The advent of 3rd generation light sources such as the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at LBL, and the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne, have produced a revolution in x-ray probing of dense matter during the past decade. These machines use electron-synchrotrons in conjunction with undulator stages to produce 100 psec x-ray pulses with photon energies of several kiloelectronvolts (keV). The applications for x-ray probing of matter are numerous and diverse with experiments in medicine and biology, semiconductors and materials science, and plasma and solid state physics. In spite of the success of the 3rd generation light sources there is strong motivation to push the capabilities of x-ray probing into new realms, requiring shorter pulses, higher brightness and harder x-rays. A 4th generation light source, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), is being considered at the Stanford Linear Accelerator [1]. The LCLS will produce multi-kilovolt x-rays of subpicosecond duration that are 10 orders of magnitude brighter than today's 3rd generation light sources.[1] Although the LCLS will provide unprecedented capability for performing time-resolved x-ray probing of ultrafast phenomena at solid densities, this machine will not be completed for many years. In the meantime there is a serious need for an ultrashort-pulse, high-brightness, …

Most congressional interest in agriculture in the 106th Congress was focused on persistent low prices for major commodities and proposals to redress declining farm income. Six emergency farm aid bills were approved, increasing agricultural spending by nearly $27 billion for fiscal years 1999-2001. These bills provided disaster relief along with short term “market loss payments”to farmers to shore up farm income. Some longer term changes also were enacted as part of emergency farm legislation, which this report discusses in brief.

Recent LLNL experiments reported elsewhere at this conference explored the pulselength dependence of 351 nm bulk damage incidence in DKDP. The results found are consistent, in part, with a model in which a distribution of small bulk initiators is assumed to exist in the crystal and the damage threshold is determined by reaching a critical temperature. The observed pulse length dependence can be explained as being set by the most probable defect capable of causing damage at a given pulselength. Analysis of obscuration in side illuminated images of the damaged region yields estimates of the damage site distributions that are in reasonable agreement with the distributions experimentally directly estimated.

Quantification of specific proteins depends on separation by chromatography or electrophoresis followed by chemical detection schemes such as staining and fluorophore adhesion. Chemical exchange of short-lived isotopes, particularly sulfur, is also prevalent despite the inconveniences of counting radioactivity. Physical methods based on isotopic and elemental analyses offer highly sensitive protein quantitation that has linear response over wide dynamic ranges and is independent of protein conformation. Accelerator mass spectrometry quantifies long-lived isotopes such as 14C to sub-attomole sensitivity. We quantified protein interactions with small molecules such as toxins, vitamins, and natural biochemicals at precisions of 1-5% . Micro-proton-induced-xray-emission quantifies elemental abundances in separated metalloprotein samples to nanogram amounts and is capable of quantifying phosphorylated loci in gels. Accelerator-based quantitation is a possible tool for quantifying the genome translation into proteome.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2000, two of the nation's largest airlines, United Airlines and US Airways, proposed merging. As part of the agreement, United and US Airways also proposed divesting some of the US Airways' assets at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to create an airline to be known as DC Air. The Justice Department is now reviewing the proposal to determine if the merger would violate U.S. antitrust laws and, if so, whether the proposed divestiture constitutes an adequate remedy. GAO reviewed the proposed merger and found that it would create an airline so large that it would spur further industry consolidation. The new airline would have more than 25 percent of the total U.S. market and would take in almost $9 billion more than the next largest airline. Although the proposed merger may benefit consumers by boosting competition in some areas, it could also eliminate competition in other areas and reduce consumer choice. DC Air would face significant competitive challenges from other airlines. DC Air would offer smaller aircraft and less frequent service but would seek to compete with other airlines by reducing its fares."

Mapping inter-cell signaling pathways requires an integrated view of experimental and informatic protocols. BioSig provides the foundation of cataloging inter-cell responses as a function of particular conditioning, treatment, staining, etc. for either in vivo or in vitro experiments. This paper outlines the system architecture, a functional data model for representing experimental protocols, algorithms for image analysis, and the required statistical analysis. The architecture provides remote shared operation of an inverted optical microscope, and couples instrument operation with images acquisition and annotation. The information is stored in an object-oriented database. The algorithms extract structural information such as morphology and organization, and map it to functional information such as inter-cellular responses. An example of usage of this system is included.

Chemical analysis of groundwater samples is the baseline method of characterizing and monitoring groundwater contamination in the vadose (unsaturated) zone at most waste sites. Contamination moving from the surface to the water table passes through an unsaturated zone that can range in thickness from a few inches to hundreds of feet at a give site. Lysimeters are samplers that are designed to apply suction to the subsurface and are typically used to collect groundwater in the unsaturated zone.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several states reviewed by GAO have established financial assistance programs to encourage the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfields. The programs run by EPA and the states differ in certain aspects, however. Namely, there are differences in the forms of assistance provided, the eligibility criteria, and overall strategies. From fiscal years 1995 through 2000, EPA provided $246.9 million for brownfields assistance while the five states reviewed by GAO provided a combined total of $136 million. GAO found that EPA and the states have difficulty in determining whether their programs are achieving their overall goals. Although EPA maintains a database to track the progress of its program, the data it collects are limited because recipients of EPA's assistance are not required to report on the status of their cleanup projects. The states also have limited information, primarily because they do not track the economic benefits of the assistance they provide or they use forecasted results, rather than actual results, to measure progress."

