A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Pension and other retiree benefits for state and local government employees represent liabilities for state and local governments and ultimately a burden for state and local taxpayers. Since 1986, accounting standards have required state and local governments to report their unfunded pension liabilities. Recently, however, standards changed and now call for governments also to report retiree health liabilities. The extent of these liabilities nationwide is not yet known, but some predict they will be very large, possibly exceeding a trillion dollars in present value terms. The federal government has an interest in assuring that all Americans have a secure retirement, as reflected in the federal tax deferral for contributions to both public and private pension plans. Consequently, the GAO was asked to examine: 1) the key measures of the funded status of retiree benefits and 2) the current funded status of retiree benefits. GAO analyzed data on public pensions, reviewed current literature, and interviewed a range of experts on public retiree benefits, actuarial science, and accounting."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has for many years warned that our nation is on an imprudent and unsustainable fiscal path. During the past 3 years, the Comptroller General has traveled to 25 states as part of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour. Members of this diverse group of policy experts agree that finding solutions to the nation's long-term fiscal challenge will require bipartisan cooperation, a willingness to discuss all options, and the courage to make tough choices. At the request of Chairman Conrad and Senator Gregg, the Comptroller General discussed the long-term fiscal outlook, our nation's huge health care challenge, and the shrinking window of opportunity for action."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As part of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) oversight of the safety and effectiveness of medical devices marketed in the United States, it inspects domestic and foreign establishments where these devices are manufactured. To help FDA address shortcomings in its inspection program, the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act of 2002 required FDA to accredit third parties to inspect certain establishments. In response, FDA has implemented two such voluntary programs. GAO previously reported on the status of one of these programs, citing concerns regarding its implementation and factors that may influence manufacturers' participation. (Medical Devices: Status of FDA's Program for Inspections by Accredited Organizations, GAO-07-157, January 2007.) This statement (1) assesses FDA's management of inspections of establishments--particularly those in foreign countries--manufacturing devices for the U.S. market, and (2) provides the status of FDA's programs for third-party inspections of medical device manufacturing establishments. GAO interviewed FDA officials; reviewed pertinent statutes, regulations, guidance, and reports; and analyzed information from FDA databases. GAO also updated its previous work on FDA's programs for inspections by accredited third parties."

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a federal government agency established in 1974 by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (P.L. 93- 406). It was created to protect the pensions of participants and beneficiaries covered by private sector, defined benefit (DB) plans. These pension plans provide a specified monthly benefit at retirement, usually either a percent of salary or a flat dollar amount multiplied by years of service. Defined contribution plans, such as §401(k) plans, are not insured. The PBGC is chaired by the Secretary of Labor, with the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce serving as board members.

Measurements of the L-shell emission of highly charged gold ions were made under controlled laboratory conditions using the SuperEBIT electron beam ion trap, allowing detailed spectral observations of lines from ironlike Au{sup 53+} through neonlike Au{sup 69+}. Using atomic data from the Flexible Atomic Code, we have identified strong 3d{sub 5/2} {yields} 2p{sub 3/2} emission features that can be used to diagnose the charge state distribution in high energy density plasmas, such as those found in the laser entrance hole of hot hohlraum radiation sources. We provide collisional-radiative calculations of the average ion charge <Z> as a function of temperature and density, which can be used to relate charge state distributions inferred from 3d{sub 5/2} {yields} 2p{sub 3/2} emission features to plasma conditions, and investigate the effects of plasma density on calculated L-shell Au emission spectra.

A spheromak equilibrium with zero edge current is shown to be stable to both ideal MHD and tearing modes that normally produce Taylor relaxation in gun-injected spheromaks. This stable equilibrium differs from the stable Taylor state in that the current density j falls to zero at the wall. Estimates indicate that this current profile could be sustained by non-inductive current drive at acceptable power levels. Stability is determined using the NIMROD code for linear stability analysis. Non-linear NIMROD calculations with non-inductive current drive could point the way to improved fusion reactors.

Two similar mycobacteria, Mycobacteria tuberculosis H37Ra and Mycobacteria smegmatis are rapidly detected and identified within samples containing a complex background of respiratory effluents using Single Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometry (SPAMS). M. tuberculosis H37Ra (TBa), an avirulent strain, is used as a surrogate for virulent tuberculosis (TBv); M. smegmatis (MSm) is utilized as a near neighbor confounder for TBa. Bovine lung surfactant and human exhaled breath condensate are used as first-order surrogates for infected human lung expirations from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. This simulated background sputum is mixed with TBa or MSm and nebulized to produce conglomerate aerosol particles, single particles that contain a bacterium embedded within a background respiratory matrix. Mass spectra of single conglomerate particles exhibit ions associated with both respiratory effluents and mycobacteria. Spectral features distinguishing TBa from MSm in pure and conglomerate particles are shown. SPAMS pattern matching alarm algorithms are able to distinguish TBa containing particles from background matrix and MSm for >50% of the test particles, which is sufficient to enable a high probability of detection and a low false alarm rate if an adequate number of such particles are present. These results indicate the potential usefulness of SPAMS for rapid, reagentless tuberculosis screening.

