Hurricane Katrina: DOD Disaster Response (open access)

Hurricane Katrina: DOD Disaster Response

This report examines the existing disaster response procedures for the Department of Defense and how they were implemented, the use of the National Guard and its relationship to active duty forces.
Date: January 24, 2006
Creator: Bowman, Steve; Kapp, Lawrence & Belasco, Amy
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2007 Appropriations (open access)

Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2007 Appropriations

This report considers the Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The report compares and contrasts the Senate and House versions of the bill in terms of budgeting. Moreover, both bills reject the termination of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
Date: November 24, 2006
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S.; Hanrahan, Charles E.; Chite, Ralph M.; Cowan, Tadlock; Rawson, Jean M.; Zinn, Jeffrey A. et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Clean Water Act Issues in the 109th Congress (open access)

Clean Water Act Issues in the 109th Congress

Legislative initiatives to comprehensively amend the Clean Water Act have talked for some time as interested parties have debated whether and exactly how to change the law. Congress has recently focused legislative attention on narrow bills to extend or modify selected Clean Water Act programs, rather than taking up comprehensive proposals. This report contains information on the recent developments as of its writing, background and analysis as related to the Clean Water Act legislative actions, and legislative issues of the 109th Congress.
Date: May 24, 2006
Creator: Copeland, Claudia
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Saudi Arabia: Current Issues and U.S. Relations (open access)

Saudi Arabia: Current Issues and U.S. Relations

This report includes information regarding current issues in Saudi Arabia, background to Saudi-U.S. relations, and congressional interest in Saudi Arabia
Date: February 24, 2006
Creator: Prados, Alfred B.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Monitoring Foreign Students in the United States: The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) (open access)

Monitoring Foreign Students in the United States: The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)

None
Date: January 24, 2006
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Conceptual Design of an Antiproton Generation and Storage Facility (open access)

Conceptual Design of an Antiproton Generation and Storage Facility

The Antiproton Generation and Storage Facility (AGSF) creates copious quantities of antiprotons, for bottling and transportation to remote cancer therapy centers. The #12;first step in the generation and storage process is to accelerate an intense proton beam down the Main Linac for injection into the Main Ring, which is a Rapid Cycling Synchrotron that accelerates the protons to high energy. The beam is then extracted from the ring into a transfer line and into a Proton Target. Immediately downstream of the target is an Antiproton Collector that captures some of the antiprotons and focuses them into a beam that is transported sequentially into two antiproton rings. The Precooler ring rapidly manipulates antiproton bunches from short and broad (in momentum) to long and thin. It then performs some preliminary beam cooling, in the fraction of a second before the next proton bunch is extracted from the Main Ring. Pre-cooled antiprotons are passed on to the Accumulator ring before the next antiprotons arrive from the target. The Accumulator ring cools the antiprotons, compressing them into a dense state that is convenient for mass storage over many hours. Occasionally the Accumulator ring decelerates a large number of antiprotons, injecting them into a Deceleration …
Date: October 24, 2006
Creator: Peggs, Stephen
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Study of Charm Baryons with the BaBar Experiment (open access)

Study of Charm Baryons with the BaBar Experiment

The authors report on several studies of charm baryon production and decays by the BABAR collaboration. They confirm previous observations of the {Xi}'{sub c}{sup 0/+}, {Xi}{sub c}(2980){sup +} and {Xi}{sub c}(3077){sup +} baryons, measure branching ratios for Cabibbo-suppressed {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} decays and use baryon decays to study the properties of the light-quark baryons, {Omega}{sup -} and {Xi}(1690){sup 0}.
Date: October 24, 2006
Creator: Petersen, Brian Aa.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Basic Research Needs for Solid-State Lighting. Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solid-State Lighting, May 22-24, 2006 (open access)

Basic Research Needs for Solid-State Lighting. Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solid-State Lighting, May 22-24, 2006

