This report discusses a plan announced by EPA in January 2005, called the Air Compliance Agreement, intended to produce air quality monitoring data on animal agriculture emissions from a small number of farms, while at the same time protecting all participants (including farms where no monitoring takes place) through a "safe harbor" from liability under certain provisions of federal environmental laws.

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

Continuum mechanics relies on the fundamental notion of a mesoscopic volume"element" in which properties averaged over discrete particles obey deterministic relationships. Recent work on granular materials suggests a continuum law may be inapplicable, revealing inhomogeneities at the particle level, such as force chains and slow cage breaking. Here, we analyze large-scale three-dimensional Discrete-Element Method (DEM) simulations of different granular flows and show that an approximate"granular element" defined at the scale of observed dynamical correlations (roughly three to five particle diameters) has a reasonable continuum interpretation. By viewing all the simulations as an ensemble of granular elements which deform and move with the flow, we can track material evolution at a local level. Our results confirm some of the hypotheses of classical plasticity theory while contradicting others and suggest a subtle physical picture of granular failure, combining liquid-like dependence on deformation rate and solid-like dependence on strain. Our computational methods and results can be used to guide the development of more realistic continuum models, based on observed local relationships betweenaverage variables.

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

This report examines the original intent and purpose of the Berry Amendment and legislative proposals to amend the application of domestic source restrictions, as well as potential options for Congress.

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

This report consists of the budget deficit and the trade deficit of what is their relationship.

The goal of this work was to develop a composite proton exchange membrane utilizing 1) readily available, low cost materials 2) readily modified and 3) easily processed to meet the chemical, mechanical and electrical requirements of high temperature PEM fuel cells. One of the primary goals was to produce a conducting polymer that met the criteria for strength, binding capability for additives, chemical stability, dimensional stability and good conductivity. In addition compatible, specialty nanoparticles were synthesized to provide water management and enhanced conductivity. The combination of these components in a multilayered, composite PEM has demonstrated improved conductivity at high temperatures and low humidity over commercially available polymers. The research reported in this final document has greatly increased the knowledge base related to post sulfonation of chemically and mechanically stable engineered polymers (Radel). Both electrical and strength factors for the degree of post sulfonation far exceed previous data, indicating the potential use of these materials in suitable proton exchange membrane architectures for the development of fuel cells. In addition compatible, hydrophilic, conductive nano-structures have been synthesized and incorporated into unique proton exchange membrane architectures. The use of post sulfonation for the engineered polymer and nano-particle provide cost effective techniques to produce …

This dissertation focused on new applications of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The diverse fields that were investigated show the versatility of the technique. In Chapter 2, LA-ICP-MS was used to investigate the rare earth element (REE) profiles of garnets from the Broken Hill Deposit in New South Wales, Australia. The normalized REE profiles helped to shed new light on the formation of deposits of sulfide ores. This information may be helpful in identifying the location of sulfide ore deposits in other locations. New sources of metals such as Pg, Zn, and Ag, produced from these ores, are needed to sustain our current technological society. The application of LA-ICP-MS presented in Chapter 3 is the forensics analysis of automotive putty and caulking. The elemental analysis of these materials was combined with the use of Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The PCA comparison was able to differentiate the automotive putty samples by manufacturer and lot number. The analysis of caulk was able to show a differentiation based on manufacturer, but no clear differentiation was shown by lot number. This differentiation may allow matching of evidence in the future. This will require many more analyses and the construction of a …

News release about DART's ridership setting records for the third consecutive month.

This report reviews the management and performance of the Early Independent School District's (EISD's) Food Services Operation.

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

This report provides background information on the types of water supply and wastewater treatment projects traditionally funded by the federal government and the several existing programs to assist communities with water supply and wastewater recycling and treatment.

This report describes the current forestry assistance programs and presents basic information on the programs to assist forestry practices, forest protection, forest recovery, and rural economies.

We review recent work on understanding the next to leading order corrections to the classical fields that dominate the initial stages of a heavy ion collision. We have recently shown that the leading ln 1/x divergences of these corrections to gluon multiplicities can be factorized into the JIMWLK evolution of the color charge density distributions.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

This report summarizes information on historical waste loss events associated with tanks and piplines in the 241-A and 241-AX tank farms.

None

This fact sheet tracks the current heads of government in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and provides the dates of the last and next election for head of government. It also provides the national independence date for each country.

This report provides an overview of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preemption, discusses legal challenges to fair share laws, and analyzes the fair share requirements included as part of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act.

The performance of spherical Resorcinol-Formaldehyde ion-exchange resin for the removal of cesium from alkaline radioactive waste solutions has been investigated through computer modeling. Cesium adsorption isotherms were obtained by fitting experimental data using a thermodynamic framework. Results show that ion-exchange is an efficient method for cesium removal from highly alkaline radioactive waste solutions. On average, two 1300 liter columns operating in series are able to treat 690,000 liters of waste with an initial cesium concentration of 0.09 mM in 11 days achieving a decontamination factor of over 50,000. The study also tested the sensitivity of ion-exchange column performance to variations in flow rate, temperature and column dimensions. Modeling results can be used to optimize design of the ion exchange system.

Mountaintop removal mining involves removing the top of a mountain in order to recover the coal seams contained there. This practice occurs in several Appalachian states. It creates an immense quantity of excess spoil (dirt and rock that previously composed the mountaintop), which is typically placed in valley fills on the sides of the former mountains, burying streams that flow through the valleys. Critics say that, as a result of valley fills, stream water quality and the aquatic and wildlife habitat that streams support are destroyed by tons of rocks and dirt. The mining industry argues that mountaintop mining is essential to conducting surface coal mining in the Appalachian region and that surface coal mining would not be economically feasible there if producers were restricted from using valleys for the disposal of mining overburden. Mountaintop mining is regulated under several laws, including the Clean Water Act. This report provides background on regulatory requirements, controversies, and legal challenges to Clean Water Act regulation of mountaintop mining.

This report provides an overview of the North Korean economy, its external economic relations, reforms, and U.S. policy options.