The growth of the livestock industry provides a valuable source of affordable, sustainable, and renewable bioenergy, while also requiring the safe disposal of the large quantities of animal wastes (manure) generated at dairy, swine, and poultry farms. If these biomass resources are mishandled and underutilized, major environmental problems will be created, such as surface and ground water contamination, odors, dust, ammonia leaching, and methane emission. Anaerobic digestion of animal wastes, in which microorganisms break down organic materials in the absence of oxygen, is one of the most promising waste treatment technologies. This process produces biogas typically containing {approx}65% methane and {approx}35% carbon dioxide. The production of biogas through anaerobic digestion from animal wastes, landfills, and municipal waste water treatment plants represents a large source of renewable and sustainable bio-fuel. Such bio-fuel can be combusted directly, used in internal combustion engines, converted into methanol, or partially oxidized to produce synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) that can be converted to clean liquid fuels and chemicals via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Different design and mixing configurations of anaerobic digesters for treating cow manure have been utilized commercially and/or tested on a laboratory scale. These digesters include mechanically mixed, gas recirculation mixed, …

The Motional Stark Effect (MSE) diagnostic on ITER determines the local plasma current density by measuring the polarization angle of light resulting from the interaction of a high energy neutral heating beam and the tokamak plasma. This light signal has to be transmitted from the edge and core of the plasma to a polarization analyzer located in the port plug. The optical system should either preserve the polarization information, or it should be possible to reliably calibrate any changes induced by the optics. This LLNL Work for Others project for the US ITER Project Office (USIPO) is focused on the design of the viewing optics for both the edge and core MSE systems. Several design constraints were considered, including: image quality, lack of polarization aberrations, ease of construction and cost of mirrors, neutron shielding, and geometric layout in the equatorial port plugs. The edge MSE optics are located in ITER equatorial port 3 and view Heating Beam 5, and the core system is located in equatorial port 1 viewing heating beam 4. The current work is an extension of previous preliminary design work completed by the ITER central team (ITER resources were not available to complete a detailed optimization of …

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The overall goal of this project was to develop reactive membrane barriers--a new and flexible technique to contain and stabilize subsurface contaminants. Polymer membranes will leak once a contaminant is able to diffuse through the membrane. By incorporating a reactive material in the polymer, however, the contaminant is degraded or immobilized within the membrane. These processes increase the time for contaminants to breakthrough the barrier (i.e. the lag time) and can dramatically extend barrier lifetimes. In this work, reactive barrier membranes containing zero-valent iron (Fe{sup 0}) or crystalline silicotitanate (CST) were developed to prevent the migration of chlorinated solvents and cesium-137, respectively. These studies were complemented by the development of models quantifying the leakage/kill time of reactive membranes and describing the behavior of products produced via the reactions within the membranes. First, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes containing Fe{sup 0} and CST were prepared and tested. Although PVA is not useful in practical applications, it allows experiments to be performed rapidly and the results to be compared to theory. For copper ions (Cu{sup 2+}) and carbon tetrachloride, the barrier was effective, increasing the time to breakthrough over 300 times. Even better performance was expected, and the percentage of the iron used …

This document presents a detailed evaluation of selected alternative treatment options to granular activated carbon (GAC) for removing carbon tetrachloride generated from the groundwater pump-and-treat system at the 200-ZP-I Operable Unit (OU) in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site. This evaluation of alternative treatment options to GAC is also applicable to the vadose zone soil vapor extraction (SVE) system at the 200-PW-l OU, which is also located in the Hanford Site's 200 West Area.

This document identifies the need to establish the Calcine Disposition Project to determine and implement the final disposition of calcine including characterization, retrieval, treatment (if necessary), packaging, loading, onsite interim storage pending shipment to a repository or interim storage facility, and disposition of related facilities.

Livestock industry groups, animal health officials, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been working to establish a nationwide identification system capable of quickly tracking animals from birth to slaughter, in order to combat a serious animal disease and/or to satisfy foreign market specifications. Some consumer groups are among those who believe animal identification also would be useful for food safety or retail labeling purposes. Some producers oppose new programs, fearing they will be costly and intrusive. In the 110th Congress as of 2007, one related bill (H.R. 1018) had been introduced; it would prohibit a mandatory program. Lawmakers could be asked to consider this or other measures on the topic, possibly as part of a 2007 farm bill.

This report details the information related to Country-of-Origin labeling for foods.

