This report includes recent developments in federal child care programs and tax provisions. The report discusses several federal programs that support child care or related services, primarily for low-income working families. In addition, the tax code includes provisions specifically targeted to assist families with child care expenses. The report presents the legislative activity in the 107th Congress in regard to child care legislature and provisions.

The events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax incidents have prompted some observers to suggest creating a capability for a virtual or electronic Congress (e-Congress) that could function in the event of an emergency. Currently, it is unclear exactly how an e-Congress would be constituted and operated; however, a proposal (H.R. 3481) has been introduced to require the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to investigate the feasibility and costs of implementing a computer system for remote voting and communication for Congress to ensure business continuity for congressional operations.

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This report provides background concerning various aspects of fuel ethanol, and a discussion of the current related policy issues

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This report discusses opportunities and challenges regarding Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO).

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Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The challenges posed by homeland security exceed the capacity and authority of any one level of government. Protecting the nation against these threats calls for a truly integrated approach, bringing together the resources of all levels of government. The proposed Department of Homeland Security will have a central role in efforts to enhance homeland security. The proposed consolidation of homeland security programs has the potential to reduce fragmentation, improve coordination, and clarify roles and responsibilities. However, formation of a department should not be considered a replacement for the timely issuance of a national homeland security strategy to guide implementation of the complex mission of the department. Appropriate roles and responsibilities within and between the government and private sector need to be clarified. New threats are prompting a reassessment and shifting of long-standing roles and responsibilities, but these shifts are being considered on a piecemeal and ad hoc basis without benefit of an overarching framework and criteria. A national strategy could provide guidance by more systematically identifying the unique capacities and resources at each level of government to enhance homeland security and by providing increased accountability within the intergovernmental …

The change in focus of a high-resolution electron microscope is generally assumed to be linear with change in objective lens current. Thus the defocus step size should be constant for a constant step in lens current. Measurements on the LBNL One-Angstrom Microscope show that the step size increases with increasing underfocus (reduced lens current). Differentiation of the best-fit quadratic shows that the defocus step size varies linearly as defocus changes.

This final report describes results for investigation of aptameric stationary phases for separation of PAHs and metals.

A study is presented for the stability of alpha-particle driven shear Alfven Eigenmodes (AE) for the normal parameters of the three major burning plasma proposals, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), FIRE (Fusion Ignition Research Experiment), and IGNITOR (Ignited Torus). A study of the JET (Joint European Torus) plasma, where fusion alphas were generated in tritium experiments, is also included to attempt experimental validation of the numerical predictions. An analytic assessment of Toroidal AE (TAE) stability is first presented, where the alpha particle beta due to the fusion reaction rate and electron drag is simply and accurately estimated in 7-20 keV plasma temperature regime. In this assessment the hot particle drive is balanced against ion-Landau damping of the background deuterons and electron collision effects and stability boundaries are determined. Then two numerical studies of AE instability are presented. In one the High-n stability code HINST is used . This code is capable of predicting instabilities of low and moderately high frequency Alfven modes. HINST computes the non-perturbative solution of the Alfven eigenmodes including effects of ion finite Larmor radius, orbit width, trapped electrons etc. The stability calculations are repeated using the global code NOVAK. We show that for these tokamaks the …

Alloy 22 (UNS N06022) is a candidate material for the external wall of the high level nuclear waste containers for the potential repository site at Yucca Mountain. In the mill-annealed (MA) condition, Alloy 22 is a single face centered cubic phase. When exposed to temperatures on the order of 600 C and above for times higher than 1 h, this alloy may develop secondary phases that are brittle and offer a lower corrosion resistance than the MA condition. The objective of this work was to age Alloy 22 at temperatures between 482 C and 800 C for times between 0.25 h and 3,000 h and to study the corrosion performance of the resulting material. Aging was carried out using wrought specimens as well as gas tungsten arc welded (GTAW) specimens. The corrosion performance was characterized using standard immersion tests in aggressive acidic solutions and electrochemical tests in multi-component solutions. Results show that, in general, in aggressive acidic solutions the corrosion rate increased as the aging temperature and aging time increased. However, in multi ionic environments that could be relevant to the potential Yucca Mountain site, the corrosion rate of aged material was the same as the corrosion rate of the …

We discuss the impact of the beam-beam interactions on Run IIa operation at the design parameters. We focus on the seventy long-range interactions which primarily determine the stable region in phase space and limit the lifetime. We discuss recent improvements in lifetime at injection and dynamic aperture calculations at collision.

