@phdthesis{Kuetter2015,
  author    = {K{\"u}tter, Sissy},
  title     = {Magnetotelluric measurements across the southern Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-83198},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xix, 156},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Der Barberton Gr{\"u}nsteing{\"u}rtel (BGB) in S{\"u}dafrika geh{\"o}rt zu den wenigen Regionen mit noch gut erhaltener Archaischer Kruste. Seit Jahrhunderten wurde der BGB eingehend untersucht und seine geologischen und tektonischen Strukturen detailliert kartiert. {\"U}ber die tiefere Struktur des BGB ist hingegen wenig bekannt. Zahlreiche Evolutionsmodelle, die auf Altersbestimmungsdaten und strukturellen Informationen beruhen wurden {\"u}ber die Jahre aufgestellt. Diese Theorien sind zumeist widerspr{\"u}chlich. Sie konzentrieren sich im Wesentlichen auf die Frage, ob plattentektonische Prozesse bereits bei der Entwicklung der fr{\"u}hen Erde eine Rolle spielten oder ob vertikale Tektonik, angetrieben durch die im Archaikum h{\"o}heren Temperaturen, die Bildung der heutigen Kontinente bestimmt hat. Um neue Erkenntnisse {\"u}ber die interne Struktur und Entwicklungsgeschichte des BGB zu erhalten, wurden im Rahmen der Deutsch-S{\"u}dafrikanischen Forschungsinitiative Inkaba yeAfrica magnetotellurische (MT) Messungen durchgef{\"u}hrt. Entlang von sechs Profilen, die den gesamten s{\"u}dlichen Teil des BGB's {\"u}berdecken, wurden nahezu 200 MT-Stationen installiert. Tektonische Strukturen wie z. B. (fossile) Verwerfungszonen k{\"o}nnen erh{\"o}hte Leitf{\"a}higigkeiten haben, wenn sich leitf{\"a}hige Mineralisationen innerhalb der Scherzonen gebildet haben. Durch die Abbildung der elektrischen Leitf{\"a}higkeitsverteilung des Untergrundes mit Hilfe von MT Messungen kann der Verlauf tektonischer Strukturen nachvollzogen werden, woraus Schl{\"u}sse {\"u}ber m{\"o}glicherweise abgelaufene tektonische Prozesse gezogen werden k{\"o}nnen. Der gesamte MT Datensatz weist starke St{\"o}reinfl{\"u}sse durch k{\"u}nstliche elektromagnetische Signale auf, die bspw. von Stromleitungen und elektrischen Z{\"a}unen stammen. Insbesondere langperiodische Daten (>1 s) sind davon betroffen, die f{\"u}r die Aufl{\"o}sung tieferer Strukturen notwendig sind. Die Anwendung etablierter Ans{\"a}tze wie Verschiebungsfiltern und der Remote Reference-Methode, f{\"u}hrte zu Verbesserungen vorrangig f{\"u}r Perioden < 1 s. Der langperiodische Bereich ist durch impulsartige St{\"o}rsignale in den magnetischen und dazugeh{\"o}rigen Stufen in den elektrischen Feldkomponenten gepr{\"a}gt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein neuartiger Zeitbereichs-Filter entwickelt, welcher auf einer abgewandelten Form des Wiener Filters beruht und diese Art von St{\"o}rsignalen aus den Daten entfernt. Durch den Vergleich der Datenvarianz einer lokalen Station mit der einer Referenzstation k{\"o}nnen gest{\"o}rte Zeitsegmente identifiziert werden. Anschließend wird ein Wiener-Filter-Algorithmus angewendet, um f{\"u}r diese Segmente mithilfe der Referenzdaten physikalisch sinnvolle Zeitreihen zu berechnen, mit denen die Daten der lokalen Station ersetzt werden. W{\"a}hrend impulsartige St{\"o}rsignale in den magnetischen Datenkan{\"a}len relativ einfach erfasst werden k{\"o}nnen, ist die Detektion von Vers{\"a}tzen in den elektrischen Zeitreihen je nach Versatzh{\"o}he problematischer. Um dieses Problem zu umgehen, habe ich einen Algorithmus entwickelt, bei dem die Zeitreihen differenziert, gefiltert und im letzten Schritt integriert werden. In einer zweiten von mir entwickelten Filtermethode werden die St{\"o}rsignale durch den Vergleich des kurzzeitigen und des langzeitigen Datenmittelwerts ausfindig gemacht. Bei diesem Filter werden die St{\"o}rsignale aus den Zeitreihen entfernt und durch eine lineare Interpolation ersetzt. Durch die beiden Filtermethoden wurde eine deutliche Verbesserung der Datenqualit{\"a}t bis zu 10 und teilweise 100 s erreicht. Zur Interpretation des MT-Datensatzes wurden 2D und 3D Inversionen durchgef{\"u}hrt. Die so erhaltenen elektrischen Leitf{\"a}higkeitsmodelle zeigen eine gute {\"U}bereinstimmung mit den kartierten, geologischen Strukturen. Die Gesteine des BGB weisen in den Modellen hohe Widerst{\"a}nde auf und sind deutlich von leitf{\"a}higen benachbarten geologischen Strukturen abgegrenzt. Verwerfungszonen korrelieren mit leitf{\"a}higen Strukturen, die sich bis in eine Tiefe von 5 bis 10 km erstrecken. Eine Fortsetzung der Verwerfungszonen {\"u}ber die s{\"u}dliche Grenze des BGB wird in den 2D-Ergebnissen angedeutet. Insgesamt zeigen die Inversionsmodelle, dass vermutlich sowohl plattentektonische als auch vertikaltektonische Prozesse bei der Entstehung des BGB eine wichtige Rolle spielten.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Busch2015,
  author    = {Busch, Jan Philip},
