The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan emerging from more than 22 years of warfare, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the orthodox Islamist Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Osama bin Laden. As the war against remaining Al Qaeda and Taliban elements winds down, the United States is shifting its military focus toward stabilizing the interim government, including training a new Afghan national army, and supporting the international security force (ISAF) that is helping the new government provide security.

This report discusses the issue of U.S. economic assistance to sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the importance of continued assistance in light of U.S. national security and also various U.S.-led efforts to promote reform amongst African citizens themselves. U.S. assistance finds its way to Africa through a variety of channels, including the USAID-administered DA program, food aid programs, and indirect aid provided through international financial institutions and the United Nations.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, 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 Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittees.

This Report is categorized into four categories: (I) Background, (II) Description of the Restructuring Program, (III) Implementation of the Restructuring Program and (IV) Conclusion.

One of the least controversial provisions of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-163) established corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for new passenger cars. This report presents a brief background and analysis regarding the price of crude oil that brought into sharp focus the fuel inefficiency of U.S. automobiles. The report also discusses the previous issues and the most recent developments regarding CAFE.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "According to United Nations data, Cambodia has received more than $3 billion in assistance since 1993. Although Cambodia has achieved relative peace and stability, continued widespread corruption and a weak judicial system undermine efforts to reduce poverty and foster economic growth. Since 1993, the United States has provided Cambodia with over $200 million to reduce poverty and foster economic growth. This assistance has included programs to strengthen democracy, improve education and health care, and address problems posed by land mines. To address weaknesses in Cambodia's economic, social, and legal foundations, the Cambodian government and international donors of financial and technical assistance have established goals for strengthening governance in seven areas: increasing government revenue and strengthening budget management; creating a smaller, more professional military; providing Cambodian citizens with legal titles to land; developing Cambodia's weak legal framework and establishing an independent and competent judiciary; reducing risks in corrupt activities in the public sector and making public officials more accountable for their behavior; restructuring the civil service so that it can effectively provide services such as health care, primary education, and licenses to begin businesses; and preserving Cambodia's …

Experiments conducted in FY01 previously indicated a potential cesium stripping problem in the CSSX process due to the presence of nitrite in the waste simulant. The stripping issue seemed all the more important as the nitrite concentration increased. Experiments presented in this work have demonstrated that the true reason for the cesium stripping problem was in fact the presence of an anti-caking agent in the,sodium nitrite. used for the preparation of the simulants. The anti-caking agent is actually a mixture of well-known surfactants, sodium mono- and di-methyl naphthalene sulfonate that can partition into the organic-phase on extraction, then retain cesium upon stripping. The effect was demonstrated by adding known amounts of the anti-caking agent to clean systems. Data suggest that rejuvenation of the solvent can be obtained by a caustic wash following the stripping stage.

An extension of the model developed in FY01 for predicting equilibrium distribution ratios in the Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) process is presented here. Motivation for extending the model arose from the need to predict extraction performance of the recently optimized solvent composition and the desire to include additional waste components. This model involves the extraction of cesium and potassium from different cesium, potassium, and sodium media over a large range of concentrations. Those different media include a large variety of anions such as nitrate, hydroxide, nitrite, chloride, fluoride, sulfate, and carbonate. The model was defined based on several hundreds of experimental data points and predicted satisfactorily the cesium extraction from five different SRS waste simulants. This process model encompassed almost exclusively 1:1:1 metal:anion:ligand species. Fluoride, sulfate, and carbonate species were found to be very little extractable, and their main impact is reflected through their activity effects. This model gave a very good cesium and potassium extraction prediction from sodium salts, which is what is needed when trying to predict the behavior from actual waste. However, the extraction from potassium or cesium salts, and the extraction of sodium could be improved, and some additional effort was devoted to improve the thermodynamic …

This project seeks to improve the basic understanding of the role of colloids in facilitating the transport of contaminants in the vadose zone. We focus on three major thrusts: (1) thermodynamic stability and mobility of colloids formed by reactions of sediments with highly alkaline tank waste solutions, (2) colloid-contaminant interactions, and (3) in situ colloid mobilization and colloid-facilitated contaminant transport occurring in both contaminated and uncontaminated Hanford sediments. The specific objectives that will be addressed are: (1) Determine the liability and thermodynamic stability of colloidal materials, which form after reacting Hanford sediments with simulated Hanford Tank Waste. (2) Determine the potential of Hanford sediments for in situ mobilization of colloids for different types of sediments and different leaching scenarios. (3) Characterize the interactions between initially-formed colloids, their dissolution/alteration products, and native colloidal particles with contaminants in batch experiments under various ionic strength and pH conditions. (4) Evaluate colloid-facilitated radionuclide transport through sediments under different degrees of water saturation in packed and undisturbed sediment columns. (5) Implement colloid-facilitated contaminant transport mechanisms and thermodynamic stability constants into a reactive chemical transport model, and verify model simulations with experimental transport data. Results of this project will help to understand the fundamental mechanisms of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense reports that is has been faced with difficulties adequately maintaining its facilities to meet mission requirements. Facilities have been aging and deteriorating as funds needed to sustain and recapitalize the facilities have fallen short of requirements. GAO's review of the services' condition assessments in conjunction with visits to the basic training locations showed that most barracks were in need of significant repair, although some barracks were in better condition than others. GAO found that the exteriors of each service's barracks were generally in good condition and presented an acceptable appearance, but the barracks' infrastructure often had persistent repair problems because of inadequate maintenance. The services' approaches to recapitalize their recruit barracks vary and are influenced by their overall priorities to improve all facilities. Although the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps are addressing many of their recapitalization needs in the near-term, most of the Army's plans are longer term."

We have created precise linear models of the storage ring in terms of {beta}-functions for both low-emittance and high-emittance lattices. Using these models, the {beta}-function beating corrections have been successfully applied. The lifetime was increased by 40% for the low-emittance lattice as a result of the corrections. The models allow the user to apply predictable and precise changes to the existing lattice. For example, after applying the {beta}-function corrections, the {beta}-function changes exactly coincide with the changes predicted by the model. This work would not be possible without the help provided by many APS people. In particular, one of the authors (VS) would like to thank S. Milton for stimulating and supporting the work, and M. Borland for his tremendous support with regard to the storage ring operation and software implementation.

Digital television (DTV) is a new television service representing the most significant development in television technology since the advent of color television in the 1950s. DTV can provide sharper pictures, a wider screen, CD-quality sound, better color rendition, and other new services currently being developed. A successful deployment of DTV requires: the development by content providers of compelling digital programming; the delivery of digital signals to consumers by broadcast television stations, as well as cable and satellite television systems; and the widespread purchase and adoption by consumers of digital television equipment. A key issue in the Congressional debate over the digital transition has been addressing the millions of American over-the-air households whose existing analog televisions will require converter boxes in order to receive digital signals when the analog signal is turned off.

This report presents the information related to the fishery, aquaculture, and marine mammal legislation enacted by the 107th congress

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Void swelling in structural materials used for nuclear reactors is characterized by an incubation period whose duration largely determines the usefulness of the material for core components. Significant evolution of the dislocation and void microstructures that control radiation-induced swelling can occur during this period. Thus, a theory of incubation must treat time-dependent void nucleation in combination with dislocation evolution, in which the sink strengths of voids and dislocations change in concert. We present theoretical results for void nucleation and growth including the time-dependent, self-consistent coupling of point defect concentrations to the evolution of both void populations and dislocation density. Simulations show that the incubation radiation dose is a strong function of the starting dislocation density and of the dislocation bias factors for vacancy and interstitial absorption. Irradiation dose rate and temperature also affect the duration of incubation. The results are in general agreement with experiment for high purity metals.

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Mid-rapidity transverse mass spectra and multiplicity densities of charged and neutral kaons are reported for Au+Au collisions at {radical}s{sub NN}=130 GeV at RHIC. The spectra are exponential in transverse mass, with an inverse slope of about 280 MeV in central collisions. The multiplicity densities for these particles scale with the negative hadron pseudo-rapidity density. The charged kaon to pion ratios are K{sup +}/{pi}{sup -} = 0.161 {+-} 0.002(stat) {+-} 0.024(syst) and K{sup -}/{pi}{sup -} = 0.146 {+-} 0.002(stat) {+-} 0.022(syst) for the most central collisions. The K{sup +}/{pi}{sup -} ratio is lower than the same ratio observed at the SPS while the K{sup -}/{pi}{sup -} is higher than the SPS result. Both ratios are enhanced by about 50% relative to p+p and {bar p}+p collision data at similar energies.

To date a global kinetic rate law has not been written to accurately describe solid-solid phase transformations of HMX and TATB where contributions from grain size effects, binder contents, and impurity levels are explicitly defined. Our recent work presented at the 2001 SCCM topical APS meeting, Atlanta, GA, demonstrated one can not confidently use the second harmonic generation (SHG) diagnostic to study energetic material phase transitions where non-uniform grain size distributions are present. For example, in HMX, the early arrival of SHG before the XRD in the SHG/XRD simultaneous high temperature experiment clearly indicates the partial molecular conversion from centrosymmetric to non-centrosymmetric without any structural changes as exhibit by the XRD pattern. This conversion is attributed to the changes of the surface molecules due to the differences in potential between the surface and the bulk. The present paper reports on accurate XRD measurements following changes of {beta}-HMX to {delta}-HMX at elevated temperature. The results are compared for sample with 2 different grain sizes for HMX. We report accurate temperature dependent lattice parameters and hence volume and linear thermal expansion coefficients along each crystallographic axis. We have also conducted kinetic studies of the behavior of 2 grain-sizes of HMX and concluded …

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Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicaid program served 33.4 million low-income families as well as elderly, blind, and disabled persons at a cost of $119 billion to the federal government and $88 billion to the states in fiscal year 2000. States are responsible for safeguarding Medicaid funds by making proper payments to providers, recovering misspent funds, and accurately reporting costs for federal reimbursement. At the federal level, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for overseeing state financial activities and ensuring the propriety of expenditures reported for federal reimbursement. Audits of state Medicaid finances have identified millions of dollars of questionable or unallowable costs. In addition, annual financial statement audits have identified many internal control weaknesses in CMS oversight of state Medicaid operations. CMS has only recently begun to assess areas at greatest risk for improper payments. As a result, controls that focus on the highest risk areas and resources had not yet been deployed for areas of greatest risk. Since 1998, auditors have noted that CMS failed to institute an oversight process that effectively reduced the risk of inappropriate medical claims and payments. CMS attributed most of the …

The precision analytical technique known as MESERAN Analysis permits quantitative measurement of the level of preexisting nonvolatile organic residue (NVOR) on a substrate from <1 nanogram (ng)/cm{sup 2} to > 100 micrograms ({micro}g)/cm{sup 2} in 2 minutes. MESERAN Analysis is also applicable to determining NVOR in solvents and solvent extracts. The MESERAN method is able to quantify organic contamination levels down to and below 1 ng by depositing as little as 10 microliters ({micro}L) of solvent containing a known amount of contamination on a clean substrate, allowing it to evaporate, and measuring the evaporated residue. The method will be described in detail and NVOR measurements determined from MESERAN data will be presented.

A collection of 6,000 mutant yeast strains spanning nearlyevery gene offers new promise for identifying human genes involved incellular responses to drugs, radiation and other treatments.

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