Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Constitutionality of a ban on testimonials by health care professionals (RQ-0411-JC).

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; County's and school district's obligations vis-a-vis a juvenile justice alternative education program , and relted questions (RQ-0420-JC).

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification;Authority of a home-rule city to create a civil offense for the disregard of a traffic control signal and to use automated enforcement systems for traffic control(RQ-0426-JC).

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a federally funded state protective and advocacy system for persons with mental illness or developmental disabilities may have access to a person and his or her records over the objection of the person's guardian (RQ-0427-JC).

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

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia has been conducting biological and water quality studies of the Savannah River since 1951. These studies are designed to assess potential effects of Savannah River Site (SRS) contaminants and warm-water discharges on the general health of the river and its tributaries. The study design includes multiple biological groups spanning a broad range of ecological roles, both because no single group is the best indicator of every component of water quality and because there is wide-spread agreement that protecting the entire system is important.

High level waste Evaporators at the Savannah River Site (SRS) process radioactive waste to concentrate supernate and thus conserve tank space. In June of 1997, difficulty in evaporator operation was initially observed. This operational difficulty evidenced itself as a plugging of the evaporator's gravity drain line (GDL). The material blocking the GDL was determined to be a sodium aluminosilicate. Following a mechanical cleaning of the GDL, the evaporator was returned to service until October 1999. At this time massive deposits were discovered in the evaporator pot. As a result of the changes in evaporator chemistry and the resulting formation of aluminosilicate deposits in the evaporator, a comprehensive research and development program has been undertaken. This program is underway in order to assist in understanding the new evaporator chemistry and gain insight into the deposition phenomena. Key results from testing in FY01 have demonstrated that the chemistry of the evaporator feed favors aluminosilicate formation. Both the reaction kinetics and particle growth of the aluminosilicate material under SRS evaporator conditions has been demonstrated to occur within the residence times utilized in the SRS evaporator operation. Batch and continuous-flow experiments at known levels of supersaturation have shown a significant correlation between the deposition …

Comparative finite element modeling simulations of initial intergranular fracture of two iron aluminides (FA186 and FA189) were carried out to study the intrinsic and extrinsic fracture behavior of the alloys as related to hydrogen embrittlement. The computational simulations involved sequentially-coupled stress and mass-diffusion analyses to determine the stress/strain distribution and the extent of hydrogen concentration at the crack tip region. Simulations of initial intergranular fracture of the two alloys under either air or vacuum conditions were conducted. With judicious selection of grain boundary failure strains for each alloy and assumed material degradation at hydrogen diffusion zone, the numerical results agree well with previous experimental test results. We have considered the various methods by which the thermal expansion of Fe{sub 3}Al can be modeled. As a matter of practicality, we have started with a conceptually simple continuum medium modeling, which we have used in initial calculations reported here, despite its limitations in neglecting the effects of optical phonons. This makes the results increasingly suspect for temperatures above the Debye temperature. However, the results we obtain are surprisingly good considering this important limitation. Nevertheless, we regard these results as being suspect. Therefore, in addition, we discuss a wholly new ab-initio-based method which …

A detailed and comprehensive research and development methodology is being prescribed to produce Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS)-Fe{sub 3}Al thin walled tubes, using powder extrusion methodologies, for eventual use at operating temperatures of up to 1100% in the power generation industry. A particular ''in service application'' anomaly of Fe{sub 3}Al-based alloys is that the environmental resistance is maintained up to 1200 C, well beyond where such alloys retain sufficient mechanical strength. Grain boundary creep processes at such high temperatures are anticipated to be the dominant failure mechanism. Thus, the challenges of this program are manifold: (1) to produce thin walled ODS-Fe{sub 3}Al tubes, employing powder extrusion methodologies, with (2) adequate increased strength for service at operating temperatures, and (3) to mitigate creep failures by enhancing the as-processed grain size in ODS-Fe{sub 3}Al tubes. Our research progress till date has resulted in the successful batch production of typically 8 Ft. lengths of 1-3/8 inch diameter, 1/8 inch wall thickness, ODS-Fe{sub 3}Al tubes via a proprietary single step extrusion consolidation process. The process parameters for such consolidation methodologies have been prescribed and evaluated as being routinely reproducible. Such processing parameters (i.e., extrusion ratios, temperature, can design etc.) were particularly guided by the need …

