A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the filing season, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) processes about 130 million individual tax returns, issues refunds, and responds to millions of inquiries. Budget cuts combined with IRS's strategy of shifting resources from taxpayer service to enforcement make providing quality service a challenge. GAO was asked to assess IRS's 2005 filing season performance compared to past years and 2005 goals in the processing of paper and electronic tax returns, telephone service, face-to-face assistance, and Web site service. GAO also examined whether IRS has long-term goals to help assess progress and guide in making decisions. Finally, GAO summarized IRS's response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and their possible effects on IRS's performance."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal programs carried out in partnership with states and localities continually balance the competing objectives of collecting uniform performance data with giving program implementers the flexibility they need. Our previous work identified limitations in the quality of performance data for the key employment and training program--the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIA relies on states and localities to work together to track and report on participant outcomes, and it changed the way outcomes are measured. Given the magnitude of changes and the impact such changes can have on data quality, we examined (1) the data quality issues that affected states' efforts to collect and report WIA performance data; (2) states' actions to address them; and (3) the actions the Department of Labor (Labor) is taking to address data quality issues, and the issues that remain."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In April 2003, Women's Capital Corporation submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting the marketing status of its emergency contraceptive pill(ECP), Plan B, be switched from prescription to over-the-counter (OTC). ECPs can be used to prevent an unintended pregnancy when contraception fails or after unprotected intercourse, including cases of sexual assault. In May 2004, the Acting Director for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) issued a "not-approvable" letter for the switch application, citing safety concerns about the use of Plan B in women under 16 years of age without the supervision of a health care practitioner. Because the not-approvable decision for the Plan B OTC switch application was contrary to the recommendations of FDA's joint advisory committee and FDA review staff, questions were raised about FDA's process for arriving at this decision. GAO was asked to examine (1) how the decision was made to not approve the switch of Plan B from prescription to OTC, (2) how the Plan B decision compares to the decisions for other proposed prescription-to-OTC switches from 1994 through 2004, and (3) whether there are age-related …

US Air Force presentation of recommendation and methodology of original DoD Secretary of Defense recommendations for closure and realignment(5/12/05). Includes questions from Commissioners to Witnesses.

A detailed chemical kinetic modeling approach is used to examine the phenomenon of suppression of sooting in diesel engines by addition of oxygenated hydrocarbon species to the fuel. This suppression, which has been observed experimentally for a few years, is explained kinetically as a reduction in concentrations of soot precursors present in the hot products of a fuel-rich diesel ignition zone when oxygenates are included. Oxygenates decrease the overall equivalence ratio of the igniting mixture, producing higher ignition temperatures and more radical species to consume more soot precursor species, leading to lower soot production. The kinetic model is also used to show how different oxygenates, ester structures in particular, can have different soot-suppression efficiencies due to differences in molecular structure of the oxygenated species.

This project is the first application of a completely different approach to climate modeling, in which new prognostic equations are used to directly compute the evolution of two-point correlations. This project addresses three questions that are critical for the credibility of the science base for climate prediction: (1) What is the variability spectrum at equilibrium? (2) What is the rate of relaxation when subjected to external perturbations? (3) Can variations due to natural processes be distinguished from those due to transient external forces? The technical approach starts with the evolution equation for the probability distribution function and arrives at a prognostic equation for ensemble-mean two-point correlations, bypassing the detailed weather calculation. This work will expand our basic understanding of the theoretical limits of climate prediction and stimulate new experiments to perform with conventional climate models. It will furnish statistical estimates that are inaccessible with conventional climate simulations and likely will raise important new questions about the very nature of climate change and about how (and whether) climate change can be predicted. Solid progress on such issues is vital to the credibility of the science base for climate change research and will provide policymakers evaluating tradeoffs among energy technology options and …

Class 8 tractor-trailers consume 11-12% of the total US petroleum use. At high way speeds, 65% of the energy expenditure for a Class 8 truck is in overcoming aerodynamic drag. The project objective is to improve fuel economy of Class 8 tractor-trailers by providing guidance on methods of reducing drag by at least 25%. A 25% reduction in drag would present a 12% improvement in fuel economy at highway speeds, equivalent to about 130 midsize tanker ships per year. Specific goals include: (1) Provide guidance to industry in the reduction of aerodynamic drag of heavy truck vehicles; and (2) Establish a database of experimental, computational, and conceptual design information, and demonstrate the potential of new drag-reduction devices.

