A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The radio-frequency spectrum is a natural resource used to provide an array of wireless communications services, such as television broadcasting, which are critical to the U.S. economy and national security. In 1993, the Congress gave the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to use competitive bidding, or auctions, to assign spectrum licenses to commercial users. The Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act required GAO to examine FCC's commercial spectrum licensing process. Specifically, GAO examined the (1) characteristics of the current spectrum allocation process for commercial uses; (2) impact of the assignment process--specifically the adoption of auctions to assign spectrum licenses--on end-user prices, infrastructure deployment, competition, and entry and participation of small businesses; and (3) options for improving spectrum management."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent violations uncovered in the mutual fund industry raised questions about the ethical practices of the industry and the quality of its oversight. A widespread abuse involved mutual fund companies' investment advisers (firms that provide management and other services to funds) entering into undisclosed arrangements with favored customers to permit market timing (frequent trading to profit from short-term pricing discrepancies) in contravention of stated trading limits. These arrangements harmed long-term mutual fund shareholders by increasing transaction costs and lowering fund returns. Questions have also been raised as to why the New York State Attorney General's Office disclosed the trading abuses in September 2003 before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is the mutual fund industry's primary regulator. Accordingly, this report (1) identifies the reasons that SEC did not detect the abuses at an earlier stage and the lessons learned in not doing so, and (2) assesses the steps that SEC has taken to strengthen its mutual fund oversight program and improve mutual fund company operations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) conducted the Count Question Resolution (CQR) program to correct errors in the count of housing units as well as dormitories and other group living facilities known as group quarters. GAO was asked to assess whether CQR was consistently implemented across the country, paying particular attention to whether the Bureau identified census errors that could have been caused by more systemic problems. GAO also evaluated how well the Bureau transitioned to CQR from an earlier quality assurance program called Full Count Review."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 mandated that GAO review whether the transition assistance program (TAP) is meeting the needs of service members leaving the military. GAO (1) assessed TAP administration, including program participation, and (2) identified actions agencies are taking to improve TAP and challenges that remain. TAP serves military personnel with at least 180 days of active duty who separate or retire and members of the Reserves and National Guard who are released from active duty, a process termed demobilization. Recently, the Reserves and National Guard have been called to active duty in greater numbers than at any other time since the Korean War."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Americans spend billions of hours each year providing information to federal agencies by filling out information collections (forms, surveys, or questionnaires). A major aim of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) is to balance the burden of these collections with their public benefit. Under the act, agencies' Chief Information Officers (CIO) are responsible for reviewing information collections before they are submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. As part of this review, CIOs must certify that the collections meet 10 standards set forth in the act. GAO was asked to assess, among other things, this review and certification process, including agencies' efforts to consult with the public. To do this, GAO reviewed a governmentwide sample of collections, reviewed processes and collections at four agencies that account for a large proportion of burden, and performed case studies of 12 approved collections."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Plutonium is very hazardous to human health and the environment and requires extensive security because of its potential use in a nuclear weapon. The Department of Energy (DOE) stores about 50 metric tons of plutonium that is no longer needed by the United States for nuclear weapons. Some of this plutonium is contaminated metal, oxides, solutions, and residues remaining from the nuclear weapons production process. To improve security and reduce plutonium storage costs, DOE plans to establish enough storage capacity at its Savannah River Site (SRS) in the event it decides to consolidate its plutonium at SRS until it can be permanently disposed of in a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which DOE can consolidate this plutonium at SRS and (2) SRS's capacity to monitor plutonium storage containers."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Perchlorate, a primary ingredient in propellant, has been used for decades in the manufacture and firing of rockets and missiles. Other uses include fireworks, flares, and explosives. Perchlorate has been found in drinking water, groundwater, surface water, and soil in the United States. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) reviewed studies of perchlorate's health effects and reported in January 2005 that certain levels of exposure may not adversely affect healthy adults but recommended more studies be conducted on the effects of perchlorate exposure in children and pregnant women. GAO determined (1) the estimated extent of perchlorate in the United States, (2) what actions have been taken to address perchlorate, and (3) what studies of perchlorate's health risks have reported."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "About one third of students entering high school do not graduate and face limited job prospects. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) requires states to use graduation rates to measure how well students are being educated. To assess the accuracy of states' graduation rates and to review programs that may increase these rates, GAO was asked to examine (1) the graduation rate definitions states use and how the Department of Education (Education) helped states meet legal requirements,(2) the factors that affect the accuracy of graduation rates and Education's role in ensuring accurate data, and (3) interventions with the potential to increase graduation rates and how Education enhanced and disseminated knowledge of intervention research."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the General Mining Act of 1872, billions of dollars in hardrock minerals, such as gold, have been extracted from federal land now managed by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM). For years, some mining operators did not reclaim land, creating environmental, health, and safety risks. Beginning in 1981, federal regulations required all operators to reclaim BLM land disturbed by these operations. In 2001, federal regulations began requiring operators to provide financial assurances before they began exploration or mining operations. GAO was asked to determine the (1) types, amount, and coverage of financial assurances operators currently use; (2) extent to which financial assurance providers and others have paid to reclaim land not reclaimed by the operator since BLM began requiring financial assurances; and (3) reliability and sufficiency of BLM's automated information system (LR2000) for managing financial assurances for hardrock operations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internet protocol (IP) provides the addressing mechanism that defines how and where information such as text, voice, and video move across interconnected networks. Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4), which is widely used today, may not be able to accommodate the increasing number of global users and devices that are connecting to the Internet. As a result, IP version 6 (IPv6) was developed to increase the amount of available IP address space. It is gaining momentum globally from regions with limited address space. GAO was asked to (1) describe the key characteristics of IPv6; (2) identify the key planning considerations for federal agencies in transitioning to IPv6; and (3) determine the progress made by the Department of Defense (DOD) and other major agencies to transition to IPv6."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The ability to produce the data needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-to-day operations of the federal government and provide accountability to taxpayers continues to be a challenge for most federal agencies. To help address this challenge, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal financial management systems requirements, (2) federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL). FFMIA also requires GAO to report annually on the implementation of the act."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has focused attention on improving the academic achievement of all students, including more than 6 million students with disabilities and requires that all students be assessed. Students with disabilities may be included through accommodations, such as extended time, or alternate assessments, such as teacher observation of student performance. To provide information about the participation of students with disabilities in statewide assessments, GAO determined (1) the extent to which students with disabilities were included in statewide assessments; (2) what issues selected states faced in implementing alternate assessments; and (3) how the U.S. Department of Education (Education) supported states in their efforts to assess students with disabilities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Maintaining the integrity of the U.S. passport is essential to the State Department's efforts to protect U.S. citizens from terrorists, criminals, and others. State issued about 8.8 million passports in fiscal year 2004. During the same year, State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security arrested about 500 individuals for passport fraud, and about 300 persons were convicted. Passport fraud is often intended to facilitate other crimes, including illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and alien smuggling. GAO examined (1) how passport fraud is committed, (2) what key fraud detection challenges State faces, and (3) what effect new passport examiner performance standards could have on fraud detection."

