A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Having the right number of civilian personnel with the right skills is critical to achieving the Department of Defense's (DOD) mission. With more than 50 percent of its civilian workforce (about 700,000 civilians) eligible to retire in the next few years, DOD may be faced with deciding how to fill numerous mission-critical positions--some involving senior leadership. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 requires DOD to develop a strategic human capital plan, update it annually through 2010, and address eight requirements. GAO previously found that DOD's 2007 plan did not meet most requirements. The 2007 NDAA added nine requirements to the annual update to shape DOD's senior leader workforce. GAO was asked to assess the extent to which DOD's 2008 update addressed (1) the 2006 human capital planning requirements, (2) the 2007 senior leader requirements, and (3) key factors that may affect civilian workforce planning. GAO analyzed the update, compared it with the requirements, and reviewed factors identified in the update and prior GAO work."

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Yucca Flat is a topographic and structural basin in the northeastern part of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in Nye County, Nevada. Between the years 1951 and 1992, 659 underground nuclear tests took place in Yucca Flat; most were conducted in large, vertical excavations that penetrated alluvium and the underlying Cenozoic volcanic rocks. Radioactive and other potential chemical contaminants at the NTS are the subject of a long-term program of investigation and remediation by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Site Office, under its Environmental Restoration Program. As part of the program, the DOE seeks to assess the extent of contamination and to evaluate the potential risks to humans and the environment from byproducts of weapons testing. To accomplish this objective, the DOE Environmental Restoration Program is constructing and calibrating a ground-water flow model to predict hydrologic flow in Yucca Flat as part of an effort to quantify the subsurface hydrology of the Nevada Test Site. A necessary part of calibrating and evaluating a model of the flow system is an understanding of the location and characteristics of faults that may influence ground-water flow. In addition, knowledge of fault-zone architecture and physical properties is a …

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas Senate and House of Representatives relating to granting the legislature permission to adjourn for more than three days during the period beginning on Wednesday, February 4, 2009, and ending on Monday, February 9, 2009.

Industrial processes use mechanical draft cooling towers (MDCT's) to dissipate waste heat by transferring heat from water to air via evaporative cooling, which causes air humidification. The Savannah River Site (SRS) has cross-flow and counter-current MDCT's consisting of four independent compartments called cells. Each cell has its own fan to help maximize heat transfer between ambient air and circulated water. The primary objective of the work is to simulate the cooling tower performance for the counter-current cooling tower and to conduct a parametric study under different fan speeds and ambient air conditions. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and performed the benchmarking analysis against the integral measurement results to accomplish the objective. The model uses three-dimensional steady-state momentum, continuity equations, air-vapor species balance equation, and two-equation turbulence as the basic governing equations. It was assumed that vapor phase is always transported by the continuous air phase with no slip velocity. In this case, water droplet component was considered as discrete phase for the interfacial heat and mass transfer via Lagrangian approach. Thus, the air-vapor mixture model with discrete water droplet phase is used for the analysis. A series of parametric calculations was performed …

We present a numerical method to solve the linear stability of impulsively accelerated density interfaces in two dimensions such as those arising in the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. The method uses an Eulerian approach, and is based on an unwind method to compute the temporally evolving base state and a flux vector splitting method for the perturbations. The method is applicable to either gas dynamics or magnetohydrodynamics. Numerical examples are presented for cases in which a hydrodynamic shock interacts with a single or double density interface, and a doubly shocked single density interface. Convergence tests show that the method is spatially second order accurate for smooth flows, and between first and second order accurate for flows with shocks.

