This study involves collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to enhance and optimize LANL's ultrasonic inspection capabilities for production. Deep-penetrating ultrasonic testing enhancement studies will extend the current capabilities, which only look for disbonds. Current ultrasonic methods in production use 15-20 MHz to inspect for disbonds. The enhanced capabilities use 5 MHz to penetrate to the back surface and image the back surface for any flaws. The enhanced capabilities for back surface inspection use transducers and squirter modifications that can be incorporated into the existing production system. In a production setup the current 15-20 MHz transducer and squirter would perform a bond inspection, followed by a deep inspection that would be performed by simply swapping out the 5 MHz transducer and squirter. Surrogate samples were manufactured of beryllium and bismuth to perform the ultrasonic enhancement studies. The samples were used to simulate flaws on the back surface and study ultrasound's ability to image them. The ultrasonic technique was optimized by performing experiments with these samples and analyzing transducer performance in detecting flaws in the surrogate. Beam patterns were also studied experimentally using a steel ball reflector to measure beam patterns, focal points, and sensitivities to …

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Weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Goldthwaite, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Each day countless numbers of high school students remain standing at the threshold of the door to meaningful learning in art history because of traditional authoritative instructional methods and content. With the keys of feminist pedagogy, interactive teaching methods, and the new art histories, the teacher can now unlock that door and lead students to personally relevant learning on the other side. A case study using both qualitative and quantitative research methods was conducted in a secondary art history classroom to examine the teacher's pedagogical choices and the degree to which they enable meaningful and relevant student learning. The analysis of multiple sources of data, including classroom observations, revealed statistically significant correlations between the teacher's instructional methods and the content, as well as their impact on student meaning-making.

Weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Sum frequency generation (SFG) surface vibrational spectroscopy was used to characterize interfaces pertinent to current surface engineering applications, such as thin film polymers and novel catalysts. An array of advanced surface science techniques like scanning probe microscopy (SPM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), gas chromatography (GC) and electron microscopy were used to obtain experimental measurements complementary to SFG data elucidating polymer and catalyst surface composition, surface structure, and surface mechanical behavior. Experiments reported in this dissertation concentrate on three fundamental questions: (1) How does the interfacial molecular structure differ from that of the bulk in real world applications? (2) How do differences in chemical environment affect interface composition or conformation? (3) How do these changes correlate to properties such as mechanical or catalytic performance? The density, surface energy and bonding at a solid interface dramatically alter the polymer configuration, physics and mechanical properties such as surface glass transition, adhesion and hardness. The enhanced sensitivity of SFG at the buried interface is applied to three systems: a series of acrylates under compression, the compositions and segregation behavior of binary polymer polyolefin blends, and the changes in surface structure of a hydrogel as a function of hydration. In addition, a catalytically active thin …

The workshop participants enthusiastically concluded that the time is ripe for new fundamental science to beget a revolution in lighting technology. SSL sources based on organic and inorganic materials have reached a level of efficiency where it is possible to envision their use for general illumination. The research areas articulated in this report are targeted to enable disruptive advances in SSL performance and realization of this dream. Broad penetration of SSL technology into the mass lighting market, accompanied by vast savings in energy usage, requires nothing less. These new ?good ideas? will be represented not by light bulbs, but by an entirely new lighting technology for the 21st century and a bright, energy-efficient future indeed.

MannDB was created to meet a need for rapid, comprehensive automated protein sequence analyses to support selection of proteins suitable as targets for driving the development of reagents for pathogen or protein toxin detection. Because a large number of open-source tools were needed, it was necessary to produce a software system to scale the computations for whole-proteome analysis. Thus, we built a fully automated system for executing software tools and for storage, integration, and display of automated protein sequence analysis and annotation data. MannDB is a relational database that organizes data resulting from fully automated, high-throughput protein-sequence analyses using open-source tools. Types of analyses provided include predictions of cleavage, chemical properties, classification, features, functional assignment, post-translational modifications, motifs, antigenicity, and secondary structure. Proteomes (lists of hypothetical and known proteins) are downloaded and parsed from Genbank and then inserted into MannDB, and annotations from SwissProt are downloaded when identifiers are found in the Genbank entry or when identical sequences are identified. Currently 36 open-source tools are run against MannDB protein sequences either on local systems or by means of batch submission to external servers. In addition, BLAST against protein entries in MvirDB, our database of microbial virulence factors, is performed. A …

A search for the production of neutral Higgs bosons {Phi} decaying into {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -} final states in p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV is presented. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 325 pb{sup -1}, were collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Since no excess compared to the expectation from standard model processes is found, limits on the production cross section times branching ratio are set. The results are combined with those obtained from the D0 search for {Phi}b({bar b}) {yields} b{bar b}b({bar b}) and are interpreted in the minimal supersymmetric standard model.

The authors present a search for supersymmetry in the R-parity violating resonant production and decay of smuons and muon-sneutrinos in the channels {tilde {mu}} {yields} {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0} {mu}, {tilde {mu}} {yields} {tilde {chi}}{sub 2,3,4}{sup 0} {mu}, and {tilde {nu}}{sub {mu}} {yields} {tilde {chi}}{sub 1,2}{sup {+-}} {mu}. They analyzed 0.38 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity collected between April 2002 and August 2004 with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The observed number of events is in agreement with the standard model expectation, and we calculate 95% C.L. limits on the slepton production cross section times branching fraction to gaugino plus muon, as a function of slepton and gaugino masses. In the framework of minimal supergravity, we set limits on the coupling parameter {lambda}'{sub 211}, extending significantly previous results obtained in Run I of the Tevatron and at the CERN LEP collider.

The authors present the results of the first search for a new particle X produced in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV and subsequently decaying to Z{gamma}. The search uses 0.3 fb{sup -1} of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. They set limits on the production cross section times the branching fraction {sigma}(p{bar p} {yields} X) x B(X {yields} Z{gamma}) that range from 0.4-3.5 pb at the 95% C.L. for X with invariant masses between 100 and 1000 GeV/c{sup 2} over a wide range of X decay widths.

A search for gaugino pair production with a trilepton signature in the framework of R-parity violating supersymmetry via the couplings {lambda}{sub 121}, {lambda}{sub 122}, or {lambda}{sub 133} is presented. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of L {approx} 360 pb{sup -1}, were collected from April 2002 to August 2004 with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, at a center-of-mass energy of {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. This analysis considers final states with three charged leptons with the flavor combinations ee{ell}, {mu}{mu}{ell}, and ee{tau} ({ell} = e or {mu}). No evidence for supersymmetry is found and limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the gaugino pair production cross section and lower bounds on the masses of the lightest neutralino and chargino are derived in two supersymmetric models.

Weekly newspaper from Lexington, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The social interactions between children with special needs, learning disabilities and/or attention deficit disorder (ADHD), were investigated. The children were observed in groups of three/four while creating a cooperative art project. During this activity, their interactions were recorded and coded for patterns of verbal communication. Verbal communication was evaluated through statements reflecting requests for information and materials; helping/cooperation/giving; consideration/positive reinforcement; competitiveness; intrusiveness; rejection; self-image; neutral statements; and persuasiveness. Results indicated that children with special needs tended to engage in a greater frequency of helping/cooperative/giving statements as opposed to any other verbal statements. Specifically, positive statements as opposed to negative statements classified their verbal interactions. These children also appeared to demonstrate more internalizing behaviors than externalizing behaviors. The influence of children's behaviors on children's verbal statements was examined. Results indicated that children who evidenced a disability in reading or language appeared to engage in a greater frequency of cooperative or helping statements than their non-disabled peers. Intrusive tendencies may be associated with the following: presence of a reading disability, absence of ADHD, and absence of a disability in written expression. Additionally, the conversations of children with a disability in mixed receptive language tended to evidence a greater frequency of neutral statements …