This report discusses the International Space Station (ISS) and efforts to improve shuttles and space exploration after the Columbia failure in 2003. Efforts include new policy from President Bush and funding for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Updated April 26, 2007.

This report discusses the high prices of Gasoline and issues for the 110th Congress.

This report examines some of Europe's critical energy challenges and EU efforts to coordinate a common European energy strategy. It also includes an overview of broader transatlantic energy security cooperation.

This document includes tables of analytical data for Hanford Site environmental surveillance samples collected in 2006.

This report reviews policy proposals and interim contracts, analyzes the positions of various Iraqi political actors, and discusses potential implications for U.S. foreign policy goals in Iraq.

This report characterizes foreign contributions to Iraq in terms of personnel and resources, including trends over time, based on best-available information.

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The Image Content Engine (ICE) is being developed to provide cueing assistance to human image analysts faced with increasingly large and intractable amounts of image data. The ICE architecture includes user configurable feature extraction pipelines which produce intermediate feature vector and match surface files which can then be accessed by interactive relational queries. Application of the feature extraction algorithms to large collections of images may be extremely time consuming and is launched as a batch job on a Linux cluster. The query interface accesses only the intermediate files and returns candidate hits nearly instantaneously. Queries may be posed for individual objects or collections. The query interface prompts the user for feedback, and applies relevance feedback algorithms to revise the feature vector weighting and focus on relevant search results. Examples of feature extraction and both model-based and search-by-example queries are presented.

During this two year project (the original proposal requested 3 years funding) we developed and tested a new design for a mini-bending jig for the hydrothermal atomic force microscope (HAFM) and a modified design for the HAFM itself. These new capabilities now permit study of the connection between stress and mineral dissolution and growth, as well as sub-critical crack growth (SCG). We demonstrated the successful design by imaging SCG of glass in situ, in real time in the HAFM, as a function of changing solution pH. We generated a movie of the SCG process. We successfully accomplished our project objectives through year 2.

Aquaculture — the farming of fish, shellfish, and other aquatic animals and plants in a controlled environment — is expanding rapidly abroad, with more modest advances in the United States. This report discusses the federal laws and regulations that guide the management of resources in open ocean and near-shore coastal areas.

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Uranium contamination of the subsurface has remained a persistent problem plaguing remedial design at sites across the U.S. that were involved with production, handling, storage, milling, and reprocessing of uranium for both civilian and defense related purposes. Remediation efforts to date have relied upon excavation, pump-and-treat, or passive remediation barriers (PRB's) to remove or attenuate uranium mobility.

Argonne National Laboratory is providing support to the U.S. Department of Energy in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) in certification of an advanced, sodium-cooled fast reactor. The reactor is to be constructed as a prototype for future commercial power reactors that will produce electricity while consuming actinides recovered from light water reactor spent fuel. This prototype reactor has been called the ABR, or Advanced Burner Reactor.

The subject of radiation detection is replete with complex concepts and challenging nomenclature. Furthermore, a daunting variety of radioactive isotopes may be encountered during the routine operation of a radiation detector. Individuals tasked with searching for illicit sources of radiation must remain vigilant while navigating through more frequently encountered mundane and legitimate radioactive sources. The Flash Isotope Library and Training Resource (FILTR) is being developed as an easily accessible and intuitive reference tool to manage the high volume of complex information required for this task. FILTR is an extended version of the Primary Utility for Nuclear Terminology (PUNT) software developed by the Counter Measures Test Beds group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the United States Secret Service. Authored in the Flash multimedia development environment, FILTR contains detailed information on potentially encountered isotopes as well as training on radiation and operational procedures. Reference material is organized to present critical information quickly while facilitating more in-depth investigation through an intuitive interface and engaging content. FILTR is being developed for a diverse audience of law enforcement organizations and government agencies and a wide range of skill sets from expert analysts to officers whose primary role is not radiation detection. Additionally, the wide …

Concerns over financing federal elections have become a seemingly perennial aspect of our political system, long centered on the enduring issues of high campaign costs and reliance on interest groups for needed campaign funds. Rising election costs had long fostered a sense in some quarters that spending was out of control, with too much time spent raising funds and elections "bought and sold." This report contains information on the evolution of the current system, campaign finance practices and related issues, policy options to address campaign finance issues, legislative action in the 109th and 110th Congresses, and additional information and figures.

This report describes Campaign Finance Legislation and Activity in the 109th Congress.