A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates one of the largest health care systems in the country. As of August 2009, VA's Veterans Health Administration (VHA) had 32 major ongoing construction projects with an estimated total cost of about $6.1 billion and average cost per project of about $191 million. Some of these projects were initiated as part of VA's Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) process, which was a comprehensive assessment of VHA's capital asset requirements. In response to a congressional request, GAO (1) described how costs and schedules of current VHA major construction projects have changed, (2) determined the reasons for changes in costs and schedules, and (3) described the actions VA has taken to address cost increases and schedule delays. To do its work, GAO reviewed construction documents, visited three construction sites, and interviewed VA officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Between 50,000 and 60,000 United States Postal Service (Service) employees, or 7 to 8 percent of the Service's workforce, occupied a modified work assignment during fiscal year 2008. The Service must provide these assignments to employees with workplace injuries if work is available to perform within their medical restrictions. Historically, the Service has returned employees to work as soon as possible, partly to reduce its costs for workers' compensation. In 2006, the Service initiated a program, the National Reassessment Process (NRP), to ensure that modified work assignments are medically suitable and necessary to carry out the Service's mission. This requested report addresses (1) the goal of the program, (2) how it is being implemented, and (3) the program's status and outcomes. To perform its work, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) analyzed data and documentation, visited four districts selected to illustrate a range of conditions, and interviewed Service officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Financial investigations are used to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, crimes that can destabilize national economies and threaten global security. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) within the Department of the Treasury supports law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in their efforts to investigate financial crimes by providing them with services and products, such as access to financial data, analysis, and case support. As requested, GAO examined the extent to which the law enforcement community finds FinCEN's support useful in its efforts to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. GAO analyzed statutes governing FinCEN's mission and documentation describing the support it provides to LEAs, such as annual reports. Using FinCEN data, GAO selected a sample of 29 LEAs, including primary users of FinCEN's services and products, and obtained their opinions through a survey and interviews. While the results of the survey and interviews are not generalizable, they provide insights about the usefulness of FinCEN's support."

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Laser ablation of solid UO{sub 3} or (NH{sub 4}){sub 2}U{sub 2}O{sub 7} yielded in the gas phase molecular uranium oxide anions with compositions ranging from [UO{sub n}]{sup -} (n = 2-4) to [U{sub 14}O{sub n}]{sup -} (n = 32-35), as detected by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. The cluster series [U{sub x}O{sub 3x}]{sup -} for x {le} 6 and various [U{sub x}O{sub 3x-y}]{sup -}, in which y increased with increasing x, could be identified. A few anions with H atoms were also present, and their abundance increased when hydrated UO{sub 3} was used in place of anhydrous UO{sub 3}. Collision-induced dissociation experiments with some of the lower m/z cluster anions supported extended structures in which neutral UO{sub 3} constitutes the building block. Cationic uranium oxide clusters [U{sub x}O{sub n}]{sup +} (x = 2-9; n = 3-24) could also be produced and are briefly discussed. Common trends in the O/U ratios for both negative and positive clusters could be unveiled.

The current operating condition allowable stresses provided in ASME Section III, Subsection NH were reviewed for consistency with the criteria used to establish the stress allowables and with the allowable stresses provided in ASME Section II, Part D. It was found that the S{sub o} values in ASME III-NH were consistent with the S values in ASME IID for the five materials of interest. However, it was found that 0.80 S{sub r} was less than S{sub o} for some temperatures for four of the materials. Only values for alloy 800H appeared to be consistent with the criteria on which S{sub o} values are established. With the intent of undertaking a more detailed evaluation of issues related to the allowable stresses in ASME III-NH, the availabilities of databases for the five materials were reviewed and augmented databases were assembled.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

We report on the first optical measurements of the rare-earth tri-telluride charge-density-wave systems. Our data, collected over an extremely broad spectral range, allow us to observe both the Drude component and the single-particle peak, ascribed to the contributions due to the free charge carriers and to the charge-density-wave gap excitation, respectively. The data analysis displays a diminishing impact of the charge-density-wave condensate on the electronic properties with decreasing lattice constant across the rare-earth series. We propose a possible mechanism describing this behavior and we suggest the presence of a one-dimensional character in these two-dimensional compounds. We also envisage that interactions and umklapp processes might play a relevant role in the formation of the charge-density-wave state in these compounds.

We investigate the pressure dependence of the optical properties of CeTe{sub 3}, which exhibits an incommensurate charge-density-wave (CDW) state already at 300 K. Our data are collected in the mid-infrared spectral range at room temperature and at pressures between 0 and 9 GPa. The energy for the single particle excitation across the CDW gap decreases upon increasing the applied pressure, similarly to the chemical pressure by rare-earth substitution. The broadening of the bands upon lattice compression removes the perfect nesting condition of the Fermi surface and therefore diminishes the impact of the CDW transition on the electronic properties of RTe{sub 3}.

