Report concerning a variety of issues faced by the 112th Congress. Topics include trade negotiations with South Korea, Panama, Colombia, and China, export controls and sanctions, and international financial institutions.

Report that discusses the construction and history of the European Parliament (EP), its role in functions of the EU as well as internationally, various international supports and criticisms of the EP, and the EP's ties with the U.S. Congress.

Report that discusses the levying of a value-added tax (VAT), a broad-based consumption tax, to potentially assist in resolving United States fiscal problems. It considers the experiences of the 29 nations with value-added taxes (VATs) in the 30-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which are relevant to the feasibility and operation of a possible U. S. VAT.

This document contains the calendar year 2011 schedule for the routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project and the Drinking Water Monitoring Project. Each section includes sampling locations, sampling frequencies, sample types, and analyses to be performed. In some cases, samples are scheduled on a rotating basis. If a sample will not be collected in 2011, the anticipated year for collection is provided. Maps showing approximate sampling locations are included for media scheduled for collection in 2011.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Monthly newspaper from Corpus Christi, Texas published by the Diocese of Corpus Christi that includes news of interest to Diocese members along with advertising.

The development of a technically sound protocol for detecting the subsurface release of noble gas radionuclides is critical to the successful operation of an on site inspection (OSI) under the CTBT and has broad ramifications for all aspects of the OSI regime including the setting of specifications for both sampling and analysis equipment used during an OSI. With NA-24 support, we are investigating a variety of issues and concerns that have significant bearing on policy development and technical guidance regarding the detection of noble gases and the creation of a technically justifiable OSI concept of operation. The work at LLNL focuses on optimizing the ability to capture radioactive noble gases subject to the constraints of possible OSI scenarios. This focus results from recognizing the difficulty of detecting gas releases in geologic environments - a lesson we learned previously from the LLNL Non-Proliferation Experiment (NPE). Evaluation of a number of important noble gas detection issues, potentially affecting OSI policy, has awaited the US re-engagement with the OSI technical community. Thus, there have been numerous issues to address during the past 18 months. Most of our evaluations of a sampling or transport issue necessarily involve computer simulations. This is partly due to …

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This report discusses the trade preferences and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) most-favored-nation (MFN) requirements, World Trade Organization (WTO) waivers for preferential trade agreements, and WTO waivers for U.S. preference programs.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

A system of customized spatial light modulators has been installed onto the front end of the laser system at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The devices are capable of shaping the beam profile at a low-fluence relay plane upstream of the amplifier chain. Their primary function is to introduce 'blocker' obscurations at programmed locations within the beam profile. These obscurations are positioned to shadow small, isolated flaws on downstream optical components that might otherwise limit the system operating energy. The modulators were designed to enable a drop-in retrofit of each of the 48 existing Pre Amplifier Modules (PAMs) without compromising their original performance specifications. This was accomplished by use of transmissive Optically Addressable Light Valves (OALV) based on a Bismuth Silicon Oxide photoconductive layer in series with a twisted nematic liquid crystal (LC) layer. These Programmable Spatial Shaper packages in combination with a flaw inspection system and optic registration strategy have provided a robust approach for extending the operational lifetime of high fluence laser optics on NIF.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gilberto Hernandez. Hernandez was born in Corpus Christi, Texas 13 September 1925. He worked on farms at a very young age with his formal schooling ending after the third grade. After his induction into the US Army in 1943 he was sent to Camp Wolters, Texas for basic training. He was temporarily assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division and then shipped to Camp Brackenridge, Kentucky where he joined the 75th Infantry Division. After receiving advanced training the division boarded a ship for Liverpool, England. The unit was then stationed in La Havre, France until called upon to participate in the Battle of the Bulge. On 17 January 1945, Hernandez was severely wounded. Hernandez was taken to a field hospital and then to a general hospital in Paris. There his leg was partially amputated. He was then sent to Bushnell General Military Hospital in Brigham City, Utah. He comments on the crude construction of the prosthesis of which he was originally fitted. He was discharged July 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gilberto Hernandez. Hernandez was born in Corpus Christi, Texas 13 September 1925. He worked on farms at a very young age with his formal schooling ending after the third grade. After his induction into the US Army in 1943 he was sent to Camp Wolters, Texas for basic training. He was temporarily assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division and then shipped to Camp Brackenridge, Kentucky where he joined the 75th Infantry Division. After receiving advanced training the division boarded a ship for Liverpool, England. The unit was then stationed in La Havre, France until called upon to participate in the Battle of the Bulge. On 17 January 1945, Hernandez was severely wounded. Hernandez was taken to a field hospital and then to a general hospital in Paris. There his leg was partially amputated. He was then sent to Bushnell General Military Hospital in Brigham City, Utah. He comments on the crude construction of the prosthesis of which he was originally fitted. He was discharged July 1945.

