The objective of this report is to provide information to help DOE plan its future activities on liquid-desiccant technologies. The report meets this objective by (1) identifying commercial and residential markets where the liquid-desiccant systems will first be most successful and (2) identifying advances in the individual components of a liquid-desiccant system that will allow it to expand into new markets.

Lactate esters produced from carbohydrate have potential markets as nontoxic replacements for halogenated and toxic solvents and as feedstocks for large-volume chemicals and polymers. Argonne National Laboratory has developed a novel process for the production of high-purity lactate esters from carbohydrate. The process uses advanced electrodialysis and pervaporation technologies to overcome major technical barriers in product separation; more specifically, the process involves cation elimination without the generation of salt waste and efficient esterification for final purification. This patented process requires little energy input, is highly efficient and selective, eliminates the large volumes of salt waste produced by conventional processes, and significantly reduces manufacturing costs. The enabling membrane separation technologies make it technically and commercially feasible for lactate esters to penetrate the potential markets.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Alvin, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The Waste Ion Exchange Facility was free released for demolition on July 30, 1998. No surprises or unknowns were noted. The building and associated piping were demolished and removed in September, 1998. The north drain line was removed to three feet outside of the foundation of the building. The east drain line was removed to the foundation of Building 593. The piping located in the north pit drain and east pit drain (which were located under the concrete) were free released. The catch basin, which was located on the south side of the building and also connected to equalization tanks in building 592, was released for unrestricted use and was left intact.

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

Weekly student newspaper published in Hurst, Texas serving the Tarrant County Junior College District that includes school news and information along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from The Colony, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

We have conducted static dissolution tests to study the corrosion behavior of the Environmental Assessment (EA) glass, which is the benchmark glass for high-level waste glasses being produced at US Department of Energy facilities. These tests were conducted to evaluate the behavior of the EA glass under the same long-term and accelerated test conditions that are being used to evaluate the corrosion of waste glasses. Tests were conducted at 90 C in a tuff groundwater solution at glass surface area/solution volume (WV) ratios of about 2000 and 20,000 m{sup {minus}1}. The glass dissolved at three distinct dissolution rates in tests conducted at 2000 m{sup {minus}1}. Based on the release of boron, dissolution within the first seven days occurred at a rate of about 0.65 g/(m{sup 2} {center_dot} d). The rate between seven and 70 days decreased to 0.009 g/(m{sup 2} {center_dot} d). An increase in the dissolution rate occurred at longer times after the precipitation of zeolite phases analcime, gmelinite, and an aluminum silicate base. The dissolution rate after phase formation was about 0.18 g/(m{sup 2} {center_dot} d). The formation of the same zeolite alteration phases occurred after about 20 days in tests at 20,000 m{sup {minus}}. The average dissolution …

In order to test the feasibility of Coulomb excitation of radioactive projectiles with low beam energies and intensities, they have produced a secondary radioactive beam of {sup 78}Rb and Coulomb re-excited it. The beam was produced in the fusion evaporation reaction {sup 24}Mg({sup 58}Ni,3pn){sup 78}Rb at a beam energy of 260 MeV, using the Argonne National Laboratory ATLAS accelerator. The residues of interest were separated from other reaction products and non-interacting beam using the Fragment Mass Analyzer (FMA). The beam leaving the FMA was {sup 78}Kr and {sup 78}Rb{sup gs,m1,m2}, which was refocused onto a {sup 58}Ni secondary target. They have extracted a spectrum of {gamma}-rays associated with re-excitation of A = 78 isobars. The re-excitation of stable {sup 78}Kr was observed, which serves as a reference. Gamma-rays associated with excitation of {sup 78}Rb{sup gs,m1,m2} were also seen. The measured yields indicate that all the {sup 78}Rb states are highly deformed.

News release detailing DART's commitment to utilizing minority- and women-owned business and its recognition by the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas for this work.

The invention is a ceramic membrane reactor for syngas production having a reaction chamber, an inlet in the reactor for natural gas intake, a plurality of oxygen permeating ceramic slabs inside the reaction chamber with each slab having a plurality of passages paralleling the gas flow for transporting air through the reaction chamber, a manifold affixed to one end of the reaction chamber for intake of air connected to the slabs, a second manifold affixed to the reactor for removing the oxygen depleted air, and an outlet in the reaction chamber for removing syngas.

This paper reports the development of 350 MHz niobium superconducting cavities for the velocity range 0.2< v/c <0.6. Such cavities could be used to form a linac of exceptional flexibility, capable of efficiently accelerating beams of either protons, deuterons, or any of a wide range of light ions, at intensities sufficient for a production beam for a radioactive beam facility. Results of numerical modeling for several resonator geometries are presented. The design and construction status of prototype niobium cavities is discussed.

Often the dynamic elastic modulus of a material with frequency dependent properties is difficult to estimate. These uncertainties are compounded in any structural vibration analysis using the material properties. Here, different experimental techniques are used to estimate the properties of a particular elastomeric material over a broad frequency range. Once the properties are determined, various structures incorporating the elastomer are analyzed by an interactive finite element method to determine natural frequencies and mode shapes. Then, the finite element results are correlated with results obtained by experimental modal analysis.

