Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From 2008 to 2010, GAO produced a body of work on disaster recovery, including reviews of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Long-Term Community Recovery efforts, recovery lessons based on past experiences at home and abroad, the use of Community Development Block Grants and Public Assistance grants and the operation of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding (OFC). Among other things, this work highlighted themes that are important to successful disaster recovery efforts. Three of these key themes are: (1) the need for clearly defined recovery roles and responsibilities; (2) the importance of effective coordination and collaboration among recovery stakeholders; and (3) the value of periodic evaluation of, and reporting on, recovery progress."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has experienced systemic challenges that have hindered its ability to manage and oversee contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan. Key challenges include gaps in planning for the use of contractors and assistance recipients and having visibility into their numbers. For example, GAO reported in April 2010 that, absent strategic planning for its use of contractors, individual offices within USAID often made case-by-case decisions on using contractors to support contract or grant administration and risks, such as possible conflicts of interest, were not always addressed. While having reliable data on contractors and assistance recipients is a starting point for informing agency decisions and ensuring proper management, GAO has also reported on limitations in USAID’s visibility into the number and value of contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan, as well as the number of personnel working under them. USAID, along with other agencies, has not implemented GAO’s recommendation to address such limitations. USAID, however, has taken other actions to mitigate risks associated with awarding contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan. In June 2011, GAO reported on USAID’s vendor vetting program, then in its …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO’s work to date work indicates the United States provides less indemnification for third party losses than China, France, and Russia, according to studies. These countries put no limit on the amount of government indemnification coverage currently available through the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments of 1988 (CSLA) which is about $2.7 billion per launch. These commitments to pay have never been tested because there has never been a third party claim that exceeded the launch company’s insurance and thus reached the level of government indemnification."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Although the Department of Defense (DOD) has conducted some analysis to support two recent global posture decisions, the full cost implications of these decisions are unknown."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we identified over 200 organizations that market financial and estate planning services to help pension claimants with excess assets qualify for pension benefits. These organizations consist primarily of financial planners and attorneys who offer products such as annuities and trusts. All 19 organizations our investigative staff contacted said a claimant can qualify for pension benefits by transferring assets before applying, which is permitted under the program. Two organization representatives said they helped pension claimants with substantial assets, including millionaires, obtain VA’s approval for benefits. Some products and services provided, such as deferred annuities, may not be suitable for the elderly because they may not have access to their funds within their expected lifetime without facing high withdrawal fees. Also, such asset transfers may result in ineligibility for Medicaid coverage for long-term care for a period of time. The majority of the 19 organizations contacted charged fees, ranging from a few hundred dollars for benefits counseling to $10,000 for establishment of a trust. In our report we asked Congress to consider establishing a look-back and penalty period for pension claimants who transfer assets prior to applying for …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The process to complete highway projects is complicated and lengthy due to multiple factors. Specifically, highway projects can involve many stakeholders, including agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the public. These stakeholders perform a number of tasks—for major highway projects, as many as 200 steps from planning to construction—but their level of involvement varies. For example, resource agencies like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service generally only become involved in a highway project if it affects the environmental or cultural resources that agency is tasked with protecting. Additional factors can lengthen project time frames, including the availability of funding, changes in a state’s transportation priorities, public opposition, or litigation."

This document provides information on the distribution of $514 million in monthly sales tax revenue to local government.

This report gives an overview of the current government in Haiti and status of recovery efforts following the 2010 earthquake. The Haitian government and the international donor community are implementing a 10-year recovery plan focusing on territorial, economic, social, and institutional rebuilding. The main priorities for U.S. policy regarding Haiti are to strengthen fragile democratic processes, continue to improve security, and promote economic development. Other concerns include the cost and effectiveness of U.S. aid; protecting human rights; combating narcotics, arms, and human trafficking; and alleviating poverty. Congressional concerns include the pace and effectiveness of reconstruction; respect for human rights, particularly for women; counternarcotics efforts; and security issues.

This report presents an overview of Qatar's history and recent economic and political developments. The report discusses U.S. relations with Qatar, U.S. military cooperation and foreign assistance, political reform and elections, as well as human rights and social issues.

