Low-biomass samples from nitrate and heavy metal contaminated soils yield DNA amounts that have limited use for direct, native analysis and screening. Multiple displacement amplification (MDA) using ?29 DNA polymerase was used to amplify whole genomes from environmental, contaminated, subsurface sediments. By first amplifying the genomic DNA (gDNA), biodiversity analysis and gDNA library construction of microbes found in contaminated soils were made possible. The MDA method was validated by analyzing amplified genome coverage from approximately five Escherichia coli cells, resulting in 99.2 percent genome coverage. The method was further validated by confirming overall representative species coverage and also an amplification bias when amplifying from a mix of eight known bacterial strains. We extracted DNA from samples with extremely low cell densities from a U.S. Department of Energy contaminated site. After amplification, small subunit rRNA analysis revealed relatively even distribution of species across several major phyla. Clone libraries were constructed from the amplified gDNA, and a small subset of clones was used for shotgun sequencing. BLAST analysis of the library clone sequences showed that 64.9 percent of the sequences had significant similarities to known proteins, and ''clusters of orthologous groups'' (COG) analysis revealed that more than half of the sequences from …

The structure and phase of the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} scale that forms on an Fe{sub 3}Al-based alloy (Fe-28Al-5Cr) (at %) was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). Oxidation was performed at 900 C and 1000 C for up to 190 min. TEM revealed that single-layer scales were formed after short oxidation times. Electron diffraction was used to show that the scales are composed of nanoscale crystallites of the {theta}, {gamma}, and {alpha} phases of alumina. Band-like structure was observed extending along three 120{sup o}-separated directions within the surface plane. Textured {theta} and {gamma} grains were the main components of the bands, while mixed {alpha} and transient phases were found between the bands. Extended oxidation produced a double-layered scale structure, with a continuous {alpha} layer at the scale/alloy interface, and a {gamma}/{theta} layer at the gas surface. The mechanism for the formation of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} scales on iron aluminide alloys is discussed and compared to that for nickel aluminide alloys.

This report is about Avian Influenza, specifically about agricultural issues.

We present a sample of 218 new quasar pairs with proper transverse separations R{sub prop} < 1 h{sup -1} Mpc over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 3.0, discovered from an extensive follow up campaign to find companions around the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and 2dF Quasar Redshift Survey quasars. This sample includes 26 new binary quasars with separations R{sub prop} < 50 h{sup -1} kpc ({theta} < 10''), more than doubling the number of such systems known. We define a statistical sample of binaries selected with homogeneous criteria and compute its selection function, taking into account sources of incompleteness. The first measurement of the quasar correlation function on scales 10 h{sup -1} kpc < R{sub prop} < 400 h{sup -1} kpc is presented. For R{sub prop} {approx}< 40 h{sup -1} kpc, we detect an order of magnitude excess clustering over the expectation from the large scale (R{sub prop} {approx}> 3 h{sup -1} Mpc) quasar correlation function, extrapolated down as a power law to the separations probed by our binaries. The excess grows to {approx}30 at R{sub prop} {approx} 10 h{sup -1} kpc, and provides compelling evidence that the quasar autocorrelation function gets progressively steeper on sub-Mpc scales. This …

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) posted a deficit of $23.5 billion as of the latest reporting period, and the deficit is expected to grow further. Major bills introduced in the 109th Congress to reform funding rules for the defined benefit pension system and to raise PBGC premiums include H.R. 2830 and S. 1783. Neither has yet passed the full House or Senate. PBGC premiums are an important source of revenue for meeting the budget reconciliation targets. The House Budget Committee has reported out H.R. 4241, a budget reconciliation package that would raise PBGC premiums. The Senate has passed S. 1932, a budget reconciliation package that also contains PBGC premium increases.

To reach maximum sensitivity, any method used to search for orphan sources must be insensitive to local variations of the background. Using imaging and non-imaging techniques, we analyzed the same data acquired by a search instrument deployed as a large-area, coded-mask imager. Data from many passes past a 1 mCi source at 65 m from the instrument were used to construct a model of the instrument response. We then used the model to ''hide'' the source in data taken in a light urban environment. We compared the success of detecting the hidden sources using imaging coded-mask methods, pseudo-imaging based on a zero-area matched filter, and non-imaging using simple thresholding. The results clearly indicate the superiority of imaging with the coded-mask techniques returning the best results.

