Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) is one of the largest logistics supply and support efforts that the U.S. military has ever undertaken. For example, of the $28.1 billion that the Department of Defense (DOD) has obligated for OIF, the services and the Defense Logistics Agency have reported that $14.2 billion is for operating support costs and $4.9 billion is for transportation costs. This operation required the movement of large numbers of personnel and equipment over long distances into a hostile environment involving harsh desert conditions. Congress asked us to study a number of issues related to logistics support to deployed forces. In April 2003, shortly after the onset of OIF, we began work that focused on DOD's accountability and control over supplies and equipment shipped to that theater of operation. Based on the early results of this work, we subsequently broadened our scope to include other logistical issues, such as the deployment of support units and the transportation of supplies and equipment."

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

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

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

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

Monitoring and detection of leakage and seepage of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) in the near-surface environment is needed to ensure the safety and effectiveness of geologic carbon sequestration. Large leakage fluxes, e.g., through leaking wells, will be easier to detect and monitor than slow and diffuse leakage and seepage. The challenge of detecting slow leakage and seepage is discerning a leakage or seepage signal from within the natural background variations in CO{sub 2} concentration and flux that are controlled by a variety of coupled processes in soil. Although there are no direct examples of leaking geologic carbon sequestration sites on which to base a proposed verification approach, we have been guided by our prior simulation studies of CO{sub 2} leakage and seepage, which showed that large CO{sub 2} concentrations can develop in the shallow subsurface even for relatively small CO{sub 2} leakage fluxes. A variety of monitoring technologies exists for measuring CO{sub 2} concentration and flux, but there is a gap between instrument performance and the detection of a leakage or seepage signal from within large natural background variability. We propose an integrated approach to monitoring and verification. The first part of our proposed approach is to characterize and understand …

The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. In this quarterly report, we present a preliminary comparison of the carbon sequestration benefits for two forest types used to convert abandoned grasslands for carbon sequestration. Annual mixed hardwood benefits, based on total stand carbon volume present at the end of a given year, range from a minimum of $0/ton of carbon to a maximum of $5.26/ton of carbon (low prices). White pine benefits based on carbon volume range from a minimum of $0/ton of carbon to a maximum of $18.61/ton of carbon (high prices). The higher maximum white pine carbon payment can primarily be attributed to the fact that the shorter rotation means that payments for white pine carbon are being made on far less cumulative carbon tonnage than for that of the long-rotation hardwoods. Therefore, the payment per ton of white pine carbon needs to be higher than that of the hardwoods in order to render the conversion to white pine profitable by the end of a rotation. These carbon …

For better or worse, natural gas has become the fuel of choice for new power plants being built across the United States. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), natural gas combined-cycle and combustion turbine power plants accounted for 96% of the total generating capacity added in the US between 1999 and 2002--138 GW out of a total of 144 GW. Looking ahead, the EIA expects that gas-fired technology will account for 61% of the 355 GW new generating capacity projected to come on-line in the US up to 2025, increasing the nationwide market share of gas-fired generation from 18% in 2002 to 22% in 2025. While the data are specific to the US, natural gas-fired generation is making similar advances in other countries as well. Regardless of the explanation for (or interpretation of) the empirical findings, however, the basic implications remain the same: one should not blindly rely on gas price forecasts when comparing fixed-price renewable with variable-price gas-fired generation contracts. If there is a cost to hedging, gas price forecasts do not capture and account for it. Alternatively, if the forecasts are at risk of being biased or out of tune with the market, then one certainly …

OAK-B135 Results of laboratory experiments on the removal of europium and lead from the mineral, goethite, by hydroxamate siderophores are presented.

The theory of negative mass instability (NMI) in proton synchrotrons has been regarded as established for about thirty years, but both accurate calculations and solid beam observations for real cases have been difficult and practically non-existent. The wider availability of so-called computing farms has made credible macroparticle simulations practical for routine use. The comparison of a macroparticle model with the existing theory indicates interesting discrepancies, although the theoretical threshold is confirmed. That comparison and code validation for the model are discussed in the context of useful specific cases. The importance of perturbations other than statistical fluctuation as the seed of instability is considered.

OAK-B135 Results of laboratory experiments on the dissolution of the mineral, goethite, in the presence of hydroxamate siderophores and oxalate are presented showing a synergistic effect between the two ligands on mineral dissolution kinetics.

The CDF particle detector operates in the beamline of the Tevatron proton-antiproton collider at Fermilab, Batavia, IL. The Tevatron is expected to undergo luminosity upgrades (Run IIb) in the future, resulting in a higher number of interactions per beam crossing. To operate in this dense radiation environment, an upgrade of CDF's silicon vertex detector (SVX) subsystem and a corresponding upgrade of its VME-based DAQ system has been explored. Prototypes of all the Run IIb SVX DAQ components have been constructed, assembled into a test stand and operated successfully using an adapted version of CDF's network-capable DAQ software. In addition, a PCI-based DAQ system has been developed as a fast and inexpensive tool for silicon detector and DAQ component testing in the production phase. In this paper they present an overview of the Run IIb silicon DAQ upgrade, emphasizing the new features and improvements incorporated into the constituent VME boards, and discuss a PCI-based DAQ system developed to facilitate production tests.

OAK-B135 Results of laboratory experiments are presented on the dissolution behavior of aluminum-substituted goethite in the presence of siderophores and oxalate.

The RHIC polarimeter data have exhibited behavior suggesting that systematic effects are present at a level comparable to the statistical uncertainty per run, or {approx} 4 x 10{sup 4}: in the physics asymmetries and somewhat larger in the luminosity asymmetries. This corresponds to an error in the polarization of approximately {delta}P {approx} {+-} 0.03. Two effects are studied that might explain some of the observations, both based on detector rates. The results may explain the systematic effects in both the physics and the luminosity asymmetries. The first effect is caused by the presence of both a background and a good p + C elastic scattering event in the same passage of a bunch through the polarimeter target. The second effect similarly depends on the presence of multiple p + C elastic events from the same bunch. If these rate effects become large enough (or if {delta}P {approx} {+-} 0.03 continues and the beam polarization is less than 0.60) they could prevent determination of the beam polarization to {delta}P/P = {+-} 5% unless a correction can be determined to the measured asymmetries.

Forward detectors are described together with the first physics results from Run II. Using new data and dedicated diffractive triggers, a measurement of single diffractive dijet production rate, with particular focus on the diffractive structure function of the antiproton, is discussed. Upper limits on the exclusive dijet and {chi}{sub c}{sup 0} production cross sections are also presented.

Typical pressurized water reactors, although loaded with uranium fuel, produce 225 to 275 kg of plutonium per gigawatt year of operation. Although the spent fuel is highly radioactive, it nevertheless offers a potential proliferation pathway because the plutonium is relatively easy to separate, amounts to many critical masses, and aside from the alpha (n reaction on the 240 Pu isotope) does not present any significant intrinsic barrier to weapon assembly

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

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

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

The neutron-induced fission cross section on the {sup 235}U, T{sub 1/2} {approx} 26 min isomer has been deduced for incident neutron energies in the range E{sub n}=0.1-2.5 MeV, using the surrogate-reaction technique. In this technique, {sup 236}U fission probabilities measured in the {sup 234}U(t, pf) reaction have been converted into {sup 235}U(n,f) and {sup 235m}U(n,f) cross sections, using reaction theory to compensate for the differences in angular-momentum and parity distributions in the fissioning systems, transferred by the (t,p) and neutron-induced reactions. Based on the comparison between the {sup 235}U(n,f) cross section extracted in this work and independent experimental data, the deduced {sup 235m}U(n,f) cross section is believed to be reliable to 20% below E{sub n} {approx} 0.5 MeV and 10% at higher energies. The surrogate-reaction technique, its validation in the case of the {sup 235}U(n,f) cross section, and the deduced {sup 235m}U(n,f) cross section are discussed. Validation of this method allows (n,f) cross sections for many short-lived nuclei, as well as isomeric nuclei, to be extracted from measured fission probabilities.

Richland Middle School is a single story, 90,000 square feet new school located in Richland, WA. The design team proposed four HVAC system options to serve the building. The proposed HVAC systems are listed as following: (1) 4-pipe fan coil units served by electrical chiller and gas-fired boilers, (2) Ground-source closed water loop heat pumps with water loop heat pumps with boiler and cooling tower, and (3) VAV system served by electrical chiller and gas-fired boiler. This analysis estimates the annual energy consumptions and costs of each system option, in order to provide the design team with a reasonable basis for determining which system is most life-cycle cost effective. eQuest (version 3.37), a computer-based energy simulation program that uses the DOE-2 simulation engine, was used to estimate the annual energy costs.

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This report discusses some of the requirements of the law that give rise to paperwork, the available statistics on the time special educators spend on paperwork, and selected issues in the House and Senate bills that are related to paperwork reduction.