NATO's 2012 summit of alliance heads of state and government is scheduled to take place in Chicago on May 20-21. U.S. and NATO officials have outlined what they expect to be the Summit's three main agenda items: Defining the next phase of formal transition in Afghanistan and shaping a longer term NATO commitment to the country after the planned end of combat operations by the end of 2014; Securing commitments to maintain and develop the military capabilities necessary to meet NATO's defense and security goals, including through a new "Smart Defense" initiative; and Enhancing NATO's partnerships with non-NATO member states.

This report is a brief summary of what CCS is, how it is supposed to work, why it has gained the interest and support of some members of Congress, and what some of the challenges are to its implementation and deployment across the United States.

This report provides answers to frequently asked questions about the presidential nominating process, including how the delegates to the national conventions are chosen, the differences between a caucus and a primary, national party rules changes for 2012, and the national conventions themselves.

This report presents a brief description of the five methods used to bring proposed legislation to the House floor for consideration. These methods allow for consideration as a privileged matter, under the limited privilege of a special calendar or day, under suspension of the rules, under the terms of a special rule, or by unanimous consent.

The uprising that began in Bahrain on February 14, 2011, following the revolt that overthrew Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak three days earlier, began a political crisis that defies resolution. The ongoing unrest demonstrates that the grievances of the Shiite majority over the distribution of power and economic opportunities were not satisfied by prior efforts. The bulk of the Shiite majority in Bahrain says it demands a constitutional monarchy in which an elected parliament produces the government, but the Sunni minority believes the Shiites want nothing less than outright rule. This report looks at Bahrain's recent and current relationship with the U.S. and reasons for the unrest relating to socioeconomic issues.

The United States took the early lead in the development of precision strike and has enjoyed a monopoly on these systems for over 20 years. However, many experts agree that the U.S. advantage is eroding as these systems spread. Many experts believe the proliferation of precision strike has already begun and will continue to accelerate as more and more countries continue to develop and purchase precision strike weaponry. The proliferation of precision strike creates potential issues for Congress. These issues include whether the Department of Defense (DOD) is properly taking adversary precision strike weapons into account in its own plans and programs, and whether Congress should approve, reject, or modify proposed DOD programs for responding to those weapons.

This report describes the current select committees on intelligence; characteristics and a model for a possible joint committee; recent actions by Congress; and obstacles affecting legislative oversight in the field.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Fewer small employers claimed the Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit in tax year 2010 than were estimated to be eligible. While 170,300 small employers claimed it, estimates of the eligible pool by government agencies and small business advocacy groups ranged from 1.4 million to 4 million. The cost of credits claimed was $468 million. Most claims were limited to partial rather than full percentage credits (35 percent for small businesses) because of the average wage or full-time equivalent (FTE) requirements. 28,100 employers claimed the full credit percentage. In addition, 30 percent of claims had the base premium limited by the state premium average."

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Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems are a type of Industrial Control System characterized by the centralized (or hierarchical) monitoring and control of geographically dispersed assets. SCADA systems combine acquisition and network components to provide data gathering, transmission, and visualization for centralized monitoring and control. However these integrated capabilities, especially when built over legacy systems and protocols, generally result in vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers, with potentially disastrous consequences. Our research project proposal was to investigate new approaches for secure and survivable SCADA systems. In particular, we were interested in the resilience and adaptability of large-scale mission-critical monitoring and control infrastructures. Our research proposal was divided in two main tasks. The first task was centered on the design and investigation of algorithms for survivable SCADA systems and a prototype framework demonstration. The second task was centered on the characterization and demonstration of the proposed approach in illustrative scenarios (simulated or emulated).

In this project, we proposed to develop laser based mid-infrared lasers as a potentially robust and reliable source of ultrafast pulses in the mid-infrared region of the spectrum, and to apply this light source to generating bright, coherent, femtosecond-to-attosecond x-ray beams.

A task was undertaken to determine primarily the permeation behavior of various glove compounds from four manufacturers. As part of the basic characterization task, the opportunity to obtain additional mechanical and thermal properties presented itself. Consequently, a total of fifteen gloves were characterized for permeation, Thermogravimetric Analysis, Puncture Resistance, Tensile Properties and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis. Detailed reports were written for each characterization technique used. This report contains the summary of the results.

