This report covers the legal history of affirmative action legislation in regard to employment. Moreover, the report tracks this type of legislation to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. Specifically, much of this legislation stems from desegregation of public schools and even more specifically in regards to employment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This report details the transition of Afghanistan to a democracy, yet still debates the problem of insurgency. Moreover, the report debates whether stabilization is possible at all due to rising issues of insurgency. The report also offers a summary of how the U.S. intended to deal with the problem, and where the problem was located.

This report discusses the recent development in different programs administered by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the goal to promote agricultural exports and to provide food aid. These programs include direct export subsidies, export market development, export credit guarantees, and foreign food aid.

Washington Savannah River Company (WSRC) began designing and building a Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) Unit (MCU) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to process liquid waste for an interim period. The MCU Project Team conducted testing of the contactors, coalescers, and decanters at Wright Industries, Incorporated (WII) in Nashville, Tennessee. That testing used MCU solvent and simulated SRS dissolved salt. Because of the value of the solvent, the MCU Project wishes to recover it for use in the MCU process in the H-Tank Farm. Following testing, WII recovered approximately 62 gallons of solvent (with entrained aqueous) and shipped it to SRS. The solvent arrived in two stainless steel drums. The MCU Project requested SRNL to analyze the solvent to determine whether it is suitable for use in the MCU Process. SRNL analyzed the solvent for Isopar{reg_sign} L by Gas Chromatography--Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS), for Modifier and BOBCalixC6 by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and for Isopar{reg_sign} L-to-Modifier ratio by Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. They also measured the solvent density gravimetrically and used that measurement to calculate the Isopar{reg_sign} L and Modifier concentration. The conclusions from this work are: (1) The constituents of the used WII solvent are collectively low …

This report provides a technical basis for establishing radiological release limits for granular activated carbon (GAC) containing very low quantities of tritium and radon daughter products generated during environmental remediation activities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This evaluation was conducted according to the Authorized Limit procedures specified in United States Department of Energy (DOE) Order 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment (DOE, 1993) and related DOE guidance documents. The GAC waste is currently being managed by LLNL as a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) mixed waste. Significant cost savings can be achieved by developing an Authorized Limit under DOE Order 5400.5 since it would allow the waste to be safely disposed as a hazardous waste at a permitted off-site RCRA treatment and disposal facility. LLNL generates GAC waste during vapor-phase soil remediation in the Trailer 5475 area. While trichloroethylene and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the primary targets of the remedial action, a limited amount of tritium and radon daughter products are contained in the GAC at the time of disposal. As defined in DOE Order 5400.5, an Authorized Limit is a level of residual radioactive material that will result in an annual public …

This report provides brief summaries of federal animal protection statutes.It includes statutes concerning animals that are not entirely,or not at all, animal protection statutes.It also includes statutes that allow the disabled to use service animals and statutes aimed at acts of animal right advocates.

Congress used three continuing resolutions on appropriations to fund all but two appropriation acts in the first half of the fiscal year 2007. The third one runs through February 15, 2007. The new chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees indicated that they will present a full-year, modified resolution to Congress funding the remaining appropriations before the third continuing resolution expires. This report contains information on the background and analysis for the federal budget in the fiscal year 2007, the financial situation at that time, budgeting tools, budgetary actions, outlays, receipts, deficits, and related materials.

This report describes the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) regarding Child Welfare.

This report provides a brief explanation of the broadcast video flag and its relationship to digital television and summarizes the American Library Association judicial opinion.

The purpose of this workshop was to bring together the principal investigators of all the projects that were being funded under the DOE ocean carbon sequestration research program. The primary goal of the workshop was to interchange research results, to discuss ongoing research, and to identify future research priorities. In addition, we hoped to encourage the development of synergies and collaborations between the projects and to write an EOS article summarizing the results of the meeting. The primary outcome of the meeting was a decision to write two papers for the reviewed literature on carbon sequestration by iron fertilization, and on carbon sequestration by deep sea injection and to examine the possibility of an overview article in EOS on the topic of ocean carbon sequestration. There has been significant progress on several of these goals since the meeting: (1) Review of carbon sequestration by iron fertilization: One of the most interesting results of the meeting was a presentation by John Marshall of iron fertilization simulations carried out at MIT that suggested a much higher efficiency of CO2 uptake from the atmosphere with a newer generation model (since published by Dutkiewicz, et al., 2006]) than earlier studies had found with an …

