This report, by the University of North Texas Center for Economic Development and Research, discusses the disruption in Union Pacific Railroad service and its impact on the economy in the state of Texas and other areas of the United States.

Pyrite (FeS{sub 2}) is one of the most common naturally occurring minerals that is present in many subsurface environments. It plays an important role in the genesis of enriched ore deposits through weathering reactions, is the most abundant sulfide mineral in many mine tailings, and is the primary source of acid drainage from mines and waste rock piles. The pyrite oxidation reaction serves as a prototype for oxidative weathering processes with broad significance for geoscientific, engineering, and environmental applications. Mathematical modeling of these processes is extremely challenging because aqueous concentrations of key species vary over an enormous range, oxygen inventory and supply are typically small in comparison to pyrite inventory, and chemical reactions are complex, involving kinetic control and microbial catalysis. We present the mathematical formulation of a general multi-phase advective-diffusive reactive transport model for redox processes. Two alternative implementations were made in the TOUGHREACT and TOUGH2-CHEM simulation codes which use sequential iteration and simultaneous solution, respectively. The simulators are applied to reactive consumption of pyrite in (1) saturated flow of oxidizing water, and (2) saturated-unsaturated flow in which oxygen transport occurs in both aqueous and gas phases. Geochemical evolutions predicted from different process models are compared, and issues of …

A habitat evaluation of the Weir property, an approximately 200-acre in holding of private property within the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), was conducted using the Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) methodology. The Weir property consists of two separate parcels, an upper unit of 40 acres and a 160-acre lower unit. Evaluation species were ruffed grouse and white-tailed deer. Life requisites evaluated were available browse for white-tailed deer and winter food and fall-to-spring cover for ruffed grouse. Field data were collected on October 16, 17, and 21, 1997. Approximately 37 acres of the lower 160-acre unit are currently grasslands with no shrub or tree cover, and therefore do not provide suitable ruffed grouse or white-tailed deer cover. They excluded this acreage from the HEP calculations for current conditions. This acreage was included in the HEP calculations for ruffed grouse after future management strategies were factored in. It was not included in projections for white-tailed deer. The entire property was stratified into 6 stands (2 in the upper unit and 4 in the lower unit) for data collection. Data were collected at 10 points, spaced 20 paces (approximately 16 m) apart along one randomly selected transect in each stand, for …

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to management controls at the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission (Commission). The report evaluates the existing management control systems at the Commission, which enable the Commission to accomplish its mission, goals, and strategies, and also provides suggestions for improvements to existing practices and systems.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to analyzing the increase in new debt in school districts; determining types of alternative debt, implications for future school district solvency, and the amount of debt associated with each type; and reviewing the roles of the Texas Education Agency, the Attorney General's Office, and the Texas Bond Review Board to determine the extent of oversight and to identify gaps in oversight responsibilities.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the control system in place at the offices of the Attorney General and the Comptroller of Public Accounts, which effectively ensures that the State pays only judgments and settlements meeting the requirements of the General Appropriations Act, Article IX, Section 60, and that the Legislature and Governor are able to monitor such expenditures effectively.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to corrective actions made by the new management of the Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies (Board).

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to opportunities for Sul Ross State University to improve its management of student financial assistance (critical), policy development, human resources, and construction.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to reimbursements to the General Revenue Fund for unemployment and workers' compensation benefits in a timely manner from the appropriate source funds, and the consistency in methods used to determine the source funds for unemployment benefit reimbursement.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to recommendations to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice of land parcels to be sold, leased, or used for prison operations.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to adequate controls relating to policy, performance, and resource management at the University of Texas at San Antonio (University), and opportunities for improvement in certain operational areas in order to increase accountability.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to opportunities for the Employees Retirement System of Texas (System) to enhance control systems used to monitor customer satisfaction, health maintenance organization (HMO) contract compliance, and compliance with the Texas Employees Uniform Group Insurance Benefits Act.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining what actions have been taken to address the issues and implement the recommendations with prior audits ("An Assessment of the Texas Education Agency's Monitoring Systems for Public Education" and "A Review of Management Controls at the Texas Education Agency"), and determining if the directives included in Senate Bill 1, 74th Legislature, are being achieved.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining if the Texas Department of Health has sufficient management controls in place to manage and monitor Medicaid managed care, evaluate and ensure that the program is cost effective, and evaluate and ensure that the program outcomes are met.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to Lamar University - Beaumont's (University) poor fiscal controls, lack of and/or failure to follow established policies and procedures, inadequate planning, and insufficient oversight from executive management, which have resulted in a material weakness in fiscal management, weaknesses in information and resource management, and significant problems in several University operations.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining what actions management of the University of Texas at El Paso (University) has taken to address the issues and recommendations from a previous report.

