This report discuses the prospects of a free trade agreement between the U.K. and the U.S. after Brexit and potential issues that might be addressed in such an agreement. Congress's role in free trade agreements is also discussed.

Successful commercialization of fusion energy requires economic viability as well as technical and scientific feasibility. To assess economic viability, we have conducted a pre-conceptual level evaluation of LIFE economics. Unit costs are estimated from a combination of bottom-up costs estimates, working with representative vendors, and scaled results from previous studies of fission and fusion plants. An integrated process model of a LIFE power plant was developed to integrate and optimize unit costs and calculate top level metrics such as cost of electricity and power plant capital cost. The scope of this activity was the entire power plant site. Separately, a development program to deliver the required specialized equipment has been assembled. Results show that LIFE power plant cost of electricity and plant capital cost compare favorably to estimates for new-build LWR's, coal and gas - particularly if indicative costs of carbon capture and sequestration are accounted for.

This report discusses how Morocco and the independence-seeking Popular Front for the Liberation of Saqiat al Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario) have been vying for control of the Western Sahara, a former Spanish territory, since the 1970s. The report discusses recent settlement attempts, how the Western Sahara issue has affected Algerian-Moroccan bilaterial relations, Moroccan relations with the African Union, and regional cooperation on economic and security issues. The report additionally discusses the United States' involvement in and stance on the issue.

This report compares the various funding levels that have been considered during the 112th Congress with H.R. 1473, a compromise reached just before the expiration on April 8 of the sixth continuing resolution (CR). H.R. 1473 provides discretionary budget authority to run the federal government for the remainder of FY2011, and includes both discretionary and mandatory spending reductions.

This report examines the key factors that shape French foreign policy. From that context, it analyzes some of the reasons for the tensions in and the accomplishments of U.S.-French relations. The report is illustrative, rather than exhaustive. Instead, the report reviews issues selected because they exemplify some of the essential features of the U.S.-French relationship.

This report addresses causes, prevalence, and consequences of violence against women. It provides examples of completed and ongoing U.S. activities that address VAW directly or include anti-VAW components. It outlines possible policy issues for the 112th Congress, including the scope and effectiveness of U.S. programs in addressing international VAW; further integrating anti-VAW programs into U.S. assistance and foreign policy mechanisms; U.S. funding for anti-VAW activities worldwide, particularly in light of the global financial crisis, economic recession, and subsequent calls to reduce the U.S. budget deficit; and strengthening U.S. government coordination of anti-VAW activities.

This report examines three labor issues and arguments related to the pending U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement (CFTA; H.R. 5724 and S. 2830): violence against trade unionists; impunity (accountability for or punishment of the perpetrators); and worker rights protections for Colombians.

This report examines three labor issues and arguments related to the pending U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement (CFTA; H.R. 5724 and S. 2830): violence against trade unionists; impunity (accountability for or punishment of the perpetrators); and worker rights protections for Colombians.

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The authors present a new class of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates based on lithographically-defined two-dimensional rectangular array of nanopillars. Two types of nanopillars within this class are discussed: vertical pillars and tapered pillars. For the vertical pillars, the gap between each pair of nanopillars is small enough (< 50 nm) such that highly confined plasmonic cavity resonances are supported between the pillars when light is incident upon them, and the anti-nodes of these resonances act as three-dimensional hotspots for SERS. For the tapered pillars, SERS enhancement arises from the nanofocusing effect due to the sharp tip on top. SERS experiments were carried out on these substrates using various concentrations of 1,2 bis-(4-pyridyl)-ethylene (BPE), benzenethiol (BT) monolayer and toluene vapor. The results show that SERS enhancement factor of over 0.5 x 10{sup 9} can be achieved, and BPE can be detected down to femto-molar concentration level. The results also show promising potential for the use of these substrates in environmental monitoring of gases and vapors such as volatile organic compounds.

This report examines one type of guidance document of particular recent prominence: agency policy statements. It explores judicial doctrine regarding the difference between legislative rules and statements of policy; discusses when such statements are judicially reviewable; analyzes when courts will grant deference to agency interpretations contained in guidance documents; and notes the relative costs and benefits of potential judicial and statutory rules regarding their use.

