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The authors observed dynamically driven phase transitions in isentropically compressed bismuth. By changing the stress loading conditions they explored two distinct cases one in which the experimental signature of the phase transformation corresponds to phase-boundary crossings initiated at both sample interfaces, and another in which the experimental trace is due to a single advancing transformation front in the bulk of the material. They introduce a coupled kinetics-hydrodynamics model that for this second case enables them, under suitable simplifying assumptions, to directly extract characteristic transition times from the experimental measurements.

The dispersion properties of ion acoustic waves (IAW) are sensitive to the strength of ion-ion collisions in multi-species plasma in which the different species usually have differing charge-to-mass ratios. The modification of the frequency and damping of the fast and slow acoustic modes in a plasma composed of light (low Z) and heavy (high Z) ions is considered. In the fluid limit where the light ion scattering mean free path, {lambda}{sub th} is smaller than the acoustic wavelength, {lambda} = 2{pi}/k, the interspecies friction and heat flow carried by the light ions scattering from the heavy ions causes the damping. In the collisionless limit, k{lambda}{sub th} >> 1, Landau damping by the light ions provides the dissipation. In the intermediate regime when k{lambda}{sub th} {approx} 1, the damping is at least as large as the sum of the collisional and Landau damping.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) established an area monitoring dosimeter program in accordance with Article 514 of the Department of Energy (DOE) Radiological Control Manual (RCM) in January 1993. This program is to minimize the number of areas requiring issuance of personnel dosimeters and to demonstrate that doses outside Radiological Buffer Areas are negligible. In accordance with 10 CFR Part 835.402 (a)(1)-(4) and Article 511.1 of the PNNL Radiological Control Program Description, personnel dosimetry shall be provided to (1) radiological workers who are likely to receive at least 100 mrem annually, and (2) declared pregnant workers, minors, and members of the public who are likely to receive at least 50 mrem annually. Program results for calendar years 1993-2003 confirm that personnel dosimetry is not needed for individuals located in areas monitored by the program.

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The monocular passive ranging (MPR) problem in remote sensing consists of identifying the precise range of an airborne target (missile, plane, etc.) from its observed radiance. This inverse problem may be set as a global optimization problem (GOP) whereby the difference between the observed and model predicted radiances is minimized over the possible ranges and atmospheric conditions. Using additional information about the error function between the predicted and observed radiances of the target, we developed GMG, a new algorithm to find the Global Minimum with a Guarantee. The new algorithm transforms the original continuous GOP into a discrete search problem, thereby guaranteeing to find the position of the global minimum in a reasonably short time. The algorithm is first applied to the golf course problem, which serves as a litmus test for its performance in the presence of both complete and degraded additional information. GMG is further assessed on a set of standard benchmark functions and then applied to various realizations of the MPR problem.

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This report provides historical context and reviews some of the factors inspiring debate related to funding for rail freight.

This work studies the stability of the toroidicity-induced Alfven Eigenmodes (TAE) in the proposed ITER burning plasma experiment, which can be driven unstable by two groups of energetic particles, the 3.5-MeV {alpha}-particle fusion products and the tangentially injected 1-MeV beam ions. Both species are super-Alfvenic but they have different pitch-angle distributions and the drive for the same pressure gradients is typically stronger from co-injected beam ions as compared with the isotropically distributed {alpha}-particles. This study includes the effect of anisotropy of the beam-ion distribution function on TAE growth rate directly via the additional velocity space drive and indirectly in terms of the enhanced effect of the resonant particle phase space density. For near parallel injection, TAEs are marginally unstable if the injection aims at the plasma center where the ion Landau damping is strong, whereas with the off-axis neutral-beam injection the instability is stronger with the growth rate near 0.5% of TAE mode frequency. In contrast, for perpendicular beam injection TAEs are predicted to be stabilized in nominal ITER discharges. In addition, the effect of TAEs on the fast-ion beta profiles is evaluated on the bases of a quasi-linear diffusion model which makes use of analytic expressions for the local …

The purpose of this task is to characterize the physical properties of kaolin/sand slurry used to test the performance of a new submersible mixer pump which is undergoing performance testing at the TNT Waste Tank mockup facility. Three different sample locations, the SMP cooling water exit, the SMP fluid flow field, and SMP effective cleaning radius were used for sampling over the seven day test. The physical properties determinations for the kaolin/sand slurry samples include rheology, weight percent total solids (wt TS), density, and particle size distribution were requested, though not all these determinations were performed on all the samples. The physical properties determinations are described in more detail in section 1.0. Measurements were performed at Savannah River National Laboratory in accordance with the Technical Assistance Request (TAR)1. The data, average of two measurements, is shown in the table below. This data clearly shows that the SMP-CWE samples contained more so lids than those at other sample locations for a given sample day. The SMP-FFF and SMP-ECR were similar in solids content. The rheology of the samples is dependent on the wt solids concentration and are all within the bounds stated in the TAR.

