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

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, which is currently being revived around the world, raises fundamental questions about dense granular flow in silos. A typical reactor core is composed of graphite fuel pebbles, which drain very slowly in a continuous refueling process. Pebble flow is poorly understood and not easily accessible to experiments, and yet it has a ma jor impact on reactor physics. To address this problem, we perform full-scale, discrete-element simulations in realistic geometries, with up to 440,000 frictional, viscoelastic 6cm-diameter spheres draining in a cylindrical vessel of diameter 3.5m and height 10m with bottom funnels angled at 30◦ or 60◦ . We also simulate a bidisperse core with a dynamic central column of smaller graphite moderator pebbles and show that little mixing occurs down to a 1:2 diameter ratio. We analyze the mean velocity, diffusion and mixing, local ordering and porosity (from Voronoi volumes), the residence-time distribution, and the effects of wall friction and discuss implications for reactor design and the basic physics of granular flow.

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

One new Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) groundwater assessment well was installed at single-shell tank Waste Management Area (WMA) S-SX in fiscal year (FY) 2005 to fulfill commitments for well installations proposed in Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, Milestone M-24-57 (2004). The need for the new well, well 299-W22-47, was identified during a data quality objectives process for establishing a RCRA/ Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)/Atomic Energy Act (AEA) integrated 200 West and 200 East Area Groundwater Monitoring Network. This document provides a compilation of all available geologic data, spectral gamma ray logs, hydrogeologic data and well information obtained during drilling, well construction, well development, pump installation, aquifer testing, and sample collection/analysis activities. Appendix A contains the Well Summary Sheets, the Well Construction Summary Report, the geologist's Borehole Log, well development and pump installation records, and well survey results. Appendix B contains analytical results from groundwater samples collected during drilling. Appendix C contains complete spectral gamma ray logs and borehole deviation surveys.

One new Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) groundwater monitoring and assessment well was installed at single-shell tank Waste Management Area (WMA) T in calendar year 2005 in partial fulfillment of commitments for well installations proposed in Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, Milestone M-24-57 (2004). The need for increased monitoring capability at this WMA was identified during a data quality objectives process for establishing a RCRA/Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)/Atomic Energy Act (AEA) integrated 200 West and 200 East Area Groundwater Monitoring Network. The initial borehole, 299-W11-25B, was located about 20 ft from existing downgradient well 299 W11-39. The specific objective for the borehole was to determine the vertical distribution of contaminants in the unconfined aquifer at the northeast corner of WMA T. The permanent casing in borehole 299-W11-25B was damaged beyond repair during well construction and replacement borehole, 299-W11-46, was drilled about 10 ft from borehole 299-W11-25B (Figure 1). Borehole 299-W11-46 was completed as a RCRA monitoring well. This document provides a compilation of all available geologic data, geophysical logs, hydrogeologic data and well information obtained during drilling, well construction, well development, pump installation, groundwater sampling and analysis activities, and preliminary results of slug …

This report provides information about the Constitutional Principles and Federal Statutes on Child Pornography. Child pornography is material that visually depicts sexual conduct by children.

The stability of localized corrosion sites on SS 316L exposed to atmospheric conditions was studied computationally. The localized corrosion system was decoupled computationally by considering the wetted cathode and the crevice anode separately and linking them via a constant potential boundary condition at the mouth of the crevice. The potential of interest for stability was the repassivation potential. The limitations on the ability of the cathode that are inherent due to the restricted geometry were assessed in terms of the dependence on physical and electrochemical parameters. Physical parameters studied include temperature, electrolyte layer thickness, solution conductivity, and the size of the cathode, as well as the crevice gap for the anode. The current demand of the crevice was determined considering a constant crevice solution composition that simulates the critical crevice solution as described in the literature. An analysis of variance showed that the solution conductivity and the length of the cathode were the most important parameters in determining the total cathodic current capacity of the external surface. A semi-analytical equation was derived for the total current from a restricted geometry held at a constant potential at one end. The equation was able to reproduce all the model computation results both …

