A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Drug effectiveness and adverse events can vary between children and adults and among racial and ethnic groups. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is authorized under the pediatric exclusivity provision to grant drug sponsors 6 months of additional exclusive marketing rights for conducting clinical drug studies in children. The Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act of 2002 (BPCA) expanded this provision to require FDA to take into account the adequacy of minority representation in pediatric exclusivity studies. BPCA also directed GAO to evaluate the representation of minorities in such studies. GAO examined the extent to which minority children are represented, whether drugs that treat diseases disproportionately affecting minority groups are studied under the provision, and FDA's monitoring of the representation of minority children in the studies. GAO reviewed related FDA documents, FDA requests for pediatric studies and final study results, and interviewed FDA officials and other experts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United Nations responded to the failure of some past peacekeeping operations by developing a strategy to help peacekeeping operations move a country from conflict to sustainable peace. It has attempted to apply this strategy to the large and costly peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, East Timor, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2001. As a contributor of over 25 percent of the cost of U.N. operations, the United States has a stake in the successful application of this strategy. The strategy also has implications for the conduct of international peace operations in other post-conflict countries. GAO was asked to (1) identify the elements of the U.N. transition strategy; (2) assess the extent to which the United Nations has applied the strategy to operations; and (3) assess the challenges to implementing the strategy in these three countries."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Money laundering is a serious crime, with hundreds of billions of dollars laundered annually. Congress passed the Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Strategy Act of 1998 to better coordinate the efforts of law enforcement agencies and financial regulators in combating money laundering. This act required the issuance of an annual National Money Laundering Strategy for 5 years, ending with the issuance of the 2003 strategy. To help with deliberations on reauthorization, GAO determined (1) agency perspectives on the benefit of the strategy and factors that affected its development and implementation, (2) whether the strategy has served as a useful mechanism for guiding the coordination of federal law enforcement agencies' efforts, (3) the role of the strategy in influencing the activities of federal financial regulators, and (4) whether the strategy has reflected key critical components."

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to granting each chamber permission to adjourn from Wednesday, Sep. 17 to Monday, Sep 22, 2003.

A revised specification of mask substrate roughness was proposed at the 1st International EUVL Symposium in Dallas in 2002 [1]. This document describes the reasoning behind the proposed revision in more detail. The specification of mask substrate roughness should be based on its effect on lithographic performance. The effects of mask roughness can be considered according to the spatial frequency. At high frequencies (f > M x NA/{lambda}) corresponding to spatial periods too small to be resolved, light is scattered outside the angular acceptance of the camera effectively reducing the reflectivity of the mask. At lower frequencies, f > M x NA/{lambda}, light is scattered within the acceptance angle of the camera and can degrade the aerial image quality. The loss in reflectivity due to high-spatial frequency roughness (HSFR) is given by R/R{sub 0} = exp(-(4{pi}{sigma}/{lambda}){sup 2}), (1) where R{sub 0} is the peak reflectivity of the coating on a smooth substrate, {sigma} is the HSFR after multilayer coating. The relationship between top surface roughness and substrate roughness depends on the multilayer deposition process and significant smoothing of substrate roughness has been demonstrated [2]. Ultimately the specification of HSFR may be best decided based on the multilayer deposition process. For …

We study the phase structure of SU(2) gauge theories at zero and high temperature, with and without scalar matter fields, in terms of the symmetric/broken realization of the remnant gauge symmetry which exists after fixing to Coulomb gauge. The symmetric realization is associated with a linearly rising color Coulomb potential (which we compute numerically), and is a necessary but not sufficient condition for confinement.

Delayed coking evolved steadily over the early to mid 1900s to enable refiners to convert high boiling, residual petroleum fractions to light products such as gasoline. Pound for pound, coking is the most energy intensive of any operation in a modern refinery. Large amounts of energy are required to heat the thick, poor-quality petroleum residuum to the 900 to 950 degrees F required to crack the heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter, more valuable products. One common misconception of delayed coking is that the product coke is a disadvantage. Although coke is a low valued (near zero economic value) byproduct, compared to transportation fuels, there is a significant worldwide trade and demand for coke as it is an economical fuel. Coke production has increased steadily over the last ten years, with further increases forecast for the foreseeable future. Current domestic production is near 111,000 tons per day. A major driving force behind this increase is the steady decline in crude quality available to refiners. Crude slates are expected to grow heavier with higher sulfur contents while environmental restrictions are expected to significantly reduce the demand for high-sulfur residual fuel oil. Light sweet crudes will continue to be available and in even …

This report summarizes the work performed from 1 April 2003 to 30 September 2003 and recommends the tasks to be performed during Phase II (Pilot Evaluation). During this period discussions were held with various water agencies regarding use of the treated produced water either directly or indirectly through a water trading arrangement. In particular, several discussions were held with Monterey County Water Resources Agency, that has been charged with the long-term management and preservation of water resources in Monterey County. The Agency is very supportive of the program. However, they would like to see water quality/cost estimate data for the treated produced water from the pilot study prior to evaluating water use/water trade options. The agency sent a letter encouraging the project team to perform the pilot study to evaluate feasibility of the project. In addition, the regulations related to use of the treated water for various applications were updated during this period. Finally, the work plan, health and safety plan and sample analyses plan for performing pilot study to treat the oilfield produced water were developed during this period.

