Recent progress in research on tungsten materials for nuclear fusion applications in Europe

The current magnetic confinement nuclear fusion power reactor concepts going beyond ITER are based on assumptions about the availability of materials with extreme mechanical, heat, and neutron load capacity. In Europe, the development of such structural and armour materials together with the necessary production, machining, and fabrication technologies is pursued within the EFDA long-term fusion materials programme. This paper reviews the progress of work within the programme in the area of tungsten and tungsten alloys. Results, conclusions, and future projections are summarized for each of the programme’s main subtopics, which are: (1) fabrication, (2) structural W materials, (3) W armour materials, and (4) materials science and modelling. It gives a detailed overview of the latest results on materials research, fabrication processes, joining options, high heat flux testing, plasticity studies, modelling, and validation experiments

Enhanced Recognition of Vocal Emotions in Individuals With Naturally Good Musical Abilities

Music training is widely assumed to enhance several nonmusical abilities, including speech perception, executive functions, reading, and emotion recognition. This assumption is based primarily on cross-sectional comparisons between musicians and nonmusicians. It remains unclear, however, whether training itself is necessary to explain the musician advantages, or whether factors such as innate predispositions and informal musical experience could produce similar effects. Here, we sought to clarify this issue by examining the association between music training, music perception abilities and vocal emotion recognition. The sample (N = 169) comprised musically trained and untrained listeners who varied widely in their musical skills, as assessed through self-report and performance-based measures. The emotion recognition tasks required listeners to categorize emotions in nonverbal vocalizations (e.g., laughter, crying) and in speech prosody. Music training was associated positively with emotion recognition across tasks, but the effect was small. We also found a positive association between music perception abilities and emotion recognition in the entire sample, even with music training held constant. In fact, untrained participants with good musical abilities were as good as highly trained musicians at recognizing vocal emotions. Moreover, the association between music training and emotion recognition was fully mediated by auditory and music perception skills. Thus, in the absence of formal music training, individuals who were “naturally” musical showed musician-like performance at recognizing vocal emotions. These findings highlight an important role for factors other than music training (e.g., predispositions and informal musical experience) in associations between musical and nonmusical domains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved

Therapeutic Hypothermia for Neonatal Encephalopathy Results in Improved Microstructure and Metabolism in the Deep Gray Nuclei

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Therapeutic hypothermia has reduced morbidity and mortality and is associated with a lower burden of lesions on conventional imaging in NE. However, its effects on brain microstructure and metabolism have not been fully characterized. We hypothesized that therapeutic hypothermia improves measures of brain microstructure and metabolism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-one neonates with moderate/severe NE (29 treated with hypothermia, 12 nontreated) and 12 healthy neonates underwent MR imaging, DTI, and (1)H-MR spectroscopy. MR imaging scans were scored by the predominant pattern of brain injury: normal, watershed, and BG/thalamus. ADC, FA, Lac:NAA, and NAA:Cho values from bilateral BG and thalamus ROIs were averaged. T test and linear regression analysis were used to determine the association between hypothermia and MR imaging quantitative measures. RESULTS: Conventional MR imaging findings were normal in 41% of treated neonates; all nontreated neonates had brain injury. Values of MR imaging metrics were closer to normal in treated neonates compared with nontreated neonates: ADC was 63% higher in the BG and 116% higher in the thalamus (both P < .05), and Lac:NAA was 76% lower (P = .04) in the BG. Treated neonates with normal MR imaging findings had normal (1)H-MR spectroscopy metabolites, and ADC was higher by 35% in the thalamus (P = .03) compared with healthy neonates. CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic hypothermia may reduce disturbances of brain metabolism and preserve its microstructure in the setting of NE, possibly by minimizing cytotoxic edema and cell death. Long-term follow-up studies are required to determine whether early post-treatment DTI and (1)H-MR spectroscopy will be useful biomarkers of treatment response

Use of an integrated approach to characterize the physicochemical properties of foundry green sands

