Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEETIT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses air conditioning with more energy efficient dehumidifying as part of the "High-Efficiency, On-Line Membrane Air Dehumidifier Enabling Sensible Cooling for Warm and Humid Climates" project.

None

This document presents results of an investigation of the material and geometry choice for the transport shield of germanium, the active detector material used in 76Ge neutrinoless double beta decay searches. The objective of this work is to select the optimal material and geometry to minimize cosmogenic production of radioactive isotopes in the germanium material. The design of such a shield is based on the calculation of the cosmogenic production rate of isotopes that are known to cause interfering backgrounds in 76Ge neutrinoless double beta decay searches.

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has developed a high-pressure hydrogen production system that reforms a liquid organic feedstock and water at operating pressures up to 800 bar (~12,000 psig). The advantages of this system include the elimination of energy-intensive hydrogen compression, a smaller process footprint, and the elimination of gaseous or liquid hydrogen transport. This system could also potentially enable distributed hydrogen production from centralized coal. Processes have been investigated to gasify coal and then convert the syngas into alcohol or alkanes. These alcohols and alkanes could then be easily transported in bulk to distributed high-pressure water-reforming (HPWR)-based systems to deliver hydrogen economically. The intent of this activity was to utilize the EERC’s existing HPWR hydrogen production process, previously designed and constructed in a prior project phase, as a basis to improve operational and production performance of an existing demonstration unit. Parameters to be pursued included higher hydrogen delivery pressure, higher hydrogen production rates, and the ability to refill within a 5-minute time frame.

Currently, design of earth-penetrating munitions relies heavily on empirical relationships to estimate behavior, making it difficult to design novel munitions or address novel target situations without expensive and time-consuming full-scale testing with relevant system and target characteristics. Enhancing design through numerical studies and modeling could help reduce the extent and duration of full-scale testing if the models have enough fidelity to capture all of the relevant parameters. This can be separated into three distinct problems: that of the penetrator structural and component response, that of the target response, and that of the coupling between the two. This project focuses on enhancing understanding of the target response, specifically granular geomaterials, where the temporal and spatial multi-scale nature of the material controls its response. As part of the overarching goal of developing computational capabilities to predict the performance of conventional earth-penetrating weapons, this project focuses specifically on developing new models and numerical capabilities for modeling sand response in ALE3D. There is general recognition that granular materials behave in a manner that defies conventional continuum approaches which rely on response locality and which degrade in the presence of strong response nonlinearities, localization, and phase gradients. There are many numerical tools available to address …

Semi-solid metal (SSM) processing has emerged as an attractive method for near-net-shape manufacturing due to the distinct advantages it holds over conventional near-net-shape forming technologies. These advantages include lower cycle time, increased die life, reduced porosity, reduced solidification shrinkage, improved mechanical properties, etc. SSM processing techniques can not only produce the complex dimensional details (e.g. thin-walled sections) associated with conventional high-pressure die castings, but also can produce high integrity castings currently attainable only with squeeze and low-pressure permanent mold casting processes. There are two primary semi-solid processing routes, (a) thixocasting and (b) rheocasting. In the thixocasting route, one starts from a non-dendritic solid precursor material that is specially prepared by a primary aluminum manufacturer, using continuous casting methods. Upon reheating this material into the mushy (a.k.a. "two-phase") zone, a thixotropic slurry is formed, which becomes the feed for the casting operation. In the rheocasting route (a.k.a. "slurry-on-demand" or "SoD"), one starts from the liquid state, and the thixotropic slurry is formed directly from the melt via careful thermal management of the system; the slurry is subsequently fed into the die cavity. Of these two routes, rheocasting is favored in that there is no premium added to the billet cost, and …

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEETIT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses air conditioning that uses moisture and heat exchange technology as part of the "Innovative Building-Integrated Enthalpy Recovery" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEETIT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses air conditioning with magnetic refrigeration as part of "An Efficient, Green Compact Cooling System Using Magnetic Refrigeration" project.

This report was prepared by PNNL for DOE's Building America program and is intended as a guide that energy performance contractors can share with homeowners to describe various insulation options for improving the energy performance and comfort of existing homes. The report provides descriptions of many common insulation types, including their advantages and disadvantages, R-values, characteristics, and typical uses. The report also describes potentially hazardous products such as asbestos and formaldehyde and safety issues when conducting energy-efficient upgrades including radon. The guide is available for download at the DOE Building America website, www.buildingamerica.gov.

