The objective of this research project is to acquire, process, and interpret multiple high-resolution 3-D compressional wave and 2-D, 2-C shear wave seismic data in an attempt to observe changes in fluid characteristics in an oil field before, during, and after the miscible carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) flood that began around December 1, 2003, as part of the DOE-sponsored Class Revisit Project (DOE DE-AC26-00BC15124). Unique and key to this imaging activity is the high-resolution nature of the seismic data, minimal deployment design, and the temporal sampling throughout the flood. The 900-m-deep test reservoir is located in central Kansas oomoldic limestones of the Lansing-Kansas City Group, deposited on a shallow marine shelf in Pennsylvanian time. After 30 months of seismic monitoring, one baseline and eight monitor surveys clearly detected changes that appear consistent with movement of CO{sub 2} as modeled with fluid simulators and observed in production data.

This report summarizes the problems that surround the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund or Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Fund. This report also includes information on the history of the fund and fees, such as congress extending the fees it imposes six times. Nevertheless, one of the central problems in the report is extending the fees further.

From Summary: "This report analyzes these three components to identify the parameters that network providers have within their control (such as their choices about network architecture, overall bandwidth capacity, bandwidth reserved for their own use, traffic prioritization, the terms and rates for access to their networks and for their own use, traffic prioritization, the terms and rates for access to their networks and for their retail services) that can affect how end users and independent applications providers can access their networks, how those parameters might be used strategically to harm competition for, and consumers of, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), video, and other applications that ride over broadband networks."

This report is intended to provide an overview of the Adequate Yearly Process (AYP) concept and several related issues, a description of the AYP provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, and an analysis of the implementation of these provisions by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the states. It will be updated when major administrative actions are taken by ED, or substantial new data on state implementation become available.

With the passing of legislation designed to permanently cap and reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired utilities, it is more important than ever to develop and improve upon methods of controlling mercury emissions. One promising technique is carbon sorbent injection into the flue gas of the coal-fired power plant. Currently, this technology is very expensive as costly commercially activated carbons are used as sorbents. There is also a significant lack of understanding of the interaction between mercury vapor and the carbon sorbent, which adds to the difficulty of predicting the amount of sorbent needed for specific plant configurations. Due to its inherent porosity and adsorption properties as well as on-site availability, carbons derived from gasifiers are potential mercury sorbent candidates. Furthermore, because of the increasing restricted use of landfilling, the coal industry is very interested in finding uses for these materials as an alternative to the current disposal practice. The results of laboratory investigations and supporting technical assessments conducted under DOE Subcontract No. DE-FG26-03NT41795 are reported. This contract was with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, which supports work with the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research and The Pennsylvania State University Energy Institute. The worked described was part …

The United States recognized the independence of all the former Soviet republics by the end of 1991, including the South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The United States has fostered these states' ties with the West in part to end the dependence of these states on Russia for trade, security, and other relations. The United States has pursued close ties with Armenia to encourage its democratization and because of concerns by Armenian-Americans and others over its fate. Close ties with Georgia have evolved from U.S. contacts with its pro-Western leadership. The Bush Administration supports U.s. private investment in Azerbaijan's energy sector as a means of increasing the diversity of world energy suppliers and to encourage building multiple energy pipelines to world markets.

The United States recognized the independence of all the former Soviet republics by the end of 1991, including the South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The United States has fostered these states' ties with the West in part to end the dependence of these states on Russia for trade, security, and other relations. The FREEDOM Support Act of 1992 provides authorization for assistance to the Eurasian states for humanitarian needs, democratization, and other purposes. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the Administration appealed for a national security waiver of the prohibition on aid to Azerbaijan, in consideration of Azerbaijan's assistance to the international coalition to combat terrorism. Azerbaijani and Georgian troops participate in stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Armenian personnel serve in Iraq.

