Neoclassical tearing modes in DIII-D and calculations of the stabilizing effects of localized electron cyclotron current drive

Neoclassical tearing modes are found to limit the achievable beta in many high performance discharges in DIII-D. Electron cyclotron current drive within the magnetic islands formed as the tearing mode grows has been proposed as a means of stabilizing these modes or reducing their amplitude, thereby increasing the beta limit by a factor around 1.5. Some experimental success has been obtained previously on Asdex-U. Here the authors examine the parameter range in DIII-C in which this effect can best be studied

A whole systems approach to integrating physical activity to aid mental health recovery – Translating theory into practice

Improving health outcomes for people with severe mental illness (SMI) through increased physical activity (PA) on a large scale remains an elusive goal. There is promising evidence that increasing levels of PA in people with SMI can improve psychological and physical health outcomes. However, SMI is associated with reduced levels of physical activity and more sedentary behaviour than is usual in people without SMI. Increasing PA and reducing sedentary behaviour among people with SMI is a complex process, as there are drivers of these behaviours at the individual, household, community and policy levels. Examples of these include the symptoms associated with SMI, poverty, unemployment, social isolation and stigma. Such drivers affect opportunities to take part in PA and individuals’ abilities to do so, creating negative reinforcing loops of behaviours and health outcomes. Most previous approaches to PA for this population have focused largely on individual behaviour change, with limited success. To increase levels of PA effectively for people with SMI at scale also requires consideration of the wider determinants and complex dynamic drivers of PA behaviour in this population. This position paper sets out a rationale and recommendations for the utilisation of whole systems approaches to PA in people with SMI and the improvement of physical and psychological outcomes. Such approaches should be delivered in conjunction with bespoke, individual-level interventions which address the unique needs of those with SMI

Optimization of negative central shear discharges in shaped cross sections

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability analyses of Negative Central Shear (NCS) equilibria have revealed a new understanding of the limiting MHD instabilities in NCS experiments. Ideal stability calculations show a synergistic effect between cross section shape and pressure profile optimization; strong shaping and broader pressure independently lead to moderately higher {Beta} limits, but broadening of the pressure profile in a strongly dee-shaped cross- section leads to a dramatic increase in the ideal {Beta} limit. Localized resistive interchange (RI) modes can be unstable in the negative shear region and are most restrictive for peaked pressure profiles. Resistive global modes can also be destabilized significantly below the ideal P limit. Experiments largely confirm the general trends, and diagnostic measurements and numerical stability calculations are found to be in good qualitative agreement. Observed disruptions in NCS discharges with L-mode edge and strongly peaked pressure, appear to be initiated by interactions between the RI, and the global ideal and resistive modes

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM