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This report examines the evolution of counterterrorism cooperation between the United States and the European Union (EU), particularly since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It includes a discussion of U.S.-EU cooperation progress and ongoing challenges, as well as perspectives and issues for Congress.

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This report examines prescription drug abuse in the United States. An estimated 6.8 million individuals currently abuse prescription drugs in the United States. Unlike policy on street drugs, federal policy on prescription drug abuse is complicated by the need to maintain access to prescription controlled substances (PCS) for legitimate medical use. The federal government has several roles in reducing prescription drug abuse.

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Presented in this report are radionuclide concentrations required as part of the program of qualifying Sludge Batch Six (SB6) for processing in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The SB6 material is currently in Tank 51 being washed and prepared for transfer to Tank 40. The acceptance evaluation needs to be completed prior to the transfer of the material in Tank 51 to Tank 40. The sludge slurry in Tank 40 has already been qualified for DWPF and is currently being processed as SB5. The radionuclide concentrations were measured or estimated in the Tank 51 SB6 Qualification Sample prepared at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). This sample was prepared from the three liter sample of Tank 51 sludge slurry (HTF-51-09-110) taken on October 8, 2009. The sample was delivered to SRNL where it was initially characterized in the Shielded Cells. Under the direction of the Liquid Waste Organization it was then modified by eight washes, nine decants, an addition of Pu from Canyon Tank 16.3, and an addition of NaNO{sub 2}. This final slurry now has a composition expected to be similar to that of the slurry in Tank 51 after final preparations have been made for transfer of that …

Samples of PUREX sludge from Tank 4 and HM sludge from Tank 12 were characterized in preparation for Sludge Batch 7 (SB7) formulation in Tank 51. SRNL analyses on Tank 4 and Tank 12 were requested in separate Technical Assistance Requests (TAR). The Tank 4 samples were pulled on January 19, 2010 following slurry operations by F-Tank Farm. The Tank 12 samples were pulled on February 9, 2010 following slurry operations by H-Tank Farm. At the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), two 200 mL dip samples of Tank 4 and two 200 mL dip samples of Tank 12 were received in the SRNL Shielded Cells. Each tank's samples were composited into clean 500 mL polyethylene storage bottles and weighed. The composited Tank 4 sample was 428.27 g and the composited Tank 12 sample was 502.15 g. As expected there are distinct compositional differences between Tank 4 and Tank 12 sludges. The Tank 12 slurry is much higher in Al, Hg, Mn, and Th, and much lower in Fe, Ni, S, and U than the Tank 4 slurry. The Tank 4 sludge definitely makes the more significant contribution of S to any sludge batch blend. This S, like that observed during …

Existence of the natural diffusive spread of charge carriers on the course of their drift towards collecting electrodes in planar, segmented detectors results in a division of the original cloud of carriers between neighboring channels. This paper presents the analysis of algorithms, implementable with reasonable circuit resources, whose task is to prevent degradation of the detective quantum efficiency in highly granular, digital pixel detectors. The immediate motivation of the work is a photon science application requesting simultaneous timing spectroscopy and 2D position sensitivity. Leading edge discrimination, provided it can be freed from uncertainties associated with the charge sharing, is used for timing the events. Analyzed solutions can naturally be extended to the amplitude spectroscopy with pixel detectors.

This report discusses the process and criteria for the Environmental Protection Agency to waive various portions of the renewable fuel standard (RFS), and the modification of applicable volumes.

This report provides wildfire management statistics (e.g., number of wildfires, acres burned, select state wildfire activity, firefighter personnel), presents wildfire management (WFM) appropriations from fiscal years 2008 to the present, and discusses two related issues--wildfire suppression funding estimation and air tanker readiness.

This report talks about the ALCF I/O Data Repository.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy project sheet summarizing general information about the Plants Engineered to Replace Oil (PETRO) program including critical needs, innovation and advantages, impacts, and contact information. This sheet discusses the bioengineering of sorghum plants as part of the "Plant-based Sesquiterpene Biofuels" project.

This report provides an overview of the legal precedent for mandatory vaccination laws, and of state laws that require certain individuals or populations, including school-aged children and health care workers, to be vaccinated against various communicable diseases. Also discussed are state laws providing for mandatory vaccinations during a public health emergency or outbreak of a communicable disease.

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.

This report describes the key features of NRWF: the lands under FWS jurisdiction, the eligibility of most of those lands for NRWF payments, the source of revenue for the fund, the payment formula for calculating an individual county's payments, the PILT payments available for certain FWS lands, some exceptions to normal authorized payment calculations, changing authorization levels, and falling annual appropriations. It concludes with a review of options for changes in the program.

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Numerical simulation of some systems containing charged particles with highly relativistic directed motion can by speeded up by orders of magnitude by choice of the proper Lorentz-boosted frame. Orders of magnitude speedup has been demonstrated for simulations from first principles of laser-plasma accelerator, free electron laser, and particle beams interacting with electron clouds. Here we address the application of the Lorentz-boosted frame approach to coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR), which can be strongly present in bunch compressor chicanes. CSR is particularly relevant to the next generation of x-ray light sources and is simultaneously difficult to simulate in the lab frame because of the large ratio of scale lengths. It can increase both the incoherent and coherent longitudinal energy spread, effects that often lead to an increase in transverse emittance. We have adapted the WARP code to simulate CSR emission along a simple dipole bend. We present some scaling arguments for the possible computational speed up factor in the boosted frame and initial 3D simulation results.

This report discusses the current debate over "net neutrality." While there is no single accepted definition of "net neutrality," most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network, and they should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network.

This report contains a compilation of commissions and boards that demonstrate the range of alternative membership-appointment structures. It includes any statutorily-created advisory entity (boards, advisory panels, etc.) whose membership scheme mandates the participation of members of Congress either as potential members or as participants in the process of appointing the membership. For each entity, information on the purpose, duration, appointment structure, and term of appointment is provided. Finally, information on the involvement of members of Congress in the appointment process is presented in a series of tables.

Alkanes are our most abundant organic resource but are highly resistant to selective chemical transformations. Alkenes (olefins) by contrast are the single most versatile class of molecules for selective transformations, and are intermediates in virtually every petrochemical process as well as a vast range of commodity and fine chemical processes. Over the course of this project we have developed the most efficient catalysts to date for the selective conversion of alkanes to give olefins, and have applied these catalysts to other dehydrogenation reactions. We have also developed some of the first efficient catalysts for carbonylation of alkanes and arenes to give aldehydes. The development of these catalysts has been accompanied by elucidation of the mechanism of their operation and the factors controlling the kinetics and thermodynamics of C-H bond activation and other individual steps of the catalytic cycles. This fundamental understanding will allow the further improvement of these catalysts, as well as the development of the next generation of catalysts for the functionalization of alkanes and other molecules containing C-H bonds.

This report analyzes various proposals to restrict itemized deductions--both across-the-board and individually tailored--using standard economic criteria of economic efficiency, distribution, simplicity, and estimated revenue effects. In particular, this report estimates each proposal's potential to contribute to revenue-neutral reductions in income tax rates and the consequences for economic behavior.

A look at the background of annual intelligence authorization acts until 2005. Discussion of the FY2005 Intelligence Authorization bill signed by President Bush, the FY2011 Intelligence Authorization Act passed by Congress and signed into P.L. 112-18 by President Obama, and the Intelligence Authorization for FY2012, which was signed into law by President Obama as P.L. 112-87.