Texas Daily Newspaper Associations' 2004 Elections for 2005 Board of Directors document. The document states that the nomination committee must elect 3/4 new people depending on who is elected treasurer to fill their unexpired term if they're nominated to change positions.

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

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

This report discusses the ongoing debate about whether or not to approve energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Current law forbids energy leasing in the Refuge. This report addresses several legislative options on the issue, as well as policymakers' arguments for and against development, especially in the wake of increasing terrorism since 2000-2001.

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

In modeling complex environmental problems, we often fail to make precise statements about inputs and outcome. In this case the fuzzy logic method native to the human mind provides a useful way to get at these problems. Fuzzy logic represents a significant change in both the approach to and outcome of environmental evaluations. Risk assessment is currently based on the implicit premise that probability theory provides the necessary and sufficient tools for dealing with uncertainty and variability. The key advantage of fuzzy methods is the way they reflect the human mind in its remarkable ability to store and process information which is consistently imprecise, uncertain, and resistant to classification. Our case study illustrates the ability of fuzzy logic to integrate statistical measurements with imprecise health goals. But we submit that fuzzy logic and probability theory are complementary and not competitive. In the world of soft computing, fuzzy logic has been widely used and has often been the ''smart'' behind smart machines. But it will require more effort and case studies to establish its niche in risk assessment or other types of impact assessment. Although we often hear complaints about ''bright lines,'' could we adapt to a system that relaxes these …

The objectives of the overall collaborative EMSP effort (with which this project is associated) are to characterize sorption and desorption processes of U(VI) on pristine and contaminated Hanford sediments over a range of sediment facies and materials properties and to relate such characterization both to fundamental molecular-scale understanding and fieldscale models of geochemistry and mass transfer. The research is intended to provide new insights on the mechanisms of U(VI) retardation at Hanford, and to allow the development of approaches by which laboratory-developed geochemical models can be upscaled for defensible field-scale predictions of uranium transport in the environment.

This documents explains the House's bill of president George Bush's faith-based initiatives.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, the Coast Guard began its $17 billion, 20-year Integrated Deepwater System acquisition program to replace or modernize its cutters, aircraft, and communications equipment for missions generally beyond 50 miles from shore. During fiscal years 2002-03, Deepwater received about $125 million less than the Coast Guard had planned. In fiscal year 2004, Congress appropriated $668 million, $168 million more than the President's request. GAO has raised concern recently about the Coast Guard's initial management of Deepwater and the potential for escalating costs. GAO was asked to review the status of the program against the initial acquisition schedule and determine the impact of the additional $168 million in fiscal year 2004 funding on this schedule."

This report describes control loop tuning in models of the high level waste (HLW) melter offgas system, the low activity waste (LAW) melter offgas system and the HLW Pulse Jet Ventilation system and an assessment of the response to steam surges in both melter offgas systems. The three offgas systems were modeled using the Aspen Custom Modeler (ACM) software. The ACM models have been recently updated. Flowsheets of the system models used in this study are provided in Appendix D. To facilitate testing, these flowsheets represent somewhat simplified versions of the full models. For example, the HLW and LAW vessel ventilation systems have been represented as fixed air sources that provide a constant gas flow and specified air surges. Similarly, the six tanks and individual pulse-jet air sources in the HLW Pulse Jet Ventilation system are represented as a constant air source for control loop tuning purposes. The second LAW melter system has also been represented as a constant flow air source and several other simplifications such as removing HLW and LAW control interlocks, submerged bed scrubber bypass lines, and pressure relief valves have been made.

This paper informally speculates on the challenges of determining the atomic-scale surface and interface structure of nanomaterials. The relative capabilities of different techniques are compared. This includes discussion of theoretical methods needed to interpret experimental techniques.

