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This report lists and provides statistics on President George W. Bush's nominations to U.S. district courts and courts of appeal (circuit courts) during the 107th and 108th Congresses and actions taken on the nominations by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate. This report focuses on judicial nominations made by the President and Senate actions taken on the nominations by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate.

This conference demonstrated the coming of age of 3-D astronomy as a standard tool, rather than as a technological niche. In particular, several integral field spectrometers are now in use, and many more are now in development for the new ground-based 6-10 meter class telescopes, and in study for space use, and are described in the papers of this conference. The astronomical roles of various forms of 3-D technologies are summarized.

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The separation of pyrite from coal by flotation is based on exploiting the wettability difference between coal and pyrite. There is evidence that the wettability of coal pyrite changes upon superficial oxidation. Therefore, the oxidation of coal pyrite has been studied under carefully controlled electrochemical conditions. In order to identify the species responsible for the changes in wettability, the surface products formed during oxidation have been identified by means of various surface analysis techniques, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS). It has been found that pyrite oxidation creates a sulfur-rich surface along with iron oxides/hydroxides. The ratio between these hydrophobic and hydrophilic species correlates well with the results of the wettability measurements.

The separation of pyrite from coal by flotation is based on exploiting the wettability difference between coal and pyrite. There is evidence that the wettability of coal pyrite changes upon superficial oxidation. Therefore, the oxidation of coal pyrite has been studied under carefully controlled electrochemical conditions. In order to identify the species responsible for the changes in wettability, the surface products formed during oxidation have been identified by means of various surface analysis techniques, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS). It has been found that pyrite oxidation creates a sulfur-rich surface along with iron oxides/hydroxides. The ratio between these hydrophobic and hydrophilic species correlates well with the results of the wettability measurements.

"An investigation has been made at high subsonic speeds of the aerodynamic characteristics in pitch and sideslip of a 1/l4-scale model of the Grumman XF10F airplane with a wing sweepback angle of 42.5. The longitudinal stability characteristics (with the horizontal tail fixed) indicate a pitch-up near the stall; however, this was somewhat alleviated by the addition of fins to the side of the fuselage below the horizontal tail. The original model configuration became directionally unstable for small sideslip angles at Mach numbers above 0.8; however, the instability was eliminated by several different modifications" (p. 1).

SNL-5 (permitted by the New Mexico State Engineer as C-3002) was drilled to provide geological data and hydrological testing of the Culebra Dolomite Member of the Permian Rustler Formation in an area north of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site where data are sparse and where a pumping or monitoring well for the northern pumping test is needed. SNL-5 is located in the southeast quarter of section 6, T22S, R31E, in eastern Eddy County, New Mexico. SNL-5 was drilled to a total depth of 687 ft below ground level (bgl), based on driller's measurements. Below the caliche pad, SNL-5 encountered the Mescalero caliche, Gatu?a, Dewey Lake, and Rustler Formations. Two intervals of the Rustler were cored: (1) from the lower Forty-niner Member through the Magenta Dolomite and into the upper Tamarisk Member; and (2) from the lower Tamarisk Member through the Culebra Dolomite and into the upper Los Meda?os Members. Geophysical logs were acquired from the open hole to a depth of ~672 ft. No water was observed to flow into the open drillhole until the Culebra was penetrated. includes horizontal beds and laminae near the base, and the uppermost part shows some inclined bedding. The mudstone unit shows …

A high-throughput multiplexed assay (Multiplex Version 1.0) was developed for the differential laboratory diagnosis of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) from viruses which cause clinically similar diseases of livestock. This assay simultaneously screens for five RNA and two DNA viruses using multiplexed reverse transcription PCR (mRT-PCR) amplification coupled with a microsphere hybridization array and flow-cytometric detection. Two of the seventeen primer-probe sets included in this multiplex assay were adopted from previously characterized real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) assays for FMDV. The diagnostic accuracy of the mRT-PCR was evaluated using 287 field samples, including 248 (true positive n= 213, true negative n=34) from suspect cases of foot-and-mouth disease collected from 65 countries between 1965 and 2006 and 39 true negative samples collected from healthy animals. The mRT-PCR assay results were compared with two singleplex rRT-PCR assays, using virus isolation with antigen-ELISA as the reference method. The diagnostic sensitivity of the mRT-PCR assay for FMDV was 93.9% [95% C.I. 89.8-96.4%], compared to 98.1% [95% C.I. 95.3-99.3%] for the two singleplex rRTPCR assays used in combination. In addition, the assay could reliably differentiate between FMDV and other vesicular viruses such as swine vesicular disease virus and vesicular exanthema of swine virus. Interestingly, the mRT-PCR detected parapoxvirus …

This report discusses Justice Scalia's jurisprudence on key areas of law, as well as how that jurisprudence could be seen to have influenced the Court's approach to these subject matters.

