--- OA_place: publisher _id: '14821' abstract: - lang: eng text: "The hippocampus is central to memory formation, storage and retrieval over many\r\ntimescales. Neurons in this brain area are highly selective to spatial position as well as to many\r\nother variables of the environment. It is believed that the selectivity patterns of hippocampal\r\nneurons reflect the structure of tasks an animal performs. However, especially at timescales\r\nlonger than a few minutes or hours it is not fully known how these representations evolve, nor\r\nhow they map to behaviour in the process. In this thesis, I monitored the evolution of\r\nhippocampal representations in a novel spatial-associative memory task for rats. Reward\r\nlocations were associated with global sensory cues (i.e. context); animals had to remember the\r\nassociations and dig for food in those locations only. I used in vivo electrophysiology to record\r\nthe activity of the hippocampus dorsal CA1 neurons during the learning period of a few days.\r\nI report here a novel and simple method to classify behaviour performance to account\r\nfor individual variability in learning speed and spurious performance unrelated to true task rule\r\nlearning. Using this classification I was then able to investigate neural responses on different\r\nstages of learning matched across animals. On the first day of learning, I observed a fast\r\nformation of single-cell selectivity to task variables which remained stable over days. I also\r\nobserved that reward tuning was not a single process but dependent on task-related cognitive\r\nload. At the population level, a linear decoding approach revealed a hierarchy in the\r\nrepresentation of task variables that changed with learning. In the high-dimensional space of\r\npopulation activity, the representation of contexts was specific to each position in the maze, and\r\ncould thus be better decoded if the position was known. The decoding of position did not improve\r\nwith knowledge of other variables. As learning progressed, the hippocampal code underwent a\r\nreorganisation of high-variance directions in population activity, identified by principal\r\ncomponent analysis. I found that dominant dimensions started carrying increasing amounts of\r\ninformation about task context specifically at those positions where it mattered for task\r\nperformance. When I contrasted this with variables less relevant to task performance (e.g.\r\nmovement direction), I did not observe differences in decoding quality over positions nor a\r\nreduction of dimensionality with learning.\r\nOverall, the largest changes in CA1 neural response with task learning happened in a\r\nmatter of a few trials; over days, changes undetectable in single-cell statistics were responsible\r\nfor re-structuring the hierarchy of neural representations at the population level; these changes\r\nwere task-specific and reflected different stages of learning. This indicates that complex task\r\nlearning may involve different magnitudes of response modulation in CA1, which happen at\r\nspecific time scales linked to behaviour." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Heloisa full_name: Chiossi, Heloisa id: 2BBA502C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Chiossi orcid: 0009-0004-2973-278X citation: ama: Chiossi HSC. Adaptive hierarchical representations in the hippocampus. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:14821 apa: Chiossi, H. S. C. (2024). Adaptive hierarchical representations in the hippocampus. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14821 chicago: Chiossi, Heloisa S. C. “Adaptive Hierarchical Representations in the Hippocampus.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14821. ieee: H. S. C. Chiossi, “Adaptive hierarchical representations in the hippocampus,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Chiossi HSC. 2024. Adaptive hierarchical representations in the hippocampus. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Chiossi, Heloisa S. C. Adaptive Hierarchical Representations in the Hippocampus. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:14821. short: H.S.C. Chiossi, Adaptive Hierarchical Representations in the Hippocampus, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-01-16T14:25:21Z date_published: 2024-01-19T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:21:56Z day: '19' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: JoCs doi: 10.15479/at:ista:14821 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: d3fa3de1abd5af5204c13e9d55375615 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: hchiossi date_created: 2024-01-19T11:04:05Z date_updated: 2025-01-19T23:30:04Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '14838' file_name: PhD_Thesis_190124.docx file_size: 8656268 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 13adc8dcfb5b6b18107f89f0a98fa8bd content_type: application/pdf creator: hchiossi date_created: 2024-01-19T11:03:59Z date_updated: 2025-01-19T23:30:04Z embargo: 2025-01-19 file_id: '14839' file_name: PhD_Thesis_190124.pdf file_size: 6567275 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-01-19T23:30:04Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '01' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '89' project: - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Jozsef L full_name: Csicsvari, Jozsef L id: 3FA14672-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Csicsvari orcid: 0000-0002-5193-4036 title: Adaptive hierarchical representations in the hippocampus type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '18129' abstract: - lang: eng text: "State-of-the-art quantum computers, with roughly a thousand qubits, face a crucial technological challenge of scaling up. Spins confined in quantum dots (QDs) are a promising candidate\r\nfor qubits due to their long coherence, tunability, control, and readout. However, their natural\r\ncoupling is the short-ranged (∼ 100 nm) exchange interaction, limited to nearest neighbours.\r\nLong-ranged (∼ 1 mm) qubit interactions mediated by a photon could be engineered through a\r\ncoherent spin-photon coupling. Achieving a strong coupling to a photon is inherently challenging in QDs due to the small dipole moment of the confined charge. However, the potential of\r\nhigh-impedance resonators to compensate for this has gained significant attention in the past\r\ndecade. Nevertheless, previous QD circuit quantum electrodynamics implementations have not\r\nexceeded the impedance of ∼ 3.8 kΩ, leaving opportunities for significant improvement. The\r\nlarge kinetic inductance of granular aluminium (grAl) could provide an order-of-magnitude\r\nenhancement. However, fully exploiting the potential of disordered or granular superconductors\r\nis challenging as their impedances close to the superconductor-to-insulator transition are\r\ndifficult to control reproducibly. We report on the realization of a wireless ohmmeter which\r\nallows in situ resistance measurements during film deposition and, therefore, indirect control\r\nof the kinetic inductance of grAl films. This allows us to reproducibly fabricate resonators\r\nwith characteristic impedance exceeding the resistance quantum, even reaching 22.3 kW, due\r\nto the large sheet kinetic inductance of up to 3 nH □−1\r\n. By integrating an 8 kW resonator\r\nwith a germanium double QD, we demonstrate a strong charge-photon coupling with the\r\nhighest rate reported, 566 MHz. The demonstrated method and grAl properties make these\r\nresonators suitable for boosting the spin-photon coupling strength, a crucial requirement for\r\nfast, high-fidelity, long-distance two-qubit gates.\r\n" acknowledged_ssus: - _id: M-Shop - _id: NanoFab alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Marian full_name: Janik, Marian id: 396A1950-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Janik orcid: 0009-0003-9037-8831 citation: ama: Janik M. Strong charge-photon coupling in Germanium enabled by granular aluminium superinductors. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18129 apa: Janik, M. (2024). Strong charge-photon coupling in Germanium enabled by granular aluminium superinductors. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18129 chicago: Janik, Marian. “Strong Charge-Photon Coupling in Germanium Enabled by Granular Aluminium Superinductors.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18129. ieee: M. Janik, “Strong charge-photon coupling in Germanium enabled by granular aluminium superinductors,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Janik M. 2024. Strong charge-photon coupling in Germanium enabled by granular aluminium superinductors. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Janik, Marian. Strong Charge-Photon Coupling in Germanium Enabled by Granular Aluminium Superinductors. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18129. short: M. Janik, Strong Charge-Photon Coupling in Germanium Enabled by Granular Aluminium Superinductors, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-09-23T17:25:43Z date_published: 2024-09-24T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:23:25Z day: '24' ddc: - '539' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: GeKa doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18129 file: - access_level: closed checksum: dc15958f6400b5bdaa28bf58fc7a4056 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: mjanik date_created: 2024-09-23T17:15:09Z date_updated: 2025-05-23T22:30:09Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18130' file_name: janik_thesis.zip file_size: 156207943 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 74737aee285dc1f491643327350efe9c content_type: application/pdf creator: mjanik date_created: 2024-09-23T17:15:30Z date_updated: 2025-05-23T22:30:09Z embargo: 2025-05-23 file_id: '18131' file_name: janik_thesis_pdfa.pdf file_size: 96195684 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-05-23T22:30:09Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ month: '09' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '164' project: - _id: c0977eea-5a5b-11eb-8a69-a862db0cf4d1 grant_number: I05060 name: High impedance circuit quantum electrodynamics with hole spins - _id: bd8bd29e-d553-11ed-ba76-f0070d4b237a grant_number: P36507 name: Merging spin and superconducting qubits in planar Ge - _id: 237B3DA4-32DE-11EA-91FC-C7463DDC885E call_identifier: FWF grant_number: P32235 name: Towards scalable hut wire quantum devices - _id: 34c0acea-11ca-11ed-8bc3-8775e10fd452 grant_number: '101069515' name: Integrated Germanium Quantum Technology - _id: eb9b30ac-77a9-11ec-83b8-871f581d53d2 name: Protected states of quantum matter publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '18144' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Georgios full_name: Katsaros, Georgios id: 38DB5788-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Katsaros orcid: 0000-0001-8342-202X title: Strong charge-photon coupling in Germanium enabled by granular aluminium superinductors 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: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '15101' abstract: - lang: eng text: "The coupling between presynaptic Ca2+ channels and release sensors is a key factor that\r\ndetermines speed and efficacy of synapse transmission. At some excitatory synapses,\r\nchannel–sensor coupling becomes tighter during development, and tightening is often\r\nassociated with a switch in the reliance on different Ca2+ channel subtypes. However, the\r\ncoupling topography at many synapses remains unknown, and it is unclear how it changes\r\nduring development. To address this question, we analyzed the coupling configuration at the\r\ncerebellar basket cell (BC) to Purkinje cell (PC) synapse at different developmental stages,\r\ncombining biophysical analysis, structural analysis, and modeling.\r\nQuantal analysis of BC–PC indicated that release probability decreased, while the\r\nnumber of functional sites increased during development. Although transmitter release\r\npersistently relied on P/Q-type Ca2+ channels in the time period postnatal day 7–23, effects\r\nof the Ca2+ chelator EGTA and BAPTA applied by intracellular pipette perfusion decreased\r\nduring development, indicative of tightening of source-sensor coupling. Furthermore,\r\npresynaptic action potentials became shorter during development, suggesting reduced\r\nefficacy of Ca2+ channel activation.\r\nStructural analysis by freeze-fracture replica labeling (FRL) and transmission electron\r\nmicroscopy (EM) indicated that presynaptic P/Q-type Ca2+ channels formed nanoclusters\r\nthroughout development, whereas docked vesicles were only clustered at later\r\ndevelopmental stages. The number of functional release sites correlated better with the AZ\r\nnumber early in development, but match better with the Ca2+ channel cluster number at later\r\nstages.\r\nModeling suggested a developmental transformation from a more random to a more\r\nclustered coupling nanotopography. Thus, presynaptic signaling developmentally approaches\r\na point-to-point configuration, optimizing speed, reliability, and energy efficiency of synaptic\r\ntransmission." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: EM-Fac alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: JingJing full_name: Chen, JingJing id: 2C4E65C8-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Chen citation: ama: Chen J. Developmental transformation of nanodomain coupling between Ca2+ channels and release sensors at a central GABAergic synapse. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:15101 apa: Chen, J. (2024). Developmental transformation of nanodomain coupling between Ca2+ channels and release sensors at a central GABAergic synapse. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:15101 chicago: Chen, JingJing. “Developmental Transformation of Nanodomain Coupling between Ca2+ Channels and Release Sensors at a Central GABAergic Synapse.