A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2007, a series of Washington Post articles disclosed problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, particularly with the management of servicemembers receiving outpatient care. In response, the Army established Warrior Transition Units (WTU) for servicemembers requiring complex case management. Each servicemember in a WTU is assigned to a Triad of Care--a primary care manager, a nurse case manager, and a squad leader--who provide case management services to ensure continuity of care. The Army established staff-to-servicemember ratios for each Triad of Care position. This report examines (1) the Army's ongoing efforts to staff WTU Triad of Care positions and (2) how the Army monitors the recovery process of WTU servicemembers. GAO reviewed WTU policies, analyzed Army staffing and monitoring data, interviewed Army officials, and visited five selected WTUs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For entities that rely on others for funding, effective governance, accountability, and internal control are keys to maintaining trust and credibility. In recent years, corporate governance and accountability have received increased scrutiny and emphasis in the nonprofit, federal government, and public company sectors. Governance and accountability problems have also been identified at designated federal entities (DFE) such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Legal Services Corporation, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. This report responds to a congressional request that GAO describe (1) the statutory structure of the governing bodies for each DFE organization and (2) the role of the inspectors general (IGs) in the governance structure. To accomplish this, GAO surveyed the DFE heads and IGs on governance issues and reviewed information from a variety of sources, including the IG Act and subsequent amendments; enabling legislation for the DFEs; and legislative and regulatory standards and requirements for financial reporting and internal control. GAO is not making specific recommendations in this report, but is providing this information for consideration in future efforts to update the governance of DFEs, oversee the entities and their IGs, and continue work …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Regulation is one of the principal tools that the government uses to implement public policy. As part of the rulemaking process federal agencies must comply with an increasing number of procedural and analytical requirements. GAO was asked to examine how broadly applicable rulemaking requirements cumulatively have affected (1) agencies' rulemaking processes, in particular including effects of requirements added to the process since 2003, and (2) transparency of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) regulatory review process. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed selected rules issued between January 2006 and May 2008 and associated dockets and also interviewed knowledgeable agency and OIRA officials."

This report explores the various issues currently facing Congress in regards to intelligence and counterterrorism activities, including the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (P.L. 108-458), signed in December 2004; the position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which that act created; the importance of collaborative efforts between various intelligence agencies to successfully carry out counterterrorism measures; and other pieces of legislation relevant to such matters.

This report describes the open economy and society of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as U.S. concern over proliferation of advanced technology due to said open economy and the UAE's lax export controls. This report describes these issues in relation to a recently-signed U.S.-UAE civilian nuclear agreement. It also provides a general description of the UAE's government and political structure, as well as the effects of the recent global economic downturn on the UAE in general and on the city of Dubai in particular.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas Senate and House of Representatives relating to honoring Olympic gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin of Parker.

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: Authority of a country attorney to issue commissions for reserve or nonpaid peace officers (RQ-0730-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; Authority of a water company to paint the fire hydrants black under certain circumstances (RQ-0750

Introduction Biological organisms long ago solved many problems for which scientists and engineers seek solutions. Microbes in particular offer an astonishingly diverse set of capabilities that can help revolutionize our approach to solving many important DOE problems. For example, photosynthetic organisms can generate hydrogen from light while simultaneously sequestering carbon. Others can produce enzymes that break down cellulose and other biomass to produce liquid fuels. Microbes in water and soil can capture carbon and store it in the earth and ocean depths. Understanding the dynamic interaction between living organisms and the environment is critical to predicting and mitigating the impacts of energy-production-related activities on the environment and human health. Collectively, microorganisms contain most of the biochemical diversity on Earth and they comprise nearly one-half of its biomass. They primary impact the planet by acting as catalysts of biogeochemical cycles; they capture light energy and fix CO2 in the worlds oceans, they degrade plant polymers and convert them to humus in soils, they weather rocks and facilitate mineral precipitation. Although the ability of selected microorganisms to participate in these processes is known, they rarely live in monoculture but rather function within communities. In spite of this, little is known about the …

A statistical analysis and geologic evaluation of recently acquired laboratory-derived physical property data are being performed to better understand and more precisely correlate physical properties with specific geologic parameters associated with non-zeolitized tuffs at the Nevada Test Site. Physical property data include wet and dry bulk density, grain density (i.e., specific gravity), total porosity, and effective porosity. Geologic parameters utilized include degree of welding, lithology, stratigraphy, geographic area, and matrix mineralogy (i.e., vitric versus devitrified). Initial results indicate a very good correlation between physical properties and geologic parameters such as degree of welding, lithology, and matrix mineralogy. However, physical properties appear to be independent of stratigraphy and geographic area, suggesting that the data are transferrable with regards to these two geologic parameters. Statistical analyses also indicate that the assumed grain density of 2.65 grams per cubic centimeter used to calculate porosity in some samples is too high. This results in corresponding calculated porosity values approximately 5 percent too high (e.g., 45 percent versus 40 percent), which can be significant in the lower porosity rocks. Similar analyses and evaluations of zeolitic tuffs and carbonate rock physical properties data are ongoing as well as comparisons to geophysical log values.

