Several dairy issues that were debated during the 108th Congress are expected to continue as issues of interest in the 109th Congress. Separate bills were introduced in the 108th Congress to extend authority for both the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program and the dairy forward pricing pilot program, and to address dairy producer concerns about the importation of milk protein concentrates.

This report presents basic background information on the collapse of the Enron Corporation, identifying public policy issues in financial market oversight. This report briefly summarizes some federal laws carrying criminal penalties which may be implicated in the events surrounding the collapse of the Enron Corp. This report compares the auditing and accounting reform measures passed by the House (H.R. 3763) and reported by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. This report compares the major provisions of three auditor and accounting reform proposals: H.R. 3763, S. 2673, and a rule proposed on June 20, 2002, by the SEC that would create a new auditor oversight board by using the SEC’s existing authority to regulate corporate accounting. The report focuses on Section 404(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal statute that regulates employer-sponsored pension plans. Section 404(a) is considered the “touchstone for understanding the scope and object of an ERISA fiduciary’s duties.”

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There is a likelihood of large reserves of crude oil and natural gas in the Caspian Sea region, and a consequent large increase in oil and natural gas production from that area. Because diversity of energy sources is a consideration in Congressional deliberations on energy policy, this prospect could play a role in such discussions. However, there are notable obstacles to increases in Caspian Sea region production of oil and gas that may slow development.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, consolidated, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees.

This report discusses the developments in Iranian foreign policy, their involvement with terrorist organizations, the developments made with respect to weapons of mass destruction, and human rights concerns. It also details the Bush Administration's efforts to maintain the sanctions put in place by the Clinton Administration.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 25.3 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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Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the wake of the Enron collapse and the proliferation of earnings restatements and pro forma earnings assertions by other companies, questions are being raised about the soundness of private sector financial reporting, auditor independence, and corporate governance. In addressing these issues, the government's role could range from direct intervention to encouraging non-governmental and private-sector entities to adopt practices that would strengthen public confidence. GAO believes that Congress should consider a holistic approach that takes into account the many players and interrelated issues that brought about the Enron situation."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) fiscal year 2003 budget request for the 2002 tax filing season. GAO found that IRS's plans for hiring and redirecting staff may be optimistic because budgets are prepared so far in advance of the fiscal year involved. IRS assumed (1) labor and nonlabor savings of 2,287 staff years and $157.5 million and (2) additional savings of $38.5 million from better business practices. IRS's justification does not always adequately link the resources being requested and the agency's performance goals. Although IRS provided adequate support to justify the $450 million request for its multiyear capital account for business systems modernization, it did not adequately support $1.63 billion of the $1.68 billion requested for its information systems. In the area of agency performance, GAO found that IRS has generally processed returns smoothly and seen continued growth in electronic filing. The one exception to smooth processing has been the large number of errors related to the rate reduction credit. IRS has had to correct millions of returns due to the credit, and taxpayers' call about the credit have greatly increased the demand on IRS's …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As in the past four years, GAO was unable to express an opinion on the federal government's consolidated financial statements for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 because of material weaknesses in internal control and accounting and reporting issues. These conditions prevented GAO from providing Congress and American citizens with an opinion as to whether the consolidated financial statements are fairly stated in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Until these problems are adequately addressed, the government will continue to have difficulty (1) reporting its assets, liabilities, and costs; (2) adequately measuring the full cost and financial performance of programs and effectively manage related operations; and (3) adequately safeguarding significant assets and and properly recording transactions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although pensions are an important source of income for many retirees, millions of workers lack individual pension coverage. Only half of the nation's workers have been covered by private employer-sponsored pensions since the 1970s. Traditional reforms to the voluntary, single-employer-based pension system have limited potential to expand pension coverage and improve worker benefits. These pension reforms have concentrated mainly on improving tax incentives and reducing the regulatory burden on small employers. Furthermore, efforts to increase retirement savings by restricting the use of lump-sum distributions could limit worker participation in and contributions to pension plans. Three categories of reform--pooled employer reforms, universal access reforms, and universal participation reforms--go beyond the voluntary, single-employer private pension system. Pooled employer reforms seek to increase the number of firms offering pension coverage by creating centralized third-party administration and increasing pension plan portability. Universal access reforms seek to boost savings by offering payroll-based accounts, albeit without mandating employer contributions. Universal participation reforms would mandate pension availability and participation for all workers, similar to the existing Social Security system."

