Leading-colour two-loop QCD corrections for top-quark pair production in association with a jet at a lepton collider

In dieser Arbeit wird die Berechnung der farbführenden Zweischleifen-QCD-Korrekturen für die Top-Quark-Paarproduktion mit einem zusätzlichen Jet an einem Lepton-Collider präsentiert. Das Matrixelement wird in Vektor- und Axial-Vektorströme zerlegt und die Ströme werden weiter in Dirac-Spinorstrukturen und Formfaktoren zerlegt. Die Formfaktoren werden mit Projektoren extrahiert. Die auftretenden Feynmanintegrale werden mittels IBP-Identitäten und Dimensionsverschiebungstransformationen durch eine Basis quasi-finiter Masterintegrale in 6−2ϵ Dimensionen ausgedrückt. Die Mehrheit der Feynmanintegrale gehört zu einer Doppelbox-Integralfamilie. Die Berechnung der Masterintegrale erfolgt durch numerisches Lösen von Differentialgleichungen in kinematischen Invarianten. Asymptotische Reihenentwicklungen der Masterintegrale in der Top-Quarkmasse werden verwendet, um die Anfangsbedingungen für die numerischen Lösungen der Differentialgleichungen zu bestimmen. Die führenden Terme dieser Entwicklung werden mit der Expansion-by-Regions-Methode berechnet. Höhere Reihenkoeffizienten werden durch die Anwendung einer Differentialgleichung auf einen Ansatz für die Reihenentwicklung bestimmt. Die renormierten Formfaktoren und die farbführende Zweischleifenamplitude werden an einem Referenzphasenraumpunkt zu hoher Präzision numerisch ausgewertet. Die Resultate werden mit elektroschwachen Ward-Identitäten und durch numerische Vergleiche der IR-Singularitäten mit der erwarteten Singularitätsstruktur überprüft.In this work, the calculation of the leading-colour two-loop QCD corrections for top-quark pair production with an additional jet at a lepton collider is presented. The matrix element is decomposed into vector and axial-vector currents and the currents are further decomposed into Dirac spinor structures and form factors. The form factors are extracted with projectors. The Feynman integrals are reduced to a quasi-finite basis in 6 − 2ϵ dimensions using IBP identities and dimension-shift transformations. The majority of master integrals belong to a double-box integral family. The master integrals are computed by numerically solving systems of differential equations in the kinematic invariants. Asymptotic expansions of the master integrals in the top-quark mass variable are used to calculate initial conditions for the numerical differential equation solutions. The leading terms of the expansion are obtained with the expansion by regions and the higher orders are calculated by solving a system of equations obtained from applying the differential equation onto an ansatz of the expansion. The renormalized form factors and the leading-colour two-loop amplitude are evaluated numerically to high precision at a benchmark phase space point. The results are cross-checked with electroweak Ward identities and by numerically comparing the IR singularities with the expected singularity structure

Speziation mikrobiologisch alkylierter, leichtflüchtiger Selenverbindungen in Abhängigkeit der geochemischen Verfügbarkeit des Selens

