A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Although the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) generally completed the field data collection phase of the 2010 Census consistent with its operational plans, at $13 billion, 2010 was the costliest census in the nation's history. Moving forward, it will be important to both refine existing operations as well as to reexamine the fundamental approach to the census to better address long-standing issues such as securing participation and escalating costs. As requested, this report reviews (1) the conduct of nonresponse follow-up (NRFU), where enumerators collect data from households that did not return their census forms, (2) the implementation of other field operations critical to a complete count, and (3) potential reexamination areas that could help produce a more cost-effective 2020 Census. The report is based on GAO's analysis of Bureau data and documents, surveys of local census office managers, and field observations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "What GAO Found"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) puts forth tremendous effort to conduct a complete and accurate count of the nation's population and housing; yet some degree of error in the form of persons missed, duplicated, or counted in the wrong place is inevitable due to the complexity in counting a large and diverse population. The Bureau designed two operations, Coverage Follow-up (CFU) and Field Verification (FV), to reduce certain types of counting, or coverage, errors in the 2010 Census. GAO was asked to assess (1) the extent to which the Bureau completed CFU and FV on schedule and within estimated cost and (2) the implications of their key design elements for improving coverage. GAO reviewed Bureau evaluations, planning, and other documents on CFU and FV, and prior GAO work, and interviewed Bureau officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has taken steps to implement fundamental Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 (Reform Act) provisions, including those for approving acquisition strategies and better monitoring weapon acquisition programs. DOD is also continuing to take additional steps to strengthen policies and capabilities. Some provisions, such as issuing guidance for estimating operating and support costs, are being implemented."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Justice's (DOJ) three grant-making components--the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)--have partially met five of six leading practices, and fully met another, to ensure that the staffing models the contractor prepared for each of them to assess their workloads and workforce capacities are sound and reliable. These six leading practices are broad areas that represent a summary of the activities that should take place during the three stages of model design, development, and deployment. For example, the components partially met the leading practice for ensuring the credibility of data used in the models. This practice includes both verifying with staff that the models accurately depict the component's operations--an activity in which they fully engaged--and testing the models for logic and accuracy--an activity in which they partially engaged. Specifically, the components did not comprehensively check all of the models' formulas, and GAO found errors with all three components' models' retirement calculations. When left uncorrected, such errors have implications for workforce-related decisions and, ultimately, can affect the efficiency and effectiveness …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to VA data during fiscal years 2000 to 2010, most enhanced monthly benefit recipients were veterans, over age 65, and receiving the A&A enhancement as part of their pension benefit. The recipient population is changing, however. In particular, the percentage of enhanced monthly benefit recipients age 65 or younger increased from 18 percent to 24 percent over the decade. Also, the percentage of recipients paid benefits under the disability compensation program increased from 15 percent to 26 percent. The cost of enhanced monthly benefits has increased from $124 million in fiscal year 2000 to $409 million in fiscal year 2010; however, VA does not know what portion of these costs was paid specifically for A&A and Housebound benefits. VA maintains data on enhanced monthly benefit recipients’ total payments but does not separately identify the amount awarded as an A&A or Housebound benefit. VA officials stated that under its current system, separately tracking the costs of these benefits would be complicated and difficult."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "What GAO Found"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To overcome the long-standing challenge of enumerating hard-to-count (HTC) groups such as minorities and renters, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau), used outreach programs, such as paid advertising, and partnered with thousands of organizations to enlist their support for the census. The Bureau also conducted Service-Based Enumeration (SBE), which was designed to count people who frequent soup kitchens or other service providers, and the Be Counted/Questionnaire Assistance Center (QAC) program, designed to count individuals who believed the census had missed them. As requested, GAO assessed how the design of these efforts compared to 2000 and the extent to which they were implemented as planned. GAO reviewed Bureau budget, planning, operational, and evaluation documents; observed enumeration efforts in 12 HTC areas; surveyed local census office managers; and interviewed Bureau officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "What GAO Found:"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2011, the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Labor (Labor), and Health and Human Services (HHS) separately administered nine fragmented but minimally overlapping reentry grant programs with low risk of duplication. Specifically, GAO found that these grant programs are fragmented since more than one federal agency is involved in administering the programs. Further, GAO found that overlap across the nine programs was minimal because the programs varied in (1) their applicant eligibility criteria, (2) the extent to which their funds solely benefit the reentry population, and (3) their primary services funded. For example, Labor's reentry program limits eligibility to private, nonprofit organizations that will use the funds primarily to assist current or former inmates--residing in or released from any facility--with their employment needs. In contrast, one of DOJ's reentry programs limits eligibility to governmental entities that will use the funds primarily to assist current or former inmates--residing in or released from state, local, or tribal facilities--with their substance abuse treatment needs. Given the variance across eligible applicants, beneficiaries, and primary services, the overlap across the nine programs is minimal and the risk of duplication--when two …

This report discusses the federal procurement laws regarding federal agencies hiring contractors for disaster recovery work and the encouragement to use local contractors for the work to help the local economy recover.

This report discusses the latest softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada, known as Lumber V. This report provides background information on the dispute, summarizes the key issues leading to the tensions between the United States and Canada over softwood lumber, and examines current developments in Lumber V.

This report discusses an agreement made between Russia and the U.S. to dispose of excess weapons-grade plutonium, and describes both Russian and U.S. methods and plans for disposal. The U.S. plans are discussed in more detail, with various Congressional considerations regarding funding of the program.

This report provides an overview key findings from the newly issued CRS Report R45036, Bank Systemic Risk Regulation: The $50 Billion Threshold in the Dodd-Frank Act. It includes some background information and a list of bills that may also affect the legislation.

Annual budget and setting rates adopted by the Coastal Water Authority, for the Red Bluff Water Treatment Plant. it includes resolutions passed by the board of directors, budget summaries, and other related documentation.

This report provides background information and identifies issues for Congress regarding Department of Defense alternative fuel initiatives, a subject of debate at congressional hearings on the Department of Defense's proposed FY 2013 budget.

This report discusses the appropriations bill, FY2013 Appropriations, which provides funding for the planning, design, construction, alteration, and improvement of facilities used by active and reserve military components worldwide.

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Project Summary Transportation energy usage is predicted to increase substantially by 2020. Hybrid vehicles and fuel cell powered vehicles are destined to become more prominent as fuel prices rise with the demand. Hybrid and fuel cell vehicle platforms are both dependent on high performance electric motors. Electric motors for transportation duty will require sizeable low-speed torque to accelerate the vehicle. As motor speed increases, the torque requirement decreases which results in a nearly constant power motor output. Interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSM) are well suited for this duty. , , These rotor geometries are configured in straight lines and semi circular arc shapes. These designs are of limited configurations because of the lack of availability of permanent magnets of any other shapes at present. We propose to fabricate rotors via a novel processing approach where we start with magnet powders and compact them into a net shape rotor in a single step. Using this approach, widely different rotor designs can be implemented for efficiency. The current limitation on magnet shape and thickness will be eliminated. This is accomplished by co-filling magnet and soft iron powders at specified locations in intricate shapes using specially designed dies and automatic powder filling …

The Saltstone Production Facility (SPF) receives waste from Tank 50H for treatment. In the third quarter of the 2010 calendar year (3QCY10), Tank 50H accepted transfers of approximately 76 kgal from the Effluent Treatment Project (ETP), approximately 7 kgal from Tank 710 - the HCanyon General Purpose Evaporator, approximately 57 kgal from the H-Canyon Super Kukla campaign, approximately 58 kgal from the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) Decontaminated Salt Solution Hold Tank (DSS-HT), and approximately 6 kgal from other sources. The Saltstone Grout Sampling plan provides the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) with the chemical and physical characterization strategy for the salt solution which is to be disposed of in the Z-Area Solid Waste Landfill (ISWLF). During operation, samples were collected from Tank 50H and grout samples prepared to determine the non-hazardous nature of the grout to meet the requirements of the South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Regulations (SCHWMR) R.61-79.261.24(b) and R.61-79.268.48(a). Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was asked to prepare saltstone from samples of Tank 50H obtained July 1, 2010 during 3QCY10 to determine the non-hazardous nature of the grout. The samples were cured and shipped to Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group-Radioisotope …

The overall objective of this research effort was to develop methods for labeling biomolecules with higher oxidation state species of At-211. This was to be done in an effort to develop reagents that had higher in vivo stability than the present carbon-bonded At-211-labeled compounds. We were unsuccessful in that effort, as none of the approaches studied provided reagents that were stable to in vivo deastatination. However, we gained a lot of information about At-211 in higher oxidation states. The studies proved to be very difficult as small changes in pH and other conditions appeared to change the nature of the species that obtained (by HPLC retention time analyses), with many of the species being unidentifiable. The fact that there are no stable isotopes of astatine, and the chemistry of the nearest halogen iodine is quite different, made it very difficult to interpret results of some experiments. With that said, we believe that a lot of valuable information was obtained from the studies. The research effort evaluated: (1) methods for chemical oxidation of At-211, (2) approaches to chelation of oxidized At-211, and (3) approaches to oxidation of astatophenyl compounds. A major hurdle that had to be surmounted to conduct the research …

We explore simple but novel bouncing solutions of general relativity that avoid singularities. These solutions require curvature k = +1, and are supported by a negative cosmological term and matter with -1 < w < -1 = 3. In the case of moderate bounces (where the ratio of the maximal scale factor a{sub +} to the minimal scale factor a{sub -} is {Omicron}(1)), the solutions are shown to be classically stable and cycle through an infinite set of bounces. For more extreme cases with large a{sub +} = a{sub -}, the solutions can still oscillate many times before classical instabilities take them out of the regime of validity of our approximations. In this regime, quantum particle production also leads eventually to a departure from the realm of validity of semiclassical general relativity, likely yielding a singular crunch. We briefly discuss possible applications of these models to realistic cosmology.

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