A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "For more than 60 years, the United Services Organization (USO), in partnership with the Department of Defense (DOD), has provided support and entertainment to U.S. armed forces, relying heavily on private contributions and on funds, goods, and services from DOD. To assist USO, Congress, beginning in fiscal year 2000, provided a total of $23.8 million in grants to be awarded through DOD as seed money for an endowment fund. The availability of these funds to USO, along with DOD's ongoing support funded in its regular annual appropriations, represents a substantial financial commitment. GAO determined (1) the source and amount of DOD's support to USO in fiscal years 2000-2002 and (2) the sufficiency of internal controls to provide reasonable assurance that federal funds are used in an appropriate manner. GAO focused its audit on USO World Headquarters' activities and audited a limited selection of USO transactions for the 3 fiscal years."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Amid heightened awareness that many patients with cancer and other chronic diseases suffer from undertreated pain, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Purdue Pharma's controlled-release pain reliever OxyContin in 1995. Sales grew rapidly, and by 2001 OxyContin had become the most prescribed brandname narcotic medication for treating moderate-to-severe pain. In early 2000, reports began to surface about abuse and diversion for illicit use of OxyContin, which contains the opioid oxycodone. GAO was asked to examine concerns about these issues. Specifically, GAO reviewed (1) how OxyContin was marketed and promoted, (2) what factors contributed to the abuse and diversion of OxyContin, and (3) what actions have been taken to address OxyContin abuse and diversion."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the Department of Defense (DOD) has come to rely more heavily on commercial satellite communications to plan and support operations and move toward a network-centric warfare environment. DOD acquires commercial satellite bandwidth services to support a variety of critical missions such as surveillance performed by unmanned aerial vehicles. GAO was asked to assess (1) whether DOD's process for acquiring these services is fair to vendors and providers, (2) whether the process meets users' needs, and (3) whether spending on these services is managed effectively and efficiently."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the past few years, the nation's media have focused public attention on a series of misconduct and mismanagement issues within the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. As part of the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2003, Congress directed GAO to examine four issues related to the management of the National Guard. In this report, GAO assesses the effectiveness of the (1) procedures that the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard have established and implemented to deal with service members who stop attending required training; (2) procedures that the National Guard uses for federally recognizing state promotions of senior National Guard officers; (3) process that the National Guard uses for disciplining senior officers (colonels and generals) who are guilty of misconduct; and (4) federal protections for National Guard members or civilian federal employees who report allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement (whistleblowers) and the extent to which disciplinary action is taken against those in the National Guard who retaliate against whistleblowers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This study responds to a legislative mandate, which directs the Comptroller General to review the actions taken by the Department of Defense (DOD) to implement provisions included in the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2003 (Public Law 107-314) concerning management of the purchase card program. This study also discusses DOD efforts to implement provisions in the DOD Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2003 (Public Law 107-248) as well as recommendations and the status of disciplinary actions taken against individuals identified in prior GAO reports as having used the government purchase card for potentially fraudulent, improper, and abusive or questionable purposes."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act (CGFAA) mandated that GAO annually audit all claim payments made to compensate the victims of the Cerro Grande Fire in northern New Mexico. For this third report on this topic, GAO determined whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is now a part of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, (1) paid fire claims in accordance with applicable guidance and (2) implemented corrective actions to address prior GAO recommendations, including determining if FEMA properly reported claim payments to the Congress."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over 15 million acres in the United States are suspected of being, or known to be, contaminated with military munitions. These sites include ranges on closing military installations, closed ranges on active installations, and formerly used defense sites. Under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program, established in 1986, the Department of Defense (DOD) must identify, assess, and clean up military munitions contamination at these sites. DOD estimates these activities will cost from $8 billion to $35 billion. Because of the magnitude of DOD's cleanup effort, both in terms of cost and affected acreage, as well as the significant public safety, health, and environmental risks that military munitions may pose, The Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce asked us to evaluate (1) DOD's progress in implementing its program to identify, assess, and clean up military munitions sites and (2) DOD's plans to clean up remaining sites in the future."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is increasingly using online applications to provide access to information and services and to conduct internal business operations. In light of this trend, strong security assurances are needed to properly safeguard sensitive, personal, and financial data, in part by ensuring that the identities of those who use such applications are appropriately authenticated. When fully and properly implemented, public key infrastructure (PKI) offers many of these assurances. In 2001, GAO reported that the federal government faces a number of challenges in deploying PKI technology (GAO-01-277). GAO was requested to follow up this work by (1) determining the status of federal PKI activities, including initiatives planned or under way at 24 major federal departments and agencies, as well as the status and planned activities of the Federal Bridge Certification Authority (FBCA) and Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES) programs, and (2) identifying challenges encountered by the 24 agencies in implementing PKI initiatives since the 2001 report was issued. In commenting on a draft of this report, GSA and OMB officials generally agreed with its content and conclusions. Technical comments provided by OMB have been addressed …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1992, the United States and other parties, including both developed and developing nations, agreed to try to limit dangerous human interference with the climate by participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The parties agreed, among other things, to report on their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases whose buildup in the atmosphere is believed to affect the climate. The parties developed standards for these reports and processes for periodically evaluating the reports. Expert teams selected by the parties review the developed nations' reports; staff of the Framework Convention's administrative arm (the Secretariat) assess developing nations' reports. GAO agreed to describe the results of the most recent reviews and assessments of reports from selected economically developed and developing nations, as well as the parties' plans to improve the reports. For the developed nations, GAO agreed to study four geographically dispersed nations with high levels of emissions--Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For the developing nations, GAO studied China, India, and Mexico, which also have high emissions levels and are geographically dispersed. These nations are not representative of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was asked to assess the condition of key equipment items and to determine if the services have adequate plans for sustaining, modernizing, or replacing them. To address these questions, we selected 25 major equipment items, and determined (1) their current condition, (2) whether the services have mapped out a program strategy for these items, (3) whether current and projected funding is consistent with these strategies, and (4) whether these equipment items are capable of fulfilling their wartime missions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The strong productivity gains in the U.S. economy have hinged in part on transportation networks working more efficiently. The nation's ports, which handle 95 percent of overseas freight tonnage, are a key link in this network, and efficient intermodal links between ship, rail, and highways are vital to continued productivity gains. GAO was asked to address (1) the challenges to freight mobility, (2) the limitations key stakeholders have encountered in addressing these challenges, and (3) strategies that may aid decision makers in enhancing freight mobility. GAO's work was based on a synthesis of previous studies and a review of conditions at 10 ports and surrounding areas that handle almost two-thirds of all containers moving in and out of the country."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) matches information returns filed by third parties, including federal agencies, with taxpayers' income tax returns to determine whether taxpayers have filed a return and/or reported all of their income. A correct taxpayer identification number (TIN) is necessary to enable IRS to match these returns. Prior GAO reviews have shown that federal agency payment records often include invalid TINs, particularly for vendors. GAO was asked to study federal agencies' compliance with filing information returns for service payments made to vendors, IRS's efforts to improve agencies' compliance, and whether additional measures could improve their compliance."

The Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area, along with most other regions of the country, has witnessed some tough economic times. Telecom layoffs, the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the national economic downturn have reduced the region's employment by about 100,000 since 2000. Dallas' current economic stress is best evidenced by its declining per capita income. Still, as this report illustrates, even allowing for the region's current economic vicissitudes, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex has been one of the most dynamic urban areas in the nation since 1990 and this report presents the information surrounding these topics with the figures and data found by the University of North Texas Center for Economic Development and Research.

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This work describes developments in the application of Raman scattering and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) towards the assessment/characterization of carbon in soil. In the past, the nonspecific total carbon mass content of soil samples has generally been determined through mass loss techniques and elemental analysis. However, because of the concern over CO{sub 2} buildup in the atmosphere and its possible role in the ''Greenhouse Effect,'' there is a need for better-defined models of global cycling of carbon. As a means towards this end, there is a need to know more about the structure and functionality of organic materials in soil. Raman spectroscopy may therefore prove to be an exceptional tool in soil carbon analysis. Based on vibrational transitions of irradiated molecules, it provides structural information that is often suitable for sample identification. Furthermore, Raman scattering yields very fine spectral features which offer the potential for multicomponent sample analysis with minimal or no sample pretreatment. Although the intensity of Raman scattering is generally extremely low, the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect can greatly enhance Raman signals (10{sup 6}-10{sup 8} range) through the adsorption of compounds on specially roughened metal surfaces. In our laboratory, we have investigated copper, gold and silver as …

Shelter-in-place has found increasing acceptance as an effective protective action option for communities participating in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. Studies have confirmed that it can provide optimum protection under certain accident conditions. However, emergency managers and planners, as well as the public, continue to be troubled by the need to end sheltering when the plume has passed in order to avoid sustained exposure to the small amount of agent that has penetrated the shelter. One of the concerns posed by this necessity is uncertainty regarding what hazards will then be faced in the environment outside the shelter and what actions can be taken to avoid those hazards. This report attempts to address those uncertainties. It recognizes that there is an extremely low probability that the environment outside the shelter will be contaminated with chemical agent residue. However, as people comply with an official recommendation to leave their shelters, they probably can't be certain that the environment is free from contamination. Therefore, this report identifies and explains specific and simple actions they can take to avoid the possibility of exposure to chemical agent hazards outside their shelters. It addresses such issues as the actions people should take upon ending …

Assessments were performed to evaluate compliance with the airborne radionuclide emission monitoring requirements in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP - U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 61, Subpart H) and Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 246-247: Radiation Protection - Air Emissions. In these assessments, potential unabated offsite doses were evaluated for emission locations at facilities owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and operated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on the Hanford Site. This report describes the inventory-based methods and provides the results for the assessment performed in 2003.

