A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Infections that were once treatable have become more difficult to treat because of antibiotic resistance. Resistance occurs naturally but is accelerated by inappropriate antibiotic use in people, among other things. Questions have been raised about whether agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have adequately assessed the effects of antibiotic use and disposal on resistance in humans. GAO was asked to (1) describe federal efforts to quantify the amount of antibiotics produced, (2) evaluate HHS's monitoring of antibiotic use and efforts to promote appropriate use, (3) examine HHS's monitoring of antibiotic-resistant infections, and (4) describe federal efforts to monitor antibiotic disposal and antibiotics in the environment, and describe research on antibiotics in the development of resistance in the environment. GAO reviewed documents and interviewed officials, conducted a literature review, and analyzed antibiotic sales data."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State's (State) Bureau of Diplomatic Security (Diplomatic Security) protects people, information, and property at over 400 locations worldwide and has experienced a large growth in its budget and personnel over the last decade. Diplomatic Security trains its workforce and others to address a variety of threats, including crime, espionage, visa and passport fraud, technological intrusions, political violence, and terrorism. To meet its training needs, Diplomatic Security relies primarily on its Diplomatic Security Training Center (DSTC). GAO was asked to examine (1) how Diplomatic Security ensures the quality and appropriateness of its training, (2) the extent to which Diplomatic Security ensures that training requirements are being met, and (3) any challenges that Diplomatic Security faces in carrying out its training mission. GAO examined compliance with accreditation processes; analyzed data and documentation related to the agency's training efforts; and interviewed officials in Washington, D.C., and five overseas posts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

This report discusses the current political conditions of Rwanda, including a brief historical overview. The report also includes information about the poor human rights conditions in Rwanda and U.S. Rwanda relations.

This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, as well as the Afghan government. This report also discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, particularly U.S. efforts to urge President Hamid Karzai, to address corruption within the Afghan government. The report also includes discussion of election fraud and corruption in Afghanistan.

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

This report serves as a brief overview of the GCCI, its structure, intents, and funding history.

This report documents the calendar Year 2010 radionuclide air emissions and resulting effective dose equivalent to the maximally exposed individual member of the public from operations at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory Site. This report was prepared in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, 'Protection of the Environment,' Part 61, 'National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants,' Subpart H, 'National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities.'

This report describes efforts by IBACOS, a Department of Energy Building America research team, in the St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit, community-based organization whose mission is to assist Hurricane Katrina survivors return to their homes in the New Orleans area. The report focuses on energy modeling results of two plans that the St. Bernard Project put forth as 'typical' building types and on quality issues that were observed during the field walk and Best Practice recommendations that could improve the energy efficiency and durability of the renovated homes.

This report describes the status of the U.S. wind energy industry market in 2010; its trends, performance, market drivers and future outlook.

The Prismatic Modular Reactor (PMR) is one of the High Temperature Reactor (HTR) design concepts that have existed for some time. Several prismatic units have operated in the world (DRAGON, Fort St. Vrain, Peach Bottom) and one unit is still in operation (HTTR). The deterministic neutronics and thermal-fluids transient analysis tools and methods currently available for the design and analysis of PMRs have lagged behind the state of the art compared to LWR reactor technologies. This has motivated the development of more accurate and efficient tools for the design and safety evaluations of the PMR. In addition to the work invested in new methods, it is essential to develop appropriate benchmarks to verify and validate the new methods in computer codes. The purpose of this benchmark is to establish a well-defined problem, based on a common given set of data, to compare methods and tools in core simulation and thermal hydraulics analysis with a specific focus on transient events. The benchmark-working group is currently seeking OECD/NEA sponsorship. This benchmark is being pursued and is heavily based on the success of the PBMR-400 exercise.

In modern storage rings the transverse emittance of electron beams can be comparable to that from state-of-art photoinjectors, but the intrinsic low peak current and large energy spread pre-cludes the possibility of realizing short-wavelength high-gain free electron lasers (FELs) in storage rings. In this note I propose a technique to significantly increase beam peak current without greatly increasing beam energy spread, which is achieved by transferring part of the longitudinal emittance to transverse plane. It is shown that by properly repartitioning the emittance in 6-D phase space, the beam from a large storage ring may be used to drive a single-pass high-gain FEL in soft x-ray wavelength range.

