This article describes a combined theoretical and experimental study of the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga, Mn)As which explains the remarkably lard changes observed on low-temperature annealing.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. policymakers and industry groups are concerned that some foreign textile and apparel imports are entering the United States fraudulently and displacing U.S. textile and apparel industry workers. Congress mandated GAO to assess U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) system for monitoring and enforcing textile transshipment and make recommendations for improvements, as needed. Therefore, GAO reviewed (1) how CBP identifies potential illegal textile transshipment, (2) how well CBP's textile review process works to prevent illegal textile transshipment, and (3) how effectively CBP uses its in-bond system to monitor foreign textiles transiting the United States."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Meeting the requirements of tax rules can be especially burdensome to small business sole proprietorships that independently own their businesses. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data show that, compared to other taxpayer groups, sole proprietorships have more problems complying with their tax obligations. Simplifying how sole proprietorships account for and report expenses may ease their burden and increase compliance. Because of the requesters' interest in alleviating any unnecessary burden that federal tax requirements impose on small businesses, we were asked to provide information on the expenses that sole proprietorships report on IRS's Form 1040 Schedule C--Profit or Loss from Business and on Form 1040 Schedule F--Profit or Loss from Farming. By having information on the expenses reported by sole proprietorships, policymakers may be in a better position to develop alternatives for simplifying how these taxpayers account for and report their expenses."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) pose a growing threat to U.S. national security interests as accurate, inexpensive delivery systems for conventional, chemical, and biological weapons. GAO assessed (1) the tools the U.S. and foreign governments use to address proliferation risks posed by the sale of these items and (2) efforts to verify the end use of exported cruise missiles, UAVs, and related technology."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "There is a growing understanding that the federal government needs to fundamentally rethink its current approach to pay and to better link pay to individual and organizational performance. Federal agencies have been experimenting with pay for performance through the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) personnel demonstration projects. GAO identified the approaches that selected personnel demonstration projects have taken to implement their pay for performance systems. These projects include: the Navy Demonstration Project at China Lake (China Lake), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Department of Commerce (DOC), the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the Naval Sea Systems Command Warfare Centers (NAVSEA) at Dahlgren and Newport, and the Civilian Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project (AcqDemo). We selected these demonstration projects based on factors such as status of the project and makeup of employee groups covered. We provided drafts of this report to officials in the Department of Defense (DOD) and DOC for their review and comment. DOD provided written comments concurring with our report. DOC provided minor technical clarifications and updated information. We provided a draft of the report to the Director of OPM for …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has subsidized the development of over 23,000 properties by offering owners favorable long-term mortgage financing or rental assistance payments in exchange for owners' commitment to house low-income tenants. When owners pay off mortgages--the mortgages "mature"--the subsidized financing ends, raising the possibility of rent increases. GAO was asked to determine the number of HUD mortgages that are scheduled to mature in the next 10 years, the potential impact on tenants, and what HUD and others can do to keep these properties affordable."

Semiweekly newspaper from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas that includes local, national, and campus news along with advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

During FY 2001, two arrays, each containing seven neptunium-loaded targets, were irradiated at the Advanced Test Reactor in Idaho to examine the influence of multi-target self-shielding on {sup 236}Pu content and to evaluate fission product release data. One array consisted of seven targets that contained 10 vol% NpO{sub 2} pellets, while the other array consisted of seven targets that contained 20 vol % NpO{sub 2} pellets. The arrays were located in the same irradiation facility but were axially separated to minimize the influence of one array on the other. Each target also contained a dosimeter package, which consisted of a small NpO{sub 2} wire that was inside a vanadium container. After completion of irradiation and shipment back to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, nine of the targets (four from the 10 vol% array and five from the 20 vol% array) were punctured for pressure measurement and measurement of {sup 85}Kr. These nine targets and the associated dosimeters were then chemically processed to measure the residual neptunium, total plutonium production, {sup 238}Pu production, and {sup 236}Pu concentration at discharge. The amount and isotopic composition of fission products were also measured. This report provides the results of the processing and analysis of …

Weekly student newspaper from San Antonio College in San Antonio, Texas that includes campus news along with advertising.

