A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "It is estimated that over 10 million people in the United States suffer from jaw joint and muscle disorders. Artificial temporomandibular joint (TMJ) implants have been used to replace the jaw joint in some patients in an effort to decrease pain and increase jaw function. The safety and effectiveness of these implants, like other medical devices, is overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Two implants used in the 1970s and 1980s that were later removed from the market caused severe side effects for some patients. In 1998, FDA began to require certain TMJ implant manufacturers sponsoring these devices to demonstrate the implants' safety and effectiveness before receiving approval. Since 1998, four TMJ implants from three sponsors were approved. In response to your request, GAO described (1) the types of concerns raised by FDA and how it addressed these concerns for the implants approved since 1998 and (2) how FDA has monitored sponsors' compliance with conditions of approval. GAO examined documentation related to the four TMJ implants approved by FDA since 1998 and sponsors' …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2005, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obligated $1.2 billion to procure four types of professional and management support services--program management and support, engineering and technical, other professional, and other management support. While contracting for such services can help DHS meet its needs, there is risk associated with contractors closely supporting inherently governmental functions--functions that should be performed only by government employees. This report (1) describes the contracted services, (2) identifies potential risk and the extent to which DHS considered risk when deciding to contract for these services, and (3) assesses DHS's approach to managing and overseeing these services. GAO analyzed 117 judgmentally selected statements of work and 9 cases in detail for contracts awarded in fiscal year 2005 by the Coast Guard, the Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)."

The photovoltaic industry has been growing exponentially at an average rate of about 35%/year since 1979. Recently, multijunction concentrator cell efficiencies have surpassed 40%. Combined with concentrating optics, these can be used for electricity generation.

The amount of each size particle in a given soil is called the particle-size distribution (PSD), and the way it feels to the touch is called the soil texture. Sand, silt, and clay are the three particle sizes of mineral material found in soils. Sand is the largest sized particle and it feels gritty; silt is medium sized and it feels floury; and clay is the smallest and if feels sticky. Knowing the particle-size distribution of a soil sample helps to understand many soil properties such as how much water, heat, and nutrients the soil will hold, how fast water and heat will move through the soil, and what kind of structure, bulk density and consistence the soil will have. Furthermore, the native particle-size distribution of the soil in the vicinity of ground zero of a nuclear detonation plays a major role in nuclear fallout. For soils that have a high-sand content, the near-range fallout will be relatively high and the far-range fallout will be relatively light. Whereas, for soils that have a high-silt and high-clay content, the near-range fallout will be significantly lower and the far-range fallout will be significantly higher. As part of a program funded by the …

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As part of the radioactive sludge batch qualification, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) performs a verification of the digestion methods to be used by the Defense Waste Processing Facility Lab for elemental analysis of Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) receipt process control samples and SRAT product process control samples.

This Strategic Plan provides a brief historical overview of ICP long-term stewardship at the INL Site and the major goals and strategies that will drive the continued implementation of long-term stewardship in the future. The specific activities and processes that will be required to implement these goals should be outlined within an implementation plan and within implementing procedures and work plans.

A detailed chemical kinetic mechanism has been developed and used to study the oxidation of methyl decanoate, a surrogate for biodiesel fuels. This model has been built by following the rules established by Curran et al. for the oxidation of n-heptane and it includes all the reactions known to be pertinent to both low and high temperatures. Computed results have been compared with methyl decanoate experiments in an engine and oxidation of rapeseed oil methyl esters in a jet stirred reactor. An important feature of this mechanism is its ability to reproduce the early formation of carbon dioxide that is unique to biofuels and due to the presence of the ester group in the reactant. The model also predicts ignition delay times and OH profiles very close to observed values in shock tube experiments fueled by n-decane. These model capabilities indicate that large n-alkanes can be good surrogates for large methyl esters and biodiesel fuels to predict overall reactivity, but some kinetic details, including early CO2 production from biodiesel fuels, can be predicted only by a detailed kinetic mechanism for a true methyl ester fuel. The present methyl decanoate mechanism provides a realistic kinetic tool for simulation of biodiesel fuels.

