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The overall mission of the Biodata Mining and Discovery Section is to assist and to participate in biomedical research with computational and bioinformatics approaches in support of the ultimate research goals of the NIAMS IRP. We are currently providing NGS (next generation sequencing) data analysis related bioinformatics support, focusing mainly on ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq based research projects. We implement established data analysis approaches and apply them to a wide range of biological and biomedical studies. We also develop new data analysis algorithms and strategies, and conduct research to evaluate emerging methods and techniques in the rapidly evolving field of applied bioinformatics and computational biology.

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This dataset creates a collection of reports for the National total of new court case (NCC) receipts, dispositions and pending at the Appeals Council level in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) of SSA.

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In 2006 and 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey, in partnership with Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and the University of New Orleans, conducted geologic mapping to characterize the sea floor and shallow subsurface stratigraphy offshore of the Chandeleur Islands in Eastern Louisiana. The mapping was carried out during two cruises on the R/V Acadiana. Data were acquired with the following equipment: an SEA Ltd SwathPlus interferometric sonar (234 kHz), Klein 3000 dual frequency sidescan sonar, and an Edgetech 512i chirp subbottom profiling system. The long-term goal of this mapping effort is to produce high-quality geologic maps and geophysical interpretations that can be utilized to investigate the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and to identify sand resources within the region.

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Abstract: This digital dataset contains the virtual wells used for pumpage for the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM). The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) numerical modeling code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmid and others, 2006). This simulation is referred to here as the CVHM (Faunt, 2009). Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003. The total active modeled area is 20,334 square-miles on a finite difference grid comprising 441 rows and 98 columns. Slightly less than 50 percent of the cells are active. The CVHM model grid has a uniform horizontal discretization of 1x1 square mile and is oriented parallel to the valley axis, 34 degrees west of north (Faunt, 2009). Groundwater pumpage is a major part of the groundwater budget of the Central Valley, and is grouped into two categories for this study: agricultural and urban (which includes municipal and industrial sources). Discharge from agricultural wells rarely is metered in the Central Valley (Diamond and Williamson, 1983), and therefore must be estimated by indirect means. If consumptive use can be quantified, groundwater pumpage may be estimated by taking into account surface-water supply, irrigation efficiency, and effective precipitation. Irrigation efficiency, as used in this report, is the percentage of water delivered to the Water Balance Subregion (WBS) that is available for consumptive use. The newly developed MODFLOW-FMP uses this method (Schmid and others, 2006). Wells were simulated as a combination of farm wells (Schmid and others, 2006) and multi-node wells (Halford and Hanson, 2002) (Faunt, 2009; fig. C3). Farm wells are simulated in a manner similar to the WEL package (Harbaugh and others, 2000) and the pumpage is distributed among each of the farm wells (Schmid and others, 2006). Agricultural pumpage is estimated through the FMP. A single well that represents the composite of all wells within a model cell is referred to here as a virtual well. For the FMP, in each WBS, a virtual well was placed in each model cell where an irrigated crop was the predominant land use for a given time frame. Because the extent of irrigated agriculture changes through time, wells were added and deleted accordingly in the model during the simulation period. In general, wells were added through time because the extent of irrigated agriculture generally increases through time. In some areas, however, agricultural wells were replaced by urban wells in the model as the land use changed from agricultural to urban. The CVHM is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the USGS.The CVHM was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (see "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).

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The Fuels and Lubricants Technology Team operates and maintains the Fuels and POL Labs at TARDEC. Lab experts adhere to standardized American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, ISO and federal testing methods. It also conducts highly specialized tests supporting basic research, product development, qualification and other TARDEC lab efforts. Testing capabilities cover necessary powertrain products for vehicles and equipment, including coolants and other fluids/solvents. Capabilities: TARDEC Fuels and POL Labs comprise 7,075 square feet with an additional 1,600 square feet of space for POL storage. Products tested at the labs include engine oil, gear oil, grease, coolants, hydraulic fluids, alternative and conventional fuels, solid film lubricants, brake fluids, nano-lubricants, solvents and cleaners. Qualification testing is conducted on vendor-supplied products to military specifications. Once the vendor product successfully passes test requirements, it's added to the Qualified Products List for procurement. The TARDEC Fuels and Lubricants Research Facility at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, is a government-owned, contractor-operated stand-alone laboratory with engine testing and analytical chemistry experiment capabilities and hundreds of standardized tests methods. Benefits: •  Independent government analysis, testing and interpretation of results. •  Timely testing supporting in-house TARDEC projects, especially in conjunction with tests conducted in the GSPEL. •  Historical background on products. •  Development of custom products and associated specifications and documentation necessary for procurement.

