Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The decennial census is a constitutionally-mandated activity that produces critical data used to apportion congressional seats, redraw congressional districts, and allocate billions of dollars in federal assistance. This testimony discusses (1) the various measures of population used to allocate federal grant funds (2) how the accuracy of the population count and measurement of accuracy have evolved and the U.S. Census Bureau's (Bureau) plan for coverage measurement in 2010; and (3) the potential impact that differences in population estimates can have on the allocation of grant funds. This testimony is based primarily on GAO's issued work in which it evaluated the sensitivity of grant formulas to population estimates."

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

A novel compact CT-guided intensity modulated proton radiotherapy (IMPT) system is described. The system is being designed to deliver fast IMPT so that larger target volumes and motion management can be accomplished. The system will be ideal for large and complex target volumes in young patients. The basis of the design is the dielectric wall accelerator (DWA) system being developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The DWA uses fast switched high voltage transmission lines to generate pulsed electric fields on the inside of a high gradient insulating (HGI) acceleration tube. High electric field gradients are achieved by the use of alternating insulators and conductors and short pulse times. The system will produce individual pulses that can be varied in intensity, energy and spot width. The IMPT planning system will optimize delivery characteristics. The system will be capable of being sited in a conventional linac vault and provide intensity modulated rotational therapy. Feasibility tests of an optimization system for selecting the position, energy, intensity and spot size for a collection of spots comprising the treatment are underway. A prototype is being designed and concept designs of the envelope and environmental needs of the unit are beginning. The status of …

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The summaries of this project are: (1) Program goal is to design, develop, and demonstrate a 100 kW UPS flywheel electricity system; (2) flywheel system spin tested up to 15,000 RPM in a sensorless, closed loop mode; (3) testing identified a manufacturing deficiency in the motor stator--overheats at high speed, limiting maximum power capability; (4) successfully spin tested direct cooled HTS bearing up to 14,500 RPM (limited by Eddy current clutch set-up); (5) Testing confirmed commercial feasibility of this bearing design--Eddy Current losses are within acceptable limits; and (6) Boeing's investment in flywheel test facilities increased the spin-test capabilities to one of the highest in the nation.

While many high energy density physics (HEDP) Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instability experiments have been fielded as part of basic HEDP and astrophysics studies, not one HEDP Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) experiment has been successfully performed. Herein, a design for a novel HEDP x-ray driven KH experiment is presented along with supporting radiation-hydrodynamic simulation and theory.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) stores packages containing plutonium (Pu) materials in the K-Area Complex (KAC). The Pu materials are packaged per the DOE 3013 Standard and stored within Model 9975 shipping packages in KAC. The KAC facility DSA (Document Safety Analysis) [1] credits the Model 9975 package to perform several safety functions, including criticality, impact resistance, containment, and fire resistance to ensure the plutonium materials remain in a safe configuration during normal and accident conditions. The Model 9975 package is expected to perform its safety function for at least 12 years from initial packaging. The DSA recognizes the degradation potential for the materials of package construction over time in the KAC storage environment and requires an assessment of materials performance to validate the assumptions of the analysis and ultimately predict service life. As part of the comprehensive Model 9975 package surveillance program [2-3], destructive examination of package 9975-00600 was performed following field surveillance in accordance with Reference [4]. Field surveillance of the Model 9975 package in KAC included nondestructive examination of the drum, fiberboard, lead shield and containment vessels [5]. Results of the field surveillance are provided in Attachment 1. Destructive and non-destructive examinations have been performed on specified …

H.E.S.S. observations of the old-age (>10{sup 4} yr; {approx} 0.5 degree diameter) composite supernova remnant (SNR)W28 reveal very high energy (VHE) {gamma}-ray emission situated at its northeastern and southern boundaries. The northeastern VHE source (HESS J1801-233) is in an area where W 28 is interacting with a dense molecular cloud, containing OH masers, local radio and X-ray peaks. The southern VHE sources (HESS J1800-240 with components labeled A, B and C) are found in a region occupied by several HII regions, including the ultracompact HII region W 28A2. Our analysis of NANTEN CO data reveals a dense molecular cloud enveloping this southern region, and our reanalysis of EGRET data reveals MeV/GeV emission centered on HESS J1801-233 and the northeastern interaction region.

