Studies indicated that the use of soluble poisons as a primary criticality control offers economic and other advantages in that it permits the factors of vessel size and shape and solution concentrations to be dictated by considerations other than those of criticality. It is believed that soluble poison criticality control can be made as reliable as other methods of coaditional control if the application is preceded by adequate development work and is monitored by multiple. independent safeguards. The studies included multigroup machine calculations of the required content of poisons in solutions of fissile and fertile material, a compilation of data on the detection, stability, decontamination, and costs of soluble poisons, and an assessment of the possible effects of a nuclear excursion. (auth)

The purpose of this audit was to determine whether the Department of Energy's (Department) management of its contract with Ross Aviation, Inc. (Ross) provided reasonable assurance that the inventory of aircraft major spare parts at Ross was economical and efficient. The audit disclosed that approximately $447,000 (acquisition and interest carrying costs) of low-use major spare parts was excessive. Internal control deficiencies which fostered the excessive inventory included: (1) Ross had set stock levels without considering such factors as consumption or projected needs; and (2) the Department had not reviewed inventory quantities when appraising Ross' property management. The Albuquerque Operations Office (AL) agreed to take the corrective actions recommended in the report.

This memorandum discusses five key issues that initial interviews have brought into focus: The preoccupation of the public with nuclear waste disposal, the credibility of public opinion polls addressing nuclear power, the unlikelihood of dramatic change in opinion by nuclear critics, difficulties in communicating technical concepts, and the problem of focussing narrowly or broadly on policy issues.

The objective of the project is to demonstrate the efficiency and economics of recovering tertiary oil from a highly heterogenous reservoir (which has been successfully waterflooded, but is nearing the economic limit) by injecting a polymer slug of tapered concentrations to improve the sweep efficiency of the reservoir. In preparation for the injection of polymer, a major review of the mechanical condition of all producing and injection wells prompted a number of remedial workovers. As a preventive measure, all injection wells were equipped with plastic coated tubing, and packers were set approximately 100 ft above the Burbank sand to prevent the possibility of subsequent casing leaks thieving off injected polymer. Where necessary, producing wells were worked over to insure maximum producing capability. The remedial work was done at the start of the project to insure that any production increase resulting from the remedial work was recognized prior to the start of polymer injection. The necessary surface facility changes were made to allow the injection of fresh water only and to provide for the disposal of 35,000 BPD of produced water. Polymer storage and blending facilities were constructed in such a manner as to allow control of the mixing process with …

As scintillating plate calorimetry is a viable option for the SDC detector, it is imperative that the phase space of passive and active materials be explored in a systematic fashion. To this end, we have examined several different configurations of passive and active materials as a function of incident energy, to see what the resolution and e/h characteristics are of each of these configurations. These studies have been carried out using the CALOR89 Monte Carlo simulation package. 3 figs., 5 tabs.

Adaptive optics (AO) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are powerful imaging modalities that, when combined, can provide high-volumetric-resolution, images of the retina. The AO-OCT system at UC Davis has been under development for 2 years and has demonstrated the utility of this technology for microscopic, volumetric, in vivo retinal imaging [1]. The current system uses an AOptix bimorph deformable mirror (DM) for low-order, high-stroke correction [2] and a 140-actuator Boston Micromachines DM for high-order correction [3]. We are beginning to investigate the potential for increasing the image contrast in this system using higher-order wavefront correction. The first step in this analysis is to quantify the residual wavefront error (WFE) in the current system. Developing an error budget is a common tool for improved performance and system design in astronomical AO systems [4, 5]. The process for vision science systems is also discussed in several texts e.g. [6], but results from this type of analysis have rarely been included in journal articles on AO for vision science. Careful characterization of the AO system will lead to improved performance and inform the design of a future high-contrast system. In general, an AO system error budget must include an analysis of three categories …

Although blast mitigation is most often achieved with solid shielding, ambient gas pressure can also affect the coupling of shock waves to solid targets. In this work the role of air as an energy transfer medium was examined experimentally by subjecting identical large-area rectangular witness plates to short-range blast effects in air and vacuum ({approx}50 mtorr) at 25 C. The expanding reactant front of 3 kg C4 charges was observed by fast camera to be cylindrically symmetric in both air and vacuum. The horizontal component of the reactant cloud velocity (perpendicular to the witness plates) was constant in both cases, with values of 3.0 and 5.9 km/s for air and vacuum, respectively. As a result of the blast, witness plates were plastically deformed into a shallow dish geometry, with local maxima 30 and 20 mm deep for air and vacuum, respectively. The average plate deflection from the air blast was 11 mm, {approx}10% deeper than the average vacuum plate deflection. Shock pressure estimates were made with a simple impedance-matching model, and indicate peak values in the 30-50 MPa range are consistent with the reactant cloud density and velocity. However, more detailed analysis is necessary to definitely establish the mechanisms by …

Thomson scattering in argon gas successfully probed the region of plasma just behind the shock front. The instantaneous shock velocity can be inferred from the duration of the signal, taking into account the size and shape of the scattering volume. Possible misalignment of the probe beam and spectrometer slits greatly affects the size and shape of the scattering volume, and therefore affects the calculation of the instantaneous shock velocity.

