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Durante la erupción del volcán de Cumbre Vieja, en la isla de La Palma en 2021, la Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), en calidad de Servicio Nacional y Autoridad Meteorológica del Estado, prestó diferentes servicios de apoyo al Comité Científico y al Comité Asesor del Plan de Emergencias Volcánicas de Canarias (PEVOLCA). Parte de sus actividades abarcaron la vigilancia y predicción meteorológica, la monitorización y predicción del transporte del penacho volcánico, y la valoración del impacto de las emisiones de gases y cenizas de la erupción volcánica en la calidad del aire en la isla de La Palma y en la región de Canarias.

Sowohl die altersbedingte Makuladegeneration (AMD) als auch das diabetische Makulaödem (DMÖ) sind Hauptursachen für Erblindungen in der westlichen Welt. Aufgrund steigender Prävalenz beider Krankheiten sowie hoher Therapiekosten sollte jede Möglichkeit der Therapieverbesserung eruiert werden. Die Therapietreue bzw. Compliance des Patienten kann hierbei eine entscheidende Rolle spielen. Trotz zahlreicher Innovationen im diagnostischen und therapeutischen Bereich bleiben die Real-Life-Studienergebnisse häufig hinter denen aus klinischen Studien zurück, unter anderem weil die Mitarbeit der Patienten häufig unzureichend ist. Die vorliegende Arbeit vergleicht die Compliance von Patienten unter intravitrealer Medikamententherapie (IVOM) aufgrund einer AMD mit der Compliance von Patienten mit einem DMÖ. Es wurden in Telefoninterviews die Gründe für die mangelnde Compliance erfragt und anschließend deren Auswirkungen auf den Visus untersucht. Hierfür wurden 136 DMÖ-Patienten (Durchschnittsalter: 65 Jahre, Frauenanteil: 36 %) und 109 Patienten mit feuchter AMD (Durchschnittsalter: 76 Jahre, Frauenanteil: 59 %) selektiert. Erhoben wurden die Patientendaten mithilfe der Smart-Eye-Datenbank an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) in München. Patienten, die ihren Termin in einem Zeitfenster von 14 Tagen vor oder nach vereinbartem Termin wahrnahmen, galten als compliant. Patienten, die ihren Termin mehr als 100 Tage nach dem vereinbarten Datum wahrnahmen bzw. gar nicht erschienen, galten als Therapieabbrecher. Der Bereich zwischen 14 Tagen und 100 Tagen wurde als ein verpasster Termin definiert. In dieser Studie zeigten die Kohorten eine vergleichbare Anzahl an intravitrealen Injektionen (durchschnittlich: AMD: 14,7, DMÖ: 13,9), an Besuchen (durchschnittlich: AMD: 22,4, DMÖ: 24,8) sowie eine vergleichbare Untersuchungsspanne (durchschnittlich: AMD: 22,3 Monate, DMÖ: 29,9 Monate). Beide Gruppen zeigten einen Anstieg an Therapieabbrüchen, je länger die Therapie andauerte. In beiden Gruppen waren Komorbiditäten der Hauptgrund für verpasste Termine bzw. Therapieabbrüche. Signifikante Unterschiede hinsichtlich der Compliance der Patientengruppen zeigten sich in der Anzahl der Therapieabbrüche (mindestens ein Therapieabbruch: AMD-Patienten: 22 %, DMÖ-Patienten: 46 %, p

To face the challenges of the 21 st century, material science has made tremendous progress in the last years. To tailor materials for their intended application, it is crucial to understand the relationship between the composition of the material and the desired properties. One of the most promising techniques for the analytical characterization of solid materials, that have gained attention in recent years are the ones based on laser-assisted plasma spectrochemistry. One of the main challenges in the direct-solid analysis remains quantification. A central aspect of this thesis is the development of methods to circumvent the need for matrix-matched standards. To determine the stoichiometry of boride thin-films, methodologies based on self-aliquoting microgrooves and dried droplets in conjunction with LA-ICP-MS and LIBS were established. Therecently introduced online-LASIL system was further enhanced and employed to overcome the depth resolution limits of conventional LA-ICP-MS. With this, the platinum surface decoration on fuel cell cathodes was successfully quantified. The capability of online-LASIL to perform quantitative depth profiles employing liquid standards was used to study the oxidation behavior of silicon-doped boride materials. The last topic of this work is related to the analysis of fluorine, an element that is not accessible with most methods used for the analysis of solid samples. Using molecular LIBS, it was for the first time possible to spatially resolve the distribution of fluorine in an artificial polymer sample.Using the findings in this thesis, it is possible to enhance the applicability of laser ablation based methods to a broad spectrum of material-science-related questions. The presented methods can easily be adapted to other material systems of interest.

