Publications

Results 86701–86800 of 99,299

Search results

Jump to search filters

Sequestration of radionuclides and heavy metals by hydroxyapatite doped with Fe, Cu and Sn

Helean, Katheryn B.; Walton, Fotini; Neidel, Linnah L.; Larese, Kathleen C.; Salas, Fred S.

Apatite, Ca{sub 5}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}(F,OH,Cl)(P6{sub 3}/m, Z=2), is the most abundant phosphate mineral on Earth. The end-member hydroxyapatite, Ca{sub 5}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}OH(P2{sub 1}/b), is the primary mineral component in bones and teeth and tends to scavenge and sequester heavy metals in the human body. Hydroxyapatite has also been shown to be effective at sequestering radionuclides and heavy metals in certain natural systems (Dybowska et al., 2004). Hydroxyapatite has been the focus of many laboratory studies and is utilized for environmental remediation of contaminated sites (Moore et al., 2002). The crystal structure of apatite tolerates a great deal of distortion caused by extensive chemical substitutions. Metal cations (e.g. REE, actinides, K, Na, Mn, Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Sr, Ba, Pb, Cd, Fe) substitute for Ca, and oxyanions (e.g. AsO{sub 4}{sup 3-}, SO{sub 4}{sup 2-}, CO{sub 3}{sup 2-}, SiO{sub 4}{sup 4-}, CrO{sub 4}{sup 2-}) replace PO{sub 4}{sup 3-} through a series of coupled substitutions that preserve electroneutrality. Owing to the ability of apatite to incorporate 'impurities'(including actinides) gives rise to its proposed use as a waste form for radionuclides. Recent work at Sandia National Laboratory demonstrated that hydroxyapatite has a strong affinity for U, Pu, Np, Sr and Tc reduced from pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup -}) by SnCl{sub 2} (Moore et al., 2002). Based on these earlier promising results, an investigation was initiated into the use of apatite-type materials doped with aliovalent cations including Fe, Cu and Sn as Tc-scavengers. Synthetic Fe and Cu-doped hydroxyapatite samples were prepared by precipitation of Ca, from Ca-acetate, and P, from ammonium phosphate. The Fe and Cu were introduced as chlorides into the Ca-acetate solution. Stannous chloride was used as a reducing agent and was apparently incorporated into the crystal structures of the hydroxyapatite samples in small, as yet undetermined quantities.

More Details

Surfactant-assisted synthesis of water-soluble and biocompatible semiconductor quantum dot micelles

Nano Letters

Fan, Hongyou; Leve, Erik W.; Scullin, Chessa; Gabaldon, John; Tallant, David R.; Bunge, Scott; Boyle, Tim; Wilson, Michael C.; Brinker, C.J.

We report a simple, rapid approach to synthesize water-soluble and biocompatible fluorescent quantum dot (QD) micelles by encapsulation of monodisperse, hydrophobic QDs within surfactant/lipid micelles. Analyses of UV-vis and photo luminescence spectra, along with transmission electron microscopy, indicate that the water-soluble semiconductor QD micelles are monodisperse and retain the optical properties of the original hydrophobic QDs. The QD micelles were shown to be biocompatible and exhibited little or no aggregation when taken up by cultured rat hippocampal neurons. © 2005 American Chemical Society.

More Details

Final LDRD report : design and fabrication of advanced device structures for ultra high efficiency solid state lighting

Fischer, Arthur J.; Crawford, Mary H.; Koleske, Daniel; Allerman, A.A.; Bogart, Katherine H.A.; Wendt, Joel R.; Shul, Randy J.

