A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the 2001-2002 school year, more than 400,000 special education teachers provided instructional services to approximately 6 million students with disabilities in U.S. schools. Two federal laws contain teacher qualification requirements that apply to special education teachers: the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Given the committee's interest in issues related to highly qualified special education teachers, we are providing information about (1) the state certification requirements, including the use of alternative certification programs, for special education teachers, and how they relate to NCLBA requirements; (2) the factors that facilitate or impede state efforts to ensure that special education teachers meet NCLBA requirements; and (3) how different offices in the Department of Education (Education) assist states in addressing NCLBA teacher requirements."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Prior to the transfer of the functions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the newly established Department of Homeland Security (DHS) within the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate (EP&R), FEMA was one of 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies required to obtain annual financial statement audits. While DHS obtained a financial statement audit covering the period from March 1 through September 30, 2003, no financial statement audit was performed for FEMA activities for the 5 months prior to March 1, 2003. For fiscal year 2001, FEMA received a qualified audit opinion, which was due mostly to the auditor's inability to determine the accuracy of the amount reported for FEMA's equipment as well as other property issues. Although FEMA received an unqualified opinion from its auditor in fiscal year 2002, the auditor reported six material weaknesses (one relating to its real and personal property system processes) and one reportable condition as well as significant year-end adjustments made to property accounts. Furthermore, the audit report noted that FEMA did not have policies and procedures in place to ensure the accuracy of data recorded in its personal property …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 noted that it was the sense of the Congress that "the sacrifices made by the members of the Armed Forces are significant and are worthy of meaningful expressions of gratitude by the United States, especially in cases of sacrifice through loss of life." In addition to offering expressions of gratitude, the government offers a variety of benefits, including Social Security benefits, to survivors of servicemembers who die while on active duty. GAO was asked to address two questions: (1) To what extent are the survivor benefits provided to servicemembers different from those provided to federal, state, and city government employees in general and (2) To what extent do federal, state, and city governments supplement their general survivor benefits for employees in high-risk occupations?"

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of July 15, 2004. The document is redacted and includes the BRAC 05 IJCSG Principals Meeting brief (PowerPoint slides).

POLARATS (Polar On-Line Acquisition Relay And Transmission System) is being developed by YAHSGS LLC (YAHSGS) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to provide remote, unattended monitoring of environmental parameters under harsh environmental conditions. In particular, instrumental design and engineering is oriented towards protection of human health in the Arctic, and with the additional goal of advancing Arctic education and research. POLARATS will obtain and transmit environmental data from hardened monitoring devices deployed in locations important to understanding atmospheric and aquatic pollutant migration as it is biomagnified in Arctic food chains. An Internet- and personal computer (PC)-based educational module will provide real time sensor data, on-line educational content, and will be integrated with workbooks and textbooks for use in middle and high school science programs. The educational elements of POLARATS include an Internet-based educational module that will instruct students in the use of the data and how those data fit into changing Arctic environments and food chains. POLARATS will: (1) Enable students, members of the community, and scientific researchers to monitor local environmental conditions in real time over the Internet; and (2) Provide additional educational benefits through integration with middle- and high-school science curricula. Information will be relayed from POLARATS devices …

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For the past decade Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), have been developing and testing a stable, regional coda magnitude methodology for the determination of magnitude and yield. The motivation behind this research was to take advantage of the averaging nature of coda waves in support of monitoring small seismic events from a sparse regional seismic network (e.g., International Monitoring System (IMS) network). The methodology as described in Mayeda et al., (2003) has been successfully applied in a variety of tectonic settings where the assumption of a 1-D, radially symmetric path correction was sufficient. In general, this resulted in inter-station amplitude scatter that was 3-to-4 times smaller than the traditional approach using direct S, Lg and surface waves (0.02< f <8.0-Hz). However, in more laterally complex regions there is a need to extend this approach to account for smaller scale 2-D variations in structure, especially at frequencies above {approx}1-Hz. Recently, Phillips et al., (2003) have applied a 2-D approach to data in central Asia by assuming that the coda envelope amplitude could be idealized as if it were a direct wave. They performed a tomography to invert for Q along the path and through the …

This report discusses the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2000 which reauthorized most of the original act’s programs and created new grant programs to prevent sexual assaults on campuses, assist victims of violence with civil legal concerns, create transitional housing for victims of domestic abuse (administered by HHS), and enhance protections for elderly and disabled victims of domestic violence. VAWA 2000, also, created a pilot program for safe custody exchange for families of domestic violence.

