Project Summary Transportation energy usage is predicted to increase substantially by 2020. Hybrid vehicles and fuel cell powered vehicles are destined to become more prominent as fuel prices rise with the demand. Hybrid and fuel cell vehicle platforms are both dependent on high performance electric motors. Electric motors for transportation duty will require sizeable low-speed torque to accelerate the vehicle. As motor speed increases, the torque requirement decreases which results in a nearly constant power motor output. Interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSM) are well suited for this duty. , , These rotor geometries are configured in straight lines and semi circular arc shapes. These designs are of limited configurations because of the lack of availability of permanent magnets of any other shapes at present. We propose to fabricate rotors via a novel processing approach where we start with magnet powders and compact them into a net shape rotor in a single step. Using this approach, widely different rotor designs can be implemented for efficiency. The current limitation on magnet shape and thickness will be eliminated. This is accomplished by co-filling magnet and soft iron powders at specified locations in intricate shapes using specially designed dies and automatic powder filling …

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded the Electric Power Research Institute and its collaborative partners, University of Alaska ? Anchorage, University of Alaska ? Fairbanks, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, to provide an assessment of the riverine hydrokinetic resource in the continental United States. The assessment benefited from input obtained during two workshops attended by individuals with relevant expertise and from a National Research Council panel commissioned by DOE to provide guidance to this and other concurrent, DOE-funded assessments of water based renewable energy. These sources of expertise provided valuable advice regarding data sources and assessment methodology. The assessment of the hydrokinetic resource in the 48 contiguous states is derived from spatially-explicit data contained in NHDPlus ?a GIS-based database containing river segment-specific information on discharge characteristics and channel slope. 71,398 river segments with mean annual flow greater than 1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) mean discharge were included in the assessment. Segments with discharge less than 1,000 cfs were dropped from the assessment, as were river segments with hydroelectric dams. The results for the theoretical and technical resource in the 48 contiguous states were found to be relatively insensitive to the cutoff chosen. Raising the cutoff to 1,500 …

The report is about Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006. The report contains Program Evaluation, Relationship with Workforce investment act and alternative funding mechanisms.

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This report provides background information and identifies issues for Congress regarding Department of Defense alternative fuel initiatives, a subject of debate at congressional hearings on the Department of Defense's proposed FY 2013 budget.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Justice's (DOJ) three grant-making components--the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)--have partially met five of six leading practices, and fully met another, to ensure that the staffing models the contractor prepared for each of them to assess their workloads and workforce capacities are sound and reliable. These six leading practices are broad areas that represent a summary of the activities that should take place during the three stages of model design, development, and deployment. For example, the components partially met the leading practice for ensuring the credibility of data used in the models. This practice includes both verifying with staff that the models accurately depict the component's operations--an activity in which they fully engaged--and testing the models for logic and accuracy--an activity in which they partially engaged. Specifically, the components did not comprehensively check all of the models' formulas, and GAO found errors with all three components' models' retirement calculations. When left uncorrected, such errors have implications for workforce-related decisions and, ultimately, can affect the efficiency and effectiveness …

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We have performed several thousand high-energy laser shots in the LAPD to investigate the dynamics of an exploding laser-produced plasma in a large ambient magneto-plasma. Debris-ions expanding at super-Alfvenic velocity (up to MA=1.5) expel the ambient magnetic field, creating a large (> 20 cm) diamagnetic cavity. We observed field compressions of up to B/B{sub 0} = 1.5 at the edge of the bubble, consistent with the MHD jump conditions, as well as localized electron heating at the edge of the bubble. Two-dimensional hybrid simulations reproduce these measurements well and show that the majority of the ambient ions are energized by the magnetic piston to super-Alfvenic speeds and swept outside the bubble volume. Nonlinear shear-Alfven waves ({delta}B/B{sub 0} > 25%) are radiated from the cavity with a coupling efficiency of 70% from magnetic energy in the bubble to the wave. While the data is consistent with a weak magneto-sonic shock, the experiments were severely limited by the low ambient plasma densities (10{sup 12} cm{sup -3}). 2D hybrid simulations indicate that future experiments with the new LAPD plasma source and densities in excess of 10{sup 13} cm{sup -3} will drive full-blown collisionless shocks with MA>10 over several c/wpi and shocked Larmor radii. …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Exports of Haitian apparel to the United States under EIAP have increased substantially since we last reported in 2011. Although only three account holders are actively earning credits and two have begun to use them, in the 12-month period ending November 19, 2012, the number of credits OTEXA issued increased to about 42 million SMEs from approximately 8 million SMEs during the same period 1 year earlier. Similarly, over this period, the number of credits redeemed, or used by account holders increased to about 25 million SMEs from approximately million SMEs in 2011. In addition, exports of Haitian apparel to the United States under EIAP have grown faster than non-EIAP exports. Last year, we reported that about $350,000 in Haitian apparel had been exported to the United States under EIAP from January through August of 2011--about 0.07 percent of all Haitian apparel exported to the United States during that period. In contrast, from January through August of 2012, nearly $18 million in Haitian apparel was exported under EIAP--about 4 percent of Haitian apparel exported to the United States during this period. Increased use of the program may be …

