Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While federal grant funding has been increasing, long-standing concerns remain about the federal government's grants management and the lack of effective oversight tools to reasonably assure that grants are used for their intended purposes and that risks of fraud, waste, and abuse are minimized. GAO has issued a range of reports raising concerns about the risks and vulnerabilities related to grants management and oversight. The Administration recognizes these concerns. It included improving grants management as a part of its initiative to eliminate waste in the U.S. government and has various efforts underway to improve grants oversight and accountability. This testimony addresses the (1) significance of federal grant funding, (2) risks and vulnerabilities in key controls in the federal grant life cycle, and (3) improvements needed to make the single audit process an effective accountability mechanism. This testimony is primarily based on prior GAO work that reviewed grant accountability and the single audit process."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent events, such as the seaborne terrorist attack on Mumbai in 2008 and the pirate attack on the Quest in February 2011, highlight maritime threats to the United States. The maritime domain presents a range of potential security threats--including naval forces of adversary nations, piracy, and the use of vessels to smuggle people, drugs, and weapons--which could harm the United States and its interests. The Department of Defense (DOD) has also identified homeland defense as one of its highest priorities. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which DOD has (1) planned to conduct maritime homeland defense operations, (2) identified and addressed capability gaps in maritime homeland defense, and (3) made progress with interagency partners, such as the U.S. Coast Guard, in addressing information sharing challenges related to maritime domain awareness. To conduct this work, GAO examined national and DOD guidance and interviewed officials from DOD, Joint Staff, combatant commands, the military services, and others."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2000, the annual number of new international parental child abduction cases reported to the Department of State--many of which likely involved air travel--has nearly tripled. Such abductions occur when a parent, family member, or person acting on behalf thereof, takes a child to another country in violation of the custodial parent's or guardian's rights. Once a child is abducted, the laws, policies, and procedures of the foreign country determine the child's return. Thus, preventing such abductions can help keep parents and children from being separated for a long period or indefinitely. As requested, this report addresses (1) the policies and measures airlines, federal agencies, and others have to prevent international parental child abductions on airline flights and (2) options federal agencies, airlines, and others could consider for helping prevent such abductions on airline flights, as well as the advantages and limitations of those options. To perform this work, GAO reviewed applicable laws and policies, interviewed government officials, and surveyed airlines and nonprofit associations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the Food Security Act of 1985, Congress has authorized monetization--the sale of U.S. food aid commodities in developing countries to fund development. In fiscal year 2010, more than $300 million was used to procure and ship 540,000 metric tons of commodities to be monetized by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Through analysis of agency data, interviews with agency officials, and fieldwork in three countries, this report (1) assesses the extent to which monetization proceeds cover commodity and other associated costs and (2) examines the extent to which U.S. agencies meet requirements to ensure that monetization does not cause adverse market impacts."

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The current fiscal environment, ongoing deliberations for the next Farm Bill, and the public's expectations for a high-performing and efficient government underscore the need for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to focus on program results and customer needs, work across organizational lines to help minimize any overlap and duplication, and build its internal capacity. USDA comprises 15 agencies in seven mission areas that are responsible for, among other things, assisting farmers and rural communities, overseeing meat and poultry safety, providing access to nutritious food for low-income families, and protecting the nation's forests. For fiscal year 2010, USDA estimated that its 15 agencies would have total outlays of $129 billion. This statement highlights examples from GAO's previous work that illustrate how USDA can address challenges it faces in three key areas: (1) the performance and accountability of USDA programs, (2) coordination within USDA and between USDA and other agencies to minimize duplication and overlap, and (3) the sufficiency of USDA management capacity. This statement is based on GAO's extensive body of work on USDA programs authorized under the Farm Bill and issued from September 2005 …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2007, the United States enacted a law incrementally raising the minimum wages in American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) until they equal the U.S. minimum wage. American Samoa's minimum wage increased by $.50 three times, and the CNMI's four times before legislation delayed the increases, providing for no increase in American Samoa in 2010 or 2011 and none in the CNMI in 2011. As scheduled, American Samoa's minimum wage will equal the current U.S. minimum wage of $7.25 in 2018, and the CNMI's will reach it in 2016. Recent economic declines in both areas reflect the closure of one of two tuna canneries in American Samoa and the departure of the garment industry in the CNMI. GAO is required to report in 2010, 2011, 2013, and biennially thereafter on the impact of the minimum wage increases. This report updates GAO's 2010 report and describes, since the increases began, (1) employment and earnings, and (2) the status of key industries. GAO reviewed federal and local information; collected data from employers through a questionnaire and from employers and workers through discussion groups; …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has been on GAO's high-risk list since 2006, when the program had to borrow from the U.S. Treasury to cover losses from the 2005 hurricanes. The outstanding debt is $17.8 billion as of June 2011. This sizeable debt, plus operational and management challenges that GAO has identified at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers NFIP, have combined to keep the program on the high-risk list. NFIP's need to borrow to cover claims in years of catastrophic flooding has raised concerns about the program's long-term financial solvency. This testimony (1) discusses ways to place NFIP on a sounder financial footing in light of public policy goals for federal involvement in natural catastrophe insurance and (2) highlights operational and management challenges at FEMA that affect the program. In preparing this statement, GAO relied on its past work on NFIP, including a June 2011 report on FEMA's management of NFIP, which focused on its planning, policies, processes, and systems. The management review included areas such as strategic and human capital planning, acquisition management, and intra-agency collaboration."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses H.R. 1495, the Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2011. This proposed legislation, which was recently referred to the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, House Committee on Financial Services, provides for an audit of the gold reserves of the United States. Specifically, the bill calls for the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct and complete, not later than 6 months after passage of the act, a full assay, inventory, and audit of gold reserves of the United States at the place or places where such reserves are kept, together with an analysis of the sufficiency of the measures taken for the security of such reserves. The bill also calls for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the results of such assay, inventory, audit, and analysis and, not later than 9 months after passage of the act, prepare and transmit to the Congress a report of GAO's findings together with the results of the work performed by the Secretary of the Treasury. This testimony focuses on (1) the reported holdings of gold reserves of the United States as of September 30, 2010; (2) past …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "More than 300 insured depository institutions have failed since the current financial crisis began in 2007, at an estimated cost of almost $60 billion to the deposit insurance fund (DIF), which covers losses to insured depositors. Since 1991, Congress has required federal banking regulators to take prompt corrective action (PCA) to identify and promptly address capital deficiencies at institutions to minimize losses to the DIF. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires GAO to study federal regulators' use of PCA. This report examines (1) the outcomes of regulators' use of PCA on the DIF; (2) the extent to which regulatory actions, PCA thresholds, and other financial indicators help regulators address likely bank trouble or failure; and (3) options available to make PCA a more effective tool. GAO analyzed agency and financial data to describe PCA and DIF trends and assess the timeliness of regulator actions and financial indicators. GAO also reviewed relevant literature and surveyed expert stakeholders from research, industry, and regulatory sectors on options to improve PCA."

