Document details the compliance activities of EPAct-covered state and alternative fuel provider fleets in model year 2006.

This report documents a year-long academic project, presenting selected techniques for analysis of market growth, penetration, and forecasting applicable to renewable energy technologies. Existing mathematical models were modified to incorporate the effects of fiscal policies and were evaluated using available data. The modifications were made based on research and classification of current mathematical models used for predicting market penetration. An analysis of the results was carried out, based on available data. MATLAB versions of existing and new models were developed for research and policy analysis.

This report discusses the trade in agricultural products, which is one of the difficult issues negotiators face in concluding free trade agreements (FTAs). The report also deals with food safety and animal/plant health matters.

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A principal measure of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image quality is the manifestation in the SAR image of a spatial impulse, that is, the SAR's Impulse Response (IPR). IPR requirements direct certain design decisions in a SAR. Anomalies in the IPR can point to specific anomalous behavior in the radar's hardware and/or software.

This report provides an experimental plan for a proposed Asian long-range tracer study as part of the international Tracer Experiment and Atmospheric Modeling (TEAM) Project. The TEAM partners are China, Japan, South Korea and the United States. Optimal times of year to conduct the study, meteorological measurements needed, proposed tracer release locations, proposed tracer sampling locations and the proposed durations of tracer releases and subsequent sampling are given. Also given are the activities necessary to prepare for the study and the schedule for completing the preparation activities leading to conducting the actual field operations. This report is intended to provide the TEAM members with the information necessary for planning and conducting the Asian long-range tracer study. The experimental plan is proposed, at this time, to describe the efforts necessary to conduct the Asian long-range tracer study, and the plan will undoubtedly be revised and refined as the planning goes forward over the next year.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to enhancing accountability for enrollment reporting by reviewing self-reported enrollment data from public community, state, and technical colleges, and by conducting an independent analysis of selected colleges' enrollment data.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (Department) is compensating Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) providers in accordance with contracts and federal and state laws.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to enhancing accountability at Texas public universities for enrollment reporting by reviewing self-reported enrollment data from the universities, and conducting an independent analysis of selected universities' enrollment data.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Railroad Commission's Field Operations' inspection processes are designed and operate to minimize pollution associated with oil and gas activities, and whether the Commission's enforcement function is designed and operated to ensure that violations of state laws and rules identified by Field Operations are corrected and sanctions are administered in accordance with state law, rules, and Commission policy.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Juvenile Probation Commission has taken corrective action on significant issues in monitoring and enforcement identified in a previous audit report.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether controls are in place at higher education institutions and at the Higher Education Coordinating Board (Coordinating Board) to produce accurate, complete, consistent, and timely data used for higher education accountability and for legislative and policy decision-making; determining how the Coordinating Board uses the accountability system in developing the long-range, statewide higher education goals; and determining whether data prepared for the Coordinating Board meets institutional internal management needs and statewide assessment needs.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether selected processes and controls at the Texas Education Agency provide reasonable assurance of the accuracy of accountability data, and to verifying the accuracy of selected accountability data for campuses that have been upgraded from an "academically unacceptable" accountability rating to an "academically acceptable" accountability rating.

The Gas Test Loop (GTL) Project was instituted to develop the means for conducting fast neutron irradiation tests in a domestic radiation facility. It made use of booster fuel to achieve the high neutron flux, a hafnium thermal neutron absorber to attain the high fast-to-thermal flux ratio, a mixed gas temperature control system for maintaining experiment temperatures, and a compressed gas cooling system to remove heat from the experiment capsules and the hafnium thermal neutron absorber. This GTL system was determined to provide a fast (E > 0.1 MeV) flux greater than 1.0E+15 n/cm2-s with a fast-to-thermal flux ratio in the vicinity of 40. However, the estimated system acquisition cost from earlier studies was deemed to be high. That cost was strongly influenced by the compressed gas cooling system for experiment heat removal. Designers were challenged to find a less expensive way to achieve the required cooling. This report documents the results of the investigation leading to an alternatively cooled configuration, referred to now as the Boosted Fast Flux Loop (BFFL). This configuration relies on a composite material comprised of hafnium aluminide (Al3Hf) in an aluminum matrix to transfer heat from the experiment to pressurized water cooling channels while at …

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Water Development Board (Board) conforms to the State's Classification Plan in ensuring proper classifications of positions.

