From Summary: "This report discusses some of the major immigration areas that were under consideration in the above-mentioned comprehensive reform proposals, including asylum, biometric tracking systems, border security, document security, exclusion, immigration enforcement, and visa issuances."

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity, and is updated as events warrant.

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Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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At very high energies, the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect reduces the cross sections for electron bremsstrahlung and photon e{sup +}e{sup -} pair production. The fractional electron energy loss and pair production cross sections drop as the energy increases. In contrast, the cross sections for photonuclear interactions grow with energy. In solids and liquids, at energies above 10{sup 20} eV, photonuclear reactions dominate, and showers that originate as photons or electrons quickly become hadronic showers. These electron-initiated hadronic showers are much shorter (due to the absence of the LPM effect), but wider than purely electromagnetic showers would be. This change in shape alters the spectrum of the electromagnetic and acoustic radiation emitted from the shower. These alterations have important implications for existing and planned searches for radiation from u{sub e} induced showers above 10{sup 20} eV, and some existing limits should be reevaluated.

Photograph of a member of the Center for Media Production (CMP) staff using a computer on the UNT campus. The man can be seen sitting in the center of the photograph, facing to the right of the camera. He is looking down at a keyboard on the desk in front of him and appears to be typing with his right hand. A computer monitor can be seen on the far right side of the photograph, partially out of frame. Another desk is visible in the background.

Photograph of a member of the UNT Center for Media Production (CMP) staff using graphics software on a computer. The man can be seen sitting on the right side of the photograph, facing to the left of the camera. He is looking down at the CD in his left hand. A logo for the College of Music can be seen on the desktop screen in front of him.

Photograph of a member of the UNT Center for Media Production (CMP) staff using graphics software on a computer. The man can be seen sitting on the left side of the photograph, facing to the right of the camera. He is smiling slightly. A computer keyboard is visible on the desk in front of him, partially out of frame. Two Apple Studio Display monitors can be seen on a second desk in the background.

Photograph of a member of the UNT Center for Media Production (CMP) staff using graphics software on a computer. The man can be seen sitting on the left side of the photograph, facing to the right of the camera. He is looking down. Two Apple Studio Display monitors can be seen on a desk in the background.

This document describes the guidelines adopted for software development of the Community Land Model (CLM) and serves as a reference to the entire code base of the released version of the model. The version of the code described here is Version 3.0 which was released in the summer of 2004. This document, the Community Land Model Version 3.0 (CLM3.0) User's Guide (Vertenstein et al., 2004), the Technical Description of the Community Land Model (CLM) (Oleson et al., 2004), and the Community Land Model's Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (CLM-DGVM): Technical Description and User's Guide (Levis et al., 2004) provide the developer, user, or researcher with details of implementation, instructions for using the model, a scientific description of the model, and a scientific description of the Dynamic Global Vegetation Model integrated with CLM respectively. The CLM is a single column (snow-soil-vegetation) biogeophysical model of the land surface which can be run serially (on a laptop or personal computer) or in parallel (using distributed or shared memory processors or both) on both vector and scalar computer architectures. Written in Fortran 90, CLM can be run offline (i.e., run in isolation using stored atmospheric forcing data), coupled to an atmospheric model (e.g., the Community …

We consider two existing asynchronous parallel algorithms for Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) thermal radiation transport on spatially decomposed meshes. The two algorithms are from the production codes KULL from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Milagro from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Both algorithms were considered and analyzed in an implementation of the KULL IMC package in ALEGRA, a Sandia National Laboratory high energy density physics code. Improvements were made to both algorithms. The improved Milagro algorithm performed the best by scaling nearly perfectly out to 244 processors.

Four different algorithms for domain decomposed Monte Carlo are outlined, and the performance of each is measured. These algorithms are implemented in the KULL IMC package [4] running inside of ALEGRA [1]. This package implements the Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) scheme for thermal radiation transport of Fleck and Cummings [3].

We consider the transmission of a message from a source node to a terminal node in a network with n nodes and m links where the message is divided into parts and each part is transmitted over a different path in a set of paths from the source node to the terminal node. Here each link is characterized by a bandwidth and delay. The set of paths together with their transmission rates used for the message is referred to as a multipath. We present two algorithms that produce a minimum-end-to-end message delay multipath path table that, for every message length, specifies a multipath that will achieve the minimum end-to-end delay. The algorithms also generate a function that maps the minimum end-to-end message delay to the message length. The time complexities of the algorithms are O(n{sup 2}((n{sup 2}/logn) + m)min(D{sub max}, C{sub max})) and O(nm(C{sub max} + nmin(D{sub max}, C{sub max}))) when the link delays and bandwidths are non-negative integers. Here D{sub max} and C{sub max} are respectively the maximum link delay and maximum link bandwidth and C{sub max} and D{sub max} are greater than zero.

