On June 19, 2009, the House voted to impeach U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The impeachment process provides a mechanism for removal of the President, Vice President, and other federal civil officers found to have engaged in "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." This report explains the impeachment process, including its history and the process itself.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2007, the United States enacted a law incrementally raising the minimum wages in American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The law applied the first $.50 per hour increase in July 2007 and mandated additional increases in each subsequent year until the minimum wages reach the level of the U.S. minimum wage--currently $7.25 per hour. American Samoa's lowest paid will reach that wage in 2016, and the CNMI in 2015. In American Samoa, one of two tuna canneries employing almost a third of workers closed in September 2009. In the CNMI, where the garment industry was one of two major employers, the last garment factory closed in early 2009. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires GAO to report annually on the impact of the minimum wage increases in American Samoa and the CNMI. In this report GAO describes, since the increases began, wages, employment, employer actions, inflation-adjusted earnings, and worker views. GAO reviewed existing information from federal and local sources. GAO also collected data from large employers (at least 50 employees) through a questionnaire and from small employers and workers …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In March 2009, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy, completed construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF). NNSA considers NIF critical to its stockpile stewardship program to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons, absent live nuclear testing. NIF is intended to simulate the extreme temperatures and pressures of "ignition"--an atomic fusion event propagating a nuclear explosion--for the first time in a laboratory. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which NNSA has addressed key scientific and technical challenges that could prevent ignition at NIF; (2) whether NNSA has an effective approach for managing the cost, schedule, and scope of ignition-related activities; and (3) potential impacts to NNSA's stockpile stewardship program if ignition at NIF is not achieved, as planned, between fiscal years 2010 and 2012. To conduct this work, GAO analyzed relevant budgets, reports, and plans, and interviewed NNSA and national laboratory officials and independent experts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "All-terrain vehicles (ATV), which are off-road motorized vehicles, usually with four tires, a straddle seat for the operator, and handlebars for steering control, have become increasingly popular. However, ATV fatalities and injuries have increased over the last decade and are a matter of concern to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission), which oversees ATV safety, and to others. Many ATV crashes involving children occur when they are riding adult-sized ATVs. Manufacturers and distributors have agreed to use their best efforts to prevent their dealers from selling adult-sized ATVs for use by children under the age of 16. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act requires GAO to report on (1) how ATVs are used and the advantages of their use and (2) the nature, extent, and costs of ATV crashes. GAO addressed these topics by reviewing ATV use and crash data and by discussing these issues with Commission staff, industry officials, user groups, and safety stakeholders."

This report details the changes in tax law that will be made as a result of the health-related revenue provisions in PPACA.

In the 50 years since the laser was first demonstrated in Malibu, California, on May 16, 1960, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been a world leader in laser technology and the home for many of the world's most advanced laser systems. That tradition continues today at LLNL's National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's most energetic laser system. NIF's completion in March 2009 not only marked the dawn of a new era of scientific research - it could also prove to be the next big step in the quest for a sustainable, carbon-free energy source for the world. NIF consists of 192 laser beams that will focus up to 1.8 million joules of energy on a bb-sized target filled with isotopes of hydrogen - forcing the hydrogen nuclei to collide and fuse in a controlled thermonuclear reaction similar to what happens in the sun and the stars. More energy will be produced by this 'ignition' reaction than the amount of laser energy required to start it. This is the long-sought goal of 'energy gain' that has eluded fusion researchers for more than half a century. Success will be a scientific breakthrough - the first demonstration of fusion ignition in a …

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requires national user facilities to report time-based operating data. The requirements concern the actual hours of operation (ACTUAL); the estimated maximum operation or uptime goal (OPSMAX), which accounts for planned downtime; and the VARIANCE [1 – (ACTUAL/OPSMAX)], which accounts for unplanned downtime.

Operations and maintenance manual includes detailed instructions for system assembly, use, and maintenance.