The 'Kinetic Stabilizer' has been proposed as a means of MHD stabilizing an axisymmetric tandem mirror system. The K-S concept is based on theoretical studies by Ryutov, confirmed experimentally in the Gas Dynamic Trap experiment in Novosibirsk. In the K-S beams of ions are directed into the end of an 'expander' region outside the outer mirror of a tandem mirror. These ions, slowed, stagnated, and reflected as they move up the magnetic gradient, produce a low-density stabilizing plasma. At the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory we have been conducting theoretical and computational studies of the K-S Tandem Mirror. These studies have employed a low-beta code written especially to analyze the beam injection/stabilization process, and a new code SYMTRAN (by Hua and Fowler) that solves the coupled radial and axial particle and energy transport in a K-S TM. Also, a 'legacy' MHD stability code, FLORA, has been upgraded and employed to benchmark the injection/stabilization code and to extend its results to high beta values. The FLORA code studies so far have confirmed the effectiveness of the K-S in stabilizing high-beta (40%) plasmas with stabilizer plasmas the peak pressures of which are several orders of magnitude smaller than those of the confined plasma. …

Generation of S-waves from explosion sources continues to be an intriguing area of seismological research. Empirical studies document a general decrease in regional S-phase amplitudes (compared to P-phases) for explosions sources. Although decreased S-phase amplitude for explosive (compressional) sources is intuitive, a comprehensive physical understanding of the many mechanisms that contribute to S-phase excitation does not currently exist. Despite the success of many regional discriminant and magnitude methods that rely on decreased S-phase amplitude for explosion sources, instances remain where explosions produce anomalous S-phases amplitudes that confound regional methods. Scattering of the Rg phase is forwarded in several studies as an important mechanism for the generation of explosion S-waves. In this study we construct a 3-dimensional model of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and the surrounding region. Extensive databases of geologic information, including existing 3-dimensional models developed under past and ongoing NTS programs, are used in the construction of a local model. The detailed local model is merged into a regional model that extends several hundred kilometers from the NTS. In addition to deterministic geologic structure and topography we introduce stochastic variability along geologic contacts and within geologic units. Model roughness made possible by the stochastic perturbations enhances scattering, allowing …

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

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

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

Semi-weekly newspaper from Livingston, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

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

The ''Workshop on Advanced Computational Materials Science: Application to Fusion and Generation IV Fission Reactors'' was convened to determine the degree to which an increased effort in modeling and simulation could help bridge the gap between the data that is needed to support the implementation of these advanced nuclear technologies and the data that can be obtained in available experimental facilities. The need to develop materials capable of performing in the severe operating environments expected in fusion and fission (Generation IV) reactors represents a significant challenge in materials science. There is a range of potential Gen-IV fission reactor design concepts and each concept has its own unique demands. Improved economic performance is a major goal of the Gen-IV designs. As a result, most designs call for significantly higher operating temperatures than the current generation of LWRs to obtain higher thermal efficiency. In many cases, the desired operating temperatures rule out the use of the structural alloys employed today. The very high operating temperature (up to 1000 C) associated with the NGNP is a prime example of an attractive new system that will require the development of new structural materials. Fusion power plants represent an even greater challenge to structural materials …

Hydrogen isotope exchange kinetics of Pd/k was tested in laboratory scale columns to help troubleshoot the HT-TCAP performance problem. The main objective was to evaluate the effects of old and new Pd/k, column diameter, and metal foam on hydrogen isotope exchange efficiency. This efficiency affects the separation performance of the TCAP column. Three kinds of columns were used in the tests: (1) 3/4 inch pipe, 6 inch long, U-shape column. This column was used because it was readily available due to a completed PDRD project. This group of tests compared new Pd/k and old Pd/k, and produced a bake-out recipe for new Pd/k. (2) 3-ft long columns of various diameters: 3/4 inch, 1.25 inch and 2 inch with and without foam (aluminum and copper). This group of tests compared the effect of diameter, foam and Pd/k on staging performance. (3) The Jacobs coil, an existing 20-ft coil filled with Al foam identical to HT-TCAP. This group of tests was to see how a plant-type column performed. The following methods and computer programs were developed to help evaluate the test data: (1) An equation and a visual basic program for calculating response curves to step changes in inert feed concentration. (2) …

