The primary objective of this research is to identify the age strengthening mechanism in gray and ductile cast iron, and to quantify the parameters that control it. It is also to contribute to a new predictive model for gray and ductile iron strength and hardness. This work shows that age strengthening occurs on a sigmoidal-logarithmic scale in gray and ductile cast irons, to a statistically significant extent. This is similar to Avrami-Johnson-Mehl kinetics for phase transformations in metals. It occurs in both cupola-melted iron and induction melted iron. However, it does not happen in all compositions. We have developed some understanding of the process. Data suggests that nitrogen and nitride-forming trace elements have a significant role in the process, but that is yet not fully characterized. Also, the time dependence of the bulk hardness and strength increase, the nano-scale precipitation evidence from neutron scattering, differential scanning calorimetry results and matrix micro-hardness increase in ferrite all indicate that age strengthening occurs by a precipitation or pre-precipitate cluster formation mechanism.

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

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

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

Vegetation will be mechanically removed from the 218-W-6 Low Level Burial Ground (LLBG). The 218-W-6 LLBG consists of shrub-steppe and herbaceous habitats. The Western meadowlark, killdeer, lark sparrow, and loggerhead shrike could nest in the project area, based on known nesting preferences. We recommend that vegetation removal on 218-W-6 occur outside the nesting season (i.e., August 1 through February 28), in order to avoid potential adverse impacts to nesting individuals and/or their young and to comply with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

No plant and animal species protected under the ESA, candidates for such protection, or species listed by the Washington state government were observed in the vicinity of the proposed sites. Piper's daisy may still occur in some of the burial grounds. This is a Washington State Sensitive plant species, and as such is a Level III resource under the Hanford Site Biological Resources Management Plan. Compensatory mitigation is appropriate for this species when adverse impacts cannot be avoided. The Ecological Compliance Assessment Project (ECAP) staff should consulted prior to the initiation of major work activities within areas where this species has been identified (218-E-12, 218-E-10). The stalked-pod and crouching milkvetch are relatively common throughout 200 West area, therefore even if the few individuals within the active burial grounds are disturbed, it is not likely that the overall local population will be adversely affected. The Watch List is the lowest level of listing for pl ant species of concern in the State of Washington. No adverse impacts to species or habitats of concern are expected to occur from routine maintenance within the active portions of the 218-W-4C, 218-W-4B, 218-W-3, 218-W-3A, and 218-W-5 burial grounds, as well as the portion of 218-E-12B …

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

Introduction - This procedure provides instructions for assembling the following CH packaging payload: -Drum payload assembly -Standard Waste Box (SWB) assembly -Ten-Drum Overpack (TDOP).

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Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2003, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a new Circular A-76--which sets forth the government's competitive sourcing process. Determining whether to obtain services in-house or through commercial contracts is an important economic and strategic decision for agencies, and the use of A-76 is expected to grow throughout the federal government. In the past, however, the A-76 process has been difficult to implement, and the impact on the morale of the federal workforce has been profound. Moreover, there have been concerns in both the public and private sectors about the timeliness and fairness of the process and the extent to which there is a "level playing field" for conducting public-private competitions. It was against this backdrop that the Congress enacted legislation mandating a study of the government's competitive sourcing process, which was carried out by the Commercial Activities Panel, which was chaired by the Comptroller General of the United States. This testimony focuses on how the new Circular addresses the Panel's recommendations with regard to providing a better foundation for competitive sourcing decisions, and the challenges agencies may face in implementing the new A-76."

In this semi-annual progress report, we describe research results from an ongoing study of fossil hydrogen energy systems with CO{sub 2} sequestration. This work was performed under NETL Award No. DE-FC26-02NT41623, during the six-month period September 2002 through March 2003. The primary objective of the study is to better understand system design issues and economics for a large-scale fossil energy system co-producing H{sub 2} and electricity with CO{sub 2} sequestration. This is accomplished by developing analytic and simulation methods for studying the entire system in an integrated way. We examine the relationships among the different parts of a hydrogen energy system, and attempt to identify which variables are the most important in determining both the disposal cost of CO{sub 2} and the delivered cost of H{sub 2}. A second objective is to examine possible transition strategies from today's energy system toward one based on fossil-derived H{sub 2} and electricity with CO{sub 2} sequestration. We are carrying out a geographically specific case study of development of a fossil H{sub 2} system with CO{sub 2} sequestration, for the Midwestern United States, where there is presently substantial coal conversion capacity in place, coal resources are plentiful and potential sequestration sites in deep saline …

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This report begins with a comprehensive presentation of current economic conditions focusing on income growth, unemployment, and inflation. The posture of monetary and fiscal policy is surveyed as are the forecasts of economic activity. It concludes with data on the factors important for economic growth.

