A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The $24 billion Military Health System provided health care to over 8 million eligible beneficiaries. Although Congress has provided sizeable increases in funding for health care over the past few years, the Department of Defense (DOD) has needed supplemental appropriations for 6 of the last 8 fiscal years from 1994 to 2001 because its costs were higher than expected. The growing budgetary pressure increases the risk of not achieving the mission of the organization. DOD's military treatment facilities (MTF) represent over half of DOD's health care expenditures. The three MTF's reviewed have not effectively implemented internal control activities in the areas of eligibility, billings and collections, expired drugs, personal property management, and government purchase card usage. The three MTFs also did not identify all patients with third party insurance coverage. In addition, they frequently did not bill those insurers even when they knew that such coverage existed, thereby losing opportunities to collect millions of dollars of reimbursements for services. Ineffective physical and financial controls over personal property assets and indications of control breakdowns in the use of government purchase cards existed at the three facilities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Technical Assistance is an important means through which the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can influence how its program funds are spent; this assistance can range from training workshops to one-on-one assistance. GAO was asked to determine how many HUD technical assistance programs Congress has authorized and their cost; why HUD offers technical assistance programs and who provides and receives the services; and whether HUD program offices are overseeing and measuring the impact of their technical assistance programs as required."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Multilateral export control regimes are consensus-based, voluntary arrangements of supplier countries that produce technologies useful in developing weapons of mass destruction or conventional weapons. The regimes aim to restrict trade in these technologies to keep them from proliferating states or terrorists. The United States seeks to improve the effectiveness of these regimes. GAO was asked to (1) assess weaknesses of the four regimes and (2) identify obstacles faced in trying to strengthen them."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The six states reviewed had in place a variety of protections, established prior to the economic downturn, to assist unemployed individuals in maintaining health insurance coverage: State-mandated continuation coverage, which required small businesses to extend their group health coverage to former employees and their families who choose to pay for it. Guaranteed conversion, which required insurers to allow eligible individuals to convert their group coverage to individual health insurance policies. Guaranteed issue, which required insurers to offer coverage to those who did not have access to group coverage or public insurance. High-risk pools, state-created associations that offered comprehensive health insurance benefits to individuals with acute or chronic health conditions. However, individuals usually bore the full cost of the premiums, which was usually higher than their premium cost under employer-sponsored plans. For individuals who relied on unemployment benefits as their principal income, premiums absorbed a significant share of the benefit."

The kinetics of growth and superconducting properties of Nb{sub 3}Sn are investigated as a function of the heat treatment (HT) duration and temperature for Internal Tin and Powder-in-Tube strands at 650, 700 and 750 C. For all times and temperatures, the Nb{sub 3}Sn layer thickness is measured, the critical current at 4.2 K is tested as a function of magnetic field, and the upper critical field is evaluated. Results of the layer critical current density are also shown as a function of HT duration and temperature.

Seeks to economically eliminate the environmental concerns associated with the use of fossil fuels.

The integrated calorimetry environment of CDF Run 2 comprises the Run 1 sampling scintillator calorimeters, electromagnetic preshower and shower maximum detectors, new scintillating-fiber endplug detectors, radioactive source calibration systems, dedicated trigger paths, and new custom front-end electronics. Together they form a general-purpose calorimetry system which was successfully commissioned in 2000/2001. The initial performance is described here, along with a glimpse of first CDF Run 2 data.

Direct CP violation in nonleptonic hyperon decays can be established by comparing the decays of hyperons and anti-hyperons. For {Xi} decay to {Lambda} {pi} followed by {Lambda} to p{pi}, the proton distribution in the rest frame of Lambda is governed by the product of the decay parameters {alpha}{sub {Xi}} {alpha}{sub {Lambda}}. The asymmetry A{sub {Xi}{Lambda}}, proportional to the difference of {alpha}{sub {Xi}}{alpha}{sub {Lambda}} of the hyperon and anti-hyperon decays, vanishes if CP is conserved. We report on an analysis of a fraction of 1997 and 1999 data collected by the Hyper CP (E871) collaboration during the fixed-target runs at Fermilab. The preliminary measurement of the asymmetry is {Alpha}{sub {Xi}{Lambda}} = [-7 {+-} 12(stat) {+-} 6.2(sys)] x 10{sup -4}, an order of magnitude better than the present limit.

Azimuthal correlations for large transverse momentum charged hadrons have been measured over a wide pseudo-rapidity range and full azimuth in Au+Au and p+p collisions at = {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV. The small-angle correlations observed in p+p collisions and at all centralities of Au+Au collisions are characteristic of hard-scattering processes already observed in elementary collisions. A strong back-to-back correlation exists for p+p and peripheral Au + Au. In contrast, the back-to-back correlations are reduced considerably in the most central Au+Au collisions, indicating substantial interaction as the hard-scattered partons or their fragmentation products traverse the medium.

I describe the CKM experiment, a new initiative using the Fermilab Main Injector to obtain {approx} 100 events of the ultra-rare decay mode K{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{nu}{bar {nu}}. The branching ratio will be used to extract |V*{sub ts}V{sub td}|. Due to the decay mode's theoretical cleanliness, it plays a key role in over-constraining the Standard Model description of CP violation.

