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The information superhighway has reached a crossroads. Internet enthusiasts accustomed to near-limitless freedoms are growing worried about government and industry attempts to introduce commerce into cyberspace. Film studios, record companies and book publishers are demanding greater legal protections for copyright holders. But Clinton administration and congressional proposals to thwart copyright infringements have met resistance from academics and librarians concerned about longtime protections for "fair use" in scholarship and journalism. Telecommunications companies and on-line service providers, meanwhile, are wary of being held liable for copyright violations committed by their users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a guide to one of the regular appropriations bills that the U.S. Congress considered for fiscal year 2001. Summary of the current legislative status of the bill; Major issues associated with the bill; Funding levels and related legislative activity.

Provides an overview of the processing of grants by members of the U.S. Congress. Way in which congressional offices can assist constituents applying for federal funds; Background of the appropriations process; Establishment and maintenance of federal contacts; Basic grants resources for a congressional office.

The article focuses on the trends in executive compensation using top executives firms panel dataset from 1936 to 2005. It says that in contrast to the popular steep upward pay trajectory of chief executive officer (CEO), the median real value of compensation was flat from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. It mentions that the sensitivity changes in executive's wealth to the performance of firms were not small for most of the sample period.

A variety of sources that relates to articles appeared in the August 2007 issue of the report "Registering Student from Language Backgrounds Other Than English" are presented.

The migration of books to electronic screens has been accelerating with the introduction of mobile reading on Kindles, iPhones and Sony Readers and the growing power of Google's Book Search engine. Even the book's form is mutating as innovators experiment with adding video, sound and computer graphics to text. Some fear a loss of literary writing and reading, others of the world's storehouse of knowledge if it all goes digital. A recent settlement among Google, authors and publishers would make more out-of-print books accessible online, but some worry about putting such a vast trove of literature into the hands of a private company. So far, barely 1 percent of books sold in the United States are electronic. Still, the economically strapped publishing industry is under pressure to do more marketing and publishing online as younger, screen-oriented readers replace today's core buyers — middle-aged women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As economic pressures wrought by the recession continue to squeeze millions of Americans, they are turning increasingly to the nation's libraries for help. Many are taking advantage of computer workstations to hunt for jobs and polish their résumés. Those who can no longer afford to buy DVDs or books are now borrowing them from the library. Yet state and local governments are slashing library budgets, and many public library systems have been forced to reduce hours and staff and close branches. Academic and school libraries also are struggling with budget cuts. Meanwhile, the role of reference librarians is evolving to meet emerging demands spurred by digital publishing. The myriad challenges facing libraries raise questions about their future: Should the physical library shrink as books, journals and other materials increasingly become available in digital form? What role will libraries play if e-books come to dominate the reading experience? And should public libraries be privatized in an effort to save money? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the re-release of the Alaska Geologic Data Index (AGDI), the new name of the Alaska Mineral Industry Data Index (AKMIDI) database that went offline in 2009. The AKMIDI database, which remains available for download, holds mineral information and other industry reports. The database has been renamed because it will also index unpublished geologic data. AGDI is being funded through a program of the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS).

The article focuses on the court case Bounds vs. Smith which deals on prison law library which was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1977. Topics discussed include inmates in state facilities who have filed for habeas corpus and civil rights cases, prisoners' rights to access to the courts, and Justice Thurgood Marshall's idea regarding the right that placed affirmative duties on state officials on a number of cases under criminal law.

The article discusses the sources of statistics on American war and military operations. Topics covered include how the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) provides detailed historical tables and annual statistics on active duty military deaths and lists names of the dead for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, and Operation Enduring Freedom.

The article focuses on the National Death Penalty Archive (NDPA) present at the University at Albany and its historical value in future research and study. It mentions about the past of death penalty laws, functions, history which are worth preserving. Other topics include repository of NDPA which has capital punishment materials created by University's School of Criminal Justice and University libraries, papers by academicians including David Baldus, Michael Mello and Michael Radelet.

