The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on 2005 Chemical Reactions at Surfaces was held at Ventura Beach Marriott, Ventura California from February 13, 2005 through February 18, 2005. The Conference was well-attended with 124 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, 'free time' was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field.

The overall goal of this project was to develop an accelerator-based neutron source (ABNS) for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). Specifically, our goals were to design, and confirm by measurement, a target assembly and a moderator assembly that would fulfill the design requirements of the ABNS. These design requirements were 1) that the neutron field quality be as good as the neutron field quality for the reactor-based neutron sources for BNCT, 2) that the patient treatment time be reasonable, 3) that the proton current required to treat patients in reasonable times be technologially achievable at reasonable cost with good reliability, and accelerator space requirements which can be met in a hospital, and finally 4) that the treatment be safe for the patients.

In 2004 and 2005, Afghanistan adopted a permanent constitution and elected a president and a parliament. The parliament is emerging as a significant force in Afghan politics, as shown in debate over a new cabinet proposed in March 2006. However, insurgent violence continues to threaten Afghan stability. See CRS Report RL30588, Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, by Kenneth Katzman.

This report deals with the Andean-U.S. Free-Trade Agreement Negotiations.

ODR (Optical Diffraction Radiation) transverse beam size measurement at the SLAC FFTB at 28.5 GeV is a challenge and it requires special target and optics system, which is much difficult than the conventional ODR beam size measurement. We propose to use a curved disphased conductive slit target to recover the sensitivity in the measurement of the single bunch transverse beam size by using ODR photons from a conductive slit. In order to cancel the effect of the beam divergence, the conductive slit target surface must be curved. Also, we can obtain the focused interference pattern of the ODR photons at the detector at the shorter distance from the target than the {gamma}{sup 2}{lambda}, by using lens optics system.

This report provides a quantitative framework for policy considerations dealing with U.S. trade with China. It provides basic data and analysis of China’s international trade with the United States and other countries. Since Chinese data differ considerably from those of its trading partners (because of how entrepot trade through Hong Kong is counted), data from both PRC sources and those of its trading partners are presented. Charts showing import trends by sector for the United States highlight China’s growing market shares in many industries and also show import shares for Japan, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN ).

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, between 1993 and 2004, there were 662 confirmed cases of illicit trafficking in nuclear and radiological materials. Three U.S. agencies, the Departments of Energy (DOE), Defense (DOD), and State (State), have programs that provide radiation detection equipment and training to border security personnel in other countries. GAO examined the (1) progress U.S. programs have made in providing radiation detection equipment to foreign governments, including the current and expected costs of these programs; (2) challenges U.S. programs face in this effort; and (3) steps being taken to coordinate U.S. efforts to combat nuclear smuggling in other countries."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) anticipates that the Future Combat System (FCS) will modernize the U.S. Army's ability to move, shoot, and communicate on the battlefield. It is an impressive concept that is the product of holistic, non-traditional thinking. The Army describes FCS as one of the most complex weapon acquisition programs ever executed because it involves developing and integrating a family of 18 systems and an information network. Army leadership started the program early as part of its effort to change Army culture and believes that the program risks are manageable. GAO is required by law to review the program annually. In this report, GAO analyzes FCS's acquisition business case and assesses requirements stability, technology maturity, soundness of the acquisition strategy, and reasonableness and affordability of program costs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American Chemical Society for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American Council of Learned Societies for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, and 2002. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the American Gold Star Mothers, Incorporated, for fiscal years 2003 and 2002. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance, and the audit report included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements were presented fairly on a modified cash basis of accounting."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the National Theatre and Academy for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2003 and 2002. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Aviation Hall of Fame, for fiscal years 2003 and 2002. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Big Brothers-Big Sisters of America for the Fiscal Year ended March 31, 2003. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the financial statement audit reports for the Blinded Veterans Association for fiscal year 2003. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance, and the audit report included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Boy Scouts of America, for fiscal year 2003. GAO's review disclosed no reportable instances of noncompliance with the financial reporting requirements of the law. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2004 and again in June 2005, GAO testified that some Department of Defense (DOD) and civilian agency federal contractors abused the federal tax system with little consequence. Previous problems we identified with contractors with unpaid taxes have led to concerns over whether any interagency contractors, such as those on the General Services Administration's (GSA) federal supply schedule, failed to pay their taxes. GSA, through its federal supply schedule and other interagency contracts, arranges for federal agencies to purchase billions of dollars of goods and services directly from private vendors. GAO was asked to determine if GSA contractors, including both contractors that were paid by GSA and GSA interagency contractors, have unpaid federal taxes, and if so, to (1) determine the magnitude of tax debts owed by GSA contractors; (2) identify examples of GSA contractors that have tax debts and are also engaged in potentially abusive, fraudulent, or criminal activities; and (3) determine whether GSA screens contractors for tax debts and criminal activities prior to awarding contracts and at the exercise of any government contract options."

