International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The K_#beta#/K_#alpha# X-ray intensity ratios are measured for Mn and Fe and for six other elements with Z lying in the range 49<=Z<=82 following electron capture decay and photon excitation using "2"4"1Am and "5"7Co sources. High-resolution Si(Li) and HpGe detector systems were used in the experiments. The dependence of K_#beta#/K_#alpha# values on the mode of excitation in the case of Mn and Fe is attribuited to the chemical effects, while no such dependence is found for the high-Z elements.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Measurements of the double-electron-capture process in which a positive ion of iodine becomes a negative ion in a single collision with a magnesium atom are reported between 20 and 90 keV. The cross section is comparable to that for the rare gases and not as large as might be expected from a two-valence-electron atom. This process is probably insignificant in the production of negative ion beams using a magnesium-vapor target.

Science.gov (United States)

This article introduces a predictive capability for Hg retention in any Ca-based wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) scrubber, given mercury (Hg) speciation at the FGD inlet, the flue gas composition, and the sulphur dioxide (SO2) capture efficiency. A preliminary statistical analysis of data from 17 full-scale wet FGDs connects flue gas compositions, the extents of Hg oxidation at FGD inlets, and Hg retention efficiencies. These connections clearly signal that solution chemistry within the FGD determines Hg retention. A more thorough analysis based on thermochemical equilibrium yields highly accurate predictions for total Hg retention with no parameter adjustments. For the most reliable data, the predictions were within measurement uncertainties for both limestone and Mg/lime systems operating in both forced and natural oxidation mode. With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Information Collection Request (ICR) database, the quantitative performance ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The 10.3-h "1"6"5Er, decaying by electron capture to stable "1"6"5Ho, offers an excellent promise for use in diagnostic nuclear medicine, especially in conjuction with multiwire proportional-counter cameras. Using an ultra-high-resolution Si(Li) photon spectrometer, L and K x-ray photon yields in "1"6"5Er decay have been measured. The ratio P/sub L//P/sub K/ of electron-capture probabilities in L and K shells is determined to be 0.196 +- 0.030, in good agreement with theory. Estimates of Auger electron yields and yields of very-low-energy electrons from Coster--Kronig transitions are presented. Levels of "1"6"9Er and "1"7"1Er radioactive impurities in the reactor-produced "1"6"5Er sample are experimentally determined. Whole-body dose estimates for "1"6"5Er are given. These compare favorably with "9"9Tc dose.

CERN Document Server

We investigate the limiting behavior of random tree growth in preferential attachment models. The tree stems from a root, and we add vertices to the system one-by-one at random, according to a rule which depends on the degree distribution of the already existing tree. The so-called weight function, in terms of which the rule of attachment is formulated, is such that each vertex in the tree can have at most K children. We define the concept of a certain random measure mu on the leaves of the limiting tree, which captures a global property of the tree growth in a natural way. We prove that the Hausdorff and the packing dimension of this limiting measure is equal and constant with probability one. Moreover, the local dimension of mu equals the Hausdorff dimension at mu-almost every point. We give an explicit formula for the dimension, given the rule of attachment.

Science.gov (United States)

Snake envenomation employs three well integrated strategies: prey immobilization via hypotension, prey immobilization via paralysis, and prey digestion. Purines (adenosine, guanosine and inosine) evidently play a central role in the envenomation strategies of most advanced snakes. Purines constitute the perfect multifunctional toxins, participating simultaneously in all three envenomation strategies. Because they are endogenous regulatory compounds in all vertebrates, it is impossible for any prey organism to develop resistance to them. Purine generation from endogenous precursors in the prey explains the presence of many hitherto unexplained enzyme activities in snake venoms: 5'-nucleotidase, endonucleases (including ribonuclease), phosphodiesterase, ATPase, ADPase, phosphomonoesterase, and NADase. Phospholipases A(2), cytotoxins, myotoxins, and heparinase also participate in purine liberation, in addition to their better known functions. Adenosine contributes to prey immobilization ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chemical-looping combustion is a two-stage process proposed as an alternative for the combustion of carbonaceous materials, such as natural gas or coal gas, for almost complete CO{sub 2} capture. In the reduction stage, the structural oxygen contained in the lattice of a reducible inorganic oxide, is used for combustion of the carbonaceous material. In the regeneration stage the oxygen carrier, found in a reduced state after the reduction stage, is regenerated with pure air to recover the physical and chemical properties of the carrier, ready to reinitiate a new cycle reduction-regeneration. In a typical multicycle reactor test, the carriers are subjected to accumulative chemical and thermal stresses and the performance will, probably, decay progressively with the number of cycles. The occurrence of some side reactions may limit the efficiency of the overall process in CO{sub 2} capture. In this paper, titania-supported ...

Science.gov (United States)

... with the ability to capture imagery in raw 24-bit format, combined with large memory storage devices enable high resolution imagery to be captured ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The inelastic scattering of the beam and the residual gas molecules in RHIC could represent one of the limitations on the beam life time and emittance growth. This report covers the dominant central nuclear collisions influence on the beam lifetime and transverse emittance growth. The cross sections for the beam-gas electron radiative captures are an order of magnitude smaller. The capture cross sections include the radiative and non-radiative capture, and the capture from the electron-positron pair creation from the 'vacuum capture'.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper presents a stochastic model and estimation procedure for analyzing the failure process of a repairable system. We consider repairable systems whose successive interfailure times reveal a significant dependence while showing an insignificant trend. Neither the renewal process nor the non-homogeneous Poisson process are adequate for modeling such failure processes. Especially when the interfailure times show a cyclic pattern, we may consider a switching of the regimes (states) governing the lifetime distribution of the system. We propose a Markov switching model describing the failure process for such a case. The model postulates that a finite number of states governs the distinct lifetime distributions, and the state makes transitions according to a discrete-time Markov chain. Each of the distinct lifetime distributions represents a failure type that may change after successive repairs. Our model generalizes the mixture model by allowing the mixture ...

Science.gov (United States)

In this paper, the following topics are studied: uranium 238 effective integral; thermal range uranium 238 capture cross section; Americium 242 m capture cross section. The mentioned examples show that differential and integral experiments are both useful...

Science.gov (United States)

Biochar is fantastic for enriching soil, and you can make it yourself. Screen capture from video of sea ice minimum for 2010. ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

... energy levels intermediate mass nuclei isotopes nuclei odd-even nuclei

KoreaScience (Korea)

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British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Using disaggregated data from the Brazilian stock market, we calculate default probabilities for 30 different economic sectors. Empirical results suggest that domestic macroeconomic factors can explain these default probabilities. In addition, we construct the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) and the ultrametric hierarchical tree with the MST based on default probabilities to disclose common trends, which reveals that some sectors form clusters. The results of this paper imply that macroeconomic variables have distinct effects on default probabilities, which is important to take into account in credit risk modeling and the generation of stress test scenarios.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The development and testing of novel control technologies and advanced adsorbent materials continue to be active areas of research. In the present study, Hg capture using adsorbent material derived from the bauxite residue (red mud) from two North American refineries was studied. The red mud, seawater-neutralised red mud, and acid-treated red mud were evaluated for their mercury adsorption capacity and compared with other, more conventional sorbent materials. Two different seawater-neutralised red mud (Bauxsol) samples were treated with HCl and HBr in an effort to increase the mercury sorption capacity. In all cases, the acid treatment resulted in a significant increase in the total surface area and an increase in the total pore volume. The fixed-bed mercury capture experimental results showed that the HBr activation treatment was very effective at increasing the mercury capture performance of both Bauxsol samples whereas ...

Science.gov (United States)

Neutron resonance interactions with /sup 100/Mo were studied at a time-of-flight facility. The transmission of two oxide samples (97.4% /sup 100/Mo) was measured at a 78.20 m flight path and the neutron capture cross section was measured at 40.12 m. Resonance analyses yielded parameters of 124 resonances. Capture ..gamma..-ray spectra from 11 resolved resonances were measured with a Ge(Li) detector at a 10.45 m flight path. In contrast to neighboring nuclei, partial radiation widths of strong p-wave resonances are not in agreement with valence model predictions.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The term biological motion is often used by researchers studying the patterns of movement generated by living forms and in sports. We studied a pattern recognition system of motion in sport using biological motion data. Biological motion data are acquired using a 3D motion capture system. However, 3D motion capture systems are very expensive. In this article, a biological motion capture system was built using acceleration sensors. Our proposed system uses the technique of Gaussian fitting and regression analysis. We tested our proposed system in pattern recognition of outdoor tennis and its evaluations.

Science.gov (United States)

Experimental measurements were made of the production cross sections and energy distributions of gamma rays emitted when the stable targets /sup 88/Sr, /sup 89/Y and /sup 90/Zr are exposed to protons in the energy range 3 to 8 MeV. The data are being analyzed using a recent version of the Uhl statistical model code. One conclusion is that while the gamma-ray strength functions employed reproduce the proton capture cross sections, they do not achieve the same degree of hardness observed in the measured spectra. To do so, their lower energy regions must be modified; such changes, however, do not affect the capture cross sections. 7 references.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Network generators that capture the Internet's large-scale topology are crucial for the development of efficient routing protocols and modeling Internet traffic. Our ability to design realistic generators...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

2011 Department of Energy Investments in Carbon Capture Technologies 2010 Smart Meter Installations DOE Recovery Field Projects and State Memos Advanced Vehicle...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Targeted genome capture combined with next-generation sequencing was used to analyze 2.9 Mb of the DFNB79 interval on chromosome 9q34.3, which includes 108 candidate genes. Genomic...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

High-resolution neutron capture cross section measurements of 55Mn were recently performed at GELINA by Schillebeeckx et al. (2005) and at ORELA by Guber et al. (2007). The analysis of the experimental data was performed with the computer code SAMMY using the Bayesian approach in the resonance parameters representation of the cross sections. The neutron transmission data taken in 1988 by Harvey et al. (2007) and not analyzed before were added to the SAMMY experimental data base. More than 95% of the s-wave resonances and more than 85% of the p-wave resonances were identified in the energy range up to 125 keV, leading to the neutron strength functions S0 = (3.90 0.78) x 10-4 and S1 = (0.45 0.08) x 10-4. About 25% of the d-wave resonances were identified with a possible strength function of S2 = 1.0 x 10-4. The capture cross section calculated at 0.0253 eV is 13.27 b, and the capture resonance integral is 13.52 0.30 b. In the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The gamma-ray spectrum following neutron capture on /sup 87/Sr was measured at 3 neutron energies: E/sub n/ = thermal, 2 keV, and 24 keV. Gamma rays were detected in a three-crystal Ge(Li)-NaI-NaI pair spectrometer. Gamma-ray intensities deduced from these spectra by spectral unfolding are presented.

Science.gov (United States)

... Coupon 119 * 52 Probability of Survival Versus Ultimate Compressive Strength for Un-notched Laminate 1 Coupon ipn ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

... americium 241 americium 242 beta decay chain reactions integral doses mass

Science.gov (United States)

... High water temper- atures from June through October also contributed to the observed high catch probabilities in 1995. ...

CERN Document Server

We introduced a probability of traffic light, PL, at an intersection when approaching cars in two roads are in same conditions. As a application, we proposed a modified Nagel-Schreckenberg cellular automata model for describing a conflicting vehicular traffic flow at the intersection. The results show that the plateau region in the fundamental diagrams, caused by the effect of interaction, is dependent not only on the probability PL, but also on the adaptive schemes.

