A method is provided for obtaining DNA fingerprints using high speed detection systems, such as flow cytometry to determine unique characteristics of DNA pieces from a selected sample. In one characterization the DNA piece is fragmented at preselected sites to produce a plurality of DNA fragments. The DNA piece or the resulting DNA fragments are treated with a dye effective to stain stoichiometrically the DNA fragments. The fluorescence from the dye in the stained fragments is then examined to generate an output functionally related to the number of nucleotides in each one of the DNA fragments. In one embodiment, the intensity of the fluorescence emissions from each fragment is directly proportional to the fragment length. Additional dyes can be bound to the DNA piece and DNA fragments to provide information additional to length information. Oligonucleotide specific dyes and/or hybridization probes can be bound to the DNA fragments to provide information on oligonucleotide distribution or probe hybridization to DNA fragments of different sizes.

This invention consists of a method and apparatus for monitoring ionizing radiation comprising radiation detectors in electrical connection with an isotopic analyzer and a device for producing chords to which each isotope is mapped so that the device produces a unique chord for each isotope. Preferably the chords are pleasing to the ear, except for chords representing unexpected isotopes, and are louder or softer depending on the level of radioactivity produced by each isotope, and musical instrument voices may be simulated in producing the chords as an aid to distinguishing similar-sounding chords. Because of the representation by chords, information regarding the level and composition of the radiation in an area can be conveyed to workers in that area more effectively and yet without distracting them.

This report describes an expert system for online surveillance of nuclear reactor coolant pumps. This system provides a means for early detection of pump or sensor degradation. Degradation is determined through the use of a statistical analysis technique, sequential probability ratio test, applied to information from several sensors which are responsive to differing physical parameters. The results of sequential testing of the data provide the operator with an early warning of possible sensor or pump failure.

A method of determining the radioactivity of specific actinides that are carried in urine or fecal sample material is disclosed. The samples are ashed in a muffle furnace, dissolved in an acid, and then treated in a series of steps of reduction, oxidation, dissolution, and precipitation, including a unique step of passing a solution through a chloride form anion exchange resin for separation of uranium and plutonium from americium.

This invention is comprised of an apparatus for transforming a conventional beam of coherent light, having a Gaussian energy distribution and relatively high divergence, into a beam in which the energy distribution approximates a single, non-zero-order Bessel function and which therefore has much lower divergence. The apparatus comprises a zone plate having transmitting and reflecting zones defined by the pattern of light interference produced by the combination of a beam of coherent light with a Gaussian energy distribution and one having such a Bessel distribution. The interference pattern between the two beams is a concentric array of multiple annuli, and is preferably recorded as a hologram. The hologram is then used to form the transmitting, and reflecting zones by photo-etching portions of a reflecting layer deposited on a plate made of a transmitting material. A Bessel beam, containing approximately 50% of the energy of the incident beam, is produced by passing a Gaussian beam through such a Bessel zone plate. The reflected beam, also containing approximately 50% of the incident beam energy and having a Bessel energy distribution, can be redirected in the same direction and parallel to the transmitted beam. Alternatively, a filter similar to the Bessel zone plate …

The present invention relates to integrated circuit packaging technology, and particularly to three dimensional packages involving high density stacks of integrated circuits. A plurality of multi-chip modules are stacked and bonded around the perimeter by sold-bump bonds to adjacent modules on, for instance, three sides of the perimeter. The fourth side can be used for coolant distribution, for more interconnect structures, or other features, depending on particular design considerations of the chip set. The multi-chip modules comprise a circuit board, having a planarized interconnect structure formed on a first major surface, and integrated circuit chips bonded to the planarized interconnect surface. Around the periphery of each circuit board, long, narrow ``dummy chips`` are bonded to the finished circuit board to form a perimeter wall. The wall is higher than any of the chips on the circuit board, so that the flat back surface of the board above will only touch the perimeter wall. Module-to-module interconnect is laser-patterned on the sides of the boards and over the perimeter wall in the same way and at the same time that chip to board interconnect may be laser-patterned.

