A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""Spend analysis" is a tool that provides knowledge about who are the buyers, who are the suppliers, how much is being spent for what goods and services, and where are the opportunities to leverage buying power. Private sector companies are using spend analysis as a foundation for employing a strategic approach to procurement. Recognizing the potential in government purchasing, GAO examined if the departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services (HHS), Justice, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs are using spend analysis to take a strategic approach. GAO assessed (1) if agencies use spend analysis to obtain knowledge to improve procurement of goods and services and (2) how agencies' practices compare to leading companies best practices."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many individuals familiar with the Food Stamp Program view its rules as unnecessarily complex, creating an administrative burden for participants and caseworkers. In addition many participants receive benefits from other programs that have different program rules, adding to the complexity of accurately determining program benefits and eligibility. The 2002 Farm Bill introduced new options to help simplify the program. This report examines (1) which options states have chosen to implement and why, and (2) what changes local officials reported as a result of using these options. Selected results from GAO's web-based survey of food stamp administrators are provided in an e-supplement to this report, GAO-04-1058SP. Another e-supplement, GAO-04-1059SP, contains results from the local food stamp office surveys."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This document is a companion product to GAO-04-916. This document presents the results of GAO's surveys of local food stamp office supervisors. The purpose of the surveys was to determine the views of local food stamp supervisors on whether implementation of the options had achieved expected results. We developed eight surveys, one for each of the Farm Bill options, to obtain this information. We mailed out a total of 1,328 surveys to eight random samples of local food stamp office supervisors. Each of the eight samples comprised local food stamp offices in states that had implemented that option. The response rates varied between 74.0 percent and 86.1 percent. A more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology and a discussion of the summary of selected survey results are contained in our report entitled Food Stamp Program: Farm Bill Options Ease Administrative Burden, but Opportunities Exist to Streamline Participant Reporting Rules among Programs (GAO-04-916, Washington, D.C.: September 21, 2004). While this e-supplement contains information on the results from local food stamp offices, another e-supplement (GAO-04-1058SP) contains information on the results from our survey of food stamp administrators. …

Degradation of underground openings as a function of time is a natural and expected occurrence for any subsurface excavation. Over time, changes occur to both the stress condition and the strength of the rock mass due to several interacting factors. Once the factors contributing to degradation are characterized, the effects of drift degradation can typically be mitigated through appropriate design and maintenance of the ground support system. However, for the emplacement drifts of the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, it is necessary to characterize drift degradation over a 10,000-year period, which is well beyond the functional period of the ground support system. This document provides an analysis of the amount of drift degradation anticipated in repository emplacement drifts for discrete events and time increments extending throughout the 10,000-year regulatory period for postclosure performance. This revision of the drift degradation analysis was developed to support the license application and fulfill specific agreement items between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The earlier versions of ''Drift Degradation Analysis'' (BSC 2001 [DIRS 156304]) relied primarily on the DRKBA numerical code, which provides for a probabilistic key-block assessment based on realistic fracture patterns determined from field mapping …

The purpose of this model report is to document the Rock Properties Model version 3.1 with regard to input data, model methods, assumptions, uncertainties and limitations of model results, and qualification status of the model. The report also documents the differences between the current and previous versions and validation of the model. The rock properties model provides mean matrix and lithophysae porosity, and the cross-correlated mean bulk density as direct input to the ''Saturated Zone Flow and Transport Model Abstraction'', MDL-NBS-HS-000021, REV 02 (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170042]). The constraints, caveats, and limitations associated with this model are discussed in Section 6.6 and 8.2. Model validation accomplished by corroboration with data not cited as direct input is discussed in Section 7. The revision of this model report was performed as part of activities being conducted under the ''Technical Work Plan for: The Integrated Site Model, Revision 05'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169635]). The purpose of this revision is to bring the report up to current procedural requirements and address the Regulatory Integration Team evaluation comments. The work plan describes the scope, objectives, tasks, methodology, and procedures for this process.

The Analytical Development Section of Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was requested by the Facilities Disposition Projects (FDP) to determine the holdup of enriched uranium in the 321-M facility as part of an overall deactivation project of the facility. The 321-M facility was used to fabricate enriched uranium fuel assemblies, lithium-aluminum target tubes, neptunium assemblies, and miscellaneous components for the production reactors. The results of the holdup assays are essential for determining compliance with the Waste Acceptance Criteria, Material Control and Accountability, and to meet criticality safety controls. This report covers holdup measurements in the C and D out-gassing ovens that were used to remove gas entrained in billet assembly material prior to the billets being extruded into rods by the extrusion press. A portable high purity germanium (HPGe) detection system and a portable sodium iodide (NaI) detection system were used to determine highly enriched uranium (HEU) holdup and to determine holdup of Np-237 and Am-241 that were observed in these components. The HPGe detector was run by an EG and G Dart (TM) system that contains the high voltage power supply and signal processing electronics. A personal computer with Gamma-Vision software was used to control the Dart (TM) MCA …

ChevronTexaco has successfully operated a 200 kW PC25C phosphoric acid fuel cell power plant at the corporate data center in San Ramon, California for the past two years and seven months following installation in December 2001. This site was chosen based on the ability to utilize the combined heat (hot water) and power generation capability of this modular fuel cell power plant in an office park setting . In addition, this project also represents one of the first commercial applications of a stationary fuel cell for a mission critical data center to assess power reliability benefits. This fuel cell power plant system has demonstrated outstanding reliability and performance relative to other comparably sized cogeneration systems.

