This report provides background information on the types of water supply and wastewater treatment projects traditionally funded by the federal government and the several existing programs to assist communities with water supply and wastewater treatment.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), requires applicants for California business licenses in three industries--farm labor contracting, garment manufacturing, and car washing and polishing--to be in compliance with federal employment tax obligations to qualify. Based on questions about whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is fully using data from state and local governments to reduce the tax gap, GAO was asked to analyze (1) the extent to which requiring a demonstration of federal tax compliance to qualify for a state business license has the potential to improve federal tax compliance and (2) what opportunities exist for increasing arrangements that require federal tax compliance to qualify for state business licensing. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed IRS administrative and tax data. GAO identified California as a case study. GAO interviewed IRS and state officials and contacted revenue officials in the 50 states and the District of Columbia."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As of May 2009, approximately 34,000 service members had been wounded in action as part of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom. In response to concerns about the assistance that service members injured in combat receive when they transition back into civilian life, Congress has enacted several laws to improve the benefits available to veterans and service members, including the Veterans' Housing Opportunity and Benefits Improvement Act of 2006. This act authorized the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to expand its previously existing adaptive housing assistance grants to include eligible individuals temporarily living in a home owned by a family member, known as Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) grants. Section 101 of the Veterans' Housing Opportunity and Benefits Improvement Act of 2006 mandated us to submit to Congress an interim report by June 15, 2009, and a final report by June 15, 2011, on VA's implementation of TRA. This interim report describes the number and characteristics of TRA grants and grant recipients and provides information on VA's policies and processes for providing the grants."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Border Patrol, a component within the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is responsible for patrolling 8,000 miles of the land and coastal borders of the United States to detect and prevent the illegal entry of aliens and contraband, including terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. To strengthen control of the U.S. borders, CBP increased the number of Border Patrol agents from about 12,300 in September 2006 to 18,875 in April 2009, an unprecedented 53 percent increase in about 2.5 years. The Border Patrol plans to add additional agents during the remaining months of fiscal year 2009, increasing its onboard strength to about 19,700 agents by the end of September 2009. To support the President's yearly budget request for funding for additional Border Patrol agents, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) first identifies a list of cost items associated with the recruiting, hiring, training, equipping, and deploying of a new Border Patrol agent. These cost items include, for example, recruiting functions: background checks and medical exams to determine an applicant's fitness for the Border Patrol; salary and benefits; training at the Border …

This report provides an historical synopsis of the evolving nature of federal grant-in-aid programs, focusing on the role Congress has played in defining the scope and nature of those programs. It begins with an overview of contemporary federal grant-in-aid programs and then examines their evolution over time, focusing on the internal and external factors that have influenced congressional decisions concerning federal grant-in-aid programs. It concludes with an assessment of the scope and nature of the contemporary federal grants-in-aid system and raises several issues for congressional consideration, including possible ways to augment congressional capacity to provide effective oversight of this system.

An "inherently governmental function" is one that, as a matter of law and policy, must be performed by federal government employees and cannot be contracted out because it is "intimately related to the public interest." This report explores various sides of the debate as to what exactly constitutes an "inherently governmental function," as there is currently no one uniform definition. Congress is concerned that inconsistent definitions may lead to improperly contracted jobs.

This report provides a general overview of Iran's economy, addresses related U.S. policy concerns, and discusses policy options for Congress. The purpose of this report is two-fold. First, it provides insight into important macroeconomic trends, policy reforms and objectives, key economic sectors, international trade patterns, and sources of foreign exchange. Second, in the context of U.S. economic sanctions imposed for national security and foreign policy reasons, the report evaluates Iran's economic structure, strengths, and vulnerabilities and discusses issues and options for Congress.

In late 2007, the Department of Defense (DOD) launched a major procurement initiative to replace most uparmored High Mobility, Multi-Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) in Iraq with Mine- Resistant, Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles by FY2009. MRAPs have been described as providing significantly more protection against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) than uparmored HMMWVs. DOD's decision to acquire a new, smaller MRAP variant, the M-ATV, for use in Afghanistan; the disposition of MRAPs no longer needed in Iraq; and MRAP mechanical, logistical, and readiness concerns could be potential policy issues for congressional consideration.