This invention is comprised of a self-contained, waterproof, water-submersible, remote-controlled apparatus provided for manipulating a device, such as an ultrasonic transducer for measuring crack propagation on an underwater specimen undergoing shock testing. The subject manipulator includes metal bellows for transmittal of angular motions without the use of rotating shaft seals or O-rings. Inside the manipulator, a first stepper motor controls angular movement. In the preferred embodiment, the bellows permit the first stepper motor to move an ultrasonic transducer {plus_minus} 45 degrees in a first plane and a second bellows permit a second stepper motor to move the transducer {plus_minus} 10 degrees in a second plane orthogonal to the first. In addition, an XY motor-driven table provides XY motion.

This invention is comprised of an apparatus and method for producing electricity from heat. The present invention is a thermoelectric generator that uses materials with substantially no electrical resistance, often called superconductors, to efficiently convert heat into electrical energy without resistive losses. Preferably, an array of superconducting elements is encased within a second material with a higher thermal conductivity than that of the superconducting material. The second material is preferably a semiconductor. Alternatively, the superconducting material can be doped on a base semiconducting material, or the superconducting material and the semiconducting material can exist as alternating, interleaved layers of waferlike materials. A temperature gradient imposed across the boundary of the two materials, establishes an electrical potential related to the magnitude of the temperature gradient. The superconducting material carries the resulting electrical current at zero resistivity, thereby eliminating resistive losses. The elimination of resistive losses significantly increases the conversion efficiency of the thermoelectric device.

This invention is comprised of a glass melter having a lid electrode for heating the glass melt radiantly. The electrode comprises a series of INCONEL 690 tubes running above the melt across the melter interior and through the melter walls and having nickel cores inside the tubes beginning where the tubes leave the melter interior and nickel connectors to connect the tubes electrically in series. An applied voltage causes the tubes to generate heat of electrical resistance for melting frit injected onto the melt. The cores limit heat generated as the current passes through the walls of the melter. Nickel bus connection to the electrical power supply minimizes heat transfer away from the melter that would occur if standard copper or water-cooled copper connections were used between the supply and the INCONEL 690 heating tubes.

Methods for distributing gases throughout the interstices of porous materials and removing volatile substances from the interstices of porous materials. Continuous oscillation of pressures and flows results in increased penetration of the interstices by flowing gases and increased transport of gaseous components out of the interstices. The invention is particularly useful in soil vapor extraction.

This invention is comprised of an apparatus and method for melting glass in a glass melter in such a way as to reduce deposition of particulates in the off-gas duct. Deposit accumulation is reduced by achieving an off-gas velocity above approximately 15 meters/second and an off-gas temperature as close as possible to, but not higher than, the glass softening point. Because the deposits are largely water-soluble, those that do form on the interior surface of the duct can be readily removed by injecting water or steam directly into the off-gas duct from its entrance or exit.

This invention is comprised of a device for use in making spectrophotometric measurements of fluid samples. In particular, the device is a measurement cell containing a movable and a fixed lens with a sample of the fluid therebetween and through which light shines. The cell is connected to a source of light and a spectrophotometer via optic fibers. Movement of the lens varies the path length and also pumps the fluid into and out of the cell. Unidirectional inlet and exit valves cooperate with the movable lens to assure a one-way flow of fluid through the cell. A linear stepper motor controls the movement of the lens and cycles it from a first position closer to the fixed lens and a second position farther from the fixed lens, preferably at least 10 times per minute for a nearly continuous stream of absorption spectrum data.

A method and apparatus that produces a graded microcomposite is disclosed that controls the residual stresses developed at dissimilar material interfaces due to differences in material properties. The feasibility of fabricating graded Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}-metal materials by two techniques, physical vapor deposition and powder metallurgy, is demonstrated. Results from microstructural characterization of these materials are presented.

