.China has formulated and implemented its national climate change programme, and adopted a series of policies and measures in this regard. China addresses climate change in the context of implementing sustainable development strategy, combined with its accelerated steps to build a resource-conserving and environmental-friendly society and an innovation-oriented country.

Climate change is already with us. Scientific evidence shows that past emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) are already affecting the Earth’s climate.Without further policies to combat climate change, the OECD projects GHG emissions will grow by about 52% by 2050.This Policy Brief highlights the OECD’s work on the likely impact of various courses of action to mitigate climate change, and the costs of inaction.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Funded at $8 billion to nearly $10 billion per year, the Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) effort to develop and field a Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) is the largest research and development program in the Department of Defense (DOD). The program has been managed in 2-year increments, known as blocks. Block 2006, the second BMDS block, was completed in December 2007. By law, GAO annually assesses MDA's progress. This testimony is based on GAO's March 2008 report that addressed MDA's progress in (1) meeting Block 2006 goals for fielding assets, completing work within estimated cost, conducting tests, and demonstrating the performance of the overall system in the field, and (2) making managerial improvements to transparency, accountability, and oversight. GAO reviewed the assets fielded; contractor cost, schedule, and performance; and tests completed during 2007. GAO also reviewed pertinent sections of the U.S. Code, acquisition policy, and the charter of a new missile defense board."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is simultaneously implementing a number of force realignments that contribute to personnel growth at military installations throughout the United States. DOD plans to execute over 800 actions from the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round, which entail relocating over 123,000 personnel. Concurrent with its BRAC 2005 actions, DOD is also implementing or planning to implement other extensive worldwide transformation initiatives, which include relocating about 50,000 soldiers primarily from Europe and Korea to the United States; transforming the Army's force structure from an organization based on divisions to more rapidly deployable, brigade-based units (known as Army modularity); and increasing its active duty end strength by 92,000, all of which will affect DOD's facilities infrastructure. These force realignments will result in dramatic growth at some DOD installations across the United States. Based on data provided by the services, the DOD Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) had identified, as of January 2008, 20 locations where expected growth as a result of force realignments in fiscal years 2006 through 2012 will adversely affect surrounding communities. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 mandated that …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To reduce the burden of the U.S. military presence on Japanese communities while maintaining a continuing presence of U.S. forces in the region, in 2005 and 2006 the U.S.-Japan Defense Policy Review Initiative outlined the effort to relocate American military units in Japan to other areas, including Guam. The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to move 8,000 Marines and an estimated 9,000 dependents from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam by the 2014 goal. GAO was asked to discuss the planning effort for the buildup of U.S. forces and facilities on Guam. Accordingly, this testimony addresses (1) DOD's planning process for the military buildup on Guam, (2) potential challenges for DOD and the government of Guam associated with the buildup, and (3) the status of planning efforts by the government of Guam to meet infrastructure challenges caused by the buildup. This testimony is based largely on findings of a September 2007 GAO report on DOD's overseas master plans and prior work on issues related to the U.S. military presence in Okinawa. It is also based, in part, on preliminary observations from an ongoing GAO review of DOD's planning effort to …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For several years, the Department of Defense (DOD) and Congress have encouraged the defense logistics support community to pursue partnerships with the private sector to combine the best commercial processes and practices with DOD's extensive maintenance capabilities. These public-private partnerships can combine the resources, risks, and rewards of public agencies and private companies and are intended to provide greater efficiency, better access to capital, and improved compliance with a range of government regulations. Although DOD has collected information on depot-level partnering arrangements for several years, DOD first issued a policy encouraging the use of public-private depot maintenance partnerships to improve the efficiency and viability of its depots in January 2002. DOD expects these improvements to depot operations to ultimately improve support for the warfighter. Public-private partnerships for depot-level maintenance are cooperative arrangements between a depot-level maintenance activity and one or more private sector entities to perform DOD or defense-related work, to utilize DOD depot facilities and equipment, or both. Pursuant to Section 2474 of Title 10, United States Code, the secretaries of the military departments (and the Secretary of Defense in the case of defense agencies) designated their …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and several synthetic chemicals--in the atmosphere resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels and other sources have the potential to cause significant changes in the earth's climate. These potential impacts include shifts in sea level and weather patterns and could pose threats to coastal and other infrastructure. Concerns about the potential impacts of climate change have led the Congress to consider legislation that would place binding, nationwide limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and the House of Representatives' leadership has initiated efforts to decrease emissions attributable to its operations. Nearly all of the greenhouse gas emissions from House operations consist of carbon dioxide and are associated with electricity purchased from utilities and the combustion of fossil fuels in the Capitol Power Plant (CPP), which provides steam and chilled water for heating and cooling the Capitol building and 23 surrounding facilities. The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) operates CPP. In June 2007, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the House of Representatives released the Green the Capitol initiative (the initiative) at the direction of the Speaker and the Majority Leader. Among …