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

This report covers U.S. efforts to find a solution that assures seamless communications among first responders and emergency personnel at the scene of a major disaster. Legislation in the 112th Congress includes the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act, the Broadband for Public Safety Act of 2011, the Broadband for First Responders Act, and the Strengthening Public-safety and Enhancing Communications Through Reform, Utilization, and Modernization (SPECTRUM) Act.

This report provides background information and potential issues and options for Congress relating to the reauthorization of Ex-Im Bank. The scope of this report is limited to Ex-Im Bank reauthorization issues.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, Treaty Number: 102-38, 1992), the Copenhagen Accord (2009), and the UNFCCC Cancun Agreements (2010), wherein the higher-income countries pledged jointly up to $30 billion of "fast start" climate financing for lower-income countries for the period 2010-2012, and a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020. The Cancun Agreements also proposed that the pledged funds are to be new, additional to previous flows, adequate, predictable, and sustained, and are to come from a wide variety of sources, both public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.

Weekly Jewish newspaper from Fort Worth, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

The analysis of complex multiphysics astrophysical simulations presents a unique and rapidly growing set of challenges: reproducibility, parallelization, and vast increases in data size and complexity chief among them. In order to meet these challenges, and in order to open up new avenues for collaboration between users of multiple simulation platforms, we present yt (available at http://yt.enzotools.org/) an open source, community-developed astrophysical analysis and visualization toolkit. Analysis and visualization with yt are oriented around physically relevant quantities rather than quantities native to astrophysical simulation codes. While originally designed for handling Enzo's structure adaptive mesh refinement data, yt has been extended to work with several different simulation methods and simulation codes including Orion, RAMSES, and FLASH. We report on its methods for reading, handling, and visualizing data, including projections, multivariate volume rendering, multi-dimensional histograms, halo finding, light cone generation, and topologically connected isocontour identification. Furthermore, we discuss the underlying algorithms yt uses for processing and visualizing data, and its mechanisms for parallelization of analysis tasks.

Aqueous radioactive wastes from Savannah River Site (SRS) separations and vitrification processes are contained in large underground carbon steel tanks. Inspections made during 2010 to evaluate these vessels and other waste handling facilities along with evaluations based on data from previous inspections are the subject of this report. The 2010 inspection program revealed that the structural integrity and waste confinement capability of the Savannah River Site waste tanks were maintained. All inspections scheduled per SRR-LWE-2009-00138, HLW Tank Farm Inspection Plan for 2010, were completed. Ultrasonic measurements (UT) performed in 2010 met the requirements of C-ESG-00006, In-Service Inspection Program for High Level Waste Tanks, Rev. 3, and WSRC-TR-2002-00061, Rev.6. UT inspections were performed on Tanks 30, 31 and 32 and the findings are documented in SRNL-STI-2010-00533, Tank Inspection NDE Results for Fiscal Year 2010, Waste Tanks 30, 31 and 32. A total of 5824 photographs were made and 1087 visual and video inspections were performed during 2010. Ten new leaksites at Tank 5 were identified in 2010. The locations of these leaksites are documented in C-ESR-G-00003, SRS High Level Waste Tank Leaksite Information, Rev.5. Ten leaksites at Tank 5 were documented during tank wall/annulus cleaning activities. None of these new leaksites …

