In JT-60U H-mode plasmas, giant (type I) ELMs disappear and minute grassy ELMs appear when triangularity δ, edge safety factor q 95 and β p are high enough. Complete suppression of giant ELMs was observed at δ 0.45, q 95 6 and β p 1.6. At higher δ (0.54), giant ELMs can disappear at a lower q 95 (∼4.0). In the grassy ELMy H-mode, edge temperature and pressure can be higher than those in giant ELMy H-mode and a favourable confinement can be sustained without an increase of the impurity concentration. An edge stability analysis suggests that the edge plasma is accessing the second stability regime of the high n ballooning mode in the grassy ELMy discharges.

The concept for a compact DEMO reactor named 'SlimCS' is presented. Distinctive features of the concept are low aspect ratio (A = 2.6) and use of a reduced-size centre solenoid (CS) which has the function of plasma shaping rather than poloidal flux supply. The reduced-size CS enables us to introduce a thin toroidal field coil system which contributes to reducing the weight and perhaps lessening the construction cost. Low-A has merits of vertical stability for high elongation (κ) and high normalized beta (β N ), which leads to a high power density with reasonable physics requirements. This is because high κ facilitates high n GW (because of an increase in I p ), which allows efficient use of the capacity of high β N . From an engineering aspect, low-A may ensure ease in designing blanket modules robust to electromagnetic forces acting on disruptions. Thus, a superconducting low-A tokamak reactor such as SlimCS can be a promising DEMO concept with physics and engineering advantages.

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Acid-base homeostasis (body pH) inside the body is precisely controlled by the kidneys and lungs and buffer systems, such that even a minor pH change could severely affect many organs. Blood and urine pH tests are common in day-to-day clinical trials and require little effort for diagnosis. There is always a great demand for in vivo testing to understand more about body metabolism and to provide effective diagnosis and therapy. In this article, we report the simple fabrication of microneedle-based direct, label-free, and real-time pH sensors. The reference and working electrodes were Ag/AgCl thick films and ZnO thin films on tungsten (W) microneedles, respectively. The morphological and structural characteristics of microneedles were carefully investigated through various analytical methods. The developed sensor exhibited a Nernstian response of -46 mV/pH. Different conditions were used to test the sensor to confirm their accuracy and stability, such as various buffer solutions, with respect to time, and we compared the reading with commercial pH electrodes. Besides that, the fabricated microneedle sensor ability is proven by in vivo testing in mouse cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and bladders. The pH sensor procedure reported here is totally reversible, and results were reproducible after several rounds of testing.

As a result of an experiment at JT-60U on H mode transition power threshold scaling, which is one of the urgent ITER Physics R&D issues, it has been found that: (a) the derived scaling law of Pth(MW)=0.18ne0.5 (1019 m-3) BT1.0 (T) R1.5 (m) with presumed non-dimensional constraints predicts a threshold heating power of ⩽ 100 MW at 5 × 1019 m-3 for the ITER EDA design, and (b) an increase of the neutral particle density at the plasma edge results in a reduction of the edge ion collisionality just before the transition below unity and thereby an increase of the threshold heating power. It has also been found that both the low density boundary, below which the transition cannot occur, and the apparent density dependence of the threshold power scaling are related to the edge neutrals. It is suggested that a charge exchange process might well be the potential mechanism of the neutral effect