National Laboratory

SFI: Cooperation In Complex Stateless Societies…

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Charles Stanish, Director
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA; SFI External Professor

SFI News:

Santa Fe Institute (SFI) holds ‘Cooperation in Complex Stateless Societies: The Archaelogical Evidence’ seminar at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 at the Collins Conference Room in Santa Fe.

Abstract: The key to understanding the development of complex societies is to determine how groups solved collective action or free-riding problems.

By examining the earliest complex, stateless societies in the archaeological record in any region, we can detect the kinds of strategies

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Technical Assessment Team Report Released On Cause Of Breached Drum At WIPP

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DOE EM News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy today released a report by an independent team of technical experts that evaluated the mechanisms and chemical reactions contributing to the failure of a waste drum at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad.

The Technical Assessment Team (TAT) concluded that one drum, Drum 68660, was the source of radioactive contamination released during the Feb. 14, 2014, radiological event at WIPP. The contents of Drum 68660 were chemically incompatible and the drum breached as a result of internal chemical reactions.  

The Read More

SFI: The Saga of NP-Intermediate Problems …

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Eric Allender of Rutgers University
SFI News:
Santa Fe Institute (SFI) present  the seminar, ‘The Saga of NP-Intermediate Problems: A New Devlopment in an Old Story’ at 12:15 p.m. Monday, March 30 in the Collins Conference Room in Santa Fe.
Abstract: For roughly four decades, two of the best-studied problems in NP that are not known to be in P or to be NP complete have been:
  • Graph Isomorphism; and
  • MCSP (the Minimum Circuit Size Problem).
Yet there had been no theorem, relating the complexity of these two problems to each other. Until now. We give a simple argument — drawing on the
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Two LANL Organizations Receive Performance Excellence Recognition From Quality New Mexico

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LANL News:

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Nuclear Material Control and Accountability Group and the Quality and Performance Assurance Division received 2014 Performance Excellence Recognition awards from Quality New Mexico and will be recognized at QNM’s annual learning summit and awards ceremony April 7-8 in Albuquerque.

“These organizations are striving for world-class excellence and providing the best service to their customers,” said Quality New Mexico Executive Director Julia Gabaldon. “We are very proud of them and I encourage organizations in every sector to follow their Read More

Moving Arts Española Partnership With TSAY Corporation Creates New Performance Center

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MAE News:

  • Moving Arts Partnership With TSAY Corporation of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo Benefits Española Valley Children

Moving Arts Española (MAE) and TSAY Corporation announce a joint effort through a five year lease, to reinvent/remodel the former Ohkay Owingeh ‘dome’ casino structure into a 6,000-square-foot Moving Arts Performance Center.

The circus tent-like facility at 368 Eagle Dr., closed in 1999 adjacent to the Moving Arts Española classrooms.  

The project is made possible through a generous grant from the McCune Foundation, and will include a new music classroom and Read More

Udall To Question DOE Secretary On LANL Cleanup, WIPP Costs, Tech Transfer And Other N.M. Priorities

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U.S. Sen. Tom Udall

U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., will discuss steps forward for cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and several other New Mexico priorities with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

Udall will press Moniz to work constructively with the state of New Mexico to safely reopen the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and discuss the Department of Energy’s plan to release a report on the radiological accident.

Udall also will discuss

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Heinrich, Udall Introduce Bill To Boost Funding For Laboratory Directed R&D Program

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U.S. SENTATE News:

  • LDRD program advances frontiers of science and engineering, invests in critical national security missions, helps recruit and retain staff for national laboratories

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. and Tom Udall, D-N.M. introduced S.830, the LDRD Enhancement Act of 2015, a bill to increase the maximum percentage each laboratory director may set aside for Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) from 6 to 10 percent of the lab’s budget.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s discretionary LDRD program advances the Read More

SFI Colloquium: From Fourier To Forensics

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Michael B. Weissman, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
SFI News:
Santa Fe Institute (SFI) presents ‘From Fourier To Forensics’ with Michael B. Weissman, at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25 at Noyce Conference Room in Santa Fe.
Abstract: Although the statistical and systematic problems of public opinion polls are fairly widely recognized, we tend to assume that published polling results reflect some sort of actual poll.
In 2009, a prominent blog suggested that the pollster Strategic Vision might be fabricating data, based in part on surprising deviations from
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WIPP Center Stage At Waste Management Conference

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James Knox with the Arizona Department of Public Service performs a mock Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) level VI inspection of a WIPP truck and transuranic waste shipping containers during this week’s Waste Management Conference in Phoenix. Courtesy/WIPP

WIPP News:

WIPP took center stage at this week’s Waste Management Symposia 2015 in Phoenix, Ariz., where more than 200 participants attended a three-hour panel discussion titled “Lessons Learned and Return to Operations Following 2014 Operational Incidents.”

The panel focused on the WIPP fire and radiological release Read More

LANL Foundation ISEC Staff And Students Demonstrate Inquiry Science Kits At Roundhouse

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LANL Foundation Inquiry Science Education Consortium (ISEC) staff and student scientists demonstrated inquiry science kits to visitors at the Santa Fe Capitol Roundhouse this week. Young scientist Jakob Warniment assists New Mexico Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera with a microscope from the Microworlds science kit. Standing in back from left, ISEC Director of Professional Development and Evaluation Gwen Warniment, LANL Foundation CEO Jenny Parks and ISEC Program Director Dorothy Sanchez. Courtesy photo

Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard recognized the success of the Inquiry Science Read More