Recent integral cross section validation measurements at the ASP facility

This work presents new integral data measured at the ASP 14 MeV neutron irradiation facility at Aldermaston in the UK, which has recently become available for fusion-related work through the CCFE materials programme. Measurements of reaction products from activation experiments using elemental foils were carried out using gamma spectrometry in a high efficiency, high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector and associated digital signal processing hardware. Following irradiation and rapid extraction to the measurement cell, gamma emissions were acquired with both energy and time bins. Integral cross section and half-life data have been derived from these measurements. Selected integral cross section values are presented from the measurement campaigns.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Two-dimensional features of correlations in the flow and near pressure fields of Mach number 0.9 jets

International audienceIn the present study, two-dimensional spatial correlations are calculated in the flow and the near pressure fields of two isothermal round jets at a Mach number of 0.9, computed by highly-resolved simulations using cylindrical coordinates (r , θ, z). The two jets have diameter-based Reynolds numbers of 3, 125 and 100, 000, and they are initially weakly and strongly disturbed, respectively. For both jets, correlations are evaluated between signals at a given point, namely flow fluctuations on the jet axis at the end of the potential core and pressure fluctuations in the jet near field, and 2-D fields acquired in sections (z, r). The full signals but also the axisymmetric and first azimuthal modes are considered. Overall, despite the significant differences in Reynolds number and nozzle-exit conditions, the results for the two jets are very similar. Strong levels of correlations are obtained over large spatial regions and long time periods, providing information on noise generation mechanisms. In particular, the 2-D correlation fields reveal the presence of a wavepacket-like structure growing in the jet mixing layers, centered on a correlation spot in the potential core, and peaking in amplitude around the end of the jet core, which leads to the emission of sound waves in the downstream direction

A Bioconductor workflow for processing and analysing spatial proteomics data

Spatial proteomics is the systematic study of protein sub-cellular localisation. In this workflow, we describe the analysis of a typical quantitative mass spectrometry-based spatial proteomics experiment using the MSnbase and pRoloc Bioconductor package suite. To walk the user through the computational pipeline, we use a recently published experiment predicting protein sub-cellular localisation in pluripotent embryonic mouse stem cells. We describe the software infrastructure at hand, importing and processing data, quality control, sub-cellular marker definition, visualisation and interactive exploration. We then demonstrate the application and interpretation of statistical learning methods, including novelty detection using semi-supervised learning, classification, clustering and transfer learning and conclude the pipeline with data export. The workflow is aimed at beginners who are familiar with proteomics in general and spatial proteomics in particular.LMB and CMM are supported by a Wellcome Trust Technology Development Grant (grant number 108441/Z/15/Z). KSL is a Wellcome Trust Joint Investigator (110170/Z/15/Z). LG is supported by the BBSRC Strategic Longer and Larger grant (Award BB/L002817/1)

Wrapping Transition and Wrapping-Mediated Interactions for Discrete Binding along an Elastic Filament: An Exact Solution

The wrapping equilibria of one and two adsorbing cylinders are studied along a semi-flexible filament (polymer) due to the interplay between elastic rigidity and short-range adhesive energy between the cylinder and the filament. We show that statistical mechanics of the system can be solved exactly using a path integral formalism which gives access to the full effect of thermal fluctuations, going thus beyond the usual Gaussian approximations which take into account only the contributions from the minimal energy configuration and small fluctuations about this minimal energy solution. We obtain the free energy of the wrapping-unwrapping transition of the filament around the cylinders as well as the effective interaction between two wrapped cylinders due to thermal fluctuations of the elastic filament. A change of entropy due to wrapping of the filament around the adsorbing cylinders as they move closer together is identified as an additional source of interactions between them. Such entropic wrapping effects should be distinguished from the usual entropic configuration effects in semi-flexible polymers. Our results may be applicable to the problem of adsorption of proteins as well as synthetic nano-particles on semi-flexible polymers such as DNA.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figure

Antibodies to Pseudogymnoascus destructans are not sufficient for protection against white-nose syndrome

