Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal policy identifies 18 infrastructure sectors--such as banking and finance, energy, public health and healthcare, and telecommunications--that are critical to the nation's security, economy, public health, and safety. Because these sectors rely extensively on computerized information systems and electronic data, it is crucial that the security of these systems and data is maintained. Further, because most of these infrastructures are owned by the private sector, it is imperative that public and private entities work together to protect these assets. The federal government uses both voluntary partnerships with private industry and requirements in federal laws, regulations, and mandatory standards to assist in the security of privately owned information technology (IT) systems and data within critical infrastructure sectors. As agreed, our objectives were to (1) identify, for each critical infrastructure sector, the federal laws, regulations, and mandatory standards that pertain to securing that sector's privately owned IT systems and data and (2) identify enforcement mechanisms for each of the above laws, regulations, and mandatory standards."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 requires all full-power television stations in the United States to cease analog broadcasting after February 17, 2009, known as the digital television (DTV) transition. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is responsible for implementing a subsidy program to provide households with up to two $40 coupons toward the purchase of converter boxes. In this requested report, GAO examines (1) what consumer education efforts have been undertaken by private and federal stakeholders and (2) how effective NTIA has been in implementing the converter box subsidy program, and to what extent consumers are participating in the program. To address these issues, GAO analyzed data from NTIA and reviewed legal, agency, and industry documents. Also, GAO interviewed a variety of stakeholders involved with the DTV transition."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) created the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and, among other things, assigned the commission responsibility for testing and certifying voting systems. In view of concerns about voting systems and the important role EAC plays in certifying them, GAO was asked to determine whether EAC has (1) defined an effective approach to testing and certifying voting systems, (2) followed its defined approach, and (3) developed an effective mechanism to track problems with certified systems and use the results to improve its approach. To accomplish this, GAO compared EAC guidelines and procedures with applicable statutes, guidance, and best practices, and examined the extent to which they have been implemented."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to EPA, children face disproportionate risks from contaminants such as air pollution and lead paint. The health consequences to the country's 74 million children are significant. In 2006, 55 percent of children lived in counties exceeding allowable levels for at least one of the six principal air pollutants such as ozone which causes or aggravates asthma. Asthma is the third-most common cause of childhood hospitalization, resulting in $3.2 billion in treatment costs and 14 million lost school days annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1997, EPA created the Office of Children's Health and convened the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee) to provide advice and recommendations to assist in developing regulations, guidance, and policies to address children's health. In April 1997, the President signed Executive Order 13045, creating an interagency Task Force to recommend federal strategies for protecting children. Our testimony is based on ongoing work on the extent to which EPA has used the Advisory Committee and addressed the committee's key recommendations. It also includes information about the Task Force. We met with numerous EPA officials and analyzed the committee's …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 requires all full-power television stations in the United States to cease analog broadcasting after February 17, 2009, known as the digital television (DTV) transition. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is responsible for implementing a subsidy program to provide households with up to two $40 coupons toward the purchase of converter boxes. In this testimony, which is principally based on a report being issued today, GAO examines (1) what consumer education efforts have been undertaken by private and federal stakeholders and (2) how effective NTIA has been in implementing the converter box subsidy program, and to what extent consumers are participating in the program. To address these issues, GAO analyzed data from NTIA and reviewed legal, agency, and industry documents. Also, GAO interviewed a variety of stakeholders involved with the DTV transition."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Iraq has an estimated 115 billion barrels of crude oil reserves--the third largest in the world. Oil export revenues are critical to Iraq's economy, accounting for over half of the country's gross domestic product and over 90 percent of revenues. This testimony discusses (1) Iraq's estimated revenues from 2005 through 2008, (2) Iraq's estimated expenditures from 2005 through 2008, (3) Iraq's financial deposits through 2007 and budget surpluses, and (4) U.S. cumulative expenditures on stabilization and reconstruction activities in Iraq since 2003. GAO analyzed relevant data and reviewed documents such as Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) export oil receipts data and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) stand-by arrangement for Iraq. GAO worked with officials from the Department of Treasury and interviewed officials from the Departments of State, Defense, Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA), and the IMF. GAO also reviewed translated copies of Iraqi documents, including budget and capital spending reports. Treasury agreed with GAO's findings and stated that Iraq has adequate funds to make and maintain capital investments that deliver service and foster economic growth."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent cyber attacks demonstrate the potentially devastating impact these pose to our nation's computer systems and to the federal operations and critical infrastructures that they support. They also highlight that we need to be vigilant against individuals and groups with malicious intent, such as criminals, terrorists, and nation-states perpetuating these attacks. Federal law and policy established the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the focal point for coordinating cybersecurity, including making it responsible for protecting systems that support critical infrastructures, a practice commonly referred to as cyber critical infrastructure protection. Since 2005, GAO has reported on the responsibilities and progress DHS has made in its cybersecurity efforts. GAO was asked to summarize its key reports and their associated recommendations aimed at securing our nation's cyber critical infrastructure. To do so, GAO relied on previous reports, as well as two reports being released today, and analyzed information about the status of recommendations."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For GAO, having a diverse workforce at all levels is an organizational strength that contributes to the achievement of results by bringing a wider variety of perspectives and approaches to policy development and implementation, strategic planning, problem solving and decision making. GAO's Office of Opportunity and Inclusiveness (O&I) is responsible for all functions and activities designed to promote diversity and maintain a work environment that is fair, unbiased, and inclusive. O&I's analysis of performance appraisal data indicated that there were significant differences in appraisal averages for African American and Caucasian analysts. GAO contracted with the Ivy Planning Group to assess the factors that influenced the differences. Ivy issued its African American Performance Assessment Study report on April 25, 2008 and the Acting Comptroller General issued a memorandum on April 30, 2008 expressing his commitment to addressing all of the report's recommendations. The subcommittee asked GAO's Inspector General (IG) to examine the effectiveness of O&I and analyze the representation of women and minorities in the agency's Senior Executive Service (SES) and managerial ranks (GS-15 and equivalent level). This testimony focuses on the results of the IG's review and provides …

