The temperature of a char particle burning in an oxygen containing atmosphere is the product of a strongly coupled balance between particle size and physical properties, heat transfer from the particle, surface reactivity, CO/CO{sub 2} ratio and gas phase diffusion in the surrounding boundary layer and within the particle. CO{sub 2}/CO ratios can be strongly influenced by catalytic material in the carbon and by the char temperature. In this program we are measuring the CO{sub 2}/CO ratio for both catalyzed and uncatalyzed chars over a wide range of temperature. These results will then be used to develop predictive models for char temperature and burning rates. The electrodynamic balance has been successfully used to make such measurements for single 200{mu}m spherocarb particles. A few theoretical approaches to model a single particle oxidation have been made, but most of them assumed the infinitely thin reaction zone at the particle surface. This approach can not explain pore diffusion limitation, structural change, or reaction at low temperatures inside the particle. Too simplifying solid phase reaction may leads to wrong predictions. In this report, progress on constructing models including both solid and gas phase reaction are reported.

During this period, we focused our attention in analyzing the magnetic nature of the extensively used trimetallic catalyst system Cu-Co-Cr for the production of higher alcohols. We believe that there could be some correspondence between the catalytic and magnetic behaviors of the transition metal catalyst systems. Both the morphology and metallic charge distribution of the particles are known to govern the catalytic as well as the magnetic properties of the system.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which provides direction to the federal executive boards (FEBs), is now emphasizing that in the post-9/11 environment, the boards have a transformed emergency support role. The report discusses the boards' emergency preparedness roles and responsibilities and their potential role in preparing for and responding to pandemic influenza. GAO selected 14 of the 28 FEBs for review because they coordinate the greatest number of federal employees or had recent emergency management experience."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the past 8 years, since the first audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government (CFS), certain material weaknesses in internal control and in selected accounting and financial reporting practices have resulted in conditions that prevented GAO from expressing an opinion on the CFS. Specifically, GAO has reported that the U.S. government did not have adequate systems, controls, and procedures to properly prepare the CFS. In December 2004, GAO reported on weaknesses identified during its fiscal year 2004 audit of the CFS, including weaknesses relating to the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) preparation of the CFS. The purpose of this report is to (1) discuss the details of the weaknesses relating to Treasury's preparation of the CFS, (2) recommend improvements to address those weaknesses, and (3) provide the status of corrective actions to address the 142 open recommendations GAO previously reported."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Both the government and the private sector are increasingly using "data mining"--that is, the application of database technology and techniques (such as statistical analysis and modeling) to uncover hidden patterns and subtle relationships in data and to infer rules that allow for the prediction of future results. As has been widely reported, many federal data mining efforts involve the use of personal information that is mined from databases maintained by public as well as private sector organizations. GAO was asked to survey data mining systems and activities in federal agencies. Specifically, GAO was asked to identify planned and operational federal data mining efforts and describe their characteristics."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The states and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot ensure that all active underground storage tanks have the required leak-, spill-, and overfill-protection equipment installed, nor can they guarantee that the installed equipment is being properly operated and maintained. Although the states and EPA regions focus most of their limited resources on monitoring active tanks, empty or inactive tanks can also potentially contaminate soil and groundwater. Half of the states have not physically inspected all of their tanks, and several others have not done inspections often enough to ensure the tanks' safety. Moreover, most states and EPA lack authority to use the most effective enforcement tools, and many state officials acknowledge that additional enforcement tools and resources were needed to ensure tank safety. EPA has the opportunity to correct these limitations within its own regions and to help states correct them through its new tank program initiatives. However, the agency has yet to define many of the implementation details, so it is difficult to determine whether the proposed actions will ensure more inspection coverage and more effective enforcement, especially within the states. Congress could help alleviate …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the nature and extent of workplace conflicts that underlie the rising number of discrimination cases, focusing on: (1) the statutory bases (e.g., race, sex, or disability discrimination) under which employees filed complaints; (2) the kinds of issues (e.g., nonselection for promotion, harassment) that were cited in these complaints; and (3) why the data collected and reported by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) were not helpful in answering the questions raised."