A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the semiannual reporting requirements contained in the Inspector General (IG) Act of 1978, focusing on the: (1) composition of the semiannual reports; and (2) views of a range of individuals--IGs, agency managers, and congressional staff--on the usefulness of the reports and what modifications, if any, should be made to the semiannual reporting requirements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Media reports of desecration of graves and human remains and other types of mismanagement at cemeteries and crematories have inspired a debate regarding whether the federal government should take on a greater role in regulating the death care industry, primarily funeral homes, crematories, cemeteries, pre-need sales of funeral plans, and third party sales of funeral goods. The federal government has a limited role in regulating the death care industry, as most regulatory responsibilities are handled at the state level. Because of this, federal policymakers have expressed an interest in understanding the range of practices that are used by the states to regulate the various segments of the death care industry. Based on surveys of state regulators covering the various segments of the death care industry; and visits to the states of California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, New York, and Texas; this report provides information on (1) the structures used by states for regulating the death care industry, and (2) the mechanisms used by states for enforcing their regulations covering the industry. The report also provides information on the resources available to help consumers make informed choices regarding …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the early 2000s, the Forest Service, within the Department of Agriculture, centralized the operations of three major business services: (1) budget and finance, (2) human resources management, and (3) information technology. The agency's goals in centralizing these services, which were previously delivered by staff in field units throughout the country, were to streamline and improve operations and reduce costs. Congressional committees directed GAO to independently analyze whether centralization had achieved intended efficiencies and cost savings. Accordingly, this report examines the (1) types of effects centralization has had on the Forest Service and its employees, particularly in field units; (2) actions the agency has taken to assess its delivery of its centralized business services and to address identified shortcomings; and (3) extent to which the agency can demonstrate that it achieved intended cost savings. GAO examined agency reports, performance studies, cost estimates, and other documentation and interviewed and conducted focus groups with employees across the agency."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Congress has required the administration to report annually on federal spending on climate change. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports funding in four categories: technology (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions), science (to better understand the climate), international assistance (to help developing countries), and tax expenditures (to encourage reductions in emissions). The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), which coordinates many agencies' activities, reports only on science. To measure funding, OMB and CCSP use budget authority, the authority provided in law to enter into financial obligations that will result in government outlays. GAO was asked to examine federal climate change funding for 1993 through 2004, as reported by both agencies, including (1) how total funding and funding by category changed and whether funding data are comparable over time and (2) how funding by agency changed and whether funding data are comparable over time."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Between 1998 and 2004, Congress appropriated over $1.2 billion to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. The campaign aimed to prevent the initiation of or curtail the use of drugs among the nation's youth. In 2005, Westat, Inc., completed a multiyear national evaluation of the campaign. GAO has been mandated to review various aspects of the campaign, including Westat's evaluation which is the subject of this report. Applying generally accepted social science research standards, GAO assessed (1) how Westat provided credible support for its findings and Westat's findings about (2) attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of youth and parents toward drug use and (3) youth self-reported drug use."

This report discusses changes in coordination and funding for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs as directed in the Reauthorization Act. It provides background on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) implementation including results and funding through FY2008. It then discusses similarities and differences between H.R. 5501 as passed by the House on April 2, 2008, and H.R. 5501 as passed by the Senate on July 16, 2008. Finally, it details key outcomes in the legislation as enacted.

This report provides background information on and discusses issues related to the DOD's role in providing U.S. foreign assistance and undertaking foreign assistance-type activities. Topics include the types of assistance DOD provides, the authorities under which DOD conducts its programs, and coordination and cooperation mechanisms between DOD and other agencies. The report begins with a brief introduction to the three areas in which DOD plays a role in foreign assistance and to Congress's part in authorizing that role. Next, the report briefly discusses the general evolution of DOD's role and the Department of State's current perception of that role based on current national security needs. The report then provides an overview of the evolution of the DOD role and current activities in the three areas cited above, with a snapshot of the varying perspectives on the DOD roles in these areas. Finally, the report discusses issues that Congress may wish to consider. The appendices provide more detailed information on the current and most significant foreign assistance programs in which DOD plays a role.

