Goethe University mainframe receives excellent Green IT Ranking

Business Announcement

GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT

FRANKFURT. Goethe University is boosting its particularly energy-efficient mainframe power within the framework of the National High-Performance Computing (NHR) South-West consortium. Official rankings show that "Goethe NHR" ranks second among Germany’s most energy-efficient mainframe computers, and holds sixth position nationally when it comes to speed. The mainframe is also a frontrunner in the worldwide "Green 500" ranking, where it stands at ninth place. The result is particularly remarkable considering the much lower investment volume compared to other mainframes, as well as the fact that both students and doctoral candidates have played and continue to play a vital role in the project’s success.

Goethe University has been a member of the NHR South-West consortium since October 2021. Set up at the suggestion of the Joint Science Conference of the federal and state governments (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz, GWK), the consortium also includes Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau technical university of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland University. Developed by Prof. Dr. Volker Lindenstruth, the technology for energy-saving high-performance computers already received financial support from the state of Hesse in the past, including one million euros from the Innovation Fund and 850,000 euros from the LOEWE research funding program [known by its German acronym, LOEWE stands for Hesse’s state offensive for the development of scientific and economic excellence].

"The updated ‘Goethe NHR’ strengthens our university’s position within the NHR network," says Lindenstruth, who heads Goethe University’s "Architecture of High-Performance Computers" working group. Lindenstruth is one of Germany's most renowned experts on the optimization and energy efficiency of mainframe computers. In the past 10 years, computers designed by him often held top positions in both national and international rankings of the most energy-efficient supercomputers, published every six months.

"By upgrading the former Goethe HLR computer to the significantly more powerful Goethe NHR, we are opening up new research possibilities for scientific users nationwide within the framework of the NHR South West consortium. The fact that we ended up building one of Germany’s most energy-efficient HPC computers is a particular highlight, especially considering the necessary transformation to sustainable systems and the high energy costs," says Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kollegger, professor of Green IT at Goethe University, and head of the Center for Scientific Computing, which operates the university’s HPC systems.

Goethe University President Prof. Dr. Enrico Schleiff congratulated Lindenstruth and Kollegger on their success in sustainably optimizing mainframes: "Thanks to the outstanding efforts of this work group, Goethe University is a pioneer in the field of green mainframes in Germany and beyond. It is remarkable how, time and again, Volker Lindenstruth and his team succeed in reaching top national and international rankings with the computers they design. When it comes to providing the most efficient and sustainably produced computing power for research, Goethe University is very well positioned – both within the NHR consortium and within Germany. Our partners in the NHR computing network also benefit from this unique knowhow. It's nice to see students and early career researchers involved in this success – further proof of the excellent work of this working group’s young scientists."  

The "Goethe NHR" mainframe computer, which Lindenstruth and his team have now significantly renewed, and which is located in the Frankfurt-Hoechst Industrial Park, is based on the tried and tested, but significantly refined intelligent networking and individual optimization technology of 880 AMD MI210 graphics cards. This allows powerful mainframes to be built in a particularly cost-effective and energy-efficient manner.

Facts and figures
Computing power: 9.087 PFlop/s with 105 nodes at 195.24 kW
Computing efficiency: 46.5 GigaFlops/W (floating point operations per watt of computing power per second)

Germany’s National High Performance Computing Alliance (Verbund des Nationalen Hochleistungsrechnen, NHR)
Powerful supercomputers are becoming increasingly important in science and research. Faced with handling complex and vast amounts of data, researchers across a wide range of disciplines are more dependent than ever on high-performance computers. Nowadays, a growing number of research questions, including in medicine, physics or chemistry, can only be answered using large computing capacities and intelligent applications. That is why, in 2018, the federal and state governments decided to establish a Germany-wide National High Performance Computing Alliance, tasked with bundling and further expanding the existing strengths of high-performance computing centers in a national network. The setting up of a coordinated alliance was a direct response to rising demand for high-performance computing, to enable university researchers across Germany to access the computing capacities they need, irrespective of their individual location and in line with their requirements.

