The gross federal debt consists of the debt held by the public plus the debt held by government accounts. Almost all of the gross federal debt is subject to a public debt limit, as set forth in statute (31 U.S.C. 3101).This report considers legislation needed to change the public debt limit.

Our theoretical research on dust-plasma interactions has concentrated on three main areas: a)studies of grain charging and applications; b) waves and instabilities in weakly correlated dusty plasma with applications to space and laboratory plasmas; c) waves in strongly coupled dusty plasmas.

This report provides supporting analysis of the conditions at which an aqueous solution can exist on the drip shield or waste package surfaces, including theoretical underpinning for the evolution of concentrated brines that could form by deliquescence or evaporation, and evaluation of the effects of acid-gas generation on brine composition. This analysis does not directly feed the total system performance assessment for the license application (TSPA-LA), but supports modeling and abstraction of the in-drift chemical environment (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169863]; BSC 2004 [DIRS 169860]). It also provides analyses that may support screening of features, events, and processes, and input for response to regulatory inquiries. This report emphasizes conditions of low relative humidity (RH) that, depending on temperature and chemical conditions, may be dry or may be associated with an aqueous phase containing concentrated electrolytes. Concentrated solutions at low RH may evolve by evaporative concentration of water that seeps into emplacement drifts, or by deliquescence of dust on the waste package or drip shield surfaces. The minimum RH for occurrence of aqueous conditions is calculated for various chemical systems based on current understanding of site geochemistry and equilibrium thermodynamics. The analysis makes use of known characteristics of Yucca Mountain waters and …

This report mainly provides information about the Farm Labor Shortages and Immigration Policy.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The safety and quality of the U.S. food supply are governed by a complex system that is administered by 15 agencies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have primary responsibility for food safety. Many legislative proposals have been made to consolidate the U.S. food safety system, but to date no other action has been taken. Several countries have taken steps to streamline and consolidate their food safety systems. In 1999, we reported on the initial experiences of four of these countries--Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Since then, additional countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, have undertaken consolidations. This report describes the approaches and challenges these countries faced in consolidating food safety functions, including the benefits and costs cited by government officials and other stakeholders. In commenting on a draft of this report, HHS and USDA said that the countries' consolidation experiences have limited applicability to the U.S. food safety system because the countries are much smaller than the United States. The two agencies believe that they …

The objectives of this project were to characterize gene expression patterns of early light inducible protein (ELIP) genes in Arabidopsis thaliana and in Lycopersicon esculentum, to identify knock mutants of the 2 ELIP genes in Arabidopsis, and to characterize the effects of the knockouts. Expression in Arabidopsis was studied in response to thylakoid electron transport chain (PETC) capacity, where it was found that there is a signal for expression associated with reduction of the PETC. Expression in response to salt was also studied, with different responses of the two gene copies. Knockout lines for ELIP1 and ELIP2 have been identified and are being characterized. In tomato, it was found that the single-copy ELIP gene is highly expressed in ripening fruit during the chloroplast-to-chromoplast transition. Studies of expression in tomato ripening mutants are ongoing.

Two papers completely describe the objectives and work performed in this laboratory directed research and development (LDRD) project. The first paper published in Review of Scientific Instruments (UCRL-JC-152913) describes the purpose, construction, and operation of a novel instrument to produce and characterize actinide nanostructures by pulsed laser deposition. The second paper submitted to Physical Review B (UCRL-JRNL-209427) describes our work quantifying the oxidation of pulsed laser deposited depleted uranium nanostructures by following the evolution of the electronic structure.

This report provides a reverse chronology of recent events involving India and India-U.S. relations. Sources include, but are not limited to, the U.S. Department of State, New York Times, Washington Post, Hindu (Madras), Hindustan Times (Delhi), Indian Express (Bombay), and major newswires. This report will be updated regularly.

This report discusses congressional concerns regarding intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) programs' costs, management, and efficacy and how to best resolve the issues within ISR programs. Updated February 22, 2005.

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A method for determining the quality of an examined weld joint comprising the steps of providing acoustical data from the examined weld joint, and performing a neural network operation on the acoustical data determine the quality of the examined weld joint produced by a friction weld process. The neural network may be trained by the steps of providing acoustical data and observable data from at least one test weld joint, and training the neural network based on the acoustical data and observable data to form a trained neural network so that the trained neural network is capable of determining the quality of a examined weld joint based on acoustical data from the examined weld joint. In addition, an apparatus having a housing, acoustical sensors mounted therein, and means for mounting the housing on a friction weld device so that the acoustical sensors do not contact the weld joint. The apparatus may sample the acoustical data necessary for the neural network to determine the quality of a weld joint.

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This project studied two kinds of nonlinear interactions between ion cyclotron range of frequency waves and fusion plasmas. A wavelet technique was also developed for analyzing the complex wave fields produced by wave propagation codes.

