Soils beneath and adjacent to the Pavlodar Chemical Plant in Kazakhstan have been contaminated with elemental mercury as a result of chlor alkali processing using mercury cathode cell technology. The work described in this paper was conducted in preparation for a demonstration of a technology to remove the mercury from the contaminated soils using a vacuum assisted thermal distillation process. The process can operate at temperatures from 250-500 C and pressures of 0.13kPa-1.33kPa. Following vaporization, the mercury vapor is cooled, condensed and concentrated back to liquid elemental mercury. It will then be treated using the Sulfur Polymer Stabilization/Solidification process developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory as described in a companion paper at this conference. The overall project objectives include chemical and physical characterization of the contaminated soils, study of the influence of the soil's physical-chemical and hydro dynamical characteristics on process parameters, and laboratory testing to optimize the mercury sublimation rate when heating in vacuum. Based on these laboratory and pilot-scale data, a full-scale production process will be designed for testing. This paper describes the soil characterization. This work is being sponsored by the International Science and Technology Center.

A new experiment has begun that builds upon the successful Staged Electron Laser Acceleration (STELLA) experiment, which demonstrated high-trapping efficiency and narrow energy spread in a staged laser-driven accelerator. STELLA was based upon inverse free electron lasers (IFEL); the new experiment, called STELLA-LW, is based upon laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA). The first phase of STELLA-LW will be to demonstrate LWFA in a capillary discharge driven by the Brookhaven National Laboratory Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) terawatt CO{sub 2} laser beam. This will be the first time LWFA is conducted at 10.6-{micro}m laser wavelength. It will also be operating in an interesting pseudo-resonant regime where the laser pulse length is too long for resonant LWFA, but too short for self-modulated LWFA. Analysis has shown that in pseudo-resonant LWFA, pulse-steepening effects occur on the laser pulse that permits generation of strong wakefields. Various approaches are being explored for the capillary discharge including polypropylene and hydrogen-filled capillaries. Planned diagnostics for the experiment include coherent Thomson scattering (CTS) to detect the wakefield generation. This will be one of the first times CTS is used on a capillary discharge.

A non-perturbing electron beam diagnostic system for measuring the charge distribution of an ion beam is developed for Heavy Ion Fusion (HIF) beam physics studies. Conventional diagnostics require temporary insertion of sensors into the beam, but such diagnostics stop the beam, or significantly alter its properties. In this diagnostic a low energy, low current electron beam is swept transversely across the ion beam; the measured electron beam deflection is used to infer the charge density profile of the ion beam. The initial application of this diagnostic is to the Neutralized Transport Experiment (NTX), which is exploring the physics of space-charge-dominated beam focusing onto a small spot using a neutralizing plasma. Design and development of this diagnostic and performance with the NTX ion beamline is presented.

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

The Republic of Kazakhstan is continuing to develop its extensive petroleum reserves in the Tengiz region of the northeastern part of the Caspian Sea. Large quantities of by-product sulfur are being produced as a result of the removal of hydrogen sulfide from the oil and gas produced in the region. Lack of local markets and economic considerations limit the traditional outlets for by-product sulfur and the buildup of excess sulfur is a becoming a potential economic and environmental liability. Thus, new applications for re-use of by-product sulfur that will benefit regional economies including construction, paving and waste treatment are being developed. One promising application involves the cleanup and treatment of mercury at a Kazakhstan chemical plant. During 19 years of operation at the Pavlodar Khimprom chlor-alkali production facility, over 900 tons of mercury was lost to the soil surrounding and beneath the buildings. The Institute of Metallurgy and Ore Benefication (Almaty) is leading a team to develop and demonstrate a vacuum-assisted thermal process to extract the mercury from the soil and concentrate it as pure, elemental mercury, which will then be treated using the Sulfur Polymer Stabilization/Solidification (SPSS) process. The use of locally produced sulfur will recycle a low-value industrial …