We test the evolution of the correlation between black hole mass and bulge velocity dispersion (M{sub BH} - {sigma}), using a carefully selected sample of 14 Seyfert 1 galaxies at z = 0.36 {+-} 0.01. We measure velocity dispersion from stellar absorption lines around Mgb (5175 {angstrom}) and Fe (5270 {angstrom}) using high S/N Keck spectra, and estimate black hole mass from the H{beta} line width and the optical luminosity at 5100 {angstrom}, based on the empirically calibrated photo-ionization method. We find a significant offset from the local relation, in the sense that velocity dispersions were smaller for given black hole masses at z = 0.36 than locally. We investigate various sources of systematic uncertainties and find that those cannot account for the observed offset. The measured offset is {Delta} log M{sub BH} = 0.62 {+-} 0.10 {+-} 0.25, i.e. {Delta} log {sigma} = 0.15 {+-} 0.03 {+-} 0.06, where the error bars include a random component and an upper limit to the systematics. At face value, this result implies a substantial growth of bulges in the last 4 Gyr, assuming that the local M{sub BH} - {sigma} relation is the universal evolutionary end-point. Along with two samples of active …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) continues to rely on commercial satellite communications to plan and support operations. DOD use of commercial satellite bandwidth has increased over the past few years, making the department the largest single customer of commercial satellite bandwidth. In recent years, DOD's process for acquiring commercial satellite communications has received criticism for being lengthy, inflexible, and costly. DOD is now reexamining how it procures commercial satellite services to address these issues. Congress asked us to summarize the actions that DOD has taken to date in revising its requirements and acquisition approach for commercial satellite services."

Methods to determine genetic potential, gene expression, as well as direct enzyme activity, are all useful in planning a bioremediation.

This paper presents the dynamic simulation of the 6M drum with a locking-ring type closure subjected to a 4.9-foot drop. The drum is filled with water to 98 percent of overflow capacity. A three dimensional finite-element model consisting of metallic, liquid and rubber gasket components is used in the simulation. The water is represented by a hydrodynamic material model in which the material's volume strength is determined by an equation of state. The explicit numerical method based on the theory of wave propagation is used to determine the combined structural response to the torque load for tightening the locking-ring closure and to the impact load due to the drop.

A numerical technique has been developed to simulate the structural responses of radioactive material packaging components requiring closure-tightening torque to the scenarios of the hypothetical accident conditions (HAC) defined in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 10 part 71 (10CFR 71). A rigorous solution to this type of problem poses a considerable mathematical challenge. Conventional methods for evaluating the residue stresses due to the torque load are either inaccurate or not applicable to dynamic analyses. In addition, the HAC events occur sequentially and the cumulative damage to the package needs to be evaluated. Commonly, individual HAC events are analyzed separately and the cumulative damage is not addressed. As a result, strict compliance of the package with the requirements specified in 10CFR 71 is usually demonstrated by physical testing. The proposed technique utilizes the combination of kinematic constraints, rigid-body motions and structural deformations to overcome some of the difficulties encountered in modeling the effect of cumulative damage in numerical solutions. The analyses demonstrating use of this technique were performed to determine the cumulative damage of torque preload, a 30-foot drop, a 30-foot dynamic crush and a 40-inch free fall onto a mild steel pipe.

ECO2N is a fluid property module for the TOUGH2 simulator (Version 2.0) that was designed for applications to geologic storage of CO{sub 2} in saline aquifers. It includes a comprehensive description of the thermodynamics and thermophysical properties of H{sub 2}O-NaCl-CO{sub 2} mixtures, that reproduces fluid properties largely within experimental error for the temperature, pressure and salinity conditions of interest(10 C {le} T {le} 110 C; P {le} 600 bar; salinity up to full halite saturation). Flow processes can be modeled isothermally or non-isothermally, and phase conditions represented may include a single (aqueous or CO{sub 2}-rich) phase, as well as two-phase mixtures. Fluid phases may appear or disappear in the course of a simulation, and solid salt may precipitate or dissolve. ECO2N can model super- as well as sub-critical conditions, but it does not make a distinction between liquid and gaseous CO{sub 2}. This paper highlights significant features of ECO2N, and presents illustrative applications.

This report summarizes the results of the interviews with end users for the Web-at-Risk project. The Web-at-Risk project is one of eight digital preservation projects funded in 2004 by the Library of Congress. The project is a 3-year collaborative effort of the California Digital Library (CDL), the University of North Texas (UNT), and New York University (NYU). The project will develop a Web Archiving Service that enables curators to build, store, and manage collections of web-published materials.

TOUGH2{_}MP, the parallel version TOUGH2 code, has been enhanced by implementing more efficient communication schemes. This enhancement is achieved through reducing the amount of small-size messages and the volume of large messages. The message exchange speed is further improved by using non-blocking communications for both linear and nonlinear iterations. In addition, we have modified the AZTEC parallel linear-equation solver to nonblocking communication. Through the improvement of code structuring and bug fixing, the new version code is now more stable, while demonstrating similar or even better nonlinear iteration converging speed than the original TOUGH2 code. As a result, the new version of TOUGH2{_}MP is improved significantly in its efficiency. In this paper, the scalability and efficiency of the parallel code are demonstrated by solving two large-scale problems. The testing results indicate that speedup of the code may depend on both problem size and complexity. In general, the code has excellent scalability in memory requirement as well as computing time.

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

Funeral program for Fannie Lee Johnson White, born March 18, 1925 and died April 10, 2006. The funeral was held April 17, 2006 at East St. Paul United Methodist Church, officiated by Rev. Maurice Washington. She was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.

