A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2010, states required about 2 percent of all districts to use Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds for early intervening services to address the overrepresentation of racial and ethnic groups in special education. Based on definitions states individually developed to measure this overrepresentation-- referred to in IDEA as significant disproportionality--356 districts were required to provide services. Half of these districts were clustered in five states and 73 were in Louisiana alone. States have used flexibility provided by Education to develop their own definitions of significant disproportionality and GAO's analysis of 16 selected states found wide variation in definitions. Further, GAO found that the way some states defined overrepresentation made it unlikely that any districts would be identified and thus required to provide early intervening services. Nebraska and Louisiana illustrate differing outcomes that can result from different state definitions. In Nebraska, one of 21 states that did not require any districts to provide services in 2010-11, racial and ethnic groups must be identified for special education at a rate three times higher than for other groups for 2 consecutive years. In contrast, racial and ethnic …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified nine leading practices to promote successful data-driven performance reviews--referred to as quarterly performance reviews--at the federal level."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The KC-46 program 2012 estimates for cost, schedule, and performance are virtually the same as last year's, with the contractor running very close to the planned budget and schedule. Development work is more than one-fourth complete and a successful preliminary design review was held on schedule in April 2012. In response to a prior GAO recommendation, the program now has fully implemented metrics to measure the progress toward its key performance parameters and expects to meet these requirements. There are two areas of concern regarding program cost: first, both the contractor and government estimate the cost of development will exceed the contract ceiling price of $4.9 billion (although government liability is capped at that ceiling); and second, the contractor has already allocated about 80 percent of the management reserves budget, primarily for identified, yet unresolved, development risks, with the bulk of work--about 5 years--remaining. GAO maintains that significant use of these funds early in a program may indicate problems. The program has not yet evaluated how the significant use of these funds early could impact future milestones."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies responded to the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA) by establishing some new autism activities and continuing others. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) created a new initiative to address specific directives in the CAA. Through this initiative, HRSA expanded its existing training programs by requiring grantees to include training specific to autism. It also established new autism research grants and funded new state grants to improve services for children with autism. HRSA awards its autism grants under the authority of the CAA. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued their autism activities--some of which were undertaken in response to the Children's Health Act of 2000--but did not create new programs as a direct result of the CAA. NIH continued to fund, expand, and coordinate autism research through its Autism Centers of Excellence and autism-specific grants and contracts. CDC continued to fund its regional centers of excellence for autism epidemiology and other activities, such as an awareness campaign. HHS's Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)--reauthorized by the CAA--assumed additional responsibilities …

None

Well ER-20-11 was drilled for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office in support of the Nevada Environmental Management Operations Underground Test Area (UGTA) Activity at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly Nevada Test Site), Nye County, Nevada. The well was drilled in September 2012 as part of the Central and Western Pahute Mesa Corrective Action Unit Phase II drilling program. Well ER-20-11 was constructed to further investigate the nature and extent of radionuclidecontaminated groundwater encountered in two nearby UGTA wells, to help define hydraulic and transport parameters for the contaminated Benham aquifer, and to provide data for the UGTA hydrostratigraphic framework model. The 44.5-centimeter (cm) surface hole was drilled to a depth of 520.0 meters (m) and cased with 34.0-cm casing to 511.5 m. The hole diameter was then decreased to 31.1 cm, and the borehole was drilled to a total depth of 915.6 m. The hole was completed to allow access for hydrologic testing and sampling in the target aquifer, which is a lava-flow aquifer known as the Benham aquifer. The completion casing string, set to the depth of 904.3 m, consists of a string of 6⅝-inch (in.) stainless-steel casing hanging from a …

The STAYSL PNNL software suite provides a set of tools for working with neutron activation rates measured in a nuclear fission reactor, an accelerator-based neutron source, or any neutron field to determine the neutron flux spectrum through a generalized least-squares approach. This process is referred to as neutron spectral adjustment since the preferred approach is to use measured data to adjust neutron spectra provided by neutron physics calculations. The input data consist of the reaction rates based on measured activities, an initial estimate of the neutron flux spectrum, neutron activation cross sections and their associated uncertainties (covariances), and relevant correction factors. The output consists of the adjusted neutron flux spectrum and associated covariance matrix, which is useful for neutron dosimetry and radiation damage calculations.

This report first describes how pertinent rules and practices regulate the daily sessions of Congress and their adjournments and recesses, including discussion of the "legislative day." It then develops a corresponding discussion for the annual sessions of Congress, which addresses, among other things, the use of "pro forma sessions." The report clarifies certain situations in which terms may simultaneously apply in different ways in relation to the daily session and to the annual session. Finally, the report notes some of the most important implications of the occurrence of sessions, adjournments, and recesses in relation to such matters as presidential action on legislation, recess appointments by the President, the operation of statutory expedited procedures ("fast track" procedures), and "lame duck" (post-election) sessions.

This report discusses the federal financial reporting -- defined here as the process of recording retrospective executive department-level financial and performance information -- may provide both a snapshot of the government's financial health at a given moment in time, as well as an accounting of its financial performance over a given time frame.

This report opens with brief legislative histories of "comprehensive immigration reform" (CIR) in the 109th and 110th Congresses. A comparative overview of key CIR provisions in the three bills that received floor action in the 109th and 110th Congresses follows. In addition to a narrative discussion of how the bills addressed the main provisions of CIR, the report provides a table that presents a comparative summary of the key features of the bills. The report concludes with observations contrasting the 2006-2007 period with the context of today's CIR debate. The report also provides an appendix that summarizes the three major CIR bills.

This report outlines an array of homeland security issues that may come before the 113th Congress. After a brief discussion of the overall homeland security budget, the report divides the specific issues into five broad categories: counterterrorism and security management, border security and trade, immigration, disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, and departmental management.

This report focuses on international and domestic human trafficking and U.S. policy responses, with particular emphasis on the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and its subsequent reauthorizations. The report begins with a description of key Trafficking in persons (TIP)-related definitions and an overview of the human trafficking problem. It follows with an overview of major foreign policy responses to international human trafficking. The report then focuses on responses to trafficking into and within the United States, examining relief for trafficking victims in the United States and discussing U.S. law enforcement efforts to combat domestic trafficking. The report concludes with an overview of current anti-trafficking legislation and an analysis of policy issues.

To develop a high temperature Thermal Storage System (TES) based on graphite and able to provide both economical and technical advantages with respect to existing solutions contributing to increase the share of Concentrated Solar Plants (CSP).

None

None

N/A