The experimental results from the Phase I effort were extremely encouraging. During Phase I PHDs Co. made the first strides toward a new detector technology that could have great impact on synchrotron x-ray absorption (XAS) measurements, and x-ray detector technology in general. Detector hardware that allowed critical demonstration measurements of our technology was designed and fabricated. This new technology allows good charge collection from many pixels on a single side of a multi-element monolithic germanium planar detector. The detector technology provides “dot-like” collection electrodes having very low capacitance. The detector technology appears to perform as anticipated in the Phase I proposal. In particular, the 7-pixel detector studied showed remarkable properties; making it an interesting example of detector physics. The technology is enabled by the use of amorphous germanium contact technology on germanium planar detectors. Because of the scalability associated with the fabrication of these technologies at PHDs Co., we anticipate being able to supply larger detector systems at significantly lower cost than systems made in the conventional manner.

Under this project, the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association (APIA) conducted wind feasibility studies for Adak, False Pass, Nikolski, Sand Point and St. George. The DOE funds were also be used to continue APIA's role as project coordinator, to expand the communication network quality between all participants and with other wind interest groups in the state and to provide continued education and training opportunities for regional participants. This DOE project began 09/01/2005. We completed the economic and technical feasibility studies for Adak. These were funded by the Alaska Energy Authority. Both wind and hydro appear to be viable renewable energy options for Adak. In False Pass the wind resource is generally good but the site has high turbulence. This would require special care with turbine selection and operations. False Pass may be more suitable for a tidal project. APIA is funded to complete a False Pass tidal feasibility study in 2012. Nikolski has superb potential for wind power development with Class 7 wind power density, moderate wind shear, bi-directional winds and low turbulence. APIA secured nearly $1M from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service Assistance to Rural Communities with Extremely High Energy Costs to install a 65kW wind …

Friction Stir Extrusion (FSE) is a novel energy-efficient solid-state material synthesis and recycling technology capable of producing large quantity of bulk nano-engineered materials with tailored, mechanical, and physical properties. The novelty of FSE is that it utilizes the frictional heating and extensive plastic deformation inherent to the process to stir, consolidate, mechanically alloy, and convert the powders, chips, and other recyclable feedstock materials directly into useable product forms of highly engineered materials in a single step (see Figure 1). Fundamentally, FSE shares the same deformation and metallurgical bonding principles as in the revolutionary friction stir welding process. Being a solid-state process, FSE eliminates the energy intensive melting and solidification steps, which are necessary in the conventional metal synthesis processes. Therefore, FSE is highly energy-efficient, practically zero emissions, and economically competitive. It represents a potentially transformational and pervasive sustainable manufacturing technology for metal recycling and synthesis. The goal of this project was to develop the technological basis and demonstrate the commercial viability of FSE technology to produce the next generation highly functional electric cables for electricity delivery infrastructure (a multi-billion dollar market). Specific focus of this project was to (1) establish the process and material parameters to synthesize novel alloys such …

This report attempts to summarize the current state of knowledge regarding energy storage technologies for both electric power grid and electric vehicle applications. It is intended to serve as a reference for policymakers interested in understanding the range of technologies and applications associated with energy storage, comparing them, when possible, in a structured way to highlight key characteristics relevant to widespread use. While the emphasis is on technology, this report also addresses the significant policy, market, and other non-technical factors that may impede storage adoption. It considers eight major categories of storage technology: pumped hydro, compressed air, batteries, capacitors, superconducting magnetic energy storage, flywheels, thermal storage, and hydrogen.

The Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX)[1] has been utilized to assess the effectiveness of minimum variance analysis on the magnetic field (MVAB) and boundary-crossing time analysis (BCTA). The neutral sheet is swept, or jogged, in a controlled manner with respect to the stationary probes by pulsed internal coil currents. Magnetic field data from measurement points resembling data from multi-spacecraft flying though a reconnecting current sheet is used to check both techniques to deduce a proper normal vector. We examine discharges with the two-dimensional (2-D) X-line structure as well as cases in which a flux rope forms within the layer. All discharges are in a two-fluid regime in which electrons are magnetized but not ions. Boundary-crossing time analysis with four sample measurement points forming a tetrahedron generates a reasonable unit normal vector and relative velocity along the normal vector for all of the tested cases. On the other hand, MVAB sometimes fails to predict a proper normal direction. This is because the X-line magnetic geometry is fundamentally 2-D or 3-D. However, the direction along the reconnecting field determined by MVAB does not deviate much from the real magnetic geometry documented by 2-D magnetic probe arrays and one additional probe at a different …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Agencies use a risk-based approach, including workload and threat assessment data, to allocate resources, but most do not fully track those used for export control enforcement activities. As their missions are broader than export controls, agencies can use staff resources for other activities based on need, making tracking resources used solely for export control enforcement difficult. Only Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement allocates its resources exclusively to export control enforcement as that is its primary mission. Other agencies, such as State and the Treasury, have relatively few export control enforcement staff to track. While several agencies acknowledge the need to better track export enforcement resources and have taken steps to do so, they do not know the full extent of their use of these resources and do not use this information in resource allocation decisions. In some cities, agencies are informally leveraging export enforcement resources through voluntarily created local task forces that bring together enforcement resources to work collectively on export control cases."

The federal budget is central to Congress's ability to exercise its "power of the purse." Over the last several fiscal years the imbalance between spending and revenues has grown as a result of the economic downturn and policies enacted in response to financial turmoil. This report discusses how a growing budget deficit will affect the FY2013 budget and government spending.

This report provides information about The Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is an independent agency with its five members appointed by the president.

In the early 1990s, Congress recognized that several federal agencies had ongoing high performance computing programs, but no central coordinating body existed to ensure long-term coordination and planning. To provide such a framework, Congress passed the High-Performance Computing and Communications Program Act of 1991 to enhance the effectiveness of the various programs. In conjunction with the passage of the act, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released Grand Challenges: High-Performance Computing and Communications. Current concerns are the role of the federal government in supporting IT R&D and the level of funding to allot to it. This report also looks at federal budgets for the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To collaborate with state and local law enforcement, the Federal Protective Service (FPS) uses memorandums of understanding (MOU), long-standing working relationships, written guidance to FPS staff, joint operations, and other initiatives. For example, FPS has MOUs ranging from sharing radio frequency usage in Alabama, to a mutual aid agreement with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority in Georgia. In some jurisdictions, such as the suburbs of the District of Columbia, FPS has no MOUs but has regular contact and long-standing mutual aid relationships with state and local law enforcement. To collaborate with state and local law enforcement, FPS has guidance that addresses issues such as the scope of law enforcement authorities on federal property and information sharing among jurisdictions. FPS established regional staff positions intended to improve collaboration with other organizations and has engaged in joint operations with state and local law enforcement. By comparison, other federal organizations with law enforcement responsibilities similar to FPS also use a variety of methods, ranging from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ policy to seek MOUs with state and local law enforcement to the Smithsonian Institution’s established relationships with the …

A fully variational, unstructured, electromagnetic particle-in-cell integrator is developed for integration of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations. Using the formalism of Discrete Exterior Calculus [1], the field solver, interpolation scheme and particle advance algorithm are derived through minimization of a single discrete field theory action. As a consequence of ensuring that the action is invariant under discrete electromagnetic gauge transformations, the integrator exactly conserves Gauss's law.

