This report addresses System-Wide and New York-Area Issues of Aviation Congestion and Delay.

This report provides background information on existing economic sanctions against Burma and possible options to expand sanctions.

This report outlines recent activities and future plans in China's civilian space sector. It discusses benefits and trade-offs of possible U.S.-China collaboration in space, as well as several options to improve space relations, including information exchange, policy dialogue, and joint activities.

This report mainly provides information about The rise in Cigarette Tax to Finance SCHIP. An original proposal would be mandated a 61 percent increase per pack.but, the resolution makes such a tax possible but not mandatory and does not set the level.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Louisiana, home to 40 percent of all coastal wetlands in the lower 48 states, is projected to lose almost 17 square miles of coastline each year for the next 50 years to storms, sea level rise, and land subsidence. Coastal wetlands are an important wildlife and commercial resource, and provide a natural buffer against the storm surge that accompanies storms and hurricanes. The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) established a program in 1990 that undertakes projects to stem coastal wetland losses. Recently, the Congress passed other measures that will make billions in new funding available for coastal Louisiana over the next 20 years. GAO has prepared this report under the Comptroller General's authority as part of a continued effort to assist the Congress. GAO reviewed the CWPPRA program to identify the (1) types of projects that have been designed and constructed to restore and protect coastal wetlands, as well as their estimated costs and benefits, and (2) lessons learned from past and ongoing restoration efforts that can help guide future efforts. GAO's review included interviews with each program agency. Although GAO is not …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In enacting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006 (the Act), Congress established 15 U.S. policy objectives to address the DRC's humanitarian, development, economic and natural resource, governance, and security issues and mandated that GAO review actions taken by U.S. agencies to achieve these objectives. In this report, GAO identifies (1) U.S. programs and activities that support the Act's objectives, (2) major challenges hindering the accomplishment of the objectives, and (3) U.S. efforts to assess progress toward the objectives. GAO obtained and analyzed agencies' program documents and met with officials of agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) active in the DRC."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Fiscal year 2006 was the first year that the Department of Defense (DOD) reported improper payment information for its travel program under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA). For fiscal year 2006, DOD reported obligations of approximately $8.5 billion for travel. Congress mandated that GAO assess the reasons why DOD is not fully in compliance with IPIA related to travel expenditures. In May 2007, GAO issued an initial report in response to this mandate. To further respond, GAO assessed (1) the completeness and accuracy of DOD's fiscal year 2006 IPIA travel disclosure in its performance and accountability report (PAR), and (2) DOD's planned efforts to improve and refine its processes for estimating and reporting on travel improper payments. To complete this work, GAO reviewed DOD's IPIA reporting, IPIA, Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) IPIA implementing guidance, and met with cognizant DOD officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Approximately 28 percent of all Medicare spending in 1999 was used to provide care for beneficiaries in the last year of their lives. The Medicare hospice benefit is specifically designed for end-of-life care but is an elected benefit for individuals who have a terminal diagnosis with a prognosis of 6 months or less if the disease runs its normal course. GAO was asked to identify examples of programs that provide key components of end-of-life care. Specifically, GAO (1) identified key components of end-of-life care, (2) identified and described how certain programs incorporate key components of end-of-life care, and (3) described the challenges program providers have identified to delivering the key components of end-of-life care. To identify the key components of end-of-life care, GAO relied on studies by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). To identify and describe programs that implement these key components and describe the challenges providers of these programs face, GAO conducted site visits to four states, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, and Wisconsin, that, in addition to other criteria, demonstrated a high use of end-of-life services. We …

This issue's special focus is on advanced lithium ionbatteries for hybrid electric vehicle applications. The four articlesaddressing this area explore the modeling of lithium ion batterychemistries; the use of advanced diagnostic methods to study the physicsand chemistry of battery materials; a laboratory for advanced batterytesting; and approaches for improving battery safety. EETD's research isfunded by the Department of Energy's BATT (Batteries for AdvancedTransportation Technologies) program, FreedomCar and Vehicle TechnologiesProgram.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Army's modular force restructuring is a multiyear $52.5 billion initiative to redesign operational Army units. The Army also plans to spend $70 billion through fiscal year 2013 to expand the force by 74,200 military personnel. Congress mandated that GAO report annually through fiscal year 2012 on the Army's modular force. For this report, GAO assessed to what extent the Army has (1) implemented and established management controls for its modular force and force expansion initiatives, and (2) assessed its modular unit designs. GAO assessed Army plans and funding requests; visited brigades that were reorganizing; and examined key Army planning documents, performance metrics, and testing plans. Both brigade combat teams and support brigades were visited, including units from the active component Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve."

This report briefly outlines three issues and touches upon some of the perspectives reflected in the ongoing debate. These issues include the inherent and often dynamic tension between national security and civil liberties, particularly rights of privacy and free speach.

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This data package discusses the geology of the single-shell tank (SST) farms and the geologic history of the area. The purpose of this report is to provide the most recent geologic information available for the SST farms. This report builds upon previous reports on the tank farm geology and Integrated Disposal Facility geology with information available after those reports were published.

