--- OA_place: publisher _id: '19903' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Cooperation, that is, one person paying a cost for another's benefit, is a fundamental principle without which no form of society could exist. The extent to which humans cooperate with each other is also an essential feature that differentiates them from other animals. Cooperation occurs even in the absence of altruistic motivations, when it is selfishly incentivised by the expectation of a future reward. For example, many economic interactions are well described that way. This kind of cooperation requires that people exhibit reciprocal behaviour that acts as a mechanism that rewards cooperation.\r\nWith game-theoretic models, it is possible to formally study potential such mechanisms and under what conditions they can exist. This thesis contributes to this effort by analysing recently introduced models of cooperation that advance on previous work by taking into account the potential for pre-existing inequality among cooperating individuals as well as the different forms that reciprocity can take.\r\nIndividuals may differ both intrinsically, in their abilities, as well as extrinsically, in the amount of resources they have available. Allowing for such differences in a model of cooperation helps to understand how inequality affects the potential for, and outcomes of, cooperation among unequals. In this thesis, it is shown that in the presence of intrinsic inequality, a similar unequal distribution of resources can increase the potential for cooperation. This effect is stronger the smaller the group is in which cooperation takes place. It is also shown that under particular assumptions, if the unequal members of a group vary the size of their contributions to a cooperative effort over time, they can thereby increase their efficiency and improve the collective outcome.\r\nCooperative behaviour in a two-person interaction can be rewarded either by direct reciprocation whenever the same two people interact again, or indirectly by a third party who observed the interaction. In the latter case of indirect reciprocity, individuals are proximally rewarded by a good reputation, which ultimately translates to being rewarded with cooperative behaviour by others. This mechanism can enable selfishly motivated cooperation even in circumstances where individuals are unlikely to meet again, akin to how money facilitates trade. While these two forms of reciprocity have mostly been studied in isolation, this thesis analyses both direct and indirect reciprocity in a general model in order to compare their relative effectiveness under different circumstances. The contribution of this thesis is an extension of previous work regarding a specific kind of interaction, whose parameters allow for convenient mathematical analysis, to the most general set of possible interactions." acknowledgement: "The research for this thesis was supported by the European Research Council\r\n(grant agreements No. 863818 and No. 850529), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754411),\r\nthe Austrian Science Fund (grant DOI 10.55776/COE12), the French Agence Nationale\r\nde la Recherche under the Programme d’investissements d’avenir (project reference 17-\r\nEURE-0010) and the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council\r\n(grant No. SR200100005, “Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future”)." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Valentin full_name: Hübner, Valentin id: 2c8aa207-dc7d-11ea-9b2f-f22972ecd910 last_name: Hübner orcid: 0009-0001-5009-4987 citation: ama: Hübner V. Reciprocity and inequality in social dilemmas. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19903 apa: Hübner, V. (2025). Reciprocity and inequality in social dilemmas. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19903 chicago: Hübner, Valentin. “Reciprocity and Inequality in Social Dilemmas.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19903. ieee: V. Hübner, “Reciprocity and inequality in social dilemmas,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Hübner V. 2025. Reciprocity and inequality in social dilemmas. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Hübner, Valentin. Reciprocity and Inequality in Social Dilemmas. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19903. short: V. Hübner, Reciprocity and Inequality in Social Dilemmas, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-06-25T13:50:10Z date_published: 2025-06-25T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T12:30:57Z day: '25' ddc: - '519' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: KrCh doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-19903 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 794c02f8c82ca59ba6dda3bd7eed871a content_type: application/x-xz creator: vhuebner date_created: 2025-06-25T13:38:07Z date_updated: 2025-06-25T13:38:07Z file_id: '19905' file_name: Thesis Valentin Hübner source.tar.xz file_size: 6192760 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: ac56063d81c81e40322b6ff5a8c4912e content_type: application/pdf creator: vhuebner date_created: 2025-07-09T13:37:00Z date_updated: 2025-07-09T13:37:00Z file_id: '19976' file_name: Thesis Valentin Hübner.pdf file_size: 4837864 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-07-09T13:37:00Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '06' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '157' project: - _id: 0599E47C-7A3F-11EA-A408-12923DDC885E call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '863818' name: 'Formal Methods for Stochastic Models: Algorithms and Applications' - _id: 260C2330-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '754411' name: ISTplus - Postdoctoral Fellowships publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '19843' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '15083' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19074' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Krishnendu full_name: Chatterjee, Krishnendu id: 2E5DCA20-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Chatterjee orcid: 0000-0002-4561-241X title: Reciprocity and inequality in social dilemmas tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) short: CC BY-NC (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20607' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: SSU - _id: LifeSc - _id: M-Shop acknowledgement: "I gratefully acknowledge the support of the ISTA Graduate School and the Scientific Service Units of\r\nISTA, whose resources made this work possible—especially the Imaging & Optics Facility, the Lab\r\nSupport Facility, and the Miba Machine Shop. I would like to thank two staff scientists in particular:\r\nRobert Hauschild (Imaging & Optics Facility) and Daniel Balazs (Lab Support Facility), for their\r\nassistance and advice. My PhD was partially funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)\r\n(10.55776/P37169 and 10.55776/COE5)." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Soumyadip full_name: Mondal, Soumyadip id: d25d21ef-dc8d-11ea-abe3-ec4576307f48 last_name: Mondal citation: ama: 'Mondal S. Oxygen and sulfur redox : Conversion kinetics and phase equilibria. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20607' apa: 'Mondal, S. (2025). Oxygen and sulfur redox : Conversion kinetics and phase equilibria. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20607' chicago: 'Mondal, Soumyadip. “Oxygen and Sulfur Redox : Conversion Kinetics and Phase Equilibria.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20607.' ieee: 'S. Mondal, “Oxygen and sulfur redox : Conversion kinetics and phase equilibria,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' ista: 'Mondal S. 2025. Oxygen and sulfur redox : Conversion kinetics and phase equilibria. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Mondal, Soumyadip. Oxygen and Sulfur Redox : Conversion Kinetics and Phase Equilibria. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20607.' short: 'S. Mondal, Oxygen and Sulfur Redox : Conversion Kinetics and Phase Equilibria, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-11-07T12:40:54Z date_published: 2025-09-19T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T12:27:24Z day: '19' ddc: - '541' - '543' - '542' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: StFr doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20607 file: - access_level: closed checksum: b5eed6a3dccb83cd2a8a22e11fd7d867 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: smondal date_created: 2025-11-13T16:47:47Z date_updated: 2025-11-13T16:47:47Z file_id: '20644' file_name: 2025_Mondal_Soumyadip_Thesis.docx file_size: 32589295 relation: source_file - access_level: closed checksum: 89b1529e0a7b524f46624d73ecadf8cb content_type: application/pdf creator: smondal date_created: 2025-11-13T16:47:46Z date_updated: 2025-11-13T16:47:46Z embargo: 2026-11-13 embargo_to: open_access file_id: '20645' file_name: 2025_Mondal_Soumyadip_Thesis.pdf file_size: 5007370 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-11-13T16:47:47Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '09' oa_version: Published Version page: '71' project: - _id: 8df062be-16d5-11f0-9cad-f559b6612c7e grant_number: P37169 name: Singlet oxygen in non-aqueous oxygen redox chemistry publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-071-8 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12065' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '13044' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20437' relation: part_of_dissertation status: deleted - id: '14687' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Stefan Alexander full_name: Freunberger, Stefan Alexander id: A8CA28E6-CE23-11E9-AD2D-EC27E6697425 last_name: Freunberger orcid: 0000-0003-2902-5319 title: 'Oxygen and sulfur redox : Conversion kinetics and phase equilibria' tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20234' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Game Theory is the mathematical formalization of social dynamics - systems where agents interact over time and the evolution of the state of the system depends on the decisions of every player. \r\nThis thesis takes the perspective of a single player and focuses on what they can guarantee in the worst case over the behavior of other players.\r\nIn other words, we consider that the objective of every other player in the game is exactly the opposite to the player.\r\nWe focus on sustained interactions over time, where the players repeatedly obtain quantitative rewards over time, and they are interested in maximizing their long-term performance.\t\r\nFormally, this thesis focuses on zero-sum games with the liminf average objective.\r\nTwo fundamental questions that Game Theory aims to answer are the following.\r\n\r\n1. How much can a player guarantee to obtain after the interaction?\r\n\r\n2. How to act in order to obtain the previously mentioned guarantee?\r\n\r\nThese questions are formalized by the concepts of \"value\" and \"optimal strategies\". \t\r\nWe study their properties on games that exhibit one or more of the following properties. \r\n\r\n1. Partial Observation: \r\nthe players can not perfectly observe the current state of the system during the game. We consider the model of (finite) Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes and prove that finite-memory strategies are sufficient to approximately guarantee the value.\r\n\r\n2. Perturbed Description: \r\nthe formal description of the game is perturbed by a small parameter.\r\nWe consider the model of (finite) Perturbed Matrix Games, and provide algorithms to check various robustness properties and to compute the parameterized value and optimal strategies.\r\n\r\n3. Stochastic Transitions: \r\nthe actions of the players determine the behavior of the evolution of the system, described as a probability distribution over the next state.\r\nWe consider the model of (finite) Perturbed Stochastic Games and provide formulas for the marginal value.\r\n\r\n4. Infinite States: \r\nthe system can be in infinitely many states.\r\nWe consider the model of Random Dynamic Games on a class of infinite graphs, prove the existence of the value, and quantify the concentration of finite-horizon values." acknowledgement: "Funding sources The works included in this thesis were partially supported by:\r\n• Austrian Science Fund (FWF), grants 10.55776/COE12 and No RiSE/SHiNE S11407,\r\n• French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), grants ANR-21-CE40-0020 (CONVERGENCE) and ANR-20-CE40-0002 (GrHyDy),\r\n• Fondation Mathématique Jaques Hadamard, grant PGMO RSG 2018-0031H,\r\n• European Research Council (ERC), Consolidator grant 863818 (ForM-SMArt),\r\n• Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID Chile), grant ACT210005,\r\n• Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (Fondecyt Chile), grant 1220174,\r\n• Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICYT Chile), grant\r\nPII 20150140,\r\n• Evaluation-orientation de la Coopération Scientifique and Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (ECOS-CONICYT), grant C15E03,\r\n• European Cooperation in Science and Technology (E-COST), grants CA16228 - European\r\nNetwork for Game Theory (GAMENET) and E-COST-GRANT-CA16228-c5a69859.