A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The southern Africa food crisis threatened 15.3 million people in six countries (Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) with famine. GAO was asked to look at (1) factors that contributed to the crisis, (2) how well the populations' needs were met, (3) obstacles to the food aid effort, and (4) challenges to emerging from crisis."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As seen again in Iraq, the excellence of our military forces is unparalleled. This same level of excellence is not yet evident in the Department of Defense's (DOD) financial management and other business areas, impeding DOD's ability to provide complete, reliable, and timely information to the Congress, DOD managers, and other decision makers. Congress asked GAO to testify on the status of DOD's financial management and business process reform efforts. Specifically, GAO was asked to provide an overview of the long-standing financial management weaknesses facing DOD and a summary of the underlying causes of DOD's financial management challenges. In addition, GAO's testimony focused on (1) key actions necessary to correct DOD's financial management problems and (2) the progress DOD is making toward business process reform."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Endangered Species Act requires all federal agencies to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services) to determine the effect that the activities they conduct, permit, or fund may have on threatened or endangered species. In particular, federal agencies (action agencies) must ensure that their activities do not jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species or adversely modify critical habitat. After several fish species in the Pacific Northwest were listed in the late 1990s, the Services' consultation workload increased significantly in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and the Services were unable to keep up with requests for consultation. As a result, many proposed activities were delayed for months or years. Even under normal workload conditions, the consultation process can be difficult, in part because decisions about how species will be protected must often be made with uncertain scientific information using professional judgment. This testimony is based on ongoing work requested by the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water. It addresses (1) efforts to improve the consultation process, by the Services and by four action agencies in …

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

We have developed and characterized a mixer to study the reaction kinetics of protein folding on a microsecond timescale. The mixer uses hydrodynamic focusing of pressure-driven flow in a microfluidic channel to reduce diffusion times as first demonstrated by Knight et al.[1]. Features of the mixer include 1 {micro}s mixing times, sample consumptions of order 1 nl/s, loading sample volumes on the order of microliters, and the ability to manufacture in fused silica for compatibility with most spectroscopic methods.

This report contains the constitutional principles and federal statutes of child pornography.

Handwritten note written on the back of recycled paper about technical support and a phone number.

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

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

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

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

Austenitic stainless steels (SSs) are used extensively as structural alloys in the internal components of reactor pressure vessels because of their superior fracture toughness properties. However, exposure to high levels of neutron irradiation for extended periods leads to significant reduction in the fracture resistance of these steels. Experimental data are presented on fracture toughness and crack growth rates (CGRs) of austenitic SSs irradiated to fluence levels up to 2.0 x 10{sup 21} n/cm{sup 2} (E > 1 MeV) ({approx}3.0 dpa) at {approx}288 C. Crack growth tests were conducted under cycling loading and long hold time trapezoidal loading in simulated boiling water reactor (BWR) environments, and fracture toughness tests were conducted in air. Neutron irradiation at 288 C decreases the fracture toughness of the steels; the data from commercial heats fall within the scatter band for the data obtained at higher temperatures. In addition, the results indicate significant enhancement of CGRs of the irradiated steels in normal water chemistry BWR environment; the CGRs for irradiated steels are a factor of {approx}5 higher than the disposition curve proposed for sensitized austenitic SSs. The rates decreased by more than an order of magnitude in low-dissolved-oxygen BWR environment.

This study is aimed at obtaining a better understanding of vadose zone flow and transport processes at the field scale and establishing defensible links between laboratory- and field-derived transport parameters for conservative and reactive elements in the vadose zone. The study site (Vadose Zone Research Park [VZRP] at INEEL) provides a three-dimensional instrumentation array strategically surrounding a new infiltration pond slated for initial use in the upcoming year, and the Big Lost River, and intermittent stream proximal to the infiltration ponds. The proposed research will utilize the infiltration ponds and the Big Lost River to study the effects of fluid flux, water chemistry and degree of saturation on contaminant transport in the vadose zone. Our research plan has four major objectives: (1) determine the transport of conservative and reactive solute and colloid tracers through the vadose zone and local perched water zones; (2) examine isotopic variations of U and Sr a nd compare these to introduced sorbing and non-sorbing tracers; (3) develop and calibrate a conceptual flow and transport model, and (4) examine the effects of flow and geochemical transients on tracer transport.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a five-year (1997-2002) grant (Mohan and Shoham, DE-FG26-97BC15024, 1997) to The University of Tulsa, to develop compact multiphase separation components for 3-phase flow. The research activities of this project have been conducted through cost sharing by the member companies of the Tulsa University Separation Technology Projects (TUSTP) research consortium and the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). As part of this project, several individual compact separation components have been developed for onshore and offshore applications. These include gas-liquid cylindrical cyclones (GLCC{copyright}), liquid-liquid cylindrical cyclones (LLCC{copyright}), and the gas-liquid-liquid cylindrical cyclones (GLLCC{copyright}). A detailed study has also been completed for the liquid-liquid hydrocyclones (LLHC). Appropriate control strategies have been developed for proper operation of the GLCC{copyright} and LLCC{copyright}. Testing of GLCC{copyright} at high pressure and real crude conditions for field applications is also completed. Limited studies have been conducted on flow conditioning devices to be used upstream of the compact separators for performance improvement. This report presents a brief overview of the activities and tasks accomplished during the 5-year project period, October 1, 1997-March 31, 2003 (including the no-cost extended period of 6 months). An executive summary is presented …

