A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has prepared this report to assist Congress in identifying and addressing debt management challenges. Since 1995, the statutory debt limit has been increased 12 times to its current level of $14.294 trillion. The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) recently notified Congress that the current debt limit could be reached as early as April 5, 2011, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that under current law debt subject to the limit will exceed $25 trillion in 2021. This report (1) describes the actions that Treasury traditionally takes to manage debt near the limit, (2) analyzes the effects that approaching the debt limit has had on the market for Treasury securities, and (3) describes alternative mechanisms that would permit consideration of the link between policy decisions and the effect on debt when or before decisions are made. GAO analyzed Treasury and market data; interviewed Treasury officials, budget and legislative experts, and market participants; and reviewed practices in selected countries."

This report examines the current state of Algeria, including the country's associations with terrorism, despite steady decreases of domestic terrorism; the lessening in power of the Algerian military; and growing oil revenues.

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) - which includes the National Fire Academy (NFA) - is currently an entity within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The objective of the USFA is to significantly reduce the nation's loss of life from fire, while also achieving a reduction in property loss and non-fatal injury due to fire. In the 112th Congress, debate over the USFA budget focuses on whether the USFA is receiving sufficient funding to accomplish its mission, given that appropriations for USFA have consistently been well below the agency's authorized level. An ongoing issue is the viability and status of the USFA and National Fire Academy within the Department of Homeland Security.

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This report details the chemical and radionuclide contaminant results for the characterization of the 2010 Fourth Quarter sampling of Tank 50 for the Saltstone Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). Information from this characterization will be used by Liquid Waste Operations (LWO) to support the transfer of low-level aqueous waste from Tank 50 to the Salt Feed Tank in the Saltstone Facility in Z-Area, where the waste will be immobilized. This information is also used to update the Tank 50 Waste Characterization System. The following conclusions are drawn from the analytical results provided in this report: (1) The concentrations of the reported chemical and radioactive contaminants were less than their respective WAC targets or limits unless noted in this section. (2) The reported detection limits for {sup 94}Nb, {sup 247}Cm and {sup 249}Cf are above the requested limits from Reference 2. However, they are below the limits established in Reference 3. (3) There is an estimated concentration of trimethylbenzene (2.25 mg/L). This is not a WAC analyte, but it is the first time this organic compound has been detected in a quarterly WAC sample from Tank 50. (4) The reported detection limit for Norpar 13 is greater than the limit from Table …

The focus of the research performed under this grant has been the investigation of spin transport in magnetic semiconductor heterostructures. The interest in these systems is motivated both by their intriguing physical properties, as the physical embodiment of a spin-polarized Fermi liquid, as well as by their potential applications as spintronics devices. In our work we have analyzed several different problems that affect the spin dynamics in single and bi-layer spin-polarized two-dimensional (2D) systems. The topics of interests ranged from the fundamental aspects of the electron-electron interactions, to collective spin and charge density excitations and spin transport in the presence of the spin-orbit coupling. The common denominator of these subjects is the impact at the macroscopic scale of the spin-dependent electron-electron interaction, which plays a much more subtle role than in unpolarized electron systems. Our calculations of several measurable parameters, such as the excitation frequencies of magneto-plasma modes, the spin mass, and the spin transresistivity, propose realistic theoretical estimates of the opposite-spin many-body effects, in particular opposite-spin correlations, that can be directly connected with experimental measurements.

At the request of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, an in-depth analysis of the rapidly evolving state of real estate investments, high-performance building technology, and interest in efficiency was conducted by HaydenTanner, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Program. The analysis objectives were • to evaluate the link between high-performance buildings and their market value • to identify core messaging to motivate owners, investors, financiers, and others in the real estate sector to appropriately value and deploy high-performance strategies and technologies across new and existing buildings • to summarize financial mechanisms that facilitate increased investment in these buildings. To meet these objectives, work consisted of a literature review of relevant writings, examination of existing and emergent financial and policy mechanisms, interviews with industry stakeholders, and an evaluation of the value implications through financial modeling. This report documents the analysis methodology and findings, conclusion and recommendations. Its intent is to support and inform the DOE Building Technologies Program on policy and program planning for the financing of high-performance new buildings and building retrofit projects.