UV curing is a green technology that is largely underutilized because UV radiation sources like Hg Lamps are unreliable and difficult to use. High Power UV LEDs are now efficient enough to replace Hg Lamps, and offer significantly improved performance relative to Hg Lamps. In this study, a modular, scalable high power UV LED curing system was designed and tested, performing well in industrial coating evaluations. In order to achieve mechanical form factors similar to commercial Hg Lamp systems, a new patent pending design was employed enabling high irradiance at long working distances. While high power UV LEDs are currently only available at longer UVA wavelengths, rapid progress on UVC LEDs and the development of new formulations designed specifically for use with UV LED sources will converge to drive more rapid adoption of UV curing technology. An assessment of the environmental impact of replacing Hg Lamp systems with UV LED systems was performed. Since UV curing is used in only a small portion of the industrial printing, painting and coating markets, the ease of use of UV LED systems should increase the use of UV curing technology. Even a small penetration of the significant number of industrial applications still using …

Solidia/CCSM received funding for further research and development of its Low Temperature Solidification Process (LTS), which is used to create hydrate-free concrete (HFC). LTS/HFC is a technology/materials platform that offers wide applicability in the built infrastructure. Most importantly, it provides a means of making concrete without Portland cement. Cement and concrete production is a major consumer of energy and source of industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The primary goal of this project was to develop and commercialize a novel material, HFC, which by replacing traditional concrete and cement, reduces both energy use and GHG emissions in the built infrastructure. Traditional concrete uses Portland Cement (PC) as a binder. PC production involves calcination of limestone at {approx}1450 C, which releases significant amounts of CO{sub 2} gas to the atmosphere and consumes a large amount of energy due to the high temperature required. In contrast, HFC is a carbonate-based hydrate-free concrete (HFC) that consumes CO{sub 2} gas in its production. HFC is made by reaction of silicate minerals with CO{sub 2} at temperatures below 100 C, more than an order-of-magnitude below the temperature required to make PC. Because of this significant difference in temperature, it is estimated that we will be able …

Cellulosic materials include wood, paper, rags, and cardboard products. These materials are co-disposed with radiological waste at the Savannah River Site's (SRS) E-Area Low-Level Waste Facility (ELLWF). Cellulosic materials readily degrade in the environment to form cellulose degradation products (CDP) that will partition to the sediment or remain mobile in the groundwater. Savannah River National Lab (SRNL) has conducted studies to estimate the impact of CDP on radionuclide sorption to SRS sediments (Kd values). It was found that CDP impact on radionuclide sorption varies with radionuclide and CDP concentration. Furthermore, it was found that the amount of carbon (C) in the system could increase or decrease Kd values with respect to the base case of when no CDP was added. Throughout the expected pH range of the ELLWF, a low concentration of CDP in the system would increase Kd values (because C would sorb to the sediment and provide more exchange sites for radionuclides to sorb), whereas greater concentrations of CDP ({ge}20 mg/L C) would decrease Kd values (because C would remain in solution and complex the radionuclide and not permit the radionuclide to sorb to the sediment). A review of >230 dissolved organic carbon (DOC) groundwater concentrations in the …

Engineered forms of MST and mMST were prepared at ORNL using an internal gelation process. Samples of these two materials were characterized at SRNL to examine particle size and morphology, peroxide content, tapped densities, and Na, Ti, and C content. Batch contact tests were also performed to examine the performance of the materials. The {sup E}mMST material was found to contain less than 10% of the peroxide found in a freshly prepared batch of mMST. This was also evidenced in batch contact testing with both simulated and actual waste, where little difference in performance was seen between the two engineered materials, {sup E}MST and {sup E}mMST. Based on these results, attempts were made to increase the peroxide content of the materials by post-treatment with hydrogen peroxide. The peroxide treatment resulted in a slight ({approx}10%) increase in peroxide content; however, the peroxide:Ti molar ratio was still much lower ({approx}0.1 X) than what is seen in a freshly prepared batch of mMST. Testing with simulated waste showed the performance of the peroxide treated materials was improved. Batch contact tests were also performed with an earlier (2003) prepared lot of {sup E}MST to examine the effect of ionic strength on the performance of …