@phdthesis{Luehe2018, author = {L{\"u}he, Josefine}, title = {Das Zusammenspiel von Geschlecht und sozialer Herkunft im Bildungserfolg und in den beruflichen Aspirationen}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42887}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428870}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {198}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Studien zum Bildungserfolg in Deutschland weisen auf verschiedene Ungleichheitsdimensionen hin. So wurde wiederholt ein enger Zusammenhang zwischen der sozialen Herkunft und dem schulischen Bildungserfolg dokumentiert. Des Weiteren stellen auch Geschlechterunterschiede im Bildungserfolg einen vielfach berichteten und sowohl wissenschaftlich als auch gesellschaftlich diskutierten Befund dar. Der großen Anzahl an Studien, die sich jeweils einer dieser Ungleichheitsdimensionen widmen, steht jedoch ein Forschungsbedarf bez{\"u}glich des systematischen Wissens {\"u}ber die Wechselwirkung von Geschlecht und sozialer Herkunft im Bildungserfolg gegen{\"u}ber. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat die vorliegende Arbeit zum Ziel, das Zusammenspiel von Geschlecht und sozialer Herkunft zu untersuchen, wobei sie von zwei {\"u}bergeordneten Fragestellungen geleitet wird, die im Rahmen von vier Teilstudien untersucht werden.Erstens wurde das Zusammenspiel von Geschlecht und sozio{\"o}konomischem Status (SES) in unterschiedlichen Facetten des Bildungserfolges sowie in den Berufsaspirationen analysiert (Teilstudien 1-3). Zweitens wurde untersucht, inwiefern die elterlichen Geschlechterrollenvorstellungen mit den Schulleistungen ihres Kindes assoziiert sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde ebenso der Zusammenhang zwischen den elterlichen Geschlechterrollenvorstellungen und Merkmalen des famili{\"a}ren Hintergrundes analysiert (Teilstudie 4). Zusammenfassend betrachtet weisen die Ergebnisse der Teilstudien auf eine Wechselwirkung von Geschlechtszugeh{\"o}rigkeit und sozialer Herkunft im Bildungserfolg sowie in den beruflichen Aspirationen hin, auch wenn die entsprechenden Effekte eher klein ausfallen. Entgegen der gesellschaftlichen Konnotation von Mathematik als „Jungenfach" stellen die Befunde damit beispielsweise einen Hinweis darauf dar, dass die vielfach zitierten Geschlechterunterschiede in den mathematischen Kompetenzen nicht als „naturgegeben" sondern beeinflussbar verstanden werden k{\"o}nnen. Damit untermauern die Ergebnisse die unter anderem im Rahmen verschiedener Theorien herausgestellte Bedeutsamkeit des Sozialisationskontextes f{\"u}r die Entwicklung der F{\"a}higkeiten und Ziele von Jungen und M{\"a}dchen sowie die im internationalen Vergleich gezeigte Variabilit{\"a}t von Geschlechterunterschieden in Schulleistungen.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Wulff2018, author = {Wulff, Alexander}, title = {Essays in macroeconomics and financial market imperfections}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42995}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-429956}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {X, 142}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This dissertation consists of four self-contained papers that deal with the implications of financial market imperfections and heterogeneity. The analysis mainly relates to the class of incomplete-markets models but covers different research topics. The first paper deals with the distributional effects of financial integration for developing countries. Based on a simple heterogeneous-agent approach, it is shown that capital owners experience large welfare losses while only workers moderately gain due to higher wages. The large welfare losses for capital owners contrast with the small average welfare gains from representative-agent economies and indicate that a strong opposition against capital market opening has to be expected. The second paper considers the puzzling observation of capital flows from poor to rich countries and the accompanying changes in domestic economic development. Motivated by the mixed results from the literature, we employ an incomplete-markets model with different types of idiosyncratic risk and borrowing constraints. Based on different scenarios, we analyze under what conditions the presence of financial market imperfections contributes to explain the empirical findings and how the conditions may change with different model assumptions. The third paper deals with the interplay of incomplete information and financial market imperfections in an incomplete-markets economy. In particular, it analyzes the impact of incomplete information about idiosyncratic income shocks on aggregate saving. The results show that the effect of incomplete information is not only quantitatively substantial but also qualitatively ambiguous and varies with the influence of the income risk and the borrowing constraint. Finally, the fourth paper analyzes the influence of different types of fiscal rules on the response of key macroeconomic variables to a government spending shock. We find that a strong temporary increase in public debt contributes to stabilizing consumption and leisure in the first periods following the change in government spending, whereas a non-debt-intensive fiscal rule leads to a faster recovery of consumption, leisure, capital and output in later periods. Regarding optimal debt policy, we find that a debt-intensive fiscal rule leads to the largest aggregate welfare benefit and that the individual welfare gain is particularly high for wealth-poor agents.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ion2018, author = {Ion, Alexandra}, title = {Metamaterial devices}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42986}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-429861}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {x, 173}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Digital fabrication machines such as 3D printers excel at producing arbitrary shapes, such as for decorative objects. In recent years, researchers started to engineer not only the outer shape of objects, but also their internal microstructure. Such objects, typically based on 3D cell grids, are known as metamaterials. Metamaterials have been used to create materials that, e.g., change their volume, or have variable compliance. While metamaterials were initially understood as materials, we propose to think of them as devices. We argue that thinking of metamaterials as devices enables us to create internal structures that offer functionalities to implement an input-process-output model without electronics, but purely within the material's internal structure. In this thesis, we investigate three aspects of such metamaterial devices that implement parts of the input-process-output model: (1) materials that process analog inputs by implementing mechanisms based on their microstructure, (2) that process digital signals by embedding mechanical computation into the object's microstructure, and (3) interactive metamaterial objects that output to the user by changing their outside to interact with their environment. The input to our metamaterial devices is provided directly by the users interacting with the device by means of physically pushing the metamaterial, e.g., turning a handle, pushing a button, etc. The design of such intricate microstructures, which enable the functionality of metamaterial devices, is not obvious. The complexity of the design arises from the fact that not only a suitable cell geometry is necessary, but that additionally cells need to play together in a well-defined way. To support users in creating such microstructures, we research and implement interactive design tools. These tools allow experts to freely edit their materials, while supporting novice users by auto-generating cells assemblies from high-level input. Our tools implement easy-to-use interactions like brushing, interactively simulate the cell structures' deformation directly in the editor, and export the geometry as a 3D-printable file. Our goal is to foster more research and innovation on metamaterial devices by allowing the broader public to contribute.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Scholta2018, author = {Scholta, Tobias}, title = {Georg Schneider und die {\"a}rztliche Selbstverwaltung in Brandenburg zwischen Deutschem Kaiserreich und Sowjetischer Besatzungszone}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43020}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-430209}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {298}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Der am 15. Juni 1875 in Frankfurt (Oder) geborene und langj{\"a}hrig in seiner Wahlheimat Potsdam praktizierende Allgemeinmediziner Georg Otto Schneider war einer der bedeutendsten {\"a}rztlichen Standesvertreter der ersten H{\"a}lfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Eng verkn{\"u}pft mit seinem Namen sind eine geradlinige, liberale Berufspolitik sowie die Entfaltung und der Erhalt beruflicher Selbstverwaltung in der brandenburgischen und gesamtdeutschen {\"A}rzteschaft. Als f{\"u}hrendes Mitglied in mehreren provinzialen und reichsweiten Verb{\"a}nden engagierte sich Schneider {\"u}ber vier historische Epochen stets im Sinne einer freien Aus{\"u}bung und autonomen Verwaltung des Arztberufes. Im Deutschen Kaiserreich war Schneiders standespolitisches Handeln zun{\"a}chst noch regional begrenzt. 1912 initiierte er die Errichtung eines Schutzverbandes f{\"u}r die {\"A}rzte des Bezirks Potsdam, dem er {\"u}ber zehn Jahre vorsaß. In der Weimarer Republik stieg Schneider sodann zu einer Schl{\"u}sselfigur der Gesundheits- und {\"a}rztlichen Berufspolitik auf. 1920 belebte er den {\"A}rzteverband f{\"u}r die Provinz Brandenburg, ab 1928 leitete er dazu in Personalunion die brandenburgische {\"A}rztekammer. Bereits zwei Jahre zuvor hatte er die Gesch{\"a}ftsf{\"u}hrung des Deutschen {\"A}rztevereinsbundes {\"u}bernommen. Infolge der Macht{\"u}bernahme der Nationalsozialisten schied Schneider bis Mitte 1934 aus allen {\"A}mtern aus, seine Bem{\"u}hungen f{\"u}r den Erhalt der Berufsautonomie waren vergebens. Anders sah es zun{\"a}chst nach Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs aus. In der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone saß Schneider der Fachgruppe {\"A}rzte im Freien Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbund Brandenburg vor und verteidigte die M{\"o}glichkeiten der selbstst{\"a}ndigen Berufsverwaltung. Zudem war er von 1946 an bis zu seinem Tod am 26. Oktober 1949 Fraktionsvorsitzender der Liberal-Demokratischen Partei im brandenburgischen Landtag. Vor dem Hintergrund des Lebens und Wirkens Georg Schneiders untersucht die Dissertation Kontinuit{\"a}ten und Br{\"u}che im {\"a}rztlichen Organisationswesen, ausgehend vom Deutschen Kaiserreich {\"u}ber die Weimarer Epoche und den Nationalsozialismus bis hin zur Zeit der sowjetischen Besatzung. Die Arbeit stellt die Auswirkungen der jeweiligen politischen, sozio{\"o}konomischen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen auf den {\"A}rztestand und die entsprechenden Reaktionen der {\"a}rztlichen Berufsvertreter, allen voran Georg Schneiders, gegen{\"u}ber. Dabei hinterfragt sie, inwiefern sich die {\"a}rztlichen Organisationsstrukturen dem jeweiligen System anpassten und welchen Einfluss Schneider als einzelne Person in den gr{\"o}ßeren Institutionen entfalten konnte.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Schukraft2018, author = {Schukraft, Stefan}, title = {Legislativer Konflikt in den deutschen L{\"a}ndern}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-450-0}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42216}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-422162}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {563}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Gesetzgebungsmehrheiten in parlamentarischen Systemen mit ihrem Dualismus aus Regierungslager und Oppositionsparteien bilden sich nicht frei. Vielmehr findet ihre Koordination in einem Spannungsfeld aus den programmatischen Positionen der Akteure und ihrem opportunistischen Wettbewerb untereinander statt. Diese Problematik bricht die Arbeit auf drei konkrete Fragestellungen herunter, im Rahmen derer sie die Konfliktmuster zwischen Akteuren bei der legislativen Mehrheitskoordination unter Mehrheitsregierungen in den deutschen Landesparlamenten untersucht: 1) Inwieweit h{\"a}ngt es von programmatischen Positionen oder vom opportunistischen Wettbewerb des Neuen Dualismus zwischen Regierungslager und Oppositionsparteien ab, ob Oppositionsparteien und Regierungslager bei der Bildung von Gesetzgebungsmehrheiten kooperieren oder konfligieren? 2) Inwieweit kommt es vor dem Hintergrund unterschiedlicher programmatischer Positionen und opportunistischer {\"U}berlegungen zu Konflikt statt Kooperation zwischen Koalitionsakteuren bei der Bildung gemeinsamer Gesetzgebungsmehrheiten? Letztere Fragestellung wird sodann auch in den Kontext des bundesrepublikanischen Kooperativf{\"o}deralismus eingebettet: 3) Inwieweit geht die Bildung von Gesetzgebungsmehrheiten bei der Ausf{\"u}hrung von Bundesgesetzen in Mischkoalitionen (bestehend aus Parteien, die sich auf Bundesebene in konkurrierenden Lagern gegen{\"u}berstehen) mit mehr Konflikt einher als in ebenen{\"u}bergreifend kongruenten Regierungskoalitionen? Theoretisch wird ein rationalistisches Modell der grundlegenden Handlungsanreize bei der Bildung von Gesetzgebungsmehrheiten in den deutschen Landesparlamenten erarbeitet. Auf dieser Basis besch{\"a}ftigt sich die Arbeit damit, wie die Akteure strategisch programmatische und opportunistische Anreize zu Konflikt und Kooperation abw{\"a}gen. Die Arbeit leitet dann konkrete Determinanten ab, die vorwiegend - aber nicht nur - mittels quantitativer Methoden getestet werden. Die Arbeit st{\"u}tzt sich dabei auf eine gr{\"o}ßtenteils neu zusammengestellte Gesetzgebungsdatenbank aus 3.359 Gesetzgebungsvorg{\"a}ngen aus 23 Legislaturperioden zwischen 1990 und 2013 in den L{\"a}ndern Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Nordrhein-Westfalen und Sachsen-Anhalt. Die Analyse der Konfliktmuster zwischen Oppositionsparteien und Regierungslager zeigt, dass programmatische Distanz einer Oppositionspartei zum Regierungslager f{\"u}r Oppositionsverhalten eine Rolle spielt; dies gilt jedoch auch f{\"u}r opportunistische Aspekte (so l{\"a}sst sich beispielsweise ein kompetitiveres Oppositionsverhalten beobachten, wenn nach der letzten Wahl ein vollst{\"a}ndiger Regierungswechsel erfolgte). Oppositionsverhalten erscheint dabei recht kleinteilig ausgepr{\"a}gt. Neben Unterschieden zwischen Legislaturperioden treten solche auch innerhalb von Legislaturperioden zwischen Akteuren sowie zwischen Gesetzentw{\"u}rfen auf. Die Analyse generellen Koalitionskonflikts weist darauf hin, dass ein nicht unerheblicher Teil von Koalitionskonflikt strukturell bedingt ist. Handelt es sich bei einer gebildeten Regierungskoalition um die Wunschkoalition der beteiligten Parteien, so ist dies Koalitionskonflikt abtr{\"a}glich. Selbiges gilt f{\"u}r eine gr{\"o}ßere Mehrheitsmarge des Regierungslagers. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus ergeben sich Hinweise, dass die Ausf{\"u}hrung von Bundesgesetzen unter Mischkoalitionen bei bundespolitischer Abgrenzung der Koalitionspartner mit mehr Koalitionskonflikt einhergeht als eine Ausf{\"u}hrung unter kongruenten Koalitionen. Der Beitrag der Arbeit ist polymorph angelegt. Sie hilft zun{\"a}chst, die Strategien von Akteuren im Gesetzgebungsprozess besser zu verstehen. Als normativer Beitrag tritt auf einer zweiten Ebene die bessere Erforschung etwaiger nachteiliger Effekte des Neuen Dualismus unter Mehrheitsregierungen hinzu. Gleichzeitig soll die Arbeit drittens in der Zusammenschau helfen, die Mechanik der parlamentarischen Systeme in den L{\"a}ndern selbst zu erhellen und besser normativ bewerten zu k{\"o}nnen. Hintergrund sind hier die jahrzehntealten Debatten um das beste Regierungssystem und -format der deutschen L{\"a}nder als subnationale Entit{\"a}ten. Die dritte Fragestellung dieser Arbeit konnte diese Debatte zudem mit einem neuen Aspekt bereichern. Wissen dar{\"u}ber, inwieweit die Ausf{\"u}hrung von Bundesgesetzen in den L{\"a}ndern je nach ebenen{\"u}bergreifendem Koalitionsmuster in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß mit einem ‚coalition governance'-Problem verbunden ist, f{\"u}gt der Forschung zum f{\"o}deralen Entscheiden in der Bundesrepublik eine neue und beachtenswerte Facette hinzu. Denn dabei handelt es sich um eine f{\"o}deral bedingte mechanische Beeintr{\"a}chtigung der Mehrheitskoordination in den Landesparlamenten selbst, die die potenziell gegebene f{\"o}derale Flexibilit{\"a}t bei der Ausf{\"u}hrung von Bundesgesetzen hemmt. Dies ebnet den Weg zu neuen Debatten dar{\"u}ber, wie in den deutschen L{\"a}ndern mehr legislative Abstimmungsflexibilit{\"a}t erm{\"o}glicht werden kann als unter den bisher {\"u}blichen Mehrheits-Koalitionsregierungen.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Roezer2018, author = {R{\"o}zer, Viktor}, title = {Pluvial flood loss to private households}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42991}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-429910}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {XXII, 109}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Today, more than half of the world's population lives in urban areas. With a high density of population and assets, urban areas are not only the economic, cultural and social hubs of every society, they are also highly susceptible to natural disasters. As a consequence of rising sea levels and an expected increase in extreme weather events caused by a changing climate in combination with growing cities, flooding is an increasing threat to many urban agglomerations around the globe. To mitigate the destructive consequences of flooding, appropriate risk management and adaptation strategies are required. So far, flood risk management in urban areas is almost exclusively focused on managing river and coastal flooding. Often overlooked is the risk from small-scale rainfall-triggered flooding, where the rainfall intensity of rainstorms exceeds the capacity of urban drainage systems, leading to immediate flooding. Referred to as pluvial flooding, this flood type exclusive to urban areas has caused severe losses in cities around the world. Without further intervention, losses from pluvial flooding are expected to increase in many urban areas due to an increase of impervious surfaces compounded with an aging drainage infrastructure and a projected increase in heavy precipitation events. While this requires the integration of pluvial flood risk into risk management plans, so far little is known about the adverse consequences of pluvial flooding due to a lack of both detailed data sets and studies on pluvial flood impacts. As a consequence, methods for reliably estimating pluvial flood losses, needed for pluvial flood risk assessment, are still missing. Therefore, this thesis investigates how pluvial flood losses to private households can be reliably estimated, based on an improved understanding of the drivers of pluvial flood loss. For this purpose, detailed data from pluvial flood-affected households was collected through structured telephone- and web-surveys following pluvial flood events in Germany and the Netherlands. Pluvial flood losses to households are the result of complex interactions between impact characteristics such as the water depth and a household's resistance as determined by its risk awareness, preparedness, emergency response, building properties and other influencing factors. Both exploratory analysis and machine-learning approaches were used to analyze differences in resistance and impacts between households and their effects on the resulting losses. The comparison of case studies showed that the awareness around pluvial flooding among private households is quite low. Low awareness not only challenges the effective dissemination of early warnings, but was also found to influence the implementation of private precautionary measures. The latter were predominately implemented by households with previous experience of pluvial flooding. Even cases where previous flood events affected a different part of the same city did not lead to an increase in preparedness of the surveyed households, highlighting the need to account for small-scale variability in both impact and resistance parameters when assessing pluvial flood risk. While it was concluded that the combination of low awareness, ineffective early warning and the fact that only a minority of buildings were adapted to pluvial flooding impaired the coping capacities of private households, the often low water levels still enabled households to mitigate or even prevent losses through a timely and effective emergency response. These findings were confirmed by the detection of loss-influencing variables, showing that cases in which households were able to prevent any loss to the building structure are predominately explained by resistance variables such as the household's risk awareness, while the degree of loss is mainly explained by impact variables. Based on the important loss-influencing variables detected, different flood loss models were developed. Similar to flood loss models for river floods, the empirical data from the preceding data collection was used to train flood loss models describing the relationship between impact and resistance parameters and the resulting loss to building structures. Different approaches were adapted from river flood loss models using both models with the water depth as only predictor for building structure loss and models incorporating additional variables from the preceding variable detection routine. The high predictive errors of all compared models showed that point predictions are not suitable for estimating losses on the building level, as they severely impair the reliability of the estimates. For that reason, a new probabilistic framework based on Bayesian inference was introduced that is able to provide predictive distributions instead of single loss estimates. These distributions not only give a range of probable losses, they also provide information on how likely a specific loss value is, representing the uncertainty in the loss estimate. Using probabilistic loss models, it was found that the certainty and reliability of a loss estimate on the building level is not only determined by the use of additional predictors as shown in previous studies, but also by the choice of response distribution defining the shape of the predictive distribution. Here, a mix between a beta and a Bernoulli distribution to account for households that are able to prevent losses to their building's structure was found to provide significantly more certain and reliable estimates than previous approaches using Gaussian or non-parametric response distributions. The successful model transfer and post-event application to estimate building structure loss in Houston, TX, caused by pluvial flooding during Hurricane Harvey confirmed previous findings, and demonstrated the potential of the newly developed multi-variable beta model for future risk assessments. The highly detailed input data set constructed from openly available data sources containing over 304,000 affected buildings in Harris County further showed the potential of data-driven, building-level loss models for pluvial flood risk assessment. In conclusion, pluvial flood losses to private households are the result of complex interactions between impact and resistance variables, which should be represented in loss models. The local occurrence of pluvial floods requires loss estimates on high spatial resolutions, i.e. on the building level, where losses are variable and uncertainties are high. Therefore, probabilistic loss estimates describing the uncertainty of the estimate should be used instead of point predictions. While the performance of probabilistic models on the building level are mainly driven by the choice of response distribution, multi-variable models are recommended for two reasons: First, additional resistance variables improve the detection of cases in which households were able to prevent structural losses. Second, the added variability of additional predictors provides a better representation of the uncertainties when loss estimates from multiple buildings are aggregated. This leads to the conclusion that data-driven probabilistic loss models on the building level allow for a reliable loss estimation at an unprecedented level of detail, with a consistent quantification of uncertainties on all aggregation levels. This makes the presented approach suitable for a wide range of applications, from decision support in spatial planning to impact- based early warning systems.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Naseri2018, author = {Naseri, Gita}, title = {Plant-derived transcription factors and their application for synthetic biology approaches in Saccharomyces cerevisiae}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42151}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421514}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {187}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Bereits seit 9000 Jahren verwendet die Menschheit die B{\"a}ckerhefe Saccharomyces cerevisiae f{\"u}r das Brauen von Bier, aber erst seit 150 Jahren wissen wir, dass es sich bei diesem unerm{\"u}dlichen Helfer im Brauprozess um einzellige, lebende Organismen handelt. Und die B{\"a}ckerhefe kann noch viel mehr. Im Rahmen des Forschungsgebietes der Synthetischen Biologie soll unter anderem die B{\"a}ckerhefe als innovatives Werkzeug f{\"u}r die biobasierte Herstellung verschiedenster Substanzen etabliert werden. Zu diesen Substanzen z{\"a}hlen unter anderem Feinchemikalien, Biokraftstoffe und Biopolymere sowie pharmakologisch und medizinisch interessante Pflanzenstoffe. Damit diese verschiedensten Substanzen in der B{\"a}ckerhefe hergestellt werden k{\"o}nnen, m{\"u}ssen große Mengen an Produktionsinformationen zum Beispiel aus Pflanzen in die Hefezellen {\"u}bertragen werden. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus m{\"u}ssen die neu eingebrachten Biosynthesewege reguliert und kontrolliert in den Zellen ablaufen. Auch Optimierungsprozesse zur Erh{\"o}hung der Produktivit{\"a}t sind notwendig. F{\"u}r alle diese Arbeitsschritte mangelt es bis heute an anwendungsbereiten Technologien und umfassenden Plattformen. Daher wurden im Rahmen dieser Doktorarbeit verschiedene Technologien und Plattformen zur Informations{\"u}bertragung, Regulation und Prozessoptimierung geplant und erzeugt. F{\"u}r die Konstruktion von Biosynthesewegen in der B{\"a}ckerhefe wurde als erstes eine Plattform aus neuartigen Regulatoren und Kontrollelementen auf der Basis pflanzlicher Kontrollelemente generiert und charakterisiert. Im zweiten Schritt erfolgte die Entwicklung einer Technologie zur kombinatorischen Verwendung der Regulatoren in der Planung und Optimierung von Biosynthesewegen (COMPASS). Abschließend wurde eine Technologie f{\"u}r die Prozessoptimierung der ver{\"a}nderten Hefezellen entwickelt (CapRedit). Die Leistungsf{\"a}higkeit der entwickelten Plattformen und Technologien wurde durch eine Optimierung der Produktion von Carotenoiden (Beta-Carotin und Beta-Ionon) und Flavonoiden (Naringenin) in Hefezellen nachgewiesen. Die im Rahmen der Arbeit etablierten neuartigen Plattformen und innovativen Technologien sind ein wertvoller Grundbaustein f{\"u}r die Erweiterung der Nutzbarkeit der B{\"a}ckerhefe. Sie erm{\"o}glichen den Einsatz der Hefezellen in kosteneffizienten Produktionswegen und alternativen chemischen Wertsch{\"o}pfungsketten. Dadurch k{\"o}nnen zum Beispiel Biokraftstoffe und pharmakologisch interessante Pflanzenstoffe unter Verwendung von nachwachsenden Rohstoffen, Reststoffen und Nebenprodukten hergestellt werden. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus ergeben sich Anwendungsm{\"o}glichkeiten zur Bodensanierung und Wasseraufbereitung.