The workshop participants enthusiastically concluded that the time is ripe for new fundamental science to beget a revolution in lighting technology. SSL sources based on organic and inorganic materials have reached a level of efficiency where it is possible to envision their use for general illumination. The research areas articulated in this report are targeted to enable disruptive advances in SSL performance and realization of this dream. Broad penetration of SSL technology into the mass lighting market, accompanied by vast savings in energy usage, requires nothing less. These new ?good ideas? will be represented not by light bulbs, but by an entirely new lighting technology for the 21st century and a bright, energy-efficient future indeed.
Date: May 24, 2006
Creator: Phillips, J. M.; Burrows, P. E.; Davis, R. F.; Simmons, J. A.; Malliaras, G. G.; So, F. et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Stringy Instantons and Quiver Gauge Theories (open access)

Stringy Instantons and Quiver Gauge Theories

We explore contributions to the 4D effective superpotential which arise from Euclidean D3 branes (''instantons'') that intersect space-filling D-branes. These effects can perturb the effective field theory on the space-filling branes by nontrivial operators composed of charged matter fields, changing the vacuum structure in a qualitative way in some examples. Our considerations are exemplified throughout by a careful study of a fractional brane configuration on a del Pezzo surface.
Date: October 24, 2006
Creator: Florea, Bogdan; Kachru, Shamit; McGreevy, John & Saulina, Natalia
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Study of Collective Beam Instabilities using a Correleation-moment Analysis (open access)

Study of Collective Beam Instabilities using a Correleation-moment Analysis

A general formalism for treating simultaneously the transverse coupled bunch and transverse coupled mode instabilities is presented. In this approach, the equations of motion of a coupled multi-bunch beam are expanded to yield a system of equations involving correlation-moments of the transverse and longitudinal motions. After a proper truncation, the system of equations is closed and can be solved. This approach allows us to formulate within one framework several known instability mechanisms including the single bunch mode coupling instability, the coupled bunch instability, the mode coupling instability, and the coupled mode coupled bunch instability as particular cases.
Date: October 24, 2006
Creator: Heifets, S. A. & Chao, A. W.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Highly Selective H2 Separation Zeolite Membranes for Coal Gasification Membrane Reactor Applications (open access)

Highly Selective H2 Separation Zeolite Membranes for Coal Gasification Membrane Reactor Applications

Zeolite membranes are thermally, chemically, and mechanically stable. They also have tunable molecular sieving and catalytic ability. These unique properties make zeolite membrane an excellent candidate for use in catalytic membrane reactor applications related to coal conversion and gasification, which need high temperature and high pressure range separation in chemically challenging environment where existing technologies are inefficient or unable to operate. Small pore, good quality, and thin zeolite membranes are needed for highly selective H{sub 2} separation from other light gases (CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4}, CO). However, zeolite membranes have not been successful for H{sub 2} separation from light gases because the zeolite pores are either too big or the membranes have a large number of defects. The objective of this study is to develop zeolite membranes that are more suitable for H{sub 2} separation. In an effort to tune the size of zeolite pores and/or to decrease the number of defects, medium-pore zeolite B-ZSM-5 (MFI) membranes were synthesized and silylated. Silylation on B-ZSM-5 crystals reduced MFI-zeolite pore volume, but had little effect on CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} adsorption. Silylation on B-ZSM-5 membranes increased H{sub 2} selectivity both in single component and in mixtures with CO{sub 2}CO{sub 2}, CH{sub …
Date: September 24, 2006
Creator: Hong, Mei; Noble, Richard D. & Falconer, John L.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Promethus Hot Leg Piping Concept (open access)

Promethus Hot Leg Piping Concept

The Naval Reactors Prime Contractor Team (NRPCT) recommended the development of a gas cooled reactor directly coupled to a Brayton energy conversion system as the Space Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP) for NASA's Project Prometheus. The section of piping between the reactor outlet and turbine inlet, designated as the hot leg piping, required unique design features to allow the use of a nickel superalloy rather than a refractory metal as the pressure boundary. The NRPCT evaluated a variety of hot leg piping concepts for performance relative to SNPP system parameters, manufacturability, material considerations, and comparison to past high temperature gas reactor (HTGR) practice. Manufacturability challenges and the impact of pressure drop and turbine entrance temperature reduction on cycle efficiency were discriminators between the piping concepts. This paper summarizes the NRPCT hot leg piping evaluation, presents the concept recommended, and summarizes developmental issues for the recommended concept.
Date: January 24, 2006
Creator: Girbik, AM & Dilorenzo, PA
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Most of rare missense alleles in humans are deleterious:implications for evolution of complex disease and associationstudies (open access)

