On April 29, 2005, Congress completed action on the FY2006 budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 95, H.Rept. 109-62). This measure contains reconciliation instructions that require authorizing committees to report legislation to reduce spending on mandatory programs within each committee’s jurisdiction. To reduce spending in mandatory U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, conferees instructed the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to reduce mandatory spending by $173 million in FY2006 and $3.0 billion over five years (FY2006-FY2010). The Bush Administration earlier proposed changes to several mandatory USDA programs, which it said would save $5.7 billion over five years (and which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) subsequently scored at $9.4 billion in reductions). The agriculture committees must determine how to divide the cuts among the various programs under their jurisdiction by September 16, 2005.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Airport and Airway Trust Fund (Trust Fund) was established in 1970 to help fund the development of a nationwide airport and airway system and to fund investments in air traffic control facilities. It provides all of the funding for FAA's accounts such as the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which provides grants for construction and safety projects at airports, the Facilities and Equipment (F&E),which funds technological improvements to the air traffic control system, and the Research, Engineering, and Development (RE&D). In addition, the Trust Fund provides some funding for FAA's operations account. To fund these accounts, the Trust Fund relies on a number of taxes for revenue, including passenger ticket, fuel, and cargo taxes that are paid by passengers and airlines. Since 1970, revenues have generally exceeded expenditures--resulting in a surplus or an uncommitted balance. In 2004, the Trust Fund's year end uncommitted balance was about $2 billion. A number of structural changes in the aviation industry and external events have affected revenues flowing into and out of the Fund and have caused some aviation stakeholders to speculate about the Fund's financial condition. The various taxes that accrue …

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We report the chemical bonding structure and valence band alignment at the HfO{sub 2}/Ge (001) interface by systematically probing various core level spectra as well as valence band spectra using soft x-rays at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. We investigated the chemical bonding changes as a function of depth through the dielectric stack by taking a series of synchrotron photoemission spectra as we etched through the HfO{sub 2} film using a dilute HF-solution. We found that a very non-stoichiometric GeO{sub x} layer exists at the HfO{sub 2}/Ge interface. The valence band spectra near the Fermi level in each different film structure were carefully analyzed, and as a result, the valence band offset between Ge and GeO{sub x} was determined to be {Delta}E{sub v} (Ge-GeO{sub x}) = 2.2 {+-} 0.15 eV, and that between Ge and HfO{sub 2}, {Delta}E{sub v} (Ge-HfO{sub 2}) = 2.7 {+-} 0.15 eV.

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) on board NeXT (Japanese future high energy astrophysics mission) is a Compton telescope with narrow field of view, which utilizes Compton kinematics to enhance its background rejection capabilities. It is realized as a hybrid semiconductor gamma-ray detector which consists of silicon and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) detectors. It can detect photons in an energy band 0.05-1 MeV at a background level of 5 x 10{sup -7} counts/s/cm{sup 2}/keV; the silicon layers are required to improve the performance at a lower energy band (<0.3 MeV). Excellent energy resolution is the key feature of the SGD to achieve both high angular resolution and good background rejection capability. Its ability to measure gamma-ray polarization opens up a new window to study gamma-ray emission in the universe. We will present the development of key technologies to realize the SGD; high quality CdTe, low noise front-end VLSI and bump bonding technology. Energy resolutions of 1.7 keV (FWHM) for CdTe pixel detectors and 1.1 keV for silicon strip detectors have been measured. We also present the validation of Monte Carlo simulation used to evaluate the performance of the SGD.

The International Linear Collider based on superconducting RF cavities requires the damping rings to have extremely small equilibrium emittance, huge circumference, fast damping time, and large acceptance. To achieve all of these requirements is a very challenging task. In this paper, we will present a systematic approach to designing the damping rings using simple cells and non-interlaced sextupoles. The designs of the damping rings with various circumferences and shapes, including dogbone, are presented. To model realistic wigglers, we have developed a new hybrid symplectic integrator for faster and accurate evaluation of dynamic aperture of the lattices.

This report discusses congressional concerns, which focus on security and the role of the United Nations (U.N.), human rights, and East Timor's boundary disputes with Australia and Indonesia. East Timor emerged in 2002 as an independent state after a long history of Portugese colonialism and later, Indonesian rule. Under several different mandates, the United Nations has provided peacekeeping, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, and capacity building to establish a functioning government. Many challenges remain, including the need for economic development and sustained support by the international community.

In this Phase I Small Business Innovation research project Virent Energy Systems (Virent) attempted to demonstrate the feasibility of generating high yields of hydrogen by developing the appropriate reactor system for the novel liquid-phase reforming of aqueous-phase carbohydrate streams derived from biomass. In this project platinum-based catalysts were initially utilized to establish the technical feasibility of reactor design for reforming carbohydrates found in biomass to hydrogen.

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."

