Article on the dissociation of water on defective carbon substrates.

Article on collective polarization effects in β-polyvinylidene fluoride and its copolymers with tri- and tetrafluoroethylene.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Education (Education) provides more than $2.5 billion annually to the states for a federal-state vocational rehabilitation (VR) program to help individuals with disabilities become employed. This program is among a large number of federal programs intended to assist people with disabilities. In 2003 GAO placed federal disability programs on its list of high-risk programs because many of these programs have not kept up with scientific advances and economic and social changes. GAO prepared this report under the Comptroller General's authority as part of an effort to assist policy makers in determining how federal disability programs could more effectively meet the needs of individuals with disabilities and addressed it to each committee of jurisdiction. In this report, GAO assesses the (1) extent to which state VR agencies assist individuals in achieving employment, and (2) performance measures and monitoring practices Education uses to manage this decentralized program and achieve legislative goals."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Numerous federal programs, policies, and activities are supported through the tax code. As described in statute, tax expenditures are reductions in tax liabilities that result from preferential provisions, such as tax exclusions, credits, and deductions. They result in revenue forgone. This report, done under the Comptroller General's authority, is part of an effort to assist Congress in reexamining and transforming the government to meet the many challenges and opportunities that we face in the 21st century. This report describes (1) how tax expenditures have changed over the past three decades in number, size, and in comparison to federal revenue, spending, and the economy, and (2) the amount of progress made since our 1994 recommendations to improve scrutiny of tax expenditures."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Information Quality Act (IQA) required the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidelines for ensuring the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information disseminated by federal agencies. As part of our long-term examination of the quality of federal information, under the Comptroller General's authority, we reviewed how the act was implemented by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and assessed the transparency of the documentation supporting its Census of Agriculture. NASS is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In April 2004, the Secretary of the Air Force approved a permanent waiver of the requirements of the Berry Amendment for 23 commercial derivative aircraft systems, representing more than 1,200 aircraft in the Air Force's inventory. The Berry Amendment generally requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to purchase certain domestically grown or produced items, including specialty metals used in defense systems such as aircraft. Waivers to the Berry Amendment can be granted under certain circumstances. GAO was asked to evaluate the supporting evidence and analysis that the Air Force relied on to waive the Berry Amendment. GAO did not conduct a legal analysis of the waiver."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Through an initiative known as AeDib, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is implementing a system in which medical images and other documents that have traditionally been kept in paper folders will be stored in electronic folders, enabling disability offices--including SSA's 144 Office of Hearings and Appeals sites and 54 state disability determination services--to process disability claims electronically. This initiative supports a program that, in 2004, made payments of approximately $113 billion to more than 14 million beneficiaries and their families. In March 2004, GAO recommended that SSA take steps to ensure the successful implementation of the electronic disability system. GAO was asked to assess SSA's status in implementing AeDib and the actions the agency has taken in response to GAO's prior recommendations on this initiative."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) assigned Federal Security Directors (FSD) to oversee security, including the screening of passengers and their baggage, at the nation's more than 440 commercial airports. FSDs must work closely with stakeholders to ensure that airports are adequately protected and prepared in the event of a terrorist attack. This report addresses (1) the roles and responsibilities of FSDs and the clarity of their authority relative to that of other airport stakeholders during security incidents, (2) the extent to which FSDs formed and facilitated partnerships with airport stakeholders, and (3) FSDs' views of key changes TSA made to better support or empower the FSD position."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The number of financial attaches that the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) deploys overseas dropped from approximately 30 in 1981 to 7 at the beginning of fiscal year 2005. Treasury has traditionally used financial attaches to monitor and gather information on international economic and financial developments to help shape U.S. international economic policy and to promote U.S. national interests. These attaches are part of the U.S. mission overseas and are typically stationed in U.S. embassies in key countries. Since at least 1981, however, the number of financial attaches placed overseas has been declining in response to changing conditions. Due to congressional interest in these financial attaches, this report describes (1) the role of financial attaches and (2) the process Treasury uses to determine attache placement. In commenting on this report, Treasury considered our report to be fair and accurate. Both Treasury and the Department of State provided technical comments, which we incorporated where appropriate."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Training can play a key role in helping the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) successfully address the challenge of transformation and cultural change and help ensure that its workforce possesses the knowledge and skills needed to effectively respond to current and future threats. This report discusses (1) how DHS is addressing or planning to address departmentwide training and the related challenges it is encountering; (2) examples of how DHS training practices, specifically those related to planning and evaluation, reflect strategic practices; and (3) examples of how DHS uses training to foster transformation and cultural change."