This report reviews all potentially available Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) data in the Technical Data Management System and compiles all relevant qualified data, including data qualified by this report, on elastic properties, Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus, into a single summary Data Tracking Number (DTN) MO0304DQRIRPPR.002. Since DTN MO0304DQRIRPPR.002 was compiled from both qualified and unqualified sources, this report qualifies the DTN in accordance with AP-SIII.2Q. This report also summarizes the individual test results in MO0304DQRIRPPR.002 and provides summary values using descriptive statistics for Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus in a Reference Information Base Data Item. This report found that test conditions such as temperature, saturation, and sample size could influence test results. The largest influence, however, is the lithologic variation within the tuffs themselves. Even though the summary DTN divided the results by lithostratigrahic units within each formation, there was still substantial variation in elastic properties within individual units. This variation was attributed primarily to the presence or absence of lithophysae, fractures, alteration, pumice fragments, and other lithic clasts within the test specimens as well as changes in porosity within the units. As a secondary cause, substantial variations can also be attributed to test conditions such as the type …

An FFAG is a lattice with fixed magnetic fields that has an extremely wide energy acceptance. One particularly simple type of FFAG is based on a FODO lattice, where both quads can be combined-function bending/quadrupole magnets. The spaces between the combined-function magnets are left open for RF cavities and other hardware. This paper describes a general method for creating lattice designs for this type of lattice which gives the lattice optimal properties for an FFAG accelerator. The properties of this lattice as a function of input parameters are explored. The use of sextupoles to improve lattice properties is also explored.

Biosurfactants enhance hydrocarbon biodegradation by increasing apparent aqueous solubility or affecting the association of the cell with poorly soluble hydrocarbon. Here, we show that a lipopeptide biosurfactant produced by Bacillus mojavensis strain JF-2 mobilized substantial amounts of residual hydrocarbon from sand-packed columns when a viscosifying agent and a low molecular weight alcohol were present. The amount of residual hydrocarbon mobilized depended on the biosurfactant concentration. One pore volume of cell-free culture fluid with 900 mg/l of the biosurfactant, 10 mM 2,3-butanediol and 1000 mg/l of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer mobilized 82% of the residual hydrocarbon. Consistent with the high residual oil recoveries, we found that the bio-surfactant lowered the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water by nearly 2 orders of magnitude compared to typical IFT values of 28-29 mN/m. Increasing the salinity increased the IFT with or without 2,3-butanediol present. The lowest interfacial tension observed was 0.1 mN/m. The lipopeptide biosurfactant system may be effective in removing hydrocarbon contamination sources in soils and aquifers and for the recovery of entrapped oil from low production oil reservoirs. Previously, we reported that Proteose peptone was necessary for anaerobic growth and biosurfactant production by B. mojavensis JF-2. The data gathered from crude …

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

Lanthanum calcium oxoborate (LaCOB) is a nonlinear optical material that belongs to the calcium-rare-earth (R) oxoborate family, with general composition CaRO(BO{sub 3}){sub 3} (R{sup 3+} = Sm, Gd, Lu, Y). X-ray photoemission, photoabsorption and resonant fluorescence were applied to study the electronic structure and surface chemistry of this material. High resolution photoemission measurements on the valence band electronic structure and La 3d and 4d, Ca 2p, B 1s and O 1s core lines were used to evaluate the surface and near surface chemistry. Element specific density of unoccupied electronic states in LaCOB were probed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the La 3d (M4,5-edge), La 4d (N4,5-edge), B 1s and O 1s (K-edges) absorption edges. Soft x-ray fluorescence was used to further examine valence band states associated with spectral differences noted in the absorption measurements. These results provide the first measurements of the electronic structure and surface chemistry of this rare-earth oxoborate.

Cooling lattices consisting only of bends (using either rotated pole faces or gradient dipoles to achieve focusing) often require large apertures and short magnets. One expects the effect of end fields to be significant in this case. In this paper we explore the effect of adding end fields to a working lattice design that originally lacked them. The paper describes the process of correcting the lattice design for the added end fields so as to maintain desirable lattice characteristics. It then compares the properties of the lattice with end fields relative to the lattice without them.

The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is a low aspect ratio (R/a approximately equal to 1.3) device with auxiliary heating from neutral beam injection (NBI) and high harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating. Typical NSTX parameters are R(sub)0 = 85 cm, a = 67 cm, I(sub)p less than or equal to 1.5 MA, B(sub)T = 0.3-0.6 T. Three co-directed deuterium neutral beam sources have injected P(sub)NB less than or equal to 6.2 MW at energies E(sub)b less than or equal to 100 keV. HHFW heating has delivered up to P(sub)RF approximately equal to 6 MW to deuterium and helium plasmas.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Minority employees at the EPA reported for a number of years that the agency had discriminated against them based on their race and retaliated against them for filing complaints. These issues were aired at hearings held by the House Committee on Science at which EPA said it would take actions to ensure a fair and discrimination free workplace. GAO was asked to review (1) the accuracy of EPA's equal employment opportunity (EEO) data, (2) various issues about the processes used to resolve discrimination complaints, and (3) the disciplinary actions taken for managers who discriminate."

The 108th Congress has acted on a variety of disparate environmental measures; some of these represent proposals or issues that had been under consideration in the 107th Congress and earlier. Environmental issues considered by Congress tend to fall into several major categories: (1) funding issues — whether funding levels are adequate and focused on appropriate priorities; (2) expanding, renewing, or refocusing specific environment programs; (3) environmental issues that are important “subsets” of other major areas of concern, such as energy, defense, or transportation programs; and more recently, (4) terrorism and infrastructure protection in areas such as wastewater and chemical facilities.

Under provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA, P.L. 107-16, enacted June 7, 2001), the estate tax is scheduled to be repealed in 2010 but reinstated in 2011. All tax cut provisions of EGTRRA are scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2010. This report tracks actions in the 108th Congress to permanently repeal the estate tax or to retain but alter the tax.