As the National Hydrogen Economy continues to develop and evolve the need for structural materials that can resist hydrogen assisted degradation will become critical. To date austenitic stainless steel materials have been shown to be mildly susceptible to hydrogen attack which results in lower mechanical and fracture strengths. As a result, hydrogen permeation barrier coatings are typically applied to these steel to retard hydrogen ingress. The focal point of the reported work was to evaluate the potential for intentional alloying of commercial 300-series stainless steels to promote hydrogen permeation resistant oxide scales. Previous research on the Cr- and Fe-oxide scales inherent to 300-series stainless steels has proven to be inconsistent in effecting permeation resistance. The approach undertaken in this research was to add aluminum to the 300-series stainless steels in an attempt to promote a pure Al-oxide or and Al-rich oxide scale. Aloxide had been previously demonstrated to be an effective hydrogen permeation barrier. Results for 304L and 347H alloys doped with Al in concentration from 0.5-3.0 wt% with respect to oxidation kinetic studies, cyclic oxidation and characterization of the oxide scale chemistry are reported herein. Gaseous hydrogen permeation testing of the Al-doped alloys in both the unoxidized and oxidized …

In order to improve the melt rate of high level waste slurry feed being vitrified in the Savannah River Site's (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Melter, a melter glass pump (pump 1) was installed in the DWPF Melter on February 10, 2004. The glass pump increased melt rate by generating a forced convection within the molten glass pool, thereby increasing the heat transfer from the molten glass to the unmolten feed cold cap that is on top of the glass pool. After operating for over four months, the pump was removed on June 22, 2004 due to indications that it had failed. The removed pump exhibited obvious signs of corrosion, had collapsed inward at the glass exit slots at the melt line, and was dog-legged in the same area. This lead to the pump being redesigned to improve its mechanical integrity (increased wall thickness and strength) while maintaining its hydraulic diameter as large as possible. The improved DWPF glass pump (pump 2) was installed on September 15, 2004. The impact of the new design on pump life, along with analysis of the glass pump's impact on melt rate in the DWPF Melter is discussed in this paper.

The House of Representatives follows a well established routine on the opening day of a new Congress. The proceedings include election of the Speaker, swearing in its members, election of administrative officers, and adoption of rules of procedure. Also, resolutions assigning its members to committees may be adopted. The House must take these actions at the beginning of each new Congress because it is not a continuing body. Article 1, Section 2 of Constitution sets terms for Members of the House at two years. Thus, the House ends at the conclusion of each two-year Congress and must reconstitute itself at the beginning of a new Congress. This report focuses on the floor activities of the House during its first formal session in a new Congress, and serves as a guide for participating in or watching those proceedings.

Many materials and electronics need to be tested for the radiation environment expected at linear colliders (LC) since both accelerator and detectors will be subjected to large fluences of hadrons, leptons and {gamma}'s over the life of the facility [1]. While the linacs will be superconducting, there are still many uses for NdFeB in the damping rings, injection and extraction lines and final focus. Our understanding of the situation for rare earth, permanent magnet materials was presented at PAC03 [2]. Our first measurements of fast neutron, stepped doses at the UC Davis McClellan Nuclear Reactor Center (UCD MNRC) were presented at EPAC04 [3]. We have extended the doses, included other manufacturer's samples, and measured induced radioactivities which are discussed in detail.

We present an analysis of exclusive charmless semileptonic B-meson decays based on 83 million B{bar B} pairs recorded with the BABAR detector at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance. Using isospin symmetry, we measure branching fractions {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup -}{ell}{sup +}{nu}) = (1.38 {+-} 0.10 {+-} 0.16 {+-} 0.08) x 10{sup -4} and {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {rho}{sup -}{ell}{sup +}{nu}) = (2.14 {+-} 0.21 {+-} 0.48 {+-} 0.28) x 10{sup -4}, where the errors are statistical, experimental systematic, and due to form-factor shape uncertainties. We compare the measured distribution in q{sup 2}, the momentum-transfer squared, with theoretical predictions for the form factors from lattice QCD and light-cone sum rules, and extract the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element |V{sub ub}| = (3.82 {+-} 0.14 {+-} 0.22 {+-} 0.11{sub -0.52}{sup +0.88}) x 10{sup -3} from B {yields} {pi}{ell}{nu} where the fourth error reflects the uncertainty of the form-factor normalization.

