chromatic filters were used to analyse specific process radiation of Al and Cu, which contains information about the current intermixture of the joint. The investigations were carried out with a spectroscope. Concluding, it will be shown that the present work assists the choice of suitable process parameters, and thus supports the future implementation of laser technology to join Al and Cu. [less ▲]

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See detailMOBILITY ANALYSIS AND PROFILING FOR SMART MOBILITY SERVICES: A BIG DATA DRIVEN APPROACH. An Integration of Data Science and Travel Behaviour Analytics
Toader, Bogdan UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Smart mobility proved to be an important but challenging component of the smart cities paradigm. The increased urbanization and the advent of sharing economy require a complete digitalisation of the way ... [more ▼]

Smart mobility proved to be an important but challenging component of the smart cities paradigm. The increased urbanization and the advent of sharing economy require a complete digitalisation of the way travellers interact with the mobility services. New sharing mobility services and smart transportation models are emerging as partial solutions for solving some tra c problems, improve the resource e ciency and reduce the environmental impact. The high connectivity between travellers and the sharing services generates enormous quantity of data which can reveal valuable knowledge and help understanding complex travel behaviour. Advances in data science, embedded computing, sensing systems, and arti cial intelligence technologies make the development of a new generation of intelligent recommendation systems possible. These systems have the potential to act as intelligent transportation advisors that can o er recommendations for an e cient usage of the sharing services and in uence the travel behaviour towards a more sustainable mobility. However, their methodological and technological requirements will far exceed the capabilities of today's smart mobility systems. This dissertation presents a new data-driven approach for mobility analysis and travel behaviour pro ling for smart mobility services. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate how the latest technologies from data science can contribute to the development of the next generation of mobility recommendation systems. Therefore, the main contribution of this thesis is the development of new methodologies and tools for mobility analysis that aim at combining the domain of transportation engineering with the domain of data science. The addressed challenges are derived from speci c open issues and problems in the current state of the art from the smart mobility domain. First, an intelligent recommendation system for sharing services needs a general metric which can assess if a group of users are compatible for speci c sharing solutions. For this problem, this thesis presents a data driven indicator for collaborative mobility that can give an indication whether it is economically bene cial for a group of users to share the ride, a vehicle or a parking space. Secondly, the complex sharing mobility scenarios involve a high number of users and big data that must be handled by capable modelling frameworks and data analytic platforms. To tackle this problem, a suitable meta model for the transportation domain is created, using the state of the art multi-dimensional graph data models, technologies and analytic frameworks. Thirdly, the sharing mobility paradigm needs an user-centric approach for dynamic extraction of travel habits and mobility patterns. To address this challenge, this dissertation proposes a method capable of dynamically pro ling users and the visited locations in order to extract knowledge (mobility patterns and habits) from raw data that can be used for the implementation of shared mobility solutions. Fourthly, the entire process of data collection and extraction of the knowledge should be done with near no interaction from user side. To tackle this issue, this thesis presents practical applications such as classi cation of visited locations and learning of users' travel habits and mobility patterns using historical and external contextual data. [less ▲]

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See detailMixed Frequency Single Receiver Architectures and Calibration Procedures for Linear and Non-Linear Vector Network Analysis
Harzheim, Thomas UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

In this thesis several new advancements in the field of linear and non-linear vector network analysis are presented. Three distinct but interconnected topics are addressed in this work: First the concept ... [more ▼]

In this thesis several new advancements in the field of linear and non-linear vector network analysis are presented. Three distinct but interconnected topics are addressed in this work: First the concept and feasibility of the single receiver vector network analyzer (VNA) architecture and the implications for existing error models are analyzed, starting with the one-port reflectometer, through two-port unidirectional 5-term, bidirectional 10-term and finally 7-term error models. New VNA error models, which are able to capture the effects of the leaky RF receiver input wave selector switch, are derived, along with new calibration and correction procedures for this architecture. Modifications to the existing test-set architectures are introduced to reduce the effects of the leaky RF receiver input wave selector switch and shorten the required measurement time in this VNA architecture. A purpose built 275 MHz to 6000 MHz single receiver VNA system based upon commercial-of-the-shelf components is presented and analyzed. Measurements carried out with this VNA system are used in conjunction with numerical test-set and VNA simulations to verify the efficacy of the new calibration and correction methods as well as different VNA test-set architectures according to EURAMET standards and procedures. The second main topic of this thesis is the introduction of phase repeatable synthesizers as a new calibration and correction phase reference standard for non-linear VNA measurements. Due to the high output power capability of this new phase reference standard, new non-linear test-set and measurement scenarios such as the full non-linear two port characterization of high power solid-state amplifiers become possible, which were out of reach before due to low system signal-to-noise ratios provided by comb-generator based sources in this setup. The third and final topic of this thesis integrates the contents and achievements of the two previous topics to prove and verify the feasibility of VNA based harmonic, i.e. non-linear, transponder-based stepped-FMCW radar systems operating directly in the frequency domain. A new stepped-FMCW theory based on mixed-frequency S-parameters is presented in conjunction with a phase-slope based ranging procedure which avoids time-domain transformation. A complete system-analysis and modeling of the harmonic radar system including the passive transponder tag is provided. Numerous high-resolution measurements are presented and analyzed to verify the validity and accuracy of the non-linear harmonic radar equation, to evaluate illumination and harmonic return signal polarization based propagation effects in a multi-path indoor measurement scenario and to demonstrate the performance of the harmonic radar system in severe clutter situations. [less ▲]

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See detailOPTICAL ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY LIMITATIONS OF CU(IN,GA)SE2 GROWN UNDER COPPER EXCESS
Babbe, Finn UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Solar cells made from the compound semiconductor Cu(In,Ga)Se2 reach efficiencies of 22:9 % and are thus even better than multi crystalline silicon solar cells. All world records are achieved using ... [more ▼]

Solar cells made from the compound semiconductor Cu(In,Ga)Se2 reach efficiencies of 22:9 % and are thus even better than multi crystalline silicon solar cells. All world records are achieved using absorber layers with an overall copper deficient composition, but Cu-rich grown samples have multiple favourable properties. However, especially losses in the open circuit voltage limit the device performance. Within this work these efficiency limitations of chalcopyrites grown with copper excess are investigated. The work has been divided into four chapters addressing different scientific questions. (i) Do alkali treatments improve Cu-rich absorber layers? The alkali treatment, which lead to the recent improvements of the efficiency world record, is adapted to CuInSe2 samples with Cu-rich composition. The treatment leads to an improvement of the VOC which originates roughly equally from an improvement of the bulk and the removal of a defect close to the interface. The treatment also improves the VOC of Cu-poor samples. In both cases, the treatment increases the fill factor (FF) and leads to a reduction of copper content at the surface. (ii) Is the VOC limited by deep defects in Cu-rich Cu(In,Ga)Se2? A deep defect, which likely limits the VOC, is observed in photoluminescence measurements (PL) independent of a surface treatment. The defect level is proposed to originate from the second charge transition of the CuIn antisite defect (CuIn(-1/-2)). During the investigation also a peak at 0:9 eV is detected and attributed to a DA-transition involving a third acceptor situated (135 ± 10) meV above the valence band. The A3 proposed to originate from the indium vacancy (VIn). Furthermore the defect was detected in admittance measurements and in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 samples with low gallium content. (iii) Is the diode factor intrinsically higher in Cu-rich chalcopyrites? Cu-rich solar cells exhibit larger diode ideality factors which reduce the FF. A direct link between the power law exponent from intensity dependent PL measurements of absorbers and the diode factor of devices is derived and verified using Cu-poor Cu(In,Ga)Se2 samples. This optical diode factor is the same in Cu-rich and Cu-poor samples. (iv) Is the quasi Fermi level splitting (qFLs) of Cu-rich Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber layers comparable to Cu-poor samples? Measuring the qFLs of passivated Cu-rich and Cu-poor Cu(In,Ga)Se2 samples, on average a 120 meV lower splitting is determined for Cu-rich samples. This difference increases with gallium content and is likely linked to a defect moving deeper into the bandgap, possibly related to the second charge transition of the CuIn antisite defect. Overall, samples with Cu-rich composition are not limited by the diode factor. However, a deep defect band causes recombination lowering the qFLs and thus the VOC. This defect is not removed by alkali treatments. A key component to improve Cu-rich solar cells in the future, especially Cu(In,Ga)Se2, will be to remove or passivate this defect level. [less ▲]

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See detailConfined in a Fiber: Realizing Flexible Gas Sensors by Electrospinning Liquid Crystals
Reyes, Catherine UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Liquid crystalline phases (LCs) readily exhibit optical responsivity to small fluctuations in their immediate environment. By encapsulating LC phase forming compounds within polymer fibers through the ... [more ▼]

Liquid crystalline phases (LCs) readily exhibit optical responsivity to small fluctuations in their immediate environment. By encapsulating LC phase forming compounds within polymer fibers through the electrospinning process (a fiber spinning method known for being a fast way of forming chemically diverse non-woven mats), it is possible to create functionalized LC-polymer fiber mats that are responsive as well. As these fiber mats can be handled macroscopically, a usercan observe the responses of the mats macroscopically without the need for bulky electronics. This thesis presents several non-woven fiber mats that were coaxially electrospun to contain LC within their individual polymer fibers cores for use as novel volatile organic compound (VOC) sensors. The mats are flexible, lightweight, and shown to both macroscopically and microscopically respond to toluene gas. Such gas responsive mats may be incorporated into garments for visually alerting the wearer when they are exposed to harmful levels of VOCs for example. Additionally, the interaction and re-prioritization of several electrospinning variables (from the chemistry based to the processing based) for forming the LC-mats are also discussed. The balance of these variables determines whether a wide range of phenomena occur during fiber formation. For instance, unexpected phase separation between the polymer sheath solution and the LC core can mean the difference between forming fully dried fibrous mats and wet/meshed films. A chapter is devoted to discussing the impact that solvent miscibility with an LC can have on fiber production, including also the effect that water can have when condensed into the electrospinning coaxial jet. The fiber shapes that the polymer fiber sheaths adopt (beaded versus non-beaded), as well as the continuity of the LC core, will influence the visual app earance of the mats. These optical properties, in turn, influence the mats’ responsivity to gases and whether the responses can be macroscopically observed with or without additional polarizers. During two types of gas sensing experiments --mats exposed to gas when contained in a cell, and mats exposed to gas diffused in ambient air without containment, we see that not all fibers within a mat respond at the same time. Moreover, different segments of the fibers within the same non-woven mat also show slightly different rates of response due to variations in fiber thickness, LC content, and whether the fiber cores had variations in LC filling (i.e. LC director twists, and gaps). [less ▲]

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See detailDEUTSCHE SOLDATENGRÄBER DES ZWEITEN WELTKRIEGES ZWISCHEN HELDENVERHERRLICHUNG UND ZEICHEN DER VERSÖHNUNG – KULTURWISSENSCHAFTLICH-HISTORISCHE FALLSTUDIEN ZUR ENTWICKLUNG DES UMGANGES MIT DEM KRIEGSTOD
Janz, Nina UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Ten cultural-historical case studies investigate how deaths in war were dealt with based on soldier graves of the Second World War. In this dissertation, the resting places of the fallen German soldiers ... [more ▼]

Ten cultural-historical case studies investigate how deaths in war were dealt with based on soldier graves of the Second World War. In this dissertation, the resting places of the fallen German soldiers offer a unique perspective in the evaluation of death during a violent conflict and in the post-war period. The examination frame extends from 1939 to the present and follows the reception and importance of the graves and the fallen in military, politics and society. Some single chapters of this thesis have been already published or are intended for publication. Methodologically, the study consists of empirical work, such as the analysis of unpublished archival sources, as well as hermeneutical tools in the form of interviews, surveys, local documentation, and field studies of burial sites and exhumations. Two terms – hero glorification and signs of reconciliation – illustrate the differences in how the meaning of the graves and their dead soldiers was perceived. This difference highlights the change in values and meaning that the graves had to face. In the Second World War, the Wehrmacht responded to the nearly five million German casualties with mythical hero stories, propaganda and parades, but also with an elaborate administration system and rules concerning the dead and their graves. The instructions for the soldier’s death included details about the material and inscription of the gravestone to the identification of unknown dead. The graves sustained a structure and organization in accordance with a modern military grave system. The claim to a single grave and the registration and notification of the relatives was included in the Wehrmacht. The denotation of the dead as heroes and their resting places as heroes' graves (Heldengräber) and heroes' groves (Heldenhaine) shows the attempt to integrate them into the ideology and propaganda of the National Socialist regime. However, the management of graves, as well as the cult of heroes, had to fail due to the reality of war – i.e., the number of casualties, the chaotic conditions at the front and the defeat of the Germans. The hero's glorification could not be maintained after the end of the war. In post-war society, an attempt was made to defuse the symbolism of military death and put it into a neutral and harmless context other than National Socialism. The continuation of the graves’ management, the search for unknown resting places and the construction of cemeteries could no longer be operated by the military. Under the slogan of reconciliation and the expression of peace and understanding instead, access to the Wehrmacht graves was reached first in Western Europe, after 1989 in Eastern Europe by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. The Volksbund builds and cares for cemeteries and exhumes the remains until the present. This effort is still being made by the Germans today and illustrates the importance of war graves care in modern international context. The studies show how mutable and dependent are the meaning and symbolism of the death of a soldier within different political and social constructs and epochs. In these studies, the range of soldiers' graves as a research topic is clarified and further perspectives for questions and investigation contexts are shown. The investigation of German soldiers' graves of the Second World War in terms of their relevance is of particular importance. The fact that great efforts are still being made to find and maintain the resting places of dead soldiers more than 70 years after the war demonstrates the political dimension of the war dead and their graves. Above all, the distinctiveness of these objects as resting places for German soldiers makes an interesting and even controversial topic for science, politics and society not only in Germany but also in other European countries. [less ▲]

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See detailNovel Insight into the Role of the S100A8/A9 Protein Complex in the Regulation of Neutrophil Functions
Jung, Nicolas UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

S100A8 and S100A9 are members of the S100 family of cytoplasmic EF-hand calcium-binding proteins and are abundantly expressed in the cytosol of neutrophils. Mostly found under heterodimeric form, S100A8 ... [more ▼]

S100A8 and S100A9 are members of the S100 family of cytoplasmic EF-hand calcium-binding proteins and are abundantly expressed in the cytosol of neutrophils. Mostly found under heterodimeric form, S100A8/A9 have various intracellular and extracellular functions; they act as alarmins, amplifying the host inflammatory response. Our previous study showed that the intracellular activity of S100A8/A9 is carried by the phosphorylation of S100A9. Based on these results, we further investigated the importance of this post-translational modification on the extracellular activity of the protein complex and its impact on the inflammatory functions of neutrophils. First, we analyzed the phosphorylation state of secreted S100A8/A9 and the mechanism by which the protein complex is released into the extracellular space. Our results show that S100A9 is secreted under a phosphorylated form within the S100A8/A9 protein complex and this release is highly correlated to the process of NETosis. Next, we investigated the inflammatory response of neutrophil-like dHL-60 cells when stimulated with the phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated form of S100A8/A9. Our results indicate that only the phosphorylated form of S100A8/A9 increases the expression and secretion of various cytokines (e.g. TNFa, CCL4, CXCL8). Using receptor-neutralizing antibodies, we then determined the receptor and signaling pathways associated to S100A8/A9-P-induced cytokine secretion. The reduction of expression levels of the previously mentioned cytokines, after TLR4 blocking, point out that S100A8/A9-P-induced signaling is mediated in part by TLR4. Finally, we investigated the post-transcriptional response induced by S100A8/A9-P stimulation. Using miRNA-sequencing of S100A8/A9-P stimulated dHL-60 cells, we identified an upregulation of miR-146a-5p, miR-146b-5p and miR-155-5p expression. Since these three microRNAs have previously been described to regulate TLR4 signaling at various levels, we investigated their influence on the inflammatory response mediated by S100A8/A9-P. Stable overexpression of miR-146a-5p and miR-155-5p in dHL-60 cells resulted in the reduced S100A8/A9-P-mediated secretion of cytokines through the inhibition of key players in the TLR4 signaling pathways. To summarize, our results give new insight into the pro-inflammatory functions induced by S100A8/A9-P in neutrophils and reveal the potential of the phosphorylated protein complex as a major regulator of inflammation in chronic inflammatory diseases. [less ▲]

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See detailInvestigating trust in a multilingual theatre project: Potentialities for a humanising pedagogy
Weyer, Dany UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Education plays a vital role in shaping social realities by promoting dialogue, solidarity, mutual understanding, and positive social interactions. However, some pedagogical approaches are believed to not ... [more ▼]

Education plays a vital role in shaping social realities by promoting dialogue, solidarity, mutual understanding, and positive social interactions. However, some pedagogical approaches are believed to not shoulder the responsibility to counter current social, economic, and political forces in Europe and beyond that present challenges in terms of social cohesion and ways of living together. This study contributes to recent debates concerning a change of dominant school practices by recognising learning and teaching as collaborative processes between teachers and students and trust as a central element in education. Despite the interest in and positive appraisal of trust in education, little attention has been paid to concrete teaching practices and strategies on how to implement trust in learning and teaching. A case study of a multilingual theatre project of a primary school class and a video ethnographic approach allowed to explore details of classroom practices, (inter-)actions, and activities. This research set out to explore four questions: (a) What are “signs of trust” in an educational context?; (b) How and in what ways can a teacher build, maintain, or strengthen trust?; (c) How and in what ways can “signs of trust” shape interactions in the classroom?; (d) How can “sings of trust” be analysed? As a result of more than 80 hours of video-recorded participant observations and interview data, the results of this investigation show that the classroom teacher continuously and consistently maintained a work environment based on six attributes of trust identified in the literature: vulnerability, benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty, and openness. Most importantly, she valued and promoted responsibility, autonomy, collaboration, and peer support. The teacher’s verbal and non-verbal trustworthy and trusting behaviour is then interpreted as the driving force behind the pupils’ engagement as active, competent, and reliable partners in all aspects of the theatre project. In fact, the pupils signalled ownership of their learning, proactively and independently engaged with the curriculum, and positively oriented towards each other’s relationships and competences. Despite the exploratory nature and small sample of participants, the findings of this study highlight that education imbued with trust offers opportunities of growth for both teachers and students. Moreover, the data suggests that the achievement and maintenance of trust can be seen as a collaborative effort involving all members of the classroom community and facilitated by a myriad of meaning-making resources (verbal, non-verbal, with objects, even a simple look in the eye or a smile). If the debate about the value of trust for all learners is to be moved forward, a better understanding of the wider impacts on personal and social lives needs to be gained. [less ▲]

