A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A strong competitive workforce is necessary for success in today's era of technological advances and increased global competition. Congress wants to ensure that employment and training programs foster a coherent and efficient approach to helping individuals find jobs in an environment characterized by changing labor demands. GAO identified 40 federally funded employment and training programs for which a key program goal is providing assistance to persons trying to find employment or improve their job skills. The most frequently cited target populations were Native Americans, youths, and veterans. Several programs target the same populations and provide similar services. This overlap could result in inefficiencies and redundancies. To assess whether such overlap is creating duplication among programs, agencies need to collect and analyze information on the eligibility requirements for the target populations. Federal regulations, such as the Government Performance and Results Act, provide agencies with the opportunity to coordinate their activities with other agencies. It also provides agencies with a framework to measure and evaluate the progress of their efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns about the effects of the globalization of national economies and the rapid pace of economic change have focused attention on federal programs designed to assist U.S. workers displaced by foreign trade and increased imports. GAO reviewed two programs run by the Department of Labor. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (TAA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program (NAFTA-TAA) have spent more than $1.3 billion in the past five years to help workers make the transition to new jobs, but it is unclear how effective these programs are in achieving their goals. Limited data indicate that 75 percent of workers who left the programs found jobs, but that many earned far less than their prior salaries. Training participation rates for both programs are low due to such factors as low unemployment rates and a healthy economy. GAO identified several factors that affected the delivery of services, including: (1) non-standardized eligibility criteria, (2) open-ended training enrollment, and (3) overall program administration. Further review of available data indicates that weak internal controls may result in the payment of benefits to ineligible beneficiaries."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Every year, food stamp recipients exchange hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits for cash instead of food with retailers across the country, a practice known as trafficking. From 2000 to 2005, the Food Stamp Program has grown from $15 billion to $29 billion in benefits. During this period of time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) replaced paper food stamp coupons with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards that work much like a debit card at the grocery checkout counter. Given these program changes and continuing retailer fraud, GAO was asked to provide information on (1) what is known about the extent and nature of retailer food stamp trafficking, (2) the efforts of federal agencies to combat such trafficking, and (3) program vulnerabilities. To do this, GAO interviewed agency officials, visited 10 field offices, conducted case file reviews, and analyzed data from the FNS retailer database."

The purpose of this report is to provide information needed by the DOE to assess WIPP's environmental performance and to make WIPP environmental information available to stakeholders and members of the public. This report has been prepared in accordance with DOE Order 231.1A and DOE guidance. This report documents WIPP's environmental monitoring programs and their results for 2004. The WIPP Project is authorized by the DOE National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Authorization Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-164). After more than 20 years of scientific study and public input, WIPP received its first shipment of waste on March 26, 1999. Located in southeastern New Mexico, WIPP is the nation's first underground repository permitted to safely and permanently dispose of TRU radioactive and mixed waste (as defined in the WIPP LWA) generated through defense activities and programs. TRU waste is defined, in the WIPP LWA, as radioactive waste containing more than 100 nanocuries (3,700 becquerels [Bq]) of alpha-emitting TRU isotopes per gram of waste, with half-lives greater than 20 years except for high-level waste, waste that has been determined not to require the degree of isolation required by the disposal regulations, and waste the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission …

The objectives of this proposed research were: 91) Separation and storage of hydrogen on nanophase diamonds. It is expected that the produced hydrogen, which will be in a mixture, can be directed to a nanophase diamond system directly, which will not only store the hydrogen, but also separate it from the gas mixture, and (2) release of the stored hydrogen from the nanophase diamond.

The computational performance of two-dimensional Fortran 90 arrays defined with the pointer attribute were compared to identically sized arrays defined with the allocatable attribute. The goal of this work was to quantify the computational cost of using each array type within a high-performance finite element setting.

