No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

In addition to occasional opportunistic colonization of the oral mucosa, Candida albicans is frequently found in carious dentin. The yeast’s potential to induce dental caries as a consequence of its pronounced ability to produce and tolerate acids was investigated. Eighty caries-active Osborne-Mendel rats were raised on an ampicillin-supplemented diet and exposed to C. albicans and/or Streptococcus mutans, except for controls. Throughout the 28-day test period, the animals were offered the modified cariogenic diet 2000a, containing 40% various sugars. Subsequently, maxillary molars were scored for plaque extent. After dissection, the mandibular molars were evaluated for smooth surface and fissure caries. Test animals exposed to C. albicans displayed considerably more advanced fissure lesions (p < 0.001) than non-exposed controls. While S. mutans yielded similar results, a combined association of C. albicans and S. mutans had no effect on occlusal caries incidence. Substituting dietary sucrose by glucose did not modify caries induction by C. albicans. However, animals fed a diet containing 20% of both sugars showed no differences to non-infected controls. Smooth surface caries was not generated by the yeast. This study provides experimental evidence that C. albicans is capable of causing occlusal caries in rats at a high rate. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Near-field optical microscopy has attracted remarkable attention, as it is the only technique that allows the investigation of local optical properties with a resolution far below the diffraction limit. Especially, the scattering-type near-field optical microscopy allows the nondestructive examination of surfaces without restrictions to the applicable wavelengths. However, its usability is limited by the availability of appropriate light sources. In the context of this work, this limit was overcome by the development of a scattering-type near-field microscope that uses a widely tunable free-electron laser as primary light source. In the theoretical part, it is shown that an optical near-field contrast can be expected when materials with different dielectric functions are combined. It is derived that these differences yield different scattering cross-sections for the coupled system of the probe and the sample. Those cross-sections define the strength of the near-field signal that can be measured for different materials. Hence, an optical contrast can be expected, when different scattering cross-sections are probed. This principle also applies to vertically stacked or even buried materials, as shown in this thesis experimentally for two sample systems. In the first example, the different dielectric functions were obtained by locally changing the carrier concentration in silicon by the implantation of boron. It is shown that the concentration of free charge-carriers can be deduced from the near-field contrast between implanted and pure silicon. For this purpose, two different experimental approaches were used, a non-interferometric one by using variable wavelengths and an interferometric one with a fixed wavelength. As those techniques yield complementary information, they can be used to quantitatively determine the effective carrier concentration. Both approaches yield consistent results for the carrier concentration, which excellently agrees with predictions from literature. While the structures of the first system were in the micrometer regime, the capability to probe buried nanostructures is demonstrated at a sample of indium arsenide quantum dots. Those dots are covered by a thick layer of gallium arsenide. For the first time ever, it is shown experimentally that transitions between electron states in single quantum dots can be investigated by near-field microscopy. By monitoring the near-field response of these quantum dots while scanning the wavelength of the incident light beam, it was possible to obtain characteristic near-field signatures of single dots. Near-field contrasts up to 30 % could be measured for resonant excitation of electrons in the conduction band of the indium arsenide dots. / Die optische Nahfeldmikroskopie hat viel Beachtung auf sich gezogen, da sie die einzige Technologie ist, welche die Untersuchung lokaler optischer Eigenschaften mit Auflösungen unterhalb der Beugungsgrenze ermöglicht. Speziell die streuende Nahfeldmikroskopie erlaubt die zerstörungsfreie Untersuchung von Oberflächen ohne Einschränkung der verwendbaren Wellenlängen. Die Nutzung ist jedoch durch das Vorhandensein entsprechender Lichtquellen beschränkt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde diese Beschränkung durch Entwicklung eines streuenden Nahfeldmikroskops überwunden, das einen weit stimmbaren Freie-Elektronen-Laser als primäre Lichtquelle benutzt. Im theoretischen Teil wird gezeigt, dass ein optischer Kontrast erwartet werden kann, wenn Materialien mit unterschiedlichen Dielektrizitätskonstanten kombiniert werden. Es wird hergeleitet, dass diese Unterschiede in unterschiedlichen Streuquerschnitten für das gekoppelte System aus Messkopf und Probe resultieren. Diese Streuquerschnitte definieren die Stärke des Nahfeldsignals, welches auf unterschiedlichen Materialien gemessen werden kann. Ein optischer Kontrast kann also erwartet werden, wenn unterschiedliche Streuquerschnitte untersucht werden. Dass dieses Prinzip auch auf übereinander geschichtete oder sogar verborgene Strukturen angewendet werden kann, wird in dieser Doktorarbeit an zwei Probensystemen experimentell gezeigt. Im ersten Beispiel wurden die unterschiedlichen Dielektrizitätskonstanten durch örtliches Ändern der Ladungsträgerdichte in Silizium durch Bor-Implantation erreicht. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Dichte der freien Ladungsträger an Hand des optischen Kontrastes zwischen implantiertem und reinem Silizium ermittelt werden kann. Zu diesem Zweck wurden zwei unterschiedliche Ansätze verwendet, ein nicht-interferometrischer mittels variabler Wellenlängen und ein interferometrischer mit einer konstanten Wellenlänge. Weil diese Techniken gegensätzliche Informationen liefern, können sie genutzt werden, um die effektive Ladungsträgerdichte quantitativ zu bestimmen. Beide Ansätze lieferten konsistente Resultate für die Trägerdichte, welche sehr gut mit den Vorhersagen der Literatur übereinstimmt. Während die Strukturen im ersten Beispiel im Mikrometer-Bereich lagen, wird die Möglichkeit, verborgene Nanostrukturen zu untersuchen, an Hand einer Probe mit Indiumarsenid Quantenpunkten demonstriert. Diese sind von einer dicken Schicht Galliumarsenid bedeckt. Zum ersten Mal wird experimentell gezeigt, dass Übergänge zwischen Elektronenzuständen in einzelnen Quantenpunkten mit Nahfeldmikroskopie untersucht werden können. Durch die Messung der Nahfeld-Antwort der Quantenpunkte unter Änderung der Wellenlänge des eingestrahlten Lichtes war es möglich, charakteristische Nahfeld-Signaturen der einzelnen Quantenpunkte zu erhalten. Nahfeld-Kontraste bis zu 30 Prozent konnten für die resonante Anregung der Elektronen im Leitungsband der Indiumarsenid Punkte beobachtet werden.

