A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) spending on service contracts approaches $100 billion annually, but recent legislation directs DOD to manage its services procurement more effectively. Leading companies transformed management practices and achieved major savings after they analyzed spending patterns and coordinated procurement. This report evaluates DOD's implementation of the legislation in light of congressional interest in promoting the use of best commercial practices for acquiring services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Naval Academy combined spend tens of millions of dollars to operate preparatory schools that provide an alternative avenue for about 700 students annually to gain admission to the service academies. Service academy officials screen all applicants to identify those who they believe could succeed at the academies but who would benefit from more preparation. The Department of Defense (DOD) pays the full cost of providing this preparation. GAO was asked to review the three service academy preparatory schools, and this report specifically assesses (1) the adequacy of their current mission statements, (2) the effectiveness of these schools in accomplishing their missions, and (3) the effectiveness of DOD oversight of these schools."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Attacks on computer systems--in government and the private sector--are increasing at an alarming rate, placing both federal and private-sector operations and assets at considerable risk. By exploiting software vulnerabilities, hackers can cause significant damage. While patches, or software fixes, for these vulnerabilities are often well publicized and available, they are frequently not quickly or correctly applied. The federal government recently awarded a contract for a government-wide patch notification service designed to provide agencies with information to support effective patching. Forty-one agencies now subscribe to this service. At the request of the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations, and the Census, GAO reviewed (1) two recent software vulnerabilities and related responses; (2) effective patch management practices, related federal efforts, and other available tools; and (3) additional steps that can be taken to better protect sensitive information systems from software vulnerabilities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the mid-1990s, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Kennedy Center) officials recognized a need for additional parking and better site access. As a precursor to a planned project to construct an 8-acre plaza and two additional buildings at the site, the Kennedy Center is currently in the process of constructing a garage expansion and site improvement project. Because of congressional concerns over project delays and costs as well as challenges the Kennedy Center faces as it pursues this major construction effort, GAO was requested to examine (1) the garage expansion and site improvement project's current costs, time frames, and scope compared to estimates provided to congressional stakeholders in 1997 and 1998 and (2) challenges the Kennedy Center faces in managing large construction projects. GAO issued its findings in a report entitled Kennedy Center: Improvements Needed to Strengthen the Management and Oversight of the Construction Process, GAO-03-823 (Sept. 5, 2003). This testimony is based on that report."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "From 1990 through 2001, the Department of Defense delivered over $138 billion in defense articles and services to foreign countries through its foreign military sales programs that included spare parts. Some sales occur under blanket order cases, which are requisitions for a specific dollar value and generally cover classes of parts that a country may need rather than a specific item within a class. The management of foreign military sales is especially critical given the need to prevent certain foreign countries from receiving parts that, if released, could be used against U.S. interests. This report stems from audit work performed in connection with our report, Foreign Military Sales: Improved Air Force Controls Could Prevent Unauthorized Shipments of Classified and Controlled Spare Parts to Foreign Countries. In that report, we address issues relating to classified spare parts that are restricted for national security reasons and controlled spare parts that are not classified but contain military technology or applications or are controlled cryptographic parts. During our work for that report, we observed a situation that brought into question Air Force internal controls to prevent unclassified or uncontrolled spare parts that …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The continuing use of H-1B visas, which allow employers to fill specialty occupations with highly skilled foreign workers, has been a contentious issue between U.S. workers and employers during the recent economic downturn. The H- 1B program is of particular concern to these groups because employment has substantially decreased within information technology occupations, for which employers often requested H-1B workers. In light of these concerns, GAO sought to determine (1) what major occupational categories H- 1B beneficiaries were approved to fill and what is known about H-1B petition approvals and U.S. citizen employment from 2000-2002; (2) what factors affect employers' decisions about the employment of H-1B workers and U.S. workers; and (3) what is known about H-1B workers' entries, departures, and changes in visa status."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Export credit agencies (ECA) are responsible for providing billions of dollars worth of support for large-scale industrial projects annually, but until recently most ECAs did not formally review the environmental impacts of these projects. The United States, whose Export-Import Bank began using environmental guidelines in 1995, pushed for negotiations on common ECA environmental guidelines at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD negotiations halted in 2001 because the United States believed that the results, called the Common Approaches, were insufficient. The remaining OECD members then pledged to voluntarily implement the Common Approaches. In response to congressional interest in ECA environmental guidelines, GAO assessed (1) the level of convergence among OECD members and the prospects for further advancement and (2) what impacts such guidelines may have on U.S. exports."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Based on its budget, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the largest entity in the federal government that is not subject to the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990. The department, with an estimated $39 billion in assets, an almost $40 billion fiscal year 2004 budget request, and more than 170,000 employees, does not have a presidentially appointed CFO subject to Senate confirmation and is not required to comply with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) of 1996. In addition, we designated implementation and transformation of DHS as high risk based on three factors: (1) the implementation and transformation of DHS is an enormous undertaking that will take time to achieve in an effective and efficient manner, (2) components to be merged into DHS already face a wide array of existing challenges, and (3) failure to effectively carry out its mission would expose the nation to potentially very serious consequences. In light of these conditions, Congress asked GAO to testify on the financial management challenges facing DHS, steps for establishing sound financial management and business processes at DHS, and GAO's comments on H.R. 2886, The …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Despite the availability of federal, state, and other sources of student aid, concerns have been raised that adult undergraduates--those 24 and older--receive inadequate assistance in meeting the costs of postsecondary education, particularly those adults who take one to five credits per term (or less than halftime). These concerns have been raised because less-than halftime adult students are unable to participate in the largest federal student loan programs, the Stafford Loan programs, and they are eligible to receive only one of the two federal higher education tax credits, the Lifetime Learning tax credit. To better understand the needs of these adult students, GAO was asked to identify (1) the extent to which adults enroll less than halftime, the characteristics and factors associated with less-than- halftime enrollment, and the rates of completion among these students; (2) the extent to which adult students enrolled less than halftime receive federal, state, and other assistance to help them meet the cost of postsecondary education; and (3) the implications, including the budgetary impact, of changing the Pell Grant Program to allow less-than-halftime students to count room and board costs and personal expenses …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Graduates of the service academies operated by the Army, Navy, and Air Force currently make up approximately 18 percent of the officer corps for the nation's armed services. The academies represent the military's most expensive source of new officers. The Department of Defense (DOD) pays the full cost of a student's 4-year education at the academies; and the related cost has increased over the past 4 years. Admission to the academies is highly competitive. The academies use a "whole person" method to make admission decisions. Recent studies by the Air Force raised questions about possible adverse effects of whole person admissions policies on student quality. GAO was asked to review all three service academies and specifically address the extent to which (1) DOD oversees the service academies, (2) applicants are granted waivers of academic standards, and (3) various groups of students differ in admissions scores and academy performance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2001, states determined that over 900,000 children were the victims of abuse or neglect. In fiscal year 2003, subparts 1 and 2 of Title IV-B of the Social Security Act provided $697 million in federal funding for services to help families address problems that lead to child abuse and neglect. This report describes (1) the services provided and populations served under subparts 1 and 2; (2) federal oversight of subpart 1; and (3) existing research on the effectiveness of services unique to subpart 1--that is, when states used subpart 1, but not subpart 2, to fund programs in a particular service category. The report focuses primarily on subpart 1 because little research exists on this subpart, while studies have been conducted on subpart 2."

