Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2005, we issued a report on the environment within which the Department of Defense (DOD) program managers perform their work. We identified areas where program managers believe they are insufficiently empowered to execute programs, and therefore, because much is beyond their control, accountability is difficult. We also compared department policies and practices to those of leading commercial companies we visited and discussed actions DOD could take to improve program manager accountability, while also providing them with timely support as they manage the development of weapon systems. We recommended that DOD take a number of actions to ensure program managers are well positioned to successfully execute acquisitions and be held accountable. The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 directed the Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehensive strategy for enhancing the role of DOD program managers in developing and carrying out defense acquisition programs and to revise guidance for major defense acquisition programs to address the qualifications, resources, responsibilities, tenure, and accountability of program managers for the program development and execution periods. In addition, GAO was directed to report on the actions taken …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) provision required the Department of Defense (DOD) to close the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP). GAO was asked to address the status and potential impact of implementing this BRAC provision. This report discusses (1) key services AFIP provides to the military and civilian communities; (2) DOD's plans to terminate, relocate, or outsource services currently provided by AFIP; and (3) the potential impacts of disestablishing AFIP on military and civilian communities. New legislation requires DOD to consider this GAO report as it develops its plan for the reorganization of AFIP. GAO reviewed DOD's plans, analysis, and other relevant information, and interviewed officials from the public and private sectors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the significance of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collections to overall federal receipts and, in turn, to the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, which GAO is required to audit, and Congress's interest in financial management at IRS, GAO audits IRS's financial statements annually to determine whether (1) the financial statements are reliable, and (2) IRS management maintained effective internal controls. GAO also tests IRS's compliance with selected provisions of significant laws and regulations and its financial systems' compliance with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Agencies are required to report improper payment information under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) and recovery auditing information under section 831 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, commonly known as the Recovery Auditing Act. Since the first year of implementation, fiscal year 2004, limited improper payments reporting by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and concerns raised by NASA's auditors about its risk assessment process prompted scrutiny from the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, during several oversight hearings. Because the subcommittee noted that USAID's and NASA's performance and accountability report (PAR) reporting on improper payments and recovery auditing was minimal, GAO was asked to review both agencies' IPIA risk assessment methodologies, recovery auditing procedures, and actions under way to improve their IPIA and recovery audit reporting."

This document presents an Interim Measure Work Plan/Design for the short-term, field-scale pilot testing and subsequent implementation of a non-emergency Interim Measure (IM) at the site of the former grain storage facility operated by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) in Centralia, Kansas. The IM is recommended to mitigate both (1) localized carbon tetrachloride contamination in the vadose zone soils beneath the former facility and (2) present (and potentially future) carbon tetrachloride contamination identified in the shallow groundwater beneath and in the immediate vicinity of the former CCC/USDA facility. Investigations conducted on behalf of the CCC/USDA by Argonne National Laboratory have demonstrated that groundwater at the Centralia site is contaminated with carbon tetrachloride at levels that exceed the Kansas Tier 2 Risk-Based Screening Level (RBSL) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level of 5.0 {micro}g/L for this compound. Groundwater sampling and analyses conducted by Argonne under a monitoring program approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) indicated that the carbon tetrachloride levels at several locations in the groundwater plume have increased since twice yearly monitoring of the site began in September 2005. The identified groundwater contamination currently poses no unacceptable …

The ionic fragmentation following B 1s and C 1s excitation of three isomeric carborane cage compounds [closo-dicarbadodecaboranes: orthocarborane (1,2-C2B10H12), metacarborane (1,7-C2B10H12), and paracarborane (1,12-C2B10H12)], is compared with the energetics of decomposition. The fragmentation yields for all three molecules are quite similar. Thermodynamic cycles are constructed for neutral and ionic species in an attempt to systemically characterize single ion closo-carborane creation and fragmentation processes. Lower energy decomposition processes are favored. Among the ionic species, the photon induced decomposition isdominated by BH+ and BH2+ fragment loss. Changes in ion yield associated with core to bound excitations are observed.

We present a summary of work performed under subcontract B548129 'Spectral Analysis of Soft X-Ray Data from NSTX'. This summary is comprised of papers and poster presentations prepared under this subcontract. The X-ray and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (XEUS) has been used to monitor the line emission from various impurity ions on NSTX, in particular the K-shell emission of helium-like and hydrogen-like B, C, N, and O. While C VI typically dominates the spectrum, unusually strong emission from N VII has been observed in multiple discharges during the past run campaign. In this case, the nitrogen concentration can exceed that of carbon by an order of magnitude. Time-dependent measurements show that the nitrogen concentration builds up over the course of the discharge and coincides with a build up of boron. In a few cases we observed several unknown lines. These are clearly lines from heavy impurities, possibly molybdenum. Some of these lines can be explained by the emission from Ti XIII.

