In order to make accurate measurements of dark energy, a system is needed to monitor the focus and alignment of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to be located on the Blanco 4m Telescope for the upcoming Dark Energy Survey. One new approach under development is to fit out-of-focus star images to a point spread function from which information about the focus and tilt of the camera can be obtained. As a first test of a new algorithm using this idea, simulated star images produced from a model of DECam in the optics software Zemax were fitted. Then, real images from the Mosaic II imager currently installed on the Blanco telescope were used to investigate the algorithm's capabilities. A number of problems with the algorithm were found, and more work is needed to understand its limitations and improve its capabilities so it can reliably predict camera alignment and focus.

This report details legislation and policies that restrict or place requirements on U.S. funding of abortion or family planning activities abroad. The level and extent of federal funding for these activities is an ongoing and controversial issue in U.S. foreign assistance and will likely continue to be a point of contention during the 111th Congress.

This report focuses on U.N. reform efforts and priorities from the perspective of several key actors, including the U.S. government, the U.N. Secretary-General, selected groups of member states, and a cross-section of groups tasked with addressing U.N. reform. It also examines congressional actions related to U.N. reform, as well as future policy considerations.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL's) Cray XT5 supercomputer, Jaguar, kicked off the era of petascale scientific computing in 2008 with applications that sustained more than a thousand trillion floating point calculations per second - or 1 petaflop. Jaguar continues to grow even more powerful as it helps researchers broaden the boundaries of knowledge in virtually every domain of computational science, including weather and climate, nuclear energy, geosciences, combustion, bioenergy, fusion, and materials science. Their insights promise to broaden our knowledge in areas that are vitally important to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the nation as a whole, particularly energy assurance and climate change. The science of the 21st century, however, will demand further revolutions in computing, supercomputers capable of a million trillion calculations a second - 1 exaflop - and beyond. These systems will allow investigators to continue attacking global challenges through modeling and simulation and to unravel longstanding scientific questions. Creating such systems will also require new approaches to daunting challenges. High-performance systems of the future will need to be codesigned for scientific and engineering applications with best-in-class communications networks and data-management infrastructures and teams of skilled researchers able to take full advantage of these new resources. The …

We study the F-theory uplift of Type IIB orientifold models on compact Calabi-Yau threefolds containing divisors which are del Pezzo surfaces. We consider two examples defined via del Pezzo transitions of the quintic. The first model has an orientifold projection leading to two disjoint O7-planes and the second involution acts via an exchange of two del Pezzo surfaces. The two uplifted fourfolds are generically singular with minimal gauge enhancements over a divisor and, respectively, a curve in the non-Fano base. We study possible further degenerations of the elliptic fiber leading to F-theory GUT models based on subgroups of E{sub 8}.

We construct global F-theory GUT models on del Pezzo surfaces in compact Calabi-Yau fourfolds realized as complete intersections of two hypersurface constraints. The intersections of the GUT brane and the flavour branes as well as the gauge flux are described by the spectral cover construction. We consider a split S[U(4) x U(1){sub X}] spectral cover, which allows for the phenomenologically relevant Yukawa couplings and GUT breaking to the MSSM via hypercharge flux while preventing dimension-4 proton decay. General expressions for the massless spectrum, consistency conditions and a new method for the computation of curvature-induced tadpoles are presented. We also provide a geometric toolkit for further model searches in the framework of toric geometry. Finally, an explicit global model with three chiral generations and all required Yukawa couplings is defined on a Calabi-Yau fourfold which is fibered over the del Pezzo transition of the Fano threefold P{sup 4}.

We investigate the"spontaneous'' hyperon transverse polarization in e+e- annihilation and semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering processes as a test of the universality of the naive-time-reversal-odd transverse momentum dependent fragmentation functions. We find that universality implies definite sign relations among various observables. This provides a unique opportunity to study initial/final state interaction effects in the fragmentation process and test the associated factorization.

We present our new results from testing 15-mm-long virtual Frisch-grid CdZnTe detectors with a common-cathode readout for correcting pulse-height distortions. The array employs parallelepiped-shaped CdZnTe (CZT) detectors of a large geometrical aspect ratio, with two planar contacts on the top and bottom surfaces (anode and cathode) and an additional shielding electrode on the crystal's sides to create the virtual Frisch-grid effect. We optimized the geometry of the device and improved its spectral response. We found that reducing to 5 mm the length of the shielding electrode placed next to the anode had no adverse effects on the device's performance. At the same time, this allowed corrections for electron loss by reading the cathode signals to obtain depth information.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recognizes the strategic importance of energy to its mission, and is working to reduce energy consumption and enhance energy self-sufficiency by drawing on local clean energy sources. A joint initiative formed between DoD and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2008 to address military energy use led to a task force to examine the potential for net zero energy military installations, which would produce as much energy on site as they consume in buildings, facilities, and fleet vehicles. This report presents an assessment and planning process to examine military installations for net zero energy potential. Net Zero Energy Installation Assessment (NZEIA) presents a systematic framework to analyze energy projects at installations while balancing other site priorities such as mission, cost, and security.

