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This CRADA was a continuation of earlier work with Micro-Grain, Inc. to develop power, high frequency microwave treatment process to treat insect infested grain. ORNLs role was as a subcontractor to Micro-Grain's Phase II SBIR project funded by the US Department of Agriculture. The primary objective was to develop a commercial scale prototype unit capable of treating infested grain at flow rates approaching 1 kg/sec, which is required to be viable in the grain handling industry. A flow rate of {approx} 0.12 Kg/second was demonstrated at 20 kW microwave power level with 100% kill rate. The system is capable of 200 kW however waveguide arcing due to grain dust in the waveguide limited the power to 20 kW during the tests. Development tasks performed during the project included modification of an existing high-power microwave exposure facility to uniformly process large grain samples at high flow rates and improved instrumentation to detect grain flow and uniformity. Microwave processing tasks include a series of controlled exposure tests using infested grain samples provided and analyzed by the University of Oklahoma. Grain samples were infested with red flour beetles which proved the most difficult to kill in earlier tests. Most of the samples processed …

Use of the National Ignition Facility to also output frequency-doubled (.53{micro}m) laser light would allow significantly more energy to be delivered to targets as well as significantly greater bandwidth for beam smoothing. This green light option could provide access to new ICF target designs and a wider range of plasma conditions for other applications. The wavelength scaling of the interaction physics is a key issue in assessing this green light option. Wavelength scaling theory based on the collisionless plasma approximation is explored, and some limitations associated with plasma collisionality are examined. Important features of the wavelength scaling are tested using the current data base, which is growing. It appears that, with modest restrictions, .53{micro}m light couples with targets as well as .35{micro}m light does. A more quantitative understanding of the beneficial effects of SSD on the interaction physics is needed for both .53{micro}m and .35{micro}m light.

We present novel approach to discover the rules that govern gene regulation mechanisms. The method is based on supervised machine learning and is designed to reveal relationships between transcription factors and gene promoters. As the representation of the gene regulatory circuit we have chosen a special form of IF-THEN rules associating certain features (a generalized idea of a Transcription Factor Binding Site) in gene promoters with specific gene expression profiles.

The factory approach (a.k.a. virtual constructor) hides the details of the class implementing the TSTT from TSTT users. In version 0.5 of TSTT.sidl, the client hard codes the name of the implementing class into their code. The client is forced to choose from the small set of possible concrete classes defined in TSTT.sidl. This approach makes it impossible to support multiple implementations of the TSTT in a single process because each implementation has to implement the same class. The factory approach hides the details of mesh creation from the client. The client does not need to know the name of the implementing class, and the client can dynamically determine which interfaces are supported by the new mesh. A factory can support multiple TSTT implementation because each implementation defines its own concrete classes to implement. The factory approach does require the TSTT compliant mesh packages to implement a MeshFactory interface, and everyone needs to link against an implementation of the Registry. The Registry only has 7 methods that are fairly easy to implement, and everyone can share one implementation of the Registry.

The objective of this project is to calibrate regional travel-times and propagation characteristics of seismic waves in Turkey and surrounding areas in the Middle East in order to enhance detection and location capabilities in the region. Important data for the project will be obtained by large calibration shots in central and eastern Turkey. The first, a two-ton shot, was fired in boreholes near Keskin in central Anatolia on 23 November 2002. The explosives were placed in 14 holes, each 80 m deep, arranged in concentric circular arrays. Ninety temporary seismic stations were deployed within a 300 km radius around the shot. The permanent stations of the Turkish National Seismic Network provided a good azimuthal coverage as well as three radial traverses. Most stations within a radius of 200 km recorded the shot. Travel-time data have been analyzed to obtain a detailed crustal model under the shot and along the profiles. The model gives a 35 km thick crust, characterized by two layers with velocities of 5.0 and 6.4 km/s. The P{sub n} velocity was found to be 7.8 km/s. The crustal thickness decreases to the north where the profile crosses the North Anatolian fault. There is a slight increase in …

It is known that high energy radiation can have numerous effects on materials. In metals and alloys, the effects include, but may not be limited to, mechanical property changes, physical property changes, compositional changes, phase changes, and dimensional changes. Metals and alloys which undergo high energy self-irradiation are also susceptible to these changes. One of the greatest concerns with irradiation of materials is the phenomenon of void swelling which has been observed in a wide variety of metals and alloys. Irradiation causes the formation of a high concentration point defects and microclusters of vacancies and interstitials. With the assistance of an inert atom such as helium, the vacancy-type defects can coalesce to form a stable bubble. This bubble will continue to grow through the net absorption of more vacancy-type defects and helium atoms, and upon reaching a certain critical size, the bubble will begin to grow at an accelerated rate without the assistance of inert atom absorption. The bubble is then said to be an unstably growing void. Depending on the alloy system and environment, swelling values can reach in excess of 50% !V/Vo where Vo is the initial volume of the material. Along with dimensional changes resulting from the …

