Meningiomas are common tumors of the central nervous system, however, the mechanisms under lying their pathogenesis are largely undefined. Two members of the Protein 4.1 super family, the neuro fibromatosis 2 (NF2) gene product (merlin/schwannomin) and Protein 4.1B have been implicated as meningioma tumor suppressors. In this report, we demonstrate that another Protein 4.1 family member, Protein 4.1R, also functions as a meningioma tumor suppressor. Based on the assignment of the Protein 4.1R gene to chromosome 1p32-36, a common region of deletion observed in meningiomas, we analyzed Protein 4.1R expression in meningioma cell lines and surgical tumor specimens. We observed loss of Protein 4.1R protein expression in two meningioma cell lines (IOMM-Lee, CH157-MN) by Western blotting as well as in 6 of 15 sporadic meningioma as by immuno histo chemistry (IHC). Analysis of a subset of these sporadic meningiomas by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with a Protein 4.1R specific probe demonstrated 100 percent concordance with the IHC results. In support of a meningioma tumor suppressor function, over expression of Protein 4.1R resulted in suppression of IOMM-Lee and CH157MN cell proliferation. Similar to the Protein 4.1B and merlin meningioma tumor suppressors, Protein 4.1R localization in the membrane fraction increased significantly …

This report provides a guide to Internet Sources the Immigration. This report identifies selected WWW sites from the internet about immigration topics in the United States.

Resonance data play a significant role in the calculations of systems considered for criticality safety applications. K{sub eff}, the major parameter of interest in such a type of calculations, can be heavily dependent both on the quality of the resonance data as well as on the accuracy achieved in the processing of these data. If reasonable uncertainty values are available, in conjunction with their correlation in energy and among type of resonance parameters, one can exploit existing methodologies, based on perturbation theory, in order to evaluate their impact on the integral parameter of interest, i.e., K{sub eff} in our case, in practical applications. In this way, one could be able to judge if the uncertainty on specific quantities, e.g., covariances on resonance data, have a significant impact and, therefore, deserve a careful evaluation. This report, first, will recall the basic principles that lie behind an uncertainty evaluation and review the current situation in the field of covariance data. Then an attempt is made for defining a methodology that allows calculating covariances values for resolved resonance parameters. Finally, practical applications, of interest for criticality safety calculations, illustrate the impact of different assumptions on correlations among resolved resonance parameters.

Our Phase II research evaluated health risks associated with inhaled plutonium. Our research objectives were to: (1) extend our stochastic model for deposition of plutonium in the respiratory tract to include additional key variability and uncertainty; (2) generate and analyze risk distributions for deterministic effects in the lung from inhaled plutonium that reflect risk model uncertainty; (3) acquire an improved understanding of key physiological effects of inhaled plutonium, based on evaluations of clinical data (e.g., hematological, respiratory function, chromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes) for Mayak workers in Russia who inhaled plutonium-239; (4) develop biological dosimetry for plutonium-239 that was inhaled by some Mayak workers (with unknown intake) based on clinical data for other workers with known plutonium-239 intake; (5) critically evaluate the validity of the linear no-threshold (LNT) risk model as it relates to cancer risks from inhaled plutonium-239 (base d on Mayak worker data); and (6) evaluate respirator filter penetration frequencies for airborne plutonium aerosols using surrogate high-density metals.

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This report provides an overview of the Indian Health Service and how it provides for the health care problems and needs of AI/AN.

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Our component of this project focuses on the reaction of contaminant-containing fluids with carbonate mineral surfaces in order to better understand the dissolution-growth and related solid-solution processes that ultimately affect contaminant mobility in settings containing carbonates or carbonate grain coatings. Our collaborators (Stanford, PNNL) have focused on other aspects of carbonate and carbonate mineral surfaces as part of the overall project. Because some of the sediments through which contaminants leaking from the Hanford waste have carbonate grain coatings; better understanding the chemistry of carbonate-contaminant interaction constitutes fundamental chemistry needed in order to construct better models of contaminant transport through carbonate-containing sediments.

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Large simulation codes can take on the order of hours to compile from scratch. In Kull, which uses generic programming techniques, a significant portion of the time is spent generating and compiling template instantiations. I would like to investigate methods that would decrease the overall compilation time for large codes. These would be methods which could then be applied, hopefully, as standard practice to any large code. Success is measured by the overall decrease in wall clock time a developer spends waiting for an executable. Analyzing the make system of a slow to build project can benefit all developers on the project. Taking the time to analyze the number of processors used over the life of the build and restructuring the system to maximize the parallelization can significantly reduce build times. Distributing the build across multiple machines with the same configuration can increase the number of available processors for building and can help evenly balance the load. Becoming familiar with compiler options can have its benefits as well. The time improvements of the sum can be significant. Initial compilation time for Kull on OSF1 was {approx} 3 hours. Final time on OSF1 after completion is 16 minutes. Initial compilation time …

