Scattering and birefringence properties of polymeric films modified with nanoparticles of different nature

Scattering properties of directed polyvinyl alcohol films modified with titanium dioxide or silver nanoparticles and illuminated by a 0.63 μm linear polarized He-Ne laser radiation were investigated. Ability of the investigated nanomaterials to depolarize and scatter incident radiation and to form an illumination background close to diffuse scattering was studied

Glutamate Concentration in the Serum of Patients with Schizophrenia

Glutamate is the major neurotransmitter with multiple functions in the central nervous system. Glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity is involved in the pathophysiological processes in schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of glutamate in the serum of patients with paranoid schizophrenia compared with healthy individuals, and depending on the duration of the schizophrenic process and leading clinical symptoms. We investigated the level of glutamate in the serum of 158 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 94 healthy persons. Higher concentrations of glutamate in schizophrenic patients compared with healthy persons have been found. The maximum concentrations of glutamate were detected in patients with disease duration of more than ten years. Glutamate level in the serum does not depend on the prevailing negative or positive clinical symptoms. The increased concentration of glutamate can hypothetically contribute to dopaminergic and glutamatergic imbalance, leading to the development of psychotic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction

Association of Polymorphisms of Serotonin Transporter (5HTTLPR) and 5-HT2C Receptor Genes with Criminal Behavior in Russian Criminal Offenders

Background: Human aggression is a heterogeneous behavior with biological, psychological, and social backgrounds. As the biological mechanisms that regulate aggression are components of both reward-seeking and adversity-fleeing behavior, these phenomena are difficult to disentangle into separate neurochemical processes. Nevertheless, evidence exists linking some forms of ag

Current status of turbulent dynamo theory: From large-scale to small-scale dynamos

Several recent advances in turbulent dynamo theory are reviewed. High resolution simulations of small-scale and large-scale dynamo action in periodic domains are compared with each other and contrasted with similar results at low magnetic Prandtl numbers. It is argued that all the different cases show similarities at intermediate length scales. On the other hand, in the presence of helicity of the turbulence, power develops on large scales, which is not present in non-helical small-scale turbulent dynamos. At small length scales, differences occur in connection with the dissipation cutoff scales associated with the respective value of the magnetic Prandtl number. These differences are found to be independent of whether or not there is large-scale dynamo action. However, large-scale dynamos in homogeneous systems are shown to suffer from resistive slow-down even at intermediate length scales. The results from simulations are connected to mean field theory and its applications. Recent work on helicity fluxes to alleviate large-scale dynamo quenching, shear dynamos, nonlocal effects and magnetic structures from strong density stratification are highlighted. Several insights which arise from analytic considerations of small-scale dynamos are discussed.Comment: 36 pages, 11 figures, Spa. Sci. Rev., submitted to the special issue "Magnetism in the Universe" (ed. A. Balogh

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Національна доповідь про стан і перспективи розвитку освіти в Україні: монографія (До 30-річчя незалежності України)

The publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the state and development of national education over the 30 years of Ukraine’s independence, identifies current problems in education, ascertains the causes of their emergence, offers scientifically reasoned ways to modernise domestic education in the context of globalisation, European integration, innovative development, and national self-identification. Designed for legislators, state officials, education institutions leaders, teaching and academic staff, the general public, all those who seek to increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian education in the context of civilisation changes.У виданні здійснено всебічний аналіз стану і розвитку національної освіти за 30-річний період незалежності України, визначено актуальні проблеми освітньої сфери, виявлено причини їх виникнення, запропоновано науково обґрунтовані шляхи модернізації вітчизняної освіти в умовах глобалізації, європейської інтеграції, інноваційного розвитку та національної самоідентифікації. Розраховано на законодавців, державних управлінців, керівників закладів освіти, педагогічних і науково-педагогічних працівників, широку громадськість, усіх, хто прагне підвищення конкурентоспроможності української освіти в контексті цивілізаційних змін