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Faculty
- Fakultät 12 / Institut für Technologie und Ressourcenmanagement in den Tropen und Subtropen (11)
- Angewandte Naturwissenschaften (F11) (5)
- Fakultät 04 / Institut für Versicherungswesen (5)
- Fakultät 09 / Institut für Rettungsingenieurwesen und Gefahrenabwehr (5)
- Fakultät 03 / Institut für Informationswissenschaft (3)
- Fakultät 10 / Advanced Media Institute (3)
- Fakultät 04 / Schmalenbach Institut für Wirtschaftswissenschaften (2)
- Fakultät 07 / Institut für Elektrische Energietechnik (2)
- Fakultät 07 / Institut für Nachrichtentechnik (2)
- Fakultät 10 / Cologne Institute for Digital Ecosystems (2)
We consider a risk model in discrete time with dividends and capital injections. The goal is to maximise the value of a dividend strategy. We show that the optimal strategy is of barrier type. That is, all capital above a certain threshold is paid as dividend. A second problem adds tax to the dividends but an injection leads to an exemption from tax. We show that the value function fulfils a Bellman equation. As a special case, we consider the case of premia of size one. In this case we show that the optimal strategy is a two barrier strategy. That is, there is a barrier if a next dividend of size one can be paid without tax and a barrier if the next dividend of size one will be taxed. In both models, we illustrate the findings by de Finetti’s example.
The paper presents results of the modelling of heat transfer at film boiling of a liquid in a porous medium on a vertical heated wall bordering with the porous medium. Such processes are observed at cooling of high-temperature surfaces of heat pipes, microstructural radiators etc. Heating conditions at the wall were the constant wall temperature or heat flux. The outer boundary of the vapor film was in contact with moving or stationary liquid inside the porous medium. An analytical solution was obtained for the problem of fluid flow and heat transfer using the porous medium model in the Darcy–Brinkman and Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer approximation. It was shown that heat transfer at film boiling in a porous medium was less intensive than in the absence of a porous medium (free fluid flow) and further decreased with the decreasing permeability of the porous medium. Significant differences were observed in frames of both models: 20% for small Darcy numbers at Da < 2 for the Darcy–Brinkman model, and 80% for the Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer model. In the Darcy–Brinkman model, depending on the interaction conditions at the vapor–liquid interface (no mechanical interaction or stationary fluid), a sharp decrease in heat transfer was observed for the Darcy numbers lower than five. The analytical predictions of heat transfer coefficients qualitatively agreed with the data of Cheng and Verma (Int J Heat Mass Transf 24:1151–1160, 1981) though demonstrated lower values of heat transfer coefficients for the conditions of the constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux.
Academic search systems aid users in finding information covering specific topics of scientific interest and have evolved from early catalog-based library systems to modern web-scale systems. However, evaluating the performance of the underlying retrieval approaches remains a challenge. An increasing amount of requirements for producing accurate retrieval results have to be considered, e.g., close integration of the system’s users. Due to these requirements, small to mid-size academic search systems cannot evaluate their retrieval system in-house. Evaluation infrastructures for shared tasks alleviate this situation. They allow researchers to experiment with retrieval approaches in specific search and recommendation scenarios without building their own infrastructure. In this paper, we elaborate on the benefits and shortcomings of four state-of-the-art evaluation infrastructures on search and recommendation tasks concerning the following requirements: support for online and offline evaluations, domain specificity of shared tasks, and reproducibility of experiments and results. In addition, we introduce an evaluation infrastructure concept design aiming at reducing the shortcomings in shared tasks for search and recommender systems.
Stable recombinant mammalian cells are of growing importance in pharmaceutical biotechnology production scenarios for biologics such as monoclonal antibodies, growth and blood factors, cytokines and subunit vaccines. However, the establishment of recombinant producer cells using classical stable transfection of plasmid DNA is hampered by low stable gene transfer efficiencies. Consequently, subsequent selection of transgenic cells and the screening of clonal cell populations are time- and thus cost-intensive. To overcome these limitations, expression cassettes were embedded into transposon-derived donor vectors. Upon the co-transfection with transposase-encoding constructs, elevated vector copy numbers stably integrated into the genomes of the host cells are readily achieved facilitating under stringent selection pressure the establishment of cell pools characterized by sustained and high-yield recombinant protein production. Here, we discuss some aspects of transposon vector technologies, which render these vectors promising candidates for their further utilization in the production of biologics.