  title     = {Investigations on mobility of carbon colloid supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) for groundwater remediation},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-76873},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {X, 127, XLIII},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Injection of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is an innovative technology for in situ installation of a permeable reactive barrier in the subsurface. Zerovalent iron (ZVI) is highly reactive with chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) and renders them into less harmful substances. Application of nZVI instead of granular ZVI can increase rates of dechlorination of CHCs by orders of magnitude, due to its higher surface area. This approach is still difficult to apply due to fast agglomeration and sedimentation of colloidal suspensions of nZVI, which leads to very short transport distances. To overcome this issue of limited mobility, polyanionic stabilisers are added to increase surface charge and stability of suspensions. In field experiments maximum transport distances of a few metres were achieved. A new approach, which is investigated in this thesis, is enhanced mobility of nZVI by a more mobile carrier colloid. The investigated composite material consists of activated carbon, which is loaded with nZVI. In this cumulative thesis, transport characteristics of carbon-colloid supported nZVI (c-nZVI) are investigated. Investigations started with column experiments in 40 cm columns filled with various porous media to investigate on physicochemical influences on transport characteristics. The experimental setup was enlarged to a transport experiment in a 1.2-m-sized two-dimensional aquifer tank experiment, which was filled with granular porous media. Further, a field experiment was performed in a natural aquifer system with a targeted transport distance of 5.3 m. Parallel to these investigations, alternative methods for transport observations were investigated by using noninvasive tomographic methods. Experiments using synchrotron radiation and magnetic resonance (MRI) were performed to investigate in situ transport characteristics in a non-destructive way. Results from column experiments show potentially high mobility under environmental relevant conditions. Addition of mono-and bivalent salts, e.g. more than 0.5 mM/L CaCl2, might decrease mobility. Changes in pH to values below 6 can inhibit mobility at all. Measurements of colloid size show changes in the mean particle size by a factor of ten. Measurements of zeta potential revealed an increase of -62 mV to -82 mV. Results from the 2D-aquifer test system suggest strong particle deposition in the first centimetres and only weak straining in the further travel path and no gravitational influence on particle transport. Straining at the beginning of the travel path in the porous medium was observed with tomographic investigations of transport. MRI experiments revealed similar results to the previous experiments, and observations using synchrotron radiation suggest straining of colloids at pore throats. The potential for high transport distances, which was suggested from laboratory experiments, was confirmed in the field experiment, where the transport distance of 5.3 m was reached by at least 10\% of injected nZVI. Altogether, transport distances of the investigated carbon-colloid supported nZVI are higher than published results of traditional nZVI.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Helpa2015,
  author    = {Helpa, Vanessa},
  title     = {Interplay between mineral reaction and deformation via structural defects},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90332},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {x, 104},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {This thesis contains three experimental studies addressing the interplay between deformation and the mineral reaction between natural calcite and magnesite. The solid-solid mineral reaction between the two carbonates causes the formation of a magnesio-calcite precursor layer and a dolomite reaction rim in every experiment at isostatic annealing and deformation conditions. CHAPTER 1 briefly introduces general aspects concerning mineral reactions in nature and diffusion pathways for mass transport. Moreover, results of previous laboratory studies on the influence of deformation on mineral reactions are summarized. In addition, the main goals of this study are pointed out. In CHAPTER 2, the reaction between calcite and magnesite single crystals is examined at isostatic annealing conditions. Time series performed at a fixed temperature revealed a diffusion-controlled dolomite rim growth. Two microstructural domains could be identified characterized by palisade-shaped dolomite grains growing into the magnesite and granular dolomite growing towards calcite. A model was provided for the dolomite rim growth based on the counter-diffusion of CaO and MgO. All reaction products exhibited a characteristic crystallographic relationship with respect to the calcite reactant. Moreover, kinetic parameters of the mineral reaction were determined out of a temperature series at a fixed time. The main goal of the isostatic test series was to gain information