A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Given the global context of the war on drugs--coupled with growing recognition since September 11, 2001 (9/11), of the nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism--the mission of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and efforts to forge effective interagency partnerships and coordination are increasingly important. GAO was asked to examine, in the context of the post-9/11 environment, DEA's (1) priorities, (2) interagency partnerships and coordination mechanisms, and (3) strategic plan and performance measures. GAO reviewed DEA policy, planning, and budget documents and visited 7 of DEA's 21 domestic field offices and 3 of its 7 regional offices abroad-- sites selected to reflect diverse drug-trafficking threats, among other factors. GAO also contacted other relevant federal agencies-- including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)--and various state and local partner agencies."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires federal agencies to generally provide the public with access to government information. In December 2005, the President issued Executive Order 13392, to improve agencies' FOIA processing. The order required each agency to review its operations and develop plans for improvement. Since its establishment, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has accounted for a major and increasing portion of pending FOIA requests governmentwide. While it has reported achieving a notable reduction since 2006, DHS still possesses the largest backlog of overdue requests in the government. GAO was asked to determine (1) what key steps DHS has taken to enhance its FOIA program, and (2) what opportunities exist to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of FOIA operations across the department. To do this, GAO reviewed DHS's improvement plan; examined policies, procedures, and other documentation; and interviewed agency officials."

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Bi-weekly student newspaper from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from San Antonio College in San Antonio, Texas that includes campus news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Dallas, Texas that includes local, state, and national news and advertising of interest to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.

Biologics, which are sometimes termed biopharmaceuticals or biotechnology drugs, have begun to play an increasingly important role in U.S. health care. Not only are sales of biologics growing rapidly, some experts estimate that in coming years half of all newly approved drugs will result from biotechnology. This report contains information on marketing approval issues, intellectual property issues, and innovation issues as related to biologics.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

We present the search for the lepton flavour violating decay {tau} {yields} lK{sup 0}{sub s} with the BaBar experiment data. This process and many other lepton flavour violating {tau} decays, like {tau} {yields} {mu}{gamma} and {tau} {yields} lll, are one of the most promising channel to search for evidence of new physics. According to the Standard Model and the neutrino mixing parameters, branching fractions are estimated well below 10{sup -14}, but many models of new physics allow for branching fractions values close to the present experimental sensitivity. This analysis is based on a data sample of 469fb{sup -1} collected by BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring from 1999 to 2007, equivalent to 431 millions of {tau} pairs. the BABAR experiment, initially designed for studying CP violation in B mesons, has demonstrated to be one of the most suitable environments for studying {tau} decays. The tracking system, the calorimeter and the particle identification of BABAR, together with the knowledge of the {tau} initial energy, allow an extremely powerful rejection of background events that, for this analysis, is better than 10{sup -9}. Being {tau} {yields} lK{sup 0}{sub s} a decay mode without neutrinos, the signal {tau} decay can be fully reconstructed. …

In the past decades, there has been increasing interest in pulsed high power RF sources for building high-gradient high-energy particle accelerators. Passive RF pulse compression systems have been used in many applications to match the available RF sources to the loads requiring higher RF power but a shorter pulse. Theoretically, an active RF pulse compression system has the advantage of higher efficiency and compactness over the passive system. However, the key component for such a system an element capable of switching hundreds of megawatts of RF power in a short time compared to the compressed pulse width is still an open problem. In this dissertation, we present a switch module composed of an active window based on the bulk effects in semiconductor, a circular waveguide three-port network and a movable short plane, with the capability to adjust the S-parameters before and after switching. The RF properties of the switch module were analyzed. We give the scaling laws of the multiple-element switch systems, which allow the expansion of the system to a higher power level. We present a novel overmoded design for the circular waveguide three-port network and the associated circular-to-rectangular mode-converter. We also detail the design and synthesis process of …