This report discusses in detail the America COMPETES Act, which is intended to increase the nation's investment in research and development (R&D), and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This report discusses the funding increases authorized by the act for various relevant institutions, e.g., the National Science Foundation (NSF); the act's education activities intended to enhance the skills of STEM educators; and if Congress will continue to similarly fund the America COMPETES Act in the FY2010 budget.

This report discusses the White House's request for supplemental appropriations that include funding for defense, foreign affairs, and domestic fire fighting. The report details the different programs and areas that the appropriations would fund, including operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, preparedness and emergency management measures relating to the swine flu outbreak, border security between the United States and Mexico, benchmark assessment in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and other general defense operations.

In late April 2009, human cases of infection with a novel influenza A(H1N1) virus, commonly known as "swine flu," were identified. Since then, the virus has become widespread. It is timely to examine the legal issues surrounding this public health threat. This report provides a brief overview of selected legal issues including emergency measures, civil rights, liability issues, and employment issues.

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There is growing awareness of the complexity of potential reaction pathways and the associated solid-phase transformations during the reduction of Fe (hydr)oxides, especially ferrihydrite. An important observation in static and advective-dominated systems is that microbially produced Fe(II) accelerates Ostwald ripening of ferrihydrite, thus promoting the formation of thermodynamically more stable ferric phases (lepidocrocite and goethite) and, at higher Fe(II) surface loadings, the precipitation of magnetite; high Fe(II) levels can also lead to green rust formation, and with high carbonate levels siderite may also be formed. This study expands this emerging conceptual model to a diffusion-dominated system that mimics an idealized micropore of a ferrihydrite-coated soil aggregate undergoing reduction. Using a novel diffusion cell, coupled with micro-x-ray fluorescence and absorption spectroscopies, we determined that diffusion-controlled gradients in Fe{sup 2+}{sub (aq)} result in a complex array of spatially distributed secondary mineral phases. At the diffusive pore entrance, where Fe{sup 2+} concentrations are highest, green rust and magnetite are the dominant secondary Fe (hydr)oxides (30 mol% Fe each). At intermediate distances from the inlet, green rust is not observed and the proportion of magnetite decreases from approximately 30 to <10%. Across this same transect, the proportion of goethite increases from undetectable up to …

The proliferation of autocollimator-based surface profilometers at synchrotron metrology laboratories worldwide necessitates a detailed understanding of the parameters influencing their angular response. A comprehensive overview of the current status of autocollimator characterization and calibration at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and its implications for their optimal application are provided, as well as information on future challenges and expected progress. Autocollimator-based deflectometric profilometers are in operation at the PTB, the Advanced Light Source (ALS), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA, the BESSY II, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fuer Materialien und Energie GmbH, Germany, and the Diamond Light Source Ltd (DLS), UK. A continuous topic of research at the PTB is to investigate the factors influencing the angular response of autocollimators and to provide the most accurate calibration of the instruments to aid users in their application and manufacturers in their improvements [1-3]. At the PTB, the calibration of autocollimators is realized by a direct comparison of the devices with the primary angle reference standard [1]. With highly stable autocollimators, calibrations with standard measurement uncertainties of u = 0.003 arcsec (15 nrad) have been achieved [2,3]. The influence of a number of parameters on the angle measurement with autocollimators have been investigated in detail, such as …

A final report of Fruit and hard mast production in five habitat types at SRS with a comparison of fruit consumption by fledgling versus adult birds at SRS and Relative importance of fruit, seeds, and insects in the diets of overwintering birds at SRS.

