Subdominant modes and optimization trends of DIII-D reverse magnetic shear configurations

Alfvén Eigenmodes (AE) and magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) modes are destabilized in DIII-D reverse magnetic shear configurations and may limit the performance of the device. We use the reduced MHD equations in a full 3D system, coupled with equations of density and parallel velocity moments for the energetic particles (with gyro-fluid closures) as well as the geodesic acoustic wave dynamics, to study the properties of instabilities observed in DIII-D reverse magnetic shear discharges. The aim of the study consists in finding ways to avoid or minimize MHD and AE activity for different magnetic field configurations and neutral beam injection (NBI) operational regimes. The simulations show at the beginning of the discharge, before the reverse shear region is formed, a plasma that is AE unstable and marginally MHD stable. As soon as the reverse shear region appears, ideal MHD modes are destabilized with a larger growth rate than the AEs. Both MHD modes and AEs coexist during the discharge, although the MHD modes are more unstable as the reverse shear region deepens. The simulations indicate the destabilization of Beta induced AE (BAE), Toroidal AE (TAE), elliptical AE (EAE) and reverse shear AE (RSAE) at different phases of the discharges, showing a reasonable agreement between the frequency range of the dominant modes in the simulations and the diagnostic measurements (...)This material based on work is supported both by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC and U.S. Department of Energy, Oce of Science, Oce of Fusion Energy Sciences, using the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a DOE Oce of Science user facility, under Award No. DE-FC02-04ER54698. This research was sponsored in part by the Ministerio of Economía y Competitividad of Spain under project no.ENE2015-68265-P. DIII-D data shown in this paper can be obtained in digital format by following the links at https://fusion.gat.com/global/D3D DMP.Publicad

Subdominant modes and optimization trends of DIII-D reverse magnetic shear configurations

Alfven Eigenmodes and magneto-hydrodynamic modes are destabilized in DIII-D reverse magnetic shear configurations and may limit the performance of the device. We use the reduced MHD equations in a full 3D system, coupled with equations of density and parallel velocity moments for the energetic particles (with gyro-fluid closures) as well as the geodesic acoustic wave dynamics. The aim of the study consists in finding ways to avoid or minimize MHD and AE activity for different magnetic field configurations and neutral beam injection operational regimes. The simulations show at the beginning of the discharge, before the reverse shear region is formed, a plasma that is AE unstable and marginally MHD stable. As soon as the reverse shear region appears, ideal MHD modes are destabilized with a larger growth rate than the AEs. Both MHD modes and AEs coexist during the discharge, although the MHD modes are more unstable as the reverse shear region deepens. The simulations indicate the destabilization of Beta induced AE, Toroidal AE, Elliptical AE and Reverse Shear AE at different phases of the discharges. A further analysis of the NBI operational regime indicates that the AE stability can be improved if the NBI injection is off axis, because on-axis injection leads to AEs with larger growth rate and frequency. In addition, decreasing the beam energy or increasing the NBI relative density leads to AEs with larger growth rate and frequency, so an NBI operation in the weakly resonant regime requires higher beam energies than in the experiment. The MHD linear stability can be also improved if the reverse shear region and the q profile near the magnetic axis are in between the rational surfaces q=2 and q=1, particularly if there is a region in the core with negative shear, avoiding a flat q profile near the magnetic axis

Risk of miscarriage in women with endometriosis: insights from in vitro fertilization cycles

Objective: To evaluate whether women with endometriosis achieving singleton pregnancies with IVF face an increased risk of miscarriage. Design: Matched case-control study. Setting: Infertility units. Patient(s): Women achieving singleton pregnancies with the use of IVF were considered. Cases were women with a history of surgery for endometriosis and those who were documented the presence of ovarian endometriomas at the time of the IVF cycle (n = 313). Controls were matched to cases by age (\ub16 months), type of cycle (fresh or frozen cycle). and study period (n = 313). Intervention(s): Retrospective review of women undergoing IVF. Main Outcome Measure(s): Rate of miscarriage before 12 weeks' gestation. Result(s): The number of miscarriages in women with and without endometriosis was similar, being 48 (15%) and 60 (19%), respectively. The odds ratio of miscarriage in affected women was 0.76 (95% confidence interval 0.50-1.16). The odds ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), parity, duration of infertility, and male factor infertility was 0.81 (95% confidence interval 0.53-1.25). Subgroup analyses according to the type of cycle, the number of embryos transferred, the presence of endometriomas, and the history of surgery for endometriosis did not document any subgroup at significant increased risk of miscarriage. Conclusion(s): The risk of miscarriage is not increased in women with endometriosis achieving pregnancy with the use of IVF

BRENDA, the enzyme information system in 2011

The BRENDA (BRaunschweig ENzyme Database, http://www.brenda-enzymes.org) enzyme information system is the main collection of enzyme functional and property data for the scientific community. The majority of the data are manually extracted from the primary literature. The content covers information on function, structure, occurrence, preparation and application of enzymes as well as properties of mutants and engineered variants. The number of manually annotated references increased by 30% to more than 100 000, the number of ligand structures by 45% to almost 100 000. New query, analysis and data management tools were implemented to improve data processing, data presentation, data input and data access. BRENDA now provides new viewing options such as the display of the statistics of functional parameters and the 3D view of protein sequence and structure features. Furthermore a ligand summary shows comprehensive information on the BRENDA ligands. The enzymes are linked to their respective pathways and can be viewed in pathway maps. The disease text mining part is strongly enhanced. It is possible to submit new, not yet classified enzymes to BRENDA, which then are reviewed and classified by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. A new SBML output format of BRENDA kinetic data allows the construction of organism-specific metabolic models

Viabilidade polínica e inferência da estabilidade genética em genótipos de cevada.

