A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has improved its Strategic Management Plan (SMP) by including additional strategic planning elements that were lacking from previous plans; however, the fiscal year 2012-2013 SMP still needs to incorporate some key information that would make it more useful for DOD decision makers as a guide for implementing business transformation efforts and for measuring progress. Improvements in the SMP include links between its business goals and DOD-wide goals, as well as milestone or target data that would enable DOD to better measure performance and assess progress in achieving SMP goals. However, the SMP does not fully describe the specific challenges the goals are intended to address and what the root causes of those challenges are. For example, the SMP states that the goal on strengthening DOD's acquisition processes is aimed at obtaining greater efficiency and productivity in defense spending, but the accompanying narrative does not describe what is causing acquisition-related cost growth and how the goal's initiatives may address those causes. The SMP also lacks sufficient context for why business goals and strategies were chosen or changed from prior plans, such as …

This report summarizes what is known from open sources about the North Korean nuclear weapons program — including weapons-usable fissile material and warhead estimates — and assesses current developments in achieving denuclearization.

This report provides an overview of the Federal Reserve and issues for Congress. The Federal Reserve (the Fed) defines monetary policy as the actions it undertakes to influence the availability and cost of money and credit. Because the expectations of market participants play an important role in determining prices and growth, monetary policy can also be defined to include the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Fed that influence how the future is perceived. In addition, the Fed acts as a "lender of last resort" to the nation's financial system, meaning that it ensures continued smooth functioning of financial intermediation by providing financial markets with adequate liquidity.

This report covers health benefits made available to Members of Congress through federal government employment, including Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), dental and vision insurance, flexible spending accounts, long-term care insurance, services at the Office of the Attending Physician and military hospitals, and Medicare. It also offers a comparison of FEHBP to health benefits offered by the private sector and state and local governments and a discussion of the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on Members' health benefits.

This report provides an overview of the history of U.S.A - Belarus relations. The report discusses the political and economic situation in Belarus, the relations with Russia, European Union and NATO.

This report discusses the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans all nuclear explosion and was in 1996 adopted by the U.N. General Assembly but rejected by the U.S. Senate in 1997. This report discusses the Obama Administration's stated goal of pursuing U.S. ratification of the CTBT, although the Administration has mainly focused on securing Senate consent to ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). This report also discusses other nuclear weapons-related issues as well as the long history of nuclear testing.

This report details legislation and policies that restrict or place requirements on U.S. funding of abortion or family planning activities abroad. The level and extent of federal funding for these activities is an ongoing and controversial issue in U.S. foreign assistance and will likely continue to be a point of contention during the 113th Congress.

Proceedings of the Senate of Texas for the 13th day of the regular session of the 83rd Legislature documenting legislation, reports, discussions, votes, and points-of-order.

This report discusses the current state of Bahrain, which has undergone substantial political reforms since the late 1990s, but which still suffers from tension between the Shiite majority and the Sunni-led government. This report focuses particularly on Bahrain's relationship with Iran and with the United States.

This report displays and discusses some of the data related to the poverty of children and their living arrangements and data on male employment and earnings, educational attainment, and incarceration. It then provides information on federal programs that could play a greater role in addressing poverty of children through the fathers of these children (nearly all noncustodial parents are fathers). The report also examines federal programs that have the purposes of preventing teen pregnancy and helping disadvantaged youth obtain the skills and support they need to make the transition to adulthood. The report concludes by presenting several public policy approaches proposed by the policy community that might improve the lives of low-income noncustodial fathers and their children.

This report discusses and debates the pieces of the 2008 farm bill that will expire at the close of the 2012 funding year. The report suggests that existing programs could be amended or consolidated. Moreover, the report addresses the budgetary issues that arise from keeping existing programs.

None

This report is an Analysis of the Tax Exclusion for Canceled Mortgage Debt Income.

This report discusses the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program, which is one of the federal government’s primary policy tools for encouraging the development and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing. These non-refundable federal housing tax credits are awarded to developers of qualified rental projects via a competitive application process administered by state housing finance authorities.

