A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Surveys suggest that as many as two-thirds of American households have donated money to charitable organizations to aid in the response to the September 11 disasters. To provide the public with information on the role of charitable aid in assisting those affected by the attacks, GAO was asked to report on the amount of donations charities raised and distributed, the accountability measures in place to prevent fraud by organizations and individuals, and lessons learned about how to best distribute charitable aid in similar situations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among American women. In 2001, 192,200 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed and 40,200 women died from the disease. The probability of survival increases significantly, however, when breast cancer is discovered in its early stages. Currently, the most effective technique for early detection of breast cancer is screening mammography, an X-ray procedure that can detect small tumors and breast abnormalities up to two years before they can be detected by touch. Nationwide data indicate that mammography services are generally adequate to meet the growing demand. Between 1998 and 2000, both the population of women 40 and older and the extent to which they were screened increased by 15 percent. Although mammography services are generally available, women in some locations have problems obtaining timely mammography services in some metropolitan areas. However, the greatest losses in capacity have come in rural counties. In all, 121 counties, most of them rural, have experienced a drop of more than 25 percent in the number of mammography machines in the last three years. Officials from 37 of these counties reported …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1986, China has narrowed the gap between the U.S. and Chinese semiconductor manufacturing technology from between seven to 10 years to two years or less. China's success in acquiring manufacturing technology from abroad has improved its semiconductor manufacturing facilities for more capable weapons systems and advanced consumer electronics. The multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies has not affected China's ability to obtain semiconductor manufacturing equipment because the United States is the only member of this voluntary arrangement that considers China's acquisition of semiconductor manufacturing equipment a cause for concern. Under the Export Administration Regulations pertaining to China, the general licensing policy is to approve applications, except those items that would make a direct and significant contribution to specific areas of China's military. Furthermore, U.S. agencies have not done the analyses, such as assessing foreign availability of this technology or the cumulative effects of such exports on U.S. national security interests, necessary to justify such a practice or serve as the basis for licensing decisions. Consequently, the executive branch lacks a sound, well-documented basis for making export-licensing decisions …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1980 Congress has passed laws to facilitate the transfer of technology from federal laboratories to U.S. businesses. In particular, the National Competitiveness Technology Transfer Act of 1989 authorized federal laboratories operated by contractors, including the Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratories, to enter into cooperative research and development agreements (CRADA). Under a CRADA, the partner and DOE laboratory agree to jointly conduct research and typically share the research costs. By fiscal year 1992, DOE's national laboratories were among the leading federal laboratories participating in CRADAs. Recently however, the 12 laboratories that DOE surveyed have substantially reduced their CRADA partnerships and their technical assistance to small businesses. Instead, the laboratories have increasingly transferred technology through agreements that did not involve collaborative research and were funded by a business or other nonfederal entity. Managers at most of the laboratories say the lack of dedicated funding for technology for transfer to technology partnerships, including funding targeted to small businesses, is the most important barrier to their technology transfer activities. Managers at most laboratories said that DOE's lack of a high-level, effective advocate for technology transfer and DOE's lack …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 created, among other things, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to oversee audits of public companies. A divided Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appointed the first PCAOB on October 25, 2002. Amid allegations that the SEC Chairman withheld relevant information from the other Commissioners concerning the suitability of the newly appointed PCAOB chairman, GAO was asked to examine SEC's selection process; determine whether the SEC Chairman withheld information from other Commissioners; determine what vetting of candidates took place; and identify what actions led to breakdowns in the process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, asked GAO to assist the Committee in its oversight of the Veterans Benefits Administration's (VBA) efforts to improve compensation and pension claims processing. As part of this effort, GAO assessed (1) whether VBA's key timeliness measure clearly reflects its performance and (2) whether it has adequate data to measure the timeliness of its newly created specialized claims processing teams."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "DOD has increasingly engaged in multiservice and multinational operations. Congress enacted the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, in part, so that DOD's military leaders would be better prepared to plan, support, and conduct joint operations. GAO assessed DOD actions to implement provisions in the law that address the development of officers in joint matters and evaluated impediments affecting DOD's ability to fully respond to the provisions in the act."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To help states administer their Food Stamp Programs, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) offers options and waivers to their program rules and regulations. Almost all states used options or waivers in their food stamp eligibility determination process. More than half of the states chose to make households receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) services automatically eligible for food stamps. Thirty-three states exempted some or all vehicles in the determination of food stamp eligibility. Although most states used these options and waivers, they considered them a cumbersome way to increase access to the program for families owning a vehicle. Almost all states used at least one option or waiver to change the reporting methods required of food stamp household earnings. The most frequently used reporting waivers exempted recipients from reporting changes in earned income of $25 or more per month. States used these options and waivers to simplify paperwork requirements for both the food stamp recipient and eligibility worker. Although few states were using the new option to provide food stamp benefits to families leaving TANF, 20 other states planned to implement the option. No …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Last year the United States proposed that the World Bank and other development banks distribute more grants to the world's poorest countries to help ease their long-term debt burdens. The United States recommended that grants replace up to half of all future lending. The proposal has been controversial because of its potential impact on the resources available to poor countries. The World Bank estimates that the proposal could reduce its resources by $100 billion during the next 40 years. A shift of multilateral loans to grants would reduce poor countries' debt burdens and increase their ability to repay future debt. The total financial loss to the World Bank of a 50-percent shift from loans to grants during the next 40 years would be $15.6 billion in present value terms. Financing the proposal through harder terms on the remaining loans to poor countries would reduce and potentially nullify any improvement to their debt sustainability arising from the 50-percent grants proposal. However, if donor contributions to the World Bank were to increase by 1.6 percent a year, which is less than the projected rate of inflation during the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insures billions of dollars in multifamily housing mortgage loans to help construct, rehabilitate, purchase, and refinance apartments and health care facilities. However, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) lacks assurances that the lenders approved for the Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) program always meet all of HUD's qualifications. HUD's guidance requires prospective lenders to submit documents showing that they are financially sound, have a satisfactory lending record, and have qualified underwriters. GAO found that HUD did not always comply with, or effectively implement, controls and procedures for reviewing and monitoring MAP lenders' underwriting of loans. Before issuing a loan, field staff are required to conduct and document reviews of lenders' mortgage insurance applications and associated loan exhibits to ensure compliance with HUD underwriting requirements. However, staff did not always properly document their reviews. HUD has held some lenders accountable for specific violations of program requirements but is unable to systematically identify lenders that exhibit patterns of noncompliance. To hold lenders accountable for specific violations or for patterns of noncompliance, HUD's Office of Multifamily Housing can suspend or terminate …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 6,900 Home Health Agencies (HHAs) that serve Medicare beneficiaries must meet federal requirements, known as conditions of participation (COP), to ensure that they have the appropriate staff, are following the plan of care specified by a physician, maintain medical records to document the care provided, and periodically reassess each patient's condition. Although nationwide surveys done at HHAs since 1998 have identified a small proportion of agencies with serious deficiencies, the extent of the problem may be understated, and dangerous situations affecting home health patients may occur more often than documented. Shortcomings in the survey process and inconsistencies in state surveys make it difficult to assess the quality of care delivered and may mask potential problems. The ability to lodge complaints about an HHA and have them resolved promptly is important to protecting patient health and safety. HHA oversight by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been too limited to identify the problems GAO found in the survey process. CMS does not review state compliance with requirements for conducting HHA surveys, such as whether HHAs with COP-level deficiencies are surveyed annually rather than …

