This document provides the preliminary specifications for the different RadMARC records to be created for use in the Z-Interop2 interoperability testbed. Experience with these records may result in revisions to the specifications.

This document serves as an interim report on the Z39.50 interoperability testbed, Phase 2 of the Z-Interop Project. This report covers the period of July 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004. This document highlights activities and accomplishments to communicate to IMLS progress on the project since the interim report on July 1, 2004.

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents the highlights of GAO's fiscal year 2004 Performance and Accountability report. In short, fiscal year 2004 was an exceptional year for GAO. For example, we received a clean opinion from independent auditors on our financial statements and met or exceeded all but one of our key performance measures. In addition, we exceeded or equaled our all-time record for six of our seven key performance indicators while continuing to improve our client and employee feedback survey results. We documented $44 billion in financial benefits--a return of $95 for every dollar spent, or $13.7 million per employee. We also recorded over 1,000 nonfinancial benefits that helped to shape important legislation and increase the efficiency of various federal programs, thus improving the lives of millions of Americans. In addition, the rate at which our recommendations had been implemented by the Congress or federal agencies rose to 83 percent, and we made over 2,700 new recommendations in fiscal year 2004. We just missed our timeliness goal by delivering 97 percent of our products to the Congress when promised. This summary of our performance and accountability report highlights …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's audits and evaluations identify federal programs and operations that, in some cases, are high risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. Increasingly, GAO also is identifying high-risk areas to focus on the need for broad-based transformations to address major economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges. Since 1990, GAO has periodically reported on government operations that it has designated as high risk. In this 2005 update for the 109th Congress, GAO presents the status of high-risk areas identified in 2003 and new high-risk areas warranting attention by the Congress and the administration. Lasting solutions to high-risk problems offer the potential to save billions of dollars, dramatically improve service to the American public, strengthen public confidence and trust in the performance and accountability of our national government, and ensure the ability of government to deliver on its promises."

The composition of the electrolyte is known to greatly influence the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. It has been speculated that some components of the electrolyte passivate the TiO2 surface against recombination; however, this has never been confirmed experimentally. We hereby present the first case of passivation of the TiO2 surface against recombination by an additive in the electrolyte. Even though the additive also causes a downward movement of the TiO2 bands, suppression of recombination prevails and an overall improvement in open-circuit photovoltage is observed. This work was conducted in collaboration with the DOE Office of Science program.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is subject to annual emissions-reporting requirements for regulated air pollutants under Title 20 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, Chapter 2, Part 73 (20.2.73 NMAC), Notice of Intent and Emissions Inventory Requirements. The applicability of the requirements is based on the Laboratory's potential to emit 100 tons per year of suspended particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, or volatile organic compounds. For calendar year 2003, the Technical Area 3 steam plant and the air curtain destructors were the primary sources of criteria air pollutants from the Laboratory, while the air curtain destructors and chemical use associated with research and development activities were the primary sources of volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. Emissions of beryllium and aluminum were reported for activities permitted under 20.2.72 NMAC. Hazardous air pollutant emissions were reported from chemical use as well as from all combustion sources. In addition, estimates of particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 micrometers and ammonia were provided as requested by the New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau.

The purpose of the process integration project of the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV) is to develop an infrastructure that will allow researchers to gain new knowledge that is difficult--if not impossible--to obtain with existing equipment. This difficulty is due, in part, to the state of our existing tool set, which lacks sufficient in-situ or real-time measurement capabilities, or lacks access to analytical tools where the sample remains in a controlled environment between deposition and processing or measurement. This new infrastructure will provide flexible and robust integration of deposition, processing (etching, annealing, etc.), and characterization tools via a standardized transfer interface such that samples move between tools in a controlled ambient. This concept will also require the cooperation of experts from various material technologies and characterization disciplines to work directly with each other to obtain answers to key scientific and technological questions. Ultimately, this synergistic effort between NREL staff, universities, and the photovoltaic (PV) industry--around an integrated tool base--will add to the PV knowledge base and help move many PV technologies forward.

The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Laboratory supports the Solar Energy Technologies Program through the measurement and characterization of solar energy-related materials and devices. The FTIR technique is a fast, accurate, and reliable method for studying molecular structure and composition. This ability to identify atomic species and their bonding environment is a powerful combination that finds use in many research and development efforts. A brief overview of the technical approach used is contained in Section 2 of this report. Because of its versatility and accessibility, the FTIR Laboratory is a valuable contributor to the Solar Energy Technologies Program. The laboratory provides support for, and collaborates with, several in-house programs as well as our industry and university partners. By the end of FY 2004, the FTIR Laboratory performed over 1100 measurements on PV-related materials. These contributions resulted in conference and workshop presentations and several peer-reviewed publications. A brief summary of a few of these efforts is contained in Section 3 of this report.