Most physics analysis jobs involve multiple selection steps on the input data. These selection steps are called ''cuts'' or ''queries''. A common strategy to implement these queries is to read all input data from files and then process the queries in memory. In many applications the number of variables used to define these queries is a relative small portion of the overall data set therefore reading all variables into memory takes unnecessarily long time. In this paper we describe an integration effort that can significantly reduce this unnecessary reading by using an efficient compressed bitmap index technology. The primary advantage of this index is that it can process arbitrary combinations of queries very efficiently, while most other indexing technologies suffer from the ''curse of dimensionality'' as the number of queries increases. By integrating this index technology with the ROOT analysis framework, the end-users can benefit from the added efficiency without having to modify their analysis programs. Our performance results show that for multi-dimensional queries, bitmap indices outperform the traditional analysis method up to a factor of 10.

We have found a deep-mixing process which occurs during First Giant Branch (FGB) evolution. It begins at the point in evolution where the surface convection zone (SCZ), having previously grown in size, starts to shrink, and it is driven by a local minimum that develops in the mean molecular weight as a result of the burning of {sup 3}He. This mixing can solve two important observational problems. One is why the interstellar medium (ISM) has not been considerably enriched in {sup 3}He since the Big Bang. The other is why products of nucleosynthesis such as {sup 13}C are progressively enriched on the upper FGB, when classical stellar modeling says that no further enrichment should take beyond the First Dredge-Up (FDU) episode, somewhat below the middle of the FGB.

We present a novel linear scaling ab initio total energyelectronic structure calculation method, which is simple to implement,easily to parallelize, and produces essentially thesame results as thedirect ab initio method, while it could be thousands of times faster.Using this method, we have studied the dipole moments of CdSe quantumdots, and found both significant bulk and surface contributions. The bulkdipole contribution cannot simply be estimated from the bulk spontaneouspolarization value by a proportional volume factor. Instead it has ageometry dependent screening effect. The dipole moment also produces astrong internal electric field which induces a strong electron holeseparation.

Acetals are among the most commonly used protecting groups for aldehydes and ketones in organic synthesis due to their ease of installation and resistance to cleavage in neutral or basic solution.[1] The common methods for hydrolyzing acetals almost always involve the use of either Broensted acid or Lewis acid catalysts.[2] Usually aqueous acids or organic solutions acidified with organic or inorganic acids have been used for reconversion of the acetal functionality to the corresponding carbonyl group; however, recently a number of reports have documented a variety of strategies for acetal cleavage under mild conditions. These include the use of Lewis acids such as bismuth(III)[3] or cerium(IV),[4, 5] functionalized silica gel, such as silica sulfuric acid[6] or silica-supported pyridinium p-toluene sulfonate,[7] or the use of silicon-based reagents such as TESOTf-2,6-Lutidine.[8] Despite these mild reagents, all of the above conditions require either added acid or overall acidic media. Marko and co-workers recently reported the first example of acetal deprotection under mildly basic conditions using catalytic cerium ammonium nitrate at pH 8 in a water-acetonitrile solution.[5] Also recently, Rao and co-workers described a purely aqueous system at neutral pH for the deprotection of acetals using {beta}-cyclodextrin as the catalyst.[9] Herein, we report the …

A high-throughput multiplexed assay was developed for the differential laboratory diagnosis of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) from viruses which cause clinically similar diseases of livestock. This assay simultaneously screens for five RNA and two DNA viruses using multiplexed reverse transcription PCR (mRT-PCR) amplification coupled with a microsphere hybridization array and flow-cytometric detection. Two of the seventeen primer-probe sets included in this multiplex assay were adopted from previously characterized real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) assays for FMDV. The diagnostic accuracy of the mRT-PCR was evaluated using 287 field samples, including 248 (true positive n= 213, true negative n=34) from suspect cases of foot-and-mouth disease collected from 65 countries between 1965 and 2006 and 39 true negative samples collected from healthy animals. The mRT-PCR assay results were compared with two singleplex rRT-PCR assays, using virus isolation with antigen-ELISA as the reference method. The diagnostic sensitivity of the mRT-PCR assay for FMDV was 93.9% [95% C.I. 89.8-96.4%], compared to 98.1% [95% C.I. 95.3-99.3%] for the two singleplex rRT-PCR assays used in combination. In addition, the assay could reliably differentiate between FMDV and other vesicular viruses such as swine vesicular disease virus and vesicular exanthema of swine virus. Interestingly, the mRT-PCR detected parapoxvirus (n=2) and bovine …

