This report discusses how Congress has focused on ways to help end or mitigate the effects of conflicts and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including several hearingw which have become law. The main issue is related to "conflict minerals," the so-called “3TGs”: ores of tantalum and niobium, tin, tungsten, and gold, and their derivatives.

This report reviews the types of air emissions from livestock and poultry operations and their human health and environmental impacts. It then discusses provisions of several federal laws concerned with environmental impacts, beginning with the Clean Water Act, because protecting water resources has been the primary regulatory focus regarding livestock and animal operations.

From an environmental quality standpoint, much of the interest in animal agriculture has focused on impacts on water resources, because animal waste, if not properly managed, can harm water quality through surface runoff, direct discharges, spills, and leaching into soil and groundwater. A more recent issue is the contribution of emissions from animal feeding operations (AFO), enterprises where animals are raised in confinement, to air pollution. AFOs can affect air quality through emissions of gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and odor. These pollutants and compounds have a number of environmental and human health effects. This report reviews key issues associated with the Air Compliance Agreement.

The report is categorized into four categories: (I) CERLA and EPCRA, (II) Enforcement Against AFO's, (III) Congressional Interest and (IV) Policy Issue.

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This report looks at issues for Congress related to expansion of legitimate and criminal operations across physical borders and through cyberspace as a result of globalization and technological innovation. In particular, it considers how Congress can leverage its legislative and oversight roles to bolster U.S. law enforcement's abilities to confront modern-day crime and whether federal law enforcement is utilizing existing mechanisms to effectively coordinate investigations and share information.

This report gives an overview of cybercrime, which can include crimes such as identity theft, payment card fraud, and intellectual property theft. The report discusses where the criminal acts exist (in both the real and digital worlds), motivations for cybercrimes, and who is committing them, as well as government definitions, strategies, and methods of tracking cybercrime.

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This report examines the original intent and purpose of the Berry Amendment (provisions under the 1941 Fifth Supplemental Department of Defense Appropriations Act) and legislative proposals to amend the application of domestic source restrictions, as well as potential options for Congress.

Modern calculations are becoming an essential, complementary tool to inelastic x-ray scattering studies, where x-rays are scattered inelastically to resolve meV phonons. Calculations of the inelastic structure factor for any value of Q assist in both planning the experiment and analyzing the results. Moreover, differences between the measured data and theoretical calculations help identify important new physics driving the properties of novel correlated systems. We have used such calculations to better and more e#14;ciently measure the phonon dispersion and elastic constants of several iron pnictide superconductors. This dissertation describes calculations and measurements at room temperature in the tetragonal phase of CaFe{sub 2}As{sub 2} and LaFeAsO. In both cases, spin-polarized calculations imposing the antiferromagnetic order present in the low-temperature orthorhombic phase dramatically improves the agreement between theory and experiment. This is discussed in terms of the strong antiferromagnetic correlations that are known to persist in the tetragonal phase. In addition, we discuss a relatively new approach called self-consistent ab initio lattice dynamics (SCAILD), which goes beyond the harmonic approximation to include phonon-phonon interactions and produce a temperature-dependent phonon dispersion. We used this technique to study the HCP to BCC transition in beryllium.

The objective of this research program was to prototype methods for the chemical synthesis of predicted protein molecules in annotated microbial genomes. High throughput chemical methods were to be used to make large numbers of predicted proteins and protein domains, based on microbial genome sequences. Microscale chemical synthesis methods for the parallel preparation of peptide-thioester building blocks were developed; these peptide segments are used for the parallel chemical synthesis of proteins and protein domains. Ultimately, it is envisaged that these synthetic molecules would be ‘printed’ in spatially addressable arrays. The unique ability of total synthesis to precision label protein molecules with dyes and with chemical or biochemical ‘tags’ can be used to facilitate novel assay technologies adapted from state-of-the art single molecule fluorescence detection techniques. In the future, in conjunction with modern laboratory automation this integrated set of techniques will enable high throughput experimental validation of the functional annotation of microbial genomes.

We present a search for the lepton flavor violating decay modes B{sup {+-}} {yields} h{sup {+-}} {tau}{ell} (h = K, {pi}; {ell} = e, {mu}) using the BABAR data sample, which corresponds to 472 million B{bar B} pairs. The search uses events where one B meson is fully reconstructed in one of several hadronic final states. Using the momenta of the reconstructed B, h, and {ell} candidates, we are able to fully determine the {tau} four-momentum. The resulting {tau} candidate mass is our main discriminant against combinatorial background. We see no evidence for B{sup {+-}} {yields} h{sup {+-}} {tau}{ell} decays and set a 90% confidence level upper limit on each branching fraction at the level of a few times 10{sup -5}.

