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Based on the two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model, this study explores the impact of shear flow on the resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP)-induced double tearing mode (DTM). The results indicate that the effectiveness of shear flow in suppressing the double tearing mode is primarily dependent on the flow velocity at the outer rational surface. A notable finding is that, with higher flow velocities, the double tearing mode is effectively suppressed. However, in cases of very weak flow velocities, the shear flow still exerts an influence, but with a limited suppression effect. Specifically, it can only inhibit the inner island, while the outer island continues to grow under the influence of the resonant magnetic perturbation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmacovigilance, an essential procedure in healthcare, encompasses the identification, assessment, and prevention of adverse drug effects and other undesirable outcomes. Despite rigorous clinical trials conducted before medication release, some side effects may remain unidentified until after widespread usage. The National Pharmacovigilance Center of the Republic of Azerbaijan, operating under the Ministry of Health, plays a pivotal role in overseeing pharmacovigilance procedures. Citizens experiencing medication ineffectiveness or adverse effects are encouraged to report to the Analytical Expertise Center (AEC), facilitating thorough review and appropriate action. The AEC ensures patient safety by promptly addressing newly identified side effects and advising on reporting any adverse reactions, including those from traditional or alternative medicines. An increase in adverse event reports prompts governmental investigations, while strict confidentiality measures safeguard personal data. The AEC's systematic monitoring and evaluation, coupled with adherence to international standards and legal frameworks, contribute to enhancing drug safety. Regular updates on medication safety information are disseminated to healthcare professionals and the public, promoting informed medication use. Pharmacovigilance regulations, laws, and guidelines govern the AEC's operations, ensuring compliance and efficacy. Through collaborative efforts with healthcare institutions, the AEC conducts training to strengthen pharmacovigilance practices. Recruitment of pharmacovigilance representatives within medical facilities follows stringent criteria, emphasizing competence and timely reporting obligations. Overall, the AEC's vigilant oversight and proactive measures serve to optimize medication safety and uphold public health standards in Azerbaijan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correlation between the bifurcation of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) to the unshielded state and edge localized mode (ELM) suppression in ASDEX Upgrade is studied using a kinetic plasma response model numerically and analytically. For the numerical studies, the linear kinetic Maxwell solver KiLCA for cylindrical geometry and the quasilinear transport code QL-Balance are used in combination with the ideal MHD solver GPEC to account for realistic tokamak geometry. Based on this modelling, a numerical local bifurcation criterion is introduced which estimates the effect of RMP-induced temperature plateau formation in the resonant layer. Its analytical form is derived in constant-psi approximation. The kinetic model reproduces the known gyrocenter resonance, E r = 0 , and the electron fluid resonance. In contrast to MHD theory, the latter is located at the zero of the perpendicular electron fluid velocity computed only with half of the electron temperature gradient. The application of the criterion to experimental data shows a correlation between bifurcation and the ELM suppression phase. Moreover, an electron density limit is found resembling the one observed in experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The purpose of the work is to check the operability of the proposed method for remote monitoring of patients.Method. To carry out the test, an experiment was set up in which various categories of people of different ages, including those with diseases. During the experiment, the application should record deviations in various indicators obtained from the sensors of the bracelet, and inform about it.Result. Thus, the experiment showed that the method of remote monitoring of patients proposed by us is fully suitable for monitoring the current condition. Working by this method, the application recorded all anomalies in the indicators obtained from the sensors of the bracelet, and successfully informed about them.Conclusion. The application of our proposed method is sufficient to determine deviations in health indicators of patients, track the dynamics of their changes and see the overall picture of human health.