Weekly newspaper from Jacksboro, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The conference will present and discuss current science that underlies solar fuels production, and will focus on direct production pathways for production. Thus, recent advances in design and understanding of molecular systems and materials for light capture and conversion of relevance for solar fuels will be discussed. An important set of topics will be homogeneous, heterogeneous and biological catalysts for the multi-electron processes of water oxidation, hydrogen production and carbon dioxide reduction to useful fuels. Also, progress towards integrated and scalable systems will be presented. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program.

This document describes the computational and data systems available at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for use on the US-VISIT Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) project. This system - composed of data, software and hardware - is designed to be as close as a representation of the operational ADIS system as is required to verify and validate US-VISIT methodologies. It is not required to reproduce the computational capabilities of the enterprise-class operational system. During FY10, the test bed was simplified from the FY09 version by reducing the number of database host computers from three to one, significantly reducing the maintenance and overhead while simultaneously increasing system throughput. During the current performance period, a database transfer was performed as a set of Data Pump Export files. The previous RMAN backup from 2007 required the availability of an AIX system which is not required when using data pump. Due to efficiencies in the new system and process, loading of the database refresh was able to be accomplished in a much shorter time frame than was previously required. The FY10 Oracle Test Bed now consists of a single Linux platform hosting two Oracle databases including the 2007 copy as well as the October …

Report that discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, as well as the Afghan government. This report also discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, particularly U.S. efforts to urge President Hamid Karzai to address corruption within the Afghan government. Election fraud and corruption in Afghanistan are also discussed.

A PAssively Cooled, Electrically heated hydride (PACE) Bed has been deployed into tritium service in the Savannah River Site (SRS) Tritium Facilities. The bed design, absorption and desorption performance, and cold (non-radioactive) in-bed accountability (IBA) results have been reported previously. Six PACE Beds were fitted with instrumentation to perform the steady-state, flowing gas calorimetric inventory method. An IBA inventory calibration curve, flowing gas temperature rise ({Delta}T) versus simulated or actual tritium loading, was generated for each bed. Results for non-radioactive ('cold') tests using the internal electric heaters and tritium calibration results are presented. Changes in vacuum jacket pressure significantly impact measured IBA {Delta}T values. Higher jacket pressures produce lower IBA {Delta}T values which underestimate bed tritium inventories. The exhaust pressure of the IBA gas flow through the bed's U-tube has little influence on measured IBA {Delta}T values, but larger gas flows reduce the time to reach steady-state conditions and produce smaller tritium measurement uncertainties.

NSTX experiments have explored lithium evaporated on a graphite divertor and other plasma facing components in both L- and H- mode confinement regimes heated by high-power neutral beams. Improvements in plasma performance have followed these lithium depositions, including a reduction and eventual elimination of the HeGDC time between discharges, reduced edge neutral density, reduced plasma density, particularly in the edge and the SOL, increased pedestal electron and ion temperature, improved energy confinement and the suppression of ELMs in the H-mode. However, with improvements in confinement and suppression of ELMs, there was a significant secular increase in the effective ion charge Zeff and the radiated power in H-mode plasmas as a result of increases in the carbon and medium-Z metallic impurities. Lithium itself remained at a very low level in the plasma core, <0.1%. Initial results are reported from operation with a Liquid Lithium Divertor (LLD) recently installed.

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.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

In their Contributed Article, Nyein et al. (1,2) present numerical simulations of blast waves interacting with a helmeted head and conclude that a face shield may significantly mitigate blast induced traumatic brain injury (TBI). A face shield may indeed be important for future military helmets, but the authors derive their conclusions from a much smaller explosion than typically experienced on the battlefield. The blast from the 3.16 gm TNT charge of (1) has the following approximate peak overpressures, positive phase durations, and incident impulses (3): 10 atm, 0.25 ms, and 3.9 psi-ms at the front of the head (14 cm from charge), and 1.4 atm, 0.32 ms, and 1.7 psi-ms at the back of a typical 20 cm head (34 cm from charge). The peak pressure of the wave decreases by a factor of 7 as it traverses the head. The blast conditions are at the threshold for injury at the front of the head, but well below threshold at the back of the head (4). The blast traverses the head in 0.3 ms, roughly equal to the positive phase duration of the blast. Therefore, when the blast reaches the back of the head, near ambient conditions exist at the …