The mechanisms responsible for noble gas concentrations, abundance patterns, and strong retentivity in sedimentary lithologies remain poorly explained. Diffusion-controlled fractionation of noble gases is modeled and examined as an explanation for the absolute and relative abundances of noble gases observed in sediments. Since the physical properties of the noble gases are strong functions of atomic mass, the individual diffusion coefficients, adsorption coefficients and atomic radii combine to impede heavy noble gas (Xe) diffusion relative to light noble gas (Ne) diffusion. Filling of lithic grains/half-spaces by diffusive processes thus produces Ne enrichments in the early and middle stages of the filling process with F(Ne) values similar to that observed in volcanic glasses. Emptying lithic grains/half-spaces produces a Xe-enriched residual in the late (but not final) stages of the process producing F(Xe) values similar to that observed in shales. 'Exotic but unexceptional' shales that exhibit both F(Ne) and F(Xe) enrichments can be produced by incomplete emptying followed by incomplete filling. This mechanism is consistent with literature reported noble gas abundance patterns but may still require a separate mechanism for strong retention. A system of labyrinths-with-constrictions and/or C-, Si-nanotubes when combined with simple adsorption can result in stronger diffusive separation and non-steady-state enrichments …

This report summarizes the technology and administration of EAS and some current proposals for an all-hazard network.

This report discusses various measures being considered by Congress that propose to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Major issues in recent years have focused on whether to incorporate further protection for property owners and reduce regulatory impacts, whether to increase the protection afforded listed species, or whether to modify various aspects of the ESA, such as the role of science in decision-making.

The history of omnibus energy legislation in the 108th Congress has been protracted. The House passed the conference version of H.R. 6 on November 18, 2003. On November 21, a cloture motion to limit debate in the Senate on the H.R. 6 conference report failed (57-40). Efforts to bring the bill back to the Senate floor early in the second session were unsuccessful. Some argued that any major changes to the legislation would not be viable because of the careful regional and political compromises that were reached to get a bill out of conference and through the House. The closest consensus was that the cost of the bill had to be reduced.

This report was prepared by the Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, Washington, BAE Systems, Inc., a subcontractor to the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Vicksburg, Mississippi. This study examined the effect of gatewell modifications on the proportion of fish lost through the gap between the top of submerged traveling screens (STSs) and the ceilings of intakes in one un-modified and two modified turbine units at Bonneville Dam Second Powerhouse (B2). Combined modifications reduced the proportion of flow through the gap from 44% to 16% and increased the proportion moving up the gatewell from 56% to 84%. We used a Dual-Frequency Identification Sonar (DIDSON) acoustic camera to record proportions of juvenile salmonids moving up into the gatewell and through the gap. The acoustic camera was used to record images of fish passing up into the gatewell and through the gap for 8-h on three successive nights in every intake of units 13, 15, and 17 (i.e., 9 intakes x 3 nights = 27 nights each season). Only 28.6% of the objects detected in spring and 12.9% in summer were determined to be fish. Other objects included sticks and debris. Although the true magnitude of STS gap-loss is unknown, …

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

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In their efforts to reduce hazardous fuels and the risk of wildfire on the nation's public lands, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) expect that stewardship contracting will play a major role. Stewardship contracting involves the use of contracting authorities--such as the exchange of goods for services--first authorized in 1998 and intended to help the agencies achieve land management goals that meet community needs. GAO was asked, among other things, to determine (1) the contracting and financial controls the agencies use to ensure accountability in managing stewardship contracting projects and (2) the steps the agencies have taken to involve communities in the projects."

Project Objective was to extend pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology into previously under-exploited applications such as polyolefin production vent gas recovery and H2 recovery from refinery waste gases containing significant amounts of heavy hydrocarbons, aromatics, or H2S.

