This report is intended to provide an overview of the Adequate Yearly Process (AYP) concept and several related issues, a description of the AYP provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, and an analysis of the implementation of these provisions by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the states. It will be updated when major administrative actions are taken by ED, or substantial new data on state implementation become available.

This report is intended to provide an overview of the Adequate Yearly Process (AYP) concept and several related issues, a description of the AYP provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, and an analysis of the implementation of these provisions by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the states. It will be updated when major administrative actions are taken by ED, or substantial new data on state implementation become available.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are quickly becoming attractive alternative energy sources for transportation, stationary power, and small electronics due to the increasing cost and environmental hazards of traditional fossil fuels. Two main classes of PEMFCs include hydrogen/air or hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The current benchmark membrane for both types of PEMFCs is Nafion, a perfluorinated sulfonated copolymer made by DuPont. Nafion copolymers exhibit good thermal and chemical stability, as well as very high proton conductivity under hydrated conditions at temperatures below 80 degrees C. However, application of these membranes is limited due to their high methanol permeability and loss of conductivity at high temperatures and low relative humidities. These deficiencies have led to the search for improved materials for proton exchange membranes. Potential PEMs should have good thermal, hydrolytic, and oxidative stability, high proton conductivity, selective permeability, and mechanical durability over long periods of time. Poly(arylene ether)s, polyimides, polybenzimidazoles, and polyphenylenes are among the most widely investigated candidates for PEMs. Poly(arylene ether)s are a promising class of proton exchange membranes due to their excellent thermal and chemical stability and high glass transition temperatures. High proton conductivity can be achieved through post-sulfonation of poly(arylene …

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are quickly becoming attractive alternative energy sources for transportation, stationary power, and small electronics due to the increasing cost and environmental hazards of traditional fossil fuels. Two main classes of PEMFCs include hydrogen/air or hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The current benchmark membrane for both types of PEMFCs is Nafion, a perfluorinated sulfonated copolymer made by DuPont. Nafion copolymers exhibit good thermal and chemical stability, as well as very high proton conductivity under hydrated conditions at temperatures below 80 °C. However, application of these membranes is limited due to their high methanol permeability and loss of conductivity at high temperatures and low relative humidities. These deficiencies have led to the search for improved materials for proton exchange membranes. Potential PEMs should have good thermal, hydrolytic, and oxidative stability, high proton conductivity, selective permeability, and mechanical durability over long periods of time. Poly(arylene ether)s, polyimides, polybenzimidazoles, and polyphenylenes are among the most widely investigated candidates for PEMs. Poly(arylene ether)s are a promising class of proton exchange membranes due to their excellent thermal and chemical stability and high glass transition temperatures. High proton conductivity can be achieved through post-sulfonation of poly(arylene ether) …

This report discusses the issue of children that have been left as orphans due to AIDS taking their parents lives. Moreover, the report details that between 2001 and 2003 the number of children orphaned from AIDS increased by 3.5 million. The rate of orphaned children is only expected to increase in the future if massive spending is not issued to curb the problem.

This report discusses the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, which makes federal funds available to metropolitan areas and states to assist in health care costs and support services for individuals and families affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This report discusses related legislation and appropriations.

This article calculates the energy gain of a single relativistic electron interacting with a single gaussian beam that is terminated by a metallic reflector at normal incidence by two different methods: the electric field integral along the path of the electron, and the overlap integral of the transition radiation pattern from the conductive foil with the laser beam. It is shown that for this instance the two calculation methods yield the same expression for the expected energy change of the electron.

This report provides specifications for a bit preservation system for the archive storage of the data that represents and is associated with the digital objects over which a library has custodianship.

The 109th Congress is considering issues related to the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the national forests managed by the Forest Service (FS). The Administration is addressing issues through budgetary, regulatory, and other actions. This report discusses several key issues of congressional and administrative interest.

This report provides information about the Clean Air Act Issues in the 109th Congress. Air quality has substantially improved since the passage of the Air act issue in 1970.

The objective of this work is to improve the process for CO{sub 2} capture by alkanolamine absorption/stripping by developing an alternative solvent, aqueous K{sub 2}CO{sub 3} promoted by piperazine. Modeling of stripper performance suggests that vacuum stripping may be an attractive configuration for all solvents. Flexipac 1Y structured packing performs in the absorber as expected. It provides twice as much mass transfer area as IMTP No.40 dumped packing. Independent measurements of CO{sub 2} solubility give a CO{sub 2} loading that is 20% lower than that Cullinane's values with 3.6 m PZ at 100-120 C. The effective mass transfer coefficient (K{sub G}) in the absorber with 5 m K/2.5 m PZ appears to be 0 to 30% greater than that of 30 wt% MEA.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about implementation of ESEA Title I-A Requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, in regards to educational testing. Topics include, state assessment grants, testing program costs, assessment requirements, etc..

