Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Impact of nitrogen seeding on confinement and power load control of a high-triangularity JET ELMy H-mode plasma with a metal wall

This paper reports the impact on confinement and power load of the high-shape 2.5MA ELMy H-mode scenario at JET of a change from an all carbon plasma facing components to an all metal wall. In preparation to this change, systematic studies of power load reduction and impact on confinement as a result of fuelling in combination with nitrogen seeding were carried out in JET-C and are compared to their counterpart in JET with a metallic wall. An unexpected and significant change is reported on the decrease of the pedestal confinement but is partially recovered with the injection of nitrogen.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figure

Association of creatin kinase B and peroxiredoxin 2 expression with age and embryo quality in cumulus cells

The purpose of this study was to identify age-related oocyte or embryo markers suitable for non-invasive analysis, as women over 38 years of age experience diminished pregnancy and ovulation rates. We used real-time quantitative PCR to examine the gene expression profiles in cumulus cells acquired from older and younger age groups. We selected 11 genes involved in three functions that directly affect cellular aging: cell cycle control, apoptosis, and metabolism. CKB and PRDX2 were up-regulated in women older than 38 years, and the expression of these genes in cumulus cells was associated with embryo quality. In good-quality embryos, CKB expression was higher in the cumulus cells acquired from both older and younger age groups than in poor-quality embryos. These potential relationships among cumulus cell gene expression, oocyte quality, and age may expand our understanding of oogenesis and embryo development. CKB and PRDX2 may serve as biomarkers or therapeutic targets for the developmental potential of oocytes

Assembly of a pan-genome from deep sequencing of 910 humans of African descent

We used a deeply sequenced dataset of 910 individuals, all of African descent, to construct a set of DNA sequences that is present in these individuals but missing from the reference human genome. We aligned 1.19 trillion reads from the 910 individuals to the reference genome (GRCh38), collected all reads that failed to align, and assembled these reads into contiguous sequences (contigs). We then compared all contigs to one another to identify a set of unique sequences representing regions of the African pan-genome missing from the reference genome. Our analysis revealed 296,485,284 bp in 125,715 distinct contigs present in the populations of African descent, demonstrating that the African pan-genome contains ~10% more DNA than the current human reference genome. Although the functional significance of nearly all of this sequence is unknown, 387 of the novel contigs fall within 315 distinct protein-coding genes, and the rest appear to be intergenic