Supermarket Speak: Increasing Talk Among Low-Socioeconomic Status Families

Children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families often fall behind their middle-class peers in early language development. But interventions designed to support their language skills are often costly and labor-intensive. This study implements an inexpensive and subtle language intervention aimed at sparking parent-child interaction in a place that families naturally visit: the supermarket. We placed signs encouraging adult-child dialogue in supermarkets serving low- and mid-SES neighborhoods. Using an unobtrusive observational methodology, we tested how these signs affected adult-child interactions. When signs were present in supermarkets serving low-SES neighborhoods, both the amount and the quality of talk between adults and children increased significantly, compared to when the signs were not present; signs had little effect in middle-SES supermarkets. This study demonstrates that implementing simple, cost-effective interventions in everyday environments may bolster children's language development and school readiness skills. © 2015 International Mind, Brain, and Education Society and Blackwell Publishing, Inc

Seismic issues at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant

A seismic expert workshop was held at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) on March 13--15, 1989. the PGDP is operated by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. for the United States Department of Energy (DOE). During the last twenty years the design criteria for natural phenomenon hazards has steadily become more demanding at all of the DOE Oak Ridge Operations (ORO) sites. The purpose of the two-day workshop was to review the seismic vulnerability issues of the PGDP facilities. Participants to the workshop included recognized experts in the fields of seismic engineering, seismology and geosciences, and probabilistic analysis, along with engineers and other personnel from Energy Systems. A complete list of the workshop participants is included in the front of this report. 29 refs

Characteristics Data Base: Programmer's guide to the High-Level Waste Data Base

The High-Level Waste Data Base is a menu-driven PC data base developed as part of OCRWM's technical data base on the characteristics of potential repository wastes, which also includes spent fuel and other materials. This programmer's guide completes the documentation for the High-Level Waste Data Base, the user's guide having been published previously. 3 figs

Characteristics Data Base: Programmer's guide to the LWR Quantities Data Base

The LWR Quantities Data Base is a menu-driven PC data base developed as part of OCRWM's waste, technical data base on the characteristics of potential repository wastes, which also includes non-LWR spent fuel, high-level and other materials. This programmer's guide completes the documentation for the LWR Quantities Data Base, the user's guide having been published previously. The PC data base itself may be requested from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, using the order form provided in Volume 1 of publication DOE/RW-0184

Seismically-induced soil amplification at the DOE Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site

A site-specific earthquake site response (soil amplification) study is being conducted for the Department of Energy (DOE), Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP). This study is pursuant to an upgraded Final Safety Analysis Report in accordance with requirements specified by DOE. The seismic hazard at PGDP is dominated by the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Site-specific synthetic earthquake records developed by others were applied independently to four soil columns with heights above baserock of about 325 ft. The results for the 1000-year earthquake event indicate that the site period is between 1.0 and 1.5 sec. Incident shear waves are amplified at periods of motion greater than 0.15 sec. The peak free-field horizontal acceleration, occurring at very low periods, is 0.28 g. 13 refs., 13 figs

An improved thermobalance reactor for the study of reduction and hydrofluorination of uranium feed materials /

Two thermobalances have been constructed which make use of an improved reactor design for the study of gas-solid reactions as they apply to the conversion of uranium oxide materiels to uranium tetrafluoride. Since temperature has been recognized as one of the most important rate-governing factors for both of the reactions involved in this transformation, the reactor design provides for maintaining the sample temperature constant to +- 1.0 deg C. at any selected temperature over the range 100 to 600 deg C. Rate-controlling variables such as reaction temperatures, gas flow rates, preheating time and bed depth have been studied in order to establish the ranges over which small variations in these factors can be ignored. (auth)."September 16, 1964"Includes bibliographic references (pages 42-44).Two thermobalances have been constructed which make use of an improved reactor design for the study of gas-solid reactions as they apply to the conversion of uranium oxide materiels to uranium tetrafluoride. Since temperature has been recognized as one of the most important rate-governing factors for both of the reactions involved in this transformation, the reactor design provides for maintaining the sample temperature constant to +- 1.0 deg C. at any selected temperature over the range 100 to 600 deg C. Rate-controlling variables such as reaction temperatures, gas flow rates, preheating time and bed depth have been studied in order to establish the ranges over which small variations in these factors can be ignored. (auth).Mode of access: Internet

Overview of DOE's field screening technology development activities

The Department of Energy (DOE) has recently created the Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, into which it consolidated those activities. Within this new organization, the Office of Technology Development (OTD) is responsible for research, development, demonstration, testing, and evaluation (RDDT E) activities aimed at meeting DOE cleanup goals, while minimizing cost and risk. Site characterization using traditional drilling, sampling, and analytical methods comprises a significant part of the environmental restoration efforts in terms of both cost and time to accomplish. It can also be invasive and create additional pathways for spread of contaminants. Consequently, DOE is focusing on site characterization as one of the areas in which significant technological advances are possible which will decrease cost, reduce risk, and shorten schedules for achieving restoration goals. DOE is investing considerably in R D and demonstration activities which will improve the abilities to screen chemical, radiological, and physical parameters in the field. This paper presents an overview of the program objectives and status and reviews some of the projects which are currently underway in the area. 1 ref