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See detailADAPTIVE WAVEFORM DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR MIMO RADAR UNDER PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS
Hammes, Christian UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

The recent developments in radar technology - powerful signal processors, increased modulation bandwidth and access to higher carrier frequencies - offers enhanced flexi- bility in waveform design and ... [more ▼]

The recent developments in radar technology - powerful signal processors, increased modulation bandwidth and access to higher carrier frequencies - offers enhanced flexi- bility in waveform design and receiver processing. This provides additional degrees of freedom in the signal design and processing, thereby offering additional avenues to im- plement interference mitigation. The radar environment is dynamic in general, with the inhomogeneous interference sources changing rapidly both in space and time. In this context, an adaptive waveform and adaptive receiver design for Multiple-Input-Multiple- Output (MIMO) radar system is a promising way forward towards dynamic interference mitigation. Even-though the technology offers flexibility, the need to commercialize radar elements imposes certain constraints on the platform to ensure commercial viability. In this context, the transmitted waveform has to satisfy practical design constraints imposed by the hardware including discrete phase modulation and limited number of processing chains. These coupled with the dynamic scenarios warrants a rapid signal adaptation with enhanced performance while satisfying the design constraints. Motivated by the aforementioned requirements, the thesis proposes a general framework for MIMO radar signal adaptation under practical design constraints. The transmit antennas are restricted to operate in a multiplex mode, where a fewer number of pro- cessing chains are multiplexed across an arbitrary number of transmit antennas. Each of these chains, also referred to as channels, have the capability to modulate the phase of a traditional radar pulse in discrete steps. Further, the modulation is assumed to be in the slow time domain (inter-pulse); such a phase modulation results in benign requirements on the platform. Furthermore, the antennas are assumed to be mounted uniformly in a way that the virtual MIMO paradigm for maximum angular resolution is satisfied. The slow time modulation naturally results in in an angle-Doppler coupling; this issue is addressed by phase center motion (PCM) techniques, where nonlinear and random PCM techniques for mitigating angle-Doppler coupling are proposed. While the PCM techniques provide orthogonal signals, a transmit beamforming approach is also consid- ered to exploit the salient features of MIMO and phased array radars. Towards this, an approach based on block circulant decomposition for the slow-time modulation is proposed to generate a particular beam shape while minimizing the cross-correlation between transmitted signals, such that the virtual MIMO paradigm is satisfied. The thesis formulates the radiation pattern design as a dictionary based convex optimization and proposes closed-form signal design solutions for particular configuration of channels, discrete phase stages and transmit antenna elements. The beampattern design is then elegantly combined with the PCM approach to reduce Doppler ambiguity while sup- pressing angle-Doppler coupling. The proposed waveform design methodology is shown to be amenable to fast adaptation. Further, the adaptive waveform design is fused with state of the art adaptive receiver techniques to conceive a novel adaptive MIMO radar system under practical constraints in this thesis. [less ▲]

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See detailFUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISATION OF THE A30P MUTATION IN ALPHA-SYNUCLEIN GENE IN A PATIENT-DERIVED CELLULAR MODEL OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE
Rodrigues Dos Santos, Bruno Filipe UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Our study aims to perform detailed phenotyping of the A30P alpha-synuclein familial case of PD, allowing to identify underlying mechanisms of the disease that may translate into novel therapies ... [more ▼]

Our study aims to perform detailed phenotyping of the A30P alpha-synuclein familial case of PD, allowing to identify underlying mechanisms of the disease that may translate into novel therapies. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Approximately 20% of PD cases are known to have a genetic cause. From these, mutations in SNCA, the gene encoding alpha-synuclein, are linked to an autosomal dominant inheritance of the disease. In 1998, our group discovered the second known point mutation within the SNCA gene, causing an A30P exchange of the peptide sequence. We generated first patient-derived cellular model of the A30P alpha-synuclein mutation carrier, by obtaining fibroblasts from an affected sibling of the index patient, an unaffected sibling of the patient, and an age-matched gender-matched non-PD control. We reprogrammed these fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and differentiated them into midbrain dopaminergic neurons. We obtained enriched cultures of 80% midbrain neurons (FoxA2+/Tuj1+), with approximately 12 % dopaminergic (TH+), for which we observed electrophysiological activity and dopamine release. We detected a significant reduction of the protein level of mitochondria complexes II, IV, and V in the patient lines compared with the controls, additionally we found a significant impairment of mitochondrial respiration and an increased susceptibility of the cells to oxidative stress. Gene-edited isogenic controls were generated to dissect mutation-specific effects. Furthermore, we investigated mitochondrial morphology and dynamics, and how these processes contribute to the dopaminergic neurodegeneration. Additionally, we were implementing previously established readouts on our high-throughput automated screening platform that will allow us to identify FDA approved compounds with potential to be re-purposed and used as PD treatment. We believe that detailed phenotyping of the A30P alpha-synuclein monogenic case may help to identify underlying mechanisms of the disease that may translate into novel therapies, which would also apply to the more common sporadic forms of PD. [less ▲]

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See detailMODELING HUMAN METABOLISM: A DYNAMIC MULTI-TISSUE APPROACH
Martins Conde, Patricia UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Despite significant advances in constraint-based modelling, a methodology for modelling dynamic multi-tissue models of human metabolism is still missing. Additionally, prior to analysing diseased models ... [more ▼]

Despite significant advances in constraint-based modelling, a methodology for modelling dynamic multi-tissue models of human metabolism is still missing. Additionally, prior to analysing diseased models, it is important to develop a good methodology, as it would not only enable us to capture the effects of metabolism-associated diseases, but it would also allow us to recapitulate known physiological healthy properties of human metabolism. Therefore, a dynamic multi-tissue model using a new methodology was developed. The objective function comprises a set of complex functions that the multi-tissue model needs to perform. To demonstrate the capabilities of this new approach, different healthy, and unhealthy conditions were simulated. In a first step, the effect of different healthy conditions was analysed (i.e. the fasting, the ingestion of different meals, and exercising at various intensities, and conditions), demonstrating the model’s capability to correctly predict metabolic changes occurring on energy-associated pathways. In the second step, biomarkers for a range of inborn errors of metabolism were predicted, and the predictions were shown to be in good agreement with previous data. Finally, after verifying the capability of the dynamic multi-tissue model to review known physiological aspects of human metabolism, this model was further integrated with a physiologically- based pharmacokinetic model of glucose metabolism, previously developed by Schaller et al. (2013). Contrasting conditions, such as healthy and diabetic, were simulated using the multi-scale model during fasting and after an oral glucose tolerance test and candidate drugs to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus were predicted. Five out of the 80 simulated drug targets were predicted as candidate anti-diabetic targets, and the majority of drugs known to inhibit the predicted drug targets, have already been shown to have anti-diabetic effects. The developed approach can be applied to any metabolic disease and to any system where homeostasis plays an important role, or where a simple biomass optimization function is not applicable. Furthermore, the large amount of data collected for the multi-tissue model generation is of significant value for tissue constraint-based metabolic modellers who need data to constrain their models. [less ▲]

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See detailFrom Information Theory Puzzles in Deletion Channels to Deniability in Quantum Cryptography
Atashpendar, Arash UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Research questions, originally rooted in quantum key exchange (QKE), have branched off into independent lines of inquiry ranging from information theory to fundamental physics. In a similar vein, the ... [more ▼]

Research questions, originally rooted in quantum key exchange (QKE), have branched off into independent lines of inquiry ranging from information theory to fundamental physics. In a similar vein, the first part of this thesis is dedicated to information theory problems in deletion channels that arose in the context of QKE. From the output produced by a memoryless deletion channel with a uniformly random input of known length n, one obtains a posterior distribution on the channel input. The difference between the Shannon entropy of this distribution and that of the uniform prior measures the amount of information about the channel input which is conveyed by the output of length m. We first conjecture on the basis of experimental data that the entropy of the posterior is minimized by the constant strings 000..., 111... and maximized by the alternating strings 0101..., 1010.... Among other things, we derive analytic expressions for minimal entropy and propose alternative approaches for tackling the entropy extremization problem. We address a series of closely related combinatorial problems involving binary (sub/super)-sequences and prove the original minimal entropy conjecture for the special cases of single and double deletions using clustering techniques and a run-length encoding of strings. The entropy analysis culminates in a fundamental characterization of the extremal entropic cases in terms of the distribution of embeddings. We confirm the minimization conjecture in the asymptotic limit using results from hidden word statistics by showing how the analytic-combinatorial methods of Flajolet, Szpankowski and Vallée, relying on generating functions, can be applied to resolve the case of fixed output length and n → ∞. In the second part, we revisit the notion of deniability in QKE, a topic that remains largely unexplored. In a work by Donald Beaver it is argued that QKE protocols are not necessarily deniable due to an eavesdropping attack that limits key equivocation. We provide more insight into the nature of this attack and discuss how it extends to other prepare-and-measure QKE schemes such as QKE obtained from uncloneable encryption. We adopt the framework for quantum authenticated key exchange developed by Mosca et al. and extend it to introduce the notion of coercer-deniable QKE, formalized in terms of the indistinguishability of real and fake coercer views. We also elaborate on the differences between our model and the standard simulation-based definition of deniable key exchange in the classical setting. We establish a connection between the concept of covert communication and deniability by applying results from a work by Arrazola and Scarani on obtaining covert quantum communication and covert QKE to propose a simple construction for coercer-deniable QKE. We prove the deniability of this scheme via a reduction to the security of covert QKE. We relate deniability to fundamental concepts in quantum information theory and suggest a generic approach based on entanglement distillation for achieving information-theoretic deniability, followed by an analysis of other closely related results such as the relation between the impossibility of unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment and deniability. Finally, we present an efficient coercion-resistant and quantum-secure voting scheme, based on fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) and recent advances in various FHE primitives such as hashing, zero-knowledge proofs of correct decryption, verifiable shuffles and threshold FHE. [less ▲]

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See detailDynamiques de (dés)appartenance au cours de la vie : le cas des Portugais de "seconde génération" au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
Martins, Heidi Rodrigues UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Cette étude s’intéresse aux sentiments de (dés)appartenances et à leur (re)construction au cours de la vie des Portugais de « seconde génération » au Luxembourg. Sur le plan théorique, notre recherche se ... [more ▼]

Cette étude s’intéresse aux sentiments de (dés)appartenances et à leur (re)construction au cours de la vie des Portugais de « seconde génération » au Luxembourg. Sur le plan théorique, notre recherche se fonde essentiellement sur trois approches : le transnationalisme, la théorie des dynamiques relationnelles et la théorie du parcours de vie. Les enfants d’é(im)migrés, a-t-on suggéré, sont élevés dans un champ social transnational qui implique des contacts transfrontaliers et des visites (au sens réel et/ou symbolique) dans le pays d’origine. Ainsi, dans un premier temps, nous commençons par investiguer de manière compréhensive leurs pratiques (trans)nationales (notamment leur variation en portée, intensité et fréquence au cours du parcours de vie) ; puis, dans un deuxième temps, nous demandons : comment les Portugais de « seconde génération » au Luxembourg (re)construisent-ils, négocient-ils et accomplissent-ils leurs (dés)appartenances au cours du parcours de vie et quelle est le rôle joué par le pays d’origine ?. Pour répondre à ce questionnement, nous avons adopté comme méthodologie principale l’entretien compréhensif. Les données empiriques pour cette étude qualitative proviennent de 25 entretiens compréhensifs (incluant la réalisation d’une Carte de (dés)appartenance) réalisés auprès de membres de la « seconde génération » issue de l’é(im)migration portugaise au Luxembourg. Les participants avaient entre 19 et 55 ans au moment de l’entretien. Le corpus a fait l’objet d’une analyse par théorisation ancrée. En plus de montrer le poids de la « donne résidentielle » et de la « donne technologique », qui a fortement infléchi/ et infléchit encore les parcours des enfants d’é(im)migrés Portugais au Luxembourg (en fonction de la cohorte), nous mettons en exergue les deux sources de tensions majeures quant à leurs sentiments de (dés)appartenance et mettons en avant l’agentivité de nos participants qui, à partir de deux stratégies de (dés)appartenance (déportugalisation et/ou luxembourgisation), mobilisent les clés de résolution de ces mêmes tensions. Nous soulignons également le rôle qu’y jouent les sentiments de fierté et de reconnaissance (liés de près à la question de la mobilité sociale). Nous concluons par, l’intégration de notre modèle de (re)construction des (dés)appartenance dans un processus plus large que nous nommons processus de (re)configuration identitaire. [less ▲]

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See detailCo-evolutionary Hybrid Bi-level Optimization
Kieffer, Emmanuel UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Multi-level optimization stems from the need to tackle complex problems involving multiple decision makers. Two-level optimization, referred as ``Bi-level optimization'', occurs when two decision makers ... [more ▼]

Multi-level optimization stems from the need to tackle complex problems involving multiple decision makers. Two-level optimization, referred as ``Bi-level optimization'', occurs when two decision makers only control part of the decision variables but impact each other (e.g., objective value, feasibility). Bi-level problems are sequential by nature and can be represented as nested optimization problems in which one problem (the ``upper-level'') is constrained by another one (the ``lower-level''). The nested structure is a real obstacle that can be highly time consuming when the lower-level is $\mathcal{NP}-hard$. Consequently, classical nested optimization should be avoided. Some surrogate-based approaches have been proposed to approximate the lower-level objective value function (or variables) to reduce the number of times the lower-level is globally optimized. Unfortunately, such a methodology is not applicable for large-scale and combinatorial bi-level problems. After a deep study of theoretical properties and a survey of the existing applications being bi-level by nature, problems which can benefit from a bi-level reformulation are investigated. A first contribution of this work has been to propose a novel bi-level clustering approach. Extending the well-know ``uncapacitated k-median problem'', it has been shown that clustering can be easily modeled as a two-level optimization problem using decomposition techniques. The resulting two-level problem is then turned into a bi-level problem offering the possibility to combine distance metrics in a hierarchical manner. The novel bi-level clustering problem has a very interesting property that enable us to tackle it with classical nested approaches. Indeed, its lower-level problem can be solved in polynomial time. In cooperation with the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), this new clustering model has been applied on real datasets such as disease maps (e.g. Parkinson, Alzheimer). Using a novel hybrid and parallel genetic algorithm as optimization approach, the results obtained after a campaign of experiments have the ability to produce new knowledge compared to classical clustering techniques combining distance metrics in a classical manner. The previous bi-level clustering model has the advantage that the lower-level can be solved in polynomial time although the global problem is by definition $\mathcal{NP}$-hard. Therefore, next investigations have been undertaken to tackle more general bi-level problems in which the lower-level problem does not present any specific advantageous properties. Since the lower-level problem can be very expensive to solve, the focus has been turned to surrogate-based approaches and hyper-parameter optimization techniques with the aim of approximating the lower-level problem and reduce the number of global lower-level optimizations. Adapting the well-know bayesian optimization algorithm to solve general bi-level problems, the expensive lower-level optimizations have been dramatically reduced while obtaining very accurate solutions. The resulting solutions and the number of spared lower-level optimizations have been compared to the bi-level evolutionary algorithm based on quadratic approximations (BLEAQ) results after a campaign of experiments on official bi-level benchmarks. Although both approaches are very accurate, the bi-level bayesian version required less lower-level objective function calls. Surrogate-based approaches are restricted to small-scale and continuous bi-level problems although many real applications are combinatorial by nature. As for continuous problems, a study has been performed to apply some machine learning strategies. Instead of approximating the lower-level solution value, new approximation algorithms for the discrete/combinatorial case have been designed. Using the principle employed in GP hyper-heuristics, heuristics are trained in order to tackle efficiently the $\mathcal{NP}-hard$ lower-level of bi-level problems. This automatic generation of heuristics permits to break the nested structure into two separated phases: \emph{training lower-level heuristics} and \emph{solving the upper-level problem with the new heuristics}. At this occasion, a second modeling contribution has been introduced through a novel large-scale and mixed-integer bi-level problem dealing with pricing in the cloud, i.e., the Bi-level Cloud Pricing Optimization Problem (BCPOP). After a series of experiments that consisted in training heuristics on various lower-level instances of the BCPOP and using them to tackle the bi-level problem itself, the obtained results are compared to the ``cooperative coevolutionary algorithm for bi-level optimization'' (COBRA). Although training heuristics enables to \emph{break the nested structure}, a two phase optimization is still required. Therefore, the emphasis has been put on training heuristics while optimizing the upper-level problem using competitive co-evolution. Instead of adopting the classical decomposition scheme as done by COBRA which suffers from the strong epistatic links between lower-level and upper-level variables, co-evolving the solution and the mean to get to it can cope with these epistatic link issues. The ``CARBON'' algorithm developed in this thesis is a competitive and hybrid co-evolutionary algorithm designed for this purpose. In order to validate the potential of CARBON, numerical experiments have been designed and results have been compared to state-of-the-art algorithms. These results demonstrate that ``CARBON'' makes possible to address nested optimization efficiently. [less ▲]

