This report consists of the budget for fiscal year 2005.

This report analyzes the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) counties and statistically documents the basis of current socioeconomic conditions. The report further explores the extent to which the SJV shares similarities with and differs from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) area and a 68- county Central Appalachian subregion which contains some of the most economically distressed counties in Appalachia. The report also examines the role of federal expenditures in the cities and counties of the SJV. In addition to examining socioeconomic conditions in the SJV, the report provides analysis of water supply and quality issues especially those concerning agriculture, air quality concerns, and rail and shipping issues.

During his 15 years as a federal appellate judge on the Third Circuit, Judge Alito has written for the majority, concurred, or dissented in several cases alleging discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and other prohibited grounds. His legal positions in these cases have varied, depending on the facts and law being applied, and defy rigid or facile classification. Nonetheless, some continuity in judicial approach, both substantive and procedural, may arguably be discerned from a review of several of his significant opinions.

Various results are obtained for a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology. We derive an exact equation that determines Hubble's law, clarify issues concerning the speeds of faraway objects and uncover a 'tail-light angle effect' for distant luminous sources. The latter leads to a small, previously unnoticed correction to the parallax distance formula.

The powerful earthquake struck northern Pakistan and India damaged the homes of as many as three million people, forcing many of them to search for alternative means of shelter. The full extent of the destruction remains unknown because government authorities and relief organizations continue to have difficulty accessing some remote locations. As of the date of this report, the United States government (USG) has pledged $410 million toward the relief effort, almost all of it to assisting Pakistan, which remains a key U.S. ally in the war against terror. So far, about 35% of this pledge has been committed. Some aid agencies are saying that the country needs a great deal more aid than it is getting, and warn that the economic impact of the disaster will surpass $5.2 billion. This burden may contribute toward long-term instability in an area perceived to be of critical importance to the United States in the war on terror.

This report provides an overview of federal and state public health laws as they relate to the quarantine and isolation of individuals, a discussion of constitutional issues that may be raised should individual liberties be restricted in a quarantine situation, and federalism questions that may arise where federal and state authorities overlap. In addition, the possible role of the armed forces in enforcing public health measures is discussed, specifically whether the Posse Comitatus Act would constrain any military role, and other statutory authorities that may be used for the military enforcement of health measures.

This final report describes the technical output of a scientific program aimed at understanding the formation and structure of II-VI nanocrystals formed by solid phase precipitation within a glass environment. The principle probes were optical absorption spectroscopy to determine crystallite sizes, Raman scattering to determine composition, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy to study the evolution of local reactant environments.

Changes in land use and land cover have been one of the major drivers of global change over the last three centuries. Detailed spatially-explicit data sets characterizing these historical land cover changes are now emerging. By synthesizing remotely-sensed land cover classification data sets with historical land use census data, our research group has developed comprehensive databases of historical land use and land cover change. Moreover, we are building estimates of the land suitability for agriculture to predict the constraints on future land use. In this project, we have interacted with the Global Trade and Analysis Project (GTAP) at Purdue University, to adapt our land use data for use with the GTAP database, a baseline database widely used by the integrated assessment modeling community. Moreover, we have developed an interactive website for providing these newly emerging land use data products for the integrated assessment (IA) community and to the climate modeling community.

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Interdisciplinary study of Shewanella putrefaciens

This report provides an overview of opinions addressing issues related to the law of church and state written by Judge Alito while serving on the Third Circuit and Supreme Court precedent relevant to those cases.

This report discusses the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for inspecting most meat, poultry, and processed egg products for safety, wholesomeness, and proper labeling.

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High melting temperature synthetic pitches (Synpitches) were created using coal derivatives produced from a solvent extraction technique. Solvent extraction is used to separate hydrocarbons from mineral matter as well as other insolubles. Mild hydrogenation can be used to chemically modify resultant material to produce a true pitch. There are three main techniques which can be used to tailor the softening point of the Synpitch. First, the softening point can be controlled by varying the conditions of hydrogenation, chiefly the temperature, pressure and residence time in a hydrogen overpressure. Second, by selectively distilling light hydrocarbons, the softening point of the remaining pitch can be raised. Third, the Synpitch can be blended with another mutually soluble pitch or hydrocarbon liquid. Through such techniques, spinnable isotropic Synpitches have been created from coal feedstocks. Characteristics of Synpitches include high cross-linking reactivity and high molecular weight, resulting in carbon fibers with excellent mechanical properties. To date, mechanical properties have been achieved which are comparable to the state of the art achievable with conventional coal tar pitch or petroleum pitch.