This report provides information about the Dairy Policy Issues. Several dairy issues are considered by Congress, some of which effects the three major federal dairy policy tools. Federal milk marketing orders regulate the farm price of milk for roughly two-thirds of U.S Milk production.

This report discusses the Background, Issues, and Options for Congress on Defense Procurement. The full funding policy is a federal budgeting rule imposed on DOD by Congress in the 1950s that requires entire procurement cost of a weapon of military equipment.

We have combined a sample of 44 984 quasars, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 3, with the FIRST radio survey. Using a novel technique where the optical quasar position is matched to the complete radio environment within 450'', we are able to characterize the radio morphological make-up of what is essentially an optically selected quasar sample, regardless of whether the quasar (nucleus) itself has been detected in the radio. About 10% of the quasar population have radio cores brighter than 0.75 mJy at 1.4 GHz, and 1.7% have double lobed FR2-like radio morphologies. About 75% of the FR2 sources have a radio core (> 0.75mJy). A significant fraction ({approx}40%) of the FR2 quasars are bent by more than 10 degrees, indicating either interactions of the radio plasma with the ICM or IGM. We found no evidence for correlations with redshift among our FR2 quasars: radio lobe flux densities and radio source diameters of the quasars have similar distributions at low (mean 0.77) and high (mean 2.09) redshifts. Using a smaller high reliability FR2 sample of 422 quasars and two comparison samples of radio-quiet and non-FR2 radio-loud quasars, matched in their redshift distributions, we constructed composite …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Advances in technology have led to rapidly increasing sales of new electronic devices. With this increase comes the dilemma of managing these products at the end of their useful lives. Some research suggests that the disposal of used electronics could cause a number of environmental problems. Research also suggests that such problems are often exacerbated by the export of used electronics to countries without protective environmental regulations. Given that millions of used electronics become obsolete each year with only a fraction of them being recycled, GAO was asked to (1) summarize information on the volumes of, and problems associated with, used electronics; (2) examine the factors affecting their recycling and reuse; and (3) examine federal efforts to encourage recycling and reuse of these products."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the significance of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collections to federal receipts and, in turn, to the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, which GAO is required to audit, and Congress's interest in financial management at IRS, GAO audits IRS's financial statements annually to determine whether (1) the financial statements IRS prepares are reliable and (2) IRS management maintained effective internal controls. We also test IRS's compliance with selected provisions of significant laws and regulations and its financial management systems' compliance with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA)."

Fish and marine mammals are important resources in open ocean and nearshore coastal areas. Many laws and regulations guide the management of these resources by federal agencies. This report contains information on commercial and sport fisheries, aquaculture, and marine mammals and issues related to the 109th Congress.

This report discusses federal program called head start program that has provided comprehensive early childhood development services to low-income children since 1965. The Head Start program has received increases of varying levels over the past two decades.

The point spread function (PSF) of a fully-instrumented silicon/germanium Compton telescope has been measured as a function of energy and angle. Overall, the resolution ranged from 3{sup o} to 4{sup o} FWHM over most of the energy range and field of view. The various contributions to the resolution have been quantified. These contributions include the energy uncertainty and position uncertainty of the detector; source energy; Doppler broadening; and the 1/r broadening characteristic of Compton back-projection. Furthermore, a distortion of the PSF is observed for sources imaged off-axis from the detector. These contributions are discussed and compared to theory and simulations.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Complex includes many sites and laboratories that store quantities of low-level, solid nuclear waste in drums and other types of shipping containers. The drums may be stored for long periods of time prior to being transported and final dispositioning. Based on the radioactivity (e.g., Pu{sup 239} equivalent), chemical nature (e.g. volatile organic compounds) and other characteristics of the stored waste, flammable gases may evolve. Documented safety analyses (DSAs) for storage of these drums must address storage and safety management issues to protect workers, the general public, and the environment. This paper discusses an improved analytical method for determining the explosion effects flammable gas-air mixtures as well as the subsequent accident phenomenology.

