A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2002, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) initiated the Container Security Initiative (CSI) to address the threat that terrorists might use maritime cargo containers to ship weapons of mass destruction. Under CSI, CBP is to target and inspect high-risk cargo shipments at foreign seaports before they leave for destinations in the United States. In July 2003, GAO reported that CSI had management challenges that limited its effectiveness. Given these challenges and in light of plans to expand the program, GAO examined selected aspects of the program's operation, including the (1) factors that affect CBP's ability to target shipments at foreign seaports, (2) extent to which high-risk containers have actually been inspected overseas, and (3) extent to which CBP formulated and documented strategies for achieving the program's goals."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has expressed concerns about servicemembers' use of predatory consumer loans as well as their overall financial conditions. "Predatory lending" has no precise definition but describes cases where a lender takes unfair advantage of a borrower, sometimes through deception, fraud, or terms such as very high interest or fees. Serious financial problems can adversely affect unit morale and readiness as well as servicemembers' credit history and military career. DOD has tools such as off-limits lists to help curb the use and effects of predatory loans. GAO answered two questions: (1) To what extent do active duty servicemembers use consumer loans considered to be predatory in nature? and (2) Are DOD and active duty servicemembers fully utilizing the tools that DOD has to curb the use and effects of predatory lending practices?"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) operates 59 elementary and secondary schools serving over a dozen military bases in the continental United States Periodically, questions have been raised concerning the continuing need for such schools. In 2002, DOD commissioned the Donahue Institute of the University of Massachusetts to examine the potential for transferring these schools to local education agencies (LEAs). GAO's assessment focused on (1) the extent to which DOD has established a school closure policy and the effect such policies have on quality-of-life issues for servicemembers and their dependents; and (2) the transfer study, including the clarity of the basis for conclusions reached, the overall financial impact, and issues identified but not resolved by the study. GAO's report also identifies issues not addressed in the transfer study that could impact the future of DOD's domestic schools."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Wildland fires are increasingly threatening communities and ecosystems. In recent years, they have become more intense due to excess vegetation that has accumulated, partly as a result of past suppression efforts. The cost to suppress these fires is increasing and, as more people move into fire-prone areas near wildlands, the number of homes at risk is growing. During these wildland fires, effective communications among the public safety agencies responding from various areas is critical, but can be hampered by incompatible radio equipment. This testimony discusses (1) progress made and future challenges to managing wildland fire, (2) measures to help protect structures, and (3) the role of technology in improving responder communications during fires. It is based on two GAO reports: Wildland Fire Management: Important Progress Has Been Made, but Challenges Remain to Completing a Cohesive Strategy (GAO-05-147, Jan. 14, 2005) and Technology Assessment: Protecting Structures and Improving Communications during Wildland Fires (GAO-05-380, Apr. 26, 2005)."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its pay and benefits package for service members, the Department of Defense (DOD) operates supermarket-type stores called commissaries to provide service members and their families with groceries and authorized household supplies at the lowest practical price. The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA), DOD's designated agency for managing commissary stores, operates 273 commissary stores in the United States and abroad. To ensure efficient operation of the commissary stores, all commissary stores are assessed annually to determine whether there should be any operational changes or possible store closures. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), which has oversight responsibility for DeCA operations, can either endorse or change the results of the assessments or direct additional actions. In August 2003, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) proposed that the military services consider the closure of 14 commissary stores not previously under consideration for closure. Subsequently, various members of Congress raised questions about these proposed actions, including whether DOD's policy and criteria for deciding whether to close commissary stores adequately considered the impact on quality of life of service members and …