Transgenic Bt cotton was developed to control lepidopteran pests like the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera. However, there was concern that H. armigera would develop resistance to Bt cotton as this species had developed resistance to many insecticides and Bt toxins. To counter resistance, the cotton industry developed a resistance management plan (RMP) that included techniques to block resistant genes surviving from one season to the next (seasonal quarantining). One such technique is pupae busting, where cotton fields are cultivated after harvest, destroying potentially resistant pupating Helicoverpa spp. While pupae busting was important when there was only one insecticidal gene in Bt cotton, is it still relevant now Bt cotton has three insecticidal Bt genes? To address this question, we reviewed the development of pupae busting as a tool and its role in the current RMP. This included examining the ecology and behavioural characteristics of Helicoverpa spp. that impact on pupae busting efficacy (e.g., diapause, pupal mortality and pupae depth); the effect of soil type and different tillage techniques on pupae busting efficacy; and pupae busting within the context of Australia's current cotton farming system. We also looked at alternative forms of seasonal quarantining, such as using bisexual attract‐and‐kill techniques against adults. We confirmed that soil for pupae busting needs to be checked for moisture, which ideally should be less than the soil plastic limit. Comparisons between reports indicated that under good conditions, 'go‐devils' and chisel ploughs were excellent pupae busters. While a bisexual attract‐and‐kill strategy of late season moths has a place within the industry, pupae busting is still the best method in seasonal quarantining and has a good fit within the modern cotton industry, particularly given differences in the biology and ecology of H. armigera and H. punctigera, and the presence of dominant resistance to Bt toxins by H. armigera in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spectrum effects on toroidal rotation braking, induced by n = 1 resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) in the discharges with q 95 = 4.1 and q 95 = 5.1 , are studied in the EAST tokamak. Here n is the toroidal mode number, RMP spectrum is varied by scanning δ ϕ U L , the phase difference between the upper and lower rows of RMP coils. The toroidal rotation changes periodically with the periodic δ ϕ U L scanning and such an effect is stronger in the discharge with lower q 95 = 4.1. The spectrum dependence of the neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV) torque, modeled by NTVTOK based on the magnetic perturbation obtained from MARS-F calculation, agrees well with that of the experimentally observed braking torques in both discharges. The modeled NTV torque is stronger in the discharge with lower q 95, which also agrees with the observations. The comparisons between the spectrum dependence of the NTV and magnetic perturbations show that the resonant mode of magnetic perturbations near the plasma edge mainly contribute the NTV torque. These agreements between modeling and experiments highlight the capability of NTV theory in explaining the experimental observation in the EAST tokamak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutated cells may constitute a source of cancer. As an effective approach to quantifying the extent of cancer, cell image segmentation is of particular importance for understanding the mechanism of the disease, observing the degree of cancer cell lesions, and improving the efficiency of treatment and the useful effect of drugs. However, traditional image segmentation models are not ideal solutions for cancer cell image segmentation due to the fact that cancer cells are highly dense and vary in shape and size. To tackle this problem, this paper proposes a novel U-Net-based image segmentation model, named U-Net_dc, which expands twice the original U-Net encoder and decoder and, in addition, uses a skip connection operation between them, for better extraction of the image features. In addition, the feature maps of the last few U-Net layers are upsampled to the same size and then concatenated together for producing the final output, which allows the final feature map to retain many deep-level features. Moreover, dense atrous convolution (DAC) and residual multi-kernel pooling (RMP) modules are introduced between the encoder and decoder, which helps the model obtain receptive fields of different sizes, better extract rich feature expression, detect objects of different sizes, and better obtain context information. According to the results obtained from experiments conducted on the Tsinghua University's private dataset of endometrial cancer cells and the publicly available Data Science Bowl 2018 (DSB2018) dataset, the proposed U-Net_dc model outperforms all state-of-the-art models included in the performance comparison study, based on all evaluation metrics used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tongue and its movements can be used for several medical-related tasks, such as identifying a disease and tracking a rehabilitation. To be able to focus on a tongue region, the tongue segmentation is needed to compute a region of interest for a further analysis. This paper proposes an encoder-decoder CNN-based architecture for segmenting a tongue in an image. The encoder module is mainly used for the tongue feature extraction, while the decoder module is used to reconstruct a segmented tongue from the extracted features based on training images. In addition, the residual multi-kernel pooling (RMP) is also applied into the proposed network to help in encoding multiple scales of the features. The proposed method is evaluated on two publicly available datasets under a scenario of front view and one tongue posture. It is then tested on a newly collected dataset of five tongue postures. The reported performances show that the proposed method outperforms existing methods in the literature. In addition, the re-training process could improve applying the trained model on unseen dataset, which would be a necessary step of applying the trained model on the real-world scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This work presents a robust methodology for effectively distinguishing between the seed island and the onset of the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) in the EAST tokamak. Unlike previously employed methods, the width of the seed island is carefully regulated by gradually ramping up the currents in the resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) coils. Remarkably, the seed island phase can be sustained for several hundred milliseconds, providing ample time to examine the nonlinear dynamics of NTM threshold physics. This study investigates the plasma response in terms of various factors, including the plasma rotation, the electron density, and the electron temperature, from the initial formation of the seed island to the saturation of the NTM island. Through extensive statistical analysis of NTM triggering events, it is revealed that both the critical width of the seed island and the critical RMP currents are positively correlated with β _p . Moreover, the relationship of the transition time associated with mode penetration to β _p differs from the dependence of the transition time for NTM triggering on β _p . The growth rates associated with these two nonlinear phenomena show similar characteristics. Finally, reduced magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling replicates the two nonlinear bifurcation states observed in the experiment. It is noteworthy that the RMP-induced NTM islands are locked to the static magnetic perturbation. This scenario differs from the natural excitation of NTMs, which occurs due to transient MHD phenomena, such as sawtooth crashes, where the triggering source is a rotating magnetic perturbation. This leads to the formation of rapidly rotating islands at a natural frequency. Furthermore, the stability of these islands is expected to be related to the polarization current effect. Nevertheless, this experiment sets a new course for the comprehensive investigation and understanding of NTM threshold physics, providing valuable insights for future tokamak design and operational strategies.

The influence on the loss of energetic passing ions by the n = 4 resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) is investigated through numerical simulations (here, n is the toroidal mode number of the RMP field). Dedicated efforts have been made to uncover how the plasma response modifies the loss fractions and underlying mechanisms. The stochastization of the drift surfaces and the particle loss fractions increase significantly under the response field, in which the resonant component is significantly shielded. In order to better understand how the response field contributes a considerable drift island width, the respective effect of each poloidal component $m_\mathrm{b}$ on the outermost drift island $m_\mathrm{p}/n = 9/4$ are compared (here, $m_\mathrm{b}$ and $m_\mathrm{p}$ are poloidal mode numbers of the RMP components and drift island, respectively). Contrary to the intuition that the components with $m_\mathrm{b} = m_\mathrm{p} \pm 1$ should dominate the sideband resonance, some of the components which fulfill $|m_\mathrm{p}-m_\mathrm{b}|\gg 1$ have the dominant contributions under the response field. There are mainly two reasons accounting for this phenomenon, i.e. the drift motion of particles and the enhancement of amplitudes of non-resonant high- m components by the plasma response near the edge due to the resonant field amplification (RFA) effect. The former made it possible for particles to resonate with the far non-resonant components, and the latter significantly enhanced the perturbation field experienced by particles. The above results imply that the RFA effect is more critical than the stochastization of magnetic topology in the fast ion losses under RMP.