The primary goal of this project has been to characterize and identify point defects (e.g., impurities, vacancies, vacancy-impurity complexes, etc.) in CdZnTe and determine the mechanisms by which these defects influence the carrier {mu}{tau}products. Special attention is given to the role of shallow donors, shallow acceptors, and deeper acceptors. There are two experimental focus areas in the project: (1) liquid-helium photoluminescence (PL) and PL excitation spectroscopy are used to identify and characterize donors and acceptors and to determine zinc molar fraction; and (2) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and photoinduced EPR experiments are performed at liquid-helium temperature to identify paramagnetic point defects and to determine the concentration of these defects. Results from the two experimental focus areas are correlated with detector performance parameters (e.g., electron and hole {mu}{tau} products), crystal growth conditions, and microstructure analyses.

Develop and test advanced near vertical to wide-angle seismic methods for structural imaging and material properties estimation of the shallow subsurface for environmental characterization efforts.

This study is aimed at obtaining a better understanding of vadose zone flow and transport processes at the field scale and establishing defensible links between laboratory- and field-derived transport parameters for conservative and reactive elements in the vadose zone. The study site (Vadose Zone Research Park [VZRP] at INEEL) provides a three dimensional instrumentation array strategically surrounding a new infiltration pond slated for initial use in the upcoming year, and the Big Lost River, and intermittent stream proximal to the infiltration ponds. The proposed research will utilize the infiltration ponds and the Big Lost River to study the effects of fluid flux, water chemistry and degree of saturation on contaminant transport in the vadose zone. Our research plan has four major objectives: (1) determine the transport of conservative and reactive solute and colloid tracers through the vadose zone and local perched water zones; (2) examine isotopic variations of U and Sr a nd compare these to introduced sorbing and non-sorbing tracers; (3) develop and calibrate a conceptual flow and transport model, and (4) examine the effects of flow and geochemical transients on tracer transport.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) and other U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites use shallow land burial facilities (i.e., trenches) to dispose low-level radioactive waste. However, at SRS and other DOE sites, waste containers with up to 90 percent void space are disposed in the shallow land burial facilities. Corrosion and degradation of these containers can result in significant subsidence over time, which can compromise the integrity of the long-term cover. This in turn can lead to increased water infiltration through the long-term cover into the waste and subsequent increased radionuclide transport into the environment. Understanding and predicting shallow-buried, low-level waste subsidence behavior is necessary for evaluating cost-effective and appropriate stabilization required to maintain cover system long-term stability and viability, and to obtain stakeholder acceptance of the long-term implications of waste disposal practices. Two methods (dynamic compaction and static surcharge) have been used at SRS to accelerate waste and container consolidation and reduce potential subsidence prior to long term cover construction. Dynamic compaction comprises repeatedly dropping a heavy (20 ton) weight from about a 40-ft height to consolidate the waste and containers. Static surcharge is the use of a thick (15 ft to 30 ft) soil cover to consolidate the …

This paper contains a summary of the holdup and material control and accountability assays conducted for the determination of highly enriched uranium in the deactivation and decommissioning of Building 321 -M at the Savannah River Site. The facility was the Reactor Fuel Fabrication Facility at SRS and assemblies and miscellaneous components for the SRS production reactors. The facility operated for 25 years. During this time thousands of uranium-aluminum-alloy production reactor fuel tubes were produced. After the facility ceased operations in 1995, all of the easily accessible U-Al was removed from the building, and only residual amounts remained. The D and D project is likely to represent an important example for D and D activities across SRS and across the Department of Energy weapons complex.

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

Weekly newspaper from Yoakum, 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.

This paper briefly reviews activities and research related to children and educational environments. The increasing prevalence and role of information and communications technology in the lives of children as well as the incidence of back pain and heavy loads children carry in back packs are raising concerns around the world. Out of this concern an International Ergonomics Association Technical Committee has been formed. A survey was sent to Ergonomics for Children and Educational Environments membership and those who have communicated through the committee. The results are compiled to describe a cross-section of international efforts to address the health and the future of children.

The increasing presence of computers and other forms of information and communications technology (ICT) in schools has raised concerns in the United States (US) and elsewhere. Children are using computers more than any other age group in the US. It is not known whether early intensive use of ICT predisposes children to future injury. Ergonomics is not included in state curriculum standards or requirements but can be supported by some of the existing standards. Some who believe that children are better off being educated early about ergonomics are taking action to bring ergonomics into elementary and secondary schools. This paper describes the process used to introduce ergonomics into two elementary schools in two different states by initiators with two different roles.