ScienceCinema

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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Applying a total energy absorption {gamma}-ray detector composed of 12 bricks (5x5 cm{sup 2}, 7.5 cm thick) of Bi{sub 4}Ge{sub 3}O{sub 12}(BGO) scintillators, the absolute measurement of capture cross sections for Au and Sb has been made in an energy region between 0.01 eV and 10 eV using the linac time-of-flight method. Incident thermal neutron flux was absolutely determined by using the BGO detection system with a Sm sample. To extend the neutron flux measurement from the thermal neutron region to higher neutron energy, the {sup 10}B(n, {alpha} {gamma}) reaction was applied. Absolute capture yield for the relevant capture sample was obtained by the saturated capture yield at a large resonance of the sample. Gold was selected to investigate the application of the BGO detection system to the absolute measurement of the capture cross sections, since the {sup 197}Au(n, {gamma}){sup ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The neutron capture cross-section of {sup 234}U has been measured for energies from thermal up to the keV region in the neutron time-of-flight facility n-TOF, based on a spallation source located at CERN. A 4{pi} BaF{sub 2} array composed of 40 crystals, placed at a distance of 184.9 m from the neutron source, was employed as a total absorption calorimeter (TAC) for detection of the prompt {gamma}-ray cascade from capture events in the sample. This text describes the experimental setup, all necessary steps followed during the data analysis procedure. Results are presented in the form of R-matrix resonance parameters from fits with the SAMMY code and compared to the evaluated data of Endf in the relevant energy region, indicating the good performance of the n-TOF facility and the TAC. (authors)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neutron capture ..gamma..-ray spectra have been measured at 11 average neutron energies from 10 to 530 keV in /sup 88/Sr using a 20 x 15 cm NaI detector with time-of-flight discrimination of background events. The partial radiation widths and the calculated partial valence widths are compared for the strong p-wave resonances at 287 and 321 keV and found to be highly correlated. At these energies, the spectra are dominated by strong transitions to low-lying single particle states, in confirmation of the role of valence capture in the 3p region. However, the data do not support this mechanism at <508> keV.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract A series of studies performed at our center demonstrates that gaseous microemboli (GME) remain a challenge in cardiac surgical procedures. Evaluation of novel oxygenators must address hemodynamic parameters and microemboli capture capability. The objective of this study is to compare two neonatal membrane oxygenators, the Quadrox i (MAQUET Cardiopulmonary AG, Hirrlingen, Germany) and the Capiox RX05 (Terumo Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), with respect to GME capture and hemodynamic energy delivery. The experimental circuit included a Maquet HL 20 heart lung machine, a Heater Cooler Unit HCU 30 (MAQUET Cardiopulmonary AG), a membrane oxygenator (Quadrox i Neonatal or Capiox RX05), and inch tubing from the COBE Heart/Lung Perfusion Pack (COBE Cardiovascular, Inc., Arvada, CO, USA). A Ca...

Science.gov (United States)

Thalassinid shrimp cause significant problems for oyster aquaculture in the Pacific Northwest (USA) where oysters succumb to the physical disruption of the sediment by the burrowing activity of these animals. While electrofishing is a commonly used technique to capture fish and some invertebrates i...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Systematics of neutron capture radiative width were studied in the target element range from Th to Cm. Reduced radiative widths were analyzed with a simple radiative width formula based on E1 transition. Average radiative width is presented with the standard deviation of 15%. (author)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

For very low collision energies electron capture from excited hydrogen by multicharged ions is characterized by enormous cross sections, the predicted maximum being comparable to the geometric size of the Rydberg atom. The ion-atom merged-beams technique is being used to study these collisions for the variety of charge states and the wide range of energies (0.1 to 1000 eV/amu) accessible to the apparatus. A neutral D beam containing a Rydberg atom population proportional to 1/n"3 is produced by collisional electron detachment of 8 keV D"- in N_2 gas. An applied electric field results in the range (n=24--11) depending on the strength of the field applied. This beam is then merged with O"3"+ or O"5"+ ion beams at low relative collision velocities where the resultant beam-beam signal of D"+ due to electron loss is dominated by electron capture. From the sharp decrease in the observed beam-beam signal as the electric field increases it is inferred ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Natural accumulations of skeletal material (death assemblages) have the potential to provide historical data on species diversity and population structure for regions lacking decades of wildlife monitoring,...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

A powerlifting athlete ruptured his left tendon of the pectoralis major muscle while attempting to lift 160 kg in a Brazilian bench press championship. The injury seemed to occur in the concentric...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this work is to develop regenerable sorbents that have high selectivity, efficient regenerability, and high adsorption capacity for CO2 over wide temperature ranges. These properties are critical for the success of the PSA/PSS and TSA/TSS processes.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This dissertation describes a measurement of the rate ofnuclear muon capture by the proton, performed by the MuCap Collaborationusing a new technique based on a time projection chamber operating inultraclean, deuterium-depleted hydrogen gas at room temperature and 1 MPapressure. The hydrogen target's low gas density of 1 percent compared toliquid hydrogen is key to avoiding uncertainties that arise from theformation of muonic molecules. The capture rate was obtained from thedifference between the mu- disappearance rate in hydrogen--as determinedfrom data collected in the experiment's first physics run in fall2004--and the world averagefor the mu+ decay rate. After combining theresults of my analysis with the results from another independent analysisof the 2004 data, the muon capture rate from the hyperfine singlet groundstate of the mu-p atom is found to be Lambda_S = 725.0 +- 17.4 1/s, fromwhich the ...

Science.gov (United States)

The differential cross section measurements for /sup 241/Am, /sup 242m/Am and /sup 243/Am are reviewed in the energy range from 0.5 eV to 10 keV. Parameters extracted from resonance analysis, such as the neutron strength function, the average level spacing, the average capture and fission widths, are compared for the various measurements. The average capture and fission cross sections from 100 eV to 10 keV are directly compared. The status of the data set is discussed with suggestions for further measurements. 24 references.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A detailed study was undertaken to examine the potential of iron oxide present in red mud (a waste product from Bayer's alumina process) as a sorbent for SO/sub 2/ capture by dry process. The other constituents present in the red mud can bring about enhanced utilization of the active component provided they are almost completely inert. The practical use of the process has been explored and a few batchwise cyclic operations of SO/sub 2/ capture and regeneration have also been carried out. A kinetic model of the reaction has been proposed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

When energetic heavy ions traverse a medium, the amount of energy deposited by the ions is closely related to their effective charges. The charge-state fractions of these beams are obtained by solving rate equations for the electron loss and capture processes. By assuming local balance between electron loss and capture, the charge-state distributions, the averge equilibrium charge q, and other properties are obtained as functions of the incident beam velocity. The LET (linear energy transfer) of Ne and Ar ions with energies between 0.01 and 100 MeV/amu is calculatedted using their average equilibrium charge.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Phelps N. A. Cluster or capture? Manufacturing foreign direct investment, external economies and agglomeration, Regional Studies.?This paper reviews the nature and significance of external economies associated with multinational enterprise (MNE) participation in the manufacturing industries of host economies. It argues that the balance of forces of internalization and externalization is currently skewed towards the former and the interests of MNEs rather than the latter and the interests of local and national communities and governments. A stylized comparison of developmental and competition state interventions in relation to MNEs and their foreign direct investment (FDI) suggests that in the absence of co-ordinated interventions by governments, there will commonly be a failure of t...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this work is to improve the process for CO{sub 2} capture by alkanolamine absorption/stripping by developing an alternative solvent, aqueous K{sub 2}CO{sub 3} promoted by piperazine. Progress has been made in this reporting period on three subtasks. A simple thermodynamic model has been developed to represent the CO{sub 2} vapor pressure and speciation of the new solvent. A rate model has been formulated to predict the CO{sub 2} flux with these solutions under absorber conditions. A process and instrumentation diagram and process flow diagram have been prepared for modifications of the existing pilot plant system.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A comparative study has been performed to compare the 30 wt% of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) aqueous solution and 30 wt% of methyldiethanol amine (MDEA) aqueous solution to capture carbon dioxide contained in the flue gas stream. The equilibrium constants for each electrolyte reactions have been used to estimate the carbon dioxide absorption process. Henry's constants for each binary pairs between solute gases and solvent have been used to estimate solubility of the gas components.

Science.gov (United States)

Low resolution and un-sharp facial images are always captured from surveillance videos because of long human-camera distance and human movements. Previous works addressed this problem by using an active camera to capture close-up facial images without considering human movements and mechanical delays of the active camera. In this paper, we proposed a unified framework to capture facial images in video surveillance systems by using one static and active camera in a cooperative manner. Human faces are first located by a skin-color based real-time face detection algorithm. A stereo camera model is also employed to approximate human face location and his/her velocity with respect to the active camera. Given the mechanical delays of the active camera, the position of a target face with a given delay can be estimated using a Human-Camera Synchronization Model. By controlling the active camera with corresponding amount of pan, ...

CERN Document Server

This paper focuses on the analysis of average Gaussian error probabilities in certain fading channels, i.e. we are interested in E[Q((p {\\gamma})^(1/2))] where Q(.) is the Gaussian Q-function, p is a positive real number and {\\gamma} is a nonnegative random variable. We present a unified analysis of the average Gaussian error probability, derive a compact expression in terms of the Lauricella FD^(n) function that is applicable to a broad class of fading channels, and discuss the relation of this expression and expressions of this type recently appeared in literature. As an intermediate step in our derivations, we also obtain a compact expression for the outage probability of the same class of fading channels. Finally, we show how this unified analysis allows us to obtain novel performance analytical results.

Science.gov (United States)

... Congo. It is probable that the type locality Matadi is in error and is the location from ... specimens of this species have been collected between Matadi and Luozi. (click map to view...

Science.gov (United States)

... River at Ango Ango (about 4 km from Matadi (probably upstream)), and the second at Chaundron de ... proposal were to be adopted the site at Matadi would be lost. No conservation measures in ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leakage of CO{sub 2} and displaced brine from geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) sites into potable groundwater or to the near-surface environment is a primary concern for safety and effectiveness of GCS. The focus of this study is on the estimation of the probability of CO{sub 2} leakage along conduits such as faults and fractures. This probability is controlled by (1) the probability that the CO{sub 2} plume encounters a conductive fault that could serve as a conduit for CO{sub 2} to leak through the sealing formation, and (2) the probability that the conductive fault(s) intersected by the CO{sub 2} plume are connected to other conductive faults in such a way that a connected flow path is formed to allow CO{sub 2} to leak to environmental resources that may be impacted by leakage. This work is designed to fit into the certification framework for geological CO{sub 2} storage, which represents ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The article applies the Probability Safety Assessment approach to analyze the risk impact of extension of allowed outage time of emergency diesel generator in Daya Bay NPP and adopts the risk-acceptance criteria used by NRC to evaluate changes to the licensing basis. The assessment results show that the risk impact is acceptable to increase the emergency diesel generator allowed outage time from 3 days to 14 days. (authors)

Science.gov (United States)

Using static Michelson interferometer to get the spectrum information of measurement targets for spectrum identification, under the condition that the interference length is constant, the system can be optimized by BP neural network algorithm for the mixed spectral separation process. Thereby it can realize improving the recognition probability of camouflage target. Collecting the spectrum information in field of view (FOV) by the interferometer and linear array CCD detector, composing the set of mixed spectrum data, with known absorption spectrum of the material as a hidden layer of rules, it used BP neural network to separate the mixed spectrum data. Experiment with different distances, different combinations of mixed background spectrum as the initial data, using steel target (size: 1.5 m x 1.5 m) made of four kinds, the recognition probability of non-camouflage target is about 90% by BP neural network algorithm or the traditional algorithm, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The requirements to design nuclear power plants for the effects of an instantaneous double-ended guillotine break (DEGB) of the reactor coolant piping have led to excessive design costs, interference with normal plant operation and maintenance, and unnecessary radiation exposure of plant maintenance personnel. This report describes an aspect of the NRC/Lawrence Livermore National laboratory-sponsored research program aimed at investigating whether the probability of DEGB in Reactor Coolant Loop Piping of nuclear power plants is acceptably small such that the requirements to design for the DEGB effects (e.g., provision of pipe whip restraints) may be removed. This study estimates the probability of indirect DEGB in Reactor Coolant piping as a consequence of seismic-induced structural failures within the containment of the GE supplied boiling water reactor at the Brunswick nuclear power plant. The median probability of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The general responses proposed to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions to the atmosphere are conservation, improved efficiency and fuel substitution. These are valid options but other alternatives such as CO{sub 2} capture and disposal may be more attractive for specific areas. There are good reasons why the capture and disposal option fits the situation in Western Canada. The first and obvious reason is the importance of hydrocarbon energy to the regional economy. Here the economy is based on the production, utilization and sale of hydrocarbons such as coal, oil and natural gas and we intend to stay in business. Besides meeting the Canadian demand, natural gas from Alberta is used in the US as far away as Boston and Los Angeles. Canadian heavy crude oil serves much of the American Midwest and coal from the Canadian Rocky Mountains is exported to Japan. Although many may consider these hydrocarbon reserves and fossil fuel production as part of the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

During the last 15 years cycles with CO{sub 2} capture have been in focus, due to the growing concern over our climate. Often, a natural gas fired combined cycle with a chemical absorption plant for CO{sub 2} capture from the flue gases have been used as a reference in comparisons between cycles. Neither the integration of the steam production for regeneration of amines in the combined cycle nor the off-design behaviour of such a plant has been extensively studied before. In this paper, the integration of steam production for regeneration of the amines is modelled at design load and studied in off-design conditions for a combined cycle. Different ambient conditions and part-load strategies and their influence on the cycle performance are also examined. Of particular interest is a novel strategy with the possibility of longer life of gas turbine blading, with marginal loss in efficiency. The off-design performance of the combined cycle is ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Isobaric contaminants are often problematical in accelerated negative ion beams for research at certain radioactive ion beam (RIB) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facilities since their presence in low-intensity rare isotopic beams seriously compromise experimental results. This article describes a non-resonant, laser-based photo-detachment apparatus for use at these facilities, which, according to calculations efficiently removes isobaric contaminants from these beams. The advantage of the system for isobaric contaminant removal over other systems proposed to date lies in its ability to efficiently capture easily transportable energetic negative ion beams with low, intermediate or high energy spreads by a superconducting solenoid magnetic field. The ability to change the diameter of captured beams by adjusting the magnetic field strength permits optimum control of the radial overlap of the laser/negative ion beam profiles over an ...

