Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes GAO-03-678G, Audit Guide: Auditing and Investigating the Internal Control of Government Purchase Card Programs, May 2003. The federal government of the United States--the largest and most complex organization in the world--expended approximately $15 billion through federal organizations' purchase card programs in fiscal year 2002. As the steward of taxpayer dollars, federal agencies are accountable for how purchase cards are used and how the funds are spent. To that end, federal agencies are responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control to provide reasonable assurance that (1) the goals and objectives of the purchase card program are met and (2) safeguards against fraudulent, improper, and abusive purchases are adequate. Recent congressional testimony and inspector general and GAO reports show that some federal agencies do not have adequate internal control over their purchase card programs. Without effective internal control, management has little assurance that fraudulent, improper, and abusive purchases are being prevented or, if occurring, are being promptly detected with appropriate corrective actions taken. A key element of internal control is monitoring that assesses the quality of performance over time and ensures that the findings of audits and …

This closure report documents the closure activities conducted for Corrective Action Unit 523: Housekeeping Waste, Nevada Test Site, Nevada.

Building designers and owners have always been fascinated with the extensive use of glass in building envelopes. Today the highly glazed facade has almost become an iconic element for a 'green building' that provides daylighting and a visual connection with the natural environment. Even before the current interest in green buildings there was no shortage of highly glazed building designs. But many of these buildings either rejected sunlight, and some associated daylight and view with highly reflective glazings or used highly transmissive glass and encountered serious internal comfort problems that could only be overcome with large HVAC systems, resulting in significant energy, cost and environmental penalties. From the 1960's to the 1990's innovation in glazing made heat absorbing glass, reflective glass and double glazing commonplace, with an associated set of aesthetic features. In the last decade there has been a subtle shift from trying to optimize an ideal, static design solution using these glazings to making the facade responsive, interactive and even intelligent. More sophisticated design approaches and technologies have emerged using new high-performance glazing, improved shading and solar control systems, greater use of automated controls, and integration with other building systems. One relatively new architectural development is the double …

Photograph of individuals preparing for a parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in honor of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Black and white photographs are set up on an altar. Two archways decorated with paper flowers are visible. A sign in the background reads "Railroad Crossing." The photograph was taken at dusk in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of individuals preparing for a parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in honor of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Black and white photographs and paper flowers are arranged on an altar. A woman wearing skeleton face makeup and a traditionally embroidered skirt stands in front of the altar. The photograph was taken at nighttime in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of individuals dancing at a parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in honor of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. A woman faces away from the camera. She wears a yellow dress with ribbonwork tiers and lace. A young girl dances on the right. She wears a similar style dress that is blue in color. The photograph was taken at nighttime in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of young dancers at a parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in honor of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The dancers wear colorful floral dresses and blue braided ribbons in their hair. Their faces are painted white and black. The photograph was taken at dusk in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of Sylvia Orozco and an unnamed woman at a parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in honor of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Orozco, left, wears a sleeveless floral blouse and red beaded necklace. The unnamed woman, right, wears a red blouse. The photograph was taken at nighttime in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of altars at a parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in honor of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The space is set up like a graveyard. Each altar is contained within a square of colored fabric. The photograph was taken at nighttime in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of altars at a parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in honor of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The space is set up like a graveyard. Each altar is contained within a square of colored fabric. Individuals walk around the space. In the foreground a man stands on a ladder as he decorates a metal frame with yellow tape. The photograph was taken at dusk in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of a young male patron standing in front of an altar during a Day of the Dead celebration hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas. The altar is decorated with flowers, fruit, candles, small skull statues, and colorful cloth. An archway standing over the altar is decorated with yellow and orange paper flowers.

Photograph of four small costumed dogs during a Day of the Dead celebration hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas. A man and woman hold the dogs' leashes. Altars and patrons in costume can be seen in the background. The photograph was taken at nighttime in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of two individuals preparing an altar during a Day of the Dead celebration hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas. They adjust a piece of cloth laid on the altar. A framed painting rests on the altar. A yellow archway and cross are affixed to the wall behind it.

