A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Andean region continues to cultivate, produce, and export almost all of the world's cocaine as well as an increasing amount of heroin, according to the State Department. Colombia is the source of 90 percent of the cocaine entering the United States and about two-thirds of the heroin found on the East Coast. Although coca cultivation estimates have fallen by about two-thirds in Bolivia and Peru since 1996, increases in coca cultivation in Colombia have offset much of these successes. Under State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the Office of Aviation, through a contract with DynCorp Aerospace Technology, supports foreign governments' efforts to locate and eradicate illicit drug crops in the Andean region. In recent years, DynCorp has maintained and operated aircraft to locate and eradicate drug crops in Colombia, trained pilots and mechanics for the Colombian Army Aviation Brigade, and provided logistical and training support for the aerial eradication programs of the Colombian National Police and manual eradication programs in Bolivia and Peru. The Office of Aviation met both State's overall contracting oversight requirements and more specific oversight and evaluation requirements in …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) routinely acquires new information systems and enhancements to manage and support its various programs and operations. GAO has designated HUD's major program areas as high risk, in part because the department's information and financial management systems are poorly integrated, ineffective, and generally unreliable. HUD has been trying to improve its systems to better support its missions and management reforms. HUD did not fully satisfy the requirements for any of the "repeatable" key process areas GAO reviewed. Although HUD's software acquisition process has several strengths, GAO found weaknesses in all key software process areas evaluated: requirements development and management, project management, contract tracking and oversight, and software evaluation. As a result, HUD's processes for acquiring software are immature and ad hoc, sometimes chaotic, and not repeatable across projects. HUD acknowledges these weaknesses, is committed to improving its software and system acquisition processes, and will soon begin a process improvement effort."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2000, the federal government funded four bilingual education programs--Program Development and Implementation Grants, Program Enhancement Projects, Comprehensive School Grants, and Systemwide Improvement Grants--that award grants to school districts to serve children with limited English proficiency. This report reviews (1) how similar the performance goals and measures, eligibility criteria, and allowable services are among the four bilingual education programs; (2) to what extent the different kinds of grants were made to the same types of schools or school districts and were used to provide the same services; (3) what is known about these programs' effectiveness; and (4) whether these programs can be better coordinated or if opportunities exist for program coordination and cost savings. GAO found that all four federal bilingual education programs share the same performance goals and measures, use similar eligibility criteria, and allow for similar uses of program funds. In fiscal year 2000, the four bilingual programs made grants to school districts that shared some characteristics and provided similar services; however, individual schools typically did not receive funding from more than one program. The services provided with program funds are similar, …

