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Despite decades of research, the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD) is still not well understood. Structural brain differences have been associated with BD, but results from neuroimaging studies have been inconsistent. To address this, we performed the largest study to date of cortical gray matter thickness and surface area measures from brain magnetic resonance imaging scans of 6503 individuals including 1837 unrelated adults with BD and 2582 unrelated healthy controls for group differences while also examining the effects of commonly prescribed medications, age of illness onset, history of psychosis, mood state, age and sex differences on cortical regions. In BD, cortical gray matter was thinner in frontal, temporal and parietal regions of both brain hemispheres. BD had the strongest effects on left pars opercularis (Cohen’s d=-0.293; P=1.71 × 10-21), left fusiform gyrus (d=-0.288; P=8.25 × 10-21) and left rostral middle frontal cortex (d=-0.276; P=2.99 × 10-19). Longer duration of illness (after accounting for age at the time of scanning) was associated with reduced cortical thickness in frontal, medial parietal and occipital regions. We found that several commonly prescribed medications, including lithium, antiepileptic and antipsychotic treatment showed significant associations with cortical thickness and surface area, even after accounting for patients who received multiple medications. We found evidence of reduced cortical surface area associated with a history of psychosis but no associations with mood state at the time of scanning. Our analysis revealed previously undetected associations and provides an extensive analysis of potential confounding variables in neuroimaging studies of BD.

Finding robust brain substrates of mood disorders is an important target for research. The degree to which major depression (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) are associated with common and/or distinct patterns of volumetric changes is nevertheless unclear. Furthermore, the extant literature is heterogeneous with respect to the nature of these changes. We report a meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies in MDD and BD. We identified studies published up to January 2015 that compared grey matter in MDD (50 data sets including 4101 individuals) and BD (36 data sets including 2407 individuals) using whole-brain VBM. We used statistical maps from the studies included where available and reported peak coordinates otherwise. Group comparisons and conjunction analyses identified regions in which the disorders showed common and distinct patterns of volumetric alteration. Both disorders were associated with lower grey-matter volume relative to healthy individuals in a number of areas. Conjunction analysis showed smaller volumes in both disorders in clusters in the dorsomedial and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, including the anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral insula. Group comparisons indicated that findings of smaller grey-matter volumes relative to controls in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left hippocampus, along with cerebellar, temporal and parietal regions were more substantial in major depression. These results suggest that MDD and BD are characterised by both common and distinct patterns of grey-matter volume changes. This combination of differences and similarities has the potential to inform the development of diagnostic biomarkers for these conditions.

The neuro-anatomical substrates of major depressive disorder (MDD) are still not well understood, despite many neuroimaging studies over the past few decades. Here we present the largest ever worldwide study by the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Major Depressive Disorder Working Group on cortical structural alterations in MDD. Structural T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 2148 MDD patients and 7957 healthy controls were analysed with harmonized protocols at 20 sites around the world. To detect consistent effects of MDD and its modulators on cortical thickness and surface area estimates derived from MRI, statistical effects from sites were meta-analysed separately for adults and adolescents. Adults with MDD had thinner cortical gray matter than controls in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior and posterior cingulate, insula and temporal lobes (Cohen’s d effect sizes: −0.10 to −0.14). These effects were most pronounced in first episode and adult-onset patients (>21 years). Compared to matched controls, adolescents with MDD had lower total surface area (but no differences in cortical thickness) and regional reductions in frontal regions (medial OFC and superior frontal gyrus) and primary and higher-order visual, somatosensory and motor areas (d: −0.26 to −0.57). The strongest effects were found in recurrent adolescent patients. This highly powered global effort to identify consistent brain abnormalities showed widespread cortical alterations in MDD patients as compared to controls and suggests that MDD may impact brain structure in a highly dynamic way, with different patterns of alterations at different stages of life.

Considerable uncertainty exists about the defining brain changes associated with bipolar disorder (BD). Understanding and quantifying the sources of uncertainty can help generate novel clinical hypotheses about etiology and assist in the development of biomarkers for indexing disease progression and prognosis. Here we were interested in quantifying case–control differences in intracranial volume (ICV) and each of eight subcortical brain measures: nucleus accumbens, amygdala, caudate, hippocampus, globus pallidus, putamen, thalamus, lateral ventricles. In a large study of 1710 BD patients and 2594 healthy controls, we found consistent volumetric reductions in BD patients for mean hippocampus (Cohen’s d=−0.232; P=3.50 × 10−7) and thalamus (d=−0.148; P=4.27 × 10−3) and enlarged lateral ventricles (d=−0.260; P=3.93 × 10−5) in patients. No significant effect of age at illness onset was detected. Stratifying patients based on clinical subtype (BD type I or type II) revealed that BDI patients had significantly larger lateral ventricles and smaller hippocampus and amygdala than controls. However, when comparing BDI and BDII patients directly, we did not detect any significant differences in brain volume. This likely represents similar etiology between BD subtype classifications. Exploratory analyses revealed significantly larger thalamic volumes in patients taking lithium compared with patients not taking lithium. We detected no significant differences between BDII patients and controls in the largest such comparison to date. Findings in this study should be interpreted with caution and with careful consideration of the limitations inherent to meta-analyzed neuroimaging comparisons.

