Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) is a governmentwide program to enhance national security, facilitate legitimate trade and travel, contribute to the integrity of the U.S. immigration system, and adhere to U.S. privacy laws and policies by (1) collecting, maintaining, and sharing information on certain foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States; (2) identifying foreign nationals who (1) have overstayed or violated the terms of their visit; (2) can receive, extend, or adjust their immigration status; or (3) should be apprehended or detained by law enforcement officials; (3) detecting fraudulent travel documents, verifying traveler identity, and determining traveler admissibility through the use of biometrics; and (4) facilitating information sharing and coordination within the border management community. GAO was asked to testify on its completed work on the nature, status, and management of the USVISIT program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Rebuilding Iraq is a U.S. national security priority. Billions of dollars are needed for Iraq's reconstruction. The U.S. government and the international community have undertaken important efforts to recover the assets of the former regime and return them to the Iraqi people. In this testimony, GAO will present its preliminary observations on the recovery effort. Specifically, GAO (1) updates its estimate of the revenues diverted from the Oil for Food Program, (2) describes the U.S. government agencies working on the asset recovery effort, (3) discusses the results of U.S. efforts, and (4) highlights challenges that the United States faces in recovering Iraqi assets."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, which are created by collective bargaining agreements covering more than one employer and generally operated under the joint trusteeship of labor and management, provide coverage to over 9.7 million of the 44 million participants insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The recent termination of several large single-employer plans--plans sponsored by individual firms--has led to millions of dollars in benefit losses for thousands of workers and left PBGC, their public insurer, an $11.2 billion deficit as of September 30, 2003. The serious difficulties experienced by these single-employer plans have prompted questions about the health of multiemployer plans. This testimony provides information on differences between single employer and multiemployer pension plans, recent trends in the funding of multiemployer pension plans and worker participation in those plans, and factors that may pose challenges to the future prospects of multiemployer plans. GAO will soon release a separate report on multiemployer pension issues."

Marine Corp Recruit Depot (MCRD), Parris Island, SC, home of the Easter Recruiting Region Marine Corp Boot Camp, found itself in a situation common to Department of Defense (DOD) facilities. It had to deal with several different types of installed energy-related control systems that could not talk to each other. This situation was being exacerbated by the installation of a new and/or unique type of control system for every new building being constructed or older facility that was being upgraded. The Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) and lift station controls were badly in need of a thorough inspection and a new Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system upgrade to meet environmental, safety, manpower, and maintenance concerns. A project was recently completed to implement such a wastewater treatment SCADA upgrade, which is compatible with other upgrades to the energy monitoring and control systems for Parris Island buildings and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Decision Support for Operations and Maintenance (DSOM) system installed at the Central Energy Plant (CEP). This project included design, specification, procurement, installation, and testing an upgraded SCADA alarm, process monitoring, and display system; and training WWTF operators in its operation. The ultimate goal of this and the …

Experimental data that exhibits a continuous-wave, second-harmonic intensity threshold (15 kW/cm{sup 2}) that causes two-photon nonlinear absorption which leads to time-dependent photochromic damage in periodically poled KTiOPO{sub 4} is presented and verified through a thermal dephasing model.

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We have performed extensive numerical studies of quasi-phase-matched optical parametric amplification with the aim to improve its nondegenerate spectral bandwidth. Our multi-section fan-out design calculations indicate a 35-fold increase in spectral bandwidth.

This document is the report of a workshop held under NSET auspices in March 2004 aimed at identifying and articulating the relationship of nanoscale science and technology to the Nation's energy future.

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The eight average molecular weights, as well as other characteristics such as the second virial coefficients and root-mean-square (RMS) radii of gyration of poly (ethyleneimine) (PEI) and various derivatives, have been determined in solution light scattering studies. The solution dynamics of PEI and carboxylated and phosphorylated derivatives were studied a pH of 3.3, 7.0 and 10.0. Measurements were made in freshly distilled and de-ionized water as well as in 0.1 M, 1 M and 5-M solutions of sodium chloride in water. Molecular weights were calculated from Berry plots. The purified polymer, PEI-1, gave a molecular weight of 39,600 g/mol., while the same polymer, which was not purified, PEI-2, has MW of 43,100 g/mol.

During this reporting period, we mainly focused on solving the disc distortion problem that was encountered in the last quarter. A slower heating rate during off-gassing was tested to reduce the HIPping can expansion. However, slight expansion still occurred. Two 6.5 inch discs were produced with many defects. One was made of H13 powder only and the other was made of H13 powder with WC inserts. It was believed that the defects were caused by the slight expansion of the HIP can during the elevated temperature off-gassing and a vacuum leak in the HIPping can.

Removal of radioactive strontium and transuranic elements from Hanford Envelope C waste solutions can be accomplished by the sequential addition of sodium hydroxide, strontium nitrate, and sodium permanganate solutions. This multistep precipitation process is the baseline technology in the River Protection Project -Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WTP) for the removal of these radioactive species from Hanford Waste Tanks. Decontamination targets are easily met using these precipitation technologies and current work in this area focuses on optimization to minimize reagent levels. Downstream treatment processes require filtration of the precipitate slurry. In order to avoid further precipitation after filtration, it is necessary to know the precipitation reaction time-scale. In addition, precipitate slurry filter flux is a primary parameter of interest to plant design personnel. Optimization of the filtration process is benefited by an understanding of the parameters that impact particle size distribution. Filter cake packing and, hence, filter flux are often sensitive to small changes in the particle size distribution. However, traditional methods of particle size analysis often are not sufficiently sensitive to develop correlations to filterability. Focused Beam Reflectance Measurements (FBRM) are a relatively new chord length analysis method with extremely high sensitivity. The method is suited for continuous monitoring of chord …

