@article{DachwaldMikuckiTulaczyketal.2014, author = {Dachwald, Bernd and Mikucki, Jill and Tulaczyk, Slawek and Digel, Ilya and Espe, Clemens and Feldmann, Marco and Francke, Gero and Kowalski, Julia and Xu, Changsheng}, title = {IceMole : A maneuverable probe for clean in situ analysis and sampling of subsurface ice and subglacial aquatic ecosystems}, series = {Annals of Glaciology}, volume = {55}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, number = {65}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {1727-5644}, doi = {10.3189/2014AoG65A004}, pages = {14 -- 22}, year = {2014}, abstract = {There is significant interest in sampling subglacial environments for geobiological studies, but they are difficult to access. Existing ice-drilling technologies make it cumbersome to maintain microbiologically clean access for sample acquisition and environmental stewardship of potentially fragile subglacial aquatic ecosystems. The IceMole is a maneuverable subsurface ice probe for clean in situ analysis and sampling of glacial ice and subglacial materials. The design is based on the novel concept of combining melting and mechanical propulsion. It can change melting direction by differential heating of the melting head and optional side-wall heaters. The first two prototypes were successfully tested between 2010 and 2012 on glaciers in Switzerland and Iceland. They demonstrated downward, horizontal and upward melting, as well as curve driving and dirt layer penetration. A more advanced probe is currently under development as part of the Enceladus Explorer (EnEx) project. It offers systems for obstacle avoidance, target detection, and navigation in ice. For the EnEx-IceMole, we will pay particular attention to clean protocols for the sampling of subglacial materials for biogeochemical analysis. We plan to use this probe for clean access into a unique subglacial aquatic environment at Blood Falls, Antarctica, with return of a subglacial brine sample.}, language = {en} } @article{BaeckerKramerHucketal.2014, author = {B{\"a}cker, Matthias and Kramer, F. and Huck, Christina and Poghossian, Arshak and Bratov, A. and Abramova, N. and Sch{\"o}ning, Michael Josef}, title = {Planar and 3D interdigitated electrodes for biosensing applications: The impact of a dielectric barrier on the sensor properties}, series = {Physica Status Solidi (A) - Applications and Materials Science}, volume = {211}, journal = {Physica Status Solidi (A) - Applications and Materials Science}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {1521-396X (E-Journal); 1862-6319 (E-Journal); 0031-8965 (Print); 1862-6300 (Print)}, doi = {10.1002/pssa.201330416}, pages = {1357 -- 1363}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Planar and three-dimensional (3D) interdigitated electrodes (IDE) with electrode digits separated by an insulating barrier of different heights were electrochemically characterized and compared in terms of their sensing properties. Due to the impact of the surface resistance, both types of IDE structures display a non-linear behavior in low-ionic strength solutions. The experimental data were fitted to an electrical equivalent circuit and interpreted taking into account the surface-charge-governed properties. The effect of a charged polyelectrolyte layer electrostatically assembled onto the sensor surface on the surface resistance in solutions with different KCl concentration is studied. In case of the same electrode footprint, 3D-IDEs show a larger cell constant and a higher sensitivity to molecular adsorption than that of planar IDEs. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of 3D-IDEs as a new transducer structure for a direct label-free sensing of charged molecules.}, language = {en} } @article{BronderWuPoghossianetal.2014, author = {Bronder, Thomas and Wu, Chunsheng and Poghossian, Arshak and Werner, Frederik and Keusgen, M. and Sch{\"o}ning, Michael Josef}, title = {Label-free detection of DNA hybridization with light-addressable potentiometric sensors: comparison of various DNA-immobilization strategies}, series = {Procedia Engineering}, volume = {87}, journal = {Procedia Engineering}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1877-7058}, doi = {10.1016/j.proeng.2014.11.647}, pages = {755 -- 758}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Light-addressable potentiometric sensors (LAPS) consisting of a p-Si-SiO2 and p-Si-SiO2-Au structure, respectively, have been tested for a label-free electrical detection of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) hybridization. Three different strategies for immobilizing single-stranded probe DNA (ssDNA) molecules on a LAPS surface have been studied and compared: (a) immobilization of thiol-modified ssDNA on the patterned Au surface via gold-thiol bond, (b) covalent immobilization of amino-modified ssDNA onto the SiO2 surface functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and (c) layer-by-layer adsorption of negatively charged ssDNA on a positively charged weak polyelectrolyte layer of poly(allylamine hydrochloride).