A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 includes provisions intended to ensure that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from the programs and activities offered through one-stop career centers (one-stops). But little is known, and questions have been raised, about how well this system is working for persons with disabilities. This report examines (1) what the Department of Labor (Labor), states, and the one-stops have done to facilitate comprehensive access to the WIA one-stop system; (2) the various relationships that the one-stops have established with disability-related agencies to provide services to persons with disabilities; (3) what Labor has done to ensure that the one-stops are meeting the comprehensive access requirements, and the factors that have affected efforts to ensure compliance; and (4) what is known about the employment outcomes of persons with disabilities who use the one-stop system."

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Texas Real Estate Commission may establish by rule minimum service standards for a real estate broker who enters into an exclusive agency relationship with a party to a real estate transaction (RQ-0224-GA)

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Tax Code section 6.025(d) requires chief appraisers in overlapping appraisal districts to enter on the tax roll either the property’s lowest market value or lowest appraised value established by the two districts, but not both the lowest market value and the lowest appraised value (RQ-0239-GA)

This report includes a brief discussion of the Pell Grant program, and the prior participation of prisoners, as well as a review of the current legislative activity.

This report includes information background and analysis regarding exemption for and agriculture products from United States economic sanctions. This report also details debates, enacted provisions, sales, and developments regarding this subject.

This report is a research aid, which lists the Department of Defense (DOD) authorization bills (Table 1) and appropriations bills (Table 2).

The heavy ion fusion (HIF) program is interested in developing a high brightness ion source for high energy density physics (HEDP) experiments. One possible approach to obtaining higher brightness may be to raise the surface temperature of the ion source just prior to extraction. The current ion source material being studied is a layer of potassium-doped aluminosilicate bonded to a tungsten substrate. It is speculated that if the surface temperature of the source is raised above 1200 C (from a steady-state temperature of 900 C) for time periods on the order of 100's of nanoseconds, current densities of greater than 100 mA/cm{sup 2} of ions may be achievable. Typical aluminosilicate sources produce ion current densities (either K+ or Na+ ions) of {approx}10 mA/cm{sup 2} (at 1100 C). A number of heating methods might be possible, including lasers, diode arrays, and flash lamps. Here we assume laser heating. In this preliminary study, we used the LLNL RadHeat code to model the time-temperature history of the surface when hit by laser pulses and illustrate how RadHeat can be used to optimize the surface temperature response. Also of interest is the temperature history of the interface temperature between the ceramic and the metal …

Higher-order basis functions have been constructed for surface-based differential forms that are used in engineering simulations. These surface-based forms have been designed to complement the volume-based forms present in EMSolve[1], a finite element code. The basis functions are constructed on a reference element and transformed, as necessary, for each element in space. Lagrange polynomials are used to create the basis functions. This approach is a necessary step in creating a hybrid finite-element/integral-equation time-domain code for electromagnetic analysis.

The overall objective of our project was to develop PET scanners and imaging techniques that achieve high performance and excellent image quality. Our approach was based upon 3-D imaging (no septa) with position-sensitive Anger-logic detectors, whereby the encoding ratio of resolution elements to number of photo-multiplier tube channels is very high. This design led to a series of PET systems that emphasized cost-effectiveness and practicality in a clinical environment.

We propose an electroweak model which is compatible with the UV insensitive anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking. The model is an extension of the NMSSM by adding vector-like matter fields which can drive the soft scalar masses of the singlet Higgs field negative and the successful electroweak symmetry breaking is achieved. Viable parameter regions are found to preserve perturbativity of all the coupling constants up to the Planck scale. With this success, the model becomes a perfect candidate of physics beyond the standard model without the FCNC and CP problem. The cosmology is also quite interesting. The lightest neutralino is the wino which is a perfect cold dark matter candidate assuming the non-thermal production from the gravitino decay. There is no gravitino problem because it decays before the BBN era, and thus the thermal leptogenesis works. The cosmological domain wall problem inherent in the NMSSM is absent since the Z_3 symmetry is broken by the QCD instanton effect in the presence of the vector-like quarks. We also briefly comment on a possible solution to the strong CP problem a la the Nelson-Barr mechanism.

