About a dozen federally supported child nutrition programs and related activities – including school meal programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program) – reach over 37 million children and almost 2 million lower-income pregnant and postpartum women. Total FY2002 spending on these efforts was $15.1 billion. FY2003 spending is projected at an estimated $15.9 billion under the Agriculture Department appropriations portion (Division A) of the FY2003 Consolidated Appropriations Resolution (P.L. 108-7; H.Rept. 108-10; enacted February 20,2003). And the Administration anticipates spending $16.3 billion under its FY2004 budget.

This report considers the constitutionality of federal tort reform legislation, such as the products liability and medical malpractice reform proposals that have been introduced for the last several Congresses.

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Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the Subcommittees on Transportation of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

This report provides information about the Human Resources Management of Homeland Security. It discusses the provisions of P.L. 107-296 as they relate to human resources management. It does not discuss provisions of the law that relate to labor-management relations and collective bargaining.

This report discusses how and when the USA PATRIOT ACT P.L. 107-56 applies to libraries and bookstores under Section 215 of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act. A reply to House Judiciary Committee from The Justice Department notes that the use of Section 215 has been sparse or nonexistent.

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The United States accords permanent normal-trade-relations (NTR) (formerly called most-favored-nation (MFN)) treatment to all its trading partners except four countries to which it is denied by law and 11 countries whose NTR status is temporary and subject to the conditions of Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974.

Congress has long been concerned about whether U.S. policy advances the national interest in reducing the role of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missiles that could deliver them. China has taken some steps to mollify U.S. concerns about its role in weapons proliferation. Skeptics question whether China's cooperation in weapons nonproliferation has warranted President Bush's pursuit of stronger bilateral ties. This report discusses the national security problem of China's role in weapons proliferation and issues related to the U.S. policy response, including legislation, since the mid-1990s.

Weekly student newspaper from McMurry University in Abilene, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

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

Weekly student newspaper from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

Semiweekly newspaper from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas that includes local, national, and campus news along with advertising.

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

Weekly Czech and English language newspaper from Temple, Texas published as the official organ of the Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas that includes news of interest to members along with advertising.

This document describes an evaluation of the baseline and two alternative disposition paths for the final disposition of the calcine wastes stored at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The pathways are evaluated against a prescribed set of criteria and a recommendation is made for the path forward.

As part of the spent fuel treatment program at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), a ceramic waste form is being developed for disposition of the salt waste stream generated during the treatment process. Ceramic waste form (CWF) degradation and radionuclide release modeling is being carried out for the purpose of estimating the impact of the CWF on the performance of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. The CWF is composed of approximately 75 wt% salt-loaded sodalite encapsulated in 25 wt% glass binder. Most radionuclides are present as small inclusion phases in the glass. Since the release of radionuclides can only occur as the glass and sodalite phases dissolve, the dissolution rates of the glass and sodalite phases are modeled to provide an upper bound to radionuclide release rates from the CWF. Transition-state theory for the dissolution of aluminosilicate minerals provides a mechanistic basis for the CWF degradation model, while model parameters are obtained by experimental measurements. Performance assessment calculations are carried out using the engineered barrier system model from the Total System Performance Assessment--Viability Assessment (TSPA-VA) for the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. The analysis presented herein suggests that the CWF will perform in the repository environment in a manner that …

Long-pulse, high-beta scenarios have been established on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). Beta(sub)t(always equal to 2{mu}(sub)0{center_dot}<P>/B{sup 2}(sub)t0) {approx} 35% has been achieved during transient discharges. The machine improvements that lead to these results, including error field reduction and high-temperature bakeout of plasma-facing components are described. The highest Beta(sub)t plasmas have high triangularity (delta = 0.8) and elongation (k = 2.0) at low-aspect ratio A always equal to R/a = 1.4. The strong shaping permits large values of normalized current, I(sub)N(always equal to I(sub)p /(aB(sub)t0)) approximately equal to 6 while maintaining moderate values of q(sub)95 = 4. Long-pulse discharges up to 1 sec in duration have been achieved with substantial bootstrap current. The total noninductive current drive can be as high as 60%, comprised of 50% bootstrap current and {approx}10% neutral-beam current drive. The confinement enhancement factor H89P is in excess of 2.7. Beta(sub)N * H(sub)89P approximately or greater than 15 has been maintained for 8 * tau(sub)E {approx} 1.6 * tau(sub)CR, where tau(sub)CR is the relaxation time of the first radial moment of the toroidal current density. The ion temperature for these plasmas is significantly higher than that predicted by neoclassical theory.

