Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out on the DNA oligonucleotide GGGAACAACTAG:CTAGTTGTTCCC in its native form and with guanine in the central G19:C6 base pair replaced by 8-oxoguanine (8oxoG). A box of explicit water molecules was used for solvation and Na+ counterions were added to neutralize the system. The direction and magnitude of global bending were assessed by a technique used previously to analyze simulations of DNA containing a thymine dimer. The presence of 8oxoG did not greatly affect the magnitude of DNA bending; however, bending into the major groove was significantly more probable when 8oxoG replaced G19. Crystal structures of glycosylases bound to damaged-DNA substrates consistently show a sharp bend into the major groove at the damage site. We conclude that changes in bending dynamics that assist the formation of this kink are a part of the mechanism by which glycosylases of the base excision repair pathway recognize the presence of 8oxoG in DNA.

Electrical resistivity may contribute to progress inunderstanding geothermal systems by imaging the geometry, bounds andcontrolling structures in existing production, and thereby perhapssuggesting new areas for field expansion. To these ends, a dense grid ofmagnetotelluric (MT) stations plus a single line of contiguous bipolearray profiling has been acquired over the east flank of the Cosogeothermal system. Acquiring good quality MT data in producing geothermalsystems is a challenge due to production related electromagnetic (EM)noise and, in the case of Coso, due to proximity of a regional DCintertie power transmission line. To achieve good results, a remotereference completely outside the influence of the dominant source of EMnoise must be established. Experimental results so far indicate thatemplacing a reference site in Amargosa Valley, NV, 65 miles from the DCintertie, isstill insufficient for noise cancellation much of the time.Even though the DC line EM fields are planar at this distance, theyremain coherent with the nonplanar fields in the Coso area hence remotereferencing produces incorrect responses. We have successfully unwrappedand applied MT times series from the permanent observatory at Parkfield,CA, and these appear adequate to suppress the interference of thecultural EM noise. The efficacy of this observatory is confirmed bycomparison to stations taken using an ultra-distant …

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the authority of the Department of Information Resources to accept gifts and grants.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the membership of the governing board of the Department of Information Resources.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the ability of public school employees to communicate with members of a school district board of trustees.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the duration of judgment liens in favor of the state.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to enforcement of certain vehicle weight and safety requirements by a noncommissioned employee of the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the responsibility of an employer in relation to a person who drives a commercial motor vehicle; providing a criminal penalty.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas Senate and House of Representatives proclaiming April 15 through 22, 2007, Days of Remembrance in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to incentives for the film, television, video, and digital interactive media production industries.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Among the efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies, the agency provides funding to states and organizations that offer abstinence-until-marriage education. GAO was asked to testify on the oversight of federally funded abstinence-until-marriage education programs. This testimony is primarily based on Abstinence Education: Efforts to Assess the Accuracy and Effectiveness of Federally Funded Programs, GAO-07-87 (Oct. 3, 2006). In this testimony, GAO discusses efforts by (1) HHS and states to assess the scientific accuracy of materials used in abstinence-until-marriage education programs and (2) HHS, states, and researchers to assess the effectiveness of abstinence-until-marriage education programs. GAO also discusses a Public Health Service Act requirement regarding medically accurate information about condom effectiveness. GAO focused on the three main federally funded abstinence-until-marriage programs and reviewed documents and interviewed HHS officials in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Office of Population Affairs (OPA). To update certain information, GAO contacted officials from ACF and OPA."

The Constitution of the United States makes no specific allowance for any one of the co-equal branches to have access to information held by the others and contains no provision expressly establishing a procedure for, or a right of, public access to government information. Nonetheless, Congress has legislated various public access laws. These include two records access statutes — the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act — and two meetings access statutes — the Federal Advisory Committee Act and the Government in the Sunshine Act. This report provides background on the issue of government transparency and examines relevant litigation.

This report provides an overview of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spending on HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome) as well as budget numbers for other federal government programs targeting HIV/AIDS.

This report discusses challenges the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will likely face to address projected growth in passenger airline travel while maintaining and improving upon the efficiency and effectiveness of passenger screening operations.

The Control System for the Advanced Light Source uses in-house designed IndustryPack (IP) I/O Modules in compact PCI (cPCI) chassis to control instrumentation. Each module consists of digital I/O ports and 16-bit analog I/O interfaced to instrumentation via a cPCI rear I/O card. During the past few years of installed operation, several factors have prompted investigation into the design of a new IP I/O Module. The ADC channels have significant offset drift over periods of days of initial installed operation. An in-situ calibration procedure was developed to address this problem, but it lacks speed and is inconvenient to perform. Digital I/O port limitations have led to increasing amounts of wasted I/O. Fast orbit feedback requires faster ADC sampling and better filtering than the current IP module offers. This paper discusses the issues related to the current IP I/O Module and the design of a new Double-size IP I/O Module.

