This month's issue has the following articles: (1) Helping NNSA Managers Chart the Future Stockpile--Commentary by Bruce T. Goodwin; (2) Modeling the Future--Livermore researchers have developed a computational tool that simulates the effects of changing demands on the nuclear weapons complex; (3) A Peculiar Burst of Stars--By combining computer simulations with optical and radio astronomical techniques, astrophysicists can better understand how stars form; (4) Exploring the Link between Diet and Cancer--Scientists combine experiments and simulations to demonstrate how food mutagens could promote hormone-sensitive cancers; and (5) When Lightning Strikes at Site 300--Electrical engineers are certifying that Livermore's Site 300 provides a safe work environment, even during a lightning storm.

My talk will focus on our recent computational modeling results of uranium corrosion and the impact of impurities on uranium corrosion, which occurs primarily through hydriding Uranium hydriding is one of the most important processes that has received considerable attention over many years. Although significant number of experimental and modeling studies have been carried out concerning thermo chemistry, diffusion kinetics and mechanisms of U-hydriding, very little is known about the electronic structure and electronic features that govern the U-hydriding process. Our modeling efforts focus the electronic feature that controls the activation barrier and thus the rate of hydriding. Our recent efforts have been focused on the role of impurities such as Fe, Cr, Si, C, Al and so on. Moreover the role of impurities and the role of the product UH{sub 3} on hydriding rating have not been fully understood. Condon's diffusion model was found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental reaction rates. From the slopes of the Arrhenius plot the activation energy was calculated as 6.35 kcal/mole. Bloch and Mintz have discussed two models, one, which considers hydrogen diffusion through a protective UH{sub 3} product layer, and the second where hydride growth occurs at the hydride-metal interface. …

Theoretical, high level ab initio investigations on representative clusters as well as on extended systems are conducted to determine the electronic, geometric, and thermodynamic factors that determine catalytic and electrocatalytic behavior, focusing in the reduction of oxygen in acid medium. The study of adsorption and reaction processes generates the information needed for force field development to be used in the analysis of nanocatalyst particles, their support, and their environment through large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, which include collective effects at the nanosecond time scale. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are used to explore reaction mechanisms, and this technique along with transition state theory calculations allows us to obtain the information needed about activation energies and estimates of the rate constants. Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations combine the results of the first three sets of studies yielding kinetics information within a time scale in the range of seconds and length scales of the order of hundreds of nanometers, including nanocatalyst/support/environment.

The report is categorized into five categories: (I)Most Recent developments (II) Background and Analysis, (III) Improving Fuel Economy: Other Policy Approaches, (IV) Legislation, (V) For Additional Reading.

Emission control devices on dryers and presses have been legislated into the industry, and are now an integral part of the drying system. These devices consume large quantities of natural gas and electricity and down-sizing or eliminating them will provide major energy savings. The principal strategy taken here focuses on developing process changes that should minimize (and in some cases eliminate) the need for controls. A second approach is to develop lower-cost control options. It has been shown in laboratory and full-scale work that Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) emerge mainly at the end of the press cycle for particleboard, and, by extension, to other prod-ucts. Hence, only the air associated with this point of the cycle need be captured and treated. A model for estimating terpene emissions in the various zones of veneer dryers has been developed. This should allow the emissions to be concentrated in some zones and minimized in others, so that some of the air could be directly released without controls. Low-cost catalysts have been developed for controlling HAPs from dryers and presses. Catalysts conventionally used for regenerative catalytic oxidizers can be used at much lower temperatures for treating press emissions. Fluidized wood ash is an especially …