Porous solids such as activated alumina, silica and molecular sieves generally contain significant amounts of hydrogen atoms in the form of H2O or OH even at high temperature and low humidity environment. A significant amount of this hydrogen is available for reversible isotopic exchange. This exchange reaction is slow under normal conditions and does not render itself to practical applications. But if the exchange kinetics is improved this reaction has the potential to be used for tritium removal from gas streams or for hydrogen isotopic separation.The use of catalysts to improve the exchange kinetics between hydrogen isotope in the gas phase and that in the solid phase was investigated. Granules of alumina, silica and molecular sieve were coated with platinum or palladium as the catalyst. The granules were packed in a 2-cm diameter column for isotope exchange tests. Gas streams containing different concentrations of deuterium in nitrogen or argon were fed through the protium saturated column. Isotope concentration in column effluent was monitored to generate isotope break-through curves. The curves were analyzed to produce information on the kinetics and capacity of the material. The results showed that all materials tested provided some extent of isotope exchange but some were superior …

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As adaptive optics (AO) matures, it becomes possible to envision AO systems oriented towards specific important scientific goals rather than general-purpose systems. One such goal for the next decade is the direct imaging detection of extrasolar planets. An 'extreme' adaptive optics (ExAO) system optimized for extrasolar planet detection will have very high actuator counts and rapid update rates - designed for observations of bright stars - and will require exquisite internal calibration at the nanometer level. In addition to extrasolar planet detection, such a system will be capable of characterizing dust disks around young or mature stars, outflows from evolved stars, and high Strehl ratio imaging even at visible wavelengths. The NSF Center for Adaptive Optics has carried out a detailed conceptual design study for such an instrument, dubbed the eXtreme Adaptive Optics Planet Imager or XAOPI. XAOPI is a 4096-actuator AO system, notionally for the Keck telescope, capable of achieving contrast ratios >10{sup 7} at angular separations of 0.2-1'. ExAO system performance analysis is quite different than conventional AO systems - the spatial and temporal frequency content of wavefront error sources is as critical as their magnitude. We present here an overview of the XAOPI project, and an error …

A micro-mechanistic understanding of bone fracture that encompasses how cracks interact with the underlying microstructure and defines their local failure mode is lacking, despite extensive research on the response of bone to a variety of factors like aging, loading, and/or disease. Micro-mechanical models for fracture incorporating such local failure criteria have been widely developed for metallic and ceramic materials systems; however, few such deliberations have been undertaken for the fracture of bone. In fact, although the fracture event in mineralized tissues such as bone is commonly believed to be locally strain controlled, until recently there has been little experimental evidence to support this widely held belief. In the present study, a series of in vitro experiments involving a double-notch bend test geometry are performed in order to shed further light on the nature of the local cracking events that precede catastrophic fracture in bone and to define their relationship to the microstructure. Specifically, crack-microstructure interactions are examined to determine the salient toughening mechanisms in human cortical bone and to characterize how these may affect the anisotropy in fracture properties. Based on preliminary micro-mechanical models of these processes, in particular crack deflection and uncracked ligament bridging, the relative importance of these …

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Demand patterns for world oil and oil products show significant diversity by country, region, and product groupings. As a result of this diversity it is not possible to attach blame for the current level of price to any one nation, region, or product segment. The view that the oil market is international in scope and tightly interrelated is enhanced by the demand data. As a result of the integrated nature of the world oil market it is unlikely that any one nation acting on its own can implement policies that isolate its market from broader price behavior. As new major oil importers, notably China, and potentially India, expand their demand, the oil market likely will have to expand production capacity. This promises to increase the world’s dependence on the Persian Gulf members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, especially Saudi Arabia, and maintain upward pressure on price.

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The performance of two large NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors has been determined as a function of detector type and as a function of temperature. One detector had dimensions of 4?4?16 in.3 with a stainless steel shell while the other detector was 2?4?16 in.3 with an aluminum shell. Absolute counting efficiencies for photopeaks and total counts were measured at 0.46 m and 2.0 m for gamma sources ranging in energy from 25 keV to 2500 keV. Photopeak resolutions were measured over the same energy range. The changes in pulse height and photopeak resolution were measured as a function of temperature over the range -50 C to +60 C. As expected from prior literature data, the scintillator light output decreases at both higher and lower temperatures compared to room temperature. However, the maximum peak height in this work occurred at 0 C whereas the literature gives the maximum light output at about 40 C. This difference is attributed to the fact that in this work, the phototubes and preamplifiers were heated and cooled along with the scintillator. Both detectors continued to function successfully over the entire temperature range studied in this work. The pulse height decreased by about 33% at -50 C and …