Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (BLDTF) for the fiscal year (FY) ended September 30, 1998, is supported by the underlying records."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the net federal unemployment taxes (FUTA) collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1998, are supported by the underlying records."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year (FY) ended September 30, 1998, is supported by the underlying records."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed inventory issues as they related to the Department of Defense's (DOD) operations and readiness, focusing on: (1) the status of DOD's secondary inventory; (2) difficulties one military service continues to have in obtaining repair parts to keep its combat aircraft mission capable; (3) the adequacy of DOD's controls over inventory items in transit; (4) implementation of DOD's efforts to have greater visibility over its logistical assets through its Total Asset Visibility Program; and (5) the continuing need to apply best private sector management practices to Defense inventory management."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) efforts to initiate and complete removal proceedings for criminal aliens in state and federal prisons through its Institutional Hearing Program (IHP)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed military retirement, focusing on: (1) changes being proposed by the Department of Defense (DOD); (2) areas where GAO believes more information is needed; and (3) the opportunity to take a long-term strategic view of the military compensation system."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the adjustment of Medicare's payments to managed care plans in the Medicare Choice program, focusing on the: (1) importance of improving the current risk adjustment method; (2) implications of rate-setting changes implemented in 1998; and (3) the advantages and drawbacks of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) proposed new interim risk adjuster."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the corrective actions taken by the Army following the deaths of four Ranger students in a 1995 training accident, focusing on the status of: (1) Army Ranger training manning levels required by the fiscal year 1996 National Defense Authorization Act; (2) establishing safety cell organizations required by the act; (3) corrective safety actions instituted after the accident; and (4) inspections of identified safety controls."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to implement the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996, focusing on: (1) the status of FAA's efforts to implement the requirement of section 301 of the act mandating that FAA conduct a study and report to Congress on whether aviation security responsibilities should be transferred from the airline carriers to airports or the federal government; (2) the status of FAA's efforts to implement section 302 mandating that FAA certify security screening companies and improve the training and testing of security screeners through the development of performance standards; and (3) issues that could impede FAA's implementation of section 302."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), focusing on: (1) whether savings in DOD's fiscal year (FY) 1999-2003 FYDP were the result of DOD's Defense Reform Initiatives (DRI); (2) the extent to which savings and personnel reductions from competitive sourcing in the 1999-2003 FYDP were based on ongoing or planned studies of functions specifically identified under the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76, and what percentage of the current costs of performing those functions were included from the projected savings from these studies; and (3) whether DOD components outsourced activities that included inherently governmental functions, without allowing civilian employees to compete under Circular A-76 procedures, or without following the study and notification requirements of 10 U.S.C. 2461."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the major management challenges and program risks confronting the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of State, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), focusing on: (1) the management challenges DOD, State, and VA must address to improve the efficiency of their support functions; and (2) whether these departments are meeting performance and accountability goals and measurements that are required under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the critical management challenges facing the Department of Transportation (DOT), focusing on DOT's ability to: (1) achieve its goals of ensuring safe and efficient movement of people and goods; and (2) make cost-effective investments in the nation's transportation infrastructure."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to implement the Clinger-Cohen Act and strengthen its information technology (IT) management processes."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Education Flexibility Partnership Demonstration Program (Ed-Flex), which authorizes 12 states to grant waivers (temporary exceptions from certain federal requirements) to their local school districts, focusing on: (1) the scope and limitations of the current Ed-Flex waiver authority; (2) opportunities for expansion to more states under current eligibility requirements; and (3) the challenges posed for the Ed-Flex program of balancing the two objectives of achieving federal program oversight and offering flexibility to state and local school districts."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed public health surveillance of emerging infectious diseases, focusing on the role of state laboratories."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year (FY) ended September 30, 1998, is supported by the underlying records."

Rate constants for the aqueous oxidation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) have been measured in aqueous phosphate-buffered solutions using Dickson-type vessels. The initial NDMA concentrations ranged from 2.5 to 2.8 ppm and reaction temperatures varied from 180 C to 220 C. Quantitation of NDMA was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using selected ion monitoring (SIM). NDMA loss with concomitant production of nitrite and nitrate confirmed that mineralization of NDMA occurred, and no intermediates amenable to GC-MS were formed during the oxidation experiments. First order reaction rate constants for the loss of NDMA were determined by the integral method and the results are as follows: k{sub 1} = 5.21 x 10{sup -7} s{sup -1} at 180 C, k{sub 1} = 1.14 x 10{sup -6} s{sup -1} at 190 C, k{sub 1} = 2.05 x 10{sup -6} s{sup -1} at 200 C, k{sub 1} = 4.53 x 10{sup -6} s{sup -1} at 210 C and k{sub 1} = 8.81 x 10{sup -6} s{sup -1} at 220 C. The Arrhenius equation for this data is listed below: ln (k) = 20.21 - 15716 (1/T). The activation energy for this process is calculated to be 130.7 {+-} 3.5 kJ/mole. Extrapolating to a temperature of 125 …

This report describes emergency supplemental initiatives for the year 1999. The initiatives include: agriculture, embassy security and counter-terrorism, year 2000 computer conversion, U.S. troops in Bosnia, defense readiness, and other topics.

