1,794 research outputs found
Geodesic acoustic modes in a fluid model of tokamak plasma : the effects of finite beta and collisionality
Starting from the Braginskii equations, relevant for the tokamak edge region,
a complete set of nonlinear equations for the geodesic acoustic modes (GAM) has
been derived which includes collisionality, plasma beta and external sources of
particle, momentum and heat. Local linear analysis shows that the GAM frequency
increases with collisionality at low radial wave number and decreases
at high . GAM frequency also decreases with plasma beta. Radial profiles
of GAM frequency for two Tore Supra shots, which were part of a collisionality
scan, are compared with these calculations. Discrepency between experiment and
theory is observed, which seems to be explained by a finite for the GAM
when flux surface averaged density and temperature are assumed to vanish. It is shown that this agreement is incidental
and self-consistent inclusion of and
responses enhances the disagreement more with at high . So the
discrepancy between the linear GAM calculation, (which persist also for more
"complete" linear models such as gyrokinetics) can probably not be resolved by
simply adding a finite
Non-reversible Gaussian processes for identifying latent dynamical structure in neural data
A common goal in the analysis of neural data is to compress large population recordings into sets of interpretable, low-dimensional latent trajectories. This problem can be approached using Gaussian process (GP)-based methods which provide uncertainty quantification and principled model selection. However, standard GP priors do not distinguish between underlying dynamical processes and other forms of temporal autocorrelation. Here, we propose a new family of “dynamical” priors over trajectories, in the form of GP covariance functions that express a property shared by most dynamical systems: temporal non-reversibility. Non-reversibility is a universal signature of autonomous dynamical systems whose state trajectories follow consistent flow fields, such that any observed trajectory could not occur in reverse. Our new multi-output GP kernels can be used as drop-in replacements for standard kernels in multivariate regression, but also in latent variable models such as Gaussian process factor analysis (GPFA). We therefore introduce GPFADS (Gaussian Process Factor Analysis with Dynamical Structure), which models single-trial neural population activity using low-dimensional, non-reversible latent processes. Unlike previously proposed non-reversible multi-output kernels, ours admits a Kronecker factorization enabling fast and memory-efficient learning and inference. We apply GPFADS to synthetic data and show that it correctly recovers ground truth phase portraits. GPFADS also provides a probabilistic generalization of jPCA, a method originally developed for identifying latent rotational dynamics in neural data. When applied to monkey M1 neural recordings, GPFADS discovers latent trajectories with strong dynamical structure in the form of rotations
Temperature dependence of the photoluminescence emission from thiol-capped PbS quantum dots
The authors report the temperature dependence of the near-infrared photoluminescence (PL) emission from thiol-capped PbS quantum dots. The high thermal stability of the PL allows the authors to study the thermal broadening of the dot emission over an extended temperature range (4-300 K). The authors show that the linewidth of the dot PL emission is strongly enhanced at temperatures above 150 K. This behavior is attributed to dephasing of the quantum electronic states by carrier interaction with longitudinal optical phonons. The authors' data also indicate that the strength of the carrier-phonon coupling is larger in smaller dots. © 2007 American Institute of Physics
The I-mode confinement regime at ASDEX Upgrade: global propert ies and characterization of strongly intermittent density fluctuations
Properties of the Imode confinement regime on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak are
summarized. A weak dependence of the power threshold for the LI transition on the toroidal
magnetic field strength is found. During improved confinement, the edge radial electric field
well deepens. Stability calculations show that the Imode pedestal is peelingballooning stable.
Turbulence investigations reveal strongly intermittent density fluctuations linked to the weakly
coherent mode in the confined plasma, which become stronger as the confinement quality
increases. Across all investigated structure sizes (
≈
⊥
k
5
–
12 cm
−
1
, with
⊥
k
the perpendicular
wavenumber of turbulent density fluctuations), the intermittent turbulence bursts are observed.
