The goal of this LDRD Research project was to provide a preliminary examination of the use of infrared spectroscopy as a tool to detect the changes in cell cultures upon activation by an infectious agent. Due to a late arrival of funding, only 5 months were available to transfer and setup equipment at UTTM,develop cell culture lines, test methods of in-situ activation and collect kinetic data from activated cells. Using attenuated total reflectance (ATR) as a sampling method, live cell cultures were examined prior to and after activation. Spectroscopic data were collected from cells immediately after activation in situ and, in many cases for five successive hours. Additional data were collected from cells activated within a test tube (pre-activated), in both transmission mode as well as in ATR mode. Changes in the infrared data were apparent in the transmission data collected from the pre-activated cells as well in some of the pre-activated ATR data. Changes in the in-situ activated spectral data were only occasionally present due to (1) the limited time cells were studied and (2) incomplete activation. Comparison of preliminary data to infrared bands reported in the literature suggests the primary changes seen are due an increase in ribonucleic …

None

The transient exact solution of heat conduction in a two-domain composite cylinder is developed using the separation of variables technique. The inner cylinder is isotropic and the outer cylindrical layer is orthotropic. Temperature solutions are obtained for boundary conditions of the first and second kinds at the outer surface of the orthotropic layer. These solutions are applied to heat flow calorimeters modeling assuming that there is heat generation due to nuclear reactions in the inner cylinder. Heat flow calorimeter simulations are carried out assuming that the inner cylinder is filled with plutonium oxide powder. The first objective in these simulations is to predict the onset of thermal equilibrium of the calorimeter with its environment. Two types of boundary conditions at the outer surface of the orthotropic layer are used to predict thermal equilibrium. The procedure developed to carry out these simulations can be used as a guideline for the design of calorimeters. Another important application of these solutions is on the estimation of thermophysical properties of orthotropic cylinders. The thermal conductivities in the vertical, radial and circumferential directions of the orthotropic outer layer can be estimated using this exact solution and experimental data. Simultaneous estimation of the volumetric heat capacity …

Often the most robust and efficient algorithms for the solution of large-scale problems involving nonlinear PDEs and optimization require the computation of derivative quantities. We examine the use of automatic differentiation (AD) to provide code for computing first and second derivatives in conjunction with two parallel numerical toolkits, the Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computing (PETSc) and the Toolkit for Advanced Optimization (TAO). We discuss how the use of mathematical abstractions for vectors and matrices in these libraries facilitates the use of AD to automatically generate derivative codes and present performance data demonstrating the suitability of this approach.

The Rotary Combustor is a novel concept for burning coal with low SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} emissions. It burns crushed coal in a fluid bed where the bed is maintained in a rotating drum by centripetal force. Since this force may be varied, the combustor may be very compact, and thus be a direct replacement for a p.c. burner on existing boilers. The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate that a typical industrial boiler can be refired with the modified prototype Rotary Combustor to burn Ohio high-sulfur coal with low emissions of SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x}. The primary problem that must be resolved to demonstrate sustained operations with coal is temperature control in the rotating fluid bed. The prototype Rotary Combustor was assembled and installed on the T-850P CNB boiler at the CONSOL Energy site in South Park, Pennsylvania. Several design improvements were investigated and implemented during the assembly to improve the prototype Rotary Combustor operations compared to prior tests at Detroit Stoker in Monroe, Michigan. An Operating Manual and Safety Review were completed. The shakedown test phase was initiated. Two major problems were initially encountered: binding of the rotating drum at operating temperatures, and reduced …

The main objective of this program was to develop an efficient and economically viable microwave processing technique to process cobalt cemented tungsten carbide with improved properties for drill-bits for advanced drilling operations for oil, gas, geothermal and excavation industries. The program was completed in three years and successfully accomplished all the states goals in the original proposal. In three years of the program, we designed and built several laboratory scale microwave sintering systems for conducting experiments on Tungsten carbide (WC) based composites in controlled atmosphere. The processing conditions were optimized and various properties were measured. The design of the system was then modified to enable it to process large commercial parts of WC/Co and in large quantities. Two high power (3-6 kW) microwave systems of 2.45 GHz were built for multi samples runs in a batch process. Once the process was optimized for best results, the technology was successfully transferred to our industrial partner, Dennis Tool Co. We helped them to built couple of prototype microwave sintering systems for carbide tool manufacturing. It was found that the microwave processed WC/Co tools are not only cost effective but also exhibited much better overall performance than the standard tools. The results of …

