Concert presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

This quarterly report is based on the last activity above. It gives a brief account of the work and the complete study will be included in the next Annual Report of the project.

The work on modeling hydraulically fractured horizontal wells has moved forward. A literature review on the subject was done and some of the existing models have been coded and applied to example problems for evaluation purposes. Previous work on the elects of heterogeneities on the performance of horizontal wells was continued by conducting a sensitivity study on various parameters that were kept constant in the earlier study. For example, we have studied the elect of gas cap and aquifer size, well location, fluid viscosity, etc. The experimental work on using horizontal wells as injectors and producers in a gas injection gravity drainage process continued. New and repeat experiments were conducted. Work on streamline grids was advanced by considering example problems with highly distorted grids which cannot be directly used for flow simulation. Grid smoothing and domain mapping techniques were investigated to handle such situations. A technique was developed for the computation o f well index with consideration to wellbore pressure drop. A recently developed reservoir/wellbore coupling model was used for this purpose.

Monthly newsletter discussing news and activities related to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, articles about weather and atmospheric phenomena, and other related topics.

A roll pin in the end of the pintle rod in core samplers needs to be moved upward to avoid potential interference with another part (the release disk) during installation of the retainer ring. This test plan/report is intended to demonstrate that the sampler valve closes normally and the pintle release mechanism operates normally with the new roll pin location.

The Advanced Reactors Transition (ART) Resource Loaded Schedule (RLS) provides a cost and schedule baseline for managing the project elements within the ART Program. The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) activities are delineated through the end of FY 2000, assuming continued standby. The Nuclear Energy (NE) Legacies and Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor (PRTR) activities are delineated through the end of the deactivation process. This document reflects the 1 Oct 1999 baseline.

The Alpha-Gamma Hot Cell Facility (AGHCF) at Argonne National Laboratory-East is a research facility where sample examinations involve traditional photography. The AGHCF documents samples with photographs (both Polaroid self-developing and negative film). Wastes generated include developing chemicals. The AGHCF evaluated, procured, and installed a digital camera system for the Leitz metallograph to significantly reduce labor, supplies, and wastes associated with traditional photography with a return on investment of less than two years.

Two large heats of V-4Cr-4Ti alloy were produced in the United States in the past few years. The first, 832665, was a 500 kg heat procured by the U.S. Department of Energy for basic fusion structural materials research. The second, 832864, was a 1300 kg heat procured by General Atomics for the DIII-D radiative divertor upgrade. Both heats were produced by Oremet-Wah Chang (previously Teledyne Wah Chang of Albany). Tensile properties up to 800 C and Charpy V-notch impact properties down to liquid nitrogen temperature were measured for both heats. The product forms tested for both heats were rolled sheets annealed at 1000 C for 1 h in vacuum. Testing results show the behavior of the two heats to be similar and the reduction of strengths with temperature to be insignificant up to at least 750 C. Ductility of both materials is good in the test temperature range. Impact properties for both heats are excellent--no brittle failures at temperatures above -150 C. Compared to the data for previous smaller laboratory heats of 15-50 kg, the results show that scale-up of vanadium alloy ingot production to sizes useful for reactor blanket design can be successfully achieved as long as reasonable process …

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.

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

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

A cryogenically cooled silicon monochromator and a water-cooled diamond monochromator have been tested under twice the standard power load conditions at the Advanced Photon Source. Both monochromators performed satisfactorily under these extreme power loads (several hundred watts of incident power and up to 300 W/mm{sup 2} of incident normal peak power density). The experimental data and the parameters derived to predict the performance limits of the cryogenic silicon monochromator are presented.

Capillary electrophoresis has been widely accepted as a fast separation technique in DNA analysis. In this dissertation, a new sieving matrix is described for DNA analysis, especially DNA sequencing, genetic typing and mutation detection. A high-throughput 96 capillary array electrophoresis system was also demonstrated for simultaneous multiple genotyping. The authors first evaluated the influence of different capillary coatings on the performance of DNA sequencing. A bare capillary was compared with a DB-wax, an FC-coated and a polyvinylpyrrolidone dynamically coated capillary with PEO as sieving matrix. It was found that covalently-coated capillaries had no better performance than bare capillaries while PVP coating provided excellent and reproducible results. The authors also developed a new sieving Matrix for DNA separation based on commercially available poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP). This sieving matrix has a very low viscosity and an excellent self-coating effect. Successful separations were achieved in uncoated capillaries. Sequencing of M13mp18 showed good resolution up to 500 bases in treated PVP solution. Temperature gradient capillary electrophoresis and PVP solution was applied to mutation detection. A heteroduplex sample and a homoduplex reference were injected during a pair of continuous runs. A temperature gradient of 10 C with a ramp of 0.7 C/min was swept throughout the …

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Surface and structural damage to plasma-facing components (PFCs) due to the frequent loss of plasma confinement remains a serious problem for the tokamak reactor concept. The deposited plasma energy causes significant surface erosion, possible structural failure, and frequent plasma contamination. Surface damage consists of vaporization, spallation, and liquid splatter of metallic materials. Structural damage includes large temperature increases in structural materials and at the interfaces between surface coatings and structural members. To evaluate the lifetimes of plasma-facing materials and nearby components and to predict the various forms of damage that they experience, comprehensive models (contained in the HEIGHTS computer simulation package) are developed, integrated self-consistently, and enhanced. Splashing mechanisms such as bubble boiling and various liquid magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and brittle destruction mechanisms of nonmelting materials are being examined. The design requirements and implications of plasma-facing and nearby components are discussed, along with recommendations to mitigate and reduce the effects of plasma instabilities on reactor components.