Establishing the age of individuals is an important step in identification and a frequent challenge in forensic medicine. This can be done with high precision up to adolescence by analysis of dentition, but establishing the age of adults has remained difficult. Here we show that measuring {sup 14}C from nuclear bomb tests in tooth enamel provides a sensitive way to establish when a person was born.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has estimated that as many as 250,000 veterans may be homeless on any given day. Many other veterans are also considered at risk for homelessness because of poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and precarious living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing. One federal program designed to help these veterans is the Department of Labor's (DOL) Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program (HVRP)--a grant program that provides funding for employment and training services for homeless veterans. GAO was asked to assist Congress with its consideration of HVRP reauthorization by providing information on DOL's (1) expenditures on HVRP grants and (2) measures and goals for assessing the effectiveness of HVRP. GAO reviewed VA and DOL documentation that included the amounts DOL expended for HVRP as well as information on HVRP grantees and performance goals. GAO also interviewed DOL program officials."

This report discusses the budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which would be a decrease of $2.8 billion, or almost 9%, from FY2005.

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This report discusses the legal issues considered by Congress on whether to permit drilling for oil and gas in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

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This report discusses potential changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act that may occur during the 109th Congress.

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We report on a precision measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in fixed target electron-electron (Moeller) scattering: A{sub PV} = (-131 {+-} 14 (stat.) {+-} 10 (syst.)) x 10{sup -9}, leading to the determination of the weak mixing angle sin{sup 2} {theta}{sub W}{sup eff} = 0.2397 {+-} 0.0010 (stat.) {+-} 0.0008 (syst.), evaluated at Q{sup 2} = 0.026 GeV{sup 2}. Combining this result with the measurements of sin{sup 2} {theta}{sub W}{sup eff} at the Z{sup 0} pole, the running of the weak mixing angle is observed with over 6{sigma} significance. The measurement sets constraints on new physics effects at the TeV scale.

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This project worked to improve the efficiency of the steel casting industry by reducing the variability that occurs because of process and product variation. The project focused on the post shakeout operations since roughly half of the production costs are in this area. These improvements will reduce the amount of variability, making it easier to manage the operation and improve the competitiveness. The reduction in variability will also reduce the need for many rework operations, which will result in a direct reduction of energy usage, particularly by the reduction of repeated heat treatment operations. Further energy savings will be realized from the reduction of scrap and reduced handling. Field studies were conducted at ten steel foundries that represented the U.S. steel casting industry, for a total of over 100 weeks of production observation. These studies quantified the amount of variability, and looked toward determining the source. A focus of the data collected was the grinding operations since this is a major effort in the cleaning room, and it represents the overall casting quality. The grinding was divided into two categories, expected and unexpected. Expected grinding is that in which the location of the effort is known prior to making the …

The branching fraction of the {tau}{sup -} {yields} 3h{sup -} 2h{sup +} {nu}{sub {tau}} decay (h = {pi}, K) is measured with the BABAR detector to be (8.56 {+-} 0.05 {+-} 0.42) x 10{sup -4}, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. The observed structure of this decay is significantly different from the phase space prediction, with the {rho} resonance playing a strong role. The decay {tau}{sup -} {yields} f{sub 1}(1285){pi}{sup -}{nu}{sub {tau}}, with the f{sub 1}(1285) meson decaying to four charged pions, is observed and the branching fraction is measured to be (3.9 {+-} 0.7 {+-} 0.5) x 10{sup -4}.

Phase I Due to the growing interest in establishing a domestic hydrogen infrastructure, several hydrogen fueling stations already have been established around the country as demonstration units. While these stations help build familiarity with hydrogen fuel in their respective communities, hydrogen vehicles are still several years from mass production. This limited number of hydrogen vehicles translates to a limited demand for hydrogen fuel, a significant hurdle for the near-term establishment of commercially viable hydrogen fueling stations. By incorporating a fuel cell and cogeneration system with a hydrogen fueling station, the resulting energy station can compensate for low hydrogen demand by providing both hydrogen dispensing and combined heat and power (CHP) generation. The electrical power generated by the energy station can be fed back into the power grid or a nearby facility, which in turn helps offset station costs. Hydrogen production capacity not used by vehicles can be used to support building heat and power loads. In this way, an energy station can experience greater station utility while more rapidly recovering capital costs, providing an increased market potential relative to a hydrogen fueling station. At an energy station, hydrogen is generated on-site. Part of the hydrogen is used for vehicle refueling …

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 an independent school district may enter into a 50-year lease with a private entity to use and improve the entity’s land for school purposes in exchange for $1.00 per year and the agreement to lease excess school district land to the private entity for 50 years (RQ-0292-GA)

To date, most resources for ion beam fusion have been devoted to development of accelerators and target physics; relatively few resources have gone into ion beam transport development. Because of theoretical studies and substantial experience with electron beam transport, the ion beam transport community is now poised to develop and optimize ion beam transport for ICF. Because of this Tri-Lab effort, a path for coordinated development of ion beam transport has been established. The rate of progress along this path will now be determined largely by the availability of resources.