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This diploma thesis deals with the ongoing research under the auspices of the Department of Applied Physics and Technics Faculty of Education, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, in which the author of the work was actively participated. The thesis is divided into theoretical and experimental part. The theoretical part contains information from natural polymers, especially cellulose, plasma technology and infrared spectrometry. The subject of the experimental part of the thesis is research that deals with the functionalization of cellulose using a microwave plasma discharge on the apparatus CX-22. In the present research was also conducted to process optimization of functionalization with the liquid precursor hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO).

I have set for a challenging study that combined experimental and theoretical approaches in an attempt to resolve a role of small aminoacids in intermolecular interactions. First, I have proposed a hypothesis that described the interaction among individual aminoacids forming D helices of D1 and D2 proteins based on molecular dynamic simulations of a simplified model representing the reaction centre of photosystem II. Stability of the putative interhelical hydrogen bond network connecting D1 and D2 proteins was investigated experimentally with dynamic force spectroscopy using atomic force microscope. The results of both methods are in a full agreement with each other and reveal the key role of D1-Gly208 aminoacid in stability and functionality of photosystem II by providing milieu for weak interactions among three contact points at the cross of D helices: D1-Gly208 (O) and D2-Cys211 (O?), D1-Ser209 (O?) and D2-Ile204 (O), D1-Ser212 (O?) and D2-Gly207 (O). Mutation of the D1-Gly208 led to the increase in probability of the binding among the aforementioned aminoacids, undesirably strengthening the overall interactions among the proteins compromising photosynthetic capacity (D1-Ser208) or disabling of autotrophic growth (D1-Val208).

The goal of the thesis is to find the way how to apply use-wear analysis as well as functional analysis to archaeological assemblages of selected artefacts from Central European archaeological contexts, namely lithics (chipped stone artefacts) and obtain the greatest potential from the analysis. Thesis consists of: current state in the field of functional studies research worldwide, method of use-wear application in connection with material science knowledge, especially tribology. Use-wear analysis is applied to the selected lithic artefacts from Paleolithic to Eneolithic Periods. The results of this work are based on the following microscopic approaches: low power approach (LPA), high power approach (HPA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). There are described and stated differences in potential of above mentioned approaches in connection with specific archaeological artefacts (assemblages of artefacts). The question answered in the conclusion is how to apply the above mentioned methodological approaches in application to various archaeological materials (period, number, context etc.) to obtain the greatest informational potential from the material analysed. Work is concluded with specific terminology from the field of tribology and use-wear analysis...

From 23 European and North American strains Euastrum humerosum/didelta species complex (Desmidiales) we have obtained 3 lineages in molecular marker trnGuuc group II intron. We did not acquire significant and homogenous results in SSU intron. It is probable that the lineages are very young. The lineages were significantly different in their shape and dimensions. We used the geometric morphometrics with the measuring of the lengths and breath of the semicells, isthmus and their ratios. The lineages differentiated in their dimensions and shape variable polar lobes and neck. SEM revealed the one central pore in cell wall on the contrary, with variant E. didelta var. bengalicum, which has two pores according the literature records. Key words: desmids, species, hidden diversity, molecular phylogenetics, geometric morphometrics, Euastrum, scanning electron microscopy