On June 28, 2006, the Bush Administration announced its proposal to sell 36 F-16 C/D Block 50/52 Falcon combat aircraft to Pakistan at an estimated case value of $3 billion. Some believe that these sales are partly an effort to reward the Pakistani Government for the role it has played in support of U.S.-led anti-terrorism efforts, and this consideration is noted in the text of the formal notification of the F-16 sales. Combat aircraft are considered "essential for conducting surprise attacks or initiating large-scale offensive operations." Therefore, the transfer of combat aircraft can be a significant policy decision, especially to a region with known tensions and territorial disputes. It is currently unclear what long-term effects a potential sale of combat aircraft to South Asia might have on U.S. political relations with Pakistan and India, or the political relationship between them.

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On June 28, 2006, the Bush Administration announced its proposal to sell 36 F-16 C/D Block 50/52 Falcon combat aircraft to Pakistan at an estimated case value of $3 billion. Some believe that these sales are partly an effort to reward the Pakistani Government for the role it has played in support of U.S.-led anti-terrorism efforts, and this consideration is noted in the text of the formal notification of the F-16 sales. Combat aircraft are considered "essential for conducting surprise attacks or initiating large-scale offensive operations." Therefore, the transfer of combat aircraft can be a significant policy decision, especially to a region with known tensions and territorial disputes. It is currently unclear what long-term effects a potential sale of combat aircraft to South Asia might have on U.S. political relations with Pakistan and India, or the political relationship between them.

On June 28, 2006, the Bush Administration announced its proposal to sell 36 F-16 C/D Block 50/52 Falcon combat aircraft to Pakistan at an estimated case value of $3 billion. Some believe that these sales are partly an effort to reward the Pakistani Government for the role it has played in support of U.S.-led anti-terrorism efforts, and this consideration is noted in the text of the formal notification of the F-16 sales. Combat aircraft are considered "essential for conducting surprise attacks or initiating large-scale offensive operations." Therefore, the transfer of combat aircraft can be a significant policy decision, especially to a region with known tensions and territorial disputes. It is currently unclear what long-term effects a potential sale of combat aircraft to South Asia might have on U.S. political relations with Pakistan and India, or the political relationship between them.

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 a taxing unit has a tax lien on a manufactured home physically located in the unit's jurisdiction on January 1 of the tax year, regardless of how ownership is reflected on the records of the Manufactured Housing Division of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs; whether a tax lien must be filed with the Manufactured Housing Division to be enforceable against a manufactured home that has been properly designated as real property.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the Navy has used nuclear propulsion systems for its submarines and most aircraft carriers and conventional propulsion systems that rely on fossil fuel for its surface combatants and amphibious warfare ships. As the Navy looks to design an affordable force that is capable of meeting future security challenges, some of the assumptions and factors that have guided past Navy decisions on propulsion systems may require reassessment. For example, technological advances have enabled greater efficiency in both nuclear and conventional propulsion systems. Moreover, the cost of fossil fuel has risen sharply in recent years. Congress requested that we review the Navy's assessment of alternative propulsion methods for submarines and surface combatants. Our objectives were to determine (1) the status and scope of key Navy studies on alternative propulsion methods, (2) the major improvements to existing propulsion systems, (3) near-term and future ships' propulsion systems, and (4) the various ship propulsion related technologies the Navy is pursuing. In March 2006, we provided you with a briefing of our findings regarding propulsion systems for Navy ships and submarines. This report summarizes the results of that briefing as well …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress established federal standards for the child support enforcement program (CSE) in 1975. State agencies administer the program and the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees it. The CSE program provides several services, including collecting child support payments from noncustodial parents--those who are not the primary caregivers--and distributing these payments to families. Generally, the federal government reimburses state agencies 66 percent of their costs for administering the CSE program. GAO determined (1) how total net federal expenditures for administrative costs changed from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2004; (2) the categories of costs that contributed most to administrative costs in recent years; and (3) steps state agencies have taken to manage costs, and steps OCSE has taken to help state agencies and ensure federal funds have been used appropriately. GAO analyzed program data, surveyed all 54 state agencies and visited 6, interviewed program officials, and reviewed laws, policies, and reports."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center houses numerous complex computer systems for tracking air, missile, and space events that could threaten homeland security or undermine military operations in theater. To ensure this mission can be met, the systems require ongoing upgrades. The most recent upgrade program--the Combatant Commanders' Integrated Command and Control System (CCIC2S)--was initiated in 2000. Given the critical missions supported by Cheyenne Mountain systems, GAO initiated a review to (1) determine the status of the CCIC2S program in terms of meeting its cost, schedule, and performance goals; (2) gauge the extent to which DOD has followed best practices in managing program requirements; and (3) assess DOD's control and oversight mechanisms for CCIC2S."

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This report contains the Article 98 agreements and sanctions on U.S. foreign aid to Latin America.

This report updates recent information concerning, specifically, North Korea's long-range ballistic missile program. On July 4-5, 2006, North Korea test-launched seven ballistic missiles, including a new Taepo Dong 2 that failed soon after launch. The apparently successful shorter-range missile tests included some combination of SCUDs and No Dongs.

