The Institute for Multiscale Modeling of Biological Interactions (IMMBI) has two primary goals: Foster interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty and their research laboratories that will lead to novel applications of multiscale simulation and modeling methods in the biological sciences and engineering; and Building on the unique biophysical/biology-based engineering foundations of the participating faculty, train scientists and engineers to apply computational methods that collectively span multiple time and length scales of biological organization. The success of IMMBI will be defined by the following: Size and quality of the applicant pool for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows; Academic performance; Quality of the pre-doctoral and post-doctoral research; Impact of the research broadly and to the DOE (ASCR program) mission; Distinction of the next career step for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows; and Faculty collaborations that result from IMMBI activities. Specific details about accomplishments during the three years of DOE support for IMMBI have been documented in Annual Progress Reports (April 2005, June 2006, and March 2007) and a Report for a National Academy of Sciences Review (October 2005) that were submitted to DOE on the dates indicated. An overview of these accomplishments is provided.

This pilot scale study evaluated the counting accuracy of two people counting systems that could be used in demand controlled ventilation systems to provide control signals for modulating outdoor air ventilation rates. The evaluations included controlled challenges of the people counting systems using pre-planned movements of occupants through doorways and evaluations of counting accuracies when naive occupants (i.e., occupants unaware of the counting systems) passed through the entrance doors of the building or room. The two people counting systems had high counting accuracy accuracies, with errors typically less than 10percent, for typical non-demanding counting events. However, counting errors were high in some highly challenging situations, such as multiple people passing simultaneously through a door. Counting errors, for at least one system, can be very high if people stand in the field of view of the sensor. Both counting system have limitations and would need to be used only at appropriate sites and where the demanding situations that led to counting errors were rare.

Objectives of this investigation were to (1) monitor the population status and recruitment of burbot Lota lota in the Kootenai River, Idaho and British Columbia, Canada during the winter of 2006-2007; (2) evaluate the selective withdrawal system in place at Libby Dam to maintain the river temperature near Bonners Ferry between 1-4 C (November-December) to improve burbot migration and spawning activity; and (3) determine if a hatching success of 10% of eyed burbot embryos could be achieved through extensive rearing and produce fingerlings averaging 9.8 cm in six months. Water temperature did not fall below the upper limit (4 C) until mid-January but was usually maintained between 1-4 C January through February and was acceptable. Snowpack was characterized by a 101% of normal January runoff forecast. Adult burbot were sampled with hoop nets and slat traps. Only three burbot were captured in hoop nets, all at Ambush Rock (rkm 244.5). No burbot were caught in either slat traps or juvenile sampling gear, indicating the population is nearly extirpated. Burbot catch per unit effort in hoop nets was 0.003 fish/net d. Extensive rearing was moved to a smaller private pond and will be reported in the 2008-2009 annual report.

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was requested to generate a document for the Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would cover the following topics: (1) A description of the mineral structures produced by Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) of Hanford type Low Activity Waste (LAW including LAWR which is LAW melter recycle waste) waste, especially the cage structured minerals and how they are formed. (2) How the cage structured minerals contain some contaminants, while others become part of the mineral structure (Note that all contaminants become part of the mineral structure and this will be described in the subsequent sections of this report). (3) Possible contaminant release mechanisms from the mineral structures. (4) Appropriate analyses to evaluate these release mechanisms. (5) Why the appropriate analyses are comparable to the existing Hanford glass dataset. In order to discuss the mineral structures and how they bond contaminants a brief description of the structures of both mineral (ceramic) and vitreous waste forms will be given to show their similarities. By demonstrating the similarities of mineral and vitreous waste forms on atomic level, the contaminant release mechanisms of the crystalline (mineral) and amorphous (glass) waste forms can …

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

This report discusses international law aspects of a nation's contributions to climate change, and the few international claims made against the United States to date.

This report contains a summary on democracy. This report provides an overview of the promotion of Democracy and the U.S. government's activities to promote democracy.

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On June 2, 2003, the Federal Communications Commission modified five of its media ownership rules, easing restrictions on the ownership of multiple television stations and on local media cross-ownership, and tightening restrictions on the ownership of multiple radio stations in local markets.