The article discusses the role of public libraries in the business of digital publishing in the U.S. It states that public libraries act as invaluable centers of learning, discovery, and entertainment. It notes that libraries make it possible for readers to use materials that they might never encounter in any other way.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has published extensive statistical information on the U.S. economy and banking industry since 1914. This information has been published in various formats, usually referred to as "statistical releases." Titles and release numbers of the publications have changed frequently. Federal Reserve Board Statistical Releases: a Publications History describes these changes; it is a convenient tool that lightens the burden of tracing the titles and release numbers by providing history in a single location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has published extensive statistical information on the U.S. economy and banking industry since 1914. This information has been published in various formats, usually referred to as "statistical releases." Titles and release numbers of the publications have changed frequently. Federal Reserve Board Statistical Releases: a Publications History describes these changes; it is a convenient tool that lightens the burden of tracing the titles and release numbers by providing history in a single location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This summary of the status of Alaska's mineral industry for 2017 is the 37th such annual report produced by the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys and partner agencies. Published for more than one-third of a century, the annual report endeavors to provide a consistent and factual snapshot of mineral industry activity in Alaska. It also serves as the authoritative, historical record of mining in the State. The reported value of Alaska's mineral industry in 2017 totaled $3.15 billion, an increase of almost 12 percent from 2016. The total value for 2017 is a composite of the year's expenditures on exploration and development, plus the revenue to the operators from the commodities produced. Exploration and development expenditures and production values, along with other major indicators of the health of Alaska's mining industry, rebounded in 2017 to values not seen for several years. Zinc was the top metal produced in 2017, accounting for more than half of Alaska's total metal production by value. Gold followed at 33 percent, along with lead at 8.8 percent and silver at 7.7 percent. However, quantities produced declined for all metals. Development expenditures in Alaska rose 38 percent in 2017, to $299.5 million. Development expenditures at Alaska's major metal mines accounted for 89 percent of total development expenditures. Mineral exploration expenditures rose dramatically in 2017 to $120.8 million, more than doubling expenditures from the 2016 level of $58.9 million. The major mines spent 29 percent of the State's exploration budget, down significantly from 49 percent in 2016, signaling increased activity on undeveloped prospects and deposits in the State. Teck Alaska Inc.'s drilling at Aktigiruq suggests they have discovered another worldclass, sediment-hosted zinc deposit in the Red Dog district. Mining claims and prospecting sites covered almost three million acres of Alaska in 2017, with 6,259 active Federal and 34,249 active State mining claims. While the total area of the State held by mining claims increased by 16 percent, the area of new claims staked in 2017 increased by more than 230 percent. Mineral industry employment in 2017 is estimated at 3,392 full-time-equivalent jobs, an overall increase of about 160 jobs (5 percent) from 2016. The number of exploration jobs increased by almost 59 percent to 254 jobs in 2017, and combined production and development jobs saw a 2 percent gain as 66 new jobs were reported. Estimated revenues to the State of Alaska and municipalities from mineral-industry-specific fees, rents, sales, royalties, and taxes amounted to more than $120.6 million in 2017, an increase of 73 percent from 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Naknek Formation records Late Jurassic forearc basin sedimentation and crops out discontinuously along an approximately 1,000 km trend in southern Alaska. Recent work in the Iniskin-Tuxedni bays area yielded depositional environment interpretations for the lower Oxfordian-lower Kimmeridgian Naknek members of Cook Inlet (in ascending order): Chisik Conglomerate (fan delta), lower sandstone (inner shelf), Snug Harbor Siltstone (outer shelf and slope), and Pomeroy Arkose (base of slope and basin floor). Geologic mapping and stratigraphic reconnaissance also led to the discovery of three seismic-scale, deep-water paleocanyons incised into Snug Harbor slope strata and chiefly filled with channelized Pomeroy sandstone. Following incisional establishment of the canyons, confinement was maintained by