Digitalisierung anthropologischer Skelettfundstücke und deren Untersuchung : Methoden und Werkzeuge der Spieleentwicklung im Anwendungsfeld der forensischen und archäologischen Anthropologie

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zu beantworten, inwieweit sich die Werkzeuge und Methoden der Videospielentwicklung für eine Digitalisierung von anthropologischen Funden und deren Untersuchung am Beispiel der Game Engine “Unity“ [Unity Technologies, 2020o] eignen. Um diese Frage zu beantworten, wurde ein Prototyp zur osteometrischen Vermessung von Knochenfunden mithilfe von Unity entwickelt. Es wurde eine Pipeline zum photogrammetrischen Scannen von Knochenmaterial entwickelt und die Pipeline sowie der Prototyp wurden von Anthropologen der Abteilung für historische Anthropologie und Humanökologie des Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Instituts für Zoologie und Anthropologie der Universität Göttingen getestet, um die daraus resultierenden Ergebnisse zur Evaluation zu verwenden. Dabei ist es gelungen eine Scanpipeline, sowie eine Software zur Vermessung der Scans zu entwickeln, welche nach Angaben der Anthropologen eine Anwendung in ihrem Arbeitsalltag finden könnte. Ebenfalls gab die Hälfte der getesteten Anthropologen an, dass die Messungen im virtuellen 3D-Raum eine alternative zur physischen Messung darstellen kann. Allerdings weichen die Messungen im Prototyp zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt noch um durchschnittlich zwei bis vier Prozent (je nach Art der Messung) von den physischen Messungen am selben Knochen ab. In der Zuverlässigkeit der Messungen kann der Prototyp allerdings mit den Messungen im Physischen mithalten. Die deskriptive Beschreibung von morphologischen Merkmalen fiel den Anthropologen schwerer als im Physischen, was sich auch in einer erhöhten Streuung in den gemessenen Werten widerspiegelt. Als Hauptgründe wurden dafür die fehlende Haptik und Schwierigkeiten beim Einschätzen der Perspektive im 3D Raum angegeben. Das zeigt, dass der entwickelte Prototyp die physische Untersuchung nicht ersetzen kann, allerdings eigen sich die Werkzeuge und Methoden der Videospielentwicklung für eine Digitalisierung von anthropologischen Funden und deren Untersuchung insofern, dass die virtuelle Untersuchung die physischen Untersuchung unterstützen kann und somit einen Mehrwert bietet. Dies gilt besonders in Anwendungsfeldern, in denen das Knochenmaterial schwer für den Untersuchenden zugänglich ist

Data-Driven Anthropology : Exploring the Significance of Data and Digital Data Management Technologies

This work emphasises the synergy between anthropologi-cal research on human skeletal remains and suitable doc-umentation strategies. Highlighting the significance of data recording and the use of digital databases in various aspects of anthropological work on bones, including scien-tific standards, skeletal collections, analysis of research re-sults, ethical considerations, and curation, it provides a comprehensive examination of these topics to demonstrate the value of investing time and resources in this field, countering the existing lack of funding that has led to sig-nificant deficiencies. Additionally, the paper outlines the requirements and challenges associated with standard data protocoling and suggests that digital data manage-ment frameworks and technologies such as ontologies and semantic web technologies for anthropological information should be a central focus in developing solutions

Efficient Redirection of NK Cells by Genetic Modification with Chemokine Receptors CCR4 and CCR2B

Natural killer (NK) cells are a subset of lymphocytes that offer great potential for cancer immunotherapy due to their natural anti-tumor activity and the possibility to safely transplant cells from healthy donors to patients in a clinical setting. However, the efficacy of cell-based immunotherapies using both T and NK cells is often limited by a poor infiltration of immune cells into solid tumors. Importantly, regulatory immune cell subsets are frequently recruited to tumor sites. In this study, we overexpressed two chemokine receptors, CCR4 and CCR2B, that are naturally found on T regulatory cells and tumor-resident monocytes, respectively, on NK cells. Using the NK cell line NK-92 as well as primary NK cells from peripheral blood, we show that genetically engineered NK cells can be efficiently redirected using chemokine receptors from different immune cell lineages and migrate towards chemokines such as CCL22 or CCL2, without impairing the natural effector functions. This approach has the potential to enhance the therapeutic effect of immunotherapies in solid tumors by directing genetically engineered donor NK cells to tumor sites. As a future therapeutic option, the natural anti-tumor activity of NK cells at the tumor sites can be increased by co-expression of chemokine receptors with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) or T cell receptors (TCR) on NK cells can be performed in the future

Efficient Redirection of NK Cells by Genetic Modification with Chemokine Receptors CCR4 and CCR2B

Natural killer (NK) cells are a subset of lymphocytes that offer great potential for cancer immunotherapy due to their natural anti-tumor activity and the possibility to safely transplant cells from healthy donors to patients in a clinical setting. However, the efficacy of cell-based immunotherapies using both T and NK cells is often limited by a poor infiltration of immune cells into solid tumors. Importantly, regulatory immune cell subsets are frequently recruited to tumor sites. In this study, we overexpressed two chemokine receptors, CCR4 and CCR2B, that are naturally found on T regulatory cells and tumor-resident monocytes, respectively, on NK cells. Using the NK cell line NK-92 as well as primary NK cells from peripheral blood, we show that genetically engineered NK cells can be efficiently redirected using chemokine receptors from different immune cell lineages and migrate towards chemokines such as CCL22 or CCL2, without impairing the natural effector functions. This approach has the potential to enhance the therapeutic effect of immunotherapies in solid tumors by directing genetically engineered donor NK cells to tumor sites. As a future therapeutic option, the natural anti-tumor activity of NK cells at the tumor sites can be increased by co-expression of chemokine receptors with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) or T cell receptors (TCR) on NK cells can be performed in the future

