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

Hybrid electric vehicles were re-introduced in the late 1990s after a century dominated by purely internal combustion powered engines[1]. Automotive players, such as GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, and Toyota, together with major energy producers, such as BPAmoco, were the major force in the development of hybrid electric vehicles. Most notable was the development by Toyota of its Prius, which was launched in Japan in 1997 and worldwide in 2001. The shift to hybrids was driven by the fact that the sheer volume of vehicles on the road had begun to tax the ability of the environment to withstand the pollution of the internal combustion engine and the ability of the fossil fuel industry to produce a sufficient amount of refined gasoline. In addition, the number of vehicles was anticipated to rise exponentially with the increasing affluence of China and India. Over the last fifteen years, major advances have been made in all the technologies essential to hybrid vehicle success, including batteries, motors, power control and conditioning electronics, regenerative braking, and power sources, including fuel cells. Current hybrid electric vehicles are gasoline internal combustion--electric motor hybrids. These hybrid electric vehicles range from micro-hybrids, where a stop/start system cuts the engine while …

This report provides an historical overview of Israel, and discusses the most recent developments in Israel, such as the government and politics, economy, foreign policy, and relations with United States.

Scoping stress corrosion cracking (SCC) tests of 304 stainless steel (SS) were performed in 75 C and 250 C aerated pressurized water (APW) and 250 C deaerated pressurized water (DPW). The 250 C APW environment was used to initiate intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) and then the water was deaerated and hydrogenated to see if IGSCC continued in 250 C DPW. Tests were performed with and without 200 ppb SO{sub 4}{sup =}. The 304 SS test materials were evaluated in either the as-received, heavily sensitized (649 C for 1 h), fully sensitized (1099 C for 1 h/water quench/621 C for 17 h) or 20% cold rolled condition. At the beginning of each test sequence, specimens were subjected to continuous cycling with a 500s rise/500s fall or a 5000s rise/500s fall to promote the transition from a transgranular (TG) precrack to an IG crack. After generating a uniform crack under continuous cycling conditions, a trapezoidal waveform with 500s rise/9000s hold/500s fall was used to characterize the SCC behavior. Crack growth rates (CGRs) were monitored continuously with the electric potential drop (EPD) method and were corrected based on physical crack length measurements obtained when specimens were destructively evaluated. Continuous cycling with a …

In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program is due, in part, to its ability to task-organize scientific expertise from multiple disciplines in addressing these complex problems. Current research projects have focused EBP talent and resources on providing the scientific basis for risk-based standards, risk-based decision making and the accelerated clean-up of widespread environmental hazards. These hazards include trichloroethylene and low-dose ionizing radiation. Work on the trichloroethylene research projects has been slowed as a result of funding …

Ground was broken for the National Ignition Facility, a stadium-sized complex, in 1997. When complete, the project will contain a 192-beam, 1.8-megajoule, 500-terawatt laser system adjoining a 10-meter-diameter target chamber with room for nearly 100 experimental diagnostics. NIF's beams will compress and heat small capsules containing a mixture of hydrogen isotopes of deuterium and tritium. These targets will undergo nuclear fusion, producing more energy than the energy in the laser pulse and achieving scientific breakeven. NIF experiments will allow scientists to study physical processes at temperatures approaching 100 million degrees Kelvin and 100 billion times atmospheric pressure--conditions that exist naturally only in the interior of stars and in nuclear weapon detonations.

Diffuse emission is produced in energetic cosmic ray (CR) interactions, mainly protons and electrons, with the interstellar gas and radiation field and contains the information about particle spectra in distant regions of the Galaxy. It may also contain information about exotic processes such as dark matter annihilation, black hole evaporation etc. A model of the diffuse emission is important for determination of the source positions and spectra. Calculation of the Galactic diffuse continuum g-ray emission requires a model for CR propagation as the first step. Such a model is based on theory of particle transport in the interstellar medium as well as on many kinds of data provided by different experiments in Astrophysics and Particle and Nuclear Physics. Such data include: secondary particle and isotopic production cross sections, total interaction nuclear cross sections and lifetimes of radioactive species, gas mass calibrations and gas distribution in the Galaxy (H{sub 2}, H I, H II), interstellar radiation field, CR source distribution and particle spectra at the sources, magnetic field, energy losses, g-ray and synchrotron production mechanisms, and many other issues. We are continuously improving the GALPROP model and the code to keep up with a flow of new data. Improvement in any …

This report documents two separate geostatistical studies performed by researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to evaluate the carbon tetrachloride plume in the groundwater on the Hanford Site.

