A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Plan sponsors and participants paid a range of fees for services, though smaller plans typically paid higher fees as a percentage of plan assets. For example, the average amount sponsors of small plans reported paying for recordkeeping and administrative services was 1.33 percent of assets annually, compared with 0.15 percent paid by sponsors of large plans. Larger plans were more likely to pass recordkeeping fees along to participants, but when fees were passed along to participants in small plans, those in large plans paid lower fees than those in small plans. Participants also paid for investment and plan consulting fees—through fees deducted from their plan assets—in more instances than sponsors."

Topics covered include: Failure At High Confining Pressure; Fluid-assisted Slip, Earthquakes & Fracture; Reaction-driven Cracking; Fluid Transport, Deformation And Reaction; Localized Fluid Transport And Deformation; Earthquake Mechanisms; Subduction Zone Dynamics And Crustal Growth.

Pursuant to the Arrangement between the European Commission DG Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to continue cooperation on research, development, testing, and evaluation of technology, equipment, and procedures in order to improve nuclear material control, accountancy, verification, physical protection, and advanced containment and surveillance technologies for international safeguards, dated 1 September 2008, the IRMM and LLNL established cooperation in a program on the Study of Chemical Changes in Uranium Oxyfluoride Particles under IRMM-LLNL Action Sheet 36. The work under this action sheet had 2 objectives: (1) Achieve a better understanding of the loss of fluorine in UO{sub 2}F{sub 2} particles after exposure to certain environmental conditions; and (2) Provide feedback to the EC-JRC on sample reproducibility and characteristics.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the fall of 2010, State has sanctioned 13 foreign firms under the ISA—2 for investments in Iran’s energy sector and 11 for supplying refined petroleum products."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) report progress developing capable Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), but tools used to assess the performance of ANSF units have changed several times. In April 2012, DOD reported progress increasing the number and capability of ANSF, with 7 percent of army units and 9 percent of police units rated at the highest level of capability. GAO has previously found the tools used by DOD and NATO to assess ANSF reliable enough to support broad statements regarding capability. However, issues related to these tools exist. When GAO reported on ANA capability in January 2011, the highest capability rating level was “independent”—meaning that a unit was capable of executing the full spectrum of its missions without assistance from coalition forces. As of August 2011, the highest level had changed to “independent with advisors”—meaning that a unit was capable of executing its mission and can call for coalition forces when necessary. DOD reports, these changes, as well as the elimination of certain requirements for validating units, were partly responsible for the increase in ANSF units rated at the highest …

The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) began processing Sludge Batch 7a (SB7a), also referred to as Macrobatch 8 (MB8), in June 2011. SB7a is a blend of the heel of Tank 40 from Sludge Batch 6 (SB6) and the SB7a material that was transferred to Tank 40 from Tank 51. SB7a was processed using Frit 418. During processing of each sludge batch, the DWPF is required to take at least one glass sample to meet the objectives of the Glass Product Control Program (GPCP), which is governed by the DWPF Waste Compliance Plan, and to complete the necessary Production Records so that the final glass product may be disposed of at a Federal Repository. Three pour stream glass samples and two Melter Feed Tank (MFT) slurry samples were collected while processing SB7a. These additional samples were taken during SB7a to understand the impact of antifoam and the melter bubblers on glass redox chemistry. The samples were transferred to the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) where they were analyzed.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Navy relied on its 2009 Radar/Hull Study as the basis to select DDG 51 over DDG 1000 to carry the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) as its preferred future surface combatant—a decision that may result in a procurement of up to 43 destroyers and cost up to $80 billion over the next several decades. The Radar/Hull Study may not provide a sufficient analytical basis for a decision of this magnitude. Specifically, the Radar/Hull Study:"

Lattice functions derived from betatron phase-advance measurements have been used successfully at many e{sup +}-e{sup -} facilities in the world, including at the PEP-II High Energy Ring. For the Low energy Ring of PEP-II, however, extraction of meaningful beta functions is hampered by the 90{sup o} phase advance/cell in the arcs, which causes a singularity in the expressions for beta. An algorithm has been developed calculating beta functions based on {beta} and {alpha} at the beginning of an arc and tracking the Twiss parameters through the arc while matching the observed phase advance/cell. Stability of the algorithm is improved by doing the same calculation 'backward' as well as forward and averaging the result. The algorithm allows estimating beta functions at bad BPMs in many cases. The paper presents the algorithm used as well as examples of use in PEP.

The objectives of this report were to: provide a current state of the science of radioiodine biogeochemistry relevant to its fate and transport at the Hanford Site; conduct a review of Hanford Site data dealing with groundwater {sup 129}I; and identify critical knowledge gaps necessary for successful selection, implementation, and technical defensibility in support of remediation decisions.

Report that provides information on the levels of deficit reduction if the Budget Control Act's (BCA) automatic cuts are implemented as under current law and contrasts that with the alternative proposals offered by some Members of Congress and President Obama. It also discusses specific determinations made by the Office of Management and Budget regarding the exempt/non-exempt status of certain programs, as well as a discussion of information to be disclosed regarding the FY2013 BCA sequester impact.

