A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For decades, the Department of Defense (DOD) has been challenged in modernizing its thousands of business systems. Since 1995, GAO has designated the department's business systems modernization efforts as high risk. One key to effectively modernizing DOD's systems environment and satisfying relevant legislative requirements is ensuring that business system investments comply with an enterprisewide strategic blueprint, commonly called an enterprise architecture. For DOD's business systems modernization, it is developing and using a federated Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA), which is a coherent family of parent and subsidiary architectures. GAO was requested to determine whether key Department of the Navy business systems modernization programs comply with DOD's federated BEA. To determine this, GAO examined the BEA compliance assessments, certifications, and approvals for selected Navy programs against relevant guidance."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), approved the drug Mifeprex for use in terminating early term pregnancy. FDA approved the drug under a provision of its Subpart H regulations, allowing it to restrict the drug's distribution to assure its safe use. Critics have questioned aspects of the Mifeprex approval process, including the reliance on historically-controlled clinical trials that compare a drug's effects on a condition to the known course of the condition rather than to another drug or placebo. Critics argued that Mifeprex does not fit within the scope of Subpart H, which applies to drugs that treat serious or life-threatening illnesses. Concerns have also been raised about FDA's oversight of the drug since approval, including the agency's response to deaths in U.S. women who had taken the drug. In this report GAO (1) describes FDA's approval of Mifeprex, including the evidence considered and the restrictions placed on its distribution; (2) compares the Mifeprex approval process to the approval processes for other Subpart H restricted drugs; and (3) compares FDA's postmarket oversight of …

The authors report the results of a search for the decay B{sup 0} {yields} K*{sup +}K*{sup -} with a sample of 454 {+-} 5 million B{bar B} pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. They obtain an upper limit at the 90% confidence level on the branching fraction for {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} K*{sup +}K*{sup -}) < 2.0 x 10{sup -6}, assuming the decay is fully longitudinally polarized.

Fundamental electrochemical methods, cell performance tests, and physical characterization tests such as electron microscopy were used to study the effects of levels of the inert materials (acetylene black (AB), a nano-conductive additive, and polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), a polymer binder) on the power performance of lithium-ion composite cathodes. The electronic conductivity of the AB/PVDF composites at different compositions was measured with a four-point probe direct current method. The electronic conductivity was found to increase rapidly and plateau at a AB:PVDF ratio 0.2:1 (by weight), with 0.8:1 being the highest conductivity composition. AB:PVDF compositions along the plateau of 0.2:1, 0.4:1, 0.6:1 and 0.8:1 were investigated. Electrodes of each of those compositions were fabricated with different fractions of AB/PVDF to active material. It was found that at the 0.8:1 AB:PVDF, the rate performance improved with increases in the AB/PVDF loading, whereas at the 0.2:1 AB:PVDF, the rate performance improved with decreases in the AB/PVDF loading. The impedance of electrodes made with 0.6:1 AB:PVDF was low and relatively invariant.

The authors present a preliminary measurement of CP-violation parameters in the decay B{sup 0} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sub S}{sup 0}, using approximately 465 million B{bar B} events collected by the BABAR detector at SLAC. Reconstructing the neutral kaon as K{sub S}{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} or K{sub S}{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}, they analyze the Dalitz plot distribution and measure fractions to intermediate states. They extract CP parameters from the asymmetries in amplitudes and phases between B{sup 0} and {bar B}{sup 0} decays across the Dalitz plot. From a fit to the whole Dalitz plot, they measure {beta}{sub eff} = 0.44 {+-} 0.07 {+-} 0.02, A{sub CP} = 0.03 {+-} 0.07 {+-} 0.02, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second ones are systematic. For decays to {phi}K{sub S}{sup 0}, they measure {beta}{sub eff} = 0.13 {+-} 0.13 {+-} 0.02, A{sub CP} = 0.14 {+-} 0.19 {+-} 0.02. For decays to f{sub 0}K{sub S}{sup 0}, they measure {beta}{sub eff} = 0.15 {+-} 0.13 {+-} 0.03, A{sub CP} = 0.01 {+-} 0.26 {+-} 0.07. From a fit to the region of the Dalitz plot with m{sub K{sup +}K{sup -}} > 1.1 GeV/c{sup 2}, they measure {beta}{sub eff} = …

