A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, local school districts and traditional public schools have taken various initiatives to improve failing schools. School districts and charter schools are increasingly contracting with private, for-profit companies to provide a range of education and management services to schools. In the District of Columbia, some public schools contract with three such companies: Edison Schools, Mosaica Education, and Chancellor Beacon Academies. These three companies have programs that consist of both management services, such as personnel, and educational services, which they offer to schools across the nation; in the District, most of the schools managed by these companies have either adopted selected elements of their companies' programs or chosen other educational programs. Each company provides services such as curriculum, assessments, parental involvement opportunities, and student and family support. Little is known about the effectiveness of these companies' programs on student achievement, parental satisfaction, parental involvement, or school climate because few rigorous studies have been conducted. Although the companies publish year-to-year comparisons of standardized test scores to indicate that students in schools they manage are making academic gains, they do not present data on comparable students who …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "When the Department of Defense closed military installations as a part of the base realignment and closure process and transferred properties to public and private ownership, it in some cases retained a portion of an installation as a military enclave. During this process, legal jurisdiction over an enclave may be transferred from the federal government to the local government. Such a transfer may incorporate provisions for fire protection and other services by local and state governments. A federal fire-fighting service provides fire protection services at the Navy's enclave located at the Philadelphia Naval Business Center. This is one of the three military enclaves, formed during the base closure and realignment process, which is still protected by federal firefighters. Twenty-four other military enclaves were converted from federal to local fire protection during the base closure process. The Navy retained a federal fire-fighting force at its enclave at the Philadelphia Naval Business Center because of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania did not respond to the Navy's request to change the jurisdiction of the Navy-retained land. The level of fire protection at the Philadelphia Naval Business Center is similar to that …

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 business located in an enterprise zone and presently designated an "enterprise project" and allocated the maximum jobs and tax benefits may receive an additional and concurrent enterprise project designation in the same zone and receive an additional maximum job allocation and the related tax benefits.

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 commissioners court may set the daily reimbursement rate of grand jurors' expenses at a rate different from petit jurors' expenses, and related question.

This report will summarize PNNL's progress toward accomplishment of the critical outcomes, objectives and performance indicators as delineated in the FY 2002 Performance Evaluation and Fee Agreement. In addition, this report will summarize PNNL's analysis of the results of the FY2002 Peer Reviews, the implementation of PNNL's FY2002 Operational Improvement Initiatives, and the resolution of the Key Areas for Improvements.

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

The CSNF geochemistry model abstraction, as directed by the TWP (BSC 2002b), was developed to provide regression analysis of EQ6 cases to obtain abstracted values of pH (and in some cases HCO{sub 3}{sup -} concentration) for use in the Configuration Generator Model. The pH of the system is the controlling factor over U mineralization, CSNF degradation rate, and HCO{sub 3}{sup -} concentration in solution. The abstraction encompasses a large variety of combinations for the degradation rates of materials. The ''base case'' used EQ6 simulations looking at differing steel/alloy corrosion rates, drip rates, and percent fuel exposure. Other values such as the pH/HCO{sub 3}{sup -} dependent fuel corrosion rate and the corrosion rate of A516 were kept constant. Relationships were developed for pH as a function of these differing rates to be used in the calculation of total C and subsequently, the fuel rate. An additional refinement to the abstraction was the addition of abstracted pH values for cases where there was limited O{sub 2} for waste package corrosion and a flushing fluid other than J-13, which has been used in all EQ6 calculation up to this point. These abstractions also used EQ6 simulations with varying combinations of corrosion rates of …

The objective of this study was quantification of the dynamics of litter decomposition, microbiota populations, and nutrient movement in response to nitrogen and phosphorus additions to a deciduous forest stand. Nitrogen (urea) was applied at rates of 0, 550, and 1100 kg/ha in combination with phosphorus (concentrated superphosphate) at rates of 0, 275, and 550 kg/ha. Total loss of organic material from white oak, red maple, and black gum litter bags over a 16-month period was 34, 35, and 45%, respectively. Phosphorus treatment retarded weight loss from litter bags of all species. Weight loss for the 0-, 275-, and 55-kg/ha levels of phosphorus averaged 23, 20, and 19% for white oak; 26, 25, and 25% for red maple; 29, 27 and 26% for black gum. Weight losses were increased by a small amount (1 to 2%) or not at all by nitrogen treatment. The NP interfaction weight loss means were intermediate to the main treatment means. The increase in decomposition associated with nitrogen was offset by the decrease associated with phosphorus. Litter and soil bacterial populations were significantly increased by nitrogen additions, while litter and soil fungi did not respond to nitrogen. Soil fungal populations were increased by phosphorus addition, …