An ultra fast, sub-picosecond resolution streak camera has been recently developed at the LLNL. The camera is a versatile instrument with a wide operating wavelength range. The temporal resolution of up to 300 fs can be achieved, with routine operation at 500 fs. The streak camera has been operated in a wide wavelength range from IR to x-rays up to 2 keV. In this paper we briefly review the main design features that result in the unique properties of the streak camera and present its several scientific applications: (1) Streak camera characterization using a Michelson interferometer in visible range, (2) temporally resolved study of a transient x-ray laser at 14.7 nm, which enabled us to vary the x-ray laser pulse duration from {approx}2-6 ps by changing the pump laser parameters, and (3) an example of a time-resolved spectroscopy experiment with the streak camera.

The primary accomplishment of the project has been the development of a functional genomics database system, GUS (Genomics Unified Schema). The system provides a relational schema, application framework, and web interface for multiple projects and includes information on sequences, gene expression, gene regulation, ontologies, and data provenance. The system has been made portable and has been set up at other institutions. A web site is available describing the system and providing links for downloading code at http://www.gusdb.org.

In this study, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is performing a technology review to assess the market for commercially available power electronic converters that can be used to connect microturbines to either the electric grid or local loads. The intent of the review is to facilitate an assessment of the present status of marketed power conversion technology to determine how versatile the designs are for potentially providing different services to the grid based on changes in market direction, new industry standards, and the critical needs of the local service provider. The project includes data gathering efforts and documentation of the state-of-the-art design approaches that are being used by microturbine manufacturers in their power conversion electronics development and refinement. This project task entails a review of power converters used in microturbines sized between 20 kW and 1 MW. The power converters permit microturbine generators, with their non-synchronous, high frequency output, to interface with the grid or local loads. The power converters produce 50- to 60-Hz power that can be used for local loads or, using interface electronics, synchronized for connection to the local feeder and/or microgrid. The power electronics enable operation in a stand-alone mode as a voltage source or …

Short Residence Time & Low and High Shear Rate Coal and Oil Feedstock Test

The six coal fired power plants located in the Colorado Plateau and southern Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. produce 100 million tons of CO{sub 2} per year. Thick sequences of colocated sedimentary rocks represent potential sites for sequestration of the CO{sub 2}. Field and laboratory investigations of naturally occurring CO{sub 2}-reservoirs are being conducted to determine the characteristics of potential seal and reservoir units and the extent of the interactions that occur between the host rocks and the CO{sub 2} charged fluids. The results are being incorporated into a series of two-dimensional numerical models that represent the major chemical and physical processes induced by injection. During reporting period covered here (July 1 to September 30, 2003), the main achievements were: Preparation for Project Review visit in Salt Lake City by new Project Manager; Submittal of two scientific papers to a special issue of ''Chemical Geology'' on CO{sub 2} sequestration; Set-up of website reporting results of this project; and Publication of summary article in Utah Geological Survey ''Survey Notes'' (circulation of 3000).

The objective of this project was to develop a membrane process to separate olefins from paraffins in waste gas streams as an alternative to flaring or distillation. Flaring these streams wastes their chemical feedstock value; distillation is energy and capital cost intensive, particularly for small waste streams.

Multiple parton scattering and induced parton energy loss in deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) off heavy nuclei is studied within the framework of generalized factorization in perturbative QCD with a complete calculation beyond the helicity amplitude (or soft bremsstrahlung) approximation. Such a calculation gives rise to new corrections to the modified quark fragmentation functions. The effective parton energy loss is found to be reduced by a factor of 5/6 from the result of helicity amplitude approximation.

The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which uses petroleum coke to produce at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals using ChevronTexaco's proprietary gasification technology. The objective of Phase I is to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD&T) Plan to mitigate technical risks and barriers; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD&T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing and testing plan for an EECP located at a specific site. The project's intended result is to provide the necessary technical, economic, and environmental information needed by industry to move the EECP forward to detailed design, construction, and operation. The partners in this project are Texaco Energy Systems LLC (TES), a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco, General Electric (GE), Praxair, and Kellogg Brown & …

This eighth quarterly technical report discusses the progress made on a machine vision technique for determining coal content and preparations for Year-3 system deployment. Classification maps for coal have been generated and shown to two coal-mining executives. An application for licensing high-speed hyperspectral data analysis software from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been made. Both Western Energy and Stillwater Mining Company have offered platforms for Year-3 deployment. Barretts Minerals has expressed renewed interest in using Resonon's machine vision system for identifying dolomite in their talc ore and have agreed to provide samples to the Montana Tech team.