about the microstructure evolution, kinetic parameters, chemical composition and texture development of the reaction products. The results were used as a reference to quantify the influence of deformation on the mineral reaction. CHAPTER 3 deals with the influence of non-isostatic deformation on dolomite and magnesio-calcite layer production between calcite and magnesite single crystals. Deformation was achieved by triaxial compression and by torsion. Triaxial compression up to 38 MPa axial stress at a fixed time showed no significant influence of stress and strain on dolomite formation. Time series conducted at a fixed stress yield no change in growth rates for dolomite and magnesio-calcite at low strains. Slightly larger magnesio-calcite growth rates were observed at strains above >0.1. High strains at similar stresses were caused by the activation of additional glide systems in the calcite single crystal and more mobile dislocations in the magnesio-calcite grains, providing fast diffusion pathways. In torsion experiments a gradual decrease in dolomite and magnesio-calcite layer thickness was observed at a critical shear strain. During deformation, crystallographic orientations of reaction products rearranged with respect to the external framework. A direct effect of the mineral reaction on deformation could not be recognized due to the relatively small reaction product widths. In CHAPTER 4, the influence of starting material microfabrics and the presence of water on the reaction kinetics was evaluated. In these experimental series polycrystalline material was in contact with single crystals or two polycrystalline materials were used as reactants. Isostatic annealing resulted in different dolomite and magnesio-calcite layer thicknesses, depending on starting material microfabrics. The reaction progress at the magnesite interface was faster with smaller magnesite grain size, because grain boundaries provided fast pathways for diffusion and multiple nucleation sites for dolomite formation. Deformation by triaxial compression and torsion yield lower dolomite rim thicknesses compared to annealed samples for the same time. This was caused by grain coarsening of polycrystalline magnesite during deformation. In contrast, magnesio-calcite layers tended to be larger during deformation, which triggered enhanced diffusion along grain boundaries. The presence of excess water had no significant influence on the reaction kinetics, at least if the reactants were single crystals. In CHAPTER 5 general conclusions about the interplay between deformation and the mineral reaction in the carbonate system are presented. Finally, CHAPTER 6 highlights possible future work in the carbonate system based on the results of this study.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Rajasundaram2015,
  author    = {Rajasundaram, Dhivyaa},
  title     = {Integrative analysis of heterogeneous plant cell wall related data},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-77652},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xii, 205},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Plant cell walls are complex structures that underpin plant growth and are widely exploited in diverse human activities thus placing them with a central importance in biology. Cell walls have been a prominent area of research for a long time, but the chemical complexity and diversity of cell walls not just between species, but also within plants, between cell-types, and between cell wall micro-domains pose several challenges. Progress accelerated several-fold in cell wall biology owing to advances in sequencing technology, aided soon thereafter by advances in omics and imaging technologies. This development provides additional perspectives of cell walls across a rapidly growing number of species, highlighting a myriad of architectures, compositions, and functions. Furthermore, rather than the component centric view, integrative analysis of the different cell wall components across system-levels help to gain a more in-depth understanding of the structure and biosynthesis of the cell envelope and its interactions with the environment. To this end, in this work three case studies are detailed, all pertaining to the integrative analysis of heterogeneous cell wall related data arising from different system-levels and analytical techniques. A detailed account of multiblock methods is provided and in particular canonical correlation and regression methods of data integration are discussed. In the first integrative analysis, by employing canonical correlation analysis - a multivariate statistical technique to study the association between two datasets - novel insight to the relationship between glycans and phenotypic traits is gained. In addition, sparse partial least squares regression approach that adapts Lasso penalization and allows for the selection of a subset of variables was employed. The second case study focuses on an integrative analysis of images obtained from different spectroscopic techniques. By employing yet another multiblock approach - multiple co-inertia analysis, insitu biochemical composition of cell walls from different cell-types is studied thereby highlighting the common and complementary parts of the two hyperspectral imaging techniques. Finally, the third integrative analysis facilitates gene expression analysis of the Arabidopsis root transcriptome and translatome for the identification of cell wall related genes and compare expression patterns of cell wall synthesis genes. The computational analysis considered correlation and variation of expression across cell-types at both system-levels, and also provides insight into the degree of co-regulatory relationships that are preserved between the two processes. The integrative analysis of glycan data and phenotypic traits in cotton fibers using canonical methods led to the identification of specific polysaccharides which may play a major role during fiber development for the final fiber characteristics. Furthermore, this analysis provides a base for future studies on glycan arrays in case of developing cotton fibers. The integrative analysis of images from infrared and Raman spectroscopic approaches allowed the coupling of different analytical techniques to characterize complex biological material, thereby, representing various facets of their chemical properties. Moreover, the results from the co-inertia analysis demonstrated that the study was well adapted as it is relevant for coupling data tables in a symmetric way. Several indicators are proposed to investigate how the global and block scores are related. In addition, studying the root cells of \textit{Arabidopsis thaliana} allowed positing a novel pipeline to systematically investigate and integrate the different levels of information available at the global and single-cell level. The conducted analysis also confirms that previously identified key transcriptional activators of secondary cell wall development display highly conserved patterns of transcription and translation across the investigated cell-types. Moreover, the biological processes that display conserved and divergent patterns based on the cell-type-specific expression and translation levels are identified.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Cattania2015,
  author    = {Cattania, Camilla},
  title     = {Improvement of aftershock models based on Coulomb stress changes and rate-and-state dependent friction},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-87097},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xvi, 123},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Earthquake clustering has proven the most useful tool to forecast changes in seismicity rates in the short and medium term (hours to months), and efforts are currently being made to extend the scope of such models to operational earthquake forecasting. The overarching goal of the research presented in this thesis is to improve physics-based earthquake forecasts, with a focus on aftershock sequences. Physical models of triggered seismicity are based on the redistribution of stresses in the crust, coupled with the rate-and-state constitutive law proposed by Dieterich to calculate changes in seismicity rate. This type of models are known as Coulomb- rate and-state (CRS) models. In spite of the success of the Coulomb hypothesis, CRS models typically performed poorly in comparison to statistical ones, and they have been underepresented in the operational forecasting context. In this thesis, I address some of these issues, and in particular these questions: (1) How can we realistically model the uncertainties and heterogeneity of the mainshock stress field? (2) What is the effect of time dependent stresses in the postseismic phase on seismicity? I focus on two case studies from different tectonic settings: the Mw 9.0 Tohoku megathrust and the Mw 6.0 Parkfield strike slip earthquake. I study aleatoric uncertainties using a Monte Carlo method. I find that the existence of multiple receiver faults is the most important source of intrinsic stress heterogeneity, and CRS models perform better when this variability is taken into account. Epistemic uncertainties inherited from the slip models also have a significant impact on the forecast, and I find that an ensemble model based on several slip distributions outperforms most individual models. I address the role of postseismic stresses due to aseismic slip on the mainshock fault (afterslip) and to the redistribution of stresses by previous aftershocks (secondary triggering). I find that modeling secondary triggering improves model performance. The effect of afterslip is less clear, and difficult to assess for near-fault aftershocks due to the large uncertainties of the afterslip models. Off-fault events, on the other hand, are less sensitive to the details of the slip distribution: I find that following the Tohoku earthquake, afterslip promotes seismicity in the Fukushima region. To evaluate the performance of the improved CRS models in a pseudo-operational context, I submitted them for independent testing to a collaborative experiment carried out by CSEP for the 2010-2012 Canterbury sequence. Preliminary results indicate that physical models generally perform well compared to statistical ones, suggesting that CRS models may have a role to play in the future of operational forecasting. To facilitate efforts in this direction, and to enable future studies of earthquake triggering by time dependent processes, I have made the code open source. In the final part of this thesis I summarize the capabilities of the program and outline technical aspects regarding performance and parallelization strategies.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Duethmann2015,