This report provides an overview of health care services and disability compensation benefits available to Vietnam veterans, Children of Vietnam Era veterans, and non-Vietnam veterans exposed to herbicides. This is followed by a discussion of litigation pertaining to Navy veterans of the Vietnam Era who served offshore and were never physically present on Vietnamese soil. The report concludes with a discussion of epidemiologic research conducted to study the health effects of Agent Orange and dioxin exposure on Vietnam veterans.

This report summarizes what is currently known publicly about companies that provide personnel for security missions in Iraq and some sources of controversy surrounding them. A treatment of legal status and authorities follows, including an overview of relevant international law as well as Iraqi law, which currently consists primarily of Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) orders that remain in effect until superceded. The various possible means for prosecuting contractors under U.S. law in civilian or military courts are detailed, followed by a discussion of possible issues for Congress, including whether protective services are inherently governmental functions. The report also summarizes pertinent legislative proposals.

This report gives an overview of issues and legislation relating to the Emergency Alert System (EAS). It includes a discussion of the EAS administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather radios, all-hazard warning technology, proposals and programs, the executive order regarding the public alert and warning system and legislation from the 109th and 110th Congresses.

Legislative branch revolving funds support the "business-type activities" of the House, Senate, and legislative branch agencies. This report traces the establishment, use, and recent development of these funds. Where available, the current status of funds is provided, using standard federal government budget object classifications.

This report discusses the rebanding plan announced by the Federal Communications Commission in 2004 to consolidate public safety frequencies and those used by some other operators, such as utilities. The plan was announce in an attempt to eliminate interference caused by the close proximity and interleaving of commercial and public safety channels.

This report provides background information and potential issues for Congress on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a relatively inexpensive Navy surface combatant equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages. The Navy's proposed FY2012 budget requests funding for the procurement of four LCSs. Current issues for Congress concerning the LCS program include changes or potential changes to the composition of LCS mission modules announced by the Navy in January 2011, the combat survivability of the LCS, and hull cracking on LCS-1. Congress's decisions on the LCS program could affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the shipbuilding industrial base.

This report provides a brief overview of the European Union (EU), an economic and political partnership between 27 sovereign member states. The report describes the formation of the EU, the three main institutions of the EU, and the EU's relationship with the United States.

Today's 911 system is built on an infrastructure of analog technology that does not support many of the features that most Americans expect to be part of an emergency response. Efforts to splice newer, digital technologies onto this aging infrastructure have created points of failure where a call can be dropped or misdirected, sometimes with tragic consequences. Callers to 911, however, generally assume that the newer technologies they are using to place a call are matched by the same level of technology at the 911 call centers, known as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). This report discusses possible paths toward the modernization of the 911 infrastructure.

Operating budget for the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for fiscal year 2012, including information about budget rules and procedures, and summaries for expected income and expenses for various funds.

This report discusses current issues regarding Greece's recent elections, economy, and foreign policies.

This report addresses the European perspectives on a number of proposals that are being advanced for financial oversight and regulation in Europe. The European experience may be instructive because financial markets in Europe are well developed, European firms often are competitors of U.S. firms, and European governments have faced severe problems of integration and consistency across the various financial structures that exist in Europe.

A proposal has been made to establish a high density global network of atmospheric micro transponders to record time, temperature, and wind data with time resolution of {le} 1 minute, temperature accuracy of {+-} 1 K, spatial resolution no poorer than {approx}3km horizontally and {approx}0.1km vertically, and 2-D speed accuracy of {le} 1m/s. This data will be used in conjunction with advanced numerical weather prediction models to provide increases in the reliability of long range weather forecasts. Major advances in data collection technology will be required to provide the proposed high-resolution data collection network. Systems studies must be undertaken to determine insertion requirements, spacing, and evolution of the transponder ensemble, which will be used to collect the data. Numerical models which provide realistic global weather pattern simulations must be utilized in order to perform these studies. A global circulation model with a 3{sup o} horizontal resolution has been used for initial simulations of the generation and evolution of transponder distributions. These studies indicate that reasonable global coverage of transponders can be achieved by a launch scenario consisting of the sequential launch of transponders at specified heights from a globally distributed set of launch sites.

