We present a novel approach to the 3-dimensional high-gain free- electron laser amplifier problem. The method allows us to write the laser field as an integral equation which can be efficiently and accurately evaluated on a small computer. The model is general enough to allow the inclusion of various initial electron beam distributions to study the gain reduction mechanism and its dependence on the physical parameters. 16 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.

From Summary: "This report provides background information on, and analysis of, the changes proposed by the 9/11 Commission, and it will be updated as events warrant."

From Summary: "This report provides an outline of the structure and history of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and raises a number of issues that might be considered by policymakers as they weigh the suitability of the JCAE as a possible model when crafting congressional oversight mechanisms."

This report highlights progress achieved during FY 1999 under the Light-duty Fuels Utilization R and D Program. The program is comprised of two elements: the Advanced Petroleum-Based APB Fuels Program which focused on developing and testing advanced fuels for use with compression-ignition direct-injection (CIDI) engines and fuel cells and the Alternative Fuels Program which focused on Natural gas and natural gas derived fuels. The report contains 17 summaries of industry and National Laboratory projects. Fuel efficient vehicles with very low emissions are essential to meet the challenges of climate change, energy security, and improved air quality. The authors anticipate cooperative efforts with the auto and energy industries to develop new and innovative technologies that will be used to make advanced transportation vehicles that are fuel efficient, clean, and safe.

The Non-Production Fuel Reprocessing Program involves the chemical processing of valuable reactor fuels received from privately owned power reactors. It is necessary therefore, to accurately measure the fuel material received in order to insure proper payment to reactor operator and to provide the Atomic Energy Commission with appropriate accountability data. The volume measurement study described herein was conducted in order to determine the limits of accuracy that could be obtained in measuring relatively large volumes of solution under plant processing conditions.

Adaptive perturbation is a new method for perturbatively computing the eigenvalues and eigenstates of quantum mechanical Hamiltonians that heretofore were not believed to be treatable by such methods. The novel feature of adaptive perturbation theory is that it decomposes a given Hamiltonian, H, into an unperturbed part and a perturbation in a way which extracts the leading non-perturbative behavior of the problem exactly. This paper introduces the method in the context of the pure anharmonic oscillator and then goes on to apply it to the case of tunneling between both symmetric and asymmetric minima. It concludes with an introduction to the extension of these methods to the discussion of a quantum field theory. A more complete discussion of this issue will be given in the second paper in this series, and it will show how to use the method of adaptive perturbation theory to non-perturbatively extract the structure of mass, wavefunction and coupling constant renormalization.

The following report provides information on an aerosol generator fit to produce fine particles by a vaporization-condensation technique. Included is a diagram of the essential components of the generator.

This report discusses the current political state of Iran, focusing particularly on the influence of the Taliban and other militant groups and on the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This report also discusses the U.S.-Iran relationship and U.S. efforts under the Obama Administration to provide military, reconstructive, and stabilization aid.

This report provides background information on the C-17 Aircraft program, including previous appropriations, related programs, and issues for Congress. The primary issue for Congress in FY2010 is whether to procure additional C-17s. An additional issue is whether to pass legislation relating to the airlift aircraft force structure. Congress's decisions on these issues could affect DOD capabilities and funding requirements and the U.S. military aircraft industrial base.

Because of their engineering simplicity, high-β, and steady-state operation, mirror machines and related open-trap machines such as gas dynamic traps, are an attractive concept for achieving controlled nuclear fusion. In these open-trap machines, the confinement occurs by means of magnetic mirroring, without the magnetic field lines closing upon themselves within the region of particle confinement. Unfortunately, these concepts have not achieved to date very spectacular laboratory results, and their reactor prospects are dimmed by the prospect of a low Q-factor, the ratio of fusion power produced to auxiliary power. Nonetheless, because of its engineering promise, over the years numerous improvements have been proposed to enhance the reactor prospects of mirror fusion, such as tandem designs, end-plugging, and electric potential barriers.

Key components of federal policies to reduce fuel consumption include the promotion of alternatives to petroleum fuels and the promotion of more efficient vehicles. This report provides an overview of current issues surrounding alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles — issues discussed in further detail in other CRS reports referred to in each section.

Gross gamma ray logs, recorded from January 1975 through mid-year 1994 as part of the Single-Shell Tank Farm Dry Well Surveillance Program, have been reanalyzed for the TY tank farm to locate the presence of mobile radionuclides in the subsurface. This report presents the TY tank farm gross gamma ray data in such a way as to assist others in their study of vadose zone mechanism.

We introduce the coalescence variables, a set of three boost-invariant kinematic quantities which may be used in analyzing n-particle correlations. These variables characterize the invariant mass of an n-particle and in three directions and separate the timelike and spacelike characteristics of the source. The analytic Kolehmanien-Gyulassy model is generalized to give two, three, and four-particle correlation functions, with coherence and Coulomb corrections applied to the basic formalism. We demonstrate the relation of the coalescence variables to be radius and duration of the source, and find that for sufficiently large transverse radii, Coulomb effects can suppress the structure of the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss correlations so that no significant information on source size can be obtained. 11 refs., 10 figs.

