This paper presents the Virtual Reality Furnace (VRFurnace) application, an interactive 3-D visualization platform for pulverized coal furnace analysis. The VRFurnace is a versatile toolkit where a variety of different CFD data sets related to pulverized coal furnaces can be studied interactively. The toolkit combines standard CFD analysis techniques with tools that more effectively utilize the 3-D capabilities of a virtual environment. Interaction with data is achieved through a dynamic instructional menu system. The application has been designed for use in a projection-based system which allows engineers, management, and operators to see and interact with the data at the same time. Future developments are discussed and will include the ability to combine multiple power plant components into a single application, allow remote collaboration between different virtual environments, and allow users to make changes to a flow field and see the results of these changes as they are made creating a complete virtual power plant.

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This thesis is organized into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction and justification, chapters 2 and 3 are journal papers, chapter 4 is a preliminary analysis of winter environmental variables and their use in forecasting for Stewart's disease of corn, and chapter 5 is general conclusions and discussion. References can be found at the end of each chapter, except chapter 5 and are specific to that chapter.

The GeneLetter (http://www.geneletter.org) is an Internet newsletter on ethical, legal, and social issues in genetics, designed for a wide and varied audience, some of whom may not be familiar with genetic science. It appears every two months, with a variety of long and short feature articles on ethics and on genetic disorders, a section on new federal and state legislation, an international section, a student corner, book and video reviews, a summary of genetics in the news, and a list of upcoming conferences. Feature articles have ventured into an area of wide general concern, behavioral genetics. The newsletter also has an interactive chatbox and the opportunity of more private communications with the editors via email. The purpose of the GeneLetter is to help fill a communication and knowledge gap on ethical, legal and social issues surrounding genetics.

The mechanical properties of model systems were analyzed. A reasonably accurate finite element model was implemented and a rational metric to predict the strength of ceramic/metal concentrical joints was developed. The mode of failure of the ceramic/metal joints was determined and the importance of the mechanical properties of the braze material was assessed. Thermal cycling experiments were performed on the model systems and the results were discussed. Additionally, experiments using the concept of placing diffusion barriers on the ceramic surface to limit the extent of the reaction with the braze were performed. It was also observed that the nature and morphology of the reaction zone depends greatly on the nature of the perovskite structure being used. From the experiments, it is observed that the presence of Cr in the Fe-occupied sites decreases the tendency of Fe to segregate and to precipitate out of the lattice. In these new experiments, Ni was observed to play a major role in the decomposition of the ceramic substrate.

This first quarter report of 2001 describes progress on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to test a hybrid sulfur recovery process for natural gas upgrading. The process concept represents a low cost option for direct treatment of natural gas streams to remove H{sub 2}S in quantities equivalent to 0.2-25 metric tons (LT) of sulfur per day. This process is projected to have lower capital and operating costs than the competing technologies, amine/aqueous iron liquid redox and amine/Claus/tail gas treating, and have a smaller plant footprint, making it well suited to both on-shore and offshore applications. CrystaSulf{trademark} (service mark of Gas Research Institute) is a new nonaqueous sulfur recovery process that removes hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S) from gas streams and converts it into elemental sulfur. CrystaSulf features high sulfur recovery similar to aqueous-iron liquid redox sulfur recovery processes, but differs from the aqueous processes in that CrystaSulf controls the location where elemental sulfur particles are formed. In the hybrid process, approximately 1/3 of the total H{sub 2}S in the natural gas is first oxidized to SO{sub 2} at low temperatures over a heterogeneous catalyst. Low temperature oxidation is done so that the H{sub 2}S can be …

Underwater time-lapse video technology has been used to monitor adult spring and summer chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) escapement into the Secesh River and Lake Creek, Idaho, since 1998. Underwater time-lapse videography is a passive methodology that does not trap or handle this Endangered Species Act listed species. Secesh River chinook salmon represent a wild spawning aggregate that has not been directly supplemented with hatchery fish. The Secesh River is also a control population under the Idaho Salmon Supplementation study. This project has demonstrated the successful application of underwater video adult salmon abundance monitoring technology in Lake Creek in 1998 and 1999. Emphasis of the project in 2000 was to determine if the temporary fish counting station could be installed early enough to successfully estimate adult spring and summer chinook salmon abundance in the Secesh River (a larger stream). Snow pack in the drainage was 93% of the average during the winter of 1999/2000, providing an opportunity to test the temporary count station structure. The temporary fish counting station was not the appropriate technology to determine adult salmon spawner abundance in the Secesh River. Due to its temporary nature it could not be installed early enough, due to high stream discharge, …