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See detailArtificial Intelligence for the Detection of Electricity Theft and Irregular Power Usage in Emerging Markets
Glauner, Patrick UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Power grids are critical infrastructure assets that face non-technical losses (NTL), which include, but are not limited to, electricity theft, broken or malfunctioning meters and arranged false meter ... [more ▼]

Power grids are critical infrastructure assets that face non-technical losses (NTL), which include, but are not limited to, electricity theft, broken or malfunctioning meters and arranged false meter readings. In emerging markets, NTL are a prime concern and often range up to 40% of the total electricity distributed. The annual world-wide costs for utilities due to NTL are estimated to be around USD 100 billion. Reducing NTL in order to increase revenue, profit and reliability of the grid is therefore of vital interest to utilities and authorities. In the beginning of this thesis, we provide an in-depth discussion of the causes of NTL and the economic effects thereof. Industrial NTL detection systems are still largely based on expert knowledge when deciding whether to carry out costly on-site inspections of customers. Electric utilities are reluctant to move to large-scale deployments of automated systems that learn NTL profiles from data. This is due to the latter's propensity to suggest a large number of unnecessary inspections. In this thesis, we compare expert knowledge-based decision making systems to automated statistical decision making. We then branch out our research into different directions: First, in order to allow human experts to feed their knowledge in the decision process, we propose a method for visualizing prediction results at various granularity levels in a spatial hologram. Our approach allows domain experts to put the classification results into the context of the data and to incorporate their knowledge for making the final decisions of which customers to inspect. Second, we propose a machine learning framework that classifies customers into NTL or non-NTL using a variety of features derived from the customers' consumption data as well as a selection of master data. The methodology used is specifically tailored to the level of noise in the data. Last, we discuss the issue of biases in data sets. A bias occurs whenever training sets are not representative of the test data, which results in unreliable models. We show how quantifying and reducing these biases leads to an increased accuracy of the trained NTL detectors. This thesis has resulted in appreciable results on real-world big data sets of millions customers. Our systems are being deployed in a commercial NTL detection software. We also provide suggestions on how to further reduce NTL by not only carrying out inspections, but by implementing market reforms, increasing efficiency in the organization of utilities and improving communication between utilities, authorities and customers. [less ▲]

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See detailSociographie des associations islamiques au Luxembourg, à l'aune de l'institutionnalisation
Pirenne, Elsa

Doctoral thesis (2019)

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See detailA Transaction’s Journey: Transactional Enhancements for Public Blockchain-based Distributed Ledgers
Fiz Pontiveros, Beltran UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Interest in the decentralised nature of blockchain-based distributed ledgers has rapidly grown over the past few years. While a portion of this interest is fuelled by the price surge in Bitcoin towards ... [more ▼]

Interest in the decentralised nature of blockchain-based distributed ledgers has rapidly grown over the past few years. While a portion of this interest is fuelled by the price surge in Bitcoin towards the end of 2017, numerous companies across industries such as healthcare and finance have shown a keen interest in this technology and begun investing in diverse research projects. The work presented in this dissertation proposes a series of enhancements to blockchain-based distributed ledger technologies by focusing on a key element in the system: the transaction. By investigating the life cycle of a transaction in popular blockchain systems like bitcoin and ethereum, several enhancements were identified to tackle some of the challenges under active research today by the blockchain community. [less ▲]

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See detailSupporting Change in Product Lines Within the Context of Use Case-driven Development and Testing
Hajri, Ines UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Product Line Engineering (PLE) is a crucial practice in many software development environments where systems are complex and developed for multiple customers with varying needs. At the same time, many ... [more ▼]

Product Line Engineering (PLE) is a crucial practice in many software development environments where systems are complex and developed for multiple customers with varying needs. At the same time, many business contexts are use case-driven where use cases are the main artifacts driving requirements elicitation and many other development activities. In these contexts, variability information is often not explicitly represented, which leads to ad-hoc change management for use cases, domain models and test cases in product families. In this thesis, we address the problems of modeling variability in requirements with additional traceability to feature models and the manual and error prone requirements configuration and regression testing in product families. We provide the following contributions: - A modeling method for capturing variability information in product line use case and domain models by relying exclusively on commonly used artifacts in use-case driven development, thus avoiding unnecessary modeling overhead. - An approach for automated configuration of product specific use case and domain models that guides customers in making configuration decisions and automatically generates use case diagrams, use case specifications, and domain models for configured products. - A change impact analysis approach for evolving configuration decisions in product line use case models that automatically identifies the impact of decision changes on other decisions, and incrementally reconfigures product specific use case diagrams and specifications for evolving decisions. - An approach for automated classification and prioritization of system test cases in a family of products that automatically classifies and prioritizes, for each new product, system test cases of previous product(s) in a product line, and provides guidance in modifying existing system test cases to cover new use case scenarios that have not been tested in the product line before. All our approaches have been developed and evaluated in close collaboration with our industry partner IEE. [less ▲]

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See detailDecentring the Museum: Examining Young People's Perceptions and Experiences from a Sociocultural Perspective.
Brasseur, Laurence UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

The relationship between young people and museums has been a topic of discussion since the late 1970s. Many developments have been observed in this respect, yet some museums still find it challenging to ... [more ▼]

The relationship between young people and museums has been a topic of discussion since the late 1970s. Many developments have been observed in this respect, yet some museums still find it challenging to engage with young people. Furthermore, the debate surrounding this relationship is often underpinned by unhelpful generalisations about young people that impede thinking and practice; for example, that young people lack interest in museums or find them boring. Previous research has principally investigated the subject through an ‘education and learning’ lens and from a perspective that takes museums as the starting point. This thesis aims to enrich our understanding by taking a sociocultural perspective and by centring the focus on young people. The thesis, therefore, actively seeks to decentre the museum: theoretically, by using an interdisciplinary framework; and practically, by conducting fieldwork outside museums. Through a qualitative approach, this study places young people’s experiences and perceptions of museums in a wider social and cultural context. Focus groups were conducted with young people aged 12–21 in youth clubs in Luxembourg. This thesis reveals the complex and nuanced ways in which the focus-group participants think about museums in relation to their everyday lives. It also highlights the tensions and ambivalence underlying their perceptions and experiences. Furthermore, the study shows that the power inequalities that young people face in social life are likely to be perpetuated in the museum. Indeed, the participants’ experiences of museums are shaped, in large part, by lack of individual choice. Visits that are enforced by facilitators, such as the school and the family, can create barriers to engagement. This thesis makes the case that it is important for museums and facilitators to acknowledge the diversity of young people, hear and value their points of view, and respect their autonomy and freedom of choice. [less ▲]

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See detailMental health and wellbeing in adolescence: The role of child attachment and parents' representations of their children
Decarli, Alessandro UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

The aim of the current research was to explore the effects of attachment on emotion regulation, autonomy and relatedness, and behavioral problems in adolescence, and how attachment is in turn influenced ... [more ▼]

The aim of the current research was to explore the effects of attachment on emotion regulation, autonomy and relatedness, and behavioral problems in adolescence, and how attachment is in turn influenced by parental reflective functioning (PRF), parenting behaviors (operationalized in terms of behaviors promoting and undermining autonomy relatedness) and parenting stress (in terms of cortisol reactivity). Participants were 49 adolescents (11 to 17 years old) and their mothers (N = 40) and fathers (N = 28). We assessed adolescents’ attachment representations with the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), PRF with the Parent Development Interview (PDI), adolescents’ autonomy and relatedness, and parenting behaviors with the Family Interaction Task (FIT), and behavioral problems with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self-Report (YSR). The first study showed that mothers had significantly lower PRF and displayed more psychologically controlling behaviors in the interactions with their children than fathers. Rather than gender per se, high levels of PRF were the best predictors of autonomy support, whereas lower levels of PRF predicted more psychological control. Stress in the context of parenting was neither related to autonomy support nor to psychological control, which were best predicted by divorced family status. Finally, PRF mediated the relation between cortisol reactivity and both autonomy support and psychological control. The results of the second study suggest that higher levels of both maternal and paternal reflective functioning (RF) predict attachment security, whereas lower maternal RF and higher levels of maternal hostile parenting behaviors are the best predictors of disorganized attachment. Internalizing problem behavior is best predicted by disorganized attachment and externalizing symptoms are best predicted by dismissing attachment. These findings indicate that maternal behaviors play a mediating role and might be the primary route through which mothers’ RF is translated and communicated in the relationship with their adolescent children. Moreover, lower maternal RF and hostile and threatening behaviors may have long term negative effects in adolescence, contributing to attachment disorganization and poorer mental health. In the third study the results showed that disorganized adolescents displayed higher heart rate variability (HRV) than organized ones, both during the FFI and during the FITs. Dismissing adolescents showed a more pronounced increase in HRV during the FFI than those classified as secure and preoccupied; however, there were no differences between these groups in HRV during the FITs. The results suggest that disorganized adolescents had more difficulties in regulating their emotions both during the FFI and during the FIT, whereas dismissing individuals seemed effectively challenged only during the interview. The findings point to the potential utility of interventions aimed at enhancing attachment security, thus allowing a better psychological adjustment, and at improving PRF, especially in divorced families, given its protective effect on parenting stress and parenting behaviors. Clinical implications are discussed. [less ▲]

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See detailEssays on Convertibles and Stock Markets
Abed Masror Khah, Sara UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Detailed reference viewed: 94 (23 UL)
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See detailAutomated Identification of National Implementations of European Union Directives With Multilingual Information Retrieval Based On Semantic Textual Similarity
Nanda, Rohan UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

The effective transposition of European Union (EU) directives into Member States is important to achieve the policy goals defined in the Treaties and secondary legislation. National Implementing Measures ... [more ▼]

The effective transposition of European Union (EU) directives into Member States is important to achieve the policy goals defined in the Treaties and secondary legislation. National Implementing Measures (NIMs) are the legal texts officially adopted by the Member States to transpose the provisions of an EU directive. The measures undertaken by the Commission to monitor NIMs are time-consuming and expensive, as they resort to manual conformity checking studies and legal analysis. In this thesis, we developed a legal information retrieval system using semantic textual similarity techniques to automatically identify the transposition of EU directives into the national law at a fine-grained provision level. We modeled and developed various text similarity approaches such as lexical, semantic, knowledge-based, embeddings-based and concept-based methods. The text similarity systems utilized both textual features (tokens, N-grams, topic models, word and paragraph embeddings) and semantic knowledge from external knowledge bases (EuroVoc, IATE and Babelfy) to identify transpositions. This thesis work also involved the development of a multilingual corpus of 43 directives and their corresponding NIMs from Ireland (English legislation), Italy (Italian legislation) and Luxembourg (French legislation) to validate the text similarity based information retrieval system. A gold standard mapping (prepared by two legal researchers) between directive articles and NIM provisions was prepared to evaluate the various text similarity models. The results show that the lexical and semantic text similarity techniques were more effective in identifying transpositions as compared to the embeddings-based techniques. We also observed that the unsupervised text similarity techniques had the best performance in case of the Luxembourg Directive-NIM corpus. We also developed a concept recognition system based on conditional random fields (CRFs) to identify concepts in European directives and national legislation. The results indicate that the concept recognitions system improved over the dictionary lookup program by tagging the concepts which were missed by dictionary lookup. The concept recognition system was extended to develop a concept-based text similarity system using word-sense disambiguation and dictionary concepts. The performance of the concept-based text similarity measure was competitive with the best performing text similarity measure. The labeled corpus of 43 directives and their corresponding NIMs was utilized to develop supervised text similarity systems by using machine learning classifiers. We modeled three machine learning classifiers with different textual features to identify transpositions. The results show that support vector machines (SVMs) with term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) features had the best overall performance over the multilingual corpus. Among the unsupervised models, the best performance was achieved by TF-IDF Cosine similarity model with macro average F-score of 0.8817, 0.7771 and 0.6997 for the Luxembourg, Italian and Irish corpus respectively. These results demonstrate that the system was able to identify transpositions in different national jurisdictions with a good performance. Thus, it has the potential to be useful as a support tool for legal practitioners and Commission officials involved in the transposition monitoring process. [less ▲]

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See detailFirst-principles approaches to the description of indirect absorption and luminescence spectroscopy: exciton-phonon coupling in hexagonal boron nitride
Paleari, Fulvio UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

The development of novel optoelectronic applications crucially depends on the detailed understanding of light--matter interaction in the candidate materials. From a theoretical point of view, this task is ... [more ▼]

The development of novel optoelectronic applications crucially depends on the detailed understanding of light--matter interaction in the candidate materials. From a theoretical point of view, this task is especially difficult in the case of quasi--2D semiconductors, since their optical response is dominated by strongly bound excitons and many--body perturbation theory (MBPT) must be employed together with first--principles computer simulations. The case of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is interesting because its large band gap and high absorption/emission efficiency make it amenable for the fabrication of UV emitting devices. However, the specific microscopic mechanisms that govern the appearance of complex fine structures in the optical spectra of different types of hBN samples (monolayers, few--layers, bulk samples) are poorly understood, leading to discrepancies between experimental and theoretical results. In this Thesis, we first show how the interlayer interaction in multilayers leads to a Davydov splitting of the excitonic states of single--layer hBN. We study and characterize the absorption spectra in single layer, multilayer and bulk hBN systems, focusing on the exciton symmetry and optical activity. We show that in multilayers, Davydov splitting leads to a surface localization of the lowest--lying optically active excitons. These additional spectral features still cannot explain, by themselves, the experimentally measured optical fine structure. Therefore, we calculate exciton dispersion curves in order to search for the existence of indirect excitons with lower energy than the lowest direct exciton. We find that in bilayer hBN the nature of the optical gap (direct) changes with respect to the single--particle gap (indirect). In contrast, in bulk hBN (and thicker few--layers of hBN) both optical and quasiparticle gaps are indirect, i.e., they display a pronounced minimum in the excitonic dispersion curve between $\Gamma$ and K. %in accordance with the single--particle gap. If the lowest exciton is indirect, as in bulk hBN, then phonon--assisted transitions become relevant for the description of the optical spectra. The reliable \textit{ab initio} description of exciton--phonon coupling in indirect absorption and emission is the main focus of this Thesis. We have tackled the problem with two approaches. In the static approach, we calculate the coupling of excitons with phonons in a supercell via a finite--displacement method. The supercell is commensurate with the $k$--point corresponding to the minimum of the exciton dispersion. In this way, we are able to reproduce the rich fine structure in the luminescence spectrum of bulk hBN in good agreement with experiment and to explain it in terms of exciton--phonon coupling. The finite--displacement approach is supposed to work for indirect optical spectra in any material where the minimum of the exciton dispersion gives the dominant phonon--assisted contribution. Since in the absorption case this is not always true, we have employed a second, perturbative approach for the description of indirect absorption spectra which also includes dynamical effects and a microscopic treatment of the coupling. We have implemented the required many--body quantities (namely, the exciton--phonon coupling matrix elements and self--energy) in the \texttt{Yambo} many--body code. We expect this new method to allow us to overcome many of the theoretical limitations of previous approaches to indirect absorption. [less ▲]

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See detailEarly literacy development in a multilingual educational context: a quasi-experimental intervention and longitudinal study
Wealer, Cyril UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Based on concerns about literacy difficulties experienced by children learning to read and write in a second language, repeated calls have been made for more research on literacy development in ... [more ▼]

Based on concerns about literacy difficulties experienced by children learning to read and write in a second language, repeated calls have been made for more research on literacy development in multilingual educational settings. Enhanced understanding of literacy development in a second language is essential to optimize support structures for children learning to read and write in a language they have yet to fully acquire. The current thesis presents two longitudinal studies contributing towards this aim. Both studies were conducted with young children growing up in Luxembourg, a linguistically and culturally diverse country where the language spoken in preschool is Luxembourgish, but children learn to read and write in German in Grade 1. Study 1 was a quasi-experimental intervention study exploring the efficacy of a classroom-based early literacy intervention. Children from 28 preschool classes (age 5-6) were allocated to either the intervention (n = 89) or a standard curriculum (control) group (n = 100). Classroom teachers delivered four intervention sessions (20 minutes each) per week over 12 weeks (48 sessions in total) to their whole classes. The intervention programme targeted phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge and print awareness embedded in a language and literacy-rich context. All children were assessed before and immediately after the intervention in preschool, and at a nine months follow-up in Grade 1 (age 6-7) after having started formal literacy instruction in German for five months. The intervention group significantly outperformed the control group on early literacy measures immediately postintervention in preschool and the results generalised to measure of reading comprehension and spelling in Grade 1. The study provides clear evidence for the efficacy of the early literacy intervention, particularly for a subpopulation of children with low oral language skills in Luxembourgish, many of whom were second language learners. Study 2 was a correlational study on a subsample of the children from Study 1 (from untrained control group). The aim was to identify preschool predictors in Luxembourgish of literacy skills in German in Grade 1 for multilingual children learning German as a second language. Ninety-eight children completed measures of potential predictors in preschool (age 5-6), including phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid automatized naming, verbal short-term memory and vocabulary knowledge in Luxembourgish, along with measures of word reading, reading comprehension and spelling in German in Grade 1 (age 6-7). While moderate to strong correlations were found between all individual preschool predictors and later literacy measures, only phonological awareness, and letter-sound knowledge emerged as unique predictors of all literacy measures. These findings suggest that, despite individual differences, learning to read in a second language may be in many aspects similar to learning to read in a first language. Taken together, the findings of this thesis represent important steps in extending the theoretical knowledge base on second language literacy acquisition and in strengthening the evidence base for identification and prevention strategies of literacy difficulties in linguistically diverse children in Luxembourg. [less ▲]

