Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In October 2007, we reported on how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies had assessed and addressed risks at sites that were thought to have received asbestos-contaminated ore from a mine located in Libby, Montana, and the overall results of these efforts. As we noted at that time, EPA has identified hundreds of sites nationwide that are thought to have received millions of tons of the contaminated ore between 1923 and the early 1990s. This report provides information that will be helpful in understanding the site descriptions in the database, which is provided in a separate report, entitled Hazardous Materials: EPA's Assessment of Sites That May Have Received Asbestos- Contaminated Ore from Libby, Montana (GAO-09-7SP)."

This fact sheet tracks the current heads of government in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. It provides the dates of the last and next elections for the head of government and the national independence date for each country.

Email from Victor M. Castillo to multiple recipients on March 10, 2009, discussing recent Press Release regarding endorsements and new officers to the Houston Stonewall Young Democrats.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Carpenter Technology Corporation (CarTech) participated in an in-kind cost share cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) effort under the auspices of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Technology Maturation Program to explore the feasibility for scale up of developmental ORNL alumina-forming austenitic (AFA) stainless steels by conventional casting and rolling techniques. CarTech successfully vacuum melted 301b heats of four AFA alloy compositions in the range of Fe-(20-25)Ni-(12-14)Cr-(3-4)Al-(l-2.5)Nb wt.% base. Conventional hot/cold rolling was used to produce 0.5-inch thick plate and 0.1-inch thick sheet product. ORNL subsequently successfully rolled the 0.1-inch sheet to 4 mil thick foil. Long-term oxidation studies of the plate form material were initiated at 650, 700, and 800 C in air with 10 volume percent water vapor. Preliminary results indicated that the alloys exhibit comparable (good) oxidation resistance to ORNL laboratory scale AFA alloy arc casting previously evaluated. The sheet and foil material will be used in ongoing evaluation efforts for oxidation and creep resistance under related CRADAs with two gas turbine engine manufacturers. This work will be directed to evaluation of AFA alloys for use in gas turbine recuperators to permit higher-temperature operating conditions for improved efficiencies and reduced …

The competition between the addition of polar, oxygen-containing functional groups (functionalization) and the cleavage of C-C bonds (fragmentation) has a governing influence on the change in volatility of organic species upon atmospheric oxidation, and hence on the loading of tropospheric organic aerosol. However the branching between these two channels is generally poorly constrained for oxidized organics. Here we determine functionalization/fragmentation branching ratios for organics spanning a range of oxidation levels, using the heterogeneous oxidation of squalane (C30H62) as a model system. Squalane particles are exposed to high concentrations of OH in a flow reactor, and measurements of particle mass and elemental ratios enable the determination of absolute elemental composition (number of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms) of the oxidized particles. At low OH exposures, the oxygen content of the organics increases, indicating that functionalization dominates, whereas at higher exposures the amount of carbon in the particles decreases, indicating the increasing importance of fragmentation processes. Once the organics are moderately oxidized (O/C~;;0.4), fragmentation completely dominates, and the increase in O/C ratio upon further oxidation is due to the loss of carbon rather than the addition of oxygen. These results suggest that fragmentation reactions may be key steps in the atmospheric formation …

This report provides an overview of Medicare, the nation's federal insurance program, which pays for covered health care services of qualified beneficiaries.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Pervasive and sustained computerbased (cyber) attacks against federal and private-sector infrastructures pose a potentially devastating impact to systems and operations and the critical infrastructures that they support. To address these threats, President Bush issued a 2003 national strategy and related policy directives aimed at improving cybersecurity nationwide. Congress and the Executive Branch, including the new administration, have subsequently taken actions to examine the adequacy of the strategy and identify areas for improvement. Nevertheless, GAO has identified this area as high risk and has reported on needed improvements in implementing the national cybersecurity strategy. In this testimony, you asked GAO to summarize (1) key reports and recommendations on the national cybersecurity strategy and (2) the views of experts on how to strengthen the strategy. In doing so, GAO relied on its previous reports related to the strategy and conducted panel discussions with key cybersecurity experts to solicit their views on areas for improvement."

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Handwritten notes on Dimasa phonology with special focus on vowel quality and final glottals. Includes partial index of examples across multiple Dimasa notebooks.

In September 2005, the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) initiated periodic sampling of groundwater in the vicinity of a grain storage facility formerly operated by the CCC/USDA at Morrill, Kansas. The sampling at Morrill is being performed on behalf of the CCC/USDA by Argonne National Laboratory, in accord with a monitoring program approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE 2005), to monitor levels of carbon tetrachloride contamination identified in the groundwater at this site (Argonne 2004, 2005a). This report provides results for the most recent monitoring event, in October 2008. Under the KDHE-approved monitoring plan (Argonne 2005b), groundwater was initially sampled twice yearly for a period of two years (in fall 2005, in spring and fall 2006, and in spring and fall 2007). The samples were analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as for selected geochemical parameters to aid in the evaluation of possible natural contaminant degradation (reductive dechlorination) processes in the subsurface environment. During the two-year period, the originally approved scope of the monitoring was expanded to include vegetation sampling (initiated in October 2006) and surface water and stream bed sediment sampling (initiated in March 2007, after a visual …