Performance in H-mode DT plasmas in ITER with various choices of heating systems are predicted and compared. Combinations of external heating by Negative Ion Neutral Beam Injection (NNBI), Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF), and Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) are assumed. Scans with a range of physics assumptions about boundary temperatures in the edge pedestal, alpha ash transport, and toroidal momentum transport are used to indicate effects of uncertainties. Time-dependent integrated modeling with the PTRANSP code is used to predict profiles of heating, beam torque, and plasma profiles. The GLF23 model is used to predict temperature profiles. Either GLF23 or the assumption of a constant ratio for χø/χi is used to predict toroidal rotation profiles driven by the beam torques. Large differences for the core temperatures are predicted with different mixes of the external heating during the density and current ramp-up phase, but the profiles are similar during the flattop phase. With χø/χi = 0.5, the predicted toroidal rotation is relatively slow and the flow shear implied by the pressure, toroidal rotation, and neoclassical poloidal rotation are not sufficient to cause significant changes in the energy transport or steady state temperature profiles. The GLF23-predicted toroidal rotation is faster by a …

A linear array of four small biased electrodes was installed in NSTX in an attempt to control the width of the scrape-off layer (SOL) by creating a strong local poloidal electric field. The set of electrodes were separated poloidally by a 1 cm gap between electrodes and were located slightly below the midplane of NSTX, 1 cm behind the RF antenna and oriented so that each electrode is facing approximately normal to the magnetic field. Each electrode can be independently biased to ±100 volts. Present power supplies limit the current on two electrodes to 30 amps the other two to 10 amps each. The effect of local biasing was measured with a set of Langmuir probes placed between the electrodes and another set extending radially outward from the electrodes, and also by the gas puff imaging diagnostic (GPI) located 1 m away along the magnetic field lines intersecting the electrodes. Two fast cameras were also aimed directly at the electrode array. The hardware and controls of the biasing experiment will be presented and the initial effects on local plasma parameters will be discussed.

The primary objective of this task was to perform a variability study of the high activity waste (HAW) acidic feed to determine the impact of feed variability on the quality of the final grout and on the mixability of the salt solution into the dry powders. The HAW acidic feeds were processed through the neutralization/pH process, targeting a final pH of 12. These fluids were then blended with the dry materials to make the final waste forms. A secondary objective was to determine if elemental substitution for cost prohibitive or toxic elements in the simulant affects the mixing response, thus providing a more economical simulant for use in full scale tests. Though not an objective, the HAW simulant used in the full scale tests was also tested and compared to the results from this task. A statistically designed test matrix was developed based on the maximum molarity inputs used to make the acidic solutions. The maximum molarity inputs were: 7.39 HNO{sub 3}, 0.11618 gallium, 0.5423 silver, and 1.1032 'other' metals based on their NO{sub 3}{sup -} contribution. Substitution of the elements aluminum for gallium and copper for silver was also considered in this test matrix, resulting in a total of …

Compared to conventional particle accelerators, plasmas can sustain accelerating fields that are thousands of times higher. To exploit this ability, massively parallel SciDAC particle simulations provide physical insight into the development of next-generation accelerators that use laser-driven plasma waves. These plasma-based accelerators offer a path to more compact, ultra-fast particle and radiation sources for probing the subatomic world, for studying new materials and new technologies, and for medical applications.

A gage has been constructed using conventional (high end) components for the application of measuring fragile syntactic foam parts in a non-contact mode. Success with this approach has been achieved through a novel method of transferring (mapping) high accuracy local measurements of a coated aluminum master, taken on a Leitz Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM), to the gage software system. The mapped data is then associated with local voltage readings from two (inner and outer) laser triangulating probes. This couples discreet laser probe offset and linearity characteristics to the measured master geometry. The gage software compares real part measured data against the master data to provide non-contact part inspection that results in a high accuracy and low uncertainty performance. Uncertainty from the part surface becomes the prevailing contributor to the gaging process. The gaging process provides a high speed, hands off measurement with nearly zero impedance.

In a second development order, spin-forming equipment was again evaluated using the test shape, a hemispherical shell. In this second development order, pure vanadium and alloy titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) were spin-formed, as well as additional copper and 21-6-9 stainless. In the first development order the following materials had been spin-formed: copper (alloy C11000 ETP), 6061 aluminum, 304L stainless steel, 21-6-9 stainless steel, and tantalum-2.5% tungsten. Significant challenges included properly adjusting the rotations-per-minute (RPM), cracking at un-beveled edges and laser marks, redressing of notches, surface cracking, non-uniform temperature evolution in the titanium, and cracking of the tailstock. Lessons learned were that 300 RPM worked better than 600 RPM for most materials (at the feed rate of 800 mm/min); beveling the edges to lower the stress reduces edge cracking; notches, laser marks, or edge defects in the preform doom the process to cracking and failure; coolant is required for vanadium spin-forming; increasing the number of passes to nine or more eliminates surface cracking for vanadium; titanium develops a hot zone in front of the rollers; and the tailstock should be redesigned to eliminate the cylindrical stress concentrator in the center.

