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

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

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

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

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

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Radiation Technology Group (RTG) uses a number of computer codes for simulation and analysis of radiation data. The number of incompatible data formats that these data presented themselves in have continued to multiply. In the 1980's a Common Data Format (CDF, see Appendix A) was devised for internal use by the RTG. This format represented a single gamma-ray spectrum as ASCII energy/count pairs preceded by an ASCII header. The ASCII representation of the data assured that it was compatible on any computing platform and this format is still in use. In the mid 1990's it became apparent that instrument systems of greater complexity would demand a file format of larger capacity to support systems then on the drawing board, including networks of sensors collecting time series of gamma-ray spectra. These systems were in the planning stage and defined data structures were not available. It became apparent that a new storage format for nuclear measurements data would be needed and it would have to be flexible and extensible to accommodate the requirements of systems of the future. As part of an LDRD, we began to investigate what others were doing, especially in the high-energy physics community, to …

The fiber transport of sub-nanosecond laser pulses in the ultraviolet spectral region over significant distances, such as those found in the National Ignition Facility, requires special fibers. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192 arm, Nd-doped, phosphate glass laser that is being built for the US Department of Energy by and at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This facility will be used for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) research. The ultraviolet (UV) light used for target irradiation is generated at the entrance to the target chamber by converting the fundamental laser wavelength to the third harmonic (351 nm). The NIF Laser Diagnostic System's power diagnostic measures the UV laser power produced by each of the 192 arms. In this system, the diagnostic samples the laser pulse at the target chamber and a fiber transports this signal to detection and recording instrumentation located outside the target room. Pulses from four arms are delayed and multiplexed into a vacuum photodiode detector; a high bandwidth transient digitizer records the data. This basic structure is duplicated many times within the power diagnostic system.

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

Spinels with nominal composition Li{sub 1.02}Al{sub 0.25}Mn{sub 1.75}O{sub 3.97}S{sub 0.03}, Li{sub 1.02}Al{sub 0.25}Mn{sub 1.75}O{sub 4} and Li{sub 1.02}Al{sub 0.15}Mn{sub 1.85}O{sub 3.96}S{sub 0.04} have been evaluated for their suitability as positive electrode materials in rechargeable lithium ion batteries for electric (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) applications. {sup 7}Li magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR, XRD, and EDS experiments indicate that sulfur is most likely present as a trace impurity on the surface of the spinel particles rather than substituting for oxygen ions in the bulk, so it is unlikely to account for the previously reported enhanced cyclability of this material. Rather, the unusual particle morphology produced during calcination of some samples in the presence of sulfur compounds appears to impede (but does not completely prevent) conversion to the tetragonal phase that occurs at 3V vs. Li, and ameliorates the capacity fading associated with it. These materials exhibit reduced rate capability and capacity at 4 V, making them unsuitable for high energy density (EV) or high power density applications (HEV).

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This report contains the trends, composition, direction, and policy of the U.S. agricultural trade.

This study addressed three aspects in selected alkaline leaching: first, the use of oxidants persulfate, permanganate, and ferrate as selective chromium-leaching agents from washed Hanford Tank S-110 solids under varying conditions of hydroxide concentration, temperature, and time was investigated. Second, the selective dissolution of solids containing mercury(II) oxide under alkaline conditions was examined. Various compounds were studied for their effectiveness in dissolving mercury under varying conditions of time, temperature, and hydroxide concentration in the leachate. Three compounds were studied: cysteine, iodide, and diethyldithiophosphoric acid (DEDTPA). Finally, the possibility of whether an oxidant bound to an anion-exchange resin can be used to effectively oxidize chromium(III) in alkaline solutions was addressed. The experimental results remain ambiguous to date; further work is required to reach any definitive conclusions as to the effectiveness of this approach.

The overall objective of the present project is to identify and assess strategies and solutions for the management of industry problems related to carbon in ash. Specific research issues to be addressed include: (1) the effect of parent fuel selection on ash properties and adsorptivity, including a first ever examination of the air entrainment behavior of ashes from alternative (non-coal) fuels; (2) the effect of various low-NOx firing modes on ash properties and adsorptivity; and (3) the kinetics and mechanism of ash ozonation. This data will provide scientific and engineering support of the ongoing process development activities. During this fourth project period we completed the characterization of ozone-treated carbon surfaces and wrote a comprehensive report on the mechanism through which ozone suppresses the adsorption of concrete surfactants.

