This report provides information about the Implementation and Issues of Clean Air Permitting. It also describes the statutory background of Title V and the status of implementation, in terms of federal approval and local permitting authorities.

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This report examines issues regarding broadband access in the U.S., more specifically the "digital divide,” which is a term that has been used to characterize a gap between “information haves and have-nots,” or in other words, between those Americans who use or have access to telecommunications technologies (e.g., telephones, computers, the Internet) and those who do not.

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SLAC is in the privileged position of being the site for the world's first 4th generation light source as well as having a premier accelerator research staff and facilities. Operation of the world's first x-ray free electron laser (FEL) facility will require innovations in electron injectors to provide electron beams of unprecedented quality. Upgrades to provide ever shorter wavelength x-ray beams of increasing intensity will require significant advances in the state-of-the-art. The BESAC 20-Year Facilities Roadmap identifies the electron gun as ''the critical enabling technology to advance linac-based light sources'' and recognizes that the sources for next-generation light sources are ''the highest-leveraged technology'', and that ''BES should strongly support and coordinate research and development in this unique and critical technology''.[1] This white paper presents an R&D plan and a description of a facility for developing the knowledge and technology required to successfully achieve these upgrades, and to coordinate efforts on short-pulse source development for linac-based light sources.

This report describes research performed under Laboratory Research and Development Project 05-ERD-019, entitled ''A New Capability for Regional High-Frequency Seismic Wave Simulation in Realistic Three-Dimensional Earth Models to Improve Nuclear Explosion Monitoring''. A more appropriate title for this project is ''A Model-Based Signal Processing Approach to Nuclear Explosion Monitoring''. This project supported research for a radically new approach to nuclear explosion monitoring as well as allowed the development new capabilities in computational seismology that can contribute to NNSA/NA-22 Programs.

Air pollution arising from the emission of nitrogen oxides as a result of combustion taking place in boilers, furnaces and engines, has increasingly been recognized as a problem. New methods to remove NOx emissions significantly and economically must be developed. The current technology for post-combustion removal of NO is the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by ammonia or possibly by a hydrocarbon such as methane. The catalytic decomposition of NO to give N2 will be preferable to the SCR process because it will eliminate the costs and operating problems associated with the use of an external reducing species. The most promising decomposition catalysts are transition metal (especially copper)-exchanged zeolites, perovskites, and noble metals supported on metal oxides such as alumina, silica, and ceria. The main shortcoming of the noble metal reducible oxide (NMRO) catalysts is that they are prone to deactivation by oxygen. It has been reported that catalysts containing tin oxide show oxygen adsorption behavior that may involve hydroxyl groups attached to the tin oxide. This is different than that observed with other noble metal-metal oxide combinations, which have the oxygen adsorbing on the noble metal and subsequently spilling over to the metal oxide. This observation leads one …

We have developed a Monte Carlo model of the Earth's atmosphere and implemented it in three different codes (GEANT4, MCNPX, and FLUKA). Primary protons in the energy range of 1 GeV-100 TeV are injected at the top of the atmosphere. The codes follow the tracks of all relevant secondary particles (neutrons, muons, gammas, electrons, and pions) and tally their fluxes at selectable altitudes. Comparisons with cosmic ray data at sea level show good agreement.

Individual raw data streams from instrumentation at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Climate Research Facility (ACRF) fixed and mobile sites are collected and sent to the Data Management Facility (DMF) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for processing in near real time. Raw and processed data are then sent daily to the ACRF Archive, where they are made available to users. For each instrument, we calculate the ratio of the actual number of data records received daily at the Archive to the expected number of data records. The results are tabulated by (1) individual data stream, site, and month for the current year and (2) site and fiscal year dating back to 1998. Table 1 shows the accumulated maximum operation time (planned uptime), the actual hours of operation, and the variance (unplanned downtime) for the period October 1 through December 31, 2006, for the fixed and mobile sites. Although the AMF is currently up and running in Niamey, Niger, Africa, the AMF statistics are reported separately and not included in the aggregate average with the fixed sites. The first quarter comprises a total of 2,208 hours. For all fixed sites, the actual data availability (and therefore actual hours of …

Long-range, ultra-wideband (UWB), passive radio frequency (RF) tags are key components in Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) system that will revolutionize inventory control and tracking applications. Unlike conventional, battery-operated (active) RFID tags, LLNL's small UWB tags, called 'UTag', operate at long range (up to 20 meters) in harsh, cluttered environments. Because they are battery-less (that is, passive), they have practically infinite lifetimes without human intervention, and they are lower in cost to manufacture and maintain than active RFID tags. These robust, energy-efficient passive tags are remotely powered by UWB radio signals, which are much more difficult to detect, intercept, and jam than conventional narrowband frequencies. The features of long range, battery-less, and low cost give UTag significant advantage over other existing RFID tags.

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This report briefly describes the Agricultural committees' jurisdiction over forestry, with examples of legislation addressed by the committees, and also presents information on the forestry provisions in the Administration's proposal for the 2007 farm bill.

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This report is on Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal

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Retirement annuities for civilian federal employees are provided mainly through two programs: the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). These annuities are financed through a combination of employee contributions and payments made by the federal government to the civil service retirement trust fund. This report discusses the two programs, how they work, and how they are financed.

This report explains the provisions of the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001 law that affect widow(er) annuities and provides an illustration of the annuities under both prior law and current law.

In order to better understand EPA’s actions, this report provides an analysis of the agency’s final 2006 revisions to the particulates NAAQS, and the estimated costs and benefits of the new standards and of a more stringent alternatives analyzed. The report concludes by highlighting concerns and issues raised regarding the revisions to the particulates standards, including those of the science advisory committee (Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, or CASAC), and actions in Congress.

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This report discusses the budget of the fiscal year of 2008 and the requests of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

LLNL has developed an ultra-wideband (UWB) system that provides unique, through-the-wall wireless communications in heavy metallic and heavy concrete indoor channels. LLNL's UWB system is the only available wireless communications system that performs successfully and reliably in facilities where conventional narrowband communications usually fail due to destructive reflections from multiple surfaces. These environments include: cargo ships and reinforced, heavy concrete buildings. LLNL's revolutionary system has applications for the military, as well as commercial indoor communications in multistory buildings, and cluttered industrial structures.

This report provides information about the Broadband Loan and Grant Programs in the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. The Broadband Loan and Grant Programs are intended to accelerate the deployment services in rural America.