Better to understand the status of fusion research in the year 2003 we will first put the research in its historical context. Fusion power research, now beginning its sixth decade of continuous effort, is unique in the field of scientific research. Unique in its mixture of pure and applied research, unique in its long-term goal and its promise for the future, and unique in the degree that it has been guided and constrained by national and international governmental policy. Though fusion research's goal has from the start been precisely defined, namely, to obtain a net release of energy from controlled nuclear fusion reactions between light isotopes (in particular those of hydrogen and helium) the difficulty of the problem has spawned in the past a very wide variety of approaches to the problem. Some of these approaches have had massive international support for decades, some have been pursued only at a ''shoestring'' level by dedicated groups in small research laboratories or universities. In discussing the historical and present status of fusion research the implications of there being two distinctly different approaches to achieving net fusion power should be pointed out. The first, and oldest, approach is the use of strong magnetic …

In this paper we propose a novel visibility-culling technique for optimizing the computation and rendering of opaque isosurfaces. Given a continuous scalar field f (x) over a domain D and an isovalue w, our technique exploits the continuity of f to determine conservative visibility bounds implicitly, i.e., without the need for actually computing the isosurface f{sup -1}(w). We generate Implicit Occluders based on the change in sign of f *(x) = f (x)-w, from positive to negative (or vice versa) in the neighborhood of the isosurface. Consider, for example, the sign of f * along a ray r cast from the current viewpoint. The first change in sign of f * within D must contain an intersection of r with the isosurface. Any additional intersection of the isosurface with r is not visible. Implicit Occluders constitute a general concept that can be exploited algorithmically in different ways depending on the framework adopted for visibility computations. In this paper, we propose a simple from-point approach that exploits well-known hardware occlusion queries.

The mobilization of arsenic was examined in a system where the deposition of iron and arsenic have been substantially modified by large-scale manipulations. This engineering practice was designed to decrease arsenic concentrations in water supplied to the City of Los Angeles. Accomplishing this objective, however, has resulted in significant accumulation of arsenic and iron in the sediments of a reservoir on the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Arsenic and iron are released into the porewater at depth in the sediment, consistent with reductive dissolution of iron(III) oxyhydroxides. Factors influencing the possible re-sorption of arsenic onto residual iron(III) oxyhydroxides solids have been examined. Reduction of As(V) to As(III) alone cannot account for arsenic mobilization since arsenic occurs in the solid phase as As(III) well above the depth at which it is released into the porewater. Competition from other porewater constituents could suppress re-sorption of arsenic released by reductive dissolution.

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The present paper reports the results of an attempt aimed at the synthesis of element 118 in the reaction {sup 249}Cf({sup 48}Ca,3n){sup 294}118. The experiment was performed employing the Dubna Gas-filled Recoil Separator and the U400 heavy-ion cyclotron at FLNR, JINR, Dubna. In the course of a 2300-hour irradiation of an enriched {sup 249}Cf target (0.23 mg/cm{sup 2}) with a beam of 245-MeV {sup 48}Ca ions, we accumulated a total beam dose of 2.5 x 10{sup 19} ions. We detected two events that may be attributed to the formation and decay of nuclei with Z=118. For one event, we observed a decay chain of two correlated {alpha}-decays with corresponding energies and correlation times of E{sub {alpha}1} = 11.65 {+-} 0.06 MeV, t{sub {alpha}1} = 2.55 ms and E{sub {alpha}2} = 10.71 {+-} 0.17 MeV, t{sub {alpha}2} = 42.1 ms and, finally, a spontaneous fission with the sum of the kinetic energies of the fission fragments E{sub tot} = 207 MeV (TKE {approx} 230 MeV) and t{sub SF} = 0.52 s. In the second event chain, the recoil nucleus decayed into two fission fragments with E{sub tot} = 223 MeV (TKE {approx} 245 MeV) 3.16 ms later, without intervening {alpha} decays. …

The compressibility of fluid deuterium up to several Mbar has been probed using laser-driven shock waves reflected from a quartz anvil. Combining high-precision ({approx} 1 %) shock velocity measurements with the double-shock technique, where differences in equation of state (EOS) models are magnified, has allowed us to accurately discriminate between various theoretical predictions. Our data are consistent with EOS models that show approximately fourfold compression on the principal Hugoniot from 0.7 to 1 Mbar; however, our results indicate that deuterium has a higher compressibility than predicted by these models for single shock pressures between 1 and 2.5 Mbar.

