University of Bayreuth

• Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement (MSE) is increasingly institutionalized in Ghana’s mining governance, shaped by UNGPs and the EU CSDDD. • In practice, engagement remains procedural and ritualistic , limiting answerability, responsiveness, and enforceability. • Elite-mediated consultation (via chiefs/elders) systematically marginalizes women, youth, farmers, and other affected groups. • Corporate governance culture and firm origin shape openness: some firms institutionalize feedback loops; others remain closed/reactive. • Inclusive, transparent, and responsive MSE can strengthen community agency, improve accountability, and enable fairer development outcomes. Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement (MSE) has become a central pillar of accountability in the mineral industry amid growing scrutiny of corporate responsibility, environmental harms and human rights. This paper examines how engagement with host communities, state institutions, civil society organizations and investors shapes accountability outcomes in Ghana’s mining sector. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and informed by global governance frameworks—including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive—the study finds that although engagement is now formally embedded in mining governance, its practice remains largely procedural, uneven and often ritualistic. Such approaches limit communities’ ability to exercise voice, demand answerability and secure equitable developmental benefits from mineral extraction. At the same time, empirical evidence from community participants highlights that when engagement is grounded in the principles of MSE—particularly inclusiveness, transparency and responsiveness—it can enhance local capacity to contest decisions and influence resource governance. The paper argues that advancing accountability requires moving beyond tokenistic consultations towards engagement processes that explicitly address power asymmetries and meaningfully incorporate community actors into decision-making. It concludes that substantive stakeholder engagement, reinforced by robust regulatory frameworks and genuine participatory commitments, is critical to achieving accountable and sustainable mineral governance in Ghana.

This study analyzes the influence of porosity on Nextel TM 610/Al 2 O 3 -ZrO 2 short-fiber-reinforced composites for the first time. Its goal was the comparison of a short-fiber-reinforced all-oxide ceramic matrix composite (SF-Ox/Ox) with a fabric-reinforced material. Since the matrix system and the processing were the same for both materials, differences can be related to the use of short-fibers instead of fabrics. Zirconium-n-butoxide was infiltrated to decrease the porosity from 32% to 46%, which increased the bending strength and the Young’s modulus from 85±19 MPa to 120±23 MPa and 40±10 GPa to 82±12 GPa, respectively. The strain decreased with decreasing porosity from 0.25±0.05% to 0.16±0.03%. The damage-tolerant behavior was maintained for all samples, which was never shown for SF-Ox/Ox in such a porosity range. The less anisotropic alignment of the short-fibers is therefore advantageous for crack-deflection. This offers the possibility to obtain damage-tolerance while having a denser matrix system.

Camera Trap Distance Sampling (CTDS) enables population density estimation of unmarked species from camera trap data by incorporating animal-to-camera distances. In this study, we systematically evaluate the sensitivity of CTDS-derived density estimates to variation in key pipeline parameters, using a high-resolution camera trap dataset from Central Europe. Over a 12-month period, 110 cameras were deployed across a forested area of 94 km 2 . Animal-to-camera distances were estimated via monocular depth estimation. To reduce manual annotation effort, we introduce an automated masking approach for calibration images based on the Segformer model, saving an estimated minimum of two minutes per image. Using red deer ( Cervus elaphus ) as model species, a full-factorial sensitivity study (n = 135 parameter configurations) was conducted, varying MegaDetector confidence threshold, depth sampling method, mean trigger intervals and right-hand distance truncation schemes. Results show that population density estimates are highly sensitive to the choice of depth sampling method, MegaDetector confidence threshold and mean trigger interval. Parameter-induced variation led to differences of up to 200% in population estimates relative to the lowest estimate, twice as much as the variation observed between spatial subsets of the study area differing in vegetation characteristics. However, relative differences between the two sub-areas remained largely consistent across configurations. These results highlight the critical impact of technical choices within CTDS workflows and emphasize the need for transparent reporting and standardization of key pipeline parameters. All CTDS analyses using automated pipelines should therefore be accompanied by dataset-specific sensitivity analyses to account for parameter uncertainty and validation challenges. Overall, our study demonstrates both the methodological challenges and practical applicability of automated CTDS for large-scale wildlife monitoring. • Automated masking reduces manual effort in depth calibration by ∼ 2 min per image. • CTDS parameter variation caused 200% difference, twice our spatial density variation. • Depth sampling, confidence thresholds and trigger intervals affect density estimates. • Automated CTDS requires standardization and dataset-specific sensitivity analyses.

We give a new proof for the existence of spherically symmetric steady states to the Vlasov-Poisson system, following a strategy that has been used successfully to approximate axially symmetric solutions numerically, both to the Vlasov–Poisson system and to the Einstein–Vlasov system. There are several reasons why a mathematical analysis of this numerical scheme is important. A generalization of the present result to the case of flat axially symmetric solutions would prove that the steady states obtained numerically in Andréasson and Rein (2015) do exist. Moreover, in the relativistic case the question whether a steady state can be obtained by this scheme seems to be related to its dynamical stability. This motivates the desire for a deeper understanding of this strategy.

Active school travel (AST), such as walking or biking to/from school, involves physical effort and situational awareness, making it a potentially health-enhancing cognitive activity. However, whether AST is related to cognitive functioning among children has rarely been explored. Hence, this study aims to examine associations between AST and spatial cognitive functions and explore potential moderating factors. Cross-sectional study. Primary caregivers of 510 children aged 8–12 years from Australia reported patterns of AST. Children completed three visuospatial cognitive tests: working memory, mental rotation, and situational awareness (recalling route landmarks and directions). Adjusted linear regressions were conducted to test associations. Interaction terms were used to explore moderation by gender, independent travel experience, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and team sports participation. Adjusted regression analysis showed no significant associations between AST and cognitive outcomes. MVPA moderated the association between walking to school and route directions (B = −0.59, 95% CI [−0.99, −0.19], p = 0.004), with weak evidence of moderation of the association between biking to school and route landmarks (B = −0.90, 95% CI [−1.98, 0.17], p = 0.099). Team sports moderated the association between biking and working memory (B = 8.71, 95% CI [2.01, 15.42], p = 0.011). While regular AST was not directly linked to better spatial cognition, some moderating effects of MVPA and team sport were found. Future research should include longitudinal or experimental study designs, incorporate objective active (school) travel measures, and explore additional dimensions like distance, duration, speed, and cognitive engagement. • Children who engaged in active school travel did not show better spatial cognitive skills compared to other children. • The Route Recall Task proved to be feasible and applicable for assessing situational awareness during active travel. • The association between AST and working memory was more favourable for those who did team sports. • Some associations were slightly more favourable among those with lower MVPA.

Abstract Hosts and microbes interact in dynamic relationships that can alter the volatile profile emitted by the microbial community. The extent to which closely related species diverge in these relationships is not well known. Burying beetles associate with a rich microbial community that is present on their breeding resource, a small vertebrate carcass. Prior work demonstrated that Nicrophorus orbicollis manages the microbial community during parental care to alter the volatile profile emanating from the nest, reducing cues for competitors that would usurp the resource. The present study extended this work to N. marginatus to first determine the distinctive volatile cues that attract this species to carrion and then to examine whether parents altered the volatile profile as a competitive adaptation. In two field tests, Nicrophorus marginatus was highly attracted to mouse carcasses supplemented with the chemical dimethyl disulphide compared with control carcasses or carcasses supplemented with methyl thiocyanate or dimethyl trisulphide. There was no synergistic effect on attraction when combining dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl trisulphide. Headspace collection followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses revealed that parents that prepared a carcass reduced the emission of dimethyl disulphide by 70.6%. Methyl thioacetate and methyl thiocyanate were also reduced by carcass preparation, while dimethyl trisulphide and dimethyl tetrasulphide were not. The results suggest that the congeners N. marginatus and N. orbicollis interact with their microbial communities in species‐specific ways to enhance competitive ability.

