Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (365) (remove)
Year of publication
- 2016 (365) (remove)
Document Type
- Postprint (210)
- Doctoral Thesis (96)
- Article (21)
- Preprint (17)
- Monograph/Edited Volume (8)
- Master's Thesis (4)
- Working Paper (4)
- Habilitation Thesis (2)
- Part of Periodical (2)
- Conference Proceeding (1)
Language
- English (365) (remove)
Keywords
- model (6)
- climate-change (5)
- sentence processing (5)
- German (4)
- aggression (4)
- evolution (4)
- language (4)
- machine learning (4)
- prosody (4)
- protein (4)
Institute
- Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät (80)
- Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät (38)
- Institut für Geowissenschaften (38)
- Institut für Chemie (32)
- Institut für Physik und Astronomie (30)
- Institut für Biochemie und Biologie (24)
- Department Linguistik (23)
- Institut für Mathematik (19)
- Department Psychologie (18)
- Department Sport- und Gesundheitswissenschaften (15)
In order to evade detection by network-traffic analysis, a growing proportion of malware uses the encrypted HTTPS protocol. We explore the problem of detecting malware on client computers based on HTTPS traffic analysis. In this setting, malware has to be detected based on the host IP address, ports, timestamp, and data volume information of TCP/IP packets that are sent and received by all the applications on the client. We develop a scalable protocol that allows us to collect network flows of known malicious and benign applications as training data and derive a malware-detection method based on a neural networks and sequence classification. We study the method's ability to detect known and new, unknown malware in a large-scale empirical study.
Meter and syntax have overlapping elements in music and speech domains, and individual differences have been documented in both meter perception and syntactic comprehension paradigms. Previous evidence insinuated but never fully explored the relationship that metrical structure has to syntactic comprehension, the comparability of these processes across music and language domains, and the respective role of individual differences. This dissertation aimed to investigate neurocognitive entrainment to meter in music and language, the impact that neurocognitive entrainment had on syntactic comprehension, and whether individual differences in musical expertise, temporal perception and working memory played a role during these processes.
A theoretical framework was developed, which linked neural entrainment, cognitive entrainment, and syntactic comprehension while detailing previously documented effects of individual differences on meter perception and syntactic comprehension. The framework was developed in both music and language domains and was tested using behavioral and EEG methods across three studies (seven experiments). In order to satisfy empirical evaluation of neurocognitive entrainment and syntactic aspects of the framework, original melodies and sentences were composed. Each item had four permutations: regular and irregular metricality, based on the hierarchical organization of strong and weak notes and syllables, and preferred and non-preferred syntax, based on structurally alternate endings. The framework predicted — for both music and language domains — greater neurocognitive entrainment in regular compared to irregular metricality conditions, and accordingly, better syntactic integration in regular compared to irregular metricality conditions. Individual differences among participants were expected for both entrainment and syntactic processes.
Altogether, the dissertation was able to support a holistic account of neurocognitive entrainment to musical meter and its subsequent influence on syntactic integration of melodies, with musician participants. The theoretical predictions were not upheld in the language domain with musician participants, but initial behavioral evidence in combination with previous EEG evidence suggest that perhaps non-musician language EEG data would support the framework’s predictions. Musicians’ deviation from hypothesized results in the language domain were suspected to reflect heightened perception of acoustic features stemming from musical training, which caused current ‘overly’ regular stimuli to distract the cognitive system. The individual-differences approach was vindicated by the surfacing of two factors scores, Verbal Working Memory and Time and Pitch Discrimination, which in turn correlated with multiple experimental data across the three studies.
Over the last decades, the world’s population has been growing at a faster rate, resulting in increased urbanisation, especially in developing countries. More than half of the global population currently lives in urbanised areas with an increasing tendency. The growth of cities results in a significant loss of vegetation cover, soil compaction and sealing of the soil surface which in turn results in high surface runoff during high-intensity storms and causes the problem of accelerated soil water erosion on streets and building grounds. Accelerated soil water erosion is a serious environmental problem in cities as it gives rise to the contamination of aquatic bodies, reduction of ground water recharge and increase in land degradation, and also results in damages to urban infrastructures, including drainage systems, houses and roads. Understanding the problem of water erosion in urban settings is essential for the sustainable planning and management of cities prone to water erosion. However, in spite of the vast existence of scientific literature on water erosion in rural regions, a concrete understanding of the underlying dynamics of urban erosion still remains inadequate for the urban dryland environments.
This study aimed at assessing water erosion and the associated socio-environmental determinants in a typical dryland urban area and used the city of Windhoek, Namibia, as a case study. The study used a multidisciplinary approach to assess the problem of water erosion. This included an in depth literature review on current research approaches and challenges of urban erosion, a field survey method for the quantification of the spatial extent of urban erosion in the dryland city of Windhoek, and face to face interviews by using semi-structured questionnaires to analyse the perceptions of stakeholders on urban erosion.
The review revealed that around 64% of the literatures reviewed were conducted in the developed world, and very few researches were carried out in regions with extreme climate, including dryland regions. Furthermore, the applied methods for erosion quantification and monitoring are not inclusive of urban typical features and they are not specific for urban areas. The reviewed literature also lacked aspects aimed at addressing the issues of climate change and policies regarding erosion in cities. In a field study, the spatial extent and severity of an urban dryland city, Windhoek, was quantified and the results show that nearly 56% of the city is affected by water erosion showing signs of accelerated erosion in the form of rills and gullies, which occurred mainly in the underdeveloped, informal and semi-formal areas of the city. Factors influencing the extent of erosion in Windhoek included vegetation cover and type, socio-urban factors and to a lesser extent slope estimates. A comparison of an interpolated field survey erosion map with a conventional erosion assessment tool (the Universal Soil Loss Equation) depicted a large deviation in spatial patterns, which underlines the inappropriateness of traditional non-urban erosion tools to urban settings and emphasises the need to develop new erosion assessment and management methods for urban environments. It was concluded that measures for controlling water erosion in the city need to be site-specific as the extent of erosion varied largely across the city.
