Applying membrane mode enhanced cohesive zone elements on tailored forming components

Forming of hybrid bulk metal components might include severe membrane mode deformation of the joining zone. This effect is not reflected by common Traction Separation Laws used within Cohesive Zone Elements that are usually applied for the simulation of joining zones. Thus, they cannot capture possible damage of the joining zone under these conditions. Membrane Mode Enhanced Cohesive Zone Elements fix this deficiency. This novel approach can be implemented in finite elements. It can be used within commercial codes where an implementation as a material model is beneficial as this simplifies model preparation with the existing GUIs. In this contribution, the implementation of Membrane Mode Enhanced Cohesive Zone Elements as a material model is presented within MSC Marc along with simulations showing the capabilities of this approach. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Tarticle distributed under the terms and conditions of the Cre

Bioinformatik-Strategien zur Analyse regulatorischer RNA-Motive und ihre experimentelle Validierung

Töller T. Bioinformatik-Strategien zur Analyse regulatorischer RNA-Motive und ihre experimentelle Validierung. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2003.Regulatorische Motive in untranslatierten Regionen spielen eine entscheidende Rolle bei der posttranskriptionellen Genregulation von mRNAs. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden bioinformatische Strategien zur Vorhersage und Validierung potentiell regulatorischer RNA-Motive entwickelt. Die Berechnung globaler und lokaler Strukturalignments mit dem Programm RNAforester wurde zur Entwicklung einer sehr flexiblen Strategie zur Vorhersage regulatorischer RNA-Motive eingesetzt. Die vorhergesagten Motive wurden mittels Datenbanksuchen validiert. Dazu wurden ausgehend von den Vorhersagen Muster definiert, die allgemein genug sein sollten, um ausreichend viele Vorkommen des Musters zu finden, die aber auch spezifisch genug sein sollten, um nur wenige falsch positive Treffer zu liefern. Um solche Muster zu definieren, wurden Signifikanzberechnungen eingesetzt und die Datenbanksuchen wurden mit den Programmen RNAMotif und HyPa durchgeführt, wobei diese Programme auch vergleichend analysiert wurden. Durch die Anwendung der entwickelten Strategien konnte ein potentiell regulatorischer Stemloop in der Rab1A 3'UTR von Mensch und Zitterrochen vorhergesagt werden. Die Datenbanksuche hat ergeben, dass dieser Stemloop in den Rab1A 3'UTRs verschiedener Vertebraten und der Sirtuin 2[alpha] 3'UTR von Mensch und Maus vorkommt. Experimentelle Analysen im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit konnten Hinweise auf eine biologische Funktion des vorhergesagten Stemloops in der Rab1A 3'UTR liefern. Die Ergebnisse von Gelverzögerungs- und Proteinisolierungsexperimenten legten die Interaktion eines Proteinkomplexes mit dem RNA-Stemloop nahe. MALDI-TOF Analysen mehrerer Proteinbanden ergaben, dass unter anderem ein potentielles RNA-Bindeprotein und der "Rab GDP-dissociation-inhibitor" in dem Proteinkomplex enthalten sein könnten

Studies of plant innate immunity provide new functional insights on class IIa WRKY transcription factors and reveals a role for two Glucan Synthase-Like genes in gametophyte development

Chapter one: Plants have evolved a sophisticated innate immune system that is composed of multiple layers. The integration of signals derived from these layers constitutes a crucial prerequisite for efficient defence. Resistance (R) proteins serve as direct or indirect recognition receptors for pathogen-derived isolate-specific effector proteins. Members of the superfamily of WRKY transcription factors regulate plant responses towards pathogens either as activators or repressors. The barley (Hordeum vulgare) R protein MLA confers resistance towards the powdery mildew Blumeria gramins f. sp. hordeii. MLA physically interacts through its N-terminal coiled coil (CC) domain with the transcriptional repressors HvWRKY1 and HvWRKY2 in an effector-dependent manner. This effector-stimulated interaction provides a mechanistic model how plants can integrate defence-related signals from different recognition layers and thereby modulate expression of defence-associated genes. Arabidopsis thaliana lacks a functional homologue of MLA and is susceptible towards the powdery mildew Golovinomyces orontii. Similar to barley, mutations of the functional homologues of HvWRKY1 and HvWRKY2, namely AtWRKY18 and AtWRKY40, in Arabidopsis confer resistance towards G. orontii. In this work I analyzed structural and functional conservation between the transcriptional repressors from barley (HvWRKY1 and HvWRKY2) and their homologues in Arabidopsis (AtWRKY18 and AtWRKY40). My results revealed that AtWRKY18 and AtWRKY40 can associate via a conserved C-terminal motif with selective R-gene encoded proteins. Identification of the previously characterized R protein HRT, as putative interactor of AtWRKY18 and AtWRKY40, provides a suitable model for further studies. In addition, genetic studies using the Atwrky18 AtwrkyY40 double mutant identified differential requirements for the defence-related genes EDS1, CYP81F2, PEN2, PEN1 and PAD3 in pre- and post-invasive resistance towards G. orontii. The results support the central role of EDS1 in plant immunity and indicate a novel PEN2-independened function for CYP81F2 in post-invasive resistance. The solution structure of the MLA CC domain was used as a basis to further investigate MLA-dependent associations with HvWRKY1 and HvWRKY2. The crystal structure predicts homo-dimerization of the receptor in vivo. Analysis of structure-guided targeted amino acid substitution variants of MLA in yeast provided the first evidence for receptor self-association in vivo. Chapter two: Members of the Glucan Synthase-Like (GSL) family are believed to be involved in the synthesis of the cell wall component callose in specialized locations throughout the plant. I identified two members of the Arabidopsis GSL gene family, GSL8 and GSL10, that are independently required for male gametophyte development and plant growth. Analysis of gsl8 and gsl10 mutant pollen during development revealed specific malfunctions associated with asymmetric microspore division. GSL8 and GSL10 are not essential for normal microspore growth and polarity, but have a novel role in entry of microspores into mitosis. Impaired function of GSL10 also leads to perturbation of microspore division symmetry, irregular callose deposition and failure of generative cell engulfment by the vegetative cell cytoplasm. Silencing of GSL8 or GSL10 in transgenic lines expressing gene-specific dsRNAi constructs resulted in a dwarfed growth habit, thereby revealing additional and independent wild-type gene functions for normal plant growth