When a graph database is implemented on top of a relational database, queries in the graph query language are translated into relational SQL queries. Graph pattern queries are an important feature of a graph query language. Translating graph pattern queries into single SQL statements results in very poor query performance. By taking into account the pattern query structure and generating multiple SQL statements, pattern query performance can be dramatically improved. The performance problems encountered with the single SQL statements generated for pattern queries reflects a problem in the SQL query planner and optimizer. Addressing this problem would allow relational databases to better support semantic graph databases. Relational database systems that provide good support for graph databases may also be more flexible platforms for data warehouses.

This report characterizes foreign contributions to Iraq in terms of personnel and resources, including trends over time, based on best-available information.

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Transuranic solid waste that has been generated as a result of the production of nuclear material for the United States defense program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has been stored in more than 30,000 55-gallon drums and various size carbon steel boxes since 1953. Nearly two thirds of those containers have been processed and shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Among the containers assayed so far, the results indicate several drums with fissile inventories significantly higher (600-1000 grams {sup 239}Pu) than their original assigned values. While part of this discrepancy can be attributed to the past limited assay capabilities, human errors are believed to be the primary contributor. This paper summarizes an assessment of the probability of occurrence of a criticality accident during handling of the remaining transuranic waste containers at SRS.

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This report summarizes the possible constitutional and statutory authorities and constraints relevant to the use of armed forces, including National Guard units in federal service, to provide assistance to states when a natural disaster impedes the operation of state and local police.

The objective of the proposed work is to develop an intelligent distributed fiber optical sensor system for real-time monitoring of high temperature in a boiler furnace in power plants. Of particular interest is the estimation of spatial and temporal distributions of high temperatures within a boiler furnace, which will be essential in assessing and controlling the mechanisms that form and remove pollutants at the source, such as NOx. The basic approach in developing the proposed sensor system is three fold: (1) development of high temperature distributed fiber optical sensor capable of measuring temperatures greater than 2000 C degree with spatial resolution of less than 1 cm; (2) development of distributed parameter system (DPS) models to map the three-dimensional (3D) temperature distribution for the furnace; and (3) development of an intelligent monitoring system for real-time monitoring of the 3D boiler temperature distribution. Under Task 1, we set up a dedicated high power, ultrafast laser system for fabricating in-fiber gratings in harsh environment optical fibers, successfully fabricated gratings in single crystal sapphire fibers by the high power laser system, and developed highly sensitive long period gratings (lpg) by electric arc. Under Task 2, relevant mathematical modeling studies of NOx formation in practical …

The objective of the proposed work is to develop an intelligent distributed fiber optical sensor system for real-time monitoring of high temperature in a boiler furnace in power plants. Of particular interest is the estimation of spatial and temporal distributions of high temperatures within a boiler furnace, which will be essential in assessing and controlling the mechanisms that form and remove pollutants at the source, such as NOx. The basic approach in developing the proposed sensor system is three fold: (1) development of high temperature distributed fiber optical sensor capable of measuring temperatures greater than 2000 C degree with spatial resolution of less than 1 cm; (2) development of distributed parameter system (DPS) models to map the three-dimensional (3D) temperature distribution for the furnace; and (3) development of an intelligent monitoring system for real-time monitoring of the 3D boiler temperature distribution. Under Task 1, improvement was made on the performance of in-fiber grating fabricated in single crystal sapphire fibers, test was performed on the grating performance of single crystal sapphire fiber with new fabrication methods, and the fabricated grating was applied to high temperature sensor. Under Task 2, models obtained from 3-D modeling of the Demonstration Boiler were used to …

An overview is given of measurements of the Fe K-shell spectrum from low-density laboratory sources. The measurements include wavelengths, electron-impact collision cross sections, innershell ionization phenomena, dielectronic recombination resonance strengths, charge exchange recombination, electron beam polarization effects, resonance excitation, and radiative cascade contributions. K-shell spectra have now also been obtained with microcalorimeters, including microcalorimeter arrays that are twins of the ASTRO-E and ASTRO-E2 missions, which illustrate typical resolving powers and spectral capabilities.