The status and the most important issues in neutrino physics will be summarized as well as how the current, pressing questions will be addressed by future experiments. Since the discovery of neutrino flavor transitions by the SuperKamiokande experiment in 1998, which demonstrates that neutrinos change and hence their clocks tick, i.e. they are not traveling at the speed of light and hence are not massless, the field of neutrino physics has made remarkable progress in untangling the nature of the neutrino. However, there are still many important questions to answer.

We compare force fields (FF's) that have been used in molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of silica in order to assess their applicability for use in simulating IR-laser damage mitigation. Although pairwise FF?s obtained by fitting quantum mechanical calculations such as the BKS and CHIK potentials have been shown to reproduce many of the properties of silica including the stability of silica polymorphs and the densification of the liquid, we show that melting temperatures and fictive temperatures are much too high. Softer empirical force fields give liquid and glass properties at experimental temperatures but may not predict all properties important to laser mitigation experiments.

We report results on lithium alumino-silicate ion source development in preparation for warmdense-matter heating experiments on the new Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCXII). The practical limit to the current density for a lithium alumino-silicate source is determined by the maximum operating temperature that the ion source can withstand before running into problems of heat transfer, melting of the alumino-silicate material, and emission lifetime. Using small prototype emitters, at a temperature of ~;;1275 oC, a space-charge-limited Li+ beam current density of J ~;;1 mA/cm2 was obtained. The lifetime of the ion source was ~;;50 hours while pulsing at a rate of 0.033 Hz with a pulse duration of 5-6 mu s.

We report results from research aimed at developing and demonstrating production of 2-D readout structures for GEM (Gas Electron Multiplier) charged particle tracking chambers at Tech-Etch. Readout boards of two types, bi-planar and single plane, were fabricated and evaluated. The results show that Tech-Etch can produce suitable boards of either type however the single plane board has a number of advantages both in production and use that will likely make it the preferred choice for GEM tracking chambers.

Presentation on the execution of the first high-throughput thermochemical pretreatment/enzyme digestion pipeline for screening biomass for recalcitrance.

We propose a modification to the Levenberg-Marquardt minimization algorithm for a more robust and more efficient calibration of highly parameterized, strongly nonlinear models of multiphase flow through porous media. The new method combines the advantages of truncated singular value decomposition with those of the classical Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, thus enabling a more robust solution of underdetermined inverse problems with complex relations between the parameters to be estimated and the observable state variables used for calibration. The truncation limit separating the solution space from the calibration null space is re-evaluated during the iterative calibration process. In between these re-evaluations, fewer forward simulations are required, compared to the standard approach, to calculate the approximate sensitivity matrix. Truncated singular values are used to calculate the Levenberg-Marquardt parameter updates, ensuring that safe small steps along the steepest-descent direction are taken for highly correlated parameters of low sensitivity, whereas efficient quasi-Gauss-Newton steps are taken for independent parameters with high impact. The performance of the proposed scheme is demonstrated for a synthetic data set representing infiltration into a partially saturated, heterogeneous soil, where hydrogeological, petrophysical, and geostatistical parameters are estimated based on the joint inversion of hydrological and geophysical data.

This conceptual design report addresses development of replacement remote-handled low-level waste disposal capability for the Idaho National Laboratory. Current disposal capability at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex is planned until the facility is full or until it must be closed in preparation for final remediation (approximately at the end of Fiscal Year 2017). This conceptual design report includes key project assumptions; design options considered in development of the proposed onsite disposal facility (the highest ranked alternative for providing continued uninterrupted remote-handled low level waste disposal capability); process and facility descriptions; safety and environmental requirements that would apply to the proposed facility; and the proposed cost and schedule for funding, design, construction, and operation of the proposed onsite disposal facility.

GRIDS Project: USC is developing an iron-air rechargeable battery for large-scale energy storage that could help integrate renewable energy sources into the electric grid. Iron-air batteries have the potential to store large amounts of energy at low cost—iron is inexpensive and abundant, while oxygen is freely obtained from the air we breathe. However, current iron-air battery technologies have suffered from low efficiency and short life spans. USC is working to dramatically increase the efficiency of the battery by placing chemical additives on the battery’s iron-based electrode and restructuring the catalysts at the molecular level on the battery’s air-based electrode. This can help the battery resist degradation and increase life span. The goal of the project is to develop a prototype iron-air battery at significantly cost lower than today’s best commercial batteries.

