Kinetic analysis of dynamic tracer data is performed with the goal of evaluating myocardial radiotracers for cardiac nuclear medicine imaging. Data from experiments utilizing the isolated rabbit heart model are acquired by sampling the venous blood after introduction of a tracer of interest and a reference tracer. We have taken the approach that the kinetics are properly characterized by an impulse response function which describes the difference between the reference molecule (which does not leave the vasculature) and the molecule of interest which is transported across the capillary boundary and is made available to the cell. Using this formalism we can model the appearance of the tracer of interest in the venous output of the heart as a convolution of the appearance of the reference tracer with the impulse response. In this work we parameterize the impulse response function as the sum of a large number of exponential functions whose predetermined decay constants form a spectrum, and each is required only to have a nonnegative coefficient. This approach, called spectral analysis, has the advantage that it allows conventional compartmental analysis without prior knowledge of the number of compartments which the physiology may require or which the data will support.

This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 252: Area 25 Engine Test Stand-1 Decontamination Pad, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Located at the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, CAU 252 consists of only one Corrective Action Site (25-07-04, Decontamination Pad). This CADD/CR identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's (DOE/NV's) recommendation that no corrective action is deemed necessary at CAU 252. The Corrective Action Decision Document and Closure Report have been combined into one report because the potential contaminants of concern were either not detected during the corrective action investigation or were only present at naturally occurring concentrations. Based on the field results, neither corrective action or a corrective action plan is required at this site. A Notice of Completion to DOE/NV is being requested from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for closure of CAU 252, as well as a request that this site be moved from Appendix III to Appendix IV of the FFACO. Further, no use restrictions are required to be placed on this CAU.

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A numerical flow model is developed to simulate two-dimensional fluid flow past immersed, elastically supported tube arrays. This work is motivated by the objective of predicting forces and motion associated with both deep-water drilling and production risers in the oil industry. This work has other engineering applications including simulation of flow past tubular heat exchangers or submarine-towed sensor arrays and the flow about parachute ribbons. In the present work, a vortex method is used for solving the unsteady flow field. This method demonstrates inherent advantages over more conventional grid-based computational fluid dynamics. The vortex method is non-iterative, does not require artificial viscosity for stability, displays minimal numerical diffusion, can easily treat moving boundaries, and allows a greatly reduced computational domain since vorticity occupies only a small fraction of the fluid volume. A gridless approach is used in the flow sufficiently distant from surfaces. A Lagrangian remap scheme is used near surfaces to calculate diffusion and convection of vorticity. A fast multipole technique is utilized for efficient calculation of velocity from the vorticity field. The ability of the method to correctly predict lift and drag forces on simple stationary geometries over a broad range of Reynolds numbers is presented.

A new and different time variant pulse processing system has been developed based on a simple CR-RC filter and two analog switches. The new pulse processing technique combines both ballistic deficit immunity and resilience to parallel noise without a significant compromise to the low energy resolution, generally considered a mutually exclusive requirement. The filter is realized by combining two different pulse-shaping techniques. One of the techniques creates a low rate of curvature at the pulse peak, which reduces ballistic deficit, while the second technique increases the tolerance to low frequency noise by modifying the noise history. Several experimental measurements are presented, including tests on a co-planar grid CdZnTe detector. Improvements on both the resolution and line shape are shown for the 662 keV line of 137Cs.

While improving their energy use in buildings and bus fleets, schools are likely to create better places for teaching and learning with better lighting, temperature control, acoustics, and air quality. Smart districts also realize benefits in student performance.

Nonlinear edge preserving smoothing often is performed prior to medical image segmentation. The goal of the nonlinear smoothing is to improve the accuracy of the segmentation by preserving changes in image intensity at the boundaries of structures of interest, while smoothing random variations due to noise in the interiors of the structures. Methods include median filtering and morphology operations such as gray scale erosion and dilation, as well as spatially varying smoothing driven by local contrast measures. Rather than irreversibly altering the image data prior to segmentation, the approach described here has the potential to unify nonlinear edge preserving smoothing with segmentation based on differential edge detection at multiple scales. The analysis of n-D image data is decomposed into independent 1-D problems that can be solved quickly. Smoothing in various directions along 1-D profiles through the n-D data is driven by a measure of local structure separation, rather than by a local contrast measure. Isolated edges are preserved independent of their contrast, given an adequate contrast to noise ratio.

