The Sort on Radioactive Waste Type model: A method to sort single-shell tanks into characteristic groups. Revision 2

The SORWT model presents a methodology to group SSTs that is both simple to understand and logical in its assumptions and construction. The SORWT model has predicted the existence of 24 groups of SSTs ranging from 22 tanks per group to two tanks per group. These 24 groups encompass 133 tanks and 93% of the total waste contained in SSTs. The first 14 groups (i.e., those that contain four tanks per group or more) represent 109 tanks and 83% of the total waste volume. This demonstrates the potential for using the SORWT model to efficiently allocate resources and to maximize characterization information gained by a minimum number of sampling events. The verification study has shown that the SST groups predicted by the SORWT model are statistically significant and reduce the variability in the concentrations for all analytes examined. The SORWT model organizes a vast amount of information and presents clear options on which SSTs are more desirable to sample. The model is also simple and flexible in its ability to incorporate new parameters such as new SST analytical data, shifting programmatic needs, and/or risk assessment-oriented criteria. This report presents the nominal composition, inventory, and uncertainty for five of the 24 SORWT groups, representing 28 tanks, 10% of the total waste volume, and 29% of the total sludge volume in SSTs. Consequently, this document provides a logical beginning framework for tank waste characterization until further information becomes available or different programmatic needs are identified

Two-loop corrections to the decay rate of parapositronium

Order $\alpha^2$ corrections to the decay rate of parapositronium are calculated. A QED scattering calculation of the amplitude for electron-positron annihilation into two photons at threshold is combined with the technique of effective field theory to determine an NRQED Hamiltonian, which is then used in a bound state calculation to determine the decay rate. Our result for the two-loop correction is $5.1243(33)$ in units of $(\alpha/\pi)^2$ times the lowest order rate. This is consistent with but more precise than the result $5.1(3)$ of a previous calculation.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figure

The Sort on Radioactive Waste Type model: A method to sort single-shell tanks into characteristic groups. Revision 2

The SORWT model presents a methodology to group SSTs that is both simple to understand and logical in its assumptions and construction. The SORWT model has predicted the existence of 24 groups of SSTs ranging from 22 tanks per group to two tanks per group. These 24 groups encompass 133 tanks and 93% of the total waste contained in SSTs. The first 14 groups (i.e., those that contain four tanks per group or more) represent 109 tanks and 83% of the total waste volume. This demonstrates the potential for using the SORWT model to efficiently allocate resources and to maximize characterization information gained by a minimum number of sampling events. The verification study has shown that the SST groups predicted by the SORWT model are statistically significant and reduce the variability in the concentrations for all analytes examined. The SORWT model organizes a vast amount of information and presents clear options on which SSTs are more desirable to sample. The model is also simple and flexible in its ability to incorporate new parameters such as new SST analytical data, shifting programmatic needs, and/or risk assessment-oriented criteria. This report presents the nominal composition, inventory, and uncertainty for five of the 24 SORWT groups, representing 28 tanks, 10% of the total waste volume, and 29% of the total sludge volume in SSTs. Consequently, this document provides a logical beginning framework for tank waste characterization until further information becomes available or different programmatic needs are identified

Dilaton as the Higgs boson

We propose a model where the role of the electroweak Higgs field is played by the dilaton. The model contains terms which explicitly violate gauge invariance, however it is shown that this violation is fictitious, so that the model is a consistent low energy effective theory. In the simplest version of the idea the resulting low energy effective theory is the same as the top mode standard model.Comment: 6 pages, v2 with expanded discussio

Scaling Laws and Effective Dimension in Lattice SU(2) Yang-Mills Theory with a Compactified Extra Dimension

Monte Carlo simulations are performed in a five-dimensional lattice SU(2) Yang-Mills theory with a compactified extra dimension, and scaling laws are studied. Our simulations indicate that as the compactification radius $R$ decreases, the confining phase spreads more and more to the weak coupling regime, and the effective dimension of the theory changes gradually from five to four. Our simulations also indicate that the limit $a_4 to 0$ with $R/a_4$ kept fixed exists both in the confining and deconfining phases if $R/a_4$ is small enough, where $a_4$ is the lattice spacing in the four-dimensional direction. We argue that the color degrees of freedom in QCD are confined only for $R < R_{\rm max}$, where a rough estimate shows that $1/R_{\rm max}$ lies in the TeV range. Comments on deconstructing extra dimensions are given.Comment: 15 pages, TeX, 5 figure

