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Robots, A Potential Staple in Eye Surgery.

Interviews at Commonwealth Science Conference 2017.

Precision Medicine for Cancer Patients: Interview with Dr Allen Lai.

Tokamaks are the most promising configuration of magnetic confinement fusion devices. However, a physical phenomenon that leads the plasma out to its operational bounds, called disruption, remains unavoidable. Disruptions cause the abrupt termination of the discharge and in addition to affecting the execution of the research program, they can constitute a risk for the structural integrity of the machine.

In this article two important aspects that can facilitate the better understanding of the phenomenon are presented. First, the selection of the physical parameters and their main characteristics related to disruptions are reviewed. Second, the application of Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM) to visualize and compare disruptive and non disruptive experiments at different times is shown. The resulting maps are aimed to evidence the evolution of the phenomenon, since it is unrecognizable till it can be distinguished. The identification of the instant when precursors of disruptions can be noticed is highly relevant in nuclear fusion since it determines the time margin the control systems have to apply mitigation or avoidance actions.