Development of a generic concept to process questionnaire result data in different statistical applications

Up to this day, data collection in domains like medicine, psychology or education is mostly carried out manually through questionnaires. These questionnaires are often associated with a lot of effort, because each participant needs a physical copy of the questionnaire. Furthermore, the results of the survey need to be evaluated manually or have to be transferred to a statistical application by hand. This is not only time consuming, but also an opportunity for potential errors. The QuestionsSys project tries to solve these issues by providing a flexible framework, that can be used to create and configure questionnaires, to deploy them on smart mobile devices and to store collected data. In order to analyze this digitally collected data, it needs to be imported into a statistical tool where it can be analyzed further. The task of importing data requires a high amount of programming knowledge, which makes it rather difficult and time consuming for someone not familiar with programming. To compensate this, this thesis introduces a generic concept to import questionnaire result data into statistical tools. Furthermore, the QuestionSys project will be expanded with concrete implementations for the statistical programming language R as well as for Microsoft Office Excel

Consumers’ reaction to CSR information source with individual ethical orientation acting as a moderator: a mixed method study among Portuguese Millennials

The present research identifies unexplored contextual stimuli for which CSR messages result in a favorable or rather unfavorable attitudinal outcome among Portuguese Millennial consumers. Conducting a mixed method study, the CSR stimuli Information Source, was determined in qualitative interviews and examined on its effect in a sequential experimental study. Communicating about CSR affected consumers’ Attitude Towards a Company positively when information came from independent sources and backfired when information was initiated by a company itself, reinforced negatively respectively by a third-party cooperation. Moderation analysis confirmed that high levels of Individual Ethical Orientation had a more positive effect on attitude formation

Laboratory evidence for volume-dominated nucleation of ice in supercooled water microdroplets

International audienceWe report on measurements of the rate of homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled water microdroplets levitated in an electrodynamic balance. By comparison of the freezing probability for droplets of radius 49µm and 19µm, we are able to conclude that homogeneous freezing is a volume-proportional process and that surface nucleation might only be important, if at all, for much smaller droplets

Patron Demand Deposit Account and Regional Patronage Financing Activities of Agribusiness Cooperatives

This paper investigates agribusiness cooperatives' reliance on patron demand deposit accounts (PDDAs) and regional patronage as sources of capital. Approximately 13% of cooperatives carry PDDAs, typically fruit cooperatives, of which over one-half have no financial protection against large unexpected withdrawals. Cooperatives with PDDAs must be concerned with potential legal conflicts regarding the handling of these accounts, as evidenced by a U.S. Supreme Court case classifying PDDAs as securities. Supply cooperatives are most likely to show investment in other cooperatives as a high percentage of total assets, which could generate insolvency issues for locals.cooperative finance, patron demand deposit accounts, regional patronage., Agricultural Finance, Agribusiness,

The vapor pressure over nano-crystalline ice

The crystallization of amorphous solid water (ASW) is known to form nano-crystalline ice. The influence of the nanoscale crystallite size on physical properties like the vapor pressure is relevant for processes in which the crystallization of amorphous ices occurs, e.g., in interstellar ices or cold ice cloud formation in planetary atmospheres, but up to now is not well understood. Here, we present laboratory measurements on the saturation vapor pressure over ice crystallized from ASW between 135 and 190 K. Below 160 K, where the crystallization of ASW is known to form nano-crystalline ice, we obtain a saturation vapor pressure that is 100 to 200 % higher compared to stable hexagonal ice. This elevated vapor pressure is in striking contrast to the vapor pressure of stacking disordered ice which is expected to be the prevailing ice polymorph at these temperatures with a vapor pressure at most 18 % higher than that of hexagonal ice. This apparent discrepancy can be reconciled by assuming that nanoscale crystallites form in the crystallization process of ASW. The high curvature of the nano-crystallites results in a vapor pressure increase that can be described by the Kelvin equation. Our measurements are consistent with the assumption that ASW is the first solid form of ice deposited from the vapor phase at temperatures up to 160 K. Nano-crystalline ice with a mean diameter between 7 and 19 nm forms thereafter by crystallization within the ASW matrix. The estimated crystal sizes are in agreement with reported crystal size measurements and remain stable for hours below 160 K. Thus, this ice polymorph may be regarded as an independent phase for many atmospheric processes below 160 K and we parameterize its vapor pressure using a constant Gibbs free energy difference of 982  ±  182 J mol−1 relative to hexagonal ice