The Facilities and Operations (F&O) Directorate is sponsoring a continuous process improvement (CPI) program. Its purpose is to stimulate, promote, and sustain a culture of improvement throughout all levels of the organization. The CPI program ensures that a scientific and repeatable process exists for improving the delivery of F&O products and services in support of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Management Systems. Strategic objectives of the CPI program include achieving excellence in laboratory operations in the areas of safety, health, and the environment. Identifying and promoting opportunities for achieving the following critical outcomes are important business goals of the CPI program: improved safety performance; process focused on consumer needs; modern and secure campus; flexibility to respond to changing laboratory needs; bench strength for the future; and elimination of legacy issues. The Steam Pressure-Reducing Station (SPRS) Safety and Energy Efficiency Improvement Project, which is under the CPI program, focuses on maintaining and upgrading SPRSs that are part of the ORNL steam distribution network. This steam pipe network transports steam produced at the ORNL steam plant to many buildings in the main campus site. The SPRS Safety and Energy Efficiency Improvement Project promotes excellence in laboratory operations by (1) improving personnel safety, …

This is an addendum to the Presto 4.20 User's Guide to document additional capabilities that are available for use in the Presto{_}ITAR code that are not available for use in the standard version of Presto. Presto{_}ITAR is an enhanced version of Presto that provides capabilities that make it regulated under the U.S. Department of State's International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) export-control rules. This code is part of the Vivace product, and is only distributed to entities that comply with ITAR regulations. The enhancements primarily focus on material models that include an energy-dependent pressure response, appropriate for very large deformations and strain rates. Since this is an addendum to the standard Presto User's Guide, please refer to that document first for general descriptions of code capability and use. This addendum documents material models and element features that support energy-dependent material models.

The elastic properties and internal friction of two magnesium alloys were studied from 25 C to 450 C using Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS). The Young's moduli decrease with increasing temperature. At 200 C, a change in the temperature dependence of the elastic constants is observed. The internal friction increases significantly with increasing temperature above 200 C. The observed changes in the temperature dependence of the elastic constants and the internal friction are the result of anelastic relaxation by grain boundary sliding at elevated temperatures. Elastic properties govern the behavior of a materials subjected to stress over a region of strain where the material behaves elastically. The elastic properties, including the Young's modulus (E), shear modulus (G), bulk modulus (B), and Poisson's ratio (?), are of significant interest to many design and engineering applications. The choice of the most appropriate material for a particular application at elevated temperatures therefore requires knowledge of its elastic properties as a function of temperature. In addition, mechanical vibration can cause significant damage in the automotive, aerospace, and architectural industries and thus, the ability of a material to dissipate elastic strain energy in materials, known as damping or internal friction, is also important property. Internal friction …

This guide addresses software quality in the construction of Powersim{reg_sign} Studio 8 system dynamics simulation models. It is the result of almost ten years of experience with the Powersim suite of system dynamics modeling tools (Constructor and earlier Studio versions). It is a guide that proposes a common look and feel for the construction of Powersim Studio system dynamics models.

Many of the sensors deployed at materials and test reactors cannot withstand the high flux/high temperature test conditions often requested by users at U.S. test reactors, such as the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). To address this issue, an instrumentation development effort was initiated as part of the ATR National Scientific User Facility (NSUF) in 2007 to support the development and deployment of enhanced in-pile sensors. This paper reports results from this effort. Specifically, this paper identifies the types of sensors currently available to support in-pile irradiations and those sensors currently available to ATR users. Accomplishments from new sensor technology deployment efforts are highlighted by describing new temperature and thermal conductivity sensors now available to ATR users. Efforts to deploy enhanced in-pile sensors for detecting elongation and real-time flux detectors are also reported, and recently-initiated research to evaluate the viability of advanced technologies to provide enhanced accuracy for measuring key parameters during irradiation testing are noted.

