This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2002, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.

This report addresses the current policy on immigration visa issuances and options for reassigning this function to the proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It opens with an overview of visa issuances, with sections on procedures for aliens coming to live in the United States permanently and on procedures for aliens admitted for temporary stays. An analysis of the grounds for excluding aliens follows. The report summarizes the debate on transferring visaissuance policy functions to homeland security and concludes with a discussion of the legislative proposals to reassign the visa issuance activities and to revise visa issuance policies.

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The European Union (EU), comprised of 15 member states (countries), is one of the United States’ chief agricultural trading partners and also a major competitor in world markets. Both heavily support their agricultural sectors, with a large share of such support concentrated on wheat, feed grains, cotton, oilseeds, sugar, dairy, and tobacco. However, the EU provides more extensive support to a broader range of farm and food products. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the EU and United States in 2001 together accounted for nearly two-thirds of all government support to agriculture among the major developed economies. However, EU agricultural spending generally is much higher than in the United States. Information comparing how the U.S. and EU governments support their producers is expected to be of interest to policymakers while negotiations are underway among world trading partners to further reform agricultural trade.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since the enactment of the Dietary Enactment Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994, U.S. sales of weight loss supplements have increased steadily. The sales of weight loss supplements--reported to be the fastest growing segment of the dietary supplement industry--increased 10 to 20 percent annually from 1997 to 2001, and industry officials expect that rate of increase to continue. Little is known about the effectiveness of weight loss supplements, but some supplements have been associated with the potential physical harm. Health consequences may result from the use of the supplement itself or from the interaction of the supplement with medications or foods. Federal and state activities related to weight loss supplements have been limited and have focused on oversight of marketing rather than on oversight of safety. In addition, several states have statutes or regulations in effect or pending to restrict the sale of some weight loss supplements. Some state attorneys general and local district attorneys have sued the manufacturers of supplements marketed with weight loss claims, and individuals have sued over injuries."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has become increasingly aware of the need to be prepared for emergencies, including those involving hazardous chemicals. The local emergency responders and representatives from national organizations that GAO contacted have varied views on the adequacy of (1) information in chemical inventory forms and risk management plans and (2) the manner in which that information is delivered. Most members of the emergency response community believe that the manner of delivery of federally required information could be improved. Environmental Protection Agency officials cited their efforts to ensure compliance with provisions of the Clean Air Act's risk management program. However, their sense of the extent of compliance varies across three specific provisions; that is, the extent to which (1) facilities have registered risk management plans, (2) the plans contain accurate information, and (3) local responders are receiving the plans."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress changed the law governing the use of appropriation accounts in 1990 because it found that the Department of Defense (DOD) may have spent hundreds of millions of dollars for purposes that Congress had not approved. The 1990 law provided that, 5 years after the expiration of the period of availability of a fixed-term appropriation, the appropriation account be closed and all remaining balances canceled. After closing, the appropriation account could no longer be used for obligations or expenditures for any purpose. DOD has started the process of correcting the illegal or improper closed account adjustments made during fiscal year 2000. However, this will require substantial effort and, according to DOD, estimates will not be complete before the end of fiscal year 2002. DOD had upgraded its system control features by the end of fiscal year 2001 to preclude many of the wholesale adjustments that GAO had previously identified. Because its system enhancements were done in stages, including some near the end of fiscal year 2001, DOD continued to make large amounts of illegal and otherwise improper closed account adjustments during the year. However, given the …

This study examines the past and potential future use of high performance steel in bridges built by the state of Texas.

This paper presents the experience of TxDOT specifying the use of High Performance Concrete (HPC) for bridges.

