@phdthesis{Tichy2011,
  author    = {Tichy, Diana},
  title     = {On the Fragility Index},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-73610},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {The Fragility Index captures the amount of risk in a stochastic system of arbitrary dimension. Its main mathematical tool is the asymptotic distribution of exceedance counts within the system which can be derived by use of multivariate extreme value theory. Thereby the basic assumption is that data comes from a distribution which lies in the domain of attraction of a multivariate extreme value distribution. The Fragility Index itself and its extension can serve as a quantitative measure for tail dependence in arbitrary dimensions. It is linked to the well known extremal index for stochastic processes as well the extremal coefficient of an extreme value distribution.},
  subject      = {Extremwertstatistik},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Duerig2011,
  author    = {D{\"u}rig, Tobias},
  title     = {Fracture dynamics in silicate glasses},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-73492},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Understanding the mechanisms of fragmentation within silicate melts is of great interest not only for material science, but also for volcanology, particularly regarding molten fuel coolant-interactions (MFCIs). Therefore edge-on hammer impact experiments (HIEs) have been carried out in order to analyze the fracture dynamics in well defined targets by applying a Cranz-Schardin highspeed camera technique. This thesis presents the corresponding results and provides a thorough insight into the dynamics of fragmentation, particularly focussing on the processes of energy dissipation. In HIEs two main classes of cracks can be identified, characterized by completely different fracture mechanisms: Shock wave induced "damage cracks" and "normal cracks", which are exclusively caused by shear-stresses. This dual fracture situation is taken into account by introducing a new concept, according to which the crack class-specific fracture energies are linearly correlated with the corresponding fracture areas. The respective proportionality constants - denoted "fracture surface energy densities" (FSEDs) - have been quantified for all studied targets under various constraints. By analyzing the corresponding high speed image sequences and introducing useful dynamic parameters it has been possible to specify and describe in detail the evolution of fractures and, moreover, to quantify the energy dissipation rates during the fragmentation. Additionally, comprehensive multivariate statistical analyses have been carried out which have revealed general dependencies of all relevant fracture parameters as well as characteristics of the resulting particles. As a result, an important principle of fracture dynamics has been found, referred to as the "local anisotropy effect": According to this principle, the fracture dynamics in a material is significantly affected by the location of directed stresses. High local stress gradients cause a more stable crack propagation and consequently a reduction of the energy dissipation rates. As a final step, this thesis focusses on the volcanological conclusions which can be drawn on the basis of the presented HIE results. Therefore fragments stemming from HIEs have been compared with natural and experimental volcanic ash particles of basaltic Grimsv{\"o}tn and rhyolitic Tepexitl melts. The results of these comparative particle analyses substantiate HIEs to be a very suitable method for reproducing the MFCI loading conditions in silicate melts and prove the FSED concept to be a model which is well transferable to volcanic fragmentation processes.},
  subject      = {Bruchmechanik},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Bass2011,
  author    = {Baß, Utz},
  title     = {Analysis of MBE-grown II-VI Hetero-Interfaces and Quantum-Dots by Raman Spectroscopy},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-73413},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {The material system of interest in this thesis are II-VI-semiconductors. The first part of this thesis focuses on the formation of self-assembled CdSe-based quantum dots (QD) on ZnSe. The lattice constants of ZnSe and CdSe differ as much as about 7\\% and therefore a CdSe layer grown on top of ZnSe experiences a huge strain. The aspired strain relief constitutes in the self-assembly of QDs (i.e. a roughened layer structure). Additionally, this QD layer is intermixed with Zn as this is also a possibility to decrease the strain in the layer. For CdSe on ZnSe, in Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), various QD growth procedures were analysed with respect to the resulting Cd-content of the non-stoichiometric ternary (Zn,Cd)Se. The evaluation was performed by Raman Spectroscopy as the phonon frequency depends on the Cd-content. The second part of the thesis emphasis on the interface properties of n-ZnSe on n-GaAs. Different growth start procedures of the ZnSe epilayer may lead to different interface configurations with characteristic band-offsets and carrier depletion layer widths. The analysis is mainly focused on the individual depletion layer widths in the GaAs and ZnSe. This non-destructive analysis is performed by evaluating the Raman signal which comprises of phonon scattering from the depleted regions and coupled plasmon-phonon scattering from regions with free carriers.},
