Coarsening of solder microstructures dramatically affects fatigue lifetimes. This paper presents a study of microstructural evolution due to thermal cycling and aging of small solder joints.

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In many of the multiphysics simulations performed at LLNL, transport calculations can take up 30 to 50% of the total run time. If Monte Carlo methods are used, the percentage can be as high as 80%. Thus, a significant core competence in the formulation, software implementation, and solution of the numerical problems arising in transport modeling is essential to Laboratory and DOE research. In this project, we worked on developing scalable solution methods for the equations that model the transport of photons and neutrons through materials. Our goal was to reduce the transport solve time in these simulations by means of more advanced numerical methods and their parallel implementations. These methods must be scalable, that is, the time to solution must remain constant as the problem size grows and additional computer resources are used. For iterative methods, scalability requires that (1) the number of iterations to reach convergence is independent of problem size, and (2) that the computational cost grows linearly with problem size. We focused on deterministic approaches to transport, building on our earlier work in which we performed a new, detailed analysis of some existing transport methods and developed new approaches. The Boltzmann equation (the underlying equation to …

This LDRD project addressed both bulk and surface damage induced by UV-laser exposure. The primary objectives were (1) to complete our understanding of the factors leading to bulk damage, including growth conditions and orientational direction, and (2) to identify mechanisms of surface damage initiation and growth leading to mitigation methods. Due to the more advanced state of knowledge in bulk damage, a greater portion of that work was completed during the one-year term of this project. Three papers were presented at the 32nd Boulder Damage Symposium on Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials, and the three resulting manuscripts submitted to the Proceeding are attached: An important result from this work is that it established a dependence of obscuration from bulk damage on fluence and pulse length, which is shown.

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This report contains the results of a wind resource analysis and mapping study for the Philippine archipelago. The study's objective was to identify potential wind resource areas and quantify the value of those resources within those areas. The wind resource maps and other wind resource characteristic information will be used to identify prospective areas for wind-energy applications.

VSP is an easy to use, visual and graphic software tool being developed to select the right number and location of environmental samples so that the results of statistical tests performed to provide input to environmental decisions have the required confidence and performance. It is a significant help for implementing the 6th and 7th steps of the Data Quality Objectives (DQO) planning process ("Specify Tolerable Limits on Decision Errors" and "Optimize the Design for Obtaining Data," respectively).

VSP is an easy to use, visual and graphic software tool being developed to select the right number and location of environmental samples so that the results of statistical tests performed to provide input to environmental decisions have the required confidence and performance. It is a significant help for implementing the 6th and 7th steps of the Data Quality Objectives (DQO) planning process (''Specify Tolerable Limits on Decision Errors'' and ''Optimize the Design for Obtaining Data,'' respectively).

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond Heller. Heller joined the Army in September 1944 and received basic training at Camp Hood. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 40th Infantry Division as a rifleman. In March 1945 he travelled to Leyte and was camped beside survivors of the Bataan Death March. He made patrols along various islands, to protect villagers from Japanese raids. While in the Philippines, he bought fresh fruits from natives. He recalls that although his unit prepared for a full-scale landing on Mindanao, it was unopposed, save for a lone Japanese soldier who charged with a sword. At Panay, Heller was treated by a medic for jungle rot. He then survived a typhoon on the way to Inchon. On V-J Day he saw USS Missouri (BB-63) break away from his convoy to celebrate by firing ammunition. Heller patrolled the 38th parallel, opposite the Russians. Heller returned home and was discharged in October 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond Heller. Heller joined the Army in September 1944 and received basic training at Camp Hood. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 40th Infantry Division as a rifleman. In March 1945 he travelled to Leyte and was camped beside survivors of the Bataan Death March. He made patrols along various islands, to protect villagers from Japanese raids. While in the Philippines, he bought fresh fruits from natives. He recalls that although his unit prepared for a full-scale landing on Mindanao, it was unopposed, save for a lone Japanese soldier who charged with a sword. At Panay, Heller was treated by a medic for jungle rot. He then survived a typhoon on the way to Inchon. On V-J Day he saw USS Missouri (BB-63) break away from his convoy to celebrate by firing ammunition. Heller patrolled the 38th parallel, opposite the Russians. Heller returned home and was discharged in October 1946.

