This report provides an overview of the 2002 farm bill and an update status of the farm bill.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) downsized its acquisition workforce by half in the past decade. It now faces serious imbalances in the skills and experience of its remaining workforce and the potential loss of highly specialized knowledge if many of its acquisition specialists retire. DOD created the Acquisition 2005 Task Force to study its civilian acquisition workforce and develop a strategy to replenish personnel losses. In response to a legislative mandate, DOD reported on its plans to implement the task force's recommendations as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002. DOD's report shows that it has made progress in reshaping its acquisition workforce. For example, DOD is working to remove barriers to its strategic planning initiative; continuing to test various human capital innovations; and has begun making significant changes to its acquisition workforce-training program. DOD's report provides information on implementation of the task force's recommendations and their status. However, for many initiatives, DOD did not clearly describe the actions taken or when they occurred, nor did it identify all planned actions and schedules for completing the initiatives."

One of the least controversial provisions of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-163) established corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for new passenger cars. This report presents a brief background and analysis regarding the price of crude oil that brought into sharp focus the fuel inefficiency of U.S. automobiles. The report also discusses the previous issues and the most recent developments regarding CAFE.

Forty-three countries, including the United States, have signed the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime of November 2001. The U.S. Senate ratified the Convention on August 3, 2006. The Convention seeks to better combat cybercrime by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative abilities, and boosting international cooperation. Supporters argue that the Convention will enhance deterrence, while critics counter it will have little effect without participation by countries in which cybercriminals operate freely. Others warn it will endanger privacy and civil liberties.

Natural gas transmission companies mark the right-of-way areas where pipelines are buried with warning signs to prevent accidental third-party damage. Nevertheless, pipelines are sometimes damaged by third-party construction equipment. A single incident can be devastating, causing death and millions of dollars of property loss. This damage would be prevented if potentially hazardous construction equipment could be detected, identified, and an alert given before the pipeline was damaged. The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a system to solve this problem by using an optical fiber as a distributed sensor and interrogating the fiber with an optical time domain reflectometer. Key issues are the ability to detect encroachment and the ability to discriminate among potentially hazardous and benign encroachments. The work performed in the second quarter of the project includes design of the instrument, selection of the key components, and beginning programming of the custom optical time domain reflectometer. Work included an assessment of two other approaches to measuring strain and vibrations in an extended optical fiber sensor.

We have developed CaO coatings that are applied by a thermal and chemical vapor deposition process. Several experiments were conducted to study how the deposition of Ca on a V-4Cr-4Ti substrate alloy is affected by variations in process temperature and time, specimen location, and surface preparation and pretreatment. Results showed that thick adherent coatings can be fabricated by thermal/chemical vapor deposition, especially if a double Ca treatment is applied. Extensive microstructural analysis of the coatings showed almost 100% CaO over a coating thickness of 20-30 {micro}m; electrical resistance (measured by the two-probe method) of the coatings was at least two orders of magnitude higher than the minimum required for blanket application. The results obtained in this study indicate that CaO is a viable coating for V-Li advanced blankets, but that significant additional effort is needed, especially from the standpoint of structure/composition relationship to its electrical resistance and the coating stability in a flowing Li environment. Furthermore, resistance must be measured in situ in Li to simultaneously evaluate coating integrity, resistance, and Li compatibility.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Dioxins--chemical compounds that share structural and biological characteristics--have been linked to human illnesses, including cancer. Often the byproducts of combustion and industrial processes, complex mixtures of dioxins enter the food chain and human diet through emissions into the air. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) noted the potential human health risks of dioxins in the 1970s when animal studies showed them to be among the most potent cancer-causing chemicals. EPA derived its estimates of human dietary exposure to dioxins in the United States from (1) chemically analyzed samples of 10 food types, (2) toxicity estimates of levels of individual dioxins in these foods, and (3) estimates of the quantities of these foods consumed by Americans. To develop more reliable national estimates of dietary exposure, EPA incorporated into its analysis some food studies that were nationally representative. Although both EPA and the WHO have assessed the human health risks of dioxins during the last decade, some of their objectives and processes have differed. Nonetheless, the analytical methods used and the conclusions reached have much in common. A major difference in the assessments …