A chapter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1984, wildland fires have burned an average of more than 850 homes each year in the United States and, because more people are moving into fire-prone areas bordering wildlands, the number of homes at risk is likely to grow. The primary responsibility for ensuring that preventive steps are taken to protect homes lies with homeowners and state and local governments, not the federal government. Although losses from wildland fires made up only 2 percent of all insured catastrophic losses from 1983 through 2002, fires can result in billions of dollars in damages. Once a wildland fire starts, various parties can be mobilized to fight it, including federal, state, local, and tribal firefighting agencies and, in some cases, the military. The ability to communicate among all parties--known as interoperability--is essential but, as GAO has reported previously, is hampered because different public safety agencies operate on different radio frequencies or use incompatible communications equipment. GAO was asked to assess, among other issues, (1) measures that can help protect structures from wildland fires, (2) factors affecting use of protective measures, and (3) the role technology plays in improving …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress and the Department of Defense (DOD) are concerned about the financial conditions of servicemembers and their families, particularly in light of recent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Serious financial issues can negatively affect unit readiness. According to DOD, servicemembers with severe financial problems risk losing security clearances, incurring administrative or criminal penalties or, in some cases, face discharge. Despite increases in compensation and DOD programs on personal financial management (PFM), studies show that servicemembers, particularly junior enlisted personnel, continue to report financial difficulties. GAO assessed (1) the extent deployment impacts the financial condition of active duty servicemembers and their families, (2) whether DOD has an oversight framework for evaluating military programs designed to assist deployed and non-deployed servicemembers in managing their finances, and (3) the extent junior enlisted servicemembers receive required PFM training."

The force fields used in molecular computational biology are not mathematically defined in such a way that their mathematical representation would facilitate the straightforward application of volume visualization techniques. To visualize energy, it is necessary to define a spatial mapping for these fields. Equipped with such a mapping, we can generate volume renderings of the internal energy states in a molecule. We describe our force field, the spatial mapping that we used for energy, and the visualizations that we produced from this mapping. We provide images and animations that offer insight into the computational behavior of the energy optimization algorithms that we employ.

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This report discusses The Peace Corps, as Congress considers authorization and Foreign Operations appropriations legislation in 2005. Congress will debate the FY2006 level of funding for the Peace Corps and may continue the 2004 discussion of Peace Corps expansion and policies regarding the safety and security of volunteers.

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In the development of (U,Pu)O{sub 2} kernels by the internal gelation process for the Direct Press Spheroidized process at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a novel crystal growth step was discovered that made it possible to prepare calcined porous kernels that could be used as direct-press feed for Fast Breeder Reactor pellet fabrication. High-quality pellets were prepared that were near theoretical density and that (upon examination) revealed no evidence of sphere remnants. The controlled crystal growth step involved using hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA)-urea stock solutions that were boiled for 60 min or less. Before this discovery, all the other crystal growth steps (when utilized) could reduce the tap density to only {approx}1.3 g/cm{sup 3}, which was not sufficiently low for use in ideal pellet pressing. The use of the boiled HMTA-urea solution allowed the tap density to be lowered to 0.93 g/cm{sup 3}, with the ideal density being about 1.0 g/cm{sup 3}. This report describes the development of this technology and its scaleup.

A diagnostic was developed for the determination of temporal history of an X-ray spot. A pair of thin (0.5 mm) slits image the x-ray spot to a fast scintillator which is coupled to a fast detector, thus sampling a slice of the X-Ray spot. Two other scintillator/detectors are used to determine the position of the spot and total forward dose. The slit signal is normalized to the dose and the resulting signal is analyzed to get the spot size. The position information is used to compensate for small changes due to spot motion and misalignment. The time resolution of the diagnostic is about 1 ns and measures spots from 0.5 mm to over 3 mm. The theory and equations used to calculate spot size and position are presented, as well as data. The calculations assume a symmetric, Gaussian spot. The spot data is generated by the ETA II accelerator, a 2kA, 5.5 MeV, 60 ns electron beam focused on a Tantalum target. The spot generated is typically about 1 mm FWHM. Comparisons are made to an X-ray pinhole camera which images the X-Ray spot (in 2D) at four time slices.

A moderate (M{approx}5) earthquake struck the northeastern United Arab Emirates (UAE) and northern Oman on March 11, 2002. The event was felt over a wide area of the northern Emirates and was accompanied by smaller (felt) events before and after the March 11 main shock. The event was large enough to be detected and located by global networks at teleseismic distances. We estimated focal mechanism and depth from broadband complete regional waveform modeling. We report a normal mechanism with a slight right-lateral strike-slip component consistent with the large-scale tectonics. The normal component suggests relaxation of obducted crust of the Semail Ophilite (specifically, the Khor Fakkan Block) while the right-lateral strike-slip component of the mechanism is consistent with shear across the Oman Line. Felt earthquakes are rare in the region, however no regional seismic network exists in the UAE to determine local seismicity. This event offers a unique opportunity to study the active tectonics of the region as well as inform future studies of seismic hazard in the UAE and northern Oman.