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of September 10, 2003. The document is redacted and includes a draft Memorandum For Under Secretary Of Defense (Acquisition, Technology & Logistics) regarding the establishment of the Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group.

Over the past two decades the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a series of Federal guidance documents for the purpose of providing the Federal and State agencies with technical information to assist their implementation of radiation protection programs. Currently recommended dose conversion factors, annual limits on intake, and derived air concentrations for intake of radionuclides are tabulated in Federal Guidance Report No. 11 (FGR 11), published in 1988. The tabulations in FGR 11 were based on dosimetric quantities and biokinetic and dosimetric models of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) developed for application to occupational exposures. Since the publication of FGR 11 the ICRP has revised some of its dosimetric quantities and its models for workers and has also developed age-specific models and dose conversion factors for intake of radionuclides by members of the public. This report examines the extent of the changes in the inhalation and ingestion dose coefficients of FGR 11 implied by the updated recommendations of the ICRP, both for workers and members of the public.

The radiolysis of sorbed water and other impurities contained in actinide oxides has been the focus of a number of studies related to the establishment of criteria for the safe storage and transport of these materials. Gamma radiolysis studies have previously been performed on uranium oxides and oxyfluorides (UO{sub 3}, U{sub 3}O{sub 8}, and UO{sub 2}F{sub 2}) to evaluate the long-term storage characteristics of {sup 233}U. This report describes a similar study for alpha radiolysis. Uranium oxides and oxyfluorides (with {sup 238}U as the surrogate for {sup 233}U) were subjected to relatively high alpha radiation doses (235 to 634 MGy) by doping with {sup 244}Cm. The typical irradiation time for these samples was about 1.5 years, which would be equivalent to more than 50 years irradiation by a {sup 233}U sample. Both dry and wet (up to 10 wt % water) samples were examined in an effort to identify the gas pressure and composition changes that occurred as a result of radiolysis. This study shows that several competing reactions occur during radiolysis, with the net effect that only very low pressures of hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide are generated from the water, nitrate, and carbon impurities, respectively, associated with the …

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

Weekly student newspaper from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas that includes campus and local news along with advertising.

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, if the Harris, Tarrant, or Travis County commissioners court elect to increase district judges' county salaries under section 32.101, 32.220, or 32.227 of the Government Code, the state comptroller must reduce the judges' state salaries under section 659.012 of the Government Code.

This report is an Abridged Sketch of Federal Criminal Law related to Bomb-Making Online.

The sputter deposition process can be used to create nanostructured materials that possess continuous open porosity. Characterization of sputter deposited metals and metal-oxide coatings are presented.

This report describes a study conducted by PNNL in Spring 2002 at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River for the US Army Corps of Engineers Portland District. Our goal was to determine the feasibility of using ultrasonic fish tracking in the untested environment of a hydroelectric dam tailrace. If fish tracking were determined to be feasible, we would track the movement of juvenile hatchery chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), juvenile hatchery steelhead (O. mykiss), and juvenile wild steelhead (O. mykiss) and relate their movement to dam operations. The majority of fish to be tracked were released as a part of a separate study conducted by the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey (BRD), which was investigating the movement of juvenile salmon in the forebay of Lower Granite Dam in relation to Removable Spillway Weir (RSW) testing. The two studies took place consecutively from April 14 to June 7, 2002.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Seminole, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Initial results from a novel device to detect dust particles settling on remote surfaces are presented. Dust particle inventories are a concern in next-step fusion devices. The increase in duty cycle will lead to a scale-up in the amount of particles generated by plasma material interactions. These particles will be chemically and radiologically hazardous and it will be important to establish that the in-vessel particle inventory is within regulatory limits. The detection device consists of two interlocking combs of closely spaced conductive traces on a Teflon circuit board. When a DC bias is applied impinging dust creates a transient short circuit between the traces. The increase in bias current generates a signal pulse that is counted by standard nuclear counting electronics. We present data on the response of the device in air and vacuum to carbon particles.