Capabilities fact sheet that includes scope, core competencies and capabilities, and contact/web information for Polycrystalline Thin-Film Research: Cadmium Telluride at the National Center for Photovoltaics.

Many applications of neutrons for non-invasive measurements began with isotopic sources such as AmBe or Cf-252. Political factors have rendered AmBe undesirable in the United States and other countries, and the supply of Cf-252 is limited and significantly increasing in price every few years. Compact and low-power deuterium-tritium (DT) electronic neutron generators can often provide sufficient flux, but the 14-MeV neutron spectrum is much more energetic (harder) than an isotopic neutron source. A series of MCNP simulations were run to examine the extent to which the 14-MeV DT neutron spectrum could be softened through the use of high-Z and low-Z materials. Some potential concepts of operation require a portable neutron generator system, so the additional weight of extra materials is also a trade-off parameter. Using a reference distance of 30 cm from the source, the average neutron energy can be lowered to be less than that of either AmBe or Cf-252, while obtaining an increase in flux at the reference distance compared to a bare neutron generator. This paper discusses the types and amounts of materials used, the resulting neutron spectra, neutron flux levels, and associated photon production.

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project, managed by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is authored by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, to research, develop, design, construct, and operate a prototype fourth generation nuclear reactor to meet the needs of the 21st Century. A section in this document proposes that the NGNP will provide heat for process heat applications. As with all large projects developing and deploying new technologies, the NGNP is expected to meet high performance and availability targets relative to current state of the art systems and technology. One requirement for the NGNP is to provide heat for the generation of hydrogen for large scale productions and this process heat application is required to be at least 90% or more available relative to other technologies currently on the market. To reach this goal, a RAM Roadmap was developed highlighting the actions to be taken to ensure that various milestones in system development and maturation concurrently meet required availability requirements. Integral to the RAM Roadmap was the use of a RAM analytical/simulation tool which was used to estimate the availability of the system when deployed based on current design configuration and the maturation level of the system.

Safe, secure, reliable and sustainable energy supply is vital for advanced and industrialized life styles. To meet growing energy demand there is interest in longer term operation (LTO) for the existing nuclear power plant fleet and enhancing capabilities in new build. There is increasing use of condition based maintenance (CBM) for active components and periodic in service inspection (ISI) for passive systems: there is growing interest in deploying on-line monitoring. Opportunities exist to move beyond monitoring and diagnosis based on pattern recognition and anomaly detection to and prognostics with the ability to provide an estimate of remaining useful life (RUL). The adoption of digital I&C systems provides a framework within which added functionality including on-line monitoring can be deployed, and used to maintain and even potentially enhance safety, while at the same time improving planning and reducing both operations and maintenance costs.

We present the recent results of top-quark physics using up to 6 fb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collisions at a center of mass energy of {radical}s = 1.96 TeV analyzed by the CDF collaboration. Thanks to this large data sample, precision top quark measurements are now a reality at the Tevatron. Further, several new physics signals could appear in this large dataset. We will present the latest measurements of top quark intrinsic properties as well as direct searches for new physics in the top sector.

INSTANT is the INL's next generation neutron transport solver to support high-fidelity multi-physics reactor simulation INSTANT is in continuous development to extend its capability Code is designed to take full advantage of middle to large cluster (10-1000 processors) Code is designed to focus on method adaptation while also mesh adaptation will be possible. It utilizes the most modern computing techniques to generate a neutronics tool of full-core transport calculations for reactor analysis and design. It can perform calculations on unstructured 2D/3D triangular, hexagonal and Cartesian geometries. Calculations can be easily extended to more geometries because of the independent mesh framework coded with the model Fortran. This code has a multigroup solver with thermal rebalance and Chebyshev acceleration. It employs second-order PN and Hybrid Finite Element method (PNHFEM) discretization scheme. Three different in-group solvers - preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (CG) method, preconditioned Generalized Minimal Residual Method (GMRES) and Red-Black iteration - have been implemented and parallelized with the spatial domain decomposition in the code. The input is managed with extensible markup language (XML) format. 3D variables including the flux distributions are outputted into VTK files, which can be visualized by tools such as VisIt and ParaView. An extension of the code named …