One of the tasks of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission-sponsored project titled "Reliability of Nondestructive Examination (NDE) for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Inservice Examination (ISI)" is to provide collaborative assistance to Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) in France through theoretical predictions of ultrasonic scattering by grains of cast stainless steels (CASS) components. More specifically, a mathematical treatment of ultrasonic scattering in media having duplex micro¬structure is sought because cast stainless steel components often contains larger-scale macrograins that are composed of sub-grains/colonies. In this report, we present formal mathematical theories for ultrasonic wave propagation in polycrystalline aggregates having both simple (composed of grains only) and complex microstructures (having macrograins and sub-grains/colonies). Computations based on these theories are then carried out for ultrasonic backscatter power, attenuation due to scattering, and phase velocity dispersions. Specifically, numerical results are presented for backscatter coefficient for plane longitudinal wave propagating in duplex steel containing macrograins and colonies. Furthermore, the expected propagation characteristics (attenuation coefficient and phase velocity) are computed and described in this report for plane longitudinal waves propagating in (1) steels composed of randomly oriented grains, (2) [001] aligned grains encountered in austenitic stainless steel welds and casts, and (3) duplex steels.

The timing and progression of DNA methylation changes during carcinogenesis are not completely understood. To develop a timeline of aberrant DNA methylation events during malignant transformation, we analyzed genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in an isogenic human mammary epithelial cell (HMEC) culture model of transformation. To acquire immortality and malignancy, the cultured finite lifespan HMEC must overcome two distinct proliferation barriers. The first barrier, stasis, is mediated by the retinoblastoma protein and can be overcome by loss of p16(INK4A) expression. HMEC that escape stasis and continue to proliferate become genomically unstable before encountering a second more stringent proliferation barrier, telomere dysfunction due to telomere attrition. Rare cells that acquire telomerase expression may escape this barrier, become immortal, and develop further malignant properties. Our analysis of HMEC transitioning from finite lifespan to malignantly transformed showed that aberrant DNA methylation changes occur in a stepwise fashion early in the transformation process. The first aberrant DNA methylation step coincides with overcoming stasis, and results in few to hundreds of changes, depending on how stasis was overcome. A second step coincides with immortalization and results in hundreds of additional DNA methylation changes regardless of the immortalization pathway. A majority of these DNA methylation changes are …

One of the advantages of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) is that most of the geologic and hydrologic features such as hydrogeologic units (HGUs), hydrostratigraphic units (HSUs), and faults, which are important aspects of flow and transport modeling, are exposed at the surface somewhere in the vicinity of the NTS and thus are available for direct observation. However, due to access restrictions and the remote locations of many of the features, most Underground Test Area (UGTA) participants cannot observe these features directly in the field. Fortunately, National Security Technologies, LLC, geologists and their predecessors have photographed many of these features through the years. During fiscal year 2009, work was done to develop an online photograph database for use by the UGTA community. Photographs were organized, compiled, and imported into Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7. The photographs were then assigned keyword tags such as alteration type, HGU, HSU, location, rock feature, rock type, and stratigraphic unit. Some fully tagged photographs were then selected and uploaded to the UGTA website. This online photograph database provides easy access for all UGTA participants and can help “ground truth” their analytical and modeling tasks. It also provides new participants a resource to more quickly learn the …

The time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for H2+ in a time-varying electromagnetic field is solved in the fixed-nuclei approximation using a previously developed finite-element/ discrete variable representation in prolate spheroidal coordinates. Amplitudes for single- and two-photon ionization are obtained using the method of exterior complex scaling to effectively propagate the field-free solutions from the end of the radiation pulse to infinite times. Cross sections are presented for one-and two-photon ionization for both parallel and perpendicular polarization of the photon field, as well as photoelectron angular distributions for two-photon ionization.

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The most common method of analysis for beryllium is inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). This method, along with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), is discussed in Chapter 6. However, other methods exist and have been used for different applications. These methods include spectroscopic, chromatographic, colorimetric, and electrochemical. This chapter provides an overview of beryllium analysis methods other than plasma spectrometry (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry or mass spectrometry). The basic methods, detection limits and interferences are described. Specific applications from the literature are also presented.

