Article on caregiver concerns during hospice care and reciprocal suffering.

Article on proanthocyanidin biosynthesis.

Fifty nanosecond pulses of visible light have been used to produce hard, hydrogen-free diamond-like-carbon (DLC) films at irradiances between 5 x 10{sup 8} and 5 x 10{sup 10} W/cm{sup 2} The films were characterized by a number of techniques including: Raman spectroscopy, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), atomic force microscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The cost for manufacturing DLC with high average power, high-pulse repetition frequency, visible light is low enough to compete with other diamond thin film production methods.

The conference addressed the energy and environmental challenges facing large metropolitan areas. The topics included a comparison of the environmental status of cities twenty years ago with the challenges facing today`s large cities, sustainable economic development, improving the energy and environmental infrastructure, and the changing urban transportation sector. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

The Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (ARAC) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) uses a modeling system to calculate the impact of accidental radiological or toxic releases to the atmosphere anywhere in the world. Operated for the US Departments of Energy and Defense, ARAC has responded to over 60 incidents in the past 18 years, and conducts over 100 exercises each year. Explosions are one of the most common mechanisms by which toxic particulates are injected into the atmosphere during accidents. Automated algorithms with default assumptions have been developed to estimate the source geometry and the amount of toxic material aerosolized. The paper examines the sensitivity of ARAC`s dispersion model to the range of input values for explosive sources, and analyzes the model`s accuracy using two field measurement programs.

The complete evaluation of an atmospheric transport and diffusion model typically includes a study of the model`s operational performance. Such a study very often attempts to compare the model`s calculations of an atmospheric pollutant`s temporal and spatial distribution with field experiment measurements. However, these comparisons tend to use data from a small number of experiments and are very often limited to producing the commonly quoted statistics based on the differences between model calculations and the experimental measurements (fractional bias, fractional scatter, etc.). This paper presents initial efforts to develop a model evaluation system geared for both the objective statistical analysis and the subjective visualization of the interrelationships between a model`s calculations and the appropriate field measurement data.

The pellet fueling system on DIII-D has been modified for injection of deuterium pellets from two vertical ports and two inner wall locations on the magnetic high-field side (HFS) of the tokamak. The HFS pellet injection technique was first employed on ASDEX-Upgrade with significant improvements reported in both pellet penetration and fueling efficiency. The new pellet injection schemes on DIII-D required the installation of new guide tubes. These lines are {approx_equal}12.5 m in total length and are made up of complex bends and turns (''roller coaster'' like) to route pellets from the injector to the plasma, including sections inside the torus. The pellet speed at which intact pellets can survive through the curved guide tubes is limited ({approx_equal}200-300 m/s for HFS injection schemes). Thus, one of the three gas guns on the injector was modified to provide pellets in a lower speed regime than the original guns (normal speed range {approx_equal}500 to 1000 m/s). The guide tube installations and gun modifications are described along with the injector operating parameters, and the latest test results are highlighted.

Simulation of viscous three-dimensional fluid flow typically involves a large number of unknowns. When free surfaces are included, the number of unknowns increases dramatically. Consequently, this class of problem is an obvious application of parallel high performance computing. We describe parallel computation of viscous, incompressible, free surface, Newtonian fluid flow problems that include dynamic contact fines. The Galerkin finite element method was used to discretize the fully-coupled governing conservation equations and a ''pseudo-solid'' mesh mapping approach was used to determine the shape of the free surface. In this approach, the finite element mesh is allowed to deform to satisfy quasi-static solid mechanics equations subject to geometric or kinematic constraints on the boundaries. As a result, nodal displacements must be included in the set of unknowns. Other issues discussed are the proper constraints appearing along the dynamic contact line in three dimensions. Issues affecting efficient parallel simulations include problem decomposition to equally distribute computational work among a SPMD computer and determination of robust, scalable preconditioners for the distributed matrix systems that must be solved. Solution continuation strategies important for serial simulations have an enhanced relevance in a parallel coquting environment due to the difficulty of solving large scale systems. Parallel computations …

In the last ten years, since the break-up of the Soviet Union, remarkable progress in arms control and disarmament has occurred. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the completion of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and the Chemical Weapons Treaty (CWC) are indicative of the great strides made in the non- proliferation arena. Simultaneously, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), the Conventional Forces Treaty in Europe (CFE), and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START), all associated with US-Soviet Union (now Russia) relations have assisted in redefining European relations and the security landscape. Finally, it now appears that progress is in the offing in developing enhanced compliance measures for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). In sum, all of these achievements have set the stage for the next round of arms control activities, which may lead to a much broader, and perhaps more diffused multilateral agenda. In this new and somewhat unpredictable international setting, arms control and disarmament issues will require solutions that are both more creative and innovative than heretofore.