Oxygenated nanocrystalline CdS films show improved solar cell performance, but the physics and mechanism underlying this are not yet clearly understood. Raman study provides complementary information to the understanding obtained from other experimental investigations. A comprehensive analysis of the existing experimental data (including x-ray diffraction, transmission, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman) has led to the following conclusions: (1) The O-incorporation forms CdS1-xOx alloy nano-particles. (2) The observed evolution of the electronic structure is the result of the interplay between the alloy and quantum confinement effect. (3) The blue-shift of the LO phonon Raman peak is primarily due to the alloying effect. (4) Some oxygen atoms have taken the interstitial sites.

A critical and long-standing need within the petroleum industry is the specification of suitable petrophysical properties for mathematical simulation of fluid flow in petroleum reservoirs (i.e., reservoir characterization). The development of accurate reservoir characterizations is extremely challenging. Property variations may be described on many scales, and the information available from measurements reflect different scales. In fact, experiments on laboratory core samples, well-log data, well-test data, and reservoir-production data all represent information potentially valuable to reservoir characterization, yet they all reflect information about spatial variations of properties at different scales. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and imaging (MRI) provide enormous potential for developing new descriptions and understandings of heterogeneous media. NMR has the rare capability to probe permeable media non-invasively, with spatial resolution, and it provides unique information about molecular motions and interactions that are sensitive to morphology. NMR well-logging provides the best opportunity ever to resolve permeability distributions within petroleum reservoirs. We develop MRI methods to determine, for the first time, spatially resolved distributions of porosity and permeability within permeable media samples that approach the intrinsic scale: the finest resolution of these macroscopic properties possible. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the permeability is actually resolved at …

To foster continued growth in the U.S. photovoltaic (PV) industry, the U.S. Department of Energy initiated the PV Manufacturing R&D (PVMR&D) Project--a partnership with U.S. PV industry participants to perform cost-shared manufacturing research and development. Throughout FY 2004, PVMR&D managed fourteen subcontracts across the industry. The impact of PVMR&D is quantified by reductions in direct module manufacturing costs, scale-up of existing PV production capacity, and accrual of cost savings to the public and industry. An analysis of public and industry investment shows that both recaptured funds by mid-1998 based on estimated manufacturing cost savings from PVMR&D participation. Since project inception, total PV manufacturing capacity has increased from 14 MW to 201 MW at the close of 2003, while direct manufacturing costs declined from $5.55/W to $2.49/W. These results demonstrate continued progress toward the overriding goals of the PVMR&D project.

In FY99, Solar Heating and Lighting set the goal to reduce the life-cycle cost of saved-energy for solar domestic hot water (SDHW) systems in mild climates by 50%, primarily through use of polymer technology. Two industry teams (Davis Energy Group/SunEarth (DEG/SE) and FAFCO) have been developing un-pressurized integral-collector-storage (ICS) systems having load-side heat exchangers, and began field-testing in FY04. DEG/SE?s ICS has a rotomolded tank and thermoformed glazing. Based upon manufacturing issues, costs, and poor performance, the FAFCO team changed direction in late FY04 from an un-pressurized ICS to a direct thermosiphon design based upon use of pool collectors. Support for the teams is being provided for materials testing, modeling, and system testing. New ICS system models have been produced to model the new systems. A new ICS rating procedure for the ICS systems is undergoing testing and validation. Pipe freezing, freeze protection valves, and overheating have been tested and analyzed.

This report describes research conducted between October 1, 2004 and December 31, 2004 on the use of dry regenerable sorbents for removal of carbon dioxide from flue gas. Two supported sorbents were tested in a bench scale fluidized bed reactor system. The sorbents were prepared by impregnation of sodium carbonate on to an inert support at a commercial catalyst manufacturing facility. One sorbent, tested through five cycles of carbon dioxide sorption in an atmosphere of 3% water vapor and 0.8 to 3% carbon dioxide showed consistent reactivity with sodium carbonate utilization of 7 to 14%. A second, similarly prepared material, showed comparable reactivity in one cycle of testing. Batches of 5 other materials were prepared in laboratory scale quantities (primarily by spray drying). These materials generally have significantly greater surface areas than calcined sodium bicarbonate. Small scale testing showed no significant adsorption of mercury on representative carbon dioxide sorbent materials under expected flue gas conditions.

