Overview of the OECD NEA Data Bank Activities

E. Dupont,J. Galan,J. Gulliford,C. Nordborg,Y. Rugama 한국물리학회 2011 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.59 No.23

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Data Bank operates as an international centre of reference for its member countries with respect to basic tools, such as computer codes and data, for use in different nuclear applications. The NEA Data Bank, as part of an international network of data centres, maintains large databases containing experimental (EXFOR), bibliographic (CINDA), and evaluated (EVA) nuclear data, and makes them available online via its website or via the JANIS display program. As part of its responsibilities, the Data Bank is also in charge of the compilation, verification, and distribution of the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) library. In addition, the Data Bank provides a service to its users by collecting, validating and making available upon request computer codes and associated application data libraries in many different areas relevant to the nuclear field. As part of its knowledge preservation activities, large collections of integral benchmark experiments for data and code validation are also available in areas such as criticality safety (ICSBEP), reactor physics (IRPhE), fuel performance (IFPE), and radiation shielding (SINBAD). Finally, the Data Bank coordinates the development and distribution of a database of recommended chemical thermodynamic data (TDB) for radioactive waste management applications. The Data Bank provides also support to other NEA divisions, a major part of this support is allocated to the NEA Science programme.

Elastic Stability of Concentric Tube Robots Subject to External Loads

Ha, Junhyoung,Park, Frank C.,Dupont, Pierre E. IEEE 2016 IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering Vol.63 No.6

<P>Concentric tube robots, which are comprised of precurved elastic tubes that are concentrically arranged, are being developed for many medical interventions. The shape of the robot is determined by the rotation and translation of the tubes relative to each other, and also by any external forces applied by the environment. As the tubes rotate and translate relative to each other, elastic potential energy caused by tube bending and twisting can accumulate; if a configuration is not locally elastically stable, then a dangerous snapping motion may occur as energy is suddenly released. External loads on the robot also influence elastic stability. In this paper, we provide a second-order sufficient condition, and also a separate necessary condition, for elastic stability. Using methods of optimal control theory, we show that these conditions apply to general concentric tube robot designs subject to arbitrary conservative external loads. They can be used to assess the stability of candidate robot configurations. Our results are validated via comparison with other known stability criteria, and their utility is demonstrated by an application to stable path planning.</P>

Optimizing Tube Precurvature to Enhance the Elastic Stability of Concentric Tube Robots

Ha, Junhyoung,Park, Frank C.,Dupont, Pierre E. IEEE 2017 IEEE transactions on robotics Vol.33 No.1

<P>Robotic instruments based on concentric tube technology are well suited to minimally invasive surgery since they are slender, can navigate inside small cavities, and can reach around sensitive tissues by taking on shapes of varying curvatures. Elastic instabilities can arise, however, when rotating one precurved tube inside another. In contrast to prior work that considered only tubes of piecewise constant precurvature, we allow precurvature to vary along the tube's arc length. Stability conditions for a planar tube pair are derived and used to formulate an optimal design problem. An analytic formulation of the optimal precurvature function is derived, which achieves a desired tip orientation range while maximizing stability and respecting bending strain limits. This formulation also includes straight transmission segments at the proximal ends of the tubes. The result, confirmed by both numerical and physical experiment, enables designs with enhanced stability in comparison to designs of constant precurvature.</P>

The Effects of a Korean Ginseng, GINST15, on Hypo-Pituitary-Adrenal and Oxidative Activity Induced by Intense Work Stress

Shawn D. Flanagan,William H. DuPont,Lydia K. Caldwell,Vincent H. Hardesty,Emily C. Barnhart,Matthew K. Beeler,Emily M. Post,Jeff S. Volek,William J. Kraemer 한국식품영양과학회 2018 Journal of medicinal food Vol.21 No.1

The effect of GINST15, an enzyme fermented ginseng supplement, on hormonal and inflammatory responses to physical stress in humans is unknown. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the constitutive and stress-induced effects of GINST15 supplement on hypo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and antioxidant activity in addition to muscle damage. Ten women (age: 38.7 ± 7.8 years; height: 163.81 ± 4.4 cm; body mass 76.0 ± 11.6 kg) and nine men (age: 41.2. ± 9.7 years; height: 177.4 ± 5.3 cm; body mass: 88.5 ± 5.0 kg) participated in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, counterbalanced within-group study. Participants completed three 14-day treatment cycles with different doses (high: 960 mg; low: 160 mg; placebo: 0 mg) separated by a 1-week washout period. At the end of treatment, physical stress was imposed with intense resistance exercise work stress. Participants provided blood at rest and various time points after exercise (immediately [IP], 30 min [30], 60 min [60], 24 h [+24HR]). Cortisol (CORT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total glutathione, nonspecific antioxidant activity, total antioxidant power (TAP), and creatine kinase were measured. GINST15 supplementation produced stress-inducible dose-dependent reductions in circulating cortisol and increased enzymatic and nonspecific antioxidant activity. Twenty-four hours after intense exercise, a high dose GINST15, a bioactive ginsenoside metabolite, significantly reduces muscle damage and HPA responses to physical stress in humans; these effects may result from increased antioxidant expression.

