This report summarizes the procedures the two houses of Congress use most frequently to resolve their legislative differences. It is based upon an interpretation of the rules and published precedents of the House and Senate, and an analysis of the application of these rules and precedents in recent practice. It bears emphasizing that this report is not exhaustive nor is it in any way an official statement of House or Senate procedures. It may serve as a useful introduction or general guide, but it should not be considered an adequate substitute for a study of House and Senate rules and precedents themselves, or for consultations with the parliamentarians of the House and Senate on the meaning and possible application of the rules and precedents.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A diverse Senior Executive Service (SES), which generally represents the most experienced segment of the federal workforce, can be an organizational strength by bringing a wider variety of perspectives and approaches to policy development and implementation, strategic planning, problem solving, and decision making. In a January 2003 report (GAO-03-34), GAO provided data on career SES members by race, ethnicity, and gender as of October 2000 and a statistically estimated projection of what the profile of the SES would be in October 2007 if appointment and separation trends did not change. In response to a request for updated information on the diversity in the SES, GAO is providing information from the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Central Personnel Data File (1) on the representation of women and minorities in the SES and the SES developmental pool (i.e., GS-15 and GS-14 positions) for the executive branch as of fiscal year 2007 and comparing this representation to fiscal year 2000 levels and to levels GAO projected for October 2007 in its 2003 report; (2) for fiscal years 2000 and 2007, the average age at which women and minorities were …

This report provides a summary of seven proposed and final rules affecting the Medicaid program that were issued by the Bush Administration during 2007 and 2008. Six of the seven rules are currently under a congressional moratorium on further administrative action until April 1, 2009. A description of possible administrative and legislative actions to modify these rules, which could be taken by the next administration or the 111th Congress, is also provided.

This report provides background data on United States arms sales agreements with and deliveries to its major purchasers during calendar years 2000-2007. In a series of data tables, it lists the total dollar values of U.S. government-to-government arms sales agreements with its top five purchasers in five specific regions of the world for three specific periods: 200-2003, 2004-2007, and 2007 alone, and the total dollar values of U.S. arms deliveries to its top five purchasers in those same regions and time periods. The report also provides data tables listing the total dollar values of U.S. government-to-government arms agreements with and deliveries to its top 10 purchasers worldwide for those same time periods.

This report is an introductory and selective explanation of the rules, procedures, and practices by which the House of Representatives considers public bills and resolutions on the floor. After discussions of the nature of House rules, the differences between the House and the Committee of the Whole, and limitations on debate, the report describes five different ways in which the House may consider, perhaps debate and amend, and then vote on whether to pass legislation. The report also discusses the House's calendars and its order of business, the special rules reported by the Rules Committee, House consideration of Senate amendments and conference reports, and the rules and constitutional requirements affecting voting and quorum procedures.

The 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change requires that signatories, including the United States, establish policies for constraining future emission levels of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2). The George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush Administrations each drafted action plans in response to requirements of the convention. These plans have raised significant controversy and debate. This report examines three starting points from which a U.S. response to the convention is being framed.

The goal of this project was to perform simulations of beam transport in linear colliders, with an emphasis on emittance dilution, spin polarization transport, and development and testing of beam based tuning algorithms. Our simulations are based on an existing object-oriented particle-tracking library, Bmad. To facilitate the efficient development of simulations, an accelerator design and analysis program based on Bmad has been developed called Tao (Tool for Accelerator Optics). The three beam-based alignment algorithms, Dispersion Free Steering, Ballistic Alignment (BA), and the Kubo Method have been implemented in Tao. We have studied the effects of magnet misalignments, BPM resolution, beam jitter, stray fields, BPM and steering magnet failure and the effects of various cavity shape wakefields. A parametric study has been conducted in the presence of the above types of errors for all three alignment algorithms. We find that BPM resolution has only modest impact on the effectiveness of beam based alignment. The DFS correction algorithm was found to be very robust in situations where there were BPM and/or steering magnet failures. The wakefields in the main linac are very weak and cause negligible emittance growth. Spin tracking was extended to study all accelerator components between the damping ring and …

