Transcript of a public hearing held by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq & Afghanistan held April 25, 2011 in Washington D.C. This hearing includes testimony from five witnesses representing academic and government professional views on reform for contingency contracting.

Proceedings of the House of Representatives of Texas for the eighth day of the regular session of the 82nd Legislature documenting legislation, reports, discussions, votes, and points-of-order.

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LaserFest was the yearlong celebration, during 2010, of the 50th anniversary of the demonstration of the first working laser. The goals of LaserFest were: to highlight the impact of the laser in its manifold commercial, industrial and medical applications, and as a tool for ongoing scientific research; to use the laser as one example that illustrates, more generally, the route from scientific innovation to technological application; to use the laser as a vehicle for outreach, to stimulate interest among students and the public in aspects of physical science; to recognize and honor the pioneers who developed the laser and its many applications; to increase awareness among policymakers of the importance of R&D funding as evidenced by such technology as lasers. One way in which LaserFest sought to meet its goals was to encourage relevant activities at a local level all across the country -- and also abroad -- that would be identified with the larger purposes of the celebration and would carry the LaserFest name. Organizers were encouraged to record and advertise these events through a continually updated web-based calendar. Four projects were explicitly detailed in the proposals: 1) LaserFest on the Road; 2) Videos; 3) Educational material; and 4) …

An ultrarelativistic 28.5 GeV, 700-{micro}m-long positron bunch is focused near the entrance of a 1.4-m-long plasma with a density n{sub e} between {approx}10{sup 13} and {approx}5 x 10{sup 14} cm{sup -3}. Partial neutralization of the bunch space charge by the mobile plasma electrons results in a reduction in transverse size by a factor of {approx}3 in the high emittance plane of the beam {approx}1 m downstream from the plasma exit. As n{sub e} increases, the formation of a beam halo containing {approx}40% of the total charge is observed, indicating that the plasma focusing force is nonlinear. Numerical simulations confirm these observations. The bunch with an incoming transverse size ratio of {approx}3 and emittance ratio of {approx}5 suffers emittance growth and exits the plasma with approximately equal sizes and emittances.

Algaeventure Systems (AVS) has previously demonstrated an innovative technology for dewatering algae slurries that dramatically reduces energy consumption by utilizing surface physics and capillary action. Funded by a $6M ARPA-E award, transforming the original Harvesting, Dewatering and Drying (HDD) prototype machine into a commercially viable technology has required significant attention to material performance, integration of sensors and control systems, and especially addressing scaling issues that would allow processing extreme volumes of algal cultivation media/slurry. Decoupling the harvesting, dewatering and drying processes, and addressing the rate limiting steps for each of the individual steps has allowed for the development individual technologies that may be tailored to the specific needs of various cultivation systems. The primary performance metric used by AVS to assess the economic viability of its Solid-Liquid Separation (SLS) dewatering technology is algae mass production rate as a function of power consumption (cost), cake solids/moisture content, and solids capture efficiency. An associated secondary performance metric is algae mass loading rate which is dependent on hydraulic loading rate, area-specific hydraulic processing capacity (gpm/in2), filter:capillary belt contact area, and influent algae concentration. The system is capable of dewatering 4 g/L (0.4%) algae streams to solids concentrations up to 30% with capture efficiencies …

This report provides a short description of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility microwave radiometer (MWR) Retrieval (MWRRET) value-added product (VAP) algorithm. This algorithm utilizes a complementary physical retrieval method and applies brightness temperature offsets to reduce spurious liquid water path (LWP) bias in clear skies resulting in significantly improved precipitable water vapor (PWV) and LWP retrievals. We present a general overview of the technique, input parameters, output products, and describe data quality checks. A more complete discussion of the theory and results is given in Turner et al. (2007b).

Residual impurities in manganese (Mn) are a big obstacle to obtaining high-performance CdMnTe (CMT) X-ray and gamma-ray detectors. Generally, the zone-refining method is an effective way to improve the material's purity. In this work, we purified the MnTe compounds combining the zone-refining method with molten Te, which has a very high solubility for most impurities. We confirmed the improved purity of the material by glow-discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS). We also found that CMT crystals from a multiply-refined MnTe source, grown by the vertical Bridgman method, yielded better performing detectors.

Laser evolution and plasma wave excitation by a relativistically-intense short-pulse laser in underdense plasma are investigated in the broad pulse limit, including the effects of pulse steepening, frequency red-shifting, and energy depletion. The nonlinear plasma wave phase velocity is shown to be significantly lower than the laser group velocity and further decreases as the pulse propagates owing to laser evolution. This lowers the thresholds for trapping and wavebreaking, and reduces the energy gain and efficiency of laser-plasma accelerators that use a uniform plasma profile.