Microscopic variations in composition or structure can lead to nanoscale inhomogeneity in superconducting properties such as the magnetic penetration depth, but measurements of these properties are usually made on longer length scales. We solve a generalized London equation with a non-uniform penetration depth {lambda}(r), obtaining an approximate solution for the disorder-averaged Meissner screening. We find that the effective penetration depth is different from the average penetration depth and is sensitive to the details of the disorder. These results indicate the need for caution when interpreting measurements of the penetration depth and its temperature dependence in systems which may be inhomogeneous.

This report looks at the cost of funding the Coast Guard's program of record's (POR) call for procuring eight National Security Cutters (NSCs), 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs), and 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) as replacements for 90 aging Coast Guard cutters and patrol craft. It also addresses issues for maintenance, future acquisition, and definitions of the types of cutters.

Experiments were conducted with a Liquid Lithium Divertor (LLD) in NSTX. Among the goals was to use lithium recoating to sustain deuterium (D) retention by a static liquid lithium surface, approximating the ability of flowing liquid lithium to maintain chemical reactivity. Lithium evaporators were used to deposit lithium on the LLD surface. Improvements in plasma edge conditions were similar to those with lithiated graphite plasma-facing components (PFCs), including an increase in confinement over discharges without lithiumcoated PFCs and ELM reduction during H-modes. With the outer strike point on the LLD, the D retention in the LLD was about the same as that for solid lithium coatings on graphite, or about two times that achieved without lithium PFC coatings. There were also indications of contamination of the LLD surface, possibly due erosion and redeposition of carbon from PFCs. Flowing lithium may thus be needed for chemically active PFCs during long-pulse operation.

This report gives an overview of fuel use by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and its pursuit of numerous initiatives for reducing its fuel needs and changing the mix of energy sources that it uses. The report includes an extensive background on DOD fuel use including how the DOD uses and buys fuel, challenges and risks associated with the DOD's fuel use, DOD energy initiatives, and past legislation that addressed DOD energy use; it also presents issues for Congress and legislative action to be addressed during FY2013.

Lithium conditioned plasma facing surfaces have lowered recycling and enhanced plasma performance on many fusion devices. However, the nature of the plasma-lithium surface interaction has been obscured by the difficulty of in-tokamak surface analysis. We report laboratory studies of the chemical composition of lithium surfaces exposed to typical residual gases found in tokamaks. Solid lithium and a molybdenum alloy (TZM) coated with lithium has been examined using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, temperature programmed desorption, and Auger electron spectroscopy both in ultrahigh vacuum conditions and after exposure to trace gases. Lithium surfaces near room temperature were oxidized after exposure to 1-2 Langmuirs of oxygen or water vapor. The oxidation rate by carbon monoxide was four times less. Lithiated PFC surfaces in tokamaks will be oxidized in about 100 s depending on the tokamak vacuum conditions.

This report discusses the current political conditions of Cuba as well as its relationship with the United States. In particular, the report focuses on U.S. policy regarding Cuba including various economic sanctions, human rights issues, and foreign aid appropriations.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Version 1.0 glossary of terms for converting National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data to hate crime data.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "States reported $32 billion in Medicaid supplemental payments during fiscal year 2010, but the exact amount of supplemental payments is unknown because state reporting was incomplete. On expenditure reports used to obtain federal funds filed with the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), states reported the following:"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Six of the 10 states reviewed by GAO took steps aimed at preventing certain Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) transactions determined to be inconsistent with the purpose of TANF, despite no federal requirement to do so at the time. Restrictions are based on selected states’ laws, executive orders, and other regulations, and generally cover certain locations or certain types of purchases such as alcohol. In some cases, states’ restrictions are broader than the new federal requirements. These restrictions vary in their degree and means of implementation, including widespread disabling of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) access at automated teller machines located at certain locations across a state, such as at casinos. The other 4 states had no restrictions because no laws, executive orders, or other regulations prohibited certain transactions based on the location of the transactions or the nature of the goods or services purchased. These states did not implement restrictions due to concerns about cost-effectiveness or technical limitations, according to state officials."

At the 2012 Atomic and Molecular Interactions Gordon Conference, there will be talks in several broadly defined and partially overlapping areas:  Intramolecular and single-collision reaction dynamics;  Photophysics and photochemistry of excited states;  Clusters, aerosols and solvation;  Interactions at interfaces;  Conformations and folding of large molecules;  Interactions under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. The theme of the Gordon Research Seminar on Atomic & Molecular Interactions, in keeping with the tradition of the Atomic and Molecular Interactions Gordon Research Conference, is far-reaching and involves fundamental research in the gas and condensed phases along with application of these ideas to practical chemical fields. The oral presentations, which will contain a combination of both experiment and theory, will focus on four broad categories:  Ultrafast Phenomena;  Excited States, Photoelectrons, and Photoions;  Chemical Reaction Dynamics;  Biomolecules and Clusters.

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