Once hostilities end in Afghanistan and the Afghan phase of the war on terrorism starts to wind down, reconstruction efforts will begin in earnest. International attention will likely turn to Afghanistan’s short- and medium-term future, raising questions between the United States and its allies about division of labor, burdensharing, and exit strategies. It is anticipated that Congress will examine reconstruction efforts underway, aid priorities, long-term reconstruction proposals, and the implementation role to be played by the United States.

This report highlights six of the most pupular programs among a number of programs in Washington D.C., explain the workings of the national government to a diverse range of Americans, from middle school to senior citizens.

A number of programs in Washington, D.C., explain the workings of the national government to a diverse range of Americans, from middle school students to senior citizens. This report highlights six of the most popular programs.

In response to the foreign challenge in the global marketplace, the United States Congress has explored ways to stimulate technological advancement in the private sector. The government has supported various efforts to promote cooperative research and development activities among industry, universities, and the federal R&D establishment designed to increase the competitiveness of American industry and to encourage the generation of new products, processes, and services. Among the issues before Congress are whether joint ventures contribute to industrial competitiveness and what role, if any, the government has in facilitating such arrangements.

Hyperaccumulator plant species are able to accumulate between 1-5% of their biomass as metal. However, these plants are often small, slow growing, and do not produce a high biomass. Phytoextraction, a cost-effective, in situ, plant based approach to soil remediation takes advantage of the remarkable ability of hyperaccumulating plants to concentrate metals from the soil and accumulate them in their harvestable, above-ground tissues. However, to make use of the valuable genetic resources identified in metal hyperaccumulating species, it will be necessary to transfer this material to high biomass rapidly growing crop plants. These plants would then be ideally suited to the phytoremediation process, having the ability to produce large amount of metal-rich plant biomass for rapid harvest and soil cleanup. Although progress is being made in understanding the genetic basis of metal hyperaccumulation a more complete understanding will be necessary before we can take full advantage of the genetic potential of these plants.

DARHT utilizes a long pulse electron beam having a duration in excess of 2 microseconds. An electro-optic voltage sensor technology has been developed and commissioned to address this unique diagnostic environment. Over 200 sensors have demonstrated 0.25% accuracy. Deployment is expected in 2002.

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The objective of this work is to develop a more detailed mechanistic understanding of the thermal reactions that lead to gas production in certain high-level waste storage tanks at the Hanford, Washington site. Prediction of the combustion hazard for these wastes and engineering parameters for waste processing depend upon both a knowledge of the composition of stored wastes and the changes that they undergo as a result of thermal and radiolytic decomposition. Since 1980 when Delagard first demonstrated that gas production (H2and N2O initially, later N2 and NH3)in the affected tanks was related to oxidative degradation of metal complexants present in the waste, periodic attempts have been made to develop detailed mechanisms by which the gases were formed. These studies have resulted in the postulation of a series of reactions that account for many of the observed products, but which involve several reactions for which there is limited, or no, precedent. For example, Al(OH)4 has been postulated to function as a Lewis acid to catalyze the reaction of nitrite ion with the metal complexants, NO is proposed as an intermediate, and the ratios of gaseous products may be a result of the partitioning of NO between two or more reactions. …

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We assume a spheromak configuration can be made and sustained by a steady gun current, which injects particles, current and magnetic field, i.e., helicity injection. The equilibrium is calculated with an MHD equilibrium code, where an average beta of 10% is found. The toroidal current of 40 MA is sustained by an injection current of 100 kA (125 MW of gun power). The flux linking the gun is 1/1000th that of the flux in the spheromak. The geometry allows a flow of liquid, either molten salt, (flibe-Li{sub 2}BeF{sub 4} or flinabe-LiNaBeF{sub 4}) or liquid metal such as SnLi which protects most of the walls and structures from neutron damage. The free surface between the liquid and the burning plasma is heated by bremsstrahlung and optical radiation and neutrons from the plasma. The temperature of the free surface of the liquid is calculated and then the evaporation rate is estimated. The impurity concentration in the burning plasma is estimated and limited to a 20% reduction in the fusion power. For a high radiating edge plasma, the divertor power density of 460 MW/m{sup 2} is handled by high-speed (20 m/s), liquid jets. For low radiating edge plasmas, the divertor-power density of 1860 …

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The thermodynamic characterization of the wax point of a given crude is essential in order to maintain flow conditions that prevent plugging of undersea pipelines. This report summarizes the efforts made towards applying an Acoustic Cavity Resonance Spectrometer (ACRS) to the determination of pressures and temperatures at which wax precipitates from crude. Phillips Petroleum Company, Inc., the CRADA participant, supplied the ACRS. The instrumentation was shipped to Dr. Thomas Schmidt of ORNL, the CRADA contractor, in May 2000 after preliminary software development performed under the guidance of Dr. Samuel Colgate and Dr. Evan House of the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Upon receipt it became apparent that a number of modifications still needed to be made before the ACRS could be precisely and safely used for wax point measurements. This report reviews the sequence of alterations made to the ACRS, as well as defines the possible applications of the instrumentation once the modifications have been completed.

This report provides an overview and policy analysis of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the Philippines and the Philippine-U.S. program of military cooperation against it. It examines the origins and operations of Abu Sayyaf, the efforts of the Philippine government and military to eliminate it, and the implications of a greater U.S. military role in attempts to suppress it.

Some policymakers, believing that disparities in broadband access across American society could have adverse economic and social consequences on those left behind, assert that the federal government should play a more active role to avoid a “digital divide” in broadband access. One approach is for the federal government to provide financial assistance to support broadband deployment in underserved areas. Others, however, believe that federal assistance for broadband deployment is not appropriate. Some opponents question the reality of the “digital divide,” and argue that federal intervention in the broadband marketplace would be premature and, in some cases, counterproductive.

