A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Department of Defense's (DOD) fiscal year 2007 budget estimates, working capital fund activity groups (depot maintenance, ordnance, and research and development) will have about $6 billion of funded work that will be carried over from fiscal year 2007 into fiscal year 2008. The congressional defense committees recognize that these groups need some carryover to ensure a smooth work flow from one fiscal year to the next. However, the committees have previously raised concern that the amount of carryover may be more than is needed. GAO was asked to determine if (1) the Naval Air Warfare Center's (NAWC) reported actual carryover was reliable for fiscal years 2003 through 2006 and (2) NAWC was utilizing the required triannual review process to improve the reliability of its carryover information and underlying financial data."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Commerce's U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) seeks updated information on the addresses and maps of housing units from state, local, and tribal governments through the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) program. This testimony discusses (1) the status of the LUCA program, and (2) the Bureau's response to prior issues raised by GAO as well as new challenges related to the program. The testimony is based on a GAO report issued on June 14, 2007. GAO reviewed LUCA program documents, met with and surveyed participants in the LUCA Dress Rehearsal, and interviewed Bureau officials and local officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Following several hurricanes in 2005, the need to rebuild and repair destroyed and damaged homes and buildings in the Gulf Coast region may create opportunities for making energy efficiency improvements and realizing energy cost savings. While numerous federal agencies are involved in the recovery process, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Energy (DOE) interact with the states on a regular basis regarding matters of energy efficiency. This report, initiated under the authority of the Comptroller General of the United States, examines (1) the extent of opportunities for incorporating energy efficiency improvements in the Gulf Coast reconstruction, (2) potential challenges to realizing the energy cost savings during the reconstruction, and (3) the role of HUD and DOE in promoting energy efficiency in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. GAO limited the scope of its work to Louisiana and Mississippi since these states experienced the majority of the hurricane damage. GAO assessed opportunities for incorporating energy efficiency measures by conducting site visits and interviewing federal, state government officials; home builders; and energy efficiency experts. GAO also worked with a DOE national laboratory …

A nucleic acid-based multiplexed assay was developed that combines detection of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) with rule-out assays for two other foreign animal diseases and four domestic animal diseases that cause vesicular or ulcerative lesions indistinguishable from FMDV infection in cattle, sheep and swine. The FMDV 'look-alike' diagnostic assay panel contains five PCR and twelve reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) signatures for a total of seventeen simultaneous PCR amplifications for seven diseases plus incorporating four internal assay controls. It was developed and optimized to amplify both DNA and RNA viruses simultaneously in a single tube and employs Luminex{trademark} liquid array technology. Assay development including selection of appropriate controls, a comparison of signature performance in single and multiplex testing against target nucleic acids, as well of limits of detection for each of the individual signatures is presented. While this assay is a prototype and by no means a comprehensive test for FMDV 'look-alike' viruses, an assay of this type is envisioned to have benefit to a laboratory network in routine surveillance and possibly for post-outbreak proof of freedom from foot-and-mouth disease.

Our project focused primarily on analysis of different types of data produced by global high-throughput technologies, data integration of gene annotation, and gene and protein expression information, as well as on getting a better functional annotation of Shewanella genes. Specifically, four of our numerous major activities and achievements include the development of: statistical models for identification and expression proteomics, superior to currently available approaches (including our own earlier ones); approaches to improve gene annotations on the whole-organism scale; standards for annotation, transcriptomics and proteomics approaches; and generalized approaches for data integration of gene annotation, gene and protein expression information.

The 132-H-1 waste site includes the 116-H exhaust stack burial trench and the buried stack foundation (which contains an embedded vertical 15-cm (6-in) condensate drain line). The 116-H reactor exhaust stack and foundation were decommissioned and demolished using explosives in 1983, with the rubble buried in situ beneath clean fill at least 1 m (3.3 ft) thick. Residual concentrations support future land uses that can be represented by a rural-residential scenario and pose no threat to groundwater or the Columbia River based on RESRAD modeling.

This report reviews policy proposals and interim contracts, analyzes the positions of various Iraqi political actors, and discusses potential implications for U.S. foreign policy goals in Iraq.

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The author presents a method for calculating the magnetic fields near a planar surface of a superconductor with a given intrinsic magnetization in the London limit. He computes solutions for various magnetic domain boundary configurations and derives relations between the spectral densities of the magnetization and the resulting field in the vacuum half space, which are useful if the magnetization can be considered as a statistical quantity and its features are too small to be resolved individually. The results are useful for analyzing and designing magnetic scanning experiments. Application to existing data from such experiments on Sr{sub 2}RuO{sub 4} show that a domain wall would have been detectable, but the magnetic field of randomly oriented small domains and small defects may have been smaller than the experimental noise level.

An exact expression for the master integral I{sub 2} [1] arising in three-loop on-shell HQET propagator diagrams with mass is derived and its analytical expansion in the dimensional regularization parameter {var_epsilon} is given.

