High performance computational science and engineering simulations have become an increasingly important part of the scientist's problem solving toolset. A key reason is the development of widely used codes and libraries that support these applications, for example, Netlib, a collection of numerical libraries [33]. The term community codes refers to those libraries or applications that have achieved some critical level of acceptance by a user community. Many of these applications are on the high-end in terms of required resources: computation, storage, and communication. Recently, there has been considerable interest in putting such applications on-line and packaging them as network services to make them available to a wider user base. Applications such as data mining [22], theorem proving and logic [14], parallel numerical computation [8][32] are example services that are all going on-line. Transforming applications into services has been made possible by advances in packaging and interface technologies including component systems [2][6][13][28][37], proposed communication standards [34], and newer Web technologies such as Web Services [38]. Network services allow the user to focus on their application and obtain remote service when needed by simply invoking the service across the network. The user can be assured that the most recent version of the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry Michalak. Michalak joined the Marine Corps and, after training in San Diego, went to communications school. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division and sailed for the Solomon Islands after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He relates an anecdote about being on Gavutu and having an American dive bomber dorp a bomb near him. He then describes being present on Guadalcanal during the battle. His job during his time on Guadalcanal was making sure the telephone lines were operating and repairing them when they were down. When Guadalcanal was secure, Michalak and his unit went to New Zealand for R&R. In November, 1943, Michalak headed for Tarawa. He describes his combat experiences there and shares an anecdote about seeing a high school classmate on Tarawa whom he did not know was in the Marines. Michalak also share stories about his combat experiences on Saipan. He was wounded on Saipan and evacuated to a hospital ship. When he was recovered, he was sent to a naval ammunition depot in Oklahoma where he remained for the duration of his time in the service. He …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lew Weber. Weber graduated from high school in Galveston, Texas, in May and joined the Marine Corps in July, 1943. He joined the Second Marine Division at Camp Tarawa on Hawaii late in 1943. Weber describes his experiences going ashore during the invasion of Saipan. he also describes a Japanese tank attack and being wounded on Saipan. Weber's unit was headed for Okinawa, but was diverted back to Saipan, where he finished the war. Weber then describes some experiences while on occupation duty in Japan after the war. Weber was awarded the Silver Star on Saipan. He finished by speaking about visiting the National WWII Memorial in Washington, DC.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Roy Simmons. Simmons begins by describing his reaction to the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor. He stayed in college for a little while before hitchhiking to San Antonio and joining the Marine Corps. After he graduated in August, 1943, he was sent to Parris Island for basic training. He went to Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps before shipping out to Hawaii. Finally, he was assigned as an artillery forward observer at Saipan prior to the invasion of Okinawa. At Okinawa, he participated in a diversion landing on D-day, an attempt to confuse the Japanese. He finally landed on Okinawa several weeks later and describes his combat experiences. Simmons witnessed General Buckner getting killed. After the war, Simmons went to Japan for occupation duty and describes some of his activities outside of Nagasaki. While there, his unit inherited an ice cream plant in which they began making ice cream for the regiment. In April, 1946, he shipped back to the US.

Texas Daily Newspaper Association's named Officers and Directors for 2006. As of Januray 1, Jeremy L. Halbreich has become the president of TDNA, Charles Moser became vice-president, Gary Borders, was elected treasurer and W. Lawrence Walker Jr., became chairman of the executive committee for 2006. The document also gives the names of the new board of directors for TDNA.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony focuses on the Architect of the Capitol's progress in achieving selected project milestones and in managing the project's schedule since Congress's March 15, 2006, hearing on the project. As part of this discussion, we will address a number of key challenges and risks that continue to face the project, as well as actions AOC has taken or plans to take to address these risks. In addition, we will discuss the status of the project's costs and funding."

