A new mechanism for the oxidation of methylcyclohexane has been developed. The mechanism combined a newly-developed low temperature mechanism with a previously developed high temperature mechanism. Predictions from the chemical kinetic model have been compared to experimentally measured ignition delay times from a rapid compression machine. Predicted ignition delay times using the initial estimates of the methylcyclohexyl peroxy radical isomerization rate constants were much longer than those measured at low temperatures. The initial estimates of isomerization rate constants were modified based on the experimental findings of Gulati and Walker that indicate a much slower rate of isomerization. Predictions using the modified rate constants for isomerizations yielded faster ignition at lower temperatures that greatly improved the agreement between model predictions and the experimental data. These findings point to much slower isomerization rates for methylcyclohexyl peroxy radicals than previously expected.

The 3D Morse-Smale complex is a fundamental topological construct that partitions the domain of a real-valued function into regions having uniform gradient flow behavior. In this paper, we consider the construction and selective presentation of cells of the Morse-Smale complex and their use in the analysis and visualization of scientific datasets. We take advantage of the fact that cells of different dimension often characterize different types of features present in the data. For example, critical points pinpoint changes in topology by showing where components of the level sets are created, destroyed or modified in genus. Edges of the Morse-Smale complex extract filament-like features that are not explicitly modeled in the original data. Interactive selection and rendering of portions of the Morse-Smale complex introduces fundamental data management challenges due to the unstructured nature of the complex even for structured inputs. We describe a data structure that stores the Morse-Smale complex and allows efficient selective traversal of regions of interest. Finally, we illustrate the practical use of this approach by applying it to cryo-electron microscopy data of protein molecules.

Office equipment is expected to be the fastest-growingsegment of commercial energy use over the next 20 years, yet many aspectsof office equipment energy use are poorly understood. User behavior, suchas turning off devices at night or enabling power management, influencesenergy use to a great extent. The computing environment also plays a roleboth in influencing user behavior and in the success of power management.Information about turn-off rates and power management rates for officeequipment was collected through a series of after-hours audits incommercial buildings. Sixteen businesses were recruited, includingoffices (small, medium and large offices in a variety of industries),schools, and medical buildings in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.The types and power states of office equipment found in these buildingswere recorded and analyzed. This article presents these data forcomputers, monitors, printers, copiers, fax machines, scanners andmulti-function devices. These data can be used to improve estimates ofboth energy consumption for these devices and savings from energyconservation efforts.

This paper describes a topological approach for simplifying continuous functions defined on volumetric domains. We present a combinatorial algorithm that simplifies the Morse-Smale complex by repeated application of two atomic operations that removes pairs of critical points. The Morse-Smale complex is a topological data structure that provides a compact representation of gradient flows between critical points of a function. Critical points paired by the Morse-Smale complex identify topological features and their importance. The simplification procedure leaves important critical points untouched, and is therefore useful for extracting desirable features. We also present a visualization of the simplified topology.

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A brief summary of the current status of radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry in the U. S. and abroad will be given. Current and future needs for scientists in these fields, especially in the U. S., will be discussed. Challenges that must be met in order to reverse the ''catastrophic'' downward trend in the numbers of students, faculty, and university programs in radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry will be considered, and some potential ways to reinvigorate and expand relevant university research and educational programs will be suggested.

The formation and growth of helium bubbles due to self-irradiation in plutonium has been modeled by a discrete kinetic equations for the number densities of bubbles having k atoms. Analysis of these equations shows that the bubble size distribution function can be approximated by a composite of: (1) the solution of partial differential equations describing the continuum limit of the theory but corrected to take into account the effects of discreteness, and (2) a local expansion about the advancing leading edge of the distribution function in size space. Both approximations contribute to the memory term in a close integrodifferential equation for the monomer concentration of single helium atoms. The present theory is compared to the numerical solution of the full kinetic model and to previous approximation of Schaldach and Wolfer involving a truncated system of moment equations.

Architectures for next-generation modular instrumentation standards should aim to meet a requirement of High Availability, or robustness against system failure. This is particularly important for experiments both large and small mounted on production accelerators and light sources. New standards should be based on architectures that (1) are modular in both hardware and software for ease in repair and upgrade; (2) include inherent redundancy at internal module, module assembly and system levels; (3) include modern high speed serial inter-module communications with robust noise-immune protocols; and (4) include highly intelligent diagnostics and board-management subsystems that can predict impending failure and invoke evasive strategies. The simple design principles lead to fail-soft systems that can be applied to any type of electronics system, from modular instruments to large power supplies to pulsed power modulators to entire accelerator systems. The existing standards in use are briefly reviewed and compared against a new commercial standard which suggests a powerful model for future laboratory standard developments. The past successes of undertaking such projects through inter-laboratory engineering-physics collaborations will be briefly summarized.

A new algorithm is introduced for computing correlations of photon arrival time data acquired in single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The correlation is first rewritten as a counting operation on photon pairs. For each photon, the contribution to the correlation function for each subsequent photon is calculated for arbitrary bin spacings of the correlation time lag. By retaining the bin positions in the photon sequence after each photon, the correlation can be performed efficiently. Example correlations for simulations of FCS experiments are shown, with comparable execution speed to the commonly used multiple-tau correlation technique. Also, wide bin spacings are possible that allow for real-time software calculation of correlations even for high count rates ({approx}350 kHz). The flexibility and broad applicability of the algorithm is demonstrated using results from single molecule photon antibunching experiments.

The AdS/CFT correspondence has led to important insights into the properties of quantum chromodynamics even though QCD is a broken conformal theory. We have recently shown how a holographic model based on a truncated AdS space can be used to obtain the hadronic spectrum of light q{bar q}, qqq and gg bound states. Specific hadrons are identified by the correspondence of string modes with the dimension of the interpolating operator of the hadron's valence Fock state, including orbital angular momentum excitations. The predicted mass spectrum is linear M {proportional_to} L at high orbital angular momentum, in contrast to the quadratic dependence M{sup 2} {proportional_to} L found in the description of spinning strings. Since only one parameter, the QCD scale LQCD, is introduced, the agreement with the pattern of physical states is remarkable. In particular, the ratio of D to nucleon trajectories is determined by the ratio of zeros of Bessel functions. The light-front quantization of gauge theories in light-cone gauge provides a frame-independent wavefunction representation of relativistic bound states, simple forms for current matrix elements, explicit unitarity, and a trivial vacuum. The light-front Fock-state wavefunctions encode the bound state properties of hadrons in terms of their quark and gluon degrees …

The objectives of this report are: (1) Establish chronology of uranium minerals; (2) Characterize fluids; and (3) Relate ages to geological tectonic events.

The standard method to determine the band structure of a condensed phase material is to (1) obtain a single crystal with a well defined surface and (2) map the bands with angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (occupied or valence bands) and inverse photoelectron spectroscopy (unoccupied or conduction bands). Unfortunately, in the case of Pu, the single crystals of Pu are either nonexistent, very small and/or having poorly defined surfaces. Furthermore, effects such as electron correlation and a large spin-orbit splitting in the 5f states have further complicated the situation. Thus, we have embarked upon the utilization of unorthodox electron spectroscopies, to circumvent the problems caused by the absence of large single crystals of Pu with well-defined surfaces. Our approach includes the techniques of resonant photoelectron spectroscopy [1], x-ray absorption spectroscopy [1,2,3,4], electron energy loss spectroscopy [2,3,4], Fano Effect measurements [5], and Bremstrahlung Isochromat Spectroscopy [6], including the utilization of micro-focused beams to probe single-crystallite regions of polycrystalline Pu samples. [2,3,6]