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This report investigated the uncertainties with the operations of the power system and their contributions to tail events, especially under high penetration of wind. A Bayesian network model is established to quantify the impact of these uncertainties on system imbalance. The framework is presented for a decision support tool, which can help system operators better estimate the need for balancing reserves and prepare for tail events.

Inspired by recent photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) experiments on hydroxide solutions, we have examined the conditions necessary for enhanced (and, in the case of solutions, detectable) intercoulombic decay (ICD)--Auger emission from an atomic site other than that originally excited. We present general guidelines, based on energetic and spatial overlap of molecular orbitals, for this enhancement of ICDbased energy transfer in solutions. These guidelines indicate that this decay process should be exhibited by broad classes of biomolecules and suggest a design criterion for targeted radiooncology protocols. Our findings show that PES cannot resolve the current hydroxide coordination controversy.

This report documents the results of a project funded by DoD's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) on the science behind development of predictive models for soot emission from gas turbine engines. Measurements of soot formation were performed in laminar flat premixed flames and turbulent non-premixed jet flames at 1 atm pressure and in turbulent liquid spray flames under representative conditions for takeoff in a gas turbine engine. The laminar flames and open jet flames used both ethylene and a prevaporized JP-8 surrogate fuel composed of n-dodecane and m-xylene. The pressurized turbulent jet flame measurements used the JP-8 surrogate fuel and compared its combustion and sooting characteristics to a world-average JP-8 fuel sample. The pressurized jet flame measurements demonstrated that the surrogate was representative of JP-8, with a somewhat higher tendency to soot formation. The premixed flame measurements revealed that flame temperature has a strong impact on the rate of soot nucleation and particle coagulation, but little sensitivity in the overall trends was found with different fuels. An extensive array of non-intrusive optical and laser-based measurements was performed in turbulent non-premixed jet flames established on specially designed piloted burners. Soot concentration data was collected throughout the flames, together with …

The paper by H.R. Strauss presents numerical simulations, which pretend to describe the disruption instability in ITER device. The simulations were performed with numerical code M3D, described in Ref.[7] of the paper.

The authors review the field of top-quark physics with an emphasis on experimental techniques. The role of the top quark in the Standard Model of particle physics is summarized and the basic phenomenology of top-quark production and decay is introduced. They discuss how contributions from physics beyond the Standard model could affect the top-quark properties or event samples. The many measurements made at the Fermilab Tevatron, which test the Standard model predictions or probe for direct evidence of new physics using the top-quark event samples, are reviewed here.

This document outlines the key features of the SNL psychological engine. The engine is designed to be a generic presentation of cognitive entities interacting among themselves and with the external world. The engine combines the most accepted theories of behavioral psychology with those of behavioral economics to produce a unified simulation of human response from stimuli through executed behavior. The engine explicitly recognizes emotive and reasoned contributions to behavior and simulates the dynamics associated with cue processing, learning, and choice selection. Most importantly, the model parameterization can come from available media or survey information, as well subject-matter-expert information. The framework design allows the use of uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis to manage confidence in using the analysis results for intervention decisions.

This paper is the final paper in a series of papers that discusses passive quench protection for high inductance solenoid magnets. This report describes how passive quench protection system may be applied to superconducting magnets that are connected in series but not inductively coupled. Previous papers have discussed the role of magnet sub-division and quench back from a conductive mandrel in reducing the hot-spot temperature and the peak coil voltages to ground. When magnets are connected in series, quench-back from a conductive mandrel can cause other magnets in a string to quench even without inductive coupling between magnets. The magnet mandrels must be well coupled to the magnet circuit that is being quenched. When magnet circuit sub-division is employed to reduce the voltages-to-ground within magnets, the resistance across the subdivision becomes the most important factor in the successful quenching of the magnet string.

We present results from a study to determine an acceptable CO{sub 2} laser-based non-evaporative mitigation protocol for use on surface damage sites in fused-silica optics. A promising protocol is identified and evaluated on a set of surface damage sites created under ICF-type laser conditions. Mitigation protocol acceptability criteria for damage re-initiation and growth, downstream intensification, and residual stress are discussed. In previous work, we found that a power ramp at the end of the protocol effectively minimizes the residual stress (<25 MPa) left in the substrate. However, the biggest difficulty in determining an acceptable protocol was balancing between low re-initiation and problematic downstream intensification. Typical growing surface damage sites mitigated with a candidate CO{sub 2} laser-based mitigation protocol all survived 351 nm, 5 ns damage testing to fluences >12.5 J/cm{sup 2}. The downstream intensification arising from the mitigated sites is evaluated, and all but one of the sites has 100% passing downstream damage expectation values. We demonstrate, for the first time, a successful non-evaporative 10.6 {micro}m CO{sub 2} laser mitigation protocol applicable to fused-silica optics used on fusion-class lasers like the National Ignition Facility (NIF).

