A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have stewardship contracting authority, which allows the agencies to trade goods--such as timber--for services (e.g., thinning forests or rangelands) that the agencies would otherwise pay for with appropriated dollars, and to enter into stewardship contracts lasting up to 10 years. The authority is set to expire in 2013. GAO was asked to determine, among other things, (1) the extent to which the agencies are using stewardship contracting and (2) what successes and challenges the agencies have experienced in using it. In doing so, GAO assessed agency data, reviewed project files, and visited projects in numerous locations."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Investments in the education and health of children are critical to the nation's future, as the nation's security and well-being depend on a productive citizenry. While families play the essential role in nurturing their children, the federal government has traditionally provided aid to disadvantaged children and families. However, federal spending on current health care and retirement programs--Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security--is projected to grow dramatically and absorb an increasing share of the federal budget and economic output. Absent meaningful changes, little room will be left in the federal budget to address other priorities, including programs designed to assist and ensure opportunities for disadvantaged children and families. GAO convened this forum on June 25, 2008, to identify key areas of concern related to disadvantaged children and their families and to discuss ideas to address these concerns within this fiscal environment."

Lanthanum halide (LaBr3:Ce) scintillators have been well-documented as high-resolution gamma-ray detectors that are operated at room temperature. These scintillators have better resolution (<3% at 662 keV) relative to sodium iodide (NaI(Tl)) scintillators (7% at 662 keV), but the naturally occurring radioactive isotope 138La causes self-activity in the crystal that occludes portions of the gamma-ray spectrum. This selfactivity limits the use of LaBr3:Ce in high-sensitivity applications. Cerium, the dopant in the LaBr3:Ce matrix possesses useful scintillation properties, and its selfactivity is on the order of 3750 times less than La; however, Ce has not been fully characterized as the chief component in a scintillation detector. This work investigated Ce as the key scintillation matrix component in a scintillation detector with the hypothesis that CeBr3 promises energy resolution comparable or superior to LaBr3:Ce. The researchers involved with this work believe that CeBr3 may be the answer to obtaining high-temperature, high-resolution spectra with greater sensitivity than LaBr3:Ce.

The process of recovering the waste in storage tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS) typically requires mixing the contents of the tank with one to four dual-nozzle jet mixers located within the tank. The typical criteria to establish a mixed condition in a tank are based on the number of pumps in operation and the time duration of operation. To ensure that a mixed condition is achieved, operating times are set conservatively long. This approach results in high operational costs because of the long mixing times and high maintenance and repair costs for the same reason. A significant reduction in both of these costs might be realized by reducing the required mixing time based on calculating a reliable indicator of mixing with a suitably validated computer code. The work described in this report establishes the basis for further development of the theory leading to the identified mixing indicators, the benchmark analyses demonstrating their consistency with widely accepted correlations, and the application of those indicators to SRS waste tanks to provide a better, physically based estimate of the required mixing time. Waste storage tanks at SRS contain settled sludge which varies in height from zero to 10 ft. The sludge …

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells offer the ultimate promise of low cost, readily manufacturable, and durable solar power. While recent advances have led to cells with impressive performance levels, OPV cells have yet to break the double-digit efficiency barrier. Further gains in efficiency and durability, to that competitive with high-performance inorganic photovoltaics will require breakthroughs in transparent electrode and interfacial materials science and engineering. This project involved an integrated basic research effort carried out by an experienced and highly collaborative interdisciplinary team to address in unconventional ways, critical electrode-interfacial issues underlying OPV performance--controlling band offsets between transparent electrodes and organics, addressing current loss/leakage problems at interfaces, enhancing adhesion, interfacial stability, and device durability while minimizing cost. It synergistically combined materials and interfacial reagent synthesis, nanostructural and photovoltaic characterization, and high level quantum theory. The research foci were: 1) understanding of/development of superior transparent electrode materials and materials morphologies--i.e., better matched electronically and chemically to organic active layers, 2) understanding-based development of inorganic interfacial current-collecting/charge-blocking layers, and 3) understanding-based development of self-assembled adhesion/current-collecting/charge-blocking/cross-linking layers for high-efficiency OPV interfaces. Pursing the goal of developing the fundamental scientific understanding needed to design, fabricate, prototype and ultimately test high-efficiency OPV cells incorporating these new concepts, …

Laboratory testing was performed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the corrosivity of the tank wastes stored in Double-Shell Tanks using simulants primarily from Tanks 241-AP-105, 241-SY-103 and 241-AW-105. Additional tests were conducted using simulants of the waste stored in 241-AZ-102, 241-SY-101, 241-AN-107, and 241-AY-101. This test program placed particular emphasis on defining the range of tank waste chemistries that do not induce the onset of localized forms of corrosion, particularly pitting and stress corrosion cracking. This document summarizes the key findings of the research program.