Most of rare missense alleles in humans are deleterious:implications for evolution of complex disease and associationstudies

The accumulation of mildly deleterious missense mutations inindividual human genomes has been proposed to be a genetic basis forcomplex diseases. The plausibility of this hypothesis depends onquantitative estimates of the prevalence of mildly deleterious de novomutations and polymorphic variants in humans and on the intensity ofselective pressure against them. We combined analysis of mutationscausing human Mendelian diseases, human-chimpanzee divergence andsystematic data on human SNPs and found that about 20 percent of newmissense mutations in humans result in a loss of function, while about 27percent are effectively neutral. Thus, more than half of new missensemutations have mildly deleterious effects. These mutations give rise tomany low frequency deleterious allelic variants in the human populationas evident from a new dataset of 37 genes sequenced in over 1,500individual human chromosomes. Surprisingly, up to 70 percent of lowfrequency missense alleles are mildly deleterious and associated with aheterozygous fitness loss in the range 0.001-0.003. Thus, the low allelefrequency of an amino acid variant can by itself serve as a predictor ofits functional significance. Several recent studies have reported asignificant excess of rare missense variants in disease populationscompared to controls in candidate genes or pathways. These studies wouldbe unlikely to work if most rare variants were neutral …
Date: October 24, 2006
Creator: Kryukov, Gregory V.; Pennacchio, Len A. & Sunyaev, Shamil R.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Inline Monitors for Measuring Cs-137 in the SRS Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Process (open access)

Inline Monitors for Measuring Cs-137 in the SRS Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Process

The Department of Energy (DOE) selected Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) as the preferred technology for the removal of radioactive cesium from High-Level Waste (HLW) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Before the full-scale Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) becomes operational, a portion of dissolved saltcake waste will be processed through a Modular CSSX Unit (MCU). The MCU employs the CSSX process, a continuous process that uses a novel solvent to extract cesium from waste and concentrate it in dilute nitric acid. Of primary concern is Cs-137 which makes the solution highly radioactive. Since the MCU does not have the capacity to wait for sample results while continuing to operate, the Waste Acceptance Strategy is to perform inline analyses. Gamma-ray monitors are used to: measure the Cs-137 concentration in the decontaminated salt solution (DSS) before entering the DSS Hold Tank; measure the Cs-137 concentration in the strip effluent (SE) before entering the SE Hold Tank; and verify proper operation of the solvent extraction system by verifying material balance within the process. Since this gamma ray monitoring system application is unique, specially designed shielding was developed and software was written and acceptance tested by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) personnel. The software …
Date: April 24, 2006
Creator: Casella, V
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Final Report: Results of Aquifer Pumping and Groundwater Sampling at Everest, Kansas, in January-March 2006. (open access)

Final Report: Results of Aquifer Pumping and Groundwater Sampling at Everest, Kansas, in January-March 2006.

The 2005 investigation of contaminant sources at Agra, Kansas, was conducted at the request of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE; Gotto 2004). The Environmental Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory implemented the investigation on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA). The investigation was designed to (1) update the conceptual site model and (2) investigate sources of previously identified carbon tetrachloride contamination in groundwater. Six technical objectives were proposed in the ''Work Plan'' (Argonne 2005). The ''Work Plan'' was approved by the KDHE on March 28, 2005 (KDHE 2005). The six objectives were as follows: (1) Determine the current configuration of the carbon tetrachloride plume in the investigation area. (2) Delineate contamination detected in 1998-1999 at the former CCC/USDA facility. (3) Investigate the Pro-Ag Co-op property for evidence of releases of carbon tetrachloride. (4) Investigate the area adjacent to the site of the former retail store for evidence of releases of carbon tetrachloride to the subsurface. (5) Collect data to support the analysis of potential remedial alternatives. (6) Update the inventory of private wells to identify potential downgradient receptors. This report details and interprets the data collected during the 2005 investigation …
Date: August 24, 2006
Creator: LaFreniere, L. M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
QT-RESUMMATION FOR POLARIZED SEMI-INCLUSIVE DEEP INELASTIC SCATTERING. (open access)

QT-RESUMMATION FOR POLARIZED SEMI-INCLUSIVE DEEP INELASTIC SCATTERING.

