Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the composition of districts for the election of members of the Texas Senate.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the composition of districts for the election of members of the Texas House of Representatives.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the composition of districts for the election of members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas.

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Neutron cross section covariance library has been under development by BNL-LANL collaborative effort over the last three years. The primary purpose of the library is to provide covariances for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) data adjustment project, which is focusing on the needs of fast advanced burner reactors. The covariances refer to central values given in the 2006 release of the U.S. neutron evaluated library ENDF/B-VII. The preliminary version (AFCI-2.0beta) has been completed in October 2010 and made available to the users for comments. In the final 2.0 release, covariances for a few materials were updated, in particular new LANL evaluations for {sup 238,240}Pu and {sup 241}Am were adopted. BNL was responsible for covariances for structural materials and fission products, management of the library and coordination of the work, while LANL was in charge of covariances for light nuclei and for actinides.

Statement discussing the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) over time, the potential future opportunities and risks of AI, and the future implications of AI on policies and research priorities.

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This report looks at how economic reforms and trade liberalization that began in 1979 has lead to China blossoming into one of the world's fastest growing economies. The report surveys the rise of China's economy; describes major economic challenges facing China; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China's economic rise for the United States.

A presentation pertaining to a proposal to reduce carbon pollution.

This report is on Cloture Attempts on Nominations: Data and Historical Development.

This report provides an analysis of some of the key similarities and differences between Medicaid and insurance plan structure in plans offered through exchanges.It provides an insight into the complexities and issues when comparing beneficiary benefits and costs to individuals for Medicaid and the exchanges.

This paper documents testing methods, statistical data analysis, and a comparison of experimental results to CFD models for blending of fluids, which were blended using a single pump designed with dual opposing nozzles in an eight foot diameter tank. Overall, this research presents new findings in the field of mixing research. Specifically, blending processes were clearly shown to have random, chaotic effects, where possible causal factors such as turbulence, pump fluctuations, and eddies required future evaluation. CFD models were shown to provide reasonable estimates for the average blending times, but large variations -- or scatter -- occurred for blending times during similar tests. Using this experimental blending time data, the chaotic nature of blending was demonstrated and the variability of blending times with respect to average blending times were shown to increase with system complexity. Prior to this research, the variation in blending times caused discrepancies between CFD models and experiments. This research addressed this discrepancy, and determined statistical correction factors that can be applied to CFD models, and thereby quantified techniques to permit the application of CFD models to complex systems, such as blending. These blending time correction factors for CFD models are comparable to safety factors used in …

Corrective Action Site (CAS) 02-37-02, Gas Sampling Assembly, is associated with nuclear test MULLET. MULLET was an underground safety test conducted on October 17, 1963. The experiment also involved prompt sampling of particulate material from the detonation, similar to CAS 09-99-06, Gas Sampling Assembly, which is associated with PLAYER/YORK. The sampling system at MULLET was similar to that of PLAYER/YORK and was used to convey gas from the MULLET emplacement hole (U2ag) to a sampling assembly. Beyond the sampling assembly, the system had a 'Y' junction with one branch running to a filter unit and the other running to a scrubber unit. The total system length was approximately 250 feet and is depicted on the attached drawing. According to the available background information, retrieval of the sample material from the MULLET event caused significant alpha (plutonium) contamination, limited to an area near ground zero (GZ). Test support Radiological Control Technicians did not detect contamination outside the immediate GZ area. In addition, vehicles, equipment, and workers that were contaminated were decontaminated on site. Soil contamination was addressed through the application of oil, and the site was decommissioned after the test. Any equipment that could be successfully decontaminated and had a future …

The recent online publication of classified defense documents by the organization WikiLeaks and subsequent reporting by the New York Times and other news media have focused attention on whether such publication violates U.S. criminal law. The Justice Department and Department of Defense are investigating the circumstances to determine whether any prosecutions will be undertaken in connection with the disclosure. This report discusses the statutory prohibitions that may be implicated, including the Espionage Act; the extraterritorial application of such statutes; and the First Amendment implications related to such prosecutions against domestic or foreign media organizations and associated individuals. The report provides a summary of recent legislation relevant to the issue as well as some previous efforts to criminalize the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

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Report that provides links to cybersecurity hearings and legislation under consideration in the 113th and 112th Congresses, as well as executive orders and presidential directives, data and statistics, glossaries, and authoritative reports.

The mission of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility is to provide observations of the earth climate system to the climate research community for the purpose of improving the understanding and representation, in climate and earth system models, of clouds and aerosols as well as their coupling with the Earth's surface. In order for ARM measurements to be useful toward this goal, it is important that the measurements are of a known and reasonable quality. The ARM data quality program includes several components designed to identify quality issues in near-real-time, track problems to solutions, assess more subtle long-term issues, and communicate problems to the user community.

This report gives an overview of the "deeming resolution" (referring to legislation deemed to serve as an annual budget resolution for purposes of establishing enforceable budget levels for a budget cycle). It includes background information and a breakdown of House and Senate action on deeming resolutions, broken down by fiscal year for the cycles when there was no agreement on a budget resolution.

This report discusses deeming resolutions which are used by Congress as a substitute when budget resolution bills are not passed.

This report explains why the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) receives annual audits, how the audits are conducted, limitations of audits, and considerations for Congress.

This report gives an overview of fuel use by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and its pursuit of numerous initiatives for reducing its fuel needs and changing the mix of energy sources that it uses. The report includes an extensive background on DOD fuel use including how the DOD uses and buys fuel, challenges and risks associated with the DOD's fuel use, DOD energy initiatives, and past legislation that addressed DOD energy use; it also presents issues for Congress and legislative action to be addressed during FY2013.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that while DOD has a process in place for monitoring and reporting on late-payment penalties, this process has significant flaws and omissions that result in incomplete and inaccurate data, thereby limiting the effectiveness of the process. Specifically, DOD’s performance measure, or metric, for late-payment penalties did not include about $54 billion of commercial payments subject to the Prompt Payment Act, and DOD did not assess the data for accuracy or completeness. In addition, at the time of our review, DOD was not monitoring or reporting on discounts lost across the department because, DOD officials stated, the metric had consistently met its goal. The deficiencies we found in DOD’s process for monitoring and reporting on late-payment penalties and discounts lost significantly increase the risk to the accuracy and completeness of reported data, thus preventing DOD officials and congressional oversight committees from obtaining the reliable and comprehensive data they need for assessing the extent of any issues concerning late-payment penalties and discounts lost across DOD. According to DOD officials and reports, a major contributor to late-payment penalties incurred and discounts lost was the late receipt of documents necessary …

Topics covered include: ray tracing and Fokker-Planck coupling; relativistic and electromagnetic effects in EBW damping (ray-tracing); O-X-EBW mode conversion efficiency limit due to finite beam divergence; general prospects for electron Bernstein wave heating and current drive in spherical tokamaks; sensitivity of EBW H&CD; collisional effects on EBW coupling; and EBW propagation in a high-temperature plasma.

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