The goal of this one year LDRD was to improve the overall efficiency of InGaN LEDs by improving the extraction of light from the semiconductor chip. InGaN LEDs are currently the most promising technology for producing high efficiency blue and green semiconductor light emitters. Improving the efficiency of InGaN LEDs will enable a more rapid adoption of semiconductor based lighting. In this LDRD, we proposed to develop photonic structures to improve light extraction from nitride-based light emitting diodes (LEDs). While many advanced device geometries were considered for this work, we focused on the use of a photonic crystal for improved light extraction. Although resonant cavity LEDs and other advanced structures certainly have the potential to improve light extraction, the photonic crystal approach showed the most promise in the early stages of this short program. The photonic crystal (PX)-LED developed here incorporates a two dimensional photonic crystal, or photonic lattice, into a nitride-based LED. The dimensions of the photonic crystal are selected such that there are very few or no optical modes in the plane of the LED ('lateral' modes). This will reduce or eliminate any radiation in the lateral direction so that the majority of the LED radiation will be in vertical modes that escape the semiconductor, which will improve the light-extraction efficiency. PX-LEDs were fabricated using a range of hole diameters and lattice constants and compared to control LEDs without a photonic crystal. The far field patterns from the PX-LEDs were dramatically modified by the presence of the photonic crystal. An increase in LED brightness of 1.75X was observed for light measured into a 40 degree emission cone with a total increase in power of 1.5X for an unencapsulated LED.

More Details

Emphasis/Nevada STDEM : user's guide : version 1.0

Coats, Rebecca S.; Pasik, Michael F.; Seidel, David B.

STDEM is the structured mesh time-domain electromagnetic and plasma physics component of Emphasis/Nevada. This report provides a guide on using STDEM. Emphasis, the electromagnetic physics analysis system, is a suite of codes for the simulation of electromagnetic and plasma physics phenomena. The time-dependent components of Emphasis have been implemented using the Nevada framework [1]. The notation Emphasis/Nevada is used to highlight this relationship and/or distinguish the time-dependent components of Emphasis. In theory the underlying framework should have little influence on the user's interaction with the application. In practice the framework tends to be more invasive as it provides key services such as input parsing and defines fundamental concepts and terminology. While the framework offers many technological advancements from a software development point of view, from a user's perspective the key benefits of the underlying framework are the common interface for all framework physics modules as well as the ability to perform coupled physics simulations. STDEM is the structured time-domain electromagnetic and plasma physics component of Emphasis/Nevada. STDEM provides for the full-wave solution to Maxwell's equations on multi-block three-dimensional structured grids using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithms. Additionally STDEM provides for the fully relativistic, self-consistent simulation of charged particles using particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithms.

More Details

Dynamic compaction of tungsten carbide powder

Hall, Clint A.

The shock compaction behavior of a tungsten carbide powder was investigated using a new experimental design for gas-gun experiments. This design allows the Hugoniot properties to be measured with reasonably good accuracy despite the inherent difficulties involved with distended powders. The experiments also provide the first reshock state for the compacted powder. Experiments were conducted at impact velocities of 245, 500, and 711 m/s. A steady shock wave was observed for some of the sample thicknesses, but the remainder were attenuated due to release from the back of the impactor or the edge of the sample. The shock velocity for the powder was found to be quite low, and the propagating shock waves were seen to be very dispersive. The Hugoniot density for the 711 m/s experiment was close to ambient crystal density for tungsten carbide, indicating nearly complete compaction. When compared with quasi-static compaction results for the same material, the dynamic compaction data is seen to be significantly stiffer for the regime over which they overlap. Based on these initial results, recommendations are made for improving the experimental technique and for future work to improve our understanding of powder compaction.

More Details

Statistical validation of engineering and scientific models : bounds, calibration, and extrapolation

Dowding, Kevin J.

Numerical models of complex phenomena often contain approximations due to our inability to fully model the underlying physics, the excessive computational resources required to fully resolve the physics, the need to calibrate constitutive models, or in some cases, our ability to only bound behavior. Here we illustrate the relationship between approximation, calibration, extrapolation, and model validation through a series of examples that use the linear transient convective/dispersion equation to represent the nonlinear behavior of Burgers equation. While the use of these models represents a simplification relative to the types of systems we normally address in engineering and science, the present examples do support the tutorial nature of this document without obscuring the basic issues presented with unnecessarily complex models.

