A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) fiscal year 2000 performance report to assess the agency's progress in achieving selected key outcomes important to NASA's mission. The selected key outcomes are to (1) expand scientific knowledge of the Earth system, (2) expand the commercial development of space, and (3) deploy and operate the International Space Station safely and cost effectively. NASA reported mixed progress in achieving these key outcomes. In general, NASA's strategies for achieving unmet performance targets for theses outcomes are clear and reasonable. NASA achieved most targets related to expanding knowledge of the Earth system. However, its progress in other areas was more limited. NASA has made improvements in its fiscal year 2000 performance report in comparison to its fiscal year 1999 performance report. Specifically, NASA describes its verification and validation efforts and discloses its data sources for each performance target. NASA's report partially addressed the governmentwide high-risk area of strategic human capital management but not the area of information security. GAO has previously found that NASA lacks an effective agencywide security program. NASA's report only addressed two of the three critical …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To protect themselves against large out-of-pocket expenses and help fill gaps in Medicare coverage, most beneficiaries buy supplemental insurance, known as Medigap; contribute to employer-sponsored health benefits to supplement Medicare coverage; or enroll in private Medicare+Choice plans rather than traditional fee-for-service Medicare. Because Medicare+Choice plans are not available everywhere and many employers do not offer retiree health benefits, Medigap is sometimes the only supplemental insurance option available to seniors. Medicare beneficiaries who buy Medigap plans have coverage for essentially all major Medicare cost-sharing requirements, including coinsurance and deductibles. But this "first-dollar" coverage may undermine incentives for prudent use of Medicare services, which could ultimately boost costs for the Medicare program. Although various proposals have been made to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, relatively few beneficiaries buy standardized Medigap plans with this benefit. Low enrollment in these plans may be due to the fact that fewer plans are being marketed with these benefits; their relatively high cost; and the limited nature of their prescription drug benefit, which still requires beneficiaries to pay more than half of their prescription drug costs. Most plans have a $3,000 …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 encourages tribes to participate in and manage programs that for years had been administered on their behalf by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of the Interior. The act authorizes tribes to take over the administration of such programs through contractual arrangements with the agencies that previously ran them: HHS' Indian Health Service and Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. For the Indian Health Service, the programs include mental health, dental care, hospitals and clinics. For the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the programs that can be contracted by tribes include law enforcement, education, and social services. Under the first 15 years of the Self-Determination Act, tribal contractors generally assumed liability for accidents or torts (civil wrongdoings) caused by their employees. However, in 1990, the federal government permanently assumed this liability when Congress extended the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) coverage to tribal contractors under the Self-Determination Act. Originally enacted in 1946, FTCA established a process by which individuals injured by federal employees could seek compensation from the federal government. As a result of extending this …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Through four rounds of base closures and realignments between 1988 and 1995, the Department of Defense (DOD) expected to reduce its domestic infrastructure and provide needed dollars for high priority programs, such as weapons modernization. Although DOD projects it will realize significant recurring savings from the closures and realignments, Congress continues to raise questions about how much, if any, money has been saved through the base closure process. Two GAO reports issued in late 1998 concluded that net savings from the four closure rounds were substantial but that the cost and savings estimates used to calculate the net savings were imprecise. This report reviews (1) the basis for DOD's recent increase in net savings projected to be realized from the closure process and (2) GAO's previous observations on the basis for savings from base closure and realignment actions and the precision of the cost and savings estimates. DOD's fiscal year 2001 budget request and documentation show that it now expects net savings of about $15.5 billion through fiscal year 2001 and about $6.1 billion in annual recurring savings thereafter, an increase from the $14.2 billion and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that it will spend as much as $20 billion to clean up contamination at thousands of properties that were once owned, leased, or operated by the Defense Department (DOD). These properties contain hazardous, toxic, and radioactive wastes in the soil and water or in containers, such as underground storage tanks. The Corps is responsible for cleaning up the hazards, including removing underground storage tanks. DOD's annual report on its environmental restoration activities can provide a misleading picture of the Corps' accomplishments. DOD's accounts of completed projects include projects that were ineligible or that did not involve any actual cleanup effort. As a result, the impression is that--after 15 years and expenditures of $2.6 billion--more than half of the projects at formerly used defense sites have been completed. In reality, only about 32 percent of those projects that required actual cleanup actions have been completed, and those are the cheapest and least technologically challenging. The Corps estimates that the remaining projects will cost more than $13 billion and take upwards of 70 years to complete. The Corps' reporting of completed …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Passengers on the same commercial airline flight may pay very different fares. This situation has led to dissatisfaction among some passengers who believe that airline ticketing practices are unfair. To reduce their cost of flying, some passengers have tried to use "hidden-city" and "back-to-back" ticketing. Hidden-city ticketing occurs when a passenger books a flight to one city but purposely deplanes at an intermediate city. Though never intending to make the last leg of the flight, the