\r\n" alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Raimundo J full_name: Saona Urmeneta, Raimundo J id: BD1DF4C4-D767-11E9-B658-BC13E6697425 last_name: Saona Urmeneta orcid: 0000-0001-5103-038X citation: ama: 'Saona Urmeneta RJ. Robustness of solutions in game theory : Values and strategies in partially observable, perturbed, stochastic, and infinite games. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20234' apa: 'Saona Urmeneta, R. J. (2025). Robustness of solutions in game theory : Values and strategies in partially observable, perturbed, stochastic, and infinite games. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20234' chicago: 'Saona Urmeneta, Raimundo J. “Robustness of Solutions in Game Theory : Values and Strategies in Partially Observable, Perturbed, Stochastic, and Infinite Games.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20234.' ieee: 'R. J. Saona Urmeneta, “Robustness of solutions in game theory : Values and strategies in partially observable, perturbed, stochastic, and infinite games,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' ista: 'Saona Urmeneta RJ. 2025. Robustness of solutions in game theory : Values and strategies in partially observable, perturbed, stochastic, and infinite games. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Saona Urmeneta, Raimundo J. Robustness of Solutions in Game Theory : Values and Strategies in Partially Observable, Perturbed, Stochastic, and Infinite Games. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20234.' short: 'R.J. Saona Urmeneta, Robustness of Solutions in Game Theory : Values and Strategies in Partially Observable, Perturbed, Stochastic, and Infinite Games, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-08-27T14:00:13Z date_published: 2025-08-27T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T12:31:22Z day: '27' ddc: - '519' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: KrCh doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20234 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 394a651f7de7085e509ef856ffe7bd97 content_type: application/pdf creator: rsaonaur date_created: 2025-08-28T14:47:07Z date_updated: 2025-08-28T14:47:07Z file_id: '20240' file_name: 2025_Saona_Raimundo_Thesis.pdf file_size: 1503623 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: 09fb2633e66aac80433d373f4180c5b4 content_type: application/zip creator: rsaonaur date_created: 2025-08-28T14:47:12Z date_updated: 2025-08-28T14:47:12Z file_id: '20241' file_name: 2025_Saona_Raimundo_Thesis.zip file_size: 622747 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-08-28T14:47:12Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '08' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '125' project: - _id: 25863FF4-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FWF grant_number: S11407 name: Game Theory - _id: 0599E47C-7A3F-11EA-A408-12923DDC885E call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '863818' name: 'Formal Methods for Stochastic Models: Algorithms and Applications' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '9311' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '17037' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18266' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19508' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Krishnendu full_name: Chatterjee, Krishnendu id: 2E5DCA20-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Chatterjee orcid: 0000-0002-4561-241X title: 'Robustness of solutions in game theory : Values and strategies in partially observable, perturbed, stochastic, and infinite games' type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20575' abstract: - lang: eng text: "This thesis deals with eigenvalue and eigenvector universality results for random matrix ensembles equipped with non-trivial spatial structure. We consider both mean-field models with a general variance profile (Wigner-type matrices) and correlation structure (correlated matrices) among the entries, as well as non-mean-field random band matrices with bandwidth W >> N^(1/2).\r\n\r\nTo extract the universal properties of random matrix spectra and eigenvectors, we obtain concentration estimates for their resolvent, the local laws, which generalize the celebrated Wigner semicircle law for a broad class of random matrices to much finer spectral scales. The local laws hold for both a single resolvent as well as for products of multiple resolvents, known as resolvent chains, and express the remarkable approximately-deterministic behavior of these objects down to the microscopic scale.\r\n\r\nOur primary tool for establishing the local laws is the dynamical Zigzag strategy, which we develop in the setting of spatially-inhomogeneous random matrices. Our proof method systematically addresses the challenges arising from non-trivial spatial structures and is robust to all types of singularities in the spectrum, as we demonstrate in the correlated setting. Furthermore, we incorporate the analysis of the deterministic resolvent chain approximations into the dynamical framework of the Zigzag strategy, synthesizing a unified toolkit for establishing multi-resolvent local laws.\r\n\r\nUsing these methods, we prove complete eigenvector delocalization, the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis, and Wigner-Dyson universality in the bulk for random band matrices down to the optimal bandwidth W >> N^(1/2). For mean-field ensembles, we establish universality of local eigenvalue statistics at the cups for random matrices with correlated entries, and the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis for Wigner-type matrices in the bulk of the spectrum.\r\n\r\nFinally, this thesis also contains other applications of the multi-resolvent local laws to spatially-inhomogeneous random matrices, obtained prior to the development of the Zigzag strategy. In particular, we provide a complete analysis of mesoscopic linear-eigenvalue statistics of Wigner-type matrices in all spectral regimes, including the novel cusps, and rigorously establish the prethermalization phenomenon for deformed Wigner matrices.\r\n\r\nThe main body of this thesis consists of seven research papers (listed on page xi), each presented in a separate chapter with its own introduction and all relevant context, suitable to be read independently. We ask the reader’s indulgence for the repetitions in the historical overviews and other minor redundancies that remain among the chapters as a result. The overall Introduction, preceding the chapters, provides a condensed, informal summary of the main ideas and concepts at the core of these works.\r\n" acknowledgement: "The work comprising this thesis was supported by the ERC Advanced Grant \"RMTBeyond\"\r\nNo.101020331 awarded to my advisor." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Volodymyr full_name: Riabov, Volodymyr id: 1949f904-edfb-11eb-afb5-e2dfddabb93b last_name: Riabov citation: ama: Riabov V. Universality in random matrices with spatial structure. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20575 apa: Riabov, V. (2025). Universality in random matrices with spatial structure. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20575 chicago: Riabov, Volodymyr. “Universality in Random Matrices with Spatial Structure.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20575. ieee: V. Riabov, “Universality in random matrices with spatial structure,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Riabov V. 2025. Universality in random matrices with spatial structure. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Riabov, Volodymyr. Universality in Random Matrices with Spatial Structure. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20575. short: V. Riabov, Universality in Random Matrices with Spatial Structure, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-10-29T19:12:24Z date_published: 2025-11-03T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T12:32:20Z day: '3' ddc: - '515' - '519' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: LaEr doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20575 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 6a0487b2b66bb35d44b394756d44b8b4 content_type: application/pdf creator: vriabov date_created: 2025-10-29T18:53:59Z date_updated: 2025-10-29T18:53:59Z file_id: '20577' file_name: riabov_thesis-pdfa.pdf file_size: 7536583 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: 224efda6bf9864d296a1e5e0124c1e8f content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: vriabov date_created: 2025-10-29T18:54:53Z date_updated: 2025-10-29T18:54:53Z file_id: '20578' file_name: manuscript.zip file_size: 17841612 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-10-29T18:54:53Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '11' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '436' project: - _id: 62796744-2b32-11ec-9570-940b20777f1d call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '101020331' name: Random matrices beyond Wigner-Dyson-Mehta publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-064-0 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '20322' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18764' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '13317' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19368' relation: part_of_dissertation status: deleted - id: '18554' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20576' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '17174' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19547' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19598' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: László full_name: Erdös, László id: 4DBD5372-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Erdös orcid: 0000-0001-5366-9603 title: Universality in random matrices with spatial structure tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20811' abstract: - lang: eng text: "\tThis thesis is organized into two parts, each comprising two chapters: Chapter 1 and 2 offer models for the evolution of vaccine resistance in response to diverse vaccination strategies. Chapter 3 and 4 review the statistics of records, their connection to models of innovation and an application to the cultural evolution of sports.\r\n\tIn chapter 1 we present a modelling study from 2021 on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2. At that time the vaccine-resistant Omicron variant had not yet evolved. In our model we consider a population that is becoming vaccinated over time, while a pathogen is spreading in the population and eventually becoming resistant to the vaccine. We explore effective pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent the emergence of vaccine resistance. \r\n\tIn chapter 2 we model a particular set of complex vaccination strategies, mosaic and pyramid vaccination, where an immunologically diverse portfolio of vaccines is considered. We find that a bet-hatching strategy, in which vaccine types are distributed in the population, is effective at hindering the evolution of vaccine resistance if mutation rates are high. \r\n\tIn chapter 3 we switch gears and present a review on the statistics of records. We highlight similarities and analogies to other models in the fields of statistical physics, evolution and innovation. This offers interesting complimentary perspectives on well-known models. \r\n\tIn chapter 4 we apply models of record statistics and innovation to study cultural evolution in sport. We propose a model of sport evolution that combines deterministic improvements in performance and stochastic bursts of improvements due to innovation. " alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Simon full_name: Rella, Simon id: B4765ACA-AA38-11E9-AC9A-0930E6697425 last_name: Rella citation: ama: 'Rella S. Adaptive processes in biology and culture : Models of evolving vaccine resistance and the record statistics of innovation. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20811' apa: 'Rella, S. (2025). Adaptive processes in biology and culture : Models of evolving vaccine resistance and the record statistics of innovation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20811' chicago: 'Rella, Simon. “Adaptive Processes in Biology and Culture : Models of Evolving Vaccine Resistance and the Record Statistics of Innovation.