CERN Document Server

Bedwyr is a generalization of logic programming that allows model checking directly on syntactic expressions possibly containing bindings. This system, written in OCaml, is a direct implementation of two recent advances in the theory of proof search. The first is centered on the fact that both finite success and finite failure can be captured in the sequent calculus by incorporating inference rules for {\\em definitions} that allow {\\em fixed points} to be explored. As a result, proof search in such a sequent calculus can capture simple model checking problems as well as may and must behavior in operational semantics. The second is that higher-order abstract syntax is directly supported using term-level $\\lambda$-binders and the quantifier known as $\

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Many existing proposals either lack sufficient concreteness to make carbon capture and geological sequestration (CCGS) operational or fail to focus on a comprehensive, long term framework for its regulation, thus failing to account adequately for the urgency of the issue, the need to develop immediate experience with large scale demonstration projects, or the financial and other incentives required to launch early demonstration projects. We aim to help fill this void by proposing a roadmap to commercial deployment of CCGS in the United States.This roadmap focuses on the legal and financial incentives necessary for rapid demonstration of geological sequestration in the absence of national restrictions on CO2 emissions. It weaves together existing federal programs and financing opportunities into a set of recommendations for achieving commercial viability of geological sequestration.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Photoelectron resonance capture ionization (PERCI) mass spectrometry has been developed for the direct online analysis of organics, including lipids. Analysis is conducted without the need for sample preparation or chemical derivatization such as methylation, foregoing the use of harmful or toxic chemicals. PERCI is currently being adapted towards the analysis of edible oils. Herein, as a proof of principle of the simplicity and potential utility of this method towards the analysis of edible oils, we present the analysis of the prevalent fatty acids (FA) in Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil along with triolein and linolenic acid (LNA) standards. Ionization of olive oil results in little fragmentation of the prevalent FA, which are measured as their molecular ions, [FA-H]-. The relative concent...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The authors have made new and improved measurements of the neutron capture and total cross sections of {sup 88}Sr at the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator (ORELA). Improvements over previous measurements include a wider incident neutron energy range, the use of metallic rather than carbonate samples, better background subtraction, reduced sensitivity to sample-dependent backgrounds, and better pulse-height weighting functions. Because of its small cross section, the {sup 88}Sr(n,{gamma}) reaction is an important bottleneck during the s-process nucleosynthesis. Hence, an accurate determination of this rate is needed to better constrain the neutron exposure in s-process models and to more fully exploit the recently discovered isotopic anomalies in certain meteorites. They describe the experimental procedures, compare the results to previous data, and discuss their astrophysical impact.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This thesis deals with the reduced-order modeling of electrical machines and interconnected power systems in the medium time scale using integral manifold techniques. First, an improved model for power system stabilizer design that captures the damping due to the amortisseur windings while retaining the simplicity of the DeMello-Concordia model is presented. Second, time scales of the regulated synchronous machine are analyzed using the linearized models, and the well-known effects of the high-gain regulator on the system are explained. A reduced-order model that captures the damping due to the power-system stabilizer is presented. Third, speed-damping terms are obtained in the swing equation in a multimachine environment by approximating the integral manifold associated with fast damper windings. This provides a theoretical basis for the practice of adding cross-damping terms to the swing equation to account for damping present in the system. ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dissociative electron capture to CCl_4 is studied by measuring the angular and velocity distribution of Cl"- ions produced in collisions with velocity selected K(np) Rydberg atoms. Analysis of the data using a Monte Carlo collision code that models the detailed kinematics of the reaction indicates that the lifetime of the CCl_4"- intermediate formed by Rydberg electron capture is 7.5 #+-# 2.5 ps and that, upon dissociation, only a small fraction of the excess energy of reaction appears as translational energy of the Cl"- and CCl_3 fragments. The present approach is one of the few experimental techniques yet devised that can probe the lifetimes of collisionally-produced excited states on a picosecond timescale, and demonstrates that Rydberg atoms provide a unique tool with which to investigate the dynamics of dissociative electron attachment. Measurements are being extended to additional species, including CFCl_3.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Photoelectron resonance capture ionization aerosol mass spectrometry (PERCI-AMS) has been applied to the analysis of proxies for marine aerosols with and without ozone; proxies used were mixed oleic acid-amino acid particles. The mechanism of ion formation for serine (104 m/z), glutamic acid (146 m/z), and phenylalanine (164 m/z) was dissociative electron attachment. This corresponds to loss of the hydrogen atom only, allowing for straightforward identification of the free amino acids. No ozonolysis products for the free amino acids were observed, even at high concentrations of ozone (500 ppm for 19 s). The direct detection of a novel gas-phase hydrated anion, [serine + H2O-H]-, is described. These preliminary results suggest that PERCI-AMS may provide an effective, simple and direct onlin...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Capturing the Daylight Dividend conducted activities to build market demand for daylight as a means of improving indoor environmental quality, overcoming technological barriers to effective daylighting, and informing and assisting state and regional market transformation and resource acquisition program implementation efforts. The program clarified the benefits of daylight by examining whole building systems energy interactions between windows, lighting, heating, and air conditioning in daylit buildings, and daylighting's effect on the human circadian system and productivity. The project undertook work to advance photosensors, dimming systems, and ballasts, and provided technical training in specifying and operating daylighting controls in buildings. Future daylighting work is recommended in metric development, technology development, testing, training, education, and outreach.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this work is to improve the process for CO{sub 2} capture by alkanolamine absorption/stripping by developing an alternative solvent, aqueous K{sub 2}CO{sub 3} promoted by piperazine. Thermodynamic modeling predicts that the heat of desorption of CO{sub 2} from 5m K+/2.5 PZ from 85 kJ/mole at 40 C to 30 kJ/mole at 120 C. Mass transfer modeling of this solvent suggests that carbonate and general salt concentration play a major role in catalyzing the rate of reaction of CO{sub 2} with piperazine. Stripper modeling suggests that with the multipressure stripper, the energy consumption with a generic solvent decreases by 15% as the heat of desorption is decreased from 23.8 to 18.5 kcal/gmol. A second pilot plant campaign with 5m K+/2.5 PZ was successfully completed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this work is to improve the process for CO{sub 2} capture by alkanolamine absorption/stripping by developing an alternative solvent, aqueous K{sub 2}CO{sub 3} promoted by piperazine. CO{sub 2} mass transfer rates are second order in piperazine concentration and increase with ionic strength. Modeling of stripper performance suggests that 5 m K{sup +}/2.5 m PZ will require 25 to 46% less heat than 7 m MEA. The first pilot plant campaign was completed on June 24. The CO{sub 2} penetration through the absorber with 20 feet of Flexipac{trademark} 1Y varied from 0.6 to 16% as the inlet CO{sub 2} varied from 3 to 12% CO{sub 2} and the gas rate varied from 0.5 to 3 kg/m{sup 2}-s.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In this study, a novel graphene nanosheets (GNSs) coated solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was prepared by immobilizing microwave synthesized GNSs on a stainless steel wire. Microwave synthesized GNSs were verified by X-ray diffraction, field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). GNS-SPME fiber was characterized using FE-SEM and the results showed the GNS coating was homogeneous, porous, and highly adherent to the surface of the stainless steel fiber. The performance and feasibility of the GNS-SPME fiber was evaluated under one-step microwave assisted (MA) headspace (HS) SPME followed by gas chromatography with electron capture detection for five organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in aqueous samples. Parameters influencing the extra...

CERN Document Server

This paper describes the National Research Council (NRC) Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) system, as applied to the English Lexical Sample (ELS) task in Senseval-3. The NRC system approaches WSD as a classical supervised machine learning problem, using familiar tools such as the Weka machine learning software and Brill's rule-based part-of-speech tagger. Head words are represented as feature vectors with several hundred features. Approximately half of the features are syntactic and the other half are semantic. The main novelty in the system is the method for generating the semantic features, based on word \\hbox{co-occurrence} probabilities. The probabilities are estimated using the Waterloo MultiText System with a corpus of about one terabyte of unlabeled text, collected by a web crawler.

CERN Document Server

This Chapter develops a realist information-theoretic interpretation of the nonclassical features of quantum probabilities. On this view, what is fundamental in the transition from classical to quantum physics is the recognition that \\emph{information in the physical sense has new structural features}, just as the transition from classical to relativistic physics rests on the recognition that space-time is structurally different than we thought. Hilbert space, the event space of quantum systems, is interpreted as a kinematic (i.e., pre-dynamic) framework for an indeterministic physics, in the sense that the geometric structure of Hilbert space imposes objective probabilistic or information-theoretic constraints on correlations between events, just as the geometric structure of Minkowski space in special relativity imposes spatio-temporal kinematic constraints on events. The interpretation of quantum probabilities is more subjectivist in spirit ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Summary Many important moral decisions, particularly at the policy level, require the evaluation of choices involving outcomes of variable magnitude and probability. Many economic decisions involve the same problem. It is not known whether and to what extent these structurally isomorphic decisions rely on common neural mechanisms. Subjects undergoing fMRI evaluated the moral acceptability of sacrificing a single life to save a larger group of variable size and probability of dying without action. Paralleling research on economic decision making, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum were specifically sensitive to the "expected moral value" of actions, i.e., the expected number of lives lost/saved. Likewise, the right anterior insula was specifically sensitive to outcome p...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Voltage sag caused by faults on an electric power transmission line is one of the most intractable power quality issues for both utility companies and customers. The fault in power system randomly exists along transmission lines due to the combination of many uncertain factors. To predict and assess the annual expected sag frequency (ESF) deriving from the faults along lines, a stochastic based method that employs maximum entropy principle, namely the maximum entropy probability method (MEPM), has been introduced in this paper. Moreover, various types of faults have been considered systematically. With the fault line intervals and the sample moments taken into account, the discrete values of distribution probability of fault locations along the transmission lines have been estimat...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The measurements of the K X-ray intensity ratio I(K{sub {beta}})/I(K{sub {alpha}}) for the 17 elements Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb and Mo have been done following ionization by 59.5keV {gamma}-rays from a {sup 241}Am point source. Ratios of emission probabilities of Auger electrons and the vacancy transfer coefficients have been extracted in terms of the intensity ratios. It is found that the present results agree well with earlier fitted values and the semi-empirical values.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Experience with multiwire proportional chambers at high rates at the Argonne Zero Gradient Synchrotron is described. A buildup of silicon on the sense wires was observed where the beam passed through the chamber. Analysis of the chamber gas indicated that the density of silicon was probably less than 10 ppM.

CERN Document Server

The delayed detonation model describes the observational properties of the majority of type Ia supernovae very well. Using numerical data from a three-dimensional deflagration model for type Ia supernovae, the intermittency of the turbulent velocity field and its implications on the probability of a deflagration-to-detonation (DDT) transition are investigated. From structure functions of the turbulent velocity fluctuations, we determine intermittency parameters based on the log-normal and the log-Poisson models. On the other hand, the analysis of the turbulent velocity fluctuations in the vicinity of the flame front by Roepke suggests a much higher probability of large velocity fluctuations on the grid scale in comparison to the log-normal intermittency model. Following Pan et al., we computed probability density functions for a DDT for the different distributions. Assuming that a DDT can occur in the stirred flame regime, ...