The United States recognized the independence of all the former Soviet republics by the end of 1991, including the South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The United States has fostered these states' ties with the West in part to end the dependence of these states on Russia for trade, security, and other relations. The FREEDOM Support Act of 1992 provides authorization for assistance to the Eurasian states for humanitarian needs, democratization, and other purposes. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the Administration appealed for a national security waiver of the prohibition on aid to Azerbaijan, in consideration of Azerbaijan's assistance to the international coalition to combat terrorism. Azerbaijani and Georgian troops participate in stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Armenian personnel serve in Iraq.

Injection of CO{sub 2} in coalbeds is a plausible method of reducing atmospheric emissions of CO{sub 2}, and it can have the additional benefit of enhancing methane recovery from coal. Most previous studies have evaluated the merits of CO{sub 2} disposal in high-rank coals. The objective of this research was to determine the technical and economic feasibility of CO{sub 2} sequestration in, and enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) recovery from, low-rank coals in the Texas Gulf Coast area. Our research included an extensive coal characterization program, including acquisition and analysis of coal core samples and well transient test data. We conducted deterministic and probabilistic reservoir simulation and economic studies to evaluate the effects of injectant fluid composition (pure CO{sub 2} and flue gas), well spacing, injection rate, and dewatering on CO{sub 2} sequestration and ECBM recovery in low-rank coals of the Calvert Bluff formation of the Texas Wilcox Group. Shallow and deep Calvert Bluff coals occur in two, distinct, coalbed gas petroleum systems that are separated by a transition zone. Calvert Bluff coals < 3,500 ft deep are part of a biogenic coalbed gas system. They have low gas content and are part of a freshwater aquifer. In contrast, Wilcox coals …

We report the crustal structure of Iraq, located in the northeastern Arabian plate, estimated by joint inversion of P-wave receiver functions and surface wave group velocity dispersion. Receiver functions were computed from teleseismic recordings at two temporary broadband seismic stations in Mosul (MSL) and Baghdad (BHD), separated by approximately 360 km. Group velocity dispersion curves at the sites were derived from continental-scale tomography of Pasyanos (2006). The inversion results show that the crustal thicknesses are 39 km at MSL and 43 km at BHD. Both sites reveal low velocity surface layers consistent with sedimentary thickness of about 3 km at station MSL and 7 km at BHD, agreeing well with the existing models. Ignoring the sediments, the crustal velocities and thicknesses are remarkably similar between the two stations, suggesting that the crustal structure of the proto-Arabian Platform in northern Iraq was uniform before subsidence and deposition of the sediments in the Cenozoic. Deeper low velocity sediments at BHD are expected to result in higher ground motions for earthquakes.

Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba under Fidel Castro has consisted largely of isolating the communist nation through comprehensive economic sanctions, which have been significantly tightened by the Bush Administration. Another component of U.S. policy consists of support measures for the Cuban people, including private humanitarian donations and U.S.-sponsored radio and television broadcasting to Cuba. There are several schools of thought on how to achieve the objective of bringing democracy and respect for human rights to Cuba: some advocate maximum pressure on Cuba until reforms are enacted; others argue for lifting some U.S. sanctions judged to be hurting the Cuban people; and still others call for a swift normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations.

This report, which will be updated regularly, examines issues in U.S.-Cuban relations and tracks legislative initiatives on Cuba in the 109th Congress. The 109th Congress will likely continue an active interest in Cuba concerning human rights, debate over economic sanctions (especially on travel), food and agricultural exports to Cuba, terrorism issues, Radio and TV Marti, bilateral anti-drug cooperation, and migration issues.

This report, which will be updated regularly, examines issues in U.S.-Cuban relations and tracks legislative initiatives on Cuba in the 109th Congress. The 109th Congress will likely continue an active interest in Cuba concerning human rights, debate over economic sanctions (especially on travel), food and agricultural exports to Cuba, terrorism issues, Radio and TV Marti, bilateral anti-drug cooperation, and migration issues.

