Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the use of a wireless communication device while operating a motor vehicle; creating a criminal offense; modifying existing criminal penalties.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to personal financial statements filed by public officers and candidates, including the disclosure of certain contracts, agreements, services, and compensation in and the amendment of those statements.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the punishment for a criminal offense committed against a person because of bias or prejudice on the basis of status as a peace officer or judge; increasing a criminal penalty.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to certain prohibited abortions and the treatment and disposition of a human fetus, human fetal tissue, and embryonic and fetal tissue remains; creating a civil cause of action; imposing a civil penalty; creating criminal offenses.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the qualifications, duties, and limitations of Texas delegates to a convention called under Article V of the United States Constitution.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the effect of certain felony convictions of public elected officers.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the number of school marshals that may be appointed to serve on a public school campus or at a private school.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to policies, procedures, and measures for school safety and mental health promotion in public schools and the creation of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to making supplemental appropriations and reductions in appropriations and giving direction, including direction regarding reimbursement, and adjustment authority regarding appropriations.

This report examines the current political state of Afghanistan at length, discussing the political background, security policy, and regional relations.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has experienced systemic challenges that have hindered its ability to manage and oversee contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan. Key challenges include gaps in planning for the use of contractors and assistance recipients and having visibility into their numbers. For example, GAO reported in April 2010 that, absent strategic planning for its use of contractors, individual offices within USAID often made case-by-case decisions on using contractors to support contract or grant administration and risks, such as possible conflicts of interest, were not always addressed. While having reliable data on contractors and assistance recipients is a starting point for informing agency decisions and ensuring proper management, GAO has also reported on limitations in USAID’s visibility into the number and value of contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan, as well as the number of personnel working under them. USAID, along with other agencies, has not implemented GAO’s recommendation to address such limitations. USAID, however, has taken other actions to mitigate risks associated with awarding contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan. In June 2011, GAO reported on USAID’s vendor vetting program, then in its …

In the fall of 2010, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) contracted with vendors to design and build 6CVS containment vessels as part of their effort to ship Fuel Derived Mixed Fission Product material. The 6CVS design is based on the Savannah River National Laboratory's (SRNL) design for 9975 and 9977 six inch diameter containment vessels. The main difference between the designs is that the 6CVS credits the inner O-ring seal as the containment boundary while the SRNL design credits the outer O-ring seal. Since the leak test must be done with the inner O-ring in place, the containment vessel does not have a pathway for getting the helium into the vessel during the leak test. The leak testing contractor was not able to get acceptable leak rates with the specified O-ring, but they were able to pass the leak test with a slightly larger O-ring. ANL asked the SRNL to duplicate the leak test vendor's method to determine the cause of the high leak rates. The SRNL testing showed that the helium leak indications were caused by residual helium left within the 6CVS Closure Assembly by the leak test technique, and by helium permeation through the Viton O-ring seals. After SRNL …

"This report presents the results from a research on the occurrence and distribution of hazardous materials spills along Texas highway during the period of record from 2002-2006."

A dilution refrigerator is required for 50mK detector operation of CDMS (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search). Besides shielding the dilution refrigerator itself, the liquid nitrogen shield and liquid helium bath in the refrigerator cool the detector cryostat heat shields and cool electronics, resulting in significant external heat loads at 80K and at 4K. An Oxford Instruments Kelvinox 400 has served this role for ten years but required daily transfers of liquid nitrogen and liquid helium. Complicating the cryogen supply is the location 800 meters below ground in an RF shielded, class 10000 clean room at Soudan, MN. Nitrogen and helium re-liquefiers using cryocoolers were installed outside the clean room and continuously condense room temperature gas and return the liquids to the dilution refrigerator through a transfer line. This paper will describe the design, installation, controls and performance of liquefaction systems.

Radioactive materials are stored in a variety of locations throughout the DOE complex. At the Savannah River Site (SRS), materials are stored within dedicated facilities. Each of those facilities has a documented safety analysis (DSA) that describes accidents that the facility and the materials within it may encounter. Facilities at the SRS are planning on utilizing the certified Model 9977 Shipping Package as a long term storage package and one of these facilities required ballistics testing. Specifically, in order to meet the facility DSA, the radioactive materials (RAM) must be contained within the storage package after impact by a .223 caliber round. In order to qualify the Model 9977 Shipping Package for storage in this location, the package had to be tested under these conditions. Over the past two years, the Model 9977 Shipping Package has been subjected to a series of ballistics tests. The purpose of the testing was to determine if the 9977 would be suitable for use as a storage package at a Savannah River Site facility. The facility requirements are that the package must not release any of its contents following the impact in its most vulnerable location by a .223 caliber round. A package, assembled …

This report provides information about Budget and Operations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which is the lead federal law enforcement agency during the FY2011.

This report discusses the current issues in Burma (Myanmar) in regards to political prisoners and the resulting U.S. sanctions against the nation.

This report mainly discusses whether Contractionary Fiscal Policy Be Expansionary or not.

None

Report that provides background information and issues for Congress on the sustainment and modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions.

Measurements of the spatial and temporal coherence of single, femtosecond x-ray pulses generated by the first hard x-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, are presented. Single-shot measurements were performed at 780 eV x-ray photon energy using apertures containing double pinholes in 'diffract-and-destroy' mode. We determined a coherence length of 17 {micro}m in the vertical direction, which is approximately the size of the focused Linac Coherent Light Source beam in the same direction. The analysis of the diffraction patterns produced by the pinholes with the largest separation yields an estimate of the temporal coherence time of 0.55 fs. We find that the total degree of transverse coherence is 56% and that the x-ray pulses are adequately described by two transverse coherent modes in each direction. This leads us to the conclusion that 78% of the total power is contained in the dominant mode.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Publishers included in GAO's study have disclosed textbook information required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), such as pricing and format options, and made components of bundled materials available individually, but stakeholders GAO interviewed said these practices have had little effect on faculty decisions. While most publishers in GAO's study provided all relevant textbook information, two smaller publishers did not provide copyright dates of prior editions, and one did not provide certain pricing information. Publishers communicated information to faculty online and in other marketing materials, and in most cases the information was available to students and the public. In addition, publishers said they began making bundled materials available for sale individually before HEOA was passed. Faculty GAO interviewed said they typically prioritize selecting the most appropriate materials for their courses over pricing and format considerations, although they said they are more aware of affordability issues than they used to be. Changes in the availability of options in the college textbook market that are not related to HEOA, such as the increase in digital products, have also shaped faculty decisions about course materials."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO’s work to date work indicates the United States provides less indemnification for third party losses than China, France, and Russia, according to studies. These countries put no limit on the amount of government indemnification coverage currently available through the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments of 1988 (CSLA) which is about $2.7 billion per launch. These commitments to pay have never been tested because there has never been a third party claim that exceeded the launch company’s insurance and thus reached the level of government indemnification."

For several years, some Members of Congress have favored "comprehensive immigration reform", a label that commonly refers to omnibus legislation that includes increased border security and immigration enforcement, expanded employment eligibility verification, revision of nonimmigrant visas and legal permanent immigration, and legalization for some unauthorized immigrants residing in the country. This report provides a detailed discussion of major legislation related to these issues.