Advanced Natural Language Processing Tools for Web Information Retrieval, Content Analysis, and Synthesis. The goal of this SBIR was to implement and evaluate several advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and techniques to enhance the precision and relevance of search results by analyzing and augmenting search queries and by helping to organize the search output obtained from heterogeneous databases and web pages containing textual information of interest to DOE and the scientific-technical user communities in general. The SBIR investigated 1) the incorporation of spelling checkers in search applications, 2) identification of significant phrases and concepts using a combination of linguistic and statistical techniques, and 3) enhancement of the query interface and search retrieval results through the use of semantic resources, such as thesauri. A search program with a flexible query interface was developed to search reference databases with the objective of enhancing search results from web queries or queries of specialized search systems such as DOE's Information Bridge. The DOE ETDE/INIS Joint Thesaurus was processed to create a searchable database. Term frequencies and term co-occurrences were used to enhance the web information retrieval by providing algorithmically-derived objective criteria to organize relevant documents into clusters containing significant terms. A thesaurus provides …

Future extreme ultraviolet lithography (EWL) steppers will, in all likelihood, have six-mirror projection cameras. To operate at the diffraction limit over an acceptable depth of focus each aspheric mirror will have to be fabricated with an absolute figure accuracy approaching 100 pm rms. We are currently developing visible light interferometry to meet this need based on modifications of our present phase shifting diffraction interferometry (PSDI) methodology where we achieved an absolute accuracy of 250pm. The basic PSDI approach has been further simplified, using lensless imaging based on computational diffractive back-propagation, to eliminate auxiliary optics that typically limit measurement accuracy. Small remaining error sources, related to geometric positioning, CCD camera pixel spacing and laser wavelength, have been modeled and measured. Using these results we have estimated the total system error for measuring off-axis aspheric EUVL mirrors with this new approach to interferometry.

Genetic Analysis of Juvenile Chinook Salmon for inclusion in 'Ecology of Juvenile Salmonids in Shallow Tidal Freshwater Habitats in the Vicinity of the Sandy River Delta, lower Columbia River, 2007. Final report submitted to the Bonneville Power Administration, Contract DE-AC05-76RLO1830.' Genotypic data were collected for 108 Chinook salmon and used in the genetic stock identification analysis. Results of the mixture analysis are presented in Table 1. Percentage estimates for four genetic stock groups (West Cascade Tributary Fall, Willamette River Spring, Deschutes River Fall, and Upper Columbia River Summer/Fall) ranged from 11% to 43%, all with non-zero lower 95% confidence intervals. Small contributions were also estimated for the West Cascade Tributary Spring (3%) and Snake River Fall (6%) stock groups. Results of individual fish probability assignments were summed by collection date (Figure 1) and site (Figure 2). Assignment probabilities for the most likely stock group for each individual ranged from 0.51 to 1.00 with approximately 60% of the assignments greater than 0.90 (data not shown). Nearly all of the low probability assignments were fish with assignments split between the Deschutes River Fall and Upper Columbia River Summer/Fall groups.

Ice clouds play a major role in the radiative energy budget of the Earth-atmosphere system (Liou 1986). Their radiative effect is governed primarily by the equilibrium between their albedo and greenhouse effects. Both macrophysical and microphysical properties of ice clouds regulate this equilibrium. For quantifying the effect of these clouds onto climate and weather systems, they must be properly characterized in atmospheric models. In this paper we use remote-sensing measurements from the SIRTA ground based atmospheric observatory (Site Instrumental de Recherche par Teledetection Atmospherique, http://sirta.lmd.polytechnique.fr). Lidar and radar observations taken over 18 months are used, in order to gain statistical confidence in the model evaluation. Along this period of time, 62 days are selected for study because they contain parts of ice clouds. We use the ''model to observations'' approach by simulating lidar and radar signals from MM5 outputs. Other more classical variables such as shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes are also used. Four microphysical schemes, among which that proposed by Reisner et al. (1998) with original or modified parameterizations of particle terminal fall velocities (Zurovac-Jevtic and Zhang 2003, Heymsfield and Donner 1990), and the simplified Dudhia (1989) scheme are evaluated in this study.