  subject      = {Zwei-Sechs-Halbleiter},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Beer2011,
  author    = {Beer, Meike Vanessa},
  title     = {Correlation of ligand density with cell behavior on bioactive hydrogel layers},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-74454},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Diese Arbeit besch{\"a}ftigte sich mit der Quantifizierung von Zelladh{\"a}sion vermittelnden Liganden in und auf d{\"u}nnen Hydrogelschichten, die zur Oberfl{\"a}chenmodifizierung auf Biomaterialien aufgebracht wurden. Das bereits etablierte und gut charakterisierte inerte NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) Hydrogelsystem, das eine einfache und reproduzierbare Bioaktivierung mit Peptiden erlaubt, wurde als Basis f{\"u}r diese Arbeit verwendet. Diese Hydrogele k{\"o}nnen auf zwei Weisen funktionalisiert werden. Liganden k{\"o}nnen entweder mit der Prepolymerl{\"o}sung vor der Beschichtung gemischt (Einmischmethode) oder frische Hydrogelschichten mit einer Ligandenl{\"o}sung inkubiert werden (Inkubationsmethode). Der erste Teil dieser in drei Hauptteile unterteilten Arbeit, besch{\"a}ftigte sich mit der Konzentrationsbestimmung der Liganden in der gesamten Tiefe der Hydrogelschicht, w{\"a}hrend sich der zweite Teil auf die oberfl{\"a}chensensitive Quantifizierung von Zelladh{\"a}sion vermittelnden Molek{\"u}len an der biologischen Grenzfl{\"a}che konzentrierte. Die Ergebnisse wurden mit Zelladh{\"a}sionskinetiken verglichen. Der dritte Teil dieser Arbeit besch{\"a}ftigte sich mit der biochemischen als auch strukturellen Nachahmung der komplexen Extrazellul{\"a}rmatrix (ECM). Das ECM Protein Fibronektin (FN) wurde {\"u}ber Zucker-Lektin Anbindung pr{\"a}sentiert und Zellverhalten auf diesen biomimetischen Oberfl{\"a}chen untersucht. Ebenfalls wurde Zellverhalten in einer dreidimensionalen Faserumgebung mit identischer Oberfl{\"a}chenchemie wie in den beiden ersten Teilen dieser Arbeit untersucht und mit der Peptidkonzentration korreliert. Insgesamt, war die Hauptfragestellung in dieser Arbeit 'Wie viel?', d.h. einerseits die Ermittlung der maximalen, als auch der f{\"u}r Zelladh{\"a}sion optimalen Ligandendichte. Im ersten praktischen Teil der vorliegenden Arbeit (Klassische Quantifizierung) wurden Liganden in der gesamten Hydrogelschicht, als auch speziell in oberen Bereichen der Schichten quantifiziert. Die Untersuchung der Hydrogelschichten in Wellplatten und auf Glas funktionalisiert mit GRGDS und 125I-YRGDS erfolgte in Kapitel 3 mittels Radioaktivmessung. Wurden Hydrogelschichten mittels Inkubationsmethode funktionalisiert, konnte eine S{\"a}ttigung mit Liganden bei etwa 600 µg/mL ermittelt werden. Mittels Einmischmethode funktionalisierte Hydrogele erreichten keine maximale Ligandenkonzentration in den Schichten, mit dem Verh{\"a}ltnis 2/1 als maximales verwendetes Verh{\"a}ltnis. H{\"o}here Liganden zu Prepolymer Verh{\"a}ltnisse als 2/1 wurden jedoch nicht verwendet, um eine ausreichende Vernetzung der Hydrogele nicht zu gef{\"a}hrden. Zur Detektion mittels R{\"o}ntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie (XPS) und Flugzeit-Sekund{\"a}rionen-Massen-spektrometrie (TOF-SIMS) (Kapitel 4) wurden eine fluorierte Aminos{\"a}ure und ein iodiertes Peptid mit den Prepolymeren in molaren Verh{\"a}ltnissen von 1/2, 1/1 und 2/1 gemischt. Beide Methoden ermittelten eine maximale Ligandenkonzentration bei Verh{\"a}ltnissen von 1/1. Zus{\"a}tzliche Liganden (2/1) f{\"u}hrten zu keiner vermehrten Anbindung. Wesentlich im Zusammenhang mit der Ligandenquantifizierung auf Biomaterialien ist, diese an der Oberfl{\"a}che, die f{\"u}r Zellen zug{\"a}nglich ist, durchzuf{\"u}hren. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit (Oberfl{\"a}chensensitive Quantifizierung) kamen daher Methoden zum Einsatz, die Liganden ausschließlich auf der Oberfl{\"a}che quantifizierten. Zur Detektion mit Oberfl{\"a}chenplasmon-resonanz (SPR) und akustischer Oberfl{\"a}chenwellentechnologie (SAW) in Kapitel 5 musste die Standardbeschichtung der Hydrogele von Glas und Silikon auf Cystamin funktionalisierte Goldoberfl{\"a}chen {\"u}bertragen werden. Mittels Ellipsometrie und Rasterkraftmikroskopie (AFM) konnte nur eine d{\"u}nne und inhomogene Hydrogelbeschichtung nachgewiesen werden. Dennoch zeigten SPR und SAW die Unterbindung von Serum und Streptavidin (SA) Adsorption auf nicht funktionalisierten Schichten, jedoch eine spezifische und konzentrationsabh{\"a}ngige SA Bindung auf Hydrogelschichten, die mit Biocytin und GRGDSK-biotin funktionalisiert wurden. Die Ligandenquantifizierung mittels Enzymgekoppeltem Immunadsorptionstest (ELISA) und Enzymgekoppelten Lektinadsorptionstest (ELLA) (Kapitel 6) wurde auf Hydrogelschichten in Wellplatten und auf Glas angewendet, die mit verschiedenen Liganden mittels Inkubation und Einmischung funktionalisiert wurden. Das Modellmolek{\"u}l Biocytin, das biotinylierte Peptid GRGDSK-biotin, das ECM Protein Fibronektin (FN), als auch die Modellzucker N-Acetyl-glukosamin (GlcNAc) und N-Acetyllaktosamin (LacNAc) konnten spezifisch in verschiedenen Konzentrationen nachgewiesen werden. Beispielhaft seien hier Schichten auf Glas genannt, die mittels Einmischmethode mit GRGDSK-biotin funktionalisiert wurden, da diese zum Vergleich in Kapitel 8 herangezogen wurden. Auf diesen Oberfl{\"a}chen wurde eine maximale Peptidkonzentration auf der Oberfl{\"a}che bei einem Peptid zu Prepolymer Verh{\"a}ltnis von 1/5 ermittelt. Neben diesen verschiedenen Quantifzierungsmethoden ist die in vitro Analyse mit Zellen nicht zu vernachl{\"a}ssigen (Kapitel 7). Hierzu wurden Hydrogele auf Glas aufgebracht und mit GRGDS mittels Einmischmethode funktionalisiert. Durch Z{\"a}hlen adh{\"a}renter prim{\"a}rer humaner dermaler Fibroblasten (HDF) auf Mikroskopbildern wurde eine maximale Zelladh{\"a}sion bei dem Peptid zu Prepolymer Verh{\"a}ltnis von 1/5 festgestellt. Hingegen wurde ein Verh{\"a}ltnis von 1/2 f{\"u}r optimale Zelladh{\"a}sion ermittelt, wenn Zellen zur Quantifizierung von den Hydrogelen abgel{\"o}st und im CASY® Zellz{\"a}hler quantifiziert wurden. Zus{\"a}tzlich wurde die Zellvitalit{\"a}t durch Messung intrazellul{\"a}rer Enzymaktivit{\"a}ten gemessen, jedoch konnte kein Zusammenhang zwischen Zellvitalit{\"a}t und GRGDS Konzentration hergestellt werden. Adh{\"a}rente HDFs waren in allen F{\"a}llen vital, unabh{\"a}ngig von der Ligandenkonzentration auf der Oberfl{\"a}che. Auch die Mausfibroblasten Zelllinie NIH L929 wurde auf Hydrogelen mit verschiedenen GRGDS zu Prepolymer Verh{\"a}ltnissen durch Z{\"a}hlen adh{\"a}renter Zellen auf Mikroskopbildern untersucht. Diese im Verh{\"a}ltnis zu HDFs wesentlich kleineren Mauszellen ben{\"o}tigten h{\"o}here GRGDS Konzentrationen (2/1) f{\"u}r maximale Zelladh{\"a}sion. Nach der Ligandenquantifizierung in Kapitel 3 bis 7, wurden diese Ergebnisse in Kapitel 8 miteinander verglichen. Hierzu wurden Messungen auf Hydrogelschichten verwendet, die mittels Einmischmethode funktionalisiert wurden. W{\"a}hrend die Quantifizierung mittels Radioaktivmessung in der gesamten Tiefe der Hydrogelschichten keine maximale Ligandenkonzentration ermitteln konnte, war in den oberen Bereichen der Schicht ein Maximum an Liganden bei 1/1 festzustellen (XPS, TOF-SIMS). SPR und SAW wurden zum Vergleich nicht herangezogen, da die Beschichtung auf Gold erst optimiert werden muss. Oberfl{\"a}chensensitive Quantifizierung mittels ELISA und Zelladh{\"a}sion, die lediglich die sterisch zug{\"a}nglichen Liganden auf einer Oberfl{\"a}che nachweisen, ergaben {\"u}bereinstimmend eine optimale Ligandenkonzentration f{\"u}r SA Bindung und Zelladh{\"a}sion bei einem Peptid zu Prepolymer Verh{\"a}ltnis von 1/5. Dies unterstreicht, wie wichtig der Vergleich der Methoden, als auch die Verwendung von oberfl{\"a}chensensitiven Methoden ist. Der dritten Teil dieser Arbeit besch{\"a}ftigte sich mit der biochemischen und strukturellen Nachahmung der komplexen extrazellul{\"a}ren Umgebung (Advanced ECM engineering), ein wichtiger Aspekt in der Biomaterialforschung, da zum gr{\"o}ßten Teil zwei-dimensionale Biomaterialien zum Einsatz kommen, die direkt mit Liganden kovalent funktionalisiert werden. Die ECM ist jedoch um ein Vielfaches komplexer und die bestm{\"o}gliche Nachahmung ist Voraussetzung f{\"u}r eine bessere Akzeptanz durch Zellen und Gewebe. In Kapitel 9 wurde eine M{\"o}glichkeit aufgezeigt, das ECM Protein FN nicht-kovalent {\"u}ber Zucker-Lektinbindungen zu immobilisieren. Ein Schichtaufbau von Hydrogel, dem darauf durch Mikrokontakt-druckverfahren (MCP) kovalent gebundenen Zucker Poly-N-Acetyllaktosamin (polyLacNAc) und den darauf nicht-kovalent gebundenen Galektin His6CGL2 und FN, konnte mit Fluoreszenzf{\"a}rbung elegant nachgewiesen werden. Optimale Konzentrationen f{\"u}r den Schichtaufbau wurden mittels ELLA/ELISA auf Hydrogelschichten ermittelt, die durch Inkubation mit dem Zucker funktionalisiert wurden. Nur der komplette Schichtaufbau konnte zufriedenstellende