The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to improve border security is a technique that has garnered congressional attention. This report examines the strengths and limitations of deploying UAVs along the borders and related issues for Congress. This report is not intended to provide in-depth information regarding technical or military capabilities of UAVs, but to discuss their application at the border.

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The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1982 (which applied to FY1983 budget issues) suspended previously existing permanent law pertaining to cost-of-living adjustments(COLAs) for federal civilian and military retirees, and changed the COLA calculation formulas to postpone and/or reduce future COLAs for military retirees during 1983-1985 (FY1984-FY1986).This report examines executive and congressional COLA-related initiatives associated with each of the fiscal year budgeting processes from calendar year 1982 (FY1983) through calendar year 2000 (FY2001).

Recent developmental advances have allowed silicon (Si) semiconductor technology to approach the theoretical limits of the Si material; however, power device requirements for many applications are at a point that the present Si-based power devices cannot handle. The requirements include higher blocking voltages, switching frequencies, efficiency, and reliability. To overcome these limitations, new semiconductor materials for power device applications are needed. For high power requirements, wide-bandgap semiconductors like silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN), and diamond, with their superior electrical properties, are likely candidates to replace Si in the near future. This report compares wide-bandgap semiconductors with respect to their promise and applicability for power applications and predicts the future of power device semiconductor materials.

Advanced coal and biomass-based gas turbine power generation technologies (IGCC, PFBC, PCFBC, and Hipps) are currently under development and demonstration. Efforts at the Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation (SWPC) have been focused on the development and demonstration of hot gas filter systems as an enabling technology for power generation. As part of the demonstration effort, SWPC has been actively involved in the development of advanced filter materials and component configuration, has participated in numerous surveillance programs characterizing the material properties and microstructure of field-tested filter elements, and has undertaken extended, accelerated filter life testing programs. This report reviews SWPC's material and component assessment efforts, identifying the performance, stability, and life of porous commercial metal, advanced alloy, and intermetallic filters under simulated, pressurized fluidized-bed combustion (PFBC) conditions.

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The Directorate of Public Works Environmental & Natural Resources Division (Fort Stewart /Hunter Army Airfield) contracted with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to monitor particulate matter (PM) concentrations on Fort Stewart, Georgia. The purpose of this investigation was to establish a PM sampling network using monitoring equipment typically used in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ''saturation sampling'', to determine air quality on the installation. In this initial study, the emphasis was on training-generated PM, not receptor PM loading. The majority of PM samples were 24-hr filter-based samples with sampling frequency ranging from every other day, to once every six days synchronized with the EPA 6th day national sampling schedule. Eight measurement sites were established and used to determine spatial variability in PM concentrations and evaluate whether fluctuations in PM appear to result from training activities and forest management practices on the installation. Data collected to date indicate the average installation PM2.5 concentration is lower than that of nearby urban Savannah, Georgia. At three sites near the installation perimeter, analyses to segregate PM concentrations by direction of air flow across the installation boundary indicate that air (below 80 ft) leaving the installation contains less PM2.5 than that entering the installation. …

There is a lack of consensus regarding the best method of balancing scientific publishing and national security. The current federal policy, as described in National Security Decision Directive 189, is that fundamental research should remain unrestricted and that in the rare case where it is necessary to restrict such information, classification is the appropriate vehicle to do so. Other mechanisms restrict international information flow, where Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) control export of items and technical information on specific lists. Both EAR and ITAR contain a fundamental research exclusion, but this exclusion is lost if prepublication review of research results for sensitive information occurs.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revisions to the New Source Review (NSR) program to control industrial emissions have drawn attention from state and local agencies that implement the program, as well as industry and environmental and health groups. Under the revisions, companies may not have to install pollution controls when making some facility changes. GAO was asked to obtain the opinions of state air quality officials and other stakeholders on the impact of both the final and proposed revisions EPA issued in December 2002. GAO obtained survey responses from NSR program managers in 44 states and certain localities and contacted six environmental and health groups, and eight industry groups active in the NSR debate. Survey details are available in GAO-04-337SP."