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With guidance provided by the Climate Change Research Program of the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research, National Institute for Global Environmental Change (NIGEC) has supported university-based research under the subject award in four general areas as follows: (1) Carbon exchange and atmospheric CO{sub 2} uptake by US terrestrial ecosystems. In this area NIGEC has supported a wide range of research projects focused on the structure and variation of the carbon balance over grasslands, forests and croplands, including studies of the roles of soil moisture, respiration and warming in the net surface CO{sub 2} flux. Many of these studies have been carried out in conjunction with the AmeriFlux project. This research has revealed the complexity of the terrestrial carbon budget and the difficulty of obtaining representative measurements in the field. (2) Effects of environmental change on US terrestrial ecosystems. In this area NIGEC has supported both laboratory and field studies of the response of important terrestrial ecosystems to changes in the atmospheric environment. Primary attention has been given to the effects of increased atmospheric CO{sub 2} on agricultural crops and on the biodiversity in regional vegetative ecosystems. The effects of environmental change on the behavior of selected plant pests, …

The purpose of this design calculation is to demonstrate that the handling operations of transportation casks performed in the Transportation Cask Receipt and Return Facility (TCRRF) and Buffer Area meet the nuclear criticality safety design criteria specified in the ''Project Design Criteria (PDC) Document'' (BSC [Bechtel SAIC Company] 2004 [DIRS 171599], Section 4.9.2.2), and the functional nuclear criticality safety requirement described in the ''Transportation Cask Receipt/Return Facility Description Document'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170217], Section 3.2.3). Specific scope of work contained in this activity consists of the following items: (1) Evaluate criticality effects for both dry and fully flooded conditions pertaining to TCRRF and Buffer Area operations for defense in depth. (2) Evaluate Category 1 and 2 event sequences for the TCRRF as identified in the ''Categorization of Event Sequences for License Application'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 167268], Section 7). This evaluation includes credible fuel reconfiguration conditions. In addition to the scope of work listed above, an evaluation was also performed of modeling assumptions for commercial spent nuclear fuel (CSNF) regarding inclusion of plenum and end regions of the active fuel. This calculation is limited to CSNF and US Department of Energy (DOE) SNF. it should be mentioned that the latter waste …

DElight is a simulation engine for daylight and electric lighting system analysis in buildings. DElight calculates interior illuminance levels from daylight, and the subsequent contribution required from electric lighting to meet a desired interior illuminance. DElight has been specifically designed to integrate with building thermal simulation tools. This paper updates the DElight capability set, the status of integration into the simulation tool EnergyPlus, and describes a sample analysis of a simple model from the user perspective.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2004, Congress established the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to administer the Millennium Challenge Account. MCC's mission is to promote economic growth and reduce extreme poverty in developing countries. The act requires MCC to rely to the maximum extent possible on quantitative criteria in determining countries' eligibility for assistance. MCC will provide assistance primarily through compacts--agreements with country governments. MCC aims to be one of the top donors in countries with which it signs compacts. For fiscal years 2004 and 2005, Congress appropriated nearly $2.5 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation; for fiscal year 2006, the President is requesting $3 billion. GAO was asked to monitor MCC's (1) process for determining country eligibility, (2) progress in developing compacts, (3) coordination with key stakeholders, and (4) establishment of management structures and accountability mechanisms."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress asked GAO to comment on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) 2005 report on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), "CDBG Formula Targeting to Community Development Need." The CDBG program distributes funding to communities using two separate formulas that take into account poverty, older housing, community size, and other factors. That study evaluates the program's funding formula from two perspectives: (1) to what extent do communities with similar needs receive similar CDBG funding, and (2) to what extent are program funds directed to communities with greater community development needs. The HUD report is particularly salient in light of the administration's 2006 budget request which criticizes the program for not effectively targeting high-need communities. Congress asked us to provide our views on the HUD study based on our experience and past assistance to various congressional committees on a wide variety of federal formula funding issues."

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

This report examines the potential house apportionment based on Census Bureau population projections. The Census Bureau's 2005 population projections for the year 2010 raise the possibility of potentially significant changes in the allocation of Representatives among the states. If the projections for the year 2010 presage the actual Census, 10 seats will shift, affecting a total of 15 states.