A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "About 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers now serve in 70 countries, often living in areas with limited access to reliable communications, police, or medical services. Moreover, as Americans, they may be viewed as relatively wealthy and hence good targets for criminal activity. The Peace Corps has reported rising numbers of assaults against its volunteers since it began collecting data in 1990. However, the Peace Corps' record is mixed when it comes to developing safe and secure housing and worksites for volunteers, monitoring volunteers and responding to security concerns or criminal incidents, and preparing for emergencies. To reduce risks to its volunteers, the Peace Corps has adopted policies that address monitoring and disseminating information on the security environment; volunteer training; development of safe and secure housing and work sites for volunteers; monitoring volunteers and responding to incidents and concerns; and planning for emergencies, such as evacuations. Volunteer surveys and GAO visits to five overseas ports indicate that volunteers are generally satisfied with agency training programs and other efforts designed to emphasize safety and security awareness. The agency is not certain, but officials have stated that efforts to improve …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In April 2002, GAO testified on the major challenges facing the District of Columbia Public School system faces in modernizing and renovating the District's schools (see GAO-02-628T). The school system, with the assistance of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has made considerable progress in making emergency repairs during the past few years. However, the school system now faces the more complex task of modernizing--either through renovation or through new construction--virtually every public school in the District of Columbia. As a result, the school system must adopt a modernization program that will cost significantly more and take longer to accomplish than originally projected. In addition, the school system faces the challenge of ensuring that sufficient funds are budgeted for asbestos management activities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony summarizes previous GAO work that identified gaps in information needed to reconcile Individual Indian Moneys (IIM) trust accounts, and the rationale that led GAO to suggest that the Department of the Interior seek alternatives to reconciliation, such as a negotiated agreement. Congress established an Indian trust fund account reconciliation requirement in the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1987 in response to tribal concerns that (1) Interior had not consistently provided them with statements on their account balances, (2) their trust fund accounts had never been reconciled, and (3) Interior planned to contract with a third party for management of trust fund accounts. There are many obstacles that will complicate Interior's ability to document the amount and source of funds deposited to, managed in, and disbursed from their IIM accounts. Interior's July 2002 report enumerates among those obstacles known discrepancies in the balances, at the trust fund level, reported by Treasury and Interior, as well as the potential for (1) errors in the electronic accounting system data, (2) missing paper transaction records, and (3) missing land ownership information and revenue instruments."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Department of Energy's (DOE) plan for external regulation of nuclear and worker safety at its facilities. DOE's position remains essentially unchanged since the 1999 congressional hearing, when the department decided not to move forward on external regulation until cost uncertainties and implementation issues were resolved. Past regulatory simulations and ongoing work by DOE and its potential regulators indicate that the external regulation of the science laboratories would not require prohibitively expensive facility upgrades to be licensable. Further, much of the expected "costs" would likely involve bringing facilities into compliance with DOE's own safety standards. DOE's response to the conference report directive is not a detailed implementation plan. Rather, it is a restatement of its previously stated call for further cost and benefit analyses before making a final decision on accepting external regulation."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As the nation's largest cash assistance program for the poor, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program SSI provided $33 billion in benefits to 6.8 million aged, blind, and disabled persons last year. In 2001, the outstanding SSI debt and newly detected overpayments totaled $4.7 billion. To deter and detect overpayments, the agency obtained legislative authority to use additional tools to verify recipients financial eligibility for benefits, enhanced its processes for monitoring and holding staff accountable for completing assigned SSI workloads, and improved its use of automation to strengthen its overpayment detection capabilities. However, because a number of initiatives are still in the planning or early implementation stages, it is too soon to assess their ultimate impact on SSI payment accuracy. In addition to improving its overpayment deterrence and detection capabilities, SSA has made recovery of overpaid benefits a high priority."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since September 11, the safety and security of the nation's civil aviation system have taken on greater urgency. GAO found that the newly created Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has assumed responsibility for aviation security and has focused on meeting congressionally mandated deadlines for strengthening aviation security. So far, TSA has developed plans and implemented procedures for using federal employees to conduct security screening at more than 400 commercial airports; hired and begun to train nearly 4,000 key security personnel; and undertaken more rigorous background checks of workers with access to secure areas at airports. TSA faces immediate challenges in assuming responsibility for security in other modes of transportation, improving the performance of screeners, and addressing aviation security issues not covered by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act's current-year deadlines. TSA also faces long-term organizational challenges, including strategically managing its workforce, controlling costs, and sharing threat information."