The NHR also aims to further develop and better coordinate the specialized and methodological strengths of high-performance computing centers. At the same time, training courses and advanced training offered at the nine NHR centers will introduce more researchers to high-performance computing, strengthen the skills of high-performance computing systems’ users, and promote young talent with a view towards fully exploiting the potential of high-performance computing and strengthening Germany as a location for research and innovation. The NHR has been endowed with a total of 625 million euros over a 10-year funding period.

FUNGUY

Symbiotic and pathogenic fungi may use similar molecular tools to manipulate plants

Comparing plant pathogenic fungi and plant symbiotic fungi, scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) have discovered that these remote relatives are using a similar group of proteins to manipulate and live within plants

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

 

IMAGE: MODELS OF THE STRUCTURES OF FOLD PROTEINS FROM A PATHOGEN (BLUE) AND A SYMBIOTIC FUNGUS (ORANGE) SUPERIMPOSED ONTO EACH OTHER TO SHOW HOW SIMILAR THEY ARE. IMAGE BY ALBIN TEULET view more 

CREDIT: ALBIN TEULET

Symbiotic and pathogenic fungi that interact with plants are distantly related and don’t share many genetic similarities. Comparing plant pathogenic fungi and plant symbiotic fungi, scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) have discovered that these remote relatives are using a similar group of proteins to manipulate and live within plants.

Sebastian Schornack’s research team is working to identify and characterise new arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) effectors – proteins secreted by symbiotic AM fungi to facilitate colonisation of plant roots. As part of this they are also investigating whether pathogenic and symbiotic fungi are using similar or different strategies.

Using the AlphaFold2 AI computer programme that predicts protein structures, the team is the first to compare secreted proteins from symbiotic and pathogenic fungi. They found that symbiotic fungi encode the same family of proteins that pathogenic fungi use to interact with and colonise plants. The findings were published today in New Phytologist.

“There is a huge diversity in the genetic code of effector proteins in closely related microbes, so it is even more difficult to compare protein sequences between pathogens and symbionts that are more distantly related,” said Dr Albin Teulet, who is first author of the research. “Instead, we took advantage of the recent development of AlphaFold2 to do a comparison between the secreted protein structures from a symbiotic fungus and pathogenic fungus. This led to the discovery that there is a group of structurally very similar proteins previously known from pathogens that are also present – often in greater numbers – encoded in the genomes of symbiotic fungi.”

Plant-fungi relationships have a dramatic effect on plant health in natural ecosystems and agriculture – both positive and negative.  AM fungi are the most common symbiotic association of plants with microbes, colonising plant roots to promote nutrient uptake, enhance plant growth and even help fend off pathogens. While pathogenic fungi, such as strains of Fusarium oxysporum, are some of the world’s most devastating pathogens with a wide host range and are currently threatening to wipe-out Cavendish banana and oil palm plantations. Fusarium also has lent its name to the group of proteins the team have found: Fusarium oxysporum lycopersici dual-domain proteins (FOLDs).

The researchers classified all the proteins secreted by the symbiotic AM fungus Rhizophagus irregularis and identified a large family of FOLD-like effectors (MycFOLDs) with high structural similarity to the FOLD proteins produced by the Fusarium oxysporum pathogen.

FOLD effectors are only found in the genomes of fungi that form associations with living plants. This suggests that these proteins underpin universal mechanisms enabling both pathogens and symbiotic fungi to live within plants.

Dr Schornack said discovering that plant symbiotic and pathogenic fungi were using some of the same tools provided a new perspective on our understanding of fungal symbionts: “The apparently exclusive presence of FOLD/MycFOLDs across unrelated plant-colonising fungi supports the hypothesis that FOLD proteins act as effectors during plant colonisation of both symbiotic and pathogenic fungi.”

“If symbiotic and pathogenic fungi are using the same tools, this means devising ways to enhance AM relationships in crops might make the crops more susceptible to pathogens at the same time. However, these findings now open new questions for us to explore, such as why do symbiotic fungi have these proteins that pathogens also have and what do they actually do?”

Detection of gene activity of a FOLD gene (black spots) specifically in the structures formed by the symbiotic fungus Rhizophagus irregularis (labelled in yellow) within legume root cells. Image by Edouard Evangelisti.

