Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In August and September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused devastating damage to states along the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of the storms, many questions were raised about the status of the thousands of children living in the affected areas. We prepared this preliminary information under the Comptroller General's authority to learn more about (1) the number of missing children and the challenges and lessons learned in locating them; (2) the number of foster and other children receiving child welfare services in Louisiana, in particular, who were affected by the storm, and the challenges and lessons learned in locating and serving them; and (3) the number of schoolchildren displaced by the storm, the damage to their schools, and the challenges and lessons learned for educating displaced school-aged children."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To ensure that essential government services are available in emergencies, federal agencies are required to develop continuity of operations (COOP) plans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for providing guidance to agencies on developing such plans. Its guidance states that in their continuity planning, agencies should consider the use of telework--that is, work performed at an employee's home or at a work location other than a traditional office. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently reported that 43 agencies have identified staff eligible to telework, and that more than 140,000 federal employees used telework in 2004. OPM also reported that many government operations can be carried out in emergencies using telework. For example, telework appears to be an effective strategy for responding to a pandemic--a global outbreak of disease that spreads easily from person to person and causes serious illness and death worldwide. In previous work, GAO identified steps that agencies should take to effectively use telework during an emergency. GAO was asked to testify on how agencies are addressing the use of telework in their continuity planning, which …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many servicemembers supporting Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) have engaged in intense and prolonged combat, which research has shown to be strongly associated with the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). GAO, in response to the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, (1) describes DOD's extended health care benefit and VA's health care services for OEF/OIF veterans; (2) analyzes DOD data to determine the number of OEF/OIF servicemembers who may be at risk for PTSD and the number referred for further mental health evaluations; and (3) examines whether DOD can provide reasonable assurance that OEF/OIF servicemembers who need further mental health evaluations receive referrals."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (the fees legislation) required the National Park Service to begin collecting fees from operators that conduct air tours over national park units that meet certain criteria. Currently, only Grand Canyon, Haleakala, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Parks meet the criteria to charge air tour fees. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in cooperation with the Park Service, also regulates air tours over park units pursuant to the National Parks Overflights Act of 1987 and the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000. GAO was asked to (1) assess the Park Service's collection of air tour fees and (2) identify what factors, if any, hinder the collection of air tour fees. GAO is also providing information on the possible expansion of air tour fees to additional park units."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To ensure that essential government services are available in emergencies, federal agencies are required to develop continuity of operations (COOP) plans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for overseeing and assessing the status of COOP capabilities of federal executive branch agencies. It has developed guidance stating that agency COOP plans must designate alternate facilities and prepare personnel for unannounced relocation to these facilities. The guidance also states that agencies should consider the use of telework in their continuity plans. GAO was asked to follow up on its previous work on COOP planning and determine, among other things, to what extent (1) 6 selected agencies prepared their alternate facilities and (2) 23 major agencies made preparations necessary to effectively use telework in emergency situations."

As a market segment for solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption, new homes have a number of attractive attributes. Homebuyers can easily roll the cost of the PV system into their mortgage and, with rebates or other financial incentives, potentially realize an immediate net positive cash flow from the investment. PV system performance can be optimized by taking roof orientation, shading, and other structural factors into account in the design of new homes. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), which are subject to fewer aesthetic concerns than traditional, rack-mounted systems, are well-suited to new construction applications. In large new residential developments, costs can be reduced through bulk purchases and scale economies in system design and installation. Finally, the ability to install PV as a standard feature in new developments - like common household appliances - creates an opportunity to circumvent the high transaction costs and other barriers typically confronted when each individual homeowner must make a distinct PV purchase decision.