More Details

Conversion of the Bryan Mound geological site characterization reports to a three-dimensional model

Stein, Joshua

The Bryan Mound salt dome, located near Freeport, Texas, is home to one of four underground crude oil-storage facilities managed by the U. S. Department of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Program. Sandia National Laboratories, as the geotechnical advisor to the SPR, conducts site-characterization investigations and other longer-term geotechnical and engineering studies in support of the program. This report describes the conversion of two-dimensional geologic interpretations of the Bryan Mound site into three-dimensional geologic models. The new models include the geometry of the salt dome, the surrounding sedimentary units, mapped faults, and the 20 oil-storage caverns at the site. This work provides an internally consistent geologic model of the Bryan Mound site that can be used in support of future work.

More Details

Leadership development study :success profile competencies and high-performing leaders at Sandia National Laboratories

Crowder, Stephen V.

Sandia is undergoing tremendous change. Sandia's executive management recognized the need for leadership development. About ten years ago the Business, Leadership, and Management Development department in partnership with executive management developed and implemented the organizational leadership Success Profile Competencies to help address some of the changes on the horizon such as workforce losses and lack of a skill set in the area of interpersonal skills. This study addresses the need for the Business, Leadership, and Management Development department to provide statistically sound data in two areas. One is to demonstrate that the organizational 360-degree success profile assessment tool has made a difference for leaders. A second area is to demonstrate the presence of high performing leaders at the Labs. The study utilized two tools to address these two areas. Study participants were made up of individuals who have solid data on Sandia's 360-degree success profile assessment tool. The second assessment tool was comprised of those leaders who participated in the Lockheed Martin Corporation Employee Preferences Survey. Statistical data supports the connection between leader indicators and the 360-degree assessment tool. The study also indicates the presence of high performing leaders at Sandia.

More Details

Bulk GaN and AIGaN/GaN heterostructure drift velocity measurements and comparison to theoretical models

Proposed for publication in Journal of Applied Physics.

Koleske, Daniel; Shul, Randy J.

The room-temperature velocity-field characteristics for n-type gallium nitride and AlGaN/GaN heterostructures, grown epitaxially on sapphire, were determined experimentally. A pulsed voltage input and four-point measurements were used on special geometry samples to determine the electron drift velocity as a function of applied electric field in the basal plane. These measurements show apparent saturation velocities near 2.5 x 10{sup 7} cm/s at 180 kV/cm for the n-type gallium nitride and 3.1 x 10{sup 7} cm/s at 140 kV/cm for the AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. A comparison of these studies shows that the experimental velocities are close to previously published simulations based upon Monte Carlo techniques.

More Details

Brazing

Proposed for publication in Encyclopedia of Material: Science & Technology.

Cadden, Charles H.

The use of a lower-melting-point molten metal to join metallic components is perhaps the earliest example of processing which employs metallurgical bonding principles, having roots as far back as 4200 BC (Peaslee 2003). More than 6000 years later, brazing occupies a prominent position in our suite of joining processes where it offers cost and/or performance advantages in the fabrication of many structures. More precisely, brazing can be described as the use of a molten filler metal to wet the closely fitting faying surfaces of a joint, leading to formation of metallurgical bonds between the filler metal and substrates. Historically, brazing processes employ filler metals whose solidus temperature exceeds 723 K, as opposed to soldering processes which use lower-melting-point temperature filler materials. In the past several decades, technological advances have facilitated a broadening of applications for brazing while simultaneously contradicting some of the traditional perceptions of the process. However, many of those tenets remain appropriate for the majority of brazing processes and products. Accordingly, this article provides a brief description of traditional brazing and some important factors to be considered when designing and producing brazed structures. An additional section describes the technical advances in the field.

More Details

Effect of critical dimension variation on SAW correlator energy

Proposed for publication in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

Skinner, J.L.

