The 18th Annual conference on Fossil Energy Materials was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 2 through June 4, 2004. The meeting was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy through the Advanced Research Materials Program (ARM). The objective of the ARM Program is to conduct research and development on materials for longer-term fossil energy applications, as well as for generic needs of various fossil fuel technologies. The management of the program has been decentralized to the DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The research is performed by staff members at ORNL and by researchers at other national laboratories, universities, and in private industry. The work is divided into the following categories: (1) structural, ceramics, (2) new alloys and coatings, (3) functional materials, and (4) technology development and transfer.

This report provides a list of books and Web addresses intended to help students locate financial aid. This list includes both general and comprehensive works, as well as ones targeted toward specific types of aid and circumstances (e.g., non-need-based scholarships, female and minority students, or students studying abroad).

An inert, flowing autoclave facility is used to investigate the solubility behavior of {alpha}-PbO (litharge, tetragonal) in aqueous solutions of morpholine, ammonia and sodium hydroxide between 38 and 260 C. Lead solubilities increased from about 0.4 mmol kg{sup -1} at 38 C to about 4.5 mmol kg{sup -1} at 260 C and were relatively insensitive to the concentration and identity of the pH-reagent. The measured lead solubilities were interpreted using a Pb(II) ion hydroxocomplexing model and thermodynamic functions for these equilibria were obtained from a least-squares analysis of the data. A consistent set of thermodynamic properties for the species Pb(OH){sup +}, Pb(OH){sub 2}(aq) and Pb(OH){sub 3}{sup -} is provided to permit accurate lead oxide solubility calculations over broad ranges of temperature and alkalinity.

This report briefly describes the various types of amendments that take place in the Senate. It has sections describing distinctions among amendments, degrees of amendments, forms of amendments, and the scope of amendments.

This work describes numerical modeling for simulating carbon tetrachloride flow and transport as outlined in two DOE reports for the 200-PW-1 Operable Unit and the 200-PW-1, 200-PW-3, and 200-PW-6 Operable Units. Simulations using the multifluid flow model STOMP were conducted to estimate how disposed dense nonaqueous phase liquid migrates in the vadose zone.

A new parallel algorithm, based on the Berger-Rigoutsos algorithm for clustering grid points into logically rectangular regions, is presented. The clustering operation is frequently performed in the dynamic gridding steps of structured adaptive mesh refinement (SAMR) calculations. A previous study revealed that although the cost of clustering is generally insignificant for smaller problems run on relatively few processors, the algorithm scaled inefficiently in parallel and its cost grows with problem size. Hence, it can become significant for large scale problems run on very large parallel machines, such as the new BlueGene system (which has {Omicron}(10{sup 4}) processors). We propose a new task-parallel algorithm designed to reduce communication wait times. Performance was assessed using dynamic SAMR re-gridding operations on up to 16K processors of currently available computers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The new algorithm was shown to be up to an order of magnitude faster than the baseline algorithm and had better scaling trends.

This report begins with a summary of basic federal requirements applicable to payments for all services and an overview of major developments in federal Medicaid reimbursement policy over the last 20 years. This overview provides a historical context for current policies and highlights some issues that have been perennial concerns for federal and state policymakers. The next four sections of the report provide a detailed discussion of Medicaid reimbursement for four basic categories of services or providers.

Required characterizations of the DOE's transuranic (TRU) and mixed wastes (MW) before disposing and treatment of the wastes are currently costly and have lengthy turnaround. Research toward developing faster and more sensitive characterization and analysis tools to reduce costs and accelerate throughputs is therefore desirable. This project is aimed at the development of electrochemical sensors, specific to toxic transition metals, uranium, and technetium, that can be integrated into the portable sensor systems. This system development will include fabrication and performance evaluation of electrodes as well as understanding of electrochemically active sites on the electrodes specifically designed for toxic metals, uranium and technetium detection. Subsequently, these advanced measurement units will be incorporated into a microfluidic prototype specifically designed and fabricated for field-deployable characterizations of such species. The electrochemical sensors being investigate d are based on a new class of nanoengineered sorbents, Self-Assembled Monolayer on Mesoporous Supports (SAMMS). SAMMS are highly efficient sorbents due to their interfacial chemistry that can be fine-tuned to selectively sequester a specific target species. Adsorptive stripping voltammetry (AdSV) will be performed on two classes of electrodes: the SAMMS modified carbon paste electrodes, and the SAMMS thin film immobilized on microelectrode arrays. Interfacial chemistry and electrochemistry of metal …

The corrosion behavior of Alloy 600 (UNS N06600) is investigated in hydrogenated water at 260 C. The corrosion kinetics are observed to be parabolic, the parabolic rate constant being determined by chemical descaling to be 0.055 mg dm{sup -2} hr{sup -1/2}. A combination of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, supplemented by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, are used to identify the oxide phases present (i.e., spinel) and to characterize their morphology and thickness. Two oxide layers are identified: an outer, ferrite-rich layer and an inner, chromite-rich layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with argon ion milling and target factor analysis is applied to determine spinel stoichiometry; the inner layer is (Ni{sub 0.7}Fe{sub 0.3})(Fe{sub 0.3}Cr{sub 0.7}){sub 2}O{sub 4}, while the outer layer is (Ni{sub 0.9}Fe{sub 0.1})(Fe{sub 0.85}Cr{sub 0.15}){sub 2}O{sub 4}. The distribution of trivalent iron and chromium cations in the inner and outer oxide layers is essentially the same as that found previously in stainless steel corrosion oxides, thus confirming their invariant nature as solvi in the immiscible spinel binary Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}-FeCr{sub 2}O{sub 4} (or NiFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}-NiCr{sub 2}O{sub 4}). Although oxidation occurred non-selectively, excess quantities of nickel(II) oxide were not found. Instead, the excess nickel was accounted …

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several permanently authorized programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including federal crop insurance, the non-insured assistance program and emergency disaster loans. In recent years, Congress frequently has made supplemental financial assistance available to farmers and ranchers on an ad-hoc basis, most notably in the form of direct crop disaster payments and emergency livestock assistance. Congress provided an estimated $3.1 billion of such assistance in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-7) for 2001 and 2002 crop and livestock losses. Some farm groups would like to see similar assistance provided for 2003 losses, particularly in regions of the Midwest and West that have experienced prolonged drought conditions. To date, no ad-hoc assistance has been made available for 2003 losses.