A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO tested the effectiveness of general and application controls that support the Army Corps of Engineers' key financial system. This system processes military engineering, construction, and real estate projects and civil works projects involving the investigation, development, and maintenance of the nation's waters and related environmental resources. GAO found pervasive weaknesses in computer controls at the Corps' data processing centers. Other Corps sites revealed serious vulnerabilities that would allow both hackers and legitimate users with valid access privileges to improperly modify, inappropriately disclose, or destroy sensitive and financial data, including social security numbers and other personal information. These weaknesses undermine the Corps' ability to ensure the confidentiality and availability of data in the financial system."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Department of Defense's (DOD) Anthrax Vaccine Program. Many questions have been raised about the program since DOD began vaccinating its 2.4 million active duty and reserve members in 1998. A major concern has been the program's effect on the National Guard and Air Force Reserve's retention of trained and experienced personnel. A questionnaire sent to 1,253 randomly selected Guard and Reserve pilots and others revealed that the anthrax immunization was a key reason these individuals left or otherwise changed their military status. Since September 1998, an estimated 25 percent of the pilots and aircrew members of the Guard and Reserve in this population transferred to another unit, left the military, or moved to inactive status."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony compares federal agency Internet privacy policies with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) fair information principles. The World Wide Web requires the collection of certain data, such as Internet addresses, from individuals who visit web sites. However, the collection of even this most basic data can be controversial because of the public's apprehension about what information is collected and how it could be used. FTC supports the following four fair information principles: notice, choice, access, and security. Although these principles apply to Internet privacy issues in the commercial sector, federal web sites are governed by specific laws designed to protect individual's privacy when agencies collect personal information. GAO found that all of the 65 federal web sites it analyzed collected personal identifying information from their visitors."

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the $1 fee that a county clerk charges to issue "a noncertified copy of a page or part of a page of a document," TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE ANN. 118.011(A)(4), .0145(a) (Vernon 1999 & Supp.2000), includes the cost of locating requested information that is no more than fifty pages long, and related question (RQ-0249-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Assuming that the term of office has expired, whether an incumbent elected official of a home-rule municipality who received a plurality of votes in the most recent election holds over in office under article XVI, section 17 of the Texas Constitution (RQ-0236-JC)

A Total System Performance Assessment for Site Recommendation (TSPA-SR) has recently been completed (CRWMS M&O, 2000b) for the potential high-level waste repository at the Yucca Mountain site. The TSPA-SR is an integrated model of scenarios and processes relevant to the postclosure performance of the potential repository. The TSPA-SR scenarios and model components in turn include representations of all features, events, and processes (FEPs) identified as being relevant (i.e., screened in) for analysis. The process of identifying, classifying, and screening potentially relevant FEPs thus provides a critical foundation for scenario development and TSPA analyses for the Yucca Mountain site (Swift et al., 1999). The objectives of this paper are to describe (a) the identification and classification of the comprehensive list of FEPs potentially relevant to the postclosure performance of the potential Yucca Mountain repository, and (b) the development, structure, and use of an electronic database for storing and retrieving screening information about the inclusion and/or exclusion of these Yucca Mountain FEPs in TSPA-SR. The FEPs approach to scenario development is not unique to the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP). General systematic approaches are summarized in NEA (1992). The application of the FEPs approach in several other international radioactive waste disposal programs is …

The purpose of this test procedure is to safely operate the Fuel Retrieval System (FRS) and Integrated Water Treatment System (IWTS) with specific fuel canisters, and show that canisters containing fuel can be retrieved from the canister queue, decapped in the Canister Decapper, and loaded into the Primary Clean Machine (PCM) for fuel cleaning; and that fuel can be sorted on the Process Table, then loaded back into fuel canisters and relocated in basin storage. An option is included to load selected elements into multi-canister overpack (MCO) Fuel Baskets. Additional Data are collected during this test, beyond that collected during production operations. These data support qualifying the cleaning performance of the PCM, assessing the quantity of scrap generated during the cleaning, and evaluating the impact of fuel retrieval operations on the Basin water quality. The additional data collected primarily consist of weighing fuel and scrap at selected points in the operation, as well as photographing fuel and scrap as it is processed. The time to perform operations is also monitored for comparison with design predictions. Water quality data are collected to establish a baseline to predict the effectiveness of equipment design for control of contamination and visibility during production operation. …

Cellulose synthase ('CS'), a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of cellulose in plants is inhibited by herbicides comprising thiazolidinones such as 5-tert-butyl-carbamoyloxy-3-(3-trifluromethyl) phenyl-4-thiazolidinone (TZ), isoxaben and 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (DCB). Two mutant genes encoding isoxaben and TZ-resistant cellulose synthase have been isolated from isoxaben and TZ-resistant Arabidopsis thaliana mutants. When compared with the gene coding for isoxaben or TZ-sensitive cellulose synthase, one of the resistant CS genes contains a point mutation, wherein glycine residue 998 is replaced by an aspartic acid. The other resistant mutation is due to a threonine to isoleucine change at amino acid residue 942. The mutant CS gene can be used to impart herbicide resistance to a plant; thereby permitting the utilization of the herbicide as a single application at a concentration which ensures the complete or substantially complete killing of weeds, while leaving the transgenic crop plant essentially undamaged.

