Conceptual study of an ICRH traveling-wave antenna system for low-coupling conditions as expected in DEMO

For the central heating of a fusion reactor ion cyclotron radio frequency heating (ICRH) is the first choice method as it is able to couple RF power to the ions without density limit. The drawback of this heating method is the problem of excitation of the magneto-sonic wave through the plasma boundary layer from the antenna located along the wall, without exceeding its voltage standoff. The amount of coupling depends on the antenna excitation and the surface admittance at the antenna output due to the plasma profile. The paper deals with the optimization of the antenna excitation by the use of sections of traveling-wave antennas (TWAs) distributed all along the reactor wall between the blanket modules. They are mounted and fed in resonant ring system(s). First, the physics of the coupling of a strap array is studied by simple models and the coupling code ANTITER II. Then, after the study of the basic properties of a TWA section, its feeding problem is solved by hybrids driving them in resonant ring circuit(s). The complete modeling is obtained from the matrices of the TWA sections connected to one of the feeding hybrid(s). The solution is iterated with the coupling code to determine the loading for a reference low-coupling ITER plasma profile. The resulting wave pattern up to the plasma bulk is derived. The proposed system is totally load resilient and allows us to obtain a very selective exciting wave spectrum. A discussion of some practical implementation problems is added

A Monte Carlo photocurrent/photoemission computer program

A Monte Carlo computer program was developed for the computation of photocurrents and photoemission in gamma (X-ray)-irradiated materials. The program was used for computation of radiation-induced surface currents on space vehicles and the computation of radiation-induced space charge environments within space vehicles

The 2010 Volcanic Ash Cloud and Its Financial Impact on the European Airline Industry

Naturkatastrophe; Vulkan; Luftverunreinigung; Luftfahrtindustrie; Soziale Kosten; Island; Europa

Botulinum toxin therapy: functional silencing of salivary disorders.

Botulinum toxin (BTX) is a neurotoxic protein produced by Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium. BTX therapy is a safe and effective treatment when used for functional silencing of the salivary glands in disorders such as sialoceles and salivary fistulas that may have a post-traumatic or post-operative origin. BTX injections can be considered in sialoceles and salivary fistulas after the failure of or together with conservative treatments (e.g. antibiotics, pressure dressings, or serial aspirations). BTX treatment has a promising role in chronic sialadenitis. BTX therapy is highly successful in the treatment of gustatory sweating (Frey\u2019s syndrome), and could be considered the gold standard treatment for this neurological disorder

Factors Influencing Safety Performance Among Industrial Manufacturing Facilities in Louisiana

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected organizational, demographic, and safety practice factors on the number and types of injuries within the industrial manufacturing plants in eight parishes in southern Louisiana. The target population was industrial organizational facilities. The accessible population was industrial manufacturing plants in the eight parishes surrounding Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who are members of a trade association comprised of industrial manufacturers. The sample was 100% of the defined as the accessible population. The researcher contacted a trade organization to identify the data source, requested and was granted permission to both access and use the data, which was transferred from the databases of the trade organization onto a researcher-designed, computerized recording form. The number of safety events reported was skewed toward the smaller numbers for the most part, with most responses indicating none or very few incidents. When a comparison of the means was analyzed, companies that were categorized as an “Other” type were significantly different than those that were categorized as Chemical or “Energy”. In a regression model for direct hire employees the variable “Other – Company” explained 46.0% of the variance in the safety events of direct hire employees. Based on the results of the study, the researcher concluded that the industrial organizational facilities in eight parishes in southern Louisiana had attained a good safety record. This is based on 112 recordables reported from 769 responses from safety offices based on records that encompassed larger numbers of workers. The potential implication of this conclusion is there is still room for improvement in the area of preventing safety events. The researcher recommends that organizations still make efforts toward ensuring the workplace is safe for all employees. The mean number of safety events for companies in the category Chemical and “Energy” were lower than those of the companies categorized as Other; therefore, it appears the industries do well at managing and mitigating many of the potential risks. “Other” company types may find mirroring some of the practices utilized within the chemical and energy sectors to be beneficial

Beyond Utopia

The article focuses on several figures who are particularly interesting in terms of identifying a radical critique of capitalism that does not shrink from the possibility of designing and imaging a different future. Following Michael Löwy, in our study we have identified relationships of 'elective affinity' between figures who might appear different and dissimilar, at least at first glance: the Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai, the German communist Paul Mattick, the Italian Socialist Raniero Panzieri and the French social scientist Alain Bihr. After providing some biographical information, we analyze their respective paths to a socialism based on, and achieved through, self-organization and self-government.We do not intend to build a new tradition with this review of thinkers, most of whom were also political militants; rather, more modestly, we hope to suggest a path forward for both research and political activism. In order to show how significant the questions raised by these four intellectuals-militants still are even today, in the Conclusions we analyze the social and political experiment carried out by the Movement for a Democratic Society of the Rojava region in Syrian Kurdistan

A pattern matching approach to speed forecasting of traffic networks

n/