diff --git a/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/orcid/MIROrcidServlet.java b/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/orcid/MIROrcidServlet.java
index 947b9a2ea8..35761b242d 100644
--- a/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/orcid/MIROrcidServlet.java
+++ b/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/orcid/MIROrcidServlet.java
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 package org.mycore.mir.orcid;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLEncoder;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
@@ -55,10 +56,10 @@ public class MIROrcidServlet extends MCRServlet {
     private static final String SEARCH_ORCID_XPATH = "/search:search/search:result/common:orcid-identifier/common:path";
 
     private static List<MIROrcidPersonEntry> getPersonList(String query)
-        throws MalformedURLException, UnsupportedEncodingException {
-        String encodedQuery = URLEncoder.encode(query, "UTF-8");
+        throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
+        String encodedQuery = URLEncoder.encode(query, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
 
-        URL url = new URL(ORCID_REQUEST_BASE + "search/?q=" + encodedQuery + "&rows=" + ORCID_FETCH_SIZE * 2);
+        URL url = new URI(ORCID_REQUEST_BASE + "search/?q=" + encodedQuery + "&rows=" + ORCID_FETCH_SIZE * 2).toURL();
 
         try {
             Document document = new SAXBuilder().build(url);
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ private static List<String> getOrcidsFromDocument(Document document) {
 
     private static MIROrcidPersonEntry getEntry(String orcid) {
         try {
-            URL url = new URL(ORCID_REQUEST_BASE + orcid + "/personal-details");
+            URL url = new URI(ORCID_REQUEST_BASE + orcid + "/personal-details").toURL();
             Document document = new SAXBuilder().build(url);
             Element element = document.getRootElement();
 
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ private static MIROrcidPersonEntry getEntry(String orcid) {
             }
 
             return new MIROrcidPersonEntry(givenName.getTextTrim(), familyName.getTextTrim(), ORCID_URL + orcid);
-        } catch (JDOMException | IOException e) {
+        } catch (JDOMException | IOException | URISyntaxException e) {
             throw new MCRException(e);
         }
     }
diff --git a/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/sherpa/MCRSherpaProxyResource.java b/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/sherpa/MCRSherpaProxyResource.java
index 7607c44016..1f9fc142cd 100644
--- a/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/sherpa/MCRSherpaProxyResource.java
+++ b/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/sherpa/MCRSherpaProxyResource.java
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
@@ -64,17 +66,15 @@ public Response retrieve(@PathParam("type") String type, @QueryParam("filter") S
             urlStr+="&filter="+filter;
         }
         try {
-            URL url = new URL(urlStr);
-            try(InputStream is = url.openStream()){
-                try(ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream()){
-                    is.transferTo(bos);
-                    return Response.ok(bos.toByteArray()).build();
-                }
+            URL url = new URI(urlStr).toURL();
+            try (InputStream is = url.openStream(); ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream()) {
+                is.transferTo(bos);
+                return Response.ok(bos.toByteArray()).build();
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 LOGGER.error("Error while performing request!", e);
                 return Response.serverError().build();
             }
-        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
+        } catch (MalformedURLException | URISyntaxException e) {
             LOGGER.error("Error while building URL " + urlStr, e);
             return Response.serverError().build();
         }
diff --git a/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/validation/MIRValidationHelper.java b/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/validation/MIRValidationHelper.java
index 57be4e8ec7..abfd94235e 100644
--- a/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/validation/MIRValidationHelper.java
+++ b/mir-module/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/validation/MIRValidationHelper.java
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
@@ -30,7 +32,7 @@ public static String validateSDNB(String sdnb) {
     public static boolean validatePPN(String ppn) {
         String database = MCRConfiguration2.getString("MIR.PPN.DatabaseList").orElse("gvk");
         try {
-            URL url = new URL("http://uri.gbv.de/document/" + database + ":ppn:" + ppn);
+            URL url = new URI("http://uri.gbv.de/document/" + database + ":ppn:" + ppn).toURL();
             HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
             connection.setRequestMethod("GET");
             connection.connect();
@@ -38,8 +40,8 @@ public static boolean validatePPN(String ppn) {
             if (resCode == 200 || resCode == 302) {
                 return true;
             }
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            LogManager.getLogger().error("IOException while validating PPN.", e);
+        } catch (IOException | URISyntaxException e) {
+            LogManager.getLogger().error("Exception while validating PPN.", e);
         }
         return false;
     }
diff --git a/mir-module/src/main/resources/xsl/metadata/mir-abstract.xsl b/mir-module/src/main/resources/xsl/metadata/mir-abstract.xsl
index f40ae77c57..42f8f3b8e1 100644
--- a/mir-module/src/main/resources/xsl/metadata/mir-abstract.xsl
+++ b/mir-module/src/main/resources/xsl/metadata/mir-abstract.xsl
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@
     <xsl:param name="label"/>
 
     <xsl:variable name="hitsSortList" xmlns:encoder="xalan://java.net.URLEncoder"
-                  select="document(concat('solr:q=',encoder:encode($query), '&amp;rows=1000&amp;sort=mods.part.order.', $objectID, ' desc,mods.dateIssued desc, mods.dateIssued.host desc,',  $modsPart, ' desc, mods.title.main desc&amp;group=true&amp;group.limit=1000&amp;group.field=mods.yearIssued'))/response/lst[@name='grouped']/lst[@name='mods.yearIssued']" />
+                  select="document(concat('solr:q=',encoder:encode($query), '&amp;rows=1000&amp;sort=mods.part.order.', $objectID, '%20desc,mods.dateIssued%20desc,%20mods.dateIssued.host%20desc,',  $modsPart, '%20desc,%20mods.title.main%20desc&amp;group=true&amp;group.limit=1000&amp;group.field=mods.yearIssued'))/response/lst[@name='grouped']/lst[@name='mods.yearIssued']" />
     <xsl:if test="$hitsSortList/int[@name='matches'] &gt; 0">
         <xsl:call-template name="listRelatedItems">
           <xsl:with-param name="hits" select="$hitsSortList"/>
diff --git a/mir-wizard/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/wizard/command/MIRWizardDownloadDBLib.java b/mir-wizard/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/wizard/command/MIRWizardDownloadDBLib.java
index ea45e46e09..de8f4e0756 100644
--- a/mir-wizard/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/wizard/command/MIRWizardDownloadDBLib.java
+++ b/mir-wizard/src/main/java/org/mycore/mir/wizard/command/MIRWizardDownloadDBLib.java
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 package org.mycore.mir.wizard.command;
 
 import java.io.File;
-import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URI;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FilenameUtils;
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public void doExecute() {
                     File file = new File(libDir + File.separator + fname);
                     try {
 
-                        FileUtils.copyURLToFile(new URL(url), file);
+                        FileUtils.copyURLToFile(new URI(url).toURL(), file);
                         MCRConfigurationDirSetup.loadExternalLibs();
 
                         success = true;
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 34a6a11646..b3dc645641 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -334,12 +334,6 @@
                     <version>${tomcat.version}</version>
                     <type>tar.gz</type>
                   </artifactInstaller>
-                  <dependencies>
-                    <dependency>
-                      <groupId>com.sun.activation</groupId>
-                      <artifactId>jakarta.activation</artifactId>
-                    </dependency>
-                  </dependencies>
                 </container>
                 <configuration>
                   <home>${project.build.directory}/catalina-base</home>