A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2006, about 18,000 undervotes were reported in Sarasota County in the race for Florida's 13th Congressional District (FL-13). After the contesting of the election results in the House of Representatives, the task force unanimously voted to seek GAO's assistance in determining whether the voting systems contributed to the large undervote in Sarasota County. GAO agreed with the task force on an engagement plan, including the following review objectives: (1) What voting systems were used in Sarasota County and what processes governed their use? (2) What was the scope of the undervote in Sarasota County in the general election? (3) What tests were conducted on the voting systems in Sarasota County prior to the general election and what were the results of those tests? (4) Considering the voting systems tests conducted after the general election, are additional tests needed to determine whether the voting systems contributed to the undervote? To conduct its work, GAO met with officials from the State of Florida, Sarasota County, and Election Systems and Software (ES&S)--the voting systems manufacturer--and reviewed voting systems test documentation. GAO analyzed election data to characterize …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), established in 1968, provides property owners with some insurance coverage for flood damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for managing the NFIP. Given the challenges facing the NFIP and the need for legislative reform to ensure the financial stability and ongoing viability of this program, GAO placed the NFIP on its high-risk list in March 2006. This testimony updates past work and provides information about ongoing GAO work on issues including (1) NFIP's financial structure, (2) the extent of compliance with mandatory requirements, (3) the status of map modernization efforts, and (4) FEMA's oversight of the NFIP. Building on our previous and ongoing work on the NFIP, GAO collected data from FEMA to update efforts, including information about claims, policies, repetitive loss properties, and mitigation efforts."

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Brookhaven National Lab. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Some arguments of Bristow (1960) concerning the effects of cracks on elastic and transport (i.e., electrical or thermal conduction) properties of cold-worked metals are reexamined. The discussion is posed in terms of a modern understanding of bounds and estimates for physical properties of polycrystals--in contrast to Bristow's approach using simple mixture theory. One type of specialized result emphasized here is the cross-property estimates and bounds that can be obtained using the methods presented. Our results ultimately agree with those of Bristow, i.e., confirming that microcracking is not likely to be the main cause of the observed elastic behavior of cold-worked metals. However, it also becomes clear that the mixture theory approach to the analysis is too simple and that crack-crack interactions are necessary for proper quantitative study of Bristow's problem.

We report the first measurement of the opening angledistribution between pairs of jets produced in high-energy collisions oftransversely polarized protons. The measurement probes (Sivers)correlations between the transverse spin orientation of a proton and thetransverse momentum directions of its partons. With both beams polarized,the wide pseudorapidity (-1 leq eta leq +2) coverage for jets permitsseparation of Sivers functions for the valence and sea regions. Theresulting asymmetries are all consistent with zero and considerablysmaller than Sivers effects observed in semi-inclusive deep inelasticscattering (SIDIS). We discuss theoretical attempts to reconcile the newresults with the sizable transverse spin effects seen in SIDIS andforward hadron production in pp collisions.

Telomeres are maintained by three DNA binding proteins (TRF1, TRF2 and POT1), and several associated factors. One factor, TIN2, binds TRF1 and TRF2 directly and POT1 indirectly. Along with two other proteins, TPP1 and hRap1, these form a soluble complex that may be the core telomere maintenance complex. It is not clear whether sub-complexes also exist in vivo. We provide evidence for two TIN2 sub-complexes with distinct functions in human cells. We isolated these two TIN2 sub-complexes from nuclear lysates of unperturbed cells and cells expressing TIN2 mutants TIN2-13, TIN2-15C, which cannot bind TRF2 or TRF1, respectively. In cells with wild-type p53 function, TIN2-15C was more potent than TIN2-13 in causing telomere uncapping and eventual growth arrest. In cells lacking p53 function, TIN2-15C was more potent than TIN2-13 in causing telomere dysfunction and cell death. Our findings suggest that distinct TIN2 complexes exist, and that TIN2-15C-sensitive subcomplexes are particularly important for cell survival in the absence of functional p53.

Compton scattering has been developed for accurate measurements of densities and temperatures in dense plasmas. One future challenge is the application of this technique to characterize compressed matter on the National Ignition Facility where hydrogen and beryllium will approach extremely dense states of matter of up to 1000 g/cc. In this regime, the density, compressibility, and capsule fuel adiabat may be directly measured from the Compton scattered spectrum of a high-energy x-ray line source. Specifically, the scattered spectra directly reflect the electron velocity distribution. In non-degenerate plasmas, the width provides an accurate measure of the electron temperatures, while in partially Fermi degenerate systems that occur in laser-compressed matter it provides the Fermi energy and hence the electron density. Both of these regimes have been accessed in experiments at the Omega laser by employing isochorically heated solid-density beryllium and moderately compressed beryllium foil targets. In the latter experiment, compressions by a factor of 3 at pressures of 40 Mbar have been measured in excellent agreement with radiation hydrodynamic modeling.

