Resource Type

Lebanon: Background and U.S. Relations (open access)

Lebanon: Background and U.S. Relations

This report provides an overview of Lebanese politics, recent events in Lebanon, and current issues in U.S.-Lebanon relations.
Date: January 19, 2011
Creator: Addis, Casey L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Security Assistance to Lebanon (open access)

U.S. Security Assistance to Lebanon

This report discusses key issues facing U.S. policy makers and members of Congress when considering U.S. security assistance in the context of U.S. policy toward Lebanon. These key issues include assessing the effectiveness of U.S. assistance programs, assessing overall U.S. policy toward Lebanon, and managing relations with other external actors.
Date: January 19, 2011
Creator: Addis, Casey L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tank 26F-2F Evaporator Study (open access)

Tank 26F-2F Evaporator Study

Tank 26F supernate sample was sent by Savannah River Remediation to Savannah River National Laboratory for evaporation test to help understand the underlying cause of the recent gravity drain line (GDL) pluggage during operation of the 2F Evaporator system. The supernate sample was characterized prior to the evaporation test. The evaporation test involved boiling the supernate in an open beaker until the density of the concentrate (evaporation product) was between 1.4 to 1.5 g/mL. It was followed by filtering and washing of the precipitated solids with deionized water. The concentrate supernate (or concentrate filtrate), the damp unwashed precipitated solids, and the wash filtrates were characterized. All the precipitated solids dissolved during water washing. A semi-quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis on the unwashed precipitated solids revealed their composition. All the compounds with the exception of silica (silicon oxide) are known to be readily soluble in water. Hence, their dissolution during water washing is not unexpected. Even though silica is a sparingly water-soluble compound, its dissolution is also not surprising. This stems from its small fraction in the solids as a whole and also its relative freshness. Assuming similar supernate characteristics, flushing the GDL with water (preferably warm) should facilitate dissolution and …
Date: December 19, 2012
Creator: Adu-Wusu, K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The 2010 Oil Spill: MMS/BOEMRE and NEPA (open access)

The 2010 Oil Spill: MMS/BOEMRE and NEPA

This report reviews the environmental procedures required following the explosion of an oil well on a tract leased by BP from the federal government.
Date: August 19, 2010
Creator: Alexander, Kristina
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Gray Wolf and the Endangered Species Act (ESA): A Brief Legal History (open access)

The Gray Wolf and the Endangered Species Act (ESA): A Brief Legal History

This report provides a brief history of the laws, regulations, and lawsuits related to the wolf's protected status. Fuller analyses of the concepts discussed in this report can be found in the companion report.
Date: January 19, 2012
Creator: Alexander, Kristina
System: The UNT Digital Library
Design and Implementation of a Metadata-rich File System (open access)

Design and Implementation of a Metadata-rich File System

Despite continual improvements in the performance and reliability of large scale file systems, the management of user-defined file system metadata has changed little in the past decade. The mismatch between the size and complexity of large scale data stores and their ability to organize and query their metadata has led to a de facto standard in which raw data is stored in traditional file systems, while related, application-specific metadata is stored in relational databases. This separation of data and semantic metadata requires considerable effort to maintain consistency and can result in complex, slow, and inflexible system operation. To address these problems, we have developed the Quasar File System (QFS), a metadata-rich file system in which files, user-defined attributes, and file relationships are all first class objects. In contrast to hierarchical file systems and relational databases, QFS defines a graph data model composed of files and their relationships. QFS incorporates Quasar, an XPATH-extended query language for searching the file system. Results from our QFS prototype show the effectiveness of this approach. Compared to the de facto standard, the QFS prototype shows superior ingest performance and comparable query performance on user metadata-intensive operations and superior performance on normal file metadata operations.
Date: January 19, 2010
Creator: Ames, S; Gokhale, M B & Maltzahn, C
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve and the National Oilheat Research Alliance (open access)

The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve and the National Oilheat Research Alliance

This report discusses the price of home heating oil in the Northeast. The Northeast demand for home heating oil has declined by 47% since 2000, from nearly 7 billion gallons to 3.6 billion gallons in 2011. The report provides detailed information regarding northeast home heating oil reserve and national Oilheat Research Alliance.
Date: September 19, 2013
Creator: Andrews, Anthony
System: The UNT Digital Library
Results of the Excreta Bioassay Quality Control Program for April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010 (open access)