A study of the accurate electron density distribution in molecular crystals at subatomic resolution, better than {approx} 1.0 {angstrom}, requires more detailed models than those based on independent spherical atoms. A tool conventionally used in small-molecule crystallography is the multipolar model. Even at upper resolution limits of 0.8-1.0 {angstrom}, the number of experimental data is insufficient for the full multipolar model refinement. As an alternative, a simpler model composed of conventional independent spherical atoms augmented by additional scatterers to model bonding effects has been proposed. Refinement of these mixed models for several benchmark datasets gave results comparable in quality with results of multipolar refinement and superior of those for conventional models. Applications to several datasets of both small- and macro-molecules are shown. These refinements were performed using the general-purpose macromolecular refinement module phenix.refine of the PHENIX package.

A teleoperated sampling system for the identification, collection and retrieval of samples following the detonation of an Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) or Radiological Dispersion Devise (RDD) has been developed and tested in numerous field exercises. The system has been developed as part of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) National Technical Nuclear Forensic (NTNF) Program. The system is based on a Remotec ANDROS Mark V-A1 platform. Extensive modifications and additions have been incorporated into the platform to enable it to meet the mission requirements. The Defense Science Board Task Force on Unconventional Nuclear Warfare Defense, 2000 Summer Study Volume III report recommended the Department of Defense (DOD) improve nuclear forensics capabilities to achieve accurate and fast identification and attribution. One of the strongest elements of protection is deterrence through the threat of reprisal, but to accomplish this objective a more rapid and authoritative attribution system is needed. The NTNF program provides the capability for attribution. Early on in the NTNF program, it was recognized that there would be a desire to collect debris samples for analysis as soon as possible after a nuclear event. Based on nuclear test experience, it was recognized that mean radiation fields associated with even low …

We present gyrokinetic neoclassical simulations of tokamak plasmas with self-consistent electric field for the first time using a fully nonlinear (full-f) continuum code TEMPEST in a circular geometry. A set of gyrokinetic equations are discretized on a five dimensional computational grid in phase space. The present implementation is a Method of Lines approach where the phase-space derivatives are discretized with finite differences and implicit backwards differencing formulas are used to advance the system in time. The fully nonlinear Boltzmann model is used for electrons. The neoclassical electric field is obtained by solving gyrokinetic Poisson equation with self-consistent poloidal variation. With our 4D ({psi}, {theta}, {epsilon}, {mu}) version of the TEMPEST code we compute radial particle and heat flux, the Geodesic-Acoustic Mode (GAM), and the development of neoclassical electric field, which we compare with neoclassical theory with a Lorentz collision model. The present work provides a numerical scheme and a new capability for self-consistently studying important aspects of neoclassical transport and rotations in toroidal magnetic fusion devices.

The 2002 National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction states that 'the United States must be prepared to respond to the use of WMD against our citizens, our military forces, and those of friends and allies'. Scenario No.1 of the 15 Department of Homeland Security national planning scenarios is an improvised nuclear detonation in the national capitol region. An effective response involves managing large-scale incident response, mass casualty, mass evacuation, and mass decontamination issues. Preparedness planning activities based on this scenario provided difficult challenges in time critical decision making and managing a large number of casualties within the hazard area. Perhaps even more challenging is the need to coordinate a large scale response across multiple jurisdictions and effectively responding with limited infrastructure and resources. Federal response planning continues to make improvements in coordination and recommending protective actions, but much work remains. The most critical life-saving activity depends on actions taken in the first few minutes and hours of an event. The most effective way to reduce the enormous national and international social and economic disruptions from a domestic nuclear explosion is through planning and rapid action, from the individual to the federal response. Anticipating response resources for survivors based …

We have derived ambient black carbon (BC) concentrations and estimated emission factors for on-road diesel vehicles from archived Coefficient of Haze (COH) data that was routinely collected beginning in 1967 at 11 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. COH values are a measure of the attenuation of light by particles collected on a white filter, and available data indicate they are proportional to BC concentrations measured using the conventional aethalometer. Monthly averaged BC concentrations are up to five times greater in winter than summer, and, consequently, so is the population?s exposure to BC. The seasonal cycle in BC concentrations is similar for all Bay Area sites, most likely due to area-wide decreased pollutant dispersion during wintertime. A strong weekly cycle is also evident, with weekend concentrations significantly lower than weekday concentrations, consistent with decreased diesel traffic volume on weekends. The weekly cycle suggests that, in the Bay Area, diesel vehicle emissions are the dominant source of BC aerosol. Despite the continuous increase in diesel fuel consumption in California, annual Bay Area average BC concentrations decreased by a factor of ~;;3 from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. Based on estimated annual BC concentrations, on-road diesel fuel consumption, and …

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from San Antonio College in San Antonio, Texas that includes campus news along with advertising.

Weekly magazine edition of the daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Dallas, Texas that includes local, state, and national news and advertising of interest to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.

Photograph taken during a Jazz at the Muse event sponsored by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas.

Photograph taken during a Jazz at the Muse event sponsored by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas.

Photograph taken during a Jazz at the Muse event sponsored by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas.

Photograph taken during a Jazz at the Muse event sponsored by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas.

Photograph taken during a Jazz at the Muse event sponsored by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas.

Photograph taken during a Jazz at the Muse event sponsored by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas.

Photograph taken during a Jazz at the Muse event sponsored by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, Texas.