The current method for measuring profiles of proton bunches in accelerators is severely lacking. One must dedicate a great deal of time and expensive equipment to achieve meaningful results. A new method to complete this task uses a rotating mask with slots of three different orientations to collect this data. By scanning over the beam in three different directions, a complete profile for each bunch is built in just seconds, compared to the hours necessary for the previous method. This design was successfully tested using synchrotron radiation emitted by SPEAR3. The profile of the beam was measured in each of the three desired directions. Due to scheduled beam maintenance, only one set of data was completed and more are necessary to solve any remaining issues. The data collected was processed and all of the RMS sizes along the major and minor axes, as well as the tilt of the beam ellipse were measured.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During our fiscal year 2011 audit, we identified eight new general information systems control deficiencies related to access controls, configuration management, and segregation of duties. We made nine recommendations to address these control deficiencies. In a separately issued Limited Official Use Only report, we communicated to BPD management detailed information regarding our findings and related recommendations."

The installation of the Union Government in 2011 and the undertaking of initial reforms have raised the prospects for the resumption of a democratically elected civilian government in Burma after five decades of military rule. The release of Burma's political prisoners has a central role in U.S. policy and Burma's political future. Many of the U.S. sanctions on Burma were implemented after Burma's ruling military junta suppressed protests and detained many political prisoners. In addition, the removal of many of the existing U.S. sanctions requires the release of all political prisoners in Burma.

This guide is a summary of the campaign finance regulations applicable to political committees.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "USCP generally has enhanced retirement benefits, a higher minimum starting salary, and a wider variety of protective duties than other federal police forces in the DC metro area that GAO reviewed, but has similar employment requirements. Even though USCP, Park Police, Supreme Court Police, and Secret Service Uniformed Division are federal police forces, they provide enhanced retirement benefits similar to those offered by federal law enforcement agencies that have additional investigative duties. These enhanced benefits allow their officers to retire early and accrue retirement pensions faster than other federal police forces. USCP and these three forces also offered among the highest minimum entry-level salaries—ranging from $52,020 to $55,653—than the other six forces GAO reviewed, which had minimum entry-level salaries ranging from $38,609 to $52,018. USCP reported routinely having a wider variety of duties than most other forces. These duties ranged from routinely protecting members of Congress to protecting buildings. USCP and most of the forces generally have similar employment requirements, such as being in good physical condition."

Nuclear weapon arms control treaty verification is a key aspect of any agreement between signatories to establish that the terms and conditions spelled out in the treaty are being met. Historically, arms control negotiations have focused more on the rules and protocols for reducing the numbers of warheads and delivery systems - sometimes resorting to complex and arcane procedures for counting forces - in an attempt to address perceived or real imbalances in a nation's strategic posture that could lead to instability. Verification procedures are generally defined in arms control treaties and supporting documents and tend to focus on technical means and measures designed to ensure that a country is following the terms of the treaty and that it is not liable to engage in deception or outright cheating in an attempt to circumvent the spirit and the letter of the agreement. As the Obama Administration implements the articles, terms, and conditions of the recently ratified and entered-into-force New START treaty, there are already efforts within and outside of government to move well below the specified New START levels of 1550 warheads, 700 deployed strategic delivery vehicles, and 800 deployed and nondeployed strategic launchers (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) silos, Submarine-Launched …

Thin film applications are of great interest to the semiconductor industry due to the important role they play in cutting edge technology such as thin film solar cells. X-Ray Reflectivity (XRR) characterizes thin films in a non-destructive and efficient manner yet complications exist in extracting these characteristics from raw XRR data. This study developed and tested two different algorithms to extract quantity of layers and thickness information on the nanometer scale from XRR data. It was concluded that an algorithm involving a local averaging technique revealed this information clearly in Fourier space.

This report provides information about the Funding for Child and Family Services Authorized Under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act for child welfare.

This report discusses World Trade Organization (WTO) safeguards provisions contained in Article XIX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the Agreement on Safeguards; the WTO China-specific safeguard and how it differs from preexisting WTO provisions; authorities and procedures set out in Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974; the International Trade Commission (ITC) determination and the President's decision to provide relief in the 2009 China tires case; and China's WTO case against the U.S. tire safeguard.

This is a white paper on climate change science. The white paper seeks to create a consensus around science-based evidence on climate change and increasing overall temperatures.

Fast Ignition (FI) uses Petawatt laser generated particle beam pulse to ignite a small volume called a pre-compressed Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) target, and is the favored method to achieve the high energy gain per target burn needed for an attractive ICF power plant. Ion beams such as protons, deuterons or heavier carbon ions are especially appealing for FI as they have relative straight trajectory, and easier to focus on the fuel capsule. But current experiments have encountered problems with the 'converter-foil' which is irradiated by the Petawatt laser to produce the ion beams. The problems include depletion of the available ions in the convertor foils, and poor energy efficiency (ion beam energy/ input laser energy). We proposed to develop a volumetrically-loaded ultra-high-density deuteron deuterium cluster material as the basis for converter-foil for deuteron beam generation. The deuterons will fuse with the ICF DT while they slow down, providing an extra 'bonus' energy gain in addition to heating the hot spot. Also, due to the volumetric loading, the foil will provide sufficient energetic deuteron beam flux for 'hot spot' ignition, while avoiding the depletion problem encountered by current proton-driven FI foils. After extensive comparative studies, in Phase I, high purity …

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.

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