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

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

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

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MINOS is an accelerator neutrino oscillation experiment at Fermilab. An intense high energy neutrino beam is produced at Fermilab and sent to a near detector on the Fermilab site and also to a 5 kTon far detector 735 km away in the Soudan mine in northern Minnesota. The experiment has now had several years of running with millions of events in the near detector and hundreds of events recorded in the far detector. I will report on the recent results from this experiment which include precise measurement of |{Delta}m{sup 2}{sub 32}|, analysis of neutral current data to limit the component of sterile neutrinos and the search for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} conversion. The focus will be on the analysis of data for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} conversion. Using data from an exposure of 3.14 x 10{sup 20} protons on target, we have selected electron type events in both the near and the far detector. The near detector is used to measure the background which is extrapolated to the far detector. We have found 35 events in the signal region with a background expectation of 27 {+-} 5(stat) {+-} 2(syst). Using this observation we set a 90% C.L. limit …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to a Congressional request that we address questions submitted for the record related to the February 11, 2009, hearing entitled FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009. Our attached responses to these questions are based on updates to our previous work and our knowledge of the areas addressed by the questions."

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

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

Beamline 12.3.2 at the Advanced Light Source is a newly commissioned beamline dedicated to x-ray microdiffraction. It operates in both monochromatic and polychromatic radiation mode. The facility uses a superconducting bending magnet source to deliver an X-ray spectrum ranging from 5 to 22 keV. The beam is focused down to {approx} 1 um size at the sample position using a pair of elliptically bent Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors enclosed in a vacuum box. The sample placed on high precision stages can be raster-scanned under the microbeam while a diffraction pattern is taken at each step. The arrays of diffraction patterns are then analyzed to derive distribution maps of phases, strain/stress and/or plastic deformation inside the sample.

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

We have developed a thermal-neutron coded-aperture imager that reveals the locations of hydrogenous materials from which thermal neutrons are being emitted. This imaging detector can be combined with an accelerator to form an active interrogation system in which fast neutrons are produced in a heavy metal target by means of xcitation by high energy photons. The photo-induced neutrons can be either prompt or delayed, depending on whether neutronemitting fission products are generated. Provided that there are hydrogenous materials close to the target, some of the photo-induced neutrons slow down and emerge from the surface at thermal energies. These neutrons can be used to create images that show the location and shape of the thermalizing materials. Analysis of the temporal response of the neutron flux provides information about delayed neutrons from induced fission if there are fissionable materials in the target. The combination of imaging and time-of-flight discrimination helps to improve the signal-to-background ratio. It is also possible to interrogate the target with neutrons, for example using a D-T generator. In this case, an image can be obtained from hydrogenous material in a target without the presence of heavy metal. In addition, if fissionable material is present in the target, probing …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A safe, efficient, and convenient transportation system is integral to the health of our economy and quality of life. Our nation's vast transportation system of airways, railways, roads, transit systems, and waterways has served this need, yet is under considerable pressure due to increasing congestion and costs to maintain and improve the system. Calls for increased investment come at a time when traditional funding for transportation projects is increasingly strained. The authorizing legislation supporting transportation programs will soon expire. The Department of Transportation (DOT) implements national transportation policy and administers most federal transportation programs. DOT received funds for transportation infrastructure projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to aid in economic recovery. DOT also requested $72.5 billion to carry out its activities for fiscal year 2010. This statement presents GAO's views on major challenges facing DOT and Congress as they work to administer recovery funds and reauthorize surface transportation and aviation programs. It is based on work GAO has completed over the last several years. GAO has made recommendations to DOT to improve transportation programs; the agency has generally agreed with these recommendations. To supplement …

This report provides background information on the UAE nuclear program, reviews developments to date, analyzes proposed nuclear cooperation with the United States, and discusses relevant legislative proposals and options.

This project concerned the application of a catalytic combustion system that has been married to a micro-turbine device. The catalytic combustion system decomposes the VOC's and transmits these gases to the gas turbine. The turbine has been altered to operate on very low-level BTU fuels equivalent to 1.5% methane in air. The performance of the micro-turbine for VOC elimination has some flexibility with respect to operating conditions, and the system is adaptable to multiple industrial applications. The VOC source that was been chosen for examination was the emissions from coal upgrading operations. The overall goal of the project was to examine the effectiveness of a catalytic combustion based system for elimination of VOCs while simultaneously producing electrical power for local consumption. Project specific objectives included assessment of the feasibility for using a Flex-Microturbine that generates power from natural gas while it consumes VOCs generated from site operations; development of an engineering plan for installation of the Flex-Microturbine system; operation of the micro-turbine through various changes in site and operation conditions; measurement of the VOC destruction quantitatively; and determination of the required improvements for further studies. The micro-turbine with the catalytic bed worked effectively to produce power on levels of fuel …