Medienkritik im angloamerikanischen Gegenwartsroman : dargestellt an Romanen von John Irving, Douglas Coupland und Ian McEwan ; mit einer Auswahlbibliographie

Diese Arbeit stellt drei Romane englischsprachiger Schriftsteller vor. Im Einzelnen sind das »Die vierte Hand« von John Irving, »Miss Wyoming« von Douglas Coupland und »Amsterdam« von Ian McEwan. Der New Journalism kann für diese Bücher in gewisser Hinsicht als Vorläufer angesehen werden, weshalb das erste Kapitel einen kurzen Überblick über dessen Entwicklung gibt. Am Anfang stellen die Kapitel 2 bis 4 die Biographien der Autoren mit ihren bisherigen Veröffentlichungen dar, gefolgt von eingehenden Inhaltsangaben der ausgewählten Bücher, Untersuchungen von Struktur und Stil sowie Charakterisierungen der Hauptfiguren. Im Anschluss werden die zentralen Themen der Romane, besonders die darin enthaltenen medienkritischen Aspekte, und Rezensionen von Zeitungen beziehungsweise Zeitschriften analysiert. Der Hauptteil schließt mit einem strukturellen und inhaltlichen Vergleich im fünften Kapitel und mit einem zusammenfassenden Ausblick im sechsten Kapitel ab. Als letztes wird eine Auswahlbibliographie zum Thema Medienkritik angeboten

A Collocation Method for Integral Equations with Super-Algebraic Convergence Rate

We consider biperiodic integral equations of the second kind with weakly singular kernels such as they arise in boundary integral equation methods. The equations are solved numerically using a collocation scheme based on trigonometric polynomials. The weak singularity is removed by a local change to polar coordinates. The resulting operators have smooth kernels and are discretized using the tensor product composite trapezodial rule. We prove stability and convergence of the scheme under suitable parameter choices, achieving algebraic convergence of any order under appropriate regularity assumptions. The method can be applied to typical boundary value problems such as potential and scattering problems both for bounded obstacles and for periodic surfaces. We present numerical results demonstrating that the expected convergence rates can be observed in practice

Use of polymers as wavenumber calibration standards in deep-UVRR

Deep-UV resonance Raman spectroscopy (UVRR) allows the classification of bacterial species with high accuracy and is a promising tool to be developed for clinical application. For this attempt, the optimization of the wavenumber calibration is required to correct the overtime changes of the Raman setup. In the present study, different polymers were investigated as potential calibration agents. The ones with many sharp bands within the spectral range 400–1900 cm−1 were selected and used for wavenumber calibration of bacterial spectra. Classification models were built using a training cross-validation dataset that was then evaluated with an independent test dataset obtained after 4 months. Without calibration, the training cross-validation dataset provided an accuracy for differentiation above 99 % that dropped to 51.2 % after test evaluation. Applying the test evaluation with PET and Teflon calibration allowed correct assignment of all spectra of Gram-positive isolates. Calibration with PS and PEI leads to misclassifications that could be overcome with majority voting. Concerning the very closely related and similar in genome and cell biochemistry Enterobacteriaceae species, all spectra of the training cross-validation dataset were correctly classified but were misclassified in test evaluation. These results show the importance of selecting the most suitable calibration agent in the classification of bacterial species and help in the optimization of the deep-UVRR technique