This report presents the updated results of the preliminary reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) analysis of selected waste feed delivery (WFD) operations to be performed by the Tank Farm Contractor (TFC) during Phase I activities in support of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). For planning purposes, waste feed tanks are being divided into five classes in accordance with the type of waste in each tank and the activities required to retrieve, qualify, and transfer waste feed. This report reflects the baseline design and operating concept, as of the beginning of Fiscal Year 2000, for the delivery of feed from three of these classes, represented by source tanks 241-AN-102, 241-AZ-101 and 241-AN-105. The preliminary RAM analysis quantifies the potential schedule delay associated with operations and maintenance (OBM) field activities needed to accomplish these operations. The RAM analysis is preliminary because the system design, process definition, and activity planning are in a state of evolution. The results are being used to support the continuing development of an O&M Concept tailored to the unique requirements of the WFD Program, which is being documented in various volumes of the Waste Feed Delivery Technical Basis (Carlson. 1999, Rasmussen 1999, and Orme 2000). The …

This plan defines the approach that will be used to ensure the transition from initial startup to normal operations of the SNF operations--are performed in a safe, controlled, and deliberate manner. It provides a phased approach that bridges the operations between the completion of the ORR and the return to normal operations. This plan includes management oversight and administrative controls to be implemented and then reduced in a controlled manner until normal operations are authorized by SNF Management.

The purpose of this document is to establish the System Configuration Management Implementation Procedure (SCMIP) for the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility (CVDF) Monitoring and Control System (MCS). This procedure provides configuration management for the process control system. The process control system consists of equipment hardware and software that controls and monitors the instrumentation and equipment associated with the CVDF processes. Refer to SNF-3090, Cold Vacuum Drying Facility Monitoring and Control System Design Description, HNF-3553, Annex B, Safety Analysis Report for the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility, and AP-CM-6-037-00, SNF Project Process Automation Software and Equipment Configuration. This SCMIP identifies and defines the system configuration items in the control system, provides configuration control throughout the system life cycle, provides configuration status accounting, physical protection and control, and verifies the completeness and correctness of these items.

The present work continues our effort to perform an integrated safety analysis for the HYLIFE-II inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant design. Recently we developed a base case for a severe accident scenario in order to calculate accident doses for HYLIFE-II. It consisted of a total loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in which all the liquid flibe (Li{sub 2}BeF{sub 4}) was lost at the beginning of the accident. Results showed that the off-site dose was below the limit given by the DOE Fusion Safety Standards for public protection in case of accident, and that his dose was dominated by the tritium released during the accident.

We present results for the 8:1 thermal cavity problem using FIDAP on 3 meshes--each using 3 elements. A brief summary of related results is also included. This contribution comes via the rather versatile and general commercial finite element code, FIDAP. This code still offers the user a wide selection with respect to element choices, statement of governing equations, (e.g., advective form, divergence form) implicit time integrators (variable-step or fixed step, first-order or second-order), and solution techniques for both the nonlinear and linear sets of equations. We have tested quite a number of these variations on this problem; here we report on an interesting subset and will present the remainder at the conference.

The production of nuclei up to and including the light s-process component at A {approx} 60-90 is calculated for all stages of stable and explosive nuclear burning in stars of 15 and 25 M{sub {circle_dot}}. An extended nuclear reaction network of 480 isotopes is employed along with approximately two dozen recent revisions to key nuclear reaction rates. As noted previously, the new rates suggest a greatly diminished production of {sup 17}O and {sup 18}O in massive stars. {sup 22}Ne is also moderately enhanced. We find that a combination of pre-explosive s-process, {gamma}-process, and (mild) r-processes in massive stars give a consistently solar production of almost all isotopes from mass 64 through 90. However, even after the late stages of evolution are complete and the explosion is over, this same group of elements is overproduced compared to what is needed for the sun, especially in the 25 M{sub {circle_dot}} model.

At the Thirteenth International Symposium on Heavy Ion Inertial Fusion (HIF Symposium), we presented magnet shielding calculations for 72-, 128, 200, and 288-beam versions of the HYLIFE-II power plant design. In all cases, we found the radiation-limited lifetimes of the last set of final focusing magnets to be unacceptably short. Since that time, we have completed follow-on calculations to improve the lifetime of the 72-beam case. Using a self-consistent final focusing model, we vary parameters such as the shielding thicknesses and compositions, focusing length, angle-of-attack to the target, and the geometric representation of the flibe pocket, chamber, and blanket. By combining many of these shielding features, we are able to demonstrate a magnet shielding design that would enable the last set of final focusing magnets to survive for the lifetime of the power plant.