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See detailThermodynamics and Aggregation Kinetics of Lysozyme-Derived Peptides
Hakami Zanjani, Ali Asghar UL

Doctoral thesis (2019)

When multiple similar protein or peptide chains form non-covalent aggregates, this is termed 'amyloid'. Many serious progressive diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are related to undesirable ... [more ▼]

When multiple similar protein or peptide chains form non-covalent aggregates, this is termed 'amyloid'. Many serious progressive diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are related to undesirable amyloid aggregation. From a positive perspective, functional amyloids have applications as robust and versatile biomaterials in nature, nanotechnology, and biomedicine. To probe the properties of the amyloid aggregation process in terms of the structure of molecules and the microscopic interactions between them, molecular simulation methods such as molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) can be used. These tools are especially valuable to illustrate short length and time scales not easily accessible for systems in solution via current experimental techniques. In this work the thermodynamics and aggregation kinetics of the ILQINS hexapeptide are studied. ILQINS is a biological material derived from hen's egg-white lysozyme. Two ILQINS homologues, IFQINS and TFQINS are compared to ILQINS and some of the complex physics which leads to the increased amyloidogenicity of these species, which is not expected from first-order consideration of amino acid properties, is discussed. The IFQINS hexapeptide is of particular interest as the human homologue of ILQINS. Solution X-ray and X-ray crystallography are compared to simulation, verifying that at least two metastable polymorphic structures exist for this system which are substantially different at the atomistic scale, and illustrating the physics driving kinetic competition between polymorphs. [less ▲]

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See detailThe EU Dimension in Education for Democratic Citizenship: a Legal Analysis
Grimonprez, Kris Johanna UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Education for democratic citizenship equips learners with knowledge, skills and understanding and develops their attitudes and behaviour, with the aim of empowering them to exercise and defend their ... [more ▼]

Education for democratic citizenship equips learners with knowledge, skills and understanding and develops their attitudes and behaviour, with the aim of empowering them to exercise and defend their democratic rights and responsibilities in society, to value diversity and to play an active part in democratic life (the consensual definition in the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education of the Council of Europe, 2010). What does this mean for EU citizens? The dissertation reads this Charter in combination with EU law and argues that an EU dimension must be incorporated in national citizenship education. A method for objective, critical and pluralistic EU learning is proposed, a method based on the Treaties and on case teaching (stories for critical thinking). Starting from EU law, suitable content for the EU dimension in mainstream education is then explored on the basis of four criteria: (i) additional content for national education for democratic citizenship, (ii) significant content, i.e. relating to foundational (EU primary law) values, objectives and principles, (iii) inviting critical thinking, (iv) affecting the large majority of EU citizens, including static citizens (who live at home in their own country). A broader view of EU citizenship is developed, beyond that resulting from classic citizenship rights. Finally, it is argued that the EU has the legal competence to support the EU dimension in education. Member States are invited to take more action to ensure quality education, which must now include education for democratic citizenship and its EU dimension. Democracy in the EU needs an educational substratum. [less ▲]

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See detailA study of the molecular mechanisms underlying the response of human colorectal adenomacarcinoma enterocytes to prebiotics and probiotics
Greenhalgh, Kacy UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiome plays essential roles in maintaining human health. A variety of diseases including colorectal cancer (CRC) are associated with microbial dysbiosis ... [more ▼]

The human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiome plays essential roles in maintaining human health. A variety of diseases including colorectal cancer (CRC) are associated with microbial dysbiosis. Administration of microbial isolates associated with health benefits (e.g. prebiotics) together with specific dietary components (e.g., probiotics) may find application as supportive therapeutic options in the treatment and management of CRC. Although microbiome-modulating therapeutics hold great promise, such approaches are presently not formally integrated into treatment plans. To obtain better understanding of combined pre- and probiotic regimens in relation to CRC, the present study was dedicated to investigate the effects of selected prebiotics on the proliferation of CRC primary cells and conventional CRC-cell lines, the effects of prebiotics on the growth and metabolism of selected probiotic strains, and the combinatorial/synbiotic effects of selected pre- and probiotics on CRC proliferation. In addition, this work established the in vitro gut-on-a chip HuMiX model with a simulated high-fibre medium for co-culturing human and microbial cells in HuMiX. Furthermore, the anti-carcinogenic combinatorial effects of dietary fiber (e.g., prebiotics), and GIT bacteria (e.g., probiotics) were evaluated using human GIT transcriptomes and metabolomes in HuMiX. An integrated in vitro and in silico modeling approach was finally established to decipher the complex cross-talk between gut bacteria, dietary components and human host cells. My results demonstrate that in stark contrast to the individual pre- or probiotic treatments, the synbiotic regimen of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and dietary fiber results in the down-regulation of genes involved in pro-carcinogenic pathways and drug resistance (e.g., ABC transporters) and reduced levels of the oncometabolite lactate. Distinct ratios of organic and short-chain fatty acids are produced during the simulated regimens. Treatment of primary CRC-derived cells with a molecular cocktail reflecting the synbiotic regimen attenuated self-renewal capacity. The developped integrated in vitro and in silico modelling approach provides mechanistic insights into the interplay between pre- and probiotics and elucidation of the microbiota-host relationship. In summary, my dissertation work illustrates the potential of HuMiX to be used for nutritional studies and more precisely for studying the underlying mechanisms of the effects that dietary components (e.g., dietary fiber) and probiotics have on CRC-derived cells. Thereby, this dissertation work highlights the potential for formulating efficacious dietary supplements including synbiotics in the context of therapeutic regimens for microbiome-linked diseases in the future. [less ▲]

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See detailTopology and interaction effects in one-dimensional systems
Calzona, Alessio UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

With the discovery of the integer quantum Hall effect by von Klitzing and collaborators in 1980, the mathematical field of topology entered the world of condensed matter physics. Almost three decades ... [more ▼]

With the discovery of the integer quantum Hall effect by von Klitzing and collaborators in 1980, the mathematical field of topology entered the world of condensed matter physics. Almost three decades later, this eventually led to the theoretical prediction and the experimental realization of many intriguing topological materials and topology-based devices. In this Ph.D. thesis, we will study the interplay between topology and another key topic in condensed matter physics, namely the study of inter-particle interactions in many-body systems. This interplay is analyzed from two different perspectives. Firstly, we studied how the presence of electron-electron interactions affects single-electron injection into a couple of counter-propagating one-dimensional edge channels. The latter appear at the edges of topologically non-trivial systems in the quantum spin Hall regime and they can also be engineered by exploiting the integer quantum Hall effect. Because of inter-channel interactions, the injected electron splits up into a couple of counter-propagating fractional excitations. Here, we carefully study and discuss their properties by means of an analytical approach based on the Luttinger liquid theory and the bosonization method. Our results are quite relevant in the context of the so-called electron quantum optics, a fast developing field which deeply exploits the topological protection of one-dimensional edge states to study the coherent propagation of electrons in solid-state devices. As an aside, we also showed that similar analytical techniques can also be used to study the time-resolved dynamics of a Luttinger liquid subject to a sudden change of the interaction strength, a protocol known as quantum quench which is gaining more and more attention, especially within the cold-atoms community. Secondly, we study how inter-particle interactions can enhance the topological properties of strictly one-dimensional fermionic systems. More precisely, the starting point is the seminal Kitaev chain, a free-fermionic lattice model which hosts exotic Majorana zero-energy modes at its ends. The latter are extremely relevant in the context of topological quantum computation because of their non-Abelian anyonic exchange statistics. Here we show that, by properly adding electron-electron interactions to the Kitaev chain, it is possible to obtain lattice models which feature zero-energy parafermionic modes, an even more intriguing generalization of Majoranas. To this end, we develop at first an exact mapping between Z4 parafermions and ordinary fermions on a lattice. We subsequently exploit this mapping to analytically obtain an exactly solvable fermionic model hosting zero-energy parafermions. We study their properties and numerically investigate their signatures and robustness even when parameters are tuned away from the exactly solvable point. [less ▲]

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See detailBioactive nanotopographies for the control of mesenchymal stem cell differentiation for applications in bone tissue engineering
Realista Coelho Dos Santos Pedrosa, Catarina UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Nanotopography with length scales of the order of extracellular matrix elements offers the possibility of regulating cell behavior. Investigation of the impact of nanotopography on cell response has been ... [more ▼]

Nanotopography with length scales of the order of extracellular matrix elements offers the possibility of regulating cell behavior. Investigation of the impact of nanotopography on cell response has been limited by inability to precisely control geometries, especially at high spatial resolutions, and across practically large areas. This work allowed the fabrication of well-controlled and periodic nanopillar arrays of silicon to investigate their impact on osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Silicon nanopillar arrays with critical dimensions in the range of 40-200 nm, exhibiting standard deviations below 15% across full wafers were realized using self-assembly of block copolymer colloids. To investigate if modifications of surface chemistry could further improve the modulation of hMSC differentiation, mimetic peptides were grafted on the fabricated nanoarrays. A peptide known for its ability to ameliorate cell adhesion (RGD peptide), a synthetic peptide able to enhance osteogenesis (BMP-2 mimetic peptide), and a combination or both molecules were covalently grafted on the nanostructures. Immunofluorescence and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) measurements reveal clear dependence of osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs on the diameter and periodicity of the arrays. Moreover, the differentiation of hMSCs was found to be dependent on the age of the donor. Surface functionalization allowed additional enhancement of the expression of osteogenic markers, in particular when RGD peptide and BMP-2 mimetic peptide were co-immobilized. These findings can contribute for the development of personalized treatments of bone diseases, namely novel implant nanostructuring depending on patient age. [less ▲]

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See detailDroit de la consommation et régime de l'obligation. Essai de construction d’un régime de l’obligation consumériste au travers de l’exemple de la prescription
Calcio, Mathilde UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

While Civil law is traditionally based on equality between contractors, Consumer protection Law was built around the notion of unbalanced contractual relationship, the consumer being the weaker party ... [more ▼]

While Civil law is traditionally based on equality between contractors, Consumer protection Law was built around the notion of unbalanced contractual relationship, the consumer being the weaker party. This study revolves around limitation periods and foreclosure, known to be Civil law mechanisms, and their use and reception by Consumer Law. Is the two year period granted to the professional to seek specific performance likely to be interrupted ? Do negociations revolving around a purchased good’s hidden defects suspend the brief period granted to the consumer to claim for specific performance ? How does French Consumer Protection Law allocate late payment of debts that have been extinguished by the statute of limitations ? This study consists in systematic analyses of available litigations obtained through courts' Open data. It aims to highlight phenomena such as rules resumption, rules adjustment or rules creation through the problematic of unbalanced, B to C, contractual relationships. Three sights were fixed for this purpose : - demonstrating how inadequate Civil Law, Consumer Law and Commercial Law are considering the contractual unbalances inherent to B to C relationships, through some examples of mass litigations (nature of the statute of limitations, commencement date of the limitation period, causes for interruption and suspension of the limitation period, court’s function) ; - highlighting the lack of strong, unchanging jurisprudence on the subject, at the expense of legal safety and legal rules quality ; - offering a new, rational model of limitation period for Consumer Law, taking into account the very specific problematics of each parties. The result of the above study could provide the basis for a reflection on a new Consumer legislation. [less ▲]

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See detailDefining, Measuring, and Enabling Transparency for Electronic Medical Systems
Pierina Brustolin Spagnuelo, Dayana UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Transparency is a novel concept in the context of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It has arisen from regulations as a data protection principle, and it is now being studied to encompass ... [more ▼]

Transparency is a novel concept in the context of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It has arisen from regulations as a data protection principle, and it is now being studied to encompass the peculiarities of digital information. Transparency, however, is not the first security concept to be borrowed from regulations; privacy once emerged from discussions on individual’s rights. Privacy began to be vigorously debated in 1890, when Warren and Brandeis analysed legal cases for which penalties were applied on the basis of defamation, infringement of copyrights, and violation of confidence. The authors defended that those cases were, in fact, built upon a broader principle called privacy. But privacy was only given a structured definition almost one century later, in 1960, when Prosser examined cases produced after Warren and Brandeis’ work, classifying violation of privacy into four different torts; it took twenty years more before the concept was thoroughly studied for its functions in ICT. Guidelines by the OECD outlined principles to support the discussion of privacy as a technical requirement. Proceeded by international standards for a privacy framework (ISO/IEC 29100), which translated the former legal concepts into information security terms, such as data minimisation, accuracy, and accountability. Transparency has a younger, but comparable history; the current General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) defines it as a principle which requires “that any information and communication relating to the processing of those personal data be easily accessible and easy to understand [..]". However, other related and more abstract concepts preceded it. In the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, the Privacy Rule demands to document privacy policies and procedures and to notify individuals of uses of their health information. Former European Directives, i.e., 95/46/EC and 2011/24/EU, establish “the right for individuals to have access to their personal data concerning their health [..] also in the context of cross-border healthcare”. The same did the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of 1966, instituting that any person has a right to obtain from agencies information regarding their records. These and other similar requests refer to the transversal quality called transparency. Similarly to what happened with privacy, transparency was also the subject of guidelines that clarify its interpretation in ICT. However, no framework or standard has been defined yet that translates transparency into a technical property. This translation is the goal of our work. This thesis is dedicated to debate existing interpretations for transparency, to establish requirements and measurement procedures for it, and to study solutions that can help systems adhere to the transparency principle from a technical perspective. Our work constitutes an initial step towards the definition of a framework that helps accomplish meaningful transparency in the context of Electronic Medical Systems. [less ▲]

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See detailIntegration of omics data for biotechnology-relevant microbial communities
Herold, Malte UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Naturally occurring and artificial bacterial communities play an import role in many biotechnological processes. To elucidate bacterial interactions that are important for potential optimized ... [more ▼]

Naturally occurring and artificial bacterial communities play an import role in many biotechnological processes. To elucidate bacterial interactions that are important for potential optimized biotechnological applications, high-throughput measurements of biomolecules, metagenomics, metratranscriptomics,metaproteomics, and meta-metabolomics provide a detailed snapshot of mixed microbial consortia. Integration of multiple layers of omics data allows to reconstruct structure and function of complex microbial communities and is demonstrated for two different model systems. The first chapter focuses on synthetic communities consisting of strains representing key species found in biomining operations and acid mine drainage and that are of economical interest for copper production. A high-quality closed reference genome for L. ferriphilum was obtained by DNA sequencing and was subsequently used to integrate functional omics data, i.e. transcriptomic and proteomic profiling. The combination of genomics, genome annotation, and functional omics data allowed an in-depth characterization of L. ferriphilum in culture medium and in the presence of the iron sulfide mineral chalcopyrite, an economically relevant copper ore. Subsequently, analyses were performed for co-cultures of up to three organisms highlighting specific interaction mechanisms. The cultures without L. ferriphilum showed higher copper solubilisation rates, as the highly efficient iron oxidiser might raise the redox potential above the optimal range. For in situ studies, reference-based analyses are of limited use, e.g. due to a lack in reference genomes of culturable isolates. Hence, the second chapter focuses on an approach to study mixed microbial communities independent of prior knowledge and available reference genomes. A timeseries of oleaginous floating sludge samples that spans over one and a half years was analysed by integrating metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, metaproteomic, and meta-metabolomic data. This allowed the reconstruction of population level genomes and the characterization of the niches of the respective populations. The functional potential was assessed, as well as expression profiles over time, yielding a detailed view on lifestyle strategies and the potential impact of abiotic factors. Understanding the niche ecology of the predominant lipid accumulators in the system could lead towards optimized biofuel production. [less ▲]

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See detailFirst-Principles Modeling of Molecular Crystals: Crystal Structure Prediction and Vibrational Properties
Hoja, Johannes UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Understanding the structure and stability, as well as response properties of molecular crystals at certain thermodynamic conditions is crucial for the engineering of new molecular materials and the design ... [more ▼]

Understanding the structure and stability, as well as response properties of molecular crystals at certain thermodynamic conditions is crucial for the engineering of new molecular materials and the design of pharmaceuticals. A reliable description of the polymorphic energy landscape of a molecular crystal would provide an extensive insight into the development of drugs in terms of the existence and the likelihood of late-appearing polymorphs. Furthermore, accurate modeling of low-frequency vibrational spectra would be important for the characterization of molecular crystal polymorphs. However, an accurate description of molecular crystals is very challenging since many properties highly depend on the crystal-packing arrangement of the involved molecules and the temperature. The difficulties for computational predictions of molecular crystal polymorphs lie in the high dimensionality of crystallographic and conformational space, and the need for very accurate relative free energies. It was shown that accurate lattice energies can be obtained by using density-functional theory (DFT) calculations supplemented by a high-level model for long-range van der Waals (vdW) dispersion interactions, such as the many-body dispersion (MBD) model. Therefore, this thesis utilizes throughout vdW-inclusive DFT using the MBD and the related pairwise Tkatchenko-Scheffler (TS) dispersion model and the importance of dispersion interactions is highlighted for several properties. A hierarchical stability-ranking approach based on the DFT+MBD framework for the final stage of a molecular crystal structure prediction procedure is presented and analyzed. This approach provides excellent stability rankings over the diverse set of molecular crystals studied in the latest blind test of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. The results suggest that accounting for many-body dispersion effects and vibrational free energies can be crucial for the description of relative stabilities, especially for highly polymorphic systems. The presented approach enables the calculation of reliable structures and thermodynamic stabilities for pharmaceutically relevant systems, contributing to a better understanding of complex polymorphic energy landscapes. Furthermore, many first-principles calculations are performed by using fully optimized structures and free energies obtained within the harmonic approximation, neglecting the thermal expansion of the studied molecular crystal and further anharmonic effects. Therefore, this thesis illustrates that the majority of the thermal expansion of molecular crystals can be captured with the used methods by applying the quasi-harmonic approximation. In addition, we estimate further anharmonic effects on the vibrational frequencies by utilizing Morse oscillators. [less ▲]

