Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO appeared before the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, House Committee on the Judiciary to discuss the results of our review and assessment of case-related workload measures for district court and courts of appeals judges. Biennially, the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal judiciary's principal policymaking body, assesses the judiciary's needs for additional judgeships. If the Conference determines that additional judgeships are needed, it transmits a request to Congress identifying the number, type (courts of appeals, district, or bankruptcy), and location of the judgeships it is requesting. In assessing the need for additional district and appellate court judgeships, the Judicial Conference considers a variety of information, including responses to its biennial survey of individual courts, temporary increases or decreases in case filings, and other factors specific to an individual court. However, the Conference's analysis begins with the quantitative case-related workload measures it has adopted for the district courts and courts of appeals--weighted case filings and adjusted case filings, respectively. These two measures recognize, to different degrees, that the time demands on judges are largely a function of both the number and complexity of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) uses contractors to provide a wide variety of services for U.S. military forces deployed overseas. We were asked to examine three related issues: (1) the extent of contractor support for deployed forces and why DOD uses contractors; (2) the extent to which such contractors are considered in DOD planning, including whether DOD has backup plans to maintain essential services to deployed forces in case contractors can no longer provide the services; and (3) the adequacy of DOD's guidance and oversight mechanisms in managing overseas contractors efficiently."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Buses form the backbone of the nation's mass transit systems. About 58 percent of all mass transit users take the bus, and even in many cities with extensive rail systems, more people ride the bus than take the train. In recent years, innovative Bus Rapid Transit systems have gained attention as an option for transit agencies to meet their mass transit needs. These systems are designed to provide major improvements in the speed, reliability, and quality of bus service through barrier-separated bus-ways, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, or reserved lanes or other enhancements on arterial streets. The characteristics of Bus Rapid Transit systems vary considerably, but may include (1) improved physical facilities or specialized structures such as dedicated rights-of-way; (2) operating differences such as fewer stops and higher speeds; (3) new equipment such as more advanced, quieter, and cleaner buses; and (4) new technologies such as more efficient traffic signalization and real-time information systems. This testimony, which updates a report GAO issued in September 2001, provides (1) information on federal support for Bus Rapid Transit systems and (2) an overview of factors affecting the selection of Bus Rapid Transit as …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1996, GAO has reported that poor information security in the federal government is a widespread problem with potentially devastating consequences. Further, GAO has identified information security as a governmentwide high-risk issue in reports to the Congress since 1997--most recently in January 2003. To strengthen information security practices throughout the federal government, information security legislation has been enacted. This testimony discusses efforts by federal departments and the administration to implement information security requirements mandated by law. In so doing, it examines overall information security weaknesses and challenges that the government faces, and the status of actions to address them, as reported by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). GAO's evaluation of agency efforts to implement federal information security requirements and correct identified weaknesses. New requirements mandated by the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Both the Congress and the Department of Defense are concerned about the age of the U.S. aerial refueling fleet and its potential impact on the military services' ability to meet operational requirements. Aerial refueling provides a key capability that is essential to the mobility of U.S. forces. At present, the Air Force is in the early stages of planning for modernizing its aging fleet. In this testimony, GAO was asked to present its initial observations on (1) the status of the KC-135 fleet, including its age, projected life limits, and mission capable rates (i.e., the percent of time on average that the aircraft are available to perform their assigned mission); and (2) Air Force aerial refueling requirements."

The authors of this report, under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program, have investigated the possible application of Energy Star ratings to passenger cars and light trucks. This study establishes a framework for formulating and evaluating Energy Star rating methods that is comprised of energy- and environmental-based metrics, potential vehicle classification systems, vehicle technology factors, and vehicle selection criteria. The study tests several concepts and Energy Star rating methods using model-year 2000 vehicle data--a spreadsheet model has been developed to facilitate these analyses. This study tests two primary types of rating systems: (1) an outcome-based system that rates vehicles based on fuel economy, GHG emissions, and oil use and (2) a technology-based system that rates vehicles based on the energy-saving technologies they use. Rating methods were evaluated based on their ability to select vehicles with high fuel economy, low GHG emissions, and low oil use while preserving a full range of service (size and acceleration) and body style choice. This study concludes that an Energy Star rating for passenger cars and light trucks is feasible and that several methods could be used to achieve reasonable …

Monthly report written by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association's (TDNA's) office manager, Darla Thompson, to Phil Berkebile providing a summary of revenues and account balances, programs, meetings, and other activities in the office during the previous month.

