A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The cost of a ship's crew is the single largest incurred over the ship's life cycle. One way to lower personnel costs, and thus the cost of ownership, is to use people only when it is cost-effective--a determination made with a systems engineering approach called human systems integration. GAO was asked to evaluate the Navy's progress in optimizing the crew size in four ships being developed and acquired: the DD(X) destroyer, T-AKE cargo ship, JCC(X) command ship, and LHA(R) amphibious assault ship. GAO assessed (1) the Navy's use of human systems integration principles and goals for reducing crew size, and (2) the factors that may impede the Navy's use of those principles."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Constructing, improving, and repairing roads is fundamental to meeting the nation's mobility needs. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) supplies most of the money (about $20 billion in fiscal year 2003), and state departments of transportation are primarily responsible for completing projects. Many federal and state agencies (called resource agencies) help ensure that environmental and other concerns are considered. These and other organizations have recognized that the time it takes to complete complex federally funded highway projects is too long--in some cases nearly 20 years. GAO was asked to report the views of knowledgeable officials on the most promising approaches for reducing completion time for federally funded highway projects. GAO obtained the views of 33 officials from federal, state, and private organizations with interests in federally funded roads."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs provide millions of children with low-cost or free nutritious meals each school day. In school year 1996-97, the Department of Agriculture instituted more stringent requirements for the nutritional content of school meals. GAO was asked to study the school food service revenues and expenses and how they have changed since the requirements went into effect. This report includes information on the sources of revenues available for providing meals, the expenses of producing meals, the revenues compared to expenses, and the approaches that local school food authorities have adopted to manage their school food service finances. It uses data from six selected states. This report does not provide specific information on the expense of producing a reimbursable school lunch or breakfast."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2000, Congress required the Department of Defense (DOD) to report quarterly on the services' expenditures for consultants in support of the military family housing privatization programs. GAO was asked to review the costs of the consultants DOD used to support privatizing housing for servicemembers and their families. This report discusses (1) the number of family housing units the services have privatized, particularly newly constructed or renovated units, and project to be privatized by fiscal year 2005; (2) the portion of privatization support costs used for consultants; (3) the services' consistency in the definition for privatization support and consultant costs; and (4) factors that limit an evaluation of how consultant fees for the military housing initiative compare among the services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2001, the federal government collected $7.5 billion in royalties from the sale of oil and gas produced on federal lands. Although most oil and gas companies pay royalties in cash, the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has the option to take a percentage of the oil and gas produced and either transfer this percentage to other federal agencies or to sell this percentage itself--known as "taking royalties in kind." GAO reviewed the extent to which MMS has taken royalties in kind since 1995, the reasons for taking royalties in kind, and MMS's progress in implementing management control over its Royalty-in-Kind Program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The fees and other costs that investors pay as part of owning mutual fund shares can significantly affect their investment returns. As a result, questions have been raised as to whether the disclosures of mutual fund fees and other practices are sufficiently transparent. GAO reviewed (1) how mutual funds disclose their fees and related trading costs and options for improving these disclosures, (2) changes in how mutual funds pay for the sale of fund shares and how the changes in these practices are affecting investors, and (3) the benefits of and the concerns over mutual funds' use of soft dollars."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2000 and 2002, Maine and Arizona held the nation's first elections under voluntary programs that offered full state funding for political candidates who ran for legislative and certain statewide offices. The goals of these programs, passed as ballot initiatives by citizens in these states, included increasing electoral competition and curbing increases in the cost of campaigns. Congress has considered legislation for public financing of congressional elections nearly every session since 1956, although no law has been enacted. In the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (P.L. 107-155 (2002)), Congress mandated that GAO study the results of the unique public financing programs in Maine and Arizona. For the 2000 and 2002 elections in Maine and Arizona, this report provides: (1) statistics on the number of candidates who chose to campaign with public funds and the number who were elected; and (2) observations, based on limited data, regarding the extent to which the goals of the public funding programs were met."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to legislative direction, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), now part of the Department of Homeland Security, plans to acquire and deploy an entry exit system to assist in monitoring the flow of foreign nationals in and out of the United States. By separate legislative direction, INS must submit to the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations a plan for this system that meets certain conditions, including being reviewed by GAO, before funds can be obligated. This report satisfies GAO's mandated review obligation by (1) addressing whether the plan submitted by INS, along with related INS documentation and plans, meets required conditions and (2) providing observations about the plan and INS's management of the system."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Department of Defense (DOD) spending on service contracts approaches $100 billion annually, but DOD's management of services procurement is inefficient and ineffective and the dollars are not always well spent. Recent legislation requires DOD to improve procurement practices to achieve savings. Many private companies changed management practices based on analyzing spending patterns and coordinating procurement in order to achieve major savings. This report evaluates five companies' best practices and their conduct and use of "spend analysis" and the extent that DOD can pursue similar practices."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) has focused national attention on increasing accountability for states and school districts to improve student achievement. While increasing accountability, NCLBA also provided states and school districts with additional flexibility. The act established two flexibility demonstration programs--State- and Local-Flex--which allow up to 7 states and 80 school districts to redirect up to 100 percent of certain NCLBA program funds. GAO was asked to determine factors that affect states' and districts' decisions whether or not to apply for the demonstration programs and to determine the extent to which the U.S. Department of Education publicized, provided guidance, and established a process to review and award flexibility demonstration programs. To address these questions, GAO conducted a study, using telephone interviews with officials in 22 states and 37 school districts, and site visits to 2 of the four applicants."