The initiation of the synthesis of proteins is a fundamental process shared by all living organisms. Each organism has both shared and unique mechanisms for regulation of this vital process. Higher plants provide for a major amount of fixation of carbon from the environment and turn this carbon into food and fuel sources for our use. However, we have very little understanding of how plants regulate the synthesis of the proteins necessary for these metabolic processes. The research carried out during the grant period sought to address some of these unknowns in the regulation of protein synthesis initiation. Our first goal was to determine if phosphorylation plays a significant role in plant initiation of protein synthesis. The role of phosphorylation, although well documented in mammalian protein synthesis regulation, is not well studied in plants. We showed that several of the factors necessary for the initiation of protein synthesis were targets of plant casein kinase and showed differential phosphorylation by the plant specific isoforms of this kinase. In addition, we identified and confirmed the phosphorylation sites in five of the plant initiation factors. Further, we showed that phosphorylation of one of these factors, eIF5, affected the ability of the factor to …

The capability of EdotX would be improved by increasing the instrument's dynamic range to expand the range of signals measurable by the device. The heart of the EdotX system is a two channel analog to digital (A/D) conversion card with two analog to digital converters tightly coupled to a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Signals are continually digitized by the A/D and processed by the FPGA. When the FPGA detects a trigger condition, the data are transferred using direct memory access to the host computer memory, which in turn saves the data to disk. The original design utilizes a single A/D channel for data acquisition. The task was to increase the dynamic range of the system by enabling the second A/D channel, allowing the simultaneous acquisition of the original A/D channel and the additional second A/D channel. The input signal would be fed to the original channel and to the second channel with the second channel input being attenuated. When a signal hits the maximum range of the first channel, the data from the second channel, which is attenuated, are then used. Because both A/D's acquire data simultaneously, they may be used as a single expanded dynamic range channel.

Graphites MCMB-2810 and OMAC-15 (made by Osaka Gas Inc.), and SNG12 (Hydro Quebec, Inc.) were evaluated (in coin cells with lithium counter electrodes) as anode materials for lithium-ion cells intended for use in hybrid electric vehicles. Though the reversible capacity obtained for SNG was slightly higher than that of OMAC or MCMB, its 1st cycle efficiency was lower. Voltage vs capacity plots of cycling data show that the discharge and charge limits shift to higher capacity values due to continuation of anode side reactions. Varying the cycle charge and discharge limits was found to have no significant effect on fractional capacity shift per cycle.

The number of cores in high-end systems for scientific computing are employing is increasing rapidly. As a result, there is an pressing need for tools that can measure, model, and diagnose performance problems in highly-parallel runs. We describe two tools that employ complementary approaches for analysis at scale and we illustrate their use on DOE leadership-class systems.

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Development of X-ray optics for 3rd and 4th generation X-ray light sources with a level of surface slope precision of 0.1-0.2 {micro}rad requires the development of adequate fabrication technologies and dedicated metrology instrumentation and methods. Currently, the best performance of surface slope measurement has been achieved with the NOM (Nanometer Optical Component Measuring Machine) slope profiler at BESSY (Germany) [1] and the ESAD (Extended Shear Angle Difference) profiler at the PTB (Germany) [2]. Both instruments are based on electronic autocollimators (AC) precisely calibrated for the specific application [3] with small apertures of 2.5-5 mm in diameter. In the present work, we describe the design, initial alignment and calibration procedures, the instrumental control and data acquisition system, as well as the measurement performance of the Developmental Long Trace Profiler (DLTP) slope measuring instrument recently brought into operation at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) Optical Metrology Laboratory (OML). Similar to the NOM and ESAD, the DLTP is based on a precisely calibrated autocollimator. However, this is a reasonably low budget instrument used at the ALS OML for the development and testing of new measuring techniques and methods. Some of the developed methods have been implemented into the ALS LTP-II (slope measuring long …

Presentation on NREL's integrated biomass conversion capabilities. Presented at the 2009 Advanced Biofuels Workshop in Denver, CO, Cellulosic Ethanol session.

Schoenberg's Linear-slip Interface (LSI) model for single, compliant, viscoelastic fractures has been extended to poroelastic fractures for predicting seismic wave scattering. However, this extended model results in no impact of the in-plane fracture permeability on the scattering. Recently, we proposed a variant of the LSI model considering the heterogeneity in the in-plane fracture properties. This modified model considers wave-induced, fracture-parallel fluid flow induced by passing seismic waves. The research discussed in this paper applies this new LSI model to heterogeneous fractures to examine when and how the permeability of a fracture is reflected in the scattering of seismic waves. From numerical simulations, we conclude that the heterogeneity in the fracture properties is essential for the scattering of seismic waves to be sensitive to the permeability of a fracture.