Transcript of an interview with Gudrun Raschen, a German-born immigrant to Denton, Texas, and adjunct professor of Music at Texas Woman's University. Raschen shares concerning her childhood, and education in Kiel and Hamburg, Germany; family history; parents' move to South Africa; own move to South Africa; discovery of the cello and decision to study it seriously; involvement in anti-apartheid movement; decision to move to the U.S. for graduate school; attraction of UNT Doctorate of Musical Arts program; first impressions of the U.S. and of Denton; comparison and contrast of life in Germany, South Africa, and the U.S.; plans for the future.

Earth's climate is thought to be quite sensitive to changes in radiative fluxes that are quite small in absolute magnitude, a few watts per square meter, and in relation to these fluxes in the natural climate. Atmospheric aerosol particles exert influence on climate directly, by scattering and absorbing radiation, and indirectly by modifying the microphysical properties of clouds and in turn their radiative effects and hydrology. The forcing of climate change by these indirect effects is thought to be quite substantial relative to forcing by incremental concentrations of greenhouse gases, but highly uncertain. Quantification of aerosol indirect forcing by satellite- or ground-based remote sensing has proved quite difficult in view of inherent large variation in the pertinent observables such as cloud optical depth, which is controlled mainly by liquid water path and only secondarily by aerosols. Limited work has shown instances of large magnitude of aerosol indirect forcing, with local instantaneous forcing upwards of 50 W m{sup 66}-2. Ultimately it will be necessary to represent aerosol indirect effects in climate models to accurately identify the anthropogenic forcing at present and over secular time and to assess the influence of this forcing in the context of other forcings of climate change. …

Mobile robotic mapping is now considered to be a sufficiently mature field with demonstrated successes in various domains. While much progress has been made in the development of computationally efficient and consistent mapping schemes, it is still murky, at best, on how these maps can be evaluated. We are motivated by the absence of an accepted standard for quantitatively measuring the performance of robotic mapping systems against user-defined requirements. It is our belief that the development of standardized methods for quantitatively evaluating existing robotic technologies will improve the utility of mobile robots in already established application areas, such as vacuum cleaning, robot surveillance, and bomb disposal. This approach will also enable the proliferation and acceptance of such technologies in emerging markets. This chapter summarizes our preliminary efforts by bringing together the research community towards addressing this important problem which has ramifications not only from researchers perspective but also from consumers, robot manufacturers, and developers viewpoints.

The Universal Interconnection Technology (UIT) Workshop - sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Distributed Energy and Electric Reliability (DEER) Program, and Distribution and Interconnection R&D - was held July 25-26, 2002, in Chicago, Ill., to: (1) Examine the need for a modular universal interconnection technology; (2) Identify UIT functional and technical requirements; (3) Assess the feasibility of and potential roadblocks to UIT; (4) Create an action plan for UIT development. These proceedings begin with an overview of the workshop. The body of the proceedings provides a series of industry representative-prepared papers on UIT functions and features, present interconnection technology, approaches to modularization and expandability, and technical issues in UIT development as well as detailed summaries of group discussions. Presentations, a list of participants, a copy of the agenda, and contact information are provided in the appendices of this document.

As our dependence on the cyber infrastructure grows ever larger, more complex and more distributed, the systems that compose it become more prone to failures and/or exploitation. Intelligence is information valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy. Information explosion describes the pervasive abundance of (public/private) information and the effects of such. Gathering, analyzing, and making use of information constitutes a business- / sociopolitical- / military-intelligence gathering activity and ultimately poses significant advantages and liabilities to the survivability of "our" society. The combination of increased vulnerability, increased stakes and increased threats make cyber security and information intelligence (CSII) one of the most important emerging challenges in the evolution of modern cyberspace "mechanization." The goal of the workshop was to challenge, establish and debate a far-reaching agenda that broadly and comprehensively outlined a strategy for cyber security and information intelligence that is founded on sound principles and technologies. We aimed to discuss novel theoretical and applied research focused on different aspects of software security/dependability, as software is at the heart of the cyber infrastructure.

Our reliance on the cyber infrastructure has further grown and the dependencies have become more complex. The infrastructure and applications running on it are not generally governed by the rules of bounded systems and inherit the properties of unbounded systems, such as the absence of global control, borders and barriers. Furthermore, the quest for increasing functionality and ease of operation is often at the cost of controllability, potentially opening up avenues for exploitation and failures. Intelligence is information valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy. In the presence of information explosion, i.e., the pervasive abundance of (public/private) information and the effects of such, intelligence has the potential to shift the advantages in the dynamic game of defense and attacks in cyber space. Gathering, analyzing, and making use of information constitutes a business-/sociopolitical-/military-intelligence gathering activity and ultimately poses significant advantages and liabilities to the survivability of "our" society. The combination of increased vulnerability, increased stakes and increased threats make cyber security and information intelligence (CSII) one of the most important emerging challenges in the evolution of modern cyberspace. The goal of the workshop is to establish, debate and challenge the far-reaching agenda that broadly and comprehensively …

None

A portion of missionary Stephen Lloyd Smith's unpublished autobiography, "In God's Hands," depicting the experience of his family as civilian internees of the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II.