Current hydrocarbon reforming catalysts suffer from rapid carbon and sulfur poisoning. Even though there is a tremendous incentive to develop more efficient catalysts, these materials are currently formulated using inefficient trial and error experimental approaches. We have utilized a novel hybrid experimental/theoretical approach, combining quantum Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and various state-of-the-art experimental tools, to formulate carbon tolerant reforming catalysts. We have employed DFT calculations to develop molecular insights into the elementary chemical transformations that lead to carbon poisoning of Ni catalysts. Based on the obtained molecular insights, we have identified, using DFT quantum calculation, Sn/Ni alloy as a potential carbon tolerant reforming catalyst. Sn/Ni alloy was synthesized and tested in steam reforming of methane, propane, and isooctane. We demonstrated that the alloy catalyst is carbon-tolerant under nearly stoichiometric steam-to-carbon ratios. Under these conditions, monometallic Ni is rapidly poisoned by sp2 carbon deposits. The research approach is distinguished by a few characteristics: (a) Knowledge-based, bottom-up approach, compared to the traditional trial and error approach, allows for a more efficient and systematic discovery of improved catalysts. (b) The focus is on exploring alloy materials which have been largely unexplored as potential reforming catalysts.

The Enhanced Surveillance Campaign is funding a program to investigate tritium aging effects on the structural properties of tritium reservoir steels. The program is designed to investigate how the structural properties of reservoir steels change during tritium service and to examine the role of microstructure and reservoir manufacturing on tritium compatibility. New surveillance tests are also being developed that can better gauge the long-term effects of tritium and its radioactive decay product, helium-3, on the properties of reservoir steels. In order to conduct these investigations, three types of samples are needed from returned reservoirs: tensile, fracture mechanics, and transmission-electron microscopy (TEM). An earlier report demonstrated how the electric-discharge machining (EDM) technique can be used for cutting tensile samples from serial sections of a 3T reservoir and how yield strength, ultimate strength and elongation could be measured from those samples. In this report, EDM was used successfully to section sub-sized fracture-mechanics samples from the inner and outer walls of a 3T reservoir and TEM samples from serial sections of a 1M reservoir. This report fulfills the requirements for the FY06 Level 3 milestone, TSR 15.1 ''Cut Fracture-Mechanics Samples from Tritium-Exposed Reservoir'' and TSR 15.2 ''Cut Transmission-electron-microscopy foils from Tritium-Exposed Reservoir'' for …

This report is an overview of the major training activities and facilities of the federal departments and agencies that provide counter-terrorism training. It identifies some of the issues associated with the training, including the following: (1) possible duplication of federal counter-terrorism training programs; (2) determination of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) counter-terrorism training priorities; and (3) possible redundancy and coordination of DHS counter-terrorism training programs.

This report is an overview of the major training activities and facilities of the federal departments and agencies that provide counter-terrorism training. It identifies some of the issues associated with the training, including the possible duplication of federal counter-terrorism training programs; determination of Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism training priorities; and possible redundancy and coordination of DHS counter-terrorism training programs.

This report is an overview of the major training activities and facilities of the federal departments and agencies that provide counter-terrorism training. It identifies some of the issues associated with the training, including the following: possible duplication of federal counter-terrorism training programs; determination of Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism training priorities; and possible redundancy and coordination of DHS counter-terrorism training programs.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On July 24, 2006, we issued a report to Congress entitled, Financial Restatements: Update of Public Company Trends, Market Impacts, and Regulatory Enforcement Activities. That report included a listing of 1,390 financial restatement announcements that we identified as having been made because of financial reporting fraud and/or accounting errors between July 1, 2002, and September 30, 2005. As part of that work, Congress asked that we provide a limited update of that database for the period October 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006."