Research in fabrication for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) comprises at least three broad categories: targets for high energy density physics on existing drivers, ignition capsule fabrication, and cryogenic fuel layer formation. The latter two are being pursued primarily for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Scientists from over 14 laboratories, universities, and businesses contributed over 100 papers on all aspects of ICF target fabrication. The NIF is well along in construction and photos of poured concrete and exposed steel added to the technical excitement. It was clear from the meeting that there has been significant progress toward the fabrication of an ignition target for NIF and that new techniques are resulting in higher quality targets for high energy density research.

This Conference is a key technology transfer activity supported by the ongoing Combustion Equipment Technology (Oil-Heat R and D) program at BNL, and is aimed at providing a forum for the exchange of information among international researchers, engineers, manufacturers, and marketers of oil-fired space-conditioning equipment. The objectives of the Conference were to: identify and evaluate the state-of-the-art and recommend new initiatives for higher efficiency, a cleaner environment, and to satisfy consumer needs cost-effectively, reliably, and safely; and foster cooperation among federal and industrial representatives with the common goal of sustained national economic growth and energy security via energy conservation. The 1996 Oil Technology Conference comprised: (a) fourteen technical papers, and (b) four workshops which focused on mainstream issues in oil-heating technology, namely: oilheat research agenda forum; fan atomized burner commercialization, applications, and product development; fuel quality, storage and maintenance--industry discussion; and application of oil heat venting tables, NFPA 31 standard. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

Remedial actions of plutonium (Pu)-contaminated soils are in the preliminary stages of development at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Interim clean-up actions were completed at the Double Tracks and Clean Slate 1 safety shot sites in 1996 and 1997, respectively. Soil at both sites, with a total transuranic activity greater than 20 picoCuries per gram (pCi/g), was excavated and shipped to the NTS for disposal. Characterization and assessment efforts were initiated at the Double Tracks site in 1995, and the clean-up of this site as an interim action was completed in 1996. Clean-up of this site consisted of taking site-specific data and applying rationale for dose and risk calculations in selecting parameter values for the interim corrective action level. The remediation process included excavating and stockpiling the contaminated soil and loading the soil into supersacks with approximately 1,513 cubic meters (53,500 cubic feet) being shipped to the NTS for disposal. In 1997, remediation began on the Clean Slate 1 site on which characterization had already been completed using a very similar approach; however, the site incorporated lessons learned, cost efficiencies, and significant improvements to the process. This paper focuses on those factors and the progress that has been made in …

Preparation of organically-bridged polysilsesquioxanes has been achieved by polymerizing organic monomers with two or more trialkoxysilyl groups per monomer repeat unit. The nature of the organic bridging group has been shown to strongly impact the final properties (surface area, pore size, and thermal stability) of the end product. For example, rigid arylene bridging groups have been shown to give rise to materials with high surface areas with a relatively large contribution from micropores (< 20 {angstrom}). The length of alkylene-bridging groups can be used to control the size and dispersity of pores in hydrocarbon-bridged xerogels. In this study, the authors have examined the preparation of ethylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes from the E-(1) and Z-(2) isomers of 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethene and vinylidene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes from 1,1-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethene-(3). This study was intended to determine the effects of substitution geometry about the carbon-carbon double bond on the condensation chemistry of the monomers and on the resulting architectures of the final materials.

Few-nucleon physics is a field rich with high-quality experimental data and possibilities for accurate calculations of strongly-correlated quantum systems. In this article the authors discuss the traditional model of the nucleus as a system of interacting nucleons and outline many recent experimental results and theoretical developments in the field of few-nucleon physics. They present discussions of nuclear structure and spectra, clustering and correlations, elastic and inelastic electromagnetic form factors, low energy electroweak reactions, and nuclear scattering and response in the quasi-elastic regime. Through a review of the rich experimental data and a variety of theoretical developments, a coherent description of the nuclear strong and electroweak interaction properties emerges. In this article, they attempt to provide some insight into the practice and possibilities of in few-nucleon physics today.

A review of data on the nucleon electromagnetic form factors in the space-like region is presented. Recent results from experiments using polarized beams and polarized targets or nucleon recoil polarimeters have yielded a significant improvement on the precision of the data obtained with the traditional Rosenbluth separation. Future plans for extended measurements are outlined.

Volume 2 of these proceedings contain 42 papers arranged under the following topical sections: Fuel blending and compatibility; Middle distillates; Microbiology; Alternative fuels; General topics (analytical methods, tank remediation, fuel additives, storage stability); and Poster presentations (analysis methods, oxidation kinetics, health problems).

The 1999 Oil & Gas Conference was cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy, Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) and National Petroleum Technology Office (NPTO) on June 28 to 30 in Dallas, Texas. The Oil & Gas Conference theme, Technology Options for Producer Survival, reflects the need for development and implementation of new technologies to ensure an affordable, reliable energy future. The conference was attended by nearly 250 representatives from industry, academia, national laboratories, DOE, and other Government agencies. Three preconference workshops (Downhole Separation Technologies: Is it Applicable for Your Operations, Exploring and developing Naturally Fractured Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs from the Rocky Mountains to the Austin Chalk, and Software Program Applications) were held. The conference agenda included an opening plenary session, three platform sessions (Sessions 2 and 3 were split into 2 concurrent topics), and a poster presentation reception. The platform session topics were Converting Your Resources Into Reserves (Sessions 1 and 2A), Clarifying Your Subsurface Vision (Session 2B), and High Performance, Cost Effective Drilling, Completion, Stimulation Technologies (Session 3B). In total, there were 5 opening speakers, 30 presenters, and 16 poster presentations.

