Weekly student newspaper from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

Funeral program for Brother Selton Brown, died December 27, 1992, the funeral was held Friday, December 31, 1993 at West End Baptist Church, officiated by Rev. Jim Richardson. Funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and he was buried in Southern Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas.

Funeral program for The Reverend Doctor John Joseph Rector, Sr., born February 17, 1931 and died March 25, 1993. The funeral was held Wednesday, March 31, 1993 at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, officiated by Pastor E. Thurman Walker. Funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and he was buried in Meadowlawn Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas. Includes newspaper clipping.

Funeral program for Mr. Marshall Evans, born May 20, 1933. The funeral was held July 31, 1993 at New Greater Matthew Baptist Church, officiated by Rev. H. L. Powell. Funeral arrangements were made through the Lewis Funeral Home and he was buried in Gates of Heaven Memorial Gardens in San Antonio, Texas.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a commissioners court may limit the number of monthly supplemental workers' compensation payments to county employees already receiving such payments (RQ-231)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Impact of “leave without pay” provisions of the General Appropriations Act on the Workers’ Compensation Act, V.T.C.S. article 8307c (RQ-476)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a concrete material company owned by a county commissioner may provide services and materials to the county or to another contractor under contract with the county (RQ-295)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Scope of requirement of Local Government Code section 232.0047 that a utility provider in certain counties hold a certificate of compliance with platting requirements with respect to land its connects with utility services (ID# 22879)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Texas Lottery Commission may accept as security under section 38(a) of the Bingo Enabling Act, V.T.C.S. article 179d, a written promise of a licensee to pay taxes and bingo prize fees if the commission deems that promise sufficient to secure the payment of required taxes and prize fees (RQ-625)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: What districts the county auditor is required to audit under Local Government Code section 115.0035 (ID# 17927)

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether certain revenues that the State Board of Pharmacy collects are subject to consolidation under chapter 403 of the Government Code (RQ-447)

Semiweekly newspaper from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas that includes local, national, and campus news along with advertising.

This project focuses on the DNA polymerase (gene 5 protein) of phage T7 for use in DNA sequence analysis. Gene 5 protein interacts with accessory proteins to acquire properties essential for DNA replication. One goal is to understand these interactions in order to modify the proteins for use in DNA sequencing. E. coli thioredoxin, binds to gene 5 protein and clamps it to a primer-template. They have analyzed the binding of gene 5 protein-thioredoxin to primer-templates and have defined the optimal conditions to form an extremely stable complex with a dNTP in the polymerase catalytic site. The spatial proximity of these components has been determined using fluorescence emission anisotropy. The T7 DNA binding protein, the gene 2.5 protein, interacts with gene 5 protein and gene 4 protein to increase processivity and primer synthesis, respectively. Mutant gene 2.5 proteins have been isolated that do not interact with T7 DNA polymerase and can not support T7 growth. The nucleotide binding site of the T7 helicase has been identified and mutations affecting the site provide information on how the hydrolysis of NTPs fuel its unidirectional translocation. The sequence, GTC, has been shown to be necessary and sufficient for recognition by the T7 primase. …

This document is a proposal to continue the authors work on the Environmental, Safety and Economic (ESE) aspects of fusion reactors under DOE contract DE-FR03-89ER52514. The grant objectives continue those from the previous grant: (1) completion of first-generation Environmental, Safety and Economic (ESE) computer modules suitable as integral components of tokamak systems codes. (2) continuation of work on special topics, in support of the above and in response to OFE requests. The proposal also highlights progress on the contract in the twelve months since April, 1992. This has included work with the ARIES and ITER design teams, work on tritium management, studies on materials activation, and calculation of radioactive inventories in fusion reactors.

For the research program reported here, different methods of drying are being investigated to determine if drying can be accomplished without destroying coal reactivity toward liquefaction. In an effort to understand the mechanism of water for enhancing coal liquefaction yield, the reactions of D{sub 2}O with the molecular constituents of coal during coal liquefaction are being investigated. This study involves the use of solution-state deuterium NMR, as well as, conventional solution-state {sup 1}H and {sup 13}C NMR analyses of the coal, and the coal liquids and residue from a coal liquefaction process. These D{sub 2}O transfer reactions will be conducted on coals which have been dried by various methods and rehydrated using D{sub 2}O and by successive exchange of H{sub 2}O associated with the coals with D{sub 2}O. The drying methods include thermal, microwave, and chemical dehydration of the coal. The overall objectives of this study are to develop a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method for measuring the water in coal, to measure the changes in coal structure that occur during coal drying, to determine what effect water has on retrograde/condensation reactions, to determine the mechanism by which water may impact coal reactivity toward liquefaction, and to conduct D{sub 2}O …

A Fossil Energy natural-gas topic has been a part of the DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program since 1988. To date, 50 Phase SBIR natural-gas applications have been funded. Of these 50, 24 were successful in obtaining Phase II SBIR funding. The current Phase II natural-gas research projects awarded under the SBIR program and managed by METC are presented by award year. The presented information on these 2-year projects includes project title, awardee, and a project summary. The 1992 Phase II projects are: landfill gas recovery for vehicular natural gas and food grade carbon dioxide; brine disposal process for coalbed gas production; spontaneous natural as oxidative dimerization across mixed conducting ceramic membranes; low-cost offshore drilling system for natural gas hydrates; motorless directional drill for oil and gas wells; and development of a multiple fracture creation process for stimulation of horizontally drilled wells.The 1993 Phase II projects include: process for sweetening sour gas by direct thermolysis of hydrogen sulfide; remote leak survey capability for natural gas transport storage and distribution systems; reinterpretation of existing wellbore log data using neural-based patter recognition processes; and advanced liquid membrane system for natural gas purification.

