This report explains the American with Disabilities Act that provides nondiscrimination protection in employment, public services, public accomodations, and services operated by private entities, transportation, and telecommunications for individuals with disabilities.

This report provides an overview of the "digital divide", which is a term used to describe a perceived gap between those Americans who use or have access to telecommunications and information technologies and those who do not.

Superbursts are energetic events on neutron stars that are a thousand times more powerful than ordinary type I X-ray bursts. They are believed to be powered by a thermonuclear explosion of accumulated {sup 12}C. However, the source of this {sup 12}C remains elusive to theoretical calculations and its concentration and ignition depth are both unknown. Here we present the first computational simulations of the nucleosynthesis during the thermal decay of a superbust, where X-ray bursts are quenched. Our calculations of the quenching time verify previous analytical calculations and shed new light on the physics of stable burning at low accretion rates. We show that concentrated (X{sub {sup 12}C} {approx}> 0.40), although insufficient, amounts of {sup 12}C are generated during the several weeks following the superburst where the decaying thermal flux of the superburst stabilizes the burning of the accreted material.

This report discusses bills introduced into the 110th Congress pertaining to food safety that could affect farmers and ranchers. Several of these bills would expressly have required enforceable on-farm safety standards. Others that focused primarily on post-harvest food safety measures nonetheless might have led to changes in on-farm practices if the regulated sectors (handlers and processors of agricultural products) placed new demands on their suppliers in order to comply. Similar proposals are re-emerging in the 111th Congress, where food safety reform is expected to be on the agenda.

This report describes in detail the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI), the centerpiece of the Bush Administration's efforts to prepare foreign security forces to participate in international peacekeeping operations. This report lists the funding and allocations set aside for GPOI, as well as the function of GPOI and its future.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal and other decision makers have had a renewed interest in how high speed rail might fit into the national transportation system and address increasing mobility constraints on highways and at airports due to congestion. GAO was asked to review (1) the factors affecting the economic viability--meaning whether total social benefits offset or justify total social costs--of high speed rail projects, including difficulties in determining the economic viability of proposed projects; (2) the challenges in developing and financing high speed rail systems; and (3) the federal role in the potential development of U.S. high speed rail systems. GAO reviewed federal legislation; interviewed federal, state, local, and private sector officials, as well as U.S. project sponsors; and reviewed high speed rail development in France, Japan, and Spain."

This report discusses the continued debate amongst congressional policymakers regarding telecommunications reform. A major point of the ongoing discussion is whether action is needed to ensure unfettered access to the Internet.

This report provides the results of the annual post-closure inspections conducted at the closed Corrective Action Unit (CAU) sites located on the Tonopah Test Range (TTR), Nevada. This report covers calendar year 2008 and includes inspection and repair activities completed at the following ten CAUs: #2; CAU 400: Bomblet Pit and Five Points Landfill (TTR) #2; CAU 404: Roller Coaster Lagoons and Trench (TTR) #2; CAU 407: Roller Coaster RadSafe Area (TTR) #2; CAU 423: Area 3 Underground Discharge Point, Building 0360 (TTR) #2; CAU 424: Area 3 Landfill Complexes (TTR) #2; CAU 426: Cactus Spring Waste Trenches (TTR) #2; CAU 427: Area 3 Septic Waste Systems 2, 6 (TTR) #2; CAU 453: Area 9 UXO Landfill (TTR) #2; CAU 484: Surface Debris, Waste Sites, and Burn Area (TTR) #2; CAU 487: Thunderwell Site (TTR)

This report provides background on Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides the Secretary of Defense with authority to train and equip foreign military forces and foreign maritime security forces.

This report discusses policy issues regarding military-to-military (mil-to-mil) contacts with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and provides a record of major contacts and crises since 1993. The United States suspended military contacts with China and imposed sanctions on arms sales in response to the Tiananmen Crackdown in 1989.

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The spectroscopic performance of current large-volume Cadmium 10% Zinc Telluride, Cd{sub 0.9}Zn{sub 0.1}Te, (CZT) detectors is impaired by cumulative effect of tellurium precipitates (secondary phases) presented in CZT single-crystal grown by low-pressure Bridgman techniques(1). This statistical effect may limit the energy resolution of large-volume CZT detectors (typically 2-5% at 662 keV for 12-mm thick devices). The stochastic nature of the interaction prevents the use of any electronic or digital charge correction techniques without a significant reduction in the detector efficiency. This volume constraint hampers the utility of CZT since the detectors are inefficient at detecting photons >1MeV and/or in low fluency situations. During the project, seven runs CZT ingots have been grown, in these ingots the indium dopant concentrations have been changed in the range between 0.5ppm to 6ppm. The I-R mapping imaging method has been employed to study the Te-precipitates. The Teprecipitates in as-grown CZT wafers, and after annealing wafers have been systematically studied by using I-R mapping system (home installed, resolution of 1.5 {micro}m). We employed our I-R standard annealing CZT (Zn=4%) procedure or two-steps annealing into radiation CZT (Zn=10%), we achieved the 'non'-Te precipitates (size < 1 {micro}m) CZT n+-type with resistivity > 10{sup 9-10} {Omega}-cm. We …

This report provides an overview of Bear Stearns, Examines the Fed's "rescue plan", and JP Morgan's subsequent agreement to acquire the firm.

This report consists of the budget for fiscal year 2009.

This report provides Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests related to Central Asia.

This report discusses a new law, Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), that the European Union (EU) began to implement On June 1, 2007.

This report includes a description of the Congressional Research Service and it's benefits to the American Legislative Process

This report provides an overview of each National and Community Service Act(NCSA) and Domestic Volunteer Service Act(DVSA) program and compares Corporation for National and Community Service(CNCS) funding from the FY2007 Appropriation, the FY2008 Appropriation, and the FY2009 budget request.

Since September 11, 2001, several bills introduced in the U.S. Congress have included provisions to assist emergency communications. Key provisions from a number of these bills have become law. This report discusses legislation addressing communications among first responders.

This report summarizes the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to- Know Act (EPCRA) and the major regulatory programs that mandate reporting by industrial facilities of releases of hazardous chemicals to the environment, as well as local planning to respond in the event of significant, accidental releases.

This annual report provides details on the research conducted at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory in Fiscal Year 2007 and path forward for capability upgrades in Fiscal Year 2008.

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The unified estate and gift tax is levied on the transfer of assets that occurs when someone dies or gives a gift. Filing an estate tax return can be difficult depending on the value and complexity of the estate. The purpose here is to outline the mechanics of the estate and gift tax. The first section begins with a brief review of the general rules accompanied with a numerical example. There are some minor provisions of the law that are not discussed here, however, such as the phase out of the graduated rates and the credit for taxes on property recently transferred. The second section summarizes the special rules for farms and small businesses. And, the final section briefly describes the generation skipping transfer tax. The appendix of this report provides detailed data from returns filed in 2005, the latest year for which data are available.

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