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Mainka2018, author = {Mainka, Stefan}, title = {Wieder gehen lernen mit Musik}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43004}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-430049}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {88}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Die Mehrzahl der Schlaganfallpatienten leidet unter St{\"o}rungen der Gehf{\"a}higkeit. Die Behandlung der Folgen des Schlaganfalls stellt eine der h{\"a}ufigsten Indikationen f{\"u}r die neurologische Rehabilitation dar. Dabei steht die Wiederherstellung von sensomotorischen Funktionen, insbesondere der Gehf{\"a}higkeit, und der gesellschaftlichen Teilhabe im Vordergrund. In Deutschland wird in der Gangrehabilitation nach Schlaganfall oft das Neurophysiologische Gangtraining nach Bobath (NGB) angewandt, das jedoch in seiner Effektivit{\"a}t kritisch gesehen wird. In Behandlungsleitlinien wird zuerst das Laufbandtraining (LT) empfohlen. F{\"u}r diese Therapie liegen Wirknachweise f{\"u}r Verbesserungen in Gehgeschwindigkeit und Gehausdauer vor. Auch f{\"u}r die Rhythmisch-auditive Stimulation (RAS), dem ebenerdigen Gangtraining mit akustischer Stimulation liegt vergleichbare Evidenz f{\"u}r Schlaganfallpatienten vor. Ziel der durchgef{\"u}hrten Studie war es, zu kl{\"a}ren ob der Einsatz von RAS die Effektivit{\"a}t von LT verbessert. Es wurden die Auswirkungen eines 4-w{\"o}chigen musikgest{\"u}tzten Laufbandtrainings auf die Gangrehabilitation von Schlaganfallpatienten untersucht. F{\"u}r die Kombinationstherapie RAS mit Laufbandtraining (RAS-LT) wurde spezielle Trainingsmusik entwickelt. Diese wurde an die individuelle Laufbandkadenz des Patienten angepasst und in Abstimmung mit der Bandgeschwindigkeit systematisch gesteigert. Untersucht wurde, ob RAS-LT zu st{\"a}rkeren Verbesserungen der Gehf{\"a}higkeit bei Schlaganfallpatienten f{\"u}hrt als die Standardtherapien NGB und LT. Dazu wurde eine klinische Evaluation im prospektiven randomisierten und kontrollierten Parallelgruppendesign mit 45 Patienten nach Schlaganfall durchgef{\"u}hrt. 45 Patienten mit Hemiparese der unteren Extremit{\"a}t oder unsicherem und asymmetrischem Gangbild wurden in der Akutphase nach Schlaganfall eingeschlossen. Bei 10 Patienten wurde die Studie w{\"a}hrend der Interventionsphase abgebrochen, davon 1 Patient mit unerw{\"u}nschter Nebenwirkung in Folge des LT. Die verwendete Testbatterie umfasste neben Verfahren zur Bestimmung der Gehfunktion wie Fast Gait Speed Test, 3-min-Walking-Time-Test und der apparativen Ganganalyse mit dem Lokometer nach Bessou eine statische Posturographie und eine kinematische 2D-Ganganalyse auf dem Laufband. Diese Methode wurde in Erweiterung der bisherigen Studienlage in dieser Form erstmals f{\"u}r diese Fragestellung und dieses Patientenkollektiv konzipiert und eingesetzt. Sie erm{\"o}glichte eine differenzierte und seitenbezogene Beurteilung der Bewegungsqualit{\"a}t. Die prim{\"a}ren Endpunkte der Studie waren die longitudinalen Gangparameter Kadenz, Gehgeschwindigkeit und Schrittl{\"a}nge. Als sekund{\"a}re Endpunkte dienten die Schrittsymmetrie, die Gehausdauer, das statische Gleichgewicht und die Bewegungsqualit{\"a}t des Gehens. Pr{\"a}-Post-Effekte wurden f{\"u}r die gesamte Stichprobe und f{\"u}r jede Gruppe durch T-Tests und wenn Normalverteilung nicht gegeben war mit dem Wilcoxon-Vorzeichen-Rangtest errechnet. F{\"u}r die Ermittlung der Wirkungsunterschiede der 3 Interventionen wurde eine Kovarianzanalyse mit zwei Kovariaten durchgef{\"u}hrt: (1) der jeweilige Pr{\"a}-Interventionsparameter und (2) die Zeit zwischen Akutereignis und Studienbeginn. F{\"u}r einzelne Messparameter waren die Vorbedingungen der Kovarianzanalyse nicht erf{\"u}llt, sodass stattdessen ein Kruskal-Wallis H Test durchgef{\"u}hrt wurde. Das Signifikanzniveau wurde auf p < 0,05 und f{\"u}r gruppenspezifische Pr{\"a}-Post-Effekte auf p > 0,016 gesetzt. Effektst{\"a}rken wurden mit Cohens d berechnet. Es wurden die Datens{\"a}tze von 35 Patienten (RAS-LT: N = 11, LT: N = 13, NGB: N = 11) mit einem Alter von 63.6 ±8.6 Jahren, und mit einer Zeit zwischen Akutereignis und Beginn der Studie von 42.1 ±23.7 Tagen ausgewertet. In der statistischen Auswertung zeigten sich in der Nachuntersuchung st{\"a}rkere Verbesserungen durch RAS-LT in der Kadenz (F(2,34) = 7.656, p = 0.002; partielles η2 = 0.338), wobei auch die Gruppenkontraste signifikante Unterschiede zugunsten von RAS-LT aufwiesen und eine Tendenz zu st{\"a}rkerer Verbesserung in der Gehgeschwindigkeit (F(2,34) = 3.864, p = 0.032; partielles η2 = 0.205). Auch die Ergebnisse zur Schrittsymmetrie und zur Bewegungsqualit{\"a}t deuteten auf eine {\"U}berlegenheit des neuen Therapieansatzes RAS-LT hin, obgleich dort keine statistischen Signifikanzen im Gruppenvergleich erreicht wurden. Die Parameter Schrittl{\"a}nge, Gehausdauer und die Werte zum statischen Gleichgewicht zeigten keine spezifischen Effekte von RAS-LT. Die Studie liefert erstmals Anhaltspunkte f{\"u}r eine klinische {\"U}berlegenheit von RAS-LT gegen{\"u}ber den Standardtherapien. Die weitere Entwicklung und Beforschung dieses innovativen Therapieansatzes k{\"o}nnen in Zukunft zu einer verbesserten Gangrehabilitation von Patienten nach Schlaganfall beitragen.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Rupp2018, author = {Rupp, Michael}, title = {„Probably the Finest Organisation of its Kind"}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42985}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-429851}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {334}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Die Entstehung der modernen britischen Nachrichtendienstarchitektur fiel in die erste H{\"a}lfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Zeitgleich erfuhr die britische Gesellschaft eine nie dagewesene Demokratisierung. Die Arbeit versucht darzulegen, wie auch vermeintlich arkane Bereiche staatlichen Handelns in {\"o}ffentliche Aushandlungsprozesse eingebettet sind und rekonstruiert deshalb erstmals systematisch {\"o}ffentliche und fach{\"o}ffentliche Diskurse {\"u}ber Nachrichtendienste Großbritanniens im Zeitalter der Weltkriege.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Engelhardt2018, author = {Engelhardt, Jonathan}, title = {40Ar/39Ar geochronology of ICDP PALEOVAN drilling cores}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42953}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-429539}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xxi, 338}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The scientific drilling campaign PALEOVAN was conducted in the summer of 2010 and was part of the international continental drilling programme (ICDP). The main goal of the campaign was the recovery of a sensitive climate archive in the East of Anatolia. Lacustrine deposits underneath the lake floor of 'Lake Van' constitute this archive. The drilled core material was recovered from two locations: the Ahlat Ridge and the Northern Basin. A composite core was constructed from cored material of seven parallel boreholes at the Ahlat Ridge and covers an almost complete lacustrine history of Lake Van. The composite record offered sensitive climate proxies such as variations of total organic carbon, K/Ca ratios, or a relative abundance of arboreal pollen. These proxies revealed patterns that are similar to climate proxy variations from Greenland ice cores. Climate variations in Greenland ice cores have been dated by modelling the timing of orbital forces to affect the climate. Volatiles from melted ice aliquots are often taken as high-resolution proxies and provide a base for fitting the according temporal models. The ICDP PALEOVAN scientific team fitted proxy data from the lacustrine drilling record to ice core data and constructed an age model. Embedded volcaniclastic layers had to be dated radiometrically in order to provide independent age constraints to the climate-stratigraphic age model. Solving this task by an application of the 40Ar/39Ar method was the main objective of this thesis. Earlier efforts to apply the 40Ar/39Ar dating resulted in inaccuracies that could not be explained satisfactorily. The absence of K-rich feldspars in suitable tephra layers implied that feldspar crystals needed to be 500 μm in size minimum, in order to apply single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar dating. Some of the samples did not contain any of these grain sizes or only very few crystals of that size. In order to overcome this problem this study applied a combined single-crystal and multi-crystal approach with different crystal fractions from the same sample. The preferred method of a stepwise heating analysis of an aliquot of feldspar crystals has been applied to three samples. The Na-rich crystals and their young geological age required 20 mg of inclusion-free, non-corroded feldspars. Small sample volumes (usually 25 \% aliquots of 5 cm3 of sample material - a spoon full of tephra) and the widespread presence of melt-inclusion led to the application of combined single- and multigrain total fusion analyses. 40Ar/39Ar analyses on single crystals have the advantage of being able to monitor the presence of excess 40Ar and detrital or xenocrystic contamination in the samples. Multigrain analyses may hide the effects from these obstacles. The results from the multigrain analyses are therefore discussed with respect to the findings from the respective cogenetic single crystal ages. Some of the samples in this study were dated by 40Ar/39Ar on feldspars on multigrain separates and (if available) in combination with only a few single crystals. 40Ar/39Ar ages from two of the samples deviated statistically from the age model. All other samples resulted in identical ages. The deviations displayed older ages than those obtained from the age model. t-Tests compared radiometric ages with available age control points from various proxies and from the relative paleointensity of the earth magnetic field within a stratigraphic range of ± 10 m. Concordant age control points from different relative chronometers indicated that deviations are a result of erroneous 40Ar/39Ar ages. The thesis argues two potential reasons for these ages: (1) the irregular appearance of 40Ar from rare melt- and fluid- inclusions and (2) the contamination of the samples with older crystals due to a rapid combination of assimilation and ejection. Another aliquot of feldspar crystals that underwent separation for the application of 40Ar/39Ar dating was investigated for geochemical inhomogeneities. Magmatic zoning is ubiquitous in the volcaniclastic feldspar crystals. Four different types of magmatic zoning were detected. The zoning types are compositional zoning (C-type zoning), pseudo-oscillatory zoning of trace ele- ment concentrations (PO-type zoning), chaotic and patchy zoning of major and trace element concentrations (R-type zoning) and concentric zoning of trace elements (CC-type zoning). Sam- ples that deviated in 40Ar/39Ar ages showed C-type zoning, R-type zoning or a mix of different types of zoning (C-type and PO-type). Feldspars showing PO-type zoning typically represent the smallest grain size fractions in the samples. The constant major element compositions of these crystals are interpreted to represent the latest stages in the compositional evolution of feldspars in a peralkaline melt. PO-type crystals contain less melt- inclusions than other zoning types and are rarely corroded. This thesis concludes that feldspars that show PO-type zoning are most promising chronometers for the 40Ar/39Ar method, if samples provide mixed zoning types of Quaternary anorthoclase feldspars. Five samples were dated by applying the 40Ar/39Ar method to volcanic glass. High fractions of atmospheric Ar (typically > 98\%) significantly hampered the precision of the 40Ar/39Ar ages and resulted in rough age estimates that widely overlap the age model. Ar isotopes indicated that the glasses bore a chorine-rich Ar-end member. The chlorine-derived 38Ar indicated chlorine-rich fluid-inclusions or the hydration of the volcanic glass shards. This indication strengthened the evidence that irregularly distributed melt-inclusions and thus irregular distributed excess 40Ar influenced the problematic feldspar 40Ar/39Ar ages. Whether a connection between a corrected initial 40Ar/36Ar ratio from glasses to the 40Ar/36Ar ratios from pore waters exists remains unclear. This thesis offers another age model, which is similarly based on the interpolation of the temporal tie points from geophysical and climate-stratigraphic data. The model used a PCHIP- interpolation (piecewise cubic hermite interpolating polynomial) whereas the older age model used a spline-interpolation. Samples that match in ages from 40Ar/39Ar dating of feldspars with the earlier published age model were additionally assigned with an age from the PCHIP- interpolation. These modelled ages allowed a recalculation of the Alder Creek sanidine mineral standard. The climate-stratigraphic calibration of an 40Ar/39Ar mineral standard proved that the age versus depth interpolations from PAELOVAN drilling cores were accurate, and that the applied chronometers recorded the temporal evolution of Lake Van synchronously. Petrochemical discrimination of the sampled volcaniclastic material is also given in this thesis. 41 from 57 sampled volcaniclastic layers indicate Nemrut as their provenance. Criteria that served for the provenance assignment are provided and reviewed critically. Detailed correlations of selected PALEOVAN volcaniclastics to onshore samples that were described in detail by earlier studies are also discussed. The sampled volcaniclastics dominantly have a thickness of < 40 cm and have been ejected by small to medium sized eruptions. Onshore deposits from these types of eruptions are potentially eroded due to predominant strong winds on Nemrut and S{\"u}phan slopes. An exact correlation with the data presented here is therefore equivocal or not possible at all. Deviating feldspar 40Ar/39Ar ages can possibly be explained by inherited 40Ar from feldspar xenocrysts contaminating the samples. In order to test this hypothesis diffusion couples of Ba were investigated in compositionally zoned feldspar crystals. The diffusive behaviour of Ba in feldspar is known, and gradients in the changing concentrations allowed for the calculation of the duration of the crystal's magmatic development since the formation of the zoning interface. Durations were compared with degassing scenarios that model the Ar-loss during assimilation and subsequent ejection of the xenocrystals. Diffusive equilibration of the contrasting Ba concentrations is assumed to generate maximum durations as the gradient could have been developed in several growth and heating stages. The modelling does not show any indication of an involvement of inherited 40Ar in any of the deviating samples. However, the analytical set-up represents the lower limit of the required spatial resolution. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that the degassing modelling relies on a significant overestimation of the maximum duration of the magmatic history. Nevertheless, the modelling of xenocrystal degassing evidences that the irregular incorporation of excess 40Ar by melt- and fluid inclusions represents the most critical problem that needs to be overcome in dating volcaniclastic feldspars from the PALEOVAN drill cores. This thesis provides the complete background in generating and presenting 40Ar/39Ar ages that are compared to age data from a climate-stratigraphic model. Deviations are identified statistically and then discussed in order to find explanations from the age model and/or from 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. Most of the PALEOVAN stratigraphy provides several chronometers that have been proven for their synchronicity. Lacustrine deposits from Lake Van represent a key archive for reconstructing climate evolution in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Near East. The PALEOVAN record offers a climate-stratigraphic age model with a remarkable accuracy and resolution.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Bertz2018, author = {Bertz, Martin}, title = {Funktion von Selenoproteinen  w{\"a}hrend der kolorektalen Karzinogenese}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42780}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427808}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {VII, 109}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Kolorektalkrebs (CRC) ist die dritth{\"a}ufigste Tumorerkrankung weltweit. Neben dem Alter spielt auch die Ern{\"a}hrung eine wichtige Rolle bei der Entstehung der Krankheit. Eine vermutlich krebspr{\"a}ventive Wirkung wird dabei dem Spurenelement Selen zugeschrieben, das fast ausschließlich {\"u}ber Lebensmittel aufgenommen wird. So h{\"a}ngt beispielsweise ein niedriger Selenstatus mit dem Risiko, im Laufe des Lebens an CRC zu erkranken, zusammen. Seine Funktionen vermittelt Selen dabei {\"u}berwiegend durch Selenoproteine, in denen es in Form von Selenocystein eingebaut wird. Zu den bisher am besten untersuchten Selenoproteinen mit m{\"o}glicher Funktion w{\"a}hrend CRC z{\"a}hlen die Glutathionperoxidasen (GPXen). Die Mitglieder dieser Familie tragen aufgrund ihrer Hydroperoxid-reduzierenden Eigenschaften entscheidend zum Schutz der Zellen vor oxidativem Stress bei. Dies kann je nach Art und Stadium des Tumors entweder krebshemmend oder -f{\"o}rdernd wirken, da auch transformierte Zellen von dieser Schutzfunktion profitieren. In dieser Arbeit wurde die GPX2 in HT29-Darmkrebszellen mithilfe stabil-transfizierter shRNA herunterreguliert, um die Funktion des Enzyms vor allem in Hinblick auf regulierte Signalwege zu untersuchen. Ein Knockdowns (KD) der strukturell {\"a}hnlichen GPX1 kam ebenfalls zum Einsatz, um gezielt Isoform-spezifische Funktionen unterscheiden zu k{\"o}nnen. Anhand eines PCR-Arrays wurden Signalwege identifiziert, die auf einen Einfluss der beiden Proteine im Zellwachstum hindeuteten. Anschließende Untersuchungen ließen auf einen verminderten Differenzierungsstatus in den GPX1- und GPX2-KDs aufgrund einer geringeren Aktivit{\"a}t der Alkalischen Phosphatase schließen. Zudem war die Zellviabilit{\"a}t im Neutralrot-Assay (NRU) bei Fehlen der GPX1 bzw. GPX2 im Vergleich zur Kontrolle reduziert. Die Ergebnisse des PCR-Arrays, und speziell f{\"u}r die GPX2 fr{\"u}here Untersuchungen der Arbeitsgruppe, wiesen weiterhin auf eine Rolle der beiden Proteine in der entz{\"u}ndungsgetriebenen Karzinogenese hin. Daher wurden auch m{\"o}gliche Interaktionen mit dem NFκB-Signalweg analysiert. Eine Stimulation der Zellen mit dem proinflammatorischen Zytokin IL1β ging mit einer verst{\"a}rkten Aktivierung der MAP-Kinasen ERK1/2 in den Zellen mit GPX1- bzw. GPX2-KD einher. Die gleichzeitige Behandlung mit dem Antioxidans NAC f{\"u}hrte nicht zur R{\"u}cknahme der Effekte in den KDs, sodass m{\"o}glicherweise nicht nur die antioxidativen Eigenschaften der Enzyme bei der Interaktion mit diesen Signalwegsproteinen relevant sind. Weiterhin wurden Analysen zum Substratspektrum der GPX2 in HCT116-Zellen mit einer {\"U}berexpression des Proteins durchgef{\"u}hrt. Dabei zeigte sich mittels NRU-Assay und DNA-Laddering, dass die GPX2 besonders vor den proapoptotischen Effekten einer Behandlung mit den Lipidhydroperoxiden HPODE und HPETE sch{\"u}tzt. Im Gegensatz zur GPX2 l{\"a}sst sich Selenoprotein H (SELENOH) st{\"a}rker durch die aliment{\"a}re Selenzufuhr beeinflussen. Einer m{\"o}glichen Nutzung als Biomarker oder gar als Ansatzpunkt bei der Pr{\"a}vention bzw. Behandlung von CRC steht allerdings unvollst{\"a}ndiges Wissen {\"u}ber die Funktion des Proteins gegen{\"u}ber. Zur genaueren Charakterisierung von SELENOH wurden daher stabil-transfizierte KD-Klone in HT29- und Caco2-Zellen hergestellt und zun{\"a}chst auf ihre Tumorigenit{\"a}t untersucht. Zellen mit SELENOH-KD bildeten mehr und gr{\"o}ßere Kolonien im Soft Agar und zeigten ein erh{\"o}htes Proliferations- und Migrationspotenzial im Vergleich zur Kontrolle. Ein Xenograft in Nacktm{\"a}usen resultierte zudem in einer st{\"a}rkeren Tumorbildung nach Injektion von KD-Zellen. Untersuchungen zur Beteiligung von SELENOH an der Zellzyklusregulation deuten auf eine hemmende Rolle des Proteins in der G1/S-Phase hin. Die weiterhin beobachtete Hochregulation von SELENOH in humanen Adenokarzinomen und pr{\"a}kanzer{\"o}sem Mausgewebe l{\"a}sst sich m{\"o}glicherweise mit der postulierten Schutzfunktion vor oxidativen Zell- und DNA-Sch{\"a}den erkl{\"a}ren. In gesunden Darmepithelzellen war das Protein vorrangig am Kryptengrund lokalisiert, was zu einer potenziellen Rolle w{\"a}hrend der gastrointestinalen Differenzierung passt.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Leser2018, author = {Leser, Eva}, title = {Eta Carinae}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42814}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428141}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {X, 117}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Das außergew{\"o}hnliche Doppelsternsystem Eta Carinae fasziniert WissenschaftlerInnen und BeobachterInnen auf der s{\"u}dlichen Erdhalbkugel seit hunderten Jahren. Nach einem Supernova-{\"a}hnlichem Ausbruch war Eta Carinae zeitweise der hellste Stern am Nachthimmel. Heute sind durch zahlreiche Beobachtungen, von Radiowellen bis zu R{\"o}ntgenstrahlung, der Aufbau des Sternsystems und die Eigenschaften seiner Strahlung bis zu Energien von ~ 50 keV gut erforscht. Das Doppelsternsystem besteht aus zwei massiven Sternen (~ 30 und ~ 100 Sonnenmassen Gewicht) mit starken Sternwinden, {\"u}ber die sie kontinuierlich einen Teil ihrer Masse verlieren. Wenn diese Sternwinde kollidieren, entsteht auf beiden Seiten ein Kompressionsschock der das Plasma in der Kollisionszone aufheizt, was sich in R{\"o}ntgenstrahlung beobachten l{\"a}sst. Bei Energien oberhalb von ~ 50 keV ist der Ursprung der Strahlung nicht mehr thermisch: um ein Plasma auf die entsprechende Temperatur zu bringen, wird mehr mechanische Energie ben{\"o}tigt, als in den Sternwinden vorhanden. In hoch-energetischer Gamma-Strahlung ist Eta Carinae das einzige eindeutig detektierte Sternsystem seiner Art und sein Energiespektrum reicht bis zu ~ hundert GeV. Bodengebundene Gamma-Strahlungsexperimente haben in diesem Energiebereich den Vorteil von großen Detektorfl{\"a}chen. H.E.S.S. ist das einzige bodengebundene Gamma-Strahlungsexperiment auf der S{\"u}dhalbkugel und somit in der Lage, Eta Carinae in diesen Energien zu beobachten. H.E.S.S. misst Gamma-Strahlung mit Hilfe der elektromagnetischen Teilchenschauer, die sehr hoch-energetische Photonen in der Atmosph{\"a}re ausl{\"o}sen. Die gr{\"o}ßte Herausforderung der Messung von Eta Carinaes Strahlung mit H.E.S.S. ist die ultraviolette Strahlung des Carina Nebels, die zu einem Hintergrund f{\"u}hrt, der bis zu zehn mal st{\"a}rker ist als der Durchschnitt in H.E.S.S. In dieser Arbeit wird die erste Detektion eines Doppelsternsystems mit kollidierenden Sternwinden in sehr hoch-energetischer Gamma-Strahlung pr{\"a}sentiert und die Studien, die diese erm{\"o}glicht haben. Das differentielle Gamma-Strahlungsspektrum bis 700 GeV wird untersucht. Hadronische und leptonische Szenarios f{\"u}r den Ursprung der Gamma-Strahlung werden diskutiert und das hadronische Szenario wird aufgrund eines Vergleichs der K{\"u}hlzeiten bevorzugt.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{TchoumbaKwamen2018, author = {Tchoumba Kwamen, Christelle Larodia}, title = {Investigating the dynamics of polarization reversal in ferroelectric thin films by time-resolved X-ray diffraction}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42781}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427815}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xvii, 126, xxiii}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Ferroic materials have attracted a lot of attention over the years due to their wide range of applications in sensors, actuators, and memory devices. Their technological applications originate from their unique properties such as ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity. In order to optimize these materials, it is necessary to understand the coupling between their nanoscale structure and transient response, which are related to the atomic structure of the unit cell. In this thesis, synchrotron X-ray diffraction is used to investigate the structure of ferroelectric thin film capacitors during application of a periodic electric field. Combining electrical measurements with time-resolved X-ray diffraction on a working device allows for visualization of the interplay between charge flow and structural motion. This constitutes the core of this work. The first part of this thesis discusses the electrical and structural dynamics of a ferroelectric Pt/Pb(Zr0.2,Ti0.8)O3/SrRuO3 heterostructure during charging, discharging, and polarization reversal. After polarization reversal a non-linear piezoelectric response develops on a much longer time scale than the RC time constant of the device. The reversal process is inhomogeneous and induces a transient disordered domain state. The structural dynamics under sub-coercive field conditions show that this disordered domain state can be remanent and can be erased with an appropriate voltage pulse sequence. The frequency-dependent dynamic characterization of a Pb(Zr0.52,Ti0.48)O3 layer, at the morphotropic phase boundary, shows that at high frequency, the limited domain wall velocity causes a phase lag between the applied field and both the structural and electrical responses. An external modification of the RC time constant of the measurement delays the switching current and widens the electromechanical hysteresis loop while achieving a higher compressive piezoelectric strain within the crystal. In the second part of this thesis, time-resolved reciprocal space maps of multiferroic BiFeO3 thin films were measured to identify the domain structure and investigate the development of an inhomogeneous piezoelectric response during the polarization reversal. The presence of 109° domains is evidenced by the splitting of the Bragg peak. The last part of this work investigates the effect of an optically excited ultrafast strain or heat pulse propagating through a ferroelectric BaTiO3 layer, where we observed an additional current response due to the laser pulse excitation of the metallic bottom electrode of the heterostructure.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Klimke2018, author = {Klimke, Jan}, title = {Web-based provisioning and application of large-scale virtual 3D city models}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42805}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428053}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xiii, 141}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Virtual 3D city models represent and integrate a variety of spatial data and georeferenced data related to urban areas. With the help of improved remote-sensing technology, official 3D cadastral data, open data or geodata crowdsourcing, the quantity and availability of such data are constantly expanding and its quality is ever improving for many major cities and metropolitan regions. There are numerous fields of applications for such data, including city planning and development, environmental analysis and simulation, disaster and risk management, navigation systems, and interactive city maps. The dissemination and the interactive use of virtual 3D city models represent key technical functionality required by nearly all corresponding systems, services, and applications. The size and complexity of virtual 3D city models, their management, their handling, and especially their visualization represent challenging tasks. For example, mobile applications can hardly handle these models due to their massive data volume and data heterogeneity. Therefore, the efficient usage of all computational resources (e.g., storage, processing power, main memory, and graphics hardware, etc.) is a key requirement for software engineering in this field. Common approaches are based on complex clients that require the 3D model data (e.g., 3D meshes and 2D textures) to be transferred to them and that then render those received 3D models. However, these applications have to implement most stages of the visualization pipeline on client side. Thus, as high-quality 3D rendering processes strongly depend on locally available computer graphics resources, software engineering faces the challenge of building robust cross-platform client implementations. Web-based provisioning aims at providing a service-oriented software architecture that consists of tailored functional components for building web-based and mobile applications that manage and visualize virtual 3D city models. This thesis presents corresponding concepts and techniques for web-based provisioning of virtual 3D city models. In particular, it introduces services that allow us to efficiently build applications for virtual 3D city models based on a fine-grained service concept. The thesis covers five main areas: 1. A Service-Based Concept for Image-Based Provisioning of Virtual 3D City Models It creates a frame for a broad range of services related to the rendering and image-based dissemination of virtual 3D city models. 