In support of the Salt Disposition team, the effects of monosodium titanate (MST) on two glass formulations were investigated. These glass formulations combined a blend-type sludge with Crystalline Silicotitanate (CST) and glass formers (or frit). The objective of the testing was to determine if the MST would lead to crystal formation in the glasses.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

An external exposure model based on the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Federal Guidance Report No. 12 (FGR-12) dose conversion factors and the point kernel method has been developed for the residual radioactive (RESRAD) material guideline computer code. This model improves the external ground pathway dose estimation from that in earlier versions of the RESRAD code by extending FGR-12 data applicability to a wider range of source geometries. FGR-12 assumes that sources are infinite in lateral extent. In actual situations, soil contamination sources can have any depth, shape, cover, and size. A depth factor function was developed to express the attenuation of radionuclides by using regression analysis. Three independent, nuclei-specific parameters were determined by using the effective dose equivalent values from FGR-12. The depth factors derived with the new model were within 2% of the FGR-12 values for all depths for most of the radionuclides. A cover-and-depth factor function was derived on the basis of the depth factor function by considering both dose contribution and attenuation from different depths. The cover-and-depth factor was compared with FGR-12 computations for some representative radionuclides and source configurations. For thin cover thicknesses (1 cm), most of the values were within 2%; even for large …

A ten segment traveling-wave chopper has been constructed and successfully tested at 5% of the design 12 MHz repetition rate. The chopper must remove unbunched tails from a partially bunched heavy-ion beam in order to avoid undue emittance growth in the linac and the production of undesirable satellite beam bunches. When poorly bunched beams traverse the traditional sine-wave chopper, it produces unacceptable transverse emittance growth and unnecessary beam loss. These effects are expected to be much reduced in the traveling wave chopper. First tests have confirmed the validity of these claims, clearly showing much reduced transverse emittance growth as compared to the original sine wave chopper and excellent selectivity for the desired beam. Details of these tests will be presented and compared to calculations. Operation of the new chopper at the full 12 MHz rate is the next goal. Development of a driver power supply capable of full CW operation will also be described.

Hydrogen out-diffusion from the n/i interface region plays a major role in controlling the fill factor (FF) and resultant efficiency of n-i-p a-Si:H devices, with the i-layer deposited at high substrate temperatures by the hot wire technique. Modeling calculations have shown that a thin, highly defective layer at this interface, perhaps caused by significant H out-diffusion and incomplete lattice reconstruction, results in sharply lower device FFs due to the large voltage dropped across this defective layer. We have therefore employed buffer layers designed to retard this out-diffusion. We find that an increased H content, either in the n-layer or a thin intrinsic low temperature buffer layer, does not significantly retard this out-diffusion, as observed by SIMS H profiles on devices. However, if this low temperature buffer layer is thick enough, the out-diffusion is minimized, yielding nearly flat H profiles and a much improved device performance. We discuss this behavior in the context of the H chemical potentials and H diffusion coefficients in the high temperature, buffer, n-, and stainless steel substrate layers. Finally, we report a 9.8% initial active area device, fabricated at 16.5 {angstrom}/s, using the insights obtained in this study. Light soaking data are also reported.

Weekly newspaper from Cleveland, Texas that includes local, county, and state news along with extensive advertising.

With the rapid growth of global computing and communications, information security is a critical issue in all national infrastructure protection discussions. The purpose of our LDRD project-the Information Operations, Warfare, and Assurance (IOWA) initiative-is to advance the enabling core technologies of this field. Special emphasis is placed on computer networks and telecommunication systems. During FY 1998, we developed (1) techniques for identifying the topology of large, complex computer networks, (2) data representation models for these systems, (3) high-performance methods for visualizing the resulting complex models, (4) automated analysis methods for processing large network representations, (5) specialized search techniques for isolating vulnerabilities, (6) a foundation for simulating network operation, and (7) an assessment methodology for determining the consequences of system component failure or disruption.

The goal of the project was the development and integration of a Raman spectroscopy unit with a Cone Penetration Technologies (CPT) system for use in locating contamination below the ground surface.

As future sizes of Integrated Circuits (ICs) continue to shrink the sensitivity of these devices, particularly SRAMs and DRAMs, to natural radiation is increasing. In this paper, the Ion Beam Induced Charge Collection (IBICC) technique is utilized to simulate neutron-induced Si recoil effects in ICS. The IBICC measurements, conducted at the Sandia National Laboratories employed a 10 MeV carbon microbeam with 1pm diameter spot to scan test structures on specifically designed ICS. With the aid of layout information, an analysis of the charge collection efficiency from different test areas is presented. In the present work a 10 MeV Carbon high-resolution microbeam was used to demonstrate the differential charge collection efficiency in ICS with the aid of the IC design Information. When ions strike outside the FET, the charge was only measured on the outer ring, and decreased with strike distance from this diode. When ions directly strike the inner and ring diodes, the collected charge was localized to these diodes. The charge for ions striking the gate region was shared between the inner and ring diodes. I The IBICC measurements directly confirmed the interpretations made in the earlier work.