A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Electronic Baggage Screening Program (EBSP) reports that 76 percent of the airports (337 of 446) the agency regulates for security have a mix of in-line and stand-alone baggage screening configurations that best meet airport needs (i.e., optimal systems). However, only 36 percent (10 of 28) of the nation’s larger airports—based on factors such as the total number of takeoffs and landings annually—have complete optimal systems. This is because the larger airports generally need more complex in-line systems and often require a significant amount of airport infrastructure modification and construction. In August 2011, TSA shifted its focus from installing optimal baggage screening systems to replacing aging machines (recapitalization). However, TSA plans to continue to optimize systems during many of its recapitalization projects."

Nuclear energy is a dependable and economical source of electricity. Because fuel supply sources are available domestically, nuclear energy can be a strong domestic industry that can reduce dependence on foreign energy sources. Commercial nuclear power plants have extensive security measures to protect the facility from intruders [1]. However, additional research efforts are needed to increase the inherent process safety of nuclear energy plants to protect the public in the event of a reactor malfunction. The next generation nuclear plant (NGNP) is envisioned to utilize a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) design with an operating temperature of 650-1000°C [2]. One of the most important safety design requirements for this reactor is that it must be inherently safe, i.e., the reactor must shut down safely in the event that the coolant flow is interrupted [2]. This next-generation Gen IV reactor must operate in an inherently safe mode where the off-normal temperatures may reach 1500°C due to coolant-flow interruption. Metallic alloys used currently in reactor internals will melt at such temperatures. Structural materials that will not melt at such ultra-high temperatures are carbon/graphtic fibers and carbon-matrix composites. Graphite does not have a measurable melting point; it is known to sublime starting about …

Summary On August 18 and 19 2011, five items were irradiated with neutrons using the Lead Slowing Down Spectrometer (LSDS). After irradiation, dose measurements and gamma-spectrometry measurements were completed on all of the samples. No contamination was found on the samples, and all but one provided no dose. Gamma-spectroscopy measurements qualitatively agreed with expectations based on the materials. As during the first activation run, we observed activation in the room in general, mostly due to 56Mn and 24Na. Most of the activation of the samples was short lived, with half-lives on the scale of hours to days, except for 60Co which has a half-life of 5.3 y.

During the Phase I program, CCR completed several major building blocks for a 3D large signal, inductive output tube (IOT) code using modern computer language and programming techniques. These included a 3D, Helmholtz, time-harmonic, field solver with a fully functional graphical user interface (GUI), automeshing and adaptivity. Other building blocks included the improved electrostatic Poisson solver with temporal boundary conditions to provide temporal fields for the time-stepping particle pusher as well as the self electric field caused by time-varying space charge. The magnetostatic field solver was also updated to solve for the self magnetic field caused by time changing current density in the output cavity gap. The goal function to optimize an IOT cavity was also formulated, and the optimization methodologies were investigated.

Upon completion of our second year of development in a 3-year development cycle, we have completed a prototype protein structure-function annotation and function prediction system: Protein Function Prediction (PFP) platform (v.0.5). We have met our milestones for Years 1 and 2 and are positioned to continue development in completion of our original statement of work, or a reasonable modification thereof, in service to DTRA Programs involved in diagnostics and medical countermeasures research and development. The PFP platform is a multi-scale computational modeling system for protein structure-function annotation and function prediction. As of this writing, PFP is the only existing fully automated, high-throughput, multi-scale modeling, whole-proteome annotation platform, and represents a significant advance in the field of genome annotation (Fig. 1). PFP modules perform protein functional annotations at the sequence, systems biology, protein structure, and atomistic levels of biological complexity (Fig. 2). Because these approaches provide orthogonal means of characterizing proteins and suggesting protein function, PFP processing maximizes the protein functional information that can currently be gained by computational means. Comprehensive annotation of pathogen genomes is essential for bio-defense applications in pathogen characterization, threat assessment, and medical countermeasure design and development in that it can short-cut the time and effort required …

The most widely used solar technology involves photovoltaic (PV) solar modules, which draw on semiconducting materials to convert sunlight into electricity. By year-end 2011, the total number of grid-connected PV systems nationwide reached almost 215,000. Domestic demand is met both by imports and by about 100 U.S. manufacturing facilities. The competitiveness of solar PV as a source of electric generation in the United States will likely be adversely affected both by the expiration of tax provisions and by the rapid development of shale gas, which has the potential to lower the cost of gas-fired power generation and reduce the cost-competitiveness of solar power, particularly as an energy source for utilities. In light of these developments, the ability to build a significant U.S. production base for PV equipment is in question.

The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, or U.S. Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, is a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and Colombia, which will eventually eliminate tariffs and other barriers in bilateral trade in goods and services. The agreement will enter into force on May 15, 2012. The United States is Colombia's leading trade partner. Colombia accounts for a very small percentage of U.S. trade (1.0% in 2011), ranking 22nd among U.S. export markets and 23rd as a supplier of U.S. imports. Economic studies on the impact of a U.S.-Colombia FTA have found that, upon full implementation of an agreement, the impact on the United States would be positive but very small due to the small size of the Colombian economy when compared to that of the United States (about 2.2%). This report also discusses concerns that Congress has with Colombian human rights violations.

Congress has an active role to play in shaping and overseeing U.S. relations with Turkey, and several Turkish domestic and foreign policy issues have significant relevance for U.S. interests. This report provides background information on Turkey and discusses possible policy options for Members of Congress and the Obama Administration. U.S. relations with Turkey-a longtime North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally-have evolved over time as global challenges to U.S. interests have changed.

The report discusses issues that may be of interest to Congress-managing, sharing, and coordinating geospatial information-and includes examples of legislation. The report also summarizes a diverse set of recommendations and proposals from different non-governmental organizations for how to improve the coordination and management of geospatial information at the federal and state levels.

"Sequestration" is a process of automatic, largely across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently canceled to enforce certain budget policy goals. This report looks at the history and current status of sequestration at it relates to Congress. This includes how it is enacted and special rules that can apply.

This report provides information about the concern that has been raised over a "digital divide" between rural and urban areas with respect to broadband deployment.