The 14th Workshop will provide a forum for an informal exchange of technical and scientific information between international researchers in the photovoltaic and relevant non-photovoltaic fields. It will offer an excellent opportunity for researchers in private industry and at universities to prioritize mutual needs for future collaborative research. The workshop is intended to address the fundamental properties of PV silicon, new solar cell designs, advanced solar cell processing techniques, and cell-related module issues. A combination of oral presentations by invited speakers, poster sessions, and discussion sessions will review recent advances in crystal growth, new cell designs, new processes and process characterization techniques, cell fabrication approaches suitable for future manufacturing demands, and solar cell encapsulation. This year's theme, ''Crystalline Si Solar Cells: Leapfrogging the Barriers,'' reflects the continued success of crystalline Si PV in overcoming technological barriers to improve solar cell performance and lower the cost of Si PV. The workshop will consist of presentations by invited speakers, followed by discussion sessions. In addition, there will be two poster sessions presenting the latest research and development results. Some presentations will address recent technologies in the microelectronics field that may have a direct bearing on PV. The sessions will include: Advances in …

The 13th Workshop will provide a forum for an informal exchange of technical and scientific information between international researchers in the photovoltaic and relevant non-photovoltaic fields. It will offer an excellent opportunity for researchers in private industry and at universities to prioritize mutual needs for future collaborative research. The workshop is intended to address the fundamental aspects of impurities and defects in silicon: their properties, the dynamics during device processing, and their application for developing low-cost processes for manufacturing high-efficiency silicon solar cells. A combination of oral, poster, and discussion sessions will review recent advances in crystal growth, new cell structures, new processes and process characterization techniques, and cell fabrication approaches suitable for future manufacturing demands.

Arguments pertaining to the mind-brain connection and to the physical effectiveness of our conscious choices have been presented in two recent books, one by John Searle, the other by Jaegwon Kim. These arguments are examined, and it is argued that the difficulties encountered arise from a defective understanding and application of a pertinent part of contemporary science, namely quantum mechanics.

The objective of this report was to examine air movements in vinyl and brick ventilation cavities in detail, using a state of the art CFD commercial modeling tool. The CFD activity was planned to proceed the other activities in order to develop insight on the important magnitudes of scales occurring during ventilation air flow. This information generated by the CFD model was to be used to modify (if necessary) and to validate the air flow dynamics already imbedded in the hygrothermal model for the computer-based air flow simulation procedures. A comprehensive program of advanced, state-of-the-art hygrothermal modeling was then envisaged mainly to extend the knowledge to other wall systems and at least six representative climatic areas. These data were then to be used to provide the basis for the development of design guidelines. CFD results provided timely and much needed answers to many of the concerns and questions related to ventilation flows due to thermal buoyancy and wind-driven flow scenarios. The relative strength between these two mechanisms. Simple correlations were developed and are presented in the report providing the overall pressure drop, and flow through various cavities under different exterior solar and temperature scenarios. Brick Rainscreen Wall: It was initially …

This book is a reproduction of the original 1952 publication, which is the only bound copy of the history of Winnsboro, Texas. It includes information about the original settlers, the general organization of the city, the railroad system, the original schools, churches and businesses in Winnsboro, as well as information about agriculture and farming.

Text of laws governing real estate in Texas.

Report detailing the strategic plan for of the Texas Library and Archives Commission for fiscal years 2001 to 2005 outlining their mission, past activities, and goals.

Operating budget of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice for fiscal year 2010, including an overall summary and budget information organized by specific programs and methods of finance, with information from the previous year for comparison.

Operating budget submitted by the Texas Department of Insurance for fiscal year 2010, containing summarized schedules of budgeted funds with comparisons to previous fiscal years.

Operating budget submitted by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation with financial summaries detailing expected costs for various agency programs and activities.

Operating budget for the Texas Department of Transportation for fiscal year 2010, including summaries of budgeted funds by various criteria, budget schedules, and funding information.

"This publication includes all statutory changes resulting from the Sunset Advisory Commission review of the State Securities Board that was completed in December 2000." (p. 1).

Proposed budget for the Texas State Office of Risk Management outlining projected income and expenditures, with supporting documentation.

Proposed budget for the Texas State Office of Risk Management outlining projected income and expenditures, with supporting documentation.

Contrary to popular perception, ECA faces significant threats from climate change, with a number of the most serious risks already in evidence. Vulnerability over the next ten to twenty years will be dominated by socio‐economic factors and legacy issues. Even countries and sectors that stand to benefit from climate change are poorly positioned to do so. The next decade offers a window of opportunity for ECA countries to make their development more resilient to climate change while reaping numerous co‐benefits.

Interview with Jonathan Forbes, Canadian-born immigrant to Plano, Texas, as part of the DFW Metroplex Immigrants Oral History Project. The interview includes Forbes' personal experiences of childhood and education in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and dealing with the U.S. immigration and customs bureaucracy. Forbes also talks about his parent's decision to immigrate to the U.S., the similarities and differences of life in Canada and the U.S., his perception of changes due to 9/11 attacks, his intention to remain in the U.S. and gain citizenship, and views on contemporary political issues.