This document contains process knowledge and radiological data and analysis to support approval for release of the 25-ton locomotive, Serial Number 21547, at the Area 25 Engine Maintenance, Assembly, and Disassembly (EMAD) Facility, located on the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The 25-ton locomotive is a small, one-of-a-kind locomotive used to move railcars in support of the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application project. This locomotive was identified as having significant historical value by the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, Nevada, where it will be used as a display piece. A substantial effort to characterize the radiological conditions of the locomotive was undertaken by the NTS Management and Operations Contractor, National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec). During this characterization process, seven small areas on the locomotive had contamination levels that exceeded the NTS release criteria (limits consistent with U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] Order DOE O 5400.5, “Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment”). The decision was made to perform radiological decontamination of these known accessible impacted areas to further the release process. On February 9, 2010, NSTec personnel completed decontamination of these seven areas to within the NTS release criteria. Although all accessible areas of the locomotive had …

Radiation portal monitors used for interdiction of illicit materials at borders include highly sensitive neutron detection systems. The main reason for having neutron detection capability is to detect fission neutrons from plutonium. Most currently deployed radiation portal monitors (RPMs) use neutron detectors based upon 3He-filled gas proportional counters, which are the most common large area neutron detector. This type of neutron detector is used in the TSA and other RPMs installed in international locations and in the Ludlum and Science Applications International Corporation RPMs deployed primarily for domestic applications. There is a declining supply of 3He in the world and, thus, methods to reduce the use of this gas in RPMs with minimal changes to the current system designs and sensitivity to cargo-borne neutrons are being investigated. Four technologies have been identified as being currently commercially available, potential alternative neutron detectors to replace the use of 3He in RPMs. These technologies are: 1) Boron trifluoride-filled proportional counters, 2) Boron-lined proportional counters, 3) Lithium-loaded glass fibers, and 4) Coated wavelength-shifting plastic fibers. Reported here is a summary of the testing carried out at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on these technologies to date, as well as measurements on 3He tubes at various …

In demand-controlled ventilation (DCV), rates of outdoor air ventilation are automatically modulated as occupant density varies. The objective is to keep ventilation rates at or above design specifications and code requirements and also to save energy by avoiding excessive ventilation rates. DCV is most often used in spaces with highly variable and sometime dense occupancy. In almost all cases, carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) sensors installed in buildings provide the signal to the ventilation rate control system. People produce and exhale CO{sub 2} as a consequence of their normal metabolic processes; thus, the concentrations of CO{sub 2} inside occupied buildings are higher than the concentrations of CO{sub 2} in the outdoor air. The magnitude of the indoor-outdoor CO{sub 2} concentration difference decreases as the building's ventilation rate per person increases. The difference between the indoor and outdoor CO{sub 2} concentration is also a proxy for the indoor concentrations of other occupant-generated bioeffluents, such as body odors. Reviews of the research literature on DCV indicate a significant potential for energy savings, particularly in buildings or spaces with a high and variable occupancy. Based on modeling, cooling energy savings from applications of DCV are as high as 20%. With support from the California …

We have studied the effects of high concentrations of native point defects on the electrical and optical properties of CdO. The defects were introduced by irradiation with high energy He+, Ne+, Ar+ and C+ ions. Increasing the irradiation damage with particles heavier than He+ increases the electron concentration until a saturation level of 5x1020 cm-3 is reached. In contrast, due to the ionic character and hence strong dynamic annealing of CdO, irradiation with much lighter He+ stabilizes the electron concentration at a much lower level of 1.7x1020 cm-3. A large shift of the optical absorption edge with increasing electron concentration in irradiated samples is explained by the Burstein-Moss shift corrected for electron-electron and electron-ion interactions. The saturation of the electron concentration and the optical absorption edge energy are consistent with a defect induced stabilization of the Fermi energy at 1 eV above the conduction band edge. The result is in a good agreement with previously determined Fermi level pinning energies on CdO surfaces. The results indicate that CdO shares many similarities with InN, as both materials exhibit extremely large electron affinities and an unprecedented propensity for n-type conductivity.

