Representation theorems for indefinite quadratic forms and applications

Diese Arbeit widmet sich den Darstellungssätzen für symmetrische indefinite (das heißt nicht-halbbeschränkte) Sesquilinearformen und deren Anwendungen. Insbesondere betrachten wir den Fall, dass der zur Form assoziierte Operator keine Spektrallücke um Null besitzt. Desweiteren untersuchen wir die Beziehung zwischen reduzierenden Graphräumen, Lösungen von Operator-Riccati-Gleichungen und der Block-Diagonalisierung für diagonaldominante Block-Operator-Matrizen. Mit Hilfe der Darstellungssätze wird eine entsprechende Beziehung zwischen Operatoren, die zu indefiniten Formen assoziiert sind, und Form-Riccati-Gleichungen erreicht. In diesem Rahmen wird eine explizite Block-Diagonalisierung und eine Spektralzerlegung für den Stokes Operator sowie eine Darstellung für dessen Kern erreicht. Wir wenden die Darstellungssätze auf durch (grad u, h() grad v) gegebene Formen an, wobei Vorzeichen-indefinite Koeffzienten-Matrizen h() zugelassen sind. Als ein Resultat werden selbstadjungierte indefinite Differentialoperatoren div h() grad mit homogenen Dirichlet oder Neumann Randbedingungen konstruiert. Beispiele solcher Art sind Operatoren die in der Modellierung von optischen Metamaterialien auftauchen und links-indefinite Sturm-Liouville Operatoren.

Implementation of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (ebpr) wastewater treatment processes enriched with different microbial communities

The EBPR (Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal) is a type of secondary treatment in WWTPs (WasteWater Treatment Plants), quite largely used in full-scale plants worldwide. The phosphorus occurring in aquatic systems in high amounts can cause eutrophication and consequently the death of fauna and flora. A specific biomass is used in order to remove the phosphorus, the so-called PAOs (Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms) that accumulate the phosphorus in form of polyphosphate in their cells. Some of these organisms, the so-called DPAO (Denitrifying Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms) use as electron acceptor the nitrate or nitrite, contributing in this way also to the removal of these compounds from the wastewater, but there could be side reactions leading to the formation of nitrous oxides. The aim of this project was to simulate in laboratory scale a EBPR, acclimatizing and enriching the specialized biomass. Two bioreactors were operated as Sequencing Batch Reactors, one enriched in Accumulibacter, the other in Tetrasphaera (both PAOs): Tetrasphaera microorganisms are able to uptake aminoacids as carbon source, Accumulibacter uptake organic carbon (volatile fatty acids, VFA). In order to measure the removal of COD, phosphorus and nitrogen-derivate compounds, different analysis were performed: spectrophotometric measure of phosphorus, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia concentrations, TOC (Total Organic Carbon, measuring the carbon consumption), VFA via HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography), total and volatile suspended solids following standard methods APHA, qualitative microorganism population via FISH (Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization). Batch test were also performed to monitor the NOx production. Both specialized populations accumulated as a result of SBR operations; however, Accumulibacter were found to uptake phosphates at higher extents. Both populations were able to remove efficiently nitrates and organic compounds occurring in the feeding. The experimental work was carried out at FCT of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT-UNL) from February to July 2014.

Real forms of Lie algebras and Lie superalgebras

In questa tesi abbiamo studiato le forme reali di algebre e superalgebre di Lie. Il lavoro si suddivide in tre capitoli diversi, il primo è di introduzione alle algebre di Lie e serve per dare le prime basi di questa teoria e le notazioni. Nel secondo capitolo abbiamo introdotto le algebre compatte e le forme reali. Abbiamo visto come sono correlate tra di loro tramite strumenti potenti come l'involuzione di Cartan e relativa decomposizione ed i diagrammi di Vogan e abbiamo introdotto un algoritmo chiamato "push the button" utile per verificare se due diagrammi di Vogan sono equivalenti. Il terzo capitolo segue la struttura dei primi due, inizialmente abbiamo introdotto le superalgebre di Lie con relativi sistemi di radici e abbiamo proseguito studiando le relative forme reali, diagrammi di Vogan e abbiamo introdotto anche qua l'algoritmo "push the button".

Glucagon-like peptide-1 versus somatostatin receptor targeting reveals 2 distinct forms of malignant insulinomas

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor imaging is superior to somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (sst(2)) imaging in localizing benign insulinomas. Here, the role of GLP-1 and sst(2) receptor imaging in the management of malignant insulinoma patients was investigated.

Eliminating exposure to aqueous solvents is necessary for the early detection and ultrastructural elemental analysis of sites of calcium and phosphorus enrichment in mineralizing UMR106-01 osteoblastic cultures

The mechanism underlying the mineralization of bone is well studied and yet it remains controversial. Inherent difficulties of imaging mineralized tissues and the aqueous solubility of calcium and phosphate, the 2 ions which combine to form bone mineral crystals, limit current analyses of labile diffusible, amorphous, and crystalline intermediates by electron microscopy. To improve the retention of calcium and phosphorus, we developed a pseudo nonaqueous processing approach and used it to characterize biomineralization foci, extracellular sites of hydroxyapatite deposition in osteoblastic cell cultures. Since mineralization of UMR106-01 osteoblasts is temporally synchronized and begins 78 h after plating, we used these cultures to evaluate the effectiveness of our method when applied to cells just prior to the formation of the first mineral crystals. Our approach combines for the first time 3 well-established methods with a fourth one, i.e. dry ultrathin sectioning. Dry ultrathin sectioning with an oscillating diamond knife was used to produce electron spectroscopic images of mineralized biomineralization foci which were high-pressure frozen and freeze substituted. For comparison, cultures were also treated with conventional processing and wet sectioning. The results show that only the use of pseudo nonaqueous processing was able to detect extracellular sites of early calcium and phosphorus enrichment at 76 h, several hours prior to detection of mineral crystals within biomineralization foci.

Numerical Computation of a Certain Dirichlet Series Attached to Siegel Modular Forms of Degree Two

The Rankin convolution type Dirichlet series D-F,D-G(s) of Siegel modular forms F and G of degree two, which was introduced by Kohnen and the second author, is computed numerically for various F and G. In particular, we prove that the series D-F,D-G(s), which shares the same functional equation and analytic behavior with the spinor L-functions of eigenforms of the same weight are not linear combinations of those. In order to conduct these experiments a numerical method to compute the Petersson scalar products of Jacobi Forms is developed and discussed in detail.

The co-evolution of development needs and IOR forms: development by committee in Bosnia

This work highlights opportunities and obstacles to success in four task forces typically found at different times in states of conflict, transition, and development. They include: refugee return, media issues, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and efforts to promote business development. Based on over 180 in-depth interviews and observations of dozens of meetings during five lengthy field research trips to the Bosnian region between 1999 and 2005, this manuscript analyzes how these four task forces differed in terms of context, strategy, organization, and management in an attempt to understand the co-evolution of international development needs and the interorganizational forms that address them.

"Framing Counterspaces: Forms and Meanings of Graffiti in Berlin's Linguistic Landscape"

Street art and graffiti are integral parts of Berlin’s urban space, which has undergone dramatic transformations in the past two decades. Graffiti texts constitute a critical comment on these urban transformations. This talk analyzes the connection between the phenomenon of street art and trajectories in urban planning in post-wall Berlin. My current research explores the meaning of various forms of street art (such as graffiti, posters, sticker art, stencils) as texts in Berlin’s linguistic landscape. Linguistic Landscape research pays critical attention to language, words, and images displayed and exposed in public spaces. The field of Linguistic Landscapes has only recently begun to include graffiti texts in analyses of text and space to fully comprehend the semiotics of the street. In the case of Germany’s capital, graffiti writing enters into a critical dialogue with the environment and provides a readable text to understand the city.

Pond-Women Revelations: The Subaltern Registers in Maithil Women's Expressive Forms

Ponds are ubiquitous in the Maithil region of Nepal, and they figure prominently in folk narratives and ceremonial paintings produced by women there. I argue that in Maithil women's folktales, as in their paintings, the trope of ponds shifts the imaginative register toward women's perspectives and the importance of women's knowledge and influence in shaping Maithil society, even as this register shift occurs within plots featuring male protagonists. I argue further that in the absence of a habit of exegesis in their expressive arts, and given the cross-referential, dialogic nature of expressive practices, a methodology that draws into interpretive conversation the multitude of expressive forms exercised by Maithil women enhances analytical access to Maithil women's collective perspectives on their social and cosmological worlds.

Computations of Vector-Valued Siegel Modular Forms

We carry out some computations of vector-valued Siegel modular forms of degree two, weight (k, 2) and level one, and highlight three experimental results: (1) we identify a rational eigenform in a three-dimensional space of cusp forms; (2) we observe that non-cuspidal eigenforms of level one are not always rational; (3) we verify a number of cases of conjectures about congruences between classical modular forms and Siegel modular forms. Our approach is based on Satoh's description of the module of vector-valued Siegel modular forms of weight (k, 2) and an explicit description of the Hecke action on Fourier expansions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.