Distributed Energy Resource (DER) has been touted as a clean and efficient way to generate electricity at end-use sites, potentially allowing the exhaust heat to be put to good use as well. However, despite its environmental acceptability compared to many other types of generation, it has faced some disapproval because it may displace other, cleaner generation technologies. The end result could be more pollution than if the DER were not deployed. On the other hand, the DER may be competing against older power plants. If the DER is built then these other plants may be retired sooner, reducing their emissions. Or it may be that DER does not directly compete against either new or old plant capacity at the decision-maker level, and increased DER simply reduces the amount of time various plants operate. The key factor is what gets displaced if DER is added. For every kWh made by DER a kWh (or more with losses) of other production is not made. If enough DER is created, some power plants will get retired or not get built so not only their production but their capacity is displaced. Various characteristics of the power system in a region will influence how DER …

This research program focused on the development of fly ash derived sorbents to capture CO{sub 2} from power plant flue gas emissions. The fly ash derived sorbents developed represent an affordable alternative to existing methods using specialized activated carbons and molecular sieves, that tend to be very expensive and hinder the viability of the CO{sub 2} sorption process due to economic constraints. Under Task 1 'Procurement and characterization of a suite of fly ashes', 10 fly ash samples, named FAS-1 to -10, were collected from different combustors with different feedstocks, including bituminous coal, PRB coal and biomass. These samples presented a wide range of LOI value from 0.66-84.0%, and different burn-off profiles. The samples also spanned a wide range of total specific surface area and pore volume. These variations reflect the difference in the feedstock, types of combustors, collection hopper, and the beneficiation technologies the different fly ashes underwent. Under Task 2 'Preparation of fly ash derived sorbents', the fly ash samples were activated by steam. Nitrogen adsorption isotherms were used to characterize the resultant activated samples. The cost-saving one-step activation process applied was successfully used to increase the surface area and pore volume of all the fly ash samples. …

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Production of energy from renewable sources is receiving increased attention due to the finite nature of fossil fuels and the environmental impact associated with the continued large scale use of fossil energy sources. Biomass, a CO2-neutral abundant resource, is an attractive alternate source of energy. Biomass-derived sugars, such as glucose, xylose, and other minor sugars, can be readily fermented to fuel ethanol and commodity chemicals. Extracellular cellulases produced by fungi are commercially developed for depolymerization of cellulose in biomass to glucose for fermentation by appropriate biocatalysts in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process. Due to the differences in the optimum conditions for the activity of the fungal cellulases and the growth and fermentation characteristics of the current industrial biocatalysts, SSF of cellulose is envisioned at conditions that are not optimal for the fungal cellulase activity leading to higher than required cost of cellulase in SSF. We have isolated bacterial biocatalysts whose growth and fermentation requirements match the optimum conditions for commercial fungal cellulase activity (pH 5.0 and 50 deg. C). These isolates fermented both glucose and xylose, major components of cellulose and hemicellulose, respectively, to L(+)-lactic acid. Xylose was metabolized through the pentose-phosphate pathway by these organisms as evidenced …

The Ecological Monitoring and Compliance program, funded through the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office, monitors the ecosystem of the Nevada Test Site and ensures compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to Nevada Test Site biota. This report summarizes the program's activities conducted by Bechtel Nevada during fiscal year 2003.

The Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) currently manages a 15,325 acre parcel of land known as the Precious Lands Wildlife Management Area that was purchased as mitigation for losses incurred by construction of the four lower Snake River dams. The Management Area is located in northern Wallowa County, Oregon and southern Asotin County, Washington (Figure 1). It is divided into three management parcels--the Buford parcel is located on Buford Creek and straddles the WA-OR state line, and the Tamarack and Basin parcels are contiguous to each other and located between the Joseph Creek and Cottonwood Creek drainages in Wallowa County, OR. The project was developed under the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-501), with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The acreage protected under this contract will be credited to BPA as habitat permanently dedicated to wildlife and wildlife mitigation. A modeling strategy known as Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP) was developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and adopted by BPA as a habitat equivalency accounting system. Nine wildlife species models were used to evaluate distinct cover type features and provide a measure of habitat quality. Models measure a wide range of life …

Pruet Production Co. and the Center for Sedimentary Basin Studies at the University of Alabama, in cooperation with Texas A&M University, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, and Wayne Stafford and Associates proposed a three-phase, focused, comprehensive, integrated and multidisciplinary study of Upper Jurassic Smackover carbonates (Class II Reservoir), involving reservoir characterization and 3-D modeling (Phase I) and a field demonstration project (Phases II and III) at Womack Hill Field Unit, Choctaw and Clarke Counties, Alabama, eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. Phase I of the project has been completed. The principal objectives of the project are: increasing the productivity and profitability of the Womack Hill Field Unit, thereby extending the economic life of this Class II Reservoir and transferring effectively and in a timely manner the knowledge gained and technology developed from this project to producers who are operating other domestic fields with Class II Reservoirs. The major tasks of the project included reservoir characterization, recovery technology analysis, recovery technology evaluation, and the decision to implement a demonstration project. Reservoir characterization consisted of geoscientific reservoir characterization, petrophysical and engineering property characterization, microbial characterization, and integration of the characterization data. Recovery technology analysis included 3-D geologic modeling, reservoir simulation, and microbial core …