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We describe a program to demonstrate the scientific basis of magnetized target fusion (MTF). MTF is a potentially low-cost path to fusion which is intermediate in plasma regime between magnetic (MFE) and inertial fusion energy (IFE). MTF involves the compression of a magnetized target plasma and pressure times volume (PdV) heating to fusion relevant conditions inside a converging flux conserving boundary. We have chosen to demonstrate MTF by using a field-reversed configuration (FRC) as our magnetized target plasma and an imploding metal liner for compression. These choices take advantage of significant past scientific and technical accomplishments in MFE and defense programs research and should yield substantial plasma performance (n[tau] > [10.sup.13] s-[cm.sup.-3] T > 5 keV) using an available pulsed-power implosion facility at modest cost. We have recently shown the density, temperature, and lifetime of this FRC to be within a factor of 2-3 of that required for use as a suitable target plasma for MTF compression for a fusion demonstration. Index Terms--Field-reversed configuration, fusion energy, magnetized target fusion (MTF).

A 'plasma decon chamber' has been developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Albuquerque, NM, to study the decontamination of chemical and biological warfare agents. This technology is targeted at sensitive electronic equipment for which there is currently no acceptable, nondestructive means of decontamination. Chemical reactivity is provided by a downstream flux of reactive radicals such as atomic oxygen and atomic hydrogen, produced in a capacitively coupled plasma. In addition, the decon chamber provides an environment that accelerates the evaporation of chemical agents from contaminated surfaces by vacuum, heat, and forced convection. Once evaporated, agents and agent byproducts are recirculated directly through the plasma, where they undergo further chemical breakdown. Preliminary studies on actual chemical agents were conducted at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, Dugway, UT. Exposures were conducted at a system pressure of 30 tort, exposure temperature of 70 [degrees]C, plasma-to-sample standoff distance of 10 cm, and 10% addition of oxygen or hydrogen to a helium balance. This exposure condition was based on optimization studies conducted at LANL on agent simulants. The agents studied were VX and soman (GD) nerve agents and sulfur mustard (HD) blister agent, as well as a thickened simulant. All agents were decontaminated off aluminum substrates to below the detection limit of ~0.1% of the initial contamination level of approximately 1 mg/[cm.sub.2]. For VX, this level of decontamination was achieved in 8-16 min of exposure, while only 2 min were required for the more volatile HD and GD. Evaporation and subsequent gas-phase chemical breakdown in the plasma appears to be the dominant decontamination mechanism for all of the agents. However, an observed difference in the decontamination process between oxygen and hydrogen indicates that chemical reactivity in the liquid phase also plays an important role. Index Terms--Atmospheric-pressure, chemical warfare, decontamination, nonthermal, plasma, sterilization.

In this paper, a novel unequal error protection (UEP) technique is proposed for video streaming over multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems. Based on the concept of hierarchical quadrature amplitude modulation (HQAM) UEP and multi-antenna UEP, the proposed technique combines the relative protection levels (PLs) of constellation symbols and the differentiated PLs of the transmit antennas. In the proposed technique, standard square quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations are used instead of HQAM so that the QAM mapper at the transmitter side and the soft decision calculation at the receiver side remain unchanged, but the UEP benefit of HQAM is retained. The superior performance of the proposed technique is explained by the improved connections between data with various priorities and data paths with various PLs. The assumed video compression method is H.264/AVC, which is known to be commercially successful. The IEEE802.16m system is adopted as a data transmission system. With the aid of realistic simulations in strict accordance with the standards of IEEE802.16m systems and H.264/AVC video compression systems, the proposed technique HQAM-multi-antenna UEP is shown to improve the video quality significantly for a given average bit error rate when compared with previous techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric-pressure plasmas are used in a variety of materials processes. Traditional sources include transferred arcs, plasma torches, corona discharges, and dielectric harrier discharges. In arcs and torches, the electron and neutral temperatures exceed 3000 [degrees] C and the densities of charge species range from [10.sup.16]-[10.sup.19] [cm.sup.-3]. Due to the high gas temperature, these plasmas are used primarily in metallurgy. Corona and dielectric harrier discharges produce nonequilibrium plasmas with gas temperatures between 50-400 [degrees] C and densities of charged species typical of weakly ionized gases. However, since these discharges are nonuniform, their use in materials processing is limited. Recently, an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet has been developed, which exhibits many characteristics of a conventional, low-pressure glow discharge. In the jet, the gas temperature ranges from 25-200 [degrees] C, charged-particle densities are [10.sup.11]-[10.sup.12] [cm.sup.-3], and reactive species are present in high concentrations, i.e., 10-100 ppm. Since this source may be scaled to treat large areas, it could he used in applications which have been restricted to vacuum. In this paper, the physics and chemistry of the plasma jet and other atmospheric-pressure sources are reviewed. Index Terms - Atmospheric pressure, corona discharge, dielectric harrier discharge, plasma jet, plasma torch, thermal and nonthermal plasmas, transferred arc.