IntroductionImmunoassays and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assays are commonly employed in clinical laboratories for measurement of total testosterone in serum. Results obtained from either of these methodologies compare poorly due to differences in calibration and/or inadvertent detection of interfering substances by the immunoassays. Standardization efforts are underway, but recent studies indicate that accuracy remains an issue.MethodsThis study compares the results from four independently developed and validated LC-MS/MS assays for total testosterone. The calibration for each assay was verified using National Institute of Standards and Technology Standard Reference Material 971.ResultsInitially, one of the four assays had a mean percent difference of +11.44%, compared to the All Method Mean, but following re-verification of all five non-zero calibrator concentrations with the NIST SRM 971, the mean percent difference decreased to -4.88%. Subsequently, the agreement between all four assays showed a mean bias of

Integrity violations in RMP are not a new issue. Integrity violations continue to occur today, as evidenced by the high volume of Disciplinary Investigation Papers (KST) involving people in different roles within the RMP. The primary purpose of this research is to dissect the factors that endanger the RMP's members' honesty. An in-depth case study methodology was employed for this qualitative research. Purposive sampling is used as the methodology for collecting data in this study. The first set of sources consists of RMP members of varying ranks who identify as Junior Police Officers (PRP). To investigate the causes of dishonest behaviour and the degree to which employees understand the organization's code of ethics, RMP employees participated in a focus group discussion (FGD). Research information was gathered using a Semi-Structured Interview Protocol Form. The FGD data were analysed systematically using thematic analysis techniques based on the theme that emerged from the FGD. Based on the findings, members of the RMP have integrity violations due to misconduct and disciplinary issues. Team members on the RMP have a solid grasp of the importance of maintaining trust within an organisation. There are still cases of RMP members committing ethical violations like accepting bribes, not carefully accompanying the Accused (OKT), blackmailing the public, being deeply in debt, abusing drugs, and failing to record their daily work movements in a diary. Therefore, it is imperative that there be a legal and preventative mechanism in place to deal with the issue of violations of integrity. Based on the results of this research, it can help JIPS, RMP design an awareness campaign to encourage more integrity and ethical behaviour [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban streams are ecosystems of great ecological and hydrological importance for human environments. However, they face pressure on biodiversity, hydromorphology, and water quality. In this study, an urban riparian system of a Mediterranean city (Thessaloniki, Greece) which interacts with several land-use classes, namely forests, pastures, cultivations, industrial-commercial infrastructure, and light and dense urban fabric, is assessed. The analyzed data were collected by implementing mainly QBR and ancillary RMP protocols on 37 plots of the Dendropotamos stream. The QBR protocol provided an assessment of total riparian vegetation cover, cover structure and quality, as well as channel alterations. The RMP protocol was used to enhance the quantitative assessment of dominant tree and shrub cover. Parts of Dendropotamos surrounded by agricultural (median QBR score: 27.5), industrial (50), and dense residential areas (27.5) suffer, in general, from low riparian vegetation cover, bad vegetation structure and quality, the continuous presence of alien/introduced species, and channel alterations. A variety of riparian habitat conditions characterize the sparse residential areas (60) where cover structure and quality of vegetation is improved. The reduction in grazing pressure has improved the riparian habitat in the greatest part of Dendropotamos that is surrounded by semi-natural pastures (65). Within forested areas (85), the stream conditions are considered quasi-natural. All previous land uses are differentiated in terms of the dominant trees found in the vegetation of Dendropotamos: Platanus orientalis in forested areas, alien Ailanthus altissima mainly in residential and industrial areas, and native shrubs, e.g., Quercus coccifera and Pyrus spinosa, in pastures. The QBR protocol could be a valuable tool in urban environment planning to help identify areas with potential for restoration, such as those with moderate residential pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An H-bridge power supply has been developed for different experiments on the STOR-M tokamak. Four insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are used to guide the current to the load from a capacitor bank discharge. The timing signal to the gates of the IGBTs is controlled by a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The power supply can be programmed to drive either a sinusoidal current waveform to an inductive load or a bipolar rectangular current waveform to a resistive load. The maximum frequency and current tested for the sinusoidal current waveform are 25 kHz and 2200 A, respectively. For bipolar current waveforms, the maximum current tested is 1500 A at 3 kHz. The sinusoidal current to a set of helical coils was used for the Resonant Magnetic Perturbation (RMP) experiments and the bipolar rectangular current waveform was used for both the electrode biasing experiments and the RMP experiments on the STOR-M tokamak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutated cells may constitute a source of cancer. As an effective approach to quantifying the extent of cancer, cell image segmentation is of particular importance for understanding the mechanism of the disease, observing the degree of cancer cell lesions, and improving the efficiency of treatment and the useful effect of drugs. However, traditional image segmentation models are not ideal solutions for cancer cell image segmentation due to the fact that cancer cells are highly dense and vary in shape and size. To tackle this problem, this paper proposes a novel U-Net-based image segmentation model, named U-Net_dc, which expands twice the original U-Net encoder and decoder and, in addition, uses a skip connection operation between them, for better extraction of the image features. In addition, the feature maps of the last few U-Net layers are upsampled to the same size and then concatenated together for producing the final output, which allows the final feature map to retain many deep-level features. Moreover, dense atrous convolution (DAC) and residual multi-kernel pooling (RMP) modules are introduced between the encoder and decoder, which helps the model obtain receptive fields of different sizes, better extract rich feature expression, detect objects of different sizes, and better obtain context information. According to the results obtained from experiments conducted on the Tsinghua University’s private dataset of endometrial cancer cells and the publicly available Data Science Bowl 2018 (DSB2018) dataset, the proposed U-Net_dc model outperforms all state-of-the-art models included in the performance comparison study, based on all evaluation metrics used.

