This report mainly discusses The European Parliament which is a key institution of 25 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.

Control of workplace exposure to beryllium is a growing issue in the United States and other nations. As the health risks associated with low-level exposure to beryllium are better understood, the need increases for improved analytical techniques both in the laboratory and in the field. These techniques also require a greater degree of standardization to permit reliable comparison of data obtained from different locations and at different times. Analysis of low-level beryllium samples, in the form of air filters or surface wipes, is frequently required for workplace monitoring or to provide data to support decision-making on implementation of exposure controls. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the current permissible exposure level is 2 {micro}g/m{sup 3} (air), and the United States Department of Energy has implemented an action level of 0.2 {micro}g/m{sup 3} (air) and 0.2 {micro}g/100 cm{sup 2} (surface). These low-level samples present a number of analytical challenges, including (1) a lack of suitable standard reference materials, (2) unknown robustness of sample preparation techniques, (3) interferences during analysis, (4) sensitivity (sufficiently low detection limits), (5) specificity (beryllium speciation), and (6) data comparability among laboratories. Additionally, there is a need for portable, real-time (or near real-time) equipment for beryllium …

An overview of several aspects of the weathering of roofing materials is presented. Degradation of materials initiated by ultraviolet radiation is discussed for plastics used in roofing, as well as wood and asphalt. Elevated temperatures accelerate many deleterious chemical reactions and hasten diffusion of material components. Effects of moisture include decay of wood, acceleration of corrosion of metals, staining of clay, and freeze-thaw damage. Soiling of roofing materials causes objectionable stains and reduces the solar reflectance of reflective materials. (Soiling of non-reflective materials can also increase solar reflectance.) Soiling can be attributed to biological growth (e.g., cyanobacteria, fungi, algae), deposits of organic and mineral particles, and to the accumulation of flyash, hydrocarbons and soot from combustion.

Time-to-digital converters with sub-picosecond resolutions are needed to satisfy the requirements of time-on-flight measurements of the next generation of high energy and nuclear physics experiments. The converters must be highly integrated, power effective, low cost, and feature plug-and-play capabilities to handle the increasing number of channels (up to hundreds of millions) in future Department of Energy experiments. Current state-off-the-art time-to-digital converter integrated circuits do not have the sufficient degree of integration and flexibility to fulfill all the described requirements. During Phase I, the Advanced Science and Novel Technology Company in cooperation with the nuclear physics division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed the architecture of a novel time-to-digital converter with multiple channels connected to an external processor through a special interfacing block and synchronized by clock signals generated by an internal phase-locked loop. The critical blocks of the system including signal delay lines and delay-locked loops with proprietary differential delay cells, as well as the required digital code converter and the clock period counter have been designed and simulated using the advanced SiGe120 BiCMOS technological process. The results of investigations demonstrate a possibility to achieve the digitization accuracy within 1ps. ADSANTEC has demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed …

This report includes information regarding issues for Congress related United Nations peacekeeping and recent developments, background, funding, and various proposals

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This report presents a summary of research projects in the area of low energy nuclear reactions and structure, carried out between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2005 and supported by U.S. DOE grant number DE-FG03-03NA00074. Cross sections measured with high resolution have been subjected to an Ericson theory analysis to infer information about the nuclear level density. Other measurements were made of the spectral shape of particles produced in evaporation processes; these also yield level density information. A major project was the development of a new Hauser-Feshbach code for analyzing such spectra. Other measurements produced information on the spectra of gamma rays emitted in reactions on heavy nuclei and gave a means of refining our understanding of gamma-ray strength functions. Finally,reactions on light nuclei were studied and subjected to an R-matrix analysis. Cross sections fora network of nuclear reactions proceedingthrough a given compound nucleus shouldgreatly constrain the family of allowed parameters. Modifications to the formalism andcomputer code are also discussed.

This report considers the history of the Medal of Honor. In addition, the laws and regulations pertaining to the award, and the privileges/benefits available to the recipients are discussed. Finally, this report analyzes efforts to have the Medal of Honor awarded to certain individuals outside of the normal procedures.

