InnovativeTeacher – Enhanced IT Skills in Education

In this paper we will describe the main criteria for the methodology handbook, the organisation of the repository and as well as the integration of the repository in Moodle eLearning platform as main communication basis for communication between teachers communities. We present also the results of a first teacher’s training with the instruments developed in the project

New Developments in FormCalc 8.4

We present new developments in FeynArts 3.9 and FormCalc 8.4, in particular the MSSMCT model file including the complete one-loop renormalization, vectorization/parallelization issues, and the interface to the Ninja library for tensor reduction.Comment: 7 pages, proceedings contribution to Loops & Legs 2014, April 27-May 2, 2014, Weimar, German

The Implementation of the Renormalized Complex MSSM in FeynArts and FormCalc

We describe the implementation of the renormalized complex MSSM (cMSSM) in the diagram generator FeynArts and the calculational tool FormCalc. This extension allows to perform UV-finite one-loop calculations of cMSSM processes almost fully automatically. The Feynman rules for the cMSSM with counterterms are available as a new model file for FeynArts. Also included are default definitions of the renormalization constants; this fixes the renormalization scheme. Beyond that all model parameters are generic, e.g. we do not impose any relations to restrict the number of input parameters. The model file has been tested extensively for several non-trivial decays and scattering reactions. Our renormalization scheme has been shown to give stable results over large parts of the cMSSM parameter space.Comment: 29 pages, extended chargino/neutralino and sfermion renormalization schemes, version accepted for publication in Comp. Phys. Commu

Neutrino Oscillation Experiments at Nuclear Reactors

In this paper I give an overview of the status of neutrino oscillation experiments performed using nuclear reactors as sources of neutrinos. I review the present generation of experiments (Chooz and Palo Verde) with baselines of about 1 km as well as the next generation that will search for oscillations with a baseline of about 100 km. While the present detectors provide essential input towards the understanding of the atmospheric neutrino anomaly, in the future, the KamLAND reactor experiment represents our best opportunity to study very small mass neutrino mixing in laboratory conditions. In addition KamLAND with its very large fiducial mass and low energy threshold, will also be sensitive to a broad range of different physics.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures To appear in the proceedings of WIN99, Cape Town, South Africa, Jan9

On the ignorance of group-level effects – The tragedy of personnel evaluation?

In social-dilemma situations (e.g., public-good games), people may pursue their local self- interests, thereby lowering the overall payoff of their group and, paradoxically, even their individual payoffs as a result. Likewise, in inner-individual dilemmas, even without conflict of interest between persons, people may pursue local goals at the expense of overall utility. Our experiments investigate such dissociations of individual and group-level effects in the context of personnel evaluation and selection. Participants were given the role of human resource managers selecting workers to optimize the overall payoff for the company. We investigated contexts where the individually best/worst ‘employees’ systematically caused the worst/best group performance. When workers in a team could substantially increase or decrease co-workers’ performance, most participants (albeit not all) tended to focus solely on individual performance without considering their overall contribution even when instructed to maximize group performance. This undue focus on individual information meant that employees who enhanced team performance the most often received the most negative evaluations. This may result in a ‘tragedy of personnel evaluation’ relevant to maladaptive incentive structures (personnel evaluation), job offers (personnel selection), and a substantially negative impact on organizational effectiveness. At the same time, the results suggest ways this problem may be overcome

Formal models of source reliability

The paper introduces, compares and contrasts formal models of source reliability proposed in the epistemology literature, in particular the prominent models of Bovens and Hartmann (2003) and Olsson (2011). All are Bayesian models seeking to provide normative guidance, yet they differ subtly in assumptions and resulting behavior. Models are evaluated both on conceptual grounds and through simulations, and the relationship between models is clarified. The simulations both show surprising similarities and highlight relevant differences between these models. Most importantly, however, our evaluations reveal that important normative concerns arguably remain unresolved. The philosophical implications of this for testimony are discussed

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein inhibits hepatitis C virus cell entry in human hepatoma cells.

Cell entry of hepatitis C virus, pseudoparticles (HCVpp) and cell culture grown virus (HCVcc), requires the interaction of viral glycoproteins with CD81 and other as yet unknown cellular factors. One of these is likely to be the scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI). To further understand the role of SR-BI, we examined the effect of SR-BI ligands on HCVpp and HCVcc infectivity. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), but not native LDL, potently inhibited HCVpp and HCVcc cell entry. Pseudoparticles bearing unrelated viral glycoproteins or bovine viral diarrhea virus were not affected. A dose-dependent inhibition was observed for HCVpp bearing diverse viral glycoproteins with an approximate IC50 of 1.5 microg/mL apolipoprotein content, which is within the range of oxLDL reported to be present in human plasma. The ability of lipoprotein components to bind to target cells associated with their antiviral activity, suggesting a mechanism of action which targets a cell surface receptor critical for HCV infection of the host cell. However, binding of soluble E2 to SR-BI or CD81 was not affected by oxLDL, suggesting that oxLDL does not act as a simple receptor blocker. At the same time, oxLDL incubation altered the biophysical properties of HCVpp, suggesting a ternary interaction of oxLDL with both virus and target cells. In conclusion, the SR-BI ligand oxLDL is a potent cell entry inhibitor for a broad range of HCV strains in vitro. These findings suggest that SR-BI is an essential component of the cellular HCV receptor complex

Diverse CD81 proteins support hepatitis C virus infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) entry is dependent on CD81. To investigate whether the CD81 sequence is a determinant of HCV host range, we expressed a panel of diverse CD81 proteins and tested their ability to interact with HCV. CD81 large extracellular loop (LEL) sequences were expressed as recombinant proteins; the human and, to a low level, the African green monkey sequences bound soluble HCV E2 (sE2) and inhibited infection by retrovirus pseudotype particles bearing HCV glycoproteins (HCVpp). In contrast, mouse or rat CD81 proteins failed to bind sE2 or to inhibit HCVpp infection. However, CD81 proteins from all species, when expressed in HepG2 cells, conferred susceptibility to infection by HCVpp and cell culture-grown HCV to various levels, with the rat sequence being the least efficient. Recombinant human CD81 LEL inhibited HCVpp infectivity only if present during the virus-cell incubation, consistent with a role for CD81 after virus attachment. Amino acid changes that abrogate sE2 binding (I182F, N184Y, and F186S, alone or in combination) were introduced into human CD81. All three amino acid changes in human CD81 resulted in a molecule that still supported HCVpp infection, albeit with reduced efficiency. In summary, there is a remarkable plasticity in the range of CD81 sequences that can support HCV entry, suggesting that CD81 polymorphism may contribute to, but alone does not define, the HCV susceptibility of a species. In addition, the capacity to support viral entry is only partially reflected by assays measuring sE2 interaction with recombinant or full-length CD81 proteins

J_AW,WA functions in Passarino-Veltman reduction

In this paper we continue to study a special class of Passarino-Veltman functions J arising at the reduction of infrared divergent box diagrams. We describe a procedure of separation of two types of singularities, infrared and mass singularities, which are absorbed in simple C0 functions. The infrared divergences of C0's can be regularized then by any method: photon mass, dimensionally or by the width of an unstable particle. Functions J, in turn, are represented as certain linear combinations of the standard D0 and C0 Passarino-Veltman functions. The former are free of both types of singularities and are expressed as explicit and compact linear combinations of logarithms and dilogarithm functions. We present extensive comparisons of numerical results with those obtained with the aid of the LoopTools package