Cities provide goods and services, such as electric power, gas supply, mobility, water supply and wastewater removal/treatment to the public in order to improve prosperity, quality of living, and opportunities for businesses. These services and goods are distributed via urban infrastructure networks. In order to sustain the provision of service on these networks, interventions have to be executed, that ensure that the state of the objects of the infrastructure network is such that disturbances to the service can be avoided. However, these interventions themselves also cause dis- turbances to the service. Therefore, the task of urban infrastructure management is to balance these two disturbances to find an optimum that fulfils all necessary requirements, such as minimal service level, budget limitations etc. In this thesis, a methodology to determine optimal intervention programs for urban infrastructure networks is presented, that encompasses a suitable deterioration and level of service model while accounting for interactions between networks, and is able to construct intervention programs for multiple infrastructure networks ensemble, with grouping of interventions for multiple time frames. This methodology is set up in a modu- lar way in order to adapt the accuracy to the data input and computational power available. From the scientific point of view, this thesis provides besides the presented methodology also two additional components that are used to 1) group interventions into intervention clusters by applying a dynamic neighbourhood methodology, and 2) measure loss in level of service in a consistent way in order to facilitate the ensemble calculation. The methodology is based on a genetic-algorithms founded optimisation approach. It is found that the methodology is able to calculate intervention programs for multiple infrastructure networks ensemble, with grouping of interven- tions for multiple time frames. The advantages, disadvantages, and future research directions are discussed.

How does altitude affect performance? This question has been asked by athletes, coaches and sport scientists for many years. Most of the current interest in altitude and altitude training can be traced back to the 1968 Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City at an elevation of 2300m. At the 1968 Olympics, sprinters and jumpers in the sport of track and field set several world records in the “thin air” of Mexico City, whereas the distance runners ran markedly slower compared with 1968 world records. Interestingly, athletes from countries with moderate altitude such as Kenya and Ethiopia won a relatively high percentage of medals in the middle and long distance races (153). Since then, interest in altitude and altitude training has continued to grow. More recently, important endurance competitions, such as the Olympic Games (Salt Lake 2002 and Torino 2006) have taken place at low (1000 - 2000m) and moderate (2000 - 3000m) altitudes making it important to acclimatize in an optimal way for the target altitude. Furthermore, new altitude training concepts have been introduced with the goal of utilizing altitude in order to improve endurance performance not only at altitude, but at sea-level as well.

Wood, as natural composite material, is generally considered to have a good resistance against fatigue loading due to its fibrous structure and viscoelastic properties. Nowa- days, timber structures are generally an assemblage of several wood pieces adhesively bonded and the influence of the adhesive on the fatigue performance remains largely unknown. The influence of the adhesive properties (stiffness, presence of fibers, type of adhesive system) on the fatigue performance was investigated in this thesis. The first hypothesis was to investigate if ductile adhesives are able to dissipate a higher amount of energy per loading cycle compared to brittle adhesives. This amount of dissipated energy would not participate to damage accumulation in the bond line. This hypothesis was investigated in paper I on pure adhesive film samples and verified on adhesively bonded wood lap-shear samples in paper II. The results showed that samples bonded with ductile adhesives are able to sustain a higher number of cycles than samples glued with brittle adhesive systems. This is probably due to a more homogeneous stress distribution for the ductile adhesively bonded samples. In paper II, a new fatigue model has been developed to analyze experimental fatigue results. This model is a combination of a physical and a statistical model which allows to describe the behavior at low and high relative strengths, i.e., for the complete lifetime of the specimen. For lap-shear samples, the strength degradation with increasing number of loading cycles takes place through an accumulation of micro-damages. The loading situation, however, is different if a macro crack is present in the sample. Indeed, the modulus and strength degradation during the fatigue loading will be the result of the propagation of cracks. The influence of the adhesive properties on the crack growth was investigated in paper III and paper IV. In both papers, the sample chosen is a 4-point End-Notched Flexure specimen (4-ENF), where the crack propagation occurs in Mode II (shearing). In paper III, it was shown that the crack propagation of adhesively bonded wood joints can be described using the Paris equation. In paper IV, the domain of application of the Paris equation was expanded using the modified Hartman-Schijve equation which, for the first time, was applied to successfully describe the fatigue fracture of adhesively bonded wood joints. It was shown in paper III and paper IV that the brittle adhesive systems have generally a slower speed of crack propagation at similar applied stress level compared to ductile adhesives. The addition of fibers to the adhesive was also shown to increase the performance of the ductile adhesive. The reason for the better performance of the brittle adhesives are investigated in paper V. A new fractography technique combined with an unsupervised pattern recognition of Acoustic Emission sig- nals with source location was developed. With this, it was shown that in samples glued with the brittle adhesive system, the crack does not propagate in the adhesive layer but at the interface with the wood or directly in the wood. Crack propagation hence results in a slower crack speed at higher energy release rate due to the higher wood/adhesive adhesion. Hence, it appears that the development of a high-performance adhesive for fatigue loading is a complex topic as the choice of adhesive properties depend on the presence of cracks and loading situation. Further developments should investigate the modification of the surface properties of the bond line to increase the adhesion of the wood with the adhesive, allowing to combine the advantage of a ductile adhesive with a crack propagation at the wood interface.

