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The increasing public awareness of business related impacts on environmental and social well-being, be it positive or negative, are nowadays key drivers of corporate success. Internal and external business environments exert pressure and force transparency as well as responsible action in terms of resolving environmental and social impacts. In line with this, Porter and Kramer regard business behaviour that addresses societal needs and challenges, as the “new way to achieve economic success”.
However, whereas some companies “remain trapped in an out-dated approach to value creation” and restrict their CSR commitment to the compliance with governmental regulation, others proactively address stakeholder needs. By addressing these needs, companies can benefit from grasping the opportunity of enhanced cost efficiency and lowered risk or gaining competitive advantages through establishing unique value propositions, in a way that meets stakeholder demands. Apart from that, CSR performance can be seen as powerful tool to successfully influence stakeholder perceptions in terms of reputation, and thus an exceptional source of value creation. In addition to this, organisations can profit from win-win-win situations related to syncretic value creation by means of partnering with stakeholders. This, however, implies expanding the focus of cost- and risk-reduction towards increasing competitiveness through creating mutual benefits for environment, society and the economy alike.
Although a growing number of companies have recognised the advantages coming along with Corporate Social Responsibility engagement, the accompanying efforts have not been sufficiently mature yet. Due to the fact that many organizations apply a rather narrow and out-dated approach to value creation, they fail to achieve a balance between environmental, social and economic objectives. This, in turn, implies a restriction in their ability to exploit the full value creation potential that is related to CSR engagement. But even organisations applying a broader perspective of value creation, struggle to internalise the opportunities. This is mainly due the challenge of balancing and integrating economic and non-economic criteria. At the same time, organizations are facing the challenge of getting support from senior management and staff. Thus, in order to profit from adopting a ‘broad perspective’, firms must build a deep understanding of the benefits resulting from mutual value creation. However, the main challenge remains the systematic and strategy related integration of Corporate Social Responsibility strategies into core business processes. In respect to this, organizations have to take into account that “social and environment performance are almost certainly unique to each organization”. Thus, value creation in terms of CSR has to be understood as a highly complex set of cause-an-effect relationships among mediating variables and situational contingencies, which is too specific to rely on poorly structured and generic approaches.
In brief, organisations seem to struggle establishing an understanding that does not consider environmental, social and economic benefits as mutually exclusive. Notwithstanding, that such an understanding is established the complexity of factors influencing Corporate Social Responsibility impedes to balance between economic and non-economic criteria. Furthermore, organisations have difficulties to strategically integrate, manage and measure environmental and social performance drivers as well as outcome measures.
Polyimides rank among the most heat-resistant polymers and find application in a variety of fields, including transportation, electronics, and membrane technology. The aim of this work is to study the structural, thermal, mechanical, and gas permeation properties of polyimide based nanocomposite membranes in flat sheet configuration. For this purpose, numerous advanced techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), SEM, TEM, TGA, FT-IR, tensile strength, elongation test, and gas permeability measurements were carried out. In particular, BTDA–TDI/MDI (P84) co-polyimide was used as the matrix of the studied membranes, whereas multi-wall carbon nanotubes were employed as filler material at concentrations of up to 5 wt.% All studied films were prepared by the dry-cast process resulting in non-porous films of about 30–50 μm of thickness. An optimum filler concentration of 2 wt.% was estimated. At this concentration, both thermal and mechanical properties of the prepared membranes were improved, and the highest gas permeability values were also obtained. Finally, gas permeability experiments were carried out at 25, 50, and 100 ◦C with seven different pure gases. The results revealed that the uniform carbon nanotubes dispersion lead to enhanced gas permeation properties.
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 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 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.