}, language = {en} } @article{Bernecker2014, author = {Bernecker, Andreas}, title = {Do politicians shirk when reelection is certain? Evidence from the German parliament}, series = {European Journal of Political Economy}, volume = {36}, journal = {European Journal of Political Economy}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0176-2680}, doi = {10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2014.07.001}, pages = {55 -- 70}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Does stiffer electoral competition reduce political shirking? For a micro-analysis of this question, I construct a new data set spanning the years 2005 to 2012 covering biographical and political information about German Members of Parliament (MPs), including their attendance rates in voting sessions. For the parliament elected in 2009, I show that indeed opposition party MPs who expect to face a close race in their district show significantly and relevantly lower absence rates in parliament beforehand. MPs of governing parties seem not to react significantly to electoral competition. These results are confirmed by an analysis of the parliament elected in 2005, by several robustness checks, and also by employing an instrumental variable strategy exploiting convenient peculiarities of the German electoral system. The study also shows how MPs elected via party lists react to different levels of electoral competition.}, language = {en} } @article{Bernecker2014, author = {Bernecker, Andreas}, title = {Divided Government and the Adoption of Economic Reforms}, series = {CESifo DICE Report - Journal for Institutional Comparison}, volume = {12}, journal = {CESifo DICE Report - Journal for Institutional Comparison}, number = {4}, publisher = {Ifo Institute for Economic Research}, address = {M{\"u}nchen}, issn = {1612-0663}, pages = {47 -- 52}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @article{BeckBuchleitnerFerreinetal.2014, author = {Beck, Daniel and Buchleitner, Martin and Ferrein, Alexander and Niem{\"u}ller, Tim and Steinbauer, Gerald}, title = {Mostly Harmless \& AllemaniACs - mixed innovations}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @article{BandodkarMolinnusMirzaetal.2014, author = {Bandodkar, Amay J. and Molinnus, Denise and Mirza, Omar and Guinovart, Tomas and Windmiller, Joshua R. and Valdes-Ramirez, Gabriela and Andrade, Francisco J. and Sch{\"o}ning, Michael Josef and Wang, Joseph}, title = {Epidermal tattoo potentiometric sodium sensors with wireless signal transduction for continuous non-invasive sweat monitoring}, series = {Biosensors and bioelectronics}, volume = {54}, journal = {Biosensors and bioelectronics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1873-4235 (E-Journal); 0956-5663 (Print)}, doi = {10.1016/j.bios.2013.11.039}, pages = {603 -- 609}, year = {2014}, abstract = {This article describes the fabrication, characterization and application of an epidermal temporary-transfer tattoo-based potentiometric sensor, coupled with a miniaturized wearable wireless transceiver, for real-time monitoring of sodium in the human perspiration. Sodium excreted during perspiration is an excellent marker for electrolyte imbalance and provides valuable information regarding an individual's physical and mental wellbeing. The realization of the new skin-worn non-invasive tattoo-like sensing device has been realized by amalgamating several state-of-the-art thick film, laser printing, solid-state potentiometry, fluidics and wireless technologies. The resulting tattoo-based potentiometric sodium sensor displays a rapid near-Nernstian response with negligible carryover effects, and good resiliency against various mechanical deformations experienced by the human epidermis. On-body testing of the tattoo sensor coupled to a wireless transceiver during exercise activity demonstrated its ability to continuously monitor sweat sodium dynamics. The real-time sweat sodium concentration was transmitted wirelessly via a body-worn transceiver from the sodium tattoo sensor to a notebook while the subjects perspired on a stationary cycle. The favorable analytical performance along with the wearable nature of the wireless transceiver makes the new epidermal potentiometric sensing system attractive for continuous monitoring the sodium dynamics in human perspiration during diverse activities relevant to the healthcare, fitness, military, healthcare and skin-care domains.