A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2006, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) spent over $51 billion on the Medicare Advantage program, which serves as an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service program. Under the Medicare Advantage program, companies wishing to participate must annually submit bids (effective with contract year 2006) that identify the health services the company will provide to Medicare members and the estimated cost and revenue requirements for providing those services. For 2001 through 2005, the submissions were called Adjusted Community Rate (ACR) Proposals. The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 requires CMS to annually audit the financial records supporting the submissions of at least one-third of participating organizations. BBA also requires that GAO monitor the audits. In this report, GAO examined (1) whether CMS met the one-third requirement for 2001 through 2006, (2) what information the ACR audits provided and how CMS used it, and (3) what information the bid audits provided and how CMS used it."

The resolution of chemically amplified resists is becoming an increasing concern, especially for lithography in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regime. Large-scale screening and performance-based down-selection is currently underway to identify resist platforms that can support shrinking feature sizes. Resist screening efforts, however, are hampered by the absence of reliable resolution metrics that can objectively quantify resist resolution in a high-throughput fashion. Here we examine two high-throughput metrics for resist resolution determination. After summarizing their details and justifying their utility, we characterize the sensitivity of both metrics to two of the main experimental uncertainties associated with lithographic exposure tools, namely: limited focus control and limited knowledge of optical aberrations. For an implementation at EUV wavelengths, we report aberration and focus limited error bars in extracted resolution of {approx} 1.25 nm RMS for both metrics making them attractive candidates for future screening and down-selection efforts.

Prochlorococcus is a marine cyanobacterium that numerically dominates the mid-latitude oceans and is the smallest known oxygenic phototroph. Numerous isolatesfrom diverse areas of the world's oceans have been studied and shown to be physiologically and genetically distinct. All isolates described thus far can be assigned to either a tightly clustered high-light (HL)-adapted clade, or a more divergent low-light (LL)-adapted group. The 16S rRNA sequences of the entire Prochlorococcus group differ by at most 3percent, and the four initially published genomes revealed patterns of genetic differentiation that help explain physiological differences among the isolates. Here we describe the genomes of eight newly sequenced isolates and combine them with the first four genomes for a comprehensive analysis of the core (shared by all isolates) and flexible genes of the Prochlorococcus group, and the patterns of loss and gain of the flexible genes over the course of evolution. There are 1,273 genes that represent the core shared by all 12 genomes. They are apparently sufficient, according to metabolic reconstruction, to encode a functional cell. We describe a phylogeny for all 12 isolates by subjecting their complete proteomes to three different phylogenetic analyses. For each non-core gene, we used a maximum parsimony method to …

The effect of Stout smearing is investigated in numerical simulations with twisted mass Wilson quarks. The phase transition near zero quark mass is studied on 12{sup 3} x 24, 16{sup 3} x 32 and 24{sup 3} x 48 lattices at lattice spacings a {approx_equal} 0.1-0.125 fm. The phase structure of Wilson fermions with twisted mass ({mu}) has been investigated in [1,2]. As it is explained there, the observed first order phase transition limits the minimal pion mass which can be reached in simulations at a given lattice spacing: m{sub k}{sup min} {approx_equal} {theta}(a). The phase structure is schematically depicted in the left panel of Fig. I . The phase transition can be observed in simulations with twisted mass fermions, for instance, as a ''jump'' or even metastabilities in the average plaquette value as a function of the hopping parameter ({kappa}). One possibility to weaken the phase transition and therefore allow for lighter pion masses at a given lattice spacing is to use an improved gauge action like the DBW2, Iwasaki, or tree-level Symanzik (tlSym) improved gauge action instead of the simple Wilson gauge action. This has been successfully demonstrated in [3,4,5]. Here we report on our attempts to use a …

We analyze the spectral properties of the quark propagator above the critical temperature for the deconfinement phase transition in quenched lattice QCD using clover improved Wilson fermions. The bare quark mass dependence of the quark spectral function is analyzed by varying the hopping parameter {kappa} in Landau gauge. We assume a two-pole structure for the quark spectral function, which is numerically found to work quite well for any value of {kappa}. It is shown that in the chiral limit the quark spectral function has two collective modes that correspond to the normal and plasmino excitations, while it is dominated by a single-pole structure when the bare quark mass becomes large.

An extensive set of covariances for neutron cross sections has been developed to provide initial, low-fidelity but consistent uncertainty data for nuclear criticality safety applications. The methodology for the determination of such covariances in fast neutron region is presented. It combines the nuclear reaction code EMPIRE, which calculates sensitivity to nuclear reaction model parameters and the Bayesian code KALMAN to propagate uncertainty of the model parameters onto cross sections. Taking into account the large scale of the project (219 fission products), only partial reference to experimental data has been made. Therefore, the covariances are, to a large extent, derived from the perturbation of several critical model parameters selected through the sensitivity analysis. They define optical potential, level densities and pre-equilibrium emission. This exercise represents the first attempt to generate nuclear data covariances on such a scale.

