University of Konstanz

We discuss the spatio-temporal correlations of stress fluctuations in viscoelastic fluids, including colloidal dispersions, polymer melts and glass-forming liquids. First, we relate the tensor of stress auto-correlation functions to its...

This paper provides a comprehensive study of the nonmonotone forward–backward splitting (FBS) method for solving a class of nonsmooth composite problems in Hilbert spaces. The objective function is the sum of a Fréchet differentiable (not necessarily convex) function and a proper lower semicontinuous convex (not necessarily smooth) function. These problems appear, for example, frequently in the context of optimal control of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) with nonsmooth sparsity-promoting cost functionals. We discuss the convergence and complexity of FBS equipped with the nonmonotone linesearch under different conditions. In particular, R-linear convergence will be derived under quadratic growth-type conditions. We also investigate the applicability of the algorithm to problems governed by PDEs. Numerical experiments are also given that justify our theoretical findings.

The social complexity hypothesis argues that communicative complexity arises as a result of social complexity, with this occurring through mechanisms including plasticity and selection. Most research to date has focused on ultimate drivers of repertoire size, for example finding that cooperative breeding species exhibit larger repertoires. Until this date, to our knowledge, no study has focused on individual-level drivers of vocal diversity. Here, we examine social networks and vocalizations in wild colonial-nesting monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus). We recorded social networks for 337 individuals, relatedness for 100 individuals and matched these with 5599 vocalizations from 229 individuals over 2 years. Overall, we found that all individuals exhibited high contact-call diversity; however, individual-level diversity increased with age in 2020 and with number of nest mates in 2021. Call similarity was not predicted by relatedness, but individuals with stronger affiliative bonds had more dissimilar calls, suggesting an active process to sound unique among close associates. Finally, females had more diverse repertoires, producing relatively fewer contact calls across years and individuals living in larger groups had more diverse repertoires in 2021. Our results demonstrate a multi-faceted social influence on call content, diversity and repertoire diversity, exhibiting how fine-scale variation in social structure can influence expressed vocal complexity.

Diffuse gliomas are the commonest malignant primary brain tumour in adults. Herein, we present analysis of the genomic landscape of adult glioma, by whole genome sequencing of 403 tumours (256 glioblastoma, 89 astrocytoma, 58 oligodendroglioma; 338 primary, 65 recurrence). We identify an extended catalogue of recurrent coding and non-coding genetic mutations that represents a source for future studies and provides a high-resolution map of structural variants, copy number changes and global genome features including telomere length, mutational signatures and extrachromosomal DNA. Finally, we relate these to clinical outcome. As well as identifying drug targets for treatment of glioma our findings offer the prospect of improving treatment allocation with established targeted therapies.

Objective To determine the effect of a novel brief general practitioner (GP)-led narrative exposure intervention on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after intensive care. Design Multicentre, observer blind, randomised controlled trial (PICTURE). Setting Primary care in 319 general practices across Germany. Participants 319 adults (18-85 years) who have survived critical illness with symptoms of PTSD, discharged from intensive care and randomised to receive the intervention (n=160) or improved usual care (n=159) from a general practitioner. Interventions Intervention group participants had three narrative exposure consultations with a general practitioner and eight scheduled contacts with a nurse. Control group participants received improved treatment as usual based on the German PTSD guideline. Main outcome measures The primary clinical outcome was self-reported PTSD symptoms using the Post-Traumatic Diagnostic Scale for DSM-5 (PDS-5, range 0-80, higher scores indicating more severe symptoms) at six months. The minimal clinically important difference was six points. Secondary outcomes included changes in depression, anxiety, patient activation, health related quality of life and disability at six and 12 months. Results Between 21 October 2018 and 18 January 2023, 1283 patients discharged from an intensive care unit were screened for PTSD symptoms. 319 study participants were randomly assigned either to the control group (n=159) or the intervention group (n=160). The mean patient age was 57.7 years (standard deviation (SD) 12.7), and 61% of participants were male. The mean baseline PDS-5 score was 30.6 (SD 13.3) in both groups. 271 (85%) study participants completed follow-up assessment after six months and 247 (77%) after 12 months. The intervention effect showed a mean between-group difference in the PDS-5 score of 4.7 points ((95% confidence interval 1.6 to 7.8); P=0.003, Cohen’s d=0.37)) at six months and 5.4 points ((1.8 to 9.0); P=0.003, Cohen’s d=0.41)) at 12 months. Among secondary outcomes, patients in the intervention group had greater improvements in depression, health related quality of life, and disability. Conclusions In adults with symptoms of PTSD after critical illness, a brief narrative exposure intervention was feasible and showed a reduction of symptoms, which was less than the predefined minimal clinically important difference. The effect was found to be sustained at 12 months’ follow-up. These findings support the further evaluation of this intervention in primary care. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03315390 ; DRKS-ID DRKS00012589

