A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "State Medicaid programs make a wide variety of payments to individuals, institutions, and managed health care plans for services provided to beneficiaries whose eligibility status may fluctuate because of changes in income. Because of the size and the nature of the program, Medicaid is potentially at risk for billions of dollars in improper payments. The exact amount is unknown because few states measure the overall accuracy of their payments. Some improper Medicaid payments by states are the result of fraud by billers or program participants, but such improper payments are hard to measure because of the covert nature of fraud. Efforts by state Medicaid programs to address improper payments are modestly and unevenly funded. Half of the states spend no more than 1/10th of one percent of program expenditures to safeguard program payments. States also differ in how they help prevent improper payments as well as the degree to which they coordinate their investigations and prosecutions of fraud. Federal guidance to the states relies largely on technical assistance. The Health Care Financing Administration has recently taken a more active role to facilitate states' efforts and provide …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) runs programs and activities designed to help veterans obtain employment and training assistance. Recently, policymakers have advocated changes to the structure and administration of the VETS program and the way it assesses program performance. This testimony discusses VETS' efforts to improve its performance measurement system. VETS has proposed changes to its performance measurement system that will move it closer to implementing an effective accountability system. However, more changes are needed so that VETS can effectively determine whether its programs and services are fulfilling its mission. VETS continues to send a mixed message to states about what services to provide and to whom. In addition, two of the proposed measures may provide nearly identical results, and neither helps VETS to monitor whether more intensive services are being provided to veterans or whether these services are successful. Furthermore, through its planning documents and proposed performance measures, VETS continues to inconsistently identify the groups of veterans that it wants states to help. This testimony summarizes a May report (GAO-01-580)."

The report is categorized into three categories: (I) Background, (II) Bilingual Education Act and (III) Selected Issues.

Three sets of LX-04 samples of 0.18 and 0.49 mm nominal thicknesses were all dynamically loaded by Sandia's Z-accelerator with a ramp compression wave with a 200 ns rise time and about 150 kb peak stress. The LX-04/lithium fluoride samples interface velocities were measured using VISAR's. Comparisons of experimental and computational results are given. Compression and release isentropes both show some reaction and kinetic behavior of the LX-04. Experiments were also performed on fine-grained TATB. Future experiments on single crystals of HMX that are designed to measure the phase transition at high pressures is discussed.

This document is a slightly expanded version of a portion of the Proton Driver design report. The Proton Driver group gets the credit for the original idea of running an Accumulator experiment in the BTeV era. The work presented here is a study of the feasibility of this idea. The addition of the Recycler Ring to the Fermilab accelerator complex provides an opportunity to continue the program of {bar p}p physics in the Antiproton Source Accumulator that was started by Fermilab experiments E760 and E835. The operational scenario presented here utilizes the Recycler Ring as an antiproton bank from which the colliders makes 'withdrawals' as needed to maintain the required luminosity in the Tevatron. The Accumulator is only needed to re-supply the bank in between withdrawals. When the {anti p} stacking rate is sufficiently high, and the luminosity requirements of the Collider experiments are sufficiently low, there will be time between Collider fills and subsequent refilling of the recycler to deliver beam to an experiment in the Accumulator. In the scenario envisioned here, the impact of the Accumulator experiment on the luminosity delivered to the Collider experiments is very small. If the Run II antiproton stacking rate goals are met, …

This Final Report surveys the work done on understanding the properties and behavior of driven interfaces. It is presented under two topics: (1) interfaces driven in pure and perturbed Hele-Shaw cells; (2) gels, colloids, and polymer solutions as complex media for interface growth and motion. This work has contributed to the international effort to learn about nonlinear and pattern forming systems. The data have been influential as theoretical and computational groups have attempted to understand the dynamics and nonlinear processing steps and the structure-property relations of complex materials. The Hele-Shaw cell was especially productive during this period of intense interest in ''simple'' nonlinear pattern formation, providing the simplest and best understood pattern forming system which could then be complicated with changes of boundary condition or changes of fluid property to test in a controlled way the effect on pattern formation of added physical/mathematical complexity.

