Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been growing about the supply of health care workers and the future needs of an aging population. Shortages of nurses and nurse aides, the two largest categories of health care workers, are of particular concern. Although the number of pharmacists has grown during the past decade, the increasing demand for pharmacy services is outpacing the growth in supply, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Provider and professional associations have reported high vacancy rates and a decline in new entrants to the laboratory and radiologic fields. However, employment and earnings data for laboratory and radiologic technologists and technicians do not indicate a balance of supply and demand for these workers. Demographic changes, technological advances, and management decisions on how staff and technology are used will affect the future demand for health care workers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "It is essential that the government not only make and guarantee creditworthy loans but also collect the amounts owed. The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 was intended to maximize collection of billions of dollars of non-tax delinquent debt owed to the government by requiring agencies to notify the Department of Treasury of debts delinquent more than 180 days for purposes of administrative offset. The act also requires agencies to refer such debts to Treasury for centralized collection action known as cross-servicing. The act authorizes agencies to garnish the wages of delinquent debtors and bars delinquent debtors from receiving federal financial assistance in the form of loans, loan insurance, or loan guarantees until they resolve their delinquencies. This report discusses selected agencies and focuses on (1) difficulties they experienced in identifying and referring eligible debts to Treasury's Financial Management Service or a Treasury designated debt collection center, (2) obstacles to prompt referral of eligible debts, and (3) whether exclusions from referral requirements were consistent with established criteria."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal research and preparedness activities related to bioterrorism center on detecting of such agents; developing new or improved vaccines, antibiotics, and antivirals; and developing performance standards for emergency response equipment. Preparedness activities include: (1) increasing federal, state, and local response capabilities; (2) developing response teams; (3) increasing the availability of medical treatments; (4) participating in and sponsoring exercises; (5) aiding victims; and (6) providing support at special events, such as presidential inaugurations and Olympic games. To coordinate their activities, federal agencies are developing interagency response plans, participating in various interagency work groups, and entering into formal agreements with each other to share resources and capabilities. However, GAO found that coordination of federal terrorism research, preparedness, and response programs is fragmented, raising concerns about the ability of states and localities to respond to a bioterrorist attack. These concerns include poor state and local planning and the lack of hospital participation in training on terrorism and emergency response planning. This report summarized a September 2001 report (GAO-01-915)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To disguise illegally obtained funds, money launderers have traditionally targeted banks, which accept cash and arrange domestic and international fund transfers. However, criminals seeking to hide illicit funds may also be targeting the U.S. securities markets. Although few documented cases exist of broker-dealer or mutual fund accounts being used to launder money, law enforcement agencies are concerned that criminals may increasingly try to use the securities industry for that purpose. Most broker-dealers or firms that process customer payments for mutual funds are subject to U.S. anti-money laundering requirements. However, unlike banks, most of these firms are not required to report suspicious activities. The Treasury Department is now developing a rule requiring broker-dealers to report suspicious activities. Treasury expects that the rule will be issued for public comment by the end of this year. Various intergovernmental groups, such as the Financial Action Task Force, have been working on recommendations that call for member nations to take various steps to combat money laundering through their financial institutions, including requiring securities firms to report suspicious activities. Although many members countries report that they have issued all or many of …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Tens of millions of Americans become ill and thousands die each year from eating unsafe foods. The current food safety system is a patchwork structure that cannot address existing and emerging food safety risks. The current system was cobbled together over many years to address specific health threats from particular foods. The resulting fragmented organizational and legal structure causes inefficient use of resources, inconsistent oversight and enforcement, and ineffective coordination. Food safety issues must be addressed comprehensively--that is, by preventing contamination through the entire food production cycle, from farm to table. A single, food safety agency responsible for administering a uniform set of laws is needed to resolve long-standing problems with the current system; deal with emerging food safety issues, such as the safety of genetically modified foods or deliberate acts of contamination; and ensure a safe food supply."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides block grants and discretionary funding to help states and communities prevent juvenile delinquency and improve their juvenile justice systems. OJJDP has specific program monitoring and documentation requirements for its discretionary grants. These monitoring requirements include having the grant manager make quarterly telephone calls, undertake on- and off-site grant monitoring visits, and review interim and final products. In a review of OJJDP's most recent award of grants active in fiscal years 1999 and 2000, GAO found that OJJDP's grant monitoring activities were not consistently documented. These findings are similar to those GAO reported in May 1996."

