Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Oil for Food program was established by the United Nations and Iraq in 1996 to address concerns about the humanitarian situation after international sanctions were imposed in 1990. The program allowed the Iraqi government to use the proceeds of its oil sales to pay for food, medicine, and infrastructure maintenance. The program appears to have helped the Iraqi people. From 1996 through 2001, the average daily food intake increased from 1,300 to 2,300 calories. From 1997-2002, Iraq sold more than $67 billion of oil through the program and issued $38 billion in letters of credit to purchase commodities. However, over the years numerous allegations have surfaced concerning potential fraud and program mismanagement. GAO (1) reports on its estimates of the illegal revenue acquired by the former Iraqi regime in violation of U.N. sanctions, (2) provides observations on program administration; and (3) describes the current and future challenges in achieving food security."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2004, we issued our opinions on the calendar year 2003 financial statements of the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF), the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF), and the FSLIC Resolution Fund (FRF). We also issued our opinion on the effectiveness of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) internal controls as of December 31, 2003, and our evaluation of FDIC's compliance with significant provisions of selected laws and regulations for the three funds for the year ended December 31, 2003. The purpose of this report is to discuss issues identified during our audits of the 2003 financial statements regarding accounting procedures and internal controls that could be improved and to recommend improvements to address these issues. Although these issues were not material in relation to the financial statements, we believe they warrant management's attention. We conducted our audits in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Interstate pipelines carrying natural gas and hazardous liquids (such as petroleum products) are safer to the public than other modes of freight transportation. The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), the federal agency that administers the national regulatory program to ensure safe pipeline transportation, has been undertaking a broad range of activities to make pipeline transportation safer. However, the number of serious accidents--those involving deaths, injuries, and property damage of $50,000 or more--has not fallen. Among other things, OPS takes enforcement action against pipeline operators when safety problems are found. OPS has several enforcement tools to require the correction of safety violations. It can also assess monetary sanctions (civil penalties). This testimony is based on ongoing work for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and for other committees, as required by the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. The testimony provides preliminary results on (1) the effectiveness of OPS's enforcement strategy and (2) OPS's assessment of civil penalties."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since the mid-1990s--and especially since September 11--the government has focused attention and resources on preventing illegal aliens, drug smugglers, and potential terrorists from entering the United States across its land borders with Mexico and Canada. The Border Patrol is responsible for protecting the nation's borders. However, a significant portion of the borderlands are federal or tribal lands managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Forest Service. Realizing the importance of coordinating federal law enforcement efforts, GAO agreed to assess: (1) border-related law enforcement challenges for land management agencies in Arizona and Washington, (2) resources land management agencies have received to address these challenges, and (3) how the Border Patrol and land management agencies coordinate border-related law enforcement efforts."

The concepts of Verification and Validation (V&V) can be oversimplified in a succinct manner by saying that 'verification is doing things right' and 'validation is doing the right thing'. In the world of the Finite Element Method (FEM) and computational analysis, it is sometimes said that 'verification means solving the equations right' and 'validation means solving the right equations'. In other words, if one intends to give an answer to the equation '2+2=', then one must run the resulting code to assure that the answer '4' results. However, if the nature of the physics or engineering problem being addressed with this code is multiplicative rather than additive, then even though Verification may succeed (2+2=4 etc), Validation may fail because the equations coded are not those needed to address the real world (multiplicative) problem. We have previously provided a 4-step 'ABCD' quantitative implementation for a quantitative V&V process: (A) Plan the analyses and validation testing that may be needed along the way. Assure that the code[s] chosen have sufficient documentation of software quality and Code Verification (i.e., does 2+2=4?). Perform some calibration analyses and calibration based sensitivity studies (these are not validated sensitivities but are useful for planning purposes). Outline the …

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

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The use of fs lasers to directly write photonic structures inside a glass has great potential as a fabrication method for three-dimensional all-optical integrated components. The ability to use this technique with different glass compositions--specifically tailored for a specific photonics application--is critical to its successful exploitation. Consequently, it is important to understand how glass composition effects waveguide fabrication with fs laser pulses and how different glasses are structurally modified after exposure to fs laser pulses. We have used confocal laser spectroscopy to monitor the changes in glass structure that are associated with waveguide fabrication. Using a low power continuous wave (cw) Ar laser as excitation source we have measured both Raman and fluorescence spectra of the modified regions. Raman spectroscopy provides us with information on the network structure, whereas fluorescence measurements reveal the presence of optically active point defects in the glass. In this paper we review our work on fs-laser fabrication and characterization of photonic structures in glass and discuss the effect of glass composition on processing parameters and structural modification.

