The Majorana Parts Tracking Database

The Majorana Demonstrator is an ultra-low background physics experiment searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{76}$Ge. The Majorana Parts Tracking Database is used to record the history of components used in the construction of the Demonstrator. The tracking implementation takes a novel approach based on the schema-free database technology CouchDB. Transportation, storage, and processes undergone by parts such as machining or cleaning are linked to part records. Tracking parts provides a great logistics benefit and an important quality assurance reference during construction. In addition, the location history of parts provides an estimate of their exposure to cosmic radiation. A web application for data entry and a radiation exposure calculator have been developed as tools for achieving the extreme radio-purity required for this rare decay search

Polymer Analogous Reactions

Polymer analogous reactions represent a synthetically very appealing approach for the synthesis of functional polymers. Different synthetic concepts of organic reactions are merging in polymer science leading toward the synthesis of architecturally well-defined multifunctional polymers. The different classes of reactions provide the synthetic polymer chemist with tools of unprecedented precision, thereby opening the doors for materials synthesis in an interdisciplinary world