None

This report provides an overview of Lebanese politics, recent events in Lebanon, and current issues in U.S.-Lebanon relations.

Within this project, Eaton undertook the task of bringing about significant impact with respect to sustainability. One of the major goals for the Department of Energy is to achieve energy savings with a corresponding reduction in carbon foot print. The use of a coupled induction heat treatment with high magnetic field heat treatment makes possible not only improved performance alloys, but with faster processing times and lower processing energy, as well. With this technology, substitution of lower cost alloys for more exotic alloys became a possibility; microstructure could be tailored for improved magnetic properties or wear resistance or mechanical performance, as needed. A prototype commercial unit has been developed to conduct processing of materials. Testing of this equipment has been conducted and results demonstrate the feasibility for industrial commercialization.

This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, an historical overview of debt limits, and how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, as well as legislation related to these increases.

This report provides a background on Libya's descent into conflict and discusses current policy issues for the U.S. Since Muammar al Qadhafi's fall in 2011, Libyan interest groups have pursued diverse objectives based on local and regional identities, tribal affiliations, political and religious ideologies, and shared personal backgrounds. Fighting and political maneuvering during 2014 and 2015 among rival factions and armed groups has reflected a number of unresolved debates.

This report focuses on U.N. reform efforts and priorities from the perspective of several key actors, including the U.S. government, the U.N. Secretary-General, selected groups of member states, and a cross-section of groups tasked with addressing U.N. reform. It also examines congressional actions related to U.N. reform, as well as future policy considerations.

This report discusses how as North Korea has accelerated its missile and nuclear programs in spite of international sanctions, Congress and the Trump Administration have elevated North Korea to a top U.S. foreign policy priority. Legislation such as the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-122) and international sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council have focused on North Korea's WMD and ballistic missile programs and human rights abuses. North Korea's cyberattacks have the potential not only to disrupt international commerce, but to direct resources to its clandestine weapons and delivery system programs, potentially enhancing its ability to evade international sanctions. This report will provide a brief summary of what unclassified open-source reporting has revealed about the secretive program, introduce four case studies in which North Korean operators are suspected of having perpetrated malicious operations, and provide an overview of the international finance messaging service that these hackers may be exploiting.

This report presents statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001, and is ongoing. OEF actions take 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.

None

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was requested to develop a bench scale test facility, using a mixer, transfer pump, and transfer line to determine the impact of conveying the grout through the transfer lines to the vault on grout properties. Bench scale testing focused on the effect the transfer line has on the rheological property of the grout as it was processed through the transfer line. Rheological and other physical properties of grout samples were obtained prior to and after pumping through a transfer line. The Bench Scale Mixing Rig (BSMR) consisted of two mixing tanks, grout feed tank, transfer pump and transfer hose. The mixing tanks were used to batch the grout which was then transferred into the grout feed tank. The contents of the feed tank were then pumped through the transfer line (hose) using a progressive cavity pump. The grout flow rate and pump discharge pressure were monitored. Four sampling stations were located along the length of the transfer line at the 5, 105 and 205 feet past the transfer pump and at 305 feet, the discharge of the hose. Scaling between the full scale piping at Saltstone to bench scale testing at SRNL was performed …

This document describes the data quality objectives to select archived samples located at the 222-S Laboratory for Fluid Bed Steam Reformer testing. The type, quantity and quality of the data required to select the samples for Fluid Bed Steam Reformer testing are discussed. In order to maximize the efficiency and minimize the time to treat Hanford tank waste in the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, additional treatment processes may be required. One of the potential treatment processes is the fluid bed steam reformer (FBSR). A determination of the adequacy of the FBSR process to treat Hanford tank waste is required. The initial step in determining the adequacy of the FBSR process is to select archived waste samples from the 222-S Laboratory that will be used to test the FBSR process. Analyses of the selected samples will be required to confirm the samples meet the testing criteria.

The United States provides assistance to 47 African countries, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has 23 missions in Africa. In recent years, U.S. assistance to Africa saw a major increase, especially in health-related programs. This report provides an overview of U.S. aid to Africa, including the strategic objectives that shape U.S. aid to Africa, information about specific aid programs and initiatives, and the Obama Administration's FY2011 foreign aid budget request.

This report discusses the current political conditions of Rwanda, including a brief historical overview. The report also includes information about the poor human rights conditions in Rwanda and U.S. Rwanda relations.

This report addresses questions policymakers may have about the effectiveness of the opioid addiction treatment drug buprenorphine, the demand for buprenorphine, and access to buprenorphine.

