A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In April 2005, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) was established within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to enhance and coordinate federal, state, and local efforts to combat nuclear smuggling domestically and overseas. DNDO was directed to develop, in coordination with the departments of Defense (DOD), Energy (DOE), and State (State), a global strategy for nuclear detection--a system of radiation detection equipment and interdiction activities domestically and abroad. GAO was asked to examine (1) DNDO's progress in developing programs to address critical gaps in preventing nuclear smuggling domestically, (2) DNDO's role in supporting other agencies' efforts to combat nuclear smuggling overseas, and (3) the amount budgeted by DHS, DOD, DOE, and State for programs that constitute the global nuclear detection strategy. To do so, GAO analyzed agency documents; interviewed agency, state, and local officials; and visited select pilot program locations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2003, the United States Postal Service (USPS) initiated the Intelligent Mail program, which is intended to use information-rich standardized barcodes to track mail and thus provide USPS and mailers with better and timely information. A major component of this program is the Full Service program, which, among other things, is intended to build a system that improves the visibility into end-to-end mail processing operations through the use of new barcodes, and create efficiencies by streamlining and automating certain aspects of the process. GAO was asked to determine (1) the current status and plans for the Intelligent Mail Full Service program and (2) if the Postal Service has capabilities in place to successfully acquire and manage the Intelligent Mail Full Service program. GAO obtained and analyzed USPS documentation, reviewed previous GAO reports, interviewed officials, and compared acquisition best practices with USPS's practices."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2008 financial market crisis and the economic recession led to a rapid and substantial increase in federal debt. This report, part of a line of work on debt management, was conducted under the Comptroller General's authority. It describes current debt management challenges and examines the role of a program that could benefit Treasury--Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). GAO analyzed market data and interviewed experts as well as the two largest holders of Treasury securities in each of six sectors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is required, as are other federal executive agencies, to report improper payment information under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) and recovery auditing information under section 831 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, commonly known as the Recovery Auditing Act. The DOD Office of Inspector General has previously reported deficiencies at DOD related to these acts and GAO's prior work on DOD's reporting of its fiscal year 2006 travel improper payments estimate also identified shortcomings. Because of these and other long-standing weaknesses, the subcommittee asked GAO to examine DOD's fiscal year 2007 improper payment and recovery audit reporting to determine whether adequate processes existed to address both statutory requirements. To complete this work, GAO reviewed DOD's annual reports, conducted site visits, and met with cognizant DOD officials."

This report discusses the questionnaire for the IOGENE Project. From September 26, 2008 through June 26, 2009, an online survey questionnaire captured both demographic data from Portal visitors as well as their opinions regarding the utility of the Portal and their satisfaction with it. The objective of this data collection effort was twofold: to characterize Portal users and to establish baseline measurements for user satisfaction. The survey will be repeated following each of two planned releases of the redesigned Portal, one in the summer of 2009 and the second in the fall of 2009. Comparison of future survey results to the baseline results reported in this paper will be one gauge of the success of the IOGENE project.

This report discusses the status of current federally-funded innovation inducement prizes, addresses the different types of prizes, analyzes when prizes may be appropriate and effective, and summarizes assessments that have been made of their effectiveness. The report also provides the lessons that may be learned from completed competitions, and policy options for those Members of Congress interested in taking action regarding federally-funded innovation inducement prizes. The report concludes with an overview of 111th congressional activities regarding prizes.

The term Deepwater refers to a collection of more than a dozen Coast Guard acquisition programs for replacing and modernizing the service's aging fleet of deepwater-capable ships and aircraft. Currently, there are plans to increase and enhance the Coast Guard's fleet through the Deepwater acquisition program. This report details the Coast Guard's budget requests and explains how the Coast Guard has improved its organization and management over the past several years.

This report discusses the possibility of increasing the number of Navy surface ships powered by nuclear energy, including the Navy's planned CG(X) cruiser. The report explores a 2006 Navy study that discusses budget considerations, the cost of a nuclear-powered ship compared to a ship powered by crude oil, and other suggestions relating to this proposed expansion. The overall report has a specific emphasis on the planned CG(X) cruiser, and how the implementation of this cruiser may be delayed by current budget proposals.

This report provides information on the amount of time taken to act on all Supreme Court nominations occurring between 1900 and the present. It focuses on the actual amounts of time that Presidents and the Senate have taken to act (as opposed to the elapsed time between official points in the process). This report focuses on when the Senate became aware of the President's selection (e.g., via a public announcement by the President).

This report provides an overview of current U.S. international science and technology (S&T) policy; describes the role of the Department of State (DOS), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other federal agencies; and discusses possible policy options for Congress. It focuses on international science and technology diplomacy, where American leadership in science and technology is used as a diplomatic tool to enhance other country's development and to improve understanding by other nations of U.S. values and ways of doing business.

As has been the case with most of the world's economies, the Russian economy has been hit hard by the current global financial crisis. Even before the financial crisis, however, Russia was showing signs of economic problems. Russian economic policies and performance raise important policy questions for the United States and the U.S.-Russian relationship which this report addresses. Might Russia's robust economic growth return? Is an economically strong Russia a threat or benefit to the United States? Is Russia following economic strategies that promote a market economy that underlies the international trade system manifested in the World Trade Organization?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several permanently authorized programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including federal crop insurance, the noninsured assistance program (NAP), and emergency disaster loans. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (otherwise known as the 2008 farm bill) includes authorization and funding for crop disaster programs, livestock assistance programs, and a tree assistance program. The new programs are designed to address the ad hoc nature of disaster assistance provided to producers during the last two decades.

This report describes the relationship between the United States and the Sultanate of Oman, especially with respect to Oman's support of U.S. efforts toward peace in the Middle East, the U.S. free trade agreement with Oman, and Oman's relatively close relations with Iran, the last of which seems incongruous with the other positive aspects of Oman's relationship with the U.S.

