Restrictions on travel to Cuba have been a key and often contentious component in U.S. efforts to isolate the communist government of Fidel Castro for much of the past 40 years. Under the Bush Administration, enforcement of U.S. restrictions on Cuba travel has increased, and restrictions on travel and on private remittances to Cuba have been tightened. Several legislative initiatives have been introduced in the 109th Congress that would ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba. These bills would, among other things, lift overall restrictions on travel to Cuba, lift the overall embargo, and ease restrictions on exporting agricultural commodities to Cuba.

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This report includes some issues for Congress to consider which could include the slow rate of integration between the USBP’s biometric database of illegal aliens and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) biometric database of criminals and terrorists; the number of unauthorized aliens who die attempting to enter the country each year; the organized human smuggling rings that have proliferated as entering the country has become more difficult; and the threat posed by terrorists along the sparsely defended Northern border as well as the more porous Southwest border.

This report provides information about the Gangs in Central America. In the past year, there has been an increasing effect on the effects of crime and gang violence in Central America.

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The continued rise in the U.S.-China trade imbalance and complaints from U.S. manufacturing firms and workers over the competitive challenges posed by cheap Chinese imports have led several Members to call for a more aggressive U.S. stance against certain Chinese trade policies they deem to be unfair, such as China’s policy of pegging its currency (the yuan) to the U.S. dollar. Some Members assert this policy constitutes a form of “currency manipulation” intended to give China an unfair trade advantage and is contributing to the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

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This report discusses the issue of U.S. economic assistance to sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the importance of continued assistance in light of U.S. national security and also various U.S.-led efforts to promote reform amongst African citizens themselves. U.S. assistance finds its way to Africa through a variety of channels, including the USAID-administered DA program, food aid programs, and indirect aid provided through international financial institutions and the United Nations.

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Most provisions of the current “farm bill,” the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (FSRIA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-171), do not expire until 2007. However, hearings on a 2007 farm bill could begin in late 2005. At that time, Congress will begin to examine farm income and commodity price support proposals that might succeed the programs due to expire in 2007. A key question likely to be asked of virtually every new proposal is how it will affect U.S. commitments under the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture (AA), which commits the United States to spend no more than $19.1 billion annually on domestic farm support programs most likely to distort trade. The AA spells out the rules for countries to determine whether their policies are potentially trade distorting, and to calculate the costs. This report describes the steps for making these determinations.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the terms of office of the Product Development and Small Business Incubator Board.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. government officials working overseas are at risk from terrorist threats. Since 1968, 32 embassy officials have been attacked--23 fatally--by terrorists outside the embassy. As the State Department continues to improve security at U.S. embassies, terrorist groups are likely to focus on "soft" targets--such as homes, schools, and places of worship. GAO was asked to determine whether State has a strategy for soft target protection; assess State's efforts to protect U.S. officials and their families while traveling to and from work; assess State's efforts overseas to improve security at schools attended by the children of U.S. officials; and describe issues related to protection at their residences."

The objective of this report is to develop the FEM3A model for application to general scenarios involving dispersion problems with obstacles and terrain features of realistic complexity, and for very low wind speed, stable weather conditions as required for LNG vapor dispersion application specified in 49 CFR 193. The dispersion model DEGADIS specified in 49 CFR 193 is limited to application for dispersion over smooth, level terrain free of obstacles (such as buildings, tanks, or dikes). There is a need for a dispersion model that allows consideration of the effects of terrain features and obstacles on the dispersion of LNG vapor clouds. Project milestones are: (1) Simulation of Low-Wind-Speed Stable Atmospheric Milestones Conditions; (2) Verification for Dispersion over Rough Surfaces, With And Without Obstacles; and (3) Adapting the FEM3A Model for General Application. Results for this quarter are work continues to underway to address numerical problems during simulation of low-wind-speed, stable, atmospheric conditions with FEM3A. Steps 1 and 2 in the plan outlined in the first Quarterly report are complete and steps 3 and 4 are in progress. During this quarter, we have been investigating the effect upon numerical stability of the heat transfer model used to predict the surface-to-cloud …

A method and apparatus to extract and sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from a stream or volume of gas wherein said method and apparatus hydrates CO2, and reacts the resulting carbonic acid with carbonate. Suitable carbonates include, but are not limited to, carbonates of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals, preferably carbonates of calcium and magnesium. Waste products are metal cations and bicarbonate in solution or dehydrated metal salts, which when disposed of in a large body of water provide an effective way of sequestering CO2 from a gaseous environment.

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The principal research effort for Year 2 of the project has been data compilation and the determination of the burial and thermal maturation histories of the North Louisiana Salt Basin and basin modeling and petroleum system identification. In the first nine (9) months of Year 2, the research focus was on the determination of the burial and thermal maturation histories, and during the remainder of the year the emphasis has basin modeling and petroleum system identification. Existing information on the North Louisiana Salt Basin has been evaluated, an electronic database has been developed, regional cross sections have been prepared, structure and isopach maps have been constructed, and burial history, thermal maturation history and hydrocarbon expulsion profiles have been prepared. Seismic data, cross sections, subsurface maps and related profiles have been used in evaluating the tectonic, depositional, burial and thermal maturation histories of the basin. Oil and gas reservoirs have been found to be associated with salt-supported anticlinal and domal features (salt pillows, turtle structures and piercement domes); with normal faulting associated with the northern basin margin and listric down-to-the-basin faults (state-line fault complex) and faulted salt features; and with combination structural and stratigraphic features (Sabine and Monroe Uplifts) and monoclinal …

