This report covers two proposed permit drafts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding Vessel General Permits (VGPs): one for large vessels to replace the 2008 VGP (draft VGP), and one for smaller vessels that currently are covered by a congressionally-enacted temporary moratorium (draft sVGP).

In November 2011 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed two Clean Water Act permits to regulate certain types of discharges from vessels into U.S. waters. This report is an overview of the proposed permits and two key issues: inclusion of numeric performance standards to limit ballast water discharges from vessels, and controversies about the role of states in regulating vessel discharges.

Monsanto Corporation, the developer of herbicide-tolerant varieties of genetically engineered alfalfa and sugar beet petitioned USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for the regulation of the items. Deregulation of genetically engineered plants is the final step in the commercialization process. Monsanto filed a petition for deregulation of its genetically engineered alfalfa in 2004, and for genetically engineered sugar beets in 2005.

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will use colemanite bearing concrete neutron absorber panels credited with attenuating neutron flux in the criticality design analyses and shielding operators from radiation. The Savannah River National Laboratory is tasked with measuring the total density, partial hydrogen density, and partial boron density of the colemanite concrete. Sample PBC-44.2 was received on 9/20/2012 and analyzed. The average total density measured by the ASTM method C 642 was 2.03 g/cm{sup 3}, within the lower bound of 1.88 g/cm{sup 3}. The average partial hydrogen density was 6.64E-02 g/cm{sup 3} as measured using method ASTM E 1311 and met the lower bound of 6.04E-02 g/cm{sup 3}. The average measured partial boron density was 1.97E-01 g/cm{sup 3} which met the lower bound of 1.65E-01 g/cm{sup 3} measured by the ASTM C 1301 method.

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will use Colemanite bearing concrete neutron absorber panels credited with attenuating neutron flux in the criticality design analyses and shielding operators from radiation. The Savannah River National Laboratory is tasked with measuring the total density, partial hydrogen density, and partial boron density of the colemanite concrete. Samples 8.1.2, 8.2.2, 8.3.2, and 8.4.2 were received on 8/1/2012 and analyzed after curing for 28 days. The average total density measured by the ASTM method C 642 was 2.09 g/cm{sup 3}, within the lower bound of 1.88 g/cm{sup 3}. The average partial hydrogen density was 7.48E-02 g/cm{sup 3} as measured using method ASTM E 1311 and met the lower bound of 6.04E-02 g/cm{sup 3}. The average measured partial boron density was 1.71E-01 g/cm{sup 3} which met the lower bound of 1.65E-01 g/cm{sup 3} measured by the ASTM C 1301 method.

This paper places a lowest upper bound on the field energy in electrostatic perturbations in single-species charged particle beams with initial temperature anisotropy (TllT⊥ < 1). The result applies to all electrostatic perturbations driven by the natural anisotropies that develop in accelerated particle beams, including Harris-type electrostatic instabilities, known to limit the luminosity and minimum spot size attainable in experiments. The thermodynamic bound on the field perturbation energy of the instabilities is obtained from the nonlinear Vlasov-Poisson equations for an arbitrary initial distribution function, including the effects of intense self-fields, finite geometry and nonlinear processes. This paper also includes analytical estimates of the nonlinear bounds for space-charge-dominated and emittance-dominated anisotropic bi-Maxwellian distributions.

By restating geometrical optics within the eld-theoretical approach, the classical concept of a photon in arbitrary dispersive medium is introduced, and photon properties are calculated unambiguously. In particular, the canonical and kinetic momenta carried by a photon, as well as the two corresponding energy-momentum tensors of a wave, are derived straightforwardly from rst principles of Lagrangian mechanics. The Abraham-Minkowski controversy pertaining to the de nitions of these quantities is thereby resolved for linear waves of arbitrary nature, and corrections to the traditional formulas for the photon kinetic quantities are found. An application of axiomatic geometrical optics to electromagnetic waves is also presented as an example.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about data options for the English Language Acquisition State Grants Formula (Title III-A) in regards to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Topics include, additional LEP data considerations, census data, a description of allocations etc..

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The research focussed on fundamental problems in the conversion of light to stored chemical energy. Specifically, work was completed on the design, synthesis and study of multi-component super- and supramolecular systems for photoinduced charge separation, one of the key steps in artificial photosynthesis, and on the use of these and related systems for the photochemical generation of H2 from water. At the center of these systems are chromophores comprised of square planar coordinated Pt(II) ions with arylacetylide and either diimine or terpyridyl ligands. Previous work had shown that the chromophores are photoluminescent in fluid solution with long-lived metal-to-ligand charge transfer (3MLCT) excited states that are necessarily directional. An advance which set the stage for a number of proposed studies was the light-driven production of hydrogen from water using a Pt(terpyridyl)(arylacetylide)+ chromophore and a sacrificial electron donor. The reaction is catalytic and appears to rival previously reported ruthenium bipyridyl systems in terms of H2 production. Variation of system components and mechanistic studies were conducted to understand better the individual steps in the overall process and how to improve its efficiency. Success with light driven H2 generation was employed as a key probe as new systems were constructed consisting of triads for …

The first part of this report briefly reviews the judicial evolution of race-based affirmative action, particularly in relation to public education. The report then reviews major rulings involving challenges to the use of race-conscious admissions and hiring practices by public educational institutions, and concludes with a discussion of the implications for the future development of affirmative action law.