We study the transverse-momentum distribution of hadrons produced in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. We consider cross sections for various combinations of the polarizations of the initial lepton and nucleon or the produced hadron, for which we perform the resummation of large double-logarithmic perturbative corrections arising at small transverse momentum. We present phenomenological results for the process ep {yields} e{pi}X for the typical kinematics in the COMPASS experiment. We discuss the impact of the perturbative resummation and of estimated non-perturbative contributions on the corresponding cross sections and their spin asymmetry.
Date: April 24, 2006
Creator: KOIKE, Y.; NAGASHIMA, J. & VOGELSANG, W.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Modeling Complex Biological Flows in Multi-Scale Systems using the APDEC Framework (open access)

Modeling Complex Biological Flows in Multi-Scale Systems using the APDEC Framework

We have developed advanced numerical algorithms to model biological fluids in multiscale flow environments using the software framework developed under the SciDAC APDEC ISIC. The foundation of our computational effort is an approach for modeling DNA-laden fluids as ''bead-rod'' polymers whose dynamics are fully coupled to an incompressible viscous solvent. The method is capable of modeling short range forces and interactions between particles using soft potentials and rigid constraints. Our methods are based on higher-order finite difference methods in complex geometry with adaptivity, leveraging algorithms and solvers in the APDEC Framework. Our Cartesian grid embedded boundary approach to incompressible viscous flow in irregular geometries has also been interfaced to a fast and accurate level-sets method within the APDEC Framework for extracting surfaces from volume renderings of medical image data and used to simulate cardio-vascular and pulmonary flows in critical anatomies.
Date: June 24, 2006
Creator: Trebotich, D
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Encouraging PV Adoption in New Market-Rate ResidentialConstruction: A Critical Review of Program Experiences to Date (open access)

Encouraging PV Adoption in New Market-Rate ResidentialConstruction: A Critical Review of Program Experiences to Date

In this paper, we review experiences with programs to support the deployment of photovoltaics (PV) in new, market-rate homes, drawing upon interviews with program managers around the country, project data, and publicly-available documentation on program design, impacts, and experiences. We focus on state clean energy funds, which have been established in 14 U.S. states to build markets for clean energy resources, as well as a select number of other state or local organizations whose activities are particularly noteworthy. We describe the types of programs implemented and their impacts to date, and discuss key issues and lessons learned for initiatives aimed at growing the new home market for PV.
Date: April 24, 2006
Creator: Barbose, Galen; Wiser, Ryan & Bolinger, Mark
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Experimental characterization of initial conditions and spatio-temporal evolution of a small Atwood number Rayleigh-Taylor mixing layer (open access)

Experimental characterization of initial conditions and spatio-temporal evolution of a small Atwood number Rayleigh-Taylor mixing layer

The initial multi-mode interfacial velocity and density perturbations present at the onset of a small Atwood number, incompressible, miscible, Rayleigh-Taylor instability-driven mixing layer have been quantified using a combination of experimental techniques. The streamwise interfacial and spanwise interfacial perturbations were measured using high-resolution thermocouples and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), respectively. The initial multi-mode streamwise velocity perturbations at the two-fluid density interface were measured using particle-image velocimetry (PIV). It was found that the measured initial conditions describe an initially anisotropic state, in which the perturbations in the streamwise and spanwise directions are independent of one another. The evolution of various fluctuating velocity and density statistics, together with velocity and density variance spectra, were measured using PIV and high-resolution thermocouple data. The evolution of the velocity and density statistics is used to investigate the early-time evolution and the onset of strongly-nonlinear, transitional dynamics within the mixing layer. The early-time evolution of the density and vertical velocity variance spectra indicate that velocity fluctuations are the dominant mechanism driving the instability development. The implications of the present experimental measurements on the initialization of Reynolds-averaged turbulent transport and mixing models and of direct and large-eddy simulations of Rayleigh-Taylor instability-induced turbulence are discussed.
Date: March 24, 2006
Creator: Mueschke, N J; Andrews, M J & Schilling, O
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
EUV testing of multilayer mirrors: critical issues (open access)