passenger buys the ticket because it is cheaper than a ticket to the intermediate city. Back-to-back ticketing occurs when a passenger buys two round-trip tickets that include a Saturday night stay but either uses only half the ticket coupons or uses all the coupons out of sequence. This practice results in a lower price than would be possible by purchasing round-trip tickets that did not include a Saturday night stay. Most airlines expressly forbid the use of hidden-city and back-to-back ticketing. This report reviews (1) the factors that airlines consider when setting fares; (2) the factors that create hidden-city ticketing and the pricing practices that foster back-to-back ticketing practices; (3) …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The military's ability to carry out its mission depends on having adequate supplies of spare parts on hand for equipment maintenance. Shortages are a key indicator of whether the billions of dollars spent on these parts each year are used effectively, efficiently, and economically. The Navy has acknowledged in recent years that its aviation systems have significant readiness and supply problems. Since 1990, GAO has included Defense Department (DOD) inventory management, including spare parts, on its list of government functions at high risk for waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. This report reviews (1) the impact of shortages of spare parts for two selected aircraft--the EA-6B Prowler and F-14 Tomcat, (2) the reasons for the shortages, and (3) the initiatives that the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency have in place or planned to address overall spare part shortage issues. GAO found that spare parts shortages for the two aircraft have harmed Navy's readiness and the economy and efficiency of maintenance activities. Spare parts shortages have contributed to problems retaining military personnel. Navy managers attributed the spare parts shortages to the fact that more parts were required …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "During the last decade, as most federal agencies downsized, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) workforce grew by about 18 percent. Much of this growth occurred in EPA's 10 regional offices, which carry out most of the agency's efforts to encourage industry compliance with environmental regulations. Currently, EPA's workforce of 17,000 individuals includes scientists, engineers, lawyers, environmental protection specialists, and mission-support staff. Some Members of Congress have questioned whether EPA is giving enough attention to managing this large and diverse workforce. The workforce management practices of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA)--which takes direct action against violators of environmental statutes and oversees the environmental enforcement activities of states--have come under particular scrutiny because its enforcement activities span all of EPA's programs and regions. Although EPA has began several initiatives during the last decade to better organize and manage its workforce, it has not received the resources and senior-level management attention needed to realize them. This report reviews (1) the extent to which EPA's strategy includes the key elements associated with successful human capital strategies, (2) the major human capital challenges EPA faces in the successful …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the federal government's strategic human capital management challenges, particularly in the information technology (IT) area. No management issue facing federal agencies could be more critical to the nation than their approach to attracting, retaining, and motivating people. Having enough people with the right mix of knowledge and skills will make the difference between success and failure. This is especially true in the information technology area, where widespread shortfalls in human capital have undermined agency and program performance. The federal government today faces pervasive human capital challenges that are eroding the ability of many agencies--and threatening the ability of others--to economically, efficiently, and effectively carry out their missions. How successfully the federal government acquires and uses information technology will depend on its ability to build, prepare, and manage its information technology workforce. To address the federal government's human capital challenges as a whole, GAO believes that (1) agencies must take all administrative steps available to them under current laws and regulations to manage their people for results; (2) the Administration and Congress should pursue opportunities to put new tools and flexibilities in place that will help …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses how federal agencies conduct fire management under the National Fire Plan. Effective fire management requires coordination, consistency, and agreement among five federal land management agencies in two departments--the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. Human activities, especially the federal government's decades-old policy of suppressing all wild fires, have led to dangerous accumulations of felled trees and other dead vegetation on federal lands. As a result, conditions on 211 million acres continue to deteriorate. The National Fire Plan represents the latest effort to address wildland fire on federal lands. Two conditions set this effort apart from earlier efforts. First, Congress has to recognize the need to sustain increased funding for wildland fire management in future fiscal years. Second, Congress has issued direction to reduce the risk of wildland fire in the wildland-urban interface. However, many of the policy's guiding principles and recommendations have not been implemented. The failure of the five federal land management agencies to incorporate into …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Considering the complexity, the size, and the statutory constraints affecting the Medicare Program, some contend that the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA)--recently renamed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services--management of Medicare has, on balance, been satisfactory. Others argue that HCFA's management has been unacceptable. HCFA's record has been mixed and the agency's challenges are growing. Effective management of Medicare depends on finding a balance between flexibility and accountability--that is, granting the agency adequate flexibility to act prudently while ensuring that it can be held accountable for its decisions and actions. Moreover, because Medicare will play such a significant role in the nation's fiscal future, it is prudent to make an adequate investment to ensure that Medicare is professionally and efficiently managed. Achieving this goal will require the modernization and maintenance of Medicare's traditional day-to-day operations."

