The {gamma}-irradiated-oxidation of pentacontane (C{sub 50}H{sub 102}) and the polymer polyisoprene was investigated as a function of oxidation level using {sup 17}O nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It is demonstrated that by using {sup 17}O labeled O{sub 2} gas during the {gamma}-irradiation process, details about the oxidative degradation mechanisms can be directly obtained from the analysis of the {sup 17}O NMR spectra. Production of carboxylic acids is the primary oxygen-containing functionality during the oxidation of pentacontane, while ethers and alcohols are the dominant oxidation product observed for polyisoprene. The formation of ester species during the oxidation process is very minor for both materials, with water also being produced in significant amounts during the radiolytic oxidation of polyisoprene. The ability to focus on the oxidative component of the degradation process using {sup 17}O NMR spectroscopy demonstrates the selectivity of this technique over more conventional approaches.

The electronic structure of Mn in amorphous Si (a-Mn{sub x}Si{sub 1?x}) is studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Mn L{sub 3,2} edges for x = 0.005-0.18. Except the x = 0.005 sample, which shows a slight signature of Mn{sup 2+} atomic multiplets associated with a local Mn moment, all samples have broad and featureless L{sub 3,2} absorption peaks, corresponding to an itinerant state for all 3d electrons. The broad X-ray absorption spectra exclude the possibility of a localized 3d moment and explain the unexpectedly quenched Mn moment in this magnetically-doped amorphous semiconductor. Such a fully delocalized d state of Mn dopant in Si has not been previously suggested.

A chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) technique has been developed for precise in situ measurements of hydrochloric acid (HCl) from a high-altitude aircraft. In measurements at subtropical latitudes, minimum HCl values found in the upper troposphere (UT) are often near or below the 0.005-ppbv detection limit of the measurements, indicating that background HCl values are much lower than a global mean estimate. However, significant abundances of HCl were observed in many UT air parcels as a result of stratosphere-to-troposphere transport events. A method for diagnosing the amount of stratospheric ozone in these UT parcels was developed using the compact linear correlation of HCl with ozone found throughout the lower stratosphere (LS). Expanded use of this method will lead to improved quantification of cross-tropopause transport events and validation of global chemical transport models.

Bis(cyclopentadienyl)magnesium (MgCp2) is used commonly as a source for doping nitride materials with magnesium. Increased oxygen incorporation known to accompany the use of MgCp2 makes the purity of this precursor an important consideration in nitride CVD. Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GCMS) methods have now been developed for the identification of volatile impurities in MgCp2. Diethylether, an oxygen containing organic compound (CH{sub 3}CH{sub 2}OCH{sub 2}CH{sub 3}), and additional organic impurities were found in the MgCp2 supplied by three manufacturers. Subsequent refinements in the synthetic processes by these companies have resulted in the availability of MgCp2 free of ether and other organic impurities as determined by GCMS.

The CDF Run I B physics program has been very successful, making numerous measurements over a wide variety of B physics topics. Measurements have included masses and lifetimes; discovery of the B{sub c}; B{sub s} {r_arrow} J/{psi}{phi} polarization; B{sup 0} {leftrightarrow} {bar B}{sup 0} mixing; sin (2{beta}); and rare decay limits. Recent results include a search for {Lambda}{sub b} {r_arrow} {Lambda}{gamma} and a study of B{sup 0} {r_arrow} J/{psi}K(*){sup 0} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup {minus}} decays. The tools and experience developed during Run I are quite valuable as CDF enters Run II.

Argonne National Laboratory has developed a process to immobilize waste salt containing fission products, uranium, and transuranic elements as chlorides in a glass-bonded ceramic waste form. This salt was generated in the electrorefining operation used in electrometallurgical treatment of spent Experimental Breeder Reactor-II fuel. The ceramic waste process culminated with a hot isostatic pressing operation. This paper reviews the installation and operation of a hot isostatic press in a radioactive environment. Processing conditions for the hot isostatic press are presented for non-irradiated material and irradiated material. Sufficient testing was performed to demonstrate that a hot isostatic press could be used as the final step of the processing of ceramic waste for the electrometallurgical spent fuel treatment process.

Unresolved transitions in the nuclear {gamma}-ray cascade produced in the decay of excited nuclei are best described by statistical concepts: a continuous radiative strength function (RSF) and level density yield mean values of transition matrix elements. Data on the soft (E{sub {gamma}} < 3-4 MeV) RSF for transitions between warm states (i.e. states several MeV above the yrast line) have, however, remained elusive.

