A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is dramatically changing the way it purchases goods and services by relying more on judgment and initiative versus rigid rules for making purchasing decisions. Congress has enacted a series of reforms to help the government adapt to this environment. GAO was asked to assess strategies agencies are using to ensure that their acquisition workforces are receiving the training needed to operate in a changing business environment. In doing so, GAO looked at the General Services Administration (GSA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Defense (DOD). GAO also looked at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because it is exempt from federal acquisition laws, giving it greater flexibility and discretion."

Conventional disposable glass-fiber high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are used throughout the Department of Energy complex in various process systems. Alternative filter media is being addressed that would have a long life on the HLW tanks.

SN 2001el is the first normal Type Ia supernova to show a strong, intrinsic polarization signal. In addition, during the epochs prior to maximum light, the CaII IR triplet absorption is seen distinctly and separately at both normal photospheric velocities and at very high velocities. The unusual, high-velocity triplet absorption is highly polarized, with a different polarization angle than the rest of the spectrum. The unique observation allows us to construct a relatively detailed picture of the layered geometrical structure of the supernova ejecta: in our interpretation, the ejecta layers near the photosphere (v approximately 10,000 km/s) obey a near axial symmetry, while a detached, high-velocity structure (v approximately 18,000-25,000 $ km/s) of CaII line opacity deviates from the photospheric axisymmetry. By partially obscuring the underlying photosphere, the high-velocity structure causes a more incomplete cancellation of the polarization of the photospheric light, and so gives rise to the polarization peak of the high-velocity IR triplet feature. In an effort to constrain the ejecta geometry, we develop a technique for calculating 3-D synthetic polarization spectra and use it to generate polarization profiles for several parameterized configurations. In particular, we examine the case where the inner ejecta layers are ellipsoidal and the …

The Class 2 Project at West Welch was designed to demonstrate the use of advanced technologies to enhance the economics of improved oil recovery (IOR) projects in lower quality Shallow Shelf Carbonate (SSC) reservoirs, resulting in recovery of additional oil that would otherwise be left in the reservoir at project abandonment. Accurate reservoir description is critical to the effective evaluation and efficient design of IOR projects in the heterogeneous SSC reservoirs. Therefore, the majority of Budget Period 1 was devoted to reservoir characterization. Technologies being demonstrated include: (1) Advanced petrophysics; (2) Three-dimensional (3-D) seismic; (3) Crosswell bore tomography; (4) Advanced reservoir simulation; (5) Carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) stimulation treatments; (6) Hydraulic fracturing design and monitoring; (7) Mobility control agents.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittees.

This note is a write-up of contribution made by the author to the HCP2002 conference. It has two principal subjects. The first subject concerns the CDF {tau} triggers, {tau}-cone algorithms and {tau} physics analysis. {tau} physics is going to be very important in Run II because {tau}'s can extend SUSY searches at large tan {beta} in particular, {tau}'s will help in the searches for {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup {+-}}{tilde {chi}}{sub 2}{sup 0}, MSSM Higgs and other non Standard Model (SM) processes. Also, {tau} events are important for various Standard Model processes including Precision Electroweak, t{bar t}, and SM Higgs searches. {tau} triggers are installed and operating at CDF. The second subject of this contribution to the HCP2002 conference concerns the algorithms of backwards differentiation abstracted from their usual setting inside of Automatic Differentiation software packages. Backwards differentiation (reverse-mode differentiation) provides a useful means for optimizing many kinds of problems.

In this report, the materials and various surface types that comprise a city are referred to as the ''urban fabric.'' Urban fabric data are needed in order to estimate the impact of light-colored surfaces (roofs and pavements) and urban vegetation (trees, grass, shrubs) on the meteorology and air quality of a city, and to design effective urban environmental implementation programs. We discuss the results of a semi-automatic Monte-Carlo statistical approach used to develop data on surface-type distribution and city-fabric makeup (percentage of various surface-types) using aerial color orthophotography. The digital aerial photographs for Houston covered a total of about 52 km2 (20 mi2). At 0.30-m resolution, there were approximately 5.8 x 108 pixels of data. Four major land-use types were examined: (1) commercial, (2) industrial, (3) educational, and (4) residential. On average, for the regions studied, vegetation covers about 39 percent of the area, roofs cover about 21 percent, and paved surfaces cover about 29 percent. For the most part, trees shade streets, parking lots, grass, and sidewalks. At ground level, i.e., view from below the vegetation canopies, paved surfaces cover about 32 percent of the study area. GLOBEIS model data from University of Texas and land-use/land-cover (LULC) information from …

The precision with which the cosmological parameters have been determined has made dramatic progress in just the last two years. The author reviews this recent observational progress, highlights some of the key questions facing cosmology in the new millennium, and briefly discusses some of the projects now being mounted or contemplated to address them.

