This paper will highlight some of the challenges and opportunities present in the diagnosis of spherical torus (ST) plasmas on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) and discuss the corresponding diagnostic development that is presently underway. After a brief description of diagnostic systems currently installed, examples of ST-specific diagnostic challenges will be highlighted, as will another case, where the ST configuration offers opportunities for new measurements.

This report discusses different perspectives used to consider issues related to the global climate change and issues related to the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Agreement.

None

Anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells with Ni + yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) anode, YSZ-samaria-doped ceria (SDC) bi-layer electrolyte and Sr-doped LaCoO{sub 3} (LSC) + SDC cathode were fabricated. Fuel used consisted of H{sub 2} diluted with He, N{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O or CO{sub 2}, mixtures of H{sub 2} and CO, and mixtures of CO and CO{sub 2}. Cell performance was measured at 800 C with above-mentioned fuel gas mixtures and air as oxidant. For a given concentration of the diluent, the cell performance was higher with He as the diluent than with N{sub 2} as the diluent. Mass transport through porous Ni-YSZ anode for H{sub 2}-H{sub 2}O, CO-CO{sub 2} binary systems and H{sub 2}-H{sub 2}O-diluent gas ternary systems was analyzed using multicomponent gas diffusion theory. At high concentrations of the diluent, the maximum achievable current density was limited by the anodic concentration polarization. From this measured limiting current density, the corresponding effective gas diffusivity was estimated. Highest effective diffusivity was estimated for fuel gas mixtures containing H{sub 2}-H{sub 2}O-He mixtures ({approx}0.34 cm{sup 2}/s), and the lowest for CO-CO{sub 2} mixtures ({approx}0.07 cm{sup 2}/s). The lowest performance was observed with CO-CO{sub 2} mixture as a fuel, which in part was attributed to …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The current federal peanut program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is designed to support producers' incomes while ensuring an ample supply of domestically produced peanuts. To achieve these goals, the program controls the domestic supply of peanuts and guarantees producers a minimum price for their crops. This price substantially exceeds the price for peanuts in world markets. The program uses two mechanisms to control the domestic supply of peanuts--a national quota on the number of pounds that can be sold for edible consumption domestically and import restrictions. Only producers holding quota, either through ownership or rental of farmland, may sell their peanuts domestically as "quota" peanuts. Generally, all other production, referred to as "additional" peanuts, must be exported or crushed for oil or meal. The program protects producers' incomes through a two-tiered system that sets minimum support prices for quota and for additional peanuts. GAO and others have criticized the program because it provides substantial benefits to a relatively small number of producers who hold most of the quota, generally restricts nonquota holders from producing peanuts for the U.S. domestic market, and increases consumers' cost. In …

The current situation of genomics information exchange is reminiscent of some Third World cities, where residents despair they will ever get official utility service and therefore tap into power, phone, and gas sources with makeshift connections. Thus, each genomics grant spawns yet another idiosyncratic Web site, with makeshift links to whatever random Web sites the PI is most familiar with. There are few standards for semantics of data, and fewer standards for automating the interchange or integration of these autonomous Web sites. The US Plant Genome Initiative (PGI) has been enthusiastic contributor to this proliferation of chaotic Web sites, but to its credit it appears to be the first major program to attempt to find a solution. Some of us from the earliest days of the Human Genome Program have been acutely aware of the problems of genomic data integration, since long before the Web appeared and made the problem exponentially harder to resolve. We have seen large scale attempts, and subsequent failures or inadequacies, of many potential solution approaches (i.e., database federation, classical data warehousing, centralized data, etc.) and believe we know at least some of the reasons they still remain inadequate. It is our opinion that the only …

None

Calculations were performed to evaluate the dose rates outside the shipping cask containing the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) inner plug assembly. The analysis consisted of simulating the proton beam interaction with the SNS target, activation calculations with the determined neutron flux levels and assumed SNS operation schedule, and calculation of the decay gamma-rays propagation through the inner plug and shipping cask. Several materials were considered for the inner plug. The results provide guidance for the finalization of the plug design.