This is a report about Army Drwdown and Restructuring, specifically background and issues for congress.

The 112th Congress may consider reforms of the U.S. export control system. The balance between national security and export competitiveness has made the subject of export controls controversial for decades. The U.S. export control system is diffused among several different licensing and enforcement agencies. This report not only discussed the background of such issues, but also the differences between the Obama Administration and Congress' approaches to export legislation reform.

This report discusses some of the proposed legislation and other issues related to the U.S. export control system. In considering the future of the U.S. export control system, Congress may weigh the merits of a unified export control system—the end result of the President's proposal—or the continuation of the present bifurcated system by reauthorizing the present Export Administration Act (EAA) or writing new legislation. In doing so, Congress may debate the record of the present dual-use system maintained by emergency authority, the aims and effectiveness of the present non-proliferation control regimes, the maintenance of the defense industrial base, and the delicate balance between the maintenance of economic competitiveness and the preservation of national security.

The Magnetic Centrifugal Mass Filter concept represents a variation on the plasma centrifuge, with applications that are particularly promising for high-throughput separation of ions with large mass differences. A number of considerations, however, constrain the parameter space in which this device operates best. The rotation speed, magnetic field intensity and ion temperature are constrained by the ion confinement requirements. Collisions must also be large enough to eject ions, but small enough not to eject them too quickly. The existence of favorable regimes meeting these constraints is demonstrated by a single-particle orbit code. As an example of interest, it is shown that separation factors of about 2:3 are achievable in a single pass when separating Aluminum from Strontium ions

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Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Grid-Scale Rampable Intermittent Dispatchable Storage (GRIDS) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a renewable energy storage system as part of the "Fuel-Free, Ubiquitous Compressed-Air Energy Storage and Power Conditioning" project.

California's electricity markets are moving toward dynamic pricing models, such as real-time pricing, within the next few years, which could have a significant impact on an industrial facility's cost of energy use during the times of peak use. Adequate controls and automated systems that provide industrial facility managers real-time energy use and cost information are necessary for successful implementation of a comprehensive electricity strategy; however, little is known about the current control capacity of California industries. To address this gap, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in close collaboration with California industrial trade associations, conducted a survey to determine the current state of controls technologies in California industries. This,study identifies sectors that have the technical capability to implement Demand Response (DR) and Automated Demand Response (Auto-DR). In an effort to assist policy makers and industry in meeting the challenges of real-time pricing, facility operational and organizational factors were taken into consideration to generate recommendations on which sectors Demand Response efforts should be focused. Analysis of the survey responses showed that while the vast majority of industrial facilities have semi- or fully automated control systems, participation in Demand Response programs is still low due to perceived barriers. The results also showed that the …

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This report assesses the effects of the absence of intelligence authorization legislation subsequent to FY2005 and indicate the substantial but limited effects of the FY2010 Intelligence Authorization Act (P.L. 111-259)

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), in response to a request from Solid Waste Management (SWM), conducted a Special Analysis (SA) to evaluate the performance of nineteen heat exchangers that are to be disposed in the E-Area low level waste facility Slit Trench 9 (ST 9). Although these nineteen heat exchangers were never decontaminated, the majority of the radionuclides in the heat exchanger inventory list were determined to be acceptable for burial because they are less than the 'generic' waste form inventory limits given in the 2008 Performance Assessment (PA) (WSRC, 2008). However, as generic waste, the H-3 and C-14 inventories resulted in unacceptable sum-of-fractions (SOFs). Initial scoping analyses performed by SRNL indicated that if alterations were made to certain external nozzles to mitigate various potential leak paths, acceptable SOFs could be achieved through the use of a 'Special' waste form. This SA provides the technical basis for this new 'Special' waste form and provides the inventory limits for H-3 and C-14 for these nineteen heat exchangers such that the nineteen heat exchangers can be disposed in ST 9. This 'Special' waste form is limited to these nineteen heat exchangers in ST 9 and applies for H-3 and C-14, which …

We describe a Chandra X-ray target-of-opportunity project designed to isolate the site of TeV flaring in the radio galaxy M87. To date, we have triggered the Chandra observations only once (2010 April) and by the time of the first of our nine observations, the TeV flare had ended. However, we found that the X-ray intensity of the unresolved nucleus was at an elevated level for our first observation. Of the more than 60 Chandra observations we have made of the M87 jet covering nine years, the nucleus was measured at a comparably high level only three times. Two of these occasions can be associated with TeV flaring, and at the time of the third event, there were no TeV monitoring activities. From the rapidity of the intensity drop of the nucleus, we infer that the size of the emitting region is of order a few light days x the unknown beaming factor; comparable to the same sort of estimate for the TeV emitting region. We also find evidence of spectral evolution in the X-ray band which seems consistent with radiative losses affecting the non-thermal population of the emitting electrons within the unresolved nucleus.

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