This report discusses the current political and foreign policy status of Morocco, especially with regard to its relationship with the United States and its struggles combating terrorism.

The Technology Innovation Program (TIP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was established in 2007 to replace the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). This effort is designed " ... to support, promote, and accelerate innovation in the United States through highrisk, high-reward research in areas of critical national need," according to the authorizing legislation. Grants are provided to small and medium-sized firms for individual projects or joint ventures with other research organizations. The elimination of ATP and the creation of TIP have renewed the debate over the role of the federal government in promoting commercial technology development. This report discusses the opposing sides of this ongoing debate.

This report discusses the governmental structure and current political state of Tunisia, as well as additional general information regarding Tunisia's economy and dealings with terrorist groups. This report also describes the U.S.-Tunisian relationship in brief.

The nation's trade deficit is equal to the imbalance between national investment and national saving. The financial turmoil and economic contraction during 2008 reduced the gap between national saving and investment. The result was a decline in the trade deficit and the net inflow of capital. If total net capital inflows decline, mainstream economics suggests, all else held constant, that the dollar and trade deficit would decline, U.S. interest rates would rise, and U.S. spending on capital goods and consumer durables would fall, all else equal.

Iraq's political system, the result of a U.S.-supported election process, is increasingly characterized by peaceful competition rather than violence, but sectarianism and ethnic and factional infighting continue to simmer. This report discusses the current state of Iraq, concentrating primarily on the actions of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, efforts underway to combat sectarian violence, and the projected U.S. troop withdrawal by August 2010.

The Navy has begun a multi-billion dollar program to modernize its 84 existing Aegis cruisers and destroyers over a period of more than 20 years. This report explores this program in detail, including the reasons for the program and the oversight issues it poses for Congress. This report will be updated as events warrant.

This report provides a brief overview of The Hollings Manufacturing Partnership (MEP), which is a program of regional centers set up to assist small and medium-sized manufacturing companies use knowledge and technologies developed under the auspices of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

This report discusses in detail the America COMPETES Act, which is intended to increase the nation's investment in research and development (R&D), and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This report discusses the funding increases authorized by the act for various relevant institutions, e.g., the National Science Foundation (NSF); the act's education activities intended to enhance the skills of STEM educators; and if Congress will continue to similarly fund the America COMPETES Act in the FY2010 budget.

Project Objective: Our long-term goal is to genetically engineer higher value raw materials with desirable wood properties to promote energy efficiency, international competitiveness, and environmental responsiveness of the U.S. forest products industry. The immediate goal of this project was to produce the first higher value softwood raw materials engineered with a wide range of syringyl lignin quantities. Summary: The most important wood property affecting directly the levels of energy, chemical and bleaching requirements for kraft pulp production is lignin. Softwoods contain almost exclusively chemically resistant guaiacyl (G) lignin, whereas hardwoods have more reactive or easily degradable lignins of the guaiacyl (G)-syringyl (S) type. It is also well established that the reactive S lignin component is the key factor that permits much lower effective alkali and temperature, shorter pulping time and less bleaching stages for processing hardwoods than for softwoods. Furthermore, our pulping kinetic study explicitly demonstrated that every increase in one unit of the lignin S/G ratio would roughly double the rate of lignin removal. These are clear evidence that softwoods genetically engineered with S lignin are keys to revolutionizing the energy efficiency and enhancing the environmental performance of this industry. Softwoods and hardwoods share the same genetic mechanisms for …

The Audubon Sugar Institute (ASI) of Louisiana State University’s Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) and MBI International (MBI) sought to develop technologies that will lead to the development of a sugar-cane biorefinery, capable of supplying fuel ethanol from bagasse. Technology development focused on the conversion of bagasse, cane-leaf matter (CLM) and molasses into high value-added products that included ethanol, specialty chemicals, biomaterials and animal feed; i.e. a sugar cane-based biorefinery. The key to lignocellulosic biomass utilization is an economically feasible method (pretreatment) for separating the cellulose and the hemicellulose from the physical protection provided by lignin. An effective pretreatment disrupts physical barriers, cellulose crystallinity, and the association of lignin and hemicellulose with cellulose so that hydrolytic enzymes can access the biomass macrostructure (Teymouri et al. 2004, Laureano-Perez, 2005). We chose to focus on alkaline pretreatment methods for, and in particular, the Ammonia Fiber Expansion (AFEX) process owned by MBI. During the first two years of this program a laboratory process was established for the pretreatment of bagasse and CLM using the AFEX process. There was significant improvement of both rate and yield of glucose and xylose upon enzymatic hydrolysis of AFEX-treated bagasse and CLM compared with untreated material. Because of reactor …

At the request of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE; Portland District), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) undertook a project in 2006 to look further into issues of total dissolved gas (TDG) supersaturation in the lower Columbia River downstream of Bonneville Dam. In FY 2008, the third year of the project, PNNL conducted field monitoring and laboratory toxicity testing to both verify results from 2007 and answer some additional questions about how salmonid sac fry respond to elevated TDG in the field and the laboratory. For FY 2008, three objectives were 1) to repeat the 2006-2007 field effort to collect empirical data on TDG from the Ives Island and Multnomah Falls study sites; 2) to repeat the static laboratory toxicity tests on hatchery chum salmon fry to verify 2007 results and to expose wild chum salmon fry to incremental increases in TDG, above those of the static test, until external symptoms of gas bubble disease were clearly present; and 3) to assess physiological responses to TDG levels in wild chum salmon sac fry incubating below Bonneville Dam during spill operations. This report summarizes the tasks conducted and results obtained in pursuit of the three objectives. Chapter 1 discusses the …