This report details the chemical and radionuclide contaminant results for the characterization of the 2012 First Quarter sampling of Tank 50 for the Saltstone Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). Information from this characterization will be used by Waste Solidification Engineering (WSE) to support the transfer of low-level aqueous waste from Tank 50 to the Salt Feed Tank in the Saltstone Facility in Z-Area, where the waste will be immobilized. This information is also used to update the Tank 50 Waste Characterization System. The following conclusions are drawn from the analytical results provided in this memorandum: (1) The concentrations of the reported chemical and radioactive contaminants were less than their respective WAC targets or limits unless noted in this section; (2) The reported detection limit for {sup 94}Nb is above the requested limit from Reference 2 but below the estimated limit in Reference 3; (3) {sup 247}Cm and {sup 249}Cf are above the requested limits from Reference 2. however, they are below the limits established in Reference 3; (4) The reported detection limit for Norpar 13 is greater than the limit from Table 4 and Attachment 8.2 of the WAC; (5) The reported detection limit for Isopar L is greater than the …

A new X-band RF gun (Mark-0) has been assembled, tuned and was tested in the ASTA facility at SLAC. This gun has been improved from an earlier gun used in Compton-scattering experiments at SLAC by the introduction of a racetrack dual-input coupler to reduce quadrupole fields. Waveguide-to-coupler irises were also redesigned to reduce surface magnetic fields and therefore peak pulse surface heating. Tests of this photocathode gun will allow us to gain early operational experience for beam tests of a new gun with further improvements (Mark-1) being prepared for SLAC's X-Band Test Area (XTA) program and the LLNL MEGa-ray program. Results of current testing up to {approx} 200 MV/m peak surface Electric fields are presented.

Radioactive materials are stored in a variety of locations throughout the DOE complex. At the Savannah River Site (SRS), materials are stored within dedicated facilities. Each of those facilities has a documented safety analysis (DSA) that describes accidents that the facility and the materials within it may encounter. Facilities at the SRS are planning on utilizing the certified Model 9977 Shipping Package as a long term storage package and one of these facilities required ballistics testing. Specifically, in order to meet the facility DSA, the radioactive materials (RAM) must be contained within the storage package after impact by a .223 caliber round. In order to qualify the Model 9977 Shipping Package for storage in this location, the package had to be tested under these conditions. Over the past two years, the Model 9977 Shipping Package has been subjected to a series of ballistics tests. The purpose of the testing was to determine if the 9977 would be suitable for use as a storage package at a Savannah River Site facility. The facility requirements are that the package must not release any of its contents following the impact in its most vulnerable location by a .223 caliber round. A package, assembled …

We propose a phenomenological model for the early universe where there is a smooth transition between an early quintessence phase and a radiation-dominated era. The matter content is modeled by an appropriately modified Chaplygin gas for the early universe. We constrain the model observationally by mapping the primordial power spectrum of the scalar perturbations to the latest data of WMAP7. We compute as well the spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves as would be measured today. We show that the high frequencies region of the spectrum depends on the free parameter of the model and most importantly this region of the spectrum can be within the reach of future gravitational waves detectors.

This report provides a methodology and requisite data to assess the potential Energy Return On Investment (EROI) for nuclear fuel cycle alternatives, and applies that methodology to a limited set of used fuel recycle scenarios. This paper is based on a study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a parallel evaluation by AREVA Federal Services LLC, both of which were sponsored by the DOE Fuel Cycle Technologies (FCT) Program. The focus of the LLNL effort was to develop a methodology that can be used by the FCT program for such analysis that is consistent with the broader energy modeling community, and the focus of the AREVA effort was to bring industrial experience and operational data into the analysis. This cooperative effort successfully combined expertise from the energy modeling community with expertise from the nuclear industry. Energy Return on Investment is one of many figures of merit on which investment in a new energy facility or process may be judged. EROI is the ratio of the energy delivered by a facility divided by the energy used to construct, operate and decommission that facility. While EROI is not the only criterion used to make an investment decision, it has been shown that, …

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A single-cell superconducting deflecting cavity operating at 2.815 GHz has been proposed and designed for the Short Pulse X-ray (SPX) project for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) upgrade. A cryomodule of 4 such cavities will be needed to produce the required 2-MV deflecting voltage. Each deflecting cavity is equipped with one fundamental power coupler (FPC), one lower order mode (LOM) coupler, and two higher order mode (HOM) couplers to achieve the stringent damping requirements for the unwanted modes. The damping of the LOM/HOM below the beampipe cutoff has been analyzed in the single cavity geometry and shown to meet the design requirements. The HOM above the beampipe cutoff in the 4-cavity cyromodule, however, may result in cross coupling which may affect the HOM damping and potentially be trapped between the cavities which could produce RF heating to the beamline bellows. We have evaluated the HOM damping in the 4-cavity cryomodule using the parallel finite element EM code suite ACE3P developed at SLAC. We will present the results of the cryomodule analysis in this paper.

RNA viruses have extremely high mutation rates that enable the virus to adapt to new host environments and even jump from one species to another. As part of a viral transmission study, three viral samples collected from naturally infected animals were sequenced using Illumina paired-end technology at ultra-deep coverage. In order to determine the mutant spectra within the viral quasispecies, it is critical to understand the sequencing error rates and control for false positive calls of viral variants (point mutantations). I will estimate the sequencing error rate from two control sequences and characterize the mutant spectra in the natural samples with this error rate.