The stacking of positively charged (or doped) terthiophene oligomers and quaterthiophene polymers in solution is investigated applying a recently developed unified electrostatic and cavitation model for first-principles calculations in a continuum solvent. The thermodynamic and structural patterns of the dimerization are explored in different solvents, and the distinctive roles of polarity and surface tension are characterized and analyzed. Interestingly, we discover a saturation in the stabilization effect of the dielectric screening that takes place at rather small values of {epsilon}{sub 0}. Moreover, we address the interactions in trimers of terthiophene cations, with the aim of generalizing the results obtained for the dimers to the case of higher order stacks and nanoaggregates.

Decagonal quasicrystals are made of pairs of atomic planes with pentagonal symmetry periodically stacked along a 10-fold axis. We have investigated the atomic structure of the 2-fold surface of a decagonal Al-Ni-Co quasicrystal using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The surface consists of terraces separated by steps of heights 1.9, 4.7, 7.8, and 12.6{angstrom} containing rows of atoms parallel to the 10-fold direction with an internal periodicity of 4{angstrom}. The rows are arranged aperiodically, with separations that follow a Fibonacci sequence and inflation symmetry. The results indicate that the surfaces are preferentially Al-terminated and in general agreement with bulk models.

The goal of this investigation was to characterize themanual and automated response of residential customers to high-price"critical" events dispatched under critical peak pricing tariffs testedin the 2003-2004 California Statewide Pricing Pilot. The 15-monthexperimental tariff gave customers a discounted two-price time-of-userate on 430 days in exchange for 27 critical days, during which the peakperiod price (2 p.m. to 7 p.m.) was increased to about three times thenormal time-of-use peak price. We calculated response by five-degreetemperature bins as the difference between peak usage on normal andcritical weekdays. Results indicatedthat manual response to criticalperiods reached -0.23 kW per home (-13 percent) in hot weather(95-104.9oF), -0.03 kW per home (-4 percent) in mild weather (60-94.9oF),and -0.07 kW per home (-9 percent) during cold weather (50-59.9oF).Separately, we analyzed response enhanced by programmable communicatingthermostats in high-use homes with air-conditioning. Between 90oF and94.9oF, the response of this group reached -0.56 kW per home (-25percent) for five-hour critical periods and -0.89 kW/home (-41 percent)for two-hour critical periods.

This document lists the requirements for the fiber optic mechanical shock sensor for the Los Alamos HERT (High Explosive Radio Telemetry) project and provides detailed process steps for fabricating, testing, and assembling the fiber shock sensors for delivery to Los Alamos.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This report considers whether bankruptcy law in general, and the BAPCPA in particular, may present unique challenges to financial recovery for those whose life, livelihood, and/or home have been damaged or destroyed.

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This report analyzes the legislative aftermath of the decision to suspend the Davis-Bacon Act.

Concert performed at UNT Murchison Performing Arts Center, Winspear Hall.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Les Skelton. Skelton joined the military in July 1942 after being persuaded by his Polish-American college roommate to fight Nazi Germany. Being of Jewish decent and growing up in a small town with some Nazi sympathizers, Skelton was itching to fight. His training was intense, his instructors harassing him midflight to induce combat-level stress. Hoping to become a P-38 pilot, after flight training he was instead assigned to a B-17 crew. As part of the 8th Air Force, he carried out bombing missions in Europe, often targeting railroads and factories. Between July and December 1944, Skelton had 35 missions. His most harrowing experience was navigating antiaircraft fire over Cologne. During one flight, Skelton was shot in the back of his helmet and rendered unconscious. On other missions, he encountered enemy aircraft and could sometimes spot the trails of V-2 rockets. Once, he was faced with an Me-109 flying straight at him, when enemy aircraft’s wings detached, causing the plane to plummet. Skelton returned home and was discharged in the spring of 1945, having earned seven Air Medals.

The electrostatic continuum solvent model developed by Fattebert and Gygi is combined with a first-principles formulation of the cavitation energy based on a natural quantum-mechanical definition for the surface of a solute. Despite its simplicity, the cavitation contribution calculated by this approach is found to be in remarkable agreement with that obtained by more complex algorithms relying on a large set of parameters. The model allows for very efficient Car-Parrinello simulations of finite or extended systems in solution, and demonstrates a level of accuracy as good as that of established quantum-chemistry continuum solvent methods. They apply this approach to the study of tetracyanoethylene dimers in dichloromethane, providing valuable structural and dynamical insights on the dimerization phenomenon.