Audioscoring & leere Stimmen: Praxisorientierte Stimmforschung zu lettristischen und ultra-lettristischen Stimmexperimenten widmet sich den lettristischen und ultra-lettristischen Stimmexperimenten im Paris der 1950er Jahre. Mit den (ultra-)lettristischen Kompositionen fokussiert die Dissertation auf Stimmen an der Schwelle zur Phonation und Prozesse der Entleerungen der „vollen“, artikulierten, sprachmächtigen Stimme. Diese Stimmexperimente gelten als paradigmatische Beispiele sogenannter „leerer Stimmen“, die seit den 1950er Jahren als vor- und nachsprachliche Transformationsprozesse der Stimme in der Neue Musik, Performance Art und in der Elektronischen Musik zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen haben. Der von Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel geprägte Begriff der „leeren Stimme“ bezieht sich auf die Stimme der Tiere als Urform der Stimmgebung. „Leere Stimmen“ stehen für die physiologische Voraussetzung des Sprechakts und der Artikulation, die, so Giorgio Agamben, „als ein Prozess der Unterscheidung, der Unterbrechung und der Aufbewahrung der animalischen Stimme“ verstanden werden kann. In den (ultra-)lettristischen Stimmen spiegelt sich der Umbruch der technischen Aufzeichnungssysteme: Auf der einen Seite stehen die lettristischen Gedichte als symbolische Zeichensysteme, auf der anderen Seite die ultra-lettristischen Tonbandstimmen als Resultate eines technisch-physiologischen Verschriftlichungsprozesses. Ein entscheidender Beitrag zur Erforschung dieser Stimmexperimente und ihrer Aufzeichnungssysteme leistet die spezifisch auf deren Analyse hin entwickelte Methode des Audioscorings, die das Stimmmaterial im Sinne praxisorientierter Stimmforschung einer mimetischen Analyse zugänglich macht. Der Begriff Audioscore verweist auf das Tonband als Hörpartitur.

Despite the recognised importance of monazite in geochronology, the contextural information is lost when using standard mineral separation techniques. To overcome this problem, new techniques were developped to date monazite in thin section or as grains drilled out from thin sections. Chemical Th-U-Pb dating of monazite on the microprobe is limited to grains older than 200 Ma, due to the high detection limit. Moreover, a range of fundamental analytical and preparational problems remains. For example, for monazite containing 12% Th, the commonly disregarded interference of Th Mz on Pb Ma causes an overestimation of 11% (relative) in Pb. This propagates to an age overestimation of ~50 Ma for a sample of 400 to 500 Ma in age. A judicious choice of X-ray peaks used in quantitative EMP analysis avoids or minimises peak overlap for all elements, including REE. A newly developped XRF-microprobe achieves superior performance, permitting to date small grains (< 100 μm) as young as Miocene in age. As an example, the precision achieved with the XRF-microprobe for a well characterised monazite age standard FC-1 (TIMS age 54.3 Ma; μ-XRF age 55.3 ± 2.6 Ma), doubly polished to 30 μm in thickness, is below 5 % (2 sigma) after 90 minutes integration time (50 kV; 30 mA) at a spatial resolution of 90 μm. Special sample preparation techniques using a PE-polishing disk permit the sequential use of thermobarometric and geochronometric analytical tools and thus the potential to derive time-calibrated P-T paths. The first two papers describe methods for sample preparation, analysis techniques and data interpretation for electron microprobe and XRF-microprobe dating. In the other two papers the techniques are tested on pelitic rocks of the Monte Rosa nappe, western Central Alps, which is believed to have played a key role in the tectonometamorphic evolution of the Central and Western Alps. In these rocks monazite occurs in different textures. Similarities to the better known Adula - Cima Lunga nappes further east hint at a potentially equivalent late emplacement history from depths in excess of 70 km during Alpine orogenesis. Studying the polymetamorphic basement rocks of the Monte Rosa nappe successfully revealed new insight into the complex history of this fragment of continental crust with European affinity. Careful analysis applying the chemical Th-U-Pb dating technique unveiled two distinct phases of monazite growth in these rocks: a Permian one around 280 Ma, believed to be associated with the intrusion VIII of the Monte Rosa granite; and an Alpine one around 35 Ma, attributed to the timing of high pressure metamorphism when maximum depths were reached during continental subduction. The combination of geochronometry and thermobarometry, sequentially applied ‘in-situ’ demonstrates the potential of this new technique. While monazite dating is frequently used for geochronometry, there exists also a relative lack of knowledge of monazite-forming reactions which is commonly fundamental for an age interpretation. Fine-grained symplectites of monazite, apatite and corundum within allanite of the Monte Rosa nappe have been recognized as breackdown product from bearthite. Similar textures have also been observed in the Dora-Maira high pressure terrane. Bearthite Ca2Al[PO4]2(OH), an aluminium phosphate contains up to ~10 wt% of light rare-earth elements (LREE) + Th. The documented symplectitic textures are assumed to be related to rapid decompression, following high to ultra-high pressure conditions during Tertiary subduction. The systematic study of bearthite from the Monte Rosa type locality and the Dora Maira area revealed that bearthite fractionates LREE, Th and U similar as monazite. This indictes a potential use of bearthite for age dating of ultra-high pressure rocks.

