Mental health by gender-specific occupational groups : Profiles, risks and dominance of predictors

Background: We defined gender-specific profiles of mental ill-health for the main occupational groups using three outcomes; antidepressant use, sickness absence (SA) due to depression, and suicides. We also examined which occupational groups had the highest risk of the outcomes, and compared the importance of their predictors. Methods: From a random register cohort of Finnish working age population, individuals in the six largest occupational groups in 2004 for men and women were included (N = 414 357). We used register data to define the first antidepressant purchase (i.e. use), the first long-term SA spell for depression, and suicide between Jan 1st 2005 and Dec 31st 2014. We assessed the risk of each outcome by occupational group with logistic regression models, and used dominance analysis to compare the relative importance of predictors. Results: In all six occupational groups for women, the prevalence of antidepressant use and SA for depression was higher than in the men's occupational groups. The opposite was observed for suicides. The risk of antidepressant use was lower, but the risk of suicide was 2-times higher among men in low vs. high-skilled occupations. Among women, a lower skill-level was associated with a higher risk of SA due to depression. Gender was the most important predictor of all outcomes. Limitations: We lacked information on history of medication use or health problems prior to follow-up. Conclusions: Gendered occupational status was an underlying factor explaining distinctive mental health profiles in the working population. Occupational class-dependent behavioural patterns related to mental health existed among men.Peer reviewe

Modelling of 3D fields due to ferritic inserts and test blanket modules in toroidal geometry at ITER

Computations in toroidal geometry are systematically performed for the plasma response to 3D magnetic perturbations produced by ferritic inserts (FIs) and test blanket modules (TBMs) for four ITER plasma scenarios: the 15 MA baseline, the 12.5 MA hybrid, the 9 MA steady state, and the 7.5 MA half-field helium plasma. Due to the broad toroidal spectrum of the FI and TBM fields, the plasma response for all the n = 1-6 field components are computed and compared. The plasma response is found to be weak for the high-n (n > 4) components. The response is not globally sensitive to the toroidal plasma flow speed, as long as the latter is not reduced by an order of magnitude. This is essentially due to the strong screening effect occurring at a finite flow, as predicted for ITER plasmas. The ITER error field correction coils (EFCC) are used to compensate the n = 1 field errors produced by FIs and TBMs for the baseline scenario for the purpose of avoiding mode locking. It is found that the middle row of the EFCC, with a suitable toroidal phase for the coil current, can provide the best correction of these field errors, according to various optimisation criteria. On the other hand, even without correction, it is predicted that these n = 1 field errors will not cause substantial flow damping for the 15 MA baseline scenario

Effect of plasma response on the fast ion losses due to ELM control coils in ITER

Mitigating edge localized modes (ELMs) with resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) can increase energetic particle losses and resulting wall loads, which have previously been studied in the vacuum approximation. This paper presents recent results of fusion alpha and NBI ion losses in the ITER baseline scenario modelled with the Monte Carlo orbit following code ASCOT in a realistic magnetic field including the effect of the plasma response. The response was found to reduce alpha particle losses but increase NBI losses, with up to 4.2% of the injected power being lost. Additionally, some of the load in the divertor was found to be shifted away from the target plates toward the divertor dome

Conceptual design of the DEMO neutral beam injectors: Main developments and R&D achievements

The objectives of the nuclear fusion power plant DEMO, to be built after the ITER experimental reactor, are usually understood to lie somewhere between those of ITER and a 'first of a kind' commercial plant. Hence, in DEMO the issues related to efficiency and RAMI (reliability, availability, maintainability and inspectability) are among the most important drivers for the design, as the cost of the electricity produced by this power plant will strongly depend on these aspects. In the framework of the EUROfusion Work Package Heating and Current Drive within the Power Plant Physics and Development activities, a conceptual design of the neutral beam injector (NBI) for the DEMO fusion reactor has been developed by Consorzio RFX in collaboration with other European research institutes. In order to improve efficiency and RAMI aspects, several innovative solutions have been introduced in comparison to the ITER NBI, mainly regarding the beam source, neutralizer and vacuum pumping systems

Dynamic modelling of local fuel inventory and desorption in the whole tokamak vacuum vessel for auto-consistent plasma-wall interaction simulations

An extension of the SolEdge2D-EIRENE code package, named D-WEE, has been developed to add the dynamics of thermal desorption of hydrogen isotopes from the surface of plasma facing materials. To achieve this purpose, D-WEE models hydrogen isotopes implantation, transport and retention in those materials. Before launching autoconsistent simulation (with feedback of D-WEE on SolEdge2D-EIRENE), D-WEE has to be initialised to ensure a realistic wall behaviour in terms of dynamics (pumping or fuelling areas) and fuel content. A methodology based on modelling is introduced to perform such initialisation. A synthetic plasma pulse is built from consecutive SolEdge2D-EIRENE simulations. This synthetic pulse is used as a plasma background for the D-WEE module. A sequence of plasma pulses is simulated with D-WEE to model a tokamak operation. This simulation enables to extract at a desired time during a pulse the local fuel inventory and the local desorption flux density which could be used as initial condition for coupled plasma-wall simulations. To assess the relevance of the dynamic retention behaviour obtained in the simulation, a confrontation to post-pulse experimental pressure measurement is performed. Such confrontation reveals a qualitative agreement between the temporal pressure drop obtained in the simulation and the one observed experimentally. The simulated dynamic retention during the consecutive pulses is also studied.Peer reviewe

Modelling of tungsten erosion and deposition in the divertor of JET-ILW in comparison to experimental findings

The erosion, transport and deposition of tungsten in the outer divertor of JET-ILW has been studied for an H-Mode discharge with low frequency ELMs. For this specific case with an inter-ELM electron temperature at the strike point of about 20 eV, tungsten sputtering between ELMs is almost exclusively due to beryllium impurity and self-sputtering. However, during ELMs tungsten sputtering due to deuterium becomes important and even dominates. The amount of simulated local deposition of tungsten relative to the amount of sputtered tungsten in between ELMs is very high and reaches values of 99% for an electron density of 5E13 cm(-3) at the strike point and electron temperatures between 10 and 30 eV. Smaller deposition values are simulated with reduced electron density. The direction of the B-field significantly influences the local deposition and leads to a reduction if the E x B drift directs towards the scrape-off-layer. Also, the thermal force can reduce the tungsten deposition, however, an ion temperature gradient of about 0.1 eV/mm or larger is needed for a significant effect. The tungsten deposition simulated during ELMs reaches values of about 98% assuming ELM parameters according to free-streaming model. The measured WI emission profiles in between and within ELMs have been reproduced by the simulation. The contribution to the overall net tungsten erosion during ELMs is about 5 times larger than the one in between ELMs for the studied case. However, this is due to the rather low electron temperature in between ELMs, which leads to deuterium impact energies below the sputtering threshold for tungsten.Peer reviewe