Science.gov (United States)

... uncertainty. The method is applied for the invasive shrub Rosa rugosa (Japanese rose) in Danish fixed dunes. The probability ... habitat code 2130). In 14 sites, the invasive shrub Rosa rugosa was recorde...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

It is shown that within the framework of the Kershaw stochastic model generalized by the author to the relativistic case a Feynman-type process may be constructed which can formally be understood as a diffusion phenomenon in Euclidean space. This makes it possible to introduce a real probability measure in the scheme of quantum mechanics proposed by Feynman.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper reports on Monte Carlo path integral simulations of a Bianchi Type IX cosmology which yield a wave function which reflects the known chaotic dynamics of the classical system and predicts a significant probability for a correlation between large universe volume and large anisotropy.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

AbstractA mechanism of how polyanions influence the channel formed by Staphylococcus aureus α-hemolysin is described. We demonstrate that the probability of several...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Protected areas (PAs) dominate conservation efforts. They will probably play a role in future climate policies too, as global payments may reward local reductions of loss of natural land cover. We estimate...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

"Fiddler's neck" is an irritant contact dermatitis that frequently affects violin and viola players. The etiology of the skin changes associated with this condition are probably attributable to a combination...Full Text Available

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

We investigate the default time of a firm when a stochastic discount factor is used so that both diffusion and regime switching risks are priced. We establish the relationship between the probability distribution of the default time and the solution of a system of coupled partial differential equations.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An unexpectedly high probability of collisions between the fission particles and the atoms in an ionization chamber along the entire particle track causes a strong fluctuation of the shapes of the Bragg curves. This fluctuation imposes an upper limit of the charge resolution ..delta..Z/Z which can be achieved.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The construction of the linear isomorphous and relativistic semigroup, of the Lorentz group and of tachyons was done using a dual pair of space-times, where the sought realization of the parametric semigroup is the semigroup of relativist endomorphisms. The obtained relativistic semigroup of dual space-time transformations possesses certain theoretical-probability properties.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

It is shown that it is necessary to take into account locality of the analysis and to introduce additional corrections for partial capture of matrix and fluorescent subexcitation by matrix during quantitative X-ray spectral microanalysis of finely dispersed materials. Cast two-phase (#alpha#+#beta#) titanium alloy VT3-1 is chosen as an investigation object.

Environmental Research Database

DescriptionInefficient utilisation of dietary nitrogen (N) by animals results in the excretion of N in varying forms, with adverse environmental consequences. Grass silage is a major component of the diet of ruminant livestock in the UK, but the protein in silage is very highly degraded as a result of the ensilage process. This results in poor capture of the silage N by rumen microbes leading to overall poor utilisation for the synthesis of milk or meat. As a result, significant quantities of dietary N are [continued...

Wastenet

... Carbon capture and storage Waste Prevention and Recycling EU clean air strategy Environmental liability: Applying the 'polluter pays' principle What goes around ...comes around: Recycling and climate change Behind closed doors: Air quality in buildings Keeping cool with refrigerants: The F-gas review Regions fighting climate ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

An antibody capture enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was adapted for the detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody to Sindbis (SIN) virus. Sera from humans with a febrile illness characterized by rash and...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The thermal neutron capture cross sections and the neutron capture resonance integrals of {sup 241}Am leading to the production of the isomer {sup 242m}Am and the ground-state {sup 242g}Am were measured radiochemically by the Cd-ratio technique with neutron flux monitors of Co/Al and Au/Al alloy. Highly-purified {sup 241}Am targets were irradiated in an aluminum capsule by using JMTR. The neutron fluxes and their epithermal neutron fractions were determined by measuring {gamma}-rays of {sup 60}Co and {sup 198}Au. The yields of {sup 242m}Am and {sup 242g}Am were decided by analyzing growth and decay curves of the {alpha}-ray activity ratios {sup 242}Cm/{sup 241}Am. The resultant thermal neutron capture cross sections are 85.7 {+-} 6.3 b and 768 {+-} 58 b for {sup 242m}Am and {sup 242g}Am, and the resonance integrals 114 {+-} 7 b and 1,694 {+-} 146 b, respectively. The differences between the present results and the evaluated ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Analytical expressions for thermoluminescence (TL) dating based on the modified Zimmerman model were derived. The non-linear behaviour of TL sensitivity is reexamined and is found to be due to electron capturing competitions in both test-dose excitation and the readout stages. A curve fitting method is proposed to determine the paleodose for the additive dose dating method. The multiple activation technique is also investigated, from which the paleodose should be regarded as an upper limit.

CERN Document Server

A Multi-Channel Algebraic Scattering (MCAS) theory is presented with which the properties of a compound nucleus are found from a coupled-channel problem. The method defines both the bound states and resonances of the compound nucleus, even if the compound nucleus is particle unstable. All resonances of the system are found no matter how weak and/or narrow. Spectra of mass-7 nuclei and of {}^{15}F, and MCAS results for a radiative capture cross section are presented.

Environmental Research Database

DescriptionChanges in glacier mass balance are critically influenced by the distribution of snow accumulation at the start of the melt season, but models of the winter season lag seriously behind those of the melt season. The overall aim is to test physically-based models of the spatial and temporal evolution of the winter snowpack at a temperate ice cap (Langjokull, Iceland), to assess how effectively and also how efficiently they capture variation in winter accumulation. A three-step modelling approach i [continued...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an emerging technology for clean combustion. We have previously demonstrated that the embedding of metal nanoparticles into a nanostructured ceramic matrix can result in unusually active and sinter-resistant nanocomposite oxygen carrier materials for CLC which maintain high reactivity and high-temperature stability even when sulfur contaminated fuels are used in CLC. Here, we propose a novel process scheme for in situ desulfurization of syngas with simultaneous CO{sub 2}-capture in chemical looping combustion by using these robust nanocomposite oxygen carriers simultaneously as sulfur-capture materials. We found that a nanocomposite Cu-BHA carrier can indeed strongly reduce the H{sub 2}S concentration in the fuel reactor effluent. However, during the process the support matrix is also sulfidized and takes part in the redox process of CLC. This results in SO{sub 2} production during the reduction of the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sixteen actinide nuclei: U-234 and -236; Np-237; Pu-236, -237, -238, -242, and -244; Am-241, -242* and -243; and Cm-241, -242, -243, -244, and -248, have been evaluated for ENDF/B-V with particular attention given to the fast fission and capture cross sections. Seven nuclei have not appeared on ENDF/B before and major changes for previous ENDF/B files have been made.

Wastenet

...food waste recycling schemes; (3) Six in-depth site visits to authorities operating collection schemes in order to capture information on scheme design, operational issues and factors affecting public engagement. The case study areas were: Bexley, Cambridge, Fenland, Hackney, Taunton Deane and Weymouth & Portland;...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In relation to coal gasification and combustion under high pressure as highly efficient coal utilization, the effect of total pressure and sintering on the SO2 capture ability of Ca-ion exchanged coal and other desulfurizing agents were studied. In experiment, specimens were filled into a small pressurized reactor to heat them under high-pressure N2 atmosphere. After the completion of combustion reaction of char at 850{degree}C, SO2, CO2 and CO gases were measured at an outlet while flowing SO2/N2. As the experimental result, all of the S content in Ca-ion exchanged coal was not absorbed by Ca content in coal during pyrolysis and combustion, resulting in discharge of 36% of the S content. Since Ca-ion exchanged coal is fast in combustion reaction, most of the S content was desulfurized by coal ash. The ash content yielded from Ca-ion exchanged coal was more excellent in SO2 capture ability than limestone even under higher pressure. In the case ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

English 2008 p. 294-295 Russian Federation Artemov, SV Igamov,

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We conducted (n, #gamma#) and (d, p) reactions leading to "8"7", "8"8", "8"9"Sr in addition to "8"8Sr (d, t) "8"7Sr and 24 keV neutron capture in "8"8Sr. (orig./HSI).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Solar panels have been installed at the roof, providing enough power to drive electric cars 20 000 kilometres yearly, while water-borne heating in the household has reduces electricity demand by 12-13 000 kWh per year

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Probability distributions of partial discharge (PD) and dielectric breakdown voltage were investigated for the typical components of oil-filled transformer insulation. The equi-probabilistic PD and BD V-t characteristics were obtained from experimental results in the time range from several ..mu..sec to 10 hours. The authors point out that there is a close relationship between the scattering of PD voltage and the inclination of V-t characteristics in a long term region for ac voltage.

CERN Document Server

This paper presents prefix codes which minimize various criteria constructed as a convex combination of maximum codeword length and average codeword length or maximum redundancy and average redundancy, including a convex combination of the average of an exponential function of the codeword length and the average redundancy. This framework encompasses as a special case several criteria previously investigated in the literature, while relations to universal coding is discussed. The coding algorithm derived is parametric resulting in re-adjusting the initial source probabilities via a weighted probability vector according to a merging rule. The level of desirable merging has implication in applications where the maximum codeword length is bounded.

CERN Document Server

No magnetic monopoles were found in 2.5*10/sup 18/ primary proton- aluminium interactions produced by exposing an aluminium target to the Fermilab 300 GeV/c proton beam. Negative searches have also resulted from exposures of material to electrons at SLAC and from pp interactions at the CERN-ISR. The monopole pair production probability in proton-nucleon collisions is shown to be of order 10/sup -18/ or less, with 95% confidence level, if monopoles have masses less than 12 GeV. (24 refs).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pitting corrosion can be considered as a combination of two physical processes: the pit generation process and its depth growth process. Both processes are uncertain and can be modeled by stochastic processes. A model that combines two stochastic processes to describe pitting corrosion was developed. In this model, the pit generation process is represented by the Poisson process, and the pit depth growth process is modeled by the Markov process. The probability distribution of corrosion pit depth and the probability of time-to-failure are derived based upon the combined stochastic processes. Examples of the use of this method in dealing with experimental data also were developed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In the framework of nuclear waste transmutation studies, the Mini-INCA project has been initiated at CEA/DSM with objectives to determine optimal conditions for transmutation and incineration of minor actinides (MA) in high intensity neutron fluxes. Our experimental tools based on alpha- and gamma-spectroscopy of the samples and the development of micro fission chambers could gather either microscopic information on nuclear reactions (total or partial cross sections for neutron capture and/or fission reactions) or macroscopic information on transmutation and incineration potentials. Neutron capture cross sections of selected actinides ({sup 241}Am, {sup 242}Am, {sup 242}Pu, {sup 237}Np) have already been measured at ILL, showing some discrepancies when compared to evaluated data libraries but in overall good agreement with recent data. The studies and possibilities offer by the MEGAPIE project to assess neutronic performances of a 1 MW ...

Science.gov (United States)

