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This report provides background information and policy analysis pertinent to proposals to restructure first responder assistance programs. Specifically, this report provides information on existing programs, appropriations, legislation in the 108th Congress, and selected policy issues. This report does not discuss all relevant policy issues, but, rather, those issues that may be germane to any significant restructuring of existing programs.

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This report outlines U.S. military operations in Bosnia and discusses issues such as U.S. and Allied Participation in Bosnia Peacekeeping (IFOR/SFOR), duration, cost, arms control and military assistance. This report also includes most recent development, background analysis, and legislation.

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This report provides the information related to the fishery, aquaculture, and marine mammal issues in the 108th Congress

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The CWC bans the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons by members signatories. It also requires the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles and production facilities. Neither the United States nor Russia will be able to meet the original CWC’s deadlines for destruction of their CW stockpiles, and have been granted extensions to at least 2012. The Convention provides the most extensive and intrusive verification regime of any arms control treaty, extending its coverage to not only governmental but also civilian facilities. The Convention also requires export controls and reporting requirements on chemicals that can be used as warfare agents and their precursors. The CWC establishes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to oversee the Convention’s implementation.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO, the Department of the Interior, and others have reported on the National Park Service's efforts to develop an effective maintenance management process that would, among other things, enable the agency to accurately and reliably estimate the amount of deferred maintenance on its assets. Over the years, the agency's estimates of the amount of its deferred maintenance have varied widely--sometimes by billions of dollars. Currently, the agency estimates that its deferred maintenance backlog is over $5 billion. In April 2002, GAO reported on the status of efforts to develop better deferred maintenance data. (National Park Service: Status of Efforts to Develop Better Deferred Maintenance Data)(Apr. 12, 2002, GAO-02-568R) This testimony presents the results of GAO's April report and updates the progress the Park Service is making in implementing its new asset management process."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The widespread drought conditions of 2002 focused attention on a critical national challenge: ensuring a sufficient freshwater supply to sustain quality of life and economic growth. States have primary responsibility for managing the allocation and use of water resources, but multiple federal agencies also play a role. For example, Interior's Bureau of Reclamation operates numerous water storage facilities, and the U.S. Geological Survey collects important surface and ground-water information. GAO was asked to determine the current conditions and future trends for U.S. water availability and use, the likelihood of shortages and their potential consequences, and states' views on how federal activities could better support state water management efforts to meet future demands. For this review, GAO conducted a web-based survey of water managers in the 50 states and received responses from 47 states; California, Michigan, and New Mexico did not participate."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The difficulties of managing, preserving, and providing access to the vast and rapidly growing volumes of electronic records produced by federal agencies present challenges to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the nation's recordkeeper and archivist. Complex electronic records are being created in volumes that make them difficult to organize and keep accessible. These problems are compounded as computer hardware, application software, and even storage media become obsolete, as they may leave behind electronic records that can no longer be read. As a result, valuable government information may be lost. GAO was requested to testify, among other things, on NARA's recent actions to address the challenges of electronic records management, including its effort to address the problem of preserving electronic records by acquiring an advanced Electronic Records Archive (ERA)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A recent report by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, found that racial and ethnic minority groups tend to receive a lower quality of health care than nonminorities, even when access-related factors such as income and insurance coverage are controlled. It concluded that the elimination of racial and ethnic health care disparities is a major challenge in the United States. Racial and ethnic minority groups identified by the federal government--American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders--are expected to make up an increasingly large portion of the U.S. population in coming years. The federal government, primarily through programs under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), plays a major role in providing and financing health care for minority groups. HHS is also the primary federal entity involved in projects and research aimed at understanding and addressing disparities in health care. HHS has focused on racial and ethnic disparities in health access and outcomes in six areas: cancer screening and management, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV infection/AIDS, immunizations, and infant mortality. …

Previous analytical and numerical studies have noted that the presence of fully non-Maxwellian plasma species can significantly alter the dynamics of electromagnetic waves in magnetized plasmas. In this paper, a general form for the hot plasma dielectric tensor for non-Maxwellian distributions is derived that is valid in the finite Larmor radius approximation. This model provides some insight into understanding the limitations on representing non-Maxwellian plasma species with equivalent Maxwellian components in modeling radio-frequency wave propagation and absorption.

