A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21), Congress authorized federal funding for New Starts fixed guideway transit projects--including rail and bus rapid transit projects that met certain criteria. In response to an annual mandate under TEA-21, GAO assessed the New Starts evaluation and ratings process for the fiscal year 2004 cycle, including (1) changes to the process and any related issues and (2) any challenges related to New Starts initiatives contained in the administration's fiscal year 2004 budget proposal."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On May 29, 2003 GAO briefed the Subcommittee on Defense, House Committee on Appropriations' staff on the fiscal year 2004 budget request for the Virginia class submarine program. This letter summarizes the information we provided in that briefing on the advantages that multiyear procurement authority offers the Virginia class submarine program as well as the risks of actually realizing these advantages."

Cloud parameterizations in large-scale models often try to predict the amount of sub-grid scale variability in cloud properties to address the significant non-linear effects of radiation and precipitation. Statistical cloud schemes provide an attractive framework to self-consistently predict the variability in radiation and microphysics but require accurate predictions of the width and asymmetry of the distribution of cloud properties. Data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program are used to assess the variability in boundary layer cloud properties for a well- mixed stratocumulus observed at the Oklahoma ARM site during the March 2000 Intensive Observing Period. Cloud boundaries, liquid water content, and liquid water path are retrieved from the millimeter wavelength cloud radar and the microwave radiometer. Balloon soundings, aircraft data, and satellite observations provide complementary views on the horizontal cloud inhomogeneity. It is shown that the width of the liquid water path probability distribution function is consistent with a model in which horizontal fluctuations in liquid water content are vertically coherent throughout the depth of the cloud. Variability in cloud base is overestimated by this model, however; perhaps because an additional assumption that the variance of total water is constant with altitude throughout the depth of the boundary layer …

21st Edition of TOP500 List of World's Fastest Supercomputers Released MANNHEIM, Germany; KNOXVILLE, Tenn.;&BERKELEY, Calif. In what has become a much-anticipated event in the world of high-performance computing, the 21st edition of the TOP500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers was released today (June 23, 2003). The Earth Simulator supercomputer built by NEC and installed last year at the Earth Simulator Center in Yokohama, Japan, with its Linpack benchmark performance of 35.86 Tflop/s (teraflops or trillions of calculations per second), retains the number one position. The number 2 position is held by the re-measured ASCI Q system at Los Alamos National Laboratory. With 13.88 Tflop/s, it is the second system ever to exceed the 10 Tflop/smark. ASCIQ was built by Hewlett-Packard and is based on the AlphaServerSC computer system.

During the past 30 years superconducting magnet systems have enabled accelerators to achieve energies and luminosities that would have been impractical if not impossible with resistive magnets. By far, NbTi has been the preferred conductor for this application because of its ductility and insensitivity of Jc to mechanical strain. This is despite the fact that Nb{sub 3}Sn has a more favorable Jc vs. B dependence and can operate at much higher temperatures. Unfortunately, NbTi conductor is reaching the limit of it usefulness for high field applications. Despite incremental increases in Jc and operation at superfluid temperatures, magnets are limited to approximately a 10 T field. Improvements in conductor performance combined with future requirements for accelerator magnets to have bore fields greater than 10 T or operate in areas of large beam-induced heat loads now make Nb{sub 3}Sn look attractive. Thus, laboratories in several countries are actively engaged in programs to develop Nb{sub 3}Sn accelerator magnets for future accelerator applications. A summary of this important research activity is presented along with a brief history of Nb{sub 3}Sn accelerator magnet development and a discussion of requirements for future accelerator magnets.

This report provides the technical basis for high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) for Hanford tank farm ventilation systems (sometimes known as heating, ventilation and air conditioning [HVAC]) to support limits defined in Process Engineering Operating Specification Documents (OSDs). This technical basis included a review of older technical basis and provides clarifications, as necessary, to technical basis limit revisions or justification. This document provides an updated technical basis for tank farm ventilation systems related to Operation Specification Documents (OSDs) for double-shell tanks (DSTs), single-shell tanks (SSTs), double-contained receiver tanks (DCRTs), catch tanks, and various other miscellaneous facilities.

