The National museum of the Pacific War presents an ortal interview with Lester Wineland. Wineland joined the Navy in 1944 after finishing high school. After basic training, Wineland reported aboard USS Pringle (DD-477) in San Francisco. He served asa radarman aboard the ship and suffered from no end of seasickness. He recalls the kamikaze attack at Mindoro and was transferred from the ship just prior to it sailing for Okinawa. Wineland reported to officer training school in Pennsylvania. He was there when the war ended. Rahter than take a commission, he chose to be discharged.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Stewart Elder. Elder joined the Navy V-5 Program in 1942 and received his wings in November of 1944. He provides details of his flight training and the various of types of planes he flew. He was placed in a replacement squadron in Hawaii four months before the atomic bomb was dropped in Japan in August of 1945. They completed additional training exercises in Hawaii, and after the surrender he returned home. He completed over 1,000 hours of flying during operational training and additionally in the Ready Reserve. He was discharged around December of 1945.

Interview with Ethel Baker Starkey, whose husband's ancestors were Texas Hill Country settlers, from Kerrville, Texas. Mrs. Starkey discusses her husband's family history. She also talks about coming to Kerrville for a job with her family.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the McElroy-Severn House, in Buda, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, and photographs.

Shape analysis plays an important role in many applications. In particular, in molecular biology, analyzing molecular shapes is essential to the fundamental problem of understanding how molecules interact. This project aims at developing efficient and effective algorithms to characterize and analyze molecular structures using geometric and topological methods. Two main components of this project are (1) developing novel molecular shape descriptors; and (2) identifying and representing meaningful features based on those descriptors. The project also produces accompanying (visualization) software. Results from this project (09/2006–10/2009) include the following publications. We have also set up web-servers for the software developed in this period, so that our new methods are accessible to a broader scientific community. The web sites are given below as well. In this final technical report, we first list publications and software resulted from this project. We then briefly explain the research conducted and main accomplishments during the period of this project.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Bearden. Bearden was in the Texas National Guard when Japan started the war. He was in the 144th Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division and trained at Camp Bowie. His unit went to Fort Lewis in Washington to guard the coast. Bearden then joined the paratroopers and trained at Fort Benning in August, 1942. Bearden speaks a lot about parachute infantry training. He went to England in December, 1943. He jumped into Normandy on 6 June 1944. Around D+5, Bearden was captured by German soldiers. Liberated by Russians in January, 1945, Bearden headed east and eventually reached Moscow, then Odessa, where he was repatriated. He returned to San Antonio and was discharged in July, 1945.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Twelve of the 14 proposals we identified would eliminate means testing altogether as a requirement for states to receive federal funding to help pay for the costs associated with supporting children in foster care. Two other proposals would link means testing to a different benchmark. Half of the proposals would mitigate a potential increase in federal costs due to the elimination of means testing by either changing the rate of federal reimbursements, capping federal funding, or both. Additionally, half would attempt to mitigate the potentially negative effects of lowering the reimbursement rate on states by, for example, allowing states to access additional funding in the event of an unanticipated increase in foster care placements. All five proposals that specify how states should use any foster care maintenance savings they incur would require states to reinvest these savings in child welfare services that benefit all children at risk of neglect or abuse."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We compared FEMA's training of reservists with the training provided to reservists at the SBA, the Forest Service, and the Coast Guard--agencies with a disaster mission--and found similarities and differences; and, moreover, FEMA had not examined other agencies' training programs to identify useful practices. All four training programs shared some similar attributes with regard to training requirements, funding sources, training delivery, and training evaluation. For example, FEMA and two of the comparison agencies have a credentialing program used to document reservist qualifications. Differences included the timing of when training is delivered and the use of job aids to reinforce reservists' understanding of material covered in training courses. Regarding timing, SBA, the Forest Service, and the Coast Guard each train their reservists in advance of deploying these individuals to a disaster. However, factors such as the way in which FEMA funds its disaster program have limited the agency's ability to train its reservists in advance of deployments to disasters. FEMA plans to begin allowing up to 2 weeks of reservist training outside of deployments under the new reservist program during fiscal year 2013. Differences we identified in training practices …

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Wink Junior High and High School, in Wink, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, and photographs.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the past 2 years, notable progress has been made in the vast majority of areas that were on GAO's 2011 High Risk List. Congress passed several laws and took oversight actions to help address high-risk areas. Top administration officials at the Office of Management and Budget and the individual agencies have continued to show their commitment to ensuring that high-risk areas receive attention and action. Additional progress is both possible and needed in all the high-risk areas on GAO's 2013 list."

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Sidney Lanier. Lanier recalls growing up and working during the Depression. He entered the Navy in March, 1943 and trained in San Diego. With training complete, Lanier reported to PC-1230 at New Orleans. They travelled to New Caledonia and stayed on station there for about a year before heading to Peleliu. At Peleliu, Lanier was assigned to the USS ATR-33 but travelled considerably before reaching his new ship in New Caledonia. He was discharged in January 1946.

Minutes for the March 21, 2013 TXSSAR meeting, held by the McKinney chapter.

