A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Government Performance and Results Act calls for agencies to address human capital in the context of performance-based management. The act requires that annual performance plans describe how agencies will use their human capital to accomplish their goals and objectives. Designing, implementing, and maintaining a strategic human capital management focus are critical to maximizing performance and ensuring that government is accountable to the American people. GAO found that the human capital challenges described in fiscal year 2001 performance plans reflected the different levels of attention agencies are to pay this critical issue. GAO contends that the breadth, depth, and specificity of many related human capital goals and strategies needs to be increased. The plans' discussions of human capital increasingly need to focus on describing human capital challenges. The plans need to specify the what, why, how, and when of the strategies to address those challenges. The discussions should also better link human capital management and the agencies' strategic and program planning to maximize performance and ensure optimal resource allocation. Overall, the fiscal year 2001 plans showed that substantial opportunities exist for goals and strategies as they …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The military exchange services operate a wide range of retail activities, such as department stores, florist shops, barber and beauty shops, gas stations, and restaurants. Hamburger restaurants represent a major segment of the exchange services' name-brand, fast-food sales. The exchange services use either a direct or an indirect method to operate these restaurants. Under the direct method, the exchange service enters into a franchise agreement with a name-brand company to sell its product on a military installation. As the franchisee, the exchange service builds and operates the restaurant and directly employs and trains the personnel. In turn, the exchange service receives all of the revenues and profits and usually pays the company a licensing fee plus a percentage of the restaurant's sales. Under the indirect method, the exchange service contracts with a name-brand company that, in turn, builds the restaurant and either operates it as a company restaurant or provides a licensed operator. The company or its licensed operator hires, trains, and pays the restaurant personnel and usually pays annual fees and commissions to the exchange service on the basis of restaurant's sales. Under this agreement, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews trade adjustment assistance and other assistance programs, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement Transitional Adjustment Assistance (NAFTA-TAA) program, to determine if they have helped distressed communities deal with the adverse impacts of trade. GAO conducted case studies in six such trade-impacted communities, all of which experienced major trade-related plant closures and layoffs in the mid- to late-1990s. Two communities lost a large percentage of local jobs in sudden plant closures and experienced economic crises. The other communities experienced rolling layoffs or a series of smaller plant closures that dislocated as many or more workers but did so gradually. Experiences in the communities GAO visited indicate that Temporary Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and NAFTA-TAA assistance to dislocated workers, although substantial, could be implemented more effectively. Program administrators and training providers in each community said that the programs have structural problems that impede effective service delivery. One factor that influenced the implementation of training benefits in many communities is that a significant percentage of dislocated workers needed to earn a high school equivalency degree or take remedial courses before they could even start a …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which formally ended the Mexican-American War, the United States assumed control over vast new territories, including much of what is now the state of New Mexico. The United States agreed to recognize ownership of property, including the ownership of land grants, in the ceded areas. Whether the United States carried out the provisions of the treaty, especially with regard to community land grants, has been a controversial issue for generations. Land grant documents contained no direct reference to "community land grants," nor do Spanish and Mexican laws define or use this term. GAO did find, however, that some grants refer to lands set aside for general communal use or for specific purposes, such as hunting, maintaining pastures, wood gathering, or watering. Scholars, the land grant literature, and popular terminology commonly use the phrase "community land grants" to denote land grants that set aside common lands for the use of the entire community. GAO used this broad definition to determine which Spanish and Mexican land grants could be identified as community land grants. GAO identified 152 community land grants …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO confirmed differences among the United States, the United Kingdom, and France in the rates at which illnesses have been reported among their Gulf War veterans; their assessment of nuclear, biological, and chemical threats in the Gulf; and their preparations to meet them. However, because of differences in the experiences of the three sets of veterans, there is no single, unambiguous cause that can be identified for the reported illnesses. If multinational allies are to act in a coordinated fashion, they require a similar level of awareness of and preparation for the threats to be faced; otherwise, force protection and operational success could be jeopardized and the utility of some forces restricted. Gulf War Coalition members prepared for somewhat different threats and used different countermeasures. In addition, the U.S. lacked clear doctrine for timely and systematic warning of allied forces and U.S. ground troops about pending strikes on suspected nuclear, biological, and chemical targets."