This document is a final report for DOE grant DE-FG02-00ER41147. The research described herein was funded in large part by this grant with additional support from the National Science Foundation. The primary focus of Averett's research effort is centered around the polarized {sup 3}He target in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. The close proximity of the College of William and Mary to Jefferson Lab has provided an outstanding opportunity to maintain a very active research program which still satisfying the demands of the college. Our research group includes four faculty, two post-doctoral fellows and eight graduate students. Averett also maintains a fully functional polarized {sup 3}e target lab at William and Mary which allows him to support the research program at Jefferson Lab while also doing research on polarized targets themselves. Since 1998, seven experiments using polarized {sup 3}He have been completed by the Jefferson Lab Hall A Polarized {sup 3}He Collaboration. Ten publications have been produced on this research and analysis of the two most recently completed experiments is underway. A description of the recent experiments and results is given below. In addition to target expertise, Averett has remained one of the most active collaborators in the data analysis …

Environmental surveillance on and around the Hanford Site, located in southeastern Washington State, is conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy. The environmental surveillance data collected for this report provide a historical record of radionuclide and radiation levels attributable to natural causes, worldwide fallout, and Hanford Site operations. Data were also collected to monitor several chemicals and metals in Columbia River water, sediment, and wildlife. These data are included in this appendix. This report is the first of two appendices that support "Hanford Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2007" (PNNL-17603), which describes the Hanford Site mission and activities, general environmental features, radiological and chemical releases from operations, status of compliance with environmental regulations, status of programs to accomplish compliance, Hanford Site cleanup and remediation efforts, and environmental monitoring activities and results.

Near-facility environmental monitoring is defined as monitoring near facilities that have the potential to discharge or have discharged, stored, or disposed of radioactive or hazardous materials. Monitoring locations are associated with nuclear facilities such as the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), Canister Storage Building (CSB), and the K Basins; inactive nuclear facilities such as N Reactor and the Plutonium-Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Facility; and waste storage or disposal facilities such as burial grounds, cribs, ditches, ponds, tank farms, and trenches. Much of the monitoring consists of collecting and analyzing environmental samples and methodically surveying areas near facilities. The program is also designed to evaluate acquired analytical data, determine the effectiveness of facility effluent monitoring and controls, assess the adequacy of containment at waste disposal units, and detect and monitor unusual conditions.

The analysis of extremely large data sets is time-consuming and tedious. In this project, we create two tools, the Image Inspector and the Video Inspector, to aid in the automated analysis of 3D temporal data from simulations. Our problem is the 3-dimensional time varying data of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a fluid mix problem. We examine the bubble dynamics due to the acceleration of gravity in an initially perturbed interface between a heavier and lighter fluid. Through the use of OpenGL and C++, we automate the capture of the temporal dependence of selected features along a chosen path in a time-dependent 3D simulation. The selected feature, e.g., the height of a bubble, is displayed graphically as a function of position and time. The path can be chosen arbitrarily; differing from previous projects which required the use of horizontal or vertical orientation.

The University of Michigan participated in the joint UCLA/Maryland fusion science center focused on plasma physics problems for which the traditional separation of the dynamics into microscale and macroscale processes breaks down. These processes involve large scale flows and magnetic fields tightly coupled to the small scale, kinetic dynamics of turbulence, particle acceleration and energy cascade. The interaction between these vastly disparate scales controls the evolution of the system. The enormous range of temporal and spatial scales associated with these problems renders direct simulation intractable even in computations that use the largest existing parallel computers. Our efforts focused on two main problems: the development of Hall MHD solvers on solution adaptive grids and the development of solution adaptive grids using generalized coordinates so that the proper geometry of inertial confinement can be taken into account and efficient refinement strategies can be obtained.

Models which describe road traffic patterns can be helpful in detection and/or prevention of uncommon and dangerous situations. Such models can be built by the use of motion detection algorithms applied to video data. Block matching is a standard technique for encoding motion in video compression algorithms. We explored the capabilities of the block matching algorithm when applied for object tracking. The goal of our experiments is two-fold: (1) to explore the abilities of the block matching algorithm on low resolution and low frame rate video and (2) to improve the motion detection performance by the use of different search techniques during the process of block matching. Our experiments showed that the block matching algorithm yields good object tracking results and can be used with high success on low resolution and low frame rate video data. We observed that different searching methods have small effect on the final results. In addition, we proposed a technique based on frame history, which successfully overcame false motion caused by small camera movements.