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:15101. ieee: J. Chen, “Developmental transformation of nanodomain coupling between Ca2+ channels and release sensors at a central GABAergic synapse,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Chen J. 2024. Developmental transformation of nanodomain coupling between Ca2+ channels and release sensors at a central GABAergic synapse. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Chen, JingJing. Developmental Transformation of Nanodomain Coupling between Ca2+ Channels and Release Sensors at a Central GABAergic Synapse. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:15101. short: J. Chen, Developmental Transformation of Nanodomain Coupling between Ca2+ Channels and Release Sensors at a Central GABAergic Synapse, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-03-11T10:09:54Z date_published: 2024-03-11T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:24:22Z day: '11' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: PeJo doi: 10.15479/at:ista:15101 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: db4947474ffa271e66c254b6fe876a55 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: jchen date_created: 2024-03-11T14:10:58Z date_updated: 2024-04-02T22:30:03Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '15104' file_name: Thesis_Jingjing CHEN.docx file_size: 11271363 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: a5eeae8b5702cd540f5d03469bc33dde content_type: application/pdf creator: jchen date_created: 2024-03-11T14:11:06Z date_updated: 2024-04-02T22:30:03Z embargo: 2024-04-01 file_id: '15105' file_name: Thesis_Jingjing CHEN_merged.pdf file_size: 16627311 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2024-04-02T22:30:03Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '03' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '84' project: - _id: 25B7EB9E-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '692692' name: Biophysics and circuit function of a giant cortical glutamatergic synapse - _id: 25C5A090-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FWF grant_number: Z00312 name: Synaptic communication in neuronal microcircuits - _id: bd88be38-d553-11ed-ba76-81d5a70a6ef5 grant_number: P36232 name: Mechanisms of GABA release in hippocampal circuits - _id: 26B66A3E-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 grant_number: '25383' name: Development of nanodomain coupling between Ca2+ channels and release sensors at a central inhibitory synapse publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '14843' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Peter M full_name: Jonas, Peter M id: 353C1B58-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Jonas orcid: 0000-0001-5001-4804 title: Developmental transformation of nanodomain coupling between Ca2+ channels and release sensors at a central GABAergic synapse 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: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '17881' abstract: - lang: eng text: "This work can be broadly classified into the study of critical phenomena in a one dimensional\r\narray of Josephson junctions. While we study quantum criticality when the array is in thermal\r\nequilibrium at zero bias, the non-equilibrium study involves understanding the bistability of the\r\narray at a critical non-zero bias. This work furthers our knowledge in understanding quantum\r\ncritical behaviour at finite temperatures in a one dimensional Josephson array, while also\r\nestablishing relaxation behaviour dual to that observed in a single Josephson junction.\r\nChapter 1 briefly introduces the model to understand superconductor-insulator phase transition\r\nin a one dimensional Josephson array and points out the state of the field from where we\r\nstarted our zero-bias experiments. In this context it discusses the phase-charge duality observed\r\nin a Josephson array and its dual hysteretic behaviour to that of a single junction, setting the\r\nground for our non-equilibrium study of the array.\r\nChapter 2 shows the experimental setup and the chip layout of the device we measured.\r\nIn chapter 3 we show that, unlike the typical quantum-critical broadening scenario, in one dimensional Josephson arrays temperature dramatically shifts the critical region. This shift leads\r\nto a regime of superconductivity at high temperature, arising from the melted zero-temperature\r\ninsulator. Our results quantitatively explain the low-temperature onset of superconductivity in\r\nnominally insulating regimes, and the transition to the strongly insulating phase. We further\r\npresent, to our knowledge, the first understanding of the onset of anomalous-metallic resistance\r\nsaturation [30]. This work demonstrates a non-trivial interplay between thermal effects and\r\nquantum criticality. A practical consequence is that, counterintuitively, the coherence of\r\nhigh-impedance quantum circuits is expected to be stabilized by thermal fluctuations.\r\nIn chapter 4, we show relaxation oscillations in a current-biased one dimensional array of\r\nJosephson junctions. These oscillations are well described by a circuit model, dual to the\r\nordinary Josephson relaxation oscillations [72]. Injection locking these oscillations results in\r\ncurrent plateaux. The relaxation step is found to obey a characteristic self-consistent relation,\r\nsuggesting that it is governed by overheating effects.\r\nChapter 5 describes the various checks and analysis we performed to support our conclusions\r\nmade in chapters 3 and 4.\r\nFinally, chapter 6 describes the nanofabrication steps and the finite element electromagnetic\r\nsimulations we performed to fabricate our devices." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: NanoFab - _id: M-Shop alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Soham full_name: Mukhopadhyay, Soham id: FDE60288-A89D-11E9-947F-1AF6E5697425 last_name: Mukhopadhyay orcid: 0000-0001-5263-5559 citation: ama: Mukhopadhyay S. Thermal effects in one dimensional Josephson chains. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:17881 apa: Mukhopadhyay, S. (2024). Thermal effects in one dimensional Josephson chains. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:17881 chicago: Mukhopadhyay, Soham. “Thermal Effects in One Dimensional Josephson Chains.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:17881. ieee: S. Mukhopadhyay, “Thermal effects in one dimensional Josephson chains,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Mukhopadhyay S. 2024. Thermal effects in one dimensional Josephson chains. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Mukhopadhyay, Soham. Thermal Effects in One Dimensional Josephson Chains. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:17881. short: S. Mukhopadhyay, Thermal Effects in One Dimensional Josephson Chains, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-09-08T10:23:25Z date_published: 2024-09-10T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:04:06Z day: '10' ddc: - '539' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: AnHi doi: 10.15479/at:ista:17881 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: ed7763c3bbd59e1d7e1b664de3a26f3c content_type: application/pdf creator: smukhopa date_created: 2024-09-12T10:46:04Z date_updated: 2025-03-13T23:30:04Z embargo: 2025-03-13 file_id: '18059' file_name: PhD_Thesis_Soham_Mukhopadhyay.pdf file_size: 10297052 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: e352667482701dd18a9a0e7418aef465 content_type: application/zip creator: smukhopa date_created: 2024-09-12T10:50:58Z date_updated: 2025-03-13T23:30:04Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18060' file_name: PhD_Thesis_Soham_Mukhopadhyay_source.zip file_size: 29178634 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-03-13T23:30:04Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '09' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '82' project: - _id: 0aa3608a-070f-11eb-9043-e9cd8a2bd931 grant_number: P33692 name: Cavity electromechanics across a quantum phase transition publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-043-5 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '14032' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18057' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Andrew P full_name: Higginbotham, Andrew P id: 4AD6785A-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Higginbotham orcid: 0000-0003-2607-2363 title: Thermal effects in one dimensional Josephson chains type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2024' ... --- OA_embargo: '6' OA_place: publisher _id: '18531' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Sex chromosomes and autosomes exhibit very different evolutionary dynamics.\r\nThe Y chromosome usually degenerates, leaving many X-linked loci hemizygous in\r\nmales. Since recessive X-linked mutations are always exposed to selection in males,\r\nselection is more efficient on the X chromosome than on autosomes on recessive\r\nmutations, leading to faster adaptation on the X chromosome than other genomic\r\nregions, if beneficial mutations are on average recessive (known as the Faster-X\r\neffect). In the presence of the functional, but non-recombining gametolog on the Y (as\r\nis often the case in young non-recombining regions), recessive mutations are\r\nsheltered from selection on the X chromosome. We model this scenario and show that\r\nthe efficiency of selection is reduced on diploid X loci due to sheltering by the Y\r\nchromosome. Reduced efficiency of selection leads to slower adaptation and\r\nincreased accumulation of deleterious mutations (Slower-X effect). We extended this\r\nmodel to explore the effect of sex-specific selection on degeneration of sex\r\nchromosomes, showing theoretically that male-limited genes degenerate on the X\r\nchromosome and female-biased genes degenerate on the Y chromosome. This\r\nprediction depends on the effective population size and the mutation rate, explaining\r\nthe variety of sex chromosome degeneration patterns observed in nature.\r\nTo test for direct evidence of a Slower-X (or Slower-Z) effect, we analyzed the\r\nZW sex chromosomes of the flatworm Schistosoma japonicum, which have a very\r\nyoung non-recombining region with non-degenerated W. Diploid Z-linked genes have\r\nhigher ratios of non-synonymous to synonymous polymorphisms than autosomal\r\ngenes, supporting reduced efficiency of selection on the diploid Z region. These results\r\nprovide evidence of sheltering by the W chromosome, a mechanism that could\r\ncontribute to Z (X) chromosome degeneration, and illustrate contrasting evolutionary\r\npatterns in old and young sex chromosome regions. In addition, genes with sexspecific patterns of expression show opposite patterns of selection in the young\r\n(diploid) and old (hemizygous) Z, showing the complex manner in which sex-specific selection shapes the evolutionary patterns of sex chromosomes. " acknowledged_ssus: - _id: ScienComp - _id: CampIT alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Andrea full_name: Mrnjavac, Andrea id: 353FAC84-AE61-11E9-8BFC-00D3E5697425 last_name: Mrnjavac citation: ama: Mrnjavac A. Early stages of sex chromosome evolution. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18531 apa: Mrnjavac, A. (2024). Early stages of sex chromosome evolution. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18531 chicago: Mrnjavac, Andrea. “Early Stages of Sex Chromosome Evolution.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18531. ieee: A. Mrnjavac, “Early stages of sex chromosome evolution,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Mrnjavac A. 2024. Early stages of sex chromosome evolution. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Mrnjavac, Andrea. Early Stages of Sex Chromosome Evolution. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18531. short: A. Mrnjavac, Early Stages of Sex Chromosome Evolution, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-11-11T08:40:45Z date_published: 2024-11-11T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:22:45Z day: '11' ddc: - '576' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: BeVi doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18531 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 3e48b163c22114ef5d5371f758668289 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: amrnjava date_created: 2024-11-13T12:15:28Z date_updated: 2025-05-11T22:30:04Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18551' file_name: AMrnjavac_thesis_library.docx file_size: 26870629 relation: source_file title: Early stages of sex chromosome evolution - access_level: open_access checksum: 3ead60c1b678e7dcf018043aef3b5db2 content_type: application/pdf creator: amrnjava date_created: 2024-11-13T12:15:54Z date_updated: 2025-05-11T22:30:04Z embargo: 2025-05-11 file_id: '18552' file_name: AMrnjavac_thesis_library.pdf file_size: 4228766 relation: main_file title: Early stages of sex chromosome evolution file_date_updated: 2025-05-11T22:30:04Z has_accepted_license: '1' keyword: - Sex chromosomes - evolution - selection - sheltering language: - iso: eng license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ month: '11' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '181' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12521' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '18549' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Beatriz full_name: Vicoso, Beatriz id: 49E1C5C6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Vicoso orcid: 0000-0002-4579-8306 title: Early stages of sex chromosome evolution 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: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '18661' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Across the tree of life, distinct designs of cellular membranes have evolved that are both stable\r\nand flexible. In bacteria and eukaryotes this trade-off is accomplished by single-headed lipids\r\nthat self-assemble into flexible bilayer membranes. By contrast, archaea in many cases possess\r\nboth bilayer and double-headed, monolayer spanning bolalipids. This composition is believed\r\nto enable extremophile archaea to survive harsh environments. Here, through the creation of a\r\nminimal computational model for bolalipid membranes, we discover trade-offs when forming\r\nmembranes using lipids of a single type. Similar to living archaea, we can tune the stiffness of\r\nbolalipid molecules. We find that membranes made out of flexible bolalipid molecules resemble\r\nbilayer membranes as they can adopt U-shaped conformations to enable higher curvatures.