This report discusses contribution of technological advancement to economic growth and productivity increases. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional interest has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development.

The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan emerging from more than 22 years of warfare, although substantial risk to Afghan stability remains. Before the U.S. military campaign against the orthodox Islamist Taliban movement began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Osama bin Laden. As the war against remaining Al Qaeda and Taliban elements winds down, the United States is shifting its military focus toward stabilizing the interim government, including training a new Afghan national army, and supporting the international security force (ISAF) that is helping the new government provide security.

This report provides Hazardous materials transportation safety - federal program and legislative issues.

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The Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which legislatively approved the United States' membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), also contains provisions setting out the legislative procedure for revoking such approval, potentially leading to the withdrawal of the United States from the WTO. This report sets out the functional timetable and requirements for taking legislative action for United States withdrawal from the WTO.

Report on the promise made by federal law to provide criminal defendants with a proper venue, including background, issues, district crimes, transfers, and more.

This report provides background on the pending litigation. Google, Inc. is digitally scanning the collections of several prominent libraries in order to create a vast searchable database of literary works. Copyright holders who have not authorized and object to the digitization have filed suit against the company.

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A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

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 Government Code section 51.961(g), which requires one-half of the family protection fee collected in divorce suits to be deposited in the child abuse and neglect prevention trust account, violates the open courts provision, Texas Constitution article I, section 13 (RQ-0362-GA)

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 Chamber's County has authority to contract with a bank to invest and manage its permanent school fund (RQ-0364-GA)

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 section 693.002 of the Health and Safety Code requires a justice of the peace to allow an organ procurement organization to remove organs of a deceased person before the justice of the peace has determined whether an autopsy should be performed (RQ-0365-GA)

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 deputy sheriff is an "individual who acts in any capacity for permitting authority" for purposes of title 30, section 285.50(g) of the Texas Administrative Code, which prohibits such persons from working as an installer for an on-site sewage facility withing the permitting authority's jurisdiction (RQ-0366-GA)

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 multiple contiguous lots may be claimed as part of a homestead exemption under section 11.13(j) of the Tax Code (RQ-0808-GA)

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 peace officer who has taken a person into custody under chapter 573 of the Health and Safety Code may be required to transport that individual to a medical facility for evaluation prior to taking that person to a mental health facility (RQ-0809-GA)

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau told Congress that it had at least $305 million in budget savings out of its $4.5 billion fiscal year 2000 no-year appropriations for the 2000 decennial census. Of the $4.5 billion appropriated to the U.S. Census Bureau in fiscal year 2000, lower-than-expected expenditures and obligations resulted in available balances of at least $415 million. A lower-than-expected support staff workload reduced salary and benefit costs by about $348 million. Enumerator workload is largely determined by the initial mail response rate for returned census questionnaires. The initial mail response of 64 percent meant that Census enumerators did not have to visit more than three million American households. However, the available balances from the higher mail response rate and the lower support staff workload were partially offset by about $100 million of higher salary and benefit costs for enumerators, including a higher workload for unanticipated recounts. According to Bureau data, enumerator productivity did not significantly affect budget variances for the 2000 decennial census. The Bureau reported the national average time to visit a household and complete a census questionnaire was about the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act requires agencies to publish compliance guides for each rule or group of related rules for which the agency is required to prepare a final regulatory flexibility analysis. GAO found that Section 212 has had little impact, and its implementation has varied across and sometimes within the agencies. None of the agencies in GAO's review provided GAO with guidance documents that met all of the statutory requirements for all of their 1999 and 2000 final rules. The agencies indicated that they tried to put their compliance guides in plain language--just as they have for all their regulatory materials. The guidance documents that the agencies gave GAO were often published on the agencies' web sites. Direct mail, electronic list servers, agency/regional offices, and workshops were also used for distribution."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1998, GAO has issued numerous reports on nursing home quality and safety that identified significant weaknesses in federal and state oversight. Under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), states conduct annual nursing home inspections, known as surveys, to assess compliance with federal quality and safety requirements. States also investigate complaints filed by family members or others in between annual surveys. When state surveys find serious deficiencies, CMS may impose sanctions to encourage compliance with federal requirements. GAO was asked to assess CMS's progress since 1998 in addressing oversight weaknesses. GAO (1) reviewed the trends in nursing home quality from 1999 through January 2005, (2) evaluated the extent to which CMS's initiatives have addressed survey and oversight problems identified by GAO and CMS, and (3) identified key challenges to continued progress in ensuring resident health and safety. GAO reviewed federal data on the results of state nursing home surveys and federal surveys assessing state performance; conducted additional analyses in five states with large numbers of nursing homes; reviewed the status of its prior recommendations; and identified key workforce and workload issues confronting …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) was created as a private nonprofit to support legal assistance for low-income people to resolve their civil legal matters and relies heavily on federal appropriations. In 2006, LSC distributed most of its $327 million in grants to support such assistance. Effective internal controls over grants and oversight of grantees are critical to LSC's mission. GAO was asked to determine whether LSC's internal controls over grants management and oversight processes provide reasonable assurance that grant funds are used for their intended purposes. GAO analyzed key records and interviewed agency officials to obtain an understanding of LSC's internal control framework, including the monitoring and oversight of grantees, and performed limited reviews of internal controls and compliance at 14 grantees."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Disputes between policyholders and insurers after the 2005 hurricane season highlight the challenges in understanding the cause and extent of damages when properties are subjected to both high winds and flooding. Questions remain over the adequacy of steps taken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to ensure that claims paid by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) cover only those damages caused by flooding. GAO was asked to evaluate (1) issues that arise when multiple insurance policies provide coverage for losses from a single event, (2) state regulators' oversight of loss adjusters, and (3) information that NFIP collects to assess the accuracy of damage determinations and payments. GAO collected data from FEMA, reviewed reinspection reports and relevant policies and procedures, and interviewed state regulatory officials and others about adjuster oversight and NFIP."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare cost plans--managed care plans paid based on the reasonable costs of delivering Medicare-covered services--enroll a small number of beneficiaries compared to Medicare Advantage (MA), Medicare's managed care program in which the plans accept financial risk if their costs exceed fixed payments received for each enrolled beneficiary. Despite the small enrollment, industry representatives stated that cost plans provide a managed care option in areas that traditionally had few or no MA plans. Current law allows existing cost plans to continue operating unless specific MA plans of sufficient enrollment serve the same area. In such cases, the cost plan must discontinue serving that area beginning in 2011. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) required the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine issues related to the conversion of Medicare cost plans to MA plans. In response, GAO (1) determined the MA options available to beneficiaries in cost plans, (2) described key differences for beneficiaries between cost plans, MA plans, and Medicare fee-for-service (FFS); (3) determined the extent to which organizations offering cost plans also offer MA plans; and (4) described concerns cost plans …

We describe the production, installation and commissioning of the new 792,576 channel D0 Silicon Microstrip Tracker to be used for the 2 fb{sup -1} of the Run IIa at the Tevatron.

The author discusses methods based on the large Nc expansion to study nonperturbative aspects of quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong force. The author applies these methods to the analysis of weak decay processes and the nonperturbative computation of the weak matrix elements needed for a complete evaluation of these decays in the Standard Model of elementary particle physics.