The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several permanently authorized programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including federal crop insurance, the non-insured assistance program and emergency disaster loans. In recent years, Congress frequently has made supplemental financial assistance available to farmers and ranchers on an ad-hoc basis, most notably in the form of direct crop disaster payments and emergency livestock assistance. Congress provided an estimated $3.1 billion of such assistance in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-7) for 2001 and 2002 crop and livestock losses. Some farm groups would like to see similar assistance provided for 2003 losses, particularly in regions of the Midwest and West that have experienced prolonged drought conditions. To date, no ad-hoc assistance has been made available for 2003 losses.

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

This report briefly describes the various types of amendments that take place in the Senate. It has sections describing distinctions among amendments, degrees of amendments, forms of amendments, and the scope of amendments.

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.

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

We present an algorithm for solving Poisson's equation and the heat equation on irregular domains in three dimensions. Our work uses the Cartesian grid embedded boundary algorithm for 2D problems of Johansen and Colella (1998, J. Comput. Phys. 147(2):60-85) and extends work of McCorquodale, Colella and Johansen (2001, J. Comput. Phys. 173(2):60-85). Our method is based on a finite-volume discretization of the operator, on the control volumes formed by intersecting the Cartesian grid cells with the domain, combined with a second-order accurate discretization of the fluxes. The resulting method provides uniformly second-order accurate solutions and gradients and is amenable to geometric multigrid solvers.

The corrosion behavior of Alloy 600 (UNS N06600) is investigated in hydrogenated water at 260 C. The corrosion kinetics are observed to be parabolic, the parabolic rate constant being determined by chemical descaling to be 0.055 mg dm{sup -2} hr{sup -1/2}. A combination of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, supplemented by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, are used to identify the oxide phases present (i.e., spinel) and to characterize their morphology and thickness. Two oxide layers are identified: an outer, ferrite-rich layer and an inner, chromite-rich layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with argon ion milling and target factor analysis is applied to determine spinel stoichiometry; the inner layer is (Ni{sub 0.7}Fe{sub 0.3})(Fe{sub 0.3}Cr{sub 0.7}){sub 2}O{sub 4}, while the outer layer is (Ni{sub 0.9}Fe{sub 0.1})(Fe{sub 0.85}Cr{sub 0.15}){sub 2}O{sub 4}. The distribution of trivalent iron and chromium cations in the inner and outer oxide layers is essentially the same as that found previously in stainless steel corrosion oxides, thus confirming their invariant nature as solvi in the immiscible spinel binary Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}-FeCr{sub 2}O{sub 4} (or NiFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}-NiCr{sub 2}O{sub 4}). Although oxidation occurred non-selectively, excess quantities of nickel(II) oxide were not found. Instead, the excess nickel was accounted …

News release about the opening of DART's Victory Station near the American Airlines Center.

Required characterizations of the DOE's transuranic (TRU) and mixed wastes (MW) before disposing and treatment of the wastes are currently costly and have lengthy turnaround. Research toward developing faster and more sensitive characterization and analysis tools to reduce costs and accelerate throughputs is therefore desirable. This project is aimed at the development of electrochemical sensors, specific to toxic transition metals, uranium, and technetium, that can be integrated into the portable sensor systems. This system development will include fabrication and performance evaluation of electrodes as well as understanding of electrochemically active sites on the electrodes specifically designed for toxic metals, uranium and technetium detection. Subsequently, these advanced measurement units will be incorporated into a microfluidic prototype specifically designed and fabricated for field-deployable characterizations of such species. The electrochemical sensors being investigate d are based on a new class of nanoengineered sorbents, Self-Assembled Monolayer on Mesoporous Supports (SAMMS). SAMMS are highly efficient sorbents due to their interfacial chemistry that can be fine-tuned to selectively sequester a specific target species. Adsorptive stripping voltammetry (AdSV) will be performed on two classes of electrodes: the SAMMS modified carbon paste electrodes, and the SAMMS thin film immobilized on microelectrode arrays. Interfacial chemistry and electrochemistry of metal …

Email from Caro Bosca to the WASP Board of Directors discussing recent committee appointments, the group's letterhead, proposed changes to the newsletter's content and mailing schedule, and upcoming events honoring the WASP.

Concert performed in UNT Murchison Performing Arts Center, Winspear Hall on November 2, 2011 at 8:00 pm.