Texture, the preference for a particular crystallographic orientation in polycrystalline materials, plays an important role in controlling such diverse materials properties as corrosion resistance, recording density in magnetic media and electrical transport in superconductors [1]. Without texture, polycrystalline oxide superconductors contain many high-angle, weak-linked grain boundaries which reduce critical current densities by several orders of magnitude [2]. One approach for inducing texture in oxide superconductors has been the epitaxial growth of films on rolling-assisted biaxially-textured substrates (RABiTS) [3]. In this approach, rolled Ni foils are recrystallized under conditions that lead to a high degree of biaxial {l_brace}001{r_brace}<100> cube texture. Subsequent deposition of epitaxial oxide buffer layers (typically CeO{sub 2} and YSZ as chemical barriers) and superconducting YBCO preserves the lattice alignment, eliminating high-angle boundaries and enabling high critical current densities, J{sub c} > 10{sup 6}/cm{sup 2}. Conventional x-ray diffraction using {omega}- and {phi}-scans typically shows macroscopic biaxial texture to within {approx}5{sup o}-10{sup o} FWHM for all layers, but does not describe the local microstructural features that control the materials properties. Understanding and controlling the local texture and microstructural evolution of processes associated with heteroepitaxial growth, differential thermal contraction and cracking remain significant challenges in this complex system [4], as well …

We compare nominal efficiencies, i.e. variances in power shapes for equal running time, of different versions of the Monte Carlo eigenvalue computation, as applied to criticality safety analysis calculations. The two main methods considered here are ''conventional'' Monte Carlo and the superhistory method, and both are used in criticality safety codes. Within each of these major methods, different variants are available for the main steps of the basic Monte Carlo algorithm. Thus, for example, different treatments of the fission process may vary in the extent to which they follow, in analog fashion, the details of real-world fission, or may vary in details of the methods by which they choose next-generation source sites. In general the same options are available in both the superhistory method and conventional Monte Carlo, but there seems not to have been much examination of the special properties of the two major methods and their minor variants. We find, first, that the superhistory method is just as efficient as conventional Monte Carlo and, secondly, that use of different variants of the basic algorithms may, in special cases, have a surprisingly large effect on Monte Carlo computational efficiency.

LiCoO2 is the most common lithium storage material for lithium rechargeable batteries, used widely to power portable electronic devices such as laptop computers. Lithium arrangements in the CoO2 framework have a profound effect on the structural stability and electrochemical properties of LixCoO2 (0 < x < 1), however, probing lithium ions has been difficult using traditional X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques. Here we have succeeded in simultaneously resolving columns of cobalt, oxygen, and lithium atoms in layered LiCoO2 battery material using experimental focal series of LiCoO2 images obtained at sub-Angstrom resolution in a mid-voltage transmission electron microscope. Lithium atoms are the smallest and lightest metal atoms, and scatter electrons only very weakly. We believe our observations of lithium to be the first by electron microscopy, and that they show promise to direct visualization of the ordering of lithium and vacancy in LixCoO2.

Large-insert genomic libraries facilitate cloning of large genomic regions, allow the construction of clone-based physical maps and provide useful resources for sequencing entire genomes. Drosophilabuzzatii is a representative species of the repleta group in the Drosophila subgenus, which is being widely used as a model in studies of genome evolution, ecological adaptation and speciation. We constructed a Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) genomic library of D. buzzatii using the shuttle vector pTARBAC2.1. The library comprises 18,353 clones with an average insert size of 152 kb and a {approx}18X expected representation of the D. buzzatii euchromatic genome. We screened the entire library with six euchromatic gene probes and estimated the actual genome representation to be {approx}23X. In addition, we fingerprinted by restriction digestion and agarose gel electrophoresis a sample of 9,555 clones, and assembled them using Finger Printed Contigs (FPC) software and manual editing into 345 contigs (mean of 26 clones per contig) and 670singletons. Finally, we anchored 181 large contigs (containing 7,788clones) to the D. buzzatii salivary gland polytene chromosomes by in situ hybridization of 427 representative clones. The BAC library and a database with all the information regarding the high coverage BAC-based physical map described in this paper are available …

