[en] Established results of neoclassical kinetic theory are used in a fluid model to show that in low collisionality regimes (ν and 1/ν) the propagation velocity of Neoclassical Tearing Modes (NTM) magnetic islands of sufficient width is determined self-consistently by the Neoclassical Toroidal Viscosity (NTV) appearing because of broken symmetry. The NTV effect on bulk plasma rotation, may also explain recent observations on momentum transport. At the same time this affects the role of the neoclassical ion polarization current on neoclassical tearing modes (NTM) stability.

[en] An important role of ECCD is that of maintaining MHD-stable operation by a well-localized current drive at the q=2,3/2 surfaces to stabilize the m=2, n=1, m=3, n=2 tearing modes. In particular, we refer here to the Neoclassical Tearing Modes whose relevance for reactor-grade tokamaks has been pointed out as they could set the β limit of long pulse discharges well below the ideal limit. A way of controlling (or suppress) these modes could be to drive a non-inductive current in the island O-point replacing locally the missing bootstrap current and phasing the current relative to the rotating island by modulating the source. We address here this problem by retaining in the equation for island growth the stabilizing term of an auxiliary current and the associated heating. Evaluations of the driven current are made by a ray-tracing code as a result of the injection of focused multi-beams. A quantitative assessment of the EC power required to keep the island width at a reasonable level is given. Consideration is given to different effects that may reduce the efficiency of the control and the benefits of the wall stabilization associated to the island rotation frequency. (author)

[en] In a tokamak the coupling of resonant tearing modes with the plasma shape effects like toroidicity, elongation, and triangularity produces sidebands harmonics. In particular an m=0, n=1 nonresonant sideband can be driven by a m=2, n=1 tearing mode in an elliptic cross section tokamak. It is shown that this is an important effect. The m=0 mode is expected to produce a neoclassical toroidal viscous force which could explain the dramatic braking of the bulk plasma toroidal velocity observed during the onset of locked modes driven by resonant helical error fields or by spontaneous magnetohydrodynamic activity

[en] The stabilization of tearing magnetic islands by means of localized current driven by electron cyclotron waves, requires optimizing the efficiency of the injected helical current. The problem is conventionally addressed using 0-D model of the (generalized) Rutherford equation to find the dependence in terms of the island width, wave beam width and deposition scale length, as well as phase tracking requirements. The use of a 2-D reconnection model shows that both the early time response of a tearing unstable system to ECCD and important nonlinear processes lead to irreversible modifications on the 2-D configuration, where 'phase' and 'width' of an island cease to be observable and controllable state variables. In particular the occurrence of a phase instability and of multiple axis and current sheets, may be a serious impediment for feedback control schemes

[en] Post-prostatectomy radiotherapy (PPRT) with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has the potential to decrease toxicity by reducing dose to surrounding structures. We assessed its impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). PPRT patients were enrolled in a prospective HRQoL database. To be eligible, patients were required to be treated with IMRT and have a minimum of 15-month follow up. HRQoL was assessed at baseline, 3, 9 and 15–24 months using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite questionnaire. Higher scores reflected better HRQoL. Results were analysed as both population means and as individual scores where a moderate change was 10–20 points and a substantial change was >20 points. There were 64 patients eligible and 83% of the cohort received salvage radiotherapy. Prescribed dose was 64Gy in 32 fractions for adjuvant and 66Gy in 33 fractions for salvage IMRT. Mean function scores for urinary, bowel and sexual domains were similar at baseline and 15 months (83.5, 94.2 and 16.9 vs. 82.2, 93.1 and 14.3, respectively). Mean global physical functioning (51.0 vs. 48.1) and mental functioning (51.6 vs. 54.2) showed no difference over time. Individual patient scores by 2 years showed a >20-point deterioration in urinary (12.5%), bowel (1.6%), sexual function (9.4%), physical functioning (3.1%) and mental functioning (1.6%). This report on HRQoL following post-prostatectomy IMRT demonstrates no variation in mean scores in any domain and only 1.6% of patients reporting a greater than 20-point deterioration between baseline and 15–24 months in bowel function.

[en] In a number of astrophysical systems, the magnetic field, instead of varying over a scale comparable with the ''natural'' scale of the object (e.g., tens of thousands of kilometers in the case of the solar convective zone), varies over lengths that are orders of magnitude less than this (e.g., over distances down to 100 km in the case of the magnetic filaments detected in the upper part of the solar convective zone and probably present in much deeper layers). Therefore, the study of the propagation of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in plasmas with fine magnetic nonuniformities is of considerable general importance for astrophysics. We have developed a general formalism that allows one to treat the propagation of large-scale MHD waves in a finely stratified medium. We demonstrate that the presence of a fine structure of the plasma may produce considerable modifications of the modes existing in a uniform plasma, with a number of propagation modes that may even increase. We also show that the slow MHD mode may experience a collisionless damping, which causes the wave energy to be converted into the energy of the peristaltic modes of the plasma ''resonant'' layers. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society

[en] After vertical displacement events (VDEs) in the JET-ILW tokamak, debris is produced in liquid form and ejected from the vessels beryllium upper dump plates (UDPs). Most of the droplets splash near the UDPs outboard tile 8 as documented by an in-vessel photographic survey. Moreover, the systematic collection of ‘dust’ from the main chamber and the divertor region provides evidence of small solid spherical Be particles and flat splats (with fairly circular, ‘pancake-like’, or elongated shapes) related to melting events (with a diameter of few µm prior the deposition). The migration of metallic Be is studied with the numerical code DUSTTRACK, capable of describing the full droplet dynamics in a non-stationary tokamak plasma configuration. The description of the JET plasma during the VDE proposed here allows for a sufficiently consistent reconstruction of the transient conditions of the background plasma, relying on actual physical measurements. Due to the lack of experimental data related to the initial properties of the ejecta, the statistically relevant sample of 4×10⁵ particles was considered in the DUSTTRACK simulations. A reasonable fit of the initial parameters for the ejected droplets, as well as the time-dependent plasma parameters for the VDE resulted in good qualitative agreement with the post-mortem experimental findings from dust collectors and with the Be deposition pattern near UDPs on the low-field side. (paper)