This Closure Report (CR) presents information supporting the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 553: Areas 19, 20 Mud Pits and Cellars, Nevada Test Site, Nevada. This CR complies with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Management; U.S. Department of Defense; and DOE, Legacy Management. The corrective action sites (CASs) within CAU 553 are located within Areas 19 and 20 of the Nevada Test Site. Corrective Action Unit 553 is comprised of the following CASs: •19-99-01, Mud Spill •19-99-11, Mud Spill •20-09-09, Mud Spill •20-99-03, Mud Spill The purpose of this CR is to provide documentation supporting the completed corrective actions and provide data confirming that the closure objectives for CASs within CAU 553 were met. To achieve this, the following actions were or will be performed: •Review the current site conditions including the concentration and extent of contamination. •Implement any corrective actions necessary to protect human health and the environment. •Properly dispose of corrective action and investigation wastes. •Document the Notice of Completion and closure of CAU 553 to be issued by Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

This document is a Conceptual Design Report for a fast muon trigger for the PHENIX experiment that will enable the study of flavor separated quark and anti-quark spin polarizations in the proton. A powerful way of measuring these polarizations is via single spin asymmetries for W boson production in polarized proton-proton reactions. The measurement is done by tagging W{sup +} and W{sup -} via their decay into high transverse momentum leptons in the forward directions. The PHENIX experiment is capable of measuring high momentum muons at forward rapidity, but the current online trigger does not have sufficient rejection to sample the rare leptons fromW decay at the highest luminosities at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). This Report details the goals, design, R&D, and schedule for building new detectors and trigger electronics to use the full RHIC luminosity to make this critical measurement. The idea for W boson measurements in polarized proton-proton collisions at RHIC was first suggested by Jacques Soffer and Claude Bourrely in 1995. This prompted the RIKEN institute in Japan to supply funds to build a second muon arm for PHENIX (south muon arm). The existence of both a north and south muon arm makes it possible …

This report outlines the source of the contempt power, reviews major developments in the case law, and analyzes the procedures associated with each of the three different types of contempt proceedings.

One in a series of tip sheets to help manufacturers optimize their industrial steam systems.

One in a series of tip sheets to help manufacturers optimize their industrial steam systems.

Nonspecific building-related symptoms among occupants of modern office buildings worldwide are common and may be associated with important reductions in work performance, but their etiology remains uncertain. Most reported research into environmental risk factors for these symptoms has focused on ventilation system-related factors, dampness, and particle removal through filtration and cleaning, with relatively few studies of other potential sources of indoor contaminants. We analyzed data collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from a representative sample of 100 large U.S. office buildings--the Building Assessment and Survey Evaluation (BASE) study--using multivariate-adjusted logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between seven building-related symptom outcomes and a diverse set of potential indoor and outdoor sources for indoor pollutants. Although most of the investigated risk factors showed no apparent association with building-related symptoms, some interesting associations resulted. Increased prevalence of symptoms was associated with carpets older than one year (lower respiratory symptoms), non-carpeted floors (upper and lower respiratory symptoms), older furniture (eye and skin symptoms), infrequent vacuuming (upper respiratory, eye, and skin symptoms and headache), and masonry exterior walls (cough, eye symptoms, and fatigue/concentration difficulty). For the many potential risk factors …

Propagation of an intense charged particle beam pulse through a background plasma is a common problem in astrophysics and plasma applications. The plasma can effectively neutralize the charge and current of the beam pulse, and thus provides a convenient medium for beam transport. The application of a small solenoidal magnetic field can drastically change the self-magnetic and self-electric fields of the beam pulse, thus allowing effective control of the beam transport through the background plasma. An analytical model is developed to describe the self-magnetic field of a finite-length ion beam pulse propagating in a cold background plasma in a solenoidal magnetic field. The analytical studies show that the solenoidal magnetic field starts to influence the self-electric and self-magnetic fields when ωce ≥ ωpeβb, where ωce = eΒ/mec is the electron gyrofrequency, ωpe is the electron plasma frequency, and βb = Vb/c is the ion beam velocity relative to the speed of light. This condition typically holds for relatively small magnetic fields (about 100G). Analytical formulas are derived for the effective radial force acting on the beam ions, which can be used to minimize beam pinching. The results of analytical theory have been verified by comparison with the simulation results obtained …

Corrective Action Unit 234, Mud Pits, Cellars, and Mud Spills, consists of 12 inactive sites located in the north and northeast section of the NTS. The 12 CAU 234 sites consist of mud pits, mud spills, mud sumps, and an open post-test cellar. The CAU 234 sites were all used to support nuclear testing conducted in the Yucca Flat and Rainier Mesa areas during the 1950s through the 1970s. The CASs in CAU 234 are being investigated because hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present in concentrations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. Existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives for the CASs. Additional information will be generated by conducting a CAI before evaluating and selecting appropriate corrective action alternatives.

Work was performed to develop a prototype Particle Size Analyzer (PSA) for application to coated particle fuel characterization. This system was based on a light obscuration method and targeted towards high throughput analysis. Although never matured to the point of replacing existing lower throughput optical microscopy shadowgraph methods, the system was successfully applied to automating the counting of large particle samples for increased accuracy in calculating mean particle properties based on measurements of multiparticle samples. The measurement of particle size with the PSA was compared to current shadowgraph techniques and found to result in considerably greater throughput at the cost of larger measurement uncertainty. The current algorithm used by the PSA is more sensitive to particle shape and this is a likely cause of the greater uncertainty when attempting to measure average particle diameter. The use of the PSA to measure particle shape will require further development. Particle transport through the PSA and stability of the light source/detector are key elements in the successful application of this technique. A number of system pitfalls were studied and addressed.