A Sn-25 at.% Li alloy has been fabricated by starting with pure Sn and Li. The alloy was cast into various shapes and sent to researchers in several organizations in the United States and abroad for property measurements. The fabrication procedure involved gradual addition of Li from a separate vessel into a vessel that contained Sn; continuous stirring of the mixture during Li addition increased the Li content of the alloy gradually from 0 to the final value of 25 at.%. The melting temperature of the alloy was 334 C; its density was 6.36 g/cm{sup 3}. Results are presented on microstructure, chemical composition, phase distribution, and microhardness of the alloy. Several experiments were conducted to evaluate the chemical reactivity of the alloy with air, water, and steam. Results showed that the alloy undergoes catastrophic oxidation when T >250 C in air and develops an oxide scale in water at temperatures up to 95 C. Exposure in low-pressure steam at 200 C caused significant swelling and cracking of the alloy.

The authors report preparation procedures for some lithium and barium titanate compounds. The procedures utilize inexpensive, commercial TiCl{sub 4} in an aqueous HCl solution. The main preparation steps consist of chloride elimination by distillation with nitric acid, addition of hydroxides of Li (or Ba), evaporation of sols to dry powders, and thermal treatment to titanates. Thermal and X-ray analyses indicate that the formation temperatures are lower than the corresponding temperatures necessary for conventional solid-state reactions. These temperatures can be further decreased by addition of ascorbic acid during formation of Ti nitrate sols. Spherical powders (with particle diameters of < 100 {micro}m) are obtained by solvent extraction of water from sol drops emulsified in 2-ethylheksanol-1. Final correction of the composition of the spherical powders is carried out by an impregnation process.

This report discusses U.S. policy regard farm commodities. Greater public awareness of the size of commodity program payments reaching a comparatively small number of very large farms has focused the attention of Congress on payment limits. Limits on commodity program payments have been imposed since 1970. As part of the emergency economic assistance packages enacted each of the past three years, the payment limits have been doubled. In addition, a mechanism has been developed that allows farms to circumvent the limit on loan deficiency payments, namely commodity certificates

Shielding for the APS will be such that the individual worker dose will be ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) and less than 5 mSv/yr (500 mrem/yr). The APS shielding policy requires that the average worker dose be below 2 mSv/yr (200 mrem/yr). Worker dose is monitored, and frequent area-surveys are performed by health physics personnel. For cases in which surveys indicate elevated hourly dose rates that may impact worker exposure, additional local shielding is provided to reduce the radiation field to an acceptable level. Passive monitors are used throughout the facility to integrate doses in various areas. The results are analyzed for trends of increased doses, and shielding in these areas is evaluated and improved, as appropriate.

Thin films of YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7-x} (YBCO) were grown on MgO buffered metallic substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The MgO buffer films, which provide the initial biaxial texture, had been grown on polished Hastelloy C276 (HC) tapes using inclined substrate deposition (ISD). The ISD process is promising for the fabrication of coated superconductor wires because it produces biaxially textured template films on nontextured substrate at high deposition rates. Biaxially aligned MgO films were deposited at deposition rates of 20 to 100 {angstrom}/sec. The buffer films were deposited on these template films before ablation of the YBCO films by PLD. The microstructure was studied by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. X-ray pole figure analysis and {phi}- and {omega}-scans were used for texture characterization. Good in- and out-of-plane textures were observed on the ISD MgO films ({approx}1.5 {micro}m thick). The full width at half maximums were 9.2{sup o} for the MgO (002) {phi}-scan and 5.4{sup o} for the {omega}-scan. Cube-on-cube epitaxial growth of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and ceria (CeO{sub 2}) films on the ISD MgO films was also achieved by PLD. A superconducting critical temperature of 90 K, with a sharp transition, and transport critical current density of …

Information glut is one of the primary characteristics of the electronic age. Managing such large volumes of information (e.g., keeping track of the types, where they are, their relationships, who controls them, etc.) can be done efficiently with an intelligent, user-oriented information management system. The purpose of this paper is to describe a concept for managing information resources based on an intelligent information technology system developed by the Argonne National Laboratory for managing digital libraries. The Argonne system, Intelligent Query (IQ), enables users to query digital libraries and view the holdings that match the query from different perspectives.

