Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The H-2A visa program allows U.S. employers that anticipate a shortage of domestic agricultural workers to hire foreign workers on a temporary basis. GAO issued a report on the process employers follow in applying for these workers and made several recommendations to the Department of Labor (Labor) for improving that process In pursuing work on that report, GAO found that the number of applications submitted by employers for H-2A worker positions, the number of H-2A worker positions requested, and the number of worker positions approved by Labor cited in Labor's annual reports from fiscal year 2006 and FY 2012 sometimes differed from the numbers reported by Labor in the data it makes available to the public on its website. GAO also found that much of the data Labor reported from applications submitted on behalf of multiple employers for this same period contained inconsistencies and that Labor lacked internal controls to monitor and prevent these inconsistencies. As a result, GAO was unable to rely on the data to draw conclusions about trends in usage of the H-2A program and, in some cases, found the data to be unreliable in …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Army’s requirements for container handling equipment have changed since 1998 from focusing on "break bulk" to focusing on containerized distribution, and the Army has awarded contracts and issued delivery orders to reflect those changing requirements."

Representing the Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (NCGC), this document is one of the entries in the Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge. As part of the challenge, the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers were invited to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE energy. The mission of NCGC is to build a fundamental understanding of molecular-to-pore-scale processes in fluid-rock systems, and to demonstrate the ability to control critical aspects of flow, transport, and mineralization in porous rock media as applied to the injection and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) in subsurface reservoirs.

Representing the Energy Materials Center (EMC), this document is one of the entries in the Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge. As part of the challenge, the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers were invited to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE energy. The mission of EMC is advancing the science of energy conversion and storage by understanding and exploiting fundamental properties of active materials and their interfaces.

Representing the Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion (CSTEC), this document is one of the entries in the Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge. As part of the challenge, the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers were invited to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE energy. The mission of the Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion (CSTEC) is to design and to synthesize new materials for high efficiency photovoltaic (PV) and thermoelectric (TE) devices, predicated on new fundamental insights into equilibrium and non-equilibrium processes, including quantum phenomena, that occur in materials over various spatial and temporal scales.

Representing the Center for Defect Physics (CDP), this document is one of the entries in the Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge. As part of the challenge, the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers were invited to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE: energy. The mission of the CDP is to enhance our fundamental understanding of defects, defect interactions, and defect dynamics that determine the performance of structural materials in extreme environments.

Representing the Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalization (CCHF), this document is one of the entries in the Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge. As part of the challenge, the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers were invited to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE: energy. The mission of CCHF is to develop, validate, and optimize new methods to rearrange the bonds of hydrocarbons, implement enzymatic strategies into synthetic systems, and design optimal environments for catalysts that can be used to reversibly functionalize hydrocarbons, especially for more efficient use of natural gas including low temperature conversion to liquid fuels.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Coast Guard, a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has made progress in developing its Common Operational Picture (COP) by increasing the information in the COP and increasing user access to this information. The Coast Guard has made progress by adding internal and external data sources that allow for better understanding of anything associated with the global maritime domain that could affect the United States. The COP has made information from these sources available to more COP users and decision makers throughout the Coast Guard. For example, in 2006, the ability to track the location of Coast Guard assets, including small boats and cutters, was added to the COP. This capability--also known as blue force tracking--allows COP users to locate Coast Guard vessels in real time and establish which vessels are in the best position to respond to mission needs. In addition to adding information to the COP, the Coast Guard has also made the information contained in the COP available on more computers and on more systems, which, in turn, has increased the number of users with access to the COP."

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Data from the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) show that migrants from the freely associated states (FAS)—the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands, and Palau—reside throughout U.S. areas. GAO's 2011 report found that Census estimates that roughly 56,000 compact migrants—nearly a quarter of all FAS citizens—were living in U.S. areas in 2005 to 2009. About 58 percent of compact migrants lived in areas that Congress defined in the amended compacts' enabling legislation as affected jurisdictions: American Samoa, Hawaii, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Officials with the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) said that the agency has taken preliminary steps to execute the Federal Loan Guarantees for Innovative Technologies in Manufacturing program but, as of June 2013, had not issued any loan guarantees under this program. According to officials, EDA has taken some steps to execute the program, such as establishing a staffing budget and creating a timeline for executing the program. According to the timeline, initial awards could be finalized in mid- to late 2015. The program received $10 million in appropriations--$5 million in fiscal year 2012 and $5 million in fiscal year 2013--which by law are to remain available until expended. No funds have been obligated by the program as of June 2013."

Representing the Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI), this document is one of the entries in the Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge. As part of the challenge, the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers were invited to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE energy. The mission of LMI to tailor the morphology, complex dielectric structure, and electronic properties of matter so as to sculpt the flow of sunlight and heat, enabling light conversion to electrical and chemical energy with unprecedented efficiency.