Excellence in Laboratory operations is one of the three key goals of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Agenda. That goal will be met through comprehensive upgrades of facilities and operational approaches over the next few years. Many of ORNL's physical facilities, including the liquid and gaseous waste collection and treatment systems, are quite old, and are reaching the end of their safe operating life. The condition of research facilities and supporting infrastructure, including the waste handling facilities, is a key environmental, safety and health (ES&H) concern. The existing infrastructure will add considerably to the overhead costs of research due to increased maintenance and operating costs as these facilities continue to age. The Liquid Gaseous Waste Treatment System (LGWTS) Reengineering Project is a UT-Battelle, LLC (UT-B) Operations Improvement Program (OIP) project that was undertaken to develop a plan for upgrading the ORNL liquid and gaseous waste systems to support ORNL's research mission.

Concept Exploration (CE) experiments within the Innovative Confinement Concept Program have a unique role which impacts their contributions to the development of fusion energy. As stated in the FESAC ''Report on Alternate Concepts:'' These [CE] programs are aimed at innovation and basic understanding of relevant scientific phenomena. The emphasis on innovation motivates their application to the search for a better fusion reactor configuration. In addition, because of their unique character the CE experiments offer excellent opportunities to couple fusion-plasma physics to other sciences. A recent example of coupling is the fusion self-organized plasmas to reconnection physics and extra-terrestrial plasmas. Perhaps of even greater importance is the education of the future scientists needed for developing fusion energy. The CE experiments, both at universities and national labs, are of a size students can ''get their hands around;'' young scientists and engineers will be attracted by this intellectual challenge combined with the vision of low-pollution energy for mankind represented by a burning-plasma experiment. A CE concept showing promise for fusion energy is expected to advance to the Proof-of-Principal stage. Experience has shown that this progression may occur in several ways: NSTX followed from success in START, a CE-level experiment in England; NCSX built …

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This report details the history of the three federal transfer taxes, tracing their development from their eighteenth century roots to the present.