The pattern of structural brain alterations associated with major depressive disorder (MDD) remains unresolved. This is in part due to small sample sizes of neuroimaging studies resulting in limited statistical power, disease heterogeneity and the complex interactions between clinical characteristics and brain morphology. To address this, we meta-analyzed three-dimensional brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 1728 MDD patients and 7199 controls from 15 research samples worldwide, to identify subcortical brain volumes that robustly discriminate MDD patients from healthy controls. Relative to controls, patients had significantly lower hippocampal volumes (Cohen’s d=−0.14, % difference=−1.24). This effect was driven by patients with recurrent MDD (Cohen’s d=−0.17, % difference=−1.44), and we detected no differences between first episode patients and controls. Age of onset ⩽21 was associated with a smaller hippocampus (Cohen’s d=−0.20, % difference=−1.85) and a trend toward smaller amygdala (Cohen’s d=−0.11, % difference=−1.23) and larger lateral ventricles (Cohen’s d=0.12, % difference=5.11). Symptom severity at study inclusion was not associated with any regional brain volumes. Sample characteristics such as mean age, proportion of antidepressant users and proportion of remitted patients, and methodological characteristics did not significantly moderate alterations in brain volumes in MDD. Samples with a higher proportion of antipsychotic medication users showed larger caudate volumes in MDD patients compared with controls. This currently largest worldwide effort to identify subcortical brain alterations showed robust smaller hippocampal volumes in MDD patients, moderated by age of onset and first episode versus recurrent episode status.

The profile of brain structural abnormalities in schizophrenia is still not fully understood, despite decades of research using brain scans. To validate a prospective meta-analysis approach to analyzing multicenter neuroimaging data, we analyzed brain MRI scans from 2028 schizophrenia patients and 2540 healthy controls, assessed with standardized methods at 15 centers worldwide. We identified subcortical brain volumes that differentiated patients from controls, and ranked them according to their effect sizes. Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia had smaller hippocampus (Cohen’s d=−0.46), amygdala (d=−0.31), thalamus (d=−0.31), accumbens (d=−0.25) and intracranial volumes (d=−0.12), as well as larger pallidum (d=0.21) and lateral ventricle volumes (d=0.37). Putamen and pallidum volume augmentations were positively associated with duration of illness and hippocampal deficits scaled with the proportion of unmedicated patients. Worldwide cooperative analyses of brain imaging data support a profile of subcortical abnormalities in schizophrenia, which is consistent with that based on traditional meta-analytic approaches. This first ENIGMA Schizophrenia Working Group study validates that collaborative data analyses can readily be used across brain phenotypes and disorders and encourages analysis and data sharing efforts to further our understanding of severe mental illness.

High confinement and stability are obtained simultaneously in stationary conditions in improved H-mode discharges at ASDEX Upgrade. The improved H-mode discharges are typically composed of two different phases: 'lower heating phase', where H98(y, 2) is similar to standard H-modes (H98(y, 2) ~ 1), and 'fully developed improved H-mode phase', where H98(y, 2) is higher than standard H-modes (H98(y, 2) up to 1.4). In this paper, the confinement physics is studied by comparing these two different phases using ASTRA simulations. The results are compared with experimental observations. Firstly, the time evolution of the q-profile is simulated with ASTRA using experimental kinetic profiles and compared with experimental measurements. Secondly, the two different phases are compared by power balance analyses and predictive modelling using the Weiland model with ASTRA. Ion temperature gradient lengths and turbulence levels measured by reflectometry are compared between the two phases. Lastly, the roles of density peaking and pedestal pressure in confinement improvement are discussed. The transport analyses using the ASTRA code and experimental observations show that the fully developed improved H-mode phase is very similar to the lower heating phase in terms of core heat transport. With respect to the confinement improvement, it is suggested that the increase of the edge pedestal pressure plays an important role. Enhancement of the radial electric field at the edge is believed to be closely linked with confinement improvement at the edge pedestal region in the fully developed phase.

