A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has spent about $56 billion and will spend about $50 billion more through 2013 to develop a Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). GAO was directed to assess the annual progress MDA made in developing the BMDS as well as improvements in accountability and transparency in agency operations, management processes, and the new block strategy. To accomplish this, GAO reviewed contractor cost, schedule, and performance; tests completed; and the assets fielded during 2008. GAO also reviewed pertinent sections of the U.S. Code, acquisition policy, and the activities of the new Missile Defense Executive Board (MDEB). An appendix on the effect the cancellation of a Ground-based Midcourse Defense flight test had on BMDS development is also included."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS), begun by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1997, aimed to develop a methodology that could be used to survey a wide range of aviation personnel to monitor aviation safety. NASA expected NAOMS surveys to be permanently implemented and to complement existing federal and industry air safety databases by generating ongoing data to track event rates into the future. The project never met these goals and was curtailed in January 2007. GAO was asked to answer these questions: (1) What were the nature and history of NASA's NAOMS project? (2) Was the survey planned, designed, and implemented in accordance with generally accepted survey principles? (3) What steps would make a new survey similar to NAOMS better and more useful? To complete this work, GAO reviewed and analyzed material related to the NAOMS project and interviewed officials from NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board. GAO also compared the development of the NAOMS survey with guidelines issued from the Office of Management and Budget, and asked external experts to review and assess the survey's …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal government grant awards to state and local governments and nonprofit organizations have risen substantially from $7 billion in 1960 to $500 billion budgeted in fiscal year 2009. In constant dollars, federal grant awards rose from about $42 billion in 1960 to $500 billion in fiscal year 2009. The auditing of federal awards, including grant funds, administered by state and local governments and nonprofit organizations is intended to be a key accountability mechanism over the proper use of federal funding. The President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) issued its Report on National Single Audit Sampling Project in June 2007, which raised significant concerns about the quality of single audits and made recommendations aimed at improving the quality of those audits. The Single Audit Act, as amended, is intended to promote sound financial management, including effective internal controls over federal grant funds administered by state and local governments and nonprofit organizations. Congress asked GAO to conduct additional audit work and analysis to identify any further actions needed to improve federal oversight and accountability for federal grant funds. Specifically, Congress asked that we (1) determine whether the federal oversight …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Prior to the 1980s and the passage of environmental legislation--particularly the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) governing environmental cleanup--Department of Defense (DOD) activities contaminated millions of acres of soil and water on and near DOD sites. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which enforces CERCLA, places the most contaminated sites on its National Priorities List (NPL) and requires that they be cleaned up in accordance with CERCLA. EPA has placed 140 DOD sites on the NPL. Disputes have recently arisen between EPA and DOD on agreements to clean up some of these sites. In addition, most sites were placed on the NPL before 1991; since fiscal year 2000, EPA has added five DOD sites. In this context, we agreed to determine (1) the extent of EPA's oversight during assessment and cleanup at DOD sites and (2) why EPA has proposed fewer DOD sites for the NPL since the early 1990s. GAO interviewed officials at EPA and DOD and reviewed site file documentation at four EPA regions."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A genuine U.S. passport is a vital document, permitting its owner to travel freely in and out of the United States, prove U.S. citizenship, obtain further identification documents, and set up bank accounts, among other things. Unfortunately, a terrorist or other criminal could take advantage of these benefits by fraudulently obtaining a genuine U.S. passport from the Department of State (State). There are many ways that malicious individuals could fraudulently obtain a genuine U.S. passport, including stealing an American citizen's identity and counterfeiting or fraudulently obtaining identification or citizenship documents to meet State requirements. GAO was asked to proactively test the effectiveness of State's passport issuance process to determine whether the process is vulnerable to fraud. To do so, GAO designed four test scenarios that simulated the actions of a malicious individual who had access to an American citizen's personal identity information. GAO created counterfeit documents for four fictitious or deceased individuals using off-the-shelf, commercially available hardware, software, and materials. An undercover GAO investigator then applied for passports at three United States Postal Service (USPS) locations and a State-run passport office."

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

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

Weekly newspaper from Dallas, Texas that includes local, state, and national news and advertising of interest to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

The objectives of our work are: (i) to create solid catalysts with active sites that can function in a cooperative manner to enhance reactivity and selectivity, and (ii) to prepare solid catalysts that can perform multiple reactions in a network that in some cases would not be possible in solution due to the incompatibilities of the various catalytic entities (for example an acid and a base). We carried out extensive reactions to test the nature of the cooperative effect caused by thiol/sulfonic acid interactions. The acid/thiol combination provided an example where the two organic groups should be positioned as close to one another as possible. We also studied a system where this is not possible (acid-base). We investigated simultaneously incorporating acid and base groups into the same material. For the case of acid and bases, there is an optimal separation distance (too close allows for neutralization while too far eliminates any cooperative behavior).

The Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS), a nonprofit professional organization, conducted an educational series of seminars at the Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP) in Philadelphia in April 2008. The purpose of these seminars, conducted under the name Environmental and Engineering Geophysical University (EEGU) over three days in parallel with the regular SAGEEP technical sessions, was to introduce nontraditional geophysical conference attendees to the appropriate use of geophysics in environmental and engineering projects. Five half-day, classroom-style sessions were led by recognized experts in the application of seismic, electrical, gravity, magnetics, and ground-penetrating radar methods. Classroom sessions were intended to educate regulators, environmental program managers, consultants, and students who are new to near-surface geophysics or are interested in learning how to incorporate appropriate geophysical approaches into characterization or remediation programs or evaluate the suitability of geophysical methods for general classes of environmental or engineering problems.

This document describes the elements, schedule, roles, and responsibilities of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Environmental Compliance Audit & Assessment Program (ECAAP). The ECAAP has been developed to meet the requirements of DOE Order 450.1A,1 and Executive Order 13423.2 These referenced Orders stipulate that government agencies must develop environmental compliance audit programs to monitor and improve compliance with environmental regulations. As stated specifically in the DOE Order, as a part of a DOE facility's Environmental Management System (EMS), 'An environmental compliance audit and review program that identifies compliance deficiencies and root causes of non-compliance' shall be developed and implemented. The ECAAP has also been developed to satisfy LBNL's institutional technical assurance assessment requirements promulgated in the Environment, Safety and Health (ES&H) Self-Assessment Program (LBNL/PUB-5344) and described by the ES&H Technical Assurance Program (TAP) Manual (LBNL/PUB-913E). The ES&H TAP Manual provides the framework for systematic reviews of ES&H programs with the intent to provide assurance that these programs comply with their guiding regulations, are effective, and are properly implemented. As required by the DOE and Executive Orders and by LBNL's TAP, the goal of the ECAAP is to identify environmental regulatory compliance deficiencies and to determine their respective causes. The …

We formulate a simple model for a gas of extended hadrons at zero chemical potential by taking inspiration from the compressible bag model. We show that a crossover transition qualitatively similar to lattice QCD can be reproduced by such a system by including some appropriate additional dynamics. Under certain conditions, at high temperature, the system consist of a finite number of infinitely extended bags,which occupy the entire space. In this situation the system behaves as an ideal gas of quarks and gluons.

Cigarette smoking in men has been associated with increased chromosomal abnormalities in sperm and with increased risks for spontaneous abortions, birth defects and neonatal death. Little is known, however, about the reproductive consequences of paternal exposure to second-hand smoke. We used a mouse model to investigate the effects of paternal exposure to sidestream (SS) smoke, the main constituent of second-hand smoke, on the genetic integrity and function of sperm, and to determine whether male germ cells were equally sensitive to mainstream (MS) and SS smoke. A series of sperm DNA quality and reproductive endpoints were investigated after exposing male mice for two weeks to MS or SS smoke. Our results indicated that: (i) only SS smoke significantly affected sperm motility; (ii) only MS smoke induced DNA strand breaks in sperm; (iii) both MS and SS smoke increased sperm chromatin structure abnormalities; and (iv) MS smoke affected both fertilization and the rate of early embryonic development, while SS smoke affected fertilization only. These results show that MS and SS smoke have differential effects on the genetic integrity and function of sperm and provide further evidence that male exposure to second-hand smoke, as well as direct cigarette smoke, may diminish a couple's …

This report provides an historical perspective on contemporary federalism issues in surface transportation policy that are likely to be addressed by Congress during the 111th Congress, including possible devolution of programmatic responsibility to states and proposals to change state maintenance-of-effort requirements and state cost matching requirements.

This report discusses the reasons that Iran is considered a threat to U.S. security, including Iran's nuclear program, involvement with terrorist organizations, and involvement with neighboring countries' local governments. The report also discusses ways which the U.S. hopes to modify Iran's behavior with sanctions, and the effectiveness of these sanctions.

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

Newspaper from Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

This report provides an overview of the Buy American Act, its exceptions, Amendments, and current legislation.

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This report consists of the America competes act and the FY2009 budget.

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

The 111th Congress will likely consider a variety of issues involving family planning and reproductive health. Legislation related to family planning and Title X of the Public Health Service Act, including appropriations measures that could affect the funding of Title X family planning initiatives, is expected.