Although preliminary proof-of-principle of the efficacy of barrier materials and processes, first developed by Battelle at PNNL and commercialized by Vitex, has been demonstrated at the laboratory scale, there are several challenges to the practical commercial implementation of these developments in the Buildings Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) market. Two important issues that are addressed in this project are identifying a low cost substrate material that can survive in the outside environment (rain, heat, dust, hail, etc.) for 25 years and developing an encapsulation method for the photovoltaic (PV) cells that can meet the required barrier performance without driving the cost of the total barrier package out of range (remaining below $3.00/Wp). Without these solutions, current encapsulation technologies will limit the use of PV for BIPV applications. Flexible, light-weight packaging that can withstand 25 years in the field is required for a totally flexible integrated PV package. The benefit of this research is to make substantial progress in the development of a cost-effective, viable thin film barrier package which will be a critical enabling technology to meet the Solar America Initiative cost and device reliability goals, and to make photovoltaics (PV) more cost-competitive with electricity generated using fossil fuels. Increased PV installations …

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

The purpose of this report is to describe and discuss the provisions for providing abortion services to military personnel, their dependents and other military health care beneficiaries at military medical facilities. The report describes the history of these provisions, with particular emphasis on legislative actions. Finally, this report discusses a number of proposals to modify the law as well as other related legislative and administrative actions.

Pyrolytic carbon (PyC) is one of the important structural materials in the TRISO fuel particles which will be used in the next generation of gas-cooled very-high-temperature reactors (VHTR). When the TRISO particles are under irradiation at high temperatures, creep of the PyC layers may cause radial cracking leading to catastrophic particle failure. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of the creep behavior of PyC during irradiation is required to predict the overall fuel performance.

This report discusses the current debate over "net neutrality." While there is no single accepted definition of "net neutrality," most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network, and they should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network.

Two Corning monoliths and a non-carbon-based material have been identified as potential additives for mercury capture in syngas at temperatures above 400°F and pressure of 600 psig. A new Corning monolith formulation, GR-F1-2189, described as an active sample appeared to be the best monolith tested to date. The Corning SR Liquid monolith concept continues to be a strong candidate for mercury capture. Both monolith types allowed mercury reduction to below 5-μg/m3 (~5 ppb), a current U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) goal for trace metal control. Preparation methods for formulating the SR Liquid monolith impacted the ability of the monolith to capture mercury. The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC)-prepared Noncarbon Sorbents 1 and 2 appeared to offer potential for sustained and significant reduction of mercury concentration in the simulated fuel gas. The Noncarbon Sorbent 1 allowed sustained mercury reduction to below 5-μg/m3 (~5 ppb). The non-carbon-based sorbent appeared to offer the potential for regeneration, that is, desorption of mercury by temperature swing (using nitrogen and steam at temperatures above where adsorption takes place). A Corning cordierite monolith treated with a Group IB metal offered limited potential as a mercury sorbent. However, a Corning carbon-based monolith containing prereduced metallic species similar …

Midwest Research Institute (MRI) and AVL Powertrain Engineering, Inc. (AVL) have executed a Software and Trademark License Agreement (Software License) by which AVL is granted the exclusive right to use, modify and improve and to commercialize by reproducing, distributing and granting sublicenses in, certain computer software known as ADVISOR 2003.

DOE/EERE Solar Energy Technologies Program Fact Sheet - Advancing Clean Energy Technology, May 2010.

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.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Eighty percent of Afghans are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agricultural assistance is a key U.S. contribution to Afghanistan's reconstruction efforts. Since 2002, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded about $1.4 billion for agricultural programs to increase agricultural productivity, accelerate economic growth, and eliminate illicit drug cultivation. This report (1) describes the change in U.S. focus on agricultural assistance since 2002, (2) assesses USAID's performance management and evaluation of its agricultural programs, (3) analyzes the extent to which certain programs met targets, and (4) addresses efforts to mitigate implementation challenges. GAO reviewed USAID documents; analyzed program data; and interviewed program implementers and USAID officials in Washington, D.C., and Afghanistan. GAO has prepared this report as part of its ongoing efforts to monitor key aspects of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan."

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.

The U.S. program of assistance to Afghanistan is intended to stabilize and strengthen the Afghan economic, social, political, and security environment so as to blunt popular support for extremist forces in the region. Since 2001, nearly $48 billion has been appropriated toward this effort. This report provides a "big picture" overview of the U.S. aid program and congressional action. It describes what various aid agencies report they are doing in Afghanistan. It does not address the effectiveness of their programs.

This report discusses federal credit assistance for farmers and recent issues in Congress related to the programs.

