A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and other federal agencies were directed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to prepare restructuring plans to make government more responsive to citizens' needs. By June 2001, agencies were to submit a workforce analysis to OMB that would include, for example, demographic information on the agency's employees and would serve as the baseline for agency-specific restructuring plans. Agencies were to submit restructuring plans to OMB with fiscal year 2003 budget submissions and annual performance plans. These submissions were due to OMB September 2001. OMB's directive required agencies with more than 100 full-time employees to develop restructuring plans with the goal of flattening the federal hierarchy. The OMB directive stated that plans should describe the specific activities and actions each agency planned to take, associated resources, expected outcomes, and tools to measure performance. In order to ascertain what progress EEOC has made in reorganizing its operations, we determined (1) whether EEOC implemented OMB's directive to develop a restructuring plan and (2) what actions EEOC is taking to restructure and make its operations more efficient and effective."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is one of the largest federal agencies, the nation's largest health insurer, and the largest grant- making agency in the federal government. The department manages over 300 programs that serve to improve the health and well-being of the American public and is comprised of several component agencies covering a wide range of activities including conducting and sponsoring medical and social science research, guarding against the outbreak of infectious diseases, assuring the safety of food and drugs, and providing health care services and insurance. It also manages and funds a variety of information technology (IT) initiatives ranging from those facilitating the payment of claims for Medicare and Medicaid services to those supporting health surveillance and communications. In fiscal year 2006, the department plans to spend over $5 billion on information technology--the third largest IT expenditure in the federal budget. As we agreed with Congress, our objectives were to (1) assess the department's capabilities for managing its IT investments and (2)determine any plans the department might have for improving those capabilities. To address these objectives, we analyzed documents and interviewed …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Although check volume has declined, checks still represent a significant volume of payments that need to be processed, cleared, and settled. The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act of 2003 (Check 21) was intended to make check collection more efficient and less costly by facilitating wider use of electronic check processing. It authorized a new legal instrument--the substitute check--a paper copy of an image of the front and back of the original check. Check 21 facilitated electronic check processing by allowing banks to use electronic imaging technology for collection and create substitute checks from those images for delivery to banks that do not accept checks electronically. Check 21 mandated that GAO evaluate the implementation and administration of the act. The report objectives are to (1) determine the gains in economic efficiency from check truncation and evaluate the benefits and costs to the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) and financial institutions; (2) assess consumer acceptance of the check truncation process resulting from Check 21; and (3) evaluate the benefits and costs to bank consumers from check truncation. GAO analyzed costs for the check operations of the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Aviation is critical to the nation's economic well-being, global competitiveness, and national security. The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) 48,000 employees guide aircraft, oversee safety, and maintain air traffic control equipment. FAA will need these skills and additional expertise to address evolving missions. As requested, GAO reviewed (1) how FAA's human capital system compares with practices of leading organizations and (2) how FAA employees' workplace satisfaction compares with that of other federal government employees. GAO reviewed documents and relevant studies, and interviewed FAA officials who implement human capital procedures and union representatives. GAO also reviewed survey data on workplace satisfaction."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Research suggests that more students with disabilities are pursuing higher education than in years past, and recent legislative changes, such as those in the Higher Education Opportunity Act and Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, have the potential to increase the number and diversity of this population. GAO was asked to examine (1) what is known about the population of postsecondary students with disabilities; (2) how postsecondary schools are supporting students with disabilities; (3) what challenges, if any, schools face in supporting these students; and (4) how the Department of Education is assisting schools in supporting these students. To conduct this work, GAO analyzed federal survey and some state data; conducted site visits; interviewed agency officials, disability experts, school officials, and students; and reviewed laws, regulations, and literature."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Chesapeake Bay Program (Bay Program) was created in 1983 when Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and EPA agreed to establish a partnership to restore the Chesapeake Bay. Their most recent agreement, Chesapeake 2000, sets out an agenda and five broad goals to guide these efforts through 2010 and contains 102 commitments that the partners agreed to accomplish. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which appropriate measures for assessing restoration progress have been established, (2) the extent to which current reporting mechanisms clearly and accurately describe the bay's overall health, (3) how much funding was provided for the effort for fiscal years 1995 through 2004, and (4) how effectively the effort is being coordinated and managed."