Ein dimensionsunabhängiges topologisches Modell auf der Basis von Simplexen

Die geometrische Modellierung hat in den Ingenieurwissenschaften eine große Bedeutung erlangt. Die Visualisierung von zwei- oder dreidimensionalen Problemstellungen ist aus heutigen Anwendungen nicht mehr wegzudenken. Zunehmend rücken Aufgabenstellungen aus dem Bereich der geometrischen Modellierung in den Vordergrund, die über die etablierten Dimensionen 1-3 hinausgehen und die nicht mehr rein geometrischer Natur sind. Hierzu zählen Aufgabenstellungen aus den Bereichen numerische Simulation, Parameteridentifikation und Strukturanalyse. Auf diese nicht-geometrischen Aufgabenstellungen sollen geometrische Verfahren, wie z.B. Triangulation, konvexe Hülle, geometrischer Schnitt und Interpolation angewendet werden. Hierzu werden diese Algorithmen, die alle auf der klassischen Geometrie des euklidischen Raumes beruhen, auf ihre Übertragbarkeit hin analysiert und überarbeitet. Am Beispiel einer Parameteridentifikation wird eine systematische Vorgehensweise vorgestellt, die es ermöglicht, trotz weniger Versuchsrechnungen den Bereich der in Frage kommenden Parameter umfassend zu beschreiben. Dies ermöglicht ein besseres Verständnis der Zusammenhänge der Parameter untereinander. Häufig existieren mehr als eine Parameterkombination, so daß diese eine Isolinie formen, die ihrerseits unendlich viele Lösungen des gestellten Problemes im Untersuchungsgebiet beschreibt

Organizing research data

Research relies on ever larger amounts of data from experiments, automated production equipment, questionnaries, times series such as weather records, and so on. A major task in science is to combine, process and analyse such data to obtain evidence of patterns and correlations

The forearc ophiolites of California formed during trench-parallel spreading: Kinematic reconstruction of the western USA Cordillera since the Jurassic

Ophiolites, fragments of oceanic lithosphere exposed on land, are typically found as isolated klippen in intensely deformed fold-thrust belts spanning hundreds to thousands of kilometers along-strike. Ophiolites whose geochemistry indicates that they formed above subduction zones, may have been relics of larger, once-coherent, oceanic lithosphere tracts that formed the leading edge of an upper plate below which subduction occurred; such tracts were subsequently dismembered by deformation and erosion during orogenesis and uplift. However, to what extent the first-order original coherence is maintained between ophiolitic klippen is difficult to assess. Here, we aim to evaluate whether the Jurassic forearc ophiolites overlying subduction complex rocks in California, now scattered over 1000 km and dismembered by the wider San Andreas Fault Zone, still maintain their original lithospheric coherence. To this end we (i) compile available crustal ages from all ophiolite klippen exposed in the Jurassic ophiolite belt of the western United States; (ii) review and kinematically reconstruct post-middle Jurassic deformation that occurred between the modern western coast and the stable North American craton to restore the original positions of the ophiolite fragments relative to each other and to North America, and (iii) perform a paleomagnetic analysis of a sheeted dyke sections of the Mt. Diablo and Josephine ophiolites to estimate the orientation of the spreading axis at which the Jurassic Californian forearc ophiolites formed. The latter analysis reveals that the original ridge orientation likely trended ∼080–260°, near-perpendicular to the orientation of the trench along the western margin of the ophiolite belt. We show that with these constraints, a straightforward ridge-transform system can explain the age distributions of the ophiolites with spreading rates of 6–7 cm/a. Our analysis shows that the Jurassic ophiolites of California may be considered klippen of a single sheet of oceanic lithosphere that accreted at a supra-subduction zone spreading ridge. In addition, we show that kinematic and paleomagnetic analysis of ophiolite belts may provide novel constraints on the kinematic evolution of accretionary orogens and the plates now lost to subduction

A global apparent polar wander path for the last 320 Ma calculated from site-level paleomagnetic data

Apparent polar wander paths (APWPs) calculated from paleomagnetic data describe the motion of tectonic plates relative to the Earth's rotation axis through geological time, providing a quantitative paleogeographic framework for studying the evolution of Earth's interior, surface, and atmosphere. Previous APWPs were typically calculated from collections of paleomagnetic poles, with each pole computed from collections of paleomagnetic sites, and each site representing a spot reading of the paleomagnetic field. It was recently shown that the choice of how sites are distributed over poles strongly determines the confidence region around APWPs and possibly the APWP itself, and that the number of paleomagnetic data used to compute a single paleomagnetic pole varies widely and is essentially arbitrary. Here, we use a recently proposed method to overcome this problem and provide a new global APWP for the last 320 million years that is calculated from simulated site-level paleomagnetic data instead of from paleopoles, in which spatial and temporal uncertainties of the original datasets are incorporated. We provide an updated global paleomagnetic database scrutinized against quantitative, stringent quality criteria, and use an updated global plate motion model. The new global APWP follows the same trend as the most recent pole-based APWP but has smaller uncertainties. This demonstrates that the first-order geometry of the global APWP is robust and reproducible. Moreover, we find that previously identified peaks in APW rate disappear when calculating the APWP from site-level data and correcting for a temporal bias in the underlying data. Finally, we show that a higher-resolution global APWP frame may be determined for time intervals with high data density, but that this is not yet feasible for the entire 320–0 Ma time span. Calculating polar wander from site-level data provides opportunities to significantly improve the quality and resolution of the global APWP by collecting large and well-dated paleomagnetic datasets from stable plate interiors, which may contribute to solving detailed Earth scientific problems that rely on a paleomagnetic reference frame