We study the phase structure of the four-dimensional twisted Eguchi-Kawai model using numerical simulations. This model is an effective tool for studying SU(N) gauge theory in the large-N limit and provides a nonperturbative formulation of the gauge theory on noncommutative spaces. Recently it was found that its Z{sub n}{sup 4} symmetry, which is crucial for the validity of this model, can break spontaneously in the intermediate coupling region. We investigate in detail the symmetry breaking point from the weak coupling side. Our simulation results show that the continuum limit of this model cannot be taken.

Uncertainties for the ENDL99 and ENDF/B-VII evaluations of the {sup 9}Be (n, el) cross section have been estimated for incident neutron energies up to 20 MeV. The uncertainties were obtained by extracting the spread of the experimental data about the evaluations, using a sophisticated procedure to ensure smoothness of the uncertainty as a function of energy. The technique used to obtain the uncertainties is described briefly in this report, and the resulting error bands are given for the two evaluations.

The development of high resolution, room temperature semiconductor radiation detectors requires the introduction of materials with increased carrier mobility-lifetime ({mu}{tau}) product, while having a band gap in the 1.4-2.2 eV range. AlSb is a promising material for this application. However, systematic improvements in the material quality are necessary to achieve an adequate {mu}{tau} product. We are using a combination of simulation and experiment to develop a fundamental understanding of the factors which affect detector material quality. First principles calculations are used to study the microscopic mechanisms of mobility degradation from point defects and to calculate the intrinsic limit of mobility from phonon scattering. We use density functional theory (DFT) to calculate the formation energies of native and impurity point defects, to determine their equilibrium concentrations as a function of temperature and charge state. Perturbation theory via the Born approximation is coupled with Boltzmann transport theory to calculate the contribution toward mobility degradation of each type of point defect, using DFT-computed carrier scattering rates. A comparison is made to measured carrier concentrations and mobilities from AlSb crystals grown in our lab. We find our predictions in good quantitative agreement with experiment, allowing optimized annealing conditions to be deduced. A major result …

We present results on bulk thermodynamic quantities as well as net baryon number, strangeness and electric charge fluctuations in QCD at non-zero density and temperature obtained from lattice calculations with almost physical quark masses for two values of the lattice cut-off aT = 1/4 and 1/6. We show that with our improved p4fa3-action the cut-off effects are under control when using lattices with a temporal extent of 6 or larger and that the contribution to the equation of state, which is due to a finite chemical potential is small for {mu}{sub q}/T < 1. Moreover, at vanishing chemical potential, i.e. under conditions almost realized at RHIC and the LHC, quartic fluctuations of net baryon number and strangeness are large in a narrow temperature interval characterizing the transition region from the low to high temperature phase. At non-zero baryon number density, strangeness fluctuations are enhanced and correlated to fluctuations of the net baryon number. If strangeness is furthermore forced to vanish, as it may be the case in systems created in heavy ion collisions, strangeness fluctuations are significantly smaller than baryon number fluctuations.

This report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) describes the development and application of a methodology to systematically and quantitatively assess predictive uncertainty in groundwater flow and transport modeling that considers the combined impact of hydrogeologic uncertainties associated with the conceptual-mathematical basis of a model, model parameters, and the scenario to which the model is applied. The methodology is based on a n extension of a Maximum Likelihood implementation of Bayesian Model Averaging. Model uncertainty is represented by postulating a discrete set of alternative conceptual models for a site with associated prior model probabilities that reflect a belief about the relative plausibility of each model based on its apparent consistency with available knowledge and data. Posterior model probabilities are computed and parameter uncertainty is estimated by calibrating each model to observed system behavior; prior parameter estimates are optionally included. Scenario uncertainty is represented as a discrete set of alternative future conditions affecting boundary conditions, source/sink terms, or other aspects of the models, with associated prior scenario probabilities. A joint assessment of uncertainty results from combining model predictions computed under each scenario using as weight the posterior model and prior scenario probabilities. The uncertainty methodology was applied to modeling of groundwater …

We present results for meson masses and decay constants measured on 24{sup 3} x 64 lattices using the domain wall fermion formulation with an extension of the fifth dimension of L{sub s} = 16 for N{sub f} 2 + 1 dynamical quark flavors. The lightest dynamical meson mass in our set-up is around 331MeV. while partially quenched mesons reach masses as low as 250MeV. The applicability of SU(3) x SU(3) and SU(2) x SU(2) (partially quenched) chiral perturbation theory will be compared and we quote values for the low-energy constants from both approaches. We will extract the average light quark and strange quark masses and use a non-perturbative renormalization technique (RI/MOM) to quote their physical values. The pion and kaon decay constants are determined at those values from our chiral fits and their ratio is used to obtain the CKM-matrix element |V{sub us}|. The results presented here include statistical errors only.