Dislocation substructures of high-purity Mo single crystals deformed under uniaxial compression at room temperature to an axial strain of 0.6% were investigated in order to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for the {l_brace}0{bar 1}1{r_brace} anomalous slip in bcc metals [1], which is also known as the violation of Schmid law [2]. The test sample was oriented with the stress axis parallel to a nominal ''single-slip'' orientation of [{bar 2} 9 20], in which ({bar 1}01) [111] is the primary slip system that has a maximum Schmid factor (m = 0.5), which requires the lowest stress to operate among the twelve {l_brace}{bar 1}10{r_brace} <111> slip systems. Nevertheless, the recorded stress-strain curve reveals no easy-glide or single-slip stage; work hardening starts immediately after yielding. Moreover, the result of slip trace analysis indicates the occurrence of anomalous slip on both the (011) and (0{bar 1}1) planes, which according to the Schmid law requires relatively higher stresses to operate. TEM examinations of dislocation structures formed on the (101) primary slip plane reveal that in addition to the ({bar 1}01) [111] slip system, the coplanar ({bar 1}01) [1{bar 1}1] slip system which has a much smaller Schmid factor (m = 0.167) is also operative. Similarly, (0{bar …

This report provides information about the Provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 on Education of Limited English Proficient and Recent Immigrant Students.

This report provides information about the Major Policy Issues and Status of Negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The FTAA began as a commitment by 34 countries to consider a comprehensive trade agreement.

This report provides information about the Gangs in Central America. In the past year, there has been an increasing effect on the effects of crime and gang violence in Central America.

This report provides an overview of state laws on identity theft.

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Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony, given by David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States before the Senate Committee on the Budget, addresses the nation's long-term fiscal outlook and the challenge it presents. However, the outlook is not good. Continuing down this current fiscal path would gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, out economy, our standard of living, and ultimately even our domestic tranquility and national security. The five major points of the testimony are: (1) The current fiscal condition is worse than advertised, (2) the long-term fiscal outlook is both imprudent and unsustainable, (3) improvements in information and processes are needed and can help, (4) meeting out long-term fiscal challenge will require tough choices, bi-partisan cooperation, and compromise, and lastly (5) the time for action is now."

This report discusses the budget of the fiscal year of 2007 and the requests of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Updated January 11, 2007.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Rising prescription drug spending has led the United States and other countries to seek ways to negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers. Currently, the Medicare Part D benefit, which offers outpatient prescription drug benefits to beneficiaries including elderly and certain disabled people, comprises competing prescription drug plans overseen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from interfering with price negotiations between Part D plan sponsors and drug manufacturers and pharmacies. Some Members of Congress have proposed amending the statute to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers on behalf of Part D beneficiaries. GAO was asked to describe how prescription drug prices are negotiated. This testimony provides an overview of such efforts (1) by governments in other countries; (2) by U.S. private payers, such as employer-based health plans; and (3) by federal programs other than Medicare Part D. This testimony is based on previous GAO reports from 2002 through 2006 on federal programs that purchase or cover prescription drugs and other relevant …

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This document provides general guidelines for developing a Restoration Plan for a major airport following release of a biological warfare agent. San Francisco International Airport was selected as the example airport during development of the Plan to illustrate specific details. The spore forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis was selected as the biological agent of primary concern because it is the most difficult of known bioterrorism agents to inactivate and is considered to be one of the agents most likely to be used as a biological weapon. The focus of the Plan is on activities associated with the Characterization, Remediation, and Clearance Phases that are defined herein. Activities associated with the Notification and First-Response Phases are briefly discussed in Appendixes A and B, respectively. In addition to the main text of this Plan and associated appendixes, a data supplement was developed specifically for San Francisco International Airport. Requests for the data supplement must be made directly to the Emergency Planning Operations Division of San Francisco International Airport.

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Advanced Technology Systems, Inc. (ATS) was contracted by the U. S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) to develop a state-of-the-art, scalable and robust web-accessible database application to manage the extensive data sets resulting from the DOE-NETL-sponsored ambient air monitoring programs in the upper Ohio River valley region. The data management system was designed to include a web-based user interface that will allow easy access to the data by the scientific community, policy- and decision-makers, and other interested stakeholders, while providing detailed information on sampling, analytical and quality control parameters. In addition, the system will provide graphical analytical tools for displaying, analyzing and interpreting the air quality data. The system will also provide multiple report generation capabilities and easy-to-understand visualization formats that can be utilized by the media and public outreach/educational institutions. The project is being conducted in two phases. Phase One includes the following tasks: (1) data inventory/benchmarking, including the establishment of an external stakeholder group; (2) development of a data management system; (3) population of the database; (4) development of a web-based data retrieval system, and (5) establishment of an internal quality assurance/quality control system on data management. Phase Two, which is currently underway, involves the …