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A geophysical characterization project was conducted at the BC Cribs and Trenches Area, located south of 200 East at the Hanford Site. The area consists of 26 waste disposal trenches and cribs, which received approximately 30 million gallons of liquid waste from the uranium recovery process and the ferrocyanide processes associated with wastes generated by reprocessing nuclear fuel. Waste discharges to BC Cribs contributed perhaps the largest liquid fraction of contaminants to the ground in the 200 Areas. The site also includes possibly the largest inventory of Tc-99 ever disposed to the soil at Hanford with an estimated quantity of 400 Ci. Other waste constituents included high volumes of nitrate and U-238. The geophysical characterization at the 50-acre site primarily included high resolution resistivity (HRR). The resistivity technique is a non-invasive method by which electrical resistivity data are collected along linear transects, and data are presented as continuous profiles of subsurface electrical properties. The transects ranged in size from about 400-700 meters and provided information down to depths of 60 meters. The site was characterized by a network of 51 HRR lines with a total of approximately 19.7 line kilometers of data collected parallel and perpendicular to the trenches and …

In this paper, we use a coupled climate and carbon cycle model to investigate the global climate and carbon cycle changes out to year 2300 that would occur if CO{sub 2} emissions from all the currently estimated fossil fuel resources were released to the atmosphere. By year 2300, the global climate warms by about 8 K and atmospheric CO{sub 2} reaches 1423 ppmv. The warming is higher than anticipated because the sensitivity to radiative forcing increases as the simulation progresses. In our simulation, the rate of emissions peak at over 30 PgC yr{sup -1} early in the 22nd century. Even at year 2300, nearly 50% of cumulative emissions remain in the atmosphere. In our simulations both soils and living biomass are net carbon sinks throughout the simulation. Despite having relatively low climate sensitivity and strong carbon uptake by the land biosphere, our model projections suggest severe long-term consequences for global climate if all the fossil-fuel carbon is ultimately released to the atmosphere.

The House passed H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, on April 21, 2005 (249-183). The legislation includes a “safe harbor” provision to protect methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) refiners from product liability suits, which was retained after a close vote on an amendment to drop the language (213-219). In the 108th Congress, there was opposition to this provision in the Senate. It is unclear how its inclusion may affect Senate passage of an energy bill in the 109th Congress. House Republicans have indicated that a compromise will be sought to satisfy the other body. Language in the House-passed bill would also authorize opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to exploration and development. An amendment to delete the ANWR provisions from H.R. 6 was defeated (200-231).

The Alignment Engineering Group (AEG) makes use of GPS technology for fulfilling part of its above ground surveying tasks at SLAC since early 2002. A base station (SLAC M40) has been set up at a central location of the SLAC campus serving both as master station for real-time kinematic (RTK) operations and as datum point for local GPS campaigns. The Leica RS500 system is running continuously and the GPS data are collected both externally (logging PC) and internally (receiver flashcard). The external logging is facilitated by a serial to Ethernet converter and an Ethernet connection at the station. Internal logging (ring buffer) is done for data security purposes. The weatherproof boxes for the instrumentation are excellent shelters against rain and wind, but do heat up considerably in sun light. Whereas the GPS receiver showed no problems, the Pacific Crest PDL 35 radio shut down several times due to overheating disrupting the RTK operations. In order to prevent heat-induced shutdowns, a protection against direct sun exposure (shading) and a constant air circulation system (ventilation) were installed. As no further shutdowns have occurred so far, it appears that the two measures successfully mended the heat problem.

This report details the information related to gasoline prices and discusses on policies and proposals.

Seven large power supplies (LGPS) with output ratings from 72kW to 270kW power PEP-II quad magnets in the electron-positron collider region. These supplies have posed serious maintenance and reliability problems since they were installed in 1997, resulting in loss of accelerator availability. A redesign/rebuild program was undertaken by the SLAC Power Conversion Department. During the 2004 summer shutdown all the control circuits in these supplies were redesigned and replaced. A new PWM control board, programmable logic controller, and touch panel have been installed to improve LGPS reliability, and to make troubleshooting easier. In this paper we present the details of this rebuilding program and results.