A total of 350,000, M012 strain, westslope cutthroat trout (WCT) eggs were received from Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks (MFWP), Washoe Park State Fish Hatchery in June of 2005 to accomplish this fishery management objective. These eggs were incubated, hatched and reared entirely inside the hatchery nursery building using a protected well water supply. Fish grew according to schedule and survival was excellent. The hatchery achieved a 0.78 feed fed to pounds gained conversion ratio for this group of WCT. Not all of the progenies from this fish lot were used for Hungry Horse Dam Fishery Mitigation Implementation. Some were used for other regional fishery management projects. Westslope cutthroat trout were reared using approved fish culture techniques as recommended in the USFWS Fish Hatchery Management Handbook and also utilizing a regimen adapted for hatchery specific site conditions. The fish health for these WCT was very good. Survival from first feeding fry stage to stocking was 79%. The hatchery had an annual fish health inspection performed by the USFWS Bozeman Fish Health Center in mid March of 2006. This inspection found all fish lots at Creston to be disease free. The Montana State Fish Health Board has placed the hatchery under …

Minutes of the Texas Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (TXSSAR) Board of Managers meeting covering the opening and general sessions, held March 20-22, 2009 at the Fredonia Hotel, in Nacogdoches, Texas. It includes information about the committees and business covered by the attending members.

A method for driving rotation and a countercurrent flow in a fully ionized plasma centrifuge is described. The rotation is produced by radiofrequency waves near the cyclotron resonance. The wave energy is transferred into potential energy in a manner similar to the α channeling effect. The countercurrent flow may also be driven by radiofrequency waves. By driving both the rotation and the flow pattern using waves instead of electrodes, physical and engineering issues may be avoided.

The conversion of synthesis gas to hydrocarbons or alcohols involves highly exothermic reactions. Temperature control is a critical issue in these reactors for a number of reasons. Runaway reactions can be a serious safety issue, even raising the possibility of an explosion. Catalyst deactivation rates tend to increase with temperature, particularly of there are hot spots in the reactor. For alcohol synthesis, temperature control is essential because it has a large effect on the selectivity of the catalysts toward desired products. For example, for molybdenum disulfide catalysts unwanted side products such as methane, ethane, and propane are produced in much greater quantities if the temperature increases outside an ideal range. Slurry reactors are widely regarded as an efficient design for these reactions. In a slurry reactor a solid catalyst is suspended in an inert hydrocarbon liquid, synthesis gas is sparged into the bottom of the reactor, un-reacted synthesis gas and light boiling range products are removed as a gas stream, and heavy boiling range products are removed as a liquid stream. This configuration has several positive effects for synthesis gas reactions including: essentially isothermal operation, small catalyst particles to reduce heat and mass transfer effects, capability to remove heat rapidly …

Multi-modality imaging has an increasing role in the diagnosis and treatment of a large number of diseases, particularly if both functional and anatomical information are acquired and accurately co-registered. Hence, there is a resulting need for multi modality phantoms in order to validate image co-registration and calibrate the imaging systems. We present our PET-ultrasound phantom development, including PET and ultrasound images of a simple prostate phantom. We use agar and gelatin mixed with a radioactive solution. We also present our development of custom multi-modality phantoms that are compatible with PET, transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), MRI and CT imaging. We describe both our selection of tissue mimicking materials and phantom construction procedures. These custom PET-TRUS-CT-MRI prostate phantoms use agargelatin radioactive mixtures with additional contrast agents and preservatives. We show multi-modality images of these custom prostate phantoms, as well as discuss phantom construction alternatives. Although we are currently focused on prostate imaging, this phantom development is applicable to many multi-modality imaging applications.

Officer Reports for the Texas Society, Sons of the American Revolution, compiled for the March 20 - 22, 2009 114th Annual Convention.

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