On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Semi-peripheries or Particular Pathways: the case of Australia, New Zealand and Canada as class formations

The paper deals comparatively with the class structures of Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Four hypotheses, which could account for the similarities and differences in class structure, are identified. The first is based on their semi-peripheral status in the world economy; the second, pertaining particularly to Canada, argues for an ‘Americanisation effect’; the third is based on their similar heritage in the context of dominion capitalism; while the fourth proposes purely endogenous determination. The differences in class structure that the analysis reveals, particularly with respect to the managerial class, can perhaps be more persuasively explained in terms of the different historical circumstances of the three countries rather than by a set of exogenous factors which impact on all of them

Agricultural Interests and the Origins of Capitalism: A Parallel Comparative History of Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, and the USA

Addressing the literature on the historical origins of capitalism, this study analyses the role agriculture played in the formation of non-market economic coordination in economic and social affairs around 1900. It argues that the dominant rural production profile dictated whether farmers did exert a significant impact on socio-economic institution and policy formation outside the rural sector. By applying the method of parallel demonstration of theory, we illustrate the plausibility of these theoretical considerations through juxtaposing the historical record of Germany, Denmark, New Zealand and the USA. The article highlights the limits of a dichotomous view on the origins of capitalism because the coordination effect of rural economies varies within the later coordinated and the later liberal cluster of market economies