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

Oxidative alkaline leaching has been proposed to pre-treat the high-level nuclear waste sludges to remove some of the problematic (e.g., Cr) and/or non-radioactive (e.g., Na, Al) constituents before vitrification. It is critical to understand the behavior of actinides, americium and plutonium in particular, in oxidative alkaline leaching. We have studied the leaching behavior of americium from four different sludge simulants (BiPO{sub 4}, BiPO{sub 4 modified}, Redox, PUREX) using potassium permanganate and potassium persulfate in alkaline solutions. Up to 60% of americium sorbed onto the simulants is leached from the sludges by alkaline persulfate and permanganate. The percentage of americium leached increases with [NaOH] (between 1.0 and 5.0 M). The initial rate of americium leaching by potassium persulfate increases in the order BiPO{sub 4} sludge < Redox sludge < PUREX sludge. The data are most consistent with oxidation of Am{sup 3+} in the sludge to either AmO{sub 2}{sup +} or AmO{sub 2}{sup 2+} in solution. Though neither of these species is expected to exhibit long-term stability in solution, the potential for mobilization of americium from sludge samples would have to be accommodated in the design of any oxidative leaching process for real sludge samples.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO) have recently initiated a project aimed at identifying, evaluating, and qualifying the materials needed for the construction of the critical components of coal-fired boilers capable of operating at much higher efficiencies than current generation of supercritical plants. This increased efficiency is expected to be achieved principally through the use of ultrasupercritical steam conditions (USC). The project goal initially was to assess/develop materials technology that will enable achieving turbine throttle steam conditions of 760 C (1400 F)/35 MPa (5000 psi), although this goal for the main steam temperature had to be revised down to 732 C (1350 F), based on a preliminary assessment of material capabilities. The project is intended to build further upon the alloy development and evaluation programs that have been carried out in Europe and Japan. Those programs have identified ferritic steels capable of meeting the strength requirements of USC plants up to approximately 620 C (1150 F) and nickel-based alloys suitable up to 700 C (1300 F). In this project, the maximum temperature capabilities of these and other available high-temperature alloys are being assessed to provide a basis for materials selection and application under …

Plasma impurity content depends upon the impurity sources, fueling efficiency, and confinement. In JET [Joint European Torus], carbon is the primary impurity, and its fueling efficiency has been studied using methane gas injection and modeled with the SOL [scrape-off layer] codes: DIVIMP and EDGE2D. In this paper, EDGE2D modeling of similar AUG [ASDEX-Upgrade] experiments and projections to ITER are described. The parameters have been identified which govern the size scaling of carbon screening. Size scaling is complex. For carbon injected from the main chamber, the important factors include: the SOL temperature, the magnitude of the thermal force at the divertor entrance, and the parallel distance to the divertor. For carbon injected at the strike points, the intersection of the carbon ionization region with the region of strong thermal force determines the carbon fueling efficiency ITER projects to have much better carbon screening than JET. The ITER SOL is hotter so that main chamber carbon is ionized further from the separatrix making the calculated carbon fueling efficiency lower. Also, the carbon originating near the strike point has less chance of escaping the divertor by factors of about 100. The carbon sputtering is projected to be larger by similar factors, making the …

Plutonium moved more rapidly through vadose zone sediments than previous thought possible. Based on field studies conducted for up to 11 years and supplemental laboratory studies, it was hypothesized that periodic sediment drying caused the very slow release of tightly bound Pu into the mobile aqueous phase, presumably by oxidation of Pu(IV) to the more mobile Pu(V). Of particular interest, was that this release occurred in sediments, that when saturated with groundwater, promoted rapid reduction of Pu to the less mobile form, Pu(IV). Accurate prediction of Pu transport through the vadose zone is important because this region is expected to provide an important buffer between disposed nuclear waste and the biosphere.