The effect of critical dimension (CD) variation and metallization ratio on the efficiency of energy conversion of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) correlator is examined. We find that a 10% variation in the width of finger electrodes predicts only a 1% decrease in the efficiency of energy conversion. Furthermore, our model predicts that a metallization ratio of 0.74 represents an optimum value for energy extraction from the SAW by the interdigitated transducer (IDT).

More Details

The US/Global Achilles heel : economic terrorism

Backus, George A.

While loss of life is the operating concern of Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the security of the economy ultimately decides the success of the war on terrorism. This project focuses on mitigation, containment, response, and impact of terrorist events on the economy. Conventional economic methods are inadequate, but agent-based methods (Discrete Simulation) appears to uniquely capture the dynamics and emergent (human) behaviors.

More Details

Early experience with red storm

Kelly, Suzanne M.; Ballance, Robert A.

Red Storm is a massively parallel processor. The Red Storm design goals are: (1) Balanced system performance - CPU, memory, interconnect, and I/O; (2) Usability - functionality of hardware and software meets needs of users for Massively Parallel Computing; (3)S calability - system hardware and software scale, single cabinet system to {approx} 30,000 processor system; (4) reliability - machines tays up long enough between interrupts to make real progress on completing application run (at least 50 hours MTBI), requires full system RAS capability; (5) Upgradability - system can be upgraded with a processor swap and additional cabinets to 100T or greater; (6) red/black switching - capability to switch major portions of the machine between classified and unclassified computing environments; (7) space, power, cooling - high density, low power system; and (8) price/performance - excellent performance per dollar, use high volume commodity parts where feasible.

More Details

On the need and use of models to explore the role of economic confidence:a survey

Sprigg, James A.

Empirical studies suggest that consumption is more sensitive to current income than suggested under the permanent income hypothesis, which raises questions regarding expectations for future income, risk aversion, and the role of economic confidence measures. This report surveys a body of fundamental economic literature as well as burgeoning computational modeling methods to support efforts to better anticipate cascading economic responses to terrorist threats and attacks. This is a three part survey to support the incorporation of models of economic confidence into agent-based microeconomic simulations. We first review broad underlying economic principles related to this topic. We then review the economic principle of confidence and related empirical studies. Finally, we provide a brief survey of efforts and publications related to agent-based economic simulation.

More Details

An aluminum resist substrate for microfabrication by LIGA

Griffiths, Stewart K.; Lu, Wei-Yang; Hekmaty, Michelle A.; Mclean, Dorrance E.; Yang, Chu-Yeu P.; Friedmann, Thomas A.; Losey, Matthew W.; Hachman, John T.; Skala, Dawn M.; Hunter, Luke L.; Yang, Nancy; Boehme, Dale R.; Korellis, John S.; Aigeldinger, Georg

Resist substrates used in the LIGA process must provide high initial bond strength between the substrate and resist, little degradation of the bond strength during x-ray exposure, acceptable undercut rates during development, and a surface enabling good electrodeposition of metals. Additionally, they should produce little fluorescence radiation and give small secondary doses in bright regions of the resist at the substrate interface. To develop a new substrate satisfying all these requirements, we have investigated secondary resist doses due to electrons and fluorescence, resist adhesion before exposure, loss of fine features during extended development, and the nucleation and adhesion of electrodeposits for various substrate materials. The result of these studies is a new anodized aluminum substrate and accompanying methods for resist bonding and electrodeposition. We demonstrate successful use of this substrate through all process steps and establish its capabilities via the fabrication of isolated resist features down to 6 {micro}m, feature aspect ratios up to 280 and electroformed nickel structures at heights of 190 to 1400 {micro}m. The minimum mask absorber thickness required for this new substrate ranges from 7 to 15 {micro}m depending on the resist thickness.

More Details

Supercell issues in density functional calculations

Schultz, Peter A.

