MARIA Reactor Irradiation Technology Capabilities towards Advanced Applications

The MARIA research reactor is designed and operated as a multipurpose nuclear installation, combining material testing, neutron beam experiments, and medical and industrial radionuclide production, including molybdenum-99 (99Mo). Recently, after fuel conversion to LEU and rejuvenation of the staff while maintaining their experience, MARIA has been used to respond to the increased interest of the scientific community in advanced nuclear power studies, both fission and fusion. In this work, we would like to introduce MARIA’ s capabilities in the irradiation technology field and how it can serve future nuclear research worldwide.

Temporal variability in quantitative human gut microbiome profiles and implications for clinical research

While clinical gut microbiota research is ever-expanding, extending reference knowledge of healthy between- and within-subject gut microbiota variation and its drivers remains essential; in particular, temporal variability is under-explored, and a comparison with cross-sectional variation is missing. Here, we perform daily quantitative microbiome profiling on 713 fecal samples from 20 Belgian women over six weeks, combined with extensive anthropometric measurements, blood panels, dietary data, and stool characteristics. We show substantial temporal variation for most major gut genera; we find that for 78% of microbial genera, day-to-day absolute abundance variation is substantially larger within than between individuals, with up to 100-fold shifts over the study period. Diversity, and especially evenness indicators also fluctuate substantially. Relative abundance profiles show similar but less pronounced temporal variation. Stool moisture, and to a lesser extent diet, are the only significant host covariates of temporal microbiota variation, while menstrual cycle parameters did not show significant effects. We find that the dysbiotic Bact2 enterotype shows increased between- and within-subject compositional variability. Our results suggest that to increase diagnostic as well as target discovery power, studies could adopt a repeated measurement design and/or focus analysis on community-wide microbiome descriptors and indices.

9. Monopolies and the abuse of market power

‘Monopolies and the abuse of market power’ studies monopolies and the abuse of market power. The first step in applying competition law to misuse of market power is the identification of such power. How powerful should you be to be deemed to have market power that could trigger antitrust intervention? Many jurisdictions will use the benchmark of ‘dominant position’, some will use ‘monopoly power’ or ‘monopolization’, while others may focus on the presence of ‘superior bargaining position’. There is a difference in approach between the US and EU competition laws which can be seen through several categories of abuse and monopolization, including predatory pricing, excessive pricing, and refusal to supply or license.

The foundation and development of International Relations in Brazil

This article aims to contribute to the critical understanding of how International Relations (IR) was built as a social science field within Brazil's modern project. I argue that the foundation and the development of IR in Brazil in the twentieth century is closely associated with foreign policy, on the one hand, and with the national geopolitical thinking, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War, on the other. In its trajectory, Brazil's IR has been influenced, among others, by the analysis of domestic and systemic determinants of foreign policy, historical interpretations, the study of the components of state power, studies of diplomacy and its contribution to the country's development, the analysis of decision-making processes and to a lesser extent, cognitive approaches. This article is organised around three sections. First, I present a brief history of the geopolitical tradition in Brazil's IR. Second, I discuss IR development in Brazil, stressing the role of diplomats, the key contribution of intellectuals coming from social and human sciences, and finally the emergence of the first generations of IR scholars in the eighties. Third, I analyse the institutionalisation of the field, its quantitative and qualitative growth, presenting some data on its organisation in recent times.

The RAF Staff College in the Interwar Years

This chapter traces the RAF's emphasis since the mid-1970s on the conceptual component of air power, discussing among other themes the creation of the Director of Defence Studies and the Royal Air Force Centre for Air and Space Power Studies. Further it describes the aims and benefits of the integration of university faculty into upper level air force education courses and the equally productive placement of selected RAF officers in a range of academic programs in first ranked UK universities where the mix with civilian students provides additional benefits. These 'CAS fellowships' have produced, say the authors, 300 officers with unique perspectives which guarantee that RAF servicemen and women deliver quality intellectual input into questions of national security, ensuring that matters of air and space power are authoritatively articulated.

CART-WHEEL.org: An Ethically Approved Online Database for Patient-Entered Data to Facilitate Rare Cancer Research

PURPOSE Rare cancers are challenging for researchers, as clinicians and scientists have difficulty recruiting sufficient patient cases to power studies appropriately. Likewise, patients often are frustrated by a lack of specific information or evidence base for their cancer and, although eager to participate in research, have limited opportunities. We established CART-WHEEL.org, an online patient-entered database, to directly engage patients in the research process, collect rare cancer data, and facilitate their entry into additional research. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients access CART-WHEEL.org directly online. Clinical information is collected from users via a streamlined questionnaire developed collaboratively with consumer groups to ensure accessibility and relevance. Data collected include the following: patient demographics, comorbidities, and risk factors and tumor diagnostic, biomarker, and treatment history. Patients can download a medical summary for personal use; consent for research use of data; and indicate willingness to be contacted about other research or clinical trials. We describe data collected to date and its validation, and we provide examples of how CART-WHEEL.org can facilitate rare cancer research. RESULTS From January 2010 to March 2018, 558 patients provided consent and entered their rare cancer data. One hundred distinct rare tumor types and patients from 22 countries were included. Validation of data entered by 21 patients with sarcoma against a hospital database demonstrated accuracy sufficient to facilitate future research in key fields, such as tumor site (95%) and histopathologic diagnosis (90%). Examples of CART-WHEEL–based disease-specific projects, subsequent recruitment to other rare cancer projects, and rare cancer patient cases of interest are described. CONCLUSIONS Online platforms like CART-WHEEL.org can engage consumers directly, facilitating collection of patient-entered rare cancer data for hypothesis generation, and connect patients with researchers to enable specific rare cancer research and clinical trials.

Emulation Methodology of Programmable Logic Controllers for Cybersecurity Applications

A programmable logic controller (PLC) emulation methodology can dramatically reduce the cost of high-fidelity operational technology (OT) network emulation without compromising specific functionality. A PLC emulation methodology is developed as part of an ongoing effort at the University of New Mexico’s Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies (UNM-ISNPS) in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to develop an emulytic™ platform to support cybersecurity analyses of the instrumentation and control (I&C) systems of pressurized water reactors (PWRs). This methodology identifies and characterizes key physical and digital signatures of interest. The obtained and displayed digital signatures include the network response, traffic, and software version, while the selected physical signatures include the actuation response time and sampling time. An extensive validation analysis is performed to characterize the signatures of the real, hardware-based PLC and the emulated PLC. These signatures are then compared to quantify differences and identify optimum settings for the emulation fidelity.