The Common Component Architecture (CCA) provides a means for software developers to manage the complexity of large-scale scientific simulations and to move toward a plug-and-play environment for high-performance computing. In the scientific computing context, component models also promote collaboration using independently developed software, thereby allowing particular individuals or groups to focus on the aspects of greatest interest to them. The CCA supports parallel and distributed computing as well as local high-performance connections between components in a language-independent manner. The design places minimal requirements on components and thus facilitates the integration of existing code into the CCA environment. The CCA model imposes minimal overhead to minimize the impact on application performance. The focus on high performance distinguishes the CCA from most other component models. The CCA is being applied within an increasing range of disciplines, including combustion research, global climate simulation, and computational chemistry.

Certain types of infrastructure--critical infrastructure (CI)--play vital roles in underpinning our economy, security, and way of life. One particular type of CI--that relating to chemicals--constitutes both an important element of our nation's infrastructure and a particularly attractive set of potential targets. This is primarily because of the large quantities of toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) it employs in various operations and because of the essential economic functions it serves. This study attempts to minimize some of the ambiguities that presently impede chemical infrastructure threat assessments by providing new insight into the key motivational factors that affect terrorist organizations propensity to attack chemical facilities. Prepared as a companion piece to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies August 2004 study--''Assessing Terrorist Motivations for Attacking Critical Infrastructure''--it investigates three overarching research questions: (1) why do terrorists choose to attack chemical-related infrastructure over other targets; (2) what specific factors influence their target selection decisions concerning chemical facilities; and (3) which, if any, types of groups are most inclined to attack chemical infrastructure targets? The study involved a multi-pronged research design, which made use of four discrete investigative techniques to answer the above questions as comprehensively as possible. These include: (1) a review of terrorism and threat …

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

Long-lived fuels require the use of higher enrichments of 235U or other fissile materials. Such high levels of fissile material lead to excessive fuel activity at the beginning of life. To counteract this excessive activity, integral fuel burnable absorbers (IFBA) are added to some rods in the fuel assembly. The two commonly used IFBA elements are gadolinium, which is added as gadolinium-oxide to the UO2 powder, and boron, which is applied as a zirconium-diboride coating on the UO2 pellets using plasma spraying or chemical vapor deposition techniques. The incorporation of IFBA into the fuel has to be performed in a nuclear-regulated facility that is physically separated from the main plant. These operations tend to be very costly because of their small volume and can add from 20 to 30% to the manufacturing cost of the fuel. Other manufacturing issues that impact cost and performance are maintaining the correct levels of dosing, the reduction in fuel melting point due to gadolinium-oxide additions, and parasitic neutron absorption at fuel's end-of-life. The goal of the proposed research is to develop an alternative approach that involves incorporation of boron or gadolinium into the outer surface of the fuel cladding material rather than as an …

FLIRE was designed to measure the hydrogen and helium retention and diffusivity in a flowing stream of liquid lithium, and it has accomplished these goals. Retention coefficients for helium in the flowing liquid stream were 0.1-2% for flow speeds of 44 cm/s and implantation energies between 500 and 2000 eV. The energy dependence of retention is linear for the energy range considered, as expected, and the dependence of retention on flow velocity fits the expected square-root of flow speed dependence. Estimates of the helium diffusion coefficient in the flowing lithium stream were {approx} 4 x 10{sup -7} cm{sup 2}/s, and are independent of implantation energy. This value is much lower than expected, which could be due to several factors, such as mixing, bubble formation or surface film formation. In the case of hydrogen, long term retention and release mechanisms are of greatest importance, since this relates to tritium inventory in flowing lithium PFCs for fusion applications. The amount of hydride formation was measured for flowing lithium exposed to neutral deuterium gas. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) measurements indicate that the hydride concentration was between 0.1 and 0.2% over a wide range of pressures (6.5 x 10{sup -5} to 1 Torr). This …

Although it is well known that the rate of sintering is governed by deceleratory kinetics, it is often difficult to fit power-law and nth-order reaction models over broad time-temperature ranges. This work shows that a phenomenological model combining a reaction order with an activation energy distribution can correlate surface area as a function of sintering time and temperature over a greater range of those variables. Qualitatively, the activation energy distribution accounts the dependence of free energy on particle size and material defects, while the reaction order accounts for geometric factors such as a distribution of diffusion lengths. The model is demonstrated for sintering of hydroxyapatite using data of Bailliez and Nzihou (Chem. Eng. J. 98 (2004), 141-152).

