Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "After the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) has given the go ahead to a gun sale, it is still possible for the FBI to receive information from local law enforcement, the courts, or other sources that would prohibit a purchaser from owning a firearm. In these cases, the licensed dealer must be contacted to verify whether the purchaser received the firearm. If so, the local police department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) are then notified. In these case, ATF guidance requires an investigation and the retrieval of the firearm in coordination with state or local law enforcement. Retained records that were more than one day old but less than 90 days old were used to initiate more than 100 firearm retrievals in the four-month period beginning July 2001, according to FBI officials. As a result, next-day destruction of NICS records could impair the ability of law enforcement to retrieve firearms from persons who were wrongly approved to purchase them."

Measuring the violence of a thermal explosion of a cased explosive is important for evaluating safety issues of explosive devices in fires. A sympathetic initiation scenario was studied here where a 9.0 cm diameter by 2.5 cm thick disc of PBX 9501 donor charge encased in a 304 stainless steel assembly was heated on top and bottom flat surfaces until it thermally exploded. The initial heating rate at the metal/explosive interface was 5 C per minute until it reaches 170 C; then this temperature is held for 35 minutes to allow temperature equilibration to within a few degrees throughout the explosive. The heating resumed at a rate of 1 C per minute until the PBX 9501 donor thermally exploded. A PBX 9501 acceptor charge with carbon resistor and manganin foil pressure gauges inserted at various depths was placed at a 10 cm standoff distance from the donor charge's top steel cover plate. Piezoelectric arrival time pins were placed in front of the acceptor surface to measure the velocity and shape of the impacting plate. The stainless steel cover plate of the donor charge had a nominal velocity of 0.55 {+-} 0.04 mm/{micro}s upon impact and was non-symmetrically warped. The impact …

This document was prepared at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) under its Technical Guidance and Assistance and Project Financing Programs. The purpose was to provide an estimate of the national potential for combined heat and power (also known as CHP; cogeneration; or cooling, heating, and power) applications at federal facilities and the associated costs and benefits including energy and emission savings. The report provides a broad overview for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other agencies on when and where CHP systems are most likely to serve the government's best interest. FEMP's mission is to reduce the cost to and environmental impact of the federal government by advancing energy efficiency and water conservation, promoting the use of renewable energy, and improving utility management decisions at federal sites. FEMP programs are driven by its customers: federal agency sites. FEMP monitors energy efficiency and renewable energy technology developments and mounts ''technology-specific'' programs to make technologies that are in strong demand by agencies more accessible. FEMP's role is often one of helping the federal government ''lead by example'' through the use of advanced energy efficiency/renewable energy (EERE) technologies in its own buildings and …

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The objectives of the VITALINKS tabletop exercise are to: Raise awareness of infrastructure interdependency issues; Identify and focus on the most important vulnerabilities and restoration priorities resulting from infrastructure disruptions; Examine the resources (people and equipment) required to sustain systems under emergency conditions; Identify and highlight roles, responsibilities, and authorities (including trans-border issues); and Continue to foster a more effective interface among public and private sector service providers and public officials in developing and implementing critical infrastructure protection, mitigation, response, and recovery options.

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The Eva South Morrow Sand Unit is located in western Texas County, Oklahoma. The field produces from an upper Morrow sandstone, termed the Eva sandstone, deposited in a transgressive valley-fill sequence. The field is defined as a combination structural stratigraphic trap; the reservoir lies in a convex up -dip bend in the valley and is truncated on the west side by the Teepee Creek fault. Although the field has been a successful waterflood since 1993, reservoir heterogeneity and compartmentalization has impeded overall sweep efficiency. A 4.25 square mile high-resolution, three component three-dimensional (3C3D) seismic survey was acquired in order to improve reservoir characterization and pinpoint the optimal location of a new horizontal producing well, the ESU 13-H.

We report deflagration rate measurements on PBXN-109 (RDWAVHTPB) and Composition B (RXDTTNThrvax) at pressures from 1,500-100,000 psi (10-700 MPa). This was done with the LLNL High Pressure Strand Burner, in which embedded wires are used to record the time-of-arrival of the burn front in the cylindrical sample as a function of pressure. The propellant samples are 6.4 mm in diameter and 6.4 mm long, with burn wires inserted between samples. Burning on the cylindrical surface is inhibited with an epoxy or polyurethane layer. With this direct measurement we do not have to account for product gas equation of state or heat losses in the system, and the burn wires allow detection of irregular burning. We report deflagration results for PBXN-109 as received, and also after it has been damaged by heating. The burn behavior of pristine PBXN-109 is very regular, and exhibits a reduction in pressure exponent from 1.32 to 0.85 at pressures above 20,000 psi (135 MPa). When PBXN-109 is thermally damaged by heating to 170-180 C, the deflagration rate is increased by more than a factor of 10. This appears to be a physical effect, as the faster burning may be explained by an increase in surface area. …

The ASCI VIEWS program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been investigating a variety of display technologies, motivated by the large size, high resolution and complexity of some data sets that ASCI users explore and analyze. The purpose of this report is to describe the design, deployment and initial user reactions to one display system. The inspiration for the system comes from a similar experimental deployment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), one of the VIEWS program's academic partners. The display system features the use of multiple projectors in individual offices creating oversized displays to replace standard monitors. Some discussion on alternative multi-projector display systems provides context for this description.The VIEWS program began exploring the possibilities of alternative displays by building large, tiled displays and supporting the development of extremely high-pixel density LCD panels [ASCI]. The same considerations have led to partnerships with several groups of researchers working on various aspects of multi-projector display systems including groups at UNC, Stanford University, Princeton University, the University of Utah, Argonne National Lab, and the two NSF supercomputer centers, NCSA and SDSC. This report is divided into eight sections. The following section describes the background for the development …

The objective of this study was to identify and field test a new, low cost, wireless oil well surveillance system. A variety of suppliers and technologies were considered. One supplier and system was chosen that was low cost, new to the oil field, and successfully field tested.

