5,248 research outputs found
Dijet Production at Large Rapidity Separation in N=4 SYM
Ratios of azimuthal angle correlations between two jets produced at large
rapidity separation are studied in the N=4 super Yang-Mills theory (MSYM). It
is shown that these observables, which directly prove the SL(2,C) symmetry
present in gauge theories in the Regge limit, exhibit an excellent perturbative
convergence. They are compared to those calculated in QCD for different
renormalization schemes concluding that the momentum-substraction (MOM) scheme
with the Brodsky-Lepage-Mackenzie (BLM) scale-fixing procedure captures the
bulk of the MSYM results.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Effect of turbulence on electron cyclotron current drive and heating in ITER
Non-linear local electromagnetic gyrokinetic turbulence simulations of the
ITER standard scenario H-mode are presented for the q=3/2 and q=2 surfaces. The
turbulent transport is examined in regions of velocity space characteristic of
electrons heated by electron cyclotron waves. Electromagnetic fluctuations and
sub-dominant micro-tearing modes are found to contribute significantly to the
transport of the accelerated electrons, even though they have only a small
impact on the transport of the bulk species. The particle diffusivity for
resonant passing electrons is found to be less than 0.15 m^2/s, and their heat
conductivity is found to be less than 2 m^2/s. Implications for the broadening
of the current drive and energy deposition in ITER are discussed.Comment: Letter, 5 pages, 5 figures, for submission to Nuclear Fusio
On the mutual effect of ion temperature gradient instabilities and impurity peaking in the reversed field pinch
The presence of impurities is considered in gyrokinetic calculations of ion
temperature gradient (ITG) instabilities and turbulence in the reversed field
pinch device RFX-mod. This device usually exhibits hollow Carbon/Oxygen
profiles, peaked in the outer core region. We describe the role of the
impurities in ITG mode destabilization, and analyze whether ITG turbulence is
compatible with their experimental gradients.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Plasma Phys.
Control. Fusio
Global gyrokinetic simulations of intrinsic rotation in ASDEX Upgrade Ohmic L-mode plasmas
Non-linear, radially global, turbulence simulations of ASDEX Upgrade (AUG)
plasmas are performed and the nonlinear generated intrinsic flow shows
agreement with the intrinsic flow gradients measured in the core of Ohmic
L-mode plasmas at nominal parameters. Simulations utilising the kinetic
electron model show hollow intrinsic flow profiles as seen in a predominant
number of experiments performed at similar plasma parameters. In addition,
significantly larger flow gradients are seen than in a previous flux-tube
analysis (Hornsby et al {\it Nucl. Fusion} (2017)). Adiabatic electron model
simulations can show a flow profile with opposing sign in the gradient with
respect to a kinetic electron simulation, implying a reversal in the sign of
the residual stress due to kinetic electrons. The shaping of the intrinsic flow
is strongly determined by the density gradient profile. The sensitivity of the
residual stress to variations in density profile curvature is calculated and
seen to be significantly stronger than to neoclassical flows (Hornsby et al
{\it Nucl. Fusion} (2017)). This variation is strong enough on its own to
explain the large variations in the intrinsic flow gradients seen in some AUG
experiments. Analysis of the symmetry breaking properties of the turbulence
shows that profile shearing is the dominant mechanism in producing a finite
parallel wave-number, with turbulence gradient effects contributing a smaller
portion of the parallel wave-vector
Long pulse excitation thermographic non-destructive evaluation
A comprehensive analysis of the defect detection performance of long pulse excitation thermographic NDE is presented. An analytical procedure for predicting the thermal image contrasts of defects of specified size and depth is developed and validated by extensive experimental studies of test pieces having a wide range of thermal properties. Results obtained using long pulse (~5 s) excitation are compared with those obtained using traditional flash excitation. The conditions necessary for the success of the long pulse method are explained and illustrated by both modelling and experimental results. Practical advantages of long pulse excitation are discussed
AIF-1 gene does not confer susceptibility to Behçet's disease: Analysis of extended haplotypes in Sardinian population
