During robot path planning and control the equations that describe the robot motions are determined and solved. Historically these expressions were derived analytically off-line. For robots that must adapt to their environment or perform a wide range of tasks, a way is needed to rapidly re-derive these expressions to take into account the robot kinematic changes, such as when a tool is added to the end-effector. The JFKengine software was developed to automatically produce the expressions representing the manipulator arm motion, including the manipulator arm Jacobian and the forward kinematic expressions. Its programming interface can be used in conjunction with robot simulation software or with robot control software. Thus, it helps to automate the process of configuration changes for serial robot manipulators. If the manipulator undergoes a geometric change, such as tool acquisition, then JFKengine can be invoked again from the control or simulation software, passing it parameters for the new arm configuration. This report describes the automated processes that are implemented by JFKengine to derive the kinematic equations and the programming interface by which it is invoked. Then it discusses the tree data structure that was chosen to store the expressions, followed by several examples of portions of expressions …

NERI Project No.2000-0109 began in August 2000 and has three tasks. The first project year addressed Task 1, namely development of nonlinear prognostication for critical equipment in nuclear power facilities. That work is described in the first year's annual report (ORNLTM-2001/195). The current (second) project year (FY02) addresses Task 2, while the third project year will address Tasks 2-3. This report describes the work for the second project year, spanning August 2001 through August 2002, including status of the tasks, issues and concerns, cost performance, and status summary of tasks. The objective of the second project year's work is a compelling demonstration of the nonlinear prognostication algorithm using much more data. The guidance from Dr. Madeline Feltus (DOE/NE-20) is that it would be preferable to show forewarning of failure for different kinds of nuclear-grade equipment, as opposed to many different failure modes from one piece of equipment. Long-term monitoring of operational utility equipment is possible in principle, but is not practically feasible for the following reason. Time and funding constraints for this project do not allow us to monitor the many machines (thousands) that will be necessary to obtain even a few failure sequences, due to low failure rates (<10{sup …

Starting with an elementary discussion of quantum holography, we show that entangled quantum states of qubits provide a ''local'' representation of the global geometry and topology of quantum Riemann surfaces. This representation may play an important role in both mathematics and physics. Indeed, the simplest way to represent the fundamental objects in a ''theory of everything'' may be as muti-qubit entangled states.

Models which describe road traffic patterns can be helpful in detection and/or prevention of uncommon and dangerous situations. Such models can be built by the use of motion detection algorithms applied to video data. Block matching is a standard technique for encoding motion in video compression algorithms. We explored the capabilities of the block matching algorithm when applied for object tracking. The goal of our experiments is two-fold: (1) to explore the abilities of the block matching algorithm on low resolution and low frame rate video and (2) to improve the motion detection performance by the use of different search techniques during the process of block matching. Our experiments showed that the block matching algorithm yields good object tracking results and can be used with high success on low resolution and low frame rate video data. We observed that different searching methods have small effect on the final results. In addition, we proposed a technique based on frame history, which successfully overcame false motion caused by small camera movements.

The objectives of this research project are to significantly extend the theoretical foundation and the modeling of radiation-induced microstructural changes in structural materials used in Generation IV nuclear reactors, and to derive from these microstructure models the constitutive laws for void swelling, irradiation creep and stress-induced swelling, as well as changes in mechanical properties. The need for the proposed research is based on three major developments and advances over the past two decades. First, new experimental discoveries have been made on void swelling and irradiation creep which invalidate previous theoretical models and empirical constitutive laws for swelling and irradiation creep. Second, recent advances in computational methods and power make it now possible to model the complex processes of microstructure evolution over long-term neutron exposures. Third, it is now required that radiation-induced changes in structural materials over extended lifetimes be predicted and incorporated in the design of Generation IV reactors. Our approach to modeling and data analysis is a dual one in accord with both the objectives to simulate the evolution of the microstructure and to develop design equations for macroscopic properties. Validation of the models through data analysis is therefore carried out at both the microscopic and the macroscopic levels. …