Water security is a major concern for water-scarce cities that face dynamic water challenges due to limited water supply, climate change and increasing water demand. Framing urban water security is challenging due to the complexity and uncertainties of the definitions and assessment frameworks concerning urban water security. Several studies have assessed water security by granting priority indicators equal weight without considering or adapting to the local conditions. This study develops a new urban water security assessment framework with application to the water-scarce city
of Madaba, Jordan. The study applies the new assessment framework on the study area and measures urban water security using the integrated urban water security index (IUWSI) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) as a decision management tool to prioritise and distinguish indicators that affect the four dimensions of urban water security: drinking water, ecosystems, climate change and water-related hazards, and socioeconomic aspects (DECS). The integrated urban water security index (IUWSI) highlights the state of water security and intervention strategies in Madaba. The study reveals that urban water security in Madaba is satisfactory to meet basic needs, with shortcomings in some aspects of the DECS. However, Madaba faces poor security in terms of managing climate- and water-related risks. The IUWSI framework assists with a rational and evidence-based decision-making process, which is important for enhancing water resources management in water-scarce cities.
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.
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.
The Enhancement of standard dense phase carbon dioxide (DPCD) pasteurization by additional mechanical effects wasassessed in this work. These effects were induced during pasteurization by the sudden depressurization in a narrow mini-tube. The high flow velocities, moderate pressures (40–80 bar) and low temperatures (25–45°C) lead to intense degasifica-tion and shear stress. The inactivation of the test microorganismEscherichia coliDH5a(E. coliDH5a) was determinedbefore and after depressurization in the minitube, representing entirely chemical DPCD via dissolved CO2and total inacti-vation comprising the effects of dissolved CO2and mechanical effects, respectively. Compared to conventional DPCDpasteurization, which is mostly attributed to chemical effects, the additional mechanical effects increased the inactivationefficiency considerably.
Water risk assessment is becoming an essential part of any decision-making process in the business sector. In the world where freshwater resources are becoming scarcer, water risks are growing and causing high costs to businesses. Therefore, numerous frameworks, guidelines, methodologies, tools, and other approaches were developed during the last century. Various scholars have appeared to give an economic value or price for environment goods in order to understand trade-offs better. Nowadays, the corporate world tends to use different approaches to convert sustainability management data to the financial language of decision-makers. This study explores the possible ways for a company to measure the costs of water related risks. It examines how to convert water risks to financial risks using a Peruvian agricultural company. The results show, that from all today’s available frameworks, guidelines or tools there is no one commonly accepted and recognised as the best for water risk assessment and monetising. It was learned, that available tools could provide just a simple overview of possible water related risks and calculate their costs in a very general way. The work also highlights the importance of regular and appropriate data collection on the company level in order to be able to assess water risk related costs for the business.
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.
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.
In 2015, the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement provided a basis for considerable optimism for the fight against climate change and efforts to promote sustainable development, but their implementation remains an enormous challenge. Finance, in turn, plays a key role in implementation. This thesis thus seeks to provide new insights into the challenge of implementing the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda by examining pertinent financial flows while taking into considering that making use of thematic overlaps between these two agendas can help to leverage synergies, especially if financial flows take adequate account of these overlaps. Since energy plays an essential role in both the goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda (in SDG 7 and beyond it), this thesis focuses on countries’ energy-related national commitments. Against this background, this thesis investigates the question which role energy plays in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement and to what extent climate finance is considered in the context of the energy system transition. The key finding is that financial flow for renewable energy and energy efficiency improves globally with an unchanged track of non-renewable energy in the post-NDC period.
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.
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.
Campylobacter spp. are one of the most important food-borne pathogens, which are quite susceptible to environmental or technological stressors compared to other zoonotic bacteria. This might be due to the lack of many stress response mechanisms described in other bacteria. Nevertheless, Campylobacter is able to survive in the environment and food products. Although some aspects of the heat stress response in Campylobacter jejuni are already known, information about the stress response in other Campylobacter species are still scarce. In this study, the stress response of Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter lari to elevated temperatures (46°C) was investigated by survival assays and whole transcriptome analysis. None of the strains survived at 46°C for more than 8 h and approximately 20% of the genes of C. coli RM2228 and C. lari RM2100 were differentially expressed. The transcriptomic profiles showed enhanced gene expression of several chaperones like dnaK, groES, groEL, and clpB in both strains, indicating a general involvement in the heat stress response within the Campylobacter species. However, the pronounced differences in the expression pattern between C. coli and C. lari suggest that stress response mechanisms described for one Campylobacter species might be not necessarily transferable to other Campylobacter species.
