A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Individual taxpayers who misreport charitable cash contributions they deduct on their tax returns contribute to the tax gap, the difference between tax amounts taxpayers report and pay voluntarily and on time and the amounts they should pay under the law. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) most recently estimated a gross tax gap of $345 billion for tax year 2001. One approach that tends to result in high levels of taxpayer compliance is information reporting to IRS by third parties on taxpayer transactions. GAO was asked to (1) provide information on characteristics of individual taxpayer misreporting of charitable cash contributions, (2) provide information on actions that IRS takes to address misreporting, and (3) evaluate potential benefits and challenges associated with requiring information reporting for charitable cash contributions. To meet its objectives, GAO used data from IRS's tax year 2001 National Research Program (NRP) compliance study of individual taxpayers, reviewed IRS guidance and enforcement data, and interviewed IRS officials and representatives from charities or organizations that represent charities. GAO made no recommendations in this report. In email comments on a draft of this report, IRS agreed with GAO's …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is required, by law, to maintain a core logistics capability that is government owned and government operated to meet contingency and other emergency requirements. Military depots play a key role in maintaining this "core capability," although in recent years DOD has significantly increased its use of contractors. At the subcommittee's request, GAO examined the extent to which (1) DOD has accurately assessed whether it has the required core capabilities in military depots and (2) DOD is preparing to support future core requirements for new and modified systems. GAO reviewed DOD's biennial process for determining core capability requirements and the associated workloads for fielded systems. GAO also reviewed whether DOD had identified and established core capability in a timely manner for new and modified systems."

We designed and supplied special crucibles for AlSb material. Thermal insulation and limitation of Sb losses were our first work. The protection of the growth environment was also one of our priority to avoid any pollution of the Fibercryst {mu}PD facility. When this work was achieved, the next step was the calibration of the heating power for these new crucibles. Then, it was the definition of single crystal growth conditions that oriented our research. Following our proposal, many growths attempts were performed. We started from Al & Sb pure powder or from LBNL AlSb crystal as expected. We used different crucibles and different seeds.

Lithium evaporated onto plasma facing components in the NSTX lower divertor has made dramatic improvements in discharge performance. As lithium accumulated, plasmas previously exhibiting robust Type 1 ELMs gradually transformed into discharges with intermittent ELMs and finally into continuously evolving ELM-free discharges. During this sequence, other discharge parameters changed in a complicated manner. As the ELMs disappeared, energy confinement improved and remarkable changes in edge and scrape-off layer plasma properties were observed. These results demonstrate that active modification of plasma surface interactions can preempt large ELMs.

Probabilistic seismic hazard analyses of ground motion levels having specified frequencies of exceedance (return periods) for UCB campus and LBNL.

This grant was in effect for a quite long time: 1984-2008. This period saw a broad range of research activities transpire in my group, and these enlisted the participation of many students, postdoctorals, and visitors. The earliest participants have since enjoyed full careers: faculty members here and abroad, government laboratories, successful entrepreneurs, and so on. Some have even retired! Consequently, during the past few months I have repeatedly asked myself: how can a coherent, readable report be prepared that covers so long a period of time and so varied a collection of projects? On the one hand, the work has evolved — a sensible progression of experimental techniques and strategies, as well as a parallel deepening of our theoretical understanding. On the other hand, there is a distinctive¬ness to many of the projects that enables them to be arranged into groups. In the end a compromise was struck. Areas and topics that received the most focused attention are identified. Our main contributions and how they relate to the field of chemical dynamics, in general, are organized according to these groups. Publications are listed but not explained per se, as this would produce a manifestly unreadable document. They are all available …

This report discusses the current political conditions of Rwanda, including a brief historical overview. The report also includes information about the poor human rights conditions in Rwanda and U.S. Rwanda relations.

This report provides information about The Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is an independent agency with its five members appointed by the president.

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This report provides background on the Library Project, legal issues raised by digitization and indexing projects, and the proposed settlement.

This report discusses budgetary matters for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), specifically regarding past instances of debate regarding the Tricare system. The dollar amounts allocated to health care in the budget of the DOD have more than doubled since FY2001, growing from about $17 billion to over $44.8 billion in FY2009.

This report provides a summary of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which proposes a "cap and trade" system to control carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that have been associated with global climate change.

This report discusses the federal government's role in the country's information technology (IT) research and development (R&D) activities. The government's support of IT R&D began because it had an important interest in creating computers that would be capable of addressing the problems and issues the government needed to solve and study.

This report attempts to answer basic questions about defense health care, its beneficiary population, the medical services it provides, its costs, and major changes that are underway or have been proposed.

This report provides information on the role the IMF has played in the financial crisis, international agreement to increase the financial resources of the IMF, and the role of Congress in increasing the Fund's resources. As will be discussed in detail at the end of the report, congressional authorization, and perhaps appropriation, would be required to increase U.S. contributions to the IMF.

This report discusses the background and potential effects of the DTV Delay Act, which directs that all over-the-air full-power television broadcasts will become digital only.

This report discusses the EPA's authority to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, and the various options that EPA could exercise.

This report discusses the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950, which confers upon the President authority to force private industry to give priority to defense and homeland security contracts and to allocate the resources needed.

This report provides background information on the UAE nuclear program, reviews developments to date, analyzes proposed nuclear cooperation with the United States, and discusses relevant legislative proposals and options.

This report discusses the current political conditions of Kenya, which has long been an important ally of the United States. The report focuses particularly on the December 2007 elections, which many international observers have declared as rigged and deeply flawed. The report also discusses violence that erupted once election results were announced, as well as U.S. efforts to urge Kenya toward election reforms.