Work performed under the Independent Research and Development project ''Bioelectrochemical Process Development'' using Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1 henceforth MR-1, a model dissimilitory metal reducing (DMRB) bacteria successfully demonstrates the following: MR-1 transfers electrons by hydrogen oxidation to solid phase electrodes; MR-1 can act as an electron transfer agent when attached to a solid metal electrode surface - a modified electrode has been developed and tested; MR-1 transfers electrons from solution to a solid electrode. DMRB grow by transferring electrons to insoluble metals. When bacteria oxidize organic compounds or hydrogen this results in electron flow from the bacterial cell for the purpose of cellular energy production. Extracellular electron transfer to solid terminal electron acceptors permits coupling this oxidation process to electrodes. As a result, detection of organic compounds and hydrogen can be accomplished by bacterial contact to an electrode. The authors have designed a process that incorporates bacterial cells onto electrodes for the purpose of hydrogen detection. In addition, this type of bio-sensor also responds to the presence of FE III thereby providing potential utility as a Fe III sensor. Immediate uses of this technology include in-situ detection and quantification of organic compounds and hydrogen in the subsurface that provide energy for …

Proceedings of the SECA Annual Workshop and Core Technology Meeting.

To help optimize the performance of the Fermilab Tevatron accelerator in Collider Run II, we have undertaken a systematic study of the drift and subsequent snapback of dipole magnet harmonics. The study has mostly focused on the dynamic behavior of the normal sextupole component, b2, as measured on a sample of spare Tevatron dipoles at the Fermilab Magnet Test Facility. We measured the dependence of the decay amplitude and the snapback time on Tevatron ramp parameters and magnet operational history. A series of beam studies was also performed [1]. This paper summarizes the magnetic measurement results and concludes with proposals for an optimization of the b2 correction scheme which is derived from these measurements.

This commercial demonstration project demonstrated the technical feasibility of converting low-value, underutilized and waste stream solid wood fiber material into higher valued products. With a growing need to increase product/production yield and reduce waste in most sawmills, few recovery operations and practically no data existed to support the viability of recovery operations. Prior to our efforts, most all in the forest products industry believed that recovery was difficult, extremely labor intensive, not cost effective, and that recovered products had low value and were difficult to sell. This project provided an opportunity for many within the industry to see through demonstration that converting waste stream material into higher valued products does in fact offer a solution. Our work, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, throughout the project aimed to demonstrate a reasonable approach to reducing the millions of recoverable solid wood fiber tons that are annually treated as and converted into low value chips, mulch and fuel. Consequently sawmills continue to suffer from reduced availability of forest resources, higher raw material costs, growing waste disposal problems, increased global competition, and more pressure to operate in an Environmentally Friendly manner. It is our belief (based upon the experience of this project) …

The E Area PA (McDowell-Boyer et al. 2000) includes a steady-state simulation of groundwater flow in the General Separations Area as a prerequisite for saturated zone contaminant transport analyses. The groundwater flow simulations are based on the FACT code (Hamm and Aleman2000). The FACT-based GSA model was selected during preparation of the original PA to take advantage of an existing model developed for environmental restoration applications at the SRS (Flach and Harris 1997, 1999; Flach 1999). The existing GSA/FACT model was then slightly modified for PA use, as described in the PA document. FACT is a finite-element code utilizing deformed brick elements. Material properties are defined at element centers, and state variables such as hydraulic head are located at element vertices. The PORFLOW code (Analytic and Computational Research, Inc. 2000) was selected for performing saturated zone transport simulations of source zone radionuclides and their progeny. PORFLOW utilizes control volume discretization and the nodal point integration method, with all properties and state variables being defined at the center of an interior grid cell. The groundwater flow calculation includes translating the Darcy velocity field computed by FACT into a form compatible for input to PORFLOW. The FACT velocity field is defined at …