Bacteria of the Bacillus cereus group are known to cause food poisoning. A rare phylogenetically remote strain, NVH391-98, was recently characterized to encode a particularly efficient cytotoxin K presumably responsible for food poisoning. This pathogenic strain and its close relatives can be phenotypically distinguished from other strains of the B. cereus group by the inability to grow at temperatures below 17 degrees C and by the ability to grow at temperatures from 48 to 53 degrees C. A temperate phage, phBC391A2, residing in the genome of NVH391-98 allows us to distinguish the three known members of this thermophilic strain cluster.

This report documents the LLNL TSF upgrade ASC L2 milestone 2351: Terascale Simulation Facility upgrade, due Sept. 30, 2007. The full text of the milestone is included in Attachment 1. The stated goal of the milestone was: 'Complete a 3-MW expansion of electrical power for computing systems in the east computer room of the Terascale Simulation Facility (TSF) and complete the final connection of all air handlers that were delivered as part of the TSF line item'. In this report we detail the upgrade and cover the results of the process to accept the system by testing, adjusting, balancing and finally start-up of the system in accordance with the detailed project commissioning plan to be developed by the system engineers during the design phase of the project. The quarterly reports for the upgrade and the text of the project commissioning plan are included at the end of this document as Attachments 2 and 3.

This document contains descriptions of Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T) Metrology capabilities, traceability flow charts, and the measurement uncertainty of each measurement capability. Metrology provides NIST traceable precision measurements or equipment calibration for a wide variety of parameters, ranges, and state-of-the-art uncertainties. Metrology laboratories conform to the requirements of the Department of Energy Development and Production Manual Chapter 13.2, ANSI/ISO/IEC ANSI/ISO/IEC 17025:2005, and ANSI/NCSL Z540-1. FM&T Metrology laboratories are accredited by NVLAP for the parameters, ranges, and uncertainties listed in the specific scope of accreditation under NVLAP Lab code 200108-0. See the Internet at http://ts.nist.gov/Standards/scopes/2001080.pdf. These parameters are summarized. The Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T) Metrology Department has developed measurement technology and calibration capability in four major fields of measurement: (1) Mechanical; (2) Environmental, Gas, Liquid; (3) Electrical (DC, AC, RF/Microwave); and (4) Optical and Radiation. Metrology Engineering provides the expertise to develop measurement capabilities for virtually any type of measurement in the fields listed above. A strong audit function has been developed to provide a means to evaluate the calibration programs of our suppliers and internal calibration organizations. Evaluation includes measurement audits and technical surveys.

The objective of the proposed work was to develop a software package that can construct in three-dimensional core power distributions using the signals from constant temperature power sensors distributed in the reactor core. The software developed uses a mode-based state/parameter estmation technique that is particularly attractive when there are model uncertainties and/or large signal noise. The software yields the expected value of local power at the detector locations and points in between, as well as the probability distribution of the local power density

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192-beam laser system designed to study high energy density physics. Each beam line contains a variety of line replaceable units (LRUs) that contain optics, stepping motors, sensors and other devices to control and diagnose the laser. During commissioning and subsequent maintenance of the laser, LRUs undergo a qualification process using the Integrated Computer Control System (ICCS) to verify and calibrate the equipment. The commissioning processes are both repetitive and tedious when we use remote manual computer controls, making them ideal candidates for software automation. Maintenance and Commissioning Tool (MCT) software was developed to improve the efficiency of the qualification process. The tools are implemented in Java, leveraging ICCS services and CORBA to communicate with the control devices. The framework provides easy-to-use mechanisms for handling configuration data, task execution, task progress reporting, and generation of commissioning test reports. The tool framework design and application examples will be discussed.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the M. & J. Nelson Building, in McAllen, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

Email from Sherry Ringler to the WASP Board containing the mailing addresses for members of the Bosca family.

Email from Sherry Ringler to the WASP Board containing a link to a report summarizing the conference call held between Ringler and the board on September 28.

Email from Sherry Ringler to the WASP Board discussing the income generated from selling inventory at the Columbus air show. She also mentions meeting Tony Masa, who took part in the "Missing Man" flyover for "a WASP in Springfield" (Caro Bosca) the week before.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

Monthly report written by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association's (TDNA's) office manager, Darla Thompson, to Ken Whalen providing a summary of revenues and account balances, programs, meetings, and other activities in the office during the previous month.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: School district responsibilities under section 25.0951(a) of the Texas Education Code (RQ-0584-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a bail bond board may implement a rule allowing a temporary extension of the license expiration dates set forth in section 1704.162 of the Occupations Code (RQ-0585-GA)

This report provides information about the Guide to Individuals Seated on the House Dais. The house of representatives meets in the capitol in the house chamber.