Canine DNA is widely used in forensic investigations, particularly in cases of dog attacks on humans. Nowadays, STR markers are employed worldwide in forensic laboratories to test human and animal genotypes. In the study we analysed the effectiveness of 18 STR panel as previously recommended by ISAG and the same panel with three additional markers – 21 STR, which has been recommended by ISAG as the core panel for dog identification since 2016. We calculated the PD, PID for these sets of panels and estimated RMP based on the DNA profile obtained during an investigation of a woman bitten by a dog. The high combined CPD value for 18 and 21 STRs showed values close to 1.0. The CPID value for theses panels was 5.2 × 10−10 to 6.4 × 10−14. Statistical analysis estimated the random DNA match, in the case of the woman bitten by a dog, with a probability of 4.3×1019 and 2.8×1022, using 18 and 21 STR panels respectively, and that the canine DNA profile from the crime scene originated from the suspected dog and not from another random dog. Our results show that both STR panels can be used effectively for individual identification and forensic casework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edge localized modes (ELMs) suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) was studied with the non-linear magneto-hydro-dynamic (MHD) code JOREK for the ITER H-mode scenarios at 15 MA, 12.5 MA, 10 MA/5.3 T. The main aim of this work was to demonstrate that ELMs can be suppressed by RMPs while the divertor 3D footprints of heat and particle fluxes remain within divertor material limits. The unstable peelingâ€"ballooning modes responsible for ELMs without RMPs were modelled first for each scenario using numerically accessible parameters for ITER. Then the stabilization of ELMs by RMPs was modelled with the same parameters. RMP spectra, optimized by the linear MHD MARS-F code, with main toroidal harmonics N = 2, N = 3, N = 4 have been used as boundary conditions of the computational domain of JOREK, including realistic RMP coils, main plasma, scrape off layer (SOL) divertor and realistic first wall. The model includes all relevant plasma flows: toroidal rotation, two fluid diamagnetic effects and neoclassical poloidal friction. With RMPs, the main toroidal harmonic and the non-linearly coupled harmonics remain dominant at the plasma edge, producing saturated modes and a continuous MHD turbulent transport thereby avoiding ELM crashes in all scenarios considered here. The threshold for ELM suppression was found at a maximum RMP coils current of 45 kAtâ€"60 kAt compared to the coils maximum capability of 90 kAt. In the high beta poloidal steady-state 10 MA/5.3 T scenario, a rotating QH-mode without ELMs was observed even without RMPs. In this scenario with RMPs N = 3, N = 4 at 20 kAt maximum current in RMP coils, similar QH-mode behaviour was observed however with dominant edge harmonic corresponding to the main toroidal number of RMPs. The present MHD modelling was limited in time by few tens of ms after RMPs were switched on until the magnetic energy of the modes saturates. As a consequence the thermal energy was still evolving on this time scale, far from the ITER confinement time scale and hence only the form of 3D footprints on the divertor targets can be indicated within this set-up. Also note, that the divertor physics was missing in this model, so realistic values of fluxes are out of reach in this modelling. However the stationary 3D divertor and particle fluxes could be simply extrapolated from these results to the stationary situation considering that a large power fraction should be radiated in the core and SOL and only about 50 MW power is going to the divertor, which is an arbitrary, but reasonable number used here. The 3D footprints with RMPs show the characteristic splitting with the main RMP toroidal symmetry. The maximum radial extension of the footprints typically was ∼20 cm in inner divertor and ∼40 cm in outer divertor with stationary heat fluxes decreasing further out from the initial strike point from ∼5 MW mâˆ'2 to ∼1 MW mâˆ'2 assuming a total power in the divertor and walls is 50 MW. The heat fluxes remain within the divertor target and baffle areas, however with rather small margin in the outer divertor which could be an issue for the first wall especially in transient regimes when part of the plasma thermal energy is released due to switching on the RMP coils. This fact should be considered when RMPs are applied with a more favorable application before or soon after the Lâ€"H transition, although optimization is required to avoid increasing the Lâ€"H power threshold with RMPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mollusks, including snails, possess two chambered hearts. The heart and cardiomyocytes of snails have many similarities with those of mammals. Also, the biophysics and pharmacology of Ca, K, and Na ion channels resemble. Similar to mammals, in mollusks, the ventricular cardiomyocytes and K channels are often studied, which are selectively sensitive to antagonists such as 4-AP, E-4031, and TEA. Since the physiological properties of the ventricular cardiac cells of snails are well characterized, the enzymatically dissociated atrial cardiomyocytes of Cornu aspersum (Müller, 1774) were studied using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique for detailed comparisons with mice, Mus musculus. The incubation of tissues in a solution simultaneously containing two enzymes, collagenase and papain, enabled the isolation of single cells. Recordings in the atrial cardiomyocytes of snails revealed outward K+ currents closely resembling those of the ventricle. The latter was consistent, whether the voltage ramp or steps and long or short pulses were used. Interestingly, under identical conditions, the current waveforms of atrial cardiomyocytes in snails were similar to those of mice left ventricles, albeit the kinetics and the absence of inward rectifier K channel (I K1) activation. Therefore, the heart of mollusks could be used as a simple and accessible experimental model, particularly for pharmacology and toxicology studies. [Display omitted] • K+ currents were recorded for the first time in atrial cardiomyocytes of snails, Cornu aspersum. • Aurical and ventricular cardiomyocytes exhibit typical outward K+ currents. • Atrial K+ currents resemble those from mice left ventricle. • Inward rectifier K current (I K1) is absent in snails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated Resonant Magnetic Perturbation (RMP)-based Edge-Localized Mode (ELM)-crash-control process aims to enhance the plasma performance during the RMP-driven ELM crash suppression, where the RMP induces an unwanted confinement degradation. In this study, the normalized beta ( $\beta_\textrm{N}$ ) is introduced as a metric for plasma performance. The integrated process incorporates the latest achievements in the RMP technique to enhance $\beta_\textrm{N}$ efficiently. The integrated process triggers the n = 1 Edge-localized RMP (ERMP) at the L–H transition timing using the real-time Machine Learning (ML) classifier. The pre-emptive RMP onset can reduce the required external heating power for achieving the same $\beta_\textrm{N}$ by over 10% compared to the conventional onset. During the RMP phase, the adaptive feedback RMP ELM controller, demonstrating its performance in previous experiments, plays a crucial role in maximizing $\beta_\textrm{N}$ during the suppression phase and sustaining the $\beta_\textrm{N}$ -enhanced suppression state by optimizing the RMP strength. The integrated process achieves $\beta_\textrm{N}$ up to ∼2.65 during the suppression phase, which is ∼10% higher than the previous KSTAR record but ∼6% lower than the target of the K-DEMO first phase ( $\beta_\textrm{N}$ = 2.8), and maintains the suppression phase above the lower limit of target $\beta_\textrm{N}$ (= 2.4) for ∼4 s (∼60 $\tau_\textrm{E}$ ). In addition to $\beta_\textrm{N}$ enhancement, the integrated process demonstrates quicker restoration of the suppression phase and recovery of $\beta_\textrm{N}$ compared to the adaptive control with the n = 1 Conventional RMP (CRMP). The post-analysis of the experiment shows the localized effect of the ERMP spectrum in radial and the close relationship between the evolution of $\beta_\textrm{N}$ and the electron temperature.