A single parameter, the gravitational growth index gamma, succeeds in characterizing the growth of density perturbations in the linear regime separately from the effects of the cosmic expansion. The parameter is restricted to a very narrow range for models of dark energy obeying the laws of general relativity but can take on distinctly different values in models of beyond-Einstein gravity. Motivated by the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism for testing gravity, we analytically derive and extend the gravitational growth index, or Minimal Modified Gravity, approach to parameterizing beyond-Einstein cosmology. The analytic formalism demonstrates how to apply the growth index parameter to early dark energy, time-varying gravity, DGP braneworld gravity, and some scalar-tensor gravity.

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Free sintering of SiC with Al, B, and C additions in two successive stages, first under nitrogen and then under argon, produced a near full-density ceramic with equiaxed grain structure. The beta to alpha transformation proceeded to completion; however, the grain shape remained equiaxed due to the action of nitrogen present during the first stage of sintering. It is found that the beta to alpha transformation is necessary but not sufficient for producing the microstructure of interlocking plates found in high-toughness SiC.

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This report provides background as well as details of the World Trade Organisation dispute settlement case between Canada and U.S

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This report consists of a series of tables that summarize the legislation concerning Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) considered to date during the 110th Congress, as well as a select group of amendments to H.R. 1585, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (currently awaiting Senate action), that relate to either OIF or the Global War on Terror (GWOT).

This report provides an overview of aspects of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I-A that are likely to be the focus of substantial debate as the 110th Congress considers the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) reauthorization legislation.

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Vitrification is currently the most widely used technology for the treatment of high level radioactive wastes (HLW) throughout the world. At the Savannah River Site (SRS) actual HLW tank waste has successfully been processed to stringent product and process constraints without any rework into a stable borosilicate glass waste since 1996. A unique 'feed forward' statistical process control (SPC) has been used rather than statistical quality control (SQC). In SPC, the feed composition to the melter is controlled prior to vitrification. In SQC, the glass product is sampled after it is vitrified. Individual glass property models form the basis for the 'feed forward' SPC. The property models transform constraints on the melt and glass properties into constraints on the feed composition. The property models are mechanistic and depend on glass bonding/structure, thermodynamics, quasicrystalline melt species, and/or electron transfers. The mechanistic models have been validated over composition regions well outside of the regions for which they were developed because they are mechanistic. Mechanistic models allow accurate extension to radioactive and hazardous waste melts well outside the composition boundaries for which they were developed.

From the mid-1950's through the 1980's, the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site produced nuclear materials for the weapons stockpile, for medical and industrial applications, and for space exploration. Although SRS has a continuing defense-related mission, the overall site mission is now oriented toward environmental restoration and management of legacy chemical and nuclear waste. With the change in mission, SRS no longer has a need for much of the infrastructure developed to support the weapons program. This excess infrastructure, which includes over 1000 facilities, will be decommissioned and demolished over the forthcoming years. Dispositioning facilities for decommissioning and deactivation requires significant resources to determine hazards, structure type, and a rough-order-of-magnitude estimate for the decommissioning and demolition cost. Geographic information systems (GIS) technology was used to help manage the process of dispositioning infrastructure and for reporting the future status of impacted facilities.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Funeral program for Mrs. Veola M. Dance, born April 29, 1937 and died September 9, 2007. The funeral was held September 17, 2007 at Bethel A. M. E. Church, officiated by Rev. Dr. W. Raymond Bryant. The funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and she was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.

Funeral program for Mr. Harley Goode, Jr., born January 22, 1928 and died September 13, 2007. The funeral was held September 17, 2007 at First Prince of Peace Baptist Church, officiated by Rev. Iris Woodard James. The funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and he was buried in Mount Eden Cemetery in Waelder, Texas.

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