An air and radon pathways analysis was conducted for the F-Area Tank Farm (FTF) to estimate the flux of volatile radionuclides and radon at the ground surface due to residual waste remaining in the tanks following closure. This analysis was used as the basis to estimate the dose to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) for the air pathway per Curie (Ci) of each radionuclide remaining in the combined FTF waste tanks. For the air pathway analysis, several gaseous radionuclides were considered. These included carbon-14 (C-14), chlorine-36 (Cl-36), iodine-129 (I-129), selenium-79 (Se-79), antimony-125 (Sb-125), tin-126 (Sn-126), tritium (H-3), and technetium-99 (Tc-99). The dose to the MEI was estimated at the SRS Boundary during the 100 year institutional control period. For the 10,000 year post closure compliance period, the dose to the MEI was estimated at the 100 m compliance point. Additionally, the dose to the MEI was estimated at a seepage outcrop located 1600 m from the facility. For the radon pathway analysis, five parent radionuclides and their progeny were analyzed. These parent radionuclides included uranium-238 (U-238), plutonium-238 (Pu-238), uranium-234 (U-234), thorium-230 (Th-230), and radium-226 (Ra-226). The peak flux of radon-222 due to each parent radionuclide was estimated for the simulation …

This report discusses issues for Congress in FY2011, which are whether to approve, reject, or modify DOD's new KC-X competition strategy, and whether to approve, reject, or modify the Air Force's request for FY2011 research and development funding for the new KC-X program.

With the strength of steel, but at half the weight, titanium has the potential to offer significant benefits in the weight reduction of heavy vehicle components while possibly improving performance. However, the cost of conventional titanium fabrication is a major barrier in implementation. New reduction technologies are now available that have the potential to create a paradigm shift in the way the United States uses titanium, and the economics associated with fabrication of titanium components. This CRADA project evaluated the potential to develop a heavy vehicle component from titanium powders. The project included alloy design, development of manufacturing practices, and modeling the economics associated with the new component. New Beta alloys were designed for this project to provide the required mechanical specifications while utilizing the benefits of the new fabrication approach. Manufacturing procedures were developed specific to the heavy vehicle component. Ageing and thermal treatment optimization was performed to provide the desired microstructures. The CRADA partner established fabrication practices and targeted capital investment required for fabricating the component out of titanium. Though initial results were promising, the full project was not executed due to termination of the effort by the CRADA partner and economic trends observed in the heavy vehicle …

This report provides background information on P.L. 110-69 and H.R. 5116, includes information about related legislative activity in the 111th Congress, and analyzes four policy issues addressed by these measures: (1) STEM Education, (2) Federal Research Programs and Activities, (3) Broadening Participation, and (4) Funding. It also discusses selected policy concerns identified in the debate about U.S. competitiveness and describes how H.R. 5116 responds to those concerns.

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Handwritten fieldnotes on Lamkang verb paradigms recorded by Willem de Reuse when working with Daniel Tholung at the University of North Texas.

When developing a performance assessment model for the long-term disposal of immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) glass, it is desirable to determine the durability of glass forms over very long periods of time. However, testing is limited to short time spans, so experiments are performed under conditions that accelerate the key geochemical processes that control weathering. Verification that models currently being used can reliably calculate the long term behavior ILAW glass is a key component of the overall PA strategy. Therefore, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was contracted by Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC to evaluate alternative strategies that can be used for PA source term model validation. One viable alternative strategy is the use of independent experimental data from archaeological studies of ancient or natural glass contained in the literature. These results represent a potential independent experiment that date back to approximately 3600 years ago or 1600 before the current era (bce) in the case of ancient glass and 106 years or older in the case of natural glass. The results of this literature review suggest that additional experimental data may be needed before the result from archaeological studies can be used as a tool for model validation of glass weathering …

The animal sector of agriculture has undergone major changes in the last several decades: organizational changes within the industry to enhance economic efficiency have resulted in larger confined production facilities that often are geographically concentrated. These changes, in turn, have given rise to concerns over the management of animal wastes and potential impact on environmental quality.

The purpose of this annual report is to evaluate the conditions and identify trends to develop Hanford Site specific data on the performance of the lysimeter systems related to the vadose zone monitoring and potential future use of lysimeter systems.

We report on the simulations of recently observed correlations of the core electron transport with the sub-thermal ion cyclotron frequency instabilities in low aspect ratio plasmas of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). In order to model the electron transport of the guiding center code ORBIT is employed. A spectrum of test functions of multiple core localized Global shear Alfven Eigenmode (GAE) instabilities based on a previously developed theory and experimental observations is used to examine the electron transport properties. The simulations exhibit thermal electron transport induced by electron drift orbit stochasticity in the presence of multiple core localized GAE.

This report reviews Argentina's financial crisis, the bond exchanges of 2005 and 2010, ongoing litigation, prospects for a final solution, related U.S. legislation, and broader policy issues. These include lessons on the effectiveness and cost of Argentina's default strategy, the ability to force sovereigns to meet their debt obligations, and ways to avoid future defaults like Argentina's.