Progress in the study of plasma physics and controlled fusion has been profoundly influenced by dramatic increases in computing capability. Computational plasma physics has become an equal partner with experiment and traditional theory. This presentation illustrates some of the progress in computer modeling of plasma physics and controlled fusion.

Data and calculations from previous criticality safety evaluations and analyses were used to evaluate criticality safety for the entire Tank Farms facility to support the continued waste storage mission. This criticality safety evaluation concludes that a criticality accident at the Tank Farms facility is an incredible event due to the existing form (chemistry) and distribution (neutron absorbers) of tank waste. Limits and controls for receipt of waste from other facilities and maintenance of tank waste condition are set forth to maintain the margin subcriticality in tank waste.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Defense offsets are the full range of industrial and commercial benefits that firms provide to foreign governments as inducements or conditions for the purchase of military goods and services. The U.S. government has maintained a "hands off" policy toward defense offsets, viewing them as part of the transaction between the contracting parties. However, offsets are one of the many factors contributing to the globalization of the U.S. industrial base. This testimony presents GAO's observations on (1) the impact of offsets, (2) trends in defense offsets, and (3) the quality and extent of information currently available concerning offsets. Views on the effects of offsets are divided between those who believe that they are both positive and an unavoidable part of doing business overseas and those who believe that they harm the U.S. industrial base. Recently, countries buying U.S. defense items have become increasingly sophisticated in their offset demands. Finally, identifying the effect of offsets on industrial sectors or the U.S. economy as a whole is difficult."

This report tracks legislation relating to the use of economic sanctions in pursuit of foreign policy or national security objectives. Separate sections are given to the areas of greatest activity: sanctions imposed against India and Pakistan; exemptions of food and medicine exports; and sanctions reform. A separate table is included listing sanctions measures that were introduced but received no consideration, including measures pertaining to export controls, nonproliferation, drug certifications, and the sanctions regimes leveled, or proposed to be leveled, against Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Serbia and Montenegro, and other countries.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since Title IX of the Education Amendments was enacted in 1972, women's participation in higher education academic programs has increased significantly. Women's participation in predominantly male fields such as business, law, and medicine has also increased greatly, although changes in other predominantly male fields, such as engineering and physical science, have been smaller. In some predominantly female fields, including elementary education and nursing, there have been increases in the proportion of men receiving degrees. In the 1995-96 school year, first-year college men and women were about as likely to receive financial aid and received about the same average amounts of grant and loan aid. Men continue to outnumber women on faculties in predominantly male fields at colleges and universities. Women's participation in intercollegiate sports at four-year colleges and universities has increased while men's participation has dropped slightly, although they still participate at a higher rate than do women. On average, in the 1998-99 school year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association member schools spent more per male intercollegiate sports participant than female participant in recruiting, coaches' salaries, and operations. However, they spent more on athletic scholarships for …

With the promising new results of fast z-pinch technology developed at Sandia National Laboratories, we are investigating using z-pinch driven high-yield Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) as a fusion power plant energy source. These investigations have led to a novel fusion system concept based on an attempt to separate many of the difficult fusion engineering issues and a strict reliance on existing technology, or a reasonable extrapolation of existing technology, wherever possible. In this paper, we describe the main components of such a system with a focus on the fusion chamber dynamics. The concept works with all of the electrically-coupled ICF proposed fusion designs. It is proposed that a z-pinch driven ICF power system can be feasibly operated at high yields (1 to 30 GJ) with a relatively low pulse rate (0.01-0.1 Hz). To deliver the required current from the rep-rated pulse power driver to the z-pinch diode, a Recyclable Transmission Line (RTL) and the integrated target hardware are fabricated, vacuum pumped, and aligned prior to loading for each power pulse. In this z-pinch driven system, no laser or ion beams propagate in the chamber such that the portion of the chamber outside the RTL does not need to be under …

The oxidation of dimethyl ether (DME) is studied in low-pressure flames using new molecular beam mass spectrometer and laser diagnostics. Two 30.0-Torr, premixed DME/oxygen/argon flames are investigated with stoichiometries of 0.98 and 1.20. The height above burner profiles of nine stable species and two radicals are measured. These results are compared to the detailed chemical reaction mechanism of Curran and coworkers. Generally good agreement is found between the model and data. The largest discrepancies are found for the methyl radical profiles where the model predicts qualitatively different trends in the methyl concentration with stoichiometry than observed in the experiment.