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See detailEntrepreneurial Teams, New Venture Direction and Growth: Evidence from Luxembourg
Tryba, Anne UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

New ventures can be an important driver of economic growth and technological progress. Yet, many new ventures fail and do not overcome the challenges of the early entrepreneurial phase. Extant research ... [more ▼]

New ventures can be an important driver of economic growth and technological progress. Yet, many new ventures fail and do not overcome the challenges of the early entrepreneurial phase. Extant research has acknowledged that the people who jointly start and manage a new venture have a key impact on its subsequent success and development. However, a discrepancy exists in how the interplay of their characteristics, cognition, and actions ultimately shape the way a new venture evolves. Therefore the primary purpose of this thesis is to contribute to this research stream by exploring the multifaceted role of entrepreneurial teams for new venture direction and growth. This is done with the aid of three research papers relying on a multiple case study and a specifically designed dataset from Luxembourg. The first paper illuminates how the shared pre-start-up transition moments of entrepreneurial team members influence the joint decision logic in the initial venture phase. Focusing on the composition of entrepreneurial teams, the second paper illustrates early activities that allow new ventures to leverage the diverse educational backgrounds of their team members to achieve financial growth. Lastly, the third paper explores aspects of leadership in new ventures and uncovers how agreement on an early shared vision affects subsequent changes in the entrepreneurial team, taking into account members’ relational ties. This thesis makes important contributions to research in entrepreneurship and strategic management, adding to a more fine-grained view on the micro-foundations and outcomes of entrepreneurial action. Also, it has practical implications for entrepreneurs, their mentors and investors, entrepreneurship education and policymakers. [less ▲]

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See detailZebrafish models of Dravet syndrome: discovery of antiseizure drug leads and analysis of behavioural comorbidities
Jacmin, Maxime UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Dravet syndrome (DS) is one of the most frequent genetic epilepsies, with an incidence of 1/30,000. Most DS patients are pharmacoresistant, in that they do not respond adequately to currently available ... [more ▼]

Dravet syndrome (DS) is one of the most frequent genetic epilepsies, with an incidence of 1/30,000. Most DS patients are pharmacoresistant, in that they do not respond adequately to currently available anticonvulsant drugs (ASDs). Beside the seizure occurrence in these patients, many DS patients also suffer from cognitive impairment that can be aggravated by some of the seizure medications prescribed. Preclinical models such as mouse models of Dravet syndrome have been developed and described to exhibit cognitive deficits similar to those of DS patients, but are only suitable for the evaluation of small number of compounds, thereby limiting their utility for drug discovery. An animal model with higher screening throughput would therefore be of value for drug discovery efforts focused on seizure reduction and decrease of the comorbidities associated with DS. Recent studies on zebrafish have demonstrated its ability to be a promising in vivo model for DS. Two different zebrafish DS models - one based on a loss-of-function mutation in the zebrafish ortholog of SCN1A, the other based on an antisense knockdown of this gene - exhibit seizure-like behaviour and epileptiform discharges that are exacerbated by hyperthermia. The mutant line was also described to display greater anxiety levels. In this Doctoral thesis project, we are investigating these zebrafish DS models with regard to (1) their seizure occurrence and potential reduction following exposure to several anticonvulsant drug candidates, and (2), their cognitive functions in order to determine possible similarities with cognitive impairment in human DS patients. Our results indicate these zebrafish DS models to exhibit memory impairment and higher anxiety levels. These findings provide an initial insight into the resemblance between human patients and zebrafish in terms of comorbidities. Finally, we also identified several novel anticonvulsant compounds and drug candidates with antiseizure activity in these zebrafish DS models. [less ▲]

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See detailAttitudes toward students with special educational needs and inclusive education: Studies in the Luxembourgish general and educational context
Krischler, Mireille UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

More and more countries are moving toward adopting inclusive school systems. In this context, research has clearly indicated that in order to ensure the successful implementation of this concept, it is ... [more ▼]

More and more countries are moving toward adopting inclusive school systems. In this context, research has clearly indicated that in order to ensure the successful implementation of this concept, it is crucial for all people involved in the process of restructuring to have positive attitudes. However, even if many studies on different actors´ attitudes toward inclusive education have already been published, the stance of people in Luxembourg on this topic remains unclear. This dissertation uses the Bioecological Model of Inclusive Education to provide an overview of the environmental factors that play key roles in the implementation of inclusive education, such as the decisions made on a governmental level and the attitudes of the Luxemburgish general population as well as those of pre- and in-service teachers. The materials used in the current studies are based on the Three Component Model of attitudes to investigate attitudes toward the general idea of an inclusive school system and (the inclusion of) students with learning difficulties and challenging behavior. To avoid issues with social desirability, implicit measurement tools were additionally used in the first three studies. An analysis of the recent changes in the Luxemburgish educational system revealed that a range of barriers still persist. In this regard, results have shown that the idea of an inclusive school system is embraced by the Luxemburgish general population. By contrast, attitudes toward (the inclusion of) students with special educational needs tend to be negative. Pre- and in-service teachers’ ratings of student achievement of students with learning difficulties and challenging behavior (in Study 2) were below average and influenced by stereotypical beliefs. However, teachers with experience in inclusive classrooms gave the highest ratings of both groups of students. These findings raised the question of whether, in addition to experience, the definition of inclusive education plays a role in the development of positive attitudes. The results of Study 4 indeed revealed associations between definitions and attitudes, whereby people who emphasized that inclusive education is about valuing the needs of all students held the most positive attitudes. Notably, the individual readiness of teachers to implement inclusive education was also related to the definition. Implications of the findings for the educational system and the society as well as for (attitude) research in the field of inclusive education are outlined, and directions for future research are given. [less ▲]

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See detailLink Optimization in Future Generation Satellite Systems
Mengali, Alberto UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

In recent years, communication networks have seen a huge growth in the amount of requested throughput, pushed from the combination of two main drivers: the introduction of new services and the improvement ... [more ▼]

In recent years, communication networks have seen a huge growth in the amount of requested throughput, pushed from the combination of two main drivers: the introduction of new services and the improvement of existing ones, requiring increased amount of traffic (e.g. higher quality of video content). These effects mandate the constant evolution of current systems in order to cope with the growing user demand and should be tackled from multiple angles. On the one hand, better utilization of available resources might help in the short term to keep up with the market and has always been an important priority for operators of terrestrial and satellite networks alike. On the other hand, acquisition and exploitation of currently unused resources might fuel the growth for a significantly longer period of time, ensuring longevity and thus enabling future-proofing of current systems. Both these topics are addressed in this thesis with specific applications relevant to satellite communication networks. In the first part, this thesis focuses on maximization of the user capacity by better exploiting the available radio resources. Motivated by the substantial capacity gains enabled by a higher bandwidth allocation, we investigate the optimization of satellite systems employing full-frequency reuse on the user downlink. Unlike most of the literature on the subject, usually resorting to precoding techniques to mitigate the interference, we propose a combination of predistortion and precoding to jointly counteract on-board non-linear distortions and multi-user interference. First, a flexible framework for the optimization of transmit processing schemes in communication chains is presented. This framework expands on the application of the well known gradient descent technique by applying it to the maximization of the received Signal to Noise plus Interference ratio in complex communication systems. To do so, it identifies a suitable mathematical representation of various key blocks of the system and exploits the chain rule of the derivative to compute the overall gradient as a cascade of the single components. Afterwards, this framework is validated by optimizating the coefficients of the proposed predistortion architecture for the satellite system in analysis. The obtained results highlight the flexibility of the developed optimization framework and the benefits of the suggested predistortion strategy compared to existing state of the art solutions. In the second part of the thesis, the focus is shifted towards investigating the exploitation of novel resources by looking at the use of optical frequencies for ground-to-space feeder links. The topic is introduced by a survey of existing benefits and limitations of free space optical communications. Subsequently, the implications of employing optical frequencies in long distance ground-to-space feeder links with transparent satellites are addressed. Furthermore, a powerful and flexible simulation tool was developed and exploited during the course of this thesis to model and assess the Physical (PHY) layer performance of hybrid optical/Radio Frequencies (RF) satellite networks. This tool is presented together with the scenarios and results obtained as part of the project ONSET (Optical Feeder Links Study for Satellite Networks - ESA Contract No. 40000113462/15/NL/NDe). Finally, the thesis investigates a scenario that combines the transmit processing techniques analyzed in the first part and the context of optical feeder links evaluated in the second part. A hybrid optical/RF system is considered with an electrical predistorter in place to counteract the impairments induced by the combined effects of electrical and optical non-linearities encountered along the end-to-end chain. The developed mathematical framework is exploited to jointly optimize the predistortion coefficients and the working point for the electro-optical modulator. The performance results obtained after the optimization procedure demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach for hybrid optical/RF systems with analog modulations. [less ▲]

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See detailPrivacy-preserving Recommender Systems Facilitated By The Machine Learning Approach
Wang, Jun UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Recommender systems, which play a critical role in e-business services, are closely linked to our daily life. For example, companies such as Youtube and Amazon are always trying to secure their profit by ... [more ▼]

Recommender systems, which play a critical role in e-business services, are closely linked to our daily life. For example, companies such as Youtube and Amazon are always trying to secure their profit by estimating personalized user preferences and recommending the most relevant items (e.g., products, news, etc.) to each user from a large number of candidates. State-of-the-art recommender systems are often built on top of collaborative filtering techniques, of which the accuracy performance relies on precisely modeling user-item interactions by analyzing massive user historical data, such as browsing history, purchasing records, locations and so on. Generally, more data can lead to more accurate estimations and more commercial strategies, as such, service providers have incentives to collect and use more user data. On the one hand, recommender systems bring more income to service providers and more convenience to users; on the other hand, the user data can be abused, arising immediate privacy risks to the public. Therefore, how to preserve privacy while enjoying recommendation services becomes an increasingly important topic to both the research community and commercial practitioners. The privacy concerns can be disparate when constructing recommender systems or providing recommendation services under different scenarios. One scenario is that, a service provider wishes to protect its data privacy from the inference attack, a technique aims to infer more information (e.g., whether a record is in or not) about a database, by analyzing statistical outputs; the other scenario is that, multiple users agree to jointly perform a recommendation task, but none of them is willing to share their private data with any other users. Security primitives, such as homomorphic encryption, secure multiparty computation, and differential privacy, are immediate candidates to address privacy concerns. A typical approach to build efficient and accurate privacy-preserving solutions is to improve the security primitives, and then apply them to existing recommendation algorithms. However, this approach often yields a solution far from the satisfactory-of-practice, as most users have a low tolerance to the latency-increase or accuracy-drop, regarding recommendation services. The PhD program explores machine learning aided approaches to build efficient privacy-preserving solutions for recommender systems. The results of each proposed solution demonstrate that machine learning can be a strong assistant for privacy-preserving, rather than only a troublemaker. [less ▲]

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See detailTransport and thermodynamics in driven quantum systems
Haughian, Patrick UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

This thesis studies the nonequilibrium properties of quantum dots with regard to electrical conduction as well as thermodynamics. The work documented here shows how these properties behave under the ... [more ▼]

This thesis studies the nonequilibrium properties of quantum dots with regard to electrical conduction as well as thermodynamics. The work documented here shows how these properties behave under the influence of time-dependent drive protocols, pursuing two main lines of inquiry. The first concerns the interplay between nanomechanics and drive: In nanomechanical systems with strong coupling between the charge and vibrational sectors, conductance is strongly suppressed, an effect known as Franck-Condon blockade. Using a model Hamiltonian for a molecular quantum dot coupled to a pair of leads, it is shown here that this blockade can be exponentially lifted by resonantly driving the dot. Moreover, a multi-drive protocol is proposed for such a system to facilitate charge pumping that enjoys the same exponential amplification. The second line of inquiry moves beyond charge transport, examining the thermodynamics of a driven quantum dot coupled to a lead. Taking a Green's function approach, it is found that the laws of thermodynamics can be formulated for arbitrary dot-lead coupling strength in the presence of dot and coupling drive, as long as the drive protocol only exhibits mild non-adiabaticity. Finally, the effects of initial states are studied in this situation, proving that the integrated work production in the long-time limit conforms to the second law of thermodynamics for a wide class of initial states and arbitrary drive and coupling strength. [less ▲]

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See detailWine as an Investment
Sun, Huizhu UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

During the last two decades, the wine auction market experienced non-monotonic dynamics and provided abnormal returns. When fine wine prices started to rise in the mid-1980s, wine investing transcended ... [more ▼]

During the last two decades, the wine auction market experienced non-monotonic dynamics and provided abnormal returns. When fine wine prices started to rise in the mid-1980s, wine investing transcended from a pastime into a serious investment transforming wine into a widespread investment activity. As an alternative asset, fine wine attracts increased attention among individual and institutional investors in recent years, particularly during the financial crisis due to its diversification potential. Economists also began evaluating wine as a new alternative asset class. In this thesis, we review the wine auction markets, study the price dynamics, and answer some fundamental questions. To build solid conclusions, we developed the largest French wine auction database encompassing the last 20 years. We summary our main contributions as follows. First, we review and explain the growth in recent global wine auction markets. Second, we construct price indices with hedonic regression models to observe market movements. Third, we investigate wine investment’s diversification potential. Wine in an optimal portfolio can improve the risk-return characteristics; however, the augmentation depends significantly on the market segmentation to which the investor applies it. Fourth, we analyze the wine price bubbles and collapses detection using a newly developed econometric approach. We elucidate strong evidence of two bubbles in the Bordeaux and Burgundy wine auction markets, whereas Rhône wine price behaved in a similar, but less significant, trend as Bordeaux and Burgundy wine markets. Finally, we examine the price determinants with a particular focus on the expert effect on this experienced good. We illuminate expert influence remains economically and statistically significant throughout the sample period. Using event study methodology, we disentangle the expert effect from other price variations and assert the market significantly reflects expert’s big re-ratings in the short term, yet the effect diminishes over time. However, this re-rating effect holds insignificant for modest changes. [less ▲]

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See detailLegitimate expectations in Luxembourg tax law - A study of administrative circulars and tax rulings issued by the Luxembourg tax authorities
Chaouche, Fatima UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

This thesis analyzes the status of tax circulars and tax rulings in domestic law. More precisely, by first studying the status of each of these administrative interpretative acts, I then investigate their ... [more ▼]

This thesis analyzes the status of tax circulars and tax rulings in domestic law. More precisely, by first studying the status of each of these administrative interpretative acts, I then investigate their enforceability before domestic courts and enquire to what extent unlawful circulars and contra legem rulings can be relied upon by virtue of the principle of legitimate expectations. After extracting a series of shortcomings in the protection of taxpayers who rely on such administrative interpretative acts, I then, articulate from a normative perspective, what I claim to be the appropriate level of protection for contra legem circulars and advance decisions in the Luxembourg legal order. [less ▲]

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See detailBildungswerte und Schulentfremdung: Institutions- und Kompositionseffekte in den Bildungskontexten Luxemburgs und der Schweiz
Scharf, Jan UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Values and attitudes towards schooling – as the core concepts of this research – are increasingly recognized as important factors affecting educational achievement and attainment. Values of Education (VoE ... [more ▼]

Values and attitudes towards schooling – as the core concepts of this research – are increasingly recognized as important factors affecting educational achievement and attainment. Values of Education (VoE) are conceptualised along the five instrumental goals outlined in the social production function theory by Lindenberg (1991; Ormel et al., 1999). School alienation (SAL) is defined as negative attitudes towards academic domains of schooling, namely teachers and learning (Hascher & Hadjar, 2018: 179). Based on the assumption that SAL depicts a process intensified over the course of secondary education (Finn, 1989), this dissertation finds evidence for developmental trends between grade seven and grade eight comparatively across country settings and to show how educational contexts and the perceived VoE affect SAL. This sociological study provides an in-depth comparison of the stratified school systems of Luxembourg and of the Canton of Berne (Switzerland) based upon newly-collected panel data of the international research project School Alienation in Switzerland and Luxembourg (SASAL) (N = 465/508). Following the distinction of primary and secondary effects of social origin by Boudon (1974), these core concepts are discussed in the frames of Bourdieu’s (1982 [1979], 1992) habitus theory, emphasizing the transmission of cultural capital in families, and of rational choice approaches (e.g. Esser, 1999). Moreover, theoretical approaches on disparities structured by gender (e.g. Breen et al., 2010) and migration background (Kristen & Dollmann, 2010) as well as further axes of educational inequalities are considered to explain found differences in students’ educational values and attitudes towards schooling. The validation of the measurement instrument of VoE by means of factor analysis indicates four dimensions of VoE among school students in these contexts: stimulation as an intrinsic value, comfort and status related to standards of living and future career goals, behavioural confirmation in terms of expectations of significant others, and the social goal affection. Structural equation models demonstrate that the lower value of stimulation through education among boys mediates their higher level of SAL across country contexts. Yet, a higher value of comfort/status among students increases the development of negative attitudes. Whereas immigrant students’ higher behavioural confirmation in the Canton of Bern backs the immigrant optimism thesis (Kao & Tienda, 1995), immigrant students in Luxembourg reveal a general lower VoE and are more alienated from teachers. Contextual effects estimated in multilevel models explain the higher prevalence of alienation from learning in Luxembourgish classrooms. Within the stratified and segregated secondary schooling, students in the academic track are more alienated compared to students in technical secondary education. This result contradicts the differentiation–polarization theory (Van Houtte, 2006) in the context of Luxembourg. On the other hand, in Berne, alienation from learning does not differ between school tracks, but is overall lower in the less segregated, more permeable schools. Classroom composition effects, however, show no clear pattern. In line with prior research, alienation from learning is lower in Luxembourgish classrooms with a higher percentage of immigrant students. With regard to the consequences of SAL, the results show a negative impact of alienation from learning on school achievement in both country settings. Deriving implications, the findings provide some arguments in favour of comprehensive school models. [less ▲]