Integrated Energy Systems (IES) combine on-site power or distributed generation technologies with thermally activated technologies to provide cooling, heating, humidity control, energy storage and/or other process functions using thermal energy normally wasted in the production of electricity/power. IES produce electricity and byproduct thermal energy onsite, with the potential of converting 80 percent or more of the fuel into useable energy. IES have the potential to offer the nation the benefits of unprecedented energy efficiency gains, consumer choice and energy security. It may also dramatically reduce industrial and commercial building sector carbon and air pollutant emissions and increase source energy efficiency. Applications of distributed energy and Combined heat and power (CHP) in ''Commercial and Institutional Buildings'' have, however, been historically limited due to insufficient use of byproduct thermal energy, particularly during summer months when heating is at a minimum. In recent years, custom engineered systems have evolved incorporating potentially high-value services from Thermally Activated Technologies (TAT) like cooling and humidity control. Such TAT equipment can be integrated into a CHP system to utilize the byproduct heat output effectively to provide absorption cooling or desiccant humidity control for the building during these summer months. IES can therefore expand the potential thermal energy …

The Savannah River Site, located in South Carolina, contains nuclear defense products and nuclear waste byproducts as result of national defense operations dating to the 1950s. The facility has been the subject of a variety of scientific investigations focusing on potential groundwater transportation of nuclides and other hazardous materials through the different aquifers within the air. The area of particular interest, and the subject of this report, is the General Separations Area.

In this SBIR Phase I program, we have successfully completed the fabrication of SiC-based hydrogen selective membranes suitable for use as a membrane reactor for steam-methane reforming applications. Hydrothermal stability was performed for selected membrane to demonstrate their stability for appx. 50 hours under the proposed reforming condition. In addition, several mechanistic study was conducted to elucidate the SiC membrane formation mechanism. This understanding will facilitate membrane optimization work to be proposed for the Phase II study. The reaction study was postponed to the Phase II study.

Heat shields from a factory test of the furnaces that will be used to heat the magnesium and uranium beds for the tritium extraction facility (TEF) were examined to determine the cause of discoloration. The samples were examined using visual, optical microscopy, electron microscopy, x-ray spectroscopy, and Auger electron spectroscopy.

LiFePO{sub 4}/gel/natural graphite (NG) cells have been prepared and cycled under a fixed protocol for cycle and calendar life determination. Cell compression of 10 psi was found to represent an optimal balance between cell impedance and the first cycle losses on the individual electrodes with the gel electrolyte. Cells with a Li anode showed capacities of 160 and 78 mAh/g-LiFePO{sub 4} for C/25 and 2C discharge rates, respectively. Rapid capacity and power fade were observed in the LiFePO{sub 4}/gel/NG cells during cycling and calendar life studies. Diagnostic evaluations point to the consumption of cycleable Li though a side reaction as the reason for performance fade with minimal degradation of the individual electrodes.

