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This issue brief views reorganization and management as involving the alteration of the program administrative structure and operations of the executive branch for reasons of efficiency, economy, and direction. The underlying issue is who reorganizes or sets management policy—Congress or the President— and by what authority and, also, for what purpose?

This report provides information about the Proposals for Change on Federal Deposit and Share Insurance since deposit insurance for holders of accounts at banks and thrift institutions are under scrutiny for the last several congresses.

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Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) (P.L. 105-220), the country’s chief job training legislation, authorizes several job training programs, including Youth, Adult, and Dislocated Worker Activities; Job Corps; Youth Opportunity Grants; and programs for Native Americans, migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and veterans. The funding authorization for WIA programs expires on September 30,2003. On March 6, 2003, the Administration released its proposal for reauthorization of the Title I programs. On March 27, 2003, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved H.R. 1261, as amended, the Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 2003. In addition to reauthorizing the Title I job training programs, the bill would also reauthorize the adult education and literacy programs and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This report focuses on provisions related to the Title I programs.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 29.4 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of the world's population but more than 70% of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.

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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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) program, managed by the General Services Administration (GSA), provides local telecommunications services to government agencies in selected metropolitan areas. Of the 25 cities in which MAA contracts were awarded as of January 2003, 15 were awarded to two or more providers. Such multiple-award contracts are a means of promoting competition. To ensure equity in the award of task orders under these contracts, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires that the government provide contractors a fair opportunity to be considered. GAO was asked to review, among other things, whether GSA's implementation of the fair consideration process is consistent and the effect of any inconsistency, as well as the adequacy of GSA's documentation to support the decisions reached."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Wildfires burn millions of acres annually. Most burnt land can recover naturally, but a small percentage needs short-term emergency treatment to stabilize burnt land that threatens public safety, property, or ecosystems or longer-term treatments to rehabilitate land unlikely to recover naturally. The Department of the Interior (Interior) and the Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Forest Service--the two departments that manage most federal land--spend millions of dollars annually on such treatments. GAO was asked to (1) describe the two departments' processes for implementing their programs, (2) identify the costs and types of treatments implemented, and (3) determine whether these treatments are effective."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In October 2002, we reported the results of our audit of selected internal control activities at three military treatment facilities: Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia; Naval Medical Center-Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia; and Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas. As part of our work for that report, we requested data files of all patients who had been admitted, treated as outpatients, or received pharmaceutical benefits during fiscal year 2001. Despite considerable effort by the three facilities, only Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center was able to provide a file of beneficiaries who received pharmaceuticals during the year. We compared this file to data in the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Death Master File as a technique to identify instances of potential fraud or abuse. For Wilford Hall, we identified 41 cases in which a prescription was ordered for an individual after the date of his or her death as recorded in the SSA Death Master File. Congress requested that we determine whether individuals fraudulently obtained pharmaceuticals or other health benefits by assuming the identity of a dead person, and, if so, to identify the specific breakdowns in …

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As part of Task 1 in Advanced Technologies for Stripper Gas Well Enhancement, Schlumberger Data & Consulting Services (DCS) joined with two Appalachian Basin producers, Great Lakes Energy Partners, LLC, and Belden & Blake Corporation to develop methodologies for identification and enhancement of stripper wells with economic upside potential. These industry partners previously provided us with data for more than 700 wells in northwestern Pennsylvania. Phase 1 goals of this project are to develop and validate methodologies that can quickly and cost-effectively identify wells with enhancement potential. We have enhanced and streamlined our software, and we are using the final version of our new Microsoft{trademark} Access/Excel programs. During the last quarter of 2002, we received additional data for approximately 2,200 wells from Great Lakes. This information pertains to their Cooperstown field located in northwestern Pennsylvania. We recognized approximately 130 potential remediation candidates, and Great Lakes' personnel are currently reviewing this list for viable remediation. This field has provided a rigorous test of our software and analytical methods. We have processed all the information provided to us including the Cooperstown data. Great Lakes also provided supplemental data listing the original operator of the wells. We have determined whether a statistically significant …