The goal of this proposed research is to provide an efficient and user friendly simulation framework for screening and optimizing chemical/microbial enhanced oil recovery processes. The framework will include (1) a user friendly interface to identify the variables that have the most impact on oil recovery using the concept of experimental design and response surface maps, (2) UTCHEM reservoir simulator to perform the numerical simulations, and (3) an economic model that automatically imports the simulation production data to evaluate the profitability of a particular design. Such a reservoir simulation framework is not currently available to the oil industry. The objectives of Task 1 are to develop three primary modules representing reservoir, chemical, and well data. The modules will be interfaced with an already available experimental design model. The objective of the Task 2 is to incorporate UTCHEM reservoir simulator and the modules with the strategic variables and developing the response surface maps to identify the significant variables from each module. The objective of the Task 3 is to develop the economic model designed specifically for the chemical processes targeted in this proposal and interface the economic model with UTCHEM production output. Task 4 is on the validation of the framework …

The goal of this proposed research is to provide an efficient and user friendly simulation framework for screening and optimizing chemical/microbial enhanced oil recovery processes. The framework will include (1) a user friendly interface to identify the variables that have the most impact on oil recovery using the concept of experimental design and response surface maps, (2) UTCHEM reservoir simulator to perform the numerical simulations, and (3) an economic model that automatically imports the simulation production data to evaluate the profitability of a particular design. Such a reservoir simulation framework is not currently available to the oil industry. The objectives of Task 1 are to develop three primary modules representing reservoir, chemical, and well data. The modules will be interfaced with an already available experimental design model. The objective of the Task 2 is to incorporate UTCHEM reservoir simulator and the modules with the strategic variables and developing the response surface maps to identify the significant variables from each module. The objective of the Task 3 is to develop the economic model designed specifically for the chemical processes targeted in this proposal and interface the economic model with UTCHEM production output. Task 4 is on the validation of the framework …

This paper analyzes a two-level preconditioning scheme for H(curl) bilinear forms. The scheme utilizes an auxiliary problem on a related mesh that is more amenable for constructing optimal order multigrid methods. More specifically, we analyze the case when the auxiliary mesh only approximately covers the original domain. The latter assumption is important since it allows for easy construction of nested multilevel spaces on regular auxiliary meshes. Numerical experiments in both two and three space dimensions illustrate the optimal performance of the method.

The main objective of the project is to demonstrate a proof-of-principle, new type of high efficiency, short wavelength x-ray laser source that will operate at unprecedented high repetition rates (10Hz) that could be scaled to 1kHz or higher. The development of a high average power, tabletop x-ray laser would serve to complement the wavelength range of 3rd and future 4th generation light sources, e.g. the LCLS, being developed by DOE-Basic Energy Sciences. The latter are large, expensive, central, synchrotron-based facilities while the tabletop x-ray laser is compact, high-power laser-driven, and relatively inexpensive. The demonstration of such a unique, ultra-fast source would allow us to attract funding from DOE-BES, NSF and other agencies to pursue probing of diverse materials undergoing ultrafast changes. Secondly, this capability would have a profound impact on the semiconductor industry since a coherent x-ray laser source would be ideal for ''at wavelength'' {approx}13 nm metrology and microscopy of optics and masks used in EUV lithography. The project has major technical challenges. We will perform grazing-incidence pumped laser-plasma experiments in flat or groove targets which are required to improve the pumping efficiency by ten times. Plasma density characterization using our existing unique picosecond x-ray laser interferometry of laser-irradiated …

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Yucca Mountain Project Branch laboratory in Denver, Colorado, conducts routine high-precision isotope analyses of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) using thermal ionization mass-spectrometry (TIMS). The measurements are conducted by a solid-source mass-spectrometer equipped with a Faraday multi-collector system and an energy filter in front of an active-film-type secondary electron multiplier (SEM). The abundance sensitivity of the instrument (signal at mass 237 over {sup 238}U in natural U) with the energy filter is {approx} 15 x 10{sup -9} and peak tails are reduced by a factor of {approx}100 relative to the Faraday cup measurements. Since instrument installation in April 2004, more than 500 rock and water samples have been analyzed in support of isotope-geochemical studies for the U.S. Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Project. Isotope ratios of sub-nanogram to microgram U and Th samples are measured on graphite-coated single-filament and double-filament assemblies using zone-refined rhenium filaments. Ion beams less than 5 millivolt (mV) are measured with the SEM, which is corrected for non-linearity on the basis of measurements of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) U-500 and 4321 B standards with ion beams ranging from 0.01 to 8 mV. Inter-calibration between the SEM and the …