The goal of the conference is to enhance the development of improved technologies and new approaches to the identification of genes underlying chemically-induced mutant phenotypes. The conference brings together ENU mutagenesis experts from the United States and aborad for a small, intensive workshop to consider these issues.

This report highlights six of the most popular programs among a number of programs in Washington D.C., explain the workings of the national government to a diverse range of Americans, from middle school to senior citizens.

Synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) spectromicroscopy is a newly emerging bioanalytical and imaging tool. This unique technique provides mid-infrared (IR) spectra, hence chemical information, with high signal-to-noise at spatial resolutions as fine as 3 to 10 microns. Thus it enables researchers to locate, identify, and track specific chemical events within an individual living mammalian cell. Mid-IR photons are too low in energy (0.05 - 0.5 eV) to either break bonds or to cause ionization. In this review, we show that the synchrotron IR beam has no detectable effects on the short- and long-term viability, reproductive integrity, cell-cycle progression, and mitochondrial metabolism in living human cells, and produces only minimal sample heating (< 0.5 degrees C). We will then present several examples demonstrating the application potentials of SR-FTIR spectromicroscopy in biomedical research. These will include monitoring living cells progressing through the cell cycle, including death, and cells reacting to dilute concentrations of toxins.

This report summarizes the accomplishment made during the third year of this cooperative research effort between Washington University, Ohio State University and Air Products and Chemicals. Data processing of the performed Computer Automated Radioactive Particle Tracking (CARPT) experiments in 6 inch column using air-water-glass beads (150 {micro}m) system has been completed. Experimental investigation of time averaged three phases distribution in air-Therminol LT-glass beads (150 {micro}m) system in 6 inch column has been executed. Data processing and analysis of all the performed Computed Tomography (CT) experiments have been completed, using the newly proposed CT/Overall gas holdup methodology. The hydrodynamics of air-Norpar 15-glass beads (150 {micro}m) have been investigated in 2 inch slurry bubble column using Dynamic Gas Disengagement (DGD), Pressure Drop fluctuations, and Fiber Optic Probe. To improve the design and scale-up of bubble column reactors, a correlation for overall gas holdup has been proposed based on Artificial Neural Network and Dimensional Analysis.

The experimental method together with the analysis method and results of the data taken in 2000 and prospects of the muon anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moment experiments are presented here.

The goal of the project is to develop a premium fuel from the waste materials created from the production of coal and lumber. A specific objective is to achieve a fuel having an energy value around 9,000 to 10,000 Btu/lb from the processed waste material. The fine coal obtained from coal refuse ponds will be cleaned using advanced separation technologies and then dewatered to lower moisture levels than currently realized by adding wood fibers utilizing an enhanced dewatering technique. The clean coal and sawdust will be combined and reconstituted through extrusion or briquetting to form a utility fuel that can be easily handled through the transportation process. After completion of the research tasks which includes combustion testing using the coal-wood fuel, a detailed economic evaluation of the total process will be conducted.