Using computer simulations, the performance of several CdTe based photovoltaic structures has been studied. The advantages and disadvantages of band gap grading, through the use of (Zn,Cd)Te, have also been investigated in these structures. Grading at the front interface between a CdS window layer and a CdTe absorber layer, can arise due to interdiffusion between the materials during growth or due to the intentional variation of the material composition. This grading has been shown to improve certain performance metrics, such as the open-circuit voltage, while degrading others, such as the fill factor, depending on the amount and distance of the grading. The presence of a Schottky barrier as the back contact has also been shown to degrade the photovoltaic performance of the device, resulting in a characteristic IV curve. However, with the appropriate band gap grading at the back interface, it has been shown that the performance can be enhanced through more efficient carrier collection. These results were then correlated with experimental observations of the performance degradation in devices subjected to light and heat stress.

Photograph of the Thomas, Jr & Mary Kraitchar House in Caldwell, Texas.

A handwritten note from Scott Evertz to Charles C. Francis thanking him. The note reads "Dear Charles, You really are a a dear friend, excellent advisor, & true Texas gentleman. Thanks so much for your friendship & your counsel. All the best, Scott". It was written on White House stationery.

In June of 1997, under an umbrella Memorandum of Understanding between the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) and the U.S. Department of Energy (US/DOE) concerning matters of nuclear research and development, a Specific Memorandum of Agreement (SMA) entitled ''A Collaborative Programme of Development of a Prototype Communication Link to Share Atmospheric Dispersion and Dose Assessment Modelling Products'' was signed. This SMA formalized an informal collaborative exchange between the DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (ARAC) center and the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) Worldwide System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (WSPEEDI). The intended objective of this agreement was to explore various modes of information exchange, beyond facsimile transmission, which could provide for the quick exchange of information between two major nuclear emergency dose assessment and prediction national centers to provide consistency checks and data exchange before public release of their calculations. The extreme sensitivity of the general public to any nuclear accident information has been a strong motivation to seek peer preview prior to public release. Other intended objectives of this work are the development of an affordable/accessible system for distribution of prediction results to other countries having no prediction capabilities and …

Recent technological advances in high-throughput data collection give biologists the ability to study increasingly complex systems. A new methodology is needed to develop and test biological models based on experimental observations and predict the effect of perturbations of the network (e.g. genetic engineering, pharmaceuticals, gene therapy). Diverse modeling approaches have been proposed, in two general categories: modeling a biological pathway as (a) a logical circuit or (b) a chemical reaction network. Boolean logic models can not represent necessary biological details. Chemical kinetics simulations require large numbers of parameters that are very difficult to accurately measure. Based on the way biologists have traditionally thought about systems, we propose that fuzzy logic is a natural language for modeling biology. The Union Rule Configuration (URC) avoids combinatorial explosion in the fuzzy rule base, allowing complex system models. We demonstrate the fuzzy modeling method on the commonly studied lac operon of E. coli. Our goal is to develop a modeling and simulation approach that can be understood and applied by biologists without the need for experts in other fields or ''black-box'' software.

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

Semi-monthly newspaper from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news and advertising of interest to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.

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Major NREL environmental programs and initiatives include: integrated energy and environmental strategies; implementation of air pollution programs and climate change programs; Green Power Network; environmental and economic impacts and benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE) technologies; technology transfer between developed and developing countries; greenhouse gas emission reduction projects; climate change action plans with developing countries and development of life cycle assessments.

This document provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America program. Building America works with the residential building industry to develop and implement innovative building processes and technologies-innovations that save builders and homeowners millions of dollars in construction and energy costs. This industry-led, cost-shared partnership program aims to reduce energy use by 50% and reduce construction time and waste, improve indoor air quality and comfort, encourage a systems engineering approach for design and construction of new homes, and accelerate the development and adoption of high performance in production housing.

