A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) employs over 800 federal employees and uses some 1,500 private sector employees to insure the pensions of millions of private sector workers and retirees in certain employer-sponsored pension plans. In recent years, PBGC's projected financial liabilities and workloads have increased greatly due to a large number of pension plan terminations. Given this, it is important that PBGC remain well positioned to fulfill its promise to those retirees who depend on it. GAO was asked to report on (1) PBGC's recent experience in hiring and retaining key staff and how it compares to other federal agencies and (2) the actions PBGC has taken to strategically hire and retain key staff and what additional steps, if any, can be taken. To do this, we analyzed PBGC's workforce by using the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Central Personnel Data File to identify data and compared those data to data from other federal agencies. We also interviewed officials from selected agencies, including PBGC, OPM, and the Department of Labor."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. trade preference programs promote economic development in poorer nations by providing duty-free export opportunities in the United States. The Generalized System of Preferences, Caribbean Basin Initiative, Andean Trade Preference Act, and African Growth and Opportunity Act unilaterally reduce U.S. tariffs for many products from over 130 countries. However, two of these programs expire partially or in full this year, and Congress is exploring options as it considers renewal. This testimony describes the growth in preference program imports since 1992, identifies policy trade-offs concerning these programs, and evaluates the overall U.S. approach to preference programs. The testimony is based on two recent studies on trade preference programs, issued in September 2007 and March 2008. For those studies, GAO analyzed trade data, reviewed trade literature and program documents, interviewed U.S. officials, and did fieldwork in six trade preference beneficiary countries."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for ensuring the safety of roughly 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, including $417 billion worth of domestic food and $49 billion in imported food annually. Changing demographics and consumption patterns along with an increase in imports have presented challenges to FDA. At the same time, recent outbreaks, such as E. coli from spinach and Salmonella from tomatoes, have undermined consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply. In November 2007, FDA released its Food Protection Plan, which articulates a framework for improving food safety oversight. In January 2008, GAO expressed concerns about FDA's capacity to implement the Food Protection Plan and noted that more specific information about the strategies and resources needed to implement the plan would facilitate congressional oversight. This testimony focuses on (1) FDA's progress in implementing the Food Protection Plan, (2) FDA's proposal to focus inspections based on risk, and (3) FDA's implementation of previously issued GAO recommendations intended to improve food safety oversight. To address these issues, GAO reviewed FDA documents, such as FDA's operations plan, and FDA data related to the plan. …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for preventing weapons of mass destruction from entering the United States in cargo containers that are shipped from more than 700 foreign seaports. The Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act calls for testing the feasibility of scanning 100 percent of U.S.-bound cargo containers, and the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act (9/11 Act) requires scanning 100 percent of U.S.-bound cargo containers by 2012. To fulfill these requirements, CBP created the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI) and has initiated a pilot program at seven seaports. This testimony discusses challenges related to the SFI pilot program and implementation of the requirement to scan 100 percent of U.S.-bound container cargo. This testimony is based on GAO products issued from July 2003 through April 2008 and ongoing work. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed reports from CBP and international partners on SFI and other container security programs, and interviewed CBP and foreign customs officials."

Several bills have been introduced in the 110th Congress concerning the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that would rename the short title of the act, and address its bilingual provisions and issues of deceptive practices and voter intimidation during elections. This report discusses this issue at length and also addresses allegations of voting irregularities and of violations of the VRA during the presidential election of 2000.

ABSTRACT Nanotechnology Enabled Advanced industrial Heat Transfer Fluids” Improving the efficiency of Industrial Heat Exchangers offers a great opportunity to improve overall process efficiencies in diverse industries such as pharmaceutical, materials manufacturing and food processing. The higher efficiencies can come in part from improved heat transfer during both cooling and heating of the material being processed. Additionally, there is great interest in enhancing the performance and reducing the weight of heat exchangers used in automotives in order to increase fuel efficiency. The goal of the Phase I program was to develop nanoparticle containing heat transfer fluids (e.g., antifreeze, water, silicone and hydrocarbon-based oils) that are used in transportation and in the chemical industry for heating, cooling and recovering waste heat. Much work has been done to date at investigating the potential use of nanoparticle-enhanced thermal fluids to improve heat transfer in heat exchangers. In most cases the effect in a commercial heat transfer fluid has been marginal at best. In the Phase I work, we demonstrated that the thermal conductivity, and hence heat transfer, of a fluid containing nanoparticles can be dramatically increased when subjected to an external influence. The increase in thermal conductivity was significantly larger than what is …

The incorporation of silver into the diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings has shown excellent potential in various applications; therefore the surface and tribological properties of silver-containing DLC thin films deserve to be investigated. In this study we have deposited silver-containing hydrogenated and hydrogen-free DLC coatings by plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIII-D) methods. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and nano-scratch tests were used to study the surface and tribological properties. The silver incorporation had only slight effects on hydrogenated DLC coatings. However, the incorporation of silver has significant effect on hydrogen-free DLC of smoothing the surface and increasing the surface energy. Those effects have been illustrated and explained in the context of experimental results.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

This report discusses four general areas: (1) operational and business-related challenges; (2) potential economic impacts; (3) potential environmental impacts; and (4) the legal and regulatory environment. It summarizes recent executive and legislative branch actions.

This report discusses the farm bill (P.L. 110-234) that will authorize and direct the implementation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) major programs across the spectrum of its mission areas through FY2012. The enacted bill reorganizes the Department's research, extension, and economics mission area, which currently comprises four agencies that separately administer intramural and extramural programs supporting agricultural research and development (R&D).

This report discusses the federal strategy to reduce childhood exposure to lead-based paint (LBP). The federal Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act (LBPPPA), as amended, establishes requirements and authorizes funding for the detection and control of LBP hazards in federally assisted housing.

The report briefly describes persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are chemicals that do not break down easily in the environment, tend to accumulate as they move up the food chain, and may be harmful to people and wildlife.

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

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

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

Weekly newspaper from Canadian, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with some 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 county officials who collect funds for the county may establish individual bank accounts in their own names (RQ-0657-GA)

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 fees may impact be imposed upon school district property under chapter 395 of the Local Government Code and whether certain exactions constitute "impact fees" (RQ-0658-GA)

Email from Victor M. Castillo to "everybody" on June 12, 2008, discussing TSDC's Facebook page. Print out of Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus Facebook page listing basic information, contact information, recent news, and members.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Conduct verification surveys of available grids at the DWI 1630 in Knoxville, Tennessee. A representative with the Independent Environmental Assessment and Verification (IEAV) team from ORISE conducted a verification survey of a partial area within Grid E9.