9,495 research outputs found
Scaling of spontaneous rotation with temperature and plasma current in tokamaks
Using theoretical arguments, a simple scaling law for the size of the
intrinsic rotation observed in tokamaks in the absence of momentum injection is
found: the velocity generated in the core of a tokamak must be proportional to
the ion temperature difference in the core divided by the plasma current,
independent of the size of the device. The constant of proportionality is of
the order of . When the
intrinsic rotation profile is hollow, i.e. it is counter-current in the core of
the tokamak and co-current in the edge, the scaling law presented in this
Letter fits the data remarkably well for several tokamaks of vastly different
size and heated by different mechanisms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
GPS radio sources: new optical observations and an updated master list
* Aims. Identify optical counterparts, address uncertain identifications and
measure previously unknown redshifts of the host galaxies of candidate GPS
radio sources, and study their stellar populations. * Methods. Long slit
spectroscopy and deep optical imaging in the B, V and R bands, obtained with
the Very Large Telescope. * Results. We obtain new redshifts for B0316+161,
B0407-658, B0904+039, B1433-040, and identify the optical counterparts of
B0008-421 and B0742+103. We confirm the previous identification for B0316+161,
B0407-658, B0554-026, and B0904+039, and find that the previous identification
for B0914+114 is incorrect. Using updated published radio spectral information
we classify as non GPS the following sources: B0407-658, B0437-454, B1648+015.
The optical colors of typical GPS sources are consistent with single
instantaneous burst stellar population models but do not yield useful
information on age or metallicity. A new master list of GPS sources is
presented.Comment: 10 pages + GPS master list. Accepeted for publication by A&
The blood-brain barrier in multiple sclerosis: microRNAs as key regulators
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) leading to severe neurological deficits. To date, no treatment is available that halts disease progression, but clinical symptoms can be generally improved by therapies involving anti-inflammatory and/or immune modulatory reagents, which may cause off-target effects. Therefore, there remains a high and unmet need for more selective treatment strategies in MS. An early event in MS is a diminished function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) which consists of specialized brain endothelial cells (BECs) that are supported in their barrier function by surrounding glial cells. Leakage and inflammation of the BECs in MS patients facilitate the massive influx of leukocytes into the brain parenchyma, which in turn induces irreversible demyelination, tissue damage and axonal dysfunction. Identification of ways to restore BBB function and promote its immune quiescence may therefore lead to the development of novel therapeutic regimes that not only specifically reduce leukocyte entry into the central nervous system but also restore the disturbed brain homeostasis. However, the complex network of molecular players that leads to BBB dysfunction in MS is yet to be fully elucidated. Recent discoveries unravelled a critical role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in controlling the function of the barrier endothelium in the brain. Here we will review the current knowledge on the involvement of BBB dysfunction in MS and the central role that miRNAs play in maintaining BBB integrity under inflammatory conditions
Relativistic Beaming and the Intrinsic Properties of Extragalactic Radio Jets
Relations between the observed quantities for a beamed radio jet, apparent
transverse speed and apparent luminosity (beta_app,L), and the intrinsic
quantities, Lorentz factor and intrinsic luminosity (gamma,L_o), are
investigated. The inversion from measured to intrinsic values is not unique,
but approximate limits to gamma and L_o can be found using probability
arguments. Roughly half the sources in a flux density--limited, beamed sample
have a value of gamma close to the measured beta_app. The methods are applied
to observations of 119 AGN jets made with the VLBA at 15 GHz during 1994-2002.
The results strongly support the common relativistic beam model for an
extragalactic radio jet. The (beta_app,L) data are closely bounded by a
theoretical envelope, an aspect curve for gamma=32, L_o= 10^25 W/Hz. This gives
limits to the maximum values of gamma and L_o in the sample: gamma_max about
32, and L_o,max ~ 10^26 W/Hz. No sources with both high beta_app and low L are
observed. This is not the result of selection effects due to the observing
limits, which are flux density S>0.5 Jy, and angular velocity mu<4 mas/yr. Many
of the fastest quasars have a pattern Lorentz factor gamma_p close to that of
the beam, gamma_b, but some of the slow quasars must have gamma_p<<gamma_b.
