Article on studies of the kinetics and thermochemistry of the forward and reverse reaction Cl + C₆H₆ = HCl + C₆H₅.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified 17 accidents that may have resulted from fuel tank explosions on commercial aircraft from 1959 to 2001. Seven events involved JP 4 or JP 4/Jet A mixtures that are no longer used for commercial aircraft fuel. The remaining 10 events involved Jet A or Jet A1 fuels that are in current use by the commercial aircraft industry. Four fuel tank explosions occurred in center wing tanks (CWTs) where on-board appliances can potentially transfer heat to the tank. These tanks are designated as ''Heated Center Wing Tanks'' (HCWT). Since 1996, the FAA has significantly increased the rate at which it has mandated airworthiness directives (ADs) directed at elimination of ignition sources. This effort includes the adoption, in 2001, of Special Federal Aviation Regulation 88 of 14 CFR part 21 (SFAR 88 ''Fuel Tank System Fault Tolerance Evaluation Requirements''). This paper addresses SFAR 88 effectiveness in reducing HCWT ignition source probability. Our statistical analysis, relating the occurrence of both on-ground and in-flight HCWT explosions to the cumulative flight hours of commercial passenger aircraft containing HCWT's reveals that the best estimate of HCWT explosion rate is 1 explosion in 1.4 x 10{sup 8} flight hours. Based on …

We present a three-dimensional, time-dependent simulation of a laboratory-scale rod-stabilized premixed turbulent V-flame. The simulations are performed using an adaptive time-dependent low Mach number model with detailed chemical kinetics and a mixture model for differential species diffusion. The algorithm is based on a second-order projection formulation and does not require an explicit subgrid model for turbulence or turbulence chemistry interaction. Adaptive mesh refinement is used to dynamically resolve the flame and turbulent structures. Here, we briefly discuss the numerical procedure and present detailed comparisons with experimental measurements showing that the computation is able to accurately capture the basic flame morphology and associated mean velocity field. Finally, we discuss key issues that arise in performing these types of simulations and the implications of these issues for using computation to form a bridge between turbulent flame experiments and basic combustion chemistry.

We present neutral hydrogen, ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared imaging, as well as optical spectroscopic observations of Minkowski's Object (MO), a star forming system at the end of a radio jet associated with NGC541 at the center of a cluster of galaxies, Abell 194. The observations strengthen the evidence, first presented in 1985, that MO is a small, peculiar galaxy in which the star formation has been triggered by the radio jet. Key new results are the discovery of a double H I cloud with a mass of 4.9 x 10{sup 8} M{sub {circle_dot}} straddling the radio jet downstream from MO at the location where the jet changes direction and decollimates; a strong detection of MO at near- and far-UV wavelengths and in H{alpha}, both of which also show a double structure; and what appear to be numerous H II regions and associated clusters in MO. The UV morphology of MO along the radio jet resembles the radio-aligned, rest-frame UV morphologies seen in many high redshift radio galaxies, which are also thought to be caused by jet-induced star formation. The UV, optical, and near-IR data show that the stellar population is dominated by a 7.5Myr-old instantaneous burst, with a total stellar …

The interaction of damage initiating defect precursors in KDP and DKDP crystals with laser pulses is investigated as a function of laser parameters to obtain experimental results that contain information about the type and nature of the defects. Specifically, the focus is to understand (a) the interaction of the precursors with sub-damage laser pulses leading to improvement to the damage performance (laser conditioning) and (b) the synergetic effects during multi-wavelength irradiation. Our results expose complex behaviors of the defect precursors associated with damage initiation and conditioning at different wavelengths that provide a major step towards revealing the underlying physics.

We present the design and testing of an algorithm for iterative refinement of the solution of linear equations, where the residual is computed with extra precision. This algorithm was originally proposed in the 1960s [6, 22] as a means to compute very accurate solutions to all but the most ill-conditioned linear systems of equations. However two obstacles have until now prevented its adoption in standard subroutine libraries like LAPACK: (1) There was no standard way to access the higher precision arithmetic needed to compute residuals, and (2) it was unclear how to compute a reliable error bound for the computed solution. The completion of the new BLAS Technical Forum Standard [5] has recently removed the first obstacle. To overcome the second obstacle, we show how a single application of iterative refinement can be used to compute an error bound in any norm at small cost, and use this to compute both an error bound in the usual infinity norm, and a componentwise relative error bound. We report extensive test results on over 6.2 million matrices of dimension 5, 10, 100, and 1000. As long as a normwise (resp. componentwise) condition number computed by the algorithm is less than 1/max{l_brace}10,{radical}n{r_brace} {var_epsilon}{sub …

