The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals. The objective is to have these products produced by technologies capable of using synthesis gas derived from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstock. The objective of Phase I is to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site and to develop a Research, Development, and Testing Plan (RD and T) for implementation in Phase II. The objective of Phase II is to implement the RD and T as outlined in the Phase I RD and T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology that produces high-value products, particularly those that are critical to our domestic fuel and power requirements. The project will resolve critical knowledge and technology gaps on the integration of gasification and downstream processing to coproduce some combination of power, fuels, and chemicals from coal and other feedstocks. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing plan for …

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The goal of demonstrating ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) has motivated a revisit of double-shell (DS) targets as a complementary path to the cryogenic baseline approach. Expected benefits of DS ignition targets include non-cryogenic deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel preparation, minimal hohlraum-plasma mediated laser backscatter, low threshold ignition temperatures ({approx} 4 keV) for relaxed hohlraum x-ray flux asymmetry tolerances, and minimal (two-) shock timing requirements. On the other hand, DS ignition presents several formidable challenges, encompassing room-temperature containment of high-pressure DT ({approx} 790 atm) in the inner shell, strict concentricity requirements on the two shells (< 3 {micro}m), development of nano-porous (<100 nm) low-density (<100 mg/cc) metallic foams for structural support of the inner shell and hydrodynamic instability mitigation, and effective control of hydrodynamic instabilities on the high-Atwood number interface between the DT fuel and the high-Z inner shell. Recent progress in DS ignition designs and required materials-science advances at the nanoscale are described herein. Two new ignition designs that use rugby-shaped vacuum hohlraums are presented which utilize either 1 MJ or 2 MJ of laser energy at 3{omega}. The capability of the NIF to generate the requested reverse-ramp pulse shape for DS ignition is expected to be comparable to …

It is proposed here to continue their program in the development of theories and models capable of describing the varied phenomena expected to influence the propagation of ultra-intense, ultra-short laser pulses with particular emphasis on guided propagation. This program builds upon expertise already developed over the years through collaborations with the NSF funded experimental effort lead by Professor Howard Milchberg here at Maryland, and in addition the research group at the Ecole Polytechnique in France. As in the past, close coupling between theory and experiment will continue. The main effort of the proposed research will center on the development of computational models and analytic theories of intense laser pulse propagation and guiding structures. In particular, they will use their simulation code WAKE to study propagation in plasma channels, in dielectric capillaries and in gases where self focusing is important. At present this code simulates the two-dimensional propagation (radial coordinate, axial coordinate and time) of short pulses in gas/plasma media. The plasma is treated either as an ensemble of particles which respond to the ponderomotive force of the laser and the self consistent electric and magnetic fields created in the wake of pulse or as a fluid. the plasma particle motion …

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This report described the results of investigation on Task 10 of DOE/ASME Materials NGNP/Generation IV Project based on a contract between ASME Standards Technology, LLC (ASME ST-LLC) and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). Task 10 is to Update and Improve Subsection NH -- Alternative Simplified Creep-Fatigue Design Methods. Five newly proposed promising creep-fatigue evaluation methods were investigated. Those are (1) modified ductility exhaustion method, (2) strain range separation method, (3) approach for pressure vessel application, (4) hybrid method of time fraction and ductility exhaustion, and (5) simplified model test approach. The outlines of those methods are presented first, and predictability of experimental results of these methods is demonstrated using the creep-fatigue data collected in previous Tasks 3 and 5. All the methods (except the simplified model test approach which is not ready for application) predicted experimental results fairly accurately. On the other hand, predicted creep-fatigue life in long-term regions showed considerable differences among the methodologies. These differences come from the concepts each method is based on. All the new methods investigated in this report have advantages over the currently employed time fraction rule and offer technical insights that should be thought much of in the improvement of creep-fatigue evaluation procedures. …

The authors report a search for the decays B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}D{sub s}{sup +}, B{sup 0} {yields} D*{sub s}{sup -}D{sub s}{sup +} and B{sup 0} {yields} D*{sub s}{sup -}D*{sub s}{sup +} in a sample of 232 million {Upsilon}(4S) decays to B{bar B} pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring. They find no significant signal and set upper bounds for the branching fractions: {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}D{sub s}{sup +}) < 1.0 x 10{sup -4}, {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D*{sub s}{sup -} D{sub s}{sup +}) < 1.3 x 10{sup -4} and {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D*{sub s}{sup -} D*{sub s}{sup +}) < 2.4 x 10{sup -4} at 90% confidence level.