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The San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge is located approximately 10 miles south of a major industrial complex at Freeport, Texas, and is connected to this complex by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway GIWW, a canal used primarily for barge traffic. The potential for spills of oil and chemicals is high in this waterway, as is contamination from urban runoff from Freeport, Texas, and waste discharges from the industrial complex. Data from this survey does not indicate any contamination by organochlorine or organophosphate pesticides is occurring at this time on the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. Two heavy metals, cadmium and chromium, had elevated residue levels in the sediment and oyster samples collected from Cow Trap Lake, the estuarine portion of the refuge. The presence of these two metals may indicate some contamination from the Freeport, Texas area is being transported south along the GIWW. These metals were not at high enough levels to evoke action at this time, but future monitoring for heavy metals is recommended to detect if a trend toward increased contamination is evident. Petroleum hydrocarbons were also detected at elevated levels in sediment and oyster samples collected in Cow Trap Lake. These residues probably reflect the petroleum spills that occur in the GIWW as well as the minor oiling that occurs from small outboard motors on the numerous fishing boats that utilize the GIWW and Cow Trap Lake. The freshwater portion of the refuge is apparently free from contamination. The small reserve pit at the gas well on the Big Boggy unit is contaminated with lead and petroleum hydrocarbons. The lead does not appear to be in a bioavailable form presently. This pit should, however, be drained, dried, and plowed to a depth of eight inches in order to bioremediate the hydrocarbons. This would also make the lead even less available to natural resources.

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Monthly averages of atmospheric temperature and VMR for atmospheric species are provided at 2 deg. lat. X 4 deg. long. spatial grids and at a subset of TES standard pressure levels. Algorithms for deriving TES L3 data will be provided in the data files. (Suggested Usage: Image maps of L3 data at different pressure levels provide quick views of the global distributions of TES species retrievals. Data usages for science investigations need to reference the algorithms for deriving TES L3 data.)

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The 2DVD disdrometer dataset for the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) provides data on raindrop size and precipitation drop size distribution. The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) took place in central Oklahoma during the April-June 2011 period. The experiment was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV) program. The field campaign leveraged the unprecedented observing infrastructure currently available in the central United States, combined with an extensive sounding array, remote sensing and in situ aircraft observations, NASA GPM ground validation remote sensors, and new ARM instrumentation purchased with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The overarching goal was to provide the most complete characterization of convective cloud systems, precipitation, and the environment that has ever been obtained, providing constraints for model cumulus parameterizations and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land that had never before been available.

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The data was derived from the Health Care Information System (HCIS), which contains Medicare Part A (Inpatient, Skilled Nursing Facility, Home Health Agency (Part A and B) and Hospice) and Medicare Part B (Outpatient) based on the type and State of the institutional provider. Data in HCIS is summarized from the Standard Analytical Files.

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Future NASA lunar missions will require a high efficiency, lightweight, long life, maintenance-free water electrolyzer for energy storage. Anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the limiting step in water electrolysis to achieve high efficiency and durability for current electrolyzer technology. Current best candidates for OER catalysts comprising of iridium and ruthenium oxides still suffer from high activation overpotential and incur performance losses in the electrolyzer due to non-optimized microstructural properties. In the present proposal, Lynntech proposes an advancement of its proprietary OER catalyst technology through optimization in microstructure and composition of mixed oxides of iridium and ruthenium. Lynntech's optimized catalyst will exhibit lesser overpotentials due to enhanced uniform nanophase properties of electrical conductivity, hydrophilicity and high surface area. In addition, surface modification of the catalyst is proposed to improve the kinetics of the OER reaction at lower current densities and also to improve the stability of the catalyst towards high potential operation during anodic OER. With its present OER catalyst already achieving less than 1.44 V at 200 mA/cm2 at 90 :C and stable operation even at 2.05 V electrolyzer potentials, Lynntech plans to achieve even lower potentials at 200 mA/cm2 with the proposed advancement of technology.