The study also analysed the perceptions and understanding of stakeholders of urban water erosion in Windhoek, by interviewing 41 stakeholders using semi-structured questionnaires. The analysis addressed their understanding of water erosion dynamics, their perceptions with regards to the causes and the seriousness of erosion damages, and their attitudes towards the responsibilities for urban erosion. The results indicated that there is less awareness of the process as a phenomenon, instead there is more awareness of erosion damages and the factors contributing to the damages. About 69% of the stakeholders considered erosion damages to be ranging from moderate to very serious. However, there were notable disparities between the private householders and public authority groups. The study further found that the stakeholders have no clear understanding of their responsibilities towards the management of the control measures and payment for the damages. The private householders and local authority sectors pointed fingers at each other for the responsibilities for erosion damage payments and for putting up prevention measures. The reluctance to take responsibility could create a predicament for areas affected, specifically in the informal settlements where land management is not carried out by the local authority and land is not owned by the occupants.
The study concluded that in order to combat urban erosion, it is crucial to understand diverse dynamics aggravating the process of urbanisation from different scales. Accordingly, the study suggests that there is an urgent need for the development of urban-specific approaches that aim at: (a) incorporating the diverse socio-economic-environmental aspects influencing erosion, (b) scientifically improving natural cycles that influence water storages and nutrients for plants in urbanised dryland areas in order to increase the amount of vegetation cover, (c) making use of high resolution satellite images to improve the adopted methods for assessing urban erosion, (d) developing water erosion policies, and (e) continuously monitoring the impact of erosion and the influencing processes from local, national and international levels.
In the interest of producing functional catalysts from sustainable building-blocks, 1, 3-dicarboxylate imidazolium salts derived from amino acids were successfully modified to be suitable as N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands within metal complexes. Complexes of Ag(I), Pd(II), and Ir(I) were successfully produced using known procedures using ligands derived from glycine, alanine, β-alanine and phenylalanine. The complexes were characterized in solid state using X-Ray crystallography, which allowed for the steric and electronic comparison of these ligands to well-known NHC ligands within analogous metal complexes.
The palladium complexes were tested as catalysts for aqueous-phase Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling. Water-solubility could be induced via ester hydrolysis of the N-bound groups in the presence of base. The mono-NHC–Pd complexes were seen to be highly active in the coupling of aryl bromides with phenylboronic acid; the active catalyst of which was determined to be mostly Pd(0) nanoparticles. Kinetic studies determined that reaction proceeds quickly in the coupling of bromoacetophenone, for both pre-hydrolyzed and in-situ hydrolysis catalyst dissolution. The catalyst could also be recycled for an extra run by simply re-using the aqueous layer.
The imidazolium salts were also used to produce organosilica hybrid materials. This was attempted via two methods: by post-grafting onto a commercial organosilica, and co-condensation of the corresponding organosilane. The co-condensation technique harbours potential for the production of solid-support catalysts.
Since 1998, elite athletes’ sport injuries have been monitored in single sport event, which leads to the development of first comprehensive injury surveillance system in multi-sport Olympic Games in 2008. However, injury and illness occurred in training phases have not been systematically studied due to its multi-facets, potentially interactive risk related factors. The present thesis aim to address issues of feasibility of establishing a validated measure for injury/illness, training environment and psychosocial risk factors by creating the evaluation tool namely risk of injury questionnaire (Risk-IQ) for elite athletes, which based on IOC consensus statement 2009 recommended content of preparticipation evaluation(PPE) and periodic health exam (PHE).
A total of 335 top level athletes and a total of 88 medical care providers from Germany and Taiwan participated in tow “cross-sectional plus longitudinal” Risk-IQ and MCPQ surveys respectively. Four categories of injury/illness related risk factors questions were asked in Risk-IQ for athletes while injury risk and psychological related questions were asked in MCPQ for MCP cohorts. Answers were quantified scales wise/subscales wise before analyzed with other factors/scales. In addition, adapted variables such as sport format were introduced for difference task of analysis.
Validated with 2-wyas translation and test-retest reliabilities, the Risk-IQ was proved to be in good standard which were further confirmed by analyzed results from official surveys in both Germany and Taiwan. The result of Risk-IQ revealed that elite athletes’ accumulated total injuries, in general, were multi-factor dependent; influencing factors including but not limited to background experiences, medical history, PHE and PPE medical resources as well as stress from life events. Injuries of different body parts were sport format and location specific. Additionally, medical support of PPE and PHE indicated significant difference between German and Taiwan.
The result of the present thesis confirmed that it is feasible to construct a comprehensive evalua-tion instrument for heterogeneous elite athletes cohorts’ risk factor analysis for injury/illness oc-curred during their non-competition periods. In average and with many moderators involved, Ger-man elite athletes have superior medical care support yet suffered more severe injuries than Tai-wanese counterparts. Opinions of injury related psychological issues reflected differently on vari-ous MCP groups irrespective of different nationalities. In general, influencing factors and interac-tions existed among relevant factors in both studies which implied further investigation with multiple regression analysis is needed for better understanding.