This report provides background information on the historical circumstances that led to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), a summary of its major provisions, and a brief discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court decision and related legislation in the 113th and 114th Congresses.

This report discusses several options being considered by Congress to address the financing needs of local communities for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects, and to decrease or close the gap between available funds and projected needs.

This list of about 150 congressional liaison offices is intended to help congressional offices in placing telephone calls and addressing correspondence to government agencies. In each case, the information was supplied by the agency itself and is current as of the date of publication. Entries are arranged alphabetically in four sections: legislative branch; judicial branch; executive branch; and agencies, boards, and commissions.

Postshot drilling provided essential data on the results of the underground nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), now identified as the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). It was the means by which samples from the zone of interest were obtained for radiochemical analysis. This handbook describes how Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) conducted postshot drilling operations at the NTS, and it provides a general understanding of the process. Postshot drilling is a specialized application of rotary drilling. Accordingly, this handbook gives a brief description of rotary drilling in Section 2 to acquaint the reader with the general subject before proceeding to the specialized techniques used in postshot drilling. In Section 3, the handbook describes the typical postshot drilling situation at the former NTS and the drilling methods used. Section 4 describes the typical sequence of operations in postshot drilling at the former NTS. Detailed information on special equipment and techniques is given in a series of appendices (A through F) at the end of the handbook.

This report examines the current status of state fiscal conditions and the role of federal assistance in state budgets. It begins with a brief overview of state budgeting procedures and then provides budgetary data comparing state fiscal conditions in FY2008 to FY2010. This report concludes with an assessment of the consequences current levels of state fiscal stress may have for the 112th Congress.

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Crossflow filtration is a key process step in many operating and planned waste treatment facilities to separate undissolved solids from supernate slurries. This separation technology generally has the advantage of self cleaning through the action of wall shear stress, which is created by the flow of waste slurry through the filter tubes. However, the ability of filter wall self cleaning depends on the slurry being filtered. Many of the alkaline radioactive wastes are extremely challenging to filtration, e.g., those containing compounds of aluminum and iron, which have particles whose size and morphology reduces permeability. Low filter flux can be a bottleneck in waste processing facilities such as the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site and the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site. Any improvement to the filtration rate would lead directly to increased throughput of the entire process. To date, increased rates are generally realized by either increasing the crossflow filter axial flowrate, which is limited by pump capacity, or by increasing filter surface area, which is limited by space and increases the required pump load. In the interest of accelerating waste treatment processing, DOE has funded studies to better understand filtration with the goal of …

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This report explains those government activities funded under the military construction appropriation, examines trends in military construction funding over the past few years, and outlines military construction issues extant in each of the major regions of U.S. military activity.

This report discusses the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), a free trade agreement that includes nations on both sides of the Pacific. Original members of the TPP were Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore. The United States, Australia, Peru, and Vietnam have committed themselves to joining and expanding this group. This report discusses similar trade partnerships, the importance of Asia to U.S. trade and security interests, and U.S. participation in the TPP.

This report provides an overview of the federal response to domestic violence-defined broadly to include acts of physical and nonphysical violence against spouses and other intimate partners-through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA).

This report provides background information about the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) system, describes the major issues WMATA currently faces, and discusses possible approaches for addressing these issues.

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), under the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM), is modifying and testing the SpinTek{trademark} rotary microfilter (RMF) for radioactive filtration service in the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. The RMF has been shown to improve filtration throughput when compared to other conventional methods such as cross-flow filtration. A concern with the RMF was that backpressure, or reverse flow through the disk, would damage the filter membranes. Reverse flow might happen as a result of an inadvertent valve alignment during flushing. Testing was completed in the Engineering Development Laboratory (EDL) located in SRNL to study the physical effects of backpressure as well as to determine the maximum allowable back-pressure for RMF disks. The RMF disks tested at the EDL were manufactured by SpinTek{trademark} Filtration and used a Pall Corporation PMM050 filter membrane (0.5 micron nominal pore size) made from 316L stainless steel. Early versions of the RMF disks were made from synthetic materials that were incompatible with caustic solutions and radioactive service as well as being susceptible to delaminating when subjected to backpressure. Figure 1-1 shows the essential components of the RMF; 3 rotating disks and 3 stationary turbulence promoters (or shear …