Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The decennial census is a constitutionally mandated activity, with immutable deadlines. It produces data used to allocate about $200 billion yearly in federal financial assistance, reapportion the seats of the House of Representatives, and provide a profile of the nation's people to help guide policy decisions. The U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) estimates the 2010 Census will cost $11.3 billion, making it the most expensive census in the nation's history, even after adjusting for inflation. Based primarily on GAO's issued reports, this testimony addresses the extent to which the Bureau has (1) developed detailed and timely cost data for effective oversight and cost control, (2) reduced nonresponse mail follow up costs, and (3) produced risk mitigation plans to address identified challenges."

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of progress in the areas of charm and charmonium spectroscopy, in large part due to the very large data samples being accumulated at the e{sup +}e{sup -} B-Factories. In this presentation I will focus on results in three areas: the X/Y/Z charmonium-candidate states, the D{sub sJ} charmed-strange mesons, and newly-discovered charmed baryons. Note the absence of a section on pentaquarks: all B-Factory searches for pentaquarks, charmed or otherwise, have not yielded any observation of such states.

The main advantage of inverse iteration over the QR algorithm and Divide & Conquer for the symmetric tridiagonal eigenproblem is that subsets of eigenpairs can be computed at reduced cost. The MRRR algorithm (MRRR = Multiple Relatively Robust Representations) is a clever variant of inverse iteration without the need for reorthogonalization. STEGR, the current version of MRRR in LAPACK 3.0, does not allow for subset computations. The next release of STEGR is designed to compute a (sub-)set of k eigenpairs with {Omicron}(kn) operations. Because of the special way in which eigenvectors are computed, MRRR subset computations are more complicated than when using inverse iteration. Unlike the latter, MRRR sometimes cannot ignore the unwanted part of the spectrum. We describe the problems with what we call 'false singletons'. These are eigenvalues that appear to be isolated with respect to the wanted eigenvalues but in fact belong to a tight cluster of unwanted eigenvalues. This paper analyzes these complications and ways to deal with them.

Toroidally-asymmetric biasing of the divertor plate may increase convective cross-field transport in SOL and thereby reduce the divertor heat load. Experiments performed with the MAST spherical tokamak generally agree with a simple theory of non-axisymmetric biasing. However, some of the experimental results have not yet received a theoretical explanation. In particular, existing theory seems to overestimate the asymmetry between the positive and the negative biasing. Also lacking a theoretical explanation is experimentally observed increase of the average floating potential in the main SOL in the presence of biasing. In this paper we attempt to solve these problems by accounting for the closing of the currents (driven by the biasing) in a strong-shear region near the X-point. We come up with the picture which, at least qualitatively, agrees with these experimental results.

The distribution and characteristics of individual basaltic volcanoes in the waning Southwestern Nevada Volcanic Field provide insight into the changing physical nature of magmatism and the controls on volcano location. During Pliocene-Pleistocene times the volumes of individual volcanoes have decreased by more than one order of magnitude, as have fissure lengths and inferred lava effusion rates. Eruptions evolved from Hawaiian-style eruptions with extensive lavas to eruptions characterized by small pulses of lava and Strombolian to violent Strombolian mechanisms. These trends indicate progressively decreasing partial melting and length scales, or magmatic footprints, of mantle source zones for individual volcanoes. The location of each volcano is determined by the location of its magmatic footprint at depth, and only by shallow structural and topographic features that are within that footprint. The locations of future volcanoes in a waning system are less likely to be determined by large-scale topography or structures than were older, larger volume volcanoes.

Deposit summary with a total of $500.00 made on June 6, 2006.

The Department of Energy (DOE) identified the caustic side solvent extraction (CSSX) process as the preferred technology to remove cesium from radioactive waste solutions at the Savannah River Site (SRS). As a result, Washington Savannah River Company (WSRC) began designing and building a Modular CSSX Unit (MCU) in the SRS tank farm to process liquid waste for an interim period until the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) begins operations. Both the solvent and the strip effluent streams could contain high concentrations of cesium which must be removed from the contactors, process tanks, and piping prior to performing contactor maintenance. When these vessels are drained, thin films or drops will remain on the equipment walls. Following draining, the vessels will be flushed with water and drained to remove the flush water. The draining reduces the cesium concentration in the vessels by reducing the volume of cesium-containing material. The flushing, and subsequent draining, reduces the cesium in the vessels by diluting the cesium that remains in the film or drops on the vessel walls. MCU personnel requested that Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) researchers conduct a literature search to identify models to calculate the thickness of the liquid films remaining in the …

The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) is about to process High Level Waste (HLW) Sludge Batch 4 (SB4). This sludge batch is high in alumina and nepheline can crystallize readily depending on the glass composition. Large concentrations of crystallized nepheline can have an adverse effect on HLW glass durability. Several studies have been performed to study the potential for nepheline formation in SB4. The Phase 3 Nepheline Formation study of SB4 glasses examined sixteen different glasses made with four different frits. Melt rate experiments were performed by the Process Science and Engineering Section (PS&E) of the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) using the four frits from the Phase 3 work, plus additional high B2O3/high Fe2O3 frits. Preliminary results from these tests showed the potential for significant improvements in melt rate for SB4 glasses using a higher B2O3-containing frit, particularly Frit 503. The main objective of this study was to investigate the durability of SB4 glasses produced with a high B2O3 frit likely to be recommended for SB4 processing. In addition, a range of waste loadings (WLs) was selected to continue to assess the effectiveness of a nepheline discriminator in predicting concentrations of nepheline crystallization that would be sufficient to influence …

