A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Earned Income Credit (EIC), a tax credit available to the working poor, has experienced high rates of noncompliance. Unlike many benefit programs, EIC recipients generally receive payments without advance, formal determinations of eligibility; the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) checks some taxpayers' eligibility later. IRS estimated that tax year 1999 EIC overclaim rates, the most recent data available, to be between 27 and 32 percent of dollars claimed or between $8.5 billion and $9.9 billion. To address overclaims, IRS plans to test a new certification program. Because IRS's plans have garnered much attention, Congress asked us to (1) describe the design and basis for the EIC qualifying child certification program, (2) describe the current status of the program, including significant changes, and (3) assess whether the program is adequately developed to prevent unreasonable burden on EIC taxpayers and improve compliance so that the test should proceed."

It is well-known that the human thyroid concentrates iodine more than 100 times the concentration in plasma. Also well-known is the fact that large amounts of stable iodine in the diet can limit thyroid uptake of total iodine; this is the basis for administering potassium iodide following a release of radioiodine from a nuclear reactor accident or nuclear weapon detonation. Many researchers have shown enhanced concentrations of both organic and inorganic iodine in saliva and breast milk. Technetium-99 is a long-lived (231,000 year half-life) radionuclide of concern in the management of high-level radioactive waste. There is no doubt that 99Tc, if it is in groundwater, will be found in the chemical form of pertechnetate, 99TcO4?. Pertechnetate is a large anion, almost identical in size to iodide, I?. The nuclear medicine literature shows that pertechnetate concentrates in the thyroid, salivary glands, and lactating breast in addition to the stomach, liver, and alimentary tract as currently recognized by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The fact that large intakes of stable iodine (127I) in the diet limit uptake of iodine by the thyroid leads one to generalize that stable iodine in the diet may also limit thyroid uptake of pertechnetate. While …

The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) and the Federal Power Act (FPA) were enacted to eliminate unfair practices and other abuses by electricity and gas holding companies by requiring federal control and regulation of interstate public utility holding companies. Comprehensive energy legislation has passed the House and Senate. The House passed H.R. 6 on April 11, 2003. On July 31, 2003, the Senate suspended debate on S. 14, inserted the text of H.R. 4 (107th Congress) as a substitute, and passed H.R. 6. A conference agreement was reached November 17, 2003, and passed by the House the next day. H.R. 6 includes an electricity title that would, in part, repeal PUHCA, would prospectively repeal the mandatory purchase requirement under PURPA, and would create an electric reliability organization. On June 15, 2004, H.R. 4503, a comprehensive energy policy bill, passed the House.

Most commercial buildings in the U.S. are required by State or local jurisdiction to meet energy standards. The enforcement of these standards is not well known and building practice without them on a national scale is also little understood. To provide an understanding of these issues, a database has been developed at PNNL that includes detailed energy related building characteristics of 162 commercial buildings from across the country. For this analysis, the COMcheck? compliance software (developed at PNNL) was used to assess compliance with energy codes among these buildings. Data from the database for each building provided the program input with percentage energy compliance to the ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999 energy as the output. During the data input process it was discovered that some essential data for showing compliance of the building envelope was missed and defaults had to be developed to provide complete compliance information. This need for defaults for some data inputs raised the question of what the effect on documenting compliance could be due to missing data. To help answer this question a data collection effort was completed to assess potential differences. Using the program Dodge View, as much of the missing envelope data as possible was collected …

In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risk issues. These initiatives are consistent with the Medical University's role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable the Medical University to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBP's success in convening worldwide scientific expertise is due in part to the inherent credibility the Medical University brings to the process of addressing these complex issues. Current research projects have focused EBP talent and resources on providing the scientific basis for risk-based standards, risk-based decision making and the accelerated clean-up of widespread environmental hazards. These hazards include trichloroethylene (TCE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), asbestos and low-dose ionizing radiation. A project is also being conducted …

The purpose of this trip to LECO Corporation was to test the non-matrix matched calibration method and the principal component analysis (PCA) method on a laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-time of flight mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-TOFMS) system. An LA-ICP-TOFMS system allows for multielement single-shot analysis as well as spatial analysis on small samples, because the TOFMS acquires an entire mass spectrum for all ions extracted simultaneously from the ICP. The TOFMS system differs from the double-focusing mass spectrometer, on which the above methods were developed, by having lower sensitivity and lower mass resolution.

