Time-reversal processing was simulated for several possible electromagnetic communication channels, including random point scatterers, large plates and a conducting cavity. Communication was from a single transmitting antenna to a receiving array. The effectiveness of time-reversal processing was compared for a single receiver and the array. The aim of these simulations was to determine a communication environment that would give an interesting level of multipath interference and that can be constructed in a laboratory.

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This document is a report on our activities in FY03 exploring nuclear safety and hazard analysis issues relevant to the Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA). It is not clear whether DOE will classify the RIA as an accelerator facility subject to the accelerator-specific safety requirements of DOE Order 420.2A or as a nonreactor nuclear facility subject to the requirements of 10 CFR 830. The final outcome of this issue will have significant impact on the construction and operation of the facility and the quality assurance requirements for items or services that may affect nuclear safety. The resolution of this issue will be an important earlier decision for the RIA project team and will require early consultation with the appropriate DOE authorities. For nuclear facilities, facility hazard classification depends on the inventory of releasable radionuclides; therefore, some simplistic, scoping inventory calculations for some assumed targets and beams are done to estimate the hazard category of RIA if it is declared a nuclear facility. These calculations show that for the scenarios analyzed, RIA would produce sufficient quantities of radionuclides to be classified as a Category 3 nuclear facility. Over the lifetime of RIA operations, it may be possible to build up Category 2 …

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On May 4, 1988, the PEPCON plant experienced three major and several smaller explosions that caused over $70 million in property damage and caused two deaths. The PEPCON plant produced Ammonium Perchlorate (AP), a major ingredient for rocket fuel. The PEPCON plant and the nearby Kidd Marshmallow plant were totally destroyed by the detonations. The initiating event for the explosions was a fire that originated in the Batch Dryer Building and spread to adjacent storage. Several factors combined to cause the AP in the major storage fields to detonate, the most important being lack of adequate separation between storage units. Welding and flame cutting procedure with poor fire watch protocol was the prime candidate for fire ignition. There were no automatic fire suppression systems at the plant. Buildings including the Batch Dryer Building were made of combustible building material (fiberglass). There was poor housekeeping and no control of AP dust generation. AP was stored in combustible polyethylene drums, aluminum tote bins, 30-gallon steel storage drums and fiber reinforced tote bags. There were high-density storage practices. In addition, a contributing factor to the rapid fire-spread was that the wind that day was blowing directly from the batch dryer building to the …

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This report discuses the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) that was created by P.L. 100-418, the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, to encourage public-private cooperation in the development of pre-competitive technologies with broad application across industries

The report is about the FY2003 supplemental and FY2004 Assistance for Colombia and neighbors.

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NEA completed the CFD simulations for all NBFZ tests. SRI resumed work on HPBO experiments and conducted preliminary tests using the UCONN impactor. UCONN prepared several samples of char for cross-sectional analysis by SEM and characterization is underway. BU completed the NBFZ char characterization program. CBK model had been implemented into Fluent.

This is the first Quarterly Technical Report for DOE Cooperative Agreement No: DE-FC26-03NT41728. The objective of this program is to measure the oxidation of mercury in flue gas across SCR catalyst in a coal-fired power plant burning low rank fuels using a slipstream reactor containing multiple commercial catalysts in parallel. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Ceramics GmbH are providing co-funding for this program. This program contains multiple tasks and good progress is being made on all fronts. During this quarter, analysis of the coal, ash and mercury speciation data from the first test series was completed. Good agreement was shown between different methods of measuring mercury in the flue gas: Ontario Hydro, semi-continuous emission monitor (SCEM) and coal composition. There was a loss of total mercury across the commercial catalysts, but not across the blank monolith. The blank monolith showed no oxidation. The data from the first test series show the same trend in mercury oxidation as a function of space velocity that has been seen elsewhere. At space velocities in the range of 6,000-7,000 hr{sup -1} the blank monolith did not show any mercury oxidation, with or without ammonia present. Two of the commercial catalysts clearly showed …

This report contains a summary of activities of Gnomon, Inc. and five sub-contractors that have taken place during the first six months (January 1, 2003--June 30, 2003) under the DOE-NETL cooperative agreement: ''Adaptive Management and Planning Models for Cultural Resources in Oil & Gas Fields in New Mexico and Wyoming'', DE-FC26-02NT15445. Gnomon, Inc. and all five (5) subcontractors have agreed on a process for the framework of this two-year project. They have also started gathering geomorphological information and entering cultural resource data into databases that will be used to create models later in the project. This data is being gathered in both the Power River Basin of Wyoming, and the Southeastern region of New Mexico. Several meetings were held with key players in this project to explain the purpose of the research, to obtain feedback and to gain support. All activities have been accomplished on time and within budget with no major setbacks.