Photograph of a man in costume during a Day of the Dead parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas. The man holds a wooden staff. He wears a white apron that has an illustration of the Virgin Mary printed on it. The photograph was taken at dusk in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of a woman holding a sign during a Day of the Dead parade hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas. The sign reads: "La Escuela Allan celebra Día de los Muertos." She wears a denim jacket. The photograph was taken at nighttime in downtown Austin, Texas.

Photograph of a school group during a Day of the Dead celebration hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas. The children stand in a gallery. They wear name tags. The walls of the gallery are decorated with colored paper and silver stars.

Monthly report written by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association's (TDNA's) office manager, Darla Thompson, to Phil Berkebile providing a summary of revenues and account balances, programs, meetings, and other activities in the office during the previous month.

The DOE tasked PNNL to investigate possible technological avenues for substantially advancing the state-of-the-art in gamma detection via large-area plastic scintillators. This report describes progress on this project as of the conclusion of FY 2003. The primary focus of the report is on experimental tests conducted with a single large-area plastic scintillator outfitted with a variety of photomultiplier tube configurations. Measurements performed to date incude scintillator response under broad-area exposure to various point-like gamma sources, and light-output uniformity mappings obtained by varying the position of a collimated beta-source over the surface of the scintillator. Development of a Monte Carlo program for modeling the response of a large-area scintillator sensor to ionizing radiation, explicitly including resolution-broadening effects of scintillation light generation, propagation, and collection is also described.

CDIC will provide state-of-the-art computational and computer science for the Laboratory and for the broader DOE and scientific community. We achieve this goal by performing advanced scientific computing research in the Laboratory's mission areas of High Energy and Nuclear Physics, Biological and Environmental Research, and Basic Energy Sciences. We also assist other groups at the Laboratory to reach new levels of achievement in computing. We are ''data intensive'' because the production and manipulation of large quantities of data are hallmarks of scientific research in the 21st century and are intrinsic features of major programs at Brookhaven. An integral part of our activity to accomplish this mission will be a close collaboration with the University at Stony Brook.

Quarterly magazine with articles on recent additions to the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Station Locator database, biodiesel buying co-ops, and developing the CNG infrastructure in Bangladesh. Also a memo from CIVITAS 2003.

Technology for a photon collider experiment at a future TeV-scale linear collider has been under development for many years. The laser and optics technology has reached the point where a GeV-scale photon collider experiment is now feasible. We report on the photon-photon luminosities that would be achievable at a photon collider experiment based on a refurbished Stanford Linear Collider.

This report describes the first steps toward creating the organization, procedures, plans and tools for distributed energy resources (DER) equipment certification, test laboratory accreditation, and interconnection agreements. It covers the activities and accomplishments during the first period of a multiyear effort. It summarizes steps taken to outline a certification plan to assist in the future development of an interim plan for certification and accreditation activities. It also summarizes work toward a draft plan for certification, a beta Web site to support communications and materials, and preliminary draft certification criteria.

NREL will produce this sourcebook for DOE's Industrial Technologies Office as part of a series of documents on industrial energy equipment. The sourcebook is a reference for industrial compressed air system users, outlining opportunities to improve system efficiency.

We investigated a small isolated hybrid power system that used two types of power generation; wind turbine and diesel generation. The interaction of diesel generation, the wind turbine, and the local load is complicated because both the load and the wind turbine fluctuate during the day. These fluctuations create imbalances in power distribution (energy sources are not equal to energy sinks) that can affect the frequency and the voltage in the power system. The addition of energy storage will help balance the distribution of power in the power network. For this paper, we studied the interaction among hybrid power system components and the relative size of the components. We also show how the contribution of wind energy affects the entire power system and distribution and the role of energy storage under the transient conditions caused by load changes and wind turbine start ups.