A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In accordance with 36 U.S.C. 2103, GAO is responsible for conducting audits of the agencywide financial statements of the American Battle Monuments Commission (the Commission). GAO audited the financial statements of the Commission for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2009, and 2008. The audits were done to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the Commission's financial statements were presented fairly and (2) Commission management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. GAO also tested Commission management's compliance with selected laws and regulations. Created in 1923, the Commission operates and maintains 24 American military cemeteries on foreign soil; 25 federal memorials, monuments, and markers; and 7 nonfederal memorials. GAO is not making any recommendations in this report, but will be reporting separately on our recommendations for strengthening the Commission's controls. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Commission concurred with its facts and conclusions. Further, the Commission stated it would report the Antideficency Act violation and noted that the appointment of Commissioners to provide governance resides with the President of the United States."

This report summarizes the workforce, prevention, quality, and related provisions in H.R. 3590, as passed by the Senate. It begins with some background on health care delivery reform, followed by an overview of the report’s content and organization

The proposed electron collider lattice exhibits low β- functions at the Interaction Point (IP) (βx∗100mm − βy∗ 20 mm) and rather large equilibrium momentum spread of the collider ring (δp/p = 0.00158). Both features make the chromatic corrections of paramount importance. Here the chromatic effects of the final focus quadruples are cor- rected both locally and globally. Local correction features symmetric sextupole families around the IP, the betatron phase advances from the IP to the sextupoles are chosen to eliminate the second order chromatic aberration. Global interleaved families of sextupoles are placed in the figure-8 arc sections, and non-interleaved families at straight sec- tion making use of the freely propagated dispersion wave from the arcs. This strategy minimizes the required sex- tupole strength and eventually leads to larger dynamic aper- ture of the collider. The resulting spherical aberrations induced by the sextupoles are mitigated by design; the straight and arc sections optics features an inverse identity transformation between sextupoles in each pair.

This summary of proceedings report focuses on an end-of-grant meeting at which grantees for Project Area 5 were convened.

Climate change is a long-term process that will trigger a range of multi-dimensional demographic, economic, geopolitical, and national security issues with many unknowns and significant uncertainties. At first glance, climate-change-related national security dimensions seem far removed from today's major national security threats. Yet climate change has already set in motion forces that will require U.S. attention and preparedness. The extent and uncertainty associated with these situations necessitate a move away from conventional security practices, toward a small but flexible portfolio of assets to maintain U.S. interests. Thoughtful action is required now if we are to acquire the capabilities, tools, systems, and institutions needed to meet U.S. national security requirements as they evolve with the emerging stresses and shifts of climate change.

A unique de­sign fea­ture of a po­lar­ized Medi­um En­er­gy Elec­tron-Ion Col­lid­er (MEIC) based on CEBAF is its 'Fig­ure-8' stor­age rings for both elec­trons and ions, which sig­nif­i­cant­ly sim­pli­fies beam po­lar­iza­tion main­te­nance and ma­nip­u­la­tion. While elec­tron (positron) po­lar­iza­tion is main­tained ver­ti­cal in arcs of the ring, a sta­ble lon­gi­tu­di­nal spin at four col­li­sion points is achieved through solenoid based spin ro­ta­tors and hor­i­zon­tal orbit bends. The pro­posed MEIC lat­tice was de­vel­oped in order to pre­serve a very high po­lar­iza­tion (more than 70%) of the elec­tron beams in­ject­ed from the CEBAF ma­chine. The oth­er­wise cou­pled beam tra­jec­to­ry due to solenoids used in the spin ro­ta­tors was de­cou­pled by de­sign. Aspin match­ing tech­nique needs to be im­ple­ment­ed in order to en­hance quan­tum self-po­lar­iza­tion and min­i­mize de­po­lar­iza­tion ef­fects.

In 2009, the Nonproliferation Graduate Fellowship Program (NGFP) completed its 16th successful year in support of the NNSA’s mission by developing future leaders in nonproliferation and promoting awareness of career opportunities. We provide this annual report to review program activities from June 2008 through May 2009 - the fellowship term for the Class of 2008. Contents include: Welcome Letter Introduction The NGFP Team Program Management Highlights Class of 2008 Incoming Fellows Orientation Travel Career Development Management of the Fellows Performance Highlights Closing Ceremony Encore Performance Where They Are Now Alumnus Career Highlights: Christine Buzzard Class of 2009 Applicant Database Upgrades Fall Recruitment Activities Interviews Hiring and Clearances Introducing the Class of 2009 Class of 2010 Recruitment Strategy On the Horizon Appendix A: Class of 2009 Fellows