We present a new approach for investigating the kinetics of defect migration during annealing of low-energy, ion-implanted silicon, employing a combination of computer simulations and atomic-resolution tunneling microscopy. Using atomically-clean Si(111)-7x7 as a sink for bulk point defects created by 5 keV Xe and Ar irradiation, we observe distinct, temperature-dependent surface arrival rates for vacancies and interstitials. A combination of simulation tools provides a detailed description of the processes that underly the observed temperature-dependence of defect segregation, and the predictions of the simulations agree closely with the experimental observations.

This paper focuses on a process to design and build a web-based system to assist staff in day-to-day management and contemporaneous documentation of their work. Other groups that want to use web technology to support their work could apply the approach presented here, but the design itself pertains to a particular set of issues in a unique context. Each user must apply the approach to identify their objectives and design a site to meet them. The main question that the Energy Efficiency Standards Group addressed was: ''How can we facilitate documentation of interim results and final products while conducting a complex, interdependent set of analyses by multiple authors under time pressures for delivering a final product?'' The approach to address this question includes categorization of the components of the work, discussions with staff, development of infrastructure support for documentation, implementation of the documentation process and integration with the workflow, and follow- up with staff. The search for a solution raised a number of issues such as the need for a thorough understanding of the work, consensus building by inclusion of key staff, and deliverable scheduling to allow for contemporaneous documentation. Documentation results vary among the product analyses, from extensive internal …

A real-time radiological sensor network for emergency response was developed and deployed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The Real-Time Radiological Area Monitoring (RTRAM) network is comprised of 16 Geiger-Mueller (GM) sensors positioned on the LLNL Livermore site perimeter to continuously monitor for a radiological condition resulting from a terrorist threat to site security and the health and safety of LLNL personnel. The RTRAM network sensor locations coincide with wind sector directions to provide thorough coverage of the one square mile site. These low-power sensors are supported by a central command center (CCC) and transmit measurement data back to the CCC computer through the LLNL telecommunications infrastructure. Alarm conditions are identified by comparing current data to predetermined threshold parameters and are validated by comparison with plausible dispersion modeling scenarios and prevailing meteorological conditions. Emergency response personnel are notified of alarm conditions by automatic radio and computer based notifications. A secure intranet provides emergency response personnel with current condition assessment data that enable them to direct field response efforts remotely. The RTRAM network has proven to be a reliable system since initial deployment in August 2001 and maintains stability during inclement weather conditions.

VICTORIA 2.0 is a mechanistic computer code designed to analyze fission product behavior within the reactor coolant system (RCS) during a severe nuclear reactor accident. It provides detailed predictions of the release of radioactive and nonradioactive materials from the reactor core and transport and deposition of these materials within the RCS and secondary circuits. These predictions account for the chemical and aerosol processes that affect radionuclide behavior. VICTORIA 2.0 was released in early 1999; a new version VICTORIA 2.1, is now under development. The largest improvements in VICTORIA 2.1 are connected with the thermochemical database, which is being revised and expanded following the recommendations of a peer review. Three risk-significant severe accident sequences have recently been investigated using the VICTORIA 2.0 code. The focus here is on how various chemistry options affect the predictions. Additionally, the VICTORIA predictions are compared with ones made using the MELCOR code. The three sequences are a station blackout in a GE BWR and steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) and pump-seal LOCA sequences in a 3-loop Westinghouse PWR. These sequences cover a range of system pressures, from fully depressurized to full system pressure. The chief results of this study are the fission product fractions that …

This paper presents a coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical (THM) analysis of the Drift Scale Test (DST) conducted at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The DST is a large-scale, long-term thermal test designed to investigate coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrological-chemical behavior in a fractured, welded tuff rock mass in support of nuclear waste isolation efforts. The model used for this analysis utilizes temperature distributions predicted by a thermal-hydrological code as input to a distinct element thermal mechanical code. This paper presents a brief discussion of the test and the coupled model, followed by comparison of predicted and measured displacements. Results show that the model predicts the trend and magnitude of the displacements observed in a cross section monitored in the test through four years of heating. Maximum principal stress levels of 60 MPa are predicted in the crown and floor of the heated drift (HD) after 4 years of heating. Comparison of predicted and observed displacements shows that the model closely predicts vertical displacement above the HD and provides a good estimate of horizontal displacement perpendicular to the HD. These results indicate that a thermal expansion coefficient of 9e-6/{Lambda}C is generally appropriate for the rockmass forming this test. Normal displacements on joints in the cross section examined here …

