Brookhaven National Laboratory continues its multi-year program to improve the operational efficiency, reliability, and stability of the cryogenic system which also resulted in improved beam availability of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). This paper summarizes the work and changes made after each phase over the past four years to the present, as well as proposed future improvements. Power usage dropped from an initial 9.4 MW to the present 5.1 MW and is expected to drop below 5 MW after the completion of the remaining proposed improvements. The work proceeded in phases by balancing the Collider's schedule of operation, time required for the modifications and budget constraints. The main changes include process control, compressor oil removal and management, elimination of the use of cold compressors and two liquid helium storage tanks, insulation of the third liquid helium storage tank, compressor bypass flow reduction and the addition of a load turbine (Joule-Thompson expander) with associated heat exchangers at the cold end of the plant. Also, liquid helium pumps used for forced circulation of the sub-cooled helium through the magnet loops were eliminated by an accelerator supply flow reconfiguration. Planned future upgrades include the resizing of expanders 5 and 6 to increase …

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A decision support system(DSS)is under development to assistin the control and management of episodes of dissolved oxygen sag in aDeep Water Ship Channel (DWSC), located in Stockton, California. The DWSCwas formed by excavating the bed of the San Joaquin River in the 1950'sto allow navigation by ocean-going cargo ships to the Port of Stockton.The deepened channel has the effect of increasing hydraulic residencetime by a factor of ten. allowing accumulation of decaying algae andother oxygen demanding substances - which creates a barrier to themigration of anadromous fish. This problem, which manifests itself inlate summer and early autumn, is an impediment to a multimillion dollarhabitat restoration effort for the salmon fishery in the San JoaquinRiver basin (SJRB). A hydrodynamic and water quality model of the Deltaand San Joaquin River forms the basis of the DSS which will provideforecasts of dissolved oxygen sag in the DWSC and provide modelingsupport for management actions such as forced aeration to improvedissolved oxygen concentrations in the Ship Channel. A graphical userinterlace, currently used for displaying flow and salinity forecasts onthe San Joaquin River, is being adapted to allow the display of dissolvedoxygen forecasts and to encourage the formation of a stakeholder-ledentity or institution to adaptively manage …

Current safeguards approaches used by the IAEA at gas centrifuge enrichment plants (GCEPs) need enhancement in order to detect undeclared LEU production with adequate detection probability. ''Mailbox'' declarations have been used in the last two decades to verify receipts, production, and shipments at some bulk-handling facilities (e.g., fuel-fabrication plants). The operator declares the status of his plant to the IAEA on a daily basis using a secure ''Mailbox'' system such as a secure tamper-resistant computer. The operator agrees to hold receipts and shipments for a specified period of time, along with a specified number of annual inspections, to enable inspector access to a statistically large enough population of UF{sub 6} cylinders and fuel assemblies to achieve the desired detection probability. The inspectors can access the ''Mailbox'' during randomly timed inspections and then verify the operator's declarations for that day. Previously, this type of inspection regime was considered mainly for verifying the material balance at fuel-fabrication, enrichment, and conversion plants. Brookhaven National Laboratory has expanded the ''Mailbox'' concept with short-notice random inspections (SNRIs), coupled with enhanced video surveillance, to include declaration and verification of UF{sub 6} cylinder operational data to detect activities associated with undeclared LEU production at GCEPs. Since the …

We describe a fast contour descriptor algorithm and its application to a distributed supernova detection system (the Nearby Supernova Factory) that processes 600,000 candidate objects in 80 GB of image data per night. Our shape-detection algorithm reduced the number of false positives generated by the supernova search pipeline by 41% while producing no measurable impact on running time. Fourier descriptors are an established method of numerically describing the shapes of object contours, but transform-based techniques are ordinarily avoided in this type of application due to their computational cost. We devised a fast contour descriptor implementation for supernova candidates that meets the tight processing budget of the application. Using the lowest-order descriptors (F{sub 1} and F{sub -1}) and the total variance in the contour, we obtain one feature representing the eccentricity of the object and another denoting its irregularity. Because the number of Fourier terms to be calculated is fixed and small, the algorithm runs in linear time, rather than the O(n log n) time of an FFT. Constraints on object size allow further optimizations so that the total cost of producing the required contour descriptors is about 4n addition/subtraction operations, where n is the length of the contour.

