This report summarizes the work done during the sixth quarter of the project. Effort was directed in three areas: (1) Further development of the model on the role of connectivity on ionic conductivity of porous bodies, including the role of grain boundaries and space charge region. (2) Calculation of the effect of space charge and morphology of porous bodies on the effective charge transfer resistance of porous composite cathodes. (3) The investigation of the three electrode system for the measurement of cathodic polarization using amperometric sensors.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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Recently, studies of the Platte River watershed have gained significant attention from federal and Nebraska, USA, state agencies due to the importance of groundwater/surface-water interactions under drought conditions. Using archive data from a 1983 pumping test, Chen and Chen (2003) interpret the hydraulic properties of the alluvium and a streambed of the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska, and compare their data with results of other studies performed over the past several years. Three important inconsistencies of this article will be highlighted here: (1) misuse of the analytical model of Hunt (1999), (2) departure of their results from previously published data, and (3) unsatisfactory explanation of these anomalous results.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Recent cost increases in renovation projects to general and flag officer quarters raised questions about the services' management of the programs. GAO was asked to determine (1) how actual costs of renovation projects for general and flag officer housing compare to service budget estimates provided to Congress and (2) the primary reasons for any increases and the services' procedures to control cost increases. Additionally, GAO is presenting observations about the services' accountability over gifts provided to help renovate some general and flag officer quarters and the extent to which Department of Defense (DOD) guidance provides visibility and control over costs associated with renovation projects for privatized general and flag officer quarters."

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Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) long-standing business systems problems adversely affect the economy, effectiveness, and efficiency of its business operations and have resulted in a lack of adequate transparency and appropriate accountability across all of its major business areas. In July 2001, DOD initiated a program to, among other things, develop a DOD business enterprise architecture (architecture). This effort is an essential part of the Secretary of Defense's broad initiative to "transform the way the department works and what it works on." Because DOD is one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world, overhauling its business operations and supporting systems represents a huge management challenge. In fiscal year 2003, DOD reported that its operations involved over $1 trillion in assets, nearly $1.6 trillion in liabilities, approximately 3.3 million military and civilian personnel, and disbursements of over $416 billion. To support its business operations, DOD reported that it relies on about 2,300 business systems, including accounting, acquisition, logistics, and personnel systems. The department requested about $19 billion--about $4.8 billion for business systems modernization and about $14 billion for operation and maintenance of these systems--in fiscal year …

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A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Starting in the mid-1990s, the U.S. petroleum industry experienced a wave of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, several of them between large oil companies that had previously competed with each other. For example, Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, acquired Mobil, the second largest, thus forming ExxonMobil. GAO was asked to examine the effects of the mergers on the U.S. petroleum industry since the 1990s. For this period, GAO examined (1) mergers in the U.S. petroleum industry and why they occurred, (2) the extent to which market concentration (the distribution of market shares among competing firms) and other aspects of market structure in the U.S. petroleum industry have changed as a result of mergers, (3) major changes that have occurred in U.S. gasoline marketing, and (4) how mergers and market concentration in the U.S. petroleum industry have affected U.S. gasoline prices at the wholesale level. Commenting on a draft of GAO's report, FTC asserted that the models were flawed and the analyses unreliable. GAO used state-of-the-art econometric models to examine the effects of mergers and market concentration on wholesale gasoline prices. The models used in GAO's …

The Pennsylvania State University, under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory will establish, promote, and manage a national industry-driven Stripper Well Consortium (SWC) that will be focused on improving the production performance of domestic petroleum and/or natural gas stripper wells. The consortium creates a partnership with the U.S. petroleum and natural gas industries and trade associations, state funding agencies, academia, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This report serves as the thirteenth quarterly technical progress report for the SWC. Key activities for this reporting period included: (1) hosting three fall technology transfer meetings in Wyoming, Texas, and Pennsylvania, (2) releasing the 2004 SWC request-for-proposal (RFP), and (3) initial planning of the SWC spring meeting in Golden Colorado for selecting the 2004 SWC projects. The Fall technology transfer meetings attracted 100+ attendees between the three workshops. The SWC membership which attended the Casper, Wyoming workshop was able to see several SWC-funded projects operating in the field at the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center. The SWC is nearing the end of its initial funding cycle. The Consortium has a solid membership foundation and a demonstrated ability to review and select projects that have relevancy to meet the …

The Pennsylvania State University, under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory will establish, promote, and manage a national industry-driven Stripper Well Consortium (SWC) that will be focused on improving the production performance of domestic petroleum and/or natural gas stripper wells. The consortium creates a partnership with the U.S. petroleum and natural gas industries and trade associations, state funding agencies, academia, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This report serves as the twelfth quarterly technical progress report for the SWC. Key activities for this reporting period focused on organizing and hosting three fall technology transfer meetings that will be held in Wyoming, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In addition, work has started on developing the 2004 SWC request-for-proposals which will be released during the next reporting period. During this reporting period, the efforts were focused primarily on the organizing the SWC fall technology transfer meetings.

