Simulating the impact of charge exchange on beam ions in MAST-U

A model for simulating charge exchange (CX) of fast ions with background atoms in magnetically confined fusion plasmas has been implemented in the ASCOT orbit-following code. The model was verified by comparing simulated reaction mean free paths to analytical values across a range of fusion-relevant parameters. ASCOT was used to simulate beam ions slowing down in the presence of CX reactions in a MAST-U target scenario. ASCOT predicts the CX-induced loss of beam power to be 22%, which agrees to within 15% with the TRANSP prediction. Because of CX, plasma heating and current drive by beam ions are strongly reduced towards the edge. However, an overall lower but noticeable increase of up to 20% in current drive is predicted closer to the core. The simulated deposition of fast CX atoms on the wall is concentrated around the outer midplane, with estimated peak power loads of 70–80 kWm-2 on the central poloidal field coils (P5) and the vacuum vessel wall between them. This analysis demonstrates that ASCOT can be used to simulate fast ions in fusion plasmas where CX reactions play a significant role, e.g., in spherical tokamaks and stellarators.

The Effect of Acceleration on the Separation Force in Constrained-Surface Stereolithography

Constrained-surface-based stereolithography has recently attracted much attention from both academic and industrial communities. Despite numerous experimental, numerical and theoretical efforts, the fundamental need to reduce the separation force between the newly cured part and constrained surface has not yet been completely solved. In this paper, we develop a fluid dynamics approach, proposed in our previous work, to theoretically model the separation force in 3D printing of a cylindrical part for flat and patterned windows. We demonstrate the possibility of separation force reduction with an accelerated movement of the printing platform. In particular, we investigate behaviors of transient parameter, its reduction rate, and separation force reduction with respect to elevation speed and time. The proposed approach involves deceleration and acceleration stages and allows to achieve the force reduction for the entire printing process. Finally, we provide implicit analytical solutions for time moments when switching between the stages can be done without noticeable increase of separation force and explicit expression for separation force in case of patterned window.

WaFFLe

Managing thermal imbalance in contemporary chip multi-processors (CMPs) is crucial in assuring functional correctness of modern mobile as well as server systems. Localized regions with high activity, e.g., register files, ALUs, FPUs, and so on, experience higher temperatures than the average across the chip and are commonly referred to as hotspots. Hotspots affect functional correctness of the underlying circuitry and a noticeable increase in leakage power, which in turn generates heat in a self-reinforced cycle. Techniques that reduce the severity of or completely eliminate hotspots can maintain functional correctness along with improving performance of CMPs. Conventional dynamic thermal management targets the cores to reduce hotspots but often ignores caches, which are known for their high leakage power consumption. This article presents WaFFLe , an approach that targets the leakage power of the last-level cache (LLC) and hotspots occurring at the cores. WaFFLe turns off LLC-ways to reduce leakage power and to generate on-chip thermal buffers. In addition, fine-grained DVFS is applied during long LLC miss induced stalls to reduce core temperature. Our results show that WaFFLe reduces peak and average temperature of a 16-core based homogeneous tiled CMP with up to 8.4 ֯ C and 6.2 ֯ C, respectively, with an average performance degradation of only 2.5 %. We also show that WaFFLe outperforms a state-of-the-art cache-based technique and a greedy DVFS policy.

Study of mechanisms on vason-strengthening action of flavonoids

Based on the analysis of the spectra, it has been found that compounds of flavonoid nature, binding to cell membranes, change not in all cases the fluidity of membrane lipids depending on the cell type. Obviously, vascular tissue cells are a kind of "target cells" for these substances, i.e. there is a selectivity of flavonoids to certain tissues of organs. A particularly noticeable increase in the lipid fluidity of membranes was observed due to the addition of flavonoid glycosides - hyperoside, stachanoaceside and liquiritin to segments of venous tissue, which correlated with the high affinity of these substances to liposomes. The addition to the vessels of the metabolite quercetin - chalcone also led to a sharp increase in the lipid fluidity of cells of arterial and venous tissue, what suggests the presence of biological activity in flavonoid metabolites. One of the mechanisms of increasing the resistance of arterial and venous vessels under the action of flavonoid substances is an increase in the lipid fluidity of cell membranes of these vessels, which reduces the fragility of blood vessels and increases their flexibility and elasticity. The apparent contradiction between the rapid metabolism of many flavonoids in animals and the prolonged pharmacological action can be explained by the capability of their metabolites, such as chalcone, to increase the lipid fluidity of vascular cell membranes, changing their resistance to external influences. Reducing the fragility of the pulmonary vessels and increasing their flexibility and elasticity can have a positive effect on a human body in the fight against coronavirus.