Print Out No.1 presents a listing of the initial data. The variables included were: SITE, REP, NH4, NO2{_}3, SRP, TDP, TN, TP, and JULIAN , representing site code, replication number, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate and nitrite nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and Julian date, respectively. All values for nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon variables are recorded as {micro}g/L. The 2007 water quality data received by SCS required considerable manipulation and data management prior to analysis. If it is anticipated that water quality data received by SCS in the future will be of the same format, the time to carry out the necessary reformatting of the data should be taken into consideration. The levels of SRP from water quality data of previous years were often below detection limits. The data from 2007 showed elevated levels for this and other responses. This pattern was seemingly unrelated to nutrient addition treatments, however, as they appeared consistently across the study area. The river fertilization program was begun in 2005. Because the procedures for detection of nutrients and metals are quite sensitive, SCS recommends that any future water quality samples taken on, or close to, the dates of fertilizer application be …

Four Excel files containing information on the 2007 macroinvertebrate data were initially provided to Statistical Consulting Services (SCS) by EcoAnalysts on 1/27/2009. These data files contained information on abundance and biomass data at the level of taxonomic groups. The data were subsequently reformatted and compiled, and aggregated for analysis by SCS. All descriptions and analyses below relate to this compiled data. Computations were carried out separately for each site over all sample periods. Basic summary information for both the abundance and biomass data is presented in Print Out No.2. The 14 sites varied widely in their minimum, mean, maximum and variance values. The number of observations ranged from 10 to 18. Some large abundance values (abundance > 40,000) were noted for sites KR6 and KR13. A more detailed summary of each site is given in Print Out No.3. Site KR3, for example, had a mean abundance of 6914 with a sample size of 17. The variance was 4591991 and the standard error of the mean was 1643. The skewness value, a measure of symmetry for the frequency distribution, was moderately large at 1.29 indicating an asymmetric distribution. Biomass for KR3 had a mean value of 0.87 g/m{sup 2} with 17 …

The purpose of this Phased Construction Completion Report (PCCR) is to present fiscal year (FY) 2009 results of Dynamic Verification Strategy (DVS) characterization activities for exposure unit (EU) Z2-36 in Zone 2 at the East Tennessee technology Park (ETTP). The ETTP is located in the northwest corner of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and encompasses approximately 5000 acres that have been subdivided into three zones--Zone 1 ({approx} 1400 acres), Zone 2 ({approx} 800 acres), and the Boundary Area ({approx} 2800 acres). Zone 2 comprises the highly industrial portion of ETTP and consists of all formerly secured areas of the facility, including the large processing buildings and direct support facilities; experimental laboratories and chemical and materials handling facilities; materials storage and waste disposal facilities; secure document records libraries; and shipping and receiving warehouses. The Record of Decision for Soil, Buried Waste, and Subsurface Structure Actions in Zone 2, East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (DOE 2005) (Zone 2 ROD) specifies the future end use for Zone 2 acreage as uncontrolled industrial for the upper 10 ft of soils. Characterization activities in these areas were conducted in compliance with the Zone 2 ROD …

The overall objective of this project was the development of a dosimetry system that provides the direct measurement of organ does in real-time with a sensitivity that makes it an effective tool for applications in a wide variety of health physics applications. The system included the development of a real-time readout system for fiber optic coupled (FOC) dosimeters that is integrated with a state-of-art anthropomorphic phantom to provide instantaneous measures of organ doses throughout the phantom. The small size of the FOC detectors and optical fibers allow the sensitive volume of the detector to be located at organ centroids (or multiple locations distributed through the organ) within a tissue equivalent, anthropomorphic phantom without perturbing the tissue equivalent features of the phantom. The developed phantom/dosimetry system can be used in any environment where personnel may be exposed to gamma or x-ray radiations to provide the most accurate determinations of organ and effective doses possible to date.