Pre-deployment and degradation testing of commercial leak seal products were performed to evaluate the potential for remote, short-term repair of leaks in waste storage tank cooling coils. A liquid glass metallic product was identified for extensive testing after initial screening of four candidates. Testing was performed with manufactured holes and slits in an immersed pipe operated at nominal coil pressure (approximately 50 psig). The maximum leak sizes that sealed under simulated field conditions were a slit, 0.016 times 0.291 in. (leak rate, 1.34 gpm) and a 0.046 inch diameter hole (leak rate, 0.63 gpm). Degradation of seals and of the constituent fiber samples was studied for radiation and for immersion in water and simulated waste. Seals withstood doses up 1.66E7 R, equivalent to 2 years in a nuclear waste tank. A seal functioned for 50 days when immersed in simulated waste at 75-80 C, low-pressure cooling water at 27-35 C, and several salt/desalt cycles. A small leak occurred at 23 days, but self-healed. The limited test results provided confidence that small leaks in the evaporator cooling coils could be repaired. Visual sighting of the leaks in situ was unsuccessful, so geometry and locations were unknown. A simple deployment system was …

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

This report provides a list of books and Web addresses intended to help students locate financial aid. This list includes both general and comprehensive works, as well as ones targeted toward specific types of aid and circumstances (e.g., non-need-based scholarships, female and minority students, or students studying abroad).

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Program from the University of North Texas, League of Professional Women, "Changing the Face of Leadership, One Woman at a Time," November 2, 2004. The luncheon was held in the Silver Eagle Suite C, of the University's Union building from 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm and includes an hourly agenda.

This report begins with a summary of basic federal requirements applicable to payments for all services and an overview of major developments in federal Medicaid reimbursement policy over the last 20 years. This overview provides a historical context for current policies and highlights some issues that have been perennial concerns for federal and state policymakers. The next four sections of the report provide a detailed discussion of Medicaid reimbursement for four basic categories of services or providers.

The A-01 NPDES outfall at the Savannah River Site receives process wastewater and stormwater which passes through a wetland treatment system (WTS) prior to discharge. The overall objective of our research is to better understand the mechanisms of operation of the A-01 WTS in order to provide better input to the design of future systems. The system is a vegetated surface flow wetland and has a retention time of approximately 48 hours. Sampling conducted during the fourth year of operation validated continued wetland performance, and assessed the fate of a larger suite of metals present in the water. Copper and mercury removal efficiencies were still very high, both in excess of 80 per cent removal from the water after passage through the wetland system. Lead removal from the water by the system was 83 per cent, zinc removal was 60 per cent, and nickel was generally unaffected. Nitrates entering into the wetland cells are almost immediately removed from the water column and generally no nitrates are discharged from the A cells. The wetland cells are very anaerobic and the sediments have negative redox potentials. As a result, manganese and iron mineral phases in the sediments have been reduced to soluble …

We utilize new VLA Galactic plane catalogs at 5 and 1.4 GHz covering the first Galactic quadrant (350{sup o} {le} l {le} 42{sup o}, |b| {le} 0.4{sup o}) in conjunction with the MSX6C Galactic plane catalog to construct a large sample of ultra-compact H II regions. A radio catalog of this region was first published by Becker et al. (1994), but we have added new observations and re-reduced the data with significantly improved calibration and mosaicing procedures, resulting in a tripling of the number of 5 GHz sources detected. Comparison of the new 5 GHz catalog and the MSX6C Galactic plane catalog resulted in a sample of 687 matches, out of which we estimate only 15 to be chance coincidences. Most of the matches show red MSX colors and a thermal radio spectrum. The scale height of their Galactic latitude distribution is very small (FWHM of 16' or {approx} 40 pc). These properties suggest that the sample is dominated by young ultra-compact H II regions, most of which are previously uncataloged.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gail Freeman. Freeman joined the Minnesota National Guard in 1940 and his unit was federalized in early 1941. His artillery unit, the 125th Field Artillery, was folded into the w34th Infantry Division and Freeman landed in Ireland in May 1942. Freeman served as a radio operator with a forward observer. His first action was in Tunisia. He then went with the unit to Salerno and fought at Monte Cassino. He finally entered the hospital with battle fatigue and was returned to the US where he ended the war guarding German prisoners of war in Nebraska.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gail Freeman. Freeman joined the Minnesota National Guard in 1940 and his unit was federalized in early 1941. His artillery unit, the 125th Field Artillery, was folded into the w34th Infantry Division and Freeman landed in Ireland in May 1942. Freeman served as a radio operator with a forward observer. His first action was in Tunisia. He then went with the unit to Salerno and fought at Monte Cassino. He finally entered the hospital with battle fatigue and was returned to the US where he ended the war guarding German prisoners of war in Nebraska.