From book jacket: "Submissiveness is not my role, but certain platitudes on certain occasions are among the innocent deceits of the sex." A strong character with a fervent belief in woman's changing place, Lucy Holcombe Pickens (1832-1899) was not content to live the life of a typical nineteenth-century Southern belle. Wife of Francis Wilkinson Pickens, the secessionist governor of South Carolina on the eve of the Civil War, Lucy was determined to make her mark in the world. She married "the right man," feeling that "a woman with wealth or prestige garnered from her husband's position could attain great power." She urged Pickens to accept a diplomatic mission to the court of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, and in St. Petersburg Lucy captivated the Tsar and his retinue with her beauty and charm. Upon returning to the states, she became First Lady of South Carolina just in time to encourage a Confederate unit named in her honor (The Holcombe Legion) off to war. She was the only woman to have her image engraved on Confederacy paper currency, the uncrowned "Queen of the Confederacy."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO addressed the Air Force's plan to replace a portion of its KC-135 aerial refueling tanker fleet with leased Boeing 767 aircraft. Although the Air Force has a long term requirement to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 tankers, the urgency of the need in the short term is unclear. The Air Force stated that the leasing arrangement would allow it to acquire new tankers three years earlier than through its most recent procurement plan. This would allow the Air Force to retire old, less capable KC-135s, thus saving maintenance costs on those aircraft. Because the Air Force is still negotiating the lease details, it could not provide information on the cost effectiveness of leasing aircraft instead of purchasing them. Although GAO has not taken a position on the overall policy of leasing versus purchasing defense equipment, it found that, from a cost standpoint, leasing is more expensive in the long run. Because the 767 aircraft is larger than the KC-135, there will be some infrastructure improvement costs, such as for building or modifying hangars, taxiways, and runway aprons. Additional costs would likely include simulators and project management. …

This CRADA provided technical support to the Weyerhaeuser Company on a number of issues related to the performance and/or selection of materials at a number of locations in a pulp and paper mill. The studies related primarily to components for black liquor recovery boilers, but some effort was directed toward black liquor gasifiers and rolls for paper machines. The purpose of this CRADA was to assist Weyerhaeuser in the evaluation of materials exposed in various paper mill environments and to provide direction in the selection of alternate materials, when appropriate.

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

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a county may maintain a road that has not been officially established as a public road but which has been accessible to and regularly used by the public (RQ-0469-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether section 37.123 of the Education Code, which creates the offense of “disruptive activity,” requires proof of intent (RQ-0474-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a casket constitutes “funeral merchandise” for purposes of Chapter 651 of the Occupations Code, and related questions (RQ-0477-JC)

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The objective of this study was to compare the mixing performance of the Lawrence pump, which has injection nozzles at the top, with an alternative pump that has injection nozzles at the bottom, and to determine the optimal elevation for the alternative pump. Sixteen cases were evaluated: two sludge thicknesses at eight levels. A two-step evaluation approach was used: Step 1 to evaluate all 16 cases with the non-rotating mixer pump model and Step 2 to further evaluate four of those cases with the more realistic rotating mixer pump model. The TEMPEST code was used.

The Minimum Degree algorithm, one of the classical algorithms of sparse matrix computations, is widely used to order graphs to reduce the work and storage needed to solve sparse systems of linear equations. There has been extensive research involving practical implementations of this algorithm over the past two decades. However, little has been done to establish theoretical bounds on the computational complexity of these implementations. We study the Minimum Degree algorithm, and prove time complexity bounds for its widely used variants.

Several DOE sites have been contaminated by transuranicradionuclide (TRU) discharges including neptunium and plutonium. Theirinteraction with the surrounding geological media can affect thetransport and remediation of these radionuclides in the environment.Manganese based minerals, present as minor phases in the vadose zone, canpreferentially sequester TRU over other minerals present in largerquantities. The objective of this project is to understand theinteractions between plutonium and neptunium and manganese oxyhydroxideminerals to predict potential hazards they represent to the environment,as well as to provide important scientific information for the design ofeffective remediation strategies for contaminated DOE sites.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Seminole, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

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

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Presented in this paper is the transient analysis of a Group Distribution Header (GDH) following a guillotine break at the end of the header. The GDH is the most important component of reactor safety in case of accidents. Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) piping is connected to the GDH piping such that, during an accident, coolant passes from the GDH into the ECCS. The GDH that is propelled into motion after a guillotine break can impact neighboring GDH pipes or the nearest wall of the compartment. The cases of GDH impact on an adjacent GDH and its attached piping are investigated in this paper. A whipping RBMK-1500 GDH along with neighboring concrete walls and pipelines is modeled using finite elements. The finite element code NEPTUNE used in this study enables a dynamic pipe whip structural analysis that accommodates large displacements and nonlinear material characteristics. The results of the study indicate that a whipping GDH pipe would not significantly damage adjacent walls or piping and would not result in a propagation of pipe failures.

