Force measurements of a superconducting-film actuator for a cryogenic interferometric gravitational-wave detector

We measured forces applied by an actuator with a YBCO film at near 77 K for the Large-scale Cryogenic Gravitational-wave Telescope (LCGT) project. An actuator consisting of both a YBCO film of 1.6 micrometers thickness and 0.81 square centimeters area and a solenoid coil exerted a force of up to 0.2 mN on a test mass. The presented actuator system can be used to displace the mirror of LCGT for fringe lock of the interferometer.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Transport spin polarisation in SrRuO3 measured through Point Contact Andreev reflection

We report a study in which Andreev reflection using a Nb point contact is used to measure the transport spin polarisation of the 4d itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO3. By performing the study in high quality thin films with residual resistivities less than 7micro-ohm-cm, we ensure that the study is done in the ballistic limit, a regime which is difficult to reach in oxide ferromagnets. The degree of transport spin polarisation that we find is comparable to that of the hole doped rare-earth manganites. We conclude that the large transport spin polarisation results mainly from a difference in the Fermi velocities between the majority and minority spin channels in this material.Comment: Text and 2 Figure

The role of cardiac biomarkers and epicardial fat in the diagnosis of heart failure in patients with various types of atrial fibrillation

Aim. To assess the level of various cardiac biomarkers and the volume of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) in patients with heart failure (HF) depending on the type of atrial fibrillation (AF).Material and methods. This prospective observational study included 69 patients with symptomatic AF, as well as with manifestations of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-III HF. All patients were examined before catheter ablation for AF. The following investigations were performed: echocardiography, computed tomography, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, immunochemical analysis of cardiac biomarkers (brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), high-sensitivity troponin I (hs-TnI)), as well as biochemical analysis of high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP). Patients were divided into 2 groups, depending on the AF type, into paroxysmal and non-paroxysmal (persistent and long-standing persistent).Results. The analysis included 69 patients with various AF types and symptomatic HF. There were significantly more patients with HF confirmed by an elevated BNP level in the group with non-paroxysmal type (27 (71%) vs 5 (16%), p<0,00001). Comparison analysis showed that in group 2 the mean BNP level was significantly higher than in group 1 (135,5 pg/ml [75,2;303,2] vs 40 pg/ml [20,7;56,9], respectively, p<0,00001). The hs-TnI level was higher in group 2 (2,5 [1,7;5,1] vs 1,9 [0,8;3,9], respectively, p=0,19), but there was no significant difference between the groups. The level of hsCRP did not differ in both groups. In group 1, the EAT volume was 139 [117,5;171] vs 169 [130;209,5] in group 2 (p=0,03).Conclusion. The type of AF plays a role in the interpretation of cardiac specific enzymes, and BNP levels and EAT volume are higher in patients with the non-paroxysmal form

Impaired awareness of motor intention in functional neurological disorder: implications for voluntary and functional movement

Functional neurological disorders (FNDs), also known as conversion disorder, are unexplained neurological symptoms unrelated to a neurological cause. The disorder is common, yet poorly understood. The symptoms are experienced as involuntary but have similarities to voluntary processes. Here we studied intention awareness in FND. A total of 26 FND patients and 25 healthy volunteers participated in this functional magnetic resonance study using Libet's clock. FND is characterized by delayed awareness of the intention to move relative to the movement itself. The reporting of intention was more precise, suggesting that these findings are reliable and unrelated to non-specific attentional deficits. That these findings were more prominent with aberrant positive functional movement symptoms rather than negative symptoms may be relevant to impairments in timing for an inhibitory veto process. Attention towards intention relative to movement was associated with lower right inferior parietal cortex activity in FND, a region early in the processing of intention. During rest, aberrant functional connectivity was observed with the right inferior parietal cortex and other motor intention regions. The results converge with observations of low inferior parietal activity comparing involuntary with voluntary movement in FND, emphasizing core deficiencies in intention. Heightened precision of this impaired intention is consistent with Bayesian theories of impaired top-down priors that might influence the sense of involuntariness. A primary impairment in voluntary motor intention at an early processing stage might explain clinical observations of slowed effortful voluntary movement, heightened self-directed attention and underlie functional movements. These findings further suggest novel therapeutic targets.N.D. is a research fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DO1915/1-1). V.V. is a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow (983705/Z/10/Z). The study was funded by the Biomedical Research Council

Serotonergic, brain volume and attentional correlates of trait anxiety in primates.

