Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Legal and tax status of land and improvements leased by a development corporation- created under Texas Revised Civil Statues article 5190.6,section 4B--- to private commercial enterprises and used for private commercial purpose (RQ-0490-GA).

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) operates a worldwide supply system, with the vast majority of the items being managed by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Media reports in October 2005 raised concerns about the use of the prime vendor concept and the prices that DLA was paying for items acquired through a prime vendor, and the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on the matter on November 9, 2005. As a result of the hearing, DLA officials recognized the need to improve management oversight and internal controls over the program, and they proposed a series of corrective actions. Under the prime vendor concept, DOD relies on a distributor of a commercial product line, who provides that product line and incidental services to customers in an assigned region or area of responsibility. Products or services are to be delivered within a specified period of time after order placement. The prime vendor provides the product either at the cost paid to obtain it or at a price agreed upon in advance with DLA plus a handling fee. The use of prime vendor contracts is governed by the Federal Acquisition …

A report of a pedestrian archaeological survey for a proposed nature trail extension reroute along West Mud Creek for the City of Tyler.

A report of an archaeological survey of the proposed construction of Brinker Road and extension of Shady Oaks Drive.

None

None

None

This report provides information about the Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits on Former Presidents. The GSA is authorized by the FPA to provide office staff and suitable office space at a location in the United States.

This report discusses the Airport Improvement Program and its complement, the passenger facility charge (PFC), within the broader context of airport capital development finance. After a brief history of federal support for airport construction and improvement, the report describes AIP funding, its source of revenues, funding distribution, and the types of projects the program funds

None

Industrial organic solvents such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) constitute a principal class of groundwater contaminants. Cleanup of groundwater plume source areas associated with these compounds is problematic, in part, because the compounds often exist in the subsurface as dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). Ganglia (or 'blobs') of DNAPL serve as persistent sources of contaminants that are difficult to locate and remediate (e.g. Fenwick and Blunt, 1998). Current understanding of the physical and chemical processes associated with dissolution of DNAPLs in the subsurface is incomplete and yet is critical for evaluating long-term behavior of contaminant migration, groundwater cleanup, and the efficacy of source area cleanup technologies. As such, a goal of this project has been to contribute to this critical understanding by investigating the multi-phase, multi-component physics of DNAPL dissolution using state-of-the-art experimental and computational techniques. Through this research, we have explored efficient and accurate conceptual and numerical models for source area contaminant transport that can be used to better inform the modeling of source area contaminants, including those at the LLNL Superfund sites, to re-evaluate existing remediation technologies, and to inspire or develop new remediation strategies. The problem of DNAPL dissolution in natural porous media must be viewed …

The anthrax attacks of Fall 2001 highlight the need to develop forensic methods based on multiple identifiers to determine the origin of biological weapons agents. Genetic typing methods (i.e., DNA and RNA-based) provide one attribution technology, but genetic information alone is not usually sufficient to determine the provenance of the material. Non-genetic identifiers, including elemental and isotopic signatures, provide complementary information that can be used to identify the means, geographic location and date of production. Under LDRD funding, we have successfully developed the techniques necessary to perform bioforensic characterization with the NanoSIMS at the individual spore level. We have developed methods for elemental and isotopic characterization at the single spore scale. We have developed methods for analyzing spore sections to map elemental abundance within spores. We have developed rapid focused ion beam (FIB) sectioning techniques for spores to preserve elemental and structural integrity. And we have developed a high-resolution depth profiling method to characterize the elemental distribution in individual spores without sectioning. We used these newly developed methods to study the controls on elemental abundances in spores, characterize the elemental distribution of in spores, and to study elemental uptake by spores. Our work under this LDRD project attracted FBI and …

This report discusses the United States pipeline networks and their security. The Surface Transportation and Rail Security Act of 2007 (S. 184) would require federal plans for critical pipeline security and incident recovery, and would mandate pipeline security inspections and enforcement.

The next generation of imaging surveys in astronomy, such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), will require multigigapixel cameras that can process enormous amounts of data read out every few seconds. This huge increase in data throughput (compared to megapixel cameras and minute- to hour-long integrations of today's instruments) calls for a new paradigm for extracting the knowledge content. We have developed foundations for this new approach. In this project, we have studied the necessary processes for extracting information from large time-domain databases systematics. In the process, we have produced significant scientific breakthroughs by developing new methods to probe both the elusive time and spatial variations in astrophysics data sets from the SuperMACHO (Massive Compact Halo Objects) survey, the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search (LONEOS), and the Taiwanese American Occultation Survey (TAOS). This project continues to contribute to the development of the scientific foundations for future wide-field, time-domain surveys. Our algorithm and pipeline development has provided the building blocks for the development of the LSST science software system. Our database design and performance measures have helped to size and constrain LSST database design. LLNL made significant contributions to the foundations of the LSST, which has applications for large-scale imaging …