- The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the chemical form and localization of zinc (Zn) in plant leaves and their Zn accumulationcapacity. - An interspecific cross between Arabidopsis halleri sp. halleri and Arabidopsis lyrata sp. petrea segregating for Zn accumulation was used. Zinc (Zn) speciation and Zn distribution in the leaves of the parent plants and of selected F1 and F2 progenies were investigated by spectroscopic and microscopic techniques and chemical analyses. - A correlation was observed between the proportion of Zn being in octahedral coordination complexed to organic acids and free in solution (Zn?OAs + Znaq) and Zn content in the leaves. This pool varied between 40percent and 80percent of total leaf Zn depending on the plant studied. Elemental mapping of the leaves revealed different Zn partitioning between the veins and the leaf tissue. The vein : tissue fluorescence ratio was negatively correlated with Zn accumulation. - The higher proportion of Zn?OAs + Znaq and the depletion of the veins in the stronger accumulators are attributed to a higher xylem unloading and vacuolar sequestration in the leaf cells. Elemental distributions in the trichomes were also investigated, and results support the role of carboxyl and⁄ …

This report describes the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), which is the World Trade Organization's (WTO) means of resolving disputes arising under WTO agreements. The report includes criticisms of certain flaws in the DSU, as well as WTO Members' suggestions for improvement. The report also describes the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which represents the United States in WTO disputes. Also discussed are pieces of legislation that dictate procedures for specifically the United States in instances of WTO disputes.

This report discusses issues Congress faces regarding the Navy's proposed FY2011 budget, particularly as relating to destroyer procurement plans and programs.

This report discusses the Navy's plan to develop and design a class of 12 next-generation ballistic missile submarines, or SSBN(X)s, as replacements for the 14 Ohio class SSBNs currently in operation. The report explores certain related issues for Congress, including the affordability of the project and its potential impact on other Navy shipbuilding programs, alternatives to the program, and which shipyard or shipyards will build the proposed ships.

The Navy has been procuring Virginia (SSN-774) class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) at a rate of one per year for the past several years, and a total of 12 boats have been procured through FY2010. The Navy's proposed FY2011 budget increases the procurement rate to two boats per year. This report discusses the Navy's proposed FY2011 budget, which requests $3,441.5 million in procurement funding to complete the procurement cost of the 13th and 14th Virginia-class boats.

The Navy's FY2011 budget proposes canceling the CG(X) program as unaffordable and instead building an improved version of the Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class Aegis destroyer called the Flight III version. This report provides background information on the CG(X) program as it existed prior to its proposed cancellation.

This report provides background information and potential issues for Congress on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a relatively inexpensive Navy surface combatant equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages. The Navy's proposed FY2012 budget requests funding for the procurement of four LCSs.

This report provides background related to financial derivatives. It also analyzes market structure and regulation, derivatives reform, legislative proposals and exemptions for end users, safeguards for uncleared over-the-counter (OTC) swaps, and hypothetical examples.

This report provides an overview of the requirements of the First Amendment related to military personnel's religious exercise. Specifically, the report examines the limitations placed on servicemembers in uniform in the exercise of their religious beliefs as well as the role of military chaplains and the legal challenges associated with publicly funding religious personnel. The report analyzes efforts by Congress and the Department of Defense to address the constitutional concerns that are raised by these issues.

Detailed 3-D modeling of the NIF facility is developed to accurately simulate the radiation environment within the NIF. Neutrons streaming outside the NIF Target Chamber will activate the air present inside the Target Bay and the Ar gas inside the laser tubes. Smaller levels of activity are also generated in the Switchyard air and in the Ar portion of the SY laser beam path. The impact of neutron activation of utilities located inside the Target Bay is analyzed for variety of shot types. The impact of activating TB utilities on dose received by maintenance personnel post-shot is analyzed. The current NIF facility model includes all important features of the Target Chamber, shielding system, and building configuration. Flow of activated air from the Target Bay is controlled by the HVAC system. The amount of activated Target Bay air released through the stack is very small and does not pose significant hazard to personnel or the environment. Activation of Switchyard air is negligible. Activation of Target Bay utilities result in a manageable dose rate environment post high yield (20 MJ) shots. The levels of activation generated in air and utilities during D-D and THD shots are small and do not impact work …

This report provides a brief discussion of the need for mandates in comprehensive health care reform and why employer mandates might be useful. It also discusses the potential impact of employer mandates and credits on small businesses.

This report focuses on a conflict between the European Union (EU) and the United States, Canada, and Argentina. The United States suggests that the European Union's moratorium costs the U.S. 300 million dollars in exports to the EU annually. Moreover, the report highlights other concerns the U.S. has with the EU's biotechnology policies.