Email correspondence between multiple recipients on June 1, 2008 discussing Williamson County Stonewall Democrats.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. federal government has played an ever-increasing role in providing benefits to individuals injured as a result of exposure to harmful substances. Over the years, it has established several key compensation programs, including the Black Lung Program, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program (RECP), and the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP), which GAO has reviewed in prior work. Most recently, the Congress introduced legislation to expand the benefits provided by the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. As these changes are considered, observations about other federal compensation programs may be useful. In that context, GAO's testimony today will focus on four federal compensation programs, including (1) the structure of the programs; (2) the cost of the programs through fiscal year 2004, including initial cost estimates and the actual costs of benefits paid, and administrative costs; and (3) the number of claims filed and factors that affect the length of time it takes to finalize claims and compensate eligible claimants. To address these issues, GAO relied on its 2005 report on four federal compensation programs. As part of that work, …

This Final Report describes how the Kokes Awards program was carried out for the 2007 meeting with regard to selection of students and disbursement of funds received from DOE and other sources. The objective of the Richard J. Kokes Travel Award program of the American Catalysis Society is to encourage graduate students to attend and participate meaningfully in the biennial North American Catalysis Society Meeting.

At the request of the University Materials Council, a national workshop was convened to examine 'Gender Equity Issues in Materials Science and Engineering.' The workshop considered causes of the historic underrepresentation of women in materials science and engineering (MSE), with a goal of developing strategies to increase the gender diversity of the discipline in universities and national laboratories. Specific workshop objectives were to examine efforts to level the playing field, understand implicit biases, develop methods to minimize bias in all aspects of training and employment, and create the means to implement a broadly inclusive, family-friendly work environment in MSE departments. Held May 18-20, 2008, at the Conference Center at the University of Maryland, the workshop included heads and chairs of university MSE departments and representatives of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the Department of Energy (DOE-BES), and the national laboratories. The following recommendations are made based on the outcomes of the discussions at the workshop. Many or all of these apply equally well to universities and national laboratories and should be considered in context of industrial environments as well. First, there should be a follow-up process by which the University Materials Council (UMC) …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "With health care spending increasing in the United States, you enacted legislation effective in 2004 establishing tax advantaged health savings accounts (HSA) to be coupled with high-deductible health insurance plans. HSA-eligible high-deductible health plans typically have lower premiums than traditional health plans and HSAs allow account holders to accumulate tax-free savings to pay for medical expenses. The novel structure of HSA-eligible plans coupled with HSAs has raised questions about who selects them and how they use the accounts. Proponents contend that the low premiums of HSA-eligible plans and the tax-free savings potential of HSAs appeal to many consumers, while the high deductibles encourage them to be more astute health care consumers. However, some critics are concerned that HSA-eligible plans may attract enrollees who seek lower premiums but lack the resources to contribute to an HSA, and wealthy enrollees who may seek to use the HSA primarily to accumulate tax-advantaged savings rather than pay for medical expenses. In a 2006 report, GAO described individuals' early experiences with HSA-eligible plans and HSAs and certain characteristics of HSA account holders. You asked us to update certain information from that report with …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal assistance helps students and families pay for postsecondary education through several policy tools--grant and loan programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and more recently enacted tax preferences. This testimony summarizes our 2005 report and provides updates on (1) how Title IV assistance compares to that provided through the tax code (2) the extent to which tax filers effectively use education tax preferences, (3) potential benefits and costs of simplifying federal student aid, and (4) what is known about the effectiveness of federal assistance. This hearing is an opportunity to consider whether changes should be made in the government's overall strategy for providing such assistance or to the individual programs and tax provisions that provide the assistance. This statement is based on updates to previously published GAO work and reviews of relevant literature."

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Gilmer-Cage-Cohn House, in Houston, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Gugger Homestead, in Helotes, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Hicks-Gregg House, in Brownsville, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Lockhart Vocational High School, in Lockhart, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, and photographs.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Sorenson-Stair Building, in Rockport, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, and photographs.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On November 16, 2007, we issued our report on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) fiscal years 2007 and 2006 financial statements and on SEC's internal control as of September 30, 2007. We also reported on the results of our tests of SEC's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations during fiscal year 2007. The purpose of this report is to present areas of SEC's internal controls identified during our fiscal year 2007 audit that could be improved. This report contains 14 recommendations to SEC to improve these internal controls and procedures. These recommendations are in addition to those we already provided to SEC as a result of our prior audits of SEC's financial statements."