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since January 1, 2006, all dual-eligible beneficiaries--individuals with both Medicare and Medicaid coverage--must receive their drug benefit through Medicare's new Part D prescription drug plans (PDP) rather than from state Medicaid programs. GAO analyzed (1) current challenges in identifying and enrolling new dual-eligible beneficiaries in PDPs, (2) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) efforts to address challenges, and (3) federal and state approaches to assigning dual-eligible beneficiaries to PDPs. GAO reviewed federal law, CMS regulations and guidance and interviewed CMS and PDP officials, among others. GAO also made site visits to six states to learn about the enrollment of dual-eligible beneficiaries from the state perspective."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1996, federal agencies have taken several actions to strengthen their oversight of phosphate mining on federal land. For example, BLM now conducts more detailed environmental analysis when evaluating new mine plans; requires phosphate mine operators to provide more comprehensive plans for reclaiming mine sites (restoring the land to a stable condition that can support other uses); and requires the mine operators to provide financial assurances that are based on the full estimated cost of reclaiming mines, in contrast to BLM’s previous practice of calculating financial assurances based simply on the acreage associated with mines. However, gaps remain in agency policies and coordination that could limit the agencies’ efforts to address contamination from phosphate-mining operations. For example, BLM has not documented its new full-cost financial assurance practice in agency policy and therefore has limited assurance that it will be implemented consistently. BLM also has not fully coordinated with the Forest Service when establishing mine lease conditions and setting financial assurance amounts. Limited coordination is of particular concern because 16 phosphate leases in Idaho are scheduled for review and possible readjustment in the next 5 years, and …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To ease the pace of overseas deployments, the President announced a plan in 2007 to grow the Army's end strength by about 7 percent by 2013. GAO was asked to evaluate the Army's management of this growth. Specifically, GAO determined the extent to which the Army has (1) made progress in growing the force, (2) awarded cost-effective bonuses to attract and retain enlistees, (3) maintained the quality of its enlisted force, and (4) directed growth in its officer force to areas of need and determined whether trade-offs it has made to alleviate shortages will have long-term effects. GAO reviewed the Army's growth plans, bonuses, waivers, and officer promotions, and interviewed Defense and Army officials."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the water marketing activities of the Bureau of Reclamation's Central Valley Project and their associated costs. Water marketing costs have risen significantly since 1989, but GAO found no evidence that the costs were associated with activities other than normal operation and maintenance activities that are recoverable from water customers under applicable law. GAO reviewed the information provided to customers and found that the customers were unable to determine whether (1) budgeted activities were the ones that would actually be charged to them and (2) budgeted amounts for the coming year's activities represented increases in previous estimates."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress, the media, and immigrant advocacy groups have criticized the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for its inability to provide immigrants with timely decisions on their applications for such benefits as naturalization and legal permanent residence. INS continues to experience significant problems managing its application workload despite years of increasing budgets and staff. Automation improvements would provide INS with the management information it needs to determine how long aliens have been waiting for their applications to be processed. Automation improvements would also help INS determine whether it is processing all the applications it receives, working on applications in the order in which they are received, and providing prompt and correct responses to applicants' inquiries about the status of their cases. INS does not know how to maximize the deployment of staff to process applications in a timely fashion because it lacks a systematically developed staff resource allocation model. Such a model could help INS determine the right number and types of staff it needs, efficiently distribute staff to the right locations, and ensure that resources are deployed commensurate with the workload to minimize backlogs and processing …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) Loan Guaranty Program, which guarantees mortgage loans for qualified lenders, provides additional assistance to those who face financial hardship and possible foreclosure. This report discusses VA's supplemental loan servicing program. GAO (1) assesses VA's implementation of its policies and procedures for servicing troubled loans and (2) analyzes VA's measures for assessing the effectiveness of its supplemental servicing program and ability to generate meaningful data for overseeing and improving loan servicing. GAO found that the three regional loan centers it visited generally conformed with VA policies and procedures and had procedures in place to ensure that VA's loan servicing representatives complied with VA policies and procedures. Two issues affect VA's ability to effectively manage its supplemental servicing program. First, VA lacks meaningful performance measures that would allow it to accurately assess the effectiveness of its program. Second, VA's computer system has been unable to generate useful and timely management reports that regional loan center managers and headquarters staff could use to manage their supplemental loan servicing program."

