Ion Exchange column loading and elution of cesium from spherical resorcinol-formaldehyde resin have been conducted for two potential non-acid eluants -(NH{sub 4}){sub 2}CO{sub 3} and CH{sub 3}COONH{sub 4}. The results revealed encouraging cesium elution performance. 100% elution was achieved in at most 22 hours ({approx}28 bed volumes) of elution. Elution performance was fairly high at 6 hours ({approx}8 bed volumes) of elution for some of the eluants and also practically comparable to the benchmark acid eluant (HNO{sub 3}). Hence, it is quite possible 100% percent elution will be closer to the 6th hour than the 22nd hour. Elution is generally enhanced by increasing the concentration and pH of the eluants, and combining the eluants.

Thermoelectric materials have generated interest as a means of increasing the efficiency of power generation through the scavenging of waste heat. Materials containing nanometer-sized structural and compositional features can exhibit enhanced thermoelectric performance due to the decoupling of certain electrical and thermal properties, but the extent to which these features can be controlled is often limited. Here we report a simple synthesis of M{sub 2}O{sub 3}(ZnO){sub n} (M = In, Ga, Fe) nanowires with controllable polytypoid structures, where the nanostructured features are tuned by adjusting the amount of metal precursor. After the introduction of nanometer-scale features (individual atomic layers and alloying), thermal and electrical measurements on single In{sub 2-x}Ga{sub x}O3(ZnO){sub n} nanowires reveal a simultaneous improvement in all contributing factors to the thermoelectric figure of merit, indicating successful modification of the nanowire transport properties.

This report discusses Background on the Scheduled Reduction to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits.

Report that discusses the FY2012 budget for energy and water development as approved by Congress, including how the funding will be used.

Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe or CZT) is a very attractive material for room-temperature semiconductor detectors because of its wide band-gap and high atomic number. Despite these advantages, CZT still presents some material limitations and poor hole mobility. In the past decade most of the developing CZT detectors focused on designing different electrode configurations, mainly to minimize the deleterious effect due to the poor hole mobility. A few different electrode geometries were designed and fabricated, such as pixelated anodes and Frisch-grid detectors developed at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). However, crystal defects in CZT materials still limit the yield of detector-grade crystals, and, in general, dominate the detector's performance. In the past few years, our group's research extended to characterizing the CZT materials at the micro-scale, and to correlating crystal defects with the detector's performance. We built a set of unique tools for this purpose, including infrared (IR) transmission microscopy, X-ray micro-scale mapping using synchrotron light source, X-ray transmission- and reflection-topography, current deep level transient spectroscopy (I-DLTS), and photoluminescence measurements. Our most recent work on CZT detectors was directed towards detailing various crystal defects, studying the internal electrical field, and delineating the effects of thermal annealing on improving the material properties. In …

The U.S. Supreme Court's highly anticipated decision in Obergefell v. Hodges recognized federal constitutional protection for same-sex marriage. This report will analyze a range of legal issues for which Obergefell has implications.

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This report discusses issues regarding U.S.-Japan economic relations. Japan is a significant partner of the United States in a number of foreign policy areas, particularly in U.S. security priorities, which range from hedging against Chinese military modernization to countering threats from North Korea.

This report discusses the reluctance by the Supreme Court to take cases involving the Second Amendment. Commentators have observed that the Court appears to have become "gun shy" regarding this issue, given that it has not taken up a Second Amendment case since its landmark rulings in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and McDonald v. City of Chicago in 2010.

This report discusses veterans' employment trends and programs. The first section presents data on veterans' employment outcomes, identifying recent trends, and discussing issues to consider when interpreting veterans' employment data. The following sections present brief discussions of existing programs that provide employment-related services to veterans. These services are divided into (1) general programs that are broadly available to veterans, (2) programs that target veterans with service-connected disabilities, and (3) competitive grant programs that provide additional employment-related services to veterans but may be limited in scope or availability.

Policy makers have recently been considering several legislative options to help finance water infrastructure projects, including projects to build and upgrade wastewater and drinking water treatment systems. This report examines one particular option, a "Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act," or WIFIA, program, which Congress included in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA). As enacted (P.L. 113-121), the legislation creates a WIFIA pilot program based on provisions in Senate-passed S. 601 with some additions and modifications.