\r\nConversely, rigid bolalipid molecules, like those found in archaea at higher temperatures,\r\npreferentially take on a straight conformation to self-assemble into liquid membranes that are\r\nstable, stiff, prone to pore formation, and which tear during membrane reshaping. Strikingly,\r\nhowever, our analysis reveals that it is possible to achieve the best of both worlds – membranes\r\nthat are fluid, stable at high temperatures and flexible enough to be reshaped without leaking –\r\nthrough the inclusion of a small fraction of bilayer lipids into a bolalipid membrane. Additionally,\r\nthe curvature-dependent softening of bolalipid membranes made of lipids with tension-sensitive\r\nconformation can also enable high rigidity at low curvatures while softening at high curvatures,\r\nmaking the membrane effectively a plastic material. Taken together, our study compares the\r\ndifferent membrane designs across the tree of life and indicates how combining lipids can be\r\nused to resolve trade-offs when generating membranes for (bio)technological applications.\r\n" alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Miguel full_name: Santana de Freitas Amaral, Miguel id: 4f2d02dd-47a9-11ec-ad10-82820ed3f501 last_name: Santana de Freitas Amaral citation: ama: 'Santana de Freitas Amaral M. Archaeal membranes : In silico modelling and design. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18661' apa: 'Santana de Freitas Amaral, M. (2024). Archaeal membranes : In silico modelling and design. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18661' chicago: 'Santana de Freitas Amaral, Miguel. “Archaeal Membranes : In Silico Modelling and Design.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18661.' ieee: 'M. Santana de Freitas Amaral, “Archaeal membranes : In silico modelling and design,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024.' ista: 'Santana de Freitas Amaral M. 2024. Archaeal membranes : In silico modelling and design. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Santana de Freitas Amaral, Miguel. Archaeal Membranes : In Silico Modelling and Design. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18661.' short: 'M. Santana de Freitas Amaral, Archaeal Membranes : In Silico Modelling and Design, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-12-16T10:53:39Z date_published: 2024-12-17T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:22:29Z day: '17' ddc: - '572' - '530' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: AnSa doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18661 file: - access_level: closed checksum: eca06497a29078558395455c890a32d9 content_type: application/zip creator: mamaral date_created: 2024-12-18T12:27:01Z date_updated: 2025-06-18T22:30:03Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18671' file_name: 2024_msfa_thesis.zip file_size: 19161387 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 2dc30ea46c5daf48d07e4cccb3c3de00 content_type: application/pdf creator: mamaral date_created: 2024-12-18T12:26:30Z date_updated: 2025-06-18T22:30:03Z embargo: 2025-06-18 file_id: '18672' file_name: 2024_msfa_thesis.pdf file_size: 16530084 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-06-18T22:30:03Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ month: '12' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '57' publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-046-6 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '18670' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Anđela full_name: Šarić, Anđela id: bf63d406-f056-11eb-b41d-f263a6566d8b last_name: Šarić orcid: 0000-0002-7854-2139 title: 'Archaeal membranes : In silico modelling and design' tmp: image: /images/cc_by_sa.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-SA 4.0) short: CC BY-SA (4.0) type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '18104' abstract: - lang: eng text: "We introduce a new all-electric platform, that strong couples light to mechanical motion\r\nby ensuring that the external environmental coupling dominates over internal mechanical\r\ndissipation. The system only has three everyday components: AC, DC, and a fip-chip, in which\r\na metallized silicon nitride membrane is fipped on top of the device under test. This everyday\r\nelectromechanical device can be operated at low or room temperature and has 10000× lower\r\ninsertion loss than a comparable commercial quartz crystal, achieves a position imprecision\r\nmatching state-of-the-art optical interferometer, and enables remote cooling of mechanical\r\nmotion. The spatial properties of higher order mechanical modes are a promising feature for\r\nreconstructing unknown charge distributions.\r\n" acknowledged_ssus: - _id: NanoFab - _id: M-Shop alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Denise full_name: Puglia, Denise id: 4D495994-AE37-11E9-AC72-31CAE5697425 last_name: Puglia orcid: 0000-0003-1144-2763 citation: ama: 'Puglia D. Everyday electromechanics: Capacitive strong coupling to mechanical motion. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18104' apa: 'Puglia, D. (2024). Everyday electromechanics: Capacitive strong coupling to mechanical motion. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18104' chicago: 'Puglia, Denise. “Everyday Electromechanics: Capacitive Strong Coupling to Mechanical Motion.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18104.' ieee: 'D. Puglia, “Everyday electromechanics: Capacitive strong coupling to mechanical motion,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024.' ista: 'Puglia D. 2024. Everyday electromechanics: Capacitive strong coupling to mechanical motion. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Puglia, Denise. Everyday Electromechanics: Capacitive Strong Coupling to Mechanical Motion. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18104.' short: 'D. Puglia, Everyday Electromechanics: Capacitive Strong Coupling to Mechanical Motion, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-09-20T12:13:30Z date_published: 2024-09-20T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:22:10Z day: '20' ddc: - '530' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: AnHi doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18104 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 7969263451b2356bfa0924725aa9de10 content_type: application/pdf creator: cchlebak date_created: 2024-09-20T12:07:48Z date_updated: 2025-05-20T22:30:05Z embargo: 2025-05-20 file_id: '18105' file_name: PhD_DPuglia_Final.pdf file_size: 10778238 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: 98dfe7675775e30efffa03f7ff7c091b content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: cchlebak date_created: 2024-09-20T12:13:09Z date_updated: 2025-05-20T22:30:05Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18106' file_name: PhD_DPuglia_Thesis.zip file_size: 385419748 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-05-20T22:30:05Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ month: '09' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '63' project: - _id: 0aa3608a-070f-11eb-9043-e9cd8a2bd931 grant_number: P33692 name: Cavity electromechanics across a quantum phase transition - _id: 62843413-2b32-11ec-9570-c4ec6eabfae7 grant_number: '26088' name: Surface Charge and Tunneling Multi-Mode Imaging publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '18143' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Andrew P full_name: Higginbotham, Andrew P id: 4AD6785A-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Higginbotham orcid: 0000-0003-2607-2363 title: 'Everyday electromechanics: Capacitive strong coupling to mechanical motion' 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: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '18642' abstract: - lang: eng text: "This thesis consists of two pieces of work in the broader feld of computational biology,\r\nboth of which are methods for the analysis of large scale biological data, implemented in\r\nefcient software.\r\nChapter 2 introduces a statistical software for causal discovery and inference from observed\r\ngenetic marker and phenotypic trait data. We explore in simulation how well the method\r\ncan fne-map genetic efects, fnd the correct causal structure among tens of traits and\r\nmillions of genetic markers, and infer the causal efect size for the discovered causal\r\nrelations. We then apply the method to 8 million markers and 17 traits from the UK\r\nBiobank and show that many relationships found with other methods are likely due to\r\nthe efects of hidden confounders.\r\nChapter 3 describes how this method can be applied to longitudinal data. I show how one\r\ncan incorporate the background knowledge present in the known order of measurements to\r\nimprove the accuracy of the causal discovery process, and explore the method’s ability to\r\nidentify age specifc genetic efects, and how the error rates of this recovery are infuenced\r\nby missing data due to diferent censoring mechanisms.\r\nChapter 4 introduces a statistical software for the comparison of chromatin contact maps\r\nbased on the structural similarity index. We explore the robustness of the method to\r\nnoise and size diferences of the compared maps, show how it can measure evolutionary\r\nconservation of topological features by providing a similarity ranking of syntenic regions,\r\nand fnally how it can detect alterations in 3D genome structure due to genetic mutations\r\nin samples of medical relevance.\r\n" acknowledgement: "I would like to thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for funding parts of this work\r\nthrough the Eccellenza Grant \"Improving estimation and prediction of common complex\r\ndisease risk\" with grant number PCEGP3_181181." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Nick N full_name: Machnik, Nick N id: 3591A0AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Machnik orcid: 0000-0001-6617-9742 citation: ama: Machnik NN. Algorithms for causal learning and comparative analysis for genomic data. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18642 apa: Machnik, N. N. (2024). Algorithms for causal learning and comparative analysis for genomic data. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18642 chicago: Machnik, Nick N. “Algorithms for Causal Learning and Comparative Analysis for Genomic Data.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18642. ieee: N. N. Machnik, “Algorithms for causal learning and comparative analysis for genomic data,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Machnik NN. 2024. Algorithms for causal learning and comparative analysis for genomic data. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Machnik, Nick N. Algorithms for Causal Learning and Comparative Analysis for Genomic Data. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18642. short: N.N. Machnik, Algorithms for Causal Learning and Comparative Analysis for Genomic Data, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-12-10T13:49:15Z date_published: 2024-12-11T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:23:06Z day: '11' ddc: - '576' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MaRo doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18642 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: d45e4d170f9a70a1f69b44b99bd058e4 content_type: application/pdf creator: nmachnik date_created: 2024-12-11T11:59:54Z date_updated: 2025-06-12T22:30:02Z embargo: 2025-06-12 file_id: '18649' file_name: NickMachnikThesisFinal_pdfa_conv.pdf file_size: 12845009 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: f88c9acc62002395ec4dcbdb5eea8b82 content_type: application/zip creator: nmachnik date_created: 2024-12-11T11:59:34Z date_updated: 2025-06-12T22:30:02Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18650' file_name: thesis.zip file_size: 14189810 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2025-06-12T22:30:02Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '12' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '138' project: - _id: 9B8D11D6-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A grant_number: PCEGP3_181181 name: Improving estimation and prediction of common complex disease risk publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '18648' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '8707' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Matthew Richard full_name: Robinson, Matthew Richard id: E5D42276-F5DA-11E9-8E24-6303E6697425 last_name: Robinson orcid: 0000-0001-8982-8813 title: Algorithms for causal learning and comparative analysis for genomic data type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2024' ... --- OA_embargo: '12' OA_place: publisher _id: '18574' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Biological vision is unlike a camera; rather than transmitting light information faithfully, early\r\nvisual circuits process the visual scene to convey only the relevant information in an efficient\r\nmanner. Consequentially, the nature of this visual processing then depends on what is the\r\nrelevant information in a scene and on the notion of efficiency. In this work, I study how visual\r\nprocessing is modulated by two different variations in the visual scene. First, I discovered that\r\nin the mouse (Mus musculus) retina, Retinal Ganglion Cells in the upper and lower visual\r\nfield have differences in the center surround structure of their receptive fields. Comparison\r\nwith models of efficient coding show that this adaptation likely evolved to cope with the\r\nbrightness gradient from the sky to the ground that is pervasive in natural scenes. In the\r\nsecond project, I study how the downstream neurons in the Superior Colliculus dynamically\r\nchange their temporal selectivity depending on the ambient luminance and behavioral state.