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The main market sampling program in the CNMI is the new biosampling program implemented in late 2010 on the island of Saipan. It is a joint DFW and industry project with a local environmental consulting firm doing most of the field work, data processing, and obtaining of life history samples. DFW is working up some of the life history samples for that aspect of the project. It is strictly a voluntary data collection system requiring ingenuity to obtain the participation of a large percentage of the main fish vendors on the islands of Saipan, Rota and Tinian. All catches are from the CNMI and some of them from up to about 100 miles from Saipan. It is a census sampling program of 100% of the commercial harvest of a subsample of the trips landing during any sampling period. Due to logistical and resource limitations the majority of sampling was initially (Dec 2010-late 2012) focused on the spearfish reef fish fishery on Saipan, but has begun obtaining information on the bottomfish fishery as well in late 2012 and expanded to Tinian and Rota. Life history samples are also being collected on several species on reef fish and one deep bottomfish. These data are considered confidential.

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A digital elevation model (DEM) of a portion of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, post-Nor'Ida (November 2009 nor'easter), was produced from remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS). Elevation measurements were collected over the area using the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), a pulsed laser ranging system mounted onboard an aircraft to measure ground elevation, vegetation canopy, and coastal topography. The system uses high-frequency laser beams directed at the Earth's surface through an opening in the bottom of the aircraft's fuselage. The laser system records the time difference between emission of the laser beam and the reception of the reflected laser signal in the aircraft. The plane travels over the target area at approximately 50 meters per second at an elevation of approximately 300 meters, resulting in a laser swath of approximately 240 meters with an average point spacing of 2-3 meters. The EAARL, developed originally by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, measures ground elevation with a vertical resolution of +/-15 centimeters. A sampling rate of 3 kilohertz or higher results in an extremely dense spatial elevation dataset. Over 100 kilometers of coastline can be surveyed easily within a 3- to 4-hour mission. When resultant elevation maps for an area are analyzed, they provide a useful tool to make management decisions regarding land development. For more information on Lidar science and the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) system and surveys, see http://ngom.usgs.gov/dsp/overview/index.php and http://ngom.usgs.gov/dsp/tech/eaarl/index.php .

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<p>Develop and test transition edge sensor (TES) bolometer arrays for precision polarimetry of cosmic microwave background (CMB).  Verify that critical antenna performance requirements, especially beam squint and cross-polarization are met.</p>

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The Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX) has performed a coastal survey along the Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The data types collected include bathymetry and topographic lidar point data, true color imagery and hyperspectral imagery. The collection effort follows the coastline and extends 500m inland and 1000m offshore or to laser extinction, whichever comes first. Topographic lidar is collected with 200% coverage, yielding a nominal 1m x 1m post-spacing. Where water conditions permit, the bathymetry lidar data will have a nominal post spacing of 4m x 4m. The true color imagery will have a pixel size approximately 35cm and the hyperspectral imagery will be provided in 1m pixels containing 36 bands between 375 - 1050 nm with 19 nm bandwidth. The final data will be tied to horizontal positions, provided in decimal degrees of latitude and longitude, and are referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). Vertical positions are referenced to the NAD83 ellipsoid and provided in meters. The National Geodetic Survey's (NGS) GEOID03 model is used to transform the vertical positions from ellipsoid to orthometric heights referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88).

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These data are a part of MEaSUREs 2012 projects. The particular project, "Multi-Decadal Sulfur Dioxide Climatology from Satellite Instruments", is expected to produce SO2 Earth Science Data Record by means of combining measurements from backscatter Ultraviolet (BUV), thermal infrared (IR) and microwave (MLS) instruments on multiple satellites. The data represent best estimates of the volcanic and anthropogenic contribution to global atmospheric SO2 concentrations. Since SO2 is the major precursor of sulfate aerosol, which has climate and air quality impact, SO2 measurements will contribute to better understanding of the sulfate aerosol distributions and its atmospheric impact." The released data file is a long-term database of volcanic SO2 emission derived from ultraviolet satellite measurements from October 31, 1978, to present. Data are in a table format in simple ASCII format: Column Descriptions: Column 1 = Name of volcano. Column 2 = Latitude of volcano. Column 3 = Longitude of volcano. Column 4 = Altitude of volcano (km). Column 5 = Eruption year. Column 6 = Eruption month of year. Column 7 = Eruption day of month. Column 8 = Eruption style: exp = explosive, eff = effusive. Column 9 = Eruption volcanic explosivity index (nd = no data or undetermined). Column 10 = Observed plume altitude (km) where known. Column 11 = Estimated plume altitude (km) above vent: 10 km for explosive, 5 km for effusive. Column 12 = Measured SO2 mass in kilotons (= 1000 metric tons).