  author    = {D{\"u}thmann, Doris},
  title     = {Hydrological modeling of mountain catchments in Central Asia},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-80071},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {XVI, 95},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Water resources from Central Asia's mountain regions have a high relevance for the water supply of the water scarce lowlands. A good understanding of the water cycle in these mountain regions is therefore needed to develop water management strategies. Hydrological modeling helps to improve our knowledge of the regional water cycle, and it can be used to gain a better understanding of past changes or estimate future hydrologic changes in view of projected changes in climate. However, due to the scarcity of hydrometeorological data, hydrological modeling for mountain regions in Central Asia involves large uncertainties. Addressing this problem, the first aim of this thesis was to develop hydrological modeling approaches that can increase the credibility of hydrological models in data sparse mountain regions. This was achieved by using additional data from remote sensing and atmospheric modeling. It was investigated whether spatial patterns from downscaled reanalysis data can be used for the interpolation of station-based precipitation data. This approach was compared to other precipitation estimates using a hydrologic evaluation based on hydrological modeling and a comparison of simulated and observed discharge, which demonstrated a generally good performance of this method. The study further investigated the value of satellite-derived snow cover data for model calibration. Trade-offs of good model performance in terms of discharge and snow cover were explicitly evaluated using a multiobjective optimization algorithm, and the results were contrasted with single-objective calibration and Monte Carlo simulations. The study clearly shows that the additional use of snow cover data improved the internal consistency of the hydrological model. In this context, it was further investigated for the first time how many snow cover scenes were required for hydrological model calibration. The second aim of this thesis was the application of the hydrological model in order to investigate the causes of observed streamflow increases in two headwater catchments of the Tarim River over the recent decades. This simulation-based approach for trend attribution was complemented by a data-based approach. The hydrological model was calibrated to discharge and glacier mass balance data and considered changes in glacier geometry over time. The results show that in the catchment with a lower glacierization, increasing precipitation and temperature both contributed to the streamflow increases, while in the catchment with a stronger glacierization, increasing temperatures were identified as the dominant driver.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Prokhorov2015,
  author    = {Prokhorov, Boris E.},
  title     = {High-latitude coupling processes between thermospheric circulation and solar wind driven magnetospheric currents and plasma convection},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-92353},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {117},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {The high-latitudinal thermospheric processes driven by the solar wind and Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) interaction with the Earth magnetosphere are highly variable parts of the complex dynamic plasma environment, which represent the coupled Magnetosphere - Ionosphere - Thermosphere (MIT) system. The solar wind and IMF interactions transfer energy to the MIT system via reconnection processes at the magnetopause. The Field Aligned Currents (FACs) constitute the energetic links between the magnetosphere and the Earth ionosphere. The MIT system depends on the highly variable solar wind conditions, in particular on changes of the strength and orientation of the IMF. In my thesis, I perform an investigation on the physical background of the complex MIT system using the global physical - numerical, three-dimensional, time-dependent and self-consistent Upper Atmosphere Model (UAM). This model describes the thermosphere, ionosphere, plasmasphere and inner magnetosphere as well as the electrodynamics of the coupled MIT system for the altitudinal range from 80 (60) km up to the 15 Earth radii. In