The left-right cross section asymmetry for Z boson production in e[sup +] e[sup [minus]] annihilation (A[sub LR]) is being measured at E[sub cm] 91.5 GeV with the SLD detector at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC) using a longitudinally polarized electron beam. The electron polarization is continually monitored with a Compton scattering polarimeter, and is typically 22%. At the current time, we have accumulated a sample of 4779 Z events. We find that A[sub LR] = 0.02 [double bond] 0.07 [doteq] 0.001 where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. Using this very preliminary measurement, we determine the weak mixing angle defined at the Z boson pole to be sin[sup 2][sub W][sup olept] = 0.247 [plus minus] 0.009.

In logic-based diagnosis, the consistency-based method is used to determine the possible sets of faulty devices. If the fault models of the devices are incomplete or nondeterministic, then this method does not necessarily yield abductive explanations of system behavior. Such explanations give additional information about faulty behavior and can be used for prediction. Unfortunately, system descriptions for the consistency-based method are often not suitable for abductive diagnosis. Methods for completing the fault models for abductive diagnosis have been suggested informally by Poole and by Cox et al. Here we formalize these methods by introducing a standard form for system descriptions. The properties of these methods are determined in relation to consistency-based diagnosis and compared to other ideas for integrating consistency-based and abductive diagnosis.

The left-right cross section asymmetry for Z boson production in e{sup +} e{sup {minus}} annihilation (A{sub LR}) is being measured at E{sub cm} 91.5 GeV with the SLD detector at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC) using a longitudinally polarized electron beam. The electron polarization is continually monitored with a Compton scattering polarimeter, and is typically 22%. At the current time, we have accumulated a sample of 4779 Z events. We find that A{sub LR} = 0.02 {double_bond} 0.07 {doteq} 0.001 where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. Using this very preliminary measurement, we determine the weak mixing angle defined at the Z boson pole to be sin{sup 2}{sub W}{sup olept} = 0.247 {plus_minus} 0.009.

In logic-based diagnosis, the consistency-based method is used to determine the possible sets of faulty devices. If the fault models of the devices are incomplete or nondeterministic, then this method does not necessarily yield abductive explanations of system behavior. Such explanations give additional information about faulty behavior and can be used for prediction. Unfortunately, system descriptions for the consistency-based method are often not suitable for abductive diagnosis. Methods for completing the fault models for abductive diagnosis have been suggested informally by Poole and by Cox et al. Here we formalize these methods by introducing a standard form for system descriptions. The properties of these methods are determined in relation to consistency-based diagnosis and compared to other ideas for integrating consistency-based and abductive diagnosis.

Batch combustion experiments were performed in a small bubbling fluidized-bed reactor with the objective of establishing the cause of reduced NO{sub x} emissions from pressurized fluidized bed combustion (PFBC). All variables except for pressure were kept constant in the experiments: fuel batch size, for example, was the same in experiments performed at three pressure levels (0.2, 1 and 2 MPa). Two different types of experiments were conducted: one using air diluted with nitrogen (4.5% O{sub 2}) for the purpose of determining the conversion of fuel N to NO{sub x}, and the other with NO-doped diluted air (800 ppM NO, 4.5% O{sub 2}) for the purpose of determining the reduction of bulk-gas NO{sub x} by the burning fuel. A large excess of combustion air was used in all experiments so as to keep the bulk-gas composition relatively unchanged by combustion products. Six different fuels were studied: a bituminous coal, coke prepared from the same coal, three specialty cokes (one of which contained 10 wt % N) and graphite (0%N). The straight-air combustion experiments showed that the conversion of fuel-N to NO{sub x} dropped with increasing pressure (at constant fuel concentration in the bed). The NO-doped combustion experiments showed significantly increased NO{sub …

This document describes the Westinghouse Savannah River Company`s (WSRC) Quality Assurance Program for Defense Waste Processing at the Savannah River Site (SRS). It identifies and describes the planned activities that constitute the required Quality Assurance Program. The work to which the Quality Assurance Program applies includes both the qualification and production of high-level waste forms. The end result of the program is to provide confidence that these high-level waste forms may be safely and acceptably used to dispose of the radioactive waste that results from activities at SRS in support of national defense.

This paper describes an implementation of hardware neural networks using highly linear thin-film resistor technology and an 8-bit binary weight circuit to produce customizable artificial neural network chips and systems. These neural networks are programmed using precision laser cutting and deposition. The fast turnaround of laser-based customization allows us to explore different neural network architectures and to rapidly program the synaptic weights. Our customizable chip allows us to expand an artificial network laterally and vertically. This flexibility permits us to build very large neural network systems.

The minimum possible rotational period of pulsars, which are interpreted as rotating neutron stars, is determined by applying a representative collection of realistic nuclear equations of state. It is found that none of the selected equations of state allows for neutron star rotation at periods below 0.8--0.9 ms. Thus, this work strongly supports the suggestion that if pulsars with shorter rotational periods were found, these are likely to be strange-quark-matter stars. The conclusion that the confined hadronic phase of nucleons and nuclei is only metastable would then be almost inescapable, and the plausible ground-state in that event is the deconfined phase of (3-flavor) strange-quark-matter.

The K-shell emission from flat and porous aluminum targets is used to infer the efficiency of creating a high temperature (>100eV), thermal plasma with 800 nm, 140 fs laser light. The K-shell emission from flat aluminum targets is fond to be significantly less than that of the porous targets, implying a lower temperature and less efficient coupling between the target and ultra-short pulse laser light.

The minimum possible rotational period of pulsars, which are interpreted as rotating neutron stars, is determined by applying a representative collection of realistic nuclear equations of state. It is found that none of the selected equations of state allows for neutron star rotation at periods below 0.8--0.9 ms. Thus, this work strongly supports the suggestion that if pulsars with shorter rotational periods were found, these are likely to be strange-quark-matter stars. The conclusion that the confined hadronic phase of nucleons and nuclei is only metastable would then be almost inescapable, and the plausible ground-state in that event is the deconfined phase of (3-flavor) strange-quark-matter.

This document describes the Westinghouse Savannah River Company's (WSRC) Quality Assurance Program for Defense Waste Processing at the Savannah River Site (SRS). It identifies and describes the planned activities that constitute the required Quality Assurance Program. The work to which the Quality Assurance Program applies includes both the qualification and production of high-level waste forms. The end result of the program is to provide confidence that these high-level waste forms may be safely and acceptably used to dispose of the radioactive waste that results from activities at SRS in support of national defense.