A model was needed to assess material throughput and validate the conceptual design of a production facility, including equipment lists and layout. The initial desire was to use a commercially available discrete event simulation package. However, the available software was found to be too limited in capability. Database interface software was used to develop autonomous intelligent manufacturing workstations and material transporters. The initial Extend model used to assess material throughput and develop equipment lists for the preconceptual design effort was upgraded with software add-ons from Simulation Dynamics, Inc. (SDI). Use of the SDI database interface allowed the upgraded model to include: 1. a material mass balance at any level of detail required by the user, and 2. a transport system model that includes all transport system movements, time delays, and transfers between systems. This model will assist in evaluating transport system capacity, sensitive time delays in the system, and optimal operating strategies. An additional benefit of using the SDI database interface is dramatically improved run time performance. This allows significantly more runs to be completed to provide better statistics for overall plant performance. The model has all system and process parameters entered into sub-component accessible tables. All information for the …

Research program on the rheological properties of flowing suspensions. The primary purpose of the research supported by this grant was to study the flow characteristics of concentrated suspensions of non-colloidal solid particles and thereby construct a comprehensive and robust theoretical framework for modeling such systems quantitatively. At first glance, this seemed like a modest goal, not difficult to achieve, given that such suspensions were viewed simply as Newtonian fluids with an effective viscosity equal to the product of the viscosity of the suspending fluid times a function of the particle volume fraction. But thanks to the research findings of the Principal Investigator and of his Associates, made possible by the steady and continuous support which the PI received from the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the subject is now seen to be more complicated and therefore much more interesting in that concentrated suspensions have been shown to exhibit fascinating and unique rheological properties of their own that have no counterpart in flowing Newtonian or even non-Newtonian (polymeric) fluids. In fact, it is generally acknowledged that, as the result of these investigations for which the PI received the 2001 National Medal of Science, our understanding of how suspensions behave under …

The goal of this project was to develop catalytic materials and processes that would be effective in the destruction of tars formed during the gasification of black liquor and biomass. We report here the significant results obtained at the conclusion of this two year project.

This report

CRS Report for Congress entailing information about changes being made to the law because of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Topics include, eligibility by jurisdiction, safeguarding, evaluation and Individualized Education Programs (IEPS), etc..

The overall objective of this research is to delineate the process of the dilute-acid hydrolysis of biomass and seek better understanding of the reactions involving dilute-acid treatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Specifically the scope of the work entails the following two primary technical elements: Verification of the heterogeneous nature of the reaction mechanism in dilute-acid hydrolysis of cellulosic component of the biomass. Experimental investigation to identify the overall reaction pattern and the kinetic constants associated with dilute-acid hydrolysis of the cellulosic component of the agricultural residues.

This report details the information related to gasoline prices and discusses on policies and proposals.

This report briefly describes the process by which Congress seeks to pass a law. During this process Congress uses a bill or joint resolution, which must be passed by both houses in identical form, that is then presented to the President for his approval or disapproval.

This report describes the structure and development of the narcotics trade in Afghanistan and explores its relevance to Afghan, U.S., and international security interests, including the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the United States make a long term commitment to the stability and security of Afghanistan. The report provides current statistical information on the opium trade, profiles its various participants, explores alleged narco-terrorist linkages, and reviews the U.S. and international policy response since late 2001. The report also considers current policy debates regarding the role of the U.S. military in future counternarcotics operations in Afghanistan; planned opium poppy eradication; and funding issues for Congress.

The first fossil hominid tooth recovered during 1999 excavations from the Cisanca River region in West Java, Indonesia, was associated with a series of bovid teeth from a single individual that was recovered 190 cm beneath the hominid tooth. The age of the fossil bovid teeth was determined using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis as part of an effort to bracket the age of the hominid tooth. The EPR-derived age of the bovid teeth is (5.16 {+-} 2.01) x 10{sup 5} years. However, the age estimate reported here is likely an underestimate of the actual age of deposition since evidence of heating was detected in the EPR spectra of the bovid teeth, and the heating may have caused a decrease in the intensity of EPR components on which the age calculation is based.

