Security Clearance Process: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

[Excerpt] The security clearance process is designed to determine the trustworthiness of an individual prior to granting him or her access to classified national security information. The process has evolved since the early 1950s, with antecedents dating to World War II. This report highlights some of the fundamental aspects of the process by providing answers to frequently asked questions

The Executive Budget Process: An Overview

This report outlines many of the budgetary procedures that are performed by the President, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and agencies. This report provides an overview of the development, submission, and justification of the President’s budget proposal. This report also describes how the President, OMB, and agencies execute the federal budget following the enactment of appropriations and other budgetary legislation by Congress

The President's Budget: Overview of Structure and Timing of Submission to Congress

Report that contains a brief overview of the origins, deadlines, and typical content of the President's budget

Submission of the President's Budget in Transition Years

This report discusses the President's budget at the time of a presidential transition. The transition from one presidential administration to another raises special issues regarding the annual budget submission. Which President—the outgoing President or the incoming one—is required to submit the budget, and how will the transition affect the timing and form of the submission? The purpose of this report is to provide background information that addresses these questions

W&L Law Fall Scholarship Celebration 2022

On October 6, 2022, the Washington and Lee Law Library hosted the fourth W&L Law Fall Scholarship Celebration. The event was co-sponsored by the Frances Lewis Law Center and took place in the Law Library\u27s main reading room from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. On display were dozens of scholarly articles, books, and chapters authored by the W&L Law faculty and student body between October 2019 and October 2022, with hundreds of additional works accessible online through the Scholarly Commons institutional repository. Faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators mingled with law students over hors d\u27oeuvres and wine to peruse the formidable scholarly output of the W&L Law community. Spouses, alumni, faculty from W&L\u27s undergraduate campus, and others with ties to the University were also in attendance. Melanie Wilson, dean of W&L Law; Christopher Seaman, director of the Frances Lewis Law Center; Andrew Christensen, Head of Digital Initiatives and Outreach; and Jenny Mitchell, Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, provided welcoming remarks, alongside W&L Law Library director Michelle Cosby, who also led all attendees in a celebratory toast. The event program, which includes a list of the scholarship on display, is available to download in PDF. Photos taken at the event are also available to view in the W&L Law Scholarly Commons Image Gallery, and a video recording of the welcoming remarks is linked above on this page

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR): Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

This report provides answers to 25 frequently asked questions regarding the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). These questions and their answers are organized into six broad categories, including (1) what the FAR is and what it covers; (2) promulgation of the FAR; (3) the relationship between the FAR and other authorities governing federal procurement (e.g., statutes, agency FAR supplements, other regulations, policies); (4) the FAR in relation to Congress and judicial and other tribunals; (5) the relationship between the FAR and federal procurement contracts; and (6) other topics

Commemorations in Congress: Options for Honoring Individuals, Groups, and Events

This report summarizes the evolution of commemorative legislation as well as the laws, rules, and procedures that have been adopted to control the types of commemoratives considered and enacted

Active Radiative Thermal Switching with Graphene Plasmon Resonators

We theoretically demonstrate a near-field radiative thermal switch based on thermally excited surface plasmons in graphene resonators. The high tunability of graphene enables substantial modulation of near-field radiative heat transfer, which, when combined with the use of resonant structures, overcomes the intrinsically broadband nature of thermal radiation. In canonical geometries, we use nonlinear optimization to show that stacked graphene sheets offer improved heat conductance contrast between “ON” and “OFF” switching states and that a >10× higher modulation is achieved between isolated graphene resonators than for parallel graphene sheets. In all cases, we find that carrier mobility is a crucial parameter for the performance of a radiative thermal switch. Furthermore, we derive shape-agnostic analytical approximations for the resonant heat transfer that provide general scaling laws and allow for direct comparison between different resonator geometries dominated by a single mode. The presented scheme is relevant for active thermal management and energy harvesting as well as probing excited-state dynamics at the nanoscale

Midgut Barrier Imparts Selective Resistance to Filarial Worm Infection in Culex pipiens pipiens

Mosquitoes in the Culex pipiens complex thrive in temperate and tropical regions worldwide, and serve as efficient vectors of Bancroftian lymphatic filariasis (LF) caused by Wuchereria bancrofti in Asia, Africa, the West Indies, South America, and Micronesia. However, members of this mosquito complex do not act as natural vectors for Brugian LF caused by Brugia malayi, or for the cat parasite B. pahangi, despite their presence in South Asia where these parasites are endemic. Previous work with the Iowa strain of Culex pipiens pipiens demonstrates that it is equally susceptible to W. bancrofti as is the natural Cx. p. pipiens vector in the Nile Delta, however it is refractory to infection with Brugia spp. Here we report that the infectivity barrier for Brugia spp. in Cx. p. pipiens is the mosquito midgut, which inflicts internal and lethal damage to ingested microfilariae. Following per os Brugia exposures, the prevalence of infection is significantly lower in Cx. p. pipiens compared to susceptible mosquito controls, and differs between parasite species with <50% and <5% of Cx. p. pipiens becoming infected with B. pahangi and B. malayi, respectively. When Brugia spp. mf were inoculated intrathoracically to bypass the midgut, larvae developed equally well as in controls, indicating that, beyond the midgut, Cx. p. pipiens is physiologically compatible with Brugia spp. Mf isolated from Cx. p. pipiens midguts exhibited compromised motility, and unlike mf derived from blood or isolated from the midguts of Ae. aegypti, failed to develop when inoculated intrathoracically into susceptible mosquitoes. Together these data strongly support the role of the midgut as the primary infection barrier for Brugia spp. in Cx. p. pipiens. Examination of parasites recovered from the Cx. p. pipiens midgut by vital staining, and those exsheathed with papain, suggest that the damage inflicted by the midgut is subcuticular and disrupts internal tissues. Microscopic studies of these worms reveal compromised motility and sharp bends in the body; and ultrastructurally the presence of many fluid or carbohydrate-filled vacuoles in the hypodermis, body wall, and nuclear column. Incubation of Brugia mf with Cx. p. pipiens midgut extracts produces similar internal damage phenotypes; indicating that the Cx. p. pipiens midgut factor(s) that damage mf in vivo are soluble and stable in physiological buffer, and inflict damage on mf in vitro