Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past several years, a serious effort has begun to comprehensively reevaluate how the United States maintains its nuclear deterrent and what the nation's approach should be for transforming its aging nuclear weapons complex. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy (DOE), is responsible for overseeing this weapons complex, which comprises three nuclear weapons design laboratories, four production plants, and the Nevada Test Site. In December 2007, NNSA issued a draft report on potential environmental impacts of alternative actions to transform the nuclear weapons complex, which NNSA refers to as Complex Transformation. NNSA's preferred action is to establish a number of "distributed centers of excellence" at sites within the existing nuclear weapons complex, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory for plutonium capabilities, the Y-12 Plant for uranium capabilities, and the Pantex Plant for weapons assembly, disassembly, and high explosives manufacturing. NNSA would continue to operate these facilities to maintain and refurbish the existing nuclear weapons stockpile as it makes the transition to a smaller, more responsive infrastructure. GAO was asked to discuss NNSA's Complex Transformation proposal. This testimony is …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1998, the Congress and Administration have focused considerable attention on improving the quality of care in the nation's nursing homes, which provide care for about 1.7 million elderly and disabled residents in about 17,000 homes. GAO has earlier reported on serious weaknesses in processes for conducting routine state inspections (surveys) of nursing homes and complaint investigations, ensuring that homes with identified deficiencies correct the problems without recurrence, and providing consistent federal oversight of state survey activities to ensure that nursing homes comply with federal quality standards. GAO was asked to update its work on these issues and to testify on its findings, as reported in Nursing Home Quality: Prevalence of Serious Problems, While Declining, Reinforces Importance of Enhanced Oversight, GAO-03-561 (July 15, 2003). In commenting on this report, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) generally concurred with the recommendations to address survey and oversight weaknesses. In this testimony, GAO addresses (1) the prevalence of serious nursing home quality problems nationwide, (2) factors contributing to continuing weaknesses in states' survey, complaint, and enforcement activities, and (3) the status of key federal efforts to oversee state survey …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) oversees the treatment and disposal of 94 million gallons of highly radioactive nuclear waste from the nation's nuclear weapons program, currently at DOE sites in Washington, Idaho, and South Carolina. In 2002, DOE began an initiative to reduce the estimated $105-billion cost and 70-year time frame of this cleanup. GAO was asked to testify on the status of this initiative, the legal and technical challenges DOE faces in implementation, and any further opportunities to reduce costs or improve program management. GAO's testimony is based on a report (GAO-03-593) released at the hearing."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States entered into the Compact of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) In 1986. The Compact has provided U.S. assistance to the FSM and the RMI in the form of direct funding as well as federal services and programs. The Compact allows for migration from both countries to the United States and established U.S. defense rights and obligations in the region. Provisions of the Compact that deal with economic assistance were scheduled to expire in 2001; however, they will remain in effect for up to 2 additional years while the affected provisions are renegotiated. Current U.S. proposals to the FSM and the RMI to renew expiring assistance would require Congress to approve $3.4 billion in new authorizations. The proposals would provide decreasing levels of annual grant assistance over a 20-year term. Simultaneously, the proposals would require building up a trust fund for each country with earnings that would replace grants once those grants expire. The U.S. proposals include strengthened accountability measures, though details of some key measures remain unknown. The proposals have addressed many, but …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses three issues on selected U.S. Customs Service programs and operations. First, concerning the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), a more capable import processing system designed to replace Customs' current aging and error-prone system, GAO concluded that Customs' plan constituted a reasonable first step on a complex, long-term modernization program. Pursuant to its obligation to review ACE expenditures, GAO plans to continue monitoring Customs' ongoing modernization efforts. Second, GAO found that Customs' Office of Regulations and Rulings headquarters did not issue the majority of its rulings in a timely manner. Finally, GAO found that if proposed legislation on Customs officers' night pay had been in effect during fiscal year 1999, the officers would have received about $6 million in night differential pay. Furthermore, across the five ports GAO reviewed, the impact on officers' pay varied widely because of the differences in shift patterns."