Simulations within density functional theory (DFT) are a common component of research into the physics of materials. With the broad success of DFT, it is easily forgotten that computational DFT methods invariably do not directly represent simulated properties, but require careful construction of models that are computable approximations to a physical property. Perhaps foremost among these computational considerations is the routine use of the supercell approximation to construct finite models to represent infinite systems. Pitfalls in using supercells (k-space sampling, boundary conditions, cell sizes) are often underappreciated. We present examples (e.g. vacancy defects) that exhibit a surprising or significant dependence on supercells, and describe workable solutions. We describe procedures needed to construct meaningful models for simulations of real material systems, focusing on k-space and cell size issues.

More Details

Vision fest: a vision of the analytical environment of the future

Moore, Judy H.; Whitley, John B.

This highly interactive workshop is designed to elicit from the participants a vision of an ideal future analytic environment for intelligence analysis, the components of such a system that are already in place or in development and the identification of needed future developments. It will cover processes and tools for enabling effective individual analysts, teams of analysts, computer mediated analysis teams and management of tasks and teams.

More Details

Neutron reflectivity study of lipid membranes assembled on ordered nanocomposite and nanoporous silica thin films

Langmuir

Doshi, Dhaval A.; Dattelbaum, Andrew M.; Watkins, Erik B.; Brinker, C.J.; Swanson, Basil I.; Shreve, Andrew P.; Parikh, Atul N.; Majewski, Jaroslaw

Single bilayer membranes of l-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3- phosphocholine (POPC) were formed on ordered nanocomposite and nanoporous silica thin films by fusion of small unilamellar vesicles. The structure of these membranes was investigated using neutron reflectivity. The underlying thin films were formed by evaporation induced self-assembly to obtain periodic arrangements of silica and surfactant molecules in the nanocomposite thin films, followed by photocalcination to oxidatively remove the organics and render the films nanoporous. We show that this platform affords homogeneous and continuous bilayer membranes that have promising applications as model membranes and sensors. © 2005 American Chemical Society.

More Details

Temperature imaging in nonpremixed flames by joint filtered Rayleigh and Raman scattering

Applied Optics

Kearney, Sean P.; Schefer, Robert W.; Beresh, Steven J.; Grasser, Thomas

Joint fuel Raman and filtered Rayleigh-scattering (FRS) imaging is demonstrated in a laminar methane-air diffusion flame. These experiments are, to our knowledge, the first reported extension of the FRS technique to nonpremixed combustion. This joint imaging approach allows for correction of the FRS images for the large variations in Rayleigh cross section that occur in diffusion flames and for a secondary measurement of fuel mole fraction. The temperature-dependent filtered Rayleigh cross sections are computed with a six-moment kinetic model for calculation of major-species Rayleigh-Brillouin line shapes and a flamelet-based model for physically judicious estimates of gas-phase chemical composition. Shot-averaged temperatures, fuel mole fractions, and fuel number densities from steady and vortex-strained diffusion flames stabilized on a Wolfhard-Parker slot burner are presented, and a detailed uncertainty analysis reveals that the FRS-measured temperatures are accurate to within ±4.5 to 6% of the local absolute temperature. © 2005 Optical Society of America.

More Details

Measurements of carbon, deuterium and boron deposition in DIII-D

Journal of Nuclear Materials

Wampler, W.R.; Allen, S.L.; McLean, A.G.; West, W.P.

An experiment was recently conducted in DIII-D in which 13C methane (13CH4) was injected from the upper divertor plenum into 22 identical lower single null divertor L-mode plasmas. Twenty-nine graphite tiles were subsequently removed and analyzed to determine the spatial distribution of 13C deposited on the main chamber wall and divertor. 13C coverage was mapped by ion beam analysis using the 13C(3He, p)15N nuclear reaction. This technique also measures deuterium, boron and 12C content in the near-surface region of the tiles. The measurements show the 13C is deposited mainly at the inner divertor. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

More Details

Far scrape-off layer and near wall plasma studies in DIII-D

Journal of Nuclear Materials

Rudakov, D.L.; Boedo, J.A.; Moyer, R.A.; Brooks, N.H.; Doerner, R.P.; Evans, T.E.; Fenstermacher, M.E.; Groth, M.; Hollmann, E.M.; Krasheninnikov, S.; Lasnier, C.J.; Mahdavi, M.A.; McKee, G.R.; McLean, A.; Stangeby, P.C.; Wampler, W.R.; Watkins, J.G.; West, W.P.; Whyte, D.G.; Wong, C.P.C.

