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

By reviewing how microorganisms interact with actinides in subsurface environments, we assess how bioremediation controls the fate of actinides. Actinides often are co-contaminants with strong organic chelators, chlorinated solvents, and fuel hydrocarbons. Bioremediation can immobilize the actinides, biodegrade the co-contaminants, or both. Actinides at the IV oxidation state are the least soluble, and microorganisms accelerate precipitation by altering the actinide's oxidation state or its speciation. We describe how microorganisms directly oxidize or reduce actinides and how microbiological reactions that biodegrade strong organic chelators, alter the pH, and consume or produce precipitating anions strongly affect actinide speciation and, therefore, mobility. We explain why inhibition caused by chemical or radiolytic toxicities uniquely affects microbial reactions. Due to the complex interactions of the microbiological and chemical phenomena, mathematical modeling is an essential tool for research on and application of bioremediation involving co-contamination with actinides. We describe the development of mathematical models that link microbiological and geochemical reactions. Throughout, we identify the key research needs.

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Sampling is conducted to evaluate levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, as required in DOE Order 5400.1, ''General Environmental protection Program,'' and DOE Order 5400.5, ''Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment.'' The sampling methods are described in the Environmental Monitoring Plan, United States Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, DOE/RL-91-50, Rev.2, U.S. Department of Energy, Richland, Washington. This document contains the CY1999 schedules for the routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP) and Drinking Water Monitoring Project. Each section includes the sampling location, sample type, and analyses to be performed on the sample. In some cases, samples are scheduled on a rotating basis and may not be collected in 1999 in which case the anticipated year for collection is provided. In addition, a map is included for each media showing approximate sampling locations.

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

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

Accurate ionization energies (IE`s) for molecular species are used for prediction of chemical reactivity and are of fundamental importance to chemists. The IE of a gaseous molecule can be determined routinely in a photoionization or a photoelectron experiment. IE determinations made in conventional photoionization and photoelectron studies have uncertainties in the range of 3--100 meV (25--250 cm{sup {minus}1}). In the past decade, the most exciting development in the field of photoionization and photoelectron spectroscopy has been the availability of high resolution, tunable ultraviolet (UV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser sources. The laser pulsed field ionization photoelectron (PFI-PE) scheme is currently the state-of-the-art photoelectron spectroscopic technique and is capable of providing photoelectron energy resolution close to the optical resolution. The author has focused attention on the photoionization processes of some sulfur-containing species. The studies of the photoionization and photodissociation on sulfur-containing compounds [such as CS{sub 2}, CH{sub 3}SH, CH{sub 3}SSCH{sub 3}, CH{sub 3}CH{sub 2}SCH{sub 2}CH{sub 3}, HSCH{sub 2}CH{sub 2}SH and C{sub 4}H{sub 4}S (thiophene) and sulfur-containing radicals, such as HS, CS, CH{sub 3}S, CH{sub 3}CH{sub 2}S and CH{sub 3}SS], have been the major subjects in the group because sulfur is an important species contributing to air pollution in the atmosphere. The …

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Single crystals of the ternary compounds RMn{sub 6}Sn{sub 6}, where R = Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Lu, have been prepared by the flux growth technique. All of the compounds have the HfFe{sub 6}Ge{sub 6} type crystal structure (space group P6/mmm), and the variation of the lattice parameters with lanthanide element exhibits the lanthanide contraction as well as evidence of crystal field effects. Measurements on the magnetic properties of TbMn{sub 6}Sn{sub 6} indicate that it orders ferrimagnetically at 450K. It undergoes a change in the easy axis from close to the c axis at low temperatures to in plane at higher temperatures. This transition occurs at 310K in zero DC field and can be shifted to lower temperatures by a field applied parallel to the a direction and to higher temperatures by a field applied parallel to the c direction. HoMn{sub 6}Sn{sub 6} orders ferrimagnetically at 400K, and it also undergoes a change in the easy axis between 150 and 225K with the moments located in the basal plane at high temperatures. The magnetic properties of ErMn{sub 6}Sn{sub 6} are more complex than the first two compounds. A magnetic phase diagram has been mapped out which shows that …

