Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, thousands of taxpayers who owe delinquent federal taxes receive billions of dollars in federal payments. To help the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collect these delinquent taxes more effectively, the Congress passed the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, the provisions of which authorized the establishment of the Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP), which allows IRS to continuously levy up to 15 percent of the payments made to delinquent taxpayers. The Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), which receives payment records from and makes payments on behalf of most federal agencies, collects the continuous levy from the federal payment after IRS has authorized the levy. Subsequent payments are continuously levied until such time that the tax debt is paid or IRS releases the levy. In a prior report, we noted that inappropriate levies--which subsequently must be refunded--could undermine support for the continuous levy authority, by generating negative public reaction to the program and frustrating taxpayers whose payments are inappropriately levied. Since October of 2001, the inclusion of Social Security recipients and others in the levy program has extended levy use substantially. This expansion heightens the importance …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Smart cards--credit-card-like devices that use integrated circuit chips to store and process data--offer a range of potential uses for the federal government, particularly in increasing security for its many physical and information assets. GAO was asked to review the use of smart cards across the federal government (including identifying potential challenges), as well as the effectiveness of the General Services Administration (GSA) in promoting government adoption of smart card technologies."

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COGEMA Engineering Corporation (COGEMA), under contract from CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CH2M Hill), has performed an ultrasonic examination of selected portions of Double-Shell Tank 241-AN-105. The purpose of this examination was to provide information that could be used to evaluate the integrity of the wall of the primary tank. The requirements for the ultrasonic examination of Tank 241-AN-105 were to detect, characterize, (idetify, size, and locate), and recod measurements made of any wall thinning, pitting, or cracks that might be present in the wall of the primary tank. Any measurements that exceed the requirements set forth in the Engineering Task Plan (ETP), RPP-8867, are reported to CH2M Hill and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for further evaluation. Under the contract with CH2M Hill, all data is to be recorded on disk and paper copies of all measurements are provided to PNNL for third-party evaluation. PNNL is responsible for preparing a reports(s) that describes the results of the COGEMA ultrasonic examinations.

This report summarizes the Clean Air Act and its major regulatory requirements. It describes the Act's major provisions and provides tables listing all major amendments, with the year of enactment and Public Law number, and crossreferencing sections of the Act with the major U.S. Code sections of the codified statute.

This manual describes the technical basis for the design of the routine radiobioassay monitoring program and assessments of internal dose. Its purpose is to provide a historical record of the methods, models, and assumptions used for internal dosimetry at Hanford, and serve as a technical reference for radiation protection and dosimetry staff.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The charge state distribution following the positron decay of 21Na has been measured, with a larger than expected fraction of the daughter 21Ne in positive charge states. No dependence on either the positron or recoil nucleus energy is observed. The data is compared to a simple model based on the sudden approximation. Calculations suggest a small but important contribution from recoil ionization has important consequences for precision beta decay correlation experiments detecting recoil ions.

Recent progress is reported on a research program aimed at developing and applying sophisticated transition state theory-based models for the kinetics of barrierless reactions of importance in combustion. Various applications involving the coupling of the variable reaction coordinate (VRC) transition state theory (TST) methodology with ab initio quantum chemical evaluations and/or master equation simulations were provided. Reactions studied included the C{sub 3}H{sub 3} + H and C{sub 3}H{sub 5} + H addition reactions, C{sub 2}H{sub 3} + C{sub 2}H{sub 2} and C{sub 2}H{sub 5} + O{sub 2} reactions, and the unimolecular dissociation of ketene.

These lectures form a personal, and not necessarily comprehensive, survey of physics at the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton collider. They cover detectors, analysis issues, and physics prospects for the current Tevatron run.

This report presents theoretical and experimental results, which demonstrate the feasibility of a new class of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy converters with greatly improved power density and efficiency. Performance improvements are based on the utilization of the enhanced photon concentrations within high refractive index materials. Analysis demonstrates that the maximum achievable photon flux for TPV applications is limited by the lowest index in the photonic cavity, and scales as the minimum refraction index squared, n{sup 2}. Utilization of the increased photon levels within high index materials greatly expands the design space limits of TPV systems, including: a 10x increase in power density, a 50% fractional increase in conversion efficiency, or alternatively reduced radiator temperature requirements to as low as {approx} 1000 F.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration's (SBA) loan asset sales are being closely watched because similar sales are projected for other government agencies as a means of reducing loan assets and servicing costs. To assess the progress and effects of SBA's loan sales, GAO undertook this study to (1) describe the process for selling loans, (2) identify how lenders and borrowers have reacted to loan sales, (3) determine whether SBA is properly accounting for its loan sales and their subsequent impact on credit subsidy estimates, and (4) assess whether loan sales generated operational benefits for the agency. GAO did not determine whether SBA maximized proceeds from the loan sales."

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

Weekly newspaper from Dell City, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Funeral program for Ms. Victoria E. Weaver, born October 30, 1974. The funeral was held January 3, 2003 at Lilly of the Valley Baptist Church, officiated by Rev. Steven Owens. Funeral arrangements were made through Sutton's Paradise Funeral Home, and she was buried in Southern Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas.

This report provides background on Free Trade Areas (FTAs) including: definitions of Free Trade Areas, why countries form FTAs, FTAs in the context of U.S. trade policy, Bush Administration policies and recent developments, the economic impact of FTAs, whether FTAs create trade or divert it, FTAs the the WTO, debate points related to FTAs, relevant legislation, and final conclusions and implications for Congress.

The authors present a study of the MACHO red variable population in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This study reveals six period-luminosity relations among the red variable population. Only two of these were known prior to MACHO. The results are consistent with Mira pulsation in the fundamental mode. A sequence comprising 26% of the red variable population can not be explained by pulsation. They propose a dust {kappa}-mechanism in the circumstellar environment is responsible for the long period variation of these objects. The luminosity function of the variables shows a sharp edge at the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). This is the first clear indication of a population of variable stars within the immediate vicinity of the TRGB. The results indicate this population amounts to 8% of the RGB population near the TRGB.

Status of lattice calculations of hadron matrix elements along with CP violation in B and in K systems is reviewed. Lattice has provided useful input which, in conjunction with experimental data, leads to the conclusion that CP-odd phase in the CKM matrix plays the dominant role in the observed asymmetry in B {yields} {psi}K{sub s}. It is now quite likely that any beyond the SM, CP-odd, phase will cause only small deviations in B-physics. Search for the effects of the new phase(s) will consequently require very large data samples as well as very precise theoretical predictions. Clean determination of all the angles of the unitarity triangle therefore becomes essential. In this regard B {yields} KD{sup 0} processes play a unique role. Regarding K-decays, remarkable progress made by theory with regard to maintenance of chiral symmetry on the lattice is briefly discussed. First application already provide quantitative information on B{sub K} and the {Delta}I = 1/2 rule. The enhancement in ReA{sub 0} appears to arise solely from tree operators, esp. Q{sub 2}; penguin contribution to ReA{sub 0} appears to be very small. However, improved calculations are necessary for {epsilon}{prime}/{epsilon} as there the contributions of QCD penguins and electroweak penguins largely seem …

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.