This report discusses federal research and development (R&D) funding. The Bush Administration has requested $132.2 billion in federal research and development (R&D) funding for FY2006. This sum represents a $505 million increase over the FY2005 estimated funding level of $131.7 billion. In real dollars, total federal R&D would decline for the first time since FY1996.

This report discusses federal investment decisions on flood control infrastructure, such as levees, floodwalls, and dams. The report also analyzes flood risk as a composite of flood threat, consequence, and vulnerability. The report illustrates that federal policy focuses attention on only some aspects of flood risk and summarizes the options being discussed for addressing other aspects of flood risk in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Many particle accelerator applications can benefit from online pulse-by-pulse nonintercepting emittance measurement system. Recently, there has been much interest in performing such a measurement with a set of resonant quadrupole-mode cavities. This article explores a geometry to achieve an enhanced shunt impedance in such a cavity by adding a set of posts forming capacitive gaps near the beam pipe outer radius. For typical diagnostic cavity applications, a five-fold increase in shunt impedance can be obtained with this method. The effect of errors in cavity fabrication on the required mode structure are explored.

To relate in-vivo microscopic retinal changes to visual function assessed with clinical tests in patients with various forms of retinal dystrophies. The UC Davis Adaptive Optics (AO) Fundus Camera was used to acquire in-vivo retinal images at the cellular level. Visual function tests, consisting of visual field analysis, multifocal electroretinography (mfERG), contrast sensitivity and color vision measures, were performed on all subjects. Five patients with different forms of retinal dystrophies and three control subjects were recruited. Cone densities were quantified for all retinal images. In all images of diseased retinas, there were extensive areas of dark space between groups of photoreceptors, where no cone photoreceptors were evident. These irregular features were not seen in healthy retinas, but were characteristic features in fundi with retinal dystrophies. There was a correlation between functional vision loss and the extent to which the irregularities occurred in retinal images. Cone densities were found to decrease with an associated decrease in retinal function. AO fundus photography is a reliable technique for assessing and quantifying the changes in the photoreceptor layer as disease progresses. Furthermore, this technique can be useful in cases where visual function tests give borderline or ambiguous results, as it allows visualization of individual …

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On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel declared its independence and was immediately engaged in a war with all of its neighbors. Armed conflict has marked every decade of Israel’s existence. Despite its unstable regional environment, Israel has developed a vibrant parliamentary democracy, albeit with relatively fragile governments. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon formed the current three-party coalition in January 2005 in order to secure support for his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four small settlements in the West Bank. The evacuation of the settlers was completed on August 23. Some observers are predicting an early national election in 2006.

In this note I describe an inexpensive and simple laser-based method to measure the flatness of the LSST focal plane assembly (FPA) in situ, i.e. while the FPA is inside its cryostat, at -100 C and under vacuum. The method may also allow measurement of the distance of the FPA to lens L3, and may be sensitive enough to measure gravity- and pressure-induced deformations of L3 as well. The accuracy of the method shows promise to be better than 1 micron.

This report includes information regarding Middle East peace talks. The role of the United States, the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and congressional aid are among topics discussed in this report.

There has been concern and uncertainty about the level of O incorporation in plastic shells prepared by coating mandrels with plasma polymer (GDP) and the Ge-doped analogs. In FY05 we undertook a controlled study of the rate of oxidation under various conditions, both to quantify the levels and to determine methods for restricting the le levels. Our results are shown in the Figure below. In summary, the level can be kept to less than 0.2 atom % by pyrolyzing the shells at 300 C (which is necessary for the removal of the P{alpha}MS mandrel), and then restricting the exposure to air to less than about 100 hours, which is easy to do. Based on this result we believe the NIF capsule specification for O can safely be lowered to 0.2 atom %, and this level should be used in future design calculations.

We analyze the scaling properties of inclusive hadron production in proton-proton and in heavy ion collisions from fixed target to collider energies. At large transverse momentum p{sub T}, the invariant cross section exhibits a power-like behavior Ed{sup 3}{sigma}/d{sup 3}p {proportional_to} p{sub T}{sup -n} at fixed transverse x, x{sub T} = 2|{bar p}{sub T}|/{radical}s, and fixed center-of-mass scattering angle {theta}{sub cm}. Knowledge of the exponent n allows one to draw conclusions about the production mechanisms of hadrons, which are poorly known, even at high p{sub T}. We find that high-p{sub T} hadrons are produced by different mechanisms at fixed-target and collider energies. For pions, higher-twist subprocesses where the pion is produced directly dominate at fixed target energy, while leading-twist partonic scattering plus fragmentation is the most important mechanism at collider energies. High-p{sub T} baryons on the other hand appear to be produced by higher-twist mechanisms at all available energies. The higher-twist mechanism of direct proton production can be verified experimentally by testing whether high p{sub T} protons are produced as single hadrons without accompanying secondaries. In addition, we find that medium-induced gluon radiation in heavy ion collisions can violate scaling.

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