\r\nAs the scene gets darker or when the animal is is less aroused, the neuronal responses get\r\nlaggier, while still maintaining their relative timing with respect to the population. Overall, this\r\nwork emphasises the need to understand visual processing in the context of specific demands\r\nof the animal in its the environment. The adaptive changes in the visual system, from the\r\nretinal ganglion cells to the superior colliculus, highlight the intricate ways in which biological\r\nvision optimizes the processing of visual information.\r\n" acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: ScienComp - _id: PreCl - _id: LifeSc - _id: M-Shop - _id: E-Lib acknowledgement: "This work would have been impossible without the Scientific Service Units of IST Austria. The resources and expertise provided by Scientific Computing (especially Alois Schlögl), the MIBA Machine Shop (especially Todor Asenov), the Preclinical Facility (especially Freyja Langer), the Library, the Lab Support Facility and the Imaging and Optics Facility were the essential bedrock I could build upon. I would also like to thank IT support at ISTA for powering through remote work and a cyberattack.\r\nI am grateful for having been funded initially by the European Union Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant 665385 and later by Prof. Maximilian Joesch's the European Research Council Starting (756502) and Consolidator (101086580) Grants." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Divyansh full_name: Gupta, Divyansh id: 2A485EBE-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Gupta orcid: 0000-0001-7400-6665 citation: ama: Gupta D. Visual adaptations to natural statistics. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18574 apa: Gupta, D. (2024). Visual adaptations to natural statistics. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18574 chicago: Gupta, Divyansh. “Visual Adaptations to Natural Statistics.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18574. ieee: D. Gupta, “Visual adaptations to natural statistics,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Gupta D. 2024. Visual adaptations to natural statistics. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Gupta, Divyansh. Visual Adaptations to Natural Statistics. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18574. short: D. Gupta, Visual Adaptations to Natural Statistics, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-11-20T21:30:44Z date_published: 2024-11-22T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:24:48Z day: '22' ddc: - '573' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MaJö doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18574 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: ebb000d361c36b22ed6e639a931c6b7c content_type: application/zip creator: dgupta date_created: 2024-11-25T14:44:03Z date_updated: 2025-11-11T23:30:02Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18589' file_name: PhD Thesis - Divyansh Gupta.zip file_size: 75512262 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 1282401eb71598bc311058b0fcefc6a1 content_type: application/pdf creator: dgupta date_created: 2024-11-26T11:43:19Z date_updated: 2025-11-11T23:30:02Z embargo: 2025-11-11 file_id: '18591' file_name: PDFA_PhD_Thesis___Divyansh_Gupta-26_11_24.pdf file_size: 6412619 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-11-11T23:30:02Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ month: '11' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '86' project: - _id: bdaf81a8-d553-11ed-ba76-c95961984540 grant_number: '101086580' name: 'Action Selection in the Midbrain: Neuromodulation of Visuomotor Senses' - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program - _id: 2634E9D2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '756502' name: Circuits of Visual Attention publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-050-3 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12349' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '12370' relation: research_data status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maximilian A full_name: Jösch, Maximilian A id: 2BD278E6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Jösch orcid: 0000-0002-3937-1330 title: Visual adaptations to natural statistics 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: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '18471' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Spatial omics technologies are enriching our understanding of complex biological samples, by\r\nallowing us to study their molecular composition while preserving the spatial relationships\r\nbetween molecules in their native context. As the field continues to advance, there are\r\ntechnical challenges that need to be addressed in order to take full advantage of the spatial\r\ncapabilities of these methods. In this work, I present two technical developments that I\r\nestablished for multiplexed error robust FISH (MERFISH) throughout my PhD: (1) pushing the\r\nspatial resolution limits to the nanoscale, and (2) adding rich tissue context to the mouse brain\r\ntranscriptome. To achieve nanoscale resolution with MERFISH in cultured cells, I combined it\r\nwith stimulated emission depletion (STED) and expansion microscopy (ExM) to achieve a\r\nspatial resolution as low as ~20 nm, and explored the compatibility of MERFISH with singlemolecule localization microscopy (SMLM) techniques. To visualize targeted mRNAs in mouse\r\nbrain tissue, I applied the comprehensive analysis of tissues across scales (CATS) toolbox, which\r\nprovides an unbiased morphological readout by labeling the extracellular domain. I\r\nsuccessfully established this method, which we call CATS-MERFISH-ExM, to work with thick\r\nmouse brain slices, being able to extract transcriptomics information with 3D tissue context.\r\nCATS-MERFISH-ExM enabled us to identify cell types and further visualize the subcellular\r\ndistribution of transcripts in mouse brain tissue, shedding light on the neuropil-specific\r\ntranscriptome. This method provides integrated information on cellular structure and\r\ntranscriptomes in situ, and could potentially be applied with other modalities, opening new\r\navenues for scientific discovery. " acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: LifeSc - _id: PreCl - _id: M-Shop - _id: ScienComp alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Nathalie full_name: Agudelo Duenas, Nathalie id: 40E7F008-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Agudelo Duenas citation: ama: Agudelo Duenas N. Visualizing the neuronal transcriptional landscape with tissue context. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18471 apa: Agudelo Duenas, N. (2024). Visualizing the neuronal transcriptional landscape with tissue context. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18471 chicago: Agudelo Duenas, Nathalie. “Visualizing the Neuronal Transcriptional Landscape with Tissue Context.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18471. ieee: N. Agudelo Duenas, “Visualizing the neuronal transcriptional landscape with tissue context,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. ista: Agudelo Duenas N. 2024. Visualizing the neuronal transcriptional landscape with tissue context. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Agudelo Duenas, Nathalie. Visualizing the Neuronal Transcriptional Landscape with Tissue Context. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18471. short: N. Agudelo Duenas, Visualizing the Neuronal Transcriptional Landscape with Tissue Context, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-10-26T20:02:42Z date_published: 2024-10-28T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-14T08:34:37Z day: '28' ddc: - '570' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: JoDa doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18471 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 6d7c7725d040d8debc070dcb35ac965d content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: nagudelo date_created: 2024-10-26T22:29:06Z date_updated: 2025-05-05T22:30:04Z embargo_to: open_access file_id: '18475' file_name: PhD_thesis_Nathalie_Agudelo_Duenas_ISTA_final.docx file_size: 183077763 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 52f9c0bf2bdafa3baf827b73814a53ff content_type: application/pdf creator: nagudelo date_created: 2024-10-26T23:13:33Z date_updated: 2025-05-05T22:30:04Z embargo: 2025-05-05 file_id: '18476' file_name: PhD_thesis_Nathalie_Agudelo_Duenas_ISTA_final.pdf file_size: 47027710 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2025-05-05T22:30:04Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '10' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '97' project: - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program - _id: 2548AE96-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FWF grant_number: W1232 name: Molecular Drug Targets publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-044-2 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Johann G full_name: Danzl, Johann G id: 42EFD3B6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Danzl orcid: 0000-0001-8559-3973 title: Visualizing the neuronal transcriptional landscape with tissue context 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: '2024' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '12716' abstract: - lang: eng text: "The process of detecting and evaluating sensory information to guide behaviour is termed perceptual decision-making (PDM), and is critical for the ability of an organism to interact with its external world. Individuals with autism, a neurodevelopmental condition primarily characterised by social and communication difficulties, frequently exhibit altered sensory processing and PDM difficulties are widely reported. Recent technological advancements have pushed forward our understanding of the genetic changes accompanying this condition, however our understanding of how these mutations affect the function of specific neuronal circuits and bring about the corresponding behavioural changes remains limited. Here, we use an innate PDM task, the looming avoidance response (LAR) paradigm, to identify a convergent behavioural abnormality across three molecularly distinct genetic mouse models of autism (Cul3, Setd5 and Ptchd1). Although mutant mice can rapidly detect threatening visual stimuli, their responses are consistently delayed, requiring longer to initiate an appropriate response than their wild-type siblings. Mutant animals show abnormal adaptation in both their stimulus- evoked escape responses and exploratory dynamics following repeated stimulus presentations. Similarly delayed behavioural responses are observed in wild-type animals when faced with more ambiguous threats, suggesting the mutant phenotype could arise from a dysfunction in the flexible control of this PDM process.\r\nOur knowledge of the core neuronal circuitry mediating the LAR facilitated a detailed dissection of the neuronal mechanisms underlying the behavioural impairment. In vivo extracellular recording revealed that visual responses were unaffected within a key brain region for the rapid processing of visual threats, the superior colliculus (SC), indicating that the behavioural delay was unlikely to originate from sensory impairments. Delayed behavioural responses were recapitulated in the Setd5 model following optogenetic stimulation of the excitatory output neurons of the SC, which are known to mediate escape initiation through the activation of cells in the underlying dorsal periaqueductal grey (dPAG). In vitro patch-clamp recordings of dPAG cells uncovered a stark hypoexcitability phenotype in two out of the three genetic models investigated (Setd5 and Ptchd1), that in Setd5, is mediated by the misregulation of voltage-gated potassium channels. Overall, our results show that the ability to use visual information to drive efficient escape responses is impaired in three diverse genetic mouse models of autism and that, in one of the models studied, this behavioural delay likely originates from differences in the intrinsic excitability of a key subcortical node, the dPAG. Furthermore, this work showcases the use of an innate behavioural paradigm to mechanistically dissect PDM processes in autism." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: PreCl - _id: Bio - _id: LifeSc - _id: M-Shop - _id: CampIT alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Laura full_name: Burnett, Laura id: 3B717F68-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Burnett orcid: 0000-0002-8937-410X citation: ama: Burnett L. To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:12716 apa: Burnett, L. (2023). To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12716 chicago: Burnett, Laura. “To Flee, or Not to Flee? Using Innate Defensive Behaviours to Investigate Rapid Perceptual Decision-Making through Subcortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Autism.