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Federal Tax Collection: Potential for Using Passport Issuance to Increase Collection of Unpaid Taxes

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as of the end of fiscal year 2010, the balance of reported unpaid federal taxes was about $330 billion. Given the many challenges that IRS faces, the enforcement of the tax laws and the tax code is on GAO's list of high-risk areas. GAO was asked to (1) determine, to the extent possible, the magnitude of known unpaid federal taxes for individuals who were … more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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401(K) Plans: Certain Investment Options and Practices That May Restrict Withdrawals Not Widely Understood

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "401(k) plan sponsors are responsible for offering an array of appropriate investment options, and participants are responsible for directing their investments among those options. While participants expect to be able to switch investment options or withdraw money from their accounts, during the recent economic downturn, some 401(k) plan sponsors and participants found that they were restricted from doin… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Intercity Passenger Rail: Recording Clearer Reasons for Awards Decisions Would Improve Otherwise Good Grantmaking Practices

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) appropriated $8 billion for high and conventional speed passenger rail. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), within the Department of Transportation (the department), was responsible for soliciting applications, evaluating them to determine program eligibility and technical merits, and selecting awards, which were announced in Janua… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Forest Service: Continued Work Needed to Address Persistent Management Challenges

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Forest Service, within the Department of Agriculture, manages over 190 million acres of national forest and grasslands. The agency is responsible for managing its lands for various purposes--including recreation, grazing, timber harvesting, and others--while ensuring that such activities do not impair the lands' long-term productivity. Numerous GAO reports examining different aspects of Forest Service pro… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV): Background and Issues for Congress

Description: The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is currently being developed by the Army and the Marine Corps as a successor to the 11 different versions of the High Mobility, Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) that have been in service since 1985. There are concerns about the affordability of JLTVs and its redundancy with other tactical wheeled vehicles.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Feickert, Andrew
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Trade in Services: The Doha Development Agenda Negotiations and U.S. Goals

Description: The United States and the other 153 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been engaged in a set or "round" of negotiations called the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) since December 2001. The DDA's main objective is to refine and expand the rules by which WTO members conduct foreign trade with one another. This report is designed to assist the 112th Congress to understand and monitor progress of the negotiations and the major issues that the negotiators are addressing. The report prov… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Cooper, William H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Foreign Investment and National Security: Economic Considerations

Description: This report assesses recent international developments as the leaders from a number of nations work to reach a consensus on an informal set of best practices regarding national restrictions on foreign investment for national security purposes. This report also provides one possible approach for assessing the costs and benefits involved in using national policies to direct or to restrict foreign direct investment for national security reasons.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy

Description: This report describes the open economy and society of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as U.S. concern over proliferation of advanced technology due to said open economy and the UAE's lax export controls. This report describes these issues in relation to a recently-signed U.S.-UAE civilian nuclear agreement. It also provides a general description of the UAE's government and political structure, as well as the effects of the recent global economic downturn on the UAE in general and on the… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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NATO Common Funds Burdensharing: Background and Current Issues

Description: This report discusses North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) burdensharing--the funding, via individual contributions from NATO member states, of certain commonly conducted activities. The report discusses how each NATO member state's contribution is negotiated, and how member states are reconsidering their defense budgets (and, thereby, their willingness and ability to contribute to NATO operations) in light of the global financial crisis.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Ek, Carl
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws

Description: This report provides an overview of the legal precedent for mandatory vaccination laws, and of state laws that require certain individuals or populations, including school-aged children and health care workers, to be vaccinated against various communicable diseases. Also discussed are state laws providing for mandatory vaccinations during a public health emergency or outbreak of a communicable disease.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Swendiman, Kathleen S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organization (WTO): An Overview

Description: This report describes the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), which is the World Trade Organization's (WTO) means of resolving disputes arising under WTO agreements. The report includes criticisms of certain flaws in the DSU, as well as WTO Members' suggestions for improvement. The report also describes the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which represents the United States in WTO disputes. Also discussed are pieces of legisl… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Grimmett, Jeanne J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations

Description: This report discusses the current state of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its current relationship with the United States, and future initiatives to further develop U.S.-Saudi relations.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Blanchard, Christopher M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues

Description: This report reviews the ongoing programs that will affect the expected size and shape of the U.S. strategic nuclear force structure. It begins with an overview of this force structure during the Cold War, and summarizes the reductions and changes that have occurred since 1991. It then offers details about each category of delivery vehicle, focusing on their current deployments and ongoing and planned modernization programs. The report concludes with a discussion of issues related to decisions a… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Woolf, Amy F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians

Description: This report collects statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001, and is ongoing. OEF actions take place primarily in Afghanistan, but OEF casualties also include American casualties in other countries, listed within this report.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Chesser, Susan G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Research and Development Funding: FY2011

