One Formula To Match Them All: The Bispinor Universal One-Loop Effective Action

Extensions of the Standard Model (SM) often contain new particles with masses far above the electroweak scale. Due to the presence of a mass hierarchy, effective field theory (EFT) is a suitable tool for the study of such extensions. In this thesis, we provide a solution to the matching problem at the one-loop level in the form of the Bispinor Universal One-Loop Effective Action (BSUOLEA), which is a pre-computed expression for the effective action, parameterised in terms of derivatives of the Lagrangian of the ultraviolet (UV) model. The BSUOLEA is derived using functional methods and is sufficiently general to match any renormalisable, Lorentz invariant UV model to an EFT, containing operators of mass dimension up to and including six at the one-loop level. This includes supersymmetric models regularised in dimensional reduction. Since the pre-computed expression contains many operators, it is implemented into a currently private Mathematica package, which automatically performs the matching based on the BSUOLEA. We illustrate the use of this package, which will be made publicly available in the near future, by applying it to the matching of the Singlet Extended SM to the SM EFT. We then expand the framework in order to apply it to a non-renormalisable extension of the SM containing a vector resonance, which is assumed to arise from the confinement of a gauge group at high energies. This model raises some interesting theoretical questions since such a vector resonance comprises a system with second-class constraints. We perform the constraint analysis of the model and derive the generating functional in order to apply functional methods to the matching. We finally match the model to the SM EFT and present the full one-loop result including operators up to mass dimension six.Comment: PhD thesi

„Psychoedukation Angst bei stationären Patienten - PAsta“ - Entwicklung und Evaluation eines stationären psychoedukativen Gruppenprogramms zur Behandlung von Angst