Field and laboratory investigations of naturally occurring CO{sub 2}-reservoirs are being conducted to determine the characteristics of potential seal and reservoir units and the extent of the interactions that occur between the host rocks and the CO{sub 2} charged fluids. Efforts have focused on the Farnham Dome field, located in central Utah, and the Springerville-St. Johns field in Arizona and New Mexico. The Springerville-St. Johns field is particularly significant because of the presence of extensive travertine deposits that document release of CO{sub 2} to the atmosphere. CO{sub 2} accumulations at both fields occur in sedimentary rocks typical of CO{sub 2} reservoirs occurring on the Colorado Plateau. The main achievements during this quarter were: (1) a soil gas flux survey at the Springerville-St Johns field, (2) collection of some soil gas for chemical and isotopic analysis from this field, and (3) collection of travertine samples from an elevation range of over 1000 feet (330 m) for dating the time span of carbonate-saturated spring outflow at this field. Analytical results and interpretations are still in progress. When available they will allow contrast with soil gas measurements from Farnham Dome natural CO{sub 2} field in central Utah, which were reported in the previous …

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Calcium oxide injected in a slagging combustor reacts with the sulfur from coal combustion to form sulfur-bearing particles. The reacted particles impact and melt in the liquid slag layer on the combustor wall by the centrifugal force of the swirling combustion gases. Due to the low solubility of sulfur in slag, it must be rapidly drained from the combustor to limit sulfur gas re-evolution. Prior analyses and laboratory scale data indicated that for Coal Tech's 20 MMBtu/hour, air-cooled, slagging coal combustor slag mass flow rates in excess of 400 lb/hr should limit sulfur re-evolution. The objective of this 42-month project was to validate this sulfur-in-slag model in a group of combustor tests. A total of 36 days of testing on the combustor were completed during the period of performance of this project. This was more that double the 16 test days that were required in the original work statement. The extra tests were made possible by cost saving innovations that were made in the operation of the combustor test facility and in additional investment of Coal Tech resources in the test effort. The original project plan called for two groups of tests. The first group of tests involved the injection …

This paper presents a fast and stable imaging scheme using the localized nonlinear (LN) approximation of integral equation (IE) solutions for inverting electromagnetic data obtained in a crosswell survey. The medium is assumed to be cylindrically symmetric about a source borehole and to maintain the symmetry a vertical magnetic dipole is used as a source. To find an optimum balance between data fitting and smoothness constraint, we introduce an automatic selection scheme of Lagrange multiplier, which is sought at each iteration with a least misfit criterion. In this selection scheme, the IE algorithm is quite attractive in speed because Green's functions, a most time-consuming part in IE methods, are repeatedly reusable throughout the inversion process. The inversion scheme using the LN approximation has been tested to show its stability and efficiency using both synthetic and field data. The inverted image derived from the field data, collected in a pilot experiment of water flood monitoring in an oil field, is successfully compared with that of a 2.5-dimensional inversion scheme.

Field and laboratory investigations of naturally occurring CO{sub 2}-reservoirs are being conducted to determine the characteristics of potential seal and reservoir units and the extent of the interactions that occur between the host rocks and the CO{sub 2} charged fluids. Efforts have focused on the Farnham Dome, located in central Utah, and the Springer-St. Johns field in Arizona and New Mexico. The Springer-St. Johns field is particularly significant because of the presence of extensive travertine deposits that document release of CO{sub 2} to the atmosphere. CO{sub 2} accumulations at both fields occur in sedimentary rocks typical of CO{sub 2} reservoirs occurring on the Colorado Plateau. The main achievements were: (1) to assess the possibility of CO{sub 2} leakage from the Farnham Dome of central Utah; and (2) prepare a paper for presentation at the 3rd Annual Conference on Carbon Sequestration.

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Chemical Reactions at Surfaces was held at Holiday Inn, Ventura, California, 2/16-21/03. Emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field.

The objective of this research is to widen the applicability of gas flooding to shallow oil reservoirs by reducing the pressure required for miscibility using gas enrichment and increasing sweep efficiency with foam. Task 1 examines the potential for improved oil recovery with enriched gases. Subtask 1.1 examines the effect of dispersion processes on oil recovery and the extent of enrichment needed in the presence of dispersion. Subtask 1.2 develops a fast, efficient method to predict the extent of enrichment needed for crude oils at a given pressure. Task 2 develops improved foam processes to increase sweep efficiency in gas flooding. Subtask 2.1 comprises mechanistic experimental studies of foams with N2 gas. Subtask 2.2 conducts experiments with CO{sub 2} foam. Subtask 2.3 develops and applies a simulator for foam processes in field application.

The goals of the phase I program were to enhance the software package ''CyberRay'' as follows: (1) Incorporate a particle-in-cell space charge model; (2) Incorporate a model for transition radiation; (3) Develop versions for both Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X operating systems; and (4) Incorporate support for dual processors. The program was very successful. The space charge model, transition radiation model, and support for two operating systems were fully implemented resulting in a unique product useful to both the accelerator and laser communities. Support for dual processors was not implemented during the phase I program due to lack of time. In what follows the enhanced CyberRay package is described in detail.