The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a challenge to the homebuilding industry to build 220,000 high-performance homes by 2012. To qualify, homes must meet the requirements of a performance path, prescriptive path, or participating in a partner program.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Bastrop, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON) is a networking technology which offers the potential to provide significant cost savings to Sandia National Laboratories in the area of network operations. However, a large scale GPON deployment requires a significant investment in equipment and infrastructure. Before a large scale GPON system was acquired and built, a small GPON system manufactured by Motorola was acquired and tested. The testing performed was to determine the suitability of GPON for use at SNL. This report documents that testing. This report presents test results of GPON system consisting of Motorola and Juniper equipment. The GPON system was tested in areas of data throughput, video conferencing, VOIP, security, and operations and management. The GPON system performed well in almost all areas. GPON will not meet the needs of the low percentage of users requiring a true 1-10 Gbps network connection. GPON will also most likely not meet the need of some servers requiring dedicated throughput of 1-10 Gbps. Because of that, there will be some legacy network connections that must remain. If these legacy network connections can not be reduced to a bare minimum and possibly consolidated to a few locations, any cost savings gained by switching to …

Electromagnetic interactions between colliding heavy ions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will give rise to localized beam losses that may quench superconducting magnets, apart from contributing significantly to the luminosity decay. To quantify their impact on the operation of the collider, we have used a three-step simulation approach, which consists of optical tracking, a Monte-Carlo shower simulation and a thermal network model of the heat flow inside a magnet. We present simulation results for the case of {sup 208}Pb{sup 82+} ion operation in the LHC, with focus on the alice interaction region, and show that the expected heat load during nominal {sup 208}Pb{sup 82+} operation is 40% above the quench level. This limits the maximum achievable luminosity. Furthermore, we discuss methods of monitoring the losses and possible ways to alleviate their effect.

Job generation has been a part of the national dialogue surrounding energy policy and renewable energy (RE) for many years. RE advocates tout the ability of renewable energy to support new job opportunities in rural America and the manufacturing sector. Others argue that spending on renewable energy is an inefficient allocation of resources and can result in job losses in the broader economy. The report, Study of the Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources, from King Juan Carlos University in Spain, is one recent addition to this debate. This report asserts that, on average, every renewable energy job in Spain 'destroyed' 2.2 jobs in the broader Spanish economy. The authors also apply this ratio to the U.S. context to estimate expected job loss from renewable energy development and policy in the United States. This memo discusses fundamental and technical limitations of the analysis by King Juan Carlos University and notes critical assumptions implicit in the ultimate conclusions of their work. The memo also includes a review of traditional employment impact analyses that rely on accepted, peer-reviewed methodologies, and it highlights specific variables that can significantly influence the results of traditional employment impact analysis.

The goal of this study is to examine the marginal lands in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies and evaluate their biomass productivity potential. Twelve categories of marginal lands are identified using the Global Agro-Ecological Zones system of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The top quark is generally produced in quark and anti-quark pairs. However, the Standard Model also predicts the production of only one top quark which is mediated by the electroweak interaction, known as 'Single Top'. Single Top quark production is important because it provides a unique and direct way to measure the CKM matrix element V{sub tb}, and can be used to explore physics possibilities beyond the Standard Model predictions. This dissertation presents the results of the observation of Single Top using 2.3 fb{sup -1} of Data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The analysis includes the Single Top muon+jets and electron+jets final states and employs Boosted Decision Tress as a method to separate the signal from the background. The resulting Single Top cross section measurement is: (1) {sigma}(p{bar p} {yields} tb + X, tqb + X) = 3.74{sub -0.74}{sup +0.95} pb, where the errors include both statistical and systematic uncertainties. The probability to measure a cross section at this value or higher in the absence of signal is p = 1.9 x 10{sup -6}. This corresponds to a standard deviation Gaussian equivalence of 4.6. When combining this result with two other analysis methods, the resulting …

High resolution beam position monitors (BPM) are an essential tool to achieve and reproduce a low vertical beam emittance at the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) damping ring. The ATF damping ring (DR) BPMs are currently upgraded with new high resolution read-out electronics. Based on analog and digital down-conversion techniques, the upgrade includes an automatic gain calibration system to correct for slow drift effects and ensure high reproducible beam position readings. The concept and its technical realization, as well as preliminary results of beam studies are presented.

