A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Autism is a developmental disorder involving communication and social impairment. It has no known cause or cure, and its prevalence is unknown. The Children's Health Act of 2000 required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS agencies to conduct activities related to autism research, surveillance, and coordination. This report provides information on (1) the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) autism activities and these agencies' funding of autism activities, (2) programs that federal agencies have under way to support services for people with autism and concerns related to providing services, and (3) coordination of federal autism activities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Scientific evidence links exposure to particulate matter--a widespread form of air pollution--to serious health problems, including asthma and premature death. Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) periodically reviews the appropriate air quality level at which to set national standards to protect the public against the health effects of six pollutants, including particulate matter. EPA proposed revisions to the particulate matter standards in January 2006 and issued a regulatory impact analysis of the revisions' expected costs and benefits. The estimated benefits of air pollution regulations have been controversial in the past, and a 2002 National Academies report to EPA made recommendations aimed at improving the estimates for particulate matter and other air pollution regulations. This testimony is based on GAO's July 2006 report Particulate Matter: EPA Has Started to Address the National Academies' Recommendations on Estimating Health Benefits, but More Progress Is Needed (GAO-06-780). GAO determined whether and how EPA applied the National Academies' recommendations in its estimates of the health benefits expected from the January 2006 proposed revisions to the particulate matter standards."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. rail transit system is a vital component of the nation's transportation infrastructure, carrying millions of people daily. Unlike most transportation modes, safety and security oversight of rail transit is the responsibility of state-designated oversight agencies following Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements. In addition, in 2001, Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, giving the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) authority for security over all transportation modes, including rail transit. This testimony is based on ongoing work for this subcommittee's committee--the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I describe (1) how the State Safety Oversight program is designed; (2) what is known about the impact of the program on rail safety and security; and (3) challenges facing the program. I also provide information about oversight of transit systems that cross state boundaries. To address these issues, we reviewed program documents and interviewed stakeholders including officials from FTA, TSA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the American Public Transportation Association. We also surveyed state oversight and transit agencies covered by FTA's program, interviewing 24 of the 25 oversight agencies and 37 of 42 transit agencies across the country."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the wake of the 2005 hurricanes in the Gulf Region, GAO and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) initiated a number of audits and investigations addressing the federal government's response to those events. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cardholders made thousands of transactions related to hurricane rescue and relief operations. GAO, working with DHS OIG, interviewed DHS personnel and reviewed purchase card policies and procedures to assess the control environment. GAO and DHS OIG conducted statistical tests from a random sample of transactions and performed data mining on all DHS purchase card transactions for a 5-month period beginning in June 2005. GAO and DHS OIG looked at all transactions in this period because the database did not distinguish hurricane related from routine purchases. GAO and DHS OIG used the testing results to determine the extent of control weaknesses and identify instances of fraud, waste, and abuse. This testimony addresses whether (1) DHS's control environment and management of purchase card usage were effective; (2) DHS's key internal control activities operated effectively and provided reasonable assurance that purchase cards were used appropriately; and (3) …

The importance of microenvironment and context in regulation of tissue-specific genes is finally well established. DNA exposure to, or sequestration from, nucleases can be used to detect differences in higher order chromatin structure in intact cells without disturbing cellular or tissue architecture. To investigate the relationship between chromatin organization and tumor phenotype, we utilized an established 3-D assay where normal and malignant human breast cells can be easily distinguished by the morphology of the structures they make (acinus-like vs tumor-like, respectively). We show that these phenotypes can be distinguished also by sensitivity to AluI digestion where the malignant cells are resistant to digestion relative to non-malignant cells. Reversion of the T4-2 breast cancer cells by either cAMP analogs, or a phospatidylinositol 3-kinase (P13K) inhibitor not only reverted the phenotype, but also the chromatin sensitivity to AluI. By using different cAMP-analogs, we show that the cAMP-induced phenotypic reversion, polarization, and shift in DNA organization act through a cAMP-dependent-protein-kinase A-coupled signaling pathway. Importantly, inhibitory antibody to fibronectin also reverted the malignant phenotype, polarized the acini, and changed chromatin sequestration. These experiments show not only that modifying the tumor microenvironment can alter the organization of tumor cells but also that architecture of the …

