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.

This year the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) delivered nearly 900 million core hours of science. The research conducted at their leadership class facility touched our lives in both minute and massive ways - whether it was studying the catalytic properties of gold nanoparticles, predicting protein structures, or unearthing the secrets of exploding stars. The authors remained true to their vision to act as the forefront computational center in extending science frontiers by solving pressing problems for our nation. Our success in this endeavor was due mainly to the Department of Energy's (DOE) INCITE (Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment) program. The program awards significant amounts of computing time to computationally intensive, unclassified research projects that can make high-impact scientific advances. This year, DOE allocated 400 million hours of time to 28 research projects at the ALCF. Scientists from around the world conducted the research, representing such esteemed institutions as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and European Center for Research and Advanced Training in Scientific Computation. Argonne also provided Director's Discretionary allocations for research challenges, addressing such issues as reducing aerodynamic noise, critical for next-generation 'green' energy systems. Intrepid - the …

This report briefly discusses the November 22, 2015 elections in Argentina. Mauricio Macri defeated Daniel Scioli. In a close race, Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires, took 51.4% of the vote compared to 48.6% for Scioli, the governor of Buenos Aires province.

This report addresses the frequently asked questions related to the new technologies and procedures deployed for screening passengers at airport checkpoints.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on China's naval modernization effort and its implications for U.S. Navy capabilities. Decisions that Congress reaches on this issue could affect U.S. Navy capabilities and funding requirements and the U.S. defense industrial base.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1994, FCC has made over 520 megahertz (a measure of quantity) of spectrum available for new uses, such as wireless broadband, through a process that can be lengthy. Because most of the usable spectrum in the United States has been allocated to existing uses, FCC must change its rules to move spectrum from an existing use to a new use, a process known as repurposing spectrum. Yet, this process can be lengthy—from 7 to 15 years for the six repurposings that GAO reviewed. Four factors contribute to the time it takes FCC to repurpose spectrum: the regulatory nature of the process, which to some extent is guided by statute; opposition of incumbent users, who could be required to vacate spectrum; coordination challenges between FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees federal agencies’ use of spectrum, on the repurposing of federal spectrum for commercial use; and concerns about interference from users of spectrum in adjacent bands of spectrum. FCC has identified voluntary approaches that it thinks could speed the process, but these approaches generally require congressional approval and face some stakeholder opposition."

This report provides information on the congressional consideration of the FY2016 regular appropriations bills and the FY2016 continuing resolution (CR). It also discusses the statutory and procedural budget enforcement framework for FY2016 appropriations.

The President's FY2011 budget request, released February 1, 2010, included $733.3 billion in new budget authority for national defense. This report discusses and break downs these defense appropriations.

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This report discusses the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) and the two types of formal dispute settlement it contains: 1) State-State and 2) investor-State. The report also discusses how the PTPA differs from earlier U.S. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

This report provides an overview of multilateral bodies regarding human rights, including the United Nations, International Criminal Court, and regional bodies.

House rules, Republican Conference rules, and Democratic Caucus rules each detail aspects of the procedures followed in selecting standing committee chairs and ranking minority members. This report summarizes those procedures and lists membership on each party's steering committee.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Information technology (IT) is critical to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) ability to carry out its home ownership and community development mission. By statutory mandate, HUD is to develop and submit to Congress an expenditure plan for its efforts to modernize the department's IT environment that satisfies certain conditions, including being reviewed by GAO. GAO's objectives were to determine the extent to which (1) HUD's expenditure plan meets statutory conditions and (2) HUD has in place key institutional IT modernization management capabilities. To accomplish this, GAO assessed the plan against the statutory conditions and assessed department documentation of efforts to institutionalize IT modernization management capabilities against open GAO recommendations."

This report describes many of the questions that are debate n international climate change fora. It aims to inform Congressional decision-making on the magnitude and mechanisms of financial assistance that the United States may provide to low-income countries to address climate change.