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A direct numerical simulation capability for two-phase flows with heat transfer in complex geometries can considerably reduce the hardware development cycle, facilitate the optimization and reduce the costs of testing of various industrial facilities, such as nuclear power plants, steam generators, steam condensers, liquid cooling systems, heat exchangers, distillers, and boilers. Specifically, the phenomena occurring in a two-phase coolant flow in a BWR (Boiling Water Reactor) fuel assembly include coolant phase changes and multiple flow regimes which directly influence the coolant interaction with fuel assembly and, ultimately, the reactor performance. Traditionally, the best analysis tools for this purpose of two-phase flow phenomena inside the BWR fuel assembly have been the sub-channel codes. However, the resolution of these codes is too coarse for analyzing the detailed intra-assembly flow patterns, such as flow around a spacer element. Advanced CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) codes provide a potential for detailed 3D simulations of coolant flow inside a fuel assembly, including flow around a spacer element using more fundamental physical models of flow regimes and phase interactions than sub-channel codes. Such models can extend the code applicability to a wider range of situations, which is highly important for increasing the efficiency and to prevent accidents.

This monitoring plan includes well and constituent lists, and summarizes sampling, analytical, and quality control requirements. Changes from the previous monitoring plan include elimination of two radionuclides from the analyte list and some minor changes in the statistical analysis.

Anisotropic and heterogeneous flow in unsaturated porous media is dependent on saturation conditions, and currently there exist limited options that adequately model this phenomenon. The phenomenon of lateral spreading commonly attributed to anisotropy can move contaminants beyond compliance boundaries at unexpected velocitites essentially bypassing large regions of the subsurface.

The project successfully developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based simulation of the hydrodynamics of flow in a commercial structured packing element. This result fulfilled the prime objective of the research program. The simulation utilized commercial CFD code marketed by Fluent Inc. in combination with a novel graphical interface developed by Oak Ridge National Lab. The end product will allow the design of next generation column internals without the need for extensive experimental validation and will expand the fundamental understanding of the vapor-liquid contacting process.

Traditional data mining methodologies have focused on ''flat'' data i.e. a collection of identically structured entities, assumed to be independent and identically distributed. However, many real-world datasets are innately relational in that they consist of multi-modal entities and multi-relational links (where each entity- or link-type is characterized by a different set of attributes). Link structure is an important characteristic of a dataset and should not be ignored in modeling efforts, especially when statistical dependencies exist between related entities. These dependencies can in fact significantly improve the accuracy of inference and prediction results, if the relational structure is appropriately leveraged (Figure 1). The need for models that can incorporate relational structure has been accentuated by new technological developments which allow us to easily track, store, and make accessible large amounts of data. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in statistical models for dealing with richly interconnected, heterogeneous data, fueled largely by information mining of web/hypertext data, social networks, bibliographic citation data, epidemiological data and communication networks. Graphical models have a natural formalism for representing complex relational data and for predicting the underlying evolving system in a dynamic framework. The present survey provides an overview of probabilistic methods and techniques …

Scoping calculations to address the mixing behavior of benzene in the vapor space of Tank 48 and estimate maximum benzene concentrations have been completed. The analysis was focused on determining whether a detailed assessment using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the Tank 48 vapor space could support Safety Class calculations. The calculations included nominal boundary conditions for air inlet and exhaust flows, as well as benzene evolution from the tank liquid surface. Additional calculations included a reduced benzene evolution rate, reduced air inlet and exhaust flows, and a modified air inlet location. The calculations were based on prototypic tank geometry and nominal operating conditions as defined by the Closure Business Unit. The results showed that the vapor space was fairly well mixed and that benzene concentrations were relatively low for typical operating conditions. All the calculations addressing sensitivity issues such as differencing options, mesh density, and transient performance in the model demonstrated that the scoping model could capture the necessary phenomena without introducing nonphysical behavior because of the numerical discretization. Therefore, refining and upgrading the present scoping model is feasible for support of safety class calculations.