This document presents the findings of a technology market assessment for thermal energy storage (TES) in space cooling applications. The potential impact of TES in Federal facilities is modeled using the Federal building inventory with the appropriate climatic and energy cost data. In addition, this assessment identified acceptance issues and major obstacles through interviews with energy services companies (ESCOs), TES manufacturers, and Federal facility staff.

The sodium bearing tank waste (SBW) at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) contains high concentrations of sulfur (roughly 5 mass% of SO3 on a nonvolatile oxide basis). The amount of sulfur that can be feed to the melter will ultimately determine the loading of SBW in glass produced by the baseline (low-temperature, joule-heated, liquid-fed, ceramic-lined) melter. The amount of sulfur which can be fed to the melter is determined by several major factors including: the tolerance of the melter for an immiscible salt layer accumulation, the solubility of sulfur in the glass melt, the fraction of sulfur removed to the off-gas, and the incorporation of sulfur into the glass up to it?s solubility limit. This report summarizes the current status of testing aimed at determining the impacts of key chemical and physical parameters on the partitioning of sulfur between the glass, a molten salt, and the off-gas.

As part of the Leak Detection, Monitoring and Mitigation (LDMM) program conducted by CH2M HILL 105-A during FY 2001. These tests are being conducted to assess the applicability of these methods (Electrical Resistance Tomography [ERT], High Resolution Resistivity [HRR], Cross-Borehole Seismography [XBS], Cross-Borehole Radar [XBR], and Cross-Borehole Electromagnetic Induction [CEMI]) to the detection and measurement of Single Shell Tank (SST) leaks into the vadose zone during planned sluicing operations. The testing in FY 2001 will result in the selection of up to two methods for further testing in FY 2002. In parallel with the geophysical tests, a Partitioning Interwell Tracer Test (PITT) study will be conducted simultaneously at the Mock Tank to assess the effectiveness of this technology in detecting and quantifying tank leaks in the vadose zone. Preparatory and background work using Cone Penetrometer methods (CPT) will be conducted at the Mock Tank site and an adjacent test area to derive soil properties for groundtruthing purposes for all methods.

