A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-130, 110 Stat. 1200), gives the President expanded rescission authority by changing the burden of action and coverage. Under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 332), the President must obtain the support of both Houses within a specified time period for a rescission to become permanent, while the new law puts the burden on Congress to disapprove presidential rescission proposals within a 30-day period. Along with rescission of discretionary appropriations, the new law subjects any new item of direct spending (entitlement) and certain limited tax benefits to cancellation as well.

This report from the Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium describes progress in the following areas: electronic resource library; the senior technical review group; environment, health, and safety and remedial action activities; communications, education, and training; and plutonium and other materials.

A model-based flotation control scheme is being implemented to achieve optimal performance in the handling and treatment of fine coal. The control scheme monitors flotation performance through on-line analysis of ash content. Then, based on the economic and metallurgical performance of the circuit, variables such as reagent dosage, air addition rate, pulp density and pulp level are adjusted using model-based control algorithms to compensate for feed variations and other process disturbances. Recent developments in video-based sensor technology are being applied for on-line determination of slurry ash content. During the third quarter of this project, work continued on the testing and calibration of the video-based ash analyzer, and a plant sampling campaign was conducted to provide data for the development of a mathematical process model and the model-based control algorithms.

Ion implantation of O into Al and growth of Al(O) layers using electro-cyclotron resonance plasma and pulsed laser depositions produce composite alloys with a high density of nanometer-size oxide precipitates in an Al matrix. The precipitates impart high strength to the alloy and reduced adhesion during sliding contact, while electrical conductivity and ductility are retained. Implantation of N into Al produces similar microstructures and mechanical properties. The athermal energies of deposited atoms are a key factor in achieving these properties.

This note describes my analysis of the measurement of the electron energy distribution function in a DC glow discharge reported by T. Kimura, K. Akatsuka, and K. Ohe, in `Experimental and theoretical investigations of DC glow discharges in argon-nitrogen mixtures,`J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 27 (1994) 1664-1671. T. Kimura of the Department of Systems Engineering at the Nagoya Institute of Technology sent me this paper in 1994, as well as `Electron Energy Distribution Function in Neon-Nitrogen Mixture Positive Column,` T. Kimura, and K. Ohe, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 3 1, Part 1, No. 12A, December 1992, pp. 4051- 4052. I base my analysis on the data for a pure N{sub 2} discharge at p=1 torr in the 1994 paper. Figures 2 and 3 in that paper show a discrepancy between f({epsilon}) as measured by Langmuir probing and f({epsilon}) as calculated from E/N based on the measured axial field. Kimura et. al. explain their observation of hotter than expected electrons on superelastic collisions with vibrationally excited nitrogen. My fundamental point is that the radial field generated by ambipolar diffusion significantly augments E/N above the contribution from the axial field in this experiment, and creates a higher than expected radially averaged …