A fresh green sand, spent green sand, and a weathered spent green sand from a landfill were analyzed using diffractometry, electron microscopy, granulometry, spectrometry, and thermogravimetry. Our objective was to understand how the physicochemical properties of the green sands change from their original form after being subjected to the casting process, then after weathering at the landfill. A quantitative phase composition model was also postulated for each material based on thermogravimetric results and it was found to be the most reliable and informative quantitative data for this type of residue. The weathered sample, that remained in a landfill for two years, was found to be composed of almost pure sand. Because of the weathering process, it may be possible to use the wSGS as a virgin sand replacement in the regeneration system or in geotechnical applications where bentonite would affect the properties of the final product

Review on the EFDA work programme on nano-structured ODS RAF steels

This proceeding is: The 14th International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials (ICFRM-14) was held at the Sapporo Convention Center in Sapporo, Japan from 7 to 12 September 2009.The 2008─2009 work programme of the European research project on nano-structured oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) reduced activation ferritic (RAF) steels is being organized along the four following programmatic lines: (1) improve the present generation of nano-structured ODS RAF steels; (2) start the industrial fabrication of the present generation of nano-structured ODS RAF steels; (3) develop an optimised generation of nano-structured and nano-grained ODS RAF steels; (4) investigate the stability of present and optimised generation of nano-structured ODS RAF steels under creep and irradiation. This paper presents the main objectives of current R&D activities being performed within the European research project on nano-structured ODS RAF steels, the main obtained results and the main future activities in the case of the four programmatic lines mentioned just above.This work, supported by the European Communities, was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement.Publicad

Sensor based on β - NiOx hybrid film/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite electrode for groundwater salinization inspection

The enrichment of groundwater with different nutrients (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, CO32−, among others) triggers the salinization of the aquifer and makes it inappropriate for many purposes. In this work, we developed a highly sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor, based on Ni-inorganic films electrosynthetized in situ onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite paste electrode (MWCNE), which allows the early detection of salinization. The working sensor (β-NiOx/MWCNE) was derivatized from nickel hexacyanoferrate modified electrode in strong alkaline medium (pH = 12), producing a hybrid film composed by β-Ni(OH)2 and β-NiO(OH). The electrochemical properties, morphology and chemical composition of the formed β-NiOx thin films were evaluated by voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy. The developed β-NiOx/MWCNE sensor was highly sensitive to the presence of Na+ cation by ion-exchange, and the increase of Na+ concentration in the range 4.46 × 10−7 to 4.93 × 10−6 mol L−1 inhibited linearly the reversible electrochemical signal of the device, allowing to determine trace concentrations of this ion (LOD = 9.86 × 10−8 mol L−1) with high correlation coefficient of the data (r = 0.999) and suitable precision/reproducibility of the measurements (RSD < 9%). Using Na+ as salinization marker and β-NiOx/MWCNE as electroanalytical device, we found evidences of groundwater salinization in Grossos, a Brazil coast city, whose inhabitants have hypertension above the national average. The attained results were comparable to those obtained by the standard methods for Na+ analysis (percentage error ranging from 0.5 to 1.6%), confirming the accuracy of the proposed electroanalytical platform.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cell-cell metabolite exchange creates a pro-survival metabolic environment that extends lifespan

Metabolism is deeply intertwined with aging. Effects of metabolic interventions on aging have been explained with intracellular metabolism, growth control, and signaling. Studying chronological aging in yeast, we reveal a so far overlooked metabolic property that influences aging via the exchange of metabolites. We observed that metabolites exported by young cells are re-imported by chronologically aging cells, resulting in cross-generational metabolic interactions. Then, we used self-establishing metabolically cooperating communities (SeMeCo) as a tool to increase metabolite exchange and observed significant lifespan extensions. The longevity of the SeMeCo was attributable to metabolic reconfigurations in methionine consumer cells. These obtained a more glycolytic metabolism and increased the export of protective metabolites that in turn extended the lifespan of cells that supplied them with methionine. Our results establish metabolite exchange interactions as a determinant of cellular aging and show that metabolically cooperating cells can shape the metabolic environment to extend their lifespan

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02