Understanding the structure of the hadron is of fundamental importance in subatomic physics. Production of heavy quarkonia is arguably one of the most fascinating subjects in strong interaction physics. It offers unique perspectives into the formation of QCD bound states. Heavy quarkonia are among the most studied particles both theoretically and experimentally. They have been, and continue to be, the focus of measurements in all high energy colliders around the world. Because of their distinct multiple mass scales, heavy quarkonia were suggested as a probe of the hot quark-gluon matter produced in heavy-ion collisions; and their production has been one of the main subjects of the experimental heavy-ion programs at the SPS and RHIC. However, since the discovery of J/psi at Brookhaven National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory over 36 years ago, theorists still have not been able to fully understand the production mechanism of heavy quarkonia, although major progresses have been made in recent years. With this in mind, a two-week program on quarkonium production was organized at BNL on June 6-17, 2011. Many new experimental data from LHC and from RHIC were presented during the program, including results from the LHC heavy ion run. To analyze and …

This report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Existing Plants Research Program, which has an energy-water research effort that focuses on water use at power plants. This study complements the Existing Plants Research Program's overall research effort by evaluating water issues that could impact power plants. Obtaining adequate water supplies for cooling and other operations at a reasonable cost is a key factor in siting new and maintaining existing thermoelectric power plant operations. One way to reduce freshwater consumption is to use alternative water sources such as reclaimed (or recycled) water, mine pool water, and other nontraditional sources. The use of these alternative sources can pose institutional challenges that can cause schedule delays, increase costs, or even require plants to abandon their plans to use alternative sources. This report identifies and describes a variety of institutional challenges experienced by power plant owners and operators across the country, and for many of these challenges it identifies potential mitigating approaches. The information comes from publically available sources and from conversations with power plant owners/operators familiar with using alternative sources. Institutional challenges identified in this investigation include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) …

This report details the history of Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft requirements development through the program's evolution to its current stage. Over time, those requirements have evolved to encompass a less demanding set of capabilities than first envisioned.

The first section of this report provides an overview of the consideration of FY2017 judiciary appropriations, followed by a section on prior-year actions and funding. The report then provides an overview of judiciary accounts.

This report describes current tax law and the proposed changes under the Better Way tax reform blueprint. It discusses economic efficiency, distributional and equity issues, administrative and compliance issues, revenue effects, and other tax-related issues.

None

This report discusses the the anti-doping testing program during the 2016 Summer Olympics. Responsibility for the rests with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The testing period began July 24, 2016, when the Olympic village opened, and continues through August 21, 2016, the date of the closing ceremony.

SRNL was requested to quantify the amount of 'fines passage' through the 0.5 micron membranes currently used for the rotary microfilter (RMF). Testing was also completed to determine if there is any additional benefit to utilizing a 0.1 micron filter to reduce the amount of fines that could pass through the filter. Quantifying of the amount of fines that passed through the two sets of membranes that were tested was accomplished by analyzing the filtrate by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) for titanium. Even with preparations to isolate the titanium, all samples returned results of less than the instrument's detection limit of 0.184 mg/L. Test results show that the 0.5 micron filters produced a significantly higher flux while showing a negligible difference in filtrate clarity measured by turbidity. The first targeted deployment of the RMF is with the Small Column Ion Exchange (SCIX) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). SCIX uses crystalline silicotitanate (CST) to sorb cesium to decontaminate a clarified salt solution. The passage of fine particles through the filter membranes in sufficient quantities has the potential to impact the downstream facilities. To determine the amount of fines passage, a contract was established with SpinTek Filtration to …

This report discusses some tools available to Congress, the President, and agency leaders, respectively, for initiation and implementation of executive branch reorganization. It also discusses the interagency coordinative mechanisms that are sometimes used by each of these actors to bridge inter-organizational gaps. The report concludes with general observations regarding federal reorganization efforts.

Understanding the prevalence and structure of higher-order modes (HOMs) in accelerator cavities is critical because their excitation can result in problematic single bunch and multi-bunch effects. Particularly hazardous are dipole modes, which are more easily excited due to their linear field nature near the beam center. During a recent superconducting test on the energy recovery linac (ERL) cavity at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), 8 of the highest-Q HOMs were measured for the first time. In conjunction with analysis of CST Microwave Studio simulation results for the ERL model, one of these modes was further studied in the copper prototype ERL cavity. A method of identifying HOMs utilizing existing holes drilled in copper cavity cells was developed and used to conclude that the observed high-Q mode was a quadrupole.