A new joint inversion algorithm to directly estimate reservoir parameters is described. This algorithm combines seismic amplitude versus angle (AVA) and marine controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) data. The rock-properties model needed to link the geophysical parameters to the reservoir parameters is described. Errors in the rock-properties model parameters, measured in percent, introduce errors of comparable size in the joint inversion reservoir parameter estimates. Tests of the concept on synthetic one-dimensional models demonstrate improved fluid saturation and porosity estimates for joint AVA-CSEM data inversion (compared to AVA or CSEM inversion alone). Comparing inversions of AVA, CSEM, and joint AVA-CSEM data over the North Sea Troll field, at a location with well control, shows that the joint inversion produces estimated gas saturation, oil saturation and porosity that is closest (as measured by the RMS difference, L1 norm of the difference, and net over the interval) to the logged values whereas CSEM inversion provides the closest estimates of water saturation.

None

The powerful earthquake struck northern Pakistan and India damaged the homes of as many as three million people, forcing many of them to search for alternative means of shelter. The full extent of the destruction remains unknown because government authorities and relief organizations continue to have difficulty accessing some remote locations. As of the date of this report, the United States government (USG) has pledged $410 million toward the relief effort, almost all of it to assisting Pakistan, which remains a key U.S. ally in the war against terror. So far, about 35% of this pledge has been committed. Some aid agencies are saying that the country needs a great deal more aid than it is getting, and warn that the economic impact of the disaster will surpass $5.2 billion. This burden may contribute toward long-term instability in an area perceived to be of critical importance to the United States in the war on terror.

This report is a guide to the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity, and is updated as events warrant. The report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS products.

This report reviews the status of energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation introduced during the 109th Congress. Action in the second session has focused on appropriations bills; the first session focused on omnibus energy policy bill H.R. 6 and several appropriations bills. this report describes several major pieces of legislation, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Transportation Equity Act. For each bill listed in this report, a brief description and a summary of action are given, including references to committee hearings and reports. Also, a selected list of hearings on renewable energy is included.

The papermaking industry uses an abundance of chemicals to control the process of papermaking. These chemicals are used to control everything from paper strength to brightness. Due to the natural variability of products used in papermaking, the chemistry of the process is heavily monitored. Cationic (charge) demand is one of the most important parameters in process control of papermaking. High variations in cationic demand result in off-spec final product or paper breaks resulting in wasted production and downtime. Both of these results are costly for papermakers due to high energy consumption and loss of revenue. Currently, cationic demand is measured off-line in a laboratory setting with a heavily diluted specimen taking up to hours for results. The industry need is for an on-line, real-time measurement of cationic demand at higher consistencies to provide control feedback for the addition of cationic demand at higher consistencies to provide control feedback for the addition of cationic polymers for finely-tuned control of the paper process. Electrokinetic sonic amplitude (ESA) is a method for measuring particle charge and size, which has been employed in the semiconductor industry for several years. While this technology is generally geared for smaller particles (micron size) instead of paper fibers …

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Interim Staff Guidance 8 (ISG-8) for burnup credit covers actinides only, a position based primarily on the lack of definitive critical experiments and adequate radiochemical assay data that can be used to quantify the uncertainty associated with fission product credit. The accuracy of fission product neutron cross sections is paramount to the accuracy of criticality analyses that credit fission products in two respects: (1) the microscopic cross sections determine the reactivity worth of the fission products in spent fuel and (2) the cross sections determine the reaction rates during irradiation and thus influence the accuracy of predicted final concentrations of the fission products in the spent fuel. This report evaluates and quantifies the importance of the fission product cross sections in predicting concentrations of fission products proposed for use in burnup credit. The study includes an assessment of the major fission products in burnup credit and their production precursors. Finally, the cross-section importances, or sensitivities, are combined with the importance of each major fission product to the system eigenvalue (k{sub eff}) to determine the net importance of cross sections to k{sub eff}. The importances established the following fission products, listed in descending order of priority, that …

