Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas Senate and House of Representatives granting the legislature permission to adjourn for more than three days during the period beginning on Wednesday, February 28, 2007, and ending on Monday, March 5, 2007.

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

The B(E1;1/2{sup +}{yields} 1/2{sup -}) strength for {sup 11}Be has been extracted from intermediate energy Coulomb excitation measurements, over a range of beam energies using a new reaction model, the extended continuum discretized coupled channels (XCDCC) method. In addition, a measurement of the excitation cross section for {sup 11}Be+{sup 208}Pb at 38.6 MeV/nucleon is reported. The B(E1) strength of 0.105(12) e{sup 2}fm{sup 2} derived from this measurement is consistent with those made previously at 60 and 64 MeV/nucleon, in contrast to an anomalously low result obtained at 43 MeV/nucleon. By coupling a multi-configuration description of the projectile structure with realistic reaction theory, the XCDCC model provides for the first time a fully quantum mechanical description of Coulomb excitation. The XCDCC calculations reveal that the excitation process involves significant contributions from nuclear, continuum, and higher-order effects. An analysis of the present and two earlier intermediate energy measurements yields a combined B(E1) strength of 0.105(7) e{sup 2}fm{sup 2}. This value is in good agreement with the value deduced independently from the lifetime of the 1/2{sup -} state in {sup 11}Be, and has a comparable precision.

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

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Cfengine's environment daemon ''cfenv'' has a limited and fixed set of metrics it measures on a computer. The data is assumed to be periodic in nature and cfenvd reports any data points that fall too far out of the pattern it has learned from past measurements. This is used to detect ''anomalies'' on computers. We introduce a new standalone tool, ''cfetool'', that allows arbitrary periodic data to be stored and evaluated. The user interface is modeled after rrdtool, another widely used tool to store measured data. Because a standalone tool can be used not only for computer related data, we have extended the built-in mathematics to apply to yearly data as well.

Rare charmless hadronic B decays are a good testing ground for the standard model. The dominant amplitudes contributing to this class of B decays are CKM suppressed tree diagrams and b {yields} s or b {yields} d loop diagrams (''penguins''). These decays can be used to study interfering standard model (SM) amplitudes and CP violation. They are sensitive to the presence of new particles in the loops, and they provide valuable information to constrain theoretical models of B decays. The B factories BABAR at SLAC and Belle at KEK produce B mesons in the reaction e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B}. So far they have collected integrated luminosities of about 406 fb{sup -1} and 600 fb{sup -1}, respectively. The results presented here are based on subsets of about 200-500 fb{sup -1} and are preliminary unless a journal reference is given.

This report is organized in three parts. First, it discusses the extent of GHG emissions associated with the U.S. agriculture sector, and cites current and potential estimates for U.S. agricultural soils to sequester carbon and partly offset national GHG emissions. Second, the report describes the types of land management and farm conservation practices that can reduce GHG emissions and/or sequester carbon in agricultural soils, highlighting those practices that are currently promoted under existing voluntary federal agricultural programs. Third, the report discusses the types of questions that may be raised regarding the role of the U.S. agriculture sector in the broader climate change debate, and also discusses the role of climate-related issues (e.g., GHG emissions reductions and carbon sequestration) in the context of farm program legislation that the 110th Congress may consider.

Metallic amorphous alloys or metallic glasses have been studied extensively for the last three decades due to their unique characteristics, including superior mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. Iron-based amorphous alloys have in general better corrosion resistance than their polycrystalline cousins such as the austenitic 18-8 stainless steel series (e.g. 316L SS). Fe-based amorphous alloys have even higher localized corrosion resistance than the nickel-based Alloy 22 under many laboratory tested conditions. Electrochemical laboratory tests have shown that when polycrystalline alloys such as Alloy 22 are anodically polarized in hot concentrated chloride brines, they dissolve unevenly following patterns associated with their crystalline character. However, amorphous alloys, when polarized to even higher potentials than the polycrystalline alloys, they dissolve in a desirable uniform manner. This is because the amorphous Fe-based alloys do not offer defects in the metal that can be preferentially attacked. Comparative studies will also be presented on the dissolution modes of Ni-gadolinium and borated stainless steels.