PLACE3S (PLAnning for Community Energy, Economic and Environmental Sustainability) energy option matching module.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) manages the UF{sub 6} Cylinder Project. The project was formed to maintain and safely manage the depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}) stored in approximately 50,000 carbon steel cylinders. The cylinders are located at three DOE sites: the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) in Paducah, Kentucky, and the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) in Portsmouth, Ohio. The System Requirements Document (SRD) (LMES 1997a) delineates the requirements of the project, and the actions needed to fulfill these requirements are specified in the System Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) (LMES 1997b). This report documents activities that in whole or part satisfy specific requirements and actions stated in the UF{sub 6} Cylinder Project SRD and SEMP with respect to forecasting cylinder conditions. The results presented here supercede those presented by Lyon (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000), and Schmoyer and Lyon (2001). Many of the wall thickness projections made in this report are conservative, because they are based on the assumption that corrosion trends will continue, despite activities such as improved monitoring, relocations to better storage, painting, and other improvements in storage conditions relative to the conditions at …

The transportation sector accounts for a large and growing share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Worldwide, motor vehicles emit well over 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year, accounting for more than 15 percent of global fossil fuel-derived CO2 emissions.1 In the industrialized world alone, 20-25 percent of GHG emissions come from the transportation sector. The share of transport-related emissions is growing rapidly due to the continued increase in transportation activity.2 In 1950, there were only 70 million cars, trucks, and buses on the world’s roads. By 1994, there were about nine times that number, or 630 million vehicles. Since the early 1970s, the global fleet has been growing at a rate of 16 million vehicles per year. This expansion has been accompanied by a similar growth in fuel consumption.3 If this kind of linear growth continues, by the year 2025 there will be well over one billion vehicles on the world’s roads.4 In a response to the significant growth in transportation-related GHG emissions, governments and policy makers worldwide are considering methods to reverse this trend. However, due to the particular make-up of the transportation sector, regulating and reducing emissions from this sector poses a significant …

Traffic congestion and its impacts significantly affect the nation's economic performance and the public's quality of life. In most urban areas, travel demand routinely exceeds highway capacity during peak periods. In addition, events such as crashes, vehicle breakdowns, work zones, adverse weather, and suboptimal signal timing cause temporary capacity losses, often worsening the conditions on already congested highway networks. The impacts of these temporary capacity losses include delay, reduced mobility, and reduced reliability of the highway system. They can also cause drivers to re-route or reschedule trips. Prior to this study, no nationwide estimates of temporary losses of highway capacity had been made by type of capacity-reducing event. Such information is vital to formulating sound public policies for the highway infrastructure and its operation. This study is an initial attempt to provide nationwide estimates of the capacity losses and delay caused by temporary capacity-reducing events. The objective of this study was to develop and implement methods for producing national-level estimates of the loss of capacity on the nation's highway facilities due to temporary phenomena as well as estimates of the impacts of such losses. The estimates produced by this study roughly indicate the magnitude of problems that are likely be …

This report assesses impacts to wild turkey populations from hunting and prescribed fire. The objectives of the study were as follows: (1) To compare survival rates and causes of mortality of wild turkey gobblers between hunted and unhunted populations; (2) To determine the effects of dormant versus growing season prescribed burns on nesting success, survival and habitat use of wild turkey hens; (3) To determine the effects of dormant versus growing season prescribed burns on the availability of wild turkey plant foods.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) provide and use information about transportation conditions to improve system performance in such areas as safety, mobility, efficiency and environmental impacts. Typically, ITS generates massive amounts of data about the state of travel that are used primarily by transportation authorities to effectively operate and manage their transportation systems, and by private individuals and industry to manage trips. These primary uses provide short-term, real-time information regarding the transportation systems current conditions and driver and passenger choices. A broad spectrum of stakeholders could benefit from ITS-generated data to meet their data needs in planning, operations and maintenance, administration, training, modeling, simulations, and development of control strategies. In the context of ADUS, the term ''ITS-generated data'' refers to those data generated by ITS that are primarily used ''in managing system operations and providing information on system conditions and choices to the public.'' Specifically, ADUS refers to data generated from any one of the nine components that make up the ITS infrastructure: (1) freeway management, (2) incident management, (3) arterial management, (4) electronic fare payment, (5) electronic toll collection, (6) transit management, (7) highway-rail intersections, (8) emergency management, and (9) regional multimodal traveler information. The overall objectives of this project …