Congress is considering revised definitions of “terrorism” and related terms in the context of the proposed “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001.” While the proposed definitions relate to criminal law and immigration law, hundreds of other federal statutes and regulations already define “terrorism” and related terms in a variety of other contexts. However, these statutes and regulations ultimately refer to an extremely small set of statutory definitions, current criminal law and immigration definitions being among them. This report provides the current text of these fundamental definitions. The report will be updated as action on new antiterrorism law proceeds.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether renting a portion of a residence disqualifies that portion for the homestead-tax exemption, and related questions (RQ-0361-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Texas Department of Public Safety has authority to establish and administer a training and safety program for off-road dirt bikes (RQ-0364-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Archdiocese of San Antonio must obtain a permit from the Texas Department of Banking in order to sell prepaid funeral benefits (RQ-0367-JC)

The formation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as methanol, in kraft mills has been an environmental concern. Methanol is soluble in water and can increase the biochemical oxygen demand. Furthermore, it can also be released into atmosphere at the process temperatures of kraft mill-streams. The Cluster Rule of the EPA now requires the control of the release of methanol in pulp and paper mills. This research program was conducted to develop a computer simulation tool for mills to predict VOC air emissions. To achieve the objective of the research program, much effort was made in the development of analytical techniques for the analysis of VOC and determination of vapor liquid partitioning coefficient of VOCs in kraft mill-streams using headspace gas chromatography. With the developed analytical tool, methanol formation in alkaline pulping was studied in laboratory to provide benchmark data of the amount of methanol formation in pulping in kraft mills and for the validation of VOC formation and vapor-liquid equilibrium submodels. Several millwide air and liquid samplings were conducted using the analytical tools developed to validate the simulation tool. The VOC predictive simulation model was developed based on the basic chemical engineering concepts, i.e., reaction kinetics, vapor liquid equilibrium, …

The formation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as methanol, in kraft mills has been an environmental concern. Methanol is soluble in water and can increase the biochemical oxygen demand. Furthermore, it can also be released into atmosphere at the process temperatures of kraft mill-streams. The Cluster Rule of the EPA now requires the control of the release of methanol in pulp and paper mills. This research program was conducted to develop a computer simulation tool for mills to predict VOC air emissions. To achieve the objective of the research program, much effort was made in the development of analytical techniques for the analysis of VOC and determination of vapor liquid partitioning coefficient of VOCs in kraft mill-streams using headspace gas chromatography. With the developed analytical tool, methanol formation in alkaline pulping was studied in laboratory to provide benchmark data of the amount of methanol formation in pulping in kraft mills and for the validation of VOC formation and vapor-liquid equilibrium submodels. Several millwide air and liquid samplings were conducted using the analytical tools developed to validate the simulation tool. The VOC predictive simulation model was developed based on the basic chemical engineering concepts, i.e., reaction kinetics, vapor liquid equilibrium, …

Bi-annual newsletter features articles on HEV/LSV compliance advisory, biodiesel fuel use growth in 2000, Texas Department of Transportation, and the Credit Trades Bulletin Board.

The Color Glass Condensate is a state of high density gluonic matter which controls the high energy limit of hadronic interactions. Its properties are important for the initial conditions for matter produced at RHIC.

The PEPC Spreader Bar Assembly consists of a spreader bar that will be attached to the PEPC Cell Housing or the Midplane Transportation Fixture during operation. While in use in the OAB (Optics Assembly Building), the Spreader Bar Assembly will be manipulated by the NOID (New Optics Insertion Device). The other critical components of the assembly are the three angular contact bearing swivels that attach the spreader bar to the lifting mechanism and the corner clamps which are used to capture the Cell Housing.