The National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) has been designed to accommodate a variety of heating systems, including ohmic heating, neutral beam injection, and radio-frequency (rf). Neutral beams will provide one of the primary heating methods for NCSX. In addition to plasma heating, neutral beams are also expected to provide a means for external control over the level of toroidal plasma rotation velocity and its profile. The experimental plan requires 3 MW of 50-keV balanced neutral beam tangential injection with pulse lengths of 500 ms for initial experiments, to be upgradeable to pulse lengths of 1.5 s. Subsequent upgrades will add 3MW of neutral beam injection (NBI). This paper discusses the NCSX NBI requirements and design issues and shows how these are provided by the candidate PBX-M NBI system. In addition, estimations are given for beam heating efficiencies, scaling of heating efficiency with machine size and magnetic field level, parameter studies of the optimum beam injection tangency radius and toroidal injection location, and loss patterns of beam ions on the vacuum chamber wall to assist placement of wall armor and for minimizing the generation of impurities by the energetic beam ions. Finally, subsequent upgrades could add an additional 6 MW of …

The objective of this research is to provide the DoD with a framework based on a systematic, risk-based approach to assess impacts for management of natural resources in an ecosystem context. This risk assessment framework is consistent with, but extends beyond, the EPA's ecological risk assessment framework, and specifically addresses DoD activities and management needs. MERAF is intended to be consistent with existing procedures for environmental assessment and planning with DoD testing and training. The intention is to supplement these procedures rather than creating new procedural requirements. MERAF is suitable for use for training and testing area assessment and management. It does not include human health risks nor does it address specific permitting or compliance requirements, although it may be useful in some of these cases. Use of MERAF fits into the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process by providing a consistent and rigorous way of organizing and conducting the technical analysis for Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) (Sigal 1993; Carpenter 1995; Canter and Sadler 1997). It neither conflicts with, nor replaces, procedural requirements within the NEPA process or document management processes already in place within DoD.

This thesis presents the full-angular time-dependent analysis of the vector-vector channel B{sub d}{sup 0} {yields} J/{psi}(K{sub S}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0})*{sup 0}. After a review of the CP violation in the B meson system, the phenomenology of the charmonium-K*(892) channels is exposed. The method for the measurement of the transversity amplitudes of the B {yields} J/{psi}K*(892), based on a pseudo-likelihood method, is then exposed. The results from a 81.9 fb{sup -1} of collected data by the BABAR detector at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance peak are |A{sub 0}|{sup 2} = 0.565 {+-} 0.011 {+-} 0.004, |A{sub {parallel}}|{sup 2} = 0.206 {+-} 0.016 {+-} 0.007, |A{sub {perpendicular}}|{sup 2} = 0.228 {+-} 0.016 {+-} 0.007, {delta}{sub {parallel}} = -2.766 {+-} 0.105 {+-} 0.040 and {delta}{sub {perpendicular}} = 2.935 {+-} 0.067 {+-} 0.040. Note that ({delta}{sub {parallel}}, {delta}{sub {perpendicular}}) {yields} (-{delta}{sub {parallel}}, {pi} - {delta}{sub {perpendicular}}) is also a solution. The strong phases {delta}{sub {parallel}} and {delta}{sub {perpendicular}} are at {approx}> 3{sigma} from {+-}{pi}, signing the presence of final state interactions and the breakdown of the factorization hypothesis. The forward-backward analysis of the K{pi} mass spectrum revealed the presence of a coherent S-wave interfering with the K*(892). It is the first evidence of this wave in the …

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Research and development progress is reported on analytical instrumentation, chemical analysis of advanced reactor fuels, analytical studies of molten-salt systems, special research problems, reactor projects, effects of radiation on analytical methods, x-ray and spectrochemical analyses, spectroscopy, optical and electron microscopy, nuclear and radiochemical analyses, inorganic preparations, organic preparations, and analytical development. Service analyses are also described. Separate abstracts were prepared for each topic. (M.C.G.)