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Mobile Enforcement Team Program. GAO found that since the program was established in 1995, DEA has enhanced its management of the program and provided for greater headquarters oversight and monitoring. In implementing the program and carrying out deployments, the field division METs generally complied with some of the pertinent requirements and guidelines that GAO reviewed. However, some DEA headquarters files did not contain adequate documentation, GAO could not determine whether the METs consistently and adequately assessed the requesting local law enforcement agencies' abilities to address, on their own, the drug and related violence problems for which DEA's program assistance was requested. DEA expects the program to focus on specific, targeted gangs in the areas in which the METs are deployed and that deployments will generally continue until the targeted individuals are arrested and the targeted drug gangs have been disrupted or dismantled. Consistent with the nature and objectives of the program, investigators focused primarily on street-level drug dealers and were mostly local and regional in scope. DEA collects data on various performance measures to assess the results of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Invasive species--harmful, nonnative plants, animals, and microorganisms--are widespread throughout the United States, causing billions of dollars of damage annually to crops, rangelands, and waterways. An important part of pest control is quick action to eradicate or contain a potentially damaging invasive species. Federal rapid response to invasive species varies: species that threaten agricultural crops or livestock are far more likely to elicit a rapid response than those primarily affecting forestry or other natural areas, including rangelands and water areas. A major obstacle to rapid response is the lack of a national system to address invasive species. Other obstacles to rapid response include the need for additional detection systems to identify new species; improved partnerships among federal, state, and local agencies; and better technologies to eradicate invasive species. The Invasive Species Council's Management Plan makes several recommendations for improving rapid response, including developing a program of coordinated rapid response and pursuing increases in discretionary spending to support the program. A concerted effort to improve the rapid response is clearly needed. If properly implemented, the Council's recommendations will go a long way toward developing a national system to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "There has been little analysis of how the various Social Security reform proposals might affect the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program. This report assesses the potential impact of these proposals on the solvency of the DI trust fund. GAO found that most disabled beneficiaries would receive higher benefits under the various Social Security reform proposals it reviewed than under a solvency scenario that maintained payroll tax rates while reducing benefits. However, most of the disabled beneficiaries GAO studied would receive lower benefits under three of the reform proposals reviewed than under a solvency scenario that maintained current-law benefits while raising payroll taxes. The proposals GAO studied treat DI beneficiaries similar to Old-Age and Survivor Insurance beneficiaries. However, the circumstances facing disabled workers differ from those facing retired workers. The differences between disabled workers and retired workers suggest that Social Security reform proposals should be viewed not only in light of their effects on retired workers but also explicitly for their effect on disabled beneficiaries and their families."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) maintains millions of classified documents containing highly sensitive nuclear weapons design and production information. Allegations that the Peoples Republic of China obtained nuclear warhead designs from an employee of DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory, as well as the disappearance of two computer hard drives containing highly sensitive weapons information from that same laboratory, have raised concerns about how effectively DOE protects classified information, particularly the most sensitive classified information that is contained in vaults and computer systems. DOE's security program consists of many strategies for protecting and controlling classified information, such as controlling access to classified information through physical and administrative barriers and determining whether a person's work requires a "need to know" the information. DOE has recently increased protection for top-secret documents by revising its Classified Matter Protection and Control Manual, which provides detailed requirements for the protection and control of classified matter. This report reviews the (1) extent to which DOE's Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories have implemented DOE's established access controls and need-to-know requirements for classified vaults and computer systems containing the most sensitive classified information as …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report describes the financial and management impact of increasing physician reimbursement rates in TRICARE -- the military's managed health care program. GAO found that changing the TRICARE reimbursement rate nationally to the 70th percentile of billed charges would be costly, inflationary, and largely unnecessary. Such an increase could cost the Defense Department (DOD) and its beneficiaries an additional $604 million annually with DOD paying most of this. In addition, an across-the-board increase is unnecessary because the vast majority of military beneficiaries are getting the care they need from military and civilian doctors who accept TRICARE's reimbursement rates. Nevertheless, access is impaired in some remote and rural areas. DOD's use of its existing authority to increase reimbursement rates in one of those areas--rural Alaska--has not encouraged civilian physicians to treat TRICARE beneficiaries."

