This report details the constitutional standards that currently apply to indirect school aid programs and summarizes all of the pertinent Supreme Court decisions, with particular attention to Zelman. It also summarizes the pending case of Davey v. Locke and other recent and ongoing state and lower federal court cases concerning vouchers.

Advances in Electron Microscopy and single-particle reconstruction have led to results at increasingly high resolutions. This has opened up the possibility of complete automation of single particle reconstruction. Main bottleneck in automation of single particle reconstruction is manual selection of particles in the micrograph. This paper describes a simple but efficient approach for segmentation of particle projections in the micrographs obtained using cryo-electron microscope. Changing the shape of objects to facilitate segmentation from the cluster and reconstructing its actual shape after isolation is successfully attempted. Both low-level and high-level processing techniques are used and the whole process is made automatic. Over 90 percent success in automatic particle picking is achieved. Several areas for improvement and future research directions are discussed.

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The Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) is a proposed accelerator for the low energy nuclear physics community. Its goal is to understand the natural abundances of the elements heavier than iron, explore the nuclear force in systems far from stability, and study symmetry violation and fundamental physics in nuclei. To achieve these scientific goals, RIA promises to produce isotopes far from stability in sufficient quantities to allow experiments. It would also produce near stability isotopes at never before seen production rates, as much as 10{sup 12} pps. Included in these isotopes are many that are important to stockpile stewardship, such as {sup 87}Y, {sup 146-50}Eu, and {sup 231}Th. Given the expected production rates at RIA and a reasonably intense neutron source, one can expect to make {approx} 10 {micro}g targets of nuclei with a half-life of {approx}1 day. Thus, it will be possible at RIA to obtain experimental information on the neutron cross section for isotopes that have to date only been determined by theory. There are two methods to perform neutron cross-section measurements, prompt and delayed. The prompt method tries to measure each reaction as it happens. The exact technique employed will depend on the reaction of interest, (n,2n), (n,{gamma}), …

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is proposing to construct a biosafety level (BSL-3) facility at Site 200 in Livermore, California. Biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) is a designation assigned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes Health (NIH) for handling infectious organisms based on the specific microorganisms and associated operations. Biosafety levels range from BSL-1 (lowest hazard) to BSL-4 (highest hazard). Details about the BSL-3 criteria are described in the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s publication ''Biosafety Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories'' (BMBL), 4th edition (CDC 1999): The BSL-3 facility will be built in accordance with the required BMBL guidelines. This Preliminary Authorization Basis Documentation (PABD) for the proposed BSL-3 facility has been prepared in accordance with the current contractual requirements at LLNL. This includes the LLNL Environment, Safety, and Health Manual (ES&H Manual) and applicable Work Smart Standards, including the biosafety standards, such as the aforementioned BMBL and the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules: The proposed BSL-3 facility is a 1,100 ft{sup 2}, one-story permanent prefabricated facility, which will have three individual BSL-3 laboratory rooms (one of which is an animal biosafety level-3 [ABSL-3] laboratory to handle …

This report will introduce a newcomer to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to sources of general interest, neighborhoods, housing, and public transportation. The intended audience is congressional staff needing short-term or summer housing, although many of the sources given may also be helpful for those needing more than a three- to six-month lease. Sources suggested are often accessible by their Internet addresses.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is conducting a collection of baseline data that will serve as an index for describing the way in which grant applications/proposals are developed and tracked at grant recipient organizations. The type of information to be collected includes (1) estimate of burden, both time and cost, to the applicant organization (2) descriptiion of the overall development and tracking systems used by the applicant, and (3) data that can be compared after the implementation of either a streamlined paper or electronic system.

Eliminating a Major Cause of Wire Drawing Breakage in A-15 High-Field Superconductors Phase 1 Summary Purpose of the research: The Phase 1 goal was to make a significant improvement in the wire drawing technology used for difficult to draw superconductor precursor composites. Many ductile Nb-Al and Nb-Sn precursor wire composites have experienced the onset of wire drawing breakage at about 1.5 mm diameter. Phase 1 focused on evaluating the role that precision rigid guidance of the wire into the drawing die and the hydrostatic stress state at the die entrance played in preventing wire breakage. Research carried out: The research performed depended upon the construction of both a mechanical wire guide and a hydrostatic pressure stiffened wire guidance system. Innovare constructed the two wire guidance systems and tested them for their ability to reduce wire drawing breakage. One set of hardware provided rigid alignment of the wires to their wire drawing die axes within 0.35 degrees using ''hydrostatic pressure stiffening'' to enable the precision guidance strategy to be implemented for these highly flexible small diameter wires. This apparatus was compared to a guide arrangement that used short span mechanical guide alignment with a misalignment limit of about 0.75 degrees. Four …