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project is tasked with selecting a high temperature gas reactor technology that will be capable of generating electricity and supplying large amounts of process heat. The NGNP is presently being designed as a helium-cooled high temperature gas reactor (HTGR) with a large graphite core. The graphite baseline characterization project is conducting the research and development (R&D) activities deemed necessary to fully qualify nuclear-grade graphite for use in the NGNP reactor. Establishing nonirradiated thermomechanical and thermophysical properties by characterizing lot-to-lot and billet-to-billet variations (for probabilistic baseline data needs) through extensive data collection and statistical analysis is one of the major fundamental objectives of the project. The reactor core will be made up of stacks of graphite moderator blocks. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the varying characteristics in a wide range of suitable graphites, any of which can be classified as “nuclear grade,” an experimental program has been initiated to develop an extensive database of the baseline characteristics of numerous candidate graphites. Various factors known to affect the properties of graphite will be investigated, including specimen size, spatial location within a graphite billet, specimen orientation within a billet (either parallel to [P] …

Life cycle inventory data are the primary inputs for conducting life cycle assessment studies. Studies based on high-quality data that are consistent, accurate, and relevant allow for robust, defensible, and meaningful results.

FEMP Water Efficiency Best Management Practice #14 Case Study: Overview of the water reclamation and reuse program at the U.S. Army's Fort Carson.

An enhanced version of an algorithm to provide anomaly based intrusion detection alerts for cyber security state awareness is detailed. A unique aspect is the training of an error back-propagation neural network with intrusion detection rule features to provide a recognition basis. Network packet details are subsequently provided to the trained network to produce a classification. This leverages rule knowledge sets to produce classifications for anomaly based systems. Several test cases executed on ICMP protocol revealed a 60% identification rate of true positives. This rate matched the previous work, but 70% less memory was used and the run time was reduced to less than 1 second from 37 seconds.

Thermopile pyranometers exhibit IR radiative losses that affect global and diffuse shortwave measurements made with first class thermopile based instruments. Pyrgeometers can be used to measure the sky temperature and are used to calculate the pyranometer?s IR radiative losses.

Implementation of uranium bioremediation requires methods for monitoring the membership and activities of the subsurface microbial communities that are responsible for reduction of soluble U(VI) to insoluble U(IV). Here, we report a proteomics-based approach for simultaneously documenting the strain membership and microbial physiology of the dominant Geobacter community members during in situ acetate amendment of the U-contaminated Rifle, CO, aquifer. Three planktonic Geobacter-dominated samples were obtained from two wells down-gradient of acetate addition. Over 2,500 proteins from each of these samples were identified by matching liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry spectra to peptides predicted from seven isolate Geobacter genomes. Genome-specific peptides indicate early proliferation of multiple M21 and Geobacter bemidjiensis-like strains and later possible emergence of M21 and G. bemidjiensis-like strains more closely related to Geobacter lovleyi. Throughout biostimulation, the proteome is dominated by enzymes that convert acetate to acetyl-coenzyme A and pyruvate for central metabolism, while abundant peptides matching tricarboxylic acid cycle proteins and ATP synthase subunits were also detected, indicating the importance of energy generation during the period of rapid growth following the start of biostimulation. Evolving Geobacter strain composition may be linked to changes in protein abundance over the course of biostimulation and may reflect changes in metabolic …

Projects for the very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR) program provide data in support of Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of the VHTR. Fuel and materials to be used in the reactor are tested and characterized to quantify performance in high temperature and high fluence environments. The VHTR Program has established the NGNP Data Management and Analysis System (NDMAS) to ensure that VHTR data are (1) qualified for use, (2) stored in a readily accessible electronic form, and (3) analyzed to extract useful results. This document focuses on the first NDMAS objective. It describes the data streams associated with the first Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR-1) experiment, the processing of these data within NDMAS, and reports the interim FY09 qualification status of the AGR-1 data to date. Data qualification activities within NDMAS for specific types of data are determined by the data qualification category, which is assigned by the data generator, and include: (1) capture testing, to confirm that the data stored within NDMAS are identical to the raw data supplied, (2) accuracy testing, to confirm that the data are an accurate representation of the system or object being measured, and (3) documentation that the data were collected under an NQA-1 or equivalent QA program. …

Describes a method of rapidly evaluating trade-offs associated with alternative packaging configurations and thermal management technologies for power electronics packaging.

Cast material has a grain structure that is relatively non-uniform. There is a desire to evaluate the grain structure of this material non-destructively. Traditionally, grain size measurement is a destructive process involving the sectioning and metallographic imaging of the material. Generally, this is performed on a representative sample on a periodic basis. Sampling is inefficient and costly. Furthermore, the resulting data may not provide an accurate description of the entire part's average grain size or grain size variation. This project is designed to develop a non-destructive acoustic scanning technique, using Chirp waveforms, to quantify average grain size and grain size variation across the surface of a cast material. A Chirp is a signal in which the frequency increases or decreases over time (frequency modulation). As a Chirp passes through a material, the material's grains reduce the signal (attenuation) by absorbing the signal energy. Geophysics research has shown a direct correlation with Chirp wave attenuation and mean grain size in geological structures. The goal of this project is to demonstrate that Chirp waveform attenuation can be used to measure grain size and grain variation in cast metals (uranium and other materials of interest). An off-axis ultrasonic inspection technique using air-coupled ultrasonics …

FEMP Water Efficiency Best Management Practices #4 and #5 Case Study: Overview of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory grounds maintenance program and results.