Far scrape-off layer (SOL) plasma parameters in DIII-D depend strongly on the discharge density and confinement regime. In L-mode, cross-field transport increases with the average discharge density and elevates the far SOL density, thus increasing plasma-wall contact. Far SOL density near the low field side (LFS) of the main chamber wall also increases with decreasing plasma current and with decreasing outer wall gap. In H-mode, between edge localized modes (ELMs), plasma-wall contact is weaker than in L-mode. During ELMs plasma fluxes to the LFS wall increase to, or above the L-mode levels. A large fraction of the net cross-field fluxes is convected through the SOL by large amplitude intermittent transport events. In high-density L-mode and during ELMs in H-mode, intermittent events propagate all the way to the LFS wall and may cause sputtering. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

More Details

OEDGE modeling of 13C deposition in the inner divertor of DIII-D

Journal of Nuclear Materials

Elder, J.D.; Stangeby, P.C.; Whyte, D.G.; Allen, S.L.; McLean, A.; Boedo, J.A.; Bray, B.D.; Brooks, N.H.; Fenstermacher, M.E.; Groth, M.; Lasnier, C.J.; Lisgo, S.; Rudakov, D.L.; Wampler, W.R.; Watkins, J.G.; West, W.P.

Use of carbon in tokamaks leads to a major tritium retention issue due to co-deposition. To investigate this process a low power L-mode experiment was performed on DIII-D in which 13CH4 was puffed into the main vessel through the toroidally-symmetric pumping plenum at the top of lower single-null discharges. Subsequently, the 13C content of tiles taken from the vessel wall was measured. The interpretive OEDGE code was used to model the results. It was found that the 13C deposition pattern is controlled by: (a) source strength of 13C+, (b) Δrs, radial location of the 13C+ source, (c) D⊥, (d) M∥, the scrape-off layer parallel Mach number. Best agreement was found for (a) ∼50% conversion efficiency 13CH 4 → 13C+, (b) Δrs, ∼+3.5 cm (outboard of separatrix) near 13CH4 injection location, (c) D⊥ ∼ 0.3 m2/s, (d) M∥∼ 0.4 toward inside. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

More Details

Time resolved deposition measurements in NSTX

Journal of Nuclear Materials

Skinner, C.H.; Kugel, H.; Roquemore, A.L.; Hogan, J.; Wampler, W.R.

Time-resolved measurements of deposition in current tokamaks are crucial to gain a predictive understanding of deposition with a view to mitigating tritium retention and deposition on diagnostic mirrors expected in next-step devices. Two quartz crystal microbalances have been installed on NSTX at a location 0.77 m outside the last closed flux surface. This configuration mimics a typical diagnostic window or mirror. The deposits were analyzed ex-situ and found to be dominantly carbon, oxygen and deuterium. A rear facing quartz crystal recorded deposition of lower sticking probability molecules at 10% of the rate of the front facing one. Time resolved measurements over a 4-week period with 497 discharges, recorded 29.2 μg/cm2 of deposition, however surprisingly, 15.9 μg/cm2 of material loss occurred at 7 discharges. The net deposited mass of 13.3 μg/cm2 matched the mass of 13.5 μg/cm2 measured independently by ion beam analysis. Monte Carlo modeling suggests that transient processes are likely to dominate the deposition. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

More Details

Multivariate statistical analysis of concatenated time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry spectral images. Complete description of the sample with one analysis

Analytical Chemistry

Smentkowski, V.S.; Keenan, Michael R.; Ohlhausen, J.A.; Kotula, Paul G.