The NIF Power Conditioning System provides the pulsed excitation required to drive flashlamps in the laser's optical amplifiers. Modular in design, each of the 192 Main Energy Storage Modules (MESMs) storage up to 2.2 MJ of electrical energy in its capacitor bank before delivering the energy to 20 pairs of flashlamps in a 400 {micro}s pulse (10% power points). The peak current of each MESM discharge is 0.5 MA. Production, installation, commissioning and operation of the NIF Power Conditioning continue to progress rapidly, with the goals of completing accelerated production in late 2007 and finishing commissioning by early 2008, all the while maintaining an aggressive operations schedule. To date, more than 80% of the required modules have been assembled, shipped and installed in the facility, representing more that 240 MJ of stored energy available for driving NIF flashlamps. The MESMs have displayed outstanding reliability during daily, multiple-shift operations.

We have measured the X-ray absorption (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Mn L{sub 3,2} edges in ferromagnetic Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}P films for 0.018 {le} x {le} 0.042. Large XMCD asymmetries at the L{sub 3} edge indicate significant spin-polarization of the density of states at the Fermi energy. The spectral shapes of the XAS and XMCD are nearly identical with those for Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}As indicating that the hybridization of Mn d states and anion p states is similar in the two materials. Finally, compensation with sulfur donors not only lowers the ferromagnetic Curie temperature but also reduces the spin polarization of the hole states.

Measurements made in a laser heated diamond-anvil cell are reported that extend the melting curve of Xe to 80 GPa and 3350 K. The steep lowering of the melting slope (dT/dP) that occurs near 17 GPa and 2750 K results from the hybridization of the p-like valence and d-like conduction states with the formation of clusters in the liquid having Icosahedral Short-Range Order (ISRO).

The subject of radiation detection is replete with complex concepts and challenging nomenclature. Furthermore, a daunting variety of radioactive isotopes may be encountered during the routine operation of a radiation detector. Individuals tasked with searching for illicit sources of radiation must remain vigilant while navigating through more frequently encountered mundane and legitimate radioactive sources. The Flash Isotope Library and Training Resource (FILTR) is being developed as an easily accessible and intuitive reference tool to manage the high volume of complex information required for this task. FILTR is an extended version of the Primary Utility for Nuclear Terminology (PUNT) software developed by the Counter Measures Test Beds group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the United States Secret Service. Authored in the Flash multimedia development environment, FILTR contains detailed information on potentially encountered isotopes as well as training on radiation and operational procedures. Reference material is organized to present critical information quickly while facilitating more in-depth investigation through an intuitive interface and engaging content. FILTR is being developed for a diverse audience of law enforcement organizations and government agencies and a wide range of skill sets from expert analysts to officers whose primary role is not radiation detection. Additionally, the wide …

Datasets used in scientific and engineering applications are often modeled as dense multi-dimensional arrays. For very large datasets, the corresponding array models are typically stored out-of-core as array files. The array elements are mapped onto linear consecutive locations that correspond to the linear ordering of the multi-dimensional indices. Two conventional mappings used are the row-major order and the column-major order of multi-dimensional arrays. Such conventional mappings of dense array files highly limit the performance of applications and the extendibility of the dataset. Firstly, an array file that is organized in say row-major order causes applications that subsequently access the data in column-major order, to have abysmal performance. Secondly, any subsequent expansion of the array file is limited to only one dimension. Expansions of such out-of-core conventional arrays along arbitrary dimensions, require storage reorganization that can be very expensive. Wepresent a solution for storing out-of-core dense extendible arrays that resolve the two limitations. The method uses a mapping function F*(), together with information maintained in axial vectors, to compute the linear address of an extendible array element when passed its k-dimensional index. We also give the inverse function, F-1*() for deriving the k-dimensional index when given the linear address. We show …

