This report includes a historical background of the Sunni-Shiite split and discusses the differences in religious beliefs and practices between and within each Islamic sect as well as their similarities. The report also relates Sunni and Shiite religious beliefs to discussions of terrorism and sectarian violence that may be of interest during the 111th Congress.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare Part D, the voluntary, outpatient prescription drug benefit for eligible individuals 65 years and older and certain individuals with disabilities, is at risk for fraud, waste, and abuse. Part D is administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). All Part D sponsors--private companies that operate Part D benefit plans--are required to have programs to safeguard the Part D program from fraud, waste, and abuse. GAO refers to these programs as fraud and abuse programs. This statement discusses CMS's oversight of Part D sponsors' fraud and abuse programs, including its past efforts and planned oversight activities. It is primarily based on the GAO report, Medicare Part D: Some Plan Sponsors Have Not Completely Implemented Fraud and Abuse Programs, and CMS Oversight Has Been Limited (GAO-08-760). The five Part D sponsors GAO reviewed for that report had not completely implemented all of CMS's elements for Part D fraud and abuse programs at that time. CMS agreed with GAO's recommendation in the report that it conduct timely audits of Part D sponsors' fraud and abuse programs. For the 2008 report, GAO reviewed laws, regulation, and CMS documents, …

The Merged Sounding value-added product (VAP) uses a combination of observations from radiosonde soundings, the microwave radiometer (MWR), surface meteorological instruments, and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model output with a sophisticated scaling/interpolation/smoothing scheme in order to define profiles of the atmospheric thermodynamic state at one-minute temporal intervals and a total of 266 altitude levels.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks raised concerns about the security of Department of Energy (DOE) sites with weapons-grade nuclear material, known as Category I special nuclear material (SNM). To better protect these sites against attacks, DOE has sought to transform its protective forces protecting SNM into a Tactical Response Force (TRF) with training and capabilities similar to the U.S. military. This testimony is based on prior work and has been updated with additional information provided by protective forces' union officials. In a prior GAO report, Nuclear Security: DOE Needs to Address Protective Forces' Personnel System Issues (GAO-10-275), GAO (1) analyzed information on the management, organization, staffing, training, and compensation of protective forces at DOE sites with Category I SNM; (2) examined the implementation of TRF; and (3) assessed DOE's two options to more uniformly manage protective forces; and (4) reported on DOE's progress in addressing protective force issues. DOE generally agreed with the recommendations in GAO's prior report that called for the agency to fully assess and implement, where feasible, measures identified by DOE's 2009 protective forces study group to enhance protective forces' career longevity and retirement …

Understanding the response of energetic material to thermal event is very important for the storage and handling of energetic materials. The One Dimensional Time to Explosion (ODTX) system at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) can precisely measure times to explosion and minimum ignition temperatures of energetic materials at elevated temperatures. These measurements provide insight into the relative ease of thermal ignition and allow for the determination of kinetic parameters. The ODTX system can potentialy be a good tool to measure violence of the thermal ignition by monitoring the size of anvil cavity. Recent ODTX experimental data on various energetic materials (solid and liquids) are reported in this paper.

Considerable effort has been dedicated to determining the possible properties of a magneticconfinement fusion power plant, particularly in the U.S.1, Europe2 and Japan3. There has also been some effort to detail the development path to fusion energy, particularly in the U.S.4 Only limited attention has been given, in Japan5 and in China6, to the options for a specific device to form the bridge from the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER, to commercial fusion energy. Nor has much attention been paid, since 2003, to the synergies between magnetic and inertial fusion energy development. Here we consider, at a very high level, the possibility of a Qeng ≥ 1 Pilot Plant, with linear dimensions ~ 2/3 the linear dimensions of a commercial fusion power plant, as the needed bridge. As we examine the R&D needs for such a system we find significant synergies between the needs for the development of magnetic and inertial fusion energy.