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This report considers the Agriculture and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The report compares and contrasts the Senate and House versions of the bill in terms of budgeting. Moreover, both bills reject the termination of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.

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This document presents the technical justification for choosing and using propane as a calibration standard for estimating total flammable volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in an air matrix. A propane-in-nitrogen standard was selected based on a number of criteria: (1) has an analytical response similar to the VOCs of interest, (2) can be made with known accuracy and traceability, (3) is available with good purity, (4) has a matrix similar to the sample matrix, (5) is stable during storage and use, (6) is relatively non-hazardous, and (7) is a recognized standard for similar analytical applications. The Waste Retrieval Project (WRP) desires a fast, reliable, and inexpensive method for screening the flammable VOC content in the vapor-phase headspace of waste containers. Table 1 lists the flammable VOCs of interest to the WRP. The current method used to determine the VOC content of a container is to sample the container's headspace and submit the sample for gas chromatography--mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The driver for the VOC measurement requirement is safety: potentially flammable atmospheres in the waste containers must be allowed to diffuse prior to processing the container. The proposed flammable VOC screening method is to inject an aliquot of the headspace sample into …

The MACHO Project sought evidence for Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHO) by surveying for the gravitational effort of the objects on light, microlensing.

This account funding was used to support the American Linear Collider Physics Group (ALCPG) and The International Linear Collider (ILC) Snowmass workshop that took place in August, 2005. The workshop lasted 2 weeks. The funds provided by the DOE ($110 K) were to fund all the computing and secretariat effort of the workshop. This was a very successful workshop as evidenced by the large attendance; about 600 attendees. Some funds were left over ($12,876.89) and the DOE was informed. It is my understanding that this money has been returned.

There are two principal concerns that govern the use of lubricants in NIF: (1) Airborne molecular contaminants (AMCs)--AMCs are known to seriously degrade the performance of sol-gel coated optics. AMCs are produced by the slow outgassing of residues (non-volatile residues or ''NVRs'') of high molecular weight compounds left on surfaces. Lubricants, particularly hydrocarbon lubricants, are a primary source of such NVRs. (2) Particulates--Particulates that accumulate on optical surfaces can cause permanent physical damage when exposed to high energy density laser light. Lubricant residues exposed to high energy density light will pyrolyze or decompose and produce carbon particulates. The NIF Approved Materials Database lists several lubricants that have been tested for use in NIF environments. Many of these lubricants were tested according to MELs 99-006 (oven outgassing test) or 99-007 (vacuum outgassing test). In these tests, the change in percent transmission of light through a sol-gel coated optic placed next to the sample under evaluation is used as the diagnostic. Samples that cause less than 0.1% change in optical transmission are deemed suitable for use inside beam enclosures. This testing, however, addresses only the concern associated with AMCs. To assess the issue of particle generation, a flashlamp or ''aerosol'' test is …

Gas storage is a critical element in the natural gas industry. Producers, transmission & distribution companies, marketers, and end users all benefit directly from the load balancing function of storage. The unbundling process has fundamentally changed the way storage is used and valued. As an unbundled service, the value of storage is being recovered at rates that reflect its value. Moreover, the marketplace has differentiated between various types of storage services, and has increasingly rewarded flexibility, safety, and reliability. The size of the natural gas market has increased and is projected to continue to increase towards 30 trillion cubic feet (TCF) over the next 10 to 15 years. Much of this increase is projected to come from electric generation, particularly peaking units. Gas storage, particularly the flexible services that are most suited to electric loads, is critical in meeting the needs of these new markets. In order to address the gas storage needs of the natural gas industry, an industry-driven consortium was created--the Gas Storage Technology Consortium (GSTC). The objective of the GSTC is to provide a means to accomplish industry-driven research and development designed to enhance operational flexibility and deliverability of the Nation's gas storage system, and provide a …

In summary, the authors have measured branching fractions, upper limits, and charge asymmetries for all B meson decays to D{sup (*)} {bar D}{sup (*)}.

Clostridium botulinum is a taxonomic designation for many diverse anaerobic spore forming rod-shaped bacteria which have the common property of producing botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs). The BoNTs are exoneurotoxins that can cause severe paralysis and even death in humans and various other animal species. A collection of 174 C. botulinum strains were examined by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis and by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and BoNT genes to examine genetic diversity within this species. This collection contained representatives of each of the seven different serotypes of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT A-G). Analysis of the16S rRNA sequences confirmed earlier reports of at least four distinct genomic backgrounds (Groups I-IV) each of which has independently acquired one or more BoNT serotypes through horizontal gene transfer. AFLP analysis provided higher resolution, and can be used to further subdivide the four groups into sub-groups. Sequencing of the BoNT genes from serotypes A, B and E in multiple strains confirmed significant sequence variation within each serotype. Four distinct lineages within each of the BoNT A and B serotypes, and five distinct lineages of serotype E strains were identified. The nucleotide sequences of the seven serotypes of BoNT were compared and show varying degrees …