Background BehcEet's disease (BD) is a polygenic immune-mediated disorder characterized by a close association with the HLA-Bâ51 allele. The HLA region has a strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) and carries several genetic variants (e.g. MIC-A, TNF-α genes) identified as associated to BD because of their LD with HLA-Bâ51. In fact, the HLA-Bâ51 is inherited as part of extended HLA haplotypes which are well preserved in patients with BD. Sardinian population is highly differentiated from other Mediterranean populations because of a distinctive genetic structure with very highly preserved HLA haplotypes. Patients and methods In order to identify other genes of susceptibility to BD within the HLA region we investigated the distribution of human Allograft Inflammatory Factor-1 (AIF-1) gene variants among BD patients and healthy controls from Sardinia. Six (rs2736182; rs2259571; rs2269475; rs2857597; rs13195276; rs4711274) AIF-1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and related extended haplotypes have been investigated as well as their LD within the HLA region and with HLA-Bâ51. Overall, 64 BD patients, 43 HLA-Bâ51 positive healthy controls (HC) and 70 random HC were enrolled in the study. Results HLA-Bâ51 was the only allele with significantly higher frequency (pc = 0.0021) in BD patients (40.6%) than in HC (9.8%). The rs2259571TAIF-1 variant had a significantly reduced phenotypic, but not allelic frequency in BD patients (72.1%; pc = 0.014) compared to healthy population (91.3%). That was likely due to the LD between HLA-Bâ51 and rs2259571G(pc= 9E-5), even though the rs2259571Gdistribution did not significantly differ between BD patients and HC. Conclusion No significant difference in distribution of AIF-1 SNPs haplotypes was observed between BD patients and HC and between HLA-Bâ51 positive BD patients and HLA-Bâ51 positive HC. Taken together, these results suggest that AIF-1 gene is not associated with susceptibility to BD in Sardinia
Expression analysis of HLA-E and NKG2A and NKG2C receptors points at a role for natural killer function in ankylosing spondylitis
Background. Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a complex chronic inflammatory disease strongly associated with the majority of HLA-B27 alleles. HLA-E are non-classical MHC class I molecules that specifically interact with the natural killer receptors NKG2A (inhibitory) and NKG2C (activating), and have been recently proposed to be involved in AS pathogenesis. Objectives: To analyze the expression of HLA-E and the CD94/NKG2 pair of receptors in HLA-B27 positive AS patients and healthy controls (HC) bearing the AS-associated, B*2705 and the non-AS-associated, B*2709 allele. Methods: The level of surface expression of HLA-E molecules on CD14 positive peripheral blood mononuclear cell was evaluated in 21 HLA-B*2705 patients with AS, 12 HLA-B*2705 HC, 12 HLA-B*2709 HC and 6 HLA-B27 negative HC, using the monoclonal antibody MEM-E/08 by quantitative cytofluorimetric analysis. The percentage and density of expression of HLA-E ligands NKG2A and NKG2C were also measured on CD3-CD56+ NK cells. Results. HLA-E expression in CD14 positive cells was significantly higher in AS patients (587.0 IQR 424-830) compared to B*2705 HC (389 IQR 251.3-440.5, p=0.0007), B*2709 HC (294.5 IQR 209.5-422, p=0.0004) and HLA-B27 negative HC (380 IQR 197.3-515.0, p=0.01). A higher number of NK cells expressing NKG2A compared to NKG2C was found in all cohort analysed as well as a higher cell surface density. Conclusion: The higher surface level of HLA-E molecules in AS patients compared to HC, concurrently with a prevalent expression of NKG2A, suggests that the crosstalk between these two molecules might play a role in AS pathogenesis accounting for the previously reported association between HLA-E and AS
Validation of gyrokinetic modelling of light impurity transport including rotation in ASDEX Upgrade
Upgraded spectroscopic hardware and an improved impurity concentration
calculation allow accurate determination of boron density in the ASDEX Upgrade
tokamak. A database of boron measurements is compared to quasilinear and
nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations including Coriolis and centrifugal rotational
effects over a range of H-mode plasma regimes. The peaking of the measured
boron profiles shows a strong anti-correlation with the plasma rotation
gradient, via a relationship explained and reproduced by the theory. It is
demonstrated that the rotodiffusive impurity flux driven by the rotation
gradient is required for the modelling to reproduce the hollow boron profiles
at higher rotation gradients. The nonlinear simulations validate the
quasilinear approach, and, with the addition of perpendicular flow shear,
demonstrate that each symmetry breaking mechanism that causes momentum
transport also couples to rotodiffusion. At lower rotation gradients, the
parallel compressive convection is required to match the most peaked boron
profiles. The sensitivities of both datasets to possible errors is
investigated, and quantitative agreement is found within the estimated
uncertainties. The approach used can be considered a template for mitigating
uncertainty in quantitative comparisons between simulation and experiment.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted in Nuclear Fusio
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