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The most common problems affecting residential and light commercial heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are slow refrigerant leaks and dirty air filters. Equipment users are usually not aware of a problem until most of the refrigerant has escaped or the air filter is clogged with dirt. While a dirty air filter can be detected with a technology based on the air pressure differential across the filter, such as a ''whistling'' indicator, it is not easy to incorporate this technology into existing HVAC diagnostic equipment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing a low-cost, nonintrusive refrigerant charge indicator and dirty air filter detection sensor. The sensors, based on temperature measurements, will be inexpensive and easy to incorporate into existing heat pumps and air conditioners. The refrigerant charge indicator is based on the fact that when refrigerant starts to leak, the evaporator coil temperature starts to drop and the level of liquid subcooling drops. When the coil temperature or liquid subcooling drops below a preset reading, a signal, such as a yellow warning light, can be activated to warn the equipment user that the system is undercharged. A further drop of coil temperature or liquid subcooling below another preset reading would trigger …

The effect of laser energy on formation of a plasma inside a cavity was investigated. The temperature and electron number density of laser-induced plasmas in a fused silica cavity were determined using spectroscopic methods, and compared with laser ablation on a flat surface. Plasma temperature and electron number density during laser ablation in a cavity with aspect ratio of 4 increased faster with irradiance after the laser irradiance reached a threshold of 5 GW/cm{sup 2}. The threshold irradiance of particulate ejection was lower for laser ablation in a cavity compared with on a flat surface; the greater the cavity aspect ratio, the lower the threshold irradiance. The ionization of silicon becomes saturated and the crater depths were increased approximately by an order of magnitude after the irradiance reached the threshold. Phase explosion was discussed to explain the large change of both plasma characteristics and mass removal when irradiance increased beyond a threshold value. Self-focusing of the laser beam was discussed to be responsible for the decrease of the threshold in cavities.

The recommended waste package (WP) design is described in BSC (2001a). The design includes a double-wall WP underneath a protective drip shield (DS) (BSC 2003a). The purpose of the process-level models developed in this report is to model dry oxidation (DOX), general corrosion (GC) and localized corrosion (LC) of the DS plate material, which is made of Ti Grade 7. The DS design also includes structural supports fabricated from Ti Grade 24. Degradation of Ti Grade 24 is not considered in this report. The DS provides protection for the waste package outer barrier (WPOB) both as a barrier to seepage water contact and a physical barrier to potential rockfall. This Model Report (MR) serves as a feed to the Integrated Waste Package Degradation Model (IWPD) analyses, and was developed in accordance with the Technical Work Plan (TWP) (BSC 2002a). The models contained in this report serve as a basis to determine whether or not the performance requirements for the DS can be met.

The editors state in their introduction that this book is intended for lithium-ion scientists and engineers but they hope it may be of interest to scientists from other fields. Their main aim was to provide a snapshot of the state of the Lithium-ion art and in this they have largely succeeded. The book is comprised of a collection of very current reviews of the lithium ion battery literature by acknowledged experts that draw heavily on the authors' own research but are sufficiently general to provide the lithium ion researcher with enough guidance to the current literature and the current thinking in the field. Some of the literature references may be too current as there are numerous citations of conference proceedings which may be easily accessible to the lithium ion scientist or engineer but are not likely to be available to the interested chemist coming to the field for the first time. One author expresses the hope and expectation that properly peer-reviewed articles will appear in due course and the interested reader should look out for them in future. From the point of view of the lithium ion battery scientist and engineer, the book covers most of the topics that are …

This Model Report describes the analysis and abstractions of the colloids process model for the waste form and engineered barrier system components of the total system performance assessment calculations to be performed with the Total System Performance Assessment-License Application model. Included in this report is a description of (1) the types and concentrations of colloids that could be generated in the waste package from degradation of waste forms and the corrosion of the waste package materials, (2) types and concentrations of colloids produced from the steel components of the repository and their potential role in radionuclide transport, and (3) types and concentrations of colloids present in natural waters in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain. Additionally, attachment/detachment characteristics and mechanisms of colloids anticipated in the repository are addressed and discussed. The abstraction of the process model is intended to capture the most important characteristics of radionuclide-colloid behavior for use in predicting the potential impact of colloid-facilitated radionuclide transport on repository performance.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of ribosome particles from electron micrographs requires selection of many single-particle images. Roughly 100,000 particles are required to achieve approximately 10 angstrom resolution. Manual selection of particles, by visual observation of the micrographs on a computer screen, is recognized as a bottleneck in automated single particle reconstruction. This paper describes an efficient approach for automated boxing of ribosome particles in micrographs. Use of a fast, anisotropic non-linear reaction-diffusion method to pre-process micrographs and rank-leveling to enhance the contrast between particles and the background, followed by binary and morphological segmentation constitute the core of this technique. Modifying the shape of the particles to facilitate segmentation of individual particles within clusters and boxing the isolated particles is successfully attempted. Tests on a limited number of micrographs have shown that over 80 percent success is achieved in automatic particle picking.