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

An experimental study of the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) instability has investigated the effects of velocity gradients and kinetic effects on the saturation of ion-acoustic waves in a plasma. For intensities less than I < 1.5 x 10{sup 15} W cm{sup -2}, the SBS instability is moderated primarily by velocity gradients, and for intensities above this threshold, nonlinear trapping is invoked to saturate the instability. We report direct evidence of detuning of SBS by a velocity gradient which was achieved by directly measuring the frequency shift of the SBS driven acoustic wave relative to the local resonant acoustic frequency. Furthermore, a novel use of Thomson scattering has allowed us to gather direct evidence of kinetic effects associated with the SBS process. Specifically, a measured two-fold increase of the ion temperature has been linked with laser beam excitation of ion-acoustic waves to large amplitudes by the SBS instability. Ion-acoustic waves were excited to large amplitude with a 2{omega} 1.2-ns long interaction beam with intensities up to 5 x 10{sup 15} W cm{sup -2}. The local frequency, amplitude, and spatial range of these waves were measured with a 3{omega} 200ps Thomson-scattering probe beam. These detailed and accurate measurements in well-characterized plasma conditions …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joe Snyder. Snyder was born in Kansas City, Missouri on 8 July 1918. He was working for the Kansas City Star newspaper when he was drafted in November 1941. After completing basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, he applied for Officer Candidate School. He was accepted and sent to the Armor Center at Fort Knox, Kentucky for training. Upon graduating, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and ordered to report to the 14th Armored Division at Camp Chafee, Arkansas. After participating in maneuvers he was named Public Information Officer for the division. Soon thereafter, he went to New Caledonia with the 25th Infantry Division. While there, he wrote hometown stories about various servicemen and sent them to their hometown newspapers for publication. Leaving New Caledonia, he joined General MacArthur’s Headquarters at Hollandia, New Guinea. Snyder was present during the invasions of Morotai, Leyte and Corregidor and describes the combat he observed. He recalls landing at Atsugi Airfield, Japan and being aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) when the Surrender Agreement was signed by members of the Japanese delegation. Following the ceremony, Snyder visited Nagasaki, Japan and vividly describes the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gilbert Vera. Vera was born in Benavides, Texas 5 March 1918. After graduating from high school in 1937, he worked various jobs until being drafted into the Army. After his induction, he was sent to Camp Wallace, Texas for three months of basic training. Vera was then sent to Hunter Field in Savannah, Georgia for six months training on communication equipment including the switchboard and telephone lines. Upon completion of the training he went to Fort Dix, New Jersey for debarkation. After a twelve day journey traveling in convoy, he landed at Casablanca, North Africa as part of the 15th Air Force. Soon after arrival, Vera was subjected to attack by German aircraft. He tells of the work he did in the communications center. After a year the unit moved to Manduria, Italy where they remained until Germany surrendered. Vera returned to the United States and was discharged September 1945.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gilbert Vera. Vera was born in Benavides, Texas 5 March 1918. After graduating from high school in 1937, he worked various jobs until being drafted into the Army. After his induction, he was sent to Camp Wallace, Texas for three months of basic training. Vera was then sent to Hunter Field in Savannah, Georgia for six months training on communication equipment including the switchboard and telephone lines. Upon completion of the training he went to Fort Dix, New Jersey for debarkation. After a twelve day journey traveling in convoy, he landed at Casablanca, North Africa as part of the 15th Air Force. Soon after arrival, Vera was subjected to attack by German aircraft. He tells of the work he did in the communications center. After a year the unit moved to Manduria, Italy where they remained until Germany surrendered. Vera returned to the United States and was discharged September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joe Snyder. Snyder was born in Kansas City, Missouri on 8 July 1918. He was working for the Kansas City Star newspaper when he was drafted in November 1941. After completing basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, he applied for Officer Candidate School. He was accepted and sent to the Armor Center at Fort Knox, Kentucky for training. Upon graduating, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and ordered to report to the 14th Armored Division at Camp Chafee, Arkansas. After participating in maneuvers he was named Public Information Officer for the division. Soon thereafter, he went to New Caledonia with the 25th Infantry Division. While there, he wrote hometown stories about various servicemen and sent them to their hometown newspapers for publication. Leaving New Caledonia, he joined General MacArthur’s Headquarters at Hollandia, New Guinea. Snyder was present during the invasions of Morotai, Leyte and Corregidor and describes the combat he observed. He recalls landing at Atsugi Airfield, Japan and being aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) when the Surrender Agreement was signed by members of the Japanese delegation. Following the ceremony, Snyder visited Nagasaki, Japan and vividly describes the …

A team of engineers from High Level Waste (HLW), the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC), and Project Engineering and Construction Division (PE and CD) explored ways of more effectively utilizing the HLW tank's risers during waste removal and closure activities. Currently, some of the risers are being used to store failed and contaminated equipment. To make those risers available for tank operation, failed equipment must be moved out of the tank and relocated or disposed of appropriately. Disposing of contaminated equipment is a time consuming and expensive process. This report describes the Tank Riser Suspension System (TRSS). It will allow failed equipment to be stored inside of the tank while making riser space available for other tank process equipment. In addition, the TRSS will permit disposing of failed equipment in the tank as part of tank closure activities.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The project seeks to develop and validate a new pulverized coal combustion system to reduce utility PC boiler NO{sub x} emissions to 0.15 lb per million Btu or less without post-combustion flue gas cleaning. Work during previous reporting periods completed the design, installation, shakedown and initial PRB coal testing of a 3-million Btu/h pilot system at BBP's Pilot-Scale Combustion Facility (PSCF) in Worcester, MA. Based on these results, modifications to the gas-fired preheat combustor and PC burner were defined, along with a modified testing plan and schedule. A revised subcontract was executed with BBP to reflect changes in the pilot testing program. Modeling activities were continued to develop and verify revised design approaches for both the Preheat gas combustor and PC burner. Reactivation of the pilot test system was then begun with BBP personnel. During the current reporting period, reactivation of the pilot test system was completed with the modified Preheat gas combustor. Following shakedown of the modified gas combustor alone, a series of successful tests of the new combustor with PRB coal using the original PC burner were completed. NO{sub x} at the furnace exit was reduced significantly with the modified gas combustor, to as low as 150 ppm …