A process for dissolving plutonium, and in particular, delta-phase plutonium. The process includes heating a mixture of nitric acid, hydroxylammonium nitrate and potassium fluoride (HAN) to a temperature between 40 and 70 C, then immersing the metal in the mixture. Preferably, the nitric acid has a concentration of not ore than 2M, the HAN approximately 0.66M, and the potassium fluoride 1M. Additionally, a small amount of sulfamic acid, such as 0.1M can be added to assure stability of the HAN in the presence of nitric acid. The oxide layer that forms on plutonium metal may be removed with a non-oxidizing acid as a pre-treatment step.

A gas cleaning filter is formed in-situ within a vessel containing a fluidizable bed of granular material of a relatively large size fraction. A filter membrane provided by a porous metal or ceramic body or such a body supported a perforated screen on one side thereof is coated in-situ with a layer of the granular material from the fluidized bed by serially passing a bed-fluidizing gas stream through the bed of granular material and the membrane. The layer of granular material provides the filtering medium for the combined membrane-granular layer filter. The filter is not blinded by the granular material and provides for the removal of virtually all of the particulates from a process gas stream. The granular material can be at least partially provided by a material capable of chemically reacting with and removing sulfur compounds from the process gas stream. Low level radioactive waste containing organic material may be incinerated in a fluidized bed in communication with the described filter for removing particulates from the gaseous combustion products.

This invention is comprised of a method and apparatus for detecting crack-like flaws in components. A plurality of exciting frequencies are generated and applied to a component in a dry condition to obtain a first ultrasonic spectrum of the component. The component is then wet with a selected liquid to penetrate any crack-like flaws in the component. The plurality of exciting frequencies are again applied to the component and a second ultrasonic spectrum of the component is obtained. The wet and dry ultrasonic spectra are then analyzed to determine the second harmonic components in each of the ultrasonic resonance spectra and the second harmonic components are compared to ascertain the presence of crack-like flaws in the component.

This report describes a method of refueling a nuclear reactor whereby the drive mechanism is disengaged and removed by activating a jacking mechanism that raises the closure head. The area between the barrier plate and closure head is exhausted through the closure head penetrations. The closure head, upper drive mechanism, and bellows seal are lifted away and transported to a safe area. The barrier plate acts as the primary boundary and each drive and control rod penetration has an elastomer seal preventing excessive tritium gases from escaping. The individual instrumentation plugs are disengaged allowing the corresponding fuel assembly to be sealed and replaced.

High strength material composite structures are formed with oriented fibers to provide controlled anisotropic fibers. Fibers suspended in non-dilute concentrations (e.g., up to 20 volume percent for fibers having an aspect ratio of 20) in a selected medium are oriented by moving an axially spaced array of elements in the direction of desired fiber alignment. The array elements are generally perpendicular to the desired orientation. The suspension medium may also include sphere-like particles where the resulting material is a ceramic.

The present invention relates to cooling high power integrated circuits; and particularly to microchannel cooling of integrated circuits bonded face down on circuit boards, such as by flip-chip bonding. Microchannel cooling is applied to flip-chip bonded integrated circuits, in a manner which maintains the advantages of flip-chip bonds, while overcoming the difficulties encountered in cooling the chips. The technique is suited to either multichip integrated circuit boards in a plane, or to stacks of circuit boards in a three dimensional interconnect structure. Integrated circuit chips are mounted on a circuit board using flip-chip or control collapse bonds. A microchannel structure is essentially permanently coupled with the back of the chip. A coolant delivery manifold delivers coolant to the microchannel structure, and a seal consisting of a compressible elastomer is provided between the coolant delivery manifold and the microchannel structure. The integrated circuit chip and microchannel structure are connected together to form a replaceable integrated circuit module which can be easily decoupled from the coolant delivery manifold and the circuit board. The coolant supply manifolds may be disposed between the circuit boards in a stack and coupled to supplies of coolant through a side of the stack.

