This report focuses primarily on the NAAQS implementation process for designating geographical nonattainment areas with respect to the tightening of the PM2.5 standards under the 2006 particulates NAAQS, including comparisons with the final designations under the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. Also included is a brief overview of states' subsequent obligations for developing and submitting implementation plans (SIPs) for attaining or maintaining compliance with the NAAQS.

The Gordon Research Conference on MICROBIAL STRESS RESPONSE was held at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, July 15-20, 2012. The Conference was well-attended with 180 participants. The 2012 Microbial Stress Responses Gordon Research Conference will provide a forum for the open reporting of recent discoveries on the diverse mechanisms employed by microbes to respond to stress. Approaches range from analysis at the molecular level (how are signals perceived and transmitted to change gene expression or function) to cellular and microbial community responses. Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings.

This report highlights the issue of one-fifth of medicare patients in 2005 being readmitted to a hospital within thirty days time. These readmissions put a strain on the budget, the majority of which it is estimated may be avoidable. The report notes that Medicare as a program is working on moving around those difficulties, without reducing the quality of care.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses an advanced metal-hydrides-based thermal battery as part of the "A New Generation of High Density Thermal Battery Based on Advanced Metal Hydrides" project.

The Used Fuel Disposition (UFD) Campaign within the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Technology (FCT) program has been tasked with investigating the disposal of the nation's spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) for a range of potential waste forms and geologic environments. The planning, construction, and operation of a nuclear disposal facility is a long-term process that involves engineered barriers that are tailored to both the geologic environment and the waste forms being emplaced. The UFD Campaign is considering a range of fuel cycles that in turn produce a range of waste forms. The UFD Campaign is also considering a range of geologic media. These ranges could be thought of as adding uncertainty to what the disposal facility design will ultimately be; however, it may be preferable to thinking about the ranges as adding flexibility to design of a disposal facility. For example, as the overall DOE-NE program and industrial actions result in the fuel cycles that will produce waste to be disposed, and the characteristics of those wastes become clear, the disposal program retains flexibility in both the choice of geologic environment and the specific repository design. Of course, other factors …

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses advanced thermal energy storage as part of the "Novel Tuning of Critical Fluctuations for Advanced Thermal Energy Storage" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses an advanced thermo-adsorptive battery as part of the "New Generation of the Advanced Thermo-Adsorptive Battery Climate Control System" project.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Budget Control Act of 2011, amending the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, establishes limits on discretionary spending for fiscal years 2012 through 2021. In addition, the Act specifies additional limits on discretionary spending and automatic reductions in direct spending because legislation was not enacted that would reduce projected deficits by at least $1.2 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2021. Among other things, the Budget Control Act requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to calculate, and the President to order, a sequestration of discretionary and direct spending on January 2, 2013, to achieve reductions for that fiscal year."

Report that discusses the procurement of Air Force F-22 Raptor fighters, which began in Fiscal Year 1999, and a total of 195 (177 production aircraft, 16 test aircraft, and 2 development aircraft) were procured through FY2009.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the 14 projects that are a part of the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including project goals, innovation needs, and potential impacts.

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This report discusses how the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory gathers funding for future endeavors.

As a national laboratory Argonne concentrates on scientific and technological challenges that can only be addressed through a sustained, interdisciplinary focus at a national scale. Argonne's eight major initiatives, as enumerated in its strategic plan, are Hard X-ray Sciences, Leadership Computing, Materials and Molecular Design and Discovery, Energy Storage, Alternative Energy and Efficiency, Nuclear Energy, Biological and Environmental Systems, and National Security. The purposes of Argonne's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program are to encourage the development of novel technical concepts, enhance the Laboratory's research and development (R and D) capabilities, and pursue its strategic goals. projects are selected from proposals for creative and innovative R and D studies that require advance exploration before they are considered to be sufficiently developed to obtain support through normal programmatic channels. Among the aims of the projects supported by the LDRD Program are the following: establishment of engineering proof of principle, assessment of design feasibility for prospective facilities, development of instrumentation or computational methods or systems, and discoveries in fundamental science and exploratory development.