Selecting the model is an important and essential step in model based fault detection and diagnosis (FDD). Factors that are considered in evaluating a model include accuracy, training data requirements, calibration effort, generality, and computational requirements. The objective of this study was to evaluate different modeling approaches for their applicability to model based FDD of vapor compression chillers. Three different models were studied: the Gordon and Ng Universal Chiller model (2nd generation) and a modified version of the ASHRAE Primary Toolkit model, which are both based on first principles, and the DOE-2 chiller model, as implemented in CoolTools{trademark}, which is empirical. The models were compared in terms of their ability to reproduce the observed performance of an older, centrifugal chiller operating in a commercial office building and a newer centrifugal chiller in a laboratory. All three models displayed similar levels of accuracy. Of the first principles models, the Gordon-Ng model has the advantage of being linear in the parameters, which allows more robust parameter estimation methods to be used and facilitates estimation of the uncertainty in the parameter values. The ASHRAE Toolkit Model may have advantages when refrigerant temperature measurements are also available. The DOE-2 model can be expected to …

Three sets of LX-04 samples of 0.18 and 0.49 mm nominal thicknesses were all dynamically loaded by Sandia's Z-accelerator with a ramp compression wave with a 200 ns rise time and about 150 kb peak stress. The LX-04/lithium fluoride samples interface velocities were measured using VISAR's. Comparisons of experimental and computational results will be given. Compression and release isentropes both show some reaction and kinetic behavior of the LX-04. Experiments were also performed on fine-grained TATB. Future experiments on single crystals of HMX that are designed to measure the phase transition at high pressures will be discussed.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As of August 1, 1999, the Army's Comanche helicopter program faced significant risks related to cost overruns, scheduling delays, and degraded performance. GAO concluded that proceeding to the next development phase with high levels of uncertainty was not in accordance with best practices followed by successful commercial firms. This report evaluates changes since 1999 in the Comanche's cost, schedule, and performance, and assesses whether the Army will have the knowledge it needs to proceed with its current production plans. GAO found that the Comanche program's total development and production cost estimate has increased by almost $4.8 billion. However, areas of high technical risks and unfunded requirements could further increase the program's costs. The program office does not plan to update its April 2000 current estimate to reflect these increases until January 2003. The Comanche's December 2006 full rate production decision date has not changed even though the risks of not meeting this date have increased. The Army continues to face the risk that critical performance requirements may not be met--at least for the helicopters it will initially produce. The Department of Defense (DOD) recently provided $84 …

The atmospheric forecast model of the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) has been developed into a parallel, scalable model in a joint collaborative effort with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The new version of COAMPS has become the standard model of use at NRL and in LLNL's Atmospheric Science Division. The main purpose of this enterprise has been to take advantage of emerging scalable technology, to treat finer spatial and temporal resolutions needed in complex topographical or atmospheric conditions, as well as to allow the utilization of improved but computationally expensive physics packages. The parallel implementation facilitates the ability to provide real-time, high-resolution, multi-day numerical weather predictions for forecaster guidance, input to atmospheric dispersion simulations, and forecast ensembles.

To replace a hard tube design, a solid-state kicker pulser for the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facility (DARHT-2) has been designed and tested. This kicker modulator uses multiple solid-state modules stacked in an inductive-adder configuration where the energy is switched into each section of the adder by a parallel array of MOSFETs. The modulator features very fast rise and fall times, pulse width agility and a high pulse-repetition rate in burst mode. The modulator can drive a 50{Omega} load with voltages up to 20 kV and can be easily configured for either positive or negative polarity. The presentation will include test and operational data.

In the positron source of the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC), the electron beam collides with a tungsten-rhenium target. As the beam passes into the material, thermal energy is created that heats the material to several hundred degrees centigrade on a time scale of nanoseconds. The heating of the material results in thermal stresses that may be large enough to cause material failure. The analyses calculate the thermal shock pressure and stress pulses as they move throughout the material due to the rapid energy deposition. Failure of the target occurred after three years of operation with an elevated power deposition toward the end of the three years. The calculations were made with the LLNL coupled heat transfer and dynamic solid mechanics analysis codes, TOPAZ3D and DYNA3D, and the thermal energy deposition was calculated with the SLAC Electron Gamma Shower (EGS) code simulating the electron-induced cascade. Material fatigue strength, experimentally measured properties for the non-irradiated and irradiated material, as well as the calculated stress state are evaluated in assessing the cause for the target failure.