Plasma operation with high-Z plasma facing components is investigated with regard to sputtering, core impurity contamination and scenario restrictions. A simple model based on dimensionless quantities for fuel and high-Z ion sources and transport to describe the high-Z concentration in the plasma core is introduced. The impurity release and further transport is factorized into the sputtering yield, the relative pedestal penetration probability and a core confinement enhancement factor. Since there are quite large uncertainties, in particular, in the sputtering source and the edge transport of high-Z impurities, very different scenarios covering a wide parameter range are taken into account in order to resolve the experimental trends. Sputtering of tungsten by charge exchange neutrals in the energy range 0.5–2 keV is comparable to the effect of impurity ion sputtering, while the impact of thermal fuel ions is negligible. Fast ions produced by neutral beam injection as well as sheath acceleration during ICR heating may cause considerable high-Z sources if the limiters on the low-field side have high-Z surfaces. The critical behaviour of the central high-Z concentration in some experimental scenarios could be attributed to edge and core transport parameters in the concentration model. The improved H-mode with off-central heating turns out to be the most critical one, since a hot edge is combined with peaked density profiles.

The ‘improved H-mode’ regime, realized in ASDEX Upgrade in 1998 and confirmed by other devices, demonstrates the integration of advanced performance beyond the standard H-mode for confinement (confinement enhancement factor H98(y,2)  1.6), stability (normalized beta βN ∼ 3–3.5) and, at densities close to the Greenwald density, exhaust in stationary discharges longer than 40 confinement times or up to six resistive diffusion times. The q-profile is characterized by low central magnetic shear and axis safety factor q0 > 1 that is obtained by particular discharge and heating ramp-up scenarios and maintained via fishbones or benign higher (m, n) instabilities without using elaborate current control. Core transport is still governed by drift-wave turbulence with stiff temperature profiles, but density profiles are more strongly peaked and contribute to the increase in global confinement. A further contribution manifests itself by enhanced pressures at the edge barrier pedestal top and at the ρ = 0.9 surface both increasing with the input power. (3, 2) NTMs remain small, enabling routine operation up to βN ∼ 3 (limited by (2, 1) NTMs) at ITER relevant collisionalities, for normalized Larmor radii down to four times the ITER value and for a broad range of q95 = 3–5. Tailored heat deposition including central wave heating allows for a compromise in density peaking for enhanced confinement and tolerable high-Z impurity concentrations even with tungsten coated structures.As far as the ITER relevance of this regime is concerned, its compatibility with significant central electron heating, low collisionality and even densities close to the Greenwald density combined with type-II ELMs and βN ∼ 3.5 is of importance. The GLF23 turbulence model still predicts peaked density profiles (R/Ln ∼ 3) and sufficient transport to avoid impurity accumulation. At low q95 ∼ 3 the fusion performance in terms of is more than doubled compared with the ITER baseline scenario (performance factor ∼ 0.2) extrapolating to long Q ≫ 10 pulses on ITER. At medium q's bootstrap current fractions up to 50% and performance factors close to 0.2 can be achieved resulting in long inductive pulse lengths of ∼1 h allowing ITER ‘hybrid’ operation at Q  9.

Plasma operation with high-Zplasma facing components is investigated with regard to sputtering, core impurity contamination and scenario restrictions. A simple model based on dimensionless quantities for fuel and high-Zion sources and transport to describe the high-Zconcentration in the plasma core is introduced. The impurity release and further transport is factorized into the sputtering yield, the relative pedestal penetration probability and a core confinement enhancement factor. Since there are quite large uncertainties, in particular, in the sputtering source and the edge transport of high-Zimpurities, very different scenarios covering a wide parameter range are taken into account in order to resolve the experimental trends. Sputtering of tungsten by charge exchange neutrals in the energy range 0.5-2?keV is comparable to the effect of impurity ion sputtering, while the impact of thermal fuel ions is negligible. Fast ions produced by neutral beam injection as well as sheath acceleration during ICR heating may cause considerable high-Zsources if the limiters on the low-field side have high-Zsurfaces. The critical behaviour of the central high-Zconcentration in some experimental scenarios could be attributed to edge and core transport parameters in the concentration model. The improved H-mode with off-central heating turns out to be the most critical one, since a hot edge is combined with peaked density profiles.

Significant progress has been made on ASDEX Upgrade during the last two years in the basic understanding of transport, in the extension of the improved H-mode in parameter space and towards an integrated operating scenario and in the development of control methods for major performance limiting instabilities. The important features were the understanding of particle transport and the control of impurity accumulation based on it, the satisfactory operation with predominantly tungsten-clad walls, the improved H-mode operation over density ranges and for temperature ratios covering (non-simultaneously) the ITER requirements on ν*, n/nGW and Te/Ti, the ELM frequency control by pellet injection and the optimization of NTM suppression by DC-ECCD through variation of the launching angle. From these experiments an integrated scenario has emerged which extrapolates to a 50% improvement in n T τ or a 30% reduction of the required current when compared with the ITER base-line assumptions, with moderately peaked electron and controllable high-Z density profiles.