This paper provides an overview of the Wind for Schools project elements, including a description of host and collegiate school curricula developed for wind energy and the status of the current projects. The paper also provides focused information on how schools, regions, or countries can become involved or implement similar projects to expand the social acceptance and understanding of wind energy.

The location of a radiating source can be determined by time-tagging the arrival of the radiated signal at a network of spatially distributed sensors. The accuracy of this approach depends strongly on the particular time-tagging algorithm employed at each of the sensors. If different techniques are used across the network, then the time tags must be referenced to a common fiducial for maximum location accuracy. In this report we derive the time corrections needed to temporally align leading-edge, time-tagging techniques with peak-picking algorithms. We focus on broadband radio frequency (RF) sources, an ionospheric propagation channel, and narrowband receivers, but the final results can be generalized to apply to any source, propagation environment, and sensor. Our analytic results are checked against numerical simulations for a number of representative cases and agree with the specific leading-edge algorithm studied independently by Kim and Eng (1995) and Pongratz (2005 and 2007).

An update to the FY 2007 assessment of the state of technical research progress toward biochemical process goals, quantified in terms of Minimum Ethanol Selling Price.

This report describes the adaptation of a wind turbine performance code for use in the development of a general use design code and optimization method for stall-regulated horizontal-axis hydrokinetic turbine rotors. This rotor optimization code couples a modern genetic algorithm and blade-element momentum performance code in a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) that allows for rapid and intuitive design of optimal stall-regulated rotors. This optimization method calculates the optimal chord, twist, and hydrofoil distributions which maximize the hydrodynamic efficiency and ensure that the rotor produces an ideal power curve and avoids cavitation. Optimizing a rotor for maximum efficiency does not necessarily create a turbine with the lowest cost of energy, but maximizing the efficiency is an excellent criterion to use as a first pass in the design process. To test the capabilities of this optimization method, two conceptual rotors were designed which successfully met the design objectives.

Multiple small-scale projects have been undertaken to investigate advanced instrumentation solutions for safeguard measurement challenges associated with advanced fuel cycle facilities and next-generation fuel reprocessing installations. These activities are in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Cycle Research and Development program and its Materials Protection, Accounting, and Control for Transmutation (MPACT) campaign. 1) Work was performed in a collaboration with the University of Michigan (Prof. Sara Pozzi, co-PI) to investigate the use of liquid-scintillator radiation detectors for assaying mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, to characterize its composition and to develop advanced digital pulse-shape discrimination algorithms for performing time-correlation measurements in the MOX fuel environment. This work included both simulations and experiments and has shown that these techniques may provide a valuable approach for use within advanced safeguard measurement scenarios. 2) Work was conducted in a collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Dr. Paul Hausladen, co-PI) to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the fast-neutron coded-aperture imaging technique for locating and characterizing fissile material, and as a tool for performing hold-up measurements in fissile material handling facilities. This work involved experiments at Idaho National Laboratory, using MOX fuel and uranium metal, in both passive and active interrogation configurations. A complete analysis …

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching the application of solid-oxide electrolysis cell for large-scale hydrogen production from steam over a temperature range of 800 to 900ºC. The INL has been testing various solid oxide cell designs to characterize their electrolytic performance operating in the electrolysis mode for hydrogen production. Some results presented in this report were obtained from cells, with an active area of 16 cm2 per cell. The electrolysis cells are electrode-supported, with ~10 µm thick yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolytes, ~1400 µm thick nickel-YSZ steam-hydrogen electrodes, and manganite (LSM) air-oxygen electrodes. The experiments were performed over a range of steam inlet mole fractions (0.1 to 0.6), gas flow rates, and current densities (0 to 0.6 A/cm2). Steam consumption rates associated with electrolysis were measured directly using inlet and outlet dewpoint instrumentation. On a molar basis, the steam consumption rate is equal to the hydrogen production rate. Cell performance was evaluated by performing DC potential sweeps at 800, 850, and 900°C. The voltage-current characteristics are presented, along with values of area-specific resistance as a function of current density. Long-term cell performance is also assessed to evaluate cell degradation. Details of the custom single-cell test apparatus developed for these …