We present a review of BaBar results on e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilations into exclusive hadronic final states using the initial state radiation technique. Cross sections over the {radical}s range from threshold to 4.5 GeV, with very small point-to-point systematic errors, are presented for the 3{pi}, 2({pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}), 3({pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}), 2({pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}) 2{pi}{sup 0}, K{sup +}K{sup -} {pi}{sup +}{sup -}, 2(K{sup +}K{sup -}) and p{bar p} final states. The proton form factor and the ratio of its electric and magnetic components are also presented.

Automated electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mapping systems have existed for more than 10 years [1,2], and due to their versatility in characterizing multiple aspects of microstructure, they have become an important tool in microscale crystallographic studies. Their increasingly widespread use however raises questions about their accuracy in both determining crystallographic orientations, as well as ensuring that the orientation information is spatially correct. The issue of orientation accuracy (as defined by angular resolution) has been addressed previously [3-5]. While the resolution of EBSD systems is typically quoted to be on the order of 1{sup o}, it has been shown that by increasing the pattern quality via acquisition parameter adjustment, the angular resolution can be improved to sub-degree levels. Ultimately, the resolution is dependent on how it is identified. In some cases it can be identified as the orientation relative to a known absolute, in others as the misorientation between nearest neighbor points in a scan. Naturally, the resulting values can be significantly different. Therefore, a consistent and universal definition of resolution that can be applied to characterize any EBSD system is necessary, and is the focus of the current study. In this work, a Phillips (FEI) XL-40 FEGSEM coupled to a …

The Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC (STAR) is a large acceptance collider detector, at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Most of the detailed knowledge on the STAR detector is implemented into a GEANT3 based simulation model. This knowledge certainly is valuable for the new STAR OO software. STAR ROOT-based framework was upgraded to provide tools to access this model via a set of TVolume classes. In this paper we present our experience with migration of the GEANT3 based detector simulation for STAR to an OO model.

The Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC (STAR) is a-large acceptance collider detector, commissioned at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1999. STAR has developed a software framework supporting simulation, reconstruction and analysis in offline production, interactive physics analysis and online monitoring environments that is well matched both to STAR's present status of transition between Fortran and C++ based software and to STAR's evolution to a fully OO software base. This paper presents the results of two years effort developing a modular C++ framework based on the ROOT package that encompasses both wrapped Fortran components (legacy simulation and reconstruction code) served by IDL-defined data structures, and fully OO components (all physics analysis code) served by a recently developed object model for event data. The framework supports chained components, which can themselves be composite subchains, with components (''makers'') managing ''data sets'' they have created and are responsible for. An St-DataSet class from which data sets and makers inherit allows the construction of hierarchical organizations of components and data, and centralizes almost all system tasks such as data set navigation, I/O, database access, and inter-component communication. This paper will present an overview of this system, now deployed and well exercised in production environments with real and …

Article on kinetics of the NH reaction with H2 and reassessment of HNO formation from NH + CO2, H2O.

We used synthetic aperture radar interferograms to image ground subsidence that occurred over the Dixie Valley geothermal field during different time intervals between 1992 and 1997. Linear elastic inversion of the subsidence that occurred between April, 1996 and March, 1997 revealed that the dominant sources of deformation during this time period were large changes in fluid volumes at shallow depths within the valley fill above the reservoir. The distributions of subsidence and subsurface volume change support a model in which reduction in pressure and volume of hot water discharging into the valley fill from localized upflow along the Stillwater range frontal fault is caused by drawdown within the upflow zone resulting from geothermal production. Our results also suggest that an additional source of fluid volume reduction in the shallow valley fill might be similar drawdown within piedmont fault zones. Shallow groundwater flow in the vicinity of the field appears to be controlled on the NW by a mapped fault and to the SW by a lineament of as yet unknown origin.