It is possible to retrieve a large fraction of soluble waste from the Hanford single-shell waste tanks (SST) by dissolving it with water. This retrieval method will be demonstrated in U-107 and S-112 in the next few years. If saltcake dissolution proves practical and effective, many of the saltcake SSTs may be retrieved by this method. Many of the SSTs retain a large volume of flammable gas that will be released into the tank headspace as the waste dissolves. This report describes the physical processes that control dissolution and gas release. Calculation results are shown describing the headspace hydrogen concentration transient during dissolution. The observed spontaneous and induced gas releases from SSTs is summarized and the dissolution of the crust layer in SY-101 is discussed as a recent example of full-scale dissolution of saltcake containing a very large volume of retained gas. The report concludes that the dissolution rate is self limiting and gas release rates are relatively low.

This document is the final report on the EMERGE Science Grid testbed research project from the perspective of the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University, which was a subcontractor to this UIC project. This report is a compilation of information gathered from a variety of materials related to this project produced by multiple EMERGE participants, especially those at Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Argonne National Lab and iCAIR. The EMERGE Science Grid project was managed by Tom DeFanti, PI from EVL at UIC.

The general goal of the Magnetofluids Laboratory at Swarthmore College is to understand how magnetofluid kinetic energy can be converted to magnetic energy as it is in the core of the earth and sun (the dynamo problem) and to understand how magnetic energy can be rapidly converted back to kinetic energy and heat as it is in solar flares (the magnetic reconnection problem). Magnetic reconnection has been studied using the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) which was designed and built under this Junior Faculty Grant. In SSX we generate and merge two rings of magnetized plasma called spheromaks and study their interaction. The spheromaks have many properties similar to solar flares so this work is directly relevant to basic solar physics. In addition, since the spheromak is a magnetic confinement fusion configuration, issues of formation and stability have direct impact on the fusion program.

The authors have measured the far infrared absorption of single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) ropes at 1.5K and SWNT ropes in polyethylene (PE) over the range 1.5 < T < 300 K. A weak peak is observed at 28 cm{sup -1} at 1.5K for free standing SWNT samples. The frequency and temperature dependence of the peak is consistent with absorption by an E{sub 2g} symmetric, ''squash mode'', SWNT phonon, which is infrared active due to an adsorbate or disorder. The peak frequency for SWNT ropes in PE is at 40 cm{sup -1} and temperature dependent. They attribute the increase in the frequency of the peak for SWNT in PE to the effect of {approx} 0.2GPa of hydrostatic pressure exerted on the SWNT ropes due to the thermal contraction of PE when cooled to low temperatures. Using two independent methods, they estimate that the SWNT may radially buckle at this pressure. The buckling distortion may cause the pressure dependence of the peak frequency. They cannot rule out the possibility that the peak is an absorption onset from adsorbate modes extrinsic to the SWNT or from interband transitions at a small electronic band gap. An effective medium calculation of Drude metal grains …

There are more than 250 forms of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-owned spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Due to the variety of the spent nuclear fuel, the National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program has designated nine representative fuel groups for disposal criticality analyses based on fuel matrix, primary fissile isotope, and enrichment (DOE 2000b, Section 6.6.8). The Melt and Dilute (MD) SNF has been designated as the representative fuel for the high-enriched U-Al fuel group. The MD SNF consists of homogeneous cylindrical ingots with 16.5 in. (419.1 mm) maximum diameter. Two general ingot compositions are considered in the criticality and geochemistry analyses. The first composition consists of 8.2 to 18.2 wt% uranium, enriched at less than 20 wt% U-235 and 0.5 wt% gadolinium, with the balance of the ingot being aluminum. The second composition is identical to the first for uranium and gadolinium, but in this case 2.5 wt% of the ingot is hafnium, with the balance of the ingot being aluminum. The results of the analyses performed will be used to develop waste acceptance criteria. The items that are important to criticality control are identified based on the analysis needs and result sensitivities. Prior to acceptance of fuel from the high-enriched …

