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This thesis deals with the topic of climate mainstreaming in development cooperation. In particular, the current transformation of German Financial Cooperation is discussed, in light of the fact that the KfW Development Bank is introducing a Climate Mainstreaming Tool in spring 2020 to enable climate mainstreaming across all projects. The challenges of implementing climate mainstreaming and subseq

Food is one of the areas of consumption with highest environmental impacts. Additionally, the growing global population and changing diets in emerging countries will further exacerbate the impact of food production and consumption. The challenges of an increasingly resource constrained world pose a need to shift from a consumption-based society to a society where humans can manage with less. There

Popular Abstract in English At the beginning of 20th century, scientists started to realize that atoms exhibited the discrete behaviour, e.g. the energies of bond electrons were not continuously distributed, but had discrete values. Light is also transmitted as discrete packages (called photons). These phenomena can not be explained by classical physics, which has been accepted as the law of descrThe work presented in this thesis was concerned with investigating the relevant spectroscopic properties of Ce ions randomly doped in an Y2SiO5 crystal at low temperatures (around 4 K), in order to develop a technique and an experimental set-up to detect the fluorescence photons emitted by a single Ce ion. The aim of the work was to determine whether a single Ce ion (referred to as the readout ion

Dystrophin of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex connects the actin cytoskeleton to basement membranes and loss of dystrophin results in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We have previously shown injury-induced neointima formation of the carotid artery in mice with the mdx mutation (causing dystrophin deficiency) to be increased. To investigate the role of dystrophin in intimal recruitment of smooth m

Background: The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of left ventricular systolic (LVSD) and diastolic (LVDD) dysfunction, and to test if BNP and urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) are related to LVSD, LVD and left ventricular mass (LVM) in asymptomatic type 2 diabetes patients. Methods: Presence of LVSD, LVDD and LVM, determined with echocardiography, was related to levels of BNP

Popular Abstract in English Every year globally, an estimated 1.7 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer, while over half a million are killed by this disease. The principal cause of death is metastasis, which is the spreading of the cancer cells from the breast to other vital organs like the brain, liver or lungs, resulting in organ failure and subsequently death. Even though the past decMetastasis is a complex process that remains a major challenge in the clinical management of cancer, because most cancer-related deaths are attributed to disseminated disease rather than the primary tumor. Despite the significant advances in the prediction of prognosis, and therapeutic management of primary breast cancers, coupled with the substantial improvement in our understanding of the molecu

Protein molecules are responsible for many biological functions in cells. In order to fulfill their various biological roles, these chain-like molecules must fold into precise three-dimensional shapes. The knowledge of accurate molecular structures is a prerequisite for rational drug design and for structure based functional studies. Getting structural information of proteins can be a very difficu

Here we report the results from exploratory analysis using a Bayesian network approach of data originally derived from a large North European study of type 2 diabetes (T2D) conducted by the IMI DIRECT consortium. 3029 individuals (795 with T2D and 2234 without) within 7 different study centres provided data comprising genotypes, proteins, metabolites, gene expression measurements and many differen

We report on the experimental investigation of potential high-performance cavity length stabilization using odd-indexed higher-order spatial modes. Schemes based on higher-order modes are particularly useful for micro-cavities that are used for enhanced fluorescence detection of a few emitters, which need to minimize photons leaking from a stabilization beam. We describe the design and constructio

The long-standing debate in the scientific community about whether ferroelectricity or ferroelasticity is the key property influencing the optoelectronic behavior of metal halide perovskites continues. In this study, we experimentally investigate the temperature dependence of photoluminescence from CsPb(Br1−xClx)3 nanowires and their heterojunctions. Our findings show an enhancement of the exciton

Cluster superlattice membranes constitute a novel 2D material, comprising a cluster superlattice sandwiched between a graphene support and an amorphous carbon embedding matrix. They offer a platform for investigating phenomena at the few atom to small cluster level with lateral averaging techniques. The amorphous carbon matrix provides mechanical and thermal stability to the cluster array, but alt

Objectives: 1. To validate catabolic meniscus explant models induced by cytokines: interleukin-6 ​+ ​interleukin-6 receptor ​+ ​tumor necrosis factor alpha (IL6/TNF) and oncostatin M ​+ ​tumor necrosis factor alpha (OSM/TNF). 2. To evaluate three potential anti-catabolic treatments: i) dexamethasone (DEX), ii) a Link-N peptide (Link-N) and iii) a peptide from chondroadherin (CKF). Design: Healthy

Gold shell-isolated nanoparticles (AuSHINs) are promising photothermal therapy (PTT) agents for cancer treatment due to their excellent photoconversion efficiency, biocompatibility, colloidal stability, and tunable properties, including size, shape, and surface functionalization. However, their therapeutic efficacy in in vitro assays is often limited by poor cellular uptake and lysosomal entrapmen

Spark ablation is an advantageous method for the generation of metallic nanoparticles with defined particle sizes and compositions. The reaction of the metal particles with the carrier gas during the synthesis and, therefore, the incorporation of those light elements into structural voids or even compound formation was confirmed for hydrides and oxides but has only been suspected to occur for nitr

α-Synuclein is a synaptic protein that accumulates primarily in synucleinopathies and secondarily in certain lysosomal storage disorders. However, its physiological roles in health and disease are not fully understood. In part, this has been hampered by the inability to visualize α-synuclein and its cellular localization, due to the lack of specific antibodies and faithful reporters. Here, we used

In recent decades, working with computers has evolved from a specialized area to a requirement at most workplaces. Information systems also change regularly and employees have to adapt to new computer systems. However all individuals do not like computer work and the concept of computer anxiety describes human attitudes to computers. This study examined how computer anxiety is influenced by an inf