A cevada é uma importante alternativa de cultivo no inverno, podendo ser utilizada tanto na alimentação animal ou humana como também para a fabricação do malte. Fatores bióticos e abióticos podem influenciar na formação do grão de pólen e, consequentemente, na estabilidade genética da espécie. Em vista disso, objetivou-se realizar a análise citogenética de grãos de pólen em genótipos de cevada, a fim de verificar a viabilidade polínica para posterior uso em programas de melhoramento genético. Um conjunto de onze genótipos de cevada, de distintas origens, foi utilizado para a viabilidade polínica. Os genótipos foram semeados em casa de vegetação, com umidade parcialmente controlada, em julho de 2018 com delineamento experimental de blocos casualizados. Foram coletadas nove espigas por genótipo e fixadas em Carnoy. As lâminas citológicas foram confeccionadas utilizando-se três anteras da mesma flor, da região mediana da espiga, seguindo a técnica de esmagamento, coradas com DAPI e foram analisados o número de grãos de pólen viáveis, inviáveis e com tamanhos diferentes em microscopia de epifluorescência. Além disso, foi realizada a medida de diâmetro de grãos de pólen utilizando-se uma escala em micrômetros, para dez células por lâmina e dispostas na região mediana. As imagens das células foram obtidas pelo programa Axion Vision Release 4.8.2. Foi possível concluir que os genótipos avaliados apresentam estabilidade genética, com viabilidade polínica acima de 84% e podem ser utilizados como genitores em um programa de melhoramento genético de cevada.bitstream/item/222525/1/BolPesqDes-95-online-2021.pd

Point-of-care testing allows successful simultaneous screening of sickle cell disease, HIV, and tuberculosis for households in rural Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

Diagnosis of noncommunicable genetic diseases like sickle cell disease (SCD) and com municable diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or tuberculosis (TB) is often difficult in rural areas of Africa due to the lack of infrastructures, trained staff, or capacity to involve families living in remote areas. The availability of point-of-care (POC) tests for the above diseases offers the opportunity to build joint programs to tackle all conditions. We report successful simultaneous screening of SCD, HIV, and TB utilizing POC tests in 898 subjects in Fanhe, in rural Guinea-Bissau. Adherence was 100% and all diagnosed subjects were enrolled in care program

Flood Protection in Venice under Conditions of Sea-Level Rise: An Analysis of Institutional and Technical Measures

It is widely acknowledged that in times of climate change loss of coastal resources and risk for human life can be minimized by implementing adaptation strategies. Such strategies need to encompass a balanced mix of non-structural (institutional) and structural (technical) measures based on sound scientific knowledge. This article discusses measures carried out to protect the city of Venice, Italy from flooding (locally known as “high water”), and reflects on their ability to anticipate a possible acceleration of sea-level rise as induced by climate change. It is based on scientific literature, legislative and policy documents of key institutions, reports and documents of organizations working on Venice issues, newspaper articles, and interviews. Our analysis shows that the synergic action of the hydraulic defense infrastructure under construction is in principle adequate to withstand a broad range of sea-level rise scenarios for the next 100 years. However, when the goal is to use these investments effectively major changes in the existing institutional arrangements will be required in the years to come. The Venice findings point out the difficulties and yet the importance of identifying and implementing both non-structural and structural measures to adapt to climate change

Acute chest syndrome in children with sickle cell disease: Data from a national AIEOP cohort identify priority areas of intervention in a hub-and-spoke system

: Acute chest syndrome (ACS) is a frequent cause of hospitalization in sickle cell disease (SCD). Despite advances in acute care, many settings still lack knowledge about ACS best practices. After the AIEOP Guidelines were published in 2012, suggesting standardized management in Italy, a retrospective study was performed to assess the diagnostic and therapeutic pathways of ACS in children. From 2013 to 2018, 208 ACS episodes were presented by 122/583 kids in 11 centres. 73 were male, mean age 10.9 years, 85% African, 92% HbSS or Sβ°. In our hub-and-spoke system, a good adherence to Guidelines was documented, but discrepancies between reference centres and general hospitals were noted. Improvement is needed for timely transfer to reference centres, use of incentive spirometry, oxygen therapy and pain management

Spectral Analyses of Gully-Associated Light-Toned Materials from TGO/CaSSIS and MRO/HiRISE Observations: Implications for Martian Gully Formation Mechanisms

International audienc