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 …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Military Strategy calls for the Department of Defense (DOD) to maintain the transportation capability to quickly move the large amounts of personnel and equipment needed to win two nearly simultaneous major theater wars anywhere in the world. To provide this mobility, DOD relies on a transportation system--the En Route System (ERS)--that includes an airlift fleet of cargo aircraft and a critical network of overseas airfields that provide logistical support to aircraft on their way to the war zones. Although the two-war requirement and other aspects of the National Military Strategy are now under review by the new administration, the ERS remains critically important as the primary means of quickly moving U.S. soldiers and equipment to areas of conflict around the world. This report addresses (1) whether en-route airfields have the capacity to meet the requirements of the National Military Strategy, (2) the causes of any shortfalls and DOD's plans to correct them, and (3) whether DOD has the information and management structure needed to ensure that the operations of the ERS can be carried out efficiently and effectively."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) resolution of accounting issues submitted by companies that have or are contemplating publicly traded securities. Companies are required by law to register their securities with SEC by filing a registration statement. This statement must contain financial and other information on the securities and the issuer. SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) is responsible for providing guidance to companies to ensure that they comply with the reporting requirements of the law. Generally, registrants submit issues to OCA for which there is no authoritative guidance. These issues tend to involve unusual, complex, or innovative transactions. Some of the accounting issues frequently reviewed include business mergers and issues surrounding revenue recognition and financial instruments. Representatives of registrants and the accounting profession have had both positive and negative experiences with SEC's handling of accounting issues. Several representatives expressed concerns over the transparency of SEC's decision making process and SEC's use of accounting sources outside of generally accepted accounting procedures."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Children diagnosed with attention deficit disorders are often treated with stimulant medications, such as Ritalin or Adderall. These drugs are controlled substances under federal law because of their high potential for abuse. Many of these stimulant drugs must be taken several times a day to be effective, so children need medication during the school day. Concern has arisen that the increasing use of these medications in school might provide additional opportunities for drug abuse. No data exists on the extent to which attention disorder drugs have been diverted or abused at school, or the extent to which state laws or regulations guide local school officials in safely administering these drugs. Middle and high school principals reported little diversion or abuse of attention disorder drugs. For the first seven to nine months of school year 2000-2001, about eight percent of principals in public middle and high schools reported that attention disorder drugs had been diverted or abused at their school. Most of the principals reported that school officials administer attention disorder medications, with about two percent of the school's students on average being administered attention disorder drugs …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Voluntary compliance with tax laws, the foundation of the U.S. tax system, could be undermined if the public perceives that federal workers and former federal workers successfully evade their tax obligations. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records indicate that federal workers and annuitants, and IRS workers in particular, appear to be more compliant in meeting their tax responsibilities than the general population. Nonetheless, IRS records indicate that some federal workers and annuitants are not fulfilling their tax responsibilities and owe the federal government about $2.5 billion in outstanding taxes. In its attempt to improve management and collection of federal taxes owed by federal workers and annuitants, IRS faces the same issues hindering its ability to manage and collect unpaid taxes of the general population. With respect to IRS' efforts to improve compliance among federal workers and annuitants, IRS must first be able to determine how effective its program for this purpose has been and what, if any, modifications are needed to ensure that the program meets its objectives."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed the state-level version of the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS-ST) model as an investment-analysis tool for highway planning at the state level. FHWA officials believe that some state departments of transportation will find the analysis that the HERS-ST model produces useful because it demonstrates the potential results of highway investment decisions from an economic point of view. FHWA is conducting a pilot project for its prototype HERS-ST model with states that volunteered to test the model. FHWA distributed to these states HERS-ST software, technical manuals, and sets of state highway data with which to run the model. FHWA then provided an overall orientation and technical training and addressed states' questions during a workshop. Officials from a sample of the states planning to participate reported that they are primarily interested in taking advantage of the model's use of benefit-cost analysis to assess alternative highway improvements. If the pilot project shows that states view the HERS-ST model as a useful tool, FHWA expects to upgrade the model for future users. In doing so, it would consider both enhancements that have already been …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This interim report reviews the implementation of the Department of Defense (DOD) Medicare Subvention Demonstration. GAO found that the demonstration sites were successful in operating Medicare managed care plans. Officials put substantial effort into meeting Medicare managed care requirements and, according to Health Care Financing Administration reviewers, were generally as successful as other new Medicare managed care plans in this regard. Most sites reached the enrollment limits they had established for retirees already covered by Medicare. DOD officials indicated that the demonstration's effect was positive. Enrollees received a broader range of services from DOD than in the past, when they got care only when space was available in DOD facilities. Officials also noted that providing more comprehensive care to seniors helped sharpen the skills of military clinical staff, which contributed to their readiness for supporting combat or other military missions. Some challenges encountered in the demonstration reflect larger DOD managed care issues and may have implications for DOD managed care generally. Although access to care was generally good, the demonstration experienced some problems in maintaining adequate clinical staff."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "People are the federal government's most valuable asset. Studies of private and public sector organizations have shown that high-performing organizations value and invest in their employees--human capital--and align their "people policies" to support organizational performance goals. In the federal government, however, strategic human capital management is a pervasive challenge. GAO has included human capital on its high-risk list. The Administration's emphasis on workforce planning and restructuring will require federal agencies to flatten their organizational hierarchy and improve their work processes. To optimize the services provided to citizens, federal employees must understand the link between their daily work and the results their organization seeks to achieve. For the initiatives GAO reviewed, agencies had to overcome organizational and cultural barriers, including a lack of trust, resistance to change and lack of buy-in from front-line employees and managers, and various implementation issues, such as workload demands. The agencies developed strategies to address these barriers, such as maintaining open communication and reassigning and hiring personnel. In implementing the practices to empower and involve employees, agencies identified a range of examples to demonstrate the performance improvements these efforts have accomplished."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. dairy farmers produced 167.7 billion pounds of unprocessed, raw milk in 2000. Federal and state dairy programs influence the minimum prices paid to farmers for raw milk. These prices are based on how the raw milk is to be used. Minimum prices set for raw milk to be used for making drinking milk (fluid milk) are higher than those for milk used for manufacturing cheese, butter, and other dairy products. About 70 percent of the raw milk produced in the United States is regulated under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) federal milk marketing order program. The 1996 farm bill established another pricing program -- the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (NEDC) -- which is run by a commission that sets a minimum price for raw milk sold as fluid milk in six New England states. The NEDC works in conjunction with federal and state dairy programs to establish an alternative minimum price for raw milk in the Compact states. When the monthly NEDC minimum price exceeds the federal marketing order or state minimum price, the NEDC price becomes the minimum price. Congress is now considering …

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 …

To assist in the characterization of microstructural changes associated with irradiation damage in low alloy steels, the technique of quantitative x-ray mapping using a field emission gun scanning transmission electron microscope (FEG-STEM) equipped with an x-ray energy Dispersive spectrometer (XEDS) has been employed. Quantitative XEDS microanalyses of the matrix and grain boundaries of irradiated specimens have been compared with previous quantitative analyses obtained using 3D-Atom Probe Field-Ion Microscopy (3D-APFIM). In addition, the FEG-STEM XEDS maps obtained from the irradiated steel have revealed the presence of 2 to 3 nm Ni-enriched 'precipitates' in the matrix, which had previously been detected using 3D-APFIM. These quantitative FEG-STEM XEDS results represent the first direct and independent microchemical corroboration of the 3D-APFIM results showing ultra-fine irradiation-induced hardening features in low alloy steel.

