None

Modern differential geometric techniques are used to unify the physical asymptotics underlying mechanics, wave theory and statistical mechanics. The approach gives new insights into the structure of physical theories and is suited to the needs of modern large-scale computer simulation and symbol manipulation systems. A coordinate-free formulation of non-singular perturbation theory is given, from which a new Hamiltonian perturbation structure is derived and related to the unperturbed structure. The theory of perturbations in the presence of symmetry is developed, and the method of averaging is related to reduction by a circle group action. The pseudo-forces and magnetic Poisson bracket terms due to reduction are given a natural asymptotic interpretation. Similar terms due to changing reference frames are related to the method of variation of parameters, which is also given a Hamiltonian formulation. These methods are used to answer a question about nearly periodic systems. The answer leads to a new secular perturbation theory that contains no ad hoc elements. Eikonal wave theory is given a Hamiltonian formulation that generalizes Whitham's Lagrangian approach. The evolution of wave action density on ray phase space is given a Hamiltonian structure using a Lie-Poisson bracket. The relationship between dissipative and Hamiltonian systems is discussed. …

The primary concern of the study during this period has been to examine the origin and basis of the several nonconforming NMR lines reported in our earlier study. Previous studies by earlier investigators indicate that (a) the product distribution in the conversion of synthesis gas to liquid fuels is dependant on the copper/cobalt ratio and (b) that the catalytic results reported by different groups of investigators using the IFP prescription (4) are widely divergent. These observations prompted us to make a critical examination of the effect of metal ratio and the method of preparation on the magnetic character of catalysts.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States Marine Corps is facing a critical shortage of heavy-lift aircraft. In addition, current weapon systems are heavier than their predecessors, further challenging the Marine Corps's current CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters. To address the emerging heavy-lift requirements, the Marine Corps initiated the CH-53K Heavy Lift Replacement program, which has experienced significant cost increase and schedule delays since entering development in 2005. This report (1) determines how the CH-53K's estimates of cost, schedule, and quantity have changed since the program began development and the impact of these changes and (2) determines how the CH-53K's current acquisition strategy will meet current program targets as well as the warfighter's needs. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed the program's budget, schedules, acquisition reports, and other documents and interviewed officials from the program office, the prime contractor's office, the Marine Corps, the Defense Contract Management Agency, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 authorizes the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and promotes the ABC model (Abstain, Be faithful, or use Condoms). It recommends that 20 percent of funds appropriated pursuant to the act be spent on prevention and requires that, starting in fiscal year 2006, 33 percent of prevention funds appropriated pursuant to the act be spent on abstinence-until-marriage. The Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) is responsible for administering PEPFAR. GAO reviewed PEPFAR prevention funds, described PEPFAR's strategy to prevent sexual HIV transmission, and examined related challenges."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the 1960s and 1970s, American Indian children were about six times more likely to be placed in foster care than other children and many were placed in non-American Indian homes or institutions. In 1978, the Congress enacted the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to protect American Indian families and to give tribes a role in making child welfare decisions for children subject to ICWA. ICWA requires that (1) tribes be notified and given an opportunity to intervene when the state places a child subject to ICWA in foster care or seeks to terminate parental rights on behalf of such a child and (2) children be placed if possible with relatives or tribal families. This report describes (1) the factors that influence placement decisions for children subject to ICWA; (2) the extent to which, if any, placements for children subject to ICWA have been delayed; and (3) federal oversight of states' implementation of ICWA."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The war on terrorism has focused attention on the important role U.S. public diplomacy plays in improving the nation's image. The United States has undertaken efforts to "win hearts and minds" by better engaging, informing, and influencing foreign audiences; however, recent polling data show that anti-Americanism is spreading and deepening around the world. GAO was asked to examine (1) to what extent U.S. public diplomacy efforts have been coordinated and (2) whether the private sector has been significantly engaged in such efforts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 specifically defines political intelligence as information that is "derived by a person from direct communications with an executive branch employee, a Member of Congress, or an employee of Congress; and provided in exchange for financial compensation to a client who intends, and who is known to intend, to use the information to inform investment decisions." While no other laws or ethics rules specifically govern political intelligence activities, securities laws and executive and legislative branch ethics rules and guidance do provide guidelines for government officials to protect material nonpublic information (e.g., information that has not been disseminated to the general public or is not authorized to be made public). For example, insider trading laws apply to both the executive and legislative branches and prohibit the disclosure of material nonpublic information derived from employees' official positions for personal benefit."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies collect and use personal information for various purposes, both directly from individuals and from other sources, including information resellers--companies that amass and sell data from many sources. In light of concerns raised by recent security breaches involving resellers, GAO was asked to determine how the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State and the Social Security Administration use personal data from these sources. In addition, GAO reviewed the extent to which information resellers' policies and practices reflect the Fair Information Practices, a set of widely accepted principles for protecting the privacy and security of personal data. GAO also examined agencies' policies and practices for handling personal data from resellers to determine whether these reflect the Fair Information Practices."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. textile and apparel imports from China have more than doubled in value since China became a World Trade Organization (WTO) member. When joining the WTO, China agreed to a special textile safeguard mechanism applicable only to that country. In this report, GAO (1) describes the mechanism, (2) describes requests for safeguard action filed by U.S. producers and the results of these requests, and (3) evaluates U.S. agency procedures for transparency and accessibility."