Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Lawrence Berkeley) located in Berkeley, California, is a government-owned, contractor-operated Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory. The University of California manages the lab under a cost-reimbursable contract with DOE. The university is paid a management fee to operate the lab and is reimbursed for all allowable costs charged to the contract. During the fall of 2002, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating two Los Alamos National Laboratory employees for alleged misuse of lab credit cards. Other allegations of theft and misuse of government funds at Los Alamos soon followed. In light of the problems identified at Los Alamos, Congress asked us to review selected procurement and property management practices at two NNSA and two DOE contractor labs, including Lawrence Berkeley. This report summarizes the information provided during our June 14, 2004 briefing to GAO's staff on these issues as they relate to Lawrence Berkeley. Specifically, we reviewed Lawrence Berkeley's purchase card program and property management practices to determine whether (1) internal controls over the lab's purchase card (Pcard) program provided reasonable assurance that improper purchases would not occur or would be detected …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) located in Richland, Washington, is a government-owned, contractor-operated Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory. The Battelle Memorial Institute manages the lab under a costreimbursable contract with DOE. Battelle is paid a management fee to operate the lab and is reimbursed for all allowable costs charged to the contract. During the fall of 2002, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating two Los Alamos National Laboratory employees for alleged misuse of lab credit cards. Other allegations of theft and misuse of government funds at Los Alamos soon followed. In light of the problems identified at Los Alamos, GAO was asked to review selected procurement and property management practices at two NNSA and two DOE contractor labs, including PNNL. This report summarizes the information provided during our June 14, 2004 briefing to staff of the House Committees on Science and Energy and Commerce on these issues as they relate to PNNL. Specifically, we reviewed PNNL's purchase card program and property management practices to determine whether (1) internal controls over the lab's purchase card (Pcard) program provided reasonable assurance that improper purchases would not occur …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a government-owned, contractor-operated national laboratory of the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The University of California manages the lab under a cost-reimbursable contract with NNSA. During the fall of 2002, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating two Los Alamos National Laboratory employees for alleged misuse of lab credit cards. Other allegations of theft and misuse of government funds at Los Alamos soon followed. In light of the problems identified at Los Alamos, Congress asked us to review selected procurement and property management practices at two DOE and two NNSA contractor labs, including LLNL. This report summarizes the information provided during our June 4, 2004 briefing to Congressional staff on these issues as they relate to Lawrence Livermore. Specifically, we reviewed LLNL's purchase card program and property management practices to determine whether (1) internal controls over the lab's purchase card (Pcard) program provided reasonable assurance that improper purchases would not occur or would be detected in the normal course of business, (2) purchase card expenditures made under the contract properly complied with lab policies and other applicable …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) operate in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Livermore, California. Sandia is a government-owned, contractor-operated national laboratory of the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). During the fall of 2002, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating two Los Alamos National Laboratory employees for alleged misuse of lab credit cards. Other allegations of theft and misuse of government funds at Los Alamos soon followed. In light of the problems identified at Los Alamos, Congress asked us to review selected procurement and property management practices at two DOE and two NNSA contractor labs, including Sandia. This report summarizes the information provided during our June 14, 2004 briefing to Congressional staff on these issues as they relate to Sandia. Specifically, we reviewed Sandia's purchase card program and property management practices to determine whether (1) internal controls over the lab's purchase card (Pcard) program provided reasonable assurance that improper purchases would not occur or would be detected in the normal course of business, (2) purchase card expenditures made under the contract properly complied with lab policies and other applicable requirements and were reasonable in nature …

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Effect of newly adopted article XVI, section 66 of the Texas Constitution on certain municipal employees who are required to accept medical retirement (RQ-0183-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a county clerk must accept for recording a paper copy, containing printed images of signatures or a printed image of a notary seal, of an electronic record of a real estate transaction (RQ-0186-GA)

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A study was conducted to assess the ability of phased-array ultrasonic techniques to detect and accurately determine the size of flaws from the far-side of wrought austenitic piping welds. Far-side inspections of these welds are currently performed on a “best effort” basis and do not conform to ASME Code Section XI Appendix VIII performance demonstration requirements. For this study, four circumferential welds in 610mm diameter, 36mm thick ASTM A-358, Grade 304 vintage austenitic stainless steel pipe were examined. The welds were fabricated with varied welding parameters; both horizontal and vertical pipe orientations were used, with air and water backing, to simulate field welding conditions. A series of saw cuts, electro-discharge machined (EDM) notches, and implanted fatigue cracks were placed into the heat affected zones of the welds. The saw cuts and notches range in depth from 7.5% to 28.4% through-wall. The implanted cracks ranged in depth from 5% through wall to 64% through wall. The welds were examined with two phased-array probes, a 2.0 MHz transmit-receive longitudinal wave array and a 2.0 MHz transmit-receive shear wave array. These examinations showed that both phased-array transducers were able to detect and accurately length-size, but not depth size, all of the notches and …