Control Banding (CB) strategies offer simplified solutions for controlling worker exposures to constituents often encountered in the workplace. The original CB model was developed within the pharmaceutical industry; however, the modern movement involves models developed for non-experts to input hazard and exposure potential information for bulk chemical processes, receiving control advice as a result. The CB approach utilizes these models for the dissemination of qualitative and semi-quantitative risk assessment tools being developed to complement the traditional industrial hygiene model of air sampling and analysis. It is being applied and tested in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) within developed countries and industrially developing countries; however, large enterprises (LEs) have also incorporated these strategies within chemical safety programs. Existing research of the components of the most available CB model, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Essentials, has shown that exposure bands do not always provide adequate margins of safety, that there is a high rate of under-control errors, that it works better with dusts than with vapors, that there is an inherent inaccuracy in estimating variability, and that when taken together the outcomes of this model may lead to potentially inappropriate workplace confidence in chemical exposure reduction in some …

Impurities in the gas coolant of the space nuclear power plant (SNPP) can provide valuable indications of problems in the reactor and an overall view of system health. By monitoring the types and amounts of these impurities, much can be implied regarding the status of the reactor plant. However, a preliminary understanding of the expected impurities is important before evaluating prospective detection and monitoring systems. Currently, a spectroscopy system is judged to hold the greatest promise for monitoring the impurities of interest in the coolant because it minimizes the number of entry and exit points to the plant and provides the ability to detect impurities down to the 1 ppm level.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

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This report provides an overview of selected topics which the 109th Congress may address in its examination of telecommunication issue.

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Program from the 2006 World Dance Alliance Global Assembly, for performances that were held in the Sandra Faire and Ivan Fechan Theatre at York University in Toronto, Canada. The program from July 19 includes descriptions from the dance performances by Surdance Ensemble (Momentos), Holly Small and Sashar Zarif (in the letters of my name), Danza Concierto (Recycle (And So What?)), Tai Pei Dance Circle (OLYMPICS). Also in the program is a note from Mary Jane Warner the Chair of the WDA Global Assembly.

Linage report from June 2006 that details ad revenue from Texas Daily Newspaper Association members.

Linage report from June 2006 that details ad revenue from Texas Daily Newspaper Association members.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Common-plane (CP) algorithm is widely used in Discrete Element Method (DEM) to model contact forces between interacting particles or blocks. A new simple contact detection algorithm is proposed to model contacts in FE/FD methods which is similar to the CP algorithm. The CP is defined as a plane separating interacting faces of FE/FD mesh instead of blocks or particles in the original CP method. The method does not require iterations. It is very robust and easy to implement both in 2D and 3D case.

A study of the electron beam dynamics in the linac is conducted for the FERMI free electron laser (FEL) founded for construction at the Sincrotrone Trieste.

We present a novel approach to characterize the colliding-beam phase space at the interaction point of the energy-asymmetric PEP-II B-Factory. The method exploits the fact that the transverse-boost distribution of e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} events reconstructed in the BABAR detector reflects that of the colliding electrons and positrons. The mean boost direction, when combined with the measured orientation of the luminous ellipsoid, determines the e{sup +}-e{sup -} crossing angles. The average angular spread of the transverse boost vector provides an accurate measure of the angular divergence of the incoming high-energy beam, confirming the presence of a sizeable dynamic-{beta} effect. The longitudinal and transverse dependence of the boost angular spread also allow to extract from the continuously-monitored distributions detailed information about the emittances and IP {beta}-functions of both beams during high-luminosity operation.

This contract was awarded in response to a proposal in which a deployable plume and aerosol release prediction and tracking system would be designed, fabricated, and tested. The system would gather real time atmospheric data and input it into a real time atmospheric model that could be used for plume predition and tracking. The system would be able to be quickly deployed by aircraft to points of interest or positioned for deployment by vehicles. The system would provide three dimensional (u, v, and w) wind vector data, inversion height measurements, surface wind information, classical weather station data, and solar radiation. The on-board real time computer model would provide the prediction of the behavior of plumes and released aerosols.

This is the third quarter progress report of Phase II of a three-phase project to develop and evaluate the efficacy of developing multiple environmental market trading credits on a partially reclaimed surface mined site near Valley Point, Preston County, WV. Construction of the passive acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment system was completed but several modifications from the original design had to be made following the land survey and during construction to compensate for unforeseen circumstances. We continued to collect baseline quality data from the Conner Run AMD seeps to confirm the conceptual and final design for the passive AMD treatment system.

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