Körperliche Aktivität im höheren Lebensalter im Kontext sozialer Ungleichheiten. Ungleichheitseffekte von Public-Health-Interventionen zur Förderung körperlicher Aktivität

Reducing health inequalities is a priority for public health. Social inequalities in physical activity are discussed to be an important determinant of health inequalities. Public health interventions to promote physical activity have the potential to reduce health inequalities, but may also unintentionally increase them. Therefore, there is a need for evaluating equity-specific effects of interventions, potentially arising during intervention uptake, acceptance, and efficacy. This cumulative dissertation examined whether and how potential equity-specific effects of public health interventions to promote physical activity among older adults are currently evaluated and what implications for research and practice can be derived. The applied methods comprised a quantitative data analysis, a systematic review, qualitative expert interviews, exploratory literature searches, a methodological workshop, and the establishment of an international cooperation for re-analyzing data of existing intervention studies. The results indicate that 1) changes in activity behavior among older men and women differ by socioeconomic characteristics, 2) studies of universal interventions to promote physical activity among older adults currently rarely consider equity-specific effects when evaluating the interventions' efficacy, 3) the use of logic models is a potential tool for planning, implementing, and interpreting the analysis of equity-specific intervention effects, and 4) developing a joint strategy for re-analyzing data of existing intervention studies regarding social inequalities in intervention acceptance and efficacy is feasible. Because equity-specific effects of interventions to promote physical activity among older adults are currently rarely evaluated, little is known about the impact of these interventions on health inequalities in the older population. In order to close this evidence gap, equity-specific effects of existing interventions should be evaluated through re-analyzing existing data. Moreover, equity-specific effects of new interventions should be evaluated by analyses specified a priori. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should be conducted to systematically synthesize and appraise the results of these (re-)analyses. Based on this evidence, recommendations for future interventions should be derived. This would allow for the design of interventions most likely to reduce and not unintentionally increase social inequalities in physical activity among older adults

Cell mechanics and cell-cell interactions of fibroblasts from Dupuytren's Patient : Atomic Force Microscopy Investigation

Cells as a biological entity of tissue, itself made of biomolecules such as mostly proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, creates its own meshwork of biopolymers named extracellular matrix (ECM) particularly fibroblasts. With the advanced light and force microscopies, inter-cellular, cell-ECM and intracellular signaling pathways are deeply explored either by tagging the biomolecule of interest with fluorophores or by applying certain forces(in the order of pN to nN). In the field of mechanobiology, interplay between cell function and physical forces are studied using biophysical tools thatprobe their diverse mechanisms. Cells exert forces( inside-out signalling)and also respond to physical forces from their micro-environment( outside-in signalling) through participation of chain of varying protein signaling molecules. Actin molecules from cytoskeleton family form filaments in the cytoplasmic side of the cell and myosin walk on these filaments generates contractile tension. These traction forces get transmitted to the extracellular matrixof the cell or to the neighboring cells through protein complexes such as integrin and cadherins, respectively. Fibroblasts,from the mesenchymal family, are the abundant cells found in the connective tissue. Basically, fibroblasts synthesize,degrade and maintain the extracellular matrix components of the tissue. Fibroblasts, by acquiring different phenotypes called protomyofibroblast/myofibroblast, play a huge participation in various connective tissue related diseases. Myofibroblast are large cells possessing large bundles of actin filaments of isomers named alpha smooth muscle actin (I /--SMA). On the other hand, protomyofibroblast share the similar characteristic appearance but shows I /--SMA negative large stress fibres. In Dupuytrena s disease, thesemyofibroblasts persists and deform the surrounding matrix environment thus results in tissue stiffening and further leads to tissue contracture. Existing various biophysical tools maps forces such as tractile force, cell-cell interaction force and cell-ECM interaction force. One among such tool is Atomic Force Microscopy, a multifunctional toolbox in cellular biology to observe various cell types mechanics. Observing cell viscoelastic properties by application of controlled force (nanonewton) to the adherent cell become more common in the biomedical community. This thesis demonstrates the measurement of viscoelastic properties of fibroblast of different phenotypes extracted from a Dupuytrena s diseased patient and ECM derived from various tissues.The bio-mechanical interplay between cell and ECM has been studied with careful design of the AFM experiments. Fibroblasts extracted from the cords and nodular region of the palmar fascia exhibits myofibroblast phenotype and migrate slower than the fibroblast extracted from dermal and scar region. Normal and scar fibroblasts migrate faster in the wound healing assay.On the decellularized matrices, scar fibroblasts exhibitprotomyofibroblast phenotype by expressing large stress fibres. Whereas, normal fibroblasts derived from the dermal region express the healthy phenotypic appearance. From AFM based Single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS), cell-cell interaction force measurements evaluatethe homophilic and heterophilic cadherinpairs mechanical bond strength expressed in homo-cellular (fibroblast of similar phenotype) and hetero-cellular (fibroblast-epithelial cell) arrangements. SCFS measurements also illustrate the significant role of actomyosin contractile apparatus in cadherin extracellular iidomain binding dynamics. With this evidence, SCFS setup has become an excellent spectroscopic tool to study the intracellular signalingcascades that are linked to the extracellular domain consisting transmembrane proteins such as cadherins. Therefore, an understanding of the unique fibroblasts mechanobiology is necessary to study the healthy and diseased tissue dynamics. The cell-cell and cell-ECM bio-chemical and bio-mechanical cues are strongly interdependent. Finally, the current thesis opens the basic understanding of the fibroblasts biophysical properties using AFM nano-mechanical tool and unravels the fibroblasts biomechanical function in sub-tissue level biology