In view of the looming energy crisis facing our planet, attention increasingly focuses on materials potentially useful as a basis for energy saving technologies. The discovery of giant magnetocaloric (GMC) compounds - materials that exhibit especially large changes in temperature as the externally applied magnetic field is varied - is one such compound 1. These materials have potential for use in solid state cooling technology as a viable alternative to existing gas based refrigeration technologies that use choro-fluoro - and hydro-fluoro-carbon chemicals known to have a severe detrimental effect on human health and environment 2,3. Examples of GMC compounds include Gd5(SiGe)4 4, MnFeP1-xAsx 5 and Ni-Mn-Ga shape memory alloy based compounds 6-8. Here we explain how the properties of one of these compounds (Ni2MnGa) can be tuned as a function of temperature by adding dopants. By altering the free energy such that the structural and magnetic transitions coincide, a GMC compound that operates at just the right temperature for human requirements can be obtained 9. We show how Cu, substituted for Mn, pulls the magnetic transition downwards in temperature and also, counterintuitively, increases the delocalization of the Mn magnetism. At the same time, this reinforces the Ni-Ga chemical bond, raising …

Releases from the F and H Area Seepage Basins on the Savannah River Site (SRS) have caused groundwater plumes that contain a variety of contaminants. These plumes are releasing contaminants into Fourmile Branch, which is a small tributary of the Savannah River. The metallic contaminant releases to the branch are being controlled by base injection. The base injection targets cationic contaminants and was not intended to reduce the concentration of I-129 in groundwater. SRS and the regulatory agencies believe it is appropriate to investigate remedial alternatives that could reduce the I-129. The Savannah River Site Area Closures Projects (ACP) and the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) are developing an innovative in situ treatment for I-129 using silver chloride (AgCl). The proposed AgCl amendment has a very small particle size and is designed to be injected into the contaminated aquifer to capture I-129. The solubility of AgI is several orders of magnitude lower than the solubility of AgCl. Thus, when I-129 comes in contact with AgCl it forms silver iodide (AgI), which is very stable and essentially insoluble in water. SRNL has been performing bench-scale column tests on the effectiveness of silver chloride to capture iodine in an aqueous solution. These …

Electronic structure of disordered semiconducting conjugated polymers was studied. Atomic structure was found from a classical molecular dynamics simulation and the charge patching method was used to calculate the electronic structure with the accuracy similar to the one of density functional theory in local density approximation. The total density of states, the local density of states at different points in the system and the wavefunctions of several states around the gap were calculated in the case of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and polythiophene (PT) systems to gain insight into the origin of disorder in the system, the degree of carrier localization and the role of chain interactions. The results indicated that disorder in the electronic structure of alkyl substituted polythiophenes comes from disorder in the conformation of individualchains, while in the case of polythiophene there is an additional contribution due to disorder in the electronic coupling between the chains. Each of the first several wavefunctions in the conduction and valence band of P3HT is localized over several rings of a single chain. It was shown that the localization can be caused in principle both by ring torsions and chain bending, however the effect of ring torsions is much stronger. PT wavefunctions are …

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.

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

Weekly student newspaper from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas that includes campus and local news along with advertising.

This report describes the Act's major provisions and provides tables listing all major amendments, with the year of enactment and Public Law number, and cross-referencing sections of the Act with the major U.S. code sections of the codified statute.

This report provides an overview of the statutory framework, key players, infrastructure, resources, tools, and operations associated with enforcement and compliance of the major pollution control laws and regulations administered by EPA.

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This report provides an overview of the different kinds of directives that have been utilized primarily by twentieth century Presidents. It presents background on their historical development, accounting, use, and effect.

This report provides an An Historical Overview about The Executive Office of the President. It consists of a group of federal agencies immediately serving the President.

This report provides a brief background of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), as well as the appointment process of director and deputy director.

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This report begins with a brief overview of the major features of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and its regulations. The various proposals that have been made to amend the act since its inception more than a decade ago are then categorized and discussed.

This report contains information on the general structure of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate committee structure, types of committees, and subcommittees.

This report provides background information regarding the bill and joint resolution, which must be passed by both houses in identical form, then presented to the President for his approval or disapproval.