In 2003, the performance of the ‘hybrid’ regime was successfully validated in JET experiments up to β_N = 2.8 at low toroidal field (1.7 T), with plasma triangularity and normalized Larmor radius (ρ^*) corresponding to identical ASDEX Upgrade discharges. Stationary conditions have been achieved with the fusion figure of merit ( ₉₅ = 3.9. The JET discharges show similar MHD, edge and current profile behaviour, when compared with the ASDEX Upgrade. In addition, the JET experiments have extended the hybrid scenario operation at higher toroidal field of 2.4 T and lower ρ^* towards the projected ITER values. Using this database, transport and confinement properties are characterized with respect to the standard H-mode regime. Moreover, trace tritium has been injected to assess the diffusion and convective coefficients of the fusion fuel. The maximization of confinement and stability properties provides, to this scenario, a good probability of achieving a high fusion gain at reduced plasma current for durations of up to 2000 s in ITER.

A stationary regime with improved confinement (H_{98(y, 2)} > 1) and, simultaneously, improved stability (β_N > 2.5) compared to standard H-mode has been investigated on ASDEX Upgrade for many years. This so-called ‘improved H-mode’ is characterized by a q-profile with low central magnetic shear and q₀  1 that is obtained by early heating during the current ramp. Studies of this discharge scenario have been continued. New results are presented concerning the existence domain in the q₉₅ range, the dependence on the normalized Larmor radius ₉₅ < 4.5 and n_e/n_GW up to 0.85. At low densities the normalized collisionality ν^* is close to the ITER value and within the range of ₀ > 1 sawteeth as the main trigger of large amplitude neoclassical tearing modes are avoided. The stability is eventually limited by the occurrence of a mode with poloidal mode number m = 2 and toroidal mode number n = 1 at typically β_N ~ 3. As far as the reactor relevance of this regime is concerned, its compatibility with significant central electron heating by ICRH, with high edge densities and low amplitude edge localized modes is of importance. The improved H-mode is, therefore, seen as a candidate for a long pulse ITER ‘hybrid’ operation.

An integrated radiative high performance scenario has been established at ASDEX Upgrade based on simultaneous feedback control of the average divertor neutral particle and power flux in combination with a high, pellet induced frequency of edge localized modes (ELMs). This approach is fully compatible with the present tungsten wall coating covering about 65% of the plasma facing components and is intended for application in the envisaged full-tungsten experiment. In these experiments, divertor recycling and effective divertor temperature (derived from thermoelectric currents) were tuned by acting on fuel gas puff and argon injection rates. The ELM frequency (f_ELM) was kept high by repetitive injection of small cryogenic deuterium pellets to avoid the radiative instabilities seen at low f_ELM and high radiated power, and to control the ELM energy. No confinement loss is observed in this radiative type-I ELMy scenario with relatively flat density profiles. In contrast, similar type-III ELM scenarios achieved in hydrogen show a confinement loss of 25% as compared to the type-I phase. In parallel to pellets, alternative ELM trigger techniques have been investigated as well. Fast vertical plasma oscillations are able to synchronize the ELM frequency to values higher and lower than the intrinsic f_ELM, but remain to be tested in the integrated scenario. Supersonic gas injection showed better fuelling efficiencies than usual gas puffing but instantaneous ELM release has not been achieved. A particular experimental challenge for AUG conditions is to obtain a high pace making frequency, to establish scalings of confinement and energy loss as a function of controlled ELM frequency.

In ASDEX Upgrade, experimental efforts aim to establish pace making and mitigation of type-I edge localized modes (ELMs) in high confinement mode (H-mode) discharges. Injection of small size cryogenic deuterium pellets (~(1.4 mm)² × 0.2 mm ≈ 2.5 × 10¹⁹ D) at rates up to 83 Hz imposed persisting ELM control without significant fuelling, enabling for investigations well inside the type-I ELM regime. The approach turned out to meet all required operational features. ELM pace making was realized with the driving frequency ranging from 1 to 2.8 times the intrinsic ELM frequency, the upper boundary set by hardware limits. ELM frequency enhancement by pellet pace making causes much less confinement reduction than by engineering means like heating, gas bleeding or plasma shaping. Confinement reduction _ELM as a free parameter giving enhanced operational headroom for tailoring H-mode scenarios with acceptable ELMs. Use was made of the pellet pace making tool in several successful applications in different scenarios. It seems that further reduction of the pellet mass could be possible, eventually resulting in less confinement reduction as well.