CREDIT

Edouard Evangelisti

The fundamentals of plant-microbe interactions Understanding the similarity and diversity of effectors used by symbionts and pathogens is critical to understanding the fundamentals of plant-microbe interactions. The plant-pathogen relationship has been well studied with many of the effector proteins already known. However, less is known about plant-symbiont interactions, like those between plants and AM fungi. Plants that form beneficial relationships with symbiotic fungi control all stages of the colonisation – they can reject or expel colonisers if they deem the fungal colonisation not necessary, such as in soil environments with plentiful supplies of nutrients like phosphate. However, AM fungi are dependent on plant-produced nutrients and thus also have their own survival strategy, particularly in cases where the relationship is unwanted by the plant. During the infection process, pathogenic fungi supress their plant host’s immunity by secreting a cocktail of effector proteins. Even though symbiotic fungi are beneficial to plants, they too must communicate with the plant or overcome barriers to successfully colonise plant cells. Only a small number of effector proteins secreted by symbiotic AM fungi have been identified. The Schornack Team is working to uncover other effectors that play a role in the plant-symbiont relationship.

 

Funding

This research was funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Royal Society and by the European Research Council.

About the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU)

SLCU is a research institute funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation within the School of Biological Sciences. The Laboratory is focused on increasing understanding of the regulatory systems underlying plant growth and development. It brings together specialists in biological, physical, and mathematical sciences integrating a range of wet-lab experimental research with computational modelling. This interdisciplinary approach is essential for understanding the complex dynamic and self-organising properties of plants.

https://www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/

About New Phytologist

New Phytologist is a leading international journal focusing on high quality, original research across the broad spectrum of plant sciences, from intracellular processes through to global environmental change. The journal is owned by the New Phytologist Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of plant science.

https://www.newphytologist.org/

---

JOURNAL

New Phytologist

DOI

10.1111/nph.18996 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A pathogen effector FOLD diversified in symbiotic fungi. New Phytologist

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-May-2023

Fungus has a host of issues

KyotoU discovers how toxic fungi target specific host plants 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KYOTO UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: CUCUMBER LEAF, ALONG WITH MELON AND TENTH, ARE STUDIED FOR THE EFFECTOR PROTEINS EPC1 TO EPC4. view more 

CREDIT: KYOTOU TOBIYAMA/YOSHITAKA TAKANO

Kyoto, Japan -- While infectious fungal plant diseases relentlessly wreak havoc on many crops, they are also picky when choosing their hosts. Each fungus generally exhibits a specific host range, but the mechanism of this specificity has not been well understood.

Kyoto University researchers have now identified and categorized four fungal proteins called effectors responsible for suppressing host plant immunity from infection.

Phytopathogens are plant pathogenic fungi that secrete these effectors. As a result, the harmful fungus generally exhibits distinct host specificity when infecting plants, causing more than 70% of plant diseases.

According to the researchers, the four effector proteins named EPC1 to EPC4 in Colletotrichum orbiculare -- a phytopathogenic fungus -- establish specificity on a host cucumber. 

"The four effectors have very different amino acid sequences, suggesting that they work independently, but we need to continue analyzing the function of each effector to get a clearer picture," says lead author Yoshitaka Takano of KyotoU's Graduate School of Agriculture.

Takano's team used functional analysis -- targeted gene disruption -- on effector-like genes, which are highly expressed in six isolates of the inoculated pathogen. 

"We have just cracked open a peephole to understand how effectors of phytopathogenic fungi shape host specificity. Our growing knowledge may lead to new crop protection technologies."

Deletion of four genes (EPCI to EPC4) reduced pathogen virulence From left to right: cucumber host, melon host, and benth host

CREDIT

KyotoU/Yoshitaka Takano

The paper "Selective deployment of virulence effectors correlates with host specificity in a fungal plant pathogen" appeared on 20 March 2023 in New Phytologist, with doi: 10.1111/nph.18790

About Kyoto University

Kyoto University is one of Japan and Asia's premier research institutions, founded in 1897 and responsible for producing numerous Nobel laureates and winners of other prestigious international prizes. A broad curriculum across the arts and sciences at undergraduate and graduate levels complements several research centers, facilities, and offices around Japan and the world. For more information, please see: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en