The long-term objective of this DOE project was to develop a new class of metal nanoparticles with novel optical properties for ultrasensitive detection and spectroscopy. The specific aims were (1) to prepare and screen colloidal silver and gold nanoparticles with novel optical properties; (2) to characterize the intrinsic size-dependent properties of these nanoparticles and to identify the factors responsible for efficient optical enhancement; (3) to determine the characteristics and origins of intermittent photon emission in single metal particles; and (4) to develop methodologies for enriching these novel particles and for fabricating thin nanoparticle films.

The Fermilab Tevatron has the unique opportunity to explore physics at the electroweak scale with the highest ever proton-antiproton collision energy of {radical}s = 1.96 TeV and unprecedented luminosity. About 20 times more data is expected to be collected during the first phase of the collider Run II which is in its second year of data-taking. The second phase of Run II, expected to begin in 2005, will increase the integrated luminosity to about 10-15 fb{sup -1}. Discovering a low mass Higgs boson and evidence for Supersymmetry or for other new physics beyond the Standard Model are the main physics goals for Run II. It is widely recognized that the use of advanced analysis methods will be crucial to achieve these goals. I discuss the current status of Run II at the Tevatron, prospects and foreseen applications of advanced analysis methods.

The CDF experiment's Silicon Vertex Trigger is a system of 150 custom 9U VME boards that reconstructs axial tracks in the CDF silicon strip detector in a 15 {mu}sec pipeline. SVT's 35 {mu}m impact parameter resolution enables CDF's Level 2 trigger to distinguish primary and secondary particles, and hence to collect large samples of hadronic bottom and charm decays. We review some of SVT's key design features. Speed is achieved with custom VLSI pattern recognition, linearized track fitting, pipelining, and parallel processing. Testing and reliability are aided by built-in logic state analysis and test-data sourcing at each board's input and output, a common inter-board data link, and a universal ''Merger'' board for data fan-in/fan-out. Speed and adaptability are enhanced by use of modern FPGAs.

Possibilities to accumulate antiprotons in the Recycler are considered for three different cases: with current stochastic cooling, with upgraded stochastic cooling and with electron cooling. With stochastic cooling only, even upgraded, Recycler looks hardly useful. However, with electron cooling at its goal parameters and reasonably good vacuum in the Recycler, this machine would be efficient.

In this final technical report, a summary of work is provided. Concepts were developed for a new statistical cloud parameterization suitable for inclusion into global climate models. These concepts were evaluated by comparison to ARM data and data from cloud resolving models driven by ARM data. The purpose of this grant was to develop a new cloud parameterization for the global climate model of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Note that uncertainties in cloud parameterizations are a key reason why prediction of climate change from climate models remain unacceptably uncertain. To develop the parameterizations, the observations and models provided by the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program were analyzed and used.

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This report was written to present climatological summaries of the wind data at the Central Climatology (CC) tower in a convenient format and to point out some features of the wind speed and direction that have not been widely appreciated in the past. Short-term (two-week) wind roses provide a means to demonstrate the temporal and spatial relationships that wind speed and direction undergo using a ten-year database from the CC tower. These relationships are best demonstrated by examining the figures provided in this report or looking at loops of computer-generated images provided by the authors.