This report discusses the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for inspecting most meat, poultry, and processed egg products for safety, wholesomeness, and proper labeling.

This report discusses the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which provides preferential tariff treatment to certain products that are imported from designated developing countries. The primary purpose of the program, which the United States and other industrial countries initiated in the 1970s, is to promote economic growth in developing countries and countries in transition by stimulating their exports. The program was last reauthorized through December 31, 2006, by the 107th Congress in section 4101 of the Trade Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-210).

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Recently the results from many Monte Carlo codes were compared for a series of theoretical pin-cells; the results are documented in ref. [3]; details are also provided here in Appendix A and B. The purpose of this earlier code comparison was primarily to determine how accurately our codes model both bound and free atom neutron thermal scattering. Prior to this study many people assumed that our Monte Carlo transport codes were all now so accurate that they would all produce more or less the same answers, say for example K-eff to within 0.1%. The results demonstrated that in reality we see a rather large spread in the results for even simple scalar parameters, such as K-eff, where we found differences in excess of 2%, far exceeding many people's expectations. The differences between code results were traced to four major factors, (1) Differences between the sets of nuclear data used. (2) The accuracy of nuclear data processing codes. (3) The accuracy of the models used in our Monte Carlo transport codes. (4) Code user selected input options. Naturally at Livermore we would like to insure that we minimize the effects of these factors. In this report we compare the results using …

We have compared the results produced by a variety of currently available Monte Carlo neutron transport codes for the relatively simple problem of a fast source of neutrons slowing down and thermalizing in water. Initial comparisons showed rather large differences in the calculated flux; up to 80% differences. By working together we iterated to improve the results by: (1) insuring that all codes were using the same data, (2) improving the models used by the codes, and (3) correcting errors in the codes; no code is perfect. Even after a number of iterations we still found differences, demonstrating that our Monte Carlo and supporting codes are far from perfect; in particularly we found that the often overlooked nuclear data processing codes can be the weakest link in our systems of codes. The results presented here represent the today's state-of-the-art, in the sense that all of the Monte Carlo codes are modern, widely available and used codes. They all use the most up-to-date nuclear data, and the results are very recent, weeks or at most a few months old; these are the results that current users of these codes should expect to obtain from them. As such, the accuracy and limitations …

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The task of searching for patterns in graph-structured data has applications in such diverse areas as computer vision, biology, electronics, computer aided design, social networks, and intelligence analysis. As such, work on graph-based pattern matching spans a wide range of research communities. Due to variations in graph characteristics and problem requirements, graph-based pattern matching is not a single problem, but a set of related problems. This paper presents a survey of existing work on graph-based pattern matching, describing variations among graph matching problems, general and specific solution approaches, evaluation techniques, and directions for further research. An emphasis is given to techniques that apply to general graphs with semantic characteristics. The survey also discusses techniques for graph mining, an extension of the graph matching problem.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released two reports on a la carte pricing of cable television networks that reach contradictory conclusions. The purpose of this report is to explain how these two reports reached differing conclusions and to analyze the different assumptions and calculations used in each.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released two reports on a la carte pricing of cable television networks that reach contradictory conclusions. The purpose of this report is to explain how these two reports reached differing conclusions and to analyze the different assumptions and calculations used in each.

Large scale scientific data is often stored in scientific data formats such as FITS, netCDF and HDF. These storage formats are of particular interest to the scientific user community since they provide multi-dimensional storage and retrieval. However, one of the drawbacks of these storage formats is that they do not support semantic indexing which is important for interactive data analysis where scientists look for features of interests such as ''Find all supernova explosions where energy > 10{sup 5} and temperature > 10{sup 6}''. In this paper we present a novel approach called HDF5-FastQuery to accelerate the data access of large HDF5 files by introducing multi-dimensional semantic indexing. Our implementation leverages an efficient indexing technology called bitmap indexing that has been widely used in the database community. Bitmap indices are especially well suited for interactive exploration of large-scale read only data. Storing the bitmap indices into the HDF5 file has the following advantages: (a) Significant performance speedup of accessing subsets of multi-dimensional data and (b) portability of the indices across multiple computer platforms. We will present an API that simplifies the execution of queries on HDF5 files for general scientific applications and data analysis. The design is flexible enough to accommodate …

