Cost Estimate for Molybdenum and Tantalum Refractory Metal Alloy Flow Circuit Concepts

The Early Flight Fission-Test Facilities (EFF-TF) team at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been tasked by the Naval Reactors Prime Contract Team (NRPCT) to provide a cost and delivery rough order of magnitude estimate for a refractory metal-based lithium (Li) flow circuit. The design is based on the stainless steel Li flow circuit that is currently being assembled for an NRPCT task underway at the EFF-TF. While geometrically the flow circuit is not representative of a final flight prototype, knowledge has been gained to quantify (time and cost) the materials, manufacturing, fabrication, assembly, and operations to produce a testable configuration. This Technical Memorandum (TM) also identifies the following key issues that need to be addressed by the fabrication process: Alloy selection and forming, cost and availability, welding, bending, machining, assembly, and instrumentation. Several candidate materials were identified by NRPCT including molybdenum (Mo) alloy (Mo-47.5 %Re), tantalum (Ta) alloys (T-111, ASTAR-811C), and niobium (Nb) alloy (Nb-1 %Zr). This TM is focused only on the Mo and Ta alloys, since they are of higher concern to the ongoing effort. The initial estimate to complete a Mo-47%Re system ready for testing is =$9,000k over a period of 30 mo. The initial estimate to complete a T-111 or ASTAR-811C system ready for testing is =$12,000k over a period of 36 mo

Effect of multipath and antenna diversity in MIMO-OFDM systems with imperfect channel estimation and phase noise compensation

The effect of phase noise in multiple-input–multiple-output systems employing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is analyzed in a realistic scenario where channel estimation is not perfect, and the phase noise effects are only partially compensated. In particular, the degradation in terms of SNR is derived and the effects of the receiver and channel parameters are considered, showing that the penalty is different for different receiver schemes. Moreover it depends on the channel characteristics and on the channel estimation error. An analytical expression is used to evaluate the residual inter-channel interference variance and therefore the degradation. The effects of multipath and antenna diversity are shown to be different for the two types of linear receivers considered, the zero-forcing scheme and the minimum mean squared error receiver.This work has been partly funded by projects “MACAWI” TEC2005-07477-C02-02 and “MULTI-ADAPTIVE” TEC2008-06327-C03-02.Publicad

PARP1 gene variation and microglial activity on [11C]PBR28 PET in older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease

Increasing evidence suggests that inflammation is one pathophysio-logical mechanism in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent studies have identified an association between the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) gene and AD. This gene encodes a protein that is involved in many biological functions, including DNA repair and chromatin remodeling, and is a mediator of inflammation. Therefore, we performed a targeted genetic association analysis to investigate the relationship between the PARP1 polymorphisms and brain micro-glial activity as indexed by [11C]PBR28 positron emission tomography (PET). Participants were 26 non-Hispanic Caucasians in the Indiana Memory and Aging Study (IMAS). PET data were intensity-normalized by injected dose/total body weight. Average PBR standardized uptake values (SUV) from 6 bilateral regions of interest (thalamus, frontal, parietal, temporal, and cingulate cortices, and whole brain gray matter) were used as endophenotypes. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with 20% minor allele frequency that were within +/− 20 kb of the PARP1 gene were included in the analyses. Gene-level association analyses were performed using a dominant genetic model with translocator protein (18-kDa) (TSPO) genotype, age at PET scan, and gender as covariates. Analyses were performed with and without APOE ε4 status as a covariate. Associations with PBR SUVs from thalamus and cingulate were significant at corrected p<0.014 and <0.065, respectively. Subsequent multi-marker analysis with cingulate PBR SUV showed that individuals with the “C” allele at rs6677172 and “A” allele at rs61835377 had higher PBR SUV than individuals without these alleles (corrected P<0.03), and individuals with the “G” allele at rs6677172 and “G” allele at rs61835377 displayed the opposite trend (corrected P<0.065). A previous study with the same cohort showed an inverse relationship between PBR SUV and brain atrophy at a follow-up visit, suggesting possible protective effect of microglial activity against cortical atrophy. Interestingly, all 6 AD and 2 of 3 LMCI participants in the current analysis had one or more copies of the “GG” allele combination, associated with lower cingulate PBR SUV, suggesting that this gene variant warrants further investigation

OpenSAFELY: The impact of COVID‐19 on azathioprine, leflunomide and methotrexate monitoring, and factors associated with change in monitoring rate

Aims The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented pressure on healthcare services. This study investigates whether disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) safety monitoring was affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A population-based cohort study was conducted using the OpenSAFELY platform to access electronic health record data from 24.2 million patients registered at general practices using TPP's SystmOne software. Patients were included for further analysis if prescribed azathioprine, leflunomide or methotrexate between November 2019 and July 2022. Outcomes were assessed as monthly trends and variation between various sociodemographic and clinical groups for adherence with standard safety monitoring recommendations. Results An acute increase in the rate of missed monitoring occurred across the study population (+12.4 percentage points) when lockdown measures were implemented in March 2020. This increase was more pronounced for some patient groups (70–79 year-olds: +13.7 percentage points; females: +12.8 percentage points), regions (North West: +17.0 percentage points), medications (leflunomide: +20.7 percentage points) and monitoring tests (blood pressure: +24.5 percentage points). Missed monitoring rates decreased substantially for all groups by July 2022. Consistent differences were observed in overall missed monitoring rates between several groups throughout the study. Conclusion DMARD monitoring rates temporarily deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deterioration coincided with the onset of lockdown measures, with monitoring rates recovering rapidly as lockdown measures were eased. Differences observed in monitoring rates between medications, tests, regions and patient groups highlight opportunities to tackle potential inequalities in the provision or uptake of monitoring services. Further research should evaluate the causes of the differences identified between groups

Usages de l'automobile ; 5 phases européennes de mesures sur véhicules avec du matériel embarqué

5 measurement campaigns on vehicle uses and operating conditions were carried out: 2 in France in 1983 and 1989, and 3 European phases - Great-Britain, Germany and France - in 1990. Private vehicles were equipped with data acquisition systems and were driven by their owners for their normal purposes. Tests were performed over 114 vehicles, 140 000 kilometers and 18 000 trips travelled. Vehicle speeds and engine operating conditions were recorded at one-second time intervals.Vehicle uses and operating conditions were analyzed during the 5 measuring phases: daily use frequencies, trip characteristics (lengths, durations, etc.), speeds experienced.The analysis of instantaneous speeds and accelerations allowed the construction of representative test cycles for measuring pollutant emissions and fuel consumption on a test bench.Cinq campagnes de mesure des conditions d'usage et de fonctionnement des véhicules ont été menées : 2 en France en 1983 puis 1989, et 3 phases européennes - France, Grande-Bretagne et Allemagne - en 1990. Des véhicules privés étaient équipés d'un matériel d'acquisition de données, et utilisés en usages habituels par leur propriétaire. L'ensemble des mesures concerne 114 véhicules testés, 140.000 kilomètres parcourus et 18.000 trajets, au cours desquels sont connus à chaque seconde la vitesse du véhicule et les conditions de fonctionnement du moteur.Les usages et conditions de fonctionnement des véhicules sont analysés sur l'ensemble des 5 phases : fréquences journalières des utilisations, caractéristiques des trajets (longueurs, durées, etc.), vitesses pratiquées.L'analyse des vitesses et accélérations instantanées permet la construction de cycles d'essais représentatifs pour la mesure des émissions de polluants et de la consommation des voitures sur banc d'essai