A sample of Sludge Batch 7b (SB7b) was taken from Tank 40 in order to obtain radionuclide inventory analyses necessary for compliance with the Waste Acceptance Product Specifications (WAPS). The SB7b WAPS sample was also analyzed for chemical composition including noble metals and fissile constituents, and these results are reported here. These analyses along with the WAPS radionuclide analyses will help define the composition of the sludge in Tank 40 that is currently being fed to the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) as SB7b. At the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) the 3-L Tank 40 SB7b sample was transferred from the shipping container into a 4-L high density polyethylene bottle and solids were allowed to settle over the weekend. Supernate was then siphoned off and circulated through the shipping container to complete the transfer of the sample. Following thorough mixing of the 3-L sample, a 558 g sub-sample was removed. This sub-sample was then utilized for all subsequent analytical samples. Eight separate aliquots of the slurry were digested, four with HNO{sub 3}/HCl (aqua regia) in sealed Teflon{reg_sign} vessels and four with NaOH/Na{sub 2}O{sub 2} (alkali or peroxide fusion) using Zr crucibles. Two Analytical Reference Glass - 1 (ARG-1) standards were …

None

None

Array data analytic systems like SciDB hold great potential to accelerate processing data from SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source and other experiments. SciDB is unique in its ability to integrate storage and processing of array data efficiently, providing both space-efficient storage and out-of-memory efficient parallel array processing. We describe a recent effort to leverage SciDB to store and process LCLS data. The work includes development of software to import data into SciDB, subsequent benchmarks, and interactive manipulation of data in SciDB.

The Navajo Hopi Land Commission Office (NHLCO), a Navajo Nation executive branch agency has conducted activities to determine capacity-building, institution-building, outreach and management activities to initiate the development of large-scale renewable energy - 100 megawatt (MW) or larger - generating projects on land in Northwestern New Mexico in the first year of a multi-year program. The Navajo Hopi Land Commission Renewable Energy Development Project (NREP) is a one year program that will develop and market a strategic business plan; form multi-agency and public-private project partnerships; compile site-specific solar, wind and infrastructure data; and develop and use project communication and marketing tools to support outreach efforts targeting the public, vendors, investors and government audiences.

The absolute branching fractions for the decays D{sub s}{sup -} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}} ({ell} = e, {mu}, or {tau}) are measured using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 521 fb{sup -1} collected at center of mass energies near 10.58 GeV with the BABAR detector at the PEPII e{sup +}e{sup -} collider at SLAC. The number of D{sub s}{sup -} mesons is determined by reconstructing the recoiling system DKX{gamma} in events of the type e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} DKXD*{sub s}{sup -}, where D*{sub s}{sup -} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -} {gamma} and X represents additional pions from fragmentation. The D{sub s}{sup -} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}{sub {ell}} events are detected by full or partial reconstruction of the recoiling system DKX{gamma}{ell}. The following results are obtained: {Beta}(D{sub s}{sup -} {yields} {mu}{sup -}{nu}) = (6.02 {+-} 0.38 {+-} 0.34) x 10{sup -3}, {Beta}(D{sub s}{sup -} {yields} {tau}{sup -}{nu}) = (5.00 {+-} 0.35 {+-} 0.49) x 10{sup -2}, and B(D{sub s}{sup -} {yields} e{sup -}{nu}) < 2.8 x 10{sup -4} at 90% C.L., where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The branching fraction measurements are combined to determine the D{sub s}{sup -} decay constant f{sub D{sub s}} …

We use the duality between color and kinematics to simplify the construction of the complete four-loop four-point amplitude of N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory, including the nonplanar contributions. The duality completely determines the amplitude's integrand in terms of just two planar graphs. The existence of a manifestly dual gauge-theory amplitude trivializes the construction of the corresponding N = 8 supergravity integrand, whose graph numerators are double copies (squares) of the N = 4 super-Yang-Mills numerators. The success of this procedure provides further nontrivial evidence that the duality and double-copy properties hold at loop level. The new form of the four-loop four-point supergravity amplitude makes manifest the same ultraviolet power counting as the corresponding N = 4 super-Yang-Mills amplitude. We determine the amplitude's ultraviolet pole in the critical dimension of D = 11/2, the same dimension as for N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory. Strikingly, exactly the same combination of vacuum integrals (after simplification) describes the ultraviolet divergence of N = 8 supergravity as the subleading-in-1/N{sub c}{sup 2} single-trace divergence in N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory.

In this contribution we present recent progress in the computation of next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections for the production of an electroweak vector boson in association with jets at hadron colliders. We focus on results obtained using the virtual matrix element library BlackHat in conjunction with SHERPA, focusing on results relevant to understanding the background to top production. The production of a vector boson in association with several jets at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is an important background for other Standard Model processes as well as new physics signals. In particular, the production of a W boson in association with many jets is an important background for processes involving one or more top quarks. Precise predictions for the backgrounds are crucial to measurement of top-quark processes. Vector boson production in association with multiple jets is also a very important background for many SUSY searches, as it mimics the signatures of many typical decay chains. Here we will discuss how polarization information can be used as an additional handle to differentiate top pair production from 'prompt' W-boson production. More generally, ratios of observables, for example for events containing a W boson versus those containing a Z boson, are expected to …

Recent advances in methods for computing both Hashin-Shtrikman bounds and related selfconsistent (or CPA) estimates of elastic constants for polycrystals composed of randomly oriented crystals can be applied successfully to hexagonal close packed solid He{sup 4}. In particular, since the shear modulus C{sub 44} of hexagonal close-packed solid He is known to undergo large temperature variations when 20 mK {<=}#20; T {<=}#20; 200 mK, bounds and estimates computed with this class of effective medium methods, while using C{sub 44} {r_arrow} 0 as a proxy for melting, are found to be both qualitatively and quantitatively very similar to prior results obtained using Monte Carlo methods. Hashin- Shtrikman bounds provide significantly tighter constraints on the polycrystal behavior than do the traditional Voigt and Reuss bounds.