Cryogenic calorimeters are used for x-ray detection because of their exquisite energy resolution and have found application in x-ray astronomy, and the search for dark matter. These devices operate by detecting the heat pulse produced by ionization in an absorber cooled to temperatures below 1 K. Such temperatures are needed to lower the absorber's heat capacity to the point that the deposition of even a few eV results in a measurable temperature excursion. Typical absorbers for dark matter measurements are massive Si or Ge crystals, and, with Ge, have achieved a resolution of 650 eV at 10 keV. Chow, et al., report the measurement of the 60 keV emission from {sup 241}Am with 230 eV resolution using a superconducting tin absorber. Cunningham, et al., also using a superconducting tin absorber, have recently reported a four-fold improvement over Chow. With such results being reported from the x- and gamma-ray world it is natural to examine the possibilities for cryogenic neutron spectroscopy. Such a detector would operate by detecting the heat pulses caused by neutron capture and scattering. To date, {sup 6}LiF has been the absorber of choice because relatively large crystals can be grown, and it is an insulating material with …

The general aim of this project is to continue the design and implementation of a new sensor technology that offers the unprecedented levels of specificity needed for analysis of the complex chemical mixtures found at DOE sites nationwide. The new sensor concept combines the elements of electrochemistry, spectroscopy and selective partitioning into a single device that provides three levels of selectivity. The specific goal of this project is the development of a sensor for technetium (Tc) that is applicable to characterizing and monitoring the Vadose Zone and associated subsurface water at the Hanford site. The first goal is a sensor that determines technetium in the chemical form pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup -}). This report summarizes work during 6/16/01-6/15/02 of a three-year project that began on 9/15/99. During this period our efforts have focused on four areas that are discussed in the following sections. Electrochemistry of pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup -}) at bare ITO and film-coated ITO electrodes; Enhancing sensitivity by increasing analyte absorptivity; Development and characterization of selective films; and Improved field portable spectroelectrochemical sensor.

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

The electrical resistivity of rock cores under conditions representative of geothermal reservoirs is strongly influenced by the state and phase (liquid/vapor) of the pore fluid. In fractured samples, phase change (vaporization/condensation) can result in resistivity changes that are more than an order of magnitude greater than those measured in intact samples. These results suggest that electrical resistivity monitoring of geothermal reservoirs may provide a useful tool for remotely detecting the movement of water and steam within fractures, the development and evolution of fracture systems and the formation of steam caps. We measured the electrical resistivity of cores of welded tuff containing fractures of various geometries to investigate the resistivity contrast caused by active boiling and to determine the effects of variable fracture dimensions and surface area on water extraction from the matrix. We then used the Nonisothermal Unsaturated Flow and Transport model (NUFT) (Nitao, 1998) to simulate the propagation of boiling fronts through the samples. The simulated saturation profiles combined with previously reported measurements of resistivity-saturation curves allow us to estimate the evolution of the sample resistivity as the boiling front propagates into the rock matrix. These simulations provide qualitative agreement with experimental measurements suggesting that our modeling approach may …

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The National Museum of the Pacific War presents and oral interview with Harry Miller. Born 11 September 1922 in Winamac, Indiana, Miller graduated from high school in 1940. Called into the Army in 1943, he took basic training at Fort Hamilton, New York. After fifteen weeks of basic he was assigned to the 13th Major Port Battalion. He was stationed at Perth Amboy, New Jersey and worked long hours loading ammunition and other supplies for overseas shipment. He then went aboard a troop ship and landed at Plymouth, England. There, he was involved in unloading military supplies. Sometime after June 1944, he was pulled from the port battalion and assigned as a replacement with the 29th Infantry Division, 115th Infantry Regiment. He recalls of being in combat at Brest, France and the drive to the Elbe River. Miller also recalls his regiment being confronted by 10,000 Germans surrendering to the Americans to avoid capture by the Russian Army. After Germany surrendered, he was sent to Bremen, as a company clerk. In 1946, he returned to the United States and was discharged.

Interview with Lieutenant Sam Hughes, an engineer in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Hughes goes into great detail about his experiences early on in Vietnam, including hitchhiking to Saigon after their paperwork was lost; he also answers questions and explains how his life was when he returned home from the war. Hughes ends by commenting on the current war going on in Afghanistan.