Compositional data are represented as vector variables with individual vector components ranging between zero and a positive maximum value representing a constant sum constraint, usually unity (or 100 percent). The earth sciences are flooded with spatial distributions of compositional data, such as concentrations of major ion constituents in natural waters (e.g. mole, mass, or volume fractions), mineral percentages, ore grades, or proportions of mutually exclusive categories (e.g. a water-oil-rock system). While geostatistical techniques have become popular in earth science applications since the 1970s, very little attention has been paid to the unique mathematical properties of geostatistical formulations involving compositional variables. The book 'Geostatistical Analysis of Compositional Data' by Vera Pawlowsky-Glahn and Ricardo Olea (Oxford University Press, 2004), unlike any previous book on geostatistics, directly confronts the mathematical difficulties inherent to applying geostatistics to compositional variables. The book righteously justifies itself with prodigious referencing to previous work addressing nonsensical ranges of estimated values and error, spurious correlation, and singular cross-covariance matrices.

In the context of eternal inflation we discuss the fate of Lambda = 0 bubbles when they collide with Lambda< 0 crunching bubbles. When the Lambda = 0 bubble is supersymmetric, it is not completely destroyed by collisions. If the domain wall separating the bubbles has higher tension than the BPS bound, it is expelled from the Lambda = 0 bubble and does not alter its long time behavior. If the domain wall saturates the BPS bound, then it stays inside the Lambda = 0 bubble and removes a finite fraction of future infinity. In this case, the crunch singularity is hidden behind the horizon of a stable hyperbolic black hole.

Within a constrained carbon environment, the risks of future natural gas supply, and the need to move to market-based electricity prices, the study team found: (1) the deployment of new nuclear energy in Poland itself is very competitive in the next decade or two; (2) if such generation could be made available to Poland prior to deployment of its own nuclear generation facilities, Poland would benefit from partnering with its Baltic neighbors to import electricity derived from new nuclear generation facilities sited in Lithuania; and (3) Poland appears to be a good candidate for a partnership in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as an emerging nuclear energy country.

The evaporation rate of D{sub 2}O has been determined by Raman thermometry of a droplet train (12-15 {micro}m diameter) injected into vacuum ({approx}10{sup -5} torr). The cooling rate measured as a function of time in vacuum was fit to a model that accounts for temperature gradients between the surface and the core of the droplets, yielding an evaporation coefficient ({gamma}{sub e}) of 0.57 {+-} 0.06. This is nearly identical to that found for H{sub 2}O (0.62 {+-} 0.09) using the same experimental method and model, and indicates the existence of a kinetic barrier to evaporation. The application of a recently developed transition state theory (TST) model suggests that the kinetic barrier is due to librational and hindered translational motions at the liquid surface, and that the lack of an isotope effect is due to competing energetic and entropic factors. The implications of these results for cloud and aerosol particles in the atmosphere are discussed.

Within a constrained carbon environment, the risks of future natural gas supply, and the need to move to market-based electricity prices, the study team found: (1) the deployment of new nuclear energy in Poland itself is very competitive in the next decade or two; (2) if such generation could be made available to Poland prior to deployment of its own nuclear generation facilities, Poland would benefit from partnering with its Baltic neighbors to import electricity derived from new nuclear generation facilities sited in Lithuania; and (3) Poland appears to be a good candidate for a partnership in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as an emerging nuclear energy country.

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We investigate the climate forcing from and response to projected changes in short-lived species and methane under the A1B scenario from 2000-2050 in the GISS climate model. We present a meta-analysis of new simulations of the full evolution of gas and aerosol species and other existing experiments with variations of the same model. The comparison highlights the importance of several physical processes in determining radiative forcing, especially the effect of climate change on stratosphere-troposphere exchange, heterogeneous sulfate-nitrate-dust chemistry, and changes in methane oxidation and natural emissions. However, the impact of these fairly uncertain physical effects is substantially less than the difference between alternative emission scenarios for all short-lived species. The net global mean annual average direct radiative forcing from the short-lived species is .02 W/m{sup 2} or less in our projections, as substantial positive ozone forcing is largely offset by negative aerosol direct forcing. Since aerosol reductions also lead to a reduced indirect effect, the global mean surface temperature warms by {approx}0.07 C by 2030 and {approx}0.13 C by 2050, adding 19% and 17%, respectively, to the warming induced by long-lived greenhouse gases. Regional direct forcings are large, up to 3.8 W/m{sup 2}. The ensemble-mean climate response shows little regional …