Recent results from the ASDEX Upgrade experimental campaigns 2001 and 2002 are presented. An improved understanding of energy and particle transport emerges in terms of a ‘critical gradient’ model for the temperature gradients. Coupling this to particle diffusion explains most of the observed behaviour of the density profiles, in particular, the finding that strong central heating reduces the tendency for density profile peaking. Internal transport barriers (ITBs) with electron and ion temperatures in excess of 20 keV (but not simultaneously) have been achieved. By shaping the plasma, a regime with small type II edge localized modes (ELMs) has been established. Here, the maximum power deposited on the target plates was greatly reduced at constant average power. Also, an increase of the ELM frequency by injection of shallow pellets was demonstrated. ELM free operation is possible in the quiescent H-mode regime previously found in DIII-D which has also been established on ASDEX Upgrade. Regarding stability, a regime with benign neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) was found. During electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) stabilization of NTMs, β_N could be increased well above the usual onset level without a reappearance of the NTM. Electron cyclotron resonance heating and ECCD have also been used to control the sawtooth repetition frequency at a moderate fraction of the total heating power. The inner wall of the ASDEX Upgrade vessel has increasingly been covered with tungsten without causing detrimental effects on the plasma performance. Regarding scenario integration, a scenario with a large fraction of noninductively driven current (50%), but without ITB has been established. It combines improved confinement (τ_E/τ_ITER98 ≈ 1.2) and stability (β_N  3.5) at high Greenwald fraction (n_e/n_GW ≈ 0.85) in steady state and with type II ELMy edge and would offer the possibility for long pulses with high fusion power at reduced current in ITER.

A new divertor configuration (DIV-IIb) has been implemented in ASDEX Upgrade. In order to accommodate a large variety of plasma shapes with bottom triangularities (δbot) up to 0.48, the outer strikepoint region was modified and the roof baffle was lowered and diminished at its outer part in comparison with the previous divertor (DIV-II). The inner part of the divertor strikepoint module remains unchanged, but a smooth transition to the central column is provided at the divertor entrance to minimize local hydrogen recycling. An increase in power density is observed due to geometrical reasons at the outer target, whereas the divertor radiation for similar configurations and discharge conditions is unchanged. The pumping characteristics for D and He are almost retained, suggesting a large influence of the inner divertor leg, the configuration of which remains as before. Detachment in L-mode discharges fits well into a scaling deduced from JET data and earlier ASDEX Upgrade data. A significant reduction (20%) of the L–H threshold is observed compared with DIV-II. Its density dependence is weaker than in the previous DIV-II configuration and there are hints for an influence of triangularity on power threshold. Finally, clear evidence for a parasitic plasma below the divertor roof baffle is found.

The behaviour of the density profiles in ASDEX Upgrade can be described well with the assumption D ∝ χ and a pinch of the order of the neoclassical Ware pinch. The latter is estimated from slowly equilibrating density profiles. The assumption D ∝ χ has been succesfully tested by varying the heat deposition profile, making use of on-/off-axis ICRH and ECRH: due to the generally observed self-similarity of the temperature profile, such variations in the heat flux profile have a strong effect on the χ-profile and on the D-profile if the above assumption is correct. The corresponding variations in the density profiles have indeed been observed. The model is also capable of describing the decay of the density profile after injecting a train of pellets. The anomalous transport of impurities is also increased with central heating, and the corresponding flattening of the density profile leads to a significant reduction of the neoclassical impurity pinch. Central ICR or ECR heating are therefore now routinely used to control density peaking and its negative effect on the stability of neoclassical tearing modes as well as to control the impurity transport in ASDEX Upgrade.

Recent experiments at ASDEX Upgrade have achieved advanced scenarios with high β_N (>3) and confinement enhancement over ITER98(y, 2) scaling, H^H98y2&equal;1.1–1.5, in steady state. These discharges have been obtained in a modified divertor configuration for ASDEX Upgrade, allowing operation at higher triangularity, and with a changed neutral beam injection (NBI) system, for a more tangential, off-axis beam deposition. The figure of merit, β_NH^ITER89-P, reaches up to 7.5 for several seconds in plasmas approaching stationary conditions. These advanced tokamak discharges have low magnetic shear in the centre, with q on-axis near 1, and edge safety factor, q₉₅ in the range 3.3–4.5. This q-profile is sustained by the bootstrap current, NBI-driven current and fishbone activity in the core. The off-axis heating leads to a strong peaking of the density profile and impurity accumulation in the core. This can be avoided by adding some central heating from ion cyclotron resonance heating or electron cyclotron resonance heating, since the temperature profiles are stiff in this advanced scenario (no internal transport barrier). Using a combination of NBI and gas fuelling line, average densities up to 80–90&percent; of the Greenwald density are achieved, maintaining good confinement. The best integrated results in terms of confinement, stability and ability to operate at high density are obtained in highly shaped configurations, near double null, with δ&equal;0.43. At the highest densities, a strong reduction of the edge localized mode activity similar to type II activity is observed, providing a steady power load on the divertor, in the range of 6 MW m⁻², despite the high input power used (>10 MW).

