The INCREASE project: Intelligent Collections of food‐legume genetic resources for European agrofood systems

Food legumes are crucial for all agriculture-related societal challenges, including climate change mitigation, agrobiodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, food security and human health. The transition to plant-based diets, largely based on food legumes, could present major opportunities for adaptation and mitigation, generating significant co-benefits for human health. The characterization, maintenance and exploitation of food-legume genetic resources, to date largely unexploited, form the core development of both sustainable agriculture and a healthy food system. INCREASE will implement, on chickpea (Cicer arietinum), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), lentil (Lens culinaris) and lupin (Lupinus albus and L. mutabilis), a new approach to conserve, manage and characterize genetic resources. Intelligent Collections, consisting of nested core collections composed of single-seed descent-purified accessions (i.e., inbred lines), will be developed, exploiting germplasm available both from genebanks and on-farm and subjected to different levels of genotypic and phenotypic characterization. Phenotyping and gene discovery activities will meet, via a participatory approach, the needs of various actors, including breeders, scientists, farmers and agri-food and non-food industries, exploiting also the power of massive metabolomics and transcriptomics and of artificial intelligence and smart tools. Moreover, INCREASE will test, with a citizen science experiment, an innovative system of conservation and use of genetic resources based on a decentralized approach for data management and dynamic conservation. By promoting the use of food legumes, improving their quality, adaptation and yield and boosting the competitiveness of the agriculture and food sector, the INCREASE strategy will have a major impact on economy and society and represents a case study of integrative and participatory approaches towards conservation and exploitation of crop genetic resources

COMMISSIONING OF THE FERMILAB ELECTRON COOLER PROTOTYPE BEAM LINE

Abstract A prototype of a 4.3-MeV electron cooling system is being assembled at Fermilab as part of the ongoing R&D program in high energy electron cooling. This electron cooler prototype will not demonstrate the actual cooling but it will allow determining if the electron beam properties are suitable for antiproton beam cooling. An electron beam is accelerated by a 5-MV Pelletron (Van de Graaff type) accelerator and transported to a prototype cooling section. The cooling will take place in a 20-m long solenoid flanked on both sides by a delivery and return beam-line -a total of 60 meters of transport channel. This paper describes the first results of commissioning this novel beam line as well as the status of the electron cooling R&D program

Electron cooling of 8-GeV antiprotons at Fermilab's Recycler: Results and operational implications

Electron cooling of 8 GeV antiprotons at Fermilab's Recycler storage ring is now routinely used in the collider operation. It requires a 0.1-0.5 A, 4.3 MeV dc electron beam and is designed to increase the longitudinal phase-space density of the circulating antiproton beam. This paper briefly describes the characteristics of the electron beam that were achieved to successfully cool antiprotons. Then, results from various cooling force measurements along with comparison to a nonmagnetized model are presented. Finally, operational aspects of the implementation of electron cooling at the Recycler are discussed, such as adjustments to the cooling rate and the influence of the electron beam on the antiproton beam lifetime

First steps towards a fast-neutron therapy planning program

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Monte Carlo code GEANT4 was used to implement first steps towards a treatment planning program for fast-neutron therapy at the FRM II research reactor in Garching, Germany. Depth dose curves were calculated inside a water phantom using measured primary neutron and simulated primary photon spectra and compared with depth dose curves measured earlier. The calculations were performed with GEANT4 in two different ways, simulating a simple box geometry and splitting this box into millions of small voxels (this was done to validate the voxelisation procedure that was also used to voxelise the human body).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In both cases, the dose distributions were very similar to those measured in the water phantom, up to a depth of 30 cm. In order to model the situation of patients treated at the FRM II MEDAPP therapy beamline for salivary gland tumors, a human voxel phantom was implemented in GEANT4 and irradiated with the implemented MEDAPP neutron and photon spectra. The 3D dose distribution calculated inside the head of the phantom was similar to the depth dose curves in the water phantom, with some differences that are explained by differences in elementary composition. The lateral dose distribution was studied at various depths. The calculated cumulative dose volume histograms for the voxel phantom show the exposure of organs at risk surrounding the tumor.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In order to minimize the dose to healthy tissue, a conformal treatment is necessary. This can only be accomplished with the help of an advanced treatment planning system like the one developed here. Although all calculations were done for absorbed dose only, any biological dose weighting can be implemented easily, to take into account the increased radiobiological effectiveness of neutrons compared to photons.</p

Gun and optics calculations for the Fermilab recirculation experiment

Fermilab is investigating electron cooling to recycle 8 Gev antiprotons recovered from the Tevatron. To do so, it is developing an experiment to recirculate 2 Mev electrons generated by a Pelletron at National Electrostatics Corporation. This paper reports on the optics calculations done in support of that work. We have used the computer codes EGN2 and MacTrace to represent the gun area and acceleration columns respectively. In addition to the results of our simulations, we discuss some of the problems encountered in interfacing the two codes

Fermilab Linac Upgrade: Module conditioning results

The 805 MHz Side-coupled cavity modules for the Fermilab 400 MeV linac upgrade have been conditioned to accept full power. The sparking rate in the cavities and in the side-cells has been reduced to acceptable levels. It required approximately 40 {times} 10{sup 6} pulses for each module to achieve an adequately low sparking rate. This contribution outlines the commissioning procedure, presents the sparking rate improvements and the radiation level improvements through the commissioning process and disc the near-online commissioning plans for this accelerator

Fermilab Linac Upgrade: Module conditioning results

The 805 MHz Side-coupled cavity modules for the Fermilab 400 MeV linac upgrade have been conditioned to accept full power. The sparking rate in the cavities and in the side-cells has been reduced to acceptable levels. It required approximately 40 [times] 10[sup 6] pulses for each module to achieve an adequately low sparking rate. This contribution outlines the commissioning procedure, presents the sparking rate improvements and the radiation level improvements through the commissioning process and disc the near-online commissioning plans for this accelerator

Fermilab Linac Upgrade - Module Conditioning Results

Abstract The 805 MHz Side-coupled cavity modules for the Fermilab 400 MeV linac upgrade have been conditioned to accept full power. The sparking rate in the cavities and in the side-cells has been reduced to acceptable levels. It required approximately 40 x 10 6 pulses for each module to achieve an adequately low sparking rate. This contribution outlines the commissioning procedure, presents the sparking rate improvements and the radiation level improvements through the commissioning process and discusses the near-on-line commissioning plans for this accelerator

Argonne National Laboratory Reports

This memorandum presents the preliminary results of the effort to investigate the applicability of isotope correlation techniques (ICT), formulated for the LWR system, to the LMFBR fuel cycle. The detailed isotopic compositional changes with burnup developed for the CRBR was utilized as the reference case. This differs from the usual LMFBR design studies in that the core uranium is natural uranium rather than depleted. Nevertheless, the general isotopic behavior should not differ significantly and does allow an initial insight into the expected behavior of isotopic correlations for the LMFBR power systems such as: the U.K. PFR and reprocessing plant; the French Phenix and Superphenix; and the US reference conceptual design studies (CDS) of homogeneous and heterogeneous LMFBR systems as they are developed