Report that provides background on China's economic rise; describes its current economic structure; identifies the challenges China faces to maintain economic growth; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China's economic rise for the United States.

Report that focuses on the international trade in terrestrial fauna, largely excluding trade in illegal plants, including timber, and fish.

Report that is an overview of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship and includes an analysis of issues.

Report that provides data on a variety of household wealth measures in 2010 from the Federal Reserve's triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. The report classifies the amount of assets and debt by the age of the head of the household for both single and married households.

Report that discusses the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), that is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated between the United States and the European Union (EU).

This report discusses the foreign temporary workers, also known as guest workers, that have long performed legal agricultural labor in the United States through different temporary worker programs.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In connection with the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, GAO was required to study the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), a federal source of evidence about effective education practices. Operating through a 5-year contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the WWC reviews education research and disseminates its findings. GAO examined: (1) the extent to which the WWC review process meets accepted standards for research evaluation and how the WWC has responded to recommendations and criticism, (2) how WWC output and costs have changed over time and how its performance is measured, and (3) how WWC products are disseminated and how useful educators find them to be. To conduct its work, GAO reviewed WWC-related documents, analyzed cost and performance data, surveyed all states and a nationally representative sample of school districts, and interviewed IES officials, WWC contractors, researchers, and others."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government spent about $68 million on 15 of the 16 financial literacy programs that were comprehensive in scope or scale in fiscal year 2010; cost data were not available for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was created that year. In addition, about $137 million in federal funding in four other major programs was directed to housing counseling, which can include elements of financial education. Since fiscal year 2010, at least four of these programs have been defunded and CFPB has received resources to fund its financial literacy activities."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On March 1, 2010, we issued our report expressing our opinion on the American Battle Monuments Commission's (the Commission) fiscal years 2009 and 2008 financial statements and our opinion on the Commission's internal control as of September 30, 2009. We also reported on the results of our tests of the Commission's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations during fiscal year 2009. We reported that although certain internal controls should be improved, the Commission maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2009. However, we also reported on a significant deficiency in the Commission's governance structure related to vacant Commissioner positions and one instance of noncompliance with the Antideficiency Act related to a Commission contract with a commercial employment services firm to provide temporary employees. During our fiscal year 2009 audit, we also identified other internal control deficiencies that, while not material, individually or in the aggregate, to the Commission's financial statements, nevertheless warrant management's attention. The purpose of this report is to present these deficiencies, provide additional detailed information on the significant deficiency and compliance issue identified in our …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On August 2, 2011, Congress and the President enacted the Budget Control Act of 2011, which established a process that increased the debt limit to its current level of $16.4 trillion through incremental increases effective on August 2, 2011; after close of business on September 21, 2011; and after close of business on January 27, 2012. Delays in raising the debt limit occurred prior to the August 2011 and January 2012 increases, with the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) deviating from its normal debt management operations and taking a number of actions, referred to by Treasury as extraordinary actions, to avoid exceeding the debt limit."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2012, 194 member states approved components of the World Health Organization's (WHO) reform agenda, encompassing three broad areas--priority-setting, governance, and management reforms--that generally address the challenges identified by stakeholders. According to WHO officials, member state representatives, and other stakeholders, some of the challenges facing WHO include its (1) lack of clear organizational priorities; (2) lack of predictable and flexible financing; and (3) highly decentralized organizational structure. In developing its reform agenda, WHO consulted with member states, employees, and other parties to gather their views and feedback. In addition, WHO has commissioned three ongoing evaluations to provide input into the reform process. The first stage of one of the planned evaluations was conducted by WHO's External Auditor, which concluded in March 2012 that WHO's reform proposals are comprehensive in addressing challenges faced by the organization. WHO continues to consult with member states on priority-setting and governance proposals, which generally require extensive deliberation and consensus from member states. In November 2011, the WHO Executive Board approved WHO's management reform proposals in several areas, and requested further development of proposals in other areas. In May 2012, WHO …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) contractors that conduct postpayment reviews on Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims were established by different legislative actions; are managed by different offices within CMS; and serve different functions in the program. These contractors include (1) Medicare Administrative Contractors that process and pay claims and are responsible for taking actions to reduce payment errors in their jurisdictions; (2) Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPIC) that investigate potential fraud, which can result in referrals to law enforcement or administrative actions; (3) Recovery Auditors (RA) tasked to identify improper payments on a postpayment basis; and (4) the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) contractor that reviews a sample of claims nationwide and related documentation to determine a national Medicare FFS improper payment rate. All four types of contractors conduct complex reviews, in which the contractor examines medical records and other documentation sent by providers to determine if the claims meet Medicare coverage and payment requirements. RAs are paid fees contingent on the amount of the claims that are found improper and recouped or adjusted, whereas the other contractors' reimbursement is not dependent on the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported the range of base premiums prior to underwriting for health insurance in the individual market that were displayed on the HealthCare.gov Plan Finder in the month of January 2013 for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The base premiums displayed on the HealthCare.gov Plan Finder reflected information from data submitted by insurers to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Included were ranges for six different types of consumers: 1) 30-year-old, single, nonsmoking male; 2) 30-year-old, single, smoking male; 3) 30-year-old, single, nonsmoking female; 4) 30-year-old, single, smoking female; 5) a family of 4 with 2 parents, aged 40; and 6) a couple, aged 55. GAO also reported on base premiums prior to underwriting for an urban and rural zip code in four select states, one from each census region. The states included: Illinois, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