Three of the 10 galaxies in the sample have a superluminal feature, with speeds
up to beta_app about 6. The others are at most mildly relativistic. The
galaxies are not off-axis versions of the powerful quasars, but Cygnus A might
be an exception.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Effect of toroidal field ripple on plasma rotation in JET
Dedicated experiments on TF ripple effects on the performance of tokamak plasmas have been carried out at JET. The TF ripple was found to have a profound effect on the plasma rotation. The central Mach number, M, defined as the ratio of the rotation velocity and the thermal velocity, was found to drop as a function of TF ripple amplitude (3) from an average value of M = 0.40-0.55 for operations at the standard JET ripple of 6 = 0.08% to M = 0.25-0.40 for 6 = 0.5% and M = 0.1-0.3 for delta = 1%. TF ripple effects should be considered when estimating the plasma rotation in ITER. With standard co-current injection of neutral beam injection (NBI), plasmas were found to rotate in the co-current direction. However, for higher TF ripple amplitudes (delta similar to 1%) an area of counter rotation developed at the edge of the plasma, while the core kept its co-rotation. The edge counter rotation was found to depend, besides on the TF ripple amplitude, on the edge temperature. The observed reduction of toroidal plasma rotation with increasing TF ripple could partly be explained by TF ripple induced losses of energetic ions, injected by NBI. However, the calculated torque due to these losses was insufficient to explain the observed counter rotation and its scaling with edge parameters. It is suggested that additional TF ripple induced losses of thermal ions contribute to this effect
Правовий режим як критерій поділу права на галузі
Стаття присвячена проблемам поділу системи права на приватне та публічне. У статті аналізуються наявні наукові теорії розподілу права з використанням різних критеріїв, серед яких автор виокремлює правовий режим, як основа утворення галузей вітчизняного законодавства. Ключові слова: приватне право, публічне право, режим, правовий режим.Статья посвящена проблемам разделения системы права на частное и публичное. В статье анализируются имеющиеся научные теории распределения права с использованием разных критериев, среди которых автор выделяет правовой режим, как основа образования отраслей отечественного законодательства. Ключевые слова: частное право, публичное право, режим, правовой режим.The article is sacred to the problems of division of the system of right on private and public. In the article the present scientific theories of distribution are analysed rights with the use of different criteria, among which an author distinguishes the legal mode, as basis of formation of industries of domestic legislation. Key words: private right, public law, mode, legal mode
Measurement and physical interpretation of the mean motion of turbulent density patterns detected by the BES system on MAST
The mean motion of turbulent patterns detected by a two-dimensional (2D) beam
emission spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic on the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST)
is determined using a cross-correlation time delay (CCTD) method. Statistical
reliability of the method is studied by means of synthetic data analysis. The
experimental measurements on MAST indicate that the apparent mean poloidal
motion of the turbulent density patterns in the lab frame arises because the
longest correlation direction of the patterns (parallel to the local background
magnetic fields) is not parallel to the direction of the fastest mean plasma
flows (usually toroidal when strong neutral beam injection is present). The
experimental measurements are consistent with the mean motion of plasma being
toroidal. The sum of all other contributions (mean poloidal plasma flow, phase
velocity of the density patterns in the plasma frame, non-linear effects, etc.)
to the apparent mean poloidal velocity of the density patterns is found to be
negligible. These results hold in all investigated L-mode, H-mode and internal
transport barrier (ITB) discharges. The one exception is a high-poloidal-beta
(the ratio of the plasma pressure to the poloidal magnetic field energy
density) discharge, where a large magnetic island exists. In this case BES
detects very little motion. This effect is currently theoretically unexplained.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, submitted to PPC
Quantifying Social Asymmetric Structures
Many social phenomena involve a set of dyadic relations among agents whose actions may be dependent. Although individualistic approaches have frequently been applied to analyze social processes, these are not generally concerned with dyadic relations nor do they deal with dependency. This paper describes a mathematical procedure for analyzing dyadic interactions in a social system. The proposed method mainly consists of decomposing asymmetric data into their symmetrical and skew-symmetrical parts. A quantification of skew-symmetry for a social system can be obtained by dividing the norm of the skew-symmetrical matrix by the norm of the asymmetric matrix. This calculation makes available to researchers a quantity related to the amount of dyadic reciprocity. Regarding agents, the procedure enables researchers to identify those whose behavior is asymmetric with respect to all agents. It is also possible to derive symmetric measurements among agents and to use multivariate statistical techniques
Microscopic Calculation of Total Ordinary Muon Capture Rates for Medium - Weight and Heavy Nuclei
Total Ordinary Muon Capture (OMC) rates are calculated on the basis of the
Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation for several spherical nuclei from
90^Zr to 208^Pb. It is shown that total OMC rates calculated with the free
value of the axial-vector coupling constant g_A agree well with the
experimental data for medium-size nuclei and exceed considerably the
experimental rates for heavy nuclei. The sensitivity of theoretical OMC rates
to the nuclear residual interactions is discussed.Comment: 27 pages and 3 figure
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