A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This is the Spanish language highlights associated with GAO-10-91. Executive Order 13166 (August 11, 2000) directs each federal agency to improve access to federal programs and services for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). Using guidance issued by DOJ, agencies are generally required to develop recipient guidance and/or an LEP plan outlining steps for ensuring that LEP persons can access federal services and programs. As requested, GAO (1) determined which agencies have completed their recipient guidance and LEP plan, (2) assessed the extent to which the selected agencies have implemented the Executive Order consistent with DOJ's guidance, and (3) examined DOJ's and the three selected agencies' efforts to enhance collaboration. GAO analyzed the Executive Order and agencies' recipient guidance and plans posted on LEP.gov; selected the IRS, FEMA, and SBA for this review because of the amount and significance of their interaction with LEP persons; and reviewed documentation of agencies' collaborative efforts to provide access to federal services. (Spanish Language Summary)"

On June 19, 2009, the House voted to impeach U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The impeachment process provides a mechanism for removal of the President, Vice President, and other federal civil officers found to have engaged in "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." This report explains the impeachment process, including its history and the process itself.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "National estimates indicate that approximately 1.5 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted or raped by intimate partners in the United States annually. Congress, in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, required the Department of Defense (DOD) to (1) establish a central database of information on domestic violence incidents involving members of the armed forces and (2) establish the Department of Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence. The law charged the task force with establishing a strategic plan that would allow DOD to more effectively address domestic violence matters within the military. In fiscal years 2001, 2002, and 2003, the task force issued three reports containing almost 200 recommendations to improve the safety of victims, accountability of offenders, coordination among support-service providers, and recording of data on cases of domestic violence. To coordinate implementation of these recommendations, in January 2003, DOD established a Family Violence Policy Office to ensure that DOD and the services took appropriate actions in this area. This office was located in the Military Community and Family Policy Office, which is in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Executive Order 13166 (August 11, 2000) directs each federal agency to improve access to federal programs and services for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). Using guidance issued by DOJ, agencies are generally required to develop recipient guidance and/or an LEP plan outlining steps for ensuring that LEP persons can access federal services and programs. As requested, GAO (1) determined which agencies have completed their recipient guidance and LEP plan, (2) assessed the extent to which the selected agencies have implemented the Executive Order consistent with DOJ's guidance, and (3) examined DOJ's and the three selected agencies' efforts to enhance collaboration. GAO analyzed the Executive Order and agencies' recipient guidance and plans posted on LEP.gov; selected the IRS, FEMA, and SBA for this review because of the amount and significance of their interaction with LEP persons; and reviewed documentation of agencies' collaborative efforts to provide access to federal services."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report formally transmits the attached briefing in response to section 343(a) of The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-84). The Act requires the Comptroller General to provide a report on the sustainment strategy for the AV-8B Harrier aircraft and provide the results to the congressional defense committees no later than 180 days after the enactment of the Act. On April 26, 2010, we provided the briefing to your offices to satisfy the mandate."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, Pub. L. No. 109-364, 323 directed the Comptroller General to assess (1) the Army's progress completing its modular transformation initiative; (2) the status of Army efforts to reconstitute its prepositioned material stock; and (3) the Army's progress in its efforts to repair, recapitalize, and replace equipment used in current overseas operations. This is the final briefing on these issues."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter formally transmits the briefing in response to section 2846 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. The act required the Comptroller General to report on the Department of Defense's renewable energy initiatives, including projects involving the installation of solar panels."

None

Three 9975 shipping packages were examined to investigate the non-conforming condition of an axial air gap greater than 1 inch. This condition typically indicates the presence of excess moisture in the fiberboard overpack, and may be accompanied by degradation in the fiberboard properties. In the case of these three packages, no excess moisture was present, and the fiberboard was not visibly degraded. However, the lower fiberboard assembly from 9975-06870 was separated into two pieces. The lead shield from 9975-04353 was heavily corroded, while the shield from 9975-01968 had very little corrosion. In the case of 9975-06870, the shield was covered by a stainless steel sleeve, and the condition of the lead was not observed. No other conditions of concern were observed in these three packages.