During this last quarter of the ''Seismic Evaluation of Hydrocarbon Saturation in Deep-Water Reservoirs'' project (Grant/Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-02NT15342), we have moved forward on several fronts, including data acquisition as well as analysis and application. During this quarter we have: (1) Completed our site selection (finally); (2) Measured fluid effects in Troika deep water sand sample; (3) Applied the result to Ursa ''fizz gas'' zone; (4) Compared thin layer property averaging on AVO response; (5) Developed target oriented NMO stretch correction; (6) Examined thin bed effects on A-B crossplots; and (7) Begun incorporating outcrop descriptive models in seismic forward models. Several factors can contribute to limit our ability to extract accurate hydrocarbon saturations in deep water environments. Rock and fluid properties are one factor, since, for example, hydrocarbon properties will be considerably different with great depths (high pressure) when compared to shallow properties. Significant over pressure, on the other hand will make the rocks behave as if they were shallower. In addition to the physical properties, the scale and tuning will alter our hydrocarbon indicators. Reservoirs composed of thin bed effects will broaden the reflection amplitude distribution with incident angle. Normal move out (NMO) stretch corrections based on frequency shifts can …

This is one report in the series of reports that discus the Budget Reconciliation- Medicaid, Medicare, and SCHIP Provisions. These are some of the issues discussed in this report: Medicaid Outpatient Prescription Drugs, Long-Term Care under Medicaid, Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, State Financing and Medicaid, Improving the Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs, Medicare Advantage, and other Medicare Provisions.

Conventional processing methods for highly alloyed aluminum consist of ingot casting, followed by hot rolling and thermal treatments. Defects result in lost productivity and wasted energy through the need to remelt and reprocess the material. This research centers on developing a fundamental understanding for deformation of wrought 705X series alloys, a key alloy system used in structural airframe applications. The development of damage at grain boundaries is characterized through a novel test that provides initiation of failure while preserving a controlled deformation response. Data from these mechanical tests are linked to computer simulations of the hot rolling process through a critical measure of damage. Transmission electron microscopy provides fundamental insight into deformation at these high working temperatures, and--in a novel link between microscale and macroscale response--the evolution of microstructure (crystallographic orientation) provides feedback for tuning of friction in the hot rolling process. The key product of this research is a modeling framework for the analysis of industrial hot rolling.

The Upper Hot Creek Ranch (UHCR) geothermal system had seen no significant exploration activity prior to initiation of this GRED III project. Geochemical geothermometers calculated from previously available but questionable quality analyses of the UHCR hot spring waters indicated possible subsurface temperatures of +320 oF. A complex Quaternary and Holocene faulting pattern associated with a six mile step over of the Hot Creek Range near the UHCR also indicated that this area was worthy of some exploration activity. Permitting activities began in Dec. 2004 for the temperature-gradient holes but took much longer than expected with all drilling permits finally being received in early August 2005. The drilling and geochemical sampling occurred in August 2005. Ten temperature gradient holes up to 500’ deep were initially planned but higher than anticipated drilling and permitting costs within a fixed budget reduced the number of holes to five. Four of the five holes drilled to depths of 300 to 400’ encountered temperatures close to the expected regional thermal background conditions. These four holes failed to find any evidence of a large thermal anomaly surrounding the UHCR hot springs. The fifth hole, located within a narrow part of Hot Creek Canyon, encountered a maximum temperature …

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The goals of this task were to evaluate the availability of published temperature-dependent thermodynamic data for radionuclides and sorbing minerals and to evaluate the applicability of published estimation methods for temperature-dependent aqueous complexation, radionuclide mineral precipitation, and sorption. This task fills a gap in the hydrologic source term (HST) modeling approach, which, with few exceptions, has neglected the effects of temperature on radionuclide aqueous complexation, using 25 C complexation data for all temperatures without evaluating the consequences of this assumption. In this task, we have compiled thermodynamic data available in the literature and evaluated the options and benefits of applying temperature-dependent radionuclide speciation to future HST modeling. We use the recent experience of HST modeling at Cheshire (Pawloski et al., 2001) to focus our evaluation. Our literature search revealed that few thermodynamic data or extrapolation methods could be used to define the temperature-dependent speciation of key HST radionuclides Np, Pu, Am, and U, particularly for the higher valence-state (e.g., 5+ and 6+), the oxidation states most pertinent to NTS groundwater conditions at Cheshire. This suggests that using 25 C data for all temperatures may be the best modeling approach currently available. We tested established estimation techniques such as the Criss-Cobble …

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The development of communications for highly reverberative environments is a major concern for both the private and military sectors whether the application is aimed at the securing a stock order or stalking hostile in a tunnel or cave. Other such environments can range from a hostile urban setting populated with a multitude of buildings and vehicles to the simple complexity of a large number of sound sources that are common in the stock exchange, or military operations in an environment with a topographic features hills, valleys, mountains or even a maze of buried water pipes attempting to transmit information about any chemical anomalies in the water system servicing a city or town. These inherent obstructions cause transmitted signals to reflect, refract and disperse in a multitude of directions distorting both their shape and arrival times at network receiver locations. Imagine troops attempting to communicate on missions in underground caves consisting of a maze of chambers causing multiple echoes with the platoon leader trying to issue timely commands to neutralize terrorists. This is the problem with transmitting information in a complex environment. Waves are susceptible to multiple paths and distortions created by a variety of possible obstructions, which may exist in …

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

The objective of this program is to develop a system to both monitor the vibration of a bottomhole assembly, and to adjust the properties of an active damper in response to these measured vibrations. Phase I of this program, which entailed modeling and design of the necessary subsystems and design, manufacture and test of a full laboratory prototype, was completed on May 31, 2004. The principal objectives of Phase II are: more extensive laboratory testing, including the evaluation of different feedback algorithms for control of the damper; design and manufacture of a field prototype system; and, testing of the field prototype in drilling laboratories and test wells. Work during this quarter centered on the rebuilding of the prototype using the improved valve design described in the Jan-March report1. Most of the components have been received and assembly was nearly complete at the end of the period. Testing started in October and results will be submitted in the next report. The field testing component of this Phase has been rethought. The current plan is to adapt the laboratory prototype for use in a drilling laboratory and run a series of controlled drilling tests with and without the DVMCS. This should give …

This preliminary assessment of renewable energy resources on the Umatilla Indian Reservation (UIR) has been performed by CTUIR Department of Science and Engineering (DOSE). This analysis focused primarily identifying renewable resources that may be applied on or near the Umatilla Indian Reservation. In addition preliminary technical and economic feasibility of developing renewable energy resources have been prepared and initial land use planning issues identified. Renewable energies examined in the course of the investigation included solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, wind, bioethanol, bio-diesel and bio-pellet fuel. All renewable energy options studied were found to have some potential for the CTUIR. These renewable energy options are environmentally friendly, sustainable, and compliment many of the policy goals of the CTUIR. This report seeks to provide an overall review of renewable energy technologies and applications. It tries to identify existing projects near to the CTUIR and the efforts of the federal government, state government and the private sector in the renewable energy arena. It seeks to provide an understanding of the CTUIR as an energy entity. This report intends to provide general information to assist tribal leadership in making decisions related to energy, specifically renewable energy deve lopment.