Externally applied resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs), generated by magnetic coils located outside the plasma (referred to as RMP coils), provide an effective way to control the edge localized mode (ELM) in tokamak devices. Due to the discrete nature of the toroidal distribution of these window-frame coils, toroidal sidebands always exist together with the fundamental harmonics designed for ELM control. In this work, the MARS-F code (Liu et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681) is applied to investigate the detailed features of the RMP spectra considering both the dominant harmonic ( n = 2) and the associated sideband ( n = 6), and the impact of the combined fields on magnetic footprints as well as on the fast ion losses for a reference double-null scenario in the HL-2M device. It is found that the sum of the n = 2 and n = 6 RMP fields splits the footprint and widens the footprint area, as compared to the single- n ( n = 2) harmonic case. The resistive plasma response breaks the up–down symmetry of the footprint pattern on the outer divertor plates, which is otherwise symmetric assuming vacuum RMP fields. Considering fast ion losses, a threshold value exists for the initially launched radial position of test particles, as well as for the RMP coil current, before the loss occurs. When the threshold criterion is satisfied, the combined n = 2 and n = 6 RMP fields enhance the fast ion loss rate by ${\sim}20\%$ , as compared to that of the n = 2 component alone. These results illustrate the important role of the sideband of RMP fields on the magnetic footprints and fast ion losses in tokamak plasmas.

Any arbitrary perturbation on a magnetic field separatrix can cause a structure named homoclinic tangle in tokamaks. Both an edge localized mode (ELM) and a resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) can lead to a perturbation of the magnetic field on the separatrix. Under the appropriate circumstances, RMP could alleviate or even completely suppress a rapid collapse process of an ELM. The simulation results using the CLTx code, the extended version of the three-dimensional toroidal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code (CLT (Ci-Liu-Ti, which means MHDs in Chinese)) with a scrape-off layer, show the structure of the homoclinic tangle with a borderline stochastic region resulting from RMP in HL-2A tokamak. Strongly distorted magnetic field lines with the homoclinic tangle could connect to the tokamak divertors. The footprints of these magnetic field lines on the divertors are consistent with the energy deposit spots in the experiment. From Poincaré plots of escaped magnetic field lines, it is found that the depth of the plasma edge region penetrated by these field lines depends on the RMP coil current, the rotation frequency of the RMP field, and the plasma resistivity.

The correlation between the bifurcation of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) to the unshielded state and edge localized mode (ELM) suppression in ASDEX Upgrade is studied using a kinetic plasma response model numerically and analytically. For the numerical studies, the linear kinetic Maxwell solver KiLCA for cylindrical geometry and the quasilinear transport code QL-Balance are used in combination with the ideal MHD solver GPEC to account for realistic tokamak geometry. Based on this modelling, a numerical local bifurcation criterion is introduced which estimates the effect of RMP-induced temperature plateau formation in the resonant layer. Its analytical form is derived in constant-psi approximation. The kinetic model reproduces the known gyrocenter resonance, $E_r = 0$ , and the electron fluid resonance. In contrast to MHD theory, the latter is located at the zero of the perpendicular electron fluid velocity computed only with half of the electron temperature gradient. The application of the criterion to experimental data shows a correlation between bifurcation and the ELM suppression phase. Moreover, an electron density limit is found resembling the one observed in experiments.

The gas puff imaging diagnostic is used for the investigation of the poloidal flow and turbulent fluctuations at the plasma edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) on the HL-2A tokamak. The impact of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) on the edge poloidal velocity ( ${V_\theta }$ ) are investigated and compared during the operation of a stair-like rising RMP coil current ( ${I_{{\text{RMP}}}}$ ). The application of the RMP is observed to modify the poloidal velocity significantly. When ${I_{{\text{RMP}}}}$ exceeds 4 kA, the turbulence poloidal velocity at the edge changes direction from electron to ion diamagnetic drift. This phenomenon is explained by the electron loss along the perturbed radial magnetic field $({B_r})$ with RMP, with the experimental evidence provided that the edge electric potential increases significantly. A strong impact of the RMP on the properties of plasma density fluctuations in the SOL is also observed. With RMP, both skewness and kurtosis are smaller in the SOL and large-scale turbulence structures (small ${k_r}$ and ${k_\theta }$ ) are suppressed in both edge and SOL. These results can improve our understanding of the interaction between RMP and edge turbulence and in particular, the edge poloidal flow.