In this paper, we discuss the design of a compact gamma camera for high-resolution prostate cancer imaging using Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe or CZT) radiation detectors. Prostate cancer is a common disease in men. Nowadays, a blood test measuring the level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) is widely used for screening for the disease in males over 50, followed by (ultrasound) imaging-guided biopsy. However, PSA tests have a high false-positive rate and ultrasound-guided biopsy has a high likelihood of missing small cancerous tissues. Commercial methods of nuclear medical imaging, e.g. PET and SPECT, can functionally image the organs, and potentially find cancer tissues at early stages, but their applications in diagnosing prostate cancer has been limited by the smallness of the prostate gland and the long working distance between the organ and the detectors comprising these imaging systems. CZT is a semiconductor material with wide band-gap and relatively high electron mobility, and thus can operate at room temperature without additional cooling. CZT detectors are photon-electron direct-conversion devices, thus offering high energy-resolution in detecting gamma rays, enabling energy-resolved imaging, and reducing the background of Compton-scattering events. In addition, CZT material has high stopping power for gamma rays; for medical imaging, a …

This report opens with an examination of the current economic circumstances of veteran-owned businesses drawn from the Bureau of the Census 2007 Survey of Business Owners, which was administered in 2008 and 2009, and released on May 17, 2011. It also provides a brief overview of veteran employment experiences, describes the employment assistance programs offered by several federal agencies to assist veterans in their transition from the military to the civilian labor force, and examines related Small Business Administration (SBA) initiatives such as business development programs, efforts to assist veterans' access to capital, and veteran contracting programs.

This report discusses the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)- block grant that provides grants to states, Indian tribes, and territories for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities that address economic and social disadvantage for families with children.

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This report discusses the Runaway and Homeless Youth program, which is authorized by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, and funds organizations throughout the country to provide services to youth who have run away and/or experience homelessness.

Second generation (2G) technologies to fabricate high-performance superconducting wires developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) were transferred to American Superconductor via this CRADA. In addition, co-development of technologies for over a decade was done to enable fabrication of commercial high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires with high performance. The massive success of this CRADA has allowed American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) to become a global leader in the fabrication of HTS wire and the technology is fully based on the Rolling Assisted Biaxially Textured Substrates (RABiTS) technology invented and developed at ORNL.

This report briefly poses and answers several "frequently asked questions" in relation to the floor proceedings used to elect a Speaker of the House. Current practice for electing a Speaker, either at the start of a Congress or in the event of a vacancy, is by roll-call vote, during which Members state aloud the name of their preferred candidate.

This report discusses disposal of nuclear waste, primarily highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. Presidential and Congressional actions regarding nuclear waste disposal sites and the Yucca Mountain Project, other alternatives previously proposed by the Obama Administration, and temporary solutions are discussed.

The Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) is the keystone for cleanup of high-level radioactive waste from our nation's nuclear defense program. The WTP will process high-level waste from the Hanford tanks and produce immobilized high-level waste glass for disposal at a national repository, low activity waste (LAW) glass, and liquid effluent from the vitrification off-gas scrubbers. The liquid effluent will be stabilized into a secondary waste form (e.g. grout-like material) and disposed on the Hanford site in the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) along with the low-activity waste glass. The major long-term environmental impact at Hanford results from technetium that volatilizes from the WTP melters and finally resides in the secondary waste. Laboratory studies have indicated that pertechnetate ({sup 99}TcO{sub 4}{sup -}) can be reduced and captured into a solid solution of {alpha}-FeOOH, goethite (Um 2010). Goethite is a stable mineral and can significantly retard the release of technetium to the environment from the IDF. The laboratory studies were conducted using reaction times of many days, which is typical of environmental subsurface reactions that were the genesis of this new process. This study was the first step in considering adaptation of the slow laboratory steps to a larger-scale and …

This report explains the Department of Defense's (DOD's) personnel tempo (PERSTEMPO) management, policies and programs. PERSTEMPO refers to the pace of operations for servicemembers and can affect quality of life, work satisfaction, and overall morale for members and their families.

This report discusses U.S. security assistance to Taiwan, or Republic of China (ROC), including policy issues for Congress and legislation.

This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, focusing particularly on the influence of the Taliban and other militant groups and on the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This report also discusses the U.S.-Afghanistan relationship, in both the short and long term, and U.S. efforts under the Obama Administration to provide military, reconstructive, and stabilization aid.

This report analyzes U.S. and international sanctions against Iran. U.S. sanctions have been a major feature of U.S. Iran policy since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, but U.N. and worldwide bilateral sanctions on Iran are a relatively recent (post-2006) development.