The repository design includes a drip shield (BSC 2004 [DIRS 168489]) that provides protection for the waste package both as a barrier to seepage water contact and a physical barrier to potential rockfall. The purpose of the process-level models developed in this report is to model dry oxidation, general corrosion, and localized corrosion of the drip shield plate material, which is made of Ti Grade 7. This document is prepared according to ''Technical Work Plan For: Regulatory Integration Modeling and Analysis of the Waste Form and Waste Package'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 171583]). The models developed in this report are used by the waste package degradation analyses for TSPA-LA and serve as a basis to determine the performance of the drip shield. The drip shield may suffer from other forms of failure such as the hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) or stress corrosion cracking (SCC), or both. Stress corrosion cracking of the drip shield material is discussed in ''Stress Corrosion Cracking of the Drip Shield, the Waste Package Outer Barrier, and the Stainless Steel Structural Material'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169985]). Hydrogen induced cracking of the drip shield material is discussed in ''Hydrogen Induced Cracking of Drip Shield'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169847]).

None

Models for the nonlinear instability of finite thickness shells driven by pressure are constructed in the style of Layzer. Equations for both Cartesian and cylindrically convergent/divergent geometries are derived. The resulting equations are appropriate for incompressible shells with unity Atwood number. Predictions from the equations compare well with two-dimensional simulations.

Peselnick, Meister, and Watt have developed rigorous methods for bounding elastic constants of random polycrystals based on the Hashin-Shtrikman variational principles. In particular, a fairly complex set of equations that amounts to an algorithm has been presented previously for finding the bounds on effective elastic moduli for polycrystals having hexagonal, trigonal, and tetragonal symmetries. The more analytical approach developed here, although based on the same ideas, results in a new set of compact formulas for all the cases considered. Once these formulas have been established, it is then straightforward to perform what could be considered an analytic continuation of the formulas (into the region of parameter space between the bounds) that can subsequently be used to provide self-consistent estimates for the elastic constants in all cases. These self-consistent estimates are easily shown (essentially by construction) to lie within the bounds for all the choices of crystal symmetry considered. Estimates obtained this way are quite comparable to those found by the Gubernatis and Krumhansl CPA (coherent potential approximation), but do not require any computations of scattering coefficients.

Exact analytical solutions are presented for solute transport in an unsaturated fracture and porous rock matrix. The problem includes advective transport in the fracture and rock matrix as well as advective and diffusive fracture-matrix exchange. Linear sorption in the fracture and matrix and radioactive decay are also treated. The solution is for steady, uniform transport velocities within the fracture and matrix, but allows for independent specification of each of the velocities. The problem is first solved in terms of the solute concentrations that result from an instantaneous point source. Superposition integrals are then used to derive the solute mass flux at a fixed downstream position from an instantaneous point source and for the solute concentrations that result from a continuous point source. Solutions are derived for cases with the solute source in the fracture and the solute source in the matrix. The analytical solutions are closed-form and are expressed in terms of algebraic functions, exponentials, and error functions. Comparisons between the analytical solutions and numerical simulations, as well as sensitivity studies, are presented. Increased sensitivity to cross-flow and solute source location is found for increasing Peclet number. The numerical solutions are found to compare well with the analytical solutions at …

A report of an archaeological survey of a mile long drainage within the Lone Star Development Site.

None

None

Spam, also called unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or “junk email,” aggravates many computer users. Not only can spam be a nuisance, but its cost may be passed on to consumers through higher charges from Internet service providers who must upgrade their systems to handle the traffic. Also, some spam involves fraud, or includes adult-oriented material that offends recipients or that parents want to protect their children from seeing. Proponents of UCE insist it is a legitimate marketing technique that is protected by the First Amendment, and that some consumers want to receive such solicitations. This report discusses this issue in detail, as well as related legislation.

Falling agricultural exports and declining commodity prices led farm groups and agribusiness firms to urge the 106th Congress to pass legislation exempting foods and agricultural commodities from U.S. economic sanctions against certain countries. In completing action on the FY2001 agriculture appropriations bill, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical products to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan, and extended this policy to apply to Cuba (Title IX of H.R. 5426, as enacted by P.L. 106-387; Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000). Related provisions place financing and licensing conditions on sales to these countries. Those that apply to Cuba, though, are permanent and more restrictive than for the other countries. Other provisions give Congress the authority in the future to veto a President's proposal to impose a sanction on the sale of agricultural or medical products.

Every year the President submits to Congress a series of volumes that provide the text of the President’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. Neither the Congressional Research Service (CRS) nor the Library of Congress can provide giveaway copies of these documents. This report provides brief descriptions of these budget volumes and related documents, together with Internet addresses, Government Printing Office (GPO) stock numbers, and prices to obtain these publications. It also tells how to find locations of government depository libraries, which can provide both printed copies for reference use and Internet access to the text.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture makes direct subsidy payments through the Commodity Credit Corporation to farmers for commodity price and income support, certain conservation and environmental activities, and some disaster losses. In 2002, these direct farm subsidy payments amounted to $12.151 billion. This report examines the distribution of these payments among states, calculates the average size of payments going to recipient farms in each state, and distinguishes between payments received by farm operators and landlords. This information is intended to aid in policy debates about subsidizing some farms but not others, changing per-person payment limits, and the altering eligibility rules for landlords to receive payments.