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The International Symposium on Relations between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis (ISHHC) has a long and distinguished history. Since 1974, in Brussels, this event has been held in Lyon, France (1977), Groeningen, The Netherlands (1981); Asilomar, California (1983); Novosibirsk, Russia (1986); Pisa, Italy (1989); Tokyo, Japan (1992); Balatonfuered, Hungary (1995); Southampton, United Kingdom (1999); Lyon, France (2001); Evanston, Illinois (2001) and Florence, Italy (2005). The aim of this international conference in Berkeley is to bring together practitioners in the three fields of catalysis, heterogeneous, homogeneous and enzyme, which utilize mostly nanosize particles. Recent advances in instrumentation, synthesis and reaction studies permit the nanoscale characterization of the catalyst systems, often for the same reaction, under similar experimental conditions. It is hoped that this circumstance will permit the development of correlations of these three different fields of catalysis on the molecular level. To further this goal we aim to uncover and focus on common concepts that emerge from nanoscale studies of structures and dynamics of the three types of catalysts. Another area of focus that will be addressed is the impact on and correlation of nanosciences with catalysis. There is information on the electronic and atomic structures of nanoparticles and their dynamics that …

An insulation system for ITER Central Solenoid must have sufficiently high electrical and structural strength. Design efforts to bring stresses in the turn and layer insulation within allowables failed. It turned out to be impossible to eliminate high local tensile stresses in the winding pack. When high local stresses can not be designed out, the qualification procedure requires verification of the acceptable structural and electrical strength by testing. We built two 4 x 4 arrays of the conductor jacket with two options of the CS insulation and subjected the arrays to 1.2 million compressive cycles at 60 MPa and at 76 K. Such conditions simulated stresses in the CS insulation. We performed voltage withstand tests and after end of cycling we measured the breakdown voltages between in the arrays. After that we dissectioned the arrays and studied micro cracks in the insulation. We report details of the specimens preparation, test procedures and test results.

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Core Financial System Requirements document is intended to assist agencies when reviewing new core financial systems and when improving or evaluating existing core financial systems. It provides the baseline functionality in order to support agency missions and comply with laws and regulations. The final issuance of this document will augment existing federal financial management system functional requirements used in assessing compliance with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act."

Single-wall carbon nanotube #1;SWCNT#2; networks form a highly transparent and electrically conductive thin film that can be used to replace traditional transparent conducting oxides #1;TCOs#2; in a variety of applications. Here, the authors demonstrate their use as a transparent back contact in a near-infrared #1;NIR#2; transparent CdTe solar cell. SWCNT networks are hole-selective conductors and have a significantly greater NIR transparency than TCOs—qualities which could both make them very useful in tandem thin-film solar cells. SWCNT networks can be incorporated into single-junction CdTe devices and in CdTe top cells for mechanically stacked thin-film tandem devices, as described here. The best device efficiency using SWCNTs in the back contact was 12.4%, with 40%–50% transmission between 800 and 1500 nm.

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Lobbyists and interest groups play an active role in the American legislative process. Information on lobbyist registrations and on interest groups in general is available from a variety of online and printed sources, including files available for public inspection. This report is a guide for locating governmental sources that maintain files on lobby groups, their registrations, and finances. Also included in this report are nongovernmental sources that offer background information on the lobbyists and interest groups who focus on legislation in Washington.

Research providing guidance on management of aging reinforced concrete structures is summarized. Topics covered include a materials property database, an aging assessment methodology to identify critical structures and degradation factors that can potentially impact performance, guidelines and evaluation criteria for use in condition assessments, and a reliability-based methodology for current condition assessments and estimations of future performance. Applicability of nondestructive evaluation and repair-related technologies is addressed.

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As the beam propagates in the University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER) complex transverse density structure including halos has been observed. A primary objective of the experiment is to understand the evolution of a space-charge-dominated beam as it propagates over a substantial distance. It is therefore important to understand which details of the beam structure result from propagation of the beam in the ring and which characteristics result from the specific details of the initial distribution. Detailed measurements of the initial beam characteristics have therefore been performed. These include direct measurement of the density using a phosphor screen, as well as pepper pot measurements of the initial transverse distribution function. Detailed measurements of the distribution function have also been obtained by scanning a pinhole aperture across a beam diameter, and recording phosphor screen pictures of the beam downstream of the pinhole. Simulations of the beam characteristics in the gun region have also been performed using the WARP P.I.C. code. From these simulations, the observed behavior has been attributed to a combination of perturbations to the transverse distribution by a cathode grid that is used to modulate the beam current, as well as the complex transverse dynamics that results from the …

The measurements of the mass of the W boson (M{sub W}) and of the top quark (M{sub t}) are important for three reasons: (i) these masses represent fundamental parameters of the Standard Model; (ii) they determine the coupling between the top quark and the Higgs boson, the coupling being proportional to M{sub t}{sup 2}/M{sub W}{sup 2}; and (iii) radiative corrections relate the masses of the W, top quark and the Higgs boson: an accurate measurement of M{sub W} and M{sub t} would provide a constraint on the Higgs mass (M{sub H}). We present here the measurements obtained by the CDF and D0 collaborations corresponding to the so-called Run I of data-taking (1992-95, {approx} 100 pb{sup -1} each) at the Tevatron (p{bar p} collisions, {radical}s = 1.8 TeV). In addition we report on the improvements expected for these measurements in the current run (so-called Run IIa) which, having just started (March 2001), is expected to collect about 2 fb{sup -1} by the year 2004.