In laboratory cooks pure oxygen was profiled into the circulation line of a batch digester during two periods of the cooking cycle: The first injection occurred during the heating steps for the purpose of in-situ generation of polysulfide. This chip treatment was studied to explore stabilization against alkaline induced carbohydrate peeling and to increase pulp yield. Under optimum conditions small amounts of polysulfide were produced with yield increase of about 0.5% These increases fell below earlier reports suggesting that unknown differences in liquor composition may influence the relative amounts of polysulfide and thiosulfate generated during the oxidation. Consequently, further studies are required to understand the factors that influence the ratios of those two sulfur species.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1993, the United States agreed to buy 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium from Russia. This uranium was extracted from dismantled nuclear weapons over a 20-year period. USEC, Incorporated, (the company that acts as an executive agent for the United States) paid Russia about $1.6 billion for more than 3,000 metric tons of low enriched uranium blended from highly enriched uranium. Five of these deliveries to USEC have been delayed because, among other reasons, Russia was dissatisfied with the revenue it ws getting from the sales. By the end of 1999, USEC had received about 19 metric tons less than the agreement called for at that point in the contract. The U.S. government and USEC expect that the shortfall will be made up in the next few years. In addition to the uranium obtained from dismantled nuclear weapons, Russia is also proposing that the United States buy newly produced uranium processed in its commercial facilities. GAO recommends that this arrangement be assessed to determine its impact on the nuclear fuel industry and national security."

We describe aspects of particle creation in strong fields using a quantum kinetic equation with a relaxation-time approximation to the collision term. The strong electric background field is determined by solving Maxwell's equation in tandem with the Vlasov equation. Plasma oscillations appear as a result of feedback between the background field and the field generated by the particles produced. The plasma frequency depends on the strength of the initial background fields and the collision frequency, and is sensitive to the necessary momentum-dependence of dressed-parton masses.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the concept of universal telephone service to include telecommunication support services for eligible schools and libraries. Under this program, called the "e-rate program," schools and libraries can apply for discounts on telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections. GAO found that the Universal Service Administrative Company's (USAC) Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) committed more than $3.7 billion to applicants during the 1998 and 1999 program years. However, a significant amount of this money has not yet been paid out, even though the deadlines for applicants and vendors to use the funds has been extended more than once. In addition, more funding would be available for eligible requests if SLD's review procedures were more effective at identifying and denying ineligible requests. Despite procedures requiring reviewers to deny funding for ineligible items and to confirm that conditionally eligible services are being used according to program rules, GAO identified millions of dollars in funds incorrectly committed to ineligible products and services. Finally, SLD's practice of approving most vendors' invoices without reviewing how and where the committed funds are actually being spent leaves the …

Completion of cased and cemented wells by shaped charge perforation causes its own damage to the formation, potentially reducing well productivity. In practice it is found that underbalance conditions clean up the damaged zone to some extent, however, the mechanisms of these processes are poorly understood. Most hydrocodes typically used to simulate rock response to shaped charge penetration do not provide permeability estimates. Furthermore, the time scales for formation clean up are potentially much longer than the period of jet penetration. We have developed a simple, yet accurate model for the evolution of porosity and permeability which can easily be incorporated into existing hydrocodes using information from the history of each cell. In addition, we have developed a code that efficiently simulates fines migration during the post-shot surge period using initial conditions taken directly from hydrocode simulations of jet penetration. Results from a one-dimensional model simulation are in excellent agreement with measured permeability distributions. We also present two-dimensional numerical results which qualitatively reproduce experimentally obtained permeability maps for different values of underbalance. Although initial results have been promising, further comparison with experiment is essential to tune the coupling between the hydrocode and fines migration simulator. Currently the permeability model is …

The SNRB{trademark} test program demonstrated the feasibility of controlling multiple emissions from a coal-fired boiler in a single processing unit. The degree of emissions removals for SO{sub 2}, NO{sub x}, and particulates all exceeded the project goals. A high degree of removal for HAPs was also achieved. The SNRB system offers low space requirements, control of multiple pollutants, and operating flexibility. The pneumatic SO{sub 2} sorbent and ammonia injection systems are expected to have high reliability because of their mechanical simplicity. Despite these advantages, the SNRB process may not be an economic choice for applications involving SO{sub 2} removals above about 85%. For lower levels of SO{sub 2} removal, the projected economics for SNRB appear to be more favorable than those of existing processes which involve separate units for the same degree of control for SO{sub 2}, NO{sub x} , and particulates. Specific findings are summarized as follows: (1) SO{sub 2} removal of 85-90% was achieved at a calcium utilization of 40-45%, representing a significant improvement in performance over other dry lime injection processes. (2) When firing 3-4% sulfur coal, compliance with the 1990 CAAA Phase I SO{sub 2} emissions limit of 2.5 lb/10{sup 6} Btu was achieved with a …

Quarterly publication of the Texas Comptroller's Office regarding sales and use tax in the state of Texas, including an analysis by county, analysis by industry, and related notes.

The intra- and interchain structure of sodium poly(styrenesulphonate) when free and when confined in contrast matched porous Vycor has been investigated by SANS. When confined, a peak is observed whose intensity increases with molecular weight and the 1/q scattering region is extended compared to the bulk. We infer that the chains are sufficiently extended, under the influence of confinement, to highlight the large scale disordered structure of Vycor. The asymptotic behavior of the observed interchain structure factor is = 1/q{sup 2} and = 1/q for free and confined chains respectively.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether and the extent to which a board of district judges may be involved in the hiring of employees of a community supervision and corrections department.