The gadolinium isotopes are interesting for reactor applications as well as for medicine and astrophysics. The gadolinium isotopes have some of the largest neutron capture cross sections. As a consequence they are used in the control rod in reactor fuel assembly. From the basic science point of view, there are seven stable isotopes of gadolinium with varying degrees of deformation. Therefore they provide a good testing ground for the study of deformation dependent structure such as the scissors mode. Decay gamma rays following neutron capture on Gd isotopes are detected by the DANCE array, which is located at flight path 14 at the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The high segmentation and close packing of the detector array enable gamma-ray multiplicity measurements. The calorimetric properties of the DANCE array coupled with the neutron time-of-flight technique enables one to gate on a specific resonance of a ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The primary E1, M1 and E2 #gamma#-radiation in "8"7","8"8","8"9Sr observed after thermal neutron capture was compared with the predictions of single particle and giant resonance models. The nuclei feature a wide range of neutron binding energies between 6.3 and 11.1 MeV, which makes a 5.5 MeV spectrum of primary transition energies available for investigation. The (n, #gamma#) reaction was used to estimate the parameters of the spin-flip M1 giant resonance in strontium. The total energy weighted M1 strength of this resonance exceeds the results of shell model and random phase approximation calculations for "9"0Zr by a factor of 3-4. The E1 strengths were found to agree with the established giant dipole resonance model. The few data on primary E2 transitions do not allow to differentiate between the giant quadrupole resonance and the single particle models. (orig.).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper presents part-load evaluation of a natural gas-fired chemical looping combustion (CLC) combined cycle with CO2 capture. The novel combined cycle employs an air-based gas turbine, a CO2-turbine and a steam turbine cycle. In this combined cycle, the CLC reactors replace combustion chamber of the gas turbine. The proposed combined cycle has a net plant efficiency of about 52.2% at full-load, including CO2 compression to 200 bar. The part-load evaluation shows that reducing the load down to 60% results in an efficiency drop of 2.6%-points. However, the plant shows better relative part-load efficiency compared to conventional combined cycles. The pressure in CLC-reduction and -oxidation reactors is balanced by airflow control, using a compressor equipped with variable guide vanes. A combination of control strategies is discussed for plant start-up and shutdown and for part-load when airflow reduction is not practically possible with current generation of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nuclear structure information for all nuclei with mass number A = 216 is summarized. Evaluated data and the adopted levels and spin and parity assignments are given. Only the #alpha#-decay mode has been observed for all nuclei in this mass chain. Possible epsilon-capture and/or #beta#-decay are expected to be quite weak for most of them. An upper limit of 0.6 percent was set by 68Va18 for "2"1"6Th epsilon-decay from #alpha#-yields. The compilers estimate any epsilon-capture decay from "2"1"6At to "2"1"6Po to be less than 1.5 x 10"-"6 percent; similarly, #beta#-decay from "2"1"6At to "2"1"6Rn ground state is expected to be less than 0.0004 percent, and allowed #beta#"- to any yet unobserved level in "2"1"6Rn can be estimated to be less than 0.005 percent from expected log ft values. Level scheme information for all nuclei is from #alpha#-decays of their parents with A = 220. #alpha#-parents are shown on the drawings above their daughters. ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Several configurations of moderating and shielding materials have been designed and measured on the LVR-15 reactor for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) purposes. To determine the neutron and gamma ray space-energy distributions in the cylindrical geometry, the two-dimensional code DOT with the coupled neutron-gamma data library DLC-36 was used. The experimental verification of the beam parameters was performed in the LVR-15 reactor thermal column empty space with layers of graphite, aluminium, alumina, lead and bismuth. Attention was paid to establishing techniques and instrumentation for monitoring the neutron and gamma ray dose and beam quality. The thermal and epithermal flux densities were measured by activation foils, the neutron spectrum was determined with a Bonner spectrometer and gamma ray background with a scintillation spectrometer. The distribution of thermal neutrons in the human head phantom was mapped with a small semiconductor detector (Si"6Li). ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We present an atomistic simulation of the Ostwald ripening of extrinsic defects (clusters, #left brace#1 1 3#right brace#s and dislocation loops) which occurs during annealing of ion implanted silicon. The model describes the capture and emission of Si interstitial atoms to and from extrinsic defects of sizes up to thousands of atoms and includes a loss term due to the flux of interstitials to the recombining surface. Key input parameters of the simulation are the variations of the formation energy and of the capture efficiency with the size of the different defects. This model shows that the kinetics of the well-known dissolution of #left brace#1 1 3#right brace# defects is only driven by the recombination efficiency at the surface and the distance from the defects to the sample surface. We have subsequently used this model to study defect evolution in low and ultra low energy (ULE) B implanted Si during annealing. Defect dissolution occurs ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An experimental study of the {sup 241}Am incineration in a high-intensity thermal neutron flux was carried out at the high-flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble. The combination of nuclear {gamma}-ray spectroscopy and off-line mass spectrometry methods made possible the measurement of several parameters of the transmutation chain and the first experimental determination of the unknown {sup 242gs}Am thermal neutron capture cross section, which plays an essential role in the {sup 241}Am incineration process. During a 19 days irradiation in a thermal neutron flux of 5.6x10{sup 14} n/(s cm{sup 2}), (46{+-}5)% of the initial {sup 241}Am was transmuted by neutron capture of which (22{+-}8)% was incinerated by nuclear fission. A value of the thermal neutron cross section of {sup 242gs}Am(n,{gamma}) of (330{+-}50) barns was obtained. We show that this keeps the option open to incinerate {sup 241}Am by high-intensity moderated neutron ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chlorine is widely used in drinking water disinfection due to be a powerful and not expense disinfection. Although the benefits of disinfection, the formation of stable disinfection by-products of the health concern, is the result of the interaction of aqueous chlorine with natural organic matter presents in water. Disinfection by-products generated in major concentration are trihalomethane and haloacetic acids. Disinfection by-products generated in minor concentration are haloacetonitriles, haloketones,chloral hydrate and chloropicrin and some new groups such as cyanogen halides and trihaloacetaldydes. In this work two analytical methods.: headspace/gas chromatography/electron capture detector and liquid-liquid microextraction/gas chromatography/electron capture detector are studied and compared to determine the minor by-products and to establish finally, a systematic control of them in the different stages of the Water Treatment Plant of San ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The neutron capture cross sections of the stable molybdenum isotopes have been measured with high energy resolution (#DELTA#E/E < approximately 0.2%), between 3 and 90 keV neutron energy, at the 40 m station of ORELA. Average resonance parameters are extracted for s- and p-wave resonances. The s-wave neutron strength function is close to 0.5x10"-"4 for all isotopes, but the p-wave strength function exhibits a well defined peak near A approximately 95. Both s- and p-wave radiative widths decrease markedly as further neutrons are added to the closed shell. The p-wave radiative widths are generally greater than the s-wave widths showing the presence of non-statistical #gamma#-decay mechanisms. Valence neutron theory fails to explain the magnitude of the p- to s-wave radiative width disparity and doorway state processes are invoked. In particular, the data for "9"8Mo appear to violate the usual valence theory, since the correlations between radiative and neutron ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

FLOWTRAN-TF is a new two-component, two-phase thermal-hydraulics code to capture the detailed assembly behavior associated with loss-of-coolant accident analyses in multichannel assemblies of the SRS reactors. The local interfacial area of the two-phase mixture is computed by summing the interfacial areas contributed by each of three flow regimes. For smooth flow regime transitions, the code uses an interpolation technique in terms of component void fraction for each basic flow regime.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amongst the minor actinides issued from the spent nuclear fuel, "2"4"1Am is present in high concentration and contributes significantly to the long-term radiotoxicity of nuclear waste. A major uncertainty was present in the transmutation chain of "2"4"1Am when irradiated by a high intensity thermal neutron flux. This uncertainty was brought about by the poor knowledge of the "2"4"2"g"sAm neutron capture cross section. A dedicated experiment has been performed at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, which gives a definitive experimental answer to this problem.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Both the nature of international climate policy architectures and the development and diffusion of new energy technologies could dramatically influence future costs of reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper explores the implications of interactions between technology availability and performance and international policy architectures for technology choice and the social cost of limiting atmospheric CO2 concentrations to 500 ppm by the year 2095. Key issues explored in the paper include the role of bioenergy production with CO2 capture and storage (CCS), overshoot concentration pathways, and the sensitivity of mitigation costs to policy and technology.

Science.gov (United States)

In order to study the neurobiological basis of seasonal changes in hippocampal structure and function, the rate of cell proliferation was examined in male and female wild meadow voles captured during different seasons. We found that the number of [3H]thymidine-labeled cells varied across the seasons and across sex in the meadow vole. Non-breeding female meadow voles had a higher rate of cell proliferation and cell death than males captured during either season or breeding females. These seasonal changes in the female meadow vole were associated with both fluctuating levels of adrenal steroids and gonadal steroids. Estradiol level was highly correlated with both the number of [3H]thymidine-labeled cells and the number of pyknotic cells in female meadow voles, with high levels of estradiol being associated with low levels of cell proliferation and cell death. Corticosterone level was associated with the number of [3H]thymidine-labeled cells in ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This study reconceptualizes the native/nonnative dichotomy and provides a powerful lens to examine linguistic identities. In a study of 25 linguistically diverse teacher candidates in Canada, the respondents' native and nonnative self-ascription and self-assessed level of proficiency was juxtaposed with the judgment of their instructors. This process revealed that the native/nonnative dichotomy falls short in capturing the multifaceted nature of individuals' diverse linguistic identities and tends to misrepresent them. Within the specific social context under investigation, 6 linguistic categories that better represented the true linguistic identity of participants were identified. This inquiry reconceptualizes the controversial native/nonnative dichotomy by suggesting that linguistic iden...

Science.gov (United States)

Positron-electron pair creation near the threshold energy is extremely difficult to investigate by both experiments and theory. First test experiments were performed at the ILL to determine the cross sections for positron-electron pair creation near threshold using prompt {gamma}-rays from different targets after neutron capture and conventional radioactive sources. Pair creation was studied in a Ge detector, which simultaneously acted as sample and detector. First results are presented which show a significant deviation from theoretical values near threshold.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A rigorous mathematical model is developed to describe chemical absorption of carbon dioxide in a falling-film micro-contactor. Contrary to previous models described in literature, hydrodynamics in both phases is accurately captured by the Navier-Stokes equations. By this means, backmixing effects can be accounted for. Furthermore, the interface position is determined directly using the level-set method. The developed model is validated with experimental data obtained from literature and a good agreement is established. With the validated model, detailed studies are performed to investigate the impact of process parameters.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Non-thermal plasma treatment is a promising technique for the destruction of volatile organic compounds in waste gas. A relatively unexplored technique is the atmospheric negative dc multi-pin-to-plate glow discharge. This paper reports experimental results of allyl alcohol degradation and ozone production in this type of plasma. A new model was developed to describe these processes quantitatively. The model contains a detailed chemical degradation scheme, and describes the physics of the plasma by assuming that the fraction of electrons that takes part in chemical reactions is an exponential function of the reduced field. The model captured the experimental kinetic data to less than 2 ppm standard deviation.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

A reduced-form model including nonlinearities is estimated from pooled data from nine European countries during 1982-2004 to show the effects of macroeconomic shocks and financial fragility on bank loan losses. The main ingredients of the model are unanticipated-output and interest-rate shocks estimated from published macroeconomic and naive forecasts. The model fits the data well, capturing the extremely high levels of loan losses witnessed in different financial crises.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report summarizes the major activities and accomplishments of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) Advanced Radiotherapy Research Program for calendar year 2001. Applications of supportive research and development, as well as technology deployment in the fields of chemistry, radiation physics and dosimetry, and neutron source design and demonstration are described. Contributions in the fields of physics and biophysics include development of advanced patient treatment planning software, feasibility studies of accelerator neutron source technology for Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT), and completion of major modifications to the research reactor at Washington State University to produce an epithermal-neutron beam for NCT research applications.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An overview of the past, present and future research activities at the CERN neutron time of flight facility n_TOF is given, with special focus on the astrophysical aspects. During the first campaign (Phase I), neutron capture cross sections of relevance for several aspects of the s-process nucleosynthesis have been measured. A second campaign has recently started (Phase II), aiming at the study of the weak s-process component via accurate (n,#gamma#) measurements of the Fe and Ni isotopes. Some changes in the facility will allow us to perform these measurements with improved experimental conditions.

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In this paper, we review some of the work our group has done in the past few years to obtain the electron self-energy of high temperature superconductors by analysis of angle-resolved photoemission data. We focus on three examples which have revealed: (1) a d-wave superconducting gap, (2) a collective mode in the superconducting state, and (3) pairing correlations in the pseudogap phase. In each case, although a novel result is obtained which captures the essence of the data, the conventional physics used leads to an incomplete picture. This indicates that new physics needs to be developed to obtain a proper understanding of these materials.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Intensities of {gamma}-transitions emerging from the EC decay of {sup 203}Pb were measured precisely. The obtained relative {gamma}-intensities are 100%(279.2keV), 4.14+-0.08%(401.3keV) and 0.932+-0.022%(680.5keV). The 279.2 and 680.5keV level feeding {beta}-branching ratios were deduced to be 95.3+-0.1 and 4.7+-0.1% respectively. {sup 203}Pb is suggested for calibration purposes. (author).