---

JOURNAL

New Phytologist

DOI

10.1111/nph.18790 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Selective deployment of virulence effectors correlates with host specificity in a fungal plant pathogen

Integrating robotics into wildlife conservation: enhancing predator deterrents through innovative movement strategies

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PEERJ

The coexistence of wildlife and agricultural practices has long posed challenges for wildlife conservation, especially when conflicts arise. Livestock predation is a prime example of such conflicts, requiring effective management strategies that minimize human-wildlife conflict while preserving valuable agricultural resources. A new study published in PeerJ Life & Environment, titled "Integrating Robotics into Wildlife Conservation: Testing Improvements to Predator Deterrents through Movement," explores the integration of robotics and agricultural practices to develop more efficient predator deterrents.

The study capitalized on the concepts of robotics, specifically automated movement and adaptiveness, to enhance the effectiveness of predator deterrents. The researchers employed a model system using a colony of captive coyotes and simulated predation events with meat baits both inside and outside of protected zones. Inside the protected zones, the researchers utilized a cutting-edge, commercially available predator deterrent called the Foxlight, mounted on a remote-controlled vehicle. 

The study tested three deterrents: (1) light only, without movement or adaptiveness; (2) predetermined movement, with movement but without adaptiveness; and (3) adaptive movement, incorporating both movement and adaptiveness.

The survival of the baited meat was consistently higher inside the protected zones, and the three movement treatments demonstrated incremental improvements in survival time compared to the baseline, except for the light-only treatment in the non-protected zone. Incorporating predetermined movement effectively doubled the efficacy of the light-only treatment, both inside and outside the protected zone. Furthermore, the incorporation of adaptive movement exponentially increased the survival time of the baits, regardless of their location.

The findings of this study provide compelling evidence that integrating existing robotics capabilities, such as predetermined and adaptive movement, can significantly enhance the protection of agricultural resources and contribute to the development of nonlethal tools for managing wildlife. Moreover, the research emphasizes the importance of combining agricultural practices, such as spatial management of livestock at night, with innovative technologies to improve the efficacy of wildlife deterrents.

The study's findings have significant implications for wildlife conservation, as they highlight the importance of embracing technological advancements to address human-wildlife conflicts. The integration of robotics into agricultural practices offers a promising path towards sustainable coexistence and the preservation of biodiversity.

The study was carried out by researchers from the USDA National Wildlife Research Center, the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence at Colorado State University, The Society for the Preservation of Endangered Carnivores and their International Ecological Study, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, and Krebs Livestock.

 

---

JOURNAL

PeerJ

DOI

10.7717/peerj.15491 

ARTICLE TITLE

Integrating robotics into wildlife conservation: testing improvements to predator deterrents through movement

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Jun-2023

BU researchers identify several new genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease unique to Ashkenazi Jews

New study expands knowledge of the genetic architecture, biological pathways leading to AD

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

(Boston)—Alzheimer disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world, affects individuals of all races and ethnicities; however, most genetic research for AD has been performed on individuals of European ancestry (EA) with a limited number of large-scale genetic studies in other populations.

For many centuries, Ashkenazi Jews lived in communities in Eastern Europe and were genetically isolated from their non-Jewish neighbors. As a result, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine hypothesized that some AD susceptibility variants are more frequent, and thus more likely to show statistically significant associations, in this group compared to much larger and more genetically heterogeneous EA cohorts.

“Our study illustrates the greatly increased power for detection of genetic associations in communities like Ashkenazi Jews who trace their lineage to a relatively small group of ancestors. In such communities, disease-associated variants may be much more frequent compared to samples ascertained from large, mixed populations,” explained corresponding author Lindsay A. Farrer, PhD, chief of biomedical genetics.

Farrer and his colleagues conducted a genome-wide association study for AD in a sample of approximately 3,500 individuals whose ancestry was almost exclusively Ashkenazi Jewish including roughly equal numbers of persons with AD and cognitively normal individuals who were identified in a much larger group of EA participants in large national AD genetics studies using an approach that compared genetic signatures with members of an Ashkenazi Jewish reference sample. The researchers identified several genetic risk factors for AD including some previously known (APOE, TREM2) and several novel ones that are strong biological candidates (RAB3, SMAP2, ZNF890P, SPOCK3, GIPR).