This report discusses the interest in legislation to expand the citizenship benefits of aliens serving in the military. Multiple bills provide for expedited or posthumous citizenship as the result of military service (H.R. 1275, H.R. 1588, H.R. 1685, H.R. 1691, H.R. 1714, H.R. 1799, H.R. 1806, H.R. 1814, H.R. 1850, H.R. 1953, H.R. 1954, H.R. 2887, S. 783, S. 789, S. 897, S. 922, and S. 940). Variously, these bills would, among other things, reduce or eliminate the 3-year requirement for peacetime service, permit proceedings to be conducted abroad, waive processing fees, modify posthumous citizenship procedures, and provide some type of immigration benefit to surviving immediate relatives of citizens (including posthumous citizens) who die as a result of serving in active duty or, more narrowly, in a combat zone during wartime.

“Extradition” is the formal surrender of a person by a State to another State for prosecution or punishment. Extradition to or from the United States is a creature of treaty. The United States has extradition treaties with over a hundred of the nations of the world. International terrorism and drug trafficking have made extradition an increasingly important law enforcement tool. This report is a brief overview of federal law in the area and of the adjustments in recent treaties to make them more responsive to American law enforcement interests.

Spectroscopy of Mo{sub 6}Cl{sub 12} immobilized in a sol-gel matrix and heated to 200 C has been performed. Oxygen quenching of the luminescence was observed. Aging Mo{sub 6}Cl{sub 12} to temperatures above 250 C converts the canary yellow Mo{sub 6}Cl{sub 12} to a non-luminescent gray solid. Preliminary experiments point to oxidation of the clusters as the likely cause of thermally induced changes in the physical and optical properties of the clusters.

Progress is reported for the period from July 1, 2003 to September 30, 2003. Conductivity testing between the CO{sub 2}I No.1 and CO{sub 2} No.13 was performed over the period 08/20/03 through 09/05/03. Observed response in CO{sub 2} 13 production rates to changes in CO{sub 2}I No.1 injection rates are consistent with sufficient permeability between CO{sub 2}I No.1 and CO{sub 2} No.13 for a viable CO{sub 2} flood with a sufficient Process Pore Volume Rate (PPV). Based on the permeabilities near the CO{sub 2} No.16, a 2-producing well pattern has been determined to be optimal but may be changed during the flood depending on the response observed in the CO{sub 2} No.16. Present inter-well test results indicate there is greater permeability architecture complexity than originally predicted and that a low-permeability region or barrier that restricts but does stop flow may exist between the CO{sub 2}I No.1 and the CO{sub 2} No.13. Pilot area repressurization began on 09/05/03, immediately after CO{sub 2}I No.1-CO{sub 2} No.13 conductivity testing was complete, by increasing injection in the CO{sub 2}I No.1, CO{sub 2} No.10, and CO{sub 2} No.18. Adequate reservoir pressure in the portion of the pilot area needed to be above minimum miscibility pressure …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the expenditures of two offices of independent counsel for 6 months ended March 31, 2003."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The ability to produce the data needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-to-day operations of the federal government and provide accountability to taxpayers has been a long-standing challenge to most federal agencies. To help address this challenge, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal financial management systems requirements, (2) federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL). FFMIA also requires GAO to report annually on the implementation of the act."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Humanitarian and economic development assistance has long been an important component of U.S. global security strategy. Since 1962, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has managed more than $273 billion in such assistance. In fiscal year 2003, USAID estimates that it will obligate about $13 billion for assistance programs in almost 160 countries. In recent years, demands on USAID's budget and workforce have increased as the agency strives to meet emerging requirements, such as reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq and increased funding for health programs. However, USAID officials have expressed concern that funds provided for its administrative or operating expenses have not kept pace with the agency's requirements. Since 1976, Congress has included a separate appropriation to consolidate USAID's operating expenses into a single budget item. Congress intended that USAID pay for the administrative costs of delivering foreign assistance (its "cost of doing business") from an operating expense account separate from its humanitarian and development assistance program funds. These operating expenses are costs incurred primarily for the benefit of the United States rather than the foreign assistance recipient. In accordance with congressional guidance, USAID reports all …

Absorbed doses above1-2 Gy (100-200 rads) received over a period of a day or less lead to one or another of the acute radiation syndromes. These are the hematopoietic syndrome, the gastrointestinal (GI) syndrome, the cerebrovascular (CV) syndrome, the pulmonary syndrome, or the cutaneous syndrome. The dose that will kill about 50% of the exposed people within 60 days with minimal medical care, LD50-60, is around 4.5 Gy (450 rads) of low-LET radiation measured free in air. The GI syndrome may not be fatal with supportive medical care and growth factors below about 10 Gy (1000 rads), but above this is likely to be fatal. Pulmonary and cutaneous syndromes may or may not be fatal, depending on many factors. The CV syndrome is invariably fatal. Lower acute doses, or protracted doses delivered over days or weeks, may lead to many other health outcomes than death. These include loss of pregnancy, cataract, impaired fertility or temporary or permanent sterility, hair loss, skin ulceration, local tissue necrosis, developmental abnormalities including mental and growth retardation in persons irradiated as children or fetuses, radiation dermatitis, and other symptoms listed in Table 2 on page 12. Children of parents irradiated prior to conception may experience …