the present study, I developed and investigated several variants of the high-latitudinal electrodynamic coupling by including the IMF dependence of FACs into the UAM model. For testing, the various variants were applied to simulations of the coupled MIT system for different seasons, geomagnetic activities, various solar wind and IMF conditions. Additionally, these variants of the theoretical model with the IMF dependence were compared with global empirical models. The modelling results for the most important thermospheric parameters like neutral wind and mass density were compared with satellite measurements. The variants of the UAM model with IMF dependence show a good agreement with the satellite observations. In comparison with the empirical models, the improved variants of the UAM model reproduce a more realistic meso-scale structures and dynamics of the coupled MIT system than the empirical models, in particular at high latitudes. The new configurations of the UAM model with IMF dependence contribute to the improvement of space weather prediction.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Brachs2015,
  author    = {Brachs, Maria},
  title     = {Genome wide expression analysis and metabolic mechanisms predicting body weight maintenance},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-100767},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {106},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Obesity is a major health problem for many developing and industrial countries. Increasing rates reach almost 50 \% of the population in some countries and related metabolic diseases including cardiovascular events and T2DM are challenging the health systems. Adiposity, an increase in body fat mass, is a major hallmark of obesity. Adipose tissue is long known not only to store lipids but also to influence whole-body metabolism including food intake, energy expenditure and insulin sensitivity. Adipocytes can store lipids and thereby protect other tissue from lipotoxic damage. However, if the energy intake is higher than the energy expenditure over a sustained time period, adipose tissue will expand. This can lead to an impaired adipose tissue function resulting in higher levels of plasma lipids, which can affect other tissue like skeletal muscle, finally leading to metabolic complications. Several studies showed beneficial metabolic effects of weight reduction in obese subjects immediately after weight loss. However, weight regain is frequently observed along with potential negative effects on cardiovascular risk factors and a high intra-individual response. We performed a body weight maintenance study investigating the mechanisms of weight maintenance after intended WR. Therefore we used a low caloric diet followed by a 12-month life-style intervention. Comprehensive phenotyping including fat and muscle biopsies was conducted to investigate hormonal as well as metabolic influences on body weight regulation. In this study, we showed that weight reduction has numerous potentially beneficial effects on metabolic parameters. After 3-month WR subjects showed significant weight and fat mass reduction, lower TG levels as well as higher insulin sensitivity. Using RNA-Seq to analyse whole fat and muscle transcriptome a strong impact of weight reduction on adipose tissue gene expression was observed. Gene expression alterations over weight reduction included several cellular metabolic genes involved in lipid and glucose metabolism as well as insulin signalling and regulatory pathways. These changes were also associated with anthropometric parameters assigning body composition. Our data indicated that weight reduction leads to a decreased expression of several lipid catabolic as well as anabolic genes. Long-term body weight maintenance might be influenced by several parameters including hormones, metabolic intermediates as well as the transcriptional landscape of metabolic active tissues. Our data showed that genes involved in biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids might influence the BMI 18-month after a weight reduction phase. This was further supported by analysing metabolic parameters including RQ and FFA levels. We could show that subjects maintaining their lost body weight had a higher RQ and lower FFA levels, indicating increased metabolic flexibility in subjects. Using this transcriptomic approach we hypothesize that low expression levels of lipid synthetic genes in adipose tissue together with a higher mitochondrial activity in skeletal muscle tissue might be beneficial in terms of body weight maintenance.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Olszewska2015,
  author    = {Olszewska, Agata},