In September 2005, periodic sampling of groundwater was initiated by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) in the vicinity of a grain storage facility formerly operated by the CCC/USDA at Centralia, Kansas. The sampling at Centralia is being performed on behalf of the CCC/USDA by Argonne National Laboratory, in accord with a monitoring program approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). The objective is to monitor levels of carbon tetrachloride contamination identified in the groundwater at Centralia (Argonne 2003, 2004, 2005a). Under the KDHE-approved monitoring plan (Argonne 2005b), the groundwater was sampled twice yearly from September 2005 until September 2007 for analyses for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as measurement of selected geochemical parameters to aid in the evaluation of possible natural contaminant degradation (reductive dechlorination) processes in the subsurface environment. The results from the two-year sampling program demonstrated the presence of carbon tetrachloride contamination at levels exceeding the KDHE Tier 2 risk-based screening level (RBSL) of 5 {micro}g/L for this compound in a localized groundwater plume that has shown little movement. The relative concentrations of chloroform, the primary degradation product of carbon tetrachloride, suggested that some degree of reductive dechlorination …

This report briefly discusses the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and FY2006 budget reconciliation legislation, which is considered under expedited procedures that, in particular, limit debate and amendments in the Senate.

The U.S. Congress has held numerous hearings to evaluate the causes and ongoing repercussions of Argentina’s financial crisis. This report analyzes Argentina’s debt situation in support of this interest and will be updated periodically.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2007 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported the results of its study that assigned the fiscal year 2005 costs of its Air Traffic Organization (ATO) to users. FAA used this study to support the President's proposal to replace many current excise taxes with cost-based fees for commercial aviation users and higher fuel taxes for general aviation users. GAO assessed (1) the consistency of FAA's cost assignment methodology with established standards and guidance, (2) the support for selected cost assignment assumptions and methods, and (3) the impact of including budgeted capital costs in the cost baseline. GAO compared FAA's methodology to federal accounting standards and international guidance, reviewed available documents and analyses supporting FAA's assumptions and methods, and interviewed FAA officials and consultants."

The Automated Transportation Management System (ATMS) Software User Guide (SUG) constitutes the user procedures for the ATMS System. Information in this document will be used by the user to operate the automated system. It is intended to be used as a reference manual to guide and direct the user(s) through the ATMS software product and its environment. The objectives of ATMS are as follows: to better support the Procurement function with freight rate information; to free Transportation Logistics personnel from routine activities such as the auditing and input of freight billing information; to comply with Headquarters Department of Energy-Inspector General (DOE-IG) audit findings to automate transportation management functions; to reduce the keying of data into the Shipment Mobility Accountability Collection (SMAC) database; and to provide automation for the preparing of Bill of Lading, Declaration of Dangerous Goods, Emergency Response Guide and shipping Labels using HM181 Retrieval of hazardous material table text information.

In keeping with the Open Source tradition, we want our Babel 1.0 release to indicate a certain level of capability, maturity, and stability. From our first release (version 0.5.0) in July of 2001 to our current (18th) release (version 0.9.6) we have continued to add capabilities in response to customer feedback, our observations in the field, and a consistent vision for interoperability. The key to our maturity is without a doubt the ever-increasing demands of our growing user base... both in terms of sheer size and sophistication with the underlying technology. Stability is a special challenge for any research project. With our 1.0 release, we will branch and maintain a stable Babel 1.0 code line for at least a full year. This means no new features and no backward incompatible changes, only bug fixes. All continuing R&D will be performed on a separate development tree. Currently, Babel has a quarterly release cycle with no guarantee for backward compatibility from one release to the next (though we certainly try to make migration as painless as possible). Now is the time where we can see a good point for a Babel 1.0 release. But, seeing that point is different from being there. …

This report provides background on the sexual assault kit (SAKs, also referred to as "rape kits") backlog and information on federal efforts to reduce it. The backlog of SAKs has raised concerns over justice for assault victims and that additional victimizations could have been prevented had the evidence from any given kit been tested and the perpetrator apprehended in a timely manner.

The BAGPIPE sub-critical experiment was executed on September 26, 1998, at about 13:07 hours. A steel and fibercrete containment barrier had been built at the entrance to the U1a.101b drift at the Nevada Test Site to form the BAGPIPE zero-room. The invert of the zero-room was covered with concrete and the ribs and back were covered with about 15 cm of fibercrete. The face was left uncovered to facilitate gas bleed-off into the alluvial formation. The volume of the room was approximately 3894 ft{sup 3}. Four small experimental packages were detonated. The LLNL containment goal for the BAGPIPE experiment was to confine all special nuclear material (SNM) to the zero-room and the alluvium surrounding the zero-room. The experiment and containment objectives are discussed more fully in the BAGPIPE Containment Prospectus and the associated addendum. Alpha-particle radiation detectors outside the BAGPIPE zero-room remained at pre-shot background levels after the experiment. A large number of swipes were taken around the BAGPIPE primary containment barrier and in the diagnostics room. No evidence that any SNM was released into the tunnel complex was found and the BAGPIPE containment was considered successful.

The Basis for Interim Operation (BIO) document for K Reactor in Cold Standby and the L- and P-Reactor Disassembly Basins was prepared in accordance with the draft DOE standard for BIO preparation (dated October 26, 1993).

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Federal and state law enforcement authorities have amassed large collections of DNA samples and the identifying profiles derived from them. These databases help to identify the guilty and to exonerate the innocent, but as the databanks grow, so do fears about civil liberties. The research reported here discusses three legal and social policy issues that have been raised in regard to these biobanks—the choice of loci to type for identifying individuals, the indefinite retention of DNA samples, and the use of the DNA samples or the identifying profiles for research purposes. It also considers the possible value of the databases for research into the genetics of human behavior and the ethics of using them for this purpose. It rejects the broad claim that such research is inherently unethical but proposes procedures for ensuring that the value of the proposed research justifies any psychosocial or other risks to the subjects of the research.