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The purpose of this test procedure is to safely operate the Fuel Retrieval System (FRS) and Integrated Water Treatment System (IWTS) with specific fuel canisters, and show that canisters containing fuel can be retrieved from the canister queue, decapped in the Canister Decapper, and loaded into the Primary Clean Machine (PCM) for fuel cleaning; and that fuel can be sorted on the Process Table, then loaded back into fuel canisters and relocated in basin storage. An option is included to load selected elements into multi-canister overpack (MCO) Fuel Baskets. Additional Data are collected during this test, beyond that collected during production operations. These data support qualifying the cleaning performance of the PCM, assessing the quantity of scrap generated during the cleaning, and evaluating the impact of fuel retrieval operations on the Basin water quality. The additional data collected primarily consist of weighing fuel and scrap at selected points in the operation, as well as photographing fuel and scrap as it is processed. The time to perform operations is also monitored for comparison with design predictions. Water quality data are collected to establish a baseline to predict the effectiveness of equipment design for control of contamination and visibility during production operation. …

Cellulose synthase ('CS'), a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of cellulose in plants is inhibited by herbicides comprising thiazolidinones such as 5-tert-butyl-carbamoyloxy-3-(3-trifluromethyl) phenyl-4-thiazolidinone (TZ), isoxaben and 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (DCB). Two mutant genes encoding isoxaben and TZ-resistant cellulose synthase have been isolated from isoxaben and TZ-resistant Arabidopsis thaliana mutants. When compared with the gene coding for isoxaben or TZ-sensitive cellulose synthase, one of the resistant CS genes contains a point mutation, wherein glycine residue 998 is replaced by an aspartic acid. The other resistant mutation is due to a threonine to isoleucine change at amino acid residue 942. The mutant CS gene can be used to impart herbicide resistance to a plant; thereby permitting the utilization of the herbicide as a single application at a concentration which ensures the complete or substantially complete killing of weeds, while leaving the transgenic crop plant essentially undamaged.

This report presents the updated results of the preliminary reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) analysis of selected waste feed delivery (WFD) operations to be performed by the Tank Farm Contractor (TFC) during Phase I activities in support of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). For planning purposes, waste feed tanks are being divided into five classes in accordance with the type of waste in each tank and the activities required to retrieve, qualify, and transfer waste feed. This report reflects the baseline design and operating concept, as of the beginning of Fiscal Year 2000, for the delivery of feed from three of these classes, represented by source tanks 241-AN-102, 241-AZ-101 and 241-AN-105. The preliminary RAM analysis quantifies the potential schedule delay associated with operations and maintenance (OBM) field activities needed to accomplish these operations. The RAM analysis is preliminary because the system design, process definition, and activity planning are in a state of evolution. The results are being used to support the continuing development of an O&M Concept tailored to the unique requirements of the WFD Program, which is being documented in various volumes of the Waste Feed Delivery Technical Basis (Carlson. 1999, Rasmussen 1999, and Orme 2000). The …

This plan defines the approach that will be used to ensure the transition from initial startup to normal operations of the SNF operations--are performed in a safe, controlled, and deliberate manner. It provides a phased approach that bridges the operations between the completion of the ORR and the return to normal operations. This plan includes management oversight and administrative controls to be implemented and then reduced in a controlled manner until normal operations are authorized by SNF Management.

A summary is provided of research concerning ductile necking and fragmentation of ductile materials at high rates of extension, and crack growth and crack pattern formation in strained thin films. Final Report.

The purpose of this document is to establish the System Configuration Management Implementation Procedure (SCMIP) for the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility (CVDF) Monitoring and Control System (MCS). This procedure provides configuration management for the process control system. The process control system consists of equipment hardware and software that controls and monitors the instrumentation and equipment associated with the CVDF processes. Refer to SNF-3090, Cold Vacuum Drying Facility Monitoring and Control System Design Description, HNF-3553, Annex B, Safety Analysis Report for the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility, and AP-CM-6-037-00, SNF Project Process Automation Software and Equipment Configuration. This SCMIP identifies and defines the system configuration items in the control system, provides configuration control throughout the system life cycle, provides configuration status accounting, physical protection and control, and verifies the completeness and correctness of these items.

The issue of waste minimization in advanced reactor systems has been investigated using the Particle-Bed Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (PB-GCFR) design being developed and funded under the U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (USDOE NERI) Program. Results indicate that for the given core power density and constraint on the maximum TRU enrichment allowable, the lowest amount of radiotoxic transuranics to be processed and hence sent to the repository is obtained for long-life core designs. Calculations were additionally done to investigate long-life core designs using LWR spent fuel TRU and recycle TRU, and different feed, matrix and reflector materials. The recycled TRU and LWR spent TRU fuels give similar core behaviors, because of the fast spectrum environment which does not significantly degrade the TRU composition. Using light elements as reflector material was found to be unattractive because of power peaking problems and large reactivity swings. The application of a lead reflector gave the longest cycle length and lowest TRU processing requirement. Materials compatibility and performance issues require additional investigation.

Age consistency for the Universe today has been an important cosmological test. Even more powerful consistency tests at times as early as 10{sup -32} sec lie ahead in the precision era of cosmology. I outline tests based upon cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), particle dark matter, phase transitions, and inflation. The ultimate cosmic timescale--the fate of the Universe--will be in doubt until the mystery of the dark energy is unraveled.