All technical project activities have been successfully completed. This effort included (1) completion of field testing using density tracers, (2) development of a spreadsheet based HMC simulation program, and (3) preparation of a menu-driven expert system for HMC trouble-shooting. The final project report is now being prepared for submission to DOE comment and review. The submission has been delayed due to difficulties in compiling the large base of technical information generated by the project. Technical personnel are now working to complete this report. Effort is being underway to finalize the financial documents necessary to demonstrate that the cost-sharing requirements for the project have been met.

Working within the context of the Southern States Biobased Alliance (SSBA) and with officials in each state, the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) is identifying bioenergy-related policies and programs within each state to determine their impact on the development, deployment or use of bioenergy. In addition, SSEB will determine which policies have impacted industry's efforts to develop, deploy or use biobased technologies or products. As a result, SSEB will work with the Southern States Biobased Alliance to determine how policy changes might address any negative impacts or enhance positive impacts.

Detecting and tracking objects in spatio-temporal datasets is an active research area with applications in many domains. A common approach is to segment the 2D frames in order to separate the objects of interest from the background, then estimate the motion of the objects and track them over time. Most existing algorithms assume that the objects to be tracked are rigid. In many scientific simulations, however, the objects of interest evolve over time and thus pose additional challenges for the segmentation and tracking tasks. We investigate efficient segmentation methods in the context of scientific simulation data. Instead of segmenting each frame separately, we propose an incremental approach which incorporates the segmentation result from the previous time frame when segmenting the data at the current time frame. We start with the simple K-means method, then we study more complicated segmentation techniques based on Markov random fields. We compare the incremental methods to the corresponding sequential ones both in terms of the quality of the results, as well as computational complexity.

This quarterly report documents significant achievements in the Enhanced Practical Photosynthetic CO{sub 2} Mitigation project during the period from 10/2/2001 through 1/01/2003. As indicated in the list of accomplishments below our current efforts are focused on evaluating candidate organisms and growth surfaces, preparing to conduct long-term tests in the bench-scale bioreactor test systems, and scaling-up the test facilities from bench scale to pilot scale. Specific results and accomplishments for the first quarter of 2003 include: Organisms and Growth Surfaces: (1) Additional thermal features with developed cyanobacterial mats, which might be calcium resistant, were found in the West Thumb area of YNP. New samples were isolated and are being cultured in glass tubes. (2) We checked the motile ability of 8.2.1 Synechococcus s.c. (10) and 3.2.2 Synechococcus s.c. 6. It was found that unicellular isolates 8.2.1 Synechococcus s.c. (10) and 3.2.2 Synechococcus s.c. 1 are phototaxic. Isolate 3.2.2 Synechococcus s.c. 1 currently consists of two populations: one population appears to be positive phototaxic, and second population appears negative phototaxis to the same level of light. This means that the character of screen illumination should be uniform and reasonable for cyanobacterial cells. (3) The aeration of growth media with 5% CO{sub 2} …

In this quarter, the field, theoretical and programming works have been performed toward achieving the research goals set in the proposal. The main accomplishments in this quarter included: (1) laboratory tests have been conducted, (2) with the added trendline analysis method, the accuracy of the data interpretation methodology will be improved and the interfaces and voids can be more reliably detected, (3) method to use torque to thrust ratio as indicator of rock relative hardness has also been explored, and (4) about 80% of the development work for the roof geology mapping program, MRGIS, has completed.

Roof bolting is the most popular method for underground openings in the mining industry, especially in the bedded deposits such as coal, potash, salt etc. In fact, all U.S. underground coal mine entries are roof-bolted as required by law. However, roof falls still occur frequently in the roof bolted entries. The two possible reasons are: the lack of knowledge of and technology to detect the roof geological conditions in advance of mining, and lack of roof bolting design criteria for modern roof bolting systems. This research is to develop a method for predicting the roof geology and stability condition in real time during roof bolting operation. Based on such information, roof bolting design criteria for modern roof bolting systems will be developed for implementation in real time. Additional field tests have been performed. It is found that the drilling power can be used as a supplementary method for detecting voids/fractures and rock interfaces.

Experimental evidence is presented for the existence of the theoretically predicted odd Torodicity-induced Alfven Eigenmode (TAEs) from the simultaneous appearance of odd and even TAEs in a normal shear discharge. The modes are observed in low central magnetic shear plasmas created by injecting lower hybrid current drive. A fast ion population was created by applying ion cyclotron heating at the high field side to excite the TAEs in the weak magnetic shear region. The odd TAEs were identified from their frequency, mode number, and timing relative to the even TAEs.

This reports earthqaukes that occurred during the first quarter of FY03.

We present measurements on gauge boson production from data taken during 1994-1996 by the D0 and CDF detectors: the differential production cross section of the W boson as a function of the transverse momentum [1,2], the ratio of W and Z differential cross sections [3,4], direct photon cross-sections at {radical}s = 630 and 1800 GeV [5,6], and studies of Drell-Yan production [7,8]. All measurements are in good agreement with currently available theoretical predictions in most of the measured kinematic range.

This report discusses the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was completed December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six “greenhouse gases.”

A flow test was performed in Scrap Recovery of HB-Line to document the flow available for hydrogen dilution in the dissolvers when the charge chute covers are removed. Air flow through the dissolver charge chutes, with the covers off, was measured. A conservative estimate of experimental uncertainty was subtracted from the results. After subtraction, the test showed that there is 20 cubic feet per minute (cfm) air flow through the dissolvers during dissolution with a glovebox exhaust fan operating, even with the scrubber not operating. This test also showed there is 6.6 cfm air flow through the dissolvers, after subtraction of experimental uncertainty if the scrubber and the glovebox exhaust fans are not operating. Three H-Canyon exhaust fans provide sufficient motive force to give this 6.6 cfm flow. Material charged to the dissolver will be limited to chemical hydrogen generation rates that will be greater than or equal to 25 percent of the Lower Flammability Limit (LFL) during normal operations. The H-Canyon fans will maintain hydrogen below LFL if electrical power is lost. No modifications are needed in HB-Line Scrap Recovery to ensure hydrogen is maintained less that LFL if the scrubber and glovebox exhaust fans are not operating.

Recent results on observations, properties and decay modes of the charmed and beauty baryons will be reviewed. Candidates for several new high mass states which include a cleanly-identified daughter {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} baryon are seen in data from the SELEX experiment at Fermilab. These states are candidates for doubly-charmed baryons: a {Xi}{sub cc}{sup ++} state and a {Xi}{sub cc}{sup +} state. These candidates are more than 5{sigma} signals in each case at masses of 3520 and 3460 MeV respectively.

The Standard model of electroweak interactions (SM) has been extremely successful in describing interactions of elementary particles over the last decades. The Higgs scalar boson is one of the key elements of the SM: Higgs interactions with the other particles generate the particle masses and allow to keep the theory renormalizable at electroweak scale. All the particles predicted by the SM but the Higgs boson have already been observed experimentally and therefore search for the Higgs is one of the most important scientific goals for high energy physics. The current lower limit on the SM Higgs mass M{sub H} > 114.4 GeV at 95% CL has been established by LEP experiments. In this paper we review CDF Run I results on Higgs searches including the Higgs bosons predicted by the minimal supersymmetric extention of the Standard Model (MSSM) and discuss the Run II prospects.

Non-invasive, high resolution geophysical mapping of the shallow subsurface is necessary for delineation of buried hazardous wastes, detecting unexploded ordinance, verifying and monitoring of containment or moisture contents, and other environmental applications. Electromagnetic (EM) techniques can be used for this purpose since electrical conductivity and dielectric permittivity are representative of the subsurface media. Measurements in the EM frequency band between 1 and 100 MHz are very important for such applications, because the induction number of many targets is small and the ability to determine the subsurface distribution of both electrical properties is required. Earlier workers were successful in developing systems for detecting anomalous areas, but quantitative interpretation of the data was difficult. Accurate measurements are necessary, but difficult to achieve for high-resolution imaging of the subsurface. We are developing a broadband non-invasive method for accurately mapping the electrical conductivity and dielectric permittivity of the shallow subsurface using an EM impedance approach similar to the MT exploration technique. Electric and magnetic sensors were tested to ensure that stray EM scattering is minimized and the quality of the data collected with the high-frequency impedance (HFI) system is good enough to allow high-resolution, multi-dimensional imaging of hidden targets. Additional efforts are being made …

This report provides an overview of the adjustment to permanent resident status under section 245 (i) on immigration.

The Savannah River Site has implemented a comprehensive vadose zone monitoring system at it's low level radioactive waste disposal facility in E-Area. The VSMS consists of nests of advanced tesiometers, water content reflectometers, suction lysimeters.