This is the second aquatic biological monitoring report generated by Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL's) Water Quality and Hydrology Group. The study has been conducted to generate impact-based assessments of habitat and water quality for LANL waterways. The monitoring program was designed to allow for the detection of spatial and temporal trends in water and habitat quality through ongoing, biannual monitoring of habitat characteristics and benthic aquatic macroinvertebrate communities at six key sites in Los Alamos, Sandia, Water, Pajarito, and Starmer's Gulch Canyons. Data were collected on aquatic habitat characteristics, channel substrate, and macroinvertebrate communities during 2001 and 2002. Aquatic habitat scores were stable between 2001 and 2002 at all locations except Starmer's Gulch and Pajarito Canyon, which had lower scores in 2002 due to low flow conditions. Channel substrate changes were most evident at the upper Los Alamos and Pajarito study reaches. The macroinvertebrate Stream Condition Index (SCI) indicated moderate to severe impairment at upper Los Alamos Canyon, slight to moderate impairment at upper Sandia Canyon, and little or no impairment at lower Sandia Canyon, Starmer's Gulch, and Pajarito Canyon. Habitat, substrate, and macroinvertebrate data from the site in upper Los Alamos Canyon indicated severe impacts from the Cerro …

Tritium transport simulations were conducted to model the mechanisms associated with dilution, dispersion, and radioactive decay that attenuate the 618-11 Burial Ground tritium plume and limit the risk associated with exposure to the Columbia River and Energy Northwest water supply wells. A comparison of simulated and observed tritium concentrations at two downgradient monitoring wells indicated that the model was a reasonable representation of the tritium concentrations immediately downgradient of the site (699-13-3A) and near the leading edge of the plume (699-13-0A). This good match increased confidence in the conceptual model, its numeric implementation, and ultimately the validity of predictive simulations of tritium fate and transport. Three release scenarios were investigated to measure the impact of the tritium plume at primary receptor locations under different conditions. The three cases were 1) a pulse release of tritium from the burial ground that was the best fit between observed and simulated tritium concentrations; 2) a continuing, decaying source beneath the burial ground through 2015, the milestone for source removal under the River Corridor Closure Contract; and 3) a pulse release as in the best fit case but at twice the concentration. For the best fit case, the model predicts that the maximum tritium …

The basic characteristics of a self-sustaining chain reaction were demonstrated with the Chicago Pile in 1943, but it was not until early 1945 that sufficient enriched material became available to experimentally verify fast-neutron cross-sections and the kinetic characteristics of a nuclear chain reaction sustained with prompt neutrons alone. However, the demands of wartime and the rapid decline in effort following the cessation of hostilities often resulted in the failure to fully document the experiments or in the loss of documentation as personnel returned to civilian pursuits. When documented, the results were often highly classified. Even when eventually declassified, the data were often not approved for public release until years later.2 Even after declassification and approval for public release, the records are sometimes difficult to find. Through a fortuitous discovery, a set of handwritten notes by ''ORF July 1945'' entitled ''Dragon - Research with a Pulsed Fission Reactor'' was found by William L. Myers in an old storage safe at Pajarito Site of the Los Alamos National Laboratory3. Of course, ORF was identified as Otto R. Frisch. The document was attached to a page in a nondescript spiral bound notebook labeled ''494 Book'' that bore the signatures of Louis Slotin and …

The recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission will automatically take effect unless, within a stated period after the recommendations are submitted to the House and Senate, Congress adopts a joint resolution of disapproval rejecting them in their entirety. Congressional consideration of this disapproval resolution is not governed by the regular rules of the House and Senate, but by special expedited or “fast track” procedures laid out in statute. This report describes these expedited parliamentary procedures and explains how they differ from the regular legislative processes of Congress.

This report provides an overview of federal and state public health laws as they relate to the quarantine and isolation of individuals, a discussion of constitutional issues that may be raised should individual liberties be restricted in a quarantine situation, and federalism questions that may arise where federal and state authorities overlap. In addition, the possible role of the armed forces in enforcing public health measures is discussed, specifically whether the Posse Comitatus Act would constrain any military role, and other statutory authorities that may be used for the military enforcement of health measures.

This report examines OMB's competitive sourcing targets and the executive branch management scorecard, and shows how they have changed over time.

This final report describes the technical output of a scientific program aimed at understanding the formation and structure of II-VI nanocrystals formed by solid phase precipitation within a glass environment. The principle probes were optical absorption spectroscopy to determine crystallite sizes, Raman scattering to determine composition, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy to study the evolution of local reactant environments.

The Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) field study was designed to collect meteorological and tracer data resolving atmospheric dispersion at scales-of-motion ranging from flows in and around a single city block, in and around several blocks in the downtown Central Business District (CBD), and into the suburban Oklahoma City area a few km from the CBD. Indoor tracer and flow measurements within four downtown study buildings were also made in conjunction with detailed outdoor measurements investigating the outdoor-indoor exchange rates and mechanisms. The movement of tracer within the study buildings was also studied. The data from the field experiment is being used to evaluate models that are being developed for predicting dispersion of contaminants in urban areas. These models may be fast-response models based on semi-empirical algorithms that are used in real-time emergencies, or highly sophisticated computational fluid dynamics models that resolve individual building faces and crevices. The data from the field experiment, together with the models, can then be used to develop other advanced tools that are especially valuable in the efforts to thwart terrorists. These include tools for finding location and characteristics of a contaminant source; tools that can be used for real-time response or for forensic investigation. The …

Using current methods, oil and gas in the subsurface cannot be reliably predicted from seismic data. This causes domestic oil and gas fields to go undiscovered and unexploited, thereby increasing the need to import energy. The general objective of this study was to demonstrate a simple and effective methodology for estimating reservoir properties (gas saturation in particular, but also including lithology, net to gross ratios, and porosity) from seismic attenuation and other attributes using P and S-waves. Phase I specific technical objectives: • Develop Empirical or Theoretical Rock Physics Relations for Qp and Qs • Create P-wave and S-wave Synthetic Seismic Modeling Algorithms with Q • Compute P-wave and S-wave Q Attributes from Multi-component Seismic Data All objectives defined in the Phase I proposal were accomplished. During the course of this project, a new class of seismic analysis was developed based on compressional and shear wave inelastic rock properties (attenuation). This method provides a better link between seismic data and the presence of hydrocarbons. The technique employs both P and S-wave data to better discriminate between attenuation due to hydrocarbons versus energy loss due to other factors such as scattering and geometric spreading. It was demonstrated that P and S …

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has reported severe foaminess in the bench scale evaporation of the Hanford River Protection - Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WPT) envelope C waste. Excessive foaming in waste evaporators can cause carryover of radionuclides and non-radioactive waste to the condensate system. The antifoams used at Hanford and tested by SRNL are believed to degrade and become inactive in high pH solutions. Hanford wastes have been known to foam during evaporation causing excessive down time and processing delays.

The report is about the Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy. The economic impact of FTAs and Relevant Legislation. United States has proposed to engage in negotiations to establish bilateral and free trade agreements with a number of trading partners.

None

DNA Damage Recognition and Repair (DDR&R) proteins play a critical role in cellular responses to low-dose radiation and are associated with cancer. We have performed a systematic, genome-wide computational analysis of genomic data for human genes involved in the DDR&R process. The significant achievements of this project include: 1) Construction of the computational pipeline for searching DDR&R genes, building and validation of 3D models of proteins involved in DDR&R; 2) Functional and structural annotation of the 3D models and generation of comprehensive lists of suggested knock-out mutations; and the development of a method to predict the effects of mutations. Large scale testing of technology to identify novel small binding pockets in protein structures leading to new DDRR inhibitor strategies 3) Improvements of macromolecular docking technology (see the CAPRI 1-3 and 4-5 results) 4) Development of a new algorithm for improved analysis of high-density oligonucleotide arrays for gene expression profiling; 5) Construction and maintenance of the DNA Damage Recognition and Repair Database; 6) Producing 15 research papers (12 published and 3 in preparation).

This report briefly reviews the status of climate science, international negotiations, and congressional activity focused specifically on climate change.

Changes in land use and land cover have been one of the major drivers of global change over the last three centuries. Detailed spatially-explicit data sets characterizing these historical land cover changes are now emerging. By synthesizing remotely-sensed land cover classification data sets with historical land use census data, our research group has developed comprehensive databases of historical land use and land cover change. Moreover, we are building estimates of the land suitability for agriculture to predict the constraints on future land use. In this project, we have interacted with the Global Trade and Analysis Project (GTAP) at Purdue University, to adapt our land use data for use with the GTAP database, a baseline database widely used by the integrated assessment modeling community. Moreover, we have developed an interactive website for providing these newly emerging land use data products for the integrated assessment (IA) community and to the climate modeling community.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has long been known as a world leader in scientific and technological innovation. To help maintain this advantage, the federal government has spent billions of dollars on education programs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for many years. However, concerns have been raised about the nation's ability to maintain its global technological competitive advantage in the future. This report presents information on (1) the number of federal programs funded in fiscal year 2004 that were designed to increase the number of students and graduates pursuing STEM degrees and occupations or improve educational programs in STEM fields, and what agencies report about their effectiveness; (2) how the numbers, percentages, and characteristics of students, graduates, and employees in STEM fields have changed over the years; and (3) factors cited by educators and others as affecting students' decisions about pursing STEM degrees and occupations, and suggestions that have been made to encourage more participation. GAO received written and/or technical comments from several agencies. While one agency, the National Science Foundation, raised several questions about the findings, the others generally agreed with the findings …

None