The point spread function (PSF) is an important measure ofspatial resolution in CCDs for point-like objects, since it can affectuse in imaging and spectroscopic applications. We present new data andtheoretical developments in the study of lateral charge diffusion inthick, fully-depleted charge-coupled devices (CCDs) developed at LawrenceBerkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Because they are fully depleted, theLBNL devices have no field-free region, and diffusion can be controlledthrough the application of an external bias voltage. We give results fora 3512x3512 format, 10.5 ?m pixel back-illuminated p-channel CCDdeveloped for the SuperNova/ Acceleration Probe (SNAP), a proposedsatellite-based experiment designed to study dark energy. The PSF wasmeasured at substrate bias voltages between 3 V and 115 V. At a biasvoltage of 115V, we measure an rms diffusion of 3.7 +- 0.2 ?m. Lateralcharge diffusion in LBNL CCDs is thus expected to meet the SNAPrequirements.

Laser-driven shock compression of pre-compressed water (up to 1 GPa precompression) produces high-pressure, -temperature conditions in the water inducing two optical phenomena: opacity and reflectivity in the initially transparent water. The onset of reflectivity at infrared wavelengths can be interpreted as a semi-conductor to electronic conductor transition in water and is found at pressures above {approx}130 GPa for single-shocked samples pre-compressed to 1 GPa. This electronic conduction provides an additional contribution to the conductivity required for magnetic field generation in Icy Giant planets like Uranus and Neptune.

We present the Multi-Array Galactic Plane Imaging Survey (MAGPIS), which maps portions of the first Galactic quadrant with an angular resolution, sensitivity and dynamic range that surpasses existing radio images of the Milky Way by more than an order of magnitude. The source detection threshold at 20 cm is in the range 1-2 mJy over the 85% of the survey region (5{sup o} < l < 32{sup o}, |b| < 0.8{sup o}) not covered by bright extended emission; the angular resolution is {approx} 6''. We catalog over 3000 discrete sources (diameters mostly < 30'') and present an atlas of {approx} 400 diffuse emission regions. New and archival data at 90 cm for the whole survey area are also presented. Comparison of our catalogs and images with the MSX mid-infrared data allow us to provide preliminary discrimination between thermal and non-thermal sources. We identify 49 high-probability supernova remnant candidates, increasing by a factor of seven the number of known remnants with diameters smaller than 50 in the survey region; several are pulsar wind nebula candidates and/or very small diameter remnants (D < 45''). We report the tentative identification of several hundred H II regions based on a comparison with the mid-IR …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For years, Congress has wrestled with rising Medicare costs and improper payments for outpatient therapy services--physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology. In 1997 Congress established per-person spending limits, or "therapy caps," for nonhospital outpatient therapy but, responding to concerns that some beneficiaries need extensive services, has since placed temporary moratoriums on the caps. The current moratorium is set to expire at the end of 2005. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 required GAO to report on whether available information justifies waiving the caps for particular conditions or diseases. As agreed with the committees of jurisdiction, GAO also assessed the status of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) efforts to develop a needs-based payment policy and whether circumstances leading to the caps have changed."

This ongoing work concerns the creation of a deformable mirror by the integration of MEMS actuators with Nanolaminate foils through metal compression boning. These mirrors will use the advantages of these disparate technologies to achieve dense actuation of a high-quality, continuous mirror surface. They will enable advanced adaptive optics systems in large terrestrial telescopes. While MEMS actuators provide very dense actuation with high precision they can not provide large forces typically necessary to deform conventional mirror surfaces. Nanolaminate foils can be fabricated with very high surface quality while their extraordinary mechanical properties enable very thin, flexible foils to survive the rigors of fabrication. Precise metal compression bonding allows the attachment of the fragile MEMS actuators to the thin nanolaminate foils without creating distortions at the bond sites. This paper will describe work in four major areas: (1) modeling and design, (2) bonding development, (3) nanolaminate foil development, (4) producing a prototype. A first-principles analytical model was created and used to determine the design parameters. A method of bonding was determined that is both strong, and minimizes the localized deformation or print through. Work has also been done to produce nanolaminate foils that are sufficiently thin, flexible and flat to be …

In February and March 2005, the Navy testified that the Navy in future years may require a total of 260 to 325 ships and provided a report to Congress showing the notional compositions of 260- and 325-ship fleets in FY2035.

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