To better understand the contribution of cosmic ray muons to the CUORICINO background, ten plastic scintillator detectors were installed at the CUORICINO site and operated during 3 months of the CUORICINO experiment. From these measurements, an upper limit of 0.0021 counts/keV {center_dot} kg {center_dot} yr (95% C.L.) was obtained on the cosmic ray induced background in the neutrinoless double beta decay region of interest. The measurements were compared to Geant4 simulations, which are similar to those that will be used to estimate the backgrounds in CUORE.

This report analyzes developments in the Francophone West African country of Guinea since the military's seizure of power in December 2008, Guinea's relations with the United States, and U.S. policy in the wake of the coup. It also provides background on Guinean history and politics.

This report analyzes developments since the military's seizure of power in December 2008, Guinea's relations with the United States, and U.S. policy in the wake of the coup. It also provides background on Guinean history and politics.

Optical Metrology tools, especially for short wavelength (EUV and X-Ray), must cover a wide range of spatial frequencies from the very low, which affects figure, to the important mid-spatial frequencies and the high spatial frequency range, which produces undesirable flair. A major difficulty in using surface profilometers arises due to the unknown Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) of the instruments. Therefore, accurate calibration of profilometers, the understanding of their MTF limitations, and cross calibration between tools represents a considerable challenge for quantitative optical metrology. In previous work the instrumental MTF of a surface profiler was precisely measured using reference test surfaces based on binary pseudo-random (BPR) gratings. Here, they present results of fabricating and using two-dimensional (2D) BPR arrays that allow for a direct 2D calibration of the instrumental MTF. BPR sequences are widely used in engineering and communication applications such as Global Position System, and wireless communication protocol. The ideal BPR pattern has a flat 'white noise' response over the entire range of spatial frequencies of interest. The BPR array used here is based on the Uniformly Redundant Array prescription initially used for x-ray and gamma ray astronomy applications. The URA's superior imaging capability originates from the fact that its …

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Following a telephone interview with Materials and Systems Research, Inc. (MSRI) by members of the Hydrogen Safety Panel on December 4, 2008, a safety review team was dispatched to Salt Lake City, UT to perform a site-visit review. The major topic of concern was the presence of a hydrogen storage and dispensing shed on the MSRI premises close to both its own laboratory/office building and to the adjoining property. The metal shed contains 36 cylinders (two 18-cylinder "pods") of hydrogen all connected to a common manifold and used to supply hydrogen to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fuel cell project plus several other projects using an entire pod as a common supply. In busy times, MSRI uses and replaces one pod per week. As a result of the site visit, the safety review team has raised some concern with the shed’s location, design, use, and safety features as well as other components of the facility, including the laboratory area.

Primary GCR interact with the Earth's atmosphere originating atmospheric showers, thus giving rise to fluxes of secondary particles in the atmosphere. Electromagnetic and hadronic interactions interplay in the production of these particles, whose detection is performed by means of complementary techniques in different energy ranges and at different depths in the atmosphere, down to the Earth's surface. Monte Carlo codes are essential calculation tools which can describe the complexity of the physics of these phenomena, thus allowing the analysis of experimental data. However, these codes are affected by important uncertainties, concerning, in particular, hadronic physics at high energy. In this paper we shall report some results concerning inclusive particle fluxes and atmospheric shower properties as obtained using the FLUKA transport and interaction code. Some emphasis will also be given to the validation of the physics models of FLUKA involved in these calculations.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a 310-square-mile United States Department of Energy nuclear facility located along the Savannah River (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. Nuclear weapons material production began in the early 1950s, utilizing five production reactors. In the early 1990s all SRS production reactor operations were terminated. The first reactor closure end state declaration was recently institutionalized in a Comprehensive Environmental Response and Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Early Action Record of Decision. The decision for the final closure of the 318,000 square foot 105-P Reactor was determined to be in situ decommissioning (ISD). ISD is an acceptable and cost effective alternative to off-site disposal for the reactor building, which will allow for consolidation of remedial action wastes generated from other cleanup activities within the P Area. ISD is considered protective by the regulators, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), public and stakeholders as waste materials are stabilized/immobilized, and radioactivity is allowed to naturally decay, thus preventing future exposure to the environment. Stakeholder buy-in was critical in the upfront planning in order to achieve this monumental final decision. Numerous public meetings and workshops were held in …

This report provides background information about Saudi Arabia and analyzes current issues in U.S.-Saudi relations.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ruled by the Al Saud family since its founding in 1932, wields significant political and economic influence as the birthplace of the Islamic faith and by virtue of its large energy reserves. This report provides background information about Saudi Arabia and analyzes current issues in U.S.-Saudi relations.