Working within the context of the Southern States Biobased Alliance (SSBA) and with officials in each state, the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) is identifying bioenergy-related policies and programs within each state to determine their impact on the development, deployment or use of bioenergy. In addition, SSEB will determine which policies have impacted industry's efforts to develop, deploy or use biobased technologies or products. As a result, SSEB will work with the Southern States Biobased Alliance to determine how policy changes might address any negative impacts or enhance positive impacts.

This paper provides an overview of software interoperability as it relates to the energy simulation of buildings. The paper begins with a discussion of the difficulties in using sophisticated analysis tools like energy simulation at various stages in the building life cycle, and the potential for interoperability to help overcome these difficulties. An overview of the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), a common data model for supporting interoperability under continuing development by the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) is then given. The process of creating interoperable software is described next, followed by specific details for energy simulation tools. The paper closes with the current status of, and future plans for, the ongoing efforts to achieve software interoperability.

An Eberline continuous alpha air monitor model Alpha 7L was evaluated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) using the capabilities available at the Environmental Effects Laboratory (EELab). A series of tests were performed to ensure that procured units meet the requirements of the purchasing facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In addition to reporting on the results of each test, other activities were performed to reduce discovered susceptibilities. The parameters monitored during the tests typically included the airflow rate and/or net {sup 239}Pu concentration values (pCi/liter). In addition, the spectrum display and operational status were monitored. Follow up tests were also performed on two LANL-provided production units. The results of those tests are at the end of this report.

We present study of the anisotropic superconductor MgB{sub 2} using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The results reveal two distinct energy gaps at {Delta}{sub 1} = 2.3 meV and {Delta}{sub 2} = 7.1 meV. Different spectral weights of the partial superconducting density of states are a reflection of different tunneling directions in this multi-band system. Our experimental observations are consistent with the existence of two-band superconductivity in the presence of interband superconducting pair interaction and quasiparticle scattering. Temperature evolution of the tunneling spectra follows the BCS scenario with both gaps vanishing at the bulk T{sub c}. The data confirm the importance of Fermi-surface sheet dependent superconductivity in MgB{sub 2} proposed in the multigap model by Liu et al. [1].

In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risk issues. These initiatives are consistent with the Medical University's role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable the Medical University to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBP's success in convening worldwide scientific expertise is due in part to the inherent credibility the Medical University brings to the process of addressing these complex issues.

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The purpose of this Corrective Measures Implementation Report/Post-Construction Report/Final Remediation Report (CMIR/PCR/FRR) is to document compliance with technical and statutory requirements and to provide a consolidated record of all removal and remedial activities that have taken place during implementation of the selected corrective measure/remedial action for the Savannah River Laboratory Seepage Basins (SRLSBs) at the Savannah River Site (SRS).

At the Savannah River Site (SRS), reactor seepage basins received low-level radioactive purge water from the disassembly basins between 1957 and 1991. Almost all of the radioactivity was due to tritium which migrated quickly from the basins via leaching. Most of the remaining radioactivity is associated with cesium-137 (Cs-137), strontium-90 (Sr-90). and plutonium-239/240 (Pu-239/240). These constituents are present in soils immediately beneath each basin. This Revision 1 report documents the results of a bench-scale study conducted by SAIC under Contract No. C001311N to develop a grout mix capable of stabilizing the constituents of concern via the S/S treatment of the soils for reactor seepage basins at four SRS locations: C-Area (CRSB), K-Area (KRSB), L-Area (LRSB), and P-Area (PRSB). It recommends a specific grout mix for each reactor seepage basin and provides recommendations, limitations, and constraints for the full-scale field implementation.