This report provides information about the Broadband Infrastructure Programs in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Broadband funds are granted by the ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

This report focuses on the implications that certain elements of China's military modernization may have for future required U.S. Navy capabilities. This report is based on unclassified open-source information.

This report focuses on the potential implications of China's naval modernization for future required U.S. Navy capabilities. This report is based on unclassified open-source information, such as the annual Department of Defense (DOD) report to Congress on China's military power, and published reference sources such as Jane's Fighting Ships.

Project Objectives: 1. Promote energy efficiency concepts in undergraduate and graduate education. 2. Stimulate and interest in pulp and paper industrial processes, which promote and encourage activities in the area of manufacturing design efficiency. 3. Attract both industrial and media attention. Background and executive Summary: In 1997, the Institute of Paper Science and Technology in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy developed a university design competition with an orientation to the Forest Products Industry. This university design competition is in direct alignment with DOE’s interests in instilling in undergraduate education the concepts of developing energy efficient processes, minimizing waste, and providing environmental benefits and in maintaining and enhancing the economic competitiveness of the U.S. forest products industry in a global environment. The primary focus of the competition is projects, which are aligned with the existing DOE Agenda 2020 program for the industry and the lines of research being established with the colleges comprising the Pulp and Paper Education and Research Alliance (PPERA). The six design competitions were held annually for the period 1999 through 2004.

Interesting discharge phenomena are observed that have to do with the interaction between the magnetized Hall thruster plasma and the neutralizing cathode. The steadystate parameters of a highly ionized thruster discharge are strongly influenced by the electron supply from the cathode. The enhancement of the cathode electron emission above its self-sustained level affects the discharge current and leads to a dramatic reduction of the plasma divergence and a suppression of large amplitude, low frequency discharge current oscillations usually related to an ionization instability. These effects correlate strongly with the reduction of the voltage drop in the region with the fringing magnetic field between the thruster channel and the cathode. The measured changes of the plasma properties suggest that the electron emission affects the electron cross-field transport in the thruster discharge. These trends are generalized for Hall thrusters of various configurations.

The objective of the verification activities was to provide independent radiological surveys and data for use by the Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure that the building satisfies the requirements for release without radiological controls.

An experiment was designed to test the theory that biased electrodes can affect the local scrape-off layer (SOL) width by creating a strong radial ExB drift [Cohen, R.H. and Ryutov, D.D, Nucl. Fusion 37, 621 (1997)]. These electrodes were located near the outer midplane in the SOL of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). The electrodes were biased at up to �100 Volts, and the radial profile of the plasma between them was measured by an array of Langmuir probes. The biasing caused large changes in the local SOL profiles at least qualitatively consistent with this theory.

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This report discusses recent (2008-2009) pirate attacks on vessels, including United States vessels, in the waters off the Horn of Africa. The Horn of Africa is sometimes called the Somali Peninsula and includes the nations of Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia. This report explores reasons behind the increased number of pirate attacks in recent years, as well as what efforts are being taken to combat said attacks, including those by the 111th Congress and President Obama and his Administration.

The Reduced Enrichment Research and Test Reactor (RERTR) Program uses the REBUS-PC computer code to provide reactor physics and core design information such as neutron flux distributions in space, energy, and time, and to track isotopic changes in fuel and neutron absorbers with burnup. REBUS-PC models the complete fuel cycle including shuffling capability. REBUS-PC evolved using the neutronic capabilities of multi-group diffusion theory code DIF3D 9.0, but was extended to apply the continuous energy Monte Carlo code MCNP for one-group fluxes and cross-sections. The linkage between REBUS-PC and MCNP has recently been modernized and extended, as described in this manual. REBUS-PC now calls MCNP via a system call so that the user can apply any valid MCNP executable. The interface between REBUS-PC and MCNP requires minimal changes to an existing MCNP model, and little additional input. The REBUS-MCNP interface can also be used in conjunction with DIF3D neutronics to update an MCNP model with fuel compositions predicted using a DIF3D based depletion.

Metallic interconnect acts as a gas separator and a gas distributor and therefore, it needs to function adequately in two widely different environments. The interconnect material will be exposed to air on one side and natural gas or coal-derived synthesis gas on the other side. The viable material for the interconnect application must be resistant not only to oxidation but also carburization in hydrocarbon containing low-oxygen environments. In addition, the scales that develop on the exposed surfaces must possess adequate electrical conductivity for them to function as current leads over long service life of the fuel cell. This report addresses five topics of interest for the development of metallic interconnects with adequate performance in fuel cells for long service life. The research conducted over the years and the conclusions reached were used to identify additional areas of research on materials for improved performance of components, especially metallic interconnects, in the complex fuel cell environments. This report details research conducted in the following areas: measurement of area specific electrical resistivity, corrosion performance in dual gas environments by experiments using alloy 446, long term corrosion performance of ferritic and austenitic alloys in hydrogen and methane-reformed synthesis fuel-gas environments, approaches to reduce the …

This report explores the United States' relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the context of law and civil society programs that promote democratic change in China, discussions of human rights, and public diplomacy programs. This report explores in particular the economics of said relationship, including U.S.-funded programs to promote democratic-leaning policy changes. This report also discusses the opinions of analysts and other experts who both defend and oppose such efforts.