The D-Area Coal Pile Runoff Basin groundwater plume is acidic and contains heavy metals and sulfate. Portions of this plume near the source have a pH approaching 2.0 and heavy metal concentrations exceeding Maximum Primary Drinking Water Regulations. Remedial action for the groundwater contaminated by this RCRA/CERCLA unit will be required to mitigate the migration of highly contaminated groundwater towards adjacent surface water bodies.

Iron-aluminum-chromium coatings were investigated to determine the best candidates for coatings of boiler tubes in Low NOx fossil fueled power plants. Ten iron-aluminum-chromium weld claddings with aluminum concentrations up to 10wt% were tested in a variety of environments to evaluate their high temperature corrosion resistance. The weld overlay claddings also contained titanium additions to investigate any beneficial effects from these ternary and quaternary alloying additions. Several High-Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) thermal spray coatings with higher aluminum concentrations were investigated as well. Gaseous corrosion testing revealed that at least 10wt%Al is required for protection in the range of environments examined. Chromium additions were beneficial in all of the environments, but additions of titanium were beneficial only in sulfur rich atmospheres. Similar results were observed when weld claddings were in contact with corrosive slag while simultaneously, exposed to the corrosive environments. An aluminum concentration of 10wt% was required to prevent large amounts of corrosion to take place. Again chromium additions were beneficial with the greatest corrosion protection occurring for welds containing both 10wt%Al and 5wt%Cr. The exposed thermal spray coatings showed either significant cracking within the coating, considerable thickness loss, or corrosion products at the coating substrate interface. Therefore, the thermal spray coatings …

For this Cooperative Agreement, the pulse heater module is the technology envelope for an indirectly heated steam reformer. The field of use of the steam reformer pursuant to this Cooperative Agreement with DOE is for the processing of sub-bituminous coals and lignite. The main focus is the mild gasification of such coals for the generation of both fuel gas and char--for the steel industry is the main focus. An alternate market application for the substitution of metallurgical coke is also presented. This project was devoted to qualification of a 253-tube pulse heater module. This module was designed, fabricated, installed, instrumented and tested in a fluidized bed test facility. Several test campaigns were conducted. This larger heater is a 3.5 times scale-up of the previous pulse heaters that had 72 tubes each. The smaller heater has been part of previous pilot field testing of the steam reformer at New Bern, North Carolina. The project also included collection and reduction of mild gasification process data from operation of the process development unit (PDU). The operation of the PDU was aimed at conditions required to produce char (and gas) for the Northshore Steel Operations. Northshore Steel supplied the coal for the process unit …

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since the early 1970's, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has helped Bolivian and Peruvian growers of illicit crops find legal ways to earn a living. The experiences in Bolivia and Peru indicate that effective alternative development demands a strong host government commitment to a comprehensive array of counternarcotics measures and years of sustained U.S. assistance. Chief among the specific lessons for Colombia are that progress requires host government control of drug-growing areas and a political will to interdict drug trafficking and forcibly eradicate illicit crops as well as a carefully coordinated approach to these efforts. USAID began targeting Colombia's poppy-growing areas in 2000 and expanded its program to include coca-growing areas in 2001, but most activities will not begin in earnest until 2002. The experiences in Bolivia and Peru suggest that alternative development in Colombia will not be successful unless the Colombian government controls coca-growing areas, has the capacity to carry out sustained interdiction operations, and the ability to effectively coordinate eradication and alternative development activities."

