This report discusses the current Congressional issues in relation to Venezuela, including background on the political situation and recent developments, the economic conditions, relevant U.S. policies, and the legislative initiatives in the 111th and 112th Congresses. The United States traditionally has had close relations with Venezuela, a major supplier of foreign oil, but there has been friction in relations under the government of populist President Hugo Chávez. U.S. officials have expressed concerns about human rights, Venezuela's military arms purchases, its relations with Cuba and Iran, and its efforts to export its brand of populism to other Latin American countries.

Report that gives a summary of the usage of the War Powers Resolution (WPR) and various issues related to proposals to modify or repeal the resolution. The report summarizes most recent developments and background, and gives an overview of United Nations actions, and WPR activities in former Yugoslavia/Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq (post-1991), Haiti, and Somalia.

Report discussing the federal government's role in the country's information technology (IT) research and development (R&D) activities.

Report that describes the relationship between the United States and the Sultanate of Oman, especially with respect to Oman's support of U.S. efforts toward peace in the Middle East, the U.S. free trade agreement with Oman, and Oman's relatively close relations with Iran, the last of which seems incongruous with the other positive aspects of Oman's relationship with the U.S.

Report that describes 18 U.S.C. 2250, which outlaws any individual convicted of a sex offense from not registering themselves in a jurisdiction which they live, work, or go to school. It describes elements of the law, and consequences for not following it.

Report that describes 18 U.S.C. 2250, which outlaws any individual convicted of a sex offense from not registering themselves in a jurisdiction which they live, work, or go to school. It describes elements of the law, and consequences for not following it.

Report that provides information about federal and private sector efforts to promote and support global Internet freedom, a description of Internet freedom legislation from the 112th Congress, and suggestions for further reading on this topic. Two appendixes describe censorship and circumvention technologies.

Report submitted by the Texas Public Finance Authority containing background information on the department, and summaries of requests for appropriations and expenditures for the fiscal years 2014 and 2015 with supporting documentation.

Report submitted by the Texas Department of Transportation containing background information on the department, and summaries of requests for appropriations and expenditures for the fiscal years 2014 and 2015 with supporting documentation.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Sixty-five solar-related initiatives with a variety of key characteristics were supported by six federal agencies. Over half of these 65 initiatives supported solar projects exclusively; the remaining initiatives supported solar and other renewable energy technologies. The 65 initiatives exhibited a variety of key characteristics, including multiple technology advancement activities ranging from basic research to commercialization by providing funding to various types of recipients including universities, industry, and federal laboratories and researchers, primarily through grants and contracts. Agency officials reported that they obligated about $2.6 billion for the solar projects in these initiatives in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, an amount higher than in previous years, in part, because of additional funding from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified 39 battery and energy storage initiatives with a variety of key characteristics that were implemented across six agencies: the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Defense (DOD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These initiatives obligated over $1.3 billion from fiscal years 2009 through 2012. Initiatives supported a variety of technologies, uses, advancement activities, and goals. Several types of recipients were eligible for funding, such as private industry, universities, and federal labs, through contracts, grants, and other mechanisms."

Report submitted by the Texas Attorney General's Office to the Texas Governor's Office of Budget, Planning and Policy, and the Legislative Budget Board requesting appropriations to fund university programming and activities.

Request submitted by the Texas Board of Criminal Justice to the Texas 83rd regular legislature for appropriations to fund programming and activities. It includes an overview of the institution's goals, summaries of appropriations requests for fiscal years 2014 and 2015, and supporting documentation.

Summary sheet describing research performed by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute regarding the development of a mixture-based specification for flexible base.

A metallic pipe with wall corrugations is of special interest in light of recent proposals to use such a pipe for the generation of terahertz radiation and for energy dechirping of electron bunches in free electron lasers. In this paper we calculate the surface impedance of a corrugated metal wall and show that it can be reduced to that of a thin layer with dielectric constant {epsilon} and magnetic permeability {mu}. We develop a technique for the calculation of these constants, given the geometrical parameters of the corrugations. We then calculate, for the specific case of a round metallic pipe with small corrugations, the frequency and strength of the resonant mode excited by a relativistic beam. Our analytical results are compared with numerical simulations, and are shown to agree well.