This volume contains the proceedings of the RBRC/CATHIE workshop on 'P- and CP-odd Effects in Hot and Dense Matter' held at the RIKEN-BNL Research Center on April 26-30, 2010. The workshop was triggered by the experimental observation of charge correlations in heavy ion collisions at RHIC, which were predicted to occur due to local parity violation (P- and CP-odd fluctuations) in hot and dense QCD matter. This experimental result excited a significant interest in the broad physics community, inspired a few alternative interpretations, and emphasized the need for a deeper understanding of the role of topology in QCD vacuum and in hot and dense quark-gluon matter. Topological effects in QCD are also closely related to a number of intriguing problems in condensed matter physics, cosmology and astrophysics. We therefore felt that a broad cross-disciplinary discussion of topological P- and CP-odd effects in various kinds of matter was urgently needed. Such a discussion became the subject of the workshop. Specific topics discussed at the workshop include the following: (1) The current experimental results on charge asymmetries at RHIC and the physical interpretations of the data; (2) Quantitative characterization of topological effects in QCD matter including both analytical (perturbative and non-perturbative using …

When hazardous material is accidently or intentionally released into the atmosphere, emergency response organizations look to decision support systems (DSSs) to translate contaminant information provided by atmospheric models into effective decisions to protect the public and emergency responders and to mitigate subsequent consequences. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-led Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC) is one of the primary DSSs utilized by emergency management organizations. IMAAC is responsible for providing 'a single piont for the coordination and dissemination of Federal dispersion modeling and hazard prediction products that represent the Federal position' during actual or potential incidents under the National Response Plan. The Department of Energy's (DOE) National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC), locatec at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), serves as the primary operations center of the IMAAC. A key component of atmospheric release decision support systems is meteorological information - models and data of winds, turbulence, and other atmospheric boundary-layer parameters. The accuracy of contaminant predictions is strongly dependent on the quality of this information. Therefore, the effectiveness of DSSs can be enhanced by improving the meteorological options available to drive atmospheric transport and fate models. The overall goal of this project was to develop and …

While the bulk of the finished microbial genomes sequenced to date are derived from cultured bacterial and archaeal representatives, the vast majority of microorganisms elude current culturing attempts, severely limiting the ability to recover complete or even partial genomes from these environmental species. Single cell genomics is a novel culture-independent approach, which enables access to the genetic material of an individual cell. No single cell genome has to our knowledge been closed and finished to date. Here we report the completed genome from an uncultured single cell of Candidatus Sulcia muelleri DMIN. Digital PCR on single symbiont cells isolated from the bacteriome of the green sharpshooter Draeculacephala minerva bacteriome allowed us to assess that this bacteria is polyploid with genome copies ranging from approximately 200?900 per cell, making it a most suitable target for single cell finishing efforts. For single cell shotgun sequencing, an individual Sulcia cell was isolated and whole genome amplified by multiple displacement amplification (MDA). Sanger-based finishing methods allowed us to close the genome. To verify the correctness of our single cell genome and exclude MDA-derived artifacts, we independently shotgun sequenced and assembled the Sulcia genome from pooled bacteriomes using a metagenomic approach, yielding a nearly identical …

This paper describes the first observations in NSTX of ‘quiet periods’ in the edge turbulence preceding the L-H transition, as diagnosed by the GPI diagnostic near the outer midplane separatrix. During these quiet periods the GPI Dα light emission pattern was transiently similar to that seen during Hmode, i.e. with a relatively small fraction of the GPI light emission located outside the separatrix. These quiet periods had a frequency of ~3 kHz for at least 30 msec before the L-H transition, and were correlated with changes in the direction of the local poloidal velocity. The GPI turbulence images were also analyzed to obtain an estimate for the dimensionless poloidal shearing S =(dVp/dr)(Lr/Lp)τ. The values of S were strongly modulated by the quiet periods, but not otherwise varying for at least 30 msec preceding the L-H transition. Since neither the quiet periods nor the shear flow increased significantly immediately preceding the L-H transition, neither of these appears to be the trigger for this transition, at least for these cases in NSTX.