Linear plasma response modeling is exploited in this work to assess the effect of different coil configurations on edge localized mode (ELM) stability in full power operational scenarios for the Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT) facility, presently under construction at the ENEA site of Frascati (Italy). The MARS-F code is used to compute, in toroidal geometry and including flow, the resistive plasma response to different vacuum fields with toroidal mode numbers $n\,=\,1,2,3$ . Peeling-like response in particular, correlated with ELM control, is found to be significant for $n\,=\,2,3$ perturbations while $n\,=\,1$ induces a large core response in the investigated scenarios. Two metrics are used to link plasma response to ELM control. Namely the local normal plasma displacement in the x -point region and the Chirikov parameter in PEST-like straight-field-line coordinates. These criteria are used to predict optimal phasing of the active coil arrays and current thresholds based on empirical evidence. Depending on the number of active coils and on the scenario, coil currents between 20 and 40 kAt are predicted to be effective for ELM mitigation in DTT.

We experimentally investigate the effect of external resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) on resistive interchange MHD instability which is typically observed in the Large Helical Device. We apply the m / n = 1/1 external RMP to discharges with the m / n = 1/1 interchange instability. We find that the electron density fluctuation as well as the magnetic field one is clearly reduced without a reduction of the pressure gradient by imposing the external RMP. Moreover, the achieved beta value as well as the beta gradient at the resonant surface is a little improved under certain conditions. Next, we investigate the responses of interchange instability to the external RMP under some different operational conditions. We find that the amplitude of the external RMP to completely suppress the instability with the shielding of the external RMP has a higher correlation with the volume-averaged beta value than other plasma parameters.

The spectrum effects on toroidal rotation braking, induced by n = 1 resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) in the discharges with $q_{95} = 4.1$ and $q_{95} = 5.1$ , are studied in the EAST tokamak. Here n is the toroidal mode number, RMP spectrum is varied by scanning $\delta\phi_\mathrm{UL} $ , the phase difference between the upper and lower rows of RMP coils. The toroidal rotation changes periodically with the periodic $\delta\phi_\mathrm{UL} $ scanning and such an effect is stronger in the discharge with lower $q_{95} = 4.1$ . The spectrum dependence of the neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV) torque, modeled by NTVTOK based on the magnetic perturbation obtained from MARS-F calculation, agrees well with that of the experimentally observed braking torques in both discharges. The modeled NTV torque is stronger in the discharge with lower q _95 , which also agrees with the observations. The comparisons between the spectrum dependence of the NTV and magnetic perturbations show that the resonant mode of magnetic perturbations near the plasma edge mainly contribute the NTV torque. These agreements between modeling and experiments highlight the capability of NTV theory in explaining the experimental observation in the EAST tokamak.