This report is a compilation of tables that list the nuclear facilities at Hanford and gives the authorization basis for each.

This report documents the testing of the Health Physics Instrumentation associated with phase 2 and 3 start-up of Project W-026, WRAP. The Health Physics Instrumentation includes: Alpha and Beta Continuous Air Monitors (CAMS), Personnel Contamination Monitors (PCMs), Gamma Area Radiation Monitors (ARMs), Criticality Monitors, Alpha and Beta Smear Sample Counters, Portable Friskers, and Operator Breathing Zone Air Samplers. This OTR will cover only the Health Physics Instrumentation that was tested under the Operational test Plan for Health Physics Instrumentation (Phase 2 and 3). That instrumentation included: Alpha CAMS, Beta CAMs and ARMs located in rooms 107 and 113 of 2336-W. The remaining Health Physics Instrumentation that will be used for phase 2 and 3 start-up is tested during calibrations. These calibrations are outside the scope of the Operational Test Plan.

In June 28, 1997, the Low Level Waste (LLW) glovebox was tested using glovebox acceptance test procedure 13031A-85. The primary focus of the glovebox acceptance test was to examine control system interlocks, display menus, alarms, and operator messages. Limited mechanical testing involving the drum ports, hoists, drum lifter, compacted drum lifter, drum tipper, transfer car, conveyors, lidder/delidder device and the supercompactor were also conducted. As of November 24, 1997, 2 of the 131 test exceptions that affect the LLW glovebox remain open. These items will be tracked and closed via the WRAP Master Test Exception Database. As part of Test Exception resolution/closure the responsible individual closing the Test Exception performs a retest of the affected item(s) to ensure the identified deficiency is corrected, and, or to test items not previously available to support testing. Test Exceptions are provided as appendices to this report.

This decontamination and inspection plan (DIP) describes decontamination and verification activities in support of Phase 2 closure of the 300 Area Waste Acid Treatment System (WATS). Phase 2, the second phase of three proposed phases of closure for WATS, provides for closure of all WATS portions of the 334-A Building and some, but not all, WATS portions of the 333 and 303-F Buildings. Closure of the entire unit will not occur until all three closure phases have been completed. The DIP also describes the designation and management-process for waste and debris generated during Phase 2 closure activities. Information regarding the decontamination and verification methods for Phase 1 closure can be found in Decontamination and Inspection Plan, for Phase 1 closure of the 300 Area Waste Acid Treatment System, 21 WHC-SD-ENV-AP-001. Information regarding Phase 3 closure will be provided in later documents.

This document is the final report deliverable for Phase 2 analytical work for the 105-N Basin Sediment Disposition Task. On December 23, 1997, ten samples were received at the 222-S Laboratory as follows: two (2) bottles of potable water, six (6) samples for process control testing and two (2) samples for characterization. Analyses were performed in accordance with the Letter of Instruction for Phase 2 Analytical Work for the 105-N Basin Sediment Disposition Task (Logan and Kessner, 1997) (Attachment 7) and 105-N Basin Sediment Disposition Phase-Two Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) (Smith, 1997). The analytical results are included in Table 1. This document provides the values of X/Qs for the onsite and offsite receptors, taking into account the building wake and the atmospheric stability effects. X/Qs values for the potential fire accident were also calculated. In addition, the unit dose were calculated for the mixtures of isotopes.

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