A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not conducted a recent evaluation of demand for Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) toxicity assessments with input from users inside and outside EPA. Specifically, EPA issued a needs assessment report in 2003, which estimated that 50 new or updated IRIS toxicity assessments were needed each year to meet users' needs. However, GAO did not find sufficient support for the estimate. In addition, IRIS Program officials recognize that the 2003 estimate does not reflect current conditions, but the agency does not plan to perform another evaluation of demand. Without a clear understanding of current demand for IRIS toxicity assessments, EPA cannot adequately measure the program's performance; effectively determine the number of IRIS toxicity assessments required to meet the needs of IRIS users; or know the extent of unmet demand."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified multiple data sources that could be used to develop measures to allocate Medicaid funding to states more equitably than the current funding formula--known as the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP)--which is based solely on per capita income (PCI). To be equitable from the perspective of beneficiaries and allow states to provide a comparable level of services to each person in need, a funding allocation mechanism should take into account the demand for services in each state and geographic cost differences among states. To be equitable from the perspective of taxpayers, an allocation mechanism should ensure that taxpayers in poorer states are not more heavily burdened than those in wealthier ones, by taking into account state resources. To illustrate, GAO identified at least one federal data source that could be used to develop measures of each of these aspects, in order to allocate Medicaid funding more equitably."

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In tokamak plasmas with low levels of toroidal rotation, the radial electric fi eld Er is a combination of pressure gradient and toroidal and poloidal rotation components, all having similar magnitudes. In order to assess the validity of neoclassical poloidal rotation theory for determining the poloidal rotation contribution to Er , Dα emission from neutral beam heated tokamak discharges in DIII-D [J.L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42 , 614 (2002)] has been evaluated in a sequence of low torque (electron cyclotron resonance heating and balanced diagnostic neutral beam pulse) discharges to determine the local deuterium toroidal rotation velocity. By invoking the radial force balance relation the deuterium poloidal rotation can be inferred. It is found that the deuterium poloidal low exceeds the neoclassical value in plasmas with collisionality #23;#3; νi < 0: 1, being more ion diamagnetic, and with a stronger dependence on collisionality than neoclassical theory predicts. At low toroidal rotation, the poloidal rotation contribution to the radial electric fi eld and its shear is signi cant. The eff ect of anomalous levels of poloidal rotation on the radial electric fi eld and cross fi eld heat transport is investigated for ITER parameters.

Several numerical methods were produced and analyzed. The main thrust of the work relates to inexact Krylov subspace methods for the solution of linear systems of equations arising from the discretization of partial di#11;erential equa- tions. These are iterative methods, i.e., where an approximation is obtained and at each step. Usually, a matrix-vector product is needed at each iteration. In the inexact methods, this product (or the application of a preconditioner) can be done inexactly. Schwarz methods, based on domain decompositions, are excellent preconditioners for thise systems. We contributed towards their under- standing from an algebraic point of view, developed new ones, and studied their performance in the inexact setting. We also worked on combinatorial problems to help de#12;ne the algebraic partition of the domains, with the needed overlap, as well as PDE-constraint optimization using the above-mentioned inexact Krylov subspace methods.

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A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

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The report discusses the President's annual funding request for the Peace Corps, efforts to reauthorize the Peace Corps, and related issues. Current issues include the extent to which there is available funding for Peace Corps expansion, whether the Peace Corps has the institutional capacity to expand, and whether volunteers are able to function in a safe and secure environment.

This report gives an overview of the current government in Haiti and status of recovery efforts following the 2010 earthquake. The main priorities for U.S. policy regarding Haiti are to strengthen fragile democratic processes, continue to improve security, and promote economic development. Other concerns include the cost and effectiveness of U.S. aid; protecting human rights; combating narcotics, arms, and human trafficking; and alleviating poverty.

This report discusses Presidential campaign funding and provides a brief policy overview and raises potential issues for congressional consideration.

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Carbon-14 is among the key radionuclides driving risk at the E-Area Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility on the Savannah River Site (SRS). Much of this calculated risk is believed to be the result of having to make conservative assumptions in risk calculations because of the lack of site-specific data. The original geochemical data package (Kaplan 2006) recommended that performance assessments and composite analyses for the SRS assume that {sup 14}C did not sorbed to sediments or cementitious materials, i.e., that C-14 K{sub d} value (solid:liquid concentration ratio) be set to 0 mL/g (Kaplan 2006). This recommendation was based primarily on the fact that no site-specific experimental work was available and the assumption that the interaction of anionic {sup 14}C as CO{sub 2}{sup 2-}) with similarly charged sediments or cementitious materials would be minimal. When used in reactive transport equations, the 0 mL/g Kd value results in {sup 14}C not interacting with the solid phase and moving quickly through the porous media at the same rate as water. The objective of this study was to quantify and understand how aqueous {sup 14}C, as dissolved carbonate, sorbs to and desorbs from SRS sediments and cementitious materials. Laboratory studies measuring the sorption of {sup …

Article on the analysis of immobilized artificial membrane retention factors for both neutral and ionic species.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Price. Price joined the Navy in 1943 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Oakland (CL-95) as a first loader on a 40-milimeter. Standing beside the gun with no protective shield, he was vulnerable to enemy fire. After a year and a half, Price was transferred to the storekeepers division, where he maintained five storerooms of dry goods. When the kitchen placed an order, deckhands retrieved goods from Price and delivered them by hand. At the signing of the peace treaty, the Oakland was right beside the Missouri, and Price watched the Japanese delegation climb aboard. While on liberty, Price observed that Yokohama had been completely destroyed. After the war, there was pressure for storekeepers to remain in the service, but Price insisted on going home. He was discharged in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Eugene Paul. Paul joined the Navy in January of 1943. He served as Fire Controlman aboard the USS Oakland (CL-95). They joined Task Group 50 near Funafuti, and supported amphibious assaults on the Gilbert Islands, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. Paul describes his experiences with kamikazes and going through typhoons. Paul returned to the US after the war ended.

In collaboration with participants of the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) Advanced Vehicle/Fuels/Lubricants (AVFL) Committee, and project AVFL-19, the characteristics of fuels from advanced and renewable sources were compared to commercial diesel fuels. The main objective of this study was to highlight similarities and differences among the fuel types, i.e. ULSD, renewables, and alternative fuels, and among fuels within the different fuel types. This report summarizes the carbon-type analysis from 1H and 13C{1H} nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) of 14 diesel fuel samples. The diesel fuel samples come from diverse sources and include four commercial ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels (ULSD), one gas-to-liquid diesel fuel (GTL), six renewable diesel fuels (RD), two shale oil-derived diesel fuels, and one oil sands-derived diesel fuel. Overall, the fuels examined fall into two groups. The two shale oil-derived samples and the oil-sand-derived sample closely resemble the four commercial ultra-low sulfur diesels, with SO1 and SO2 most closely matched with ULSD1, ULSD2, and ULSD4, and OS1 most closely matched with ULSD3. As might be expected, the renewable diesel fuels, with the exception of RD3, do not resemble the ULSD fuels because of their very low aromatic content, but more closely resemble the gas-to-liquid sample (GTL) in this …

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the confidentiality of certain autopsy records.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the use of real property by the University of Houston--Sugar Land.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate in memory of former State Representative Frank Kell Cahoon of Midland.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to training, certification, and accreditation provided or regulated by the Texas Veterans Commission.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the shared work unemployment compensation program.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate recognizing the citizens of West.