Polymer Nanocomposites are an important class of nanomaterials with potential applications including but not limited to structural and cushion materials, electromagnetic and heat shields, conducting plastics, sensors, and catalysts for various chemical and bio processes. Success in most such applications hinges on molecular-level control of structure and assembly, and a deep understanding of how the overall morphology of various components and the interfaces between them affect the composite properties at the macroscale. The length and time-scales associated with such assemblies are prohibitively large for a full atomistic modeling. Instead we adopt a multiscale methodology in which atomic-level interactions between different components of a composite are incorporated into a coarse-grained simulation of the mesoscale morphology, which is then represented on a numerical grid and the macroscopic properties computed using a finite-elements method.

Obesity is increasing in an epidemic fashion in most countries and constitutes a public health problem by enhancing the risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. Owing to the increase in obesity, life expectancy may start to decrease in developed countries for the first time in recent history. The factors determining fat mass in adult humans are not fully understood, but increased lipid storage in already developed fat cells is thought to be most important. We show that adipocyte number is a major determinant for the fat mass in adults. However, the number of fat cells stays constant in adulthood in lean and obese and even under extreme conditions, indicating that the number of adipocytes is set during childhood and adolescence. To establish the dynamics within the stable population of adipocytes in adults, we have measured adipocyte turnover by analyzing the integration of {sup 14}C derived from nuclear bomb tests in genomic DNA. Approximately 10% of fat cells are renewed annually at all adult ages and levels of body mass index. Neither adipocyte death nor generation rate is altered in obesity, suggesting a tight regulation of fat cell number that is independent of metabolic profile …

Numerical tests are used to validate a practical estimatefor the optimal backward errors of linear least squares problems. Thissolves a thirty-year-old problem suggested by Stewart andWilkinson.

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Dissolution and precipitation rates of low defect Georgia kaolinite (KGa-1b) as a function of Gibbs free energy of reaction (or reaction affinity) were measured at 22 C and pH 4 in continuously stirred flow through reactors. Steady state dissolution experiments showed slightly incongruent dissolution, with a Si/Al ratio of about 1.12 that is attributed to the re-adsorption of Al on to the kaolinite surface. No inhibition of the kaolinite dissolution rate was apparent when dissolved aluminum was varied from 0 and 60 {micro}M. The relationship between dissolution rates and the reaction affinity can be described well by a Transition State Theory (TST) rate formulation with a Temkin coefficient of 2 R{sub diss} (mol/m{sup 2}s) = 1.15 x 10{sup -13} [1-exp(-{Delta}G/2RT)]. Stopping of flow in a close to equilibrium dissolution experiment yielded at solubility constant for kaolinite at 22 C of 10{sup 7.57}. Experiments on the precipitation kinetics of kaolinite showed a more complex behavior. One conducted using kaolinite seed that had previously undergone extensive dissolution under far from equilibrium conditions for 5 months showed a quasi-steady state precipitation rate for 105 hours that was compatible with the TST expression above. After this initial period, however, precipitation rates decreased by an …

Comprehensive test ban monitoring in terms of location and discrimination has progressed significantly in recent years. However, the characterization of sources and the estimation of low yields remains a particular challenge. As the recent Korean shot demonstrated, we can probably expect to have a small set of teleseismic, far-regional and high-frequency regional data to analyze in estimating the yield of an event. Since stacking helps to bring signals out of the noise, it becomes useful to conduct comparable analyses on neighboring events, earthquakes in this case. If these auxiliary events have accurate moments and source descriptions, we have a means of directly comparing effective source strengths. Although we will rely on modeling codes, 1D, 2D, and 3D, we will also apply a broadband calibration procedure to use longer periods (P>5s) waveform data to calibrate short-period (P between .5 to 2 Hz) and high-frequency (P between 2 to 10 Hz) as path specify station corrections from well-known regional sources. We have expanded our basic Cut-and-Paste (CAP) methodology to include not only timing shifts but also amplitude (f) corrections at recording sites. The name of this method was derived from source inversions that allow timing shifts between 'waveform segments' (or cutting the …

The chemical nature of copper and copper oxide (Cu{sub 2}O) surfaces in the presence of CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O at room temperature was investigated using ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The studies reveal that in the presence of 0.1 torr CO{sub 2} several species form on the initially clean Cu, including carbonate CO{sub 3}{sup 2}, CO{sub 2}{sup {delta}-} and C{sup 0}, while no modifications occur on an oxidized surface. The addition of 0.1 ML Zn to the Cu results in the complete conversion of CO{sub 2}{sup {delta}-} to carbonate. In a mixture of 0.1 torr H{sub 2}O and 0.1 torr CO{sub 2}, new species are formed, including hydroxyl, formate and methoxy, with H{sub 2}O providing the hydrogen needed for the formation of hydrogenated species.