Fractures and faults are brittle structural heterogeneities that can act both as conduits and barriers with respect to fluid flow in rock. This range in the hydraulic effects of fractures and faults greatly complicates the challenges faced by geoscientists working on important problems: from groundwater aquifer and hydrocarbon reservoir management, to subsurface contaminant fate and transport, to underground nuclear waste isolation, to the subsurface sequestration of CO2 produced during fossil-fuel combustion. The research performed under DOE grant DE-FG03-94ER14462 aimed to address these challenges by laying a solid foundation, based on detailed geological mapping, laboratory experiments, and physical process modeling, on which to build our interpretive and predictive capabilities regarding the structure, patterns, and fluid flow properties of fractures and faults in sandstone reservoirs. The material in this final technical report focuses on the period of the investigation from July 1, 2001 to October 31, 2004. The Aztec Sandstone at the Valley of Fire, Nevada, provides an unusually rich natural laboratory in which exposures of joints, shear deformation bands, compaction bands and faults at scales ranging from centimeters to kilometers can be studied in an analog for sandstone aquifers and reservoirs. The suite of structures there has been documented and studied …

Detailed annual and triannual reports describing the progress accomplished during the tenure of this grant were filed with the Program Manager for Catalysis at the Office of Basic Energy Sciences. To avoid unnecessary duplication, the present report will provide a brief overview of the research areas that were sponsored by this grant and list the resulting publications and theses based on this DOE supported research. The scientific personnel participating in (and trained by) this grant's research are also listed. Research carried out under this DOE grant was largely concerned with the mechanisms of the homogeneous catalytic and photocatalytic activation of small molecules such as carbon monoxide, dihydrogen and various hydrocarbons. Much of the more recent effort has focused on the dynamics and mechanisms of reactions relevant to substrate carbonylations by homogeneous organometallic catalysts. A wide range of modern investigative techniques were employed, including quantitative fast reaction methodologies such as time-resolved optical (TRO) and time-resolved infrared (TRIR) spectroscopy and stopped flow kinetics. Although somewhat diverse, this research falls within the scope of the long-term objective of applying quantitative techniques to elucidate the dynamics and understand the principles of mechanisms relevant to the selective and efficient catalytic conversions of fundamental feedstocks to …

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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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether sections 85.003 and 86.011 of the Local Government Code provide that a deputy constable's appointment is revoked on the deputy's indictment for a felony.

A new and improved undulator design is provided that enables a variable period length for the production of synchrotron radiation from both medium-energy and high energy storage rings. The variable period length is achieved using a staggered array of pole pieces made up of high permeability material, permanent magnet material, or an electromagnetic structure. The pole pieces are separated by a variable width space. The sum of the variable width space and the pole width would therefore define the period of the undulator. Features and advantages of the invention include broad photon energy tunability, constant power operation and constant brilliance operation.

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In this project EER conducted a preliminary field evaluation of the integrated approach for mercury (Hg) and NO{sub x} control. The approach enhanced the 'naturally occurring' Hg capture by fly ash through combustion optimization, increasing carbon in ash content, and lowering ESP temperature. The evaluation took place in Green Station Units 1 and 2 located near Henderson, Kentucky and operated by Western Kentucky Energy. Units 1 and 2 are equipped with cold-side ESPs and wet scrubbers. Green Station Units 1 and 2 typically fire two types of fuel: a bituminous coal and a blend of bituminous coals based on availability. Testing of Hg emissions in Unit 2 without reburning system in operation and at minimum OFA demonstrated that efficiencies of Hg reduction downstream of the ESP were 30-40%. Testing also demonstrated that OFA system operation at 22% air resulted in 10% incremental increase in Hg removal efficiency at the ESP outlet. About 80% of Hg in flue gas at ESP outlet was present in the oxidized form. Testing of Hg emissions under reburning conditions showed that Hg emissions decreased with LOI increase and ESP temperature decrease. Testing demonstrated that maximum Hg reduction downstream of ESP was 40-45% at ESP temperatures …

During this last quarter of the ''Seismic Evaluation of Hydrocarbon Saturation in Deep-Water Reservoirs'' project (Grant/Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-02NT15342), we have moved forward on several fronts, including data acquisition as well as analysis and application. During this quarter we have: (1) Completed our site selection (finally); (2) Measured fluid effects in Troika deep water sand sample; (3) Applied the result to Ursa ''fizz gas'' zone; (4) Compared thin layer property averaging on AVO response; (5) Developed target oriented NMO stretch correction; (6) Examined thin bed effects on A-B crossplots; and (7) Begun incorporating outcrop descriptive models in seismic forward models. Several factors can contribute to limit our ability to extract accurate hydrocarbon saturations in deep water environments. Rock and fluid properties are one factor, since, for example, hydrocarbon properties will be considerably different with great depths (high pressure) when compared to shallow properties. Significant over pressure, on the other hand will make the rocks behave as if they were shallower. In addition to the physical properties, the scale and tuning will alter our hydrocarbon indicators. Reservoirs composed of thin bed effects will broaden the reflection amplitude distribution with incident angle. Normal move out (NMO) stretch corrections based on frequency shifts can …