A novel type of glass made with a double ion exchange process is more reliable and fractures in a unique manner compared to glass currently available in the market. The novel glass is unique because it disintegrates into a powder instead of fracturing into shards and splinters, and it fails over a very narrow range of stresses. Potential applications for this glass include using it in removable valves because the powdered glass does not produce obstructions when it breaks, and in other applications that require safety glass. A 20,000-psi MTS pressure system was used to determine the possible techniques for pressure testing the strength of a collection of disk-shaped glass samples. Ordinary (i.e., not ion exchanged) glass samples, 0.962 inches in diameter and 0.07 inches thick, were fractured with linearly increasing pressures to determine the best methods. The best method for testing novel glass samples, with the same size and shape as the ordinary glass, will be implemented. The final results of this ongoing project will be used to ascertain if the novel glass is suitable for potential applications.

The next generation of radiographic machines based on induction accelerators require very high brightness electron beams to realize the desired x-ray spot size and intensity. This high brightness must be maintained throughout the beam transport, from source to x-ray converter target. The accelerator for the second-axis of the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility is being designed to accelerate a 4-kA, 2-{micro}s pulse of electrons to 20 MeV. After acceleration, the 2-{micro}s pulse will be chopped into a train of four 50-ns pulses with variable temporal spacing by rapidly deflecting the beam between a beam stop and the final transport section. The short beam pulses will be focused onto an x-ray converter target generating four radiographic pulses within the 2-{micro}s window. Beam instability due to interaction with the accelerator cells can very adversely effect the beam brightness and radiographic pulse quality. This paper describes the various issues considered in the design of the accelerator cell with emphasis on transverse impedance and minimizing beam instabilities.

CP violation is a crucial component in the creation of the matter - anti matter asymmetry of the universe. An important open question is whether the CP violating phenomena observeable in terrestrial experiments have any relation with those responsible for baryogenesis. We discuss two mechanisms of baryogenesis where this question can be meaningfully posed: ''electroweak baryogenesis'' and ''baryogenesis via leptogenesis''. We show how these scenarios can be constrained by existing and forthcoming experimental data. We present a specific example of both these scenarios where the CP violating phase in the Cabbibo Kobayashi Maskawa matrix is related in a calculable way to the CP violating phase responsible for baryogenesis.

A fuzzy-logic-based methodology for on-line signal trend identification is introduced. Although signal trend identification is complicated by the presence of noise, fuzzy logic can help capture important features of on-line signals and classify incoming power plant signals into increasing, decreasing and steady-state trend categories. In order to verify the methodology, a code named PROTREN is developed and tested using plant data. The results indicate that the code is capable of detecting transients accurately, identifying trends reliably, and not misinterpreting a steady-state signal as a transient one.