German-Algerian Relations by the Early 2020s in the Context of the Germany’s Regional Policy: Political and Military Aspects

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a noticeable increase in German efforts to ensure security in the Mediterranean Sea. This is part of the growing activities to ensure a strong strategic position in North and West Africa, including the settlement of existing armed conflicts here as sources of threats to instability for Germany and its EU partners. Consequently, Germany found itself increasingly interested in finding reliable strategic partners, one of which is Algeria, which makes the topic of this article relevant. The purpose of the study is to examine bilateral security and defense relations with a special focus on the second half of the 2010s and early 2020s with the help of comparative and event-analysis. Having an applied character, this topic has not yet found detailed coverage in the works of both domestic and foreign, especially German, researchers. The historic background of the German-Algerian dialogue is presented. The growth of high-level contacts in the second half of the 2010s is shown, with Germany having to focus on negotiations with the frequently changing figure of the Algerian prime minister. The article also explores the constraints for the cooperation of German and Algerian armed forces on land and sea, as well as the dynamics of military-technical cooperation. The bilateral cooperation in the resolution of the armed conflict in Mali, first of all, in its northern region (Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu) is considered. The political and diplomatic cooperation on the Libyan track in the middle and second half of the 2010s, as well as shortly after the Berlin Conference on Libya in January 2020, is revealed. In the early 2020s, there was a sharp decline in the intensity and volume of bilateral cooperation in almost all areas. In addition to COVID-19, the importance of domestic political factors and the temporary decline in the practical value of the partnership in Libya and Mali for Germany are stressed. A forecast of the dynamics of bilateral relations is finally given.

Russian obstetric-gynecologic school in elaboration of the endometriosis problem

The problem of endometriosis has been widely discussed over the past century in the medical literature, at conferences, congresses and symposia. She still worries doctors and patients. It should be noted that there has been a noticeable increase in interest in endometriosis not only among obstetricians-gynecologists, but also among surgeons, oncologists, urologists, radiologists, pediatricians and other doctors.

Pathogen profile of urinary tract infections in Nephrology Unit

Introduction. Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common types of infection in both hospitalized and outpatient settings. The etiology is mostly bacterial, and the typical causative agent is uropathogenic Escherichia coli. There is a noticeable increase in drug resistance of pathogenic microorganisms. The aim of the study was retrospective analyses of etiological agents of UTI and their antibiotic resistance patterns in Nephrology Unit patients. Material and methods. An infection was diagnosed based on the patient’s symptoms and positive results of urine culture, carried out over 26 months. The clinical material was tested by using the VITEK system, the drug susceptibility of the emerged pathogens was identified. Results. The most common etiological agents of UTI were Gram-negative rods: Escherichia coli (51.23%), Klebsiella spp. (19.3%) and Proteus spp. (13.68%). The analysis of drug resistance profiles of these pathogens showed a high percentage of strains resistant to broad-spectrum penicillins and fluoroquinolones. At the same time, it seems that E. coli isolates presented the most favorable pattern of drug susceptibility in this comparison. Conclusions. The alarming tendency of increasing drug resistance among pathogens causing UTIs to antibiotics such as penicillins or fluoroquinolones prompts a careful choice of drugs in empirical therapies. The most appropriate practice in this regard seems to be meticulous control of nosocomial infections and making therapeutic decisions based on the knowledge of local microbiological data.