Ionothermal carbon materials
(2016)
Alternative concepts for energy storage and conversion have to be developed, optimized and employed to fulfill the dream of a fossil-independent energy economy. Porous carbon materials play a major role in many energy-related devices. Among different characteristics, distinct porosity features, e.g., specific surface area (SSA), total pore volume (TPV), and the pore size distribution (PSD), are important to maximize the performance in the final device. In order to approach the aim to synthesize carbon materials with tailor-made porosity in a sustainable fashion, the present thesis focused on biomass-derived precursors employing and developing the ionothermal carbonization.
During the ionothermal carbonization, a salt melt simultaneously serves as solvent and porogen. Typically, eutectic mixtures containing zinc chloride are employed as salt phase. The first topic of the present thesis addressed the possibility to precisely tailor the porosity of ionothermal carbon materials by an experimentally simple variation of the molar composition of the binary salt mixture. The developed pore tuning tool allowed the synthesis of glucose derived carbon materials with predictable SSAs in the range of ~ 900 to ~ 2100 m2 g-1. Moreover, the nucleobase adenine was employed as precursor introducing nitrogen functionalities in the final material. Thereby, the chemical properties of the carbon materials are varied leading to new application fields. Nitrogen doped carbons (NDCs) are able to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) which takes place on the cathodic site of a fuel cell. The herein developed porosity tailoring allowed the synthesis of adenine derived NDCs with outstanding SSAs of up to 2900 m2 g-1 and very large TPV of 5.19 cm3 g-1. Furthermore, the influence of the porosity on the ORR could be directly investigated enabling the precise optimization of the porosity characteristics of NDCs for this application. The second topic addressed the development of a new method to investigate the not-yet unraveled mechanism of the oxygen reduction reaction using a rotating disc electrode setup. The focus was put on noble-metal free catalysts. The results showed that the reaction pathway of the investigated catalysts is pH-dependent indicating different active species at different pH-values. The third topic addressed the expansion of the used salts for the ionothermal approach towards hydrated calcium and magnesium chloride. It was shown that hydrated salt phases allowed the introduction of a secondary templating effect which was connected to the coexistence of liquid and solid salt phases. The method enabled the synthesis of fibrous NDCs with SSAs of up to 2780 m2 g-1 and very large TPV of 3.86 cm3 g-1. Moreover, the concept of active site implementation by a facile low-temperature metalation employing the obtained NDCs as solid ligands could be shown for the first time in the context of ORR.
Overall, the thesis may pave the way towards highly porous carbon with tailor-made porosity materials prepared by an inexpensive and sustainable pathway, which can be applied in energy related field thereby supporting the needed expansion of the renewable energy sector.
Can the statistical properties of single-electron transfer events be correctly predicted within a common equilibrium ensemble description? This fundamental in nanoworld question of ergodic behavior is scrutinized within a very basic semi-classical curve-crossing problem. It is shown that in the limit of non-adiabatic electron transfer (weak tunneling) well-described by the Marcus–Levich–Dogonadze(MLD) rate the answer is yes. However, in the limit of the so-called solvent-controlled adiabatic electron transfer, a profound breaking of ergodicity occurs. Namely, a common description based on the ensemble reduced density matrix with an initial equilibrium distribution of the reaction coordinate is not able to reproduce the statistics of single-trajectory events in this seemingly classical regime. For sufficiently large activation barriers, the ensemble survival probability in a state remains nearly exponential with the inverse rate given by the sum of the adiabatic curve crossing (Kramers) time and the inverse MLD rate. In contrast, near to the adiabatic regime, the single-electron survival probability is clearly non-exponential, even though it possesses an exponential tail which agrees well with the ensemble description. Initially, it is well described by a Mittag-Leffler distribution with a fractional rate. Paradoxically, the mean transfer time in this classical on the ensemble level regime is well described by the inverse of the nonadiabatic quantum tunneling rate on a single particle level. An analytical theory is developed which perfectly agrees with stochastic simulations and explains our findings.
A series of new sulfobetaine methacrylates, including nitrogen-containing saturated heterocycles, was synthesised by systematically varying the substituents of the zwitterionic group. Radical polymerisation via the RAFT (reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer) method in trifluoroethanol proceeded smoothly and was well controlled, yielding polymers with predictable molar masses. Molar mass analysis and control of the end-group fidelity were facilitated by end-group labeling with a fluorescent dye. The polymers showed distinct thermo-responsive behaviour of the UCST (upper critical solution temperature) type in an aqueous solution, which could not be simply correlated to their molecular structure via an incremental analysis of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic elements incorporated within them. Increasing the spacer length separating the ammonium and the sulfonate groups of the zwitterion moiety from three to four carbons increased the phase transition temperatures markedly, whereas increasing the length of the spacer separating the ammonium group and the carboxylate ester group on the backbone from two to three carbons provoked the opposite effect. Moreover, the phase transition temperatures of the analogous polyzwitterions decreased in the order dimethylammonio > morpholinio > piperidinio alkanesulfonates. In addition to the basic effect of the polymers’ precise molecular structure, the concentration and the molar mass dependence of the phase transition temperatures were studied. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of added low molar mass salts on the aqueous-phase behaviour for sodium chloride and sodium bromide as well as sodium and ammonium sulfate. The strong effects evolved in a complex way with the salt concentration. The strength of these effects depended on the nature of the anion added, increasing in the order sulfate < chloride < bromide, thus following the empirical Hofmeister series. In contrast, no significant differences were observed when changing the cation, i.e. when adding sodium or ammonium sulfate.
It is commonly recognized that soil moisture exhibits spatial heterogeneities occurring in a wide range of scales. These heterogeneities are caused by different factors ranging from soil structure at the plot scale to land use at the landscape scale. There is an urgent need for effi-cient approaches to deal with soil moisture heterogeneity at large scales, where manage-ment decisions are usually made. The aim of this dissertation was to test innovative ap-proaches for making efficient use of standard soil hydrological data in order to assess seep-age rates and main controls on observed hydrological behavior, including the role of soil het-erogeneities.
