Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO performed the agreed-upon procedures Congress requested related to receipt and disbursement processing and related procedures applicable to the Office of Public Records Revolving Fund (the Fund) for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. In summary, the procedures we agreed with Congress to perform related to supporting documentation for Fund-related receipt and disbursement activities processed through the Office of Public Records (OPR) and Senate Disbursing Office (SDO) and reconciliation procedures performed by OPR. We conducted our work in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate the attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. These standards also provide guidance on performing and reporting on the results of agreed-upon procedures. By specifying the procedures we agreed to perform, OPR, SDO, and the Office of the Secretary of the Senate were responsible for ensuring that the procedures were sufficient to meet Congressional purposes, and we make no representation in that respect. The enclosure contains the agreed-upon procedures we performed and the results we obtained."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (referred to hereafter as the Reform Act) included provisions to better inform individuals who file for personal bankruptcy about their options for reaffirming debt--whereby filers may voluntarily agree to pay certain creditors in an effort to retain assets, such as an automobile. Reaffirmation agreements between debtors and creditors are required, by law, to formally disclose to debtors the terms of the agreement, such as the amount of debt reaffirmed. Some requirements differ for credit unions, such as an exemption for reporting debtor financial information when the debtor's attorney signs the agreement. The Reform Act required GAO to study the bankruptcy reaffirmation process. This report discusses (1) the extent to which required Reform Act disclosures and other information have been incorporated into reaffirmation agreements, (2) the types of debts reaffirmed and the percent this debt comprised of debtors' overall debt burden, and (3) how reaffirmed and original interest rates compare. GAO reviewed a representative sample of bankruptcy files with agreements in five bankruptcy courts (in AL, CA, IL, TX, and WV) selected by, among other things, filing …

This report summarizes the results from the characterization of the second quarter April 2007 sampling of Tank 50H for the Saltstone Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). Six one liter samples were taken in polyethylene bottles to analyze for the WAC contaminants and a 200 mL sample was taken in a steel container for analysis of volatile organic compounds. The information from this characterization will be given to Waste Solidification Engineering personnel to qualify the transfer of aqueous waste to the Saltstone Facility. The following conclusions are drawn from the analytical results found in this report: (1) All six of the one liter samples taken in April 2007 from the mixed slurry in Tank 50 have the same compositions within the experimental uncertainty of the analyses. (2) Of the ninety-one process, chemical, and radioactive WAC target or limit contaminants listed in Revision 7 of the 'Waste Acceptance Criteria for Aqueous Waste sent to the Z-Area Saltstone Production Facility', eighty-nine had concentrations that were unequivocally less than the WAC limit or target. (3) The two contaminants whose concentrations could not be shown to be less than their WAC targets were methanol and radioactive Nb-93m. Currently the AD Section of SRNL does not have …

We report recent results of the Dalitz plot analyses of D and D{sub S} decays performed by the BABAR collaboration, and point out some of the important applications of these results.

During the period of October 15 and 18, 2007, ORISE performed confirmatory radiological survey activities which included beta and gamma structural surface scans and beta activity direct measurements within the Auxiliary Building, beta or gamma scans within Turbine Building embedded piping, beta activity determinations within Turbine Building Drain 3-1-27, and gamma scans and the collection of a soil sample from the clay soils adjacent to the Lower Mixing Box.

The deposition of carbon from carbonaceous gaseous environments is prevalent in many chemical and petrochemical processes such as, hydrogen-, ammonia-, and methanol-reforming systems, syngas production systems, and iron-ore reduction plants. One of the major consequences of carbon deposition is the degradation of structural materials by a phenomenon known as ''metal dusting''. There are two major issues of importance in metal dusting. First is formation of coke and subsequent deposition of coke on metallic structural components. Second is the initiation and subsequent propagation of metal dusting degradation of the structural alloy. In the past, we reported on the mechanism for metal dusting of Fe- and Ni-base alloys. In this report, we present metal dusting data on both Fe- and Ni-base alloys after exposure in high and atmospheric pressure environments that simulate the gas chemistry in operating hydrogen reformers. We have also measured the progression of pits by measuring the depth as a function of exposure time for a variety of Fe- and Ni-base structural alloys. We have clearly established the role of transport of iron in forming a non-protective spinel phase in the initiation process and presence of carbon transfer channels in the oxide scale for the continued propagation of pits, …

