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The presentation describes efforts to develop a LIDAR in-flight product characterization range at Stennis Space Center as the next phase of the NASA Verification and Validation activities. It describes the status of surveying efforts on targets of interest to LIDAR vendors as well as the potential guidelines that will be used for product characterization.
The production of reactor-based medical isotopes is fragile, which has meant supply shortages from time to time. This paper reviews alternative production methods in the form of cyclotrons, linear accelerators and neutron generators. Finally, the status of the production of medical isotopes in China is described.
Second generation biofuel production facilities have been slower to reach large-scale production than was anticipated a few years ago even though in Europe, the Renewable Energy Directive has incentives for, and in the United States there are also financial incentives and, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 has targets for second generation biofuels. There have been a number of facilities that have been cancelled, but starting in 2013 it appears that significant quantities of second generation biofuels will be produced. A variety of conversion processes, thermal and biological, as well as hybrids of the two is being utilized. There will be a variety of fuels ethanol, drop-in fuels (e.g. gasoline, diesel), biodiesel, steam, electricity, bio-oil, sugars, and chemicals; and a variety of feedstocks crop residues, wood, wood wastes, energy crops, waste oils and municipal solid waste (MSW). One approach to reducing the risk of moving from first to second generation biofuel production has been to take incremental steps such as converting the cellulosic part of grains into ethanol in addition to the starch portion. Many of the second generation biofuel facilities are co-located with first generation biofuel production facilities to share infrastructure as well as trade by-products (e.g. excess steam). One of the challenges has been financing, but both private and government sources are being utilized. Private sources include internal corporate funds and debt offerings, and venture capital. Furthermore, government sources include the U.S. federal government, the European Union, European national governments, and state and local governments.
We present final results by the CDF II collaboration on diffractive W and Z production, report on the status of ongoing analyses on diffractive dijet production and on rapidity gaps between jets, and briefly summarize results obtained on exclusive production pointing to their relevance to calibrating theoretical models used to predict exclusive Higgs-boson production at the LHC.
Ion bombardment effects on single crystal defect production studied with X ray methods
A reevaluation of plant-available K within central Iowa soils is needed, especially if crop residues are harvested for animal feed or cellulosic feedstock. This study evaluated plant-available K concentrations to depths of 120 cm (n = 2433) within soil profiles at 10 experimental sites. Data from 0- to 5-, 5- to 15-, 0- to 15-, 15- to 30-, 30- to 60-, 60- to 90-, and 90- to 120-cm depths were compiled and evaluated. Based on over 400 samples collected from each depth increment below 15 cm, a reference value of 100 mg kg –1 appears common for central Iowa subsoils. Sixty-four percent of all samples had soil-test K levels below the 120 mg kg –1 threshold for very low nutrient status for crop production in Iowa. Only 28% of surface soil samples (<15-cm depth) were considered to have at least optimum nutrient status with concentrations greater than 160 mg kg –1 . As K is not an environmentally sensitive nutrient, its management in central Iowa soils has generally been neglected in recent years, particularly when compared with N and P management initiatives. Building awareness of soil K profile concentrations, rather than focusing only on surface concentrations, will be necessary to meet nutrient requirements for 21st century agricultural production.
The concept of phase-space amplitudes for systems with continuous degrees of freedom is generalized to finite-dimensional spin systems. Complex amplitudes are obtained on both a sphere and a finite lattice, in each case enabling a more fundamental description of pure spin states than that previously given by Wigner functions. In each case the Wigner function can be expressed as the star product of the amplitude and its conjugate, so providing a generalized Born interpretation of amplitudes that emphasizes their more fundamental status. The ordinary product of the amplitude and its conjugate produces a (generalized) spin Husimi function. The case of spin-(1/2) is treated in detail, and it is shown that phase-space amplitudes on the sphere transform correctly as spinors under rotations, despite their expression in terms of spherical harmonics. Spin amplitudes on a lattice are also found to transform as spinors. Applications are given to the phase space description of state superposition, and to the evolution in phase space of the state of a spin-(1/2) magnetic dipole in a time-dependent magnetic field.