M&D Professional Services, Inc. (M&D) is under subcontract to Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) to perform seismic analysis of the Hanford Site Double-Shell Tanks (DSTs) in support of a project entitled ''Double-Shell Tank (DSV Integrity Project-DST Thermal and Seismic Analyses)''. The overall scope of the project is to complete an up-to-date comprehensive analysis of record of the DST System at Hanford in support of Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-48-14. The work described herein was performed in support of the seismic analysis of the DSTs. The thermal and operating loads analysis of the DSTs is documented in Rinker et al. (2004). The overall seismic analysis of the DSTs is being performed with the general-purpose finite element code ANSYS'. The global model used for the seismic analysis of the DSTs includes the DST structure, the contained waste, and the surrounding soil. The seismic analysis of the DSTs must address the fluid-structure interaction behavior and sloshing response of the primary tank and contained liquid. ANSYS has demonstrated capabilities for structural analysis, but has more limited capabilities for fluid-structure interaction analysis. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the capabilities and investigate the limitations of the finite element code MSC.Dytranz for performing a dynamic …

M&D Professional Services, Inc. (M&D) is under subcontract to Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) to perform seismic analysis of the Hanford Site Double-Shell Tanks (DSTs) in support of a project entitled ''Double-Shell Tank DSV Integrity Project-DST Thermal and Seismic Analyses''. The overall scope of the project is to complete an up-to-date comprehensive analysis of record of the DST System at Hanford in support of Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-48-14. The thermal and operating loads analysis of the DSTs is documented in Rinker et al. (2004). The work statement provided to M&D (PNNL 2003) required that the seismic analysis of the DST assess the impacts of potentially non-conservative assumptions in previous analyses and account for the additional soil mass due to the as-found soil density increase, the effects of material degradation, additional thermal profiles applied to the full structure including the soil-structure response with the footings, the non-rigid (low frequency) response of the tank roof, the asymmetric seismic-induced soil loading, the structural discontinuity between the concrete tank wall and the support footing and the sloshing of the tank waste. The seismic analysis considers the interaction of the tank with the surrounding soil, and the effects of the primary tank contents. The DST …

M&D Professional Services, Inc. (M&D) is under subcontract to Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) to perform seismic analysis of the Hanford Site Double-Shell Tanks (DSTs) in support of a project entitled ''Double-Shell Tank (DSV Integrity Project-DST Thermal and Seismic Analyses)''. The overall scope of the project is to complete an up-to-date comprehensive analysis of record of the DST System at Hanford in support of Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-48-14. The work described herein was performed in support of the seismic analysis of the DSTs. The thermal and operating loads analysis of the DSTs is documented in Rinker et al. (2004). The overall seismic analysis of the DSTs is being performed with the general-purpose finite element code ANSYS. The overall model used for the seismic analysis of the DSTs includes the DST structure, the contained waste, and the surrounding soil. The seismic analysis of the DSTs must address the fluid-structure interaction behavior and sloshing response of the primary tank and contained liquid. ANSYS has demonstrated capabilities for structural analysis, but the capabilities and limitations of ANSYS to perform fluid-structure interaction are less well understood. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the capabilities and investigate the limitations of ANSYS for performing …

Linear colliders and FEL facilities need fast, nondestructive beam position and profile monitors to facilitate machine tune-up, and for use with feedback control. FAR-TECH, Inc., in collaboration with SLAC, is developing a resonant cavity diagnostic to simultaneously measure the dipole, quadrupole and sextupole moments of the beam distribution. Measurements of dipole and quadrupole moments at multiple locations yield information about beam orbit and emittance. The sextupole moment can reveal information about beam asymmetry which is useful in diagnosing beam tail deflections caused by short-range dipole wakefields. In addition to the resonance enhancement of a single-cell cavity, use of a multi-cell standing-wave structure further enhances signal strength and improves the resolution of the device. An estimated resolution is better than 1 {micro}m in rms beam size and better than 1 nm in beam position.

The broader goal of this project was to merge knowledge from genomic, metabolic, ultrastructural and other perspectives to understand how cyanobacteria live, adapt and are regulated. This understanding aids in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology efforts using this group of organisms that contribute greatly to global photosynthetic CO2 fixation and that are closely related to the ancestors of chloroplasts. This project focused on photosynthesis and respiration in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, which is spontaneously transformable and has a known genome sequence. Modification of these fundamental processes in this organism can lead to improved carbon sequestration and hydrogen production, as well as to generation of high-quality biomass. In our GTL-supported studies at Arizona State University we focus on cell structure and cell physiology in Synechocystis, with particular emphasis on thylakoid membrane formation and on metabolism related to photosynthesis and respiration. Results on (a) thylakoid membrane biogenesis, (b) fluxes through central carbon utilization pathways, and (c) distribution mechanisms between carbon storage compounds are presented. Together, these results help pave the way for metabolic engineering efforts that are likely to result in improved solar-powered carbon sequestration and bioenergy conversion. Fueled by the very encouraging results obtained in this project, we already …

This report gives an analysis of the unconditional most-favored-nation (MFN) status, or in U.S. statutory parlance, normal trade relations (NTR) status, which is a fundamental principle of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This conflicts with the U.S. laws under Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 that limits trade status with several nations undergoing accession into the WTO. On June 12, 2012, Sen. Max Baucus introduced a bill with bipartisan co-sponsorship to authorize PNTR for Russia. The report includes information about MFN status and the WTO, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment restricting trade, the case of China, and prospective WTO accessions.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is the Department of Defense's (DOD) largest international cooperative effort to develop and produce a major weapon system. Due to the breadth of international participation, the number of export authorizations needed to share information with partner governments, solicit bids from suppliers, and execute contracts is expected to far exceed past transfers of advanced military technology. In July 2003, GAO reported that managing these transfers and partner expectations while avoiding delays has been a key challenge and recommended that industrial planning tools be developed and used to anticipate time frames for national disclosure and technology transfer decisions. This report examines DOD's response to this recommendation and identifies the practices DOD is using to expedite license processing and avoid program delays."