HDF Adh{\"a}sion vermitteln und im Vergleich zu Zellkulturpolystyrol (TCPS) Oberfl{\"a}chen konnten HDFs auf dem biomimetischen Schichtaufbau schneller adh{\"a}rieren und spreiten. Zudem wurde die Umorganisierung von auf Glas adsorbiertem FN, auf NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) kovalent gebundenem FN und biomimetisch {\"u}ber polyLAcNAc-His6CGL2 gebundenem FN durch HDFs verglichen. Nur auf den biomimetischen Oberfl{\"a}chen schien eine Umorganisation durch die Zellen m{\"o}glich, wie sie auch in der ECM zu finden ist. Diese biomimetische und flexible Pr{\"a}sentation eines Proteins erwies sich als vielversprechende M{\"o}glichkeit eine biomimetischere Oberfl{\"a}che f{\"u}r Zellen zu schaffen, die eine optimale Biokompatibilit{\"a}t erm{\"o}glichen k{\"o}nnte. Auch die strukturelle Nachahmung der ECM ist eine vielversprechende Strategie zum Nachbau der ECM. In Kapitel 10 wurde ein Einschrittverfahren zur Herstellung synthetischer, bioaktiver und degradierbarer Faserkonstrukte durch Elektrospinnen zur Nachahmung der ECM pr{\"a}sentiert. In diesem System wurden durch Zugabe von NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) als reaktives Additiv zu Poly(D,L-laktid-co-Glycolid) (PLGA) Fasern hergestellt, die mit einer ultrad{\"u}nnen, inerten Hydrogelschicht versehen waren. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass durch die Verwendung von NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO) als Additiv die Adsorption von Rinderserumalbumin (BSA) im Vergleich zu PLGA um 99,2\% reduziert, die Adh{\"a}sion von HDFs verhindert und die Adh{\"a}sion von humanen mesenchymalen Stammzellen (MSC) minimiert werden konnten. Spezifische Bioaktivierung wurde durch Zugabe von Peptidsequenzen zur Spinl{\"o}sung erreicht, welche kovalent in die Hydrogelschicht eingebunden werden konnten und kontrollierte Zell-Faser Interaktionen erm{\"o}glichten, Um die spezifische Zelladh{\"a}sion an solchen inerten Fasern zu erzielen, wurde GRGDS kovalent auf der Faseroberfl{\"a}che gebunden. Dies erfolgte durch Zugabe des Peptids zur Polymerl{\"o}sung vor dem Elektrospinnen. Als Negativkontrolle wurde die Peptidsequenz GRGES an die Faseroberfl{\"a}che gebunden, welche durch Zellen nicht erkannt wird. W{\"a}hrend die Verhinderung unspezifischer Proteinadsorption f{\"u}r die Peptidmodifizierten Fasern erhalten blieb, konnten HDFs lediglich auf den mit GRGDS Peptid modifizierten Fasern adh{\"a}rieren, proliferieren und nach zwei Wochen eine konfluente Zellschicht aus vitalen Zellen bilden. Zus{\"a}tzlich konnten MSCs auf GRGDS funktionalisierten Fasern adh{\"a}rieren. Liganden konnten auf Fasern quantifiziert werden, indem die ELISA Technik aus Kapitel 6 auf Faseroberfl{\"a}chen transferiert wurde. Um das Potential der biochemischen und strukturellen Nachbildung der ECM aufzuzeigen, wurden beide Ans{\"a}tze miteinander kombiniert. Die Immobilisierung von polyLacNAc auf die Hydrogelfasern durch Inkubation und der Schichtaufbau mit His6CGL2 und FN resultierte in HDF Adh{\"a}sion.},
  subject      = {Hydrogel},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Gerold2011,
  author    = {Gerold, Kay},
  title     = {CTLA4 and CLEC16A in Type 1 Diabetes - Looking behind the association},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-66617},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that leads to the destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells and consequently to hyperglycemia. In the last 60 years, the prevalence of type 1 diabetes has been increasing constantly and is predicted to continue rising. About 80\% of the disease risk is attributable to the genetic variation. Thanks to genome wide association studies the number of known disease-associated polymorphisms climbed from five to 53 in the last 10 years. As these studies reveal possible candidate genes but not underlying mechanisms we strove to take the next step and explore the association of two genes suggested by these studies with type 1 diabetes. As a method of choice we decided to use lentiviral RNAi in non obese diabetic (NOD) mice, a widely-used model for type 1 diabetes, introducing a shRNA directed against the target message into the genome of this mouse strain via a lentivirus. This allowed us to study the partial loss-of-function of the target gene within the context of diabetes, directly seeing its effect on autoimmune mechanisms. In this thesis we examined two different genes in this manner, Ctla4 and Clec16a. A type 1 diabetes associated polymorphism in the CTLA4 gene had been found to alter the splicing ratio of its variants soluble CTLA-4 (sCTLA-4) and full length CTLA-4, the associated allele producing less sCTLA-4 than the protective allele. We mimicked this effect by specifically targeting the sCtla4 mRNA via lentiviral RNAi in the NOD model. As