The overall goal of this collaborative project is to develop methods for analyzing protein-nucleic acid interactions. Nucleic acid-binding proteins have a central role in all aspects of genetic activity within an organism, such as transcription, replication, and repair. Thus, it is extremely important to examine the nature of complexes that are formed between proteins and nucleic acids, as they form the basis of our understanding of how these processes take place. Over the past decade, the world has witnessed a great expansion in the determination of high-quality structures of nucleic acid-binding proteins. As a result, the number of such structures has seen a constant increase in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) (1) and the Nucleic Acid Database (NDB) (2). These structures, especially those of proteins in complex with DNA, have provided valuable insight into the stereochemical principles of binding, including how particular base sequences are recognized and how the nucleic acid structure is quite often modified on binding. In this project, we designed several approaches to characterize and classify the properties of both protein-DNA and protein-RNA complexes. In work done in the previous grant period, we developed methods to use experimental data to evaluate nucleic acid crystal structures in order …

This report discusses legislative initiatives to address the challenges facing the U.S. Intelligence Community in the 21st century. Growing concerns about transnational threats, especially terrorism, are leading to increasingly close cooperation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

In this study, we applied the Nested Partitions method to a U-line balancing problem and conducted experiments to evaluate the application. From the results, it is quite evident that the Nested Partitions method provided near optimal solutions (optimal in some cases). Besides, the execution time is quite short as compared to the Branch and Bound algorithm. However, for larger data sets, the algorithm took significantly longer times for execution. One of the reasons could be the way in which the random samples are generated. In the present study, a random sample is a solution in itself which requires assignment of tasks to various stations. The time taken to assign tasks to stations is directly proportional to the number of tasks. Thus, if the number of tasks increases, the time taken to generate random samples for the different regions also increases. The performance index for the Nested Partitions method in the present study was the number of stations in the random solutions (samples) generated. The total idle time for the samples can be used as another performance index. ULINO method is known to have used a combination of bounds to come up with good solutions. This approach of combining different performance …

This report discusses a number of immigration reform-related issues that have seen legislative action or are of significant congressional interest.

The purpose of this report (REV04) is to document the thermal-hydrologic-chemical (THC) seepage model, which simulates the composition of waters that could potentially seep into emplacement drifts, and the composition of the gas phase. The THC seepage model is processed and abstracted for use in the total system performance assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA). This report has been developed in accordance with ''Technical Work Plan for: Near-Field Environment and Transport: Coupled Processes (Mountain-Scale TH/THC/THM, Drift-Scale THC Seepage, and Post-Processing Analysis for THC Seepage) Report Integration'' (BSC 2005 [DIRS 172761]). The technical work plan (TWP) describes planning information pertaining to the technical scope, content, and management of this report. The plan for validation of the models documented in this report is given in Section 2.2.2, ''Model Validation for the DS THC Seepage Model,'' of the TWP. The TWP (Section 3.2.2) identifies Acceptance Criteria 1 to 4 for ''Quantity and Chemistry of Water Contacting Engineered Barriers and Waste Forms'' (NRC 2003 [DIRS 163274]) as being applicable to this report; however, in variance to the TWP, Acceptance Criterion 5 has also been determined to be applicable, and is addressed, along with the other Acceptance Criteria, in Section 4.2 of this report. …

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This paper presents an evaluation of robotics and remote handling technologies that have the potential to increase the efficiency of handling waste packages at the proposed Yucca Mountain High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository. It is expected that increased efficiency will reduce the cost of operations. The goal of this work was to identify technologies for consideration as potential projects that the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Office of Science and Technology International Programs, could support in the near future, and to assess their ''payback'' value. The evaluation took into account the robotics and remote handling capabilities planned for incorporation into the current baseline design for the repository, for both surface and subsurface operations. The evaluation, completed at the end of fiscal year 2004, identified where significant advantages in operating efficiencies could accrue by implementing any given robotics technology or approach, and included a road map for a multiyear R&D program for improvements to remote handling technology that support operating enhancements.

Nucleation-growth kinetic expressions are derived for thermal decomposition of HMX from a variety of types of data, including mass loss for isothermal and constant rate heating in an open pan, and heat flow for isothermal and constant rate heating in open and closed pans. Conditions are identified in which thermal runaway is small to nonexistent, which typically means temperatures less than 255 C and heating rates less than 1 C/min. Activation energies are typically in the 140 to 165 kJ/mol regime for open pan experiments and about 150-165 kJ/mol for sealed-pan experiments. The reaction clearly displays more than one process, and most likely three processes, which are most clearly evident in open pan experiments. The reaction is accelerated for closed pan experiments, and one global reaction fits the data fairly well. Our A-E values lie in the middle of the values given in a compensation-law plot by Brill et al. (1994). Comparison with additional open and closed low temperature pyrolysis experiments support an activation energy of 165 kJ/mol at 10% conversion.