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The research and development environment has changed dramatically during lst several decades. The government is no longer in the driver's seat, but it still needs access to research and technology advances. At the same time, its effort to compete for access must be balanced against a range of commercial, economic, legal, and other interests. The vehicles discussed in this testimony (the Bayh-Dole Act and Department of Defense "other transaction" authority) are among the tools that the government can use to attract new players to the research and development arena and to maintain access to advances. However, effective use of these tools requires good training and a greater exercise of reasoned discretion among program officials and contracting officers. The Defense Department has taken a very good first step in developing appropriate guidance. However, the next steps are more critical: providing the training and assurances that the guidance will be appropriately implemented."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The government faces a unique opportunity to create an organization that is extremely effective in protecting the nation's borders and citizens against terrorism. There is likely to be considerable benefit over time from restructuring some of the homeland security functions, including reducing risk and improving the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of consolidated agencies and programs. Sorting out those programs and agencies that would most benefit from consolidation versus those in which dual missions must be balanced in order to achieve a more effective fit in the proposed Department of Homeland Security is a difficult but critical task. Moreover, the magnitude of the challenges that the new department faces will clearly require substantial time and effort, and it will take institutional continuity and additional resources to be fully effective. In the short term, issues to be resolved include the harmonization of communication systems, information technology systems, human capital systems, the physical location of people and other assets, and other factors. Given the magnitude of this task, not everything can be achieved at once, and a deliberate phasing of some operations will be necessary. The new department will need to …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A weak overall control environment and breakdowns in key internal controls have left the Army's purchase card program vulnerable to fraudulent, improper, and abusive purchases. At five Army major commands and one installation in each of the commands, GAO found that the Army had not established an effective internal control environment. As the use of purchase cards has expanded, Army management has not emphasized internal controls to ensure that individual transactions were for authorized purposes or that they adhered to legal and regulatory requirements. GAO identified a substantial number of purchases for which cardholder and approving officials had not adhered to important internal controls and were not in accordance with valid requirements, policies, and procedures. The weaknesses identified in the control environment and the breakdown in specific internal control activities resulted in potentially fraudulent and other improper transactions not being prevented or properly identified."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During a 5-year period--fiscal years 2008 through 2012--costs for inmate mental health services in institutions run by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) rose in absolute dollar amount, as well as on an annual per capita basis. Specifically, mental health services costs rose from $123 million in fiscal year 2008 to $146 million in fiscal year 2012, with increases generally due to three factors--inmate population increases, general inflationary increases, and increased participation rates in psychology treatment programs such as drug abuse treatment programs. Additionally, the per capita cost rose from $741 in fiscal year 2008 to $821 in fiscal year 2012. It is projected that these costs will continue to increase with an estimated per capita cost of $876 in fiscal year 2015, due, in part, to increased program funding and inflation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1978, the Essential Air Service (EAS) program has subsidized air service to eligible communities that would otherwise not have scheduled service. The cost of this program has risen as the number of communities being served and subsidies to air carriers have increased. At the same time, the number of carriers providing EAS service has declined. Given continuing concerns over the EAS program's long-term prospects, GAO was asked to review the program. GAO reviewed (1) the characteristics and current status of the EAS program, (2) factors affecting the program's ability to provide air service, (3) options for revising the program, and (4) tools for assessing the program, the options for its revision, and the program's performance. GAO interviewed stakeholders and reviewed the results of an expert panel convened by GAO, Department of Transportation (DOT) data and program documentation, and potential methodologies for assessing federal programs."

