IN SITU FIELD TESTING OF PROCESSES (open access)

IN SITU FIELD TESTING OF PROCESSES

The purpose of this scientific analysis report is to update and document the data and subsequent analyses from ambient field-testing activities performed in underground drifts and surface-based boreholes through unsaturated zone (UZ) tuff rock units. In situ testing, monitoring, and associated laboratory studies are conducted to directly assess and evaluate the waste emplacement environment and the natural barriers to radionuclide transport at Yucca Mountain. This scientific analysis report supports and provides data to UZ flow and transport model reports, which in turn contribute to the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) of Yucca Mountain, an important document for the license application (LA). The objectives of ambient field-testing activities are described in Section 1.1. This report is the third revision (REV 03), which supercedes REV 02. The scientific analysis of data for inputs to model calibration and validation as documented in REV 02 were developed in accordance with the Technical Work Plan (TWP) ''Technical Work Plan for: Performance Assessment Unsaturated Zone'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 167969]). This revision was developed in accordance with the ''Technical Work Plan for: Unsaturated Zone Flow Analysis and Model Report Integration'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169654], Section 1.2.4) for better integrated, consistent, transparent, traceable, and more complete documentation in …
Date: November 8, 2004
Creator: YANG, J.S.Y.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
An electron front end for the Fermilab multi-species 8 GeV SCRF linac (open access)

An electron front end for the Fermilab multi-species 8 GeV SCRF linac

Fermilab is considering a 8 GeV superconducting linac whose primary mission is to serve as an intense H{sup -} injector for the main injector. This accelerator is also planned to be used for accelerating various other species (e.g. electrons, protons and muons). In the present paper we investigate the possibility of such a linac to accelerate high-brightness electron beam up to {approx} 7 GeV. We propose a design for the electron front end based on a photoinjector and consider the electron beam dynamics along the linac. Start-to-end simulations of the full accelerator for electrons are presented. Finally the potential applications of such an electron beam are outlined.
Date: July 8, 2004
Creator: Piot, Philippe R.-G. & Foster, G W
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Validation of the thermal effect of roof with the Spraying and green plants in an insulated building (open access)

Validation of the thermal effect of roof with the Spraying and green plants in an insulated building

In recent years, roof-spraying and rooftop lawns have proven effective on roofs with poor thermal insulation. However, the roofs of most buildings have insulating material to provide thermal insulation during the winter. The effects of insulation has not previously been quantified. In this study, the authors collected measurements of an insulated building to quantify the thermal effects of roof-spraying and rooftop lawns. Roof-spraying did not significantly reduce cooling loads and required significant amounts of water. The conclusion is that roof spraying is not suitable for buildings with well-insulated roofs. Rooftop lawns, however, significantly stabilized the indoor temperature while additionally helping to mitigate the heat island phenomenon.
Date: August 8, 2004
Creator: Zhou, Nan; Gao, Weijun; Nishida, Masaru & Ojima, Toshio
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Review of Progress in Fast Ignition (open access)

Review of Progress in Fast Ignition

Marshall Rosenbluth's extensive contributions included seminal analysis of the inertial fusion program. Over the last decade he avidly followed the efforts of many scientists around the world who have studied Fast Ignition, an alternate form of inertial fusion. In this scheme, the fuel is first compressed by a long pulse driver and then ignited by the short pulse laser. Due to technological advances, external energy sources (such as short pulse lasers) can focus intensity equivalent to that produced by the hydrodynamic stagnation of conventional inertial fusion capsules. This review will discuss the ignition requirements and gain curves starting from simple models and then describing how these are modified, as more detailed physics understanding is included. The critical design issues revolve around two questions: How can the compressed fuel be efficiently assembled? And how can power from the driver be delivered to the ignition region? Schemes to shorten the distance between the critical surface and the ignition region will de discussed. The status of the project is compared with our requirements for success. Future research directions will be outlined.
Date: November 8, 2004
Creator: Tabak, M.; Town, R.; Lasinski, B.; Snavely, R.; Clark, D.; Wilks, S. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Optimizing performance of superscalar codes for a single Cray X1MSP processor (open access)