Funeral program for Gladys Hardaway Cooks, born October 9, 1938 and died April 12, 2006. The funeral was held April 17, 2006 at Westridge Park First Baptist Church, officiated by Rev. Ray Weathers. The funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and she was buried in Meadowlawn Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas.

We present preliminary results on hadronic decays of B mesons, based on data recorded at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-factory at SLAC. We measure branching fractions in CP-related analyses of B{sup -} {yields} D({yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup 0})K{sup -}, B{sup 0} {yields} {bar D}{sup 0}(D{sup 0})DK{sup +}{pi}{sup -} and B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup +}a{sub 0(2)}{sup -} and in non-CP-related analyses of B{sup +} {yields} D{sup (*)+} K{sup 0}, B{sup -} {yields} D{sub s}{sup (*)-} and {phi} and B {yields} J/{Psi} {bar D}. Because the results presented in this paper are preliminary, they are based on different amount of data samples.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN Laboratory will become the largest scientific instrument in the world when it starts operations in 2007. Large Scale Analysis Computer Systems (computational grids) are required to extract rare signals of new physics from petabytes of LHC detector data. In addition to file-based event data, LHC data processing applications require access to large amounts of data in relational databases: detector conditions, calibrations, etc. U.S. high energy physicists demand efficient performance of grid computing applications in LHC physics research where world-wide remote participation is vital to their success. To empower physicists with data-intensive analysis capabilities a whole hyperinfrastructure of distributed databases cross-cuts a multi-tier hierarchy of computational grids. The crosscutting allows separation of concerns across both the global environment of a federation of computational grids and the local environment of a physicist’s computer used for analysis. Very few efforts are on-going in the area of database and grid integration research. Most of these are outside of the U.S. and rely on traditional approaches to secure database access via an extraneous security layer separate from the database system core, preventing efficient data transfers. Our findings are shared by the Database Access and Integration Services Working …

A brief article in remembrance of a Vickery Place Neighborhood Association past president, Bill Nelson.

The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element V{sub ub} is a fundamental parameter of the Standard Model, representing the coupling of the b quark to the u quark. It is one of the smallest and least known elements of the CKM matrix. With the increasingly precise measurements of decay-time-dependent CP asymmetries in B-meson decays, in particular the angle {beta} [1, 2], improved measurements of the magnitude of V{sub ub} will allow for stringent experimental tests of the Standard Model mechanism for CP violation [3]. The extraction of |V{sub ub}| is a challenge, both theoretically and experimentally. Theoretically, the weak decay rate for b {yields} uev can be calculated at the parton level. It is proportional to |V{sub ub}|{sup 2} and m{sub b}{sup 5}, where m{sub b} is the b-quark mass. To relate the B-meson decay rate to |V{sub ub}|, the parton-level calculations have to be corrected for perturbative and non-perturbative QCD effects. These corrections can be calculated using various techniques: heavy quark expansions (HQE) [4] and QCD factorization [5]. They make use of specific assumptions and are affected by different uncertainties. It is therefore important to make redundant measurements by using several experimental techniques, and different theoretical frameworks. Experimentally, the principal challenge …

The needs for considering aqueous and sorption kinetics and microbiological processes arises in many subsurface problems, such as environmental and acid mine remediation. A general rate expression has been implemented into TOUGHREACT, which considers multiple mechanisms(pathways) and includes multiple product, Monod, and inhibition terms. In this paper, the formulation for incorporating kinetic rates among primary species into the mass balance equations is presented. A batch sulfide oxidation problem is simulated. The resulting concentrations are consistent with simple hand calculations. A 1-D reactive transport problem with kinetic biodegradation and sorption was investigated, which models the processes when a pulse of water containing NTA (nitrylotriacetate) and cobalt is injected into a column. The problem has several interacting chemical processes that are common to many environmental problems: biologically-mediated degradation of an organic substrate, bacterial cell growth and decay, metal sorption and aqueous speciation including metal-ligand complexation. The TOUGHREACT simulation results agree very well with those obtained with other simulators.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A wide array of cyber and physical assets is critical to America's national security, economic well-being, and public health and safety. Information related to threats, vulnerabilities, incidents, and security techniques is instrumental to guarding these critical infrastructures against attacks and mitigating the impact of attacks that may occur. The ability to share security-related information can unify the efforts of federal, state, and local government as well as the private sector, as appropriate, in preventing and minimizing terrorist attacks. The Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 was enacted to encourage nonfederal entities to voluntarily share critical infrastructure information and established protections for it. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a lead role in implementing the act. GAO was asked to determine (1) the status of DHS's efforts to implement the act and (2) the challenges it faces in carrying out the act."