This report provides background information on funding gaps since FY 1977, and it discusses the general practice of the federal government when a funding gap occurs.

This report has been updated to reflect FY2013 funding levels contained in P.L. 113-6 (Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013) and the explanatory statement published in the March 11, 2013. This report also provides selected FY2013 current or operational plan funding levels, which have been adjusted to account for the effects of sequestration and other currently known legal determinations made by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that may affect the final appropriations levels.

This report begins with a discussion of the problems associated with the trust fund financing system (which supports both federal highway and public transportation programs) and then explores possible options for financing surface transportation infrastructure.

This report provides background information regarding on political and security situation in Kenya. The report discusses U.S.-Kenya relations, as U.S. government views Kenya as a strategic partner and anchor state in East Africa, and as critical to counterterrorism efforts in the region.

This report outlines an array of homeland security issues that may come before the 113th Congress. After a brief discussion of the overall homeland security budget, the report divides the specific issues into five broad categories: counterterrorism and security management, border security and trade, immigration, disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, and departmental management.

This report provides a description of house rules and manuals. The first section of the House Manual identifies the more substantive rules changes made by the House resolution adopting the rules of the current Congress. Also identified are citations to volumes of precedents referenced in the parliamentarian's annotations.

This report discusses the opportunities for Representatives to offer floor amendments to a bill or resolution procedures by which the House considers the measure.

This report provides background information regarding the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. 1341 1342, 1511-1519) that generally bars the obligation of funds in the absence of appropriations. The report discusses the interval during the fiscal year when appropriations for a particular project or activity are not enacted into law, either in the form of a regular appropriations act or a continuing resolution (CR), which are referred to as a funding gap.

This report discusses state and federal legislative power generally and focuses on a number of these "federalism" cases. The report discusses state and federal legislative power generally, and focuses on a number of these "federalism" cases.1 Issues addressed include congressional power under the Commerce Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment; limits on congressional powers, such as the Tenth Amendment; state sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment; and grant condition imposed under the Spending Clause.

This is a project report for an Early Career PI grant on automated software for finite elements.

None

Recent research into the moisture retention properties of saltstone suggest that osmotic pressure may play a potentially significant role in contaminant transport (Dixon et al., 2009 and Dixon, 2011). The Savannah River Remediation Closure and Disposal Assessments Group requested the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to conduct a literature search on osmotic potential as it relates to contaminant transport and to develop a conceptual model of saltstone that incorporates osmotic potential. This report presents the findings of the literature review and presents a conceptual model for saltstone that incorporates osmotic potential. The task was requested through Task Technical Request HLW-SSF-TTR-2013-0004. Simulated saltstone typically has very low permeability (Dixon et al. 2008) and pore water that contains a large concentration of dissolved salts (Flach and Smith 2013). Pore water in simulated saltstone has a high salt concentration relative to pore water in concrete and groundwater. This contrast in salt concentration can generate high osmotic pressures if simulated saltstone has the properties of a semipermeable membrane. Estimates of osmotic pressure using results from the analysis of pore water collected from simulated saltstone show that an osmotic pressure up to 2790 psig could be generated within the saltstone. Most semi-permeable materials are non-ideal …

High-End computing (HEC) has been a driver for advances in science and engineering for the past four decades. Increasingly HEC has become a significant element in the national security, economic vitality, and competitiveness of the United States. Advances in HEC provide results that cut across traditional disciplinary and organizational boundaries. This program provides opportunities to share information about HEC systems and computational techniques across multiple disciplines and organizations through conferences and exhibitions of HEC advances held in Washington DC so that mission agency staff, scientists, and industry can come together with White House, Congressional and Legislative staff in an environment conducive to the sharing of technical information, accomplishments, goals, and plans. A common thread across this series of conferences is the understanding of computational science and applied mathematics techniques across a diverse set of application areas of interest to the Nation. The specific objectives of this program are: Program Objective 1. To provide opportunities to share information about advances in high-end computing systems and computational techniques between mission critical agencies, agency laboratories, academics, and industry. Program Objective 2. To gather pertinent data, address specific topics of wide interest to mission critical agencies. Program Objective 3. To promote a continuing discussion …

This 32-pp annual report/brochure describes the accomplishments of the Class of 2012 of the Nonproliferation Graduate Fellowship Program (the last class of this program), which PNNL administers for the National Nuclear Security Administration. The time period covers Sept 2011 through June 2013.

The Saltstone Production Facility has a 10-inch Readco-Kurimoto continuous mixer that mixes the premix dry feeds and low-level waste salt solution to make fresh (uncured) saltstone. Inspection of the mixer in January 2013 showed significant wear on the third, fourth and fifth paddle pairs after the conveying augers. A 2-inch Readco-Kurimoto continuous mixer was used to test alternate paddle configurations for use in the 10-inch mixer to decrease the wear rate on the paddles. Two wear tests were conducted to investigate a method of reducing wear on the mixer paddles. The first test (wear test 2a) had a paddle configuration similar to the currently installed 10-inch mixer in the SPF. This test established baseline wear. The second test (wear test 2b) had a reconfigured paddle arrangement that replaced the flat paddles with helical paddles for paddle pairs 2 � 6 and aligned paddle pair 1 with the augers. The intent of the reconfiguration was to more effectively convey the partially wetted dry feeds through the transition region and into the liquid feed where paddle wear is reduced due to dry feeds and salt solution being mixed at the intended water to premix ratio. The design of the helical paddles provides …

None

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been conducting research since 2005 to develop a catalyst for the conversion of synthesis gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) into mixed alcohols for use in liquid transportation fuels. Initially, research involved screening possible catalysts based on a review of the literature, because at that time, there were no commercial catalysts available. The screening effort resulted in a decision to focus on catalysts containing rhodium and manganese. Subsequent research identified iridium as a key promoter for this catalyst system. Since then, research has continued to improve rhodium/manganese/iridium-based catalysts, optimizing the relative and total concentrations of the three metals, examining baseline catalysts on alternative supports, and examining effects of additional promoters. Testing was continued in FY 2013 to evaluate the performance and long-term stability of the best catalysts tested to date. Three tests were conducted. A long-term test of over 2300 hr duration at a single set of operating conditions was conducted with the best carbon-supported catalyst. A second test of about 650 hr duration at a single set of operating conditions was performed for comparison using the same catalyst formulation on an alternative carbon support. A third test of about 680 …

N/A

Photograph of Dorothy Bland, dean of the Mayborn School of Journalism, speaks at a meeting of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Photograph taken on the UNT campus.

Photograph taken on the UNT campus.

Photograph of Dorothy Bland, dean of the Mayborn School of Journalism, taken at a meeting of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Photograph of a student and bicycles taken on the UNT campus.

Photograph of a speaker at a meeting of the Public Relations Student Society of America.