Recent upgrades to the NSTX facility have led to improved plasma performance. Using 5MW of neutral beam injection, plasmas with toroidal {beta}{sub T} (= 2{micro}{sub 0}<p>/B{sub T}{sup 2} where B{sub T} is the vacuum toroidal field at the plasma geometric center) > 30% have been achieved with normalized {beta}{sub N} (= {beta}{sub T}aB{sub I}/I{sub p}) {approx} 6% {center_dot} m {center_dot} T/MA.. The highest {beta} discharge exceeded the calculated no-wall {beta} limit for several wall times. The stored energy has reached 390kJ at higher toroidal field (0.55T) corresponding to {beta}{sub T} {approx} 20% and {beta}{sub N} = 5.4. Long pulse ({approx}1s) high {beta}{sub p} ({approx}1.5) discharges have also been obtained at higher {beta}{sub {phi}} (0.5T) with up to 6MW NBI power. The highest energy confinement times, up to 120ms, were observed during H-mode operation which is now routine. Confinement times of {approx}1.5 times ITER98pby2 for several {tau}{sub E} are observed during both H-Mode and non-H-Mode discharges. Calculations indicate that many NSTX discharges have very good ion confinement, approaching neoclassical levels. High Harmonic Fast Wave current drive has been demonstrated by comparing discharges with waves launched parallel and anti-parallel to the plasma current.

We report the synthesis of Sr{sub 1-x}Ca{sub x}MnO{sub 3} and La{sub 0.5}Ba{sub 0.5}MnO{sub 3} perovskites over extended cation and oxygen composition ranges and describe the dependence of their phase stability on the tolerance factor t = t(x,T,{delta}) that is a function of composition, temperature, and oxygen content. We show that magnetic transition temperatures depend strongly on the tolerance factor and charge disorder while dependence on the structural disorder is less important. By reducing charge and structural disorder we have significantly increased the Curie and Neel temperatures for perovskite manganites.

A substantial body of data is described by the Standard Model of particle physics. However the description is far from perfect and there is a growing number of internal inconsistencies. These fall short of qualifying as discoveries; nevertheless, examination of their merits is both interesting and worthwhile. The existence of three families of quarks and leptons is not understood. There are new data, especially from the B factories; the latter are shining new light on the problem. From several experiments, data show that our thoughts about the existence of transitions between neutrino flavors, oscillations, may be correct but the understanding of the patterns needs work. However, we see the opening of a number of avenues of investigation as new facilities and experiments come online.

High-precision instrumentation, such as that for x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, and other optical micropositioning systems, requires the stability that comes from vibration-isolated support structures. Structure-born vibrations impede the acquisition of accurate experimental data through such high-precision instruments. At the Advanced Photon Source, a multiaxis goniometer is installed in the 2-ID-D station for synchrotron microdiffraction investigations. However, ground vibration can excite the kinematic movements of the goniometer linkages, resulting in critically contaminated experimental data. In this paper, the vibration behavior of the goniometer has been considered. Experimental vibration measurements were conducted to define the present vibration levels and determine the threshold sensitivity of the equipment. In addition, experimental modal tests were conducted and used to guide an analytical finite element analysis. Both results were used for finding the best way to reduce the vibration levels and to develop a vibration damping/isolation structure for the 2-ID-D goniometer. The device that was designed and tested could be used to reduce local vibration levels for the vibration isolation of similar high-precision instruments.

A formula is derived, which allows efficient analytical evaluation of the long range beam-beam tune shifts and chromaticities with amplitude. It assumes that the beams are infinitely short, oppositely charged, and with Gaussian transversal profile. The formula employs an infinite sum with favorable convergence rates, making it well suited especially for the long range case. Applications to the Tevatron are presented, including some proposed compensation schemes and their effect on the dynamic aperture.