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) conducted an evaluation of alternative technologies for remediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated coal seam, including impacted soils and groundwater in Garrison, North Dakota. Geotechnical characteristics of the impacted fractured coal seam provide for rapid off-site contaminant transport, with the currently identified impacted zone covering an area of about 40 acres. Regardless of the exposure mechanism (free, dissolved, or vapor phase), results of laboratory tests confirmed secondary release of gasoline-based compounds from contaminated coal to water reaching concentrations documented from the impacted areas. Coal laboratory tests confirmed low risks associated with spontaneous ignition of gasoline-contaminated coal. High contaminant recovery efficiency for the vacuum-enhanced recovery pilot tests conducted at three selected locations confirmed its feasibility for full-scale remediation. A total of 3500 gallons (13.3 m{sup 3}) of contaminated groundwater and over 430,000 ft{sup 3} (12,200 m{sup 3}) of soil vapor were extracted during vacuum-enhanced recovery testing conducted July 17-24, 2007, resulting in the removal of about 1330 lb (603 kg) of hydrocarbons, an equivalent of about 213 gallons of product. The summary of project activities is as follows: (1) Groundwater and vapor monitoring for existing wells, including domestic wells, conducted on a monthly basis from December 12, …

Field sampling was conducted by the Energy & Environmental Research Center at two Lafarge North America cement kiln locations in Canada. Emissions including SO{sub x}, NO{sub x}, and particulate were measured and reported at various locations throughout the kilns. At each site data were collected on two kilns during field sampling. However, only Kiln 1 at the Ravena site was utilized for modeling efforts. Experimental work was then conducted to estimate the effectiveness of various NO{sub x} control techniques on limiting both NO{sub x} and SO{sub x} emissions in cement kiln exhaust. Theory-based models were constructed to estimate both NO{sub x} and SO{sub x} emissions from cement kilns. These models were then applied to estimating the impact of various NO{sub x} control strategies on kiln exhaust emissions. The sulfur model constructed as part of this work was successful at predicting SO{sub 2} emissions and sulfur capture in the Alpena kiln. This model is designed to run as a postprocessing step that uses the output of a NO{sub x} model as input. With an accurate NO{sub x} model, the sulfur model may prove to be a valuable tool in estimating the impact of kiln modifications on sulfur emissions. The NO{sub x} …

The availability of the complete DNA sequence of the bacterial genome of Nitrosomonas europaea offered the opportunity for unprecedented and detailed investigations of function. We studied the function of genes involved in carbohydrate and Fe metabolism. N. europaea has genes for the synthesis and degradation of glycogen and sucrose but cannot grow on substrates other than ammonia and CO2. Granules of glycogen were detected in whole cells by electron microscopy and quantified in cell-free extracts by enzymatic methods. The cellular glycogen and sucrose content varied depending on the composition of the growth medium and cellular growth stage. N. europaea also depends heavily on iron for metabolism of ammonia, is particularly interesting since it lacks genes for siderophore production, and has genes with only low similarity to known iron reductases, yet grows relatively well in medium containing low Fe. By comparing the transcriptomes of cells grown in iron-replete medium versus iron-limited medium, 247 genes were identified as differentially expressed. Mutant strains deficient in genes for sucrose, glycogen and iron metabolism were created and are being used to further our understanding of ammonia oxidizing bacteria.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Military physicians and other health care professionals are needed to support operational forces during war or other military conflicts and to maintain the well-being of the forces during nonoperational periods. These professionals also provide health care services to military retirees and dependents. The Department of Defense (DOD) acquires its health care professionals primarily through two programs--the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program and the Financial Assistance Program--with which it recruits and trains military health care providers who fill medical specialty positions. These programs offer participants reimbursement for tuition, books, fees, other education expenses, and a stipend, which is a fixed amount of money given to the participants on a monthly basis, in return for an active duty service obligation. Recruiting and retaining highly qualified health care professionals, however, is becoming more challenging for each of the military services. The added stresses of repeated deployments and the general perceptions of war, along with the potential for health care providers to earn significantly more money outside of DOD, have caused some professionals to choose to separate themselves from military service, even after DOD has paid for all or part of …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Fred Hargesheimer. Hargesheimer joined the Army Air Forces in March of 1941. He completed flight training in March of 1942 and served as a pilot aboard an F-5, a modified P-38. He was assigned to the 8th Photo Squadron, 5th Air Force. He traveled to Australia and New Guinea. His plane had three cameras used for mapping at 20,000 feet, covering a 40-mile-wide strip. He provides some details of the cameras and techniques used in mapping. On his 49th, and final, photo reconnaissance mission in June of 1943 Hargesheimer’s plane was shot down by the Japanese over Papua New Guinea. He parachuted to safety and survived in the jungle for 31 days. He was rescued, and hidden from the Japanese, by the Nakanai tribe in the village of Eaea. In February of 1944 he was rescued by the submarine USS Gato (SS-212). He was discharged in 1946. Hargesheimer later became a philanthropist, helping the village that hid him from the Japanese.