A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is among the largest federal acquisition agencies, spending $7.3 billion on product and service acquisitions in 2004 alone. Recent reports by VA and other organizations identified weaknesses in the agency's acquisition function that could result in excess costs to the taxpayer. One report by the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) made 24 recommendations to improve VA's acquisition function. VA has accepted these recommendations. GAO was asked to review the progress VA has made in implementing the key NAVSUP recommendations. GAO identified 7 of the 24 recommendations as key, based primarily on its professional judgment and prior experience."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Department of Defense (DOD) has increased its reliance on its National Guard and reserve forces to support the Global War on Terrorism, and particularly Operation Iraqi Freedom. Congress has been interested in making improvements and enhancements to compensation and benefit programs for reserve component members. When reserve component members are activated for more than 30 days under federal authorities, they are covered under TRICARE, DOD's health care system. While reserve component members are automatically covered by TRICARE when activated, their spouses and other dependents have the option of using either TRICARE or their private health insurance. However, our prior work found that dependents of reserve component members who had dropped their private health insurance reported problems accessing the TRICARE system--such as difficulty finding a health care provider, establishing eligibility, understanding TRICARE benefits, and knowing where to go when questions and problems arise. In addition, maintaining continuity of care with the same health care providers, especially for dependents with chronic medical conditions, may be problematic after switching to TRICARE. To address these concerns, some legislative proposals would give reserve component members …

In support of Stockpile Stewardship activities, accelerated aging tests on a plutonium alloy enriched with 7.3 atomic percentage of {sup 238}Pu is underway using dilatometry at 35, 50, and 65 C and immersion density measurements of material stored at 50 C. Changes in density are expected from radiation damage in the lattice and helium in-growth. After twenty-five equivalent years of aging, the dilatometry data shows that the alloys at 35 C have expanded in volume by 0.11% to 0.12% and have started to exhibit a near linear expansion behavior primarily caused by the helium accumulation. The average He-to-vacancy ratio from tested specimens was determined to be around 2.3. The model for the lattice damage and helium in-growth accurately represents the volume swelling at 35 C. The density converted from the dilatometry corresponds well to the decreasing density trend of reference plutonium alloys as a function of time.

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A key set of SCC growth experiments was designed to test the hypothesis that deformation/creep is the rate controlling step in LPSCC. These tests were performed on Alloy X-750 AH compact tension specimens at a various constant displacement rates. The deformation/creep rate within the crack tip zone is proportional to the test displacement rate. If crack growth rates were observed to increase with the load-line displacement rate, then this would indicate that deformation/creep is a critical SCC mechanism process. However, results obtained from the load-line displacement tests did not find X-750 AH SCC growth rate to be dependent on the position rate and therefore do not support the assumption that deformation/creep is the rate controlling process in LPSCC. The similarities between the SCC response of X-750, Alloy 600 and EN82H suggests that it is likely that the same SCC process is occurring for all these alloys (i.e., the same rate controlling step) and that deformation based models are also inappropriate for Alloy 600 and EN82H. The strong temperature and coolant hydrogen dependencies exhibited by these alloys make it more likely that nickel alloy LPSCC is controlled by an environmental or corrosion driven process.

Concert performed at UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

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

This report examines the Secretary of Agriculture's authority to transfer funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for emergency control programs. The Secretary’s use of this authority has increased in recent years, and has become an issue within government concerning the method for funding plant and animal health programs.

The DECOVALEX project is an international cooperative project initiated by SKI, the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, with participation of about 10 international organizations. The general goal of this project is to encourage multidisciplinary interactive and cooperative research on modeling coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes in geologic formations in support of the performance assessment for underground storage of radioactive waste. One of the research tasks, initiated in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), addresses the long-term impact of geomechanical and geochemical processes on the flow conditions near waste emplacement tunnels. Within this task, four international research teams conduct predictive analysis of the coupled processes in two generic repositories, using multiple approaches and different computer codes. Below, we give an overview of the research task and report its current status.

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

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Insight into plasma microturbulence and transport is being sought using linear simulations of drift waves on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), following a study of drift wave modes on the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak. Microturbulence is likely generated by instabilities of drift waves, which cause transport of heat and particles. Understanding this transport is important because the containment of heat and particles is required for the achievement of practical nuclear fusion. Microtearing modes may cause high heat transport through high electron thermal conductivity. It is hoped that microtearing will be stable along with good electron transport in the proposed low collisionality International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Stability of the microtearing mode is investigated for conditions at mid-radius in a high density NSTX high performance (H-mode) plasma, which is compared to the proposed ITER plasmas. The microtearing mode is driven by the electron temperature gradient, and believed to be mediated by ion collisions and magnetic shear. Calculations are based on input files produced by TRXPL following TRANSP (a time-dependent transport analysis code) analysis. The variability of unstable mode growth rates is examined as a function of ion and electron collisionalities using the parallel gyrokinetic computational code GS2. Results show the microtearing …

This report describes information that has been gathered about impacts of the August 29 hurricane (Hurricane Katrina) on drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities, and on ongoing efforts to assess damages and needs to repair and reconstruct damaged systems.

Tests were conducted on a single heat of Alloy 600 using compact tension specimens ranging from 50.80 mm (2 inches) in gross thickness (2T) to 10.16 mm (0.4 inches, 0.4T) in gross thickness. Results indicated that at stress intensity factor (K) levels above 55 MPa{radical}m, the growth rate is affected by specimen size in deaerated primary water. The growth rate can be significantly faster in 0.4T and 0.6T (15.24 mm = 0.6 inches in gross thickness) specimens at these elevated K levels compared to 2T specimens. Stress corrosion crack (SCC) growth rates > 6 x 10{sup -7} mm/s were observed at 338 C and 40 cc/kg H{sub 2} in 0.6T and 0.4T specimens at these elevated K levels, although the fracture mode was not significantly affected by the specimen size. The SCC growth rate of 2T specimens under comparable test conditions was {approx}6 x 10{sup -8} mm/s. All of the specimens examined that were tested at K > 55 MPa{radical}m exhibited intergranular failure, although ductile dimples and cracked grains were observed in the 0.4T specimens loaded to the elevated K levels. The effect of specimen size on the crack growth behavior indicated by electric potential drop (EPD) monitoring at K …

Internet privacy issues generally encompass two types of concerns. One is the collection of personally identifiable information (PII) by website operators from visitors to government and commercial websites, or by software that is surreptitiously installed on a user’s computer (“spyware”) and transmits the information to someone else. The other is the monitoring of electronic mail and Web usage by the government or law enforcement officials, employers, or email service providers.

This report provides an overview of the status report on legislative attempts to protect children from unsuitable material on the web.

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Letter from Ken Whalen to the TDNA Board Members on October 19, 2005 with the subject Nominations for 2006 Treasurer. The letter beings by stating that it is time for the nomination process for TDNA officers and directors, starting with the call for the board to elect a treasurer. Attached to the memo is a ballot of names of the board members eligible to become the 2006 treasurer. Deadline for the nominations are due Tuesday, October 25, 2005.

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

Weekly newspaper from Mannford, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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