The primary mission for the SFR is the management of high-level wastes, and in particular, management of plutonium and other actinides. The Generation IV Roadmap Fuel Cycle Crosscut Group (FCCG) found that the limiting factor facing an essential role for nuclear energy with the once-through cycle is the availability of repository space worldwide [FCCG Report]. This becomes an important issue, requiring new repository development in only a few decades. Systems that employ a fully closed fuel cycle hold the promise to reduce repository space and performance requirements, although their costs must be held to acceptable levels. Closed fuel cycles, working alone or symbiotically with systems using a once-through cycle, permit partitioning the nuclear waste and management of each partitioned fraction. In the longer term, beyond 50 years, or if major new missions requiring nuclear energy production (such as a major growth in the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier) develop, uranium resource availability also becomes a limiting factor unless breakthroughs occur in mining or extraction technologies. Fast spectrum reactors have the ability to utilize almost all of the energy in the natural uranium versus the 1% utilized in thermal spectrum systems.

Results of searches performed by CDF and D0 are presented. Most of the results are based on data taken during the 1994-95 data taking period (Run I), but some preliminary results from the current data taking period (Run II) are included.

Forest productivity is one manner to sequester carbon and it is a renewable energy source. Likewise, efficient use of fertilization can be a significant energy savings. To date, site-specific use of fertilization for the purpose of maximizing forest productivity has not been well developed. Site evaluation of nutrient deficiencies is primarily based on empirical approaches to soil testing and plot fertilizer tests with little consideration for soil water regimes and contributing site factors. This project uses mass flow diffusion theory in a modeling context, combined with process level knowledge of soil chemistry, to evaluate nutrient bioavailability to fast-growing juvenile forest stands growing on coastal plain Spodosols of the southeastern U.S. The model is not soil or site specific and should be useful for a wide range of soil management/nutrient management conditions. In order to use the model, field data of fast-growing southern pine needed to be measured and used in the validation of the model. The field aspect of the study was mainly to provide data that could be used to verify the model. However, we learned much about the growth and development of fast growing loblolly. Carbon allocation patterns, root shoot relationships and leaf area root relationships proved to …

The current silicon devices being used by the D0 and CDF collaborations for the Tevatron Run 2a, which is expected to end in 2005 after accumulating about 2 fb{sup -1} of data, will need to be replaced due to radiation damage for the following data collection period designated as Run 2b. We will discuss these silicon replacement plans, the more uniform design of the detectors between D0 and CDF, and the current status of their fabrication.

At the beginning of 2002 a new data taking with an upgraded trigger system started for the CDF collaboration. One of the major improvements is the track trigger. A fast processor reconstructs tracks in the central drift chamber and the Silicon Vertex Tracker combines these tracks with the silicon vertex detector information to have track parameters with a precision as good as the offine reconstruction. This system allows CDF to trigger on tracks significantly displaced from the primary vertex with high efficiency for signal events like charm and beauty and to keep low background rates. The performances, in terms of resolution and efficiency, of both the processors are illustrated and the firsts physics results are discussed.

We present a cryomodule design for the superconducting linacs for the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator Facility (RIA). This paper discusses the design of a cryomodule for all the drift-tube-loaded superconducting cavities required for the machine. The same basic design will be used for the low and medium velocity sections of the driver linac and also for sections of the radioactive ion beam (RIB) linac. Fundamental design choices such as separate vs. common beam and insulating vacuum spaces are driven by the clean fabrication techniques required for optimum cavity performance. The design can be adapted to a variety of cavity geometries.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

This report contains a brief background and summary on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

The introduction of elevated {sup 14}C contamination into a natural radiocarbon sample preparation laboratory can occur through many different pathways. The most difficult to control is the introduction of contaminated samples from outside labs. Laboratories can remain {sup 14}C contaminated as a result of earlier tracer based research, even if ''hot'' work has not occurred in the laboratories in decades. Prior to accepting samples from outside collaborators, it is recommended that the collaborators test their labs for {sup 14}C contamination. Any surface in a lab that has high use by multiple people has the potential to be contaminated. The standard procedure for determining whether a collaborator's lab is contaminated consists of swiping lab surfaces with small glass fiber filters wetted with alcohol and measuring them for {sup 14}C content using AMS. Volatile {sup 14}C can be detected by using aerosol monitors consisting of fine soot that is depleted in {sup 14}C. These monitors can be set out in the laboratory in question to check for volatile {sup 14}C contamination. In the event that a hot sample is introduced in the natural radiocarbon sample prep laboratory, all sample submission should be stopped until the lab is declared clean. Samples already being …

We summarize recent Run 1 photon and jet measurements from p{bar b} collisions at {radical}s = 0.63 TeV and 1.8 TeV using data collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). First Run 2 results at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV are also presented together with predictions of the kinematic reach accessible with 15 fb{sup -1} of Run 2 data. Data are compared to the predictions of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD).

We report results of recent measurements of vibrations of the Tevatron collider elements and orbit movements over large diapason of frequencies.

This report provides information on the history of continuing resolutions; the nature, scope, and duration of CRs during the last 30 years; the various types of CRs that have been enacted; and an overview of those instances when budget authority has lapsed and a funding gap has resulted.

This report discusses air quality initiatives (such as the Ozone Transport Rule) that primarily focus on reducing and enforcing emissions from coal-fired electric generating utilities in the Midwest and South. The report also addresses various legislative activity that focuses on multi-pollutant strategies as an alternative to these piecemeal initiatives.

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