Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to changing the title of assistant secretary of state to deputy secretary of state.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the issuance of permits by the School Land Board authorizing continued use of certain structures on coastal public land.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to fees for registration and inspection of certain fuel measuring and dispensing devices.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to expiration dates for certain licenses issued or renewed by the Department of Agriculture.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the confidentiality of and access to certain personal information in instruments recorded with a county clerk.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to creating an offense for the unauthorized operation of a recording device in a motion picture theater.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to restrictions on the transfer of a fuel tank to a metal recycling entity.

One approach for heating a target to ''Warm Dense Matter'' conditions (similar, for example, to the interiors of giant planets or certain stages in Inertial Confinement Fusion targets), is to use intense ion beams as the heating source (see refs.[6] and [7] and references therein for motivation and accelerator concepts). By consideration of ion beam phase space constraints, both at the injector, and at the final focus, and consideration of simple equations of state and relations for ion stopping, approximate conditions at a target foil may be calculated. Thus target temperature and pressure may be calculated as a function of ion mass, ion energy, pulse duration, velocity tilt, and other accelerator parameters. We connect some of these basic parameters to help search the extensive parameter space (including ion mass, ion energy, total charge in beam pulse, beam emittance, target thickness and density).

Microwave measurement and tuning of accelerator structures are important issues for the current and next generation of high energy physics machines. Application of these measurements both before and after high power processing can reveal information about the structure but may be misinterpreted if measurement conditions are not carefully controlled. For this reason extensive studies to characterize the microwave measurements have been made at SLAC. For the bead pull a reproducible measurement of less than 1 degree of phase accuracy in total phase drift is needed in order to resolve issues such as phase changes due to structure damage during high power testing. Factors contributing to measurement errors include temperature drift, mechanical vibration, and limitations of measurement equipment such as the network analyzer. Results of this continuing effort will be presented.

A number of issues affecting U.S. agriculture are receiving attention during the 109th Congress. Some are related to new initiatives or to unfinished legislation from the 108th Congress; others have been the focus of ongoing congressional oversight. Although the current (2002) farm bill (P.L. 107-171) generally does not expire until 2007, the agriculture committees could begin hearings on a new measure later this year. Meanwhile, the agriculture committees are required by the adopted FY2006 budget resolution to report legislation that reduces spending on mandatory food and agriculture support programs by $3 billion over the next five years. Other issues of importance to agriculture during the 109th Congress include the possible reauthorization of an expiring dairy support program; multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations; concerns about agroterrorism, food safety, and animal and plant diseases (e.g., “mad cow” disease and Asian soybean rust); high energy costs; environmental issues; and a number of agricultural marketing matters. This report will be updated if significant developments ensue.

We extend the perturbative argument of helicity amplitudes to the two-body baryonic decays of B decays.

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In support for the Aggregation option1, researchers performed a series of tests using actual Tank 48H slurries. The tests were designed to examine potential benzene generation issues if the Tank 48H slurry is disposed to Saltstone. Personnel used the archived Tank 48H sample (HTF-E-03-127, collected September 17, 2003) for the experiments. The tests included a series of three experiments (Tests A, B, and F) performed in duplicate, giving a total of six experiments. Test A used Tank 48H slurry mixed with {approx}20:1 with Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Recycle from Tanks 21H and 22H. Test B used Tank 48H slurry mixed with {approx}2.7:1 with DWPF Recycle from Tanks 21H and 22H, while Test F used Tank 48H slurry as-is. Tests A and B occurred at 45 C, while Test F occurred at 55 C. Over a period of 8 weeks, personnel collected samples for analysis, once per week. Each sample was tested with the in-cell gamma counter. The researchers noted a decline in the cesium activity in solution which is attributed to temperature dependence of the complex slurry equilibrium. Selected samples were sent to ADS for potassium, boron, and cesium analysis. The benzene generation rate was inferred from the TPB …

This report provides an overview of U.S. policy concerns and relations with countries in central Asia. The report discusses issues such as Fostering Pro-Western Orientations, Obstacles to Peace and Independence, Democratization and Human Rights, Security and Arms Control, Trade and Investment, and provides an Aid Overview.

Coherent transition radiation is used to measure the length of the ultra-short electron bunches available at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The results and the limitations of the method are described.

We investigate the collider phenomenology of a left-right symmetric Randall-Sundrum model with fermions and gauge bosons in the bulk. We find that the model is allowed by precision electroweak data as long as the ratio of the (unwarped) Higgs vev to the curvature scale is v/k {le} 1/2. In that region there can be substantial modifications to the Higgs properties. In particular, the couplings to WW and ZZ are reduced, the coupling to gluons is enhanced, and the coupling to {gamma}{gamma} can receive shifts in either direction. The Higgs mass is bounded by LEP II data to be m{sub H} {approx}> 80 GeV.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was tasked under project number D103401 to acquire computed tomographic (CT) images of selected components supplied by Y-12 National Security Complex personnel. A total of four components were imaged utilizing CT. In addition, LLNL personnel provided a basic review of the CT data acquisition and CT capabilities at LLNL to four Y-12 personnel. This report identifies the equipment used to acquire the CT images on each of the four components. It also provides representative sample CT images from each of the four components. Additional imaging data along with image display software will be forwarded under separate cover.

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Cuba was first added to the State Department's list of states sponsoring international terrorism in 1982. At the time, numerous U.S. government reports and statements under the Reagan Administration alleged Cuba's ties to international terrorism and its support for terrorist groups in Latin America. Cuba remains on the state-sponsored terrorism list with four other countries: Iran, Syria, Sudan, and North Korea. Cuba's retention on the terrorism list has received more attention in recent years in light of increased support for legislative initiatives to lift some U.S. sanctions under the current economic embargo. Supporters of keeping Cuba on the terrorism list argue that there is ample evidence that Cuba supports terrorism. Critics of retaining Cuba on the terrorism list maintain that the policy is a holdover from the Cold War and that Cuba no longer supports terrorism abroad.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal policy requires that small businesses receive the maximum practicable subcontracting opportunity for providing goods and services to large businesses that contract directly with federal agencies. The Department of Energy (DOE) annually directs almost $20 billion to the 34 "facility management contractors" of which $3.3 billion was redirected to small business subcontractors in fiscal year 2004. DOE negotiates annual small business subcontracting goals with individual contractors and monitors their achievements. GAO was asked to (1) determine the usefulness of the data that DOE uses to monitor subcontracting performance and (2) discuss the actions that DOE has taken to address any problems with the contractors' subcontracting efforts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Based on limited previous GAO work that identified examples of purchases of new items at the same time identical items in excellent or good condition were excessed, GAO was asked to assess the overall economy and efficiency of the Department of Defense (DOD) program for excess property reutilization (reuse). Specifically, GAO was asked to determine (1) whether and to what extent the program included waste and inefficiency and (2) root causes of any waste and inefficiency. GAO was also asked to provide detailed examples of waste and inefficiency and the related causes. GAO's methodology included an assessment of controls, analysis of DOD excess inventory data, statistical sampling at selected sites, and detailed case studies of many items."

Lifetimes in {sup 114}Te were determined using the recoil distance Doppler-shift technique with a plunger device coupled to five HP Ge detectors enhanced by one Euroball Cluster detector. The experiment was carried out at the Cologne FN Tandem facility using the {sup 93}Nb({sup 24}Mg,p2n) reaction at 90 MeV. The differential decay curve method in coincidence mode was employed to derive lifetimes for seven excited states, while the lifetime of an isomeric state was obtained in singles mode. The resulting E2 transition probabilities are shown to be very anomalous in comparison with the vibrational energy spacings of the ground state band.

The House passed H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, on April 21, 2005 (249-183). The legislation includes a “safe harbor” provision to protect methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) refiners from product liability suits, which was retained after a close vote on an amendment to drop the language (213-219). In the 108th Congress, there was opposition to this provision in the Senate. It is unclear how its inclusion may affect Senate passage of an energy bill in the 109th Congress. House Republicans have indicated that a compromise will be sought to satisfy the other body. Language in the House-passed bill would also authorize opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to exploration and development. An amendment to delete the ANWR provisions from H.R. 6 was defeated (200-231).

The project had four parts: (1) Modeling and simulation of nonlinear dynamics in forced BWRs using reduced order models; (2) Modeling and simulation of nonlinear dynamics in natural circulation BWRs using reduced order models; (3) Comparison of results with those obtained using large scale system codes; and (4) Experiments to investigate natural circulation flashing phenomenon.