As Digital Twins gain more traction and their adoption in industry increases, there is a need to integrate such technology with machine learning features to enhance functionality and enable decision making tasks. This has lead to the emergence of a concept known as Digital Triplet; an enhancement of Digital Twin technology through the addition of an ’intelligent activity layer’. This is a relatively new technology in Industrie 4.0 and research efforts are geared towards exploring its applicability, development and testing of means for implementation and quick adoption. This paper presents the design and implementation of a Digital Triplet for a three-floor elevator system. It demonstrates the integration of a machine learning (ML) object detection model and the system Digital Twin. This was done to introduce an additional security feature that enabled the system to make a decision, based on objects detected and take preliminary security measures. The virtual model was designed in Siemens NX and programmed via Total Integrated Automation (TIA) portal software. The corresponding physical model was fabricated and controlled using a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) S7 1200. A control program was developed to mimic the general operations of a typical elevator system used in a commercial building setting. Communication, between the physical and virtual models, was enabled using the OPC-Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) protocol. Object recognition using “You only look once” (YOLOV3) based machine learning algorithm was incorporated. The Digital Triplet’s functionality was tested, ensuring the virtual system duplicated actual operations of the physical counterpart through the use of sensor data. Performance testing was done to determine the impact of the ML module on the real-time functionality aspect of the system. Experiment results showed the object recognition contributed an average of 1.083s to an overall signal travel time of 1.338 s.
This research analyzes the effects that eco-labels have on the demand for organic (Bio) and Fairtrade (FT) food products. The thesis also discusses the individual determinants and motivations behind those effects. The analysis builds on data obtained from a self-programmed and self-conducted survey, with a sample of 869 students from different universities of Cologne, Germany. The Bio/FT preference is measured experimentally by randomly assigning individuals to treatment and control groups. The experiment simulates life decisions using actual pictures and prices of four products: packed and processed spaghetti, fresh tomatoes, packed raw meat, and packed orange juice.
The existence, size, and direction of statistically significant eco-label effects were obtained with two sample tests of proportions. The results prove that the FT label has a positive differential effect on consumer’s demand. The presence of the FT label makes the purchase of this juice 9.1% higher than other juices not labeled as FT. This finding confirms the hypothesis that eco-labels have a positive effect on sustainable consumption. A surprising finding is that the presence of the Bio label lowers the purchase of organic pasta and tomatoes 7.7% and 9.4% respectively. This finding is interesting because it suggests that Bio labels are not driving the demand for sustainable tomatoes or pasta for this population. Regional and cheaper alternatives are preferred by consumers in this cases.
The motivations behind consumer choices of different options were thoroughly analyzed. Binomial logistic regressions and qualitative text analysis show that the variance in the intention to consume eco-labeled food is explained mainly by price concerns and attitudes about value for money, but also by the influence of life partners as shopping referents, and the perceived behavioral controls of time and ability to monitor compliance of label standards, thus trust them.
The final remarks support the use of the Fairtrade eco-label as a market-based instrument to guide sustainable food consumption among young adults in this context, and propose changes that could make the Bio label more attractive for the targeted population. The thesis demonstrates which individual factors should be inevitably considered when implementing labeling to foster sustainable consumption. Hence, it is useful for evaluations of public and private certification schemes, and for companies that support sustainable food markets. Projects looking to understand and drive sustainable production and consumption decisions should consider this reading.
Enhancing DPCD in Liquid Products by Mechanical Inactivation Effects: Assessment of Feasibility
(2020)
The enhancement of standard dense phase carbon dioxide (DPCD) pasteurization by additional mechanical effects was assessed in this work. These effects were induced during pasteurization by the sudden depressurization in a narrow minitube. The high flow velocities, moderate pressures (40–80 bar) and low temperatures (25–45 °C) lead to intense degasification and shear stress. The inactivation of the test microorganism Escherichia coli DH5α (E. coli DH5α) was determined before and after depressurization in the minitube, representing entirely chemical DPCD via dissolved CO2 and total inactivation comprising the effects of dissolved CO2 and mechanical effects, respectively. Compared to conventional DPCD pasteurization, which is mostly attributed to chemical effects, the additional mechanical effects increased the inactivation efficiency considerably.