A 24 g aluminum sphere was shot at a sparse array of cylinders with nominal initial projectile velocity of 4 and 5 km/s. Pressure profiles were measured with cased carbon resistor gages at two locations in a projectile impacted water filled cylinder and two of its neighbors on three shots. The pressure maxima were in the 1-13 kbars range. The experiments are modeled with the ALE3D code and several techniques are used to concentrate zoning at places of interest. There is excellent agreement between the measured and calculated pressure profiles for two shots and good agreement for the third. Comparison of the calculated pressure profiles with those from more refined calculations for two shots suggest that we are near convergence with respect to zone size.

The Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) provisions of the U.S. tax code permit U.S. firms to exempt between 15% and 30% of export income from taxation. FSC was enacted in 1984 to replace another tax benefit for exporting - the Domestic International Sales Corporation (DISC) provisions. U.S. trading partners had charged that DISC was an export subsidy, and so violated the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). In 1998 the European Union (EU) complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO, GATT's successor) that FSC itself is an export subsidy and violates the agreements on which the WTO is based. A WTO panel subsequently supported the EU. Under WTO procedures

Kinetic analysis of dynamic tracer data is performed with the goal of evaluating myocardial radiotracers for cardiac nuclear medicine imaging. Data from experiments utilizing the isolated rabbit heart model are acquired by sampling the venous blood after introduction of a tracer of interest and a reference tracer. We have taken the approach that the kinetics are properly characterized by an impulse response function which describes the difference between the reference molecule (which does not leave the vasculature) and the molecule of interest which is transported across the capillary boundary and is made available to the cell. Using this formalism we can model the appearance of the tracer of interest in the venous output of the heart as a convolution of the appearance of the reference tracer with the impulse response. In this work we parameterize the impulse response function as the sum of a large number of exponential functions whose predetermined decay constants form a spectrum, and each is required only to have a nonnegative coefficient. This approach, called spectral analysis, has the advantage that it allows conventional compartmental analysis without prior knowledge of the number of compartments which the physiology may require or which the data will support.

This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 252: Area 25 Engine Test Stand-1 Decontamination Pad, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Located at the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, CAU 252 consists of only one Corrective Action Site (25-07-04, Decontamination Pad). This CADD/CR identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office's (DOE/NV's) recommendation that no corrective action is deemed necessary at CAU 252. The Corrective Action Decision Document and Closure Report have been combined into one report because the potential contaminants of concern were either not detected during the corrective action investigation or were only present at naturally occurring concentrations. Based on the field results, neither corrective action or a corrective action plan is required at this site. A Notice of Completion to DOE/NV is being requested from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for closure of CAU 252, as well as a request that this site be moved from Appendix III to Appendix IV of the FFACO. Further, no use restrictions are required to be placed on this CAU.

A numerical flow model is developed to simulate two-dimensional fluid flow past immersed, elastically supported tube arrays. This work is motivated by the objective of predicting forces and motion associated with both deep-water drilling and production risers in the oil industry. This work has other engineering applications including simulation of flow past tubular heat exchangers or submarine-towed sensor arrays and the flow about parachute ribbons. In the present work, a vortex method is used for solving the unsteady flow field. This method demonstrates inherent advantages over more conventional grid-based computational fluid dynamics. The vortex method is non-iterative, does not require artificial viscosity for stability, displays minimal numerical diffusion, can easily treat moving boundaries, and allows a greatly reduced computational domain since vorticity occupies only a small fraction of the fluid volume. A gridless approach is used in the flow sufficiently distant from surfaces. A Lagrangian remap scheme is used near surfaces to calculate diffusion and convection of vorticity. A fast multipole technique is utilized for efficient calculation of velocity from the vorticity field. The ability of the method to correctly predict lift and drag forces on simple stationary geometries over a broad range of Reynolds numbers is presented.

A new and different time variant pulse processing system has been developed based on a simple CR-RC filter and two analog switches. The new pulse processing technique combines both ballistic deficit immunity and resilience to parallel noise without a significant compromise to the low energy resolution, generally considered a mutually exclusive requirement. The filter is realized by combining two different pulse-shaping techniques. One of the techniques creates a low rate of curvature at the pulse peak, which reduces ballistic deficit, while the second technique increases the tolerance to low frequency noise by modifying the noise history. Several experimental measurements are presented, including tests on a co-planar grid CdZnTe detector. Improvements on both the resolution and line shape are shown for the 662 keV line of 137Cs.

Nonlinear edge preserving smoothing often is performed prior to medical image segmentation. The goal of the nonlinear smoothing is to improve the accuracy of the segmentation by preserving changes in image intensity at the boundaries of structures of interest, while smoothing random variations due to noise in the interiors of the structures. Methods include median filtering and morphology operations such as gray scale erosion and dilation, as well as spatially varying smoothing driven by local contrast measures. Rather than irreversibly altering the image data prior to segmentation, the approach described here has the potential to unify nonlinear edge preserving smoothing with segmentation based on differential edge detection at multiple scales. The analysis of n-D image data is decomposed into independent 1-D problems that can be solved quickly. Smoothing in various directions along 1-D profiles through the n-D data is driven by a measure of local structure separation, rather than by a local contrast measure. Isolated edges are preserved independent of their contrast, given an adequate contrast to noise ratio.

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