The Atomic and Molecular Interactions Gordon Conferences is justifiably recognized for its broad scope, touching on areas ranging from fundamental gas phase and gas-condensed matter collision dynamics, to laser-molecule interactions, photophysics, and unimolecular decay processes. The meeting has traditionally involved scientists engaged in fundamental research in gas and condensed phases and those who apply these concepts to systems of practical chemical and physical interest. A key tradition in this meeting is the strong mixing of theory and experiment throughout. The program for 2008 conference continues these traditions. At the 2008 AMI GRC, there will be talks in 5 broadly defined and partially overlapping areas of intermolecular interactions and chemical dynamics: (1) Photoionization and Photoelectron Spectroscopy; (2) Molecules in Strong Fields; (3) Photodissociation Dynamics; (4) Astrochemistry; and (5) Reaction Dynamics. These areas encompass many of the most productive and exciting areas of chemical physics, including both reactive and nonreactive processes, intermolecular and intramolecular energy transfer, and photodissociation and unimolecular processes. Gas phase dynamics, van der Waals and cluster studies, laser-matter interactions and multiple potential energy surface phenomena will all be discussed. Limited funds are available to support attendance for students and post-docs. Advisors should email the conference chair requesting such support, …

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate proposing constitutional amendments limiting the public taking of private property, establishing the national research university fund to fund emerging research universities, and eliminating the higher education fund.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the state to contribute money, property, and other resources for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of veterans hospitals in this state.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the ad valorem taxation of a residence homestead solely on the basis of the property's value as a residence homestead; authorizing the legislature to authorize a single board of equalization for two or more adjoining appraisal entities that elect to provide for consolidated equalizations; and authorizing the legislature to provide for the administration and enforcement of uniform standards and procedures for appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate proposing a constitutional amendment to allow an officer or enlisted member of the Texas State Guard or other state militia or military force to hold other civil offices.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the ad valorem taxation of a residence homestead solely on the basis of the property's value as a residence homestead; authorizing the legislature to authorize a single board of equalization for two or more adjoining appraisal entities that elect to provide for consolidated equalizations; and authorizing the legislature to provide for the administration and enforcement of uniform standards and procedures for appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes.

The 111th Congress in coming months might take up free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by the Bush Administration with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea under trade promotion authority, or fast-track rules, designed to expedite congressional consideration of these agreements. Accordingly, agriculture as covered in each pending trade agreement is examined in this report in the order that Congress likely will take up these agreements, based upon statements made to date by Obama Administration officials and Members of Congress.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In December 2003, GAO reported that most of Alaska's more than 200 Native villages were affected to some degree by flooding and erosion (GAO-04-142). Since 2003, state officials have identified the growing impacts of climate change, increasing the urgency of federal and state efforts to identify imminently threatened villages and assess their relocation options. GAO was asked to report on (1) the flooding and erosion threats that Alaska Native villages currently face, (2) the federal programs that are available to assist villages facing potential disasters, (3) the status of village relocation efforts, and (4) how federal assistance to relocating villages is prioritized. GAO interviewed and gathered documentation from federal and state agency officials as well as regional organizations and village representatives."

This report analyzes Brazil's political, economic, and social conditions, and how those conditions affect its role in the region and its relationship with the United States.

This report provides a brief historical background of Chile, examines recent political and economic developments, and addresses issues in U.S.-Chilean relations.

This report discusses the economy of China and how it is has been affected by the recent economic downturn. China has recently enjoyed one of the world's fastest-growing economies and has been a major contributor to world economic growth, but several Chinese industries have been hard by the crisis, and millions of workers have been laid off. This report explores this issue in brief, including what actions the Chinese government is taking to combat the problem, as well as what actions China may take to assist in stabilizing the U.S. economy.

This report discusses the U.S.-China economic relationship and China's rapid expansion as a global economic market, both with respect to the current global economic crisis. It also examines major U.S.-China trade issues and related legislation.

This report discusses the possibility of ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which would ban all nuclear explosions, focusing on "Safeguards" that nations can implement unilaterally to protect nuclear security. This report presents the Safeguards, updates them, discusses their implementation, and considers implications for CTBT ratification.

Section 1207 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2006 provides authority for the Department of Defense (DOD) to transfer to the State Department up to $100 million per fiscal year in defense articles, services, training or other support for reconstruction, stabilization, and security activities in foreign countries. The 111th Congress must decide whether to extend Section 1207, which expires on September 30, 2009. This report discusses what issues Congress must take into consideration when making this decision.

According to Bechtel National Inc.’s (BNI’s) Test Specification 24590-PTF-TSP-RT-06-006, Rev 0, “Simulant Development to Support the Development and Demonstration of Leaching and Ultrafiltration Pretreatment Processes,” simulants for boehmite, gibbsite, and filtration are to be developed that can be used in subsequent bench and integrated testing of the leaching/filtration processes. These simulants will then be used to demonstrate the leaching process and to help refine processing conditions that may impact safety basis considerations (Smith 2006). This report documents the results of the boehmite simulant development and blended simulant crossflow ultrafiltration leaching completed in accordance with the test plan TP-RPP-WTP-469 Rev 0 (WTP Doc. No. 24590- 101-TSA-W000-0004-182-00001 Rev 00A) prepared and approved in response to the cited test specification. This report also includes the results of the aluminate and anion effect on boehmite dissolution performed in accordance with the test plan TP-RPP-WTP-509, Rev 0 (WTP Doc. No. 24590-101-TSA-W000-0004-72-00019 Rev 00A) prepared and approved in response to the Test Specification 24590-WTP-TSP-RT-07-004, Rev 0 (Sundar 2007).

