A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to 3 U.S.C. 105(d) and 106(b), we reviewed certificated expenditures from fiscal year 2007 appropriations of the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States. These sections authorize the President and the Vice President to expend appropriated funds for certain specified purposes that may be accounted for solely on their certificates and as they determine, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law. Sections 105(d) and 106(b) also authorize us to examine records related to these expenditures for the purpose of verifying that all such expenditures related to purposes specified in those sections. We are to report to Congress our verification and any amounts not expended for the specified purposes."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many federal agencies hold real property that they do not need, including property that is underutilized or excess. Such properties present significant potential risks to federal agencies because they are costly to maintain and could be put to more cost-beneficial uses or sold to generate revenue for the government. We first designated federal real property management as a high-risk area in January 2003 due to long-standing problems with underutilized and excess property, among other things. After our high-risk designation, President George W. Bush added real property management to the President's Management Agenda and directed that the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) be established as a comprehensive database of real property under the control and custody of executive branch agencies, with agencies required to report on their real property assets each year. The President also established a goal of disposing of $15 billion in unneeded real property assets by 2015 to encourage agencies to right-size their portfolios by eliminating unneeded property. Some federal agencies have been granted authorities to enter into enhanced use leases (EUL)--typically long-term agreements with public and private entities for the use of federal property, resulting …

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) of USA and Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) of Ukraine have been collaborating on the conceptual design development of a neutron source facility. It is based on the use of an electron accelerator driven subcritical (ADS) facility with low enriched uranium fuel, using the existing electron accelerators at KIPT of Ukraine [1]. The neutron source of the subcritical assembly is generated from the interaction of 100-KW electron beam, which has a uniform spatial distribution and the electron energy in the range of 100 to 200 MeV, with a natural uranium target [2]. The main functions of the facility are the production of medical isotopes and the support of the Ukraine nuclear power industry. Neutron beam experiments and material studies are also included. Over the past two-three decades, structures with characteristic lengths of 100 {angstrom} and correspondingly smaller vibrational energies have become increasingly important for both science and technology [3]. The characteristic dimensions of the microstructures can be well matched by neutrons with longer vibrational wavelength and lower energy. In the accelerator-driven subcritical facility, most of the neutrons are generated from fission reactions with energy in the MeV range. They are slowed down to the …

This project demonstrates a novel nanostructured solar cell architecture capable of achieving high efficiency levels that is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture. The high efficiency will be achieved by the novel structure that separates the path of the photons from the path of the generated charge carriers. In this way, the photon path can be long for maximum light absorption, while the path for carriers can be short for maximum electronic energy harvesting. The combination of maximum light absorption coupled with maximum carrier harvesting is the basis for the expected high efficiency. The project will develop high efficiency solar cell prototypes utilizing this unique nanostructured architecture. The project addresses the fundamental limitation inherent in all current solar cell designs, and which opens a pathway to development for high efficiency solar cells at low cost. Realizing this goal will result in a levelized cost of electricity in the range of 10¢/kWh, which would achieve the long-sought goal of making photovoltaic electricity cost competitive with fossil-fuel generated electricity without any governmental subsidies. This breakthrough would spur the already rapid growth in the photovoltaic industry to an explosive pace, with significant, widespread benefit to the national economy and the nation’s energy security. …

This project used gene expression patterns from two forest Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments (Aspen FACE in northern Wisconsin and POPFACE in Italy) to examine ways to increase the aboveground carbon sequestration potential of poplars (Populus). The aim was to use patterns of global gene expression to identify candidate genes for increased carbon sequestration. Gene expression studies were linked to physiological measurements in order to elucidate bottlenecks in carbon acquisition in trees grown in elevated CO2 conditions. Delayed senescence allowing additional carbon uptake late in the growing season, was also examined, and expression of target genes was tested in elite P. deltoides x P. trichocarpa hybrids. In Populus euramericana, gene expression was sensitive to elevated CO2, but the response depended on the developmental age of the leaves. Most differentially expressed genes were upregulated in elevated CO2 in young leaves, while most were downregulated in elevated CO2 in semi-mature leaves. In P. deltoides x P. trichocarpa hybrids, leaf development and leaf quality traits, including leaf area, leaf shape, epidermal cell area, stomatal number, specific leaf area, and canopy senescence were sensitive to elevated CO2. Significant increases under elevated CO2 occurred for both above- and belowground growth in the F-2 generation. Three …

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

Checking deposit summary and receipt of $1,294.77 made on February 2, 2009.

A check for $75.00 from People Calling People, L.L.C and a conference registration form.

The oscillation-center Hamiltonian is derived for a relativistic electron injected with an arbitrary momentum in a linearly polarized laser pulse propagating in tenuous plasma, assuming that the pulse length is smaller than the plasma wavelength. For hot electrons generated at collisions with ions under intense laser drive, multiple regimes of ponderomotive acceleration are identified and the laser dispersion is shown to affect the process at plasma densities down to 1017 cm−3. Assuming a/ϒg << 1, which prevents net acceleration of the cold plasma, it is also shown that the normalized energy ϒ of hot electrons accelerated from the initial energy ϒo < , ⌈ does not exceed ⌈ ~ aϒg, where a is the normalized laser field, and ϒg is the group velocity Lorentz factor. Yet ϒ ~ ⌈ is attained within a wide range of initial conditions; hence a cutoff in the hot electron distribution is predicted.