The electronic structure of cobalt nanocrystals suspended in liquid as a function of size has been investigated using in-situ x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy. A sharp absorption peak associated with the ligand molecules is found that increases in intensity upon reducing the nanocrystal size. X-ray Raman features due to d-d and to charge-transfer excitations of ligand molecules are identified. The study reveals the local symmetry of the surface of {var_epsilon}-Co phase nanocrystals, which originates from a dynamic interaction between Co nanocrystals and surfactant + solvent molecules.

Accelerators are the largest and most costly scientific instruments of the Department of Energy, with uses across a broad range of science, including colliders for particle physics and nuclear science and light sources and neutron sources for materials studies. COMPASS, the Community Petascale Project for Accelerator Science and Simulation, is a broad, four-office (HEP, NP, BES, ASCR) effort to develop computational tools for the prediction and performance enhancement of accelerators. The tools being developed can be used to predict the dynamics of beams in the presence of optical elements and space charge forces, the calculation of electromagnetic modes and wake fields of cavities, the cooling induced by comoving beams, and the acceleration of beams by intense fields in plasmas generated by beams or lasers. In SciDAC-1, the computational tools had multiple successes in predicting the dynamics of beams and beam generation. In SciDAC-2 these tools will be petascale enabled to allow the inclusion of an unprecedented level of physics for detailed prediction.

Motivated by recent experiments, numerical simulations were performed of cylindrically converging shock waves. The converging shocks impinged upon a set of zero to sixteen regularly space obstacles. For more than two obstacles the resulting diffracted shock fronts formed polygonal shaped patterns near the point of focus. The maximum pressure and temperature as a function of number of obstacles were studied. The self-similar behavior of cylindrical, triangular and square-shaped shocks were also investigated.

Physical constraints such as power, leakage and pin bandwidth are currently driving the HPC industry to produce systems with unprecedented levels of concurrency. In these parallel systems, synchronization and memory operations are becoming considerably more expensive than before. In this work we study parallel matrix factorization codes and conclude that they need to be re-engineered to avoid unnecessary (and expensive) synchronization. We propose the use of multithreading combined with intelligent schedulers and implement representative algorithms in this style. Our results indicate that this strategy can significantly outperform traditional codes.

There is an ongoing disagreement regarding the aging of the shortfin mako due to a difference of interpretation in the periodic deposition of vertebral growth band pairs, especially for the larger size classes. Using analysis of length-month information, tagging data, and length-frequency analysis, concluded that two band pairs were formed in the vertebral centrum every year (biannual band-pair interpretation). Cailliet et al. (1983), however, presented growth parameters based on the common assumption that one band pair forms annually (annual band-pair interpretation). Therefore, growth rates obtained by Pratt & Casey (1983) were twice that of Cailliet et al. (1983) and could lead to age discrepancies of about 15 years for maximum estimated ages on the order of 30 from the annual band-pair interpretation. Serious consequences in the population dynamics could occur for this species if inputs are based on an invalid age interpretation. The latest Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Highly Migratory Species (HMS), for example, adopted the biannual band pair deposition hypothesis because it apparently fit the observed growth patterns best (Pacific Fishery Management Council 2003). However, the ongoing uncertainty about the aging of the shortfin mako was acknowledged and it was recommended that an endeavor to resolve this issue …

This paper is focused on possible designs and predicted performances of two proposed high-energy, high-luminosity electron-hadron colliders: eRHIC at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL, Upton, NY, USA) and LHeC at Organisation Europeenne pour la Recherche Nucleaire (CERN, Geneve, Switzerland). The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC, BNL) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, CERN) are designed as versatile colliders. RHIC is colliding various species of hadrons staring from polarized protons to un-polarized heavy ions (such as fully stripped Au (gold) ions) in various combinations: polarized p-p, d-Au, Cu-Cu, Au-Au. Maximum energy in RHIC is 250 GeV (per beam) for polarized protons and 100 GeV/n for heavy ions. There is planed expansion of the variety of species to include polarized He{sup 3} and unpolarized fully stripped U (uranium). LHeC is designed to collide both un-polarized protons with energy up to 7 TeV per beam and fully stripped Pb (lead) ions with energy up to 3 TeV/n. Both eRHIC and LHeC plan to add polarized electrons (or/and positrons) to the list of colliding species in these versatile hadron colliders. In eRHIC 10-20 GeV electrons would collide with hadrons circulating in RHIC. In LHeC 50-150 GeV polarized leptons will collided with LHC's hadron beams. Both …