The confinement physics of the improved H-mode is analysed in detail. It is shown that this scenario can be largely unified with that of the standard H-mode. Transport barriers exist in the early phase of the discharge just after the switch on of the heating. In steady state, however, no clear internal transport barriers can be indentified in the ion temperature profiles. The profiles are then found to be stiff and the improved H-mode follows the same ion temperature scaling as the standard H-mode. The improvement of the confinement against the H-mode scaling is partly due to the dependence of this scaling on the line averaged density, and is partly obtained through density peaking appearing at low densities. It is shown that pre-heating is not essential in reaching the good confinement.

Axisymmetric MHD simulations have revealed a new driving mechanism that governs the vertical displacement event (VDE) dynamics in tokamak disruptions. A rapid flattening of the plasma current profile during the disruption plays a substantial role in dragging a single null-diverted plasma vertically towards the divertor. As a consequence, the occurrence of downward-going VDEs predominates over the upward-going ones in bottom-diverted discharges. This dragging effect, due to an abrupt change in the current profile, is absent in up–down symmetric limiter discharges. These simulation results are consistent with experiments in ASDEX-Upgrade. Together with the attractive force that arises from passive shell currents induced by the plasma current quench, the dragging effect explains many details of the VDE dynamics over the whole period of the disruptive termination.

An advanced high confinement mode scenario with normalized beta (β_N) up to 3.5 in stationary conditions (up to 20 energy confinement times) and β_N&equal;3.8 transiently, has been obtained in ASDEX Upgrade. For transport analysis of high β_N discharges, two types of simulations have been performed with the automated system for transport analysis code. One is the simulation of the current density profile with experimental data assuming neoclassical electrical conductivity. The other is the simulation of the energy transport and the current density profile using the Weiland transport model (ion temperature gradient and trapped electron mode limit the temperature gradient length). The comparison of the simulations of the q-profiles and temperature profiles with the experimental profiles shows good agreement and demonstrates that for this plasmas regime the temperature profiles are stiff (no internal transport barrier) as in conventional H-mode discharges. The contribution of the Ohmic, bootstrap and neutral beam driven current to the total current density profiles is calculated. The sum of the non-inductively driven plasma current is in the range 50–57&percent; of the total plasma current. Simulations with the Weiland model are performed to investigate the influence of neoclassical tearing modes, which limit confinement and achievable β_N in this scenario, by comparing with the measured kinetic data. In addition, the high β_N discharges are compared to the improved H-mode discharges in ASDEX Upgrade with respect to the profile stiffness, MHD activity and experimental conditions.

The mechanisms underlying attention to action are poorly understood. Although distracted by something else, we often maintain the accuracy of a movement, which suggests that differential neural mechanisms for the control of attended and nonattended action exist. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in normal volunteers and probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps, we observed that neural activity in subarea 4p (posterior) within the primary motor cortex was modulated by attention to action, while neural activity in subarea 4a (anterior) was not. The data provide the direct evidence for differential neural mechanisms during attended and unattended action in human primary motor cortex.

At the central column of ASDEX Upgrade, an area of 5.5 m² of graphite tiles was replaced by tungsten-coated tiles representing about two-thirds of the total area of the central column. No negative influence on the plasma performance was found, except for internal transport barrier limiter discharges. The tungsten influx Γ_W stayed below the detection limit only during direct plasma wall contact or for reduced clearance in divertor discharges spectroscopic evidence for Γ_W could be found. From these observations a penetration factor of the order of 1% and effective sputtering yields of about 10^-3 could be derived, pointing to a strong contribution by light intrinsic impurities to the total \mbox{W-sputtering}. The tungsten concentrations ranged from below 10^-6 up to a few times 10^-5. Generally, in discharges with increased density peaking, a tendency for increased central tungsten concentrations or even accumulation was observed. Central heating (mostly) by ECRH led to a strong reduction of the central impurity content, accompanied by a very benign reduction of the energy confinement. The observations suggest that the W-source strength plays only an inferior role for the central W-content compared to the transport, since in the discharges with increased W-concentration neither an increase in the W-influx nor a change in the edge parameters was observed. In contrast, there is strong experimental evidence, that the central impurity concentration can be controlled externally by central heating.

A new divertor configuration (DIV IIb) has been implemented in ASDEX Upgrade. In order to accommodate a large variety of plasma shapes with bottom triangularities (δ_bot) up to 0.48, the outer strike point region was modified and the roof baffle was lowered and diminished at its outer part in comparison with the previous divertor (DIV II). The inner part of the divertor strike point module remains unchanged, but at the divertor entrance a smooth transition to the central column is provided to minimize local hydrogen recycling. According to experiences with power handling in DIV II, ordinary fine grain graphite has been chosen for the outer strike point and, as before the tiles are slightly tilted in toroidal direction to hide the leading edges. A first characterization of DIV IIb reveals that the beneficial behaviour of DIV II is essentially maintained. There is an increase of the power density due to geometrical reasons at the outer target, whereas the divertor radiation for similar magnetic configurations is unchanged. The pumping characteristics for D and He are almost retained, suggesting a large influence of the inner divertor leg, the configuration of which remains unchanged. A significant reduction (20%) of the L-H threshold is observed consistent with larger temperature gradients inside the separatrix just before the transition.