News release about DART receiving additional federal funding for its light rail expansion.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "About a dozen people are killed or injured in natural gas transmission pipeline incidents each year. In an effort to improve upon this safety record, the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 requires that operators assess pipeline segments in about 20,000 miles of highly populated or frequented areas for safety risks, such as corrosion, welding defects, or incorrect operation. Half of these baseline assessments must be done by December 2007, and the remainder by December 2012. Operators must then repair or replace any defective pipelines, and reassess these pipeline segments for corrosion damage at least every 7 years. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) administers this program, called gas integrity management. This testimony is based on ongoing work for this Subcommittee and for other committees, as required by the 2002 act. The testimony provides preliminary results on the safety effects of (1) PHMSA's gas integrity management program and (2) the requirement that operators reassess their natural gas pipelines at least every 7 years. It also discusses how PHMSA has acted to strengthen its enforcement program in response to recommendations GAO made in 2004. GAO expects to …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) filing season performance affects tens of millions of taxpayers who expect timely refunds and accurate answers to their tax questions. IRS's budget request is a planning tool showing how it intends to provide taxpayer service and enforce the tax laws in 2007. It is also the first in a series of annual steps that will determine whether IRS meets its new long-term goals of increasing tax compliance and reducing taxpayers' acceptance of cheating on their taxes. Tax law enforcement remains on GAO's list of high-risk federal programs, in part, because of the persistence of a large tax gap. IRS recently estimated the gross tax gap, the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they voluntarily pay, to be $345 billion for 2001. GAO assessed (1) IRS's interim 2006 filing season performance; (2) the budget request; and (3) how the budget helps IRS achieve its longterm goals. GAO compared performance and the requested budget to previous years."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past several years, we have reported on significant pay problems experienced by mobilized Army National Guard and Army Reserve (Army Guard and Reserve) soldiers in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. These reports included examples of hundreds of soldiers receiving inaccurate and untimely payroll payments due to a paper-intensive, error-prone pay process and the lack of integrated pay and personnel systems. In response to our reports, the Department of Defense (DOD) has taken some action to improve controls designed to pay Army Guard and Reserve soldiers accurately and on time, especially those who had become sick or injured in the line of duty. This report responds to a Congressional request that we investigate the allegation that 37 Army Guard and Reserve soldiers assigned to the Medical Retention Processing Unit (MRPU) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, were overpaid for hostile fire and hardship duty pay while in an outpatient status. Our objectives were to determine (1) whether the allegations were true, and if so, whether the pay issues were more widespread at Fort Bragg and (2) the key causes of the overpayments and the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In light of GAO's past four reports and testimonies on Army military pay and travel pay for soldiers who have served in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), GAO was asked to determine if weaknesses in Army processes for initiating and terminating active duty pay might result in erroneous payments and debt, including (1) overpayments to soldiers in the Fort Brag Medical Retention Processing Unit (MRPU)--1 of 23 MRPUs--and (2) overpayments and other errors that resulted in debt collection action against battle-injured soldiers who were released from active duty. GAO also was asked to develop case studies to illustrate the effects of these problems on soldiers and their families and to determine ways that Congress could make the debt collection process more soldier friendly."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is placing greater emphasis on thinning vegetation on public lands to reduce the risk of wildland fire. To help defray the cost of thinning efforts, it also is seeking to stimulate a market for the resulting material, including the smaller trees, limbs, and brush--referred to as woody biomass--that traditionally have had little or no commercial value. As GAO has reported in the past, the increased use of woody biomass faces obstacles, including the high cost of harvesting and transporting it and an unpredictable supply in some locations. Nevertheless, some entities, such as schools and businesses, are utilizing the material, potentially offering insights for broadening its use. GAO agreed to (1) identify key factors facilitating the use of woody biomass among selected users, (2) identify challenges these users have faced in using woody biomass, and (3) discuss any insights that these findings may offer for promoting greater use of woody biomass. This testimony is based on GAO's report Natural Resources: Woody Biomass Users' Experiences Offer Insights for Government Efforts Aimed at Promoting Its Use (GAO-06-336)."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The CARE Act, a federal effort to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is administered by HHS. The Act uses formulas based upon a grantee's number of AIDS cases to distribute funds to eligible metropolitan areas (EMA), states, and territories. The use of AIDS cases was prescribed because most jurisdictions tracked and reported only AIDS cases when the grant programs were established. HIV cases must be incorporated with AIDS cases in CARE Act formulas no later than fiscal year 2007. GAO was asked to discuss factors that affect the distribution of CARE Act funding. This testimony is based on HIV/AIDS: Changes Needed to Improve the Distribution of Ryan White CARE Act and Housing Funds, GAO-06-332 (Feb. 28, 2006). GAO discusses how specific funding-formula provisions contribute to funding differences among CARE Act grantees and what distribution differences could result from using HIV cases in CARE Act funding formulas."