A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For many years, the Department of Defense (DOD) has been attempting to modernize its business systems, and GAO has made numerous recommendations to help it do so. To further assist DOD, Congress included provisions in the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 aimed at ensuring that DOD develop a well-defined business enterprise architecture and transition plan by September 30, 2005, as well as establish and implement effective structures and processes for managing information technology (IT) business system investments. In response to the act's mandate, GAO is reporting on DOD's compliance with requirements relating to DOD's architecture, transition plan, budgetary disclosure, and business system review and approval structures and processes. Given GAO's existing recommendations, it is not making additional recommendations at this time. In comments on a draft of this report, DOD recognized that GAO has been a constructive player in its business transformation efforts. While not specifically commenting on most of the report's findings and its conclusions, DOD also said that it disagreed with two points: the level of development for its "As Is" architecture and instances of nonintegration within the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Information technology (IT) is critical to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) ability to carry out its home ownership and community development mission. By statutory mandate, HUD is to develop and submit to Congress an expenditure plan for its efforts to modernize the department's IT environment that satisfies certain conditions, including being reviewed by GAO. GAO's objectives were to determine the extent to which (1) HUD's expenditure plan meets statutory conditions and (2) HUD has in place key institutional IT modernization management capabilities. To accomplish this, GAO assessed the plan against the statutory conditions and assessed department documentation of efforts to institutionalize IT modernization management capabilities against open GAO recommendations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1994, FCC has made over 520 megahertz (a measure of quantity) of spectrum available for new uses, such as wireless broadband, through a process that can be lengthy. Because most of the usable spectrum in the United States has been allocated to existing uses, FCC must change its rules to move spectrum from an existing use to a new use, a process known as repurposing spectrum. Yet, this process can be lengthy—from 7 to 15 years for the six repurposings that GAO reviewed. Four factors contribute to the time it takes FCC to repurpose spectrum: the regulatory nature of the process, which to some extent is guided by statute; opposition of incumbent users, who could be required to vacate spectrum; coordination challenges between FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees federal agencies’ use of spectrum, on the repurposing of federal spectrum for commercial use; and concerns about interference from users of spectrum in adjacent bands of spectrum. FCC has identified voluntary approaches that it thinks could speed the process, but these approaches generally require congressional approval and face some stakeholder opposition."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent congressional initiatives seek to focus funds for certain federal social programs on interventions for which randomized experiments show sizable, sustained benefits to participants or society. The private, nonprofit Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy undertook the Top Tier Evidence initiative to help federal programs identify interventions that meet this standard. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine (1) the validity and transparency of the Coalition's process, (2) how its process compared to that of six federally supported efforts to identify effective interventions, (3) the types of interventions best suited for assessment with randomized experiments, and (4) alternative rigorous methods used to assess effectiveness. GAO reviewed documents, observed the Coalition's advisory panel deliberate on interventions meeting its top tier standard, and reviewed other documents describing the processes the federally supported efforts had used. GAO reviewed the literature on evaluation methods and consulted experts on the use of randomized experiments. The Coalition generally agreed with the findings. The Departments of Education and Health and Human Services provided technical comments on a draft of this report. The Department of Justice provided no comments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage more than 41 million acres of federal lands in Oregon and Washington, including 122,000 miles of roads that use culverts--pipes or arches that allow water to flow from one side of the road to the other. Many of the streams that pass through these culverts are essential habitat for fish and other aquatic species. More than 10,000 culverts exist on fish-bearing streams in Oregon and Washington, but the number that impede fish passage is unknown. Ongoing agency inventory and assessment efforts have identified nearly 2,600 barrier culverts, but agency officials estimate that more than twice that number may exist. Although the agencies recognize the importance of restoring fish passage, several factors inhibit their efforts. Most significantly, the agencies have not made enough money available to do all the necessary culvert work. In addition, the often lengthy process of obtaining federal and state environmental clearances and permits, as well as the short seasonal "window of opportunity" to do the work, affects the agencies' ability to restore fish passages quickly. Furthermore, the shortage of experienced engineering staff limits …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effects of the marketing assistance loan program on cash payments to farm producers, focusing on: (1) which producers received cash payments through the program, by type of crop and state; (2) why some producers did not participate in the program; and (3) what types of concerns have been raised about the program's effect on cash payments and potential forfeitures."

Military uniforms are procured through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the Department of Defense (DOD). DLA is DOD's largest combat support agency, providing worldwide logistics support for the United States (U.S.) military services, civilian agencies, and foreign countries. With headquarters in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, DLA operates three supply centers, one of which is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), in Philadelphia, PA. DSCP is responsible for procuring nearly all of the food, clothing, and medical supplies used by the military; about 90% of the construction material used by troops in the field, as well as repair parts for aircraft, combat vehicles, and other weapons system platforms. According to DLA Troop Support's website, sales of goods exceeded $14.5 billion during 2009.