The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a 200-500 GeV center-of-mass high-luminosity linear electron-positron collider, based on 1.3 GHz superconducting radiofrequency (SCRF) accelerating cavities. The use of the SCRF technology was recommended by the International Technology Recommendation Panel (ITRP) in August 2004 [1], and shortly thereafter endorsed by the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA). In an unprecedented milestone in high-energy physics, the many institutes around the world involved in linear collider R&D united in a common effort to produce a global design for the ILC. In November 2004, the 1st International Linear Collider Workshop was held at KEK, Tsukuba, Japan. The workshop was attended by some 200 accelerator physicists from around the world, and paved the way for the 2nd ILC Workshop in August 2005, held at Snowmass, Colorado, USA, where the ILC Global Design Effort (GDE) was officially formed. The GDE membership reflects the global nature of the collaboration, with accelerator experts from all three regions (Americas, Asia and Europe). The first major goal of the GDE was to define the basic parameters and layout of the machine--the Baseline Configuration. This was achieved at the first GDE meeting held at INFN, Frascati, Italy in December 2005 with the creation …

This report summarizes 4 years of research achievements in this Office of Science (BER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project. The research described was conducted by scientists and supporting staff at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI)/Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute (LBERI) and the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute (SUBI). All project objectives and goals were achieved. A major focus was on obtaining improved cancer risk estimates for exposure via inhalation to plutonium (Pu) isotopes in the workplace (DOE radiation workers) and environment (public exposures to Pu-contaminated soil). A major finding was that low doses and dose rates of gamma rays can significantly suppress cancer induction by alpha radiation from inhaled Pu isotopes. The suppression relates to stimulation of the body's natural defenses, including immunity against cancer cells and selective apoptosis which removes precancerous and other aberrant cells.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "American Indians and Alaska Natives have the third highest rate of HIV/AIDS diagnosis in the United States. They are also more likely than individuals with HIV/AIDS from other racial and ethnic groups to receive treatment at later stages of the disease and have shorter life spans. The Indian Health Service (IHS), located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provides health care services, including HIV/AIDS treatment, to eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives. IHS patients with HIV/AIDS may also receive care through other sources depending on their access to private health insurance or their eligibility for other federal health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. GAO examined the extent to which IHS provided (1) HIV/AIDS prevention services and (2) HIV/AIDS treatment services. GAO also examined (3) what other HIV/AIDS-related initiatives IHS has undertaken. GAO reviewed documents and interviewed officials from IHS headquarters, area offices, and IHS-funded facilities, as well as advocacy groups. We also conducted site visits in two IHS areas."

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We prove that inflation is forbidden in the most well understood class of semi-realistic type IIA string compactifications: Calabi-Yau compactifications with only standard NS-NS 3-form flux, R-R fluxes, D6-branes and O6-planes at large volume and small string coupling. With these ingredients, the first slow-roll parameter satisfies {epsilon} {ge} 27/13 whenever V > 0, ruling out both inflation (including brane/anti-brane inflation) and de Sitter vacua in this limit. Our proof is based on the dependence of the 4-dimensional potential on the volume and dilaton moduli in the presence of fluxes and branes. We also describe broader classes of IIA models which may include cosmologies with inflation and/or de Sitter vacua. The inclusion of extra ingredients, such as NS 5-branes and geometric or non-geometric NS-NS fluxes, evades the assumptions used in deriving the no-go theorem. We focus on NS 5-branes and outline how such ingredients may prove fruitful for cosmology, but we do not provide an explicit model. We contrast the results of our IIA analysis with the rather different situation in IIB.

Single crystalline surface such as (100), (111), (110) has been studied as an idealized platform for electrocatalytic reactions since the atomic arrangement affects a catalytic property. The secondary metal deposition on these surfaces also alters the catalytic property often showing improvement such as poisoning decrease. On the other hand, electrocatalysts used for practical purpose usually have a size on the order of nanometers. Therefore, linking the knowledge from single crystalline studies to nanoparticle catalysts is of enormous importance. Recently, the Pt nanoparticles which surface structure was preferentially oriented was synthesized and used as electrocatalysts. Here, we demonstrate a rational design of a binary metallic nanocatalyst based on the single crystalline study.

Internal magnetic field measurements and high-speed imaging at the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) [E. B. Hooper, L. D. Pearlstein, R. H. Bulmer, Nucl. Fusion 39, 863 (1999)] are used to study spheromak formation and field buildup. The measurements are analyzed in the context of a phenomenological model of magnetic helicity based on the topological constraint of minimum helicity in the open flux before reconnecting and linking closed flux. Two stages are analyzed: (1) the initial spheromak formation, i. e. when all flux surfaces are initially open and reconnect to form open and closed flux surfaces, and (2) the stepwise increase of closed flux when operating the gun on a new mode that can apply a train of high-current pulses to the plasma. In the first stage, large kinks in the open flux surfaces are observed in the high-speed images taken shortly after plasma breakdown, and coincide with large magnetic asymmetries recorded in a fixed insertable magnetic probe that spans the flux conserver radius. Closed flux (in the toroidal average sense) appears shortly after this. This stage is also investigated using resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In the second stage, a time lag in response between open and closed flux surfaces after …

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We construct a supersymmetric version of the 'critical' non-relativistic bosonic string theory [1] with its manifest global symmetry. We introduce the anticommuting bc CFT which is the super partner of the {beta}{gamma} CFT. The conformal weights of the b and c fields are both 1/2. The action of the fermionic sector can be transformed into that of the relativistic superstring theory. We explicitly quantize the theory with manifest SO(8) symmetry and find that the spectrum is similar to that of Type IIB superstring theory. There is one notable difference: the fermions are non-chiral. We further consider 'noncritical' generalizations of the supersymmetric theory using the superspace formulation. There is an infinite range of possible string theories similar to the supercritical string theories. We comment on the connection between the critical non-relativistic string theory and the lightlike Linear Dilaton theory.