This paper introduces CAAI, a novel cognitive architecture for artificial intelligence in cyber-physical production systems. The goal of the architecture is to reduce the implementation effort for the usage of artificial intelligence algorithms. The core of the CAAI is a cognitive module that processes the user’s declarative goals, selects suitable models and algorithms, and creates a configuration for the execution of a processing pipeline on a big data platform. Constant observation and evaluation against performance criteria assess the performance of pipelines for many and different use cases. Based on these evaluations, the pipelines are automatically adapted if necessary. The modular design with well-defined interfaces enables the reusability and extensibility of pipeline components. A big data platform implements this modular design supported by technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Kafka for virtualization and orchestration of the individual components and their communication. The implementation of the architecture is evaluated using a real-world use case. The prototypic implementation is accessible on GitHub and contains a demonstration.
One-step preparation of bilayered films from kraft lignin and cellulose acetate to mimic tree bark
(2020)
This contribution presents the development of a dry-cast method for the one-step preparation of bio-based films from wood polymers that mimic the bilayered structure of tree bark, the natural protective layer of the tree. In a simplified view, natural bark can be considered as the superposition of an external homogeneous and non-porous layer (outer bark) and a porous substructure layer (inner bark). This work is a first step for the future development of bio-based biomimetic wood coatings. The film had a bark-like appearance and its total density, bulk density and porosity were similar to values measured in natural bark. Furthermore, the structural characteristics of the studied film, namely specific surface area (BET) and pore size distribution, as well as the performance of the water adsorption ability were investigated and discussed.
To realize a reliable and cost-effective application of high-temperature superconductive (HTS) equipment at high-voltage (HV) levels, the influence of thermally induced gas bubbles on the dielectric strength of different solid insulating materials in liquid nitrogen (LN2) was investigated. A heatable copper tape electrode arrangement was developed simulating HTS tapes with insulation in between. AC breakdown measurements were performed without and with forced boiling on insulating papers, polypropylene laminated paper (PPLP) and polyimide (PI) films. Under nucleate boiling the influence of bubbles on the dielectric strength of all materials was not significant. However under film boiling the dielectric strength of the insulating papers decreased to a level comparable to their dielectric strength in air, demonstrating the insufficient impregnation of porous materials under film boiling. For PI there was no degradation at all. PPLP retained about 70% of its basic dielectric strength in LN2.
In this paper we describe traffic sign recognition with neural networks in the frequency domain. Traffic signs exist in all countries to regulate the traffic of vehicles and pedestrians. Each country has its own set of traffic signs that are more or less similar. They consist of a set of abstract forms, symbols, numbers and letters, which are combined into different signs. Automatic traffic sign recognition is important for driver assistance systems and for autonomous driving. Traffic sign recognition is a subtype of image recognition. The traffic signs are usually recorded by a camera and must be recognized in real time, i.e. assigned to a class. We use neural networks for traffic sign recognition. The special feature of our method is that the traffic sign recognition does not take place in the spatial domain but in the frequency domain. This has advantages because it is possible to significantly reduce the number of neurons and thus the computing effort of the neural network compared to a conventional neural network.
This bachelor thesis addresses the issue of how school resilience can be measured and assessed quantitatively. Schools as social infrastructures have a significant value for society. Yet, on a global scale, they, and therefore the respective community as well, are continuously endangered by a variety of threats such as natural disasters or violence and mental abuse affecting students, parents and school staff. However, these threats differ greatly depending on climatic and geographical conditions as well as on the socio-cultural context of the corresponding community. To strengthen school resilience against potential threats and to ensure education continuity despite the occurrence of these disruptions, a methodology is developed to measure and assess school resilience in conjunction with its specific circumstances. Initially, qualitative and quantitative (composite) indicators are identified and categorised with the help of a Systematic Literature Review and Mayring's Qualitative Content Analysis. These are subsequently developed into a Comprehensive Index for School Resilience (CISR). Building on this, a pre-existing assessment methodology, which uses Likert-Scales arranged in questionnaires to assign quantitative values to the composite indicators, is adapted to operationalise the CISR and by an exemplary application at Europaschule Troisdorf, the methodology is adapted to the socio-cultural conditions in Germany using an expert’s operational and contextual knowledge. The results obtained show that the methodologies and techniques described in current international research can, after an appropriate adaptation, successfully be applied to schools in Germany as well. Nevertheless, by identifying research limitations and errors as well as potential improvements, it is evident that further research and development is needed to provide stakeholders with a decision-making tool to strengthen the resilience of schools in the future, such as an exhaustive supplement to the CISR or the integration of more precise quantification methodologies and techniques.