Mitigation of 351nm laser-induced damage sites on fused silica exit surfaces by selective CO{sub 2} treatment has been shown to effectively arrest the exponential growth responsible for limiting the lifetime of optics in high-fluence laser systems. However, the perturbation to the optical surface profile following the mitigation process introduces phase contrast to the beam, causing some amount of downstream intensification with the potential to damage downstream optics. Control of the laser treatment process and measurement of the associated phase modulation is essential to preventing downstream 'fratricide' in damage-mitigated optical systems. In this work we present measurements of the surface morphology, intensification patterns and damage associated with various CO{sub 2} mitigation treatments on fused silica surfaces. Specifically, two components of intensification pattern, one on-axis and another off-axis can lead to damage of downstream optics and are related to rims around the ablation pit left from the mitigation process. It is shown that control of the rim structure around the edge of typical mitigation sites is crucial in preventing damage to downstream optics.

A proof-of-principle experiment has been carried out in the Final Focus Test Beam (FFTB) at SLAC to demonstrate production of polarized positrons in a manner suitable for implementation at the ILC. A helical undulator of 2.54 mm period and 1-m length produced circularly polarized photons of first harmonic endpoint energy of 8 MeV when traversed by a 46.6 GeV electron beam. The polarized photons were converted to polarized positrons in a 0.2-radiation-length tungsten target. The polarization of these positrons was measured at several energies, with a peak value of {approx} 80% according to a preliminary analysis of the transmission polarimetry of photons obtained on reconversion of the positrons in a second tungsten target.

Identification and spatial registration of laser-induced damage relative to incident fluence profiles is often required to characterize the damage properties of laser optics near damage threshold. Of particular interest in inertial confinement laser systems are large aperture beam damage tests (>1cm{sup 2}) where the number of initiated damage sites for {phi}>14J/cm{sup 2} can approach 10{sup 5}-10{sup 6}, requiring automatic microscopy counting to locate and register individual damage sites. However, as was shown for the case of bacteria counting in biology decades ago, random overlapping or 'clumping' prevents accurate counting of Poisson-distributed objects at high densities, and must be accounted for if the underlying statistics are to be understood. In this work we analyze the effect of random clumping on damage initiation density estimates at fluences above damage threshold. The parameter {psi} = a{rho} = {rho}/{rho}{sub 0}, where a = 1/{rho}{sub 0} is the mean damage site area and {rho} is the mean number density, is used to characterize the onset of clumping, and approximations based on a simple model are used to derive an expression for clumped damage density vs. fluence and damage site size. The influence of the uncorrected {rho} vs. {phi} curve on damage initiation probability predictions is …