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) is a 7 GeV storage ring light source that has been in operation for well over a decade. In the near future, the ring may be upgraded, including changes to the lattice such as provision of several long straight sections (LSS). Because APS beamlines are nearly fully built out, we have limited freedom to place LSSs in a symmetric fashion. Arbitrarily-placed LSSs will drastically reduce the symmetry of the optics and would typically be considered unworkable. We apply a recently-developed multi-objective direct optimization technique that relies on particle tracking to compute the dynamic aperture and Touschek lifetime. We show that this technique is able to tune sextupole strengths and select the working point in such a way as to recover the dynamic and momentum acceptances. We also show the results of experimental tests of lattices developed using these techniques.

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The novel crab waist collision scheme under test at the DA{Phi}NE Frascati {Phi}-factory finds its natural application to the SuperB project, the asymmetric e{sup +}e{sup -} flavour factory at very high luminosity with relatively low beam currents and reduced backgrounds. The SuperB accelerator design requires a careful choice of beam parameters to reach a good trade-off between different effects. We present here simulation results for the Touschek backgrounds and lifetime obtained for both the low and high energy rings for different machine designs. A first set of horizontal collimators has been studied to stop Touschek particles. A study of the distributions of the Touschek particle losses at the interaction region into the detectors for further investigations is underway.

SPIE Conference paper/talk presentation: Introduction: Reactive ion etching (RIE) has been employed in a wide range of fields such as semiconductor fabrication, MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), and refractive x-ray optics with a large investment put towards the development of deep RIE. Due to the intrinsic differing chemistries related to reactivity, ion bombardment, and passivation of materials, the development of recipes for new materials or material systems can require intense effort and resources. For silicon in particular, methods have been developed to provide reliable anisotropic profiles with good dimensional control and high aspect ratios1,2,3, high etch rates, and excellent material to mask etch selectivity...

The SCALE (Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation) computer software system developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is widely used and accepted around the world for nuclear analyses. ORIGEN-ARP is a SCALE isotopic depletion and decay analysis sequence used to perform point-depletion calculations with the well-known ORIGEN-S code using problem-dependent cross sections. Problem-dependent cross-section libraries are generated using the ARP (Automatic Rapid Processing) module using an interpolation algorithm that operates on pre-generated libraries created for a range of fuel properties and operating conditions. Methods are provided in SCALE to generate these libraries using one-, two-, and three-dimensional transport codes. The interpolation of cross sections for uranium-based fuels may be performed for the variables burnup, enrichment, and water density. An option is also available to interpolate cross sections for mixed-oxide (MOX) fuels using the variables burnup, plutonium content, plutonium isotopic vector, and water moderator density. This primer is designed to help a new user understand and use ORIGEN-ARP with the OrigenArp Windows graphical user interface in SCALE. It assumes that the user has a college education in a technical field. There is no assumption of familiarity with nuclear depletion codes in general or with SCALE/ORIGEN-ARP in particular. The primer is based …

The document provides a methodology to estimate unmetered industrial water use for evaporative cooling systems, steam generating boiler systems, batch process applications, and wash systems. For each category standard mathematical relationships are summarized and provided in a single resource to assist Federal agencies in developing an initial estimate of their industrial water use. The approach incorporates industry norms, general rules of thumb, and industry survey information to provide methodologies for each section.

This report is intended as a primer on the policy issues, science, and governance of geoengineering technologies. The report will first set the policy parameters under which geoengineering technologies may be considered. It will then describe selected technologies in detail and discuss their status. The third section provides a discussion of possible approaches to governmental involvement in, and oversight of, geoengineering, including a summary of domestic and international instruments and institutions that may affect geoengineering projects.

This CRS report focuses first on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) May 2005 memorandum and the process it outlines. The report then discusses one case where the process appears to have been implemented. It then discusses other potential implications, if the OMB process were widely utilized in practice. Next, the report discusses potential options for Congress.