Aerosols generated from burning different plant fuels were characterized to determine relationships between chemical, optical and physical properties. Single scattering albedo ({omega}) and Angstrom absorption coefficients ({alpha}{sub ap}) were measured using a photoacoustic technique combined with a reciprocal nephelometer. Carbon-to-oxygen atomic ratios, sp{sup 2} hybridization, elemental composition and morphology of individual particles were measured using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy coupled with near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (STXM/NEXAFS) and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersion of X-rays (SEM/EDX). Particles were grouped into three categories based on sp2 hybridization and chemical composition. Measured {omega} (0.4-1.0 at 405 nm) and {alpha}{sub ap} (1.0-3.5) values displayed a fuel dependence. The category with sp{sup 2} hybridization >80% had values of {omega} (<0.5) and {alpha}{sub ap} ({approx}1.25) characteristic of light absorbing soot. Other categories with lower sp2 hybridization (20 to 60%) exhibited higher {omega} (>0.8) and {alpha}{sub ap} (1.0 to 3.5) values, indicating increased absorption spectral selectivity.

At the Savannah River Site (SRS) the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) has been immobilizing SRS's radioactive high level waste (HLW) sludge into a borosilicate glass for approximately eleven years. Currently the DWPF is immobilizing HLW sludge in Sludge Batch 4 (SB4). Each sludge batch is nominally two million liters of HLW and produces nominally five hundred stainless steel canisters 0.6 meters in diameter and 3 meters tall filled with the borosilicate glass. In SB4 and earlier sludge batches, the Al concentration has always been rather low, (less than 9.5 weight percent based on total dried solids). It is expected that in the future the Al concentrations will increase due to the changing composition of the HLW. Higher Al concentrations could introduce problems because of its known effect on the viscosity of glass melts and increase the possibility of the precipitation of nepheline in the final glass and decrease its durability. In 2006 Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) used DWPF processes to immobilize a radioactive HLW slurry containing 14 weight percent Al to ensure that this waste is viable for future DWPF processing. This paper presents results of the characterization of the high Al glass prepared in that demonstration. At …

This project employed a combination of in silico modeling and physiological studies to begin the construction of models that could predict the activity of Geobacter species under different environmental conditions. A major accomplishment of the project was the development of the first genome-based models of organisms known environmental relevance. This included the modeling of two Geobacter species and two species of Pelobacter. Construction of these models required increased sophistication in the annotation of the original draft genomes as well as collection of physiological data on growth yields, cell composition, and metabolic reactions. Biochemical studies were conducted to determine whether proposed enzymatic reactions were in fact expressed. During this process we developed an Automodel Pipeline process to accelerate future model development of other environmentally relevant organisms by using bioinformatics techniques to leverage predicted protein sequences and the Genomatica database containing a collection of well-curated metabolic models. The Automodel Pipeline was also used for iterative updating of the primary Geobacter model of G. sulfurreducens to expand metabolic functions or to add alternative pathways. Although each iteration of the model does not lead to another publication, it is an invaluable resource for hypothesis development and evaluation of experimental data. In order to develop …

Observations of gamma-rays have been made from celestial sources such as active galaxies, gamma-ray bursts and supernova remnants as well as the Galactic ridge. The study of gamma rays can provide information about production mechanisms and cosmic-ray acceleration. In the high-energy regime, one of the dominant mechanisms for gamma-ray production is the decay of neutral pions produced in interactions of ultra-relativistic cosmic-ray nuclei and interstellar matter. Presented here is a parametric model for calculations of inclusive cross sections and transverse momentum distributions for secondary particles--gamma rays, e{sup {+-}}, {nu}{sub e}, {bar {nu}}{sub e}, {nu}{sub {mu}} and {bar {nu}}{sub {mu}}--produced in proton-proton interactions. This parametric model is derived on the proton-proton interaction model proposed by Kamae et al.; it includes the diffraction dissociation process, Feynman-scaling violation and the logarithmically rising inelastic proton-proton cross section. To improve fidelity to experimental data for lower energies, two baryon resonance excitation processes were added; one representing the {Delta}(1232) and the other multiple resonances with masses around 1600 MeV/c{sup 2}. The model predicts the power-law spectral index for all secondary particle to be about 0.05 lower in absolute value than that of the incident proton and their inclusive cross sections to be larger than those predicted …