Die chronische Instabilität des oberen Sprunggelenkes (OSG) ist eine häufige Entität im Sport. Das Risiko, eine Distorsion des OSG zu erleiden, hängt von intrinsischen (Rückfuß-Stellung, Laxität, Kraft, neuromuskuläre Reaktion u. a.) sowie extrinsischen Faktoren (Schuhwerk, Sportart, Aufwärmen u. a.) ab. Die chronische OSG-Instabilität wird in eine laterale, mediale und kombinierte Rotationsinstabilität unterteilt. Zur korrekten Therapie gehört auch die Behandlung der Begleitverletzungen, damit eine rasche Rückkehr zum Sport wieder möglich ist. Grundsätzlich gilt primär eine konservative Therapie, da ein mechanisches Defizit mit Training der neuromuskulären Kontrolle ausgeglichen werden kann. Sollte dennoch eine symptomatische chronische OSG-Instabilität vorliegen, ist eine anatomische Bandrekonstruktion indiziert. Dies ist entscheidend, um Verletzungspausen kurz zu halten und die Progredienz von der chronischen Instabilität zur OSG-Arthrose zu verhindern.

Die vorliegende Dissertation liefert im Kunstturnen am Pferdsprung der Männer und Frauen und an den Ringen Erkenntnisse für das sportliche Training, die sportliche Leistung und den sportlichen Wettkampf sowie deren gegenseitigen Wechselbeziehungen. Dieses Wissen kann zur besseren Steuerung und Optimierung des Trainings im Nachwuchs- und Elite-Kunstturnen beitragen.

Contemporary art challenges the traditional idea of a musealium as well as institutional procedures related to collection care and preservation. Conventionally, visual artworks have been perceived as fixed, unique, material entities created and finished at a particular time, and museum approaches to collecting and preserving them were established accordingly. Nevertheless, contemporary art often resists this definition and undermines dogmas of material authenticity and artist’s intent, as well as the conviction that an object’s integrity resides in its physical features. Taking as its focus the triangle of relationships between an artist, a museum and a contemporary artwork as collectible, this study investigates how contemporary artworks by Mirosław Bałka, Danh Vo and Barbara Kruger are collected, documented and conserved in today’s institutions. It looks at how (and whether) new methods developed in the field of contemporary art conservation, such as the artist’s interview, are adopted by museums, and attempts to identify factors undermining their effectiveness. By looking at contemporary art as a new paradigm of artistic practice and building on notions such as musealisation, art project as art form and art object as document, this study works towards a theoretical model that address the incompatibility between a traditional museum approach to collecting and preserving and the features of contemporary art. By employing and extending concepts introduced by conservation theorist Hanna Hölling and the notion of ‘anarchives’ by media theorist Siegfried Zielinski, this study adopts the model of the ‘artwork-as-(an)archive’. Starting from the premise that our future understanding of contemporary artworks can only be constructed through traces of documentation, this model grants documents a status equal to that of art objects and obliges institutions to care for them on a similar basis. Besides its capacity to facilitate conservation, the artwork-as-(an)archive model is here considered as a space for collaboration between artists and museums, a space to be collectively shaped, filled and nourished that fosters transparency and inclusiveness.