The CH-TRU Waste Content Codes (CH-TRUCON) document describes the inventory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) CH-TRU waste within the transportation parameters specified by the Contact-Handled Transuranic Waste Authorized Methods for Payload Control (CH-TRAMPAC). The CH-TRAMPAC defines the allowable payload for the Transuranic Package Transporter-II (TRUPACT-II) and HalfPACT packagings. This document is a catalog of TRUPACT-II and HalfPACT authorized contents and a description of the methods utilized to demonstrate compliance with the CH-TRAMPAC. A summary of currently approved content codes by site is presented in Table 1. The CH-TRAMPAC describes "shipping categories" that are assigned to each payload container. Multiple shipping categories may be assigned to a single content code. A summary of approved content codes and corresponding shipping categories is provided in Table 2, which consists of Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C. Table 2A provides a summary of approved content codes and corresponding shipping categories for the "General Case," which reflects the assumption of a 60-day shipping period as described in the CH-TRAMPAC and Appendix 3.4 of the CH-TRU Payload Appendices. For shipments to be completed within an approximately 1,000-mile radius, a shorter shipping period of 20 days is applicable as described in the CH-TRAMPAC and Appendix 3.5 …

Nuclear energy can be used to produce hydrogen. The key strategic question is this: ''What are the early markets for nuclear hydrogen?'' The answer determines (1) whether there are incentives to implement nuclear hydrogen technology today or whether the development of such a technology could be delayed by decades until a hydrogen economy has evolved, (2) the industrial partners required to develop such a technology, and (3) the technological requirements for the hydrogen production system (rate of production, steady-state or variable production, hydrogen purity, etc.). Understanding ''early'' markets for any new product is difficult because the customer may not even recognize that the product could exist. This study is an initial examination of how nuclear hydrogen could be used in two interconnected early markets: the production of electricity for peak and intermediate electrical loads and spinning reserve for the electrical grid. The study is intended to provide an initial description that can then be used to consult with potential customers (utilities, the Electric Power Research Institute, etc.) to better determine the potential real-world viability of this early market for nuclear hydrogen and provide the starting point for a more definitive assessment of the concept. If this set of applications is …

In SciDAC SDM project, the main assignment to the Georgia Institute of Technology team (according to the proposed work) is to develop advanced information extraction and information integration technologies on top of the XWRAP technology originated from Georgia Tech [LPH01]. We have developed XWRAPComposer technology to enable the XWRAP code generator to generate Java information wrappers that are capable of extraction of data from multiple linked pages. These information wrappers are used as gateways or adaptors for scientific information mediators to access and fuse interesting data and answering complex queries over a large collection of heterogeneous scientific information sources. Our accomplishments over the SciDAC sponsored years (July 2001 to July 2004) can be summarized along two dimensions. Technically, we have produced a number of major software releases and published over 30 research papers in both international conferences and international journals. The planned software releases include 1. Five Java wrappers and five WDSL-enabled wrappers for SDM Pilot scenarios, which were released in early 2003, 2. The XWRAPComposer toolkit (command line version) which was first released in late 2003 and then released in Summer 2004, 3. Five Ptolemy wrapper actors which were released first in Summer 2003, and then released again in …

This report summarizes the results of environmental surveys conducted within the corridor of a temporary haul road (''Haul Road'') to be constructed from East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF) located just west of the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). Environmental surveys were conducted by natural resource experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory who routinely assess the significance of various project activities on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). ORNL assistance to the Haul Road Project included environmental assessments necessary to determine the best route for minimizing impacts to sensitive resources such as wetlands or rare plants. Once the final route was chosen, environmental surveys were conducted within the corridor to evaluate the impacts to sensitive resources that could not be avoided. The final Haul Road route follows established roads and a power-line corridor to the extent possible (Fig. 1). Detailed explanation regarding the purpose of the Haul Road and the regulatory context associated with its construction is provided in at least two major documents and consequently is not presented here: (1) Explanation of Significant Differences for the Record of Decision for the Disposal of Oak Ridge Reservation Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act …

For astrophysicists, stargazing may be different than for most people, who are content to admire a star's beauty or possibly make a wish. More than a few astrophysicists wish they could be closer to the stars--or to at least have more sophisticated probing instruments--to understand more about the universe. Astrophysicists study x-rays originating from our Sun, stars, and supernova remnants to understand the extreme physical processes occurring there. In recent years, Livermore researchers have developed optics for astrophysical applications that can focus hard x-rays (that is, x-rays with energy levels above 20 kiloelectronvolts) emanating from celestial objects, such as supernovae. In addition to astrophysics, hard x-ray optics have a variety of possible applications, including medical imaging, laser target characterization, and radiation detection. Livermore researchers have long contributed to advancements in supernova astrophysics because studying thermonuclear processes is a central part of the Laboratory's national security mission, and the physical processes involved in a nuclear weapon and an exploding star are similar. Livermore physicists Bill Craig, who is involved in several projects using x-ray optics, says, ''We can do a better job of detecting illicit radioactive sources because of what we have learned from our developments in astrophysics. Whether the radiation …