Higher accelerating gradients are required for future high-power devices such as the TeV electron linear collider and muon-muon collider. A limit in the maximum field gradient is imposed by the rf dark current and the resulting electrical breakdown. Two critical questions need to be answered: What causes high dark current and breakdown? Can the breakdown threshold be increased? These problems have been the focus of significant experimental and theoretical investigations for over a century. The purpose of this report is to shed some light on the possible mechanisms that limit the field gradient in linacs with and without guiding magnetic fields. The idea of enhanced field emission due to separation of grains from a material surface by the electric field tension acting normally to the surface is discussed. The electric force can be high enough to overcome the binding energy of grains in the material. Thus, small-size separated grains result in enhanced field emission. The stopping power of relativistic and ultra-relativistic energies of ejected electrons at high electric field results in more production of secondary electrons. At high energy, E>>mc{sup 2}, the stopping power of relativistic and ultra-relativistic electrons becomes similar to the stopping power of ions with the same …

In this working group we have investigated a number of aspects of searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) at the running or planned TeV-scale colliders. For the most part, we have considered hadron colliders, as they will define particle physics at the energy frontier for the next ten years at least. The variety of models for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics has grown immensely. It is clear that only future experiments can provide the needed direction to clarify the correct theory. Thus, our focus has been on exploring the extent to which hadron colliders can discover and study BSM physics in various models. We have placed special emphasis on scenarios in which the new signal might be difficult to find or of a very unexpected nature. For example, in the context of supersymmetry (SUSY), we have considered: how to make fully precise predictions for the Higgs bosons as well as the superparticles of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) (parts III and IV); MSSM scenarios in which most or all SUSY particles have rather large masses (parts V and VI); the ability to sort out the many parameters of the MSSM using a variety of signals …

Three dip samples of suspended sludge slurry were obtained from Tank 51H in December, 2003 after addition of corrosion control chemicals to the tank. The samples were sent to the Savannah River Technology Center for analysis. The analyses requested included those required for Extended Sludge Processing washing controls and corrosion controls. The washing controls require the measurement of the sodium concentration, density, and weight per cent solids of the sample. The corrosion control analyses require determination of the nitrate, nitrite, and free hydroxide concentrations in the supernate. The low per cent relative standard deviations for all analytical results indicate good analytical precision for the three replicates. The blanks submitted with the sample show no contamination of the samples from reagents used in the sample preparations. The results of the density and weight per cent solids measurements appear consistent with the sodium concentration measured in the supernate.

The kinetic effects of trapped electron dynamics and finite gyroradii and magnetic drift motion of ions are shown to give rise to a large parallel electric field and hence a parallel current that greatly enhances the stabilizing effect of field line tension for ballooning modes in low aspect ratio toroidal plasmas. For large aspect ratio the stabilizing effect increases (reduces) the {beta}(= 2P/B{sup 2}) threshold for the first (second) stability of the kinetic ballooning mode (KBM) from the MHD {beta} threshold value by a factor proportional to the trapped electron density fraction. For small aspect ratio the stabilizing effect can greatly increase the {beta} threshold of the first stability of KBMs from the MHD {beta} threshold by S{sub c} {approx_equal} 1 + (n{sub e}/n{sub eu}){delta}, where n{sub e}/n{sub eu} is the ratio of the total electron density to the untrapped electron density, and {delta} depends on the trapped electron dynamics and finite gyroradii and magnetic drift motion of ions. If n{sub e}/n{sub eu} >> 1 as in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) with an aspect ratio approximately equal to 1.4, the KBM should be stable for {beta} {le} 1 for finite magnetic shear. Therefore, unstable KBMs are expected only …

Recent results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the phase diagram of matter at very high energies were the focal points of Quark Matter 2004, held January 10-17, 2004 in the Oakland, California convention center. About 700 participants, including 125 students, from 28 countries gathered for 5 days of plenary and parallel sessions. Besides the scientific discussions, participants enjoyed an afternoon of excursions; choices included visits to San Francisco, the Muir woods, and, of course, a chance to sample Napa Valley wines. There was also a day of introductory lectures for graduate students and a separate afternoon program for 50 local high school teachers. The ''Quark Matter'' conference series has evolved into the premier venue for relativistic heavy ion collisions, and QM2004 was no exception. The 44 plenary and 92 parallel session talks featured a veritable flood of data from STAR (Kai Schweda, LBNL), PHENIX (Tony Frawley, Florida State), PHOBOS (Peter Steinberg, BNL) and BRAHMS (Michael Murray, Kansas), at RHIC. This was accompanied by contributions from HERMES ( Pasquale DiNezza, Frascati) and HERA-B (Joakim Spengler, Heidelberg) and continuing analyses from NA-49 (Marek Gazdzicki, Frankfurt) and NA-57 (Giuseppe Bruno, Bari) at the CERN SPS. The theoretical contributions presented a …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicaid, the federal-state health financing program for many of the nation's most vulnerable populations, finances health care for an estimated 53 million lowincome Americans, at a cost of $244 billion in 2002. Congress structured Medicaid as a shared fiduciary responsibility of the federal government and the states, with the federal share of each state's Medicaid payments determined by a formula specified by law. In 2002, the federal share of each state's expenditures ranged from 50 to 76 percent under this formula; in the aggregate, the federal share of total Medicaid expenditures was 57 percent. Some states have used a number of creative financing schemes that take advantage of statutory and regulatory loopholes to claim excessive federal matching payments. GAO was asked to summarize prior work on how some of these schemes operated, including the role of intergovernmental transfers (IGT), which enable government entities--such as the state and local-government facilities like county nursing homes--to transfer funds among themselves. GAO was also asked to discuss these schemes' effects on the federalstate Medicaid partnership and to discuss what can be done to curtail them."

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