Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Development of UniCAR TM for targeting of FAP positive cells

Wie Dresdner Forschende Immunzellen gegen Krebs nutzen.

Abstract. The transport of radionuclides in the environment is a major problem for the safety assessment of radioactive waste repositories. Storage in deep geological repositories is considered a safe disposal strategy because of their ability to isolate hazardous components from the biosphere for hundreds of thousands of years. Minor actinides (i.e. Am, Cm and Np) dominate the radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuel over geological time scales. In underground repositories, reducing conditions are expected and therefore the trivalent oxidation state is dominant for Am and Cm, as well as possibly for Pu. For investigations of the mobility of the trivalent actinides Am3+ and Cm3+, the less toxic trivalent rare earth elements, in particular Eu3+, are commonly used.
Besides clay and salt, crystalline rock is considered as a possible host rock for deep geological repositories. Crystalline rock (e.g. granite), consists mainly of quartz, mica, and feldspar. The latter are common alumino silicates making up ~60 Vol-% of the earth’s crust, but their sorption behaviour is not well understood, especially for the Ca-bearing members of the group.
Here, we study the sorption of trivalent actinides and their rare earth element homologues on plagioclase, Ca-bearing feldspars, quantitatively and mechanistically. Zeta potential of various Ca-feldspars show an unexpected increase at pH 4-7, which becomes more pronounced as the amount of Ca in the crystal lattice increases. This can be interpreted by assuming uptake of Al3+ and/or the precipitation of an Al phase, where Al originates from feldspar dissolution at different pH values.
Nevertheless, only minor differences were found in the retention and surface speciation of Cm3+ on Ca and K-feldspar (Neumann et al., 2021). Ca-feldspar has a slightly higher potential to retain trivalent metal ions compared to K feldspar. An inner sphere (IS) complex and its two hydrolysis forms have been identified on both minerals, but the hydrolysis of the IS complex is stronger in the Ca-rich mineral.
A surface complexation model for Ca-feldspar was developed by combining the batch sorption data and the spectroscopically identified surface complexes to describe the experimental data. These data will be the basis for the improvement of transport simulations for a reliable safety assessment of potential radioactive waste repositories in crystalline rock.
References
Neumann, J. et al.: Sorption of trivalent actinides (Cm, Am) and their rare earth analogues (Lu, Y, Eu, Nd, La) onto orthoclase: Batch experiments, Time-Resolved Laser Fluorescence Spectroscopy (TRLFS) and Surface Complexation Modeling (SCM), J. Colloid Interface Sci. 591, 490-499, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2020.11.041, 2021.

Crystalline rock is one possible host rock for the final disposal of nuclear waste in a deep geological formation. For a proper safety assessment, it is of utmost importance to understand retention mechanisms of radionuclides at the water-mineral interface. The retention of trivalent actinides by K-feldspars, a main component of crystalline rock, was recently investigated by our group [1]. However, no sorption data of minor actinides is available for the series of Ca-feldspars (plagioclases) with different Al:Si ratios in the crystal lattice, which most likely causes differences in surface charge, dissolution, and sorption behavior.
Here, we study the sorption of trivalent actinides and their rare earth element homologues on Ca-feldspars quantitatively and mechanistically. We find that plagioclases show a stronger sorption affinity to actinides than K-feldspars (alkali feldspars). A possible explanation might be an increased concentration of Al³⁺ in the aqueous phase due to enhanced dissolution of the Ca-feldspars. The dissolved Al3+ may affect surface charge and sorption processes onto mineral surfaces, and in such case the underlying molecular mechanisms are expected to be complex and are clearly not well understood.
Therefore, we study the impact of Al3+ on the surface charge of K-feldspar and the concomitant effects on the retention of trivalent actinides and lanthanides. Zeta potential investigations reveal a strong impact of Al3+ on the surface charge of K-feldspar. The zeta potential increases for pH 4.5–7.5, and this increase is enhanced by higher added Al3+ concentration. Results from batch sorption experiments of Eu onto K-feldspar show a steeper sorption edge upon addition of Al3+, which can be interpreted as a slightly stronger sorption affinity. Indeed, in the presence of Al3+, K-feldspar behaves much like Ca-feldspar. To gain information about the formed surface complexes time resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy is applied. Potentially formed secondary phases of Al are evaluated by a combination of microscopy (SEM, TEM, Raman, AFM) and diffractometry (CTR/RAXR, high resolution PXRD). Ultimately, this will provide a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of sorption process of the minor actinides on naturally occurring mineral phases.

References
[1] Neumann, J. et al. (2021) J. Colloid Interface Sci. 591, 490-499.

Ziel/Aim Die Leitlinien der Europäischen Gesellschaft für Kardiologie (ESC) aus dem Jahr 2015 definieren eine pathologische F-18-FDG-Anreicherung in der PET/CT als Hauptkriterium der modifizierten Duke-Kriterien zur Diagnose einer infektiösen Endokarditis (IE) bei Klappenprothesen. Ziel der Studie ist die Untersuchung der Bedeutung quantitativer F-18-FDG-PET/CT-Parameter in unserer realen Kohorte von Patienten mit chirurgisch bestätigter IE.

Methodik/Methods Die retrospektive Analyse umfasst alle Patienten (n=27), die in unserem Universitätsklinikum von 01/2014 bis 10/2018 mit chirurgisch bestätigter IE hospitalisiert waren und präoperativ eine F-18-FDG-PET/CT erhalten hatten. In der F-18-FDG-PET/CT wurden die bildbasierten Biomarker Maximum Standard Uptake Ratio (SURmax), metabolisch aktives Volumen (MTV) und Total Lesion Glycolysis (TLG) gemessen.

Ergebnisse/Results Bei der Dichotomisierung in Patienten mit (n=10) und ohne chirurgisch bestätigte Abszessbildung (n=17) stellten wir fest, dass bei Patienten mit chirurgisch gesicherter Abszessbildung MTV (etwa 5-fach) und TLG (etwa 7-fach) signifikant erhöht waren. Receiver-Operation-Characteristics (ROC)-Analysen zeigten, dass in unserer Studienkohorte TLG (berechnet als MTV x SURmean, d. h. TLG(SUR)) die größte Fläche unter der ROC-Kurve für die Vorhersage einer IE-bedingten Abszessbildung aufwies (0,841, 95%-Konfidenzintervall: 0,659-1) bei einer Sensitivität von 80% und Spezifität von 88% für TLG(SUR)>14,14 ml.

Schlussfolgerungen/Conclusions Die F-18-FDG-PET/CT-basierte quantitative Bewertung der TLG(SUR) könnte ein neuer Parameter für die Vorhersage der Endokarditis-assoziierten Abszessbildung und somit für die Planung der herzchirurgischen Klappensanierung von besonderer Relevanz sein.

Ziel/Aim The aim of the study was an independent evaluation of the prognostic value of a gene expression signature (EPPI) and the PET-derived tumor asphericity (ASP) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Methodik/Methods This was a retrospective evaluation of PET imaging and gene expression data from three public databases and two institutional datasets. Altogether 253 NSCLC patients were included, all treated with curative intent surgery. Clinical parameters, standard PET parameters and ASP were evaluated in all patients. Additional gene expression data was available for 120 patients. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis were calculated for the primary endpoint progression-free survival (PFS) and additional endpoints.

Ergebnisse/Results In the whole cohort a significant association with PFS was observed for ASP (p<0.001) and EPPI (p=0.012). On multivariate testing, EPPI remained significantly associated with PFS (p=0.018) in the subgroup of patients with additional gene expression data, while ASP was significantly associated with PFS in the whole cohort (p=0.012). In stage II patients, ASP was significantly associated with PFS (p=0.009) and a previously published cutoff value for ASP (19.5%) was successfully validated (p=0.008). In patients with additional gene expression data, EPPI showed a significant association with PFS, too (p=0.033). Exploratory combination of ASP and EPPI showed that the combinatory approach has potential to further improve patient stratification compared to the use of only one parameter.

Schlussfolgerungen/Conclusions The combination of EPPI and ASP seems to be a very promising approach for improvement of risk stratification in a group of patients with urgent need for a more personalized treatment approach.

This study aimed to carry out the adapted pre-treatment and subsequent characterization of spent surface mounted device (SMD) light emitting diodes (LEDs) as well as strong acids leaching and selective leaching of gallium (Ga) and indium (In) using desferrioxamine E (DFOE). The results show that the pre-treated spent SMD LED powder fraction (< 500 μm) contained the highest concentration of Ga and In, 290.4 ± 21.2 mg/kg and 64.9 ± 20.2 mg/kg, respectively. The use of strong acid 3 M HCl and 30% H2O2 was found to the highly effective in achieving a high leaching yield for Ga and In, 97 ± 6 % and 98 ± 4 %, respectively. However, the associated leaching of highly concentrated non-targeted elements (i.e. Cu, Pb, Al, and Fe) was found to be significantly higher than the targeted metals (Ga and In). Therefore, selective leaching could offer a promising approach to recover targeted metals from waste streams. It is the first attempt to test DFOE for the selective leaching of Ga and In from spent LEDs by adjusting the pH, solid/liquid (S/L) ratio, molar concentration ratio of DFOE and Ga (n = n(DFOE)/n(Ga)), and temperature to investigate the behavior of metal-DFOE complexation. The highest Ga leaching efficiency (12%) was found to be at pH 4, with a S/L ratio of 5 g/L and n = 20 at 40 °C. However, the competing elements (Al and Fe), can have a significant effect on the efficiency of the Ga leaching process. Concerning In recovery, selective leaching could achieve maximum In recovery yield (24%) within 24 hours at pH 7.3. This study provides deep knowledge to better understand the development of sustainable processes for the selective recovery of critical metals from spent SMD LEDs by DFOE.

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction is considered a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease
(AD), making non-invasive imaging of BBB with arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI a potential imaging
biomarker (BBB-ASL). However, the normal BBB development over the lifespan is unknown. Here, we
created population-based BBB-ASL permeability reference maps, and aimed to investigate associations
between BBB-ASL, chronological age, and biological cerebrovascular age – expressed as white matter
hyperintensities (WMH) volume

van der Waals magnetic materials are an ideal platform to study low-dimensional magnetism. Opposed to other members of this family, the magnetic semiconductor CrSBr is highly resistant to degradation in air, which, in addition to its exceptional optical, electronic, and magnetic properties, is the reason the compound is receiving considerable attention at the moment. For many years, its magnetic phase diagram seemed to be well-understood. Recently, however, several groups observed a magnetic transition in magnetometry measurements at temperatures of around 40 K that is not expected from theoretical considerations, causing a debate about the intrinsic magnetic properties of the material. In this Letter, we report the absence of this particular transition in magnetization measurements conducted on high-quality CrSBr crystals, attesting to the extrinsic nature of the low-temperature magnetic phase observed in other works. Our magnetometry results obtained from large bulk crystals are in very good agreement with the magnetic phase diagram of CrSBr previously predicted by the mean-field theory; A-type antiferromagnetic order is the only phase observed below the Néel temperature at TN = 131 K. Moreover, numerical fits based on the Curie–Weiss law confirm that strong ferromagnetic correlations are present within individual layers even at temperatures much larger than TN.

Decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF) and deterioration of blood-brain barrier (BBB) are suggested to be
precursor conditions of cognitive impairment. Using a novel multi-echo-time arterial spin labelling (ASL)
protocol, we examined the time of exchange (Tex) of water across the BBB as a measurement of BBB
permeability. We further examined the association of cardiovascular risk factors with Tex in an ongoing cohort
study.

Breathing related patient motion is a serious source of image blurring in oncological whole body PET. Respiratory gating allows to subdivide the aquisition data into temporal bins ("gates") depending on the breathing cycle which are basically motion-free but exhhibit increased noise levels. Image registration of all gates to a reference gate and subsequent averaging is possible but traditional registration algorithms are frequently slow or of limited accuracy.
Deep learning methods have recently attracted much interest and have been successfully applied to image registration tasks. Their flexibility and execution speed are especially attractive in the present context. We have therefore implemented and evaluated an unsupervised deep learning framework for the registration of gated PET images.

Image volume pairs consisting of a fixed gate and a second moving gate serve as input to a convolutional neural network
which predicts a deformation vector field (DVF) mapping the moving image to the fixed image. The network is trained unsupervised by optimizing a similarity
metric between the registered image pairs as well as an additional regularization loss.
Fifty-two gated PET/CT scans (8 gates) were available for training (N=42; 2352 gate pairs) and testing (N=10).
Normalized cross correlation (NCC) was used as a measure of registration accuracy.
The motion corrected images were compared to the respective ungated image, single reference gate
and a commercially available motion correction method ("OncoFreeze", Siemens). Lesion SUVmax and noise levels in the liver were determined.

Our method achieved visually very satisfactory motion compensation and consequently improved NCC for all test scans. Motion artifacts were substantially reduced while maintaining the noise level of the ungated images. The detailed numerical results will be reported.

The proposed framework is suitable for efficient reduction of motion artifacts in PET and is competitive to the OncoFreeze method.

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular pathology may accelerate brain aging and cognitive
decline. Structural cerebrovascular imaging biomarkers, such as white matter
hyperintensities, reflect mostly irreversible accumulated damage. In contrast, cerebral blood
flow (CBF), measured with arterial spin labelling (ASL) perfusion MRI, is a potential early
haemodynamic biomarker of cognitive impairment. However, our understanding of
physiological CBF variability and its relation with cognition is limited.

VASARI feature are a controlled vocabulary aiming to create reproducible terminology for glioma interpretation

Welche Materielien können heute schon gut recycelt werden und wie sieht das für die Seltenen Erden aus. Beim Parlamentarischen Abend Sustainability der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaften stehen Wissenschaftler den Abgeordneten des Bundestages Rede und Antwort.

Vorstellung von Arbeiten die am Helmholtz Institut Freiberg für Ressourcentechnologie rund um das Thema Wasserausbereitung laufen.

σ1 Receptors play a crucial role in various neurological and neurodegenerative diseases including pain, psychosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression. Spirocyclic piperidines represent a promising class of potent σ1 receptor ligands. The relationship between structural modifications and σ1 receptor affinity and selectivity over σ2 receptors led to the 2-fluoroethyl derivative fluspidine (2, Ki = 0.59 nM). Enantiomerically pure (S)-configured fluspidine ((S)-2) was prepared by enantioselective reduction of the α,β-unsaturated ester 23 with NaBH4 and the enantiomerically pure Co-catalyst (S,S)-24. The pharmacokinetic properties of both fluspidine enantiomers (R)-2 and (S)-2 were an-alyzed in vitro. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed very similar interactions of both fluspidine enantiomers with the σ1 receptor protein with a strong ionic interaction between the protonated amino moiety of the piperidine ring and the COO- moiety of glutamate 172. The ¹⁸F-labeled radiotracers (S)-[¹⁸F]2 and (R)-[¹⁸F]2 were synthesized in automated syntheses using a TRACERlab FX FN synthesis module. High radiochemical yields and radiochemical purity were achieved. Radiometabolites were not found in the brains of mice, piglets, and rhesus monkeys. While both enantiomers revealed similar initial brain uptake, the slow washout of (R)-[¹⁸F]2 indicated a kind of irreversible binding. In a first clinical trial, (S)-[¹⁸F]2 was used to visualize σ1 receptors in the brain of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study revealed an in-creased density of σ1 receptors in cortico-striato-(para)limbic brain regions of MDD patients. The increased density of σ1 receptors correlated with the severity of the depressive symptoms. In an occupancy study with the PET tracer (S)-[¹⁸F]2, the selective binding of pridopidine at σ1 receptors in the brain of healthy volunteers and HD patients was shown.

The talk focusses on metal resources, their applications and their recovery from end-of-life products.

Neuste biotechnologische Methoden nutzen Biolaugung, Biosorption und Bioflotation, um die eher klassisch ausgerichteten Industriezweige Bergbau und Mülltrennung zu ergänzen. In der Abteilung Biotechnologie am Helmholtz Institut Freiberg für Ressourcentechnologie werden durch die Kombination von Biotechnologie mit verschiedenen klassischen Wissenschaften neue Lösungen für bisher ungelöste Probleme und neue Abfallströme gefunden.

Identification of microplastic binding peptides and their application in Microplastic detection assays.

Presentation of novel recycling tools developed at HIF Biotechnology to recover valuables for renewables.

Breathing related patient motion is a serious source of image blurring in oncological PET. Respiratory gating allows to subdivide the acquisition data into temporal bins ("gates") depending on the breathing cycle which are basically motion-free but exhibit increased noise levels. Image registration of all gates to a reference gate and subsequent averaging is possible but traditional registration algorithms are frequently slow or of limited accuracy. Deep learning methods have recently attracted much interest and have been successfully applied to image registration tasks. Their flexibility and execution speed are especially attractive in the present context. We have therefore implemented and evaluated an unsupervised deep learning framework for the registration of gated PET images.

Image volume pairs consisting of a fixed gate and a second moving gate serve as input to a U-Net convolutional neural network which predicts a deformation vector field (DVF) mapping the moving image to the fixed image. The network is trained unsupervised by optimizing a similarity metric between the registered image pairs as well as an additional regularization loss. Fifty-two gated PET scans (8 gates) were available for training (N=42; 2352 gate pairs) and testing (N=10). Normalized cross correlation (NCC) was used as a measure of registration accuracy. The motion corrected images were compared to the respective ungated image, single reference gate and a commercially available motion correction method (OncoFreeze, Siemens). Lesion SUVmax and noise
levels in the liver were determined.

Our method achieved visually very satisfactory motion compensation and consequently improved NCC for all test scans (by 4.9% on average). Motion artifacts were substantially reduced while maintaining the noise level of the
ungated images.

The proposed framework is suitable for efficient reduction of motion artifacts in PET and is competitive to the OncoFreeze method.

Yttrium is a heavy rare earth element that acquires remarkable characteristics when it is in oxide form and doped with other rare earth elements. Owing to these characteristics Y2O3 can be used in the manufacture of several products. However, a supply deficit of this mineral is expected in the coming years, contributing to its price fluctuation. Thus, developing an efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly process to recover Y2O3 from secondary sources has become necessary. In this study, we used phage surface display to screen peptides with high specificity for Y2O3 particles. After three rounds of enrichment, a phage expressing the peptide TRTGCHVPRCNTLS (DM39) from the random pVIII phage peptide library Cys4 was found to bind specifically to Y2O3, being 531.6-fold more efficient than the wild-type phage. The phage DM39 contains two arginines in the polar side chains, which may have contributed to the interaction between the mineral targets. Immunofluorescence assays identified that the peptide’s affinity was strong for Y2O3 and negligible to LaPO4:Ce3+,Tb3+. The identification of a peptide with high specificity and affinity for Y2O3 provides a potentially new strategic approach to recycle this type of material from secondary sources, especially from electronic scrap.

Two dimensional (2D) materials are showing advantageous electronic and optical properties compared to their bulk counterparts. Recently 2D heterostructures attracted much attention in catalysis. Here, we demonstrate novel chalcogen based 2D-2D heterostructure CdS-Te with improved efficiency for the water splitting hydrogen production. We analysed the structural, electronic and optical properties of this CdS-Te heterostructure using first principles DFT calculations. Compared with the pristine monolayers of Te and CdS, we noticed significant improvement in the solar visible light absorption, and charge transfer properties in the material after heterostructure construction. This is due to the electric field created at the interface of CdS and Te monolayers. To attain the favorable band alignment for the water redox reaction, we applied the biaxial strain and electric field on the CdS-Te heterostructure. The Gibbs free energy calculations also exhibit less energy barrier for the CdS-Te heterostructure. From the obtained results, it is observed that the applied biaxial strain followed by the heterostructure construction improved the photocatalytic water splitting capacity of the material proficiently.

Inspired by the high photoconversion efficiency of 2D nanomaterials, we designed novel vdW heterostructure PtSSe-Se for the solar mediated photocatalytic hydrogen production. We investigated basic electrical and optical characteristics using ab-initio Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. Further, we performed electrostatic potential calculation to evaluate band alignments of PtSSe and Se, which revealed the water splitting capacity of the heterostructure. Later, the Gibbs free energy analysis also shows the heterostructure construction reduced the barrier height for the water reduction reaction effectively. Our in-depth investigation revealed the synergistic effect of built in electric field in the Janus PtSSe structure as well as generated electric field due to the heterostructure model have significant role in improving the photocatalytic efficiency. The dual electric field creation due to this unique structure effectively suppressed the charge carrier recombination and lead to enhanced lifetime of charge carriers in this PtSSe-Se heterostructure. In addition to that, the decreased lattice mismatch, elevated visible light response and fast charge transfer are the other factors that enhanced the photocatalytic efficiency of this Janus-chalcogenide heterostructure in a better way.

Graphene-based nanomaterials have gained over the last two decades’ considerable attention due to their intrinsic physicochemical properties that are or can potentially be exploited. Besides, a lot of concern regarding the potential toxicity of graphene-based nanomaterials has emerged. One aspect of this concern is the interactions between graphene-based materials and different environmental compartments, especially indigenous microbial communities. As recent research showed that these graphene-based materials impacted bacterial pure culture or bacterial communities, these interactions have to be further studied to better understand and assess the fate of these materials in the environment.