Report that provides an overview of the "digital divide", which is a term used to describe a perceived gap between those Americans who use or have access to telecommunications and information technologies and those who do not.

The D{sub J}{sup 0} is a family of four orbitally excited mesons: D*{sub 2}(2460){sup 0}, D{sub 1}(2420){sup 0}, D{sub 1}(j = 1/2){sup -}, and D*{sub 0}(j = 1/2){sup 0}. This dissertation presents the measurements of the inclusive branching fractions, {Beta}(B{sup -} {yields} D*{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup -}) and {Beta}(B{sup -} {yields} D{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup -}). The D{sub J}{sup 0} provides an intermediate resonance for those two modes. The data used for this analysis consists of Runs 1-5 with total integrated luminosity of 343.38 fb{sup -1}, which is corresponding to 383.92 million B{bar B} pairs, provided by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory. The values presented are: {Beta}(B{sup -} {yields} D{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup -}) = (1.12 {+-} 0.02 {+-} 0.08) x 10{sup -3}; {Beta}(B{sup -} {yields} D*{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup -}) = (1.67 {+-} 0.03 {+-} 0.13) x 10{sup -3}.

Inter-plant concentration ratios (IPCR), [Bq g{sup -1} {sup 137}Cs in coral atoll tree food-crops/Bq g{sup -1} {sup 137}Cs in leaves of native plant species whose roots share a common soil volume], can replace transfer factors (TF) to predict {sup 137}Cs concentration in tree food-crops in a contaminated area with an aged source term. The IPCR strategy has significant benefits relative to TF strategy for such purposes in the atoll ecosystem. IPCR strategy applied to specific assessments takes advantage of the fact tree roots naturally integrate 137Cs over large volumes of soil. Root absorption of {sup 137}Cs replaces large-scale, expensive soil sampling schemes to reduce variability in {sup 137}Cs concentration due to inhomogeneous radionuclide distribution. IPCR [drinking-coconut meat (DCM)/Scaevola (SCA) and Tournefortia (TOU) leaves (native trees growing on all atoll islands)] are log normally distributed (LND) with geometric standard deviation (GSD) = 1.85. TF for DCM from Enewetak, Eneu, Rongelap and Bikini Atolls are LND with GSD's of 3.5, 3.0, 2.7, and 2.1, respectively. TF GSD for Rongelap copra coconut meat is 2.5. IPCR of Pandanus fruit to SCA and TOU leaves are LND with GSD = 1.7 while TF GSD is 2.1. Because IPCR variability is much lower than TF …

Lattice level measurements of material response under extreme conditions are required to build a phenomenological understanding of the shock response of solids. We have successfully used laser produced plasma x-ray sources coincident with laser driven shock waves to make in-situ measurements of the lattice response during shock compression for both single crystal and polycrystalline materials. Using a detailed analysis of shocked single crystal iron which has undergone the {alpha} - {var_epsilon} phase transition we can constrain the transition mechanism to be consistent with a compression and shuffle of alternate lattice planes.

In this work we presented measurements of CP violation and decay rates of B decays in final states not involving a charm quark in the final state. In particular, the time-dependent CP asymmetries of decays which proceed through b {yields} s elementary transition is a particularly sensitive probe of physics beyond the Standard Model. In fact, even if the precise measurements of CP conserving and CP violating processes show the success of the CKM picture of the flavour physics, the sector of b {yields} s transitions is still not strongly constrained and leaves room for new physics contributions. In particular, we considered the decays which have the cleanest theoretical prediction within the Standard Model: B{sup 0} {yields} {phi}K{sup 0} and B{sup 0} {yields} K{sub s}{sup 0}K{sub s}{sup 0}K{sub s}{sup 0} {beta}{sub eff}{sup SM} = 0.379. We examined the former with a completely new approach with respect to the past: the study of CP violation in the whole K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sup 0} phase space through a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis. With this approach, we simultaneously measured the CP-violating asymmetries of the {phi}KJ{sup 0}, f{sub 0}(980)K{sup 0} resonant and K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sup 0} non-resonant contributions, avoiding one of the largest uncertainties which …

The MiniCAM, short for the Mini-Climate Assessment Model, is an integrated assessment model of moderate complexity focused on energy and agriculture sectors. The model produces emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) and other radiatively important substances such as sulfur dioxide. Through incorporation of the simple climate model MAGICC, the consequences of these emissions for climate change and sea-level rise can be examined. The MiniCAM is designed to be fast and flexible.