It is attempted in this paper to define an optimal range of subcriticality of ADS systems from the operational and safety points of view. To devise a representative measure of the subcriticality level, the mathematical and physical implications of the effective multiplication factor and the source multiplication factor have been reviewed. A set of criteria that bound the feasible subcriticality level is proposed in terms of the effective multiplication factor; the minimum required subcriticality is determined by the largest value of potential reactivity increase including the temperature defect and the calculation and measurement uncertainties, and the maximum allowable subcriticality level is bounded by the system economy and the technical feasibility of the system. Within this feasible domain of subcriticality, a preliminary estimation of the optimal range of subcriticality was performed for a lead-bismuth-eutectic (LBE) cooled ADS design based on the safety and transmutation performances. The effects on the system safety of the subcriticality level were analyzed for several important transients using an integral safety analysis method, and the transmutation performance was evaluated in terms of the fuel and long-lived fission product discharge burnups.

A ceramic waste form has been developed to immobilize the salt waste stream from electrometallurgical treatment of spent nuclear fuel. The ceramic waste form was originally prepared in a hot isostatic press (HIP). Small HIP capsules called witness tubes were used to obtain representative samples of material for process monitoring, waste form qualification, and archiving. Since installation of a full-scale HIP in existing facilities proved impractical, a new fabrication process was developed. This process fabricates waste forms inside a stainless steel container using a conventional furnace. Progress in developing a new method of obtaining representative samples is reported.

Solid-particle erosion studies were conducted on a representative geopolymer. The test conditions were normal impact of 390-{micro}m angular Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} erodent particles moving at 50, 70, or 100 m/s. Steady-state erosion rates were obtained and the material-loss mechanism was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The geopolymer responded as a classic brittle material. Elastic-plastic indentation events led to formation of brittle cleavage cracks that resulted in spallation of material. The erosion rate was proportional to erodent velocity to the 2.3 power. The erosion rate and mechanism for the geopolymer were nearly identical to what has been observed for erosion of Si single crystals.

A typical glass furnace consists of a combustion space and a melter. Intense heat is generated from the combustion of fuel and air/oxygen in the combustion space. This heat is transferred mainly by radiation to the melter in order to melt sand and cullet (scrap glass) eventually creating glass products. Many furnaces use electric boosters to enhance glass melting and increase productivity. The coupled electric/combustion heat transfer patterns are key to the glass making processes. The understanding of the processes can lead to the improvement of glass quality and furnace efficiency. The effects of electrical boosting on the flow patterns and heat transfer in a glass melter are investigated using a multiphase Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code with addition of an electrical boosting model. The results indicate that the locations and spacing of the electrodes have large impacts on the velocity and temperature distributions in the glass melter. With the same total heat input, the batch shape (which is determined by the overall heat transfer and the batch melting rate) is kept almost the same. This indicates that electric boosting can be used to replace part of heat by combustion. Therefore, temperature is lower in the combustion space and the …

The Chemical Technology Division (CMT) is one of eight engineering research divisions within Argonne National Laboratory, one of the U.S. government's oldest and largest research laboratories. The University of Chicago oversees the laboratory on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Argonne's mission is to conduct basic scientific research, to operate national scientific facilities, to enhance the nation's energy resources, and to develop better ways to manage environmental problems. Argonne has the further responsibility of strengthening the nation's technology base by developing innovative technology and transferring it to industry. CMT is a diverse early-stage engineering organization, specializing in the treatment of spent nuclear fuel, development of advanced electrochemical power sources, and management of both high- and low-level nuclear wastes. Although this work is often indistinguishable from basic research, our efforts are directed toward the practical devices and processes that are covered by Argonne's mission. Additionally, the Division operates the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory and Environment, Safety, and Health Analytical Chemistry services, which provide a broad range of analytical services to Argonne and other organizations. The Division is multidisciplinary. Its people have formal training as ceramists; physicists; material scientists; electrical, mechanical, chemical, and nuclear engineers; and chemists. They have experience working …

A recent experiment at RHIC observed the coherent dipole modes for proton bunches in collision. The collective beam-beam effect in RHIC is simulated self-consistently in 4-D (transverse) phase space. Compared to standard Monte-Carlo methods, the sampling of the distribution tails is improved. The simulations and the experimental results are compared.