This report describes the work performed during the second year of the project, ''Preferred Waterflood Management Practices for the Spraberry Trend Area''. The objective of this project is to significantly increase field-wide production in the Spraberry Trend in a short time frame through the application of preferred practices for managing and optimizing water injection. Our goal is to dispel negative attitudes and lack of confidence in water injection and to document the methodology and results for public dissemination to motivate waterflood expansion in the Spraberry Trend. To achieve this objective, in this period we concentrated our effort on characterization of Germania Unit using an analog field ET ODaniel unit and old cased hole neutron. Petrophysical Characterization of the Germania Spraberry units requires a unique approach for a number of reasons--limited core data, lack of modern log data and absence of directed studies within the unit. The need for characterization of the Germania unit has emerged as a first step in the review, understanding and enhancement of the production practices applicable within the unit and the trend area in general. In the absence or lack of the afore mentioned resources, an approach that will rely heavily on previous petrophysical work carried …

During the past year, iron phosphate glasses containing the following three types of nuclear waste, as recommended by the Tank Focus Area (TFA) group, have been investigated. (1) a high sodium/sulfate Hanford Low-Activity Waste (LAW) (2) a High Chrome Waste (HCW) at Hanford, and (3) a Sodium Bearing Waste (SBW) at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) Over three hundred trial melts, ranging in size from 50 g to more than 10 kg, have been evaluated. The experimental work consisted of (1) evaluating the melting behavior and characteristics, (2) measurement of the viscosity and electrical conductivity of promising melts over their melting range, (3) determining the chemical durability by the PCT and VHT methods of both glassy and partially crystallized iron phosphate wasteforms, (4) determining the solubility limit for chrome oxide in selected iron phosphate melts, (5) examining the feasibility of melting iron phosphate glasses by Cold Crucible Induction melting (CCIM), Hot Crucible Induction Melting (HCIM), and Microwave Melting, (6) and measuring the corrosion of Inconel 690 and 693, potential electrode materials, in an iron phosphate melt. In the past year, the results of the above experimental work have been described in eight technical papers and reports that have …

Proposed designs of the prebunching system of the NLC and TESLA are based on the assumption that scaling the SLC design to NLC/TESLA requirements should provide the desired performance. A simple equation is developed to suggest a scaling rule in terms of bunch charge and duration. Detailed simulations of prebunching systems scaled from a single design have been run to investigate these issues.

Results of measurements of neutron scattering from elemental rhenium are presented over two incident-energy regions: (1) 0.3-1.5 MeV, and (2) 4.5-10.0 MeV. The first of these supplements previously-reported work at this Laboratory, and the second consists of information in an entirely new energy range. These experimental results are interpreted in terms of optical-statistical and coupled-channels models, including consideration of dispersive effects, and of scalar and vector potentials. Some basic and applied physical implications of these considerations are discussed. Comparisons are made with other regional and/or global models, and with evaluated nuclear-data files used in applications.

With the Nation's coal-burning utilities facing the possibility of tighter controls on mercury pollutants, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding projects that could offer power plant operators better ways to reduce these emissions at much lower costs. Sorbent injection technology represents one of the simplest and most mature approaches to controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired boilers. It involves injecting a solid material such as powdered activated carbon into the flue gas. The gas phase mercury in the flue gas contacts the sorbent and attaches to its surface. The sorbent with the mercury attached is then collected by the existing particle control device along with the other solid material, primarily fly ash. During 2001 ADA Environmental Solutions (ADA-ES) conducted a full-scale demonstration of sorbent-based mercury control technology at the Alabama Power E.C. Gaston Station (Wilsonville, AL). This unit burns a low-sulfur bituminous coal and uses a hot-side electrostatic precipitator (ESP) in combination with a COHPAC baghouse to collect fly ash. The majority of the fly ash is collected in the ESP with the residual being collected in the COHPAC baghouse. Activated carbon was injected between the ESP and COHPAC units to collect the mercury. Short-term mercury removal levels in excess …