Antimycin A (antimycin), one of the first known and most potent inhibitors of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, binds to the quinone reduction site of the cytochrome bc1 complex.Structure-activity-relationship studies have shown that the N-formylamino-salicyl-amide group is responsible for most of the binding specificity, and suggested that a low pKa for the phenolic OH group and an intramolecular H-bond between that OH and the carbonyl O of the salicylamide linkage are important. Two previous X-ray structures of antimycin bound to vertebrate bc1 complex gave conflicting results. A new structure reported here of the bovine mitochondrial bc1 complex at 2.28Angstrom resolution with antimycin bound, allows us for the first time to reliably describe the binding of antimycin and shows that the intramolecular hydrogen bond described in solution and in the small-molecule structure is replaced by one involving the NH rather than carbonyl O of the amide linkage, with rotation of the amide group relative to the aromatic ring. The phenolic OH and formylamino N form H-bonds with conserved Asp228 of cyt b, and the formylamino O H-bonds via a water molecule to Lys227. A strong density the right size and shape for a diatomic molecule is found between the other side of …

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) will soon be upgraded to enable top-off operations [1], in which electrons are quasi-continuously injected to produce constant stored beam current. The upgrade is structured in two phases. First, we will upgrade our injector from 1.5 GeV to 1.9 GeV to allow full energy injection and will start top-off operations. In the second phase, we will upgrade the Booster Ring (BR) with a bunch cleaning system to allow high bunch purity top-off injection. A diagnostics upgrade will be crucial for success in both phases of the top-off project, and our plan for it is described in this paper. New booster ring diagnostics will include updated beam position monitor (BPM) electronics, a tune monitoring system, and a new scraper. Two new synchrotron light monitors and a beam stop will be added to the booster-to-storage ring transfer line (BTS), and all the existing beam current monitors along the accelerator chain will be integrated into a single injection efficiency monitoring application. A dedicated bunch purity monitor will be installed in the storage ring (SR). Together, these diagnostic upgrades will enable smooth commissioning of the full energy injector and a quick transition to high quality top-off operation at the …

This report provides the background and Implementation of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998.

This report describes about the assistance for FY2005 that includes Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) and Related Funding Programs.

Chemistry of mixed aromatic-alkyne systems on a metal surface is of general interest in many industrial processes. We use Density Functional Theory (DFT) to investigate the chemistry of one such system, i.e., 1,4-diphenyl-butadiyne, or DPB, in contact with Pd (110) and (111) surfaces. Reaction pathways and energetics of important processes are explored, including H{sub 2} adsorption, dissociation and migration on the metal surface, DPB-metal interaction, the energetics of H uptake, and the effects of impurities like CO and CO{sub 2} on H chemistry. We find that: (1) strong aromatic-metal interaction leads to significant binding strength of DPB molecule to both Pd surfaces, especially the (110); (2) H{sub 2} molecule readily dissociates on the Pd surface into H-radicals, which get taken up by alkyne triple bonds; (3) CO has strong binding to the metal surface, but interacts weakly with H radicals; (4) CO{sub 2} binds weakly to the metal surface, but could potentially lead to interesting chemical reactions with H.

Fracture flow experiments are being conducted on quartz monzonite core from the Desert Peak East EGS site, Churchill County, Nevada. The flow experiments are conducted at temperatures of 167-169 C and 5.5 MPa confining pressure through artificial fractures. Two injection fluids, a saline solution and a silica-bearing solution, have been used to date. Flow rates are typically 0.02 mL/min, but other rates have been used. The fracture surfaces are characterized with a contact profilometer. The profilometry data demonstrate that it is possible to fabricate statistically similar fracture surfaces and enable us to map aperture variations, which we use in numerical simulations. Effluent samples are collected for chemical analysis. The fluid pressure gradient is measured across the specimen and effective hydraulic apertures are calculated. The experiments show a reduction in permeability over time for both injection fluids, but a more rapid loss of permeability was observed for the silica-bearing solution. The calculated hydraulic aperture is observed to decrease by 17% for the saline solution and 75% for the silica-bearing fluid, respectively. Electrical resistivity measurements, which are sensitive to the ionic content of the pore fluid, provide additional evidence of fluid-rock interactions.

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A finite element analysis has been carried out to characterize the RF, thermal and structural behavior of the prototype 201.25 MHz cavity for a muon ionization cooling channel. A single ANSYS model has been developed to perform all of the calculations in a multi-step process. The high-gradient closed-cell cavity is currently being fabricated for the MICE (international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment) and MUCOOL experiments. The 1200 mm diameter cavity is constructed of 6 mm thick copper sheet and incorporates a rounded pillbox-like profile with an open beam iris terminated by 420 mm diameter, 0.38 mm thick curved beryllium foils. Tuning is accomplished through elastic deformation of the cavity, and cooling is provided by external water passages. Details of the analysis methodology will be presented including a description of the ANSYS macro that computes the heat loads from the RF solution and applies them directly to the thermal model. The process and results of a calculation to determine the resulting frequency shift due to thermal and structural distortion of the cavity will also be presented.