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See detailConservation Laws in Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics: Stochastic Processes, Chemical Reaction Networks, and Information Processing
Rao, Riccardo UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Thermodynamics has a long history. It was established during the 19th century as a phenomenological theory grasping the principles underlying heat engines. In the 20th and 21st centuries its range of ... [more ▼]

Thermodynamics has a long history. It was established during the 19th century as a phenomenological theory grasping the principles underlying heat engines. In the 20th and 21st centuries its range of applicability was extended to nonequilibrium stochastic and chemical processes. However a systematic procedure to identify the thermodynamic forces at work in these systems was lacking. In this thesis, we provide one by making use of conservation laws. Of particular importance are the conservation laws which are broken when putting the system in contact with different reservoirs (thermostats or chemostats). These laws depend on the internal structure of the system and are specific to each system. We introduce a systematic procedure to identify them and show how they shape the entropy production (i.e. the dissipation) into fundamental contributions. Each of these provides precious insight on how to drive and control the system out of equilibrium. We first present our results at the level of phenomenological thermodynamics. We then show that they can be systematically derived for various dynamics: Markov jump processes used in stochastic thermodynamics, also including the chemical master equation, and deterministic chemical rate equations with and without diffusion, which are used to describe chemical reaction networks. Generalized nonequilibrium Landauer principles ensue form our theory. They predict that the minimal thermodynamic cost necessary to transform the system from an arbitrary nonequilibrium state to another can be expressed in terms of information metrics such as relative entropies between the equilibrium and nonequilibrium states of the system. [less ▲]

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See detailThe Significance of the Place of Performance in Commercial Contracts under the European Union Choice of Law Rules
Okoli, Chukwuma UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The central theme of this thesis is that the place of performance is of considerable significance as a connecting factor in international commercial contracts. This thesis challenges and questions the ... [more ▼]

The central theme of this thesis is that the place of performance is of considerable significance as a connecting factor in international commercial contracts. This thesis challenges and questions the approach of the European legislator, which does not explicitly give the place of performance special significance in the determination of the applicable law in the absence of choice for commercial contracts. This thesis proposes that the place of performance should be explicitly given special significance under a revised Article 4 of Rome I Regulation. Second, it is argued that the absolute significance given to the place of performance in determining foreign country overriding mandatory rules is a good reason why the place of performance should be explicitly given special significance under a revised Article 4 of Rome I Regulation. Third, inspired by the coherence between matters of European Union jurisdiction and choice of law in civil and commercial matters, it is argued that the place of performance which is given special significance under the European Union rules on the allocation of jurisdiction for commercial contracts is a good reason why the place of performance should be explicitly given special significance under a revised Article 4 of Rome I Regulation. This thesis then concludes by proposing a model revised Article 4 of Rome I Regulation that could be used as an international solution by legislators, judges, arbitrators, and other decision makers who wish to reform their choice of law rules in determining the applicable law in the absence of choice for international commercial contracts. [less ▲]

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See detailEvaluating Vulnerability Prediction Models
Jimenez, Matthieu UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Today almost every device depends on a piece of software. As a result, our life increasingly depends on some software form such as smartphone apps, laundry machines, web applications, computers ... [more ▼]

Today almost every device depends on a piece of software. As a result, our life increasingly depends on some software form such as smartphone apps, laundry machines, web applications, computers, transportation and many others, all of which rely on software. Inevitably, this dependence raises the issue of software vulnerabilities and their possible impact on our lifestyle. Over the years, researchers and industrialists suggested several approaches to detect such issues and vulnerabilities. A particular popular branch of such approaches, usually called Vulnerability Prediction Modelling (VPM) techniques, leverage prediction modelling techniques that flag suspicious (likely vulnerable) code components. These techniques rely on source code features as indicators of vulnerabilities to build the prediction models. However, the emerging question is how effective such methods are and how they can be used in practice. The present dissertation studies vulnerability prediction models and evaluates them on real and reliable playground. To this end, it suggests a toolset that automatically collects real vulnerable code instances, from major open source systems, suitable for applying VPM. These code instances are then used to analyze, replicate, compare and develop new VPMs. Specifically, the dissertation has 3 main axes: The first regards the analysis of vulnerabilities. Indeed, to build VPMs accurately, numerous data are required. However, by their nature, vulnerabilities are scarce and the information about them is spread over different sources (NVD, Git, Bug Trackers). Thus, the suggested toolset (develops an automatic way to build a large dataset) enables the reliable and relevant analysis of VPMs. The second axis focuses on the empirical comparison and analysis of existing Vulnerability Prediction Models. It thus develops and replicates existing VPMs. To this end, the thesis introduces a framework that builds, analyse and compares existing prediction models (using the already proposed sets of features) using the dataset developed on the first axis. The third axis explores the use of cross-entropy (metric used by natural language processing) as a potential feature for developing new VPMs. Cross-entropy, usually referred to as the naturalness of code, is a recent approach that measures the repetitiveness of code (relying on statistical models). Using cross-entropy, the thesis investigates different ways of building and using VPMs. Overall, this thesis provides a fully-fledge study on Vulnerability Prediction Models aiming at assessing and improving their performance. [less ▲]

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See detailImpact of floating bodies on buildings and structures during flooding
Liao, Yu-Chung UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Flood is one of the most serious natural disasters that affect human beings, so how to effectively reduce flood damage to human beings is of vital im- portance. One of the keys to reducing flood damage is ... [more ▼]

Flood is one of the most serious natural disasters that affect human beings, so how to effectively reduce flood damage to human beings is of vital im- portance. One of the keys to reducing flood damage is to design buildings effectively enough to withstand flooding and the impact of floating debris on the structures. Although, many studies exist to address the impact of floods on structures, the impact of floating debris on the buildings and structures, i.e. wall or bridge during flooding have not been fully addressed yet. Thus, the objec- tive of this dissertation is to predict the trajectory of floating debris of rivers during flooding and analyze its impact on the structures. For achieving this goal, a numerical tool based on the mesh-less method of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Finite Element Method (FEM) is proposed in this dissertation. Where SPH is employed to describe the fluid flow and DEM is employed to ob- tain the contact force between the floating debris and structures. And a coupling model of SPH and DEM is presented and implemented based on the OpenFPM, a scalable and open C++ framework for particles and mesh simulation in parallel. Buildings and structures are represented by Finite Element Method (FEM) mesh, for which impact with floating debris is de- termined. These contacts of floating debris cause forces at the positions of impact, e.g. mechanical load and are evaluated by using commercial Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software Abaqus. As a result, a numerical tool combing the SPH-DEM and FEA is presented in this dissertation It is worth to notice, that treating the inlet/outlet con- dition in SPH is a challenging issue due to its Lagrangian nature. A suitable boundary treatment for the inlet / outlet condition in SPH for river flooding problem in 3D is unavailable in literatures. Thus, this dissertation extended the open boundary treatment for SPH using semi-analytical conditions and Riemann solver in 2D (Ferrand et al., 2017) to 3D. Which in results, a new open boundary treatment that is suitable for describing the inlet/outlet condition of SPH in 3D is presented and applied to describe the inlet/outlet condition in this dissertation. The numerical tool is applied to study the scenario of floating trees, trans- porting in the Mosel river and hitting the flood control wall at Kesten town in the west Germany during flooding. As the result of simulation shows, the floating trees are driven by the river and heading to the downstream and eventually collide with the flood control wall. This impact causes the flood control wall crack from the position of impact. Which means that the flood control wall is not capable of standing the impact of floating trees that transported in the river. [less ▲]

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See detailREPRESENTING THE SOCIAL CHARACTER OF PLACES: ONTOLOGY MODELS OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Calafiore, Alessia UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The thesis aimed at rendering machine understandable the social dimension of urban places to provide a new generation of urban analytics based on peoples’ socio- spatial behaviour. The main outcome has ... [more ▼]

The thesis aimed at rendering machine understandable the social dimension of urban places to provide a new generation of urban analytics based on peoples’ socio- spatial behaviour. The main outcome has been a formal framework, encoded in the form of Ontology Design Patterns, to represent the interaction between the architectural aspects of the city, its form, and the behaviour of city dwellers. Ontology models are based on place theories discussed by social and cultural geographers - such as Henri Lefevbre, Edward Soja and Doreen Massey - and experimented in a knowledge discovery pipeline by exploring geographic crowdsourced data coming from the TripAdvisor platform. [less ▲]

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See detailAndreï Makine et la cognition humaine. Pour une transbiographie
Mistreanu, Diana UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

This dissertation proposes a systematic analysis of Andreï Makine’s oeuvre. We read his prose through the prism of cognitive literary studies, a recent theoretical and methodological field which explores ... [more ▼]

This dissertation proposes a systematic analysis of Andreï Makine’s oeuvre. We read his prose through the prism of cognitive literary studies, a recent theoretical and methodological field which explores the interaction between literary interpretation on the one hand, and the human brain and mind on the other. We focus on the depiction of the affect, the imagination and the limits of cognition, while pinpointing, at the same time, the narrative techniques and the stylistic devices that contribute to create a work whose goal is not only to illustrate reality, but also to transfigure it. Thus, we analyse Makine’s novels from a dynamic perspective, asking what impact they could have on the reader, and proposing an innovative hypothesis concerning the relation between the author's biography and his literary output. According to this hypothesis, the writer’s work is not autobiographical (according to Philippe Lejeune’s definition of the concept of autobiography) nor autofictional (Vincent Colonna), and it requires the coining of a new concept able to define it. We call this concept – which consists of the conscious and recurrent recreation of a meaningful biographical event through fiction – a “transbiography”. [less ▲]

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See detailCollision-Free Navigation of Small UAVs in Complex Urban Environment
Annaiyan, Arun UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to become highly innovative solutions for all kind of tasks such as transport, surveillance, inspection or guidance, and many commercial ideas already ... [more ▼]

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to become highly innovative solutions for all kind of tasks such as transport, surveillance, inspection or guidance, and many commercial ideas already exist. Herein, small multi rotor UAVs are preferred since they are easy to construct and to fly, at least in wide open spaces. However, many UAV business cases are foreseen in complex urban environments which are very challenging from the perspective of UAV flight. Our work focuses on the autonomous flight and collision-free navigation in an urban environment, where GPS is still considered for localization but where variations in the accuracy or temporary unavailability of GPS position data is explicitly considered. Herein, urban environments are challenging because they require flight nearby large structures and also nearby moving obstacles such as humans and other moving objects, at low altitudes or in very narrow spaces and thus also in areas where GPS (global positioning system) position data might temporarily be very inaccurate or even not available. Therefore we designed a custom stereo camera with adjustable base length for the perception of the possible potential obstacles in the unknown outdoor environment. In this context the optimal design and sensitivity parameters are investigated in outdoor experiments. Using the stereo images, graph based SLAM approach is used for online three dimensional mapping of the static and dynamic environment. For the memory efficiency incremental online loop closure detection using bag of words method is implemented here. By having the three dimensional map, the cost of the cell and its transition calculated in real time by the modified D* lite which will search and generate three dimensional collision free path planning. Experiments of the 3D mapping and collision free path planning are conducted using small UAV in outdoor scenario. The combined experimental results of real time mapping and path planning demonstrated that the three dimensional collision free path planning is able to handle the real time computational constraints while maintaining safety distance. [less ▲]

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See detailNormative Policy Coherence for Development in EU External Policies: A Case Study of the European Union's Development and Trade Policies towards Vietnam
Häbel, Sandra UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The global discourse on people-centered development appeals for a normative dimension in donor policies. As a major donor organization, the European Union (EU) presents itself as a normative actor on the ... [more ▼]

The global discourse on people-centered development appeals for a normative dimension in donor policies. As a major donor organization, the European Union (EU) presents itself as a normative actor on the global stage. However, it is often criticized for lacking normative practice. This dissertation addresses this criticism and assesses the EU’s normative policy coherence for development by examining norm implementation across development and trade policies. The guiding research questions are the following: Are the EU’s development and trade policies coherent in implementing norms; and if not, why are they incoherent? Normative policy coherence for development is defined as the coherent implementation of EU norms (democracy, freedom, gender equality, good governance, human rights, justice, liberty, non-discrimination, peace, rule of law, solidarity and sustainability) across development and non-development policies. A case study of EU development and trade policies addressing Vietnam is used to illustrate normative policy coherence for development in the transition phase from an EU-Vietnam donor-recipient relationship to a mutual trade relationship. This research contributes to existing literature on policy coherence for development, public policy, normative power Europe and regionalism through the in-depth analysis of normativity in EU policy implementation. It examines EU normative power in the EU-Vietnam relationship with particular focus on normative policy coherence and places this relationship in the context of EU-ASEAN relations. A qualitative methodology is utilized in this dissertation is supported by the case study design within which the congruence method has been used for the analysis. The data set is comprised of European Union policy documents and semi-structured interviews conducted by the author in Brussels, Belgium, and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which were coded and analyzed in Atlas.ti. The results show that normative policy coherence for development is undermined for several reasons. First, in policy implementation, norms are seen as a political matter and not as a development or trade matter. In contrast to policy guidelines, which are infused by normative commitments such as respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, subsequent implementation stages do not correspond to this commitment. Second, policy networks, which could function as an opportunity for cooperation and coherence, are split ii by sector, which reinforces the divide between political, developmental and economic matters and in doing so they undermine normative policy coherence. Third, the EU’s relations with ASEAN do not directly undermine EU-Vietnam relations and, therefore, normative coherence in policies addressed at Vietnam is only indirectly affected by EU interests in ASEAN. Causes of normative incoherence in EU policy implementation can be linked to the institutional divide between political and technical matters, which are reinforced by sectoral divisions in the delegations abroad. [less ▲]

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See detailDeveloping oral language skills in language-minority children
Cordeiro Tomas, Rute Carina UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The aim of the research presented in this thesis is two-fold. Firstly, it explores the early oral language development in Portuguese-speaking language-minority children growing up in Luxembourg in the ... [more ▼]

The aim of the research presented in this thesis is two-fold. Firstly, it explores the early oral language development in Portuguese-speaking language-minority children growing up in Luxembourg in the kindergarten years. Secondly, it purports to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a 30-week oral language intervention programme designed to support the home language development in language-minority children, using a randomised controlled study design. The study specifically examines the hypothesis that skills acquired in a first language can transfer to a second language. The study adopts a longitudinal experimental design and includes a sample of 186 Portuguese-speaking kindergarten children in Luxembourg. Children were randomly allocated to a Portuguese oral language group (N = 93) or an active control group (N = 93). Participants were followed longitudinally and assessed on four occasions over a period of two years. The study also included two peer comparison groups: one classroom peer group from Luxembourg (N = 75) and one age-matched group of monolingual children from Portugal (N = 44). The first key research question addressed was: What are the early oral language skills in Portuguese and Luxembourgish within this group of bilingual language-minority children, and how do these skills develop during the kindergarten years? Results indicate that when compared to their peers in both languages, these children lagged behind. Despite manifesting language growth in Luxembourgish, the language-minority group continued to score below their classroom peers at the end of kindergarten. Findings further suggest that the home language skills of these children are not only less developed at school entry, but are also growing at a slower rate in contrast to the school language. Overall, results raise the possibility that Portuguese-speaking children in Luxembourg might be at risk of acquiring their second language at the expense of their first language. It is clear that these children are in need of targeted language support, not only in their school language but also their home language. The second major research question addressed was: Can an intervention focusing on language-minority children’s home language effectively support their home language development, and might this have knock on effects on second language learning? Results of the randomised controlled trial demonstrate that the newly developed oral language intervention MOLLY successfully improved children’s home language skills. Additionally, the results showed that supporting children in their home language facilitated second language learning. Effect sizes of important educational significance were found on both primary and secondary outcomes in Portuguese and in Luxembourgish. This thesis clearly reinforces that it is possible to effectively support language-minority children’s home language through rich and regular language support in a school setting, without hindering the development of the school language. Findings suggest that supporting children in their home language can facilitate second language learning. This study takes a step forward towards providing robust evidence on what the appropriate conditions are in supporting language-minority children’s language development. [less ▲]

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See detailA Dual-Grid Multiscale Approach to CFD-DEM Couplings for Multiphase Flow
Pozzetti, Gabriele UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

This thesis focuses on a novel dual-grid multiscale approach to CFD- DEM1 couplings, proposes its advantages in terms of numerical proper- ties and performance, and provides examples of engineering ... [more ▼]