In this task the historical performance of powerplants in Illinois was examined and the opportunities for improved powerplant productivity in Illinois was determined. The four utilities considered were the major investor-owned electric generating utilities in Illinois, i.e., Central Illinois Light Co., (CILCO), Central Illinois Public Service (CIPS), Commonwealth Edison (CECO), and Illinois Power (IP). The major findings are: (1) for evaluation purposes, the equivalent availability was judged to be the most-appropriate measure; (2) in terms of powerplant productivity, IP is among the best in the nation and, in terms of productivity from large coal units, it ranks in the top five nationally; (3) in general, the performance of coal-fired units of CILCO and CECO have been below national averages and in some cases, significantly below; (4) a review of the trends in production of all Illinois units reveals that Illinois units as a group have been generally below national averages for the respective unit classes; (5) as noted in this and other studies, productivities of the nuclear plants in Illinois have been below the national average for all comparable nuclear plants; and (6) this analysis should be updated when national 1977 and 1978 Edison Electric Institute data become publicly available.

This report examines the current state of the transatlantic relationship and discusses the key issues outlined above, which are likely to have implications for U.S. interests during the 112th Congress.

Military food items, also known as subsistence items, are generally procured under the auspices of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the Department of Defense (DOD) which provides worldwide logistics support for the U.S. military services. Under DLA, the Defense Supply Center (DCSP) is the inventory control point for food, clothing, textiles, medicines, medical equipment, general and industrial supplies and services for the military, their eligible dependents, and other non-DOD customers worldwide. This report will describe the origin, authority, and policy in military food procurement.

This report provides a brief overview of the transition underway and information on U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. U.S. policy toward Egypt has long been framed as an investment in regional stability, built primarily on long-running military cooperation and sustaining the March 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Successive U.S. Administrations have viewed Egypt's government as a moderating influence in the Middle East. U.S. policy makers are now grappling with complex questions about the future of U.S.-Egypt relations and these debates are likely to influence consideration of appropriations and authorization legislation in the 112th Congress.

This report reviews the ongoing programs that will affect the expected size and shape of the U.S. strategic nuclear force structure. It begins with an overview of this force structure during the Cold War, and summarizes the reductions and changes that have occurred since 1991. It then offers details about each category of delivery vehicle, focusing on their current deployments and ongoing and planned modernization programs. The report concludes with a discussion of issues related to decisions about the future size and shape of the U.S. strategic nuclear force.

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.

This report provides background information and presents potential issues for Congress concerning the Navy's ship force-structure goals and shipbuilding plans. The planned size of the Navy, the rate of Navy ship procurement, and the prospective affordability of the Navy's shipbuilding plans have been matters of concern for the congressional defense committees for the past several years. Decisions that Congress makes on Navy shipbuilding programs can substantially affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) program, which is carried out by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Navy, and gives Navy Aegis cruisers and destroyers a capability for conducting BMD operations. Issues for Congress concerning the Aegis BMD program include whether to approve, reject, or modify MDA and Navy funding requests for the program, and whether to provide MDA or the Navy with additional direction concerning the program. Congress's decisions regarding the Aegis BMD program could substantially affect U.S. BMD capabilities and funding requirements, U.S. Navy ship force levels and operating patterns, and the defense industrial base.

With limited natural resources, a crippling illiteracy rate, and high population growth, Yemen faces an array of daunting development challenges that some observers believe make it at risk for becoming a failed state in the next few decades. As the country's population rapidly rises, resources dwindle, and terrorist groups take root in the outlying provinces, the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress are left to grapple with the consequences of Yemeni instability. As President Obama and the 111th Congress reassess U.S. policy toward the Arab world, the opportunity for improved U.S.-Yemeni ties is strong, though recurring tensions over counterterrorism cooperation and lack of U.S. interest in Yemen within the broader foreign policy community persist.

This report examines the original intent and purpose of the Berry Amendment and legislative proposals to amend the application of domestic source restrictions, as well as potential options for Congress.

Internal inspection of pipelines is an important tool for ensuring safe and reliable delivery of fossil energy products. Current inspection systems that are propelled through the pipeline by the product flow cannot be used to inspect all pipelines because of the various physical barriers they encounter. Recent development efforts include a new generation of powered inspection platforms that crawl slowly inside a pipeline and are able to maneuver past the physical barriers that can limit inspection. At Battelle, innovative electromagnetic sensors are being designed and tested for these new pipeline crawlers. The various sensor types can be used to assess a wide range of pipeline anomalies including corrosion, mechanical damage, and cracks. Battelle is in the final year on a projected three-year development effort. In the first year, two innovative electromagnetic inspection technologies were designed and tested. Both were based on moving high-strength permanent magnets to generate inspection energy. One system involved translating permanent magnets towards the pipe. A pulse of electric current would be induced in the pipe to oppose the magnetization according to Lenz's Law. The decay of this pulse would indicate the presence of defects in the pipe wall. This inspection method is similar to pulsed eddy …