Appearance and Dynamics of Helical Flux Tubes under Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating in the Core of KSTAR Plasmas

Dual (or sometimes multiple) flux tubes (DFTs) have been observed in the core of sawtoothing KSTAR tokamak plasmas with electron cyclotron resonance heating. The time evolution of the flux tubes visualized by a 2D electron cyclotron emission imaging diagnostic typically consists of four distinctive phases: (1) growth of one flux tube out of multiple small flux tubes during the initial buildup period following a sawtooth crash, resulting in a single dominant flux tube along the m/n = 1/1 helical magnetic field lines, (2) sudden rapid growth of another flux tube via a fast heat transfer from the first one, resulting in approximately identical DFTs, (3) coalescence of the two flux tubes into a single m/n = 1/1 flux tube resembling the internal kink mode in the normal sawteeth, which is explained by a model of two currentcarrying wires confined on a flux surface, and (4) fast localized crash of the merged flux tube similar to the standard sawtooth crash. The dynamics of the DFTs implies that the internal kink mode is not a unique prerequisite to the sawtooth crash, providing a new insight on the control of the sawtooth.X112217Ysciescopu

Psychological interventions in asthma

Asthma is a multifactorial chronic respiratory disease characterised by recurrent episodes of airway obstruction. The current management of asthma focuses principally on pharmacological treatments, which have a strong evidence base underlying their use. However, in clinical practice, poor symptom control remains a common problem for patients with asthma. Living with asthma has been linked with psychological co-morbidity including anxiety, depression, panic attacks and behavioural factors such as poor adherence and suboptimal self-management. Psychological disorders have a higher-than-expected prevalence in patients with difficult-to-control asthma. As psychological considerations play an important role in the management of people with asthma, it is not surprising that many psychological therapies have been applied in the management of asthma. There are case reports which support their use as an adjunct to pharmacological therapy in selected individuals, and in some clinical trials, benefit is demonstrated, but the evidence is not consistent. When findings are quantitatively synthesised in meta-analyses, no firm conclusions are able to be drawn and no guidelines recommend psychological interventions. These inconsistencies in findings may in part be due to poor study design, the combining of results of studies using different interventions and the diversity of ways patient benefit is assessed. Despite this weak evidence base, the rationale for psychological therapies is plausible, and this therapeutic modality is appealing to both patients and their clinicians as an adjunct to conventional pharmacological treatments. What are urgently required are rigorous evaluations of psychological therapies in asthma, on a par to the quality of pharmaceutical trials. From this evidence base, we can then determine which interventions are beneficial for our patients with asthma management and more specifically which psychological therapy is best suited for each patient

Facial expressions depicting compassionate and critical emotions: the development and validation of a new emotional face stimulus set

Attachment with altruistic others requires the ability to appropriately process affiliative and kind facial cues. Yet there is no stimulus set available to investigate such processes. Here, we developed a stimulus set depicting compassionate and critical facial expressions, and validated its effectiveness using well-established visual-probe methodology. In Study 1, 62 participants rated photographs of actors displaying compassionate/kind and critical faces on strength of emotion type. This produced a new stimulus set based on N = 31 actors, whose facial expressions were reliably distinguished as compassionate, critical and neutral. In Study 2, 70 participants completed a visual-probe task measuring attentional orientation to critical and compassionate/kind faces. This revealed that participants lower in self-criticism demonstrated enhanced attention to compassionate/kind faces whereas those higher in self-criticism showed no bias. To sum, the new stimulus set produced interpretable findings using visual-probe methodology and is the first to include higher order, complex positive affect displays

How to avoid complications of distraction osteogenesis for first brachymetatarsia

Background and purpose Distraction osteogenesis may be used for the treatment of brachymetatarsia. However, few reports have been published on first metatarsal lengthening by this method. We evaluated the complications of distraction osteogenesis for first brachymetatarsia and here we provide a solution

The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems

We review the formation and evolution of compact binary stars consisting of white dwarfs (WDs), neutron stars (NSs), and black holes (BHs). Binary NSs and BHs are thought to be the primary astrophysical sources of gravitational waves (GWs) within the frequency band of ground-based detectors, while compact binaries of WDs are important sources of GWs at lower frequencies to be covered by space interferometers (LISA). Major uncertainties in the current understanding of properties of NSs and BHs most relevant to the GW studies are discussed, including the treatment of the natal kicks which compact stellar remnants acquire during the core collapse of massive stars and the common envelope phase of binary evolution. We discuss the coalescence rates of binary NSs and BHs and prospects for their detections, the formation and evolution of binary WDs and their observational manifestations. Special attention is given to AM CVn-stars -- compact binaries in which the Roche lobe is filled by another WD or a low-mass partially degenerate helium-star, as these stars are thought to be the best LISA verification binary GW sources.Comment: 105 pages, 18 figure

Long-term durability of alumina ceramic heads in THA

Background: The optimal type of bearing for hip arthroplasty remains a matter of debate. Ceramic-on-polyethylene (CoP) bearings are frequently used in younger and more active patients to reduce wear and increase biocompatibility compared to Metal-on-Polyethylene (MoP) bearings. However, in comparison to metal heads, the fracture risk of ceramic heads is higher. In addition, ceramic head fractures pose a serious complication which often necessitates major revision surgery. To date, there are no long-term data (>20 years of follow-up) reporting fracture rates of the ceramic femoral heads in CoP bearings. The purpose of this research was to investigate long-term CoP fracture rate. Methods: We evaluated the clinical and radiographic results of 348 cementless THAs treated with 2nd generation Biolox® Al2O3 Ceramic-on-Polyethylene (CoP) bearings consecutively implanted between January 1985 and December 1989. The mean age at implantation was 57 years. The patients were followed for a minimum of 20 years. At the final 111 had died, and 5 were lost to follow-up. The cumulative incidence of ceramic head fractures in the long-term was estimated using a competing risk analysis. Results: The cumulative incidence of ceramic head fracture after 22-years was estimated with a competing risk analysis at 0.29% after 22-years (SE = 2.09%; 95% - CI: 0.03-1.5%). The radiographic analysis revealed no impending failures at final follow-up. Discussion/Conclusion: The fracture rate of second-generation ceramic heads using a CoP articulation remains very low into the third decade after cementless THA

An approach for particle sinking velocity measurements in the 3–400 μm size range and considerations on the effect of temperature on sinking rates

The flux of organic particles below the mixed layer is one major pathway of carbon from the surface into the deep ocean. The magnitude of this export flux depends on two major processes—remineralization rates and sinking velocities. Here, we present an efficient method to measure sinking velocities of particles in the size range from approximately 3–400 μm by means of video microscopy (FlowCAM®). The method allows rapid measurement and automated analysis of mixed samples and was tested with polystyrene beads, different phytoplankton species, and sediment trap material. Sinking velocities of polystyrene beads were close to theoretical values calculated from Stokes’ Law. Sinking velocities of the investigated phytoplankton species were in reasonable agreement with published literature values and sinking velocities of material collected in sediment trap increased with particle size. Temperature had a strong effect on sinking velocities due to its influence on seawater viscosity and density. An increase in 9 °C led to a measured increase in sinking velocities of ~40 %. According to this temperature effect, an average temperature increase in 2 °C as projected for the sea surface by the end of this century could increase sinking velocities by about 6 % which might have feedbacks on carbon export into the deep ocean