At the case study of the city of Cologne and the neighbouring Rhein‐Erft‐Kreis (a county), selected resilience aspects of critical infrastructure (CI) and cascading effects are analysed concerning major river floods. Using a Geographic Information System, the applicability of the approach is demonstrated using open source software and data, augmented by manual entries. This study demonstrates the feasibility and limitations of analysing lifeline features of interest for disaster risk and emergency management such as roads, bridges and electricity supply. By highlighting interdependencies of emergency services with CI such as roads, cascading effects of interconnected paths are shown. The findings indicate that in an extreme event flood scenario over 2,000 km of roads and eight bridges will be exposed to floods in the area of the rivers Rhine and Erft. This places huge demands on disaster and emergency management institutions and people affected and limits their resiliency.
This investigation attempts to understand the eco‐hydrology of, and accordingly suggest an option to manage floodwater for agriculture in, the understudied and data‐sparse ephemeral Baraka River Basin within the hyper‐arid region of Sudan. Reference is made to the major feature of the basin, that is, the Toker Delta spate irrigation scheme. A point‐to‐pixel comparison of gridded and ground‐based data sets is performed to enhance the estimates of rainfall. Analysis of remotely sensed land use/cover data is performed. The results show a significant reduction of the grassland and barren areas explained by a significant expansion of the cropland and open shrubland (invasive mesquite trees) areas in the delta. The cotton sown area is highly dependent on the flooded area and the discharge volume in the delta. However, the area of this major crop has declined since the early 1990s in favour of cultivation of more profitable food crops. Expansion of mesquite in the delta is problematic, taking hold under increased floodwater, and can only be manged by clearance to provide crop cultivation area. There is a great potential for floodwater harvesting during the rainfall season (June to September). A total seasonal runoff volume of around 4.6 and 10.8 billion cubic metres is estimated at 90 and 50% probabilities of exceedance (reliabilities), respectively. Rather than leaving the runoff generated from rainfall events to pass to the Red Sea or be consumed by mesquite trees, a location for runoff harvesting structure in a highly suitable area is proposed. Such a structure will support any policy shifts towards planning and managing the basin water resources for use in irrigating the agricultural scheme.
The Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance analyses the latest developments in the reinsurance market and, where appropriate, monitors these through research projects. In the process, the Research Centre for Reinsurance links its research activities with practices in the reinsurance sector. The year 2020 was dominated by the global COVID-19 pandemic. There were numerous substantial challenges that arose not just in general but also for the (re-)insurance industry in particular. Naturally, interaction and practical, bidirectional knowledge transfer at the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance was also hard-hit by the many event cancellations and their makeshift relocation to online formats. We particularly regretted the cancellation of the 17th Cologne Reinsurance Symposium. The 13th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance was quite a success in the chosen online format – but of course we would like to return to the traditional event format at Clostermannshof as soon as possible. A complete success, on the other hand, with 178 participants, was the webinar series hosted by the Research Centre for Reinsurance on the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) initiative on risk mitigation techniques that could alter the effects of reinsurance under Solvency II.
There are twelve people currently employed at the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance. All of the personnel, material and travel costs for the Research Centre for Reinsurance are fully financed by third-party funds provided by the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance. The special circumstances were scarcely an impediment to the research, communication and cooperation among the employees of the Research Centre for Reinsurance. As most employees do not live and work in Cologne, anyway, working from home and online had been the rule for them even before the coronavirus crisis hit. The transition to a setting working from home was (nearly) a smooth one for the other employees as well. As every year, we would like to express our appreciation to the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance, the University leadership and administration, and the Institute of Insurance Studies for their support of our research work.
The use of nematic liquid crystal (LC) mixtures for microwave frequency applicationspresents a fundamental drawback: many of these mixtures have not been properly characterizedat these frequencies, and researchers do not have an a priori clear idea of which behavior they canexpect. This work is focused on developing a new procedure for the extraction of the main parametersof a nematic liquid crystal: dielectric permittivity and loss tangent at 11 GHz under differentpolarization voltages; splay elastic constantK11, which allows calculation of the threshold voltage(Vth); and rotational viscosityγ11, which allows calculating the response time of any arbitrary device.These properties will be calculated by using a resonator-based method, which is implementedwith a new topology of substrate integrated transmission line. The LC molecules should be rotated(polarized) by applying an electric field in order to extract the characteristic parameters; thus,the transmission line needs to have two conductors and low electric losses in order to preserve theintegrity of the measurements. This method was applied to a well-known liquid crystal mixture(GT3-23002 from MERCK) obtaining the permittivity and loss tangent versus bias voltage curves,the splay elastic constant, and the rotational viscosity of the mixture. The results validate the viabilityof the proposed method.