While according to the state of the art safety analyses related to nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics are done using system codes, CFD becomes more and more important as a tool to support such analyses. Often multiphase flows are involved in the flow situations that have to be considered. Since the Euler-Euler CFD modelling is not yet mature, experiments are necessary to improve and validate the CFD models.
This lecture will discuss typical topics of Nuclear Reactor Safety (NRS) research related to multiphase CFD. Several experiments done at the TOPFLOW facility of Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf (HZDR) to support the qualification of multiphase CFD for safety related issues will be presented. This includes information on the applied two-phase flow measuring techniques. The experiments range from rather generic experiments investigating vertical pipe flows at parameters relevant for safety analyses to experiments that represent specific safety related scenarios. Examples of the latter are counter-current flow limitation in a hot leg model and experiments on a model of a PWR cold leg and downcomer simulator. Finally, the applicability of Open Source codes for nuclear reactor safety research will be discussed and a German project to establish a validated CFD-tool based on OpenFOAM will be presented.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) becomes more and more important for industrial process design and optimisation as well as analyses related to safety issues. While CFD is an established tool for single phase flows, e.g. in automotive or aviation industries, it is not yet mature for multiphase flows. The main reason is the complexity and multiscale nature of the interactions between the phases.
For medium and large industrial scales, as they are typical for nuclear reactor safety research, the multi-fluid or Euler-Euler approach is most frequently used and often the only feasible one. It allows for relative large sizes of the numerical cells, but has the price that all the unresolved phenomena have to be considered by closure models. The accuracy of these closure models is still limited because of a lack of knowledge and data for the small scale phenomena of multiphase flows.
The lecture will focus on gas-liquid flows and present strategies to 1) improve the reliability of Euler-Euler-CFD simulations and 2) extent the range of applicability of CFD by considering different morphologies of multiphase flows and allowing for transitions between these morphologies.

ML and DL are revolutionising our abilities to analyse biomedical images. Among other host-pathogen interactions may be readily deciphered from microscopy data using convolutional neural networks (CNN). We demonstrate in several studies how the definition of novel ML/DL tasks may aid in studying infection and disease phenotypes. Specifically, ML/DL algorithms may allow unambiguous scoring of virus-infected and uninfected cells in the absence of specific labelling. Accompanied by interpretability approaches, the ability of CNN to learn representations, without explicit feature engineering, may allow for uncovering yet unknown phenotypes in microscopy. Furthermore, we demonstrate novel ML/DL approaches to simplified 3D microscopy acquisition using conventional 2D hardware. Taken together, we show novel approaches to established algorithms in Computer Vision and Data Science. Applied to microscopy data, these approaches allow for the extraction of observations from datasets large enough to not be suitable for manual analysis. We argue that this shows that reformulating conventional ML/DL tasks to answer biological questions may facilitate novel discoveries in Infection and Disease Biology.

Advances in Machine Learning and Deep Learning are revolutionising our abilities to analyse biomedical images. These algorithms may allow unambiguous scoring of virus-infected and uninfected cells in the absence of specific labelling. Furthermore, accompanied by interpretability approaches, the ability of convolutional neural networks to learn representations, without explicit feature engineering, may allow for uncovering yet unknown phenotypes in microscopy. In our recent work, we employ the CapsNet architecture equipped with a discriminator and generator. This allowed us to differentiate between intracellular and extracellular Vaccinia virus particles through a classification task using the discriminator part of the architecture. Additionally, using the generator part we were able to visualise the differences between these particles. Finally, we show how a phenotype-centric open-source Python package we developed can facilitate the data science work on virological plaque assay. We designed the package to provide biologists with tools that make phenotypes as intuitive as data frames. We show that our phenotype-centric library can be employed for a range of pathogens like Vaccinia virus or Coronavirus, as well as variations of virological plaque assay including fluorescence-based or crystal violet staining-based assay images.

Cobalt, nickel, manganese and zinc vanadates were synthesized by a hydrometallurgical two-phases method. The extraction of vanadium(V) ions from alkaline solution using Aliquat®336
was followed by the production of metal vanadates through precipitation stripping. Precipitation stripping was carried out using solutions of the corresponding metal ions (Ni(II), Co(II), Mn(II) and Zn(II), 0.05 mol/L in 4 mol/L NaCl), and the addition time of the strip solution was varied (0, 1 and 2 h). The time-dependent experiments showed a notorius influence on the composition, structure, morphology and crystallinity of the two-dimensional vanadate products. Inspired by these findings, we selected two metallic vanadate products and studied their properties as alternative cathode materials for nonaqueous sodium and lithium metal batteries.

The beneficiation of feldspar ore typically consists of desliming, magnetic separation, high solids conditioning, and flotation. Depending on the mineral composition, different flotation processes could be applied, i.e., double-reverse or reverse-direct flotation to remove the colouring impurities such as mica, Fe-bearing minerals, rutile, clay etc. and float feldspar from feldspar-quartz. Applications of 60 m3/h semi-industrial ImhoflotTM H-16 cell demonstrated its ability to achieve high feldspar grade and recovery in only one single cell which is compared to the existing bank mechanical cells. For oxide flotation, the underflow product contains 0.048 % Fe2O3 which is slightly higher than 0.043 % Fe2O3 using four industrial cells. The feldspar concentrate grade of one H-Cell is 93.7 % is similar to the existing flotation circuit, including rougher, scavenger and cleaner banks, even the feldspar feed grade fed to the pilot plant was only 38.7 % compared to 63.9 % in the industrial flotation circuit.

Black mass, the fine fraction from spent Li-ion batteries, needs to be recycled both for its valuable metal oxides and spheroidized graphite particles. Still, current recycling techniques show less preference for graphite, despite being a critical raw material, due to lower economic incentives. Flotation is a suitable and cost-efficient process for graphite recovery before downstream processing, however its effective separation from the black mass is hindered by the (ultra)fine particles. To address this challenge, a pneumatic ImhoflotTM cell is employed in this study. The cell utilizes high-shear turbulence to generate fine bubbles, facilitating dispersion/de-agglomeration of particles and removal of adhered slimes, enhancing reagent selectivity, and reducing dosing requirements. ImhoflotTM cell offers advantages over mechanical and column flotation, including increased recovery of fine particles, rapid flotation kinetics, and high attachment rates and reducing the fine entrained metal oxides particles into the concentrate. This research presents a promising approach for efficient graphite recovery from spent Li-ion batteries, securing the sustainable recycling of critical raw materials.

In recent decades, it has become apparent that due to the increasing complexity of deposits, the complexity of ore samples is also increasing. At the same time, the need for detailed geological and mineralogical information also increased. Therefore, it is important to combine methods in order to obtain more comprehensive conclusions.
We present a method of combining WDXRF (wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence) analyses with a wide spectrum of elements and pLIBS (portable laser induced breakdown spectroscopy, see Fig. 1) with a likewise spectrum and the additional possibility to detect light elements such as Li. Nevertheless, the representativeness of LIBS analyses is significantly smaller compared to XRF. To overcome this and effectively combine both methods, we designed and produced fused beads using Na2B4O7 as flux. Unfortunately, such beads are transparent to the laser which makes LIBS analysis almost impossible, therefore, we tested two different approaches: 1) dying the bead by adding CuO to the flux and 2) roughen the beads surface. We used a mixture of Na2B4O7 (+ CuO) + KI as matrix. Potassium iodide (KI) was added as a releasing agent. We used Greisen rocks from the Altenberg-Zinnwald district with known composition – including Li – and LiBO2 in different concentration ratios to adjust the Li content.
To produce crack-free beads, we had to adapt the melting process in the fully automatic melting furnace TheOx (CLAISSE). For the analytical work, we use a portable LIBS instrument manufactured by SciAps (Z-300, laser wavelength 1064 nm) and a PANalytical Axiosmax minerals XRF spectrometer.
The fused beads will now serve as calibration samples for both XRF and LIBS measurements (see Fig. 2). Samples with unknown composition will be analysed by XRF first. It turned out that roughening the beads has no significant influence on the XRF-spectra as revealed in before and after scan measurements. In a second step the LIBS analysis is performed in particular for light element determination such as Li. Furthermore, adding a dying component such as Cu might be suitable as a robust internal standard for both LIBS and XRF.

The obvious disadvantage of the method is that neither Cu, K nor Na can be included in the quantitative analysis. Depending on the analytical problem, they would have to be determined in a preceding step (e.g. via a conventional Li-borate melt and XRF).

The depletion of deposits and ever-increasing metal demand requires the processing of low-grade, complex, and finely disseminated ores and reprocessing of tailings. Even though flotation is capable of handling relatively fine particles, the use of conventional tank cells is limited in such cases. This study presents the results of applying a semi-industrial pneumatic G-Cell (tangential feed to the separator vessel with 1.4 m diameter, throughput is 20 - 30 m3/h) at KGHM Polkowice plant, one of the biggest copper concentrators in Europe. The testworks were conducted on three streamlines i.e., scavenger, cleaner, and final tailings using four different aerator designs with different operating parameters (feed flowrate, air flowrate, and recycling load). It demonstrated that G-Cell with advanced aerator concepts can be applied for plant expansions and retrofits to existing conventional cells to improve flotation performance, especially to reduce losses of fine copper-bearing particles to tailings.

Particle-in-Cell simulations are a ubiquitous tool for linking theory and experimental data in plasma physics rendering the comprehension of non-linear processes such as Laser Plasma Acceleration (LPA) feasible. These numerical codes can be considered as state-of-the-art approach for studying the underlying physical processes in high temporal and spatial resolution. The analysis of experiments is performed by optimising simulation parameters so that the simulated system is able to explain experimental results. However, a high spatio-temporal resolution comes at the cost of elevated simulation times which makes the inversion nearly impossible. We tackle that challenge by introducing and studying a reduced order model based on Fourier neural operator that is evolving the ion density function of Laser-driven Ion acceleration via 1D Target Normal Sheath acceleration (TNSA). The ion density function can be dynamically generated over time with respect to the thickness of the target. We show that this approach yields a significant speed-up compared to numerical code Smilei while retaining physical properties to a certain degree promising applicability for inversion of experimental data by simulation-based inference.

The current work investigates the application of one H-16 cell (hybrid ImhoflotTM cell) positioning at four different stages in the Gökirmak copper flotation circuit of the Acacia (Türkiye) copper beneficiation plant. For this purpose, hourly-based samples were taken from selective streams during three shifts after installing the H-16 cell. The pneumatic flotation cell was situated at i) pre-flotation, ii) rougher, iii) cleaner-scavenger tailing, and iv) first cleaning aiming at enhancing the flotation circuit capacity through flash flotation in the rougher stage, reducing copper grade in the final tailing, and increasing cleaning throughput, respectively. All operations were performed at the fresh feed capacity of 15-40 m3/h at the neutral pH range of 7.5-8 and solid content of 20-30% (w/w) using potassium amyl xanthate (PAX) as the main collector (130-150 g/t). The pilot test results indicated that locating one pneumatic cell with the duty of pre-floating led to the enrichment ratio and recovery of 4.84 and 89%, respectively. Positioning the pneumatic cell at the cleaner-scavenger tailing could diminish the copper tailing grade from 0.43% to 0.31%. Further, it was shown that the enrichment ratios using only one ImhoflotTM cell were relatively better (1.76 vs 1.45) than four tanks in the operation of mechanical cells at the first cleaner stage. Corresponding recoveries of 64% and 60% were obtained through the pneumatic cell and the mechanical ones.