Multiple files containing 2004 through 2007 Tile Chlorophyll data for the Kootenai River sites designated as: KR1, KR2, KR3, KR4 (Downriver) and KR6, KR7, KR9, KR9.1, KR10, KR11, KR12, KR13, KR14 (Upriver) were received by SCS. For a complete description of the sites covered, please refer to http://ktoi.scsnetw.com. To maintain consistency with the previous SCS algae reports, all analyses were carried out separately for the Upriver and Downriver categories, as defined in the aforementioned paragraph. The Upriver designation, however, now includes three additional sites, KR11, KR12, and the nutrient addition site, KR9.1. Summary statistics and information on the four responses, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll a Accrual Rate, Total Chlorophyll, and Total Chlorophyll Accrual Rate are presented in Print Out 2. Computations were carried out separately for each river position (Upriver and Downriver) and year. For example, the Downriver position in 2004 showed an average Chlorophyll a level of 25.5 mg with a standard deviation of 21.4 and minimum and maximum values of 3.1 and 196 mg, respectively. The Upriver data in 2004 showed a lower overall average chlorophyll a level at 2.23 mg with a lower standard deviation (3.6) and minimum and maximum values of (0.13 and 28.7, respectively). A more …

Western Research Institute (WRI) in conjunction with Earth Tech and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was to identify proper sites with soils and/or groundwater contaminated by petroleum constituents and MTBE. Biodegradation rates would have been quantitatively assessed in both laboratory and field tests to achieve the optimal destruction of contaminants of concern. WRI and Earth Tech identified a site contaminated with high concentrations of methanol associated with petroleum hydrocarbons. The site was assessed and a remediation project plan was prepared; however, the site was soon acquired by a new company. An agreement between Earth Tech, WRI, and the new site owners could not be reached; therefore, a work was performed to identify a new project site. Task 33 was terminated and the available funding was redeployed to other Tasks after receiving approval from the U.S. DOE task manager.

In the original paper a mistake in Figure 11 occurred. The corrected version of the figure is provided.

This report addresses a number of the more frequently asked queries regarding the U.S. foreign aid program, its objectives, costs, organization, the role of Congress, and how it compares to those of other aid donors. In particular, the discussion attempts not only to present a current snapshot of American foreign assistance, but also to illustrate the extent to which this instrument of U.S. foreign policy has changed from past practices, especially since the end of the Cold War and the launching of the war on terror.

This report discusses the debate surrounding the government's use of private-sector lead system integrators (LSIs) for executing large, complex, defense-related acquisition programs, as well as related legislation.

This report provides an overview of many of the key arms control and nonproliferation agreements and endeavors of the past 40 years. It is divided into three sections: (1) arms control efforts between the United States and the states of the former Soviet Union, covering both formal, bilateral treaties, and the cooperative threat reduction process; (2) multilateral nuclear nonproliferation efforts, covering both formal treaties and less formal accommodations that have been initiated in recent years; and (3) treaties and agreements that address chemical, biological, and conventional weapons.

This report analyzes the consolidation of Department of Energy (DOE) and National Security Administration (NNSA) counterintelligence (CI) offices -- first authorized by Congress at DOE's request and a second time initiated by DOE. It examines the impact of each on the effectiveness of the DOE CI program and discusses related oversight issues for Congress.

This report summarizes key issues in domestic public health and medical preparedness and response, citing other CRS Reports and sources of additional information. Key recent events--the 2001 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and concerns about an influenza ("flu") pandemic, among others--sharpened congressional interest in the nation's systems to track and respond to public health threats.

This report provides a section-by-section summary of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which provides civil protections and rights to individuals based on their service in the Reserve and National Guard military units.

This report provides insight to reserve component personnel issues through a series of questions and answers. The term "Reserve Component" is used to refer collectively to the seven individual reserve components of the armed forces: the Army National Guard of the United States, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air National Guard of the United States, the Air Force Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve.

This report deals with U.S.-China relations during the 110th Congress (2007-2008) and with a number of key events involving China during the two-year period. These events included: China's anti-satellite weapon test (January 2007); the 17th Party Congress (October 2007); a crackdown against demonstrations in Tibet (March 2008); the election of a new, pro-engagement government in Taiwan (March 2008); the massive Sichuan earthquake (May 2008); and Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics (August 2008).

This report reviews the nature of EPA's, California's, and other states' authority to regulate emissions from mobile sources, the applicability of that authority to GHGs, and issues related to the California waiver request.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.