Broad Funding Opportunity Announcement Project: UIUC is experimenting with silicon-based materials to develop flexible thermoelectric devices—which convert heat into energy—that can be mass-produced at low cost. A thermoelectric device, which resembles a computer chip, creates electricity when a different temperature is applied to each of its sides. Existing commercial thermoelectric devices contain the element tellurium, which limits production levels because tellurium has become increasingly rare. UIUC is replacing this material with microscopic silicon wires that are considerably cheaper and could be equally effective. Improvements in thermoelectric device production could return enough wasted heat to add up to 23% to our current annual electricity production.

Project overview provides background on carbonic anhydrase transport mechanism for CO2 in the human body and proposed approach for ARPA-E project to create a synthetic enzyme analogue and utilize it in a membrane for CO2 capture from flue gas.

Jackson Park Hospital completed the construction of a new Medical Office Building on its campus this spring. The new building construction has adopted the City of Chicago’s recent focus on protecting the environment, and conserving energy and resources, with the introduction of green building codes. Located in a poor, inner city neighborhood on the South side of Chicago, Jackson Park Hospital has chosen green building strategies to help make the area a better place to live and work.

We summarize and combine direct measurements of the width of the W boson in data collected by the Tevatron experiments CDF and D0 at Fermilab. Results from CDF and D0 Run-I (1992-1995) have been combined with the CDF 200 pb{sup -1} results from the first period of Run-II (2001-2004) and the recent 1 fb{sup -1} result in the electron channel from D0 (2002-2006). The results are corrected for any inconsistencies in parton distribution functions and assumptions about electroweak parameters used in the different analyses. The resulting Tevatron average for the width of the W boson is {Lambda}{sub W} = 2,046 {+-} 49 MeV.

The survey includes degrees granted between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009, and fall 2009 enrollments. Thirty-two academic programs reported having nuclear engineering programs during 2009, and data was obtained from all thirty-two.

This report describes the development of the necessary and needed wind and solar datasets used in the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS).

This program has involved investigations of the stability of CdTe and copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) solar cells under damp heat conditions and effects of barrier coatings.

A computer software package was developed to predict tissue doses to an infant due to intake of radionuclides in breast milk based on bioassay measurements and exposure data for the mother. The package is intended mainly to aid in decisions regarding the safety of breast feeding by a mother who has been acutely exposed to a radionuclide during lactation or pregnancy, but it may be applied to previous intakes during the mother s adult life. The package includes biokinetic and dosimetric information needed to address intake of Co-60, Sr-90, Cs-134, Cs-137, Ir-192, Pu-238, Pu-239, Am-241, or Cf-252 by the mother. It has been designed so that the library of biokinetic and dosimetric files can be expanded to address a more comprehensive set of radionuclides without modifying the basic computational module. The methods and models build on the approach used in Publication 95 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP 2004), Doses to Infants from Ingestion of Radionuclides in Mothers Milk . The software package allows input of case-specific information or judgments such as chemical form or particle size of an inhaled aerosol. The package is expected to be more suitable than ICRP Publication 95 for dose assessment for real …

The status of groundwater level monitoring at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2009 is provided in this report. This report summarizes groundwater level data for 179 monitoring wells, including 55 regional aquifer wells (including 11 regional/intermediate wells), 26 intermediate wells, 98 alluvial wells, and 12 water supply wells. Pressure transducers were installed in 161 monitoring wells for continuous monitoring of groundwater levels. Time-series hydrographs of groundwater level data are presented along with pertinent construction and location information for each well. The report also summarizes the groundwater temperatures recorded in intermediate and regional aquifer monitoring wells.

As the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Solar Energy Technologies Program prepares to initiate a new cost-shared research and development (R&D) effort on photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing, it is useful to review the experience to date with consortia focused on PV R&D, manufacturing, and testing. Information was gathered for this report by conducting interviews and accessing Web sites of 14 U.S. consortia and four European consortia, each with either a primary focus on or an emerging interest in PV technology R&D, manufacturing, or testing. Additional input was collected from several workshops held by the DOE and National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2009, which examined the practical steps -- including public-private partnerships and policy support -- necessary to enhance the United States' capacity to competitively manufacture photovoltaics. This report categorizes the 18 consortia into three groups: university-led consortia, industry-led consortia, and manufacturing and testing facilities consortia. The first section summarizes the organizations within the different categories, with a particular focus on the key benefits and challenges for each grouping. The second section provides a more detailed overview of each consortium, including the origins, goals, organization, membership, funding sources, and key contacts. This survey is a useful resource for stakeholders interested in …