Methods, compute nodes, and computer program products are provided for heuristic status polling of a component in a computing system. Embodiments include receiving, by a polling module from a requesting application, a status request requesting status of a component; determining, by the polling module, whether an activity history for the component satisfies heuristic polling criteria; polling, by the polling module, the component for status if the activity history for the component satisfies the heuristic polling criteria; and not polling, by the polling module, the component for status if the activity history for the component does not satisfy the heuristic criteria.
The present status and future plans of the physics program of Central Exclusive Production (CEP) at RHIC are described. The measurements are based on the detection of the forward protons from the Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE) process in the Roman Pot system and of the recoil system of charged particles from the DPE process measured in the STAR experiment’s Time Projection Chamber (TPC). The data described here were taken using polarized proton-proton collisions at ps = 200 GeV. The preliminary spectra of two pion and four pion invariant mass reconstructed by STAR TPC in central region of pseudo-rapidity | | < 1, are presented. Near future plans to take data with the current system at center-of-mass energy ps = 200 GeV and plans to upgrade the forward proton tagging sys- tem are presented. Also a possible addition of the Roman Pots to the sPHENIX detector is discussed.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument was launched in October 2011 as part of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP: http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/). VIIRS was designed to improve upon the capabilities of the operational Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and provide observation continuity with NASA's Earth Observing System's (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Since the VIIRS first-light images were received in November 2011, NASA and NOAA funded scientists have been working to evaluate the instrument performance and derived products to meet the needs of the NOAA operational users and the NASA science community. NOAA's focus has been on refining a suite of operational products known as Environmental Data Records (EDRs), which were developed according to project specifications under the former National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The NASA S-NPP Science Team has focused on evaluating the EDRs for science use, developing and testing additional products to meet science data needs and providing MODIS data product continuity. This paper will present to-date findings of the NASA Science Team's evaluation of the VIIRS Land and Cryosphere EDRs, specifically Surface Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Albedo, Vegetation Indices, Surface Type, Active Fires, Snow Cover, Ice Surface Temperature, and Sea Ice Characterization (http://viirsland.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html). The paper will also discuss new capabilities being developed at NASA's Land Product Evaluation and Test Element (http://landweb.nascom.nasa.gov/NPP_QA/); including downstream data and products derived from the VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB).
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument was launched in October 2011 as part of the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP). The VIIRS instrument was designed to improve upon the capabilities of the operational Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and provide observation continuity with NASA's Earth Observing System's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Since the VIIRS first-light images were received in November 2011, NASA- and NOAA-funded scientists have been working to evaluate the instrument performance and generate land and cryosphere products to meet the needs of the NOAA operational users and the NASA science community. NOAA's focus has been on refining a suite of operational products known as Environmental Data Records (EDRs), which were developed according to project specifications under the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System. The NASA S-NPP Science Team has focused on evaluating the EDRs for science use, developing and testing additional products to meet science data needs, and providing MODIS data product continuity. This paper presents to-date findings of the NASA Science Team's evaluation of the VIIRS land and cryosphere EDRs, specifically Surface Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Albedo, Vegetation Indices, Surface Type, Active Fires, Snow Cover, Ice Surface Temperature, and Sea Ice Characterization. The study concludes that, for MODIS data product continuity and earth system science, an enhanced suite of land and cryosphere products and associated data system capabilities are needed beyond the EDRs currently available from the VIIRS.
In shale gas production, gas composition may vary over time. To understand this phenomenon, we use molecular dynamics simulations to study the permeation of CH 4 , C 2 H 6 and their mixture from a source container through a pyrophyllite nanopore driven by a pressure gradient. For a pure gas, the flow rate of CH 4 is always higher than that of C 2 H 6 , regardless of pore size. For a 1:1 C 2 H 6 : CH 4 mixture, however, C 2 H 6 :CH 4 flow rate ratio is higher than the compositional ratio in the container (i.e., 1:1) when the pore size is smaller than ~1.8 nm. The selective transport is caused by the competitive adsorption of C 2 H 6 over CH 4 in the nanopore. The selectivity is also determined by the interplay between the surface diffusion of the adsorbed molecules and the viscous flow in the center of the pore, and it diminishes as the viscous flow becomes to dominate the surface diffusion when the pore size becomes larger than 1.8 nm. Our work shows that compositional differentiation of shale gas in production is a consequence of nanopore confinement and therefore a key characteristic of an unconventional reservoir. Finally, the related compositional information can potentially be used for monitoring the status of a production well such as its recovery rate.