Our laboratory focuses on developing spatially localized chemistries which can produce structures of controlled architecture on the supermolecular length scale -- structures which allow us to control the motion of molecular species with high spatial resolution, ultimately on nanometer length scales. Specifically, nanocapillary array membranes (NCAMs) contain an array of nanometer diameter pores connecting vertically separated microfluidic channels. NCAMs can manipulate samples with sub-femtoliter characteristic volumes and attomole sample amounts and are opening the field of chemical analysis of mass-limited samples, because they are capable of digital control of fluid switching down to sub-attoliter volumes; extension of analytical “unit operations” down to sub-femtomole sample sizes; and exerting spatiotemporal control over fluid mixing to enable studies of reaction dynamics. Digital flow switching mediated by nanocapillary array membranes can be controlled by bias, ionic strength, or pore diameter and is being studied by observing the temporal characteristics of transport across a single nanopore in thin PMMA membranes. The control of flow via nanopore surface characteristics, charge density and functional group presentation, is being studied by coupled conductivity and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements. Reactive mixing experiments previously established low millisecond mixing times for NCAM-mediated fluid transfer, and this has been exploited to demonstrate …

CdZnTe (CZT) nuclear radiation detectors are advanced sensors that utilize innovative technologies developed for wide band-gap semiconductor industry and microelectronics. They open opportunities for new types of room-temperature operating, field deployable instruments that provide accurate identification of potential radiological threats and timely awareness for both the civilian and military communities. Room-temperature radiation detectors are an emerging technology that relies on the use of high-quality CZT crystals whose availability is currently limited by material non-uniformities and the presence of extended defects. To address these issues, which are most critical to CZT sensor developments, we developed X-ray mapping and IR transmission microscopy systems to characterize both CZT crystals and devices. Since a customized system is required for such X-ray measurements, we use synchrotron radiation beams available at BNL's National Synchrotron Light Source. A highly-collimated and high-intensity X-ray beam supports measurements of areas as small as 10 x 10 {micro}m{sup 2}, and allowed us to see fluctuations in collected charge over the entire area of the detector in a reasonable time. The IR microscopy system allows for 3D visualization of Te inclusions and other extended defects. In this paper, we describe the experimental techniques used in our measurements and typical results obtained from …

The development of monodisperse crystalline particles in cordierite glass doped with Cr3+ after a two-step heat treatment is elucidated by a combination of time-resolved small and wide angle x-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) experiments with electron microscopy. The effects of bulk and surface crystallization can clearly be distinguished, and the crystallization kinetics of the bulk phase is characterized. The internal pressure due to structural differences between the crystalline and amorphous phase is measured but the physical cause of this pressure can not unambiguously be attributed. The combined measurements comprise a nearly full characterization of the crystallization processes and the resulting sample morphology.

This report provides the information related to the fishery, aquaculture, and marine mammal issues in the 111th Congress

The purpose of this document is to provide a suggested approach, based on input from pediatric stakeholders, to communicating pediatric-related information on pandemic influenza at the community level in a step-by-step manner.

Until this past October, Fluor Hanford managed Hanford's integrated groundwater program for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). With the new contract awards at the Site, however, the CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) has assumed responsibility for the groundwater-monitoring programs at the 586-square-mile reservation in southeastern Washington State. These programs are regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The purpose of monitoring is to track existing groundwater contamination from past practices, as well as other potential contamination that might originate from RCRA treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities. An integral part of the groundwater-monitoring program involves taking samples of the groundwater and measuring the water levels in wells scattered across the site. More than 1,200 wells are sampled each year. Historically, field personnel or 'samplers' have been issued pre-printed forms that have information about the well(s) for a particular sampling evolution. This information is taken from the Hanford Well Information System (HWIS) and the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS)--official electronic databases. The samplers used these hardcopy forms to document the groundwater samples and well water-levels. After recording the entries in the field, the samplers turned the forms …

It has been shown that by superposing two solenoid-like thin windings, that are oppositely skewed (tilted) with respect to the bore axis, the combined current density on the surface is cos({theta})-like and the resulting magnetic field in the bore is a pure dipole field. Following a previous test of such a superconducting dipole magnet, a quadrupole magnet was designed and built using similar principles. This paper describes the design, construction and test of a 75 mm bore 600 mm long superconducting quadrupole made with NbTi wire. The simplicity of the design, void of typical wedges, end-spacers and coil assembly, is especially suitable for future high field insert coils using Nb{sub 3}Sn as well as HTS wires. The 3 mm thick coil reached 46 T/m but did not achieve its current plateau.

Soft x-ray zone plate microscopy is a powerful nano-analytic technique used for a wide variety of scientific and technological studies. Pushing its spatial resolution to 10 nm and below is highly desired and feasible due to the short wavelength of soft x-rays. Instruments using Fresnel zone plate lenses achieve a spatial resolution approximately equal to the smallest, outer most zone width. We developed a double patterning zone plate fabrication process based on a high-resolution resist, hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ), to bypass the limitations of conventional single exposure fabrication to pattern density, such as finite beam size, scattering in resist and modest intrinsic resist contrast. To fabricate HSQ structures with zone widths in the order of 10 nm on gold plating base, a surface conditioning process with (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane, 3-MPT, is used, which forms a homogeneous hydroxylation surface on gold surface and provides good anchoring for the desired HSQ structures. Using the new HSQ double patterning process, coupled with an internally developed, sub-pixel alignment algorithm, we have successfully fabricated in-house gold zone plates of 12 nm outer zones. Promising results for 10 nm zone plates have also been obtained. With the 12 nm zone plates, we have achieved a resolution of 12 …

Magnetic order and coupling at the interfaces of highly spin polarized Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} heterostructures have been determined by surface sensitive and element specific soft x-ray spectroscopy and spectromicroscopy techniques. At ambient temperature, the interface between paramagnetic CoCr{sub 2}O{sub 4} or MnCr{sub 2}O{sub 4} and ferrimagnetic Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} isostructural bilayers exhibits long range magnetic order of Co, Mn and Cr cations which cannot be explained in terms of the formation of interfacial MnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} or CoFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}. Instead, the ferrimagnetism is induced by the adjacent Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} layer and is the result of the stabilization of a spinel phase not achievable in bulk form. Magnetism at the interface region is observable up to 500 K, far beyond the chromite bulk Curie temperature of 50-95 K.

This report discusses products liability, which refers to the liability of a manufacturer or seller for injury caused by his product to the person or property of a buyer or third party. Legal developments starting in the 1960s, particularly the adoption of strict tort liability, have made it substantially easier for persons injured by defective products to recover damages.

The fast simulator RADICAL and the Actinic Inspection Tool (AIT) are used in advance of availability of high volume manufacturing quality exposure tools, resists, and masks to assess the expected defect printability levels in production conditions. AIT images are analyzed to qualitatively demonstrate general trends in defect printability: defects smaller than 0.5nm tall on the multilayer surface can cause an unacceptable critical dimension (CD) change, CD change increases for taller defects, and defect printability varies asymmetrically through focus. RADICAL is used to derive quantitative limits for defect size and demonstrate the effects of focus and illumination for 22nm and 16nm dense lines. For 22nm dense lines at best focus a 0.8nm tall defect causes a 10% CD change. For 16nm lines a 0.4nm tall defect causes a 10% CD change. The CD is shown to be more sensitive to buried defects out of focus, but less sensitive to defects in focus if annular or dipole illumination is used.

This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment - of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech. For example, the Court has decided that the First Amendment provides no protection to obscenity, child pornography, or speech that constitutes "advocacy of the use of force or of law violation ... where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

Exposure to ionizing radiation produces few immediate outwardly-visible clinical signs, yet, depending on dose, can severely damage vital physiological functions within days to weeks and produce long-lasting health consequences among survivors. In the event of a radiological accident, the rapid evaluation of the individual absorbed dose is paramount to discriminate the worried but unharmed from those individuals who must receive medical attention. Physical, clinical and biological dosimetry are usually combined for the best dose assessment. However, because of the practical limits of physical and clinical dosimetry, many attempts have been made to develop a dosimetry system based on changes in biological parameters, including techniques for hematology, biochemistry, immunology, cytogenetics, etc. Lymphocyte counts and chromosome aberrations analyses are among the methods that have been routinely used for estimating radiation dose. However, these assays require several days to a week to be completed and therefore cannot be used to obtain a fast estimate of the dose during the first few days after exposure when the information would be most critical for identifying victims of radiation accidents who could benefit the most by medical intervention. The steadily increasing sophistication in our understanding of the early biochemical responses of irradiated cells and tissues provides …

This report discusses the 2002 rule, focusing on how it changes which material and types of activities are regulated under Section 404 and the significance of these issues, especially for the mining industry.