a result we could confirm the reduction of sCTLA-4 to accelerate type 1 diabetes development. Furthermore we could show a function of sCTLA-4 in regulatory T cells, more specifically at least partly in their ability to modulate costimulation by antigen presenting cells. The second candidate gene, Clec16a was targeted with the shRNA in a way that was designed to knock down most splice variants. As the gene function and the effect of the associated SUMMARY 10 polymorphism was unknown, we reasoned this method to be feasible to investigate its role in type 1 diabetes. The knockdown of Clec16a in NOD mice resulted in an almost complete protection from diabetes development that could be attributed to T cells dysfunction. However, as expression patterns and a study of the Drospophila orthologue suggested a possible role of CLEC16A in antigen presentation we also examined antigen presenting cells in the thymus and periphery. Although we did not detect any effect of the knockdown on peripheral antigen presenting cells, thymic epithelial cells were clearly affected by the loss of CLEC16A, rendering them more activated and shifting the ratio of cortical to medullary epithelial cells in favor of cortical cells. We therefore suggest a role of CLEC16A in the selection of T cells, that needs, however, to be further investigated. In this thesis we provided a feasible and fast method to study function of genes and even of single splice variants within the NOD mouse model. We demonstrate its usefulness on two candidate genes associated with type 1 diabetes by confirming and unraveling the cause of their connection to the disease.},
  subject      = {Diabetes mellitus},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Anderson2011,
  author    = {Anderson, Christina},
  title     = {Idiosyncratic Facial Movement in Face Perception and Recognition},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-70355},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {It has been proposed that different features of a face provide a source of information for separate perceptual and cognitive processes. Properties of a face that remain rather stable over time, so called invariant facial features, yield information about a face's identity, and changeable aspects of faces transmit information underlying social communication such as emotional expressions and speech movements. While processing of these different face properties was initially claimed to be independent, a growing body of evidence suggests that these sources of information can interact when people recognize faces with whom they are familiar. This is the case because the way a face moves can contain patterns that are characteristic for that specific person, so called idiosyncratic movements. As a face becomes familiar these idiosyncratic movements are learned and hence also provide information serving face identification. While an abundance of experiments has addressed the independence of invariant and variable facial features in face recognition, little is known about the exact nature of the impact idiosyncratic facial movements have on face recognition. Gaining knowledge about the way facial motion contributes to face recognition is, however, important for a deeper understanding of the way the brain processes and recognizes faces. In the following dissertation three experiments are reported that investigate the impact familiarity of changeable facial features has on processes of face recognition. Temporal aspects of the processing of familiar idiosyncratic facial motion were addressed in the first experiment via EEG by investigating the influence familiar facial movement exerts on event-related potentials associated to face processing and face recognition. After being familiarized with a face and its idiosyncratic movement, participants viewed familiar or unfamiliar faces with familiar or unfamiliar facial movement while their brain potentials were recorded. Results showed that familiarity of facial motion influenced later event-related potentials linked to memory processes involved in face recognition. The second experiment used fMRI to investigate the brain areas involved in processing familiar facial movement. Participants' BOLD-signal was registered while they viewed familiar and unfamiliar faces with familiar or unfamiliar idiosyncratic movement. It was found that activity of brain regions, such as the fusiform gyrus, that underlie the processing of face identity, was modulated by familiar facial movement. Together these two experiments provide valuable information about the nature of the involvement of idiosyncratic facial movement in face recognition and have important implications for cognitive and neural models of face perception and recognition. The third experiment addressed the question whether idiosyncratic facial