Efforts were concentrated on plant operating modes. The Heber plant, which was previously designed for consistant brine temperature, was reviewed and changes necessary to accomodate declining brine temperature were determined. Resultant required modifications to the computer code GEOTHM were made. The engineering, in terms of sketches and equipment lists, needed to support the capital cost estimate was determined. Attempts to use the computer program GEOTHM to develop the heat and mass balances for plants with declining geothermal fluid temperature disclosed that this code alone cannot be used for this purpose because it does not include turbine stage pressure-drop equations. It was determined that the most expedient method for obtaining the data needed for this study would be to develop a separate small computer program containing these turbine equations. With the assistance of a turbine consultant, the detailed methodology for the program was developed, and coding was started. (MHR)

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Most U.S. households have access to television broadcast programming through cable or satellite services. Cable and satellite operators offer this programming by providing a secondary transmission of the over-the-air programming from television broadcast stations. Three statutory licenses permit operators to offer copyrighted broadcast programming in return for paying a government-set royalty fee. Although Congress created the licenses as a cost-effective way for operators to clear the copyrights to the programming, some policymakers and others believe the licenses should be phased out and a market-based approach adopted. The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 directed GAO to study and evaluate possible effects if Congress phased out the statutory licenses. This report addresses (1) the potential implications for the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) regulations if such a phaseout were enacted; as well as how such a phaseout might affect (2) the market and regulatory environment and (3) consumer prices for cable and satellite television service and access to television programming. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed price, carriage, and royalty data; reviewed relevant laws; and interviewed industry stakeholders. GAO provided FCC and the U.S. Copyright Office …

This report provides an overview of Senate standing committee sizes and ratios for the 94th Congress through the 111th Congress. Also included are data on permanent select committees with legislative jurisdiction. A table for each Congress shows the party division in the Senate, total number of seats on each committee, number of seats assigned to the majority and minority parties, and, where present, number of seats assigned to independents. The tables also provide the number of majority-minority caucus seat margins in the chamber and for each committees.

The President's FY2011 budget request, released February 1, 2010, included $733.3 billion in new budget authority for national defense. This report discusses and break downs these defense appropriations.

Several factors limit the energy savings potential and increase the costs of energy-efficient technologies to consumers. These factors may usefully be placed into two categories; one category is what economists would define as market failures and the other is related to consumer preferences. This paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding the roles of these factors, and develops a methodology to quantify their effects on costs and potentials of two energy efficient end uses - residential lighting and clothes washers. It notes the significant roles played by the high implicit cost of obtaining information about the benefits of the two technologies and the apparent inability to process and utilize information. For compact fluorescent lamps, this report finds a conservative estimate of the cost of conserved energy of 3.1 cents per kWh. For clothes washers, including water savings reduces the cost of conserved energy from 13.6 cents to 4.3 cents per equivalent kWh. Despite these benefits, market share remains low. About 18 million tons of CO2 could be saved cost effectively from 2005 sales of these two technologies alone. The paper also notes that trading of carbon emissions will incur transaction costs that will range from less than 10 cents per …

Annual report of the Texas Department of Insurance describing goals, activities, and accomplishments during fiscal year 2016.

Rainout commonly denotes the aggregate of phenomena associated with precipitation scavenging of radioactivity from a cloud of nuclear debris that is within a natural rain cloud. (In contrast, the term, washout, is applicable when the nuclear cloud is below the rain cloud and the term, fallout, commonly denotes the direct gravitational settling of contaminated solid material from a nuclear cloud.) Nuclear debris aerosols may be scavenged within natural clouds by a variety of different physical processes which may involve diffusion, convection, impaction, nucleation, phoresis, turbulence, and/or electricity among others. Processes which involve electrical aspects are scrutinized for their susceptibility to the intimate presence of the radioactive-cloud environment. This particular choice of electrical processes is not accidental. Nearly all of the listed processes were examined earlier by Williams. His rough estimates suggested that electrical effects, and to a lesser extent turbulence, could enhance the scavenging of those submicron aerosols which reside in the size-range that bridges the minimum in the scavenging rate coefficient which is commonly called the Greenfield gap. This minimum in the scavenging-rate coefficient is created by the simultaneous reduction of scavenging via diffusion and the reduction of scavenging via inertial impaction. However, Williams omitted the specific influence of …

Summary: "This report investigates photographic methods of measuring beta radiation and includes a study of temperature effects on these measurements. Experimental data are submitted to show that an increase in film temperature before and during beta irradiation causes a definite increase in density for the same dosage. Recommendations drawn from experience gained in the experimental works are offered."