After a brief introduction to the CEBAF accelerator, several recent results of the research programs in Hall A are discussed. All of those address the transition region between the meson-baryon and quark-gluon description of nuclear matter. Finally, the plans for upgrading CEBAF to 12 GeV are presented and the instrumentation under design for Hall A to carry out that research program is discussed.

For 13 years, low-level waste (LLW) generator fees and disposal volumes for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office (NNSA/NV) Radioactive Waste Management Sites (RWMSs) had been on a veritable roller coaster ride. As forecast volumes and disposal volumes fluctuated wildly, generator fees were difficult to determine and implement. Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 forecast projections were so low, the very existence of disposal operations at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) were threatened. Providing the DOE Complex with a viable, cost-effective disposal option, while assuring the disposal site a stable source of funding, became the driving force behind the development of the Waste Generator Access Fee at the NTS. On September 26, 2000, NNSA/NV (after seeking input from DOE/Headquarters [HQ]), granted permission to Bechtel Nevada (BN) to implement the Access Fee for FY 2001 as a two-year Pilot Program. In FY 2001 (the first year the Access Fee was implemented), the NTS Disposal Operations experienced a 90 percent increase in waste receipts from the previous year and a 33 percent reduction in disposal fee charged to the waste generators. Waste receipts for FY 2002 were projected to be 63 percent higher than FY 2001 and …

Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME) in the San Francisco Bay Area planned and convened the second national conference for representatives of scientific work experience programs for K-12 teachers (SWEPs) at Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California at Berkeley October 13-14, 1994. The goal of this conference was to further strengthen the growing community of SWEP managers and teacher participants by providing an opportunity for sharing expertise and strategies about the following: (1) How SWEPs can complement and stimulate systemic education reform efforts; (2) Assessment strategies piloted by the ambitious multi-site evaluation project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as well as smaller evaluation projects piloted by other SWEPs; (3) Expanding and strengthening the base of teachers served by SWEPs; (4) Ensuring that SWEPs adequately support teachers in affecting classroom transfer and offer {open_quotes}more than just a summerjob{close_quotes}; (5) Sustaining and expanding new programs. A special teacher strand focused on leadership development supporting teachers to become effective change agents in their classrooms and schools, and developing strong teacher communities.

There is a growing interest in understanding the potential consequences of malevolent acts against shipments of nuclear waste and/or material. Recently, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) conducted a study' to evaluate the potential source terms available for release in a sabotage event for spent fuel shipments. Using these source terms, we developed an approach to assess the potential radiological consequences of the hypothesized events and to compare them to consequences of transportation accidents involving the same types of shipments. Our analysis showed that there could be orders of magnitude differences in consequence for urban, suburban, and rural events. Sabotage consequences could be orders of magnitude higher than those of transportation accidents with a probability of 10{sup {minus}12} or higher and be similar to events with a probability less than 10{sup {minus}12}. Also, explosive-induced buoyancy would disperse the source further out than a non-buoyant release in a transportation accident, which, therefore, would have a higher dose near the release point.

Given the events of the past 25 years concerning energy and environmental issues and our reaction to them, what lessons can we learn? First, the individual American consumer wants and expects energy to be a stable commodity with low prices and easy availability. As evidenced by the heated debate over increasing the federal gasoline tax by $.05 per gallon (which would still leave Americans paying only one-third of what Europeans pay for gasoline), increases in energy prices elicit very strong public and political opposition. As further evidence, it has been argued that the general public support of the Gulf War was due, in part, to a recognition of the need to maintain a stable source of cheap oil from the region. The American public wants to maintain the benefits of cheap and abundant energy and expects its political leaders to make it happen. A second lesson is that if constraints on the energy supply do occur (e.g., the OPEC-imposed oil embargo) ardor environmental impacts from energy use do appear to be significant (e.g., SO{sub 2} and CO{sub 2} emissions), the preference is for a technology fix rather than a behavioral change. This is evidenced by our reliance on moving low-sulfur …

Article presenting one woman's story as a paradigmatic healing process that illustrates an attempted suicide, her near-death experience (NDE), and subsequent recovery from bulimia nervosa.

Article reporting the results of an investigation into near-death and out-of-body experiences in 31 blind respondents. The study sought to address three main questions: (1) whether blind individuals have near-death experiences (NDEs) and, if so, whether they are the same as or different from those of sighted persons; (2) whether blind persons ever claim to see during NDEs and out-of-body experiences (OBEs); and (3) if such claims are made, whether they can ever be corroborated by reference to independent evidence.