Wastenet

... Areas of Consultation: All Areas About DECC Bioenergy Carbon capture & storage Carbon Reduction Commitment Climate Change Agreements CRC energy efficiency scheme Development, consents and planning reform Electricity Electricity network Emissions Emissions trading Energy markets Energy network Energy security Feed-in Tariffs Fuel poverty Funding and support Gas Governance Green Deal Hydroelectricity International climate change International energy Legislation Low-carbon Microgeneration News Nuclear Oil Renewable energy Saving energy and CO2 Site Wide Footer Smart ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Optimal neutron energy for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) has been studied. Epithermal neutron is superior to thermal neutrons in treating deep-seated tumors. Design of the epithermal neutron column for BNCT has been performed by using a two-dimensional transport calculation code. Aluminum and heavy water are used as moderation materials. A thermal neutron column is also designed using heavy water as thermalization material. The configuration of the facility for treatment and research of BNCT and also for basic radio-biological studies of neutrons has been presented. (author).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

CIRNAT, a one-dimensional code for natural circulation analysis, was described. The homogeneous approach was adopted for the two-phase flow regime and different heat transfer regimes were considered. The code was exhaustively tested for one-phase flow systems. For two phase flows a boiling/condensing system was simulated. The results are qualitatively correct but the oscillations observed at the system were not captured by the model. Other two-phase flow tests must be done to show the limits of the homogeneous approach before the introduction of a more complex model. (author)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A new phenylboric acid derivative entrapped lipiodol (PBAD-lipiodol) was developed as a boron carrier for the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) of hepatoma in Taiwan. The biodistribution of both PBAD-lipiodol and BPA-fructose was assayed in GP7TB hepatoma-bearing rat model. The highest uptake of PBAD-lipiodol was found at 2 h post injection. The application of BNCT for the hepatoma treatment in tumor-bearing rats is suggested to be 2-4 h post PBAD-lipiodol injection.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We revisited the quantum Zeno paradox, which claims that a generic quantum system prepared in a state which is not an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian operator and is continuously observed never decays. Since any perfectly isolated quantum system always interact with a vacuum field, we analyze the possibility of using this fact to solve the above mentioned conceptual problem. Therefore we discuss a two-level system or qubit-Bose field interaction Hamiltonians. We consider the quantum dynamics of this two-level system, prepared in the excited state interacting with a Bose field prepared in the Poincare invariant vacuum state. Using a first-order approximation in time-dependent perturbation theory, we evaluate the probability of spontaneous decay of the two-level system driven by the vacuum field. This probability is evaluated for a finite time interval. Using the standard argument to obtain the quantum Zeno paradox, we consider N measurements where ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A statistical method is developed to determine the locations of major pollutant sources affecting a distant downwind receptor, provided that air trajectories can be estimated. Probability density functions are estimated which indicate the overall residence time of air parcels over a given geographic region as they travel toward a receptor and residence time for the case of high pollutant concentrations at the receptor. These functions are used to estimate a conditional probability function which indicates the potential for a source region to contribute to high air pollution concentrations. Finally, a source contribution function is formulated to indicate the relative contribution of different source regions to high concentrations at the receptor. The method is tested using data collected at Grand Canyon National Park in 1980. The dominant pathway for air masses arriving at Grand Canyon during this period was southern California. A lesser ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The effect of the #+-# 0.75 T external magnetic field on the K_#alpha#_1, K_#alpha#_2, K_#beta#_'_1 and K_#beta#_'_2 x-ray production cross sections and radiative vacancy transfer probabilities from K-shell to L2 and L3 subshells and M-shell for ferromagnetic Nd, Gd and Dy and paramagnetic Eu and Ho have been investigated, using the 59.5 keV incident photons. K-shell fluorescence yields and K x-ray intensity ratios for these elements have been determined in the external magnetic field also. The K x-rays from different targets were detected using a high-resolution Si(Li) semiconductor detector. For B = 0, the present experimental results were compared with the experimental and theoretical data in the literature. The results show that K-shell fluorescence parameters such as photoionization cross section, fluorescence yield, radiation rates, vacancy transfer probabilities and spectral linewidth can change owing to the applied magnetic field. ...

Science.gov (United States)

Over the recent years the nuclear structure around the N = 50 shell closure, which is very pronounced in the strontium and zirconium isotopes, has been the subject of extensive experimental and theoretical work. On the proton side Z = 38 and Z = 40 provide fairly closed sub-shells. In the strontium isotopes the lg/sub 9/2/ neutron shell is closed at /sup 88/Sr, supplying relatively pure neutron-hole and neutron-particle states with large spectroscopic factors in /sup 87/Sr and /sup 89/Sr, as well as core-coupled states. The mass region is thus ideally suited to examine the transition from a correlated to an uncorrelated (chaotic.) excitational behavior. These two types are characterized e.g. by the density of excited states, the transition strengths, and the spectroscopic factors observed in transfer reactions. We conducted (n,..gamma..) and (d,p) reactions leading to /sup 87,88,89/Sr in addition to /sup 88/Sr(d,t)/sup 87/Sr and 24 keV neutron capture in /sup ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The previous 58Ni and 60Ni set of resonance parameters (ENDF/B-VII-0, JEFF-3, etc.) was based on the SAMMY analysis of Oak Ridge National Laboratory neutron transmission, scattering cross section and capture cross section measurements by C. M. Perey et al. The present results were obtained by adding to the SAMMY experimental data base the capture cross sections measured recently at the Oak Ridge Linear Electron Accelerator by Guber et al. and the Geel Electron Linear Accelerator very high-resolution neutron transmission measurements performed by Brusegan et al. A complete resonance parameter covariance matrix (RPCM) was obtained from the SAMMY analysis of the experimental database. The data sets were made consistent, when needed, by adjusting the neutron energy scales, the normalization coefficients, and the background corrections. The RPCM allows the calculation of the cross section uncertainties due mainly to statistical errors in the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The physical structure of a limestone or dolomite to be used in in-bed sulfur capture in fluidized bed boilers has great impact on the efficiency of sulfur capture and sorbent use. Therefore in process optimization and model calculations parameters describing the pore structure of these sorbents must be included. In this study an unreacted shrinking core model with variable effective diffusivity is applied to sulfation test data from a pressurized thermogravimetric apparatus (P-TGA) for various limestone and dolomite samples. The particle size was 250--300 {micro}m for all sorbents. The tests were done under typical conditions for a pressurized fluidized bed combustor, i.e. 850 C or 950 C, 15 bar, and were reported earlier at the 12th International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion. At these conditions the limestone remains uncalcined, while the dolomite is half-calcined. The sorbents were characterized by chemical composition analysis, ...

Science.gov (United States)

This Dissertation presents the author's investigation and development of a systematic method for evaluating the aerodynamic performance of Vertical Axis Wind Energy Capture Systems (WECS) apart from their electrical generation capability. The current standard method for specifying a wind energy machine is to discuss its rated power in kilowatts (or megawatts when capacity exceeds 100 kW). While this holistic method is effective for comparing machines it does not reveal the essential characteristics necessary for optimization of individual machine components. The method developed herein separates the performance characteristics of the WECS from the generation characteristics and isolates them for benchmarking and optimization. In order to develop an evaluation criterion, it was essential to evaluate and benchmark the current state of the art for wind energy capture. A thorough history of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) development and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Investment in mining projects is always associated with risk because of the inclusion of many uncertain parameters. Probability analysis can be applied to such a system which has many kinds of uncertain parameters. This kind of study uses historical data to provide more information for future decisions. This study uses the historical data from a truck-shovel operation at an open cut Coal Mine in NSW, Australia to develop a productivity estimation model, using stochastic analysis. In the first step statistics and various probability distributions were developed for both certain and uncertain variables. A correlation analysis was the next step to investigate any possible relationship between productivity and affecting parameters. The results of these two stages were then used in a simulation model using the stochastic approach. 2 figs.

CERN Document Server

UBVI CCD photometry of NGC 2353 is obtained as part of the "Sejong Open cluster Survey" (SOS). Using the photometric membership criteria we selelct probable members of the cluster. We derive the reddening and distance to the cluster, i.e. E(B-V) = 0.10 +/- 0.02 mag and 1.17 +/- 0.04 kpc, respectively. We find that the projected distribution of the probable members on the sky is elliptical in shape rather than circular. The age of the cluster is estimated to be log(age)=8.1 +/- 0.1, older than what was found in previous studies. The minimum value of binary fraction is estimated to be about 48 +/- 5 percent from a Gaussian function fit to the distribution of the distance moduli of the photometric members. Finally, we also obtain the luminosity function and the initial mass function (IMF). The slope of the IMF is Gamma = -1.3 +/- 0.2.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In the field of Living Probabilistic Safety Assessment (LPSA) the reliability data updating is an important factor. In risk analysis equipment failure data is needed to estimate the frequencies of events contributing to risk posed by a facility. Five years data of emergency diesel generator (EDG) of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has been studied in this paper. The data updating process has been done by using two methods, i.e., the classical method and Bayesian method. The aim of using these methods is to calculate the operational failure rate (@l) and demand failure probability (p). The results show that the operational failure rate is 1.7E-3 per hour and the demand failure probability is 2.4E-2 demand per day for Daya Bay NPP. By comparing the results obtain from classical and Bayesi...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Complex numbers are an intrinsic part of the mathematical formalism of quantum theory and are perhaps its most characteristic feature. In this article, we show that the complex nature of the quantum formalism can be derived directly from the assumption that a pair of real numbers is associated with each sequence of measurement outcomes, with the probability of this sequence being a real-valued function of this number pair. By making use of elementary symmetry conditions, and without assuming that these real number pairs have any other algebraic structure, we show that these pairs must be manipulated according to the rules of complex arithmetic. We demonstrate that these complex numbers combine according to Feynman's sum and product rules, with the modulus-squared yielding the probability of a sequence of outcomes.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thick targets of several heavy lanthanide (Ho-Lu) compounds were bombarded by protons and "3He ions of 3 MeV/amu, and M_#alpha# and M_#beta# X-rays were measured with a crystal spectrometer. Ionization probabilities of the N-shell for zero impact parameter were obtained from the X-ray intensity ratio for proton and "3He ion impacts. A shell dependence of the ionization probability was found in a scaling plot. X-ray spectra of lanthanide compounds were compared and no chemical effect was observed. This result is considered to be due to the fact that the main component of M_#alpha# and M_#beta# lines is for radiative transition after the refilling of the 4f orbit (3d"-"14f"n"+"1 #-># 4f"n) where n denotes the number of 4f electrons of the target atom before ionization. (orig.).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Possible mechanisms of the cumulative production of particles in the processes of high momentum transfers to complex systems are discussed. Production of the multi-nucleon systems, the so-called fluctons, during collision of a high-energy particle with a nucleus, is proposed as a most realistic explanation of the cumulative effect. A probability of the flucton production in nucleus and its interaction with the incident particle are investigated. A possible origin of fluctons, considered, in the framework of the quark bag model, as quasistable states with the definite coupling energy and the lifetime, is studied. A probability for the presence of a flucton, as multibaryon configuration in a nucleus is evaluated. The production of multibaryon configurations in a nucleus is demonstrated to show up as a presence of strong multiparticle repulsion at small distances, which cannot be reduced only to two-particle interactions.

CERN Document Server

A transformation monoid on a set Omega is called synchronizing if it contains an element of rank 1 (that is, mapping the whole of Omega to a single point). In this paper, I tackle the question: given n and k, what is the probability that the submonoid of the full transformation monoid T_n generated by k random transformations is synchronizing? This question is analogous to Dixon's Theorem that two random permutations generate the symmetric or alternating group with high probability. Following the technique of Dixon's theorem, we need to analyse the maximal non-synchronizing submonoids of T_n. I develop a very close connection between transformation monoids and graphs, from which we obtain a description of non-synchronizing monoids as endomorphism monoids of graphs satisfying some very strong conditions. However, counting such graphs, and dealing with the intersections of their endomorphism monoids, seems difficult.

CERN Document Server

Obtaining the set of cosmological parameters consistent with observational data is an important exercise in current cosmological research. It involves finding the global maximum of the likelihood function in the multi-dimensional parameter space. Currently sampling based methods, which are in general stochastic in nature, like Markov-Chain Monte Carlo(MCMC), are being commonly used for parameter estimation. The beauty of stochastic methods is that the computational cost grows, at the most, linearly in place of exponentially (as in grid based approaches) with the dimensionality of the search space. MCMC methods sample the full joint probability distribution (posterior) from which one and two dimensional probability distributions, best fit (average) values of parameters and then error bars can be computed. In the present work we demonstrate the application of another stochastic method, named Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), that is widely used ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Wireless mesh networks can provide low-cost solutions for extending the reach of wireless access points by using multi-hop routing over a set of stationary wireless routers. The routing protocol for these networks may need to address quality considerations to meet the requirements of the user. In this paper, we present a quality based routing protocol for wireless mesh networks that tries to maximize the probability of successful transmissions while minimizing the end-to-end delay. The proposed routing protocol uses reactive route discoveries to collect key parameters from candidate routes to estimate the probability of success and delay of data packets transmitted over them. To achieve accurate route quality assessments, a new route quality metric is proposed that uses performance models ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Summary Background:- Cholinesterase inhibitors form the mainstay of treatment for persons with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer-s disease (AD). The rivastigmine patch may increase compliance and the proportion of patients maintaining an efficacious dose compared with oral cholinesterase inhibitors. Objective:- To investigate the proportion of patients who reached and maintained the target rivastigmine patch dose compared with the target rivastigmine capsule dose reported in clinical trials. Methods:- This was a multicentre, 24-week, open-label study in persons with probable AD and a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of --10 and --26. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients (ITT population) treated with 9.5-mg/24-h rivastigmine patch for at least 8-weeks at week 24. Secondary ...

