A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) protects the employment and reemployment rights of federal and nonfederal employees who leave their employment to perform military service. The Department of Labor (DOL) investigates and attempts to resolve claims filed by servicemembers, and if not successful, DOL is to inform the federal claimants that they may request to have their claims referred to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Under a demonstration project, from February 8, 2005, through September 30, 2007, OSC is authorized to receive and investigate certain USERRA claims, with DOL continuing its investigative role for others. As required by Pub. L. No. 108-454, this report describes the (1) processes, (2) outcomes, and (3) major changes during the demonstration project. GAO selected a random sample of cases from DOL's and OSC's databases and traced data for selected elements from the electronic files to source case files."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In December 2000, the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Bechtel National, Inc. (Bechtel) a contract to design and construct the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), one of the largest nuclear waste cleanup projects in the nation. Originally expected to cost $4.3 billion and be completed in 2011, DOE now estimates that WTP will cost over $12.2 billion and be completed in late 2019. Weaknesses in DOE's management and oversight of contractors led GAO to designate DOE contract management as a high-risk area since 1990. GAO was asked to determine whether (1) DOE's internal controls are designed to provide reasonable assurance against improper WTP payments and (2) DOE's controls reasonably ensure proper accountability for WTP assets. GAO reviewed fiscal year 2005 and 2006 internal controls by analyzing data and documents, interviewing DOE and contractor staff, and physically observing property items."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1990, GAO has designated the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) contract management as an area of high risk in part because it lacked modern systems to provide accurate and reliable information on contract spending. In April 2000, NASA began a system modernization effort, known as the Integrated Enterprise Management Program (IEMP). When GAO last reported on the status of IEMP in September 2005, NASA had begun to implement disciplined processes needed to manage IEMP, but had yet to implement other best practices such as adopting business processes that improve information on contract spending. This GAO report addresses (1) actions taken by NASA to effectively implement the disciplined processes needed to manage IEMP and (2) the extent to which NASA has considered the strategic issues associated with developing a concept of operations and defining standard business processes. GAO interviewed NASA officials and obtained and analyzed documentation relevant to the issues."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) developed the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction (ALWTR) plan to protect endangered large whales from entanglements in commercial fishing gear, which can cause injury or death. Because whales continued to die after the ALWTR plan went into effect, NMFS proposed revisions in 2005. GAO was asked to review these proposed revisions, including (1) their scientific basis and uncertainties regarding their effectiveness, (2) NMFS's plans to address concerns about the feasibility of implementing them, (3) the extent to which NMFS fully assessed the costs to the fishing industry and impacts on fishing communities, and (4) the extent to which NMFS developed strategies for fully evaluating their effectiveness. GAO reviewed the proposed changes to the ALWTR plan and obtained the views of NMFS officials, industry representatives, scientists, and conservationists."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the past 16 years, a number of laws, accounting standards, system requirements, and related guidance have emphasized the need for cost information in the federal government, establishing requirements and accounting standards for managerial cost accounting (MCA) information. In light of these requirements, GAO was asked to determine how federal agencies generate MCA information and how government managers use that information to support their decisions and provide accountability. Since 2005, GAO has reviewed and reported on MCA practices at 10 large civilian agencies resulting in five reports. This report brings the overall observations of these studies together in one place."

Currently there are three platforms that offer quasi-isentropic compression or ramp-wave compression (RWC): light-gas gun, magnetic flux (Z-pinch), and laser. We focus here on the light-gas gun technique and on some current theoretical insights from experimental data. A gradient impedance through the length of the impactor provides the pressure pulse upon impactor to the subject material. Applications and results are given concerning high-pressure strength and liquid to solid, phase transition of water plus its associated phase fraction history. We also introduce the Korteweg-deVries-Burgers equation as a means to understand the evolution these RWC waves that propagate through the thickness of the subject material. This equation has the necessary competition between non-linear, dispersion, and dissipation processes, which is shown through observed structures that are manifested in the experimental particle velocity histories. Such methodology points towards a possible quantifiable dissipation, through which RWC experiments may be analyzed.