In this study, we evaluate the possibility of monitoring soil moisture variation using tomographic ground penetrating radar travel time data through Bayesian inversion, which is integrated with entropy memory function and pilot point concepts, as well as efficient sampling approaches. It is critical to accurately estimate soil moisture content and variations in vadose zone studies. Many studies have illustrated the promise and value of GPR tomographic data for estimating soil moisture and associated changes, however, challenges still exist in the inversion of GPR tomographic data in a manner that quantifies input and predictive uncertainty, incorporates multiple data types, handles non-uniqueness and nonlinearity, and honors time-lapse tomograms collected in a series. To address these challenges, we develop a minimum relative entropy (MRE)-Bayesian based inverse modeling framework that non-subjectively defines prior probabilities, incorporates information from multiple sources, and quantifies uncertainty. The framework enables us to estimate dielectric permittivity at pilot point locations distributed within the tomogram, as well as the spatial correlation range. In the inversion framework, MRE is first used to derive prior probability distribution functions (pdfs) of dielectric permittivity based on prior information obtained from a straight-ray GPR inversion. The probability distributions are then sampled using a Quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) …

Research focused on detailed studies of the complex combustion chemistry of oxygenated, bio-derived fuels. In particular, studies were done of the flame chemistry of simple methyl and ethyl esters chosen as surrogates for the long-chain esters that are primary constituents of biodiesel fuels. The principal goals of these studies were: (1) show how fuel-specific structural differences including degree of unsaturation, linear vs. branched chain structures, and methoxy vs. ethoxy functions affect fueldestruction pathways, (2) understand the chemistry leading to potential increases in the emissions of hazardous air pollutants including aldehydes and ketones inherent in the use of biodiesel fuels, and (3) define the key chemical reaction mechanisms responsible for observed reductions in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and particulate matter when oxygenated fuels are used as replacements for conventional fuels.

None

None

A boildown study was completed on a composite prepared from supernatant liquid grab samples retrieved from tank 241-AP-107 in May of 2010. The composite was a clear, yellow liquid containing no visible solids at hot cell ambient temperatures (25-27 °C). The density of the test composite was 1.216 g/mL at 26.8 °C. The boiling temperature curves generated at three reduced pressures—40-, 60-, and 80 Torr—displayed steadily increasing boiling temperatures with increasing volume reduction with no significant discontinuities. Only minimal foaming was observed after the volume reduction proceeded beyond 50 %WVR (percent waste volume reduction). The bulk densities (D{sub Bulk}{sup 18 °C}) and quantities of settled and centrifuged solids present were measured on samples of the boildown concentrates that were kept at 18 °C for 7-8 days. Estimated values of the bulk densities of the concentrates at 60-Torr boiling temperatures (D{sub Bulk}{sup 60 Torr}) were also calculated. Solids were observed in all boildown concentrates at process temperatures, at hot cell ambient temperatures (25-27 °C), and at 18 °C. The quantity of solids found in the cooled concentrates increased slowly through 50.2 %WVR. The quantity of solids found in concentrates after 54.0 %WVR was noticeably greater. Beyond 54.0 %WVR, the quantity of …

This binary plant is the first high-output refrigeration based waste heat recovery cycle in the industry. Its working fluid is environmentally friendly and as such, the permits that would be required with a butane based cycle are not necessary. The unit is modularized, meaning that the unit’s individual skids were assembled in another location and were shipped via truck to the plant site. This project proves the technical feasibility of using low temperature brine The development of the unit led to the realization of low temperature, high output, and environmentally friendly heat recovery systems through domestic research and engineering. The project generates additional renewable energy for Nevada, resulting in cleaner air and reduced carbon dioxide emissions. Royalty and tax payments to governmental agencies will increase, resulting in reduced financial pressure on local entities. The major components of the unit were sourced from American companies, resulting in increased economic activity throughout the country.