Final Report: Fiscal Year 1997 demonstration of omnivorous non-thermal mixed waste treatment: Direct chemical oxidation of organic solids and liquids using peroxydisulfate

Direct Chemical Oxidation (DCO) is a non-thermal, ambient pressure, aqueous-based technology for the oxidative destruction of the organic components of hazardous or mixed waste streams. The process has been developed for applications in waste treatment, chemical demilitarization and decontamination at LLNL since 1992. The process uses solutions of the peroxydisulfate ion (typically sodium or ammonium salts) to completely mineralize the organics to carbon dioxide and water. The expended oxidant may be electrolytically regenerated to minimize secondary waste. The paper briefly describes: free radical and secondary oxidant formation; electrochemical regeneration; offgas stream; and throughput

Almost-zero-energy Eigenvalues of Some Broken Supersymmetric Systems

For a quantum mechanical system with broken supersymmetry, we present a simple method of determining the ground state when the corresponding energy eigenvalue is sufficiently small. A concise formula is derived for the approximate ground state energy in an associated, well-separated, asymmetric double-well-type potential. Our discussion is also relevant for the analysis of the fermion bound state in the kink-antikink scalar background.Comment: revised version, to be pubilshed in PR

Destruction of organic wastes by ammonium peroxydisulfate with electrolytic regeneration of the oxidant

Research is reported concerning a new aqueous process for oxidative destruction of solid- and liquid organic wastes. This process uses acidified ammonium peroxydisulfate and operates at ambient pressure and at 80- to 100 {degrees}C. The oxidant may be efficiently regenerated by electrolysis of the sulfate by-product at Pt anodes, even in the presence of organic and inorganic contaminants expected to be entrained in the cycle. Integral rate constants were determined for the oxidation of 25 diverse organic compounds at low (50 ppm) concentrations through fixed-time experiments with excess oxidant and a Pt wire catalyst. For high initial concentrations, uncatalyzed mineralization rates were measured for waste surrogates including kerosene, triethylamine, ion exchange resin, oxalic acid, trinitrotoluene, and cellulose. A packed bed reactor was tested with ethylene glycol, with offgas analysis by mass spectroscopy. Rate data extrapolate to throughputs of approximately 200 kg/m{sub 3}-day. The process may benefit the destruction of highly toxic or specialized industrial wastes as well as the organic fraction of mixed wastes

Stochastic dynamics of a warmer Great Barrier Reef

Pressure on natural communities from human activities continues to increase. Even unique ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), that until recently were considered near-pristine and well-protected, are showing signs of rapid degradation. We collated recent (1996-2006) spatiotemporal relationships between benthic community composition on the GBR and environmental variables (ocean temperature and local threats resulting from human activity). We built multivariate models of the effects of these variables on short-term dynamics, and developed an analytical approach to study their long-term consequences. We used this approach to study the effects of ocean warming under different levels of local threat. Observed short-term changes in benthic community structure (e.g., declining coral cover) were associated with ocean temperature (warming) and local threats. Our model projected that, in the long term, coral cover of less than 10% was not implausible. With increasing temperature and/or local threats, corals were initially replaced by sponges, gorgonians, and other taxa, with an eventual moderately high probability of domination (>50%) by macroalgae when temperature increase was greatest (e.g., 3.58C of warming). Our approach to modeling community dynamics, based on multivariate statistical models, enabled us to project how environmental change (and thus local and international policy decisions) will influence the future state of coral reefs. The same approach could be applied to other systems for which time series of ecological and environmental variables are available

IPM in Asia - A review of existing projects in the Philippines and Indonesia

peer reviewedIntegrated Pest Management means a pest management system that, in the context of the associated environment and the population dynamics of the pest species, utilizes ail suitable techniques and methods in as compatible a manner as possible and maintains the pest populations at levels below those causing economically unacceptable damage or 1055. FAO-Code- of Conduct 1984

IPM in Asia - A review of existing projects in the Philippines and Indonesia

peer reviewedIntegrated Pest Management means a pest management system that, in the context of the associated environment and the population dynamics of the pest species, utilizes ail suitable techniques and methods in as compatible a manner as possible and maintains the pest populations at levels below those causing economically unacceptable damage or 1055. FAO-Code- of Conduct 1984