According to the researchers, this study illustrates the greatly increased power for detection of genetic associations in communities like Ashkenazi Jews who trace their lineage to a relatively small group of ancestors. “Some genetic association signals for complex diseases like AD are likely to be stronger in founder populations that are relatively genetically homogeneous,” said Farrer.

Although some of the findings in Ashkenazi Jews were not observed in other populations because of the rarity or absence of these genetic variants in those groups, Farrer believes the contribution of the genes harboring these variants to AD biology is likely relevant to other major populations in the world. “Future studies focused on the AD-associated genes identified in this study may lead to the development of novel AD biomarkers and therapeutic targets,” he said.

These findings appear online in the publication Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

Funding for this study was provided by NIH grants R01-AG048927, U54-AG052427, U01-AG058654, U01-AG032984, RF1-AG057519, U01-AG062602, U19-AG068753, and P30-AG072878.

---

JOURNAL

Alzheimer s & Dementia

DOI

10.1002/alz.13117 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Novel loci for Alzheimer’s disease identified by a genome-wide association study in Ashkenazi Jews

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Jun-2023

 First soil map of terrestrial and blue carbon highlights need for conservation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CURTIN UNIVERSITY

New Curtin University research has identified the most carbon-rich soils in Australia are in areas that are most threatened by human activities and climate change, including Eucalypt and mangrove forests, and woodland and grassland areas that cover large parts of the country’s interior.

Lead researcher Dr Lewis Walden from Curtin’s Soil & Landscape Science in the School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the findings highlighted the need to protect key terrestrial and coastal marine ecosystems, which play an important contributing role in national strategies to mitigate climate change.

“Using multiscale machine learning, we mapped the carbon storage of soils across Australia and found the entire continent holds a total of 27.9 gigatonnes, or billion metric tonnes, of carbon in the top 30cm of the soil, which is equivalent to around 700 times Australia’s total annual electricity emissions,” Dr Walden said.

“Of this amount, 27.6 Gt of was in terrestrial ecosystems, with the remaining 0.35 Gt in coastal marine or ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems.

“We also found climate and vegetation were the main drivers of variations in carbon storage for the continent as a whole, while at a regional level this was determined by ecosystem type, the elevation and shape of the terrain, clay content, mineralogy and nutrients.

“Eucalypt and mangrove forests store the most carbon per unit area, but woodland and grasslands store more carbon in total, due to the vast areas across Australia they cover.”

Professor Raphael Viscarra Rossel, who leads Curtin’s Soil & Landscape Science Research Group said these carbon-rich ecosystems were known to be those most threatened by human activities and climate change.

“Our findings suggest these are essential ecosystems for conservation, preservation, emissions avoidance and nature-based climate change mitigation,” Professor Viscarra Rossel said.

“These ecosystems are important as sources of products and food, and in the case of blue carbon ecosystems for providing coastal protection against storm surges and erosion, and as fisheries habitats that provide breeding grounds and nurseries for many species of marine life.

“Understanding the variation and drivers of carbon storage will help manage those ecosystems better and inform national carbon inventories and environmental policy.”

Dr Walden is a Research Associate in Curtin’s Soil and Landscape Science Group.

Funding for the research was from the Australian Government’s Australia-China Science and Research Fund Joint Research Centre on ‘Next-generation soil carbon systems’.

The research used Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) infrastructure, which is enabled by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, and computational resources at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, which is funded by the Australian Government and the Government of Western Australia.

Digital maps of Soil Organic Carbon stocks are available for download via the TERN data portal.

Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the research is titled ‘Multi-scale mapping of Australia's terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers’.

---

JOURNAL

Communications Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43247-023-00838-x 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Multi-scale mapping of Australia's terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Jun-2023

Disclaimer: AAAS

Thorium-229: A new approach to investigation opens up a wide range of possibilities

International research team reveals in Physical Review Research how the first nuclear transition can be excited with lasers in the visible wavelength range

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITAET MAINZ

The thorium isotope with the mass number 229 (229Th) is highly exciting in many respects – for fundamental physics as well as for future applications, for example in the sense of a nuclear clock. An international German-Chinese-American research team with the participation of Prof. Dr. Dmitry Budker's group at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz has now proposed a completely new approach to study 229Th in detail. The researchers want to use thorium ions that have only three electrons left in their shell out of 90 present in a neutral atom. Such a system offers many advantages, the researchers report in the current issue of the journal Physical Review Research, most notably that the first nuclear transition can be excited with conventional lasers in the visible wavelength range. This, however, requires the ions to be circulating in a relativistic storage ring.