Enhancements have been made to the REBUS-3/DIF3D code suite to facilitate its use for the design and analysis of prismatic Very High Temperature Reactors (VHTRs). A new cross section structure, using table-lookup, has been incorporated to account for cross section changes with burnup and fuel and moderator temperatures. For representing these cross section dependencies, three new modules have been developed using FORTRAN 90/95 object-oriented data structures and implemented within the REBUS-3 code system. These modules provide a cross section storage procedure, construct microscopic cross section data for all isotopes, and contain a single block of banded scattering data for efficient data management. Fission products other than I, Xe, Pm, and Sm, can be merged into a single lumped fission product to save storage space, memory, and computing time without sacrificing the REBUS-3 solution accuracy. A simple thermal-hydraulic (thermal-fluid) feedback model has been developed for prismatic VHTR cores and implemented in REBUS-3 for temperature feedback calculations. Axial conduction was neglected in the formulation because of its small magnitude compared to radial (planar) conduction. With the simple model, the average fuel and graphite temperatures are accurately estimated compared to reference STAR-CD results. The feedback module is currently operational for the non-equilibrium fuel …

The LSST requirement for producing alerts in near real-time, and the fact that generating an alert depends on knowing the history of light variations for a given sky position, both imply that the clustering information for all detections is available at any time during the survey. Therefore, any data structure describing clustering of detections in LSST needs to be continuously updated, even as new detections are arriving from the pipeline. We call this use case ''incremental clustering'', to reflect this continuous updating of clustering information. This document describes the evaluation results for several potential LSST incremental clustering strategies, using: (1) Neighbors table and zone optimization to store spatial clusters (a.k.a. Jim Grey's, or SDSS algorithm); (2) MySQL built-in R-tree implementation; (3) an external spatial index library which supports a query interface.

This report highlights significant achievements in the Enhanced Practical Photosynthetic CO{sub 2} Mitigation Project for the period ending 09/30/2004. The primary effort of this quarter was focused on mass transfer of carbon dioxide into the water film to study the potential effects on the photosynthetic organisms that depend on the carbon. Testing of the carbon dioxide scrubbing capability (mass transfer capability) of flowing water film appears to be relatively high and largely unaffected by transport of the gas through the bioreactor. The implications are that the transfer of carbon dioxide into the film is nearly at maximum and that it is sufficient to sustain photosynthesis at whatever rate the organisms can sustain. This finding is key to assuming that the process is an energy (photon) limited reaction and not a nutrient limited reaction.

The purpose of this scientific analysis report is to document calculations of the number of waste packages that could be damaged in a potential future igneous event through a repository at Yucca Mountain. The analyses include disruption from an intrusive igneous event and from an extrusive volcanic event. This analysis supports the evaluation of the potential consequences of future igneous activity as part of the total system performance assessment for the license application (TSPA-LA) for the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP). Igneous activity is a disruptive event that is included in the TSPA-LA analyses. Two igneous activity scenarios are considered: (1) The igneous intrusion groundwater release scenario (also called the igneous intrusion scenario) considers the in situ damage to waste packages or failure of waste packages that occurs if they are engulfed or otherwise affected by magma as a result of an igneous intrusion. (2) The volcanic eruption scenario depicts the direct release of radioactive waste due to an intrusion that intersects the repository followed by a volcanic eruption at the surface. An igneous intrusion is defined as the ascent of a basaltic dike or dike system (i.e., a set or swarm of multiple dikes comprising a single intrusive event) to …

Stress corrosion cracking is one of the most common corrosion-related causes for premature breach of metal structural components. Stress corrosion cracking is the initiation and propagation of cracks in structural components due to three factors that must be present simultaneously: metallurgical susceptibility, critical environment, and static (or sustained) tensile stresses. This report was prepared according to ''Technical Work Plan for: Regulatory Integration Modeling and Analysis of the Waste Form and Waste Package'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 171583]). The purpose of this report is to provide an evaluation of the potential for stress corrosion cracking of the engineered barrier system components (i.e., the drip shield, waste package outer barrier, and waste package stainless steel inner structural cylinder) under exposure conditions consistent with the repository during the regulatory period of 10,000 years after permanent closure. For the drip shield and waste package outer barrier, the critical environment is conservatively taken as any aqueous environment contacting the metal surfaces. Appendix B of this report describes the development of the SCC-relevant seismic crack density model (SCDM). The consequence of a stress corrosion cracking breach of the drip shield, the waste package outer barrier, or the stainless steel inner structural cylinder material is the initiation and …