Dimensional changes related to temperature cycling of the beta and delta polymorphs of HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine) are important for a variety of applications. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the beta and delta phases are measured and reported in this work over a temperature range of -20 C to 215 C. In addition, dimensional changes associated with the phase transition were measured, both through the transition and back down. Initially, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate back conversion of the delta phase to the beta phase polymorph. The most successful approach was first to measure the amount of the beta to delta conversion, then after a given cooling period a repeat analysis, to measure the heat consumed by a second pass through the beta to delta phase transition. In addition, TMA is used to measure the dimensional change of a 0.20-gram sample of HMX during its initial heating and then three days later during a 2nd heating. This HMX shows the beta to delta phase transition a second time, thereby confirming the back conversion from delta to beta phase HMX.

This report provides basic information on congressional salaries and allowances. First, the report briefly summarizes the current salary of Members of Congress, limits on their outside earned income and honoraria, and applicable health insurance and retirement benefits. Second, it provides information on allowances available to Representatives and Senators to support them in their official and representational duties as Members. Third, it provides the salaries and allowances available to the Speaker of the House and the Vice President, as President of the Senate, and lists the salaries of congressional officers and officials and committee staff.

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An option to dispose of the High Activity Waste (HAW) stream from the processing of unirradiated materials directly to Saltstone is being evaluated to conserve High Level Waste (HLW) tank farm space and to reduce the future production of HLW glass logs. To meet the Saltstone Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), decanting the supernate from precipitated solids was proposed to reduce mercury and radionuclide levels in the waste. Only the caustic supernate will then be sent to Saltstone. Verification that the Saltstone WAC will be met has involved a series of laboratory studies using surrogate and actual HAW solutions from H-Canyon. The initial experiment involved addition of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to a surrogate HAW test solution and subsequent decanting of the supernate away from the precipitated solids. The chemical composition of the surrogate solution was based on a composition defined from analyses of actual HAW solutions generated during dissolution of unirradiated nuclear materials in H-Canyon [1]. Results from testing the surrogate HAW solution were reported in Reference [2]. Information obtained from the surrogate test solution study was used to define additional experiments on actual HAW solutions obtained from H-Canyon. These experiments were conducted with samples from three different batches of HAW …

The mechanical development of the 3.9 GHz, 3rd Harmonic SRF System is summarized to include: the development of a full scale copper prototype cavity structure; the design of the niobium 3 cell and niobium 9 cell structures; the design of the helium vessel and cryostat; the HOM coupler design; and a preliminary look at the main coupler design. The manufacturing processes for forming, rolling, and e-beam welding the HOM coupler, cavity cells, and end tubes are also described. Due to the exotic materials and manufacturing processes used in this type of device, a cost estimate for the material and fabrication is provided. The 3rd harmonic design is organized via a web-based data management approach.

The third harmonic 3.9 GHz superconducting cavity was recently proposed by DESY for a new generation of high brightness photo-injector (TTF photoinjector-2) to compensate nonlinear distortion of the longitudinal phase space due to RF curvature of the 1.3 GHz TESLA cavities [1,2]. Installation of the 3rd harmonic cavity will allow us to generate ultra-short (<50 {micro}m rms) highly charged electron bunches with an extremely small transverse normalized emittance (<1 {micro}m). This is required to support a new generation of linear colliders, free electron lasers and synchrotron radiation sources. In this paper we present the current status of the 3rd harmonic cavity being developed at Fermilab. We discuss the design procedure, the building and testing of the copper and niobium half-cells and components, the design of input and HOM couplers.

The nitrogen-fixing filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is being used as a simple model of microbial development and pattern formation in a multicellular prokaryotic organism. Anabaena reduces atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia in highly specialized, terminally differentiated cells called heterocysts. Anabaena is an important model system because of the multicellular growth pattern, the suspected antiquity of heterocyst development, and the contribution of fixed nitrogen to the environment. We are especially interested in understanding the molecular signaling pathways and genetic regulation that control heterocyst development. In the presence of an external source of reduced nitrogen, the differentiation of heterocysts is inhibited. When Anabaena is grown on dinitrogen, a one-dimensional developmental pattern of single heterocysts separated by approximately ten vegetative cells is established to form a multicellular organism composed of two interdependent cell types. The goal of this project is to understand the signaling and regulatory pathways that commit a vegetative cell to terminally differentiate into a nitrogen-fixing heterocyst. Several genes identified by us and by others were chosen as entry points into the regulatory network. Our research, which was initially focused on transcriptional regulation by group 2 sigma factors, was expanded to include group 3 sigma factors and their regulators …

A new correlation was developed to estimate the concentration of strontium-90 in a waste solution based on total organic carbon. This correlation replaces the strontium-90 wash factors, and when applied in the Hanford Tank Waste Operations Simulator, significantly reduced the estimated quantity of strontium-90 in the delivered low-activity waste feed. This is thought to be a more realistic estimate of strontium-90 than using the wash-factor method.

In this paper we attempt to reveal common features in evolution of various colliders' luminosity over commissioning periods. A simplified formula, ''CPT theorem'' or CP = T, is proposed which relates the time needed for commissioning T, the ''complexity'' of the machine C and performance increase goal P.

This paper describes a research project to develop and test Automated Demand Response hardware and software technology in large facilities. We describe the overall project and some of the commissioning and system design problems that took place. Demand Response (DR) is a set of activities to reduce or shift electricity use to improve the electric grid reliability purposes, manage electricity costs, and ensure that customers receive signals that encourage load reduction during times when the electric grid is near its capacity. There were a number of specific commissioning challenges in conducting this test including software compatibility, incorrect time zones, IT and EMCS failures, and hardware issues. The knowledge needed for this type of system commissioning combines knowledge of building controls with network management and knowledge of emerging information technologies.

Peptide p-nitroanilides are useful compounds for studying protease activity, however the poor nucleophilicity of p-nitroaniline makes their preparation difficult. We describe a new efficient approach for the Fmoc-based synthesis of peptide p-nitroanilides using an aryl hydrazine resin. Mild oxidation of the peptide hydrazide resin yields a highly reactive acyl diazene, which efficiently reacts with weak nucleophiles. We have prepared several peptide p-nitroanilides, including substrates for the Lethal Factor protease from B. anthracis.

This report discusses potential Navy homeland security roles include defending the United States against ballistic or cruise missile attack, defending U.S. naval bases and naval computer networks against attack, searching for terrorists at sea, and assisting civil authorities in responding to terrorist attacks. The Navy’s role in homeland security raises several potential issues for Congress.

Cultural eutrophication--the process by which human activities increase nutrient input rates to aquatic ecosystems and thereby cause undesirable changes in surface-water quality--is generally thought to have begun with the start of the industrial era. The prehistoric dimension of human impacts on aquatic ecosystems remains relatively undescribed, particularly in North America. Here we present fossil plankton data (diatoms and rotifers), organic and inorganic carbon accumulations, and carbon isotope ratios from a 1000-yr sediment core record from Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada. The data documents increased nutrient input to Crawford Lake caused by Iroquoian horticultural activity from A.D. 1268 to 1486 and shows how this increased nutrient input elevated lake productivity, caused bottom-water anoxia, and irreversibly altered diatom community structure within just a few years. Iroquoian settlement in the region declined in the fifteenth century, yet diatom communities and lake circulation never recovered to the predisturbance state. A second phase of cultural eutrophication starting in A.D. 1867, initiated by Canadian agricultural disturbance, increased lake productivity but had comparatively less of an impact on diatom assemblages and carbon-storage pathways than the initial Iroquoian disturbance. This study deepens our understanding of the impact of cultural eutrophication on lake systems, highlights the lasting influence of initial …

Even-order Legendre polynomial (PN) expansion approximations of the neutron transport equation have historically seen only limited practical application. Research in the last decade [1] has resolved one of the historical theoretical objections [2] to the use of even-order PN approximations in planar geometry, namely the ambiguity in the prescription of boundary conditions as a result of an odd number of unknowns. This research also demonstrated the P2 approximation to be more accurate than the P1 approximation in planar geometry away from boundary layers and material interfaces. Neither the P1 nor the P2 approximation is convincingly more accurate near material interfaces. This progress motivated the reexamination of the multidimensional simplified P2 (SP2) approximation [3], the development of P2 approximations for planar geometry stochastic transport problems [4], and the examination of the P2 and SP2 approximations as a synthetic acceleration technique for the discrete ordinates equations.

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We explore the feasibility of using Feynman moments as attributes of fissile material in warhead authentication measurements. We present results of computer simulations of neutron correlation measurements to validate and inform the application of the method to measurements in an arms control scenario. We establish the robustness of the method for use in automated measuring equipment that protects classified or sensitive data using an information barrier. Drawing from our results, we define high-level requirements to govern the design process, and guide the construction of a prototype.