This thesis focuses on a novel dual-grid multiscale approach to CFD- DEM1 couplings, proposes its advantages in terms of numerical proper- ties and performance, and provides examples of engineering applications that can benefit from it. In recent years, CFD-DEM couplings are be- coming a more and more adopted solution for the numerical simulation of particle-laden flows. In particular, couplings based on the volume av- eraging technique have become a standard for numerical simulations in chemical and process engineering. Furthermore, they are rapidly spread- ing to civil, geotechnical and mechanical applications due to their ability in dealing with arbitrarily complex mixtures of continuum and granular media. Despite the several advantages that these Eulerian-Lagrangian cou- plings provide, their rigorous application to complex scenarios is currently limited by two main factors. First, the computational traceability of the solutions can become problematic due to the lack of a general theory on the subject. In particular, grid-convergence studies for the solution of the continuous phases are often not feasible due to the averaging procedure that imposes limitations on the grid structure and refinement. Second, the parallel implementation of these numerical schemes holds important disadvantages in terms of memory consumption and inter-physics com- munication load. These disadvantages are significantly limiting the ex- tension of these approaches to large-scale scenarios. This thesis collects some of the most significant works published in the last years on a novel approach that allows solving the two above- mentioned problems, and, therefore, tackling more complex and expen- sive scenarios. I refer to this approach as dual-grid multiscale approach for CFD-DEM couplings. It consists in using two different computational grids, one for the coupling between continuum and discrete entities and one for the solution of the so-obtained continuum equations. The two grids, i.e. the two problems, are in this way resolved on two different scales. The first scale or “bulk” scale is chosen to optimize the averag- ing operation. At this length-scale, the discrete entities are considered as zero-dimensional, and interact with the fluid with local exchanges of momentum, mass, and energy. The second scale or “fluid-fine” scale is identified as the one at which a unique solution for the averaged equa- tions can be provided. In practice, this is chosen as the one at which the solution of the fluid equations becomes grid-independent. An inter-scale communication is adopted by interpolating fields from the fluid-fine scale to the bulk one and vice-versa. The theoretical description of the method is first provided with par- ticular reference to the DEM-VOF coupling. Even in its simplest version, the multiscale approach is shown to generate grid-convergent solutions and significantly higher accuracy than a standard CFD-DEM coupling. This shows how the new approach is able to overcome the first main limitation described above. Then, an optimized parallel implementation of the method is pro- posed to show how this multiscale approach can provide significant ben- efits also for what concerns the execution time. Technically, this is made possible by moving the communication cost of the coupling from the inter-physics communication that characterized the standard CFD-DEM couplings to an optimized inter-scale communication routine. This en- ables the method to overcome a major bottleneck of the parallel execution of CFD-DEM couplings and therefore the second main limitation of those schemes. Finally, the dual-grid multiscale method is applied to approach in- dustrially relevant problems that were till now out-of-reach for standard CFD-DEM couplings, proving how this technique can have direct real- case application and produce immediate benefits for practitioners willing to adopt it. [less ▲]

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See detailSemiautomatische Annotation von Orten in digitalisierten Altkarten
Höhn, Winfried UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Old maps are increasingly being digitised and included in digital libraries to provide access to these historically valuable documents to a wider audience. The need was identified to enrich the digital ... [more ▼]

Old maps are increasingly being digitised and included in digital libraries to provide access to these historically valuable documents to a wider audience. The need was identified to enrich the digital copies of the old maps with annotations that enable a quick search for relevant information and linking with other documents. Because such a manual annotation of old maps is a labour- and cost-intensive process and is therefore only carried out for particularly valuable documents, the large mass of old maps remains unexplored. With this motivation, the aim of this research project was to automatise to a great extent the process of object detection and annotation in the old maps. However, existing methods for automated information extraction from maps are designed for modern maps. They are usually limited to certain map types that have similar graphical characteristics. Alternatively there are tools for manual annotation of map data. Until now, annotation of old maps was only supported by tools that enabled manual extraction of map data and the digital storage of annotated information. The research objectives for this dissertation have been formulated based on the research frame given at the beginning of this work. The research objectives include automatic identification of place markers, automatic detection of text labels, their Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and an automatic linking with a modern map or a geographical database. In order to meet the research objectives, mainly methods of machine learning were used. Both classic machine learning methods and deep-learning-based methods have been extended to meet the requirements of the specific domain of old maps. Old maps of Luxembourg and the Franconian Circle were used as a data set. In order to find place markers automatically, a template matching variant was developed which is robust against interfering objects next to the place markers to be recognised. The method is also applicable in other areas with similar properties. Furthermore, both rule-based and statistical methods were tailored to the domain of the old maps with the purpose to find the position of the text labels. In order to make the identified texts readable, a new OCR engine was implemented that produces only a quarter of the character errors compared with a state-of-the-art OCR tool, while using the same training data. The georeferencing was examined for two types of map pairs: an old and a modern map, and two old maps. It was found that automatic georeferencing between two old maps can not only be used to find errors in manual annotations, but can also provide new historical insights, such as small changes in the copper plates from which the maps were printed (e.g. adding a small number of places that is not documented anywhere else). A referencing and annotation tool has been implemented to collect training and test data. This tool can also be used to test the automations and to correct automatically collected data. Overall, the present work makes a contribution in the areas of object recognition in graphics, scene text detection, OCR and georeferencing. It is shown which effort is needed to make individual parts or the entire area of old maps automatically readable and where the current limits of the automation are. Finally, this research shows the huge potential and the impact of such digital tools in the entire area of digital humanities. [less ▲]

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See detailThe New Generation of Bilateral Free Trade Agreements - A New Legal Instrument of the Union’s External Action
Silvereke, Siri Erica UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The NGFTAs are considered as new legal instruments of the EU external action as they refer to a new generation of free trade agreements that go further in integration, beyond the simple elimination of ... [more ▼]

The NGFTAs are considered as new legal instruments of the EU external action as they refer to a new generation of free trade agreements that go further in integration, beyond the simple elimination of import tariffs and other trade barriers while also addressing non-trade related measures. The research examines the significance and the implication of the NGFTAs as a new legal instrument by more closely considering the limits of the attributed competences and how the reformed ISDS could affect the autonomy of the EU. Analysing these instruments has shown the need to establish a clear balance between the protection of the autonomous legal order, and at the same time maintaining the EU’s objective of trade liberalization. The dispute settlement mechanism and its relation to the EU legal order and international courts and tribunals have become of particular importance. This is due to the remaining possibility that the ICS may interfere with the EU’s exclusive competence to preserve the system of vertical allocation of competence. The division of responsibility between the EU and its Member States seems to be the key to preserve the autonomy of the EU legal order, in relation to the issues of competence. An appropriate balance may be seen through further emphasizing the duty of sincere cooperation, in particular in relation to the ICS. Moreover, the division of responsibility plays a significant role between the EU and its Member States and seems to be the key role to preserve the autonomy of the EU legal order. The anticipated Opinion 1/17, which provide for further guidance will have a decisive impact on the NGFTAs, concerning the future compliance with EU law in relation to both compatibility and design. [less ▲]

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See detailResearch governance through public funding instruments: Institutional change of educational research in the European Union and England, 1984-2014
Marques, Marcelo UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Supranational and national public research funding instruments have been recognizing considerable attention from the political agenda in the last decades. Either as forms to target specific themes and ... [more ▼]

Supranational and national public research funding instruments have been recognizing considerable attention from the political agenda in the last decades. Either as forms to target specific themes and priorities for disciplinary fields or to better allocate public funding, they are essential instruments in the contemporary research governance. While most research literature has been focused on studying either the political choice related to the implementation and evolution of a specific research funding instrument or the impact of single forms on the behavior of organizations and individuals, less attention has been paid to the overall funding arrangements that have been shaping, not only higher education and research systems, but also disciplinary fields, as for the case of educational research. Using a multilevel standpoint, I study the creation and development of three of the most critical contemporary public research funding instruments in two different settings, the European Union and England, and their impact in the field of European and English educational research. At the European Union level, I analyze the creation and evolution of the European's Union Framework Programme (EUFP) (1984-2013), in particular from the moment educational research started to be funded (1994), and look at its impact in the cognitive development and structural organization of the European educational research. At the English level, I analyze the creation and evolution of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) (2000-2011) and the Research Assessment Exercise/Research Excellence Framework (RAE/REF) (1986-2014) and look at their impact in the political, disciplinary and organizational levels of educational research. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is twofold: to analyze the creation and evolution of the supranational and national public research funding instruments, directly or indirectly targeted to the field of educational research, and to analyze the impact of the research funding instruments at the political, disciplinary and organizational levels of European and English educational research. Due to the continued institutionalization of these public research funding instruments I expect to find a gradual transformative change in educational research. Theoretically anchored in the new-institutional thinking – historical, sociological and Scandinavian institutionalism - and in the political sociology of policy instruments and instrumentation approach, I conceptualize public research funding instruments as institutions with cultural-cognitive (ideas), normative (norms and values), and regulative (formal and informal rules) dimensions. Moreover, I apply the most recent contributions of the new-institutional thinking to the field of higher education and explore the concepts of nested organizational fields and the concept of the university as a strategic actor in order to understand the way research organizations engage and react to public research funding instruments. Methodologically, I use a mixed-method sequential explanatory research design. The first phase of the study aimed to understand the creation and development of the three funding instruments, taking into consideration the available data related to the instrument itself and the data related to educational research. In order to do this, I have used both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitatively, I analyzed policy documents related to the EUFP, TLRP and RAE/REF and developed a content analysis from a sample of EUFP funded research projects for the field of educational research (N=99) and from a sample of TLRP funded research projects (N=54), in order to examine the creation and development of the funding instruments and their impact ar the European and English disciplinary level. Quantitatively, I use social network analysis and applied centrality measures to the participating research organizations in the European educational research (N=500) to explore the interconnections between research organizations in their regional, national, and organizational diversity across Europe. Furthermore, I locate the multidisciplinary field of educational research in the RAE/REF and analyze the submission behavior (staff, outputs, funding) of Schools of Education over time (N=239). The second phase of the study was dedicated to interviewing 22 experts in the field of English educational research. Overall, the results show a gradual transformative change in the cultural-cognitive and normative dimensions (EUFP, TLRP, RAE/REF), while maintaining continuous stability (EUFP, TLRP) in the regulative dimension of the public research funding instruments. In specific, I show how the ideas of knowledge-society, internationalization, and Europeanization (EUFP), evidence-based policy and practice (TLRP), and quality, excellence and impact (RAE/REF) have been gradually transforming the development of the research funding instruments. Additionally, I show how the funding instruments have enacted the norms and values of international collaboration, competition, relevance, capacity, usefulness, evaluation, and performativity to the field of European and English educational research. Because research funding instruments are incentive-based forms, their regulative and legislative basis is rather weak, displaying signs of continuous stability, except for the RAE/REF due to its continuous formalization, standardization, transparency, and growing concentration of funding policy, framed as a robust research evaluation system. When exploring the effects of the public research funding instruments I delve into the disciplinary and organizational levels to find a gradual transformative institutional change in the field of educational research mediated by both intended and unintended consequences of the policy instruments. At the European level, I find a strong relationship between the themes and priorities of the EUFP and the funded research projects in educational research, showing the role of the EUFP in the creation of the broader political project of the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area. Moreover, the social network analysis shows that while the size of the countries helps to explain the number of research organizations that participate in the EUFP, the capacity to become central and influential is linked connected to organizational factors. Indeed, universities from medium and small countries are relatively more influential, albeit with stratification manifest across the EUFPs. Exploring the position of the English Schools of Education, while England is the country with the largest number of participating research organizations, almost none of them are central or influential in the network, showing the role of England as an exporter of internationalization. At the English level, I show how the disciplinary dynamics of educational research interact and mediate the impact of the TLRP. For the case of the RAE/REF, I find decreases in the number of academic staff whose research was submitted for peer review assessment; the research article as the preferred publication format, and the rise of quantitative analysis and applied research. The policy instrument invoked a highly strategic behavior amongst the Schools of Education, with such reactivity demonstrated (1) by the increasing submission selectivity in the number of staff whose publications were submitted for peer review as a form of reverse engineering, and (2) by the rise of the research article as the preferred output as a self-fulfilling prophecy. In conclusion, I discuss how the institutionalization of the public research funding instruments represent a case of epistemic governance; contribute to the Matthew effect in science; confer actorhood to research organizations and trigger highly strategic forms of behavior and unintended consequences, resulting in a gradual transformative change of European and English educational research. Because they interact and are mediated by different levels, the study shows the multi-composite character of educational research governance. [less ▲]

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See detailModel and parameter identification through Bayesian inference in solid mechanics
Rappel, Hussein UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Predicting the behaviour of various engineering systems is commonly performed using mathematical models. These mathematical models include application-specific parameters that must be identified from ... [more ▼]

Predicting the behaviour of various engineering systems is commonly performed using mathematical models. These mathematical models include application-specific parameters that must be identified from measured data. The identification of model parameters usually comes with uncertainties due to model simplifications and errors in the experimental measurements. Quantifying these uncertainties can effectively improve the predictions as well as the performance of the engineering systems. Bayesian inference provides a probabilistic framework for quantifying these uncertainties in parameter identification problems. In a Bayesian framework, the user's initial knowledge, which is represented by a probability distribution, is updated by measurement data through Bayes' theorem. In the first two chapters of this thesis, Bayesian inference is developed for the identification of material parameters in elastoplasticity and viscoelasticity. The effect of the user's prior knowledge is systematically studied with respect to the number of measurements available. In addition, the influence of different types of experiments on the uncertainty is studied. Since all mathematical models are simplifications of reality, uncertainties of the model itself may also be incorporated. The third chapter of this thesis presents a Bayesian framework for parameter identification in elastoplasticity in which not only the uncertainty of the experimental output is included (i.e. stress measurements), but also the uncertainty of the model and the uncertainty of the experimental input (i.e. strain). Three different formulations for describing the model uncertainty are considered: (1) a random variable which is taken from a normal distribution with constant parameters, (2) a random variable which is taken from a normal distribution with an input-dependent mean, and (3) a Gaussian random process with a stationary covariance function. In the fourth chapter of this thesis, a Bayesian scheme is proposed to identify material parameter distributions, instead of material parameters. The application in this chapter are random fibre networks, in which the set of material parameters of each fibre is assumed to be a realisation from a material parameter distribution. The fibres behave either elastoplastically or in a perfectly brittle manner. The goal of the identification scheme is to avoid the experimentally demanding task of testing hundreds of constituents. Instead, only 20 fibres are considered. In addition to their material randomness, the macroscale behaviours of these fibre networks are also governed by their geometrical randomness. Another question aimed to be answered in this chapter is therefore is `how precise the material randomness needs to be identified, if the geometrical randomness will also influence the macroscale behaviour of these discrete networks'. [less ▲]

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See detailSelf-Assessment in Elementary School with a Tablet-Computer-Based Tool: A Chance for Fairer Educational Assessment?
Villanyi, Denise UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Student self-assessment (SSA) is beneficial for students’ learning and achievement through processes of self-regulation. Furthermore, SSA is a valuable feedback for the teachers on students’ perceptions ... [more ▼]

Student self-assessment (SSA) is beneficial for students’ learning and achievement through processes of self-regulation. Furthermore, SSA is a valuable feedback for the teachers on students’ perceptions of their competencies. SSA can complete teachers’ view on and judgment about the students’ competencies and it can help teachers to adapt teaching and learning activities to better meet the needs of the students. Knowing that teachers’ assessments can be biased regarding students’ ethnic or immigration background, students’ SAs might be an important complementary source of information that increases fairness in educational assessment. Despite its proven benefits, the implementation of self-assessment (SA) in elementary school classrooms is limited, most probably due to the skepticism towards learners’ SA accuracy at all ages, but even more so when students are younger. The objective of the present dissertation was to capture students’ SAs of key academic competencies with an innovative tool—a tablet-computer-based SA-tool—, and to make it visible to teachers by giving them feedback on their students’ SAs. The dissertation is based on three empirical studies. In the first study, we investigated, whether third- and fourth-graders have the ability to assess key academic competencies (mathematics, German reading comprehension) with acceptable accuracy, when provided with an innovative tablet-computer-based tool that was designed respecting the requirements that facilitate SA for that age group. The second study concentrated on the domain of mathematics. We investigated how mathematics self-efficacy, the construct measured with the tool, relates to other competence beliefs such as mathematics self-concept and general academic self-concept and covariates (standardized tests in mathematics, reading comprehension, listening, comprehension; general academic and mathematics interest; general academic and mathematics anxiety; and gender). In the third study, we investigated whether feedbacks on students’ SAs and achievement test results (from Luxembourg school monitoring) are valuable information for teachers that they would triangulate with their own assessments. We hypothesized that the information captured via SSA and achievement test would trigger critical reflection in teachers, and offer them feedback on the appropriateness of their assessments (unbiased versus biased treatment) and thus make educational assessment fairer. The findings of the three studies contribute to answer the questions of how SA can be implemented in the classroom (Grades 3 and 4) in a way that it becomes meaningful to students and teachers, and whether SSA in the classroom is a chance for fairer educational assessment. Based on the results of Studies 1 and 2, we conclude that with an appropriate SA-tool, displaying self-efficacy items on task level on tablet-computer, third- and fourth-graders were able to assess key academic competencies with acceptable accuracy and thus to give valuable information to the teachers. Based on the results of Study 3, we conclude that teachers were able to triangulate the information from students’ SAs with their own assessments and with external achievement test results. Indeed, SSA in the classroom can be a chance for fairer educational assessment. [less ▲]

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See detailEngineering Smart Software Services for Intelligent Pervasive Systems
Sanchez Guinea, Alejandro UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Pervasive computing systems, envisioned as systems that blend with the physical environment to enhance the quality of life of its users, are rapidly becoming a not so distant reality. However, many ... [more ▼]

Pervasive computing systems, envisioned as systems that blend with the physical environment to enhance the quality of life of its users, are rapidly becoming a not so distant reality. However, many challenges must be addressed before realizing the goal of having such computing systems as part of our everyday life. One such challenge is related to the problem of how to develop in a systematic way the software that lies behind pervasive systems, operating them and allowing them to intelligently adapt both to users' changing needs and to variations in the environment. In spite of the important strides done in recent years concerning the engineering of software that places the actual, immediate needs and preferences of users in the center of attention, to the best of our knowledge no work has been devoted to the study of the engineering process for building software for pervasive systems. In this dissertation we focus on the engineering process to build smart software services for pervasive systems. Specifically, we first introduce as our first major contribution a model for the systematic construction of software for pervasive systems, which has been derived using analytical, evidence-based, and empirical methodologies. Then, on the basis of the proposed model, we investigate two essential mechanisms that provide support for the engineering of value-added software services for smart environments, namely the learning of users' daily routines and the continuous identification of users. For the case of learning users' daily routines, we propose what is our second main contribution: a novel approach that discovers periodic-frequent routines in event data from sensors and smart devices deployed at home. For the continuous identification of users we propose what is our third major contribution: a novel approach based on behavioral biometrics which is able to recognize identities without requiring any specific gesture, action, or activity from the users. The two approaches proposed have been extensively evaluated through studies in the lab, based on synthetic data, and in the wild, showing that they can be effectively applied to different scenarios and environments. In sum, the engineering model proposed in this dissertation is expected to serve as a basis to further the research and development efforts in key aspects that are necessary to build value-added smart software services that bring pervasive systems closer to the way they have been envisioned. Furthermore, the approaches proposed for learning users' daily routines and recognizing users' identities in smart environments are aimed at contributing to the investigation and development of the data analytics technology necessary for the smart adaptation and evolution of the software in pervasive systems to users' needs. [less ▲]