Consumers regularly forgo purchases of high efficiency appliances that appear to be cost effective at a reasonable rate of return. While some argue that this is a true revelation of preferences for appliance features, this 'efficiency gap' can be largely explained by a combination of market and behavioral failures that reduce consumers ability to evaluate the relative value of appliances and skew preferences toward initial cost savings, undervaluing future reductions in operating costs. These failures and barriers include externalities of energy use, imperfect competition between manufacturers, asymmetric information, bounded rationality, split incentives, and transaction costs (Golove 1996). Recognizing the social benefit of energy conservation, several major methods are used by policymakers to ensure that efficient appliances are purchased: minimum efficiency standards, Energy Star labeling, and rebates and tax credits. There is no single market for energy services; there are hundreds of uses, thousands of intermediaries, and millions of users, and likewise, no single appropriate government intervention (Golove 1996). Complementary approaches must be implemented, considering policy and institutional limitations. In this paper, I first lay out the rationale for government intervention by addressing the market and behavioral failures and barriers that arise in the context of residential energy efficiency. I then …

At Fair Oaks Dairy, dried manure solids (''DMS'') are currently used as a low value compost. United Power was engaged to evaluate the feasibility of processing these DMS into ethanol utilizing commercially available cellulosic biofuels conversion platforms. The Fair Oaks Dairy group is transitioning their traditional ''manure to methane'' mesophilic anaerobic digester platform to an integrated bio-refinery centered upon thermophilic digestion. Presently, the Digested Manure Solids (DMS) are used as a low value soil amendment (compost). United Power evaluated the feasibility of processing DMS into higher value ethanol utilizing commercially available cellulosic biofuels conversion platforms. DMS was analyzed and over 100 potential technology providers were reviewed and evaluated. DMS contains enough carbon to be suitable as a biomass feedstock for conversion into ethanol by gasification technology, or as part of a conversion process that would include combined heat and power. In the first process, 100% of the feedstock is converted into ethanol. In the second process, the feedstock is combusted to provide heat to generate electrical power supporting other processes. Of the 100 technology vendors evaluated, a short list of nine technology providers was developed. From this, two vendors were selected as finalists (one was an enzymatic platform and one …

The input power of accelerator structure is normally fed through a coupling slot(s) on the outer wall of the accelerator structure via magnetic coupling. While providing perfect matching, the coupling slots may produce non-axial-symmetric fields in the coupler cell that can induce emittance growth as the beam is accelerated in such a field. This effect is especially important for low emittance beams at low energies such as in the injector accelerators for light sources. In this paper, we present studies of multipole fields of different rf coupler designs and their effect on beam emittance for an X-band photocathode gun being jointly designed with LLNL, and X-band accelerator structures. We will present symmetrized rf coupler designs for these components to preserve the beam emittance.

We present angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies of the cuprate high-temperature superconductors which elucidate the relation between superconductivity and the pseudogap and highlight low-energy quasiparticle dynamics in the superconducting state. Our experiments suggest that the pseudogap and superconducting gap represent distinct states, which coexist below T{sub c}. Studies on Bi-2212 demonstrate that the near-nodal and near-antinodal regions behave differently as a function of temperature and doping, implying that different orders dominate in different momentum-space regions. However, the ubiquity of sharp quasiparticles all around the Fermi surface in Bi-2212 indicates that superconductivity extends into the momentum-space region dominated by the pseudogap, revealing subtlety in this dichotomy. In Bi-2201, the temperature dependence of antinodal spectra reveals particle-hole asymmetry and anomalous spectral broadening, which may constrain the explanation for the pseudogap. Recognizing that electron-boson coupling is an important aspect of cuprate physics, we close with a discussion of the multiple 'kinks' in the nodal dispersion. Understanding these may be important to establishing which excitations are important to superconductivity.

Compaction of lower layers in the fiberboard overpack has been observed in 9975 packages that contain elevated moisture. Lab testing has resulted in a better understanding of the relationship between the fiberboard moisture level and compaction of the lower fiberboard assembly, and the behavior of the fiberboard during transport. In laboratory tests, higher moisture content has been shown to correspond to higher total compaction of fiberboard material, greater rate of compaction, and continued compaction over a longer period of time. In addition, laboratory tests have shown that the application of a dynamic load results in higher fiberboard compaction. The test conditions and sample geometric/loading configurations were chosen to simulate the regulatory requirements for 9975 package input dynamic loading. Dynamic testing was conducted over a period of six months to acquire immediate and cumulative changes in geometric data for various moisture levels. Currently, one sample set has undergone a complete dynamic test regimen, while testing of another set is still in-progress. The dynamic input, data acquisition, test effects on sample dynamic parameters, and interim results from this test program are summarized and compared to regulatory specifications for dynamic loading. This will provide a basis from which to evaluate the impact of …

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