SUSTAIN drilling at Surtsey volcano, Iceland, tracks hydrothermal and microbiological interactions in basalt 50 years after eruption

The 2017 Surtsey Underwater volcanic System for Thermophiles, Alteration processes and INnovative concretes (SUSTAIN) drilling project at Surtsey volcano, sponsored in part by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), provides precise observations of the hydrothermal, geochemical, geomagnetic, and microbiological changes that have occurred in basaltic tephra and minor intrusions since explosive and effusive eruptions produced the oceanic island in 1963–1967. Two vertically cored boreholes, to 152 and 192 m below the surface, were drilled using filtered, UV-sterilized seawater circulating fluid to minimize microbial contamination. These cores parallel a 181 m core drilled in 1979. Introductory investigations indicate changes in material properties and whole-rock compositions over the past 38 years. A Surtsey subsurface observatory installed to 181 m in one vertical borehole holds incubation experiments that monitor in situ mineralogical and microbial alteration processes at 25–124 ∘C. A third cored borehole, inclined 55∘ in a 264∘ azimuthal direction to 354 m measured depth, provides further insights into eruption processes, including the presence of a diatreme that extends at least 100 m into the seafloor beneath the Surtur crater. The SUSTAIN project provides the first time-lapse drilling record into a very young oceanic basaltic volcano over a range of temperatures, 25–141 ∘C from 1979 to 2017, and subaerial and submarine hydrothermal fluid compositions. Rigorous procedures undertaken during the drilling operation protected the sensitive environment of the Surtsey Natural Preserve

The effects of tibolone in older postmenopausal women

Robert Norman and Alastair MacLennan were investigators in the LIFT TrialSteven R. Cummings, Bruce Ettinger, Pierre D. Delmas, Peter Kenemans, Victoria Stathopoulos, Pierre Verweij, Mirjam Mol-Arts, Lenus Kloosterboer, Lori Mosca, Claus Christiansen, John Bilezikian, Eduardo Mario Kerzberg, Susan Johnson, Jose Zanchetta, Diederich E. Grobbee, Wilfried Seifert and Richard Eastell for the LIFT Trial Investigator

DNA methylation at an enhancer of the three prime repair exonuclease 2 gene (TREX2) is linked to gene expression and survival in laryngeal cancer

Background: Genetic aberrations in DNA repair genes are linked to cancer, but less is reported about epigenetic regulation of DNA repair and functional consequences. We investigated the intragenic methylation loss at the three prime repair exonuclease 2 (TREX2) locus in laryngeal (n = 256) and colorectal cancer cases (n = 95) and in pan-cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Results: Significant methylation loss at an intragenic site of TREX2 was a frequent trait in both patient cohorts (p = 0.016 and < 0.001, respectively) and in 15 out of 22 TCGA studies. Methylation loss correlated with immunohistochemically staining for TREX2 (p < 0.0001) in laryngeal tumors and improved overall survival of laryngeal cancer patients (p = 0.045). Chromatin immunoprecipitation, demethylation experiments, and reporter gene assays revealed that the region of methylation loss can function as a CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (CEBPA)-responsive enhancer element regulating TREX2 expression. Conclusions: The data highlight a regulatory role of TREX2 DNA methylation for gene expression which might affect incidence and survival of laryngeal cancer. Altered TREX2 protein levels in tumors may affect drug-induced DNA damage repair and provide new tailored therapies

Clinical and virological characteristics of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a German tertiary care centre during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a prospective observational study

Purpose: Adequate patient allocation is pivotal for optimal resource management in strained healthcare systems, and requires detailed knowledge of clinical and virological disease trajectories. The purpose of this work was to identify risk factors associated with need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), to analyse viral kinetics in patients with and without IMV and to provide a comprehensive description of clinical course. Methods: A cohort of 168 hospitalised adult COVID-19 patients enrolled in a prospective observational study at a large European tertiary care centre was analysed. Results: Forty-four per cent (71/161) of patients required invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Shorter duration of symptoms before admission (aOR 1.22 per day less, 95% CI 1.10-1.37, p < 0.01) and history of hypertension (aOR 5.55, 95% CI 2.00-16.82, p < 0.01) were associated with need for IMV. Patients on IMV had higher maximal concentrations, slower decline rates, and longer shedding of SARS-CoV-2 than non-IMV patients (33 days, IQR 26-46.75, vs 18 days, IQR 16-46.75, respectively, p < 0.01). Median duration of hospitalisation was 9 days (IQR 6-15.5) for non-IMV and 49.5 days (IQR 36.8-82.5) for IMV patients. Conclusions: Our results indicate a short duration of symptoms before admission as a risk factor for severe disease that merits further investigation and different viral load kinetics in severely affected patients. Median duration of hospitalisation of IMV patients was longer than described for acute respiratory distress syndrome unrelated to COVID-19

A time-resolved proteomic and prognostic map of COVID-19

COVID-19 is highly variable in its clinical presentation, ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe organ damage and death. We characterized the time-dependent progression of the disease in 139 COVID-19 inpatients by measuring 86 accredited diagnostic parameters, such as blood cell counts and enzyme activities, as well as untargeted plasma proteomes at 687 sampling points. We report an initial spike in a systemic inflammatory response, which is gradually alleviated and followed by a protein signature indicative of tissue repair, metabolic reconstitution, and immunomodulation. We identify prognostic marker signatures for devising risk-adapted treatment strategies and use machine learning to classify therapeutic needs. We show that the machine learning models based on the proteome are transferable to an independent cohort. Our study presents a map linking routinely used clinical diagnostic parameters to plasma proteomes and their dynamics in an infectious disease