Abstract In the study of complex systems, the intricate interdependence among individual components leads to emergent properties that cannot be solely attributed to the properties of the components themselves. This principle is central to compositionally complex materials (CCMs), where interactions between different elements introduced into the structure result in unprecedented material properties. The emergence of high entropy materials (HEMs) in 2004 further increase complexity by achieving high configurational entropy (Sconfig) leading to unique properties and stabilizing phases that would otherwise undergo demixing due to positive reaction enthalpy. HEMs and CCMs represent an emerging family of materials where multiple principal elements occupy equivalent crystallographic sites. This atomic architecture gives rise to extraordinary properties such as tailorable electronic structures, lattice distortion effects, and synergistic interactions, resulting from their vast, near-infinite combinatorial space. Although the field is still in its infancy, early discoveries highlight their disruptive potential, particularly in energy technologies where robustness and durability are critical. Their exceptional thermal stability, corrosion resistance, and electro-chemo-mechanical durability position HEMs and CCMs as game-changers for applications demanding resilience under harsh operating conditions, such as batteries, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage systems. Beyond performance advantages, CCMs challenge traditional materials discovery frameworks. Their extensive design space makes conventional trial-and-error approaches impractical, creating an ideal platform for deploying AI-driven high-throughput computational screening, multiscale modeling, and autonomous experimental workflows. This convergence of complexity and innovation offers unprecedented opportunities to accelerate the identification of next-generation energy materials. This roadmap compiles insights from leading experts in the field of CCMs across key energy domains, including electrochemical storage, catalysis, thermoelectrics, and turbomachinery. Their contributions critically assess the current state of this material family highlighting unresolved scientific challenges, technological barriers, and the key advancements needed to move beyond the current state-of-the-art. Special emphasis is placed on combinatorial synthesis and high-throughput approaches and their potential to trigger exponential development of this emerging family of materials. Focused on energy applications, this roadmap provides a comprehensive overview of a time-critical topic, emphasizing the need for material innovation and joint efforts from academia and industry.

Glioblastoma (GBM) remains the most aggressive primary brain tumor, and intraoperative frozen section analysis is the current standard for rapid histopathological assessment. However, this approach is time-consuming and resource-intensive. Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) imaging has emerged as a label-free technique enabling near real-time microscopic evaluation of fresh tissue. This study compares the visualization of selected histopathological features in a newly developed intraoperative SRS system with conventional hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining in confirmed GBM. Tumor samples from 30 patients with neuropathologically confirmed GBM were analyzed. For each case, both HE-stained frozen sections and SRS-generated virtual HE-like images were prepared from separate portions of the specimen. Twelve neuropathologists with varying levels of experience assessed 60 images according to seven predefined GBM criteria, resulting in 720 image evaluations. Feature detection was analyzed using cluster-adjusted generalized estimating equation models, and interobserver agreement was assessed using Fleiss' κ. Descriptively, hypercellularity and hypervascularization were identified at similar frequencies in both modalities, whereas pleomorphism, endothelial proliferation, mitotic activity, and necrosis were more often recognized in HE images. In cluster-adjusted analyses, SRS showed significantly lower detection rates for hypercellularity, pleomorphism, endothelial proliferation, and mitotic activity, while no significant difference was observed for hypervascularization, necrosis, or pseudopalisading after false discovery rate correction. Interobserver agreement was feature-dependent and generally higher for HE than SRS, particularly for hypercellularity. In this feature-level analysis of neuropathologically confirmed GBM, SRS imaging provided rapid, label-free morphological information and showed comparable visualization of selected histopathological features, particularly hypervascularization. While conventional HE-stained frozen sections remained superior for certain WHO-defining features, SRS represents a promising intraoperative adjunct that may complement established neuropathological workflows. Further studies including non-tumor tissue and a broader range of glioma grades are needed to determine the full diagnostic accuracy and clinical applicability of this technique.

Tissue-level phase transitions are emerging as a crucial mechanism in tumour development and metastasis. When becoming invasive, epithelial tumours undergo a transition from a solid-like state to a more fluid-like one. Although the contributions of cell adhesions, traction forces and cell migration for such behaviour are known, the exact biophysical and molecular mechanisms controlling these transitions are not fully understood. Here we show that breast cancer cell fluidity is regulated by IRSp53, a protein linking plasma membranes to the cytoskeleton. In both two-dimensional monolayers and three-dimensional spheroids, the depletion of IRSp53 increases fluidity and active wetting of the substrate due to a decrease in intercellular friction and enhanced local cell rearrangements. Molecularly, IRSp53 interacts with the junctional protein Afadin to control global tensile state and active wetting, establishing these proteins as key regulators of epithelial collectives' viscosity in breast cancer tumouroids. In breast cancer patient samples, low IRSp53 expression levels and aberrant localization correlate with worse clinical outcomes. These findings support the broader relevance of IRSp53-regulated mechanics in epithelia and their potential prognostic value in cancer.