Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

Rust Federal Services of Hanford Inc. manages and operates the Hanford Site 200 Area radioactive solid waste storage and disposal facilities for the US Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office under contract DE-AC06-87RL10930. These facilities include storage areas and disposal sites for radioactive solid waste. This document summarizes the amount of radioactive materials that have been buried and stored in the 200 Area radioactive solid waste storage and disposal facilities from startup in 1944 through calendar year 1996. This report does not include backlog waste, solid radioactive wastes in storage or disposed of in other areas, or facilities such as the underground tank farms. Unless packaged within the scope of WHC-EP-0063, Hanford Site Solid Waste Acceptance Criteria, liquid waste data are not included in this document.

A major function of the Tank Waste Remediation System is to characterize wastes in support of waste management and disposal activities at the Hanford Site. Analytical data from sampling and analysis, along with other available information about a tank, are compiled and maintained in a tank characterization report (TCR). This report and its appendices serve as the TCR for single-shell tank 241-C-104. The objectives of this report are: (1) to use characterization data in response to technical issues associated with tank 241-C-104 waste; and (2) to provide a standard characterization of this waste in terms of a best-basis inventory estimate. The response to technical issues is summarized in Section 2.0, and the best-basis inventory estimate is presented in Section 3.0. Recommendations regarding safety status and additional sampling needs are provided in Section 4.0. Supporting data and information are contained in the appendices. This report supports the requirements of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Ecology et al. 1996) milestone M-44-10.

This Operating Test Report (OTR) documents the performance results of the Operating Test Procedure HNF-SD-W417-OTP-001 that provides steps to test the waste transfer system installed in the 221-T Canyon under project W-417. Recent modifications have been performed on the T Plant Rail Car Waste Transfer System. This Operating Test Procedure (OTP) will document the satisfactory operation of the 221-T Rail Car Waste Transfer System modified by project W-417. Project W-417 installed a pump in Tank 5-7 to replace the steam jets used for transferring liquid waste. This testing is required to verify that operational requirements of the modified transfer system have been met. Figure 2 and 3 shows the new and existing system to be tested. The scope of this testing includes the submersible air driven pump operation in Tank 5-7, liquid waste transfer operation from Tank 5-7 to rail car (HO-IOH-3663 or HO-IOH-3664), associated line flushing, and the operation of the flow meter. This testing is designed to demonstrate the satisfactory operation-of the transfer line at normal operating conditions and proper functioning of instruments. Favorable results will support continued use of this system for liquid waste transfer. The Functional Design Criteria for this system requires a transfer flow rate …

The 300 area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility (TEDF) was designed and built to treat the waste water from the 300 area process sewer system. Several treatment technologies are employed to remove the trace quantities of contaminants in the stream, including iron coprecipitation, clarification, filtration, ion exchange, and ultra violet light/hydrogen peroxide oxidation of organics. The chemicals that will be utilized in the treatment process are hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, and ferric chloride. This document annotates the required chemical characteristics of TEDF bulk chemicals as well as the criteria that were used to establish these criteria. The chemical specifications in appendix B are generated from this information.

We study the structure of the moduli spaces of vacua and superpotentials of N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories in three dimensions. By analyzing the instanton corrections, we compute the exact superpotentials and determine the quantum Coulomb and Higgs branches of the theories in the weak coupling regions. We find candidates for non-trivial N = 2 superconformal field theories at the singularities of the moduli spaces. The analysis is carried out explicitly for gauge groups U(N{sub c}) and SU(N{sub c}) with N{sub f} flavors. We show that the field theory results are in complete agreement with the intersecting branes picture. We also compute the exact superpotentials for arbitrary gauge groups and arbitrary matter content.

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Stromelysin-1 is a member of the metalloproteinase family of extracellular matrix-degrading enzymes that regulates tissue remodeling. We previously established a transgenic mouse model in which rat stromelysin-1 targeted to the mammary gland augmented expression of endogenous stromelysin-1, disrupted functional differentiation, and induced mammary tumors. A cell line generated from an adenocarcinoma in one of these animals and a previously described mammary tumor cell line generated in culture readily invaded both a reconstituted basement membrane and type I collagen gels, whereas a nonmalignant, functionally normal epithelial cell line did not. Invasion of Matrigel by tumor cells was largely abolished by metalloproteinase inhibitors, but not by inhibitors of other proteinase families. Inhibition experiments with antisense oligodeoxynucleotides revealed that Matrigel invasion of both cell lines was critically dependent on stromelysin-1 expression. Invasion of collagen, on the other hand, was reduced by only 40-50%. Stromelysin-1 was expressed in both malignant and nonmalignant cells grown on plastic substrata. Its expression was completely inhibited in nonmalignant cells, but up-regulated in tumor cells, in response to Matrigel. Thus misregulation of stromelysin-1 expression appears to be an important aspect of mammary tumor cell progression to an invasive phenotype. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of extracellular matrix …

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This report provides the background and recent developments of the Aegean issues of Greece and Turkey.

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This report has five sections which include an overview of the asylum and cancellation of removal procedures, three sections describing the situations of the Nicaraguans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans, and finally a section discussing legislative issues.

This report discusses the consequences of the 1992 Climate Change Convention and the future of climate change treaties and negotiations within the context of globalization of international politics.

This report presents and briefly analyzes data on the amount, cost, and distribution by source of energy used by a number of U.S. energy-intensive sectors and "industries." While the report does not analyze how measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would affect particular industries, it indirectly provides guidance.