The end of the Cold War and its impact on defense spending has created a strong need to reform Department of Defense’s (DOD) acquisition system. With procurement spending down, DOD expects to depend on savings from acquisition reform to help finance future force modernization. Policymakers believe that DOD should use more commercial products because, in many instances, they cost less and their quality is comparable to products built according to DOD military specifications. Many such reform proposals are based on recognition that DOD regulatory barriers and a Cold War acquisition “culture” have inhibited the introduction of commercial products.

This report details the constitutional standards that currently apply to indirect aid programs and summarizes all of the pertinent state and federal court decisions, including the Ohio case that will be heard by the Supreme Court. On September 25, 2001, the Supreme Court agreed to review a case raising the controversial issue of the constitutionality of education vouchers. In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris the Sixth Circuit held Ohio’s Pilot Scholarship Program, which provided up to $2500 to help low-income students in Cleveland’s public schools attend private schools in the city, to violate the establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment.

The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) and the Federal Power Act (FPA) were enacted to eliminate unfair practices and other abuses by electricity and gas holding companies by requiring federal control and regulation of interstate public utility holding companies. Comprehensive energy legislation has passed the House and Senate. The House passed H.R. 6 on April 11, 2003. On July 31, 2003, the Senate suspended debate on S. 14, inserted the text of H.R. 4 (107th Congress) as a substitute, and passed H.R. 6. A conference agreement was reached November 17, 2003, and passed by the House the next day. H.R. 6 includes an electricity title that would, in part, repeal PUHCA, would prospectively repeal the mandatory purchase requirement under PURPA, and would create an electric reliability organization. On June 15, 2004, H.R. 4503, a comprehensive energy policy bill, passed the House.

Three electronic personal dosimeters (EPD-N) manufactured by Siemens, serial numbers 0635, 0658, and 0683, were tested at the Radiation Calibration Laboratory for an evaluation of their response to neutron, gamma and x-ray radiation. Designed to provide real-time neutron and photon dosimetry, the EPD-N is capable of estimating and displaying neutron and gamma dose components separately for a range of energies from 50 keV to 7 MeV for photon and 0.025 eV to > 10 MeV for neutron. All tests were conducted using the factory calibrations. A technical representative of the manufacturer indicated that site-specific calibrations are required as factory settings are calibrated for the lowest neutron energy limit of 0.025 eV. This raises concerns about the reliability of these devices in measuring neutrons when calibrations are made for a specific site radiological characterization then used at another site.

Omnibus energy legislation (H.R. 4) that is now in conference would expand energy tax incentives significantly. The House passed the bill on August 2, 2001, and the Senate approved its version April 25, 2002. Several energy tax issues are addressed in these bills: 1) tax incentives to increase the supply of oil and gas, and the demand for coal; 2) energy tax issues relating to energy conservation and energy efficiency; 3) energy tax issues relating to alternative fuels; 4) selected issues relating to electricity restructuring; and 5) expiring energy tax provisions.

The Pennsylvania State University, under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory will establish, promote, and manage a national industry-driven Stripper Well Consortium (SWC) that will be focused on improving the production performance of domestic petroleum and/or natural gas stripper wells. The consortium creates a partnership with the U.S. petroleum and natural gas industries and trade associations, state funding agencies, academia, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This report serves as the ninth quarterly technical progress report for the SWC. Key activities for this reporting period include: (1) organizing and hosting two fall technology transfer meetings, (2) SWC membership class expansion, and (3) planning the SWC 2003 Spring meeting. In addition, a literature search that focuses on the use of lasers, microwaves, and acoustics for potential stripper well applications continued.

A linear lens can focus a cold beam to a singular point. Unfortunately, this ideal situation would never occur in the real world. Besides nonlinearity of the lens, any deviation of the beam parameters from the ideal beam's nominal beam parameters would lead to nonzero final spot size. In other words, the final spot size of a beam focused by a focusing lens with a given focusing strength depends on its beam parameters, such as the emittance, variations in beam current, energy, envelope and envelope slopes, and nonlinearity of the focusing lens. There are many types of final focusing systems. We consider only the system using a ''thin'' solenoid lens in this notes. Generally, the net focusing force in a solenoid focusing system is not sensitive to the beam current for an emittance dominated beam. For simplicity, we will ignore the space charge forces in the discussion, and focus on the contributions of beam emittance, energy variation and nonlinearity of the lens to the final spot size here.

The stability of interfaces in lamellar TiAl (or TiAl/Ti{sub 3}Al laminate composite) by straining at ambient temperatures has been investigated using in-situ staining techniques performed in a transmission electron microscope in order to obtain direct evidence to support the previously proposed creep mechanisms in refined lamellar TiAl based upon the interface sliding in association with the cooperative motion of interfacial dislocations. It has been reported previously that the mobility of interfacial dislocations can play a crucial role in the creep deformation behavior of refined lamellar TiAl [1,2]. Since the operation of lattice dislocations within refined {alpha}{sub 2} and {gamma} lamellae is largely restricted, the motion of interfacial dislocations becomes the major strain carrier for plasticity. Results of ex-situ TEM investigation have revealed the occurrence of interface sliding in low-stress (LS) creep regime and deformation twinning in high-stress (HS) creep regime. These results have led us to propose that interface sliding associated with a viscous glide of pre-existing interfacial dislocations is the predominant creep mechanism in LS regime and interface-activated deformation twinning in {gamma} lamellae is the predominant creep mechanism in HS regime. Stress concentration resulted from the pileup of interfacial dislocations is suggested to be the cause for the interface-activated …

This report discusses India - U.S relations, and its bilateral issues.