2. 3D Rendering Service for Virtual 3D City Models This service provides efficient, high-quality 3D rendering functionality for virtual 3D city models. In particular, it copes with requirements such as standardized data formats, massive model texturing, detailed 3D geometry, access to associated feature data, and non-assumed frame-to-frame coherence for parallel service requests. In addition, it supports thematic and artistic styling based on an expandable graphics effects library. 3. Layered Map Service for Virtual 3D City Models It generates a map-like representation of virtual 3D city models using an oblique view. It provides high visual quality, fast initial loading times, simple map-based interaction and feature data access. Based on a configurable client framework, mobile and web-based applications for virtual 3D city models can be created easily. 4. Video Service for Virtual 3D City Models It creates and synthesizes videos from virtual 3D city models. Without requiring client-side 3D rendering capabilities, users can create camera paths by a map-based user interface, configure scene contents, styling, image overlays, text overlays, and their transitions. The service significantly reduces the manual effort typically required to produce such videos. The videos can automatically be updated when the underlying data changes. 5. Service-Based Camera Interaction It supports task-based 3D camera interactions, which can be integrated seamlessly into service-based visualization applications. It is demonstrated how to build such web-based interactive applications for virtual 3D city models using this camera service. These contributions provide a framework for design, implementation, and deployment of future web-based applications, systems, and services for virtual 3D city models. The approach shows how to decompose the complex, monolithic functionality of current 3D geovisualization systems into independently designed, implemented, and operated service- oriented units. In that sense, this thesis also contributes to microservice architectures for 3D geovisualization systems—a key challenge of today's IT systems engineering to build scalable IT solutions.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Stolley2018, author = {Stolley, Florian}, title = {Four essays on altruism and compliance}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42801}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428013}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {ix, 129}, year = {2018}, abstract = {There are numerous situations in which people ask for something or make a request, e.g. asking a favor, asking for help or requesting compliance with specific norms. For this reason, how to ask for something in order to increase people's willingness to fulfill such requests is one of the most important question for many people working in various different fields of responsibility such as charitable giving, marketing, management or policy making. This dissertation consists of four chapters that deal with the effects of small changes in the decision-making environment on altruistic decision-making and compliance behavior. Most notably, written communication as an influencing factor is the focus of the first three chapters. The starting point was the question how to devise a request in order to maximize its chance of success (Chapter 1). The results of the first chapter originate the ideas for the second and third chapter. Chapter 2 analyzes how communication by a neutral third-party, i.e. a text from the experimenters that either reminds potential benefactors of their responsibility or highlights their freedom of choice, affects altruistic decision-making. Chapter 3 elaborates on the effect of thanking people in advance when asking them for help. While being not as closely related to the other chapters as the three first ones are, the fourth chapter deals as well with the question how compliance (here: compliance with norms and rules) is affected by subtle manipulations of the environment in which decisions are made. This chapter analyzes the effect of default settings in a tax return on tax compliance. In order to study the research questions outlined above, controlled experiments were conducted. Chapter 1, which analyzes the effect of text messages on the decision to give something to another person, employs a mini-dictator game. The recipient sends a free-form text message to the dictator before the latter makes a binary decision whether or not to give part of her or his endowment to the recipient. We find that putting effort into the message by writing a long note without spelling mistakes increases dictators' willingness to give. Moreover, writing in a humorous way and mentioning reasons why the money is needed pays off. Furthermore, men and women seem to react differently to some message categories. Only men react positively to efficiency arguments, while only women react to messages that emphasize the dictator's power and responsibility. Building on this last result, Chapter 2 attempts to disentangle the effect of reminding potential benefactors of their responsibility for the potential beneficiary and the effect of highlighting their decision power and freedom of choice on altruistic decision-making by studying the effects of two different texts on giving in a dictator game. We find that only men react positively to a text that stresses their responsibility for the recipient by giving more to her or him, whereas only women seem to react positively to a text that emphasizes their decision power and freedom of choice. Chapter 3 focuses on the compliance with a request. In the experiment, participants are asked to provide a detailed answer to an open question. Compliance is measured by the effort participants spend on answering the question. The treatment variable is whether or not they see the text "thanks in advance." We find that participants react negatively by putting less effort into complying with the request in response to the phrase "thanks in advance." Chapter 4 studies the effect of prefilled tax returns with mostly inaccurate default values on tax compliance. In a laboratory experiment, participants earn income by performing a real-effort task and must subsequently file a tax return for three consecutive rounds. In the main treatment, the tax return is prefilled with a default value, resulting from participants' own performance in previous rounds, which varies in its relative size. The results suggest that there is no lasting effect of a default value on tax honesty, neither for relatively low nor relatively high defaults. However, participants who face a default that is lower than their true income in the first round evade significantly and substantially more taxes in this round than participants in the control treatment without a default.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Zimmermann2018, author = {Zimmermann, Marc}, title = {Multifunctional patchy silica particles via microcontact printing}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42773}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427731}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {IX, 121, xiii}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This research addressed the question, if it is possible to simplify current microcontact printing systems for the production of anisotropic building blocks or patchy particles, by using common chemicals while still maintaining reproducibility, high precision and tunability of the Janus-balance Chapter 2 introduced the microcontact printing materials as well as their defined electrostatic interactions. In particular polydimethylsiloxane stamps, silica particles and high molecular weight polyethylenimine ink were mainly used in this research. All of these components are commercially available in large quantities and affordable, which gives this approach a huge potential for further up-scaling developments. The benefits of polymeric over molecular inks was described including its flexible influence on the printing pressure. With this alteration of the µCP concept, a new method of solvent assisted particle release mechanism enabled the switch from two-dimensional surface modification to three-dimensional structure printing on colloidal silica particles, without changing printing parameters or starting materials. This effect opened the way to use the internal volume of the achieved patches for incorporation of nano additives, introducing additional physical properties into the patches without alteration of the surface chemistry. The success of this system and its achievable range was further investigated in chapter 3 by giving detailed information about patch geometry parameters including diameter, thickness and yield. For this purpose, silica particles in a size range between 1µm and 5µm were printed with different ink concentrations to change the Janus-balance of these single patched particles. A necessary intermediate step, consisting of air-plasma treatment, for the production of trivalent particles using "sandwich" printing was discovered and comparative studies concerning the patch geometry of single and double patched particles were conducted. Additionally, the usage of structured PDMS stamps during printing was described. These results demonstrate the excellent precision of this approach and opens the pathway for even greater accuracy as further parameters can be finely tuned and investigated, e.g. humidity and temperature during stamp loading. The performance of these synthesized anisotropic colloids was further investigated in chapter 4, starting with behaviour studies in alcoholic and aqueous dispersions. Here, the stability of the applied patches was studied in a broad pH range, discovering a release mechanism by disabling the electrostatic bonding between particle surface and polyelectrolyte ink. Furthermore, the absence of strong attractive forces between divalent particles in water was investigated using XPS measurements. These results lead to the conclusion that the transfer of small PDMS oligomers onto the patch surface is shielding charges, preventing colloidal agglomeration. However, based on this knowledge, further patch modifications for particle self-assembly were introduced including physical approaches using magnetic nano additives, chemical patch functionalization with avidin-biotin or the light responsive cyclodextrin-arylazopyrazoles coupling as well as particle surface modification for the synthesis of highly amphiphilic colloids. The successful coupling, its efficiency, stability and behaviour in different solvents were evaluated to find a suitable coupling system for future assembly experiments. Based on these results the possibility of more sophisticated structures by colloidal self-assembly is given. Certain findings needed further analysis to understand their underlying mechanics, including the relatively broad patch diameter distribution and the decreasing patch thickness for smaller silica particles. Mathematical assumptions for both effects are introduced in chapter 5. First, they demonstrate the connection between the naturally occurring particle size distribution and the broadening of the patch diameter, indicating an even higher precision for this µCP approach. Second, explaining the increase of contact area between particle and ink surface due to higher particle packaging, leading to a decrease in printing pressure for smaller particles. These calculations ultimately lead to the development of a new mechanical microcontact printing approach, using centrifugal forces for high pressure control and excellent parallel alignment of printing substrates. First results with this device and the comparison with previously conducted by-hand experiments conclude this research. It furthermore displays the advantages of such a device for future applications using a mechanical printing approach, especially for accessing even smaller nano particles with great precision and excellent yield. In conclusion, this work demonstrates the successful adjustment of the µCP approach using commercially available and affordable silica particles and polyelectrolytes for high flexibility, reduced costs and higher scale-up value. Furthermore, its was possible to increase the modification potential by introducing three-dimensional patches for additional functionalization volume. While keeping a high colloidal stability, different coupling systems showed the self-assembly capabilities of this toolbox for anisotropic particles.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Fer2018, author = {Fer, Istem}, title = {Modeling past, present and future climate induced vegetation changes in East Africa}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42777}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427777}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xxii, 156}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Ostafrika ist ein nat{\"u}rliches Labor: Durch ein Studium seiner einzigartigen geologischen und biologischen Geschichte lassen sich unsere Theorien und Modelle {\"u}berpr{\"u}fen und verbessern. Ein Studium seiner Gegenwart und seiner Zukunft wiederum hilft uns dabei, die global bedeutende Artenvielfalt und die {\"o}kosystemaren Dienstleistungen Ostafrikas zu sch{\"u}tzen. Eine zentrale Rolle spielt dabei spielt die ostafrikanische Vegetation, deren Dynamiken in dieser Dissertation durch Computersimulationen quantifiziert werden sollen. {\"U}ber Computersimulationen lassen sich fr{\"u}here Rahmenbedingungen reproduzieren, Voraussagen treffen oder Simulationsexperimente durchf{\"u}hren, die durch Feldforschung nicht m{\"o}glich w{\"a}ren. Zuallererst muss jedoch ihre Leistungsf{\"a}higkeit {\"u}berpr{\"u}ft werden. Die von dem Modell anhand der heutigen Inputs gelieferten Ergebnisse stimmten weitgehend mit heutigen Beobachtungen ostafrikanischer Vegetation {\"u}berein. Als n{\"a}chstes wurde die fr{\"u}here Vegetation simuliert, f{\"u}r die fossile Pollen-Daten zum Abgleich vorliegen. {\"U}ber Computermodelle lassen sich Wissensl{\"u}cken zwischen Standorten {\"u}berbr{\"u}cken, bei denen wir {\"u}ber fossile Pollen-Daten verf{\"u}gen, sodass ein vollst{\"a}ndigeres Bild der Vergangenheit entsteht. Zus{\"a}tzlich validiert wurde die Leistungsf{\"a}higkeit des Modells durch die hohe {\"U}bereinstimmung zwischen Modell und Pollen-Daten, wo sie im Raum {\"u}berlappen. Nachdem das Modell getestet und f{\"u}r die Region validiert war, konnte eine der seit langem offenen Fragen {\"u}ber die ostafrikanische Vegetation angegangen werden, n{\"a}mlich wie Ostafrika seines Tropenwaldes verlustig gehen konnte. In den Tropen wird die heutige Vegetation weltweit haupts{\"a}chlich von W{\"a}ldern dominiert, mit Ausnahme der Tropengebiete Ostafrikas, wo W{\"a}lder nur noch stellenweise an der K{\"u}ste und im Hochland vorkommen. Durch eine Reihe von Simulationsexperimenten konnte aufgezeigt werden, unter welchen Bedingungen jene Waldgebiete fr{\"u}her zusammenhingen und schließlich fragmentiert wurden. Die Studie hat erwiesen, wie empfindlich die ostafrikanische Vegetation f{\"u}r die Klimaschwankungen ist, die durch den k{\"u}nftigen Klimawandel zu erwarten sind. Weitere Auswirkungen auf das ostafrikanische Klima ergeben sich aus dem El Ni{\~n}o/Southern Oscillation-Ph{\"a}nomen (ENSO), das aus Temperaturfluktuationen zwischen dem Ozean und der Atmosph{\"a}re herr{\"u}hrt und k{\"u}nftig an Intensit{\"a}t zunehmen d{\"u}rfte. Die derzeitigen Klimamodelle sind allerdings noch nicht gut genug beim Erfassen solcher Ereignismuster. In einer Studie wurde der Einfluss des ENSO-Ph{\"a}nomens auf die ostafrikanische Vegetation quantifiziert und dabei aufgezeigt, wie sehr sich die k{\"u}nftige Vegetation von den heute simulierten Ergebnissen unterscheiden k{\"o}nnte, bei denen der genaue ENSO-Beitrag nicht ber{\"u}cksichtigt werden kann. Bei der Berechnung der k{\"u}nftigen weltweiten CO2-Bilanz und den zu treffenden Entscheidungen stellt dies einen zus{\"a}tzlichen Unsicherheitsfaktor dar.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hintsche2018, author = {Hintsche, Marius}, title = {Locomotion of a bacterium with a polar bundle of flagella}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42697}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426972}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xi, 108}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Movement and navigation are essential for many organisms during some parts of their lives. This is also true for bacteria, which can move along surfaces and swim though liquid environments. They are able to sense their environment, and move towards environmental cues in a directed fashion. These abilities enable microbial lifecyles in biofilms, improved food uptake, host infection, and many more. In this thesis we study aspects of the swimming movement - or motility - of the soil bacterium (P. putida). Like most bacteria, P. putida swims by rotating its helical flagella, but their arrangement differs from the main model organism in bacterial motility research: (E. coli). P. putida is known for its intriguing motility strategy, where fast and slow episodes can occur after each other. Up until now, it was not known how these two speeds can be produced, and what advantages they might confer to this bacterium. Normally the flagella, the main component of thrust generation in bacteria, are not observable by ordinary light microscopy. In order to elucidate this behavior, we therefore used a fluorescent staining technique on a mutant strain of this species to specifically label the flagella, while leaving the cell body only faintly stained. This allowed us to image the flagella of the swimming bacteria with high spacial and temporal resolution with a customized high speed fluorescence microscopy setup. Our observations show that P. putida can swim in three different modes. First, It can swim with the flagella pushing the cell body, which is the main mode of swimming motility previously known from other bacteria. Second, it can swim with the flagella pulling the cell body, which was thought not to be possible in situations with multiple flagella. Lastly, it can wrap its flagellar bundle around the cell body, which results in a speed wich is slower by a factor of two. In this mode, the flagella are in a different physical conformation with a larger radius so the cell body can fit inside. These three swimming modes explain the previous observation of two speeds, as well as the non strict alternation of the different speeds. Because most bacterial swimming in nature does not occur in smoothly walled glass enclosures under a microscope, we used an artificial, microfluidic, structured system of obstacles to study the motion of our model organism in a structured environment. Bacteria were observed in microchannels with cylindrical obstacles of different sizes and with different distances with video microscopy and cell tracking. We analyzed turning angles, run times, and run length, which we compared to a minimal model for movement in structured geometries. Our findings show that hydrodynamic interactions with the walls lead to a guiding of the bacteria along obstacles. When comparing the observed behavior with the statics of a particle that is deflected with every obstacle contact, we find that cells run for longer distances than that model. Navigation in chemical gradients is one of the main applications of motility in bacteria. We studied the swimming response of P. putida cells to chemical stimuli (chemotaxis) of the common food preservative sodium benzoate. Using a microfluidic gradient generation device, we created gradients of varying strength, and observed the motion of cells with a video microscope and subsequent cell tracking. Analysis of different motility parameters like run lengths and times, shows that P. putida employs the classical chemotaxis strategy of E. coli: runs up the gradient are biased to be longer than those down the gradient. Using the two different run speeds we observed due to the different swimming modes, we classify runs into `fast' and `slow' modes with a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). We find no evidence that P. putida's uses its swimming modes to perform chemotaxis. In most studies of bacterial motility, cell tracking is used to gather trajectories of individual swimming cells. These trajectories then have to be decomposed into run sections and tumble sections. Several algorithms have been developed to this end, but most require manual tuning of a number of parameters, or extensive measurements with chemotaxis mutant strains. Together with our collaborators, we developed a novel motility analysis scheme, based on generalized Kramers-Moyal-coefficients. From the underlying stochastic model, many parameters like run length etc., can be inferred by an optimization procedure without the need for explicit run and tumble classification. The method can, however, be extended to a fully fledged tumble classifier. Using this method, we analyze E. coli chemotaxis measurements in an aspartate analog, and find evidence for a chemotactic bias in the tumble angles.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ullmann2018, author = {Ullmann, Wiebke}, title = {Understanding animal movement behaviour in dynamic agricultural landscapes}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42715}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427153}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {vii, 183}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The movement of organisms has formed our planet like few other processes. Movements shape populations, communities, entire ecosystems, and guarantee fundamental ecosystem functions and services, like seed dispersal and pollination. Global, regional and local anthropogenic impacts influence animal movements across ecosystems all around the world. In particular, land-use modification, like habitat loss and fragmentation disrupt movements between habitats with profound consequences, from increased disease transmissions to reduced species richness and abundance. However, neither the influence of anthropogenic change on animal movement processes nor the resulting effects on ecosystems are well understood. Therefore, we need a coherent understanding of organismal movement processes and their underlying mechanisms to predict and prevent altered animal movements and their consequences for ecosystem functions. In this thesis I aim at understanding the influence of anthropogenically caused land-use change on animal movement processes and their underlying mechanisms. In particular, I am interested in the synergistic influence of large-scale landscape structure and fine-scale habitat features on basic-level movement behaviours (e.g. the daily amount of time spend running, foraging, and resting) and their emerging higher-level movements (home range formation). Based on my findings, I identify the likely consequences of altered animal movements that lead to the loss of species richness and abundances. The study system of my thesis are hares in agricultural landscapes. European brown hares (Lepus europaeus) are perfectly suited to study animal movements in agricultural landscapes, as hares are hermerophiles and prefer open habitats. They have historically thrived in agricultural landscapes, but their numbers are in decline. Agricultural areas are undergoing strong land-use changes due to increasing food demand and fast developing agricultural technologies. They are already the largest land-use class, covering 38\% of the world's terrestrial surface. To consider the relevance of a given landscape structure for animal movement behaviour I selected two differently structured agricultural landscapes - a simple landscape in Northern Germany with large fields and few landscape elements (e.g. hedges and tree stands), and a complex landscape in Southern Germany with small fields and many landscape elements. I applied GPS devices (hourly fixes) with internal high-resolution accelerometers (4 min samples) to track hares, receiving an almost continuous observation of the animals' behaviours via acceleration analyses. I used the spatial and behavioural information in combination with remote sensing data (normalized difference vegetation index, or NDVI, a proxy for resource availability), generating an almost complete idea of what the animal was doing when, why and where. Apart from landscape structure (represented by the two differently structured study areas), I specifically tested whether the following fine-scale habitat features influence animal movements: resource, agricultural management events, habitat diversity, and habitat structure. My results show that, irrespective of the movement process or mechanism and the type of fine-scale habitat features, landscape structure was the overarching variable influencing hare movement behaviour. High resource variability forces hares to enlarge their home ranges, but only in the simple and not in the complex landscape. Agricultural management events result in home range shifts in both landscapes, but force hares to increase their home ranges only in the simple landscape. Also the preference of habitat patches with low vegetation and the avoidance of high vegetation, was stronger in the simple landscape. High and dense crop fields restricted hare movements temporarily to very local and small habitat patch remnants. Such insuperable barriers can separate habitat patches that were previously connected by mobile links. Hence, the transport of nutrients and genetic material is temporarily disrupted. This mechanism is also working on a global scale, as human induced changes from habitat loss and fragmentation to expanding monocultures cause a reduction in animal movements worldwide. The mechanisms behind those findings show that higher-level movements, like increasing home ranges, emerge from underlying basic-level movements, like the behavioural modes. An increasing landscape simplicity first acts on the behavioural modes, i.e. hares run and forage more, but have less time to rest. Hence, the emergence of increased home range sizes in simple landscapes is based on an increased proportion of time running and foraging, largely due to longer travelling times between distant habitats and scarce resource items in the landscape. This relationship was especially strong during the reproductive phase, demonstrating the importance of high-quality habitat for reproduction and the need to keep up self-maintenance first, in low quality areas. These changes in movement behaviour may release a cascade of processes that start with more time being allocated to running and foraging, resulting into an increased energy expenditure and may lead to a decline in individual fitness. A decrease in individual fitness and reproductive output will ultimately affect population viability leading to local extinctions. In conclusion, I show that landscape structure has one of the most important effects on hare movement behaviour. Synergistic effects of landscape structure, and fine-scale habitat features, first affect and modify basic-level movement behaviours, that can scales up to altered higher-level movements and may even lead to the decline of species richness and abundances, and the disruption of ecosystem functions. Understanding the connection between movement mechanisms and processes can help to predict and prevent anthropogenically induced changes in movement behaviour. With regard to the paramount importance of landscape structure, I strongly recommend to decrease the size of agricultural fields and increase crop diversity. On the small-scale, conservation policies should assure the year round provision of areas with low vegetation height and high quality forage. This could be done by generating wildflower strips and additional (semi-) natural habitat patches. This will not only help to increase the populations of European brown hares and other farmland species, but also ensure and protects the continuity of mobile links and their intrinsic value for sustaining important ecosystem functions and services.