One of the biggest challenges in cell biology is the imaging of living cells. For this purpose, the most commonly used visualization tool is fluorescent markers. However, conventional labels, such as organic fluorescent dyes or green fluorescent proteins (GFP), lack the photostability to allow the tracking of cellular events that happen over minutes to days. In addition, they are either toxic to cells (dyes), or difficult to construct and manipulate (GFP). We report here the use of a new class of fluorescent labels, silanized CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal-peptide conjugates, for imaging the nuclei of living cells. CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals, or so called quantum dots (qdots), are extremely photostable, and have been used extensively in cellular imaging of fixed cells. However, most of the studies about living cells so far have been concerned only with particle entry into the cytoplasm or the localization of receptors on the cell membrane. Specific targeting of qdots to the nucleus of living cells ha s not been reported in previous studies, due to the lack of a targeting mechanism and proper particle size. Here we demonstrate for the first time the construction of a CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal-peptide conjugate that carries the SV40 large T antigen nuclear localization signal (NLS), …

Fouling problems are perhaps the single most important reason for relatively slow acceptance of ultrafiltration in many areas of chemical and biological processing. To overcome the losses in permeate flux associated with concentration polarization and fouling in cross flow membrane filtration, we investigated the concept of flow reversal as a method to enhance membrane flux in ultrafiltration. Conceptually, flow reversal prevents the formation of stable hydrodynamic and concentration boundary layers at or near the membrane surface. Further more, periodic reversal of the flow direction of the feed stream at the membrane surface results in prevention and mitigation of membrane fouling. Consequently, these advantages are expected to enhance membrane flux significantly. A crossflow membrane filtration unit was designed and built to test the concept of periodic flow reversal for flux enhancement. The essential elements of the system include a crossflow hollow fiber membrane module integrated with a two-way valve to direct the feed flow directions. The two-way valve is controlled by a controller-timer for periodic reversal of flow of feed stream. Another important feature of the system is that with changing feed flow direction, the permeate flow direction is also changed to maintain countercurrent feed and permeate flows for enhanced mass …

Most long-lived radionuclides associated with an underground nuclear test are incorporated into a melt glass and are released by glass dissolution to become part of the hydrologic source term (HST) (Pawloski et al., 2001). Although the rates of rhyolite glass dissolution are well known under conditions where the fluid is far from saturation with respect to glass, the rates are not well known under conditions where the fluid approaches saturation. These rates are commonly much lower than the far-fromsaturation rates, often by a factor greater than 100. In recent HST simulations (Pawloski et al., 2001; Pawloski et al., 2000; Tompson et al., 1999), we conservatively estimated steady-state release rates based on a far-from-saturation fluid conditions. In recent CHESHIRE near-field simulations (Pawloski et al., 2001), it was predicted that {approx}30% of the nuclear melt glass dissolved over 1000 years. Although the ''far-from-saturation rate'' approach provides a conservative estimate of glass dissolution, it may greatly overestimate the rates of melt glass dissolution. At CHESHIRE, less conservative estimates suggest that only {approx}1% of the nuclear melt glass will dissolve in 1000 years. Lower glass dissolution rates result in lower radionuclide release rates from nuclear melt glass. The following report documents glass dissolution experiments …

A homopolar gun is discussed that could produce the high currents required for pulsed spheromak fusion reactors even with unit current amplification and open field lines during injection, possible because close coupling between the gun and flux conserver reduces gun losses to acceptable levels. Example parameters are given for a gun compatible with low cost pulsed reactors and for experiments to develop the concept.

The rotary microfilter is an alternative filter technology that offers increased filter flux over conventional filtration technologies. The filter system combines centrifugation with membrane filtration. Solids are removed from the liquid at the membrane surface, and the centrifugal force acts to keep the surface clean, minimizing the formation of a filter cake. The centrifugal force minimizes solids buildup, allowing more flow through the filter membrane. The effect is the same as increasing the axial velocity of a crossflow filter without increasing system pressure requirements. Centrifugal filter systems are commercially available and have been used in radioactive service both at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) (for Low-Level Waste) and in Russia (for High-Level Waste). The technology has been tested with actual SRS High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) Shielded Cells. SRTC researchers tested the rotary microfilter as an alternative to the crossflow filters in the current baseline of the Salt Waste Processing Project and the Actinide Removal Project (ARP). The data show significant improvement in filter flux with the rotary microfilter over the crossflow filter. As part of the development of the rotary microfilter, the author investigated the impact of the technology on the Savannah River Site High …