Precise gamma-ray thermal neutron capture cross sectionshave been measured at the Budapest Reactor for all elements withZ=1-83,92 except for He and Pm. These measurements and additional datafrom the literature been compiled to generate the Evaluated Gamma-rayActivation File (EGAF), which is disseminated by LBNL and the IAEA. Thesedata are nearly complete for most isotopes with Z<20 so the totalradiative thermal neutron capture cross sections can be determineddirectly from the decay scheme. For light isotopes agreement with therecommended values is generally satisfactory although large discrepanciesexist for 11B, 12,13C, 15N, 28,30Si, 34S, 37Cl, and 40,41K. Neutroncapture decay data for heavier isotopes are typically incomplete due tothe contribution of unresolved continuum transitions so only partialradiative thermal neutron capture cross sections can be determined. Thecontribution of the continuum to theneutron capture decay scheme arisesfrom a large number of unresolved levels and transitions and can becalculated by assuming that the fluctuations in level densities andtransition probabilities are statistical. We have calculated thecontinuum contribution to neutron capture decay for the palladiumisotopes with the Monte Carlo code DICEBOX. These calculations werenormalized to the experimental cross sections deexciting low excitationlevels to determine the total radiative thermal neutron capture crosssection. The resulting palladium cross sections values were determinedwith a precision …

Numerical models of geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO2)in brine-bearing formations use characteristic curves to represent theinteractions of non-wetting-phase CO2 and wetting-phase brine. When aproblem includes both injection of CO2 (a drainage process) and itssubsequent post-injection evolution (a combination of drainage andwetting), hysteretic characteristic curves are required to correctlycapture the behavior of the CO2 plume. In the hysteretic formulation,capillary pressure and relative permeability depend not only on thecurrent grid-block saturation, but also on the history of the saturationin the grid block. For a problem that involves only drainage or onlywetting, a non-hysteretic formulation, in which capillary pressure andrelative permeability depend only on the current value of the grid-blocksaturation, is adequate. For the hysteretic formulation to be robustcomputationally, care must be taken to ensure the differentiability ofthe characteristic curves both within and beyond the turning-pointsaturations where transitions between branches of the curves occur. Twoexample problems involving geologic CO2 storage are simulated withTOUGH2, a multiphase, multicomponent code for flow and transport codethrough geological media. Both non-hysteretic and hysteretic formulationsare used, to illustrate the applicability and limitations ofnon-hysteretic methods.The first application considers leakage of CO2from the storage formation to the ground surface, while the secondexamines the role of heterogeneity within the storageformation.

In January 2007, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the final Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Environmental Remediation at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Site 300 Pit 7 Complex. At the same time, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released the final Negative Declaration and Initial Study covering the Pit 7 remediation. No substantial adverse effect on wildlife species of concern was anticipated from the project. However, it was proposed that wildlife surveys should be conducted prior to construction because species locations and breeding areas could potentially change by the time construction activities began. Although no known populations of rare or endangered/threatened plant species were known to occur within the project impact area at the time these documents were released, rare plants listed by the California Native Plant Society had been observed in the vicinity. As such, both DOE and DTSC proposed that plant surveys would be undertaken at the appropriate time of year to determine if rare plants would be impacted by project construction. This document provides the results of wildlife and rare plant surveys taken prior to the start of construction at the Pit 7 Complex.

