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The Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structure of the United States is charged with implementing Public Law 108-132 Sec. 128 by conducting a thorough study of matters relating to the overseas military facility structure of the United States. See also the Commission's Amended Charter and the Original Charter.

Established by Executive Order 13328 and signed by President George W. Bush on February 6, 2004, the Commission was charged with assessing whether the Intelligence Community is sufficiently authorized, organized, equipped, trained, and resourced to identify and warn in a timely manner of, and to support United States Government efforts to respond to, the development and transfer of knowledge, expertise, technologies, materials, and resources associated with the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, related means of delivery, and other related threats of the 21st Century and their employment by foreign powers (including terrorists, terrorist organizations, and private networks). T he Commission examined the capabilities and challenges of the Intelligence Community to collect, process, analyze, produce, and disseminate information concerning the capabilities, intentions, and activities of such foreign powers relating to the design, development, manufacture, acquisition, possession, proliferation, transfer, testing, potential or threatened use, or use of Weapons of Mass Destruction, related means of delivery, and other related threats of the 21st Century.

We present a new approach for shape metamorphism, which is a process of gradually changing a source shape (known) through intermediate shapes (unknown) into a target shape (known). The problem, when represented with implicit scalar function, is under-constrained, and regularization is needed. Using the p-Laplacian equation (PLE), we generalize a series of regularization terms based on the gradient of the implicit function, and we show that the present methods lack additional constraints for a more stable solution. The novelty of our approach is in the deployment of a new regularization term when p --> infinity which leads to the infinite Laplacian equation (ILE). We show that ILE minimizes the supremum of the gradient and prove that it is optimal for metamorphism since intermediate solutions are equally distributed along their normal direction. Applications of the proposed algorithm for 2D and 3D objects are demonstrated.

This letter report documents the results of a computer model to quantify the travel time of tritium (radioactive hydrogen) from an underground nuclear detonation in 1969 toward a proposed producing gas well located 1,500 feet (457 meters) away.

This report provides information on how one widely cited study was developed to illustrate the complexities associated with this type of analysis. The report also provides information on how OMB's estimates of aggregate federal regulatory costs were developed and have varied over time, and on estimates that have been made of aggregate regulatory costs need to be interpreted and used carefully.

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Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 26.6 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of the world's population but more than two-thirds of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.

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A continuum-scale, evolutionary model of helium (He) nano-bubble nucleation, growth and He release for aging bulk metal tritides is presented which accounts for major features of the experimental database. Bubble nucleation, modeled as self-trapping of interstitially diffusing He atoms, is found to occur during the first few days following tritium introduction into the metal and is sensitive to the He diffusivity and pairing energy. An effective helium diffusivity of 0.3 x 10{sup -16} cm{sup 2}/s at 300 K is required to generate the average bubble density of 5x 1017 bubbles/cm3 observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Early bubble growth by dislocation loop punching with a l/radius bubble pressure dependence produces good agreement with He atomic volumes and bubble pressures determined from swelling data, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements, and hydride pressure-composition-temperature (PCT) shifts. The model predicts that later in life neighboring bubble interactions may first lower the loop punching pressure through cooperative stress effects, then raise the pressure by partial blocking of loops. It also accounts for the shape of the bubble spacing distribution obtained from NMR data. This distribution is found to remain fixed with age, justifying the separation of nucleation and growth phases, providing a sensitive test of …

The challenges of increased technological demands in today's workplace require virtually all workers to develop higher-order cognitive skills including problem solving and systems thinking in order to be productive. Such ''habits of mind'' are viewed as particularly critical for success in the information-based workplace, which values reduced hierarchy, greater worker independence, teamwork, communications skills, non-routine problem solving, and understanding of complex systems. The need is particularly compelling in the buildings arena. To scope the problem, this paper presents the results of interviews and focus groups--conducted by Oakland California's Peralta Community College District and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory--in which approximately 50 industry stakeholders discussed contemporary needs for building operator education at the community college level. Numerous gaps were identified between the education today received by building operators and technicians and current workplace needs. The participants concurred that many of the problems seen today in achieving and maintaining energy savings in buildings can be traced to inadequacies in building operation and lack of awareness and knowledge about how existing systems are to be used, monitored, and maintained. Participants and others we interviewed affirmed that while these issues are addressed in various graduate-level and continuing education programs, they are virtually absent at the …