This note presents the technical basis for a proposed strain-rate and temperature independent fatigue design curve for austenitic stainless steels.

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This report documents tests performed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to verify that the new air monitoring system for the 296-Z-1 ventilation exhaust stack meets the applicable regulatory criteria regarding the placement of the air sampling probe, sample transport, and stack flow measurement accuracy. These criteria ensure that the contaminants in the stack are well mixed with the airflow at the location of the probe so that the collected sample represents the whole. The sequence of tests addresses the acceptability of the flow angle relative to the probe uniformity of air velocity and gaseous and particle tracers in the cross section of the stack delivery of the sample from the sampler nozzle to the collection filter. The tests conducted on the air monitoring system demonstrated that the location for the air-sampling probe meets all performance criteria for air sampling systems at nuclear facilities. The performance criterion for particle transport was also met. All tests were successful, and all acceptance criteria were met.

Reconciliation report with an ending account balance of $1,622.07 reconciled for the period ending on August 19, 2002.

Tritium activities decreased in all three SALDS proximal wells during FY 2002, compared with FY 2001. Activities in well 699-48-77A first decreased to less than 3,000 pCi/L in January 2002, but rose to 150,000 in July, probably as a result of tritium discharges to SALDS that resumed in February 2002. Well 699-48-77C, where tritium analysis produced a maximum value of 750,000 pCi/L in January 2002, reflects the result of the delayed penetration of effluent deeper into the aquifer from tritium discharges. SALDS proximal well 699-48-77D produced a maximum result of 240,000 pCi/L in July 2002. Timing between detections of tritium and other constituents in well 699-48-77C suggest a delay of approximately three years from detection in wells 699-48-77A and 699-48-77D. Historically maxima for tritium (790 and 860 pCi/L in successive sample periods) suggest that tritium from SALDS may be reaching the northern edge of the 200 West Area, south of the facility.

The report summarizes work to determine the nature and distribution of carbon on microcracks in crystalline rocks by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy. It also summarizes the results of a workshop devoted to investigating how carbon in rocks influences electrical conductivity and whether carbon on fracture surfaces can account for the electrical conductivity structure of the crust.

High-performance GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb/GaSb thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices with quantum efficiency and fill factor near theoretical limits and open-circuit voltage within about 15% of the limit can be routinely fabricated. To achieve further improvements in TPV device performance, detailed materials studies of GaInAsSb epitaxial growth, the microstructure, and minority carrier lifetime, along with device structure considerations are reported. This paper discusses the materials and device issues, and their implications on TPV device performance. In addition, improvements in TPV performance with integrated distributed Bragg reflectors and back-surface reflectors are discussed.

