diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-beam-flink/uc2-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-beam-flink/uc2-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
index a113a9fb873d9cac14273b175afa7c08bac3f2fe..20ebf1e0f1b18f9719465c358c5354ceb8f41c8d 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-beam-flink/uc2-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-beam-flink/uc2-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_org_apache_beam_runners_core_LateDataDroppingDoFnRunner_droppedDueToLateness[30s])) by (job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_org_apache_beam_runners_core_LateDataDroppingDoFnRunner_droppedDueToLateness[30s])) by (job) OR clamp_max(absent(notExists{job='absent'}),0)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-flink/uc2-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-flink/uc2-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
index 51ebb7c27c96fa6597b5137059025c877d62a91e..0c30c88ffde9cc7de7c4aec33d769edc560ae6c4 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-flink/uc2-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-flink/uc2-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_numLateRecordsDropped[30s])) by(job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_numLateRecordsDropped[30s])) by(job)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-hazelcastjet/uc2-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-hazelcastjet/uc2-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml
index e207c4a1e71fe355cddadc8eeeba721d49c5e7d2..419326787e942a0fb69b7e9c9dca48b11903218d 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-hazelcastjet/uc2-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-hazelcastjet/uc2-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(com_hazelcast_jet_metrics_lateeventsdropped[30s])) by(job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(com_hazelcast_jet_metrics_lateeventsdropped[30s])) by(job)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-kstreams/uc2-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-kstreams/uc2-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml
index c20ef252d3edc200153f90c8ec25d0229e657031..3e82c08f33530fc390aeb82cf5e1f7aad0c3090b 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-kstreams/uc2-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc2-kstreams/uc2-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(kafka_streams_stream_task_metrics_dropped_records_total[30s])) by (job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(kafka_streams_stream_task_metrics_dropped_records_total[30s])) by (job)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-beam-flink/uc4-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-beam-flink/uc4-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
index 89461e5bc24f7fbcec1d67457b3052a0a819454c..36701522bb2ab671e1873d4c1053851673dab619 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-beam-flink/uc4-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-beam-flink/uc4-beam-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_org_apache_beam_runners_core_LateDataDroppingDoFnRunner_droppedDueToLateness[30s])) by (job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_org_apache_beam_runners_core_LateDataDroppingDoFnRunner_droppedDueToLateness[30s])) by (job) OR clamp_max(absent(notExists{job='absent'}),0)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-flink/uc4-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-flink/uc4-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
index 7820559f79cbe68ce09e2f2561913576bd713394..4eddd777128b4c1eb7a20ad9013a41d410bf5fe1 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-flink/uc4-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-flink/uc4-flink-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_numLateRecordsDropped[30s])) by(job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(flink_taskmanager_job_task_operator_numLateRecordsDropped[30s])) by(job)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-hazelcastjet/uc4-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-hazelcastjet/uc4-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml
index d630b97537eeef8c575f3c42de52443ee054e80e..2370bbbadbb955a542e3a8171c7beafd6e9b0c75 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-hazelcastjet/uc4-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-hazelcastjet/uc4-hazelcastjet-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ spec:
           resource: "uc4-load-generator-deployment.yaml"
           properties:
             container: "workload-generator"
-            variableName: "NUM_SENSORS"
+            variableName: "NUM_NESTED_GROUPS"
         - type: NumNestedGroupsLoadGeneratorReplicaPatcher
           resource: "uc4-load-generator-deployment.yaml"
           properties:
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(com_hazelcast_jet_metrics_lateeventsdropped[30s])) by(job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(com_hazelcast_jet_metrics_lateeventsdropped[30s])) by(job)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-kstreams/uc4-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-kstreams/uc4-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml
index 693e85405dd2b3297d805c18fea82c78e9f4bde5..e43f210f69facf7e3b404f5c1e00592a5e7f549d 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-kstreams/uc4-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/definitions/uc4-kstreams/uc4-kstreams-benchmark-operator.yaml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ spec:
           resource: "uc4-load-generator-deployment.yaml"
           properties:
             container: "workload-generator"
-            variableName: "NUM_SENSORS"
+            variableName: "NUM_NESTED_GROUPS"
         - type: NumNestedGroupsLoadGeneratorReplicaPatcher
           resource: "uc4-load-generator-deployment.yaml"
           properties:
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ spec:
       offset: 0
       properties:
         externalSloUrl: "http://localhost:8082"
-        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(kafka_streams_stream_task_metrics_dropped_records_total[30s])) by (job) OR vector(0)"
+        promQLQuery: "sum(rate(kafka_streams_stream_task_metrics_dropped_records_total[30s])) by (job)"
         warmup: 60 # in seconds
         queryAggregation: max
         repetitionAggregation: median