The objective of this project is forewarning of machine failures in critical equipment at next-generation nuclear power plants (NPP). Test data were provided by two collaborating institutions: Duke Engineering and Services (first project year), and the Pennsylvania State University (Applied Research Laboratory) during the second and third project years. New nonlinear methods were developed and applied successfully to extract forewarning trends from process-indicative, time-serial data for timely, condition-based maintenance. Anticipation of failures in critical equipment at next-generation NPP will improve the scheduling of maintenance activities to minimize safety concerns, unscheduled non-productive downtime, and collateral damage due to unexpected failures. This approach provides significant economic benefit, and is expected to improve public acceptance of nuclear power. The approach is a multi-tiered, model-independent, and data-driven analysis that uses ORNL's novel nonlinear method to extract forewarning of machine failures from appropriate data. The first tier of the analysis provides a robust choice for the process-indicative data. The second tier rejects data of inadequate quality. The third tier removes signal artifacts that would otherwise confound the analysis, while retaining the relevant nonlinear dynamics. The fourth tier converts the artifact-filtered time-serial data into a geometric representation, that is then transformed to a discrete distribution function …

This paper examines the relationship between system frequency, reliability and markets. It was prompted by the frequency deviations recently experienced at 2200 hours daily but is more generally concerned with the question of what frequency control is necessary. The paper does not provide new information or document new research. Nor is it intended to educate readers concerning power system engineering. Instead, the purpose is to reexamine well known truths concerning the power system and to freshly explore the basic relationship between frequency, reliability and markets: stepping back, if you will, to see if we are collectively missing something. The concern of this paper is with frequency and reliability. Off-nominal frequency can impact reliability and markets efficiency (as we are using the term here) in four ways. It could damage equipment (generation, transmission, or load). It could degrade the quality of the product being delivered to end users (too low and lights would flicker unacceptably, for example). It could result in the collapse of the power system itself (by triggering protective system actions, for example). Or it could result in overloading transmission lines as various generators try to restore system frequency impacting markets efficiency. Often these causes operate in concert. Generator …

Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) located in Albuquerque New Mexico is a community college that serves American Indians and Alaska Natives. SIPI’s student body represents over 100 Native American Tribes. SIPI completed a renewable energy feasibility study program and established renewable energy hardware on the SIPI campus, which supplements and creates an educational resource to teach renewable energy courses. The SIPI campus is located, and has as student origins, areas, in which power is an issue in remote reservations. The following hardware was installed and integrated into the campus facilities: small wind turbine, large photovoltaic array that is grid-connected, two photovoltaic arrays, one thin film type, and one polycrystalline type, one dual-axis active tracker and one passive tracker, a hot air system for heating a small building, a portable hybrid photovoltaic system for remote power, and a hot water system to preheat water used in the SIPI Child Care facility. Educational curriculum has been developed for two renewable energy courses one being the study of energy production and use, and especially the roles renewable energy forms like solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and biomass plays, and the second course being a more advanced in-depth study of renewable energy system design, maintenance, …

Direct laser heating of molecular N2 to above 1400 K at 120-130 GPa results in the formation of a reddish amorphous phase and a transparent crystalline solid above 2000 K. Raman and x-ray data confirm that the transparent phase is cubic-gauche nitrogen (cg-N), while the reddish color of the amorphous phase might indicate the presence of N=N dish bonds. The quenched amorphous phase is stable down to at least 70GPa, analogous to cg-N, and could be a new non-molecular phase or an extension of the already known {eta}-phase. A chemo-physical phase diagram is presented which emphasizes the difference between pressure- and temperature-induced transitions from molecular to non-molecular solids, as found in other low Z systems.

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We study the energy dependence of the transverse momentum (pT) spectra for charged pions, protons and anti-protons for Au+Au collisions at sqrt sNN = 62.4 and 200 GeV. Data are presented at mid-rapidity (lbar y rbar< 0.5) for 0.2< pT< 12 GeV/c. In the intermediate pT region (2< pT< 6 GeV/c), the nuclear modification factor is higher at 62.4 GeV than at 200 GeV, while at higher pT (pT> 7 GeV/c) the modification is similar for both energies. The p/pi+ and pbar/pi- ratios for central collisions at sqrt sNN = 62.4 GeV peak at pT _~;; 2 GeV/c. In the pT range where recombination is expected to dominate, the p/pi+ ratios at 62.4 GeV are larger than at 200 GeV, while the pbar/pi- ratios are smaller. For pT> 2 GeV/c, the pbar/pi- ratios at the two beam energies are independent of pT and centrality indicating that the dependence of the pbar/pi- ratio on pT does not change between 62.4 and 200 GeV. These findings challenge various models incorporating jet quenching and/or constituent quark coalescence.

We develop a new ab initio many-body approach capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states in light nuclei, by combining the resonating-group method with the use of realistic interactions, and a microscopic and consistent description of the nucleon clusters. This approach preserves translational symmetry and Pauli principle. We present phase shifts for neutron scattering on {sup 3}H, {sup 4}He and {sup 10}Be and proton scattering on {sup 3,4}He, using realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials. Our A = 4 scattering results are compared to earlier ab initio calculations. We demonstrate that a proper treatment of the coupling to the n-{sup 10}Be continuum is essential to explain the parity-inverted ground state in {sup 11}Be.

In September 2005, the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) initiated periodic sampling of groundwater in the vicinity of a grain storage facility formerly operated by the CCC/USDA at Morrill, Kansas. On the basis of available information, the CCC/USDA believes that one or more third parties operated this facility after termination of the CCC/USDA's lease in 1971. The sampling at Morrill is being performed on behalf of the CCC/USDA by Argonne National Laboratory, in accord with a monitoring program approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), to monitor levels of carbon tetrachloride contamination identified in the groundwater at this site (Argonne 2004, 2005a). Under the KDHE-approved monitoring plan (Argonne 2005b), the groundwater has been sampled twice yearly for a recommended period of two years. The samples are analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as for selected geochemical parameters to aid in the evaluation of possible natural contaminant degradation (reductive dechlorination) processes in the subsurface environment. The sampling is presently conducted in a network of 12 monitoring wells and 3 private wells (Figure 1.1), at locations approved by the KDHE. The scope of the originally approved monitoring has been expanded to include …

In contrast to failure approaches at the lamina level or the micromechanics level the present work concerns failure characterization at the laminate level. Specifically, attention is given to the ultimate failure characterization for quasi-isotropic laminates. This is in further contrast to the commonly used approaches for initial damage or progressive damage. It is shown that the analytical failure forms decompose into two modes, one for out of plane, delamination type failure and one for in plane, fiber controlled type failure. The work here is mainly given over to the delamination mode of failure. Experimental results are presented for laminates in this mode of failure. These results are then integrated with the analytical forms to give a simple criterion for delamination failure.

As Kraft pulp mills move toward minimum impact manufacturing, one of the most difficult challenges is the development of strategies for dealing effectively with buildup, carryover, and recovery of cationic and anionic non-process elements (NPEs). Even at low concentrations, NPEs present a serious concern due to scaling and other reactions caused by Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu, phosphates, silicates, and aluminates. The drivers behind NPE removal include environmental regulatory issues (e.g., Mn), scale formation, reduced bleaching efficiency, and corrosion. Before closure can be achieved in the bleach cycle, methods must be developed for efficient and cost-effective removal of NPEs from bleach filtrate streams. To be commercially viable, a highly selective, high-capacity, and regenerable media must be developed. In addition, limited prefiltration and high resistance to attrition of exchange material will significantly reduce costs, which is key to widespread commercial application. This project accurately determined the chemical composition of a Weyerhauser bleach plant effluent in the Eop, D0, and D1 stages. Due to environmental regulatory concerns, Mn was the principal target of this study. Mn was found to be present in these samples in the range of 0.16 to 3.97 ppm. The Mn was found to be in the divalent oxidation …

The usual approach to deal with noise present in many real-world optimization problems is to take an arbitrary number of samples of the objective function and use the sample average as an estimate of the true objective value. The number of samples is typically chosen arbitrarily and remains constant for the entire optimization process. This paper studies an adaptive sampling technique that varies the number of samples based on the uncertainty of deciding between two individuals. Experiments demonstrate the effect of adaptive sampling on the final solution quality reached by a genetic algorithm and the computational cost required to find the solution. The results suggest that the adaptive technique can effectively eliminate the need to set the sample size a priori, but in many cases it requires high computational costs.

QR and LU factorizations for dense matrices are important linear algebra computations that are widely used in scientific applications. To efficiently perform these computations on modern computers, the factorization algorithms need to be blocked when operating on large matrices to effectively exploit the deep cache hierarchy prevalent in today's computer memory systems. Because both QR (based on Householder transformations) and LU factorization algorithms contain complex loop structures, few compilers can fully automate the blocking of these algorithms. Though linear algebra libraries such as LAPACK provides manually blocked implementations of these algorithms, by automatically generating blocked versions of the computations, more benefit can be gained such as automatic adaptation of different blocking strategies. This paper demonstrates how to apply an aggressive loop transformation technique, dependence hoisting, to produce efficient blockings for both QR and LU with partial pivoting. We present different blocking strategies that can be generated by our optimizer and compare the performance of auto-blocked versions with manually tuned versions in LAPACK, both using reference BLAS, ATLAS BLAS and native BLAS specially tuned for the underlying machine architectures.

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Nestled in a valley between the whitecaps of the Pacific and the snowcapped crests of the Sierra Nevada, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is home to the nearly complete National Ignition Facility (NIF). The purpose of NIF is to create a miniature star-on demand. An enormous amount of laser light energy (1.8 MJ in a pulse that is 20 ns in duration) will be focused into a small gold cylinder approximately the size of a pencil eraser. Centered in the gold cylinder (or hohlraum) will be a nearly perfect sphere filled with a complex mixture of hydrogen gas isotopes that is similar to the atmosphere of our Sun. During experiments, the laser light will hit the inside of the gold cylinder, heating the metal until it emits X-rays (similar to how your electric stove coil emits visible red light when heated). The X-rays will be used to compress the hydrogen-like gas with such pressure that the gas atoms will combine or 'fuse' together, producing the next heavier element (helium) and releasing energy in the form of energetic particles. 2010 will mark the first credible attempt at this world-changing event: the achievement of fusion energy 'break-even' on Earth using NIF, the …

The Image Content Engine (ICE) is being developed to provide cueing assistance to human image analysts faced with increasingly large and intractable amounts of image data. The ICE architecture includes user configurable feature extraction pipelines which produce intermediate feature vector and match surface files which can then be accessed by interactive relational queries. Application of the feature extraction algorithms to large collections of images may be extremely time consuming and is launched as a batch job on a Linux cluster. The query interface accesses only the intermediate files and returns candidate hits nearly instantaneously. Queries may be posed for individual objects or collections. The query interface prompts the user for feedback, and applies relevance feedback algorithms to revise the feature vector weighting and focus on relevant search results. Examples of feature extraction and both model-based and search-by-example queries are presented.

The feasibility to coat large SNF/HLW containers with a structurally amorphous material (SAM) was demonstrated on sub-scale models fabricated from Type 316L stainless steel. The sub-scale model were coated with SAM 1651 material using kerosene high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) torch to thicknesses ranging from 1 mm to 2 mm. The process parameters such as standoff distance, oxygen flow, and kerosene flow, were optimized in order to improve the corrosion properties of the coatings. Testing in an electrochemical cell and long-term exposure to a salt spray environment were used to guide the selection of process parameters.

The Fortran 90 RIAPMTQ/IMPACT code package is a pair of linked beam-dynamics simulation codes that have been developed for end-to-end computer simulations of multiple-charge-state heavy-ion linacs for future exotic-beam facilities. These codes have multiple charge-state capability, and include space-charge forces. The simulations can extend from the low-energy beam-transport line after an ECR ion source to the end of the linac. The work has been performed by a collaboration including LANL, LBNL, ANL, and MSU. The code RIAPMTQ simulates the linac front-end beam dynamics including the LEBT, RFQ, and MEBT. The code IMPACT simulates the beam dynamics of the main superconducting linac. The codes have been benchmarked for rms beam properties against previously existing codes at ANL and MSU. The codes allow high-statistics runs on parallel supercomputing platforms, particularly at NERSC at LBNL, for studies of beam losses. The codes also run on desktop PC computers for low-statistics work. The code package is described in more detail in a recent publication [1] in the Proceedings of PAC07 (2007 US Particle Accelerator Conference). In this report we describe the main activities for the FY07 beam-loss studies project using this code package.