Optimizing performance of superscalar codes for a single Cray X1MSP processor

The growing gap between sustained and peak performance for full-scale complex scientific applications on conventional supercomputers is a major concern in high performance computing. The recently-released vector-based Cray X1 offers to bridge this gap for many demanding scientific applications. However, this unique architecture contains both data caches and multi-streaming processing units, and the optimal programming methodology is still under investigation. In this paper we investigate Cray X1 code optimization for a suite of computational kernels originally designed for superscalar processors. For our study, we select four applications from the SPLASH2 application suite (1-D FFT,Radix, Ocean, and Nbody), two kernels from the NAS benchmark suite (3-DFFT and CG), and a matrix-matrix multiplication kernel. Results show that for many cases, the addition of vectorization compiler directives results faster runtimes. However, to achieve a significant performance improvement via increased vector length, it is often necessary to restructure the program at the source level sometimes leading to algorithmic level transformations. Additionally, memory bank conflicts may result in substantial performance losses. These conflicts can often be exacerbated when optimizing code for increased vector lengths, and must be explicitly minimized. Finally, we investigate the relationship of the X1 data caches on overall performance.
Date: June 8, 2004
Creator: Shan, Hongzhang; Strohmaier, Erich & Oliker, Leonid
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Economics and Feasibility of Rankine Cycle Improvements for Coal Fired Power Plants: Final Report (open access)

Economics and Feasibility of Rankine Cycle Improvements for Coal Fired Power Plants: Final Report

ALSTOM Power Inc.'s Power Plant Laboratories (ALSTOM) has teamed with the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE NETL), American Electric Company (AEP) and Parsons Energy and Chemical Group to conduct a comprehensive study evaluating coal fired steam power plants, known as Rankine Cycles, equipped with three different combustion systems: Pulverized Coal (PC), Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB), and Circulating Moving Bed (CMB{trademark}). Five steam cycles utilizing a wide range of steam conditions were used with these combustion systems. The motivation for this study was to establish through engineering analysis, the most cost-effective performance potential available through improvement in the Rankine Cycle steam conditions and combustion systems while at the same time ensuring that the most stringent emission performance based on CURC (Coal Utilization Research Council) 2010 targets are met: > 98% sulfur removal; < 0.05 lbm/MM-Btu NO{sub x}; < 0.01 lbm/MM-Btu Particulate Matter; and > 90% Hg removal. The final report discusses the results of a coal fired steam power plant project, which is comprised of two parts. The main part of the study is the analysis of ten (10) Greenfield steam power plants employing three different coal combustion technologies: Pulverized Coal (PC), Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB), and …
Date: September 8, 2004
Creator: Waryasz, Richard E. & Liljedahl, Gregory N.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aqueous Corrosion Rates for Waste Package Materials (open access)

Aqueous Corrosion Rates for Waste Package Materials

The purpose of this analysis, as directed by ''Technical Work Plan for: Regulatory Integration Modeling and Analysis of the Waste Form and Waste Package'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 171583]), is to compile applicable corrosion data from the literature (journal articles, engineering documents, materials handbooks, or standards, and national laboratory reports), evaluate the quality of these data, and use these to perform statistical analyses and distributions for aqueous corrosion rates of waste package materials. The purpose of this report is not to describe the performance of engineered barriers for the TSPA-LA. Instead, the analysis provides simple statistics on aqueous corrosion rates of steels and alloys. These rates are limited by various aqueous parameters such as temperature (up to 100 C), water type (i.e., fresh versus saline), and pH. Corrosion data of materials at pH extremes (below 4 and above 9) are not included in this analysis, as materials commonly display different corrosion behaviors under these conditions. The exception is highly corrosion-resistant materials (Inconel Alloys) for which rate data from corrosion tests at a pH of approximately 3 were included. The waste package materials investigated are those from the long and short 5-DHLW waste packages, 2-MCO/2-DHLW waste package, and the 21-PWR commercial waste …
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: Arthur, S.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Risk Reduction With a Fuzzy Expert Exploration Tool (open access)

