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The DUSEL Project has produced the Preliminary Design of the Deep UndergroundScience and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) at the rehabilitated formerHomestake mine in South Dakota. The Facility design calls for, on the surface,two new buildings - one a visitor and education center, the other an experimentassembly hall - and multiple repurposed existing buildings. To supportunderground research activities, the design includes two laboratory modules andadditional spaces at a level 4,850 feet underground for physics, biology,engineering, and Earth science experiments. On the same level, the designincludes a Department of Energy-shepherded Large Cavity supporting the LongBaseline Neutrino Experiment. At the 7,400-feet level, the design incorporatesone laboratory module and additional spaces for physics and Earth scienceefforts. With input from some 25 science and engineering collaborations, theProject has designed critical experimental space and infrastructure needs,including space for a suite of multidisciplinary experiments in a laboratorywhose projected life span is at least 30 years. From these experiments, acritical suite of experiments is outlined, whose construction will be fundedalong with the facility. The Facility design permits expansion and evolution,as may be driven by future science requirements, and enables participation byother agencies. The design leverages South Dakota's substantial investment infacility infrastructure, risk retirement, and operation of its SanfordLaboratory at Homestake. The Project is planning education and outreachprograms, and has initiated efforts to establish regional partnerships withunderserved populations - regional American Indian and rural populations.

Faculty from 5 disciplines (health administration, nursing, psychology, social work, and special education) collaborated to develop and teach a distance-learning course designed to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to seek mental health services employment in rural areas and to provide the skills, experience, and knowledge necessary for successful rural practice. The primary objectives of the course, developed after thorough review of the rural retention and recruitment literature, were to (1) enhance interdisciplinary team skills, (2) employ technology as a tool for mental health practitioners, and (3) enhance student understanding of Appalachian culture and rural mental health. Didactic instruction emphasized Appalachian culture, rural mental health, teamwork and communication, professional ethics, and technology. Students were introduced to videoconferencing, asynchronous and synchronous communication, and Internet search tools. Working in teams of 3 or 4, students grappled with professional and cultural issues plus team process as they worked through a hypothetical case of a sexually abused youngster. The course required participants to engage in a nontraditional manner by immersing students in Web-based teams. Student evaluations suggested that teaching facts or "content" about rural mental health and Appalachian culture was much easier than the "process" of using new technologies or working in teams. Given that the delivery of mental health care demands collaboration and teamwork and that rural practice relies increasingly more on the use of technology, our experience suggests that more team-based, technology-driven courses are needed to better prepare students for clinical practice.

Explains the importance of quality assurance in high school textiles and apparel instruction. Describes educational activities that integrate quality assurance concepts (teamwork, continuous improvement, customer focus, and empowerment). (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

A large proportion of students of textiles and apparel are turning to the MBA degree as an advanced professional qualification, since the traditional textiles and apparel degree is viewed as too theoretical. A case study looks at the course offering of Kansas State university which attempts to address this issue.

A study investigates the importance of including quality assurance in the textile and apparel curriculum of schools. Aspects of quality assurance are highlighted, including activities which will allow integration and their application to other family and consumer science areas.

Understanding the electronic structure of semiconducting polymers and their respective building blocks is an essential prerequisite to develop efficient materials for organic electronics. Due to its molecular resolution and capability to directly probe and assign triplet states, (time-resolved) electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy is particularly suited. We present here evidence for a direct optical excitation of distinct triplet states in the small molecule TBT, often used as building block for semiconducting polymers. These states are subtly different in their electronic structure from those populated via intersystem crossing from excited singlet states. With these results, we extend our previous investigations of CbzTBT, the repeat unit of the polymer PCDTBT comprising the TBT and an additional carbazole moiety. Hence, the strong acceptor unit TBT seems responsible for this additional triplet route. Due to the widespread use of TBT as an acceptor unit in many different co-polymers, this has potentially high impact on the efficiency of organic electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]