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to improve border security is a technique that has garnered congressional attention. This report examines the strengths and limitations of deploying UAVs along the borders and related issues for Congress.

This document outlines a proposal for extending UPC's point-to-point memcpy library with support for explicitly non-blocking transfers, and non-contiguous (indexed and strided) transfers. Various portions of this proposal could stand alone as independent extensions to the UPC library. The designs presented here are heavily influenced by analogous functionality which exists in other parallel communication systems, such as MPI, ARMCI, Titanium, and network hardware API's such as Quadricselan, Infiniband vapi, IBM LAPI and Cray X-1. Each section contains proposed extensions to the libraries in the UPC Language Specification (section 7) and corresponding extensions to the GASNet communication system API.

This is a report on Genetically Engineered Fish and seafood, with are supposed to have inherited traits to have improved organisms due to the genetical engineering.

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One of the critical challenges facing planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology is the need for reliable sealing technology. Seals are required for long-term stability and integrity in the high temperature SOFC environment during normal and transient operations. Several different approaches for sealing SOFC stacks are under development, including glass or glass-ceramic seals, metallic brazes, and compressive seals. Compressive seals potentially offer a significant and unique advantage over the other approaches by providing a means of mechanically ''de-coupling'' adjacent stack components, thereby minimizing the need for closely matching the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of the various SOFC stack components. In an attempt to help the SOFC industry overcome sealing challenges, PNNL is developing mica-based hybrid compressive seals which exhibit leak rates 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than obtained with simple mica gasket seals.

This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment -- of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.

This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . .” This language restricts government both more and less than it would if it were applied literally. It restricts government more in that it applies not only to Congress, but to all branches of the federal government, and to all branches of state and local government. It restricts government less in that it provides no protection to some types of speech and only limited protection to others. This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment — of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.

This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment — of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.

A set of experiments has been performed on the High-Current Experiment (HCX) facility at LBNL, in which the ion beam is allowed to collide with an end plate and thereby induce a copious supply of desorbed electrons. Through the use of combinations of biased and grounded electrodes positioned in between and downstream of the quadrupole magnets, the flow of electrons upstream into the magnets can be turned on or off. Properties of the resultant ion beam are measured under each condition. The experiment is modeled via a full three-dimensional, two species (electron and ion) particle simulation, as well as via reduced simulations (ions with appropriately chosen model electron cloud distributions, and a high-resolution simulation of the region adjacent to the end plate). The three-dimensional simulations are the first of their kind and the first to make use of a timestep-acceleration scheme that allows the electrons to be advanced with a timestep that is not small compared to the highest electron cyclotron period. The simulations reproduce qualitative aspects of the experiments, illustrate some unanticipated physical effects, and serve as an important demonstration of a developing simulation capability.

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This report provides a broad but by no means an exhaustive, survey of federal statutes and regulations that specifically refer to race, gender, or ethnicity as factors to be considered in the administration of any federal program. Such measures may include, but are not limited to, goals, timetables, set-asides, and quotas, as those terms are generally (however imperfectly) understood. Based on several searches of LEXIS/NEXIS and WESTLAW legal databases, and a variety of search strategies, the compilation seeks to be as comprehensive as possible. With certain noted exceptions, the report collectively describes those statutes, regulations, or executive orders uncovered by our research which appear, in any manner, to prefer or consider race, gender, or ethnicity as affirmative factors in federal employment, in the allocation of federal contracts, or in granting any federal benefit to individuals or institutions. Several laws and regulations directed to “socially and economically disadvantaged” individuals and institutions are included because, as more fully explained by the report, that term has been defined administratively and by statute to presumptively apply to specific racial and ethnic minorities.