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The Multi-Satellite Lambertian Equivalent Reflectivity (Local Satellite Time) Daily L3 Global 5.0deg Lat Zones data product (MSLERLSTL3zm) is derived from observations made by the Nimbus-7 SBUV, and NOAA 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 SBUV/2 instruments (340 nm), Nimbus-7 and Earth Probe TOMS (331 nm), OMI (340 nm) and SeaWiFS (412 nm) from 1978 to 2011. The Local Satellite Time (LST) data are uncorrected for the drift of the local equator crossing time of the spacecraft. The table below lists the date ranges for each instrument (note A = ascending node, D = descending node): Instrument Start Date End Date ------------------ ---------- ---------- Nimbus-7 SBUV 1978-11-01 1990-06-21 NOAA-9 SBUV/2 (A) 1985-02-02 1991-09-03 NOAA-9 SBUV/2 (D) 1990-04-25 1997-05-31 NOAA-11 SBUV/2 (A) 1988-12-01 1995-03-31 NOAA-11 SBUV/2 (D) 1997-07-15 2001-03-26 NOAA-14 SBUV/2 (A) 1995-02-05 2002-09-11 NOAA-14 SBUV/2 (D) 2002-04-09 2006-09-28 NOAA-16 SBUV/2 (A) 2000-10-03 2009-09-15 NOAA-16 SBUV/2 (D) 2008-04-28 2012-12-31 NOAA-17 SBUV/2 2002-07-10 2012-12-31 NOAA-18 SBUV/2 2005-06-05 2012-12-12 Nimbus-7 TOMS 1978-11-01 1993-05-06 EarthProbe TOMS 1996-07-25 2004-06-21 Aura OMI 2005-01-01 2008-12-31 SeaStar SeaWiFS 1998-01-01 2008-12-30 The scene reflectivities of the Earth at blue and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (320 nm to 415 nm) are low over most surfaces (except ice and snow), and are almost independent of the seasonal changes in vegetation on land and in the oceans. This makes it ideal for examining changes in radiation reflected back to space from changes in cloud and aerosol amounts, especially as affected by the start of climate change. The MSLERLSTL3zm data are archived in the HDF-EOS5 file format using the Zonal Average (ZA) model. The product consists of a single data file representing the entire data set containing the individual instrument data in separate time versus latitude arrays. Each data array contains attributes describing the variable, and the file contains metadata stored in the HDFEOS file attribute section. Parameters contained in the data files include the following: Variable Name|Description|Units LER340_Nimbus7_SBUV|LER at 340 nm from Nimbus-7 SBUV|% LER340_NOAA09_SBUV2a|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-9 SBUV/2 Ascending|% LER340_NOAA09_SBUV2d|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-9 SBUV/2 Descending|% LER340_NOAA11_SBUV2a|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-11 SBUV/2 Ascending|% LER340_NOAA11_SBUV2d|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-11 SBUV/2 Descending|% LER340_NOAA14_SBUV2a|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-14 SBUV/2 Ascending|% LER340_NOAA14_SBUV2d|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-14 SBUV/2 Descending|% LER340_NOAA16_SBUV2a|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-16 SBUV/2 Ascending|% LER340_NOAA16_SBUV2d|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-16 SBUV/2 Descending|% LER340_NOAA17_SBUV2|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-17 SBUV/2|% LER340_NOAA18_SBUV2|LER at 340 nm from NOAA-18 SBUV/2|% LER331_Nimbus7_TOMS|LER at 331 nm from Nimbus-7 TOMS|% LER331_EarthProbe_TOMS|LER at 331 nm from Earth Probe TOMS|% LER340_Aura_OMI|LER at 340 nm from EOS-Aura OMI|% LER412_SeaStar_SeaWiFS|LER at 412 nm from SeaStar SeaWiFS|% End of parameter information

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This geographic names data set provides a "mashup" of URLs for official city and county government web sites and city and county location data from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). GNIS data includes incorporated places, census designated areas, unincorporated places, counties, and populated places.