Summary of activity related to development of the Alliance of Clean Energy Business Incubators and incubation services provided to the clean energy sector by the Advanced Technology Development Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The Genomics Annotation Platform (GAP) was designed to develop new tools for high throughput functional annotation and characterization of protein sequences and structures resulting from genomics and structural proteomics, benchmarking and application of those tools. Furthermore, this platform integrated the genomic scale sequence and structural analysis and prediction tools with the advanced structure prediction and bioinformatics environment of ICM. The development of GAP was primarily oriented towards the annotation of new biomolecular structures using both structural and sequence data. Even though the amount of protein X-ray crystal data is growing exponentially, the volume of sequence data is growing even more rapidly. This trend was exploited by leveraging the wealth of sequence data to provide functional annotation for protein structures. The additional information provided by GAP is expected to assist the majority of the commercial users of ICM, who are involved in drug discovery, in identifying promising drug targets as well in devising strategies for the rational design of therapeutics directed at the protein of interest. The GAP also provided valuable tools for biochemistry education, and structural genomics centers. In addition, GAP incorporates many novel prediction and analysis methods not available in other molecular modeling packages. This development led to signing …

This project has two major tasks: Task 1. The construction of a new air/helium facility to collect detailed measurements of Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) mixing at high Atwood number, and the distribution of these data to LLNL, LANL, and Alliance members for code validation and design purposes. Task 2. The collection of initial condition data from the new Air/Helium facility, for use with validation of RT simulation codes at LLNL and LANL. Also, studies of multi-layer mixing with the existing water channel facility. Over the last twelve (12) months there has been excellent progress, detailed in this report, with both tasks. As of December 10, 2004, the air/helium facility is now complete and extensive testing and validation of diagnostics has been performed. Currently experiments with air/helium up to Atwood numbers of 0.25 (the maximum is 0.75, but the highest Reynolds numbers are at 0.25) are being performed. The progress matches the project plan, as does the budget, and we expect this to continue for 2005. With interest expressed from LLNL we have continued with initial condition studies using the water channel. This work has also progressed well, with one of the graduate Research Assistants (Mr. Nick Mueschke) visiting LLNL the past two …

The 9975 shipping package incorporates a cane fiberboard overpack for thermal insulation and impact resistance. Mechanical properties (tensile and compressive behavior) have been measured on cane fiberboard and a similar wood-based product following short-term conditioning in several temperature/humidity environments. Both products show similar trends, and vary in behavior with material orientation, temperature and humidity. A memory effect is also seen in that original strength values are only partially recovered following exposure to a degrading environment and return to ambient conditions.

Record of Technical Change for Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 5: Landfills, Nevada Test Site, Nevada (DOE/NV--986, July 2004).

We report on a search for anomalous kinematics of t{bar t} dilepton events in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using 193 pb{sup -1} of data collected with the CDF II detector. We developed a new a priori technique designed to isolate the subset in a data sample revealing the largest deviation from standard model (SM) expectations and to quantify the significance of this departure. In the four-variable space considered, no particular subset shows a significant discrepancy and we find that the probability of obtaining a data sample less consistent with the SM than what is observed is 1.0-4.5%.

COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under a contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic nondestructive examination of selected portions of Double-Shell Tank 241-AP-106. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the wall of the primary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-AP-106 were to detect, characterize (identify, size, and locate), and record measurements made of any wall thinning, pitting, or cracks that might be present in the wall of the primary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plan (ETP), RPP-22571 (Jensen 2004) and summarized on page 1 of this document, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided to PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a report that describes the results of the COGEMA ultrasonic examinations.

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 House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity.