Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Some U.S.-based multinational companies have found that the effective tax rate on income earned from foreign sources can be reduced if they are incorporated in countries that either do not tax corporate income at all or tax the income at a lower rate than the U.S. corporate tax rate. Consequently, some U.S.-based companies incorporate from the outset in these so-called "tax haven" countries. In addition, some companies that were incorporated in the United States have reincorporated in tax haven countries through "corporate inversion transactions." According to the Department of the Treasury, the term "inversion" is used to describe a transaction through which a U.S.-based multinational company restructures its corporate group so that after the transaction the ultimate parent of the corporate group is a foreign corporation. After an inversion transaction, shareholders of the former U.S. parent company hold stock of the newly formed foreign parent, and the operations of the company are unchanged. Treasury also noted that there has been a marked increase recently in the frequency, size, and profile of inversion transactions. Four of the top 100 federal contractors that are publicly traded corporations are incorporated in …

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by GAO-09-680G, Assessing the Reliability of Computer-Processed Data, July 2009. GAO published a guide to assist its auditing staff in ensuring the reliability of computer-based data. The guidance provides a flexible, risk-based framework for data reliability assessments that can be geared to the specific circumstances of each engagement. The framework is built on (1) making use of all existing information about the data; (2) performing at least a minimal level of data testing; (3) doing only the amount of work necessary to determine whether the data are reliable enough for GAO's purposes; (4) maximizing professional judgment; and (5) bringing the appropriate people, including management, to the table at key decision points."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the temporary cessation of funding for new information technology (IT) infrastructure and business system investments related to the proposed Department of Homeland Security. Integrating the diverse communication and information systems of the myriad of organizations that would be part of the proposed Department of Homeland Security would be an enormous undertaking. Among the near-term challenges that would have to be addressed to successfully tackle this task is developing an enterprise architecture. Managed properly, enterprise architectures can clarify and help optimize the interdependencies and interrelationships among related enterprise operations and the underlying IT infrastructure and applications that support them. Another long-term challenge is establishing and enforcing a disciplined IT investment management process. Well managed IT investments that are carefully selected and focused on meeting mission needs can propel an organization forward, dramatically improving performance while reducing costs. To help tackle these challenges, in July the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued two memoranda to selected agencies telling them to "cease temporarily" and report on new IT infrastructure an business systems investments above $500,000, which are to be reviewed by IT infrastructure and business system investments …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) believes it is increasingly likely that an adversary of the United States will use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. forces to degrade superior U.S. conventional warfare capabilities, placing service members' lives and effective military operations at risk. During the past 6 years, GAO has identified many problems with DOD's capabilities to defend against chemical and biological weapons and sustain operations in the midst of their use. Although GAO has found that DOD has made some improvements--in equipment, training, and reporting, and in the coordination of research and development activities--it has continuing concerns in each of these areas. One particular issue is the supply of chemical protective clothing and the way associated risk is assessed. Due to the upcoming expiration of existing protective suits, the slower rate at which new suits are entering the inventory, and DOD's method of assessing risk for individual items rather than complete protective ensembles, GAO believes that the risk for protective clothing shortages may increase dramatically from now through 2007. GAO is also concerned that certain management weaknesses, such as program organizational complexity and prolonged vacancies in key …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The ability to produce the data needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-to-day operations of the federal government and provide accountability to taxpayers has been a long-standing challenge at most federal agencies. To help address this challenge, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal system requirements, (2) federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL). FFMIA also requires GAO to report annually on the implementation of the act."

Official publication of the Clean Cities Network and the Alternative Fuels Data Center featuring LPG Around the World, AFVs in National Parks, and Federal and State news.

This consumer fact sheet provides an overview of battery power for residential solar electric systems, including sizing, estimating costs, purchasing, and performing maintenance.

The Solar Energy Research Facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory includes energy-efficient features, making it a high-performing building.

The October 2002 issue of Science and Technology Review has the following articles: (1) Applied Science Is a Hallmark of This Laboratory--Commentary by Hal Graboske. (2) Sending Up Signals for Genetic Variation--In situ rolling circle amplification promises to advance the detection and treatment of cancer and other diseases. (3) SiMM Is Anything But Simple--Modules of silicon microchannels and microlenses result in the smallest, most powerful, and least expensive laser diode pumps ever. (4) World's Most Powerful Solid-State Laser--A new design allows tremendous scaling up of solid-state laser power. (5) Stepping Up to Extreme Lithography--The next generation of computer chips can now be produced on a commercial scale. (6) Relief for Acute and Chronic Pain--New technology turns an ancient pain management method into a modern medical tool. (7)50th Anniversary Highlight--14 Energy and Environment: Understanding Our World--The Laboratory's energy and environmental research is an important adjunct to its core national security mission.

The Universal Interconnection Technology (UIT) Workshop - sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Distributed Energy and Electric Reliability (DEER) Program, and Distribution and Interconnection R&D - was held July 25-26, 2002, in Chicago, Ill., to: (1) Examine the need for a modular universal interconnection technology; (2) Identify UIT functional and technical requirements; (3) Assess the feasibility of and potential roadblocks to UIT; (4) Create an action plan for UIT development. These proceedings begin with an overview of the workshop. The body of the proceedings provides a series of industry representative-prepared papers on UIT functions and features, present interconnection technology, approaches to modularization and expandability, and technical issues in UIT development as well as detailed summaries of group discussions. Presentations, a list of participants, a copy of the agenda, and contact information are provided in the appendices of this document.

This Configuration Management Plan (CMP) describes the technical and administrative management process for controlling the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Project configuration. The complexity of the NIF Project (i.e., participation by multiple national laboratories and subcontractors involved in the development, fabrication, installation, and testing of NIF hardware and software, as well as construction and testing of Project facilities) requires implementation of the comprehensive configuration management program defined in this plan. A logical schematic illustrating how the plan functions is provided in Figure 1. A summary of the process is provided in Section 4.0, Configuration Change Control. Detailed procedures that make up the overall process are referenced. This CMP is consistent with guidance for managing a project's configuration provided in Department of Energy (DOE) Order 430.1, Guide PMG 10, ''Project Execution and Engineering Management Planning''. Configuration management is a formal discipline comprised of the following four elements: (1) Identification--defines the functional and physical characteristics of a Project and uniquely identifies the defining requirements. This includes selection of components of the end product(s) subject to control and selection of the documents that define the project and components. (2) Change management--provides a systematic method for managing changes to the project and its physical and …

It is generally accepted that the information necessary to specify the native, functional, three-dimensional structure of a protein is encoded entirely within its amino acid sequence; however, efficient reversible folding and unfolding is observed only with a subset of small single-domain proteins. Refolding experiments often lead to the formation of kinetically-trapped, misfolded species that aggregate, even in dilute solution. In the cellular environment, the barriers to efficient protein folding and maintenance of native structure are even larger due to the nature of this process. First, nascent polypeptides must fold in an extremely crowded environment where the concentration of macromolecules approaches 300-400 mg/mL and on average, each ribosome is within its own diameter of another ribosome (1-3). These conditions of severe molecular crowding, coupled with high concentrations of nascent polypeptide chains, favor nonspecific aggregation over productive folding (3). Second, folding of newly-translated polypeptides occurs in the context of their vehtorial synthesis process. Amino acids are added to a growing nascent chain at the rate of {approx}5 residues per set, which means that for a 300 residue protein its N-terminus will be exposed to the cytosol {approx}1 min before its C-terminus and be free to begin the folding process. However, because protein …

This report assesses steam generation and use in the pulp and paper, chemical, and petroleum refining industries, and estimates the potential for energy savings from implementation of steam system performance and efficiency improvements.

This document describes some specifics of the algorithm for best estimate evaluation of radiation fluxes at Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (CF). It uses the data available from the three co-located surface radiometer platforms at the SGP CF to automatically determine the best estimate of the irradiance measurements available. The Best Estimate Flux (BEFlux) value-added procedure (VAP) was previously named Best Estimate ShortWave (BESW) VAP, which included all of the broadband and spectral shortwave (SW) measurements for the SGP CF. In BESW, multiple measurements of the same quantities were handled simply by designating one as the primary measurement and using all others to merely fill in any gaps. Thus, this “BESW” is better termed “most continuous,” since no additional quality assessment was applied. We modified the algorithm in BESW to use the average of the closest two measurements as the best estimate when possible, if these measurements pass all quality assessment criteria. Furthermore, we included longwave (LW) fields in the best estimate evaluation to include all major components of the surface radiative energy budget, and renamed the VAP to Best Estimate Flux (BEFLUX1LONG).

In the treatment, disposition, and long-term stewardship (e.g., storage) of hazardous waste forms, questions that are of particular concern are: • What is technically feasible and safe, • What is economically affordable, • What is legally mandated and allowable, and • What is publicly acceptable? Although DOE is exerting considerable effort in making sound science-based decisions that are economical and meet legal requirements, it may be lapse in not gaining a better understanding of how public perceptions are formed. This observation appears especially true in regards to the perceived long-term integrity and safety of various proposed hazardous waste storage options. The purpose of this research was to investigate how differences in how hazardous materials are configured and how those configurations are presented affect peoples’ perceptions of how safe they are. Specifically, we designed a preliminary experiment that assessed the public’s perception of risk for various storage configurations of hazardous materials. We included into the design factors to measure participants’ deliberative and spontaneous response to the perceived safety (or danger) posed by different hazardous materials storage configurations. The critical objectives of the proposed effort were to identify specific characteristics of hazardous materials storage configuration and to identify possible differences in deliberative …

This paper presents a new method for calculating the burnup of nuclear reactor fuel, the MCWO-MS method, and describes its application to an experiment currently in progress to assess the suitability for use in light-water reactors of Mixed-OXide (MOX) fuel that contains plutonium derived from excess nuclear weapons material. To demonstrate that the available experience base with Reactor-Grade Mixed uranium-plutonium OXide (RGMOX) can be applied to Weapons-Grade (WG)-MOX in light water reactors, and to support potential licensing of MOX fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium and depleted uranium for use in United States reactors, an experiment containing WG-MOX fuel is being irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Fuel burnup is an important parameter needed for fuel performance evaluation. For the irradiated MOX fuel’s Post-Irradiation Examination, the 148Nd method is used to measure the burnup. The fission product 148Nd is an ideal burnup indicator, when appropriate correction factors are applied. In the ATR test environment, the spectrum-dependent and burnup-dependent correction factors (see Section 5 for detailed discussion) can be substantial in high fuel burnup. The validated Monte Carlo depletion tool (MCWO) used in this study can provide a burnup-dependent correction factor for the …

In August 1988, the Secretary of Energy announced a strategy to acquire New Production Reactor capacity for producing tritium. The strategy involved construction of a New Production Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (NP-MHTGR) where the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) was selected as the Management and Operations contractor for the project. Immediately after the announcement in August 1988, tritium target particle development began with the INEEL selected as the lead laboratory. Fuel particle development was initially not considered to be on a critical path for the project, therefore, the fuel development program was to run concurrently with the design effort of the NP-MHTGR.

The requirements for the next generation of reactors include better economics and safety, waste minimization (particularly of the long-lived isotopes), and better proliferation resistance (both intrinsic and extrinsic). A supercritical pressure water cooled reactor has been chosen as one of the lead contenders as a Generation IV reactor due to the high thermal efficiency and compact/simplified plant design. In addition, interest in the use of thorium-based fuels for Generation IV reactors has increased based on the abundance of thorium, and the minimization of transuranics in a neutron flux; as plutonium (and thus the minor actinides) is not a by-product in the thorium chain. In order to better understand the possibility of the combination of these concepts to meet the Generation IV goals, the qualitative burnup potential and discharge isotopics of thorium and uranium fuel were studied using pin cell analyses in a supercritical pressure water cooled reactor environment. Each of these fertile materials were used in both nitride and metallic form, with light water reactor grade plutonium and minor actinides added. While the uranium-based fuels achieved burnups that were 1.3 to 2.7 times greater than their thorium-based counterparts, the thorium-based fuels destroyed 2 to 7 times more of the plutonium …

The Geysers steamfields in northern Sonoma County have produced reliable ''green'' power for many years. An impediment to long-term continued production has been the ability to provide a reliable source of injection water to replace water extracted and lost in the form of steam. The steamfield operators have historcially used cooling towers to recycle a small portion of the steam and have collected water during the winter months using stream extraction. These two sources, however, could not by themselves sustain the steamfield in the long term. The Lake County Reclaimed Water Project (SEGEP) was inititated in 1997 and provides another source of steamfield replenishment water. The Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project provides another significant step in replenishing the steamfield. In addition, the Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project has been built with capacity to potentially meet virtually all injection water requirements, when combined with these other sources. Figure 2.1 graphically depicts the combination of injection sources.

Most safety concerns associated with operations at nuclear facilities are very similar to the safety concerns associated with operations at non-nuclear facilities. The potential for a nuclear criticality accident is one concern that is unique to the nuclear industry. However, if managed properly, the risk of a criticality accident can be reduced to an acceptable level. In fact, the risk of a criticality accident can generally be reduced to a level that is much lower than the risk associated with non-nuclear activities that have similar consequences.

Weekly newspaper from Emory, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The freeze-thaw/evaporation (FTE{reg_sign}) process treats oil and gas produced water so that the water can be beneficially used. The FTE{reg_sign} process is the coupling of evaporation and freeze-crystallization, and in climates where subfreezing temperatures seasonally occur, this coupling improves process economics compared to evaporation alone. An added benefit of the process is that water of a quality suited for a variety of beneficial uses is produced. The evolution, from concept to successful commercial deployment, of the FTE{reg_sign} process for the treatment of natural gas produced water has now been completed. In this document, the histories of two individual commercial deployments of the FTE{reg_sign} process are discussed. In Wyoming, as in many other states, the permitting and regulation of oil and gas produced water disposal and/or treatment facilities depend upon the legal relationship between owners of the facility and the owners of wells from which the water is produced. An ''owner-operated'' facility is regulated by the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) and is defined as an entity which only processes water which comes from the wells in fields of which they have an equity interest. However, if a facility processes water from wells in which the owners of the …

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This annual report marks the twentieth anniversary of the Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB) (1982-2002). The WSTB oversees studies of water issues. The principal products of studies are written reports. These reports cover a wide range of water resources issues of national concern. The following three recently issued reports illustrate the scope of the WSTB's studies: Envisioning the Agenda for Water Resources Research in the Twenty-first Century. The Missouri River Ecosystem: Exploring the Prospects for Recovery, and Assessing the TMDL Approach to Water Quality Management. The WSTB generally meets three times each year where discussions are held on ongoing projects, strategic planning, and developing new initiatives. The meetings also foster communication within the water resources community. The annual report includes a discussion on current studies, completed studies 2001-2002, and future plans, as well as a listing of published reports (1983-2002).