Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 25.3 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of the world's population but more than 70% of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.

This report discusses the Andean Regional Initiative (ARI), implemented by the Bush Administration in 2001 to provide economic and counter-narcotics assistance for Colombia and regional neighbors. The report discusses the goals of the ARI, as well as related appropriations.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The informal and formal networks used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the military services to exchange critical aviation safety information have proven useful. However, because recent and expected retirements threaten to erode informal networks, additional formal channels of communication are needed to ensure that common safety risks are identified and addressed in a systematic and timely manner. This includes the exchange of information on how FAA and the military services have addressed particular aviation safety concerns. Existing gaps in the formal processes used by FAA and the military services to exchange information could allow for communication lapses and delays in getting critical safety information to the right parties in a timely manner, potentially resulting in the loss of lives and aircraft."

Two BWR fuels [64 and 71 (MWd)/kgU], one of which contained 2% Gd, and two PWR fuels [30 and 45 (MWd)/kgU], are tested by dripping groundwater on the fuels under oxidizing and hydrologically unsaturated conditions for times ranging from 2.4 to 8.2 yr at 90 C. The {sup 99}Tc, {sup 129}I, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 97}Mo, and {sup 90}Sr releases are presented to show the effects of long reaction times and of gadolinium on nuclide release. This investigation showed that the five nuclides at long reaction times have similar fractional release rates and that the presence of 2% Gd reduced the {sup 99}Tc cumulative release fraction by about an order of magnitude over that of a fuel with a similar burnup.

The nation’s health, wealth, and security rely on the production and distribution of certain goods and services. The array of physical assets, processes and organizations across which these goods and services move are called critical infrastructures (e.g. electricity, the power plants that generate it, and the electric grid upon which it is distributed). Computers and communications, themselves critical infrastructures, are increasingly tying these infrastructures together. This report aims to address the concern that this reliance on computers and computer networks raises the vulnerability of the nation’s critical infrastructures to “cyber” attacks.

A method was developed to enhance geothermal steam production from two-phase wells at THE Geysers Geothermal Field. The beneficial result was increased geothermal production that was easily and economically delivered to the power plant.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO examined the environmental cleanup costs of ongoing operations of the Department of Defense (DOD). These include general property, plant, and equipment facilities or other assets that are being operated or are in use at DOD installations. GAO found that DOD has not developed policies, procedures, and methodologies to ensure that cleanup costs required for all of its ongoing and inactive or closed operations are identified, consistently estimated, and appropriately reported. As a result, DOD's financial statements and environmental reports continue to underreport environmental liabilities and related long-term budgetary needs. The military installations GAO visited had a total of 221 sites with estimated cleanup costs of $259 million. Of these, only 45 sites with estimated cleanup costs of $61 million were being reported for the Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report to Congress, and only that amount was likely included in DOD's financial statements. GAO found DOD was not reporting 149 sites related to ongoing operations with estimated cleanup costs of $91 million and 27 inactive and closed operations with estimated cleanup costs of $107 million. The environmental offices at the six installations GAO visited had …

This report discusses different perspectives used to consider issues related to the global climate change and issues related to the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Agreement.

This project on heat transfer coefficients in metal permanent mold casting has been conducted in three areas. They are the theoretical study at the University of Michigan, the experimental investigation of squeeze casting at CMI-Tech Center (Now Hayes-Lemmerz Technical Center) and the experimental investigation of low pressure permanent mold casting at Amcast Automotive.

