Texas Center for Digital Humanities and New Media

We propose the creation of a Center for Digital Humanities, Media and Culture (formerly titled Texas Center for Digital Humanities and New Media). The Center will address two related grand challenges: the need to investigate the relationship of computing technologies and culture, and the need to construct cyberinfrastructure for the humanities and social sciences. The Center’s research, focused in four interrelated areas -- the cultural record, cultural systems, cultural environments, and cultural interactions in the digital age – engages one of the most compelling questions of our time: What does it mean to be human in the digital age

Incorporating mindfulness: questioning capitalism

This paper engages with Buddhist critiques of capitalism and consumerism; and it challenges the capitalist appropriations of Buddhist techniques. We show how Buddhist modernism and Marxism/socialism can align, and how Engaged Buddhism spawns communalism and socially revolutionary impulses for sustainability and ecological responsibility within the framework of Buddhist thought and mindfulness traditions. Our case study of the Thai Asoke community exemplifies Buddhist communal mindfulness-in-action, explores successes and idiosyncrasies, and shows how communal principles can operate in such work-based communities

Development of a 50 MW 30 GHz Gyroklystron Amplifier

DOE requires sources for testing of high gradient accelerator structures. A power of 50 MW is required at K and Ka band. The pulse length must be ~ 1 microsecond and the pulse repetition frequency at least 100 Hz. At least some applications may require phase stability not offered by a free running oscillator. CCR proposed to build a 50 MW 30 GHz gyrklystron amplifier. This approach would give the required phase stability. The frequency was at the second harmonic of the cycltron frequency and used the TE02 mode. This makes it possible to design a device without an inner conductor, and with a conventional (non-inverted) MIG. This minimizes cost and the risk due to mechanical alignment issues. A detailed design of the gyroklystron was produced. The design was based on simulations of the cavity(ies), electron gun, output coupler and output window. Two designs were produced. One was at the fundamental of the cyclotron frequency. Simulations predicted an output power of 72 MW with an efficiency of 48%. The other was at the second harmonic, producing 37 MW with an efficiency of 37%

Improved Collectors for High Power Gyrotrons

High power gyrotrons are used for electron cyclotron heating, current drive and parasitic mode suppression in tokamaks for fusion energy research. These devices are crucial for successful operation of many research programs around the world, including the ITER program currently being constructed in France. Recent gyrotron failures resulted from cyclic fatigue of the copper material used to fabricated the collectors. The techniques used to collect the spent beam power is common in many gyrotrons produced around the world. There is serious concern that these tubes may also be at risk from cyclic fatigue. This program addresses the cause of the collector failure. The Phase I program successfully demonstrated feasibility of a mode of operation that eliminates the cyclic operation that caused the failure. It also demonstrated that new material can provide increased lifetime under cyclic operation that could increase the lifetime by more than on order of magnitude. The Phase II program will complete that research and develop a collector that eliminates the fatigue failures. Such a design would find application around the world

High Efficiency, Low Cost, RF Sources for Accelerators and Colliders

Several high efficiency, low cost, RF sources are in development or recently completed. All are designed to provide operating efficiencies exceeding 80% and provide more than 100 kW of output power with a focus on high average power or CW operation. The sources include (1) a magnetron system with amplitude and phase control, a multiple beam, power grid-tube based source, a multiple beam inductive output tube, and a klystron using the core oscillation method. The estimated cost for the magnetron system and multiple beam power grid-tube source are one dollar per Watt and 75 cents per Watt, respectively. Operating frequencies span the range from 300 MHz (power grid tube) to 1.3 GHz (magnetron and klystron). This paper describes the basic operation of the sources, indicates the status and schedule, and provides available experimental results.Comment: contribution to Snowmass 202