This document is the result of a request from the Fermilab directorate to (i) investigate the detector technology issues relevant for future long baseline experiments and (ii) consider the associated detector R and D that would be needed to prepare the way for future neutrino oscillation experiments using the NuMI beamline. Because of the narrow energy spread provided by an off-axis beam and the resulting low intrinsic electron neutrino background, as well as the very favorable duty cycle of the NuMI beamline, a well-placed neutrino detector at the surface of the earth could take the next important steps in neutrino oscillation physics. The biggest outstanding issue in this field is whether or not the last unmeasured element of the leptonic mixing matrix, parameterized by the mixing angle {theta}{sub 13}, is nonzero. If it is in fact non-zero, this opens the door to measurements of the neutrino mass hierarchy and, if the solar neutrino oscillations are described by the LMA solution, searches for CP violation in the lepton sector. In order to get to any of these measurements, an off-axis detector must be capable of measuring the {nu}{sub {mu}}({bar {nu}}{sub {mu}}) {yields} {nu}{sub e}({bar {nu}}{sub e}) transition probabilities as well as …

The River Protection Program (RPP) low activity waste (LAW) melter design incorporates a series of bubblers used to increase convection in the molten glass. Through runs of a pilot melter at Duratek, Inc. in Columbia, Maryland, the bubblers have been identified as the major component limiting LAW melter availability, requiring frequent replacement due to corrosive degradation, primarily at the melt line. Laboratory experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of several alloys and coatings in simulated RPP low activity waste melter vapor space and molten glass environments. The performance of the alloys and coatings was studied in order to advance our understanding of how these materials react at the melt/air interface inside the melter. The ultimate goal was to identify a material with superior performance compared to that of Inconel 693, and to deliver a bubbler sub-assembly made of that material to the RPP LAW melter pilot facility for further testing.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With annual obligations for goods and services totaling $1.7 billion, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is one of the largest of 23 entities coming into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). INS's procurement organization will continue to acquire goods and services under DHS. GAO was asked to review INS's contracting processes to assess whether INS has an adequate infrastructure to manage its acquisitions and to determine whether INS is following sound contracting policies and procedures in awarding and managing individual contracts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since September 11, 2001, concern has increased that terrorists could smuggle weapons of mass destruction in the 7 million ocean containers that arrive annually at U.S. seaports. In response to this concern, the U.S. Customs Service (Customs) implemented the Container Security Initiative (CSI) to screen for high-risk containers at overseas ports and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) to improve global supply chain security in the private sector. GAO (1) describes the purpose and elements of these new programs, (2) examines Customs' implementation of CSI and C-TPAT during the first year, and (3) assesses the extent to which Customs has focused on factors critical to the programs' long-term success and accountability."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Recent events have increased concerns about the potential for fraud in Education's student loan programs related to loans for U.S. residents attending foreign schools. In 2002, GAO's Office of Special Investigations created a fictitious foreign school that Education subsequently certified as eligible to participate in the student loan program. GAO investigators subsequently successfully obtained approval for student loans totaling $55,000 on behalf of three fictitious students. Over the past decade, Education's Inspector General has investigated many instances of suspected student loan fraud involving individuals applying for loans for purported attendance at foreign schools. The conference report accompanying the 2001 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act mandated that GAO examine and report on fraud, waste, and abuse with respect to student loans for Americans attending foreign schools."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) of the Department of Justice is responsible for managing information technology (IT) resources for the United States Attorneys' Offices. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which EOUSA has institutionalized key IT management capabilities that are critical to achieving Justice's strategic goal of improving the integrity, security, and efficiency of its IT systems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Mexico's maquiladoras have evolved into the largest component of U.S.-Mexico trade. Maquiladoras import raw materials and components for processing or assembly by Mexican labor and reexport the resulting products, primarily to the United States. Most maquiladoras are U.S. owned, and maquiladoras import most of their components from U.S. suppliers. Maquiladoras have also been an engine of growth for the U.S.-Mexico border. However, the recent decline of maquiladora operations has raised concerns about the impact on U.S. suppliers and on the economy of border communities. Because of these concerns, GAO was asked to analyze (1) changes in maquiladora employment and production, (2) factors related to the maquiladoras' decline, and (3) implications of recent developments for maquiladoras' viability."

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

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The purpose of this report is to provide background for and summarize current developments in U.S. - People’s Republic of China (PRC) relations, including current and pending congressional actions involving the PRC.

This report discusses the developments in Iranian foreign policy, including their assistance the U.S. in ousting Saddam Hussein, their involvement with terrorist organizations, the developments made with respect to weapons of mass destruction, human rights concerns, and the Bush Administrations concerns with moving toward a regime change policy. It also details the Bush Administration's efforts to maintain the sanctions put in place by the Clinton Administration, as well as U.S. foreign policymakers division on which approach to take regarding Iran's political regime.