In December of 2005 a series of experiments were performed at the U400 Cyclotron at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia, using the reaction {sup 243}Am ({sup 48}Ca,3n) {sup 288}115 which, after a sequence of five alpha decays, produces a long-lived ({approx}1d) fission activity that had been detected previously in experiments using the Dubna Gas Filled Recoil Separator (DGFRS). These experiments were attempts to establish the elemental identity of the fissioning species as dubnium (element 105), which in turn confirms the identity of the original parent nucleus as element 115 through genetic correlation of the subsequent alpha decays. A series of approximately 24-hour bombardments were followed by chemical separations designed to isolate the Group Four and Five chemical fractions, and then separate the Nb and Ta fractions, which are Group Five homologues of dubnium and should therefore behave chemically similar. The samples were prepared for alpha and fission measurement and counted for an extended period of time. Fission events were detected in the Ta-like fractions only, which correspond to the fission coming from either the {sup 268}Db isotope directly or long-lived electron-capture decay in {sup 268}Db followed by a short half-life fission of {sup 268}Rf. In May …

Description of activities conducted this report period: (1) Electronics Development--To improve the overall performance of the two-channel digital pulse processor (DPP2), the PCB has been redesigned and the new printed board is now under assembly. The system is enhanced with two new fast ADCs from Analog Devices (AD9230-250), each with a sampling rate of 250 MHz and a resolution of 12 bits. The data bus uses a high performance Low Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) standard. The offset and gain of each channel are separately controlled digitally by the GUI software. (2) GUI Software Development--A GUI is being developed using the Python programming language. All functions from the preceding MATLAB code have been re-implemented including basic waveform readout, pulse shape discrimination, and plotting of energy spectra. In addition, the GUI can be used to control sampling runs based on the number of pulses captured, either in real or live time. Calibration coefficients and pulse shape discrimination boundaries can be changed on the fly so that the detector may be characterized experimentally. Plots generated by the GUI can be exported as graphic data. At present, the software has only been tested using one channel, pending availability of the new DPP board (DPP2). …

Alkaliphilic bacteria that grow at extremely high pH are confronted by particular bioenergetic problems in carrying out oxidative phosphorylation. This project focused on the properties and adaptations of the respiratory chain. The respiratory chain as a whole, the redox poises of its components and several individual complexes of the respiratory chain of alkaliphilic Bacillus pseudofirmus OF4 have been characterized as part of this project and, importantly, this project has helped support the development of genetic tools that make B. pseudofirmus OF4 the most genetically tractable and, hence, most bioenergetically characterized extreme alkaliphile. Evidence has been obtained for a pivotal role of the cca3-type terminal oxidase in oxidative phosphorylation, especially at high pH and motifs that may be relevant to that special role have been identified.

The US DOE has initiated a multidisciplinary cross cutting project to develop a reasonable and credible set of tools to predict the structural, hydraulic and chemical performance of cement barriers used in nuclear applications over extended time frames (e.g., > 100 years for operating facilities and > 1000 years for waste management). A partnership that combines DOE, NRC, academia, private sector, and international expertise has been formed to accomplish the project objectives by integrating existing information and realizing advancements where necessary. The set of simulation tools and data developed under this project will be used to evaluate and predict the behavior of cementitious barriers used in near surface engineered waste disposal systems, e.g., waste forms, containment structures, entombments and environmental remediation, including decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) activities. The simulation tools will also support analysis of structural concrete components of nuclear facilities (spent fuel pools, dry spent fuel storage units, and recycling facilities, e.g., fuel fabrication, separations processes). Simulation parameters will be obtained from prior literature and will be experimentally measured under this project, as necessary, to demonstrate application of the simulation tools for three prototype applications (waste form in concrete vault, high level waste tank grouting, and spent fuel pool). …

Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) is a highly infectious and contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed livestock that was last detected in the United States (US) in 1929. The prevalence of FMD in other countries, as well as the current potential for this virus to be used as a form of agroterrorism, has made preparations for a potential FMD outbreak a national priority. To assist in the evaluation of national preparedness, all 50 states were surveyed via e-mail, telephone and web search to obtain emergency response plans for FMD or for foreign animal diseases in general. Information from 33 states was obtained and analyzed for estimates of personnel resources needed to respond to an outbreak. These estimates were consolidated and enhanced to create a tool that could be used by individual states to better understand the personnel that would be needed to complete various tasks over time during an outbreak response. The estimates were then coupled, post-processing, to the output from FMD outbreaks simulated in California using the Multiscale Epidemiological/Economic Simulation and Analysis (MESA) model at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to estimate the personnel resource demands, by task, over the course of an outbreak response.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

This report discusses the disputes over Corps jurisdiction prior to enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as well as the current law applicable to siting offshore wind facilities.

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 a county commissioners court is prohibited from executing a tax abatement agreement with a wind turbine company for its fixtures and improvements to be located on a commissioner's real property; whether a commissioner who will receive royalties from a wind turbine company must abstain from voting on a tax abatement agreement with the company.

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This report explains the different measures of the U.S. government debt, discusses the historical growth in the debt, identifies the current owners of the debt, presents comparisons with government debt in other countries, and examines the potential economic risks associated with a growing federal debt.