Looking for magnetic monopoles at LHC with diphoton events

Magnetic monopoles have been a subject of interest since Dirac established the relation between the existence of monopoles and charge quantization. The intense experimental search carried thus far has not met with success. The Large Hadron Collider is reaching energies never achieved before allowing the search for exotic particles in the TeV mass range. In a continuing effort to discover these rare particles we propose here other ways to detect them. We study the observability of monopoles and monopolium, a monopole-antimonopole bound state, at the Large Hadron Collider in the $\gamma \gamma$ channel for monopole masses in the range 500-1000 GeV. We conclude that LHC is an ideal machine to discover monopoles with masses below 1 TeV at present running energies and with 5 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity.Comment: This manuscript contains information appeared in Looking for magnetic monopoles at LHC, arXiv:1104.0218 [hep-ph] and Monopolium detection at the LHC.,arXiv:1107.3684 [hep-ph] by the same authors, rewritten for joint publication in The European Physica Journal Plus. 26 pages, 22 figure

Analysis of Residual Stresses in Laser-Shock-Peened and Shot-Peened Marine Steel Welds

Laser peening is now the preferred method of surface treatment in many applications. The magnitude and depth of the compressive residual stress induced by laser peening can be influenced strongly by the number of peen layers (the number of laser hits at each point) and by processing conditions including the use of a protective ablative layer. In this study, residual stresses have been characterized in laser and shot-peened marine butt welds with a particular focus at the fatigue crack initiation location at the weld toe. X-ray diffraction, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, incremental center-hole drilling, and the contour method were used for determination of residual stress. Results showed that the use of ablative tape increased the surface compressive stress, and the depth of compressive stress increased with an increase in number of peening layers. A key result is that variation of residual stress profile across laser peen spots was seen, and the residual stress magnitude varies between the center and edges of the spots

Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)Observations: Beam Maps and Window Functions

Cosmology and other scientific results from the WMAP mission require an accurate knowledge of the beam patterns in flight. While the degree of beam knowledge for the WMAP one-year and three-year results was unprecedented for a CMB experiment, we have significantly improved the beam determination as part of the five-year data release. Physical optics fits are done on both the A and the B sides for the first time. The cutoff scale of the fitted distortions on the primary mirror is reduced by a factor of approximately 2 from previous analyses. These changes enable an improvement in the hybridization of Jupiter data with beam models, which is optimized with respect to error in the main beam solid angle. An increase in main-beam solid angle of approximately 1% is found for the V2 and W1-W4 differencing assemblies. Although the five-year results are statistically consistent with previous ones, the errors in the five-year beam transfer functions are reduced by a factor of approximately 2 as compared to the three-year analysis. We present radiometry of the planet Jupiter as a test of the beam consistency and as a calibration standard; for an individual differencing assembly. errors in the measured disk temperature are approximately 0.5%

Re-examining the effects of verbal instructional type on early stage motor learning

The present study investigated the differential effects of analogy and explicit instructions on early stage motor learning and movement in a modified high jump task. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: analogy, explicit light (reduced informational load), or traditional explicit (large informational load). During the two-day learning phase, participants learned a novel high jump technique based on the ‘scissors’ style using the instructions for their respective conditions. For the single-day testing phase, participants completed both a retention test and task-relevant pressure test, the latter of which featured a rising high-jump-bar pressure manipulation. Although analogy learners demonstrated slightly more efficient technique and reported fewer technical rules on average, the differences between the conditions were not statistically significant. There were, however, significant differences in joint variability with respect to instructional type, as variability was lowest for the analogy condition during both the learning and testing phases, and as a function of block, as joint variability decreased for all conditions during the learning phase. Findings suggest that reducing the informational volume of explicit instructions may mitigate the deleterious effects on performance previously associated with explicit learning in the literature