Lirias

The poverty in Malawi has reached alarming levels and leads to hopelessness for whole communities. The research project aims to understand better the relation between poverty and hopelessness and how it is experienced by people in church communities in Malawi. Further empirical research and pastoral theological reflection aims at making people participants of pastoral processes and strategies to …

With their extensive incorporation of information and communication technology, power systems are exposed to cyber threats. By targeting the information exchange process, malicious attackers can inject false data to cause power outage, economic loss, and system instability. Various types of cyber attacks can be accompanied by potential physical attacks that cause intensive destruction and economi…

As CMOS technology is scaling down, Advanced UT-FDSOI devices are widely applied in CMOS nanoscale applications due to their excellent immunity to short channel effect (SCE), high mobility, and high switching current ratio. These UT-FDSOI devices co-integrated with ICs operate at cryogenic temperatures (4 K or even lower) when used for particle detection, high-performance computing, cryogenic sen…

Neurogenesis is a key event of neural development, by which neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPC) stop self-renewing and dividing, to convert to postmitotic neurons. The delicate balance between self-renewal and differentiation of NSPC is controlled by intrinsic and extrinsic cues, in particular transcription factors and morphogen signals (Bonnefont and Vanderhaeghen, 2021; Villalba et al., 2020)).…

Thermoelectrics (TEs) are energy harvesters that convert waste heat into electrical energy and vice versa (they use electricity to provide active heating/cooling). Among the different classes of TE materials, organic TE materials present the advantages of being non-toxic, abundant and mechanically flexible. Therefore, organic thermoelectrics (OTEs) are perfect candidates to power wearable autonom…

Brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders represent a growing socio-economic problem in our aging society, partly because the central nervous system (CNS) of mammals has a limited regenerative capacity. Most of the injured neurons die, and the few survivors fail to extend their axons beyond the damaged site. Despite many years of research, functional circuit regeneration is still not possible.…

How should first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman perspectives on the rhetorical use of divine threat and divine violence shape current discussions of divine violence in the Apocalypse of John? This research project will explore ancient perspectives on the rhetorical connection of divine violence to moral formation and social stability, and will show why the author of the Apocalypse of John and man…

Catholic education in Northern Ireland currently faces enormous challenges. On the one hand, there is the post-secular, post-Christian socio-cultural context that is evident throughout the island of Ireland, which has had a severely negative impact on religious belief and practice, not helped by scandals from within the Church. On the other hand, political and social pressure is growing for an en…

Technology scaling has significantly increased the susceptibility of nanoscale CMOS circuits to radiation-induced transient effects. Reduced node capacitances, lower supply voltages, and stronger device nonlinearity amplify the impact of single-event transients (SETs), particularly in time-dependent circuits such as oscillators. While compact SET models exist at the logic level, they often rely o…

Present-Absence is a proposal for a research project located in and developed through a structured collaboration between architectural education and practice. The role of the 'non-built' program in architecture is frequently ignored, disregarded or given over to other disciplines. An increasingly program and performance-based profession tends to negate the intrinsic contribution of the space whic…

Forests and forest soils provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including regulating, provisioning and cultural services. Among the regulating services, European forests act as a net carbon sink, sequestering CO₂ in living and dead biomass and in soils. Delivery of these services depends on healthy forests and soils, which are increasingly threatened by degradation, potentially even turning …

The large-scale electrification of energy end-use sectors is accelerating the deployment of distributed energy resources (DERs) in low-voltage distribution networks. Among these resources, electric vehicles (EVs) and photovoltaic (PV) systems are expected to dominate future residential energy consumption and generation. While these technologies are essential for decarbonization, their increasing …

The increase in the energy consumption of fifth-generation (5G) base stations (BSs) is a growing concern in terms of environmental and economic sustainability. A reason for this increase is that wireless networks are often designed to meet the peak requirements, which have been constantly rising in each new network generation. In this thesis, we adopt an alternative approach and aim at operating …

Tionghoa (Chinese Indonesian) communities in post-colonial urban areas of Indonesia. Chinese Indonesians are descendants of Chinese migrants who arrived in the archipelago in successive waves prior to Western colonialism and developed a distinct hybrid culture. Despite their long-standing presence and Indonesian citizenship, they have often been regarded as foreigners. Throughout colonial and pos…

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is among the fastest-growing waste streams globally. Improper disposal not only endangers the environment and human health but also wastes valuable resources. This issue fundamentally hinders the closing of material cycles and the extension of product lifetimes, as targeted in a circular economy strategy. Surface condition evaluation is a critical …

This dissertation contributes to the household finance literature by empirically examining how social preferences, cultural background, and political beliefs shape retail investors' portfolio decisions. It uses survey data and granular supervisory data across three European settings. Chapter 1 uses a representative Dutch household survey to distinguish between sustainable investors who are primar…

Plant diagnostics are essential for modern crop management amid rising environmental challenges. While traditional methods depended on phenotypic observations, recent molecular and biochemical sensing technologies have gained importance by detecting metabolites, phytohormones, proteins, and RNA as potential biomarkers for certain plant-specific physiological responses. These tools can provide ins…

Two-dimensional nanosheets such as MXenes have recently emerged as promising interfacial stabilizers for Pickering emulsions, offering new opportunities to fabricate multiphase materials with tailored mechanical and functional properties. In Pickering emulsions, solid particles adsorb at fluid-fluid interfaces, forming an interfacial layer that enhances emulsion stability and allows direct contro…

Running-related overuse injuries (RROIs) impose a substantial burden on the running population, and preventing their occurrence remains an important challenge. The overall aim of this PhD project is to advance the prevention of RROIs by developing load monitoring and injury prediction models suited for real-world running conditions. Load plays a crucial role in RROI development. However, traditio…

Summary This dissertation examines how municipal amalgamation in Armenia has reshaped the foundations of local governance, focusing on the interrelated dimensions of administrative capacity, local autonomy, efficiency in service delivery, and citizen-level outcomes such as satisfaction and trust. Situating the analysis within a post-Soviet and institutionally fragile context, the study moves beyo…