Future-looking high end computing initiatives will deploy powerful, large-scale computing platforms that leverage novel component technologies for superior node performance in advanced system architectures with tens or even hundreds of thousands of nodes. Recent advances in performance tools and modeling methodologies suggest that it is feasible to acquire such systems intelligently and achieve excellent performance, while also significantly reducing the user time required to attain high performance. These developments are relevant to several aspects of future HEC technology outlined in the recent HECRTF white paper request, in particular items 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, and 5.8. We envision the following specific capabilities: (1) Performance modeling tools, available to researchers and vendors, will extrapolate performance from prototype systems to full-scale systems, and even accurately predict performance behavior before systems are manufactured, thus enabling both improved designs and more intelligent selection of systems in procurements. (2) System simulation facilities, implemented on highly parallel platforms and available to researchers and vendors, will for instance realistically model the performance of a specific interprocessor network design running a specific scientific application code. As with item 1, these facilities can lead both to improved designs and procurement decisions that yield significantly greater sustained performance for targeted scientific applications. …

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Operation of the proposed AWE Aldermaston1 Radioactive Aqueous Waste Treatment Plant evaporation system was modeled using the Environmental Simulation Program (ESP) licensed by OLI Systems, Inc. The projected RAWTP waste influents as well as two simulants (High Foam and Low Foam) were modeled to predict the composition of the feed, concentrate and condensate for projected waste influents. This report details the results of the modeled predictions.

A nuclear reactor is a complex system that requires highly sophisticated controllers to ensure that desired performance and safety can be achieved and maintained during its operations. Higher-demanding operational requirements such as reliability, lower environmental impacts, and improved performance under adverse conditions in nuclear power plants, coupled with the complexity and uncertainty of the models, necessitate the use of an increased level of autonomy in the control methods. In the opinion of many researchers, the tasks involved during nuclear reactor design and operation (e.g., design optimization, transient diagnosis, and core reload optimization) involve important human cognition and decisions that may be more easily achieved with intelligent methods such as expert systems, fuzzy logic, neural networks, and genetic algorithms. Many experts in the field of control systems share the idea that a higher degree of autonomy in control of complex systems such as nuclear plants is more easily achievable through the integration of conventional control systems and the intelligent components. Researchers have investigated the feasibility of the integration of fuzzy logic, neural networks, genetic algorithms, and expert systems with the conventional control methods to achieve higher degrees of autonomy in different aspects of reactor operations such as reactor startup, shutdown in …

The ''Seismic Evaluation of Hydrocarbon Saturation in Deep-Water Reservoirs'' (Grant/Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-02NT15342) began September 1, 2002. During this second quarter: A Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator (DHI) symposium was held at UH; Current DHI methods were presented and forecasts made on future techniques; Dr. Han moved his laboratory from HARC to the University of Houston; Subcontracts were re-initiated with UH and TAMU; Theoretical and numerical modeling work began at TAMU; Geophysical Development Corp. agreed to provide petrophysical data; Negotiations were begun with Veritas GDC to obtain limited seismic data; Software licensing and training schedules were arranged with Paradigm; and Data selection and acquisition continues. The broad industry symposium on Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators was held at the University of Houston as part of this project. This meeting was well attended and well received. A large amount of information was presented, not only on application of the current state of the art, but also on expected future trends. Although acquisition of appropriate seismic data was expected to be a significant problem, progress has been made. A 3-D seismic data set from the shelf has been installed at Texas A&M University and analysis begun. Veritas GDC has expressed a willingness to provide data in the …

Proton imaging is a potential nondestructive method for characterizing NIF (National Ignition Facility) targets in two- and three-dimensions with micron-scale spatial resolution. The main limitation for high resolution imaging with proton beams, especially for thick samples, is the positional blurring of the proton beam, known as ''lateral straggling''. Accurate prediction of the amount of lateral straggling and, consequently, the achievable spatial resolution in pertinent NIF target material combinations and geometries requires validated proton transport models. We present results of Monte Carlo simulations of MeV-energy proton transport through thin ({approx}1 micron thick) metal foils. The calculated residual proton distributions are compared to recent lateral straggling measurements obtained at the LLNL 4-MV Pelletron accelerator.

This report discusses intelligence issues for Congress including terrorism, conflicts between Israel and Palestine, in Iraq, and among the former Yugoslav states, and North Korean missile capabilities. Updated June 20, 2003.