The possibility of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in regions of tensile residual stress introduced by weld deposited material has been a concern where environmental effects can reduce component life. Roller burnishing, a form of mechanical cold-working, has been considered as a means of providing for residual stress state improvements. This paper provides a computational evaluation of the roller burnishing process to address the permanent deformation needed to introduce a desirable residual stress state. The analysis uses a series of incrementally applied pressure loadings and finite element methodology to simulate the behavior of a roller burnishing tool. Various magnitudes of applied pressure loadings coupled with different size plates and boundary conditions are examined to assess the degree and depth of the residual compressive stress state after cold working. Both kinematic and isotropic hardening laws are evaluated.

Fossil fuels currently provide 85% of the world's energy needs, with the majority coming from coal, due to its low cost, wide availability, and high energy content. The extensive use of coalfired power assumes that the resulting CO{sub 2} emissions can be vented to the atmosphere. However, exponentially increasing atmospheric CO{sub 2} levels have brought this assumption under critical review. Over the last decade, this discussion has evolved from whether exponentially increasing anthropogenic CO{sub 2} emissions will adversely affect the global environment, to the timing and magnitude of their impact. A variety of sequestration technologies are being explored to mitigate CO{sub 2} emissions. These technologies must be both environmentally benign and economically viable. Mineral carbonation is an attractive candidate technology as it disposes of CO{sub 2} as geologically stable, environmentally benign mineral carbonates, clearly satisfying the first criteria. The primary challenge for mineral carbonation is cost-competitive process development. CO{sub 2} mineral sequestration--the conversion of stationary-source CO{sub 2} emissions into mineral carbonates (e.g., magnesium and calcium carbonate, MgCO{sub 3} and CaCO{sub 3})--has recently emerged as one of the most promising sequestration options, providing permanent CO{sub 2} disposal, rather than storage. In this approach a magnesium-bearing feedstock mineral (typically serpentine or olivine; …

Understanding global-scale ecosystem responses to changing environmental conditions is important both as a scientific question and as the basis for making policy decisions. The confidence in regional models depends on how well the field data used to develop the model represent the region of interest, how well the environmental model driving variables (e.g., vegetation type, climate, and soils associated with a site used to parameterize ecosystem models) represent the region of interest, and how well regional model predictions agree with observed data for the region. To assess the accuracy of global model forecasts of terrestrial carbon cycling, two Ecosystem Model-Data Intercomparison (EMDI) workshops were held (December 1999 and April 2001). The workshops included 17 biogeochemical, satellite-driven, detailed process, and dynamic vegetation global model types. The approach was to run regional or global versions of the models for sites with net primary productivity (NPP) measurements (i.e., not fine-tuned for specific site conditions) and analyze the model-data differences. Extensive worldwide NPP data were assembled with model driver data, including vegetation, climate, and soils data, to perform the intercomparison. This report describes the compilation of NPP estimates for 2,523 sites and 5,164 0.5{sup o}-grid cells under the Global Primary Production Data Initiative (GPPDI) …

As part of the reconstitution of 512-S, a functional test of the Crossflow Filter located in the North Cell of Building 512-S was conducted from July 22 through August 14, 2002. This test was performed in two parts. The first part used water as the process feed. The second part used simulant salt solution, simulant sludge, and monosodium titanate (MST) at various solids loadings as the process feed. The test was designed to demonstrate the cross-flow filter's ability to perform solid-liquid separation on the feed stream and to collect relevant operational data. During the chemical runs, four different batch runs were made at increasing weight percent solids loading. Not all of the 512-S systems were in operation, only those essential for the testing of the Crossflow Filter.

Revision 1 of the Composite Analysis (CA) Addendum has been prepared to respond to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Low-Level Waste Disposal Facilities Federal Review Group review of the CA. This addendum to the composite analysis responds to the conditions of approval. The composite analysis was performed on the two active SRS low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities. The facilities are the Z-Area Saltstone Disposal Facility and the E-Area Vaults Disposal Facility. The analysis calculated potential releases to the environment from all sources of residual radioactive material expected to remain in the General Separations Area (GSA). The GSA is the central part of the Savannah River Site and contains all of the waste disposal facilities, the chemical separation facilities and associated high-level waste storage facilities, as well as numerous other sources of radioactive material.

This initial report is being submitted pursuant to Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) {section} 761.75(c) to request authorization to allow the disposal of transuranic (TRU) wastes containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which are duly regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Approval of this initial report will not affect the disposal of TRU or TRU mixed wastes that do not contain PCBs. This initial report also demonstrates how the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) meets or exceeds the technical standards for a Chemical Waste Landfill. Approval of this request will allow the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to dispose of approximately 88,000 cubic feet (ft3) (2,500 cubic meters [m3]) of TRU wastes containing PCBs subject to regulation under the TSCA. This approval will include only those PCB/TRU wastes, which the TSCA regulations allow for disposal of the PCB component in municipal solid waste facilities or chemical waste landfills (e.g., PCB remediation waste, PC B articles, and bulk PCB product waste). Disposal of TRU waste by the DOE is congressionally mandated in Public Law 102-579 (as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997, Pub. L. 104-201, referred to as the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act [LWA]). …