This paper presents a novel slideway bearing design comprised of a thin-film (0.1 mm-0.2 mm) of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) bound to a rigid hemispherical substrate. Two prototype bearing designs were fabricated and tested to characterize the coefficient of friction (dynamic and static) and wear of the polymer. In addition, similar bearings were incorporated into a kinematically constrained rectilinear carriage to determine the repeatability of motion during multiple traverses. The first bearing had a radius of curvature on the order of 2.38 mm incorporating an UHMWPE film thickness between 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm. The friction coefficient was measured to be between 0.155 and 0.189 for normal loads of 11.5 N and 2.2 N, respectively at a surface speed of 4.2 mm {center_dot} s{sup -1}. This bearing failed after a traverse of approximately 700 m at a load of 11.5 N. A similar evaluation procedure was carried out on a bearing of radius 6.35 mm resulting in a friction coefficient between 0.125 and 0.185 at loads of 27.8 N and 2.2 N, respectively, and the bearing endured a traverse of over 2.2 km at a load of approximately 28 N (in both air and vacuum conditions) with a surface …

At Fermilab, both pixel detector multichip module and sensor hybridization are being developed for the BTeV experiment. The BTeV pixel detector is based on a design relying on a hybrid approach. With this approach, the readout chip and the sensor array are developed separately and the detector is constructed by flip-chip mating the two together. This method offers maximum flexibility in the development process, choice of fabrication technologies, and the choice of sensor material. This paper presents strategies to handle the required data rate and performance results of the first prototype and detector hybridization.

Fracture deformations were measured in a 3m x 3m x 4.5m block of Topopah Spring tuff as part of a larger effort to characterize coupled thermal-hydrologic-mechanical-chemical processes in an isolated rock mass subjected to a one-dimensional thermal gradient. The fracture deformations were measured in three orthogonal directions at 17 points on the vertical faces of the block over a time span of 19 months. Eight fractures, including a major sub-horizontal fracture near the top of the block and five large, sub-vertical fractures, were selected for study. The data provide point measurements of apparent aperture change and slip motions parallel and perpendicular to the block faces. The fracture aperture and slip motions, though only a few tenths of a millimeter, form a significant portion of the total block deformation. The data reveal some fairly complex behaviors, such as nonuniform slip motions along individual fractures and sub-vertical fractures that sometimes open and close simultaneously at different elevations. Slip motions along sub-vertical fractures near the heater plane were relatively large and well correlated with temperature. The heating phase deformations were only partially recovered during cool-down. The fracture deformation data show that fractures deformed in conjunction with water movements and associated temperature fluctuations during …

Event horizons and closed time-like curves cannot exist in the real world for the simple reason that they are inconsistent with quantum mechanics. Following ideas originated by Robert Laughlin, Pawel Mazur, Emil Mottola, David Santiago, and the speaker it is now possible to describe in some detail what happens physically when one approaches and crosses a region of space-time where classical general relativity predicts there should be an infinite red shift surface. This quantum critical physics provides a new perspective on a variety of enigmatic astrophysical phenomena including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, positron emission, and dark matter.

Present-day global anthropogenic emissions contribute more than half of the mass in submicron particles primarily due to sulfate and carbonaceous aerosol components derived from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning. These anthropogenic aerosols modify the microphysics of clouds by serving as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and enhance the reflectivity of low-level water clouds, leading to a cooling effect on climate (the Twomey effect or first indirect effect). The magnitude of the first aerosol indirect effect is associated with cloud frequency as well as a quantity representing the sensitivity of cloud albedo to changes in cloud drop number concentration. This quantity is referred to as cloud susceptibility [Twomey, 1991]. Analysis of satellite measurements demonstrates that marine stratus clouds are likely to be of higher susceptibility than continental clouds because of their lower number concentrations of cloud drops [Platnick and Twomey, 1994]. Here, we use an improved version of the fully coupled climate/chemistry model [Chuang et al., 1997] to calculate the global concentrations Of sulfate, dust, sea salt, and carbonaceous aerosols (biomass smoke and fossil fuel organic matter and black carbon). We investigated the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on cloud susceptibility and calculated the associated changes of shortwave radiative fluxes at the …

The authors consider the ability of the numerical solution of Richards equation to model gravity-driven fingers. Although gravity-driven fingers can be easily simulated using a partial downwind averaging method, they find the fingers are purely artificial, generated by the combined effects of truncation error induced oscillations and capillary hysteresis. Since Richards equation can only yield a monotonic solution for standard constitutive relations and constant flux boundary conditions, it is not the valid governing equation to model gravity-driven fingers, and therefore is also suspect for unsaturated flow in initially dry, highly nonlinear, and hysteretic media where these fingers occur. However, analysis of truncation error at the wetting front for the partial downwind method suggests the required mathematical behavior of a more comprehensive and physically based modeling approach for this region of parameter space.