We re-analyze the Chandra X-ray spectrum of the kpc-scale jet in PKS 0637-752 to investigate the possible low energy cutoff in the relativistic electron spectrum producing the non-thermal radiation in the scenario of inverse Compton emission off the cosmic microwave background. This was among the first objects targeted by the Chandra Observatory and gives a unique opportunity to study the low energy X-ray emission free of contamination. As previously noted, the spectrum can be fit by a power law, with the slope predicted by the radio spectrum, modified by low energy absorption through the Galaxy as determined from the spectrum of the quasar core and by HI 21 cm observations. We report evidence for a broad excess of emission below 1 keV, but are unable to constrain the shape very well. If we assume that this soft excess is unrelated to the electron population responsible for the power law emission, and that the electron spectrum cuts off at an energy of {gamma}{sub min}m{sub e}c{sup 2}, then we must have {gamma}{sub min} ({Lambda}/10) {approx}< 75 due to the absence of any low energy turn-over in the X-ray spectrum. This predicts that the observed radio spectrum should extend unbroken down below 2 …

Argonne National Laboratory is providing support to the U.S. Department of Energy in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) in certification of an advanced, sodium-cooled fast reactor. The reactor is to be constructed as a prototype for future commercial power reactors that will produce electricity while consuming actinides recovered from light water reactor spent fuel. This prototype reactor has been called the ABR, or Advanced Burner Reactor.

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This project focuses on the characterization of a new class of solvent systems called gas-expanded liquids (GXLs), targeted for green-chemistry processing. The collaboration has adopted a synergistic approach combining elements of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and spectroscopic experiments to explore the local solvent behavior that could not be studied by simulation or experiment alone. The major accomplishments from this project are: • Applied MD simulations to explore the non-uniform structure of CO2/methanol and CO2/acetone GXLs and studied their dynamic behavior with self-diffusion coefficients and correlation functions • Studied local solvent structure and solvation behavior with a combination of spectroscopy and MD simulations • Measured transport properties of heterocyclic solutes in GXLs through Taylor-Aris diffusion techniques and compared these findings to those of MD simulations • Probed local polarity and specific solute-solvent interactions with Diels-Alder and SN2 reaction studies The broader scientific impact resulting from the research activities of this contract have been recognized by two recent awards: the Presidential Green Chemistry Award (Eckert & Liotta) and a fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Hernandez). In addition to the technical aspects of this contract, the investigators have been engaged in a number of programs extending the broader …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Annual appropriations to prepare for and respond to wildland fires have increased substantially over the past decade, in recent years totaling about $3 billion. The Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture and four agencies within the Department of the Interior (Interior) are responsible for responding to wildland fires on federal lands. GAO determined what steps federal agencies have taken to (1) address key operational areas that could help contain the costs of preparing for and responding to wildland fires and (2) improve their management of their cost-containment efforts. This testimony is based on GAO's June 2007 report, Wildland Fire Management: Lack of Clear Goals or a Strategy Hinders Federal Agencies' Efforts to Contain the Costs of Fighting Fires (GAO-07-655)."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided to Congress, as requested, a statement for the record on Medicare payments for certain drugs provided to patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a condition of permanent kidney failure. Through Medicare's ESRD benefit, patients receive a treatment known as dialysis, which removes excess fluids and toxins from the bloodstream. Patients also receive items and services related to their dialysis treatments, including drugs to treat conditions resulting from the loss of kidney function, such as anemia and low blood calcium. Detailed information on the prudence of bundling payments for all ESRD items and services and a recommendation to establish a bundled payment system as soon as possible are included in our report entitled End-Stage Renal Disease: Bundling Medicare's Payment for Drugs with Payment for All ESRD Services Would Promote Efficiency and Clinical Flexibility. This report, along with a testimony statement, was released at a December 6, 2006, hearing of the full Committee on Ways and Means. Today's statement highlights the information in that report and refers to information other witnesses presented at the hearing."

This report discusses the changing role and finance of sea-based systems in U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD). Decisions that Congress reaches on this issue could affect U.S. BMD capabilities and funding requirements; the size, capabilities, and operational patterns of the Navy and the other services; and the shipbuilding industrial base.

This report focuses on the India-U.S. relations.

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This report discusses several programs offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help farmers recover financially from natural disasters, including drought and floods. All the programs have permanent authorization, and only one requires a federal disaster designation (the emergency loan program). Most programs receive funding amounts that are "such sums as necessary" and are not subject to annual discretionary appropriations.

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The authors present a search for the decay B{sup +} {yields} {tau}{sup +}{nu} using 383 x 10{sup 6} B{bar B} pairs collected at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II B-Factory. A sample of events with one reconstructed semileptonic B decay (B{sup -} {yields} D{sup 0}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}}X) is selected, and in the recoil a search for B{sup +} {yields} {tau}{sup +}{nu} is performed. The {tau} is identified in the following channels: {tau}{sup +} {yields} e{sup +}{nu}{bar {nu}}, {tau}{sup +} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{nu}{bar {nu}}, {tau}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} {bar {nu}} and {tau}{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup 0}{bar {nu}}. They measure a branching fraction of {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} {tau}{sup +}{nu}) = (0.9 {+-} 0.6(stat.) {+-} 0.1(syst.)) x 10{sup -4}. In the absence of a significant signal, we calculate an upper limit at the 90% confidence level of {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} {tau}{sup +}{nu}) < 1.7 x 10{sup -4}. They calculate the product of the B meson decay constant f{sub B} and |V{sub ub}| to be f{sub B} {center_dot} |V{sub ub}| = (7.2{sub -2.8}{sup +2.0}(stat.) {+-} 0.2(syst.)) x 10{sup -4} GeV.

With the increase in terrorist activities throughout the world, the need to develop techniques capable of detecting radioactive contraband in a timely manner is a critical requirement. The development of Bayesian processors for the detection of contraband stems from the fact that the posterior distribution is clearly multimodal eliminating the usual Gaussian-based processors. The development of a sequential bootstrap processor for this problem is discussed and shown how it is capable of providing an enhanced signal for eventual detection.