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Military uniforms are procured through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the Department of Defense (DOD). DLA is DOD's largest combat support agency, providing worldwide logistics support for the United States (U.S.) military services, civilian agencies, and foreign countries. With headquarters in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, DLA operates three supply centers, one of which is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), in Philadelphia, PA. DSCP is responsible for procuring nearly all of the food, clothing, and medical supplies used by the military; about 90% of the construction material used by troops in the field, as well as repair parts for aircraft, combat vehicles, and other weapons system platforms. According to DLA Troop Support's website, sales of goods exceeded $14.5 billion during 2009.

Improved material for use in organic photovoltaics (OPV) devices, also called polymer-solar cells (PSC), has been developed. Increased ordering of the active layer of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cells has been achieved by the use of inert silica spheres in conjunction with suitable fullerene derivatives. Silica spheres with average diameters between 10 and 15 nm, consistent with the exciton diffusion length in the active layer, have been added. The potential for significantly improved device performance due to a higher degree of photon absorption, enabled by increased light scattering, and a maximized interface between electron donor and acceptor, ensuring efficient exciton dissociation, has been demonstrated. A method allowing for the covalent attachment of fullerene derivatives to the silica sphere surface has been developed.

We evaluated covariances in the neutron resonance region for capture and elastic scattering cross sections on minor structural materials, {sup 50,53}Cr, {sup 54,57}Fe and {sup 60}Ni. Use was made of the recently developed covariance formalism based on kernel approximation along with data in the Atlas of Neutron Resonances. Our results of most interest for advanced fuel cycle applications, elastic scattering cross section uncertainties at energies around 100 keV, are on the level of about 7-10%.

On November 20, 2015, gunmen laid siege to the Radisson Blu, a hotel popular with foreigners in Mali's capital, Bamako. This report discusses issues for Congress in the wake of the attack.

Deep C Wind, a consortium headed by the University of Maine will test the first U.S. offshore wind platforms in 2012. In advance of final siting and permitting of the test turbines off Monhegan Island, residents of the island off Maine require reassurance that the noise levels from the test turbines will not disturb them. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, at the request of the University of Maine, and with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Program, modeled the acoustic output of the planned test turbines.

Emittance growth seen during the last commissioning run in the bunch compressor optics section, BC1, was blamed on inadequate dipole field quality. The significant linear and nonlinear field non-uniformities generated large horizontal dispersion errors beyond BC1. The linear dispersion after BC1 was corrected using two small 'corrector' quadrupoles placed in BC1 for this purpose, but the remaining nonlinear field caused growth of the normalized horizontal emittance of 40% or more. At best {gamma}{epsilon}{sub x} went from 1.2 {micro}m before BC1 up to 1.7 {micro}m after BC1. The problem was magnified by the larger-than-design energy spread in BC1 due to a long initial bunch length. To improve the field quality we decided to modify the two 'inner dipoles', BX12 and BX13, of the four magnet chicane during the four month down time in the Fall of 2007. Only the two inner dipoles were chosen because of the limited time available and the fact that the beam is particularly sensitive to field quality of the inner dipoles due to its very large transverse size when going through them. The modifications were completed in November and included new poles and a new pinning scheme. The outer dipoles were left unchanged.

This report provides an overview of Senate standing committee sizes and ratios for the 94th Congress through the 111th Congress. Also included are data on permanent select committees with legislative jurisdiction. A table for each Congress shows the party division in the Senate, total number of seats on each committee, number of seats assigned to the majority and minority parties, and, where present, number of seats assigned to independents. The tables also provide the number of majority-minority caucus seat margins in the chamber and for each committees.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Most U.S. households have access to television broadcast programming through cable or satellite services. Cable and satellite operators offer this programming by providing a secondary transmission of the over-the-air programming from television broadcast stations. Three statutory licenses permit operators to offer copyrighted broadcast programming in return for paying a government-set royalty fee. Although Congress created the licenses as a cost-effective way for operators to clear the copyrights to the programming, some policymakers and others believe the licenses should be phased out and a market-based approach adopted. The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 directed GAO to study and evaluate possible effects if Congress phased out the statutory licenses. This report addresses (1) the potential implications for the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) regulations if such a phaseout were enacted; as well as how such a phaseout might affect (2) the market and regulatory environment and (3) consumer prices for cable and satellite television service and access to television programming. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed price, carriage, and royalty data; reviewed relevant laws; and interviewed industry stakeholders. GAO provided FCC and the U.S. Copyright Office …