This report collects statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001. OEF actions took place primarily in Afghanistan; however, OEF casualties also includes American casualties in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen.

This report discusses the current political state of Iran, focusing particularly on the influence of the Taliban and other militant groups and on the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This report also discusses the U.S.-Iran relationship and U.S. efforts under the Obama Administration to provide military, reconstructive, and stabilization aid.

This report provides a listing of federal agricultural conservation assistance programs. Each listing includes a brief description of the program, information on major amendments in the Agricultural Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-79, 2014 farm bill), national scope and availability, states with the greatest participation, the backlog of applications or other measures of continuing interest, program funding authority, FY2018 funding, FY2019 Administration budget request, statutory authority, the authorization expiration date, and a link to the program's website.

The purpose of this report is to provide a concise but comprehensive overview of Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility instrumentation status. The report is divided into the following five sections: (1) new instrumentation in the process of being acquired and deployed, (2) field campaigns, (3) existing instrumentation and progress on improvements or upgrades, (4) proposed future instrumentation, and (5) Small Business Innovation Research instrument development.

This report discusses the current political conditions of Cuba, as well as its relationship with the United States. In particular, the report focuses on U.S. policy regarding Cuba, including various economic sanctions, human rights issues, and foreign aid appropriations.

This report describes the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy. Under this policy, but not the law, service members are not to be asked about nor allowed to discuss their "same-sex orientation." This report also describes recent efforts by certain Members of Congress to amending this policy.

Email from Daniel Graney to Al Daniels on March 25, 2010, discussing 2009 through 2010 Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus budget. Profit & loss budget overview made on July 2010 through June 2011 for the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus.

This report reviews the "definition" of an executive order and how it is distinguishable from other written instruments, and then provides an overview of the President's constitutional authority to issue such directives. It also discusses the legal framework relied on by the courts to analyze the validity of presidential actions, and the roles of the President and Congress in modifying and revoking executive orders.

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This report analyzes relevant provisions in enacted legislation and selected pending bills relating to the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a facility in which alleged enemy belligerents are detained.

With the long-term goal in mind of investigating if one could possibly design a 'universal solid-sample comminution technique' for debris and rubble, we have studied pulsed-laser ablation of solid samples that were contained within a surrounding fluid. Using pulses with fluences between 2 J and 0.3 J, wavelengths of 351 and 527 nm, and samples of rock, concrete, and red brick, each submerged in water, we have observed conditions in which {micro}m-scale particles can be preferentially generated in a controlled manner, during the laser ablation process. Others have studied laser peening of metals, where their attention has been to the substrate. Our study uses non-metallic substrates and analyzes the particles that are ablated from the process. The immediate impact of our investigation is that laser-comminution portion of a new systems concept for chemical analysis has been verified as feasible.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 significantly reformed contracting for payment of Medicare's $310 billion per year in fee-for-service claims. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is transitioning claims administration to 19 new entities known as Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) and plans to complete the process ahead of October 1, 2011, the date required by law. In 2005, GAO reported that CMS's plan to accelerate the transition could create challenges and was based on estimated costs and savings that were uncertain. In this report GAO examined (1) how CMS has implemented Medicare contracting reform; (2) how CMS assessed the performance of the MACs and what the results of its assessments have been; and (3) what CMS's costs and savings have been for Medicare contracting reform. GAO selected a sample of 6 transitions to review from among the 10 MAC contracts awarded as of June 2008, based on factors such as geographic diversity, volume of claims workload, and transition complexity. GAO analyzed CMS documents related to the MAC transitions, including performance assessments for 3 of the 6 MACs in the sample …

A set of the electrostatic toroidal gyrokinetic Vlasov equation and the Poisson equation, which explicitly includes the polarization drift, is derived systematically by using Lie-transform method. The polarization drift is introduced in the gyrocenter equations of motion, and the corresponding polarization density is derived. Contrary to the wide-spread expectation, the inclusion of the polarization drift in the gyrocenter equations of motion does not affect the expression for the polarization density significantly. This is due to modification of the gyrocenter phase-space volume caused by the electrostatic potential [T. S. Hahm, Phys. Plasmas 3, 4658 (1996)] .

The research described herein was undertaken to provide needed physical property descriptions of the Hanford transuranic tank sludges under conditions that might exist during retrieval, treatment, packaging and transportation for disposal. The work addressed the development of a fundamental understanding of the types of systems represented by these sludge suspensions through correlation of the macroscopic rheological properties with particle interactions occurring at the colloidal scale in the various liquid media. The results of the work have advanced existing understanding of the sedimentation and aggregation properties of complex colloidal suspensions. Bench scale models were investigated with respect to their structural, colloidal and rheological properties that should be useful for the development and optimization of techniques to process the wastes at various DOE sites.

The purpose of this CRADA extension which effectively ended in 2003 was to quantify the effect of iron-sulfide formation on the fouling propensity of crude oil. The specific objectives are focused on fouling of the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU-1) at the Shell Refinery in Mobile, Alabama. The technical approach consists of analyzing the plant data, chemical analysis of crude oil to detect key precursors, performing refinery tests using the Argonne Field Fouling Unit, and verifying the effectiveness of a physical device of tube insert and enhanced tubes to change threshold conditions and thereby reducing fouling.

Existence of the magnetic monopole is compatible with the fundamental laws of nature, however, this illusive particle has yet to be detected experimentally. In this work, we show that an electric charge near the topological surface state induces an image magnetic monopole charge due to the topological magneto-electric effect. The magnetic field generated by the image magnetic monopole can be experimentally measured, and the inverse square law of the field dependence can be determined quantitatively. We propose that this effect can be used to experimentally realize a gas of quantum particles carrying fractional statistics, consisting of the bound states of the electric charge and the image magnetic monopole charge.

After 1970 Transuranic (TRU) and suspect TRU waste was buried in the ground with the intention that at some later date the waste would be retrieved and processed into a configuration for long term storage. To retrieve this waste the soil must be removed (excavated). Sloping the bank of the excavation is the method used to keep the excavation from collapsing and to provide protection for workers retrieving the waste. The purpose of this paper is to document the minimum distance (setback) that equipment must stay from the edge of the excavation to maintain a stable slope. This evaluation examines the equipment setback distance by dividing the equipment into two categories, (1) equipment used for excavation and (2) equipment used for retrieval. The section on excavation equipment will also discuss techniques used for excavation including the process of benching. Calculations 122633-C-004, 'Slope Stability Analysis' (Attachment A), and 300013-C-001, 'Crane Stability Analysis' (Attachment B), have been prepared to support this evaluation. As shown in the calculations the soil has the following properties: Unit weight 110 pounds per cubic foot; and Friction Angle (natural angle of repose) 38{sup o} or 1.28 horizontal to 1 vertical. Setback distances are measured from the top …

Topological insulators are new states of quantum matter with surface states protected by the time-reversal symmetry. In this work, we perform first-principle electronic structure calculations for Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}, Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3}, Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} crystals. Our calculations predict that Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}, Bi{sub 2}T e{sub 3} and Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} are topological insulators, while Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3} is not. In particular, Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} has a topologically non-trivial energy gap of 0.3eV , suitable for room temperature applications. We present a simple and unified continuum model which captures the salient topological features of this class of materials. These topological insulators have robust surface states consisting of a single Dirac cone at the {Lambda} point.

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Officer Reports for the Texas Society, Sons of the American Revolution, compiled for the March 25 - 28, 2010 State Convention.