In March 2011, the USNS Bridge was deployed off northeastern Honshu, Japan with the carrier USS Ronald Reagan to assist with relief efforts after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. During that time, the Bridge was exposed to air-borne radioactive materials leaking from the damaged Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The proximity of the Bridge to the air-borne impacted area resulted in the contamination of the ship’s air-handling systems and the associated components, as well as potential contamination of other ship surfaces due to either direct intake/deposition or inadvertent spread from crew/operational activities. Preliminary surveys in the weeks after the event confirmed low-level contamination within the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) ductwork and systems, and engine and other auxiliary air intake systems. Some partial decontamination was performed at that time. In response to the airborne contamination event, Military Sealift Fleet Support Command (MSFSC) contracted Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), under provisions of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) contract, to assess the radiological condition of the Bridge. Phase I identified contamination within the CPS filters, ventilation systems, miscellaneous equipment, and other suspect locations that could not accessed at that time (ORAU 2011b). Because the Bridge was …

A series of experiments to monitor the aging performance of Viton® GLT O-rings used in the Model 9975 package has been ongoing since 2004 at the Savannah River National Laboratory. Seventy tests using mock-ups of 9975 Primary Containment Vessels (PCVs) were assembled and heated to temperatures ranging from 200 to 450 ºF. They were leak-tested initially and have been tested periodically to determine if they meet the criterion of leak-tightness defined in ANSI standard N14.5-97. Fourteen additional tests were initiated in 2008 with GLT-S O-rings heated to temperatures ranging from 200 to 400 ºF. High temperature aging continues for 23 GLT O-ring fixtures at 200 – 270 ºF. Room temperature leak test failures have been experienced in all of the GLT O-ring fixtures aging at 350 ºF and higher temperatures, and in 8 fixtures aging at 300 ºF. The remaining GLT O-ring fixtures aging at 300 ºF have been retired from testing following more than 5 years at temperature without failure. No failures have yet been observed in GLT O-ring fixtures aging at 200 ºF for 54-72 months, which is still bounding to O-ring temperatures during storage in K-Area Complex (KAC). Based on expectations that the fixtures aging at 200 …

None

Non-Newtonian rheology is typical for the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) slurries processed in the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Hydrogen and other flammable gases are generated in the aqueous phase by radiolytic and chemical reactions. HLW slurries have a capacity for retaining gas characterized by the shear strength holding the bubbles still. The sizes and degassing characteristics of flammable gas bubbles in the HLW slurries expected to be processed by the WTP are important considerations for designing equipment and operating procedures. Slurries become increasingly susceptible to degassing as the bubble concentration increases. This susceptibility and the process of ebullitive bubble enlargement are described here. When disturbed, the fluid undergoes localized flow around neighboring bubbles which are dragged together and coalesce, producing an enlarged bubble. For the conditions considered in this work, bubble size increase is enough to displace the weight required to overcome the fluid shear strength and yield the surroundings. The buoyant bubble ascends and accumulates others within a zone of influence, enlarging by a few orders of magnitude. This process describes how the first bubbles appear on the surface of a 7 Pa shear strength fluid a few seconds after being jarred.

A final report is made of a three-year effort to develop a new forecasting paradigm for computer network performance. This effort was made in co-ordination with Fermi Lab's construction of e-Weather Center.

None

None

The STI product is the Final Technical Report from ReliOn, Inc. for contract award DE-EE0000487: Recovery Act PEM Fuel Cell Systems Providing Emergency Reserve and Backup Power. The program covered the turnkey deployment of 431 ReliOn fuel cell systems at 189 individual sites for AT&T and PG&E with ReliOn functioning as the primary equipment supplier and the project manager. The Final Technical Report provides an executive level summary, a comparison of the actual accomplishments vs. the goals and objectives of the project, as well as a summary of the project activity from the contract award date of August 1, 2009 through the contract expiration date of December 31, 2011. Two photos are included in the body of the report which show hydrogen storage and bulk hydrogen refueling technologies developed as a result of this program.

None