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The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has discovered a population of broad absorption line quasars with various extreme properties. Many show absorption from metastable states of Fe II with varying excitations; several objects are almost completely absorbed bluewards of Mg II; at least one shows stronger absorption from Fe III than Fe II, indicating temperatures T > 35000 K in the absorbing region; and one object even seems to have broad H{beta} absorption. Many of these extreme BALs are also heavily reddened, though ''normal'' BALs (particularly LoBALs) from SDSS also show evidence for internal reddening.

It is commonly assumed that efforts to simultaneously develop energy efficient building technologies and to improve indoor environmental quality (IEQ) are unfeasible. The primary reason for this is that IEQ improvements often require additional ventilation that is costly from an energy standpoint. It is currently thought that health and productivity in work and learning environments requires adequate, if not superior, IEQ. Despite common assumptions, opportunities do exist to design building systems that provide improvements in both energy efficiency and IEQ. This report outlines the selection of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to be used in demonstrating such an opportunity in a field study using relocatable school classrooms. Standard classrooms use a common wall mounted heat pump HVAC system. After reviewing alternative systems, a wall-mounting indirect/direct evaporative cooling system with an integral hydronic gas heating is selected. The anticipated advantages of this system include continuous ventilation of 100 percent outside air at or above minimum standards, projected cooling energy reductions of about 70 percent, inexpensive gas heating, improved airborne particle filtration, and reduced peak load electricity use. Potential disadvantages include restricted climate regions and possible increases in indoor relative humidity levels under some conditions.

We develop the basic elements of the algebra of Taylor series. This knowledge allows us to derive a series expression for an exact root of a general polynomial of arbitrary degree.

The objective of this research was to combine new experimental measurements on heat capacities, volumes, and association constants of key compounds with theoretical equations of state and with first principles quantum mechanical calculations to generate predictions of thermodynamic data. The resulting thermodynamic data allow quantitative models of geochemical processes at high temperatures and pressures. Research funded by a DOE grant to Prof. Robert Wood at the University of Delaware involved the development of new theoretical equations of state for aqueous solutions of electrolytes and non-electrolytes, methods to estimate thermodynamic data not available from experiments, collection of data on model compounds through experiments and predictions of properties using ab initio quantum mechanics. During the last three and a half years, with support from our DOE grant, 16 papers have been accepted or published, and 3 more are in preparation. Results of this research have been reported in numerous invited and contributed presentations at national and international meetings. For this report, we will briefly comment on the highlights of the last 3 and a half years and give a complete list of papers published, accepted, or submitted during these years.

This report summarizes the work done during the second quarter of the project. Effort is directed in two areas: (1) The use of a novel method to achieve a given porosity level with high contiguity and thus conductivity. (2) Relate the measured conductivity to porosity and contiguity. The rationale for these experiments was to develop cathodes with high ionic conductivity, so that the effective polarization resistance will be concomitantly lowered.

A Total System Performance Assessment for Site Recommendation (TSPA-SR) has recently been completed (CRWMS M&O, 2000b) for the potential high-level waste repository at the Yucca Mountain site. The TSPA-SR is an integrated model of scenarios and processes relevant to the postclosure performance of the potential repository. The TSPA-SR scenarios and model components in turn include representations of all features, events, and processes (FEPs) identified as being relevant (i.e., screened in) for analysis. The process of identifying, classifying, and screening potentially relevant FEPs thus provides a critical foundation for scenario development and TSPA analyses for the Yucca Mountain site (Swift et al., 1999). The objectives of this paper are to describe (a) the identification and classification of the comprehensive list of FEPs potentially relevant to the postclosure performance of the potential Yucca Mountain repository, and (b) the development, structure, and use of an electronic database for storing and retrieving screening information about the inclusion and/or exclusion of these Yucca Mountain FEPs in TSPA-SR. The FEPs approach to scenario development is not unique to the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP). General systematic approaches are summarized in NEA (1992). The application of the FEPs approach in several other international radioactive waste disposal programs is …

The U.S. Postal Service (Postal Service) recently installed Energy Information Systems (EIS) at 30 facilities in California. These systems integrate electric utility meter data acquisition hardware, software, and communication systems to collect, archive, analyze, and display whole-facility energy consumption data. At some point in the future, these systems could also be integrated with sub-meters that measure the electricity consumption of key end-use equipment. The purpose of this guidebook is to help Postal Service facility managers interpret and act upon energy data available from their EIS, translating the abundance of information these systems provide into knowledge that can be used to reduce energy use and costs. The guidebook first describes basic EIS capabilities and explains the data and reports that Postal Service EIS provide. It outlines a set of strategies for utilizing this information to improve operations and maintenance of building energy use equipment and for facilitating demand response. Finally, the guidebook offers suggestions on creating a routine for tracking and analyzing energy data and integrating this information into regular energy management activities.