A test laboratory for new physics

What is special about thorium-229 is that its atomic nucleus, with the metastable isomeric state thorium-229m has by far the lowest excited energy level of all the approximately 3,800 atomic nuclei currently known. It is therefore the only nuclear transition that can potentially be interrogated with lasers – even without using storage rings. The extremely precise measurement of this transition and the two nuclear states opens up promising and diverse perspectives.

To this end, the researchers led by Dmitry Budker are now proposing a new approach – both in terms of the "object of study" and the experimental setting: they are using highly charged ions, or HCIs for short, specifically those in which there are only three electrons left in the electron shell. In such highly charged thorium ions, the interplay between the electron and the nucleus opens some new transitions that can be used to “populate” the nuclear isomeric state efficiently.  The idea is to accelerate these thorium ions to almost the speed of light in a particle accelerator. In this way, they develop a leverage effect, so to speak, in order to excite them as effectively as possible with a conventional laser and thus be able to study them very precisely. Most importantly, multiple excited states can be addressed and used to "populate" the isomeric state that is actually of interest.

Most previous studies of thorium-229m have dealt with non-relativistic atoms or ions in low charge states, which places high demands on the light source required for excitation – because an extremely short-wavelength laser in the deep ultraviolet range is needed. "The fact that we can use a laser in the visible – conventional – wavelength range instead makes spectroscopic studies easier," explains Dmitry Budker. "That this is possible at all is related to the fact that the thorium ions are accelerated to almost the speed of light. Due to relativistic effects, they perceive a laser beam directed at them from the front as a beam with a much shorter wavelength: for them, conventional laser light appears like a UV laser," adds first author Junlan Jin, currently a PhD student at Princeton University, who previously worked very closely and successfully with Dmitry Budker's group as part of a remote internship.

In the current publication, the authors describe the various steps required to realize their method: They start with the generation of an accelerated beam of highly charged thorium ions, with possible accelerator rings being at the FAIR facility under construction at GSI in Darmstadt, Germany, or the planned Gamma Factory at CERN – the authors of the current thorium publication are also involved in the conceptual proposals for the realization of such a "super light source". They then discuss in detail various scenarios for obtaining the most complete possible excitation of thorium nuclei, before focusing on the detection of the excited states produced and the transferability to similar systems.

The research team's conclusion: According to their estimate, the energy of the isomeric state can be measured with a precision better than 10-4 or even down to below 10-6, which is orders of magnitude improvement of the present value. This would pave the way for further improvements in determining the energy of the isomeric state and help answer fundamental physics questions using the thorium system. "The development of a nuclear clock is not so much the focus of our proposal, because for its realization our new method brings various technological challenges," adds Dmitry Budker. "For us, however, thorium is a very large "playground" for addressing fundamental physics questions, a test lab for new physics, so to speak. For example, we want to answer the question of whether certain fundamental constants of nature are perhaps not so constant, but drift or oscillate with time or with location. In addition, one can imagine tests of fundamental symmetries and searches for particles or fields that go beyond the Standard Model.”

---

JOURNAL

Physical Review Research

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.023134 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

ARTICLE TITLE

Excitation and probing of low-energy nuclear states at high-energy storage rings

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-May-2023

University of Vaasa to organize international conference on Future Energy Solutions FES2023, June 12–14, 2023

The conference has a special focus on artificial intelligence (AI)-based energy solutions

Meeting Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF VAASA

 

IMAGE: LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE AND CONFERENCE CHAIR MIADREZA SHAFIEKHAH (2ND ON THE RIGHT) FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF VAASA, FINLAND. view more 

CREDIT: RIIKKA KALMI, UNIVERSITY OF VAASA

The University of Vaasa is organising Future Energy Solution Days (FES2023), a new conference on intelligent and sustainable energy solutions. It will take place from 12 to 14 June 2023, at the Wasa Innovation Center in Vaasa, Finland.

