A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has identified the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of its inventory as a high-risk area since 1990 due to ineffective and inefficient inventory systems and practices. Management of inventory acquisition lead times is important in maintaining cost-effective inventories, budgeting, and having material available when needed, as lead times are DOD's best estimate of when an item will be received. Under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations on his own initiative, GAO analyzed the extent to which (1) DOD's estimated lead times varied from actual lead times, and (2) current management actions and initiatives have reduced lead times as compared to past years. To address these objectives, GAO computed the difference between the components' actual and estimated lead times, and compared component initiatives to reduce lead times for 1994-2002 to 2002-2005."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As the first to respond to natural disasters, domestic terrorism, and other emergencies, public safety agencies rely on timely communications across multiple disciplines and jurisdictions. It is vital to the safety and effectiveness of first responders that their electronic communications systems enable them to communicate with whomever they need to, when they need to, and when they are authorized to do so. GAO was asked to determine, among other things, (1) the extent to which Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding and technical assistance has helped to improve interoperable communications in selected states and (2) the progress that has been made in the development and implementation of interoperable communications standards. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed grant information, documentation of selected states' and localities' interoperability projects, and standards documents."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State's (State) Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) owns 357 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft (valued at over $340 million) primarily to help carry out its counternarcotics efforts, such as aerial eradication of drug crops in Colombia. INL relies on contractor support to help maintain and operate its aircraft. In 2004, GAO analysis showed that INL lagged behind other agencies in implementing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and General Services Administration (GSA) aviation fleet management principles. GAO was mandated to review INL's management and oversight of this fleet. GAO specifically examined (1) the extent INL has complied with OMB and GSA aviation fleet management guidance and (2) how INL has overseen its aviation support contracts. Since INL has undertaken initiatives to address the weaknesses GAO observed, GAO makes no recommendations. GAO will follow up to ensure that these initiatives are completed, as planned. In comments on this report, State highlighted reforms under way. State also indicated that INL conducted analyses to justify most aviation investments. GAO notes, however, that the documentation provided did not reflect the key analyses called for …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Nuclear power reactors generate highly radioactive waste. To permanently store this waste, the Department of Energy (DOE) has been working to submit a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain about 100 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the project has been beset with delays, in part because of persistent problems with its quality assurance program, DOE stated in July 2006 that it will submit a license application with NRC by June 30, 2008. NRC states that a high-quality application needs to be complete, technically adequate, transparent by clearly justifying underlying assumptions, and traceable back to original source materials. GAO examined (1) DOE's development of its schedule for submitting a license application and the stakeholders with whom it consulted, (2) NRC's assessment of DOE's readiness to submit a high-quality application, and (3) DOE's progress in addressing quality assurance recommendations and challenges identified in GAO's March 2006 report. GAO reviewed DOE's management plan for creating the license application, reviewed correspondence and attended prelicensing meetings between DOE and NRC, and interviewed DOE managers and NRC on-site representatives for the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To support the education and training of health professionals, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administers health professions education programs authorized under title VII of the Public Health Service Act. One of these programs, the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), provides grants to health professions schools and other entities to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds prepare for health professions education and training. Funding preference is given to grant applications that demonstrate a comprehensive approach involving other educational or health-related partners. Congressional committees have encouraged HRSA to give priority to applications from schools with a historic mission of educating minority students for health professions. In 2004, the appropriations conference committee asked GAO to review HRSA's process for awarding grants. This report addresses, for fiscal years 2002 through 2005, (1) HRSA's process for awarding HCOP grants and (2) the number and characteristics of HCOP applicants and grantees. GAO reviewed data from HRSA, interviewed HRSA officials, and reviewed relevant federal laws and agency documents from HHS and the Department of Education."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns over national security, environmental stresses, and high fuel prices have raised interest in reducing oil consumption. Through the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires cars and light trucks to meet certain fuel economy standards. As requested, GAO discusses (1) how CAFE standards are designed to reduce fuel consumption, (2) strengths and weaknesses of the CAFE program and NHTSA's capabilities, and (3) market-based policies that could complement or replace CAFE. To do this work, GAO reviewed recent studies and interviewed leading experts and agency officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Manufacturing workers face an uncertain future as manufacturing employment declines--more than 3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country since 2000 because of international trade as well as other factors. The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, administered by the Department of Labor (Labor), is the nation's primary program providing income support, job training, and other benefits for manufacturing workers who lose their jobs as a result of international trade. During the 3-year period from fiscal years 2004 through 2006, Labor certified nearly 4,700 petitions for TAA covering an estimated 400,000 workers. For fiscal year 2006, Congress appropriated about $966 million for TAA, of which about $220 million was for training trade-affected workers. Each year, Labor initially allocates 75 percent of the training funds, or $165 million, to states according to a formula developed by Labor. Labor holds the remaining 25 percent in reserve to distribute to states throughout the year as the need arises because of unexpected layoffs. To minimize year-to-year fluctuations in state funding, Labor uses a "hold harmless" policy that ensures that each state's initial allocation is at least 85 percent of …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to invest $109 billion in its tactical air forces between 2007 and 2013. Long term, DOD plans to replace aging legacy aircraft with fewer, more expensive but more capable and stealthy aircraft. Recapitalizing and modernizing tactical air forces within today's constrained budget environment is a formidable challenge. DOD has already incurred substantial cost and schedule overruns in its acquisition of new systems, and further delays could require billions of dollars in additional investments to keep legacy aircraft capable and sustainable. Because of the large investments and risk, GAO was asked to review investment planning for tactical aircraft. This report describes the current status of DOD's new tactical aircraft acquisition programs; identifies current impacts on legacy aircraft modernization programs and retirement schedules; and assesses DOD's overall investment plan for tactical aircraft."