This report describes the structure study of the premixed hydrocarbon-oxidizer Bunsen flames burning at the atmospheric pressure and also the ones with some inhibitors added. Studies were performed on hexane, propane, methane, acetylene, and hexene flames.

'The principal objective for Year 1 of this study has included sorbent collection, preparation and characterization, as well as investigation of the efficacy of abiotic/enzymatic coupling reactions on the irreversible binding of phenolic compounds on natural soils and sediments. In response to a budget reduction request specific modifications were made without compromising the integrity of the proposed work. The modified Phase 1 experimental matrix consists of four natural sorbents and three phenolic sorbates. Preliminary experiments with Chelsea soil indicated excessive release of soil organic matter (SOM) into solution, thereby complicating determination of aqueous phase phenol concentrations. It was therefore decided to substitute Lachine shale for the Chelsea soil. This shale is a well-characterized natural sorbent used previously in the laboratory. Additionally two field soils having similar soil morphology were identified based on their particle size distribution and organic matter content. These soils were located from US Department of Agriculture soil survey data and collected aseptically from a forested and a grassland site. Another deviation from the proposed schedule of tasks was the initiation of work from Phase 2 and Phase 3. In addition to experiments with natural systems, preliminary work with model and engineered systems was initiated earlier than scheduled …

Data presented in the PSM describe the supply and disposition of petroleum products in the United States and major US geographic regions. The data series describe production, imports and exports, inter-Petroleum Administration for Defense (PAD) District movements, and inventories by the primary suppliers of petroleum products in the United States (50 States and the District of Columbia). The reporting universe includes those petroleum sectors in primary supply. Included are: petroleum refiners, motor gasoline blenders, operators of natural gas processing plants and fractionators, inter-PAD transporters, importers, and major inventory holders of petroleum products and crude oil. When aggregated, the data reported by these sectors approximately represent the consumption of petroleum products in the United States. Data presented in the PSM are divided into two sections: Summary Statistics and Detailed Statistics.

Exclusive and semi-exclusive processes, the diffractive dissociation of hadrons into jets, and hard diffractive processes such as vector meson leptoproduction provide new testing grounds for QCD and essential information on the structure of light-cone wavefunctions of hadrons, particularly the pion distribution amplitude. I review the basic features of the leading-twist QCD predictions and the problems and challenges of studying QCD at the amplitude level. The application of the light-cone formalism to the exclusive semi-leptonic decay of heavy hadrons is also discussed.

Due to the sensitivity of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities to initial conditions and due to the difficulty of forming well controlled cylindrical or spherical fluid interfaces, Rayleigh-Taylor experiments are often performed with simple, planar interfaces. Rayleigh-Taylor instability phenomena of practical interest, however, (e.g., underwater explosions, supernova core collapses, and inertial confinement fusion capsule implosions) are typically associated with cylindrical or spherical interfaces in which convergent flow effects have an important influence on the dynamics of instability growth. Recently, Meshkov et.al. have developed a novel technique for studying Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth in a cylindrically convergent geometry. Their experiments utilized low-strength gelatin rings which are imploded by a detonating gas mixture of oxygen and acetylene. Since the gelatin itself has sufficient strength to resist significant deformation by gravity, no membranes are needed to define the ring shape. This experimental technique is attractive because it offers a high degree of control over the interfacial geometry and over the material`s strength and rigidity, which can be varied by adjusting the gelatin concentration. Finally, since both the gelatin and the explosive product gases are transparent, optical diagnostics can be used.