None

Salt management has been a challenge to westside farmerssince the rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture in the 1900 s. Thesoils in this area are naturally salt-affected having formed from marinesedimentary rocks rich in sea salts rendering the shallow groundwater,and drainage return flows discharging into the lower reaches of the SanJoaquin River, saline. Salinity problems are affected by the importedwater supply from Delta where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Riverscombine. Water quality objectives on salinity and boron have been inplace for decades to protect beneficial uses of the river. However it wasthe selenium-induced avian toxicity that occurred in the evaporationponds of Kesterson Reservoir (the terminal reservoir of a planned but notcompleted San Joaquin Basin Master Drain) that changed public attitudesabout agricultural drainage and initiated a steady stream ofenvironmental legislation directed at reducing non-point source pollutionof the River. Annual and monthly selenium load restrictions and salinityand boron Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) are the most recent of thesepolicy initiatives. Failure by both State and Federal water agencies toconstruct a Master Drain facility serving mostly west-side irrigatedagriculture has constrained these agencies to consider only In-Valleysolutions to ongoing drainage problems. For the Westlands subarea, whichhas no surface irrigation drainage outlet to the San Joaquin …

We present a quadratic Finite Elements approach to discretize the Kohn-Sham equations on structured non-uniform meshes. A multigrid FAC preconditioner is proposed to iteratively solve the equations by an accelerated steepest descent scheme. The method was implemented using SAMRAI, a parallel software infrastructure for general AMR applications. Examples of applications to small nanoclusters calculations are presented.

This report summarizes the issues with reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA) and highlights accreditation in particular. One consideration the report contains is the possibility of Congress changing the role accreditation plays in reference to financial aid for students. Moreover, the report considers the place of accreditation in reference to the overall quality of an academic institution.

This report provides basic eligibility rules, recipient numbers, and FY2002-FY2004 expenditure data for 80 programs that have provided cash or non-cash benefits to low-income persons.

None

The purpose of this DOE-funded effort is to develop continuous processes for solvent extraction of coal for the production of carbon products. These carbon products include materials used in metals smelting, especially in the aluminum and steel industries, as well as porous carbon structural material referred to as ''carbon foam'' and carbon fibers. During this reporting period, efforts have focused on the development of continuous processes for hydrogenation as well as continuous production of carbon foam and coke.

None

Significant efforts can be found throughout the literature to optimize the current carrying capacity of Nb{sub 3}Sn superconducting wires. The achievable transport current density in wires depends on the A15 composition, morphology and strain state. The A15 sections in wires contain, due to compositional inhomogeneities resulting from solid state diffusion A15 formation reactions, a distribution of superconducting properties. The A15 grain size can be different from wire to wire and is also not necessarily homogeneous across the A15 regions. Strain is always present in composite wires, and the strain state changes as a result of thermal contraction differences and Lorentz forces in magnet systems. To optimize the transport properties it is thus required to identify how composition, grain size and strain state influence the superconducting properties. This is not accurately possible in inhomogeneous and spatially complex systems such as wires. This article therefore gives an overview of the available literature on simplified, well defined(quasi--)homogeneous laboratory samples. After more than 50 years of research on superconductivity in Nb{sub 3}Sn, a significant amount of results are available, but these are scattered over a multitude of publications. Two reviews exist on the basic properties of A15 materials in general, but no specific review …

This is a technical report prepared for Oregon Sustainable Energy, LLC, under Agreement 06-19 with PNNL's Office of Small Business Programs. The request was to perform a review of the toxicity and safe handling of guanidine. The request was later amended to add urea. This report summarizes the toxicity data available in the scientific literature and provides an interpretation of the results and recommendations for handling these compounds.

The authors present a measurement of the branching fraction of the decay B{sup 0} {yields} a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260){pi}{sup {-+}} with a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260) {yields} {pi}{sup {-+}}{pi}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {+-}}. The data sample corresponds to 218 x 10{sup 6} B{bar B} pairs produced in e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilation through the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance. The authors measure the branching fraction {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260){pi}{sup {-+}}){Beta}(a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260){yields} {pi}{sup {-+}}{pi}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {+-}})=(16.6 {+-} 1.9 {+-} 1.5) x 10{sup -6}, where the first error quoted is statistical and the second is systematic.

An accelerated alpha-decay damage study of a glass-bonded sodalite ceramic waste form has recently been completed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical and chemical durability of the waste form after significant exposure to alpha decay. This accelerated alpha-decay study was performed by doping the ceramic waste form with {sup 238}Pu which has a much greater specific activity than {sup 239}Pu that is normally present in the waste form. The alpha-decay dose at the end of the four year study was approximately 1 x 10{sup 18} alpha-decays/gram of material. An equivalent time period for a similar dose of {sup 239}Pu would require approximately 1100 years. After four years of exposure to {sup 238}Pu alpha decay, the investigation observed little change to the physical or chemical durability of the ceramic waste form (CWF). Specifically, the {sup 238}Pu-loaded CWF maintained it's physical integrity, namely that the density remained constant and no cracking or phase de-bonding was observed. The materials chemical durability and phase stability also did not change significantly over the duration of the study. The only significant measured change was an increase of the unit-cell lattice parameters of the plutonium oxide and sodalite phases of the material and …

None

This report discusses the status and current issues regarding animal agriculture that is being transformed by rapid advances in biotechnology. This report will be updated as significant developments in agricultural biotechnology occur and as Congress develops legislation addressing emerging agricultural biotechnology issues.

None

In the 108th Congress, debate over energy efficiency programs has focused on budget, oil, natural gas, and electricity issues, and provisions in the omnibus energy policy bill, S. 2095, H.R. 6, and S. 14/S. 1149. The Bush Administration’s FY2005 budget request for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Efficiency Program sought $875.9 million, including $543.9 for R&D and $332.0 million for grants. In the first session, the omnibus energy bill (H.R. 6) had several significant tax and regulatory measures for energy efficiency. It did not pass the Senate due to concerns about cost and an MTBE “safe harbor” provision.

None