Stable carbon isotopic studies of microbial lipids from distinct geochemical marine environments

Sedimentary microbial lipids are widely used as sensitive indicators of environmental conditions in paleoenvironmental and biogeochemical studies. Nonetheless, systematic isotopic investigations of microbial lipids to constrain their sources, modes of production, and turnover remain fragmentary. In order to decipher the information encoded in sedimentary archaeal and bacterial lipids in different marine depositional environments, I conducted carbon isotopic analysis of marine environmental samples (Chapter III and IV) and laboratory-based stable isotope probing (SIP) experiments (Chapter V). Chapter III provides fundamental constraints on archaeal activity, sources of archaeal lipids, and preservation signatures in diverse marine sediments. This is, to my knowledge, the first systematic comparison of stable carbon isotopic compositions of archaeal core lipids (CLs) and intact polar lipids (IPLs). Results from lipid analysis are interpreted in the context of geochemical data in contrasting depositional regimes, including a transect from the Rhone River delta into the western Mediterranean Sea, the anoxic Black Sea, Marmara Sea, and sapropel layers in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Mass balance calculation along the transect of the Western Mediterranean Sea proved that terrestrial input of archaea into marine sediments can be substantial (up to 42%) and suggests caution when reconstructing such inputs based on existing molecular proxies, such as BIT (Branched isoprenoid tetraether index). Similar I 13C values of core and intact polar crenarchaeol strongly suggest that the alkyl moieties are not synthesized de novo, thus indicating that intact polar crenarchaeol is either a fossil relic from planktonic archaea or a product of lipid recycling by benthic archaea. By contrast, an average offset in I 13C values of 2.6a degree between core and intact polar caldarchaeol indicates active in-situ activity of benthic archaea. To further constrain the sources and turnover of sedimentary archaeal lipids, we compared the stable carbon isotopic compositions of archaeal IPLs and CLs through the oxic, suboxic and anoxic water column and in high resolution within an 8-m deep sediment core in the Black Sea (Chapter IV). The comparison between the water column and surface samples suggests that archaea residing in the lower suboxic zone are the main source of lipids found in surface sediments, including a large fraction of IPLs. The isotopic offset between core and intact caldarchaeol indicates sedimentary in-situ production by benthic archaea. Based on a two endmember mixing model, an average of 34% sedimentary intact polar caldarchaeol is likely produced by benthic archaea. Two independent isotope mass balance calculations suggested that on average 35% and 18% of CL-caldarchaeol are derived from IPL degradation in sediment. In addition to the analysis of environmental samples, laboratory-based SIP provides us another distinct perspective to understand the microbial-mediated processes in marine sediments, for example, anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM). Their enrichment cultures have been increasingly purified but still contain additional community members, even after years of repeated dilution and inoculation. In order to investigate the potential heterotrophic activity of the microorganisms coexisting with AOM consortia, I performed an L-leucine-3-13C (13C-leu) labeling study on a mesophilic AOM enrichment culture (Chapter V). Our results showed that most 13C-Leu incorporation was observed in bacterial fatty acids, especially iso and anteiso-branched C15:0 and C17:0, but very limited in archaeal ether lipids. Interestingly, these incorporation patterns were independent of the addition of methane to the enrichments, suggesting the ancillary heterotopic bacteria (e.g. Anaerolineae and Spirochaetes) are the main producers of these 13C-labeled lipids rather than AOM consortia. These ancillary heterotopic bacteria probably thrive on the amino acids derived from AOM necromass and likely explain the common absence of AOM lipid signals in sedimentary records. This thesis highlights the presence of various archaeal lipid inputs from terrestrial, planktonic and sedimentary sources into marine sediments. New lipids are continuously produced and degraded by microorganisms in the active subseafloor biosphere. The incubation experiment suggests that heterotrophic bacteria may play a pivotal role in necromass turnover in marine sediments