In view of the growing impact of hedge funds on a variety of financial markets, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October 2004 adopted a regulation that requires hedge funds to register as investment advisers, disclose basic information about their operations, and open their books for inspection. The regulation took effect in February 2006, but on June 23, 2006, a court challenge was upheld and the rule was vacated. S. 1402 and H.R. 2586 would reinstate the SEC's authority. H.R. 2683 would require defined benefit pension plans to disclose investments in hedge funds. In December 2006, the SEC proposed raising the "accredited investor" standard - to be permitted to invest in hedge funds, an investor would need $2.5 million in assets, instead of $1 million.

This Work Plan outlines the scope of work to be conducted to investigate the subsurface contaminant conditions at the property formerly leased by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) in Powhattan, Kansas (Figure 1.1). Data obtained during this event will be used to (1) evaluate potential contaminant source areas on the property; (2) determine the vertical and horizontal extent of potential contamination; and (3) provide recommendations for future action, with the ultimate goal of assigning this site No Further Action status. The planned investigation includes groundwater monitoring requested by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), in accordance with Section V of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the KDHE and the Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The work is being performed on behalf of the CCC/USDA by the Environmental Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory. A nonprofit, multidisciplinary research center operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne provides technical assistance to the CCC/USDA with environmental site characterization and remediation at former CCC/USDA grain storage facilities. Argonne issued a Master Work Plan (Argonne 2002) that has been approved by the KDHE. The Master Work Plan describes the general scope of all …

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Brookhaven National Lab. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

This report was prepared in response to the request from Congress stated in Public Law 109-431 (H.R. 5646),"An Act to Study and Promote the Use of Energy Efficient Computer Servers in the United States." This report assesses current trends in energy use and energy costs of data centers and servers in the U.S. (especially Federal government facilities) and outlines existing and emerging opportunities for improved energy efficiency. It also makes recommendations for pursuing these energy-efficiency opportunities broadly across the country through the use of information and incentive-based programs.

This report is the appendices to a companion report, prepared in response to the request from Congress stated in Public Law 109-431 (H.R. 5646),"An Act to Study and Promote the Use of Energy Efficient Computer Servers in the United States." This report assesses current trends in energy use and energy costs of data centers and servers in the U.S. (especially Federal government facilities) and outlines existing and emerging opportunities for improved energy efficiency. It also makes recommendations for pursuing these energy-efficiency opportunities broadly across the country through the use of information and incentive-based programs.

Safe and permanent storage of carbon dioxide in geologic reservoirs is critical to geologic sequestration. The objective of this study is to quantify the conditions under which a general (simulated) fault network and a specific (field case) fault network will fail and leak carbon dioxide out of a reservoir. Faults present a potential fast-path for CO{sub 2} leakage from reservoirs to the surface. They also represent potential induced seismicity hazards. It is important to have improved quantitative understandings of the processes that trigger activity on faults and the risks they present. Fortunately, the conditions under which leakage along faults is induced can be predicted and quantified given the fault geometry, reservoir pressure, an in-situ stress tensor. We proposed to expand the current capabilities of fault threshold characterization and apply that capability to a site where is CO{sub 2} injection is active or planned. Specifically, we proposed to use a combination of discrete/explicit and continuum/implicit codes to provide constrain the conditions of fault failure. After minor enhancements of LLNL's existing codes (e.g., LDEC), we would create a 3D synthetic model of a common configuration (e.g., a faulted dome). During these steps, we will identify a field site where the necessary information …

The Annual Symposium of the John B. Little Center for Radiation Sciences and Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health seeks to educate radiobiologists and biomedical scientists in related areas on the leading research related to the effects of ionizing radiation and related environmental agents in biological systems. This effort seeks to further the training of individuals in this field, and to foment productive interactions and collaborations among scientists at Harvard and with other institutions. The Symposium attracts world-class scientists as speakers, and a broad cross-section of attendees from academic, government, and industrial research centers, as well as editorial staff from leading scientific publications. In order to maintain this quality, funding to support the travel and local expenses of invited speakers is sought, along with funds to allow use of appropriate conference facilities.

To identify emerging basic science and engineering research needs and opportunities that will require major advances in electron-scattering theory, technology, and instrumentation.