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<p>The objective of the Variable Oxygen Regulator Element is to develop an oxygen-rated, contaminant-tolerant oxygen regulator to control suit pressure with a significantly increased number of pressure set points as compared to the state-of-the-art. Using a motor-driven actuator, it allows for continuous control of suit pressure over the range of 0-8.4 psid, compared to only 2 setpoints for the state of the art (<strong>~</strong>0.9 & 4.3).  The enhanced performance will facilitate and improve EVA operations and prebreathe protocols, allow regulation of suit pressure to match different vehicle pressures including integration with suit ports, allow for in-suit decompression sickness treatment, minimize or eliminate prebreathe durations prior to an EVA, and provide the flexibility to run variable pressure profiles during an EVA.</p><p>Significant accomplishments since the beginning of the project include:</p><ul><li>Design and fabrication of second generation hardware (VOR 2.0). A total of three units were completed.</li><li>Integration of two VOR 2.0 test articles as part of the Primary and Secondary Oxygen Assemblies of the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) 2.0 test article and initiation of performance testing as part of integrated tests. The VOR is expected to be at a TRL of 5 at the completion of this testing.</li><li>Completion of oxygen and contaminant compatibility testing at NASA's White Sands Test Facility (WSTF). The regulator used for this test was cleaned and refurbished and is being used for simulated flight environments testing (vibration, vacuum, gravity orientation, etc.) which will advance the maturity of the hardware toward TRL 6.</li><li>Design of third generation (VOR 3.0) hardware. Differences between VOR 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 are given in the table below. Fabrication of two VOR 3.0 test articles are expected to be completed during the first part of 2015. This hardware will be delivered to our NASA customer, the Advanced Exploration Systems Advanced Space Suit Project for integration into PLSS 2.5 and later test articles. The technology will be considered at TRL 6 when integrated testing has been completed.</li></ul><p><strong>Table:  Comparison of first (1.0), second (2.0) and third (3.0) generation variable oxygen regulator hardware.</strong></p><p><strong>VOR 1.0                                                   VOR </strong><strong>2.0                                              VOR </strong><strong>3.0</strong></p><p>•  Aluminum Body                                     • Monel Body                                      • Monel Body, improved design</p><p>• Bench-top prototype                               • Improved packaging and size          • Flight-like unit</p><p>• Rated for nitrogen or air                          • Rated for 100% oxygen                   • Rated for 100% oxygen</p><p>                                                                  • Contamination tolerant                    • Contamination tolerant</p><p>• COTS components                                 • Improved components                    • Flight qualifiable components</p><p>                                                                                                                            • Improved controller w/interlocks</p><p>• Vacuum/ambient environment                • Relevant environment                    • Relevant environment</p><p>• TRL 4                                                      • TRL 5-6                                          • TRL 6</p>

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Records of changes in solar irradiance, volcanic aerosols, atmospheric trace gases, and other properties thought to influence climate in the past. Parameter keywords describe what was measured in this data set. Additional summary information can be found in the abstracts of papers listed in the data set citations.

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The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. Congressional Districts are the 435 areas from which people are elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After the apportionment of congressional seats among the States based on census population counts, each State is responsible for establishing congressional districts for the purpose of electing representatives. Each congressional district is to be as equal in population to all other congressional districts in a State as practicable. The 114th Congress is seated from January 2015 to 2017. The TIGER/Line shapefiles for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) each contain a single record for the non-voting delegate district in these areas. The boundaries of all other congressional districts are provided to the Census Bureau through the Redistricting Data Program (RDP).