EUV testing of multilayer mirrors: critical issues

Recently, while performing extensive EUV irradiation endurance testing on Ru-capped multilayer mirrors in the presence of elevated partial pressures of water and hydrocarbons, NIST has observed that the amount of EUV-induced damage actually decreases with increasing levels of water vapor above {approx} 5 x 10{sup -7} Torr. It is thought that the admitted water vapor may interact with otherwise stable, condensed carbonaceous species in an UHV vacuum system to increase the background levels of simple gaseous carbon-containing molecules. Some support for this hypothesis was demonstrated by observing the mitigating effect of very small levels of simple hydrocarbons with the intentional introduction of methyl alcohol in addition to the water vapor. It was found that the damage rate decreased by at least an order of magnitude when the partial pressure of methyl alcohol was just one percent of the water partial pressure. These observations indicate that the hydrocarbon components of the vacuum environment under actual testing conditions must be characterized and controlled to 10{sup -11} Torr or better in order to quantify the damage caused by high levels of water vapor. The possible effects of exposure beam size and out-of-band radiation on mirror lifetime testing will also be discussed.
Date: February 24, 2006
Creator: Hill, S B; Ermanoski, I; Grantham, S; Tarrio, C; Lucatorto, T B; Madey, T E et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Experiment and theory in interplay on high-Z few-electron ion spectra from foil-excited ion beams and electron beam ion traps (open access)

Experiment and theory in interplay on high-Z few-electron ion spectra from foil-excited ion beams and electron beam ion traps

None
Date: July 24, 2006
Creator: Trabert, E; Beiersdorfer, P; Pinnington, E H; Utter, S B; Vilkas, M J & Ishikawa, Y
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparison of the Acceptability of Various Oil Shale Processes (open access)

Comparison of the Acceptability of Various Oil Shale Processes

None
Date: November 24, 2006
Creator: Burnham, A K & McConaghy, J R
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
FY2005 Progress Summary and FY2006 Program Plan Statement of Work and Deliverables for Development of High Average Power Diode-Pumped Solid State Lasers, and Complementary Technologies, for Applications in Energy and Defense (open access)

FY2005 Progress Summary and FY2006 Program Plan Statement of Work and Deliverables for Development of High Average Power Diode-Pumped Solid State Lasers, and Complementary Technologies, for Applications in Energy and Defense

The primary focus this year was to operate the system with two amplifiers populated with and pumped by eight high power diode arrays. The system was operated for extended run periods which enabled average power testing of components, diagnostics, and controls. These tests were highly successful, with a demonstrated energy level of over 55 joules for 4 cumulative hours at a repetition rate of 10 Hz (average power 0.55 kW). In addition, high average power second harmonic generation was demonstrated, achieving 227 W of 523.5 nm light (22.7 J, 10 Hz, 15 ns, 30 minutes) Plans to achieve higher energy levels and average powers are in progress. The dual amplifier system utilizes a 4-pass optical arrangement. The Yb:S-FAP slabs were mounted in aerodynamic aluminum vane structures to allow turbulent helium gas flow across the faces. Diagnostic packages that monitored beam performance were deployed during operation. The laser experiments involved injecting a seed beam from the front end into the system and making four passes through both amplifiers. Beam performance diagnostics monitored the beam on each pass to assess system parameters such as gain and nearfield intensity profiles. This year, an active mirror and wavefront sensor were procured and demonstrated in …
Date: March 24, 2006
Creator: Ebbers, C
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Implementation of Imaging Thomson Scattering on the Omega Laser (open access)

Implementation of Imaging Thomson Scattering on the Omega Laser

None
Date: April 24, 2006
Creator: Ross, J. S.; Froula, D. H.; Mackinnon, A. J.; Sorce, C.; Meezan, N.; Glenzer, S. H. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library