Month: February 2022

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CreaThesis Annika Neuhaus

The Integration of a new silverback male into a group of female gorillas

Simplified Abstract

In this study, I observed the integration of a new silverback into a four-member female group of the western lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the Nuremberg Zoo. I paid attention particularly to the changing daily rhythms and behavior, as well as the aggression of single individuals and the overall aggression of the group. On 37 days, for 8 hours each, I noted every three minutes, where in the enclosure the five gorillas (i.e., Lena, Bianka, Habibu, Louna and Thomas) were and what behavior they showed. I categorized behavior into several different groups such as staying by oneself, locomotion, playing, sexual behavior, aggressive behavior, social behavior, problematic/stereotypic behavior, and feeding. The daily rhythm and the percentage of categorized behaviors shifted after the arrival of the male gorilla. The group regained a stable rhythm in the later phases, but it differed from that at the beginning of the observation. The frequency of aggression and dominance increased in the group after the introduction of the male. The group structure changed such that Lena gave her leadership to Thomas and Louna chose this older female instead of Bianka as reference animal. Aggression among females dropped once the silverback joined the group and their cohesion increased. The goal was to document the response of the animals during the introduction, to broaden the experience with these highly social animals.

Name:                        Annika Neuhaus

Field of study:          Biology

 

 

 

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CreaThesis Theresa Franz

From archaeal to eucaryotic proteasomes: Biochemical and structural studies on assembly intermediates and proteasomes with intermediate complexity

X-ray crystallography is a method used to determine the atomic structure of complex biomolecules such as proteins. This requires protein crystals that are illuminated with X-rays. The resulting diffraction patterns can be used to determine the 3D structure of the molecules that form the crystal. For this purpose, the proteins must be isolated and purified using molecular biological and protein chemical methods before they can form crystals that can not only be highly complex but also stunningly beautiful.

Simplified Abstract

In this thesis, proteasomes – enzymes that break down proteins in the body – were studied. For this purpose, different mutations were introduced into the proteins that form the proteasomes, and their effects on function and structure were analyzed. To this end, the proteins were first produced in bacteria and then purified to obtain the desired protein in such a high concentration that it formed crystals under certain conditions.

This way, it was possible to determine which mutations reduced the activity of the proteasomes strongly and thus which residues or amino acids are particularly important for the ability of the proteasome to cleave proteins. We also tested which conditions (buffer, pH, protein concentrations, etc.) led to favorable results during purification and crystallization for all the individual proteins and which proteins were not capable of forming crystals on their own.

Name:                        Theresa Franz

Field of study:          Biochemistry

Supervisor:               Dr. Eva Huber 

Chair:                          Chair of Biochemistry

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CreaThesis Nico Michel.

Flight control equations in a simple way

Abstracting a physical existing thing with a large model is used to put the world into equations and enables engineers to try out things without risk or high cost. Abstracting this model again to a smaller size enables to focus on specialthings easily.

Simplified Abstract

The task of the thesis was to investigate the influence of nonlinear coupling effects on the longitudinal flight dynamics of a Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicle (VTOL), a special type of drone. During flight tests, my supervisors project group discovered undesired flight behavior of their real existing VTOL, which did not appear in the full scale, multi degree of freedom simulation model. To examine the correlations between the different actuators, my task was to create a simplified model of the longitudinal dynamics of the VTOL, control it with the applied control algorithm and try to find out the connections that cause the undesired flight behavior. The big aim was to implement counter measures to improve the flight behavior and supply it to the project groups model.

Name:                        Nico Michel

Field of study:          Mechanical Engineering/ Aerospace

Supervisor:               Prof. Holzapfel

Chair:                         Institute of Flight System Dynamics

Name:                        Dominik Wernberger

Name:                        Dominik Wernberger

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Creathesis Veronika Bauer

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs)

Transparent objects that contain internal disorder can be lighted with a laser beam in order to create a speckle pattern unique to the object. These objects can be used in the context of IT Security..

Simplified Abstract

A PUF, short for physical unclonable function, is an object containing an internally disordered structure either by default or by design. Various objects contain internal disorder in their nanoscale structure like the fibers of a piece of paper, slight manufacturing differences on computer chips or even the structured surface of a wall. Each piece is unique and cannot be physically cloned, not even by its manufacturer. While these slight differences are often seen as a nuisance, these can be exploited for IT Security purposes. If an external stimulus is introduced to such an object, e.g. a laser beam to a transparent object, it reacts in a unique way, e.g. by creating a speckle pattern. If the angle of the laser beam or its position are changed, different pattern emerge. Thus, various stimuli, called challenges, can be used to create different outputs, referred to as responses. If the same challenge is introduced to such a PUF, the same response is outputted all the time, whereas changes within the PUF or the use of a different PUF lead to a different response. Hence, knowing this unique challenge-response behavior, one is able to identify the PUF and detect changes within the PUF. This feature can be exploited for various cryptographic protocols like authentication purposes. Image you know that your best friend owns a PUF and you know how this PUF behaves when a laser beam lights this PUF. Then, you are able to identify your best friend by just examining the PUF’s behavior. Thus, this PUF can be seen as a secure tag or label. This technique can be used to counterfeit pirated products like medicine by placing a PUF on the packaging. Forgers are not able to physically clone this PUF which is why, e.g. a pharmacy is able to check the product’s authenticity.

Name:                        Veronika Bauer

Field of study:          Informatics

Supervisor:                Prof. Dr. Dieter Kranzlmüller, Prof. Dr. Dr. Ulrich Rührmair, M.Sc. Steffen Illium

Chair:                          Institute of Informatics LMU Munich