Centrosomes are small organelles that organize the mitoticspindle during cell division and are also involved in cell shape andpolarity. Within epithelial tumors, such as breast cancer, and somehematological tumors, centrosome abnormalities (CA) are common, occurearly in disease etiology, and correlate with chromosomal instability anddisease stage. In situ quantification of CA by optical microscopy ishampered by overlap and clustering of these organelles, which appear asfocal structures. CA has been frequently associated with Tp53 status inpremalignant lesions and tumors. Here we describe an approach toaccurately quantify centrosomes in tissue sections and tumors.Considering proliferation and baseline amplification rate the resultingpopulation based ratio of centrosomes per nucleus allow the approximationof the proportion of cells with CA. Using this technique we show that20-30 percent of cells have amplified centrosomes in Tp53 null mammarytumors. Combining fluorescence detection, deconvolution microscopy and amathematical algorithm applied to a maximum intensity projection we showthat this approach is superior to traditional investigator based visualanalysis or threshold-based techniques.

The Dubinin-Astashov (DA) isotherm parameters for U, Pu, Sr and Np have been updated to include additional data obtained since the original derivation. The DA isotherms were modified to include a kinetic function derived by Rahn to describe sorbate loading from the beginning of sorption up to steady state. The final functions describe both kinetic and thermodynamic sorption.

A project to develop non-intrusive active sensors that can be applied on existing aging aerospace structures for monitoring the onset and progress of structural damage (fatigue cracks and corrosion) is presented. The state of the art in active sensors structural health monitoring and damage detection is reviewed. Methods based on (a) elastic wave propagation and (b) electro-mechanical (NM) impedance technique are sighted and briefly discussed. The instrumentation of these specimens with piezoelectric active sensors is illustrated. The main detection strategies (E/M impedance for local area detection and wave propagation for wide area interrogation) are discussed. The signal processing and damage interpretation algorithms are tuned to the specific structural interrogation method used. In the high-frequency EIM impedance approach, pattern recognition methods are used to compare impedance signatures taken at various time intervals and to identify damage presence and progression from the change in these signatures. In the wave propagation approach, the acoustic-ultrasonic methods identifying additional reflection generated from the damage site and changes in transmission velocity and phase are used. Both approaches benefit from the use of artificial intelligence neural networks algorithms that can extract damage features based on a learning process. Design and fabrication of a set of structural specimens …

The authors reconceptualize macro modified invasion percolation (MMIP) at the near pore (NP) scale and apply it to simulate the non-wetting phase invasion experiments of Glass et al [in review] conducted in macro-heterogeneous porous media. For experiments where viscous forces were non-negligible, they redefine the total pore filling pressure to include viscous losses within the invading phase as well as the viscous influence to decrease randomness imposed by capillary forces at the front. NP-MMIP exhibits the complex invasion order seen experimentally with characteristic alternations between periods of gravity stabilized and destabilized invasion growth controlled by capillary barriers. The breaching of these barriers and subsequent pore scale fingering of the non-wetting phase is represented extremely well as is the saturation field evolution, and total volume invaded.

The intensity ratios of 3 {yields} 2 emission lines of Fe XVIII and Ni XX were measured on the Livermore electron beam ion trap (EBIT-I) with a flat-field grating spectrometer. The results were compared with distorted-wave (DW) calculations obtained with the Flexible Atomic Code and recent close-coupling calculations using the R-matrix code. The measured 3s {yields} 2p/3d {yields} 2p ratios are about 20-40% higher than the theoretical values. When more extended configuration interaction is included in the DW theory, the agreement with the measurements improved slightly. At the beam energies of these measurements, no significant resonance contribution is expected to be present, and the discrepancies represent the uncertainties in the direct excitation cross sections.

This paper focuses on a ten-element strategy for streamlining the NEPA process in order to achieve the Act's objectives while easing the considerable burden on agencies, the public, and the judicial system. In other words, this paper proposes a strategy for making NEPA work better and cost less. How these ten elements are timed and implemented is critical to any successful streamlining. The strategy elements discussed in this paper, in no particular order of priority, are as follows: (1) integrate the NEPA process with other environmental compliance and review procedures; (2) accelerate the decision time for determining the appropriate level of NEPA documentation; (3) conduct early and thorough internal EIS (or EA) scoping before public scoping or other public participation begins; (4) organize and implement public scoping processes that are more participatory than confrontational; (5) maintain an up-to-date compendium of environmental baseline information; (6) prepare more comprehensive, broad-scope umbrella EISs that can be used effectively for tiering; (7) encourage preparation of annotated outlines with detailed guidance that serve as a road map for preparation of each EIS or EA; (8) decrease the length and complexity of highly technical portions of NEPA documents; (9) increase and systematize NEPA compliance outreach, training, …