Trait anxiety is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of affective disorders, and insights into the underlying brain mechanisms are vital for improving treatment and prevention strategies. Translational studies in non-human primates, where targeted neurochemical and genetic manipulations can be made, are critical in view of their close neuroanatomical similarity to humans in brain regions implicated in trait anxiety. Thus, we characterised the serotonergic and regional brain volume correlates of trait-like anxiety in the marmoset monkey. Low- and high-anxious animals were identified by behavioral responses to a human intruder (HI) that are known to be sensitive to anxiolytic drug treatment. Extracellular serotonin levels within the amygdala were measured with in vivo microdialysis, at baseline and in response to challenge with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, citalopram. Regional brain volume was assessed by structural magnetic resonance imaging. Anxious individuals showed persistent, long-term fearful responses to both a HI and a model snake, alongside sustained attention (vigilance) to novel cues in a context associated with unpredictable threat. Neurally, high-anxious marmosets showed reduced amygdala serotonin levels, and smaller volumes in a closely connected prefrontal region, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. These findings highlight behavioral and neural similarities between trait-like anxiety in marmosets and humans, and set the stage for further investigation of the processes contributing to vulnerability and resilience to affective disorders.This research was supported by a Medical Research Programme Grant (G0901884) from the Medical Research Council UK (MRC) to Angela Roberts, and a PhD studentship from MRC and final-term funding from Trinity College, Cambridge, UK to Yevheniia Mikheenko.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from NPG at http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v40/n6/full/npp2014324a.htm

Моделирование процесса смешения теплоносителя в опускном участке и напорной камере смешения ВВЭР-1200 (В-491)

The most representative accident scenario is determined and a physical and mathematical model is developed for studying the mixing of non-isothermal coolant flows in the structural elements of the V-491 reactor facility (VVER-1200), in which the motion of the medium is described in a three-dimensional non-stationary formulation. Based on the analytical estimates of the list of initiating events, a scenario was chosen with the connection of an idle loop of the main circulation pipeline to three operating ones without a preliminary power reduction. A computational algorithm and a numerical method have been developed for the computational analysis of the selected accident scenario and the justification of the safety of operation of the V-491 reactor facility (VVER-1200). During the numerical simulation, the RANS method was used, which consists in solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations, the continuity equation and the energy equation. The SST k–ω model of turbulence by Florian Menter is used to close the equations. The verification of the developed physical and mathematical model and calculation procedure was carried out by modeling thermohydraulic processes in models with both a relatively simple geometric design (tee connection) and in a scale model of the reactor vessel (ROCOM experiment), including a lowering section and a pressure mixing chamber. The qualitative agreement of the numerical simulation results with the available data of physical experiments is shown. The results of numerical simulation of the mixing process of non-isothermal coolant flows in the section from the branch pipe of the “cold” thread of the main circulation pipeline to the lower boundary of the fuel of the VVER-1200 core (V-491) are presented. It is shown that the heterogeneity in the temperature distribution at the entrance to the core manifests itself up to 15.5 s of the calculated accident scenario. For calculations the following code coupling were used: Ansys Fluent/Rainbow-TPP.Определен наиболее представительный аварийный сценарий и разработана физико-математическая модель для исследования смешения неизотермических потоков теплоносителя в конструктивных элементах реакторной установки В-491 (ВВЭР-1200), в которой движение среды описывается в трехмерной нестационарной постановке. Исходя из аналитических оценок перечня исходных событий, выбран сценарий с подключением неработающей петли главного циркуляционного трубопровода к трем работающим без предварительного снижения мощности. Разработаны расчетная методика и численный метод для анализа выбранного аварийного сценария и обоснования безопасности эксплуатации реакторной установки В-491 (ВВЭР-1200). При проведении численного моделирования использован метод RANS, заключающийся в решении осредненных по Рейнольдсу уравнений Навье–Стокса, уравнения неразрывности и уравнения энергии. Для замыкания уравнений использована SST k–ω модель турбулентности Флориана Ментера. Проведена верификация разработанной физико-математической модели и процедуры расчета посредством моделирования теплогидравлических процессов в моделях как с относительно простой геометрической конструкцией (тройниковое соединение), так и в масштабной модели корпуса реактора (эксперимент ROCOM), включающего опускной участок и напорную камеру смешения. Показано качественное согласование численных результатов моделирования с доступными данными физических экспериментов. Представлены результаты численного моделирования процесса смешения неизотермических потоков теплоносителя на участке от патрубка «холодной» нитки главного циркуляционного трубопровода до нижней границы топлива активной зоны ВВЭР-1200 (В-491). Показано, что неоднородность в распределении температуры на входе в активную зону проявляется до 15,5 с расчетного аварийного сценария. При выполнении вычислений использовалась связка специализированных расчетных средств Ansys Fluent/Rainbow-TPP

Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation:A benchmark of metagenomics software

International audienceIn metagenome analysis, computational methods for assembly, taxonomic profilingand binning are key components facilitating downstream biological datainterpretation. However, a lack of consensus about benchmarking datasets andevaluation metrics complicates proper performance assessment. The CriticalAssessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI) challenge has engaged the globaldeveloper community to benchmark their programs on datasets of unprecedentedcomplexity and realism. Benchmark metagenomes were generated from newlysequenced ~700 microorganisms and ~600 novel viruses and plasmids, includinggenomes with varying degrees of relatedness to each other and to publicly availableones and representing common experimental setups. Across all datasets, assemblyand genome binning programs performed well for species represented by individualgenomes, while performance was substantially affected by the presence of relatedstrains. Taxonomic profiling and binning programs were proficient at high taxonomicranks, with a notable performance decrease below the family level. Parametersettings substantially impacted performances, underscoring the importance ofprogram reproducibility. While highlighting current challenges in computationalmetagenomics, the CAMI results provide a roadmap for software selection to answerspecific research questions