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The binding of hydrogen on Ni(111) in the presence of an water is considered using both a bilayer and a saturated model of the solvent environment. The presence of a water bilayer did not change the binding energies or geometry of hydrogen on the Ni(111) compared to adsorption in ultra-high vacuum. Using the saturated model (four bilayers over the surface) we also monitored the change in hydrogen binding as a function of electrochemical potential. Binding energies for hydrogen at the hcp and octahedral sites shifted endothermically as the potential was made more anodic, indicating that reductive partial charge transfer occurs. Binding at the tetrahedral site was found to be partially oxidizing. Calculation of vibrational modes allowed the extrapolation of ab initio results to ambient and elevated temperatures. Surface Pourbaix diagrams were constructed illustrating the stability of various phases on the Ni(111) surface as a function of pH and potential.

Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols have several important roles in climate change. They affect the Earth's radiative balance directly: cooling the earth by scattering sunlight (aerosols) and warming the Earth by trapping the Earth's thermal radiation (methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and CFCs are greenhouse gases). Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols also impact many other parts of the climate system: modifying cloud properties (aerosols can be cloud condensation nuclei), fertilizing the biosphere (nitrogen species and soil dust), and damaging the biosphere (acid rain and ozone damage). In order to understand and quantify the effects of atmospheric chemistry and aerosols on the climate and the biosphere in the future, it is necessary to incorporate atmospheric chemistry and aerosols into state-of-the-art climate system models. We have taken several important strides down that path. Working with the latest NCAR Community Climate System Model (CCSM), we have incorporated a state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry model to simulate tropospheric ozone. Ozone is not just a greenhouse gas, it damages biological systems including lungs, tires, and crops. Ozone chemistry is also central to the oxidizing power of the atmosphere, which destroys a lot of pollutants in the atmosphere (which is a good thing). We have also implemented a fast chemical mechanism …

At the request of the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague, ANL has performed independent verification calculations using the MCNP Monte Carlo code for three core configurations of the VR-1 reactor: a current core configuration B1 with HEU (36%) IRT-3M fuel assemblies and planned core configurations C1 and C2 with LEU (19.7%) IRT-4M fuel assemblies. Details of these configurations were provided to ANL by CTU. For core configuration B1, criticality calculations were performed for two sets of control rod positions provided to ANL by CTU. Fore core configurations C1 and C2, criticality calculations were done for cases with all control rods at the top positions, all control rods at the bottom positions, and two critical states of the reactor for different control rod positions. In addition, sensitivity studies for variation of the {sup 235}U mass in each fuel assembly and variation of the fuel meat and cladding thicknesses in each of the fuel tubes were doe for the C1 core configuration. The reactivity worth of the individual control rods was calculated for the B1, C1, and C2 core configurations. Finally, the reactivity feedback coefficients, the prompt neutron lifetime, and the total effective delay neutron fraction were calculated for each of …

We use a simple kinetic theory based analysis of heat flow in fluid suspensions of solid nanoparticles (nanofluids) to demonstrate that the hydrodynamics effects associated with Brownian motion have a minor effect on the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. Our conjecture is supported by the results of molecular dynamics simulations of heat flow in a model nanofluid with well-dispersed particles. Our findings are consistent with the predictions of the effective medium theory as well as with recent experimental results on well dispersed metal nanoparticle suspensions.

This chapter describes ex situ bioremediation of the petroleum portion of radiologically co-contaminated soils using microorganisms isolated from a waste site and innovative bioreactor technology. Microorganisms first isolated and screened in the laboratory for bioremediation of petroleum were eventually used to treat soils in a bioreactor. The bioreactor treated soils contaminated with over 20,000 mg/kg total petroleum hydrocarbon and reduced the levels to less than 100 mg/kg in 22 months. After treatment, the soils were permanently disposed as low-level radiological waste. The petroleum and radiologically contaminated soil (PRCS) bioreactor operated using bioventing to control the supply of oxygen (air) to the soil being treated. The system treated 3.67 tons of PCRS amended with weathered compost, ammonium nitrate, fertilizer, and water. In addition, a consortium of microbes (patent pending) isolated at the Savannah River National Laboratory from a petroleum-contaminated site was added to the PRCS system. During operation, degradation of petroleum waste was accounted for through monitoring of carbon dioxide levels in the system effluent. The project demonstrated that co-contaminated soils could be successfully treated through bioventing and bioaugmentation to remove petroleum contamination to levels below 100 mg/kg while protecting workers and the environment from radiological contamination.