An Exploratory Investigation of a New Method for Music-Therapeutic Research

MUSIC LISTENING AND MAKING ACTIVATES A multitude of brain structures, the engagement of which is likely to have beneficial effects on the psychological and physiological health of individuals. We first briefly review functional neuroimaging experiments on music and emotion, showing that music-evoked emotions can change activity in virtually all core areas of emotional processing.We then enumerate social functions that are automatically and effortlessly engaged when humans make music. Engagement in these social functions fulfils basic human needs, is part of what makes us human, and is an important source for pleasure and happiness. Finally, we present a new method for music therapy, including an exploratory empirical study on effects of music making. Results show that the music making increased the mood of individuals compared to a control group. This music therapy method is promising in encouraging further development for the treatment of affective disorders, and can be used in both single- and double-blinded studies for empirical, evidence-based medical research

Major results from the first plasma campaign of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

After completing the main construction phase of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and successfully commissioning the device, first plasma operation started at the end of 2015. Integral commissioning of plasma start-up and operation using electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) and an extensive set of plasma diagnostics have been completed, allowing initial physics studies during the first operational campaign. Both in helium and hydrogen, plasma breakdown was easily achieved. Gaining experience with plasma vessel conditioning, discharge lengths could be extended gradually. Eventually, discharges lasted up to 6 s, reaching an injected energy of 4 MJ, which is twice the limit originally agreed for the limiter configuration employed during the first operational campaign. At power levels of 4 MW central electron densities reached 3 1019 m-3, central electron temperatures reached values of 7 keV and ion temperatures reached just above 2 keV. Important physics studies during this first operational phase include a first assessment of power balance and energy confinement, ECRH power deposition experiments, 2nd harmonic O-mode ECRH using multi-pass absorption, and current drive experiments using electron cyclotron current drive. As in many plasma discharges the electron temperature exceeds the ion temperature significantly, these plasmas are governed by core electron root confinement showing a strong positive electric field in the plasma centre.Peer reviewe