A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As people age, some become incapable of managing their personal and financial affairs. To protect these people, state laws provide for court appointment of guardians to act on their behalf. In many cases federal programs provide these incapacitated people financial benefits. GAO was asked to examine: (1) what state courts do to ensure that guardians fulfill their responsibilities, (2) what guardianship programs recognized as exemplary do to ensure that guardians fulfill their responsibilities, and (3) how state courts and federal agencies work together to protect incapacitated elderly people."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Strategy for Homeland Security calls for preventing foreign terrorists from entering our country and using all legal means to identify; halt; and where appropriate, prosecute or bring immigration or other civil charges against terrorists in the United States. GAO reported in June 2003 that the visa revocation process needed to be strengthened as an antiterrorism tool and recommended that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in conjunction with the Departments of State (State) and Justice, develop specific policies and procedures to ensure that appropriate agencies are notified of revocations based on terrorism grounds and take proper actions. GAO examined whether weaknesses in the visa revocation process identified in its June 2003 report were addressed."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A key element of the ongoing postal reform deliberations before Congress is the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) ability to carry out its mission of providing universal mail delivery and retail services at reasonable rates. Many are concerned that USPS's mission is at risk in the current operating environment of increasing competition and decreasing mail volumes. Preserving universal service, particularly in rural areas, is a goal of postal reform. GAO was asked to discuss (1) how USPS provides universal mail delivery services and access to postal services in both rural and urban areas; (2) what changes USPS is making or plans to make related to providing postal services, including changes that may affect rural areas; and (3) what are the major issues that have been raised related to how USPS provides postal services."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Improving the federal hiring process is critical given that the executive branch hired nearly 95,000 new employees during fiscal year 2003 and significant hiring may continue over the next few years. In May 2003, GAO issued a report highlighting several key problems in the federal hiring process. That report concluded that the process needed improvement and included recommendations to address the problems. Last month, GAO issued a follow-up to that report and testified before Congress on the status of recent efforts to improve the federal hiring process. As part of this work, GAO also assessed the extent to which federal agencies are using two new hiring flexibilities: category rating and direct-hire authority. Category rating permits an agency manager to select a job candidate placed in a best-qualified category rather than being limited to three candidates under the "rule of three." Direct-hire authority allows an agency to appoint individuals to positions without adherence to certain competitive examination requirements when there is a severe shortage of qualified candidates or a critical hiring need. Today, GAO's statement highlights the extent to which agencies are using the new hiring flexibilities, points out …

An innovative method for indirectly determining reaction cross sections via Surrogate Nuclear Reactions is presented. Exploring indirect approaches for obtaining reaction cross sections is important since a large number of nuclear reactions relevant to astrophysics cannot be measured with currently available techniques. A program is outlined for developing a comprehensive framework for planning and interpreting experiments that can yield the cross sections of interest. The applications will focus on reactions involving unstable nuclei that play a key role in the production of the elements between iron and uranium.

The method of determining the extent to which a nickel structure has been attacked by a halogen containing gas to which it has been exposed which comprises preparing a quantity of water substantially free from dissolved oxygen, passing ammonia gas through a cuprammonium solution to produce ammonia substantially free from oxygen, dissolving said oxygen-free ammonia in said water to produce a saturated aqueous ammonia solution free from uncombined oxygen, treating at least a portion of said nickel structure of predetermined weight with said solution to dissolve nickel compounds from the surface of said structure without dissolving an appreciable amount of said nickel and analyzing the resulting solution to determine the quantity of said nickel compounds that was associated with said said portion of said structure to determine the proportion of combined nickel in said nickel structure.

The standard method of joining plastic pipe in the field is the butt fusion process. As in any pipeline application, joint quality greatly affects overall operational safety of the system. Currently no simple, reliable, cost effective method of assessing the quality of fusion joints in the field exists. Visual examination and pressure testing are current non-destructive approaches, which do not provide any assurance about the long-term pipeline performance. This project will develop, demonstrate, and validate an in-situ non-destructive inspection method for butt fusion joints in gas distribution plastic pipelines. The inspection system will include a laser based image-recognition system that will automatically generate and interpret digital images of pipe joints and assign them a pass/fail rating, which eliminates operator bias in evaluating joint quality. A Weld Zone Inspection Method (WZIM) is being developed in which local heat is applied to the joint region to relax the residual stresses formed by the original joining operation and reveal the surface condition of the joint. In cases where the joint is not formed under optimal conditions, and the intermolecular forces between contacting surfaces are not strong enough, the relaxation of macromolecules in the surface layer causes the material to pull back, revealing a …

Final report of Accessible Genetics Research Ethics Education (AGREE) grant and site web site developed along with educational modules.

A ceramic composition having at least one nanometric ceramic powder, at least one lower saccharide, and water. The composition is useful in many industrial applications, including preparation of stronger and substantially defect free green and sintered ceramic bodies.

