Alfven waves propagation in slightly nonuniform cold plasmas is studied by means of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) nonlinear equations. The evolution of the MHD spectrum is shown to be governed by a matrix linear differential equation with constant coefficients determined by the spectrum of quasi-static plasma density perturbations. The Alfven waves are shown not to affect the plasma density inhomogeneities, as they scatter off of them. The application of the MHD spectrum evolution equation to the inverse scattering problem allows tomographic measurements of the plasma density profile by scanning the plasma volume with Alfven radiation.

A Stark-tuned optically pumped far-infrared CH(subscript ''3'')OH laser at 119 mm has been successfully applied in the Far Infrared Tangential Interferometer/Polarimeter (FIReTIP) system for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). The system will provide temporally and radially resolved 2-D electron density profile [n(subscript ''e'')(r,t)] and toroidal field profile [B(subscript ''T'')(r,t)] data. In the 2001 campaign, a single channel interferometer system has been operated and tested for the Faraday rotation measurement. A plan for improvement and upgrading of the FIReTIP is discussed.

Our Computerized Ultrasound Risk Evaluation (CURE) system has been developed to the engineering prototype stage and generated unique data sets of both transmission and reflection ultrasound (US). This paper will help define the clinical underpinnings of the developmental process and interpret the imaging results from a similar perspective. The CURE project was designed to incorporate numerous diagnostic parameters to improve upon two major areas of early breast cancer detection. CURE may provide improved tissue characterization of breast masses and reliable detection of abnormal microcalcifications found in some breast cancers and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Current breast US is limited to mass evaluation, whereas mammography also detects and guides biopsy of malignant calcifications. Screening with CURE remains a distant goal, but improved follow-up of mammographic abnormalities may represent a feasible breakthrough. Improved tissue characterization could result in reduction of the estimated one million benign biopsies each year in the United States, costing up to several billion dollars. Most breast calcifications are benign and comprise-80% of stereotactic biopsies guided by mammography. Ultrasound has the capability of finding some groups of calcifications, but further improvements in resolution should also address tissue characterization to define the soft tissue filling of ducts by DCIS. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense has directed the services to pursue logistics "reengineering" efforts to reduce logistics support costs. To this end, the Air Force has several efforts under way that apply commercial best practices and have, as a key feature, increased reliance on the private sector for logistics support. It is impossible to determine whether cost-effectiveness estimates for proposed contractor logistics support approaches are being achieved because the Air Force lacks the necessary data. Consequently, the Air Force may be testing and adopting support approaches without enough information to assess whether expected readiness improvements and cost reduction goals are being met. The Air Force's limited experience in repairing the same aircraft and components in both the public and private sectors and the lack of comparable and reliable historical financial data make it difficult to assess the cost-effectiveness of private versus public repair facilities. In addition, concerns raised about the impact of the increased use of contractor logistics support on the management of day-to-day activities have not been fully addressed."

In a recent draft report titled ''Impacts of Refrigerant Line Length on System Efficiency in Residential Heating and Cooling Systems Using Refrigerant Distribution,'' (Andrews 2000) some baseline calculations were performed to estimate various impacts on system efficiency of long refrigerant distribution lines. Refrigerant distribution refers to ''mini-splits'' and other types of space beating and cooling equipment that utilize refrigerant lines, rather than ducts or pipes, to transport heat and cooling effect from the outdoor unit to the building spaces where this heat or cooling is used. Five factors affecting efficiency were studied in each of the space conditioning modes (heating and cooling) for a total of ten factors in all. Temperature changes and pressure drops in each of the two refrigerant lines accounted for four of the factors, with the remaining one being elevation of the indoor unit relative to the outdoor unit. Of these factors, pressure drops in the suction line in cooling showed by far the largest effect. This report builds on these baseline calculations to develop a possible algorithm for a refrigerant distribution section of ASHRAE Standard 152. It is based on the approximate treatment of the previous report, and is therefore subject to error that might …

'ShortWatch' is a patented technology which for the first time offers electrical wire/cable products providing real-time, 'in-situ' (1) condition monitoring that warns of insulation damage before an electrical fault occurs, (2) assessment of the ability to perform in a Design Basis event, (3) distributed sensor warning of overtemperature, and (4) insulation leakage measurement capability providing arc sensing and a reliable tool for wire age prediction.