News release about the appointment of Amanda Moreno Cross to the DART board of directors, representing the city of Dallas.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As GAO has reported over the last decade, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) management of major projects and programs, security and safety at DOE sites, and reliable enterprise-wide management information, including budget and cost data, are among the most persistent management challenges the department faces."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2012, GAO reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not know the total amount its components invest in research and development (R&D) and does not have policies and guidance for defining R&D and overseeing R&D resources across the department. According to DHS, its Science & Technology Directorate (S&T), Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), and U. S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) are the only components that conduct R&D, and GAO found that these are the only components that report budget authority, obligations, or outlays for R&D activities to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as part of the budget process. However, GAO identified an additional $255 million in R&D obligations made by other DHS components. According to DHS, it is difficult to identify all R&D investments across the department because DHS does not have a department wide policy defining R&D or guidance directing components how to report all R&D spending and activities. As a result, it is difficult for DHS to oversee components' R&D efforts and align them with agency wide R&D goals and priorities. GAO recommended that DHS develop specific policies and guidance …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because data were not readily available to identify how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses consulting services and what is known about their costs, this report discusses the limitations on data concerning consulting services and provides information on some of the uses of consultant contracts. Two primary factors limited GAO's ability to identify a list of consulting contracts that was sufficiently accurate and complete for identifying the types and costs of consulting services used by VA. First, there is no consistently used definition for consultant or consulting services across VA that GAO could apply for our intended purposes. Second, there are data limitations associated with identifying consulting services at VA. Since there is no means for contracting officers to track obligations for consulting services in the Federal Procurement Data System-New Generation, GAO used North American Industrial Classification Codes (NAICS) to identify contracts that could be for consulting. However, GAO could not use the NAICS codes to consistently identify consulting contracts because a single NAICS code can be used to classify both consulting and nonconsulting services and VA contracting officers sometimes reported that they had applied the wrong …

Document containing photographs from an event at DeGolyer Library.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was unable to compare ELL enrollment in charter schools to ELL enrollment in traditional public schools because Education's only available data on school-level ELL enrollment were unreliable and incomplete. Specifically, for over one-third of charter schools, the field for reporting the counts of ELLs enrolled in ELL programs was left blank. These blank fields cannot reliably be interpreted to mean that the charter schools did not have ELLs enrolled. Education officials told us that these school-level ELL data do not have a data steward (that is, an office responsible for overseeing the quality of the data) and that the quality of the data is not examined on a regular basis. A definitional issue may have resulted in states excluding some students from the reported counts, and some charter schools may have failed to submit required data to their states. Education officials said they had not systematically studied charter school nonreporting but acknowledged that states sometimes have difficulty obtaining data from charter schools. Some charter schools with blank ELL counts were also missing data from other important datasets, such as those on school performance, which suggests potential broader …

Representing the Center for Solar Fuels (CSF), this document is one of the entries in the Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge. As part of the challenge, the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers were invited to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE energy. The mission of the CSF is to provide the basic research to enable a revolution in the collection and conversion of sunlight into storable solar fuels.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's simulation found that under the current Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program, the median wage replacement rate--the percentage of take-home pay replaced by FECA--for total-disability beneficiaries was 88 percent for U.S. Postal Service (USPS) beneficiaries and 80 percent for non-USPS beneficiaries in 2010. GAO also found that proposals to set initial FECA benefits at a single compensation rate would reduce these replacement rates by 3 to 4 percentage points under the 70-percent option and 7 to 8 percentage points under the 66-2/3 percent option. Beneficiaries with dependents would receive reduced FECA benefits under both options. The decreases in wage replacement rates were due to the greater proportion of beneficiaries who had a dependent--over 70 percent of both USPS and non-USPS beneficiaries."

This report briefly summaries the work performed at KNMI under DOE Grant DE-FG02-06ER64160 which, in turn was conducted in support of DOE Grant DE-FG02-90ER61071 lead by E. Clothieux of Penn. State U. The specific work at KNMI revolved around the development and application of the EarthCARE simulator to ground-based multi-sensor simulations.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Three long-standing major impediments prevented GAO from expressing an opinion on the U.S. government's 2012 accrual-based consolidated financial statements: (1) serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense (DOD), (2) the federal government's inability to adequately account for and reconcile intragovernmental activity and balances between federal entities, and (3) the federal government's ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements. Also, GAO was prevented from expressing opinions on the 2012 social insurance-related statements because of significant uncertainties primarily related to the achievement of projected reductions in Medicare cost growth reflected in the statements."

News release about DART board member, Randall Chrisman, being honored by the APTA for his service as board chair.

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Participants identified a range of challenges and opportunities associated with data analytics--which involve a variety of techniques to analyze and interpret data to facilitate decision making--as discussed below."

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the James and Sara Cunningham House, in Three Rivers, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.