This report outlines several ways in which dropout rates are measured and reported.

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Plutonium gamma-ray data analysis, in the 100-keV region, using MGA has been improved to overcome the original maximum limit of 2% {sup 238}Pu relative plutonium content in a sample in order perform an analysis. MGA analysis results of elevated {sup 238}Pu samples are compared to the results from mass spectrometry.

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Electronic government (e-government) intersects many legislative issues, including privacy, digital divide (the lack of equal access to computers, whether due to a lack of financial resources or necessary skills), public access to government information, service delivery, and information security. E-government solutions are prominently represented in efforts to improve the management and efficiency of government information technology resources. To help policymakers discern e-government initiatives relative to their role in various issues, this report identifies and defines the principal e-government sectors and stages of development. It also outlines some of the opportunities and challenges associated with e-government.

One of the striking observations at RHIC is the large valence baryon rapidity density observed at mid rapidity in central Au+Au at 130 A GeV. There are about twice as many valence protons at mid-rapidity than predicted based on extrapolation from p+p collisions. Even more striking PHENIX observed that the high pt spectrum is dominated by baryons and anti-baryons. The STAR measured event anisotropy parameter v2 for lambdas are as high as charged particles at pt {approx} 2.5 GeV/c. These are completely unexpected based on conventional pQCD parton fragmentation phenomenology. One exciting possibility is that these observables reveal the topological gluon field origin of baryon number transport referred to as baryon junctions. Another is that hydrodynamics may apply up to high pt in A+A. There is no consensus on what are the correct mechanisms for producing baryons and hyperons at high pt and large rapidity shifts and the new RHIC data provide a strong motivation to hold a meeting focusing on this class of observables. The possible role of junctions in forming CP violating domain walls and novel nuclear bucky-ball configurations would also be discussed. In this workshop, we focused on all measured baryon distributions at RHIC energies and related …

This paper provides a justification for prominent inclusion of currently available gaseous-fueled vehicles (i.e., vehicles powered by propane, sometimes called liquefied petroleum gas [LPG], or natural gas--chiefly, methane--stored onboard the vehicle in gaseous or liquid state but combusted as a gas) in the mix of strategies to (a) reduce public exposure to toxic and fine particulate emissions in the urbanized areas of the developing world and (b) achieve local and regional improvements in ozone air quality. It also presents estimates of associated emission reduction credits into the future. Important considerations discussed are the location of fine particle and toxic emissions in congested urban areas, and the location and timing of ozone precursor emissions, with emphasis on how gaseous-fueled vehicles' role in the relationship among and magnitude of these variables differs from that of their conventionally-fueled counterparts. Efforts to enhance the measurement and quantification of gaseous-fuel benefits are also described.

We describe a framework for direct volume rendering of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) data that operates directly on the hierarchical grid structure, without the need to resample data onto a single, uniform rectilinear grid. The framework can be used for a range of renderers optimized for particular hardware architectures: a hardware-assisted renderer for single-processor graphics workstations, and a massively parallel software-only renderer for supercomputers. It is also possible to use the framework for distributed rendering servers. By exploiting the multiresolution structure of AMR data, the hardware-assisted renderers can render large AMR data sets at interactive rates, even if the data is stored remotely.

Next Linear Collider (NLC) and Very Large Hadron Collider (VLHC) projects suppose to use permanent magnets as bending, focusing and correcting elements. Prototypes of two permanent magnet quadrupoles with variable strength were built and successfully tested in Fermilab. Quadrupoles have 12.7 mm aperture diameter, 100 T/m gradient with an adjustment range of 0 to -20%. Special designs provide high precision magnetic center stability during strength change. SmCo5 permanent magnet bricks were used in these prototypes. Rotational quadrupole consists of four sections. Two central sections are rotated in counter directions to adjust the strength. Magnetic shunt quadrupole design provides variable shunting of the magnetic flux. The numerical simulation, designs, measuring results are described.