This paper presents the status of General Atomics Urban Maglev Program. The development provides an innovative approach for low speed transportation suitable for very challenging urban environments. Permanent magnets arranged in a 'Halbach' array configuration produce a relatively stiff magnetic suspension operating with an air gap of 25 mm. The project has progressed from design and prototype hardware testing, to the construction of a 120-meter full-scale test track, located in San Diego, California. Dynamic testing of the levitation, propulsion and guidance systems is being performed.

This report discusses the crisis in Darfur, which began in February 2003, when two rebel groups emerged to challenge the National Islamic Front (NIF) government in DarfurThe report describes the mechanisms used to cleanse the area of non-Arabs by “total disengagement of administration and suspension of all government services.”

We study the singlet part of the free energy of a static quark anti-quark (Q{bar Q}) pair at finite temperature. The model is three flavor QCD with degenerate quark masses using N{sub {tau}} = 4 and 6 lattices with Asqtad staggered fermion action. We look at thermodynamics of the system around phase transition and study its scaling with lattice spacing and quark masses.

Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus 2002-2004 Executive Committee list of contact information, club information, and website links.

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Electron-impact excitation and ionization of helium is studied in the S-wave model. The problem is treated in full dimensionality using a time-dependent formulation of the exterior complex scaling method that does not involve the solution of large linear systems of equations. We discuss the steps that must be taken to compute stable ionization amplitudes. We present total excitation, total ionization and single differential cross sections from the ground and n=2 excited states and compare our results with those obtained by others using a frozen-core model.

Inversion of transient electromagnetic (TEM) data sets to image the subsurface three-dimensional (3-D) electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability properties can be done directly in the time domain. The technique, first introduced by Wang et al. (1994) for causal and diffusive electromagnetic fields and subsequently implemented by Zhdanov and Portniaguine (1997) in the framework of iterative migration, is based upon imaging methods originally developed for seismic wavefields (Claerbout, 1971; Tarantola, 1984). In this paper we advance the original derivations of Wang et al. (1994) and Zhdanov and Portniaguine (1997) to treat non-causal TEM fields, as well as correct a flaw in the theory for treatment of magnetic field data. Our 3D imaging scheme is based on a conjugate-gradient search for the minimum of an error functional involving EM measurements governed by Maxwell's equations without displacement currents. Treatment for magnetic field, voltage (time derivative of the magnetic field) and electric field data are given. The functional can be computed by propagating the data errors back into the model in reverse time along with a DC field, sourced by the integrated data errors over the measurement time range. By correlating these fields, including the time-integrated back-propagated fields, with the corresponding incident field and …

H Area Operations is planning to process Pu-contaminated uranium scrap in support of de-inventory efforts. Nylon bags will be used to hold materials to be dissolved in H-Canyon. Based on this set of twelve nylon dissolutions, it is concluded that (when other variables are held constant): increased acid concentration results in increased dissolution rates; increased acid concentration results in a lower dissolution onset temperature; little, if any, H plus is consumed during the depolymerization process; and 2.0-3.0 M HNO3, with 0.025 M KF and 2 g/L B, is satisfactory for the dissolution of nylon bag materials to be used during H-Canyon processing.

Material migration has received renewed interest due to tritium retention associated with carbon transport to remote vessel locations. Those results influence the desirability of carbon usage on ITER. Subsequently, additional experiments have been performed, including tracer experiments attempting to identify material migration from specific locations. In this paper, EDGE2D models a well-diagnosed JET{sup 13}C tracer migration experiment. The role of SOL flows upon the migration patterns is identified.