Recent experimental results have provided unambiguous evidence that neutrinos have a small but finite mass and mix from one type into another. The phenomenon of neutrino mixing is characterized by the coupling between the neutrino flavor (nu{sub e,mu,tau}) and mass eigenstates (nu{sub 1,2,3}) and the associated mixing angles. Previous neutrino oscillation experiments have determined two of the three mixing angles in the neutrino mixing matrix, U{sub MNSP}. Using multiple neutrino detectors placed at different distances from a nuclear power plant, a future reactor neutrino experiment has the potential to discover and measure the coupling of the electron neutrino flavor to the third mass eigenstate, U{sub e3}, the last undetermined element of the neutrino mixing matrix.

The objective of the data needs workshop is to identify potential near-term (12-18 month) studies that would reduce uncertainty in extremely low probability (< 10{sup -5}/yr) earthquake ground motions at Yucca Mountain. Recommendations made at the workshop will be considered by BSC and DOE management in formulating plans for FY05 seismic-related investigations. Based on studies done earlier this year, a bound on peak ground velocities (PGVs), consisting of a uniform distribution from 150 cm/s to 500 cm/s, has been applied to the existing PGV hazard curve for the underground repository horizon, for use in the forthcoming License Application. The technical basis for this bounding distribution is being documented, along with the basis for a slightly less conservative bound in the form of a roughly triangular distribution from 153 cm/s to 451 cm/s. The objective of the GMSE studies is to provide a technical basis for reducing remaining excessive conservatism, if any, in the extremely low probability ground motions that are used in postclosure performance assessments. Potential studies that have already been suggested include: (1) Additional tests of failure-strains of repository rocks, at, above, and below the repository horizon; (2) Identification and evaluation of nuclear explosion data that may help establish …

Earthquake ground motions have been assessed using a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) of the proposed repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive wastes at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. To meet the applicable regulations, consideration must be given to ground motions that have probabilities of exceedance as low as 10{sup -8}/yr. In the PSHA, aleatory variability in ground motion attenuation relations is characterized by unbounded lognormal distributions. At extremely low annual probability levels, the tails of these distributions, along with large assessed epistemic uncertainties in ground motions from large, close earthquakes, result in upper-percentile and mean ground motions that are extremely high and probably unphysical. To address this issue, we evaluated site-specific geologic evidence with respect to an upper bound on peak ground velocity (PGV), the ground motion measure that is correlated with damage to underground repository systems. Ground-motion amplitudes are limited by the strength of the materials through which they propagate. At high enough levels of seismic shaking, the rocks at the waste-emplacement level, particularly the lithophysal tuffs, will fracture and fail. A key finding of geologic relations from underground explorations and rock-mechanics modeling is the absence of mechanical damage of the type expected from seismic shaking in the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Strategy for Homeland Security calls for preventing foreign terrorists from entering our country and using all legal means to identify; halt; and where appropriate, prosecute or bring immigration or other civil charges against terrorists in the United States. GAO reported in June 2003 that the visa revocation process needed to be strengthened as an antiterrorism tool and recommended that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in conjunction with the Departments of State (State) and Justice, develop specific policies and procedures to ensure that appropriate agencies are notified of revocations based on terrorism grounds and take proper actions. GAO examined whether weaknesses in the visa revocation process identified in our June 2003 report were addressed."

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

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Today's sensor networks provide a wide variety of application domain for high-speed pattern classification systems. Such high-speed systems can be achieved by the use of optical implementation of specialized POF correlator. In this research we discuss the modeling and simulation of the phase only filter (POF) in the task of pattern classification of multi-dimensional data.

This report includes information related to energy efficiency, including history, various bills and budgets, and conservation. Climate change and energy security related to energy efficiency are also discussed in this report.

This report includes discussion of congressional issues regarding tactical aircraft modernization. Major tactical aircraft programs, affordability, and service roles are among topics discussed in this report.

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This report contains the dual eligibility of medicaid expenditures for prescription drugs and other services.

This report summarizes the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act (H.R. 3214). Additionally, the report covers each title of the act such as title one expanding the ability to qualify for the DNA Backlog Grant Program.

Relative densities and relative massic heat capacities have been measured for acidified solutions (prepared at University of Lethbridge) of Y(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}(aq), Pr(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}(aq), and Gd(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}(aq) at T = (288.15, 298.15, 313.15, and 328.15) K and p = 0.1 MPa. In addition, relative densities and massic heat capacities have been measured at the same temperatures and pressure for Y(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}(aq) and Ho(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}(aq) solutions which were supplied from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) (n.b. measurements at T = 328.15 K for Ho(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}(aq) were not performed due to the limited volume of solution available). Apparent molar volumes and apparent molar heat capacities for the aqueous salt solutions have been calculated from the experimental apparent molar properties of the acidified salt solutions using Young's Rule whereas the apparent molar properties of the LLNL solutions were calculated directly from the measured densities and massic heat capacities. The two sets of data for the Y(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}(aq) systems provide a check of the internal consistency of the Young's Rule approach we have utilized. The concentration dependences of the apparent molar volumes and heat capacities of the aqueous salt solutions have been modeled at each investigated temperature …

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Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.