Vietnamese phosphate deposits are of marine sedimentary origin and one of the largest phosphate rock deposits of Southeast Asia. Lao Cai phosphate reserves have been estimated at about 526 million tonnes with hypothetical reserves of about 2.6 billion tonnes. Froth flotation is considered the most effective process for the beneficiation of phosphate ore, with more than 60 % (140 million tons per year) of the marketable phosphate in the world being processed by flotation. However, for finely disseminated sedimentary carbonaceous phosphate ores, flotation is facing various challenges due to similarities in surface properties of the semi-soluble salt-type carbonate and phosphate calcium minerals. Many processes and reagents have been developed to separate carbonates from carbonaceous phosphate ores, however with limited success. This paper will present the effect of hydrodynamics parameters, particle size, liberation and association on flotation performance using automated mineralogy and machine learning. Also, through a combination of time-resolved dynamic froth analysis (DFA) and automated mineralogy (MLA) the effects governing in the froth with different flotation times have been identified and compared with the entrainment results of existing models. Significantly changing pulp and froth properties with time was found due to decreasing reagent and particle concentrations when processing high-grade ores in lab-scale batch flotation testwork. Furthermore, Lao Cai phosphate ores contain about 200 g/t rare earth elements (REEs) which are enriched by froth flotation via co-flotation of the REEs-bearing apatite that could be considered as a secondary REEs source as the large tonnages of phosphate rock mined and processed annually.

Separation by flotation is one of the common technologies used during beneficiation stage in mining industry, aiming at concentrating valuable minerals for downstream refining stages. Currently a new froth flotation technology is being developed under FineFuture (FF) project, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 821265). If implemented, this technology can valorise fine mineral particles instead of discarding them as residues, nevertheless this does not necessarily ensure the sustainability of the technology.
To verify this, a sustainability assessment has been performed for one of the project case studies, i.e. the one that involves the industrial partner Grecian Magnesite (GM). GM is a Greek mining company specialized in magnesite concentrate (MgCO3) and magnesia production (MgO). The beneficiation plant under study is in Yerakini Mines and Works in Chalkidiki, Greece.
The aim of the sustainability assessment is the comparison between the current beneficiation system of GM with the future one that will have FF flotation implemented on full scale to benefit from the very fine particles with granular size < 4 mm that are currently discarded as waste.
The sustainability assessment has been performed considering the three pillars of sustainability. For the environment, a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been carried out, whereas the Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) methodology has been applied to evaluate the economic costs. To assess the potential social risks that must be tackle when implementing the new technology, a Social Hotspot analysis has been carried out, taking into account the Other Mining and Quarriyng sector in Greece (NACE rev. 2) and using the PSILCA database.
The presentation will show the main results of the assessment, together with the challenges of an evaluation of this type, both technical and methodological: in fact, both the technology under assessment and the methodology itself for the assessment are still under development.

We examined the magnetic ground state of the pyrochlore spin-ice compounds Pr₂Hf₂O₇ and Ho₂Ti₂O₇ by means of specific-heat, magnetization, and ac-susceptibility measurements in the mK regime. At these low temperatures, we observe an unexpected large specific heat and corresponding entropy, which diminish in applied magnetic fields. This evidences the presence of additional states beyond the electronic spin and orbital degrees of freedom. We can qualitatively explain the large specific heat by the coupling of the nuclear spins of ¹⁴¹Pr and ¹⁶⁵Ho with their electronic counterparts, which leads to a complex hyperfine-coupled term scheme. With increasing fields, the nuclear and electronic spins decouple leaving only the electronic excitations in the measured temperature window. At intermediate fields, a rather evolved term scheme emerges that may explain the unusual hysteretic magnetization and a remarkable state with a negative magnetization found for Ho₂Ti₂O₇. Our findings bring deep insights to the complex ground state of pyrochlore spin-ice compounds and their low-energy excitations.

The potential spin-triplet heavy-fermion superconductor UTe₂ exhibits signatures of multiple distinct superconducting phases. For field aligned along the b axis, a metamagnetic transition occurs at μ₀H_m ≈ 35 T. It is associated with magnetic fluctuations that may be beneficial for the field-reinforced superconductivity surviving up to H_m. Once the field is tilted away from the b towards the c axis, a reentrant superconducting phase emerges just above H_m. In order to better understand this remarkably field-resistant superconducting phase, we conducted magnetic-torque and magnetotransport measurements in pulsed magnetic fields. We determine the record-breaking upper critical field of μ₀H_c2 ≈ 73T and its evolution with angle. Furthermore, the normal-state Hall effect experiences a drastic suppression indicative of a reduced band polarization above H_m in the angular range around 30° caused by a partial compensation between the applied field and an exchange field. This promotes the Jaccarino-Peter effect as a likely mechanism for the reentrant superconductivity above H_m.

The data set includes original data for the paper "Neutron radiography of an anisotropic drainage flow".

The alpaka library is a header-only C++17 abstraction library for accelerator development. Its aim is to provide performance portability across accelerators through the abstraction (not hiding!) of the underlying levels of parallelism.

Understanding laser-solid interactions is important for the development of laser-driven particle and photon sources, e.g., tumor therapy, astrophysics, and fusion. Currently, these interactions can only be modeled by simulations that need to be verified experimentally. Consequently, pump-probe experiments were conducted to examine the laser-plasma interaction that occurs when a high intensity laser hits a solid target. Since we aim for a femtosecond temporal and nanometer spatial resolution at European XFEL, we employ Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) and Phase Contrast Imaging (PCI) that can each be approximated by an analytical propagator. In our reconstruction of the target, we employ a gradient descent algorithm that iteratively minimizes the error between experimental and synthetic patterns propagated from proposed target structures. By implementing the propagator in PyTorch we leverage the automatic differentiation capabilities, as well as the speed-up by computing the process on a GPU. We perform a scan of different initial parameters to find the global minimum, which is accelerated by batching multiple parallel reconstructions. The fully differentiable implementation of a forward function may serve as a physically-constraining loss, enabling training with unpaired data or unsupervised training of neural networks to predict the initial parameters for the gradient descent fit.

Purpose: Radiation pneumonitis (RP) remains a major complication in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) pa-
tients undergoing radiochemotherapy (RCHT). Traditionally, the mean lung dose (MLD) and the volume of the
total lung receiving at least 20 Gy (V20Gy) are used to predict RP in patients treated with normo-fractionated
photon therapy.
However, other models, including the actual dose-distribution in the lungs using the effective α/β model or a
combination of radiation doses to the lungs and heart, have been proposed for predicting RP. Moreover, the
models established for photons may not hold for patients treated with passively-scattered proton therapy (PSPT).
Therefore, we here tested and validated novel predictive parameters for RP in NSCLC patient treated with PSPT.
Methods: Data on the occurrence of RP, structure files and dose-volume histogram parameters for lungs and heart
of 96 NSCLC patients, treated with PSPT and concurrent chemotherapy, was retrospectively retrieved from
prospective clinical studies of two international centers. Data was randomly split into a training set (64 patients)
and a validation set (32 patients). Statistical analyses were performed using binomial logistic regression.
Results: The biologically effective dose (BED) of the’lungs - GTV’ significantly predicted RP ≥ grade 2 in the
training-set using both a univariate model (p = 0.019, AUCtrain = 0.72) and a multivariate model in combination
with the effective α/β parameter of the heart (pBED = 0.006, pα/βeff = 0.043, AUCtrain = 0.74). However, these
results did not hold in the validation-set (AUCval = 0.52 andAUCval = 0.50, respectively). Moreover, these models
were found to neither outperform a model built with the MLD (p = 0.015, AUCtrain = 0.73, AUCval = 0.51), nor a
multivariate model additionally including the V20Gy of the heart (pMLD = 0.039, pV20Gy,heart = 0.58, AUCtrain =
0.74, AUCval = 0.53).
Conclusion: Using the effective α/β parameter of the lungs and heart we achieved similar performance to
commonly used models built for photon therapy, such as MLD, in predicting RP ≥ grade 2. Therefore, prediction
models developed for photon RCHT still hold for patients treated with PSPT.

Purpose: DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) plays a key role in the repair of DNA double strand breaks via nonho-
mologous end joining. Inhibition of DNA-PK can enhance the effect of DNA double strand break inducing anticancer thera-
pies. Peposertib (formerly “M3814”) is an orally administered, potent, and selective small molecule DNA-PK inhibitor that has
demonstrated radiosensitizing and antitumor activity in xenograft models and was well-tolerated in monotherapy. This phase
1 trial (National Clinical Trial 02516813) investigated the maximum tolerated dose, recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D),
safety, and tolerability of peposertib in combination with palliative radiation therapy (RT) in patients with thoracic or head
and neck tumors (arm A) and of peposertib in combination with cisplatin and curative-intent RT in patients with squamous
cell carcinoma of the head and neck (arm B).
Methods and Materials: Patients received peposertib once daily in ascending dose cohorts as a tablet or capsule in combina-
tion with palliative RT (arm A) or in combination with intensity modulated curative-intent RT and cisplatin (arm B).
Results: The most frequently observed treatment-emergent adverse events were radiation skin injury, fatigue, and nausea in
arm A (n = 34) and stomatitis, nausea, radiation skin injury, and dysgeusia in arm B (n = 11). Based on evaluations of dose-
limiting toxicities, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic data, RP2D for arm A was declared as 200 mg peposertib tablet once daily
in combination with RT. In arm B (n = 11), 50 mg peposertib was declared tolerable in combination with curative-intent RT
and cisplatin. However, enrollment was discontinued because of insufficient exposure at that dose, and the RP2D was not for-
mally declared.
Conclusions: Peposertib in combination with palliative RT was well-tolerated up to doses of 200 mg once daily as tablet with each
RT fraction. When combined with RT and cisplatin, a tolerable peposertib dose yielded insufficient exposure. Ó 2023 The Authors.
Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Aims: The number of Proton Therapy (PT) facilities is still limited worldwide, and the access to treatment could
be characterized by patients’ logistic and economic challenges. Aim of the present survey is to assess the support
provided to patients undergoing PT across Europe.
Methods: Through a personnel contact, an online questionnaire (62 multiple-choice and open-ended questions)
via Microsoft Forms was administered to 10 European PT centers. The questionnaire consisted of 62 questions
divided into 6 sections: i) personal data; ii) general information on clinical activity; iii) fractionation, concurrent
systemic treatments and technical aspects of PT facility; iv) indication to PT and reimbursement policies; v)
economic and/ or logistic support to patients vi) participants agreement on statements related to the possible
limitation of access to PT. A qualitative analysis was performed and reported.
Results: From March to May 2022 all ten involved centers filled the survey. Nine centers treat from 100 to 500
patients per year. Paediatric patients accounted for 10–30%, 30–50% and 50–70% of the entire cohort for 7, 2
and 1 center, respectively. The most frequent tumours treated in adult population were brain tumours, sarcomas
and head and neck carcinomas; in all centers, the mean duration of PT is longer than 3 weeks. In 80% of cases,
the treatment reimbursement for PT is supplied by the respective country’s Health National System (HNS). HNS
also provides economic support to patients in 70% of centers, while logistic and meal support is provided in 20%
and 40% of centers, respectively. PT facilities offer economic and/or logistic support in 90% of the cases. Logistic
support for parents of pediatric patients is provided by HNS only in one-third of centers. Overall, 70% of re-
spondents agree that geographic challenges could limit a patient’s access to proton facilities and 60% believe that
additional support should be given to patients referred for PT care.

