Halo current rotation scaling in post-disruption plasmas

Halo current (HC) rotation during disruptions can be potentially dangerous if resonant with the structures surrounding a tokamak plasma. We propose a drift-frequency-based scaling law for the rotation frequency of the asymmetric component of the HC as a function of toroidal field strength and plasma minor radius (frot ∝ 1/BT a2 ). This scaling law is consistent with results reported for many tokamaks and is motivated by the faster HC rotation observed in the HBT-EP tokamak. Projection of the rotation frequency to ITER and SPARC parameters suggest the asymmetric HC rotation will be on the order of 10 Hz and 60 Hz, respectively.

Offsets in the geomagnetic indices of the magnetospheric ring current

The paper considers changes in the daily average values of the Dst, SYM-H, ASY-H, and ASY-D indices and their dependence on the level of magnetic disturbance for the period 1981–2016. These indices are geomagnetic characteristics of the magnetospheric ring current. It has been established that the indices of the asymmetric component of the ring current ASY-H and ASY-D during relatively magnetically quiet periods are not equal to zero. The values of the offsets in the dependences of the ASY-H and ASY-D indices on the level of magnetic disturbance have been determined. The behavior of the index of the degree of symmetry of the ring current, the ratio SYM-H / ASY-H, is analyzed during the year at different levels of disturbance. This ratio has been found to grow in absolute value with increasing disturbance and to exceed 1 at large disturbances (at Dst <–50).

Offsets in the geomagnetic indices of the magnetospheric ring current

The paper considers changes in the daily average values of the Dst, SYM-H, ASY-H, and ASY-D indices and their dependence on the level of magnetic disturbance for the period 1981–2016. These indices are geomagnetic characteristics of the magnetospheric ring current. It has been established that the indices of the asymmetric component of the ring current ASY-H and ASY-D during relatively magnetically quiet periods are not equal to zero. The values of the offsets in the dependences of the ASY-H and ASY-D indices on the level of magnetic disturbance have been determined. The behavior of the index of the degree of symmetry of the ring current, the ratio SYM-H / ASY-H, is analyzed during the year at different levels of disturbance. This ratio has been found to grow in absolute value with increasing disturbance and to exceed 1 at large disturbances (at Dst <–50).

Continuous attractors for dynamic memories

Episodic memory has a dynamic nature: when we recall past episodes, we retrieve not only their content, but also their temporal structure. The phenomenon of replay, in the hippocampus of mammals, offers a remarkable example of this temporal dynamics. However, most quantitative models of memory treat memories as static configurations, neglecting the temporal unfolding of the retrieval process. Here, we introduce a continuous attractor network model with a memory-dependent asymmetric component in the synaptic connectivity, which spontaneously breaks the equilibrium of the memory configurations and produces dynamic retrieval. The detailed analysis of the model with analytical calculations and numerical simulations shows that it can robustly retrieve multiple dynamical memories, and that this feature is largely independent of the details of its implementation. By calculating the storage capacity, we show that the dynamic component does not impair memory capacity, and can even enhance it in certain regimes.

Correlation between Dielectric Loss and Partial Discharge of Oil-Pressboard Insulation

Dielectric loss tand and partial discharge (PD) are important indicators for status assessment of oil-pressboard insulation. The correlation characteristics between these two parameters has significance for understanding the material’s degradation and helps to eliminate the information asymmetry for diagnostics. In this paper, the symmetric experimental platform is set up to measure the dielectric loss tand and PD for oil-pressboard insulation following the designed testing procedure consisted of raised and rested voltages. Three sets of samples with different water content were tested. The variation mechanism of tand with voltage is explained by proposed equivalent circuit, which introduced an asymmetric component representing defect part. PDs are found to be symmetric in the sinusoidal voltage cycles and their statistical parameters are calculated. Besides, the correlation between dielectric loss difference from raised voltage to rested voltage and PD is researched. Strong correlation is observed between dielectric loss and PD, which offers degradation insight for oil-pressboard insulation and helps to eliminate information asymmetry for material status diagnostics.

Continuous attractors for dynamic memories

Episodic memory has a dynamic nature: when we recall past episodes, we retrieve not only their content, but also their temporal structure. The phenomenon of replay, in the hippocampus of mammals, offers a remarkable example of this temporal dynamics. However, most quantitative models of memory treat memories as static configurations, neglecting the temporal unfolding of the retrieval process. Here we introduce a continuous attractor network model with a memory-dependent asymmetric component in the synaptic connectivity, that spontaneously breaks the equilibrium of the memory configurations and produces dynamic retrieval. The detailed analysis of the model with analytical calculations and numerical simulations shows that it can robustly retrieve multiple dynamical memories, and that this feature is largely independent on the details of its implementation. By calculating the storage capacity we show that the dynamic component does not impair memory capacity, and can even enhance it in certain regimes.