This study was conducted to obtain baseline data on use of the proposed Simpson Ridge Wind Resource Area (SRWRA) in Carbon County, Wyoming by greater sage-grouse. The first two study years were designed to determine pre-construction seasonally selected habitats and population-level vital rates (productivity and survival). The presence of an existing wind energy facility in the project area, the PacifiCorp Seven Mile Hill (SMH) project, allowed us to obtain some information on initial sage-grouse response to wind turbines the first two years following construction. To our knowledge these are the first quantitative data on sage-grouse response to an existing wind energy development. This report presents results of the first two study years (April 1, 2009 through March 30, 2011). This study was selected for continued funding by the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative Sage-Grouse Collaborative (NWCC-SGC) and has been ongoing since March 30, 2011. Future reports summarizing results of this research will be distributed through the NWCC-SGC. To investigate population trends through time, we determined the distribution and numbers of males using leks throughout the study area, which included a 4-mile radius buffer around the SRWRA. Over the 2-year study, 116 female greater sage-grouse were captured by spotlighting and use of …

The goal of this project is to develop forensic genotyping assays for select agent viruses, addressing a significant capability gap for the viral bioforensics and law enforcement community. We used a multipronged approach combining bioinformatics analysis, PCR-enriched samples, microarrays and TaqMan assays to develop high resolution and cost effective genotyping methods for strain level forensic discrimination of viruses. We have leveraged substantial experience and efficiency gained through year 1 on software development, SNP discovery, TaqMan signature design and phylogenetic signature mapping to scale up the development of forensics signatures in year 2. In this report, we have summarized the Taqman signature development for South American hemorrhagic fever viruses, tick-borne encephalitis viruses and henipaviruses, Old World Arenaviruses, filoviruses, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Rift Valley fever virus and Japanese encephalitis virus.

The overall goal of this project is to forensically characterize 100 unknown Burkholderia isolates in the US-Australia collaboration. We will identify genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from B. pseudomallei and near neighbor species including B. mallei, B. thailandensis and B. oklahomensis. We will design microarray probes to detect these SNP markers and analyze 100 Burkholderia genomic DNAs extracted from environmental, clinical and near neighbor isolates from Australian collaborators on the Burkholderia SNP microarray. We will analyze the microarray genotyping results to characterize the genetic diversity of these new isolates and triage the samples for whole genome sequencing. In this interim report, we described the SNP analysis and the microarray probe design for the Burkholderia SNP microarray.

Several published reports indicate that top Israeli decision makers now are seriously considering whether to order a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, and if so, when. This report analyzes key factors that may influence current Israeli political decisions relating to a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. For Congress, the potential impact-short- and long-term-of an Israeli decision regarding Iran and its implementation is a critical issue of concern. By all accounts, such an attack could have considerable regional and global security, political, and economic repercussions, not least for the United States, Israel, and their bilateral relationship. This report has many aspects that are the subject of vigorous debate and remain fully or partially outside public knowledge.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hypertension was the most commonly reported medical condition among adults that could result in a health insurer denying coverage, requiring higher-than-average premiums, or restricting coverage. GAO’s analysis found that about 33.2 million adults age 19-64 years old, or about 18 percent, reported hypertension in 2009. Individuals with hypertension reported average annual expenditures related to treating the condition of $650, but maximum reported expenditures were $61,540. Mental health disorders and diabetes were the second and third most commonly reported conditions among adults. Cancer was the condition with the highest average annual treatment expenditures—about $9,000."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. agencies have adopted interagency guidance documents that establish PSI policies and procedures and have submitted annual reports; however, these reports do not contain expenditure data for all agencies as required by law. The agencies produced documents that contain general PSI policies and procedures. In addition, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) developed policies and procedures specifically to guide their agencies’ PSI activities. The annual reports submitted in 2009, 2010, and 2011 met requirements to describe PSI-related activities planned for future years and those that took place in the preceding year. Although the reports included an account of DOD’s PSI expenditures, they did not contain all expenditures for other agencies for PSI activities as required by law."