A spheroidal composite inorganic sorbent was developed for U.S. Department of Energy-Efficient Separations and Processing Crosscutting Program (USDOE-ESP) for potential use in removing radioactive cesium isotopes from acidic high-salt waste streams such as those at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The sorbent, zirconium monohydrogen phosphate (ZrHP) embedded with fine powder of ammonium molybdophosphate (AMP), was prepared using a unique internal gelation process which can be used to make porous reproducible microspheres that are structurally strong, have a low tendency for surface erosion, and improve the flow dynamics for column operations. Both ZrHP and AMP are excellent sorbent materials and, being inorganic, are stable in high radiation fields. AMP is a very effective sorbent for removing cesium from salt-bearing waste streams for a wide range of acidity. In the pH range of 2 to 10, ZrHP is also a very effective sorbent for removing Cs, Sr, Th, U(VI), Pu(IV), Am(III), Hg, and Pb from streams of lower ionic concentrations. Crucial to developing the spheroidal AMP-ZrHP sorbent was to determine the ideal weight percentage of AMP that could be embedded in the ZrHP microspheres in order to maintain the structural integrity of the microspheres and also achieve a good cesium …

Flowing liquid walls have been proposed as the first wall and/or divertor plates for magnetic fusion energy devices because they may solve a number of technological problems for fusion power plants. A key question for their successful use is the edge-plasma shielding of wall-vapor impurities from the core plasma. A self-consistent analysis of the combined hydrogen/impurity edge plasmas for distributed wall impurity sources is performed using the two-dimension fluid transport code UEDGE for tokamak parameters. Three regimes of edge-plasma response are identified. Comparisons are made between previous results for lithium (from Li or SnLi walls) and fluorine (from the molten salt Flibe walls), and new results for Sn (from Sn walls). Owing to its lower vapor pressure, Sn is found to have the lowest impact on the edge and core plasma. For the Sn wall, the effects of toroidal versus slab geometries are studied, as well as the influence of spatial variations in evaporation fluxes.

In the results discussed above, it is clear that Sum Frequency Generation (SFG) is a unique tool that allows the detection of vibrational spectra of adsorbed molecules present on single crystal surfaces under catalytic reaction conditions. Not only is it possible to detect active surface intermediates, it is also possible to detect spectator species which are not responsible for the measured turnover rates. By correlating high-pressure SFG spectra under reaction conditions and gas chromatography (GC) kinetic data, it is possible to determine which species are important under reaction intermediates. Because of the flexibility of this technique for studying surface intermediates, it is possible to determine how the structures of single crystal surfaces affect the observed rates of catalytic reactions. As an example of a structure insensitive reaction, ethylene hydrogenation was explored on both Pt(111) and Pt(100). The rates were determined to be essentially the same. It was observed that both ethylidyne and di-{sigma} bonded ethylene were present on the surface under reaction conditions on both crystals, although in different concentrations. This result shows that these two species are not responsible for the measured turnover rate, as it would be expected that one of the two crystals would be more active …

This report discusses several issues as the Congress considers legislation to reform the voting process, a number of issues have emerged as part of the debate: the reliability of different types of voting technologies; voting problems and irregularities in the 2000 election; problems for militaryand overseas voters; the electoral college; and early media projections of election results.

The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) and the Federal Power Act (FPA) were enacted to eliminate unfair practices and other abuses by electricity and gas holding companies by requiring federal control and regulation of interstate public utility holding companies. Comprehensive energy legislation has passed the House and Senate. The House passed H.R. 6 on April 11, 2003. On July 31, 2003, the Senate suspended debate on S. 14, inserted the text of H.R. 4 (107th Congress) as a substitute, and passed H.R. 6. A conference agreement was reached November 17, 2003, and passed by the House the next day. H.R. 6 includes an electricity title that would, in part, repeal PUHCA, would prospectively repeal the mandatory purchase requirement under PURPA, and would create an electric reliability organization. On June 15, 2004, H.R. 4503, a comprehensive energy policy bill, passed the House.