A report about volcano response plans. It discusses a four-level color code with successive conditions. For instance, green means no risk while red means an eruption is occurring.

This report contains the emergency food assistance program and emergency feeding needs.

This report briefly examines federal statutes which set out the authority which various federal agencies may have in a proposed merger or acquisition of electric utilities.

The Regulatory Data Quality Objectives (DQO) Supporting Tank Waste Remediation System Privatization Project (Wiemers et al. 1998a) was prepared to address the regulatory data needs for waste currently stored in double-shell and single-shell tanks that was generated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors. In the Regulatory DQO, 125 organic compounds and 48 inorganic constituents were identified as priority regulated constituents requiring additional tank waste characterization.

This report documents tests that were conducted to verify that the air monitoring system for the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility ventilation exhaust stack meets the applicable regulatory criteria regarding the placement of the air sampling probe, sample transport, and stack flow measurement accuracy.

An assessment of long-term performance of Category 3 waste-enclosing cement grouts requires data about the leachability/diffusion of radionuclide species (iodine-129, technetium-99, and uranium) when the waste forms come in contact with groundwater. Leachability data were collected by conducting dynamic (ANS-16.1) and static leach tests on radionuclide-containing cement specimens. The diffusivity of radionuclides in soil and concrete media was collected by conducting soil-soil and concrete-soil half-cell experiments.

The purpose of this catalog is to integrate all available soil physics data and information from vadose zone characterization and performance assessments into one useable, scientifically defensible document.

Metals have been identified as contaminants of concern for the Hanford Reach because of upriver mining, industrial activities, and past nuclear material production at the US Department of Energy's Hanford Site. This study was undertaken to better understand the occurrence and fate of metals in sediment disposition areas in the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

The purpose of this study was to determine the protection factor of the Lepestok-200 filtering facepiece respirator by conducting a standard quantitative fit test on a panel of 25 representative adults (14 males and 11 females) using the TSI Incorporated PortaCount PlusTM quantitative fit-testing system. Each subject was tested four times. In the total of 100 tests, 95% of the overall fit factors were greater than 3, more than 80% of the overall fit factors were greater than 14, approximately 50% were greater than 86, and 20% were greater than 200. The pass-fail performance of the respirator was similar for each of the six exercises in the test series: (1) normal breathing, (2) deep breathing, (3) moving the head side to side, (4) moving the head up and down, (5) reading a passage of text out loud, and (6) normal breathing, indicating that the respirator performs equally well for each type of exercise. A significant and sustained improvement in fit factor was observed after the initial test, indicating that the subjects benefited from the knowledge gained in the first of the four quantitative fit tests. In the 75 tests conducted after the initial test for each individual, 95% of the …

The purpose of this report is to provide a methodology for an increase in the efficiency and a decrease in the cost of vitrifying high-level waste (HLW) by optimizing HLW glass formulation. This methodology consists in collecting and generating a database of glass properties that determine HLW glass processability and acceptability and relating these properties to glass composition. The report explains how the property-composition models are developed, fitted to data, used for glass formulation optimization, and continuously updated in response to changes in HLW composition estimates and changes in glass processing technology. Further, the report reviews the glass property-composition literature data and presents their preliminary critical evaluation and screening. Finally the report provides interim property-composition models for melt viscosity, for liquidus temperature (with spinel and zircon primary crystalline phases), and for the product consistency test normalized releases of B, Na, and Li. Models were fitted to a subset of the screened database deemed most relevant for the current HLW composition region.

