Different methods for the calculation of cross sections with many QCD particles are compared. To this end, CSW vertex rules, Berends-Giele recursion and Feynman-diagram based techniques are implemented as well as various methods for the treatment of colours and phase space integration. We find that typically there is only a small window of jet multiplicities, where the CSW technique has efficiencies comparable or better than both of the other two methods.

Due to higher than expected hydrogen generation during the Tank 51-Sludge Batch 4 (SB4) qualification run, DWPF engineering requested the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to expand the ongoing catalytic hydrogen generation program. The work presented in this Technical Report was identified as part of SRNL/Liquid Waste Organization (LWO) meetings to define potential causes of catalytic hydrogen generation as well as from an external technical review panel commissioned to evaluate SRNL hydrogen related data and programs. New scope included improving the understanding of SRAT/SME process chemistry, particularly as it related to acid consumption and hydrogen generation. The expanded hydrogen program scope was covered under the technical task request (TTR): HLW-DWPF-TTR-2007-0016. A task technical and quality assurance plan (TT&QAP) was issued to cover focus areas raised in meetings with LWO plus a portion of the recommendations made by the review panel. A supporting analytical study plan was issued. It was also noted in the review of catalytic hydrogen generation that control of the DWPF acid stoichiometry was an important element in controlling hydrogen generation. A separate TTR was issued to investigate ways of improving the determination of the acid requirement during processing: HLWDWPF-TTR-0015. A separate TT&QAP was prepared for this task …

Control Banding (CB) strategies offer simplified solutions for controlling worker exposures to constituents that are found in the workplace in the absence of firm toxicological and exposure data. These strategies may be particularly useful in nanotechnology applications, considering the overwhelming level of uncertainty over what nanomaterials and nanotechnologies present as potential work-related health risks, what about these materials might lead to adverse toxicological activity, how risk related to these might be assessed, and how to manage these issues in the absence of this information. This study introduces a pilot CB tool or 'CB Nanotool' that was developed specifically for characterizing the health aspects of working with engineered nanoparticles and determining the level of risk and associated controls for five ongoing nanotechnology-related operations being conducted at two Department of Energy (DOE) research laboratories. Based on the application of the CB Nanotool, four of the five operations evaluated in this study were found to have implemented controls consistent with what was recommended by the CB Nanotool, with one operation even exceeding the required controls for that activity. The one remaining operation was determined to require an upgrade in controls. By developing this dynamic CB Nanotool within the realm of the scientific information …

We present a new tree-level matrix element generator, based on the color dressed Berends-Giele recursive relations. We discuss two new algorithms for phase space integration, dedicated to be used with large multiplicities and color sampling.

Industrial processes use mechanical draft cooling towers (MDCT's) to dissipate waste heat by transferring heat from water to air via evaporative cooling, which causes air humidification. The Savannah River Site (SRS) has a MDCT consisting of four independent compartments called cells. Each cell has its own fan to help maximize heat transfer between ambient air and circulated water. The primary objective of the work is to conduct a parametric study for cooling tower performance under different fan speeds and ambient air conditions. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to achieve the objective. The model uses three-dimensional steady-state momentum, continuity equations, air-vapor species balance equation, and two-equation turbulence as the basic governing equations. It was assumed that vapor phase is always transported by the continuous air phase with no slip velocity. In this case, water droplet component was considered as discrete phase for the interfacial heat and mass transfer via Lagrangian approach. Thus, the air-vapor mixture model with discrete water droplet phase is used for the analysis. A series of the modeling calculations was performed to investigate the impact of ambient and operating conditions on the thermal performance of the cooling tower when fans …

We used a cloud-resolving model (a detailed computer model of cloud systems) to evaluate and improve the representation of clouds in global atmospheric models used for numerical weather prediction and climate modeling. We also used observations of the atmospheric state, including clouds, made at DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program's Climate Research Facility located in the Southern Great Plains (Kansas and Oklahoma) during Intensive Observation Periods to evaluate our detailed computer model as well as a single-column version of a global atmospheric model used for numerical weather prediction (the Global Forecast System of the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction). This so-called Single-Column Modeling approach has proved to be a very effective method for testing the representation of clouds in global atmospheric models. The method relies on detailed observations of the atmospheric state, including clouds, in an atmospheric column comparable in size to a grid column used in a global atmospheric model. The required observations are made by a combination of in situ and remote sensing instruments. One of the greatest problems facing mankind at the present is climate change. Part of the problem is our limited ability to predict the regional patterns of climate change. In order to increase …

None

We introduce multiple topic tracking (MTT) for iScore to better recommend news articles for users with multiple interests and to address changes in user interests over time. As an extension of the basic Rocchio algorithm, traditional topic detection and tracking, and single-pass clustering, MTT maintains multiple interest profiles to identify interesting articles for a specific user given user-feedback. Focusing on only interesting topics enables iScore to discard useless profiles to address changes in user interests and to achieve a balance between resource consumption and classification accuracy. iScore is able to achieve higher quality results than traditional methods such as the Rocchio algorithm. We identify several operating parameters that work well for MTT. Using the same parameters, we show that MTT alone yields high quality results for recommending interesting articles from several corpora. The inclusion of MTT improves iScore's performance by 25% in recommending news articles from the Yahoo! News RSS feeds and the TREC11 adaptive filter article collection. And through a small user study, we show that iScore can still perform well when only provided with little user feedback.

An all-inorganic photocatalytic unit consisting of a binuclear TiOCr charge-transfer chromophore coupled to an Ir oxide nanocluster has been assembled on the pore surface of mesoporous silica AlMCM-41. In situ FT-Raman and EPR spectroscopy of an aqueous suspension of the resulting IrxOy-TiCr-AlMCM-41 powder reveal the formation of superoxide species when exciting the Ti(IV)OCr(III) --> Ti(III)OCr(IV) metal-to-metal charge-transfer chromophore with visible light. Use of H218O confirms that the superoxide species originates from oxidation of water. Photolysis in the absence of persulfate acceptor leads to accumulation of Ti(III) instead. The results are explained by photocatalytic oxidation of water at Ir oxide nanoclusters followed by trapping of the evolving O2 by transient Ti(III) centers to yield superoxide. Given the flexibility to select donor metals with appropriate redox potential, photocatalytic units consisting of a binuclear charge-transfer chromophore coupled to a water oxidation catalyst shown here constitute a step towards thermodynamically efficient visible light water oxidation units.

In areas composed of coastal plain sediments, soft zones subjected to partial overburden may be present in the subsurface. During or after a seismic event, these soft zones may be compressed. The resulting displacement due to the deformation of the soft zones will propagate to the ground surface and cause the surface to settle. This paper presents a method to predict the settlement at the surface due to the propagation of the displacement from the soft zones. This method is performed by discretizing the soft zones into multiple clusters of finite sub-areas or subspaces. Settlement profile at the ground surface due to the displacement of each sub-area or subspace is computed assuming the shape is a normal distribution function. Settlement due to the displacement of the soft zones can then be approximated by adding the settlements computed for all the sub-areas or subspaces. This method provides a simple and useful tool for the prediction of the settlement profile and the results are consistent with those obtained from the finite difference analysis.

Over the past three decades, Earth scientists have made great strides in understanding our planet’s workings and history. Yet this progress has served principally to lay bare more fundamental questions about the Earth. Expanding knowledge is generating new questions, while innovative technologies and new partnerships with other sciences provide new paths toward answers. A National Academies committee was established to frame some of the great intellectual challenges inherent in the study of the Earth and planets. The goal was to focus on science, not implementation issues, such as facilities or recommendations aimed at specific agencies. The committee canvassed the geological community and deliberated at length to arrive at 10 questions: 1. How did Earth and other planets form? 2. What happened during Earth’s “dark age” (the first 500 million years)? 3. How did life begin? 4. How does Earth’s interior work, and how does it affect the surface? 5. Why does Earth have plate tectonics and continents? 6. How are Earth processes controlled by material properties? 7. What causes climate to change—and how much can it change? 8. How has life shaped Earth—and how has Earth shaped life? 9. Can earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and their consequences be predicted? 10. How …

The 100-F-26:13 waste site is the network of process sewer pipelines that received effluent from the 108-F Biological Laboratory and discharged it to the 188-F Ash Disposal Area (126-F-1 waste site). The pipelines included one 0.15-m (6-in.)-, two 0.2-m (8-in.)-, and one 0.31-m (12-in.)-diameter vitrified clay pipe segments encased in concrete. In accordance with this evaluation, the verification sampling results support a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The results of verification sampling demonstrated that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also showed that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

A unified Monte Carlo (UMC) approach to fast neutron cross section data evaluation that incorporates both model-calculated and experimental information is described. The method is based on applications of Bayes Theorem and the Principle of Maximum Entropy as well as on fundamental definitions from probability theory. This report describes the formalism, discusses various practical considerations, and examines a few numerical examples in some detail.

The Translational Research Working Group (TRWG) was created as a national initiative to evaluate the current status of NCI's investment in translational research and envision its future. The TRWG conceptualized translational research as a set of six developmental processes or pathways focused on various clinical goals. One of those pathways describes the development of biospecimen-based assays that utilize biomarkers for the detection, diagnosis, prognosis, and assessment of response to cancer treatment. The biospecimen-based assessment modality (BM) pathway was conceived not as comprehensive description of the corresponding real-world processes, but rather as a tool designed to facilitate movement of a candidate assay through the translational process to the point where it can be handed off for definitive clinical testing. This paper introduces the pathway in the context of prior work and discusses key challenges associated with the biomarker development process in light of the pathway.

ILC work at Illinois has concentrated primarily on technical issues relating to the design of the accelerator. Because many of the problems to be resolved require a working knowledge of classical mechanics and electrodynamics, most of our research projects lend themselves well to the participation of undergraduate research assistants. The undergraduates in the group are scientists, not technicians, and find solutions to problems that, for example, have stumped PhD-level staff elsewhere. The ILC Reference Design Report calls for 6.7 km circumference damping rings (which prepare the beams for focusing) using “conventional” stripline kickers driven by fast HV pulsers. Our primary goal was to determine the suitability of the 16 MeV electron beam in the AØ region at Fermilab for precision kicker studies.We found that the low beam energy and lack of redundancy in the beam position monitor system complicated the analysis of our data. In spite of these issues we concluded that the precision we could obtain was adequate to measure the performance and stability of a production module of an ILC kicker, namely 0.5%. We concluded that the kicker was stable to an accuracy of ~2.0% and that we could measure this precision to an accuracy of ~0.5%. As …

Shadows cast by trees and buildings can limit the solar access of rooftop solar-energy systems, including photovoltaic panels and thermal collectors. This study characterizes rooftop shading in a residential neighborhood of San Jose, CA, one of four regions analyzed in a wider study of the solar access of California homes.High-resolution orthophotos and LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) measurements of surface height were used to create a digital elevation model of all trees and buildings in a 4 km2 residential neighborhood. Hourly shading of roofing planes (the flat elements of roofs) was computed geometrically from the digital elevation model. Parcel boundaries were used to determine the extent to which roofing planes were shaded by trees and buildings in neighboring parcels.In the year in which surface heights were measured (2005), shadows from all sources ("total shading") reduced the insolation received by S-, SW-, and W-facing residential roofing planes in the study area by 13 - 16percent. Shadows cast by trees and buildings in neighboring parcels reduced insolation by no more than 2percent. After 30 years of simulated maximal tree growth, annual total shading increased to 19 - 22percent, and annual extraparcel shading increased to 3 - 4percent.

Using the method of maximal cuts, we obtain a form of the three-loop four-point scattering amplitude of N = 8 supergravity in which all ultraviolet cancellations are made manifest. The Feynman loop integrals that appear have a graphical representation with only cubic vertices, and numerator factors that are quadratic in the loop momenta, rather than quartic as in the previous form. This quadratic behavior reflects cancellations beyond those required for finiteness, and matches the quadratic behavior of the three-loop four-point scattering amplitude in N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory. By direct integration we confirm that no additional cancellations remain in the N = 8 supergravity amplitude, thus demonstrating that the critical dimension in which the first ultraviolet divergence occurs at three loops is D{sub c} = 6. We also give the values of the three-loop divergences in D = 7, 9, 11. In addition, we present the explicitly color-dressed three-loop four-point amplitude of N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory.