New Eaxactly Solvable Hamiltonians: Shape Invariance and Self-Similarity

We discuss in some detail the self-similar potentials of Shabat and Spiridonov which are reflectionless and have an infinite number of bound states. We demonstrate that these self-similar potentials are in fact shape invariant potentials within the formalism of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. In particular, using a scaling ansatz for the change of parameters, we obtain a large class of new, reflectionless, shape invariant potentials of which the Shabat-Spiridonov ones are a special case. These new potentials can be viewed as q-deformations of the single soliton solution corresponding to the Rosen-Morse potential. Explicit expressions for the energy eigenvalues, eigenfunctions and transmission coefficients for these potentials are obtained. We show that these potentials can also be obtained numerically. Included as an intriguing case is a shape invariant double well potential whose supersymmetric partner potential is only a single well. Our class of exactly solvable Hamiltonians is further enlarged by examining two new directions: (i) changes of parameters which are different from the previously studied cases of translation and scaling; (ii) extending the usual concept of shape invariance in one step to a multi-step situation. These extensions can be viewed as q-deformations of the harmonic oscillator or multi-soliton solutions corresponding to the Rosen-Morse potential.Comment: 26 pages, plain tex, request figures by e-mai

Anisotropic optical properties of single-crystal GdBa2Cu3O7-delta

The optical spectrum of reduced-T(c) GdBa2Cu3O7-delta has been measured for polarizations parallel and perpendicular to the ab plane. The sample was an oxygen-deficient single crystal with a large face containing the c axis. The polarized reflectance from this face was measured from 20-300 K in the spectral region from 30-3000 cm-1, with 300 K data to 30 000 cm-1. Kramers-Kronig analysis was used to determine the spectral dependence of the ab and the c components of the dielectric tensor. The optical properties are strongly anisotropic. The ab-plane response resembles that of other reduced-T(c) materials whereas the c axis, in contrast, shows only the presence of several phonons. There is a complete absence of charge carrier response along c above and below T(c). This observation allows us to set an upper limit to the free-carrier spectral weight for transport perpendicular to the CuO2 planes

A Refuelable Zinc/Air Battery for Fleet Electric Vehicle Propulsion

We report the development and on-vehicle testing of an engineering prototype zinc/air battery. The battery is refueled by periodic exchange of spent electrolyte for zinc particles entrained in fresh electrolyte. The technology is intended to provide a capability for nearly continuous vehicle operation, using the fleet s home base for 10 minute refuelings and zinc recycling instead of commercial infrastructure. In the battery, the zinc fuel particles are stored in hoppers, from which they are gravity fed into individual cells and completely consumed during discharge. A six-celled (7V) engineering prototype battery was combined with a 6 V lead/acid battery to form a parallel hybrid unit, which was tested in series with the 216 V battery of an electric shuttle bus over a 75 mile circuit. The battery has an energy density of 140 Wh/kg and a mass density of 1.5 kg/L. Cost, energy efficiency, and alternative hybrid configurations are discussed

Diffusing innovative road safety practice: A social network approach to identifying opinion leading U.S. cities

Objective: This study sought to identify opinion-leading U.S. cities in the realm of safe transportation systems by surveying road safety professionals and asking them to identify places that served as models for road safety. Methods: Using a purposive sampling methodology, we surveyed professionals employed in road safety–related professions (e.g., transportation engineering, planning, public health, law enforcement, and emergency response). Using 183 professionals’ complete responses, we carried out social network analysis to both describe the structure of intermunicipal advice-seeking patterns among road safety professionals and identify those municipalities with relatively high degrees of influence. Results: We discovered a large intermunicipal monitoring network related to improving road user safety. Half of the network ties (50.4%) crossed regional U.S. census boundaries. Social network statistics informed the identification of 7 opinion-leader and 4 boundary-spanning municipalities. Conclusions: This study indicated a large intermunicipal monitoring network, half of which crossed regional boundaries. Road safety professionals have formed a country-spanning example-following network on the topic of improving road user safety in the United States. Researchers and intervention teams can tap into this network to accelerate the uptake and spread of evidence-based road safety practices