Risk is quite common event in all business whereas, it is significant in construction projects why because it is involving various activities in several stages and may be in simultaneous, therefore it may be unpredictable. To anticipate and manage those risks, Risk Management Practice is an effective weapon to limit its negative impacts and unwarranted consequences. This Research paper aims to study the risks and risk management practice adapted in the construction project through various roles from top management to worker level. The questionnaire survey has been prepared and responses were collected with a sample of 132 Professionals / respondents across India. The respondents are requested to provide their opinion based on their expertise through their present & past project experiences. The Construction professionals from various industrial sectors have participated in through online survey. Sixty (60) Major risk captured in this study and ranked within the category also overall ranks of the risks. The results shows (Design error1) the top ranked in Technical risk, (Pandemic Additional Expenses1) the top ranked financial risk, (Unsafe incidents & accidents during erection1) the top ranked construction risk, (Logistic accidents during transit lifting1) the top ranked procurement risk, (Breach of contract1) top ranked Legal risk, (Theft of Materials1) the top ranked other risk in construction projects. Opportunity Action Plan appears most adapted &Tender Contingencies estimation seems the least adapted in construction projects for Risk Management Practice. Procurement risk (27%), Other Risk (21%), Legal risk (20%) is most highly rated risk and Technical risk (17%), Financial Risk (15%) moderately rated by the respondents. The result also indicates the awareness level of risk management is high at middle management level (62%), average at Top Management level (28%) and low level at workers level (10%). Risk management practice has high impacts on Project performance in Quality (60%), timeline (43%) and delivery (49%) and medium impact on cost (45%) in the construction project. Risk Management practice has high impacts on project delivery in time (57%) and medium impacts in cost (73%) & delivery (55%) in the construction projects. The Two-Way ANOVA between the role of respondents and the experience level of respondents significantly shows variance ratio (F value) is 5.150 and 1.393 respectively. However, the above results are limited to the 132 respondents & indicative interpretation of their responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we have studied the influence of resonance magnetic perturbation (RMP) on the double tearing modes induced by asymmetric magnetic perturbation in a 2D geometry based on the MHD model. After studying the four cases, we have found that with RMP, no matter which rational surface the magnetic perturbation is in: (1) the width of the outer magnetic island will be greater than that of the inner magnetic island at the end of the mode evolution; (2) The influence of the RMP on the outer magnetic island is far greater than the inner magnetic island; (3) RMP will shorten the time required for the magnetic island to reach saturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term management of tailings from former uranium (U) mines requires an in-depth understanding of the hydrogeological processes and water flow paths. In France, most of the legacy U mines are located in fractured crystalline (plutonic) rocks, where the intrinsic subsurface heterogeneity adds to the uncertainties about the former extraction and milling activities and the state of the mine when production was ceased. U ores were mainly processed by sulfuric acid leaching, leading to high-sulfate-content mill tailings now contained in several tailing storage facilities (TSFs). The La Ribière site, located in western central France, is a former open-pit and underground U mine, closed in 1992 and used to store mill tailings. This site is being used as a test case to establish a workflow in order to explain and predict water flow and subsurface contaminant transport. A conceptual model of water flow and sulfate transport, at the scale of the La Ribière watershed, is first developed based on available information and hydrogeochemical monitoring. Recent geophysical investigations allows refining this model. Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) proves to be efficient at localizing the extent of the highly conductive sulfate plume inherited from the U-mill tailings, but also at imaging the weathering profile. Magnetic Resonance Sounding (MRS), despite the limited signal intensity due to the low porosity in crystalline rocks, gives some insight into the porosity values, the depth of the fractured layer and the location of the low-porosity ore-processing muds. Based on this conceptual model, a 3D flow and non-reactive transport model with the METIS code is developed and calibrated. This model allows predicting the evolution of the sulfate plume, but will also be used in future investigations, to build reactive transport models with simplified hydrogeology for U and other reactive contaminants. • Parsimonious approach to modeling a small but complex site with large uncertainties. • Water table and long-term sulfate monitoring highly valuable for model calibration. • Sulfate plume extent localized thanks to ERT sounding. • Boundaries of underground workings in former open pit identified by MRS sounding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an international organization for regional economic integration, established by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, which currently includes 5 countries - Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The EAEU ensures the freedom of goods movement, as well as services, capital and labor, conducting a coordinated, agreed/unified economic policy. The current practice of pharmacovigilance in the EAEU is of interest to potential foreign investors and market players.The aim of this study was to analyze the recent changes in pharmacovigilance in the EAEU countries in order to adopt the strategy of the pharmaceutical industry players.Materials and methods. The regulatory base of pharmacovigilance in the EAEU countries and the unified EAEU provisions on adverse reactions (ADR) were analyzed. A critical analysis of the current periodic safety update reports (PSUR) and risk management plans (RMP) was also carried out.Results. The united EAEU drug market is a complex system that incorporates 35 regulations, including the variety of good practice guidelines regarding the circulation of medicinal products (GMP, GCP, GLP, GDP, and GVP). This group of regulations contains basic documents on the inspection of production lines, the assessment of generic equivalence, the development of biological drugs, and the pharmacovigilance (PV). Currently, the ADR reporting in the EAEU countries is at a level lower than that in Russia. The common EAEU database of identified ADRs has been already initiated, but the number of incoming signals is quite small. The most common flaws of the PSUR are the late reports, the incorrect format and contents of those; the inconsistent information about the product, different from that of Roszdravnadzor, the discrepancy between the Patients information leaflet (“Instruction for medical use”) and the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC), and the lack of important and relevant scientific and clinical information. In the EAEU, the submission of Risk Management Plan (RMP) as part of the registration dossier is required for any new medication (New Chemical Entity), including a new combination of drugs. The present article also covers other updates in the Pharmacovigilance system, regulated by the Good Pharmacovigilance practice, which entered into effect on 01.01.2017, as well as the updated tasks for harmonization within the EAEU.Conclusions. The medicinal products circulating in the EAEU have to be checked for their efficacy and safety in order to identify possible negative consequences and/or individual patient intolerance. This information will serve to warn the medical staff and patients, veterinary specialists and animal owners about potential hazards of using these products. In the near future, the Eurasian Union plans to launch a “sanitation” campaign in the pharmaceutical market and get rid of low-effective and unsafe drugs. In this respect, the issues of pharmacovigilance become particularly relevant.

The striatum can be divided into the DLS (dorsolateral striatum) and the VMS (ventromedial striatum), which includes NAcC (nucleus accumbens core) and NAcS (nucleus accumbens shell). Here, we examined differences in electrophysiological properties of MSSNs (medium-sized spiny neurons) based on their location, expression of DA (dopamine) D1/D2 receptors and responses to the μ-opioid receptor agonist, DAMGO {[D-Ala(2)-MePhe(4)-Gly(ol)(5)]enkephalin}. The main differences in morphological and biophysical membrane properties occurred among striatal sub-regions. MSSNs in the DLS were larger, had higher membrane capacitances and lower Rin (input resistances) compared with cells in the VMS. RMPs (resting membrane potentials) were similar among regions except for D2 cells in the NAcC, which displayed a significantly more depolarized RMP. In contrast, differences in frequency of spontaneous excitatory synaptic inputs were more prominent between cell types, with D2 cells receiving significantly more excitatory inputs than D1 cells, particularly in the VMS. Inhibitory inputs were not different between D1 and D2 cells. However, MSSNs in the VMS received more inhibitory inputs than those in the DLS. Acute application of DAMGO reduced the frequency of spontaneous excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents, but the effect was greater in the VMS, in particular in the NAcS, where excitatory currents from D2 cells and inhibitory currents from D1 cells were inhibited by the largest amount. DAMGO also increased cellular excitability in the VMS, as shown by reduced threshold for evoking APs (action potentials). Together the present findings help elucidate the regional and cell-type-specific substrate of opioid actions in the striatum and point to the VMS as a critical mediator of DAMGO effects.