Recent research at Sandia has discovered a new class of organic binary ionic solids with tunable optical, electronic, and photochemical properties. These nanomaterials, consisting of a novel class of organic binary ionic solids, are currently being developed at Sandia for applications in batteries, supercapacitors, and solar energy technologies. They are composed of self-assembled oligomeric arrays of very large anions and large cations, but their crucial internal arrangement is thus far unknown. This report describes (a) the development of a relevant model of nonconvex particles decorated with ions interacting through short-ranged Yukawa potentials, and (b) the results of initial Monte Carlo simulations of the self-assembly binary ionic solids.

Recently a collaboration of LLNL and LBNL has constructed a second generation Compton coincidence instrument to study the non-proportionality of scintillators. This device, known as SLYNCI (Scintillator Light-Yield Non-proportionality Characterization Instrument), has can completely characterize a sample with less than 24 hours of running time. Thus, SLYNCI enables a number of systematic studies of scintillators since many samples can be processed in a reasonable length of time. These studies include differences in nonproportionality between different types of scintillators, different members of the same family of scintillators, and impact of different doping levels. The results of such recent studies are presented here, including a study of various alkali halides, and the impact of europium doping level in strontium iodide. Directions of future work area also discussed.

Comprehensive understanding of the transport and deposition of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) in subsurface is required to assess their potential negative impact on the environment. We studied the deposition behavior of functionalized quantum dot (QD) NPs (CdTe) in different types of sands (Accusand, ultrapure quartz, and iron-coated sand) at various solution ionic strengths (IS). The observed transport behavior in ultrapure quartz and iron-coated sand was consistent with conventional colloid deposition theories. However, our results from the Accusand column showed that deposition was minimal at the lowest IS (1 mM) and increased significantly as the IS increased. The effluent breakthrough occurred with a delay, followed by a rapid rise to the maximum normalized concentration of unity. Negligible deposition in the column packed with ultrapure quartz sand (100 mM) and Accusand (1 mM) rules out the effect of straining and suggests the importance of surface charge heterogeneity in QD deposition in Accusand at higher IS. Data analyses further show that only a small fraction of sand surface area contributed in QD deposition even at the highest IS (100 mM) tested. The observed delay in breakthrough curves of QDs was attributed to the fast diffusive mass transfer rate of QDs from bulk solution to …

This presentation addresses the current state of wind energy technology in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Energy has an interest in large scale hydrogen geostorage, which would offer substantial buffer capacity to meet possible disruptions in supply. Geostorage options being considered are salt caverns, depleted oil/gas reservoirs, aquifers and potentially hard rock cavrns. DOE has an interest in assessing the geological, geomechanical and economic viability for these types of hydrogen storage options. This study has developed an ecocomic analysis methodology to address costs entailed in developing and operating an underground geologic storage facility. This year the tool was updated specifically to (1) a version that is fully arrayed such that all four types of geologic storage options can be assessed at the same time, (2) incorporate specific scenarios illustrating the model's capability, and (3) incorporate more accurate model input assumptions for the wells and storage site modules. Drawing from the knowledge gained in the underground large scale geostorage options for natural gas and petroleum in the U.S. and from the potential to store relatively large volumes of CO{sub 2} in geological formations, the hydrogen storage assessment modeling will continue to build on these strengths while maintaining modeling transparency such that other modeling efforts may draw from this project.

Sections 3.2.4 and 3.2.5 of the Handbook of Accelerator Physics and Engineering on Landau damping are combined and updated. The new addition includes impedances and wakes for multi-layer beam pipe, optical model, diffraction model, and cross-sectional transition.

Magnetic (Ga{sub x}Fe{sub 1-x}){sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoparticles with 5%-33% gallium doping (x = 0.05-0.33) were measured using x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism to determine that the Ga dopant is substituting for Fe{sub 3+} as Ga{sub 3+} in the tetrahedral A-site of the spinel structure, resulting in an overall increase in the total moment of the material. Frequency-dependent alternating-current magnetic susceptibility measurements showed these particles to be weakly interacting with a reduction of the cubic anisotropy energy term with Ga concentration. The element-specific dichroism spectra show that the average Fe moment is observed to increase with Ga concentration, a result consistent with the replacement of A-site Fe by Ga.