Solvent Controlled Energy Transfer Processes in Triarylamine-Triazole Based Dendrimers

Fluorescence upconversion measurements of three different dendrimers <b>G1</b><b>–G3</b> based on triarylamines connected by triazole linkers show a strong and fast initial decay of fluorescence anisotropy for <i>t</i> < 2 ps followed by anisotropy decay on a much longer time scale (10–100 ps). At the same time, a pronounced solvent relaxation takes place. Comparison of the decay data in different solvents revealed that the initial decay of fluorescence anisotropy is governed by a competition of solvent relaxation and incoherent hopping of energy between the different dendrimer branches. Thus, it is decisive to discriminate between energy transfer processes in the Franck–Condon state or in the solvent relaxed state. We demonstrate that even for charge transfer chromophores, where a large Stokes shift leads to very weak spectral overlap of donor fluorescence and acceptor absorption, rapid homotransfer is possible if there is sufficient spectral overlap with the time zero fluorescence spectrum

AnthroWorks3D: Digitalisierung von Skelettfundstücken und die virtuell osteologische Untersuchung

In der Anthropologie werden körperliche Überreste von Menschen historischer und rezenter Zeiträume mit dem Ziel der Aufdeckung ihrer Lebensumstände untersucht. Das Projekt AnthroWorks3D der Hochschule Mittweida verbindet Methoden der Videospielentwicklung und Osteologie, um das Knochenmaterial schonend und hoch-auflösend durch eine 3D-Scanpipeline zu digitalisieren und virtuell, ortsunabhängig und parallel zu vermessen mit dem Ziel, den Verschleiß am Knochenmaterial zu minimieren und die Fundstücke möglichst vielen Forschen-den zugänglich zu machen. Die virtuelle Vermessung wurde in einem ersten Test in Zusammenarbeit der Abtei-lung für historische Anthropologie und Humanökologie des Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Instituts für Zoologie und Anthropologie der Universität Göttingen evaluiert. Dabei schätzen über die Hälfte der befragten Anthropo-logen den Prototypen als Alternative zur physischen Untersuchung ein, besonders in Anwendungsfeldern, in denen das Knochenmaterial nur schwer zugänglich ist

Photoinduced Electron Transfer Dynamics in Triarylamine–Naphthalene Diimide Cascades

A series of dyads and triads of the A-D and A-D1-D2 type, respectively, containing triarylamine (TAA) donors and naphthalene diimide (NDI) acceptors, which are linked via triazole (Tz) heterocycles, were synthesized by Cu­(I)-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). Upon photoexcitation, these systems undergo charge separation leading to long-lived charge-separated (CS) states. The population of these CS states was monitored using femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The transient signals of the CS states of all triads and dyads feature biexponential decays in the nanosecond time regime with a short and a long component. These biexponential decays are the result of an ISC from the primarily populated ¹CS state into the ³CS, from which charge recombination to the S₀ state is forbidden by spin conservation rules. The existence of ³CS states in the triads was confirmed by strong magnetic field dependent transient absorption kinetics, while for the dyads no effect could be observed due to a much larger singlet–triplet splitting. Thus, although charge recombination from the ¹CS state in the triads is slowed down compared to the dyads, the lifetime of the ³CS states is clearly longer in the dyads. This is the result of the larger singlet–triplet splitting in the dyads which leads to lifetimes of several microseconds

Using obsidian in glass art practice

Glass art practice is indivisible from the material behaviour of glass at a range of working conditions, providing a direct link with the science of glass and melts. The use of non-standard, non-commercial, or natural glass compositions in art usually brings with it challenges associated with unexpected or undesirable processes, such as bubble formation and growth, liquid-liquid immiscibility, heterogeneities, and devitrification. For these reasons, natural geological compositions, including obsidian, have typically been avoided in glass art, with a few pioneering exceptions. Here, we bring together the results of mutual experimentation, knowledge-exchange workshops, and successful obsidian and magma use-cases in glass art in order to constrain the usability of obsidian and the techniques most suitable for rendering the material amenable to glass art practice. We conclude by exploring opportunities for collaboration between volcanologists and glass artists, which we propose would develop both fields in novel directions

Characterization of a Bispecific FLT3 X CD3 Antibody in an Improved, Recombinant Format for the Treatment of Leukemia

FLT3 is a receptor-tyrosine-kinase that is expressed on leukemic cells of the myeloid and lymphoid lineage rather specifically. We here report on the construction and selection of bispecific FLT3 X CD3 antibodies in a new recombinant format, termed Fabsc, that resembles the normal antibody structure more closely than the well-established bispecific single chain (bssc)-format. Our preferred antibody, which emerged from an initial selection procedure utilizing different FLT3- and CD3-antibodies, contains the FLT3-antibody 4G8 and the CD3-antibody UCHT1. The 4G8 X UCHT1 Fabsc-antibody was found to be superior to a bssc-antibody with identical specificities with respect to (i) affinity to the target antigen FLT3, (ii) production yield by transfected cells, and (iii) the diminished formation of aggregates. T-cell activation in the presence and absence of cultured leukemic cells and killing of these cells was comparable for both molecules. In addition, the 4G8 X UCHT1 Fabsc-antibody was found to induce T-cell activation and efficient killing of leukemic blasts in primary peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. In these experiments, the bispecific molecule was clearly superior to an Fc-optimized monospecific FLT3-antibody described previously, indicating that within PBMC of AML patients the recruitment of T cells is more effective than that of natural killer cells