A Saltstone waste form was prepared in the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) from a Tank 50H sample and Z-Area premix material for the third quarter of calendar year 2009 (3QCY09). After the prescribed 28 day cure, samples of the saltstone were collected, and the waste form was shown to meet the South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Regulations (SCHWMR) R.61-79.261.24 and R.61-79.268.48(a) requirements for a nonhazardous waste form with respect to RCRA metals and underlying hazardous constituents. These analyses met all quality assurance specifications of USEPA SW-846. The Saltstone Production Facility (SPF) receives waste from Tank 50H for treatment. In the third quarter of the 2009 calendar year (3QCY09), Tank 50H accepted transfers of approximately 37 kgal from the Effluent Treatment Project (ETP) waste, approximately 5 kgal from Tank 710 - the H-Canyon General Purpose Evaporator, approximately 26 kgal from Tank 221H, approximately 319 kgal from the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) Decontaminated Salt Solution Hold Tank (DSS-HT), and approximately 358 kgal from Tank 23H. The Saltstone Grout Sampling plan provides the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) with the chemical and physical characterization strategy for the salt solution which is to be disposed of …

Representative sampling is required for characterization of the residual floor material in Tank 18 prior to operational closure. Tank 18 is an 85-foot diameter, 34-foot high carbon steel tank with nominal operating volume of 1,300,000 gallons. It is a Type IV tank, and has been in service storing radioactive materials since 1959. Recent mechanical cleaning of the tank removed all mounds of material. Anticipating a low level of solids in the residual material, Huff and Thaxton [2009] developed a plan to sample the material during the final clean-up process while it would still be resident in sufficient quantities to support analytical determinations in four quadrants of the tank. Execution of the plan produced fewer solids than expected to support analytical determinations in all four quadrants. Huff and Thaxton [2009] then restructured the plan to characterize the residual floor material separately in the North and the South regions: two 'hemispheres.' This document provides sampling recommendations to complete the characterization of the residual material on the tank bottom following the guidance in Huff and Thaxton [2009] to split the tank floor into a North and a South hemisphere. The number of samples is determined from a modification of the formula previously published …

We report the pressure dependence of the optical response of LaTe{sub 2}, which is deep in the charge-density-wave (CDW) ground state even at 300 K. The reflectivity spectrum is collected in the mid-infrared spectral range at room temperature and at pressures between 0 and 7 GPa. We extract the energy scale due to the single particle excitation across the CDW gap and the Drude weight. We establish that the gap decreases upon compressing the lattice, while the Drude weight increases. This signals a reduction in the quality of nesting upon applying pressure, therefore inducing a lesser impact of the CDW condensate on the electronic properties of LaTe{sub 2}. The consequent suppression of the CDW gap leads to a release of additional charge carriers, manifested by the shift of weight from the gap feature into the metallic component of the optical response. On the contrary, the power-law behavior, seen in the optical conductivity at energies above the gap excitation and indicating a weakly interacting limit within the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid scenario, seems to be only moderately dependent on pressure.

A summary of the major neutron sources involved in radiation exposures to Y-12 workers is presented in this TIB. Graphical methods are used to evaluate available neutron dose data from quarterly exposures to Y-12 workers and to determine how the data could be used to derive neutron-to-gamma dose ratios for dose reconstruction purposes. This TIB provides estimates of neutron-to-gamma dose ratios for specific departments and a default value for the neutron-to-gamma dose ratio based on the pooled neutron dose data for all Y-12 departments.

The authors present updated measurements of the branching fractions for B{sup 0} meson decays to {eta}K{sup 0}, {eta}{eta}, {eta}{phi}, {eta}{omega}, {eta}{prime}K{sup 0}, {eta}{prime}{eta}{prime}, {eta}{prime}, {phi}, and {eta}{prime}{omega} and branching fractions and CP-violating charge asymmetries for B{sup +} decays to {eta}{pi}{sup +}, {eta}K{sup +}, {eta}{prime}{pi}{sup +}, and {eta}{prime} K{sup +}. The data represent the full dataset of 467 x 10{sup 6} B{bar B} pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Besides large signals for the four charged B decays modes and for B{sup 0} {yields} {eta}{prime}K{sup 0}, they find evidence for three B{sup 0} decays modes at greater than 3.0{sigma} significance. They find {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {eta}K{sup 0}) = (1.15{sub -0.38}{sup +0.43} {+-} 0.09) x 10{sup -6}, {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {eta}{omega}) = (0.94{sub -0.30}{sup +0.35} {+-} 0.09) x 10{sup -6}, and {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {eta}{prime}{omega}) = (1.01{sub -0.38}{sup +0.46} {+-} 0.09) x 10{sup -6}, where the first (second) uncertainty is statistical (systematic). For the B{sup +} {yields} {eta}K{sup +} decay mode, they measure the charge asymmetry {Alpha}{sub ch} (B{sup +} {yields} {eta}K{sup +}) = -0.36 {+-} 0.11 {+-} 0.03.