erosional and aggradational processes, with indications of the latter in anomalously thick successions of Snug Harbor that crop out immediately adjacent to fill strata and are interpreted as channel-belt-bounding master levees. Fill lithologies and stratigraphic architecture reflect an overall reduction of thalweg gradients following an early episode of canyon evolution marked by incision and sediment bypass. Ultimately, canyon-associated depositional systems trended toward aboveseafloor equilibrium profiles as arkosic sediment debouched onto the basin floor and canyon mouths retreated upslope. Recognition of the deep-water canyons combined with a synthesis of our depositional systems and stratigraphic architecture studies permit a sequence-stratigraphic analysis of the Naknek Formation. The basal members--Chisik Conglomerate and lower sandstone--overlie the Middle Jurassic Chinitna Formation along a sequence-bounding unconformity (basal surface of forced regression) and form a lowstand systems tract (LST-1). A transgressive surface caps LST-1 at the base of Snug Harbor (outer shelf) and is overlain by a transgressive systems tract (TST). The mid Snug Harbor (slope) exhibits a somewhat thicker-bedded and coarser-grained depositional motif, defining a highstand systems tract (HST) lying above a maximum flooding surface at the top of TST. Inception of the deep-water canyons coincided with termination of HST, forming a basal surface of forced regression that in inter-canyon areas is conformable. The lower Pomeroy and two distinct stratigraphic elements of Snug Harbor constitute base-of-slope and basin-floor components of a lowstand systems tract (LST-2). A complete third order (106 years duration) stratigraphic sequence comprises LST-1 through HST, with LST-2 occurring in the overlying sequence. Dominant sediment supply signals are recorded by the coarse, arkosic deposits of forced through normal regressions of LST-1 and LST-2, whereas TST and HST reflect episodes of potentially subtle alternation between accommodation-favored (TST) and sediment-supply-favored (HST) conditions. Establishment of a shelf-slope-basin-floor depositional profile by progradation of clinoforms during HST is inferred, with the incipient canyons cut into this HST slope. Accumulation of slope-bypassed sediment of LST-2 occurred along deep-water reaches of diminishing gradient at and beyond the base of slope, ultimately forming a coarse clastic wedge of coalesced basin-floor fan lobes that backstepped and onlapped the inherited slope profile and probably thinned basinward by downlap beyond the outcrop belt. The deep-water canyons and onlapping fan complex are stratigraphic elements and relations well known from seismic reflection datasets around the world but rarely are documented in outcrop. The Naknek Formation marked the regional onset of ubiquitous batholithic provenance in the forearc, signaling exhumation of the magmatic arc's roots and suggesting tectonism was a driving force of sediment supply during the Late Jurassic. However, there are indications that changing climate modulated Naknek sedimentation regimes, and ostensible glacioeustatic changes have been reported for Callovian-Oxfordian time that may have critically influenced base-level fall and development of the base-of-Naknek sequence boundary. Nevertheless, convergent margin tectonics likely played the dominant role in driving changes in Naknek sediment supply and accommodation, with climate and eustasy contributing subordinate influences on the resultant stratigraphic architecture. This stratigraphic analysis relates to petroleum systems of the underexplored Cook Inlet by identifying depositional dip gradient domains in the Naknek Formation, defining reaches through time and space characterized by erosion, bypass, and sediment accumulation in the context of base-level cyclicity and sediment supply. Constraints on sediment routing and timing for export of coarse detritus into marine settings improves predictability of facies distribution in the subsurface. However, Naknek sandstones contain a high proportion of labile grains, typically resulting in diagenetic destruction of porosity and permeability during burial. Nevertheless, exploration models may benefit from integrating the depositional systems work of this study, recognizing that provenance, sediment routing, lithologic parameters, and oil charge timing are keys to determining reservoir quality variability for conventional and unconventional plays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on fact sheet which is designed to assist U.S. Congressional offices with searching current and recent news articles and transcripts and which also includes locations of where subscription databases can be accessed. Topics discussed include selected news databases such as CQ.com and CQ Press, OnlineNewspapers.com and ProQuest, selected news transcript resources such as CNN Transcripts and selected radio and television resources such as C-SPAN Schedules.