This report discusses the possibility that flying cars may soon become a reality. Development and marketing efforts are bringing to the fore new policy and regulatory challenges regarding the control of low-altitude airspace, safety, noise, privacy, and landowner rights. They also are raising new questions about the appropriate roles of federal, state, and local authorities in regulating and managing these operations.

This report analyzes the FY2013 request and congressional action related to FY2013 State-Foreign Operations legislation. The 112th Congress is considering FY2013 international affairs funding within the context of the Budget Control Act that established discretionary spending limits for FY2012-FY2021 and contains automatic budget reductions (sequestration) on discretionary spending to begin on January 2, 2013.

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 the common-law doctrine of incompatibility prohibits a member of the board of directors of the Agua Special Utility District from serving simultaneously as a member of the board of trustees of South Texas College (RQ-0813-GA)

From Summary: "This report contains a more detailed summary of the major similarities and differences between the House and Senate 2012 farm bills and also provides a side-by-side comparison of every provision in the two farm bills and how these provisions relate to current federal law or policy."

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A detailed study was done of the neomycin-B RNA aptamer for determining its selectivity and binding ability to both neomycin– and kanamycin-class aminoglycosides. A novel method to increase drug concentrations in cells for more efficiently killing is described. To test the method, a bacterial model system was adopted and several small RNA molecules interacting with aminoglycosides were cloned downstream of T7 RNA polymerase promoter in an expression vector. Then, the growth analysis of E. coli expressing aptamers was observed for 12-hour period. Our analysis indicated that aptamers helped to increase the intracellular concentration of aminoglycosides thereby increasing their efficacy.

The Linac Coherent Light Source requires precision timing trigger signals for various accelerator diagnostics and controls at SLAC-NAL. A new timing system has been developed that meets these requirements. This system is based on COTS hardware with a mixture of custom-designed units. An added challenge has been the requirement that the LCLS Timing System must co-exist and 'know' about the existing SLC Timing System. This paper describes the architecture, construction and performance of the LCLS timing event system.

The LCLS Undulator Beam Loss Monitor System is required to detect any loss radiation seen by the FEL undulators. The undulator segments consist of permanent magnets which are very sensitive to radiation damage. The operational goal is to keep demagnetization below 0.01% over the life of the LCLS. The BLM system is designed to help achieve this goal by detecting any loss radiation and indicating a fault condition if the radiation level exceeds a certain threshold. Upon reception of this fault signal, the LCLS Machine Protection System takes appropriate action by either halting or rate limiting the beam. The BLM detector consists of a PMT coupled to a Cherenkov radiator located near the upstream end of each undulator segment. There are 33 BLMs in the system, one per segment. The detectors are read out by a dedicated system that is integrated directly into the LCLS MPS. The BLM readout system provides monitoring of radiation levels, computation of integrated doses, detection of radiation excursions beyond set thresholds, fault reporting and control of BLM system functions. This paper describes the design, construction and operational performance of the BLM readout system.

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