None

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal interagency contract service programs are being used in a wide variety of situations, from those in which a single agency provides limited contracting assistance to an approach in which the provider agency's contracting officer handles all aspects of the procurement. This increased use of interagency contracts is a result of reforms and legislation passed in the 1990s, allowing agencies to streamline the acquisition process, operate more like businesses, and offer increasing numbers of services to other agencies. Most of the contract service programs GAO reviewed reported an excess of revenues over costs in at least one year between fiscal years 1999 and 2001. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance directs agencies with governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWAC) or franchise fund programs to account for and recover fully allocated actual costs and to report on their financial results. Agencies are to identify all direct and indirect costs and charge fees to ordering agencies based on these costs. However, some GWAC programs have not identified or accurately reported the full cost of providing interagency contract services. OMB's guidance further directs that agencies return GWAC earnings to the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Fruits and vegetables are a critical source of nutrients and other substances that help protect against chronic diseases. Yet fewer than one in four Americans consumes the 5 to 9 daily servings of fruits and vegetables recommended by the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Fruit and vegetable consumption by the general public as a whole has increased by about half a serving under key federal nutritional policy, guidance, and educational programs, as shown by the national consumption data compiled by federal agencies. But key federal food assistance programs have had mixed effects on fruit and vegetables consumption, as shown by national consumption data. However, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is not a primary focus of these programs, which are intended to reduce hunger and support agriculture. A number of actions the federal government could take to encourage more Americans to consume the recommended daily servings have been identified. These include expanding nutrition education efforts, such as the 5 A Day Program; modifying the special supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children to allow participants to choose from more of those fruits and vegetables; expanding the …

This report presents the findings of continued groundwater quality assessment at Waste Management Area T in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site. It covers January 1988 through December 2001.

None

This report is an overview of the effects on Institutional operations, the Legislative process, and future planning related to House of Representatives Information Technology Management issues.

None

The purpose of this report is to characterize the nonresidential fenestration market in order to better understand market barriers to, and opportunities for, energy-efficient fenestration products. In particular, the goal is to: (1) Better understand how glazing products flow between industry groups. (2) Identify major decision makers directing the product flow. (3) Understand industry trends for certain technologies or products. (4) Characterize the role of energy codes and standards in influencing industry trends. (5) Assess the impact of product testing and certification programs on the industry. The U.S. glass industry is a $27 billion enterprise with both large producers and small firms playing pivotal roles in the industry. While most sectors of the glass industry have restructured and consolidated in the past 20 years, the industry still employs 150,000 workers. Nonresidential glazing accounts for approximately 18% of overall U.S. glass production. In 1999, nonresidential glazing was supplied to approximately 2.2 billion ft{sup 2} of new construction and additions. That same year, nonresidential glazing was also supplied to approximately 1.1 billion ft{sup 2} of remodeling construction. With an industry this large and complex, it is to be expected that many market participants can influence fenestration selection. If market barriers to the …

Research efforts described in this progress report concentrated on the synthesis and exploration of f-electron based materials exhibiting novel properties at low temperatures and on the development of a new experimental technique for low temperatures and high magnetic fields. Specific problems studied included non-Fermi liquid behavior and experimental verifications of novel theories concerned with strong electron correlations. The discovery of non-Fermi liquid behavior has been one of the major physics discoveries of the last decade that undermined the most established theory of condensed matter. Our work has helped with the clarification of the origin of non-Fermi liquid behavior. The experimental technique we have developed allows for simultaneous measurements of electronic specific heat and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time T1 at very low temperatures (down to 60 mK) and very high fields (to 30 T). This project provided its participants with the training in strategic ally sensitive area of the synthesis and characterization of materials.

None

This report provides a brief background analysis and recent developments regarding China’s Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles. The report includes topics such as: Recent Proliferation Transfers, chemical, nuclear, and missile technology sales to Iran, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, trade controls, nonproliferation and arms control.

This is one part in the series of reports that provide a background and analysis, and most recent developments regarding broadband or high-speed Internet access. The report starts out by answering questions; what is broadband and why is it important? This report also discusses broadband technologies, the status of broadband deployment and the related policy issues, as well as the legislation in congress.