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See detailSystems Biology Approaches for Identification of Molecular Mechanisms in Brain Disorders
Androsova, Ganna UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

One out of four people are affected by a brain disorder at some stage in their life. Depending on the symptoms and the underlying molecular mechanisms, brain disorders can be classified into neurological ... [more ▼]

One out of four people are affected by a brain disorder at some stage in their life. Depending on the symptoms and the underlying molecular mechanisms, brain disorders can be classified into neurological and cognitive disorders. Complex disorders typically have a multifactorial pathogenesis. Epilepsy and postoperative delirium (POD) exemplifying neurological and cognitive disorders are no exception. Research efforts contributed to the understanding of molecular mechanisms of these diseases by discovering associations between clinical and genomic information and disease phenotypes. These findings, although necessary, are not sufficient to reconstruct the complete map of system-level interactions. To achieve a system-level understanding of a biological system, one can integrate diverse data sources by a network-based approach. Network analysis methods characterise interactions within and between molecular systems and can identify candidate biomarkers in various biological contexts. Specifically, correlation networks can reveal condition-dependent molecular patterns whose functional enrichment points to the altered molecular mechanisms of the phenotype. A molecular signature of a phenotype can be determined by machine learning algorithms for supervised classification as a set of molecules accurately discriminating between disease and healthy state. The primary aim of this dissertation is to identify altered biological pathways and functionally relevant molecules of epileptogenesis and postoperative delirium. This cumulative dissertation is composed of six chapters. Chapter 1provides the background information on brain disorders and the systems biology methods to study their molecular mechanisms. Chapter 2 was motivated by the fact that current anti-epilepsy treatments focus on minimisation of the symptoms and epileptic seizures, while no definitive cure exists. The understanding of molecular events triggering the development of epilepsy (also called epileptogenesis) can yield therapies halting the onset of epilepsy. We identified proteomic alterations in the animal model of epileptogenesis by a network-based method and validated our results by external data set and immunohistochemical staining. The functional annotation of molecular expression patterns revealed biological pathways not yet described in the context of epileptogenesis. Next, we identified the gap in a comparative analysis of available antiepileptic drugs for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy due to hippocampal sclerosis. Chapter 3 retrospectively compares retention, efficacy and tolerability of antiepileptic drugs in the large epilepsy pharmacogenomics database. Chapter 4 is focused on the identification of molecular alterations in postoperative delirium. Overlaying postmortem brain expression data with locations of functional networks disturbed in POD, we identified several gene expression patterns with relevant biological enrichment. Moreover, same biological functions were altered in the blood of POD patients. Previously described POD markers such as acetylcholinesterase, alpha-synuclein and protein C appeared in the identified clusters. In Chapter 5, I focused on the identification of a molecular signature discriminating POD patients before they undergo surgery. Having ranked preoperative expression levels of mRNAs and miRNAs by their ability to detect patients with POD, I identified a set of discriminatory features that achieved high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity in the training set. The trained model had a good generalisability on the unseen data set but its performance decreased on the test set not matched by age and gender. The final Chapter 6 summarises the main outcomes of the presented studies and concludes with an outlook. [less ▲]

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See detailStandardisierte unternehmensübergreifende Wertstrommethode (StreaM)
Oberhausen, Christof UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

In the course of globalization, complex corporate networks arise in which diverse players are involved in the value-added process. Particularly at the interfaces of the value chain, there are challenges ... [more ▼]

In the course of globalization, complex corporate networks arise in which diverse players are involved in the value-added process. Particularly at the interfaces of the value chain, there are challenges in terms of communication and cooperation, since so far no uniform procedure for the visualization, analysis and continuous improvement of product and information flows is used. These difficulties occur both within organizations and especially across company boundaries. In particular, no internationally recognized value stream standard exists at present, which is inter alia a result of a low cooperativeness of organizations due to a lack of trust, inadequate knowledge and insufficient incentives. The inconsistent use of Value Stream Management (VSM) affects many economic sectors worldwide. These inconsistent VSM approaches lead to inefficiencies, such as rework and coordination difficulties in the case of value stream audits, which represent an avoidable waste of time, natural and financial resources. In the scientific literature, a large number of fundamental VSM approaches, modifications and further developments are available that serve as a basis for the present work. The existing VSM approaches include provisions, e.g. in terms of symbols, data boxes, associated process variables and their calculation, which are each extensive, diverse and in some cases process-specific. In contrast, complex, globally distributed value chain structures require a holistic approach for the modeling of value streams. In the context of this dissertation, a VSM draft standard will be generated by means of a comparison of existing VSM approaches. Based on four different value stream levels, a multi-stage approach for the visualization, analysis and continuous improvement of cross-company product and information flows will be developed. The present thesis thus provides the methodological basis on the way towards an internationally recognized VSM standard and demonstrates in addition the potential of efficient and targeted application of VSM in value networks. On the one hand, standardizing the VSM method will enable an improved communication and cooperation along value chains in different economic sectors. On the other hand, the holistic approach helps to identify, show and implement improvement measures across company borders and ultimately leads to a reduction or ideally to the elimination of waste from an end customer perspective. The developed approach allows organizations worldwide to assess internal as well as cross-company value streams in a structured manner, to design them flexibly and to implement them effectively in practice. [less ▲]

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See detailReal-time Model Predictive Control for Aerial Manipulation
Dentler, Jan Eric UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The rapid development in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is driven by new applications in agriculture, logistics, inspection and smart manufacturing. The future keys in these domains are the ... [more ▼]

The rapid development in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is driven by new applications in agriculture, logistics, inspection and smart manufacturing. The future keys in these domains are the abilities to autonomously interact with the environment and with other robotic systems. This thesis is providing control engineering solutions to contribute to these key capabilities. The first step of this thesis is to develop an understanding of the dynamic behavior of UAVs. For this purpose, dynamic and kinematic models are presented to describe a UAV's motion. This includes a kinematic model which is suitable for off-the-shelf UAVs and combines full 360° heading operation with a low computational complexity. The presented models are subsequently used to develop a nonlinear model predictive control NMPC strategy. In this context, the performance of several NMPC solvers and inequality constraint handling techniques is evaluated. The real-time capability and NMPC performance are validated with real AR.Drone 2.0 and DJI M100 quadrotors. This includes collision avoidance and advanced tracking scenarios. The design work-flow for the related control objectives and constraints is presented accordingly. As a next step, this UAV NMPC strategy is extended for a UAV with attached robotic arm. For this purpose, the forward kinematics of the robotic arm are developed and combined with the kinematic model of the UAV. The resulting NMPC strategy is validated in a grasping scenario with a real aerial manipulator. The final step of this thesis is the NMPC of cooperating UAVs. The computational complexity of such scenarios conflicts directly with the fast UAV dynamics. In addition, control objectives and system topologies can dynamically change. To address these challenges, this thesis presents the DENMPC software framework. DENMPC provides a computationally efficient central NMPC strategy that allows changing the control scenario at runtime. This is finally stated in the control of a real cooperative aerial manipulation scenario. [less ▲]

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See detailA decision support system for energy saving in Waste Water Treatment Plants
Torregrossa, Dario UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) are complex facilities, in which an efficient energy management can produce relevant benefits for the environment and the economy. Today, big data can be used for a ... [more ▼]

Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) are complex facilities, in which an efficient energy management can produce relevant benefits for the environment and the economy. Today, big data can be used for a more efficient plant management, enabling high-frequency assessment and ultimately a more efficient use of resources. In order to achieve this, a computer-based support is necessary to analyse the enormous amount of data that WWTP sensors can produce. When this PhD project started, the literature review showed that, in the WWTP domain, the few available decision support systems (DSSs) were promising but still with large room for improvements; in fact, these tools were plant-specific, focussed mainly on process parameters and (most of them) working with low-frequency aggregated data (yearly data). This thesis instead proposes a cooperative decision support system called Shared Knowledge Decision Support System (SK-DSS). SK-DSS is plant generic, i.e. able to simultaneously work with many WWTPs and based on key performance indicators. SK-DSS analyses the processes occurring in the plants and provide case-based solutions. Moreover, this DSS provides a platform to enable the plant managers to exchange information and cooperate. This thesis proposes the model of SK-DSS, a web-application, and applications to improve the energy performance of pump, blowers and biogas. [less ▲]

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See detailAdvanced Symbol-level Precoding Schemes for Interference Exploitation in Multi-antenna Multi-user Wireless Communications
Spano, Danilo UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The utilization of multi-antenna transmitters relying on full frequency reuse has proven to be an effective strategy towards fulfilling the constantly increasing throughput requirements of wireless ... [more ▼]

The utilization of multi-antenna transmitters relying on full frequency reuse has proven to be an effective strategy towards fulfilling the constantly increasing throughput requirements of wireless communication systems. As a consequence, in the last two decades precoding has been a prolific research area, due to its ability to handle the interference arising among simultaneous transmissions addressed to different co-channel users. The conventional precoding strategies aim at mitigating the multi-user interference (MUI) by exploiting the knowledge of the channel state information (CSI). More recently, novel approaches have been proposed where the aim is not to eliminate the interference, but rather to control it so as to achieve a constructive interference effect at each receiver. In these schemes, referred to as symbol-level precoding (SLP), the data information (data symbols) is used together with the CSI in the precoding design, which can be addressed following several optimization strategies. In the context of SLP, the work carried out in this thesis is mainly focused on developing more advanced optimization strategies suitable to non-linear systems, where the per-antenna high-power amplifiers introduce an amplitude and phase distortion on the transmitted signals. More specifically, the main objective is to exploit the potential of SLP not only to achieve the constructive interference at the receivers, but also to control the per-antenna instantaneous transmit power, improving the power dynamics of the transmitted waveforms. In fact, a reduction of the power variation of the signals, both in the spatial dimension (across the different antennas) and in the temporal dimension, is particularly important for mitigating the non-linear effects. After a detailed review of the state of the art of SLP, the first part of the thesis is focused on improving the power dynamics of the transmitted signals in the spatial dimension, by reducing the instantaneous power imbalances across the different antennas. First, a SLP per-antenna power minimization scheme is presented, followed by a related max-min fair formulation with per-antenna power constraints. These approaches allow to reduce the power peaks of the signals across the antennas. Next, more advanced SLP schemes are formulated and solved, with the objective of further improving the spatial dynamics of the signals. Specifically, a first approach performs a peak power minimization under a lower bound constraint on the per-antenna transmit power, while a second strategy minimizes the spatial peak-to-average power ratio. The second part of this thesis is devoted to developing a novel SLP method, referred to as spatio-temporal SLP, where the temporal variation of the transmit power is also considered in the SLP optimization. This new model allows to minimize the peak-to-average power ratio of the transmitted waveforms both in the spatial and in the temporal dimensions, thus further improving the robustness of the signals to non-linear effects. Then, this thesis takes one step further, by exploiting the developed spatio-temporal SLP model in a different context. In particular, a spatio-temporal SLP scheme is proposed which enables faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling over multi-user systems, by constructively handling at the transmitter side not only the MUI but also the inter-symbol interference (ISI). This strategy allows to benefit from the increased throughput provided by FTN signaling without imposing additional complexity at the user terminals. Extensive numerical results are presented throughout the thesis, in order to assess the performance of the proposed schemes with respect to the state of the art in SLP. The thesis concludes summarizing the main research findings and identifying the open problems, which will constitute the basis for the future work. [less ▲]

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See detailCOMPUTATIONAL PREDICTION OF BIOCHEMICAL COMPENSATORY MECHANISMS IN SUBJECTS AT RISK OF DEVELOPING PARKINSON’S DISEASE.
El Assal, Diana Charles UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterised by the degeneration of substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons. These neurons have a highly complex axonal arborisation and a high energy demand, so ... [more ▼]

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterised by the degeneration of substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons. These neurons have a highly complex axonal arborisation and a high energy demand, so any reduction in ATP synthesis could lead to an imbalance between demand and supply, thereby impeding normal neuronal bioenergetic requirements. The notion of energy metabolism inevitably implicates mitochondria, the cells’ main powerhouses, linking glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation. In the brain, there are two types of mitochondria, with synaptic mitochondria localised to neuronal synapses and somal mitochondria localised to glial or neuronal somata. It has long been known that synaptic and somal mitochondria differ in their localisation, substrate utilisation, and enzymatic activities. For example, after biogenesis in and transport from the soma, synaptic mitochondria become highly dependent upon oxidative phosphorylation and exhibit increased vulnerability to dysfunction in PD, as opposed to somal mitochondria. Since the description of the disease by the London apothecary James Parkinson in 1817 and after more than two hundred years of descriptive research, we envisaged that quantitative computational modelling of PD will allow a cumulative, formal synthesis of the results of this research to occur. Clearly not all at-risk subjects actually develop PD, the open question is why? Are there biochemical compensatory mechanisms that protect some at-risk individuals from developing PD? We addressed this question using constraint-based computational modelling of dopaminergic neuronal metabolism, because we hypothesised that the existence of metabolic compensatory mechanisms can be predicted using comprehensive models of healthy, albeit at risk, and diseased dopaminergic neurons. A systems biochemistry approach was applied to identify the metabolic pathways used by neural models for energy generation. The mitochondrial component of an existing manual reconstruction of human metabolism (Recon 3D) was extended with manual curation of the biochemical literature and specialised using omics data from PD patients and controls, to generate reconstructions of synaptic, somal, and astrocytic metabolism. Following the imposition of experimentally-derived constraints, these reconstructions were converted into stoichiometrically- and flux-consistent constraint-based computational models. These models predict that PD is accompanied by a failure of the nigrostriatal glycolytic pathway and that in silico perturbations to non-trivial reaction rates may be able to rescue this bioenergetic phenotype. This is consistent with independent experimental reports where the enhancement of glycolysis was shown to provide neuroprotection in PD. This is the first application of biochemical network modelling used for the prediction of novel putative metabolic targets: a step closer towards the treatment of idiopathic PD. [less ▲]

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See detailDisambiguation of Researcher Careers: Shifting the Perspective from Documents to Authors
Doherr, Thorsten UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

The thesis describes an algorithm that disambiguates the namespaces of inventors and researchers, spawned by their patents and publications, into career paths. A probabilistic theory to assess the risk of ... [more ▼]

The thesis describes an algorithm that disambiguates the namespaces of inventors and researchers, spawned by their patents and publications, into career paths. A probabilistic theory to assess the risk of erroneously linking documents of namesakes, different individuals with a mutual name, into one career bypasses the need for training datasets, thereby avoiding a namesake bias caused by the inherent underestimation of namesakes in training/benchmark data. The economic relevance of identified careers is illustrated by two applications. The first one outlines the impact of inter-regional inventor mobility in Italy on the total factor productivity of the sending and receiving regions. We show that an inflow of high skilled labor has a significant positive effect on TFP, while outflow decreases it. We further separate mobility in firm-internal relocation and job switches to find a more pronounced effect for the latter mobility. The second application observes the reaction of German university researchers to an exogenous change in federal law pertaining the property rights of their inventions equivalent to the Bayh Dole Act. Being able to trace their careers along with the careers of an unaffected control group allows us to evaluate the efficacy of technology transfer offices replacing the former informal activities of the university professors in regard of academic entrepreneurship. We find that an overall decrease of university patenting neutralizes any institutionalized efforts of spurring entrepreneurship at the expense of informal faculty-firm networks as channels for knowledge transfer. [less ▲]

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See detailRisk Monitoring and Intrusion Detection for Industrial Control Systems
Muller, Steve UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure such as electricity, gas, and water distribution, or power plants, are more and more considered to be a relevant and realistic threat to the European society ... [more ▼]

Cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure such as electricity, gas, and water distribution, or power plants, are more and more considered to be a relevant and realistic threat to the European society. Whereas mature solutions like anti-malware applications, intrusion detection systems (IDS) and even intrusion prevention or self-healing systems have been designed for classic computer systems, these techniques have only been partially adapted to the world of Industrial Control Systems (ICS). As a consequence, organisations and nations fall back upon risk management to understand the risks that they are facing. Today's trend is to combine risk management with real-time monitoring to enable prompt reactions in case of attacks. This thesis aims at providing techniques that assist security managers in migrating from a static risk analysis to a real-time and dynamic risk monitoring platform. Risk monitoring encompasses three steps, each being addressed in detail in this thesis: the collection of risk-related information, the reporting of security events, and finally the inclusion of this real-time information into a risk analysis. The first step consists in designing agents that detect incidents in the system. In this thesis, an intrusion detection system is developed to this end, which focuses on an advanced persistent threat (APT) that particularly targets critical infrastructures. The second step copes with the translation of the obtained technical information in more abstract notions of risk, which can then be used in the context of a risk analysis. In the final step, the information collected from the various sources is correlated so as to obtain the risk faced by the entire system. Since industrial environments are characterised by many interdependencies, a dependency model is elaborated which takes dependencies into account when the risk is estimated. [less ▲]

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See detailEssays on M&As and Innovation
Fernandez de Arroyabe Arranz, Marta UL

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Detailed reference viewed: 145 (22 UL)