Members of Congress receive frequent requests from grant seekers needing funds for projects in districts and states. The congressional office should first determine its priorities regarding the appropriate assistance to give constituents, from providing information on grants programs to active advocacy of projects. Congressional grants staff can best help grant seekers by first themselves gaining some understanding of the grants process. Each office handles grants requests in its own way, depending upon the Member's legislative agenda and overall organization and workload. There may be a full-time grants specialist or several staff members under the supervision of a grants coordinator working solely in the area of grants and projects. In some offices, all grants requests are handled in the district or state office; in others, they are answered by the Washington, DC, staff. To assist grant seekers applying for federal funds, congressional offices can develop working relationships with grants officers in federal and state departments and agencies. Because more than 80% of federal funds go to state and local governments that, in turn, manage federal grants and sub-award to applicants in their state, congressional staff need to identify their own state administering offices. To educate constituents, a congressional office may provide selected grant seekers information on funding programs or may sometimes sponsor workshops on federal and private assistance. Because most funding resources are on the Internet, Member home pages can also link to grants sources such as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) and Grants.gov so that constituents themselves can search for grants programs and funding opportunities. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) web page, Grants and Federal Domestic Assistance, by Maria A. Kreiser (see sample at http://www.crs.gov/resources/MEMBER-GRANTS-PAGE), can be added to a Member's home page upon request and is updated automatically on House and Senate servers. Another CRS web page, Grants and Federal Assistance, by Maria Kreiser and Julie Jennings, at http://www.crs.gov/resources/GRANTS, covers key CRS products. Congressional staff can use CRS reports to learn about grants work and to provide information on government and private funding. In addition to the current report, these include CRS Report RS21117, Ethical Considerations in Assisting Constituents With Grant Requests Before Federal Agencies, by Jack Maskell; CRS Report RL34012, Resources for Grantseekers, by Julie Jennings and Maria A. Kreiser; and CRS Report RL34035, Grants Work in a Congressional Office, by Julie Jennings and Maria A. Kreiser. CRS also offers reports on block grants and the appropriations process; federal assistance for homeland security and terrorism preparedness; and federal programs on specific subjects and for specific groups, such as state and local governments, police and fire departments, libraries and museums, nonprofit organizations, small business, and other topics. An internal grants manual outlining office policies and procedures, including perhaps templates for letters of support, might be developed to help grants staff. With reductions in federal programs, and with most government grants requiring matching funds, grants staff should also become familiar with other funding, such as private or corporate foundations, as alternatives or supplements to federal grants. This report will be updated at the beginning of each Congress and as needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors evaluated potential tsunami hazard for the communities of Kodiak, Womens Bay, and for the U.S. Coast Guard base on Kodiak Island by numerically modeling the extent of inundation from tsunami waves generated by hypothetical earthquake sources. Worst-case hypothetical scenarios are defined by analyzing results of a sensitivity study of the tsunami dynamics related to various slip distributions along the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust. The worst-case scenarios for the Kodiak communities are thought to be the subduction zone earthquakes offshore Kodiak Island with their greatest slip at 5-35 km (3.1-22 mi) depth. We also consider earthquakes as large as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan with the greatest slip located close to the trench area. The results show that the maximum predicted flow depth in downtown Kodiak could reach 13 m (42.6 ft), and the currents in Kodiak's Inner Harbor could be as strong as 3.7 m/sec (7.2 knots). The dangerous wave activity is expected to last for at least 10 hours after the earthquake. Results presented here are intended to provide guidance to local emergency management agencies in tsunami inundation assessment, evacuation planning, and public education to mitigate future tsunami hazards. This report updates the previously published assessment of tsunami hazard for the Kodiak Island communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this report we evaluate potential tsunami hazards for the southeastern Alaska community of Juneau and numerically model the extent of inundation from tsunami waves generated by tectonic and submarine landslide sources. We calibrate our tsunami model by numerically simulating the 2011 Tohoku tsunami at Juneau and comparing our results to instrument records. Analysis of calculated and observed water level dynamics for the 2011 event in Juneau reveals that the model underestimates the observed wave heights in the city by a factor of two, likely due to complex tsunami-tide interactions. We compensate for this numerical underestimation by doubling the coseismic slip of the hypothetical tsunami sources in our models. Potential hypothetical maximum credible tsunami sources include variations of the extended 1964 rupture and megathrust earthquakes in the Prince William Sound and Alaska Peninsula regions. Local underwater landslide events in Lynn Canal, in Favorite, Saginaw, and Gastineau channels, and in Taku Inlet are also considered as possible tsunamigenic scenarios. The results show that the maximum predicted wave height in the Juneau area resulting from a tectonic tsunami is 2-3 m (6-10 ft), while a landslide-generated tsunami may cause a run-up of 15-16 m (49-52 ft) along the Fritz Cove shoreline and potentially flood portions of the airport. Results presented here are intended to provide guidance to local emergency management agencies in tsunami inundation assessment, evacuation planning, and public education to mitigate future tsunami hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this report we evaluate potential tsunami hazards for the southeastern Alaska communities of Skagway and Haines and numerically model the extent of inundation from tsunami waves generated by tectonic and submarine landslide sources. We calibrate our tsunami model by numerically simulating the 2011 Tohoku, Japan tsunami at Skagway and comparing our results to instrument records. Analysis of calculated and observed water level dynamics for the 2011 event in Skagway