Minutes for the March 21, 2013 TXSSAR meeting, held by the McKinney chapter.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In response to GAO reports over the past few years on management weaknesses in major projects (i.e., those costing $750 million or more), the Department of Energy (DOE) has undertaken a number of reforms since March 2009, including those overseen by the Office of Environmental Management (EM) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). For example, DOE has updated program and project management policies and guidance in an effort to improve the reliability of project cost estimates, better assess project risks, and better ensure project reviews that are timely and useful, and that identify problems early. In addition to actions taken to improve project management, in its 2012 work, GAO has noted DOE's progress in managing the cost and schedule of nonmajor projects--those costing less than $750 million. DOE's actions to improve project management are promising, but their impact on meeting cost and schedule targets is not yet clear. Because all ongoing major projects have been in construction for several years, neither EM nor NNSA has a major project that can demonstrate the impact of DOE's recent reforms."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we found the following:"

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Ten states concentrated in the western, midwestern, and southeastern United States--all areas where the housing market had experienced strong growth in the prior decade--experienced 10 or more commercial bank or thrift (bank) failures between 2008 and 2011. The failures of the smaller banks (those with less than $1 billion in assets) in these states were largely driven by credit losses on commercial real estate (CRE) loans. The failed banks also had often pursued aggressive growth strategies using nontraditional, riskier funding sources and exhibited weak underwriting and credit administration practices. Fair value accounting also has been cited as a potential contributor to bank failures, but between 2007 and 2011 fair value accounting losses in general did not appear to be a major contributor, as over two-thirds of small failed banks' assets were not subject to fair value accounting. During the course of our work, some state banking associations said that the magnitude of the credit losses were exacerbated by federal bank examiners' classification of collateral-dependent loans and evaluation of appraisals used by banks to support impairment analysis of these loans. Federal banking regulators noted that regulatory guidance on CRE …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "State and USAID disbursed $27.2 million of INCLE, ESF, DA, and NADR funds and committed $11.1 million of FMF funds from the combined total of about $203 million allocated to support activities in CBSI partner countries from fiscal years 2010 through 2012. State and USAID used this funding for new and pre-existing programs that provide equipment, training, and other activities related to the CBSI strategic goals of substantially reducing illicit trafficking, advancing public safety and security, and promoting social justice in the Caribbean countries."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Approximately two-thirds of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) major IT investments were meeting their cost and schedule commitments. Specifically, out of 68 major IT investments in development, 47 were meeting cost and schedule commitments. The remaining 21--which DHS had estimated to cost about $1 billion--had one or more subsidiary projects that were not meeting cost and/or schedule commitments (i.e., they exceeded their goals by at least 10 percent, which is the level at which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) considers projects to be at increased risk of not being able to deliver planned capabilities on time and within budget.)"

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Officials in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)--a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)--have identified actions they believe will enhance management of the four preparedness programs GAO analyzed; however, FEMA still faces challenges. In February 2012, GAO found that FEMA lacked a process to coordinate application reviews and made award decisions with differing levels of information. To better identify potential unnecessary duplication, GAO recommended that FEMA collect project-level information and enhance internal coordination and administration of the programs. DHS concurred. The fiscal year 2013 President's Budget, proposed the establishment of the National Preparedness Grant Program (NPGP), a consolidation of 16 FEMA grant programs into a single program. However, Members of Congress raised concerns about the NPGP and have not approved the proposal. As a result, FEMA officials reported that the agency was drafting new guidance for the execution of the NPGP based on pending Congressional direction on fiscal year 2013 appropriations. If approved, and depending on its final form and execution, the NPGP could help mitigate the potential for unnecessary duplication and address GAO's recommendation to improve internal coordination. In March 2013, FEMA officials reported that …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Abner Aust. Aust joined the Army Air Forces in September 1941 and completed flight school in April 1943. He was assigned to Venice, Florida, as an instructor, often receiving extra runway duty on account of his mischievous acrobatics. In October 1944, he joined the 506th Fighter Group, 457th Fighter Squadron, as flight commander. Upon familiarizing himself with the P-51, he flew his first missions out of Tinian, moving next to Iwo Jima. While escorting B-29s, he sometimes broke away to lead his group of eight fighters to strafe opportunistically. He is credited with five victories, the last of which occurred on 10 August 1945, distinguishing him as the last fighter ace of World War II. Aust then served in the Air Force and participated in the Vietnam War. Just before his retirement, he worked at Bolling Air Force Base to develop the F-15. After all of his experience in fighters, his favorite plane is the P-40N.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2012 GAO reported that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had taken few actions to oversee county spending under Title III of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, and that the guidance they provided was limited and in some cases did not appear consistent with the act. GAO also reported that some expenditures by selected counties may have been inconsistent with the act--which may have resulted in part from the limited guidance available from the agencies--and that reviewed counties did not consistently follow Title III's administrative requirements. Specifically, GAO found the following:"

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether State Bar of Texas president-elect candidates who are nominated by petition under subsection 81.019(c), Government Code, are nevertheless subject to State Bar of Texas election rules and policies (RQ-1 088-GA).

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a school district board of trustees may appoint a single-member district trustee to an at-large position as the district transitions to a new election scheme (RQ-1091-GA).