Photoelectron spectroscopy, synchrotron-radiation-based x-ray absorption, electron energy-loss spectroscopy, and density-functional calculations within the mixed-level and magnetic models, together with canonical band theory have been used to study the electron configuration in Pu. These methods suggest a 5f{sup n} configuration for Pu of 5 {le} n < 6, with n {ne} 6, contrary to what has recently been suggested in several publications. We show that the n = 6 picture is inconsistent with the usual interpretation of photoemission and x-ray absorption spectra. Instead, these spectra support the traditional conjecture of a 5f{sup 5} configuration in Pu as is obtained by density-functional theory. We further argue, based on 5f-band filling, that an n = 6 hypothesis is incompatible with the position of Pu in the actinide series and its monoclinic ground-state phase.

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Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas that includes campus and local news along with advertising.

This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, that would produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a “safe harbor” from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.

Letter from Ken Whalen to the TDNA Board Members on October 11, 2006 with the subject Nominations for 2007 Treasurer. Whalen writes that it is time once again for the nomination process for the TDNA officers and directors, that President Halbreich is in the process of appointing a nomination committee to elect candidates for board openings. Included in the letter is a ballet form that needs to be filled out and submitted by Tuesday, October 17, 2006.

Texas Daily Newspaper Association's newspaper interns honored by the organization. Editorial interns who worked at the Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News are winners of the 2006 H.M. Fentress Award. Natalie Torentinos, a Houston Chronicle summer intern, will receive $250 and a plaque, runner-up Matthew Haag, who interned at The Dallas Morning News will receive $100 and a plaque. The document details the winner and the the runner-up's accomplishments and work they've provided while interning.

The Department of Energy Organization Act, which created DOE, was enacted in 1977 and DOE officially came into existence in October of that year. That law brought together for the first time, not only most of the government’s energy programs, but also science and technology programs and defense responsibilities that included the design, construction, and testing of nuclear weapons. Over its history, DOE has shifted its emphasis and focus as the energy and security needs of the Nation have changed. Today, DOE stands at the forefront of helping the Nation meet our energy, scientific, environmental, and national security goals. These include developing and deploying new energy technologies, reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources, protecting our nuclear weapons stockpile, and ensuring that America remains competitive in the global marketplace. To help achieve these goals, President Bush has launched two key initiatives: the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) and the Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI). The President launched these initiatives recognizing that science, technology, and engineering hold the answers to many of the critical challenges our world faces. These new initiatives to spur scientific innovation and technology development expand DOE’s continuing support for the competitive energy markets, both domestically and internationally, and of …

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Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

We use the Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the dark matter halos of 34 massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters, spanning the redshift range 0.06 < z < 0.7. The observed dark matter and total mass (dark-plus-luminous matter) profiles can be approximated by the Navarro Frenk & White (hereafter NFW) model for cold dark matter (CDM) halos; for {approx} 80 percent of the clusters, the NFW model provides a statistically acceptable fit. In contrast, the singular isothermal sphere model can, in almost every case, be completely ruled out. We observe a well-defined mass-concentration relation for the clusters with a normalization and intrinsic scatter in good agreement with the predictions from simulations. The slope of the mass-concentration relation, c {infinity} M{sub vir}{sup a}/(1 + z){sup b} with a = -0.41 {+-} 0.11 at 95 percent confidence, is steeper than the value a {approx} -0.1 predicted by CDM simulations for lower mass halos. With the slope a included as a free fit parameter, the redshift evolution of the concentration parameter, b = 0.54 {+-} 0.47 at 95 percent confidence, is also slower than, but marginally consistent with, the same simulations (b {approx} 1). Fixing a {approx} -0.1 leads to an apparent evolution that …