As a first step, the applicability of a simplified Buckingham-Darcy method to estimate deep seepage fluxes from point information of soil moisture dynamics was assessed. This was done in a numerical experiment considering a broad range of soil textures and textural het-erogeneities. The method performed well for most soil texture classes. However, in pure sand where seepage fluxes were dominated by heterogeneous flow fields it turned out to be not applicable, because it simply neglects the effect of water flow heterogeneity. In this study a need for new efficient approaches to handle heterogeneities in one-dimensional water flux models was identified.
As a further step, an approach to turn the problem of soil moisture heterogeneity into a solu-tion was presented: Principal component analysis was applied to make use of the variability among soil moisture time series for analyzing apparently complex soil hydrological systems. It can be used for identifying the main controls on the hydrological behavior, quantifying their relevance, and describing their particular effects by functional averaged time series. The ap-proach was firstly tested with soil moisture time series simulated for different texture classes in homogeneous and heterogeneous model domains. Afterwards, it was applied to 57 mois-ture time series measured in a multifactorial long term field experiment in Northeast Germa-ny.
The dimensionality of both data sets was rather low, because more than 85 % of the total moisture variance could already be explained by the hydrological input signal and by signal transformation with soil depth. The perspective of signal transformation, i.e. analyzing how hydrological input signals (e.g., rainfall, snow melt) propagate through the vadose zone, turned out to be a valuable supplement to the common mass flux considerations. Neither different textures nor spatial heterogeneities affected the general kind of signal transfor-mation showing that complex spatial structures do not necessarily evoke a complex hydro-logical behavior. In case of the field measured data another 3.6% of the total variance was unambiguously explained by different cropping systems. Additionally, it was shown that dif-ferent soil tillage practices did not affect the soil moisture dynamics at all.
The presented approach does not require a priori assumptions about the nature of physical processes, and it is not restricted to specific scales. Thus, it opens various possibilities to in-corporate the key information from monitoring data sets into the modeling exercise and thereby reduce model uncertainties.
We introduce azobenzene-functionalized polyelectrolyte multilayers as efficient, inexpensive optoacoustic transducers for hyper-sound strain waves in the GHz range. By picosecond transient reflectivity measurements we study the creation of nanoscale strain waves, their reflection from interfaces, damping by scattering from nanoparticles and propagation in soft and hard adjacent materials like polymer layers, quartz and mica. The amplitude of the generated strain ε ∼ 5 × 10−4 is calibrated by ultrafast X-ray diffraction.
Well-developed phonological awareness skills are a core prerequisite for early literacy development. Although effective phonological awareness training programs exist, children at risk often do not reach similar levels of phonological awareness after the intervention as children with normally developed skills. Based on theoretical considerations and first promising results the present study explores effects of an early musical training in combination with a conventional phonological training in children with weak phonological awareness skills. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design and measurements across a period of 2 years, we tested the effects of two interventions: a consecutive combination of a musical and a phonological training and a phonological training alone. The design made it possible to disentangle effects of the musical training alone as well the effects of its combination with the phonological training. The outcome measures of these groups were compared with the control group with multivariate analyses, controlling for a number of background variables. The sample included N = 424 German-speaking children aged 4–5 years at the beginning of the study. We found a positive relationship between musical abilities and phonological awareness. Yet, whereas the well-established phonological training produced the expected effects, adding a musical training did not contribute significantly to phonological awareness development. Training effects were partly dependent on the initial level of phonological awareness. Possible reasons for the lack of training effects in the musical part of the combination condition as well as practical implications for early literacy education are discussed.
Widespread landscape changes are presently observed in the Arctic and are most likely to
accelerate in the future, in particular in permafrost regions which are sensitive to climate warming. To assess current and future developments, it is crucial to understand past
environmental dynamics in these landscapes. Causes and interactions of environmental variability can hardly be resolved by instrumental records covering modern time scales. However, long-term
environmental variability is recorded in paleoenvironmental archives. Lake sediments are important archives that allow reconstruction of local limnogeological processes as well as past environmental changes driven directly or indirectly by climate dynamics. This study aims at
reconstructing Late Quaternary permafrost and thermokarst dynamics in central-eastern Beringia,
the terrestrial land mass connecting Eurasia and North America during glacial sea-level low stands. In order to investigate development, processes and influence of thermokarst dynamics, several sediment cores from extant lakes and drained lake basins were analyzed to answer the
following research questions:
1. When did permafrost degradation and thermokarst lake development take place and what were enhancing and inhibiting environmental factors?
2. What are the dominant processes during thermokarst lake development and how are
they reflected in proxy records?
3. How did, and still do, thermokarst dynamics contribute to the inventory and properties of organic matter in sediments and the carbon cycle?
Methods applied in this study are based upon a multi-proxy approach combining
sedimentological, geochemical, geochronological, and micropaleontological analyses, as well as
analyses of stable isotopes and hydrochemistry of pore-water and ice. Modern field observations of water quality and basin morphometrics complete the environmental investigations.
The investigated sediment cores reveal permafrost degradation and thermokarst dynamics on different time scales. The analysis of a sediment core from GG basin on the northern Seward
Peninsula (Alaska) shows prevalent terrestrial accumulation of yedoma throughout the Early to
Mid Wisconsin with intermediate wet conditions at around 44.5 to 41.5 ka BP. This first wetland
development was terminated by the accumulation of a 1-meter-thick airfall tephra most likely originating from the South Killeak Maar eruption at 42 ka BP. A depositional hiatus between 22.5 and 0.23 ka BP may indicate thermokarst lake formation in the surrounding of the site which forms a yedoma upland till today. The thermokarst lake forming GG basin initiated 230 ± 30 cal a
BP and drained in Spring 2005 AD. Four years after drainage the lake talik was still unfrozen below 268 cm depth.