Experimental results from copper cones irradiated with ultra-intense laser light are presented. Spatial images and total yields of Cu K{sub {alpha}} fluorescence were measured as a function of the laser focusing properties. The fluorescence emission extends into the cone approximately 300 {micro}m from the cone tip and cannot be explained by ray tracing including cone wall absorption. In addition the total fluorescence yield from cones is an order of magnitude higher than for equivalent mass foil targets. Indications are that the physics of the laser cone interaction is dominated by preplasma created from the long duration, low energy pre-pulse from the laser.

This report briefly outlines three issues and touches upon some of the perspectives reflected in the ongoing debate. The issues include the inherent and often dynamic tension between national security and civil liberties, particularly righta of privacy free speech.

None

This report discusses about historical Evolution of Hate Crime Policy and Legislation, Hate Crime and Current Law, Federal Hate Crime Statistics etc.

The rapidly rising CO{sub 2} level in the atmosphere has led to proposals of climate stabilization via 'Geoengineering' schemes that would mitigate climate change by intentionally reducing the solar radiation incident on earth's surface. In this paper, we address the impact of these climate stabilization schemes on the global hydrological cycle, using equilibrium simulations from an atmospheric general circulation model coupled to a slab ocean model. We show that insolation reductions sufficient to offset global-scale temperature increases lead to a decrease in the intensity of the global hydrologic cycle. This occurs because solar forcing is more effective in driving changes in global mean evaporation than is CO{sub 2} forcing of a similar magnitude. In the model used here, the hydrologic sensitivity, defined as the percentage change in global mean precipitation per degree warming, is 2.4% for solar forcing, but only 1.5% for CO{sub 2} forcing. Although other models and the climate system itself may differ quantitatively from this result, the conclusion can be understood based on simple considerations of the surface energy budget and thus is likely to be robust. Compared to changing temperature by altering greenhouse gas concentrations, changing temperature by varying insolation results in larger changes in net …

The mitochondrial genomes of two isolates of the wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola were sequenced completely and compared to identify polymorphic regions. This organism is of interest because it is phylogenetically distant from other fungi with sequenced mitochondrial genomes and it has shown discordant patterns of nuclear and mitochondrial diversity. The mitochondrial genome of M. graminicola is a circular molecule of approximately 43,960 bp containing the typical genes coding for 14 proteins related to oxidative phosphorylation, one RNA polymerase, two rRNA genes and a set of 27 tRNAs. The mitochondrial DNA of M. graminicola lacks the gene encoding the putative ribosomal protein (rps5-like), commonly found in fungal mitochondrial genomes. Most of the tRNA genes were clustered with a gene order conserved with many other ascomycetes. A sample of thirty-five additional strains representing the known global mt diversity was partially sequenced to measure overall mitochondrial variability within the species. Little variation was found, confirming previous RFLP-based findings of low mitochondrial diversity. The mitochondrial sequence of M. graminicola is the first reported from the family Mycosphaerellaceae or the order Capnodiales. The sequence also provides a tool to better understand the development of fungicide resistance and the conflicting pattern of high nuclear and low …

None

Low-temperature colossal supersaturation (LTCSS) is a novel surface hardening method for carburization of austenitic stainless steels (SS) without the precipitation of carbides. The formation of carbides is kinetically suppressed, enabling extremely high or colossal carbon supersaturation. As a result, surface carbon concentrations in excess of 12 at. % are routinely achieved. This treatment increases the surface hardness by a factor of four to five, improving resistance to wear, corrosion, and fatigue, with significant retained ductility. LTCSS is a diffusional surface hardening process that provides a uniform and conformal hardened gradient surface with no risk of delamination or peeling. The treatment retains the austenitic phase and is completely non-magnetic. In addition, because parts are treated at low temperature, they do not distort or change dimensions. During this treatment, carbon diffusion proceeds into the metal at temperatures that constrain substitutional diffusion or mobility between the metal alloy elements. Though immobilized and unable to assemble to form carbides, chromium and similar alloying elements nonetheless draw enormous amounts of carbon into their interstitial spaces. The carbon in the interstitial spaces of the alloy crystals makes the surface harder than ever achieved before by more conventional heat treating or diffusion process. The carbon solid solution …