Risk Reduction With a Fuzzy Expert Exploration Tool

Incomplete or sparse information on types of data such as geologic or formation characteristics introduces a high level of risk for oil exploration and development projects. ''Expert'' systems developed and used in several disciplines and industries have demonstrated beneficial results. A state-of-the-art exploration ''expert'' tool, relying on a computerized database and computer maps generated by neural networks, is being developed through the use of ''fuzzy'' logic, a relatively new mathematical treatment of imprecise or non-explicit parameters and values. Oil prospecting risk can be reduced with the use of a properly developed and validated ''Fuzzy Expert Exploration (FEE) Tool.'' This FEE Tool can be beneficial in many regions of the U.S. by enabling risk reduction in oil and gas prospecting as well as decreased prospecting and development costs. In the 1998-1999 oil industry environment, many smaller exploration companies lacked the resources of a pool of expert exploration personnel. Downsizing, low oil prices, and scarcity of exploration funds have also affected larger companies, and will, with time, affect the end users of oil industry products in the U.S. as reserves are depleted. The FEE Tool will benefit a diverse group in the U.S., leading to a more efficient use of scarce funds, …
Date: April 8, 2004
Creator: Balch, Robert
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
GENII Version 2 Software Design Document (open access)

GENII Version 2 Software Design Document

This document describes the architectural design for the GENII-V2 software package. This document defines details of the overall structure of the software, the major software components, their data file interfaces, and specific mathematical models to be used. The design represents a translation of the requirements into a description of the software structure, software components, interfaces, and necessary data. The design focuses on the major components and data communication links that are key to the implementation of the software within the operating framework. The purpose of the GENII-V2 software package is to provide the capability to perform dose and risk assessments of environmental releases of radionuclides. The software also has the capability of calculating environmental accumulation and radiation doses from surface water, groundwater, and soil (buried waste) media when an input concentration of radionuclide in these media is provided. This report represents a detailed description of the capabilities of the software product with exact specifications of mathematical models that form the basis for the software implementation and testing efforts. This report also presents a detailed description of the overall structure of the software package, details of main components (implemented in the current phase of work), details of data communication files, and …
Date: March 8, 2004
Creator: Napier, Bruce A.; Strenge, Dennis L.; Ramsdell, James V.; Eslinger, Paul W. & Fosmire, Christian J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biosphere Model Report (open access)

Biosphere Model Report

The purpose of this report is to document the biosphere model, the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), which describes radionuclide transport processes in the biosphere and associated human exposure that may arise as the result of radionuclide release from the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. The biosphere model is one of the process models that support the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA), TSPA-LA. The ERMYN provides the capability of performing human radiation dose assessments. This report documents the biosphere model, which includes: (1) Describing the reference biosphere, human receptor, exposure scenarios, and primary radionuclides for each exposure scenario (Section 6.1); (2) Developing a biosphere conceptual model using site-specific features, events, and processes (FEPs) (Section 6.2), the reference biosphere (Section 6.1.1), the human receptor (Section 6.1.2), and approximations (Sections 6.3.1.4 and 6.3.2.4); (3) Building a mathematical model using the biosphere conceptual model (Section 6.3) and published biosphere models (Sections 6.4 and 6.5); (4) Summarizing input parameters for the mathematical model, including the uncertainty associated with input values (Section 6.6); (5) Identifying improvements in the ERMYN compared with the model used in previous biosphere modeling (Section 6.7); (6) Constructing an …
Date: November 8, 2004
Creator: Wu, D. W. & Smith, A. J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Proteomic profiling of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells upon TGF-beta stimulation (open access)

Proteomic profiling of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells upon TGF-beta stimulation