movement could increase individuation in perceiving faces from a different ethnic group and hence reduce impaired recognition of these other-race faces compared to own-race faces, a phenomenon named the own-race bias. European participants viewed European and African faces that were each animated with an idiosyncratic smile while their attention was either directed to the form or the motion of the face. Subsequently recognition memory for these faces was tested. Results showed that the own-race bias was equally present in both attention conditions indicating that idiosyncratic facial movement was not able to reduce or diminish the own-race bias. In combination the here presented experiments provide further insight into the involvement of idiosyncratic facial motion in face recognition. It is necessary to consider the dynamic component of faces when investigating face recognition because static facial images are not able to provide the full range of information that leads to recognition of a face. In order to reflect the full process of face recognition, cognitive and neural models of face perception and recognition need to integrate dynamic facial features as a source of information which contributes to the recognition of a face.},
  subject      = {Gesicht},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Roth2011,
  author    = {Roth, Heide Marie},
  title     = {Nucleotide Excision Repair: From Recognition to Incision of damaged DNA},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-57098},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {The Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) pathway is able to remove a vast diversity of structurally unrelated DNA lesions and is the only repair mechanism in humans responsible for the excision of UV induced DNA damages. The NER mechanism raises two fundamental questions: 1) How is DNA damage recognition achieved discriminating damaged from non damaged DNA? 2) How is DNA incision regulated preventing endonucleases to cleave DNA non specifically but induce and ensure dual incision of damaged DNA? Thus, the aim of this work was to investigate the mechanisms leading from recognition to incision of damaged DNA. To decipher the underlying process of damage recognition in a prokaryotic model system, the intention of the first part of this work was to co crystallize the helicase UvrB form Bacillus caldotenax together with a DNA substrate comprising a fluorescein adducted thymine as an NER substrate. Incision assays were performed to address the question whether UvrB in complex with the endonuclease UvrC is able to specifically incise damaged DNA employing DNA substrates with unpaired regions at different positions with respect to the DNA lesion. The results presented here indicate that the formation of a specific pre incision complex is independent of the damage sensor UvrA. The preference for 5' bubble substrate suggests that UvrB is able to slide along the DNA favorably in a 5' → 3' direction until it directly encounters a DNA damage on the translocating strand to then recruit the endonuclease UvrC. In the second part of this work, the novel endonuclease Bax1 from Thermoplasma acidophilum was characterized. Due to its close association to archaeal XPB, a potential involvement of Bax1 in archaeal NER has been postulated. Bax1 was shown to be a Mg2+ dependent, structure specific endonuclease incising 3' overhang substrates in the single stranded region close to the ssDNA/dsDNA junction. Site directed mutagenesis of conserved amino acids was employed to identify putative active site residues of Bax1. In complex with the helicase XPB, however, incision activity of Bax1 is altered regarding substrate specificity. The presence of two distinct XPB/Bax1 complexes with different endonuclease activities indicates that XPB regulates Bax1 incision activity providing insights into the physical and functional interactions of XPB and Bax1.},
  subject      = {DNS-Reparatur},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schneider2011,
  author    = {Schneider, Christof},
  title     = {Detecting the influence of different potential stress factors on the behavior of the honeybee Apis mellifera using Radiofrequency Identification (RFID)},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-71344},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {This study was conducted to determine the influence of different stress factors on the honeybee Apis mellifera. The investigation was motivated by previous experiments that suggested the existence of an unspecific defense mechanism causing a generalized change of flight behavior after the onset of different diseases. This mechanism is thought to impede the ability of flight bees to return to their respective colonies thereby removing the disease from the colony over time. During the last years, the existence of such a "suicidal behavior" was supported by further studies. Thus, an unnoticed, potentially highly effective defense mechanism of social insects was revealed whose spectrum of activity and physiological basics require further investigation. Suggesting that the reaction by the bees is unspecific to different diseases as well as to other potential stress factors, this study was designed to investigate the influence of pathogens, insecticides, and different brood rearing temperatures on different parameters like lifespan, foraging activity, and foraging trip duration of worker bees.},
  subject      = {Biene},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Salvador2011,
  author    = {Salvador, Ellaine Riciel P.},
  title     = {Characterization of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria (ABU) Escherichia coli Isolates: virulence traits and host-pathogen interactions},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-71283},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most serious health problems worldwide. It accounts for a million hospital visits annually in the United States. Among the many uropathogenic bacteria, uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the most common causative agent of UTI. However, not all E. coli that inhabit the urinary tract can cause UTI. Some of them thrive for long periods of time in the urinary bladder without causing overt symptoms of infection. This carrier state is called asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU). E. coli ABU isolates can live in the host without inducing host response due to deletions, insertions and point mutations in the genome leading to the attenuation of virulence genes. They therefore behave in the same way as commensals. Since bacteria that inhabit the urinary tract are said to originate from the lower intestinal tract and ABU behave in a similar way as commensals, this study compared various phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of ABU and commensal E. coli fecal isolates. The two groups did not show a strict clustering with regards to phylogenetic lineage since there appears to be overlaps in their distribution in some clonal complexes. In addition, it was observed that the UPEC virulence genes were more frequently inactivated in ABU than in fecal isolates. Hence, ABU tend to have less functional virulence traits compared to the fecal isolates. The ABU model organism E. coli 83972 which is known not only for its commensal behavior in the urinary bladder but its ability to outcompete other bacteria in the urinary tract is currently being used as prophylactic treatment in patients who have recurrent episodes of UTI at the University Hospital in Lund, Sweden. The pilot studies showed that upon deliberate long-term colonization of the patients with E. coli 83972, they become protected from symptomatic UTI. In this study, the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of eight re-isolates taken from initially asymptomatically colonized patients enrolled in the deliberate colonization study who reported an episode of symptoms during the colonization period were investigated. Two out of the eight re-isolates were proven to be a result of super infection by another uropathogen. Six re-isolates, on the other hand, were E. coli 83972. The urine re-isolates confirmed to be E. coli 83972 were phenotypically heterogeneous in that they varied in colony size as well as in swarming motility. Four of these re-isolates were morphologically homogenous and similar to the parent isolate E. coli 83972 whereas one of them appeared phenotypically heterogenous as a mixture of smaller and normal-sized colonies. Still another re-isolate phenotypically resembled small colony variants. Meanwhile, three of the six re-isolates did not differ from the parent isolate with regards to motility. On the other hand, three exhibited a markedly increased motility compared to the parent isolate. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated the upregulation of a cascade of genes involved in flagellar expression and biosynthesis in one of the three motile re-isolates. However, upon further investigation, it was found out that the expression of flagella had no effect on bacterial adhesion to host cells in vitro as well as to the induction of host inflammatory markers. Thus, this implies that the increased motility in the re-isolates is used by the bacteria as a fitness factor for its benefit and not as a virulence factor. In addition, among the various deregulated genes, it was observed that gene regulation tends to be host-specific in that there is no common pattern as to which genes are deregulated in the re-isolates. Taken together, results of this study therefore suggest that the use of E. coli 83972 for prophylactic treatment of symptomatic UTI remains to be very promising.},