This document specifies the critical characteristics for containers procured for Plutonium Finishing Plant's (PFP's) Vault Operations system as required by HNF-PRO-268 and HNF-PRO-1819. These are the minimum specifications that the equipment must meet in order to perform its safety function.

The recent rise of ''computer-assisted'' and ''experimental'' mathematics raises intriguing questions as to the future role of computation in mathematics. These results also draw into question the traditional distinctions that have been drawn between formal proof and computationally-assisted proof. This article explores these questions in the context of the growing consensus among computer technologists that Moore's Law is likely to continue unabated for quite some time into the future, producing hardware and software much more powerful than what is available today.

Only two intrinsic approaches to increasing the density of energy stored in capacitors are known: (1) Increase the Dielectric Constant while maintaining the breakdown filed; and (2) Increase the breakdown field for a given dielectric constant material. The maximum energy density, E{sub 0} (Joules/cm{sup 3}) that can be stored in the dielectric of a capacitor is given by: E{sub 0} = 1/2 k {var_epsilon}{sub 0} V{sub b}{sup 2} (Joules/cm{sup 3} dielectric). Where k is the relative permittivity (dielectric constant), {var_epsilon}{sub 0} is the permittivity of free space (8.894 x 10{sup -14} F/cm) and V{sub b} the dielectric material breakdown field. In this project we have successfully developed capacitor structures using dielectric materials with 3 < k < 50 that exhibit high breakdown fields. The observed performance of these capacitors as characterized by the energy stored per unit volume of dielectric at V{sub b} are compared on the basis of the breakdown field in Figure 1.

Many particle accelerator applications can benefit from online pulse-by-pulse nonintercepting emittance measurement system. Recently, there has been much interest in performing such a measurement with a set of resonant quadrupole-mode cavities. This article explores a geometry to achieve an enhanced shunt impedance in such a cavity by adding a set of posts forming capacitive gaps near the beam pipe outer radius. For typical diagnostic cavity applications, a five-fold increase in shunt impedance can be obtained with this method. The effect of errors in cavity fabrication on the required mode structure are explored.

Reported herein are results from the Eril Research, Inc.(ERI) participationin the NASA Johnson Space Center sponsored studycharacterizing the radiation shielding properties of the two types ofspace suit that astronauts are wearing during the EVA on-orbit assemblyof the International Space Station (ISS). Measurements using passivedetectors were carried out to assess the shielding properties of the USEMU Suit and the Russian Orlan-M suit during irradiations of the suitsand a tissue equivalent phantom to monoenergetic proton and electronbeams at the Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). Duringirradiations of 6 MeV electrons and 60 MeV protons, absorbed dose as afunction of depth was measured using TLDs exposed behind swatches of thetwo suit materials and inside the two EVA helmets. Considerable reductionin electron dosewas measured behind all suit materials in exposures to 6MeV electrons. Slowing of the proton beam in the suit materials led to anincrease in dose measured in exposures to 60 MeV protons. During 232 MeVproton irradiations, measurements were made with TLDs and CR-39 PNTDs atfive organ locations inside a tissue equivalent phantom, exposed bothwith and without the two EVA suits. The EVA helmets produce a 13 to 27percent reduction in total dose and a 0 to 25 percent reduction in doseequivalent when …

The results from two surrogate reaction experiments using the STARS (Silicon Telescope Array for Reaction Studies) spectrometer are presented. The surrogate method involves measuring the particle and/or {gamma}-ray decay probabilities of excited nuclei populated via a direct reaction. These probabilities can then be used to deduce neutron-induced reaction cross sections that lead to the same compound nuclei. In the first experiment STARS coupled to the GAMMASPHERE {gamma}-ray spectrometer successfully reproduce surrogate (n,{gamma}), (n,n'{gamma}) and (n,2n{gamma}) cross sections on {sup 155,156}Gd using Gd {sup 3}He-induced reactions. In the second series of experiments an energetic deuteron beam from the ESTU tandem at the Wright Nuclear Structure Lab at Yale University was used to obtain the ratio of fission probabilities for {sup 238}U/ {sup 236}U and {sup 237}U/ {sup 239}U populated using the {sup 236,238}U(d,d'f) and {sup 236,238}U(d,pf) reactions. Results from these experiments are presented and the implications for the surrogate reaction technique are discussed.