An updated systems code for a laser-driven IFE power plant has been developed as part of the U.S. High Average Power Laser (HAPL) program. The cost of electricity (COE) is calculated using standardized methods for fusion reactor studies. In this paper, we describe the systems code and present results for capital cost and COE as a function of key design variables and parameters. We show how the COE varies as a function of driver energy and pulse repetition rate for different lasers. We examine the dependence of COE on other parameters such as laser cost ($/J), laser efficiency, plant efficiency, and net power output of the plant. Finally we compare results for a plant using direct-drive central ignition targets to results with fast ignition targets and note the potential advantages of fast ignition for various assumptions.

A chapter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2004 general election was the first presidential election that tested substantial changes states made to their election systems since the 2000 election, including some changes required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). HAVA required some major changes in the nation's elections processes, not all which had to be implemented by the November 2004 election. HAVA addressed issues of people, processes, and technology, all of which must be effectively integrated to ensure effective election operations. GAO initiated a review under the authority of the Comptroller General to examine an array of election issues of broad interest to Congress. For each major stage of the election process, this report discusses (1) changes to election systems since the 2000 election, including steps taken to implement HAVA, and (2) challenges encountered in the 2004 election. For this report, GAO sent a survey to the 50 states and the District of Columbia (all responded) and mailed a questionnaire to a nationwide sample of 788 local election jurisdictions about election administration activities (80 percent responded). To obtain more detailed information about experiences for the 2004 election, GAO also …

Email from Caro Bosca to the WASP Board of Directors and By-Laws Committee discussing recent changes to the By-Laws Committee, proposed changes to the organization's by-laws, and the timeline for tallying the votes associated with the question of whether the WASP should hire an executive director.

A brief, printed email discussing potential meeting locations. Towards the middle of the page, an untitled text file is attached.

The tracker sub-system is one of the five sub-detectors of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment under construction at CERN for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator. The tracker subdetector is designed to reconstruct tracks of charged sub-atomic particles generated after collisions. The tracker system processes analogue signals from 10 million channels distributed across 14000 silicon micro-strip detectors. It is designed to process signals of a few nA and digitize them at 40 MHz. The overall sub-detector is embedded in a high particle radiation environment and a magnetic field of 4 Tesla. The evaluation of the electromagnetic immunity of the system is very important to optimize the performance of the tracker sub-detector and the whole CMS experiment. This paper presents the EMC diagnosis of the CMS silicon tracker sub-detector. Immunity tests were performed using the final prototype of the Silicon Tracker End-Caps (TEC) system to estimate the sensitivity of the system to conducted noise, evaluate the weakest areas of the system and take corrective actions before the integration of the overall detector. This paper shows the results of one of those tests, that is the measurement and analysis of the immunity to CM external conducted noise perturbations.

This paper addresses electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) studies applied to high-energy physics (HEP) detectors. They are focused on the quantification of the front-end electronic (FEE) sensitivity to conductive noise coupled through the input/output cables. Immunity tests performed on FEE prototypes of both the CMS hadron calorimeter and the CMS silicon tracker are presented. These tests characterize the sensitivity of the FEE to common and differential mode noise coupled through the power cables and the slow control network. Immunity tests allow evaluating the weakest areas of the system to take corrective actions before the integration of the overall detector, saving time and important costs.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The objective of this project was to develop experimental techniques for using coherent extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation generated using the high-order harmonic generation technique, as an illumination source for studies of high-density plasmas relevant to the stockpile stewardship mission. In this project, we made considerable progress, including the first demonstration of imaging of dynamic processes using this coherent ultrashort pulse light. This work also stimulated considerable progress in the development of the required ultrashort EUV pulses, and in the development of new laser technologies that have been commercialized. We also demonstrated the first EUV sources that exhibit full intrinsic optical coherence. This work resulted in 12 publications.

None

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

The September 11th attacks drew attention to U.S. air defense, and the 9/11 Commission Report recommended that Congress regularly assess the ability of Northern Command to defend the United States against military threats. Protecting U.S. airspace may require improvements in detecting aircraft and cruise missiles, making quick operational decisions, and intercepting them. A number of options exist in each of these areas. A variety of issues must be weighed including expediency, cost, and minimizing conflicts with civilian aviation.

This report discusses U.S. air defense, in the wake of 9/11. Protecting U.S. airspace may require improvements in detecting aircraft and cruise missiles, making quick operational decisions, and intercepting them. A number of options exist in each of these areas. A variety of issues must be weighed including expediency, cost, and minimizing conflicts with civilian aviation.