The decomposition of unconfined rigid polyurethane foam has been modeled by a kinetic bond-breaking scheme describing degradation of a primary polymer and formation of a thermally stable secondary polymer. The bond-breaking scheme is resolved using percolation theory to describe evolving polymer fragments. The polymer fragments vaporize according to individual vapor pressures. Kinetic parameters for the model were obtained from Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The chemical structure of the foam was determined from the preparation techniques and ingredients used to synthesize the foam. Scale-up effects were investigated by simulating the response of an incident heat flux of 25 W/cm{sup 2} on a partially confined 8.8-cm diameter by 15-cm long right circular cylinder of foam that contained an encapsulated component. Predictions of center, midradial, and component temperatures, as well as regression of the foam surface, were in agreement with measurements using thermocouples and X-ray imaging.

The magnetic stability of two different interracial exchange coupled systems are investigated using the magneto-optic Kerr effect during repeated reversal of the soft layer magnetization by field cycling up to 10{sup 7} times. For Fe/Cr double-superlattice exchange biased systems, small but rapid initial decay of exchange bias field H{sub E} and the remanent magnetization is observed. Also the Sin-Co/Fe bilayers grown epitaxially with uniaxial in-plane anisotropy show similar decay. However, the H{sub E} of biaxial and random in-plane bilayers, shows gradual decay without large reduction of the magnetization. These different decay behaviors explained by their different microstructure and interracial spin configurations.

Video footage from the NBC 5 television station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story. This story aired at 6 P.M.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

A custom monolithic circuit has been developed for the Time Expansion Chamber (TEC) of the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). This detector identifies particles by sampling their ionization energy loss (dE/dx) over a 3 cm drift space and by detecting associated transition radiation (TR) photons. The requirement of being simultaneously sensitive to dE/dx and TR events requires a dual-gain system. We have developed a compact solution featuring an octal preamplifier/shaper (P/S) IC with a split gain stage. The circuit, fabricated in 1.2 {micro}m CMOS process, incorporates a trans-impedance preamplifier and a 70 ns unipolar CR-RC{sup 4} shaper with ion tail compensation and active DC offset cancellation. Digitally selectable gain, peaking time, and tail cancellation as well as channel-by-channel charge injection and disable can be configured in the system via a 3-wire interface. The 3.5 x 5 mm{sup 2} die is packaged in a fine-pitch 64-pin PQFP. Equivalent input noise is less than 1500 rms electrons at a power dissipation of 30 mW per channel. On a sample of 2400 chips, the DC offset was 2.3 {+-} 3 mV rms without trimming. A chamber-mounted TEC-PS Printed Circuit Board (PCB) houses four PIS …

Undoped and Mn-doped ZnGa{sub 2}O{sub 4} thin-film phosphors were grown using pulsed laser ablation on (100) MgO single crystal and glass substrates. X-ray results showed the films on (100) MgO are well aligned both out-of plane and in-plane. Epitaxial films show superior photoluminescent intensity as compared to randomly oriented polycrystalline films, indicating that intragranular crystallinity strongIy influences luminescent properties. Li-doped ZnGa{sub 2}O{sub 4} exhibited significantly enhanced photoluminescence intensity.

This paper presents an overview of pulsed-laser ablation for film deposition and surface microstructure formation. By changing the ambient gas pressure from high vacuum to several Torr (several hundred Pa) and by selecting the pulsed-laser wavelength, the kinetic energy of ablated atoms/ions can be varied from several hundred eV down to {approximately}0.1 eV and films ranging from superhard to nanocrystalline may be deposited. Furthermore, cumulative (multi-pulse) irradiation of a semiconductor surface (e.g. silicon) in an oxidizing gas (0{sub 2}, SF{sub 6}) et atmospheric pressure can produce dense, self-organized arrays of high-aspect-ratio microcolumns or microcones. Thus, a wide range of materials synthesis and processing opportunities result from the hyperthermal flux and reactive growth conditions provided by pulsed-laser ablation.

Peak x-ray powers as high as 280 {+-} 40 TW have been generated from the implosion of tungsten wire arrays on the Z Accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories. The high x-ray powers radiated by these z-pinches provide an attractive new driver option for high yield inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The high x-ray powers appear to be a result of using a large number of wires in the array which decreases the perturbation seed to the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability and diminishes other 3-D effects. Simulations to confirm this hypothesis require a 3-D MHD code capability, and associated databases, to follow the evolution of the wires from cold solid through melt, vaporization, ionization, and finally to dense imploded plasma. Strong coupling plays a role in this process, the importance of which depends on the wire material and the current time history of the pulsed power driver. Strong coupling regimes are involved in the plasmas in the convolute and transmission line of the powerflow system. Strong coupling can also play a role in the physics of the z-pinch-driven high yield ICF target. Finally, strong coupling can occur in certain z-pinch-driven application experiments.