Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether section 11.0641 of the Education Code requires school district trustees to file personal financial statements in specific circumstances (RQ-1194-GA).

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Authority of a local behavioral health authority designated under section 533.0356 of the Health and Safety Code to participate in the Department of State Health Service's vendor selection process to provide services within the authority's local service area (RQ-1193-GA).

Climate is defined by the Glossary of Meteorology as the mean of atmospheric variables over a period of time ranging from as short as a few months to multiple years and longer. Although the term climate is often used to refer to long-term weather statistics, the broader definition of climate is the time evolution of a system consisting of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Physical, chemical, and biological processes are involved in interactions among the components of the climate system. Vegetation, soil moisture, and glaciers are part of the climate system in addition to the usually considered temperature and precipitation (Pielke, 2008). Climate change refers to any systematic change in the long-term statistics of climate elements (such as temperature, pressure, or winds) sustained over several decades or longer. Climate change can be initiated by external forces, such as cyclical variations in the Earth's solar orbit that are thought to have caused glacial and interglacial periods within the last 2 million years (Milankovitch, 1941). However, a linear response to astronomical forcing does not explain many other observed glacial and interglacial cycles (Petit et al., 1999). It is now understood that climate is influenced by the interaction of solar radiation with …

High-flux neutrons for imaging and materials analysis applications have typically been provided by accelerator- and reactor-based neutron sources. A novel approach is to use ultraintense (>1018W/cm2) lasers to generate picosecond, collimated neutrons from a dual target configuration. In this article, the production capabilities of present and upcoming laser facilities are estimated while independently maximizing neutron yields and minimizing beam divergence. A Monte-Carlo code calculates angular and energy distributions of neutrons generated by D-D fusion events occurring within a deuterated target for a given incident beam of D+ ions. Tailoring of the incident distribution via laser parameters and microlens focusing modifies the emerging neutrons. Projected neutron yields and distributions are compared to conventional sources, yielding comparable on-target fluxes per discharge, shorter time resolution, larger neutron energies and greater collimation.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

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Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), under the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) contract, collected split surface water samples with Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) representatives on August 21, 2013. Representatives from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation were also in attendance. Samples were collected at four surface water stations, as required in the approved Request for Technical Assistance number 11-018. These stations included Nolichucky River upstream (NRU), Nolichucky River downstream (NRD), Martin Creek upstream (MCU), and Martin Creek downstream (MCD). Both ORAU and NFS performed gross alpha and gross beta analyses, and the comparison of results using the duplicate error ratio (DER), also known as the normalized absolute difference, are tabulated. All DER values were less than 3 and results are consistent with low (e.g., background) concentrations.

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Cs is one of the more problematic fission product radionuclides to immobilize due to its high volatility at elevated temperatures, ability to form water soluble compounds, and its mobility in many host materials. The hollandite structure is a promising crystalline host for Cs immobilization and has been traditionally fabricated by solid state sintering methods. This study presents the structure and performance of Ba{sub 1.0}Cs{sub 0.3}A{sub 2.3}Ti{sub 5.7}O{sub 16}; A = Cr, Fe, Al hollandite fabricated by melt processing. Melt processing is considered advantageous given that melters are currently in use for High Level Waste (HLW) vitrification in several countries. This work details the impact of Cr additions that were demonstrated to i) promote the formation of a Cs containing hollandite phase and ii) maintain the stability of the hollandite phase in reducing conditions anticipated for multiphase waste form processing.

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Herbivores can gain indirect access to recalcitrant carbon present in plant cell walls through symbiotic associations with lignocellulolytic microbes. A paradigmatic example is the leaf-cutter ant (Tribe: Attini), which uses fresh leaves to cultivate a fungus for food in specialized gardens. Using a combination of sugar composition analyses, metagenomics, and whole-genome sequencing, we reveal that the fungus garden microbiome of leaf-cutter ants is composed of a diverse community of bacteria with high plant biomass-degrading capacity. Comparison of this microbiome?s predicted carbohydrate-degrading enzyme profile with other metagenomes shows closest similarity to the bovine rumen, indicating evolutionary convergence of plant biomass degrading potential between two important herbivorous animals. Genomic and physiological characterization of two dominant bacteria in the fungus garden microbiome provides evidence of their capacity to degrade cellulose. Given the recent interest in cellulosic biofuels, understanding how large-scale and rapid plant biomass degradation occurs in a highly evolved insect herbivore is of particular relevance for bioenergy.

This report covers the development of the Poncelet Kinetics RHK100 Prototype. The work was completed by Hasz Consulting, LLC; CE2 Engineers, LLC; Energetic Drives, LLC; and Applied Power and Control all operating as subcontractors to Whitestone Power and Communications during the year from October 1, 2010 to September 23, 2011. As designed, the prototype is run-of-river instream energy conversion (RISEC) system. The design is principally a three-stage undershot water wheel arranged according to the method of General Poncelet. The power train consists of an epicyclic transmission coupled to a permanent magnet generator. The electronic controls system governs the speed of the wheel and rectifies the power signal to enable the system to be integrated with infinite grid infrastructures, to operate in parallel in finite grid applications with other small power productions sources or to operate in stand-alone mode on demand.