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) instruments are capable of saving an entire mass spectrum at each pixel of an image, allowing for retrospective analysis of masses that were not selected for analysis during data collection. These TOF-SIMS spectral images contain a wealth of information, but few tools are available to assist the analyst in visualizing the entire raw data set and as a result, most of the data are not analyzed. Automated, nonbiased, multivariate statistical analysis (MVSA) techniques are useful for converting the massive amount of data into a smaller number of chemical components (spectra and images) that are needed to fully describe the TOF-SIMS measurement. Many samples require two back-to-back TOF-SIMS measurements in order to fully characterize the sample, one measurement of the fraction of positively charged secondary ions (positive ion fraction) and one measurement of the fraction of negatively charged secondary ions (negative ion fraction). Each measurement then needs to be individually evaluated. In this paper, we report the first MVSA analysis of a concatenated TOF-SIMS date set comprising positive ion and negative ion spectral images collected on the same region of a sample. MVSA of concatenated data sets provides results that are intuitive and fully describe the sample. The analytical insight provided by MVSA of the concatenated data set was not obtained when either polarity data set was analyzed separately. © 2005 American Chemical Society.

More Details

Implicit Riemann solvers for the Pn equations

Brunner, Thomas A.; Mehlhorn, Thomas A.

The spherical harmonics (P{sub n}) approximation to the transport equation for time dependent problems has previously been treated using Riemann solvers and explicit time integration. Here we present an implicit time integration method for the P n equations using Riemann solvers. Both first-order and high-resolution spatial discretization schemes are detailed. One facet of the high-resolution scheme is that a system of nonlinear equations must be solved at each time step. This nonlinearity is the result of slope reconstruction techniques necessary to avoid the introduction of artifical extrema in the numerical solution. Results are presented that show auspicious agreement with analytical solutions using time steps well beyond the CFL limit.

More Details

Examining tissue differentiation stability through large scale, multi-cellular pathway modeling

May, Elebeoba

Using a multi-cellular, pathway model approach, we investigate the Drosophila sp. segmental differentiation network's stability as a function of initial conditions. While this network's functionality has been investigated in the absence of noise, this is the first work to specifically investigate how natural systems respond to random errors or noise. Our findings agree with earlier results that the overall network is robust in the absence of noise. However, when one includes random initial perturbations in intracellular protein WG levels, the robustness of the system decreases dramatically. The effect of noise on the system is not linear, and appears to level out at high noise levels.

More Details

Perspectives on internet-based frameworks/infrastructures for virtual manufacturing enterprises : a literature review

Virtual manufacturing enterprises (VMEs) are a current, viable, and strategic form of organization for business and other organizations. The perspectives described in this literature review are based upon a basic cluster analysis that identified and classified papers into homogenous subgroups with meaningful themes, or categories. These general themes are related to strategies for business organization and advanced information technologies, virtual industrial/manufacturing organizations/enterprises, frameworks supporting virtual manufacturing enterprises (VMEs), and information technology infrastructures for VMEs.

More Details

Advances in AlGaN-based deep UV LEDs

Crawford, Mary H.; Allerman, A.A.; Fischer, Arthur J.; Bogart, Katherine H.A.; Chow, Weng W.; Wieczorek, Sebastian M.; Kaplar, Robert; Kurtz, S.R.

Materials studies of high Al-content (> 30%) AlGaN epilayers and the performance of AlGaN-based LEDs with emission wavelengths shorter than 300 nm are reported. N-type AlGaN films with Al compositions greater than 30% reveal a reduction in conductivity with increasing Al composition. The reduction of threading dislocation density from the 1-5 x10{sup 10} cm{sup -2} range to the 6-9 x 10{sup 9}cm{sup -2} range results in an improvement of electrical conductivity and Al{sub 0.90}Ga{sub 0.10}N films with n= 1.6e17 cm-3 and f{acute Y}=20 cm2/Vs have been achieved. The design, fabrication and packaging of flip-chip bonded deep UV LEDs is described. Large area (1 mm x 1 mm) LED structures with interdigitated contacts demonstrate output powers of 2.25 mW at 297 nm and 1.3 mW at 276 nm when operated under DC current. 300 f{acute Y}m x 300 f{acute Y}m LEDs emitting at 295 nm and operated at 20 mA DC have demonstrated less than 50% drop in output power after more than 2400 hours of operation. Optimization of the electron block layer in 274 nm LED structures has enabled a significant reduction in deep level emission bands, and a peak quantum well to deep level ratio of 700:1 has been achieved for 300 f{acute Y}m x 300 f{acute Y}m LEDs operated at 100 mA DC. Shorter wavelength LED designs are described, and LEDs emitting at 260 nm, 254nm and 237 nm are reported.