Abstract As short-term interventions, psychoeducational programmes are relevant to the provision of care in in-patient settings. However, there are no programmes specifically tailored to the needs of acute in-patients. The object of this study is to develop and evaluate a psychoeducational programme that has been specifically designed for in-patients who have anxiety disorders or who suffer from anxiety in the context of other mental illnesses. Over a period of four weeks, 28 in-patients with diagnoses in the depressive and anxiety spectrum participated in twice-weekly psychoeducational group sessions in addition to psychiatric treatment as usual (TAU). This group was compared to a group of 13 patients who had received TAU without the group sessions. Using a pre-post design, the two groups were compared in terms of illness knowledge and mental health and on the basis of the cognitive variables self-efficacy, sense of coherence and life satisfaction. Group leaders and participants were also questioned for formative evaluation purposes. Analysis of the results showed a significant increase in knowledge of anxiety among participants of the psychoeducational group. Although there was no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test results on the mental health and cognitive variables, the effect sizes indicate that the results are clinically relevant. Improvement in depressive symptoms in the intervention group was evident in treatment effects (d co-efficient) of between .53 and .61. Positive effect sizes of around .15 were obtained for anxiety symptoms. There were no changes in phobic symptoms. The control group showed a deterioration in mental health as measured by the scales for insecurity in social contact, aggressiveness and paranoid thinking, with effect sizes from .24 to .46. Effect sizes of around .20 for the cognitive variables indicate a tendency towards improved self-efficacy. The formative evaluation showed high patient satisfaction with the group format. The main objective of the group programme was achieved; that is, it increased illness knowledge. Despite the short measurement period, the importance of the psychoeducational group programme in the treatment of acute in-patients was confirmed. It is assumed that the programme’s large impact on depressive symptoms can be attributed to its cognitive focus. Greater treatment effects could be achieved on measures of anxiety symptoms by linking group treatment more closely with concomitant individual therapy and diagnosis-specific analysis. Subsequent studies using larger samples should incorporate a longer measurement period and a follow-up assessment to measure the longer-term effects and the stability of results.Zusammenfassung Psychoedukative Interventionen besitzen im stationären Setting als Kurzzeitintervention Versorgungsrelevanz, allerdings existieren keine Programme, die an die Bedürfnisse stationärer Akutpatienten angepasst sind. Gegenstand der Studie ist die Entwicklung und Evaluation eines Psychoedukations-Programms, das speziell für stationäre Patienten mit Angststörungen oder Ängsten im Rahmen anderer psychischer Erkrankungen konzipiert wurde. 28 stationäre Patienten mit Diagnosen aus dem Bereich der depressiven und Angst-Störungen erhielten zusätzlich zu psychiatrischer Standardtherapie zweimal wöchentlich psychoedukative Gruppensitzungen über einen Zeitraum von vier Wochen. Verglichen wurde diese Gruppe mit 13 Patienten, die psychiatrische Standardtherapie ohne Gruppenangebot bekommen hatten. Beide Gruppen wurden im Prä-Post-Design bezüglich des vorhandenen Krankheitswissens, der psychischen Gesundheit und der kognitiven Variablen Selbstwirksamkeit, Kohärenzgefühl und Lebenszufriedenheit verglichen. Zur formativen Evaluation wurden Gruppenleiter und –teilnehmer befragt. Die Auswertung er Ergebnisse zeigte bei den Teilnehmern der Psychoedukationsgruppe eine signifikante Zunahme des Angstwissens. Im Bereich der psychischen Gesundheit und der kognitiven Variablen fanden sich nach einer Berücksichtigung der Vortestunterschiede keine signifikanten Ergebnisse, die berechneten Effektstärken sprechen jedoch für eine klinische Relevanz. Eine Verbesserung der depressiven Symptomatik in der Interventionsgruppe zeigte sich in Behandlungseffekten (d-Koeffizient) zwischen .53 und .61. Im Bereich der Angstsymptomatik fanden sich positive Effekte um .15, die phobische Symptomatik veränderte sich nicht. Die Kontrollgruppe zeigte eine Verschlechterung der psychischen Gesundheit in den Skalen Unsicherheit im Sozialkontakt, Aggressivität und Paranoides Denken mit Effektstärken von .24 bis .46. Im Bereich der kognitiven Variablen deuten Effektstärken um .20 auf eine Tendenz zum Aufbau von Selbstwirksamkeit hin. Die formative Evaluation ergab eine hohe Zufriedenheit der Patienten mit dem Gruppenangebot. Das Hauptanliegen des Gruppenprogramms, nämlich die Steigerung des Krankheitswissens wurde erreicht. Trotz des kurzen Messzeitraumes hat sich die Bedeutung des psychoedukativen Gruppenangebots in der Behandlung stationärer Akutpatienten bestätigt. Die große Wirkung des Programms auf die depressive Symptomatik ist vermutlich auf den kognitiven Schwerpunkt zurückzuführen. Eine Steigerung der Behandlungseffekte im Bereich der Angstsymptomatik könnte durch stärkere Verknüpfung der Gruppeninhalte mit begleitender Einzeltherapie, aber auch diagnosenspezifischer Auswertung erreicht werden. Folgeuntersuchungen mit größeren Stichproben sollten einen längeren Messzeitraum und Katamnesen beinhalten, um längerfristige Effekte und die Stabilität der Ergebnisse zu erfassen

Effekte der transkraniellen Magnetstimulation auf die Bild-Wort-Verifikation

Zur Untersuchung, ob transkanielle Magnetstimulatiuon (TMS) einen Beitrag zur Behandlung von Sprachstörungen liefern kann, wurde im Rahmen dieser Studie bei insgesamt 20 gesunden Probanden TMS durchgeführt. Es wurden zwei Gruppen unterschieden: Bei Gruppe 1 wurde eine Einzelpuls-TMS durchgeführt, bei Gruppe 2 repetitive TMS unter unterschiedlichen Stimulationsbedingungen. Der Effekt der TMS wurde über Reaktionszeiten der Probanden bei einem Bild-Wort-Verifikationsparadigma beurteilt. Ein genereller fazilitierenden Effekt wurde festgestellt. Der fazilitierende Effekt war bei längeren Wörtern in dem Bild-Wort-Verifikationsparadigma am deutlichsten ausgeprägt. Die Auswertung in Bezug auf die Impulshäufigkeit in der Einzelpuls-Testung zeigte den Trend, dass sich die Reaktionszeiten verringerten, wenn mehrere Bild - Wortpaare mit TMS aufeinander folgten – ein möglicher Summationseffekt. Eine Empfehlung, ob die TMS zur Therapie eingesetzt werden kann, ist derzeit weiterhin nicht möglich

From models to SMEFT and back?

