This report briefly discusses some of the major immigration areas under consideration in comprehensive reform proposals suggested by the 9/11 Commission, including asylum, biometric tracking systems, border security, document security, exclusion, immigration enforcement, and visa issuances. It refers to other CRS reports that discuss these issues in depth and will be updated as needed.

From Summary: "This report summarizes the major provisions of S. 1783, the Pension Security and Transparency Act 2005. The bill combines provisions of S. 219, the National Employee Savings and Trust Equity Guarantee Act, reported by the Finance Committee, and the Defined Benefit Security Act, reported by the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions."

To verify the apparent large enhancement of the radiative strength function in light and medium nuclei, the 56Fe(n,2gamma)57Fe reaction was measured. The two-step cascade intensities with soft primary intensities confirm the enhancement. The combined results have been published in Physical Review Letters and featured in the Physics News Update. Data for the Yb isotopes have been combined to examine the systematics of level densities and strength function in three Yb isotopes. A paper on these results have been accepted for publication in Physical Review C. Analysis of the gamma rays from neutron induced reactions on 48Ti have been measured and analyzed for neturon energies from 1 to 250 MeV.

The evolution of new gene functions is one of the keys to evolutionary innovation. Most novel functions result from gene duplication followed by divergence. However, the models hitherto proposed to account for this process are not fully satisfactory. The classic model of neofunctionalization holds that the two paralogous gene copies resulting from a duplication are functionally redundant, such that one of them can evolve under no functional constraints and occasionally acquire a new function. This model lacks a convincing mechanism for the new gene copies to increase in frequency in the population and survive the mutational load expected to accumulate under neutrality, before the acquisition of the rare beneficial mutations that would confer new functionality. The subfunctionalization model has been proposed as an alternative way to generate genes with altered functions. This model also assumes that new paralogous gene copies are functionally redundant and therefore neutral, but it predicts that relaxed selection will affect both gene copies such that some of the capabilities of the parent gene will disappear in one of the copies and be retained in the other. Thus, the functions originally present in a single gene will be partitioned between the two descendant copies. However, although this …

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This report reviews the types of air emissions from livestock and poultry operations and their human health and environmental impacts. It then discusses provisions of several federal laws concerned with environmental impacts, beginning with the Clean Water Act, because protecting water resources has been the primary regulatory focus regarding livestock and animal operations.

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Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement information provided by the House and Senate Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Subcommittees.

Energy and economic analysis comparing the current Michigan residential energy efficiency code to the 2009 IECC.

The toxicological source terms used for potential accident assessment in the Hanford Tank Farms DSA are based on toxicological sums-of-fractions (SOFs) that were calculated based on the Best Basis Inventory (BBI) from May 2002, using a method that depended on thermodynamic equilibrium calculations of the compositions of liquid and solid phases. The present report describes a simplified SOF-calculation method that is to be used in future toxicological updates and assessments and compares its results (for the 2002 BBI) to those of the old method.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "More than 30,000 people are diagnosed annually with leukemia or other blood, metabolic, or immune system disorders, many of whom may die without stem cell transplants, using stem cells from bone marrow or another source. When a patient needs a transplant of donated stem cells and no genetically compatible related donor is available, the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry may help the patient search for compatible stem cells from unrelated donors. The National Bone Marrow Registry Reauthorization Act of 1998 required, among other things, that the Registry carry out a donor recruitment program giving priority to minority and underrepresented donor populations, ensure efficiency of operations, and verify compliance with standards by organizations that participate in the Registry. From 1998, when the National Bone Marrow Registry Reauthorization Act was enacted, through 2001, the number of stem cell donors on the Registry increased for all racial and ethnic groups. Although the exact number of patients in need of transplants is not known, estimates suggest that about one-third of them use the Registry to search for donors. The organizations that are involved in transplantation and participate in the National …

BRAC Early Bird 18 October 2005

Certified BRAC Commission Hearing transcript. Testimony from Air Force leadership on DoD recommendations and methodology held on the morning of May 17th, 2005.

Certified BRAC Commission Hearing transcript. Officials from the Army presented their recommendations and methodology related to the DoD Closure and Realignment Report dated 13 May 2005. Hearing held on the morning of May 18th, 2005.

Certified BRAC Commission Hearing transcript. Hearing held to give Department of Defense leadership the opportunity to present the recommendations and methodology used to prepare the DoD Base Closure and Realignment Report dated May 13th, 2005. Hearing occurred on May 16th, 2005.

Certified BRAC Commission Hearing transcript. Transcript from hearing held with witnesses presenting information on Environmental Stewardship of Installations recommended for closure or realignment in Washington DC on the morning of August 11th, 2005.

Final certified hearing transcript from the Commission's Final Deliberations and Decision Hearings. Transcript from hearing held the morning 24 Aug 05.

Final certified hearing transcript from the Commission's Final Deliberations and Decision Hearings. Transcript from hearing held the afternoon of 24 Aug 05.

Final certified hearing transcript from the Commission's Final Deliberations and Decision Hearings. Transcript from hearing held the morning 25 Aug 05.

Final certified hearing transcript from the Commission's Final Deliberations and Decision Hearings. Transcript from hearing held the afternoon 25 Aug 05.

Final certified hearing transcript from the Commission's Final Deliberations and Decision Hearings. Transcript from hearing held the morning 26 Aug 05.

Final certified hearing transcript from the Commission's Final Deliberations and Decision Hearings. Transcript from hearing held the evening of 26 Aug 05.

Final certified hearing transcript from the Commission's Final Deliberations and Decision Hearings. Transcript from final hearing held the morning of 27 August 05.

Certified BRAC Commission Hearing transcript. Officials from the DoD made their final presentations related to the DoD Closure and Realignment Report dated 13 May 2005 and Commission subsequent queries. Hearing held on the morning of August 20th.