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As a condition of receiving federal funding for elementary and secondary education programs, states each year provide vast amounts of data to Education. While the need for information that informs evaluation is important (particularly with the No Child Left Behind Act), Education's data gathering has heretofore presented some problems. It has been burdensome to states because there are multiple and redundant requests administered by a number of offices. In addition, the resulting data supplied by states has not been accurate, timely, or conducive to assessing program performance. To improve the information by which it evaluates such programs and also to ease states' reporting burden, Education in 2002 initiated an ambitious, multiyear plan to consolidate elementary and secondary data collections into a single, department-wide system focused on performance. Given its importance, we prepared a study, under the authority of the Comptroller General, to provide Congress with information on its progress."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was asked to examine (1) the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) and agency perspectives on the effects that the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) recommendations are having on agency operations and program results; (2) OMB's leadership in ensuring a complementary relationship between the PART and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA); and (3) steps OMB has taken to involve Congress in the PART process. To do this, we also followed up on issues raised in our January 2004 report on the PART."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designed the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) as a diagnostic tool to draw on program performance and evaluation information for forming conclusions about program benefits and recommending adjustments to improve results. To assess progress in improving the evidence base for PART assessments, GAO was requested to examine (1) agencies' progress in responding to OMB's recommendations to evaluate programs, (2) factors facilitating or impeding agencies' progress, and (3) whether agencies' evaluations appear to be designed to yield the information on program results that OMB expects."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Prescription drug spending increased at an annual rate of 18 percent from 1997 through 2001 and is the fastest growing component of health care spending in the United States. Among the many reasons cited for this increase are growth in the number of patients diagnosed with conditions that can be treated with pharmaceuticals and the development of innovative drugs for some conditions. Spending on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs has tripled in recent years. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the promotion of prescription drugs, including the content of DTC advertisements, under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The act sets general standards of for FDA's regulation of prescription drug advertising directed to consumers and physicians. Regulations implementing the act require that advertisements present accurate information and fairly represent both the benefits and the risks of the advertised drug. Pharmaceutical companies spend more on research and development initiatives than on all drug promotion activities, including DTC advertising. According to industry estimates, pharmaceutical companies spent $30.3 billion on research and development and $19.1 billion on all promotional activities, which includes $2.7 …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress created the District of Columbia Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) program in 1999 to provide D.C. college-bound residents with greater choices among institutions of higher education by affording them the benefits of in-state tuition at state colleges and universities outside the District of Columbia. Congress appropriated $17 million annually for fiscal years 2000 through 2004 and $25.6 million for fiscal year 2005. GAO was asked to assess whether (1) adequate controls exist over the use of federal funds, including processes to determine institution and student eligibility, manage the cash needs of the program, and pay administrative expenses; (2) funds for the DCTAG program are accounted for separately from the District's general fund; and (3) administrative expenses for the program charged against federal funds are within the 7 percent limit of the total amount appropriated for the program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) began implementing the National Security Personnel System (NSPS)--a human capital system for DOD civilians. NSPS significantly redesigned the way DOD civilians are hired, compensated, and promoted. Pub. L. No. 110-181 mandated that GAO conduct reviews of the NSPS performance management system in calendar years 2008, 2009, and 2010. In this report, GAO assessed (1) the extent to which DOD has implemented certain internal safeguards to ensure the fairness, effectiveness, and credibility of NSPS, and monitored their implementation, and (2) how DOD civilian personnel perceive NSPS, and the actions DOD has taken to address those perceptions. GAO analyzed relevant documents and employee survey results, interviewed DOD officials, and conducted discussion groups with DOD employees at eight locations outside of the continental United States. Toward the end of GAO's review, both Houses of Congress passed proposed legislation that, if enacted, would terminate NSPS and require any future performance management system for DOD civilians to include certain internal safeguards"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To carry out its mission of ensuring health care security for beneficiaries, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) relies heavily on information technology (IT) systems. In fiscal year 2005, CMS's total IT appropriations was about $2.55 billion, of which about $760 million, or 30 percent, was to support internal investments, and $1.79 billion was to fund the Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) that states use to support their Medicaid programs. (GAO is using the term "internal" to refer to all of CMS' IT investments excluding state MMISs.) In light of the size and significance of these investments, GAO's objectives were to (1) evaluate CMS's capabilities for managing its internal investments, (2) determine any plans the agency might have for improving these capabilities, and (3) examine CMS's process for approving and monitoring state MMISs."