Results of the Excreta Bioassay Quality Control Program for April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010

A total of 58 urine samples and 10 fecal samples were submitted during the report period (April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010) to General Engineering Laboratories, South Carolina by the Hanford Internal Dosimetry Program (IDP) to check the accuracy, precision, and detection levels of their analyses. Urine analyses for Sr, 238Pu, 239Pu, 241Am, 243Am 235U, 238U, elemental uranium and fecal analyses for 241Am, 238Pu and 239Pu were tested this year as well as four tissue samples for 238Pu, 239Pu, 241Am and 241Pu. The number of QC urine samples submitted during the report period represented 1.3% of the total samples submitted. In addition to the samples provided by IDP, GEL was also required to conduct their own QC program, and submit the results of analyses to IDP. About 33% of the analyses processed by GEL during the third year of this contract were quality control samples. GEL tested the performance of 21 radioisotopes, all of which met or exceeded the specifications in the Statement of Work within statistical uncertainty (Table 4).
Date: July 19, 2012
Creator: Antonio, Cheryl L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Results of The Excreta Bioassay Quality Control Program For April 1, 2010 Through March 31, 2011 (open access)

Results of The Excreta Bioassay Quality Control Program For April 1, 2010 Through March 31, 2011

A total of 76 urine samples and 10 spiked fecal samples were submitted during the report period (April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011) to GEL Laboratories, LLC in South Carolina by the Hanford Internal Dosimetry Program (IDP) to check the accuracy, precision, and detection levels of their analyses. Urine analyses for 14C, Sr, for 238Pu, 239Pu, 241Am, 243Am, 235U, 238U, 238U-mass and fecal analyses for 241Am, 238Pu and 239Pu were tested this year. The number of QC urine samples submitted during the report period represented 1.1% of the total samples submitted. In addition to the samples provided by IDP, GEL was also required to conduct their own QC program, and submit the results of analyses to IDP. About 31% of the analyses processed by GEL during the first year of contract 112512 were quality control samples. GEL tested the performance of 23 radioisotopes, all of which met or exceeded the specifications in the Statement of Work within statistical uncertainty except the slightly elevated relative bias for 243,244Cm (Table 4).
Date: July 19, 2012
Creator: Antonio, Cheryl L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Presentations by MIIS-LLNL Safeguards Policy Interns (open access)

Presentations by MIIS-LLNL Safeguards Policy Interns

None
Date: August 19, 2013
Creator: Anzelon, G. A.; Davydov, J. S.; Park, K. K.; McCarthy, K. T.; Kuwata, Y. A. & Wilbourne, J. L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The European Parliament (open access)

The European Parliament

This report mainly discusses The European Parliament which is a key institution of 28 member European Union. The role of the European Parliament in the legislative has expanded steadily over time as the scope of EU policy has grown.
Date: May 19, 2014
Creator: Archick, Kristin
System: The UNT Digital Library
The European Union: Questions and Answers (open access)

The European Union: Questions and Answers

This report serves as a primer on the European Union and provides a brief description of U.S.-EU relations that may be of interest in the 114th Congress.
Date: January 19, 2016
Creator: Archick, Kristin
System: The UNT Digital Library
European Union Enlargement (open access)

European Union Enlargement

This report provides a brief overview of the European Union's (EU's) accession process and Turkey's path to EU membership. The U.S. Congress has had a long-standing interest in Turkey as a NATO ally and partner in regional foreign policy and energy security issues.
Date: February 19, 2014
Creator: Archick, Kristin & Morelli, Vincent L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry (open access)

Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry

This report reviews efforts to combat unauthorized migration across the Southwest border in the nearly three decades since the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) initiated the modern era in migration control. In reviewing such efforts, the report takes stock of the current state of border security and considers lessons that may be learned about enhanced enforcement at U.S. borders.
Date: April 19, 2016
Creator: Argueta, Carla N.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Conflict in Mali (open access)