  title     = {Forming magnetic chain with the help of biological organisms},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-89767},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {101},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Magnetite nanoparticles and their assembly comprise a new area of development for new technologies. The magnetic particles can interact and assemble in chains or networks. Magnetotactic bacteria are one of the most interesting microorganisms, in which the assembly of nanoparticles occurs. These microorganisms are a heterogeneous group of gram negative prokaryotes, which all show the production of special magnetic organelles called magnetosomes, consisting of a magnetic nanoparticle, either magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4), embedded in a membrane. The chain is assembled along an actin-like scaffold made of MamK protein, which makes the magnetosomes to arrange in mechanically stable chains. The chains work as a compass needle in order to allow cells to orient and swim along the magnetic field of the Earth. The formation of magnetosomes is known to be controlled at the molecular level. The physico-chemical conditions of the surrounding environment also influence biomineralization. The work presented in this manuscript aims to understand how such external conditions, in particular the extracellular oxidation reduction potential (ORP) influence magnetite formation in the strain Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1. A controlled cultivation of the microorganism was developed in a bioreactor and the formation of magnetosomes was characterized. Different techniques have been applied in order to characterize the amount of iron taken up by the bacteria and in consequence the size of magnetosomes produced at different ORP conditions. By comparison of iron uptake, morphology of bacteria, size and amount of magnetosomes per cell at different ORP, the formation of magnetosomes was inhibited at ORP 0 mV, whereas reduced conditions, ORP - 500 mV facilitate biomineralization process. Self-assembly of magnetosomes occurring in magnetotactic bacteria became an inspiration to learn from nature and to construct nanoparticles assemblies by using the bacteriophage M13 as a template. The M13 bacteriophage is an 800 nm long filament with encapsulated single-stranded DNA that has been recently used as a scaffold for nanoparticle assembly. I constructed two types of assemblies based on bacteriophages and magnetic nanoparticles. A chain - like assembly was first formed where magnetite nanoparticles are attached along the phage filament. A sperm - like construct was also built with a magnetic head and a tail formed by phage filament. The controlled assembly of magnetite nanoparticles on the phage template was possible due to two different mechanism of nanoparticle assembly. The first one was based on the electrostatic interactions between positively charged polyethylenimine coated magnetite nanoparticles and negatively charged phages. The second phage -nanoparticle assembly was achieved by bioengineered recognition sites. A mCherry protein is displayed on the phage and is was used as a linker to a red binding nanobody (RBP) that is fused to the one of the proteins surrounding the magnetite crystal of a magnetosome. Both assemblies were actuated in water by an external magnetic field showing their swimming behavior and potentially enabling further usage of such structures for medical applications. The speed of the phage - nanoparticles assemblies are relatively slow when compared to those of microswimmers previously published. However, only the largest phage-magnetite assemblies could be imaged and it is therefore still unclear how fast these structures can be in their smaller version.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Lischke2015,
  author    = {Lischke, Betty},
  title     = {Food web regulation under different forcing regimes in shallow lakes},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-89149},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {131},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {The standing stock and production of organismal biomass depends strongly on the organisms' biotic environment, which arises from trophic and non-trophic interactions among them. The trophic interactions between the different groups of organisms form the food web of an ecosystem, with the autotrophic and bacterial production at the basis and potentially several levels of consumers on top of the producers. Feeding interactions can regulate communities either by severe grazing pressure or by shortage of resources or prey production, termed top-down and bottom-up control, respectively. The limitations of all communities conglomerate in the food web regulation, which is subject to abiotic and biotic forcing regimes arising from external and internal constraints. This dissertation presents the effects of alterations in two abiotic, external forcing regimes, terrestrial matter input and long-lasting low temperatures in winter. Diverse methodological approaches, a complex ecosystem model study and the analysis of two whole-lake measurements, were performed to investigate effects for the food web regulation and the resulting consequences at the species, community and ecosystem scale. Thus, all types of organisms, autotrophs and heterotrophs, at all trophic levels were investigated to gain a comprehensive