Clearing the seven obstacles on the road to fusion power

Change of title : Nuclear fission and fusion fast breeder technology, generation IV reactors, supply chain issues, ITER materials research. Abstract only

Forward modeling of collective Thomson scattering for Wendelstein 7-X plasmas:Electrostatic approximation

In this paper, we present a method for numerical computation of collective Thomson scattering (CTS). We developed a forward model, eCTS, in the electrostatic approximation and benchmarked it against a full electromagnetic model. Differences between the electrostatic and the electromagnetic models are discussed. The sensitivity of the results to the ion temperature and the plasma composition is demonstrated. We integrated the model into the Bayesian data analysis framework Minerva and used it for the analysis of noisy synthetic data sets produced by a full electromagnetic model. It is shown that eCTS can be used for the inference of the bulk ion temperature. The model has been used to infer the bulk ion temperature from the first CTS measurements on Wendelstein 7-X.</p

EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION OF CATTLE WITH EGGS OF Taenia solium

O estudo foi realizado em Piraquara, Paraná, Brasil entre 1994 a 1996. Foi avaliada a possibilidade de bovinos terem participação no ciclo de Taenia solium. Uma cadeia de seis proglótes grávidas de T. solium foi obtida de paciente não medicado. Bovinos da raça Holstein foram infectados com 40.000 ovos de T. solium. A taxa de infecção foi de 100%. Um total de 44 cisticercos foi recuperado depois de 160 a 570 dias, 18 (40,9%) vivos e 26 (59,1%) calcificados. Dos 44 cisticercos, 19 (43,2%) foram encontrados na musculatura esquelética: 10,5% na cabeça, 36,8% nos membros torácicos, 10,5% no diafragma, 42,1% nos membros pélvicos; e 25 (56,8%) nos órgãos: 80% no fígado, 8% no coração, 8% na língua e 4% nos rins. Cisticercos vivos foram encontrados com acúleos rudimentares, com número variável de 01 a 42 e com 25,4-35,7 m de comprimento. Os resultados sugerem que bovinos poderiam servir como hospedeiros intermediários da T. solium. É necessário continuar os estudos para verificar a infectividade de cistos que se desenvolvem em hospedeiros não habituais. Abstract A study was performed in Piraquara, Parana, Brazil during 1994-1996 to evaluate the possibility of bovines participation in the epidemic chain of the Taenia solium. Six gravid segments of T. solium were obtained from a non medicated patient. Holstein bovines were infected with 40,000 eggs of T. solium. The infection rate was 100%. A total of 44 cysticerci were recovered: 18 (40.9%) alive and 26 (59.1%) calcified. Of the 44 cysticerci, 19 (43.2%) were found in the skeletal musculature: 10,5% in the head, 36.8% in the anterior members, 10.5% in the diaphragm, 42.1% in posterior members and 25 (56.8%) in the organs: 80% in the liver, 8% in the heart, 8% in the tongue and 4% in the kidneys. Living cysticerci had 1 to 42 short hooks of 25,4 to 35,7 µm. The results suggested that bovines could serve as intermediary host for T. solium

Fusion: Expensive and Taking Forever?

Industrial Ecolog

Forward modeling of collective Thomson scattering for Wendelstein 7-X plasmas: Electrostatic approximation

In this paper, we present a method for numerical computation of collective Thomson scattering (CTS). We developed a forward model, eCTS, in the electrostatic approximation and benchmarked it against a full electromagnetic model. Differences between the electrostatic and the electromagnetic models are discussed. The sensitivity of the results to the ion temperature and the plasma composition is demonstrated. We integrated the model into the Bayesian data analysis framework Minerva and used it for the analysis of noisy synthetic data sets produced by a full electromagnetic model. It is shown that eCTS can be used for the inference of the bulk ion temperature. The model has been used to infer the bulk ion temperature from the first CTS measurements on Wendelstein 7-X.EURATOM 63305