We present a simple method for compressing very large and regularly sampled scalar fields. Our method is particularly attractive when the entire data set does not fit in memory and when the sampling rate is high relative to the feature size of the scalar field in all dimensions. Although we report results for R{sup 3} and R{sup 4} data sets, the proposed approach may be applied to higher dimensions. The method is based on the new Lorenzo predictor, introduced here, which estimates the value of the scalar field at each sample from the values at processed neighbors. The predicted values are exact when the n-dimensional scalar field is an implicit polynomial of degree n-1. Surprisingly, when the residuals (differences between the actual and predicted values) are encoded using arithmetic coding, the proposed method often outperforms wavelet compression in an L{infinity} sense. The proposed approach may be used both for lossy and lossless compression and is well suited for out-of-core compression and decompression, because a trivial implementation, which sweeps through the data set reading it once, requires maintaining only a small buffer in core memory, whose size barely exceeds a single n-1 dimensional slice of the data.

A Monte Carlo method for the estimation of {beta}-delayed {gamma}-ray spectra following fission is described that can accommodate an arbitrary time-dependent fission rate and photon collection history. The method invokes direct sampling of the independent fission yield distributions of the fissioning system, the branching ratios for decay of individual fission products and the spectral distributions for photon emission for each decay mode. Though computationally intensive, the method can provide a detailed estimate of the spectrum that would be recorded by an arbitrary spectrometer, and can prove useful in assessing the quality of evaluated data libraries, for identifying gaps in these libraries, etc. The method is illustrated by a first comparison of calculated and experimental spectra from decay of short-lived fission products following the reactions {sup 235}U(n{sub th}, f) and {sup 239}Pu(n{sub th}, f). For general purpose transport calculations, where detailed consideration of the large number of individual {gamma}-ray transitions in a spectrum may be unnecessary, it is shown that an accurate and simple parameterization of a {gamma}-ray source function can be obtained. These parametrizations should provide high-quality average spectral distributions that should prove useful in calculations describing photons escaping from thick attenuating media.

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Siloxanes have a wide variety of applications throughout the aerospace industry which take advantage of their exceptional insulating and adhesive properties and general resilience. They also offer a wide range of tailorable engineering properties with changes in composition and filler content. They are, however, subject to degradation in radiatively and thermally harsh environments. We are using solid state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to investigate changes in network and interfacial structure in siloxane elastomers and their correlations to changes in engineering performance in a series of degraded materials. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters such as transverse (T{sub 2}) relaxation times, cross relaxation rates, and residual dipolar coupling constants provide excellent probes of changes crosslink density and motional dynamics of the polymers caused by multi-mechanism degradation. The results of NMR studies on aged siloxanes are being used in conjunction with other mechanical tests to provide insight into component failure and degradation kinetics necessary for preliminary lifetime assessments of these materials as well as into the structure-property relationships of the polymers. NMR and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results obtained both from high resolution NMR spectrometers as well as low resolution benchtop NMR screening tools will be presented.

This report details the research and findings generated over the course of a 3-year research project funded by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD). Originally tasked with studying beryllium chemistry and chelation for the treatment of Chronic Beryllium Disease and environmental remediation of beryllium-contaminated environments, this work has yielded results in beryllium and uranium solubility and speciation associated with toxicology; specific and effective chelation agents for beryllium, capable of lowering beryllium tissue burden and increasing urinary excretion in mice, and dissolution of beryllium contamination at LLNL Site 300; {sup 9}Be NMR studies previously unstudied at LLNL; secondary ionization mass spec (SIMS) imaging of beryllium in spleen and lung tissue; beryllium interactions with aerogel/GAC material for environmental cleanup. The results show that chelator development using modern chemical techniques such as chemical thermodynamic modeling, was successful in identifying and utilizing tried and tested beryllium chelators for use in medical and environmental scenarios. Additionally, a study of uranium speciation in simulated biological fluids identified uranium species present in urine, gastric juice, pancreatic fluid, airway surface fluid, simulated lung fluid, bile, saliva, plasma, interstitial fluid and intracellular fluid.

We have recently completed a large-area, coded-aperture, gamma-ray imager for use in searching for radiation sources. The instrument was constructed to verify that weak point sources can be detected at considerable distances if one uses imaging to overcome fluctuations in the natural background. The instrument uses a rank-19, one-dimensional coded aperture to cast shadow patterns onto a 0.57 m{sup 2} NaI(Tl) detector composed of 57 individual cubes each 10 cm on a side. These are arranged in a 19 x 3 array. The mask is composed of four-centimeter thick, one-meter high, 10-cm wide lead blocks. The instrument is mounted in the back of a small truck from which images are obtained as one drives through a region.