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can differentiate into different types of cells, and have tremendous potential for cell therapy and tissue engineering. Transforming growth factor {beta}1 (TGF-{beta}) plays an important role in cell differentiation and vascular remodeling. We showed that TGF-{beta} induced cell morphology change and an increase in actin fibers in MSCs. To determine the global effects of TGF-{beta} on MSCs, we employed a proteomic strategy to analyze the effect of TGF-{beta} on the human MSC proteome. By using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and electrospray ionization coupled to Quadrupole/time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometers, we have generated a proteome reference map of MSCs, and identified {approx}30 proteins with an increase or decrease in expression or phosphorylation in response to TGF-{beta}. The proteins regulated by TGF-{beta} included cytoskeletal proteins, matrix synthesis proteins, membrane proteins, metabolic enzymes, etc. TGF-{beta} increased the expression of smooth muscle (SM) {alpha}-actin and decreased the expression of gelsolin. Over-expression of gelsolin inhibited TGF-{beta}-induced assembly of SM {alpha}-actin; on the other hand, knocking down gelsolin expression enhanced the assembly of {alpha}-actin and actin filaments without significantly affecting {alpha}-actin expression. These results suggest that TGF-{beta} coordinates the increase of {alpha}-actin and the decrease of gelsolin to promote MSC differentiation. This …
Date: August 8, 2004
Creator: Wang, Daojing; Park, Jennifer S.; Chu, Julia S.F.; Ari, Krakowski; Luo, Kunxin; Chen, David J. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cultural Property: International Conventions and United States Legislation (open access)

Cultural Property: International Conventions and United States Legislation

This report describes relevant treaties, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483, current U.S. law, and proposed legislation, including H.Con.Res. 113, the Iraq Cultural Protection Act (H.R. 2009 and H.R. 3497), and the Emergency Protection for Iraqi Cultural Antiquities Act of 2004 (S. 1291 and S. 671, the latter of which has passed the Senate as an engrossed amendment to H.R. 1047, the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004).
Date: April 8, 2004
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K. & Garcia, Michael John
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Water-Level Data Analysis for the Saturated Zone Site-Scale Flow and Transport Model (open access)

Water-Level Data Analysis for the Saturated Zone Site-Scale Flow and Transport Model

This report is an updated analysis of water-level data performed to provide the ''Saturated Zone Site-Scale Flow Model'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170037]) (referred to as the saturated zone (SZ) site-scale flow model or site-scale SZ flow model in this report) with the configuration of the potentiometric surface, target water-level data, and hydraulic gradients for calibration of groundwater flow models. This report also contains an expanded discussion of uncertainty in the potentiometric-surface map. The analysis of the potentiometric data presented in Revision 00 of this report (USGS 2001 [DIRS 154625]) provides the configuration of the potentiometric surface, target heads, and hydraulic gradients for the calibration of the SZ site-scale flow model (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170037]). Revision 01 of this report (USGS 2004 [DIRS 168473]) used updated water-level data for selected wells through the year 2000 as the basis for estimating water-level altitudes and the potentiometric surface in the SZ site-scale flow and transport model domain based on an alternative interpretation of perched water conditions. That revision developed computer files containing: Water-level data within the model area (DTN: GS010908312332.002); A table of known vertical head differences (DTN: GS010908312332.003); and A potentiometric-surface map (DTN: GS010608312332.001) using an alternative concept from that presented by …
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: Rehfeldt, K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Preliminary Evaluation of Techniques to Fabricate Beryllium, Polyimide, and Ge-doped CH/CD Ablator Materials (open access)

Preliminary Evaluation of Techniques to Fabricate Beryllium, Polyimide, and Ge-doped CH/CD Ablator Materials

This report including appendices provides information to complete this deliverable. It summarizes the important features of each ablator material, with particular focus to its usefulness for ignition capsules. More detailed discussions of each ablator type are in the Appendix. Included at the end of each separate discussion in the Appendix is a list of all published work with an ICF focus on that ablator type. This report is organized into Be based and polymer (C) based ablators. We summarize status, outstanding issues, and how we plan to address them. Details are in the Appendix. For Be there are two fabrication routes, one by machining bulk pieces into hemi-shells which are then bonded together, and the other by sputtering Be with Cu dopant onto spherical plastic mandrels to build up a wall. This method allows for radial variation in the Cu dopant concentration, while the machining approach is best suited to a uniform doping level. For plastic, we have already made a down select, eliminating polyimide because its performance as an ablator has been seen to be significantly different from that predicted by simulations. The other polymer, GDP (glow discharge polymer or sometimes called plasma polymer) comes in both a normal …
Date: November 8, 2004
Creator: Cook, Bob; Letts, Steve; Nikroo, Abbas; Nobile, Art; McElfresh, Mike; Cooley, Jason et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
SATURATED ZONE IN-SITU TESTING (open access)