A permafrost core from Mama Rhonda basin on the northern Seward Peninsula preserved a
full lacustrine record including several lake phases. The first lake generation developed at 11.8 cal ka BP during the Lateglacial-Early Holocene transition; its old basin (Grandma Rhonda) is still partially preserved at the southern margin of the study basin. Around 9.0 cal ka BP a shallow and more dynamic thermokarst lake developed with actively eroding shorelines and potentially intermediate shallow water or wetland phases (Mama Rhonda). Mama Rhonda lake drainage at 1.1 cal ka BP was followed by gradual accumulation of terrestrial peat and top-down refreezing of the lake talik. A significant lower organic carbon content was measured in Grandma Rhonda deposits (mean TOC of 2.5 wt%) than in Mama Rhonda deposits (mean TOC of 7.9 wt%) highlighting the impact of thermokarst dynamics on biogeochemical cycling in different lake generations by thawing and mobilization of organic carbon into the lake system.
Proximal and distal sediment cores from Peatball Lake on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska revealed young thermokarst dynamics since about 1,400 years along a depositional gradient based on reconstructions from shoreline expansion rates and absolute dating results. After its initiation as a remnant pond of a previous drained lake basin, a rapidly deepening lake with increasing oxygenation of the water column is evident from laminated sediments, and higher Fe/Ti and Fe/S ratios in the sediment. The sediment record archived characterizing shifts in depositional regimes and sediment sources from upland deposits and re-deposited sediments from drained thaw lake basins depending on the gradually changing shoreline configuration. These changes are evident from alternating organic inputs into the lake system which highlights the potential for thermokarst lakes to recycle old carbon from degrading permafrost deposits of its catchment.
The lake sediment record from Herschel Island in the Yukon (Canada) covers the full Holocene period. After its initiation as a thermokarst lake at 11.7 cal ka BP and intense thermokarst activity until 10.0 cal ka BP, the steady sedimentation was interrupted by a depositional hiatus at 1.6 cal ka BP which likely resulted from lake drainage or allochthonous slumping due to collapsing shore lines. The specific setting of the lake on a push moraine composed of marine deposits is reflected in the sedimentary record. Freshening of the maturing lake is indicated by decreasing electrical conductivity in pore-water. Alternation of marine to freshwater ostracods and foraminifera confirms decreasing salinity as well but also reflects episodical re-deposition of allochthonous marine sediments.
Based on permafrost and lacustrine sediment records, this thesis shows examples of the Late Quaternary evolution of typical Arctic permafrost landscapes in central-eastern Beringia and the complex interaction of local disturbance processes, regional environmental dynamics and global climate patterns. This study confirms that thermokarst lakes are important agents of organic matter recycling in complex and continuously changing landscapes.
The ever-increasing fat content in Western diet, combined with decreased levels of physical activity, greatly enhance the incidence of metabolic-related diseases. Cancer cachexia (CC) and Metabolic syndrome (MetS) are both multifactorial highly complex metabolism related syndromes, whose etiology is not fully understood, as the mechanisms underlying their development are not completely unveiled. Nevertheless, despite being considered “opposite sides”, MetS and CC share several common issues such as insulin resistance and low-grade inflammation. In these scenarios, tissue macrophages act as key players, due to their capacity to produce and release inflammatory mediators. One of the main features of MetS is hyperinsulinemia, which is generally associated with an attempt of the β-cell to compensate for diminished insulin sensitivity (insulin resistance). There is growing evidence that hyperinsulinemia per se may contribute to the development of insulin resistance, through the establishment of low grade inflammation in insulin responsive tissues, especially in the liver (as insulin is secreted by the pancreas into the portal circulation). The hypothesis of the present study was that insulin may itself provoke an inflammatory response culminating in diminished hepatic insulin sensitivity. To address this premise, firstly, human cell line U937 differentiated macrophages were exposed to insulin, LPS and PGE2. In these cells, insulin significantly augmented the gene expression of the pro-inflammatory mediators IL-1β, IL-8, CCL2, Oncostatin M (OSM) and microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase (mPGES1), and of the anti-inflammatory mediator IL-10. Moreover, the synergism between insulin and LPS enhanced the induction provoked by LPS in IL-1β, IL-8, IL-6, CCL2 and TNF-α gene. When combined with PGE2, insulin enhanced the induction provoked by PGE2 in IL-1β, mPGES1 and COX2, and attenuated the inhibition induced by PGE2 in CCL2 and TNF-α gene expression contributing to an enhanced inflammatory response by both mechanisms. Supernatants of insulin-treated U937 macrophages reduced the insulin-dependent induction of glucokinase in hepatocytes by 50%. Cytokines contained in the supernatant of insulin-treated U937 macrophages also activated hepatocytes ERK1/2, resulting in inhibitory serine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor substrate. Additionally, the transcription factor STAT3 was activated by phosphorylation resulting in the induction of SOCS3, which is capable of interrupting the insulin receptor signal chain. MicroRNAs, non-coding RNAs linked to protein expression regulation, nowadays recognized as active players in the generation of several inflammatory disorders such as cancer and type II diabetes are also of interest. Considering that in cancer cachexia, patients are highly affected by insulin resistance and inflammation, control, non-cachectic and cachectic cancer patients were selected and the respective circulating levels of pro-inflammatory mediators and microRNA-21-5p, a posttranscriptional regulator of STAT3 expression, assessed and correlated. Cachectic patients circulating cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 levels were significantly higher than those of non-cachectic and controls, and the expression of microRNA-21-5p was significantly lower. Additionally, microRNA-21-5p reduced expression correlated negatively with IL-6 plasma levels. These results indicate that hyperinsulinemia per se might contribute to the low grade inflammation prevailing in MetS patients and thereby promote the development
of insulin resistance particularly in the liver. Diminished MicroRNA-21-5p expression may enhance inflammation and STAT3 expression in cachectic patients, contributing to the development of insulin resistance.
