Theoretical arguments for a new higher-color quark sector, based on Pomeron physics in QCD, are briefly described. The electroweak symmetry-breaking, Strong CP conservation, and electroweak scale CP violation, that is naturally produced by this sector is also outlined. A further consequence is that above the electroweak scale there will be a radical change in the strong interaction. Electroweak states, in particular multiple W`s and Z`s, and new, semi-stable, very massive, baryons, will be commonly produced. The possible correlation of expected phenomena with a wide range of observed Cosmic Ray effects at and above the primary spectrum knee is described. Related phenomena that might be seen in the highest energy hard scattering events at the Fermilab Tevatron, some of which could be confused with top production, are also briefly discussed.

The decay of tritium in a metal tritide generates {sup 3}He in the lattice which tends to degrade the performance of the material over time. It is desired to develop a material which minimizes the tritium aging effects and may be tailored to a particular tritium processing application. Pd alloys with Ni and Co have been investigated, as Pd tritide is known to be resistant to tritium aging effects and alloying provides a means for adjusting the plateau pressure of the metal tritide. Sets of tritium desorption isotherms were acquired at temperatures between 273 and 338 K over the pressure range of 1 to 900 kPa. The thermodynamic parameters of {Delta}H and {Delta}S for the {beta}-{alpha} phase transition of the metal tritides were determined across the plateau regions of the P-C-T curves. The average values of {Delta}H (kJ/mol{center_dot}T) and {Delta}S (J/K/mol{center_dot}T) were found to be 15.8 and 50.1 for Pd(2.8 wt. %)Ni, 13.7 and 50.3 for Pd(5.2 wt. %)Ni, 15.9 and 51.3 for Pd(2.8 wt. %)Co, and 13.6 and 51.8 for Pd(5.2 wt. %)Co, respectively.