1,328 research outputs found
Impurities in a non-axisymmetric plasma: transport and effect on bootstrap current
Impurities cause radiation losses and plasma dilution, and in stellarator
plasmas the neoclassical ambipolar radial electric field is often unfavorable
for avoiding strong impurity peaking. In this work we use a new continuum
drift-kinetic solver, the SFINCS code (the Stellarator Fokker-Planck Iterative
Neoclassical Conservative Solver) [M. Landreman et al., Phys. Plasmas 21 (2014)
042503] which employs the full linearized Fokker-Planck-Landau operator, to
calculate neoclassical impurity transport coefficients for a Wendelstein 7-X
(W7-X) magnetic configuration. We compare SFINCS calculations with theoretical
asymptotes in the high collisionality limit. We observe and explain a
1/nu-scaling of the inter-species radial transport coefficient at low
collisionality, arising due to the field term in the inter-species collision
operator, and which is not found with simplified collision models even when
momentum correction is applied. However, this type of scaling disappears if a
radial electric field is present. We also use SFINCS to analyze how the
impurity content affects the neoclassical impurity dynamics and the bootstrap
current. We show that a change in plasma effective charge Zeff of order unity
can affect the bootstrap current enough to cause a deviation in the divertor
strike point locations.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figure
Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to healthy eating behaviors in urban Native American youth
BACKGROUND: To investigate the efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to predict healthy eating behavior in a group of urban Native American youth. METHODS: Native American boys and girls (n = 139), ages 9–18 years old, were given a self-administered survey to assess eating behavior using the TBP constructs (intention, attitude, subjective norm, barriers, self-efficacy, and perceived behavioral control). Youth were also measured for height and weight and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Bivariate correlations and stepwise regression analyses of TBP model were performed with SPSS software. RESULTS: No association was found between intention and healthy eating behavior. However, independently healthy eating behavior was correlated with barriers (0.46), attitude (0.44), perceived behavioral control (0.35), and subjective norm (0.34). The most predictive barriers to eating healthy included the availability and taste of foods. Boys' eating behavior was most predicted by subjective norm, while girls' eating behavior was most predicted by barriers. CONCLUSION: Lack of association between intention and healthy eating behavior suggests that factors other than intentions may drive healthy eating behaviors in urban Native American youth. Results indicate that programs promoting healthy eating to youth might focus on collaborating with families to make healthy foods more appealing to youth
Light Dark Matter Detection Prospects at Neutrino Experiments
We consider the prospects for the detection of relatively light dark matter
through direct annihilation to neutrinos. We specifically focus on the
detection possibilities of water Cherenkov and liquid scintillator neutrino
detection devices. We find in particular that liquid scintillator detectors may
potentially provide excellent detection prospects for dark matter in the 4-10
GeV mass range. These experiments can provide excellent corroborative checks of
the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation signal, but may yield results for low mass
dark matter in any case. We identify important tests of the ratio of electron
to muon neutrino events (and neutrino versus anti-neutrino events), which
discriminate against background atmospheric neutrinos. In addition, the
fraction of events which arise from muon neutrinos or anti-neutrinos (
and ) can potentially yield information about the branching
fractions of hypothetical dark matter annihilations into different neutrino
flavors. These results apply to neutrinos from secondary and tertiary decays as
well, but will suffer from decreased detectability.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, pdflatex, references, one figure and comments on
electron neutrino bounds and on spin-dependent scattering limits added.
Figures updated
Teaching Gene Regulation in the High School Classroom, AP Biology,
This project sought to enhance high school students’ understanding of gene regulation as taught in an Advanced Placement Biology course. We accomplished this by designing and implementing a lab module that included a pre-lab assessment, a hands-on classroom experiment, and a post-lab assessment in the form of a lab poster. Students developed lab skills while simultaneously learning about course content. Students’ progress was evaluated through a multiple choice/essay test and their lab posters that they created on the lab experiment
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IHS Workshop: "Honest, Clean, Industrious”: Working Class Respectability
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A Standard Nomenclature for Referencing and Authentication of Pluripotent Stem Cells
Unambiguous cell line authentication is essential to avoid loss of association between data and cells. The risk for loss of references increases with the rapidity that new human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) lines are generated, exchanged, and implemented. Ideally, a single name should be used as a generally applied reference for each cell line to access and unify cell-related information across publications, cell banks, cell registries, and databases and to ensure scientific reproducibility. We discuss the needs and requirements for such a unique identifier and implement a standard nomenclature for hPSCs, which can be automatically generated and registered by the human pluripotent stem cell registry (hPSCreg). To avoid ambiguities in PSC-line referencing, we strongly urge publishers to demand registration and use of the standard name when publishing research based on hPSC lines
Dark Matter Detection With Electron Neutrinos in Liquid Scintillation Detectors
We consider the prospects for liquid scintillation experiments (with a focus
on KamLAND) to detect the flux of electron neutrinos arising from dark matter
annihilation in the core of the sun. We show that, with data already taken,
KamLAND can provide the greatest sensitivity to the dark matter-proton
spin-dependent scattering cross-section for dark matter lighter than 20 GeV. It
is also possible to probe the dark matter-nucleon spin-independent scattering
cross-section for isospin-violating dark matter lighter than 10 GeV. KamLAND
can thus potentially confirm the dark matter interpretation of the DAMA and
CoGeNT signals, utilizing data already taken.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, PDFLaTeX; v2: references added, figures updated,
more detailed comparison of liquid scintillation and water Cerenkov detectors
(journal version
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