Selen kann in verschiedenen Oxidationszuständen (+6, +4, ±0, -2) in unterschiedlichen Umweltkompartimenten auftreten. Verbundenen damit sind verschiedene Eigenschaften, wie z. B. die Wasserlöslichkeit, die in direktem Zusammenhang mit der Migrationsfähigkeit sowie der Bioverfügbarkeit steht. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden die Verfügbarkeit anorganischer Selenspezies und damit die Mobilisierbarkeit dieser in verschiedenen Laborexperimenten untersucht. Hierbei wurde an Goethit adsorbiertes Selenit sowohl mit einer Reinkultur des aktiv methylierenden Pilzes Alternaria alternata als auch mit einer angereicherten Umweltmischkultur inkubiert und die mikrobiologische Zugänglichkeit anhand der Bildung leichtflüchtiger, alkylierter Selenmetabolite wie z. B. Dimethylselenid und Dimethyldiselenid beobachtet. Zur Analyse dieser wurde eine cryotrapping-cryofocussing-GC-ICP-MS-Kopplung etabliert. Die Anteile der methylierten Selenverbindungen stiegen bei Verwendung von A. alternata mit der Inkubationszeit auf 10 % des gelösten Selens und 1 % des Gesamtselens an. Dieser Trend konnte während der Inkubation der Umweltmischkultur nicht beobachtet werden. Hier lagen die Anteile über den gesamten Untersuchungszeitraum bei ca. 0,5 % des gelösten bzw. 0,1 % des Gesamtselens, inklusive eines leichten Abwärtstrends, welcher wahrscheinlich durch die Nutzung der Alkylselenide als Kohlenstoffquelle hervorgerufen wurde. Weiterhin wurde das reduzierte Eisenselenidmineral Ferroselit eingesetzt, um dessen Stabilität gegenüber der Aktivität des sulfatreduzierenden Bakteriums Desulfovibrio gigas zu untersuchen. Mit zunehmender Inkubationszeit und damit verbundener, zunehmender Reduktion des im Nährmedium vorhandenen Sulfates konnte ein Anstieg leichtflüchtiger Organoselenverbindungen in der Gasphase der Kulturansätze festgestellt werden, die im unteren Nanogrammbereich lagen. Einhergehend damit wurde auch die Zunahme der Gehalte an gelöstem Selen und somit die biologisch bedingte Rücklösung aus der Mineral- in die Wasserphase beobachtet. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Aktivität von Mikroorganismen einen deutlichen Einfluss auf die Stabilität von Oberflächenkomplexen des Selenits als auch von mineralischen Selenidspezies hat.Selenium exists in different oxidation states (+6, +4, ±0, -2) in diverse environmental compartments. Different properties are related to these oxidation states, for example water solubility, which is closely correlated with the migration capability and the bioavailability. In this study, the availability of inorganic selenium species was investigated in different laboratory experiments to get information on the mobility of these species. Hereby selenite adsorbed on goethite was incubated with a pure culture of active methylating fungus Alternaria alternata as well as with an enriched environmental mixed culture. The microbiological availability of inorganic selenite was observed by the formation of volatile, alkylated selenium metabolites, e. g. dimethyl selenide and dimethyl diselenide. A cryotrapping cryofocussing gaschromatography system hyphenated with ICP-MS was established for speciation analysis. The amount of methylated selenium compounds increased to 10 % of the dissolved selenium and 1 % of the total selenium during the incubation of A. alternata. This behavior has not been observed during the incubation of the environmental mixed culture. In the latter experiments the amount of volatiles analysed lay at approximately 0.5 % of the dissolved selenium and 0.1 % of the total selenium during the whole investigation time. Additionally there was a slight decrease in the formation of volatile compounds that may be due to microbial usage of alkyl selenides as carbon sources. Furthermore, the reduced iron selenid mineral ferroselite was used to investigate its stability at different activities of the sulfate reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio gigas. With ongoing incubation time and a related reduction of sulfate an increase of volatile organoselenium compounds in the headspace of the cultures up to nanograms was observable. Along with this an increase in dissolved selenium and therefore a biological induced re-dissolution of selenium out of the mineral into the water phase has been observed. It was possible to show in this study, that the activity of microorganisms has a significant impact on the stability of surface complexes of selenite as well as with mineral selenid species

Putting the “Space” in Hyperspace: Investigating Hyperdimensional Computing for Space Applications

Earth observation (EO) is currently a major application area of satellite operations. As more powerful imagers become more accessible and see increased use, these EO images will increase in size, which also increases the computational complexity of classifying them. Using neural networks for this task has limitations due to the small memory and compute capability possessed by embedded platforms. Instead, this research investigates a shift in machine-learning paradigms from neural networks to hyperdimensional computing (HDC). HDC uses very large vectors to represent and draw relations from data. HDC often has a lower latency, power usage, and memory footprint than neural networks. Using the EuroSAT dataset, this research achieved \u3e 1.4× speedup and energy efficiency using an HDC model over a convolutional neural network. Though, this improvement came at the cost of 4% lower accuracy. These results indicate HDC is well suited for machine-learning tasks in space

Development and application of an UHPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of 17 steroidal hormones in equine serum

