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Circular economy in practice: the benefits of collaboration for securing material flow
No full textThis paper aims to describe an amiable approach of addressing challenges to transitioning to a circular economy through collaboration and knowledge sharing between different partners
Automated Kubernetes workload hardening using a functionality oracle
No full textKubernetes allows workloads to be deployed in sandboxed environments using containerization, offering fine-grained runtime restrictions via securityContext configurations. However, determining whether an application continues to function correctly under increasingly restrictive settings remains a challenge, especially when conventional testing methodologies require application-specific knowledge or integration tests. This thesis presents a methodology for automated workload hardening, without requiring internal knowledge of the workload under test.
A Kubernetes Operator was developed that iteratively restricts container runtime permissions and evaluates the functional correctness of workloads using a set of heuristics. These heuristics rely on telemetry signals such as container logs, and resource metrics, gathered during controlled check runs and compared against a recorded baseline. Log analysis is performed using the Drainalgorithm, while time series data are evaluated through statistical summaries. The operator clones the workload’s Namespace to preserve isolation, executes checks for different configurations, and synthesizes a recommended securityContext configuration based on the outcome. Real-world workloads were used for evaluation, alongside custom workloads targeting specific runtime constraints. The results demonstrate that functionality-based hardening is feasible with minimal assumptions, and that log-based heuristics are particularly elective for detecting deviations. The operator-based approach integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes environments and supports developer workflows by providing actionable hardening recommendations
Online tools to support career planning on the pathway to vocational education and training (VET) or general education
No full textToward origami-inspired in vitro cardiac tissue models
No full textThe advancement of in vitro engineered cardiac tissue-based patches is paramount for providing viable solutions for restoring cardiac function through in vivo implantation. Numerous techniques described in the literature aim to provide diverse mechanical and topographical cues simultaneously, fostering enhanced in vitro cardiac maturation and functionality. Among these, cellulose paper-based scaffolds have gained attention owing to their inherent benefits, such as biocompatibility and ease of chemical and physical modification. This study introduces a novel approach of utilizing customized paper-based scaffolds as cell culture substrates, facilitating both the formation and manipulation of cell constructs while promoting mechanical contraction. Here, we investigated two methodologies to foster mechanical contractions of paper-based constructs: the incorporation of micropatterns on paper to dictate cell orientation and macropattern created by the origami-folded paper. Both approaches provide mechanical support and foster cardiac functionality. However, while micropatterning does not significantly improve the functional parameters, a macropattern created by origami folding proves to be essential in facilitating contraction of the paper-based cardiac constructs. Furthermore, we provide proof of principle for the combination with a layer of physiologically differentiated microvascular networks. This approach holds great promise for the development of structurally organized contractile cardiac tissues with the possibility of creating multistrata of cardiac and vascular layers to promote in vivo cell survival and function beyond what is typically achieved in conventional cell culture
Rethinking ways of exchange. Why do we need alternative ways of exchange and how do we create them?
No full textEin Moment des Austausches für einen Zweck, der über das Individuum hinausgeht. – In meiner Bachelor-Arbeit geht es darum, kollektiv auf experimentelle Weise alternative Wege von Austausch zu finden, um Wissen zu teilen und um voneinander zu lernen und neue Denkansätze zu erhalten. Das «Wir» in diesem Sinn sind die Personen, die beim Prozess dabei waren, Menschen, die diese Arbeit lesen und davon inspiriert werden, und Menschen, die Alternativen benötigen und von sich aus diese Alternativen in die Welt bringen. Durch verschiedene Formate der Feldforschung habe ich Austauschmomente aktiv geplant, durchgeführt und festgehalten, mit dem Ziel, daraus zu lernen und mitzunehmen, was Menschen benötigen. Wieso? Weil ich als Prozessgestalterin und Person, die aktiv in Austauschformaten und Community Building involviert ist, daran interessiert bin, was Personen in meinem näheren Umfeld für die Stärkung ihrer Community benötigen und welche versteckten Bedürfnisse in ihnen schlummern.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11806/data/NextGen25-gx23bcx
How do we trust AI? A Qualitative Analysis On Aspects Influencing The Perceived Trustworthiness Of AI