The electrolytes Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}(aq) and NaNO{sub 3}(aq) are both extremely soluble but differ in several important respects. Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}(aq) has complex behavior at low ionic strengths and forms several thermodynamically stable and metastable solid phases, whereas NaNO{sub 3}(aq) forms only an anhydrous solid phase. The thermodynamic properties of both have previously been modeled using extended Pitzer ion-interaction models that include higher-order virial terms, in addition to those of the standard Pitzer model. The parameters of the original Pitzer model, however, are often needed for thermodynamic modeling calculations. In this paper we convert the parameters of the extended ion-interaction models for Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}(aq) and NaNO{sub 3}(aq) to the standard Pitzer model using an extension of the methodology previously described by Rard and Wijesinghe [J. Chem. Thermodynamics 35 (2003) 439.473]. In this variant, the exponential coefficient {alpha}{sub 1}{sup P} of Pitzer's model is also optimized to yield the most accurate overall representation of the osmotic coefficients {phi} over the ionic strength and temperature ranges of interest. The optimal values of {alpha}{sub 1}{sup P} = 0.87 kg{sup 1/2} {center_dot} mol{sup -1/2} for Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}(aq) and {alpha}{sub 1}{sup P} = 1.43 kg{sup 1/2} {center_dot} mol{sup -1/2} for NaNO{sub 3}(aq) are …

The Environmental Information Management Suite/Risk Based Data Management System (EIMS/RBDMS) and Cost Effective Regulatory Approach (CERA) programs continue to be successful. All oil and gas state regulatory programs participate in these efforts. Significant accomplishments include: streamline regulatory approaches, enhancing environmental protection, and making oil and gas data available via the Internet. Oil and gas companies worldwide now have access to data on state web sites. This reduces the cost of exploration and enables companies to develop properties in areas that would have been cost prohibited for exploration. Early in project, GWPC and State Oil and Gas agencies developed the EIMS and CERA strategic plan to prioritize long term development and implementation. The planning process identifies electronic commerce and coal bed methane as high priorities. The group has involved strategic partners in industry and government to develop a common data exchange process. Technical assistance to Alaska continues to improve their program management capabilities. New initiatives in Alaska include the development of an electronic permit tracking system. This system allows managers to expedite the permitting process. Nationwide, the RBDMS system is largely completed with 22 states and one Indian Nation now using this nationally accepted data management system. Additional remaining tasks include …

Heightened natural gas prices have emerged as a key energy-policy challenge for at least the early part of the 21st century. With the recent run-up in gas prices and the expected continuation of volatile and high prices in the near future, a growing number of voices are calling for increased diversification of energy supplies. Proponents of renewable energy and energy efficiency identify these clean energy sources as an important part of the solution. Increased deployment of renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) can hedge natural gas price risk in more than one way, but this paper touches on just one potential benefit: displacement of gas-fired electricity generation, which reduces natural gas demand and thus puts downward pressure on gas prices. Many recent modeling studies of increased RE and EE deployment have demonstrated that this ''secondary'' effect of lowering natural gas prices could be significant; as a result, this effect is increasingly cited as justification for policies promoting RE and EE. This paper summarizes recent studies that have evaluated the gas-price-reduction effect of RE and EE deployment, analyzes the results of these studies in light of economic theory and other research, reviews the reasonableness of the effect as portrayed in …

Energy policy issues of continuing interest include whether or not to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for leasing; settlement upon a pipeline route to allow production of Alaskan natural gas; access to public lands for energy exploration and development; restructuring of the electric utility industry to encourage competition and consumer choice; raising corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for motor vehicles; seeking effective means to promote energy conservation using currently available technologies; and development of new technologies and alternative fuels. This report discusses those major policy approaches, provides a conceptual framework for categorizing energy policy proposals, and briefly describes issues that remain current in the debates over energy policy.

Research is underway to develop baseline site conditions and design monitoring programs for assurance to offsite residents and for performance confirmation for the proposed Yucca Mountain (YM) high-level waste repository in Nevada. This includes evaluation of existing and potential impacts on the proposed ''land withdrawal'' for the repository. A significant portion of the proposed land withdrawal includes areas now managed as part of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), and there is both contamination and land disturbance associated with past NTS activities. Establishing baseline conditions for the land withdrawal is important to distinguish potential impacts from repository operations from those resulting from previous activities, including some that took place from activities outside the land withdrawal. Among existing contamination is mixed fission products associated with the Nuclear Rocket Testing Program on the NTS in the 1960s. Some of these sites are being remediated as part of a federal facility agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Nevada. However, even where radionuclides exist at levels below regulatory concern, characterizing them may be desirable if they are above background. In addition, Forty Mile Wash, the major drainage on the east side of YM, may be transporting radionuclides created from Plowshare …

Although the speed of LAN and WAN networking is growing at an exponential rate, the applications that use those networks have not followed suit. With fiber optic interconnects, gigahertz processor speeds, and 10 gigabit per second network interface cards, hardware does not seem to be the limiting factor. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the protocols that are the basis of networking today are ill-suited to a new generation of networking technology. For this reason, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is particularly interested in improving bulk transfers over high-bandwidth, high-latency networks because of its involvement in storage and in the transfer of data for cutting-edge scientific applications. This report summarizes our evaluation of a new group of protocols specifically designed to get more useful bandwidth from today's high speed, wide area networks.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The federal government currently spends more than one-third of its budget on benefits and programs for older Americans. For people age 65 and over, estimated FY2005 spending for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone is $713 billion. Spending for retired federal employees and military personnel and for veterans is also significant, and smaller programs add to the total as well. In addition, tax expenditures might be taken into account to obtain a more complete budget picture.

Laboratory experiments using technology developed for fusion research created replicas of solar prominences. These solar coronal loops exhibited dynamic behavior similar to what is observed on the sun. Diagnostics included high-speed photography, and x-ray detectors. In addition to the experiments, two related theoretical investigations were undertaken: (1) a three-dimensional numerical model of coronal mass ejections, and (2) a model of the plasma jet flow and collimation resulting from an electric current flowing along a magnetic flux tube.