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) that affects bats during hibernation. Although millions of bats have died from WNS in North America, mass mortality has not been observed among European bats infected by the fungus, leading to the suggestion that bats in Europe are immune. We tested the hypothesis that an antibody-mediated immune response can provide protection against WNS by quantifying antibod- ies reactive to Pd in blood samples from seven species of free-ranging bats in North America and two free-ranging species in Europe. We also quantified antibodies in blood samples from little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) that were part of a captive colony that we injected with live Pd spores mixed with adjuvant, as well as individuals surviving a captive Pd infection trial. Seropreva- lence of antibodies against Pd, as well as antibody titers, was greater among lit- tle brown myotis than among four other species of cave-hibernating bats in North America, including species with markedly lower WNS mortality rates. Among little brown myotis, the greatest titers occurred in populations occupy- ing regions with longer histories of WNS, where bats lacked secondary symp- toms of WNS. We detected antibodies cross-reactive with Pd among little brown myotis na€ıve to the fungus. We observed high titers among captive little brown myotis injected with Pd. We did not detect antibodies against Pd in Pd- infected European bats during winter, and titers during the active season were lower than among little brown myotis. These results show that antibody-medi- ated immunity cannot explain survival of European bats infected with Pd and that little brown myotis respond differently to Pd than species with higher WNS survival rates. Although it appears that some species of bats in North America may be developing resistance to WNS, an antibody-mediated immune response does not provide an explanation for these remnant populations

Safe use of symbols in handover documentation for medical teams

Concern has been reported about the safe use of medical abbreviations in documents such as handover sheets and medical notes, especially when information is being communicated between staff of different specialties (BBC 2008, Sheppard et al. 2008). This article describes a study to investigate whether the use of symbols in handover documentation that is shared within and between multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) has similar safety implications. We asked 19 healthcare professionals from a range of specialties to identify 45 different combinations of 38 individual symbols. The symbols and combinations of symbols were extracted from 102 handover sheets taken from 6 different healthcare contexts in 4 London hospitals. Three symbols proposed in Microsoft's Common User Interface guidelines for alert symbols were also included. Results reveal that while some symbols are well understood, many others are either ambiguous or unknown. These results have implications for the safe use of symbols in medical documents, including paper and electronic handover documents and Electronic Patient Records (EPRs), especially where teams comprise individuals from different professional backgrounds, i.e. MDTs. We offer initial suggestions for standardisation and further research

Myrcene-What Are the Potential Health Benefits of This Flavouring and Aroma Agent?

Myrcene (β-myrcene) is an abundant monoterpene which occurs as a major constituent in many plant species, including hops and cannabis. It is a popular flavouring and aroma agent (food additive) used in the manufacture of food and beverages. This review aims to report on the occurrence, biological and toxicological profile of β-myrcene. The main reported biological properties of β-myrcene—anxiolytic, antioxidant, anti-ageing, antiinflammatory, analgesic properties—are discussed, with the mechanisms of activity. Here we also discuss recent data regarding the safety of β-myrcene. Overall, β-myrcene has shown promising health benefits in many animal studies. However, studies conducted in humans is lacking. In the future, there is potential for the formulation and production of non-alcoholic beers, functional foods and drinks, and cannabis extracts (low in THC) rich in β-myrcene

On the nonlinear stability of viscous modes within the Rayleigh problem on an infinite flat plate

The stability has been investigated of the unsteady flow past an infinite flat plate when it is moved impulsively from rest, in its own plane. For small times the instantaneous stability of the flow depends on the linearized equations of motion which reduce in this problem to the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. It is known that the flow for certain values of Reynolds number, frequency and wave number is unstable to Tollmien-Schlichting waves, as in the case of the Blasius boundary layer flow past a flat plate. With increase in time, the unstable waves only undergo growth for a finite time interval, and this growth rate is itself a function of time. The influence of finite amplitude effects is studied by solving the full Navier-Stokes equations. It is found that the stability characteristics are markedly changed both by the consideration of the time evolution of the flow, and by the introduction of finite amplitude effects

DNA cruciform arms nucleate through a correlated but non-synchronous cooperative mechanism

Inverted repeat (IR) sequences in DNA can form non-canonical cruciform structures to relieve torsional stress. We use Monte Carlo simulations of a recently developed coarse-grained model of DNA to demonstrate that the nucleation of a cruciform can proceed through a cooperative mechanism. Firstly, a twist-induced denaturation bubble must diffuse so that its midpoint is near the centre of symmetry of the IR sequence. Secondly, bubble fluctuations must be large enough to allow one of the arms to form a small number of hairpin bonds. Once the first arm is partially formed, the second arm can rapidly grow to a similar size. Because bubbles can twist back on themselves, they need considerably fewer bases to resolve torsional stress than the final cruciform state does. The initially stabilised cruciform therefore continues to grow, which typically proceeds synchronously, reminiscent of the S-type mechanism of cruciform formation. By using umbrella sampling techniques we calculate, for different temperatures and superhelical densities, the free energy as a function of the number of bonds in each cruciform along the correlated but non-synchronous nucleation pathways we observed in direct simulations.Comment: 12 pages main paper + 11 pages supplementary dat