BACKGROUND: The etiology of low back pain (LBP), one of the most prevalent and costly diseases of our time, is accepted to be multi-causal, placing functional factors in the focus of research. Thereby, pain models suggest a centrally controlled strategy of trunk stiffening in LBP. However, supporting biomechanical evidence is mostly limited to static measurements during maximum voluntary contractions (MVC), probably influenced by psychological factors in LBP. Alternatively, repeated findings indicate that the neuromuscular efficiency (NME), characterized by the strength-to-activation relationship (SAR), of lower back muscles is impaired in LBP. Therefore, a dynamic SAR protocol, consisting of normalized trunk muscle activation recordings during submaximal loads (SMVC) seems to be relevant. This thesis aimed to investigate the influence of LBP on the NME and activation pattern of trunk muscles during dynamic trunk extensions.
METHODS: The SAR protocol consisted of an initial MVC reference trial (MVC1), followed by SMVCs at 20, 40, 60 and 80% of MVC1 load. An isokinetic trunk dynamometer (Con-Trex TP, ROM: 45° flexion to 10° extension, velocity: 45°/s) and a trunk surface EMG setup (myon, up to 12 leads) was used. Extension torque output [Nm] and muscular activation [V] were assessed in all trials. Finally, another MVC trial was performed (MVC2) for reliability analysis. For SAR evaluation the SMVC trial values were normalized [%MVC1] and compared inter- and intra-individually.
The methodical validity of the approach was tested in an isometric SAR single-case pilot study (S1a: N = 2, female LBP patient vs. healthy male). In addition, the validity of the MVC reference method was verified by comparing different contraction modes (S1b: N = 17, healthy individuals). Next, the isokinetic protocol was validated in terms of content for its applicability to display known physiological differences between sexes in a cross-sectional study (S2: each n = 25 healthy males/females). Finally, the influence of acute pain on NME was investigated longitudinally by comparing N = 8 acute LBP patients with the retest after remission of pain (S3). The SAR analysis focused on normalized agonistic extensor activation and abdominal and synergistic extensor co-activation (t-tests, ANOVA, α = .05) as well as on reliability of MVC1/2 outcomes.
RESULTS: During the methodological validation of the protocol (S1a), the isometric SAR was found to be descriptively different between individuals. Whereas torque output was highest during eccentric MVC, no relevant difference in peak EMG activation was found between contraction modes (S1b). The isokinetic SAR sex comparison (S2), though showing no significant overall effects, revealed higher normalized extensor activation at moderate submaximal loads in females (13 ± 4%), primarily caused by pronounced thoracic activation. Similarly, co-activation analysis resulted in significantly higher antagonistic activation at moderate loads compared to males (33 ± 9%). During intra-individual analysis of SAR in LBP patients (S3), a significant effect of pain status on the SAR has been identified, manifesting as increased normalized EMG activation of extensors during acute LBP (11 ± 8%) particularly at high load. Abdominal co-activation tended to be elevated (27 ± 11%) just as the thoracic extensor parts seemed to take over proportions of lumbar activation. All together, the M. erector spinae behaviour during the SAR protocol was rather linear with the tendency to rise exponentially during high loads. For the level of normalized EMG activation during SMVCs, a clear increasing trend from healthy males to females over to non-acute and acute LBP patients was discovered. This was associated by elevated antagonistic activation and a shift of synergistic towards lumbar extensor activation. The MVC data revealed overall good reliability, with clearly higher variability during acute LBP.
DISCUSSION: The present thesis demonstrates that the NME of lower back muscles is impaired in LBP patients, especially during an acute pain episode. A new dynamic protocol has been developed that makes it possible to display the underlying SAR using normalized trunk muscle EMG during submaximal isokinetic loads. The protocol shows promise as a biomechanical tool for diagnostic analysis of NME in LBP patients and monitoring of rehabilitation progress. Furthermore, reliability not of maximum strength but rather of peak EMG of MVC measurements seems to be decreased in LBP patients. Meanwhile, the findings of this thesis largely substantiate the assumptions made by the recently presented ‘motor adaptation to pain’ model, suggesting a pain-related intra- and intermuscular activation redistribution affecting movement and stiffness of the trunk. Further research is needed to distinguish the grade of NME impairment between LBP subgroups.
In experiments investigating sentence processing, eye movement measures such as fixation durations and regression proportions while reading are commonly used to draw conclusions about processing difficulties. However, these measures are the result of an interaction of multiple cognitive levels and processing strategies and thus are only indirect indicators of processing difficulty. In order to properly interpret an eye movement response, one has to understand the underlying principles of adaptive processing such as trade-off mechanisms between reading speed and depth of comprehension that interact with task demands and individual differences. Therefore, it is necessary to establish explicit models of the respective mechanisms as well as their causal relationship with observable behavior. There are models of lexical processing and eye movement control on the one side and models on sentence parsing and memory processes on the other. However, no model so far combines both sides with explicitly defined linking assumptions.