The local structure around Sn dopants in CeCoIn{sub 5-x}Sn{sub z} has been probed by extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) technique. The fit results for both x = 0.12 and x = 0.18 clearly indicate the dopant Sn atoms predominantly occupying the planar In(1) site. These results are consistent with the quasi-two-dimensional electronic properties of CeCoIn{sub 5} and is discussed in relation to the observed bulk properties.

This annual report describes 1.5 y of progress on a 3 y project. The project addresses the goals of the Environmental Management Sciences Program (EMSP) that seeks innovative basic research to benefit cleanup technologies and decision-making strategies for contaminated environments. Our project specifically addresses Hanford research needs in subsurface science by contributing to the objectives of the Tank Farm Vadose Characterization Project and the 200 Area Remedial Action Project which are components of the Hanford Site Groundwater/Vadose Zone Integration Project (Integration Project). The work described within is intended to advance the technological and scientific needs associated with the long-term management of the enormous in-ground inventories of 235/238U, 99Tc, 60Co, and Cr(VI) present at the Hanford site. We believe that scientifically defensible predictions of contaminant transport and strategies for remediation must be based upon a field-relevant understanding of coupled hydrological and geochemical processes that control subsurface contaminant fate and transport. This research project investigates the migration of 235/238U, 90Sr, 60Co, and Cr(VI) in undisturbed sediments from the Hanford site using realistic experimental protocols designed to delineate complex hydrological and geochemical processes controlling contaminant movement.

Imaging sensors and readout electronics have made tremendous strides in the past two decades. The application of modern semiconductor fabrication techniques and the introduction of customized monolithic integrated circuits have made large scale imaging systems routine in high energy physics. This technology is now finding its way into other areas, such as space missions, synchrotron light sources, and medical imaging. I review current developments and discuss the promise and limits of new technologies. Several detector systems are described as examples of future trends. The discussion emphasizes semiconductor detector systems, but I also include recent developments for large-scale superconducting detector arrays.

The mission of the Commission shall be to provide recommendations to the President on implementation of the vision outlined in the President's policy statement entitled "A Renewed Spirit of Discovery" and the President's Budget Submission for Fiscal Year 2005 (collectively, "Policy"). The Commission shall examine and make recommendations to the President regarding: a) science research agenda to be conducted on the Moon and other destinations as well as human and robotic science activities that advance our capacity to achieve the Policy; b) The exploration of technologies, demonstrations, and strategies, including the use of lunar and other in situ natural resources, that could be used for sustainable human and robotic exploration; c) Criteria that could be used to select future destinations for human exploration; d) Long-term organization options for managing implementation of space exploration activities; e) The most appropriate and effective roles for potential private sector and international participants in implementing the Policy; and f) Methods for optimizing space exploration activities to encourage the interests of America's youth in studying and pursuing careers in mathematics, science, and engineering; and g) Management of the implementation of the Policy within available resources.

The condensation of energetic metal ions on a surface may cause self-sputtering even in the absence of substrate bias. Charge-state-averaged self-sputtering yields were determined for both zirconium and gold ions generated by a cathodic vacuum arc. Films were deposited on differently biased substrates exposed to streaming Zr and Au vacuum arc plasma. The self-sputtering yields for both metals were estimated to be about 0.05 in the absence of bias, and exceeding 0.5 when bias reached-50 V. These surprisingly high values can be reconciled with binary collision theory and molecular dynamics calculations taking high the kinetic and potential energy of vacuum arc ions into account.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Farmers receive about $15 billion annually in federal payments to help produce major crops, such as corn, cotton, rice, and wheat. The Farm Program Payments Integrity Act of 1987 (1987 Act) limits payments to individuals and entities--such as corporations and partnerships--that are "actively engaged in farming." This testimony is based on GAO's report, Farm Program Payments: USDA Needs to Strengthen Regulations and Oversight to Better Ensure Recipients Do Not Circumvent Payment Limitations (GAO-04-407, April 30, 2004). Specifically, GAO (1) determined how well USDA's regulations limit payments and (2) assessed USDA's oversight of the 1987 Act."

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