Semiweekly newspaper from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas that includes local, national, and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

This paper presents results of coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical (THM) simulations of two field-scale tests that are part of the thermal testing program being conducted by the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project. The two tests analyzed are the Drift-Scale Test (DST) which is sited in an alcove of the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and the Large Block Test (LBT) which is sited at Fran Ridge, near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Both of these tests were designed to investigate coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrological-chemical (TMHC) behavior in a fractured, densely welded ash-flow tuff. The geomechanical response of the rock mass forming the DST and the LBT is analyzed using a coupled THM model. A coupled model for analysis of the DST and LBT has been formulated by linking the 3DEC distinct element code for thermal-mechanical analysis and the NUFT finite element code for thermal-hydrologic analysis. The TH model (NUFT) computes temperatures at preselected times using a model that extends from the surface to the water table. The temperatures computed by NUFT are input to 3DEC, which then computes stresses and deformations. The distinct element method was chosen to permit the inclusion of discrete fractures and explicit modeling of fracture deformations. Shear deformations and normal …

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Seminole, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

This is the fifth Quarterly Technical Report for DOE Cooperative Agreement No: DE-FC26-00NT40753. The goal of the project is to develop cost effective analysis tools and techniques for demonstrating and evaluating low NOx control strategies and their possible impact on boiler performance for firing US coals. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is providing cofunding for this program. This program contains multiple tasks and good progress is being made on all fronts. Field tests for NOx reduction in a cyclone fired utility boiler due to using Rich Reagent Injection (RRI) have been started. CFD modeling studies have been started to evaluate the use of RRI for NOx reduction in a corner fired utility boiler using pulverized coal. Field tests of a corrosion monitor to measure waterwall wastage in a utility boiler have been completed. Computational studies to evaluate a soot model within a boiler simulation program are continuing. Research to evaluate SCR catalyst performance has started. A literature survey was completed. Experiments have been outlined and two flow reactor systems have been designed and are under construction. Commercial catalyst vendors have been contacted about supplying catalyst samples. Several sets of new experiments have been performed to investigate ammonia removal processes …

The DOE proposes to obtain borrow materials from existing active borrow pits and quarries on the Hanford Site. The total volume of materials to be recovered over a 10-year period is estimated to be approximately 7,600,000 cubic meters (10,000,000 cubic yards). The proposed action would include ensuring adequate access is provided to the borrow locations. Existing roads might be upgraded, as necessary, to enhance egress. Appropriate utilities would be provided, and might include portable generators or extension of power lines for lighting, installation of trailers for personnel, and portable toilets. Conventional industrial equipment would be used during operations to recover the borrow material. For example, a power shovel or a front-end loader would excavate materials. New or modified equipment and facilities would be provided at the specific locations to provide for crushing, screening, size classification, washing, handling, and stockpiling. Truck loading stations would be provided. Depending on the nature of specific borrow materials at individual locations, select sites might be expanded. For analysis, it is assumed that of the total disturbed surface area (i.e., 3 square kilometers or 1.2 square miles), expansion could result in an additional surface area disturbance of 10% (approximately 0.3 square kilometers [0.12 square miles]). The …

In this paper, semianalytical solutions are developed for the problem of transport of radioactive or reactive solute tracers through a layered system of heterogeneous fractured media with misaligned fractures. The tracer transport equations in the non-flowing matrix account for (a) diffusion, (b) surface diffusion, (c) mass transfer between the mobile and immobile water fractions, (d) linear kinetic or equilibrium physical, chemical, or combined solute sorption or colloid filtration, and (e) radioactive decay or first-order chemical reactions. The tracer-transport equations in the fractures account for the same processes, in addition to advection and hydrodynamic dispersion. Any number of radioactive decay daughter products (or products of a linear, first-order reaction chain) can be tracked. The solutions, which are analytical in the Laplace space, are numerically inverted to provide the solution in time and can accommodate any number of fractured and/or porous layers. The solutions are verified using analytical solutions for limiting cases of solute and colloid transport through fractured and porous media. The effect of important parameters on the transport of {sup 3}H, {sup 237}Np and {sup 239}Pu (and its daughters) is investigated in several test problems involving layered geological systems of varying complexity.