Background The current management of lung cancer patients has reached a high level of complexity. Indeed, besides the traditional clinical variables (e.g., age, sex, TNM stage), new omics data have recently been introduced in clinical practice, thereby making more complex the decision-making process. With the advent of Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, various omics datasets may be used to create more accurate predictive models paving the way for a
better care in lung cancer patients.
Methods The LANTERN study is a multi-center observational clinical trial involving a multidisciplinary consortium of five institutions from different European countries. The aim of this trial is to develop accurate several predictive models for lung cancer patients, through the creation of Digital Human Avatars (DHA), defined as digital representations of patients using various omics-based variables and integrating well-established clinical factors with genomic data, quantitative imaging data etc. A total of 600 lung cancer patients will be prospectively enrolled by the recruiting centers and multi-omics data will be collected. Data will then be modelled and parameterized in an experimental context of cutting-edge big data analysis. All data variables will be recorded according to a shared common ontology based on variable-specific domains in order to enhance their direct actionability. An exploratory
analysis will then initiate the biomarker identification process. The second phase of the project will focus on creating multiple multivariate models trained though advanced machine learning (ML) and AI techniques for the specific areas of interest. Finally, the developed models will be validated in order to test their robustness, transferability and generalizability, leading to the development of the DHA. All the potential clinical and scientific stakeholders will
be involved in the DHA development process. The main goals aim of LANTERN project are: i) To develop predictive models for lung cancer diagnosis and histological characterization; (ii) to set up personalized predictive models for individual-specific treatments; iii) to enable feedback data loops for preventive healthcare strategies and quality of life management.
Discussion The LANTERN project will develop a predictive platform based on integration of multi-omics data. This will enhance the generation of important and valuable information assets, in order to identify new biomarkers that can be used for early detection, improved tumor diagnosis and personalization of treatment protocols.
Ethics Committee approval number 5420 − 0002485/23 from Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Ethics Committee.
Trial registration clinicaltrial.gov - NCT05802771.

As an important member of printed electronics, printed magnetic sensors have revealed potential in industrial production, consumer electronics, etc, relying on large scale, low cost and high production fabrication [1]. However, the excessive use and short lifespan for electronics contribute significantly to the accumulation of electronic waste, meanwhile magnetic sensors usually contain hazardous elements. Therefore, there is a growing demand for eco-sustainable printed magnetoresistance sensors. Firstly, we introduced self-healing property to printed magnetoresistance sensors to extend their lifetime[2]. Take one step further, we designed biocompatible and biodegradable printed magnetic sensors to address the e-waste issues using non-toxic iron particles bonded with edible starch. Benefiting from a completely eco-friendly printing process and food-grade materials, these sensors can be applied not only on conventional substrates but also on surfaces like plants, human skin, and nails, meanwhile demonstrate washability and degradability in aqueous environments. By virtue of these advantages, these magnetic sensors hold promising application in speedometer, IoT, and human-machine interfaces.

[1] D. Makarov et al, ChemPhysChem 2013, 14, 1771.
[2] R. Xu, et al, Nature Communications 2022, 13, 6587.

LAPC is associated with a poor prognosis and requires a multimodal treatment approach. However, the role of radiation therapy in LAPC treatment remains controversial. This systematic review aimed to explore the role of proton and photon therapy, with varying radiation techniques and fractionation, in treatment outcomes and their respective toxicity profiles. Methods: Clinical studies published from 2012 to 2022 were systematically reviewed using PubMed, MEDLINE (via PubMed) and Cochrane databases. Different radiotherapy-related data were extracted and analyzed. Results: A total of 31 studies matched the inclusion criteria. Acute toxicity was less remarkable in stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) compared to conventionally fractionated radiotherapy (CFRT), while in proton beam therapy (PBT) grade 3 or higher acute toxicity was observed more commonly with doses of 67.5 Gy (RBE) or higher. Late toxicity was not reported in most studies; therefore, comparison between groups was not possible. The range of median overall survival (OS) for the CFRT and SBRT groups was 9.3–22.9 months and 8.5–20 months, respectively. For the PBT group, the range of median OS was 18.4–22.3 months. Conclusion: CFRT and SBRT showed comparable survival outcomes with a more favorable acute toxicity profile for SBRT. PBT is a promising new treatment modality; however, additional clinical studies are needed to support its efficacy and safety.

Due to its relevance for the safety analysis of pressurized water reactors, many research activities on flashing flows in pipes and nozzles arose from the mid of last century. Most of them have focused on the mass flow rate and pressure or temperature fluctuation by means of experiments and system codes. Owing to the increase in computer speed and progress in numerical algorithm, CFD is used more and more in the investigation of flashing flows, which has the advantage of providing further insights regarding the internal flow structure as well as its evolution. Various mixture or two-fluid models have been proposed in the literature. However, knowledge on local non-equilibrium effects, interphase transfer as well as interfacial area under different flashing conditions is still insufficient; a general and precise definition of the problem remains a challenge. In this lecture, two-fluid modelling of various nuclear flashing scenarios such as pipe blowdown, nozzle flow, steam-generator leakage, flashing-induced instability and pressure release will be presented. The performance of different mass transfer models including thermal phase-change, pressure phase-change, relaxation and equilibrium models will be compared. Challenges related to interfacial heat transfer, bubble poly-dispersity as well as flow regime transition will be discussed.

Pool scrubbing is often used for removing harmful aerosol particles by injecting the gas mixture
into a liquid pool [1], where hydrodynamics affects the decontamination factor significantly. The poolscrubbing
bubble column is characterized by a large nozzle and high injection flow rates, which lead to
large gas structures in the injection zone. As they rise up, these globules break up and form a swarm of
small bubbles. The wide range of bubble size and shape poses a challenge for both two-fluid model
(TFM) and interface-tracking approaches [2].
In this work, we apply the hybrid multi-field two-fluid model MultiMorph [3] to simulate a
rectangular pool-scrubbing bubble column. The MultiMorph model considers the interaction between
the gas and liquid according to the scale of the interfaces, applying a VOF-like treatment at the largescale
interfaces and the conventional TFM to the small-scale ones. In this way, the description of the
topology changes and regime transition is realized with the same set of equations. In the simulation,
both the gas and liquid can be treated as either dispersed or continuous phases depending on the ratio
between the particle (droplet or bubble in this work) size and the local cell size. The capability of the
model is validated by comparing with experimental data from reference [4] as well as results obtained
with the VOF and TFM, respectively. The MultiMorph model turns out to show significantly improved
agreement with experimental data.

Bubble coalescence in three-phase systems is known to be different from that in two-phase ones. Understanding how the coalescence process is affected by particles is of great significance to various engineering applications. Despite decades of research, high-resolution data on the coalescence and film drainage in bubble columns are scarce, which prevents a precise description of the phenomenon and the derivation of reliable models for further analyses. The existing work is either performed under nearly hydrostatic conditions, or limited to the mesoscopic scale, i.e., by acquiring void fraction and bubble size distribution. The present work aims to fill the gap in-between and provide microscopic insights into the bubble-pair coalescence and film drainage under bubble column hydrodynamic conditions. By coupling the volume-of-fluid (VOF) and multiphase particle-in-cell (MPPIC) methods with a chimera mesh approach in OpenFOAM, a high resolution of the gas-liquid interface and fluid flow field is realized and meaningful results on the effect of particles are achieved. In the investigated parameter range, the presence of particles in liquid is found to affect majorly the film drainage process, while has negligible effects on the bubble rise regarding shape and velocity. The results agree well with the observations in previous literature.

Magnetic Particle Tracking is able to track the position and orientation of magnetic particles in opaque media by measuring the magnetic field outside the vessel. This technique was already applied in granular flows with a magnet of 8 mm³ volume [1]. The extension of this technique to flotation, which is used in ore processing and recycling, requires magnetic particles in sub-mm range, which float with the foam. The vessel diameter of 100 mm demands for sensors with a resolution in the order of nT. Thin-film sensors reduce the distance from the sensor to the magnet. We will present in detail a newly developed measurement system with an array of 12 tailored planar Hall magnetoresistive sensors with a measurement range from 300 µT down to 10 nT and
demonstrate the reliable detection of the position of a cubic magnet with edge length of 0.4 mm. The sensors consist of single layer permalloy in a 5 ring Wheatstone bridge configuration. Furthermore, we will show preliminary results of an sensor array on a flexible substrate [2],
which can be easily and accurately placed around a complex shaped vessel.
[1] Buist, et al. AIChE Journal 60.9 (2014): 3133-3142.
[2] Granell, et al. npj Flexible Electronics 3.1 (2019): 3.

Objective: This paper describes intensity-based tools for quality assurance (QA) of automatically generated structures for online adaptive radiotherapy, and designs an operator-independent traffic light system that identifies erroneous structures.
Approach: A cohort of eight head and neck (HN) patients with daily CBCTs was selected for test development. Radiotherapy contours were propagated from planning CT to daily cone beam CT (CBCT) using deformable image registration (DIR). These propagated structures were visually verified for acceptability. For each CBCT, several error scenarios were used to generate what were judged unacceptable structures. Ten additional HN patients with daily CBCTs were selected for validation and different error scenarios were created for them. A suite of tests based on image intensity, intensity gradient, and structure geometry was developed using acceptable and unacceptable HN planning structures. Structure-test combinations were selected for inclusion in the QA system based on their discriminatory power. A traffic light system was used to aggregate the structure-test combinations, and the system was evaluated on all fractions of the ten validation HN patients.
Results: The QA system distinguished between acceptable and unacceptable fractions with high accuracy, labeling 294/324 acceptable fractions as green or yellow and 19/20 unacceptable fractions as yellow or red.
Significance: This study demonstrates a system to supplement manual review of radiotherapy planning structures. Automated QA is performed by aggregating results from multiple intensity- and geometry-based tests.

Flexible electronic devices extended abilities of humans to perceive their environment conveniently and comfortably. Among them, flexible magnetic field sensors are crucial to detect changes in the external magnetic field. State-of-the-art flexible magnetoelectronics do not exhibit low detection limit and large working range simultaneously, which limits their application potential. Herein, a flexible magnetic field sensor possessing a low detection limit of 22 nT and wide sensing range from 22 nT up to 400 mT is reported. With the detection range of seven orders of magnitude in magnetic field sensor constitutes at least one order of magnitude improvement over current flexible magnetic field sensor technologies. The sensor is designed as a cantilever beam structure accommodating a flexible permanent magnetic composite and an amorphous magnetic wire enabling sensitivity to low magnetic fields. To detect high fields, the anisotropy of the giant magnetoimpedance effect of amorphous magnetic wires to the magnetic field direction is explored. Benefiting from mechanical flexibility of sensor and its broad detection range, its application potential for smart wearables targeting geomagnetic navigation, touchless interactivity, rehabilitation appliances, and safety interfaces providing warnings of exposure to high magnetic fields are explored.