This paper discusses the regulatory guidance implemented by U.S. NRC for minimizing malfunctions and upsets in safety-related instrumentation and control (I and C) systems in nuclear power plants caused by electromagnetic interference (EMI), radio-frequency interference (RFI), and power surges. The engineering design, installation, and testing practices deemed acceptable to U.S. NRC are described in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.180, ''Guidelines for Evaluating Electromagnetic and Radio-Frequency in Safety-Related Instrumentation and Control Systems'' (January 2000) and in a Safety Evaluation Report (SER) endorsing EPRI TR-102323, ''Guidelines for Electromagnetic Interference Testing in Power Plants,'' (April 1996). These engineering practices provide a well-established, systematic approach for ensuring electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and surge withstand capability (SWC).

The primary objective of this Fire Hazard Analysis (FHA) is to confirm the requirements for a comprehensive fire and related hazards protection program for the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) are sufficient to minimize the potential for: (1) The occurrence of a fire or related event. (2) A fire that causes an unacceptable on-site or off-site release of hazardous or radiological material that will threaten the health and safety of employees, the public or the environment. (3) Vital US. Department of Energy (DOE) programs suffering unacceptable interruptions as a result of fire and related hazards. (4) Property losses from a fire and related events exceeding limits established by DOE. (5) Critical process controls and safety class systems being damaged as a result of a fire and related events.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Foodborne diseases in the United States cause an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Surveillance is the most important tool for detecting and monitoring both existing and emerging foodborne diseases. In the United States, surveillance for foodborne disease is also used to identify outbreaks--two or more cases of a similar illness that result from ingestion of a common food--and their causes. CDC has 18 surveillance systems used to detect cases or outbreaks of foodborne disease, pinpoint their cause, recognize trends, and develop effective prevention and control measures. Four principal systems--the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System, PulseNet, FoodNet, and the Surveillance Outbreak Detection Algorithm--focus on foodborne diseases and cover more than one pathogen. Although CDC's systems have contributed to food safety, the usefulness of several of these surveillance systems is impaired both by CDC's untimely release of surveillance data and by gaps in the data collection. CDC is providing funds to state and local health departments to address their staffing and technology needs to help the states provide CDC with more complete information. …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 34 democratic countries of the Western Hemisphere pledged in December 1994 to form Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) no later than 2005. The FTAA agreement would eliminate tariffs and create common trade and investment rules among the 34 democratic nations of the Western Hemisphere. When completed, the FTAA agreement will cover about 800 million people, more than $11 trillion in production, and $3.4 trillion in world trade. The five FTAA negotiating groups pursuing liberalization of trade and investment--market access, agriculture, investment, services, and government procurement--have submitted initial proposals and agreed on a date to begin market access negotiations, but the groups face short-term and long-term issues. In the short-term, these groups must resolve several practical issues in order to begin negotiations on market access schedules no later than May 15, 2002, and to narrow differences and prepare revised trade rule chapters by August 2002. Over the long-term, these market-opening groups face fundamental questions about how much and how fast to liberalize. Narrowing outstanding differences may be difficult for the four other negotiating groups, which have made initial proposals on rules governing intellectual property; …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Evidence from the medical literature shows that a variety of frequently used dietary supplements marketed as anti-aging therapies can have serious health consequences for senior citizens. Some seniors have underlying diseases or health conditions that make the use of the product medically inadvisable, and some supplements can interact with medications that are being taken concurrently. Furthermore, studies have found that products sometimes contain harmful contaminants or much more of an active ingredient than is indicated on the label. Unproven anti-aging and alternative medicine products also pose an economic risk to seniors. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have identified several products that make advertising or labeling claims with insufficient substantiation, some costing consumers hundreds or thousands of dollars apiece. Federal and state agencies have efforts under way to protect consumers of these products. FDA and FTC sponsor programs and provide educational materials for senior citizens to help them avoid health fraud. At the state level, agencies are working to protect consumers of health products by enforcing state consumer protection and public health laws, although anti-aging and alternative products are receiving …

The program spans a spectrum of topics and is divided into five categories: (i) multiphase flow and rock properties, (ii) hot fluid injection, (iii) primary heavy-oil production, (iv) reservoir definition, and (v) in-situ combustion.

