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

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was enacted in part to help ensure that only eligible persons are registered to vote. Under HAVA, as of January 1, 2004, states were to create computerized statewide voter registration lists to serve as official rosters of legally registered voters for elections for federal office. States, however, were given the option to seek a waiver to postpone implementation of HAVA provisions until 2006. All but nine states did so. This report discusses the experiences of the nine states that were subject to the original HAVA deadline--Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. The report describes actions election officials in these states reported taking to meet specific HAVA requirements--as applicable to their states--for (1) establishing computerized statewide voter registration lists and (2) verifying the accuracy of information on voter registration applications and maintaining accurate computerized voter lists. GAO is also reporting what states said about challenges they faced and lessons learned implementing the requirements. Draft sections of this report were reviewed by the nine states; the Election Assistance Commission, which was responsible for …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has asked GAO to review the administration of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. As part of this review, we are examining the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) efforts to monitor states' use of CSBG funds. Specifically, we have been reviewing efforts undertaken by HHS's Office of Community Services (OCS), which has primary responsibility for administering the CSBG program."

The Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) face common security challenges from crime, corruption, terrorism, and faltering commitments to economic and democratic reforms. This report contains information on Central Asia's external security context, security problems and progress, border tensions, crime and corruption, economic and defense security, implications for U.S. interests, U.S. security assistance, and related issues and figures.

This report discusses the organization, funding, and goals of the Freedom CAR and Fuel partnerships, and discusses legislation relevant to the partnerships.

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This report provides an overview of S. 852, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act of 2005. The bill would establish the Office of Asbestos Disease Compensation to award damages to asbestos claimants from the Asbestos Injury Claims Resolution Fund.

Akt1 is frequently upregulated in human tumors, and has been shown to accelerate cell proliferation and to suppress programmed cell death; consequently, inhibiting the activity of Akt1 has been seen as an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Paradoxically, hyperactivation of the Akt1 oncogene can also prevent the invasive behavior that underlies progression to metastasis. Here we show that overexpression of activated myr-Akt1 in human breast cancer cells phosphorylates and thereby targets the tumor suppressor tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2) for degradation, leading to reduced Rho-GTPase activity, decreased actin stress fibers and focal adhesions, and reduced motility and invasion. Overexpression of TSC2 rescues the migration phenotype of myr-Akt1-expressing tumor cells, and high levels of TSC2 in breast cancer patients correlate with increased metastasis and reduced survival. These data indicate that the functional properties of genes designated as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes depends on the context of the cell type and the tissues studied, and suggest the need for caution in designing therapies targeting the function of individual genes in epithelial tissues.

In May of 2004, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Richland and Fluor Hanford requested technical assistance from DOE Headquarters EM-23 to provide a team of technical experts to evaluate likely chemical/biological amendments for mending the In Situ Redox Manipulation (ISRM) Barrier in the 100-D Area of the Hanford Site. This request was a follow-on to an earlier request for assistance regarding the cause of chromium (Cr) breakthrough and recommendations for mending the barrier (March 2004 workshop). This report provides written documentation of the team's findings and recommendations. In 1995, a plume of dissolved hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] was discovered along the Columbia River shoreline and in the 100-D Area. Between 1999 and 2003, a reactive barrier using the ISRM technology, was installed at a distance of 680 meters along the river to reduce the Cr(VI) in the groundwater. The ISRM technology creates a treatment zone within the aquifer by injection of sodium dithionite, a strong reducing agent that scavenges dissolved oxygen (DO) from the aquifer and reduces ferric iron [Fe(III)], related metals, and oxy-ions. Bench-scale and field-scale treatability tests were conducted to demonstrate proof-of principle and to estimate barrier longevity, calculated to be in excess of twenty years. However, several …

We present a review of BaBar results on e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilations into exclusive hadronic final states using the initial state radiation technique. Cross sections over the {radical}s range from threshold to 4.5 GeV, with very small point-to-point systematic errors, are presented for the 3{pi}, 2({pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}), 3({pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}), 2({pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}) 2{pi}{sup 0}, K{sup +}K{sup -} {pi}{sup +}{sup -}, 2(K{sup +}K{sup -}) and p{bar p} final states. The proton form factor and the ratio of its electric and magnetic components are also presented.

The importance and need for full compliant implementation of NIMS nationwide was clearly demonstrated during the Hurricane Katrina event, which was clearly expressed in Secretary Chertoff's October 4, 2005 letter addressed to the State's governors. It states, ''Hurricane Katrina was a stark reminder of how critical it is for our nation to approach incident management in a coordinated, consistent, and efficient manner. We must be able to come together, at all levels of government, to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from any emergency or disaster. Our operations must be seamless and based on common incident management doctrine, because the challenges we face as a nation are far greater than capabilities of any one jurisdiction.'' The NIMS is a system/architecture for organizing response on a ''national'' level. It incorporations ICS as a main component of that structure (i.e., it institutionalizes ICS in NIMS). In a paper published on the NIMS Website, the following statements were made: ''NIMS represents a core set of doctrine, principles, terminology, and organizational processes to enable effective, efficient and collaborative incident management at all levels. To provide the framework for interoperability and compatibility, the NIMS is based on a balance between flexibility and standardization.'' Thus …