State policymakers have been concerned about the uninsured for a number of years and have pursued many strategies to help expand health care coverage. To understand the strategies undertaken by states and their successes and failures, CRS contracted with the Institute for Health Care Research and Policy at Georgetown University to conduct a 50 state survey. The findings of that survey are presented here.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The federal market has been a source of strong energy service company (ESCO) industry growth over the last decade as traditional MUSH markets municipal/state governments, universities, schools and hospitals have matured. Federal alternative financing programs Utility Energy Services Contracts (UESC) and Department of Energy (DOE) Super, Army and Air Force Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC) have enabled this growth, but recent events threaten the ESPC programs. We compare the federal and MUSH markets by analyzing {approx} ;1550 completed projects and interviewing ESCO representatives. Federal ESPC market activity is estimated at {approx} ;$1.6 billion (B) over 10-15 years; activity in 2002 was {approx} ;$230 million (M). MUSH markets have produced {approx} ; $12-16B in projects over 20 years, and {approx} ;$0.8-1.0B in 2002. Federal sector projects have longer average contract terms than MUSH (14 vs. 9.5 years respectively). Federal projects are larger (median costs are $1.85M vs. $0.98M for MUSH), but costs per square foot are lower (median costs are $2.08/ft2 vs. $2.93/ft2 for MUSH), and annual energy savings are higher (18 vs. 14 kBtu/ft2). Non-energy savings are more often counted in federal projects (58 percent vs. 35 percent of MUSH projects) but when counted represent a higher proportion of savings …

A salt supernate waste (Tank 48H) generated at the Savannah River Site (SRS) during demonstration of In Tank Precipitation (ITP) process for Cs removal contains nitrates, nitrites, and sodium tetraphenyl borate (NaTPB). This slurry must be pre-processed in order to reduce the impacts of the nitrate and organic species on subsequent vitrification in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) is a candidate technology for destroying the nitrates, nitrites, and organics (NaTPB) prior to melting. Bench scale tests were designed and conducted at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to demonstrate that bench scale testing can adequately reproduce the CO/CO2 and H2/H2O fugacities representative of the FBSR process and form the appropriate product phases. Carbonate and silicate product phases that were compatible with DWPF vitrification were achieved in the bench scale testing and test parameters were optimized for a pilot scale FBSR demonstration.

In situ reheat is an alternative to traditional gas turbine reheat design in which fuel is fed through airfoils rather than in a bulky discrete combustor separating HP and LP turbines. The goals are to achieve increased power output and/or efficiency without higher emissions. In this program the scientific basis for achieving burnout with low emissions has been explored. In Task 1, Blade Path Aerodynamics, design options were evaluated using CFD in terms of burnout, increase of power output, and possible hot streaking. It was concluded that Vane 1 injection in a conventional 4-stage turbine was preferred. Vane 2 injection after vane 1 injection was possible, but of marginal benefit. In Task 2, Combustion and Emissions, detailed chemical kinetics modeling, validated by Task 3, Sub-Scale Testing, experiments, resulted in the same conclusions, with the added conclusion that some increase in emissions was expected. In Task 4, Conceptual Design and Development Plan, Siemens Westinghouse power cycle analysis software was used to evaluate alternative in situ reheat design options. Only single stage reheat, via vane 1, was found to have merit, consistent with prior Tasks. Unifying the results of all the tasks, a conceptual design for single stage reheat utilizing 24 holes, …

Gasoline prices have been extremely volatile for well over a year, with three significant price spikes focusing the attention of consumers and policy makers on the gas pump. This report discusses the issue of gas price fluctuations, focusing on crude oil inventory and other factors.

This report discusses the Navy's homeland security (HLS) and homeland defense (HLD) operations, which raise several potential oversight issues for Congress, including Navy coordination with the Coast Guard in HLS and HLD operations.

Hydrological and geochemical monitoring are key components of site characterization and CO2 plume monitoring for a pilot test to inject CO2 into a brine-bearing sand of the fluvial-deltaic Frio formation in the upper Texas Gulf Coast. In situ, injected CO2 forms a supercritical phase that has gas-like properties (low density and viscosity) compared to the surrounding brine, while some CO2 dissolves in the brine. The pilot test employs one injection well and one monitor well, with continuous pressure and flow-rate monitoring in both wells, and continuous surface fluid sampling and periodic down-hole fluid sampling from the monitor well. Pre-injection site-characterization includes pump tests with pressure-transient analysis to estimate single-phase flow properties, establish hydraulic connectivity between the wells, determine appropriate boundary conditions, and analyze ambient phase conditions within the formation. Additionally, a pre-injection tracer test furnishes estimates of kinematic porosity and the geometry of flow paths between injection and monitor wells under single-phase conditions. Pre-injection geochemical sampling provides a baseline for subsequent geochemical monitoring and helps determine the optimal tracers to accompany CO2 injection. During CO2 injection, hydrological monitoring enables estimation of two-phase flow properties and helps track the movement of the injected CO2 plume, while geochemical sampling provides direct evidence …

Efficacy of stabilizing Ce, Co, and Pb by adding apatite and zero-valent Fe (Fe(0)) to contaminated wetland sediments was quantified under oxidizing and reducing conditions. The redox status and the general water chemistry of the oxidized and reduced treatments differed greatly, yet the influences of the amendments on contaminant stabilization were quite similar; both amendments significantly (p less than or equal to 0.05) reduced aqueous contaminant concentrations. Based on resin sorption studies and thermodynamic calculations, Ce existed primarily as cationic and to a smaller extent, anionic species, and Co existed almost as cationic, neutral, and organically complexed species. Based on a series of varying selective extractions, almost 50 wt-percentage of the Co and Pb were already strongly bound to the sediment, thereby limiting the potential (and need) of affecting additional immobilization through the use of amendments.

Memorandum in reference to Air Force data collection teams in accordance with 2005 Base Realignment and Closure.

JET plasmas with reverse magnetic field feature a different SOL flow than those with normal field. The observed carbon fueling efficiency from injecting methane gas was similar in reverse and normal field. EDGE2D modeling used an externally applied force to create the SOL flows, without specifying the origin of the force. The resulting flow agreed reasonably with the experimental values between the separatrix and 4 cm mid-plane depth in the SOL. The effect of the flow on the calculated carbon screening was 5 to 15% higher carbon fueling efficiency for the low flow velocity with reverse field.