The primary objective of the Vadose Zone Transport Field Study is to obtain hydrologic, geophysical, and geochemical data from controlled field studies to reduce the uncertainty in vadose-zone conceptual models and to facilitate the calibration of numerical models for water flow and contaminant transport through Hanford's heterogeneous vadose zone. A secondary objective is to evaluate advanced, cost-effective characterization methods with the potential to assess changing conditions in the vadose zone, particularly as surrogates of currently undetectable high-risk contaminants. The study is designed to assure the measurement of flow-and-transport properties in the same soil volume, a pre-requisite for developing techniques for extrapolating parameters derived from investigations at clean representative sites to contaminated sites with minimal characterization.

In order to study the dislocation density evolution of body centered cubic (bcc) crystals at low temperature by dislocation dynamics (DD) simulations, we investigated carefully three different boundary conditions (BC) for DD, i.e., the quasi-free surface BC, the flux-balanced BC, and the periodic BC. The latter two BCs can account for the dislocation loss from the boundary of the finite simulation box. PBC can also eliminate the influence of surfaces and improve the line connectivity. We have found that the PBC provides a convenient and effective boundary condition for DD simulations and have applied it to the study of dislocation density evolution of bcc metals during stage 0 deformation at low temperature.

The National Ignition Facility, a stadium-size, 192-beam laser, is an essential tool for maintaining the safety and reliability of our nuclear weapons, harnessing fusion energy for future generations, and unlocking the origins of the universe. In the FY2001 Energy and Water Appropriations Act (FPN00-48), Congress appropriated $199.1 million for the continued construction of NIF. Immediately, $130 million became available. After March 31, 2001, $69.1 million was to be made available only after Department of Energy certification to Congress regarding six specific points: (1) recommend an appropriate path forward for the project; (2) certify that all established project and scientific milestones are on schedule and cost; (3) conduct 1st and 2nd quarter project reviews in FY01 and determine the project is on schedule and cost; (4) study alternatives to a 192-beam ignition facility for the stockpile stewardship program (SSP); (5) implement an integrated cost-schedule earned-value project control system; and (6) create a five-year budget plan for the SSP.

Object-oriented libraries arise naturally from the increasing complexity of developing related scientific applications. The optimization of the use of libraries within scientific applications is one of many high-performance optimization, and is the subject of this paper. This type of optimization can have significant potential because it can either reduce the overhead of calls to a library, specialize the library calls given the context of their use within the application, or use the semantics of the library calls to locally rewrite sections of the application. This type of optimization is only now becoming an active area of research. The optimization of the use of libraries within scientific applications is particularly attractive because it maps to the extensive use of libraries within numerous large existing scientific applications sharing common problem domains. This paper presents an approach toward the optimization of parallel object-oriented libraries. ROSE[1] is a tool for building source-to-source preprocessors, ROSETTA is a tool for defining the grammars used within ROSE. The definition of the grammars directly determines what can be recognized at compile time. ROSETTA permits grammars to be automatically generated which are specific to the identification of abstractions introduced within object-oriented libraries. Thus the semantics of complex abstractions defined …

Past theories of radiation swelling have mostly dealt with the effect of void growth on the steady-state rather than of void nucleation on the incubation of swelling. However, new analysis indicates that incubation and its dependence on dose rate, impurity concentrations. and temperature dramatically influences the cumulative experimental swelling. We present rate theory calculations of this void nucleation and growth that include the time-dependent coupling and evolution of point defect concentrations, void size distribution, and dislocation density. A transient, swelling-free period originates in the exponential sensitivity of nucleation to the temperature and point defect supersaturations and the dependence of the defect concentrations on the dose rate, temperature, and aggregate sink strengths. Specifically. simulations representing cold worked pure metals show delayed swelling that is governed by dislocation evolution towards a reduced. steady-state density. Impurity atoms are expected to affect the incubation period through the initial dislocation density and subsequent rate of evolution. We conclude that appreciable void swelling requires a sufficiently low concentration of network dislocation and dislocation loop sinks, and that incubation is the time required to achieve this state.