In this thesis, a model is developed that integrates oculomotor control with a parsing mechanism and a theory of cue-based memory retrieval. On the basis of previous empirical findings and independently motivated principles, adaptive, resource-preserving mechanisms of underspecification are proposed both on the level of memory access and on the level of syntactic parsing. The thesis first investigates the model of cue-based retrieval in sentence comprehension of Lewis & Vasishth (2005) with a comprehensive literature review and computational modeling of retrieval interference in dependency processing. The results reveal a great variability in the data that is not explained by the theory. Therefore, two principles, 'distractor prominence' and 'cue confusion', are proposed as an extension to the theory, thus providing a more adequate description of systematic variance in empirical results as a consequence of experimental design, linguistic environment, and individual differences. In the remainder of the thesis, four interfaces between parsing and eye movement control are defined: Time Out, Reanalysis, Underspecification, and Subvocalization. By comparing computationally derived predictions with experimental results from the literature, it is investigated to what extent these four interfaces constitute an appropriate elementary set of assumptions for explaining specific eye movement patterns during sentence processing. Through simulations, it is shown how this system of in itself simple assumptions results in predictions of complex, adaptive behavior.
In conclusion, it is argued that, on all levels, the sentence comprehension mechanism seeks a balance between necessary processing effort and reading speed on the basis of experience, task demands, and resource limitations. Theories of linguistic processing therefore need to be explicitly defined and implemented, in particular with respect to linking assumptions between observable behavior and underlying cognitive processes. The comprehensive model developed here integrates multiple levels of sentence processing that hitherto have only been studied in isolation. The model is made publicly available as an expandable framework for future studies of the interactions between parsing, memory access, and eye movement control.
Personal fabrication tools, such as 3D printers, are on the way of enabling a future in which non-technical users will be able to create custom objects. However, while the hardware is there, the current interaction model behind existing design tools is not suitable for non-technical users. Today, 3D printers are operated by fabricating the object in one go, which tends to take overnight due to the slow 3D printing technology. Consequently, the current interaction model requires users to think carefully before printing as every mistake may imply another overnight print. Planning every step ahead, however, is not feasible for non-technical users as they lack the experience to reason about the consequences of their design decisions.
In this dissertation, we propose changing the interaction model around personal fabrication tools to better serve this user group. We draw inspiration from personal computing and argue that the evolution of personal fabrication may resemble the evolution of personal computing: Computing started with machines that executed a program in one go before returning the result to the user. By decreasing the interaction unit to single requests, turn-taking systems such as the command line evolved, which provided users with feedback after every input. Finally, with the introduction of direct-manipulation interfaces, users continuously interacted with a program receiving feedback about every action in real-time. In this dissertation, we explore whether these interaction concepts can be applied to personal fabrication as well.
We start with fabricating an object in one go and investigate how to tighten the feedback-cycle on an object-level: We contribute a method called low-fidelity fabrication, which saves up to 90% fabrication time by creating objects as fast low-fidelity previews, which are sufficient to evaluate key design aspects. Depending on what is currently being tested, we propose different conversions that enable users to focus on different parts: faBrickator allows for a modular design in the early stages of prototyping; when users move on WirePrint allows quickly testing an object's shape, while Platener allows testing an object's technical function. We present an interactive editor for each technique and explain the underlying conversion algorithms.
By interacting on smaller units, such as a single element of an object, we explore what it means to transition from systems that fabricate objects in one go to turn-taking systems. We start with a 2D system called constructable: Users draw with a laser pointer onto the workpiece inside a laser cutter. The drawing is captured with an overhead camera. As soon as the the user finishes drawing an element, such as a line, the constructable system beautifies the path and cuts it--resulting in physical output after every editing step. We extend constructable towards 3D editing by developing a novel laser-cutting technique for 3D objects called LaserOrigami that works by heating up the workpiece with the defocused laser until the material becomes compliant and bends down under gravity. While constructable and LaserOrigami allow for fast physical feedback, the interaction is still best described as turn-taking since it consists of two discrete steps: users first create an input and afterwards the system provides physical output.
By decreasing the interaction unit even further to a single feature, we can achieve real-time physical feedback: Input by the user and output by the fabrication device are so tightly coupled that no visible lag exists. This allows us to explore what it means to transition from turn-taking interfaces, which only allow exploring one option at a time, to direct manipulation interfaces with real-time physical feedback, which allow users to explore the entire space of options continuously with a single interaction. We present a system called FormFab, which allows for such direct control. FormFab is based on the same principle as LaserOrigami: It uses a workpiece that when warmed up becomes compliant and can be reshaped. However, FormFab achieves the reshaping not based on gravity, but through a pneumatic system that users can control interactively. As users interact, they see the shape change in real-time.
We conclude this dissertation by extrapolating the current evolution into a future in which large numbers of people use the new technology to create objects. We see two additional challenges on the horizon: sustainability and intellectual property. We investigate sustainability by demonstrating how to print less and instead patch physical objects. We explore questions around intellectual property with a system called Scotty that transfers objects without creating duplicates, thereby preserving the designer's copyright.
The title compounds, [(1R,3R,4R,5R,6S)-4,5-bis(acetyloxy)-7-oxo-2-oxabicyclo[4.2.0]octan-3-yl]methyl acetate, C14H18O8, (I), [(1S,4R,5S,6R)-5-acetyloxy-7-hydroxyimino-2-oxobicyclo[4.2.0]octan-4-yl acetate, C11H15NO6, (II), and [(3aR,5R,6R,7R,7aS)-6,7-bis(acetyloxy)-2-oxooctahydropyrano[3,2-b]pyrrol-5-yl]methyl acetate, C14H19NO8, (III), are stable bicyclic carbohydrate derivatives. They can easily be synthesized in a few steps from commercially available glycals. As a result of the ring strain from the four-membered rings in (I) and (II), the conformations of the carbohydrates deviate strongly from the ideal chair form. Compound (II) occurs in the boat form. In the five-membered lactam (III), on the other hand, the carbohydrate adopts an almost ideal chair conformation. As a result of the distortion of the sugar rings, the configurations of the three bicyclic carbohydrate derivatives could not be determined from their NMR coupling constants. From our three crystal structure determinations, we were able to establish for the first time the absolute configurations of all new stereocenters of the carbohydrate rings.