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A new experimental technique to study crystallographic slip system activity in metallic single crystals deformed under a condition of uniaxial stress is applied to study the behavior of Zn single crystals. The experimental apparatus allows essentially unconstrained shape change of inherently anisotropic materials under a condition of uniaxial stress by allowing 3 translational and 3 rotational degrees of freedom during compression; hence we have named the experiment 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF). The experiments also utilize a 3-D digital image correlation system to measure full-field displacement fields, which are used to calculate strain and make direct observations of slip system activity. We show that the experimental results associated with a pristine zinc single crystal are precisely consistent with the theoretical predicted shape change (sample distortion) assuming that the most favored slip system on the basal plane is the only one that is active. Another experiment was performed on a processed and annealed Zn single crystal to investigate slip that is inconsistent with the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) theory. These experiments on zinc illustrate the ability of the 6DOF experiment, together with image correlation (IC) data, to measure slip system activity with a high degree of fidelity.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Funeral program for James Arthur Bullocks, born March 9, 1976 and died May 3, 2006. The funeral was held Thursday, May 11, 2006 at Eastside Church of the Nazarene, officiated by Elder Isaac Collier. Funeral arrangements were made through Carter-Taylor-Williams Mortuary and he is buried in Meadowlawn Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas.

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

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

To detect and quantify subtle surface CO2 leakage signals, we present a strategy that combines measurements of CO2 fluxes or concentrations in the near-surface environment with an algorithm that enhances temporally- and spatially-correlated leakage signals while suppressing random background noise. The algorithm consists of a filter that highlights spatial coherence in the leakage signal, and temporal stacking (averaging) that reduces noise from temporally uncorrelated background fluxes/concentrations. We assess the performance of our strategy using synthetic data sets in which the surface leakage signal is either specified directly or calculated using flow and transport simulations of leakage source geometries one might expect to be present at sequestration sites. We estimate the number of measurements required to detect a potential CO2 leakage signal of given magnitude and area. Results show that given a rigorous field-sampling program, subtle CO2 leakage may be detected using the algorithm; however, leakage of very limited spatial extent or exceedingly small magnitude may be difficult to detect with a reasonable set of monitoring resources.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the current status of development of the Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) in Generation IV (GEN IV), including the European contribution, to identify needed R&D and to present the corresponding GEN IV International Forum (GIF) R&D plan [1] to support the future development and deployment of lead-cooled fast reactors. The approach of the GIF plan is to consider the research priorities of each member country in proposing an integrated, coordinated R&D program to achieve common objectives, while avoiding duplication of effort. The integrated plan recognizes two principal technology tracks: (1) a small, transportable system of 10-100 MWe size that features a very long refuelling interval, and (2) a larger-sized system rated at about 600 MWe, intended for central station power generation. This paper provides some details of the important European contributions to the development of the LFR. Sixteen European organizations have, in fact, taken the initiative to present to the European Commission the proposal for a Specific Targeted Research and Training Project (STREP) devoted to the development of a European Lead-cooled System, known as the ELSY project; two additional organizations from the US and Korea have joined the project. Consequently, ELSY will …

In order to understand the physical processes associated with fs-laser waveguide writing in glass, the effects of the laser repetition rate, the material composition and feature size were studied. The resulting material changes were observed by collecting Raman and fluorescence spectra with a confocal microscope. The guiding behavior of the waveguides was evaluated by measuring near field laser coupling profiles in combination with white light microscopy. Waveguides and Bragg gratings were fabricated in fused silica using pulse repetition rates from 1 kHz to 1 MHz and a wide range of scan speeds and pulse energies. Two types of fluorescence were detected in fused silica, depending on the fabrication conditions. Fluorescence from self trapped exciton (E{prime}{sub {delta}}) defects, centered at 550 nm, were dominant for conditions with low total doses, such as using a 1 kHz laser with a scan speed of 20 {micro}m/s and pulse energies less than 1 {micro}J. For higher doses a broad fluorescence band, centered at 650 nm, associated with non-bridging oxygen hole center (NBOHC) defects was observed. Far fewer NBOHC defects were formed with the 1 MHz laser than with the kHz lasers possibly due to annealing of the defects during writing. We also observed an …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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