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The predicted superionic phase of water is investigated via ab initio molecular dynamics at densities of 2.0-3.0 g/cc (34-115 GPa) along the 2000K isotherm. They find that extremely rapid (superionic) diffusion of protons occurs in a fluid phase at pressures between 34 and 58 GPa. A transition to a stable body-centered cubic (bcc) O lattice with superionic proton conductivity is observed between 70 and 75 GPa, a much higher pressure than suggested in prior work. They find that all molecular species at pressures greater than 75 GPa are too short lived to be classified as bound states. Up to 95 GPa, they find a solid superionic phase characterization by covalent O-H bonding. Above 95 GPa, a transient network phase is found characterized by symmetric O-H hydrogen bonding with nearly 50% covalent character. In addition, they describe a new metastable superionic phase with quenched O disorder.

We propose a modified x-ray form factor that describes the scattering cross section in warm dense matter valid for both the plasma and the solid (crystalline) state. Our model accounts for the effect of lattice correlations on the electron-electron dynamic structure, as well as provides a smooth transition between the solid and the plasma scattering cross sections. In addition, we generalize the expression of the dynamic structure in the case of a two-temperature system (with different electron and ion temperatures). This work provides a unified description of the x-ray scattering processes in warm and dense matter, as the one encountered in inertial confinement fusion, laboratory astrophysics, material science, and high-energy density physics and it can be used to verify temperature relaxation mechanisms in such environments.

We describe some algorithms and tools that have been developed to generate composite overlapping grids on geometries that have been defined with computer aided design (CAD) programs. This process consists of five main steps. Starting from a description of the surfaces defining the computational domain we (1) correct errors in the CAD representation, (2) determine topology of the patched-surface, (3) build a global triangulation of the surface, (4) construct structured surface and volume grids using hyperbolic grid generation, and (5) generate the overlapping grid by determining the holes and the interpolation points. The overlapping grid generator which is used for the final step also supports the rapid generation of grids for block-structured adaptive mesh refinement and for moving grids. These algorithms have been implemented as part of the Overture object-oriented framework.

The low-lying eigenmodes of the Dirac operator associated with typical gauge field configurations in QCD encode, among other low-energy properties, the physics behind the solution to the U{sub A}(1) problem (i.e. the origin of the {eta}{prime} mass), the nature of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, and the physics of string-breaking, quark-antiquark pair production, and the OZI rule. Moreover, the space-time chiral structure of these eigenmodes reflects the space-time topological structure of the underlying gauge field. We present evidence from lattice QCD on the local chiral structure of low Dirac eigenmodes leading to the conclusion that topological charge fluctuations of the QCD vacuum are not instanton-dominated. The result supports Witten's arguments that topological charge is produced by confinement-related gauge fluctuations rather than instantons.

We investigate the geometry of four dimensional black hole solutions in the presence of stringy higher curvature corrections to the low energy effective action. For certain supersymmetric two charge black holes these corrections drastically alter the causal structure of the solution, converting seemingly pathological null singularities into timelike singularities hidden behind a finite area horizon. We establish, analytically and numerically, that the string-corrected two-charge black hole metric has the same Penrose diagram as the extremal four-charge black hole. The higher derivative terms lead to another dramatic effect -- the gravitational force exerted by a black hole on an inertial observer is no longer purely attractive! The magnitude of this effect is related to the size of the compactification manifold.

Over a decade ago, an in-tank precipitation process to remove Cs-137 from radioactive high level waste (HLW) supernates was demonstrated at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The full scale demonstration with actual HLW was performed in SRS Tank 48 (T48). Sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB) was added to enable Cs-137 extraction as CsTPB. The CsTPB, an organic, and its decomposition products proved to be problematic for subsequent processing of the Cs-137 precipitate in the SRS HLW vitrification facility for ultimate disposal in a HLW repository. Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) is being considered as a technology for destroying the organics and nitrates in the T48 waste to render it compatible with subsequent HLW vitrification. During FBSR processing the T48 waste is converted into organic-free and nitrate-free carbonate-based minerals which are water soluble. The soluble nature of the carbonate-based minerals allows them to be dissolved and pumped to the vitrification facility or returned to the tank farm for future vitrification. The initial use of the FBSR process for T48 waste was demonstrated with simulated waste in 2003 at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) using a specially designed sealed crucible test that reproduces the FBSR pyrolysis reactions, i.e. carbonate formation, organic and nitrate …

Akt1 is frequently upregulated in human tumors, and has been shown to accelerate cell proliferation and to suppress programmed cell death; consequently, inhibiting the activity of Akt1 has been seen as an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Paradoxically, hyperactivation of the Akt1 oncogene can also prevent the invasive behavior that underlies progression to metastasis. Here we show that overexpression of activated myr-Akt1 in human breast cancer cells phosphorylates and thereby targets the tumor suppressor tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2) for degradation, leading to reduced Rho-GTPase activity, decreased actin stress fibers and focal adhesions, and reduced motility and invasion. Overexpression of TSC2 rescues the migration phenotype of myr-Akt1-expressing tumor cells, and high levels of TSC2 in breast cancer patients correlate with increased metastasis and reduced survival. These data indicate that the functional properties of genes designated as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes depends on the context of the cell type and the tissues studied, and suggest the need for caution in designing therapies targeting the function of individual genes in epithelial tissues.

CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc. (CH2M HILL) is pleased to nominate the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) project for the Project Management Institute's consideration as 2007 Project of the Year, Built for the U.S, Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of River Protection (ORP) at the Hanford Site, the IDF is the site's first Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)-compliant disposal facility. The IDF is important to DOE's waste management strategy for the site. Effective management of the IDF project contributed to the project's success. The project was carefully managed to meet three Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) milestones. The completed facility fully satisfied the needs and expectations of the client, regulators and stakeholders. Ultimately, the project, initially estimated to require 48 months and $33.9 million to build, was completed four months ahead of schedule and $11.1 million under budget. DOE directed construction of the IDF to provide additional capacity for disposing of low-level radioactive and mixed (i.e., radioactive and hazardous) solid waste. The facility needed to comply with federal and Washington State environmental laws and meet TPA milestones. The facility had to accommodate over one million cubic yards of the waste material, including immobilized low-activity waste packages from the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), …

Since the U. S. Department of Energy published the DOE Beryllium Rule, 10 CFR 850, in 1999, DOE sites have been required to measure beryllium on air filters and wipes for worker protection and for release of materials from beryllium-controlled areas. Measurements in the nanogram range on a filter or wipe are typically required. Industrial hygiene laboratories have applied methods from various analytical compendia, and a number of issues have emerged with sampling and analysis practices. As a result, a committee of analytical chemists, industrial hygienists, and laboratory managers was formed in November 2003 to address the issues. The committee developed a baseline questionnaire and distributed it to DOE sites and other agencies in the U.S. and U.K. The results of the questionnaire are presented in this paper. These results confirmed that a wide variety of practices were in use in the areas of sampling, sample preparation, and analysis. Additionally, although these laboratories are generally accredited by the American Industrial Hygiene Association there are inconsistencies in performance among accredited labs. As a result, there are significant opportunities for development of standard methods that could improve consistency. The current availabilities and needs for standard methods are further discussed in a companion …

The final weeks of male germ cell differentiation occur in aDNA repair-deficient environment and normal development depends on theability of the egg to repair DNA damage in the fertilizing sperm. Geneticdisruption of maternal DNA double-strand break repair pathways in micesignificantly increased the frequency of zygotes with chromosomalstructural aberrations after paternal exposure to ionizing radiation.These findings demonstrate that radiation-induced DNA sperm lesions arerepaired after fertilization by maternal factors and suggest that geneticvariation in maternal DNA repair can modulate the risk of early pregnancylosses and of children with chromosomal aberrations of paternalorigin.

For ground-based adaptive optics point source imaging, differential atmospheric refraction and flexure introduce a small drift of the point spread function (PSF) with time, and seeing and sky transmission variations modify the PSF flux. These effects need to be corrected to properly combine the images and obtain optimal signal-to-noise ratios, accurate relative astrometry and photometry of detected companions as well as precise detection limits. Usually, one can easily correct for these effects by using the PSF core, but this is impossible when high dynamic range observing techniques are used, like coronagraphy with a non-transmissive occulting mask, or if the stellar PSF core is saturated. We present a new technique that can solve these issues by using off-axis satellite PSFs produced by a periodic amplitude or phase mask conjugated to a pupil plane. It will be shown that these satellite PSFs track precisely the PSF position, its Strehl ratio and its intensity and can thus be used to register and to flux normalize the PSF. This approach can be easily implemented in existing adaptive optics instruments and should be considered for future extreme adaptive optics coronagraph instruments and in high-contrast imaging space observatories.