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

Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus transaction detail by account of $667.50 from January through March 2010. General ledger of all the financial transactions as of March 31, 2010.

This report discusses whether the balance should tip more toward humanitarian immigration policies as a consequence of the humanitarian crises that resulted from the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

This report provides an overview of U.S.-Mexico trade and economic trends, the Mexican economy, the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and major trade issues between the United States and Mexico.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, VA provided health care to over 281,000 women veterans, a fast growing subgroup of veterans. Women veterans seeking VA health care need access to an array of services and Congress has raised concerns about how well VA is prepared to meet the physical and mental health care needs of women. GAO was asked to examine (1) the on-site availability of health care services at VA facilities for women veterans, (2) the extent to which VA facilities are following VA policies that apply to the delivery of health care to women veterans, and (3) key challenges that VA facilities face in providing health care to women veterans and how VA is addressing these challenges. GAO reviewed applicable laws and VA policies, interviewed officials, and visited a judgmental sample of 9 VA medical centers (VAMC) and 10 community-based outpatient clinics (CBOC) chosen, in part, based on the number of women using services. GAO also visited 10 VA counseling centers (Vet Centers)."

Weekly Czech and English language newspaper from Temple, Texas published as the official organ of the Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas that includes news of interest to members along with advertising.

The adsorption of water on KBr thin films evaporated onto SiO2 was investigated as a function of relative humidity (RH) by ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. At 30percent RH adsorbed water reaches a coverage of approximately one monolayer. As the humidity continues to increase, the coverage of water remains constant or increases very slowly until 60percent RH, followed by a rapid increase up to 100percent RH. At low RH a significant number of the Br atoms are lost due to irradiation damage. With increasing humidity solvation increases ion mobility and gives rise to a partial recovery of the Br/K ratio. Above 60percent RH the increase of the Br/K ratio accelerates. Above the deliquescence point (85percent RH), the thickness of the water layer continues to increase and reaches more than three layers near saturation. The enhancement of the Br/K ratio at this stage is roughly a factor 2.3 on a 0.5 nm KBr film, indicating a strong preferential segregation of Br ions to the surface of the thin saline solution on SiO2.

This report develops innovative and efficient methodologies and practical procedures to determine the wide-area security region of a power system, which take into consideration all types of system constraints including thermal, voltage, voltage stability, transient and potentially oscillatory stability limits in the system. The approach expands the idea of transmission system nomograms to a multidimensional case, involving multiple system limits and parameters such as transmission path constraints, zonal generation or load, etc., considered concurrently. The security region boundary is represented using its piecewise approximation with the help of linear inequalities (so called hyperplanes) in a multi-dimensional space, consisting of system parameters that are critical for security analyses. The goal of this approximation is to find a minimum set of hyperplanes that describe the boundary with a given accuracy. Methodologies are also developed to use the security hyperplanes, pre-calculated offline, to determine system security margins in real-time system operations, to identify weak elements in the system, and to calculate key contributing factors and sensitivities to determine the best system controls in real time and to assist in developing remedial actions and transmission system enhancements offline . A prototype program that automates the simulation procedures used to build the set of security …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO and others have shown that successful organizations use strategic workforce planning to help meet present and future mission requirements. Although agency approaches to strategic workforce planning can vary depending on needs and mission, GAO and the Office of Personnel Management have identified six leading principles that workforce planning should address. The Appropriations Committees directed GAO to review workforce planning at the Department of the Interior (Interior), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. GAO examined (1) workforce planning processes used at each agency, (2) the extent to which these processes incorporate the six principles, and (3) how, if at all, the agencies link workforce planning with the annual budget allocation processes. GAO reviewed agencies' workforce plans, strategic plans, and budget documents and interviewed human resources, planning, and budget officials."

Weekly newspaper from Wylie, 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.

The potential for a sodium-cooled fast reactor to survive severe accident initiators with no damage has been demonstrated through whole-plant testing in EBR-II and FFTF. Analysis of the observed natural protective mechanisms suggests that they would be characteristic of a broad range of sodium-cooled fast reactors utilizing metal fuel. However, in order to demonstrate the degree to which new, advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor designs will possess these desired safety features, accurate, high-fidelity, whole-plant dynamics safety simulations will be required. One of the objectives of the advanced safety-modeling component of the Reactor IPSC is to develop a science-based advanced safety simulation capability by utilizing existing safety simulation tools coupled with emerging high-fidelity modeling capabilities in a multi-resolution approach. As part of this integration, an existing whole-plant systems analysis code has been coupled with a high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics code to assess the impact of high-fidelity simulations on safety-related performance. With the coupled capabilities, it is possible to identify critical safety-related phenomenon in advanced reactor designs that cannot be resolved with existing tools. In this report, the impact of coupling is demonstrated by evaluating the conditions of outlet plenum thermal stratification during a protected loss of flow transient. Outlet plenum stratification was …