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The kinetics of the gamma deg C was con- beta deg C was con- alpha , beta deg C was con- gamma , and alpha deg C was con- beta deg C was con- gamma transformations were determined with a fiuid displacement technique. The rates of formation of the alpha and beta phases from the gamma phase were determined after gamma heat treating and allowing a sample to traasform isothermally in the alpha and beta ramges. Isothermal reaction curves were obtained from 160 C to -78C. The time-temperature-transformation curve of the gamma deg C was con- beta deg C was con- alpha transformation was plotted. The effect of the gamma heat treating time and temperature on the rate of transformation was examined. Isothermal reaction curves and time-temperature- transformation curves of the beta deg C was con- gamma , and alpha deg C was con- beta deg C was con- gamma transformations were plotted. Photomicrographs of specimens having transformed from the gamma range at different rates of transformation are presented. (auth)

A bubble merger model is presented for the nonlinear evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability driven by a strong blast wave. Single bubble motion is determined by an extension of previous buoyancy-drag models extended to the blast wave driven case, and a simple bubble merger law in the spirit of the Sharp-Wheeler model allows for the generation of larger scales. The blast wave driven case differs in several respects from the classical case of incompressible fluids in a uniform gravitational field. Because of material decompression in the rarefaction behind the blast front, the asymptotic bubble velocity and the merger time depend on time as well as the transverse scale and the drive. For planar blast waves, this precludes the emergence of a self-similar regime independent of the initial conditions. With higher-dimensional blast waves, divergence restores the properties necessary for the establishment of the self-similar state, but its establishment requires a very high initial characteristic mode number and a high Mach number for the incident blast wave.

Prostate cancer (PC) is the second leading cause of male U.S. cancer deaths, with African-Americans having the highest rate of PC mortality worldwide, as well as more abnormal results from screening tests that correlate with current or eventual PC. A 3-year prospective clinic-based study is studying the performance of current (PSA and DRE) vs. (% free PSA) clinical biomarkers of PC risk in 400 African-American men 50 to 70 years of age who undergo PC screening in Oakland, CA (East Bay San Francisco area), as well as possible association of PC screening results for these men with their dietary exposures to the cancer-causing heterocyclic amine, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) that forms when meat is cooked. This study expands an ongoing NIH-funded study (by the same research team) to add a new %-free-PSA test, results of which will be compared with PSA/DRE results and PhIP exposures estimated by dietary interviews. For 392 men studied under the NIH protocol, an odds ratio (95% CL) of 32 (3.2, 720) for highly elevated PSA ({ge}20 ng/mL) was observed in the highest 15% vs. the lower 50% of estimated daily PhIP intakes. Approximately 100 additional men have completed participation in the expanded NIH/DOD-supported study. This study will …

An ignition in an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) reactor results in X-ray spectra and ion fluxes moving toward the chamber wall with different velocities. During flight, parts of the energy will be deposited either in the residual and/or protective chamber gas or in the initial vapor cloud developed near the wall surface from vaporization. The deposited energy will be re-radiated to the chamber wall long after the ignition process. The exact amount of energy deposited/radiated and time of deposition are key issues in evaluating the chamber response and the economical feasibility of an ICF reactor. The radiation processes in the protective gas layer or in the vapor cloud developed above the first wall play an important role in the overall dynamics of the ICF chamber. A self-consistent field method has been developed to calculate ionization potentials, atom and ion energy levels, transition probabilities, and other atomic properties used to calculate thermodynamic and optical characteristics of the plasma by means of collisional-radiation equilibrium (CRE). The methodology of solving radiation transport equations in spherical geometry and the dependence of results on the chosen theoretical model are demonstrated using the method of inward/outward directions.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) provides broad-based, integrated scientific and engineering capabilities to address some of the nation's top national security and environmental priorities. National security priorities are to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction; environmental priorities are to keep our environment healthy for the long term and to assess the consequences of environmental change. The Earth and Environmental Sciences (E&ES) Directorate at LLNL pursues applied and basic research across many disciplines to advance the technologies needed to address these national concerns. Our current work focuses on: Storage and ultimate disposition of U.S. spent reactor fuel and other nuclear materials; Assessment of the current global climate and simulation of future changes caused by humans or nature; Development of broadly applicable technologies for environmental remediation and risk reduction; Tools to support U.S. goals for verifying the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty; subcritical tests for stockpile stewardship; Real-time assessments of the health and environmental consequences of atmospheric releases of radioactive or other hazardous materials; and Basic science research that investigates fundamental physical and chemical properties of interest to these applied research programs. For each of these areas we …

Report documenting the suitability of Nevada for plant locations to produce synthetic liquid fuels, based on raw materials, water sources, and local interest.