Weekly newspaper from Emory, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

A superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) in combination with a superconducting absorber of radiation may function as a highly resolving x-ray spectrometer. Electronic excitations, or quasiparticles, are created when a superconductor absorbs an x ray and are detected as an excess tunnel current through the junction. The number of quasiparticles created and the magnitude of the excess current is proportional to the energy of the absorbed x ray. This is similar to existing semiconductor-based spectrometers that measure electron-hole pairs, but with 1000 times more excitations. The energy measurement therefore can be up to 30 times more precise with a superconducting detector than with a semiconductor detector. This work describes the development and testing of an STJ spectrometer design for x-ray fluorescence applications. First, the basic principles of the STJ spectrometer are explained. This is followed by detailed simulations of the variance in the number of quasiparticles produced by absorption of an x ray. This variance is inherent in the detector and establishes an upper limit on the resolving power of the spectrometer. These simulations include effects due to the materials used in the spectrometer and to the multilayer structure of the device. Next, the spectrometer is characterized as functions of operating …

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story about cable companies.

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This paper evaluates the accuracy of a network economic modeling approach in designing energy systems having renewable and conventional generators. The network approach models the system as a network of processes such as demands, generators, markets, and resources. The model reaches a solution by exchanging prices and quantity information between the nodes of the system. This formulation is very flexible and takes very little time to build and modify models. This paper reports an experiment designing a system with photovoltaic and base and peak fossil generators. The level of PV penetration as a function of its price and the capacities of the fossil generators were determined using the network approach and using an exact, analytic approach. It is found that the two methods agree very closely in terms of the optimal capacities and are nearly identical in terms of annual system costs.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

This report outlines the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and related legislation. The report discusses a comprehensive test ban treaty, which is the oldest item on the nuclear arms control agenda.

Predictions of the properties of nuclides near the extreme limits of nuclear stability provide a measure of our understanding of the fundamental properties of matter and the fission process. Predictions of an ''island of stability'' of long-lived superheavy elements beyond the limits of the known nuclides date back more than 30 years; during this time, there have been many unsuccessful searches for these nuclei. During the last decade, there has been a large effort by our group and others to systematically discover and characterize the properties of the intervening unstable nuclei. Starting 10 years ago, in an on-going collaboration with Russian scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) at Dubna, Russia, we observed the decays of previously unknown isotopes of elements 106, 108, and 110 whose properties are determined by subtleties in the nuclear structure caused by the shell effects that are predicted to result in the island of stability in the still-heavier elements. The resulting data have been successfully reproduced by the theoreticians, whose refined predictions of the decay modes and production rates of the superheavy elements have enabled us to design experiments with the sensitivity to locate these elusive nuclides.

This paper reviews our current understanding of the relative advantages of direct drive (DD) and indirect drive (ID) for a 1 GWe inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant driven by a diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL). This comparison is motivated by a recent study (1) that shows that the projected cost of electricity (COE) for DD is actually about the same as that for ID even though the target gain for DD can be much larger. We can therefore no longer assume that DD is the ultimate targeting scenario for IFE, and must begin a more rigorous comparison of these two drive options. The comparison begun here shows that ID may actually end up being preferred, but the uncertainties are still rather large.

This paper reviews our current understanding of the relative advantages of direct drive (DD) and indirect drive (ID) for a 1 GWe inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant driven by a diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL). This comparison is motivated by a recent study (1) that shows that the projected cost of electricity (COE) for DD is actually about the same as that for ID even though the target gain for DD can be much larger. We can therefore no longer assume that DD is the ultimate targeting scenario for IFE, and must begin a more rigorous comparison of these two drive options. The comparison begun here shows that ID may actually end up being preferred, but the uncertainties are still rather large.

This project researches freeze concentration as a primary volume reduction technology for bleaching plant effluents from paper-pulp mills before they are treated by expensive technologies, such as incineration, for the destruction of the adsorbable organic halogens. Previous laboratory studies show that freeze concentration has a greater than 99.5% purification efficiency for volatile, semivolatile, and nonprocess elements, or any other solute, thus producing pure ice that can be reused in the mill as water. The first section evaluates the anticipated regulatory and public pressures associated with implementing the technology; the remaining sections deal with the experimental results from a scaled-up freeze concentration process in a 100-liter pilot-plant at Tufts University. The results of laboratory scale experiments confirmed that the freeze concentration technology could be an efficient volume reduction technology for the above elements and for removing adsorbable organic hologens and or nonprocess elements from recycled water. They also provide the necessary data for designing and operating a larger pilot plant, and identify the technical problems encountered in the scale-up and the way they could be addressed in the larger scale plants. This project was originally planned to include the operation of a large pilot plant in the facilities of Swenson Process …

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