Costs of reproduction arise when investments into current reproduction reduce future reproductive fitness. Studies on reproductive costs use diverse approaches, including the analysis of gene expression, physiology, trade‐offs between reproduction and growth/survival, and the impact of reproductive investments on population growth. These studies demonstrate that reproductive trade‐offs have far‐reaching effects on plants, affect their fitness, and are therefore important for shaping the evolution of life histories. However, not all studies have detected costs of reproduction, and c. 90% of these were conducted in natural populations, where controlling for variation in plant resource status is challenging. For dioecious plants, there is a common perception that fruit production should result in greater costs of reproduction for females than males, but divergent reproductive costs between the sexes are not supported by studies of reproductive trade‐offs in dioecious plants. Other aspects of reproductive costs remain poorly understood, including ecological costs of reproduction, the fitness effects of reproductive trade‐offs involving growth or physiological processes, and how the male sex role influences reproductive costs. Progress will be enabled by the use of measurements that allow for easier comparisons across studies and by more clearly distinguishing between the processes that contribute to current vs future reproductive fitness.

Studies show that foods perceived as healthier are often also seen as more sustainable, suggesting a ‘healthy = sustainable’ heuristic. However, the direction of this effect remains unclear. This study aims to investigate (1) whether perceived healthiness influences perceived sustainability or whether the reverse effect occurs and (2) whether inter‐individual differences, such as health interest, moderate these effects. In an online study, participants (n = 712) were shown pictures of foods with high or low healthiness indices and asked to rate their sustainability. Conversely, they were also shown pictures of foods with high or low sustainability indices and asked to rate their healthiness. Additionally, participants' interest in health and sustainability and their belief in a relationship between the healthiness and sustainability of foods were measured. Exploratory analyses included label credibility as a control variable. Foods with a higher healthiness index were perceived as more sustainable (effect size: δ = 0.39; [CI: 0.36; 0.41]). Similarly, higher sustainability indices led to higher healthiness ratings (effect size: δ = 0.22; [CI: 0.20; 0.24]). Moderating effects of interests were small and dependent on whether label credibility was accounted for. The results support the assumption of a ‘healthy = sustainable’ heuristic, indicating that the effect is bidirectional. The implications for food labelling are discussed.

We study networks of nodes characterised by binary traits that change both endogenously and through nearest-neighbour interaction. Our analytical results show that those traits can be ranked according to the noisiness of their transmission using only measures of order in the stationary state. Crucially, this ranking is independent of network topology. As an example, we explain why, in line with a long-standing hypothesis, the relative stability of the structural traits of languages can be estimated from their geospatial distribution. We conjecture that similar inferences may be possible in a more general class of Markovian systems. Consequently, in many empirical domains where longitudinal information is not easily available the propensities of traits to change could be estimated from spatial data alone.