The Arabidopsis TCH genes, originally isolated as a consequence of their upregulation in response to the mechanical stimulus of touch, are also upregulated by a variety of seemingly disparate environmental and hormonal stimuli. To gain insight into the complexities of TCH gene regulation, a number of approaches were taken. Regulatory elements responsible for regulation were identified and characteristics of the regulation were evaluated. Reporter genes were used to monitor expression localization and dynamics. Microarray analyses of genome-wide expression behavior indicated that touch-inducible gene expression is more widespread than generally appreciated. Identification of all touch-regulated genes shed light on the types of cellular processes that may be altered in response to mechanical stress perturbations. Expression of the TCH2 gene, also called CML24, encoding a calmodulin (CaM)-like (CML) protein, was evaluated. CML24 shares over 40% amino acid sequence identity with CaM, has 4 EF hands and undergoes a Ca2+-dependent change in migration rate through denaturing gel electrophoresis, indicating that CML24 binds Ca2+ and, as a consequence, undergoes conformational changes. CML24 expression occurs in all major organs and is induced from 2- to 15-fold in plants subjected to touch, darkness, heat, cold, hydrogen peroxide, abscisic acid (ABA) and indole-3-acetic acid. The putative CML24 …

The UPR-600-16, Fire and Contamination Spread waste site is an unplanned release that occurred on December 4, 1951, when plutonium contamination was spread by a fire that ignited inside the 120 Experimental Building. The 120 Experimental Building was a laboratory building that was constructed in 1949 and used for plutonium criticality studies as part of the P-11 Project. In November 1951, a criticality occurred in the 120 Experimental Building that resulted in extensive plutonium contamination inside the building. The confirmatory evaluation supports a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The current site conditions achieve the remedial action objectives and the corresponding remedial action goals established in the Remaining Sites ROD. The results of the extensive radiological survey of the surface soil and the confirmatory and verification sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

During initial non-radioactive operations at the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU), the pressure drop across the decontaminated salt solution coalescer reached {approx}10 psi while processing {approx}1250 gallons of salt solution, indicating possible fouling or plugging of the coalescer. An analysis of the feed solution and the 'plugged coalescer' concluded that the plugging was due to sodium aluminosilicate solids. MCU personnel requested Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to investigate the formation of the sodium aluminosilicate solids (NAS) and the impact of the solids on the decontaminated salt solution coalescer. Researchers performed developmental testing of the cleaning protocols with a bench-scale coalescer container 1-inch long segments of a new coalescer element fouled using simulant solution. In addition, the authors obtained a 'plugged' Decontaminated Salt Solution coalescer from non-radioactive testing in the MCU and cleaned it according to the proposed cleaning procedure. Conclusions from this testing include the following: (1) Testing with the bench-scale coalescer showed an increase in pressure drop from solid particles, but the increase was not as large as observed at MCU. (2) Cleaning the bench-scale coalescer with nitric acid reduced the pressure drop and removed a large amount of solid particles (11 g of bayerite if all …

The 600-111, P-11 Critical Mass Laboratory Crib waste site, also referred to as the P-11 Facility, included the 120 Experimental Building, the 123 Control Building, and the P-11 Crib. The facility was constructed in 1949 and was used as a laboratory for plutonium criticality studies. In accordance with this evaluation, the confirmatory and verification sampling results support a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The results of confirmatory and verification sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

Performance assessments (PAs) are risk calculations used to estimate the amount of low-level radioactive waste that can be disposed at DOE sites. Distribution coefficients (K{sub d} values) are input parameters used in PA calculations to provide a measure of radionuclide sorption to sediment; the greater the K{sub d} value, the greater the sorption and the slower the estimated movement of the radionuclide through sediment. Understanding and quantifying K{sub d} value variability is important for estimating the uncertainty of PA calculations. Without this information, it is necessary to make overly conservative estimates about the possible limits of K{sub d} values, which in turn may increase disposal costs. Finally, technetium is commonly found to be amongst the radionuclides posing potential risk at waste disposal locations because it is believed to be highly mobile in its anionic form (pertechnetate, TcO{sub 4}{sup -}), it exists in relatively high concentrations in SRS waste, and it has a long half-life (213,000 years). The objectives of this laboratory study were to determine under SRS environmental conditions: (1) whether and to what extent TcO{sub 4}{sup -} sorbs to sediments, (2) the range of Tc K{sub d} values, (3) the distribution (normal or log-normal) of Tc K{sub d} values, …

We have successfully designed, built and tested an experimental apparatus which is capable of providing the first real-time ultrasound images of Rayleigh-B\'{e}nard convection in optically opaque fluids confined to large aspect ratio experimental cells. The apparatus employs a modified version of a commercially available ultrasound camera to capture images (30 frames per second) of flow patterns in a fluid undergoing Rayleigh Bénard convection. The apparatus was validated by observing convection rolls in 5cSt polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer fluid. Our first objective, after having built the apparatus, was to use it to study the sequence of transitions from diffusive to time--dependent heat transport in liquid mercury. The aim was to provide important information on pattern formation in the largely unexplored regime of very low Prandtl number fluids. Based on the theoretical stability diagram for liquid mercury, we anticipated that straight rolls should be stable over a range of Rayleigh numbers, between 1708 and approximately 1900. Though some of our power spectral densities were suggestive of the existence of weak convection, we have been unable to unambiguously visualize stable convection rolls above the theoretical onset of convection in liquid mercury. Currently, we are seeking ways to increase the sensitivity of our apparatus, such …

The earned income tax credit established in the tax code in 1975, provides cash assistance to lower-income working parents and individuals through the tax system. The earned income tax credit for some earned income credit recipients will be higher in 2009 than it was in 2008. An increase in the size of the earned income tax credit will occur because the maximum amount of earned income used to calculate the credit and the phase-out income level are indexed for inflation.

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This report provides a summary of the federal agencies’ enforcement of and compliance with the prohibition against sex discrimination mandated by Title IX and Executive Order 13160. Specifically, this report discusses the implementation of regulations and procedures for enforcing the Title IX compliance of grant recipients and for enforcing the compliance of the federal agencies themselves with President Clinton’s Executive Order.

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