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12716. ieee: L. Burnett, “To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Burnett L. 2023. To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Burnett, Laura. To Flee, or Not to Flee? Using Innate Defensive Behaviours to Investigate Rapid Perceptual Decision-Making through Subcortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Autism. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:12716. short: L. Burnett, To Flee, or Not to Flee? Using Innate Defensive Behaviours to Investigate Rapid Perceptual Decision-Making through Subcortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Autism, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-03-08T15:19:45Z date_published: 2023-03-10T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:25:15Z day: '10' ddc: - '599' - '573' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MaJö doi: 10.15479/at:ista:12716 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 6c6d9cc2c4cdacb74e6b1047a34d7332 content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: lburnett date_created: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z date_updated: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z file_id: '12717' file_name: Burnett_Thesis_2023.docx file_size: 23029260 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: cebc77705288bf4382db9b3541483cd0 content_type: application/pdf creator: lburnett date_created: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z date_updated: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z file_id: '12718' file_name: Burnett_Thesis_2023_pdfA.pdf file_size: 11959869 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2023-03-08T15:08:46Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '03' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '178' project: - _id: 2634E9D2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '756502' name: Circuits of Visual Attention publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maximilian A full_name: Jösch, Maximilian A id: 2BD278E6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Jösch orcid: 0000-0002-3937-1330 title: To flee, or not to flee? Using innate defensive behaviours to investigate rapid perceptual decision-making through subcortical circuits in mouse models of autism type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '14547' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures currently capture a significant amount of research interest and they serve as the physical platform in many proposals towards topological quantum computation.\r\nDespite being under extensive investigations, historically using transport techniques, the basic properties of the interface between the superconductor and the semiconductor remain to be understood.\r\n\r\nIn this thesis, two separate studies on the Al-InAs heterostructures are reported with the first focusing on the physics of the material motivated by the emergence of a new phase, the Bogoliubov-Fermi surface. \r\nThe second focuses on a technological application, a gate-tunable Josephson parametric amplifier.\r\n\r\nIn the first study, we investigate the hypothesized unconventional nature of the induced superconductivity at the interface between the Al thin film and the InAs quantum well.\r\nWe embed a two-dimensional Al-InAs hybrid system in a resonant microwave circuit allowing measurements of change in inductance.\r\nThe behaviour of the resonance in a range of temperature and in-plane magnetic field has been studied and compared with the theory of conventional s-wave superconductor and a two-component theory that includes both contribution of the $s$-wave pairing in Al and the intraband $p \\pm ip$ pairing in InAs.\r\nMeasuring the temperature dependence of resonant frequency, no discrepancy is found between data and the conventional theory.\r\nWe observe the breakdown of superconductivity due to an applied magnetic field which contradicts the conventional theory.\r\nIn contrast, the data can be captured quantitatively by fitting to a two-component model.\r\nWe find the evidence of the intraband $p \\pm ip$ pairing in the InAs and the emergence of the Bogoliubov-Fermi surfaces due to magnetic field with the characteristic value $B^* = 0.33~\\mathrm{T}$.\r\nFrom the fits, the sheet resistance of Al, the carrier density and mobility in InAs are determined.\r\nBy systematically studying the anisotropy of the circuit response, we find weak anisotropy for $B < B^*$ and increasingly strong anisotropy for $B > B^*$ resulting in a pronounced two-lobe structure in polar plot of frequency versus field angle.\r\nStrong resemblance between the field dependence of dissipation and superfluid density hints at a hidden signature of the Bogoliubov-Fermi surface that is burried in the dissipation data.\r\n\r\nIn the second study, we realize a parametric amplifier with a Josephson field effect transistor as the active element.\r\nThe device's modest construction consists of a gated SNS weak link embedded at the center of a coplanar waveguide resonator.\r\nBy applying a gate voltage, the resonant frequency is field-effect tunable over a range of 2 GHz.\r\nModelling the JoFET minimally as a parallel RL circuit, the dissipation introduced by the JoFET can be quantitatively related to the gate voltage.\r\nWe observed gate-tunable Kerr nonlinearity qualitatively in line with expectation.\r\nThe JoFET amplifier has 20 dB of gain, 4 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth, and a 1dB compression point of -125.5 dBm when operated at a fixed resonant frequency.\r\nIn general, the signal-to-noise ratio is improved by 5-7 dB when the JoFET amplifier is activated compared.\r\nThe noise of the measurement chain and insertion loss of relevant circuit elements are calibrated to determine the expected and the real noise performance of the JoFET amplifier.\r\nAs a quantification of the noise performance, the measured total input-referred noise of the JoFET amplifier is in good agreement with the estimated expectation which takes device loss into account.\r\nWe found that the noise performance of the device reported in this document approaches one photon of total input-referred added noise which is the quantum limit imposed in nondegenerate parametric amplifier." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: NanoFab - _id: Bio alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Duc T full_name: Phan, Duc T id: 29C8C0B4-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Phan citation: ama: Phan DT. Resonant microwave spectroscopy of Al-InAs. 2023. doi:10.15479/14547 apa: Phan, D. T. (2023). Resonant microwave spectroscopy of Al-InAs. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/14547 chicago: Phan, Duc T. “Resonant Microwave Spectroscopy of Al-InAs.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/14547. ieee: D. T. Phan, “Resonant microwave spectroscopy of Al-InAs,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Phan DT. 2023. Resonant microwave spectroscopy of Al-InAs. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Phan, Duc T. Resonant Microwave Spectroscopy of Al-InAs. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/14547. short: D.T. Phan, Resonant Microwave Spectroscopy of Al-InAs, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-11-17T13:45:26Z date_published: 2023-11-16T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:25:52Z day: '16' ddc: - '530' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: AnHi doi: 10.15479/14547 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: db0c37d213bc002125bd59690e9db246 content_type: application/pdf creator: pduc date_created: 2023-11-17T13:36:44Z date_updated: 2023-11-22T09:46:06Z file_id: '14548' file_name: Phan_Thesis_pdfa.pdf file_size: 34828019 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: 8d3bd6afa279a0078ffd13e06bb6d56d content_type: application/zip creator: pduc date_created: 2023-11-17T13:44:53Z date_updated: 2023-11-17T13:47:54Z file_id: '14549' file_name: dissertation_src.zip file_size: 279319709 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2023-11-22T09:46:06Z has_accepted_license: '1' keyword: - superconductor-semiconductor - superconductivity - Al - InAs - p-wave - superconductivity - JPA - microwave language: - iso: eng month: '11' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '80' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '13264' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '10851' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Andrew P full_name: Higginbotham, Andrew P id: 4AD6785A-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Higginbotham orcid: 0000-0003-2607-2363 title: Resonant microwave spectroscopy of Al-InAs 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: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '14058' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Females and males across species are subject to divergent selective pressures arising\r\nfrom di↵erent reproductive interests and ecological niches. This often translates into a\r\nintricate array of sex-specific natural and sexual selection on traits that have a shared\r\ngenetic basis between both sexes, causing a genetic sexual conflict. The resolution of\r\nthis conflict mostly relies on the evolution of sex-specific expression of the shared genes,\r\nleading to phenotypic sexual dimorphism. Such sex-specific gene expression is thought\r\nto evolve via modifications of the genetic networks ultimately linked to sex-determining\r\ntranscription factors. Although much empirical and theoretical evidence supports this\r\nstandard picture of the molecular basis of sexual conflict resolution, there still are a\r\nfew open questions regarding the complex array of selective forces driving phenotypic\r\ndi↵erentiation between the sexes, as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying sexspecific adaptation. I address some of these open questions in my PhD thesis.\r\nFirst, how do patterns of phenotypic sexual dimorphism vary within populations,\r\nas a response to the temporal and spatial changes in sex-specific selective forces? To\r\ntackle this question, I analyze the patterns of sex-specific phenotypic variation along\r\nthree life stages and across populations spanning the whole geographical range of Rumex\r\nhastatulus, a wind-pollinated angiosperm, in the first Chapter of the thesis.\r\nSecond, how do gene expression patterns lead to phenotypic dimorphism, and what\r\nare the molecular mechanisms underlying the observed transcriptomic variation? I\r\naddress this question by examining the sex- and tissue-specific expression variation in\r\nnewly-generated datasets of sex-specific expression in heads and gonads of Drosophila\r\nmelanogaster. I additionally used two complementary approaches for the study of the\r\ngenetic basis of sex di↵erences in gene expression in the second and third Chapters of\r\nthe thesis.\r\nThird, how does intersex correlation, thought to be one of the main aspects constraining the ability for the two sexes to decouple, interact with the evolution of sexual\r\ndimorphism? I develop models of sex-specific stabilizing selection, mutation and drift\r\nto formalize common intuition regarding the patterns of covariation between intersex\r\ncorrelation and sexual dimorphism in the fourth Chapter of the thesis.\r\nAlltogether, the work described in this PhD thesis provides useful insights into the\r\nlinks between genetic, transcriptomic and phenotypic layers of sex-specific variation,\r\nand contributes to our general understanding of the dynamics of sexual dimorphism\r\nevolution." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Gemma full_name: Puixeu Sala, Gemma id: 33AB266C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Puixeu Sala orcid: 0000-0001-8330-1754 citation: ama: 'Puixeu Sala G. The molecular basis of sexual dimorphism: Experimental and theoretical characterization of phenotypic, transcriptomic and genetic patterns of sex-specific adaptation. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:14058' apa: 'Puixeu Sala, G. (2023). The molecular basis of sexual dimorphism: Experimental and theoretical characterization of phenotypic, transcriptomic and genetic patterns of sex-specific adaptation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14058' chicago: 'Puixeu Sala, Gemma. “The Molecular Basis of Sexual Dimorphism: Experimental and Theoretical Characterization of Phenotypic, Transcriptomic and Genetic Patterns of Sex-Specific Adaptation.