On November 22, 2005, the Manager of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) in Richland, WA issued an Occurrence Report involving a potential Pu-Fe eutectic failure mechanism for the stainless steel (SS) 3013 cans containing plutonium (Pu) metal. Four additional reports addressed nuclear safety concerns about the integrity of stainless steel containers holding plutonium during fire scenarios. The reports expressed a belief that the probability and consequences of container failure due to the formation of a plutonium-iron eutectic alloy had been overlooked. Simplified thermal model to address the Pu-Fe eutectic concerns using axisymmetric model similar to the models used in the 9975 SARP were performed. The model uses Rocky Flats configuration with 2 stacked Pu buttons inside a 3013 assembly. The assembly has an outer can, an inner can, and a convenience can, all stainless steel. The boundary conditions are similar to the regulatory 30 minutes HAC fire analyses. Computer simulations of the HAC fire transients lasting 4 hours of burn time show that the interface between the primary containment vessel and the Pu metal in the 9975 package will not reach Pu-Fe eutectic temperature of 400 C.

Conformal symmetry provides a systematic approximation to QCD in both its perturbative and nonperturbative domains. One can use the AdS/CFT correspondence between Anti-de Sitter space and conformal gauge theories to obtain an analytically tractable approximation to QCD in the regime where the QCD coupling is large and constant. For example, there is an exact correspondence between the fifth-dimensional coordinate of AdS space and a specific impact variable which measures the separation of the quark constituents within the hadron in ordinary space-time. This connection allows one to compute the analytic form of the frame-independent light-front wavefunctions of mesons and baryons, the fundamental entities which encode hadron properties and allow the computation of exclusive scattering amplitudes. One can also use conformal symmetry as a template for perturbative QCD predictions where the effects of the nonzero beta function can be systematically included in the scale of the QCD coupling. This leads to fixing of the renormalization scale and commensurate scale relations which relate observables without scale or scheme ambiguity. The results are consistent with the renormalization group and the analytic connection of QCD to Abelian theory at N{sub C} {yields} 0. I also discuss a number of novel phenomenological features of QCD. Initial- …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States Air Force has described aerial refueling as a key capability supporting the National Security Strategy and military warfighters on a daily basis. Currently, the Air Force uses two aircraft for aerial refueling: the KC-135 and the KC-10. While the KC-10 fleet has an average age greater than 20 years, the KC-135 fleet averages more than 46 years and is the oldest combat weapon system in the Air Force inventory. Consequently, the Air Force intends to replace or recapitalize the KC-135 first. The Air Force began its KC-135 recapitalization efforts in fiscal year 2004, and officials presented a KC-135 recapitalization program to joint military decision makers in November 2006. This program proposed the inclusion of a passenger and cargo capability, which exists to some extent in the current aircraft, in the replacement air refueling aircraft. According to Air Force officials, the recapitalization process may cost between $72 billion and $120 billion and will span decades. This recapitalization takes place at a time when the Air Force faces fiscal constraints over the next few years, forcing officials to reconfigure the service's short- and long-term priorities in its …

The objective of this study is to determine the feasibility that routinely collected data from the Doppler radars can appropriately be used in Atmospheric Dispersion Models (ADMs) for emergency response. We have evaluated the computational efficiency and accuracy of two variational mathematical techniques that derive the u- and v-components of the wind from radial velocities obtained from Doppler radars. A review of the scientific literature indicated that the techniques employ significantly different approaches in applying the variational techniques: 2-D Variational (2DVar), developed by NOAA¹s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and Variational Doppler Radar Analysis System (VDRAS), developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). We designed a series of numerical experiments in which both models employed the same horizontal domain and resolution encompassing Oklahoma City for a two-week period during the summer of 2003 so that the computed wind retrievals could be fairly compared. Both models ran faster than real-time on a typical single dual-processor computer, indicating that they could be used to generate wind retrievals in near real-time. 2DVar executed ~2.5 times faster than VDRAS because of its simpler approach.