reveals that the model underestimates the observed wave heights in the city by a factor of 1.5, likely due to complex tsunami-tide interactions. We compensate for this underestimation numerically by increasing the coseismic slip of the hypothetical tsunami sources in our models. Potential hypothetical maximum credible tsunami sources include variations of the extended 1964 rupture and megathrust earthquakes in the Prince William Sound and Alaska Peninsula regions. Local underwater landslide events in Taiya, Chilkoot, and Chilkat inlets are also considered as possible tsunamigenic scenarios. The results show that the maximum predicted wave height resulting from a tectonic tsunami is 2-3 m (7-10 ft) in Skagway and Haines, while the maximum landslide-generated tsunami may cause a runup of 15-16 m (49-52 ft). Results presented here are intended to provide guidance to local emergency management agencies in tsunami inundation assessment, evacuation planning, and public education to mitigate future tsunami hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We re-evaluate the potential tsunami hazard for the communities of Homer and Seldovia by numerically modeling the extent of inundation from tsunami waves generated by earthquakes and submarine landslides. Hypothetical worst-case scenarios are defined by analyzing the tsunami dynamics related to various plausible earthquake slip distributions along the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust. Potential tsunami sources include megathrust earthquakes in the Prince William Sound, Kenai Peninsula, and Kodiak Island regions. We consider scenarios similar to that of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, with maximum slip located on a shallow portion of the plate interface close to the seafloor trench. We also consider local underwater slope failure scenarios for Kachemak Bay. The maximum predicted wave height from a tectonic tsunami is 10-12 m (33-40 ft) in Homer and 10-11 m (33-36 ft) in Seldovia, while the maximum landslide-generated tsunami may reach an elevation of up to 4 m (13 ft) on Homer Spit. Results presented here are intended to provide guidance to local emergency management agencies for tsunami inundation assessment, evacuation planning, and public education to mitigate future tsunami hazards. This report updates the previous assessment of tsunami hazard for Homer and Seldovia published in 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new 1:63,360-scale geologic map of the hydrocarbon-bearing Umiat-Gubik area of the central North Slope, Alaska, spans approximately 2,100 km2 at the northern extent of the Brooks Range foothills fold-and-thrust belt in the Colville foreland basin. This geologic map was prepared through assimilation of field observations, aerial and satellite imagery, seismic-reflection data, and well logs. Near-surface formation picks were available or derived for most of the area's 24 exploration wells, and two cross sections were constructed along lines of section that are constrained at depth by our interpretations of publicly available two-dimensional seismic data. The mapped area hosts exposures of Upper Cretaceous strata in the Nanushuk, Seabee, Tuluvak, Schrader Bluff, and Prince Creek Formations, constituting an approximately 2-km-thick succession that crops out discontinuously in the low-relief, tundra-mantled region. This part of the siliciclastic Brookian megasequence stratigraphy comprises principally shallow-marine deposits. Our work benefits from and reflects recent sequencestratigraphic advances that better constrain how this part of the Colville basin continued to fill by a northeastward prograding clastic wedge during Late Cretaceous time, with the exposed stratigraphy recognized as basin-scale topset units. A series of east- to east-southeast-trending, km-scale wavelength, gentle folds are mapped in the area. Anticlines are locally breached by thrusts and interpreted to be folded above faulted and penetratively deformed mid-Cretaceous Torok Formation. Undeveloped, subcommercial (as of this writing) petroleum accumulations occur along doubly plunging anticlinal traps at three long-recognized fields in the map area: Umiat (mostly oil), Gubik (gas), and East Umiat (gas). The Umiat oil field structural culmination is modified by thrust faults that breach the surface, and the East Umiat gas field is associated with a northdipping back-thrust that is evident in seismic data and cuts across the Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy; thrust faults near the Gubik gas field lie within and below the Torok Formation. Various interpretations have previously been published for some of the area's structures, with important implications for petroleum trap geometries in the gas-prone foothills region. We present new data and interpretations that support the inference of a principal, south-dipping thrust fault that breaches the north limb of Umiat anticline near Umiat. Additionally, a new fracture dataset addresses the previously hypothesized Colville fault. Ultimately, we do not find compelling evidence for a through-going, left-lateral strike-slip fault along the Colville River valley, which extends obliquely across the structural grain of the region. The fracture data are, however, generally consistent with a pure shear model of deformation associated with north-south contraction of the central Brooks Range foothills fold-and-thrust belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview on written parliamentary questions on education from the Great Britain House of Commons and the House of Lords from 8 to 12 April 2019. Topics include statement of Stephanie Peacock on adult education finance; the statement of James Frith on apprenticeships programme; and the statement of Angela Rayner on education finance.

Field investigations in the Parks Highway, Minto Flats, and Dalton Highway infrastructure corridors were conducted by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) to support engineering-geologic decisions related to the planning, routing, and construction of future infrastructure development. Airphoto and lidar hillshade interpretations, helicopter surveys, and ground reconnaissance surveys were conducted in the ~700-mi-long by ~1-mi-wide corridor between Cook Inlet and Prudhoe Bay to develop information about landscape geomorphology and evaluate potential geologic hazards. The corridor crosses diverse terrain, several major mountain ranges, and 12 physiographic provinces. We identified a wide variety of geologic hazards along the corridor that are a product of local geomorphic conditions. This report documents our Quaternary geologic observations from the 2011, 2012, and 2013 field seasons and includes maps identifying specific geologic hazards in the infrastructure corridor. The methodology employed during this investigation, specifically concerning the evaluation of a long, relatively narrow swath across variable terrain, can be applied to other infrastructure corridor studies in Alaska and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]