This report gives an overview of the federal incentives support the development and deployment of alternatives to conventional fuels and engines in transportation including tax deductions and credits for vehicle purchases and the installation of refueling systems; federal grants for conversion of older vehicles to newer technologies; mandates for the use of biofuels; and incentives for manufacturers to produce alternative fuel vehicles. It also addresses how these incentives relate to goals of reducing petroleum consumption and import dependence, improving environmental quality, expanding domestic manufacturing, and promoting agriculture and rural development.

In this project we focused on several aspects of technology development that advances the formation of an integrated biorefinery. These focus areas include: [1] establishment of pyrolysis processing systems and characterization of the product oils for fuel applications, including engine testing of a preferred product and its pro forma economic analysis; [2] extraction of sugars through a novel hotwater extaction process, and the development of levoglucosan (a pyrolysis BioOil intermediate); [3] identification and testing of the use of biochar, the coproduct from pyrolysis, for soil applications; [4] developments in methods of atomic layer epitaxy (for efficient development of coatings as in fuel cells); [5] advancement in fermentation of lignocellulosics, [6] development of algal biomass as a potential substrate for the biorefinery, and [7] development of catalysts from coproducts. These advancements are intended to provide a diverse set of product choices within the biorefinery, thus improving the cost effectiveness of the system. Technical effectiveness was demonstrated in the pyrolysis biooil based diesel fuel supplement, sugar extraction from lignocelluose, use of biochar, production of algal biomass in wastewaters, and the development of catalysts. Economic feasibility of algal biomass production systems seems attractive, relative to the other options. However, further optimization in all …

We present the report of the hadronic working group of the BOOST2010 workshop held at the University of Oxford in June 2010. The first part contains a review of the potential of hadronic decays of highly boosted particles as an aid for discovery at the LHC and a discussion of the status of tools developed to meet the challenge of reconstructing and isolating these topologies. In the second part, we present new results comparing the performance of jet grooming techniques and top tagging algorithms on a common set of benchmark channels. We also study the sensitivity of jet substructure observables to the uncertainties in Monte Carlo predictions.

The study estimated dam passage survival at The Dalles Dam as stipulated by the 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) Biological Opinion (BiOp) and provided additional performance measures as stipulated in the Columbia Basin Fish Accords. This summary report focuses on spring run stocks, yearling Chinook salmon and steelhead.

This report looks at the environmental impact of using water to absorb the heat from thermoelectric generating plants and manufacturing facilities during their industrial processes. The issue for Congress has been whether a stringent and costly environmental mandate could jeopardize reliability of electricity supply in the United States.

This report gives an overview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, which includes funding for all components and functions of DHS, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); Coast Guard (USCG); Secret Service (USSS); the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), which includes Infrastructure Protection and Information Security (IPIS) and the Federal Protective Service (FPS); the Office of Health Affairs (OHA); the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC); the Science and Technology directorate (S&T); the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO); departmental management, Analysis and Operations (A&O), and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

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This report defines drought and discusses its background and cause in the United States. It looks in detail at the 2007-2009 California drought as well as drought in the American West in general. Lastly, it discusses the future of U.S. drought and how congressional policy can affect drought.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Green Electricity Network Integration (GENI) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a new method of electrical power transmission that would improve electrical grid efficiency as part of the "Compact Dynamic Phase Angle Regulators for Transmission Power Routing" project.

Interleaved ionization electrode geometries offer the possibility of efficient rejection of near-surface events. The CDMS collaboration has recently implemented this interleaved approach for the charge and phonon readout for our germanium detectors. During a recent engineering run, the detectors were found to lose ionization stability quickly. This paper summarizes studies done in order to determine the underlying cause of the instability, as well as possible running modes that maintain stability without unacceptable loss of livetime. Additionally, results are shown for the new version IZIP mask which attempts to improve the overall stability of the detectors.

The creation of a new Community Earth System Model (CESM) working group, combining science-driven research with user-driven requirements, will further broaden the CESM user base and will considerably enrich the project by building formal links to sectoral scientists and decision makers. The first step in this process is a small (~25 person) workshop to identify the goals and objectives of the new working group, to discuss how it will interact with existing CESM working groups, and to identify a few, initial pilot projects to explore how to use climate information to manage climate risk more effectively. This proposal is to support the travel costs of non-NCAR participants in this planning workshop.

A new simulation capability for modeling of individual fission events and chains and the transport of fission products in materials is presented. FREYA ( Fission Yield Event Yield Algorithm ) is a Monte Carlo code for generating fission events providing correlated kinematic information for prompt neutrons, gammas, and fragments. As a standalone code, FREYA calculates quantities such as multiplicity-energy, angular, and gamma-neutron energy sharing correlations. To study materials with multiplication, shielding effects, and detectors, we have integrated FREYA into the general purpose Monte Carlo code MCNP. This new tool will allow more accurate modeling of detector responses including correlations and the development of SNM detectors with increased sensitivity.