A new, fast and simple analytical method that is able to identify and quantify simultaneously 17 steroid hormones and metabolites (Pregnenolone, 17-OH-Pregnenolone, Progesterone, 17-OH Progesterone, Androsterone, Androstenedione, DHEA, DHEAS, Testosterone, Cortisol, Corticosterone, Aldosterone, 11-Deoxycortisol, 11-Deoxycorticosterone, Dihydrotestosterone, Estrone, Estradiol) has been developed in equine serum using the UHPLC-MS/MS technique. 400 μL of sample were deproteinized with 1000 µl of acetonitrile, evaporated, restored with 50 µl of a solution of 25% methanol and injected in UHPLC-MS/MS triple quadrupole. The recovery percentage obtained by spiking the matrix at two different concentrations with a standard mixture of steroid hormones was in all cases higher than 85.60 % and with the percentage of coefficient of variation (CV) lower than 8.37%. The range of the correlation coefficients of the calibration curves of the analyzed compounds was 0.9922–0.9986, and the limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) were in the range of 0.002–2 ng ml-1 and 0.0055-5.5 ng ml-1, respectively. The detected LOQ for testosterone (i.e. 50 pg ml-1) is two-fold lower with respect to its threshold admitted in geldings plasma (100 pg ml-1 free testosterone). The high sensitivity and the quantitative aspect of the method permitted to detect most of steroids in equine serum. Once validated, the method was used to quantify 17 steroid hormones in mare, stallion and gelding serum samples. The main steroids detected were corticosterone (range 37.25-51.26 ng ml-1) and cortisol (range 32.57-52.24 ng ml-1), followed by 17-OH-pregnenolone, dihydrotestosterone and pregnenolone

Counterions at charge-modulated substrates

We consider counterions in the presence of a single planar surface with a spatially inhomogeneous charge distribution using Monte-Carlo simulations and strong-coupling theory. For high surface charges, multivalent counterions, or pronounced substrate charge modulation the counterions are laterally correlated with the surface charges and their density profile deviates strongly from the limit of a smeared-out substrate charge distribution, in particular exhibiting a much increased laterally averaged density at the surface.Comment: 7 page

Discovery of the cancer stem cell related determinants of radioresistance

AbstractTumors are known to be heterogeneous containing a dynamic mixture of phenotypically and functionally different tumor cells. The two concepts attempting to explain the origin of intratumor heterogeneity are the cancer stem cell hypothesis and the clonal evolution model. The stochastic model argues that tumors are biologically homogenous and all cancer cells within the tumor have equal ability to propagate the tumor growth depending on continuing mutations and selective pressure. By contrast, the stem cells model suggests that cancer heterogeneity is due to the hierarchy that originates from a small population of cancer stem cells (CSCs) which are biologically distinct from the bulk tumor and possesses self-renewal, tumorigenic and multilineage potential. Although these two hypotheses have been discussed for a long time as mutually exclusive explanations of tumor heterogeneity, they are easily reconciled serving as a driving force of cancer evolution and diversity. Recent discovery of the cancer cell plasticity and heterogeneity makes the CSC population a moving target that could be hard to track and eradicate. Understanding the signaling mechanisms regulating CSCs during the course of cancer treatment can be indispensable for the optimization of current treatment strategies

Generation and characterization of a mitotane-resistant adrenocortical cell line

Mitotane is the only drug approved for the therapy of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). Its clinical use is limited by the occurrence of relapse during therapy. To investigate the underlying mechanisms in vitro, we here generated mitotane-resistant cell lines. After long-term pulsed treatment of HAC-15 human adrenocortical carcinoma cells with 70 µM mitotane, we isolated monoclonal cell populations of treated cells and controls and assessed their respective mitotane sensitivities by MTT assay. We performed exome sequencing and electron microscopy, conducted gene expression microarray analysis and determined intracellular lipid concentrations in the presence and absence of mitotane. Clonal cell lines established after pulsed treatment were resistant to mitotane (IC50 of 102.2 ± 7.3 µM (n = 12) vs 39.4 ± 6.2 µM (n = 6) in controls (biological replicates, mean ± s.d., P = 0.0001)). Unlike nonresistant clones, resistant clones maintained normal mitochondrial and nucleolar morphology during mitotane treatment. Resistant clones largely shared structural and single nucleotide variants, suggesting a common cell of origin. Resistance depended, in part, on extracellular lipoproteins and was associated with alterations in intracellular lipid homeostasis, including levels of free cholesterol, as well as decreased steroid production. By gene expression analysis, resistant cells showed profound alterations in pathways including steroid metabolism and transport, apoptosis, cell growth and Wnt signaling. These studies establish an in vitro model of mitotane resistance in ACC and point to underlying molecular mechanisms. They may enable future studies to overcome resistance in vitro and improve ACC treatment in vivo