In 1986, 21 m3 of transuranic (TRU) waste was inadvertently disposed in a shallow land burial trench at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site on the Nevada Test Site. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) TRU waste must be disposed in accordance with Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 191, Environmental Radiation Protection Standard for Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level, and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the only facility meeting these requirements. The National Research Council, however, has found that exhumation of buried TRU waste for disposal in a deep geologic repository may not be warranted when the effort, exposures, and expense of retrieval are not commensurate with the risk reduction achieved. The long-term risks of leaving the TRU waste in-place are evaluated in two probabilistic performance assessments. A composite analysis, assessing the dose from all disposed waste and interacting sources of residual contamination, estimates an annual total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) of 0.01 mSv, or 3 percent of the dose constraint. A 40 CFR 191 performance assessment also indicates there is reasonable assurance of meeting all requirements. The 40 CFR 191.15 annual mean TEDE for a member of the public …

The pressure-dependence of the quasi-static yield strength of vanadium in polycrystalline foils and powders has been measured up to 80 GPa at room temperature using an implementation of a non-hydrostatic diamond anvil cell technique [C. Meade and R. Jeanloz, J. Geophys. Res. 93, 3261 (1988)]. A new feature of this work is the use of an in-situ determination of the sample thickness. Following an initial increase in the strength with pressure, a decrease in the strength of vanadium was observed beginning at 40-50 GPa. We have measured the yield strength of vanadium up to 80 GPa under nonhydrostatic conditions. In this study, we used x-ray diffraction and absorption techniques to make in-situ measurements of the pressure gradient and the sample thickness. These measurements were used to evaluate the pressure-dependence of the material strength. We observed a decease in the yield strength of vanadium over the pressure range of 40-50 GPa. We propose that this change in the yieldstrength pressure-dependence is an indicator of the phase transition from bcc to rhombohedral.

This article discusses the modification of an existing material model to take into account softening and residual strain effects observed in polymeric materials reinforced with carbon nanotubes when subjected to loading and unloading cycles.

This paper presents the summary of design features and test results of two Type B Shipping Package prototype configurations comprising different insulating materials developed by the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) for the Department of Energy. The materials evaluated, a closed-cell polyurethane foam and a vacuformed ceramic fiber material, were selected to provide adequate structural protection to the package containment vessel during Normal Conditions of Transport (NCT) and Hypothetical Accident Condition (HAC) events and to provide thermal protection during the HAC fire. Polyurethane foam has been used in shipping package designs for many years because of the stiffness it provides to the structure and because of the thermal protection it provides during fire scenarios. This comparison describes how ceramic fiber material offers an alternative to the polyurethane foam in a specific overpack design. Because of the high operating temperature ({approx}2,300 F) of the ceramic material, it allows for contents with higher heat loads to be shipped than is possible with polyurethane foam. Methods of manufacturing and design considerations using the two materials will be addressed.

The EXAFS spectra of Cu and Pd foil from many different beamlines and synchrotrons are compared to address the dependence of the amplitude reduction factor (S{sub 0}{sup 2}) on beamline specific parameters. Even though S{sub 0}{sup 2} is the same parameter as the EXAFS coordination number, the value for S{sub 0}{sup 2} is given little attention, and is often unreported. The S{sub 0}{sup 2} often differs for the same material due to beamline and sample attributes, such that no importance is given to S{sub 0}{sup 2}-values within a general range of 0.7 to 1.1. EXAFS beamlines have evolved such that it should now be feasible to use standard S{sub 0}{sup 2} values for all EXAFS measurements of a specific elemental environment. This would allow for the determination of the imaginary energy (Ei) to account for broadening of the EXAFS signal rather than folding these errors into an effective S{sub 0}{sup 2}-value. To test this concept, we model 11 Cu-foil and 6 Pd-foil EXAFS spectra from around the world to compare the difference in S{sub 0}{sup 2}- and Ei-values.