Gas holdup tests were performed in bench-scale and small-scale mechanically-agitated mixing systems at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) for a simulant of waste from the Hanford Tank 241-AZ-101. These featured additions of DOW Corning Q2-3183A anti-foam agent. Results indicated that this anti-foam agent (AFA) increased gas holdup in the waste simulant by about a factor of four and, counter-intuitively, that the holdup increased as the non-newtonian simulant shear strength decreased (apparent viscosity decreased). Such results raised the potential of increased flammable gas retention in Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) vessels mixed by air sparging and pulse-jet mixers (PJMs) during a Design Basis Event (DBE). Additional testing was performed to determine the effects of simulant properties, composition of alternate AFAs, and presence of trace noble metals. Key results are that: (1) Increased gas holdup resulting from addition of Q2-3183A is due to a decrease in surface tension that supports small bubbles which have low rise velocities. (2) Dow Corning 1520-US AFA shows it to be a viable replacement to Dow Corning Q2-3183A AFA. This alternative AFA, however, requires significantly higher dosage for the same anti-foam function. (3) Addition of noble metals to the AZ-101 waste simulant does not …

City of Rialto, Well No.3 Demonstration System Integration Project, and Baldwin Park Operable Unit, Baldwin Park, California. The groundwater remediation contractors are AMEC Geomatrix and ARA. The sites were visited on July 22, 2008. Fluor Hanford and the U.S. Department of Energy are currently looking at a variety of alternatives to capture carbon tetrachloride, nitrates, and other COCs from 200-ZP-l groundwater. A few of the more important objectives of our visits were to: (1) Evaluate the treatment systems being used by AMEC Geomatrix to address VOCs, perchlorate, NDMA, 1,4,-Dioxane, and 1,2,3 TCP in a drinking water source; (2) Evaluate how effective these treatment methods have been; (3) Determine the types of problems they have encountered with these treatment systems and how they addressed these problems; (4) Determine the types of secondary wastes being generated by the system; (5) Determine how clean of an operation these companies run; and (6) Determine if the site is worth being visited by DOE-RL at a later date.

We review the phenomenology of the rare decay {bar B} {yields} X{sub s}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}. We present the results of a detailed phenomenological analysis and discuss the role of the decay in the search for new physics at present and future colliders. Moreover, we extensively elaborate on the size of electromagnetic logarithms ln(m{sub b}{sup 2}/m{sub {ell}}{sup 2}) in view of experimental cuts. We point out the differences in the analyses of BaBar and Belle and give suggestions on how to treat collinear photons in the experimental analyses. These recommendations correspond precisely to theoretical prescriptions and can be combined with measurements performed at a Super-B factory.

We discuss the large set of observables available from the angular distributions of the decay {bar B}{sub d} {yields} {bar K}*{sup 0}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}. We present a NLO analysis of all observables based on the QCD factorization approach in the low-dilepton mass region and an estimate of {Lambda}/m{sub b} corrections. Moreover, we discuss their sensitivity to new physics. We explore the experimental sensitivities at LHCb (10 fb{sup -1}) and SuperLHCb (100 fb{sup -1}) based on a full-angular fit method and explore the sensitivity to right handed currents. We also show that the previously discussed transversity amplitude A{sub T}{sup (1)} cannot be measured at the LHCb experiment or at future B factory experiments as it requires a measurement of the spin of the final state particles.

The authors present a study of B decays into semileptonic final states containing charged and neutral D{sub 1}(2420) and D*{sub 2}(2460). The analysis is based on a data sample of 208 fb{sup -1} collected at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC. With a simultaneous fit to four different decay chains, the semileptonic branching fractions are extracted from measurements of the mass difference {Delta}m = m(D**)-m(D) distributions. Product branching fractions are determined to be {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} D{sub 1}{sup 0}{ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}}) x {Beta}(D{sub 1}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +}{pi}{sup -}) = (2.97 {+-} 0.17 {+-} 0.17) x 10{sup -3}, {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} D*{sub 2}{sup 0}{ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}}) x {Beta}(D*{sub 2}{sup 0} {yields} D{sup (*)+} {pi}{sup -}) = (2.29 {+-} 0.23 {+-} 0.21) x 10{sup -3}, {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub 1}{sup -}{ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}}) x {Beta}(D{sub 1}{sup -} {yields} D*{sup 0}{pi}{sup -}) = (2.78 {+-} 0.24 {+-} 0.25) x 10{sup -3} and {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D*{sub 2}{sup -}{ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}}) x {Beta}(D*{sub 2}{sup -} {yields} D{sup (*)0} {pi}{sup -}) = (1.77 {+-} 0.26 {+-} 0.11) x 10{sup -3}. In addition they measure the branching ratio {Lambda}(D*{sub 2} {yields} D{pi}{sup 0})/{Lambda}(D*{sub 2} {yields} D{sup …

