The physics governing the collisional transport of impurities in tokamak plasmas can change significantly depending on four main parameters, namely the collisionality, the impurity charge and mass, and the trapped particle fraction, which can vary widely from the core to the edge of a fusion device. We present an analytical model for collisional impurity transport with a consistent dependence on broad scans in these four parameters, showing good agreement with the drift-kinetic code NEO. Radial profiles of collisional fluxes are calculated for different impurity species using ASDEX Upgrade experimental profiles as well as ITER simulated profiles, and they are also compared to NEO. This model is suited for fast integrated modelling applications due to its low computational cost.

Screening of high-Z (W) impurities from the confined plasma by the temperature gradient at the plasma periphery of fusion-grade H-mode plasmas has been demonstrated in the JET-ILW (ITER-like wall) tokamak. Through careful optimisation of the hybrid-scenario, deuterium plasmas with sufficient heating power ( ≳ 32 MW), high enough ion temperature gradients at the H-mode pedestal top can be achieved for the collisional, neo-classical convection of the W impurities to be directed outwards, expelling them from the confined plasma. Measurements of the W impurity fluxes between and during edge-localised modes (ELMs) based on fast bolometry measurements show that in such plasmas there is a net efflux (loss) between ELMs but that ELMs often allow some W back into the confined plasma. Provided steady, high-power heating is maintained, this mechanism allows such plasmas to sustain high performance, with an average D–D neutron rate of ∼ 3.2 × 10 16  s−1 over a period of ∼3 s, after an initial overshoot (equivalent to a D–T fusion power of ∼9.4 MW), without an uncontrolled rise in W impurity radiation, giving added confidence that impurity screening by the pedestal may also occur in ITER, as has previously been predicted (Dux et al 2017 Nucl. Mater. Energy 12 28–35).

Background: For a treatment decision of unruptured cerebral aneurysms, physicians and patients need to weigh the risk of treatment against the risk of hemorrhagic stroke caused by aneurysm rupture. The aim of this study was to externally evaluate a recently developed statistical aneurysm rupture probability model, which could potentially support such treatment decisions. Methods: Segmented image data and patient information obtained from two patient cohorts including 203 patients with 249 aneurysms were used for patient-specific computational fluid dynamics simulations and subsequent evaluation of the statistical model in terms of accuracy, discrimination, and goodness of fit. The model’s performance was further compared to a similaritybased approach for rupture assessment by identifying aneurysms in the training cohort that were similar in terms of hemodynamics and shape compared to a given aneurysm from the external cohorts. Results: When applied to the external data, the model achieved a good discrimination and goodness of fit (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve AUC=0.82), which was only slightly reduced compared to the optimism-corrected AUC in the training population (AUC=0.84). The accuracy metrics indicated a small decrease in accuracy compared to the training data (misclassification error of 0.24 vs. 0.21). The model’s prediction accuracy was improved when combined with the similarity approach (misclassification error of 0.14). Conclusions: The model’s performance measures indicated a good generalizability for data acquired at different clinical institutions. Combining the model-based and similarity-based approach could further improve the assessment and interpretation of new cases, demonstrating its potential use for clinical risk assessment.

The influence of rotation, collisionality and trapped particle fraction on the magnitude and direction of neoclassical impurity transport in tokamaks is analyzed using an extensive database of drift-kinetic simulations with the NEO code. It is shown that an operational window opens at sufficiently high Mach number and low collisionality, where the magnitude of the temperature screening of impurities increases with higher rotation. If the collisionality increases, this effect is quickly lost and the temperature gradient then drives an inward impurity flux when rotation is present. The boundary between these two regimes is calculated as a function of the trapped particle fraction, and it is shown that plasma parameters achieved in recent JET experiments allow them to access the new beneficial regime, in accordance with observations of reduced tungsten accumulation. Applications to ASDEX Upgrade experiments where these effects become relevant are also presented, and the implications for ITER are discussed. A method for extracting the physically distinct Pfirsch-Schlüter (PS) and banana-plateau (BP) neoclassical flux components from the NEO output is introduced and employed to construct a model that describes them analytically at arbitrary rotation and collisionality. The beneficial behavior of the screening with rotation is found to be a BP effect, in contrast to the known detrimental role of rotation in the PS component. The new analytical model is able to reproduce the results of NEO when modelling radial profiles of transport coefficients from experimental kinetic profiles, with the added feature of isolating the BP and PS components for additional physical analysis, while remaining well suited for fast applications.

The interface formed between Cu3BiS3 thin films and the buffer layer is a potentially limiting factor to the performance of solar cells based on Al/Cu3BiS3/buffer heterojunctions. The buffer layers of ZnS and In2S3 were grown by co-evaporation, and tested as an alternative to the traditional CdS deposited by chemical bath deposition. From the Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements, we found the values of the work function of ZnS, In2S3, and CdS, layers deposited into Cu3BiS3. Additionally, different electronic activity was found for different grain boundaries (GBs), from studies under illumination, we also found the net doping concentration and the density of charged GB states for Cu3BiS3 and Cu3BiS3/CdS.