Influence of cenosphere on CAI strength of glass epoxy laminate

Under controlled lab settings, two distinct laminates, one containing cenosphere and the other with neat resin, were evaluated for impact using a Fractovis impact machine, compression testing, and compression after impact tests (CAI) with a Tinus Olsen UTM. The GFRP laminates were made by hand lay-up method with 16 layers of glass fiber in 4.7±0.2 mm thickness and combined with epoxy resin reinforced Cenospheres at concentrations of 1, 3 and 5 wt. %, according to ASTM specifications. The dominant failure mode controlling the specimen's compression ultimate load resistance, and other failure modes of impacted specimens such like fiber pull-out and debonding, were found to be the effects of delamination using coupled acoustic emission (AE) monitoring and compression tests. On specimens with a 3 wt. % filler additive, there was a noticeable increase in strength. Both impacted and non-impacted samples exhibited significant compression ultimate load resistances, with the 3 wt. % filler impregnated specimen having the maximum.

R-Process with Magnetized Nuclei at Dynamo-Explosive Supernovae and Neutron Star Mergers

Nucleosynthesis at latge magnetic induction levels relevant to core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers is considered. For respective magnetic fields of a strength up to ten teratesla, atomic nuclei exhibit a linear magnetic response due to the Zeeman effect. Such nuclear reactivity can be described in terms of magnetic susceptibility. Susceptibility maxima correspond to half-filled shells. The neutron component rises linearly with increasing shell angular momentum, while the contribution of protons grows quadratically due to considerable income from orbital magnetization. For a case j = l + 1/2, the proton contribution makes tens of nuclear magnetons and significantly exceeds the neutron values which give several units. In a case j = l − 1/2, the proton component is almost zero up to the g shell. A noticeable increase in the generation of corresponding explosive nucleosynthetic products with antimagic numbers is predicted for nuclei at charge freezing conditions. In the iron group region, new seeds are also created for the r-process. In particular, the magnetic enhancement of the volume of 44Ti isotopes is consistent with results from observations and indicates the substantial increase in the abundance of the main titanium isotope (48Ti) in the Galaxy’s chemical composition. Magnetic effects are proven to result in a shift of the r-process path towards smaller mass numbers, as well as an increase in the volume of low-mass nuclides in peaks of the r-process nuclei.

Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in the Context of Changing Regional Geopolitics

The article analyzes the changes in the South Caucasus associated with the results of the Armenian-Azerbaijani hostilities in the fall of 2020. According to the author, a radical breakdown of the geopolitical configuration of the region took place. The long-term ethnopolitical conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a thing of the past, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Republic of Artsakh) practically ceased to exist. For the first time in 30 years, Russian peacekeepers have returned to these lands. The role of Turkey, a longtime arbiter of Caucasian affairs, has been revived. An end has been put in the most important of the interethnic conflicts that have destroyed the USSR since the late 1980s. And it was Russia who did it.As a result, each of the two republics controls only its internationally recognized territories, while Karabakh continues to exist de facto under the control of Russian peacekeepers. The decisiveness of V. Putin, who took upon himself the rescue of the civilian population and the settlement of the conflict, his ability to “persuade” irreconcilable enemies to stop the war and agree with the subsequent “peacekeeping intervention” contributed to a noticeable increase in Russia’s prestige in the region. However, the role of an independent arbiter capable of solving “insoluble” problems is impossible without strong political, legal, economic and military positions in the region. Therefore, the expansion of the Russian presence in the Transcaucasus is a factor of strategic importance that meets the national interests of Russia. The author believes that given the dismissive and consumerist attitude of the ruling elite of Armenia towards Russia, the time has come to adjust the choice of strategic partners in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan is actively cooperating with Russia in key areas of world politics. One of the examples is the creation on the initiative of I. Aliyev of new formats of trilateral diplomacy in the composition of Azerbaijan-Turkey-Russia and Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia. An equally significant example is cooperation with Baku within the framework of the “Caspian Five”.Taking into account the specifics of the “multi-vector” nature of the South Caucasian states, it is advisable to conduct constant monitoring of Russian approaches to relations with them from the point of view of equal and pragmatic cooperation. This will make it possible to avoid that the resulting vacuum will be occupied by other powers that have been making themselves known more and more in recent years. Therefore, it is vitally important for Moscow that the authorities of the South Caucasus take into account its political interests.