This report discusses the major provisions of the ADA and will discuss selected recent issues, including the supreme court cases. It will be updated as development warrant.

This report summarizes the major provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and also discusses selected recent issues, including ten ADA Supreme Court cases.

As the Barrel Tile Calorimeter is constructed, the support saddles and the modules will be subjected to different forces, stresses, and deflections than when completely assembled. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the forces, stresses, and deflections acting on the support saddles and modules at various stages of assembly. The nominal weight of a barrel module is 20 tons. CERN Document number ATL-LB-EA-0001 'Summary of the Structural Analysis of the Barrel Support Saddles' describes in detail the structural analysis of the saddles and the completed barrel assembly. These calculations followed Eurocode 3. This paper examined several load cases which occur during the assembly of the Barrel. The following are the main conclusions: (1) The assembly is not stable until 18 modules are in place, and only then can the support cradle be removed; (2) The forces between modules are nominal and are far less that the forces in the completed cylinder with 64 modules in place and the cryostat load applied; (3) All of the stresses in the connections between modules are within acceptable limits; and (4) The interface between the cryostat supports and the cryostat move approximately 1.0 mm in the X and Y directions when the …

This report discusses President Bush's 2002 requests for new funding and additional authority to provide assistance to Colombia and six regional neighbors in a continuation of the Andean Regional Initiative (ARI) launched in 2001.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittees.

As part of the U.S. National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program, aluminide fuels (UAl{sub x}) are being tested under conditions that might exist in the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Intermittent drip tests at 90 C were completed for up to 183 days on partially declad, unirradiated, low-enriched UAl{sub x} samples. Through 183 days of exposure to modified water from the J-13 well at 90 C, the fuel coupon remained in good mechanical condition. Only a tarnishing of the surface was observed and no spalled products were found in the fuel holder. The mechanism for alteration is consistent with that observed from dry oxidation experiments on UAl{sub x} (for the initial corrosion) and humid UO{sub 2} oxidation (for the subsequent paragenesis). Specifically, solid-state conversion of UAl{sub x} into UO{sub 2} and oxidized Al is followed by further oxidation, dissolution of the uranium, and reprecipitation as uranyl oxyhydroxides. The release rate of uranium varied from 0.23 to 2.9 mg/m{sup 2}/day (avg. = 0.97 mg U/m{sup 2}/day) depending on the specimen and test interval, but was similar in magnitude to that observed in earlier flow-through and drip tests with irradiated UAl{sub x} and UO{sub 2}. Most (mean=87%) of the released uranium sorbed …

This project is for the design of a wind turbine that can generate most or all of the net energy required for homes and small businesses in moderately windy areas. The purpose is to expand the current market for residential wind generators by providing cost effective power in a lower wind regime than current technology has made available, as well as reduce noise and improve reliability and safety. Robert W. Preus’ experience designing and/or maintaining residential wind generators of many configurations helped identify the need for an improved experience of safety for the consumer. Current small wind products have unreliable or no method of stopping the wind generator in fault or high wind conditions. Consumers and their neighbors do not want to hear their wind generators. In addition, with current technology, only sites with unusually high wind speeds provide payback times that are acceptable for the on-grid user. Abundant Renewable Energy’s (ARE) basic original concept for the ARE660 was a combination of a stall controlled variable speed small wind generator and automatic fail safe furling for shutdown. The stall control for a small wind generator is not novel, but has not been developed for a variable speed application with a …

Astronomical applications of adaptive optics at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has a history that extends from 1984. The program started with the Lick Observatory Adaptive Optics system and has progressed through the years to lever-larger telescopes: Keck, and now the proposed CELT (California Extremely Large Telescope) 30m telescope. LLNL AO continues to be at the forefront of AO development and science.

This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding plasma turbulence in astrophysical plasmas. It is motivated by observations of electromagnetic and density fluctuations in the solar wind, interstellar medium and galaxy clusters, as well as by models of particle heating in accretion disks. All of these plasmas and many others have turbulentmotions at weakly collisional and collisionless scales. The paper focuses on turbulence in a strong mean magnetic field. The key assumptions are that the turbulent fluctuations are small compared to the mean field, spatially anisotropic with respect to it and that their frequency is low compared to the ion cyclotron frequency. The turbulence is assumed to be forced at some system-specific outer scale. The energy injected at this scale has to be dissipated into heat, which ultimately cannot be accomplished without collisions. A kinetic cascade develops that brings the energy to collisional scales both in space and velocity. The nature of the kinetic cascade in various scale ranges depends on the physics of plasma fluctuations that exist there. There are four special scales that separate physically distinct regimes: the electron and ion gyroscales, the mean free path and the electron diffusion scale. In each of the scale ranges separated …