An analysis of design reuse in the development of small body nanolander and surface science stations : Supporting reuse, modular design and platforming with Model Based Systems Engineering

Design reuse, i.e. reuse of design artefacts of space missions is gaining more importance in the frame of cost efficiency improvement i.e. getting more science out of the limited funding in space systems development. This has found application in the Earth orbiting spacecraft sector, but may also be of interest for deep space scientific missons. This thesis contributes to the practice of design reuse with the development and demonstation of a method for a more systematic reuse approach as compared to the ad-hoc reuse widely common. Using a real life reuse case from an ESA phase A mission concept study, the process is described based on a developed general ontology of system design under consideration of the pecularities of a deep space scientific misson and uses Model-Based Systems Engineering methods. A Reuse Matrix has been proposed as a tool to analyse reuse effort a-priori based on individual delta development effort of components and the propagation of changes over the component borders. The latter are shown to be depending on aspects such as the number of interfaces and the number of constraints involved in the change propagation, as well as the extent of change of the latter. Three different case studies are presented: (1) a single reuse scenario, which develops a mission concept for a MASCOT-derived Phobos surface station using the presented method and derives the reuse matrix for this special case; (2) a platform based design-for-reuse analysis, which determines requirements and derives a platform approach for nanolander systems based on the MASCOT lander heritage and (3) a modular lunar infrastructure designed for a special case of reuse of the same system design for different use cases in one mission scenario. The three case studies prove the general applicability of the process and the usability of the Reuse Matrix, which benefits from the existence of a desciptive system model including system requirements, functional breakdown and physical allocation, as well as connected performance models which are fed with the information stored in the system model. The MASCOT lander system design has been demonstrated as very well suited for effective reuse and shows to be a good starting point for a platform-based family of nanolander for a broad variety of small and airless bodies

Development of cold-water coral mounds in the southern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea) since the last interglacial

Cold-water coral (CWC) mounds are formed due to the sustained growth of CWCs over geological timescales (thousands to tens of thousands of years). These seabed structures are discovered along continental margins of the Atlantic Ocean and its marginal seas. They are important archives for reconstructing the long-term development of CWCs and coral mounds. However, our knowledge about the coral mound formation and associated sedimentary processes is still limited. In the Mediterranean Sea, most CWC mounds were discovered in the so-called West and East Melilla CWC mound province (WMCP and EMCP, respectively). Particularly, coral mounds in the EMCP are arranged into four sub-clusters, each marked by specific morphologies and dimensions. The coral mound formation in the northern and westernmost sub-clusters of the EMCP has been reconstructed, whereas little is known about the history of coral mounds formation in the other unexplored sub-clusters of the EMCP, as well as the entire WMCP. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the CWC mound development in the southern Alboran Sea and the dominant environmental factors favoring the coral mound formation

Task-adaptable, Pervasive Perception for Robots Performing Everyday Manipulation

Intelligent robotic agents that help us in our day-to-day chores have been an aspiration of robotics researchers for decades. More than fifty years since the creation of the first intelligent mobile robotic agent, robots are still struggling to perform seemingly simple tasks, such as setting or cleaning a table. One of the reasons for this is that the unstructured environments these robots are expected to work in impose demanding requirements on a robota s perception system. Depending on the manipulation task the robot is required to execute, different parts of the environment need to be examined, the objects in it found and functional parts of these identified. This is a challenging task, since the visual appearance of the objects and the variety of scenes they are found in are large. This thesis proposes to treat robotic visual perception for everyday manipulation tasks as an open question-asnswering problem. To this end RoboSherlock, a framework for creating task-adaptable, pervasive perception systems is presented. Using the framework, robot perception is addressed from a systema s perspective and contributions to the state-of-the-art are proposed that introduce several enhancements which scale robot perception toward the needs of human-level manipulation. The contributions of the thesis center around task-adaptability and pervasiveness of perception systems. A perception task-language and a language interpreter that generates task-relevant perception plans is proposed. The task-language and task-interpreter leverage the power of knowledge representation and knowledge-based reasoning in order to enhance the question-answering capabilities of the system. Pervasiveness, a seamless integration of past, present and future percepts, is achieved through three main contributions: a novel way for recording, replaying and inspecting perceptual episodic memories, a new perception component that enables pervasive operation and maintains an object belief state and a novel prospection component that enables robots to relive their past experiences and anticipate possible future scenarios. The contributions are validated through several real world robotic experiments that demonstrate how the proposed system enhances robot perception