One of the most significant achievements of modern science is completion of the human genome sequence, completed in the year 2000. Despite this monumental accomplishment, researchers have only begun to understand the relationships between this three-billion-nucleotide genetic code and the regulation and control of gene and protein expression within each of the millions of different types of highly specialized cells. Several methodologies have been developed for the analysis of gene and protein expression in situ, yet despite these advancements, the pace of such analyses is extremely limited. Because information regarding the precise timing and location of gene expression is a crucial component in the discovery of new pharmacological agents for the treatment of disease, there is an enormous incentive to develop technologies that accelerate the analytical process. Here we report on the use of plasmon resonant particles as advanced probes for in situ hybridization. These probes are used for the detection of low levels of gene-probe response and demonstrate a detection method that enables precise, simultaneous localization within a cell of the points of expression of multiple genes or proteins in a single sample.

In this quarter, further analysis was done to investigate the difficulty in predicting fracture at the slab ends. The stress concentration created by the notch geometry at the slab ends can accelerate damage and promote fracture at the relatively low strain rates that exist when the notch region is not directly in the roll bite. However, the phenomenological fracture model provided by Alcoa Technical Center (ATC) was calibrated for strain rates characteristic of the rolling process zone and hydrostatic stress states less severe than the leading edge notch. Additional experiments are being performed at ATC to extend the model's range to include the low strain rate, high triaxiality condition. A bug in the parallel code that caused an inconsistent temperature distribution at the slab surface has been identified and Corrected. Currently, more simulations are being performed to validate the model.

We have demonstrated the feasibility of fabricating pure-metal foams via a novel four-step technique based upon ion beam lithography. In this report we discuss why and how such foams are useful as bright, high-photon-energy x-ray sources; the details of the fabrication technique we employed to make such foams; the results obtained; and what we plan to do in the future to improve the technique and turn the foams so fabricated into real laser targets for high-brightness, high-energy back lighting.

Separating the metals from the glass is the first step in recycling end-of-life cadmium telluride photovoltaic modules and manufacturing scrap. We accomplished this by leaching the metals in solutions of various concentrations of acids and hydrogen peroxide. A relatively dilute solution of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide was found to be most effective for leaching cadmium and tellurium from broken pieces of CdTe PV modules. A solution comprising 5 mL of hydrogen peroxide per kg of PV scrap in 1 M sulfuric acid, gave better results than the 12 mL H{sub 2}O{sub 2}/kg, 3.2 M H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} solution currently used in the industry. Our study also showed that this dilute solution is more effective than hydrochloric-acid solutions and it can be reused after adding a small amount of hydrogen peroxide. These findings, when implemented in large-scale operation, would result in significant savings due to reductions in volume of the concentrated leaching agents (H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} and H{sub 2}O{sub 2}) and of the alkaline reagents required to neutralize the residuals of leaching.

We present a method for end-to-end out-of-core simplification and view-dependent visualization of large surfaces. The method consists of three phases: (1) memory insensitive simplification; (2) memory insensitive construction of a multiresolution hierarchy; and (3) run-time, output-sensitive, view-dependent rendering and navigation of the mesh. The first two off-line phases are performed entirely on disk, and use only a small, constant amount of memory, whereas the run-time system pages in only the rendered parts of the mesh in a cache coherent manner. As a result, we are able to process and visualize arbitrarily large meshes given a sufficient amount of disk space; a constant multiple of the size of the input mesh. Similar to recent work on out-of-core simplification, our memory insensitive method uses vertex clustering on a rectilinear octree grid to coarsen and create a hierarchy for the mesh, and a quadric error metric to choose vertex positions at all levels of resolution. We show how the quadric information can be used to concisely represent vertex position, surface normal, error, and curvature information for anisotropic view-dependent coarsening and silhouette preservation. The run-time component of our system uses asynchronous rendering and view-dependent refinement driven by screen-space error and visibility. The system exploits …

Uranium hydriding is one of the most important processes that has received considerable attention over many years. Although many experimental and modeling studies have been carried out concerning thermochemistry, diffusion kinetics and mechanisms of U-hydriding, very little is known about the electronic structure and electronic features that govern the U-hydriding process. Yet it is the electronic feature that controls the activation barrier and thus the rate of hydriding. Moreover the role of impurities and the role of the product UH{sub 3} on hydriding rating are not fully understood. An early study by Condon and Larson concerns with the kinetics of U-hydrogen system and a mathematical model for the U-hydriding process. They proposed that diffusion in the reactant phase by hydrogen before nucleation to form hydride phase and that the reaction is first order for hydriding and zero order for dehydriding. Condon has also calculated and measures the reaction rates of U-hydriding and proposed a diffusion model for the U-hydriding. This model was found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental reaction rates. From the slopes of the Arrhenius plot the activation energy was calculated as 6.35 kcal/mole. In a subsequent study Kirkpatrick formulated a close-form for approximate solution to …

The study of the electrochemical behavior of wrought and welded Alloy 22 was carried out in 5 M CaC12 at various temperatures. Comparisons were made between the electrochemical behaviors of the wrought and welded forms of Alloy 22 Multiple Crevice Assembly (MCA) specimens. The susceptibility to corrosion was found to increase with increase in temperature in both the wrought and the welded forms of the alloy. Nevertheless, degree of susceptibility was found to be similar in both the wrought and welded.