The image-current heating on the resistive beam chamber of a superconducting undulator (SCU) was calculated based on the normal and anomalous skin effects. Using the bulk resistivity of copper for the beam chamber, the heat loads were calculated for the residual resistivity ratios (RRRs) of unity at room temperature to 100 K at a cryogenic temperature as the reference. Then, using the resistivity of the specific aluminum alloy 6053-T5, which will be used for the SCU beam chamber, the heat loads were calculated. An electron beam stored in a storage ring induces an image current on the inner conducting wall, mainly within a skin depth, of the beam chamber. The image current, with opposite charge to the electron beam, travels along the chamber wall in the same direction as the electron beam. The average current in the storage ring consists of a number of bunches. When the pattern of the bunched beam is repeated according to the rf frequency, the beam current may be expressed in terms of a Fourier series. The time structure of the image current is assumed to be the same as that of the beam current. For a given resistivity of the chamber inner wall, the …

Currently, all H1616 shipping package containers undergo annual re-verification testing, including containment vessel leak testing to verify leak-tightness (<1 x 10{sup -7} ref cc/sec air) as per ANSI N14.5. The purpose of this literature review is to supplement aging studies currently being performed by SRNL on the EPDM O-rings to provide the technical basis for extending annual re-verification testing for the H1616 shipping package and to predict the life of the seals at bounding service conditions. The available data suggest that the EPDM O-rings can retain significant mechanical properties and sealing force at or below bounding service temperatures (169 F or 76 C) beyond the 1 year maintenance period. Interpretation of available data suggests that a service life of at least 2 years and potentially 4-6 years may be possible at bounding temperatures. Seal lifetimes at lower, more realistic temperatures will likely be longer. Being a hydrocarbon elastomer, EPDM O-rings may exhibit an inhibition period due to the presence of antioxidants. Once antioxidants are consumed, mechanical properties and seal performance could decline at a faster rate. Testing is being performed to validate the assumptions outlined in this report and to assess the long-term performance of O-ring seals under actual service …

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The report discusses the Necessary and Proper Clause, Commerce Clause, Article I, Section 8, Clause 10, spending Clause and Military Clause.

The Rub pathway is a conserved protein modification pathway. RUB (called Rubp1 in budding yeast, Nedd8 in animals and RUB in plants) is a ubiquitin-like 76-amino acid protein. It covalently attaches to protein using an enzymatic machinery analogous to the enzymes that attach ubiquitin to its substrate proteins. However, the nature of the complement of Rub-modified proteins in organisms was not clear. From bioinformatics analyses, one can identify a Rub activating enzymes and Rub conjugating enzymes. However, in many cases, their biochemical properties were not described. In DOE-funded work, we made major advances in our understanding of the Rub pathway in yeast and plants, work that is applicable to other organisms as well. There is a multi-subunit enzyme called SCF in all eukaryotes. The SCF consists of several subunits that serve as a scaffold (the cullin, SKP and RBX subunits) and one subunit that interacts with the substrate. This cullin protein (called Cdc53p in yeast and CULLIN 1 in plants and animals) was a known Rub target. In this work, we identified additional Rub targets in yeast as the other cullin-like proteins Cul3p and Rtt101p. Additionally we described the conservation of the Rub pathway because plant RUB1 can conjugated to …

More than 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste are stored in 177 underground storage tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. The Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) is being constructed to treat the wastes and immobilize them in a glass waste form. The WTP includes a pretreatment facility to separate the wastes into a small volume of high-level waste (HLW) containing most of the radioactivity and a larger volume of low-activity waste (LAW) containing most of the nonradioactive chemicals. The HLW will be converted to glass in the HLW vitrification facility for ultimate disposal at an offsite federal repository. At least a portion (~35%) of the LAW will be converted to glass in the LAW vitrification facility and will be disposed of onsite at the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF). The pretreatment and HLW vitrification facilities will have the capacity to treat and immobilize the wastes destined for each facility. However, a second facility will be needed for the expected volume of additional LAW requiring immobilization. A cementitious waste form known as Cast Stone is being considered to provide the required additional LAW immobilization capacity. The Cast Stone waste …