Manifold-Based Sensorimotor Representations for Bootstrapping of Mobile Agents

Subject of this thesis is the development of a domain-independent algorithm that allows an autonomous system to process sequences of the sensorimotor interaction with its environment and to assign a geometric interpretation to its motor capabilities. We utilize Lie groups, smooth manifolds endowed with a group structure, that allow for an elegant representation of geometric operations as a central foundation for such a sensorimotor representation. Expressing motor controls with respect to the manifold structure allows us to transform the sensorimotor interaction sequence into a specific set of data points. Finding a manifold and a transformation that minimizes an intrinsic conflict function corresponds to finding a topological structure that is the best fit for expressing the sensorimotor space the entity resides in. Experiments in a virtual environment are conducted that show the applicability of the approach with respect to different sensor and motor configurations

Assessment of sustainable tourism development in Windhoek, Namibia : Development and implementation of an adapted criteria catalogue in line with respective local conditions.

The aim of this master thesis is to assess, analyse and evaluate the sustainability of a tourism destination while taking the local conditions into consideration by adapting the assessment instrument. The case study of the city Windhoek in Namibia is used to identify particular local features and make them measurable using an adapted criteria catalogue. In addition to a comprehensive secondary analysis, the database consists of different qualitative and quantitative methods, which are conducted during a field research phase in the form of expert interviews, visitor and local surveys and observations at relevant POIs. The content and statistical evaluation of the data is the basis for the assessment of the indicators, the sustainability dimensions and the global evaluation of sustainability in the destination. The weaknesses identified in the course of the research are then recorded in the form of recommended actions. As this thesis is part of the development policy cooperation between the City of Bremen and the City of Windhoek, the communication platform, to make the research results available to the City of Windhoek, has been established. Besides the adaptation of the catalogue, a refinement of the method for future measurement and evaluation of sustainability in destinations with different framework conditions is developed. Based on a critical reflection and the issue of the applicability of the model to other destinations, technical and content-related recommendations for the catalogue adaptation to local circumstances are made

Related to whom? The impact of organisational and regional capabilities on radical breakthroughs

This paper aims to explain the emergence and diffusion of novel combinations in Germany. On the one hand, it scrutinizes on the effect of internal technological diversity. On the other hand, it looks at interactions with other actors and assesses whether relatedness to the overall regional knowledge base or rather being related to specific regional actors improves radical inventive activity in German organisations. It is demonstrated that the emergence of radical novelty is positively influenced by an optimal degree of internal diversity as well as relatedness to actors at the technological frontier. However, for this radical novelty to diffuse, rather diverse actors and cognitive proximity to the regional knowledge base is important. The results call for a more fine-grained picture in the relatedness debate and deliver interesting insights for inventive organisations in terms of partner choice and policy-makers for future initiatives

Transcriptional bases of acclimation in the kelp, Saccharina latissima, from gametophytes to sporophytes

Kelps, algae of the order Laminariales, are important ecosystem engineers in temperate to Arctic coastal waters. They form marine forests that support complex communities by providing habitat for several taxa, they provide coastal defense and contribute significantly to climate change mitigation and adaptation by acting as carbon sink. However, these marine forests are threatened by impacts of anthropogenic-driven climate change. Hence, a better understanding of the acclimation mechanisms taking place in the sugar kelp Saccharina latissima across its life history stages is necessary to predict emerging environmental pressures, potential range shifts and, thus, future distributions. This study revealed novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of acclimation and adaptive responses of a keystone, but non-model species, for which only limited genomic information has been available previously. It also became evident that transcriptomic data do not necessarily match observations made on the physiological level, but are likely to reflect emerging constraints to cellular function and overall individual performance at an early stage. Furthermore, the differences in response towards environmental drivers across different latitudes, life history stages and sexes emphasize the need for integrative approaches in order to facilitate predictions on species performance in natural as well as aquaculture systems in the face of large-scale environmental change