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TATB containing explosives tend to permanently expand as their temperatures are increased or thermally cycled, a phenomenon known as ''ratchet-growth.'' Several mechanisms as to the cause of the non-reversible growth have been proposed, and are taken up here using various different modeling techniques. High-level quantum chemistry calculations have been used in parameterization of a classical potential function suitable for atomistic simulations of TATB. The quantum-chemistry-based force field for TATB was validated by comparing condensed phase properties obtained from molecular dynamics simulations with available experimental data. No permanent growth was manifest at the molecular level. Dissipative particle dynamics simulations were carried out in order to study the geometric packing effects on the mesoscopic scale, similar to the scales representative of Ultrafine. No permanent growth was identified when only simple packing effects were considered in the TATB model. However, non-reversible growth was displayed when crystal fracture capabilities were incorporated in the model, suggesting that crystal fracture induced by the anisotropic volume expansion of TATB is the root cause for the permanent growth seen in TATB containing explosives.

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This report presents the issues considered by the 107th Congress related to the civil works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Corps plans, constructs, and operates water resources facilities primarily for flood control, navigation, and environmental purposes.

Achieving public acceptance has become a central issue in discussions regarding the future of nuclear power and associated nuclear activities. Effective public communication and public participation are often put forward as the key building blocks in garnering public acceptance. A recent international workshop in Finland provided insights into other features that might also be important to building and sustaining public confidence in nuclear activities. The workshop was held in Finland in close cooperation with Finnish stakeholders. This was most appropriate because of the recent successes in achieving positive decisions at the municipal, governmental, and Parliamentary levels, allowing the Finnish high-level radioactive waste repository program to proceed, including the identification and approval of a proposed candidate repository site. Much of the workshop discussion appropriately focused on the roles of public participation and public communications in building public confidence. It was clear that well constructed and implemented programs of public involvement and communication and a sense of fairness were essential in building the extent of public confidence needed to allow the repository program in Finland to proceed. It was also clear that there were a number of other elements beyond public involvement that contributed substantially to the success in Finland to date. …

A variation on the ''Office of Real Soon Now'' has been designed and deployed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The ASCI VIEWS (VIEWS) program [1], the element of the program developing tools for data management and visualization, is investigating a variety of display technologies, motivated in part by the large size, high resolution, and complexity of data sets that ASCI users frequently explore and analyze. While large, tiled displays have been well received at LLNL, availability and ease-of-use problems have motivated exploration of alternatives [2]. The ''Office of Real Soon Now'' Project [3, 4, 5] at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) has built ''low fidelity'' versions of the ''Office of the Future'' [6, 7] that can be installed in users' offices now. At UNC, the Office of Real Soon Now installations use only a small number of relatively inexpensive projectors,generally two or three, that limit resolution and features. These projectors are connected to Microsoft Windows PCs or Apple computers that are used for daily activities, such as reading email, writing papers, and debugging programs. Even though the UNC faculty involved are predominantly computer graphics researchers, these display systems are used mainly for text-oriented applications [5]. …

This paper discusses the successful development and testing of the first ballast/IBECS network interface that will allow commercially-available controllable ballasts to be operated from the Internet via IBECS (Integrated Building Environmental Communications System). The interface, which is expected to cost original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) only about $1-2/unit, has been hardened so that it is impervious to electronic noise generated by most 0-10 VDC controllable ballasts.

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This report is a list of books and web addresses which is intended to help students locate financial aid.

This report provides a financial outlook for social security and medicare programs.

This report provides an overview of the financial outlook for Social Security and Medicare programs.

At the second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile (April 1998), 34 Western Hemisphere nations agreed to initiate formal negotiations to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005. The negotiating groups completed a draft agreement in January 2001, which was presented at the third Summit of the Americas held in Quebec City on April 20-22, 2001. President Bush expressed strong support for the FTAA and concrete progress has been made in moving it forward. Yet, differences in priorities among the negotiating countries are still evident, suggesting that the FTAA faces many policy hurdles in both the U.S. Congress and the hemisphere.