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20811.' ieee: 'S. Rella, “Adaptive processes in biology and culture : Models of evolving vaccine resistance and the record statistics of innovation,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' ista: 'Rella S. 2025. Adaptive processes in biology and culture : Models of evolving vaccine resistance and the record statistics of innovation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Rella, Simon. Adaptive Processes in Biology and Culture : Models of Evolving Vaccine Resistance and the Record Statistics of Innovation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20811.' short: 'S. Rella, Adaptive Processes in Biology and Culture : Models of Evolving Vaccine Resistance and the Record Statistics of Innovation, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-12-12T14:39:56Z date_published: 2025-12-15T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T12:34:58Z day: '15' ddc: - '616' - '576' - '614' - '519' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: GaTk - _id: FyKo doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20811 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: a0bd7a585720e60df284101b8afdf6bb content_type: application/pdf creator: srella date_created: 2025-12-16T21:49:52Z date_updated: 2025-12-16T21:49:52Z file_id: '20831' file_name: 2025_Rella_Simon_Thesis.pdf file_size: 29019662 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: open_access checksum: b8b3a90932ae1d96d307838710f46e32 content_type: application/zip creator: srella date_created: 2025-12-16T21:52:19Z date_updated: 2025-12-16T21:52:19Z file_id: '20832' file_name: 2025_Rella_Simon_Thesis_Sourcefiles.zip file_size: 42094025 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-12-16T21:52:19Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '12' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '95' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '18307' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '9905' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Gašper full_name: Tkačik, Gašper id: 3D494DCA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tkačik orcid: 0000-0002-6699-1455 - first_name: Fyodor full_name: Kondrashov, Fyodor id: 44FDEF62-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Kondrashov orcid: 0000-0001-8243-4694 title: 'Adaptive processes in biology and culture : Models of evolving vaccine resistance and the record statistics of innovation' tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '19540' abstract: - lang: eng text: "This thesis deals with several different models for complex quantum mechanical systems and is structured in three main parts. \r\n\t\r\nIn Part I, we study mean field random matrices as models for quantum Hamiltonians. Our focus lies on proving concentration estimates for resolvents of random matrices, so-called local laws, mostly in the setting of multiple resolvents. These estimates have profound consequences for eigenvector overlaps and thermalization problems. More concretely, we obtain, e.g., the optimal eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) uniformly in the spectrum for Wigner matrices, an optimal lower bound on non-Hermitian eigenvector overlaps, and prethermalization for deformed Wigner matrices.\tIn order to prove our novel multi-resolvent local laws, we develop and devise two main methods, the static Psi-method and the dynamical Zigzag strategy. \r\n\t\r\nIn Part II, we study Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, the standard mean field microscopic theory of superconductivity. We focus on asymptotic formulas for the characteristic critical temperature and energy gap of a superconductor and prove universality of their ratio in various physical regimes. Additionally, we investigate multi-band superconductors and show that inter-band coupling effects can only enhance the critical temperature. \r\n\t\r\nIn Part III, we study quantum lattice systems. On the one hand, we show a strong version of the local-perturbations-perturb-locally (LPPL) principle for the ground state of weakly interacting quantum spin systems with a uniform on-site gap. On the other hand, we introduce a notion of a local gap and rigorously justify response theory and the Kubo formula under the weakened assumption of a local gap. \r\n\t\r\nAdditionally, we discuss two classes of problems which do not fit into the three main parts of the thesis. These are deformational rigidity of Liouville metrics on the torus and relativistic toy models of particle creation via interior-boundary-conditions (IBCs). " alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Sven Joscha full_name: Henheik, Sven Joscha id: 31d731d7-d235-11ea-ad11-b50331c8d7fb last_name: Henheik orcid: 0000-0003-1106-327X citation: ama: 'Henheik SJ. Modeling complex quantum systems : Random matrices, BCS theory, and quantum lattice systems. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19540' apa: 'Henheik, S. J. (2025). Modeling complex quantum systems : Random matrices, BCS theory, and quantum lattice systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19540' chicago: 'Henheik, Sven Joscha. “Modeling Complex Quantum Systems : Random Matrices, BCS Theory, and Quantum Lattice Systems.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19540.' ieee: 'S. J. Henheik, “Modeling complex quantum systems : Random matrices, BCS theory, and quantum lattice systems,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' ista: 'Henheik SJ. 2025. Modeling complex quantum systems : Random matrices, BCS theory, and quantum lattice systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Henheik, Sven Joscha. Modeling Complex Quantum Systems : Random Matrices, BCS Theory, and Quantum Lattice Systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19540.' short: 'S.J. Henheik, Modeling Complex Quantum Systems : Random Matrices, BCS Theory, and Quantum Lattice Systems, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-04-10T21:21:18Z date_published: 2025-04-10T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T12:37:12Z day: '10' ddc: - '519' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: LaEr doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-19540 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: b8477ae5578436c72c3bb4193ad34ac5 content_type: application/zip creator: shenheik date_created: 2025-04-10T21:14:18Z date_updated: 2025-04-10T21:14:18Z file_id: '19542' file_name: Henheik-Thesis_source_final.zip file_size: 4107587 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: e9fc0ea12ec46c9f71110c33217c4140 content_type: application/pdf creator: shenheik date_created: 2025-04-11T13:16:05Z date_updated: 2025-04-11T13:16:05Z file_id: '19553' file_name: Henheik-Thesis-pdfa_FINAL.pdf file_size: 9999492 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: f94580f86c785e7108eb116cd189e225 content_type: application/pdf creator: cchlebak date_created: 2025-04-23T14:10:27Z date_updated: 2025-04-23T14:10:27Z file_id: '19615' file_name: Henheik-Thesis-Volume1_print.pdf file_size: 13276442 relation: other - access_level: closed checksum: b927ead3c78020ffb32918911deedb74 content_type: application/pdf creator: cchlebak date_created: 2025-04-23T14:11:05Z date_updated: 2025-04-23T14:11:05Z file_id: '19616' file_name: Henheik-Thesis-Volume2_print.pdf file_size: 7628767 relation: other file_date_updated: 2025-04-23T14:11:05Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '720' project: - _id: 62796744-2b32-11ec-9570-940b20777f1d call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '101020331' name: Random matrices beyond Wigner-Dyson-Mehta publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-057-2 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '14343' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18656' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '13317' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '11732' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '12184' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '14421' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '10623' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18112' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19001' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '10642' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19545' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19546' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19550' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19551' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19552' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '14542' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '17049' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18764' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19547' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19548' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: László full_name: Erdös, László id: 4DBD5372-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Erdös orcid: 0000-0001-5366-9603 title: 'Modeling complex quantum systems : Random matrices, BCS theory, and quantum lattice systems' tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20212' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: PreCl acknowledgement: "I would also like to\r\nthank the Austrian Academy of Sciences for awarding me a 2-year DOC fellowship\r\n(DOC26253)." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Osvaldo full_name: Miranda, Osvaldo id: 862A3C56-A8BF-11E9-B4FA-D9E3E5697425 last_name: Miranda orcid: 0000-0001-6618-6889 citation: ama: Miranda O. Unraveling the role of Pten in cortical stem cell lineage progression using MADM. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20212 apa: Miranda, O. (2025). Unraveling the role of Pten in cortical stem cell lineage progression using MADM. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20212 chicago: Miranda, Osvaldo. “Unraveling the Role of Pten in Cortical Stem Cell Lineage Progression Using MADM.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20212. ieee: O. Miranda, “Unraveling the role of Pten in cortical stem cell lineage progression using MADM,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Miranda O. 2025. Unraveling the role of Pten in cortical stem cell lineage progression using MADM. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Miranda, Osvaldo. Unraveling the Role of Pten in Cortical Stem Cell Lineage Progression Using MADM. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20212. short: O. Miranda, Unraveling the Role of Pten in Cortical Stem Cell Lineage Progression Using MADM, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-08-22T14:07:00Z date_published: 2025-08-22T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-14T08:16:57Z day: '22' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: SiHi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20212 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 3331f76bbef74ff4908e2d2c9262045c content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: omiranda date_created: 2025-08-26T09:03:50Z date_updated: 2025-08-26T09:03:50Z file_id: '20230' file_name: 2025_MirandaRomero_OsvaldoAntonio_Thesis.docx file_size: 32887334 relation: source_file - access_level: closed checksum: 02509d50cff8e35c5bcbf71e8d658176 content_type: application/pdf creator: omiranda date_created: 2025-08-26T09:05:55Z date_updated: 2025-08-26T10:43:30Z embargo: 2026-08-26 embargo_to: open_access file_id: '20231' file_name: 2025_MirandaRomero_OsvaldoAntonio_Thesis.pdf file_size: 28636240 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-08-26T10:43:30Z has_accepted_license: '1' keyword: - Pten - mtor - cortical development - MADM - Mapk language: - iso: eng month: '08' oa_version: Published Version page: '119' project: - _id: 34c9fbcb-11ca-11ed-8bc3-98fa5658610d grant_number: '26253' name: Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Cortical Neural Stem Cell Lineage Progression and Astrocyte Development publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-063-3 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '17425' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Simon full_name: Hippenmeyer, Simon id: 37B36620-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Hippenmeyer orcid: 0000-0003-2279-1061 title: Unraveling the role of Pten in cortical stem cell lineage progression using MADM type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20737' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: PreCl acknowledgement: "I also want to thank ISTA and the Austrian Science Fund FWF SFB F78 (F7805) for financially\r\nsupporting my research." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Raquel full_name: Casado Polanco, Raquel id: 15240fc1-dbcd-11ea-9d1d-ac5a786425fd last_name: Casado Polanco orcid: 0000-0001-8293-4568 citation: ama: Casado Polanco R. Role of NOTCH signaling in radial glial progenitor lineage progression. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20737 apa: Casado Polanco, R. (2025). Role of NOTCH signaling in radial glial progenitor lineage progression. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20737 chicago: Casado Polanco, Raquel. “Role of NOTCH Signaling in Radial Glial Progenitor Lineage Progression.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20737. ieee: R. Casado Polanco, “Role of NOTCH signaling in radial glial progenitor lineage progression,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Casado Polanco R. 2025. Role of NOTCH signaling in radial glial progenitor lineage progression. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Casado Polanco, Raquel. Role of NOTCH Signaling in Radial Glial Progenitor Lineage Progression. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20737. short: R. Casado Polanco, Role of NOTCH Signaling in Radial Glial Progenitor Lineage Progression, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-12-09T09:04:18Z date_published: 2025-12-09T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-14T08:16:58Z day: '09' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: SiHi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20737 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 71e0fdf4619b0d70d03657ad7348137d content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: rcasadop date_created: 2025-12-11T09:28:09Z date_updated: 2025-12-11T11:18:37Z file_id: '20793' file_name: 2025_CasadoPolanco_Raquel_Thesis.docx file_size: 78207207 relation: source_file - access_level: closed checksum: 58cf2f25c33567723bc754a019c3e396 content_type: application/pdf creator: rcasadop date_created: 2025-12-11T09:28:04Z date_updated: 2025-12-11T09:28:04Z embargo: 2026-12-01 embargo_to: open_access file_id: '20794' file_name: 2025_CasadoPolanco_Raquel_Thesis.pdf file_size: 6261874 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-12-11T11:18:37Z has_accepted_license: '1' keyword: - NOTCH - radial glial progenitor - lineage progression - cortical development language: - iso: eng month: '12' oa_version: Published Version page: '133' project: - _id: 059F6AB4-7A3F-11EA-A408-12923DDC885E grant_number: F7805 name: Stem Cell Modulation in Neural Development and Regeneration/ P05-Molecular Mechanisms of Neural Stem Cell Lineage Progression publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-072-5 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Simon full_name: Hippenmeyer, Simon id: 37B36620-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Hippenmeyer orcid: 0000-0003-2279-1061 title: Role of NOTCH signaling in radial glial progenitor lineage progression type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '19557' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: PreCl - _id: ScienComp acknowledgement: "The work presented in this doctoral thesis was performed at the Institute of Science\r\nand Technology (ISTA) and financially supported by a European Research Council\r\n(ERC) Consolidator Grant (PR1028ERC02), by SFARI (PR1028SIM02) and by the\r\nAustrian Science Fund (FWF) to Gaia Novarino (PE1028W1232). I am very thankful\r\nto the Doctoral Program “Molecular Drug Targets” (MolTag) for offering me financial\r\nsupport to perform essential experiments during my PhD studies and to participate in\r\ninternational conferences and courses." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Lena A full_name: Schwarz, Lena A id: 29A8453C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Schwarz citation: ama: Schwarz LA. Mapping developmental dynamics of autism spectrum disorder mouse models at single-cell resolution. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19557 apa: Schwarz, L. A. (2025). Mapping developmental dynamics of autism spectrum disorder mouse models at single-cell resolution. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19557 chicago: Schwarz, Lena A. “Mapping Developmental Dynamics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Mouse Models at Single-Cell Resolution.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19557. ieee: L. A. Schwarz, “Mapping developmental dynamics of autism spectrum disorder mouse models at single-cell resolution,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Schwarz LA. 2025. Mapping developmental dynamics of autism spectrum disorder mouse models at single-cell resolution. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Schwarz, Lena A. Mapping Developmental Dynamics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Mouse Models at Single-Cell Resolution. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19557. short: L.A. Schwarz, Mapping Developmental Dynamics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Mouse Models at Single-Cell Resolution, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-04-14T06:59:06Z date_published: 2025-04-14T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-14T09:07:14Z day: '14' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: GaNo doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-19557 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 50290a8604edb0a720387f01e9d59fe4 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: lschwarz date_created: 2025-04-15T08:43:36Z date_updated: 2025-04-15T08:43:36Z file_id: '19561' file_name: Schwarz_Thesis_2025_FINAL.docx file_size: 21783427 relation: source_file - access_level: closed checksum: ed028488180ac4901e018ef1c330cf01 content_type: application/pdf creator: lschwarz date_created: 2025-04-15T08:43:42Z date_updated: 2026-03-27T13:15:08Z embargo: 2026-10-15 embargo_to: open_access file_id: '19562' file_name: Schwarz_Thesis_2025_FINALpdfa.pdf file_size: 11432175 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2026-03-27T13:15:08Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa_version: Published Version page: '124' project: - _id: 9B91375C-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A grant_number: '707964' name: Critical windows and reversibility of ASD associated with mutations in chromatin remodelers - _id: 34ba8964-11ca-11ed-8bc3-e15864e7e9a6 grant_number: '101044865' name: Toward an understanding of the brain interstitial system and the extracellular proteome in health and autism spectrum disorders - _id: 2548AE96-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FWF grant_number: W1232 name: Molecular Drug Targets publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12802' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '9429' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Gaia full_name: Novarino, Gaia id: 3E57A680-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Novarino orcid: 0000-0002-7673-7178 title: Mapping developmental dynamics of autism spectrum disorder mouse models at single-cell resolution tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20393' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: PreCl - _id: LifeSc alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Kasumi full_name: Kishi, Kasumi id: 3065DFC4-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Kishi orcid: 0000-0001-6060-4795 citation: ama: Kishi K. Regulation of notochord and floor plate size during mouse development. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20393 apa: Kishi, K. (2025). Regulation of notochord and floor plate size during mouse development. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20393 chicago: Kishi, Kasumi. “Regulation of Notochord and Floor Plate Size during Mouse Development.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20393. ieee: K. Kishi, “Regulation of notochord and floor plate size during mouse development,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Kishi K. 2025. Regulation of notochord and floor plate size during mouse development. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Kishi, Kasumi. Regulation of Notochord and Floor Plate Size during Mouse Development. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20393. short: K. Kishi, Regulation of Notochord and Floor Plate Size during Mouse Development, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-09-25T10:08:10Z date_published: 2025-09-24T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-14T09:50:52Z day: '24' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: AnKi - _id: EdHa doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20393 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 6bb5a7ce318dc3f7bd165f2523e77b89 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: kkishi date_created: 2025-09-30T14:33:17Z date_updated: 2025-10-01T11:54:41Z file_id: '20413' file_name: 2025-Kishi-Kasumi-Thesis.zip file_size: 41847994 relation: source_file - access_level: closed checksum: 88349b9177e1dcbe1242cd3884b36fdb content_type: application/pdf creator: kkishi date_created: 2025-09-30T14:33:22Z date_updated: 2025-10-02T07:51:21Z embargo: 2026-09-30 embargo_to: open_access file_id: '20414' file_name: 2025-Kishi-Kasumi-Thesis.pdf file_size: 55747072 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-10-02T07:51:21Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '09' oa_version: Published Version page: '102' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '18481' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Anna full_name: Kicheva, Anna id: 3959A2A0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Kicheva orcid: 0000-0003-4509-4998 - first_name: Edouard B full_name: Hannezo, Edouard B id: 3A9DB764-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Hannezo orcid: 0000-0001-6005-1561 title: Regulation of notochord and floor plate size during mouse development tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '19630' abstract: - lang: eng text: "This thesis consists of three chapters, each corresponding to one publication. While each of these projects tackles a topic in a different area of research, they all share a common thread in the type of topological structure they handle - a partition of space into volumes separated by interfaces that meet in non-manifold junctions.\r\n\r\nIn Chapter 2, we study clusters of soap bubbles from a simulation perspective. In particular, we develop a surface-only algorithm that couples large scale motion and shape deformation of soap bubble clusters with the small scale evolution of the thin film's thickness, which is responsible for visual phenomena like surface vortices, Newton's interference patterns, capillary waves, and deformation-dependent rupturing of films in a foam. We model film thickness as a reduced degree of freedom in the Navier-Stokes equations and from them derive three sets of equations governing normal and tangential motion of the soap film surface, as well as the evolution of the thin film thickness. We discretize these equations on a non-manifold triangle mesh, extending and adapting operators to handle complex topology. We also present an incompressible fluid solver for 2.5D films and an advection algorithm for convecting fields across non-manifold surface junctions. Our simulations enhance bubble solvers with additional effects caused by convection, rippling, draining, and evaporation of the thin film.\r\n\r\nIn Chapter 3, we introduce a multi-material non-manifold mesh-based surface tracking algorithm that converts mesh defects, such as overlaps, self-intersections, and inversions into topological changes. Our algorithm generalizes prior work on manifold surface tracking with topological changes: it preserves surface features like mesh-based methods, and it robustly handles topological changes like level set methods. Our method also offers improved efficiency and robustness over the state of the art. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach on a range of examples, including complex soap film simulations, such as those presented in Chapter 2, but with an order of magnitude more interacting bubbles than what we could achieve before, and Boolean unions of non-manifold meshes consisting of millions of triangles.\r\n\r\nLastly, in Chapter 4, we utilize developments in the theory of random geometric complexes facilitated by observations from Discrete Morse theory. We survey the methods and results obtained with this new approach, and discuss some of its shortcomings. We use simulations to illustrate the results and to form conjectures, getting numerical estimates for combinatorial, topological, and geometric properties of weighted and unweighted Delaunay mosaics, their dual Voronoi tessellations, and the Alpha and Wrap complexes contained in the mosaics." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: ScienComp acknowledgement: The project in Chapter 2 has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 638176. The project in Chapter 3 was funded in part by the European Union (ERC-2021-COG 101045083 CoDiNA). The project in Chapter 4 has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreements No 78818 Alpha and No 638176). It was also partially supported by the DFG Collaborative Research Center TRR 109, 'Discretization in Geometry and Dynamics', through grant no. I02979-N35 of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Thank you for providing funds to support my work. alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Peter full_name: Synak, Peter id: 331776E2-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Synak citation: ama: Synak P. Methods for fluid simulation, surface tracking, and statistics of non-manifold structures. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19630 apa: Synak, P. (2025). Methods for fluid simulation, surface tracking, and statistics of non-manifold structures. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19630 chicago: Synak, Peter. “Methods for Fluid Simulation, Surface Tracking, and Statistics of Non-Manifold Structures.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19630. ieee: P. Synak, “Methods for fluid simulation, surface tracking, and statistics of non-manifold structures,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Synak P. 2025. Methods for fluid simulation, surface tracking, and statistics of non-manifold structures. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Synak, Peter. Methods for Fluid Simulation, Surface Tracking, and Statistics of Non-Manifold Structures. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19630. short: P. Synak, Methods for Fluid Simulation, Surface Tracking, and Statistics of Non-Manifold Structures, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-04-29T09:39:34Z date_published: 2025-04-29T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-16T08:29:34Z day: '29' ddc: - '519' - '006' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: ChWo - _id: GradSch doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-19630 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: f00b519c27529daa0c3b2d4102b4fa7b content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: cchlebak date_created: 2025-04-30T14:02:25Z date_updated: 2025-04-30T14:02:25Z file_id: '19633' file_name: Thesis_source_Heiss_Synak.zip file_size: 60670543 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 6e40a2fd3b1b881af1385670854a682e content_type: application/pdf creator: cchlebak date_created: 2025-04-30T14:02:42Z date_updated: 2025-04-30T15:49:16Z file_id: '19634' file_name: Thesis_PDFA_Heiss_Synak.pdf file_size: 21319043 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-04-30T15:49:16Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '106' project: - _id: 2533E772-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '638176' name: 'Big Splash: Efficient Simulation of Natural Phenomena at Extremely Large Scales' - _id: 34bc2376-11ca-11ed-8bc3-9a3b3961a088 grant_number: '101045083' name: Computational Discovery of Numerical Algorithms for Animation and Simulation of Natural Phenomena - _id: 266A2E9E-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '788183' name: Alpha Shape Theory Extended - _id: 2533E772-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '638176' name: 'Big Splash: Efficient Simulation of Natural Phenomena at Extremely Large Scales' - _id: 2561EBF4-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FWF grant_number: I02979-N35 name: Persistence and stability of geometric complexes publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '8135' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '17219' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '8384' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Christopher J full_name: Wojtan, Christopher J id: 3C61F1D2-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Wojtan orcid: 0000-0001-6646-5546 title: Methods for fluid simulation, surface tracking, and statistics of non-manifold structures type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20920' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) introduced by Boneh et al. (CRYPTO'18) are functions that require a prescribed number of sequential steps T to evaluate, yet their output can be verified in time much faster than T. Since their introduction, VDFs have gained a lot of attention due to their applications in blockchain protocols, randomness beacons, timestamping and deniability. This thesis explores the theory and applications of VDFs, focusing on enhancing their soundness, efficiency and practicality.\r\n\r\nThe only practical VDFs known to date are based on repeated squaring in hidden order groups. Consider the function VDF(x,T)=x^(2^T).\r\nThe iterated squaring assumption states that, for a random group element x, the result of VDF cannot be computed significantly faster than performing T sequential squarings if the group order is unknown. To make the result verifiable a prover can compute a proof of exponentiation (PoE) \\pi. Given \\pi, the output of VDF can be verified in time much less than T.\r\n\r\nWe first present new constructions of statistically sound proofs of exponentiation, which are an important building block in the construction of SNARKs (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge). Statistical soundness means that the proofs remain secure against computationally unbounded adversaries, in particular, it remains secure even when the group order is known. We thereby address limitations in previous PoE protocols which either required (non-standard) hardness assumptions or a lot of parallel repetitions. Our construction significantly reduces the proof size of statistically sound PoEs that allow for a structured exponent, which leads to better efficiency of SNARKs and other applications.\r\n\r\nSecondly, we introduce improved batching techniques for PoEs, which allow multiple proofs to be aggregated and verified with minimal overhead. These protocols optimize communication and computation complexity in large-scale blockchain environments and enable scalable remote benchmarking of parallel computation resources.\r\n\r\nWe then construct VDFs with enhanced properties such as zero-knowledge and watermarkability. It was shown by Arun, Bonneau and Clark (ASIACRYPT'22) that these features enable new cryptographic primitives called short-lived proofs and signatures. The validity of such proofs and signatures expires after a predefined amount of time T, i.e., they are deniable after time T. Our constructions improve upon the constructions by Arun, Bonneau and Clark in several dimensions (faster forging times, arguably weaker assumptions).\r\n\r\nFinally, we apply PoEs in the realm of primality testing, providing cryptographically sound proofs of non-primality for large Proth numbers. This work gives a surprising application of VDFs in the area of computational number theory.\r\n\r\nTogether, our contributions advance both the theoretical foundations and the real-world usability of VDFs in general and in particular of PoEs, making them more adaptable and secure for current and emerging cryptographic applications." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Charlotte full_name: Hoffmann, Charlotte id: 0f78d746-dc7d-11ea-9b2f-83f92091afe7 last_name: Hoffmann orcid: 0000-0003-2027-5549 citation: ama: Hoffmann C. Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20920 apa: Hoffmann, C. (2025). Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20920 chicago: Hoffmann, Charlotte. “Theory and Applications of Verifiable Delay Functions.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20920. ieee: C. Hoffmann, “Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Hoffmann C. 2025. Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Hoffmann, Charlotte. Theory and Applications of Verifiable Delay Functions. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20920. short: C. Hoffmann, Theory and Applications of Verifiable Delay Functions, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2026-01-02T10:46:47Z date_published: 2025-12-31T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-16T09:11:08Z day: '31' ddc: - '004' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: KrPi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20920 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 8a099fbf54963bd0be38f7ce73658682 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: choffman date_created: 2026-01-02T10:39:16Z date_updated: 2026-01-02T10:39:16Z file_id: '20921' file_name: 2025_Hoffmann_Charlotte_Source.zip file_size: 8355494 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 9521c07bfb2bb5b14a49c09fcfc96474 content_type: application/pdf creator: choffman date_created: 2026-01-02T10:39:26Z date_updated: 2026-01-02T10:39:26Z file_id: '20922' file_name: 2025_Hoffmann_Charlotte_Thesis.pdf file_size: 2258804 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2026-01-02T10:39:26Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '12' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '116' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '13143' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20701' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '12176' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20556' relation: earlier_version status: public - id: '19778' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Krzysztof Z full_name: Pietrzak, Krzysztof Z id: 3E04A7AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Pietrzak orcid: 0000-0002-9139-1654 title: Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc_sa.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) short: CC BY-NC-SA (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20556' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) introduced by Boneh et al. (CRYPTO'18) are functions that require a prescribed number of sequential steps T to evaluate, yet their output can be verified in time much faster than T. Since their introduction, VDFs have gained a lot of attention due to their applications in blockchain protocols, randomness beacons, timestamping and deniability. This thesis explores the theory and applications of VDFs, focusing on enhancing their soundness, efficiency and practicality.\r\n\r\nThe only practical VDFs known to date are based on repeated squaring in hidden order groups. Consider the function VDF(x,T)=x^(2^T).\r\nThe iterated squaring assumption states that, for a random group element x, the result of VDF cannot be computed significantly faster than performing T sequential squarings if the group order is unknown. To make the result verifiable a prover can compute a proof of exponentiation (PoE) \\pi. Given \\pi, the output of VDF can be verified in time much less than T.\r\n\r\nWe first present new constructions of statistically sound proofs of exponentiation, which are an important building block in the construction of SNARKs (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge). Statistical soundness means that the proofs remain secure against computationally unbounded adversaries, in particular, it remains secure even when the group order is known. We thereby address limitations in previous PoE protocols which either required (non-standard) hardness assumptions or a lot of parallel repetitions. Our construction significantly reduces the proof size of statistically sound PoEs that allow for a structured exponent, which leads to better efficiency of SNARKs and other applications.\r\n\r\nSecondly, we introduce improved batching techniques for PoEs, which allow multiple proofs to be aggregated and verified with minimal overhead. These protocols optimize communication and computation complexity in large-scale blockchain environments and enable scalable remote benchmarking of parallel computation resources.\r\n\r\nWe then construct VDFs with enhanced properties such as zero-knowledge and watermarkability. It was shown by Arun, Bonneau and Clark (ASIACRYPT'22) that these features enable new cryptographic primitives called short-lived proofs and signatures. The validity of such proofs and signatures expires after a predefined amount of time T, i.e., they are deniable after time T. Our constructions improve upon the constructions by Arun, Bonneau and Clark in several dimensions (faster forging times, arguably weaker assumptions).\r\n\r\nFinally, we apply PoEs in the realm of primality testing, providing cryptographically sound proofs of non-primality for large Proth numbers. This work gives a surprising application of VDFs in the area of computational number theory.