Coarsening of Ni3Al, Ni3Ga, Ni3Ge and Ni3Si precipitates in aged binary single-crystal Ni-Al, Ni-Ga, Ni-Ge and Ni-Si alloys under applied compressive stress was measured experimentally over the temperature range 600 to 700 °C. Experiments were also performed on binary Ni-Al single crystals deformed in tension at 640 °C. The orientation of the crystals was [100] in all the experiments. Compared to the kinetics of coarsening in unstressed alloys, coarsening was slightly slower in specimens aged under compression and slightly faster in specimens aged in tension. The effect of applied stress on morphology and spatial correlation was also measured and found to be small. Ni3Al precipitates of a given size generally tended to become more non-equiaxed and their interfaces more planar, with increasing compressive stress. Ni3Ge precipitates behaved differently, becoming more spherical in specimens aged under compression. The effect of applied stress on kinetics is attributed to the influence of elastic deformation on diffusion. A model was developed that predicts slightly slower diffusion under compression and slightly faster diffusion in tension. The elastic constants of single crystals of Ni-Al, Ni-Si, Ni-Ga and Ni-Ge solid solutions were measured from room temperature to about 1100 K using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy.

We have developed new algorithms to model complex biological flows in integrated biodetection microdevice components. The proposed work is important because the design strategy for the next-generation Autonomous Pathogen Detection System at LLNL is the microfluidic-based Biobriefcase, being developed under the Chemical and Biological Countermeasures Program in the Homeland Security Organization. This miniaturization strategy introduces a new flow regime to systems where biological flow is already complex and not well understood. Also, design and fabrication of MEMS devices is time-consuming and costly due to the current trial-and-error approach. Furthermore, existing devices, in general, are not optimized. There are several MEMS CAD capabilities currently available, but their computational fluid dynamics modeling capabilities are rudimentary at best. Therefore, we proposed a collaboration to develop computational tools at LLNL which will (1) provide critical understanding of the fundamental flow physics involved in bioMEMS devices, (2) shorten the design and fabrication process, and thus reduce costs, (3) optimize current prototypes and (4) provide a prediction capability for the design of new, more advanced microfluidic systems. Computational expertise was provided by Comp-CASC and UC Davis-DAS. The simulation work was supported by key experiments for guidance and validation at UC Berkeley-BioE.

The effects of damping wiggler magnets have been studied at KEK-ATF damping ring, which is a 1.3 GeV storage ring capable of producing ultra-low emittance electron beams. The fast beam damping is a significant issue for the damping ring. The tuning method with 4 sets of wiggler magnets was investigated for the ultra-low emittance beam. The effect on the beam quality, which is related to the transverse (x and y) and the longitudinal (z and {Delta}p/p), has been measured by the wire scanner, SR monitor, the laser wire, streak camera and the energy spread monitor. We report on the operational condition and the measurement results.

The ASTM standard B 575 provides the requirements for the chemical composition of Nickel-Chromium-Molybdenum (Ni-Cr-Mo) alloys such as Alloy 22 (N06022) and Alloy 686 (N06686). The compositions of each element are given in a range. For example, the content of Mo is specified from 12.5 to 14.5 weight percent for Alloy 22 and from 15.0 to 17.0 weight percent for Alloy 686. It was important to determine how the corrosion rate of welded plates of Alloy 22 using Alloy 686 weld filler metal would change if heats of these alloys were prepared using several variations in the composition of the elements even though still in the range specified in B 575. All the material used in this report were especially prepared at Allegheny Ludlum Co. Seven heats of plate were welded with seven heats of wire. Immersion corrosion tests were conducted in a boiling solution of sulfuric acid plus ferric sulfate (ASTM G 28 A) using both as-welded (ASW) coupons and solution heat-treated (SHT) coupons. Results show that the corrosion rate was not affected by the chemistry of the materials in the range of the standards.

For ground-based adaptive optics point source imaging, differential atmospheric refraction and flexure introduce a small drift of the point spread function (PSF) with time, and seeing and sky transmission variations modify the PSF flux. These effects need to be corrected to properly combine the images and obtain optimal signal-to-noise ratios, accurate relative astrometry and photometry of detected companions as well as precise detection limits. Usually, one can easily correct for these effects by using the PSF core, but this is impossible when high dynamic range observing techniques are used, like coronagraphy with a non-transmissive occulting mask, or if the stellar PSF core is saturated. We present a new technique that can solve these issues by using off-axis satellite PSFs produced by a periodic amplitude or phase mask conjugated to a pupil plane. It will be shown that these satellite PSFs track precisely the PSF position, its Strehl ratio and its intensity and can thus be used to register and to flux normalize the PSF. This approach can be easily implemented in existing adaptive optics instruments and should be considered for future extreme adaptive optics coronagraph instruments and in high-contrast imaging space observatories.

We present neutral hydrogen, ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared imaging, as well as optical spectroscopic observations of Minkowski's Object (MO), a star forming system at the end of a radio jet associated with NGC541 at the center of a cluster of galaxies, Abell 194. The observations strengthen the evidence, first presented in 1985, that MO is a small, peculiar galaxy in which the star formation has been triggered by the radio jet. Key new results are the discovery of a double H I cloud with a mass of 4.9 x 10{sup 8} M{sub {circle_dot}} straddling the radio jet downstream from MO at the location where the jet changes direction and decollimates; a strong detection of MO at near- and far-UV wavelengths and in H{alpha}, both of which also show a double structure; and what appear to be numerous H II regions and associated clusters in MO. The UV morphology of MO along the radio jet resembles the radio-aligned, rest-frame UV morphologies seen in many high redshift radio galaxies, which are also thought to be caused by jet-induced star formation. The UV, optical, and near-IR data show that the stellar population is dominated by a 7.5Myr-old instantaneous burst, with a total stellar …

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