This report discussed results of tests which investigated filter performance with slurry containing simulated Tank 8F Sludge at concentrations between 0.044 wt percent and 4.80 wt percent. Testing used a slurry containing 3.5 wt percent Tank 8F simulated sludge and a target concentration of 0.06 weight percent MST.

The Immobilization Technology Section measured properties of the melter feed simulants used in the 1999 and 2000 Hydragard sample loop tests. These tests used simulated Sludge Batch 1B (Macrobatch 2) melter feeds. The melter feeds were characterized for wt. percent total and insoluble solids, pH, composition, particle size distribution, and rheology.

Liquid-release tests, performed in boreholes above an underground opening constructed in unsaturated fractured rock, are used in this study to evaluate seepage into a waste emplacement drift. Evidence for the existence of a capillary barrier at the ceiling of the drift is presented, based on field observations (including spreading of the wetting front across the ceiling and water movement up fractures exposed in the ceiling before seepage begins). The capillary barrier mechanism has the potential to divert water around the opening, resulting in no seepage when the percolation flux is at or below the seepage threshold flux. Liquid-release tests are used to demonstrate that a seepage threshold exists and to measure the magnitude of the seepage threshold flux for three test zones that seeped. The seepage data are interpreted using analytical techniques to estimate the test-specific strength of the rock capillary forces ({alpha}{sup -1}) that prevent water from seeping into the drift. Evaporation increases the seepage threshold flux making it more difficult for water to seep into the drift and producing artificially inflated {alpha}{sup -1} values. With adjustments for evaporation, the minimum test-specific threshold is 1,600 mm/yr with a corresponding {alpha}{sup -1} of 0.027 m.

The purpose of this study was to produce fresh melter feeds.

This report is a compilation of data and analyses for the Paducah site, near Paducah, Kentucky. The data were collected and the analyses were done in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 1999 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Alternative Strategies for the Long-Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DOE/EIS-0269). The report describes the affected environment at the Paducah site and summarizes potential environmental impacts that could result from conducting the following depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}) activities at the site: continued cylinder storage, preparation of cylinders for shipment, conversion, and long-term storage. DOE's preferred alternative is to begin converting the depleted UF{sub 6} inventory as soon as possible to either uranium oxide, uranium metal, or a combination of both, while allowing for use of as much of this inventory as possible.

Measurements of the vapor pressure of the solvent in wide ranges of concentration and temperature provide information on solute solvation and ion pairing--the two phenomena most often invoked for description of dilute solutions. Even in moderately concentrated solutions, as interionic distances become comparable to ionic diameters, these simple concepts gradually lose their meaning and solutions behave like molten salts. The usefulness of experimental vapor pressure results increases rapidly with their accuracy, since derived properties, such as solution enthalpies and heat capacities, can be calculated. Very accurate results can be obtained by the isopiestic method, but primary vapor pressure data for standard solutions are needed. In order to obtain vapor pressures at conditions where accurate isopiestic standards are not available and to establish more accurate standards, the ORNL isopiestic apparatus was modified for simultaneous direct vapor pressure measurements and isopiestic comparisons. There are no comprehensive solution theories derived from molecular level models and able to predict thermodynamic properties of various electrolytes as the composition changes from dilute solutions to molten salts in a wide range of temperatures. Empirical and semi-empirical models are useful for representation of experimental results, interpretation of measurements of other properties such as conductance., solubility or liquid-vapor partitioning …

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The U.S. Department of Education(ED) administers the Bilingual Education Act (BEA), the federal education program specifically intended for limited English proficient (LEP) children. The Congress considered several proposals to reauthorize the BEA in the 106th Congress. The 107th Congress has again been considering legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), including the BEA. H.R. 1, the “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” was passed by the House on May 23, 2001. S. 1, the “Better Education for Students and Teachers Act” was reported in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and is currently under consideration, as amended by SA358, in the Senate.

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This report is a modified version of WSRC-TR-2000-00378, Revision 0. All proprietary data related to Crystalline Silicotitanate have been removed for this version.