Astrophysical relativistic flow problems require high resolution three-dimensional numerical simulations. In this paper, we describe a new parallel three-dimensional code for simulations of special relativistic hydrodynamics (SRHD) using both spatially and temporally structured adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). We used method of lines to discrete SRHD equations spatially and used a total variation diminishing (TVD) Runge-Kutta scheme for time integration. For spatial reconstruction, we have implemented piecewise linear method (PLM), piecewise parabolic method (PPM), third order convex essentially non-oscillatory (CENO) and third and fifth order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) schemes. Flux is computed using either direct flux reconstruction or approximate Riemann solvers including HLL, modified Marquina flux, local Lax-Friedrichs flux formulas and HLLC. The AMR part of the code is built on top of the cosmological Eulerian AMR code enzo, which uses the Berger-Colella AMR algorithm and is parallel with dynamical load balancing using the widely available Message Passing Interface library. We discuss the coupling of the AMR framework with the relativistic solvers and show its performance on eleven test problems.

The summary of this presentation is that: (1) We do end-to-end systems analysis for infrastructure protection; (2) LLNL brings interdisciplinary subject matter expertise to infrastructure and explosive analysis; (3) LLNL brings high-fidelity modeling capabilities to infrastructure analysis for use on high performance platforms; and (4) LLNL analysis of infrastructure provides information that customers and stakeholders act on.

This report documents the LLNL TSF upgrade ASC L2 milestone 2351: Terascale Simulation Facility upgrade, due Sept. 30, 2007. The full text of the milestone is included in Attachment 1. The stated goal of the milestone was: 'Complete a 3-MW expansion of electrical power for computing systems in the east computer room of the Terascale Simulation Facility (TSF) and complete the final connection of all air handlers that were delivered as part of the TSF line item'. In this report we detail the upgrade and cover the results of the process to accept the system by testing, adjusting, balancing and finally start-up of the system in accordance with the detailed project commissioning plan to be developed by the system engineers during the design phase of the project. The quarterly reports for the upgrade and the text of the project commissioning plan are included at the end of this document as Attachments 2 and 3.

This document contains descriptions of Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T) Metrology capabilities, traceability flow charts, and the measurement uncertainty of each measurement capability. Metrology provides NIST traceable precision measurements or equipment calibration for a wide variety of parameters, ranges, and state-of-the-art uncertainties. Metrology laboratories conform to the requirements of the Department of Energy Development and Production Manual Chapter 13.2, ANSI/ISO/IEC ANSI/ISO/IEC 17025:2005, and ANSI/NCSL Z540-1. FM&T Metrology laboratories are accredited by NVLAP for the parameters, ranges, and uncertainties listed in the specific scope of accreditation under NVLAP Lab code 200108-0. See the Internet at http://ts.nist.gov/Standards/scopes/2001080.pdf. These parameters are summarized. The Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T) Metrology Department has developed measurement technology and calibration capability in four major fields of measurement: (1) Mechanical; (2) Environmental, Gas, Liquid; (3) Electrical (DC, AC, RF/Microwave); and (4) Optical and Radiation. Metrology Engineering provides the expertise to develop measurement capabilities for virtually any type of measurement in the fields listed above. A strong audit function has been developed to provide a means to evaluate the calibration programs of our suppliers and internal calibration organizations. Evaluation includes measurement audits and technical surveys.

The Washington Closure Hanford (WCH) Field Remediation Project has removed all of the disposed materials and contaminated soil from the 118-B-1 Burial Ground with the exception of tritium-contaminated soil that is believed to extend from the bottom of the present excavation to groundwater and is believed to contribute to tritium contamination observed at down-gradient monitoring Well 199-B8-6. This sampling and analysis instruction (SAI) provides the requirements for sample collection and laboratory analysis for characterization of the vertical distribution of tritium contamination in the vadose zone soil below the 118-B-1 Burial Ground remedial action excavation.

The objective of the proposed work was to develop a software package that can construct in three-dimensional core power distributions using the signals from constant temperature power sensors distributed in the reactor core. The software developed uses a mode-based state/parameter estmation technique that is particularly attractive when there are model uncertainties and/or large signal noise. The software yields the expected value of local power at the detector locations and points in between, as well as the probability distribution of the local power density

Lithium batteries are important as the power source for portable electronic devices and could also be used in hybrid vehicles with improvements in capacity. We have used first principles calculations of electronic structure to determine how charge is redistributed as Li is added or removed. In the final of year of the project we have examined Lix(NiMn)0.5O2 and Lix(NiMnCo)0.333O2 cathode materials in more detail. As lithium is removed electrons are removed from the valence band which is mainly Oxygen 2p states at the top of the band. There is very little change in the charge state of the transition element ions in either case. These results are confirmed by electron energy loss spectroscopy which shows a pre-peak on the oxygen K edge as lithium is removed, but no changes in the transition metal L edges. We have also investigated the LixFePO4 cathode material which is less costly than the LixCoO2 used at present and is also less damaging to the environment. In this case we find that as lithium is removed there is a change in charge state of iron while electrons are removed from oxygen 2p states at the top of the valence band. Again this is confirmed by …

Monthly report written by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association's (TDNA's) office manager, Darla Thompson, to Ken Whalen providing a summary of revenues and account balances, programs, meetings, and other activities in the office during the previous month.