A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) was created by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) to help meet consumer and small business credit needs by supporting issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). This report assesses (1) the risks TALF-eligible assets pose to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), (2) Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) role in decision making for TALF, and (3) the condition of securitization markets before and after TALF. GAO reviewed program documents, analyzed data from prospectuses and other sources, and interviewed relevant agency officials and TALF participants."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users authorized the Department of Transportation to establish a highway research program to address future challenges facing the U.S. highway system. In 2006, the Second Strategic Highway Research Program was established to conduct research in four areas--safety, renewal, reliability, and capacity. The Transportation Research Board manages this program in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration and others. The legislation also required GAO to review the program no later than 3 years after the first research contracts were awarded. This report provides information about the process for selecting the program's projects for funding, the projects' status, and what, if any, research was eliminated because of funding and time constraints. To address our objectives, GAO reviewed the program's authorizing legislation, analyzed studies and reports related to the program and its projects, and interviewed officials from relevant transportation agencies and organizations. GAO is not making recommendations in this report. The Department of Transportation and the Transportation Research Board reviewed a draft of this report and provided technical clarifications, which we incorporated, as appropriate."

Commercial spent fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts provided by Engelhard and Albemarle were used as supports for Fe-based catalysts with the goal of improving the attrition resistance of typical F-T catalysts. Catalysts with the Ruhrchemie composition (100 Fe/5 Cu/4.2 K/25 spent FCC on mass basis) were prepared by wet impregnation. XRD and XANES analysis showed the presence of Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} in calcined catalysts. FeC{sub x} and Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} were present in the activated catalysts. The metal composition of the catalysts was analyzed by ICP-MS. F-T activity of the catalysts activated in situ in CO at the same conditions as used prior to the attrition tests was measured using a fixed bed reactor at T = 573 K, P = 1.38 MPa and H{sub 2}:CO ratio of 0.67. Cu and K promoted Fe supported over Engelhard provided spent FCC catalyst shows relatively good attrition resistance (8.2 wt% fines lost), high CO conversion (81%) and C{sub 5}+ hydrocarbons selectivity (18.3%).

Automated analysis of ocular fundus images is a common procedure in countries as England, including both nonemergency examination and retinal screening of patients with diabetes mellitus. This involves digital image capture and transmission of the images to a digital reading center for evaluation and treatment referral. In collaboration with the Optometry Department, University of California, Berkeley, we have tested computer vision algorithms to segment vessels and lesions in ground-truth data (DRIVE database) and hundreds of images of non-macular centric and nonuniform illumination views of the eye fundus from EyePACS program. Methods under investigation involve mathematical morphology (Figure 1) for image enhancement and pattern matching. Recently, we have focused in more efficient techniques to model the ocular fundus vasculature (Figure 2), using deformable contours. Preliminary results show accurate segmentation of vessels and high level of true-positive microaneurysms.

This report provides an overview of the U.S. balance of payments, an explanation of the broader role of capital flows in the U.S. economy, an explanation of how the country finances its trade deficit or a trade surplus, and the implications for Congress and the country of the large inflows of capital from abroad.

The focus of this report is on the history of Al Qaeda, known (or attributed) actions, suspected capabilities of the organization and non-aligned entities, and an analysis of select regional Al Qaeda affiliates.

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This report provides an overview of federal employment programs for vulnerable young people. It begins with a discussion of the current challenges in preparing all youth today for the workforce. The report hen provides a chronology of job training and employment programs for at-risk youth that began in the 1930s.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about implementation of ESEA Title I-A Requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, in regards to educational testing. Topics include, state assessment grants, testing program costs, assessment requirements, etc..