Specimen charging may be one of the most significant factors that contribute to the high variability generally low quality of images in cryo-electron microscopy. Understanding the nature of specimen charging can help in devising methods to reduce or even avoid its effects and thus improve the rate of data collection as well as the quality of the data. We describe a series of experiments that help to characterize the charging phenomenon which has been termed the Berriman effect. The pattern of buildup and disappearance of the charge pattern have led to several suggestions for how to alleviate the effect. Experiments are described that demonstrate the feasible of such charge mitigation.

This report briefly describes the role of the Senate in the confirmation process, defined in the Constitution; Article II, Section 2 provides that the President "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint high government officials."

The effects of structural perturbation on second harmonic generation in collagen were investigated. Type I collagen fascicles obtained from rat tails were structurally modified by increasing nonenzymatic cross-linking, by thermal denaturation, by collagenase digestion, or by dehydration. Changes in polarization dependence were observed in the dehydrated samples. Surprisingly, no changes in polarization dependence were observed in highly crosslinked samples, despite significant alterations in packing structure. Complete thermal denaturation and collagenase digestion produced samples with no detectable second harmonic signal. Prior to loss of signal, no change in polarization dependence was observed in partially heated or digested collagen.

The offshore production of oil and gas leads to naturally occurring {sup 226,228}Ra being brought to the surface along with produced water. Assessment of potential environmental exposures, if any, requires accurate, precise and practical methods for the measurement of low concentrations of {sup 226,228}Ra. A method for the simultaneous measurement of {sup 226,228}Ra in marine sediments, biota and produced water at a sensitivity of 0.01 pCi/g using high-sensitivity, high-resolution gamma spectrometry was subjected to an interlaboratory exercise using U.S. commercial laboratories to validate its accuracy, precision, robustness, and sample throughput. The prescribed method involves direct counting for solid samples and a simple Pb({sup 133}Ba,Ra)SO{sub 4} co-precipitation procedure for water samples followed by gamma counting. Analytical results received from the participating laboratories were subjected to data analysis and statistical evaluation to validate the overall performance of the prescribed method. Relatively good precision and high accuracy of data were achieved when the participating laboratories followed the prescribed procedure closely. The consistency of results among laboratories was not correlated to the {sup 226,228}Ra concentrations in the samples. Most of the results that failed the acceptance criteria were either due to the absence of geometric and secular equilibrium between {sup 226}Ra and its signature …

Thank you for your interest in the activities of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Computation Directorate. This collection of articles from the Laboratory's Science & Technology Review highlights the most significant computational projects, achievements, and contributions during 2002. In 2002, LLNL marked the 50th anniversary of its founding. Scientific advancement in support of our national security mission has always been the core of the Laboratory. So that researchers could better under and predict complex physical phenomena, the Laboratory has pushed the limits of the largest, fastest, most powerful computers in the world. In the late 1950's, Edward Teller--one of the LLNL founders--proposed that the Laboratory commission a Livermore Advanced Research Computer (LARC) built to Livermore's specifications. He tells the story of being in Washington, DC, when John Von Neumann asked to talk about the LARC. He thought Teller wanted too much memory in the machine. (The specifications called for 20-30,000 words.) Teller was too smart to argue with him. Later Teller invited Von Neumann to the Laboratory and showed him one of the design codes being prepared for the LARC. He asked Von Neumann for suggestions on fitting the code into 10,000 words of memory, and flattered him about ''Labbies'' …

We have reexamined Ge-doped CH and have found that the material is more reactive to air than previously understood. The Ge-doped material as formed shows by IR the presence of a Ge-H linkage that oxidizes rapidly, giving rise to a significant OH absorption. This broad peak impacts IR layering wavelengths of interest.