The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan emerge from more than 22 years of warfare, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the orthodox Islamist Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Osama bin Laden. As the war against remaining Al Qaeda and Taliban elements winds down, the United States is shifting its military focus toward stabilizing the interim government, including training a new Afghan national army, and supporting the international security force (ISAF) that is helping the new government provide security.

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

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

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States Capitol Preservation Commission receives commemorative coin surcharge funds authorized by the United States Capitol Visitor Center Commemorative Coin Act of 1999. Under the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 and the U.S. Mint's Compliance Procedures for Surcharge Eligibility, the commission must meet certain requirements before receiving available coin surcharge funds. The commission must provide the U.S. Mint with eligibility-related assertions associated with the commission's receipt and use of private matching funds, and an independent auditor must examine the assertions. GAO found that the assertion about the commission's receipt and use of private matching funds pursuant to the law and the U.S. Mint's Compliance Procedures for Surcharge Eligibility are fairly stated in all respects."

The Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) is the new trigger processor which reconstructs 2-D tracks with high speed and accuracy at the level 2 trigger of the CDFII experiment. SVT allows tagging events with secondary vertices and therefore enhances the CDFII B-physics capability. SVT has been fully assembled and operational since the beginning of Tevatron RunII in April 2001. In this paper we briefly review the SVT design and physics motivation and then describe its performance during the early phase of CDF RunII.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the management of the air transportation network used to move checks from one Federal Reserve office to another. GAO studied the propriety of practices for bidding, awarding, and monitoring contracts and the adequacy of controls to monitor fuel and other payments to vendors. The network was moved to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (FRB Atlanta) in September 1998 and renamed Check Relay. Check Relay's internal controls are designed to ensure that each step of the contract evaluation and approval process conforms to FRB Atlanta and Federal Reserve System policies and that appropriate senior officials review and approve contract terms. Check Relay also ensures that all payments to vendors conform to contract terms. Another set of controls verifies that the amount of fuel used by Check Relay's vendors is consistent with expected levels and that fuel is provided only to the appropriate recipients. Check Relay is managed as a unit of the Retail Payments Office, which is managed out of FRB Atlanta. The Board's Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems also has oversight responsibility over Check Relay. GAO found no evidence …

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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

News release about DART's "Cotton Bowl Flyer" bus service to the New Year's Cotton Bowl football game.

Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.

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In California, idling is largely done for climate control. This suggests that climate control devices alone could be used to reduce idling. Line-haul truck drivers surveyed require an average of 4-6 kW of power for a stereo, CB radio, light, refrigerator, and climate control found in the average truck. More power may likely be necessary for peak power demands. The amount of time line-haul trucks reported to have stopped is between 25 and 30 hours per week. It was not possible to accurately determine from the pilot survey the location, purpose, and duration of idling. Consulting driver logs or electronically monitoring trucks could yield more accurate data, including seasonal and geographic differences. Truck drivers were receptive to idling alternatives. Two-thirds of truck drivers surveyed support a program to reduce idling. Two-thirds of drivers reported they would purchase idling reduction technologies if the technology yielded a payback period of two years or less. Willingness to purchase auxiliary power units appears to be higher for owner-operators than for company drivers. With a 2-year payback period, 82% of owner- operators would be willing to buy an idle- reducing device, while 63% of company drivers thought their company would do the same. Contact with …

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

Essential power is a crosscutting technology area that addresses the efficient and practical management of electrical and thermal requirements on trucks. Essential Power Systems: any function on the truck, that is not currently involved in moving the truck, and requires electrical or mechanical energy; Truck Lights; Hotel Loads (HVAC, computers, appliances, lighting, entertainment systems); Pumps, starter, compressor, fans, trailer refrigeration; Engine and fuel heating; and Operation of power lifts and pumps for bulk fluid transfer. Transition from ''belt and gear driven'' to auxiliary power generation of electricity - ''Truck Electrification'' 42 volts, DC and/ or AC; All electrically driven auxiliaries; Power on demand - manage electrical loads; Benefits include: increased fuel efficiency, reduced emission both when truck is idling and moving down the road.

News release about DART's reduced service schedule during the Christmas holiday season.

News release about DART's reduced service schedule during the Christmas holiday season.

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

The summaries of this report are: Economics Ultimately Dictates Direction; Electric Auxiliaries Provide Solid Benefits. The Impact on Vehicle Architecture Will be Important; Integrated Generators With Combined With Turbo Generators Can Meet the Electrical Demands of Electric Auxiliaries; Implementation Will Follow Automotive 42V Transition; Availability of Low Cost Hardware Will Slow Implementation; Industry Leadership and Cooperation Needed; Standards and Safety Protocols Will be Important. Government Can Play an Important Role in Expediting: Funding Technical Development; Incentives for Improving Fuel Economy; Developing Standards, Allowing Economy of Scale; and Providing Safety Guidelines.

Semiweekly newspaper from Levelland, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a dominant mode of tropical variability (Madden and Julian 1971, 1972). It is manifested on a timescale of {approx}30-70 days through large-scale circulation anomalies which occur in conjunction with eastward propagating convective anomalies over the eastern hemisphere. Recent evidence has suggested that an interactive ocean may be important for the simulation of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (Flatau et al. 1997, Sperber et al. 1997, Waliser et al. 1999, Inness et al. 2002). As part of an initiative to the CLIVAR Working Group on Coupled Modeling, we examine ocean-atmosphere GCMs to ascertain the degree to which they can represent the 4-dimensional space-time structure of the MJO. The eastward propagation of convection is also examined with respect to the surface fluxes and SST, and we compare and contrast the behavior over the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific. Importantly, the results are interpreted with respect to systematic error of the mean state.