To support the selection of a waste form for the liquid secondary wastes from the Hanford Waste Immobilization and Treatment Plant, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has initiated secondary waste form testing on four candidate waste forms. Two of the candidate waste forms have not been developed to scale as the more mature waste forms. This work describes engineering-scale demonstrations conducted on Ceramicrete and DuraLith candidate waste forms. Both candidate waste forms were successfully demonstrated at an engineering scale. A preliminary conceptual design could be prepared for full-scale production of the candidate waste forms. However, both waste forms are still too immature to support a detailed design. Formulations for each candidate waste form need to be developed so that the material has a longer working time after mixing the liquid and solid constituents together. Formulations optimized based on previous lab studies did not have sufficient working time to support large-scale testing. The engineering-scale testing was successfully completed using modified formulations. Further lab development and parametric studies are needed to optimize formulations with adequate working time and assess the effects of changes in raw materials and process parameters on the final product performance. Studies on effects of mixing intensity on the …

Presentation on shaded PV power loss, practical issues with modeling shaded PV, and methods of implementing partially shaded PV modeling.

NANA Regional Corporation (NRC) of northwest Alaska is located in an area with abundant wind energy resources. In 2007, NRC was awarded grant DE-FG36-07GO17076 by the US Department of Energy's Tribal Energy Program for funding a Wind Resource Assessment Project (WRAP) for the NANA region. The NANA region, including Kotzebue Electric Association (KEA) and Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) have been national leaders at developing, designing, building, and operating wind-diesel hybrid systems in Kotzebue (starting in 1996) and Selawik (2002). Promising sites for the development of new wind energy projects in the region have been identified by the WRAP, including Buckland, Deering, and the Kivalina/Red Dog Mine Port Area. Ambler, Shungnak, Kobuk, Kiana, Noorvik & Noatak were determined to have poor wind resources at sites in or very near each community. However, all five of these communities may have better wind resources atop hills or at sites with slightly higher elevations several miles away.

High pressure die casting is an intrinsically efficient net shape process and improvements in energy efficiency are strongly dependent on design and process improvements that reduce scrap rates so that more of the total consumed energy goes into acceptable, usable castings. Computer simulation has become widely used within the industry but use is not universal. Further, many key design decisions must be made before the simulation can be run and expense in terms of money and time often limits the number of decision iterations that can be explored. This work continues several years of work creating simple, very fast, design tools that can assist with the early stage design decisions so that the benefits of simulation can be maximized and, more importantly, so that the chances of first shot success are maximized. First shot success and better running processes contributes to less scrap and significantly better energy utilization by the process. This new technology was predicted to result in an average energy savings of 1.83 trillion BTUs/year over a 10 year period. Current (2011) annual energy saving estimates over a ten year period, based on commercial introduction in 2012, a market penetration of 30% by 2015 is 1.89 trillion BTUs/year …

Glass-ceramic waste form development began in FY 2010 examining two combined waste stream options: (1) alkaline earth (CS) + lanthanide (Ln), and (2) + transition metal (TM) fission-product waste streams generated by the uranium extraction (UREX+) separations process. Glass-ceramics were successfully developed for both options however; Option 2 was selected over Option 1, at the conclusion of 2010, because Option 2 immobilized all three waste streams with only a minimal decrease in waste loading. During the first year, a series of three glass (Option 2) were fabricated that varied waste loading-WL (42, 45, and 50 mass%) at fixed molar ratios of CaO/MoO{sub 3} and B{sub 2}O{sub 3}/alkali both at 1.75. These glass-ceramics were slow cooled and characterized in terms of phase assemblage and preliminary irradiation stability. This fiscal year, further characterization was performed on the FY 2010 Option 2 glass-ceramics in terms of: static leach testing, phase analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and irradiation stability (electron and ion). Also, a new series of glass-ceramics were developed for Option 2 that varied the additives: Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} (0-6 mass%), molar ratio of CaO/MoO{sub 3} and B{sub 2}O{sub 3}/alkali (1.75 to 2.25) and waste loading (50, 55, and 60 mass%). Lastly, …

Management of liquid water is critical for optimal fuel-cell operation, especially at low temperatures. It is therefore important to understand the wetting properties and water holdup of the various fuel-cell layers. While the gas-diffusion layer is relatively hydrophobic and exhibits a strong intermediate wettability, the catalyst layer is predominantly hydrophilic. In addition, the water content of the ionomer in the catalyst layer is lower than that of the bulk membrane, and is affected by platinum surfaces. Liquid-water removal occurs through droplets on the surface of the gas-diffusion layer. In order to predict droplet instability and detachment, a force balance is used. While the pressure or drag force on the droplet can be derived, the adhesion or surface-tension force requires measurement using a sliding-angle approach. It is shown that droplets produced by forcing water through the gas-diffusion layer rather than placing them on top of it show much stronger adhesion forces owing to the contact to the subsurface water.

This is a project report for an Early Career PI grant on automated software for finite elements.

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