Extending 2D structures into 3D space has become a general trend in multiple disciplines, including electronics, photonics, plasmonics, superconductivity and magnetism [1,2]. This approach provides means to modify conventional or to launch novel functionalities by tailoring curvature and 3D shape of magnetic thin films and nanowires [2,3]. In this talk, we will address fundamentals of curvature-induced effects in magnetism and review the envisioned application scenarios. In particular, we will demonstrate that curvature allows tailoring fundamental anisotropic and chiral magnetic interactions [4] and enables fundamentally new non-local chiral symmetry breaking effect [5,6]. Application potential of geometrically curved magnetic architectures is currently being explored as mechanically reshapeable magnetic field sensors for automotive applications, memory, spin-wave filters, high-speed racetrack memory devices, magnetic soft robotics [7] as well as on-skin interactive electronics relying on thin films [8,9,10] as well as printed magnetic composites [11,12] with appealing self-healing performance [13].

[1] P. Gentile et al., Electronic materials with nanoscale curved geometries. Nature Electronics (Review) 5, 551 (2022).
[2] D. Makarov et al., New Dimension in Magnetism and Superconductivity: 3D and Curvilinear Nanoarchitectures. Advanced Materials (Review) 34, 2101758 (2022).
[3] D. Makarov et al., Curvilinear micromagnetism: from fundamentals to applications (Springer, Zurich, 2022).
[4] O. Volkov et al., Experimental observation of exchange-driven chiral effects in curvilinear magnetism. Physical Review Letters 123, 077201 (2019).
[5] D. D. Sheka et al., Nonlocal chiral symmetry breaking in curvilinear magnetic shells. Communications Physics 3, 128 (2020).
[6] O. M. Volkov et al., Chirality coupling in topological magnetic textures with multiple magnetochiral parameters. Nature Communications 14, 1491 (2023).
[7] M. Ha et al., Reconfigurable Magnetic Origami Actuators with On-Board Sensing for Guided Assembly. Advanced Materials 33, 2008751 (2021).
[8] G. S. Canon Bermudez et al., Magnetosensitive e-skins for interactive devices. Advanced Functional Materials (Review) 31, 2007788 (2021).
[9] J. Ge et al., A bimodal soft electronic skin for tactile and touchless interaction in real time. Nature Communications 10, 4405 (2019).
[10] G. S. Canon Bermudez et al., Electronic-skin compasses for geomagnetic field driven artificial magnetoception and interactive electronics. Nature Electronics 1, 589 (2018).
[11] M. Ha et al., Printable and Stretchable Giant Magnetoresistive Sensors for Highly Compliant and Skin-Conformal Electronics. Advanced Materials 33, 2005521 (2021).
[12] E. S. Oliveros Mata et al., Dispenser printed bismuth-based magnetic field sensors with non-saturating large magnetoresistance for touchless interactive surfaces. Adv. Mater. Technol. 7, 2200227 (2022).
[13] R. Xu et al., Self-healable printed magnetic field sensors using alternating magnetic fields. Nature Communications 13, 6587 (2022).

Non-magnetic kagome metals, AV₃Sb₅ (A: K, Rb, Cs), offer a new promising platform for engineering topological and correlated electrons [1,2]. At ambient pressure, these compounds show a competition between an exotic charge-density wave and superconductivity that are rooted in an intricate interplay of topologically non-trivial Dirac fermions, localized flat-band electrons, and van Hove singularities in the vicinity of the Fermi level. These features can be traced back to the effectively 2D band structure of vanadium kagome planes. We pioneered the broadband optical studies of AV₃Sb₅ and identified a significant damping of charge carriers [3, 4, 5], potentially related to electron-phonon coupling that has immediate implications for superconductivity.

The tunability of these properties with external means opens interesting new directions in the research of kagome metals. For example, an unusual reentrant superconductivity of AV₃Sb₅ was observed in transport measurements under pressure. In this presentation, I will summarize pressure evolution of AV₃Sb₅ revealed by single-crystal XRD, high-pressure infrared spectroscopy, and density-functional calculations. This combination of experimental and computational techniques allows a simultaneous probe of crystal and electronic structures under both hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic conditions. We show that, despite the initial similarity of AV₃Sb₅ with different alkaline metals (A = K, Rb, Cs) at ambient pressure, these compounds show a different sequence of pressure-induced structural phase transitions, which further depend on the extent of non-hydrostaticity of the pressure environment [6, 7].

Electronic structure calculated using experimental atomic positions and also probed directly by infrared spectroscopy reveals a dimensional crossover caused by the formation of interlayer Sb-Sb bonds [7]. The strongly 2D structures of AV₃Sb₅ become essentially 3D at elevated pressures. These changes lead to a reconstruction of the Fermi surface that clearly correlates with the reentrant behavior of superconductivity. We further reveal the interplay between topological and localized carriers that follow the evolution of the Fermi surface.

Our study demonstrates pressure-induced dimensional crossover as an important tool for tailoring novel electronic materials, such as kagome metals. Concurrently, we show that their high-pressure phases intimately depend on the pressure environment and its deviation from hydrostaticity.

[1] B. R. Ortiz et al., Phys. Rev. Materials 3, 094407 (2019)
[2] H. Luo et al., Nature Communications 13, 273 (2022)
[3] E. Uykur et al., Phys. Rev. B 104, 045130 (2021)
[4] E. Uykur et al., npj Quantum Materials 7, 16 (2022)
[5] M. Wenzel et al. Phys. Rev. B 105, 245123 (2022)
[6] A. A. Tsirlin et al. SciPost Physics 12, 049 (2022)
[7] A. A. Tsirlin et al. arXiv: 2209.02794

Kagome metals attract a lot of attention as materials that combine two extreme features in their electronic structure: Massless Dirac fermions with linear band dispersion and flat bands hosting massive localized electrons. Topological nature of the former and strongly correlated nature of the latter lead to multitude of exotic phenomena, including quantum anomalous Hall effect and novel states, such as axion insulators. The electron dynamics of these systems is the key for understanding the proposed exotic phenomena including topological properties, strong electron correlations, and magnetism; along with the interplay of those.

To this end, we have employed optical spectroscopy on a series of kagome metals with different magnetic ground states. Interband and intraband transitions have been traced with broadband IR spectroscopy, where the signatures of itinerant and localized carriers have been identified. The relaxation dynamics of different contributions have also been investigated via ultrafast optical pump-probe spectroscopy. Moreover, the effect of underlying magnetic structure on the observed features and the behavior of the phonons have been discussed. In this talk, I summarize the optical fingerprints of unconventional features in magnetic kagome metals.

We present a broadband optical study of non-magnetic kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) down to 10 K. Different contributions to the optical spectra have been discussed and compared with the DFT calculations in normal and charge density wave (CDW) states. Spectra reflect the response of the 2D Dirac fermions and are frequency-independent in a broad energy range. Low energies are governed by the itinerant and localized charge carriers that show a spectral weight redistribution below the CDW transition. Our results show that the CDW gaps evolve systematically between the siblings (K

The monazite-cheralite solid solutions LnPO4-Ca0.5Th0.5PO4 with Ln = La, Gd were prepared via a co-precipitation route, showcasing an optimised, scalable synthesis procedure for a possible waste form accommodating high level liquid waste streams. A distortion of the cheralite structure with respect to the monazite structure was observed throughout both solid solutions as evidenced by a deviation of the lattice parameters from the linear behaviour known from other monazite solid solutions. Using a high temperature flux method, cheralite single crystals were grown for the first time for in-depth structural investigations. Both thorium and calcium were found to deviate from the central position of the LnO9 polyhedron, supporting previous neutron diffraction investigations of identical cheralite samples.

Poster on a single-element thermal sensor in a 3D printed well format for the monitoring of biological assays. The modified Transient Plane Source sensing technique is used for simultaneous measurement of the thermal effusivity of various samples and as a heating element.

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This study investigates homogeneous flow in a bubble column up to 50% gas-holdup. For low to medium gas-holdup, the good performance of an established baseline model is confirmed. In this range, the mixture pressure gradient is decisive in determining the relative velocity, resulting in good predictions without considering swarm effects. However, beyond a gas-holdup of ~20%, a swarm corrector to the drag-force becomes necessary, for which several proposals from the literature are evaluated. In addition, the lift-force influences the shape of the gas-fraction profile depending on the bubble size, which has a significant impact on the liquid flow inside the column. For wall-peaked profiles, the liquid flow remains moderate, while center-peaked profiles strongly boost the liquid velocity. Finally, several mechanisms proposed in the literature for inducing unstable flow based on the lift-force, bubble-induced turbulence or flooding are investigated. Of these only the first gave qualitative agreement with the observed gas-holdup.

This study investigates homogeneous flow in a bubble column up to a 50% gas holdup. For low to medium gas holdup the good performance of an established baseline model is confirmed. In this range, the mixture pressure gradient is decisive in determining the relative velocity, resulting in good predictions without considering the swarm effect. However, beyond a gas holdup of ~20%, a swarm corrector becomes necessary, for which several proposals from the literature are evaluated. In addition, the lift force influences the gas fraction profile depending on the bubble size. The resulting profile shape has a significant impact on the liquid flow inside the column. If the profile is wall-peaked, the liquid flow remains moderate, while a center-peaked profile strongly boosts the liquid velocity.

Subtle changes in BBB integrity might be missed by contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI. Blood-brain barrier arterial spin labeling (BBB-ASL) is a new technique to assess BBB disruptions. In this work, we measured the cerebral blood flow (CBF) and exchange time (Tex) values of the tumor, normal-appearing white matter, and normal-appearing gray matter regions in gliomas using BBB-ASL technique. Our results indicated higher CBF and leakier BBB in contrast-enhanced regions of gliomas than in the normal-appearing GM.

One of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the loss of blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI is a non-invasive way to measure perfusion and several other hemodynamic and physiological parameters, including vascular permeability. The DEveloping BBB-ASL as non-Invasive Early biomarker (DEBBIE) consortium aims to develop and integrate innovative techniques to allow robust BBB permeability assessments by ASL to develop a sensitive, non-invasive, and early biomarker for AD and related dementias. This work summarizes our planned efforts to develop and establish an MRI-based BBB permeability biomarker.

Blood-brain-barrier (BBB) dysfunction is a hallmark of aging-related disorders, including cerebral small vessel disease and Alzheimer’s disease. An emerging biomarker of BBB dysfunction is time of exchange (Tex) of water across the BBB as measured by multi-echo arterial spin labeling MRI. We evaluated Tex across the age spectrum in 40 adults from two cohorts of healthy controls, and demonstrated that Tex is higher in gray than in white matter, higher in females than in males, and that Tex decreases with age. These findings suggest that BBB permeability changes over the lifespan can be investigated using arterial spin labeling approaches.

Arterial transit artifacts (ATAs) in arterial spin labeling (ASL) images are common in populations with prolonged arterial transit time (ATT) and may be associated with vascular insufficiency. The spatial coefficient of variance (sCoV) of ASL images can quantify the presence of these artifacts. Vascular insufficiency could contribute to the development of white matter hyperintensities (WMH), a common marker of cerebral small vessel disease. We demonstrated that baseline sCoV of CBF is associated with WMH at baseline and predicts WMH volume change, in a cognitively unimpaired population of 88 subjects.