Neutron cross sections for a complete set of Nd isotopes, {sup 142,143,144,145,146,147,148,150}Nd, were evaluated in the incident energy range from 10{sup -5} eV to 20 MeV. In the low energy region, including thermal and resolved resonances, our evaluations are based on the latest data published in the Atlas of Neutron Resonances. In the unresolved resonance region we performed additional evaluation by using the averages of the resolved resonances and adjusting them to the experimental data. In the fast neutron region, we used the nuclear reaction model code EMPIRE-2.19 validated against the experimental data. The results are compared to the existing nuclear data libraries, including ENDF/B-VI.8, JENDL-3.3 and JEFF-3.1, and to the available experimental data. The new evaluations are suitable for neutron transport calculations and they were adopted by the new evaluated nuclear data file of the United States, ENDF/B-VII.0, released in December 2006.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Growth of laser initiated damage plays a major role in determining optics lifetime in high power laser systems. Previous measurements have established that the lateral diameter grows exponentially. Knowledge of the growth of the site in the propagation direction is also important, especially so when considering techniques designed to mitigate damage growth, where it is required to reach all the subsurface damage. In this work, we present data on both the diameter and the depth of a growing exit surface damage sites in fused silica. Measured growth rates with both 351 nm illumination and with combined 351 nm and 1054 nm illumination are discussed.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a powerful tool for surface and interface analysis, providing the elemental composition of surfaces and the local chemical environment of adsorbed species. Conventional XPS experiments have been limited to ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions due to a short mean free path of electrons in a gas phase. The recent advances in instrumentation coupled with third-generation synchrotron radiation sources enables in-situ XPS measurements at pressures above 5 Torr. In this review, we describe the basic design of the ambient pressure XPS setup that combines differential pumping with an electrostatic focusing. We present examples of the application of in-situ XPS to studies of water adsorption on the surface of metals and oxides including Cu(110), Cu(111), TiO2(110) under environmental conditions of water vapor pressure. On all these surfaces we observe a general trend where hydroxyl groups form first, followed by molecular water adsorption. The importance of surface OH groups and their hydrogen bonding to water molecules in water adsorption on surfaces is discussed in detail.

The final-state interaction in multichannel decay processes is systematically studied with application to B decay in mind. Since the final-state interaction is intrinsically interwoven with the decay interaction in this case, no simple phase theorem like"Watson's theorem" holds for experimentally observed final states. We first examine in detail the two-channel problem as a toy-model to clarify the issues and to remedy common mistakes made in earlier literature. Realistic multichannel problems are too challenging for quantitative analysis. To cope with mathematical complexity, we introduce a method of approximation that is applicable to the case where one prominent inelastic channel dominates over all others. We illustrate this approximation method in the amplitude of the decay B to pi K fed by the intermediate states of a charmed meson pair. Even with our approximation we need more accurate information of strong interactions than we have now. Nonetheless we are able to obtain some insight in the issue and draw useful conclusions on general features on the strong phases.

Letter from Ken Whalen to Buddy King, Ray Stafford, John Roberts and Wesley Turner on October 29, 2007 with the subject Nomination Committee. The letter begins with Whalen thanking the board of directors for accepting President Charles Moser to serve on the Board of Director's Nomination Committee. It is up to the board of directors to fill up the four available positions.

Letter from Ken Whalen to Charles Moser, October 29, 2007 with the subject 2008 Board Elections. The letter begins with the Whalen thanking Moser to chairing the 2008 board of directors nomination committee and that the committee selected are Buddy King, John Roberts, Ray Stafford and Wesley R. Turner.

Synthetic CdZnTe or 'CZT' crystals can be grown under controlled conditions to produce high quality crystals to be used as room temperature radiation detectors. Even the best crystal growth methods result in defects, such as tellurium secondary phases, that affect the crystal's performance. In this study, CZT crystals were analyzed by micro Raman spectroscopy. The growth of Te rich areas on the surface was induced by low powered lasers. The growth was observed versus time with low power Raman scattering and was observed immediately under higher power conditions. The detector response was also measured after induced Te enrichment.

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There are a number of inaccuracies and data omissions with respect to gammas from neutron capture in the ENDF libraries used as field reference information and by modeling codes used in JTOT. As the use of Active Neutron interrogation methods is expanded, these shortfalls become more acute. A new, more accurate and complete evaluated experimental database of gamma rays (over 35,000 lines for 262 isotopes up to U so far) from thermal neutron capture has recently become available from the IAEA. To my knowledge, none of this new data has been installed in ENDF libraries and disseminated. I propose to upgrade libraries of {sup 184,186}W, {sup 56}Fe, {sup 204,206,207}Pb, {sup 104}Pd, and {sup 19}F the 1st year. This will involve collaboration with Richard Firestone at LBL in evaluating the data and installing it in the libraries. I will test them with the transport code MCNP5.

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