CERN Document Server

We study the temporal evolution of the market efficiency in the stock markets using the complexity, entropy density, standard deviation, autocorrelation function, and probability distribution of the log return for Standard and Poor's 500 (S&P 500), Nikkei stock average index, and Korean composition stock price index (KOSPI). Based on the microscopic spin model, we also find that these statistical quantities in stock markets depend on the market efficiency.

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We apply the framework developed in Target space duality I: general theory. We show that both nonabelian duality and Poisson-Lie duality are examples of the general theory. We propose how the formalism leads to a systematic study of duality by studying few scenarios that lead to open questions in the theory of Lie algebras. We present evidence that there are probably new examples of irreducible target space duality.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper reports on a Level 1 PRA performed on the Omega West Reactor at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A Master Logic Diagram was used to identify possible initiating events. A chi-square distribution was used to quantify initiating event frequencies given that no initiating events have occurred in 30 years of OWR operation. The PRA results are presented as both probability density function and cumulative distribution function curves.

CERN Document Server

Given a random variable $F$ regular enough in the sense of the Malliavin calculus, we are able to measure the distance between its law and almost any continuous probability law on the real line. The bounds are given in terms of the Malliavin derivative of $F$. Our approach is based on the theory of It\\^o diffusions and the stochastic calculus of variations. Several examples are considered in order to illustrate our general results.

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This paper establishes a standardization procedure in which results are presented in ready-to-use charts for the economic evaluation of biogas plants. It is hoped this work will alleviate controversial reports on cost-effectiveness of biogas systems. Also, it is found that these systems are the most economic among renewable energy systems using a standardized procedure for their comparison augmented by the generated spider diagrams wherein most probable costing production values for each system are directly compared. (author).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azobenzene dyes are effective inhibitors for austenitic 304 L and 316 L stainless steel corrosion in high acidic medium up to 7N. A good efficiency is obtained from weight loss and electrochemical Rsub(p) measurements in hydrochloric acid, while no inhibition is observed in sulfuric solutions. Transformation from the primarily azobenzene to other compounds give rise to enhanced protection of steel samples, and probable structures of the inhibiting species are proposed in view of our results.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An analysis is given of the evolution of a massive scalar field in a closed mixmaster universe of Bianchi type IX. Although the scalar field violates the strong energy condition, the probability of the model ''bouncing'' at a very early time is infinitesimally small; of the order of the ratio of the minimum to maximum sizes of the universe approx. 10/sup -40/.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The propriety of the cosmic no-hair conjecture to the Bianchi-type-IX spacetime is discussed from a quantum cosmological point of view. It is shown that most, but not all, classical universes which are created quantum cosmologically are inflationary. The probability of inflation among such universes is also discussed.

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The main physical processes allowing negative ion production by surface sputtering for further acceleration in tandem acceleration are briefly reviewed. The sputtering yield and the probability of negative ion ejection are discussed. The properties of negative ion beams for an efficient acceleration in tandem accelerators are also discussed, with an emphasis on space charge problems. The main features and performances of the heavy negative ion injector of the Bucharest tandem accelerator are given.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

After a brief survey of the known level measurement methods the particularities of the radiometric measurement of the still utilisable residual volume of a bulk material in a large bin are discussed. At constant angle of repose the measurement in a suitably positioned plane of measurement suffices, at variable angle of repose two planes of measurement are required. The probable working ranges for a 1300-t lime bin are estimated.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

It is shown that account of nuclear effects in nucleon channel is of principle importance when analyzing hadron-nucleon process at high energies. This enables to make correct conclusions both about the contribution of multiquark systems - fluctons - to nuclear wave function and about quark distribution in them. Analysis of these distributions shows that color degrees of freedom in flucton are partially unfrozen and flucton contains with high probability one or two quarks.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The nucleon decay of subbarrier single-particle states with large angular momentum and parity opposite to that of the shell in soft spherical nuclei is considered. It is shown that the reduced probabilities of the nucleon decay into the ground state (0"+) and into the first excited (2"+) state of the daughter nucleus have qualitatively different energy dependences. (orig.).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nucleon decay of underbarrier one-quasiparticle states with large angular momentum in soft spherical nuclei is considered. It is shown that energy dependences of differential probabilities of nucleon decay to the ground (0"+) and first excited (2"+) states of daughter nucleus differ qualitatively from each other due to strong interaction between quasiparticles and low-lying quadrupole states.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The nuclear interaction probability of light charged particles in BaF[sub 2] crystals has been studied as a function of the incident particle energy. Light charged particles were identified in charge and mass by measuring their magnetic rigidity and their time-of-flight. The percentage of particles undergoing nuclear interactions has been measured for particles of charge from Z=1 to Z=6 and the experimental data are compared with the results of a model calculation. (orig.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We apply Hawking's proposal for the initial state of the Universe to a rotating Bianchi type-IX minisuperspace model in order to examine the problem of rotation in a closed cosmology. Using the Feynman path-integral techniques instead of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, we are able to say that for a small angular velocity the closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model is indeed the most probable initial state for the Universe.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The issues of the geothermal resource at Brady's Hot Springs are dealt with: the prospective supply of feedstocks to the ethanol plant, the markets for the spent grain by-products of the plant, the storage, handling and transshipment requirements for the feedstocks and by-products from a rail siding facility at Fernley, the probable market for fuel ethanol in the region, and an assessment of the economic viability of the entire undertaking.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

During electrolysis of a "2"4"8Cm(III) solution in 2M K_2CO_3 at pH=13, partial oxidation of curium to a higher oxidation state, probably Cm(IV), was observed. The absorption spectra of Cm(III) and Cm(IV) in K_2CO_3 solution were recorded and the molar extinction coefficients of main absorption bands of curium were evaluated. (author).

CERN Document Server

We calculated the matter effect, including both the Earth and supernova, on the detection of neutrinos from type II supernovae at the proposed Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment. It is found that apart from the dependence on the flip probability P_H inside the supernova and the mass hierarchy of neutrinos, the amount of the Earth matter effect depends on the direction of the incoming supernova neutrinos, and reaches the biggest value when the incident angle of neutrinos is around 93^\\circ. In the reaction channel \\bar{\

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

We have designed a local trigger board for the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment, which is aimed to measure the neutrino mixing angle sin22?13 with a precision down to 1% level. The local trigger board processes both the total number of coincident photomultiplier tube (PMT) hits and the PMT energy sum to make trigger decisions. With this design, a high trigger probability is achieved to meet the system requirement. The design of the local trigger board is presented.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

New measurements of relative gamma-ray emission probabilities in the decay of "1"0"1Mo and "1"0"1Tc are reported. Previously published conversion-electron data have been used along with the gamma-ray data to formulate self-consistent decay schemes. (orig.).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

It is often advantageous to generate power with combinations of wind and ocean waves. In fact ocean waves, their generation, propagation, dissipation are directly related to wind velocity and its duration oven the sea. In this paper an attempt has been made to demonstrate statistically to present some advantages with combined wind and ocean wave power generation. Even though many conceptual techniques and methods are possible to harness combined power generation, it is important to test feasibility of combined output as well as individual outputs mathematically. One of the major advantages of combined wind and wave power generation is to improve probability of continuous power supply (it minimises the interruptions and compensates power fluctuations with one another). Some of the major wave characteristics like wave Height (H), Time period (T), Wave length (L) significantly influence wave power generation. Interestingly, these ocean waves are dependent on wind ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coherent oscillator radiation is considered. A comparison is made with classical particle radiation with gauss distribution. Decay probability for coherent state in spontaneous radiation is estimated. The method suggested for describing harmonic oscillator allows to separate the effect of classical field radiation from quantum description of particle state within the framework of a self-consistent quantum mechanical problem.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The mechanisms underlying life machinery are still not completely understood. Something is known, something is ?probably? known, other things are still unknown. Scientists all over the world are working very hard to clarify the processes regulating the cell life cycle and bioinformaticians try to support them by developing specialized automated tools. Within the plethora of applications devoted to the study of life mechanisms, tools for the analysis and comparison of biological networks are catching the attention of many researchers. It is interesting to investigate why.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The time-dependent probability distribution of neutrons, precursors and detectrons in a space-independent, low-power, multiplying assembly with a source is developed in the multigroup approximation as forward and backward Kolmogorov equations. The relationship between these as adjoint equations is made explicit in a tensor notation and the equations developed in the generating-function formalism. (author).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We present an abundance analysis based on high-resolution spectra of 10 stars selected to span the full range in metallicity in the Ursa Minor (UMi) dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy. We find that [Fe/H] for the sample stars ranges from -1.35 to -3.10 dex. Combining our sample with previously published work for a total of 16 luminous UMi giants, we establish the trends of abundance ratios [X/Fe] as functions of [Fe/H] for 15 elements. In key cases, particularly for the #alpha#-elements, these trends resemble those for stars in the outer part of the Galactic halo, especially at the lowest metallicities probed. The neutron-capture elements show an r-process distribution over the full range of Fe metallicity reached in this dSph galaxy. This suggests that the duration of star formation in the UMi dSph was shorter than in other dSph galaxies. The derived ages for a larger sample of UMi stars with more uncertain metallicities also suggest a population dominated by ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The cross section for np{yields}d{gamma} is calculated at energies relevant to big-bang nucleosynthesis using the recently developed effective field theory that describes the two-nucleon sector. The E1 amplitude is computed up to N{sup 3}LO and depends only upon nucleon-nucleon phase shift data. In contrast, the M1 contribution is computed up to next-to-leading order, and the four-nucleon-one-magnetic-photon counterterm that enters is determined by the cross section for cold neutron capture. The uncertainty in the calculation for nucleon energies up to E{approx}1 MeV is estimated to be (less-or-similar sign)4%. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

ABSTRACT. Field methods for determining the sex of birds are often limited due to morphometric overlap between sexes, intermediate plumages, seasonality, and reliance on subjective age classification. Interpubic distance, characterized in birds as the distance between the distal ends of the pubic bones, has not been formally tested as a method for determining the sex of birds, despite references among parrot breeders and the frequent use of analogous measurements in mammals. We developed a harmless and easily performed field method for measuring interpubic distance in studies involving bird capture, and compared the interpubic distances of known sex White-ruffed Manakins (Corapipo altera), Orange-collared Manakins (Manacus aurantiacus), and Blue-crowned Manakins (Lepidothrix coronata) to e...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The operation of a nuclear power reactor necessarily implies the consumption or burnup of reactor fuel by fission and capture, which gives rise to a decrease in the reactivity of the reactor. The effect of americium formation on the criticality of a thermal power reactor using two types of fuel is studied. The three-dimensional core calculation is used to calculate the production of the transuranium isotopes and their effect on the effective multiplication factor (K[sub eff]). This effect cannot be neglected for thermal power reactors with UO[sub 2]-PuO[sub 2] fuel (3.11% after 70 weeks of operation). The effect of the transuranium isotopes on the K[sub eff] for a thermal power reactor with UO[sub 2] fuel is about 0.0018% and can be ignored. (author).

Science.gov (United States)

As care shifts from institutional to home- and community-based settings, consumer health information technology (IT) must be designed to support patients' new health information management responsibilities. We developed and piloted a new methodology grounded in social network analysis and human factors engineering to explore two often overlooked aspects of this phenomenon: the task of health information communication with members of the social network and the context of culture. Such knowledge is necessary to inform the appropriate design of consumer health IT. We asked a culturally diverse sample of participants to describe what, to whom, why, and how they communicate health information and to provide direct feedback about the methodology. The methodology was acceptable to all participants and able to capture similarities and differences in their health information communication practices. Prior to the main study we will need to refine the methodology to further ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A time-of-flight mass spectrometer has been constructed to measure the energy spectra of particles scattered by 10"0 with primary energies between 200 eV and 15 keV. The energy resolution #DELTA#E/E of the system is between 0.1 and 0.4%. Energy spectra of scattered molecules and their dissociation products are shown for 570 eV H_2"+ and 4430 eV N_2"+ as projectiles. Electron capture into unbound states of the neutral molecule, with perhaps some contribution from mutual scattering within the molecule, appears to explain the observed dissociation product energy spectra peak widths. (orig.).