As a national laboratory Argonne concentrates on scientific and technological challenges that can only be addressed through a sustained, interdisciplinary focus at a national scale. Argonne's eight major initiatives, as enumerated in its strategic plan, are Hard X-ray Sciences, Leadership Computing, Materials and Molecular Design and Discovery, Energy Storage, Alternative Energy and Efficiency, Nuclear Energy, Biological and Environmental Systems, and National Security. The purposes of Argonne's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program are to encourage the development of novel technical concepts, enhance the Laboratory's research and development (R and D) capabilities, and pursue its strategic goals. projects are selected from proposals for creative and innovative R and D studies that require advance exploration before they are considered to be sufficiently developed to obtain support through normal programmatic channels. Among the aims of the projects supported by the LDRD Program are the following: establishment of engineering proof of principle, assessment of design feasibility for prospective facilities, development of instrumentation or computational methods or systems, and discoveries in fundamental science and exploratory development.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

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Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses data reactively and proactively to prevent accidents and manage safety risks. For instance, since 1998, FAA has partnered with the airline industry to identify precursors and contributing factors, and ensure that efforts to improve safety focus on the most prevalent categories of accidents and formulate an intervention strategy designed to reduce recurrences. Although FAA plans to continue using data reactively to understand the causes of accidents and incidents, as part of its adoption of Safety Management Systems (SMS), it is shifting to a proactive approach in which it analyzes data to identify and mitigate risks before they result in accidents."

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Innovative Materials and Processes for Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies (IMPACCT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses the development of carbonic anhydrases enzymes as part of the "Low-Cost Biological Catalyst to Enable Efficient Carbon Dioxide Capture" project.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. bus rapid transit (BRT) projects we reviewed include features that distinguished BRT from standard bus service and improved riders’ experience. However, few of the projects (5 of 20) used dedicated or semi-dedicated lanes— a feature commonly associated with BRT and included in international systems to reduce travel time and attract riders. Project sponsors and planners explained that decisions on which features to incorporate into BRT projects were influenced by costs, community needs, and the ability to phase in additional features. For example, one project sponsor explained that well-lighted shelters with security cameras and real-time information displays were included to increase passengers’ sense of safety in the evening. Project sponsors told us they plan to incorporate additional features such as off-board fare collection over time."

Knowledge of eddy currents in the vacuum vessel walls and nearby conducting support structures can significantly contribute to the accuracy of Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equilibrium reconstruction in toroidal plasmas. Moreover, the magnetic fields produced by the eddy currents could generate error fields that may give rise to islands at rational surfaces or cause field lines to become chaotic. In the Compact Toroidal Hybrid (CTH) device (R0 = 0.75 m, a = 0.29 m, B ≤ 0.7 T), the primary driver of the eddy currents during the plasma discharge is the changing flux of the ohmic heating transformer. Electromagnetic simulations are used to calculate eddy current paths and profile in the vacuum vessel and in the coil frame pieces with known time dependent currents in the ohmic heating coils. MAXWELL and SPARK codes were used for the Electromagnetic modeling and simulation. MAXWELL code was used for detailed 3D finite-element analysis of the eddy currents in the structures. SPARK code was used to calculate the eddy currents in the structures as modeled with shell/surface elements, with each element representing a current loop. In both cases current filaments representing the eddy currents were prepared for input into VMEC code for MHD equilibrium reconstruction of …

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses a new type of magnet for power generators and motors as part of the "Discovery & Design of Novel Permanent Magnets using Non-strategic Elements having Secure Supply Chains" project.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the 15 projects that are a part of the Innovative Materials and Processes for Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies (IMPACCT) program including project goals, innovation needs, and potential impacts.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses magnets made of cerium as part of the "Novel High Energy Permanent Magnet Without Critical Elements" project.

Because of their high stopping power and fast and bright scintillation, cerium doped LSO and LYSO crystals have attracted a broad interest in the physics community pursuing precision electromagnetic calorimeter for future high energy physics experiments. Their excellent radiation hardness against gamma-rays, neutrons and charged hadrons also makes them a preferred material for calorimeters to be operated in a severe radiation environment, such as the HL-LHC. An effort was made at SIPAT to grow 25 X{sub 0} (28 cm) long LYSO crystals for high energy physics applications. In this paper, the optical and scintillation properties and its radiation hardness against gamma-ray irradiations up to 1 Mrad are presented for the first 2.5 X 2.5 X 28 cm LYSO sample. An absorption band was found at the seed end of this sample and three other 20 cm long samples, which was traced back to a bad seed crystal used in the corresponding crystal growth process. Significant progresses in optical and scintillation properties were achieved for large size LYSO crystals after eliminating this absorption band.