Soils were characterized in an investigation at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site at the U.S. Department of Energy Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada. Data from the investigation are presented in four parameter groups: sample and site characteristics, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) particle size fractions, chemical parameters, and American Society for Testing Materials-Unified Soil Classification System (ASTM-USCS) particle size fractions. Spread-sheet workbooks based on these parameter groups are presented to evaluate data quality, conduct database updates,and set data structures and formats for later extraction and analysis. This document does not include analysis or interpretation of presented data.

Real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) has proven to be an exceptionally valuable tool in the optimization of hot wire CVD (HWCVD) growth of both silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells and thin epitaxial layers of crystal silicon (epi-Si). For SHJ solar cells, RTSE provides real-time thickness information and rapid feedback on the degree of crystallinity of the thin intrinsic layers used to passivate the crystal silicon (c-Si) wafers. For epi-Si growth, RTSE provides real-time feedback on the crystallinity and breakdown of the epitaxial growth process. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to verify the RTSE analysis of thickness and crystallinity. In contrast to TEM, RTSE provides feedback in real time or same-day, while TEM normally requires weeks. This rapid feedback has been a key factor in the rapid progress of both the SHJ and epi-Si projects.

The GaAsN alloy can have a band gap as small as 1.0 eV when the nitrogen composition is about 2%. Indium can also be added to the alloy to increase lattice matching to GaAs and Ge. These properties are advantageous for developing a highly-efficient, multi-junction solar cell. However, poor GaAsN cell properties, such as low open-circuit voltage, have led to inadequate performance. Deep-level transient spectroscopy of p-type GaAsN has identified an electron trap having an activation energy near 0.2 eV and a trap density of at least 1016 cm-3. This trap level appears with the addition of small amounts of nitrogen to GaAs, which also corresponds to an increased drop in open-circuit voltage.

Several problems exist with current methods used to align DNA sequences for comparative sequence analysis. Most dynamic programming algorithms assume that conserved sequence elements are collinear. This assumption appears valid when comparing orthologous protein coding sequences. Functional constraints on proteins provide strong selective pressure against sequence inversions, and minimize sequence duplications and feature shuffling. For non-coding sequences this collinearity assumption is often invalid. For example, enhancers contain clusters of transcription factor binding sites that change in number, orientation, and spacing during evolution yet the enhancer retains its activity. Dotplot analysis is often used to estimate non-coding sequence relatedness. Yet dot plots do not actually align sequences and thus cannot account well for base insertions or deletions. Moreover, they lack an adequate statistical framework for comparing sequence relatedness and are limited to pairwise comparisons. Lastly, dot plots and dynamic programming text outputs fail to provide an intuitive means for visualizing DNA alignments.

Thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) are investigated as emitters and back-surface-field (BSF) contacts to make silicon heterojunction solar cells on p-type crystalline silicon wafers. A common requirement for excellent emitter and BSF quality is minimization of interface recombination. Best results require immediate a Si:H deposition and an abrupt and flat interface to the c-Si substrate. We obtain record 16.9% and 14.8% efficiencies on p-type planar float-zone (FZ) and Czochralski (CZ) silicon substrates, respectively, with HWCVD a-Si:H(n) emitters and Al-BSF contacts. Initial efforts with p-type HWCVD Si thin films as the BSF have yielded 12.5% efficiency on p type CZ-Si.

The DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program includes a sub-key activity entitled ''Photovoltaic Module Reliability R&D''. This activity has been in existence for several years to help ensure that the PV technologies that advance to the commercial module stage have acceptable service lifetimes and annual performance degradation rates. The long-term (2020) goal, as stated in the Solar Program Multi-Year Technical Plan [1], is to assist industry with the development of PV systems that have 30-year service lifetimes and 1% annual performance degradation rates. The corresponding module service lifetimes and annual performance degradation rate would have to be 30 years lifetime and approximately 0.5% (or less, depending on the type of PV system) annual performance degradation. Reaching this goal is critical to achieving the PV technology Levelized Energy Cost Targets, as listed and described in the Solar Program Multi-Year Technical Plan. This paper is an overview of the Module Reliability R&D sub-key activity. More details and the major results and accomplishments are covered in the papers presented in the PV Module Reliability Session of the DOE Solar Energy Technology Review Meeting, October 25-28, 2004, in Denver, Colorado.