SATURATED ZONE IN-SITU TESTING

The purpose of this scientific analysis is to document the results and interpretations of field experiments that test and validate conceptual flow and radionuclide transport models in the saturated zone (SZ) near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The test interpretations provide estimates of flow and transport parameters used in the development of parameter distributions for total system performance assessment (TSPA) calculations. These parameter distributions are documented in ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170037]), Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170036]), Saturated Zone Colloid Transport (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170006]), and ''Saturated Zone Flow and Transport Model Abstraction'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170042]). Specifically, this scientific analysis contributes the following to the assessment of the capability of the SZ to serve as part of a natural barrier for waste isolation for the Yucca Mountain repository system: (1) The bases for selection of conceptual flow and transport models in the saturated volcanics and the saturated alluvium located near Yucca Mountain. (2) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated fractured volcanics at the C-wells complex near Yucca Mountain. The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion …
Date: November 8, 2004
Creator: REIMUS, P.W.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Phase Retrieval from Modulus Using Homeomorphic Signal Processing and the Complex Cepstrum: An Algorithm for Lightning Protection Systems (open access)

Phase Retrieval from Modulus Using Homeomorphic Signal Processing and the Complex Cepstrum: An Algorithm for Lightning Protection Systems

In general, the Phase Retrieval from Modulus problem is very difficult. In this report, we solve the difficult, but somewhat more tractable case in which we constrain the solution to a minimum phase reconstruction. We exploit the real-and imaginary part sufficiency properties of the Fourier and Hilbert Transforms of causal sequences to develop an algorithm for reconstructing spectral phase given only spectral modulus. The algorithm uses homeomorphic signal processing methods with the complex cepstrum. The formal problem of interest is: Given measurements of only the modulus {vert_bar}H(k){vert_bar} (no phase) of the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) of a real, finite-length, stable, causal time domain signal h(n), compute a minimum phase reconstruction {cflx h}(n) of the signal. Then compute the phase of {cflx h}(n) using a DFT, and exploit the result as an estimate of the phase of h(n). The development of the algorithm is quite involved, but the final algorithm and its implementation are very simple. This work was motivated by a Phase Retrieval from Modulus Problem that arose in LLNL Defense Sciences Engineering Division (DSED) projects in lightning protection for buildings. The measurements are limited to modulus-only spectra from a spectrum analyzer. However, it is desired to perform system identification …
Date: June 8, 2004
Creator: Clark, G A
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Ags-Based Super Neutrino Beam Facility Conceptual Design Report (open access)

The Ags-Based Super Neutrino Beam Facility Conceptual Design Report

After more than 40 years of operation, the AGS is still at the heart of the Brookhaven hadron accelerator complex. This system of accelerators presently comprises a 200 MeV linac for the pre-acceleration of high intensity and polarized protons, two Tandem Van der Graaffs for the pre-acceleration of heavy ion beams, a versatile Booster that allows for efficient injection of all three types of beams into the AGS and, most recently, the two RHIC collider rings that produce high luminosity heavy ion and polarized proton collisions. For several years now, the AGS has held the world intensity record with more than 7 x 10{sup 13} protons accelerated in a single pulse. The requirements for the proton beam for the super neutrino beam are summarized and a schematic of the upgraded AGS is shown. Since the present number of protons per fill is already close to the required number, the upgrade is based on increasing the repetition rate and reducing beam losses (to avoid excessive shielding requirements and to maintain activation of the machine components at workable level). It is also important to preserve all the present capabilities of the AGS, in particular its role as injector to RHIC. The AGS …
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: Weng, W. T.; Diwan, M. & Raparia, D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The “White-Collar” Exemptions to Overtime Pay Under Current and Proposed Regulations: An Economic Analysis (open access)

The “White-Collar” Exemptions to Overtime Pay Under Current and Proposed Regulations: An Economic Analysis

None
Date: April 8, 2004
Creator: Mayer, Gerald
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Monitoring Foreign Students in the United States: The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) (open access)

Monitoring Foreign Students in the United States: The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)