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The purpose of this Analysis/Model Report (AMR) is to update and document the data and subsequent analyses from ambient field-testing activities performed in underground drifts of the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project (YMP). This revision updates data and analyses presented in the initial issue of this AMR. This AMR was developed in accordance with the ''Technical Work Plan for Unsaturated Zone (UZ) Flow and Transport Process Model Report'' and ''Technical Work Plan for UZ Flow, Transport, and Coupled Processes Process Model Report. These activities were performed to investigate in situ flow and transport processes. The evaluations provide the necessary framework to: (1) refine and confirm the conceptual model of matrix and fracture processes in the unsaturated zone (UZ) and (2) analyze the impact of excavation (including use of construction water and effect of ventilation) on the UZ flow and transport processes. This AMR is intended to support revisions to ''Conceptual and Numerical Models for UZ Flow and Transport'' and ''Unsaturated Zone Flow and Transport Model Process Model Report''. In general, the results discussed in this AMR are from studies conducted using a combination or a subset of the following three approaches: (1) air-injection tests, (2) liquid-release tests, and (3) moisture …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Initiatives to address flight delays include adding new runways to accommodate more aircraft and better coordinating efforts to adjust to spring and summer storms. Although most of these efforts were developed separately, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has incorporated many of them into an Operational Evolution Plan (OEP), which is designed to give more focus to these initiatives. FAA acknowledges that the plan is not intended as a final solution to congestion and delay problems. The plan focuses on initiatives that can be implemented within 10 years and generally excludes approaches lacking widespread support across stakeholder groups. The current initiatives, if successful, will add substantial capacity to the nation's air transport system. Even so, these efforts are unlikely to prevent delays from becoming worse unless the reduced traffic levels resulting from the events of September 11 persist. One key reason is that most delay-prone airports have limited ability to increase their capacity, especially by adding new runways--the main capacity-building element of OEP. The air transport system has long-term needs beyond the initiatives now under way. One initiative would add new capacity--not by adding runways to existing …

Layering is the process whereby condensed deuterium tritium (DT) fusion fuel at 18-19 K is very uniformly distributed on the inside wall of an Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) target. The quality and uniformity of the DT layer has a profound effect on the performance (gain) of the target. It would be a great advantage for indirect drive targets to carry out layering with the capsule already assembled in the hohlraum. One concept to accomplish this is to layer targets in controlled temperature, cryogenic tubes while they are being staged for feeding to the injection system. In this report we have demonstrated through extensive analysis that in-hohlraum layering is possible, but that variations in dimensions, alignments and material properties can easily cause the capsule temperature nonuniformity to exceed values needed to assure proper fuel layering. The concept shows sufficient promise to warrant continued investigation. Analysis alone cannot demonstrate the feasibility of in-hohlraum layering. One of the most basic and important experiments is the measurement of the properties of hohlraum materials. Such measurements must be performed with sufficient accuracy to demonstrate predictability and repeatability to the level of precision needed to maintain thermal control. Continued close interaction between target designers and target …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) provide financial support to promote social and economic progress in developing countries and the countries of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Under the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2001, the United States is providing $1.3 billion to support the MDBs, with $460 million going to the regional development banks and $840 million going to the World Bank Group. All of the MDBs GAO reviewed have received unqualified or "clean" opinions on their external audits. However, none of the MDBs GAO reviewed are required to report on their internal controls over financial reporting, lending operations, or compliance with their governing charters or policies. In addition, the regional MDBs' external financial statement audits are not intended to, and do not, provide assurances about internal controls over the MDBs' lending operations and whether funds are spent as intended. Most of the regional MDBs that GAO reviewed have developed anti-corruption strategies that recognize the importance of strong internal control systems. Each of the regional MDBs GAO studied has established internal audit functions as part of their controls."

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Developed equipment consisted of a high magnetic field solenoid with supporting instrumentation for electron plasma confinement. The solenoid was designed and delivered in year 1. In year 2, it was mapped and the trap was created and commissioned. In parallel, an ongoing program of beam-plasma interaction studies was carried out with a lower field trap developed earlier. The trap was placed in the IUCF Coolor (an intermediate-energy electron-cooled storage ring) and the effects of the beam on the plasma were investigated, including energy and angular momentum transfer. Student projects carried out within the beam-plasma group also included development of a diagnostic with high spatial resolution, and preparation for extension of the beam-plasma interaction study to much lower beam energy. This became the principal group activity during the latter part of the project.