The Gordon Research Conference on Applied and Environmental Microbiology was held at Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut, July 22-27, 2001. The conference was attended by 121 participants. The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field, coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, and included US and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate discussion about the key issues in the field today. Session topics included the following: Environmental and applied genomics, Cell-to-cell signaling and multicellular behavior, Emerging technologies and methods, Novel metabolisms and ecosystems, Directed evolution of enzymes and pathways, Symbiotic and trophic relationships, Synthesis and application of novel biopolymers, and Microbes at the oxic-anoxic interface. There was also a special lecture titled ''Under the umbrella of the big tree: microbial biology into the 21st century.''

Adaptive optics for the 30-100 meter class telescopes now being considered will require an extension in almost every area of AO system component technology. In this paper, we present scaling laws and strawman error budgets for AO systems on extremely large telescopes (ELTs) and discuss the implications for component technology and computational architecture. In the component technology area, we discuss the advanced efforts being pursued at the NSF Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) in the development of large number of degrees of freedom deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, and guidestar lasers. It is important to note that the scaling of present wavefront reconstructor algorithms will become computationally intractable for ELTs and will require the development of new algorithms and advanced numerical mathematics techniques. We present the computational issues and discuss the characteristics of new algorithmic approaches that show promise in scaling to ELT AO systems.

Development of an ANSI/ANS Standard for the training and qualification of criticality safety engineers has been underway for nearly one year. The working group for this Standard is comprised of criticality safety experts from regulatory, licensee and contractor organizations. Its goal is to develop a standard that can be uniformly adopted, that covers all criticality safety engineer qualification levels, and that includes all required competencies such that most of the qualifications can be easily transferred between sites. This status report is presented to let the general criticality safety community know of progress on the Standard, and to solicit feedback to the working group as it continues work on ANSI/ANS-8.26.

The U.S. has generally lacked the capability for an iterative process of detailed structural design, manufacturing, and testing at the full blade level to achieve specific structural performance, cost, and weight targets. This project examined the effects that different composites processing methods had on the performance of representative blade substructures. In addition, the results of the testing of these substructures was used to validate NuMAD, the design tool developed at Sandia National Laboratories.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony reviews the Department of Defense's (DOD) handling of appropriated funds from expired appropriation accounts. In 1990, Congress changed the law governing the use of appropriation accounts because it concluded that controls over them were not working. Without adequate controls, Congress was concerned that agencies could disburse money in amounts and for purposes that it had not approved. GAO found that DOD improperly charged appropriation accounts after they were closed. GAO also found that DOD did not establish the requisite systems, controls, and managerial attention required to properly account for its disbursements consistent with the 1990 account closing law, and as a result, DOD made at least $615 million of illegal or otherwise improper adjustments during fiscal year 2000 alone. DOD was aware of the limitations the account closing law placed on the availability of canceled appropriations and that the law was enacted because of previous abuses by DOD's use of old appropriations. DOD also knew that a major system used to control its use of appropriations allowed for disbursements to be charged in a way that was inconsistent with the law. However, DOD did nothing to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Defense's (DOD) handling of appropriated funds from expired appropriation accounts. In 1990, Congress changed the law governing the use of appropriation accounts because it concluded that controls over them were not working. Without adequate controls, Congress was concerned that agencies could disburse money in amounts and for purposes that it had not approved. GAO found that DOD improperly charged appropriation accounts after they were closed. GAO also found that DOD did not establish the requisite systems, controls, and managerial attention required to properly account for its disbursements consistent with the 1990 account closing law. As a result, DOD made at least $615 million of illegal or otherwise improper adjustments during fiscal year 2000 alone. DOD was aware of the limitations the account closing law placed on the availability of canceled appropriations and that the law was enacted because of previous abuses by DOD. DOD also knew that a major system used to control its use of appropriations allowed for disbursements to be charged in a way that was inconsistent with the law. However, DOD did nothing to fix the system, …

A guide that describes financing program options, key components of financing support in commercial and residential sectors for clean energy programs, and considers factors for states and communities to consider as they make decisions, get started or update financing programs for clean energy.