Ophir Corporation was awarded a contract by the U. S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory under the Project Title ''Airborne, Optical Remote Sensing of Methane and Ethane for Natural Gas Pipeline Leak Detection'' on October 14, 2002. This six-month technical report summarizes the progress for each of the proposed tasks, discusses project concerns, and outlines near-term goals. Ophir has completed a data survey of two major natural gas pipeline companies on the design requirements for an airborne, optical remote sensor. The results of this survey are disclosed in this report. A substantial amount of time was spent on modeling the expected optical signal at the receiver at different absorption wavelengths, and determining the impact of noise sources such as solar background, signal shot noise, and electronic noise on methane and ethane gas detection. Based upon the signal to noise modeling and industry input, Ophir finalized the design requirements for the airborne sensor, and released the critical sensor light source design requirements to qualified vendors. Responses from the vendors indicated that the light source was not commercially available, and will require a research and development effort to produce. Three vendors have responded positively with proposed design solutions. Ophir has …

At the Sleipner gas field, excess CO{sub 2} is sequestered and injected underground into a porous saline aquifer 1000 m below the seafloor. A high precision micro-gravity survey was carried out on the seafloor to monitor the injected CO{sub 2}. A repeatability of 5 {micro}Gal in the station averages was observed. This is considerably better than pre-survey expectations. These data will serve as the baseline for time-lapse gravity monitoring of the Sleipner CO{sub 2} injection site. Simple modeling of the first year data give inconclusive results, thus a more detailed approach is needed. Work towards this is underway.

A facility to characterize the airflow at the exit of HVAC registers was designed and fabricated. The objective of this work is to obtain velocity and turbulence data at the exit of registers, which can then be used as an input boundary condition in a modern Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code to predict the velocity and temperature distribution in an enclosure, and also the register performance parameters such as throw. During the course of this work, two commonly used registers were tested. Both registers were 8 inch x 4 inch sidewall registers. Laser Doppler Velocimetry was used to measure the axial and vertical components of the velocity vector at various locations across the face of the registers. For the two cases of registers studied here, the results suggest that the velocity field at the very exit of each of these registers scales with the flow rate through the registers. This means that, in the mode of operation in which the supply fan (of an HVAC system) has a ''High'' and ''Low'' setting, similar velocity scaling would result for the type of registers tested here.

A workshop to identify the scientific issues associated with contamination in riparian, fluvial, and hyporheic systems was held in March 2003 at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The workshop examined the general scientific remediation challenges and research opportunities in such systems and on Tims Branch - Steed Pond, a specific uranium- and heavy-metal-contaminated riparian system at SRS. A diverse group of scientists representing a wide range of scientific disciplines came from academia, national laboratories, and research centers to develop recommendations for future ERSD research opportunities. There was agreement among the workshop participants that riparian, fluvial, and hyporheic systems represent a unique opportunity to advance science and to enable progress on DOE's environmental cleanup of contaminated sites. The participants at this workshop documented both the critical need and the great promise for research on hydrological and biogeochemical processes controlling contaminant transport and fate in contaminated surface and near-surface systems. The approach of the workshop was to assess the Tims Branch - Steed Pond system at the SRS as an appropriate site to identify research needs that support potential remediation strategies.

This report summarizes a 12-year program of various kinds of synchrotron spectroscopies directed at the electronic structures of narrow band and low-dimensional materials that display correlated electron behaviors such as metal-insulator transitions, mixed valence, superconductivity, Kondo moment quenching, heavy Fermions, and non-Fermi liquid properties.

The DOE Office of Fossil Energy maintained a web site that was meant to provide useful business- and energy-related information about countries and regions of the world for exporters, project developers, and researchers. The site consisted of more than 130 country pages (organized into seven different world regions), with each country page having its own set of links to information sources about that country. There were also more than 30 Country Energy Overviews at the web site -- each of these was a comprehensive review of a specific country's entire energy situation, including sections on Energy Policy, Oil, Natural Gas, Coal, Hydroelectric/Renewables, Nuclear Power, Energy Transmission Infrastructure, Electricity, Electric Industry Overview, Environmental Activities, Privatization, Trade, and Economic Situation. The specific country highlighted in this Country Energy Overview is Bolivia.