}, language = {en} } @article{ArinkinDigelPorstetal.2014, author = {Arinkin, Vladimir and Digel, Ilya and Porst, Dariusz and Temiz Artmann, Ayseg{\"u}l and Artmann, Gerhard}, title = {Phenotyping date palm varieties via leaflet cross-sectional imaging and artificial neural network application}, series = {BMC bioinformatics}, volume = {15}, journal = {BMC bioinformatics}, number = {55}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/1471-2105-15-55}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Background True date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are impressive trees and have served as an indispensable source of food for mankind in tropical and subtropical countries for centuries. The aim of this study is to differentiate date palm tree varieties by analysing leaflet cross sections with technical/optical methods and artificial neural networks (ANN). Results Fluorescence microscopy images of leaflet cross sections have been taken from a set of five date palm tree cultivars (Hewlat al Jouf, Khlas, Nabot Soltan, Shishi, Um Raheem). After features extraction from images, the obtained data have been fed in a multilayer perceptron ANN with backpropagation learning algorithm. Conclusions Overall, an accurate result in prediction and differentiation of date palm tree cultivars was achieved with average prediction in tenfold cross-validation is 89.1\% and reached 100\% in one of the best ANN.}, language = {en} } @article{AltherrEdererLorenzetal.2014, author = {Altherr, Lena and Ederer, Thorsten and Lorenz, Ulf and Pelz, Peter F. and P{\"o}ttgen, Philipp}, title = {Experimental validation of an enhanced system synthesis approach}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2014}, journal = {Operations Research Proceedings 2014}, editor = {L{\"u}bbecke, Marco and Koster, Arie and Letmathe, Peter and Madlener, Reihard and Peis, Britta and Walther, Grit}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Basel}, isbn = {978-3-319-28695-2}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-28697-6_1}, pages = {6}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Planning the layout and operation of a technical system is a common task for an engineer. Typically, the workflow is divided into consecutive stages: First, the engineer designs the layout of the system, with the help of his experience or of heuristic methods. Secondly, he finds a control strategy which is often optimized by simulation. This usually results in a good operating of an unquestioned sys- tem topology. In contrast, we apply Operations Research (OR) methods to find a cost-optimal solution for both stages simultaneously via mixed integer program- ming (MILP). Technical Operations Research (TOR) allows one to find a provable global optimal solution within the model formulation. However, the modeling error due to the abstraction of physical reality remains unknown. We address this ubiq- uitous problem of OR methods by comparing our computational results with mea- surements in a test rig. For a practical test case we compute a topology and control strategy via MILP and verify that the objectives are met up to a deviation of 8.7\%.}, language = {en} } @article{AlmajhdiSengerAmeretal.2014, author = {Almajhdi, Fahad N. and Senger, Tilo and Amer, Haitham M. and Gissmann, Lutz and {\"O}hlschl{\"a}ger, Peter}, title = {Design of a highly effective therapeutic HPV16 E6/E7-specific DNA vaccine: optimization by different ways of sequence rearrangements (Shuffling)}, series = {PLOS one}, volume = {11}, journal = {PLOS one}, number = {9}, publisher = {PLOS}, address = {San Francisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0113461}, pages = {e113461}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Persistent infection with the high-risk Human Papillomavirus type 16 (HPV 16) is the causative event for the development of cervical cancer and other malignant tumors of the anogenital tract and of the head and neck. Despite many attempts to develop therapeutic vaccines no candidate has entered late clinical trials. An interesting approach is a DNA based vaccine encompassing the nucleotide sequence of the E6 and E7 viral oncoproteins. Because both proteins are consistently expressed in HPV infected cells they represent excellent targets for immune therapy. Here we report the development of 8 DNA vaccine candidates consisting of differently rearranged HPV-16 E6 and E7 sequences within one molecule providing all naturally occurring epitopes but supposedly lacking transforming activity. The HPV sequences were fused to the J-domain and the SV40 enhancer in order to increase immune responses. We demonstrate that one out of the 8 vaccine candidates induces very strong cellular E6- and E7- specific cellular immune responses in mice and, as shown in regression experiments, efficiently controls growth of HPV 16 positive syngeneic tumors. This data demonstrates the potential of this vaccine candidate to control persistent HPV 16 infection that may lead to malignant disease. It also suggests that different sequence rearrangements influence the immunogenecity by an as yet unknown mechanism.}, language = {en} }