We present the preliminary result of a search for the decay B{sup {+-}} {yields} a{sub 1}{sup {+-}} K*{sup 0}. The data, collected with the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, represent 465 million B{bar B} pairs produced in e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilation at the {Upsilon}(4S) energy. The result for the branching fraction is: {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} a{sub 1}{sup +}K*{sup 0}) x {Beta}(a{sub 1}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}) = (0.7{sub -0.4-0.7}{sup +0.5+0.7}) x 10{sup -6}, corresponding to an upper limit at 90% confidence level of 1.6 x 10{sup -6}. The first error quoted is statistical, the second systematic.

We perform a measurement of the CP asymmetry in b {yields} s{gamma} decays using a sample of 383 x 10{sup 6} B{bar B} events collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B factory. We reconstruct sixteen flavor-specific B decay modes containing a high-energy photon and a hadronic system X{sub s} containing an s quark. We measure the CP asymmetry to be -0.011 {+-} 0.030(stat) {+-} 0.014(syst) for a photon energy threshold at 1.6 GeV and the hadronic system mass between 0.6 and 2.8 GeV/c{sup 2}.

Self-calibration techniques for analyzing galaxy cluster counts utilize the abundance and the clustering amplitude of dark matter halos. These properties simultaneously constrain cosmological parameters and the cluster observable-mass relation. It was recently discovered that the clustering amplitude of halos depends not only on the halo mass, but also on various secondary variables, such as the halo formation time and the concentration; these dependences are collectively termed 'assembly bias'. Applying modified Fisher matrix formalism, we explore whether these secondary variables have a significant impact on the study of dark energy properties using the self-calibration technique in current (SDSS) and the near future (DES, SPT, and LSST) cluster surveys. The impact of the secondary dependence is determined by (1) the scatter in the observable-mass relation and (2) the correlation between observable and secondary variables. We find that for optical surveys, the secondary dependence does not significantly influence an SDSS-like survey; however, it may affect a DES-like survey (given the high scatter currently expected from optical clusters) and an LSST-like survey (even for low scatter values and low correlations). For an SZ survey such as SPT, the impact of secondary dependence is insignificant if the scatter is 20% or lower but can be …

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) could become an instrumental part of a future carbon trading system in the US. If the US starts operating an emissions trading scheme (ETS) similar to that of the European Union's then limits on CO{sub 2} emissions will be conservative in the beginning stages. The government will most likely start by distributing most credits for free; these free credits are called allowances. The US may follow the model of the EU ETS, which during the first five-year phase distributed 95% of the credits for free, bringing that level down to 90% for the second five-year phase. As the number of free allowances declines, companies will be forced to purchase an increasing number of credits at government auction, or else obtain them from companies selling surplus credits. In addition to reducing the number of credits allocated for free, with each subsequent trading period the number of overall credits released into the market will decline in an effort to gradually reduce overall emissions. Companies may face financial difficulty as the value of credits continues to rise due to the reduction of the number of credits available in the market each trading period. Governments operating emissions trading systems …

This report discusses current policy involving The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), as well as budget requests.

This report provides background on China's economic rise and current economic structure and the challenges China faces to keep its economy growing strong, and describes Chinese economic policies that are of concern to U.S. policymakers.

This report provides a brief legislative history of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and an overview of the crimes addressed through VAWA. The report concludes with a brief description of the most recent reauthorization of VAWA.

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This report approaches the complex issues surrounding "sound science" by discussing recent controversies, the role of science in general, what science is and what it can and cannot do - as the background for assessing the adequacy of science in ESA implementation; the role of science in legal and policy ESA context; legislation to address concerns relating to ESA science

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This report consists of the cherokee freedmen dispute with legal background analysis and proposed legislation.

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A 1996 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) enables American victims of international terrorist acts supported by certain States designated by the State Department as supporters of terrorism - Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and previously Iraq and Libya - to bring suit in U.S. courts to seek monetary damages. This report, which will be updated, provides an overview of these issues and relevant legislation (H.R. 5167).