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Costs substantially increased and schedules were delayed for Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) largest medical-center construction projects in Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Orlando, Florida. As of November 2012, the cost increases for these projects ranged from 59 percent to 144 percent, with a total cost increase of nearly $1.5 billion and an average increase of approximately $366 million. The delays for these projects range from 14 to 74 months, resulting in an average delay of 35 months per project. In commenting on a draft of this report, VA contends that using the initial completion date from the construction contract would be more accurate than using the initial completion date provided to Congress; however, using this date would not account for how VA managed these projects prior to the award of the construction contract. Several factors, including changes to veterans' health care needs and site-acquisition issues contributed to increased costs and schedule delays at these sites."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Five types of field-based information-sharing entities are supported, in part, by the federal government--Joint Terrorism Task Forces, Field Intelligence Groups, Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) centers, state and major urban area fusion centers, and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Investigative Support Centers--and have distinct missions, roles, and responsibilities. However, GAO identified 91 instances of overlap in some analytical activities--such as producing intelligence reports--and 32 instances of overlap in investigative support activities, such as identifying links between criminal organizations. These entities conducted similar activities within the same mission area, such as counterterrorism, for similar customers, such as federal or state agencies. This can lead to benefits, such as the corroboration of information, but may also burden customers with redundant information. GAO also found that RISS centers and HIDTAs operate three different systems that duplicate the same function--identifying when different law enforcement entities may be conducting a similar enforcement action, such as a raid at the same location, to ensure officer safety--resulting in some inefficiencies. RISS and HIDTA have taken steps to connect two of the systems, but HIDTA does not have target time frames to connect …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Dissatisfaction with the federal tax system has led to a debate about U.S. tax reform, including proposals for a national consumption tax. One type of proposed consumption tax is a value-added tax (VAT), widely used around the world. A VAT is levied on the difference between a business's sales and its purchases of goods and services. Typically, a business calculates the tax due on its sales, subtracts a credit for taxes paid on its purchases, and remits the difference to the government. While the economic and distributional effects of a U.S. VAT type tax have been studied, GAO was asked to identify the lessons learned from other countries' experiences in administering a VAT. This report describes (1) how VAT design choices, such as exemptions and enforcement mechanisms, have affected compliance, administrative costs, and compliance burden; (2) how countries with federal systems administer a VAT; and (3) how countries that recently transitioned to a VAT implemented the new tax. GAO selected five countries to study--Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom--that provided a range of VAT designs from relatively simple to more complex with multiple …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To finance renewable energy projects, the military services use up-front appropriations, such as operation and maintenance funds, and alternative-financing approaches that generally rely on private capital, such as arranging financing and implementing a project with a private developer or utility. The military services have funded about 85 percent of nearly 600 projects that were in design, under construction, or operating in fiscal year 2011 with up-front appropriations, but financed 8 of the 9 large-scale projects and 19 of the 57 medium-scale projects with alternative financing. Several factors affect the military services’ use of financing approaches, including perceived benefits and drawbacks such as how long it takes to obtain funding."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) program provides local telecommunications services to federal agencies in certain U.S. cities. The General Services Administration (GSA) began the program in 1997 to achieve immediate, substantial, and sustained price reductions for local telecommunications for agencies; to expand their choices of high-quality services; and to encourage cross-agency sharing of resources. Service providers that are awarded contracts under the program are allowed to compete for GSA's FTS2001 long distance service contracts, so that federal agencies may potentially acquire end-to-end local and long distance telecommunications services from one source. Only five of the 19 metropolitan areas that were scheduled to switch from existing services to MAA services by or before March 2002 have done so. Although the program was intended to take advantage of emerging competition in the local telecommunications market, it has been beset by implementation challenges, including access and use of building riser cabling, the transfer of local numbers between service providers, and a contractor's financial problems. On top of the cost of the contract services, GSA charges customer agencies fees that range from about nine to 97 percent or from $1.20 …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) program, managed by the General Services Administration (GSA), provides local telecommunications services to government agencies in selected metropolitan areas. Of the 25 cities in which MAA contracts were awarded as of January 2003, 15 were awarded to two or more providers. Such multiple-award contracts are a means of promoting competition. To ensure equity in the award of task orders under these contracts, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires that the government provide contractors a fair opportunity to be considered. GAO was asked to review, among other things, whether GSA's implementation of the fair consideration process is consistent and the effect of any inconsistency, as well as the adequacy of GSA's documentation to support the decisions reached."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Wildfires burn millions of acres annually. Most burnt land can recover naturally, but a small percentage needs short-term emergency treatment to stabilize burnt land that threatens public safety, property, or ecosystems or longer-term treatments to rehabilitate land unlikely to recover naturally. The Department of the Interior (Interior) and the Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Forest Service--the two departments that manage most federal land--spend millions of dollars annually on such treatments. GAO was asked to (1) describe the two departments' processes for implementing their programs, (2) identify the costs and types of treatments implemented, and (3) determine whether these treatments are effective."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Estimated to reach $15 billion by 2015, the Department of Defense's (DOD) prescription drug spending has been a growing concern for the federal government. The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2007 required GAO to examine DOD's pharmacy benefits program. Specifically, as discussed with the committees of jurisdiction, GAO examined DOD's prescription drug spending trends from fiscal years 2000 through 2006 and DOD's key efforts to limit its prescription drug spending. To conduct this work, GAO analyzed DOD's data on spending trends, including trends in beneficiary pharmacy use. GAO also assessed DOD's cost avoidance data and the agency's efforts to limit spending through its uniform formulary, which is a list of preferred drugs available to all beneficiaries. GAO interviewed DOD officials about these and other efforts to limit spending."