This dissertation strives to create a systematic, comprehensive, theory-guided, analytic framework able to analyze corporate values beyond the false equation with human values. To accomplish this, the dissertation is based on two methodological blocks: The first block comprising chapter 2 to chapter 5 contributes the theoretical foundations and the theoretical reasoning supporting the creation of the analytical framework. This first block also undertakes a functional differentiation between corporate and individual values as well as outlines their different functional layers and phases. Based on these insights, the constitutive elements of the framework are identified, discussed and correlated to form a functional framework. The second methodological block consists of chapter 6 and constitutes the practical validation of the theoretical approach developed in the preceding chapters. The framework’s ability to analyze corporate values and disclose value inconsistency is validated by applying it to the publicly declared corporate value of sustainability proclaimed by a real-life corporation. While all corporate values are validated using the framework, the framework is also utilized when some corporate values are replaced with new, reworked editions to validate the forming capabilities of the framework and demonstrate the explanatory power of well-designed corporate values. The dissertation’s findings should be considered on different levels. On a characterization level, the dissertation performs a literature-based, functional separation between corporate and individual values, while on an analytical level it places a detailed and theory-guided framework at one's disposal, facilitating the analysis and discussion of functional corporate values. Finally, the results of the framework’s application indicate that even though a corporation’s values can be award-winning, well intended, and successful, they can still base on misconceptions, inaccuracy, and gaps. Such corporate values have to rely on like-minded value recipients to close the communication gap according to the corporation’s ideology. Approaching the topic of corporate values with a framework specifically laid out to analyze and form corporate values turns out to result in a more accurate, conceivable, conveyable and therefore more successful analysis of corporate values.

The aim of this dissertation is to better understand the functioning of the organic food market in Switzerland. Over the last three decades the market for organic food in Switzerland has developed positively and continues to grow steadily. Understanding what drives and hinders consumption is crucial for those producing and marketing organic food as well as for agricultural policy makers. This dissertation sheds light on the demand for organic food for the years 2006 to 2011 from different perspectives and identifies factors affecting purchase decisions. In the second chapter, product characteristics that are of importance to organic food consumers are identified. Accordingly, unprocessed products that have been produced in Switzerland have an advantage on the market. It is also shown that the price is an important criterion since consumers compare organic food with their conventional counterpart rather than with other organic alternatives. The third chapter investigates the connection between culture and organic food consumption. This relationship was thus far addressed by comparing linguistic groups from different countries with one another. By comparing language groups of the same country within the framework of this dissertation, the influence of culture can be assessed more accurately than has been done in previous studies as large institutional differences do not apply. Some of the socio-demographic influencing factors that have already been identified in the past can be confirmed. The influence of culture is, however, the largest. Hence, a Röstigraben between German- and French-speaking Switzerland regarding organic food exists. The final chapter of this dissertation explores the effect of income and prices on organic food consumption. Thereby, different approaches for the estimation of demand elasticities are compared. As demand elasticities are an important part of computable equilibrium models used to predict the impact of agricultural policies, the methodology for the elasticity estimation must be chosen with care. To investigate the influence of the methodological approach on the outcome of the elasticity estimation, five versions of the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) are compared. The study reveals a shortcoming of the widely-used consistent two-step estimation of the quadratic AIDS (QUAIDS) model and the approach of Shonkwiler and Yen (1999): the non-fulfilment of the homogeneity of the elasticities. Hence, the two-step estimation procedure does not comply with the initially imposed conditions of demand theory. The non-fulfilment is addressed by reformulating the QUAIDS model. This refined model does not fully comply with the conditions of demand theory but is the so far best possible solution when the approach of Shonkwiler and Yen (1999) and the QUAIDS model are combined.

GABAergic interneurons are key inhibitory regulators of cortical circuit function. Among the dozens of reported transcriptionally distinct types of cortical interneurons, neurogliaform cells (NGCs) are unique: they are the primary source of ‘slow’ cortical inhibition and are recruited by long-range excitatory inputs. Despite their functional importance, the developmental emergence and cellular diversity within this cell type remain unclear. Here, combining single- cell transcriptomics, genetic fate-mapping, electrophysiological characterization and morphological reconstruction, we show that discrete molecular subtypes of NGCs emerge from a common progenitor domain in the embryonic preoptic area (POA). Moreover, using in-utero electroporation, we show that the different NGC subtypes are generated in the POA at E14.5. By reconstructing NGC molecular architecture across development, we demonstrate that newborn NGCs and their postnatal progeny harbor shared molecular features and that the transcription factor Tox2 constitutes an identity hallmark for the different members of the NGC family. Subsequently, using CRISPR-mediated genetic loss-of-function, we reveal that the transcription factor Tox2 is critical for the development of these cells: POA-born cells lacking Tox2 fail to differentiate into NGCs. Together, these results indicate that the different NGC subtypes are born from a spatially restricted pool of POA progenitors, after which subtype signatures are gradually acquired through development via diverging molecular programs and reach a stabilization plateau at early postnatal stages.

A dissertaçao de Mestrado analisa a obra de Maria Lacerda de Moura "A mulher è uma degenerada", publicada em 1924. Maria Lacerda de Moura (1887-1945) é uma intelectual brasiliera que encarou varias tematicas como o antimilitarismo, o anarquismo, o feminismo e a educaçao. A dissertaçao apresenta a vida e a obra da autora, e depois a traduçao de "A mulher é uma degenerada" para a lingua italiana, com anotaçoes criticas.