This report discusses the Integrated Deepwater Systems (IDS) program, or Deepwater program which is the largest and most complex acquisition effort in Coast Guard history, encompassing 91 new cutters, 124 new small surface craft, and 244 new or converted airplanes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Performing sorbent testing for mercury control at a large scale is a very expensive endeavor and requires months of planning and careful execution. Even with good planning, there are plant limitations on what operating/design parameters can be varied/tested and when. For parameters that cannot be feasibly tested at the full scale (lower/higher gas flow, different bag material, cleaning methods, sorbents, etc.), an alternative approach is used to perform tests on a slipstream unit using flue gas from the plant. The advantage that a slipstream unit provides is the flexibility to test multiple operating and design parameters and other possible technology options without risking major disruption to the operation of the power plant. Additionally, the results generated are expected to simulate full-scale conditions closely, since the flue gas used during the tests comes directly from the plant in question. The Energy & Environmental Research Center developed and constructed a mobile baghouse that allows for cost-effective testing of impacts related to variation in operating and design parameters, as well as other possible mercury control options. Multiple sorbents, air-to-cloth ratios, bag materials, and cleaning frequencies were evaluated while flue gas was extracted from Big Brown when it fired a 70% Texas lignite-30% Powder …

The Mississippi Ethanol (ME) Project is a comprehensive effort to develop the conversion of biomass to ethanol utilizing a proprietary gasification reactor technology developed by Mississippi Ethanol, LLC. Tasks were split between operation of a 1/10 scale unit at the Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory (DIAL) of Mississippi State University (MSU) and the construction, development, and operation of a full scale pilot unit located at the ME facility in Winona, Mississippi. In addition to characterization of the ME reactor gasification system, other areas considered critical to the operational and economic viability of the overall ME concept were evaluated. These areas include syngas cleanup, biological conversion of syngas to alcohol, and effects of gasification scale factors. Characterization of run data from the Pre-Pilot and Pilot Units has allowed development of the factors necessary for scale-up from the small unit to the larger unit. This scale range is approximately a factor of 10. Particulate and tar sampling gave order of magnitude values for preliminary design calculations. In addition, sampling values collected downstream of the ash removal system show significant reductions in observed loadings. These loading values indicate that acceptable particulate and tar loading rates could be attained with standard equipment additions to …

The large-scale Galactic interstellar radiation field (ISRF) is the result of stellar emission and dust re-processing of starlight. Where the energy density of the ISRF is high (e.g., the Galactic Centre), the dominant {gamma}-ray emission in individual supernova remnants (SNRs), such as G0.9+0.1, may come from inverse Compton (IC) scattering of the ISRF. Several models of the ISRF exist. The most recent one, which has been calculated by us, predicts a significantly higher ISRF than the well used model of Mathis, Mezger, and Panagia [1]. However, comparison with data is limited to local observations. Based on our current estimate of the ISRF we predict the gamma-ray emission in the SNRs G0.9+0.1 and RXJ1713, and pair-production absorption features above 20 TeV in the spectra of G0.9+0.1, J1713-381, and J1634-472. We discuss how GLAST, along with current and future very high energy instruments, may be able to provide upper bounds on the large-scale ISRF.

We present our on-going work to develop techniques for specifying source code signatures of bug patterns. Specifically, we discuss two approaches. The first approach directly analyzes a program in the intermediate representation (IR) of the ROSE compiler infrastructure using ROSE's API. The second analyzes the program using the bddbddb system of Lam, Whaley, et al.. In this approach, we store the IR produced by ROSE as a relational database, express patterns as declarative inference rules on relations in the language Datalog, and bddbddb implements the Datalog programs using binary decision diagram (BDD) techniques. Both approaches readily apply to large-scale applications, since ROSE provides full type analysis, control flow, and other available analysis information. In this paper, we primarily consider bug patterns expressed with respect to the structure of the source code or the control flow, or both. More complex techniques to specify patterns that are functions of data flow properties may be addressed by either of the above approaches, but are not directly treated here. Our Datalog-based work includes explicit support for expressing patterns on the use of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) in parallel distributed memory programs. We show examples of this on-going work as well.

As a part of an ongoing activity to develop ASME Code rules for the hydrogen infrastructure, the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Committee approved new fracture control rules for Section VIII, Division 3 vessels in 2006. These rules have been incorporated into new Article KD-10 in Division 3. The new rules require determining fatigue crack growth rate and fracture resistance properties of materials in high pressure hydrogen gas. Test methods have been specified to measure these fracture properties, which are required to be used in establishing the vessel fatigue life. An example has been given to demonstrate the application of these new rules.