National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec) shall provide one (1) Mechanical Engineer to support the Linear Collider Subsystem Development Program at Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS). The NSTec Mechanical Engineer's efforts will include engineering, design, and drawing support for the Vacuum Seal Test. NSTec will also provide a final report of the setup and input to LLNL's project management on project status. The NSTec Mechanical Engineer's efforts will also include engineering, design, and drawing support to the conceptual design for manufacturing of the Flux Concentrator Magnet. NSTec will also contribute to LLNS's final report on the Flux Concentrator Magnet. The deliverables are drawings, sketches, engineering documents, and final reports delivered to the LLNS Technical Representative.

The Costilla County Biodiesel Pilot Project has demonstrated the compatibility of biodiesel technology and economics on a local scale. The project has been committed to making homegrown biodiesel a viable form of community economic development. The project has benefited by reducing risks by building the facility gradually and avoiding large initial outlays of money for facilities and technologies. A primary advantage of this type of community-scale biodiesel production is that it allows for a relatively independent, local solution to fuel production. Successfully using locally sourced feedstocks and putting the fuel into local use emphasizes the feasibility of different business models under the biodiesel tent and that there is more than just a one size fits all template for successful biodiesel production.

We report an extensive study on the intrinsic bulk electronic structure of the high-temperature superconductor CeFeAsO{sub 0.89}F{sub 0.11} and its parent compound CeFeAsO by soft and hard x-ray photoemission, x-ray absorption and soft-x-ray emission spectroscopies. The complementary surface/bulk probing depth, and the elemental and chemical sensitivity of these techniques allows resolving the intrinsic electronic structure of each element and correlating it with the local structure, which has been probed by extended-x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The measurements indicate a predominant 4f{sup 1} (i.e. Ce{sup 3+}) initial state configuration for Cerium and an effective valence-band-to-4f charge-transfer screening of the core hole. The spectra also reveal the presence of a small Ce f{sup 0} initial state configuration, which we assign to the occurrence of an intermediate valence state. The data reveal a reasonably good agreement with the partial density of states as obtained in standard density functional calculations over a large energy range. Implications for the electronic structure of these materials are discussed.

To prevent significant loss of the luminosity due to large crossing angle in the future ERL based Electron Ion Collider at BNL (eRHIC), there is a demand for crab cavities. In this article, we will present a novel design of the deflecting/crabbing 181 MHz superconducting RF cavity that will fulfil the requirements of eRHIC. The quarter-wave resonator structure of the new cavity possesses many advantages, such as compact size, high R{sub t}/Q, the absence of the same order mode and lower order mode, and easy higher order mode damping. We will present the properties and characteristics of the new cavity in detail. As the accelerator systems grow in complexity, developing compact and efficient deflecting cavities is of great interest. Such cavities will benefit situations where the beam line space is limited. The future linac-ring type electron-ion collider requires implementation of a crab-crossing scheme for both beams at the interaction region. The ion beam has a long bunches and high rigidity. Therefore, it requires a low frequency, large kicking angle deflector. The frequency of the deflecting mode for the current collider design is 181 MHz, and the deflecting angle is {approx}5 mrad for each beam. At such low frequency, the previous …

The Saltstone Facility is designed and permitted to immobilize and dispose of low-level radioactive and hazardous liquid waste (salt solution) remaining from the processing of radioactive material at the Savannah River Site. Low-level waste (LLW) streams from the Effluent Treatment Project (ETP), H-Canyon, the DDA (Deliquification, Dissolution, and Adjustment) process, and the decontaminated salt solution product from the Actinide Removal Process/Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) Unit (ARP/MCU) process are stored in Tank 50 until the LLW can be transferred to the Saltstone Facility for treatment and disposal. The LLW must meet the specified waste acceptance criteria (WAC) before it is processed into saltstone. The specific chemical and radionuclide contaminants and their respective WAC limits are listed in the current Saltstone WAC. Waste Solidification Engineering (WSE) requested that Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) perform quarterly analysis on saltstone samples. The concentrations of chemical and radionuclide contaminants are measured to ensure the saltstone produced during each quarter is in compliance with the current WAC. This report documents the concentrations of chemical and radionuclide contaminants for the 2011 Second Quarter samples collected from Tank 50 on April 4, 2011 and discusses those results in further detail than the previously issued results report. …