Materials can be experimentally characterized at high pressures and densities by sending a laser-induced shock wave through a sample that is pre-compressed inside a diamond-anvil cell. This combination of static- and dynamic-compression methods has been experimentally demonstrated, and ultimately provides access to the 10-100 TPa (0.1-1 Gbar) pressure range that is relevant to planetary science. We report on dynamical measurements of the high pressure compressibility of helium, hydrogen and helium/hydrogen mixtures up to 230 GPa by combining laser shocks and static compression in diamond anvil cells. The initial density of samples in these precompressed targets has been varied by a factor of 3. The measurements on the principal He Hugoniot, i.e with the initial density of cryo-helium, is extended above 100 GPa and a maximum of compression ratio of greater than 5-fold of the initial density is observed. Also, a strong decrease in compressibility is observed by increasing the initial density. A similar data set has been produced for precompressed H{sub 2} and a mixture of He and H{sub 2}.

Arguments are presented in favor of a possible existence of a random, force-free magnetic field. Ponderomotive forces in such a field are small, and the evolutionary time is much longer than Alfven crossing time over the vortex scale, whence the suggested term ''magnetostatic''. The presence of this long-lived random magnetic field provides stiffness with respect to large-scale compressional motions. On the other hand, such a field cannot be detected by techniques involving line-of-sight averaging. It may therefore be a source of stiffness for various astrophysical objects, ranging from plasmas in clusters of galaxies to the interiors of molecular clouds in HII regions, and remaining at the same time undetectable. Analysis of large-scale motions on the background of the magnetostatic turbulence is presented; it is concluded that these large-scale motions can be roughly described by a usual hydrodynamics for the matter with an isotropic pressure; the adiabatic index is 4/3.

The Georgia Public Safety Training Center's Live Fire Training Facility in Forsyth, GA is a three story structure constructed of rebar-reinforced concrete wall and floors. All the door and window coverings on the building are constructed of thick, plate metal to withstand the high temperatures generated inside the building during training exercises. All of the building's walls and floors are 1-foot thick, and regular concrete columns run up along the inside of the wall increasing the thickness to 20-inches in those locations. A center concrete staircase divides the structure in half. For typical exercises, fires are started in the back right corner of the building on the first floor and in the front right corner on the second floor as shown in Figure 2. Due to the high heat generated during these exercises, measured at 300 F on the floor and 700 F near the ceilings, there were limited locations at which equipment could be placed that did not incorporate heat shielding, such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's UWB system. However, upon inspection of the building, two preferable locations were identified in which equipment could be placed that would be protected from the temperature extremes generated by the fires. …

There is a need for fast, reliable methods for the determination of actinides and Sr-89/90 analysis on environmental and bioassay samples in response to an emergency radiological incident. The SRS (Savannah River Site) Environmental Bioassay Laboratory participated in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Radiochemistry Intercomparison Program (NRIP-06) and analyzed water and urine samples within 8 hours of receipt. The SRS Environmental Laboratory was the only lab that participated in the program that analyzed these samples for both actinides and Sr-89/90 within the requested 8 hour turnaround time. A new, rapid actinide and strontium 89/90 separation method was used for both urine and water samples. This method uses stacked TEVA Resin{reg_sign}, TRU Resin{reg_sign} and Sr-Resin{reg_sign} cartridges from Eichrom Technologies (Darien, IL, USA) that allows the rapid separation of plutonium (Pu), neptunium (Np), uranium (U), and americium (Am), curium (Cm) and thorium (Th) using a single multi-stage column combined with alpha spectrometry. By using vacuum box cartridge technology and stacked cartridges with rapid flow rates, sample preparation time was minimized. This paper discusses the technology and conditions employed for both water and urine samples and presents the SRS performance data on the NRIP-06 samples.