CERN Document Server

We report Sr, Pd and Ag abundances for a sample of metal-poor field giants and analyze a larger sample of Y, Zr, and Ba abundances. The [Y/Zr] and [Pd/Ag] abundance ratios are similar to those measured for the r-process-rich stars CS 22892-052 and CS 31082-001. The [Pd/Ag] ratio is larger than predicted from the solar-system r-process abundances. The constant[Y/Zr] and [Sr/Y] values in the field stars places strong limits on the contributions of the weak s-process and the main s-process to the light neutron-capture elements. Stars in the globular cluster M 15 possess lower [Y/Zr] values than the field stars. There is a large dispersion in [Y/Ba]. Because the r-process is responsible for the production of the heavy elements in the early Galaxy, these dispersions require varying light-to-heavy ratios in r-process yields.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) trials for human glioma (glioblastoma multiform) were initiated September 1994 at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Patients are given p-boronophenylalanine-fructose (BPA-F) intravenously as the boron carrier followed by exposure to the epithermal-neutron beam at the Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor (BMRR). The initial phase of the study is to determine safety and toxicity of the drug and irradiation procedure. The epithermal-neutron beam was developed in a joint effort by BNL and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) researchers. For the human trials, treatment planning and radiation dose estimation is performed using the BNCT-Rtpe and the rtt-MC computer codes developed by the INEL BNCT program. This paper discusses our initial experience using these treatment planning codes for human subjects. The basic principles of BNCT have been previously documented.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Translating experimental findings into clinically effective therapies is one of the major bottlenecks of modern medicine. As this has been particularly true for cerebrovascular research, attention has turned to the quality and validity of experimental cerebrovascular studies. We set out to assess the study design, statistical analyses, and reporting of cerebrovascular research. We assessed all original articles published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism during the year 2008 against a checklist designed to capture the key attributes relating to study design, statistical analyses, and reporting. A total of 156 original publications were included (animal, in vitro, human). Few studies reported a primary research hypothesis, statement of purpose, or measures to safeguard in...

CERN Document Server

Synthesis of protein molecules in a cell are carried out by ribosomes. A ribosome can be regarded as a molecular motor which utilizes the input chemical energy to move on a messenger RNA (mRNA) track that also serves as a template for the polymerization of the corresponding protein. The forward movement, however, is characterized by an alternating sequence of translocation and pause. Using a quantitative model, which captures the mechanochemical cycle of an individual ribosome, we derive an {\\it exact} analytical expression for the distribution of its dwell times at the successive positions on the mRNA track. Inverse of the average dwell time satisfies a ``Michaelis-Menten-like'' equation and is consistent with the general formula for the average velocity of a molecular motor with an unbranched mechano-chemical cycle. Extending this formula appropriately, we also derive the exact force-velocity relation for a ribosome. Often many ribosomes simultaneously move on ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Summary: The surface coverage of amorphous silica gels used in the synthesis of silica polyamine composites has been investigated by 29Si NMR. By diluting the polyamine anchor silane, chloropropyl trichlorosilane, with methyl trichlorosilane it was found that surface coverage could be markedly improved for a range of amine polymers after grafting to the silica surface. The commensurate decrease in the number of anchor points and increase in the number of free amines results in an increase in metal capacity and/or an improvement in capture kinetics. Solid state CPMAS-13C NMR has been employed to investigate the structure and metal ion binding of a series of these composite materials. It is reported that the highly branched polymer, poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) exhibits much broader 13C NMR res...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He ions incident at grazing angles on Cu(110) and Ni(110) surfaces are neutralised into triplet and singlet states, of which the 3p, 3d and 4d upper states are accessible to optical spectroscopy. In the energy range from 500 eV to 15 keV no significant energy dependence of the relative intensities of singlet and triplet lines was observed for scattering on Cu(110). The intensities from Ni(110) are higher and the singlet to triplet intensity ratio of the 3d to 2p transition is about 6% smaller than that from Cu(110). The results can be explained well by assuming resonant charge capture into excited He and intermediate formation of negative He/sup -/ states.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The existence of a cosmic neutrino background - the analogue of the cosmic microwave background - is a fundamental prediction of standard big bang cosmology. Up to now, the observational evidence for its existence is rather indirect and rests entirely on cosmological observations of, e.g., the light elemental abundances, the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background, and the large scale distribution of matter. Here, we review more direct, weak interaction based detection techniques for the cosmic neutrino background in the present epoch and in our local neighbourhood. We show that, with current technology, all proposals are still off by some orders of magnitude in sensitivity to lead to a guaranteed detection of the relic neutrinos. The most promising laboratory search, based on neutrino capture on beta decaying nuclei, may be done in future experiments designed to measure the neutrino mass through decay kinematics. (orig.)

CERN Document Server

Shaping has proven to be a powerful but precarious means of improving reinforcement learning performance. Ng, Harada, and Russell (1999) proposed the potential-based shaping algorithm for adding shaping rewards in a way that guarantees the learner will learn optimal behavior. In this note, we prove certain similarities between this shaping algorithm and the initialization step required for several reinforcement learning algorithms. More specifically, we prove that a reinforcement learner with initial Q-values based on the shaping algorithm's potential function make the same updates throughout learning as a learner receiving potential-based shaping rewards. We further prove that under a broad category of policies, the behavior of these two learners are indistinguishable. The comparison provides intuition on the theoretical properties of the shaping algorithm as well as a suggestion for a simpler method for capturing the algorithm's benefit. In addition, the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In this paper a novel method is presented, based on the use of plasma processing, to suppress the transient enhanced diffusion of boron implanted in silicon. We found for silicon samples processed with plasma and subsequently boron implanted that the anomalous diffusion of the dopant atoms at the beginning of the annealing process is almost completely suppressed. This phenomenon is interpreted in terms of capture of the ion beam generated interstitials by the dislocations induced by the plasma processing. At room temperature the dislocations are observed to grow in size after the boron implant, attesting their efficiency as trapping centres for interstitials. Moreover, varying the plasma process conditions we can establish a general relation between the presence of the trapping centres induced by the plasma processing and the suppression of the transient diffusion.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A new method of determining the nuclear level density is presented. This method is based on the statistical analysis of the partial width fluctuations appearing in an excitation function of the radiative proton capture. The method was applied in the case of the /sup 88/Sr(p,..gamma..sub(..omega..))/sup 89/Y and /sup 89/Y(p,..gamma..sub(..omega..))/sup 90/Zr reactions. The density of levels with spin I/sup -/ in /sup 90/Zr and the densities of levels with spins 1/2/sup +/ and 3/2/sup +/ in /sup 89/Y at excitation energies from 10.9 to 11.6 MeV and from 9.3 to 10.8 MeV respectively, were determined with an uncertainty of about 35%.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A computer-based beam dosimetry measurement system for boron neutron capture therapy provides accurate, sensitive, and rapid readout and recording of all beam dose components, epithermal and thermal neutron flux, and gamma-ray dose rate. This dosimetric system includes input from the characterization of the epithermal neutron beam developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, actual BPA pharmacokinetic data from a specific human subject being irradiated, output of MacNCTPLAN, a treatment planning system developed by the authors group, and input from the five on-line beam detectors. The purpose of this system and associated readout systems is to ensure that the desired dose is delivered to the subject within acceptable dose tolerances, e.g., #+-#5% of the target dose, and that any perturbations in the neutron beam that may occur during irradiation can be rapidly evaluated and the appropriate measures taken.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The new developments in cost engineering revolve around the ability to capture information that in the past could not be automated. The purpose of automation is not to eliminate the expert cost engineer. The goal is to use available technology to have more information available to the professionals in the cost engineering field. In that sense, the demand for expertise increases in order to produce the highest quality estimate and project possible from all levels of cost engineers. We cannot overemphasize the importance of using a good source of expert information in building these types of programs. ''Garbage in, garbage out'' still applies in this form of programming. Expert systems technology will become commonplace in many vertical markets; it is important to undersand what can and cannot be accomplished in our field, and where this technology will lead us in the future.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This paper investigates various usages of natural gas (NG) as an energy source for different hydrogen production technologies. A comparison is made between the different methods of hydrogen production, based on the total amount of natural gas needed to produce a specific quantity of hydrogen, carbon dioxide emissions per mole of hydrogen produced, water requirements per mole of hydrogen produced, and a cost sensitivity analysis that takes into account the fuel cost, carbon dioxide capture cost and a carbon tax. The methods examined are the copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) thermochemical cycle, steam methane reforming (SMR) and a modified sulfur-iodine (S-I) thermochemical cycle. Also, an integrated Cu-Cl/SMR plant is examined to show the unique advantages of modifying existing SMR plants with new h...

Science.gov (United States)

The systematic behavior of excited nuclear levels was studied with Lu (Z = 71), Ta (Z = 73), and Re (Z = 75) activities produced in the ORNL proton cyclotron. Conversion-electron data are presented for electron-capture decay of Lu/sup 170.174m/, Ta/sup 173-178/, and Re/sup 179.181/. Level schemes are proposed based on these and on previously published up 173.175-179/, tulated. The proper ties of odd-A nuclei in the strongly deformed region of odd-N numbers 95-107 are discussed in connection with predictions of Mottelson and Nilsson. Two activities, Lu/sup 174m/ and Re/sup 179/ ( es sufficiert t 20 min), are previously unreported. (auth)

Science.gov (United States)

To quantify the opportunities for natural gas and identify technological advances needed to capture such opportunities, the mineral-wool industry was analyzed with respect to the principal companies, their capabilities, and markets. The mineral-wool industry is stable with a slightly declining market. Of its market segments, only commercial acoustic insulation (which is currently dominant) is likely to be affected by growth in the next ten years. The principal process is based on treatment of blast-furnace slags in a cupola furnace using coke as the fuel and reducing agent. Expanded use of gas, as a substitute for coke, would eliminate environmental problems and expand the latitude of suitable raw materials. The study provides insights into the mineral-wool industry and identifies factors that may constitute bases for future usage of natural gas.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Four methods were used to extract length scales from mixing data: the maximum striation thickness, point-to-nearest-neighbour (PNN) distributions, the correlogram and the variogram. Four test data sets were analysed: blending in a micromixer; particle dispersion in a stirred tank; dispersion of a smoke plume and a pulse tracer test in a reactor. The maximum striation thickness captures the largest length scale. The PNN method quantifies differences between clustered, random and regular spatial distributions. The correlogram calculation cannot be consistently used for all types of mixing data and has therefore been rejected. The variogram reveals both large-scale segregation and periodicity. Sub-sampling is needed to isolate smaller structures. The variogram, PNN and transect metho...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A successful boron neutron capture treatment (BNCT) of a patient with multiple liver metastases has been first given in Italy, by placing the removed organ into the thermal neutron column of the Triga research reactor of the University of Pavia. In Finland, FiR 1 Triga reactor with an epithermal neutron beam well suited for BNCT has been extensively used to irradiate patients with brain tumors such as glioblastoma and recently also head and neck tumors. In this work we have studied by MCNP Monte Carlo simulations, whether it would be beneficial to treat an isolated liver with epithermal neutrons instead of thermal ones. The results show, that the epithermal field penetrates deeper into the liver and creates a build-up distribution of the boron dose. Our results strongly encourage further studying of irradiation arrangement of an isolated liver with epithermal neutron fields.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The determination of Li and proton-capture element abundances in globular cluster (GC) giants allows us to constrain several key questions on the multiple population scenarios in GCs, from formation and early evolution to pollution and dilution mechanisms. In this Letter, we present our results on Li abundances for a large sample of giants in the intermediate-metallicity GC NGC 6121 (M4), for which Na and O have been already determined by Marino et al. The stars analyzed are both below and above the red giant branch bump luminosity. We found that the first and second generation stars share the same Li content, suggesting that a Li production must have occurred. This provides strong observational evidence supporting the scenario in which asymptotic giant branch stars are GC polluters.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ions of rare earth elements (r.e.e.) have been found to form with benzilic acid and rhodamine B precipitates hardly soluble in water and extractable by toluene. The conditions of La and Pr determination by extraction-spectrophotometry method are studied. Relative square deviation does not exceed 0.027 and 0.034 respectively. The method can be used for determination of other cerium sub-group r.e.e. in their salts and cannot be employed for determination of lighter r.e.e. in the presence of heavier r.e.e., because the latter form low soluble precipitates capturing the r.e.e. situated in the beginninq of the r.e.e. series.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An image-analysis system, based on commercially available data visualization software (IDL [1]), allows convenient interaction with image data while still providing calculated beam parameters at a rate of up to 2 Hz. Image data are transferred from the IOC to the workstation via EPICS [2] channel access. A custom EPICS record was created in order to overcome the channel access limit of 16k bytes per array. The user can conveniently calibrate optical transition radiation (OTR) and fluorescent screens, capture background images, acquire and average a series of images, and specify several other filtering and viewing options. The images can be saved in either IDL format or APS-standard format (SDDS [3]), allowing for rapid postprocessing of image data by numerous other software tools.