The depth profiles of intentional or intrinsic constituents of a sample provide valuable information for the characterization of materials. For example, the subtle differences in spatial distribution and composition of many chemical species in the near surface region and across interfacial boundaries can significantly alter the electronic and optical properties of materials. A number of analytical techniques for depth profiling have been developed during the last two decades. neutron Depth Profiling (NDP) is one of the leading analytical techniques. The NDP is a nondestructive near surface technique that utilizes thermal/cold neutron beam to measure the concentration of specific light elements versus their depth in materials. The depth is obtained from the energy loss of protons, alphas or recoil atoms in substrate materials. Since the charged particle energy determination using surface barrier detector is used for NDP, the depth resolution is highly dependent on the detectors an d detection instruments. The depth resolutions of a few tens of nm are achieved with available NDP facilities in the world. However, the performance of NDP needs to be improved in order to obtain a few A depth resolutions.

Members of the protein 4.1 family of adapter proteins are expressed in a broad panel of tissues including various epithelia where they likely play an important role in maintenance of cell architecture and polarity and in control of cell proliferation. We have recently characterized the structure and distribution of three members of the protein 4.1 family, 4.1B, 4.1R and 4.1N, in mouse kidney. We describe here binding partners for renal 4.1 proteins, identified through the screening of a rat kidney yeast two-hybrid system cDNA library. The identification of putative protein 4.1-based complexes enables us to envision potential functions for 4.1 proteins in kidney: organization of signaling complexes, response to osmotic stress, protein trafficking, and control of cell proliferation. We discuss the relevance of these protein 4.1-based interactions in kidney physio-pathology in the context of their previously identified functions in other cells and tissues. Specifically, we will focus on renal 4.1 protein interactions with beta amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP), 14-3-3 proteins, and the cell swelling-activated chloride channel pICln. We also discuss the functional relevance of another member of the protein 4.1 superfamily, ezrin, in kidney physiopathology.

Protein microarrays in which proteins are immobilized to a solid surface are ideal reagents for high-throughput experiments that require very small amounts of analyte. Such protein microarrays ('protein chips') can be used very efficiently to analyze all kind of protein interactions en masse. Although a variety of methods are available for attaching proteins on solid surfaces. Most of them rely on non-specific adsorption methods or on the reaction of chemical groups within proteins (mainly, amino and carboxylic acid groups) with complementary reactive groups. In both cases the protein is attached to the surface in random orientations. The use of recombinant affinity tags addresses the orientation issue, however in most of the cases the interaction of the tags are reversible (e.g., glutathione S-transferase, maltose binding protein and poly-His) and, hence, are not stable over the course of subsequent assays or require large mediator proteins (e.g., biotin-avidin and antigen antibody). The key for the covalent attachment of a protein to a solid support with a total control over the orientation is to introduce two unique and mutually reactive groups on both the protein and the surface. The reaction between these two groups should be highly selective thus behaving like a molecular 'Velcro'.

Monocrystalline copper samples with orientations of [001] and [221] were shocked at pressures ranging from 20 GPa to 60 GPa using two techniques: direct drive lasers and explosively driven flyer plates. The pulse duration for these techniques differed substantially: 2 ns for the laser experiments and 1.1-1.4 {micro}s for the flyer-plate experiments. The residual microstructures were dependent on orientation, pressure, and shocking method. The much shorter pulse duration in laser shock yielded recovery microstructures with no or limited dislocation motion. For the flyer-plate experiments, the longer pulse duration allow shock-generated defects to reorganize into lower energy configurations. Calculations show that the post shock cooling occurs in a time scale of 0.2 s for laser shock and 1000 s for plate-impact shock, propitiating recovery and recrystallization conditions for the latter. At the higher pressure level extensive recrystallization was observed in the plate-impact samples, while it was absent in laser shock. An effect that is proposed to contribute significantly to the formation of recrystallized regions is the existence of micro-shearbands, which increase the local temperature.