Die Privatisierung des Maßregelvollzugs: die deutschen Bundesländer im Vergleich

Während der Strafvollzug in Gefängnissen in Deutschland nach wie vor als nicht privatisierbarer Kernbereich staatlicher Aufgaben gilt, wurde der damit eng verwandte psychiatrische Maßregelvollzug (MRV), also die Unterbringung schuldunfähiger oder gemindert schuldfähiger Straftäter in psychiatrischen Kliniken zur "Besserung und Sicherung", in den letzten 10 Jahren in Deutschland in 6 von 16 Bundesländern funktional privatisiert, d.h. in die Hände privater Betreiber übergeben, und in weiteren 3 formell privatisiert, ohne dass dies von einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit bemerkt worden wäre. Der Beitrag beschreibt zunächst diese heikle Staatsaufgabe, gibt dann einen Überblick über die bislang erfolgte Privatisierung und skizziert schließlich weitere politikwissenschaftliche Forschungsperspektiven, die sich zum einen mit den Ursachen für die Privatisierung (und für die erheblichen Unterschiede zwischen den Bundesländern in der Privatisierungspolitik) und zum anderen mit den Folgen der Privatisierung befassen.Whereas in Germany the regular enforcement of prison sentences is considered a public task that cannot be privatized, a closely related field has been privatized functionally in 6 out of 16 Länder (and formally in 3) over the last 10 years without the public noticing: the treatment of criminally incapable offenders in forensic psychiatric hospitals in order to "secure and improve" them ("Massregelvollzug"/ hospital order treatment). The article first outlines this delicate public task, then gives an overview of the state of privatization developments and finally turns to those research questions which from a political science perspective require to be answered: What are the reasons for privatization (and for differences between the Länder in privatization policies) and what are its consequences

Europeanization and the soft law process of EU corporate governance: how has the 2003 action plan impacted on national corporate governance codes?

This study explores Europeanization, the interrelationship between domestic and EU-level policy activity. Specifically, it asks how domestic policy is affected by EU-level (soft-law) policy processes. This contrasts with the hard-law focus of most Europeanization research. Our empirical analysis seeks to determine the extent to which the European Commission's 2003 plan to enhance corporate governance delivered on its aim of 'co-ordinating corporate governance efforts of member states'. This study thus differs from most others on convergence in corporate governance regimes, which look for evidence of convergence perse, rather than convergence towards a specified set of principles. Applying content analysis and econometric tests to 95 corporate governance codes issued between 1992 and mid-2010, we find that the Action Plan has influenced member states' corporate governance policies. However, the degree of national policy alignment to the Action Plan's priorities depends on when the corporate governance code was issued, here, and by whom

Search for CP Violation in the Decay Z -> b (b bar) g

About three million hadronic decays of the Z collected by ALEPH in the years 1991-1994 are used to search for anomalous CP violation beyond the Standard Model in the decay Z -> b \bar{b} g. The study is performed by analyzing angular correlations between the two quarks and the gluon in three-jet events and by measuring the differential two-jet rate. No signal of CP violation is found. For the combinations of anomalous CP violating couplings, ${\hat{h}}_b = {\hat{h}}_{Ab}g_{Vb}-{\hat{h}}_{Vb}g_{Ab}$ and $h^{\ast}_b = \sqrt{\hat{h}_{Vb}^{2}+\hat{h}_{Ab}^{2}}$, limits of \hat{h}_b < 0.59$and$h^{\ast}_{b} < 3.02$ are given at 95\% CL.Comment: 8 pages, 1 postscript figure, uses here.sty, epsfig.st

Searches for new physics

Review of prospects for discovery of new physics signals at LEP2. The areas covered include SUSY, exotic fermions, BESS models, leptoquarks, virtual effects and CP violating observables

Search for R-Parity Violating Decays of Supersymmetric Particles in e+e−e^{+}e^{-} Collisions at Centre-of-Mass Energies near 183 GeV

Searches for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a single dominant $LL{\bar E}$, $LQ{\bar D}$ or ${\bar U} {\bar D} {\bar D}$ coupling are performed using the data collected by the \ALEPH\ collaboration at centre-of-mass energies of 181--184~\gev. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. Upper limits on the production cross-sections and lower limits on the masses of charginos, sleptons, squarks and sneutrinos are de rived