The Alignment Diagnostic System (ADS) of the LCLS undulator system indicates that the 33 undulator quadrupoles have extremely high position stability over many weeks. However, beam trajectory straightness and lasing efficiency degrade more quickly than this. A lengthy Beam Based Alignment (BBA) procedure must be executed every two to four weeks to re-optimize the X-ray beam parameters. The undulator system includes RF cavity Beam Position Monitors (RFBPMs), several of which are utilized by an automatic feedback system to align the incoming electron-beam trajectory to the undulator axis. The beam trajectory straightness degradation has been traced to electronic drifts of the gain and offset of the BPMs used in the beam feedback system. To quickly recover the trajectory straightness, we have developed a fast beam-based procedure to recalibrate the BPMs. This procedure takes advantage of the high-precision monitoring capability of the ADS, which allows highly repeatable positioning of undulator quadrupoles. This report describes the ADS, the position stability of the LCLS undulator quadrupoles, and some results of the new recovery procedure.

We present the full two-loop four-graviton amplitudes in N = 4, 5, 6 supergravity. These results were obtained using the double-copy structure of gravity, which follows from the recently conjectured color-kinematics duality in gauge theory. The two-loop four-gluon scattering amplitudes in N = 0, 1, 2 supersymmetric gauge theory are a second essential ingredient. The gravity amplitudes have the expected infrared behavior: the two-loop divergences are given in terms of the squares of the corresponding one-loop amplitudes. The finite remainders are presented in a compact form. The finite remainder for N = 8 supergravity is also presented, in a form that utilizes a pure function with a very simple symbol.

None

The research conducted in this work package is aimed at taking advantage of the long term thermodynamic stability of crystalline ceramics to create more durable waste forms (as compared to high level waste glass) in order to reduce the reliance on engineered and natural barrier systems. Durable ceramic waste forms that incorporate a wide range of radionuclides have the potential to broaden the available disposal options and to lower the storage and disposal costs associated with advanced fuel cycles. Assemblages of several titanate phases have been successfully demonstrated to incorporate radioactive waste elements, and the multiphase nature of these materials allows them to accommodate variation in the waste composition. Recent work has shown that they can be successfully produced from a melting and crystallization process. The objective of this report is to explain the design of ceramic host systems culminating in a reference ceramic formulation for use in subsequent studies on process optimization and melt property data assessment in support of FY13 melter demonstration testing. The waste stream used as the basis for the development and testing is a combination of the projected Cs/Sr separated stream, the Trivalent Actinide - Lanthanide Separation by Phosphorous reagent Extraction from Aqueous Komplexes (TALSPEAK) …

Temperature is a key process variable at any nuclear power plant (NPP). The harsh reactor environment causes all sensor properties to drift over time. At the higher temperatures of advanced NPPs the drift occurs more rapidly. The allowable reactor operating temperature must be reduced by the amount of the potential measurement error to assure adequate margin to material damage. Johnson noise is a fundamental expression of temperature and as such is immune to drift in a sensor’s physical condition. In and near the core, only Johnson noise thermometry (JNT) and radiation pyrometry offer the possibility for long-term, high-accuracy temperature measurement due to their fundamental natures. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) place a higher value on long-term stability in their temperature measurements in that they produce less power per reactor core and thus cannot afford as much instrument recalibration labor as their larger brethren. The purpose of the current ORNL-led project, conducted under the Instrumentation, Controls, and Human-Machine Interface (ICHMI) research pathway of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced SMR Research and Development (R&D) program, is to develop and demonstrate a drift free Johnson noise-based thermometer suitable for deployment near core in advanced SMR plants.

One of the most important nonperturbative methods for solving QCD is quantization at fixed light-front time {tau} = t+z=c - Dirac's 'Front Form'. The eigenvalues of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian predict the hadron spectrum and the eigensolutions provide the light-front wavefunctions which describe hadron structure. More generally, we show that the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrodinger equation, with an effective confining potential U which systematically incorporates the effects of higher quark and gluon Fock states. We outline a method for computing the required potential from first principles in QCD. The holographic mapping of gravity in AdS space to QCD, quantized at fixed light-front time, yields the same light front Schrodinger equation; in fact, the soft-wall AdS/QCD approach provides a model for the light-front potential which is color-confining and reproduces well the light-hadron spectrum. One also derives via light-front holography a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in the fifth dimension of AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. The elastic and transition form factors of the pion and the nucleons are found to be well …