The variation of the density profile shape of H-modes in ASDEX Upgrade is governed by time constants much larger than τ_E. A method to determine these time constants is presented. Especially high density discharges with moderate heating and constant gas puff show very long phases of increasingly peaking density profiles which may not reach a steady state, although the H-mode pedestal remains constant during the peaking process. If heated more centrally with ICRH the peaking is strongly reduced and a steady state is reached. The behaviour can be well modelled using D≈0.1χ and the neoclassical Ware-pinch. Strongly peaked density profiles lead to an earlier onset of neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) in agreement with theoretical predictions of the strong influence of ∇n/n on the bootstrap current. Also for impurities an effect of the heat flux profile is observed: central heating with ECRH leads to a reduction of heavy ions in the plasma core.

Recent experiments at ASDEX Upgrade have concentrated on advanced scenarios, specifically ELMy H-mode discharges without an internal transport barrier which obtain a high β_N = 3.5 in steady state. A highly shaped plasma configuration is used at 800 kA, with a triangularity δ = 0.42 and edge safety factor, q₉₅, in the range 3.6-4.1. The product β_NH89-P reaches up to 8.0 in plasmas approaching a stationary conditions, and β_NH89-P{} = 11.5 is achieved transiently. These discharges are at high density, 80-90% of the Greenwald density limit. Discharges at the highest density show a strong reduction of the ELM activity, similar to type II activity, eliminating transient high heat loads on the divertor target. Finally, the non-inductively driven current approaches 70% of the total current making this regime a serious candidate for an advanced scenario in a reactor, and a benchmark for other advanced scenarios.

An on-line predictor of the time to disruption has been installed on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. It is suitable either for avoidance of disruptions or for mitigation of those that are unavoidable. The prediction uses a neural network trained on eight plasma parameters and their time derivatives extracted from 99 disruptive discharges. The network was tested off-line over 500 discharges and was found to work reliably and to be able to predict the majority of the disruptions. The trained network was installed on-line, tested over 128 discharges and used to inject killer pellets to mitigate the disruption loads.

Studies of neural correlates of working memory functions in the auditory-verbal, visuo-spatial and visuo-object domain suggest a category-specific organization of working memory processes in prefrontal cortex. Here, we used fMRI to explore brain areas that underlie different working memory operations directed to the temporal domain, which so far has been widely neglected. Significant activations related to memory updating and comparison processes were found right-accentuated in prefrontal and lateral premotor cortices. Furthermore, both subvocal rhythm encoding and maintenance enhanced left-lateralized activity in Broca's and supplementary motor area as well as in the sensorimotor cortex. Hemispheric lateralization effects of brain activity during temporal processing tasks may depend on the presence or absence of subvocal rehearsal strategies.

A network of brain areas is expected to be involved in supporting the motion aftereffect. The most active components of this network were determined by means of an fMRI study of nine subjects exposed to a visual stimulus of moving bars producing the effect. Across the subjects, common areas were identified during various stages of the effect, as well as networks of areas specific to a single stage. In addition to the well-known motion-sensitive area MT the prefrontal brain areas BA44 and 47 and the cingulate gyrus, as well as posterior sites such as BA37 and BA40, were important components during the period of the motion aftereffect experience. They appear to be involved in control circuitry for selecting which of a number of processing styles is appropriate. The experimental fMRI results of the activation levels and their time courses for the various areas are explored. Correlation analysis shows that there are effectively two separate and weakly coupled networks involved in the total process. Implications of the results for awareness of the effect itself are briefly considered in the final discussion.

Zusammenfassung: In dieser Studie wurden die Wirkungen verschiedener Aktivierungstests auf die motorische und psychische Symptomatik der akuten neuroleptikainduzierten Akathisie an 11 Patienten unter Verwendung der Hillside- und Barnes-Akathisie-Skalen sowie der Videotape Rating Technique experimentell untersucht. Zur motorischen Aktivierung wurde Finger-Tapping eingesetzt. Die kognitive Aktivierung bestand in sequenziellem Kopfrechnen, wobei unterschieden wurde zwischen einerseits nur geringfügig und andererseits stärker stressevozierenden Aufgaben, und zwar durch den Einsatz von Zeitdruck bzw. einen hohen Schwierigkeitsgrad der betreffenden Rechenoperationen. Motorische und gering belastende kognitive Aktivierung reduzierte sowohl motorische als auch psychische Symptome der Akathisie statistisch signifikant. Dagegen führte zusätzliche Stressinduktion im Rahmen der kognitiven Aktivierung zu einer Aufhebung dieses Effekts sowie zu einer Zunahme motorischer wie auch psychischer Symptome unmittelbar nach Beendigung der Aktivierungsaufgabe. Diese möglicherweise spezifischen Wirkungen von Aktivierungstests auf die Symptomatik könnten bei der differenzialdiagnostischen Abgrenzung der akuten neuroleptikainduzierten Akathisie von anderen neuroleptikainduzierten und extrapyramidalen Bewegungsstörungen nützlich sein.