In the first year of the project, solid-fluid mixture flows in ducts and passages at different angle of orientations were analyzed. The model predictions are compared with the experimental data and good agreement was found. Progress was also made in analyzing the gravity chute flows of solid-liquid mixtures. An Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation for analyzing three-phase slurry flows in a bubble column is being developed. The approach uses an Eulerian analysis of gas liquid flows in the bubble column, and makes use of the Lagrangian particle tracking procedure to analyze the particle motions. Progress was also made in developing a rate dependent thermodynamically consistent model for multiphase slurry flows in a state of turbulent motion. The new model includes the effect of phasic interactions and leads to anisotropic effective phasic stress tensors. Progress was also made in measuring concentration and velocity of particles of different sizes near a wall in a duct flow. The formulation of a thermodynamically consistent model for chemically active multiphase solid-fluid flows in a turbulent state of motion was also initiated. The general objective of this project is to provide the needed fundamental understanding of three-phase slurry reactors in Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) liquid fuel synthesis. The other main goal …

Energy use and environmental parameters were monitored in three AT and T regeneration buildings during the summer of 2000. These buildings are constructed with concrete and are about 14.9 m2 (160 f2; 10x16 ft)in size. The buildings were initially monitored for about 1 1/2 months to establish a base condition. Then, the roofs of the buildings were painted with a white coating and the monitoring was continued. The original roof reflectances were about 26 percent; after the application of roof coatings the reflectivities increased to about 72 percent. In two of these buildings, we monitored savings of about 0.5kWh per day (8.6 kWh/m2 [0.8 kWh/ft2]). The third building showed a reduction in air-conditioning energy use of about 13kWh per day. These savings probably resulted from the differences in the performance (EER) of the two dissimilar AC units in this building. The estimated annual savings for two of the buildings are about 125kWh per year; at a cost of dollar 0.1/kWh, savings are about dollar 12.5 per year. Obviously, it costs significantly more than this amount to coat the roofs with reflective coating, particularly because of the remote location of the buildings. However, since the prefabricated roofs are already painted green …

None

The House of Representatives follows a well established routine on the opening day of a new Congress. The proceedings include election of the Speaker, swearing in its members, election of administrative officers, and adoption of rules of procedure. Also, resolutions assigning its members to committees may be adopted. The House must take these actions at the beginning of each new Congress because it is not a continuing body. Article 1, Section 2 of Constitution sets terms for Members of the House at two years. Thus, the House ends at the conclusion of each two-year Congress and must reconstitute itself at the beginning of a new Congress. This report focuses on the floor activities of the House during its first formal session in a new Congress, and serves as a guide for participating in or watching those proceedings.

The Senate follows a well-established routine on the opening day of a new Congress. The proceedings include swearing in new members, administrative business, and the election of the president pro tempore, the constitutionally mandated officer elected to preside over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. This report contains information on what is contained in the well-established routine.

None

The approach of the Campus Earthquake Program (CEP) is to combine the substantial expertise that exists within the UC system in geology, seismology, and geotechnical engineering, to estimate the earthquake strong motion exposure of UC facilities. These estimates draw upon recent advances in hazard assessment, seismic wave propagation modeling in rocks and soils, and dynamic soil testing. The UC campuses currently chosen for application of our integrated methodology are Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. The procedure starts with the identification of possible earthquake sources in the region and the determination of the most critical fault(s) related to earthquake exposure of the campus. Combined geological, geophysical, and geotechnical studies are then conducted to characterize each campus with specific focus on the location of particular target buildings of special interest to the campus administrators. We drill and geophysically log deep boreholes next to the target structure, to provide direct in-situ measurements of subsurface material properties, and to install uphole and downhole 3-component seismic sensors capable of recording both weak and strong motions. The boreholes provide access below the soil layers, to deeper materials that have relatively high seismic shear-wave velocities. Analyses of conjugate downhole and uphole records provide a basis for …

None

During 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy, in conjunction with its nuclear laboratories, a national steering committee, and a panel of world experts, developed a roadmap for research, development, demonstration, and deployment of Accelerator-driven Transmutation of Waste (ATW). The ATW concept that was examined in this roadmap study was based on that developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) during the 1990s. The reference deployment scenario in the Roadmap was developed to treat 86,300 tn (metric tonnes initial heavy metal) of spent nuclear fuel that will accumulate through 2035 from existing U.S. nuclear power plants (without license extensions). The disposition of this spent nuclear reactor fuel is an issue of national importance, as is disposition of spent fuel in other nations. The U.S. program for the disposition of this once-through fuel is focused to characterize a candidate site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada for a geological repository for spent fuel and high-level waste. The ATW concept is being examined in the U.S. because removal of plutonium minor actinides, and two very long-lived isotopes from the spent fuel can achieve some important objectives. These objectives include near-elimination of plutonium, reduction of the inventory and mobility of long-lived radionuclides in the repository, …