Sensitivity of Surface Temperature to Oceanic Forcing via q-Flux Green’s Function Experiments. Part III: Asymmetric Response to Warming and Cooling

Climate response is often assumed to be linear in climate sensitivity studies. However, by examining the surface temperature (TS) response to pairs of oceanic forcings of equal amplitude but opposite sign in a large set of local q-flux perturbation experiments with CAM5 coupled to a slab, we find strong asymmetry in TS responses to the heating and cooling forcings, indicating a strong nonlinearity intrinsic to the climate system examined. Regardless of where the symmetric forcing is placed, the cooling response to the negative forcing always exceeds the warming to the positive forcing, implying an intrinsic inclination toward cooling of our current climate. Thus, the ongoing global warming induced by increasing greenhouse gases may have already been alleviated by the asymmetric component of the response. The common asymmetry in TS response peaks in high latitudes, especially along sea ice edges, with notable seasonal dependence. Decomposition into different radiative feedbacks through a radiative kernel indicates that the asymmetry in the TS response is realized largely through lapse rate and albedo feedbacks. Further process interference experiments disabling the seasonal cycle and/or sea ice reveal that the asymmetry originates ultimately from the presence of the sea ice component and is further amplified by the seasonal cycle. The fact that a pair of opposite tropical q-flux forcings can excite very similar asymmetric response as a pair placed at 55°S strongly suggests the asymmetric response is a manifestation of an internal mode of the climate model system.

A Case of Neonatal Seizures With an Unusual Electroclinical Pattern

Benign familial neonatal epilepsy is a syndrome characterized by recurrent seizures occurring in the neonatal period. Seizures commonly begin at day 3 of life and usually abate by 1 to 4 months of life. Seizures are usually described as tonic with an asymmetric component with associated autonomic features. The authors report a newborn presenting with an unusual electroclinical phenotype. The electroencephalogram demonstrated an unusual pattern of electrical attenuation at the onset of seizures. Identification of these features is important for early recognition of this neonatal syndrome, as well as initiation of proper therapy.

Forecasting of SYMH and ASYH indices for geomagnetic storms of solar cycle 24 including St. Patrick’s day, 2015 storm using NARX neural network

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has proven to be very successful in forecasting a variety of irregular magnetospheric/ionospheric processes like geomagnetic storms and substorms. SYMH and ASYH indices represent longitudinal symmetric and the asymmetric component of the ring current. Here, an attempt is made to develop a prediction model for these indices using ANN. The ring current state depends on its past conditions therefore, it is necessary to consider its history for prediction. To account for this effect Nonlinear Autoregressive Network with exogenous inputs (NARX) is implemented. This network considers input history of 30 min and output feedback of 120 min. Solar wind parameters mainly velocity, density, and interplanetary magnetic field are used as inputs. SYMH and ASYH indices during geomagnetic storms of 1998–2013, having minimum SYMH < −85 nT are used as the target for training two independent networks. We present the prediction of SYMH and ASYH indices during nine geomagnetic storms of solar cycle 24 including the recent largest storm occurred on St. Patrick’s day, 2015. The present prediction model reproduces the entire time profile of SYMH and ASYH indices along with small variations of ∼10–30 min to the good extent within noise level, indicating a significant contribution of interplanetary sources and past state of the magnetosphere. Therefore, the developed networks can predict SYMH and ASYH indices about an hour before, provided, real-time upstream solar wind data are available. However, during the main phase of major storms, residuals (observed-modeled) are found to be large, suggesting the influence of internal factors such as magnetospheric processes.

The effects of skeletal asymmetry on interpreting biologic variation and taphonomy in the fossil record

Biologic asymmetry is present in all bilaterally symmetric organisms as a result of normal developmental instability. However, fossilized organisms, which have undergone distortion due to burial, may have additional asymmetry as a result of taphonomic processes. To investigate this issue, we evaluated the magnitude of shape variation resulting from taphonomy on vertebrate bone using a novel application of fluctuating asymmetry. We quantified the amount of total variance attributed to asymmetry in a taphonomically distorted fossil taxon and compared it with that of three extant taxa. The fossil taxon had an average of 27% higher asymmetry than the extant taxa. In spite of the high amount of taphonomic input, the major axes of shape variation were not greatly altered by removal of the asymmetric component of shape variation. This presents the possibility that either underlying biologic trends drive the principal directions of shape change irrespective of asymmetric taphonomic distortion or that the symmetric taphonomic component is large enough that removing only the asymmetric component is inadequate to restore fossil shape. Our study is the first to present quantitative data on the relative magnitude of taphonomic shape change and presents a new method to further explore how taphonomic processes impact our interpretation of the fossil record.