\r\n\r\nTogether, our contributions advance both the theoretical foundations and the real-world usability of VDFs in general and in particular of PoEs, making them more adaptable and secure for current and emerging cryptographic applications." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Charlotte full_name: Hoffmann, Charlotte id: 0f78d746-dc7d-11ea-9b2f-83f92091afe7 last_name: Hoffmann orcid: 0000-0003-2027-5549 citation: ama: Hoffmann C. Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20556 apa: Hoffmann, C. (2025). Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20556 chicago: Hoffmann, Charlotte. “Theory and Applications of Verifiable Delay Functions.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20556. ieee: C. Hoffmann, “Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Hoffmann C. 2025. Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Hoffmann, Charlotte. Theory and Applications of Verifiable Delay Functions. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20556. short: C. Hoffmann, Theory and Applications of Verifiable Delay Functions, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-10-27T14:16:56Z date_published: 2025-10-31T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-16T09:11:09Z day: '31' ddc: - '004' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: KrPi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20556 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 1fffa4e2c33dd0b9f883d615504a2858 content_type: application/pdf creator: choffman date_created: 2025-10-28T14:33:03Z date_updated: 2026-01-08T14:11:39Z file_id: '20573' file_name: 2025_Hoffmann_Charlotte_Thesis.pdf file_size: 2259304 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: 076ea98a1f0a86c3bbc990b6b9460dc2 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: choffman date_created: 2025-10-28T14:35:06Z date_updated: 2025-11-11T09:34:54Z file_id: '20574' file_name: 2025_Hoffmann_Charlotte_Source.zip file_size: 9987633 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2026-01-08T14:11:39Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '10' oa_version: Published Version page: '116' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '13143' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '12176' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20701' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20920' relation: later_version status: public - id: '19778' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Krzysztof Z full_name: Pietrzak, Krzysztof Z id: 3E04A7AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Pietrzak orcid: 0000-0002-9139-1654 title: Theory and applications of verifiable delay functions tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc_sa.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) short: CC BY-NC-SA (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '19048' abstract: - lang: eng text: 'Rotations are found in physics problems at all scales: from spatial motion of celestial bodies, to transitions between quantum states of atoms and molecules. Mathematically, they represent a fundamental class of transformations and symmetries. Unlike spatial displacements, rotational transformations in three-dimensional space are non-commutative: the result of applying a sequence of rotations depends on the order of these operations. This feature makes the emergent physics that involves rotations rather intricate, but instrumental for studies of highly-interconnected many-body systems. In the presence of an environment, rotational properties of an object change, due to the interaction with particles of the environment. Owing to the complexity of this interaction, it can be engineered to exhibit certain properties of interest. In this Thesis, we examine several scenarios of how the rotational behavior of an impurity can be modified by interactions with its environment.' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: CampIT - _id: E-Lib - _id: SSU acknowledgement: "I am grateful to the European Research Council (ERC) [10.3030/801770] and Austrian\r\nScience Fund (FWF) [10.55776/F1004] for funding my research and to the Physical\r\nReview journals for publishing it. I also want to thank the VCQ (previously CoQuS) and\r\nIQOQI for organizing wonderful networking events for the physics community in Vienna\r\nand Innsbruck, respectively. Moreover, I thank Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for the\r\ncontinuous support for quantum research." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Mikhail full_name: Maslov, Mikhail id: 2E65BB0E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Maslov orcid: 0000-0003-4074-2570 citation: ama: Maslov M. Emergent physics of rotating quantum impurities in many-body environments. 2025. doi:10.15479/at:ista:19048 apa: Maslov, M. (2025). Emergent physics of rotating quantum impurities in many-body environments. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:19048 chicago: Maslov, Mikhail. “Emergent Physics of Rotating Quantum Impurities in Many-Body Environments.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:19048. ieee: M. Maslov, “Emergent physics of rotating quantum impurities in many-body environments,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Maslov M. 2025. Emergent physics of rotating quantum impurities in many-body environments. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Maslov, Mikhail. Emergent Physics of Rotating Quantum Impurities in Many-Body Environments. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/at:ista:19048. short: M. Maslov, Emergent Physics of Rotating Quantum Impurities in Many-Body Environments, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-02-18T01:41:27Z date_published: 2025-02-18T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-16T12:20:38Z day: '18' ddc: - '539' - '535' - '541' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MiLe doi: 10.15479/at:ista:19048 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 5822a4dd31724c512b37c658af1787ab content_type: application/pdf creator: mmaslov date_created: 2025-02-18T14:25:59Z date_updated: 2025-02-18T14:25:59Z file_id: '19061' file_name: thesis_Maslov.pdf file_size: 7779825 relation: main_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 89bdce4774406d26ceca88a8bbcd6a9a content_type: application/zip creator: mmaslov date_created: 2025-02-18T14:25:59Z date_updated: 2025-02-18T14:25:59Z file_id: '19062' file_name: thesis_Maslov_source.zip file_size: 14453726 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-02-18T14:25:59Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '02' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '86' project: - _id: 2688CF98-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '801770' name: 'Angulon: physics and applications of a new quasiparticle' - _id: 7c040762-9f16-11ee-852c-dd79eeee4ab3 grant_number: F100403 name: Coherent Optical Metrology Beyond Electric-Dipole-Allowed Transitions publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '10845' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '7933' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18087' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Mikhail full_name: Lemeshko, Mikhail id: 37CB05FA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Lemeshko orcid: 0000-0002-6990-7802 title: Emergent physics of rotating quantum impurities in many-body environments tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc_sa.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) short: CC BY-NC-SA (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20149' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Immune responses depend on the coordinated and efficient migration of leukocytes. These\r\ncells, which are embedded and tightly confined within tissues, must navigate and traverse\r\ndiverse and complex three-dimensional environments. Leukocytes adapt their locomotory\r\nbehavior to the mechanical, geometrical, and biochemical characteristics of their\r\nsurroundings. In low-density environments, where the pore size of the interstitial matrix\r\nallows free passage, these cells position the nucleus directly behind the lamellipodium, the\r\nprotrusive actin structure that forms the leading front of the cell. In this configuration, they\r\nuse the nucleus as a gauge to identify the path of least resistance.\r\nHere, we show that in high-density environments, where the pore size precludes free passage\r\nof the cell body, leukocytes reposition the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) and\r\nassociated organelles in front of the nucleus. In this configuration, they use actin structures\r\nprotruding orthogonally to the direction of migration in order to open a path for the cell body.\r\nWe identify two distinct actin populations that serve this purpose at different subcellular\r\nlocalizations. At the leading edge, local indentation of the plasma membrane leads to\r\nrecruitment of the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp), which, via Arp2/3, results in\r\nthe formation of individual actin foci. At the cell body, actin polymerization is triggered by\r\nDOCK8, a Cdc42 exchange factor, resulting in the formation of a central actin pool.\r\nWe demonstrate that the central and peripheral actin pools are functionally communicating\r\nand that depletion of the central actin pool leads to increased actin accumulation at the cell\r\nfront, resulting in excessive extension of the leading edge." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: LifeSc - _id: M-Shop - _id: NanoFab acknowledgement: "I would like to acknowledge the\r\nfinancial support of the European Research Council through the ERC-SyG grant “Pushing from\r\nwithin: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces”\r\n(01071793), which made this research possible. " alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Patricia full_name: Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia id: 26E95904-5160-11E9-9C0B-C5B0DC97E90F last_name: Dos Reis Rodrigues orcid: 0000-0003-1681-508X citation: ama: Dos Reis Rodrigues P. Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration . 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149 apa: Dos Reis Rodrigues, P. (2025). Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration . Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149 chicago: Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia. “Coordination of Protrusive Forces in Immune Cell Migration .” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149. ieee: P. Dos Reis Rodrigues, “Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration ,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Dos Reis Rodrigues P. 2025. Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration . Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia. Coordination of Protrusive Forces in Immune Cell Migration . Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149. short: P. Dos Reis Rodrigues, Coordination of Protrusive Forces in Immune Cell Migration , Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-08-08T09:18:02Z date_published: 2025-08-08T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-28T13:26:50Z day: '08' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MiSi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: fda8a1070667c3562263f4867609b41b content_type: application/pdf creator: prodrigu date_created: 2025-08-27T12:59:10Z date_updated: 2025-08-27T12:59:10Z file_id: '20232' file_name: 2025_ReisRodrigues_Patricia_Thesis.pdf file_size: 63885565 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: e8b65affcbce846a926454df4b2867b9 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: prodrigu date_created: 2025-08-27T13:00:30Z date_updated: 2025-08-27T13:02:28Z file_id: '20233' file_name: 2025_ReisRodrigues_Patricia_Thesis.docx file_size: 50483434 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-08-27T13:02:28Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '08' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '114' project: - _id: bd91e723-d553-11ed-ba76-fe7eeb2185fd grant_number: '101071793' name: 'Pushing from within: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '10703' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20082' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Michael K full_name: Sixt, Michael K id: 41E9FBEA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Sixt orcid: 0000-0002-6620-9179 title: 'Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration ' tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20203' abstract: - lang: eng text: Tribocharging, or contact electrification, is the phenomenon in which two initially neutral materials exchange electric charge through contact and subsequent separation. While it is widely observed in everyday life and crucial to numerous natural processes, even the most basic aspects of tribocharging are still a mystery—what are the charge carriers involved and what drives their exchange? This work spans three separate projects that address different aspects of tribocharging. First, we introduce a novel strategy combining Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations with Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) to quantitatively extract surface charge density from surface voltage maps. Second, we present a simple theoretical model that allows for the existence of triboelectric cycles, under the assumption that multiple charge carrying species are involved. Third, we present experimental evidence that identical materials can spontaneously evolve into a triboelectric series, driven by contact history. Modeling this behavior enables the replication of experimental results with simulations, and even experimentally forcing the appearance of a pre-designed series by manipulating contact history. Together, the findings from these projects challenge traditional views on tribocharging, provide new tools for probing it, and open up new avenues of research—all with the hopes of bringing us closer to understanding this puzzling phenomenon. acknowledged_ssus: - _id: M-Shop - _id: NanoFab - _id: EM-Fac - _id: LifeSc - _id: ScienComp acknowledgement: "The project in Chapter 2 has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under\r\nthe European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement\r\nNo. 949120).