Work was done in three tasks during the first quarter. In Task 1, a new SCR reactor system has been built, complete with on-line GC and MS analyses. The GC is used to monitor the N{sub 2} product so the NO{sub x} > N{sub 2} conversion can be calculated. The MS is used to analyze the N{sub 2}0 concentration. In addition, a wet analytical technique has been established for SO{sub 3} analysis. The new SCR system and the SO{sub 3} analytical technique have been subjected to shakedown tests with success. Along with the existing SCR reactor system, there are now two systems that are being run independently. In Task 2, a procedure for the synthesis of stable Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} Pillared clay has been established. Inductive coupled plasma spectrometric analysis (ICP) has been used to analyze the chemical composition of the Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} Pillared clay. Preliminary results for the SCR activities of the Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} pillared clay are obtained in Task 3. The results show that the activities are near that of the commercial V{sub 2}O{sub 5}/TiO{sub 2} catalysts. However, the SO{sub 2}-to-SO{sub 3} conversion is substantially lower with the pillared clay catalyst, which could be an important …

Performance assessment calculations are based on geochemical models that assume that interactions among radionuclides, rocks and groundwaters under natural conditions, can be estimated or bound by data obtained from laboratory-scale studies. The data include radionuclide distribution coefficients, measured in saturated batch systems of powdered rocks, and retardation factors measured in short-term column experiments. Traditional approaches to model validation cannot be applied in a straightforward manner to the simple reactive transport models that use these data. An approach to model validation in support of performance assessment is described in this paper. It is based on a recognition of different levels of model validity and is compatible with the requirements of current regulations for high-level waste disposal. Activities that are being carried out in support of this approach include (1) laboratory and numerical experiments to test the validity of important assumptions inherent in current performance assessment methodologies,(2) integrated transport experiments, and (3) development of a robust coupled reaction/transport code for sensitivity analyses using massively parallel computers.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is characterizing Yucca Mountain Nevada, as a potential site for long-term underground storage of high-level nuclear waste. DOE is committed to reclaim all lands disturbed by the project, and return them to a stable ecological state, with a composition and productivity similar to predisturbance conditions. A study was implemented to assess plant species which naturally invade disturbed sites in the Yucca Mountain Project Area. In 1991 and 1992 study plots were established on disturbed sites. Sites were characterized by disturbance type (i.e., road, drill pad, etc.), disturbance severity, vegetation association, time since abandonment, and topographic placement. Density of all perennial plant species was measured on disturbed and undisturbed plots. The species with the highest density in disturbed sites was Chrysothamnus teretifolia. This species was not a major contributor in undisturbed sites. In the undisturbed sites Ambrosia dumosa had the highest density of perennial plant species but was also high in density in the disturbance sites. Total species density was higher in undisturbed sites compared to disturbed sites. Plant species density analysis compared disturbed and undisturbed vegetation associations. Results will be used to design reclamation field trails and to finalize the Yucca Mountain Project Reclamation …

A survey is given of supersymmetry and supergravity and their phenomenology. Some of the topics discussed are the basic ideas of global supersymmetry, the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and its phenomenology, the basic ideas of local supersymmetry (supergravity), grand unification, supersymmetry breaking in supergravity grand unified models, radiative breaking of SU(2) {times} U(1), proton decay, cosmological constraints, and predictions of supergravity grand unified models. While the number of detailed derivations are necessarily limited, a sufficient number of results are given so that a reader can get a working knowledge of this field.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act, as amended in 1987, directs the US Department of Energy (DOE) to study Yucca Mountain, in southern Nevada, as a potential site for long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste. DOE policy mandates the restoration of all lands disturbed by site characterization activities and DOE has developed an environmental program that is to be implemented during site characterization activities at Yucca.Mountain. DOE is currently conducting reclamation feasibility trials as part of this environmental program. No topsoil was saved on disturbances during early site investigation and minimal soil remains at existing disturbances on Yucca Mountain. A study was developed to test the effects of soil quality and depth on seedling emergence and survival. A series of plots was established and two treatments were tested. The first treatment compared native topsoil to subsoil imported from a borrow pit. The second treatment compared four different depth ranges of both soil types. All plots received identical seeding treatments. Seedling density was measured after emergence. Overall seedling densities were low, averaging 10.3 {plus_minus} 8.8 (SD) plants/m{sup 2}. Statistical analysis revealed a significant interaction between the two treatment factors. The subsoil had increasing densities from the deep soil depths to the shallow …

The 1993 InterAmerican Petroleum and Gas Conference (IPGC) took place September 27--28, 1993, in Dallas Texas. The EPGC was sponsored by the US Department of Energy, organized by the East-West Center and hosted by the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at Southern Methodist University. The IPGC brought together senior oil industry and government representatives from the United States and Latin America to discuss energy security and more efficient resource utilization through improved cooperation and integration of upstream and downstream activities in the United States and Latin America with an emphasis on technology investments and complementary trade strategies. Special attention was given to the growing opportunities for private and foreign investment, trade and joint commercial ventures between US and Latin American companies. The papers included in these proceedings include most of the presentations offered at the conference that addressed a number of key issues including financial challenges of the hydrocarbon sector, regional and national outlook on the world oil market, upstream and downstream outlook, role of natural gas, and environment and infrastructure requirements. Selected papers have been processed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology database.

An all-day tour to observe and land reclamation on the Nevada Test Site was conducted in conjunction with the 8th Wildland Shrub and Arid Land Restoration Symposium. Tour participants were introduced to the US Department of Energy reclamation programs for Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project and Treatability Studies for Soil Media (TSSM) Project. The tour consisted of several stops that covered a variety of topics and studies including revegetation by seeding, topsoil stockpile stabilization, erosion control, shrub transplanting, shrub herbivory, irrigation, mulching, water harvesting, and weather monitoring.