Status of the JEFF Nuclear Data Library

A. J. Koning,E. Bauge,C. J. Dean,E. Dupont,U. Fischer,R. A. Forrest,R. Jacqmin,H. Leeb,M. A. Kellett,R. W. Mills,C. Nordborg,M. Pescarini,Y. Rugama,P. Rullhusen 한국물리학회 2011 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.59 No.23

The status of the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion file (JEFF) is described. Recently, the JEFF-3.1.1 nuclear data library was released and shortly after adopted by the French nuclear power industry for inclusion in their production and analysis codes. Recent updates include actinide evaluations, materials evaluations that have emerged from various European nuclear data projects, the activation library, the decay data and fission yield sub-libraries, and fusion-related data files from the European F4E project. The revisions were motivated by the availability of new measurements, modelling capabilities and trends from integral experiments. Validations have been performed, mainly for criticality, reactivity temperature coefficients, fuel inventory, decay heat and shielding of thermal and fast systems. The next release of the library, JEFF-3.2, will be discussed. This will contain among others a significant increase of covariance data evaluations, modern evaluations for various structural materials, a larger emphasis on minor actinides and addition of high-quality gamma production data for many fission products.

The European Effort on the Evaluation and Validation of Nuclear Data for Fusion Technology Applications

U. Fischer,P. Batistoni,E. Dupont,R. A. Forrest,H. Hendrikson,J. Izquierdo,J. -C. Sublet 한국물리학회 2011 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.59 No.23

An overview is presented of the European Fusion File (EFF) and the European Activation File (EAF) efforts which aim at developing qualified nuclear data bases and validated computational tools for nuclear calculations of fusion systems tailored to the specific needs of the European fusion programme. The related tasks are conducted in the frame of the Fusion for Energy (F4E) work programme and are devoted to the evaluation, processing, testing and benchmarking of required nuclear cross section and uncertainty data, the development of computational tools for sensitivity/uncertainty calculations, and to conduct integral benchmark experiments exploiting also new measurement techniques. The data evaluations are integrated into the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion File (JEFF) after having passed a series of qualification tests including their validation through computational analyses of integral benchmark experiments.

Regulatory Function of a Malleable Protein Matrix as a Novel Fermented Whey Product on Features Defining the Metabolic Syndrome

J. Beaulieu,E. Millette,E. Trottier,L.-P. Pre´court,C. Dupont,P. Lemieux 한국식품영양과학회 2010 Journal of medicinal food Vol.13 No.3

Previously, we reported that a malleable protein matrix (MPM), composed of whey fermented by a proprietary Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens strain, has immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. MPM consumption leads to a considerable reduction in the cytokine and chemokine production (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6), thus lowering chronic inflammation or metaflammation. Inhibition of metaflammation should provide positive impact, particularly in the context of dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and hypertension. In this study, we investigated whether short-term MPM supplementation ameliorates those features of metabolic syndrome (MetS). The ability of MPM to potentially regulate triglyceride level, cholesterol level, blood glucose level, and hypertension was evaluated in different animal models. MPM lowers triglyceride level by 37% (P<.05) in a poloxamer 407 dyslipidemia-induced rat model. It also reduces total cholesterol by 18% (P<.05) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level by 32% (P<.05) and raises high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level by 17% (P<.01) in Syrian Golden hamsters fed a high fat/high cholesterol diet for 2 weeks. MPM reestablishes the fasting glucose insulin ratio index to normal levels (P=.07) in this latter model and lowers the plasma glucose level area under the curve (−10%, P=.09) in fructose-fed rats after 2 weeks of treatment. In spontaneously hypertensive rats, MPM-treated animals showed a reduction of SBP by at least 13% (P<.05) for 4 weeks. Results from this study suggest that MPM is a functional ingredient with beneficial effects on lipid metabolism, blood glucose control, and hypertension that might contribute to the management of MetS and thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.