Abstract
Plasma with an internal transport barrier (ITB) is desirable for a steady-state tokamak reactor because of its high confinement quality and high bootstrap current fraction. However, the ...local pressure gradient tends to be steep and the plasma often becomes unstable. In this study, an ion temperature gradient control system based on neutral beam injection (NBI) is developed using the reinforcement learning technique. The response characteristics of an ion temperature gradient to NBI are non-linear and sensitive to experimental conditions, which makes it difficult to develop a robust control system. Our control system is trained for plasmas with a wide range of ITB strengths. Using the reinforcement learning technique, the system acquires a robust control feature through several thousand iterations of trial and error in an integrated transport simulation hosted by TOPICS. The control system is composed of neural networks (NNs) whose input variables are the ion temperature gradient, the current NBI power, and the NBI powers for several previous control time steps. The trained system can determine a control output which is suitable for the response characteristics inferred from the input variables. The trained control system is tested in the TOPICS simulation using plasma models based on two experimental plasmas of JT-60U with different ITB strengths. It is shown that the ion temperature gradient can be appropriately controlled for both plasmas, which supports the expectation that this system is applicable to real experiments.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous disease with genetic profiles and clinical outcomes dependent on the anatomic location of the primary tumor. How location has an impact on the molecular ...makeup of a tumor and how prognostic and predictive biomarkers differ between proximal versus distal colon cancers is not well established. We investigated the associations between tumor location, KRAS and BRAF mutation status, and the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of proteins involved in major signaling pathways, including tumor growth (epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)), angiogenesis (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2)), DNA repair (excision repair cross complement group 1 (ERCC1)) and fluoropyrimidine metabolism (thymidylate synthase (TS)). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from 431 advanced CRC patients were analyzed. The presence of seven different KRAS base substitutions and the BRAF V600E mutation was determined. ERCC1, TS, EGFR and VEGFR2 mRNA expression levels were detected by reverse transcriptase-PCR. BRAF mutations were significantly more common in the proximal colon (P<0.001), whereas KRAS mutations occurred at similar frequencies throughout the colorectum. Rectal cancers had significantly higher ERCC1 and VEGFR2 mRNA levels compared with distal and proximal colon tumors (P=0.001), and increased TS levels compared with distal colon cancers (P=0.02). Mutant KRAS status was associated with lower ERCC1, TS, EGFR and VEGFR2 gene expression in multivariate analysis. In a subgroup analysis, this association remained significant for all genes in the proximal colon and for VEGFR2 expression in rectal cancers. The mRNA expression patterns of predictive and prognostic biomarkers, as well as associations with KRAS and BRAF mutation status depend on primary tumor location. Prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings and determine the underlying mechanisms.
The characteristics of ion heat transport inside the internal transport barrier (ITB), which is sustained by weak magnetic shear, are investigated using a cold pulse induced by supersonic ...molecular-beam injection (SMBI) in JT-60U. It is known that cold-pulse propagation in ITBs usually significantly reduces the temperature and degrades the temperature gradient. When subsequent SMBIs are launched before the temperature has recovered, it is observed that the temperature gradient of the ITB is not monotonically decreased but alternately decreased and increased. Alternating decreasing and increasing phases of the ITB temperature gradient continue for about 1 s (∼6τE), and the properties of the cold-pulse propagation and the flux-gradient relations differ according to the phase. The usual transient transport analysis is also provided by inducing a cold pulse in stationary ITBs. A rapid reduction and recovery of the temperature is observed inside the ITBs, and it is found that the ion-heat flux changes without a variation in the local ion-temperature gradient or a change to the other observable local parameters. The flux-gradient relations exhibit significant hysteresis in two ITB cases: (i) ITBs with strong electron-density gradients and (ii) ITBs with weak ion-temperature gradients. In addition, the range in which hysteresis appears is most likely to depend on the width of the ITB.
We report the experimental finding of n = 1 helical cores (HCs) accompanied by saturated m/n = 2/1 tearing modes (TMs) with low mode frequencies in JT-60U. The HCs accompanied by TMs were observed ...after an increase in the mode amplitude and a decrease in the mode frequency of m/n = 2/1 precursors with tearing parity. The decreased mode frequency is typically lower than 20 Hz. With various diagnostics, the coupling of n = 1 HCs and m/n = 2/1 TMs has been clearly observed. Because the coherent oscillations in the ion temperature are observed in both the core region and the edge region, the flux surfaces including the m/n = 2/1 magnetic island appear to have m = 1 helical deformation. It has also been suggested that the m/n = 2/1 TM and the HC rotate in the electron diamagnetic direction keeping fm/n=1/1(HC) = 2fm/n=2/1(TM) in several plasmas. Here, fm/n=1/1(HC) is the mode frequency of HCs and fm/n=2/1(TM) is the mode frequency of TMs. In addition, the core seems to be shifted to the high-field side when the O-points of the m/n = 2/1 magnetic island line up in the midplane, which is confirmed by reconstructions of magnetohydrodynamic equilibria with motional Stark effect measurement and the MEUDAS code. Our observation of m/n = 2/1 TMs having HCs contributes to the understanding of the excitation mechanism of HCs in tokamak plasmas.
Plasma current (Ip) start-up in a spherical tokamak (ST) by waves in the lower-hybrid (LH) frequency range was investigated on TST-2. A low current (∼1 kA) ST configuration can be formed by waves ...over a broad frequency range (21 MHz-8.2 GHz in TST-2), but further Ip ramp-up (to ∼10 kA) is most efficient with waves in the LH frequency range. Ip ramp-up to 15 kA was achieved with 60 kW of net RF power PRF in the fast wave (FW) polarization at 200 MHz excited by the inductively coupled combline antenna. X-ray measurements showed that the photon flux and temperature are higher in the direction opposite to Ip, consistent with acceleration of electrons by a uni-directional RF wave. There is evidence that the LH wave is excited nonlinearly by the FW, based on the frequency spectra measured by magnetic probes. Similar efficiencies of Ip ramp-up were obtained with the inductive combline antenna and the dielectric-loaded waveguide array ('grill') antenna, and tendencies for the current drive efficiency to increase with plasma current and toroidal field were observed. During operation of the grill antenna, wavevector components were measured by an array of magnetic probes. Results were qualitatively consistent with expectations based on dispersion relations for the FW and the LH wave. A capacitively coupled combline antenna has been developed to improve coupling to the plasma and the wavenumber spectrum of the excited LH wave, and will be tested in 2013.
Non-inductive plasma current start-up and sustainment by waves in the lower-hybrid frequency range (200 MHz) have been studied on the TST-2 spherical tokamak (R0 0.38 m, a 0.25 m, Bt0 0.3 T, Ip 0.14 ...MA) using three types of antenna: the 11-element inductively-coupled combline antenna, the dielectric loaded 4-waveguide array antenna, and the 13-element capacitively-coupled combline (CCC) antenna. The maximum plasma currents of 15 kA, 10 kA and 16 kA were achieved, respectively. The highest current drive figure of merit was achieved by the CCC antenna. The efficiency of current drive should improve by reducing prompt orbit losses of high energy electrons by operating at higher plasma current (to improve orbit confinement) and higher toroidal magnetic field (to improve wave accessibility to the plasma core), while keeping the density high enough (to avoid excessive acceleration of electrons), but under the 'density limit'.
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