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; Meaning of "administrative costs" for purposes of section 352.1015(c), Tax Code relating to the expenditures from the hotel occupancy tax (RQ-0714-GA)

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 the county commissioners court may establish an electronic monitoring program under Code of Criminal Procedure article 42.035(b) (RQ-0718-GA)

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The purpose of this task is to evaluate the effect of floor settlement on building structure, piping, and equipment foundations between column lines 1 and 2 and B and K of Bldg. K-311-1 (see Fig. A-1 in Appendix A) at East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Revision 0 of this document covers the 2005 annual inspection. Revision 1 addresses the 2006 annual inspection, Revision 2 addresses the 2007 annual inspection, and Revision 3 covers the 2008 annual inspection, as indicated by the changed report title. A civil survey and visual inspection were performed. Only a representative number of points were measured during the 2008 survey. The exact location of a number of survey points in Table A-1 could not be accurately determined in the 2008 survey since these points had not been spray painted since 2003. The points measured are deemed adequate to support the conclusions of this report. Based on the survey and observations, there has been no appreciable change in the condition of the unit since the 2007 inspection. The subsidence of the floor presents concerns to the building structure due to the possible indeterminate load on the pipe gallery framing. Prior to demolition activities that …

This report analyzes the factors that determine the cost of electricity from new power plants. These factors — including construction costs, fuel expense, environmental regulations, and financing costs — can all be affected by government energy, environmental, and economic policies. The report provides projections of the possible cost of power from new fossil, nuclear, and renewable plants built in 2015, illustrating how different assumptions, such as for the availability of federal incentives, change the cost rankings of the technologies.

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This report, after analyzing factors that have contributed to high gasoline prices, describes the major legislative initiatives and discusses the issues involved.

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This report mainly focuses on Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests in Central Asia.

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This report reviews the status of energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation introduced during the 110th Congress. Most action in the second session is focused on the FY2009 budget request and legislation that would extend or modify selected renewable energy and energy efficiency tax incentives.

This report describes the various reporting requirements in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) and is organized according to the entities required to prepare and submit the reports. The report also provides some concluding observations regarding those requirements.

This report examines various programs considered by Congress, including grants and loans, to help automakers with the increased cost of compliance with higher fuel economy standards.

Over the past several years, China has enjoyed one of the world's fastest growing economies and has been a major contributor to world economic growth. However, the current global financial crisis threatens to slow China's economy. China is a major economic power and holds huge amounts of foreign exchange reserves, and thus it could play a major role in responding to the current crisis. For example, in an effort to help stabilize the U.S. economy, China might boost its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities, which would help fund the Federal Government's purchases of troubled U.S. assets. However, this could raise a number of issues and concerns for U.S. policymakers.

The following casualty data was compiled by the Department of Defense (DOD), as tallied from the agency's press release. Table 1 provides statistics on fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began on March 19, 2003, and is ongoing, as well as on the number of fatalities since May 1, 2003, plus statistics on those wounded, but not killed, since March 19, 2003. More frequent updates are available at DOD's website at [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/] under "Casualty Update." A detailed casualty summary that includes data on deaths by cause, as well as statistics on soldiers wounded in action, is available at the following DOD website: [http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm].

Petroleum prices rose sharply in the first half of 2008, at one time reaching more than $140 per barrel of crude oil. Since July, however, petroleum prices and import volumes have fallen at a historically rapid pace; in November, prices of crude oil fell below $55 per barrel. The fall in the cost of energy imports combined with the drop in import volumes as a result of the slowdown in economic activity has reversed the trend of rising energy imports costs and will sharply reduce the overall costs of U.S. energy imports for the rest of 2008. This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of the rising oil prices on the nation's merchandise trade deficit.