Scripts Providing a Cool Kit of Telemetry Enhancing Tools (SPACKLE) is a set of software tools that fill gaps in capabilities of other software used in processing downlinked data in the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) flight and test-bed operations. SPACKLE tools have helped to accelerate the automatic processing and interpretation of MER mission data, enabling non-experts to understand and/or use MER query and data product command simulation software tools more effectively. SPACKLE has greatly accelerated some operations and provides new capabilities. The tools of SPACKLE are written, variously, in Perl or the C or C++ language. They perform a variety of search and shortcut functions that include the following: Generating text-only, Event Report-annotated, and Web-enhanced views of command sequences; Labeling integer enumerations with their symbolic meanings in text messages and engineering channels; Systematic detecting of corruption within data products; Generating text-only displays of data-product catalogs including downlink status; Validating and labeling of commands related to data products; Performing of convenient searches of detailed engineering data spanning multiple Martian solar days; Generating tables of initial conditions pertaining to engineering, health, and accountability data; Simplified construction and simulation of command sequences; and Fast time format conversions and sorting.
SRF cavity and Cryomodule testing and production requires a consistent means of collecting and analyzing data against quality and production parameters. JLab's engineering data management system, Pansophy, is utilized to assist project leaders and subject matter experts (SMEs) with such tasks, by providing a means to data mine key parameter indicators (KPI) and production planning and status data. Recent enhancements to reporting and trending have been utilized for the LCLS-II and CEBAF 12GeV upgrade projects. Further enhancements are being planned for future projects, like SNS-PPU, such as KPI trending, KPI quality, vendor quality, production timelines and user defined queries. Being able to understand past trends will assist with enhancements to future projects.
Hydrogen production by electrochemical water electrolysis has received great attention as an alternative technology for energy conversion and storage. The oxygen electrode has a substantial effect on the performance and durability in water electrolyzers and reversible fuel cells because of its intrinsically slow kinetics for oxygen evolution/reduction and poor durability under harsh operating environments. To improve oxygen kinetics and durability of the electrode, extensive studies for highly active and stable oxygen electrocatalyst have been performed. However, due to the thermodynamic instability of transition metals in acidic media, noble metal compounds have been primarily utilized as electrocatalysts in water electrolyzers and reversible fuel cells. For water electrolyzer applications, single noble metal oxides such as ruthenium oxide and iridium oxide have been studied, and binary or ternary metal oxides have been developed to take synergestic effects of each component. On the other hand, a variety of bifunctional electrocatalysts with a combination of monofunctional electrocatalysts such as platinum for oxygen reduction and iridium oxide for oxygen evolution for reversible fuel cell applications have been mainly proposed. Practically, supported iridium oxide-on-platinum, its reverse type, and non-precious metal-supported platinum and iridium bifunctional electrocatalysts have been developed. Recent theoretical calculations and experimental studies in terms of water electrolysis and fuel cell technology suggest effective ways to cope with current major challenges of cost and durability of oxygen electrocatalysts for technical applications.
Human waste products water reclamation systems render space crew independent of stored water requirements
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NOvA (NuMI Off-axis ne Appearance) experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. It uses two functionally identical detectors, the NOvA near detector (ND) at Fermilab and the NOvA far detector (FD) at a distance 810 km in northern Minnesota to measure ne appearance in a narrow-band beam of nm peaked at 2 GeV in energy. Neutrino induced Neutral Current (NC) interactions with a p0 in the final state are a significant background in the ne appearance measurement. The p0 decay into two photons can fake the ne appearance signal either due to merging of two photon showers or one of the two photons escaping the detection. Therefore, a complete understanding of NC interactions with p0 in the final state is very important. To constrain this background, NOvA will perform cross section measurement of inclusive NC p0 production using data from the NOvA ND. It will also help in reducing the background uncertainties for current and future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments.