Article about do-it-yourself fashion, the closing of Roy's taxi company, Austin Circle of Theaters, and several events happening around Austin, Texas.

Article about an event held to celebrate 30 years of Zachary Scott Theatre's children's educational program, Project Interact.

Fluid hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen become metallic at 100 GPa (1 Mbar) pressures. Disorder is the primary reason for observing a metal at lower pressures in the fluid than expected for the ordered solid. This metallic transition is similar to those observed in fluid Cs and Rb by Hensel et al. All five undergo a Mott transition from a semiconducting to metallic fluid with the same electrical conductivities. In contrast, water is a proton conductor at pressures up to 200 GPa. Extreme conditions were achieved for {approx}100 ns with a reverberating shock wave generated with a two-stage light-gas gun.

Wet-etch figuring (WEF), a computer-controlled method for generating arbitrarily shaped optical surfaces using wet chemical etching, has been developed. This method uses applicator geometry and surface tension gradients (the Marangoni Effect) to define and confine the footprint of a wetted etchant zone on the surface. Capillary forces attach the flowing etchant solution to the underside of the optic being figured. No mechanical or thermal stresses or residues are applied to the optic by this process. This enables interferometric measurement of the glass thickness while surfacing, which then controls the placement and dwell time of the wetted zone. The result is a truly deterministic, closed-loop figuring process with a high degree of optical precision. This process can figure sub-millimeter thickness, large-aperture plates or sheets that are very difficult to finish by conventional methods. Automated linear and circular spot etching tools were used to demonstrate surfacing on 380 micron-thick glass sheets, to Strehl better than 0.8, as specified by data array or Zernike polynomials.

We report the first neutron data for a single crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond sensor. Results are presented for 2.5, 14.1, and 14.9 MeV incident neutrons. We show that the energy resolution for 14.1 MeV neutrons is at least 2.9% (as limited by the energy spread of the incident neutrons), and perhaps as good as 0.4% (as extrapolated from high resolution {alpha} particle data). This result could be relevant to fusion neutron spectroscopy at machines like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). We also show that our sensor has a high neutron linear attenuation coefficient, due to the high atomic density of diamond, and this could lead to applications in fission neutron detection.

Recently, studies of the Platte River watershed have gained significant attention from federal and Nebraska, USA, state agencies due to the importance of groundwater/surface-water interactions under drought conditions. Using archive data from a 1983 pumping test, Chen and Chen (2003) interpret the hydraulic properties of the alluvium and a streambed of the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska, and compare their data with results of other studies performed over the past several years. Three important inconsistencies of this article will be highlighted here: (1) misuse of the analytical model of Hunt (1999), (2) departure of their results from previously published data, and (3) unsatisfactory explanation of these anomalous results.

A swift ion creates a track of electronic excitations in the target material. A net repulsion inside the track can cause a ''Coulomb Explosion'', which can lead to damage and sputtering of the material. Here we report results from molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of Coulomb explosion for a cylindrical track as a function of charge density and neutralization/quenching time, {tau}. Screening by the free electrons is accounted for using a screened Coulomb potential for the interaction among charges. The yield exhibits a prompt component from the track core and a component, which dominates at higher excitation density, from the heated region produced. For the cases studied, the number of atoms ejected per incident ion, i.e. the sputtering yield Y, is quadratic with charge density along the track as suggested by simple models. Y({tau} = 0.2 Debye periods) is nearly 20% of the yield when there is no neutralization ({tau} {yields} {infinity}). The connections between ''Coulomb explosions'', thermal spikes and measurements of electronic sputtering are discussed.

Given the ubiquitous presence of H and N isotopic anomalies in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and their probable association with carbonaceous material, the lack of similar isotopic anomalies in C has been a major conundrum. We report here the first observation of correlated N and C isotopic anomalies in organic matter within an anhydrous IDP. The {sup 15}N composition of the anomalous region is the highest seen to date in an IDP and is accompanied by a moderate depletion in {sup 13}C. Our observations establish the presence of hetero-atomic organic compounds of presolar origin among the constant flux of carbonaceous material accreting to the terrestrial planets within IDPs. Theoretical models suggest that low temperature formation of organic compounds in cold interstellar molecular clouds does produce C and N fractionations, but it remains to be seen if these models can reproduce the specific effects we observe here.

Tool Gear is a software infrastructure for developing performance analysis and other tools. Unlike existing integrated toolkits, which focus on providing a suite of capabilities, Tool Gear is designed to help tool developers create new tools quickly. It combines dynamic instrumentation capabilities with an efficient database and a sophisticated and extensible graphical user interface. This paper describes the design of Tool Gear and presents examples of tools that have been built with it.

The production of a Higgs boson in association with a pair of t{bar t} or b{bar b} quarks plays a very important role at both the Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider. The theoretical prediction of the corresponding cross sections has been improved by including the complete next-to-leading order QCD corrections. After a brief introduction, we review the results obtained for both the Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider.

We have developed NADS (Nuclear and Atomic Data System), a web-based graphical interface for viewing pointwise and grouped cross-sections and distributions. Our implementation is a client / server model. The client is a Java applet that displays the graphical interface, which has interactive 2-D, 3-D, and 4-D plots and tables. The server, which can serve and perform computations the data, has been implemented in Python using the FUDGE package developed by Bret Beck at LLNL. Computational capabilities include algebraic manipulation of nuclear evaluated data in databases such as LLNL's ENDL-99, ENDF/B-V and ENDF/B-VI as well as user data. Processed data used in LLNL's transport codes are accessible as well. NADS is available from http://nuclear.llnl.gov/

The following is an overview of results from ROA01-32 that focuses on an empirical method of calibrating stable seismic source moment-rate spectra derived from regional coda envelopes using broadband stations. The main goal was to develop a regional magnitude methodology that had the following properties: (1) it is tied to an absolute scale and is thus unbiased and transportable; (2) it can be tied seamlessly to the well-established teleseismic and regional catalogs; (3) it is applicable to small events using a sparse network of regional stations; (4) it is flexible enough to utilize S{sub n}-coda, L{sub g}-coda, or P-coda, whichever phase has the best signal-to-noise ratio. The results of this calibration yield source spectra and derived magnitudes that were more stable than any other direct-phase measure to date. Our empirical procedure accounted for all propagation, site, and S-to-coda transfer function effects. The resultant coda-derived moment-rate spectra were used to provide traditional band-limited magnitude (e.g., M{sub L}, m{sub b} etc.) as well as an unbiased, unsaturated magnitude (moment magnitude, M{sub w}) that is tied to a physical measure of earthquake size (i.e., seismic moment). We validated our results by comparing our coda-derived moment estimates with those obtained from long-period waveform modeling. …

There is much interest in the combustion mechanism of organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) due to their role as potential halon replacements in fire suppression. A continuing investigation of the inhibition activity of organophosphorus compounds under a range of equivalence ratios was performed experimentally and computationally, as measured by the burning velocity. Updates to a previous mechanism were made by the addition and modification of reactions in the mechanism for a more complete description of the recombination reactions. In this work, the laminar flame speed is measured experimentally and calculated numerically for a premixed propane/air flame, under a range of equivalence ratios, undoped and doped with dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP). A detailed investigation of the catalytic cycles involved in the recombination of key flame radicals is made for two equivalence ratios, lean and rich. From this, the importance of different catalytic cycles involved in the lean versus rich case is discussed. Although the importance of certain cycles is different under different stoichiometries, the OPCs are similarly effective across the range, demonstrating the robustness of OPCs as flame suppressants. In addition, it is shown that the phosphorus compounds are most active in the high temperature region of the flame. This may, in part, explain …

Adaptive optics can be used to correct the aberrations in the human eye caused by imperfections in the cornea and the lens and thereby, improve image quality both looking into and out of the eye. Under the auspices of the NSF Center for Adaptive Optics and the DOE Biomedical Engineering Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has joined together with leading vision science researchers around the country to develop and test new ophthalmic imaging systems using novel wavefront corrector technologies. Results of preliminary comparative evaluations of these technologies in initial system tests show promise for future clinical utility.

The classification of time-varying multivariate regional-scale wind fields at a specific location can assist event planning as well as consequence and risk analysis. Further, wind field classification involves data transformation and inference techniques that effectively characterize stochastic wind field variation. Such a classification scheme is potentially useful for addressing overall atmospheric transport uncertainty and meteorological parameter sensitivity issues. Different methods to classify wind fields over a location include the principal component analysis of wind data (e.g., Hardy and Walton, 1978) and the use of cluster analysis for wind data (e.g., Green et al., 1992; Kaufmann and Weber, 1996). The goal of this study is to use a clustering method to classify the winds of a gridded data set, i.e, from meteorological simulations generated by a forecast model.

Strong evidence for the existence and importance of quadrupole satellite transitions is found in spin-orbit-resolved Xe 4d nondipole photoionization in a combined experimental/theoretical study.

We find the annihilation rate of positronium (Ps) within silica sodalite. Positron density and the electronic density seen by positrons are compared with a semi-empirical ''free volume'' model.

Habitat use has been shown to be an important factor in the bioaccumulation of contaminants in striped bass. This study examines migration in striped bass as part of a larger study investigating bioaccumulation and maternal transfer of xenobiotics to progeny in the San Francisco Estuary system. Habitat use, residence time and spawning migration over the life of females (n = 23) was studied. Female striped bass were collected between Knights Landing and Colusa on the Sacramento River during the spawning runs of 1999 and 2001. Otoliths were removed, processed and aged via otolith microstructure. Subsequently, otoliths were analyzed for strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) ratio using an electron-microprobe to measure salinity exposure and to distinguish freshwater, estuary, and marine habitat use. Salinity exposure during the last year before capture was examined more closely for comparison of habitat use by the maternal parent to contaminant burden transferred to progeny. Results were selectively confirmed by ion microprobe analyses for habitat use. The Sr/Ca data demonstrate a wide range of migratory patterns. Age of initial ocean entry differs among individuals before returning to freshwater, presumably to spawn. Some fish reside in freshwater year-round, while others return to more saline habitats and make periodic migrations to freshwater. …

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A strong correlation is reported between gamma-ray burst (GRB) pulse lags and afterglow jet-break times for the set of bursts (seven) with known redshifts, luminosities, pulse lags, and jet-break times. This may be a valuable clue toward understanding the connection between the burst and afterglow phases of these events. The relation is roughly linear (i.e. doubling the pulse lag in turn doubles the jet break time) and thus implies a simple relationship between these quantities. We suggest that this correlation is due to variation among bursts of emitter Doppler factor. Specifically, an increased speed or decreased angle of velocity, with respect to the observed line-of-site, of burst ejecta will result in shorter perceived pulse lags in GRBs as well as quicker evolution of the external shock of the afterglow to the time when the jet becomes obvious, i.e. the jet-break time. Thus this observed variation among GRBs may result from a perspective effect due to different observer angles of a morphologically homogeneous populations of GRBs. Also, a conjecture is made that peak luminosities not only vary inversely with burst timescale, but also are directly proportional to the spectral break energy. If true, this could provide important information for explaining the …

Many areas in the world are experiencing significant fresh water shortages due to drought, growing populations, increased agricultural and industrial demands, and extensive forms of pollution or water quality degradation. Many more are expected to face similar predicaments in the next 20 years. Water shortages will significantly limit economic growth, decrease the quality of life and human health for billions of people, degrade the ecologic health of natural environments, and could potentially lead to violence and conflict over securing scarce supplies of water. These concerns are not limited to the economically poor countries, of course, as many parts of the United States face similar dilemmas. These problems can be exacerbated by fluctuating imbalances between need and supply, poor water management or land use practices, social, economic, political, and trans-boundary disputes, as well as factors related to climate change. The future is one that will require significant technological advances to support the conservation, preservation, and movement of fresh water, as well as in the development of new or alternative supplies. It is also one that will also require concomitant improvements in the use of practical solutions and the ways in which the broader scientific and technical community interacts with policy-makers, water-related …

The interaction of strong shock waves, such as those generated by the explosion of supernovae with interstellar clouds, is a problem of fundamental importance in understanding the evolution and the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM) as it is disrupted by shock waves. The physics of this essential interaction is critical to understanding the evolution of the ISM, the mixing of interstellar clouds with the ISM and the viability of this mechanism for triggered star formation. Here we present the results of a series of new OMEGA laser experiments investigating the evolution of a high density sphere embedded in a low density medium after the interaction of a strong shock wave, thereby emulating the supernova shock-cloud interaction. The interaction is viewed from two orthogonal directions enabling visualization of the both the initial distortion of the sphere into a vortex ring as well as the onset of an azimuthal instability that ultimately results in the three-dimensional breakup of the ring. These studies augment previous studies [1,2] on the NOVA laser by enabling the full three-dimensional topology of the interaction to be understood. We show that the experimental results for the vortex ring are in remarkable agreement with the incompressible theory of …

An Achilles heel for the performance of thick-section, cylindrical fiber composite flywheels is the poor interlaminar properties of the material. Methods that have been used to minimize or eliminate radial tensile stresses include prestressing concentric cylinders and mass loading. There can also be significant interlaminar shear stresses at the edges of mass-loaded flywheels and in flywheels for high-power density applications where abrupt braking results in high torque levels. To specify adequate safety factors for thick-section flywheels used in these applications, the failure envelope and fatigue behavior under combined interlaminar stresses are required. Using a hollow cylindrical specimen, which was subjected to combined axial compression and torsion, results for fatigue and failure were generated for several flywheel material systems. Interlaminar compression resulted in significant enhancements to the interlaminar shear strength and results were compared to the predictions of proposed three-dimensional composite failure models. The interlaminar shear fatigue behavior of a carbodepoxy system was also studied and compression was found to greatly enhance fatigue life. The results demonstrate that radial compression stresses can yield improvements in the interlaminar shear strength and fatigue lifetimes of composite flywheel rotors.

The effect of cool flame partial oxidation on the detonation sensitivity of hydrocarbons was experimentally investigated. Sensitivity to detonation was quantified by measuring the detonation cell-size using the smoked-foil technique. A rich pentane oxygen mixture was preheated in a pebble bed before filling a heated glass detonation tube to sub-atmospheric pressure. Cool flame reaction, monitored by a thin K-type thermocouple, occurred in the detonation tube after a known time interval as determined by the tube temperature. The mixture was ignited by a weak spark and onset of detonation was monitored using a streak camera. A smoked foil was inserted in the far end of the tube (opposite to ignition) to permit the measurement of the cell size of a well-developed detonation. The results show that the cell pattern becomes very regular at high temperature but the average cell size practically does not change. However, when the mixture was detonated while undergoing the cool flame reaction, a significant reduction of the cell-size was obtained (as large as 50%). The sensitizing effect was found to occur only in the initial stage of the cool flame reaction. When the mixture was ignited a few hundreds of milliseconds after the beginning of the cool …