The EMSL Quarterly Highlights Report covers the science, staff and user recognition, and publication activities that occurred during the 1st quarter (October 2007 - December 2007) of Fiscal Year 2008.

The presented combination of stereo imaging and elemental mapping with soft X-ray microscopy reveals the spatial arrangement of naturally aqueous colloidal systems, e.g. iron oxides in soil colloid clusters. Changes in the spatial arrangement can be induced by manipulating the sample mounted to the X-ray microscope and thus be investigated directly.

The Fractional Crystallization Pilot Plant was designed and constructed to demonstrate that fractional crystallization is a viable way to separate the high-level and low-activity radioactive waste streams from retrieved Hanford single-shell tank saltcake. The focus of this report is to review the design, construction, and testing details of the fractional crystallization pilot plant not previously disseminated.

This milestone has been met. In the previous quarter (3rd quarter FY2008), the Heavy Ion Fusion Science Virtual National Laboratory (HIFS-VNL) completed the new experimental target chamber facility for future Warm Dense Matter (WDM) experiments [1]. The target chamber is operational and target experiments are now underway, using beams focused by a final focus solenoid and compressed by an improved bunching waveform. Initial experiments have demonstrated the capability of the Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCX) beam to heat bulk matter in target foils. The experiments have focused on tuning and characterizing the NDCX beam in the target chamber, implementing the target assembly, and implementing target diagnostics in the target chamber environment. We have completed a characterization and initial optimization of the compressed and uncompressed NDCX beam entering the target chamber. The neutralizing plasma has been significantly improved to increase the beam neutralization in the target chamber. Preliminary results from recent beam tests of a gold cone for concentrating beam energy on target are encouraging and indicate the potential to double beam intensity on target. Other advantages of the cone include the large amount of neutralizing secondary electrons expected from the grazing incidence at the cone walls, and the shielding of …

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

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: Whether an applicant who has a leasehold interest in "qualified property" is eligible to apply for a limitation on the appraised value of the qualified property (RQ-0684-GA).

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This report reviews the most common arguments that have been advanced in recent years for and against raising federal judicial salaries.

This report provides information about the The FDA’s Authority to Recall Products. The FDA had fielded increasing number of question regarding recalls of unsafe imports, including jalapeno peppers.

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In this study the radionuclide databases for two versions of the Clean Air Act Assessment Package-1988 (CAP88) computer model were assessed in detail. CAP88 estimates radiation dose and the risk of health effects to human populations from radionuclide emissions to air. This program is used by several Department of Energy (DOE) facilities to comply with National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations. CAP88 Mainframe, referred to as Version 1.0 on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website (http://www.epa.gov/radiation/assessment/CAP88/), was the very first CAP88 version released in 1988. Some DOE facilities including the Savannah River Site still employ this version (1.0) while others use the more user-friendly personal computer Windows-based Version 3.0 released in December 2007. Version 1.0 uses the program RADRISK based on International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 30 as its radionuclide database. Version 3.0 uses half-life, dose and risk factor values based on Federal Guidance Report 13. Differences in these values could cause different results for the same input exposure data (same scenario), depending on which version of CAP88 is used. Consequently, the differences between the two versions are being assessed in detail at Savannah River National Laboratory. The version 1.0 and 3.0 database files contain …

This report discusses the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) as amended by the 2008 farm bill (P.L. 110-246), which states that many U.S. retailers must begin providing country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for fresh produce, red meats, peanuts, chicken, ginseng, pecans, and macadamia nuts.