A brief summary of the Surrogate reaction method, an indirect approach for determining compound-nuclear reaction cross sections, is presented. The possibilities for obtaining accurate (n,f) cross sections from Surrogate measurements that are analyzed in the Weisskopf-Ewing and Ratio approximations are considered. Theoretical studies and benchmark experiments that provide new insights into the validity and limitations of the Surrogate approach, are discussed.

We study the sign problem of the fermion determinant at nonzero baryon chemical potential. For this purpose we apply a simple model derived from Quantum Chromodynamics, in the limit of large chemical potential and mass. For SU(2) color, there is no sign problem and the mean-field approximation is similar to data from the lattice. For SU(3) color the sign problem is unavoidable, even in a mean-field approximation. We apply a phase-reweighting method, combined with the mean-field approximation, to estimate thermodynamic quantities. We also investigate the meanfield free energy using a saddle-point approximation [1].

We discuss the calculations of quarkonium spectral functions in potential models and their implications for the interpretation of the lattice data on quarkonium correlators. In particular, we find that melting of different quarkonium states does not lead to significant change in the Euclidean time correlators. The large change of the quarkonium correlators above deconfinement observed in the scalar and axial-vector channels appears to be due to the zero mode contribution.

We propose a method to probe the nature of phase transitions in lattice QCD at finite temperature and density, which is based on the investigation of an effective potential as a function of the average plaquette. We analyze data obtained in a simulation of two-flavor QCD using p4-improved staggered quarks with bare quark mass m/T = 0.4, and find that a first order phase transition line appears in the high density regime for {mu}{sub q}/T {approx}> 2.5. The effective potential as a function of the quark number density is also studied. We calculate the chemical potential as a function of the density from the canonical partition function and discuss the existence of the first order phase transition line.

A novel algorithm is developed for the simulation of polymer chains suspended in a solvent. The polymers are represented as chains of hard spheres tethered by square wells and interact with the solvent particles with hard core potentials. The algorithm uses event-driven molecular dynamics (MD) for the simulation of the polymer chain and the interactions between the chain beads and the surrounding solvent particles. The interactions between the solvent particles themselves are not treated deterministically as in event-driven algorithms, rather, the momentum and energy exchange in the solvent is determined stochastically using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The coupling between the solvent and the solute is consistently represented at the particle level, however, unlike full MD simulations of both the solvent and the solute, the spatial structure of the solvent is ignored. The algorithm is described in detail and applied to the study of the dynamics of a polymer chain tethered to a hard wall subjected to uniform shear. The algorithm closely reproduces full MD simulations with two orders of magnitude greater efficiency. Results do not confirm the existence of periodic (cycling) motion of the polymer chain.

Thermodynamics of two-flavor QCD at finite temperature and density is studied on a 16{sup 3} x 4 lattice, using a renormalization group improved gauge action and the clover improved Wilson quark action. In the simulations along lines of constant m{sub PS}/m{sub V}, we calculate the Taylor expansion coefficients of the heavy-quark free energy with respect to the quark chemical potential ({mu}{sub q}) up to the second order. By comparing the expansion coefficients of the free energies between quark(Q) and antiquark({anti Q}), and between Q and Q, we find a characteristic difference at finite {mu}{sub q} due to the first order coefficient of the Taylor expansion. We also calculate the quark number and isospin susceptibilities, and find that the second order coefficient of the quark number susceptibility shows enhancement around the pseudo-critical temperature.

Ceramic and single crystal Lutetium Aluminum Garnet scintillators exhibit energy resolution with bialkali photomultiplier tube detection as good as 8.6% at 662 keV. Ceramic fabrication allows production of garnets that cannot easily be grown as single crystals, such as Gadolinium Aluminum Garnet and Terbium Aluminum Garnet. Measured scintillation light yields of Cerium-doped ceramic garnets indicate prospects for high energy resolution.

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We find that the high-Z crystal Barium Iodide is readily growable by the Bridgman growth technique and is less prone to crack compared to Lanthanum Halides. We have grown Barium Iodide crystals: undoped, doped with Ce{sup 3+}, and doped with Eu{sup 2+}. Radioluminescence spectra and time-resolved decay were measured. BaI{sub 2}(Eu) exhibits luminescence from both Eu{sup 2+} at 420 nm ({approx}450 ns decay), and a broad band at 550 nm ({approx}3 {micro}s decay) that we assign to a trapped exciton. The 550 nm luminescence decreases relative to the Eu{sup 2+} luminescence when the Barium Iodide is zone refined prior to crystal growth. We also describe the performance of BaI{sub 2}(Eu) crystals in experimental scintillator detectors.

This report provides background and discussion of policy issues relating to U.S. ethanol production, especially ethanol made from corn.

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