A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated $14.5 billion for Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), which funds services to students in schools with high concentrations of students from low-income families. Title I, Part A includes several fiscal requirements, which are designed to prevent local school districts from using federal dollars to replace state and local education funding. One of these measures, Title I comparability, requires districts to provide services with state and local funds to Title I schools that are at least comparable to services provided in schools not served by Title I. State educational agencies monitor district compliance with Title I comparability requirements. Districts may comply with comparability requirements through one of several measures. Under Title I, districts are deemed to be in compliance with comparability requirements if they have established and implemented a districtwide salary schedule; a policy to ensure equivalence among schools in teachers, administrators, and other staff; and a policy to ensure equivalence among schools in the provision of curriculum materials and instructional supplies. Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education (Education) also allows …

This report reviews the objectives delineated in President Obama's Open Government Initiative (OGI) and examines the expectations placed on agencies to meet these objectives. This report reviews department and agency attempts to implement Obama Administration initiatives that seek to make the federal government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. The report then analyzes options for congressional action in this area.

This report discusses the current political conditions of Cuba, as well as its relationship with the United States. In particular, the report focuses on U.S. policy regarding Cuba, including various economic sanctions, human rights issues, and foreign aid appropriations.

This report provides an overview and analysis of two recurring questions surrounding the federal government's role in financing presidential nominating conventions. First, how much public funding supports presidential nominating conventions? Second, what options exist for changing that amount if Congress chooses to do so? Both issues have generated controversy in the past and continue to be the subject of debate.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent volatility in financial markets highlights the need for prudent investment decisions if 401(k) plans are to provide an adequate source of retirement income. While plan sponsors and participants may receive help in assessing their investment choices, concerns have been raised about the impartiality of the advice provided. GAO was asked to describe circumstances where service providers may have conflicts of interest in providing assistance related to the selection of investment options for (1) plan sponsors and (2) plan participants, and (3) steps the Department of Labor (Labor) has taken to address conflicts of interest related to the selection of investment options."

This report describes how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organization (WTO) deal with the issue of currency manipulation. It also discusses apparent discrepancies in their charters and ways those differences might be addressed.

This report provides information about The FCC’s Authority to Regulate Net Neutrality After Comcast v. FCC where a major debate over the government's role with respect to the internet is occurring.

Savannah River Site has five dormant nuclear production reactors. Long term disposition will require filling some reactor buildings with grout up to ground level. Portland cement based grout will be used to fill the buildings with the exception of some reactor tanks. Some reactor tanks contain significant quantities of aluminum which could react with Portland cement based grout to form hydrogen. Hydrogen production is a safety concern and gas generation could also compromise the structural integrity of the grout pour. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a non-Portland cement grout to fill reactors that contain significant quantities of aluminum. Grouts generate heat when they set, so the potential exists for large temperature increases in a large pour, which could compromise the integrity of the pour. The primary purpose of the testing reported here was to measure heat of hydration, specific heat, thermal conductivity and density of various reactor grouts under consideration so that these properties could be used to model transient heat transfer for different pouring strategies. A secondary purpose was to make qualitative judgments of grout pourability and hardened strength. Some reactor grout formulations were unacceptable because they generated too much heat, or started setting too fast, or required …

A radiation bioassay program relies on a set of standard human phantoms to calibrate and assess radioactivity levels inside a human body for radiation protection and nuclear medicine imaging purposes. However, the methodologies in the development and application of anthropomorphic phantoms, both physical and computational, had mostly remained the same for the past 40 years. We herein propose a 3-year research project to develop medical image-based physical and computational phantoms specifically for radiation bioassay applications involving internally deposited radionuclides. The broad, long-term objective of this research was to set the foundation for a systematic paradigm shift away from the anatomically crude phantoms in existence today to realistic and ultimately individual-specific bioassay methodologies. This long-term objective is expected to impact all areas of radiation bioassay involving nuclear power plants, U.S. DOE laboratories, and nuclear medicine clinics.

. This study investigates the geometric effects of 90-degree vertical elbows and flow configurations in two-phase flow. The study shows that the elbows make a significant effect on the transport characteristics of two-phase flow, which includes the changes in interfacial structures, bubble interaction mechanisms and flow regime transition. The effect of the elbows is characterized for global and local two-phase flow parameters. The global two-phase flow parameters include two-phase pressure, interfacial structures and flow regime transition. In order to characterize the frictional pressure drop and minor loss across the vertical elbows, pressure measurements are obtained across the test section over a wide range of flow conditions in both single-phase and two-phase flow conditions. A two-phase pressure drop correlation analogous to Lockhart-Martinelli correlation is proposed to predict the minor loss across the elbows. A high speed camera is employed to perform extensive flow visualization studies across the elbows in vertical upward, horizontal and vertical downward sections and modified flow regime maps are proposed. It is found that modified flow regime maps immediately downstream of the vertical upward elbow deviate significantly from the conventional flow regime map. A qualitative assessment of the counter-current flow limitation characteristics specific to the current experimental facility …

This test program sets a multi-phased development path to support the development of the Lithium Hydrotalcite process, in order to raise its Technology Readiness Level from 3 to 6, based on tasks ranging from laboratory scale scientific research to integrated pilot facilities.

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This report provides an overview of selected campaign finance policy issues that may receive, or have received, attention during the 111th congress. Congress continues to consider the supreme court's January 2,1, 2010, ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

This report provides an overview of U.S. Egyptian relations, Egyptian politics, and U.S. foreign aid to Egypt.

This report discusses the recent political instability in Côte d'Ivoire, which has surfaced most recently in February 2011, and stems from a contested November 28, 2010 presidential election. This report discusses background information on Côte d'Ivoire's long struggle toward peace, political stability, and democratic governance. It also addresses U.S. interests regarding Côte d'Ivoire's stability and democratic progress.

This report highlights actions taken and issues raised after the April 20, 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and the resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

This report summarizes the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, P.L. 97-200, enacted by Congress in 1982 to address the unauthorized disclosure of information that exposes covert U.S. intelligence agents.

This report discusses the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) and the two types of formal dispute settlement it contains: 1) State-State and 2) investor-State. The report also discusses how the PTPA differs from earlier U.S. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).