Careful thermometric analysis (TMA) on powders of micron-sized triamino-trinitrobenzene (TATB) crystallites are shown to display irreversible growth in volume when subjected to repeated cycles of heating and cooling. Such behavior is counter-intuitive to typical materials response to simulated annealing cycles in atomic-scale molecular dynamics. However, through coarse-grained simulations using a mesoscale Hamiltonian we quantitatively reproduce irreversible growth behavior in such powdered material. We demonstrate that irreversible growth happens only in the presence of intrinsic crystalline anisotropy, and is mediated by particles much smaller than the average crystallite size.

An electromagnetic solenoid was developed to study the quenching of nonlocal heat transport in laser-produced gas-jet plasmas by high external magnetic fields. The solenoid, which is driven by a pulsed power system supplying 30 kJ, achieves fields exceeding 10 T. Temporally resolved measurements of the electron temperature profile transverse to a high power laser beam were obtained using Thomson Scattering. A method for optimizing the solenoid design based on the available stored energy is presented.

This paper provides an introduction for non-experts to first-principles electronic structure methods that are widely used in condensed-matter physics. Particular emphasis is placed on giving the appropriate background information needed to better appreciate the use of these methods to study actinide and other materials. Specifically, I describe the underlying theory sufficiently to enable an understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the methods. I also explain the meaning of commonly used terminology, including density functional theory (DFT), local density approximation (LDA), and generalized gradient approximation (GGA), as well as linear muffin-tin orbital (LMTO), linear augmented plane wave (LAPW), and pseudopotential methods. I also briefly discuss methodologies that extend the basic theory to address specific limitations. Finally, I describe a few illustrative applications, including quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations and studies of surfaces, impurities, and defects. I conclude by addressing the current controversy regarding magnetic calculations for actinide materials.

We present a technique to explore the radio sky into the nanoJansky regime by employing image stacking using the FIRST radio sky survey. We begin with a discussion of the non-intuitive relationship between the mean and median values of a non-Gaussian distribution in which measurements of the members of the distribution are dominated by noise. Following a detailed examination of the systematic effects present in the 20 cm VLA snapshot images that comprise FIRST, we demonstrate that image stacking allows us to recover the average properties of source populations with flux densities a factor of 30 or more below the rms noise level. With the calibration described herein, mean estimates of radio flux density, luminosity, radio loudness, etc. are derivable for any undetected source class having arcsecond positional accuracy. We demonstrate the utility of this technique by exploring the radio properties of quasars found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We compute the mean luminosities and radio-loudness parameters for 41,295 quasars in the SDSS DR3 catalog. There is a tight correlation between optical and radio luminosity, with the radio luminosity increasing as the 0.72 power of optical luminosity. This implies declining radio-loudness with optical luminosity, with the most luminous objects …

We evaluate the Scanwell Time Alignment Probe for performing the timing calibration for the LBNL Prostate-Specific PET Camera. We calibrate the time delay correction factors for each detector module in the camera using two methods--using the Time Alignment Probe (which measures the time difference between the probe and each detector module) and using the conventional method (which measures the timing difference between all module-module combinations in the camera). These correction factors, which are quantized in 2 ns steps, are compared on a module-by-module basis. The values are in excellent agreement--of the 80 correction factors, 62 agree exactly, 17 differ by 1 step, and 1 differs by 2 steps. We also measure on-time and off-time counting rates when the two sets of calibration factors are loaded into the camera and find that they agree within statistical error. We conclude that the performance using the Time Alignment Probe and conventional methods are equivalent.

To study the expansion and cooling process of the laser induced plasma generated by nanosecond pulsed laser ablation, experiments have been conducted which measure the position of the external shockwaves and the temperature of the vapor plumes. The positions of external shockwaves were determined by a femtosecond laser time-resolved imaging system. Vapor plume temperature was determined from spectroscopic measurements of the plasma emission lines. A model which considers the mass, momentum, and energy conservation of the region affected by the laser energy was developed. It shows good agreement to the experimental data.

In a conventional PET system with block detectors, a timing estimator is created by generating the analog sum of the signals from the four photomultiplier tubes (PMT) in a module and discriminating the sum with a single constant fraction discriminator (CFD). The differences in the propagation time between the PMTs in the module can potentially degrade the timing resolution of the module. While this degradation is probably too small to affect performance in conventional PET imaging, it may impact the timing inaccuracy for time-of-flight PET systems (which have higher timing resolution requirements). Using a separate CFD for each PMT would allow for propagation time differences to be removed through calibration and correction in software. In this paper we investigate and quantify the timing resolution achievable when the signal from each of the 4 PMTs is digitized by a separate CFD. Several methods are explored for both obtaining values for the propagation time differences between the PMTs and combining the four arrival times to form a single timing estimator. We find that the propagation time correction factors are best derived through an exhaustive search, and that the ''weighted average'' method provides the best timing estimator. Using these methods, the timing resolution …

This paper presents a new technique--Integrated Bayesian Uncertainty Estimator (IBUNE) to account for the major uncertainties of hydrologic rainfall-runoff predictions explicitly. The uncertainties from the input (forcing) data--mainly the precipitation observations and from the model parameters are reduced through a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) scheme named Shuffled Complex Evolution Metropolis (SCEM) algorithm which has been extended to include a precipitation error model. Afterwards, the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) scheme is employed to further improve the prediction skill and uncertainty estimation using multiple model output. A series of case studies using three rainfall-runoff models to predict the streamflow in the Leaf River basin, Mississippi are used to examine the necessity and usefulness of this technique. The results suggests that ignoring either input forcings error or model structural uncertainty will lead to unrealistic model simulations and their associated uncertainty bounds which does not consistently capture and represent the real-world behavior of the watershed.