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The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas B. Dabney. Dabney wanted to go to the Naval Academy, but was denied entry as a second alternate. Undaunted, he enlisted in the Navy, working toward receiving an appointment to the Academy from the ranks, which he achieved in May 1932, after serving aboard the USS Texas (BB-35). He graduated from the Academy in 1936 and served aboard surface ships: USS New York (BB-34), USS Chester (CA-27), USS Indianapolis (CA-35). During this period, Dabney befriended Joe Rochefort. In May, 1940, he was transferred to the USS Bernadou (DD-153) and began escorting supplies across the Atlantic to Iceland. Dabney was assigned to submarine school in September, 1941 and was graduated early after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He joined the Pacific Fleet in January 1942. At first, he was assigned to the USS Pompano (SS-181), but was in the hospital when it sailed. He instead boarded the USS Plunger (SS-179) and describes some of its war patrols while he was aboard. In May, 1944, Dabney was assigned to the USS Becuna (SS-319) before being called to command the USS Guitarro (SS-363) in December in Fremantle, Australia. After the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas B. Dabney. Dabney wanted to go to the Naval Academy, but was denied entry as a second alternate. Undaunted, he enlisted in the Navy, working toward receiving an appointment to the Academy from the ranks, which he achieved in May 1932, after serving aboard the USS Texas (BB-35). He graduated from the Academy in 1936 and served aboard surface ships: USS New York (BB-34), USS Chester (CA-27), USS Indianapolis (CA-35). During this period, Dabney befriended Joe Rochefort. In May, 1940, he was transferred to the USS Bernadou (DD-153) and began escorting supplies across the Atlantic to Iceland. Dabney was assigned to submarine school in September, 1941 and was graduated early after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He joined the Pacific Fleet in January 1942. At first, he was assigned to the USS Pompano (SS-181), but was in the hospital when it sailed. He instead boarded the USS Plunger (SS-179) and describes some of its war patrols while he was aboard. In May, 1944, Dabney was assigned to the USS Becuna (SS-319) before being called to command the USS Guitarro (SS-363) in December in Fremantle, Australia. After the …

Schneider National, Inc., SNI, has concluded the Cab Heating and Cooling evaluation of onboard, engine off idling solutions. During the evaluation period three technologies were tested, a Webasto Airtronic diesel fired heater for cold weather operation, and two different approaches to cab cooling in warm weather, a Webasto Parking Cooler, phase change storage system and a Bergstrom Nite System, a 12 volt electrical air conditioning approach to cooling. Diesel fired cab heaters were concluded to provide adequate heat in winter environments down to 10 F. With a targeted idle reduction of 17%, the payback period is under 2 years. The Webasto Parking Cooler demonstrated the viability of this type of technology, but required significant driver involvement to achieve maximum performance. Drivers rated the technology as ''acceptable'', however, in individual discussions it became apparent they were not satisfied with the system limitations in hot weather, (over 85 F). The Bergstrom Nite system was recognized as an improvement by drivers and required less direct driver input to operate. While slightly improved over the Parking Cooler, the hot temperature limitations were only slightly better. Neither the Parking Cooler or the Nite System showed any payback potential at the targeted 17% idle reduction. Fleets …

We present a multi-parametric experimental investigation of laser conditioning efficiency and behavior in KDP and DKDP crystals as a function of laser wavelength, fluence, number of pulses, and conditioning protocol. Our results expose complex behaviors associated with damage initiation and conditioning at different wavelengths that provide a major step towards revealing the underlying physics. In addition, we reveal the key parameters for optimal improvement to the damage performance from laser conditioning.

We present experimental results aiming to reveal the relationship between damage initiating defect populations in KDP and DKDP crystals under irradiation at different wavelengths. Our results indicate that there is more than one type of defects leading to damage initiation, each defect acting as damage initiators over a different wavelength range. Results showing disparities in the morphology of damage sites from exposure at different wavelengths provides additional evidence for the presence of multiple types of defects responsible for damage initiation.

The effect of solution annealing temperature on the observed corrosion attack mode in Alloy 22 welds was assessed. Three types of specimens were examined, including the as-welded state, solution annealed for 20 minutes at 1121 C, and solution annealed for 20 minutes at 1200 C. The microstructures of the specimens were first mapped using electron backscatter diffraction to determine the grain structure evolution due to solution annealing. The specimens were then subjected to electrochemical testing in a 6 molal NaCl + 0.9 molal KNO{sub 3} environment to initiate crevice corrosion. Examination of the specimen surfaces after corrosion testing showed that in the as-welded specimen, corrosion was present in both the weld dendrites as well as around the secondary phases. However, the specimen solution annealed at 1121 C showed corrosion only at secondary phases and the specimen annealed at 1200 C showed pitting corrosion only in a handful of grains.