The population structure of the highly mobile marine mammal, the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), in the Atlantic shelf waters follows a pattern of significant isolation-by-distance. The population structure of harbor porpoises from the Baltic Sea, which is connected with the North Sea through a series of basins separated by shallow underwater ridges, however, is more complex. Here, we investigated the population differentiation of harbor porpoises in European Seas with a special focus on the Baltic Sea and adjacent waters, using a population genomics approach. We used 2872 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), derived from double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD-seq), as well as 13 microsatellite loci and mitochondrial haplotypes for the same set of individuals. Spatial principal components analysis (sPCA), and Bayesian clustering on a subset of SNPs suggest three main groupings at the level of all studied regions: the Black Sea, the North Atlantic, and the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, we observed a distinct separation of the North Sea harbor porpoises from the Baltic Sea populations, and identified splits between porpoise populations within the Baltic Sea. We observed a notable distinction between the Belt Sea and the Inner Baltic Sea sub-regions. Improved delineation of harbor porpoise population assignments for the Baltic based on genomic evidence is important for conservation management of this endangered cetacean in threatened habitats, particularly in the Baltic Sea proper. In addition, we show that SNPs outperform microsatellite markers and demonstrate the utility of RAD-tags from a relatively small, opportunistically sampled cetacean sample set for population diversity and divergence analysis.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has resisted nearly three decades of efforts targeting a cure. Sustained suppression of the virus has remained a challenge, mainly due
to the remarkable evolutionary adaptation that the virus exhibits by the accumulation of drug-resistant mutations in its genome. Current therapeutic strategies aim at achieving and maintaining a low viral burden and typically involve multiple drugs. The choice of optimal combinations of these drugs is crucial, particularly in the background of treatment failure having occurred previously with certain other drugs. An understanding of the dynamics of viral mutant genotypes aids in the assessment of treatment failure with a certain drug
combination, and exploring potential salvage treatment regimens.
Mathematical models of viral dynamics have proved invaluable in understanding the viral life cycle and the impact of antiretroviral drugs. However, such models typically use simplified and coarse-grained mutation schemes, that curbs the extent of their application to drug-specific clinical mutation data, in order to assess potential next-line therapies. Statistical
models of mutation accumulation have served well in dissecting mechanisms of resistance evolution by reconstructing mutation pathways under different drug-environments. While these models perform well in predicting treatment outcomes by statistical learning, they do not incorporate drug effect mechanistically. Additionally, due to an inherent lack of
temporal features in such models, they are less informative on aspects such as predicting mutational abundance at treatment failure. This limits their application in analyzing the
pharmacology of antiretroviral drugs, in particular, time-dependent characteristics of HIV therapy such as pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and also in understanding the impact of drug efficacy on mutation dynamics.
In this thesis, we develop an integrated model of in vivo viral dynamics incorporating drug-specific mutation schemes learned from clinical data. Our combined modelling
approach enables us to study the dynamics of different mutant genotypes and assess mutational abundance at virological failure. As an application of our model, we estimate in vivo
fitness characteristics of viral mutants under different drug environments. Our approach also extends naturally to multiple-drug therapies. Further, we demonstrate the versatility of our model by showing how it can be modified to incorporate recently elucidated mechanisms of drug action including molecules that target host factors.
Additionally, we address another important aspect in the clinical management of HIV disease, namely drug pharmacokinetics. It is clear that time-dependent changes in in vivo
drug concentration could have an impact on the antiviral effect, and also influence decisions on dosing intervals. We present a framework that provides an integrated understanding
of key characteristics of multiple-dosing regimens including drug accumulation ratios and half-lifes, and then explore the impact of drug pharmacokinetics on viral suppression.
Finally, parameter identifiability in such nonlinear models of viral dynamics is always a concern, and we investigate techniques that alleviate this issue in our setting.
Widespread flooding in June 2013 caused damage costs of €6 to 8 billion in Germany, and awoke many memories of the floods in August 2002, which resulted in total damage of €11.6 billion and hence was the most expensive natural hazard event in Germany up to now. The event of 2002 does, however, also mark a reorientation toward an integrated flood risk management system in Germany. Therefore, the flood of 2013 offered the opportunity to review how the measures that politics, administration, and civil society have implemented since 2002 helped to cope with the flood and what still needs to be done to achieve effective and more integrated flood risk management. The review highlights considerable improvements on many levels, in particular (1) an increased consideration of flood hazards in spatial planning and urban development, (2) comprehensive property-level mitigation and preparedness measures, (3) more effective flood warnings and improved coordination of disaster response, and (4) a more targeted maintenance of flood defense systems. In 2013, this led to more effective flood management and to a reduction of damage. Nevertheless, important aspects remain unclear and need to be clarified. This particularly holds for balanced and coordinated strategies for reducing and overcoming the impacts of flooding in large catchments, cross-border and interdisciplinary cooperation, the role of the general public in the different phases of flood risk management, as well as a transparent risk transfer system. Recurring flood events reveal that flood risk management is a continuous task. Hence, risk drivers, such as climate change, land-use changes, economic developments, or demographic change and the resultant risks must be investigated at regular intervals, and risk reduction strategies and processes must be reassessed as well as adapted and implemented in a dialogue with all stakeholders.