AF48 Community Meeting - Fort Smith Air National Guard Station - 188th Fighter Wing - Arkansas Delegation Meeting with Chairman Principi, May 17, 2005

AH1 - Hearing Book from the Adds Hearing of July 19, 2005 held in Washington, DC

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

Since the fall of 2003, a strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has spread throughout Asia, infecting mostly poultry but also a limited number of humans. The virus reached Europe in 2005, and the Middle East and Africa in 2006. Avian flu is highly contagious in domestic poultry. Strict biosecurity measures are practiced by commercial poultry farms and encouraged by governments. The economic effects of avian flu outbreaks can be significant, especially given international trade restrictions. Controlling avian flu in poultry is seen as the best way to prevent a human pandemic from developing, by reducing the number of animal hosts in which the virus may evolve. This report mainly covers avian flu in poultry, and will be updated.

Our previous atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies successfully visualized native Bacillus atrophaeus spore coat ultrastructure and surface morphology. We have shown that the outer spore coat surface is formed by a crystalline array of {approx}11 nm thick rodlets, having a periodicity of {approx}8 nm. We present here further AFM ultrastructural investigations of air-dried and fully hydrated spore surface architecture. In the rodlet layer, planar and point defects, as well as domain boundaries, similar to those described for inorganic and macromolecular crystals, were identified. For several Bacillus species, rodlet structure assembly and architectural variation appear to be a consequence of species-specific nucleation and crystallization mechanisms that regulate the formation of the outer spore coat. We propose a unifying mechanism for nucleation and self-assembly of this crystalline layer on the outer spore coat surface.

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

BRAC Analysis - Contains environmental notes and research from the analyst Gary Miller of the Interagency Team concerning various installations.

BRAC Analysis - Includes notes and research from analyst Michael Delaney of the Joint Issues Team concerning Naval Air Station Willow Grove, PA

BRAC Commission - Ethics briefing materials given to all Commissioners. Includes the booklets "Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch" and "A Brief Wrap on Ethics" from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics

BRAC Commissioner's Notes - Commissioner Hansen from the OSD, GAO, OBC Hearings

BRAC Commissioner's Notes - Commissioner Hansen from the Environmental and Economic Impact Hearing, August 11, 2005

BRAC Commissioner's Notes - Commissioner Hansen from the May 16th Hearing where Department of Defense presented BRAC Recommendations and Methodology

This report mainly discusses about the Campus-Based Student Financial Aid Programs Under the Higher Education Act

Argonne National Laboratory has developed an electrometallurgical process for conditioning spent sodium-bonded metallic reactor fuel prior to disposal. A waste stream from this process consists of stainless steel cladding hulls that contain undissolved metal fission products such as Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, and Ag; a small amount of undissolved actinides (U, Np, Pu) also remains with the hulls. These wastes will be immobilized in a waste form whose baseline composition is stainless steel alloyed with 15 wt% Zr (SS-15Zr). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of simulated metal waste forms (SS-15Zr with added actinides) show eutectic intergrowths of iron solid-solution (''steel'') and Fe-Zr-Cr-Ni (''intermetallic'') materials. The actinide elements are almost entirely in the intermetallic materials, where they occur in concentrations as high as 20 at%. Neutron- and electron-diffraction studies of the simulated waste forms show materials with structures similar to those of Fe{sub 2}Zr and Fe{sub 23}Zr{sub 6}. New TEM observations of simulated waste form samples with compositions SS-15Zr-2Np, SS-15Zr-5U, SS-15Zr-11U-0.6Ru-0.3Tc-0.1Pd, and SS-15Zr-10Pu suggest that the major U- and Pu-bearing phase has a structure similar to that of the C15 (cubic, MgCu{sub 2}-type) polymorph of Fe{sub 2}Zr. Materials with this structure exhibit significant variability in chemical compositions and actinide concentrations up …

Managing subsurface damage during the shaping process and removing subsurface damage during the polishing process is essential in the production of low damage density optical components, such as those required for use on high peak power lasers. Removal of subsurface damage, during the polishing process, requires polishing to a depth which is greater than the depth of the residual cracks present following the shaping process. To successfully manage, and ultimately remove subsurface damage, understanding the distribution and character of fractures in the subsurface region introduced during fabrication process is important. We have characterized the depth and morphology of subsurface fractures present following fixed abrasive and loose abrasive grinding processes. At shallow depths lateral cracks and an overlapping series of trailing indentation fractures were found to be present. At greater depths, subsurface damage consists of a series of trailing indentation fractures. The area density of trailing fractures changes as a function of depth, however the length and shape of individual cracks remain nearly constant for a given grinding process. We have developed and applied a model to interpret the depth and crack length distributions of subsurface surface damage in terms of key variables including abrasive size and load.

Department of Defense Report - Includes a letter from DoD, the Executive Order and other information. Also in hard copy, the report "Responding to Change: Communities and BRAC" - from the Office of Economic Adjustment

Concert performed at UNT Murchison Performing Arts Center, Winspear Hall.

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

Fabrication of compositionally graded structures for use as light-gas gun impactors has been demonstrated using a tape casting technique. Mixtures of metal powders in the Mg-Cu system were cast into a series of tapes with uniform compositions ranging from 100% Mg to 100% Cu. The individual compositions were fabricated into monolithic pellets for characterization by laminating multiple layers together, thermally removing the organics, and hot-pressing to near-full density. The pellets were characterized by optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and measurement of density and sound wave velocity. The density and acoustic impedance were observed to vary monotonically (and nearly linearly) with composition. Graded structures were fabricated by stacking layers of different compositions in a sequence calculated to yield a desired acoustic impedance profile. The measured physical properties of the graded structures compare favorably with those predicted from the monolithic-pellet characteristics. Fabrication of graded impactors by this technique is of significant interest for providing improved control of the pressure profile in gas gun experiments.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2003, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) has offered "consumer-directed" health plans (CDHP) to federal employees. A CDHP is a high-deductible health plan coupled with a savings account enrollees use to pay for health care. Unused balances may accumulate for future use, providing enrollees the incentive to purchase health care prudently. However, some have expressed concern that CDHPs may attract younger and healthier enrollees, leaving older, less healthy enrollees to drive up costs in traditional plans. They also question whether enrollees are satisfied with the plans, and have sufficient access to health care providers and discounts on health care services. GAO was asked to study the first FEHBP CDHP, offered by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). GAO compared the number, characteristics, and satisfaction of APWU enrollees to those of FEHBP enrollees in other recently introduced (new) non-CDHP plans, and national preferred provider organization (PPO) plans. GAO also compared the APWU CDHP provider networks and discounts to those of other FEHBP plans."

This report discusses pay adjustments for federal white-collar employees which are paid under the General Schedule (GS), Foreign Service Schedule, and Veterans Health Administration Schedule are intended by law to receive an annual pay adjustment and a locality-based comparability payment, effective in January of each year, under Section 529 of P.L. 101-509, the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) of 1990.

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Fish and marine mammals are important resources in open ocean and nearshore coastal areas. Many laws and regulations guide the management of these resources by federal agencies. This report contains information on commercial and sport fisheries, aquaculture, and marine mammals and issues related to the 109th Congress.

Funeral program for Sis. Josie L. Lewis "Honey", born April 11, 1929 and died November 15, 2005. The funeral was held Monday, November 21, 2005 at St. Luke Baptist Church, officiated by Rev. Darrell Thomas. Funeral arrangements were made through Carter-Taylor-Williams Mortuary and she was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.