We present detailed atomic physics models for motional Stark effects (MSE) diagnostic on magnetic fusion devices. Excitation and ionization cross sections of the hydrogen or deuterium beam traveling in a magnetic field in collisions with electrons, ions, and neutral gas are calculated in the first Born approximation. The density matrices and polarization states of individual Stark-Zeeman components of the Balmer {alpha} line are obtained for both beam into plasma and beam into gas models. A detailed comparison of the model calculations and the MSE polarimetry and spectral intensity measurements obtained at the DIII-D tokamak is carried out. Although our beam into gas models provide a qualitative explanation for the larger {pi}/{sigma} intensity ratios and represent significant improvements over the statistical population models, empirical adjustment factors ranging from 1.0-2.0 must still be applied to individual line intensities to bring the calculations into full agreement with the observations. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that beam into gas measurements can be used successfully as calibration procedures for measuring the magnetic pitch angle through {pi}/{sigma} intensity ratios. The analyses of the filter-scan polarization spectra from the DIII-D MSE polarimetry system indicate unknown channel and time dependent light contaminations in the beam into gas measurements. Such contaminations …

The organizing philosophy and components of a target diagnostics data acquisition system designed and implemented at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL) Shiva Laser Fusion Facility are described. Several features of the system are unique: a central trigger distribution system, fiber optic communications, and fiber optics for the timing, trigger, and control and monitoring links. The system also uses CAMAC instrumentation, transient digitizers, oscilloscopes, and LLL-designed modules and packages, as well as single-point grounding of each diagnostic installation. Distributed instrumentation packages provide instrumentation flexibility and analog-to-digital conversion as close to each diagnostic sensor as practical.

In this document we present the results of our analysis of data from 16 three-component seismometers and 8 dynamite explosions around the Medicine Lake volcano's Glass Mountain in northern California. The Medicine Lake volcano is located just northeast of the southeastward-trending Cascade Range of shield and small composite volcanoes. 2 refs., 6 figs.

In our recent experiments on the TMX-U thermal-barrier device, we achieved the end plugging of axial ion losses up to a central cell density of n/sub c/ = 6 x 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/. During lower density experiments, we measured the axial potential profile characteristic of a thermal barrier and found an ion-confining potential greater than 1.5 kV and a potential depression of 0.45 kV in the barrier region. The average beta of hot end plug electrons has reached 15% and of hot central cell ions has reached 6%. In addition, we heated deuterium ions in the central cell with ICRF to an average perpendicular energy of 2 keV. During strong end plugging at low density (7 x 10/sup 11/ cm/sup -3/), the axial ion confinement time tau/sub parallel/ reached 50 to 100 ms while the nonambipolar radial ion confinement time tau/sub perpendicular/ was 14 ms - independent of end plugging. Electrically floating end walls increased the radial ion confinement time by a factor of 1.8. At higher densities and lower potentials, tau/sub parallel/ was 6 to 12 ms and tau/sub perpendicular/ exceeded 100 ms.

In our recent experiments on the TMX-U thermal-barrier device, we achieved the end plugging of axial ion losses up to a central cell density of n/sub c/ = 6 x 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/. During lower density experiments, we measured the axial potential profile characteristic of a thermal barrier and found an ion-confining potential greater than 1.5 kV and a potential depression of 0.45 kV in the barrier region. The average beta of hot end plug electrons has reached 15% and of hot central cell ions has reached 6%. In addition, we heated deuterium ions in the central cell with ICRF to an average perpendicular energy of 2 keV. During strong end plugging at low density (7 x 10/sup 11/ cm/sup -3/), the axial ion confinement time tau/sub parallel to/ reached 50 to 100 ms while the nonambiopolar radial ion confinement time tau/sub perpendicular to/ was 14 ms - independent of end plugging. Electrically floating end walls doubled the radial ion confinement time. At higher densities and lower potentials, tau/sub parallel to/ was 6 to 12 ms and tau/sub perpendicular to/ exceeded 100 ms.

The procedure was designed for the simple, rapid determination of the Fe(II)/Fe(III) ratio in glass samples. The procedure consists of the following steps: dissolution of the pulverized glass sample in a sulfuric-hydrofluoric acid mixture, containing ammonium vanadate, which preserves the Fe(II) content; addition of boric acid to destroy iron-fluoride complexes, making the iron available for color formation with Ferrozine; addition of pH 5 buffer and Ferrozine reagent to form the magenta-colored ferrous-Ferrozine complex, with measurement of the absorbance for the determination of Fe(II) content; and, addition of ascorbic acid to reduce Fe(III) to Fe(II), with a second absorbance measurement that determines total Fe. Directions for the preparation of glass from non-radioactive sludge samples are provided. The analysis of this prepared glass for the Fe(II)/Fe(III) ratio is an indication of the ratio that would be in a plant batch of glass if made from this sludge.