This report begins by discussing the historical legal framework governing U.S. military operations in Iraq. The report then provides a general background as to the contents of agreements traditionally considered Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs). Finally, the report discusses specific aspects of the SOFA, highlighting issues that may require continued congressional oversight.

WIND-TO-HYDROGEN ENERGY PILOT PROJECT: BASIN ELECTRIC POWER COOPERATIVE In an effort to address the hurdles of wind-generated electricity (specifically wind's intermittency and transmission capacity limitations) and support development of electrolysis technology, Basin Electric Power Cooperative (BEPC) conducted a research project involving a wind-to-hydrogen system. Through this effort, BEPC, with the support of the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota, evaluated the feasibility of dynamically scheduling wind energy to power an electrolysis-based hydrogen production system. The goal of this project was to research the application of hydrogen production from wind energy, allowing for continued wind energy development in remote wind-rich areas and mitigating the necessity for electrical transmission expansion. Prior to expending significant funding on equipment and site development, a feasibility study was performed. The primary objective of the feasibility study was to provide BEPC and The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with sufficient information to make a determination whether or not to proceed with Phase II of the project, which was equipment procurement, installation, and operation. Four modes of operation were considered in the feasibility report to evaluate technical and economic merits. Mode 1 - scaled wind, Mode 2 - scaled wind with off-peak, Mode …

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of illness and injury surveillance activities that provide an early warning system to detect health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

The UCLA work on this grant was to design and help implement an object-oriented version of the GTC code, which is written in Fortran90. The GTC code is the main global gyrokinetic code used in this project, and over the years multiple, incompatible versions have evolved. The reason for this effort is to allow multiple authors to work together on GTC and to simplify future enhancements to GTC. The effort was designed to proceed incrementally. Initially, an upper layer of classes (derived types and methods) was implemented which called the original GTC code 'under the hood.' The derived types pointed to data in the original GTC code, and the methods called the original GTC subroutines. The original GTC code was modified only very slightly. This allowed one to define (and refine) a set of classes which described the important features of the GTC code in a new, more abstract way, with a minimum of implementation. Furthermore, classes could be added one at a time, and at the end of the each day, the code continued to work correctly. This work was done in close collaboration with Y. Nishimura from UC Irvine and Stefan Ethier from PPPL. Ten classes were ultimately …

The Conservation Security Program, authorized in the 2002 farm bill, is a voluntary program providing financial and technical assistance for within selected watersheds. This report contains information on the background of the program and related issues for congress.

This report examines recent proposals that would create a new temporary extension of unemployment compensation. The recent proposals to temporarily extend the duration of Unemployment Compensation (UC) include the proposal in the Senate Committee on Finance Finance Report of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) manages and operates about 577,000 structures worldwide, valued at about $712 billion. DOD has worked for several years to develop models that can reliably estimate the installation support funds needed to sustain these facilities, and plans to spend over $55 billion to support these facilities and operate its bases in fiscal year 2008. Because GAO has identified support infrastructure as a high-risk area that affects DOD's ability to devote funds to other more critical needs, GAO initiated this review under the Comptroller General's authority. This report discusses (1) the reliability of the annual funding estimates produced by the facilities sustainment model, (2) DOD's progress in meeting funding goals for facility sustainment and recapitalization, (3) the extent to which DOD has addressed deferred facility sustainment funding needs, and (4) the status of DOD's efforts to develop a new installation services model. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed the accuracy and support for the model's key inputs, analyzed pertinent documents, and visited eight judgmentally selected installations."

This report describes and compares the new House and Senate procedures, including an additional House requirement regarding the use of earmarks as leverage for votes.

The purpose of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the space-time correlations of atmospheric fluctuations in clouds through application of methods from statistical physics to high resolution, continuous data sets of cloud observations available at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program archive. In this report we present the accomplishments achieved during the four year period. Starting with the most recent one, we report on two break-throughs in our research that make the fourth year of the project exceptionally successful and markedly outperforming the objectives. The first break-through is on characterization of the structure of cirrus radiative properties at large, intermediate and small, generating cells scales by applying the Fokker-Planck equation method and other methods to ARM millimeter wavelength radar observations collected at the Southern Great Plains site. The second break-through is that we show that different characterizations of the cirrus radiative properties are obtained for different synoptic scale environments. We outline a stochastic approach to investigate the internal structure of radiative properties of cirrus clouds based on empirical modeling and draw conclusions about cirrus dynamical properties in the context of the synoptic environment. Results on the structure of cirrus dynamical properties are consistent with the …

This report provides information about the Foreign Direct Investment: Effects of a “Cheap” Dollar where academic research and analysis have been relatively limited on the topic of the relationship between deprecated dollar and any impact on foreign purchases.

This report provides background and discussion of policy issues relating to U.S. ethanol production, especially ethanol made from corn.

This report provides information about the Guide to Individuals Seated on the House Dais. The house of representatives meets in the capitol in the house chamber.