Clouds of electrons in the vacuum chambers of accelerators of positively charged particle beams present a serious limitation for operation of these machines at high currents. Because of the size of these accelerators, it is difficult to probe the low energy electron clouds over substantial lengths of the beam pipe. We applied a novel technique to directly measure the electron cloud density via the phase shift induced in a TE wave which is independently excited and transmitted over a straight section of the accelerator. The modulation in the wave transmission which appear to increase in depth when the clearing solenoids are switched off, seem to be directly correlated to the electron cloud density in the section. Furthermore, we expect a larger phase shift of a wave transmitted through magnetic dipole field regions if the transmitted wave couples with the gyration motion of the electrons. We have used this technique to measure the average electron cloud density (ECD) specifically for the first time in magnetic field regions of a new 4-dipole chicane in the positron ring of the PEP-II collider at SLAC. In this paper we present and discuss the measurements taken in the Low Energy Ring (LER) between 2006 and …

Integral fuel burnable absorgers (IFBA) are added to some rods in the fuel assembly to counteract excessive reactivity. These IFBA elements (usually boron or gadolinium) are presently incorporated in the U)2 pellets either by mixing in the pellets or as coatings on the pellet surface. In either case, the incorporation of ifba into the fuel has to be performed in a nuclear-regulated facility that is physically separated from the main plant. These operations tend to be costly and can add from 20 to 30% to the manufacturing cost of the fuel. The goal of this NEER research project was to develop an alternative approach that involves incorporation of IFBA element boron at the surface of the fuel cladding material.

Cancer cells are endowed with diverse biological capabilities driven by myriad inherited and somatic genetic and epigenetic aberrations that commandeer key cancer-relevant pathways. Efforts to elucidate these aberrations began with Boveri's hypothesis of aberrant mitoses causing cancer and continue today with a suite of powerful high-resolution technologies that enable detailed catalogues of genomic aberrations and epigenomic modifications. Tomorrow will likely bring the complete atlas of reversible and irreversible alteration in individual cancers. The challenge now is to discern causal molecular abnormalities from genomic and epigenomic 'noise', to understand how the ensemble of these aberrations collaborate to drive cancer pathophysiology. Here, we highlight lessons learned from now classical examples of successful translation of genomic discoveries into clinical practice, lessons that may be used to guide and accelerate translation of emerging genomic insights into practical clinical endpoints that can impact on practice of cancer medicine.

The effect of surface structural damage on graphitic anodes, commonly observed in tested Li-ion cells, was investigated. Similar surface structural disorder was artificially induced in Mag-10 synthetic graphite anodes using argon-ion sputtering. Raman microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) measurements confirmed that Ar-ion sputtered Mag-10 electrodes display similar degree of surface degradation as the anodes from tested Li-ion cells. Artificially modified Mag-10 anodes showed double the irreversible charge capacity during the first formation cycle, compared to fresh un-altered anodes. Impedance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy on surface modified graphite anodes indicated the formation of a thicker and slightly more resistive SEI layer. Gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis of solvent extracts from the electrodes detected the presence of new compounds with M{sub w} on the order of 1600 g mol{sup -1} for the surface modified electrode with no evidence of elevated M{sub w} species for the unmodified electrode. The structural disorder induced in the graphite during long-term cycling maybe responsible for the slow and continuous SEI layer reformation, and consequently, the loss of reversible capacity due to the shift of lithium inventory in cycled Li-ion cells.

We report on an analysis of {tau}{sup -} decaying into {omega}{pi}{sup -}{nu}{sub {tau}} with {omega} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup 0} using data containing nearly 320 million tau pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric energy B-Factory. We find no evidence for second-class currents and set an upper limit at 0.69% at a 90% confidence level for the ratio of second- to first-class currents.

The imaging techniques enable the possibility of higher-level quality control and defect analysis of solar cell materials in in-line production processes.

Advances in communications and control technology, the strengthening of the Internet, and the growing appreciation of the urgency to reduce demand side energy use are motivating the development of improvements in both energy efficiency and demand response (DR) systems. This paper provides a framework linking continuous energy management and continuous communications for automated demand response (Auto-DR) in various times scales. We provide a set of concepts for monitoring and controls linked to standards and procedures such as Open Automation Demand Response Communication Standards (Open Auto-DR or OpenADR). Basic building energy science and control issues in this approach begin with key building components, systems, end-uses and whole building energy performance metrics. The paper presents a framework about when energy is used, levels of services by energy using systems, granularity of control, and speed of telemetry. DR, when defined as a discrete event, requires a different set of building service levels than daily operations. We provide examples of lessons from DR case studies and links to energy efficiency.