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275 p., Multilingualism is a worldwide phenomenon. The learning of two or more languages in the school context is becoming very common in different parts of the world. Today, there is increasing interest in research exploring the linguistic practices of multilingual speakers. The main focus of this thesis is situated in the context of Taiwan, a country that has suffered different colonial occupations in the past and has a diverse ethnic population. In the recent decades, Taiwan has moved from promoting monolingualism to multilingualism. The aim of this study is three-folded: to explore to what extent multilingualism has been practiced by Taiwanese multilingual students in different social contexts, to investigate the linguistic identities of students and to analyze the attitudes of students towards different languages, bilingualism and multilingualism. A total of 150 participants took part in this study which uses a mixed method approach including quantitative and qualitative data. Results reveal that Taiwanese students¿ literacy practices are not only multilingual but also multimodal. The evidence on the use of translanguaging demonstrates that Taiwanese multilingual students have a fluid linguistic communicative repertoire. Our analyses suggest that Taiwanese students¿ linguistic identities are not fixed but constantly changing and continuously expanding. In terms of attitudes, results indicate that students generally have positive attitudes towards each of the languages. In particular, we found a significant effect of age on attitudes towards Mandarin, English and bilingualism. These results can be linked to psychological, educational and cultural factors.

275 p., Multilingualism is a worldwide phenomenon. The learning of two or more languages in the school context is becoming very common in different parts of the world. Today, there is increasing interest in research exploring the linguistic practices of multilingual speakers. The main focus of this thesis is situated in the context of Taiwan, a country that has suffered different colonial occupations in the past and has a diverse ethnic population. In the recent decades, Taiwan has moved from promoting monolingualism to multilingualism. The aim of this study is three-folded: to explore to what extent multilingualism has been practiced by Taiwanese multilingual students in different social contexts, to investigate the linguistic identities of students and to analyze the attitudes of students towards different languages, bilingualism and multilingualism. A total of 150 participants took part in this study which uses a mixed method approach including quantitative and qualitative data. Results reveal that Taiwanese students¿ literacy practices are not only multilingual but also multimodal. The evidence on the use of translanguaging demonstrates that Taiwanese multilingual students have a fluid linguistic communicative repertoire. Our analyses suggest that Taiwanese students¿ linguistic identities are not fixed but constantly changing and continuously expanding. In terms of attitudes, results indicate that students generally have positive attitudes towards each of the languages. In particular, we found a significant effect of age on attitudes towards Mandarin, English and bilingualism. These results can be linked to psychological, educational and cultural factors.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used chemotherapeutic anticancer drug. Its intrinsic fluorescence properties enable investigation of tumor response, drug distribution and metabolism. First phantom studies in vitro showed optoacoustic property of DOX. We therefore aimed to further investigate the optoacoustic properties of DOX in biological tissue in order to explore its potential as theranostic agent. We analysed doxorubicin hydrochloride (Dox·HCl) and liposomal encapsulated doxorubicin hydrochloride (Dox·Lipo), two common drugs for anti-cancer treatment in clinical medicine. Optoacoustic measurements revealed a strong signal of both doxorubicin substrates at 488 nm excitation wavelength. Post mortem analysis of intra-tumoral injections of DOX revealed a detectable optoacoustic signal even at three days after the injection. We thereby demonstrate the general feasibility of doxorubicin detection in biological tissue by means of optoacoustic tomography, which could be applied for high resolution imaging at mesoscopic depths dictated by effective penetration of visible light into the biological tissues.

Biomedical imaging plays a key role in the advancement of medical research. While high-resolution microscopy enables the harvest of molecular and cellular information, a holistic picture on organ level can only be provided by means of macroscopic imaging. Wedged in between Micro-macro, the mesoscopic regime offers important bridging of the information transfer. The focus of the research presented in this thesis centers around the application of selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) and its collaborative potential with optoacoustic tomography (OAT) in the mesoscopic regime., Die biomedizinische Bildgebung leistet einen Schlüsselbeitrag zum Fortschritt in der medizinischen Forschung. Am einen Ende des Spektrums kann die hochauflösende Mikroskopie Informationen auf zellulärer und molekularer Ebene liefern, aber am anderen Ende kann nur die makroskopische Bildgebung den Kontext dieser Informationen im Organ oder im ganzen Körper herstellen. Das zwischen diesen beiden Bereichen angesiedelte mesoskopische Regime kann eine wichtige Brücke zur Verknüpfung dieser beiden komplementären Informationen schlagen. Der Fokus der vorgestellten Arbeit liegt auf der Anwendung der Lichtblattmikroskopie und auf deren vorteilhaften Kombination mit der optoakustischen Tomographie (OAT) im mesoskopischen Regime.