This report examines poverty in the United States. In 2008, 39.8 million people were counted as poor in the United States - an increase of 2.6 million persons from 2007, and nearly the largest number of persons counted as poor since 1960. The poverty rate, or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 13.2%; this is up from 12.5% in 2007, and is the highest rate since 1997. The recent increase in poverty reflects the worsening of economic conditions since the onset of the economic recession in December 2007. Many expect poverty to rise further next year, and it will likely remain comparatively high even after the economy begins to recover. The incidence of poverty varies widely across the population according to age, education, labor force attachment, family living arrangements, and area of residence, among other factors.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to two ongoing GAO mandates under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). It is the fifth in a series of reports since passage of the Recovery Act on the uses of and accountability for Recovery Act funds in 16 selected states, certain localities in those jurisdictions, and the District of Columbia (District). These jurisdictions are estimated to receive about two-thirds of the intergovernmental assistance available through the Recovery Act. It is also the second report in which GAO is required to comment on the jobs created or retained as reported by recipients of Recovery Act funds. GAO collected and analyzed documents and interviewed state and local officials and other Recovery Act award recipients. GAO also analyzed federal agency guidance and spoke with officials at federal agencies overseeing Recovery Act programs."

This report discusses the recent conflict in Syria including an overview of the situation, information about anti- and pro-Asad forces, background on chemical weapons and disarmament, plans for U.S. policy and assistance, and a general sense of the future outlook.

This report provides information on U.S. Africa Command or (AFRICOM), including AFRICOM's mission, structure, interagency coordination, and its basing and manpower requirements. The report also gives a broad overview of U.S. strategic interests in Africa and the role of U.S. military efforts on the continent as they pertain to the creation of Africa Command.

This short summary of previously published data was compiled to provide the actual in-situ gauge data to allow modeling of these experiments. Although the purpose here is to fulfill a deliverable for a JOWOG 9 Focused Exchange (09-006), it is just as applicable to other exchanges as well. The TATB materials described here are Ultra Fine (UF) TATB and LX-17 (92.5% TATB and 7.5% Kel-F by weight), with the details of the experiments provided in the prior publications. The data is provided in the appendices of the document, but will be provided electronically as text files due to being amenable to importing into the code in that manner for comparison.

The report includes a short summary of the provisions and goals of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a brief history of past review conferences. It also discusses the key issues that the participants are likely to address during the 2010 conference.

Samples of Nd{sub 2-x}Ce{sub x}CuO{sub 4}, an electron-doped high temperature superconducting cuprate (HTSC), near optimal doping at x = 0.155 were measured via angle resolved photoemission (ARPES). We report a renormalization feature in the self energy ('kink') in the band dispersion at {approx} 50-60 meV present in nodal and antinodal cuts across the Fermi surface. Specifically, while the kink had been seen in the antinodal region, it is now observed also in the nodal region, reminiscent of what has been observed in hole-doped cuprates.

To elucidate the nature of the single-particle excitations in the undoped parent cuprates, we have performed a detailed study of Ca{sub 2}CuO{sub 2}Cl{sub 2} using photoemission spectroscopy. The photoemission lineshapes of the lower Hubbard band are found to be well-described by a polaron model. By comparing the lineshape and temperature dependence of the lower Hubbard band with additional O 2p and Ca 3p states, we conclude that the dominant broadening mechanism arises from the interaction between the photohole and the lattice. The strength of this interaction was observed to be strongly anisotropic and may have important implications for the momentum dependence of the first doped hole states.

We report the discovery of a self-doped multi-layer high T{sub c} superconductor Ba{sub 2}Ca{sub 3}Cu{sub 4}O{sub 8}F{sub 2} (F0234) which contains distinctly different superconducting gap magnitudes along its two Fermi surface(FS) sheets. While formal valence counting would imply this material to be an undoped insulator, it is a self-doped superconductor with a T{sub c} of 60K, possessing simultaneously both electron- and hole-doped FS sheets. Intriguingly, the FS sheet characterized by the much larger gap is the electron-doped one, which has a shape disfavoring two electronic features considered to be important for the pairing mechanism: the van Hove singularity and the antiferromagnetic ({pi}/a, {pi}/a) scattering.