This thesis aims at describing and discussing the discourse device of backchannels in British English. Exploring the general concept of backchannels, their use in ongoing conversation and their implementation into the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar forms the main body of this work. The design of this paper is split into two parts. The first part describes the iscourse device of backchannels. Reviewing past research, a typological profile concerning formal and functional features of backchannels is proposed. This typological profile then is transcribed into abstract representations in order to implement it into the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar. The second part revolves around describing the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar and the implementation of the proposed framework. The basic outline and conception of Functional Discourse Grammar will be explained, before two of the four levels, the so-called Interpersonal Level and Phonological Level will be presented in closer detail. Finally, the proposed frames for backchannels will be implemented into the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar. Afterwards the proposed framework will be tested against various examples taken from the BNC. Following the analysis of the data is a discussion on the device of backchannels itself, its implementation into the grammar model, as well as further implications and problems that arose during application. Lastly, the conclusion summarises the findings, while also providing an outlook for further research.

Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the findings about the virus transmission route through aerosols, indoor air quality is a major topic when it comes to efforts to contain the spread of SARSCoV- 2 in the population. Most calculations of infection risk, however, still rely on CO2 as a proxy for exhaled aerosols. This assumption is no longer valid when air filtration devices are used, arising the need to include actual measured aerosol concentration into the calculation of indoor infection risk. To close this gab, a version of Wells-Riley equation, extended to include the effect of air filtration into determination of reproductive number, is introduced and applied to measurement data from indoor air quality during school lessons. The results show, that taking only CO2 into account will overestimate the real infection risk from aerosols by 20% in the cases without air filtration and by 60% in the cases with air filtration. Furthermore, measurement results varied strongly between different classrooms. This indicates that general airing recommendation, as applied during these tests, are not enough to assure a healthy environment and more individual measurements are necessary.

Atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INP) play an important role in determining the phase of clouds, which affects their albedo and lifetime. A lack of data on the spatial and temporal variation of INPs around the globe limits our predictive capacity and understanding of clouds containing ice. Automated instrumentation that can robustly measure INP concentrations across the full range of tropospheric temperatures is needed in order to address this knowledge gap. In this study, we demonstrate the functionality and capacity of the new Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment (PINE) to study ice nucleation processes and to measure INP concentrations under conditions pertinent for mixed-phase clouds, with temperatures from about −10 °C to about −38 °C. PINE is a cloud expansion chamber which avoids frost formation on the cold walls, and thereby omits frost fragmentation and related background ice signals during the operation. The development, working principle, and treatment of data for the PINE instrument is discussed in detail. We present extensive laboratory based tests where PINE measurements were compared with those from the established AIDA (Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) cloud chamber. The results show good agreement of PINE with AIDA for homogeneous freezing of pure water droplets and the immersion freezing activity of mineral aerosols. Results from a first field campaign conducted at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) observatory in Oklahoma, USA, from October 1 to November 14, 2019 with the latest PINE design (a commercially available PINE chamber) are also shown, demonstrating PINE’s ability to make automated field measurements of INP concentrations at high time resolution of about 8 minutes with continuous wall temperature scans between −5 and −35 °C. During this field campaign, PINE was continuously operated for 45 days in a fully automated and semi-autonomous way, demonstrating the capability of this new instrument to be also used for longer term field measurements and INP monitoring activities in observatories.

The REACH regulation stands for &ldquo, Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals&rdquo, and defines certain substances as harmful to human health and the environment. This urges manufacturers to adapt production processes. Boric acid and cobalt dichloride represent such harmful ingredients, but are commonly used in yeast cultivation media. The yeast Komagataella phaffii (Pichia pastoris) is an important host for heterologous protein production and compliance with the REACH regulation is desirable. Boric acid and cobalt dichloride are used as boron and cobalt sources, respectively. Boron and cobalt support growth and productivity and a number of cobalt-containing enzymes exist. Therefore, depletion of boric acid and cobalt dichloride could have various negative effects, but knowledge is currently scarce. Herein, we provide an insight into the impact of boric acid and cobalt depletion on recombinant protein production with K. phaffii and additionally show how different vessel materials affect cultivation media compositions through leaking elements. We found that boric acid could be substituted through boron leakiness from borosilicate glassware. Furthermore, depletion of boric acid and cobalt dichloride neither affected high cell density cultivation nor cell morphology and viability on methanol. However, final protein quality of three different industrially relevant enzymes was affected in various ways.

Air pollution due to particulate matter, especially ultrafine particles, and the related negative effects (health problems, economic damage) has become one of the major problems our society is faced with today. In order to be able to investigate and to assess the real exposition of the general public in a comprehensive way, the performance of precise and accurate measurements of particulate matter is an essential part of air pollution control. For the monitoring of ultrafine and engineered nanoparticles, typically Condensation Particle Counters and Differential Electric Mobility Sprectrometers are used. Depending on the aim of research the requirements on the monitoring instruments might be significantly different. Whereas for a general approach a low time resolution and higher detection limit might be acceptable, a more detailed analysis and source appointment desire detection limits down to 1nm, 1s time resolution or differentiation between volatile and non-volatile components. This presentation will show and discuss the possibilities and limitations of currently available instruments based on the examples from airport measurements or ship emissions.