This report discusses the legal issues considered by Congress on whether to permit drilling for oil and gas in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

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Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare's home health benefit provides skilled nursing and other services to beneficiaries who are homebound. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had a long-standing policy that beneficiaries who regularly attend adult day care were not considered homebound, particularly if the purpose of attending was to receive nonmedical or custodial care. In 2000, Congress indicated that Medicare beneficiaries who attended adult day care could still be considered homebound if they still met the other homebound requirements. GAO found that this clarification will have little effect on program costs or access to services because the number of affected individuals is small. On the basis of National Long Term Care Survey data, GAO estimates that 0.2 percent of elderly Medicare beneficiaries who attended adult day care had mobility or cognitive impairments that might make some eligible for Medicare home health services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Government Performance and Results Act (GRPA) requires federal agencies to set goals for program performance and to report annually on their progress toward achieving those goals. Agencies need to produce credible performance data to provide transparency of government operations so that Congress, program managers, and others can make informed decisions. The Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 requires agencies to assess the completeness and reliability of their performance data. However, GAO found that only five of the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies' assessed the completeness and the reliability of their performance data in the transmittal letters accompanying their performance reports for fiscal year 2000. The other agencies somewhat discussed the quality of their performance data elsewhere in their performance reports. None of the agencies identified any material inadequacies with their performance data. However, concerns about the quality of performance data were identified by the inspector general as either a major management challenge or included in the discussion of other challenges for 11 of the 24 agencies. Although not required, discussing the performance reports in the standard or method used to assess the completeness and …

This document summarizes progress on Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-01NT41185, Pilot Testing of Mercury Oxidation Catalysts for Upstream of Wet FGD Systems, during the time period January 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. The objective of this project is to demonstrate at pilot scale the use of solid honeycomb catalysts to promote the oxidation of elemental mercury in the flue gas from coal combustion. The project is being funded by the U.S. DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory under Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-01NT41185. EPRI, Great River Energy (GRE) and City Public Service (CPS) of San Antonio are project co-funders. URS Group is the prime contractor. The mercury catalytic oxidation process under development uses catalyst materials applied to honeycomb substrates to promote the oxidation of elemental mercury in the flue gas from coal-fired power plants that have wet lime or limestone flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. Oxidized mercury is removed in the wet FGD absorbers and co-precipitates in a stable form with the byproducts from the FGD system. The co-precipitated mercury does not appear to adversely affect the disposal or reuse properties of the FGD byproduct. The current project will test previously identified, effective catalyst materials at a larger, pilot scale and in a commercial …

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This report summarizes the results of sampling five groundwater monitoring wells in the vicinity of the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in 2001. Information on general sampling practices, quality assurance practices, parameter concentrations, representativeness of sampling results, and cumulative cancer risk are presented. The information is provided to support a conditional No Longer Contained-In Determination for the Snake River Plain Aquifer in the vicinity of the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the budgetary implications of selected program reforms discussed in GAO work but not yet implemented or enacted. To help congressional budget and appropriations committees identify ways to reduce federal spending or increase revenues, this year's report contains more than 100 examples of budget options organized by budget function. Where possible, budgetary savings estimates provided by the Congressional Budget Office or the Joint Committee on Taxation are presented."

This is the final technical report for the project titled ''Synthesis and optimization of integrated chemical processes''. Progress is reported on novel algorithms for the computation of all heteroazeotropic compositions present in complex liquid mixtures; the design of novel flexible azeotropic separation processes using middle vessel batch distillation columns; and theory and algorithms for sensitivity analysis and numerical optimization of hybrid discrete/continuous dynamic systems.

The Federal Emergency Management System (FEMIS) is an emergency management planning and response tool. The FEMIS System Administration Guide provides information on FEMIS System Administrator activities as well as the utilities that are included with FEMIS.