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14058.' ieee: 'G. Puixeu Sala, “The molecular basis of sexual dimorphism: Experimental and theoretical characterization of phenotypic, transcriptomic and genetic patterns of sex-specific adaptation,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023.' ista: 'Puixeu Sala G. 2023. The molecular basis of sexual dimorphism: Experimental and theoretical characterization of phenotypic, transcriptomic and genetic patterns of sex-specific adaptation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Puixeu Sala, Gemma. The Molecular Basis of Sexual Dimorphism: Experimental and Theoretical Characterization of Phenotypic, Transcriptomic and Genetic Patterns of Sex-Specific Adaptation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:14058.' short: 'G. Puixeu Sala, The Molecular Basis of Sexual Dimorphism: Experimental and Theoretical Characterization of Phenotypic, Transcriptomic and Genetic Patterns of Sex-Specific Adaptation, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-08-15T10:20:40Z date_published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:25:34Z day: '15' ddc: - '576' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: NiBa - _id: BeVi doi: 10.15479/at:ista:14058 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 4e44e169f2724ee8c9324cd60bcc2b71 content_type: application/zip creator: gpuixeus date_created: 2023-08-16T18:15:17Z date_updated: 2023-08-17T06:55:24Z file_id: '14075' file_name: Thesis_latex_forpdfa.zip file_size: 10891454 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: e10b04cd8f3fecc0d9ef6e6868b6e1e8 content_type: application/pdf creator: gpuixeus date_created: 2023-08-18T10:47:55Z date_updated: 2023-08-18T10:47:55Z file_id: '14079' file_name: PhDThesis_PuixeuG.pdf file_size: 19856686 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2023-08-18T10:47:55Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '08' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '230' project: - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program - _id: 9B9DFC9E-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A grant_number: '25817' name: 'Sexual conflict: resolution, constraints and biomedical implications' publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-035-0 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '9803' relation: research_data status: public - id: '12933' relation: research_data status: public - id: '6831' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '14077' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Beatriz full_name: Vicoso, Beatriz id: 49E1C5C6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Vicoso orcid: 0000-0002-4579-8306 - first_name: Nicholas H full_name: Barton, Nicholas H id: 4880FE40-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Barton orcid: 0000-0002-8548-5240 title: 'The molecular basis of sexual dimorphism: Experimental and theoretical characterization of phenotypic, transcriptomic and genetic patterns of sex-specific adaptation' 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: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '12885' abstract: - lang: eng text: 'High-performance semiconductors rely upon precise control of heat and charge transport. This can be achieved by precisely engineering defects in polycrystalline solids. There are multiple approaches to preparing such polycrystalline semiconductors, and the transformation of solution-processed colloidal nanoparticles is appealing because colloidal nanoparticles combine low cost with structural and compositional tunability along with rich surface chemistry. However, the multiple processes from nanoparticle synthesis to the final bulk nanocomposites are very complex. They involve nanoparticle purification, post-synthetic modifications, and finally consolidation (thermal treatments and densification). All these properties dictate the final material’s composition and microstructure, ultimately affecting its functional properties. This thesis explores the synthesis, surface chemistry and consolidation of colloidal semiconductor nanoparticles into dense solids. In particular, the transformations that take place during these processes, and their effect on the material’s transport properties are evaluated. ' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: EM-Fac - _id: NanoFab alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Mariano full_name: Calcabrini, Mariano id: 45D7531A-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Calcabrini orcid: 0000-0003-4566-5877 citation: ama: 'Calcabrini M. Nanoparticle-based semiconductor solids: From synthesis to consolidation. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:12885' apa: 'Calcabrini, M. (2023). Nanoparticle-based semiconductor solids: From synthesis to consolidation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12885' chicago: 'Calcabrini, Mariano. “Nanoparticle-Based Semiconductor Solids: From Synthesis to Consolidation.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12885.' ieee: 'M. Calcabrini, “Nanoparticle-based semiconductor solids: From synthesis to consolidation,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023.' ista: 'Calcabrini M. 2023. Nanoparticle-based semiconductor solids: From synthesis to consolidation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Calcabrini, Mariano. Nanoparticle-Based Semiconductor Solids: From Synthesis to Consolidation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:12885.' short: 'M. Calcabrini, Nanoparticle-Based Semiconductor Solids: From Synthesis to Consolidation, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-05-02T07:58:57Z date_published: 2023-04-28T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:26:14Z day: '28' ddc: - '546' - '541' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MaIb doi: 10.15479/at:ista:12885 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 9347b0e09425f56fdcede5d3528404dc content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: mcalcabr date_created: 2023-05-02T07:43:18Z date_updated: 2023-05-02T07:43:18Z file_id: '12887' file_name: Thesis_Calcabrini.docx file_size: 99627036 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 2d188b76621086cd384f0b9264b0a576 content_type: application/pdf creator: mcalcabr date_created: 2023-05-02T07:42:45Z date_updated: 2023-05-02T07:42:45Z file_id: '12888' file_name: Thesis_Calcabrini_pdfa.pdf file_size: 8742220 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2023-05-02T07:43:18Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '82' project: - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-028-2 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12237' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '10806' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '10123' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '10042' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '9118' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maria full_name: Ibáñez, Maria id: 43C61214-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Ibáñez orcid: 0000-0001-5013-2843 title: 'Nanoparticle-based semiconductor solids: From synthesis to consolidation' type: dissertation user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd year: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '12732' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Nonergodic systems, whose out-of-equilibrium dynamics fail to thermalize, provide a fascinating research direction both for fundamental reasons and for application in state of the art quantum devices.\r\nGoing beyond the description of statistical mechanics, ergodicity breaking yields a new paradigm in quantum many-body physics, introducing novel phases of matter with no counterpart at equilibrium.\r\nIn this Thesis, we address different open questions in the field, focusing on disorder-induced many-body localization (MBL) and on weak ergodicity breaking in kinetically constrained models.\r\nIn particular, we contribute to the debate about transport in kinetically constrained models, studying the effect of $U(1)$ conservation and inversion-symmetry breaking in a family of quantum East models.\r\nUsing tensor network techniques, we analyze the dynamics of large MBL systems beyond the limit of exact numerical methods.\r\nIn this setting, we approach the debated topic of the coexistence of localized and thermal eigenstates separated by energy thresholds known as many-body mobility edges.\r\nInspired by recent experiments, our work further investigates the localization of a small bath induced by the coupling to a large localized chain, the so-called MBL proximity effect.\r\n\r\nIn the first Chapter, we introduce a family of particle-conserving kinetically constrained models, inspired by the quantum East model.\r\nThe system we study features strong inversion-symmetry breaking, due to the nature of the correlated hopping.\r\nWe show that these models host so-called quantum Hilbert space fragmentation, consisting of disconnected subsectors in an entangled basis, and further provide an analytical description of this phenomenon.\r\nWe further probe its effect on dynamics of simple product states, showing revivals in fidelity and local observalbes.\r\nThe study of dynamics within the largest subsector reveals an anomalous transient superdiffusive behavior crossing over to slow logarithmic dynamics at later times.\r\nThis work suggests that particle conserving constrained models with inversion-symmetry breaking realize new universality classes of dynamics and invite their further theoretical and experimental studies.\r\n\r\nNext, we use kinetic constraints and disorder to design a model with many-body mobility edges in particle density.\r\nThis feature allows to study the dynamics of localized and thermal states in large systems beyond the limitations of previous studies.\r\nThe time-evolution shows typical signatures of localization at small densities, replaced by thermal behavior at larger densities.\r\nOur results provide evidence in favor of the stability of many-body mobility edges, which was recently challenged by a theoretical argument.\r\nTo support our findings, we probe the mechanism proposed as a cause of delocalization in many-body localized systems with mobility edges suggesting its ineffectiveness in the model studied.\r\n\r\nIn the last Chapter of this Thesis, we address the topic of many-body localization proximity effect.\r\nWe study a model inspired by recent experiments, featuring Anderson localized coupled to a small bath of free hard-core bosons.\r\nThe interaction among the two particle species results in non-trivial dynamics, which we probe using tensor network techniques.\r\nOur simulations show convincing evidence of many-body localization proximity effect when the bath is composed by a single free particle and interactions are strong.\r\nWe furthter observe an anomalous entanglement dynamics, which we explain through a phenomenological theory.\r\nFinally, we extract highly excited eigenstates of large systems, providing supplementary evidence in favor of our findings." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: ScienComp alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Pietro full_name: Brighi, Pietro id: 4115AF5C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Brighi orcid: 0000-0002-7969-2729 citation: ama: Brighi P. Ergodicity breaking in disordered and kinetically constrained quantum many-body systems. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:12732 apa: Brighi, P. (2023). Ergodicity breaking in disordered and kinetically constrained quantum many-body systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12732 chicago: Brighi, Pietro. “Ergodicity Breaking in Disordered and Kinetically Constrained Quantum Many-Body Systems.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12732. ieee: P. Brighi, “Ergodicity breaking in disordered and kinetically constrained quantum many-body systems,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Brighi P. 2023. Ergodicity breaking in disordered and kinetically constrained quantum many-body systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Brighi, Pietro. Ergodicity Breaking in Disordered and Kinetically Constrained Quantum Many-Body Systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:12732. short: P. Brighi, Ergodicity Breaking in Disordered and Kinetically Constrained Quantum Many-Body Systems, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-03-17T13:30:48Z date_published: 2023-03-21T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:26:32Z day: '21' ddc: - '530' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: MaSe doi: 10.15479/at:ista:12732 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 5d2de651ef9449c1b8dc27148ca74777 content_type: application/zip creator: pbrighi date_created: 2023-03-23T16:42:56Z date_updated: 2023-03-23T16:42:56Z file_id: '12753' file_name: Thesis_sub_PBrighi.zip file_size: 42167561 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 7caa153d4a5b0873a79358787d2dfe1e content_type: application/pdf creator: pbrighi date_created: 2023-03-23T16:43:14Z date_updated: 2023-03-23T16:43:14Z file_id: '12754' file_name: Thesis_PBrighi.pdf file_size: 13977000 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2023-03-23T16:43:14Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '03' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '158' project: - _id: 23841C26-32DE-11EA-91FC-C7463DDC885E call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '850899' name: 'Non-Ergodic Quantum Matter: Universality, Dynamics and Control' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12750' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '11470' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '8308' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '11469' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maksym full_name: Serbyn, Maksym id: 47809E7E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Serbyn orcid: 0000-0002-2399-5827 title: Ergodicity breaking in disordered and kinetically constrained quantum many-body systems 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: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '12826' abstract: - lang: eng text: "During navigation, animals can infer the structure of the environment by computing the optic flow cues elicited by their own movements, and subsequently use this information to instruct proper locomotor actions. These computations require a panoramic assessment of the visual environment in order to disambiguate similar sensory experiences that may require distinct behavioral responses. The estimation of the global motion patterns is therefore essential for successful navigation. Yet, our understanding of the algorithms and implementations that enable coherent panoramic visual perception remains scarce. Here I pursue this problem by dissecting the functional aspects of interneuronal communication in the lobula plate tangential cell network in Drosophila melanogaster. The results presented in the thesis demonstrate that the basis for effective interpretation of the optic flow in this circuit are stereotyped synaptic connections that mediate the formation of distinct subnetworks, each extracting a particular pattern of global motion. \r\nFirstly, I show that gap junctions are essential for a correct interpretation of binocular motion cues by horizontal motion-sensitive cells. HS cells form electrical synapses with contralateral H2 neurons that are involved in detecting yaw rotation and translation. I developed an FlpStop-mediated mutant of a gap junction protein ShakB that disrupts these electrical synapses. While the loss of electrical synapses does not affect the tuning of the direction selectivity in HS neurons, it severely alters their sensitivity to horizontal motion in the contralateral side. These physiological changes result in an inappropriate integration of binocular motion cues in walking animals. While wild-type flies form a binocular perception of visual motion by non-linear integration of monocular optic flow cues, the mutant flies sum the monocular inputs linearly. These results indicate that rather than averaging signals in neighboring neurons, gap-junctions operate in conjunction with chemical synapses to mediate complex non-linear optic flow computations.