Description: This report summarizes the FY2011 budget request for research & development (R&D) funding, including comparisons to R&D funding requests in the FY2010 budget. Congress will play a central role in defining the nation's R&D priorities, especially with respect to two overarching issues: the extent to which the Federal R&D investment can grow in the context of increased pressure on discretionary spending and how available funding will be prioritized and allocated. This report breaks down in detail … more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Sargent, John F., Jr.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Navy SSBN(X) Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses the Navy's plan to develop and design a class of 12 next-generation ballistic missile submarines, or SSBN(X)s, as replacements for the 14 Ohio class SSBNs currently in operation. The report explores certain related issues for Congress, including the affordability of the project and its potential impact on other Navy shipbuilding programs, alternatives to the program, and which shipyard or shipyards will build the proposed ships.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Middle East and North Africa Unrest: Implications for Oil and Natural Gas Markets

Description: This report examines the consequences of the recent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa on oil and natural gas markets, both in the short term and the long term. It also discuses various policy considerations for Congress and includes an appendix of oil and gas exports and energy concerns by country.
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Ratner, Michael & Nerurkar, Neelesh
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Processing of Non-PFP Plutonium Oxide in Hanford Plants

Description: Processing of non-irradiated plutonium oxide, PuO2, scrap for recovery of plutonium values occurred routinely at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) in glovebox line operations. Plutonium oxide is difficult to dissolve, particularly if it has been high-fired; i.e., calcined to temperatures above about 400°C and much of it was. Dissolution of the PuO2 in the scrap typically was performed in PFP’s Miscellaneous Treatment line using nitric acid (HNO3) containing some source of fluoride ion, … more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Jones, Susan A. & Delegard, Calvin H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Low-Cost Hydrogen Distributed Production System Development

Description: H{sub 2}Gen, with the support of the Department of Energy, successfully designed, built and field-tested two steam methane reformers with 578 kg/day capacity, which has now become a standard commercial product serving customers in the specialty metals and PV manufacturing businesses. We demonstrated that this reformer/PSA system, when combined with compression, storage and dispensing (CSD) equipment could produce hydrogen that is already cost-competitive with gasoline per mile driven in a conve… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: C.E. (Sandy) Thomas, Ph.D., President Franklin D. Lomax, Ph.D, CTO & Principal Investigator, and Maxim Lyubovski, Ph.D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Simulation of free-electron lasers seeded with broadband radiation

Description: The longitudinal coherence of free-electron laser (FEL) radiation can be enhanced by seeding the FEL with high harmonics of an optical laser pulse. The radiation produced by high-harmonic generation (HHG), however, has a fast-varying temporal profile that can violate the slowly varying envelope approximation and limited frequency window that is employed in conventional free-electron laser simulation codes. Here we investigate the implications of violating this approximation on the accuracy of s… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Bajlekov, Svetoslav; Fawley, William; Schroeder, Carl; Bartolini, Riccardo & Hooker, Simon
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Vibrational Spectroscopy of Chromatographic Interfaces

Description: Chromatographic separations play a central role in DOE-supported fundamental research related to energy, biological systems, the environment, and nuclear science. The overall portfolio of research activities in the Separations and Analysis Program within the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences includes support for activities designed to develop a molecular-level understanding of the chemical processes that underlie separations for both large-scale and analytical-scale purposes. The research eff… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Pemberton, Jeanne E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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BLENDED CALCIUM ALUMINATE-CALCIUM SULFATE CEMENT-BASED GROUT FOR P-REACTOR VESSEL IN-SITU DECOMMISSIONING

Description: The objective of this report is to document laboratory testing of blended calcium aluminate - calcium hemihydrate grouts for P-Reactor vessel in-situ decommissioning. Blended calcium aluminate - calcium hemihydrate cement-based grout was identified as candidate material for filling (physically stabilizing) the 105-P Reactor vessel (RV) because it is less alkaline than portland cement-based grout which has a pH greater than 12.4. In addition, blended calcium aluminate - calcium hemihydrate cemen… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Langton, C. & Stefanko, D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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GLYCOLIC-FORMIC ACID FLOWSHEET FINAL REPORT FOR DOWNSELECTION DECISION

Description: Flowsheet testing was performed to develop the nitric-glycolic-formic acid flowsheet (referred to as the glycolic-formic flowsheet throughout the rest of the report) as an alternative to the nitric/formic flowsheet currently being processed at the DWPF. This new flowsheet has shown that mercury can be removed in the Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) with minimal hydrogen generation. All processing objectives were also met, including greatly reducing the Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) produ… more
Date: March 10, 2011
Creator: Lambert, D.; Pickenheim, B.; Stone, M.; Newell, J. & Best, D.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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