Entwicklung einer Vorrichtung zum Orbitalschweißen eines dünnwandigen PP-Rohres mit einer PP-Endkappe

Die Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Thema „Entwicklung einer Vorrichtung zum Orbitalschweißen eines dünnwandigen PP-Rohres mit einer PP-Endkappe“. Die Arbeit befasst sich anfangs mit der Herstellung und den Eigenschaften des zuverarbeitenden Werkstoff PP. Anschließend werden Verbindungsverfahren für Kunststoffe erläutert und ein geeignetes Verfahren ausgewählt, danach die dafür nötigen Prozessparameter ermittelt und die Konstruktion der Versuchseinrichtung beschrieben. Um diese Werte zuerhalten sind verschiedene Messungen mit dem verwendeten Material vorgenommen und analysiert worden. Abschließend wurden anhand der gesammelten Erkenntnisse die durchgeführten Versuche ausgewertet und die nötigen Veränderungen an der Konstruktion beschrieben

Laborexperimente zur Mikrophysik der Wolken

This dissertation represents the written scientific work in the frame of my graduation at the Technical University Ilmenau. It deals mainly with the construction of an experimental setup for investigation of atmospheric particles by means of the Electrodynamic Levitation Technique and subsequent realization of three different experiments. The constructed levitators and vacuum chambers allow variation of temperature, pressure and gas composition in the surrounding of the levitated particle to achieve realistic atmospheric conditions. The low device height permits investigations of metastable systems, for instance droplets of supercooled liquids and supersaturated solutions, to be performed in the focus of conventional microscopes as they are used for Raman- or Infrared spectroscopy. With the presented experimental setup it has been achieved to measure for the first time the refractive index of supercooled liquid water in the temperature regime from 16°C to -36°C. In a second experiment it has been shown that the homogeneous nucleation rate of supercooled liquid water droplets with radii larger than 4µm is volume-dominated. In a third experiment the stability of highly charged liquid droplets has been investigated by analyzing induced shape oscillations of the droplet surface. A modified Rayleigh-Limit for rotation-symmetric deformed charged droplets was proposed and is supported by the experimental data.Die vorliegende Dissertation stellt den schriftlichen Abschluss der wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten im Rahmen meiner Promotion an der Technischen Universität Ilmenau dar. Die Arbeit beschäftigte sich vorrangig mit der Konstruktion und dem Aufbau eines Experimentes zur Untersuchung atmosphärisch relevanter geladener Partikel mittels der Technik der elektrodynamischen Levitation und anschließender Durchführung verschiedener Versuche. Die konstruierten Levitatoren und Vakuumkammern wurde dabei derart gestaltet, dass sich Temperatur und Druck, sowie die Zusammensetzung der Gasatmosphäre in dem die Probe umgebenden Volumen zur Simulation atmosphärischer Bedingungen leicht verändern lassen können. Durch die geringe Höhe des Gerätes werden dabei auch Untersuchungen der Partikel im Fokus konventioneller Mikroskope ermöglicht, wie sie zum Beispiel für die Raman- und Infrarotspektroskopie verwendet werden. Mit dem gewählten Aufbau gelang es erstmals, den Brechungsindex stark unterkühlter Wassertropfen im Temperaturbereich von -16°C bis -36°C zu messen. Desweiteren konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass die homogene Nukleationsrate von unterkühlten Wassertropfen mit einem Radius größer 4µm Volumen-dominiert ist.In einem dritten Experiment wurde gezeigt, dass das Stabilitäts-Limit deformierter flüssiger Tropfen gegenüber dem klassischen Rayleigh-Limit mit der Amplitude der Deformation modifiziert werden muss