We used the Near Infrared Camera (NIRC) on Keck I to obtain K{sub s}-band images of four candidate high-redshift radio galaxies selected using optical and radio data in the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey in Bootes. Our targets have 1.4 GHz radio flux densities greater than 1 mJy, but are undetected in the optical. Spectral energy distribution fitting suggests that three of these objects are at z > 3, with radio luminosities near the FR-I/FR-II break. The other has photometric redshift z{sub phot} = 1.2, but may in fact be at higher redshift. Two of the four objects exhibit diffuse morphologies in K{sub s}-band, suggesting that they are still in the process of forming.

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Typical manufacturing methods produce solar cells with an efficiency of 12-15%; and 14% efficiency is the bare minimum for achieving a profit. In work performed at the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, CA, 5 10-486-577 1)--a US Department of Energy national laboratory that conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California--scientist Scott McHugo has obtained keen insights into the impaired performance of solar cells manufactured from polycrystalline silicon. The solar cell market is potentially vast, according to Berkeley Lab. Lightweight solar panels are highly beneficial for providing electrical power to remote locations in developing nations, since there is no need to build transmission lines or truck-in generator fuel. Moreover, industrial nations confronted with diminishing resources have active programs aimed at producing improved, less expensive solar cells. 'In a solar cell, there is a junction between p-type silicon and an n-type layer, such as diffused-in phosphorous', explained McHugo, who is now with Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division. 'When sunlight is absorbed, it frees electrons, which start migrating in a random-walk fashion toward that junction. If the electrons make it to the junction; they contribute to the cell's output of electric current. Often, however, …

We have compared the Seismic Location Base Model (SLBM) tessellated model (version 2.0 Beta, posted July 3, 2007) with the GNEMRE Unified Model. The comparison is done on a layer/depth-by-layer/depth and layer/velocity-by-layer/velocity comparison. The SLBM earth model is defined on a tessellation that spans the globe at a constant resolution of about 1 degree (Ballard, 2007). For the tests, we used the earth model in file ''unified{_}iasp.grid''. This model contains the top 8 layers of the Unified Model (UM) embedded in a global IASP91 grid. Our test queried the same set of nodes included in the UM model file. To query the model stored in memory, we used some of the functionality built into the SLBMInterface object. We used the method get InterpolatedPoint() to return desired values for each layer at user-specified points. The values returned include: depth to the top of each layer, layer velocity, layer thickness and (for the upper-mantle layer) velocity gradient. The SLBM earth model has an extra middle crust layer whose values are used when Pg/Lg phases are being calculated. This extra layer was not accessed by our tests. Figures 1 to 8 compare the layer depths, P velocities and P gradients in the UM …

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This report is a guide to a new appropriations bill that Congress is considering for the first time this year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Financial Services and General Government. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity.

This report provides information about the Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities and Issues for Congress on China Naval Modernization since Concern has grown in congress about the china military modernization.

This report is a guide to the regular appropriations bills that congress considers each year.

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This report considers how the Air Force is changing itself to meet new defensive needs. The issues for Congress on this are mostly budgetary and how effective it will be.

This report provides Capital Punishment Overview during 2006-2007 Term of the Supreme Court.

This report provides information about the Status of U.N. Negotiations and Related Issues on Cyprus.Cyprus has been divided since 1974.since the 1970s,the U.N with U.S support has promoted negotiations aimed at reuniting the island.

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This report discusses legislative attempts to amend the National Labor Relation Act ("NLRA") to allow for union certification without an election, based on signed employee authorization.

This report will identify and discuss oversight issues and legislation introduced in the 110th Congress to address specific concerns related to how ESA is implemented and how endangered species are managed.

This report is on Amtrak: Budget and Reauthorization.

A new "Direct Pour In-Mold" (DPI) Magnesium treatment technology has been developed that can produce both Nodular and Compacted Graphite iron. The DPI technology converts the standard horizontal runner system into a vertical one, by placing a Magnesium Ferrosilicon treatment alloy and molten metal filter into a specially designed container. The DPI container is easily placed into either vertically or horizontally parted molds, and then a base metal can be poured directly into it. The metal is treated and filtered as it passes through, and then proceeds directly into a runner or casting cavity. Various sizes of containers provide all of the necessary components required to deliver a range of weights of treated and filtered metal at accurate and consistent flow rates. The DPI containers provide energy savings over competing techniques, increased mold yields, very high Magnesium recovery, zero Magnesium fume, and no post inoculation is required. By treating the metal just prior to it entering a casting cavity many other benefits and advantages are also realized.