Black hole partition functions and duality

The macroscopic entropy and the attractor equations for BPS black holes in four-dimensional N=2 supergravity theories follow from a variational principle for a certain `entropy function'. We present this function in the presence of R^2-interactions and non-holomorphic corrections. The variational principle identifies the entropy as a Legendre transform and this motivates the definition of various partition functions corresponding to different ensembles and a hierarchy of corresponding duality invariant inverse Laplace integral representations for the microscopic degeneracies. Whenever the microscopic degeneracies are known the partition functions can be evaluated directly. This is the case for N=4 heterotic CHL black holes, where we demonstrate that the partition functions are consistent with the results obtained on the macroscopic side for black holes that have a non-vanishing classical area. In this way we confirm the presence of a measure in the duality invariant inverse Laplace integrals. Most, but not all, of these results are obtained in the context of semiclassical approximations. For black holes whose area vanishes classically, there remain discrepancies at the semiclassical level and beyond, the nature of which is not fully understood at present.Comment: 36 pages, Late

Developmental Regulation of Transcription in Touriga Nacional Berries under Deficit Irrigation

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the most economically important crops worldwide, especially due to the economic relevance of wine production. Abiotic stress, such as drought, may contribute to low yield, shifts in quality, and important economic loss. The predicted climate change phenomena point to warmer and dryer Mediterranean environmental conditions; as such, it is paramount to study the effects of abiotic stress on grapevine performance. Deficit irrigation systems are applied to optimize water use efficiency without compromising berry quality. In this research, the effect of two deficit irrigation strategies, sustained deficit irrigation (SDI) and regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), in the grape berry were assessed. The effects of different levels of drought were monitored in Touriga Nacional at key stages of berry development (pea size, véraison, and full maturation) through RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis and by specific differentially expressed genes (DEGs) monitoring through RT-qPCR. Handy datasets were obtained by bioinformatics analysis of raw RNA-Seq results. The dominant proportion of transcripts was mostly regulated by development, with véraison showing more upregulated transcripts. Results showed that primary metabolism is the functional category more severely affected under water stress. Almost all DEGs selected for RT-qPCR were significantly upregulated in full maturation and showed the highest variability at véraison and the lowest gene expression values in the pea size stageinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comments on Heterotic Flux Compactifications

In heterotic flux compactification with supersymmetry, three different connections with torsion appear naturally, all in the form $\omega+a H$. Supersymmetry condition carries $a=-1$, the Dirac operator has $a=-1/3$, and higher order term in the effective action involves $a=1$. With a view toward the gauge sector, we explore the geometry with such torsions. After reviewing the supersymmetry constraints and finding a relation between the scalar curvature and the flux, we derive the squared form of the zero mode equations for gauge fermions. With \d H=0, the operator has a positive potential term, and the mass of the unbroken gauge sector appears formally positive definite. However, this apparent contradiction is avoided by a no-go theorem that the compactification with $H\neq 0$ and \d H=0 is necessarily singular, and the formal positivity is invalid. With \d H\neq 0, smooth compactification becomes possible. We show that, at least near smooth supersymmetric solution, the size of $H^2$ should be comparable to that of \d H and the consistent truncation of action has to keep $\alpha'R^2$ term. A warp factor equation of motion is rewritten with $\alpha' R^2$ contribution included precisely, and some limits are considered.Comment: 31 pages, a numerical factor correcte

Twistors and Black Holes

Motivated by black hole physics in N=2, D=4 supergravity, we study the geometry of quaternionic-Kahler manifolds M obtained by the c-map construction from projective special Kahler manifolds M_s. Improving on earlier treatments, we compute the Kahler potentials on the twistor space Z and Swann space S in the complex coordinates adapted to the Heisenberg symmetries. The results bear a simple relation to the Hesse potential \Sigma of the special Kahler manifold M_s, and hence to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for BPS black holes. We explicitly construct the ``covariant c-map'' and the ``twistor map'', which relate real coordinates on M x CP^1 (resp. M x R^4/Z_2) to complex coordinates on Z (resp. S). As applications, we solve for the general BPS geodesic motion on M, and provide explicit integral formulae for the quaternionic Penrose transform relating elements of H^1(Z,O(-k)) to massless fields on M annihilated by first or second order differential operators. Finally, we compute the exact radial wave function (in the supergravity approximation) for BPS black holes with fixed electric and magnetic charges.Comment: 47 pages, v2: typos corrected, reference added, v3: minor change