We present a global analysis of the Higgs and electroweak sector, in the SMEFT framework and matched to a UV-completion. As the UV-model we use the triplet extension of the electroweak gauge sector. The matching is performed at one loop, employing functional methods. In the SFitter analysis, we pay particular attention to theory uncertainties arising from the matching. Our results highlight the complementarity between SMEFT and model-specific analyses

The Effect of Surfactants on Equilibrium Wetting

Contact angles B0 of aqueous solutions contacting with hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces were studied as affected by various surfactants (alcohols, fatty acids, soaps) under conditions close to thermodynamic equilibrium (in the atmosphere saturated with the solution vapour). The conditions of transitions from limited wetting (Bo > 0) to complete wetting, i.e. spontaneous spreading were also studied. The effect of surfactants adsorption at the solid gas interface was estimated from the isotherms of wetting tension W = cr1g Cos B0 (cr1g is the surface tension of the solution) on the basis of equation describing W as a function of concentration. It is shown that adsorption of surfactants at the solid-gas interface markedly affects wetting of hydrophilic materials. For hydrophobic materials the effect is primarily due to adsorption of surfactants at the solid- solution and solution-gas interfaces. It was found that equilibrium wetting is affected by the type of adsorption at the solid surface (physical or chemical adsorption). The influence of hydrocarbon chain length in homological series of alcohols and fatty acids on equilibrium contact angles and on transition to spontaneous spreading was studied as well

Effect of argon concentration on thermal efficiency of gas-filled insulating glass flat-plate collectors

open access articleInsulating glass flat-plate collectors can save cost by being produced quickly and automatically in insulated glass production facilities, and they can be filled with argon to reduce heat loss. During its lifetime, the collector is likely to lose argon because of gradual material degradation of the sealing. However, information on the influence of the argon concentration on the collector efficiency is limited. Therefore, the objective of this research work was to analyse this effect. A theoretical material property calculation of argon-air mixtures was carried out to determine the convective losses with variable argon concentrations. Thermal collector performance was measured experimentally using an outdoor solar tracker test rig. The results strongly suggest, that the influence of argon concentration on both the convective losses and the thermal efficiency is non-linear. The measurements revealed that an argon concentration of 90 % can increase average thermal performance by percentage points. An increase in argon concentration from 0 % to 50 % has almost twice the effect on average thermal efficiency as an increase from 50 % to 90 %. Concluding from these results, an argon leakage threshold of 2.5 percentage points per year is proposed to avoid disproportionate loss of efficiency over time

Time scale analysis for fluidizedbedmeltgranulation-II: binder spreading rate

The spreading time of liquid binder droplet on the surface a primary particle is analyzed for Fluidized Bed Melt Granulation (FBMG). As discussed in the first paper of this series (Chua et al., in press) the droplet spreading rate has been identified as one of the important parameters affecting the probability of particles aggregation in FBMG. In this paper, the binder droplet spreading time has been estimated using Computational Fluid Dynamic modeling (CFD) based on Volume of Fluid approach (VOF). A simplified analytical solution has been developed and tested to explore its validity for predicting the spreading time. For the purpose of models validation, the droplet spreading evolution was recorded using a high speed video camera. Based on the validated model, a generalized correlative equation for binder spreading time is proposed. For the operating conditions considered here, the spreading time for Polyethylene Glycol (PEG1500) binder was found to fall within the range of 10-2 to 10-5 s. The study also included a number of other common binders used in FBMG. The results obtained here will be further used in paper III, where the binder solidification rate is discussed