The ubiquitin-like modifier FAT10 is strongly expressed in dendritic cells (DCs) and upregulated during inflammation. Interleukin (IL)-12 plays a critical role in promoting CD4⁺ T cell differentiation into Th1 cells and in IFN-γ induction in T cells. Previously, it was shown that FAT10 is required for IFN-γ expression of activated T cells. In this study, we investigated whether FAT10 influences IL-12 expression or IL-12 induced signaling and thereby contributes to the reduced IFN-γ expression. Presence or absence of FAT10 did not alter IL-12 expression in DC2.4 cells and in bone marrow derived DCs. Furthermore, FAT10 had no influence on the differentiation of naïve T helper cells to Th1 cells under Th1 polarizing conditions. Additionally, FAT10 did not alter STAT4 phosphorylation in IL-12 receptor stimulated T cells. Taken together, FAT10 neither influences IL-12 expression in DCs nor affects IL-12 receptor signaling in T cells. Hence, the previously observed influence of FAT10 on IFN-γ secretion is not mediated by IL-12.

The chemical environments of the ¹ H and ¹³ C nuclei in amorphous calcium carbonate are surprisingly similar to those in monohydrocalcite. H-bonds, however, have weakened and permit 180° flips of the structural water molecules.

Individuals affected by chronic fatigue often experience unpredictable fluctuations in their symptoms and activity levels, often leading to a perceived loss of control. This paper presents an explanatory model for understanding coping behaviors in chronic fatigue from the perspective of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. As a comprehensive framework for patients and therapists, we introduce the Model of Active and Protective Coping for Chronic Fatigue (APC-Model), integrating clinical observations, existing knowledge, and the principles of behavioral analysis. The model identifies two dysfunctional behavioral patterns: Active Coping, by which individuals overexert themselves, and Protective Coping, by which activity levels become too low. Patients may alternate between these patterns, thereby exacerbating symptoms. The APC-Model suggests stabilizing activity levels within the individual’s area of endurable load as a major goal to enhance symptom management and control. Applying behavioral analysis separately to each dysfunctional coping pattern can help patients detect and disentangle the underlying and the maintaining factors, as well as those contributing to the shift between coping patterns. We illustrate with a case study suffering from chronic fatigue as part of post COVID, how this approach provides a valuable tool for deriving points of intervention and treatment strategies for individuals affected by chronic fatigue. We provide therapeutic material to support its practical application in English and German.

The recent decade has witnessed substantial advancements in silicon quantum computing. Important milestones include demonstrations of quantum gates exceeding the fault-tolerance threshold, high-fidelity single-shot spin readout, hot quantum bits (hot qubits), and compact scalable spin arrays. Silicon qubits hold promise to leverage semiconductor industry technologies into scalable qubit manufacturing. Both the academic and industry communities are striving to push this advantage into reality. However, formidable challenges persist in the quest to develop a fully operational universal quantum computer. This review focuses on single-spin qubits in silicon. First, we start with foundational spin qubit theory. Then, we discuss gate-defined quantum dots and donor dot systems, with a particular emphasis on two-qubit gate operations and the scalability of qubit arrays. Lastly, we address long-distance coupling, highlighting key areas for future research and potential scale-up strategies for this rapidly evolving field.

One limitation of current quantum hardware is the restricted connectivity between qubits, as described by the hardware’s coupling graph. To overcome this limitation, efficient qubit routing strategies are necessary. We introduce line-graph qubit routing, which routes circuits defined on line graphs to hardware with a heavy coupling graph. We implement line-graph qubit routing and demonstrate its effectiveness in mapping quantum circuits defined kagome, checkerboard, and shuriken lattices to hardware with heavy-hex, heavy-square, and heavy-square-octagon coupling graphs, respectively. Benchmarking shows the ability of line-graph qubit routing to outperform established general-purpose methods in a fraction of the computational time, while offering a depth reduction by up to a factor of 5. Line-graph qubit routing has direct applications in the quantum simulation of lattice-based models, serves as a suitable benchmark for other routing methods, and aids the exploration of the capabilities of near-term quantum hardware.