Mental illnesses in adolescence and young adulthood are steadily increasing. Thus,mental disorders represent an individual and societal challenge and an enormous health economicburden, creating an urgent need for research and action. Mental health problems are omnipresent inthe life of young people and the internet is the first resource, which helps them to understand theirsituation. Young people with migration background often have more difficulties accessing health careservices. Digital technologies offer an ideal opportunity for a low-threshold platform that addressesthe needs of young people. The current project “GeKo:mental” aims to design a multilingual websitefor Cologne-based adolescents and young adults that will enable them to obtain comprehensiveinformation about mental illness and health, treatment options and first contact points. To designthis website, this study aims to find out what kind of health information is needed and how itshould best be presented. Nine focus group discussions with adolescents and young adults withand without migration background (N = 68) were conducted; the focus group discussions took placeat schools, in an association for social youth work and in an cultural association, which is linkedto a mosque in Cologne, Germany. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on the gatheredmaterial. The participants reported concrete challenges and needs. The results will form the basis forthe development and design of a website.
This article explores the relationship between digital transformation and disaster risk.Vulnerability studies aim at differentiating impacts and losses by using fine-grained information fromdemographic, social, and personal characteristics of humans. With ongoing digital development,these characteristics will transform and result in new traits, which need to be identified andintegrated. Digital transformations will produce new social groups, partly human, semi-human,or non-human—some of which already exist, and some which can be foreseen by extrapolating fromrecent developments in the field of brain wearables, robotics, and software engineering. Thoughinvolved in the process of digital transformation, many researchers and practitioners in the field ofDisaster Risk Reduction or Climate Change Adaptation are not yet aware of the repercussions fordisaster and vulnerability assessments. Emerging vulnerabilities are due to a growing dependency ondigital services and tools in the case of a severe emergency or crisis. This article depicts the differentimplications for future theoretical frameworks when identifying novel semi-human groups and theirvulnerabilities to disaster risks. Findings include assumed changes within common indicators of socialvulnerability, new indicators, a typology of humans, and human interrelations with digital extensionsand two different perspectives on these groups and their dependencies with critical infrastructure.
Emergency management services, such as firefighting, rescue teams and ambulances,are all heavily reliant on road networks. However, even for highly industrialised countries such asGermany, and even for large cities, spatial planning tools are lacking for road network interruptionsof emergency services. Moreover, dependencies of emergency management expand not only onroads but on many other systemic interrelations, such as blockages of bridges. The first challenge thispaper addresses is the development of a novel assessment that captures systemic interrelations ofcritical services and their dependencies explicitly designed to the needs of the emergency services.This aligns with a second challenge: capturing system nodes and areas around road networksand their geographical interrelation. System nodes, road links and city areas are integrated into aspatial grid of tessellated hexagons (also referred to as tiles) with geographical information systems.The hexagonal grid is designed to provide a simple map visualisation for emergency planners andfire brigades. Travel time planning is then optimised for accessing city areas in need by weighingimpaired areas of past events based on operational incidents. The model is developed and testedwith official incident data for the city of Cologne, Germany, and will help emergency managers tobetter device planning of resources based on this novel identification method of critical areas.
The reinsurance market continues to face major challenges – at this point we would like to outline just one of these, by way of example. The renewal of reinsurance contracts effective 1st January 2020 seems to present an-other disappointment for the reinsurance sector. This development is surprising for a substantial hardening of prices and conditions, not only in the retrocession area but also in the primary (corporate) insurance market. As a rule, a price increase in the retrocession sector is initially followed by a price rise in the reinsurance industry, which then ultimately also occurs in the primary (corporate) insurance market. Yet the trend we are currently witnessing seems to have skipped over the reinsurers. This confronts the reinsurance market with the question of whether – and, if so, when – the price adjustments will also take effect in the case of reinsurance contracts. The Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance analyses the latest developments in the reinsurance market and, where appropriate, monitors these through research pro-jects. In the process, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance links its research activities with practices in the reinsurance sector. Hereby, and facilitated through or-ganisation of the annual Cologne Reinsurance Symposium and the Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance [Förderkreis Rückversicherung], a bi-directional transfer of knowledge between theory and practice is pursued. The content of these two scientific events, as well as the completed research projects, are incorporated into scholarship and instruction at the Institute of Insurance Studies, rounding out practice-oriented training in the field of reinsurance. There are seven researchers, two employees responsible for research management and one administrative employee currently on the staff of the Cologne Research Cen-tre for Reinsurance. Thereby, all material and personnel costs are fully financed by third-party funds provided by the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance. Within the scope of its social and environmental responsibility, this year the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance dealt with the topics of climate protection, sustaina-bility and equality. Because these topics are at once global, national and individual missions, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance developed ideas and took measures to actively practice climate protection, sustainability and equality. In this ef-fort, great importance was attached to maintaining the level of quality while at the same time pursuing the objectives the Research Centre had set for itself in the above-men-tioned areas. While it is still in its beginnings, our initiative in the field of climate protec-tion and sustainability is manifested particularly in the most sustainable management of resources and travel we can achieve.