Our current specific objectives are to use transgenic plants to control the chemical species, electrochemical state, and above ground binding of mercury to (a) prevent methylmercury from entering the food-chain, (b) remove mercury from polluted sites, and (c) hyperaccumulate mercury in above ground tissues for later harvest.

Impacts of U.S. appliance and equipment standards have been described previously. Since 2000, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has updated standards for clothes washers, water heaters, and residential central air conditioners and heat pumps. A revised estimate of the aggregate impacts of all the residential appliance standards in the United States shows that existing standards will reduce residential primary energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions by 89 percent in 2020 compared to the levels expected without any standards. Studies of possible new standards are underway for residential furnaces and boilers, as well as a number of products in the commercial (tertiary) sector, such as distribution transformers and unitary air conditioners. The analysis of standards has evolved in response to critiques and in an attempt to develop more precise estimates of costs and benefits of these regulations. The newer analysis elements include: (1) valuing energy savings by using marginal (rather than average) energy prices specific to an end-use; (2) simulating the impacts of energy efficiency increases over a sample population of consumers to quantify the proportion of households having net benefits or net costs over the life of the appliance; and (3) calculating marginal markups in distribution …

We conducted a series of four demonstrations to determine the ability of either monosodium titanate (MST) or permanganate (MnO4-) to remove strontium and actinides from salt solutions, under a variety of conditions. Each of the demonstrations used material derived from actual tank waste. The demonstrations used volumes as large as 68 L compared to typical prior experiments at 100 mL. Also, the study used, in two experiments, hydraulically scaled mixing conditions to match those of the equipment installed in Building 512-S for the Actinide Removal Process. (Plans call for radioactive commissioning of that facility as early as December 2003.)

This paper describes batch laboratory experiments performed to evaluate uranium incorporation into aluminosilicate structures during synthesis. This research was conducted in response to plant problems related to the accumulation of uranium with aluminosilicates in low-level radioactive waste evaporators. We have found that conditions which favor precipitation of aluminosilicates also foster uranium solid precipitation, so it is difficult to attribute problems with uranium accumulation to say just the formation of the aluminosilicates. Infrared spectra shows that sodium uranates, uranium silicates and other uranium solids are formed during the synthesis of sodium aluminosilicates structures in the presence of uranium. Both amorphous and sodalite aluminosilcate phases, unlike zeolite A phase, show appreciable affinity for uranium incorporation during their formation in the presence of uranium.

R&D aimed at the production, acceleration, and storage of intense muon beams is under way in the U.S., in Europe, and in Japan. Considerable progress has been made in the past few years toward the design of a ''Neutrino Factory'' in which a beam of 20-50 GeV mu- or mu+ is stored. Decay neutrinos from the beam illuminate a detector located roughly 3000 km from the ring. Here, we briefly describe the ingredients of a Neutrino Factory and then discuss the current R&D program and its results. A key concept in the design is ''ionization cooling,'' a process whereby the muon emittance is reduced by repeated interactions with an absorber material followed by reacceleration with high-gradient rf cavities. Plans to test this concept in the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) are well along and are described briefly.

Using the RQMD model, transverse momentum distributions and particle ratios are studied for {sup 197}Au + {sup 197}Au collisions at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV. In particular, they present results on the mean transverse momentum of charged pions, charged kaons, protons and anti-protons and compare with experimental measurements. They discuss an approach to study early partonic collectivity in high energy nuclear collisions.

Article on the molecular identification of a functional homologue of the mammalian fatty acid amide hydrolase in Arabidopsis thaliana.

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

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Nickel based Alloy 22 (NO6022) is extensively used in aggressive industrial applications, especially due to its resistance to localized corrosion and stress corrosion cracking in high chloride environments. The purpose of this work was to characterize the anodic behavior of Alloy 22 in oxalic acid solution and to compare its behavior to sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. Standard electrochemical tests such as polarization resistance and cyclic polarization were used. Results show that the corrosion rate of Alloy 22 in oxalic acid solutions increased rapidly as the temperature and the acid concentration increased. Extrapolation studies show that even at a concentration of 10{sup -4}M oxalic acid, the corrosion rate of Alloy 22 would be higher in oxalic acid than in 1 M NaCl solution. Alloy 22 was not susceptible to localized corrosion in oxalic acid solutions. Cyclic polarization tests in 1 M NaCl showed that Alloy 22 was susceptible to crevice corrosion at 90 C but was not susceptible at 60 C.