Many of today's radiation detection tools were developed in the 1960s. For years, the Laboratory's expertise in radiation detection resided mostly within its nuclear test program. When nuclear testing was halted in the 1990s, many of Livermore's radiation detection experts were dispersed to other parts of the Laboratory, including the directorates of Chemistry and Materials Science (CMS); Physics and Advanced Technologies (PAT); Defense and Nuclear Technologies (DNT); and Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and International Security (NAI). The RDC was formed to maximize the benefit of radiation detection technologies being developed in 15 to 20 research and development (R&D) programs. These efforts involve more than 200 Laboratory employees across eight directorates, in areas that range from electronics to computer simulations. The RDC's primary focus is the detection, identification, and analysis of nuclear materials and weapons. A newly formed outreach program within the RDC is responsible for conducting radiation detection workshops and seminars across the country and for coordinating university student internships. Simon Labov, director of the RDC, says, ''Virtually all of the Laboratory's programs use radiation detection devices in some way. For example, DNT uses radiation detection to create radiographs for their work in stockpile stewardship and in diagnosing explosives; CMS uses …

In support of CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc.'s (CHG) closure of the Hanford Site Single-Shell Tank (SST) Waste Management Area (WMA) tank farms, numerical simulations of flow and solute transport were executed to investigate different potential contaminant source scenarios that may pose long-term risks to groundwater from the closure of the C Tank Farm. These simulations were based on the initial assessment effort (Zhang et al., 2003), but implemented a revised approach that examined a range of key parameters and multiple base cases. Four different potential source types were identified to represent the four base cases, and included past leaks, diffusion releases from residual wastes, leaks during retrieval, and ancillary equipment sources. Using a two-dimensional cross section through the C Tank Farm (Tanks C-103–C-112) and a unit release from Tank C-112, two solutes (uranium-238 (U-238) and technetium-99 (Tc 99)) were transported through the problem domain. To evaluate the effect of sorption on contaminant transport, seven different sorption coefficients were simulated for U 238. Apart from differences in source releases, all four base cases utilized the same median parameter values to describe flow and contaminant transport at the WMA C. Forty-six additional cases were also run that examined individual transport responses …

The CH-TRU Waste Content Codes (CH-TRUCON) document describes the inventory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) CH-TRU waste within the transportation parameters specified by the Contact-Handled Transuranic Waste Authorized Methods for Payload Control (CH-TRAMPAC). The CH-TRAMPAC defines the allowable payload for the Transuranic Package Transporter-II (TRUPACT-II) and HalfPACT packagings. This document is a catalog of TRUPACT-II and HalfPACT authorized contents and a description of the methods utilized to demonstrate compliance with the CH-TRAMPAC. A summary of currently approved content codes by site is presented in Table 1. The CH-TRAMPAC describes "shipping categories" that are assigned to each payload container. Multiple shipping categories may be assigned to a single content code. A summary of approved content codes and corresponding shipping categories is provided in Table 2, which consists of Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C. Table 2A provides a summary of approved content codes and corresponding shipping categories for the "General Case," which reflects the assumption of a 60-day shipping period as described in the CH-TRAMPAC and Appendix 3.4 of the CH-TRU Payload Appendices. For shipments to be completed within an approximately 1,000-mile radius, a shorter shipping period of 20 days is applicable as described in the CH-TRAMPAC and Appendix 3.5 …

This report is on Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC): Property Transfer and Disposal.

The 109th Congress is examining the role of groups organized under section of the Internal Revenue Code(IRC) that are involved in federal elections, but are not operating under the requirements and restrictions of federal election law.

This report analyzes how the cost-sharing and premium provisions under Part D would affect the amount that a beneficiary would pay annually for prescription drugs. In addition, this report gives examples of how annual cost-sharing would differ for beneficiaries with various levels of total prescription drug spending in 2006 under the plan's standard benefit.