This project develops Fuel-Flexible Reburning (FFR) technology that is an improved version of conventional reburning. In FFR solid fuel is partially gasified before injection into the reburning zone of a boiler. Partial gasification of the solid fuel improves efficiency of NO{sub x} reduction and decreases LOI by increasing fuel reactivity. Objectives of this project were to develop engineering and scientific information and know-how needed to improve the cost of reburning via increased efficiency and minimized LOI and move the FFR technology to the demonstration and commercialization stage. All project objectives and technical performance goals have been met, and competitive advantages of FFR have been demonstrated. The work included a combination of experimental and modeling studies designed to identify optimum process conditions, confirm the process mechanism and to estimate cost effectiveness of the FFR technology. Experimental results demonstrated that partial gasification of a solid fuel prior to injection into the reburning zone improved the efficiency of NO{sub x} reduction and decreased LOI. Several coals with different volatiles content were tested. Testing suggested that incremental increase in the efficiency of NO{sub x} reduction due to coal gasification was more significant for coals with low volatiles content. Up to 14% increase in the …

A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) bearing was fabricated and tested by itself and as a component in a 1-kWh and a 10-kWh flywheel energy system (FES). The rotational losses of the HTS bearing as a function of rotational rate and HTS temperature were determined. The 1-kWh FES was tested with a motor/generator and with an eddy current clutch to determine the motor/generator losses.

To provide a quick feedback on different approaches to superconducting cable splicing design and assembly techniques, a superconducting current transformer that can deliver more than 20 kA for testing splice samples has been designed and fabricated. The existing infrastructure of the Short Sample Test Facility at Fermilab, including its cryostat, power supply, and data acquisition system, was used for housing and operating the transformer. This report presents the design features of the transformer and the main results of cable splice tests.

In this research program, several optical instruments for high temperature measurement based on single crystal sapphire material are introduced and tested for real-time, reliable, long-term monitoring of temperatures for coal gasifier. These are sapphire fiber extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) sensor; intensity-measurement based polarimetric sapphire sensor and broadband polarimetric differential interferometric (BPDI) sapphire sensor. Based on current evaluation and analysis of the experimental results, the broadband polarimetric differential interferometric (BPDI) sensor system was chosen for further prototype instrumentation development. This approach is based on the self-calibrating measurement of optical path differences (OPD) in a single-crystal sapphire disk, which is a function of both the temperature dependent birefringence and the temperature dependent dimensional changes. The BPDI sensor system extracts absolute temperature information by absolute measurement of phase delays. By encoding temperature information in optical spectrum instead of optical intensity, this sensor guarantees its relative immunity to optical source power fluctuations and fiber losses, thus providing a high degree of long-term measurement stability which is highly desired in industrial applications. The entire prototype for BPDI system including the single crystal sapphire probe, zirconia prism, alumina extension tube, optical components and signal processing hardware and software have shown excellent performance in the laboratory experiments …

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Accurate measurement of temperature is essential for the safe and efficient operation and control of a wide range of industrial processes. Appropriate techniques and instrumentation are needed depending on the temperature measurement requirements in different industrial processes and working environments. Harsh environments are common in many industrial applications. These harsh environments may involve extreme physical conditions, such as high-temperature, high-pressure, corrosive agents, toxicity, strong electromagnetic interference, and high-energy radiation exposure. Due to these severe environmental conditions, conventional temperature sensors are often difficult to apply. This situation has opened a new but challenging opportunity for the sensor society to provide robust, high-performance, and cost-effective temperature sensors capable of operating in those harsh environments. The focus of this research program has been to develop a temperature measurement system for temperature measurements in the primary and secondary stages of slagging gasifiers. For this application the temperature measurement system must be able to withstand the extremely harsh environment posed by the high temperatures and corrosive agents present in these systems. Real-time, accurate and reliable monitoring of temperature for the coal gasification process is important to realize the full economic potential of these gasification systems. Long life and stability of operation in the high temperature …

Microorganisms present in the natural environment play a significant role in the mobilization and immobilization of uranium. Fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of microbiological transformations of various chemical forms of uranium present in wastes and contaminated soils and water has led to the development of novel bioremediation processes. One process uses anaerobic bacteria to stabilize the radionuclides and toxic metals from the waste, with a concurrent reduction in volume due to the dissolution and removal of nontoxic elements from the waste matrix. In an another process, uranium and other toxic metals are removed from contaminated soils and wastes by extracting with the chelating agent citric acid. Uranium is recovered from the citric acid extract after biodegradation/photodegradation in a concentrated form as UO{sub 3} {center_dot} 2H{sub 2}O for recycling or appropriate disposal.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government spends billions of dollars annually to provide services to the needy directly, or through contracts with a large network of social service providers. Faith-based organizations (FBO), such as churches and religiously affiliated entities, are a part of this network and have a long history of providing social services to needy families and individuals. In the past, religious organizations were required to secularize their services and premises, so that their social service activities were distinctly separate from their religious activities, as a condition of receiving public funds. Beginning with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Congress enacted "charitable choice" provisions, which authorized religious organizations to compete on the same basis as other organizations for federal funding under certain programs without having to alter their religious character or governance. The statutory provisions cover several programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Welfare to Work. Similar provisions also apply to the Community Services Block Grant and the substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. GAO found that faith-based organizations receive a small proportion of the government funding provided …