We want to thank the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance, the University leadership and administration, ivwKöln [the Institute of Insurance Studies Cologne] and the employees of the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance for all their support for the research projects and events of the past year.
The 13th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance was held 26 June 2020. Due to COVID-19, the event was held online this year. Some 80 representatives of the (re)insurance companies involved in the Sponsoring Group took part in the meeting, along with guests. Offered for the sixth time as part of the Annual Meeting, the Researchers’ Corner gave the seven academic researchers at the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance an opportunity to deliver a presentation on the research project each in which each is involved in 2020.
In three sessions – each featuring 2-3 parallel lectures with posters – the most important results of the scientific studies by the Cologne Research Centre for
Reinsurance were presented and discussed. The heterogeneity of the topics
presented by academic staff reflects the dovetailing of Cologne Research Centre with reinsurance practice.
Session 1
a) Manuel Dietmann (M.Sc.): Preventive recovery planning for insurance companies
b) Robert Joniec (M.Sc., FCII, cand. PhD): Capital is fungible, the market is
growing more efficient – But how valid are research results?
c) Jörg Dirks (M.Sc., FCII): Cyber risks in reinsurance – Insurable on a parametric basis through AI?
Session 2
a) Wolfgang Koch (M.Sc., FCII): Trend in sovereign cat pools in emerging and developing economies
b) Fabian Lassen (M.Sc., FCII): Environmental social governance – A look at reinsurers
Session 3
a) Fabian Pütz (M.Sc., PhD): Reinsurance aspects of product recalls in the automobile sector
b) Lihong Wang (M.Sc., FCII): China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – Its impact
on the global (re)insurance industry
Poster session
a) Fabian Lassen (M.Sc., FCII): Private-public partnership – The solution for the insurability of pandemics?
b) Christian Serries (B.Sc.): Silent Cyber as a challenge for the (re-)
insurance industry
c) Frank Cremer (B.Sc. / FCII): Digital ecosystems – Relevance for reinsurance?
d) Harald Kurtze (B.Sc.): Sharing economy – Impacts for reinsurance?
With the publication series, ‘Proceedings of the Researchers’ Corner’, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance meets the desire for publication of the research results of our scholars together with the accompanying posters and discussions. The titles are reproduced in keeping with the above agenda of the Researchers’ Corner
for the 13th Annual Meeting of the Förderkreis Rückversicherung [Sponsoring Group Reinsurance].
This paper presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules whichhave been integrated into electric vehicle applications, also called vehicle integrated photovoltaics(VIPV). The LCA was executed by means of GaBi LCA software with Ecoinvent v2.2 as a backgrounddatabase, with a focus on the global warming potential (GWP). A light utility electric vehicle (LUV)named StreetScooter Work L, with a PV array of 930 Wp, was analyzed for the location of Cologne,Germany. An operation time of 8 years and an average shadowing factor of 30% were assumed.The functional unit of this LCA is 1 kWh of generated PV electricity on-board, for which an emissionfactor of 0.357 kg CO2-eq/kWh was calculated, whereas the average grid emissions would be 0.435 kgCO2-eq/kWh. Hence, charging by PV power hence causes lower emissions than charging an EV bythe grid. The study further shows how changes in the shadowing factor, operation time, and otheraspects affect vehicle’s emissions. The ecological benefit of charging by PV modules as compared togrid charging is negated when the shadowing factor exceeds 40% and hence exceeds emissions of0.435 kg CO2-eq/kWh. However, if the operation time of a vehicle with integrated PV is prolonged to12 years, emissions of the functional unit go down to 0.221 kg CO2-eq/kWh. It is relevant to point outthat the outcomes of the LCA study strongly depend on the location of use of the vehicle, the annualirradiation, and the carbon footprint of the grid on that location.