High Efficiency Mist Eliminators (HEME) and High Efficiency Particulate Airfilters (HEPA) are to be used in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at the Savannah River Plant to remove volatile and semi-volatile effluents from the off-gases generated during the vitrification process. When removed, these filters are likely to contain radioactive contaminants, organics, and hazardous materials, which make their disposal by normal methods impractical. Hence, an alternative disposal method is needed. The alternative disposal method evaluated in this study is dissolution of the filters with caustic and acid solutions. Dissolution converts the waste into an aqueous stream, which can be transferred to the Tank Farm and disposed of by normal means. This process was shown to be effective on a small scale in earlier studies, but the results were not well documented and the studies were not performed on fouled filters.

During the period 7/9/92-10/8/92 a total of 80 samples (30 DOE Sample Bank samples and 50 other Penn State samples) of various sizes, not including DECS-17, were distributed. Fifteen of these samples were provided to DOE contractors. Six orders for a total of 80 30-gram bags of DECS-17 have been filled. All of these bags have been distributed to DOE dispersed catalyst contractors or those approved by DOE to receive the samples. A total of 188 data printouts were distributed. In addition, 15 special data requests were fulfilled by either search/sort and printout or creation of a data disk, resulting in distribution of limited information on over 1089 samples. Several preliminary requests for Sample Bank and Data Base information and price quotations have also been handled.

Quarterly publication of the Texas Comptroller's Office regarding sales and use tax in the state of Texas, including an analysis by county, analysis by industry, and related notes.

During the period 7/9/92-10/8/92 a total of 80 samples (30 DOE Sample Bank samples and 50 other Penn State samples) of various sizes, not including DECS-17, were distributed. Fifteen of these samples were provided to DOE contractors. Six orders for a total of 80 30-gram bags of DECS-17 have been filled. All of these bags have been distributed to DOE dispersed catalyst contractors or those approved by DOE to receive the samples. A total of 188 data printouts were distributed. In addition, 15 special data requests were fulfilled by either search/sort and printout or creation of a data disk, resulting in distribution of limited information on over 1089 samples. Several preliminary requests for Sample Bank and Data Base information and price quotations have also been handled.

Purpose of this study was to determine the {sup 237}Np input to the Purex process. The {sup 237}Np content of 639 g Pu/ton U irradiated fuel was found to be 1.78 {plus_minus} .09 g/ton of uranium at the 95% confidence level. Standard recovery for the chemical method was 96.7%, 98.0% for the sampling.

The Purex Processing Measurements Quality Control Program was designed to provide for orderly accumulation of measurements data suitable for statistical evaluation and to identify those elements of a measurement which, if improved, would result in significant reduction in overall measurement variation. This report gives an analysis of the audit data obtained at four transfer stations: L9 plutonium product loadout, K6 uranium product to storage, F15 salt waste to F16 and D5 dissolved feed to process. Estimates of variation caused by analytical, sampling and volume or weight instrumentation were computed and combined to give variation associated with a single batch transfer. Procedures for collection of future data that are more suitable for statistical evaluation are suggested. Methods used to compute random and fixed variation estimates are discussed.

Three fuel element assemblies, each containing U-Mo fuel plates, will be irradiated in a side test hole at KE-Reactor. This document presents efforts made to determine the heat generation rate of the fuel plates from data from a capsule mockup irradiation in HTR.

This article addresses the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) model for high-temperature superconductivity in thin films (two-dimensional periodic domains). A new gauge is defined to reduce the coupling between the equations for the nonzero components of the vector potential. The GL equations are written in a novel form by means of continuous link variables; this form is symmetric and has particular advantages for numerical analysis. The continuous GL model is approximated by a discrete model, which is shown to be second-order accurate. Two methods are used for the numerical solution of the discrete model - a modified Newton`s method, in combination with a sweeping algorithm for the solution of the linear system, and a time-like integration method based on gradient flow. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the discrete GL model leads to asymmetric solutions in the plane; symmetry is recovered only in the limit as the mesh size goes to zero. The results of computational experiments to find the upper critical field and establish an empirical power law for vortex interactions are given.

Experimental investigations were undertaken at Columbia University to determine the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of fuel elements for the Savannah River reactors. Primarily the tests simulated quatrefoil operation, but a number of tests directly applicable to the operation of extended surface fuel elements were performed. Data books were published in which the experimental data are tabulated.