This report documents the findings of an on-site audit of the U.S. Customs Cargo Inspection Facility (CIF) in Detroit, Michigan. The federal landlord for this building is the General Services Administration (GSA). The focus of the audit was to identify various no-cost or low-cost energy-efficiency opportunities that, once implemented, would reduce electrical and gas consumption and increase the operational efficiency of the building. This audit also provided an opportunity to identify potential capital cost projects that should be considered in the future to acquire additional energy (electric and gas) and water savings to further increase the operational efficiency of the building.

This report documents the findings from an onsite audit of the John W. Bricker Federal building located in Columbus, Ohio. The Federal landlord for this building is the General Services Administration (GSA). The focus of the audit was to identify various no-cost or low-cost energy efficiency opportunities that, once implemented, would either reduce electrical and gas consumption or increase the operational efficiency of the building. This audit also provided an opportunity to identify potential capital cost projects that should be considered in the future to acquire additional energy (electric and gas) and water savings to further increase the operational efficiency of the building.

This paper from the International Conference on Computational Science conference proceedings presents new methods that derive a new quality metric for automated scoring of quality of mucosa inspection performed by the endoscopist.

The major goal of this study is to determine the effects of the Fhit pathway on low dose ({le} 0.1 Gy) ionizing radiation (IR)-induced genetic instability. Reduction of Fhit protein expression is observed in most solid tumors particularly in those tumors resulting from exposure to environmental carcinogens. Therefore, characterization of the role of the Fhit-dependent pathway in preventing low dose IR-induced genetic instability will provide useful parameters for evaluating the low dose IR-induced risk of mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. We pursued 3 specific aims to study our hypothesis that the Fhit-dependent pathways maintain genomic integrity through adjusting checkpoint response and repair genes expression following low dose IR. Aim 1: Determine whether Fhit interaction with RPA is necessary for Fhit to affect the cellular response to low dose IR. We combined the approaches of in vitro (GST pull-down and site-directed mutagenesis) and in vivo (observing the co-localization and immunoprecipitation of Fhit and RPA in Fhit knock out mouse cells transfected with mutant Fhit which has lost ability to interact with RPA in vitro). Aim 2: Determine the role of genes whose expression is affected by Fhit in low dose irradiated cells. We analyzed the distinct signature of gene expression in low dose …

The overall goal of the present project is to enable advanced modeling and simulations for the design and optimization of fuel-flexible turbine combustors. For this purpose we use a high-fidelity, extensively-tested large-eddy simulation (LES) code and state-of-the-art models for premixed/partially-premixed turbulent combustion developed in the PI's group. In the frame of the present project, these techniques are applied, assessed, and improved for hydrogen enriched premixed and partially premixed gas-turbine combustion. Our innovative approaches include a completely consistent description of flame propagation, a coupled progress variable/level set method to resolve the detailed flame structure, and incorporation of thermal-diffusion (non-unity Lewis number) effects. In addition, we have developed a general flamelet-type transformation holding in the limits of both non-premixed and premixed burning. As a result, a model for partially premixed combustion has been derived. The coupled progress variable/level method and the general flamelet tranformation were validated by LES of a lean-premixed low-swirl burner that has been studied experimentally at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The model is extended to include the non-unity Lewis number effects, which play a critical role in fuel-flexible combustor with high hydrogen content fuel. More specifically, a two-scalar model for lean hydrogen and hydrogen-enriched combustion is developed and validated …

The overall goal of the present project is to enable advanced modeling and simulations for the design and optimization of fuel-flexible turbine combustors. For this purpose we use a high fidelity, extensively-tested large-eddy simulation (LES) code and state-of-the-art models for premixed/partially-premixed turbulent combustion developed in the PI's group. In the frame of the present project, these techniques are applied, assessed, and improved for hydrogen enriched premixed and partially premixed gas-turbine combustion. Our innovative approaches include a completely consistent description of flame propagation; a coupled progress variable/level set method to resolve the detailed flame structure, and incorporation of thermal-diffusion (non-unity Lewis number) effects. In addition, we have developed a general flamelet-type transformation holding in the limits of both non-premixed and premixed burning. As a result, a model for partially premixed combustion has been derived. The coupled progress variable/level method and the general flamelet transformation were validated by LES of a lean-premixed low-swirl burner that has been studied experimentally at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The model is extended to include the non-unity Lewis number effects, which play a critical role in fuel-flexible combustor with high hydrogen content fuel. More specifically, a two-scalar model for lean hydrogen and hydrogen-enriched combustion is developed and …

The primary motivation for this set of research activities was to develop a foundation in several aspects of power in order to position Cleveland State University to lead a multiuniversity effort to secure funding for enhanced power system projects and to be able to eventually secure a NASA Space Power Systems Center status through the competitive bidding process. This was accomplished by focusing on these major project areas, (1) the design of the next generation nuclear-electric power generation system, (2) the design of a distributed, fault-tolerant, and modular power system, and (3) the development of the dynamics and control of active magnetic bearings for flywheel energy storage without using conventional sensors.

In this project a combined experimental and theoretical approach was taken to advance our understanding of lean NOx trap (LNT) technology. Fundamental kinetics studies were carried out of model LNT catalysts containing variable loadings of precious metals (Pt, Rh), and storage components (BaO, CeO{sub 2}). The Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP) reactor provided transient data under well-characterized conditions for both powder and monolith catalysts, enabling the identification of key reaction pathways and estimation of the corresponding kinetic parameters. The performance of model NOx storage and reduction (NSR) monolith catalysts were evaluated in a bench scale NOx trap using synthetic exhaust, with attention placed on the effect of the pulse timing and composition on the instantaneous and cycle-averaged product distributions. From these experiments we formulated a global model that predicts the main spatio-temporal features of the LNT and a mechanistic-based microkinetic models that incorporates a detailed understanding of the chemistry and predicts more detailed selectivity features of the LNT. The NOx trap models were used to determine its ability to simulate bench-scale data and ultimately to evaluate alternative LNT designs and operating strategies. The four-year project led to the training of several doctoral students and the dissemination of the findings as …

This report documents the marketing campaign that has been designed for middle and high school students in New Mexico to increase interest in participation in national security careers at the National Nuclear Security Administration. This marketing campaign builds on the research that was previously conducted, as well as the focus groups that were conducted. This work is a part of the National Nuclear Security Preparedness Project (NSPP) being performed under a Department of Energy (DOE) / National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) grant. Outcome analysis was performed to determine appropriate marketing strategies. The analysis was based upon focus groups with middle school and high school students, student interactions, and surveys completed by students to understand and gauge student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects, interest in careers at NNSA, future job considerations, and student desire to pursue post-secondary education. Further, through the focus groups, students were asked to attend a presentation on NNSA job opportunities and employee requirements. The feedback received from the students was utilized to develop the focus and components of the marketing campaign.

This project was awarded to demonstrate the ability to affect and optimize mercury speciation and multi-pollutant control using non-intrusive advanced sensor and optimization technologies. The intent was to demonstrate plant-wide optimization systems on a large coal fired steam electric power plant in order to minimize emissions, including mercury (Hg), while maximizing efficiency and maintaining saleable byproducts. Advanced solutions utilizing state-of-the-art sensors and neural network-based optimization and control technologies were proposed to maximize the removal of mercury vapor from the boiler flue gas thereby resulting in lower uncontrolled releases of mercury into the atmosphere. Budget Period 1 (Phase I) - Included the installation of sensors, software system design and establishment of the as-found baseline operating metrics for pre-project and post-project data comparison. Budget Period 2 (Phase II) - Software was installed, data communications links from the sensors were verified, and modifications required to integrate the software system to the DCS were performed. Budget Period 3 (Phase III) - Included the validation and demonstration of all control systems and software, and the comparison of the optimized test results with the targets established for the project site. This report represents the final technical report for the project, covering the entire award period and …

The objective of the project is to develop technologies, specifically power electronics, energy storage electronics and controls that provide efficient and effective energy management between electrically powered devices in alternative energy vehicles – plug-in electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, range extended vehicles, and hydrogen-based fuel cell vehicles. The in-depth research into the complex interactions between the lower and higher voltage systems from data obtained via modeling, bench testing and instrumented vehicle data will allow an optimum system to be developed from a performance, cost, weight and size perspective. The subsystems are designed for modularity so that they may be used with different propulsion and energy delivery systems. This approach will allow expansion into new alternative energy vehicle markets.

This document provides an overview of renewable resource potential at Dugway Proving Ground, based primarily upon analysis of secondary data sources supplemented with limited on-site evaluations. This effort focuses on grid-connected generation of electricity from renewable energy sources and ground source heat pumps (GSHPs). The effort was funded by the U.S. Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM) as follow-on to the 2005 Department of Defense (DoD) Renewables Assessment.