IDH genotype status is an important marker in glioma diagnostics. Given that IDH mutation affects the tumor vascularization pattern, perfusion imaging has the potential to become a non-invasive tumor histopathology assessor. In this study, two methods of perfusion MRI – Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast (DSC) and Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) – were compared in their ability to assess IDH mutation status. DSC- and ASL-derived perfusion maps correlated significantly and were feasible parameters in the IDH classification task. Mean tumor CBF quantified with ASL had the highest AUC score, sensitivity, and specificity, supporting the feasibility of using ASL in clinical glioma diagnostics.

While mid-life cardiovascular pathology may lead to late-life cognitive decline, our understanding of the role of cerebrovascular health as an intermediate biomarker is limited. We explored the association between cardiovascular health biomarkers and cross-sectional and longitudinal cerebrovascular health assessed by ASL MRI in Insight46, a well-characterised cognitively normal population-based sample.

We found several cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between blood pressure and CBF. These findings suggest that the effects of BP on cerebrovascular health can be imaged with ASL perfusion MRI, possibly offering opportunities to prevent or intervene before cognitive decline sets in.

Particle-in-Cell simulations are a ubiquitous tool for linking theory and experimental data in plasma physics rendering the comprehension of non-linear processes such as Laser Plasma Acceleration (LPA) feasible. These numerical codes can be considered as state-of-the-art approach for studying the underlying physical processes in high temporal and spatial resolution. The analysis of experiments is performed by optimising simulation parameters so that the simulated system is able to explain experimental results. However, a high spatio-temporal resolution comes at the cost of elevated simulation times which makes the inversion nearly impossible. We tackle that challenge by introducing and studying a reduced order model based on Fourier neural operator that is evolving the ion density function of Laser-driven Ion acceleration via 1D Target Normal Sheath acceleration (TNSA). The ion density function can be dynamically generated over time with respect to the thickness of the target. We show that this approach yields a significant speed-up compared to numerical code Smilei while retaining physical properties to a certain degree promising applicability for inversion of experimental data by simulation-based inference.

Diamond shows great promise for opening up new paradigms in the semiconductor industry and quantum electronics. Here, we investigate the influence of thermal annealing on the structural and electrical transport properties of heavily boron-doped polycrystalline diamond (BPD) thin films. Our structural analyses show that annealing beyond 600 °C can induce severe local amorphization in a BPD thin film and transform it into a binary mixture of spatially separate domains of amorphous carbon (a-C) and diamond grains. Due to this annealing-induced morphology and phase segregation, the BPD thin films demonstrate a significant decrease of the electron localization radius and a distinct increase of the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length. Our research provides physical insight into the conversion of diamond to a-C and aids in defining the application scope of BPD by revealing its heat tolerance.

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is an ultra-trace analytical technique capable of measuring radionuclides down to ppq levels (i. e. fg/g) and even below. Thus, AMS is especially competitive to classical radioanalytical techniques, such as α, or γ-spectrometry, for nuclides with half-lives > 10 years.
Amongst these radionuclides, actinides are easy-to-measure AMS nuclides as most of them lack isobaric nuclides with similar long half-lives. Hence, the measurement of actinides using AMS possesses a broad range of applications including nuclear safeguards and forensics, environmental studies, astrophysics and nuclear cross sections measurements to name just a few.
The new 1-MV AMS facility HAMSTER (Helmholtz Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Tracing Environmental Radionuclides) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Germany, will be especially dedicated to the ana-lysis of actinides in ultra-trace levels. In addition to a multi-cathode cesium sputter ion source a state-of-the-art laser ion cooler setup will be installed at HAMSTER to access a broader range of radionuclides by enhanced isobar suppression.
The HAMSTER facility is also equipped with two new chemistry labs with capabilities for chemical sample workup for a broad range of radionuclides, especially actinides. These labs are operating under quasi-clean room conditions and are equipped with dedicated fume hoods for working with hydrofluoric acid and flow benches to minimize sample contamination on the ultra-trace level. Different radiochemical separation schemes for actinides (i.e. U, Pu) and other radionuclides are in routine operation whilst the separation of other actinides (Pa, Np, Am/Cm) is currently under development. In this talk different radiochemical work-up procedures will be presented and the future capabilities of the HAMSTER facility are highlighted

We investigate the backreaction of nonlinear perturbations on the global evolution of the Universe within the cosmic screening approach. To this end, we have considered the second-order scalar perturbations. An analytical study of these perturbations followed by a numerical evaluation shows that, first, the corresponding average values have a negligible backreaction effect on the Friedmann equations and, second, the second-order correction to the gravitational potential is much less than the first-order quantity. Consequently, the expansion of perturbations into orders of smallness in the cosmic screening approach is correct. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.137797]

We consider the large-scale structure formation within the cosmic screening approach. The main feature of this approach is that a careful analysis of the perturbed Einstein equations leads to the conclusion that there is an exponential cutoff of the gravitational interaction on large (of the order of 2–3 Gpc) cosmological scales. This is a purely relativistic effect associated with the non-linearity of Einstein's equations. Consequently, the gravitational potential is described by an equation of Helmholtz-type and not of Poisson-type and it has the form of the Yukawa potential, and not the Newton potential familiar to us from school days. To confirm this effect numerically, we perform the N-body simulation in a box with a comoving size of 5.632 Gps/h employing the relativistic code “gevolution” modified to our approach. We calculate the power spectra of the mass density contrast and find that these spectra cease to depend on time for scales beyond the cosmic screening length. This is a clear manifestation of the cosmic screening effect.

EPICS Support module to communicate with a LB115 stationary radiation datalogger from Berthold Technologies using the EPICS asyn support module for text-based communication over ethernet.

We report on an experimental study of high-pressure (up to 65 bar) steam condensation heat transfer in a slightly inclined tube at the thermal-hydraulic test facility COSMEA. The study is part of an extended experimental program on this topic and focussed this time on heat transfer and two-phase flow at low inlet steam qualities (down to 2.8%). We determined condensation rates respectively total heat transfer, wall heat flux distribution and flow morphology using X-ray imaging and local temperature measurements.

For the Mott insulator state of the Fermi-Hubbard model in the strong-coupling limit, we study the interaction between quasi-particles in the form of doublons and holons. Comparing different methods – the hierarchy of correlations, strong-coupling perturbation theory, and exact analytic solutions for the Hubbard tetramer – we find an effective interaction between doublons and/or holons to linear order in the hopping strength which can display attractive as well as repulsive contributions, depending on the involved momenta. Finally, we speculate about the implications of our findings for high-temperature uperconductivity.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have gained a lot of attention in the past decade, because of their extraordinary properties, often complementary to their bulk forms. The most striking example is graphene with Dirac cones, massless Dirac fermions, and topological and superconducting properties in the bilayer form with magic twist angles. Beside graphene, to date, there is a large variety of 2D materials, including inorganic transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDC), organic 2D polymers, or mixed 2D perovskites, to mention just a few. In our group, we study these materials and their physical and chemical properties from first-principles simulations. In this talk, I will outline some of the group’s activities, especially in collaborations with experimental partners. The selected topics will cover optoelectronic properties TMDC heterostructures with 2D perovskite, single-metal catalysts inside graphene-like host, and sensing properties of SnP3.

We study the interaction between gravitational waves and quantum matter such as Bose-Einstein condensates, superfluid helium, or ultracold solids, explicitly taking into account the changes of the trapping potential induced by the gravitational wave. As a possible observable, we consider the change of energy due to the gravitational wave, for which we derive rigorous bounds in terms of kinetic energy and particle number. Finally, we discuss implications for possible experimental tests.

Summer school lecture on Raman spectra simulations within SPP 2244 project.

The thermocapillary effect at gas bubbles growing at micro-electrodes seems well understood. However, the interfacial flow measured in the upper bubble part decays faster than found in first simulations by Massing et al. [“Thermocapillary convection during hydrogen evolution at microelectrodes,” Electrochim. Acta 297, 929 (2019)]. Recently, Meulenbroek et al. attributed the origin of the difference to the influence of surfactants being present in the electrolyte [“Competing Marangoni effects from a stagnant cap on the interface of a hydrogen bubble attached to a microelectrode,” Electrochim. Acta 385, 138298 (2021)]. Surprisingly, the presence of tracer particles added to the electrolyte for measuring its flow was not yet considered. Our recent experiments reveal that varying the small amount of tracer particles added influences the bubble shape, its dynamics and also the electrolyte flow nearby.
We therefore present a model to describe the particle attraction to and the particle dynamics at the bubble interface, which allows to quantify the impact. Corresponding simulations are validated against measurements for different bulk particle concentrations and show good agreement of the tangential velocity profile at the bubble interface caused by thermo- and solutocapillary effects. Depending on the particle concentration, parts of the upper bubble interface are found to become stagnant. The results allow a deeper insight into the complex phenomena of electrolytic gas evolution and further put attention to a careful application of particle-based measurement techniques in gas-liquid systems.

Microplastic pollution is one of the most pressing problems of our time. There are innumerable sources of microplastic including the production of fine particulates as a by-product of various industrial processes. These particles mainly end up in landfills where they are released into the environment. Efficient recycling of these materials reduces microplastic pollution and saves primary resources for polymer production. However, economically and ecologically relevant recycling technologies for fine polymer particles are not yet established.
The aim of the presented work is to provide methods for rapid and simple analysis of complex environmental samples and the optimization of particle degradation. These methods will be based on low-cost and environmentally friendly peptides that bind specifically and with high affinity to polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamide and polyurethane, respectively.
To identify the peptides, phage surface display (PSD) is performed on micrometer-sized polymer particles. Eight putative PET binding phages were already identified by PSD using PET particles as target material. In future, isothermal titration calorimetry will be used to determine the thermodynamic parameters of the peptide-polymer interaction. To identify the chemical groups involved in binding, fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy along with alanine scanning mutagenesis will be utilized. Upon optimization, the developed polymer-binding peptides will be heterologously expressed with different fluorescent labels. Flow cytometry will be used for the analysis and sorting of fluorescently marked particles. Cooperation partners at the Helmholtz Center Berlin will produce hybrids of the developed polymer-binding peptides and polymer-degrading enzymes to enhance enzyme-particle affinities resulting in improved polymer degradation.

The deterministic creation and modification of domain walls in ferroelectric films have attracted broad interest due to their unprecedented potential as the active element in non-volatile memory, logic computation and energy-harvesting technologies. However, the correlation between charged and antiphase states, and their hybridization into a single domain wall still remain elusive. Here we demonstrate the facile fabrication of antiphase boundaries in BiFeO3 thin films using a He-ion implantation process. Cross-sectional electron microscopy, spectroscopy and piezoresponse force measurement reveal the creation of a continuous in-plane charged antiphase boundaries around the implanted depth and a variety of atomic bonding configurations at the antiphase interface, showing the atomically sharp 180° polarization reversal across the boundary. Therefore, this work not only inspires a domain-wall fabrication strategy using He-ion implantation, which is compatible with the wafer-scale patterning, but also provides atomic-scale structural insights for its future utilization in domain-wall nanoelectronics.