Newspaper from Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

Carbonaceous aerosols from anthropogenic activities act to both scatter and absorb solar radiation. It has been postulated that absorption by aerosols might significantly alter both the vertical temperature structure of the atmosphere and cloud fraction [Hansen et al. 1997, Ackerman et al, 2000]. Since both effects may alter the assessment of climate change associated with human activities, it is very important to understand both the magnitude and the mechanism by which carbonaceous aerosols affect climate. In this paper, we used a coupled climate and chemistry transport model to estimate the effects of carbonaceous aerosols on the vertical temperature structure and their effects on cloud fraction. A series Of control simulations were also carried out to compare the results of the model in which carbonaceous aerosols interact with climate with those in which they do not. We will present the temperature difference between simulations that include the effect of black carbon on the radiation field and those that do not, both at the surface and in the free troposphere. We will also discuss the change of temperature lapse rate and changes of cloud fraction associated with black carbon.

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are electrochemical devices that have received great interest recently because of their promise for clean and efficient power generation. Since SOFCs generate electricity directly through electrochemical processes that do not involve combustion, fuel cells are not limited by the Carnot cycle and thus, very high efficiency can be achieved. For instance, current state-of-the-art fuel cells can reach 50% efficiency while that of conventional power generation devices are generally below 30%. The high efficiency is a key mean that will enable the use of fossil fuels at reduced carbon emissions. The ideal fuel for fuel cells is hydrogen. However, hydrogen is not available directly in nature but must be made using another fossil fuel and/or energy sources. For the immediate future, except for a few niche markets, fuel cells will have to use hydrocarbons as fuel. The ideal hydrocarbon fuel would be natural gas since a natural gas infrastructure readily exists. Natural gas has indeed been used to run various fuel cells. However, natural gas cannot be used directly as a fuel for fuel cells because of its low reactivity. Natural gas must be converted to more reactive components, typically to carbon monoxide and hydrogen via …

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The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Servando Lopez. Lopez was born in Lara, Texas on 8 April 1925 and attended school until the 8th grade. He was drafted into the Army and sent to Camp Wolters near Mineral Wells, Texas for 18 weeks of basic training. Completing training he was sent to New York City for debarkation. After arriving in South Hampton, England, he was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, Company K, 175th Infantry. Lopez tells of the unit undergoing amphibious training daily for several weeks. He recounts being in the third wave attacking Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. On 8 September, while leading a combat patrol, he was wounded and sent to England for recovery. He was awarded the Silver Star and a Purple Heart. He tells of returning to his platoon in December 1944 and soon after crossing the Ruhr River, he was wounded again and treated at an aid station. The unit advanced to the Rhine River and stopped. He relates that massive numbers of German soldiers were surrendering to the US troops to avoid being captured by the advancing Russian Army. In October 1945, Lopez returned to the …

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

This article discusses the relationship between metallicity and luminosity in active galactic nuclei by introducing new metallicity measurements for a sample of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies.

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

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Servando Lopez. Lopez was born in Lara, Texas on 8 April 1925 and attended school until the 8th grade. He was drafted into the Army and sent to Camp Wolters near Mineral Wells, Texas for 18 weeks of basic training. Completing training he was sent to New York City for debarkation. After arriving in South Hampton, England, he was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, Company K, 175th Infantry. Lopez tells of the unit undergoing amphibious training daily for several weeks. He recounts being in the third wave attacking Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. On 8 September, while leading a combat patrol, he was wounded and sent to England for recovery. He was awarded the Silver Star and a Purple Heart. He tells of returning to his platoon in December 1944 and soon after crossing the Ruhr River, he was wounded again and treated at an aid station. The unit advanced to the Rhine River and stopped. He relates that massive numbers of German soldiers were surrendering to the US troops to avoid being captured by the advancing Russian Army. In October 1945, Lopez returned to the …

The authors study the behavior of the underlying event in hard scattering proton-antiproton collisions at 1.8 TeV and compare with the QCD Monte-Carlo models. The underlying event is everything except the two outgoing hard scattered jets and receives contributions from the beam-beam remnants plus initial and final-state radiation. The data indicate that neither ISAJET or HERWIG produce enough charged particles (with p{sub T} > 0.5 GeV/c) from the beam-beam remnant component and that ISAJET produces too many charged particles from initial-state radiation. PYTHIA which uses multiple parton scattering to enhance the underlying event does the best job describing the data.