Representative sampling is required for characterization of the residual material in Tank 19 prior to operational closure. Tank 19 is a Type IV underground waste storage tank located in the F-Tank Farm. It is a cylindrical-shaped, carbon steel tank with a diameter of 85 feet, a height of 34.25 feet, and a working capacity of 1.3 million gallons. Tank 19 was placed in service in 1961 and initially received a small amount of low heat waste from Tank 17. It then served as an evaporator concentrate (saltcake) receiver from February 1962 to September 1976. Tank 19 also received the spent zeolite ion exchange media from a cesium removal column that once operated in the Northeast riser of the tank to remove cesium from the evaporator overheads. Recent mechanical cleaning of the tank removed all mounds of material. Anticipating a low level of solids in the residual waste, Huff and Thaxton [2009] developed a plan to sample the waste during the final clean-up process while it would still be resident in sufficient quantities to support analytical determinations in four quadrants of the tank. Execution of the plan produced fewer solids than expected to support analytical determinations in all four quadrants. Huff …

Accurate measurements of the chemical, physical, and optical properties of aerosol particles containing black carbon are necessary to improve current estimates of the radiative forcing in the atmosphere. A collaborative research effort between Aerodyne Research, Inc. and Boston College has focused on conducting field and laboratory experiments on carbonaceous particles and the development and characterization of new particulate instrumentation. This presentation will focus on the chemical, physical, and optical properties of black carbon particles measured in the laboratory in order to understand the effects of atmospheric processing on black carbon particles. Results from a three-week study during July 2008 of mass- and optical-based black carbon measurements will be presented. The project utilized the Boston College laboratory flame apparatus and aerosol conditioning and characterization equipment. A pre-mixed flat flame burner operating at controlled fuel-to-air ratios produced stable and reproducible concentrations of soot particles with known sizes, morphologies, and chemical compositions. In addition, other black carbon particle types, including fullerene soot, glassy carbon spheres, oxidized flame soot, Regal black, and Aquadag, were also atomized, size selected, and sampled. The study covered an experimental matrix that systematically selected particle mobility size (30 to 300 nm) and black carbon particle mass, particle number concentration, …

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The antiferromagnetic transition is investigated in the rare-earth (R) tritelluride RTe{sub 3} family of charge density wave (CDW) compounds via specific heat, magnetization and resistivity measurements. Observation of the opening of a superzone gap in the resistivity of DyTe{sub 3} indicates that additional nesting of the reconstructed Fermi surface in the CDW state plays an important role in determining the magnetic structure.

De Haas-van Alphen oscillations were measured in lanthanum tritelluride (LaTe{sub 3}) to probe the partially gapped Fermi surface resulting from charge density wave (CDW) formation. Three distinct frequencies were observed, one of which can be correlated with a FS sheet that is unaltered by CDW formation. The other two frequencies arise from FS sheets that have been reconstructed in the CDW state.

As environmental monitoring evolved on the Hanford Site, several different conventions were used to name or describe location information for various sampling sites along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. These methods range from handwritten descriptions in field notebooks to the use of modern electronic surveying equipment, such as Global Positioning System receivers. These diverse methods resulted in inconsistent archiving of analytical results in various electronic databases and published reports because of multiple names being used for the same site and inaccurate position data. This document provides listings of sampling sites that are associated with groundwater and river water sampling. The report identifies names and locations for sites associated with sampling: (a) near-river groundwater using aquifer sampling tubes; (b) riverbank springs and springs areas; (c) pore water collected from riverbed sediment; and (d) Columbia River water. Included in the listings are historical names used for a particular site and the best available geographic coordinates for the site, as of 2009. In an effort to create more consistency in the descriptive names used for water quality sampling sites, a naming convention is proposed in this document. The convention assumes that a unique identifier is assigned to each site that is …

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The behavior of NaCl nanoparticles as a function of relative humidity (RH) was characterized by depositing particles on a prepared hydrophobic surface and measuring their height via non-contact environmental atomic force microscopy (AFM). Non-contact AFM allows greater sensitivity to changes in the size of particles than does contact AFM or scanning electron microscopy, and greater sensitivity to changes in shape than do mass-based techniques. Crystalline cubic NaCl nanoparticles with sides of 35 to 150 nm were found to reversibly take up water with increasing RH, and to form a liquid-like surface layer of thickness 2 to 4 nm at humidities well below the deliquescence point of 75.0% at 20°C. Measurable uptake begins at 70% RH. The maximum thickness of the layer increases with increasing RH for a given particle size and, for a given RH, increases with increasing particle size over the range studied. The liquid-like behavior of the layer is indicated by a reversible “rounding” at the tops of the particles, where the ratio of particle height to radius of curvature increases from zero (flat top) at 68% RH to 0.7 at 74% RH. These observations suggest that a reorganization of mass occurs on the solid NaCl nanoparticle, and …

Photograph of Gerald Eugene Suddath, Jr. (right) and his son Jacob Suddath dated December 14, 2009.

Photograph of Staff Sergeant Jeff Tanget, Staff Sergeant Kenny Sipe and Bill Melton dated December 14, 2009.