The direct conversion of the electrical energy of charged fission fragments was examined early in the nuclear reactor era, and the first theoretical treatment appeared in the literature in 1957. Most of the experiments conducted during the next ten years to investigate fission fragment direct energy conversion (DEC) were for understanding the nature and control of the charged particles. These experiments verified fundamental physics and identified a number of specific problem areas, but also demonstrated a number of technical challenges that limited DEC performance. Because DEC was insufficient for practical applications, by the late 1960s most R&D ceased in the US. Sporadic interest in the concept appears in the literature until this day, but there have been no recent programs to develop the technology. This has changed with the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative that was funded by the U.S. Congress in 1999. Most of the previous concepts were based on a fission electric cell known as a triode, where a central cathode is coated with a thin layer of nuclear fuel. A fission fragment that leaves the cathode with high kinetic energy and a large positive charge is decelerated as it approaches the anode by a charge differential of several …

We infer the structure of the ZZ Ceti stars L 19-2 and GD 165 by comparing the observed periods with periods predicted from an extensive grid of evolutionary white dwarf models. The observed period structure of these two stars is similar, and the models for both stars have a helium layer mass of about 10{sup {minus}2}M* and a hydrogen layer mass of about 10{sup {minus}4}M*. The core of these models is 20:80 C/O that extends to 0.60 to 0.65M* with a linear ramp to pure carbon by 0.90M*. The differences in the observed effective temperature, log g, and periods imply different stellar masses for these two stars. L 19-2 has a favored stellar mass of 0.72M{circle_dot} and GD 165 has a favored stellar mass range of 0.65 to 0.68M*.

A theory is developed for the response of moderately porous solids (no more than {approximately}20% void space) to high-strain-rate deformations. The model is consistent because each feature is incorporated in a manner that is mathematically compatible with the other features. Unlike simple p-{alpha} models, the onset of pore collapse depends on the amount of shear present. The user-specifiable yield function depends on pressure, effective shear stress, and porosity. The elastic part of the strain rate is linearly related to the stress rate, with nonlinear corrections from changes in the elastic moduli due to pore collapse. Plastically incompressible flow of the matrix material allows pore collapse and an associated macroscopic plastic volume change. The plastic strain rate due to pore collapse/growth is taken normal to the yield surface. If phase transformation and/or pore nucleation are simultaneously occurring, the inelastic strain rate will be non-normal to the yield surface. To permit hardening, the yield stress of matrix material is treated as an internal state variable. Changes in porosity and matrix yield stress naturally cause the yield surface to evolve. The stress, porosity, and all other state variables vary in a consistent manner so that the stress remains on the yield surface throughout …

None

We developed novel cermet (i.e., ceramic-metal composite) membranes for separating hydrogen from gas mixtures at high temperature and pressure. The hydrogen permeation rate in the temperature range of 600-900 C was determined for three classes of cermet membranes (ANL-1, ANL-2, and ANL-3). Among these membranes, ANL-3 showed the highest hydrogen permeation rate, with a maximum flux of 3.2 cm{sup 3}/min-cm{sup 2} for a 0.23-mm-thick membrane at 900 C. Effects of membrane thickness and hydrogen partial pressure on permeation rate indicated that bulk diffusion of hydrogen is rate-limiting for ANL-3 membranes. The lack of degradation in permeation rate during exposure to a simulated syngas mixture suggests that ANL-3 membranes are chemically stable and suitable for long-term operation.

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory is evaluating in situ bioremediation of contaminated groundwater at its Test Area North Facility. To determine feasibility, microcosm and bioreactor studies were conducted to ascertain the ability of indigenous microbes to convert trichloroethene and dichloroethene to non-hazardous byproducts under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and to measure the kinetics of microbial reactions associated with the degradation process. Microcosms were established from core samples and groundwater obtained from within the contaminant plume. These microcosms were amended with nutrients, under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, to identify electron donors capable of stimulating the degradation process. Results of the anaerobic microcosm studies showed that lactate, acetate and propionate amendments stimulated indigenous cell growth and functioned as effective substrates for reductive degradation of chloroethenes. Bioreactors inoculated with cultures from these anaerobic microcosms were operated under a batch mode for 42 days then converted to a fed-batch mode and operated at a 53-day hydraulic residence time. It was demonstrated that indigenous microbes capable of complete anaerobic reductive dechlorination are present in the subject well. It was also demonstrated that aerobic microbes capable of oxidizing chlorinated compounds produced by anaerobic reductive dechlorination are present. Kinetic data suggest that controlling the type …

None

None

None