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with ABB Industrial Systems, and under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), has developed a new method for measuring the moisture content of a paper web process on-line with 100% coverage of the sheet. The method uses InGaAs linear arrays with associated optics and electronics to continuously image the full width of the web and measure transmitted light at 1.45{micro} and another suitable reference wavelength between 1{micro} and 1.6{micro}. The method could also be used to measure paper basis weight, in addition to moisture, by adding additional hardware and optics to measure a third wavelength at 1.57{micro}. A patent (USP: 6355931), entitled ''System and method for 100% moisture and basis weight measurement of moving paper'', was granted by the US Patent Office on March 12, 2002 for this invention. A proof-of-concept prototype system was also developed and tested on several occasions at ABB's sensors development facility in Columbus, Ohio. Based on current experimental results, the system seems particularly suitable for detecting moisture variation on a paper web for medium and heavy weight products at the dry end as well as the press section of the machine. …

The main goal of the program is to develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that result in defects when thick YBCO films are prepared on multi-layered buffered, metal substrates.

Integral to the accept of MNA and EA as part of a remediation system is documenting the sustainability of the attenuation mechanisms. As many sites are located in complex hydrogeologic settings, documentation of sustainability will require the use of complex models that have the capabilities to mathematically represent the various attenuation mechanisms. To address this need a team of researchers developed specific reaction modules for complex chlorinated solvent reactions that occur in subsurface. These reaction modules support the RT3D model.

Iron-reducing microorganisms, like Shewanella oneidensis, have received a great deal of attention in the literature because of their ability to couple the oxidation of organic contaminants to the reduction of Fe(III) in minerals. The mechanism by which this microorganism transfers electrons to Fe(III) in a mineral’s structure is unknown. We used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure forces at the interface between an iron oxide mineral and a living cell of S. oneidensis. A unique force-signature was attributed to outer membrane proteins synthesized for the specific purpose of forming a bond with the surface of an iron oxide. To confirm this hypothesis, we used AFM to measure forces between an iron oxide mineral and each of two outer membrane cytochromes purified from S. oneidensis. There is a strong correlation between the whole cell and pure protein force spectra suggesting that these two cytochromes play a prominent role in the terminal electron transfer to Fe(III) in minerals.

Corrosion resistant materials under atmospheric conditions can suffer from localized corrosion (e.g., pitting, crevice, stress-corrosion cracking). The stability of such a localized corrosion site requires that the site (anode) must dissolve at a sufficiently high rate to maintain the critical chemistry and that it be coupled to a wetted surrounding area (cathode) that can provide a matching cathodic current. The objectives of this study were to computationally characterize the stability of such a local corrosion system and to explore the effects of physiochemical and electrochemical parameters. The overall goal of the work is to contribute to the establishment of a scientific basis for the prediction of the stabilization of localized attack. An analytical method is presented for evaluating the stability of localized corrosion of corrosion-resistant alloys under thin-layer (or atmospheric) conditions. The method requires input data that are either thermodynamic in nature or easily obtained experimentally. The maximum cathode current available depends on the cathode geometry, temperature, relative humidity, deposition density of salt (i.e., mass of salt per unit area of cathode), and interfacial electrochemical kinetics. The anode demand depends on the crevice geometry, the position of attack within the crevice, and the localized corrosion stability product. The localized corrosion …

Since the construction of the first Petawatt laser on the Nova laser facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory we are witnessing the emergence of similar Petawatt-class laser systems at laboratories all around the world. This new generation of lasers, able to deliver several hundred joules of energy in a sub-picosecond pulse, has enabled a host of new discoveries to be made and continues to provide a valuable tool to explore new regimes in relativistic laser-plasma physics--encompassing high energy X-rays and -rays, relativistic electrons, intense ion beams, and superstrong magnetic fields. The coupling in the near-future of multi-kiloJoule Petawatt-class lasers with large-scale fusion lasers.including the NIF and Omega EP (US), LIL (France), and FIREX (Japan)--will further expand opportunities in fast ignition, high energy X-ray radiography, and high energy density physics research. The 500 J Petawatt laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is currently the highest energy short-pulse laser in the world. In this paper we describe a recent experimental campaign carried out on the facility. The campaign, performed by a large collaborative team from eight different laboratories, was designed to study a variety of relativistic laser-interaction phenomena including laser absorption, fast electron transport, proton heating, and high-brightness x-ray generation. The wide …