The first EMC3‐EIRENE modelling for the JT‐60SA edge plasmas with/without the resonant magnetic perturbation field (RMP) was conducted. Both core degradation in the vacuum approximation and strike‐point splitting were observed due to the application of the RMP, as in previous studies in other devices. Toroidally averaged divertor heat fluxes with and without the RMP were fitted by using a one‐dimensional diffusive model function, showing similar profiles. To extract the modulation components of the divertor heat flux profile, the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method was applied. By using the POD outputs, a modulation ratio with respect to the toroidally averaged profile was quantitatively calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In India, frontline workers (FLWs) - public accredited social health activists (ASHAs) and private rural medical providers (RMPs) - are important for early detection and treatment of childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia. This cross-sectional study aims to measure knowledge and skills, and the gap between the two ('know-can' gap), regarding assessment of childhood diarrhoea with dehydration and pneumonia among FLWs, and to explore factors associated with them.Methods: We surveyed 473 ASHAs and 447 RMPs in six districts of Uttar Pradesh. We assessed knowledge and skills using face-to-face interviews and video vignettes, respectively, about key signs of both conditions. The 'know-can' gap corresponds to absent skills among FLWs with correct knowledge. We used logistic regression to identify the correlates of knowledge and skills.Results: FLWs' correct knowledge ranged from 23% to 48% for dehydration signs and 27% to 37% for pneumonia signs. Their skills ranged from 3% to 42% for dehydration and 3% to 18% for pneumonia. There was a significant 'know-can' gap in all the signs, except 'sunken eyes'. Training and supervisory support was associated with better knowledge and skills for diarrhoea with dehydration, but only better knowledge for pneumonia.Conclusions: FLWs are crucial to the Indian health system, and high-quality FLW services are necessary for continued progress against under-five deaths. The gap between FLWs' knowledge and skills warrants immediate attention. In particular, our results suggest that knowledge-focused trainings are insufficient for FLWs to convert knowledge into appropriate assessment skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review of the development of the mechanical pulping process with focus on refiner-based processes. The intention is to provide an overview of the trends and the major advances in the development of the mechanical pulping (MP) process. The focus is on the development of the entire MP process, rather than the refiner as such. However, when discussing the MP process development, it is inevitable to consider the development of the refiner unit operation briefly. Processes for printing papers based on softwood is mainly discussed, but board processes are discussed briefly as well.

This article has been retracted: please see INNOVATIONS in pharmacy retraction policy (https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/innovations/policies). This article has been retracted by the Editor and Publisher due to the inappropriate use of previously published work. Historically, the FDA has interpreted the requirement that a drug must be “safe” to mean that the benefits of a drug outweigh its risks. The determination was made on a “categorical” basis, where the totality of risks was weighted against the totality of benefits when considered for the purposes outlined in the drug product’s labeling. If a drug did not meet this criterion, it was not approved or its label was rewritten to narrow the conditions for use. This logic was endemic in the FDA for most of the 20th century. On average, two to four drugs over each 5-year period were withdrawn from the marketplace after post-marketing surveillance data uncovered new risks. Similarly, on occasion, the FDA would require some special “tool” or intervention to improve a product’s safety profile. Harm associated with medication remains the second most common type of incident in hospitals, as reported by the Clinical Excellence Commission. Health services actively review medication safety. The vast majority of medication errors result in no injury. A minor injury may result, for example, in a patient needing an increased level of monitoring. Even if incidents result in minor injury, managers and staff still take any errors very seriously, reviewing the actions around the incident and making improvements as a result. FDA’s new concepts for risk management amount to a “cultural shift” in the logic of drug approval and the FDA’s role. The key events that led to this change can be traced to a series of reports that highlighted the need for improved medical safety. In 1999, the IOM released a report entitled, “To Err is Human.” This report reviewed the nature and cause of medication errors, estimating that up to 98,000 people died each year due to these errors. In their assessment, the IOM included both adverse drug reactions and human errors in drug administration. The report captured the attention of news reporters and the government. Headlines proclaimed alarm at the larger number of fatalities caused by medical errors. Consequently, there was a government-wide initiative started to develop methods and institute procedures to reduce medical errors. Statements made by FDA officials regarding some of these withdrawals suggested that the FDA no longer believed that passive oversight and re-labeling drugs with new warnings was sufficient. Furthermore, the FDA no longer believed that it was sufficient to identify safe conditions of use in the label and that healthcare professionals and patients had to comply with advocated directions of use for the drug to remain on the market. Article Type: Commentary

Aims Myocardial dysfunction is an important cause of heart failure (HF). RNA polymerase II subunit 5 (RPB5)-mediating protein (RMP) is a transcriptional mediating protein which co-ordinates cellular processes including gene expression, metabolism, proliferation, and genome stability. However, its role in cardiac disease remains unknown. We aimed to determine the role and regulatory mechanisms of RMP in cardiomyocyte function and the development of HF. Methods and results Myocardial RMP expression was examined in human heart tissues from healthy controls and patients with advanced HF. Compared to normal cardiac tissues, RMP levels were significantly decreased in the myocardium of patients with advanced HF. To investigate the role of RMP in cardiac function, Cre-loxP recombinase technology was used to generate tamoxifen-inducible cardiomyocyte-specific Rmp knockout mice. Unexpectedly, cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Rmp in mice resulted in contractile dysfunction, cardiac dilatation, and fibrosis. Furthermore, the lifespan of cardiac-specific Rmp-deficient mice was significantly shortened when compared with littermates. Mechanistically, we found that chronic HF in Rmp-deficient mice was associated with impaired mitochondrial structure and function, which may be mediated via a transforming growth factor-β/Smad3-proliferator-activated receptor coactivator1α (PGC1α)-dependent mechanism. PGC1α overexpression partially rescued chronic HF in cardiomyocyte-specific Rmp-deficient mice, and Smad3 blockade protected against the loss of PGC1α and adenosine triphosphate content that was induced by silencing RMP in vitro. Conclusions RMP plays a protective role in chronic HF. RMP may protect cardiomyocytes from injury by maintaining PGC1α-dependent mitochondrial biogenesis and function. The results from this study suggest that RMP may be a potential therapeutic agent for treating HF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]