This report presents experimental and numerical results from thermal performance studies. The purpose of this Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between UT-Battelle, LLC and John s Manville was to design a basic concept of a new generation of thermally-enhanced fiber glass insulation. Different types of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) have been tested as dynamic components in buildings during the last 4 decades. Most historical studies have found that PCMs enhance building energy performance. Some PCM-enhanced building materials, like PCM-gypsum boards or PCM-impregnated concretes have already found their limited applications in different countries. Today, continued improvements in building envelope technologies suggest that throughout Southern and Central U.S. climates, residences may soon be routinely constructed with PCM in order to maximize insulation effectiveness and maintain low heating and cooling loads. The proposed thermally-enhanced fiber glass insulation will maximize this integration by utilizing a highly-efficient building envelope with high-R thermal insulation, active thermal mass and superior air-tightness. Improved thermal resistance will come from modifications in infrared internal characteristics of the fiber glass insulation. Thermal mass effect can be provided by proprietary thermally-active microencapsulated phase change material (PCM). Work carried out at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on the CRADA is described …

The purpose of the Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) role in the evaluation of the SAPHIRE 8 Software Acceptance Test Plan is to assess the approach to be taken for intended testing activities. The plan typically identifies the items to be tested, the requirements being tested, the testing to be performed, test schedules, personnel requirements, reporting requirements, evaluation criteria, and any risks requiring contingency planning. The IV&V team began this endeavor after the software engineering and software development of SAPHIRE had already been in production.

The U.S. Department of Energy is exploring the potential for the VHTR which will be either of a prismatic or a pebble-bed type. One important design consideration for the reactor core of a prismatic VHTR is coolant bypass flow which occurs in the interstitial regions between fuel blocks. Such gaps are an inherent presence in the reactor core because of tolerances in manufacturing the blocks and the inexact nature of their installation. Furthermore, the geometry of the graphite blocks changes over the lifetime of the reactor because of thermal expansion and irradiation damage. The existence of the gaps induces a flow bias in the fuel blocks and results in unexpected increase of maximum fuel temperature. Traditionally, simplified methods such as flow network calculations employing experimental correlations are used to estimate flow and temperature distributions in the core design. However, the distribution of temperature in the fuel pins and graphite blocks as well as coolant outlet temperatures are strongly coupled with the local heat generation rate within fuel blocks which is not uniformly distributed in the core. Hence, it is crucial to establish mechanistic based methods which can be applied to the reactor core thermal hydraulic design and safety analysis. Computational …

This report includes a procedure for implementing an algorithm (described by Jean Meeus) to calculate the moon's zenith angle with uncertainty of +/-0.001 degrees and azimuth angle with uncertainty of +/-0.003 degrees. The step-by-step format presented here simplifies the complicated steps Meeus describes to calculate the Moon's position, and focuses on the Moon instead of the planets and stars. It also introduces some changes to accommodate for solar radiation applications.

This survey includes degrees granted between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009. Enrollment information refers to the fall term 2009. Twenty-four academic programs were included in the survey universe, and all twenty-four responded. The report includes data by degree level including citizenship, gender, and race/ethnicity, plus enrollments of junior and senior undergraduate students and graduate students.

This one-page fact sheet describes the renewable energy possibilities in Alaska.

ABSTRACT Projects for the very high temperature reactor (VHTR) Technology Development Office (TDO) program provide data in support of Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of the VHTR. Fuel and materials to be used in the reactor are tested and characterized to quantify performance in high temperature and high fluence environments. The VHTR program has established the NGNP Data Management and Analysis System (NDMAS) to ensure that VHTR data are (1) qualified for use, (2) stored in a readily accessible electronic form, and (3) analyzed to extract useful results. This document focuses on the first NDMAS objective. It describes the data streams associated with the first Advanced Gas Reactor experiment (AGR-1), the processing of these data within NDMAS, and reports the qualification status of the data. Data qualification activities within NDMAS for specific types of data are determined by the data qualification category assigned by the data generator. They include: (1) capture testing, to confirm that the data stored within NDMAS are identical to the raw data supplied, (2) accuracy testing, to confirm that the data are an accurate representation of the system or object being measured, and (3) documentation that the data were collected under an NQA-1 or equivalent quality assurance …