Report that discusses FY2013 budget cuts for the Department of Defense (DOD), including the pros and cons.

Report that provides a general perspective on the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) system. The first section discusses free trade zones worldwide. The second section focuses on the U.S. FTZ program --its history, administrative mechanism, structure, growth and industry concentration, and benefits and costs. The third section focuses on current issues for Congress relating to the U.S. FTZ program.

Report that examines the issues related to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the state and substance of the negotiations (to the degree that the information is publicly available), the specific areas under negotiation, the policy and economic contexts in which the TPP would fit, and the issues for Congress that the TPP presents.

Report that discusses and assesses the War Powers Resolution and its application since enactment in 1973, providing detailed background on various cases in which it was used, as well as cases in which issues of its applicability were raised.

Report regarding the fiscal cliff, which is a set of tax increases and spending cuts that would substantially reduce the deficit in 2013.

Report that analyzes the legal issues associated with religious exemptions to photo identification laws, lawsuits that have challenged state photo requirements, and factors that may be relevant in future decisions that may arise related to federal photo identification requirements and state voter identification requirements.

Report that contains information on how to ascertain if an individual is eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) benefits.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Estimates of the size of shale oil and gas resources in the United States by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Potential Gas Committee--three organizations that estimate the size of these resources--have increased over the last 5 years, which could mean an increase in the nation's energy portfolio. For example, in 2012, EIA estimated that the amount of technically recoverable shale gas in the United States was 482 trillion cubic feet--an increase of 280 percent from EIA's 2008 estimate. However, according to EIA and USGS officials, estimates of the size of shale oil and gas resources in the United States are highly dependent on the data, methodologies, model structures, and assumptions used to develop them. In addition, less is known about the amount of technically recoverable shale oil than shale gas, in part because large-scale production of shale oil has been under way for only the past few years. Estimates are based on data available at a given point in time and will change as additional information becomes available. In addition, domestic shale oil and gas production has experienced substantial growth; …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As with conventional oil and gas development, requirements from eight federal environmental and public health laws apply to unconventional oil and gas development. For example, the Clean Water Act (CWA) regulates discharges of pollutants into surface waters. Among other things, CWA requires oil and gas well site operators to obtain permits for discharges of produced water—which includes fluids used for hydraulic fracturing, as well as water that occurs naturally in oil- or gas-bearing formations—to surface waters. In addition, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) governs the management and disposal of hazardous wastes, among other things. However, key exemptions or limitations in regulatory coverage affect the applicability of six of these environmental and public health laws. For example, CWA also generally regulates stormwater discharges by requiring that facilities associated with industrial and construction activities get permits, but the law and its regulations largely exempt oil and gas well sites. In addition, oil and gas exploration and production wastes are exempt from RCRA hazardous waste requirements based on a regulatory determination made by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1988. EPA generally retains its authorities under federal …

Report that discusses the effects of economic sanctions against Iran, support to the Iranian democracy movement, opposition against Iranian human rights violations, and Iranian support for Syrian human rights violations.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and campus news along with advertising.

The high operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) provides good fuel flexibility which expands potential applications, but also creates materials challenges. One such challenge is the interconnect material, which was the focus of this project. In particular, the objective of the project was to understand the interaction between the interconnect alloy and ceramic coatings which are needed to minimize chromium volatilization and the associated chromium poisoning of the SOFC cathode. This project focused on coatings based on manganese cobalt oxide spinel phases (Mn,Co)3O4, which have been shown to be effective as coatings for ferritic stainless steel alloys. Analysis of diffusion couples was used to develop a model to describe the interaction between (Mn,Co)3O4 and Cr2O3 in which a two-layer reaction zone is formed. Both layers form the spinel structure, but the concentration gradients at the interface appear like a two-phase boundary suggesting that a miscibility gap is present in the spinel solid solution. A high-chromium spinel layer forms in contact with Cr2O3 and grows by diffusion of manganese and cobalt from the coating material to the Cr2O3. The effect of coating composition, including the addition of dopants, was evaluated and indicated that the reaction rate could be decreased …

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The Department of Energy’s High Temperature, Low Relative Humidity Membrane Program was begun in 2006 with the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) as the lead organization. During the first three years of the program, FSEC was tasked with developing non-Nafion® proton exchange membranes with improved conductivity for fuel cells. Additionally, FSEC was responsible for developing protocols for the measurement of in-plane conductivity, providing conductivity measurements for the other funded teams, developing a method for through-plane conductivity and organizing and holding semiannual meetings of the High Temperature Membrane Working Group (HTMWG). The FSEC membrane research focused on the development of supported poly[perfluorosulfonic acid] (PFSA) – Teflon membranes and a hydrocarbon membrane, sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone). The fourth generation of the PFSA membrane (designated FSEC-4) came close to, but did not meet, the Go/No-Go milestone of 0.1 S/cm at 50% relative humidity at 120 °C. In-plane conductivity of membranes provided by the funded teams was measured and reported to the teams and DOE. Late in the third year of the program, DOE used this data and other factors to decide upon the teams to continue in the program. The teams that continued provided promising membranes to FSEC for development of membrane electrode …

Silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells are alternative energy sources that are important in sustainable power generation. Currently, applications of PV cells are limited by the low output voltage and somewhat low efficiency of such devices. In light of this fact, this project investigates the possibility of fabricating high-voltage PV cells on float-zone silicon wafers having output voltages ranging from 50 V to 2000 V. Three designs with different geometries of diffusion layers were simulated and compared in terms of metal coverage, recombination, built-in potential, and conduction current density. One design was then chosen and optimized to be implemented in the final device design. The results of the simulation serve as a feasibility test for the design concept and provide supportive evidence of the effectiveness of silicon PV cells as high-voltage power supplies.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

There has been significant progress in the development of high-power facilities in recent years yet major challenges remain. The task of WG4 was to identify which facilities were capable of addressing the outstanding R&D issues presently preventing high-power operation. To this end, information from each of the facilities represented at the workshop was tabulated and the results are presented herein. A brief description of the major challenges is given, but the detailed elaboration can be found in the other three working group summaries.

We have completed our contributions to the Fusion Simulation Program Definition Project. Our contributions were in the overall planning with concentration in the definition of the area of Software Integration and Support. We contributed to the planning of multiple meetings, and we contributed to multiple planning documents.

A new rapid method for the determination of {sup 228}Ra in natural water samples has been developed at the SRNL/EBL (Savannah River National Lab/ Environmental Bioassay Laboratory) that can be used for emergency response or routine samples. While gamma spectrometry can be employed with sufficient detection limits to determine {sup 228}Ra in solid samples (via {sup 228}Ac) , radiochemical methods that employ gas flow proportional counting techniques typically provide lower MDA (Minimal Detectable Activity) levels for the determination of {sup 228}Ra in water samples. Most radiochemical methods for {sup 228}Ra collect and purify {sup 228}Ra and allow for {sup 228}Ac daughter ingrowth for ~36 hours. In this new SRNL/EBL approach, {sup 228}Ac is collected and purified from the water sample without waiting to eliminate this delay. The sample preparation requires only about 4 hours so that {sup 228}Ra assay results on water samples can be achieved in < 6 hours. The method uses a rapid calcium carbonate precipitation enhanced with a small amount of phosphate added to enhance chemical yields (typically >90%), followed by rapid cation exchange removal of calcium. Lead, bismuth, uranium, thorium and protactinium isotopes are also removed by the cation exchange separation. {sup 228}Ac is eluted from …

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