This CRADA was developed to enable ORNL to assist Protein Discovery, Inc. to develop a novel biomolecular separation system based on an ORNL patent application 'Photoelectrochemical Molecular Comb' by Thundat, Ferrell, and Brown. The Molecular Comb concept is based on creating light-induced charge carriers at a semiconductor-liquid interface, which is kept at a potential control such that a depletion layer is formed in the semiconductor. Focusing light from a low-power illumination source creates electron-hole pairs, which get separated in the depletion layer. The light-induced charge carriers reaching the surface attract oppositely charged biomolecules present in the solution. The solution is a buffer solution with very small concentrations of biomolecules. As the focused light is moved across the surface of the semiconductor-liquid interface, the accumulated biomolecules follow the light beam. A thin layer of gel or other similar material on the surface of the semiconductor can act as a sieving medium for separating the biomolecules according to their sizes.

Contamination of downstream hydrogen production plants or other users of high-temperature heat is a concern of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project. Due to the high operating temperatures of the NGNP (850-900 C outlet temperature), tritium produced in the nuclear reactor can permeate through heat exchangers to reach the hydrogen production plant, where it can become incorporated into process chemicals or the hydrogen product. The concentration limit for tritium in the hydrogen product has not been established, but it is expected that any future limit on tritium concentration will be no higher than the air and water effluent limits established by the NRC and the EPA. A literature survey of tritium permeation barriers, capture systems, and mitigation measures is presented and technologies are identified that may reduce the movement of tritium to the downstream plant. Among tritium permeation barriers, oxide layers produced in-situ may provide the most suitable barriers, though it may be possible to use aluminized surfaces also. For tritium capture systems, the use of getters is recommended, and high-temperature hydride forming materials such as Ti, Zr, and Y are suggested. Tritium may also be converted to HTO in order to capture it on molecular sieves or getter …

The authors present the results of high intensity beam propagation experiments conducted with the Nova laser system to investigate the occurrence of stimulated rotational Raman scattering (SRRS) from atmospheric nitrogen in the beam path. Enclosed is a preprint entitled ''Stimulated Rotational Raman Scattering in Nitrogen in Long Air Paths'' that they have published in the November issue of Optics Letters. The physics issues associated with SRRS are discussed at length in the preprint. The small signal steady-state SRRS gain coefficient that they determined from threshold measurements is in excellent agreement with recent direct SRRS gain measurements by Bischel, et al., at SRI, and is in good agreement with early gain estimates from Averbakh, et al., in the Soviet Union. Consequently, they have a high degree of confidence in the gain coefficient. In addition, threshold SRRS experiments on the long air-path Nova II system are in substantial agreement with the earlier Nova experiments. Nova and Nova II system performance limitations were not critically addressed in the publication so they shall discuss these issues in this paper.

The Nevada Test Site (NTS) is a test bed for implementation of the Safeguards First Principles Initiative (SFPI), a risk-based approach to Material Control & Accountability (MC&A) requirements. The Comprehensive Assessment of Safeguards Strategies (COMPASS) model is used to determine the effectiveness of safeguards systems under SFPI. Under this model, MC&A is divided into nine primary elements. Each element is divided into sub-elements. Then, each sub-element is assigned two values, effectiveness and contribution, that are used to calculate the rating. Effectiveness is a measure of sub-element implementation and how well it meets requirements. Contribution is a relative measure of the importance, and functions as a weighting factor. The COMPASS model provides the methodology for calculation of element and subelement, but not the actual criteria. Each site must develop its own criteria. For the rating to be meaningful, the effectiveness criteria must be objective and based on explicit, measurable criteria. Contribution (weights) must reflect the importance within the MC&A program. This paper details the NTS approach to system effectiveness and contribution values, and will cover the following: the basis for the ratings, an explanation of the contribution weights, and the objective, performance-based effectiveness criteria. Finally, the evaluation process will be described.

The EBIT spectroscopy that now seems routine would not be possible without considerable good luck in several areas of EBIT technology. Among these are x-ray background, ion cooling, neutral gas density, and electron current density and energy control. A favourable outcome in these areas has enabled clean x-ray spectra, sufficient intensity for high resolution spectroscopy, production of very high charge states, and a remarkable variety of spectroscopic measurements. During construction of the first EBIT 20 years ago, it was not clear that any of this was possible.