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Laser ablation is becoming a dominant technology for direct solid sampling in analytical chemistry. Laser ablation refers to the process in which an intense burst of energy delivered by a short laser pulse is used to sample (remove a portion of) a material. The advantages of laser ablation chemical analysis include direct characterization of solids, no chemical procedures for dissolution, reduced risk of contamination or sample loss, analysis of very small samples not separable for solution analysis, and determination of spatial distributions of elemental composition. This review describes recent research to understand and utilize laser ablation for direct solid sampling, with emphasis on sample introduction to an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). Current research related to contemporary experimental systems, calibration and optimization, and fractionation is discussed, with a summary of applications in several areas.

This annual report describes the first year's accomplishments under the NERI2000-109 project. We present a model-independent approach to quantify changes in the nonlinear dynamics underlying time-serial data. From time-windowed data sets, we construct discrete distribution functions on the phase space. Condition change between base case and test case distribution functions is assessed by dissimilarity measures via L{sub 1}-distance and {chi}{sup 2} statistic. The discriminating power of these measures is first tested on noiseless model data, and then applied for detecting dynamical change in power from a motor-pump system. We compare the phase-space dissimilarities with traditional linear and nonlinear measures used in the analysis of chaotic systems. We also assess the potential usefulness of the new measures for robust, accurate, and timely forewarning of equipment failure.

By removing air distribution and conditioning equipment from unconditioned spaces, homeowners stand to benefit substantially with respect to both energy savings and indoor air quality. Duct leakage introduces: Greater heating and cooling loads from air at extreme temperatures and humidity levels; Outside air and air from unconditioned spaces that may contain air borne contaminants, combustion gases, pollen, mold spores, and/or particles of building materials; and Higher whole-house infiltration/exfiltration rates. Exemplary studies conducted since 1990 have demonstrated the prevalence of duct leakage throughout the United States and measured energy savings of approximately 20% during both heating and cooling seasons from leakage reduction. These all dealt with duct leakage to and/or from unconditioned spaces. In the building science community, leakage within the conditioned space is generally presumed to eliminate the negative consequences of duct leakage with the exception of possibly creating pressure imbalances in the house which relates to higher infiltration and/or exfiltration. The practical challenges of isolating ducts and air handlers from unconditioned spaces require builders to construct an air-tight environment for the ducts. Florida Solar Energy Center researchers worked with four builders in Texas, North Carolina, and Florida who build a furred-down chase located either in a central hallway or …

The summary and conclusions are that overall the radar and seismic results were excellent. At the time of design of the experiments we did not know how well these two methods could penetrate or resolve the moisture content and structure. It appears that the radar could easily go up to 5, even 10 meters between boreholes at 200 Mhz and even father (up to 20 to 40 m) at 50 Mhz. The seismic results indicate that at several hundred hertz propagation of 20 to 30 meters giving high resolution is possible. One of the most important results, however is that together the seismic and radar are complementary in their properties estimation. The radar being primarily sensitive to changes in moisture content, and the seismic being primarily sensitive to porosity. Taken in a time lapse sense the radar can show the moisture content changes to a high resolution, with the seismic showing high resolution lithology. The significant results for each method are: Radar: (1) Delineated geological layers 0.25 to 3.5 meters thick with 0.25 m resolution; (2) Delineated moisture movement and content with 0.25 m resolution; (3) Compared favorably with neutron probe measurements; and (4) Penetration up to 30 m. Radar …

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In support of the federal government's efforts to raise the minimum energy-efficiency standards for residential-type central air conditioners and heat pumps, a consumer life-cycle cost (LCC) analysis was conducted to demonstrate the economic impacts on individual consumers from revisions to the standards. LCC is the consumer's cost of purchasing and installing an air conditioner or heat pump and operating the unit over its lifetime. The LCC analysis is conducted on a nationally representative sample of air conditioner and heat pump consumers resulting in a distribution of LCC impacts showing the percentage of consumers that are either benefiting or being burdened by increased standards. Relative to the existing minimum efficiency standard of 10 SEER, the results show that a majority of split system air conditioner and heat pump consumers will either benefit or be insignificantly impacted by increased efficiency standards of up to 13 SEER.

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