For the Fermi-Hubbard model in the strongly interacting Mott insulator state, we study the pre-thermalization dynamics after a quench. To this end, we employ the method of the hierarchy of correlations and compare different levels of accuracy. To leading order, the usual free quasi-particle dynamics (as encoded in the two-point correlation functions) yields the standard picture of pre-thermalization. Taking into account the back-reaction of these quasi-particle fluctuations onto the mean-field background as the first next-to-leading order effect, we observe a strong degradation of pre-thermalization, especially in low dimensions. In contrast, the inclusion of three-point correlations enhances pre-thermalization.

We study how tunneling through a potential barrier V(x) can be enhanced by an additional harmonically oscillating electric field E(t)=E0 cos(ωt). To this end, we transform into the Kramers-Henneberger frame and calculate the coupled Floquet channels numerically. We find distinct signatures of resonances when the incident energy E equals the driving frequency ω=E which clearly shows the breakdown of the time-averaged potential approximation. As a simple model for experimental applications (e.g., in solid state physics), we study the rectangular potential, which can also be benchmarked with respect to analytical results. Finally, we consider the truncated Coulomb potential relevant for nuclear fusion.

This document presents the initial scientific case for upgrading the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab (JLab) to 22 GeV. It is the result of a community effort, incorporating insights from a series of workshops conducted between March 2022 and April 2023. With a track record of over 25 years in delivering the world's most intense and precise multi-GeV electron beams, CEBAF's potential for a higher energy upgrade presents a unique opportunity for an innovative nuclear physics program, which seamlessly integrates a rich historical background with a promising future. The proposed physics program encompass a diverse range of investigations centered around the nonperturbative dynamics inherent in hadron structure and the exploration of strongly interacting systems. It builds upon the exceptional capabilities of CEBAF in high-luminosity operations, the availability of existing or planned Hall equipment, and recent advancements in accelerator technology. The proposed program cover various scientific topics, including Hadron Spectroscopy, Partonic Structure and Spin, Hadronization and Transverse Momentum, Spatial Structure, Mechanical Properties, Form Factors and Emergent Hadron Mass, Hadron-Quark Transition, and Nuclear Dynamics at Extreme Conditions, as well as QCD Confinement and Fundamental Symmetries. Each topic highlights the key measurements achievable at a 22 GeV CEBAF accelerator. Furthermore, this document outlines the significant physics outcomes and unique aspects of these programs that distinguish them from other existing or planned facilities. In summary, this document provides an exciting rationale for the energy upgrade of CEBAF to 22 GeV, outlining the transformative scientific potential that lies within reach, and the remarkable opportunities it offers for advancing our understanding of hadron physics and related fundamental phenomena.

A magnetohydrodynamic dynamo process is supposed to take place in the
interior of the Sun or stars as well as in planets and smaller
celestial bodies like the ancient moon or the asteroid Vesta. The
ubiquity and diversity of astrophysical dynamo action, and the
importance of the magnetic fields for formation and evolution of the
objects generating them, has motivated related studies in the
laboratory. A new dynamo experiment is currently under construction
at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), in which a fluid flow
of liquid sodium will be forced by a precessing cylindrical container.
In the 1970s, a similar but much smaller experiment was conducted by
R. Gans, who found a threefold amplification of an external magnetic
field, indicating that dynamo action can be expected in the vicinity
of the transition from a laminar flow state to vigorous turbulence if
the system is sufficiently large. In the new dynamo precession
experiment the knowledge of the velocity field is necessary in order
to achieve the optimal structure of the flow and to understand the
interaction of fluid flow and magnetic field and the associated
transfer of kinetic energy into magnetic energy.

Our present study focuses on the experimental and numerical estimation
of the structure of a precession driven flow field, its scaling with
rotation and precession, and its dynamical evolution. We determine the
amplitude of characteristic flow contributions in terms of inertial
modes, which allows a robust and accurate detection of the transition
between laminar and turbulent state. It further turns out that most of
the kinetic energy can be related to very few large scale inertial
modes. Finally, the determination of the orientation of the rotation
axis of the fluid motion shows that the qualitative behavior of the
precession driven flow in a cylinder is roughly similar to the
predictions given by Busse's theory for a planetary-like setup in a
spheroid.

The present thesis is devoted to improving the temporal resolution of time-resolved accelerator-based experiments. Due to the fact that this temporal resolution is largely determined by the accelerator stability, specifically by the stability of the underlying electron beam, this work concentrates on the analysis, design and implementation of regulation algorithms in order to enhance the temporal stability of the electron beam. In this context, Chapter 2 investigates the problem of exploiting radio frequency noise for the purpose of modeling an electron beam disturbance. The investigation shows that a disturbance model that is based on the radio frequency noise may become
unnecessarily high-order, and even so, does not fully reflect the actual electron beam noise measured on the accelerator. Following this, Chapter 3 describes the design of a beam-based regulator that features a disturbance model that is derived from the measured electron beam noise data. The designed regulator is successfully evaluated on the continuous-wave linear accelerator ELBE. The presented results demonstrate that a single regulation stage, which is installed in a continuous-wave linear accelerator and features a disturbance model-based beam-based regulator, has a potential to outperform a commonly used proportional regulator, without compromising the plant stability. Finally, Chapter 4 presents a real-time feasible implementation of a high-order beam-based regulator that is ready to be employed for fast beam-based feedback.

The physical and electrical properties of four recent REBCO CC were assessed: 1) THEVA; 2) Shanghai Supercond. Technology; 3) Faraday Factory Japan; and 4) Fujikura. For estimating their physical properties, the delamination strength of each tape was checked by removing a polyimide ribbon sticked on the tape and by cutting the tape after pre-tinning. Their windability and the uniformity of their thickness were also investigated through our metal-as-insulation winding process. For evaluating their electrical properties, their critical current was measured at 4.2 K under various external magnetic fields perpendicular to their ab-plane. Joint samples of each tape were fabricated and tested in a bath of liquid nitrogen at 77 K in self-field. The results are described in this paper for the four tapes.

The magneto-optical properties of (001)-oriented NbAs single crystals have been studied in the spectral range
from 5 to 150 meV and in magnetic fields of up to 13 T. A rich spectrum of inter-Landau-level transitions is
revealed by these measurements. The transitions follow a square-root-like dependence with magnetic field, but
the simple linear-band approximation is unable to accurately reproduce the observed behavior of the transitions
in applied fields. We argue that the detected magneto-optical spectra should be related to crossing hyperbolic
bands, which form the W1 cones. We propose a model Hamiltonian, which describes coupled hyperbolic bands
and reproduces the shape of the relevant bands in NbAs. The magneto-optical spectra computed from this
Hamiltonian nicely reproduce our observations. We conclude that the hyperbolic-band approach is a minimal
model to adequately describe the magneto-optical response of NbAs and that the chiral (conical) bands do not
explicitly manifest themselves in the spectra.

Presentation of the current research of Cs2Te photocathodes, ongoing surface studies of magnesium photocathodes for future higher quantum efficiency, and surface studies on p-GaN for future photocathode projects. The impact of surface cleaning on quantum efficiency was presented in this work.

Metal cathodes are commonly used in
RF Guns because they work robustly and tolerate a poor vacuum. The main prerequisite for a high QE is surface cleanness (atomically clean surface). At ELBE, a successfully established process to clean Mg surfaces is laser cleaning, although this laser cleaning improves the QE, it causes a non uniform surface and potential surface damage. Generally, an alternative process producing an atomically clean, smooth, and damage-free surface is
desired.

A unified set of predictions for pion and kaon elastic electromagnetic and gravitational form factors is obtained using a symmetry-preserving truncation of each relevant quantum field equation. A key part of the study is a description of salient aspects of the dressed graviton + quark vertices. The calculations reveal that each meson’s mass radius is smaller than its charge radius, matching available empirical inferences; and meson core pressures are commensurate with those in neutron stars. The analysis described herein paves the way for a direct calculation of nucleon gravitational form factors.

We apply a classical mathematical problem, the moment problem, with its related mathematical achievements, to the study of the parton distribution function (PDF) in hadron physics, and propose a strategy to sieve the moments of the PDF by exploiting its properties such as continuity, unimodality, and symmetry. Through an error-inclusive sifting process, we refine three sets of PDF moments from Lattice QCD. This refinement significantly reduces the errors, particularly for higher order moments, and locates the peak of PDF simultaneously. As our strategy is universally applicable to PDF moments from any method, we strongly advocate its integration into all PDF moment calculations.

Higher beam currents and brightness are desired, therefore new photocathodes with higher QE are required.
p-type GaN can produce a negative electron affinity (NEA) surface when cesium is deposited on it.
A thermal cleaning under vacuum was carried out to achieve an atomically clean surface before the Cs deposition.

Using a reaction model that incorporates pion bound state effects and continuum results for proton parton distributions and the pion distribution amplitude, $\varphi_\pi$, we deliver parameter-free predictions for the $\mu^+$ angular distributions in $\pi N \to \mu^+ \mu^- X$ reactions on both unpolarised and polarised targets. The analysis indicates that such angular distributions are sensitive to the pointwise form of $\varphi_\pi$ and suggests that unpolarised targets are practically more favourable. The precision of extant data is insufficient for use in charting $\varphi_\pi$; hence, practical tests of this approach to charting $\varphi_\pi$ must await data with improved precision from new-generation experiments. The reaction model yields a nonzero single-spin azimuthal asymmetry, without reference to $T$-odd parton distribution functions (DFs). This may necessitate additional care when attempting to extract such $T$-odd DFs from data.

Jetzt mal Hand aufs Herz. Erinnerst du dich noch daran, was genau du in deiner Bachelorarbeit gemacht hast? Weißt du noch alle Parameter deiner Berechnungen, wie du sie gewählt hast und warum. Vielleicht willst du ja auch auf die Methodik zurückgreifen. Würdest du dann alle notwendigen Skripte wiederfinden? Wenn du deine Arbeit gerade erst eingereicht hast, dann sollte die Antwort: „Ja“ sein. Doch spätestens nach ein/ zwei Jahren, können die meisten Menschen sich nicht mehr so genau erinnern.
Von der Aufnahme geophysikalischer Daten über die Auswertung bis hin zur Publikation: an jeder Stelle ist die Dokumentation aller verfügbaren Informationen extrem wichtig. Z.B. haben die Bedingungen bei der Datenaufnahme direkten Einfluss auf die Bewertung der Ergebnisse. Und möchte man Daten aus einer Publikation nachnutzen, dann braucht man Informationen über die für die Auswertung benutzten Parameter.
Die vollständige Dokumentation aller notwendigen Metadaten ist in vielen Fällen sehr zeitaufwendig. Trotzdem ist sie zwingend notwendig für den wissenschaftlichen Austausch und Fortschritt.
In diesem Vortrag möchte ich zeigen, wie wichtig gutes Metadatenmanagement im Forschungsalltag ist und was die FAIR*2 Prinzipien damit zu tun haben.