The identification and quantification of key natural attenuation processes for inorganic contaminants at D-Area is detailed herein. Two overarching goals of this evaluation of monitored natural attenuation (MNA) as a remediation strategy were (1) to better define the availability of inorganic contaminants as potential sources for transport to groundwater and uptake by environmental receptors and (2) to understand the site-specific mechanisms controlling attenuation of these inorganic contaminants through tandem geochemical and biological characterization. Data collected in this study provides input for more appropriate site groundwater transport models. Significant natural attenuation is occurring at D-Area as evidenced by relatively low aqueous concentrations of constituents of concern (COCs) (Be, Ni, U, and As) at all locations characterized and the decrease in groundwater concentrations with increasing distance from the source. The observed magnitude of decrease in groundwater concentrations of COCs with distance from the D-Area Coal Pile Runoff Basin (DCPRB) could not be accounted for by the modeled physical attenuation processes of dilution/dispersion. This additional attenuation, i.e., the observed difference between the groundwater concentrations of COCs and the modeled physical attenuation, is due to biogeochemical processes occurring at the D-Area. In tandem geochemical and microbiological characterization studies designed to evaluate the mechanisms contributing …

The Yang-Mills theory lies at the heart of our understanding of elementary particle interactions. For the strong nuclear forces, we must understand this theory in the strong coupling regime. The primary technique for this is the lattice. While basically an ultraviolet regulator, the lattice avoids the use of a perturbative expansion. I discuss some of the historical circumstances that drove us to this approach, which has had immense success, convincingly demonstrating quark confinement and obtaining crucial properties of the strong interactions from first principles.

We describe ProteinShop, a new visualization tool that streamlines and simplifies the process of determining optimal protein folds. ProteinShop may be used at different stages of a protein structure prediction process. First, it can create protein configurations containing secondary structures specified by the user. Second, it can interactively manipulate protein fragments to achieve desired folds by adjusting the dihedral angles of selected coil regions using an Inverse Kinematics method. Last, it serves as a visual framework to monitor and steer a protein structure prediction process that may be running on a remote machine. ProteinShop was used to create initial configurations for a protein structure prediction method developed by a team that competed in CASP5. ProteinShop's use accelerated the process of generating initial configurations, reducing the time required from days to hours. This paper describes the structure of ProteinShop and discusses its main features.

This project has developed a comprehensive and reliable base of accurate atomic structure data for complex many-electron systems. This has been achieved through the use of sensitive data-based parametric systematizations, precise experimental measurements, and supporting theoretical computations. The atomic properties studies involved primary data (wavelengths, frequency intervals, lifetimes, relative intensities, production rates, etc.) and derived structural parameters (energy levels, ionization potentials, line strengths, electric polarizabilities, branching fractions, excitation functions, etc).

This document explores the geochemical reactions likely to occur when hydrofluoric acid is spilled on Savannah River Site (SRS) soil. In particular, we evaluate the potential of environmental damage from a one-time release of concentrated hydrofluoric acid into a trench. According to interviews with personnel involved, sometime between 1955 and 1960 drums of 50-60 per cent hydrofluoric acid were disposed in a trench in the Central Shops area. The method of disposal suggests that most of the acid would have been released at the time of burial. No evidence of drum disposal or acidic pH values was found. Therefore, the Soil and Groundwater Closure Projects group requested that we evaluate potential risk by examining the major geochemical interactions expected between hydrofluoric acid and soil. The geochemical calculations in this report were done with The Geochemist's Workbench (Registered). This program uses an extended Debye-Huckel method for calculating activity coefficients. The conclusions of this report are accurate, but some of the intermediate steps may have higher uncertainty. Hydrofluoric acid disposed in a trench in the area would have reacted with soil kaolinite to neutralize the pH to a value of about 4.2. Based on conservative assumptions, this would have occurred within the …

This document provides recommendations for the composition of a mixture of peat, hydroxyapatite, and sand to treat dissolved TCE, uranium, and technetium-99 in groundwater.One option for treatment was to remove the most contaminated soil and fill the engineered excavation with amendments for in situ clean up of the groundwater. A mixture of peat and hydroxyapatite will produce conditions necessary for stabilization of uranium and technetium-99, as well as anaerobic degradation of TCE. There is an ample body of literature supporting the use of peat to maintain the methanogenic conditions required for reductive dechlorination of TCE. Likewise, peat has been used to remediate uranium in groundwater. Furthermore, reducing conditions that stabilize uranium will also stabilize technetium-99. Addition of hydroxyapatite, a natural phosphate mineral, will enhance stabilization of uranium by precipitation of low solubility phosphate phases. Hydroxyapatite will also provide phosphate, a critical nutrient, to promote microbial degradation of the peat required to maintain methanogenic conditions. This is based on the composition of WMU groundwater, the groundwater flow rate, and an assumed 30-year lifetime for the outermost meter of the treatment zone. The lifetime of the treatment system as a whole depends on the size of the treatment zone. It is recommended …