We describe applications of the electrostatic plasma lens for manipulating and focusing moderate energy, high current, broad, heavy ion beams. Use of a plasma lens in this way has been successfully demonstrated in a series of experiments carried out collaboratively between IP NASU (Kiev) and LBNL (Berkeley) in recent years. Here we briefly review the plasma lens fundamentals, peculiarities of focusing heavy ion beams, and summarize some recent developments (experiments, computer simulations, theory). We show that there is a very narrow range of low magnetic field for which the optical properties of the lens improve markedly. This opens up some attractive possibilities for the development of a new-generation compact lens based on permanent magnets. Preliminary experimental results obtained at Kiev and Berkeley on the operation of a permanent magnet plasma lens for manipulating wide aperture high-current heavy ion beams are presented and summarized.

Most modern nodal methods in use by the reactor vendors and utilities are based on the generalized equivalence theory (GET) that uses homogenized cross sections and flux discontinuity factors. These homogenized parameters, referred to as infinite medium parameters, are precomputed by performing single bundle fine-mesh calculations with zero current boundary conditions. It is known that for configurations in which the node-to-node leakage (e.g., surface current-to-flux ratio) is large the use of the infinite medium parameters could lead to large errors in the nodal solution. This would be the case for highly heterogeneous core configurations, typical of modern reactor core designs.

AX Division has recently installed a number of diskless Linux workstations to meet the needs of its scientific staff for classified processing. Results so far are quite positive, although problems do remain. Some unusual requirements were met using a novel, but simple, design: Each diskless client has a dedicated partition on a server disk that contains a complete Linux distribution.

This report outlines progress in the first quarter of the extension of the DOE project ''High Resolution Prediction of Gas Injection Process Performance for Heterogeneous Reservoirs''. This report presents experimental results that demonstrate combined scaling effects of viscous, capillary, and gravity crossflow mechanisms that apply to the situations in which streamline models are used. We designed and ran a series of experiments to investigate combined effects of capillary, viscous, and gravity forces on displacement efficiency in layered systems. Analog liquids (isooctane, isopropanol, and water) were employed to control scaling parameters by changing interfacial tension (IFT), flow rate, and density difference. The porous medium was a two-dimensional (2-D) 2-layered glass bead model with a permeability ratio of about 1:4. In order to analyze the combined effect of only capillary and viscous forces, gravity effects were eliminated by changing the orientation of the glass bead model. We employed a commercial simulator, Eclipse100 to calculate displacement behavior for comparison with the experimental data. Experimental results with minimized gravity effects show that the IFT and flow rate determine how capillary and viscous forces affect behavior of displacement. The limiting behavior for scaling groups for two-phase displacement was verified by experimental results. Analysis of the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The success of the transformation and implementation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is based largely on the degree to which human capital management issues are addressed. Recognizing this, the legislation creating DHS provided it with significant flexibility to design a modern human capital management system. Congressional requesters asked GAO to describe the process DHS has in place to design its human capital system and involve employees, and analyze the extent to which this process reflects elements of successful transformations."

This report provides an overall background and legislation of the immigration of religious workers.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Representative Edolphus Towns requested information on several issues related to the use of toy guns. Specifically, he asked that GAO (1) examine crime statistics showing the prevalence of crimes that involved toy guns in some capacity; (2) gather any available information on incidents involving toy guns that have resulted in injuries or deaths, whether or not related to criminal activity; and (3) determine from available literature whether there are any studies examining the long-term impacts that can be attributed to toy gun play by children."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Consumers of insurance depend on state regulators to ensure that insurance companies are behaving fairly and in accordance with the law. This report evaluates the states' use of market analysis (information gathering to determine issues and identify companies that may need attention) and on-site examinations in market regulation and the progress the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has made in creating more uniformity in the regulation of market conduct."

Laboratory testing was conducted on bulk vitrified and steam reformed waste forms to supply the input parameters needed for reactive chemical transport calculations with the Subsurface Transport Over Reactive Multiphases (STORM) code. This same code was used to conduct the 2001 ILAW performance assessment. The required input parameters for both waste forms are derived from a mechanistic model that describes the effect of solution chemistry on contaminant release rates. The single-pass flow-through test was the principal method used to obtain these input parameters, supplemented by product consistency test measurements and physical property measurements.

We describe the construction and results to date of Fermilab's three Myrinet-networked lattice QCD production clusters (an 80-node dual Pentium III cluster, a 48-node dual Xeon cluster, and a 128-node dual Xeon cluster). We examine a number of aspects of performance of the MILC lattice QCD code running on these clusters.