This report provides basic information on the Global Security Contingency Fund (GSCF) legislation. It starts with a brief discussion of the conceptual origins of the legislation and then summarizes the legislation's provisions. It concludes with a short analysis of salient issues.

An improved HVAC system for portable classrooms was specified to address key problems in existing units. These included low energy efficiency, poor control of and provision for adequate ventilation, and excessive acoustic noise. Working with industry, a prototype improved heat pump air conditioner was developed to meet the specification. A one-year measurement-intensive field-test of ten of these IHPAC systems was conducted in occupied classrooms in two distinct California climates. These measurements are compared to those made in parallel in side by side portable classrooms equipped with standard 10 SEER heat pump air conditioner equipment. The IHPAC units were found to work as designed, providing predicted annual energy efficiency improvements of about 36 percent to 42 percent across California's climate zones, relative to 10 SEER units. Classroom ventilation was vastly improved as evidenced by far lower indoor minus outdoor CO2 concentrations. TheIHPAC units were found to provide ventilation that meets both California State energy and occupational codes and the ASHRAE minimum ventilation requirements; the classrooms equipped with the 10 SEER equipment universally did not meet these targets. The IHPAC system provided a major improvement in indoor acoustic conditions. HVAC system generated background noise was reduced in fan-only and fan and compressor …

Recently a number of authors have suggested modifications of the Brueckner theory of nuclear matter so as to include hole-hole interactions, as well as particle-particle interactions. Iwamoto has demonstrated that in a perturbation theory calculation the inclusion of hole-hole interaction makes no change in the ground-state energy through second order. The singular two-body potential between nucleons makes it difficult, however, to conclude anything about the contribution of these terms in nuclear matter. The formal similarity between the equation of Iwamoto and the equation for the energy gap in nuclear matter, coupled with the fact that the energy gap is very small at normal density, indicates that the effect of hole-hole interactions is probably only a very small change in the ground-state energy of nuclear matter. It is the point of this note to show that this conclusion is in fact correct, the demonstration proceeding by use of the separation method for evaluating the energy of nuclear matter.

Pteris vittata is a fern that is extraordinary in its ability to tolerate hyperaccumulate high levels of arsenic (As). The goals of the proposed research, to identify the genes that are necessary for As hyperaccumulation in P. vittata using molecular and genetic approaches and to understand the physiology of arsenic uptake and distribution in the living plant, were accomplished during the funding period. The genes that have been identified may ultimately enable the engineering or selection of other plants capable of As hyperaccumulation. This is important for the phytoremediation of arsenic-contaminated soils in areas where P. vittata cannot grow.

This cleanup verification package documents completion of remedial action for the 116-K-2 effluent trench, also referred to as the 116-K-2 mile-long trench and the 116-K-2 site. During its period of operation, the 116-K-2 site was used to dispose of cooling water effluent from the 105-KE and 105-KW Reactors by percolation into the soil. This site also received mixed liquid wastes from the 105-KW and 105-KE fuel storage basins, reactor floor drains, and miscellaneous decontamination activities.

The data and analyses contained in this report reflect the initial characterization of construction and consolidation water in Cells 5 and 6 lysimeters. Therefore, the scope of this report will be to establish constituent levels and document dewatering activities completed to date.