Comparison with bolometry data shows that they move poloidally toward the Xpoint and
finally end up in the divertor. This might be indicative that they play a role in inhibiting the
density profile growth, such that no pedestal is formed in the edge density profile.European Union (EUROfusion 633053)European Union (EUROfusion AWP15ENR09/IPP02
Assessment on experimental bacterial biofilms and in clinical practice of the efficacy of sampling solutions for microbiological testing of endoscopes
International audienceOpinions differ on the value of microbiological testing of endoscopes, which varies according to the technique used. We compared the efficacy on bacterial biofilms of sampling solutions used for the surveillance of the contamination of endoscope channels. To compare efficacy, we used an experimental model of a 48-h Pseudomonas biofilm grown on endoscope internal tubing. Sampling of this experimental biofilm was performed with a Tween 80-lecithin-based solution, saline, and sterile water. We also performed a randomized prospective study during routine clinical practice in our hospital sampling randomly with two different solutions the endoscopes after reprocessing. Biofilm recovery expressed as a logarithmic ratio of bacteria recovered on bacteria initially present in biofilm was significantly more effective with the Tween 80-lecithin-based solution than with saline solution (P = 0.002) and sterile water (P = 0.002). There was no significant difference between saline and sterile water. In the randomized clinical study, the rates of endoscopes that were contaminated with the Tween 80-lecithin-based sampling solution and the saline were 8/25 and 1/25, respectively (P = 0.02), and the mean numbers of bacteria recovered were 281 and 19 CFU/100 ml (P = 0.001), respectively. In conclusion, the efficiency and therefore the value of the monitoring of endoscope reprocessing by microbiological cultures is dependent on the sampling solutions used. A sampling solution with a tensioactive action is more efficient than saline in detecting biofilm contamination of endoscopes
-Martin boundary of killed random walks in the quadrant
We compute the -Martin boundary of two-dimensional small steps random
walks killed at the boundary of the quarter plane. We further provide explicit
expressions for the (generating functions of the) discrete -harmonic
functions. Our approach is uniform in , and shows that there are three
regimes for the Martin boundary.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, to appear in S\'eminaire de Probabilit\'e
Methodological Aspects of Spontaneous Crystalluria Studies in Calcium Stone Formers
Despite nearly a half-century of study, the clinical value of spontaneous crystalluria (Cx) examinations in calcium stone formers (CaSF) is still uncertain. The analytical complexity of urine particle study is largely responsible for this situation. As a result, there is no consensus regarding technical methods in Cx with several techniques for urine sampling and three different instruments currently used for particle study, namely, particle counting (PC), light microscopy (LM) and petrographic microscopy (PM). In this work, we first examined urine sampling and instrument methods regarding their appropriateness for Cx studies. Then we performed a comparative analysis of Cx studies in CaSF. Despite many technical and clinical discrepancies, several studies agree that the frequency of all particles and of the weddellite and whewellite calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystalline phases are increased in CaSF as compared to normal subjects (NS). Particle sizes and aggregation ratio are also often increased. Altogether, these results reinforce the need for an efficient method for Cx studies in these patients. Examining each technique leads us to conclude that most particle parameters can be studied by direct LM observation of freshly voided urine samples, i.e., urine samples without any separation steps. For clinical applications, several examinations should be performed, first to define the specific Cx characteristics in a patient, then for the study of treatment efficiency on Cx control, and finally, during the patient follow-up. Due to Cx variability in each patient, the frequency of Cx examinations during each phase needs to be determined in long-term comparative prospective studies of CaSF
Martin boundary of a reflected random walk on a half-space
The complete representation of the Martin compactification for reflected
random walks on a half-space is obtained. It is shown that the
full Martin compactification is in general not homeomorphic to the ``radial''
compactification obtained by Ney and Spitzer for the homogeneous random walks
in : convergence of a sequence of points to a
point of on the Martin boundary does not imply convergence of the sequence
on the unit sphere . Our approach relies on the large
deviation properties of the scaled processes and uses Pascal's method combined
with the ratio limit theorem. The existence of non-radial limits is related to
non-linear optimal large deviation trajectories.Comment: 42 pages, preprint, CNRS UMR 808
On non-zero space average density perturbation effects in tokamak plasma reflectometer signals
12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France)The effects of the non-zero average density perturbation on phase and amplitude measured by reflectometry are presented. The non-zero average density perturbation on the phase variation can be seen as an index effect as soon as the shape of the density perturbation does not introduce spectral effects. Amplitude modulation in time follows generally the properties of the cut-off layer seen as a mirror but some specific situations produce a time modulation two times higher than the input time variation of the density perturbation as observed in Tore Supra. The introduction of secondary cut-off can exhibit this effect as shown in 2D simulations
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