In this paper, we propose a scheme to generate tunable coherent X-ray radiation for future light source applications. This scheme uses an energy chirped electron beam, a laser modulator, a laser chirper and two bunch compressors to generate a prebunched kilo-Ampere current electron beam from a few tens Ampere electron beam out of a linac. The initial modulation energy wavelength can be compressed by a factor of 1 + h{sub b}R{sub 56}{sup a} in phase space, where h{sub b} is the energy bunch length chirp introduced by the laser chirper, R{sub 56}{sup a} is the momentum compaction factor of the first bunch compressor. As an illustration, we present an example to generate more than 400 MW, 170 attoseconds pulse, 1 nm coherent X-ray radiation using a 60 A electron beam out of the linac and 200 nm laser seed. Both the final wavelength and the radiation pulse length in the proposed scheme are tunable by adjusting the compression factor and the laser parameters.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the government’s reliance on DUNS numbers has increased significantly. There has been a dramatic increase in the number and types of entities that are required to have DUNS numbers to do business with the government. GSA also has expanded the level of business information services that it acquires from Dun & Bradstreet. These services include data verification and monitoring as well as corporate linkage information to support enhanced reporting capabilities. As GSA has increased its use of the DUNS number and business information services, its costs have increased from about $1 million in 2002 to approximately $19 million per year under the current contract. The current contract for DUNS numbers is a sole-source contract awarded to Dun & Bradstreet in 2010 for a 3-year base period with options for 5 additional years—the contract now totals up to $154 million."

This report evaluates the purpose, membership, financing, and focus of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) activities. It also discusses the role of Congress in shaping U.S. policy at the IMF and concludes by addressing key issues, both legislative and oversight-related, that Congress may wish to consider, including: the role of the IMF as a lender of last resort; the adequacy of IMF resources; and the effectiveness of IMF surveillance.

Data obtained from testing shipping package materials have been leveraged to support extending the service life of select shipping packages while in nuclear materials transportation. Increasingly, nuclear material inventories are being transferred to an interim storage location where they will reside for extended periods of time. Use of a shipping package to store nuclear materials in an interim storage location has become more attractive for a variety of reasons. Shipping packages are robust and have a qualified pedigree for their performance in normal operation and accident conditions within the approved shipment period and storing nuclear material within a shipping package results in reduced operations for the storage facility. However, the shipping package materials of construction must maintain a level of integrity as specified by the safety basis of the storage facility through the duration of the storage period, which is typically well beyond the one year transportation window. Test programs have been established to obtain aging data on materials of construction that are the most sensitive/susceptible to aging in certain shipping package designs. The collective data are being used to support extending the service life of shipping packages in both transportation and storage.

We report a measurement of the inclusive semileptonic branching fraction of the B{sub s} meson using data collected with the BABAR detector in the center-of-mass energy region above the {gamma}(4S) resonance. We use the inclusive yield of {phi} mesons and the {phi} yield in association with a high-momentum lepton to perform a simultaneous measurement of the semileptonic branching fraction and the production rate of B{sub s} mesons relative to all B mesons as a function of center-of-mass energy. The inclusive semileptonic branching fraction of the B{sub s} meson is determined to be {Beta}(B{sub s} {yields} {ell}{nu}X) = 9.5{sub -2.0}{sup +2.5}(stat){sub -1.9}{sup +1.1}(syst)%, where {ell} indicates the average of e and {mu}.

This report primarily concerns the use of two massively parallel finite element codes originally written and maintained at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. ALE3D is an explicit hydrodynamics code commonly employed to simulate wave propagation from high energy scenarios and the resulting interaction with nearby structures. This coupled response ensures that a structure is accurately applied with a blast loading varying both in space and time. Figure 1 illustrates the radial outward propagation of a pressure wave due to a center detonated spherical explosive originating from the lower left. The radial symmetry seen in this scenario is lost when instead a cylindrocal charge is detonated. Figure 2 indicates that a stronger, faster traveling pressure wave occurs in the direction of the normal axis to the cylinder. The ALE3D name is derived because of the use of arbitrary-Lagrange-Eulerian elements in which the mesh is allowed to advect; a process through which the mesh is modified to alleviate tanlging and general mesh distortion often cuased by high energy scenarios. The counterpart to an advecting element is a Lagrange element, whose mesh moves with the material. Ideally all structural components are kept Lagrange as long as possible to preserve accuracy of material variables and …

In 1968, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to address the increasing costs of taxpayer-funded disaster relief for flood victims and the increasing amount of damage caused by floods. This report provides an analysis of the NFIP and its financial status; summarizes the major challenges facing the program, including issues affecting its long-term financial solvency; presents some alternative approaches for managing and financing the flood losses; and describes pending legislation on this issue.

This report presents background information and potential oversight issues for Congress on the Navy's Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) and Zumwalt (DDG-1000) class destroyer programs. Decisions that Congress makes concerning these programs could substantially affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.

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 Navy's proposed FY2013 budget requests $564.9 million for continued research and development work on the Ohio replacement program (ORP), also known as the SSBN(X) program.

This report provides background information and oversight issues for Congress on the Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) program. The two Virginia-class boats requested for procurement in FY2013 are the final two in a group of eight covered by a multiyear procurement (MYP) arrangement for the period FY2009-FY2013. Issues for Congress include whether or not to approve the MYP arrangement request, whether to restore procurement of a second Virginia-class boat in FY2014, and the Virginia-class procurement rate in general.

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This report documents radionuclide air emissions that result in the highest effective dose equivalent (EDE) to a member of the public, referred to as the maximally exposed individual (MEI). The report has been prepared in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), Subpart H, National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities and Washington Administrative Code (WAC) Chapter 246-247, Radiation Protection Air Emissions. The EDE to the PNNL Site MEI due to routine emissions in 2011 from PNNL Site sources was 1.7E 05 mrem (1.7E-7 mSv) EDE. No nonroutine emissions occurred in 2011. The total radiological dose for 2011 to the MEI from all PNNL Site radionuclide emissions was more than 10,000 times smaller than the federal and state standard of 10 mrem/yr, to which the PNNL Site is in compliance.