(Press-News.org) Researchers at the University of Warwick's Centre for Fusion Space and Astrophysics and the UK Atomic Energy Authority's Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, may have found a way to channel the flux and fury of a nuclear fusion plasma into a means to help sustain the electric current needed to contain that very same fusion plasma.
The researchers used large scale computer simulations to confirm a longstanding prediction by US researchers that high energy alpha particles born in fusion reactions will be key to generating fusion power in the next planned generation of tokamaks.
The Warwick and Culham researchers were modelling the interaction of particular types of waves with alpha particles in a fusion plasma when they found that an expected type of wave was forming naturally within the plasma and that it was quickly growing in strength. As the simulation progressed the wave began to transfer energy from alpha particles to make an electric current which could help confine the plasma.
This particular type of waves, LH (lower hybrid) waves, are in fact often used by fusion researchers to generate the electric current required to confine and control the plasma – but these waves are usually generated externally to the plasma and channelled into it to create the current. The Warwick researchers' model suggests that in fact these waves will occur naturally in the plasmas of fusion reactors and in doing so may be able to help exploit the energy of alpha particles. This would open up far more efficient methods of creating and sustaining the current needed to confine the plasma and could provide a mechanism that would confirm earlier predictions by US researchers, that the energy of Alpha particles would be key to the development of fusion energy.
This work was only possible using the recently commissioned large scale computing facilities at the University of Warwick supported by EPSRC, in particular for theoretical work supporting fusion energy generation.
University of Warwick researcher Professor Sandra Chapman said:
"These large scale computer simulations capture the plasma dynamics in unprecedented detail and have opened up an exciting new area."
INFORMATION:
The research paper entitled : Electron Current Drive by Fusion-Product-Excited Lower Hybrid Drift Instability has just been published in Physical Review Letters and is by J. W. S. Cook and Professor Sandra Chapman at the Centre for Fusion Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Warwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom; and Professor R. O. Dendy of Euratom/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
This work is part of a significant initiative funded by the EPSRC (The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) to support the science underpinning fusion energy in the UK.
For further Information please contact:
Professor Sandra Chapman
Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics
Department of Physics
University of Warwick
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/cfsa
S.C.Chapman@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)2476 523390
Peter Dunn, Head of Communications
University of Warwick +44(0)2476 523708
or mobile/cell +44(0)7767 655860
p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk
twitter: @peterjdunn
HOUSTON - (Jan. 10, 2011) – All fat cells are not the same – a fact that has implications in the understanding and treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in a report that appears in the current issue of the Journal of Cell Biology (http://www.jcb.rupress.org/).
The amount of fat in each cell and the central transcription factor, PPAR gamma (peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma), can vary widely, but the fat cells (adipocytes) can maintain stable levels of master switches known as steroid receptor ...
A new study found that there is a serious increased risk of side effects requiring hospitalization in people over the age of 65 who are going through latent tuberculosis infection therapy, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091824.pdf.
Latent tuberculosis therapy has been shown to reduce the development of active tuberculosis (TB) disease and is used as a way to control tuberculosis in Canada and the United States. Deciding to treat a person with latent tuberculosis therapy ...
While the evidence is incomplete there is enough available to support legislation against letting people smoke in cars with children, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100903.pdf.
This analysis was conducted to settle the matter of risk to children when in a car with second-hand smoke. The authors also wanted to show that although smoking in cars is not 23 times more toxic in a car than in a home it can still be very harmful to children.
"We hope to show that, though the relevant data ...
The use of recombinant activated factor 7 (rFVIIa) despite its potential for adverse events displays the serious shortcomings of Canada's current drug surveillance system, according to a commentary published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj101842.pdf.
Off-label use of this therapy — a blood product — was driven by key physician opinion leaders who thought recombinant factor VIIa could be used to treat or prevent bleeding in patients without hemophilia at risk of death. This shows how promising case ...
A paper published online on January 10 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine reports that retinal ganglion cells—neurons in the eye—are rescued by immune cells that infiltrate the mouse retina after eye injury.
A group led by Michal Schwartz at the Weizmann Institute detected immune cells called macrophages in the retinas of mice that sustained eye injuries a few days prior. Thanks to their expression of an anti-inflammatory protein, these macrophages dampened injury-induced inflammation and protected the retinal ganglion cells from death. Macrophage arrival also awakened ...
Spending too much leisure time in front of a TV or computer screen appears to dramatically increase the risk for heart disease and premature death from any cause, perhaps regardless of how much exercise one gets, according to a new study published in the January 18, 2011, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Data show that compared to people who spend less than two hours each day on screen-based entertainment like watching TV, using the computer or playing video games, those who devote more than four hours to these activities are more than twice as ...
A team of scientists has created particles that closely mirror some of the key properties of red blood cells, potentially helping pave the way for the development of synthetic blood.
The new discovery – outlined in a study appearing in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of Jan. 10, 2011 – also could lead to more effective treatments for life threatening medical conditions such as cancer.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers used technology known as PRINT (Particle Replication in Non-wetting ...
TITLE:
A microRNA-dependent program controls p53-independent survival and chemosensitivity in human and murine squamous cell carcinoma
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Leif Ellisen
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA
Phone: (617)726-4315; Fax: (617)726-8623; E-mail: ellisen@helix.mgh.harvard.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/43897?key=34ca4a64f929de6d5fea
END ...
TITLE:
Generation of hyaline cartilaginous tissue from mouse adult dermal fibroblast culture by defined factors
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Noriyuki Tsumaki
Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, UNK, JPN
Phone: +81-6-6879-3552; Fax: +81-6-6879-3559; E-mail: ntsumaki@dbcb.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/44605?key=631d5aff983c237cf1dc
END ...
EDITOR'S PICK
Cancer cell survival is not miR-ly dependent on p53
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a common type of skin cancer and remains one of the most resistant to available chemotherapies. Many cancer therapeutic strategies are directed at restoring the function of the tumor suppressor gene p53, because when active, cells are more sensitive to the DNA damage induced by chemotherapy. Other proteins related to p53, including p63 and p73, have also been implicated in cancer and cell sensitivity to chemotherapy. Both p63 and p73 are overexpressed in SCC, and are thought ...