Precipitation hardenable Al-Zn-Mg alloys are susceptible to hydrogen environment assisted cracking (HEAC) when exposed to aqueous environments. In Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys, overaged tempers are used to increase HEAC resistance at the expense of strength but overaging has little benefit in low copper alloys. However, the mechanism or mechanisms by which overaging imparts HEAC resistance is poorly understood. The present research investigated hydrogen uptake, diffusion, and crack growth rate in 90% relative humidity (RH) air for both a commercial copper bearing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy (AA 7050) and a low copper variant of this alloy in order to better understand the factors which affect HEAC resistance. Experimental methods used to evaluate hydrogen concentrations local to a surface and near a crack tip include nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), focused ion beam, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (FIB/SIMS) and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). Results show that overaging the copper bearing alloys both inhibits hydrogen ingress from oxide covered surfaces and decreases the apparent hydrogen diffusion rates in the metal.

This report describes work done by NCAR under the ''Refinement, Testing, and Application of an Integrated Data Assimilation/Sounding System (IDASS) for the DOE/ARM Experimental Program''. It includes a discussion of the goals, findings and a list of 27 journal articles, 92 non-refereed papers and 30 other presentations not associated with a formal publication.

A quasi one-dimensional (1-D) steady-state model of the Hall thruster is presented. For the same discharge voltage two operating regimes are possible -- with and without the anode sheath. For given mass flow rate, magnetic field profile and discharge voltage a unique solution can be constructed, assuming that the thruster operates in one of the regimes. However, we show that for a given temperature profile the applied discharge voltage uniquely determines the operating regime: for discharge voltages greater than a certain value, the sheath disappears. That result is obtained over a wide range of incoming neutral velocities, channel lengths and widths, and cathode plane locations. It is also shown that a good correlation between the quasi 1-D model and experimental results can be achieved by selecting an appropriate electron mobility and temperature profile.

Highly conductive ZnO films were fabricated on p-GaN in a two-step process. First, zinc was thermally evaporated on p-GaN. Next, zinc film was oxidized in oxygen flow. To increase the conductivity of ZnO, nitrogen was introduced into zinc during its deposition. The above procedure proved successful in fabricating ZnO of the resistivity of {approx}1 x 10{sup -3} {Omega}cm and resulted in ohmic contacts of resistivity {approx}1 x 10{sup -2} {Omega}cm{sup 2} to low-doped p-GaN, and light transmittance of {approx}75% in the wavelength range of 400-700 nm.

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In this paper the authors provide a motivation for Grid computing based on a vision to enable a collaborative research environment. The authors vision goes beyond the connection of hardware resources. They argue that with an infrastructure such as the Grid, new modalities for collaborative research are enabled. They provide an overview showing why Grid research is difficult, and they present a number of management-related issues that must be addressed to make Grids a reality. They list projects that provide solutions to subsets of these issues.

Neutralization of the ion beam charge and current is an important scientific issue for many practical applications. The process of ion beam charge and current neutralization is complex because the excitation of nonlinear plasma waves may occur. Computer simulation images of plasma neutralization of the ion beam pulse are presented.

This is a report by the 77th Legislature addressing electronic commerce conducted over the Internet and the collection of sales tax on remote transactions. The report focuses on how states treat taxable sales when technological innovation are changing the way retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers do business.

This report discusses how the decisions made by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in July 1997 impacted the process by which decisions are made by the agency. The new standards were subject to litigation, oversight hearings, and a Supreme Court ruling. Moreover, issues concerning implementation of the proposed air quality standards were raised.