The computer code COMFORT, developed for the online control of machine functions at the SLC, has recently undergone several modifications to overcome some of its limitations. This note describes the reasons for these changes, the methods employed, some test results and the applications of the new version of the program.

It has been shown that the extra condition needed to fix the stream function on an interior boundary in an incompressible liquid flow is that the integral of the pressure gradient along any path enclosing the boundary should vanish. More recently this constraint has been used to solve for a few special cases of compressible centrifuge flows. One way in which this constraint can be easily incorporated in a numerical scheme for solving the Onsager equation for the gas flow in a centrifuge is described.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government supports numerous data programs that assemble and analyze quantitative measures of the nation's environmental conditions and trends (known as indicators). A substantial number of these data programs are housed in several federal agencies, and provide various types of data used routinely by decision makers from the private sector and all levels of government. As federal agencies take actions to improve the coverage and usefulness of these programs, it is equally important that the quality and availability of existing data generated by these programs do not erode overtime. In this regard, periodic uninterrupted monitoring to determine conditions and trends is important to accurately describe the extent or seriousness of environmental problems, or conversely, improvements in environmental conditions. GAO reviewed 20 data programs to determine whether federal agencies responsible for the programs anticipate that changes during fiscal years 2005 and 2006 related to funding, shifting priorities, or other factors will affect the ability of the programs to (1) continue to generate data comparable with data from past years, and (2) continue providing data used in a nationwide ecological indicator study by the H. John Heinz …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through its Federal Housing Administration (FHA), provides insurance for private lenders against losses on home mortgages. FHA's largest insurance program is the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (Fund), which currently is self-financed and operates at a profit. FHA submitted a "reestimate" of $7 billion for the credit subsidy and interest for the Fund as of the end of fiscal year 2003, reflecting a reduction in estimated profits. Given this substantial reestimate, Congress asked GAO, among other things, to determine what factors contributed to the $7 billion reestimate and the underlying loan performance variables influencing these factors and to assess how the loan performance variables underlying the reestimate could impact future estimates of new loans."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The State Department plans to spend at least $80 million to purchase and renovate a multibuilding facility in Frankfurt, Germany. The facility, known as Creekbed, is scheduled to open in mid-2005. The project is a key rightsizing initiative under the President's Management Agenda to reassess and reconfigure the staffing of the U.S. overseas presence. Creekbed is expected to achieve the department's major rightsizing and regionalization goals. The Office of Management and Budget expects the project to serve as a model for developing other regional centers. GAO was asked to determine whether State fully examined the potential for relocating regional staff from outside Germany to Creekbed."

Reviews have been conducted on both FLAG and CHEMFLUB's documentation and computer codes. The documentation of both models is: (1) incomplete, (2) confusing, (3) not helpful to the reader, (4) filled with extraneous information and (5) lack claimed versatility in analyzing coal gasifier systems. The documentation is such that the computer coding itself must be used as a reference to complete the documentation. Once the codes are set up they are relatively easy to run. We have exercised both of them. Most of our efforts thus far have been concentrated on FLAG because of its importance and complexity. FLAG in its present form can not be expected to yield meaningful data applicable to coal gasifier systems. The reasons for this are twofold. First, the model is incorrect in describing some aspects of fluid particle behavior in coal gasifier systems. Second, the numerical formulation/solution methodology is incorrectly implemented and introduces spurious numerical effects, thereby obscuring the physics of the model. In brief, this means that resulting calculations are not correctly related to the physics. CHEMFLUB, while less extensively exercised, shows that it should be no surprise that CHEMFLUB is best utilized as a tool for generating first approximations. We have concluded …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2004, the Medicaid program financed about $93 billion for long-term care services. To qualify for Medicaid, individuals' assets (income and resources) must be below certain limits. Because long-term care services can be costly, those who pay privately may quickly deplete their assets and become eligible for Medicaid. In some cases, individuals might transfer assets to spouses or other family members to become financially eligible for Medicaid. Those who transfer assets for less than fair market value may be subject to a penalty period that can delay their eligibility for Medicaid. GAO was asked to provide data on transfers of assets. GAO reviewed (1) the level of assets held and transferred by the elderly, (2) methods used to transfer assets that may result in penalties, (3) how states determined financial eligibility for Medicaid long-term care, and (4) guidance the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided states regarding the treatment of asset transfers. GAO analyzed data on levels of assets and cash transfers made by the elderly from the 2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a national panel survey; analyzed states' Medicaid …

The innovative research conducted for this project contributed greatly to the understanding of generating low-cost hydrogen from solar energy. The project’s research identified two highly leveraging and complementary pathways. The first pathway is to dramatically increase the efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity. Improving solar electric conversion efficiency directly increases hydrogen production. This project produced a world record efficiency for silicon solar cells and contributed to another world record efficiency for a solar concentrator module using multijunction solar cells. The project’s literature review identified a second pathway in which wasted heat from the solar concentration process augments the electrolysis process generating hydrogen. One way to do this is to use a “heat mirror” that reflects the heat-producing infrared and transmits the visible spectrum to the solar cells; this also increases solar cell conversion efficiency. An economic analysis of this concept confirms that, if long-term concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) and solid-oxide electrolyzer cost goals can be achieved, hydrogen will be produced from solar energy cheaper than the cost of gasoline. The potential public benefits from this project are significant. The project has identified a potential energy source for the nation’s future electricity and transportation needs that is entirely “home grown” and carbon …

This report

As part of a comparative assessment for the Continental Scientific Drilling Program, geophysical data were used, to characterize and evaluate potential magma-hydrothermal targets at five drill sites in the western United States. The sites include Roosevelt Hot Springs, Utah, the Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico, and The Geysers-Clear Lake, Long Valley, and Salton Trough areas, California. This summary discusses the size, depth, temperature, and setting of each potential target, as well as relvant scientific questions about their natures and the certainty of their existence.

This report describes the FY2012 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Total budget authority, including appropriations, fee revenues, and trust funds in the Administration's budget request for DHS for FY2012 amounts to $57,079 million as compared to $55,783 million enacted for FY2011.

This report discusses the reasons that Iran is considered a threat to U.S. security, including Iran's nuclear program, involvement with terrorist organizations, and involvement with neighboring countries' local governments. The report also discusses ways which the U.S. hopes to modify Iran's behavior with sanctions, and the effectiveness of these sanctions.

This report provides a summary of legislative attempts to address issues of energy development and preservation in the Refuge from the 95th Congress through the 110th Congress, with emphasis on the 108th through 110th Congresses.

This report discusses the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), a program under which the federal government supports efforts to assess and monitor earthquake hazards and risk in the United States. This report also discusses earthquake hazards and risk in the United States; federal programs that support earthquake monitoring; the U.S. capability to detect earthquakes and issue notifications and warnings; and federally supported research to improve the fundamental scientific understanding of earthquakes with a goal of reducing U.S. vulnerability.

This report discusses the polar bear that has been protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) since 1972. The polar bear was listed because the bear's primary habitat of sea ice was threatened with destruction due to global climate change.

As the century advances from the 20th to the 21st, information systems (systems) dependent on date processing may fail. Date functions such as comparisons and calculations and use of coded numbers to direct program logic can cause a system to fail or produce erroneous results. Many systems used a two-digit date to minimize data storage, particularly older equipment and infrastructure items. Historically, systems used the values of ``00`` and ``99`` as indicators such as file headers, end of file markers, or control records. These systems will encounter problems as Fiscal Year 1999, January 1, 2000 and other dates occur. (See Appendix 3) The Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) work scope is supported by a multitude of information systems. Each system must be evaluated for Year 2000 compliance and the business risk identified for those found to be Year 2000 non-compliant. Because of the constraints on time, funding and resources to fix Year 2000 problems, the PHMC team approach focuses on those systems considered to be mission essential. Mission essential is defined as: any operational system, item of equipment, or component that processes date information requiring Year 2000 compliance whose failure results in (1) injury to personnel, (2) damage to property …

The PHMC Year 2000 Project approach is designed to ensure consistent and comprehensive implementation and reporting across the site. The emphasis of the project is on mission essential systems, prioritized to systems whose failure results in (1) injury to personnel, (2) damage to property (public or private), or (3) cessation, or delays in the performance of mission essential activities. These systems will be reported to DOE HQ and have the highest priority for resources. The same approach will be used on the remaining mission essential systems and these will be reported to DOE-RL. Non-mission essential systems can be addressed as determined by the owner. The scope of the PHMC Year 2000 Project encompasses applications, equipment, infrastructure, and external and internal interfaces and services.

In September 1989, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final ruling on lockout/tagout procedures. This ruling became effective in January 1990 and was eventually incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of these procedures is to safeguard employees from hazardous energy while performing service or maintenance activities on machines and equipment. Approximately 39 million workers are protected by lockout/tagout procedures in general industry. OSHA estimates that adherence to the requirements in lockout/tagout procedures will eliminate nearly two percent of all workplace deaths. A lockout/tagout program is essential to the safe operation of all Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. The program outlined in this document consists of energy-control procedures, employee training and periodic inspections, and establishes the minimum requirements for lockout/tagout of equipment or system-energy sources that could cause injury to personnel. Because serious consequences can occur due to a lack of understanding and improper administration of this program, this document also includes a method for: Providing guidance for the control of hazardous energy, protecting employees from injury, defining responsibilities, and protecting equipment and facilities from damage.

Data Qualification (DQ) is a formal, technical process whose objective is to affirm that experimental data are suitable for their intended use. Although it is not possible to develop a fixed recipe for the DQ process to cover all test situations, these general guidelines have been developed for the Nuclear Engineering Section to establish a framework for qualifying data from steady-state processing. These guidelines outline the role of the DQ team providing insight into the planning and conducting of the DQ process.

This barely legible document describes the canning process, autoclave tests, slug weight distributions, and general information on progress in the 100 Area to include: Reactor physics, corrosion, instrument development, plant assistance, slug recovery, outgassing, sniffer tests, statistics, and analytical services.

From abstract: The subsurface isorad method is an attempt to locate areas favorable for uranium ores by the use of contour maps which show localities having greater radioactivity. The construction of isorad maps entails the measurement of the area under the curve of a gamma-ray logo The figures obtained indicate relative amounts of gamma radiation and are used to locate the isorad contours. This work was started at Temple Mountain in the San Rafael Swell area during the spring of 1952. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the most effective and economic hole spacing for subsurface isorad work.

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