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Bergholz2018, author = {Bergholz, Kolja}, title = {Trait-based understanding of plant species distributions along environmental gradients}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42634}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426341}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {128}, year = {2018}, abstract = {For more than two centuries, plant ecologists have aimed to understand how environmental gradients and biotic interactions shape the distribution and co-occurrence of plant species. In recent years, functional trait-based approaches have been increasingly used to predict patterns of species co-occurrence and species distributions along environmental gradients (trait-environment relationships). Functional traits are measurable properties at the individual level that correlate well with important processes. Thus, they allow us to identify general patterns by synthesizing studies across specific taxonomic compositions, thereby fostering our understanding of the underlying processes of species assembly. However, the importance of specific processes have been shown to be highly dependent on the spatial scale under consideration. In particular, it remains uncertain which mechanisms drive species assembly and allow for plant species coexistence at smaller, more local spatial scales. Furthermore, there is still no consensus on how particular environmental gradients affect the trait composition of plant communities. For example, increasing drought because of climate change is predicted to be a main threat to plant diversity, although it remains unclear which traits of species respond to increasing aridity. Similarly, there is conflicting evidence of how soil fertilization affects the traits related to establishment ability (e.g., seed mass). In this cumulative dissertation, I present three empirical trait-based studies that investigate specific research questions in order to improve our understanding of species distributions along environmental gradients. In the first case study, I analyze how annual species assemble at the local scale and how environmental heterogeneity affects different facets of biodiversity—i.e. taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity—at different spatial scales. The study was conducted in a semi-arid environment at the transition zone between desert and Mediterranean ecosystems that features a sharp precipitation gradient (Israel). Different null model analyses revealed strong support for environmentally driven species assembly at the local scale, since species with similar traits tended to co-occur and shared high abundances within microsites (trait convergence). A phylogenetic approach, which assumes that closely related species are functionally more similar to each other than distantly related ones, partly supported these results. However, I observed that species abundances within microsites were, surprisingly, more evenly distributed across the phylogenetic tree than expected (phylogenetic overdispersion). Furthermore, I showed that environmental heterogeneity has a positive effect on diversity, which was higher on functional than on taxonomic diversity and increased with spatial scale. The results of this case study indicate that environmental heterogeneity may act as a stabilizing factor to maintain species diversity at local scales, since it influenced species distribution according to their traits and positively influenced diversity. All results were constant along the precipitation gradient. In the second case study (same study system as case study one), I explore the trait responses of two Mediterranean annuals (Geropogon hybridus and Crupina crupinastrum) along a precipitation gradient that is comparable to the maximum changes in precipitation predicted to occur by the end of this century (i.e., -30\%). The heterocarpic G. hybridus showed strong trends in seed traits, suggesting that dispersal ability increased with aridity. By contrast, the homocarpic C. crupinastrum showed only a decrease in plant height as aridity increased, while leaf traits of both species showed no consistent pattern along the precipitation gradient. Furthermore, variance decomposition of traits revealed that most of the trait variation observed in the study system was actually found within populations. I conclude that trait responses towards aridity are highly species-specific and that the amount of precipitation is not the most striking environmental factor at this particular scale. In the third case study, I assess how soil fertilization mediates—directly by increased nutrient addition and indirectly by increased competition—the effect of seed mass on establishment ability. For this experiment, I used 22 species differing in seed mass from dry grasslands in northeastern Germany and analyzed the interacting effects of seed mass with nutrient availability and competition on four key components of seedling establishment: seedling emergence, time of seedling emergence, seedling survival, and seedling growth. (Time of) seedling emergence was not affected by seed mass. However, I observed that the positive effect of seed mass on seedling survival is lowered under conditions of high nutrient availability, whereas the positive effect of seed mass on seedling growth was only reduced by competition. Based on these findings, I developed a conceptual model of how seed mass should change along a soil fertility gradient in order to reconcile conflicting findings from the literature. In this model, seed mass shows a U-shaped pattern along the soil fertility gradient as a result of changing nutrient availability and competition. Overall, the three case studies highlight the role of environmental factors on species distribution and co-occurrence. Moreover, the findings of this thesis indicate that spatial heterogeneity at local scales may act as a stabilizing factor that allows species with different traits to coexist. In the concluding discussion, I critically debate intraspecific trait variability in plant community ecology, the use of phylogenetic relationships and easily measured key functional traits as a proxy for species' niches. Finally, I offer my outlook for the future of functional plant community research.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Mielke2018, author = {Mielke, Jahel}, title = {Coordination on Green Investment}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42745}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427459}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {viii, 209}, year = {2018}, abstract = {To reach its climate targets, the European Union has to implement a major sustainability transition in the coming decades. While the socio-technical change required for this transition is well discussed in the academic literature, the economics that go along with it are often reduced to a cost-benefit perspective of climate policy measures. By investigating climate change mitigation as a coordination problem, this thesis offers a novel perspective: It integrates the economic and the socio-technical dimension and thus allows to better understand the opportunities of a sustainability transition in Europe. First, a game theoretic framework is developed to illustrate coordination on green or brown investment from an agent perspective. A model based on the coordination game "stag hunt" is used to discuss the influence of narratives and signals for green investment as a means to coordinate expectations towards green growth. Public and private green investment impulses - triggered by credible climate policy measures and targets - serve as an example for a green growth perspective for Europe in line with a sustainability transition. This perspective also embodies a critical view on classical analyses of climate policy measures. Secondly, this analysis is enriched with empirical results derived from stakeholder involvement. In interviews and with a survey among European insurance companies, coordination mechanisms such as market and policy signals are identified and evaluated by their impact on investment strategies for green infrastructure. The latter, here defined as renewable energy, electricity distribution and transmission as well as energy efficiency improvements, is considered a central element of the transition to a low-carbon society. Thirdly, this thesis identifies and analyzes major criticisms raised towards stakeholder involvement in sustainability science. On a conceptual level, different ways of conducting such qualitative research are classified. This conceptualization is then evaluated by scientists, thereby generating empirical evidence on ideals and practices of stakeholder involvement in sustainability science. Through the combination of theoretical and empirical research on coordination problems, this thesis offers several contributions: On the one hand, it outlines an approach that allows to assess the economic opportunities of sustainability transitions. This is helpful for policy makers in Europe that are striving to implement climate policy measures addressing the targets of the Paris Agreement as well as to encourage a shift of investments towards green infrastructure. On the other hand, this thesis enhances the stabilization of the theoretical foundations in sustainability science. Therefore, it can aid researchers who involve stakeholders when studying sustainability transitions.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hain2018, author = {Hain, Gerrit}, title = {Onsets and dependencies of strenuous spine bending accelerations in drop landings}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42746}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427461}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {XVI, 118}, year = {2018}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Physical activity involving high spinal load has been exposed to possess a crucial impact in the genesis of acute and chronic low back pain and disorder. Vigorous spinal loads are surmised in drop landings, for which strenuous bending loads were formerly evinced for the lower extremity structures. Thus far, clinical studies revealed that repetitive landing impacts can evoke benign structural adaptions or damage to the lumbar vertebrae. Though, causes for these observations are hitherto not conclusively evinced; since actual spinal load has to date not been experimentally documented. Moreover, it is yet undetermined how physiological activation of trunk musculature compensates for landing impact induced spinal loads, and to which extend trunk activity and spinal load are affected by landing demands and performer characteristics. AIMS of this study are 1. the localisation and quantification of spinal bending loads under various landing demands and 2. the identification of compensatory trunk muscular activity pattern, which potentially alleviate spinal load magnitudes. Three consecutive Hypotheses (H1 - H3) were hereto postulated: H1 posits that spinal bending loads in segregated motion planes can feasibly and reliably be evaluated from peak spine segmental angular accelerations. H2 furthermore assumes that vertical drop landings elicit highest spine bending load in sagittal flexion of the lumbar spine. Based on these verifications, a second study shall prove the successive hypothesis (H3) that diversified landing conditions, like performer's landing familiarity and gender, as an implementation of an instantaneous follow-up task, affect the emerging lumbar spinal bending load. Herein it is moreover surmised that lumbar spinal bending loads under distinct landing conditions are predominantly modulated by herewith disparately deployed conditioned pre-activations of trunk muscles. METHODS: To test the above arrayed hypothesis, two successive studies were carried out. In STUDY 1, 17 subjects were repetitively assessed performing various drop landings (heigth: 15, 30, 45, 60cm; unilateral, bilateral, blindfolded, catching a ball) in a test-retest-design. Herein individual peak angular accelerations [αMAX] were derived from three-dimensional motion data of four trunk-segments (upper thoracic, lower thoracic, lumbar, pelvis). αMAX was herein assessed in flexion, lateral flexion, and rotation of each spinal joint, formed by two adjacent segments. Reliability of αMAX within and between test-days was evaluated by CV\%, ICC 2.1, TRV\%, and Bland \& Altman Analysis (BIAS±LoA). Subsequently, peak flexion acceleration of the lumbo-pelvic joint [αFLEX[LS-PV]] was statistically compared to αMAX expressions of each other assessed spinal joint and motion plane (Mean ±SD, Independent Samples T-test). STUDY 2 deliberately assessed mere peak lumbo-pelvic flexion accelerations [αFLEX[LS-PV]] and electro-myographic trunk pre-activity prior to αFLEX[LS-PV] on 43 subjects performing varied landing tasks (height 45cm; with definite or indefinite predictability of a subsequent instant follow up jump). Subjects were contrasted with respect to their previous landing familiarity ( >1000 vs. <100 landings performed in the past 10 years) and gender. Differences of αFLEX[LS-PV] and muscular pre-activity between contrasted subject groups as between landing tasks were equally statistically tested by three-way mixed ANOVA with Post-hoc tests. Associations between αFLEX[LS-PV] and muscular pre-activity were factor-specifically assessed by Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient (rS). Complementarily, muscular pre-activity was subdivided by landing phases [DROP, IMPACT] and discretely assessed for phase specific associations to αFLEX[LS-PV]. Each muscular activity was moreover pairwise compared between DROP and IMPACT (Mean ±SD, Dependent Samples T-test). RESULTS: αMAX was presented with overall high variability within test-days (CV =36\%). Lowest intra-individual variability and highest reproducibility of αMAX between test-days was shown in flexion of the spine. αFLEX[LS-PV] showed largely consistent sig. higher magnitudes compared to αMAX presented in more cranial spinal joints and other motion planes. αFLEX[LS-PV] moreover gradually increased with escalations in landing heights. Landing unfamiliar subjects presented sig. higher αFLEX[LS-PV] in contrast to landing familiar ones (p=.016). M. Obliquus Int. with M. Transversus Abd. (66 ±32\%MVC) and M. Erector Spinae (47 ±15\%MVC) presented maredly highest activity in contrast to lowest activity of M. Rectus Abd. (10 ±4\%MVC). Landing unfamiliar subjects showed compared to landing familiar ones sig. higher activity of M. Obliquus Ext. (17 ±8\%MVC, 12 ±7\%MVC, p= .044). M. Obliquus Ext. and its co-contraction ratio with M. Erector Spinae moreover exhibited low but sig. positive correlations to αFLEX[LS-PV] (rs=.39, rs=.31). Each trunk muscule distributed larger shares of its activity to DROP, whereas peak activations of most muscles emerged in the proportionally shorter IMPACT phase. Commonly increased muscular pre-activation particularly at IMPACT was found in landings with a contrived follow up jump and in female subjects, whereby αFLEX[LS-PV] was hereof only marginally affected. DISCUSSION: Highest spine segmental angular accelerations in drop landings emerge in sagittal flexion of the lumbar spine. The compensatory stabilisation of the spine appears to be preponderantly provided by a dorso-ventral co-contraction of M. Obliquus Int., M. Transversus Abd. and M. Erector Spinae. Elevated pre-activity of M. Obliquuis Ext. supposably characterises poor landing experience, which might engender increased bending loads to the lumbar spine. A pervasive large variability of spinal angular accelerations measured across all landing types, suggests a multifarious utilisation of diverse mechanisms compensating for spinal impacts in landing performances. A standardised assessment and valid evaluation of landing evoked lumbar bending loads is hereof largley confined. CONCLUSION: Drop landings elicit most strenuous lumbo-pelvic flexion accelerations, which can be appraised as representatives for high energetic bending loads to the spine. Such entail the highest risk to overload the spinal tissue, when landing demands exceed the individual's landing skill. Previous landing experience and training appears to effectively improve muscular spine stabilisation pattern, diminishing spinal bending loads.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Kumru2018, author = {Kumru, Baris}, title = {Utilization of graphitic carbon nitride in dispersed media}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42733}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427339}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {III, 190}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Utilization of sunlight for energy harvesting has been foreseen as sustainable replacement for fossil fuels, which would also eliminate side effects arising from fossil fuel consumption such as drastic increase of CO2 in Earth atmosphere. Semiconductor materials can be implemented for energy harvesting, and design of ideal energy harvesting devices relies on effective semiconductor with low recombination rate, ease of processing, stability over long period, non-toxicity and synthesis from abundant sources. Aforementioned criteria have attracted broad interest for graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) materials, metal-free semiconductor which can be synthesized from low cost and abundant precursors. Furthermore, physical properties such as band gap, surface area and absorption can be tuned. g-CN was investigated as heterogeneous catalyst, with diversified applications from water splitting to CO2 reduction and organic coupling reactions. However, low dispersibility of g-CN in water and organic solvents was an obstacle for future improvements. Tissue engineering aims to mimic natural tissues mechanically and biologically, so that synthetic materials can replace natural ones in future. Hydrogels are crosslinked networks with high water content, therefore are prime candidates for tissue engineering. However, the first requirement is synthesis of hydrogels with mechanical properties that are matching to natural tissues. Among different approaches for reinforcement, nanocomposite reinforcement is highly promising. This thesis aims to investigate aqueous and organic dispersions of g-CN materials. Aqueous g-CN dispersions were utilized for visible light induced hydrogel synthesis, where g-CN acts as reinforcer and photoinitiator. Varieties of methodologies were presented for enhancing g-CN dispersibility, from co-solvent method to prepolymer formation, and it was shown that hydrogels with diversified mechanical properties (from skin-like to cartilage-like) are accessible via g-CN utilization. One pot photografting method was introduced for functionalization of g-CN surface which provides functional groups towards enhanced dispersibility in aqueous and organic media. Grafting vinyl thiazole groups yields stable additive-free organodispersions of g-CN which are electrostatically stabilized with increased photophysical properties. Colloidal stability of organic systems provides transparent g-CN coatings and printing g-CN from commercial inkjet printers. Overall, application of g-CN in dispersed media is highly promising, and variety of materials can be accessible via utilization of g-CN and visible light with simple chemicals and synthetic conditions. g-CN in dispersed media will bridge emerging research areas from tissue engineering to energy harvesting in near future.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Tofelde2018, author = {Tofelde, Stefanie}, title = {Signals stored in sediment}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42716}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427168}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {XVII, 172}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Tectonic and climatic boundary conditions determine the amount and the characteristics (size distribution and composition) of sediment that is generated and exported from mountain regions. On millennial timescales, rivers adjust their morphology such that the incoming sediment (Qs,in) can be transported downstream by the available water discharge (Qw). Changes in climatic and tectonic boundary conditions thus trigger an adjustment of the downstream river morphology. Understanding the sensitivity of river morphology to perturbations in boundary conditions is therefore of major importance, for example, for flood assessments, infrastructure and habitats. Although we have a general understanding of how rivers evolve over longer timescales, the prediction of channel response to changes in boundary conditions on a more local scale and over shorter timescales remains a major challenge. To better predict morphological channel evolution, we need to test (i) how channels respond to perturbations in boundary conditions and (ii) how signals reflecting the persisting conditions are preserved in sediment characteristics. This information can then be applied to reconstruct how local river systems have evolved over time. In this thesis, I address those questions by combining targeted field data collection in the Quebrada del Toro (Southern Central Andes of NW Argentina) with cosmogenic nuclide analysis and remote sensing data. In particular, I (1) investigate how information on hillslope processes is preserved in the 10Be concentration (geochemical composition) of fluvial sediments and how those signals are altered during downstream transport. I complement the field-based approach with physical experiments in the laboratory, in which I (2) explore how changes in sediment supply (Qs,in) or water discharge (Qw) generate distinct signals in the amount of sediment discharge at the basin outlet (Qs,out). With the same set of experiments, I (3) study the adjustments of alluvial channel morphology to changes in Qw and Qs,in, with a particular focus in fill-terrace formation. I transfer the findings from the experiments to the field to (4) reconstruct the evolution of a several-hundred meter thick fluvial fill-terrace sequence in the Quebrada del Toro. I create a detailed terrace chronology and perform reconstructions of paleo-Qs and Qw from the terrace deposits. In the following paragraphs, I summarize my findings on each of these four topics. First, I sampled detrital sediment at the outlet of tributaries and along the main stem in the Quebrada del Toro, analyzed their 10Be concentration ([10Be]) and compared the data to a detailed hillslope-process inventory. The often observed non-linear increase in catchment-mean denudation rate (inferred from [10Be] in fluvial sediment) with catchment-median slope, which has commonly been explained by an adjustment in landslide-frequency, coincided with a shift in the main type of hillslope processes. In addition, the [10Be] in fluvial sediments varied with grain-size. I defined the normalized sand-gravel-index (NSGI) as the 10Be-concentration difference between sand and gravel fractions divided by their summed concentrations. The NSGI increased with median catchment slope and coincided with a shift in the prevailing hillslope processes active in the catchments, thus making the NSGI a potential proxy for the evolution of hillslope processes over time from sedimentary deposits. However, the NSGI recorded hillslope-processes less well in regions of reduced hillslope-channel connectivity and, in addition, has the potential to be altered during downstream transport due to lateral sediment input, size-selective sediment transport and abrasion. Second, my physical experiments revealed that sediment discharge at the basin outlet (Qs,out) varied in response to changes in Qs,in or Qw. While changes in Qw caused a distinct signal in Qs,out during the transient adjustment phase of the channel to new boundary conditions, signals related to changes in Qs,in were buffered during the transient phase and likely only become apparent once the channel is adjusted to the new conditions. The temporal buffering is related to the negative feedback between Qs,in and channel-slope adjustments. In addition, I inferred from this result that signals extracted from the geochemical composition of sediments (e.g., [10Be]) are more likely to represent modern-day conditions during times of aggradation, whereas the signal will be temporally buffered due to mixing with older, remobilized sediment during times of channel incision. Third, the same set of experiments revealed that river incision, channel-width narrowing and terrace cutting were initiated by either an increase in Qw, a decrease in Qs,in or a drop in base level. The lag-time between the external perturbation and the terrace cutting determined (1) how well terrace surfaces preserved the channel profile prior to perturbation and (2) the degree of reworking of terrace-surface material. Short lag-times and well preserved profiles occurred in cases with a rapid onset of incision. Also, lag-times were synchronous along the entire channel after upstream perturbations (Qw, Qs,in), whereas base-level fall triggered an upstream migrating knickzone, such that lag-times increased with distance upstream. Terraces formed after upstream perturbations (Qw, Qs,in) were always steeper when compared to the active channel in new equilibrium conditions. In the base-level fall experiment, the slope of the terrace-surfaces and the modern channel were similar. Hence, slope comparisons between the terrace surface and the modern channel can give insights into the mechanism of terrace formation. Fourth, my detailed terrace-formation chronology indicated that cut-and-fill episodes in the Quebrada del Toro followed a ~100-kyr cyclicity, with the oldest terraces ~ 500 kyr old. The terraces were formed due to variability in upstream Qw and Qs. Reconstructions of paleo-Qs over the last 500 kyr, which were restricted to times of sediment deposition, indicated only minor (up to four-fold) variations in paleo-denudation rates. Reconstructions of paleo-Qw were limited to the times around the onset of river incision and revealed enhanced discharge from 10 to 85\% compared to today. Such increases in Qw are in agreement with other quantitative paleo-hydrological reconstructions from the Eastern Andes, but have the advantage of dating further back in time.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Heiden2018, author = {Heiden, Sophia L.