Co-60 was historically produced in the SRS reactors. Cobalt slugs were irradiated in the early 1970s. Post-production, remaining cobalt slugs (including slab form) were consolidated for storage. There are approximately nine hundred cobalt slugs currently stored awaiting final disposition. These slugs had historically incomplete documentation for activity rates; therefore, assaying was required in order to determine their activity levels. Since the gamma dose rate from these slugs is extremely high, the most cost effective way to shield a source of this magnitude from personnel and the radiation detector was to use the basin water in which the slugs are stored as the shield. A sodium iodide gamma detector was placed above a specially designed air collimator assembly, so that slug was at least eight feet from the detector and was shielded by the basin water. Using a sodium iodide detector and multichannel analyzer system and an underwater collimator assembly, Co-60 concentrations we re determined for Disassembly Basin cobalt slugs and slabs and 18 curium sampler slugs. The total activity of all of the assayed slugs summed to 31,783 curies. From the Co-60 concentrations of the curium sampler slugs, the irradiation flux was determined for the known irradiation time. The amounts …

Plutonium moved more rapidly through vadose zone sediments than previous thought possible. Based on field studies conducted for up to 11 years and supplemental laboratory studies, it was hypothesized that periodic sediment drying caused the very slow release of tightly bound Pu into the mobile aqueous phase, presumably by oxidation of Pu(IV) to the more mobile Pu(V). Of particular interest, was that this release occurred in sediments, that when saturated with groundwater, promoted rapid reduction of Pu to the less mobile form, Pu(IV). Accurate prediction of Pu transport through the vadose zone is important because this region is expected to provide an important buffer between disposed nuclear waste and the biosphere.

A performance comparison of a CdTe and a CdZnTe detector when exposed to uranium samples of various isotopic enrichments has been performed. These high-resolution detectors can assist in the rapid determination of uranium isotopic content of illicit material. Spectra were recorded from these room temperature semiconductor detectors with a portable multi-channel analyzer, both in the laboratory and in a field environment. Both detectors were operated below ambient temperature using the vendor supplied thermoelectric coolers. Both detectors had nominally the same active volume (18 mm3 for the CdZnTe and 25 mm3 for the CdTe detector) and resolution. Spectra of samples of known isotopic content were recorded at fixed geometries. An evaluation of potential signature g rays for the detection of enriched uranium was completed. Operational advantages and disadvantages of each detector are discussed. There is a need to improve the detection sensitivity during the interdiction of special nuclear materials (SNM) for increased homeland protection. It is essential to provide additional tools to first responders and law enforcement personnel for assessing nuclear and radiological threats.

This tenth quarterly technical report discusses the progress made on a machine vision technique for ore grading based on hyperspectral imaging. A graduate student at Montana Tech has successfully defended her thesis related to this project. Arrangements with Stillwater Mining Company to deploy a machine vision system in their core room have been completed. Designs for they system that will be installed next quarter have been drawn and parts are being machined. Presentations on the spectral imaging system developed during this effort have been made to Stillwater Mining Company and at a remote sensing symposium at Montana State University.

A performance comparison of a CdTe and a CdZnTe detector when exposed to uranium samples of various isotopic enrichments has been performed. These high-resolution detectors can assist in the rapid determination of uranium isotopic content of illicit material. Spectra were recorded from these room temperature semiconductor detectors with a portable multi-channel analyzer, both in the laboratory and in a field environment. Both detectors were operated below ambient temperature using the vendor supplied thermoelectric coolers. Both detectors had nominally the same active volume (18 mm3 for the CdZnTe and 25 mm3 for the CdTe detector) and resolution. Spectra of samples of known isotopic content were recorded at fixed geometries. An evaluation of potential signature g rays for the detection of enriched uranium was completed. Operational advantages and disadvantages of each detector are discussed. There is a need to improve the detection sensitivity during the interdiction of special nuclear materials (SNM) for increased homeland protection. It is essential to provide additional tools to first responders and law enforcement personnel for assessing nuclear and radiological threats.

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

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

Funeral program for Eddie Douglas Jr., born November 10, 19388. The funeral was held January 23, 2004 at Refuge Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, officiated by Pastor Douglas Whittington. Funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and he was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.

This report evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of different types of exchange rate regimes from the perspective of their effects on macroeconomic stability.