\r\nSecondly, I show that stochastic manipulation of neuronal activity in the lobula plate tangential cell network is a powerful approach to study the neuronal implementation of optic flow-based navigation in flies. Tangential neurons form multiple subnetworks, each mediating course-stabilizing response to a particular global pattern of visual motion. Application of genetic mosaic techniques can provide sparse optogenetic activation of HS cells in numerous combinations. These distinct combinations of activated neurons drive an array of distinct behavioral responses, providing important insights into how visuomotor transformation is performed in the lobula plate tangential cell network. This approach can be complemented by stochastic silencing of tangential neurons, enabling direct assessment of the functional role of individual tangential neurons in the processing of specific visual motion patterns.\r\n\tTaken together, the findings presented in this thesis suggest that establishing specific activity patterns of tangential cells via stereotyped synaptic connectivity is a key to efficient optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster." acknowledged_ssus: - _id: Bio - _id: LifeSc alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Victoria full_name: Pokusaeva, Victoria id: 3184041C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Pokusaeva orcid: 0000-0001-7660-444X citation: ama: Pokusaeva V. Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:12826 apa: Pokusaeva, V. (2023). Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12826 chicago: Pokusaeva, Victoria. “Neural Control of Optic Flow-Based Navigation in Drosophila Melanogaster.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:12826. ieee: V. Pokusaeva, “Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Pokusaeva V. 2023. Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Pokusaeva, Victoria. Neural Control of Optic Flow-Based Navigation in Drosophila Melanogaster. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:12826. short: V. Pokusaeva, Neural Control of Optic Flow-Based Navigation in Drosophila Melanogaster, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-04-14T14:56:04Z date_published: 2023-04-18T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:26:49Z day: '18' ddc: - '570' - '571' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: MaJö - _id: GradSch doi: 10.15479/at:ista:12826 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 5f589a9af025f7eeebfd0c186209913e content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document creator: vpokusae date_created: 2023-04-20T09:14:38Z date_updated: 2023-04-20T09:26:51Z file_id: '12857' file_name: Thesis_Pokusaeva.docx file_size: 14507243 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: bbeed76db45a996b4c91a9abe12ce0ec content_type: application/pdf creator: vpokusae date_created: 2023-04-20T09:14:44Z date_updated: 2023-04-20T09:14:44Z file_id: '12858' file_name: Thesis_Pokusaeva.pdf file_size: 10090711 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2023-04-20T09:26:51Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '106' project: - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria status: public supervisor: - first_name: Maximilian A full_name: Jösch, Maximilian A id: 2BD278E6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Jösch orcid: 0000-0002-3937-1330 title: Neural control of optic flow-based navigation in Drosophila melanogaster 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: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '13286' abstract: - lang: eng text: Semiconductor-superconductor hybrid systems are the harbour of many intriguing mesoscopic phenomena. This material combination leads to spatial variations of the superconducting properties, which gives rise to Andreev bound states (ABSs). Some of these states might exhibit remarkable properties that render them highly desirable for topological quantum computing. The most prominent and hunted of such states are Majorana zero modes (MZMs), quasiparticles equals to their own quasiparticles that they follow non-abelian statistics. In this thesis, we first introduce the general framework of such hybrid systems and, then, we unveil a series of mesoscopic phenomena that we discovered. Firstly, we show tunneling spectroscopy experiments on full-shell nanowires (NWs) showing that unwanted quantum-dot states coupled to superconductors (Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states) can mimic MZMs signatures. Then, we introduce a novel protocol which allowed the integration of tunneling spectroscopy with Coulomb spectroscopy within the same device. Employing this approach on both full-shell NWs and partial-shell NWs, we demonstrated that longitudinally confined states reveal charge transport phenomenology similar to the one expected for MZMs. These findings shed light on the intricate interplay between superconductivity and quantum confinement, which brought us to explore another material platform, i.e. a two-dimensional Germanium hole gas. After developing a robust way to induce superconductivity in such system, we showed how to engineer the proximity effect and we revealed a superconducting hard gap. Finally, we created a superconducting radio frequency driven ideal diode and a generator of non-sinusoidal current-phase relations. Our results open the path for the exploration of protected superconducting qubits and more complex hybrid devices in planar Germanium, like Kitaev chains and hybrid qubit devices. acknowledged_ssus: - _id: NanoFab - _id: M-Shop alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Marco full_name: Valentini, Marco id: C0BB2FAC-D767-11E9-B658-BC13E6697425 last_name: Valentini citation: ama: 'Valentini M. Mesoscopic phenomena in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanodevices : From full-shell nanowires to two-dimensional hole gas in germanium. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:13286' apa: 'Valentini, M. (2023). Mesoscopic phenomena in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanodevices : From full-shell nanowires to two-dimensional hole gas in germanium. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:13286' chicago: 'Valentini, Marco. “Mesoscopic Phenomena in Hybrid Semiconductor-Superconductor Nanodevices : From Full-Shell Nanowires to Two-Dimensional Hole Gas in Germanium.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:13286.' ieee: 'M. Valentini, “Mesoscopic phenomena in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanodevices : From full-shell nanowires to two-dimensional hole gas in germanium,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023.' ista: 'Valentini M. 2023. Mesoscopic phenomena in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanodevices : From full-shell nanowires to two-dimensional hole gas in germanium. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.' mla: 'Valentini, Marco. Mesoscopic Phenomena in Hybrid Semiconductor-Superconductor Nanodevices : From Full-Shell Nanowires to Two-Dimensional Hole Gas in Germanium. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:13286.' short: 'M. Valentini, Mesoscopic Phenomena in Hybrid Semiconductor-Superconductor Nanodevices : From Full-Shell Nanowires to Two-Dimensional Hole Gas in Germanium, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023.' corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-07-24T14:10:45Z date_published: 2023-07-21T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:27:22Z day: '21' ddc: - '530' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: GeKa doi: 10.15479/at:ista:13286 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: closed checksum: 666ee31c7eade89679806287c062fa14 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: mvalenti date_created: 2023-08-11T09:27:39Z date_updated: 2023-08-11T10:01:34Z file_id: '14033' file_name: PhD_thesis_Valentini_final.zip file_size: 56121429 relation: source_file - access_level: open_access checksum: 0992f2ebef152dee8e70055350ebbb55 content_type: application/pdf creator: mvalenti date_created: 2023-08-11T14:39:17Z date_updated: 2023-08-11T14:39:17Z file_id: '14035' file_name: PhD_thesis_Valentini_final_validated.pdf file_size: 38199711 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2023-08-11T14:39:17Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '07' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '184' project: - _id: 262116AA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 name: Hybrid Semiconductor - Superconductor Quantum Devices - _id: 237E5020-32DE-11EA-91FC-C7463DDC885E call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '862046' name: TOPOLOGICALLY PROTECTED AND SCALABLE QUANTUM BITS - _id: 34a66131-11ca-11ed-8bc3-a31681c6b03e grant_number: F8606 name: 'Center for Correlated Quantum Materials and Solid State Quantum Systems: Conventional and unconventional topological superconductors' publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '12522' relation: research_data status: public - id: '13312' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '12118' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '8910' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Georgios full_name: Katsaros, Georgios id: 38DB5788-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Katsaros orcid: 0000-0001-8342-202X title: 'Mesoscopic phenomena in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanodevices : From full-shell nanowires to two-dimensional hole gas in germanium' 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: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '14374' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Superconductivity has many important applications ranging from levitating trains over qubits to MRI scanners. The phenomenon is successfully modeled by Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. From a mathematical perspective, BCS theory has been studied extensively for systems without boundary. However, little is known in the presence of boundaries. With the help of numerical methods physicists observed that the critical temperature may increase in the presence of a boundary. The goal of this thesis is to understand the influence of boundaries on the critical temperature in BCS theory and to give a first rigorous justification of these observations. On the way, we also study two-body Schrödinger operators on domains with boundaries and prove additional results for superconductors without boundary.\r\n\r\nBCS theory is based on a non-linear functional, where the minimizer indicates whether the system is superconducting or in the normal, non-superconducting state. By considering the Hessian of the BCS functional at the normal state, one can analyze whether the normal state is possibly a minimum of the BCS functional and estimate the critical temperature. The Hessian turns out to be a linear operator resembling a Schrödinger operator for two interacting particles, but with more complicated kinetic energy. As a first step, we study the two-body Schrödinger operator in the presence of boundaries.\r\nFor Neumann boundary conditions, we prove that the addition of a boundary can create new eigenvalues, which correspond to the two particles forming a bound state close to the boundary.\r\n\r\nSecond, we need to understand superconductivity in the translation invariant setting. While in three dimensions this has been extensively studied, there is no mathematical literature for the one and two dimensional cases. In dimensions one and two, we compute the weak coupling asymptotics of the critical temperature and the energy gap in the translation invariant setting. We also prove that their ratio is independent of the microscopic details of the model in the weak coupling limit; this property is referred to as universality.\r\n\r\nIn the third part, we study the critical temperature of superconductors in the presence of boundaries. We start by considering the one-dimensional case of a half-line with contact interaction. Then, we generalize the results to generic interactions and half-spaces in one, two and three dimensions. Finally, we compare the critical temperature of a quarter space in two dimensions to the critical temperatures of a half-space and of the full space." alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Barbara full_name: Roos, Barbara id: 5DA90512-D80F-11E9-8994-2E2EE6697425 last_name: Roos orcid: 0000-0002-9071-5880 citation: ama: Roos B. Boundary superconductivity in BCS theory. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:14374 apa: Roos, B. (2023). Boundary superconductivity in BCS theory. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14374 chicago: Roos, Barbara. “Boundary Superconductivity in BCS Theory.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14374. ieee: B. Roos, “Boundary superconductivity in BCS theory,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Roos B. 2023. Boundary superconductivity in BCS theory. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Roos, Barbara. Boundary Superconductivity in BCS Theory. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:14374. short: B. Roos, Boundary Superconductivity in BCS Theory, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-09-28T14:23:04Z date_published: 2023-09-30T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:27:39Z day: '30' ddc: - '515' - '539' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: RoSe doi: 10.15479/at:ista:14374 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: ef039ffc3de2cb8dee5b14110938e9b6 content_type: application/pdf creator: broos date_created: 2023-10-06T11:35:56Z date_updated: 2023-10-06T11:35:56Z file_id: '14398' file_name: phd-thesis-draft_pdfa_acrobat.pdf file_size: 2365702 relation: main_file - access_level: closed checksum: 81dcac33daeefaf0111db52f41bb1fd0 content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: broos date_created: 2023-10-06T11:38:01Z date_updated: 2023-10-06T11:38:01Z file_id: '14399' file_name: Version5.zip file_size: 4691734 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2023-10-06T11:38:01Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '09' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '206' project: - _id: 25C6DC12-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '694227' name: Analysis of quantum many-body systems - _id: bda63fe5-d553-11ed-ba76-a16e3d2f256b grant_number: I06427 name: Mathematical Challenges in BCS Theory of Superconductivity publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '10850' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '13207' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Robert full_name: Seiringer, Robert id: 4AFD0470-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Seiringer orcid: 0000-0002-6781-0521 title: Boundary superconductivity in BCS theory 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: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '14539' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Stochastic systems provide a formal framework for modelling and quantifying uncertainty in systems and have been widely adopted in many application domains. Formal\r\nverification and control of finite state stochastic systems, a subfield of formal methods\r\nalso known as probabilistic model checking, is well studied. In contrast, formal verification and control of infinite state stochastic systems have received comparatively\r\nless attention. However, infinite state stochastic systems commonly arise in practice.\r\nFor instance, probabilistic models that contain continuous probability distributions such\r\nas normal or uniform, or stochastic dynamical systems which are a classical model for\r\ncontrol under uncertainty, both give rise to infinite state systems.\r\nThe goal of this thesis is to contribute to laying theoretical and algorithmic foundations\r\nof fully automated formal verification and control of infinite state stochastic systems,\r\nwith a particular focus on systems that may be executed over a long or infinite time.\r\nWe consider formal verification of infinite state stochastic systems in the setting of\r\nstatic analysis of probabilistic programs and formal control in the setting of controller\r\nsynthesis in stochastic dynamical systems. For both problems, we present some of the\r\nfirst fully automated methods for probabilistic (a.k.a. quantitative) reachability and\r\nsafety analysis applicable to infinite time horizon systems. We also advance the state\r\nof the art of probability 1 (a.k.a. qualitative) reachability analysis for both problems.\r\nFinally, for formal controller synthesis in stochastic dynamical systems, we present a\r\nnovel framework for learning neural network control policies in stochastic dynamical\r\nsystems with formal guarantees on correctness with respect to quantitative reachability,\r\nsafety or reach-avoid specifications.\r\n" alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Dorde full_name: Zikelic, Dorde id: 294AA7A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Zikelic orcid: 0000-0002-4681-1699 citation: ama: Zikelic D. Automated verification and control of infinite state stochastic systems. 2023. doi:10.15479/14539 apa: Zikelic, D. (2023). Automated verification and control of infinite state stochastic systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/14539 chicago: Zikelic, Dorde. “Automated Verification and Control of Infinite State Stochastic Systems.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/14539. ieee: D. Zikelic, “Automated verification and control of infinite state stochastic systems,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Zikelic D. 2023. Automated verification and control of infinite state stochastic systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Zikelic, Dorde. Automated Verification and Control of Infinite State Stochastic Systems. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/14539. short: D. Zikelic, Automated Verification and Control of Infinite State Stochastic Systems, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-11-15T13:39:10Z date_published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:27:56Z day: '15' ddc: - '000' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: KrCh - _id: GradSch doi: 10.15479/14539 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: f23e002b0059ca78e1fbb864da52dd7e content_type: application/pdf creator: cchlebak date_created: 2023-11-15T13:43:28Z date_updated: 2023-11-15T13:43:28Z file_id: '14540' file_name: main.pdf file_size: 2116426 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: 80ca37618a3c7b59866875f8be9b15ed content_type: application/x-zip-compressed creator: cchlebak date_created: 2023-11-15T13:44:24Z date_updated: 2023-11-15T13:44:24Z file_id: '14541' file_name: thesis_source.zip file_size: 35884057 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2023-11-15T13:44:24Z language: - iso: eng month: '11' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '256' project: - _id: 0599E47C-7A3F-11EA-A408-12923DDC885E call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '863818' name: 'Formal Methods for Stochastic Models: Algorithms and Applications' - _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '665385' name: International IST Doctoral Program publication_identifier: isbn: - 978-3-99078-036-7 issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '10414' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '12000' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '9644' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '12511' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '14600' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '14601' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '1194' 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: Automated verification and control of infinite state stochastic systems 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: '2023' ... --- OA_place: publisher _id: '14587' abstract: - lang: eng text: "This thesis concerns the application of variational methods to the study of evolution problems arising in fluid mechanics and in material sciences. The main focus is on weak-strong stability properties of some curvature driven interface evolution problems, such as the two-phase Navier–Stokes flow with surface tension and multiphase mean curvature flow, and on the phase-field approximation of the latter. Furthermore, we discuss a variational approach to the study of a class of doubly nonlinear wave equations.\r\nFirst, we consider the two-phase Navier–Stokes flow with surface tension within a bounded domain. The two fluids are immiscible and separated by a sharp interface, which intersects the boundary of the domain at a constant contact angle of ninety degree. We devise a suitable concept of varifolds solutions for the associated interface evolution problem and we establish a weak-strong uniqueness principle in case of a two dimensional ambient space. In order to focus on the boundary effects and on the singular geometry of the evolving domains, we work for simplicity in the regime of same viscosities for the two fluids.\r\nThe core of the thesis consists in the rigorous proof of the convergence of the vectorial Allen-Cahn equation towards multiphase mean curvature flow for a suitable class of multi- well potentials and for well-prepared initial data. We even establish a rate of convergence. Our relative energy approach relies on the concept of gradient-flow calibration for branching singularities in multiphase mean curvature flow and thus enables us to overcome the limitations of other approaches. To the best of the author’s knowledge, our result is the first quantitative and unconditional one available in the literature for the vectorial/multiphase setting.\r\nThis thesis also contains a first study of weak-strong stability for planar multiphase mean curvature flow beyond the singularity resulting from a topology change. Previous weak-strong results are indeed limited to time horizons before the first topology change of the strong solution. We consider circular topology changes and we prove weak-strong stability for BV solutions to planar multiphase mean curvature flow beyond the associated singular times by dynamically adapting the strong solutions to the weak one by means of a space-time shift.\r\nIn the context of interface evolution problems, our proofs for the main results of this thesis are based on the relative energy technique, relying on novel suitable notions of relative energy functionals, which in particular measure the interface error. Our statements follow from the resulting stability estimates for the relative energy associated to the problem.\r\nAt last, we introduce a variational approach to the study of nonlinear evolution problems. This approach hinges on the minimization of a parameter dependent family of convex functionals over entire trajectories, known as Weighted Inertia-Dissipation-Energy (WIDE) functionals. We consider a class of doubly nonlinear wave equations and establish the convergence, up to subsequences, of the associated WIDE minimizers to a solution of the target problem as the parameter goes to zero." acknowledgement: The research projects contained in this thesis have received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 948819). alternative_title: - ISTA Thesis article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Alice full_name: Marveggio, Alice id: 25647992-AA84-11E9-9D75-8427E6697425 last_name: Marveggio citation: ama: Marveggio A. Weak-strong stability and phase-field approximation of interface evolution problems in fluid mechanics and in material sciences. 2023. doi:10.15479/at:ista:14587 apa: Marveggio, A. (2023). Weak-strong stability and phase-field approximation of interface evolution problems in fluid mechanics and in material sciences. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14587 chicago: Marveggio, Alice. “Weak-Strong Stability and Phase-Field Approximation of Interface Evolution Problems in Fluid Mechanics and in Material Sciences.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:14587. ieee: A. Marveggio, “Weak-strong stability and phase-field approximation of interface evolution problems in fluid mechanics and in material sciences,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. ista: Marveggio A. 2023. Weak-strong stability and phase-field approximation of interface evolution problems in fluid mechanics and in material sciences. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. mla: Marveggio, Alice. Weak-Strong Stability and Phase-Field Approximation of Interface Evolution Problems in Fluid Mechanics and in Material Sciences. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:10.15479/at:ista:14587. short: A. Marveggio, Weak-Strong Stability and Phase-Field Approximation of Interface Evolution Problems in Fluid Mechanics and in Material Sciences, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. corr_author: '1' date_created: 2023-11-21T11:41:05Z date_published: 2023-11-21T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:28:13Z day: '21' ddc: - '515' degree_awarded: PhD department: - _id: GradSch - _id: JuFi doi: 10.15479/at:ista:14587 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 6c7db4cc86da6cdc79f7f358dc7755d4 content_type: application/pdf creator: amarvegg date_created: 2023-11-29T09:09:31Z date_updated: 2023-11-29T09:09:31Z file_id: '14626' file_name: thesis_Marveggio.pdf file_size: 2881100 relation: main_file success: 1 - access_level: closed checksum: 52f28bdf95ec82cff39f3685f9c48e7d content_type: application/zip creator: amarvegg date_created: 2023-11-29T09:10:19Z date_updated: 2024-03-20T12:28:32Z file_id: '14627' file_name: Thesis_Marveggio.zip file_size: 10189696 relation: source_file file_date_updated: 2024-03-20T12:28:32Z has_accepted_license: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '11' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: '228' project: - _id: 0aa76401-070f-11eb-9043-b5bb049fa26d call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '948819' name: Bridging Scales in Random Materials publication_identifier: issn: - 2663-337X publication_status: published publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria related_material: record: - id: '11842' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public - id: '14597' relation: part_of_dissertation status: public status: public supervisor: - first_name: Julian L full_name: Fischer, Julian L id: 2C12A0B0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Fischer orcid: 0000-0002-0479-558X title: Weak-strong stability and phase-field approximation of interface evolution problems in fluid mechanics and in material sciences 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: '2023' ...