Each year, more than 25 million vehicles reach the end of their service life throughout the world, and this number is rising rapidly because the number of vehicles on the roads is rapidly increasing. In the United States, more than 95% of the 10-15 million scrapped vehicles annually enter a comprehensive recycling infrastructure that includes auto parts recyclers/dismantlers, remanufacturers, and material recyclers (shredders). Today, over 75% of automotive materials, primarily the metals, are profitably recycled via (1) parts reuse and parts and components remanufacturing and (2) ultimately by the scrap processing (shredding) industry. The process by which the scrap processors recover metal scrap from automobiles involves shredding the obsolete automobile hulks, along with other obsolete metal-containing products (such as white goods, industrial scrap, and demolition debris), and recovering the metals from the shredded material. The single largest source of recycled ferrous scrap for the iron and steel industry is obsolete automobiles. The non-metallic fraction that remains after the metals are recovered from the shredded materials - commonly called shredder residue - constitutes about 25% of the weight of the vehicle, and it is disposed of in landfills. This practice is not environmentally friendly, wastes valuable resources, and may become uneconomical. …

The accuracy in the photometry of a point source depends on the point-spread function (PSF), detector pixelization, and observing strategy. The PSF and pixel response describe the spatial blurring of the source, the pixel scale describes the spatial sampling of a single exposure, and the observing strategy determines the set of dithered exposures with pointing offsets from which the source flux is inferred. In a wide-field imaging survey, sources of interest are randomly distributed within the field of view and hence are centered randomly within a pixel. A given hardware configuration and observing strategy therefore have a distribution of photometric uncertainty for sources of fixed flux that fall in the field. In this article we explore the ensemble behavior of photometric and position accuracies for different PSFs, pixel scales, and dithering patterns. We find that the average uncertainty in the flux determination depends slightly on dither strategy, whereas the position determination can be strongly dependent on the dithering. For cases with pixels much larger than the PSF, the uncertainty distributions can be non-Gaussian, with rms values that are particularly sensitive to the dither strategy. We also find that for these configurations with large pixels, pointings dithered by a fractional pixel …

Presented in this report are radionuclide concentrations required as part of the program of qualifying Sludge Batch Seven (SB7) for processing in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The SB7 material is currently in Tank 51 being washed and prepared for transfer to Tank 40. The acceptance evaluation needs to be completed prior to the transfer of the material in Tank 51 to Tank 40. The sludge slurry in Tank 40 has already been qualified for DWPF and is currently being processed as SB6. The radionuclide concentrations were measured or estimated in the Tank 51 SB7 Qualification Sample prepared at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). This sample was prepared from the three liter qualification sample of Tank 51 sludge slurry (HTF-51-10-125) received on September 18, 2010. The sample was delivered to SRNL where it was initially characterized in the Shielded Cells. With consultation from the Liquid Waste Organization, the qualification sample was then modified by several washes and decants, which included addition of Pu from H Canyon and sodium nitrite per the Tank Farm corrosion control program. This final slurry now has a composition expected to be similar to that of the slurry in Tank 51 after final preparations have …

Operational wind power forecasting, turbine micrositing, and turbine design require high-resolution simulations of atmospheric flow over complex terrain. The use of both Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy (LES) simulations is explored for wind energy applications using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. To adequately resolve terrain and turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer, grid nesting is used to refine the grid from mesoscale to finer scales. This paper examines the performance of the grid nesting configuration, turbulence closures, and resolution (up to as fine as 100 m horizontal spacing) for simulations of synoptically and locally driven wind ramping events at a West Coast North American wind farm. Interestingly, little improvement is found when using higher resolution simulations or better resolved turbulence closures in comparison to observation data available for this particular site. This is true for week-long simulations as well, where finer resolution runs show only small changes in the distribution of wind speeds or turbulence intensities. It appears that the relatively simple topography of this site is adequately resolved by all model grids (even as coarse as 2.7 km) so that all resolutions are able to model the physics at similar accuracy. The accuracy of the results …

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Proceedings of the House of Representatives of Texas for the twenty-third day of the regular session of the 82nd Legislature documenting legislation, reports, discussions, votes, and points-of-order.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

This report outlines basic facts related to global tuberculosis (TB), including characteristics of the epidemic and U.S. legislation, programs, funding, and partnerships related to the global response to TB.

This report outlines basic facts related to global malaria, including characteristics of the epidemic and U.S. legislation, programs, funding, and partnerships related to the global response to malaria.

This report highlights some of the current challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. as well as several policy issues that the 112th Congress may consider as it determines U.S. global health funding for these three diseases. Also examined are policy issues that the 112th Congress may consider, including health systems strengthening, country ownership, research and development, monitoring and evaluation, and bilateral vs. multilateral support.

The purpose of this report is to provide Congress with an overview of the federal rulemaking process and a brief discussion of the major laws and executive orders that prescribe the procedures agencies are to apply when promulgating regulations.

This report discusses the firefighting activities that are traditionally the responsibility of states and local communities. The report also talks about the funding for firefighters, which is provided mostly by state and local governments. However, during the 106th Congress, many in the fire community asserted that local fire departments require and deserve greater support from the federal government.

This report discusses the changing political landscape of Guinea. The report also discusses U.S. interests and associated policy challenges in Guinea centering around democratization, counternarcotics issues, regional stability, socioeconomic development, and various other issues.