Pahute Mesa–Oasis Valley (PM-OV) Phase II drilling will occur within an area that encompasses approximately 117 square kilometers (45 square miles) near the center of the Phase I PM-OV hydrostratigraphic framework model area. The majority of the investigation area lies within dissected volcanic terrain between Pahute Mesa on the north and Timber Mountain on the south. This area consists of a complex distribution of volcanic tuff and lava of generally rhyolitic composition erupted from nearby calderas and related vents. Several large buried volcanic structural features control the distribution of volcanic units in the investigation area. The Area 20 caldera, including its structural margin and associated caldera collapse collar, underlies the northeastern portion of the investigation area. The southern half of the investigation area lies within the northwestern portion of the Timber Mountain caldera complex, including portions of the caldera moat and resurgent dome. Another significant structural feature in the area is the west-northwest-trending Northern Timber Mountain moat structural zone, which bisects the northern portion of the investigation area and forms a structural bench. The proposed wells of the UGTA Phase II drilling initiative can be grouped into four generalized volcanic structural domains based on the stratigraphic distribution and structural position …

Injection of organic carbon into the subsurface as an electron donor for bioremediation of redox-sensitive contaminants like uranium often leads to mineral transformation and biomass accumulation, both of which can alter the flow field and potentially bioremediation efficacy. This work combines reactive transport modeling with a column experiment and field measurements to understand the biogeochemical processes and to quantify the biomass and mineral transformation/accumulation during a bioremediation experiment at a uranium contaminated site near Rifle, Colorado. We use the reactive transport model CrunchFlow to explicitly simulate microbial community dynamics of iron and sulfate reducers, and their impacts on reaction rates. The column experiment shows clear evidence of mineral precipitation, primarily in the form of calcite and iron monosulfide. At the field scale, reactive transport simulations suggest that the biogeochemical reactions occur mostly close to the injection wells where acetate concentrations are highest, with mineral precipitate and biomass accumulation reaching as high as 1.5% of the pore space. This work shows that reactive transport modeling coupled with field data can be an effective tool for quantitative estimation of mineral transformation and biomass accumulation, thus improving the design of bioremediation strategies.

Global sensitivity analysis (GSA) has the advantage over local sensitivity analysis in that GSA does not require strong model assumptions such as linearity or monotonicity. As a result, GSA methods such as those based on variance decomposition are well-suited to multi-physics models, which are often plagued by large nonlinearities. However, as with many other sampling-based methods, inadequate sample size can badly pollute the result accuracies. A natural remedy is to adaptively increase the sample size until sufficient accuracy is obtained. This paper proposes an iterative methodology comprising mechanisms for guiding sample size selection and self-assessing result accuracy. The elegant features in the the proposed methodology are the adaptive refinement strategies for stratified designs. We first apply this iterative methodology to the design of a self-validated first-order sensitivity analysis algorithm. We also extend this methodology to design a self-validated second-order sensitivity analysis algorithm based on refining replicated orthogonal array designs. Several numerical experiments are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Biennial report describing progress and changes in unmanned systems technology used by the military, with a 25-year strategic plan to describe goals for the continued development, production, testing, training, operation, and sustainment of the technologies. "This is the second edition of the integrated Office of the Secretary of Defense Unmanned Systems Roadmap (2009-2034) that includes Unmanned Aircraft systems, Unmanned Ground systems and Unmanned Maritime Systems. This Roadmap provides Defense-wide vision for unmanned systems and related technologies" (p. iii).

Funeral program for Bettye T. Gatlin, born February 24, 1932 and died April 14, 2009. The funeral was held April 20, 2009 at Mt. Zion First Baptist Church. Funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and she was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.

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Mountaintop removal mining involves removing the top of a mountain in order to recover the coal seams contained there. This practice occurs in several Appalachian states. It creates an immense quantity of excess spoil (dirt and rock that previously composed the mountaintop), which is typically placed in valley fills on the sides of the former mountains, burying streams that flow through the valleys. Critics say that, as a result of valley fills, stream water quality and the aquatic and wildlife habitat that streams support are destroyed by tons of rocks and dirt. The mining industry argues that mountaintop mining is essential to conducting surface coal mining in the Appalachian region and that surface coal mining would not be economically feasible there if producers were restricted from using valleys for the disposal of mining overburden. Mountaintop mining is regulated under several laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. This report provides background on regulatory requirements, controversies, and legal challenges to regulation of mountaintop mining. Congressional attention to these issues, including legislation that would restrict the practice (H.R. 1310, the Clean Water Protection Act, and S. 696, the Appalachia Restoration Act), also is discussed.