An alternative biomass-based route to benzoic acid from the renewable starting materials quinic acid and shikimic acid is described. Benzoic acid is obtained selectively using a highly efficient, one-step formic acid-mediated deoxygenation method.

We have performed an angle-resolved photoemission study of the three-dimensional perovskite-type SrVO{sub 3}. Observed spectral weight distribution of the coherent part in the momentum space shows cylindrical Fermi surfaces consisting of the V 3d t{sub 2g} orbitals as predicted by local-density approximation (LDA) band-structure calculation. The observed energy dispersion shows a moderately enhanced effective mass compared to the LDA results, corresponding to the effective mass enhancement seen in the thermodynamic properties. Contributions from the bulk and surface electronic structures to the observed spectra are discussed based on model calculations.

Based on the analysis of the measurement data of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and optics, we show that the charge transfer gap is significantly smaller than the optical one and is reduced by doping in electron doped cuprate superconductors. This leads to a strong charge fluctuation between the Zhang-Rice singlet and the upper Hubbard bands. The basic model for describing this system is a hybridized two-band t-J model. In the symmetric limit where the corresponding intra- and inter-band hopping integrals are equal to each other, this two-band model is equivalent to the Hubbard model with an antiferromagnetic exchange interaction (i.e. the t-U-J model). The mean-field result of the t-U-J model gives a good account for the doping evolution of the Fermi surface and the staggered magnetization.

We have performed a systematic doping dependent study of La{sub 2-x}Sr{sub x}CuO{sub 4} (LSCO) (0.03 {le} x {le} 0.3) by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. In the entire doping range, the underlying 'Fermi surface' determined from the low energy spectral weight approximately satisfies Luttinger's theorem, even down to the lightly-doped region. This is in strong contrast to the result on Ca{sub 2-x}Na{sub x}CuO{sub 2}Cl{sub 2} (Na-CCOC), which shows a strong deviation from Luttinger's theorem. The differences between LSCO and Na-CCOC are correlated with the different behaviors of the chemical potential shift and spectral weight transfer induced by hole doping.

The ferroelectric degenerate semiconductor Sn{sub 1-{delta}}Te exhibits superconductivity with critical temperatures, T{sub c}, of up to 0.3 K for hole densities of order 10{sup 21} cm{sup -3}. When doped on the tin site with greater than x{sub c} = 1.7(3)% indium atoms, however, superconductivity is observed up to 2 K, though the carrier density does not change significantly. We present specific heat data showing that a stronger pairing interaction is present for x > x{sub c} than for x < x{sub c}. By examining the effect of In dopant atoms on both T{sub c} and the temperature of the ferroelectric structural phase transition, T{sub SPT}, we show that phonon modes related to this transition are not responsible for this T{sub c} enhancement, and discuss a plausible candidate based on the unique properties of the indium impurities.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

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The component concentration limits that most influence the predicted Hanford life-cycle HLW glass volume by HTWOS were re-evaluated. It was assumed that additional research and development work in glass formulation and melter testing would be performed to improve the understanding of component effects on the processability and product quality of these HLW glasses. Recommendations were made to better estimate the potential component concentration limits that could be applied today while technology development is underway to best estimate the volume of HLW glass that will eventually be produced at Hanford. The limits for concentrations of P2O5, Bi2O3, and SO3 were evaluated along with the constraint used to avoid nepheline formation in glass. Recommended concentration limits were made based on the current HLW glass property models being used by HTWOS (Vienna et al. 2009). These revised limits are: 1) The current ND should be augmented by the OB limit of OB ≤ 0.575 so that either the normalized silica (NSi) is less that the 62% limit or the OB is below the 0.575 limit. 2) The mass fraction of P2O5 limit should be revised to allow for up to 4.5 wt%, depending on CaO concentrations. 3) A Bi2O3 concentration limit of 7 …

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