}, title = {Water at α-alumina surfaces}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42636}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426366}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {124}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The (0001) surface of α-Al₂O₃ is the most stable surface cut under UHV conditions and was studied by many groups both theoretically and experimentally. Reaction barriers computed with GGA functionals are known to be underestimated. Based on an example reaction at the (0001) surface, this work seeks to improve this rate by applying a hybrid functional method and perturbation theory (LMP2) with an atomic orbital basis, rather than a plane wave basis. In addition to activation barriers, we calculate the stability and vibrational frequencies of water on the surface. Adsorption energies were compared to PW calculations and confirmed PBE+D2/PW stability results. Especially the vibrational frequencies with the B3LYP hybrid functional that have been calculated for the (0001) surface are in good agreement with experimental findings. Concerning the barriers and the reaction rate constant, the expectations are fully met. It could be shown that recalculation of the transition state leads to an increased barrier, and a decreased rate constant when hybrid functionals or LMP2 are applied. Furthermore, the molecular beam scattering of water on (0001) surface was studied. In a previous work by Hass the dissociation was studied by AIMD of molecularly adsorbed water, referring to an equilibrium situation. The experimental method to obtaining this is pinhole dosing. In contrast to this earlier work, the dissociation process of heavy water that is brought onto the surface from a molecular beam source was modeled in this work by periodic ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. This experimental method results in a non-equilibrium situation. The calculations with different surface and beam models allow us to understand the results of the non-equilibrium situation better. In contrast to a more equilibrium situation with pinhole dosing, this gives an increase in the dissociation probability, which could be explained and also understood mechanistically by those calculations. In this work good progress was made in understanding the (1120) surface of α-Al₂O₃ in contact with water in the low-coverage regime. This surface cut is the third most stable one under UHV conditions and has not been studied to a great extent yet. After optimization of the clean, defect free surface, the stability of different adsorbed species could be classified. One molecular minimum and several dissociated species could be detected. Starting from these, reaction rates for various surface reactions were evaluated. A dissociation reaction was shown to be very fast because the molecular minimum is relatively unstable, whereas diffusion reactions cover a wider range from fast to slow. In general, the (112‾0) surface appears to be much more reactive against water than the (0001) surface. In addition to reactivity, harmonic vibrational frequencies were determined for comparison with the findings of the experimental "Interfacial Molecular Spectroscopy" group from Fritz-Haber institute in Berlin. Especially the vibrational frequencies of OD species could be assigned to vibrations from experimental SFG spectra with very good agreement. Also, lattice vibrations were studied in close collaboration with the experimental partners. They perform SFG spectra at very low frequencies to get deep into the lattice vibration region. Correspondingly, a bigger slab model with greater expansion perpendicular to the surface was applied, considering more layers in the bulk. Also with the lattice vibrations we could obtain reasonably good agreement in terms of energy differences between the peaks.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Sieg2018, author = {Sieg, Tobias}, title = {Reliability of flood damage estimations across spatial scales}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42616}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426161}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {XIII, 115}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Extreme Naturereignisse sind ein integraler Bestandteil der Natur der Erde. Sie werden erst dann zu Gefahren f{\"u}r die Gesellschaft, wenn sie diesen Ereignissen ausgesetzt ist. Dann allerdings k{\"o}nnen Naturgefahren verheerende Folgen f{\"u}r die Gesellschaft haben. Besonders hydro-meteorologische Gefahren wie zum Beispiel Flusshochwasser, Starkregenereignisse, Winterst{\"u}rme, Orkane oder Tornados haben ein hohes Schadenspotential und treten rund um den Globus auf. Einhergehend mit einer immer w{\"a}rmer werdenden Welt, werden auch Extremwetterereignisse, welche potentiell Naturgefahren ausl{\"o}sen k{\"o}nnen, immer wahrscheinlicher. Allerdings tr{\"a}gt nicht nur eine sich ver{\"a}ndernde Umwelt zur Erh{\"o}hung des Risikos von Naturgefahren bei, sondern auch eine sich ver{\"a}ndernde Gesellschaft. Daher ist ein angemessenes Risikomanagement erforderlich um die Gesellschaft auf jeder r{\"a}umlichen Ebene an diese Ver{\"a}nderungen anzupassen. Ein essentieller Bestandteil dieses Managements ist die Absch{\"a}tzung der {\"o}konomischen Auswirkungen der Naturgefahren. Bisher allerdings fehlen verl{\"a}ssliche Methoden um die Auswirkungen von hydro-meteorologischen Gefahren abzusch{\"a}tzen. Ein Hauptbestandteil dieser Arbeit ist daher die Entwicklung und Anwendung einer neuen Methode, welche die Verl{\"a}sslichkeit der Schadenssch{\"a}tzung verbessert. Die Methode wurde beispielhaft zur Sch{\"a}tzung der {\"o}konomischen Auswirkungen eines Flusshochwassers auf einzelne Unternehmen bis hin zu den Auswirkungen auf das gesamte Wirtschaftssystem Deutschlands erfolgreich angewendet. Bestehende Methoden geben meist wenig Information {\"u}ber die Verl{\"a}sslichkeit ihrer Sch{\"a}tzungen. Da diese Informationen Entscheidungen zur Anpassung an das Risiko erleichtern, wird die Verl{\"a}sslichkeit der Schadenssch{\"a}tzungen mit der neuen Methode dargestellt. Die Verl{\"a}sslichkeit bezieht sich dabei nicht nur auf die Schadenssch{\"a}tzung selber, sondern auch auf die Annahmen, die {\"u}ber betroffene Geb{\"a}ude gemacht werden. Nach diesem Prinzip kann auch die Verl{\"a}sslichkeit von Annahmen {\"u}ber die Zukunft dargestellt werden, dies ist ein wesentlicher Aspekt f{\"u}r Prognosen. Die Darstellung der Verl{\"a}sslichkeit und die erfolgreiche Anwendung zeigt das Potential der Methode zur Verwendung von Analysen f{\"u}r gegenw{\"a}rtige und zuk{\"u}nftige hydro-meteorologische Gefahren.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Oeztuerk2018, author = {{\"O}zt{\"u}rk, Ugur}, title = {Learning more to predict landslides}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42643}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426439}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xxi, 104}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Landslides are frequent natural hazards in rugged terrain, when the resisting frictional force of the surface of rupture yields to the gravitational force. These forces are functions of geological and morphological factors, such as angle of internal friction, local slope gradient or curvature, which remain static over hundreds of years; whereas more dynamic triggering events, such as rainfall and earthquakes, compromise the force balance by temporarily reducing resisting forces or adding transient loads. This thesis investigates landslide distribution and orientation due to landslide triggers (e.g. rainfall) at different scales (6-4∙10^5 km^2) and aims to link rainfall movement with the landslide distribution. It additionally explores the local impacts of the extreme rainstorms on landsliding and the role of precursory stability conditions that could be induced by an earlier trigger, such as an earthquake. Extreme rainfall is a common landslide trigger. Although several studies assessed rainfall intensity and duration to study the distribution of thus triggered landslides, only a few case studies quantified spatial rainfall patterns (i.e. orographic effect). Quantifying the regional trajectories of extreme rainfall could aid predicting landslide prone regions in Japan. To this end, I combined a non-linear correlation metric, namely event synchronization, and radial statistics to assess the general pattern of extreme rainfall tracks over distances of hundreds of kilometers using satellite based rainfall estimates. Results showed that, although the increase in rainfall intensity and duration positively correlates with landslide occurrence, the trajectories of typhoons and frontal storms were insufficient to explain landslide distribution in Japan. Extreme rainfall trajectories inclined northwestwards and were concentrated along some certain locations, such as coastlines of southern Japan, which was unnoticed in the landslide distribution of about 5000 rainfall-triggered landslides. These landslides seemed to respond to the mean annual rainfall rates. Above mentioned findings suggest further investigation on a more local scale to better understand the mechanistic response of landscape to extreme rainfall in terms of landslides. On May 2016 intense rainfall struck southern Germany triggering high waters and landslides. The highest damage was reported at the Braunsbach, which is located on the tributary-mouth fan formed by the Orlacher Bach. Orlacher Bach is a ~3 km long creek that drains a catchment of about ~6 km^2. I visited this catchment in June 2016 and mapped 48 landslides along the creek. Such high landslide activity was not reported in the nearby catchments within ~3300 km^2, despite similar rainfall intensity and duration based on weather radar estimates. My hypothesis was that several landslides were triggered by rainfall-triggered flash floods that undercut hillslope toes along the Orlacher Bach. I found that morphometric features such as slope and curvature play an important role in landslide distribution on this micro scale study site (<10 km^2). In addition, the high number of landslides along the Orlacher Bach could also be boosted by accumulated damages on hillslopes due karst weathering over longer time scales. Precursory damages on hillslopes could also be induced by past triggering events that effect landscape evolution, but this interaction is hard to assess independently from the latest trigger. For example, an earthquake might influence the evolution of a landscape decades long, besides its direct impacts, such as landslides that follow the earthquake. Here I studied the consequences of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake (MW 7.1) that triggered some 1500 landslides in an area of ~4000 km^2 in central Kyushu, Japan. Topography, i.e. local slope and curvature, both amplified and attenuated seismic waves, thus controlling the failure mechanism of those landslides (e.g. progressive). I found that topography fails in explaining the distribution and the preferred orientation of the landslides after the earthquake; instead the landslides were concentrated around the northeast of the rupture area and faced mostly normal to the rupture plane. This preferred location of the landslides was dominated mainly by the directivity effect of the strike-slip earthquake, which is the propagation of wave energy along the fault in the rupture direction; whereas amplitude variations of the seismic radiation altered the preferred orientation. I suspect that the earthquake directivity and the asymmetry of seismic radiation damaged hillslopes at those preferred locations increasing landslide susceptibility. Hence a future weak triggering event, e.g. scattered rainfall, could further trigger landslides at those damaged hillslopes.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Sapegin2018, author = {Sapegin, Andrey}, title = {High-Speed Security Log Analytics Using Hybrid Outlier Detection}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42611}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426118}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {162}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The rapid development and integration of Information Technologies over the last decades influenced all areas of our life, including the business world. Yet not only the modern enterprises become digitalised, but also security and criminal threats move into the digital sphere. To withstand these threats, modern companies must be aware of all activities within their computer networks. The keystone for such continuous security monitoring is a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system that collects and processes all security-related log messages from the entire enterprise network. However, digital transformations and technologies, such as network virtualisation and widespread usage of mobile communications, lead to a constantly increasing number of monitored devices and systems. As a result, the amount of data that has to be processed by a SIEM system is increasing rapidly. Besides that, in-depth security analysis of the captured data requires the application of rather sophisticated outlier detection algorithms that have a high computational complexity. Existing outlier detection methods often suffer from performance issues and are not directly applicable for high-speed and high-volume analysis of heterogeneous security-related events, which becomes a major challenge for modern SIEM systems nowadays. This thesis provides a number of solutions for the mentioned challenges. First, it proposes a new SIEM system architecture for high-speed processing of security events, implementing parallel, in-memory and in-database processing principles. The proposed architecture also utilises the most efficient log format for high-speed data normalisation. Next, the thesis offers several novel high-speed outlier detection methods, including generic Hybrid Outlier Detection that can efficiently be used for Big Data analysis. Finally, the special User Behaviour Outlier Detection is proposed for better threat detection and analysis of particular user behaviour cases. The proposed architecture and methods were evaluated in terms of both performance and accuracy, as well as compared with classical architecture and existing algorithms. These evaluations were performed on multiple data sets, including simulated data, well-known public intrusion detection data set, and real data from the large multinational enterprise. The evaluation results have proved the high performance and efficacy of the developed methods. All concepts proposed in this thesis were integrated into the prototype of the SIEM system, capable of high-speed analysis of Big Security Data, which makes this integrated SIEM platform highly relevant for modern enterprise security applications.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Stettner2018, author = {Stettner, Samuel}, title = {Exploring the seasonality of rapid Arctic changes from space}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42578}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-425783}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {XIII, 132}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Arctic warming has implications for the functioning of terrestrial Arctic ecosystems, global climate and socioeconomic systems of northern communities. A research gap exists in high spatial resolution monitoring and understanding of the seasonality of permafrost degradation, spring snowmelt and vegetation phenology. This thesis explores the diversity and utility of dense TerraSAR-X (TSX) X-Band time series for monitoring ice-rich riverbank erosion, snowmelt, and phenology of Arctic vegetation at long-term study sites in the central Lena Delta, Russia and on Qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island), Canada. In the thesis the following three research questions are addressed: • Is TSX time series capable of monitoring the dynamics of rapid permafrost degradation in ice-rich permafrost on an intra-seasonal scale and can these datasets in combination with climate data identify the climatic drivers of permafrost degradation? • Can multi-pass and multi-polarized TSX time series adequately monitor seasonal snow cover and snowmelt in small Arctic catchments and how does it perform compared to optical satellite data and field-based measurements? • Do TSX time series reflect the phenology of Arctic vegetation and how does the recorded signal compare to in-situ greenness data from RGB time-lapse camera data and vegetation height from field surveys? To answer the research questions three years of TSX backscatter data from 2013 to 2015 for the Lena Delta study site and from 2015 to 2017 for the Qikiqtaruk study site were used in quantitative and qualitative analysis complimentary with optical satellite data and in-situ time-lapse imagery. The dynamics of intra-seasonal ice-rich riverbank erosion in the central Lena Delta, Russia were quantified using TSX backscatter data at 2.4 m spatial resolution in HH polarization and validated with 0.5 m spatial resolution optical satellite data and field-based time-lapse camera data. Cliff top lines were automatically extracted from TSX intensity images using threshold-based segmentation and vectorization and combined in a geoinformation system with manually digitized cliff top lines from the optical satellite data and rates of erosion extracted from time-lapse cameras. The results suggest that the cliff top eroded at a constant rate throughout the entire erosional season. Linear mixed models confirmed that erosion was coupled with air temperature and precipitation at an annual scale, seasonal fluctuations did not influence 22-day erosion rates. The results highlight the potential of HH polarized X-Band backscatter data for high temporal resolution monitoring of rapid permafrost degradation. The distinct signature of wet snow in backscatter intensity images of TSX data was exploited to generate wet snow cover extent (SCE) maps on Qikiqtaruk at high temporal resolution. TSX SCE showed high similarity to Landsat 8-derived SCE when using cross-polarized VH data. Fractional snow cover (FSC) time series were extracted from TSX and optical SCE and compared to FSC estimations from in-situ time-lapse imagery. The TSX products showed strong agreement with the in-situ data and significantly improved the temporal resolution compared to the Landsat 8 time series. The final combined FSC time series revealed two topography-dependent snowmelt patterns that corresponded to in-situ measurements. Additionally TSX was able to detect snow patches longer in the season than Landsat 8, underlining the advantage of TSX for detection of old snow. The TSX-derived snow information provided valuable insights into snowmelt dynamics on Qikiqtaruk previously not available. The sensitivity of TSX to vegetation structure associated with phenological changes was explored on Qikiqtaruk. Backscatter and coherence time series were compared to greenness data extracted from in-situ digital time-lapse cameras and detailed vegetation parameters on 30 areas of interest. Supporting previous results, vegetation height corresponded to backscatter intensity in co-polarized HH/VV at an incidence angle of 31°. The dry, tall shrub dominated ecological class showed increasing backscatter with increasing greenness when using the cross polarized VH/HH channel at 32° incidence angle. This is likely driven by volume scattering of emerging and expanding leaves. Ecological classes with more prostrate vegetation and higher bare ground contributions showed decreasing backscatter trends over the growing season in the co-polarized VV/HH channels likely a result of surface drying instead of a vegetation structure signal. The results from shrub dominated areas are promising and provide a complementary data source for high temporal monitoring of vegetation phenology. Overall this thesis demonstrates that dense time series of TSX with optical remote sensing and in-situ time-lapse data are complementary and can be used to monitor rapid and seasonal processes in Arctic landscapes at high spatial and temporal resolution.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ramage2018, author = {Ramage, Justine Lucille}, title = {Impact of Hillslope Thermokarst on the Nearshore Carbon Budget Along the Yukon Coast, Canada}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42186}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421867}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xvii, 103}, year = {2018}, abstract = {In ice-rich permafrost regions, changes in the permafrost thermal regime cause surface disturbances. These changes are amplified by the increase in air temperatures recorded in the Arctic in the past decades. Thermokarst is a process that leads to surface subsidence and formation of characteristic landforms following thawing of ice-rich permafrost or melting of massive ice. Thermokarst is widespread on hillslopes and the number of associated landforms is increasing in the Arctic. Through this process large amounts of material are eroded and transported to the sea or accumulate along hillslopes. While hillslope thermokarst modifies terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, there is limited understanding of its environmental impact at a regional scale. In this thesis we quantify the environmental impacts of hillslope thermokarst on the valley and nearshore ecosystems along the Yukon Coast, Canada. Using supervised machine learning, we identified geomorphic factors that favour the development of coastal retrogressive thaw slump (RTS), one of the most dynamic hillslope thermokarst landform. Coastal geomorphology and ground ice type and content play a major role in RTS occurrence. Using aerial photographs and satellite imagery, we traced the evolution of RTSs between 1952 and 2011. During this time, the number and areal coverage of RTSs increased by 73\%. RTSs eroded and partly released to the nearshore zone organic carbon contained in millions of cubic meters of material. Our results show that 56\% of the RTSs identified along the coast in 2011 have eroded 16.6 × 10^6 m3 of material; a large part (45\%) was transported alongshore due to coastal processes. Moreover, we show that RTSs are a major contributor to the carbon budget in the nearshore ecosystem: 17\% of the coastal RTSs identified in 2011 contributed annually up to 0.6\% of the organic carbon released by coastal retreat along the Yukon Coast. To assess the impact of hillslope thermokarst on the terrestrial ecosystem, we measured the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) along hillslopes in three Arctic valleys. We highlight the high spatial variability in the distribution of SOC and TN in the valleys. This distribution is caused by complex soil processes occurring along the hillslopes. Hillslope thermokarst impacts the degradation of organic matter and affects the storage of SOC and TN.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Angermann2018, author = {Angermann, Lisa}, title = {Hillslope-stream connectivity across scales}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42454}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424542}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xix, 193}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The concept of hydrologic connectivity summarizes all flow processes that link separate regions of a landscape. As such, it is a central theme in the field of catchment hydrology, with influence on neighboring disciplines such as ecology and geomorphology. It is widely acknowledged to be an important key in understanding the response behavior of a catchment and has at the same time inspired research on internal processes over a broad range of scales. From this process-hydrological point of view, hydrological connectivity is the conceptual framework to link local observations across space and scales. This is the context in which the four studies this thesis comprises of were conducted. The focus was on structures and their spatial organization as important control on preferential subsurface flow. Each experiment covered a part of the conceptualized flow path from hillslopes to the stream: soil profile, hillslope, riparian zone, and stream. For each study site, the most characteristic structures of the investigated domain and scale, such as slope deposits and peat layers were identified based on preliminary or previous investigations or literature reviews. Additionally, further structural data was collected and topographical analyses were carried out. Flow processes were observed either based on response observations (soil moisture changes or discharge patterns) or direct measurement (advective heat transport). Based on these data, the flow-relevance of the characteristic structures was evaluated, especially with regard to hillslope to stream connectivity. Results of the four studies revealed a clear relationship between characteristic spatial structures and the hydrological behavior of the catchment. Especially the spatial distribution of structures throughout the study domain and their interconnectedness were crucial for the establishment of preferential flow paths and their relevance for large-scale processes. Plot and hillslope-scale irrigation experiments showed that the macropores of a heterogeneous, skeletal soil enabled preferential flow paths at the scale of centimeters through the otherwise unsaturated soil. These flow paths connected throughout the soil column and across the hillslope and facilitated substantial amounts of vertical and lateral flow through periglacial slope deposits. In the riparian zone of the same headwater catchment, the connectivity between hillslopes and stream was controlled by topography and the dualism between characteristic subsurface structures and the geomorphological heterogeneity of the stream channel. At the small scale (1 m to 10 m) highest gains always occurred at steps along the longitudinal streambed profile, which also controlled discharge patterns at the large scale (100 m) during base flow conditions (number of steps per section). During medium and high flow conditions, however, the impact of topography and parafluvial flow through riparian zone structures prevailed and dominated the large-scale response patterns. In the streambed of a lowland river, low permeability peat layers affected the connectivity between surface water and groundwater, but also between surface water and the hyporheic zone. The crucial factor was not the permeability of the streambed itself, but rather the spatial arrangement of flow-impeding peat layers, causing increased vertical flow through narrow "windows" in contrast to predominantly lateral flow in extended areas of high hydraulic conductivity sediments. These results show that the spatial organization of structures was an important control for hydrological processes at all scales and study areas. In a final step, the observations from different scales and catchment elements were put in relation and compared. The main focus was on the theoretical analysis of the scale hierarchies of structures and processes and the direction of causal dependencies in this context. Based on the resulting hierarchical structure, a conceptual framework was developed which is capable of representing the system's complexity while allowing for adequate simplifications. The resulting concept of the parabolic scale series is based on the insight that flow processes in the terrestrial part of the catchment (soil and hillslopes) converge. This means that small-scale processes assemble and form large-scale processes and responses. Processes in the riparian zone and the streambed, however, are not well represented by the idea of convergence. Here, the large-scale catchment signal arrives and is modified by structures in the riparian zone, stream morphology, and the small-scale interactions between surface water and groundwater. Flow paths diverge and processes can better be represented by proceeding from large scales to smaller ones. The catchment-scale representation of processes and structures is thus the conceptual link between terrestrial hillslope processes and processes in the riparian corridor.