The Department of Energy selected caustic-side solvent extraction (CSSX) as the preferred cesium-removal technology for SRS high-level waste. In the pretreatment step of the CSSX flowsheet, the incoming salt solution, which contains entrained sludge, is contacted with MST to adsorb strontium and selected actinides. An alternative approach replaces MST with the addition of sodium permanganate, strontium nitrate, and hydrogen peroxide. The pretreatment operation then filters the resulting slurry to remove the sludge and MST or manganese oxide and strontium carbonate solids. The filtrate receives further treatment in the solvent extraction system

The data presented in this report documents the chemical characterization of a approximate 15L sample of Hanford waste tank 241-AW-101.

Ultrafiltration and ion exchange are among the pretreatment processes selected for the WTP at the Hanford Site. This study is the second part of a two-part study on Evaluating the Effects of Tri-Butyl Phosphate and Normal Paraffin Hydrocarbon in Simulated Low-Activity Waste Solution on Ultrafiltration and Ion Exchange.

Engineering Standards present the radiological design criteria and requirements, which must be satisfied for all SRS facility designs. The radiological design criteria and requirements specified in the standard are based on the Code of Federal Regulations, DOE Orders, Site manuals, other applicable standards, and various DOE guides and handbooks. This report contains top-level requirements for the various areas of radiological protection for workers. For the purposes of demonstrating compliance with these requirements, the designer must examine the requirement for the design and either incorporate or provide a technical justification as to why the requirement is not incorporated. This document reports a radiological design review for the STREAK lab glovebox upgrades of inlet ventilation, additional mechanical and electrical services, new glovebox instrumentation and alarms. This report demonstrates that the gloveboxes meet the radiological design requirements of Engineering Standards.

OAK B272 Quarterly technical report summarizing BBN's efforts to improve DOE's hydroacoustic modeling and analysis capability for nuclear explosion monitoring. BBN's work during the third quarter of 2003 was focused on preparations for and participation in the 2003 Seismic Research Review Meeting, unit testing and bug fixes to HydroCAM 4.1, data collection and analysis, and procuring high-resolution bathymetric data. In an attempt to save money, BBN scaled back its labor in the third quarter, delaying some deliverables but saving contract funding in case our next increment is delayed. We have succeeded in finding the correct Naval contact that can help us procure high-resolution bathymetry data. Although these data may require the release of a classified version of HydroCAM, we are optimistic that we will be able to acquire and integrate high-resolution bathymetric data near the Indian Ocean IMS stations. HydroCAM 4.1, which includes the ability to make blockage predictions using varying resolution bathymetric data, has completed unit testing and is now under integration (release) testing. We hope to deliver that functionality to DOE and AFTAC in November. BBN improved its database of hydroacoustic events in the Indian Ocean by including meta-data for associated arrivals. For each earthquake event, BBN is …

This project seeks to improve the basic understanding of the role of colloids in facilitating the transport of contaminants in the vadose zone. We focus on three major thrusts: (1) thermodynamic stability and mobility of colloids formed by reactions of sediments with highly alkaline tank waste solutions, (2) colloid-contaminant interactions, and (3) in situ colloid mobilization and colloid facilitated contaminant transport occurring in both contaminated and uncontaminated Hanford sediments.

Improved models of contaminant migration in heterogeneous, variably saturated porous media are required to better define the long-term stewardship requirements for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) lands and to assist in the design of effective vadose zone barriers to contaminant migrations. The objective of our three-year project is to meet the DOE need by developing new experimental approaches to describe adsorption and transport of contaminants in heterogeneous, variably saturated media (i.e., the vadose zone). The research specifically addresses the behavior of strontium, a high priority DOE contaminant. However, the key benefit of this research is improved conceptual models of how all contaminants migrate through heterogeneous, variably-saturated, porous media. Research activities are driven by the hypothesis that the reactivity of variably saturated porous media is dependent on the moisture content of the medium and can be represented by a relatively simple function applicable over a range of scales, contaminants, and media. A key and novel aspect of our research is the use of the 2-meter radius geocentrifuge capabilities at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) to conduct unsaturated reactive transport experiments (Figure 1). The experimental approach using the geocentrifuge provides data in a much shorter time period than conventional …

As a formal activity of the World Meteorological Organization's Global Atmosphere Watch, to provide, through agency collaboration, a center of excellence in the United States that would impose quality assurance techniques on data collected by national air and precipitation quality networks operating in the Americas (north, south, and central).