Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate commemorating April 2011 as Safe Digging Month.

The advances in high-voltage switching developed in this project allow a camera user to rapidly vary the number of output frames from 1 to 25. A high-voltage, variable-amplitude pulse train shifts the deflection location to the new frame location during the interlude between frames, making multiple frame counts and locations possible. The final deflection circuit deflects to five different frame positions per axis, including the center position, making for a total of 25 frames. To create the preset voltages, electronically adjustable {+-}500 V power supplies were chosen. Digital-to-analog converters provide digital control of the supplies. The power supplies are clamped to {+-}400 V so as not to exceed the voltage ratings of the transistors. A field-programmable gated array (FPGA) receives the trigger signal and calculates the combination of plate voltages for each frame. The interframe time and number of frames are specified by the user, but are limited by the camera electronics. The variable-frame circuit shifts the plate voltages of the first frame to those of the second frame during the user-specified interframe time. Designed around an electrostatic image tube, a framing camera images the light present during each frame (at the photocathode) onto the tube’s phosphor. The phosphor persistence …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Tall smokestacks--stacks of 500 feet or higher, which are primarily used at coal power plants--release air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) high into the atmosphere to help limit the impact of these emissions on local air quality. Tall stacks can also increase the distance these pollutants travel in the atmosphere and harm air quality and the environment in downwind communities. The 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act encourage the use of pollution control equipment over dispersion techniques, such as tall stacks, to meet national air standards. Section 123 of the Act does not limit stack height, but prohibits sources of emissions from using the dispersion effects of stack heights in excess of a stack's good engineering practice (GEP) height to meet emissions limitations. GAO was asked to report on (1) the number and location of tall stacks of 500 feet or higher at coal power plants and when they began operating; (2) what is known about such stacks' contribution to the interstate transport of air pollution and the pollution controls installed at plants with these stacks; and (3) the number …

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

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

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

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

A White Paper overview of NREL's commercialization and deployment activities, requested by the chair of the State Energy Advisory Board.

Compaction of lower layers in the fiberboard overpack has been observed in 9975 packages that contain elevated moisture. Lab testing has resulted in a better understanding of (1) the relationship between the fiberboard moisture level and compaction of the lower fiberboard assembly, and (2) the behavior of the fiberboard during transport. In laboratory tests, higher moisture content has been shown to correspond to higher total compaction of fiberboard material, greater rate of compaction, and continued compaction over a longer period of time. In addition, laboratory tests have shown that the application of a dynamic load results in higher fiberboard compaction. The test conditions and sample geometric/loading configurations were chosen to simulate the regulatory requirements for 9975 package input dynamic loading. Dynamic testing was conducted over a period of several months to acquire immediate and cumulative changes in geometric data for various moisture levels. Currently, one sample set has undergone a complete dynamic test regimen, while testing of another set is still in-progress. The dynamic input, data acquisition, test effects on sample dynamic parameters, and interim results from this test program will be summarized and compared to regulatory specifications for dynamic loading. This will provide a basis from which to evaluate …

Coal-fired power plants are a significant part of the nation's power generating capacity, currently accounting for more than 55% of the country's total electricity production. Extending the reliable lifetimes of fossil fired boiler components and reducing the maintenance costs are essential for economic operation of power plants. Corrosion and erosion are leading causes of superheater and reheater boiler tube failures leading to unscheduled costly outages. Several types of coatings and weld overlays have been used to extend the service life of boiler tubes; however, the protection afforded by such materials was limited approximately one to eight years. Power companies are more recently focused in achieving greater plant efficiency by increasing steam temperature and pressure into the advanced-ultrasupercritical (A-USC) condition with steam temperatures approaching 760°C (1400°F) and operating pressures in excess of 35MPa (5075 psig). Unfortunately, laboratory and field testing suggests that the resultant fireside environment when operating under A-USC conditions can potentially cause significant corrosion to conventional and advanced boiler materials1-2. In order to improve reliability and availability of fossil fired A-USC boilers, it is essential to develop advanced nanostructured coatings that provide excellent corrosion and erosion resistance without adversely affecting the other properties such as toughness and thermal fatigue …

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about a new program to develop a cost-effective thermal storage system utilizing a supercritical fluid to replace molten salt systems (project title "Thermal Energy Storage With Supercritical Fluids") including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impact, and contact information. This sheet is the first open solicitation, announcing funding opportunities for involvement in the project.