Several LiFePO4/C composites were prepared and characterizedelectrochemically in lithium half-cells. Pressed pellet conductivitiescorrelated well with the electrochemical performance in lithiumhalf-cells. It was found that carbon structural factors such as sp2/sp3,D/G, and H/C ratios, as determined by Raman spectroscopy and elementalanalysis, influenced the conductivity and rate behavior strongly. Thestructure of the residual carbon could be manipulated through the use ofadditives during LiFePO4 synthesis. Increasing the pyromellitic acid (PA)content in the precursor mix prior to calcination resulted in asignificant lowering of the D/G ratio and a concomitant rise in thesp2/sp3 ratio of the carbon. Addition of both iron nitrate and PAresulted in higher sp2/sp3 ratios without further lowering the D/Gratios, or increasing carbon contents. The best electrochemical resultswere obtained for LiFePO4 processed with both ferrocene and PA. Theimprovement is attributed to better decomposition of the carbon sources,as evidenced by lower H/C ratios, a slight increase of the carbon content(still below 2 wt. percent), and more homogeneous coverage. A discussionof the influence of carbon content vs. structural factors on thecomposite conductivities and, by inference, the electrochemicalperformance, is included.

In heated tunnels such as those designated for emplacement of radioactive waste at the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, temperature gradients cause natural convection processes that may significantly influence the moisture conditions in the tunnels and in the surrounding fractured rock. Large-scale convection cells in the heated tunnels would provide an effective mechanism for turbulent mixing and axial transport of vapor generated from evaporation of pore water in the nearby formation. As a result, vapor would be transported from the elevated-temperature sections of the tunnels into cool end sections (where no waste is emplaced), would condense there, and subsequently drain into underlying rock units. To study these processes, we have developed a new simulation method that couples existing tools for simulating thermal-hydrological (TH) conditions in the fractured formation with a module that approximates turbulent natural convection in heated emplacement drifts. The new method simultaneously handles (1) the flow and energy transport processes in the fractured rock, (2) the flow and energy transport processes in the cavity, and (3) the heat and mass exchange at the rock-cavity interface. An application is presented studying the future TH conditions within and near a representative waste emplacement tunnel at Yucca Mountain. Particular focus …

Organics found in Comet Wild 2 samples show a heterogeneous and unequilibrated distribution in abundance and composition. Some organics are similar, but not identical, to those in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and carbonaceous meteorites. A class of aromatic-poor organic material is also present. The organics are rich in O and N compared to meteoritic organics. Aromatic compounds are present, but the samples tend to be relatively poorer in aromatics than meteorites and IDPs. D and {sup 15}N suggest that some organics have an interstellar/protostellar heritage. While the variable extent of modification of these materials by impact capture is not yet fully constrained, a remarkably diverse suite of organic compounds is present and identifiable within the returned samples. Comets are small bodies that accreted in the outer Solar System during its formation (1) and thus may consist of preserved samples of the ''starting materials'' from which the Solar System was made. Organic materials are expected to be present in cometary samples (2) and may include molecules made and/or modified in stellar outflows, the interstellar medium, and the protosolar nebula, as well as by parent body processing within the comet. The presence of organic compounds in comets and their ejecta is of …

This main objectives of this effort are the development and prototyping of a small. sensitive, and low-cost multi-channel nanoparticle scintillation microdevice with integrated waveguides for alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron detection. This research effort has integrated experiments and simulation to determine the combination of process-specific materials for the achievement optimum detection conditions.

We present recent results on time integrated and time dependent CP violation for charmless hadronic B decays using BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-factory.