Scalar fields with a"chameleon" property, in which the effective particle mass is a function of its local environment, are common to many theories beyond the standard model and could be responsible for dark energy. If these fields couple weakly to the photon, they could be detectable through the afterglow effect of photon-chameleon-photon transitions. The ADMX experiment was used in the first chameleon search with a microwave cavity to set a new limit on scalar chameleon-photon coupling beta_gamma excluding values between 2x109 and 5x1014 for effective chameleon masses between 1.9510 and 1:9525 micro eV.

The evaporator recycle streams of nuclear waste tanks may contain waste in a chemistry and temperature regime that exceeds the current corrosion control program, which imposes temperature limits to mitigate caustic stress corrosion cracking (CSCC). A review of the recent service history found that two of these A537 carbon steel tanks were operated in highly concentrated hydroxide solution at high temperature. Visual inspections, experimental testing, and a review of the tank service history have shown that CSCC has occurred in uncooled/un-stress relieved tanks of similar construction. Therefore, it appears that the efficacy of stress relief of welding residual stress is the primary corrosion-limiting mechanism. The objective of this experimental program is to test A537 carbon steel small scale welded U-bend specimens and large welded plates (30.48 x 30.38 x 2.54 cm) in a caustic solution with upper bound chemistry (12 M hydroxide and 1 M each of nitrate, nitrite, and aluminate) and temperature (125 C). These conditions simulate worst-case situations in these nuclear waste tanks. Both as-welded and stress-relieved specimens have been tested. No evidence of stress corrosion cracking was found in the U-bend specimens after 21 days of testing. The large plate test was completed after 12 weeks of …

This report examines questions around lifting the moratoria on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) exploration and production and the significance of the change on U.S. oil and natural gas supplies and markets. The report presents the current U.S. oil and gas supply-and-demand picture and provides a discussion of legislative issues, resource assessments, the leasing system, and environmental and social issues associated with offshore oil and gas development.

This report discusses the Navy's plan to develop and design a class of 12 next-generation ballistic missile submarines, or SSBN(X)s, as replacements for the 14 Ohio class SSBNs currently in operation. The report explores certain related issues for Congress, including the affordability of the project and its potential impact on other Navy shipbuilding programs, alternatives to the program, and which shipyard or shipyards will build the proposed ships.

This report analyzes an array of bilateral issues that continue to affect relations between the United States and Syria. It includes descriptions of recent developments, issues for Congress, U.S.-Syrian relations, U.S. Sanctions, and future prospects related to the role of Congress.

In early 2007, after several years of internal discussions and consultations with Poland and the Czech Republic, the Bush Administration formally proposed to defend against an Iranian missile threat by deploying a ground-based mid-course defense (GMD) element in Europe as part of the global U.S. BMDS (Ballistic Missile Defense System). The system would have included 10 interceptors in Poland, a radar in the Czech Republic, and another radar that would have been deployed in a country closer to Iran, to be completed by 2013 at a reported cost of at least $4 billion. This report is designed to retain background information and analysis of the Bush-proposed European BMD initiative up to the Obama Administration's decision to cancel it.

This report focuses on the establishment of the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS) in the Office of the Secretary of State, and on the Civilian Reserve Corps (CRC). This report provides background on this initiative, its progression from the Bush Administration through the Obama Administration, and items under consideration in the 112th Congress relating to continued funding of S/CRS and the CRC. It also discusses proposals and tracks related legislative action.

This report provides overview information on the proposed FY2011 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programs that provide assistance to state and local governments. These programs are primarily used by first responders -- including firefighters, emergency medical personnel, emergency managers, and law enforcement officers -- to provide assistance for training, exercises, the purchase of equipment, and other support for terrorism and disaster preparedness and response activities.

This report discusses the process of naming Navy ships, which have traditionally been chosen and announced by the Secretary of the Navy. Congress in recent years has proposed, and sometimes passed, legislation regarding the naming of specific ships.

This report discusses the current state of Bahrain, which has undergone substantial political reforms since the late 1990s, but which still suffers from tension between the Shiite majority and the Sunni-led government. This report focuses particularly on Bahrain's relationship with Iran and Bahrain's relationship with the United States.

This report examines questions around lifting the moratoria on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) exploration and production and the significance of the change on U.S. oil and natural gas supplies and markets. The report presents the current U.S. oil and gas supply-and-demand picture and provides a discussion of legislative issues, resource assessments, the leasing system, and environmental and social issues associated with offshore oil and gas development.