A proposed stave design for the D0 Run IIb silicon tracker outer layers featuring central cooling channels and a composite shell mechanical structure is evaluated for self-deflection and deflection due to external loads. This paper contains an introduction to the stave structure, a section devoted to composite lamina and laminate properties and finally a section discussing the beam deflections expected for assembled staves using these laminates.

Our goal is to improve geophysical imaging of the vadose zone. We will achieve this goal by providing new methods to improve interpretation of field data. The purpose of this EMSP project is to develop relationships between laboratory measured geophysical properties and porosity, saturation, and fluid distribution, for partially saturated soils. Algorithms for relationships between soil composition, saturation, and geophysical measurements will provide new methods to interpret geophysical field data collected in the vadose zone at sites such as Hanford, WA.

Reconciliation report with an ending account balance of $454.75 reconciled for the period ending on July 14, 2001.

Reconciliation report with an ending account balance of $454.75 reconciled for the period ending on July 14, 2001.

An assessment of the potential energy savings associated with the use of full-spectrum polarized lighting in a work space was initiated as part of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) New Technology Demonstration Program (NTDP) in 1997. This project was intended to provide information on the effectiveness and application of this technology that could help federal energy managers and other interested individuals determine whether this technology had benefits for their occupied spaces. The use of an actual mail processing/office work area provided the capability of evaluating the technologies effectiveness in the real world.

This report provides information required to be reported annually by the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-303-071 (3)(r)(ii)(F) and (3)(s)(ix) on the treatability studies conducted on the Hanford Site in 2000. These studies were conducted as required by WAC 173-303-071, ?Excluded Categories of Waste,? sections (3)(r) and (s). Unless otherwise noted, the waste samples were provided by and the treatability studies were performed for the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, P.O. Box 550, Richland, Washington 99352. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identification number for these studies is WA7890008967.

An assessment of the potential energy savings associated with the use of multi-layer light polarizing panels in an office space was initiated as part of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) New Technology Demonstration Program (NTDP) in 1997. This project was intended to provide information on the effectiveness and application of this technology that could help federal energy managers and other interested individuals determine whether this technology had benefits for their occupied spaces. The use of an actual working office area provided the capability of evaluating the technology's effectiveness in the real world.

This note will tabulate the desired phase and delay offsets for a Stacktail Momentum beam transfer function measurement as a function of beam energy and pickup leg. These phase and delay offsets were computed from beam transfer functions made around April 14, 2000. The StackTail system with these offsets will have a gain slope of about 10 MeV.

Manganese carbonyl complexes serve as hydrosilation precatalysts for selectively transforming a carbonyl group into a siloxy methylene or a fully reduced methylene group. Substrates of interest include (1) aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, silyl esters, and esters, and (2) their organometallic acyl counterparts. Three relevant catalytic reactions are shown. Two types of manganese precatalysts have been reported: (a) alkyl and acyl complexes (L)(C0){sub 4}MnR [L = CO, PPh{sub 3}; R = COCH{sub 3}, COPh, CH{sub 3}] and (b) halides (CO){sub 5}MnX and [(CO){sub 4}MnX]{sub 2} (X = Br, I). The former promote hydrosilation and deoxygenation catalysis; the latter promote dehydrogenative silation of alcohols and carboxylic acids as well as hydrosilation and deoxygenation of some metallocarboxylic acid derivatives. In every case studied, these Mn precatalysts are far more reactive or selective than traditional Rh(I) precatalysts.

Historical releases and subsequent migration of toxic metals and radionuclides within the soil and vadose zone at various sites over the DOE Complex pose serious technological challenges, including the design and implementation of cost-effective remediation and/or monitoring strategies. This requires knowledge of the fundamental processes that govern contaminant mobility and reactivity with their host materials. The main research objective of this project is to assess the effectiveness of uptake and retention of selected contaminants (Co, Cs, Pb, Sr, U, and Cr) on calcium carbonate (primarily calcite), with a focus on conditions and sorbent materials relevant to the Hanford Site. This includes detailed microscopic and spectroscopic characterization of carbonate coatings and caliche from the Hanford Site, combined with experimental determination of the uptake behavior of selected contaminants on calcite surfaces and consideration of factors influencing uptake behavior and retention. The methodology relies on spectroscopic, microscopic, mineralogical, and geochemical characterization of natural and analog materials, including spatially resolved X-ray fluorescence (micro- XRF) and X-ray absorption fine-structure (XAFS) spectroscopy of uptake products. A primary goal is to determine the reaction mechanisms that govern contaminant uptake by carbonates. The expected results will have direct application for assessing the role that calcium carbonate phases play …