An intense charged-particle beam with directed kinetic energy ({lambda}{sub b}-1)m{sub b}c{sup 2} propagates in the z-direction through an applied focusing field with transverse focusing force modeled by F{sub foc} = -{lambda}{sub b}m{sub b}{omega}{sub beta}{sup 2} {perpendicular} x {perpendicular} in the smooth focusing approximation. This paper examines properties of the axisymmetric, truncated thermal equilibrium distribution F(sub)b(r,p perpendicular) = A exp (-H Perpendicular/T perpendicular (sub)b) = (H perpendicular-E(sub)b), where A, T perpendicular (sub)b, and E (sub)b are positive constants, and H perpendicular is the Hamiltonian for transverse particle motion. The equilibrium profiles for beam number density, n(sub)b(r) = * d{sup 2}pF(sub)b(r,p perpendicular), and transverse temperature, T perpendicular (sub)b(r) = * d{sup 2}p(p{sup 2} perpendicular/2 lambda (sbu)bm (sub)b)F(sub)b(r,p perpendicular), are calculated self-consistently including space-charge effects. Several properties of the equilibrium profiles are noteworthy. For example, the beam has a sharp outer edge radius r(sub)b with n(sub)b(r greater than or equal to rb) = 0, where r(sub)b depends on the value of E(sub)b/T (sub)perpendicular(sub)b. In addition, unlike the choice of a semi-Gaussian distribution, F{sup SG}(sub)b = A exp (-p{sup 2}(sub)perpendicular/2lambda(sub)bm(sub)bTperpendicular(sub)b) = (r-r(sub)b), the truncated thermal equilibrium distribution F(sub)b(r,p) depends on (r,p) only through the single-particle constant of the motion Hperpendiuclar and is therefore a …

The Vlasov-Maxwell equations are used to investigate the nonlinear evolution of an intense sheet beam with distribution function f{sub b}(x,x{prime},s) propagating through a periodic focusing lattice k{sub x}(s+S) = k{sub x}(s), where S = const is the lattice period. The analysis considers the special class of distribution functions with uniform phase-space density f{sub b}(x,x{prime},s) = A = const inside of the simply connected boundary curves, x{prime}{sub +}(x,s) and x{prime}{sub -}(x,s), in the two-dimensional phase space (x,x{prime}). Coupled nonlinear equations are derived describing the self-consistent evolution of the boundary curves, x{prime}{sub +}(x,s) and x{prime}{sub -}(x,s), and the self-field potential {psi}(x,s) = e{sub b}{phi}(x,s)/{gamma}{sub b}m{sub b}{beta}{sub g}{sup 2}c{sup 2}. The resulting model is shown to be exactly equivalent to a (truncated) warm-fluid description with zero heat flow and triple-adiabatic equation-of-state with scalar pressure P{sub b}(x,s) = const x [n{sub b}(x,s)]. Such a fluid model is amenable to direct analysis by transforming to Lagrangian variables following the motion of a fluid element. Specific examples of periodically focused beam equilibria are presented, ranging from a finite-emittance beam in which the boundary curves in phase space (x,x{prime}) correspond to a pulsating parallelogram, to a cold beam in which the number density of beam particles, n{sub …

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office's approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 529, Area 25 Contaminated Materials, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. CAU 529 consists of one Corrective Action Site (25-23-17). For the purpose of this investigation, the Corrective Action Site has been divided into nine parcels based on the separate and distinct releases. A conceptual site model was developed for each parcel to address the translocation of contaminants from each release. The results of this investigation will be used to support a defensible evaluation of corrective action alternatives in the corrective action decision document.

Prior reservoir simulation and laboratory studies have suggested that injecting carbon dioxide into mature natural gas reservoirs for carbon sequestration with enhanced gas recovery (CSEGR) is technically feasible. Reservoir simulations show that the high density of carbon dioxide can be exploited to favor displacement of methane with limited gas mixing by injecting carbon dioxide in low regions of a reservoir while producing from higher regions in the reservoir. Economic sensitivity analysis of a prototypical CSEGR application at a large depleting gas field in California shows that the largest expense will be for carbon dioxide capture, purification, compression, and transport to the field. Other incremental costs for CSEGR include: (1) new or reconditioned wells for carbon dioxide injection, methane production, and monitoring; (2) carbon dioxide distribution within the field; and, (3) separation facilities to handle eventual carbon dioxide contamination of the methane. Economic feasibility is most sensitive to wellhead methane price, carbon dioxide supply costs, and the ratio of carbon dioxide injected to incremental methane produced. Our analysis suggests that CSEGR may be economically feasible at carbon dioxide supply costs of up to $4 to $12/t ($0.20 to $0.63/Mcf). Although this analysis is based on a particular gas field, the approach …

The purpose of this paper is to present lessons learned from fours years' experience conducting Remedial Investigation and Remedial Action activities at the St. Louis Downtown Site (SLDS) under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). Many FUSRAP sites are experiencing challenges conducting Remedial Actions within forecasted volume and budget estimates. The St. Louis FUSRAP lessons learned provide insight to options for cost effective remediation at FUSRAP sites. The lessons learned are focused on project planning (budget and schedule), investigation, design, and construction.