In the traditional non-relativistic bound state calculation, the two-photon decay amplitudes of the P-wave {chi}{sub c0,2} and {chi}{sub b0,2} states depend on the derivative of the wave function at the origin which can only be obtained from potential models. However by neglecting the relative quark momenta, the decay amplitude can be written as the matrix element of a local heavy quark field operator which could be obtained from other processes or computed with QCD sum rules technique or lattice simulation. Following the same line as in recent work for the two-photon decays of the S-wave {eta}{sub c} and {eta}{sub b} quarkonia, we show that the effective Lagrangian for the two-photon decays of the P-wave {chi}{sub c0,2} and {chi}{sub b0,2} is given by the heavy quark energy-momentum tensor local operator or its trace, the {anti Q}Q scalar density and that the expression for {chi}{sub c0} two-photon and two-gluon decay rate is given by the f{sub {chi}{sub c0}} decay constant and is similar to that of {eta}{sub c} which is given by f{sub {eta}{sub c}}. From the existing QCD sum rules value for f{sub {chi}{sub c0}}, we get 5 keV for the {chi}{sub c0} two-photon width, somewhat larger than measurement, but possibly …

This report mainly discusses The European Parliament which is a key institution of 27 member European Union. The role of the European Parliament in the legislative has expanded steadily over time as the scope of EU policy has grown.

We have shown that branching morphogenesis of mammary ductal structures requires the action of the morphogen epimorphin/syntaxin-2. Epimorphin, originally identified as an extracellular molecule, is identical to syntaxin-2, an intracellular molecule that is a member of the extensively investigated syntaxin family of proteins that mediate vesicle trafficking. We show here that although epimorphin/syntaxin-2 is highly homologous to syntaxin-1a, only epimorphin/syntaxin-2 can stimulate mammary branching morphogenesis. We construct a homology model of epimorphin/syntaxin-2 based on the published structure of syntaxin-1a, and we use this model to identify the structural motif responsible for the morphogenic activity. We identify four residues located within the cleft between helices B and C that differ between syntaxin-1a and epimorphin/syntaxin-2; through site-directed mutagenesis of these four amino acids, we confer the properties of epimorphin for cell adhesion, gene activation, and branching morphogenesis onto the inactive syntaxin-1a template. These results provide a dramatic demonstration of the use of structural information about one molecule to define a functional motif of a second molecule that is related at the sequence level but highly divergent functionally.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As the recent outbreak of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus underscores, an influenza pandemic remains a real threat to our nation and to the world. Over the past 3 years, GAO has conducted a body of work to help the nation better prepare for a possible pandemic. In a February 2009 report, GAO synthesized the results of this work, pointing out that while the previous administration had taken a number of actions to plan for a pandemic, including developing a national strategy and implementation plan, much more needs to be done, and many gaps in preparedness and planning still remain. This statement is based on the February 2009 report which synthesized the results of 11 reports and two testimonies covering six thematic areas: (1) leadership, authority, and coordination; (2) detecting threats and managing risks; (3) planning, training, and exercising, (4) capacity to respond and recover; (5) information sharing and communication; and (6) performance and accountability."

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PTEN is a dual function phosphatase with tumor suppressor function compromised in a wide spectrum of cancers. Because tissue polarity and architecture are crucial modulators of normal and malignant behavior, we postulated that PTEN may play a role in maintenance of tissue integrity. We used two non-malignant human mammary epithelial cell lines (HMECs) that form polarized, growth-arrested structures (acini) when cultured in 3-dimensional laminin-rich extracellular matrix gels (3D lrECM). As acini begin to form, PTEN accumulates in both the cytoplasm, and at cell-cell contacts where it colocalizes with E-cadherin/{beta}-catenin complex. Reduction of PTEN levels by shRNA in lrECM prevents formation of organized breast acini and disrupts growth arrest. Importantly, disruption of acinar polarity and cell-cell contact by E-cadherin function-blocking antibodies reduces endogenous PTEN protein levels and inhibits its accumulation at cell-cell contacts. Conversely, in SKBR3 breast cancer cells lacking endogenous E-cadherin expression, exogenous introduction of E-cadherin gene causes induction of PTEN expression and its accumulation at sites of cell interactions. These studies provide evidence that E-cadherin regulates both the PTEN protein levels and its recruitment to cell-cell junctions in 3D lrECM indicating a dynamic reciprocity between architectural integrity and the levels and localization of PTEN. This interaction thus appears to …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The financing of the federal government depends largely on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) ability to administer the tax laws, which includes providing service to taxpayers and enforcing the law so that individuals and businesses pay the taxes they owe. The President's fiscal year 2010 budget request details how IRS intends to allocate its resources to achieve these goals while also continuing its investment modernizing its tax processing systems. GAO was asked to (1) describe budget trends, including dollars and full time equivalents; (2) describe legislative proposals that, if enacted, could result in savings or increased revenues; (3) describe the requested increases in funding for new initiatives; (4) assess return on investment (ROI) information; and (5) assess and the status of the Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program. To do this, GAO compared the budget request to prior years, analyzed key documents, and interviewed IRS officials"

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This report discusses the relationship between the United States and Japan, including Japanese efforts to support the U.S. in the wake of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and the two countries' economic ties, especially with regards to the recent economic downturn. This report also discusses the general political atmosphere of Japan, including the recent and ongoing political turmoil in Tokyo.