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hoischen2018, author = {Hoischen, Clemens}, title = {Multi-Messenger Astronomy with H.E.S.S: the Starburst Galaxy NGC253 and the Search for Short Time-Scale Transients}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42452}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424521}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {135}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Gamma-ray astronomy has proven to provide unique insights into cosmic-ray accelerators in the past few decades. By combining information at the highest photon energies with the entire electromagnetic spectrum in multi-wavelength studies, detailed knowledge of non-thermal particle populations in astronomical objects and systems has been gained: Many individual classes of gamma-ray sources could be identified inside our galaxy and outside of it. Different sources were found to exhibit a wide range of temporal evolution, ranging from seconds to stable behaviours over many years of observations. With the dawn of both neutrino- and gravitational wave astronomy, additional messengers have come into play over the last years. This development presents the advent of multi-messenger astronomy: a novel approach not only to search for sources of cosmic rays, but for astronomy in general. In this thesis, both traditional multi-wavelength studies and multi-messenger studies will be presented. They were carried out with the H.E.S.S. experiment, an imaging air Cherenkov telescope array located in the Khomas Highland of Namibia. H.E.S.S. has entered its second phase in 2012 with the addition of a large, fifth telescope. While the initial array was limited to the study of gamma-rays with energies above 100 GeV, the new instrument allows to access gamma-rays with energies down to a few tens of GeV. Strengths of the multi-wavelength approach will be demonstrated at the example of the galaxy NGC253, which is undergoing an episode of enhanced star-formation. The gamma-ray emission will be discussed in light of all the information on this system available from radio, infrared and X-rays. These wavelengths reveal detailed information on the population of supernova remnants, which are suspected cosmic-ray accelerators. A broad-band gamma-ray spectrum is derived from H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT data. The improved analysis of H.E.S.S. data provides a measurement which is no longer dominated by systematic uncertainties. The long-term behaviour of cosmic rays in the starburst galaxy NGC253 is finally characterised. In contrast to the long time-scale evolution of a starburst galaxy, multi-messenger studies are especially intriguing when shorter time-scales are being probed. A prime example of a short time-scale transient are Gamma Ray Bursts. The efforts to understand this phenomenon effectively founded the branch of gamma-ray astronomy. The multi-messenger approach allows for the study of illusive phenomena such as Gamma Ray Bursts and other transients using electromagnetic radiation, neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves contemporaneously. With contemporaneous observations getting more important just recently, the execution of such observation campaigns still presents a big challenge due to the different limitations and strengths of the infrastructures. An alert system for transient phenomena has been developed over the course of this thesis for H.E.S.S. It aims to address many follow-up challenges in order to maximise the science return of the new large telescope, which is able to repoint much faster than the initial four telescopes. The system allows for fully automated observations based on scientific alerts from any wavelength or messenger and allows H.E.S.S. to participate in multi-messenger campaigns. Utilising this new system, many interesting multi-messenger observation campaigns have been performed. Several highlight observations with H.E.S.S. are analysed, presented and discussed in this work. Among them are observations of Gamma Ray Bursts with low latency and low energy threshold, the follow-up of a neutrino candidate in spatial coincidence with a flaring active galactic nucleus and of the merger of two neutron stars, which was revealed by the coincidence of gravitational waves and a Gamma-Ray Burst.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Rothkegel2018, author = {Rothkegel, Lars Oliver Martin}, title = {Human scanpaths in natural scene viewing and natural scene search}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42000}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-420005}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xv, 131}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Understanding how humans move their eyes is an important part for understanding the functioning of the visual system. Analyzing eye movements from observations of natural scenes on a computer screen is a step to understand human visual behavior in the real world. When analyzing eye-movement data from scene-viewing experiments, the impor- tant questions are where (fixation locations), how long (fixation durations) and when (ordering of fixations) participants fixate on an image. By answering these questions, computational models can be developed which predict human scanpaths. Models serve as a tool to understand the underlying cognitive processes while observing an image, especially the allocation of visual attention. The goal of this thesis is to provide new contributions to characterize and model human scanpaths on natural scenes. The results from this thesis will help to understand and describe certain systematic eye-movement tendencies, which are mostly independent of the image. One eye-movement tendency I focus on throughout this thesis is the tendency to fixate more in the center of an image than on the outer parts, called the central fixation bias. Another tendency, which I will investigate thoroughly, is the characteristic distribution of angles between successive eye movements. The results serve to evaluate and improve a previously published model of scanpath generation from our laboratory, the SceneWalk model. Overall, six experiments were conducted for this thesis which led to the following five core results: i) A spatial inhibition of return can be found in scene-viewing data. This means that locations which have already been fixated are afterwards avoided for a certain time interval (Chapter 2). ii) The initial fixation position when observing an image has a long-lasting influence of up to five seconds on further scanpath progression (Chapter 2 \& 3). iii) The often described central fixation bias on images depends strongly on the duration of the initial fixation. Long-lasting initial fixations lead to a weaker central fixation bias than short fixations (Chapter 2 \& 3). iv) Human observers adjust their basic eye-movement parameters, like fixation dura- tions and saccade amplitudes, to the visual properties of a target they look for in visual search (Chapter 4). v) The angle between two adjacent saccades is an indicator for the selectivity of the upcoming saccade target (Chapter 4). All results emphasize the importance of systematic behavioral eye-movement tenden- cies and dynamic aspects of human scanpaths in scene viewing.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Biewener2018, author = {Biewener, Ann-Kathrin}, title = {S{\"a}kularisierung im Heiligen Land?}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42491}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424916}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {241}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Von einer S{\"a}kularisierung in einem Land wie Israel zu sprechen, wo die Religion offensichtlich einen wichtigen Teil des {\"o}ffentlichen Lebens darstellt, scheint widerspr{\"u}chlich zu sein. Doch Israel befindet sich bedingt durch Globalisierung, Pluralisierung und Modernisierung an einem Scheideweg. Teile der israelischen Gesellschaft s{\"a}kularisieren sich bereits. Die religi{\"o}se orthodoxe Vorherrschaft scheint zu br{\"o}ckeln. Kann jedoch deswegen von einem Mentalit{\"a}tswandel oder einer S{\"a}kularisierung des Staates gesprochen werden? Kann ein S{\"a}kularisierungsprozess in Israel erfolgreich sein? Wie muss ein s{\"a}kularer Staat beschaffen sein, um den unterschiedlichen religi{\"o}sen Denominationen die gleichen M{\"o}glichkeiten zu bieten? Welche Rolle spielen dabei die j{\"u}dische Diaspora, Einwanderungen und gesellschaftliche Minderheiten? Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es diese Fragen zu er{\"o}rtern. Auch wenn die enge Verkn{\"u}pfung von Nation und Religion im Judentum eine S{\"a}kularisierung scheinbar unm{\"o}glich macht, so erlaubt unter Bezugnahme der Konzepte von S{\"a}kularismus und Nationalismus im Kontext der historischen Entwicklungen des Judentums eine differenziertere Betrachtung dieser Verkn{\"u}pfung. Durch die Nutzung von unterschiedlichen qualitativen Methoden, wie der hermeneutischen Methode zur Betrachtung der verschiedenen theoretischen Begriffe und der Analyse des Verh{\"a}ltnisses von Nation und Religion im Judentum; der Nutzung von Zeitungsartikel zur Aufarbeitung der aktuellen Debatten in der israelischen Gesellschaft; der Auswertung von Statistiken; sowie der Durchf{\"u}hrung von Experteninterviews erlauben einen vielseitigen Zugang zum Forschungsgegenstand. Letztendlich soll aufgezeigt werden, dass sich Israel zwar zunehmend s{\"a}kularisiert, aber vor verschiedenen Herausforderungen, wie dem gesellschaftlichen Pluralismus, der instabilen Sicherheitslage, sowie einem zunehmenden religi{\"o}sen Nationalismus steht.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{anHaack2018, author = {an Haack, Jan}, title = {Market and affect in evangelical mission}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42469}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424694}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {viii, 240}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This text is a contribution to the research on the worldwide success of evangelical Christianity and offers a new perspective on the relationship between late modern capitalism and evangelicalism. For this purpose, the utilization of affect and emotion in evangelicalism towards the mobilization of its members will be examined in order to find out what similarities to their employment in late modern capitalism can be found. Different examples from within the evangelical spectrum will be analyzed as affective economies in order to elaborate how affective mobilization is crucial for evangelicalism's worldwide success. Pivotal point of this text is the exploration of how evangelicalism is able to activate the voluntary commitment of its members, financiers, and missionaries. Gathered here are examples where both spheres—evangelicalism and late modern capitalism—overlap and reciprocate, followed by a theoretical exploration of how the findings presented support a view of evangelicalism as an inner-worldly narcissism that contributes to an assumed re-enchantment of the world.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Kirchner2018, author = {Kirchner, Moritz}, title = {Der neueste Geist des Kapitalismus}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-41498}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-414985}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {520}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Der neueste Geist des Kapitalismus beschreibt das heutige Mobilisierungs- und Rechtfertigungsregime, welches uns immer wieder dazu bringt, unsere Arbeitskraft zu verwerten und uns t{\"a}glich ins kapitalistische Hamsterrad zu begeben. Der alte Geist des Kapitalismus, nach dem Fleiß, Disziplin und Sparsamkeit zum gesellschaftlichen Aufstieg f{\"u}hren, tr{\"a}gt l{\"a}ngst nicht mehr. Auch reine Selbstverwirklichung, der Anspruch auf Flexibilit{\"a}t und flache Hierarchien reicht nicht mehr aus, um insbesondere gut qualifizierte Menschen zur Arbeit zu motivieren. Der neueste Geist des Kapitalismus hingegen ist das Produkt der tiefen Subjektivierung und Verinnerlichung des Neoliberalismus. Es geht um best{\"a}ndige berufliche und private Optimierung sowie ein umfassendes Nutzendenken. Gl{\"u}cklich zu sein, ist nicht mehr nur eine Option, sondern es gibt den normativen Anspruch, gl{\"u}cklich sein zu sollen. Das Leistungsprinzip wird aktiv bejaht und Leistungsgerechtigkeit eingefordert. Die Bew{\"a}ltigung von Komplexit{\"a}t wird zum Metathema. Der Anspruch auf Distinktion, insbesondere auch gegen{\"u}ber „Minderleisten" nimmt zu. Die Welt wird zunehmend durch die Brille von Zahlen und Statistiken betrachtet, und Key Performance Indicators werden zu st{\"a}ndigen Wegbegleitern. Das Leben wird, verst{\"a}rkt durch die sozialen Netzwerke, zunehmend zu einer performativen B{\"u}hne, die zugleich dem Networking dient. In der Konsequenz der best{\"a}ndigen Optimierung wird es jedoch immer schwerer, zur Ruhe zu kommen. Dieser neueste Geist des Kapitalismus, dieser umfassende Optimierungsanspruch, hat jedoch gravierende Konsequenzen. Zu den manifesten Pathologien des neuesten Geistes geh{\"o}ren gestiegene Raten von Depressionen, Burn-out und Angstst{\"o}rungen. Gesellschaftlich spreizt sich die soziale Schere immer mehr anhand der F{\"a}higkeit, Komplexit{\"a}t bew{\"a}ltigen zu k{\"o}nnen, was viele Verlierer und prek{\"a}re Gewinner produziert. Daher wird dieser neueste Geist des Kapitalismus sozialkritisch, k{\"u}nstlerkritisch und ideologiekritisch hinterfragt. Die Rolle der Gewerkschaften als der Zentralinstitution der Sozialkritik, die ein tats{\"a}chliches Gegengewicht zum neuesten Geist des Kapitalismus bieten kann, wird kontrovers diskutiert. Und es wird aufgezeigt: chillen ist die neue Subversion.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{RodriguezLoureiro2018, author = {Rodriguez Loureiro, Ignacio}, title = {Structural characterization of single and interacting soft interfaces displaying brushes of synthetic or biomolecular polymers}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42367}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423675}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {132}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The interaction between surfaces displaying end-grafted hydrophilic polymer brushes plays important roles in biology and in many wet-technological applications. The outer surfaces of Gram-negative bacteria, for example, are composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules exposing oligo- and polysaccharides to the aqueous environment. This unique, structurally complex biological interface is of great scientific interest as it mediates the interaction of bacteria with neighboring bacteria in colonies and biofilms. The interaction between polymer-decorated surfaces is generally coupled to the distance-dependent conformation of the polymer chains. Therefore, structural insight into the interacting surfaces is a prerequisite to understand the interaction characteristics as well as the underlying physical mechanisms. This problem has been addressed by theory, but accurate experimental data on polymer conformations under confinement are rare, because obtaining perturbation-free structural insight into buried soft interfaces is inherently difficult. In this thesis, lipid membrane surfaces decorated with hydrophilic polymers of technological and biological relevance are investigated under controlled interaction conditions, i.e., at defined surface separations. For this purpose, dedicated sample architectures and experimental tools are developed. Via ellipsometry and neutron reflectometry pressure-distance curves and distance-dependent polymer conformations in terms of brush compression and reciprocative interpenetration are determined. Additional element-specific structural insight into the end-point distribution of interacting brushes is obtained by standing-wave x-ray fluorescence (SWXF). The methodology is first established for poly[ethylene glycol] (PEG) brushes of defined length and grafting density. For this system, neutron reflectometry revealed pronounced brush interpenetration, which is not captured in common brush theories and therefore motivates rigorous simulation-based treatments. In the second step the same approach is applied to realistic mimics of the outer surfaces of Gram-negative bacteria: monolayers of wild type LPSs extracted from E. Coli O55:B5 displaying strain-specific O-side chains. The neutron reflectometry experiments yield unprecedented structural insight into bacterial interactions, which are of great relevance for the properties of biofilms.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Agarwal2018, author = {Agarwal, Ankit}, title = {Unraveling spatio-temporal climatic patterns via multi-scale complex networks}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42395}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423956}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xxix, 153}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The climate is a complex dynamical system involving interactions and feedbacks among different processes at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Although numerous studies have attempted to understand the climate system, nonetheless, the studies investigating the multiscale characteristics of the climate are scarce. Further, the present set of techniques are limited in their ability to unravel the multi-scale variability of the climate system. It is completely plausible that extreme events and abrupt transitions, which are of great interest to climate community, are resultant of interactions among processes operating at multi-scale. For instance, storms, weather patterns, seasonal irregularities such as El Ni{\~n}o, floods and droughts, and decades-long climate variations can be better understood and even predicted by quantifying their multi-scale dynamics. This makes a strong argument to unravel the interaction and patterns of climatic processes at different scales. With this background, the thesis aims at developing measures to understand and quantify multi-scale interactions within the climate system. In the first part of the thesis, I proposed two new methods, viz, multi-scale event synchronization (MSES) and wavelet multi-scale correlation (WMC) to capture the scale-specific features present in the climatic processes. The proposed methods were tested on various synthetic and real-world time series in order to check their applicability and replicability. The results indicate that both methods (WMC and MSES) are able to capture scale-specific associations that exist between processes at different time scales in a more detailed manner as compared to the traditional single scale counterparts. In the second part of the thesis, the proposed multi-scale similarity measures were used in constructing climate networks to investigate the evolution of spatial connections within climatic processes at multiple timescales. The proposed methods WMC and MSES, together with complex network were applied to two different datasets. In the first application, climate networks based on WMC were constructed for the univariate global sea surface temperature (SST) data to identify and visualize the SSTs patterns that develop very similarly over time and distinguish them from those that have long-range teleconnections to other ocean regions. Further investigations of climate networks on different timescales revealed (i) various high variability and co-variability regions, and (ii) short and long-range teleconnection regions with varying spatial distance. The outcomes of the study not only re-confirmed the existing knowledge on the link between SST patterns like El Ni{\~n}o Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, but also suggested new insights into the characteristics and origins of long-range teleconnections. In the second application, I used the developed non-linear MSES similarity measure to quantify the multivariate teleconnections between extreme Indian precipitation and climatic patterns with the highest relevance for Indian sub-continent. The results confirmed significant non-linear influences that were not well captured by the traditional methods. Further, there was a substantial variation in the strength and nature of teleconnection across India, and across time scales. Overall, the results from investigations conducted in the thesis strongly highlight the need for considering the multi-scale aspects in climatic processes, and the proposed methods provide robust framework for quantifying the multi-scale characteristics.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Zakarias2018, author = {Zakari{\´a}s, Lilla}, title = {Transfer effects after working memory training in post-stroke aphasia}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42360}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423600}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {178}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background: Individuals with aphasia after stroke (IWA) often present with working memory (WM) deficits. Research investigating the relationship between WM and language abilities has led to the promising hypothesis that treatments of WM could lead to improvements in language, a phenomenon known as transfer. Although recent treatment protocols have been successful in improving WM, the evidence to date is scarce and the extent to which improvements in trained tasks of WM transfer to untrained memory tasks, spoken sentence comprehension, and functional communication is yet poorly understood. Aims: We aimed at (a) investigating whether WM can be improved through an adaptive n-back training in IWA (Study 1-3); (b) testing whether WM training leads to near transfer to unpracticed WM tasks (Study 1-3), and far transfer to spoken sentence comprehension (Study 1-3), functional communication (Study 2-3), and memory in daily life in IWA (Study 2-3); and (c) evaluating the methodological quality of existing WM treatments in IWA (Study 3). To address these goals, we conducted two empirical studies - a case-controls study with Hungarian speaking IWA (Study 1) and a multiple baseline study with German speaking IWA (Study 2) - and a systematic review (Study 3). Methods: In Study 1 and 2 participants with chronic, post-stroke aphasia performed an adaptive, computerized n-back training. 'Adaptivity' was implemented by adjusting the tasks' difficulty level according to the participants' performance, ensuring that they always practiced at an optimal level of difficulty. To assess the specificity of transfer effects and to better understand the underlying mechanisms of transfer on spoken sentence comprehension, we included an outcome measure testing specific syntactic structures that have been proposed to involve WM processes (e.g., non-canonical structures with varying complexity). Results: We detected a mixed pattern of training and transfer effects across individuals: five participants out of six significantly improved in the n-back training. Our most important finding is that all six participants improved significantly in spoken sentence comprehension (i.e., far transfer effects). In addition, we also found far transfer to functional communication (in two participants out of three in Study 2) and everyday memory functioning (in all three participants in Study 2), and near transfer to unpracticed n-back tasks (in four participants out of six). Pooled data analysis of Study 1 and 2 showed a significant negative relationship between initial spoken sentence comprehension and the amount of improvement in this ability, suggesting that the more severe the participants' spoken sentence comprehension deficit was at the beginning of training, the more they improved after training. Taken together, we detected both near far and transfer effects in our studies, but the effects varied across participants. The systematic review evaluating the methodological quality of existing WM treatments in stroke IWA (Study 3) showed poor internal and external validity across the included 17 studies. Poor internal validity was mainly due to use of inappropriate design, lack of randomization of study phases, lack of blinding of participants and/or assessors, and insufficient sampling. Low external validity was mainly related to incomplete information on the setting, lack of use of appropriate analysis or justification for the suitability of the analysis procedure used, and lack of replication across participants and/or behaviors. Results in terms of WM, spoken sentence comprehension, and reading are promising, but further studies with more rigorous methodology and stronger experimental control are needed to determine the beneficial effects of WM intervention. Conclusions: Results of the empirical studies suggest that WM can be improved with a computerized and adaptive WM training, and improvements can lead to transfer effects to spoken sentence comprehension and functional communication in some individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia. The fact that improvements were not specific to certain syntactic structures (i.e., non-canonical complex sentences) in spoken sentence comprehension suggest that WM is not involved in the online, automatic processing of syntactic information (i.e., parsing and interpretation), but plays a more general role in the later stage of spoken sentence comprehension (i.e., post-interpretive comprehension). The individual differences in treatment outcomes call for future research to clarify how far these results are generalizable to the population level of IWA. Future studies are needed to identify a few mechanisms that may generalize to at least a subpopulation of IWA as well as to investigate baseline non-linguistic cognitive and language abilities that may play a role in transfer effects and the maintenance of such effects. These may require larger yet homogenous samples.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Richter2018, author = {Richter, Rico}, title = {Concepts and techniques for processing and rendering of massive 3D point clouds}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42330}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423304}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {v, 131}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Remote sensing technology, such as airborne, mobile, or terrestrial laser scanning, and photogrammetric techniques, are fundamental approaches for efficient, automatic creation of digital representations of spatial environments. For example, they allow us to generate 3D point clouds of landscapes, cities, infrastructure networks, and sites. As essential and universal category of geodata, 3D point clouds are used and processed by a growing number of applications, services, and systems such as in the domains of urban planning, landscape architecture, environmental monitoring, disaster management, virtual geographic environments as well as for spatial analysis and simulation. While the acquisition processes for 3D point clouds become more and more reliable and widely-used, applications and systems are faced with more and more 3D point cloud data. In addition, 3D point clouds, by their very nature, are raw data, i.e., they do not contain any structural or semantics information. Many processing strategies common to GIS such as deriving polygon-based 3D models generally do not scale for billions of points. GIS typically reduce data density and precision of 3D point clouds to cope with the sheer amount of data, but that results in a significant loss of valuable information at the same time. This thesis proposes concepts and techniques designed to efficiently store and process massive 3D point clouds. To this end, object-class segmentation approaches are presented to attribute semantics to 3D point clouds, used, for example, to identify building, vegetation, and ground structures and, thus, to enable processing, analyzing, and visualizing 3D point clouds in a more effective and efficient way. Similarly, change detection and updating strategies for 3D point clouds are introduced that allow for reducing storage requirements and incrementally updating 3D point cloud databases. In addition, this thesis presents out-of-core, real-time rendering techniques used to interactively explore 3D point clouds and related analysis results. All techniques have been implemented based on specialized spatial data structures, out-of-core algorithms, and GPU-based processing schemas to cope with massive 3D point clouds having billions of points. All proposed techniques have been evaluated and demonstrated their applicability to the field of geospatial applications and systems, in particular for tasks such as classification, processing, and visualization. Case studies for 3D point clouds of entire cities with up to 80 billion points show that the presented approaches open up new ways to manage and apply large-scale, dense, and time-variant 3D point clouds as required by a rapidly growing number of applications and systems.