Conduct verification surveys of grids at the DWI 1630 Site in Knoxville, Tennessee. The independent verification team (IVT) from ORISE, conducted verification activities in whole and partial grids, as completed by BJC. ORISE site activities included gamma surface scans and soil sampling within 33 grids; G11 through G14; H11 through H15; X14, X15, X19, and X21; J13 through J15 and J17 through J21; K7 through K9 and K13 through K15; L13 through L15; and M14 through M16

We present the results of an evaluation of new features of the latest release of IBM's GPFS filesystem (v3.2). We investigate different ways of connecting to a high-performance GPFS filesystem from a remote cluster using Infiniband (IB) and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. We also examine the performance of the GPFS filesystem with both serial and parallel I/O. Finally, we also present our recommendations for effective ways of utilizing high-bandwidth networks for high-performance I/O to parallel file systems.

Since the mid-1980s, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has used a value of 0.85 as the correction factor for self absorption of activity for particulate radioactive air samples collected from building exhaust for environmental monitoring. This value accounts for activity that cannot be detected by direct counting of alpha and beta particles. Emissions can be degraded or blocked by filter fibers for particles buried in the filter material or by inactive dust particles collected with the radioactive particles. These filters are used for monitoring air emissions from PNNL stacks for radioactive particles. This paper describes an effort to re-evaluate self-absorption effects in particulate radioactive air sample filters (Versapor® 3000, 47 mm diameter) used at PNNL. There were two methods used to characterize the samples. Sixty samples were selected from the archive for acid digestion to compare the radioactivity measured by direct gas-flow proportional counting of filters to the results obtained after acid digestion of the filter and counting again by gas-flow proportional detection. Thirty different sample filters were selected for visible light microscopy to evaluate filter loading and particulate characteristics. Mass-loading effects were also considered. Filter ratios were calculated by dividing the initial counts by the post-digestion counts with the …

In this paper, we present a simple iterative procedure for obtaining the higher order E x B and dE/dt (polarization) drifts associated with the gyrokinetic Vlasov-Poisson equations in the long wavelength limit of k⊥ρi ~ o(ε) and k⊥L ~ o(1), where ρi is the ion gyroradius, L is the scale length of the background inhomogeneity and ε is a smallness parameter. It can be shown that these new higher order k⊥ρi terms, which are also related to the higher order perturbations of the electrostatic potential Φ, should have negligible effects on turbulent and neoclassical transport in tokamaks, regardless of the form of the background distribution and the amplitude of the perturbation. To address further the issue of a non-Maxwellian plasma, higher order finite Larmor radius terms in the gyrokinetic Poisson's equation have been studied and shown to be unimportant as well. On the other hand, the terms of o(k2⊥ρi2) ~ o(ε) and k⊥L ~ o(1) can indeed have impact on microturbulence, especially in the linear stage, such as those arising from the difference between the guiding center and the gyrocenter densities due to the presence of the background gradients. These results will be compared with a recent study questioning the …

The USFWS Mid-Columbia River Fishery Resource Office (MCRFRO) operated two rotary screw traps on the Entiat River as part of the Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program from March through November of 2008. Along with the smolt traps, juvenile emigrants were also captured at remote locations throughout the Entiat watershed and its major tributary, the Mad River. A total of 16,782 wild salmonids were PIT tagged during the study period. Of this, 3,961(23.6%) were wild Oncorhynchus mykiss, 6,987 (41.6%) were wild spring run O. tshawytscha, and 5,591 (33.3%) were identified as wild O. tshawytscha of unknown run. Rotary screw trap efficiencies averaged 40.3% at the upper (Rkm 11.0) trap and 7.8% for the lower (Rkm 2.0) trap. These efficiencies were pooled for emigrant O. tshawytscha and O. mykiss. The MCRFRO conducted effectiveness monitoring snorkel surveys at 24 sites during the winter period and 30 sites during the summer and fall periods of 2008 as part of the Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program in the Entiat River. The 2008 steelhead spawning grounds surveys were conducted weekly in the main Entiat River from rkm 1.1 to 44.2. A total of 222 steelhead redds were identified over the period from February 28 …

This report discusses congressional interest in securing the nation's pipelines. Nearly half a million miles of oil and natural gas transmission pipeline crisscross the United States. While an efficient and fundamentally safe means of transport, many pipelines carry hazardous materials with the potential to cause public injury and environmental damage.

Funeral program for Rev. Seymour G. Perkins, Sr., born August 31, 1930 and died February 10, 2009. The funeral was held Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at Bright & Morning Star Baptist Church, officiated by Samuel Schuler. Funeral arrangements were made through Carter-Taylor-Williams Mortuary and he was buried in Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.

Lithium as a plasma-facing material has attractive features, including a reduction in the recycling of hydrogenic species and the potential for withstanding high heat and neutron fluxes in fusion reactors. Dramatic effects on plasma performance with lithium-coated plasma-facing components (PFC's) have been demonstrated on many fusion devices, including TFTR, T-11M, and FT-U. Using a liquid-lithium-filled tray as a limiter, the CDX-U device achieved very significant enhancement in the confinement time of ohmically heated plasmas. The recent NSTX experiments reported here have demonstrated, for the first time, significant and recurring benefits of lithium PFC coatings on divertor plasma performance in both L- and H- mode regimes heated by neutral beams.

This article provides comments on "Solubility of Ethyl Maltol in Aqueous Ethanol Mixtures," published in 2008 in the 'Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data.'

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

Article on kinetic studies of the reaction of atomic chlorine with chlorobenzene.

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