Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the federal government's human capital challenges. The basic problem has been a longstanding lack of a consistent strategic approach to marshalling, managing, and maintaining the government's human capital needs. To overcome this problem, GAO has developed a model of strategic human capital management that highlights the importance of a sustained commitment by agency leaders to maximize the value of their workforce. The Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget have developed tools to assess human capital management efforts that are conceptually consistent with GAO's model. GAO's model emphasizes two central principles. First, people are assets whose value can be enhanced through investment. As with any investment, the goal is to maximize value while managing risk. Second, an organization's human capital approaches should be designed, implemented, and assessed by how well they help pursue its mission and achieve desired results. GAO has also identified a preliminary list of key practices that will enable agencies to acquire, develop, and retain talent. Successful organizational change depends on a willingness by agency leaders to embrace strategic human capital management and related change management approaches."

Quarterly publication of the Texas Comptroller's Office regarding sales and use tax in the state of Texas, including an analysis by county, analysis by industry, and related notes.

This report provides current and historical information on the budget resolution. It provides a list of the budget resolutions adopted and rejected by Congress since implementation of the CBA, including the Statutes-at-Large citations and committee report numbers, and describes their formulation and content.

The RIKEN BNL Research Center workshop on ''Hadron Structure from Lattice QCD'' was held at BNL during March 11-15, 2002. Hadron structure has been the subject of many theoretical and experimental investigations, with significant success in understanding the building blocks of matter. The nonperturbative nature of QCD, however, has always been an obstacle to deepening our understanding of hadronic physics. Lattice QCD provides the tool to overcome these difficulties and hence a link can be established between the fundamental theory of QCD and hadron phenomenology. Due to the steady progress in improving lattice calculations over the years, comparison with experimentally measured hadronic quantities has become important. In this respect the workshop was especially timely. By providing an opportunity for experts from the lattice and hadron structure communities to present their latest results, the workshop enhanced the exchange of knowledge and ideas. With a total of 32 registered participants and 26 talks, the interest of a growing community is clearly exemplified. At the workshop Schierholz and Negele presented the current status of lattice computations of hadron structure. Substantial progress has been made during recent years now that the quenched results are well under control and the first dynamical results have appeared. …

The accompanying report, manual and assimilated data represent the initial preparation for submission of an Application for Primacy under the Class II Underground Injection Control (UIC) program on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The purpose of this study was to identify deficiencies in Kentucky law and regulation that would prevent the Kentucky Division of Oil and Gas from receiving approval of primacy of the UIC program, currently under control of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Non-hydrogenated DLC films (also referred as ta-C) have been extensively studied and are used for a variety of wear related applications. Alloying DLC with refractory metals and other elements have been shown to be promising techniques to overcome some of the problems associated with pure DLC, such as excessive level of intrinsic stresses and high-temperature stability. The microstructure of DLC:Me in general consists of crystalline metal carbides dispersed in a DLC matrix. In contrary, DLC:Si has an amorphous structure. We have used filtered cathodic arc to prepare DLC:Si up to 6 percent Si, and have characterized their structure and bonding using microscopy (TEM) and spectroscopy (XPS, NEXAFS). The effect of Si in changing the bonding configuration of the C network is discussed. The microstructure is then correlated to hardness and friction measured by nano-indentation and micro-wear.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The military services primarily operate two types of hotels, or lodges, to support official travelers. The first, called permanent-change-of-station (PCS) lodges, support military personnel and their families moving to new duty stations. These are intended to provide military travelers and their families with a clean, affordable place to stay while they prepare to move and while they wait for permanent quarters at their new station. The second type, called temporary duty (TDY) lodges, support military and civilians temporarily traveling on official business. PCS lodges are the subject of a proposed policy change by the Department of Defense (DOD). DOD's current policy permits PCS lodges to be managed as part of morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) programs. The proposed policy would change this practice by requiring separation of lodge revenues from those used for MWR purposes. Except for the Marine Corps, the proposed policy change will not impact the services' MWR programs. Only the Marine Corps currently uses PCS lodge earnings to support its MWR programs. From fiscal years 1996 through 2000, the net profits reported by the Marine Corps' lodges steadily increased from $1.8 million to …

Preliminary results already show that we collected enough statistics in this experiment to yield a meaningful spectral distribution of two-step {gamma}-ray transitions. Analysis of the data continues. We hope to soon be able to fill Fig. 5 with data points, favoring either the hypothesis of an electric pygmy resonance (red line) or orbital magnetic scissors mode (blue line).