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

This report highlights actions taken and issues raised as a result of the April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, and the resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Some of the Department of Defense's (DOD) weapon systems remain in the inventory for decades. Therefore, decisions that program officials make during the acquisition process to acquire or not acquire rights to technical data, which may cost $1 billion, can have far-reaching implications for DOD's ability to sustain and competitively procure parts and services for those systems. DOD needs access to technical data to control costs, maintain flexibility in acquisition and sustainment, and maintain and operate systems. In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the extent to which: (1) DOD has updated its acquisition and procurement policies to reflect a 2007 law and 2006 GAO recommendations; (2) selected acquisition programs adhered to requirements to document technical-data needs; and (3) DOD took actions to improve technical-data decisions by program managers. GAO interviewed DOD officials, reviewed acquisition strategies and acquisition plans from 12 programs, and compared those documents to relevant DOD policies."

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Purdue University Calumet (Purdue) and Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) have conducted an independent study to identify deployable technologies that could help the BP Whiting Refinery, and other petroleum refineries, meet future wastewater discharge limits. This study has been funded by BP. Each organization tested a subset of the target technologies and retains sole responsibility for its respective test design and implementation, quality assurance and control, test results obtained from each of the technologies, and corresponding conclusions and recommendations. This project was divided in two phases and modules. This report summarizes the work conducted by Argonne in Phase II Module 3 (Bench Scale Testing). Other Modules are discussed elsewhere (Emerging Technologies and Approaches to Minimize Discharges into Lake Michigan, Phase 2, Modules 1-3 Report, April 2011, prepared for BP Americas by the Argonne - Purdue Task Force). The goal of this project was to identify and assess available and emerging wastewater treatment technologies for removing mercury and vanadium from the Whiting Refinery wastewater and to conduct bench-scale tests to provide comparable, transparent, and uniform results across the broad range of technologies tested. After the bench-scale testing phase, a previously developed decision matrix was refined and applied by Argonne to process and …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the findings from our recent work on federal employment and training programs and our prior work on the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). GAO has recently identified 47 federally-funded employment and training programs for fiscal year 2009, defining them as programs that are specifically designed to enhance the job skills of individuals in order to increase their employability, identify job opportunities, and/or help job seekers obtain employment. These programs, which are administered by nine separate federal agencies--including the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services (HHS)--spent about $18 billion dollars in fiscal year 2009 to provide services such as job search assistance and job counseling to program participants. Seven programs accounted for about three-fourths of this spending, and two--Wagner- Peyser funded Employment Service (ES) and WIA Adult--together reported serving over 18 million individuals, or about 77 percent of the total number of participants served across all programs. Forty-four of the 47 programs we identified, including those with broader missions such as multipurpose block grants, overlap with at least one other program in that they provide at least one similar service to a …

The first nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of electron internal transport barriers (e-ITBs) in the National Spherical Torus Experiment show that reversed magnetic shear can suppress thermal transport by increasing the nonlinear critical gradient for electron-temperature-gradient-driven turbulence to three times its linear critical value. An interesting feature of this turbulence is non- linearly driven off-midplane radial streamers. This work reinforces the experimental observation that magnetic shear is likely an effective way of triggering and sustaining e-ITBs in magnetic fusion devices.

Evolution of local strain on electrodeposited tin films upon aging has been monitored by digital image correlation (DIC) for the first time. Maps of principal strains adjacent to whisker locations were constructed via comparing pre- and post-growth scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Results showed that the magnitude of the strain gradient plays an important role in whisker growth. DIC visualized the dynamic growth process in which the alteration of strain field has been identified to cause growth of subsequent whiskers.

Congress enacts expedited, or fast-track, procedures into law when it wants to increase the likelihood that one or both houses of Congress will vote in a timely way on a certain measure or kind of measure. These procedures are enacted as rulemaking provisions of law pursuant to the constitutional power of each house to adopt its own rules. The house to which a set of expedited procedures applies may act unilaterally to waive, suspend, amend, or repeal them.

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

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

Video recording provided by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters recorded during funeral and life celebration of First Baptist Church of Hamilton Park member Gwendolyn Diane Hargrove held on May 5th, 2011. Hargrove was born in November 1946 and died in February 2011. The footage shows her service held at the church with members processing by her casket, performances by the choir and speeches made by the pastor and Curtis King.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.