In this paper, we compare dwarf galaxies and galaxy clusters in order to elucidate which object class is the best target for gamma-ray DM searches with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). We have built a mixed dwarfs+clusters sample containing some of the most promising nearby dwarf galaxies (Draco, Ursa Minor, Wilman 1 and Segue 1) and local galaxy clusters (Perseus, Coma, Ophiuchus, Virgo, Fornax, NGC 5813 and NGC 5846), and then compute their DM annihilation flux profiles by making use of the latest modeling of their DM density profiles. We also include in our calculations the effect of DM substructure. Willman 1 appears as the best candidate in the sample. However, its mass modeling is still rather uncertain, so probably other candidates with less uncertainties and quite similar fluxes, namely Ursa Minor and Segue 1, might be better options. As for galaxy clusters, Virgo represents the one with the highest flux. However, its large spatial extension can be a serious handicap for IACT observations and posterior data analysis. Yet, other local galaxy cluster candidates with more moderate emission regions, such as Perseus, may represent good alternatives. After comparing dwarfs and clusters, we found that the former exhibit annihilation flux profiles …

In this report we have studied the implication of a parity and charge-parity (PCP) violating interaction in varying alpha theory. Due to this interaction, the state of photon polarization can change when it passes through a strong background magnetic field. We have calculated the optical rotation and ellipticity of the plane of polarization of an electromagnetic wave and tested our results against different laboratory experiments. Our model contains a PCP violating parameter {beta} and a scale of alpha variation {omega}. By analyzing the laboratory experimental data, we found the most stringent constraints on our model parameters to be 1 {le} {omega} {le} 10{sup 13} GeV{sup 2} and -0.5 {le} {beta} {le} 0.5. We also found that with the existing experimental input parameters it is very difficult to detect the ellipticity in the near future.

We present a Landau-Ginzburg theory for a fractional quantized Hall nematic state and the transition to it from an isotropic fractional quantum Hall state. This justifies Lifshitz-Chern-Simons theory - which is shown to be its dual - on a more microscopic basis and enables us to compute a ground state wave function in the symmetry-broken phase. In such a state of matter, the Hall resistance remains quantized while the longitudinal DC resistivity due to thermally-excited quasiparticles is anisotropic. We interpret recent experiments at Landau level filling factor {nu} = 7/3 in terms of our theory.

During August 10, 2011 through August 19, 2011, and October 23, 2011 through November 4, 2011, ORAU/ORISE conducted verification survey activities at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) site that included in-process inspections, surface scans, and soil sampling of the Lower Level Hillside Area. According to the Type-B Investigation Report, Sr-90 was the primary contributor to the majority of the activity (60 times greater than the Cs-137 activity). The evaluation of the scan data and sample results obtained during verification activities determined that the primary radionuclide of concern, Sr-90, was well below the agreed upon soil cleanup objective (SCO) of 30 pCi/g for the site. However, the concentration of Cs-137 in the four judgmental samples collected in final status survey (FSS) Units A and B was greater than the SCO. Both ORAU and aRc surveys identified higher Cs-137 concentrations in FSS Units A and B; the greatest concentrations were indentified in FSS Unit A.

We apply the Effective Field Theory of Inflation to study the case where the continuous shift symmetry of the Goldstone boson {pi} is softly broken to a discrete subgroup. This case includes and generalizes recently proposed String Theory inspired models of Inflation based on Axion Monodromy. The models we study have the property that the 2-point function oscillates as a function of the wavenumber, leading to oscillations in the CMB power spectrum. The non-linear realization of time diffeomorphisms induces some self-interactions for the Goldstone boson that lead to a peculiar non-Gaussianity whose shape oscillates as a function of the wavenumber. We find that in the regime of validity of the effective theory, the oscillatory signal contained in the n-point correlation functions, with n > 2, is smaller than the one contained in the 2-point function, implying that the signature of oscillations, if ever detected, will be easier to find first in the 2-point function, and only then in the higher order correlation functions. Still the signal contained in higher-order correlation functions, that we study here in generality, could be detected at a subleading level, providing a very compelling consistency check for an approximate discrete shift symmetry being realized during inflation.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is building a new FEL user facility, LCLS-II, as a major upgrade to the Linear Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The upgrade will include two new Free Electron Lasers (FELs), to generate soft (SXR) and hard x-ray (HXR) SASE FEL radiation, based on planar, variable gap hybrid undulators with two different undulator periods (SXU: 55 mm, HXU: 32 mm). An algebraic FEL tolerance analysis for the undulator lines, including tuning, alignment, and phase correction tolerances has been performed. The methods and results are presented in this paper.