The purpose of this DOE-funded effort is to develop technologies for carbon products from coal-derived feed-stocks. Carbon products can include precursor materials such as solvent extracted carbon ore (SECO) and synthetic pitch (Synpitch). In addition, derived products include carbon composites, fibers, foams and others.

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Three-dimensional (3-D) simulations for the Backward Raman Amplification (BRA) are presented. The images illustrate the effects of pump depletion, pulse diffraction, non-homogeneous plasma density, and plasma ionization.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides broad nondiscrimination protection in employment, public services, and public accommodation and services operated by private entities. Since the 106th Congress, legislation has been introduced to require plaintiffs to provide notice to the defendant prior to filing a complaint regarding public accommodations. In the 109th Congress, H.R. 2804 was introduced by Representative Foley to amend title III of the ADA to require notification.

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Tritium transport simulations were conducted to model the mechanisms associated with dilution, dispersion, and radioactive decay that attenuate the 618-11 Burial Ground tritium plume and limit the risk associated with exposure to the Columbia River and Energy Northwest water supply wells. A comparison of simulated and observed tritium concentrations at two downgradient monitoring wells indicated that the model was a reasonable representation of the tritium concentrations immediately downgradient of the site (699-13-3A) and near the leading edge of the plume (699-13-0A). This good match increased confidence in the conceptual model, its numeric implementation, and ultimately the validity of predictive simulations of tritium fate and transport. Three release scenarios were investigated to measure the impact of the tritium plume at primary receptor locations under different conditions. The three cases were 1) a pulse release of tritium from the burial ground that was the best fit between observed and simulated tritium concentrations; 2) a continuing, decaying source beneath the burial ground through 2015, the milestone for source removal under the River Corridor Closure Contract; and 3) a pulse release as in the best fit case but at twice the concentration. For the best fit case, the model predicts that the maximum tritium …

The Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) field study was designed to collect meteorological and tracer data resolving atmospheric dispersion at scales-of-motion ranging from flows in and around a single city block, in and around several blocks in the downtown Central Business District (CBD), and into the suburban Oklahoma City area a few km from the CBD. Indoor tracer and flow measurements within four downtown study buildings were also made in conjunction with detailed outdoor measurements investigating the outdoor-indoor exchange rates and mechanisms. The movement of tracer within the study buildings was also studied. The data from the field experiment is being used to evaluate models that are being developed for predicting dispersion of contaminants in urban areas. These models may be fast-response models based on semi-empirical algorithms that are used in real-time emergencies, or highly sophisticated computational fluid dynamics models that resolve individual building faces and crevices. The data from the field experiment, together with the models, can then be used to develop other advanced tools that are especially valuable in the efforts to thwart terrorists. These include tools for finding location and characteristics of a contaminant source; tools that can be used for real-time response or for forensic investigation. The …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has long been known as a world leader in scientific and technological innovation. To help maintain this advantage, the federal government has spent billions of dollars on education programs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for many years. However, concerns have been raised about the nation's ability to maintain its global technological competitive advantage in the future. This report presents information on (1) the number of federal programs funded in fiscal year 2004 that were designed to increase the number of students and graduates pursuing STEM degrees and occupations or improve educational programs in STEM fields, and what agencies report about their effectiveness; (2) how the numbers, percentages, and characteristics of students, graduates, and employees in STEM fields have changed over the years; and (3) factors cited by educators and others as affecting students' decisions about pursing STEM degrees and occupations, and suggestions that have been made to encourage more participation. GAO received written and/or technical comments from several agencies. While one agency, the National Science Foundation, raised several questions about the findings, the others generally agreed with the findings …