The purpose of this project was to complete the development of the laser systems and separator systems needed to investigate the potential for the economical separation of high value isotopes used in medical and industrial applications, then demonstrate this separation capability. The project was to focus on the isotopic purification of lead for use as solder in high- end electronics, and on the isotopic enrichment of thallium for medical applications. Ultimately the goal is to demonstrate the economical and technical viability of the technology for lead and thallium and to develop a more general capability for other possible isotope separation missions. Both lead and thallium are usefulapplications in this context because they require- dye lasers, solid- state lasers, and a frequency doubling capability of some of the lasers. This later capability allows access to the wavelength range 250 to 450 mn, with tunable, high- power and high repetition frequency lasers. Until recently, these wavelengths have been largely inaccessible in combination with these other laser characteristics. In addition, up to two new potential laser- isotope separation applications would be conceptually developed through a process of needs analysis and technical feasibility studies. Because of an unanticipated reduction in the size of the …

Pressure vessel and piping systems are widely used throughout industry and research laboratories and contain a very large concentration of energy, and yet, despite the fact that their design and installation comply with federal, state and local regulations and recognized industrial standards, there continue to be serious pressure equipment failures. There are many reasons for pressure equipment failure: degradation and thinning of materials with usage, aging, hidden flaws during fabrication, etc. Fortunately, periodic testing and internal and external inspections significantly improve the safety of a pressure vessel or facility. A good testing and inspection program is based on development of procedures for specific industries or types of vessels. This paper describes the elements that should be a part of a pressure testing safety program and the requirements that it should address. The program should comply with pressure safety standards and include the requirements for inspecting pressure vessels, establishing and implementing a written pressure system test work permit, maintaining safety in the testing area, developing in-place pressure testing procedures, keeping records for pressure test calculations and results, and evaluating the system's internal and external integrity.

This report provides a summary of LDRD work completed during 1997 and 1998 to develop the ideas and concepts that lead to the Secure, Transportable, Autonomous Reactor (STAR) program proposals to the DOE Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI). The STAR program consists of a team of three national laboratories (LLNL, ANL, and LANL), three universities, (UC Berkeley, TAMU, and MIT) and the Westinghouse Research Center. Based on the LLNL work and their own efforts on related work this team prepared and integrated a package of twelve proposals that will carry the LDRD work outlined here into the next phase of development. We are proposing to develop a new nuclear system that meets stringent requirements for a high degree of safety and proliferation resistance, and also deals directly with the related nuclear waste and spent fuel management issues.

Federal application of ISO 14001 and / or the EPA Code of Environmental Management Principles (CEMP) could substantially improve the mitigation and monitoring aspects of the NEPA process. In addition, application of those management systems could also enhance fulfillment of Section 101 goals of NEPA. An ISO 14001 Environmental Management System would provide for a plan to continually address and improve environmental aspects and impacts. The strong feedback and improvement loops in both CEMP and ISO 14001 would help strengthen this weakness of NEPA by providing a mechanism to foster excellent environmental action, not just more dusty paperwork.

In 1997 we first postulated the existence of a special human population that had had their skeletons inadvertently isotopically adulterated in the past. We theorized that the population, and the necessary LLNL accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) measurement technology, would prove a significant resource in the fight to combat osteoporosis. This LDRD project was to establish such. The project was significantly successful in its initial year, but was not renewed for another and the research is now ended at LLNL. We proposed a three-year program to (1) confirm the magnitude and extent of historical 41 Ca dosing, (2) exactly characterize the long-term 41 Ca signal by comparing it with conventional measurements of skeletal health, and (3) demonstrate the utility of the historically labeled population in evaluating an actual potential therapy for osteoporosis. However, rather than investigate historical records to learn the identity of those inadvertently dosed, find them, and if possible enroll them into a new protocol, this project was to be particularly efficient by making use of a multiyear archive of samples from original, inadvertent 41 Ca-dosing experiments at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Because the subjects had been dosed in conventional studies of calcium kinetics, much important correlating historical …

This report provides information about the Debt-Limit Legislation in the Congressional Budget Process. The gross federal debt consists of the debt held by the public plus the debt held by government accounts.