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Cheng2018, author = {Cheng, Xiao}, title = {Controlled solvent vapor annealing of block copolymer films}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42417}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424179}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {X, 166}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This project was focused on exploring the phase behavior of poly(styrene)187000-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine)203000 (SV390) with high molecular weight (390 kg/mol) in thin films, in which the self-assembly of block copolymers (BCPs) was realized via thermo-solvent annealing. The advanced processing technique of solvent vapor treatment provides controlled and stable conditions. In Chapter 3, the factors to influence the annealing process and the swelling behavior of homopolymers are presented and discussed. The swelling behavior of BCP in films is controlled by the temperature of the vapor and of the substrate, on one hand, and variation of the saturation of the solvent vapor atmosphere (different solvents), on the other hand. Additional factors like the geometry and material of the chamber, the type of flow inside the chamber etc. also influence the reproducibility and stability of the processing. The slightly selective solvent vapor of chloroform gives 10\% more swelling of P2VP than PS in films with thickness of ~40 nm. The tunable morphology in ultrathin films of high molecular weight BCP (SV390) was investigated in Chapter 4. First, the swelling behavior can be precisely tuned by temperature and/or vapor flow separately, which provided information for exploring the multiple-parameter-influenced segmental chain mobility of polymer films. The equilibrium state of SV390 in thin films influenced by temperature was realized at various temperatures with the same degree of swelling. Various methods including characterization with SFM, metallization and RIE were used to identify the morphology of films as porous half-layer with PS dots and P2VP matrix. The kinetic investigations demonstrate that on substrates with either weak or strong interaction the original morphology of the BCP with high molecular weight is changed very fast within 5 min, and the further annealing serves for annihilation of defects. The morphological development of symmetric BCP in films with thickness increasing from half-layer to one-layer influenced by confinement factors of gradient film thicknesses and various surface properties of substrates was studied in Chapter 5. SV390 and SV99 films show bulk lamella-forming morphology after slightly selective solvent vapor (chloroform) treatment. SV99 films show cylinder-forming morphology under strongly selective solvent vapor (toluene) treatment since the asymmetric structure (caused by toluene uptake in PS blocks only) of SV99 block copolymer during annealing. Both kinds of morphology (lamella and cylinder) are influenced by the film thickness. The annealed morphology of SV390 and SV99 influenced by the combination of confined film and substrate property is similar to the morphology on flat silicon wafers. In this chapter the gradients in the film thickness and surface properties of the substrates with regard to their influence on the morphological development in thin BCP films are presented. Directed self-assembly (graphoepitaxy) of this SV390 was also investigated to compare with systematically reported SV99. In Chapter 6 an approach to induced oriented microphase separation in thick block copolymer films via treatment with the oriented vapor flow using mini-extruder is envisaged to be an alternative to existing methodologies, e.g. via non-solvent-induced phase separation. The preliminary tests performed in this study confirm potential perspective of this method, which alters the structure through the bulk of the film (as revealed by SAXS measurements), but more detailed studies have to be conducted in order to optimize the preparation.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{HerreraBorquez2018, author = {Herrera Borquez, Kenya}, title = {La cabrona aqu{\´i} soy yo}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42368}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423686}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {277}, year = {2018}, abstract = {La {\´u}ltima d{\´e}cada ha visto un inter{\´e}s creciente en el fen{\´o}meno del narcotr{\´a}fico en M{\´e}xico a nivel global. Las diversas expresiones de violencia extrema que acompa{\~n}an al negocio ilegal de drogas se narran en artefactos medi{\´a}ticos que provocan fascinaci{\´o}n e intriga. As{\´i}, la literatura y el cine, la m{\´u}sica y la televisi{\´o}n presentan im{\´a}genes e historias sobre el narcotr{\´a}fico que alimentan el imaginario colectivo. En este contexto, a nivel global hay representaciones medi{\´a}ticas de la mujer mexicana narcotraficante que reproducen estereotipos femeninos donde la mujer se cosifica, exagerando los atributos sexuales del cuerpo de las mujeres. Esta representaci{\´o}n cultural hace de la mujer un objeto de deseo, cuya belleza sirve como una marca de prestigio y ostentaci{\´o}n para el hombre narcotraficante. La cultura del narcotr{\´a}fico impone a las mujeres un ideal est{\´e}tico particular distintivo, que las mujeres reproducen meticulosamente para emular esta representaci{\´o}n. Aunado a la belleza f{\´i}sica, la mujer es retratada violenta y sin escr{\´u}pulos, usa su belleza y poder de seducci{\´o}n para acumular dinero y poder a costa de los hombres que conquista. Para los que no pertenecen al mundo del narcotr{\´a}fico, este tipo de mujer, hipersexualizada, inspira juicios negativos, discriminaci{\´o}n, desconfianza y temor. La intenci{\´o}n de la pregunta y objetivos de investigaci{\´o}n de este trabajo fue rebasar estas representaciones para observar las complejidades de las experiencias de vida de estas mujeres. El prop{\´o}sito de esta tesis de doctorado fue explorar c{\´o}mo cambian las vidas de las mujeres mexicanas cuando se involucran en la narcocultura, en la frontera M{\´e}xico-Estados Unidos. En espec{\´i}fico, la investigaci{\´o}n analiz{\´o} las transformaciones en la corporalidad y en las subjetividades de estas mujeres, y c{\´o}mo estas transformaciones influ{\´i}an en el lugar que ocupan en el espacio social y cultural que configura el narcotr{\´a}fico. Adem{\´a}s, se analiz{\´o} qu{\´e} m{\´a}rgenes de negociaci{\´o}n tienen las mujeres en la narcocultura, para poder actuar y definirse a s{\´i} mismas. Las preguntas que guiaron el trabajo indagaban sobre c{\´o}mo las mujeres cambiaban su cuerpo para encarnar el ideal est{\´e}tico y qu{\´e} significados se atribu{\´i}an a estos cambios. Fue importante analizar qu{\´e} din{\´a}micas de poder se pon{\´i}an en juego a partir de estos cuerpos femeninos, en las relaciones con los hombres y con otras mujeres. Tambi{\´e}n, otro objetivo fue qu{\´e} procesos de subjetivaci{\´o}n operaban en las mujeres que participan en la narcocultura, y qu{\´e} m{\´a}rgenes de negociaci{\´o}n ten{\´i}an para actuar y definirse a s{\´i} mismas. Esta es una investigaci{\´o}n inscrita dentro de los estudios culturales y con una perspectiva feminista interseccional. La investigaci{\´o}n se realiz{\´o} en la frontera mexicana con Estados Unidos, en el noroeste, espec{\´i}ficamente en las ciudades de Mexicali, Tijuana y San Diego, California. La frontera, en esta tesis, se observa como un espacio con m{\´u}ltiples contextos de interpretaci{\´o}n, polis{\´e}mico y heterog{\´e}neo. Estas cualidades hacen que los fen{\´o}menos culturales que ocurren en {\´e}l sean diversos y contradictorios. Para entender los fen{\´o}menos culturales que emergen de la frontera norte de M{\´e}xico, fue {\´u}til el concepto de transfrontera de Jos{\´e} Valenzuela Arce (2014). La propuesta de este acad{\´e}mico es que las transfronteras son "espacios que se niegan a una sola de las condiciones o los lados que la integran" (p. 9). As{\´i}, el concepto habla de los procesos de conectividad y simultaneidad que la globalizaci{\´o}n genera y que redefinen a los Estados-territorio. Al mismo tiempo, habla tambi{\´e}n de los l{\´i}mites que estos mismos Estados utilizan para sostener narrativas nacionales que son "referentes organizadores de adscripciones identitarias y culturales" (p. 18) que crean diferencias y desigualdades. Si esto es as{\´i}, una frontera no se explica completamente desde la demarcaci{\´o}n territorial o desde la diferenciaci{\´o}n jer{\´a}rquica que incluye a algunos y excluye a otros, pero tampoco puede entenderse si nos concentramos solamente en los procesos de hibridaci{\´o}n cultural que ocurren en esos espacios. Por eso, para Valenzuela las fronteras son entre espacios y entre tiempos. Este concepto ayuda a entender c{\´o}mo se intersecta lo global y local en los sistemas semi{\´o}ticos que componen el universo cultural del narcotr{\´a}fico mexicano, al mismo tiempo que explica c{\´o}mo se estructuran mecanismos de exclusi{\´o}n y jerarqu{\´i}as a partir del g{\´e}nero, la posici{\´o}n social y otras marcas de diferenciaci{\´o}n social. En {\´u}ltima instancia, ayuda a localizar estos procesos culturales, materializados en el cuerpo de las mujeres. El concepto de narcocultura tambi{\´e}n fue una herramienta heur{\´i}stica {\´u}til. La cultura aqu{\´i} se entiende como un proceso de producci{\´o}n y reproducci{\´o}n de modelos simb{\´o}licos, materializados en artefactos o representaciones y, adem{\´a}s, interiorizados en l{\´o}gicas de vida, sistemas de valores y creencias, que circulan a trav{\´e}s de las pr{\´a}cticas individuales y colectivas de mujeres y hombres, en contextos hist{\´o}ricos y espaciales espec{\´i}ficos. La narcocultura ser{\´i}a entonces el sistema semi{\´o}tico producido en torno al negocio transnacional de tr{\´a}fico ilegal de drogas, tal como se vive en la frontera norte de M{\´e}xico. La narcocultura, tal como se define en este trabajo es un sistema semi{\´o}tico con l{\´i}mites difusos. As{\´i}, las distinciones entre el mundo ilegal del narcotr{\´a}fico y el mundo de la legalidad externo a este negocio, en el mejor de los casos son borrosas, en el peor, ficticias. La narcocultura trasciende l{\´i}mites territoriales, es un fen{\´o}meno cultural transnacional. Fue necesario delinear las caracter{\´i}sticas de los estudios culturales latinoamericanos y los Kulturwissenschaften en Alemania, para distinguir las genealog{\´i}as de estas dos diferentes perspectivas, entender sus diferencias, pero, sobre todo, encontrar los puntos en com{\´u}n entre ellas. La coincidencia central fue el car{\´a}cter transdisciplinario de estas dos tradiciones acad{\´e}micas. Los estudios culturales entonces se entienden como un espacio de articulaci{\´o}n entre disciplinas (Castro G{\´o}mez, 2002), que no tiene como objetivo la unificaci{\´o}n sino la pluralizaci{\´o}n de significados, actitudes y modos de percepci{\´o}n (Bachmann-Medick, 2016). La transdisciplina permite trazar las complejidades de los fen{\´o}menos culturales, creando puentes entre diferentes formas de conocimiento y pr{\´a}cticas de investigaci{\´o}n. El feminismo interseccional es una perspectiva central en el trabajo de investigaci{\´o}n. Una contribuci{\´o}n del feminismo a los estudios culturales que influye en esta investigaci{\´o}n es cuestionar "Hombre" y "Mujer" como esencias naturales dadas e inmutables, desde la premisa que "los signos "hombre" y "mujer" son construcciones discursivas que el lenguaje de la cultura proyecta e inscribe en el escenario de los cuerpos, disfrazando sus montajes de signos tras la falsa apariencia de que lo masculino y lo femenino son verdades naturales, ahist{\´o}ricas" (Richard, 2009, p. 77). Los estudios culturales feministas suponen que estos signos se construyen en un sistema de representaciones que articulan subjetividades en mundos culturales concretos. Su objetivo entonces es develar en las pr{\´a}cticas significantes, los elementos ideol{\´o}gicos que configuran los signos y los conflictos que se suscitan a trav{\´e}s del uso e interpretaci{\´o}n de {\´e}stos. Estos signos adquieren m{\´u}ltiples significados y lecturas de acuerdo con especificidades que se distinguen en la diferencia. La interseccionalidad, dentro del feminismo es un discurso te{\´o}rico y metodol{\´o}gico que aboga por reconocer que el signo "mujer" no es una categor{\´i}a absoluta, y por lo tanto no puede explicar por s{\´i} misma las variadas experiencias vitales de las mujeres. Las diferencias se vuelven legibles cuando se ponen en juego con otras categor{\´i}as sociales como la posici{\´o}n social, la raza, la edad y la discapacidad. Las diferencias sociales est{\´a}n fincadas en diferentes discursos que naturalizan los diferentes atributos de estas categor{\´i}as sociales cuando, para esta perspectiva, son socialmente construidos y cambiantes. El objetivo de una perspectiva interseccional es identificar c{\´o}mo interact{\´u}an diferentes categor{\´i}as sociales en instituciones, pr{\´a}cticas y subjetividades, para entender c{\´o}mo se materializan las desigualdades a trav{\´e}s del tiempo. Los conceptos te{\´o}ricos que gu{\´i}an esta tesis son cuerpo y subjetividad. Para esta tesis, el cuerpo se entiende como un sitio de articulaci{\´o}n, donde se materializan c{\´o}digos culturales y el orden social. El cuerpo puede entenderse como una frontera din{\´a}mica y mutable, donde convergen lo f{\´i}sico, lo simb{\´o}lico y lo social. Sujeto y cuerpo son mutuamente constitutivos; el cuerpo es el medio a trav{\´e}s del cual el sujeto vive experiencias en el mundo social, y son esas experiencias las que llevan al sujeto a encarnar las diferencias sociales, materializadas en g{\´e}nero, sexo, clase social y raza. A pesar de esta relaci{\´o}n indisociable, para facilitar el an{\´a}lisis, una parte se concentra en el cuerpo y otra en la subjetividad. As{\´i}, para entender la dimensi{\´o}n corporal se puso en tensi{\´o}n la representaci{\´o}n con la experiencia vivida, a trav{\´e}s del an{\´a}lisis audiovisual y la observaci{\´o}n etnogr{\´a}fica le{\´i}da en conjunto. En el caso de la subjetividad, se puso en tensi{\´o}n la vida en la narrativa de ficci{\´o}n con las narraciones de vida en entrevistas, para tambi{\´e}n encontrar los puentes entre las representaciones y la experiencia vital. Esta investigaci{\´o}n fue un estudio cualitativo y transdisciplinario. Se utilizaron diversos recursos metodol{\´o}gicos para construir el an{\´a}lisis. Se realiz{\´o} observaci{\´o}n etnogr{\´a}fica en diversos bares y clubs a ambos lados de la frontera, que son frecuentados por personas que se adscriben al mundo de la narcocultura o bien, que trabajan dentro de las redes del narcotr{\´a}fico. En las incursiones a estos sitios, se observ{\´o} el f{\´i}sico de las mujeres: su manera de vestir, su arreglo personal, sus formas corporales. Se observ{\´o} la conducta: las gestualidades y las interacciones con otros sujetos en el espacio. Adem{\´a}s, se observ{\´o} el espacio, para ver c{\´o}mo se establec{\´i}an reglas, l{\´i}mites y jerarquizaciones en la disposici{\´o}n f{\´i}sica de los lugares visitados. Se analizaron tres videos de narcocorridos a trav{\´e}s de la video hermen{\´e}utica, para determinar c{\´o}mo se representan las mujeres en estos artefactos culturales, usando los mismos criterios f{\´i}sicos y conductuales que mencion{\´e} anteriormente. El an{\´a}lisis de los videos de la mano del trabajo etnogr{\´a}fico ayud{\´o} a profundizar en los significados atribuidos a la corporalidad femenina, y tambi{\´e}n a los impactos que estos significados tienen en las vivencias y relaciones de estas mujeres. Se realizaron 5 entrevistas semi estructuradas con mujeres que se identificaban con la narcocultura. Algunas s{\´o}lo simpatizan con el estilo de vida, otras estuvieron involucradas de alguna manera en el negocio ilegal de drogas. En las entrevistas se exploraron narraciones sobre sus vidas donde se revelaban discursos sobre qu{\´e} es lo femenino, qu{\´e} significa ser mujer y c{\´o}mo se vive el ser mujer en el mundo del narcotr{\´a}fico. Adicionalmente, utilic{\´e} las narraciones de dos textos literarios de la narrativa sobre narcotr{\´a}fico del norte de M{\´e}xico. En estos dos textos, los personajes principales son mujeres. Analic{\´e} c{\´o}mo se construye al sujeto femenino en la narraci{\´o}n y qu{\´e} discursos se transparentan en el texto sobre la feminidad y ser una mujer en el mundo del narco. Aqu{\´i} tambi{\´e}n se puso en tensi{\´o}n la representaci{\´o}n y la experiencia de vida, buscando en el an{\´a}lisis de la narraci{\´o}n literaria y las experiencias narradas por las mujeres, discursos comunes que explicaran los procesos de subjetivaci{\´o}n femenina dentro de la narcocultura mexicana. La primera parte del an{\´a}lisis articul{\´o} la observaci{\´o}n etnogr{\´a}fica con el material audiovisual para entender las exigencias est{\´e}ticas que la narcocultura demanda a las mujeres y las maneras en que ellas transforman su cuerpo para complacer esta demanda. La narcocultura impone a las mujeres un ideal est{\´e}tico que se convierte en un medio de acceso a un tipo de poder. Este ideal exige un tipo particular de fisonom{\´i}a y de apariencia personal, que las mujeres intentan reproducir a trav{\´e}s de intervenciones en el cuerpo, con el maquillaje y el peinado y/o la cirug{\´i}a est{\´e}tica. Adem{\´a}s, demanda cierto estilo de moda, en ropa y accesorios, de marcas de lujo de consumo global. Entre m{\´a}s fielmente se reproduzca este ideal, las mujeres est{\´a}n en posibilidad de acceder a beneficios econ{\´o}micos y sociales que les dan m{\´a}rgenes de acci{\´o}n dentro de este entorno social. El cuerpo de las mujeres se convierte en el recurso primario para la movilidad social y la agencia dentro de este mundo. El cuerpo es el signo principal para determinar el lugar de las mujeres dentro de los sistemas de jerarquizaci{\´o}n, de inclusi{\´o}n y exclusi{\´o}n en los espacios f{\´i}sicos y sociales que fabrica el narcotr{\´a}fico. Estos mecanismos de diferencia reproducen las desigualdades sociales, de g{\´e}nero, edad, posici{\´o}n social y raza que se observan en otros {\´a}mbitos de la sociedad mexicana. La observaci{\´o}n etnogr{\´a}fica y el an{\´a}lisis audiovisual revelan que las posibilidades para performar la feminidad est{\´a} confinado a limites muy estrechos. Alicia Gaspar de Alba llama a esto The Three Maria Syndrome, que ella define como "the patriarchal social discourse of Chicano/Mexicano culture that constructs women's gender and sexuality according to three Biblical archetypes -virgins, mothers and whores-" (Gaspar de Alba, 2014, pos.3412). Estas representaciones femeninas son alegor{\´i}as a las constricciones que la cultura machista mexicana impone sobre las mujeres, someti{\´e}ndolas a un repertorio restringido de opciones de vida y al control social de su sexualidad. Las mujeres dentro de la narcocultura tienen un lugar en {\´e}l en funci{\´o}n de su belleza f{\´i}sica, el cuerpo es el referente principal para definirse como sujetos. Las mujeres son objetos de deseo, cuya belleza es una joya m{\´a}s para la corona de un narcotraficante, una posesi{\´o}n m{\´a}s para ostentar su poder{\´i}o. Al mismo tiempo, aparecen cada vez m{\´a}s las representaciones femeninas como sujetos activos, participando del negocio y de la violencia a la par de los hombres. Se observan transgresiones al ideal de feminidad que se exige a la mujer tradicional en la cultura mexicana. La docilidad, la suavidad y la sumisi{\´o}n que se espera, el recato y la compostura, no est{\´a} presente. Las mujeres adoptan cualidades consideradas masculinas, tomando para s{\´i} el ejercicio de la violencia y la agresividad sexual para demostrar que ellas tambi{\´e}n pueden navegar un mundo agresivo e hipermasculino. A pesar de esto, esta mujer guerrera y valiente est{\´a} dentro de los confines limitados que la cultura patriarcal impone al r{\´e}gimen heterosexual. Siguen al pie de la letra la prescripci{\´o}n del Three Maria Syndrome. Esto queda patente un sistema de jerarquizaci{\´o}n a trav{\´e}s de la cual se eval{\´u}a a las mujeres dentro de la narcocultura. Las mujeres son juzgadas a partir de criterios que intersectan componentes raciales, de g{\´e}nero y de clase. Aunque las maneras en las que estas marcas de diferencia se encarnan en un cuerpo femenino de manera muy diversa, se puede identificar, a trav{\´e}s de las representaciones y la observaci{\´o}n etnogr{\´a}fica, que las mujeres m{\´a}s privilegiadas, son mujeres que encarnan los signos de una posici{\´o}n econ{\´o}mica alta: tienen tez clara, son atractivas y cuidan su apariencia para presentar signos de feminidad de manera discreta, y su conducta proyecta compostura y respetabilidad, en funci{\´o}n de su restricci{\´o}n, particularmente en la expresi{\´o}n de la sexualidad. A las mujeres que encarnan estos signos de feminidad se les respeta y se consideran valiosas. Su valor se formaliza a trav{\´e}s de la respetabilidad del contrato matrimonial: este tipo de performance de g{\´e}nero lo reproducen, por lo general, mujeres esposas de narcotraficantes. En el otro extremo del espectro est{\´a}n las mujeres menos valoradas: son mujeres morenas, que utilizan una est{\´e}tica asociada con la clase trabajadora, por lo general ostentosa y recargada de decoraciones. La conducta de estas mujeres se juzga como vulgar y sin restricciones. A las mujeres que encarnan este tipo de feminidad se les discrimina y cosifica, son las m{\´a}s vulnerables a la violencia en funci{\´o}n del poco valor que tienen dentro del mundo del narcotr{\´a}fico. La buchona representa una versi{\´o}n devaluada de la feminidad, que choca con el decoro y la discreci{\´o}n que exigen las normas tradicionales de g{\´e}nero. Son mujeres que se consideran vulgares, porque sus cuerpos portan signos de una sexualidad agresiva, porque adoptan conductas que irrumpen las restricciones sociales impuestas a las mujeres, porque sus pr{\´a}cticas y consumos culturales est{\´a}n asociadas a las clases trabajadoras y rurales. En las mujeres que entrevist{\´e} hay un conflicto entre la atractiva libertad que promete la transgresi{\´o}n de ser buchona y el deseo de respetabilidad que otorga ser una mujer que cumple con lo que la sociedad exige. Uno de los dilemas al centro de performar el cuerpo buch{\´o}n es la batalla entre una feminidad aceptada socialmente, pero restrictiva y una feminidad que otorga poder, pero castiga. Por este motivo, las mujeres que entrevist{\´e} rechazaban ser nombradas como buchonas y prefer{\´i}an llamarse a s{\´i} mismas cabronas. En este contexto particular, la palabra cabrona es una resignificaci{\´o}n de un t{\´e}rmino coloquial castellano, usado para ofender. Aqu{\´i}, la mujer cabrona se convierte en un eje articulador para la constituci{\´o}n de subjetividades femeninas dentro de la narcocultura. La cabrona es un tropo femenino que entrelaza narrativas sobre ser mujer que circulan a nivel global con narrativas locales sobre la feminidad. Asumirse "cabrona", se convierte en un recurso para enfrentar un mundo violento y encontrar estrategias de acci{\´o}n en un espacio claramente dominado por los hombres. La cabrona representa independencia y fuerza, autonom{\´i}a y acci{\´o}n. La cabrona confronta los discursos tradicionales de una feminidad abnegada y d{\´o}cil, con diferentes matices, aparentemente interpelando la dominaci{\´o}n masculina. Por lo mismo, carga un fuerte estigma. La cultura de masas tambi{\´e}n produce representaciones sobre la cabrona. Se transmiten en discursos de g{\´e}nero que circulan a trav{\´e}s de im{\´a}genes en las redes sociales, en libros y workshops del mercado de autoayuda en el mundo entero, y que promueven una idea de mujer ind{\´o}cil frente a la gente de su entorno, suscrita al consumo y al individualismo de la cultura capitalista. En estas representaciones culturales contempor{\´a}neas, la mujer es fuerte e insumisa, pero conservando c{\´o}digos corporales y pr{\´a}cticas femeninas. En el contexto concreto de la narcocultura, los discursos globales sobre una mujer fuerte e independiente con poder econ{\´o}mico y a cargo de su sexualidad, se encuentran con las condiciones particulares del norte mexicano. La violencia extrema, el machismo, las desigualdades sociales pronunciadas y la crisis de legitimidad del Estado intervienen para que estos discursos globales sobre la mujer muten en la representaci{\´o}n de la buchona y la cabrona, interpretaciones locales de un discurso de g{\´e}nero global. Para las mujeres, asumirse cabrona es un recurso para enfrentar un mundo violento y encontrar estrategias de acci{\´o}n en un espacio claramente dominado por los hombres. Ayuda a enfrentar la violencia perpetrada sobre ella, abre la posibilidad a ser la victimaria. La cabrona es la reacci{\´o}n que provoca el cuerpo femenino vulnerable y vulnerado, pero tambi{\´e}n, es la posibilidad de apropiarse de la violencia para ejercerla sobre otros cuerpos. Implica independencia, libertad sexual y {\´e}xito econ{\´o}mico, evidenciadas por el consumo y el estilo de vida. Cuando niegan ser buchonas, est{\´a}n rechazando todos los estigmas que acarrea la palabra. No se reconocen en la discriminaci{\´o}n de clase, las connotaciones raciales y los prejuicios sexistas que contiene. Prefieren cabrona porque es una manera de escindirse de los discursos negativos que se vuelcan sobre ellas, es un camino de acceso a una feminidad global que los medios de comunicaci{\´o}n masiva presentan como ideal. El an{\´a}lisis explor{\´o} qu{\´e} elementos compon{\´i}an este tropo femenino a trav{\´e}s de las entrevistas a mujeres y de personajes femeninos en novelas sobre narcotr{\´a}fico, para encontrar puentes entre la ficci{\´o}n y la experiencia vital. La belleza y la capacidad de seducir tiene una utilidad ambivalente. Por un lado, todo el tiempo, dinero y cuidado que se invierte en apropiarse de un ideal est{\´e}tico, es para convertirse en una mujer que un narco pueda presumir. Para las mujeres es un motivo de orgullo saberse deseadas y puestas en aparador. Las mujeres est{\´a}n sometidas a las presiones que genera la creencia de que, para sobrevivir, hay que ser bella. En los textos literarios y en las entrevistas, se transparenta una naturalizaci{\´o}n del lugar de la mujer como objeto de ostentaci{\´o}n para el hombre y, adem{\´a}s, la validaci{\´o}n que sienten las mujeres al ser reconocidas como bellas. La ficci{\´o}n y la vida nos presentan la precaria condici{\´o}n del sujeto femenino en la narcocultura. Es una subjetividad anclada a los discursos que demandan un ideal de belleza imposible para las mujeres y que encajonan el ser mujer a los caprichos y necesidades del hombre. Sin embargo, la belleza femenina tiene otra faceta. La subjetividad femenina en la narcocultura no s{\´o}lo es resultado del sometimiento de la mujer a los discursos que regulan su apariencia y su conducta. La belleza tambi{\´e}n es un instrumento al servicio de las mujeres para acceder a dinero y poder. La belleza y el poder de seducci{\´o}n femenino se convierten en estrategias de subsistencia, y esto transforma a la mujer de un objeto sometido a un sujeto que somete. La belleza y la seducci{\´o}n podr{\´a}n dar a las mujeres ciertos m{\´a}rgenes de acci{\´o}n, pero esto tiene l{\´i}mites muy claros. Aunque estas estrategias femeninas muevan la balanza de poder hac{\´i}a el sujeto femenino, hay que recordar el contexto. Est{\´a}n insertas en un mundo violento y machista, as{\´i} que ejercer ese poder es un ejercicio de equilibrio muy delicado y arriesgado. Las mujeres que habitan la narcocultura est{\´a}n inmersas es un mundo de violencia, y no conocer y respetar las reglas y l{\´i}mites significa un riesgo de muerte. La muerte violenta es una consecuencia muy real por cometer errores en este mundo. Esto lleva a tercer componente de ser cabrona: el riesgo. Para los hombres y mujeres que se involucran en el mundo cultural del narcotr{\´a}fico, perseguir el riesgo es parte integral de vivir y es una parte importante de la constituci{\´o}n de subjetividades en la narcocultura. En las narraciones de las entrevistas y en las narraciones literarias, hay muchos momentos donde las mujeres viven situaciones de riesgo que ponen en peligro hasta sus vidas. A trav{\´e}s de las narraciones se asoma la manera en qu{\´e} ellas interpretan su papel en la situaci{\´o}n y c{\´o}mo se ven a s{\´i} mismas en funci{\´o}n de esas experiencias. El riesgo le da sentido al car{\´a}cter recio y atrevido que demanda asumir el rol de una cabrona, pero tambi{\´e}n expone la vulnerabilidad de la condici{\´o}n de las mujeres en un mundo violento. Tomar riesgos es otra manera de afirmarse como mujeres fuertes y poner distancia con las disposiciones de g{\´e}nero que les exigen ser d{\´o}ciles y pasivas. Tienen que demostrar lo que valen frente a un mundo dominado por hombres y el control de sus emociones juega un rol fundamental en lograr esto. Sin embargo, el reconocimiento del miedo y vulnerabilidad es, parad{\´o}jicamente, lo que las ayuda a sobrevivir. Detr{\´a}s de los discursos de fuerza y poder femenino, se revela la fragilidad de unas vidas sumergidas en un mundo donde la violencia y el machismo deja a las mujeres en el filo de la vida y de la muerte. Para el caso que nos compete, el vac{\´i}o institucional para garantizar seguridad a las mujeres en M{\´e}xico deja a estas mujeres absolutamente expuestas, y cobra sentido la adopci{\´o}n del discurso de la cabrona como estrategia de persistencia. Al investirse como cabronas, encuentran una manera de enfrentarse al mundo violento al que deciden pertenecer, aunque al final de cuentas, permanecen atrapadas en {\´e}l.