Conflict in Mali

This report outlines the security and governance challenges that Mali has faced since the 2011-2013 crisis that devastated the military, central government institutions, and northern populations and the peace accord that followed in 2015.
Date: September 19, 2018
Creator: Arieff, Alexis
System: The UNT Digital Library
Guinea: In Brief (open access)

Guinea: In Brief

This report gives an overview of Guinea, its background, economy, and relations with the United States
Date: December 19, 2014
Creator: Arieff, Alexis
System: The UNT Digital Library
Guinea: Background and Relations with the United States (open access)

Guinea: Background and Relations with the United States

This report discusses the current political conditions in Guinea, as well as the considerable changes to Guinea's political landscape that have taken place over the past two years. The report also discusses U.S. interests and associated policy challenges in Guinea, centering around democratization, counternarcotics issues, regional stability, and socioeconomic development, among other issues.
Date: July 19, 2010
Creator: Arieff, Alexis & Cook, Nicolas
System: The UNT Digital Library
Is Impossibility Preemption Impossible? Federal Drug Law and Preemption of State Tort Claims (open access)

Is Impossibility Preemption Impossible? Federal Drug Law and Preemption of State Tort Claims

This report discusses the potential Supreme Court case of "Merck v. Albrecht". The report concludes with an overview of the "Merck" petition, analyzing the key issues of interest for Congress that the petition raises.
Date: January 19, 2018
Creator: Armstrong, Kathryn B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Debt Limit Since 2011 (open access)

The Debt Limit Since 2011

This report discusses the U.S. government's debt limit and the various extensions of it since 2011.
Date: January 19, 2018
Creator: Austin, D. Andrew
System: The UNT Digital Library
Health Care for Veterans: Suicide Prevention (open access)

Health Care for Veterans: Suicide Prevention

This report focuses on suicide prevention activities of the Veterans Health Administration within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Date: March 19, 2015
Creator: Bagalman, Erin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Prevalence of Mental Illness in the United States: Data Sources and Information (open access)

Prevalence of Mental Illness in the United States: Data Sources and Information

This report briefly describes the methodology and results of three large surveys that provide national prevalence estimates of diagnosable mental illness: the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). This report presents prevalence estimates of any mental illness and serious mental illness based on each survey and ends with a brief discussion of how these prevalence estimates might inform policy discussions.
Date: January 19, 2018
Creator: Bagalman, Erin & Cornell, Ada S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Weekly NIF Progress Report; Summary of NIF System Shots for the Week of July 10 - July 16, 2011 (open access)

Weekly NIF Progress Report; Summary of NIF System Shots for the Week of July 10 - July 16, 2011

None
Date: July 19, 2011
Creator: Baisden, P
System: The UNT Digital Library
Modularity and adaptability (open access)

Modularity and adaptability

None
Date: April 19, 2013
Creator: Banks, J W
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tank 40 Final Sludge Batch 8 Chemical Characterization Results (open access)

Tank 40 Final Sludge Batch 8 Chemical Characterization Results

A sample of Sludge Batch 8 (SB8) was pulled from Tank 40 in order to obtain radionuclide inventory analyses necessary for compliance with the Waste Acceptance Product Specifications (WAPS). The SB8 WAPS sample was also analyzed for chemical composition, including noble metals, and fissile constituents, and these results are reported here. These analyses along with the WAPS radionuclide analyses will help define the composition of the sludge in Tank 40 that is currently being fed to the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) as SB8. At SRNL, the 3-L Tank 40 SB8 sample was transferred from the shipping container into a 4-L high density polyethylene bottle and solids were allowed to settle. Supernate was then siphoned off and circulated through the shipping container to complete the transfer of the sample. Following thorough mixing of the 3-L sample, a 553 g sub-sample was removed. This sub-sample was then utilized for all subsequent slurry sample preparations. Eight separate aliquots of the slurry were digested, four with HNO{sub 3}/HCl (aqua regia) in sealed Teflon(r) vessels and four with NaOH/Na{sub 2}O{sub 2} (alkali or peroxide fusion) using Zr crucibles. Two Analytical Reference Glass - 1 (ARG-1) standards were digested along with a blank for each …
Date: September 19, 2013
Creator: Bannochie, Christopher J.
System: The UNT Digital Library