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Examines the velocity distribution function (VDF) in dark matter halos from milky way to cluster mass scales.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2011, the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Labor (Labor), and Health and Human Services (HHS) separately administered nine fragmented but minimally overlapping reentry grant programs with low risk of duplication. Specifically, GAO found that these grant programs are fragmented since more than one federal agency is involved in administering the programs. Further, GAO found that overlap across the nine programs was minimal because the programs varied in (1) their applicant eligibility criteria, (2) the extent to which their funds solely benefit the reentry population, and (3) their primary services funded. For example, Labor's reentry program limits eligibility to private, nonprofit organizations that will use the funds primarily to assist current or former inmates--residing in or released from any facility--with their employment needs. In contrast, one of DOJ's reentry programs limits eligibility to governmental entities that will use the funds primarily to assist current or former inmates--residing in or released from state, local, or tribal facilities--with their substance abuse treatment needs. Given the variance across eligible applicants, beneficiaries, and primary services, the overlap across the nine programs is minimal and the risk of duplication--when two …

The objectives of the project are the development of new Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging instrumentation, chemistry technology platforms and new molecular imaging probes to examine the transformations from normal cellular and biological processes to those of disease in pre-clinical animal models. These technology platforms and imaging probes provide the means to: 1. Study the biology of disease using pre-clinical mouse models and cells. 2. Develop molecular imaging probes for imaging assays of proteins in pre-clinical models. 3. Develop imaging assays in pre-clinical models to provide to other scientists the means to guide and improve the processes for discovering new drugs. 4. Develop imaging assays in pre-clinical models for others to use in judging the impact of drugs on the biology of disease.

During Phase I, we successfully processed air atomized aluminum powders via Dynamic Magnetic Compaction (DMC) pressing and subsequent sintering to produce parts with properties similar to wrought aluminum. We have also showed for the first time that aluminum powders can be processed without lubes via press and sintering to 100 % density. This will preclude a delube cycle in sintering and promote environmentally friendly P/M processing. Processing aluminum powders via press and sintering with minimum shrinkage will enable net shape fabrication. Aluminum powders processed via a conventional powder metallurgy process produce too large a shrinkage. Because of this, sinter parts have to be machined into specific net shape. This results in increased scrap and cost. Fully sintered aluminum alloy under this Phase I project has shown good particle-to-particle bonding and mechanical properties. We have also shown the feasibility of preparing nano composite powders and processing via pressing and sintering. This was accomplished by dispersing nano silicon carbide (SiC) powders into aluminum matrix comprising micron-sized powders (<100 microns) using a proprietary process. These composite powders of Al with nano SiC were processed using DMC press and sinter process to sinter density of 85-90%. The process optimization along with sintering needs to …

This report discusses the appropriations bill, FY2013 Appropriations, which provides funding for the planning, design, construction, alteration, and improvement of facilities used by active and reserve military components worldwide.

In this project, a predictive multiscale framework will be developed to simulate the strong coupling between solid deformations and fluid diffusion in porous rocks. We intend to improve macroscale modeling by incorporating fundamental physical modeling at the microscale in a computationally efficient way. This is an essential step toward further developments in multiphysics modeling, linking hydraulic, thermal, chemical, and geomechanical processes. This research will focus on areas where severe deformations are observed, such as deformation bands, where classical phenomenology breaks down. Multiscale geometric complexities and key geomechanical and hydraulic attributes of deformation bands (e.g., grain sliding and crushing, and pore collapse, causing interstitial fluid expulsion under saturated conditions), can significantly affect the constitutive response of the skeleton and the intrinsic permeability. Discrete mechanics (DEM) and the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) will be used to probe the microstructure---under the current state---to extract the evolution of macroscopic constitutive parameters and the permeability tensor. These evolving macroscopic constitutive parameters are then directly used in continuum scale predictions using the finite element method (FEM) accounting for the coupled solid deformation and fluid diffusion. A particularly valuable aspect of this research is the thorough quantitative verification and validation program at different scales. The multiscale homogenization …

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This report discusses the sugar program that provides a price guarantee to the processors of sugarcane and sugar beets, and in turn, to the producers of both crops.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

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