A scalable fiber laser approach is described based on phase-locking multiple gain cores in an antiguided structure. The waveguide is comprised of periodic sequences of gain- and no-gain-loaded segments having uniform index, within the cladding region. Initial experimental results are presented.

Future extreme ultraviolet lithography (EWL) steppers will, in all likelihood, have six-mirror projection cameras. To operate at the diffraction limit over an acceptable depth of focus each aspheric mirror will have to be fabricated with an absolute figure accuracy approaching 100 pm rms. We are currently developing visible light interferometry to meet this need based on modifications of our present phase shifting diffraction interferometry (PSDI) methodology where we achieved an absolute accuracy of 250pm. The basic PSDI approach has been further simplified, using lensless imaging based on computational diffractive back-propagation, to eliminate auxiliary optics that typically limit measurement accuracy. Small remaining error sources, related to geometric positioning, CCD camera pixel spacing and laser wavelength, have been modeled and measured. Using these results we have estimated the total system error for measuring off-axis aspheric EUVL mirrors with this new approach to interferometry.

This report is a description of AmeriCorps, Foster Grandparents, and other Federally Funded Programs related to Community Service.

We compare nominal efficiencies, i.e. variances in power shapes for equal running time, of different versions of the Monte Carlo eigenvalue computation, as applied to criticality safety analysis calculations. The two main methods considered here are ''conventional'' Monte Carlo and the superhistory method, and both are used in criticality safety codes. Within each of these major methods, different variants are available for the main steps of the basic Monte Carlo algorithm. Thus, for example, different treatments of the fission process may vary in the extent to which they follow, in analog fashion, the details of real-world fission, or may vary in details of the methods by which they choose next-generation source sites. In general the same options are available in both the superhistory method and conventional Monte Carlo, but there seems not to have been much examination of the special properties of the two major methods and their minor variants. We find, first, that the superhistory method is just as efficient as conventional Monte Carlo and, secondly, that use of different variants of the basic algorithms may, in special cases, have a surprisingly large effect on Monte Carlo computational efficiency.

Early in 1996 it was reported that groundwater contamination in the form of volatile organic chemicals had been found in several private wells in an area immediately adjacent to the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York. Information released by BNL and their consulting hydrologists indicates that there should be no threat to the Authority's downgradient well fields located in Mastic as a result of said contamination. This is due to the remediation efforts undertaken by BNL at the site of its facilities to contain groundwater within such site and the distance between the sources of contaminants and their location relative to the Authority's well fields. The Authority has not encountered any such contamination in the Mastic well fields. The Authority will utilize all the data that is available from the study of this contamination in the siting of future wells, which should prevent any negative impact on those future water sources. As a result of the events described above, BNL, through the Federal Department of Energy, approached the Authority to supply residents in the areas surrounding the BNL complex and contracted with the Authority to pay for the cost of the extension of water mains into such areas …

This report details the findings of three years of research plus one year of a no-cost extension. Primary results are the work with supported nanoporous carbon membranes for separation and reaction as well as with cesium-nanoporous carbon catalysts. The work resulted in 17 plus 2 papers (2 are in progress) and partial or full support for five Ph.D. students. Two patents were filed based on this research.

Over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. Despite apparent national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other national policy goals and concerns. The mix of competing domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses.

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This report analyzes the statistics of human trafficking victims across the world. The report discusses the efforts of the United States to prevent trafficking and assisting victims from the Bush Administration to present day.