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.

The purpose of the Department of Energy's grant was to transfer to New Mexico and Utah a national award-winning market-based strategy to aggregate demand for wind energy. Their experiences over the past few years in New Mexico and utah have been quite different. In both states they have developed stronger relationships with utilities and policymakers which will increase the effectiveness of the future advocacy efforts.

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has been tasked with developing, designing, constructing, and operating a full-scale prototype of the work package closure system. As a precursor to developing the conceptual design, all commercially available equipment was assessed to identify any existing technology gaps. This report presents the results of that assessment for all major equipment.

Newspaper from Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Dell City, 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.

Funeral program for Winona Tollerson, born February 15, 1939 and died September 20, 2003. The funeral was held September 26, 2003 at West End Baptist Church, officiated by Dr. A. B. Devers, I. Funeral arrangements were made through Sutton-Sutton Mortuary, Inc., and she was buried in Meadowlawn Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas.

This summary booklet is designed to briefly (1) describe the Hanford Site and its mission; (2) describe environmental programs at the Hanford Site; (3) discuss estimated radionuclide exposures to the public from 2002 Hanford Site activities; (4) summarize the status of compliance with environmental regulations; and (5) present information on environmental monitoring and surveillance and groundwater protection and monitoring.

A conceptual design for a low pressure, room temperature, fill system suitable for ignition target capsules is described. The fill system relies on the use of a 5-10 micron diameter fill tube connecting directly the target capsule to a DT fuel reservoir. The design uses a small reservoir to store the DT fuel at room temperature within the target assembly. A model of the design is developed and used to calculate reservoir size, layer thickness control, and control sensitivity. A procedure to fill the target in-situ after cooling the assembly to cryogenic temperatures using temperature control of the reservoir is also described. The effects of He3 generation and fuel contamination are also discussed.

This report provides information about the Country-of-Origin Labeling for Foods.Federal law requires most imports informing the "Ultimate purchaser" of their country of origin.

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The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Merle Ainley. Ainley joined the Navy in September of 1944. He completed Radar School in Hawaii, and served as a Radar Specialist and navigator aboard USS Finch (DE-328). They traveled to Guam, Leyte and maneuvered along the China Coast, with a carrier task force. They transported prisoners-of-war from Taiwan and Formosa to Manila. They traveled to Saipan and completed occupation duty in Hong Kong, completing air sea rescue and charting harbors. He returned to the US and was discharged in June of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Kaney. Kaney joined the Navy in 1942. He completed Fleet Sonar School. He served as operator of sonar equipment for anti-submarine warfare activities aboard USS Finch (DE-328). They traveled to Algiers, North Africa, and escorted ships to Naples, Italy for Operation Dragoon. Kaney was later reassigned to USS Charles S. Sperry (DD-697), where he remained through the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Thurmond. Thurmond joined the Navy around 1942. Beginning in December of 1943, he served as an Electrician’s Mate aboard the USS Finch (DE-328). He served in both the European and Pacific theaters. They escorted convoys to Africa, Britain, Pearl Harbor, Guam, Saipan and the Philippines. After the war ended, they transported former POWs from Formosa to Manila. He returned to the US and was discharged in the fall of 1946.

Metals that can sustain plastic deformation homogeneously throughout their bulk tend to be tough and malleable. Often, however, if a metal has been hardened it will no longer deform uniformly. Instead, the deformation occurs in narrow bands on a microscopic scale wherein stresses and strains become concentrated in localized zones. This strain localization degrades the mechanical properties of the metal by causing premature plastic instability failure or by inducing the formation of cracks. Irradiation with neutrons hardens a metal and makes it more prone to deformation by strain localization. Although this has been known since the earliest days of radiation damage studies, a full measure of the connection between neutron irradiation hardening and strain localization is wanting, particularly in commercial alloys used in the construction of nuclear reactors. Therefore, the goal of this project is to systematically map the extent of involvement of strain localization processes in plastic deformation of three reactor alloys that have been neutron irradiated. The deformation processes are to be identified and related to changes in the tensile properties of the alloys as functions of neutron fluence (dose) and degree of plastic strain. The intent is to define the role of strain localization in radiation embrittlement …