Video recording from The Black Academy of Arts and Letters recorded during their Gallery Exhibition: Artists from Two Different Worlds event in 2004. This video features the artwork from artists Arthello Beck and Frank Frazier at the James E. Kemp Gallery with closeups of the labels.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Craig. Craig was inducted into the Army Air Forces on 20 October 1942. After basic training at Miami Beach, he was assigned to the 2002nd Ordnance Maintenance Company and sailed across the Atlantic on the RMS Queen Mary arriving in England on 29 July 1943. He was assigned to the 1962nd Ordnance Depot Company (Aviation) a part of the 8th Air Force. His duties included servicing and modifying B-17 and B-24 bombers. Smith was once placed in charge of German POWs tasked with painting military vehicles returned from North Africa. He provides a detailed account of his involvement in the famous truck convoys known as the Red Ball Express. He also recalls his role in cannibalizing bombers which had crash landed in England upon returning from their missions. He remembers returning to the States on the RMS Queen Elizabeth and being discharged on November 10, 1945.

The atomic-scale processes that control the formation of carbon deposits on Ni catalysts in reforming applications are poorly understood. Ab initio Density Functional Theory calculations have been used to examine several key elementary steps in the complex network of chemical reactions that precedes carbon formation on practical catalysts. Attention has been focused on the disproportionation of CO. A comparative study of this reaction on flat and stepped crystal planes of Ni has provided the first direct evidence that surface carbon formation is driven by elementary reactions occurring at defect sites on Ni catalysts. The adsorption and diffusion of atomic H on several flat and stepped Ni surfaces has also been characterized experimentally.

A photograph of riders standing with their bikes waiting to begin, facing the right. The cyclists are framed by a line of parked cars facing a group of large green trees.

A photograph of cyclists waiting with their bikes near parked cars in the Tarrant County College Northwest campus parking lot. A man wearing a white polo and backpack stands to the side in a grass median.

Photography of a woman in a pink tank top and black biker shorts cycles around a curve in a parking lot near the entrance to a park area. Cars appear parked on the opposite curb and she is followed by another cyclist wearing a bright blue helmet.

A photograph of cyclists in blue and white rounding a corner at various speeds. Multiple vehicles line the curb of the road to the right.

Photograph of a rider walking with his bike and smiling, in a multicolored jersey. The picture was taken in the vicinity of a park parking lot with surrounding areas under construction.

A photograph of a smiling cyclist in a white shirt, sunglasses, and blue helmet riding his bike up a path from a parking lot.

A photograph of three people sitting in the yard in front of a red-accented house with a Lone Star Ride banner hanging from the porch. All three individuals sit in different positions as they read from packets of pink papers with their eyebrows held in concentration.

Photograph of a group of volunteers wearing red Lone Star Ride t-shirts, the individual in the center is wearing a cycling shirt and bike shorts. This photo was taken the morning of the first race day behind a yellow Penske equipment truck.

Photograph of three cyclists standing on stage and doing warm-up stretches. All three individuals are dressed in their cycling gear in front of a large LSR sponsors banner. This photo was taken in the early morning on the first day of the race before the riders depart from the Northwest campus of Tarrant Country Community College.

Photograph of three individuals standing near sound equipment. The woman in the foreground is wearing a headset and an oversize blue LSR t-shirt. The man kneeling next to the equipment wears a cowboy hat along with the third individual in a grey LSR t-shirt.

Photograph of a man and woman standing shoulder to shoulder and smiling as their portrait is taken. The woman wearing a plastic crown and costume jewelry is event manager Janie Bush and the man is dressed in his cycling gear and helmet.

Photograph of four women standing together and smiling for their portraits. Three of the women are wearing Lone Star Ride t-shirts and one is wearing a rainbow tie-dyed shirt. Event manager Janie Bush appears in a blue LSR t-shirt.

Photograph of two women standing next to a blue alien balloon. The women are wearing Lone Star Ride t-shirts and smiling for their portrait. Event manager Janie Bush appears on the right.

Photograph of two men standing by side in front of a green truck that has B&B Bicycles on the side of it. The man on the left wears a green polo and jeans with the man on the right wearing dark sunglasses and cycling gear.

Photograph of a man and woman standing side by side and smiling for their picture. The woman is wearing a coconut bra and hula skirt and the man is dressed in full cycling gear and helmet.

Photograph a group of individuals standing side by side and posing together for a group picture. Some of them are dressed in coconut bras and hula skirts and shirts, while others are dressed in full cycling gear and helmets.