A method is given for incorporating diverse varieties of intercalants or templates directly during hydrothermal synthesis of clays such as hectorite or montmorillonite-type layer-silicate clays. For a hectorite layer-silicate clay, refluxing a gel of silica sol, magnesium hydroxide sol and LiF for 2 days with an organic or organometallic intercalant or template results in crystalline products containing either (a) organic dye molecules such as ethyl violet and methyl green, (b) dye molecules such as alcian blue based on a Cu(II)-phthalocyannine complex, or (c) transition metal complexes such as Ru(II)phenanthroline and Co(III)sepulchrate or (d) water-soluble porphyrins and metalloporphyrins. Montmorillonite-type clays are made by the method taught by US patent No. 3,887,454 issued to Hickson, June 13, 1975; however, a variety of intercalants or templates may be introduced. The intercalants or templates should have water-solubility, positive charge, and thermal stability under moderately basic (pH 9-10) aqueous reflux conditions or hydrothermal pressurized conditions for the montmorillonite-type clays.

A method and system for converting the chemical energy of methane to electrical energy. Methane is thermally decomposed to hydrogen and carbon in a decomposing unit at a temperature not less than about 1200{degree}K and at a pressure at least slightly above atmospheric pressure. Carbon and substantially pure oxygen and a cesium or potassium seed material is transmitted to a combustor which is maintained at a pressure of at least about 50 atmospheres to combust the carbon and oxygen and provide an ionized plasma having a temperature not less than about 2900{degree}K. The ionized plasma is accelerated to a velocity not less than about 1000 m/sec and transported through an MHD generator having a magnetic field in the range of from about 4 to about 6 Tesla to generate dc power. The ionized plasma is deaccelerated and passed from the MHD generator in heat exchange relationship with the methane to heat same for decomposition, and thereafter any cesium or potassium seed material is recovered and transported to the combustor, and the dc power from the MHD generator is converted to ac power.

An internal combustion engine fueled with a coal-water slurry is described. About 90 percent of the coal-water slurry charge utilized in the power cycle of the engine is directly injected into the main combustion chamber where it is ignited by a hot stream of combustion gases discharged from a pilot combustion chamber of a size less than about 10 percent of the total clearance volume of main combustion chamber with the piston at top dead center. The stream of hot combustion gases is provided by injecting less than about 10 percent of the total coal-water slurry charge into the pilot combustion chamber and using a portion of the air from the main combustion chamber that has been heated by the walls defining the pilot combustion chamber as the ignition source for the coal-water slurry injected into the pilot combustion chamber.

This invention is comprised of a radiation detection method and system for continuously correcting the quantization of detected charge during pulse pile-up conditions. Charge pulses from a radiation detector responsive to the energy of detected radiation events are converted to voltage pulses of predetermined shape whose peak amplitudes are proportional to the quantity of charge of each corresponding detected event by means of a charge-sensitive preamplifier. These peak amplitudes are sampled and stored sequentially in accordance with their respective times of occurrence. Based on the stored peak amplitudes and times of occurrence, a correction factor is generated which represents the fraction of a previous pulses influence on a preceding pulse peak amplitude. This correction factor is subtracted from the following pulse amplitude in a summing amplifier whose output then represents the corrected charge quantity measurement.

A laser focus compensating sensing and imaging device permits the focus of a single focal point of different frequency laser beams emanating from the same source point. In particular it allows the focusing of laser beams originating from the same laser device but having differing intensities so that a low intensity beam will not convert to a higher frequency when passing through a conversion crystal associated with the laser generating device. The laser focus compensating sensing and imaging device uses a cassegrain system to fold the lower frequency, low intensity beam back upon itself so that it will focus at the same focal point as a high intensity beam. An angular tilt compensating lens is mounted about the secondary mirror of the cassegrain system to assist in alignment. In addition cameras or CCD`s are mounted with the primary mirror to sense the focused image. A convex lens in positioned coaxial with the cassegrain system on the side of the primary mirror distal of the secondary for use in aligning a target with the laser beam. A first alternate embodiment includes a cassegrain system using a series of shuttles and an internally mounted dichroic mirror. A second alternate embodiment uses two …