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

Electric and hybrid-electric vehicles are being developed and commercialized around the world at a rate never before seen. These efforts are driven by the prospect of vehicles with lower emissions and higher fuel efficiencies. The widespread adaptation of such vehicles promises a cleaner environment and a reduction in the rate of accumulation of greenhouse gases, Critical to the success of this technology is the use of electrochemical power sources such as batteries and fuel cells, which can convert chemical energy to electrical energy more efficiently and quietly than internal combustion engines. This overview will concentrate on the work being conducted in the US to develop advanced propulsion systems for the electric and hybrid vehicles, This work is spearheaded by the US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) for electric vehicles and the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicle (PNGV) for hybrid-electric vehicles, both of which can be read about on the world wide web (www.uscar.tom). As is commonly known, electric vehicles rely strictly on batteries as their source of power. Hybrid-electric vehicles, however, have a dual source of power. An internal combustion engine or eventually a fuel cell supplies the vehicle with power at a relatively constant rate. A battery pack …

A faculty recital performed at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

Addition of a novel anionic surfactant, namely lauryl polyoxyethylene sulfate, to an aqueous-acetonitrile electrolyte makes it possible to separate nonionic organic compounds by capillary electrophoresis. Separation is based on differences in the association between analytes and the surfactant. Highly hydrophobic compounds such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons are well separated by this new surfactant. Migration times of analytes can be readily changed over an unusually large range by varying the additive concentration and the proportion of acetonitrile in the electrolyte. Several examples are given, including the separation of four methylbenz[a]anthracene isomers and the separation of normal and deuterated acetophenone. The effect of adding this new surfactant to the acidic electrolyte was also investigated. Incorporation of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide in the electrolyte is shown to dynamically coat the capillary and reverse electroosmotic flow. Chiral recognition mechanism is studied using novel synthetic surfactants as chiral selectors, which are made from amino acids reacting with alkyl chloroformates. A satisfactory separation of both inorganic and organic anions is obtained using electrolyte solutions as high as 5 M sodium chloride using direct photometric detection. The effect of various salts on electrophoretic and electroosmotic mobility is further discussed. Several examples are given under high-salt conditions.

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

Semiweekly newspaper from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas that includes local, national, and campus news along with advertising.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has declared approximately 38.2 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium to be excess to the needs of national security, 14.3 tonnes of fuel- and reactor-grade plutonium excess to DOE needs, and anticipates an additional 7 tonnes to be declared excess to national security needs. Of this 59.5 tonnes, DOE anticipates that {approximately} 7.5 tonnes will be dispositioned as spent fuel at the Geologic Repository and {approximately} 2 tonnes will be declared below the safeguards termination limit and be discard3ed as TRU waste at WIPP. The remaining 50 tonnes of excess plutonium exists in many forms and locations around the country, and is under the control of several DOE offices. In addition to the plutonium, the feed stock also contains about 17 tonnes of depleted uranium, about 600 kg of highly enriched uranium, and many kilograms of neptunium and thorium and about 8 to 10 tonnes of tramp impurities. The Materials Disposition Program (MD) will be received materials packaged by these other Programs to disposition in a manor that meets the spent fuel standard. To minimize the cost of characterization of the feedstock and to minimize purification processes, a blending strategy will be followed. The levelization of the …

A fused lithium chloride salt system's constitutive properties were evaluated and compared to a number of fluid properties, and water was shown to be an excellent simulant of lithium chloride salt. With a simple flow model, the principal scaling term was shown to be a function of the kinematic viscosity. A water mock-up of the molten salt was also shown to be within a {+-}3% error in the scaling analysis. This made it possible to consider developing water scaled tests of the molten salt system. Accurate flow velocity and pressure measurements were acquired by developing a directional velocity probe. The device was constructed and calibrated with a repeatable accuracy of {+-}15%. This was verified by a detailed evaluation of the probe. Extensive flow measurements of the engineering scale mockup were conducted, and the results were carefully compared to radial flow patterns of a straight blade stirrer. The flow measurements demonstrated an anti-symmetric nature of the stirring, and many additional effects were also identified. The basket design was shown to prevent fluid penetration into the fuel baskets when external stirring was the flow mechanism.