No full textThis thesis investigates the aspects of perceived trustworthiness of AI by exploring how users evaluate AI systems across technical, axiological, and contextual dimensions
Metabolizing yerba mate perspectives. A fieldwork practice towards mending & cultivating soil belongings
No full textThis Master's thesis circles around the Swiss-Argentine heritage and impact of Yerba Mate production and its global logistics. The author scrutinises the Swiss popular drink of El Tony mate and her own identity as an Argentinian-Italian immigrant in Switzerland, as both subjects and offsprings of a globalization campaign. By revising and co-gathering both institutional and personal archives (that of the ETH Zurich Agronomist Studies and the environmental records of her father Juan Carlos Chebez) Camila puts into evidence the territorial complexities of a shared history of colonialism and resource extraction, implicated within the act of consuming the plant. When critically engaging with the larger bodies of productionist-subjected soils that have become impoverished, what medicinal knowledge can this plant’s leaves and photographic archives brew in combination? Metabolizing Yerba Mate perspectives, plants an initial image that hopes to imagine and seed canopies under which to face together the looming signs of troubling-times ahead.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11806/data/NextGen25-k2foei0
Divide and conquer based symbolic vulnerability detection
No full textIn modern software development, vulnerability detection is crucial due to the inevitability of bugs and vulnerabilities in complex software systems. Effective detection and elimination of these vulnerabilities during the testing phase are essential. Current methods, such as fuzzing, are widely used for this purpose. While fuzzing is efficient in identifying a broad range of bugs and vulnerabilities by using random mutations or generations, it does not guarantee correctness or absence of vulnerabilities. Therefore, non-random methods are preferable for ensuring the safety and security of critical infrastructure and control systems. This paper presents a vulnerability detection approach based on symbolic execution and control flow graph analysis to identify various types of software weaknesses. Our approach employs a divide-and-conquer algorithm to eliminate irrelevant program information, thus accelerating the process and enabling the analysis of larger programs compared to traditional symbolic execution and model checking methods
RAG-Assisted Knowledge Graph Construction for Course Recommendation System
No full textThe study was conducted under a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology to develop a scalable foundation for AI-driven, skill-based course recommendation. For each education program, the taught skills were automatically derived by configuring a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline with GPT-4 and grounding it in program descriptions. The generated skills were modeled as nodes and, together with the corresponding program entities, were loaded into a graph database (Neo4j), thereby instantiating a sustainable, domain-specific Knowledge Graph (KG)
Mit Vollgas zur Markenbindung – Der Einfluss von Sponsoringaktivierungen auf die Markenbindung junger Erwachsener am Beispiel Pirelli und der Formel 1
No full textZahlreiche Luxusmarken nutzen Sponsoringpartnerschaften mit der Formel 1, um ein traditionell älteres, markenaffines Publikum zu erreichen. Durch die strategische Neuausrichtung des Motorsports hat sich die Audienz der Rennserie jedoch deutlich verjüngt.
Für den Sponsor Pirelli, welches die Reifen der Rennserie bereitstellt, ergibt sich daraus die Herausforderung, junge Erwachsene gezielt anzusprechen und frühzeitig an die Marke zu binden. Diese Arbeit untersucht anhand eines Mixed-Methods-Designs, wie
Sponsoringaktivierungen von Pirelli gestaltet sein müssen, um Markenbindung in dieser Zielgruppe (Personen zwischen 18 und 34 Jahren) zu fördern. Interviews mit Fachpersonen im Rahmen der qualitativen Phase (N = 3) zeigen auf, wie Unternehmen ihre Sponsoringaktivierungen im Motorsport gestalten, insbesondere zur Ansprache junger Erwachsener. Aufbauend auf diesen Ergebnissen wurden fünf Hypothesen formuliert, die den Einfluss unterschiedlicher Aktivierungsformen, die Wirkung von Sponsoringexposition sowie potenzielle Moderationseffekte auf Markenbindung untersuchen. In einem anschliessenden Online-Experiment (N = 127, M = 24.2 Jahre, 50.4 % weiblich) wurden die Effekte zweier TikTok-Videos als Aktivierungsformen von Pirelli auf die Markenbindung getestet. Aufgrund fehlender Normalverteilung wurden non-parametrische Verfahren eingesetzt. Es zeigte sich ein
signifikanter Gruppenunterschied (χ²(2) = 7.19, p = .03, ε² = 0.06), Post-hoc-Analysen ergaben eine signifikant höhere Markenbindung in der Kontrollgruppe gegenüber der emotional aktivierten Gruppe (p = .03). Zudem zeigte sich ein signifikanter negativer Zusammenhang zwischen dem Konsum von Drive to Survive und Markenbindung (r = –.30, p < .001). Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass aktivierende Inhalte differenziert eingesetzt werden müssen und nicht pauschal Markenbindung fördernd sind