\r\nThe project in Chapter 3 has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under\r\nthe European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement\r\nNo. 949120).\r\nThe project in Chapter 4 has received financing from the European Research Council grant\r\nagreement No. 949120 under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation\r\nprogramme. The Analytical Instrumentation Center of the TU Wien acknowledges support by\r\nthe FFG project ‘ELSA’ under grant no. 884672. C.M.P. and M.O. acknowledge the state\r\nof Lower Austria and the European Regional Development Fund under grant no. WST3-F542638/004-2021.\r\n" alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Juan Carlos A full_name: Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A id: 4B807D68-AE37-11E9-AC72-31CAE5697425 last_name: Sobarzo Ponce citation: ama: 'Sobarzo Ponce JCA. Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203' apa: 'Sobarzo Ponce, J. C. A. (2025). Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203' chicago: 'Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A. “Tribocharging of Identical Insulators : Triboelectric Series, Triboelectric Cycles and Surface Charges.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203.' ieee: 'J. C. A. Sobarzo Ponce, “Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' ista: 'Sobarzo Ponce JCA. 2025. Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A. Tribocharging of Identical Insulators : Triboelectric Series, Triboelectric Cycles and Surface Charges. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203.' short: 'J.C.A. Sobarzo Ponce, Tribocharging of Identical Insulators : Triboelectric Series, Triboelectric Cycles and Surface Charges, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-08-21T11:42:59Z date_published: 2025-08-27T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-28T13:44:56Z day: '27' ddc: - '530' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: ScWa doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 661b9d3786cfc985be811befc3262bf5 content_type: application/pdf creator: jsobarzo date_created: 2025-08-27T14:50:32Z date_updated: 2025-08-27T14:50:32Z file_id: '20237' file_name: 2025_Sobarzo_JuanCarlos_Thesis.pdf file_size: 12667200 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: ca2f24e6c3b55912982521707552a0f5 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: jsobarzo date_created: 2025-08-27T14:50:32Z date_updated: 2025-08-28T08:19:07Z file_id: '20238' file_name: 2025_Sobarzo_JuanCarlos_Thesis.zip file_size: 18940521 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-08-28T08:19:07Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '08' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '96' project: - _id: 0aa60e99-070f-11eb-9043-a6de6bdc3afa call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '949120' name: 'Tribocharge: a multi-scale approach to an enduring problem in physics' publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-062-6 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12109' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '15322' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19278' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Scott R full_name: Waitukaitis, Scott R id: 3A1FFC16-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Waitukaitis orcid: 0000-0002-2299-3176 title: 'Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges' tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '19478' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: LifeSc acknowledgement: "This project was funded by the European Research Council Advanced Grant (ETAP-742985),\r\nEuropean Research Council (ERC; 101142681 CYNIPS), Austrian Science Fund (FWF; P\r\n37051-B)." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Huihuang full_name: Chen, Huihuang id: 83c96512-15b2-11ec-abd3-b7eede36184f last_name: Chen citation: ama: Chen H. The cAMP second messenger in auxin signalling. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19478 apa: Chen, H. (2025). The cAMP second messenger in auxin signalling. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19478 chicago: Chen, Huihuang. “The CAMP Second Messenger in Auxin Signalling.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19478. ieee: H. Chen, “The cAMP second messenger in auxin signalling,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Chen H. 2025. The cAMP second messenger in auxin signalling. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Chen, Huihuang. The CAMP Second Messenger in Auxin Signalling. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19478. short: H. Chen, The CAMP Second Messenger in Auxin Signalling, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-04-04T07:48:24Z date_published: 2025-04-04T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-28T13:42:45Z day: '04' ddc: - '580' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: JiFr doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-19478 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: b154973663a1bba505683faab7ae5ead content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: hchen date_created: 2025-04-08T08:00:07Z date_updated: 2025-04-08T08:22:37Z file_id: '19526' file_name: Thesis_0403_Huihuang.docx file_size: 16344814 relation: source_file - access_level: closed checksum: 0099565f024388830c125ec17375c1a0 content_type: application/pdf creator: hchen date_created: 2025-04-08T08:00:06Z date_updated: 2025-04-09T13:53:38Z embargo: 2026-10-08 embargo_to: local file_id: '19527' file_name: Thesis_0406_PDFA_Huihuang_1.pdf file_size: 8482147 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-04-09T13:53:38Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa_version: Published Version page: '118' project: - _id: 261099A6-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '742985' name: Tracing Evolution of Auxin Transport and Polarity in Plants - _id: 7bcece63-9f16-11ee-852c-ae94e099eeb6 grant_number: P37051 name: Guanylate cyclase activity of TIR1/AFBs auxin receptors - _id: 8f347782-16d5-11f0-9cad-8c19706ee739 grant_number: '101142681' name: Cyclic nucleotides as second messengers in plants publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '13212' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19421' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Jiří full_name: Friml, Jiří id: 4159519E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Friml orcid: 0000-0002-8302-7596 title: The cAMP second messenger in auxin signalling type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20276' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Complex 3D shapes can be created by morphing flat 2D configurations. Such deformations\r\neither preserve the intrinsic material geometry (e.g., folding paper) or modify it through\r\nlocalized contraction. Once transformed, the 3D shape can be further controlled to achieve a\r\ntarget functionality. A key challenge is to take the material specifications and the actuation\r\nprocess as input to automatically design the target 3D shape and its functionality. This thesis\r\npresents two novel computational pipelines for the design and control of shape-morphing\r\nstructures used to create functional prototypes.\r\nThe first pipeline borrows from the art of origami to fold paper into intricate shapes and\r\napplies this principle to make 3D lighting displays. We introduce, PCBend a computational\r\ndesign approach that covers a surface with individually addressable RGB LEDs, effectively\r\nforming a low-resolution surface by folding rigid printed circuit boards (PCBs). We optimize\r\ncut patterns on PCBs to act as hinges and co-design LED placement, circuit routing, and\r\nfabrication constraints to produce PCB blueprints. The PCBs are fabricated using automated\r\nstandard manufacturing services with LEDs embedded on them. Finally, the fabricated PCBs\r\nare cut along the contour and folded onto a 3D-printed support. The 3D lighting display is\r\nthen controlled to display complex surface light patterns.\r\nCreating 3D shapes through folding is only possible if their planar configuration, called ”unfolding” exists without any distortion or overlap. Existing methods often permit distortion\r\nor require multiple patches, which are unsuitable for fabrication pipelines that rely on folding\r\nnon-stretchable materials. We reinforce such fabrication pipelines by providing a geometric\r\nrelaxation to the problem, where the input shape is modified to admit overlap-free unfolding.\r\nThe second fabrication pipeline extends shape morphing to soft robotics by emulating nature’s\r\nblueprint of distributed actuation. Inspired by vertebrates, we build musculoskeletal robots\r\nusing modular active actuators, employing Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) as shrinkable\r\nartificial muscles integrated with 3D-printed bones. The chemical composition of LCEs is\r\naltered to enable untethered actuation through infrared radiation, allowing active control of\r\nindividual muscles and their corresponding bones. The combined motion of individual bones\r\ndefines the robot’s overall shape and functionality. Our proposed system significantly expands\r\nboth the design and control spaces of soft robots, which we harness using our computational\r\ndesign tools. We build several physical robots that exhibit complex shape morphing and varied\r\nterrain navigation, showcasing the versatility of our pipeline.\r\nThis thesis explores applications ranging from intricate light patterns displayed on 3D shapes\r\nformed by folding rigid PCBs to untethered robots that use contractile muscles to exhibit\r\nshape morphing and locomotion. Through these examples, the thesis highlights how computational design and distributed actuation, integrated with novel materials, can transform\r\npassive structures into functional prototypes." acknowledgement: "Financial support was provided by the European Research Council (ERC) under grant agreement No 715767 - MATERIALIZABLE: Intelligent fabrication-oriented Computational Design\r\nand Modeling that I gratefully acknowledge.\r\n" alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Manas full_name: Bhargava, Manas id: FF8FA64C-AA6A-11E9-99AD-50D4E5697425 last_name: Bhargava orcid: 0009-0007-6138-6890 citation: ama: 'Bhargava M. Design and control of deformable structures : From PCB lighting displays to elastomer robots. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20276' apa: 'Bhargava, M. (2025). Design and control of deformable structures : From PCB lighting displays to elastomer robots. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20276' chicago: 'Bhargava, Manas. “Design and Control of Deformable Structures : From PCB Lighting Displays to Elastomer Robots.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20276.' ieee: 'M. Bhargava, “Design and control of deformable structures : From PCB lighting displays to elastomer robots,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' ista: 'Bhargava M. 2025. Design and control of deformable structures : From PCB lighting displays to elastomer robots. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Bhargava, Manas. Design and Control of Deformable Structures : From PCB Lighting Displays to Elastomer Robots. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20276.' short: 'M. Bhargava, Design and Control of Deformable Structures : From PCB Lighting Displays to Elastomer Robots, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-09-02T14:48:39Z date_published: 2025-09-02T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-05-04T12:41:53Z day: '02' ddc: - '000' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: BeBi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20276 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 5baf8ca46c86a94fc8380ff1007aabd4 content_type: application/pdf creator: mbhargav date_created: 2025-09-03T10:40:52Z date_updated: 2025-09-03T10:40:52Z file_id: '20284' file_name: 2025-Bhargava-Manas-Thesis.pdf file_size: 161436245 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: 66878fafbc0074f88ddd18f24a9fc647 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: mbhargav date_created: 2025-09-03T13:18:05Z date_updated: 2025-09-04T09:22:29Z file_id: '20285' file_name: manas_phd_thesis_source_files.zip file_size: 198831315 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-09-04T09:22:29Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '09' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '96' project: - _id: 24F9549A-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '715767' name: 'MATERIALIZABLE: Intelligent fabrication-oriented Computational Design and Modeling' publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-065-7 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '13049' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18565' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '20286' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Bernd full_name: Bickel, Bernd id: 49876194-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Bickel orcid: 0000-0001-6511-9385 title: 'Design and control of deformable structures : From PCB lighting displays to elastomer robots' tmp: image: /images/cc_by_nc.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) short: CC BY-NC (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: 8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9 year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20074' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Prenatal immune challenges pose significant risks to human embryonic brain and eye development. However, we still lack knowledge about the safe usage of anti-inflammatory drugs during pregnancy. Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hIPSC)-derived brain organoid models provide a unique opportunity to investigate neuronal development and have started to explore functional consequences upon viral infection. However, brain organoids usually lack microglia, the brain-resident immune cells. They are present in the early human embryonic brain and actively participate in neuronal circuit development. At the same time, microglia are known for their immune-sensing properties and will influence viral-mediated effects. In my thesis, I was interested to study the multifunctional role of human microglia during retinal development. \r\nIn chapter 1, I characterize the innate occurrence of IBA1+-microglia-like cells within the retinal organoid differentiation (Bartalska et al., 2022). Therefore, we differentiate hIPSC using an unguided retinal organoid differentiation protocol and observe the presence of IBA1+-microglia-like cells alongside retinal cups between week 3 and 4 in 2.5D culture. However, instead of infiltrating the neuroectodermal sides, they enrich within non-pigmented, 3D-cystic compartments that develop in low numbers parallel to 3D-retinal organoids. To enrich for IBA1+-microglia precursors (preMG), we guided the differentiation with a low-dosed BMP4 application, which prevents retinal cup development and enhances microglia and 3D-cysts formation. We characterize the differentiated preMG for their microglia-like identity and validated their functionality. In parallel, mass spectrometry identifies the 3D-cysts to express mesenchymal and epithelial markers. We confirm that comparable 3D-cysts are also the preferential environment for IBA1+-microglia-like cells within the unguided retinal organoid differentiation. \r\nIn chapter 2, I investigate how microglia influence retinal development and whether they contribute to viral-mediated consequences (Schmied et al., 2025). Here, we assemble preMG, which we have characterized in chapter 1, into 3D-retinal organoids. Once the outer plexiform layer forms, microglia-like cells (iMG) populate them and interact with retinal cell types. However, at this developmental stage, the ganglion cell number decreases in 3D-retinal organoids. Thus, we adapted the model into 2D which promotes their survival. Integrated iMG engulf ganglion cells and control their cell number. In parallel, we apply the immunostimulant POLY(I:C) to mimic a fetal viral infection. Although POLY(I:C) stimulation affects iMG phenotype, it does not influence their interaction with ganglion cells. Furthermore, iMG presence significantly contributes to the supernatant’s inflammatory secretome and increases retinal cell proliferation. Simultaneous exposure to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ibuprofen dampens POLY(I:C)-mediated consequences of the iMG phenotype and ameliorates cell proliferation. Remarkably, while POLY(I:C) disrupts neuronal calcium dynamics independent of iMG presence, ibuprofen rescues this effect only in the presence of iMG. Mechanistically, ibuprofen blocks the enzymes cyclooxygenase 1 and 2 (COX1/ PTGS1 and COX2/ PTGS2) simultaneously, from which iMG predominantly express COX1. Selective inhibition of COX1 does not restore the calcium peak amplitude upon POLY(I:C) stimulation, indicating ibuprofen’s effect depends on the presence and interplay of both, COX1 and COX2. \r\nIn summary, we characterized the 3D-retinal organoid model for the occurrence of IBA1+-microglia like cells. As the innately developing IBA1+-cells enrich in mesenchymal over retinal structures, we optimized a protocol to differentiate IBA1+-microglia precursors. By combining these two models we generate microglia-assembled retinal organoids. Our results underscore the importance of microglia during neurodevelopment, in the context of prenatal immune challenges and provide insight into the mechanisms by which ibuprofen exerts its protective effects during embryonic development." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Verena full_name: Hübschmann, Verena id: 32B7C918-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Hübschmann citation: ama: Schmied V. Human microglia impact neuronal development in retinal organoids. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20074 apa: Schmied, V. (2025). Human microglia impact neuronal development in retinal organoids. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20074 chicago: Schmied, Verena. “ Human Microglia Impact Neuronal Development in Retinal Organoids.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20074. ieee: V. Schmied, “ Human microglia impact neuronal development in retinal organoids,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Schmied V. 2025. Human microglia impact neuronal development in retinal organoids. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Schmied, Verena. Human Microglia Impact Neuronal Development in Retinal Organoids. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20074. short: V. Schmied, Human Microglia Impact Neuronal Development in Retinal Organoids, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-07-24T12:37:22Z date_published: 2025-07-24T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-05-06T12:49:36Z day: '24' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: SaSi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20074 file: - access_level: closed checksum: d09f9984002353ad7442358394919bf3 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: vhuebsch date_created: 2025-07-30T08:47:53Z date_updated: 2025-07-30T08:47:53Z file_id: '20086' file_name: PhD_Thesis_Schmied.zip file_size: 43566093 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 4833690d7283c587f518ba98eeb2c946 content_type: application/pdf creator: vhuebsch date_created: 2025-07-30T08:47:46Z date_updated: 2025-07-30T09:29:09Z file_id: '20087' file_name: PhD_Thesis_Schmied.pdf file_size: 13120922 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-07-30T09:29:09Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '07' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '151' project: - _id: 9B99D380-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A grant_number: SC19-017 name: How human microglia shape developing neurons during health and inflammation publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-060-2 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '11478' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '19593' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Sandra full_name: Siegert, Sandra id: 36ACD32E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Siegert orcid: 0000-0001-8635-0877 title: ' Human microglia impact neuronal development in retinal organoids' tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '20467' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: SSU - _id: PreCl - _id: LifeSc acknowledgement: "The work presented in this Thesis was carried out at the Institute of Science and Technology\r\nAustria (ISTA), and was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/P37131].\r\nI would like to thank the Scientific Service Units (SSU) of ISTA for the provided resources,\r\nspecifically the Imaging and Optics Facility (IOF), the Lab Support Facility (LSF), and the\r\nPre-Clinical Facility (PCF) team, specifically Sonja Haslinger, Claudia Gold, and Michael\r\nSchunn, for mouse colony management and support. " alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Florianne E full_name: Miteva, Florianne E id: 3526230C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Miteva citation: ama: Miteva FE. The role of cyclooxygenase 1 on microglial response to inflammatory stressors. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20467 apa: Miteva, F. E. (2025). The role of cyclooxygenase 1 on microglial response to inflammatory stressors. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20467 chicago: Miteva, Florianne E. “The Role of Cyclooxygenase 1 on Microglial Response to Inflammatory Stressors.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20467. ieee: F. E. Miteva, “The role of cyclooxygenase 1 on microglial response to inflammatory stressors,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. ista: Miteva FE. 2025. The role of cyclooxygenase 1 on microglial response to inflammatory stressors. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Miteva, Florianne E. The Role of Cyclooxygenase 1 on Microglial Response to Inflammatory Stressors. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20467. short: F.E. Miteva, The Role of Cyclooxygenase 1 on Microglial Response to Inflammatory Stressors, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2025-10-14T10:24:41Z date_published: 2025-10-14T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-05-20T06:37:12Z day: '14' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: SaSi doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20467 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 03537697be8c688d3a05cf948288e48f content_type: application/pdf creator: fschootu date_created: 2025-10-17T11:09:11Z date_updated: 2025-10-17T11:13:25Z embargo: 2026-10-14 embargo_to: open_access file_id: '20484' file_name: 2025_Miteva_Florianne_thesis.pdf file_size: 13668588 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: df4930d7211cf9cfe1254b77204dc1d3 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: fschootu date_created: 2025-10-23T11:33:06Z date_updated: 2025-10-23T11:33:06Z file_id: '20525' file_name: 2025_Miteva_florianne_thesis.docx file_size: 28991918 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-10-23T11:33:06Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '10' oa_version: Published Version page: '99' project: - _id: 7be82147-9f16-11ee-852c-f44682d73140 grant_number: P37131 name: Dissecting the morpho-functional relationship of microglia publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '19566' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Sandra full_name: Siegert, Sandra id: 36ACD32E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Siegert orcid: 0000-0001-8635-0877 title: The role of cyclooxygenase 1 on microglial response to inflammatory stressors tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2025' ...