In preparation for an experimental study of magnetorotational instability (MRI) in liquid metal, we explore Couette flows having height comparable to the gap between cylinders, centrifugally stable rotation, and high Reynolds number. Experiments in water are compared with numerical simulations. The flow is very different from that of an ideal, infinitely long Couette system. Simulations show that endcaps co-rotating with the outer cylinder drive a strong poloidal circulation that redistributes angular momentum. Predicted toroidal flow profiles agree well with experimental measurements. Spin-down times scale with Reynolds number as expected for laminar Ekman circulation; extrapolation from two-dimensional simulations at Re less than or equal to 3200 agrees remarkably well with experiment at Re approximately equal to 106. This suggests that turbulence does not dominate the effective viscosity. Further detailed numerical studies reveal a strong radially inward flow near both endcaps. After turning vertically along the inner cylinder, these flows converge at the midplane and depart the boundary in a radial jet. To minimize this circulation in the MRI experiment, endcaps consisting of multiple, differentially rotating rings are proposed. Simulations predict that an adequate approximation to the ideal Couette profile can be obtained with a few rings.

Recent H-mode experiments on NSTX [National Spherical Torus Experiment] and experiments on Alcator-CMOD, which also exhibit internal transport barriers (ITB), have been examined with gyrokinetic simulations with the GS2 and GYRO codes to identify the underlying key plasma parameters for control of plasma performance and, ultimately, the successful operation of future reactors such as ITER [International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor]. On NSTX the H-mode is characterized by remarkably good ion confinement and electron temperature profiles highly resilient in time. On CMOD, an ITB with a very steep electron density profile develops following off-axis radio-frequency heating and establishment of H-mode. Both experiments exhibit ion thermal confinement at the neoclassical level. Electron confinement is also good in the CMOD core.

Grimaldiite ({alpha}-CrOOH) is shown to transform to a sodium-chromium(III)-hydroxyphosphate compound (SCHP) in alkaline sodium phosphate solutions at elevated temperatures via CrOOH(s) + 4Na{sup +} + 2HPO{sub 4}{sup 2-} = Na{sub 4}Cr(OH)(PO{sub 4}){sub 2}(s) + H{sub 2}O. X-ray diffraction analyses indicate that SCHP possesses an orthorhombic lattice having the same space group symmetry (Ibam, No.72) as sodium ferric hydroxyphosphate. A structurally-consistent designation for SCHP is Na{sub 3}Cr(PO{sub 4}){sub 2} {center_dot} NaOH; the molar volume of SCHP is estimated to be 1552 cm{sup 3}. The thermodynamic equilibrium for the above reaction was defined in the system Na{sub 2}O-P{sub 2}O{sub 5}-Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3}-H{sub 2}O for Na/P molar ratios between 2.0 and 2.4. On the basis of observed reaction threshold values for sodium phosphate concentration and temperature, the standard molar entropy (S{sup o}), heat capacity (C{sub p}{sup o}) and free energy of formation ({Delta}G{sub f}{sup o}) for SCHP were calculated to be 690 J/(mol-K), 622 J/(mol-K) and -3509.97 kJ/mol, respectively.

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Progress was made on experimental and numerical subtasks during the second 6-month period of this project. One of the experimental subtasks scheduled for completion during the first 6 months was delayed due to a delay in receiving the prototype RLE face seal from the vendor. This component was acquired and testing was completed during the second 6 months. The test results indicate that this face seal fulfills the engineering objectives. The other experimental subtask scheduled for completion during the second 6-month period was final assembly of the prototype rotating liner engine. This subtask was completed on schedule. No results from this subtask were scheduled for this reporting period. One numerical subtask, development of the governing equations, was scheduled for completion during the first 6-month period but was completed during the second 6 months. However, we expect to re-explore these as we learn more throughout the course of the project. Two other numerical subtasks were scheduled to begin during the second 6 months: formulating the numerical equations governing piston assembly friction and coding/testing the resulting model. These subtasks were not scheduled for completion during this reporting period. Satisfactory progress was made.

An overview of CCD development efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is presented. Operation of fully-depleted, back-illuminated CCD's fabricated on high resistivity silicon is described, along with results on the use of such CCD's at ground-based observatories. Radiation damage and point-spread function measurements are described, as well as discussion of CCD fabrication technologies.

Threshold structures, reminiscent of those seen in the polar hydrogen halides, have recently been observed in the cross sections for electron impact excitation of certain vibrational levels of the non-polar CO2 molecule. These structures occur at energies outside the range where shape resonances dominate the dynamics. We propose a virtual state model that describes the multi-dimensional nuclear dynamics during the collision and explains quantitatively the selectivity observed in the excitation of the Fermi dyad, as well as the pattern of threshold peaks and oscillations seen in the upper levels of the higher polyads.