The need for proper consideration of energy-related performance aspects during building design has been identified since the energy crises of the 1970s. However, energy performance is still considered in a very small fraction of building projects, mainly because proper consideration is very expensive. It requires the use of computational software tools, which are not easy to learn and are time-consuming to use. Several attempts have been made to facilitate the use of energy simulation tools, but none has brought a significant increase in the consideration of energy performance. Energy related performance criteria are still considered only in a small fraction of buildings and, in most cases, after most of the building design is complete. This paper is focused on the main barriers in properly considering energy-related performance aspects in building decisions, which range from sociopolitical, to technical. The paper includes consideration of issues related to the general interest of the building industry in energy performance and environmental impact, current practice trends, modeling capabilities and performance of tools, compatibility of computational models and availability of data. Finally, a strategy for government-industry collaboration towards removing the barriers is presented, along with the main issues that need to be resolved towards potential implementation.

The interrogation of molecular vibrations in crystalline and amorphous solids by Raman and infrared spectroscopy methods can provide a wealth of revealing information concerning the composition, morphology, and spatial distribution of the extant phases. When these measurements are made in situ, such as during processes taking place in extreme environments (e.g., elevated temperature and pressure, oxidizing or reducing), where phases are evolving and/or dissipating, it is also possible to derive kinetic and mechanistic parameters. This paper summarizes the possibilities and limitations involved in using various types of Raman and infrared measurement methods to study metal dusting corrosion. Applications of conventional, microprobe, and imaging molecular spectroscopy approaches are discussed, with examples taken directly from metal dusting investigations. Some perspective is offered concerning the origin of observable condensed matter phonons emanating from the surface films and the carbon particles that accompany carbon dusting on various types of metals and alloys. Concepts for the systematic investigation of carbon dusting chemistry using molecular spectroscopy methods are presented.

The main objective of this research was to propose a simple procedure to predict heavy oil viscosity at reservoir conditions as a function of easily determined physical properties. This procedure will avoid costly experimental testing and reduce uncertainty in designing thermal recovery processes.

Currently, containment system failures are detected by monitoring wells downstream of the waste site. Clearly this approach is inefficient, as the contaminants will have migrated from the disposal area before they are detected. Methods that indicate early cover failure (prior to contaminant release) or predict impending cover failure are needed. The Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Perfluorocarbon Tracer (PFT) technology can measure performance changes and integrity losses as the cover ages. This allows early detection of cover failure or pending failure so that repair or replacement can be made before contaminants leave the disposal cell. The PFT technology has been successfully applied to four subsurface barrier problems, one leak detection problem from underground ducts, and one surface cover problem. Testing has demonstrated that the PFTs are capable of accurately detecting and locating leaks down to fractions of an inch. The PFT technology has several advantages over competing approaches. The ability to simultaneously use multiple PFTs separates it from other gas tracer technologies. Using multiple tracers provides independent confirmation of flaw location, helps to clearly define transport pathways, and can be used for confirmatory testing (e.g., repeat the test using a new tracer). The PFT tests provide a direct measure of flaws …

The emphasis of this work was on investigating the mechanisms and factors that control the recovery of heavy oil with the objective to improve recovery efficiencies. For this purpose the interaction of flow transport and reaction at various scales from the pore network to the field scales were studied. Particular mechanisms to be investigated included the onset of gas flow in foamy oil production and in in-situ steam drive, gravity drainage in steam processes, the development of sustained combustion fronts and the propagation of foams in porous media. Analytical, computational and experimental methods were utilized to advance the state of the art in heavy oil recovery. Successful completion of this research was expected to lead to improvements in the Recovery efficiency of various heavy oil processes.

Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

Jet-cooled spectra of 1-methylvinoxy and 2-methylvinoxy are reported and analyzed with help from high-level electronic structure calculations.

The SIAM Conference on Geometric Design and Computing attracted 164 domestic and international researchers, from academia, industry, and government. It provided a stimulating forum in which to learn about the latest developments, to discuss exciting new research directions, and to forge stronger ties between theory and applications. Final Report

The sustained propagation of combustion fronts in porous media is a necessary condition for the success of an in situ combustion project for oil recovery. Compared to other recovery methods, in situ combustion involves the added complexity of exothermic reactions and temperature-dependent chemical kinetics. In the presence of heat losses, the possibility of ignition and extinction (quenching) exists. In this report, we address the properties of combustion fronts propagating at a constant velocity in the presence of heat losses.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittees.

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This report describes the current laws governing the holding of employer stock in employee retirement plans and summarizes some key policy questions that pension analysts have raised about holding such stock in defined contribution retirement plans.