}, language = {es} } @phdthesis{Schwahn2018, author = {Schwahn, Kevin}, title = {Data driven approaches to infer the regulatory mechanism shaping and constraining levels of metabolites in metabolic networks}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42324}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423240}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {109}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Systems biology aims at investigating biological systems in its entirety by gathering and analyzing large-scale data sets about the underlying components. Computational systems biology approaches use these large-scale data sets to create models at different scales and cellular levels. In addition, it is concerned with generating and testing hypotheses about biological processes. However, such approaches are inevitably leading to computational challenges due to the high dimensionality of the data and the differences in the dimension of data from different cellular layers. This thesis focuses on the investigation and development of computational approaches to analyze metabolite profiles in the context of cellular networks. This leads to determining what aspects of the network functionality are reflected in the metabolite levels. With these methods at hand, this thesis aims to answer three questions: (1) how observability of biological systems is manifested in metabolite profiles and if it can be used for phenotypical comparisons; (2) how to identify couplings of reaction rates from metabolic profiles alone; and (3) which regulatory mechanism that affect metabolite levels can be distinguished by integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics read-outs. I showed that sensor metabolites, identified by an approach from observability theory, are more correlated to each other than non-sensors. The greater correlations between sensor metabolites were detected both with publicly available metabolite profiles and synthetic data simulated from a medium-scale kinetic model. I demonstrated through robustness analysis that correlation was due to the position of the sensor metabolites in the network and persisted irrespectively of the experimental conditions. Sensor metabolites are therefore potential candidates for phenotypical comparisons between conditions through targeted metabolic analysis. Furthermore, I demonstrated that the coupling of metabolic reaction rates can be investigated from a purely data-driven perspective, assuming that metabolic reactions can be described by mass action kinetics. Employing metabolite profiles from domesticated and wild wheat and tomato species, I showed that the process of domestication is associated with a loss of regulatory control on the level of reaction rate coupling. I also found that the same metabolic pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana and Escherichia coli exhibit differences in the number of reaction rate couplings. I designed a novel method for the identification and categorization of transcriptional effects on metabolism by combining data on gene expression and metabolite levels. The approach determines the partial correlation of metabolites with control by the principal components of the transcript levels. The principle components contain the majority of the transcriptomic information allowing to partial out the effect of the transcriptional layer from the metabolite profiles. Depending whether the correlation between metabolites persists upon controlling for the effect of the transcriptional layer, the approach allows us to group metabolite pairs into being associated due to post-transcriptional or transcriptional regulation, respectively. I showed that the classification of metabolite pairs into those that are associated due to transcriptional or post-transcriptional regulation are in agreement with existing literature and findings from a Bayesian inference approach. The approaches developed, implemented, and investigated in this thesis open novel ways to jointly study metabolomics and transcriptomics data as well as to place metabolic profiles in the network context. The results from these approaches have the potential to provide further insights into the regulatory machinery in a biological system.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Fliesser2018, author = {Fließer, Michael}, title = {Der Einfluss unterschiedlicher Indikatoren des sozio{\"o}konomischen Status auf R{\"u}ckenschmerz}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42345}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423455}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {84}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Obwohl der sozio{\"o}konomische Status (SES) eine in der Sozialepidemiologie h{\"a}ufig gebrauchte Variable darstellt, ist seine Verwendung mit methodischen Problemen verkn{\"u}pft: Seine latente Struktur f{\"u}hrt dazu, dass sich verschiedene M{\"o}glichkeiten der Operationalisierung er{\"o}ffnen. Diese reichen von klassischen Ungleichheitsindikatoren wie Bildung, Einkommen oder Berufsposition, {\"u}ber multidimensionale oder {\"u}ber Nachbarschaftsmerkmale konstruierte Indizes, bis hin zu subjektiven Statuseinsch{\"a}tzungen. Problematisch ist dies insofern, als verschiedene Indikatoren auf unterschiedlichen theoretischen Konstrukten beruhen und unterschiedliche Schlussfolgerungen erlauben. In dieser Arbeit wird deshalb in einem ersten Schritt anhand eines systematischen Reviews zum Zusammenhang von SES und R{\"u}ckenschmerzen {\"u}berpr{\"u}ft, welche Indikatoren in wissenschaftlichen Publikationen eingesetzt werden und wie die Auswahl begr{\"u}ndet wird. Das Ergebnis zeigt eine klare Pr{\"a}ferenz f{\"u}r klassische Indikatoren (Bildung, Einkommen und Berufsposition). Erl{\"a}utert wurde die jeweilige Auswahl allerdings nur in einem geringen Prozentsatz der untersuchten Artikel, obwohl die unterschiedlichen Studienergebnisse nahelegen, dass der gew{\"a}hlte Indikator einen Einfluss auf den gefundenen Zusammenhang aus{\"u}ben k{\"o}nnte. Deshalb wurde in einem weiteren Schritt {\"u}berpr{\"u}ft, wie unterschiedliche SES-Indikatoren mit der Verbesserung von R{\"u}ckenschmerzen nach einer Rehabilitation (Studie 1) und der Neuentstehung von R{\"u}ckenschmerzen (Studie 2) zusammenh{\"a}ngen. Außerdem wurde untersucht, ob ein einfaches Modell den Zusammenhang von SES und Gesundheit so darstellen kann, dass a priori abzusch{\"a}tzen ist, wie hoch der Einfluss unterschiedlicher Indikatoren auf einen bestimmten Gesundheitsoutput sein k{\"o}nnte. Es zeigt sich, dass sich der errechnete Zusammenhang zwischen den verschiedenen Indikatoren und chronischen R{\"u}ckenschmerzen erheblich unterscheidet: F{\"u}r Menschen, die bereits wegen R{\"u}ckenschmerzen in Rehabilitation waren, erwiesen sich Bildung und Berufsposition als {\"a}hnlich einflussreiche Einflussfaktoren, w{\"a}hrend f{\"u}r das Einkommen kein bedeutender Zusammenhang festgestellt werden konnte. F{\"u}r die Neuentstehung chronischer R{\"u}ckenschmerzen zeigte sich die Berufsposition als wichtigster Indikator, gefolgt von Bildung, w{\"a}hrend f{\"u}r Einkommen kein signifikanter Zusammenhang gefunden werden konnte. Folglich bestimmt die Wahl des Indikators die H{\"o}he des festgestellten Zusammenhangs stark mit. Unterschiedliche Indikatoren d{\"u}rfen deshalb nicht als austauschbar betrachtet werden und es muss bei jeder Forschungsfrage genau {\"u}berlegt werden, welcher Indikator f{\"u}r die jeweilige Fragestellung am besten verwendet werden kann. Das vorgeschlagene theoretische Modell kann dabei als Unterst{\"u}tzung dienen.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Koc2018, author = {Ko{\c{c}}, Azize}, title = {Ultrafast x-ray studies on the non-equilibrium of the magnetic and phononic system in heavy rare-earths}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42328}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423282}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {ii, 117}, year = {2018}, abstract = {In this dissertation the lattice and the magnetic recovery dynamics of the two heavy rare-earth metals Dy and Gd after femtosecond photoexcitation are described. For the investigations, thin films of Dy and Gd were measured at low temperatures in the antiferromagnetic phase of Dy and close to room temperature in the ferromagnetic phase of Gd. Two different optical pump-x-ray probe techniques were employed: Ultrafast x-ray diffraction with hard x-rays (UXRD) yields the structural response of heavy rare-earth metals and resonant soft (elastic) x-ray diffraction (RSXD), which allows measuring directly changes in the helical antiferromagnetic order of Dy. The combination of both techniques enables to study the complex interaction between the magnetic and the phononic subsystems.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Grunert2018, author = {Grunert, Bianca}, title = {Entwicklung von Markierungsreagenzien f{\"u}r die bildgebende Diagnostik}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42283}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-422830}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {155}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Die intrazellul{\"a}re Markierung mit geeigneten Reagenzien erm{\"o}glicht ihre bildgebende Darstellung in lebenden Organismen. Dieses Verfahren (auch „Zell-Tracking" genannt) wird in der Grundlagenforschung zur Entwicklung zellul{\"a}rer Therapien, f{\"u}r die Erforschung pathologischer Prozesse, wie der Metastasierung, sowie f{\"u}r Therapiekontrollen eingesetzt. Besondere Bedeutung haben in den letzten Jahren zellul{\"a}re Therapien mit Stammzellen erlangt, da sie großes Potential bei der Regeneration von Geweben bei Krankheiten wie Morbus Parkinson oder Typ-1-Diabetes versprechen. F{\"u}r die Entwicklung einer zellul{\"a}ren Therapie sind Informationen {\"u}ber den Verbleib der applizierten Zellen in vivo (Homing-Potential), {\"u}ber ihre Zellphysiologie sowie {\"u}ber die Entstehung m{\"o}glicher Entz{\"u}ndungen notwendig. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war daher die Synthese von Markierungsreagenzien, die nicht nur eine effiziente Zellmarkierung erm{\"o}glichen, sondern einen synergistischen Effekt hinsichtlich des modalit{\"a}ts{\"u}bergreifenden Einsatzes in den bildgebenden Verfahren MRT und Laser-Ablation(LA)-ICP-MS erlauben. Die MRT-Bildgebung erm{\"o}glicht die nicht invasive Nachverfolgung markierter Zellen in vivo und die LA-ICP-MS die anschließende ex vivo Analytik zur Darstellung der Elementverteilung (Bioimaging) in einer Biopsieprobe oder in einem Gewebeschnitt. F{\"u}r diese Zwecke wurden zwei verschiedene Markierungsreagenzien mit dem kontrastgebenden Element Gadolinium synthetisiert. Gadolinium eignet sich aufgrund seines hohen magnetischen Moments hervorragend f{\"u}r die MRT-Bildgebung und da es in Biomolek{\"u}len nicht nat{\"u}rlich vorkommt, konnten die Reagenzien gleichermaßen f{\"u}r die Zellmarkierung und das Bioimaging mit der LA-ICP-MS untersucht werden. F{\"u}r die Synthese eines makromolekularen Reagenzes wurde das kommerziell verf{\"u}gbare Dendrimer G5-PAMAM {\"u}ber bifunktionelle Linker mit dem Chelator DOTA funktionalisiert, um anschließend Gadolinium zu komplexieren. Ein zweites, nanopartikul{\"a}res Reagenz wurde {\"u}ber eine Solvothermal-Synthese erhalten, bei der Ln:GdVO4-Nanokristalle mit einer funktionellen Polyacryls{\"a}ure(PAA)-H{\"u}lle dargestellt wurden. Die Dotierung der Ln:GdVO4-PAA Nanokristalle mit verschiedenen Lanthanoiden (Ln=Eu, Tb) zeigte ihre prinzipielle Multiplexf{\"a}higkeit in der LA-ICP-MS. Beide Markierungsreagenzien zeichneten sich durch gute Biovertr{\"a}glichkeiten und r1-Relaxivit{\"a}ten aus, was zudem ihr Potential f{\"u}r Anwendungen als pr{\"a}klinische „blood-pool" MRT-Kontrastmittel belegte. Die Untersuchung der Zellmarkierung erfolgte anhand einer Tumorzelllinie und einer Stammzelllinie, wobei beide Zellarten erfolgreich intrazellul{\"a}r mit beiden Reagenzien markiert wurden. Nach der Zellmarkierung veranschaulichte die in vitro MRT-Bildgebung von Zell-Phantomen eine deutlichere Kontrastverst{\"a}rkung der Zellen nach der Markierung mit den Nanokristallen im Vergleich zum kommerziellen Kontrastmittel Magnevist®. Die hohe Effizienz der Zellmarkierung mit den Nanokristallen und die damit verbundenen hohen Signalintensit{\"a}ten in einer einzelnen Zelle erlaubten beim Bioimaging mit der LA-ICP-MS, Messungen bis zu einer Aufl{\"o}sung von 4 µm Laser Spot Size. Nach der Zellmarkierung mit den DOTA(Gd3+)-funktionalisierten G5-PAMAM Dendrimeren waren hingegen Aufnahmen mit der LA-ICP-MS nur bis zu einer Aufl{\"o}sung von 12 µm Laser Spot Size m{\"o}glich. Insgesamt waren die Ln:GdVO4-PAA Nanokristalle mit gr{\"o}ßerer Ausbeute und kosteng{\"u}nstiger herstellbar als die DOTA(Gd3+)-funktionalisierten G5-PAMAM Dendrimere und zeigten zudem eine effizientere Zellmarkierung. Die Ln:GdVO4-PAA Nanokristalle erscheinen somit f{\"u}r das Zell-Tracking als besonders vielversprechend. Darauf aufbauend wurden die Nanokristalle zur Etablierung der Antik{\"o}rper-Konjugation ausgew{\"a}hlt, was sie f{\"u}r die molekulare in vivo Bildgebung sowie f{\"u}r die Immuno-Bildgebung von Gewebeschnitten oder Biopsie-Proben mit der LA-ICP-MS anwendbar macht.}, language = {de} } @phdthesis{Codutti2018, author = {Codutti, Agnese}, title = {Behavior of magnetic microswimmers}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42297}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-422976}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {iv, 142}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Microswimmers, i.e. swimmers of micron size experiencing low Reynolds numbers, have received a great deal of attention in the last years, since many applications are envisioned in medicine and bioremediation. A promising field is the one of magnetic swimmers, since magnetism is biocom-patible and could be used to direct or actuate the swimmers. This thesis studies two examples of magnetic microswimmers from a physics point of view. The first system to be studied are magnetic cells, which can be magnetic biohybrids (a swimming cell coupled with a magnetic synthetic component) or magnetotactic bacteria (naturally occurring bacteria that produce an intracellular chain of magnetic crystals). A magnetic cell can passively interact with external magnetic fields, which can be used for direction. The aim of the thesis is to understand how magnetic cells couple this magnetic interaction to their swimming strategies, mainly how they combine it with chemotaxis (the ability to sense external gradient of chemical species and to bias their walk on these gradients). In particular, one open question addresses the advantage given by these magnetic interactions for the magnetotactic bacteria in a natural environment, such as porous sediments. In the thesis, a modified Active Brownian Particle model is used to perform simulations and to reproduce experimental data for different systems such as bacteria swimming in the bulk, in a capillary or in confined geometries. I will show that magnetic fields speed up chemotaxis under special conditions, depending on parameters such as their swimming strategy (run-and-tumble or run-and-reverse), aerotactic strategy (axial or polar), and magnetic fields (intensities and orientations), but it can also hinder bacterial chemotaxis depending on the system. The second example of magnetic microswimmer are rigid magnetic propellers such as helices or random-shaped propellers. These propellers are actuated and directed by an external rotating magnetic field. One open question is how shape and magnetic properties influence the propeller behavior; the goal of this research field is to design the best propeller for a given situation. The aim of the thesis is to propose a simulation method to reproduce the behavior of experimentally-realized propellers and to determine their magnetic properties. The hydrodynamic simulations are based on the use of the mobility matrix. As main result, I propose a method to match the experimental data, while showing that not only shape but also the magnetic properties influence the propellers swimming characteristics.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Vogel2018, author = {Vogel, Stefanie}, title = {Sequence dependency of photon and electron induced DNA strand breaks}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-419669}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xii, 117}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the carrier of human genetic information and is exposed to environmental influences such as the ultraviolet (UV) fraction of sunlight every day. The photostability of the DNA against UV light is astonishing. Even if the DNA bases have a strong absorption maximum at around 260 nm/4.77 eV, their quantum yield of photoproducts remains very low 1. If the photon energies exceed the ionization energy (IE) of the nucleobases ( ̴ 8-9 eV) 2, the DNA can be severely damaged. Photoexcitation and -ionization reactions occur, which can induce strand breaks in the DNA. The efficiency of the excitation and ionization induced strand breaks in the target DNA sequences are represented by cross sections. If Si as a substrate material is used in the VUV irradiation experiments, secondary electrons with an energy below 3.6 eV are generated from the substrate. This low energy electrons (LEE) are known to induce dissociative electron attachment (DEA) in DNA and with it DNA strand breakage very efficiently. LEEs play an important role in cancer radiation therapy, since they are generated secondarily along the radiation track of ionizing radiation. In the framework of this thesis, different single stranded DNA sequences were irradiated with 8.44 eV vacuum UV (VUV) light and cross sections for single strand breaks (SSB) were determined. Several sequences were also exposed to secondary LEEs, which additionally contributed to the SSBs. First, the cross sections for SSBs depending on the type of nucleobases were determined. Both types of DNA sequences, mono-nucleobase and mixed sequences showed very similar results upon VUV radiation. The additional influence of secondarily generated LEEs resulted in contrast in a clear trend for the SSB cross sections. In this, the polythymine sequence had the highest cross section for SSBs, which can be explained by strong anionic resonances in this energy range. Furthermore, SSB cross sections were determined as a function of sequence length. This resulted in an increase in the strand breaks to the same extent as the increase in the geometrical cross section. The longest DNA sequence (20 nucleotides) investigated in this series, however, showed smaller cross section values for SSBs, which can be explained by conformational changes in the DNA. Moreover, several DNA sequences that included the radiosensitizers 5-Bromouracil (5BrU) and 8-Bromoadenine (8BrA) were investigated and the corresponding SSB cross sections were determined. It was shown that 5BrU reacts very strongly to VUV radiation leading to high strand break yields, which showed in turn a strong sequence-dependency. 8BrA, on the other hand, showed no sensitization to the applied VUV radiation, since almost no increase in strand breakage yield was observed in comparison to non-modified DNA sequences. In order to be able to identify the mechanisms of radiation damage by photons, the IEs of certain DNA sequences were further explored using photoionization tandem mass spectrometry. By varying the DNA sequence, both the IEs depending on the type of nucleobase as well as on the DNA strand length could be identified and correlated to the SSB cross sections. The influence of the IE on the photoinduced reaction in the brominated DNA sequences could be excluded.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Choi2018, author = {Choi, Youngeun}, title = {DNA origami structures as versatile platforms for nanophotonics}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421483}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {125}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Nanophotonics is the field of science and engineering aimed at studying the light-matter interactions on the nanoscale. One of the key aspects in studying such optics at the nanoscale is the ability to assemble the material components in a spatially controlled manner. In this work, DNA origami nanostructures were used to self-assemble dye molecules and DNA coated plasmonic nanoparticles. Optical properties of dye nanoarrays, where the dyes were arranged at distances where they can interact by F{\"o}rster resonance energy transfer (FRET), were systematically studied according to the size and arrangement of the dyes using fluorescein (FAM) as the donor and cyanine 3 (Cy 3) as the acceptor. The optimized design, based on steady-state and time-resolved fluorometry, was utilized in developing a ratiometric pH sensor with pH-inert coumarin 343 (C343) as the donor and pH-sensitive FAM as the acceptor. This design was further applied in developing a ratiometric toxin sensor, where the donor C343 is unresponsive and FAM is responsive to thioacetamide (TAA) which is a well-known hepatotoxin. The results indicate that the sensitivity of the ratiometric sensor can be improved by simply arranging the dyes into a well-defined array. The ability to assemble multiple fluorophores without dye-dye aggregation also provides a strategy to amplify the signal measured from a fluorescent reporter, and was utilized here to develop a reporter for sensing oligonucleotides. By incorporating target capturing sequences and multiple fluorophores (ATTO 647N dye molecules), a reporter for microbead-based assay for non-amplified target oligonucleotide sensing was developed. Analysis of the assay using VideoScan, a fluorescence microscope-based technology capable of conducting multiplex analysis, showed the DNA origami nanostructure based reporter to have a lower limit of detection than a single stranded DNA reporter. Lastly, plasmonic nanostructures were assembled on DNA origami nanostructures as substrates to study interesting optical behaviors of molecules in the near-field. Specifically, DNA coated gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, and gold nanorods, were placed on the DNA origami nanostructure aiming to study surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of molecules placed in the hotspot of coupled plasmonic structures.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Fabian2018, author = {Fabian, Jenny}, title = {Effects of algae on microbial carbon cycling in freshwaters}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42222}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-422225}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {90}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Microbial processing of organic matter (OM) in the freshwater biosphere is a key component of global biogeochemical cycles. Freshwaters receive and process valuable amounts of leaf OM from their terrestrial landscape. These terrestrial subsidies provide an essential source of energy and nutrients to the aquatic environment as a function of heterotrophic processing by fungi and bacteria. Particularly in freshwaters with low in-situ primary production from algae (microalgae, cyanobacteria), microbial turnover of leaf OM significantly contributes to the productivity and functioning of freshwater ecosystems and not least their contribution to global carbon cycling. Based on differences in their chemical composition, it is believed that leaf OM is less bioavailable to microbial heterotrophs than OM photosynthetically produced by algae. Especially particulate leaf OM, consisting predominantly of structurally complex and aromatic polymers, is assumed highly resistant to enzymatic breakdown by microbial heterotrophs. However, recent research has demonstrated that OM produced by algae promotes the heterotrophic breakdown of leaf OM in aquatic ecosystems, with profound consequences for the metabolism of leaf carbon (C) within microbial food webs. In my thesis, I aimed at investigating the underlying mechanisms of this so called priming effect of algal OM on the use of leaf C in natural microbial communities, focusing on fungi and bacteria. The works of my thesis underline that algal OM provides highly bioavailable compounds to the microbial community that are quickly assimilated by bacteria (Paper II). The substrate composition of OM pools determines the proportion of fungi and bacteria within the microbial community (Paper I). Thereby, the fraction of algae OM in the aquatic OM pool stimulates the activity and hence contribution of bacterial communities to leaf C turnover by providing an essential energy and nutrient source for the assimilation of the structural complex leaf OM substrate. On the contrary, the assimilation of algal OM remains limited for fungal communities as a function of nutrient competition between fungi and bacteria (Paper I, II). In addition, results provide evidence that environmental conditions determine the strength of interactions between microalgae and heterotrophic bacteria during leaf OM decomposition (Paper I, III). However, the stimulatory effect of algal photoautotrophic activities on leaf C turnover remained significant even under highly dynamic environmental conditions, highlighting their functional role for ecosystem processes (Paper III). The results of my thesis provide insights into the mechanisms by which algae affect the microbial turnover of leaf C in freshwaters. This in turn contributes to a better understanding of the function of algae in freshwater biogeochemical cycles, especially with regard to their interaction with the heterotrophic community.}, language = {en} }