The APS Real-Time Orbit Feedback System is designed to stabilize the orbit of the stored positron beam against low-frequency sources such as mechanical vibration and power supply ripple. A distributed array of digital signal processors is used to measure the orbit and compute corrections at a 1kHz rate. The system also provides extensive beam diagnostic tools. This paper describes the architectural aspects of the system and describes how the orbit correction algorithms are implemented.

Some conclusions from this report are: (1) A UO{sub 2}/Al dispersion target can be successfully dissolved in alkaline peroxide solutions; (2) after destruction of the peroxide recovery of the {sup 99}Mo would be nearly identical to existing processes using basic dissolution; (3) a low-enriched UO{sub 2}/Al dispersion targets could potentially be used for the production of {sup 99}Mo; and (4) punched cores from a UO{sub 2}/Al dispersion target will be irradiated to low-level burnup and effects of this LEU target on the recovery of {sup 99}Mo will be investigated. A commercial partner will be sought for full scale demonstrations.

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The purpose of this CRADA was to characterize the structural properties of the superconductor material within the wires in order to determine which processing procedures produce the best superconductor texture and phase development, and hence the best ultimate current carrying capacity.

The objective of this project was to develop receptor based peptides for diagnostic imaging and therapy. A series of peptides related to cell adhesion molecules (CAM) and immune regulation were designed for radiolabeling with ^99mTc and evaluated in animal models as potential diagnostic imaging agents for various disease conditions such as thrombus (clot), acute kidney failure, and inflection/inflammation imaging. The peptides for this project were designed by the industrial partner, Palatin Technologies, (formerly Rhomed, Inc.) using various peptide design approaches including a newly developed rational computer assisted drug design (CADD) approach termed MIDAS (Metal ion Induced Distinctive Array of Structures). In this approach, the biological function domain and the ^99mTc complexing domain are fused together so that structurally these domains are indistinguishable. This approach allows construction of conformationally rigid metallo-peptide molecules (similar to cyclic peptides) that are metabolically stable in-vivo. All the newly designed peptides were screened in various in vitro receptor binding and functional assays to identify a lead compound. The lead compounds were formulated in a one-step ^99mTc labeling kit form which were studied by BNL for detailed in-vivo imaging using various animals models of human disease. Two main peptides usingMIDAS approach evolved and were investigated: RGD peptide …

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RF plasma glow discharges are being investigated for removing and recovering radioactive elements from contaminated objects, especially those contaminated with transuranic (TRU) materials. These plasmas, using nitrogen trifluoride as the working gas, have been successful at removing uranium and plutonium contaminants from test coupons of stainless steel and aluminum surfaces, including small cracks and crevices, and the interior surfaces of relatively hard to reach aluminum pipes. Contaminant removal exceeded 99.9% from simple surfaces and contaminant recovery using cryogenic traps has exceeded 50%. Work continues with the objective of demonstrating that transuranic contaminated waste can be transformed to low level waste (LLW) and to better understand the physics of the interaction between plasma and surface contaminants. This work summarizes the preliminary results from plasma decontamination from the interior of aluminum objects--the nooks and crannies experiments.

Stockpile stewardship requires a high-end computing capacity complemented with a balance of memory capacity and bandwidth, interconnect bandwidth, local and global disk capacity and bandwidth, network bandwidth, and archival capacity and bandwidth. This appendix will provide a detailed analysis that will identify technical issues arising from various user interactions with a computer with a peak capacity of 10 TFLOPs and with 5TB of memory.

The complex-wide waste flow analysis model (CWWFA) was developed to assist the Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) Office of Science and Technology (EM-50) to evaluate waste management scenarios with emphasis on identifying and prioritizing technology development opportunities to reduce waste flows and public risk. In addition, the model was intended to support the needs of the Complex-Wide Environmental Integration (EMI) team supporting the DOE`s Accelerating Cleanup: 2006 Plan. CWWFA represents an integrated environmental modeling system that covers the life cycle of waste management activities including waste generation, interim process storage, retrieval, characterization and sorting, waste preparation and processing, packaging, final interim storage, transport, and disposal at a final repository. The CWWFA shows waste flows through actual site-specific and facility-specific conditions. The system requirements for CWWFA are documented in the Technical Requirements Document (TRD). The TRD is intended to be a living document that will be modified over the course of the execution of CWWFA development. Thus, it is anticipated that CWWFA will continue to evolve as new requirements are identified (i.e., transportation, small sites, new streams, etc.). This report provides a documented basis for system verification of CWWFA requirements. System verification is accomplished through formal testing and evaluation …

A Rossi-{alpha} experiment was performed on the zero-power, XIX-2 assembly at the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) facility operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), Tokai-mura, Japan. The XIX-2 assembly is a plutonium/natural uranium system comprised of plutonium/natural uranium core surrounded by a depleted uranium dioxide blanket (referred to as the soft blanket). The soft blanket is surrounded by an outer blanket comprised of depleted uranium dioxide blanket (referred to as the depleted blanket). Because the neutron lifetime in the soft and depleted blankets are significantly larger than the neutron lifetime in the core region, multiple decay modes were observed during this experiment. The first decay mode was measured with reasonable accuracy; however, because of the high intrinsic source strength produced by the large amounts of Pu-240 contained in the core region, the intrinsic source background was reached very rapidly, thus precluding the second decay mode from being resolved well enough to estimate the average system lifetime. Nevertheless, using the first decay mode (i.e., the rapid die-away time constant), the alpha at delayed critical for this root was measured to be 13,100 +/- 134 s{sup -1}. This root is associated with the prompt neutron lifetime of the core region. …