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The objective of this project is to develop a 3 dimensional measurement system for the domestic forging industry based on HotEye{trademark}. This technology will allow high definition camera to accurately image a red hot object. The project marries conventional Coordinate Measurement Machine ''CMM'' technology to HotEye{trademark} technology to permit the accurate measurement of forged parts while they are at high temperature. Being able to take such measurements will dramatically reduce the amount of scrap produced by the domestic forging industry. This industry wastes a significant amount of energy because of the high rate of scrap it produces. OGT will: (1) Develop a 3D measurement sensor head that will work on a part at a temperature up to 1,450 C with an accuracy of 0.1mm or better and with a scanning speed of less than 10 seconds for an area of 100mm x 100mm. (2) Develop a Virtual-Fixturing software package to alleviate the need of precise hard fixturing. (3) Integrate the 3D measurement sensor head and the Virtual-Fixturing software into a standard CMM, both hardware (replacing the probes) and software (data format and user interface match) so that the system can automatically perform a complete preprogrammed measurement of a hot product. …

Self-organized superlattices are observed in GaInAsSb epilayers grown lattice matched to vicinal GaSb substrates. The natural superlattice (NSL) is oriented at a slight angle of about 4{sup o} with respect to the vicinal (001) GaSb substrate. This vertical composition modulation is detected at the onset of growth. Layers in the NSL are continuous over the lateral extent of the substrate. Furthermore, the NSL persists throughout several microns of deposition. The NSLs have a period ranging from 10 to 30 nm, which is dependent on deposition temperature and GaInAsSb alloy composition. While the principle driving force for this type of phase separation is chemical, the mechanism for the self-organized microstructure is related to local strains associated with surface undulations. By using a substrate with surface undulations, the tilted NSL can be induced in layers with alloy compositions that normally do not exhibit this self-organized microstructure under typical growth conditions. These results underscore the complex interactions between compositional and morphological perturbations.

This is the second progress and final technical report of the remediation of abandoned wells in Clay and Wayne Counties in Illinois. The wells will be identified as the Routt No.3 and No.4 and the Bates Hosselton 1 and 2. Both sites have met all legal, financial and environmental requirements to drill and/or pump oil on both leases. We have also obtained all available information about both leases. All steps were taken to improve access roads, dig the necessary pits, and build the necessary firewalls. This progress and final technical report will address the remediation efforts as well as our results and conclusions.

The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which uses petroleum coke to produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals. The objective is to have these products produced by technologies capable of using synthesis gas derived from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objectives of Phase I were to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD&T) Plan for implementation in Phase II; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD&T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology that produces high-value products, particularly those that are critical to our domestic fuel and power requirements. The project will resolve critical knowledge and technology gaps on the integration of gasification and downstream processing to coproduce some combination of power, fuels, and chemicals from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and …

The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals. The objective is to have these products produced by technologies capable of using synthesis gas derived from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objectives of Phase I were to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD&T) Plan for implementation in Phase II; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD&T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology that produces high-value products, particularly those that are critical to our domestic fuel and power requirements. The project will resolve critical knowledge and technology gaps on the integration of gasification and downstream processing to coproduce some combination of power, fuels, and chemicals from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing and testing …

All technical project activities have been successfully completed. This effort included (1) completion of field testing using density tracers, (2) development of a spreadsheet based HMC simulation program, and (3) preparation of a menu-driven expert system for HMC trouble-shooting. The final project report is now being prepared for submission to DOE comment and review. The submission has been delayed due to difficulties in compiling the large base of technical information generated by the project. Technical personnel are now working to complete this report. Effort is being underway to finalize the financial documents necessary to demonstrate that the cost-sharing requirements for the project have been met.

The vertical readback errors are one order of magnitude greater than the horizontal ones in the APS storage ring beam chamber. To learn and solve this problem, we simulate the eigenmodes in two chamber structures, which are simplified from the APS storage ring beam chamber, and find their dependence on the variation of the chamber structures. These two structures are introduced as the solutions to separate and then restrain the spurious microwave modes by using a metal short block and a plate inside the chamber. The short block can shift and separate the frequencies of every mode evidently.