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

The Texas high school class of 2005 faced a defining test that had no precedent in Texas and little nationally. Social studies testing is a relatively new addition to the world of high stakes testing currently impacting United States high schools. Although other diploma dependent areas of mandated testing have some testing history and, therefore, related paradigms for curriculum and instructional assistance, the area of social studies largely lacks that perspective. Texas Education agency provided specific school grant monies and training for the purpose of preparation for the social studies exams. This quasi-experimental study examines the scores to learn whether or not any statistically significant differences in social studies scores would exist between the schools that participated in the TEKS/Tools Training Program and the schools that did not participate in the TEKS/Tools Training Program. The two primary at-risk groups in Texas, Hispanic and low SES, were analyzed for statistically significant differences in scores. Independent t tests and ANCOVA were used to analyze the score differences between program schools and non-program schools. Results relate to individual school staffing and implementation. The at-risk groups remained flat in score gains whether they were part of the program schools or not. Results relate to …

This mixed design study surveyed members of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) to determine the baseline for wellness among student affairs administrators and within the profession. In addition to describing the wellness levels of the administrators and comparing them to the wellness of the general population, the study explored how wellness is represented within the student affairs profession, as reflected in the literature and practice. Student affairs administrators' wellness was assessed utilizing the Five Factor Wel Wellness Inventory (Myers & Sweeney, 2004). Collectively, the administrators posted "well" scores on the six factors utilized in the study and scored higher than the norms reported for the 5F-Wel general population. However, there was a broad range of actual scores across individuals indicating that not everyone can be considered to be maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle. The administrators' wellness was not affected by their length of time in the student affairs profession but was negatively associated with the number of hours they worked per week. The administrators possessed a holistic view of wellness and could articulate the behaviors and conditions associated with achieving, and failing to achieve, balance. However, reported engagement in certain wellness behaviors (e.g., physical activity and healthy eating) …

Weekly newspaper from Lexington, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semiweekly newspaper from Carthage, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Implicit in the call for educational reform in the teaching of social studies has been the suggestion that pursuing inquiry-based principles will lead to improvement in student achievement. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two types of pedagogy: traditional and inquiry-based upon student achievement as measured by a standards-based, state administered examination. Second, this study examined the relationship between the treatment teachers' level of implementation and student achievement. A nonequivalent control group posttest and experimental design was used in this study. Subjects involved in this study include 84 secondary American history teachers and their respective students from a large urban public school district in Texas. The sample consisted of two groups, one taught by traditional/didactic instruction (n=48) and the other taught by inquiry-based pedagogy (n=36). Data for this study were collected using a classroom observation protocol based upon the level of use rubric developed by the concerns-based adoption model. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) (p<.05) was used to measure the effects of inquiry-based instruction and traditional pedagogy on student achievement. Student achievement results were measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) for American history, grades 8 and 11. The study found that …

The axoneme, which forms the core of eukaryotic flagella and cilia, is one of the largest macromolecular machines with a structure that is largely conserved from protists to mammals. Microtubule doublets are structural components of axonemes containing a number of proteins besides tubulin, and are usually found in arrays of nine doublets arranged around two singlet microtubules. Coordinated sliding of adjacent doublets, which involves a host of other proteins in the axoneme, produces periodic beating movements of the axoneme. We have obtained a 3D density map of intact microtubule doublets using cryo-electron tomography and image averaging. Our map, with a resolution of about 3 nm, provides insights into locations of particular proteins within the doublets and the structural features of the doublets that define their mechanical properties. We identify likely candidates for several of these non-tubulin components of the doublets. This work offers novel insight on how tubulin protofilaments and accessory proteins attach together to form the doublets and provides a structural basis for understanding doublet function in axonemes.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.