UmuD{sub 2} cleaves and removes its N-terminal 24 amino acids to form UmuD'{sub 2}, which activates UmuC for its role in UV-induced mutagenesis in E. coli. Cells with a non-cleavable UmuD exhibit essentially no UV-induced mutagenesis and are hypersensitive to killing by UV light. UmuD has been shown to bind to the beta processivity clamp (''beta'') of the replicative DNA polymerase, pol III. A possible beta-binding motif has been predicted in the same region of UmuD shown to be important for its interaction with beta. We performed alanine-scanning mutagenesis of this motif (14-TFPLF-18) in UmuD and showed that it has a moderate influence on UV-induced mutagenesis but is required for the cold sensitive phenotype caused by elevated levels of wild-type UmuD and UmuC. Surprisingly, the wild-type and the beta-binding motif variant bind to beta with similar K{sub d} values as determined by changes in tryptophan fluorescence. However, this data also implies that the single tryptophan in beta is in strikingly different environments in the presence of the wild-type versus the variant UmuD proteins, suggesting a distinct change in some aspect of the interaction with little change in its strength. Despite the fact that this novel UmuD variant is noncleavable, we …

Indirectly driven double shell implosions are being investigated as a possible noncryogenic path to ignition on the National Ignition Facility. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has made several technological advances that have produced double shell targets that represent a significant improvement to previously fielded targets. The inner capsule is supported inside the ablator shell by SiO{sub 2} aerogel with a nominal density of 50 mg/cm{sup 3}. The aerogel is cast around the inner capsule and then machined concentric to it. The seamless sphere of aerogel containing the embedded capsule is then assembled between the two halves of the ablator shell. The concentricity between the two shells has been improved to less than 1.5 {micro}m. The ablator shell consists of two hemispherical shells that mate at a step joint that incorporates a gap with a nominal thickness of 0.1 {micro}m. Using a new flexure-based tool holder that precisely positions the diamond cutting tool on the diamond turning machine, step discontinuities on the inner surface of the ablator of less than 0.5 {micro}m have been achieved. New methods have been used to comprehensively characterize each of the targets using high-resolution x-ray imaging systems.

We analyze the scaling properties of inclusive hadron production in proton-proton and in heavy ion collisions from fixed target to collider energies. At large transverse momentum p{sub T}, the invariant cross section exhibits a power-like behavior Ed{sup 3}{sigma}/d{sup 3}p {proportional_to} p{sub T}{sup -n} at fixed transverse x, x{sub T} = 2|{bar p}{sub T}|/{radical}s, and fixed center-of-mass scattering angle {theta}{sub cm}. Knowledge of the exponent n allows one to draw conclusions about the production mechanisms of hadrons, which are poorly known, even at high p{sub T}. We find that high-p{sub T} hadrons are produced by different mechanisms at fixed-target and collider energies. For pions, higher-twist subprocesses where the pion is produced directly dominate at fixed target energy, while leading-twist partonic scattering plus fragmentation is the most important mechanism at collider energies. High-p{sub T} baryons on the other hand appear to be produced by higher-twist mechanisms at all available energies. The higher-twist mechanism of direct proton production can be verified experimentally by testing whether high p{sub T} protons are produced as single hadrons without accompanying secondaries. In addition, we find that medium-induced gluon radiation in heavy ion collisions can violate scaling.

The light-front quantization of gauge theories in light-cone gauge provides a frame-independent wavefunction representation of relativistic bound states, simple forms for current matrix elements, explicit unitarity, and a Fock space built on a trivial vacuum. The AdS/CFT correspondence has led to important insights into the properties of quantum chromodynamics even though QCD is a broken conformal theory. We have recently shown how a model based on a truncated AdS space can be used to obtain the hadronic spectrum of q{bar q}, qqq and gg bound states, as well as their respective light-front wavefunctions. Specific hadrons are identified by the correspondence of string modes with the dimension of the interpolating operator of the hadron's valence Fock state, including orbital angular momentum excitations. The predicted mass spectrum is linear M {proportional_to} L at high orbital angular momentum, in contrast to the quadratic dependence M{sup 2}/L found in the description of spinning strings. Since only one parameter, the QCD scale {Lambda}{sub QCD}, is introduced, the agreement with the pattern of physical states is remarkable. In particular, the ratio of {Delta} to nucleon trajectories is determined by the ratio of zeros of Bessel functions. As a specific application of QCD dynamics from AdS/CFT duality, …

