A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government supports numerous data programs that assemble and analyze quantitative measures of the nation's environmental conditions and trends (known as indicators). A substantial number of these data programs are housed in several federal agencies, and provide various types of data used routinely by decision makers from the private sector and all levels of government. As federal agencies take actions to improve the coverage and usefulness of these programs, it is equally important that the quality and availability of existing data generated by these programs do not erode overtime. In this regard, periodic uninterrupted monitoring to determine conditions and trends is important to accurately describe the extent or seriousness of environmental problems, or conversely, improvements in environmental conditions. GAO reviewed 20 data programs to determine whether federal agencies responsible for the programs anticipate that changes during fiscal years 2005 and 2006 related to funding, shifting priorities, or other factors will affect the ability of the programs to (1) continue to generate data comparable with data from past years, and (2) continue providing data used in a nationwide ecological indicator study by the H. John Heinz …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through its Federal Housing Administration (FHA), provides insurance for private lenders against losses on home mortgages. FHA's largest insurance program is the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (Fund), which currently is self-financed and operates at a profit. FHA submitted a "reestimate" of $7 billion for the credit subsidy and interest for the Fund as of the end of fiscal year 2003, reflecting a reduction in estimated profits. Given this substantial reestimate, Congress asked GAO, among other things, to determine what factors contributed to the $7 billion reestimate and the underlying loan performance variables influencing these factors and to assess how the loan performance variables underlying the reestimate could impact future estimates of new loans."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2004, the Medicaid program financed about $93 billion for long-term care services. To qualify for Medicaid, individuals' assets (income and resources) must be below certain limits. Because long-term care services can be costly, those who pay privately may quickly deplete their assets and become eligible for Medicaid. In some cases, individuals might transfer assets to spouses or other family members to become financially eligible for Medicaid. Those who transfer assets for less than fair market value may be subject to a penalty period that can delay their eligibility for Medicaid. GAO was asked to provide data on transfers of assets. GAO reviewed (1) the level of assets held and transferred by the elderly, (2) methods used to transfer assets that may result in penalties, (3) how states determined financial eligibility for Medicaid long-term care, and (4) guidance the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided states regarding the treatment of asset transfers. GAO analyzed data on levels of assets and cash transfers made by the elderly from the 2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a national panel survey; analyzed states' Medicaid …

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This report discusses the accomplishments of the environmental protection program at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for calendar year 2004. The status of ANL environmental protection activities with respect to compliance with the various laws and regulations is discussed, along with the progress of environmental corrective actions and restoration projects. To evaluate the effects of ANL operations on the environment, samples of environmental media collected on the site, at the site boundary, and off the ANL site were analyzed and compared with applicable guidelines and standards. A variety of radionuclides were measured in air, surface water, on-site groundwater, and bottom sediment samples. In addition, chemical constituents in surface water, groundwater, and ANL effluent water were analyzed. External penetrating radiation doses were measured, and the potential for radiation exposure to off-site population groups was estimated. Results are interpreted in terms of the origin of the radioactive and chemical substances (i.e., natural, fallout, ANL, and other) and are compared with applicable environmental quality standards. A U.S. Department of Energy dose calculation methodology, based on International Commission on Radiological Protection recommendations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's CAP-88 (Clean Air Act Assessment Package-1988) computer code, was used in preparing this report.

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This report is one of a series that profiles the emergency management and homeland security statutory authorities of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and three territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Each profile identifies the more significant elements of state statutes, generally as codified. This report focuses on the state of Alabama.

This report includes information regarding strategic petroleum reserve. Background and analysis, purchases of crude oil, and drawdown of the reserve are among topics discussed in this report.

This report describes the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), specifically revenue effects of modifying AMT and Legislative Initiatives.

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This report discusses potential changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act that may occur during the 109th Congress.

It is widely believed that many of the exotic physical properties of the high-T{sub c} cuprate superconductors arise from the proximity of these materials to the strongly correlated, antiferromagnetic Mott insulating state. Therefore, one of the fundamental questions in the field of high-temperature superconductivity is to understand the insulator-to-superconductor transition and precisely how the electronic structure of Mott insulator evolves as the first holes are doped into the system. This dissertation presents high-resolution, doping dependent angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) studies of the cuprate superconductor Ca{sub 2-x}Na{sub x}CuO{sub 2}Cl{sub 2}, spanning from the undoped parent Mott insulator to a high-temperature superconductor with a T{sub c} of 22 K. A phenomenological model is proposed to explain how the spectral lineshape, the quasiparticle band dispersion, and the chemical potential all progress with doping in a logical and self-consistent framework. This model is based on Franck-Condon broadening observed in polaronic systems where strong electron-boson interactions cause the quasiparticle residue, Z, to be vanishingly small. Comparisons of the low-lying states to different electronic states in the valence band strongly suggest that the coupling of the photohole to the lattice (i.e. lattice polaron formation) is the dominant broadening mechanism for the lower Hubbard band states. Combining this …

Routine industrial mining explosions play two important roles in seismic nuclear monitoring research: (1) they are a source of background events that need to be discriminated from potential nuclear explosions; (2) as some of the only explosions occurring in the current de facto global moratoria on nuclear testing, their signals should be exploited to improve the calibration of seismic m monitoring systems. A common issue monitoring arising in both of these roles is our limited physical understanding of the causes behind observed differences and similarities in the seismic signals produced by routine industrial mining blasts and small underground nuclear tests. In 2003 a consortium (Weston, SMU, LLNL, LANL and UTEP) carried out a Source Phenomenology Experiment (SPE), a series of dedicated explosions designed to improve this physical understanding, particularly as it relates to seismic methods of discriminating between signals from three different source types: earthquakes, industrial blasts, and nuclear tests. Here we very briefly review prior field experimental work that examined the seismic relationships between these source types.

The response of a low-field side reflectometer system for ITER is simulated with a 2?D reflectometer code using a realistic plasma equilibrium. It is found that the reflected beam will often miss its launch point by as much as 40 cm and that a vertical array of receiving antennas is essential in order to observe a reflection on the low-field side of ITER.

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The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina reaches beyond the borders of the states directly affected by the wind, rain, and floods. Before the storm reached the coast, thousands of residents of Louisiana and Mississippi evacuated to other states, including Texas and Oklahoma. Many people, for a variety of reasons, chose to disregard the mandatory evacuation orders issued by state and local officials. In general, evacuation policy is set and enforced by state and local officials. Federal policy provides for various aspects of civilian evacuation. As Members of Congress explore the challenges and losses in the states affected directly or indirectly by Hurricane Katrina, they may be called upon to consider federal policy options to more fully integrate federal and state authorities.

U.S. animal agriculture is seeking to improve its ability to trace the movement of livestock from their birthplace to slaughter. The livestock and meat industries are working with the U.S. government to develop a national animal identification (ID) plan for livestock disease tracking purposes. This report focuses on animal ID and, to a lesser extent, on meat traceability.

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The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is one of several federally managed warning systems. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) jointly administers EAS with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in cooperation with the National Weather Service (NWS), an organization within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA/NWS weather radio system has been upgraded to an all-hazard warning capability. This report summarizes the technology and administration of EAS and the NOAA/NWS all-hazard network, and some of the key proposals for change