Surface permanent magnet (SPM) synchronous machines using fractional-slot concentrated windings are being investigated as candidates for high-performance traction machines for automotive electric propulsion systems. It has been shown analytically and experimentally that such designs can achieve very wide constant-power speed ratios (CPSR) [1,2]. This work has shown that machines of this type are capable of achieving very low cogging torque amplitudes as well as significantly increasing the machine power density [3-5] compared to SPM machines using conventional distributed windings. High efficiency can be achieved in this class of SPM machine by making special efforts to suppress the eddy-current losses in the magnets [6-8], accompanied by efforts to minimize the iron losses in the rotor and stator cores. Considerable attention has traditionally been devoted to maximizing the full-load efficiency of traction machines at their rated operating points and along their maximum-power vs. speed envelopes for higher speeds [9,10]. For example, on-line control approaches have been presented for maximizing the full-load efficiency of PM synchronous machines, including the use of negative d-axis stator current to reduce the core losses [11,12]. However, another important performance specification for electric traction applications is the machine's efficiency at partial loads. Partial-load efficiency is particularly important if …

This report provides the policy and legal analysis of the FDA regulation of tobacco products.

In an extension of the Standard Model(SM) based on the ideas of Lee and Wick, Grinstein, O'Connell and Wise have found an interesting way to remove the usual quadratically divergent contributions to the Higgs mass induced by radiative corrections. Phenomenologically, the model predicts the existence of Terascale, negative-norm copies of the usual SM fields with rather unique properties: ghost-like propagators and negative decay widths, but with otherwise SM-like couplings. The model is both unitary and causal on macroscopic scales. In this paper we examine whether or not such states with these unusual properties can be uniquely identified as such at the LHC. We find that in the extended strong and electroweak gauge boson sector of the model, which is the simplest one to analyze, such an identification can be rather difficult. Observation of heavy gluon-like resonances in the dijet channel offers the best hope for this identification.

Recent results from investigations using insertable magnetic probes at the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) [E. B. Hooper et al., Nucl. Fusion 39, 863 (1999)] are presented. Experiments were carried out during pre-programmed, constant amplitude coaxial gun current pulses, where magnetic field increases stepwise with every pulse, but eventually saturates. Magnetic traces from the probe, which is electrically isolated from the plasma and spans the flux conserver radius, indicate there is a time lag at every pulse between the response to the current rise in the open flux surfaces (intercepting the electrodes) and the closed flux surfaces (linked around the open ones). This is interpreted as the time to buildup enough helicity in the open flux surfaces before reconnecting and merging with the closed ones. Future experimental and diagnostic plans to directly estimate the helicity in the open flux surfaces and measure reconnection are briefly discussed.

This report provides an overview of the veto override procedure in the house and senate.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

Class 8 heavy-duty trucks account for over three-quarters of the total diesel fuel used by commercial trucks (trucks with GVWRs more than 10,000 pounds) in the United States each year. At the highway speeds at which these trucks travel (i.e., 60 mph or greater), aerodynamic drag is a major part of total horsepower needed to move the truck down the highway, Reductions in aerodynamic drag can yield measurable benefits in fuel economy through the use of relatively inexpensive and simple devices. The goal of this project was to examine a number of aerodynamic drag reduction devices and systems and determine their effectiveness in reducing aerodynamic drag of Class 8 tractor/semitrailer combination-units, thus contributing to DOE's goal of reducing transportation petroleum use. The project team included major heavy truck manufacturers in the United States, along with the management and industry expertise of the Truck Manufacturers Association as the lead investigative organization. The Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) is the national trade association representing the major North American manufacturers of Class 6-8 trucks (GVWRs over 19,500 lbs). Four major truck manufacturers participated in this project with TMA: Freightliner LLC; International Truck and Engine Corporation; Mack Trucks Inc.; and Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. …

The Accu Core sampler system consists of alternating cylindrical clear acrylic sections and one-inch cylindrical stainless steel sections arranged in clear shrink wrap. The set of alternating acrylic and stainless steel sections in the shrink wrap are designed to fit in a Geoprobe dual-tube penetrometer for collection of continuous soil cores. The clear acrylic sections can have 1/2-inch access holes for easy soil headspace screening without violating the integrity of the adjacent stainless steel sections. The Accu Core sampler system can be used to store a soil sample collected in the stainless steel section by capping the ends of the section so it becomes a sample storage container. The sampler system can also be used to collect a subsurface soil sample in one of the sections that can be directly extruded from the section into a container for storage during shipment to the laboratory. In addition, the soil in a sampler section can be quickly sub-sampled using a coring tool and extruded into a storage container so the integrity of the soil is not disrupted and the potential for VOC loss during sub-sampling is greatly reduced. A field validation study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the Accu Core …

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This report contains the Asian Pacific Americans in the United States congress.