More Details

Frequency and phaselock control of a 3 THz quantum cascade laser

Proposed for publication in Optics Letters.

Reno, John L.

We have locked the frequency of a 3 THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) to that of a far-infrared gas laser with a tunable microwave offset frequency. The locked QCL line shape is essentially Gaussian, with linewidths of 65 and 141 kHz at the -3 and -10 dB levels, respectively. The lock condition can be maintained indefinitely, without requiring temperature or bias current regulation of the QCL other than that provided by the lock error signal. The result demonstrates that a terahertz QCL can be frequency controlled with 1-part-in-108 accuracy, which is a factor of 100 better than that needed for a local oscillator in a heterodyne receiver for atmospheric and astronomic spectroscopy.

More Details

The implications of working set analysis on supercomputing memory hierarchy design

Underwood, Keith D.; Rodrigues, Arun

Supercomputer architects strive to maximize the performance of scientific applications. Unfortunately, the large, unwieldy nature of most scientific applications has lead to the creation of artificial benchmarks, such as SPEC-FP, for architecture research. Given the impact that these benchmarks have on architecture research, this paper seeks an understanding of how they relate to real-world applications within the Department of Energy. Since the memory system has been found to be a particularly key issue for many applications, the focus of the paper is on the relationship between how the SPEC-FP benchmarks and DOE applications use the memory system. The results indicate that while the SPEC-FP suite is a well balanced suite, supercomputing applications typically demand more from the memory system and must perform more 'other work' (in the form of integer computations) along with the floating point operations. The SPEC-FP suite generally demonstrates slightly more temporal locality leading to somewhat lower bandwidth demands. The most striking result is the cumulative difference between the benchmarks and the applications in terms of the requirements to sustain the floating-point operation rate: the DOE applications require significantly more data from main memory (not cache) per FLOP and dramatically more integer instructions per FLOP.

More Details

On the use of titanium nitride as structural material for Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS)

Nielson, Gregory N.

The introduction of new multifunctional materials provides the potential for expanding the realm of microsystems device design and applications. Titanium nitride is identified as an attractive candidate material for use in NEMS applications given its favorable electrical, mechanical and chemical properties thereby enabling its use in high frequency applications and in harsh environments. We demonstrate TiN NEMS structures and low temperature residual stress control of the TiN comprising those structures. Potential applications of TiN as a NEMS structural material are discussed, with particular emphasis on active nanophotonic devices.

More Details

Processing of Lewisite munitions in the explosive destruction system

Didlake, John E.; Shepodd, Timothy J.; Bradshaw, Robert W.

The Explosive Destruction System (EDS) is a transportable system designed to treat chemical munitions. The EDS is transported on an open trailer that provides a mounting surface for major system components and an operator's work platform. The trailer is towed by a prime mover. An explosive containment vessel contains the shock, munition fragments, and the chemical agent during the munition opening process, and then provides a vessel for the subsequent chemical treatment of the agent. A fragmentation suppression system houses the chemical munition and protects the containment vessel from high velocity fragments. An explosive accessing system uses shaped charges to cut the munition open and attack the burster. A firing system detonates the shaped charges. A chemical feed system supplies neutralizing reagents and water to the containment vessel. A waste handling system drains the treated effluent.

More Details
Results 86701–86800 of 99,299
Results 86701–86800 of 99,299