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) is a U.S. Department of Energy research and development laboratory located at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. SRNL has over 50 years of experience in developing and applying hydrogen technology, both through its national defense activities as well as through its recent activities with the DOE Hydrogen Programs. The hydrogen technical staff at SRNL comprises over 90 scientists, engineers and technologists, and it is believed to be the largest such staff in the U.S. SRNL has ongoing R&D initiatives in a variety of hydrogen storage areas, including metal hydrides, complex hydrides, chemical hydrides and carbon nanotubes. SRNL has over 25 years of experience in metal hydrides and solid-state hydrogen storage research, development and demonstration. As part of its defense mission at SRS, SRNL developed, designed, demonstrated and provides ongoing technical support for the largest hydrogen processing facility in the world based on the integrated use of metal hydrides for hydrogen storage, separation and compression. The SRNL has been active in teaming with academic and industrial partners to advance hydrogen technology. A primary focus of SRNL's R&D has been hydrogen storage using metal and complex hydrides. SRNL and its Hydrogen Technology …

To meet the simulation needs of the GNEP program, LLNL is leveraging a suite of high-performance codes to be used in the development of a multi-physics tool for modeling nuclear reactor cores. The Osiris code project, which began last summer, is employing modern computational science techniques in the development of the individual physics modules and the coupling framework. Initial development is focused on coupling thermal-hydraulics and neutral-particle transport, while later phases of the project will add thermal-structural mechanics and isotope depletion. Osiris will be applicable to the design of existing and future reactor systems through the use of first-principles, coupled physics models with fine-scale spatial resolution in three dimensions and fine-scale particle-energy resolution. Our intent is to replace an existing set of legacy, serial codes which require significant approximations and assumptions, with an integrated, coupled code that permits the design of a reactor core using a first-principles physics approach on a wide range of computing platforms, including the world's most powerful parallel computers. A key research activity of this effort deals with the efficient and scalable coupling of physics modules which utilize rather disparate mesh topologies. Our approach allows each code module to use a mesh topology and resolution that …

The overall goal of this project was to develop reactive membrane barriers--a new and flexible technique to contain and stabilize subsurface contaminants. Polymer membranes will leak once a contaminant is able to diffuse through the membrane. By incorporating a reactive material in the polymer, however, the contaminant is degraded or immobilized within the membrane. These processes increase the time for contaminants to breakthrough the barrier (i.e. the lag time) and can dramatically extend barrier lifetimes. In this work, reactive barrier membranes containing zero-valent iron (Fe{sup 0}) or crystalline silicotitanate (CST) were developed to prevent the migration of chlorinated solvents and cesium-137, respectively. These studies were complemented by the development of models quantifying the leakage/kill time of reactive membranes and describing the behavior of products produced via the reactions within the membranes. First, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes containing Fe{sup 0} and CST were prepared and tested. Although PVA is not useful in practical applications, it allows experiments to be performed rapidly and the results to be compared to theory. For copper ions (Cu{sup 2+}) and carbon tetrachloride, the barrier was effective, increasing the time to breakthrough over 300 times. Even better performance was expected, and the percentage of the iron used …

Designs of proposed fusion reactors, such as the ITER project, typically involve the use of liquid metals as coolants in components such as heat exchangers, which are generally subjected to strong magnetic fields. These fields induce electric currents in the fluids, resulting in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) forces which have important effects on the flow. The objective of this SBIR project was to develop computational techniques based on recently developed lattice Boltzmann techniques for the simulation of these MHD flows and implement them in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code for the study of fluid flow systems encountered in fusion engineering. The code developed during this project, solves the lattice Boltzmann equation, which is a kinetic equation whose behaviour represents fluid motion. This is in contrast to most CFD codes which are based on finite difference/finite volume based solvers. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is a relatively new approach which has a number of advantages compared with more conventional methods such as the SIMPLE or projection method algorithms that involve direct solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. These are that the LBM is very well suited to parallel processing, with almost linear scaling even for very large numbers of processors. Unlike other methods, …

The long gamma-ray burst GRB 060714 was observed to exhibit a series of five X-ray flares beginning {approx} 70 s after the burst trigger T{sub 0} and continuing until {approx} T{sub 0} + 200 s. The first two flares were detected by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift satellite, before Swift had slewed to the burst location, while the last three flares were strongly detected by the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) but only weakly detected by the BAT. This burst provides an unusual opportunity to track a complete sequence of flares over a wide energy range. The flares were very similar in their light curve morphology, showing power-law rise and fall components, and in most cases significant sub-structure. The flares also showed strong evolution with time, both spectrally and temporally. The small time scale and large amplitude variability observed are incompatible with an external shock origin for the flares, and support instead late time sporadic activity either of the central source or of localized dissipation events within the outflow. We show that the flares in GRB 060714 cannot be the result of internal shocks in which the contrast in the Lorentz factor of the colliding shells is very small, …

A novel technique has been developed to build vessels for liquid xenon ionization detectors entirely out of ultra-clean fluoropolymer. We describe the advantages in terms of low radioactivity contamination, provide some details of the construction techniques, and show the energy resolution achieved with a prototype all-fluoropolymer ionization detector.