A principal goal of the Budget Period I was to demonstrate that surface geochemistry could be used to locate bypassed hydrocarbons in old fields. This part of the program was successful. A surface geochemical survey, employing 5 different techniques, was carried out in the Spring and Summer of 2000 and a demonstration well, the State Vernon & Smock 13-23 HD1 (permit number: PN 53945) was drilled in Vernon Township, Isabella County, Michigan in the late fall of 2000. A demonstration well was selected and drilled based on geologic considerations and surface geochemistry. Over 460 soil samples were collected and analyzed over the drill site. A good anomaly was detected near the proposed well site and the demonstration well, the Smock 13-23, was drilled to a depth of 3157 feet by November 17, 2000. Two laterals were drilled, and hydrocarbons were located in a zone approximately 175 feet in length. However, it was determined that the pay zone was too small and difficult reservoir conditions (water production) prevented putting the well in production. The Smock 13-23 was shut in and abandoned January 15, 2001. A post-mortem determined that the main reason the well was not economic was because the zone was …

The report summarizes the development of soft x-ray microscopes at the National Synchrotron Light Source X-1A beamline. We have developed a soft x-ray microscopy beamline (X-1A) at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. This beamline has been upgraded recently to provide two endstations dedicated to microscopy experiments. One endstation hosts a brand new copy of the redesigned room temperature scanning x-ray microscope (STXM), and the other end station hosts a cryo STXM and the original redesigned room temperature microscope, which has been commissioned and has started operation. Cryo STXM and the new microscope use the same new software package, running under the LINUX operating system. The new microscope is showing improved image resolution and extends spectromicroscopy to the nitrogen, oxygen and iron edges. These microscopes are used by us, and by users of the facility, to image hydrated specimens at 50 nm or better spatial resolution and with 0.1-0.5 eV energy resolution. This allows us to carry out chemical state mapping in biological, materials science, and environmental and colloidal science specimens. In the cryo microscope, we are able to do chemical state mapping and tomography of frozen hydrated specimens, and this is of special importance for radiation-sensitive …

ARM Automation, Inc. is developing a framework of modular actuators that can address the DOE's wide range of robotics needs. The objective of this effort is to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technology by constructing a manipulator from these actuators within a glovebox for Automated Plutonium Processing (APP). At the end of the project, the system of actuators was used to construct several different manipulator configurations, which accommodate common glovebox tasks such as repackaging. The modular nature and quickconnects of this system simplify installation into ''hot'' boxes and any potential modifications or repair therein. This work focused on the development of self-contained robotic actuator modules including the embedded electronic controls for the purpose of building a manipulator system. Both of the actuators developed under this project contain the control electronics, sensors, motor, gear train, wiring, system communications and mechanical interfaces of a complete robotics servo device. Test actuators and accompanying DISC{trademark}s underwent validation testing at The University of Texas at Austin and ARM Automation, Inc. following final design and fabrication. The system also included custom links, an umbilical cord, an open architecture PC-based system controller, and operational software that permitted integration into a completely functional robotic manipulator system. The open …

Project Objectives are to demonstrate the feasibility of real-time stress measurement, bit loading, and horizon sensing on a longwall shearer, boring machine, continuous miner, and loading bucket.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Defense's (DOD) ability to contract for goods and services by acquiring and implementing a standard procurement system (SPS). DOD's management of SPS is a lesson in how not to justify, make, and monitor the implementation of information technology investment decisions. Specifically, DOD has not (1) ensured that accountability and responsibility for measuring progress against commitments are clearly understood, performed, and reported; (2) demonstrated, on the basis of reliable data and credible analysis, that the proposed system solution will produce economic benefits commensurate with costs; (3) used data on progress against project cost, schedule, and performance commitments throughout a project's life cycle to make investment decisions; and (4) divided this large project into a series of incremental investment decisions to spread the risks over smaller, more manageable components. Because it has yet to effectively apply any of these basic tenets of effective investment management to SPS, DOD lacks the basic information needed to make informed decisions on how to proceed with the project. Nevertheless, DOD continues to push forward in acquiring and deploying additional versions of SPS. Continuing this approach involves …