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This dataset has quarterly Downgoing Shortwave Radiation data from the TAO/TRITON (Pacific Ocean, http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/), RAMA (Indian Ocean, http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/rama/), and PIRATA (Atlantic Ocean, http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/pirata/) arrays of moored buoys which transmit oceanographic and meteorological data to shore in real-time via the Argos satellite system. These buoys are major components of the CLIVAR climate analysis project and the GOOS, GCOS, and GEOSS observing systems. Quarterly data is an average of monthly values collected during a 3 month period. A minimum of 2 monthly values are required to compute a quarterly average. This dataset contains realtime and delayed mode data (see the 'source' variable). For more information, see http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proj_over/proj_over.html .

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The exhaustive study of the U.S. data holdings pertinent to the formulation of U.S. potential claims of an extended continental shelf under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) (Mayer, et al., 2002) did not identify this area as one of the regions where new bathymetric surveys are needed. However, the ECS Task Force considered the Mendocino Ridge might be a potential extension for the U.S. The Mayer et al. (2002) report recommended that multibeam echosounder (MBES) data are needed to rigorously define (1) the foot of the slope (FoS), a parameter of the two UNCLOS-stipulated formula lines, and (2) the 2500-m isobath, a parameter of one of the UNCLOS-stipulated cutoff lines. Both of these parameters, the first a precise geodetic isobath and second a geomorphic zone, are used to define an extended continental shelf claim. The Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center (CCOM/JHC) of the University of New Hampshire was directed by the U.S. Congress, through funding to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to conduct the new surveys and archive the resultant data.

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This study is part of a larger FNS effort to ensure WIC program integrity and to comply with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) (Public Law 107-300), which requires FNS to estimate improper payments (IP) in its programs. To evaluate program integrity, the 2013 report includes two complementary studies: A study, comparable to the 1998 and 2005 WIC Vendor Management Studies, which examined purchases made through compliance buys using paper- or Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)-based FIs, and a cash value voucher study, which examined purchases made through compliance buys using the CVVs or, in the case of EBT, cash value benefits (CVBs) to purchase fruits and vegetables.

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This map layer includes miscellaneous industrial minerals operations in the United States. The data represent commodities covered by the Minerals Information Team (MIT) of the U.S. Geological Survey. The mineral operations are plants and (or) mines surveyed by the MIT and considered currently active in 2003. This is a replacement for the July 2004 map layer.

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This data set is comprised of FMCW radar measurements, which are sensitive to electromagnetic discontinuities in the snowpack, made during the 2002 and 2003 Cold Land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX). The microwave interaction with a snow pack was measured using broadband frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar operating at between 2 and 18 GHz, incorporating the following frequencies: C-Band (2-6 GHz), X-Band (8-12 GHz), and Ku-Band (14-18 GHz). Measurements were made at the Local Scale Observation Site (LSOS) near Fraser, Colorado, during Intensive Observation Periods (IOP) 1 and 2 (February and March, 2002), and at four different sites covering each of the three Mesocell Study Areas (MSAs) during IOP 3 and 4 (February and March, 2003). Active microwave radar signals are reflected and scattered by electromagnetic discontinuities that affect radar backscatter signatures. The location and magnitude of these discontinuities in a snow pack must be identified as a function of microwave frequency in order to accurately invert snow cover properties from active and passive microwave remote sensing systems. Consequently, in conjunction with the radar measurements, detailed snow pit measurements were taken at a nearby site in order to correlate the radar profile with the snow pit records. This investigation found that radar operating at 14-18 GHz contains the most information about the internal features of a dry snow pack. However, the high-frequency radar is of limited use in wet snow due to the high absorption loss in water. For a wet snowpack, radar operating at lower frequencies (2-6 GHz) was necessary for penetrating to the snow-ground interface. These findings suggest that a dual-frequency approach for radar remote sensing may be necessary to retrieve snow pack parameters such as density, depth, and wetness. The NASA CLPX is a multi-sensor, multi-scale experiment that focuses on extending a local-scale understanding of water fluxes, storage, and transformations to regional and global scales. Within a framework of nested study areas in the central Rocky Mountains of the western United States, ranging from 1-ha to 160,000 km2, intensive ground, airborne, and spaceborne observations are collected. Data collection focuses on two seasons: mid-winter, when conditions are generally frozen and dry, and early spring, a transitional period when both frozen and thawed, dry and wet conditions are widespread.