Studies of beam halo became unavoidable feature of high-intensity machines where uncontrolled beam loss should be kept to extremely small level. For a well controlled stable beam such a loss is typically associated with the low density halo surrounding beam core. In order to minimize uncontrolled beam loss or improve performance of an accelerator, it is very important to understand what are the sources of halo formation in a specific machine of interest. The dominant mechanisms are, in fact, different in linear accelerators, circular machines or Energy Recovering Linacs (ERL). In this paper, we summarize basic mechanisms of halo formation in high-intensity beams and discuss their application to various types of accelerators of interest, such as linacs, rings and ERL.

In this working group we have investigated a number of aspects of searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) at the running or planned TeV-scale colliders. For the most part, we have considered hadron colliders, as they will define particle physics at the energy frontier for the next ten years at least. The variety of models for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics has grown immensely. It is clear that only future experiments can provide the needed direction to clarify the correct theory. Thus, our focus has been on exploring the extent to which hadron colliders can discover and study BSM physics in various models. We have placed special emphasis on scenarios in which the new signal might be difficult to find or of a very unexpected nature. For example, in the context of supersymmetry (SUSY), we have considered: how to make fully precise predictions for the Higgs bosons as well as the superparticles of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) (parts III and IV); MSSM scenarios in which most or all SUSY particles have rather large masses (parts V and VI); the ability to sort out the many parameters of the MSSM using a variety of signals …

A bubble merger model is presented for the nonlinear evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability driven by a strong blast wave. Single bubble motion is determined by an extension of previous buoyancy-drag models extended to the blast wave driven case, and a simple bubble merger law in the spirit of the Sharp-Wheeler model allows for the generation of larger scales. The blast wave driven case differs in several respects from the classical case of incompressible fluids in a uniform gravitational field. Because of material decompression in the rarefaction behind the blast front, the asymptotic bubble velocity and the merger time depend on time as well as the transverse scale and the drive. For planar blast waves, this precludes the emergence of a self-similar regime independent of the initial conditions. With higher-dimensional blast waves, divergence restores the properties necessary for the establishment of the self-similar state, but its establishment requires a very high initial characteristic mode number and a high Mach number for the incident blast wave.

This report details the findings of three years of research plus one year of a no-cost extension. Primary results are the work with supported nanoporous carbon membranes for separation and reaction as well as with cesium-nanoporous carbon catalysts. The work resulted in 17 plus 2 papers (2 are in progress) and partial or full support for five Ph.D. students. Two patents were filed based on this research.

The fifteen years of DOE support have encompassed two different projects, electron-transfer reactions of metal carbonyl anions and water-soluble organometallic complexes. Each of these is related to homogeneous catalysis and will be described in separate sections. Electron Transfer--Twenty-one manuscripts resulted from our studies of electron-transfer reactions of metal carbonyl anions and acknowledge DOE support. Construction of an infrared stopped-flow system allowed us to measure rates of reactions for the extremely air-sensitive metal carbonyl anions. As for carbanions, both one-electron and two-electron processes occur for metal carbonyl anions. The most unexpected feature was examples of a very rapid two-electron process, followed by a much slower one-electron back transfer. The two-electron processes were accompanied by transfer of a ligand between two metals, M-X + M{prime}{sup -} {yields} M{sup -} + M{prime}-X with X groups of CO{sup 2}, H{sup +}, CH{sub 3}{sup +} and Br{sup +}. These transfers, which can be considered nucleophilic displacements, occurred when M{prime}{sup -} was more nucleophilic than M{sup -}. The 21 published manuscripts explore one- and two-electron processes for many such organometallic complexes. Water-Soluble Organometallic Complexes--The potential of water-soluble organometallic complexes in ''green chemistry'' intrigued us. Sixteen manuscripts acknowledging DOE support have appeared thus far in this field. …