Efforts have been made to develop scenarios allowing more flexible plasma density control by injecting cryogenic solid hydrogen pellets. While the injection of pellets during ohmic discharges was found to be most efficient and also improves the plasma performance, an increase in the auxiliary heating power causes a deterioration of the pellet fuelling efficiency. A further strong reduction of the pellet fuelling efficiency by an additional process was observed for the more reactor relevant conditions of shallow particle deposition during H mode phases. With injection during type I ELMy H mode phases, each pellet was found to trigger the release of an ELM and therefore cause particle losses mainly from the edge region. In the type I ELMy H mode, only sufficient pellet penetration allowed noticeable, persistent particle deposition in the plasma by the pellets. Applying adequate pellet injection conditions and favourable scenarios using combined pellet/gas puff refuelling, significant density ramp-up to densities exceeding the empirical Greenwald limit by up to a factor of two was achieved even for strongly heated H mode plasmas

Injection of impurity pellets has been shown to be a successful method of reducing thermal and mechanical loads during disruptions. The evolution of the quenching plasma after pellet injection in ASDEX Upgrade is described and the requirements of such a method for mitigating disruptions in future devices are discussed

The H-mode develops in conditions of low and controlled recycling. The electron and ion collisionality parameters at the plasma periphery are close to, but above, one in the L-phase and drop below one in the H-phase. The realization of the H-phase is easier in the single-null than in the double-null configuration which has higher power and density thresholds. The increased H-mode accessibility of the single-null configuration requires the ion grad B-drift direction to be towards the stagnation point. The experimental observations are in agreement with a recent theory of the H-transition by Hinton.

The highest ?-values derived from diamagnetic flux measurements in H-discharges are found to be close to the ?-limit due to kink and ideal ballooning modes. Both energy and particle confinement are degraded in these discharges and do not recover during the injection period. The energy confinement time decreases by a typical factor of two, the electron thermal diffusivity being correspondingly enhanced. Electron heat conduction is again found to be the dominant energy loss channel. The degradation of confinement close to the ideal-MHD limit suggests that kink and ballooning instabilities occur and are responsible for the enhanced transport. This conclusion is supported by the correlation with the pressure profile and by the result that global and local transport do not change in a reference discharge which is stable against ideal-MHD modes.

Ohmically heated divertor discharges with gas fuelling and pellet fuelling without any gas puffing are compared. Central radiation prevents improvement of the density limit with this pellet injection mode. Strongly peaked density profiles are obtained, while the temperature profiles are only weakly broadened, compared with gas puffing. Transport analyses show that the deep penetration enhances convective energy transport, which is offset by reduced electron thermal conduction loss. The particle and energy transport can be described by the same .models for both fuelling modes. But only the electron thermal diffusivity, ?e, averaged over one pellet cycle, agrees with the scaling derived from steady state gas fuelled discharges, whereas a description in agreement with the 'temperature profile consistency' also depicts the time resolved ?eprofiles.

AbstractThe Axially Symmetric Divertor Experiment (ASDEX) Upgrade’s digital systems for plant operation and real-time discharge control are described. Experience gained during development and operation is used to derive the structure of a reference discharge control system that serves as a target system to assess the impact of enhancements in the existing system. Within this context, the extension of supervision control from technical synchronization of dedicated controllers to physics-oriented coordination is discussed, and examples of technical and physical applications are shown.

AbstractThe International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) must run near operational limits to produce high-performance plasmas that, beyond position and shape control, rely on optimized control of additional plasma parameters. Control of single parameters, such as beta, plasma stored energy, or ion cyclotron resonance heating antenna coupling, has already been reported. Further performance improvements can be achieved by coordinated control of combinations of parameters. These may be specific to the different phases of a discharge, e.g., for radiative boundary concepts. A growing understanding of discharge behavior will lead to the identification of better control scenarios involving both new parameters and control methods. This requires a universal platform into which control algorithms can flexibly be integrated to adapt to interesting discharge scenarios. With the multitude of processes expected to be implemented, management of real-time processes becomes crucial. This paper explains how this issue is raised by the requirement specification of the controller and how it influences design, implementation, and operation of the plasma performance controller. Examples such as the achievement of completely detached H-mode plasmas demonstrate the working method and its effectiveness.