Photonic emulators have enabled the study of many solid-state and quantum optics phenomena, such as Anderson localization, topological insulators and non-Hermitian dynamics. Current photonic emulators are generally limited to bosonic behaviour with local interactions, but the use of synthetic dimensions offers a pathway to overcome this constraint. Here we investigate the flow of liquid light in modulated fast-gain ring lasers, and we establish a platform for emulating quench dynamics within a synthetic photonic lattice with equal densities across the reciprocal space. We apply an artificial electric field to the lattice and introduce a slow timescale to the flow, given by Bloch oscillations. Despite the dispersion and dissipation in our system, which desynchronize the Wannier–Stark ladder states, we were able to directly observe coherent oscillations facilitated by the fast gain. Additionally, we quenched a steady state of a coupled system onto an uncoupled one, which revealed coherent interactions between the decaying modes. These coherent dynamics resulted from the liquid state of light, which rapidly suppressed fluctuations at the shortest timescale of the system. This platform enriches our understanding of collective dynamics in the non-perturbative regime and improves our ability to control and generate coherent, multi-frequency sources.

Zusammenfassung Anhand eines systematischen Literaturreviews nach den PRISMA-Kriterien wurden Patientenfaktoren von Straftätern mit forensischen Outcomes in Bezug gesetzt. Recherchiert wurde in den Datenbanken PsycInfo und PSYNDEX, weitere relevante Studien wurden den Literaturverzeichnissen von Studien, die die Selektionskriterien erfüllten, entnommen. Es wurden nur quantitative empirische Studien für den Zeitraum 1990–2021 eingeschlossen. Befunde aus 31 Arbeiten zu Patientenfaktoren (Persönlichkeit, Therapiemotivation, Therapieerwartung, Zufriedenheit mit der Therapie) werden referiert. Patientenfaktoren lassen sich nicht immer einheitlich mit Outcomes in Verbindung bringen. Die deutlichsten Zusammenhänge ergaben sich zwischen der Ausprägung anti- bzw. dissozialen Persönlichkeitsmerkmale und/oder Psychopathy und (negativen) Therapieergebnissen. Merkmale, die in der Regel mit antisozialen Entwicklungen assoziiert sind (Impulsivität, Ärger, Wut, Feindseligkeit), korrelieren teilweise ebenfalls negativ mit therapeutisch wünschenswerten Ergebnissen. Die Therapiemotivation von Patienten dürfte sich im Allgemeinen positiv auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit erfolgreicher forensischer Therapien auswirken, aber nicht alle einschlägigen Studien weisen in diese Richtung. Studien, die Therapieerwartung und Zufriedenheit im Zusammenhang mit forensischen Outcomes untersuchen, wurden nicht identifiziert. In Anlehnung an die allgemeine Psychotherapieforschung könnte die Therapie von Straftätern von breiter angelegten Konzepten zur Untersuchung der Therapiewirksamkeit profitieren.

Contrasting almost all other mammalian wintering strategies, Eurasian common shrews, Sorex araneus , endure winter by shrinking their brain, skull, and most organs, only to then regrow to breeding size the following spring. How such tiny mammals achieve this unique brain size plasticity while maintaining activity through the winter remains unknown. To discover potential adaptations underlying this trait, we analyzed seasonal differential gene expression in the shrew hypothalamus, a brain region that both regulates metabolic homeostasis and drastically changes size, and compared hypothalamus gene expression across species. We discovered seasonal variation in suites of genes involved in energy homeostasis and apoptosis, shrew-specific upregulation of genes involved in the development of the hypothalamic blood-brain barrier and calcium signaling, as well as overlapping seasonal and comparative gene expression divergence in genes implicated in the development and progression of human neurological and metabolic disorders, including CCDC22 . With high metabolic rates and facing harsh winter conditions, S. araneus have evolved both adaptive and plastic mechanisms to sense and regulate their energy budget. Many of these changes mirrored those identified in human neurological and metabolic disease, highlighting the interactions between metabolic homeostasis, brain size plasticity, and longevity.