The objectives of this report are: (1) Investigate the catalysis of water oxidation by cobalt and manganese hydrous oxides immobilized on titania or silica nanoparticles, and dinuclear metal complexes with quinonoid ligands in order to develop a better understanding of the critical water oxidation chemistry, and rationally search for improved catalysts. (2) Optimize the light-harvesting and charge-separation abilities of stable semiconductors including both a focused effort to improve the best existing materials by investigating their structural and electronic properties using a full suite of characterization tools, and a parallel effort to discover and characterize new materials. (3) Combine these elements to examine the function of oxidation catalysts on Band-Gap-Narrowed Semiconductor (BGNSC) surfaces and elucidate the core scientific challenges to the efficient coupling of the materials functions.

The objectives of this report are: (1) Investigate the catalysis of water oxidation by cobalt and manganese hydrous oxides immobilized on titania or silica nanoparticles, and dinuclear metal complexes with quinonoid ligands in order to develop a better understanding of the critical water oxidation chemistry, and rationally search for improved catalysts. (2) Optimize the light-harvesting and charge-separation abilities of stable semiconductors including both a focused effort to improve the best existing materials by investigating their structural and electronic properties using a full suite of characterization tools, and a parallel effort to discover and characterize new materials. (3) Combine these elements to examine the function of oxidation catalysts on Band-Gap-Narrowed Semiconductor (BGNSC) surfaces and elucidate the core scientific challenges to the efficient coupling of the materials functions.

The objective of this project is to develop ceramic membranes for hydrogen separation from fuel gas or synthesis gas at temperatures 400-500 C. The membrane chosen for this purpose consists of a dense silica layer coated on a porous support by chemical vapor depositrion (CVD). The support used during the reporting period was zeolite silicalite grown on macroporous alumina tubes. Chemical vapor deposition was carried out using alternating exposure of the support to silicon tetrachloride (SiCl{sub 4}) and water vapor at 400-500 C. Under these conditions it takes about twenty-five reaction cycles to narrow down the pores of the zeolite support sufficiently for separation of hydrogen from other gases. The membranes were characterized by gas adsorption for pore size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, and EDAX for elemental composition. The permeance of H{sub 2}, N{sub 2}, CO{sub 2}, n-C{sub 4}H{sub 10}, and i-C{sub 4}H{sub 10} was measured in the temperature range 100-250 C. At 150 C, the H{sub 2}:N{sub 2} permeance ratio was in the range 100-200 at a hydrogen permeance of 5-10x10{sup -8} mol/m{sub 2}-s-Pa.

Three dip samples of suspended sludge slurry were obtained from Tank 51H in December, 2003 after addition of corrosion control chemicals to the tank. The samples were sent to the Savannah River Technology Center for analysis. The analyses requested included those required for Extended Sludge Processing washing controls and corrosion controls. The washing controls require the measurement of the sodium concentration, density, and weight per cent solids of the sample. The corrosion control analyses require determination of the nitrate, nitrite, and free hydroxide concentrations in the supernate. The low per cent relative standard deviations for all analytical results indicate good analytical precision for the three replicates. The blanks submitted with the sample show no contamination of the samples from reagents used in the sample preparations. The results of the density and weight per cent solids measurements appear consistent with the sodium concentration measured in the supernate.

This cleanup verification package documents completion of remedial action, sampling activities, and compliance with cleanup criteria for the 118-F-8:4 Fuel Storage Basin West Side Adjacent and Side Slope Soils. The rectangular-shaped concrete basin on the south side of the 105-F Reactor building served as an underwater collection, storage, and transfer facility for irradiated fuel elements discharged from the reactor.