  subject      = {Escherichia coli},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Mark2011,
  author    = {Mark, Stefan},
  title     = {A Magnetic Semiconductor based Non-Volatile Memory and Logic Element},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-71223},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {For the realization of a programmable logic device, or indeed any nanoscale device, we need a reliable method to probe the magnetization direction of local domains. For this purpose we extend investigations on the previously discovered tunneling anisotropic magneto resistance effect (TAMR) by scaling the pillar size from 100 µm down to 260 nm. We start in chapter 4 with a theoretical description of the TAMR effect and show experimental data of miniaturized pillars in chapter 5. With such small TAMR probes we are able to locally sense the magnetization on the 100 nm scale. Sub-micron TAMR and anisotropic magneto resistance (AMR) measurements of sub-millimeter areas show that the behavior of macroscopic (Ga,Mn)As regions is not that of a true macrospin, but rather an ensemble average of the behavior of many nearly identical macrospins. This shows that the magnetic anisotropies of the local regions are consistent with the behavior extracted from macroscopic characterization. A fully electrically controllable read-write memory device out the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As is presented in chapter 6. The structure consists of four nanobars which are connected to a circular center region. The first part of the chapter describes the lithography realization of the device. We make use of the sub-micron TAMR probes to read-out the magnetization state of a 650 nm central disk. Four 200 nm wide nanobars are connected to the central disk and serve as source and drain of a spin-polarized current. With the spin-polarized current we are able to switch the magnetization of the central disk by means of current induced switching. Injecting polarized holes with a spin angular momentum into a magnetic region changes the magnetization direction of the region due to the p-d exchange interaction between localized Mn spins and itinerant holes. The magnetization of the central disk can be controlled fully electrically and it can serve as one bit memory element as part of a logic device. In chapter 7 we discuss the domain wall resistance in (Ga,Mn)As. At the transition from nanobars to central disk we are able to generate 90° and 180° domain walls and measure their resistance. The results presented from chapter 5 to 7 combined with the preexisting ultracompact (Ga,Mn)As-based memory cell of ref. [Papp 07c] are the building blocks needed to realize a fully functioning programmable logic device. The work of ref. [Papp 07c] makes use of lithographically engineered strain relaxation to produce a structure comprised of two nanobars with mutually orthogonal uniaxial easy axes, connected by a narrow constriction. Measurements showed that the resistance of the constriction depends on the relative orientation of the magnetization in the two bars. The programmable logic device consists of two central disks connected by a small constriction. The magnetization of the two central disks are used as the input bits and the constriction serves as the output during the logic operation. The concept is introduced in the end of chapter 6 and as an example for a logic operation an XOR gate is presented. The functionality of the programmable logic scheme presented here can be straightforwardly extended to produce multipurpose functional elements, where the given geometry can be used as various different computational elements depending on the number of input bits and the chosen electrical addressing. The realization of such a programmable logic device is shown in chapter 8, where we see that the constriction indeed can serve as a output of the logic operation because its resistance is dependent on the relative magnetization state of both disks. Contrary to ref. [Papp 07c], where the individual magnetic elements connected to the constriction only have two non-volatile magnetic states, each disk in our scheme connected to the constriction has four non-volatile magnetic states. Switching the magnetization of a central disk with an electrical current does not only change the TAMR read-out of the respective disk, it also changes the resistance of the constriction. The resistance polar plot of the constriction maps the relative magnetization states of the individual disks. The presented device design serves as an all-electrical, all-semiconductor logic element. It combines a memory cell and data processing in a single monolithic paradigm.},
  subject      = {Magnetischer Halbleiter},
  language  = {en}
}