The objective of this dissertation is to explore the hypothesis that there is a strong linkage between gas atomization processing conditions, as-atomized aluminum powder characteristics, and the consolidation methodology required to make components from aluminum powder. The hypothesis was tested with pure aluminum powders produced by commercial air atomization, commercial inert gas atomization, and gas atomization reaction synthesis (GARS). A comparison of the GARS aluminum powders with the commercial aluminum powders showed the former to exhibit superior powder characteristics. The powders were compared in terms of size and shape, bulk chemistry, surface oxide chemistry and structure, and oxide film thickness. Minimum explosive concentration measurements assessed the dependence of explosibility hazard on surface area, oxide film thickness, and gas atomization processing conditions. The GARS aluminum powders were exposed to different relative humidity levels, demonstrating the effect of atmospheric conditions on post-atomization processing conditions. The GARS aluminum powders were exposed to different relative humidity levels, demonstrating the effect of atmospheric conditions on post-atomization oxidation of aluminum powder. An Al-Ti-Y GARS alloy exposed in ambient air at different temperatures revealed the effect of reactive alloy elements on post-atomization powder oxidation. The pure aluminum powders were consolidated by two different routes, a conventional consolidation …

Semiweekly newspaper from Sealy, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This paper introduces the common coil magnet system for the proposed very large hadron collider (VLHC). In this system, the high energy booster (HEB), the injector to VLHC, is integrated as the iron dominated low field aperture within the coldmass of the common coil magnet design introduced earlier. This 4-in-1 magnet concept for a 2-in-1 machine should provide a major cost reduction in building and operating VLHC. Moreover, the proposed design reduces the field quality problems associated with the large persistent currents in Nb{sub 3}Sn magnets. The paper also shows that the geometric field harmonics can be made small. In this preliminary magnetic design. the current dependence in harmonics is significant but not umnanageable.

Student newspaper of Harper Independent School District in Harper, Texas that includes school news and information along with advertising.

The peak profile of individual degranulation events from the on-column release of serotonin from single rat peritoneal mast cells (RPMCs) was monitored using capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced native fluorescence detection (CE-LINF). Serotonin, an important biogenic amine, is contained in granules (0.25 fL) within RPMCs and is extruded by a process termed exocytosis. The secretagogue, Polymyxin B sulfate, was used as the CE running buffer after injection of a single RPMC into the separation capillary to stimulate the release of the granules. Because the release process occurs on a ms time scale, monitoring individual exocytotic events is possible with the coupling of high-speed CE and LINF detection.

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

The focus of this dissertation is the use of chromatographic methods coupled with electrospray mass spectrometry (ES-MS) for the determination of both organic and inorganic compounds in aqueous solutions. The combination of liquid chromatography (LC) methods and ES-MS offers one of the foremost methods for determining compounds in complex aqueous solutions. In this work, LC-ES-MS methods are devised using ion exclusion chromatography, reversed phase chromatography, and ion exchange chromatography, as well as capillary electrophoresis (CE). For an aqueous sample, these LC-ES-MS and CE-ES-MS techniques require no sample preparation or analyte derivatization, which makes it possible to observe a wide variety of analytes as they exist in solution. The majority of this work focuses on the use of LC-ES-MS for the determination of unknown products and intermediates formed during electrochemical incineration (ECI), an experimental waste remediation process. This report contains a general introduction to the project and the general conclusions. Four chapters have been removed for separate processing. Titles are: Chapter 2: Determination of small carboxylic acids by ion exclusion chromatography with electrospray mass spectrometry; Chapter 3: Electrochemical incineration of benzoquinone in aqueous media using a quaternary metal oxide electrode in the absence of a soluble supporting electrolyte; Chapter 4: The …

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