The purpose of this memo is to give an update on our work on ceramic laser materials--feasibility proposal 04-FS-006. Transparent ceramic materials have several major advantages over single crystals in laser applications including, ease and robustness of manufacturing, large apertures, design flexibility, fracture toughness, high activator concentrations, uniformity of composition, no residual stress, and others discussed in the proposal. After a decade of working on making transparent YAG:Nd in 1995 Japanese workers demonstrated samples for the first time that performed as well in lasers as their single crystal counterparts. Since then several laser materials have been made and evaluated. For these reasons, developing ceramic laser materials is the most exciting and futuristic materials topic in today's major solid-state laser conferences. The highlights and executive summary of our work to date are: (1) Ordered a slab of transparent YAG:Nd from Konoshima Chemical Co. for evaluation in the SSHCL. Konoshima is the only company in the world currently making ceramic laser materials for sale. Our slab, the largest one made to date, will arrive within a week and will be evaluated in the SSHCL. (2) Met with the inventor of the Konoshima laser ceramic, Dr. Takagimi Yanagitani, and discussed synthesis and performance …

The discrete ordinates method is well-suited to implementation with block-structured adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). AMR meshes group points into logically-rectangular patches, and provide the benefits of adaptivity without sacrificing the efficiency and geometric regularity of regular grids. In particular, these meshes preserve the directional ordering of points required for explicit ordinate transport sweeps. A number of algorithmic issues must be addressed to make such a method practical. These include sequencing of ordinates and grids for parallel execution, simultaneous solution of the transport equation on multiple levels of the grid hierarchy, implicit coupling to the fluid energy, and conservation of energy in a time-dependent context where different grid levels advance with different timesteps. The author discusses these and other issues and present example calculations in two and three spatial dimensions.

Within the next ten years the Standard Model will likely have to be modified to encompass a wide range of newly discovered phenomena, new elementary particles, new symmetries, and new dynamics. These phenomena will be revealed through experiment with high energy particle accelerators, mainly the LHC. This will represent a revolution in our understanding of nature, and will either bring us closer to an understanding of all phenomena, through existing ideas such as supersymmetry to superstrings, or will cause us to scramble to find new ideas and a new sense of direction. We are thus entering a dramatic and important time in the quest to understand the fundamental laws of nature and their role in shaping the universe. The energy scales now probed by the Tevatron, of order hundreds of GeV, will soon be subsumed by the LHC and extended up to a few TeV. We expect the unknown structure of the mysterious symmetry breaking of the Standard Model to be revealed. We will then learn the answer to a question that has a fundamental bearing upon our own existence: 'What is the origin of mass?' All modern theories of 'electroweak symmetry breaking' involve many new particles, mainly to provide …

This report provides a summary on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) porgrams, cross-cutting themes, and strategic goals for Members of Congress, Congressional staff, the media, NOAA constituents and customers, and all other individuals who may be interested in NOAA's accomplishments and future plans.

Differentiating erythroid cells execute a unique gene expression program that insures synthesis of the appropriate proteome at each stage of maturation. Standard expression microarrays provide important insight into erythroid gene expression but cannot detect qualitative changes in transcript structure, mediated by RNA processing, that alter structure and function of encoded proteins. We analyzed stage-specific changes in the late erythroid transcriptome via use of high-resolution microarrays that detect altered expression of individual exons. Ten differentiation-associated changes in erythroblast splicing patterns were identified, including the previously known activation of protein 4.1R exon 16 splicing. Six new alternative splicing switches involving enhanced inclusion of internal cassette exons were discovered, as well as 3 changes in use of alternative first exons. All of these erythroid stage-specific splicing events represent activated inclusion of authentic annotated exons, suggesting they represent an active regulatory process rather than a general loss of splicing fidelity. The observation that 3 of the regulated transcripts encode RNA binding proteins (SNRP70, HNRPLL, MBNL2) may indicate significant changes in the RNA processing machinery of late erythroblasts. Together, these results support the existence of a regulated alternative pre-mRNA splicing program that is critical for late erythroid differentiation.