The INEEL Environmental Systems Research and Analysis (ESRA) program has launched a new R and D project on Near-Surface Engineered Environmental Barrier Integrity to increase knowledge and capabilities for using engineering and ecological components to improve the integrity of near-surface barriers used to confine contaminants from the public and the environment. The knowledge gained and the capabilities built will help verify the adequacy of past remedial decisions and enable improved solutions for future cleanup decisions. The research is planned to (a) improve the knowledge of degradation mechanisms (weathering, biological, geological, chemical, radiological, and catastrophic) in times shorter than service life, (b) improve modeling of barrier degradation dynamics, (c) develop sensor systems to identify degradation prior to failure, and (d) provide a better basis for developing and testing of new barrier systems to increase reliability and reduce the risk of failure. Our project combine s selected exploratory studies (benchtop and field scale), coupled effects accelerated aging testing and the meso-scale, testing of new monitoring concepts, and modeling of dynamic systems. The performance of evapo-transpiration, capillary, and grout-based barriers will be examined.

Neutron probes are being developed at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) for the detection, identification and quantification of hazardous materials in the ground. Such materials include plutonium, uranium, americium, chlorine and fluorine. Both a Neutron Gamma (NG) probe and a Prompt Fission Neutron (PFN) probe are being developed. The NG probe is used primarily for nuclide identification and quantification measurements. The PFN is used mostly for the detection and measurement of fissile material, but also for the determination of thermal neutron macroscopic absorption cross sections of the various elements comprising the ground matrix. Calibration of these probes will be carried out at the INEEL using an indoor facility that has been designed for this activity.

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This paper describes an approach that was developed to analyze the market potential for power transactions via proposed transmission lines among the electric power utilities of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Albania. The approach uses an integrated modeling framework consisting of several computer models that estimate the financial and economic benefits of constructing new transmission lines. The integrated model simulates open power markets under several scenarios that include cases with and without the proposed interconnections. The approach estimates power transactions among the three Balkan utility systems and the benefits of coordinated or joint system operations, including short-term power sales agreements.

This patent-pending robust on-line weld process monitor developed by Argonne National Laboratory is capable of non-intrusively sensing weld surface changes, weld penetration, occurrence of weld spatter, direction of motion of workpiece relative to cover gas flow, and presence of surface impurities like oil on the workpiece. The development of the weld monitor took into account the constraints and operating environment of the factory floor in addition to monitoring needs for quality assurance. The non-intrusive weld monitor is rugged and simple to use, does not require power to operate, is weld spatter protected and low cost. This process monitor is available as a stand-alone monitor with laser pointing suitable as an inexpensive addition to an existing processing system. For constrained configurations, the monitor can be easily integrated into an existing optic module resulting in through-the-optic viewing. The stand-alone monitor's flexibility is suitable for test and evaluation or research and development applications where flexibility in pointing or change in optics is required. A photograph of the monitor is shown in Figure 1. The reproducibility of the monitor's signal output will depend on the accuracy and repeatability in aiming. Laser aiming that comes with the monitor offers the best overall accuracy and ease. …

This overview of the uses of sodars in meteorological applications categorizes the applications by signal source, specifically amplitude, frequency, or ''visualization'' for example, of vertical time sections of signal amplitude. Examples are shown of data derived from each category. A final section presents the potential for using groups of sodars in networks with other instruments to estimate quantities such as divergence.

In previous years, the annual report concentrated on the work that was performed in the immediate past year. This year, in order to emphasize the great amount of progress that has been made, we will summarize our process and present the many membranes that we fabricated with high separation factors. One of our past major problems has been the classified status of much of our fabrication process. DOE has developed a review process whereby developed membranes can be reviewed for classified information and non-proliferation risk. When a membrane passes that review process the membrane can be declared unclassified and available for commercial manufacture. Currently, we have fifteen membranes/filters approved for commercial manufacture. At present; Pall Corporation is the only company licensed to manufacture these membranes/filters.

The U.S. Energy Services Company (ESCO) industry is often cited as the most successful model for the private sector delivery of energy-efficiency services. This study documents actual performance of the ESCO industry in order to provide policymakers and investors with objective informative and customers with a resource for benchmarking proposed projects relative to industry performance. We have assembled a database of nearly 1500 case studies of energy-efficiency projects - the most comprehensive data set of the U.S. ESCO industry available. These projects include $2.55B of work completed by 51 ESCOs and span much of the history of this industry.