Governments worldwide are investing heavily in finding new solutions for future energy systems and technologies to ensure that energy is used and supplied efficiently. These investments are also aimed at improving planning for power outage responses and recovery, and integrating various technologies such as renewable energy systems, electrical vehicle networks, and smart homes around the grid.

FES2023 comes at a crucial time, bringing together leading researchers, engineers and industry experts from around the world to share and discuss ground-breaking research, exchange ideas and engage with key decision-makers in the energy sector.

 "FES2023 serves as a vital bridge connecting academia and industries in the energy area," says Miadreza Shafiekhah, General Chair of FES2023 and Associate Professor at the University of Vaasa. "We had submissions from 40 countries for FES2023. About 100 papers will be presented, many of which are industry-oriented research studies."

In addition to the conference, FES2023 will also be hosting workshops and an exhibition.

The city of Vaasa in Finland is recognised as the Energy Capital of Nordic countries. The international attendees of the conference will have the possibility to network with a broad range of representatives from the utility, product, consultancy, service and business sectors of the energy industry.

Special focus on AI-based energy solutions

The conference has a special focus on artificial intelligence (AI)-based energy solutions due to the rapid developments of AI.

“AI-based systems will definitely be among the main solutions for future energy systems,” says Shafiekhah.

FES2023 will also cover a wide range of other key themes including the planning and operation of energy systems, electricity markets and demand response, building energy-saving technology, business models and risk management, artificial intelligence applications in energy systems, and lots more.

Keynotes

• Artificial Intelligence Models for Power and Energy Applications: From Data-Driven to Knowledge-Based Approaches / Professor Zita Vale, Polytechic of Porto, ISEP, GECAD, Portugal
• The Interaction of EV Charging with the Distribution Grid / Professor Nikos Hatziargyriou, National Technical University of Athens, Greece (NTUA) & University of Vaasa
• Power Forecasting Technology of Large-Scale Grid-Connected Solar & Wind Generation Clusters under Diverse and Complex Terrain / Professor Fei Wang, North China Electric Power University (NCEPU)

Registration

Registration for FES2023 is now open:  Registration link FES2023

Further information can be found on the FES2023 conference website.

 

The FES2023 conference is co-sponsored by IEEE. All papers will be published and indexed by the IEEE Xplore. The top papers will also be invited to IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications journal.

The Advancement of Medicine, Pharmacology & Nanotechnology

Bentham Books - Nanopharmacology and Nanotoxicology: Clinical Implications and Methods

Book Announcement

BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS

Clinical medicine and pharmacology courses are constantly evolving and there is an increased need to understand the role of new technologies in the field. Specifically, the role of nanomaterials in becoming increasingly prevalent in modern medicine and pharmacotherapeutics. The use of nanomaterials is also potentially harmful to patients, which is why learners should also understand the measures to use them safely.

In this new Bentham Science book, readers will discover the cutting-edge world of nanotechnology and its profound impact on clinical medicine and pharmacology. This comprehensive book brings together leading experts from diverse fields to provide a captivating exploration of nanobiotechnology applications in human health. Delve into fascinating chapters covering nanotechnology in gastrointestinal diseases, kidney disorders, pulmonary ailments, reproductive health, COVID-19, and cancer, offering invaluable insights into the future of medical treatments.

Beyond medical advancements, this book also delves into the critical field of nanomaterial toxicology, presenting in-depth assessments of Nano-therapeutics' safety and offering potential solutions to address nontoxicity concerns. With a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research, the book showcases the convergence of pharmacology, toxicology, and Nano-science, revealing the groundbreaking potential of nanotechnology.

This book offers a captivating journey into the exciting intersection of pharmacology, toxicology, and Nano-science. It presents a concise summary of theoretical, methodological, and practical studies spanning various medical subspecialties. Explore cutting-edge assessment methods for nano-toxicology and remarkable advancements in nano-vaccines. With valuable references for further exploration, this book is a valuable resource for students and academics, as well as anyone seeking to understand the dynamic field of nanotechnology in healthcare.

Learn more about the book here: https://bit.ly/3q882fV

---

DOI

10.2174/97898150796921230101