This paper presents a combinatorial study on the problem ofconstructing a sparse basis forthe null-space of a sparse, underdetermined, full rank matrix, A. Such a null-space is suitable forsolving solving many saddle point problems. Our approach is to form acolumn space basis of A that has a sparse inverse, by selecting suitablecolumns of A. This basis is then used to form a sparse null-space basisin fundamental form. We investigate three different algorithms forcomputing the column space basis: Two greedy approaches that rely onmatching, and a third employing a divide and conquer strategy implementedwith hypergraph partitioning followed by the greedy approach. We alsodiscuss the complexity of selecting a column basis when it is known thata block diagonal basis exists with a small given block size.

Katzenstein and Apt investigate the important question of pollution emission reduction benefits from variable generation resources such as wind and solar. Their methodology, which couples an individual variable generator to a dedicated gas plant to produce a flat block of power is, however, inappropriate. For CO{sub 2}, the authors conclude that variable generators 'achieve {approx} 80% of the emission reductions expected if the power fluctuations caused no additional emissions.' They find even lower NO{sub x} emission reduction benefits with steam-injected gas turbines and a 2-4 times net increase in NO{sub x} emissions for systems with dry NO{sub x} control unless the ratio of energy from natural gas to variable plants is greater than 2:1. A more appropriate methodology, however, would find a significantly lower degradation of the emissions benefit than suggested by Katzenstein and Apt. As has been known for many years, models of large power system operations must take into account variable demand and the unit commitment and economic dispatch functions that are practiced every day by system operators. It is also well-known that every change in wind or solar power output does not need to be countered by an equal and opposite change in a dispatchable resource. The …

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A scalable fiber laser approach is described based on phase-locking multiple gain cores in an antiguided structure. The waveguide is comprised of periodic sequences of gain- and no-gain-loaded segments having uniform index, within the cladding region. Initial experimental results are presented.

This Cooperative Agreement was focuse on the development and dissemination of technologies, best-practices, energy-efficiency assessment programs, etc., that could support industry's drive to become more competitive in a rapidly chaning and highly competitive global marketplace. The Agreement covered a rane of collaborative activities between AIChE and DOE/ITP's various Industries of the Future ("IOF") Teams such as: 1. Help with technology evaluation adn support by providing industry experts to: a) Review solicitation proposals b) Review technology portfolios as deeped appropriate by DOE/ITP c) Market IOF Best Practices through outreach and technical assistance at the plant-level adn via meetings with operations staff. 2) Help establish various programs with industry, academia and National Laboratories to develop tools, methodologies and benchmarks that entities served by IOF would find valuable in establishing goals for improving energy consumption in specific processes. 3) Support IOF with Technology Vision 2020 programs.

An enhanced concentration of aerosol may increase the number of cloud drops by providing more cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), which in turn results in a higher cloud albedo at a constant cloud liquid water path. This process is often referred to as the aerosol indirect effect (AIE). Many in situ and remote sensing observations support this hypothesis (Ramanathan et al. 2001). However, satellite observed relations between aerosol concentration and cloud drop size are not always in agreement with the AIE. Based on global analysis of cloud effective radius (r{sub e}) and aerosol number concentration (N{sub a}) derived from satellite data, Sekiguchi et al. (2003) found that the correlations between the two variables can be either negative, or positive, or none, depending on the location of the clouds. They discovered that significantly negative r{sub e} - N{sub a} correlation can only be identified along coastal regions of the continents where abundant continental aerosols inflow from land, whereas Feingold et al. (2001) found that the response of r{sub e} to aerosol loading is the greatest in the region where aerosol optical depth ({tau}{sub a}) is the smallest. The reason for the discrepancy is likely due to the variations in cloud macroscopic properties …