Understanding how water and solutes move through the vadose zone is necessary to make effective remedial action decisions where contaminants were spilled or leaked at the ground surface or were buried in shallow land-disposal sites. In layered, heterogeneous systems, high contrasts in hydraulic conductivity can lead to formation of perched water zones, and enhanced lateral spread of contamination. Two conceptual models are considered solute for migration through the vadose zone. In the diffuse flow conceptual model, perched water zones accumulate until the head over the perching layer becomes sufficient to drive the infiltration through the perching layer. In the preferential flow conceptual model, perched water moves laterally until a path around the perching layer is encountered. Preferential flow paths can enhance contaminant migration because greater moisture saturation leads to higher advective velocities, and the preferential flow paths bypass low permeability layers with higher sorption capacity. Monitoring wells and instrumented boreholes were installed around a newly constructed industrial-waste percolation pond and an ephemeral river that lie over a 150-m-thick layered vadose zone. Background data gathered before discharge to the pond began show the presence of at least one, and possibly two, deep perched zones. The shallower zone, at approximately 45-m below …

This report provides information about the Congressional Liaison Offices of Selected Federal Agencies. This list of about 150 congressional liaison offices is intended to help congressional offices in placing telephone calls.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Every year, U.S.-based multinational corporations transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of goods and services between their affiliates in the United States and their foreign subsidiaries. Such transactions may be a part of normal business operations for corporations with foreign subsidiaries. However, it is generally recognized that given the variation in corporate tax rates across countries, an incentive exists for corporations with foreign subsidiaries to reduce their overall tax burden by maximizing the income they report in countries with low income tax rates, and minimizing the income they report in or repatriate to countries with high income tax rates. Various studies have suggested that U.S.-based multinational corporations appear to engage in transactions such as these that shift income from their affiliates in high-tax countries to subsidiaries in low-tax countries to take advantage of the differences in tax rates in foreign countries. In 2002, GAO reported that 4 of the 100 largest publicly traded federal contractors are incorporated in a "tax haven" country that either does not tax corporate income or taxes the income at a low rate. As a follow-up to the report, Congress asked us …

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The overall objective of this 3 year research program has been to support the aging management programs for LWR reactors through the extended 60-year lifetimes by adding to the knowledge base of irradiation-induced effects on the mechanical properties and cracking resistance of stainless steel (SS) core components. Over the course of this project, efforts have focused on enhancing the understanding of the link between deformation and fracture behavior in work-hardened and irradiated stainless steels. This understanding is achieved through a combination of mechanical testing, microstructural characterization, and development of models to describe the observed behavior. The understanding gained provides a foundation for evaluating the aging behavior of components during in-core service in terms of radiation embrittlement and alloy susceptibility to irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC).

The project was completed with over 12 papers published in the final contract period in the field of atomic collisions. Also more than 12 contributed talks were given and more than 4 invited talks. The general ideas were related to how time works in quantum systems and how this can be used to control atomic and chemical reactions.

A model implementation of the solution of an unsteady nonlinear reaction-diffusion on a SAMR grid using SAMRAI has been developed. This model implementation illustrates the use of new capabilities for implicit timestepping and solution of large-scale systems of nonlinear equations using implementations of inexact Newton methods found in KINSOL and PETSc. This document provides a detailed description of the implementation.

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H-Area Operations is planning to process plutonium-contaminated (Pu-contaminated) uranium metal scrap in its efforts to de-inventory excess nuclear materials. Experimental work was performed with a piece of uranium sheet. The study had four primary objectives. First, gather reaction rate data at a range of processing conditions to compare against reaction rate data reported in earlier studies and recommend a flowsheet for H-Canyon and/or for HB-Line. Second, develop new data for calculating hydrogen and total generation rates during uranium metal dissolution. Third, the tests intend to provide data to help demonstrate that the proposed flowsheet does not pose a criticality hazard. Last, use the data to recommend a process flowsheet.