None
Date: January 8, 2004
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Management Could Benefit from Improved Strategic Planning and Increased Oversight (open access)

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Management Could Benefit from Improved Strategic Planning and Increased Oversight

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on the Judiciary asked GAO to determine (1) the extent of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' compliance with the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, (2) what federal oversight is provided to the Commission, and (3) the status of the implementation of recommendations from GAO's past reviews of the Commission."
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare: Advisory Opinions as a Means of Clarifying Program Requirements (open access)

Medicare: Advisory Opinions as a Means of Clarifying Program Requirements

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Health care providers are concerned about the quality of Medicare guidance issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Specifically, they have reported that (1) they receive unclear guidance on program requirements and (2) because policies and procedures change frequently, they may rely on obsolete guidance, resulting in billing errors. Some government agencies issue advisory opinions in response to specific questions from requesters. These opinions permit agencies to apply law and regulation to a particular set of facts and provide requesters with specific guidance. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 directed GAO to determine the appropriateness and feasibility of establishing in the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to issue legally binding advisory opinions to interpret Medicare regulations. GAO (1) identified factors relevant in establishing an advisory opinion process and (2) assessed the role such a process could play in clarifying program requirements. GAO examined four federal agencies' advisory opinion processes and interviewed officials from organizations representing Medicare stakeholders to learn how such a process might address their …
Date: December 8, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicaid Managed Care: Access and Quality Requirements Specific to Low-Income and Other Special Needs Enrollees (open access)

Medicaid Managed Care: Access and Quality Requirements Specific to Low-Income and Other Special Needs Enrollees

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The use of managed care within Medicaid, a joint federal-state program that finances health insurance for certain low-income families with children and individuals who are aged or disabled, increased significantly during the 1990s. By 2003, 59 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care, compared with less than 10 percent in 1991. Medicaid managed care, under which states make prospective payments to managed care plans to provide or arrange for all services for enrollees, attempts to ensure the provision of appropriate health care services in a cost-efficient manner. However, because plans are paid a fixed amount regardless of the number of services they provide, managed care programs require safeguards against the incentive for some plans to underserve enrollees, such as by limiting enrollees' access to care. Access is also affected by other factors, such as physician location and willingness to participate in managed care plans. Safeguards to ensure enrollees have access to care could include requiring plans to maintain provider networks that provide enrollees with sufficient geographic access to providers or requiring managed care plans to develop and monitor certain quality indicators, such as enrollee satisfaction surveys …
Date: December 8, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Lawfulness of Interrogation Techniques under the Geneva Conventions (open access)

Lawfulness of Interrogation Techniques under the Geneva Conventions

This report outlines the provisions of the Conventions as they apply to prisoners of war and to civilians, and the minimum level of protection offered by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. There follows an analysis of key terms that set the standards for the treatment of prisoners that are especially relevant to interrogation, including torture, coercion, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, with reference to some historical war crimes cases and cases involving the treatment of persons suspected of engaging in terrorism. Finally, the report discusses and analyzes some of the various interrogation techniques approved or considered for use during interrogations of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Date: September 8, 2004
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Depot Maintenance: Army Needs Plan to Implement Depot Maintenance Report's Recommendations (open access)

Depot Maintenance: Army Needs Plan to Implement Depot Maintenance Report's Recommendations

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, the U.S. Army spends about $3 billion on depot-level maintenance and repair work for weapons systems and other equipment. However, because its data gathering and reporting processes have been limited, the Army historically has been unable to fully identify how much depotlevel maintenance takes place outside its five public depots. As a result, it has not been able to determine with precision how well it was meeting statutory requirements to limit contracted depot-level maintenance work to 50 percent of the program budget. In the House report on the Fiscal Year 2001 Defense Authorization Act, Congress directed the Army to report on the proliferation of depot-level maintenance work at nondepot facilities and asked GAO to review that report. GAO examined the extent to which (1) the Army's report identifies the amount of depot-level maintenance work done outside public depots; (2) the Army can account for its depot-level maintenance workload, as required by statute; and (3) the corrective actions in the report are likely to address the proliferation issue and enhance the Army's reporting."
Date: January 8, 2004
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library