None

None

In 2005, the University of Washington developed a new statistical model to analyze the combined juvenile and adult detection histories of PIT-tagged salmon migrating through the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). This model, implemented by software Program ROSTER (River-Ocean Survival and Transportation Effects Routine), has been used to estimate survival and transportation effects on large temporal and spatial scales for PIT-tagged hatchery spring and summer Chinook salmon and steelhead released in the Snake River Basin from 1996 to 2003. Those results are reported here. Annual estimates of the smolt-to-adult return ratio (SAR), juvenile inriver survival from Lower Granite to Bonneville, the ocean return probability from Bonneville to Bonneville, and adult upriver survival from Bonneville to Lower Granite are reported. Annual estimates of transport-inriver (T/I) ratios and differential post-Bonneville mortality (D) are reported on both a systemwide basis, incorporating all transport dams analyzed, and a dam-specific basis. Transportation effects are estimated only for dams where at least 5,000 tagged smolts were transported from a given upstream release group. Because few tagged hatchery steelhead were transported in these years, no transportation effects are estimated for steelhead. Performance measures include age-1-ocean adult returns for steelhead, but not for Chinook salmon. Annual estimates …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On October 25, 2007, GAO testified before a congressional subcommittee at a hearing entitled, "Single Audits: Are They Helping to Safeguard Federal Funds?" At the hearing, we provided (1) GAO's perspective on the history and importance of the Single Audit Act, as amended (Single Audit Act), and the principles behind the act, (2) our preliminary analysis of the recommendations made by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) for improving audit quality, and (3) additional factors to consider for improving the quality of single audits."

During the period of October 15 and 18, 2007, ORISE performed confirmatory radiological survey activities which included beta and gamma structural surface scans and beta activity direct measurements within the Auxiliary Building, beta or gamma scans within Turbine Building embedded piping, beta activity determinations within Turbine Building Drain 3-1-27, and gamma scans and the collection of a soil sample from the clay soils adjacent to the Lower Mixing Box.

None

MoO{sub 3} is an interesting oxide prototype because its catalytic activity is sensitive to the presence and nature of defects. In this work, we demonstrate that we can control the number of defects in single-layer MoO{sub 3} nanostructures grown on Au(111) by a simple thermal reduction treatment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrates the formation of Mo{sup 5+} species and oxygen vacancies during annealing at 650 K. The percentage of Mo{sup 5+} increases with the duration of annealing, until a stable composition containing 50% Mo{sup 6+} and 50% Mo{sup 5+} is obtained. Surprisingly, the formation of lower oxidation states such as Mo{sup 4+} was not observed. The reduced MoO{sub x} islands remain one layer high, based on scanning tunneling microscope (STM) images. The two-dimensional nature of the reduced oxide nanocrystals may be due to a large barrier for structural reorganization and, thus, may account for the absence of Mo oxidation states lower than +5. Based on scanning tunneling microscopy images and density functional calculations, we propose that the formation of Mo{sup 5+} ions during annealing is not associated with formation of oxygen point defects, but can be attributed to the formation of extended one-dimensional shear defects. These reduced structures are useful for …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has experienced processing delays and significant backlogs of disability claims. At the end of fiscal year 2006, some 1.5 million disability claims were awaiting a decision. About 576,000 of these claims were backlogged--exceeding the number of claims that should optimally be pending at year-end. In response to the congressional request, GAO (1) examined trends in disability claims backlogs and the time required for SSA to decide a claim, (2) identified key factors contributing to the backlogs and processing times, and (3) described the steps SSA is taking to reduce them. To address these issues, GAO analyzed SSA administrative data, conducted an extensive literature review, interviewed SSA officials as well as key program personnel, and conducted site visits in three SSA regions."

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

None