Flue gas desulphurization (FGD) materials are produced in abundant quantities by coal burning utilities. Due to environmental restrains, flue gases must be ''cleaned'' prior to release to the atmosphere. They are two general methods to ''scrub'' flue gas: wet and dry. The choice of scrubbing material is often defined by the type of coal being burned, i.e. its composition. Scrubbing is traditionally carried out using a slurry of calcium containing material (slaked lime or calcium carbonate) that is made to contact exiting flue gas as either a spay injected into the gas or in a bubble tower. The calcium combined with the SO{sub 2} in the gas to form insoluble precipitates. Some plants have been using dry injection of these same materials or their own Class C fly ash to scrub. In either case the end product contains primarily hannebachite (CaSO{sub 3} {center_dot} 1/2H{sub 2}O) with smaller amounts of gypsum (CaSO{sub 4} {center_dot} 2H{sub 2}O). These materials have little commercial use. Experiments were carried out that were meant to explore the feasibility of using blends of hannebachite and fly ash mixed with concentrated sodium hydroxide to make masonry products. The results suggest that some of these mixtures could be used …

Professors and graduate students from five universities--the University of Kentucky, University of Pittsburgh, University of Utah, West Virginia University, and Auburn University--are collaborating in a research program to develop C1 chemistry processes to produce ultra-clean liquid transportation fuels and hydrogen, the zero-emissions transportation fuel of the future. The feedstocks contain one carbon atom per molecular unit. They include synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced by coal gasification or reforming of natural gas, methane, methanol, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. An important objective is to develop C1 technology for the production of liquid transportation fuel and hydrogen from domestically plentiful resources such as coal, coalbed methane, and hydrocarbon gases and liquids produced from coal. An Advisory Board with representatives from Chevron-Texaco, Eastman Chemical, Conoco-Phillips, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army National Automotive Center, and Tier Associates provides guidance on the practicality of the research. The current report summarizes the results obtained in this program during the period October 1, 2002 through March 31, 2006. The results are presented in detailed reports on 16 research projects headed by professors at each of the five CFFS Universities and an Executive Summary. Some of the highlights from …

One goal of the Building Energy Codes Program (BECP) is to provide useful, easy to understand information about the national energy codes. A forum where users could ask for, and receive clarification on these codes and software from other users would allow the Energy codes project to reach and instruct a broader audience for a modest resource cost. The forum proposed would be a staff moderated discussion board where staff would post topics, and users would post discussion of those topics, with staff joining in to the discussions. The forum would be moderated by staff members, to remove objectionable and irrelevant postings, and to answer any technical questions that arise. The topics and discussions would be archived and searchable to allow users to answer their own questions, if they pertain to a previously discussed topic.

This report discusses Iraqi government in the wake of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Elections in 2005 for a transitional National Assembly and government (January 30, 2005), a permanent constitution (October 15), and a permanent (four year) Council of Representatives and government (December 15) were concluded despite insurgent violence and attracted progressively increasing Sunni participation. However, escalating sectarian violence and factional infighting have delayed formation of a new government.

RMI support in Babel has two main goals: transparency & flexibility. Transparency meaning that the new RMI features are entirely transparent to existing Babelized code; flexibility meaning the RMI capability should also be flexible enough to support a variety of RMI transport implementations. Babel RMI is a big success in both areas. Babel RMI is completely transparent to already Babelized implementation code, allowing painless upgrade, and only very minor setup changes are required in client code to take advantage of RMI. The Babel RMI transport mechanism is also extremely flexible. Any protocol that implements Babel's minimal, but complete, interface may be used as a Babel RMI protocol. The Babel RMI API allows users to select the best protocol and connection model for their application, whether that means a WebServices-like client-server model for use over a WAP, or a faster binary peer-to-peer protocol for use on different nodes in a leadership-class supercomputer. Users can even change protocols without recompiling their code. The goal of this paper is to give network researchers and protocol implementors the information they need to develop new protocols for Babel RMI. This paper will cover both the high-level interfaces in the Babel RMI API, and the low …