Patent for a grub plow with a better cutter, which can be adjusted to different depths of soil.

Patent for a rake with curved ends and multiple teeth that hold the material and keep it from going to the sides.

The project had three objectives: (1) to develop microbial strains with improved biosurfactant properties that use cost-effective nutrients, (2) to obtain biosurfactant strains with improved transport properties through sandstones, and (3) to determine the empirical relationship between surfactant concentration and interfacial tension and whether in situ reactions kinetics and biosurfactant concentration meets appropriate engineering design criteria. Here, we show that a lipopeptide biosurfactant produced by Bacillus mojavensis strain JF-2 mobilized substantial amounts of residual hydrocarbon from sand-packed columns and Berea sandstone cores when a viscosifying agent and a low molecular weight alcohol were present. The amount of residual hydrocarbon mobilized depended on the biosurfactant concentration. Tertiary oil recovery experiments showed that 10 to 40 mg/l of JF-2 biosurfactant in the presence of 0.1 mM 2,3-butanediol and 1 g/l of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA) recovered 10-40% of residual oil from Berea sandstone cores. Even low biosurfactant concentrations (16 mg/l) mobilized substantial amounts of residual hydrocarbon (29%). The bio-surfactant lowered IFT by nearly 2 orders of magnitude compared to typical IFT values of 28-29 mN/m. Increasing the salinity increased the IFT with or without 2,3-butanediol present. The lowest interfacial tension observed was 0.1 mN/m. A mathematical model that relates oil recovery to …

The Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP) is a proposed space-based experiment designed to study the dark energy and alternative explanations of the acceleration of the Universe's expansion by performing a series of complementary systematics-controlled astrophysical measurements. We here describe a self-consistent reference mission design that can accomplish this goal with the two leading measurement approaches being the Type Ia supernova Hubble diagram and a wide-area weak gravitational lensing survey. This design has been optimized to first order and is now under study for further modification and optimization. A 2-m three-mirror anastigmat wide-field telescope feeds a focal plane consisting of a 0.7 square-degree imager tiled with equal areas of optical CCDs and near infrared sensors, and a high-efficiency low-resolution integral field spectrograph. The instrumentation suite provides simultaneous discovery and light-curve measurements of supernovae and then can target individual objects for detailed spectral characterization. The SNAP mission will discover thousands of Type Ia supernovae out to z = 3 and will obtain high-signal-to-noise calibrated light-curves and spectra for a subset of > 2000 supernovae at redshifts between z = 0.1 and 1.7 in a northern field and in a southern field. A wide-field survey covering one thousand square degrees in both northern and southern …

In choosing a model to describe the behavior of a plasma, a balance must be maintained between the simplicity of a macroscopic description and the detail in a microscopic description. In an ordinary gas, the criterion for behavior as a continuum is that the mean-free-path be small. In a plasma there is a similar criterion; other lengths (Debye, Larmor) may complicate the macroscopic equations but will not destroy their validity. An entirely different criterion (in a collisionless plasma) is that the Larmor radius be small. A consistent treatment of just the lowest order guiding-center particle motion is sufficient to yield, with a minimum of computation, both a microscopic theory (guiding-center gas) and a macroscopic continuum theory (guiding-center fluid). A comparison shows why certain types of arguments conventionally phrased in microscopic terms are exactly equivalent to a potentially less exact macroscopic analysis. (auth)

Typical Grid computing scenarios involve many distributed hardware and software components. The more components that are involved, the more likely it is that one of them may fail. In order for Grid computing to succeed, there must be a simple mechanism to determine which component failed and why. Instrumentation of all Grid applications and middleware is an important part of the solution to this problem. However, it must be possible to control and adapt the amount of instrumentation data produced in order to not be flooded by this data. In this paper we describe a scalable, high-performance instrumentation activation mechanism that addresses this problem.

This report summarized results obtained in work supported by this research grant. In hydrodynamic instability experiments related to supernovae, we showed that initial conditions have a controlling effect on material interpenetration, and demonstrated new diagnostic techniques that will provide improved data. In radiative shock experiments, we demonstrated the ability to produce and detect radiative shocks that have collapsed spatially in consequence of radiative cooling.

A performance assessment analysis was completed for the 200 East Area Low-Level Burial Grounds (LLBG) to satisfy compliance requirements in DOE Order 5820.2A. In the analysis, scenarios of radionuclide release from the 200 East Area Low-Level waste facility was evaluated. The analysis focused on two primary scenarios leading to exposure. The first was inadvertent intrusion. In this scenario, it was assumed that institutional control of the site and knowledge of the disposal facility has been lost. Waste is subsequently exhumed and dose from exposure is received. The second scenario was groundwater contamination.In this scenario, radionuclides are leached from the waste by infiltrating precipitation and transported through the soil column to the underlying unconfined aquifer. The contaminated water is pumped from a well 100 m downstream and consumed,causing dose. Estimates of potential contamination of the surrounding environment were developed and the associated doses to the maximum exposed individual were calculated. The doses were compared with performance objective dose limits, found primarily in the DOE order 5850.2A. In the 200 East Area LLBG,it was shown that projected doses are estimated to be well below the limits because of the combination of environmental, waste inventory, and disposal facility characteristics of the 200 East …

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.