We report high-level ab initio calculations and single-photon ionization mass spectrometry study of ionization of adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G). For thymine and adenine, only the lowest-energy tautomers were considered, whereas for cytosine and guanine we characterized five lowest-energy tautomeric forms. The first adiabatic and several vertical ionization energies were computed using equation-of-motion coupled-cluster method for ionization potentials with single and double substitutions. Equilibrium structures of the cationic ground states were characterized by DFT with the {omega}B97X-D functional. The ionization-induced geometry changes of the bases are consistent with the shapes of the corresponding molecular orbitals. For the lowest-energy tautomers, the magnitude of the structural relaxation decreases in the following series G > C > A > T, the respective relaxation energies being 0.41, 0.32, 0.25 and 0.20 eV. The computed adiabatic ionization energies (8.13, 8.89, 8.51-8.67 and 7.75-7.87 eV for A,T,C and G, respectively) agree well with the onsets of the photoionization efficiency (PIE) curves (8.20 {+-} 0.05, 8.95 {+-} 0.05, 8.60 {+-} 0.05 and 7.75 {+-} 0.05 eV). Vibrational progressions for the S{sub 0}-D{sub 0} vibronic bands computed within double-harmonic approximation with Duschinsky rotations are compared with previously reported experimental photoelectron spectra.

The purpose of this document is to evaluate the opportunity for Letterkenny Army Depot (LEAD or the Depot) to utilize biogenic methane, which may be available in shale formations under the Depot, to provide a supplemental source of natural gas that could allow the Depot to increase energy independence. Both the Director and Deputy of Public Works at the Depot are supportive in general of a methane production project, but wanted to better understand the challenges prior to embarking on such a project. This report will cover many of these issues. A similar project has been successfully developed by the U. S. Army at Ft. Knox, KY, which will be explained and referred to throughout this report as a backdrop to discussing the challenges and opportunities at LEAD, because the geologic formations and possibilities at both sites are similar. Prior to discussing the opportunity at LEAD, it is important to briefly discuss the successful methane recovery operation at Ft. Knox, because it is applicable to the projected approach for the LEAD methane system. The Ft. Knox project is an excellent example of how the U. S. Army can use an onsite renewable resource to provide a secure energy source that …

We show that the chiral-limit vacuum quark condensate is qualitatively equivalent to the pseudoscalar meson leptonic decay constant in the sense that they are both obtained as the chiral-limit value of well-defined gauge-invariant hadron-to-vacuum transition amplitudes that possess a spectral representation in terms of the current-quark mass. Thus, whereas it might sometimes be convenient to imagine otherwise, neither is essentially a constant mass-scale that fills all spacetime. This means, in particular, that the quark condensate can be understood as a property of hadrons themselves, which is expressed, for example, in their Bethe-Salpeter or light-front wavefunctions.

The AdS/CFT correspondence between theories in AdS space and conformal field theories in physical space-time provides an analytic, semi-classical, color-confining model for strongly-coupled QCD. The soft-wall AdS/QCD model modified by a positive-sign dilaton metric leads to a remarkable one-parameter description of nonperturbative hadron dynamics at zero quark mass, including a zero-mass pion and a Regge spectrum of linear trajectories with the same slope in orbital angular momentum L and radial quantum number n for both mesons and baryons. One also predicts the form of the non-perturbative effective coupling {alpha}{sub s}{sup AdS}(q) and its {beta}-function which agrees with the effective coupling {alpha}{sub ga} extracted from the Bjorken sum rule. Light-front holography, which connects the fifth-dimensional coordinate of AdS space z to an invariant impact separation variable {zeta}, allows one to compute the analytic form of the frame-independent light-front wavefunctions, the fundamental entities which encode hadron properties as well as decay constants, form factors, deeply virtual Compton scattering, exclusive heavy hadron decays and other exclusive scattering amplitudes. One thus obtains a relativistic description of hadrons in QCD at the amplitude level with dimensional counting for hard exclusive reactions at high momentum transfer. As specific examples we discuss the behavior of the pion …

A major issue facing the United Nations, the United States, and the 111th Congress is the extent to which the United Nations has the capacity to restore or keep the peace in the changing world environment. Associated with this issue is the expressed need for a reliable source of funding and other resources for peacekeeping and improved efficiencies of operation. This report serves as a tracking report for action by Congress on United Nations peacekeeping. Funding and provisioning issues are examined.

This report tracks the process by which Congress provides the funding for U.S. assessed contributions to the regular budgets of the United Nations, its agencies, and U.N. peacekeeping operation accounts, as well as for U.S. voluntary contributions to U.N. system programs and funds. It includes information on the President's request and the congressional response, as well as congressional initiatives during this legislative process. Basic information is provided to help the reader understand this process.

Legislative branch revolving funds support the "business-type activities" of the House, Senate, and legislative branch agencies. This report traces the establishment, use, and recent development of these funds. Where available, the current status of funds is provided, using standard federal government budget object classifications.