In this paper we extend the difference formulation for radiation transport to the case of a single atomic line. We examine the accuracy, performance and stability of the difference formulation within the framework of the Symbolic Implicit Monte Carlo method. The difference formulation, introduced for thermal radiation by some of the authors, has the unique property that the transport equation is written in terms that become small for thick systems. We find that the difference formulation has a significant advantage over the standard formulation for a thick system. The correct treatment of the line profile, however, requires that the difference formulation in the core of the line be mixed with the standard formulation in the wings and this may limit the advantage of the method. We bypass this problem by using the gray approximation. We develop three Monte Carlo solution methods based on different degrees of implicitness for the treatment of the source terms, and we find only conditional stability unless the source terms are treated fully implicitly.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions appropriations bills, recessions, and budget reconciliation bills. The process begins with the President's budget request and it bounded by the rules of the House and Senate, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and current program authorizations. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water. It summarizes the current legislative status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related legislative activity. The report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS products.

This report discusses Final Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules on Retiree Health Plans and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 43 report, AAPM TG-43, provides an analytical model and a dosimetry protocol for brachytherapy dose calculations, as well as documentation and results for some sealed sources. The radionuclide {sup 198}Au (T{sub 1/2} = 2.70 days, E{gamma} = 412 keV) has been used in the form of seeds for brachytherapy treatments including brain, eye, and prostate tumors. However, the TG-43 report has no data for {sup 198}Au seeds, and none have previously been obtained. For that reason, and because of the conversion of most treatment planning systems to TG-43 based methods, both Monte Carlo calculations (MCNP 4C) and thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) are used in this work to determine these data. The geometric variation in dose is measured using an array of TLDs in a solid water phantom, and the seed activity is determined using both a well ion chamber and a High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe). The results for air kerma strength, S{sub k}, per unit apparent activity, are 2.06 (MCNP) and 2.09 (measured) U mCi{sup -1}. The former is identical to what was published in 1991 in the AAPM Task Group 32 report. The dose rate constant results, {Lambda}, are 1.12 …

The transportation sector includes many subcategories--for example, on-highway, off-highway, and non-highway. Use of fuel for off-highway purposes is not well documented, nor is the number of off-highway vehicles. The number of and fuel usage for on-highway and aviation, marine, and rail categories are much better documented than for off-highway land-based use. Several sources document off-highway fuel use under specific conditions--such as use by application (e.g., recreation) or by fuel type (e.g., gasoline). There is, however, no single source that documents the total fuel used off-highway and the number of vehicles that use the fuel. This report estimates the fuel usage and number of vehicles/equipment for the off-highway category. No new data have been collected nor new models developed to estimate the off-highway data--this study is limited in scope to using data that already exist. In this report, unless they are being quoted from a source that uses different terminology, the terms are used as listed below. (1) ''On-highway/on-road'' includes land-based transport used on the highway system or other paved roadways. (2) ''Off-highway/off-road'' includes land-based transport not using the highway system or other paved roadways. (3) ''Non-highway/non-road'' includes other modes not traveling on highways such as aviation, marine, and rail. It …

The central role of the organic component in biologically controlled mineralization is widely recognized. These proteins are characterized by a high proportion of acidic amino acid residues, especially aspartate, Asp. At the same time, biomineralization takes place in the presence of a number of naturally-occurring, inorganic impurities, particularly Mg and Sr. In an attempt to decipher the controls on calcite growth imposed by both classes of modifiers, we have used in situ AFM to investigate the dependence of growth morphology and step kinetics on calcite in the presence of Sr{sup 2+}, as well as a wide suite of Aspartic acid-bearing polypeptides. In each case, we observe a distinct and step-specific modification. Most importantly, we find that the step speed exhibits a characteristic dependence on impurity concentration not predicted by existing crystal growth models. While all of the impurities clearly induce appearance of a 'dead zone,' neither the width of that dead zone nor the dependence of step speed on activity or impurity content can be explained by invoking the Gibbs-Thomson effect, which is the basis for the Cabrera-Vermilyea model of impurity poisoning. Common kink-blocking models also fail to explain the observed dependencies. Here we propose a kinetic model of inhibition …