Heightened natural gas prices have emerged as a key energy-policy challenge for at least the early part of the 21st century. With the recent run-up in gas prices and the expected continuation of volatile and high prices in the near future, a growing number of voices are calling for increased diversification of energy supplies. Proponents of renewable energy technologies identify these clean energy sources as an important part of the solution. Increased deployment of renewable energy (RE) can hedge natural gas price risk in more than one way, but a recent report by Berkeley Lab evaluates one such benefit in detail: by displacing gas-fired electricity generation, RE reduces natural gas demand and thus puts downward pressure on gas prices. Many recent modeling studies of increased RE deployment have demonstrated that this ''secondary'' effect of lowering natural gas prices could be significant; as a result, this effect is increasingly cited as justification for policies promoting RE. The Berkeley Lab report summarizes recent modeling studies that have evaluated the impact of RE deployment on gas prices, reviews the reasonableness of the results of these studies in light of economic theory and other research, and develops a simple tool that can be used …

The University of Missouri-Rolla will identify materials that will permit the safe, reliable and economical operation of combined cycle gasifiers by the pulp and paper industry. The primary emphasis of this project will be to resolve the material problems encountered during the operation of low-pressure high-temperature (LPHT) and low-pressure low-temperature (LPLT) gasifiers while simultaneously understanding the materials barriers to the successful demonstration of high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) black liquor gasifiers. This study will define the chemical, thermal and physical conditions in current and proposed gasifier designs and then modify existing materials and develop new materials to successfully meet the formidable material challenges. Resolving the material challenges of black liquor gasification combined cycle technology will provide energy, environmental, and economic benefits that include higher thermal efficiencies, up to three times greater electrical output per unit of fuel, and lower emissions. In the near term, adoption of this technology will allow the pulp and paper industry greater capital effectiveness and flexibility, as gasifiers are added to increase mill capacity. In the long term, combined-cycle gasification will lessen the industry's environmental impact while increasing its potential for energy production, allowing the production of all the mill's heat and power needs along with surplus electricity …

This paper presents a brief overview of the status and accomplishments during Fiscal Year (FY)2004 of the Photovoltaic (PV) Module Reliability and Performance R&D Subtask, which is part of the PV Module Reliability R&D Project (a joint NREL-Sandia project).

Pitfall traps provide an easy and inexpensive way to sample ground-dwelling arthropods (Spence and Niemela 1994; Spence et al. 1997; Abildsnes and Tommeras 2000) and have been used exclusively in many studies of the abundance and diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Despite the popularity of this trapping technique, pitfall traps have many disadvantages. For example, they often fail to collect both small (Spence and Niemela 1994) and à€œtrap-shy” species (Benest 1989), eventually deplete the local carabid population (Digweed et al. 1995), require a species to be ground-dwelling in order to be captured (Liebherr and Mahar 1979), and produce different results depending on trap diameter and material, type of preservative used, and trap placement (Greenslade 1964; Luff 1975; Work et al. 2002). Further complications arise from seasonal patterns of movement among the beetles themselves (Maelfait and Desender 1990), as well as numerous climatic factors, differences in plant cover, and variable surface conditions (Adis 1979). Because of these limitations, pitfall trap data give an incomplete picture of the carabid community and should be interpreted carefully. Additional methods, such as use of Berlese funnels and litter washing (Spence and Niemela 1994), collection from lights (Usis and MacLean 1998), and deployment of …

The Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC) continued pursuing its mission of assisting U.S. independent oil and gas producers with timely, informed technology decisions during Fiscal Year 2004 (FY04). PTTC has active grassroots programs through its 10 Regional Lead Organizations (RLOs) and 2 satellite offices. They bring research and academia to the table via their association with geological surveys and engineering departments. The regional directors interact with independent oil and gas producers through technology workshops, resource centers, websites, newsletters, technical publications and other cooperative outreach efforts. PTTC's Headquarters (HQ) staff receives direction from a National Board of Directors predominantly comprised of American natural gas and oil producers to plan and manage the overall technology transfer program. PTTC HQ implements a comprehensive communications program by interconnecting the talents of the National Board, 10 Regional Producer Advisory Groups (PAG) and the RLOs with industry across the U.S. PTTC effectively combines federal funding through the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, namely the Strategic Center for Natural Gas and Oil with state and industry contributions to share application of upstream technologies. Ultimately, these efforts factor in to provide a safe, secure and reliable energy supply for American consumers. This integrated resource base, …