This report discusses federal investment decisions on flood control infrastructure, such as levees, floodwalls, and dams. The report also analyzes flood risk as a composite of flood threat, consequence, and vulnerability. The report illustrates that federal policy focuses attention on only some aspects of flood risk and summarizes the options being discussed for addressing other aspects of flood risk in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

A matrix formalism is developed to describe the spin dynamics in a synchrotron near a single depolarization resonance as the particle energy (and therefore its spin precession frequency) is varied in a prescribed pattern as a function of time such as during acceleration. This formalism is first applied to the case of crossing the resonance with a constant crossing speed and a finite total step size, and then applied also to other more involved cases when the single resonance is crossed repeatedly in a prescribed manner consisting of linear ramping segments or sudden jumps. How repeated crossings produce an interference behavior is discussed using the results obtained. For a polarized beam with finite energy spread, a spin echo experiment is suggested to explore this interference effect.

Under the auspices of the research grant, the Intense Beam Theoretical Research Goup at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Plasma Science and Fusion Center made significant contributions in a number of important areas in the HIF and HEDP research, including: (a) Derivation of rms envelope equations and study of rms envelope dynamics for high-intensity heavy ion beams in a small-aperture AG focusing transport systems; (b) Identification of a new mechanism for chaotic particle motion, halo formation, and beam loss in high-intensity heavy ion beams in a small-aperture AG focusing systems; Development of elliptic beam theory; (d) Study of Physics Issues in the Neutralization Transport Experiment (NTX).

To relate in-vivo microscopic retinal changes to visual function assessed with clinical tests in patients with various forms of retinal dystrophies. The UC Davis Adaptive Optics (AO) Fundus Camera was used to acquire in-vivo retinal images at the cellular level. Visual function tests, consisting of visual field analysis, multifocal electroretinography (mfERG), contrast sensitivity and color vision measures, were performed on all subjects. Five patients with different forms of retinal dystrophies and three control subjects were recruited. Cone densities were quantified for all retinal images. In all images of diseased retinas, there were extensive areas of dark space between groups of photoreceptors, where no cone photoreceptors were evident. These irregular features were not seen in healthy retinas, but were characteristic features in fundi with retinal dystrophies. There was a correlation between functional vision loss and the extent to which the irregularities occurred in retinal images. Cone densities were found to decrease with an associated decrease in retinal function. AO fundus photography is a reliable technique for assessing and quantifying the changes in the photoreceptor layer as disease progresses. Furthermore, this technique can be useful in cases where visual function tests give borderline or ambiguous results, as it allows visualization of individual …

An international round robin study was conducted on the absorption measurement of laser-quality coatings. Sets of optically coated samples were made by a ''reactive DC magnetron'' sputtering and an ion beam sputtering deposition process. The sample set included a high reflector at 514 nm and a high reflector for the near infrared (1030 to 1318 nm), single layers of silicon dioxide, tantalum pentoxide, and hafnium dioxide. For calibration purposes, a sample metalized with hafnium and an uncoated, superpolished fused silica substrate were also included. The set was sent to laboratory groups for absorptance measurement of these coatings. Whenever possible, each group was to measure a common, central area and another area specifically assigned to the respective group. Specific test protocols were also suggested in regards to the laser exposure time, power density, and surface preparation.

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The Utility of Social Modeling for Proliferation Assessment project (PL09-UtilSocial) investigates the use of social and cultural information to improve nuclear proliferation assessments, including nonproliferation assessments, Proliferation Resistance (PR) assessments, safeguards assessments, and other related studies. These assessments often use and create technical information about a host State and its posture towards proliferation, the vulnerability of a nuclear energy system (NES) to an undesired event, and the effectiveness of safeguards. This objective of this project is to find and integrate social and technical information by explicitly considering the role of cultural, social, and behavioral factors relevant to proliferation; and to describe and demonstrate if and how social science modeling has utility in proliferation assessment. This report describes a modeling approach and how it might be used to support a location-specific assessment of the PR assessment of a particular NES. The report demonstrates the use of social modeling to enhance an existing assessment process that relies on primarily technical factors. This effort builds on a literature review and preliminary assessment performed as the first stage of the project and compiled in PNNL-18438. [ T his report describes an effort to answer questions about whether it is possible to incorporate social modeling …