Vortec Corporation, the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) and DOE/Paducah propose to complete the technology demonstration and the implementation of the Material Handling System developed under Contract Number DE-AC21-92MC29120. The demonstration testing and operational implementation will be done at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The scope of work, schedule and cost for the activities are included in this proposal. A description of the facility to be constructed and tested is provided in Exhibit 1, attached. The USEC proposal for implementation at Paducah is presented in Exhibit 2, and the commitment letters from the site are included in Exhibit 3. Under our agreements with USEC, Bechtel Jacobs Corporation and DOE/Paducah, Vortec will be responsible for the construction of the demonstration facility as documented in the engineering design package submitted under Phase 4 of this contract on August 9, 2001. USEC will have responsibility for the demonstration testing and commercial implementation of the plant. The demonstration testing and initial commercial implementation of the technology will be achieved by means of a USEC work authorization task with the Bechtel Jacobs Corporation. The initial processing activities will include the processing of approximately 4,250 drums of LLW. Subsequent processing of LLW and TSCA/LLW will be …

This guide takes the science manager through the steps of planning, implementing, validating, communicating, and using case studies. It outlines the major methods of analysis, describing their relative merits and applicability while providing relevant examples and sources of additional information. Well-designed case studies can provide a combination of rich qualitative and quantitative information, offering valuable insights into the nature, outputs, and longer-term impacts of the research. An objective, systematic, and credible approach to the evaluation of U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science programs adds value to the research process and is the subject of this guide.

The objective and scope of this calculation is to create the appropriate parameter input for MING 1.0 (CSCI 30018 V1.0, CRWMS M&O 1998b) that will allow the testing of the results from the MING software code with both scientific measurements of microbial populations at the site and laboratory and with natural analogs to the site. This set of calculations provides results that will be used in model validation for the ''In-Drift Microbial Communities'' model (CRWMS M&O 2000) which is part of the Engineered Barrier System Department (EBS) process modeling effort that eventually will feed future Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) models. This calculation is being produced to replace MING model validation output that is effected by the supersession of DTN MO9909SPAMING1.003 using its replacement DTN MO0106SPAIDM01.034 so that the calculations currently found in the ''In-Drift Microbial Communities'' AMR (CRWMS M&O 2000) will be brought up to date. This set of calculations replaces the calculations contained in sections 6.7.2, 6.7.3 and Attachment I of CRWMS M&O (2000) As all of these calculations are created explicitly for model validation, the data qualification status of all inputs can be considered corroborative in accordance with AP-3.15Q. This work activity has been evaluated in accordance …

The Fe-16 at. (8.5 wt) % Al alloy, known as FAPY, has been identified as a superior material for heating element applications. However, while the 15-lb heats melted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) could be processed into wire, the large heat melted at Hoskins Manufacturing Company (Hoskins) could not be processed under commercial processing conditions. The primary objective of the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) was to demonstrate that wire of the FAPY alloy could be produced under commercial conditions from air-induction-melted (AIM) heats. The specific aspects of this CRADA included: (1) Melting 15-lb heats by AIM or vacuum-induction melting (VIM) at ORNL. (2) Development of detailed processing steps including warm drawing and annealing temperature and time during cold-drawing steps. (3) Melting of 1400-lb heats at Hoskins by the Exo-Melt{trademark} process and their chemical analysis and microstructural characterization. (4) Development of tensile properties of sections of ingots from the large heats in the ascast, hot-worked, and hot- and cold-worked conditions. (5) Microstructural characterization of cast and wrought structures and the fractured specimens. (6) Successful demonstration of processing of AIM heats at Hoskins to heating element wire. The aspects of this CRADA listed above have demonstrated that the …