Executive Correspondence – Letter received 09/23/2005 to Chairman Principi from Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman expressing their confusion and dismay over one aspect of the BRAC Commission’s actions.

Executive Correspondence – Letter received 09/23/2005 to Chairman Principi from the State of Florida, Department of Community Affairs, regarding hurricanes in Florida.

Executive Correspondence – Letter received 09/23/2005 to Chairman Principi from G.O.H. Naumann, President of ICO/IFOS, regarding the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

Collection of BRAC related news articles and clippings. Produced for Commission staff review.

Collection of BRAC related articles and clippings. Produced for COmmission staff review.

Executive Correspondence – Letters received 09/23/2005 to all Commissioners, Charles Battaglia, Christine Hill, Deirdre Walsh, Christina Estrada, Jennifer Meyer thanking all for their contributions to the BRAC Commission.

This report provides technical documentation for values in the Table of Initial Isolation and Protective Action Distances (PADs) in the 2004 Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG2004). The objective for choosing the PADs specified in the ERG2004 is to balance the need to adequately protect the public from exposure to potentially harmful substances against the risks and expenses that could result from overreacting to a spill. To quantify this balance, a statistical approach is adopted, whereby the best available information is used to conduct an accident scenario analysis and develop a set of up to 1,000,000 hypothetical incidents. The set accounts for differences in containers types, incident types, accident severity (i.e., amounts released), locations, times of day, times of year, and meteorological conditions. Each scenario is analyzed using detailed emission rate and atmospheric dispersion models to calculate the downwind chemical concentrations from which a 'safe distance' is determined. The safe distance is defined as the distance downwind from the source at which the chemical concentration falls below health protection criteria. The American Industrial Hygiene Association's Emergency Response Planning Guideline Level 2 (ERPG-2) or equivalent is the health criteria used. The statistical sample of safe distance values for all incidents considered in the …

Pursuant to Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E) has completed an evaluation of buildings located within the East Area to determine whether any of these buildings meet the eligibility criteria for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Several buildings within the East Area are scheduled for demolition during fiscal years 1999-2000 (Buildings 4, 5, and 6 and possibly Buildings 26, 27, and 28).

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

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Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

In a previous study, the effect of the furnace atmosphere on E glass foaming was investigated with the specific goal to understand the impact of increased water content on foaming in oxy-fired furnaces. The present study extended the previous study and focused on the effect of glass batch chemical composition on E-glass foaming. The present study also included reruns of foam tests performed in a previous study, which resulted in the same trend: the foaming extent increased nearly linearly with the heating rate and no foam was produced when CO2 + 55% H2O atmosphere was introduced at 300°C. It was shown that the lack of foaming in the test with CO2 + 55% H2O atmosphere introduced at 300°C was caused by a loss of sulfate at T <1250°C because of higher water content at the early stages of melting. The tests with new batches in the present study showed that replacing quicklime with limestone tend to decrease foaming, possibly caused by increased sulfate loss during early stages of melting in the batch with limestone. The batches where Na2SO4 was replaced with NaNO3, NaNO3 + CeO2, or CeO2, produced only very limited foaming regardless of the replacing components. As expected, the …

A 20-month field study was conducted to measure the energy performance of south-facing large-area tungsten-oxide absorptive electrochromic (EC) windows with a broad switching range in a private office setting. The EC windows were controlled by a variety of means to bring in daylight while minimizing window glare. For some cases, a Venetian blind was coupled with the EC window to block direct sun. Some tests also involved dividing the EC window wall into zones where the upper EC zone was controlled to admit daylight while the lower zone was controlled to prevent glare yet permit view. If visual comfort requirements are addressed by EC control and Venetian blinds, a 2-zone EC window configuration provided average daily lighting energy savings of 10 {+-} 15% compared to the reference case with fully lowered Venetian blinds. Cooling load reductions were 0 {+-} 3%. If the reference case assumes no daylighting controls, lighting energy savings would be 44 {+-} 11%. Peak demand reductions due to window cooling load, given a critical demand-response mode, were 19-26% maximum on clear sunny days. Peak demand reductions in lighting energy use were 0% or 72-100% compared to a reference case with and without daylighting controls, respectively. Lighting energy …