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This milestone report summarizes the general characteristics of scuffing damage to solid surfaces, then describes transient effects on scuffing observed during oscillating sliding wear tests of candidate material pairs for high-temperature diesel engine applications, like waste-gate bushings in exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems. It is shown that oxidation and the formation of wear particle layers influence the friction of such components. In the case of metallic materials in cylindrical contacts where there is a generous clearance, debris layers can form which reduce the torque over time. For ceramic combinations, the opposite effect is observed. Here, the accumulation of wear debris leads to an increase in the turning torque. High-temperature transient scuffing behavior is considered in terms of a series of stages in which the composition and morphology of the contact is changing. These changes are used to explain the behavior of 11 material pairs consisting of stainless steels, Ni-based alloys, Co-based alloys, and structural ceramics.

The fundamental conclusion that we draw from this analysis is that one should not to base itself blindly on forecasts prices of natural gas when one compare contracts at price fixes with producers of renewable energy with contracts at variable prices with promoters power stations with gas. Indeed, forecasts of the prices of gas do not succeed not to enter the associated costs with the covering of the risk, that they are connected to the negative pressure against the cover, with the CAPM, with costs of transaction or with unspecified combination of three. Thus, insofar as price stability to length term is developed, better way of comparing the two choices would be to have recourse to the data on the prices in the long term natural gas, and not with forecasts of the prices. During three last years at least, the use of these prices in the long term would have besides license to correct a methodological error who, obviously, seem to have supported unduly, and of relatively important way, power stations with natural gas compared to their competitors of renewable energies.

This project provides a proof-of-principle technology demonstration for SDMS, where a distributed suite of sensors is integrated with active components and passive structures of types expected to be encountered in next generation nuclear power reactor and plant systems. The project employs state-of-the-art operational sensors, advanced stressor-based instrumentation, distributed computing, RF data network modules and signal processing to improve the monitoring and assessment of the power reactor system and gives data that is used to provide prognostics capabilities.

The successful operation of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) machine will require producing plasma configurations with good flux surfaces, with a minimum volume of the plasma lost to magnetic islands or stochastic regions. The project goal is to achieve good flux surfaces over 90% of the plasma volume. NCSX is a three period device designed to be operated with iota ranging from {approx}0.4 on axis to {approx}0.7 at the edge. The field errors of most concern are those that are resonant with 3/5 and 3/6 modes (for symmetry preserving field errors) and the 1/2 and 2/3 modes (for symmetry breaking field errors). In addition to losses inherent in the physics configuration itself, there will be losses from field errors arising from coil construction and assembly errors. Some of these losses can be recovered through the use of trim coils or correction coils. The impact of coil tolerances on plasma surface quality is evaluated herein for the NCSX design. The methods used in this evaluation are discussed. The ability of the NCSX trim coils to correct for field errors is also examined. The results are used to set coils tolerances for the various coil systems.

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This report contains the information related to the fishery, aquaculture, and marine mammal legislation enacted by the 108th Congress.

This report discusses issues debated in the 107th Congress while is considering various proposals to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Major issues in recent years have included changing the role of science in decision-making, changing the role of critical habitat, reducing conflicts with Department of Defense activities, incorporating further protection for property owners, and increasing protection of listed species, among others. In addition, many have advocated including significant changes to ESA regulations made during the Clinton Administration in the law itself.

Interactions between tumor promoters with differing mechanisms of action were examined in male B6C3F1 mice treated with mixtures of dichloroacetate (DCA), trichloroacetate (TCA), and tetrachloride (CT), each of which acts by a different mode of action. Mice were initiated by vinyl carbamate (VC), and then promoted by DCA, TCA, CT, or the pair-wised combinations of the three compounds. The effect of each treatment or treatment combination on tumor number/animal and tumor size was individually assessed at 18, 24, 30 or 36 weeks of treatment. Dose-related increases in tumor size were observed with 20 & 50 mg/kg CT, but each produced equal number of tumors at 36 weeks with the main distinction being a decrease in tumor latency at the higher dose. Overall TCA treatment produced dose-related increases in tumor number at 36 weeks of treatment. Thus, the lower doses of CT and TCA treatments apparently affected tumor size rather than number. Results with DCA were not as clear as a true maximum tumor number was not clearly observed within the experimental period. Treatment of mice receiving a high dose of TCA (2 g/L of drinking water) combined with varying doses of DCA (0.1, 0.5 and 2 g/L) produced increased numbers …