Here we present Spitzer Space Telescope imaging of Cyg A with the Infrared Array Camera at 4.5 {micro}m and 8.0 {micro}m, resulting in the detection of the high-energy tails or cut-offs in the synchrotron spectra for all four hotspots of this archetype radio galaxy. When combined with the other data collected (and re-analyzed) from the literature, our observations allow for detailed modeling of the broad-band (radio-to-X-ray) emission for the brightest spots A and D. We confirm that the X-ray flux detected previously from these features is consistent with the synchrotron self-Compton radiation for the magnetic field intensity B {approx} 170 {micro}G in spot A, and B {approx} 270 {micro}G in spot D. We also find that the energy density of the emitting electrons is most likely larger by a factor of a few than the energy density of the hotspots magnetic field. We construct energy spectra of the radiating ultrarelativistic electrons. We find that for both hotspots A and D these spectra are consistent with a broken power-law extending from at least 100MeV up to {approx} 100GeV, and that the spectral break corresponds almost exactly to the proton rest energy of {approx} 1GeV. We argue that the shape of the …

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

Using BABAR measurements of the inclusive electron spectrum in B {yields} X{sub u}e{nu} decays and the inclusive photon spectrum in B {yields} X{sub s}{gamma} decays, we extract the magnitude of the CKM matrix element V{sub ub}. The extraction is based on several theoretical calculations designed to reduce the theoretical uncertainties by exploiting the assumption that the leading shape functions are the same for all b {yields} q transitions (q is a light quark). The current results agree well with the previous analysis, have indeed smaller theoretical errors, but are presently limited by the knowledge of the photon spectrum and the experimental errors on the lepton spectrum.

This report summarizes provisions from legislation enacted by the 109th Congress with regard to federal emergency management authorities but does not cover all legislation enacted in response to Hurricane Katrina, Rita, Wilma.

This report provides information about the Presidential Declarations, Eligible Activities, and Funding on Federal Stafford Act Disaster Assistance. Congress appropriates money to DRF for disaster assistance authorized by the Stafford Act, which is administered by FEMA.

We present the first observation of the decay B{sup +} {yields} {rho}{sup +}K{sup 0}, using a data sample of 348 fb{sup -1} collected at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. The branching fraction and charge asymmetry are measured to be (8.0{sub -1.3}{sup +1.4} {+-} 0.5) x 10{sup -6} and (-12.2 {+-} 16.6 {+-} 2.0)%, respectively, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The significance of the observed branching fraction, including systematic uncertainties, is 7.9 standard deviations.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Guest artist recital performed at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

Inorganic scintillation detectors coupled to PMTs are an important element of medical imaging applications such as positron emission tomography (PET). Performance as well as cost of these systems is limited by the properties of the scintillation detectors available at present. The Phase I project was aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of producing high performance scintillators using a low cost fabrication approach. Samples of these scintillators were produced and their performance was evaluated. Overall, the Phase I effort was very successful. The Phase II project will be aimed at advancing the new scintillation technology for PET. Large samples of the new scintillators will be produced and their performance will be evaluated. PET modules based on the new scintillators will also be built and characterized.

Large scale InfiniBand clusters are becoming increasingly popular, as reflected by the TOP 500 Supercomputer rankings. At the same time, fat tree has become a popular interconnection topology for these clusters, since it allows multiple paths to be available in between a pair of nodes. However, even with fat tree, hot-spots may occur in the network depending upon the route configuration between end nodes and communication pattern(s) in the application. To make matters worse, the deterministic routing nature of InfiniBand limits the application from effective use of multiple paths transparently and avoid the hot-spots in the network. Simulation based studies for switches and adapters to implement congestion control have been proposed in the literature. However, these studies have focused on providing congestion control for the communication path, and not on utilizing multiple paths in the network for hot-spot avoidance. In this paper, we design an MPI functionality, which provides hot-spot avoidance for different communications, without a priori knowledge of the pattern. We leverage LMC (LID Mask Count) mechanism of InfiniBand to create multiple paths in the network and present the design issues (scheduling policies, selecting number of paths, scalability aspects) of our design. We implement our design and evaluate it …