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has strongly advocated that the United Nations (UN) reform its management practices to mitigate various program and financial risks. The findings of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil for Food Program have renewed concerns about UN oversight, and the 2005 UN World Summit proposed actions to improve the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). Furthermore, over the past decade, as UN procurement more than tripled to $1.6 billion in response to expanding UN peacekeeping operations, experts have called on the UN to correct procurement process deficiencies. We examined (1) whether UN funding arrangements for OIOS ensure independent oversight; (2) the consistency of OIOS's practices with key auditing standards; and (3) the control environment and processes for procurement."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1992, Congress established the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) to provide a unifying interagency framework to coordinate U.S. export promotion activities and to develop a governmentwide strategic plan. TPCC member agencies' activities include providing training, market information, advocacy, trade finance and other services to U.S. companies, especially small- and medium-sized businesses. These U.S. government agencies together have $1.5 billion in budget authority for export promotion programs and activities for fiscal year 2006. Each year, the TPCC submits to Congress a mandated national export strategy, reporting member agencies' activities and trade promotion budget authority and establishing broad priorities. The TPCC secretariat, which has no budget of its own, is housed in the Commerce Department, which chairs the committee. In this testimony, which updates findings from a 2002 report, GAO (1) reports on trends in TPCC member agencies' budget authority; (2) assesses TPCC's coordination of trade promotion and its national export strategies; and (3) discusses small- and medium-sized businesses' participation in trade promotion activities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We are pleased to appear before the Congress today in support of the fiscal year 2007 budget request for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). This request will help us continue our support of the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and will help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Budget constraints in the federal government grew tighter in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. In developing our fiscal year 2007 budget, we considered those constraints consistent with GAO's and Congress's desire to "lead by example." In fiscal year 2007, we are requesting budget authority of $509.4 million, a reasonable 5 percent increase over our fiscal year 2006 revised funding level. In the event Congress acts to hold federal pay increases to 2.2 percent, our requested increase will drop to below 5 percent. This request will allow us to continue making improvements in productivity, maintain our progress in technology and other transformation areas, and support a full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing level of 3,267. This represents an increase of 50 FTEs over our planned fiscal year 2006 staffing …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past several years, a serious effort has begun to comprehensively reevaluate how the United States maintains its nuclear deterrent and what the nation's approach should be for transforming its aging nuclear weapons complex. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy, is responsible for overseeing this weapons complex, which comprises three nuclear weapons design laboratories, four production plants, and the Nevada Test Site. At the direction of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board's (SEAB) Nuclear Weapons Complex Infrastructure Task Force issued a report in October 2005 that provided a systematic review of the requirements for the weapons complex for the next 25 years and offered its vision for an agile and responsive weapons complex. GAO was asked to discuss (1) the current actions NNSA is taking to address the SEAB task force's recommendations and (2) the critical steps that will be needed to achieve and sustain a meaningful, cost-effective transformation of the weapons complex."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Despite progress in HIV/AIDS drug treatments and the reduction of AIDS mortality in the United States, challenges remain concerning the availability of these drugs for individuals with HIV/AIDS and the prevention of new cases. The CARE Act authorizes grants to the states and certain territories specifically for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) to purchase and provide HIV/AIDS drugs to eligible individuals. In its report issued today, Ryan White CARE Act: Improved Oversight Needed to Ensure AIDS Drug Assistance Programs Obtain Best Prices for Drugs (GAO-06-646), GAO examines the program design of ADAPs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, their funding sources, and drug purchasing. GAO also reports on state approaches to reducing perinatal HIV transmissions and identifying and notifying partners of HIV-infected individuals."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Title insurance is a required element of almost all real estate purchases and is not an insignificant cost for consumers. However, consumers generally do not have the knowledge needed to "shop around" for title insurance and usually rely on professionals involved in real estate--such as lenders, real estate agents, and attorneys--for advice in selecting a title insurer. Recent state and federal investigations into title insurance sales have identified practices that may have benefited these professionals and title insurance providers at the expense of consumers. At the request of the House Financial Services Committee, GAO currently has work under way studying the title insurance industry, including pricing, competition, the size of the market, the roles of the various participants in the market, and how the industry is regulated. This testimony discusses the preliminary results of GAO's work to date and identifies issues for further study. In so doing, this testimony focuses on: (1) the reasonableness of cost structures and agent practices common to the title insurance market that are not typical of other insurance markets; (2) the implications of activities identified in recent state and federal investigations that may …

This article deals with the various ways that the Dallas city council is seeking to inform Hispanics about laws in the municipal code. Both the original Spanish article and the English translation are included.

News release advertising DART's transit passes as a more cost effective investment that paying for expensive gasoline.

News release about a performance by the Spanish rock band Morvius at DART's West End Station.

This article describes how Hispanic youth have use their voting power to enact legislative change. Both the original Spanish article and the English translation are included.

This article deals with Jose Vazquez and the struggle that he and his family face because of leukemia. Both the original Spanish article and the English translation are included.