overview of the effects of the two mentioned altered forcing regimes. In addition, an extensive evaluation of the trophic interactions and resulting carbon fluxes along the pelagic and benthic food web was performed to display the efficiencies of the trophic energy transfer within the food webs. All studies were conducted in shallow lakes, which is worldwide the most abundant type of lakes. The specific morphology of shallow lakes allows that the benthic production contributes substantially to the whole-lake production. Further, as shallow lakes are often small they are especially sensitive to both, changes in the input of terrestrial organic matter and the atmospheric temperature. Another characteristic of shallow lakes is their appearance in alternative stable states. They are either in a clear-water or turbid state, where macrophytes and phytoplankton dominate, respectively. Both states can stabilize themselves through various mechanisms. These two alternative states and stabilizing mechanisms are integrated in the complex ecosystem model PCLake, which was used to investigate the effects of the enhanced terrestrial particulate organic matter (t-POM) input to lakes. The food web regulation was altered by three distinct pathways: (1) Zoobenthos received more food, increased in biomass which favored benthivorous fish and those reduced the available light due to bioturbation. (2) Zooplankton substituted autochthonous organic matter in their diet by suspended t-POM, thus the autochthonous organic matter remaining in the water reduced its transparency. (3) T-POM suspended into the water and reduced directly the available light. As macrophytes are more light-sensitive than phytoplankton they suffered the most from the lower transparency. Consequently, the resilience of the clear-water state was reduced by enhanced t-POM inputs, which makes the turbid state more likely at a given nutrient concentration. In two subsequent winters long-lasting low temperatures and a concurrent long duration of ice coverage was observed which resulted in low overall adult fish biomasses in the two study lakes - Schulzensee and Gollinsee, characterized by having and not having submerged macrophytes, respectively. Before the partial winterkill of fish Schulzensee allowed for a higher proportion of piscivorous fish than Gollinsee. However, the partial winterkill of fish aligned both communities as piscivorous fish are more sensitive to low oxygen concentrations. Young of the year fish benefitted extremely from the absence of adult fish due to lower predation pressure. Therefore, they could exert a strong top-down control on crustaceans, which restructured the entire zooplankton community leading to low crustacean biomasses and a community composition characterized by copepodites and nauplii. As a result, ciliates were released from top-down control, increased to high biomasses compared to lakes of various trophic states and depths and dominated the zooplankton community. While being very abundant in the study lakes and having the highest weight specific grazing rates among the zooplankton, ciliates exerted potentially a strong top-down control on small phytoplankton and particle-attached bacteria. This resulted in a higher proportion of large phytoplankton compared to other lakes. Additionally, the phytoplankton community was evenly distributed presumably due to the numerous fast growing and highly specific ciliate grazers. Although, the pelagic food web was completely restructured after the subsequent partial winterkills of fish, both lakes were resistant to effects of this forcing regime at the ecosystem scale. The consistently high predation pressure on phytoplankton prevented that Schulzensee switched from the clear-water to the turbid state. Further mechanisms, which potentially stabilized the clear-water state, were allelopathic effects by macrophytes and nutrient limitation in summer. The pelagic autotrophic and bacterial production was an order of magnitude more efficient transferred to animal consumers than the respective benthic production, despite the alterations of the food web structure after the partial winterkill of fish. Thus, the compiled mass-balanced whole-lake food webs suggested that the benthic bacterial and autotrophic production, which exceeded those of the pelagic habitat, was not used by animal consumers. This holds even true if the food quality, additional consumers such as ciliates, benthic protozoa and meiobenthos, the pelagic-benthic link and the potential oxygen limitation of macrobenthos were considered. Therefore, low benthic efficiencies suggest that lakes are primarily pelagic systems at least at the animal consumer level. Overall, this dissertation gives insights into the regulation of organism groups in the pelagic and benthic habitat at each trophic level under two different forcing regimes and displays the efficiency of the carbon transfer in both habitats. The results underline that the alterations of external forcing regimes affect all hierarchical level including the ecosystem.},
  language  = {en}
}