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The focus of this study was the desilication kinetics of a Savannah River Site (SRS) tank farm 2H simulant over the temperature range of 40 to 100 C. Results showed that the formation of nitrate-nitrite-based sodalite over aluminum-to-silicon (Al:Si) molar ratios ranging from 1:1 to 20:1 exhibited overall-second order kinetics. The Arrhenius apparent activation energy associated with the crystal growth process of the sodalite was determined to be 35 kJ/mol over the temperature range investigated. Second-order rate constants were extrapolated to the 2H evaporator working temperature of {approx} 130 C and were found to be 0.012 L mol{sup -1} s{sup -1}. At this operating temperature, the half-life of a limiting reactant with a 0.1 M feed would be 14 min.

In recent years, microstructure evolution in metals during deformation processing has been modeled at the mesoscale by combining the finite element method to discretize the individual grains with crystal plasticity to provide the constitutive relations. This approach allows the simulations to capture the heterogeneous nature of grain deformations due to interactions with neighboring grains. The application of this approach to study the deformations of columnar grains present in solidification microstructures is described. The microstructures are deformed in simple compression, assuming the easy growth direction of the columnar grains to be parallel to the compression axis in one case, and perpendicular in the other. These deformations are similar to those experienced by the columnar zones of a large cast billet when processed by upsetting and drawing, respectively. The simulations show that there is a significant influence of the initial microstructure orientation relative to the loading axis on the resulting changes in grain shape and orientation.

This project develops Fuel-Flexible Reburning (FFR), which combines conventional reburning and Advanced Reburning (AR) technologies with an innovative method of delivering coal as the reburning fuel. The overall objective of this project is to develop engineering and scientific information and know-how needed to improve the cost of reburning via increased efficiency and minimized carbon in ash and move the FFR technology to the demonstration and commercialization stage. Specifically, the project entails: (1) optimizing FFR with injection of gasified and partially gasified fuels with respect to NO{sub x} and carbon in ash reduction; (2) characterizing flue gas emissions; (3) developing a process model to predict FFR performance; (4) completing an engineering and economic analysis of FFR as compared to conventional reburning and other commercial NO{sub x} control technologies, and (5) developing a full-scale FFR design methodology. The project started in August 2000 and will be conducted over a two-year period. The work includes a combination of analytical and experimental studies to identify optimum process configurations and develop a design methodology for full-scale applications. The first year of the program included pilot-scale tests to evaluate performances of two bituminous coals in basic reburning and modeling studies designed to identify parameters that affect …

The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) has had a very productive period of plasma operations since the last ST Workshop in Seattle, WA, in November 1999. A number of new research tools have become available and the plasma parameters have improved significantly. These advances are describe in this paper.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Apprenticeship, which combines supervised on-the-job training with formal instruction, benefits both employers and employees by providing the skills and knowledge necessary for a specific job and a credential recognized throughout an industry. The use of apprenticeship is standard practice in some industries, but expansion beyond traditional occupations has been limited. The Department of Labor has not systematically identified new occupations suitable for apprenticeship programs, nor has it successfully alleviated the concerns of some employers about apprenticeship requirements, which has slowed the expansion of apprenticeship to new occupations. Labor has approved 19 new occupations for apprenticeships in the last five years, and many of these have been in less traditional occupations, such as internetworking technicians. Employers are often wary of apprenticeship programs. For example, some employers are reluctant to commit to incremental increases in wages as required by apprenticeship regulations. GAO identified several apprenticeship programs in which apprenticeship training helped to develop workers with sought-after skills. The key to the establishment of the several programs GAO reviewed was the close interaction between employers and federal or state apprenticeship officials to ensure that employers understood the value of …